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    SybS oracles ^ s the , Qfek * Psa | fcei m ^ ftti permit Clement of Alexanflriai to ^ iaert th ^ t a » amiable Heathen may be saved as well as a Christian believer , and to attack the : horrible doctrine of eternal torments ? Will they give the sacrament to children with St . (> prian , and deny original sin with St . Chrysostom , or s « y& : Wv <) rigeu * does , that the very devils may be saved at last ? Alas ! there is more heresy among the Fathers than they are aware ofe f But this is tittle ; for such heresies there are other authorities : faith has . yet a much more difficult task . We

    must believe the story of the Phoenix resuscitated from its ashes , for the fact is recorded by Clement of Rome , * of Alexandria , § by Origen || and St . Ambrose ; «{[ the latter of whom says , Hoc relatione crebra et scripturarum

    auctpntate agnosci . ( De Fide Resurr . ) On tfie credit of Justin Martyr ** must admit that Ptolemy Philadelphia sent deputies to Herod to borrow the sacred books , though the former lived nearly two centuries before the latter

    was born ; on the assurance of St . Epiphany ff we must assert that the Indus and the Ganges are the same river , that they water Ethiopia ana empty themselves westwards of Cadiz . St . Basil XX msy tell us ( and of course we must take the holy Father ' s word ) that the Danube has its source in the

    Pyrenees , that it runs through France , and crosses the Po before it rolfe into the Euxine Sea . St . Chrysostom §§ may assure us ( on the best

    informa-* Aug . de Civit . Dei , L . xxi , cap . rii . + The early Father , without exception , 1 imagine , tauglit and believed that the day of judgment and final consummation of all things would take pl&ee in their time * Those who wish to see their

    glosses on Scripture exposed , may consult Wfcltbjrta Disscrtatio # 0 S . Scripturarum Interpretaclone seeurid&m Patrum Commentarfcte : or I > affle oh the use of the Father , a work of utidomm 6 n mferit .

    As to the , Millenium , the gross and sensual notions of tfte Fathers forrh an admirable counterpart to the picture ^ of a Mahometan para < Jis 6 t * ? Ad « Mib , op 34 , ,, § Strofaafa # . 5 , k 6 e PrW' . li' . f DfeJPoenkm ^ i ¥ pl . p . 2 . ¦' ' « ' ff rAnchor , p . 6 . tt Horn . fll , « Horn . XIV .

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    tkm . Mik dh&tyli ) i& ^^ which mti ^ 0 J ^^ dations laid 8 ii ; fep ^ ' ^ x ^^^ & ^ . 14 & gusEn f may ' fee ^ ^ Kp ^^ pMp ^ ilfse who asserted the ex ^ g ^ enc ^ of . t ] ae antipodes . Si IBla # t rii § y ^ the birds of the air ij ^ ti ^ m $ m , and the flowers of the flelid aiigelk W light . It is all catiotrfcal * the holy fathers ' have said it I ;; . . . V ;» , 'L \ : ;' . ; . Qhiistian , £ utti £ iw Vi ^ otHli wuCuice tis to hqpe that thfe Abb 6 ii this discussion Ms reafly carried into effect some of the ^ o& maxima ofthe ftomfathers ;

    as , for instance , that tricks and strata gems may be employed in controviersy agaiiist heretics , if more honourable weapons Ml . St . Jerome insists that a man may argue against his own conscience , if such all argument will help him against his adversary . St . Athanasius observed tMs styje of reasoning hi St . Dionysius , the Areopagite ; and St . Basil justifies the doctrine , drawing a fine distinction between dogmaticfe disserere and disputare 5 1 |—nice casuists these !

    * Insitit , lit t De € hrit . Dei , XVr , I Hilar . Pictav . Op « j ^ 633 , 4 th Ed . 1693 .

    § Some of the glosses of the Fathers on Scripture are almost too barefaced for credibility . St . Hilary says the words of Jesus , Matt . icvi . 23 , ought to be read , * Get thee behind me ;—Satan , thou art an offence to me ; " the former part of the sentence only being addressed to Peter , the latter to the devil . St . Ambrose fetefats that Peter told no lie when he

    said " I know not the man , our Lord being not a man but a God ; and both Cletneut and Eusebius assert , that the Peter whom Paul withstood ^ atAntioch was not £ eter Jihe Apostle , % ifo somebody ebe . Surely if men are permexed by a hard argument , they would do better to follow Anthony ' s precept , as g ^ ven by Cicero , and pass it crrer ih silence .

    || See m » ore of this in Bailie , pp . 159—161 . I believe It Js li ^ Paramus , in his book on the Holy Inqiiiidtion , who gives a curious example of / a pious fraud in conneidon With a theological dispute . Sib . Ephrem > the S ^ ntian , was ito have a he was absent . the Saint went toiiishouse , and having Itiduced the woman who lived there to lentl hlfei his opponent ' s Bible , he glued all the leaws together and retumed it . 16 the hei ^ i ^ of * he aisputation , St , Ephi em dared the heretic to

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    to 328 Ttie Nonconformist . Vio / % W& .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1820, page 328, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2489/page/4/