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This walk now, as the noonday sun shone perpendicularly through the chequered leaves, was entirely deserted; at least no other forms than those of Olinthus and the priest infringed upon the solitude.
From its more noisy and frequented banks, Olinthus directed his steps to a path which ran amidst a shady vista of trees, at the distance of a few paces from the river. This walk was in the evening a favorite resort of the Pompeians, but during the heat and business of the day was seldom visited, save by some groups of playful children, some meditative poet, or some disputative philosophers.
'It is Olinthus the Christian or rather the Atheist he denies the gods! 'Peace, brethren, said Olinthus, with dignity, 'and hear me! This murdered priest of Isis before his death embraced the Christian faith he revealed to me the dark sins, the sorceries of yon Egyptian the mummeries and delusions of the fane of Isis. He was about to declare them publicly.
And above those the form of Olinthus, with outstretched arm and prophet brow, girt with the living fires. And the crowd knew the face of him they had doomed to the fangs of the beast then their victim now their warner! and through the stillness again came his ominous voice: 'The hour is come! The Christians repeated the cry.
This rite performed, Olinthus turned to the congregation 'Men and brethren, said he, 'start not to behold amongst you a priest of Isis; he hath sojourned with the blind, but the Spirit hath fallen on him he desires to see, to hear, and to understand.
Olinthus Gregory's moral wisdom treat the Nicenists as in obvious error for not having magnified Christ enough. On so many other sides, however, I met with the new and short creed, "Jesus is Jehovah," that I began to discern Sabellianism to be the prevalent view. A little later, I fell in with a book of an American Professor, Moses Stuart of Andover, on the subject of the Trinity.
'Who is yon cynic? asked a merchant of his companion, a jeweller. 'It is Olinthus, replied the jeweller; 'a reputed Nazarene. The merchant shuddered. 'A dread sect! said he, in a whispered and fearful voice. 'It is said that when they meet at nights they always commence their ceremonies by the murder of a new-born babe; they profess a community of goods, too the wretches! A community of goods!
'Yea; the hour is come! cried a loud voice, solemn, but not fearful. Those around turned in dismay. The voice came from above them. It was the voice of Olinthus, who, surrounded by his Christian friends, stood upon an abrupt eminence on which the old Greek colonists had raised a temple to Apollo, now timeworn and half in ruin.
'Believe I that, O Athenian No, I do not believe I know! and it is that beautiful and blessed assurance which supports me now. O Cyllene! continued Olinthus, passionately, 'bride of my heart! torn from me in the first month of our nuptials, shall I not see thee yet, and ere many days be past? Welcome, welcome death, that will bring me to heaven and thee!
So little, unfortunately, is known of the nature of his disorder, that it would be unjust to express any opinion as to the urgency of the temptation which drove him to the enormous consumption of opium in which he indulged. His biography by Olinthus Gregory sufficiently indicates the severity as well as the early manifestation of his painful disorder.
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