Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c006\">In the next place, mixing up together various heresies, and\r\nnot observing that some statements are the utterances of one\r\nheretical sect, and others of a different one, he brings forward\r\nthe objections which we raised against Marcion.<a id=\"r1288\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f1288\"><sup>[1288]</sup></a> And, probably,\r\nhaving heard them from some paltry and ignorant\r\nindividuals,<a id=\"r1289\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f1289\"><sup>[1289]</sup></a> he assails the very arguments which combat\r\nthem, but not in a way that shows much intelligence. Quoting\r\nthen our arguments against Marcion, and not observing\r\nthat it is <i>against</i> Marcion that he is speaking, he asks: “Why\r\ndoes he send secretly, and destroy the works which he has\r\ncreated? Why does he secretly employ force, and persuasion,\r\nand deceit? Why does he allure those who, as ye assert,\r\nhave been condemned or accused by him, and carry them\r\naway like a slave-dealer? Why does he teach them to steal\r\naway from their Lord? Why to flee from their father? Why\r\ndoes he claim them for himself against the father’s will?\r\nWhy does he profess to be the father of strange children?”\r\nTo these questions he subjoins the following remark, as if by\r\nway of expressing his surprise:<a id=\"r1290\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f1290\"><sup>[1290]</sup></a> “Venerable, indeed, is the\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_395\">395</span>god who desires to be the father of those sinners who are condemned\r\nby another [god], and of the needy,<a id=\"r1291\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f1291\"><sup>[1291]</sup></a> and, as themselves\r\nsay, of the very offscourings<a id=\"r1292\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f1292\"><sup>[1292]</sup></a> [of men], and who is\r\nunable to capture and punish his messenger, who escaped\r\nfrom him!” After this, as if addressing us who acknowledge\r\nthat this world is not the work of a different and strange god,\r\nhe continues in the following strain: “If these are his works,\r\nhow is it that God created evil? And how is it that he cannot\r\npersuade and admonish [men]? And how is it that he\r\nrepents on account of the ingratitude and wickedness of men?\r\nHe finds fault, moreover, with his own handwork,<a id=\"r1293\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f1293\"><sup>[1293]</sup></a> and hates,\r\nand threatens, and destroys his own offspring? Whither can\r\nhe transport them out of this world, which he himself has\r\nmade?” Now it does not appear to me that by these remarks\r\nhe makes clear what “evil” is; and although there have been\r\namong the Greeks many sects who differ as to the nature of\r\ngood and evil, he hastily concludes, as if it were a consequence\r\nof our maintaining that this world also is a work of the universal\r\nGod, that in <i>our</i> judgment <i>God</i> is the author of evil.\r\nLet it be, however, regarding evil as it may—whether created\r\nby God or not—it nevertheless follows only as a <i>result</i> when\r\nyou compare the principal design.<a id=\"r1294\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f1294\"><sup>[1294]</sup></a> And I am greatly surprised\r\nif the inference regarding God’s authorship of evil, which he\r\nthinks follows from our maintaining that this world also is the\r\nwork of the universal God, does not follow too from his <i>own</i>\r\nstatements. For one might say to Celsus: “If these are His\r\nworks, how is it that God created evil? and how is it that\r\nHe cannot persuade and admonish men?” It is indeed the\r\ngreatest error in reasoning to accuse those who are of different\r\nopinions of holding unsound doctrines, when the accuser himself\r\nis much more liable to the same charge with regard to his\r\nown.</p>","headings":["The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 of 2","BOOK VI.","Chapter LIII."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70693-paragraph-448"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"f4a515a54285a8654359eddaffbf960f49121d98a13f6ae1925609591f9e7bf4","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-f1289","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":"f1289","source_ebook":70693,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f1289\">\n<p class=\"c007\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r1289\">1289</a>.  </span>The textual reading is, <span lang=\"grc\">ἀπό τινων εὐτελῶς καὶ ἰδιωτικῶς</span>, for which Ruæus\r\nreads, <span lang=\"grc\">ἀπό τινων εὐτελῶν καὶ ἰδιωτικῶν</span>, which emendation has been adopted\r\nin the translation.</p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"76ed9a9fd752c1d5095189e38fe3dcbbea0fd23d6be719db17360e4da14552fa","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70693/pg70693-images.html#f1289","text_sha256":"3284c5c49ca32a35a06ceedb57877dd5deb27dcf5afc3d783e80372342c24847","verified":false,"work_id":null}

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