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ll the elders who, in Asia, assembled with John, the disciple of the Lord, testify; and as John himself had taught them_. And he (John?) remained with them till the time of Trajan. And some of them saw not only John but other Apostles, _and heard the same thing from them, and bear the same testimony to this revelation_." The escape of this passage from the destroyers can be accounted for only in the same way as the passage of Minucius Felix (quoted in Chapter XX.) concerning the Pagans worshiping a crucifix. These two passages escaped from among, probably, hundreds destroyed, of which we know nothing, under the decrees of the emperors, yet remaining, by which they were ordered to be destroyed. In John viii. 56, Jesus is made to say to the Jews: "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it and was glad." Then said the Jews unto him: "Thou art not yet _fifty_ years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?" If Jesus was then but about _thirty_ years of age, the Jews would evidently have said: "thou art not yet _forty_ years old," and would not have been likely to say: "thou art not yet _fifty_ years old," unless he was past forty. There was a tradition current among the early Christians, that _Annas_ was high-priest when Jesus was crucified. This is evident from the _Acts_.[516:1] Now, Annas, or Ananias, _was not high-priest until about the year 48 A. D._;[516:2] therefore, if Jesus was crucified at that time he must have been about _fifty_ years of age;[516:3] but, as we remarked elsewhere, there exists, outside of the New Testament, no evidence whatever, in book, inscription, or monument, that Jesus of Nazareth was either scourged or crucified under Pontius Pilate. Josephus, Tacitus, Plinius, Philo, nor any of their contemporaries, ever refer to the fact of this crucifixion, or express any belief thereon.[516:4] In the Talmud--the book containing Jewish traditions--Jesus is not referred to as the "crucified one," but as the "hanged one,"[516:5] while elsewhere it is narrated he was _stoned_ to death; so that it is evident they were ignorant of the manner of death which he suffered.[516:6] In _Sanhedr. 43 a_, Jesus it said to have had five disciples, among whom were Mattheaus and Thaddeus. He is called "That Man," "The Nazarine," "The Fool," and "The Hung." Thus Aben Ezra says that Constantine put on his _labarum_ "a figure of the hung;" and, according to R. Bechai, the Christian
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