OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Moldenke, Edward Frederick

Edition of 1900.
​MOLDENKE, Edward Frederick, theologian, b. in Insterburg, Prussia, 10 Aug., 1836. He was educated in the universities of Königsberg and Halle, studying specially theology and philosophy, and was successively principal of a parish school at Eckersberg, Prussia, and professor in the gymnasium of Lyck, which post he held until July, 1861. At this date he came as a travelling Lutheran missionary to Wisconsin and Minnesota, and in 1863 he was elected first professor of theology in the seminary of the synod of Wisconsin. He returned to Germany in 1866, and was pastor at Johannisburg until 1869, preaching in German and Polish. He returned to America in that year and became pastor of Zion's Lutheran church in New York city. At present (1888) he is pastor of St. Peter's German Lutheran church in that city. In 1865 he was editor of the “Gemeindeblatt” at Watertown, Wis. He wrote the doctrinal articles for the “Lutherische Herold,” New York, in 1869-'70, and was editor of the same paper in 1877-'9. With others he began the “Lutherisches Kirchenblatt” in Philadelphia in 1884, and has been editor of “Siloah,” a monthly paper of the general council in the interest of German home missions, since 1882. He received the degrees of M. A. and Ph. D. from the University of Rostock, Germany, in 1865, and that of D. D. from Muhlenberg college, Pa., in 1887. He has published series of articles in the Berlin “Evang. Kirchenzeitung” on “Fünf Jahre in Amerika” (1868-70) and “New Yorker Kirchenspiegel” (1870-'3), and, in book-form, “Luther-Büchlein,” a poem (Allentown, Pa., 1879). He has edited “Darstellung der modernen deutschen Theologie” (Watertown, Wis., 1865). — His son, Charles Edward, b. in Lyck, Prussia, 10 Oct., 1860, was graduated at Columbia in 1879, spent a year at the Lutheran theological seminary in Philadelphia, and studied in Halle and Strasburg, Germany, until 1884. In that year he received the degree of Ph. D. from Strasburg university. He published his inaugural dissertation, “Die altegyptischen Texten erwaehnten Baeume und deren Verwerthung” (Leipsic, 1886; American ed., 1887); the text of the New York obelisk, with explanations, the first print in hieroglyphic type ever issued in America (1887); and “The World's most Ancient Fairy-Tale, the Two Brothers,” in hieratic (1887).
# Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VII/Lactantius/The Divine Institutes/The Epitome of the Divine Institutes/Chap. VIII

Chap. VIII.—Of Æsculapius, Apollo, Mars, Castor and Pollux, and of Mercurius and Bacchus.
Tarquitius relates that Æsculapius was born of doubtful parents, and that on this account he was exposed; and being taken up by hunters, and fed by the teats of a hound, was given to Chiron for instruction. He lived at Epidaurus, and was buried at Cynosuræ, as Cicero says, when he had been killed by lightning. But Apollo, his father, did not disdain to take charge of another’s flock that he might receive a wife; and when he had unintentionally killed a boy whom he loved, he inscribed his own lamentations on a flower. Mars, a man of the greatest bravery, was not free from the charge of adultery, since he was made a spectacle, being bound with a chain together with the adulteress.
Castor and Pollux carried off the brides of others, but not with impunity, to whose death and burial Homer bears witness, not with poetical, but simple faith. Mercurius, who was the father of Androgynus by his intrigue with Venus, deserved to be a god, because he invented the lyre and the palæstra. Father Bacchus, after subduing India as a conqueror, having by chance come to Crete, saw Ariadne on the shore, whom Theseus had forced and deserted. Then, being inflamed by love, he united her in marriage to himself, and placed her crown, as the poets say, conspicuously among the stars. The mother of the gods herself, while she lived in Phrygia after the banishment and death of her husband, though a widow, and aged, was enamoured of a beautiful youth; and because he was not faithful, she mutilated, and rendered him effeminate: on which account even now she delights in the Galli as her priests.

## Footnotes

* ↑ Cicero, De Nat. Deor., iii. 22.
* ↑ When Pelias had promised his daughter Alcestis to Admetus, on condition of his coming to her in a chariot drawn by lions and boars, Apollo enabled Admetus to fulfil this condition.
* ↑ Rhea or Cybele.
* ↑ Galli, the priests of Cybele, were so called: they mutilated themselves, and performed many raving ceremonies.
# Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VII/Lactantius/The Divine Institutes/The Epitome of the Divine Institutes/Chap. XI

Chap. XI.—The Various Emblems Under Which the Poets Veiled the Turpitude of Jupiter.
But some one will say that these things are feigned by the poets. This is not the usage of the poets, to feign in such a manner that you fabricate the whole, but so that you cover the actions themselves with a figure, and, as it were, with a variegated veil. Poetic licence has this limit, not that it may invent the whole, which is the part of one who is false and senseless, but that it may change something consistently with reason. They said that Jupiter changed himself into a shower of gold, that he might deceive Danae. What is a shower of gold? Plainly golden coins, by offering a great quantity of which, and pouring them into her bosom, he corrupted the frailty of her virgin soul by this bribe. Thus also they speak of a shower of iron, when they wish to signify a multitude of javelins. He carried off his catamite upon an eagle. What is the eagle? Truly a legion, since the figure of this animal is the standard of the legion. He carried Europa across the sea on a bull. What is the bull? Clearly a ship, which had its tutelary image fashioned in the shape of a bull. So assuredly the daughter of Inachus was not turned into a cow, nor as such did she swim across, but she escaped the anger of Juno in a ship which had the form of a cow. Lastly, when she had been conveyed to Egypt, she became Isis, whose voyage is celebrated on a fixed day, in memory of her flight.

## Footnotes

* ↑ Tutela. The image of some deity, supposed to be the tutelary guardian of the ship, was usually painted on the stern.
# Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VII/Lactantius/The Divine Institutes/The Epitome of the Divine Institutes/Chap. XII

Chap. XII.—The Poets Do Not Invent All Those Things Which Relate to the Gods.
You see, then, that the poets did not invent all things, and that they prefigured some things, that, when they spoke the truth, they might add something like this of divinity to those whom they called gods; as they did also respecting their kingdoms. For when they say that Jupiter had by lot the kingdom of Cœlus, they either menu Mount Olympus, on which ancient stories relate that Saturnus, and afterwards Jupiter, dwelt, or a part of the East, which is, as it were, higher, because the light arises thence; but the region of the West is lower, and therefore they say that Pluto obtained the lower regions; but that the sea was given to Neptune, because he had the maritime coast, with all the islands. Many things are thus coloured by the poets; and they who are ignorant of this, censure them as false, but only in word: for in fact they believe them, since they so fashion the images of the gods, that when they make them male and female, and confess that some are married, some parents, and some children, they plainly assent to the poets; for these relations cannot exist without intercourse and the generation of children.
# Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VII/Lactantius/The Divine Institutes/The Epitome of the Divine Institutes/Chap. V

Chap. V.—That the Prophetic Women—That Is, the Sibyls—Declare that There is But One God.
It remains to speak of the prophetic women. Varro relates that there were ten Sibyls,—the first of the Persians, the second the Libyan, the third the Delphian, the fourth the Cimmerian, the fifth the Erythræan, the sixth the Samian, the seventh the Cumæan, the eighth the Hellespontian, the ninth the Phrygian, the tenth the Tiburtine, who has the name of Albunea. Of all these, he says that there are three books of the Cumæan alone which contain the fates of the Romans, and are accounted sacred, but that there exist, and are commonly regarded as separate, books of almost all the others, but that they are entitled, as though by one name, Sibylline books, excepting that the Erythræan, who is said to have lived in the times of the Trojan war, placed her name in her book: the writings of the others are mixed together.
All these Sibyls of whom I have spoken, except the Cumæan, whom none but the Quindecemviri are allowed to read, bear witness that there is but one God, the ruler, the maker, the parent, not begotten of any, but sprung from Himself, who was from all ages, and will be to all ages; and therefore is alone worthy of being worshipped, alone of being feared, alone of being reverenced, by all living beings;—whose testimonies I have omitted because I was unable to abridge them; but if you wish to see them, you must have recourse to the books themselves. Now let us follow up the remaining subjects.

## Footnotes

* ↑ [See Cyprian on Balaam, vol. v. p. 502, note 7. A hint as to the qualified inspiration of these women.]
* ↑ The appointed guardians of the Sibylline books. At first there were two; the number was afterwards increased to ten, and subsequently to fifteen, termed Quindecemviri.
# Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VII/Lactantius/The Divine Institutes/The Epitome of the Divine Institutes/Chap. XIII

Chap. XIII.—The Actions of Jupiter are Related from the Historian Euhemerus.
But let us leave the poets; let us come to history, which is supported both by the credibility of the facts and by the antiquity of the times. Euhemerus was a Messenian, a very ancient writer, who gave an account of the origin of Jupiter, and his exploits, and all his posterity, gathered from the sacred inscriptions of ancient temples; he also traced out the parents of the other gods, their countries, actions, commands, and deaths, and even their sepulchres. And this history Ennius translated into Latin, whose words are these:—
“As these things are written, so is the origin and kindred of Jupiter and his brothers; after this manner it is handed clown to us in the sacred writing.”
The same Euhemerus therefore relates that Jupiter, when he had five times gone round the world, and had distributed governments to his friends and relatives, and had given laws to men, and had wrought many other benefits, being endued with immortal glory and everlasting remembrance, ended his life in Crete, and departed to the gods, and that his sepulchre is in Crete, in the town of Gnossus, and that upon it is engraved in ancient Greek letters Zankronou, which is Jupiter the son of Saturnus. It is plain, therefore, from the things which I have related, that he was a man, and reigned on the earth.
# Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VII/Lactantius/The Divine Institutes/The Epitome of the Divine Institutes/Chap. LXXIII

Chap. LXXIII.—The Hope of Safety is in the Religion and Worship of God.
Wherefore, since all these things are true and certain, in harmony with the predicted announcement of the prophets, since Trismegistus and Hystaspes and the Sibyls have foretold the same things, it cannot be doubted that all hope of life and salvation is placed in the religion of God alone. Therefore, unless a man shall have received Christ, whom God has sent, and is about to send for our redemption, unless he shall have known the Supreme God through Christ, unless he shall have kept His commandments and law, he will fall into those punishments of which we have spoken. Therefore frail things must be despised, that we may gain those which are substantial; earthly things must be scorned, that we may be honoured with heavenly things; temporal things must be shunned, that we may reach those which are eternal. Let every one train himself to justice, mould himself to self-restraint, prepare himself for the contest, equip himself for virtue, that if by any chance an adversary shall wage war, he may be driven from that which is upright and good by no force, no terror, and no tortures, may give himself up to no senseless fictions, but in his uprightness acknowledge the true and only God, may cast away pleasures, by the attractions of which the lofty soul is depressed to the earth, may hold fast innocency, may be of service to as many as possible, may gain for himself incorruptible treasures by good works, that he may be able, with God for his judge, to gain for the merits of his virtue either the crown of faith, or the reward of immortality.

## Footnotes

* ↑ Se substernet.
# Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VII/Lactantius/The Divine Institutes/The Epitome of the Divine Institutes/Chap. X

Chap. X.—Of Jupiter, and His Licentious Life.
But respecting the king and father of all these, Jupiter, whom they believe to possess the chief power in heaven,—what power had he, who banished his father Saturnus from his kingdom, and pursued him with arms when he fled? What self-restraint had he, who indulged every kind of lust? For he made Alcmena and Leda, the wives of great men, infamous through his adultery: he also, captivated with the beauty of a boy, carried him off with violence as he was hunting and meditating manly things, that he might treat him as a woman. Why should I mention his debaucheries of virgins? and how great a multitude of these there was, is shown by the number of his sons. In the case of Thetis alone he was more temperate. For it bad been predicted that the son whom she should bring forth would be more powerful than his father. Therefore he struggled with his love, that one might not be born greater than himself. He knew, therefore, that he was not of perfect virtue, greatness, and power, since he feared that which he himself had done to his father. Why, therefore, is he called best and greatest, since he both contaminated himself with faults, which is the part of one who is unjust and bad, and feared a greater than himself, which is the part of one who is weak and inferior?

## Footnotes

* ↑ Quid potestatis. Others read “pietatis,” which appears more suitable to the sense of the passage.
# Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VII/Lactantius/The Divine Institutes/The Epitome of the Divine Institutes/Chap. VI

Chap. VI.—Since God is Eternal and Immortal, He Does Not Stand in Need of Sex and Succession.
These testimonies, therefore, so many and so great, clearly teach that there is but one government in the world, and one power, the origin of which cannot be imagined, or its force described. They are foolish, therefore, who imagine that the gods were born of marriage, since the sexes themselves, and the intercourse between them, were given to mortals by God for this reason, that every race might be preserved by a succession of offspring. But what need have the immortals either of sex or succession since neither pleasure nor death affects them? Those, therefore, who are reckoned as gods, since it is evident that they were born as men, and that they begat others, were plainly mortals: but they were believed to be gods, because, when they were great and powerful kings, on account of the benefits which they had conferred upon men, they deserved to obtain divine honours after death; and temples and statues being erected to them, their memory was retained and celebrated as that of immortals.
# Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VII/Lactantius/The Divine Institutes/The Epitome of the Divine Institutes/Chap. VII

Chap. VII.—Of the Wicked Life and Death of Hercules.
But though almost all nations are persuaded that they are gods, yet their actions, as related both by poets and historians, declare that they were men. Who is ignorant of the times in which Hercules lived, since he both sailed with the Argonauts on their expedition, and having stormed Troy, slew Laomedon, the father of Priam, on account of his perjury? From that time rather more than fifteen hundred years are reckoned. He is said not even to have been born honourably, but to have been sprung from Alcmena by adultery, and to have been himself addicted to the vices of his father. He never abstained from women, or males, and traversed the whole world, not so much for the sake of glory as of lust, nor so much for the slaughter of beasts as for the begetting of children. And though he was unvanquished, yet he was triumphed over by Omphale alone, to whom he gave up his club and lion’s skin; and being clothed in a woman’s garment, and crouching at a woman’s feet, he received his task to execute. He afterwards, in a transport of frenzy, killed his little children and his wife Megara. At last, having put on a garment sent by his wife Deianyra, when he was perishing through ulcers, being unable to endure the pain, he constructed for himself a funeral pile on Mount Œta, and burnt himself alive. Thus it is effected, that although on account of his excellence he might have been believed to be a god, nevertheless on account of these things be is believed to have been a man.

## Footnotes

* ↑ Pensa quæ faceret. “Pensum” properly signifies the wool daily weighed out and given to each servant.
* ↑ Ob virtutem.
# Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VII/Lactantius/The Divine Institutes/The Epitome of the Divine Institutes/Chap. XIV

Chap. XIV.—The Actions of Saturnus and Uranus Taken from the Historians.
Let us pass on to former things, that we may discover the origin of the whole error. Saturnus is said to have been born of Cœlus and Terra. This is plainly incredible; but there is a certain reason why it is thus related, and he who is ignorant of this rejects it as a fable. That Uranus was the father of Saturnus, both Hermes affirms, and sacred history teaches. When Trismegistus said that there were very few men of perfect learning, he enumerated among them his relatives, Uranus, Saturnus, and Mercurius. Euhemerus relates that the same Uranus was the first who reigned on earth, using these words: “In the beginning Cœlus first had the chief power on earth: he instituted and prepared that kingdom for himself together with his brothers.”

## Footnotes

* ↑ From this point the manuscripts are defective to ch. xx.
# Barack Obama's Letter to James A. Grogan

Sent to James A. Grogan on 15 August 2008.
| “ | James A. Grogan, General President International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers 9602 M. L. King Jr. Hwy. Lanham, MD 20706 Dear President Grogan, Thank you for the endorsement of the International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers. It is an honor to have your support in this presidential campaign, and I am grateful to the brothers and sisters of the Insulators Union for devoting time, effort and hard work to our movement for change. I am proud to stand with the Insulators Union in our joint effort to build an America that values the labor of every American and rewards it with a few basic guarantees – wages that can raise a family, health care if we get sick, a retirement that's dignified, working conditions that are safe. On behalf of your members and their families, I am fighting to make sure that all Americans have access to quality healthcare, enjoy fair treatment at work, receive a fair share of the wealth they create, and that all children benefit from excellent educational opportunities. The men and women of the Insulators Union, and all working families, deserve a President who is committed to improving the lives of working families. I will honor that commitment, as I have for over two decades in public life. Your efforts are a part of this movement, and I look forward to working with you, not just to win in November, but to deliver on the change working Americans deserve. We're in this together, and I appreciate all you're doing. I cannot do this without you, so please stay involved. Together, we will create the changes we seek. Sincerely, [signature] Barack Obama | ” |
# Barack Obama's Letter to John Gage regarding Social Security

20 October 2008.
| “ | John Gage National President American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO 80 F Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 Dear President Gage, I am writing to respond to the concerns you raised with my staff regarding the challenges facing the Social Security Administration (SSA), and the issue of Social Security privatization. Fristly, I strongly agree with you that there is a critical need to increase funding for the SSA administrative expenses account to address the serious challenges facing the agency. Due to prolonged underfunding, SSA has reduced staffing levels even as its workload has increased. SSA agency staffing will soon reach its lowest level since 1972 even though SSA's beneficiary population has nearly doubled since that time. An unfortunate result of underfunding is an unprecedented backlog in SSA disability claims. As of August 2008, about 767,000 people were awaiting a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge on their Social Security disability claims, compared to about 312,000 cases pending in October 2008. There has also been an increase in Field Office waiting times. Second, I want assure you that I will continue to strongly oppose Social Security privatization. As you know, I have spoken out many times against President Bush's Social Security privatization plan, including a major speech in the midst of the 2005 privatization debate at the National Press Club. I also voted in 2005, 2006 and 2007 against amendments supported by Senator McCain and other Republicans that aimed to privatize Social Security. Thank you, John, for everything you and your members do for America. Sincerely, [signature] Barack Obama | ” |
# Barack Obama's Letter regarding the Open Debate Coalition

6 October 2008.
| “ | Open Debate Coalition VIA EMAIL: opendebatecoalition@gmail.com Dear Friends: I am writing in support of the Open Debate Coalition's recent call to make the presidential debates more "of the people" by making them ore accessible to the Internet community. In May 2007, I echoed the Open Debate Coalition's call to have the primary debates made freely available to the public for fair use and distribution. I have also championed citizen participation using technology in this campaign and as a function of government. I wrote last year to the Chairman of my Party: "The Internet has enabled an extraordinary range of citizens to participate in the political dialogue around this election. Much of that participation will take the form of citizen generated content. We, as a Party, should do everything that we can to encourage this participation... I am a strong believer in the importance of copyright, especially in a digital age. But there is no reason that this particular class of content needs the protection. We have incentive enough to debate. The networks have incentive enough to broadcast those debates. Rather than restricting the product of those debates, we should instead make sure that our democracy and citizens have the chance to benefit from them in all the ways that technology makes possible." Town hall debates such as the October 7 debate provide an excellent opportunity to utilize technology to give voters more of a role in determining which questions are selected and sked. For example, during the MTV forum in which I participated this year, the Internet community voted to ask questions regarding my position on network neutrality, which I support. I support the use of such technology in debates as the Coalition proposes in its letter. I urge both the Commission on Presidential Debates and the television networks to take action to free the content of the Presidential debates produce and to engage voters more directly in the questions asked during debates. Technology and the Internet continue to play a revolutionary role in this campaign. I fully intend to engage the technology community and its expertise as President, and we will continue to let loose the power of innovation and technology to help Americans take their government and the public debate into their own hands. Sincerely, [signature] Barack Obama | ” |