th. We know that Paul, who was then about
thirty-five years old, wrote from Rome epistles in defence of his gospel
and against his colleagues in Jerusalem, in the same spirit as those
from Caesarea. We know, furthermore, that he went from Rome to Illyricum,
where he preached his gospel. We know that he returned to Asia, and
wrote the quintessence of his gospel in his epistle to the Romans. We
know that many passages in his epistles were written, after the
destruction of Jerusalem, when Paul was about forty years old, and his
principal activity commenced still later, in opposition to Rabbi Akiba
and his colleagues. We know from the _Talmud_ that he married and left
daughters. We know also numerous stories of Acher or Paul and his
disciple, Rabbi Mair.

Long after the death of the apostles the Christianity of Paul and the
Messiahism of Peter were Platonized by the Alexandrian eclectics in a
semi-gnostic manner, which gave birth to the fourth gospel, according to
John, and the two epistles of John the Elder, not the apostle, about
A.D. 160, of which the Synoptics have no idea. They had only the
Christianity of Paul and of Peter before them. An original Peter gospel,
Paul's epistles, and the different traditions of the various
congregations were their sources, which they attempted to blend into one
system. All the gospel writers lived in the second century; were not
acquainted with the particulars of the story; had an imperfect knowledge
of the Jews, their laws and doctrines; wrote in favor of the Romans,
whom they wished to convert, and against the Jews, whom they could not
convert.

The third century inherited four distinct systems of Christianity: that
of Jesus with the pure theocracy, that of Peter with the Messiah and his
second advent, that of Paul with the Son of God and the approaching end
of all flesh, and that of John with the Logos and the self-aggrandizing
demi-god or man-god on earth. The difficulties and dissensions arising
from the attempts at uniting all these contradictory systems in one,
ended with the Council of Nice, in the beginning of the fourth century,
and the establishment of an orthodox creed, the excommunication of the
Jewish Christians, and the establishment of the Church as a state
institution. Then the sword and the pyre established doctrines.

On comparison you will find that Jesus became the Saviour of the
Gentiles by the exertion of Paul; that the means which Peter and Paul
adopted for mo