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458 Credibility of the Gospel History.
But each of those suppositions appears to me inconsistent
M'ith Arnobius's ordinary style, M'ho continually speaks of
himself as a christian, and reckons himself one of them.
3Iany such passages might be alleged ; and I put' a few in
the margin : but it is the whole strain of the Mork.
It may be argued likewise, that he was not barely a catechumen
at that time, from'' the description he gives of the
christian worship in their assemblies : not only discourses,
but prayers likewise; at which last, as is generally said,
catechumens were not allowed to be present.
Indeed I do not see how Arnobius could so confidently
assert the innocence and usefulness of every part of christian
worship, as he does, if he was not fully acquainted with it.
Not to add, that it would seem a very extraordinary step, for
a man to undertake the public defence of a religion, who did
not understand the rudiments of it.
I must there take the liberty to say, that I cannot but
question the genuineness of that passage.
That Arnobius was once a blind and zealous idolater, is
fully owned and confessed by' himself. And he professeth
to have been taught by Christ, or that Christ was his master.
But I do not perceive him any where to ascribe his conversion
to dreams by which he had been admonished whilst a
heathen. Nor does Jerom elsewhere mention, or hint at that
matter. It is also observable, that in Jerom's Catalogue,
Arnobius is said to have flourished in the time of Diodesian ;
whereas in the passage in the Chronicle, he is placed at the
twentieth year of Constantine. And if Arnobius had been
in the circumstances intimated in that passage, he must have
' Nihil sumus aliud christian!, 1. i. p. 41. f. Nationibus enim suniiis in
cunctis, p. 10. tn. Audetis nos ridere ! 1. ii. p. 51. Non ergo, quod
sequimur, novum est, sed nossero addidicimus, ib. p. 95, et passim.
^ Nam nostra quidem scripta cur igiiibus meruerunt dari ? cur immaniter
conventicula dirui ? in quibus summus oratur Deu?, pax cunctis et venia postulatur
magistratibus, exercitibus, regibus, familianbus, inimicis, adhuc vitam
degentibus, et resolutis corporuin vinctione ; in quibus aliud auditur nihil,
nisi quod humanos faciat, nisi quod mites, verecundos, pudicos, castos, fami-
liaris communicatores rei, et cum omnibus consolidte germanitatis necessitudine
copulatos. Arnob. 1. iv. p. 152. Lugdun. Bat. 1651. Vid. et lib. 1. p. 14. f.
15. in.
' Venerabar, o caecitas ! nuper simulacra modo ex fornacibus prompta, in
incudibus deos, et malleis fabricatos :
elephantorum ossa, picturatas veternosis
in arboribus tsnias si quando conspexeram, lubricatum lapidem et ex olivi
unguine sordidatum, tanquam inesset vis priEsens, adulabar, atlabar, et beneficia
poscebam nihil sentiente de trunco. Nunc doctore tanto in vias veritatis
inductus, omnia ista, quae sinf, scio : digna de dignis sentio, contumeliam
nomini nullum facio divino ; et quid cuique debcatur, vel persona?, vel capiti,
jnconfusis gradibus atque auctoritatibus, tribuo. Id. 1. i. p. 22, 23.