THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
plied in them the pragmatic method of historical development. The anti-Roman interest sharpened the vision and helped the authors of the work to critical achievements that marked a new epoch. While the division into centuries was an obstacle to a good grouping of the material, and the onesided polemical anti-Roman interest formed a barrier to an unprejudiced appreciation of the development of church history; nevertheless, there was achieved the utmost that was possible within the limits of the sharply defined dogmatic standpoint, and the work furnished the weapons which Protestantism needed in its struggle. The work, pestilentissimum opus, as it was called by the Roman opponents, made a very strong impression upon the Roman Church. Canisius urged the most learned theologians to attack it, and many pens were set in motion until in Caesar Baronius (q.v.) there was found an able opponent who drew his material from the Roman sources themselves. (G. Kawerau.)
Bibliography: F. C. Baur, Die Epochen der kirchlichen Geschichtsschreibung, pp. 39 sqq., Tubingen, 1852; B. ter Haar. De Historiographie der Kerkgeschiedenis, pp. 121 sqq., Utrecht, 1870-73; A. Jundt, Les Centuries de Magdebourg, Paris, 1883; Sehaumkell, Beitrag zur Entstehungsgeschichte der Magd. Centurien, Ludwigsburg, 1898; Schaff, Christian Church, i. 37-38.
MAGEE, WILLIAM; Archbishop of Dublin; b. at Enniskillen (70 m. s.w. of Belfast), County Fermanagh, Mar. 18, 1766; d. at Stillorgan (5 m. s.e. of Dublin) Aug. 18, 1831. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin (B.A., 1785), and became fellow in 1788, and senior fellow and professor of mathematics in 1800. Ordained deacon in 1790, he became dean of Cork in 1813, bishop of Raphoe in 1819, and archbishop of Dublin in 1822. He was a determined opponent of the Roman Catholics but still more of the Unitarians, against whom he wrote several pamphlets. He wrote among other works: Discourses on the Scriptural Doctrines of Atonement and Sacrifice (London, 1801). His works were collected in two volumes (London, 1842).
Bibliography: Consult, besides the Memoir by A. H. Kenney, prefixed to his collected Works, ut sup., DNB, xxxv. 313-315, where further literature is given.
MAGEE, WILLIAM CONNOR: Archbishop of York; b. at Cork Dec. 17, 1821; d. in London May 5, 1891. He was a grandson of William Magee (q.v.). He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin (B.A., 1842; M.A. and B.D., 1854; D.D., 1860). He became curate of St. Thomas', Dublin, in 1844; of St. Saviour's, Bath, in 1848; minister of the Octagon Chapel, Bath, in 1850; perpetual curate of Quebec Chapel in 1859; rector of Enniskillen in 1860; dean of Cork in 1864; dean of the Chapel Royal, Dublin, in 1866; bishop of Peterborough in 1868; and archbishop of York in 1891. He was Donellan lecturer at Dublin in 1865-66. He was the author of: Sermons Delivered at St. Saviour's Church, Bath (Bath, 1852); Sermons at the Octagon Chapel, Bath (Bath, 1854); The Gospel and the Age (London, 1884); The Atonement (1887); Growth in Grace (1891); Christ the Light of all Scripture (1892); and Speeches and Addresses (1892). Bibliography: J. C. MacDonnell, The Life and Correspondence of William Connor Magee, 2 vols., London, 1896; idem, in DNB, xxxv. 313-315.
MAGIC.
Definition and Scope (§ 1). In Greece (§ 9).
Place in Religion (§ 2). In Rome (§ 10).
In Babylonia (§ 3). Magic and the Early Church In Egypt (§ 4). (§ 11).
Among the Hebrews (§ 5). Medieval Magic (§ 12).
In India (§ 6). Black Magic (§ 13).
In Persia (§ 7). White Magic (§ 14).
Among Teutons and Celts Magic and Modern Occultism (§ 8). (§ 15).
Magic is the alleged art of producing supernatural results by means of occult agencies, although in the widest sense of the term it includes Divination (q.v.), and thus coincides with occultism. In the present article, however, the discussion of magic is restricted to the causation of supernatural phenomena by mystic conjurations or incantations which may be either benevolent or malevolent. In this form magic coincides in great part with Witchcraft (q.v.), although it is distinguished, on the one hand, by a more scientific method, and, on the other, by a social trend which aims at a i. Definition unification of magic operations by ocand Scope, cult traditions. Magic is divided, according to the means employed, into demonistic (operating with the aid of spirits), religious (regulated by the priesthood and the cult), and natural (working simply through hidden powers of nature), while with regard to its beneficent or maleficent intent it is termed " white " and " black " magic respectively.
Magic is an element of the empirical religion of all times and peoples, and belongs, like asceticism, sacrifice, and purification, to the constantly recurring and ineradicable factors of the social life of mankind (see Comparative Religion, VI., 1, a, § 5). Among many wild tribes religion seems to consist almost entirely of magic, although the theory that all religion is a development of witchcraft and magic is open to grave objections. The question may even be raised whether magic is not a phase of religious degeneration rather than evolution. The view prevailing in many circles that the religious conditions of modern savages constitutes the norm for reconstructing the religion of primitive man fails to recognize that the evidence in the life of ancient and of modern peoples shows a slow process of religious decay. It must be noted, furthermore, that savages are not found to advance from fetishism or animism (see Comparative Religion) to a higher stage of religious life, nor are magic and witchcraft (q.v.) the most 2. Place in primitive forms of the religion of the Religion, civilized nations of antiquity. Neither in Egypt nor in Babylonia does religious development reveal polydemonistic magic as the source of their mythology and their cult, however early magic rites and formulas were used among both nations. Magic is, then, essentially a symptom of religious decay and belongs to the latest period of religious evolution. In cases where it appears at a relatively early stage in a given people, it is seldom developed by the people in question, but is usually of foreign origin, being imported from degenerate neighboring tribes.*
* For the presentation of another view of ethnic magiCi see Comparative Religion. VI.. 1. a, § 5.