Πρὸς δὲ καὶ ὅτι ὁ αὐτὸς θεὸς ἀμφοῖν ταῖν διαθήκαιν χορηγὸς, ὁ καὶ τῆς Ἑλληνικῆς φιλοσοφίας δοτὴρ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν, δι’ ἧς ὁ παντοκράτωρ παρ’ Ἕλλησι δοξάζεται, παρέστησεν, δῆλον δὲ κἀνθένδε.—Clem. Alex. Strom., VI. v. 42.
“Totam igitur veritatem et omne divinæ religionis arcanum philosophi attigerunt.”—Lactantius, Inst. viii. 7.
“Ut quivis arbitretur, aut nunc Christianos philosophos esse, aut philosophos fuisse jam tunc Christianos.”—Minucius Felix, Octavius, c. xx.
“Res ipsa, quæ nunc religio Christiana nuncupatur, erat apud antiquos, nec defuit ab initio generis humani, quousque Christus veniret in carnem, unde vera religio, quæ jam erat, cœpit appellari Christiana.”—Augustine, Retr., i. 13.
“Natura omnibus Dei inesse notitiam, nec quemquam sine Deo nasci, et non habere in se semina sapientiæ et justitiæ reliquarumque virtutum.”—Hieron., Comm. in Gal., I., 1, 15.
[G] Ἐγὼ δὲ φοβοῦμαι μὴ ὑπὸ φιλανθρωπίας δοκῶ αὐτοῖς ὅ τί περ ἔχω ἐκκεχυμένως παντὶ ἀνδρι λέγειν.—Plato, Euthyphron, § 3.
“Quodque a Græcis φιλανθρωρία dicitur, et significat dexteritatem quandam benevolentiamque erga omnes homines promiscuam.”—Aulus Gellius, B. XIII., c. xvi. 1.
How much more frank and scholarlike are the admissions of Dean Milman: “If we were to glean from the later Jewish writings, from the beautiful aphorisms of other Oriental nations, which we cannot fairly trace to Christian sources, and from the Platonic and Stoic philosophy their more striking precepts, we might find, perhaps, a counterpart to almost all the moral sayings of Jesus.”—Hist. Christianity, B. I., c. iv., § 3.
[H] Digby’s Ages of Faith, II., 174, 178, 287-289, &c. Digby’s inconsistent method has ample precedent in the early Christian apologists. Tertullian, for instance, glorifies the Christian martyrs, and then, to show that they are not foolish or desperate men, cites the precedents of Regulus, Zeno, Mutius Scævola, and many others (Apol. c. 50)!
[I] Compare Neander (Am. tr.), I., 450. Huc’s Thibet, II., 50. Tennent’s Christianity in Ceylon, pp. 219, 220.