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| Argument: The Religion of the Christians is Foolish, Inasmuch as They Worship a Crucified Man, and Even the Instrument Itself of His Punishment. They are Said to Worship the Head of an Ass, and Even the Nature of Their Father. They are Initiated by the Slaughter and the Blood of an Infant, and in Shameless Darkness They are All Mixed Up in an Uncertain Medley. PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP
Chapter
IX.—Argument: The Religion of the Christians is Foolish,
Inasmuch as They Worship a Crucified Man, and Even the Instrument
Itself of His Punishment. They are Said to Worship the Head of an
Ass, and Even the Nature of Their Father. They are Initiated by
the Slaughter and the Blood of an Infant, and in Shameless Darkness
They are All Mixed Up in an Uncertain Medley.
“And now, as wickeder things advance more
fruitfully, and abandoned manners creep on day by day, those abominable
shrines of an impious assembly are maturing themselves throughout the
whole world. Assuredly this confederacy ought to be rooted out
and execrated. They know one another by secret marks and
insignia, and they love one another almost before they know one
another. Everywhere also there is mingled among them a certain
religion of lust, and they call one another promiscuously brothers and
sisters, that even a not unusual debauchery may by the intervention of
that sacred name become incestuous: it is thus that their vain
and senseless superstition glories in crimes. Nor, concerning
these things, would intelligent report speak of things so great and
various,1739 and requiring to be
prefaced by an apology, unless truth were at the bottom of it. I
hear that they adore the head of an ass, that basest of creatures,
consecrated by I know not what silly persuasion,—a worthy and
appropriate religion for such manners. Some say that they worship
the virilia of their pontiff and priest,1740
1740 This charge, as Oehler
thinks, refers apparently to the kneeling posture in which penitents
made confession before their bishop. |
and adore the nature, as it were, of their common parent. I know
not whether these things are false; certainly suspicion is applicable
to secret and nocturnal rites; and he who explains their ceremonies by
reference to a man punished by extreme suffering for his wickedness,
and to the deadly wood of the cross, appropriates fitting altars for
reprobate and wicked men, that they may worship what they
deserve. Now the story about the initiation of young novices is
as much to be detested as it is well known. An infant covered
over with meal, that it may deceive the unwary, is placed before him
who is to be stained with their rites: this infant is slain by
the young pupil, who has been urged on as if to harmless blows on the
surface of the meal, with dark and secret wounds.
Thirstily—O
horror!—they lick up its blood; eagerly they divide its
limbs. By this victim they are pledged together; with this
consciousness of wickedness they are covenanted to mutual
silence.1741
1741 This calumny seems to
have originated from the sacrament of the Eucharist. | Such sacred
rites as these are more foul than any sacrileges. And of their
banqueting it is well known all men speak of it everywhere; even the
speech of our Cirtensian1742
1742 Scil.
Fronto of Cirta, spoken of again in ch. xxxi. [A recent very
interesting discovery goes to show that our author was the chief
magistrate of Cirta, in Algeria, from a.d. 210
to 217. See Schaff, vol. iii. p. 841.] | testifies to
it. On a solemn day they assemble at the feast, with all their
children, sisters, mothers, people of every sex and of every age.
There, after much feasting, when the fellowship has grown warm, and the
fervour of incestuous lust has grown hot with drunkenness, a dog that
has been tied to the chandelier is provoked, by throwing a small piece
of offal beyond the length of a line by which he is bound, to rush and
spring; and thus the conscious light being overturned and extinguished
in the shameless darkness, the connections of abominable lust involve
them in the uncertainty of fate. Although not all in fact, yet in
consciousness all are alike incestuous, since by the desire of all of
them everything is sought for which can happen in the act of each
individual.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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