en the least notice of Christ_.

8. Neither Justin, in his dialogue with Typho the Jew, nor
Clemens Alexandrinus, who made so many extracts from ancient
authors, nor Origen against Celsus, _have even mentioned this
testimony_.

9. But, on the contrary, Origen openly affirms (ch. xxxv., bk.
i., against Celsus), that Josephus, who had mentioned John the
Baptist, _did not acknowledge Christ_.[565:1]

In the "Bible for Learners," we read as follows:

"Flavius Josephus, the well-known historian of the Jewish
people, was born in A. D. 37, only two years after the death
of Jesus; but though his work is of inestimable value as our
chief authority for the circumstances of the times in which
Jesus and his Apostles came forward, yet he does not seem to
have ever mentioned Jesus himself. At any rate, the passage in
his '_Jewish Antiquities_' that refers to him is certainly
spurious, and was inserted by a later and a _Christian hand_.
The _Talmud_ compresses the history of Jesus into a single
sentence, and later Jewish writers concoct mere slanderous
anecdotes. The ecclesiastical fathers mention a few sayings or
events, the knowledge of which they drew from oral tradition
or from writings that have since been lost. The Latin and
Greek historians just mention his name. This meager harvest is
all we reap from sources outside the Gospels."[565:2]

Canon Farrar, who finds himself _compelled_ to admit that this passage
in Josephus is an interpolation, consoles himself by saying:

"The single passage in which he (Josephus) alludes to Him
(Christ) is interpolated, if not wholly spurious, and no one
can doubt that his silence on the subject of Christianity was
as deliberate as it was dishonest."[565:3]

The Rev. Dr. Giles, after commenting on this subject, concludes by
saying:

"_Eusebius_ is the first who quotes the passage, and our
reliance on the judgment, _or even the honesty_, of this
writer _is not so great as to allow of our considering
everything found in his works as undoubtedly genuine_."[565:4]

Eusebius, then, is the first person who refers to these passages.[565:5]
Eusebius, "_whose honesty is not so great as to allow of our considering
everything found in his works as undoubtedly genuine_." Eusebius, who
says that _it is lawful to lie and cheat for the cause of
Christ