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fire, into which certain fiercely cruel [beings) shall cast them. ..." (Arnobius) A.N.C.L. vol. xix. p. 81. (8) The Jains have always been opposed to animal sacrifice. Christianity also condemns the practice.
"Do the gods of beaven live on those sacrifices, and must material be supplied to maintain the union of their parts? And what man is there 60 ignorant of what & god is, certainly, as to think that they are maintained by any kind of nourishment, and that it is the food given to them which causes them to live and endure throughout their endless immortality? For whatever is upheld by causes and things external to itself, must be mortal and on the way to destruction, when anything on which it lives begins to be wanting." (Arnobius) A.N.C.L. vol. xix. p. 309.
“.., are the victims not slain in sacrifice to the gods, and cast upon their flaming altars to give them some pleasure and delight? And can any man persuade himself that the gods become mild as they are exhilarated by pleasures, that they long for sensual enjoyment, and, like some base creatures, are affected by agreeable sensations, and charmed and tickled for the moment by a pleasantness which soon passes away? For that which is overcome by pleasure must be harassed by its opposite, sorrow; nor [can that be] free from anxiety of grief, which trembles with joy, and is elated capriciously with gladness. But the gods should be free from both passions, if we would have them to be everlasting, and freed from the weakness of mortals. Moreover, every pleasure is, 'as it were, & kind of flattery of the body, and is addressed to the five well-known senses; but if the gods above feel it, they must partake also of those bodies through which there is a way to the senses, and a door [by which] to receive pleasures. Lastly, what pleasure is it to take delight in the slaughter of harmless creatures, to have the ears ringing often with their piteous bellowings, to see rivers of blood, the life fleeing away with the blood, and the secret parts having been · laid open, not only the intestines to protrude with the excrements, but also the heart still bounding with the life left in it, and the trembl. ing palpitating veins in the viscera... Will any one believe that the gods who are kind, beneficent, gentle, are delighted and filled with joy by the slaughter of cattle, if ever they fall and. expire pitiably
