Ib.—“_Ere she again embrace her bridegroom sun._”—“Conjunctio solis cum
luna, quod est veluti utriusque connubium.” _Jablonski._
Page 247.—“_Of his walks a lion is the companion._”—M. Chateaubriand has
introduced Paul and his lion into the “_Martyrs_,” liv. 11.
Page 235.—“_Come thus secretly before day‐break._”—It was among the
accusations of Celsus against the Christians, that they held their
assemblies privately and contrary to law; and one of the speakers in the
curious work of Minucius Felix calls the Christians “latebrosa et
lucifugax natio.”
Page 256.—“_A swallow_,” _&c._—“Je vis dans le desert des hirondelles d’un
gris clair comme le sable sur lequel elles volent.”—_Denon._
Page 257.—“_The comet that once desolated this world._”—In alluding to
Whiston’s idea of a comet having caused the deluge, _M. Girard_, having
remarked that the word Typhon means a deluge, adds, “On ne peut entendre
par le tems du règne de Typhon que celui pendant lequel le déluge inonda
la terre, tems pendant lequel on dût observer la comète qui l’occasionna,
et dont l’apparition fut, non seulement pour les peuples de l’Egypte, et
de l’Ethiopie, mais encore pour tous les peuples le présage funeste de
leur destruction presque totale.” _Description de la Vallée de
l’E’garement._
Page 259.—“_In which the spirit of my dream_,” _&c._—“Many people,” said
_Origen_, “have been brought over to Christianity by the Spirit of God
giving a sudden turn to their minds, and offering visions to them either
by day or night.” On this _Jortin_ remarks:—“Why should it be thought
improbable that Pagans of good dispositions, but not free from prejudices,
should have been called by divine admonitions, by dreams or visions, which
might be a support to Christianity in those days of distress.”
Page 263.—“_One of those earthen cups._”—_Palladius_, who lived some time
in Egypt, describes the monk Ptolemæus, who inhabited the desert of Scete,
as collecting in earthen cups the abundant dew from the
rocks.—_Bibliothec. Pat._ tom. 13.
Page 264.—“_It was to preserve, he said_,” _&c._—The brief sketch here
given of the Jewish dispensation agrees very much with the view taken of
it by Dr. Sumner, the present Bishop of Llandaff, in the first chapters of
his eloquent and luminous work, the “Records of the Creation.”
Page 266.—“_In vain did I seek the promise of immortality._”—“It is
impossible to deny,” says the Bishop of Llandaff, “that the sanctions of
the Mosaic Law are altogether temporal.... It is, indeed, one of the facts
that can only be explained by acknowledging that he really acted under a
divine commission, promulgating a temporary law for a peculiar purpose,”—a
much more candid and sensible way of treating this very difficult point,
than by either endeavouring, like Warburton, to escape from it into a
paradox, or still worse, contriving, like Dr. Graves, to increase its
difficulty by explanation. v. “_On the Pentateuch_.” See also _Horne’s
Introduction_, _&c._ vol. I. p. 226.
Page 268.—“_All are of the dust_,” _&c._—While Voltaire, Volney, &c. refer
to the Ecclesiastes, as abounding with tenets of materialism and
Epicurism, Mr. Des Voeux and others find in it strong proofs of belief in
a future state. The chief difficulty lies in the chapter from which this
text is quoted; and the mode of construction by which some writers attempt
to get rid of it,—namely, by putting these texts into the mouth of a
foolish reasoner,—appears forced and gratuitous. v. _Dr. Hales’s
Analysis_.
Page 270.—“_The noblest and first‐created_,” _&c._—This opinion of the
Hermit may be supposed to have been derived from his master, Origen; but
it is not easy to ascertain the exact doctrine of Origen on this subject.
In the Treatise on Prayer attributed to him, he asserts that God the
Father alone should be invoked,—which, says Bayle, is “encherir sur les
Hérésies des Sociniens.” Notwithstanding this, however, and some other
indications of, what was afterwards called, Arianism, (such as the opinion
of the divinity being received by _communication_, which _Milner_ asserts
to have been held by this Father,) Origen was one of the authorities
quoted by Athanasius in support of his high doctrines of co‐eternity and
co‐essentiality. What Priestley says is, perhaps, the best solution of
these inconsistencies;—“Origen, as well as Clemens Alexandrinus, has been
thought to favour the Arian principle; but he did it only in words and not
in ideas.” _Early Opinions_, _&c._ Whatever uncertainty, however, there
may exist with respect to the opinion of Origen himself on this subject,
there is no doubt that the doctrines of his immediate followers were, at
least, Anti‐Athanasian. “So many Bishops of Africa,” says Priestley,
“were, at this period (between the years 255 and 258), Unitarians, that
Athanasius says, ‘The Son of God,’—meaning his divinity,—‘was scarcely any
longer preached in the churches.’”
Page 271.—“_The restoration of the whole human race to purity and
happiness._”—This benevolent doctrine,—which not only goes far to solve
the great problem of moral and physical evil, but which would, if received
more generally, tend to soften the spirit of uncharitableness, so fatally
prevalent among Christian sects,—was maintained by that great light of the
early Church, Origen, and has not wanted supporters among more modern
Theologians. That Tillotson was inclined to the opinion appears from his
sermon preached before the queen. Paley is supposed to have held the same
amiable doctrine; and Newton (the author of the work on the Prophecies) is
also among the supporters of it. For a full account of the arguments in
favour of this opinion, derived both from reason and the express language
of Scripture, see Dr. Southwood Smith’s very interesting work, “On the
Divine Government.” See also _Magee on the Atonement_, where the doctrine
of the advocates of Universal Restoration is thus briefly and fairly
explained:—“Beginning with the existence of an infinitely powerful, wise,
and good Being, as the first and fundamental principle of rational
religion, they pronounce the essence of this Being to be _love_, and from
this infer, as a demonstrable consequence, that none of the creatures
formed by such a Being will ever be made eternally miserable.... Since God
(they say) would act unjustly in inflicting eternal misery for temporary
crimes, the sufferings of the wicked can be but remedial, and will
terminate in a complete purification from moral disorder, and in their
ultimate restoration to virtue and happiness.”
Page 273.—“_Fruit of the desert shrub._”—v. _Hamilton’s Ægyptiaca_.
Page 278.—“_The white garment she wore, and the ring of gold on her
finger._”—See, for the custom among the early Christians of wearing white
for a few days after baptism, _Ambros. de Myst._—With respect to the ring,
the Bishop of Lincoln says, in his work on Tertullian, “The natural
inference from these words (_Tertull. de Pudicitiâ_) appears to be that a
ring used to be given in baptism; but I have found no other trace of such
a custom.”
Page 280.—“_Pebbles of jasper._”—v. _Clarke_.
Ib.—“_Stunted marigold_,” _&c._—“Les _Mesembryanthemum nodiflorum_ et
_Zygophyllum coccineum_, plantes grasses des déserts, rejetées à cause de
leur âcreté par les chameaux, les chèvres, et les gazelles.” _M. Delile
upon the plants of Egypt._
Page 281.—“_Antinoë._”—v. _Savary_ and _Quatremere_.
Page 286.—“_I have observed in my walks._”—“Je remarquai avec une
réflexion triste, qu’un animal de proie accompagne presque toujours les
pas de ce joli et frêle individu.”
Page 272.—“_Glistened over its silver letters._”—The Codex Cottonianus of
the New Testament is written in silver letters on a purple ground. The
Codex Cottonianus of the Septuagint version of the Old Testament is
supposed to be the identical copy that belonged to Origen.
Page 289.—“_Some denier of Christ._”—Those Christians who sacrificed to
idols to save themselves were called by various names, _Thurificati_,
_Sacrificati_, _Mittentes_, _Negatores_, &c. Baronius mentions a bishop of
this period (253), Marcellinus, who, yielding to the threats of the
Gentiles, threw incense upon the altar. v. _Arnob. contra Gent._ lib. 7.
Page 297.—“_The clear voice with which_,” _&c._—The merit of the
confession “Christianus sum,” or “Christiana sum,” was considerably
enhanced by the clearness and distinctness with which it was pronounced.
_Eusebius_ mentions the martyr Vetius as making it _λαμπροτατη φωνη_.
Page 304.—“_The band round the young Christian’s brow._”—We find poisonous
crowns mentioned by _Pliny_, under the designation of “coronæ ferales.”
_Paschalius_, too, gives the following account of these “deadly garlands,”
as he calls them:—“Sed mirum est tam salutare inventum humanam nequitiam
reperisse, quomodo ad nefarios usus traducent. Nempe, repertæ sunt nefandæ
coronæ harum, quas dixi, tam salubrium per nomen quidem et speciem
imitatrices, at re et effectu ferales, atque adeo capitis, cui imponuntur,
interfectrices.” _De Coronis._