arth,[436:4] inculcates and avows the
principle of deceiving the common people, talks of his having been
upbraided by his own converts with being crafty and catching them with
guile,[436:5] and of his known and willful lies, abounding to the glory
of God.[436:6]

Even the orthodox Doctor Burnet, an eminent English author, in his
treatise "_De Statu Mortuorum_," purposely written in Latin, that it
might serve for the instruction of the clergy only, and not come to the
knowledge of the laity, because, as he said, "_too much light is hurtful
for weak eyes_," not only justified but recommended the practice of the
most consummate hypocrisy, and would have his clergy seriously preach
and maintain the reality and eternity of hell torments, even though they
should believe nothing of the sort themselves.[437:1]

The incredible and very ridiculous stories related by Christian Fathers
and ecclesiastical historians, _on whom we are obliged to rely for
information on the most important of subjects_, show us how
untrustworthy these men were. We have, for instance, the story related
by St. Augustine, who is styled "the greatest of the Latin Fathers," of
his preaching the Gospel to people _without heads_. In his 33d Sermon he
says:

"I was already Bishop of Hippo, when I went into Ethiopia with
some servants of Christ there to preach the Gospel. In this
country we saw many men and women without heads, who had two
great eyes in their breasts; and in countries still more
southly, we saw people who had but one eye in their
foreheads."[437:2]

This same holy Father bears an equally unquestionable testimony to
several resurrections of the dead, of _which he himself had been an
eye-witness_.

In a book written "towards the close of the second century, by some
zealous believer," and fathered upon one Nicodemus, who is said to have
been a disciple of Christ Jesus, we find the following:

"We all know the blessed Simeon, the high priest, who took
Jesus when an infant into his arms in the temple. This same
Simeon had two sons of his own, _and we were all present at
their death and funeral_. Go therefore and see their tombs,
for these are open, and they are risen; and behold, _they are
in the city of Arimathaea, spending their time together in
offices of devotion_."[438:1]

Eusebius, "the Father of ecclesiastical history," Bishop of Caesarea, and
one of the most prominent