408 
SHORT STUDIES, 
falling into the ocean, the victors reigning in heaven, 
In the Mysteries we have the rebellion of the Titans, 
and tlıe fables of Typhon, and Horus, and Osiris. 
The story of the devil plotting against man is stranger 
than either of these, The Son of God is injured 
by the devil, and charges us when we are afflicted 
to bear it patiently. Why not punish tle devil, 
instead of threatening poor wretches whom he 
deceives ? 
Christ must necds suffer, you say, because ıt was 
so foretold. The oracles under whose guidance so 
many colonies have been founded were nothing, 
but every word spoken or not spoken in Judmea 
must be infallible. Prophets and diviners are to 
be found at the present day scattered everywhere, 
They are to be met with in temples, and camps, 
and cities, with crowds gathered about them. ‘I 
am God,’ they say, ‘or the son of God, or the Holy 
Spirit, and I have come because the world is to 
perish, and you, olı men, are Jike to perish, too, in 
your iniquities; but I will save you; hereafter you 
will see me coming in the power of heaven; blessed 
are those who believe in me now ; the rest I will burn 
with everlasting fire; repentance will then be in 
van} only those who now listen shall escape.” Then 
the ter some unintelligible nonsense from which