Wesley Corpus

But you say, secondly: 'He was a zealous asserter of tradition' (page 61). He might be so, and yet be an honest man, and that whether he was mistaken or no in supposing Papias to have been a disciple of John the Apostle (page 64). You say, thirdly: He supposed 'that the disciples of Simon Magus as well as Carpocrates used magical arts' (page 68); that 'the dead were frequently raised in his time' (page 72); that 'the Jews by the name of God cast out devils' (page 85); and that 'many had even then the gift of tongues, although he had it not himself.' 17. This is the whole of your charge against St. Irenaeus, when summed up and laid together. And now let any reasonable person judge whether all this gives us the least cause to question either his having sense enough to discern a plain matter of fact or honesty enough to relate it. Here, then, is one more credible witness of miraculous gifts after the days of the Apostles. 18. What you advance concerning the history of tradition, I am neither concerned to defend nor to confute. Only I must observe you forget yourself again where you say, 'The fable of the millennium, of the old age of Christ, with many more, were all embraced by the earliest Fathers' (page 64). For modesty's sake, sir, think a little before you speak; and remember you yourself informed us that one of these was never embraced at all but by one single Father only. 19. 'I cannot,' you say, 'dismiss this article without taking notice that witchcraft was universally believed through all ages of the primitive Church' (page 66). This you show by citations from several of the Fathers; who likewise believed, as you inform us, that 'evil spirits had power frequently to afflict either the bodies or minds of men'; that they 'acted the parts of the heathen gods, and assumed the forms of those who were called from the dead. Now, this opinion,' say you, 'is not only a proof of the grossest credulity, but of that species of it which, of all others, lays a man most open to imposture' (page 70).