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On the Theophania
Eusebius of Caesarea, tr. Lee, 1843
But, you say of Him that He had deceiving teachers, and that neither the sciences of the …
But, you say of Him that He had deceiving teachers, and that neither the sciences of the Egyptians, nor those mysteries which were formerly preached among them, escaped Him: that from these He collected together (His doctrines), and that He seems to have been a man of this description.—If then others, His superiors, appeared before Him, and were His teachers, whether in Egypt or elsewhere; Why did not the fame of these also run forth, prior to His name among all men, just as His has done? and, Why is not the praise of them also proclaimed, even to this time, just as His has been? and, Who is the magician, of those who arose at any time, Barbarian or Greek, who was the teacher of such disciples; the originator of all such laws and precepts as these are; and has shewed forth the power of (this) the common Saviour of all? and, of Whom has it ever been written, that He did such cures as those which have been recorded of our Saviour?—The knowledge too of something to come to pass, with all those predictions? those too, which like these, have by their means been laid down as principles, What other has, either before, or after Him, been memorialized as having delivered? and, Who is it that has promised that he would effect those things, throughout the whole habitable world, which he had (so) predicted, and has, in fact, so confirmed His words, that, even to these our times, the fulfilment of His predictions is visible to our own eyes? And, Whose disciples and eye-witnesses of the things themselves (here had in view), have ever so sealed the truth regarding those which they attested of their Lord, by the trial of both fire and sword, as these Disciples of our Saviour have done?—who (indeed) bore the reproach of all men, for the sake of the things which they had seen and witnessed of Him, and submitted to every species of torment; while the end of their testimony respecting Him was, as that of the Son of God! How much less would magicians seal with their blood their testimonies? And, Which of the magicians, even if it ever came into his mind to set up a new people in his own name, did not only think of doing this, but also gave effect to his project? How would not this eclipse all human nature, that he should also frame laws opposed to the error of a plurality of Gods, and adverse to the ordinances of Kings, Legislators, Philosophers, Poets, and Theologians? and, that he should send these forth and shew, through the period of a long life, that they were (at once) triumphant and faultless?