PORTRAIT OF CHRIST.


(_To the Editor_.)

The document giving an account of Jesus Christ, which is referred to
by _Veritas_, in No. 533 of _The Mirror_, has been long since known
to be a glaring forgery. It is one of many stories invented in the
second, third, and fourth centuries, by the early Christians; for
a full account of whose forgeries in such matters, you may consult
Mosheim, Lardner, Casaubon, and other ecclesiastical writers. The
latter says, "It mightily affects me to see how many there were in the
earliest times of the church, who considered it as a capital exploit
to lend to heavenly truth the help of their own inventions, in order
that the new doctrine might be more readily allowed by the wise among
the Gentiles. These officious lies, they were wont to say, were
devised for a good end. From which source, beyond question, sprung
_nearly innumerable_ books, which that and the following ages saw
published by those who were far from being bad men, under the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of the Apostles, and of other
Saints."--_Lardner_, vol. iv. p. 524.

Dr. Mosheim, among his excellent works, has published a dissertation,
showing the _reasons_ and _causes_ of these supposed letters and
writings respecting Christ, the Apostles, &c., to which I would beg to
recommend your correspondent _Veritas_. JUSTUS.

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