Page:Apollonius of Tyana - the pagan Christ of the third century.pdf/72

Rh martyrs had engaged the public attention by their sufferings, and contemporary historians were beginning to mention, as they related the lives of the emperors, whether they had tolerated or persecuted the Christians. Can it be admitted, then, that Philostratus, at a time like this, when he had to write a work on the religious movement which was affecting the whole world, should never have once thought of Christianity? And if he did think of it, and systematically avoided all mention of the subject, we are forced to infer that his very silence is anything but a sign of indifference. An apparent want of interest in a system which it is the writer's object to destroy is one of the ordinary phases of ancient controversy. The Epistle of James does not say a word about Paul or his school, and yet its aim is most certainly to refute the doctrine, of justification by faith as taught by Paul. Another theological work, more like a romance than a treatise on divinity (the Clementine Homilies), was certainly prompted by a desire to refute Paul and Marcion, and yet they