The works of Nathaniel Lardner - The Christian Researcher - Home

AuNOBius. A. D. 306. 471
irreligious, atheistical. But that is another tiling-, and relates
only to tlieir disowning- the litatiien deities, and abandoning"
their Morship, together with ail their rites and ceremonies.
(2.) But his book begins Avith that |)o|)uIar he.ithen complaint
and calumny against the christians, that" they were
the occasion of all the calamities that betell mankind. This
complaint, taken up' long- before, was continued a good
while after tiiis, and is finely answered by" our Arnobius,
as well as by later^ christian writers. That absurd and
ridiculous charge seems to have been the immediate occasion
of Arnobius's resolving- to write an apology for the cliris-
tians.
(3.) Another objection against the christians was, th;it"
their religion was new. To which good answers may be
seen in Arnobius, to'' whom 1 refer.
(4.) Another was, thaty Christ came no sooner. To which
Arnobius makes several'- answers, and among- the rest this:
that there^ may be good reasons, well known to God, though
men be unacquainted with them ; and that this is a sufficient
answer.
(5.) They objected: ' If' Christ came to save men, why
* are not all saved ?'
' Quoniam comperi nonnullos, qui se plurimum sapere suis persuasionibus
credunt, insanire, bacchari, et velut quiddam proniturn ex oraculo dicere
postqiiam esse in mundo Christiana gens ccepit, terrarum orbem periisse multi-
ibrmibus malis affectum esse genus humanum :
ipsos etiam coelites derelictis
curis solennibus, quibus quondam solebant invisere res nostras, terrarum ab
regionibus exterminatos : statui pro captu ac niediocritate sermonis contraire
invidiee, et calumniosas dissolvere criminationes; ne aut illi sibi videantur,
popularia dum verba depromunt, magnum aliquid dicere ; aut nos, &c. 1. i.
p. 1. ' Vid. Tertul. Ap. c. 40.
" P. 258, &c.
" Vid. P. Oros. Hist, et August. Retr, 1. ii. c. 43.
* Religiones, inquiunt, impias, atque inauditos cultus terrarum in orbem
trahitis. 1. i. p. 13. Neque quod nobis objectare consuestis, novellam esse
religionem nostram, et ante dies natam propemodum paucos, neque vos potuisse
antiquam et patriam relinquere, et in barbaros ritus peregrinosque reduci,
ratione istud intenditur nulla. 1. ii. p. 90, et passim.
" Non ergo, quod sequimur, novum est ; scd nos sero didicimus, &c. 1. ii.
p. 95, &c. >' Et quid, inquit, est visum Deo regi atque
principi, ut ante horas, quemadmodum dicitur, pauculas, sospitator ad vos
Christus coeli ex arcibus mitteretur ? 1. ii. p. 96.
' Vid. p. 87, 90, 96, 97.
" Quaenam igitur ratio est? Non imus inficias, nescire nos. Neque enim
promtum est cuiquam Dei mentem videre, aut quibus modis ordinaverit res
suas. Homo, animal caecum, et ipsum se nesciens, nullis potest rationibus
consequi, quid oporteat fieri, quando, vel quo genere. Ipse rerum cunctarum
pater, moderator, et dominus scit id solus, &c. p. 96, 97.
^ Sed si generis Christus humani, ut inquitis, conservator advenit, quare
omnino non omnes aequali munificentia liberat ? 1. ii. p. 88.
: