In a former lecture, it has been observed that the famous passage which we find in Josephus about Jesus Christ, was never mentioned nor alluded to in any way whatever by any of the fathers of the first, second, or third centuries; nor until the time of Eusebius, "_when it was first quoted by himself_." The truth is, none of these fathers could quote or allude to a passage which did not exist in their times, but was, to all points short of absolute certainty, forged and interpolated by Eusebius, as suggested by Gibbon and others. Even the redoubtable Lardner has pronounced this passage to be a forgery. That most ingenuous and fair dealing son of the Church, Mosheim, whose authority and unimpeachable veracity have never been questioned, even by divines, certifies as follows:--"The Platonists and Pythagoreans held it as a maxim, that it was not only lawful, but praiseworthy to _deceive_, and even to make use of the expedient of a _lie_ in order to advance the cause of truth and piety.** The Jews, who had lived in Egypt, had learned and received this maxim from them (the Pythagoreans and Platonists) before the coming of Christ, as appears incontestably from a multitude of ancient records; and the Christians were infected from both these sources with the same pernicious error, as appears from the number of books _attributed falsely_ to great and venerable names." The above extract refers to the second century only, when numerous gospels, epistles, etc., were fabricated and falsely fathered in the manner stated by Mosheim; but in the fourth century there were few exceptions to the standard maxim, that it was an act of the highest merit to deceive and lie, whenever the interests of the priesthood might be promoted thereby. * In the inexhaustible arsenal of St. Paul's conundrums, ambiguous oracles, and common-sense-defying quibbles, they got arms, which answered equally well to combat each other, and to confound all experience and reason. ** Upon this principle exactly, every priest, before he can become a member of the English established church, is obliged to perjure himself on his adoption by the bishop, in swearing two tremendous, palpable, glaring lies; namely, _that he does not seek the living or office for the sake of lucre; but that he is impelled thereto by the Holy Ghost!_ Hear, hear, stall-fed John Bull.