Christ rejected; or, The trial of the eleven disciples of Christ, in a court of law and equity, as charged with stealing the crucified body of Christ out of the sepulchre. Humbly dedicated to the whole nation of the Jews, which are scattered abroad on the face of the earth; and to the deists of modern times. Designed, also, as a help to wavering Christians. An original work

Front matter

E tTJ^

CHRIST REJ-;CTED

John Hew son

Chapter I

The first day of the trial of the robbery of the sepulchre of the crucified body of Christ.

The author sendeth greeting — to all whom it may concern, to come to this court and hear or read for themselves ; as every child of Adam has a legacy to obtain, in the righteous decision of this court, if they will truly seek for the same.

And it came to pass, that whp n the day w^hich was set apart in the royal proclamation, had fully come, for

Figure Xo. 1. The coui't of Law and inquest convened, to try the disciples, on the chari^e of robbing the sei)ulc!ne of the crucified body of Christ.

No. 2. Justice, wit!i its drawn sword of impartiality.

No. 3. Truth weighing all t!ie evidence — that is, or shall be given into this high court, against the prisoners; who in the course of this trial, may be brouglvt to the bar of this court.

No. 4. The five judgss, who have been appointed by the king to tiy this cause. ,

No. 5. Carnal Reason, and Vain Philosophy— the former pointing the finger of scorn at the cross of Chrisl- — 'the latter viewing the heavens.

No. 6. The States-general, Avho opens the trial of robbing the sepulciire.

No. 7. The empty coffin, tvithout the body of Christ.

No. 8. The twelve jnri/me7i pannelled. and in the box.

No. 9. The clerk's lable, where thejuror''s and witnesses are aflSrmed.

No. 10. The galleries filled with spectators.

f2 the trial of the eleven disciples, who have been charged, first, by Caiaphas and the Roman guards ; — secondly, by the Jev^^ish nation, for these eighteen hundred years ; — and thirdly, by philosophers, and the Deists of Christendom, more or less, for the last three hundred years of the christian era, had arrived, for to try the eleven disciples for stealing the crucified body of Christ out of the sepulchre.

The appointed day, by law^, having fully come, the grand court of Areopagus, was thrown open by royal orders, for the entire use and legal accommodation of all the parties, that were either concerned or interested in the prosecution of this solemn trial. And it came to pass, that early on the morning of the first day, as soon as the officer of the court had thrown open the doors of the court-house, the court was soon filled with Deistical, Jewish and Christian spectators ; and the iles and areas were crowded with the plebeian multitude.

As soon as the rush into the court was over, the Chief, with his four associate Judges, from the circuit courts of the kingdom, arrived and entered the court, taking their seats on the bench, followed by a vast number of Civilians from all the near and distant parts of the Roman Empire : — many of them it is true, had come out of mere curiosity, to see and hear this singular trial, of the eleven disciples, for robbing the old custom-house of sin and death.

When these forensic gentlemen had all taken their seats within the purlieu of the bar — the next personage of distinction that arrived, and took his location before the bar, was the States-general, or crown barrister, exciting the greatest anxiety in the multitude, for the trial to commence,

The hour of court business having fully come, the clerk called silence ! — and proceeded in a graceful manner to discharge all the legal rules of etiquette, and other forensic customs of this high court of law and inquest.

The chief Judge next arose, and presented an elegant mien before the court ; and gracefully announced, w ith a clear intonation of voice, that the bench were all in obsequious waiting for this singular trial to proceed : when he again resumed his seat.

The States-general then arose, (whose legal function it was to open the prosecution,) and presented himself in front of the bar, before the Judges and Jury, with a roll of black parchment in his left hand ; containing a declaration of the crimes, and other charges of malevolence, that the Grand-jury had found in their bills, and preferred against the parties implicated in the robbery of the sepulchre of the crucified body of Christ. When the crown lawyer signified to his learned honour, the Chief Judge, that he was in legal readiness on the part of his sovereign, and the laws of his realm, to open the prosecution of the cause, now pending at the bar. His honour, the Chief Judge, signified to the States-attorney to proceed, on the behalf of the crown ; when the barrister read with a sonorous voice, in the audibility of the court, the royal notification sent throughout the vast empire of ancient Rome, to all the parties concerned in the late robbery of the sepulchre, by the hands of the chief marshal and sheriflfof the kingdom — in the following words: to wit; — *'I, the grand marshal of the empire, with the high sheriflfof our sovereign lord the king, sendeth greeting — unto the chief judges of the circuit courts of the empire ; whose names are herein asserted, this our notification, which is, by the royal authority and the law of the realm, in us legally and duly invested ; — that by the special orders of the king: that your honours the chief judges of the high circuit courts of his majesty's realm, whose names are in this our declaration and notification given to the number of five ; that your learned honours lay aside for the time being, all other trials and legal business, whatsoever : and then proceed on the day which this notification points out to your honours, to the city of Athens and court of Areopagus, to preside as judges on the all important trial of the eleven disciples, for robbing the old custom-house of death of the crucified bc^^y of a dangerous and adventurous malefactor, by the name of Christ.''

The crown attorney, also, read to the court, the mandamus, to all the witnesses and parties that were more or less concerned, or in the least degree implicated in this daring robbery, in the following words : "Now, I the chief marshal, with the high sheriff of imperial Rome, having by the special command of our sovereign lord the king, taken out a special mandamus, (that is, a States warrant,) sendeth this our royal proclamation, containing a declaration and lawful notification to all the under named persons, in this our special warrant — to wit : the person of Christ, whether dead or alive ; — secondly, his sacred honour, Caiaphas the high priest of the Jews; — thirdly, his civil honour, Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor of Judea; — fourthly, the centurions who crucified Christ; — fifthly, the Roman guards; and sixthly, the eleven disciples of Christ. Now, therefore, we the marshal and sheriff of our lord the king, do thus according to law, duly and legally notify and command you all, whose names are written, in legible characters, in this our special warrant, declaration, and lawful notification to you all, the foregoing named persons, in the name of our sovereign lord the king, and under the righteous sanction of the Magna-charta of his realm. We therefore command and legally notify you, all and each one of you, in particular, both individually, and the whole of you collectively, that you do all, who are named in this our special warrant, that by laying aside all your earthly business, crafts, callings, avocations and all scientific professions whatever; so that each of you do, in your proper person or persons, appear at the grand court of Areopagus, in the city of Athens, in the empire of Rome, on the day we *have thus legally notified you all, in this our warrant; so that when you appear before his majesty's Chief Judges, in his high court of Chancery, that you do most strictly observe to bring with you all your witnesses, and other oral testimony ; with all your legal vouchers in writing ;, such as papers, parchment, books and every

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Other class and character of writing, that has any collateral, circumstantial, direct or even presumptive bearing on the merits of the case to be tried; with such learned and legal council, as your own personal knowledge of the merits, or demerits of your own case may imperiously require ; so that the court may proceed with the trial without any hindrance or delay.

" Therefore, we again iterate our command to you all, that you do not fail in the full discharge of all the moral, civil and legal duties, that we by the legal power, which our sovereign and his laws have invested in us, do onerously and imperiously, by the royal authority in this our warrant, have laid you all under: and now see that you all fail not, at the peril of your lives, fortunes and sacred honours. God save the king, and the conimonwealth. Amen."

The notification to the judges, and the warrant to the parties in the trial being read to the court, by the crown barrister, the Chief Judge rose and inquired if the opposite counsel, on the part of the person of Christ, was in legal readiness to proceed with his client's trial ; as the judgeobserved, that he perceived it to be first on the docket of the court, and in the consecutive order of the bills, which the grand jury have presented to this court. Then the judge again asked if the defendant's counsel was ready for trial ; but there was no one in court that gave an answer ; — at which the judges and court greatly marvelled.

Then the States-attorney rose, and with his promptership to the cryer of the court — who, with his usual vociferous voice, in the legal form of words used in courts on those occasions, called the person of Christ, whether dead or alive, to make his appearance at the bar. When the Sheriff's officer brought in the coffin, (or sepulchre in which the crucified body of Christ had been safely placed, after it was taken down from the cross,) and placed the same in the open area before the bar of the court and in front of the jury box. ■ This being done, the Chief Judge observed to the court, that he augured through his forensick glasses,

TO CHRIST REJECTED.

and his long practical acquaintance with, and know* ledge of court business, that this sombre trial, now pending at the bar of this court, would be most likely to occupy the court for several days; when he commanded the cryer (according to all the former usages of this court, in similiar cases observed,) to notify the court, (with his usual sonorous voice,) that all other trials and suits that stood in consecutive order on the docket of the court, with the parties, counsel, witnesses and jurors concerned therein — that they are all discharged from any longer durance before the bar of this High court of Chancery, — until the trial of the robbery of the sepulchre of the crucified body of Christ, should be finally finished.

And it came to pass, that as soon as all the parties belonging to other suits had retired, the court proceeded to prosecute the case of the body of Christ — which was supposed to be in the cofBn before its bar. And as soon as silence pervaded the legal elements of this court, the States-attorney ordered the under officer of the sheriff, to open the coffin ; so that the whole court might see for themselves, the deteriorating body of Christ.

But it came to pass, when the officer had, with his hammer, broken open the coffin, behold ! there was no person, either dead or alive, in the coffin! And as every eye in this high court of law and inquest, were very anxiously endeavouring to get the last peering view, at this wonderful and mysterious prisoner; and especially all the risible spectators in the galleries of the court — were in anxious waiting to get the last sight of this subdolous criminal ; — but when the whole court had fully ascertained, that this mysterious being was neither in court dead or alive— nor in any part of the kingdom, that it suddenly produced a most sorrowful re-actioa on all their risible and scoffing sensibilities ; and filled their minds, for a moment, with the most chagrined disappointment : — when the whole court experienced something like an electrical shock of solemn fear, to involuntarily spread itself through all the Jewish and

Deistical ladies and gentlemen, in the galleries of the court, ^^hen carnal Reason, and i;<2Z7i Philosophy, who ■were in the small gallery of the court, did not appear near so volatile as before; nevertheless, it came to pass, that w^hen this unfelicitous sensation, which had for a few moments rather embargoed the insidious faculties of the spectators in court, had a little subsided, that the crown barrister issued out a mandamus, (that is a writ of caption, or if the reader prefers the idea, a bench warrant, for the marshal and the high sheriff, who had been all legally appointed and delegated, with plenary powers, and legal authority, to fully execute their duty,) so that the marshal and sheriff might be brought forthwith into court. When the officer of this high court of Chancery, holding a superior jurisdiction over all the civil officers in the realm, served the royal process on the marshal with the sheriff, who were soon brought in before the bar ; — and when they appeared at the bar of the court, his learned honour, the States-attorney rose, and closely examined both the marshal and high sheriff, on the charge of delinquency, in their official duty : — repremanding them, at the same time, with their shameful dereliction in not fulfiling their orders, and faithfully discharging their official duties, in not bringing the body of Christ into court, either dead or alive.

His learned honour went on, just like all other crown servants, to discharge his legal horn of vituperating thunder on the heads of the officers, whom the royal authority had clothed with a panoply of civil and martial power, to bring all the parties implicated in the robbery into court ; charging the marshal and the high sheriff, with a shameful remissness, in not empowering suitable officers to arrest, and seize the body of Christ, whenever they might find it ; whether dead or alive — either in this earthly state, or in any extra-mundane dispensation whatever.

And it came to pass, that as soon as the crown lawyer had in some small degree, eased his labouring cloud of its foul waters, and his windy vituperating thunder-

CHRIST REJECTED.

cloud had passed over the court, he sat down and said no more.

And it came to pass, that as soon as the crown barrister had taken his seat, that the grand marshal of the Roman empire rose, on behalf of himself and high sheriff, who had been by the sovereign pleasure of the king associated with him, to cause the parties named in the special warrant to make their appearance at court ; but, more especially, the crucified body of Christ.

The marshal having risen with the sheriff, turned himself to the bar, and facing the judges and jury, made the following wise and judicious extenuation, for their not being able, in the fullest sense of the letter of

Fig-ure No. 1. Justice, witli its drawn sword.

No. 2. Truth weighing- all the evidence that shall be given into this court, by all the parlies concerned in this trial.

No. 3. The grand court of xVreopagus, with the five Judges, appointed to try this mysterious cause of robbing the sepulchre of the body of Christ.

No. 4. The marshal and high sheriff of the empire, pleading at the bar — Their faithfulness in the full discharge of all their official duties, w^hich the laws and special command of the king had laid them under.

the law to discharge their official duties — in relation to bringing the crucified body of that malefactor, who is called Christ, into court this day, in the following words,

" May it please your learned honours the Judges, with all the other learned and honourable gentlemen of this bar : — I shall humbly and obsequiously pray your learned honours, to grant the indulgence^ if it is not irrelevant at this bar, for us to plead our own cause, before this high court of law and inquest ; as I wish to be permitted to place the following category of my mind before the court : [When the judges signified to the marshal to proceed,] which arises, please your honours, out of the great sea of common sense ; and I likewise experience a further boldness, in the gratuitous discharge of a conscientious duty I owe to myself and my associate, in viewing, at this moment, those impartial signs that I have always seen, on the high and forensick telegraph of this court, in all its legal acts and proceedings ; which, may it please your honours, has always, antecedent to this trial, led me to view this court, as the most enlightened court in the empire, or even in the whole world. Therefore, I shall be led to consider, not only the patience and indulgence of this court as gratuitously granted me ; but also, the profound attention of your learned honours, the judges, with the whole ^f the learned elements of this high court of law and inquest, while I shall endeavour steadily to lead your minds, to converge its full force on a few simple facts, I am about placing before your legal vision, which are as follows : That is, please this court, and all whom it may concern, that in the plenary discharge of our duty, there is not a city, town, village, hamlet or a solitary farm-house in all the vast dominions of our sovereign, whither we his very humble and obedient servants, have not been ourselves, or sent our under officers, to search for, and diligently inquire, even into the most remote part of our lord's kingdom, in order to arrest and seize the crucified body of Christ ; so as to bring it before the bar of this court.

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"It is true, we have found the old coffin or sepulchre in which the body was placed, which we have brought with us, as your honours see this day, is placed before us all, at the bar of this court : but who has embezzled the crucified body of Christ or made a surreptitious invasion on the sepulchre, and conveyed the body off where it can never be heard of, we, therefore please your honours and the jury, cannot tell where the body is. Therefore all the palliation I shall present at the bar of this court to day, is this, that both for myself, and my associate the high sheriff; that we have faithfully discharged all our functions and official duties as far as the gods and nature had given us either physical or moral capabilities so to do; and my corollary is, that even the gods could do no more. But I believe it would be a superfluous waste of words and time, to advance any thing more, by way of palliation to this enlightened court : Therefore, please your honours, I shall say no more ; but obsequiously leave our conduct with the wisdom and learning of this impartial court: when the grand marshal sat down."

The Judge's opinion of the person and character of Christ, and judgment in favour of the marshal and sheriff.

After the marshal had taken his seat, the Chief Judge rose, and delivered to the court his views of the conduct of the grand marshal, and his legal opinion ; which is as follows: that he, in conjunction with his associates on the bench, view through the legal telescope of the law, guided by the helm of truth, and polar star of justice, which have always been the cardinal compass and object in use in this court, and has heretofore so characterized its legal proceedings, in the broad eye of the world, as being alwaj^s prosecuted with impartial justice to alt men; therefore, in unison with the legal opinion of my coadjutors on my right and left, which it has been the sovereign pleasure of my lord the king to associate with me on this trial — we present, as our legal opinion, that the grand marshal of the empire.

with the high sheriff of Rome, have faithfully, (as the civil officers of the crown,) discharged their share of all the official duties, w^hich either their sovereign or the law^s of this realm required at their hands. And as judges of this court, we are sensible, that neither our sovereign or the laws of his kingdom, demand from his liege subjects, either physical, civil, or moral impossibilities. Therefore, as the legal organ of this court of law and inquest, I shall give the marshal and sheriff an honourable acquittal, from all charges of delinquency, in any sense whatsoever — converging on either their moral or official characters. — When the marshal and sheriff rose and withdrew from the court with honour.

And it came to pass, that when the marshal and sheriff had withdrawn, that the Chief Judge rose and said — May it please the court to indulge me with its patience and attention for a few moments, while I express my views of the character of that outlawed break-jail, or in other words, that troublesome being called Christ ; who appears to me, to be beyond the reach of the jurisprudence of earthly laws. Therefore, this outlawed break-jail, has put to open defiance the whole Magna-Charta of Roman laws ; so that from the marshal's report at the bar of this court, it doth appear, that the crucified body of Christ is not to be found in the land of the living.

And may it please the court, our laws find sufficient employment for its functionaries, in this mundane dispensation, w^ithout stepping over the line of demarcation, and perplexing ourselves with the laws and jurisprudence of extramundane worlds : or, if the court please, the regions and the jurisdiction of the ghosts, which the plebeian part of mankind say lie beyond the verge of time. Therefore, may it please this court, we must, as appears from the sheer law of mere necessity, let the lawless break-jail go at large, for what he is worth ; and that shall be, if we should ever find him, within the purlieu of Roman law, an halter for his neck ; if any of our police or other civil officers of our realm, may hereafter have the good fortune to arrest him.- — And the judge sat down.

When a very considerable chagrin of disappointment was seen, like a cymmerian cloud, (that is, a land that is overcast with fogs, clouds and a dispensation of darkness,) to spread a sombre shade on all the once risible countenances, in the galleries of this court.

And it came to pass, that during this transient sensation of the court, in consequence of the crucified bod)^ of Christ, which could not be found, either dead or alive, that a very distinguished Roman attorney, who had, with a large share of public eclat, persued the profession of Roman law, in most of the high courts of the empire, for a number of years — who perchance, happened to come into court while his learned honour the Chief Judge was delivering to the court his legal views, of the lawless character of Christ : when the old civihan rose from off his seat, and went up to the bar of the court, and prayed to be heard as counsel for the crucified body of Christ ; which request was, by the indulgence of the court, benignly granted. When, like a wise scribe we somewhere read of, he very humbly asked his learned honour, the Chief Judge, Whether Roman law judged any man as a lawless villain, and an out-lawed break-jail, before it had hqard him at its impartial tribunal? And as I perceive this court, for the first time, had this day departed from its inflexible justice, and judicial rectitude, in the case of the lost body of Christ out of the sepulchre — in that this court has, without one legal witness to substantiate his guilt: or, may it please your learned honours, one solitary evidence to legally convict him of a single crime, either of a civil or religious character— I therefore pray your learned honours, to indulge me, while I humbly take the liberty to ask, with all becoming deference to the legal wisdom and knowledge of this high court of law and inquest, Whether it has not been the uniform practice, in all the antecedent judiciary proceedings of our courts, under the old Roman laws, not to proceed in an illegal manner to condemn a malefactor, until both the accused and the accuser are brought face to face, in open court, and then, by lawful counsel, to miplead each other ?

Therefore, may it please your honours the judges, with the jury: 1 shall take this long established position of Roman law, as the object of my departure, on the lantern of my forensick light-house, w hile I am navigating the crucified body of Christ over the bars, sunken rocks, and through the quicksands, which Lie in the dead sea, over which, by the furious blasts of passions and pugnacious squalls of Jewish hardness of heart, the body of Christ has been driven, on the dreary shore of death. I shall, therefore, by the indulgence of this court, be led to consider my legal point of departure, by your learned honours the judges, as gratuitously granted me this day, as a sound axiom of Roman law: Therefore, may it please the court, the signs on our legal lantern, and long established position of Roman law is this. That no person should be arraigned before the bar of any one of its courts by proxy.

Now your honours the judges, with the jury, and all the spectators in this court of law and inquest well know, that the supposed dead body of Christ, my client, as I shall, if the court will admit the relevancy of my appellative, (for me to call that mysterious being my client,) but your learned honours well know, that w^e lawyers, as well as the rest of mankind, are creatures; or, if the judges prefer the idea, beings of mere circumstances ; so that you are sensible, that we cannot well navigate a plea at the bar of our courts, either on the part of the defendant or plaintiff, wdien we are sailing under a free breeze of ratiocination, (that is sound reason and argument) before your learned honours, without the use of^the phrase, my client. Having made this short apology, for presuming, on my part, to use the word my client, in relation to that mysterious character, who has been arraigned at the bar of this court — Therefore, please your honours, my client has only been arraigned at the bar of this court by proxy, clothed at the same time, like an effigy in a black gar-

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CHRIST REJECTED.

ment, labelled with a number of immoral hieroglyphics, of spreading a spirit of effervescence among the people. Your honours will indulge me to particularize the postulatory charges, that have been by the Jews, his own people, preferred against him ; such for instance, as his contempt of the temple — his disrespect of Caiaphas the high priest of the Jews — and his notorious neglect of going and washing his hands and face, before he entered the feasting room of a class of the Jewish religionists, who sailed under the colours of Scribes and Pharisees ; and at other times being labelled with the hieroglyphics or signs of a blasphemer of the Mosaick worship ; with the institutes and dogmas of Moses, and even of its divine author. But all those charges, may it please your learned honours the judges, and the jury, are more or less of a postulatory shade of character.

Now, may it please the court to indulge me to inform them, that I experience this day the fire of Roman philanthropy, to be kindling on the forensick altar of my heart, on the behalf of my client; that is, the crucified body of Christ ; whom I perceive is not in court, at least with his tangible nature ; and as for his omnipresence, it does not belong to courts of Roman jurisprudence, to adjudicate in such deep and unfathomable v/aters, or soar aloft into such untangible elements among the abodes of the gods. And as the crucified body of Christ is not in court to day, to plead its own cause ; neither to employ legal counsel to plead its case at the bar of this court : and that is not all — the unfortunate circumstance of the case, for the plebeian culprit, as his enemies have been gratuitously pleased to characterize him, was so very low in the elements of silver and gold, in his theological exchequer, which I make no doubt, but that some of your learned honours, the judges, have heard before this day — that his pecuniary aflairs where very low when he was in the most plenary altitude of his theological prosperity ; even at the very time that his warmest friends were led to augur his future greatness, from some of those precocious (that is, any thing that appears ripe before the season of maturity, whether it be a quality of the mind or any other sign that may be seen on the youthful telegraph of a person's character) signs, which his disciples saw in the days of his youthful ministry. Yes, may it please this court, when this said Christ was walking in the sunshine of his meridian glory, as a marvellous teacher sent down from Heaven — and please your honours, I feel satisfied in my own mind, that this court of Areopagus, which is said to be in the daily habit of devoting a small portion of its valuable time in collecting from the four quarters of the earth, every new and strange thing that daily takes place in this our little world, both respecting persons and things ; so that, I make no doubt, but your honours, with the whole of this enlightened and intelligent court, must have heard, that upon a certain occasion, my client (whom some call Christ) had not enough of the necessary elements of silver and gold, in his travelling theological chest, to pay a small Roman toll. And please this court — it was said of him, that the poor man went on in his financial affairs, deteriorating (that is growing worse) to the day of his demise on the bloody cross. When the learned counsel paused for a moment, and the chief judge rose and informed the court, the sun dial at his window announced that the hour of adjournment had arrived ; so the court stood adjourned, to meet in this place the ensuing day.