ndian Antiquities, vol. iii. p. ix.)

[379:2] Indian Antiquities, vol. i. pp. 125-127.

[380:1] We have already seen that Plato and his followers taught the
doctrine of the Trinity centuries before the time of Christ Jesus.

[380:2] Israel Worsley's Enquiry, p. 54. Quoted in Higgins' Anacalypsis,
vol. i. p. 116.

[380:3] "The memorable test (I. John v. 7) which asserts the unity of
the three which bear witness in heaven, is condemned by the universal
silence of the orthodox Fathers, ancient versions, and authentic
manuscripts. It was first alleged by the Catholic Bishop whom Hunneric
summoned to the Conference of Carthage (A. D. 254), or, more properly,
by the four bishops who composed and published the profession of faith,
in the name of their brethren." (Gibbon's Rome, vol. iii. p. 556, and
note 117.) None of the ancient manuscripts now extant, above four-score
in number, _contain this passage_. (Ibid. note 116.) In the eleventh and
twelfth centuries, the Bible was corrected. Yet, notwithstanding these
corrections, the passage is still wanting in twenty-five Latin
manuscripts. (Ibid. note 116. See also Dr. Giles' Hebrew and Christian
Records, vol. ii. p. 12. Dr. Inman's Ancient Faiths, vol. ii. p. 886.
Rev. Robert Taylor's Diegesis, p. 421, and Reber's Christ of Paul.)

[380:4] See Gibbon's Rome, ii. 309.

[380:5] Chambers's Encyclo., art. "Trinity."

[381:1] Draper: Religion and Science, pp. 53, 54.

[382:1] Athanasius, tom. i. p. 808. Quoted in Gibbon's Rome, vol. ii. p.
310.

Gennadius, Patriarch of Constantinople, was so much amazed by the
extraordinary composition called "Athanasius' Creed," that he frankly
pronounced it to be the work of a drunken man. (Gibbon's Rome, vol. iii.
p. 555, note 114.)

[382:2] Gibbon's Rome, vol. iii. p. 87.

[382:3] Ibid. pp. 91, 92.

[383:1] All their writings were ordered to be destroyed, and any one
found to have them in his possession was severely punished.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

PAGANISM IN CHRISTIANITY.

Our assertion that that which is called Christianity is nothing more
than the religion of Paganism, we consider to have been fully verified.
We have found among the heathen, centuries before the time of Christ
Jesus, the belief in an incarnate God born of a virgin; his previous
existence in heaven; the celestial signs at the time of his birth; the
rejoicing in heaven; the adoration by the magi and shepherds; the
offerings of precious substances to the divi