Where Did Jesus Die? — Page xiv
? xiv be unstable? Jesus was a prophet sent by God to declare the Truth unto the lost sheep of the House of Israel. That truth is today held to be contained in a framework of creeds and doctrines preached as Christianity in every quarter of the habitable globe, all of which deviate from the teachings of Jesus. How much, or rather, how lit- tle, does modern Christianity represent the teachings enunciated by Jesus? If, then, Christianity has deviated so far from its founda- tion, what basis is there for the claim that it has reached finality? Although this volume is not large in size, it is great in achieve- ment, and all the chapters are equal in importance and interest, although many readers claim the greatest attraction to be in the section devoted to the Resurrection and Ascension, particularly the latter. Maulvi Shams has undoubtedly thrown much light upon this debatable topic, and the new evidence he has produced reaches beyond the circumstantial. This new evidence should be well examined and considered, not judged hastily, but without prejudice and, what is equally important, without yielding to emotion through prejudiced ideas. The weakness of the orthodox position, particularly with regard to the Ascension, is manifested by the manner in which Christian apologists shrink from the dis- cussion of so important a question. ‘The question’, says W. Carew Hazlitt, is ‘was there a single person of credit who actually beheld the Ascension and communicated the particulars to those who have transmitted them, such as they are, to us?’ The inquiry gener- ally is shirked, not only by Christian apologists, but by critics gen- erally, such as Viscount Amberely and W. R. Cassels. Dr. Mozley, without any attempt at proof, claims that the Ascension ‘is as cer- tain as anything in history’; while Dr. R. J. Campbell, also without production of proof, claims that ‘the whole story is literally and