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The works of Nathaniel Lardner - The Christian Researcher - Home

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352 Credibility <strong>of</strong> the Gospel History.<br />

' worship one deity <strong>of</strong> God the Father Almighty, and Christ<br />

' his Son, and the Holy Ghost, under a threefold appellation.<br />

' But the Father we believe to inhabit the supreme and most<br />

' sublime light, w hich Paul calls inaccesible. [1 Tim. vi. 16,]<br />

' <strong>The</strong> Son we think dwells by his power in the sun, by his<br />

' wisdom in the moon : the Holy Spirit, the third Majesty,<br />

' has the air for his residence.'<br />

Here therefore 1 observe that the Manichees are said to<br />

worship tb.e sun. So*^ Socrates expressly. Libanius too<br />

owned that* they worshipped the sun in a secondary sense :<br />

and it is very likely that they paid some respect both totiie<br />

siui and the moon on*^ account <strong>of</strong> the residence <strong>of</strong> the Son<br />

<strong>of</strong> God therein, as just mentioned by Faustus.<br />

However, let us likewise see what others say. We find<br />

Augustine himself charging them with« the worship <strong>of</strong> the<br />

sun and the moon. But in the dispute with Fortunatus,<br />

when called upon to declare if he had seen any thing'<br />

criminal in their worship, he owned that'' he had observed<br />

nothing- amiss in the prayers, at which he was present, except<br />

that they turned themselves toward the sun. In another<br />

place he informs us, that' when they prayed they looked<br />

toward the sun in the day time, and toward the moon in the<br />

uight. In another place he speaks <strong>of</strong>^ their kneeling to the<br />

sun, or toward it. Alexander <strong>of</strong> Lycopol is says they' honour<br />

the sun and moon above all things, not as gods, but as the<br />

way by which we are to go to God. Titus <strong>of</strong> Bostra ascribes<br />

their respect to the sun to their supposition that"' it was composed<br />

<strong>of</strong> parts <strong>of</strong> light entirely j)ure, and unsullied with a<br />

mixture <strong>of</strong> evil. And" Augustine seems to speak to the<br />

habitare credimiis, sapientiam vero in liina : nee non et Spiritus Sancti, qui est<br />

majestas tertia, aeris hunc omnem ambitiini sedem fateniur ac diversorium.<br />

Faust. 1. 20. c. 2.<br />

^ (Cat rou t'fKiov TrpooKwuv cioiwkh. Socr. 1. i. c. 22. p. 56. A.<br />

* See before, p. 268.<br />

f quod vel tu, vel qnilibet alius rogatus, ubinam Deum suum credat<br />

habitare, respondere non dubitabit, in lumine: ex quo cultus hie meus omnium<br />

pene lestimonio confirmatur. Faust, ib. 1. 20. c. 2. f.<br />

8 Solem etiam et lunam cum eis adorant et orant. Aug. T. 2. Ep. 236.<br />

'' al. 74. Ego autem in oratione, qua interfui, nihil turpe<br />

fieri vidi : sed solum eontra fidem animadverti— quod contra solem facitis<br />

orationem. Adv. Fortun. Disp. i. n. 3.<br />

' Orationes faciunt ad solem per diem, quaquaversum circuit -.<br />

ad<br />

lunam<br />

per noctem, si apparet ; si autem non apparet, ad aquiloniam partem, qua sol<br />

cum Occident, ad orientcm revertitur, stant orantes. De Haer. c. 46.<br />

^ Sol iste, cui genu flectitis, &c. De Mor. Manich. cap. 8. n. 1.3.<br />

' TifxajTi t£ /laXiTa rjXiov Kat aiXrjvtjv, «% wc -^fuC) o.\X' wc o^oj' £i' r)c c^iv<br />

TTfioc Qlov arpiKinOai. Alex. L. p. 5. D.<br />

"" ETTiiCt) ct riXiov

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