on the Christ. Rel. p. 66, ed. 4th.)
I think it by no means unreasonable to suppose that the heathen public,
especially that part which is made up of men of rank and education, were
divided into two classes; these who despised Christianity beforehand,
and those who received it. In correspondency with which division of
character the writers of that age would also be of two classes; those
who were silent about Christianity, and those who were Christians. "A
good man, who attended sufficiently to the Christian affairs, would
become a Christian; after which his testimony ceased to be pagan and
became Christian." (Hartley, Obs. p. 119.)
I must also add, that I think it sufficiently proved, that the notion of
magic was resorted to by the heathen adversaries of Christianity, in
like manner as that of diabolical agency had before been by the Jews.
Justin Martyr alleges this as his reason for arguing from prophecy
rather than from miracles. Origen imputes this evasion to Celsus; Jerome
to Porphyry; and Lactantius to the heathen in general. The several
passages which contain these testimonies will be produced in the next
chapter.
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