Anonymous

“ There was a law among the Jews that no one should be a public teacher, or minister, till he was thirty years old. Jesus wished to show respect to the laws of his country, and therefore we may suppose he continued to work as a carpenter till he was of that age. He was then baptized in the river Jordan by his forerunner, John the Baptist, and commenced choosing his disciples and preaching the gospel. ”

“ He was born in the Roman city Tarsus, and enjoyed the privilege of a free citizen of Rome, which gave him high influence among the Jews, and increased his power to injure the followers of Jesus. He pursued the Christians with the fury of a bigot and the rage of a madman. ”

“ The angel also appeared in a dream to Joseph, and told him to take the child and his mother, and flee into Egypt; and Joseph did as the angel had said.
[Pg 9] Herod was a cruel, wicked man, and was afraid if Jesus grew up, he would be king of the Jews instead of him; so he intended to kill him while a little child. But when he found the wise men would not tell him where to find him, he sent his soldiers to Bethlehem, and ordered them to kill all the children under two years old, hoping in this way to come at Jesus: but the Lord had before provided for his safety, by sending him to Egypt. ”

“ The body of our Savior having been buried, by one of his friends, in a new tomb hewn out of a rock, the Jews and rulers went to Pilate and told him, that this impostor having declared within his life time that he would rise again within three days, they wished the sepulchre kept under a strong guard until the third day, lest his disciples should come by night and steal the body, and then persuade the people that he had risen from the dead. ”

“ Then God was angry with them, and sent his Angel to drive them out of the garden, to a place where thorns and thistles covered the ground, and they were obliged to work hard for a living. God cursed the ground for their sake, but at the same time he promised that "the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head." ”

“ After the death of Paul, he preached the gospel with great success in Egypt and Lybia, and also in Italy and Macedonia. As to his death, there are different accounts. Yet the best writers say he suffered [Pg 24] martyrdom in Greece. A party of infidels there made head against him, and drew him to execution. For the want of a cross, they hung him upon an olive tree. He was in the eighty-fourth year of his age at the time of his death, A. D. 74. His gospel was written, while he was in company with Paul, A. D. 61—13 years before his martyrdom, and 28 years after the ascension of our Lord. ”