Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c006\">I do not know, moreover, how Celsus could hear of the elephants’\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_265\">265</span>[fidelity to] oaths, and of their great devotedness to\r\nour God, and of the knowledge which they possess of Him.\r\nFor I know many wonderful things which are related of\r\nthe nature of this animal, and of its gentle disposition. But I\r\nam not aware that any one has spoken of its observance of\r\noaths; unless indeed to its gentle disposition, and its observance\r\nof compacts, so to speak, when once concluded between it and\r\nman, he give the name of keeping its oath, which statement\r\nalso in itself is false. For although rarely, yet sometimes it\r\nhas been recorded that, after their apparent tameness, they have\r\nbroken out against men in the most savage manner, and have\r\ncommitted murder, and have been on that account condemned\r\nto death, because no longer of any use. And seeing that after\r\nthis, in order to establish (as he thinks he does) that the stork\r\nis more pious than any human being, he adduces the accounts\r\nwhich are narrated regarding that creature’s display of filial\r\naffection<a id=\"r840\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f840\"><sup>[840]</sup></a> in bringing food to its parents for their support, we\r\nhave to say in reply, that this is done by the storks, not from a\r\nregard to what is proper, nor from reflection, but from a natural\r\ninstinct; the nature which formed them being desirous to show\r\nan instance among the irrational animals which might put men\r\nto shame, in the matter of exhibiting their gratitude to their\r\nparents. And if Celsus had known how great the difference is\r\nbetween acting in this way from reason, and from an irrational\r\nnatural impulse, he would not have said that storks are more\r\npious than human beings. But further, Celsus, as still contending\r\nfor the piety of the irrational creation, quotes the\r\ninstance of the Arabian bird the phœnix, which after many\r\nyears repairs to Egypt, and bears thither its parent, when dead\r\nand buried in a ball of myrrh, and deposits its body in the\r\nTemple of the Sun. Now this story is indeed recorded, and, if\r\nit be true, it is possible that it may occur in consequence of\r\nsome provision of nature; divine providence freely displaying\r\nto human beings, by the differences which exist among living\r\nthings, the variety of constitution which prevails in the world,\r\nand which extends even to birds, and in harmony with which\r\nHe has brought into existence one creature, the only one of its\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_266\">266</span>kind, in order that by it men may be led to admire, not the\r\ncreature, but Him who created it.</p>","headings":["The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 of 2","BOOK IV.","Chapter XCVIII."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70693-paragraph-326"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"557e86cff576ad0154808e43d045dcfd1d77aaad282988fc794511a98b82f5fb","edition_title":"The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 (of 2)","edition_translators":["Frederick Crombie","W. H. Cairns"],"edition_year":1872,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg70693-f840","license_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html","public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"original-editor-translator-note","review_required":["work and recension attribution","original-work chronology","Bible reference numbering and citation kind","English edition rights and attribution"],"review_status":"needs_review","rights_evidence":"Project Gutenberg metadata: Public domain in the USA. Existing 1872 English edition; listed translators died 1889 and 1872. Electronic transcription subject to Project Gutenberg reuse terms.","source_anchor":"f840","source_ebook":70693,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f840\">\n<p class=\"c007\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r840\">840</a>.  </span><span lang=\"grc\">ἀντιπελαργοῦντος.</span></p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"76ed9a9fd752c1d5095189e38fe3dcbbea0fd23d6be719db17360e4da14552fa","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70693/pg70693-images.html#f840","text_sha256":"3fdbc6e85ed92f80e89d85d95d3fe9c48924a52b567efe25ba92aed951564f9c","verified":false,"work_id":null}

references: [] | work_id: | origin: existing-private-derived-record | source: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70693/pg70693-images.html#f840