7) that they gave the preference to that of Plato.]

[Footnote 16: See Calmet, Dissertations sur la Bible, tom. ii. p. 277.
The book of the Wisdom of Solomon was received by many of the fathers as
the work of that monarch: and although rejected by the Protestants
for want of a Hebrew original, it has obtained, with the rest of the
Vulgate, the sanction of the council of Trent.]

[Footnote 17: The Platonism of Philo, which was famous to a proverb,
is proved beyond a doubt by Le Clerc, (Epist. Crit. viii. p. 211-228.)
Basnage (Hist. des Juifs, l. iv. c. 5) has clearly ascertained, that
the theological works of Philo were composed before the death, and most
probably before the birth, of Christ. In such a time of darkness, the
knowledge of Philo is more astonishing than his errors. Bull, Defens.
Fid. Nicen. s. i. c. i. p. 12.]

[Footnote 18: Mens agitat molem, et magno se corpore miscet. Besides
this material soul, Cudworth has discovered (p. 562) in Amelius,
Porphyry, Plotinus, and, as he thinks, in Plato himself, a superior,
spiritual upercosmian soul of the universe. But this double soul is
exploded by Brucker, Basnage, and Le Clerc, as an idle fancy of the
latter Platonists.]

[Footnote 19: Petav. Dogmata Theologica, tom. ii. l. viii. c. 2, p. 791.
Bull, Defens. Fid. Nicen. s. i. c. l. p. 8, 13. This notion, till it
was abused by the Arians, was freely adopted in the Christian theology.
Tertullian (adv. Praxeam, c. 16) has a remarkable and dangerous passage.
After contrasting, with indiscreet wit, the nature of God, and the
actions of Jehovah, he concludes: Scilicet ut haec de filio Dei non
credenda fuisse, si non scripta essent; fortasse non credenda de
l'atre licet scripta. * Note: Tertullian is here arguing against the
Patripassians; those who asserted that the Father was born of the
Virgin, died and was buried.--M.]

Chapter XXI: Persecution Of Heresy, State Of The Church.--Part II.

The eloquence of Plato, the name of Solomon, the authority of the school
of Alexandria, and the consent of the Jews and Greeks, were insufficient
to establish the truth of a mysterious doctrine, which might please, but
could not satisfy, a rational mind. A prophet, or apostle, inspired
by the Deity, can alone exercise a lawful dominion over the faith of
mankind: and the theology of Plato might have been forever confounded
with the philosophical visions of the Academy, the Porch, and the
Lycaeum, if the name and divine attrib