wild
women, and many other wild beasts which are not fabulous." (Ibid. ch.
192.)
[438:1] Nicodemus, Apoc., ch. xii.
[438:2] See Eusebius: Eccl. Hist., lib. 1, ch. xiv.
[438:3] Socrates: Eccl. Hist., lib. 1, ch. xiii.
[438:4] In year 1444, Caxton published the first book ever printed in
England. In 1474, the then Bishop of London, in a convocation of his
clergy, said: "_If we do not destroy this dangerous invention, it will
one day destroy us._" (See Middleton's Letters from Rome, p. 4.) The
reader should compare this with Pope Leo X.'s avowal that, "_it is well
known how profitable this fable of Christ has been to us_;" and
Archdeacon Paley's declaration that "_he could ill afford to have a
conscience_."
[438:5] _Porphyry_, who flourished about the year 270 A. D., a man of
great abilities, published a large work of fifteen books against the
Christians. "His objections against Christianity," says Dr. Lardner,
"were in esteem with Gentile people for a long while; and the Christians
were not insensible of the importance of his work; as may be concluded
from the several answers made to it by Eusebius, and others in great
repute for learning." (Vol. viii. p. 158.) There are but fragments of
these _fifteen_ books remaining, _Christian magistrates_ having ordered
them to be destroyed. (Ibid.)
[438:6] _Hierocles_ was a Neo-Platonist, who lived at Alexandria about
the middle of the fifth century, and enjoyed a great reputation. He was
the author of a great number of works, a few extracts of which alone
remain.
[438:7] _Celsus_ was an Epicurean philosopher, who lived in the second
century A. D. He wrote a work called "The True Word," against
Christianity, but as it has been destroyed we know nothing about it.
Origen claims to give quotations from it.
[440:1] Draper: Religion and Science, pp. 18-21.
[440:2] Gibbon's Rome, vol. iii. p. 146.
[441:1] Draper: Religion and Science, pp. 55, 56. See also, Socrates'
Eccl. Hist., lib. 7, ch. xv.
[442:1] We have seen this particularly in the cases of Crishna and
Buddha. Mr. Cox, speaking of the former, says: "If it be urged that the
attribution to Crishna of qualities or powers belonging to the other
deities is a mere device by which _his_ devotees sought to supersede the
more ancient gods, _the answer must be that nothing has been done in his
case which has not been done in the case of almost every other member of
the great company of the gods_." (Aryan Mythology,
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