Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/159

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 141 doctrines, without being able to produce a single argu- Cll A P. igag( nient that could engage the attention of men of sense " ' and learning^. It is at least doubtful whether any of these philoso- Their ne- phers perused the apologies which the primitive chris- pjfg*,!" ^"^^ tians repeatedly published in behalf of themselves and of their religion ; but it is much to be lamented that such a cause was not defended by abler advocates. They expose with superfluous wit and eloquence, the extravagance of polytheism. They interest our com- passion by displaying the innocence and sufferings of their injured brethren. But when they would demon- strate the divine origin of Christianity, they insist much more strongly on the predictions which announced, than on the miracles which accompanied, the appear^ ance of the Messiah. Their favourite argument might serve to edify a christian or to convert a jew, since both the one and the other acknowledge the authority of those prophecies, and both are obliged, with devout reverence, to search for their sense and their accom- plishment. But this mode of persuasion loses much of its weiirht and influence, when it is addressed to those who neither understand nor respect the Mosaic dis- pensation and the prophetic style''. In the unskilful hands of Justin and of the succeeding apologists, the sublime meaning of the Hebrew oracles evaporates in distant types, affected conceits, and cold allegories ; and even their authenticity was rendered suspicious to an unenlightened gentile, by the mixture of pious for- geries, which, under the names of Orpheus, Hermes, and the sibyls', were obtruded on him as of equal value e Dr. Lardner, in his first and second volume of Jewish and christian testimonies, collects and illustrates those of Pliny the younger, of Tacitus, of Galen, of Marcus Antoninus, and perhaps of Epictelus (for it is doubtful whether that philosopher means to speak of the christians.) 'J'he new sect is totally unnoticed by Seneca, the elder Pliny, and J^lutarch. '' If the famous prophecy of the seventy weeks had been alleged to a Roman philosopher, would he not have replied in the words of Cicero, " Quaj tandem ista auguratio est, annorum potius quam aut mensium aut dierum?" De Divinatione, ii. 30. Observe with what irreverence Lucian (in Alexandro, c. 13.) and his friend Celsus ap. Origen. (1. vii. p. 327.) express themselves concerning the Hebrew prophets. ' Tiie philosophers, who derided the more ancient predictions of the