We mean not to adopt, or defend the views of such authors, though we may
perhaps be allowed to observe that, were their opinions supported in a
satisfactory manner, christianity would lose nothing by the attempt. It
would be exempted, by this means, from a little cavilling and ridicule,
to which some of its enemies reckon it at present exposed, and the
design could not in the least derogate from its divinity, as the
instantaneous cure of a distemper cannot be considered less miraculous
than the expulsion of the devil. At any rate, these possessions are all
extraordinary; appeared on some most extraordinary occasion; and from
them, therefore, no general conclusion can be drawn to the ordinary
cases of common life.
We shall now translate a specimen of de Haen's[2] authorities, extracted
from the fathers. The following from Jerome will need no comment. This
father, in his life of St. Hilario the hermit, relates that a young man
of the town of Gaza in Syria, fell deeply in love with a pious virgin in
the neighbourhood. He attacked her with looks, whispers, professions,
caresses, and all those arguments which usually conquer yielding
virginity; but finding them all ineffectual, he resolved to repair to
Memphis, the residence of many eminent conjurers, and implore their
magic aid.
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