CHAPTER I. TWO CLASSES OF PAGAN WORSHIPPERS...CLAIM OF TEMPORAL HAPPINESS BY THE FIRST CLASS... GROUNDS OF IT... REFUTED BY AN APPEAL TO THE GENERAL TEMPER OF PAGANISM...SPECI- MENS FROM EUSEBIUS, ARNOBIUS, AMBROSE, PRUDENTIUS...CAUSE OF THE GOSPEL FARTHER PRETENSION OF PAGANISM TO THE PROMISE OF THE "LIFE TO COME", ...DISPROVED THROUGH THE IN- SIGNIFICANCE OF THE HEATHEN GODS...ENQUIRY PLATO SUPPOSED TO TEACH HIGHER DOCTRINES THAN OTHER PAGANS...INDISCREET ADMIRATION OF HIM...SCHOOL OF ALEXANDRIA...HIS DOCTRINE CONCERNING THE DEITY...SECONDARY GODS... PLATO CONTINUED...HIS PRINCIPLE OF THE IMMOR TALITY OF THE SOUL...HIS HISTORY OF THE SOUL...INFERENCES FROM THE WHOLE...FALSE RSITY CALITUEN PAGANISM AND CHRISTIANITY COMPARED. CHAPTER I. ·· PROMISES OF THE GOSPEL...PERSECUTION OF IT BY ROMANS, GREEKS, AND JEWS...FAITH AND PATIENCE OF THE PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANS... PARALLEL FROM OUR REFORMATION...GENERAL HAPPINESS OF BELIEVERS...RIVAL PRETENSIONS OF PAGANISM. ST. PAUL has affirmed concerning the godliness of which he was an inspired teacher, that it "is profitable to all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. * His immediate intention was to refute an erroneous notion, whether ascribed to certain heretics of the early ages, or more prospectively to the Romish Church, that the pro * 1 Ep. Tim. ch. iv. ver. 8. B fession of the faith of Christ was incompatible with the usual connections and supports of common life. But his declaration extends beyond the controversy itself, and asserts in universal terms, the happy condition of believers under the Gospel. The "bodily exercises," the unbidden austerities and mortifications, against which he argues, have little influence in promoting the welfare of man :---but true Christianity comprehends all good. It unites the blessings of this world and the next. In the present life it allows to us whatever can be desired with innocence, or used with thanksgiving to God; and in the life to come, it offers that transcendent happiness which is promised, in a more eminent manner, through Jesus Christ. In this sense the passage is interpreted by Vatablus, "Iis, qui pium Dei cultum amplexi fuerint, promittitur hîc vita diutina et beata, et tandem æterna." It is impossible not to be struck with admiration, when we consider this assertion, and compare it with the outward circumstances of the Christian church in the age in which the apostle wrote. The Saviour had prepared the minds of his disciples for the trials which * Crit. Sacr, in loc. |