Any one who examines the subject will see that Jesus attempted and
successfully accomplished works beyond the reach of human power. For
although, from the very beginning, all things opposed the spread of His
doctrine in the world,—both the princes of the times, and their chief
captains and generals, and all, to speak generally, who were possessed
of the smallest influence, and in addition to these, the rulers of the
different cities, and the soldiers, and the people,—yet it proved
victorious, as being the Word of God, the nature of which is such that
it cannot be hindered; and becoming more powerful than all such
adversaries, it made itself master of the whole of Greece, and a
considerable portion of barbarian lands, and converted countless numbers
of souls to His religion. And although, among the multitude of converts
to Christianity, the simple and ignorant necessarily outnumbered the
more intelligent, as the former class always does the latter, yet
Celsus, unwilling to take note of this, thinks that this philanthropic
doctrine, which reaches to every soul under the sun, is vulgar,[1169]
and on account of its vulgarity and its want of reasoning power,
obtained a hold only over the ignorant. And yet he himself admits that
it was not the simple alone who were led by the doctrine of Jesus to
adopt His religion; for he acknowledges that there were amongst them
some persons of moderate intelligence, and gentle disposition, and
possessed of understanding, and capable of comprehending allegories.
Footnote 1169:
ἰδιωτικήν.