92 THE DECLINE AND FALL CIIAP. very frequently to the conviction of infidels. Besides '___ the occasional prodigies which might sometimes be the piimi- effected by the immediate interposition of the Deity ive c urc . yy|jgj^ ]^g suspended the laws of nature for the service of religion, the christian church, from the time of the apostles and their first disciples'^, has claimed an unin- terrupted succession of miraculous powers, the gift of tongues, of vision, and of prophecy, the power of ex- pelling demons, of healing the sick, and of raising the dead. The knowledge of foreign languages was fre- quently communicated to the contemporaries of Irenaeus, though Irenaeus himself was left to struggle with the difficulties of a barbarous dialect whilst he preached the gospel to the natives of GauP. The divine in- spiration, whether it was conveyed in the form of a waking or of a sleeping vision, is described as a favour very liberally bestowed on all ranks of the faithful, on women as on elders, on boys as well as upon bishops. When their devout minds were sufficiently prepared by a course of prayer, of fasting, and of vigils, to re- ceive the extraordinary impulse, they were transported out of their senses, and delivered in ecstasy what was inspired, being mere organs of the holy Spirit, just as a pipe or flute is of him who blows into it^ We may add, that the design of these visions was, for the most part, either to disclose the future history, or to guide the present administration of the church. The expul- sion of the demons from the bodies of those unhappy persons whom they had been permitted to torment, was considered as a signal, though ordinary triumph of religion, and is repeatedly alleged by the ancient apolo- •1 Notwithstanding the evasions of Dr. ftliddleton, it is impossible to over- look the clear traces of visions and inspiration which may be found in the apostolic fathers. ^ Irenaeus adv. Hoeres. Procem. p. 3. Dr. Middleton (Free Inquiry, p. 96, etc.) observes, that as this pretension of all others was the most difficult to support by art, it was the soonest given up. The observation suits his hypothesis. f Athenagoras in Legatione ; Justin Martyr, Cohort, ad Gentes ; 'J'ertul- lian advers. iMarcionit. 1. iv. These descriptions are not very unlike the pro- phetic fury for which Cicero (de Divinat. ii. 54.) expresses so little reverence.
