Pauline Christianity in the fourth century A.D. was an attempt to re-establish that form of Paganism which had prevailed prior to the rise of Greek philosophy. This older religion, which had its origin in Sun worship, or in the worship of the two fecundating principles throughout nature, had as early as the Periclean age ceased to claim the attention of the educated classes among the Greeks. Æschylus barely escaped being stoned to death for heresy, and as is well known, Socrates the founder of the Stoic philosophy was forced to drink of the fatal cup because of his unbelief in the prevailing superstitions. Not to destroy Paganism itself but to exterminate the last vestige of Greek philosophy was the task which the Pauline Christians had set themselves to perform. Jesus now became the new Solar Deity and all the forms observed under the older Paganism were now attached to his worship. He was born at the winter solstice, or at the time when the sun had reached its zenith and was about to return. He died and was buried, but at the vernal equinox, Easter, the time at which all nature is revived—he arose from the dead and became the Saviour of mankind. The entire Christian calendar is copied from the ancient Pagan worship. A medal was struck on which appeared the figure of a man on a cross, on the obverse side of which was the representation of a blazing sun. Christ was the new Sun of Righteousness, the giver and preserver of life. Every page in the history of the Pauline religion reveals its masculine origin. The Deities worshipped are a Father and a Son. All the angels and archangels are men. All extant Gospels and Epistles have been written and expounded by men. It is true that in response to a popular demand in the fifth century for a recognition of the female principle, the Virgin Mary, an ancient Deity, reappeared. The lateness of her coming, however, shows that she was an afterthought. Moreover, it must be borne in mind that, true to the ancient doctrine which was revived by Paul relative to the divinity of man and the material nature of woman, the Mother of Jesus was human while the Father and the Son were divine. She was matter. They were spirit. Among the discussions of the early Pauline “Fathers” none was more important than these. Ought women to be allowed to learn the alphabet? And has woman a soul? It is recorded that a few of these pious leaders entertained the opinion that because of the great power and goodness of the Almighty “women may possibly be permitted to rise as men at the resurrection.”