Joseph’s experience of miracle and magic.
Joseph, the guardian of this same young man, finally became converted to Christianity after Christ had appeared repeatedly to him in dreams and cured him of diseases and after he himself, by employing the name of Jesus, had cured a man of a demoniacal possession which made him go shamelessly about the town in a nude state. After his conversion, Joseph started to complete as a Christian church an unfinished structure in Tiberias called the Adrianaion, which the citizens previously had tried to convert into a public bath. When the Jews endeavored to ruin his undertaking by bewitching the furnaces which he had erected for the preparation of quick-lime, he counteracted their magic by making the sign of the cross, sprinkling his furnaces with holy water, and saying in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, “Let there be power in this water to counteract all pharmacy and magic employed by these men and to instill sufficient energy into the fire to complete the house of the Lord.” With that his fires blazed up violently.[1869]
Legend of St. James and Hermogenes the magician.
Very similar both to the Confession of Cyprian and the story of Simon Magus is the legend of St. James the Great and Hermogenes the magician, which is found in The Golden Legend and which was often reproduced in medieval stained glass windows.[1870] James converted to Christianity a disciple of Hermogenes whom the magician had sent against him when he was preaching in Judea. When the angry wizard cast a spell over his erstwhile disciple, the latter was freed by means of St. James’s cloak. When the magician sent demons to fetch both the convert and the saint, James made them bring Hermogenes to him instead, but then set him free, telling him that Christians returned good for evil. Hermogenes now feared the vengeance that the demons would take upon himself, and so James gave his staff to him to protect himself with. Soon afterwards Hermogenes threw all his books of magic into the sea and was baptized.
Other contests of apostles and magicians in The Golden Legend.
“In The Golden Legend,” in fact, as Mâle says, “almost all the apostles have to contend with magicians. But it is St. Simon and St. Jude who strive with the most formidable of sorcerers, and they challenge him even in the very sanctuary of magic art, the temple of the Sun at Suanir, near Babylon. Undismayed by the science of Zoroaster and Aphaxad, they foretell the future, they cause a new-born babe to speak, they subdue tigers and serpents, and from a statue they cast out a demon, which shows itself in the shape of a black Ethiopian and flees uttering raucous cries.”[1871] If this last exorcism reminds us somewhat of the exploits of Apollonius of Tyana, still more do the performances of St. Andrew, who “must surpass all the marvels of the magicians before he can convert Asia and Greece. He drives away seven demons who in the shape of seven great dogs desolate the town of Nicaea, and he exorcises a spirit which dwells in the thermae and is wont to strangle the bathers.”[1872]
CHAPTER XIX
ORIGEN AND CELSUS
Celsus’ charges of magic against Christianity—Hebrew magic as depicted by Celsus—Various recriminations of magic—Origen’s distinction between miracles and magic—Origen frees Jews as well as Christians from the charge of magic—Celsus’ sceptical description of magic—Celsus suggests a connection between magic and occult virtues in nature—Celsus on magicians and demons—Origen ascribes magic to demons—Magic is an elaborate art—The Magi of Scripture were not different from other magicians—Origen’s Biblical commentaries—Balaam and the power of words—Limitations to the power of Pharaoh’s magicians—Was Balaam a prophet of God or a magician?—Balaam’s magic experiments—Limitations to his magic power—Divine prophecy distinct from magic and divination—The ventriloquist really invoked Samuel for Saul—Christians less affected by magic than philosophers are—Their superstitious methods against magic—Incantations—The power of words—Origen admits a connection between the power of words and magic—Jewish and Christian employment of powerful names is really magic—Celsus’ theory of demons—Origen calls demons wicked—But believes in presiding angels—A law of spiritual gravitation—Attitude of Celsus toward astrology—Attitude of Origen toward astrology—Further discussion in his Commentary on Genesis—Problems of the waters above the firmament and of one or more heavens—Augury, dreams, and prophecy—Animals and gems—Origen later accused of countenancing magic.
Celsus’ charges of magic against Christianity.
In the celebrated work of Origen Against Celsus,[1873] written in the first half of the third century, the subject of magic is often touched upon, largely because Celsus in his True Discourse had so frequently brought charges of magic against Jesus, His Christian followers, and the Jewish people from whom they had sprung. Celsus had called Jesus “a wicked and God-hated sorcerer”;[1874] had contended that His miracles were wrought by magic, not by divine power;[1875] and had compared them unfavorably, as less wonderful, to the tricks performed by jugglers and Egyptians in the middle of market-places.[1876] It was the opinion of Celsus that Jesus in warning His disciples that “there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders,” had tacitly convicted Himself of the same magical practices.[1877] Celsus, for his part, warned the Christians that they “must shun all deceivers and jugglers who will introduce you to phantoms”;[1878] he accused them of employing incantations and the names of certain demons;[1879] he asserted that he had seen in the hands of Christian presbyters “barbarous books containing the names and marvelous operations of demons,” and that these presbyters “professed to do no good, but all that was calculated to injure human beings.”[1880]