iers? That
wretches brought out of the temple of obscenity could be trusted with
arms? That those contaminated with the foul debaucheries of these
meetings should be the champions for the chastity of the wives and
children of the Roman people?" "Let us now closely examine how far the
Eleusinian and Bacchanalian feasts resembled the Christian
Agapae--whether the latter, modified and altered a little according to
the change which would take place in the taste of the age, originated
from the former, or were altogether from a different source. We have
seen that the forementioned Pagan feasts were, throughout Italy, in a
very flourishing state about 186 years before the Christian era. We have
also seen that about this time they were, at least, partially suppressed
in Italy, and those who were wont to take part in them dispersed over
the world. Being zealously devoted to the religion of which these feasts
were part, it is very natural to suppose that, wherever the votaries of
this superstition settled, they soon established these feasts, which
they were enabled to carry on secretly, and, therefore, for a
considerable time, undetected.... Both Pagans and Christians, in ancient
times, were particularly careful not to disclose their _mysteries_; to
do so, in violation of their oaths, would cost their lives" ("The
Prophet of Nazareth," by E.P. Meredith, notes, pp. 225, 226). Mr.
Meredith then points out how in Rome, in Lyons, in Vienne, "the
Christians were actually accused of murdering children and others--of
committing adultery, incest, and other flagrant crimes in their secret
lovefeasts. The question, therefore, arises--were they really guilty of
the barbarous crimes with which they were so often formally charged, and
for the commission of which they were almost as often legally condemned,
and punished with death? Is it probable that persons _at Rome_, who had
once belonged to these lovefeasts, should tell a deliberate falsehood
that the Christians perpetrated these abominable vices, and that other
persons _in France_, who had also been connected with these feasts,
should falsely state that the Christians were guilty of the very same
execrable crimes? There was no collusion or connection whatever between
these parties, and in making their statements, they could have no
self-interested motive. They lived in different countries, they did not
make their statements within twenty years of the same time, and by
making such statement