422 The NEW and COMPLETE LIFE of our BLESSED LORD been often feen, and which he himfelf had fees, as he declares in another part ofhis difcourfe againfl Celfus. But, at the fame time, he affures us, that this miraculous power was exerted by the ufe of no other name but that of Jesus, to which were added feveral paffages in his hiflory, but nothing like any invocation to dwmons. Celfus was fo hard fet with the report of our Saviour's miracles, and the confi- dent-atteflationsconcerning him,thatthough be often intimates he did not believe them to be true, yet knowing he might be filenced in filch an anfwer, provides himfelf with another retreat, when beaten out of this, namely, that our Saviour was a magician. Thus he compares the feeding offo many thoufands, at two different times, with a few loaves and fifhes, to the magical feafts of thofe Egyptian impoflors, who would prefent their fpeaators with vifionary en- tertainments, that had in them neither fub- fiance nor reality : which, by the way, is to fuppofe, that an hungry and fainting multitude were filled by an apparition, or flrengthened and refrefhed with fhadows. The uneönverted Heathens, who were prelled by the many authorities that con- firmed our Saviour's miracles, as well as the unbelieving Jews, who had actually feen them, were driven to account for them after the fame manner; for, to work by magic, in the Heathen way of fpeaking, was, in the language of the Jews, to call out devils by Beelzebub the prince of the devils. Our Saviour, who knew that un- believers, in all ages, would put this per- verfe interpretation on his miracles, has branded the malignity of thofe men, who, contrary to the diétates of their own hearts, flarted fuch an unreafonable objeaion, as a blafphemy againft the Holy Ghoft, and declared not only the guilt, but the pu- nifhment. of fo black a crime. At the fame time, he condefcended to thew the vanity and emptinefs of this objeaion againfl his miracles, by reprefentïngg that they evi- dently tended to the defiruftion of thofe powers, to-whore allìflanee the enemies of his dofrine then afcribed them. An argu- ment which, if duly weighed, renders the objeaion fo very frivolous and groundlefs, that we mayventure tocall iteven blafphe- my againfl common fenfe. It wouldbe ab- furd to imagine, that evil fpirits would enter into a combination with -our Saviour to cut offall their correfpondence, and intercourfe with mankind, and to prevent any for the future from addicting themfelves to thofe rit,es and ceremonies, which had done them fo much honour. We fee the early eflea which Chriflianity hadon the minds of men in this particular, by that number ofbooks which were filled with the fecrets of magic, and made a facrifice to Chriftianity by the converts mentioned in the Aéts of the apofiles. We have likewife an eminent inflance of the inconfiftency of our religion with magic, in the hiflory of the famous Aquila. This perfon, who was a kinfman of the emperor Trajan, and likewife a man of great learning, notwithflanding he had embraced Chriflianity, could not be brought off from the fludies of magic, by the re- peated admonitionsof his fellowChriftians; fo that at length they expelled him their fociety, as rather chufing to lofe the repu- tion of fo confiderable a profelyte, than communicate with one who dealt in filch dark and infernal praflices. Befides, we may obferve, that all the favourers of ma- gic were the mutt profeffed and bitter ene- mies to the Chriftian religion : not to men- tion Simon Magus and many others, we (hall only take notice of thofe two great perfecutors of Chrifiianity, the emperors Adrian and Julian 'the apolate, both of them initiated in the myfteries of divina- tion, and {killed in all the depths of magic. We (hall only add, that evil fpirits cannot be fuppofed to have concurred in the ella- blifhment of a religion, which triumphed over them, drove them out of the places they poffeffed, and diverted them of their influence, on mankind ; nor would we men- tion this particular, though it be unani- moufly reported by all the ancient Chriftian authors, did it not appear from the autho- rities above cited, that this was a faa con- fefled by Heathens themfelves. When a man is born under Chriftian pa- rents, and trained up in the profeflion of that religion from a child, he generally guides himfelf by the rules of Chriftian faith, in believing what is delivered by the evangelifis, but the learned Pagans of an- tiquity, before they became Chriflians, were only guided by the common rules of hif- torical faith : that is, they examined the nature of the evidence which was to be met with in common fame, tradition, and the writings of thofe perlons who related them, together with the number, concur- rence, veracity, and private charafters of thofe perlons ; and being convinced upon all accounts, that they had the fame rea- fon to believe the hiflory ofour Saviour, as that of any other perfon to which they themfelves were not actually eye-witnefres, theywere boundby all the rules ofhiflorìcal faith,
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