Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c006\">2. We, however, who see the reason [of the thing] more\r\nclearly, do not hold this opinion, taking into account those\r\n[sins] which manifestly originate as a necessary consequence\r\nof our bodily constitution.<a id=\"r620\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f620\"><sup>[620]</sup></a> Must we indeed suppose that\r\nthe devil is the cause of our feeling hunger or thirst? Nobody,\r\nI think, will venture to maintain that. If, then, he is\r\nnot the cause of our feeling hunger and thirst, wherein lies\r\nthe difference when each individual has attained the age of\r\npuberty, and that period has called forth the incentives of\r\nthe natural heat? It will undoubtedly follow, that as the\r\ndevil is not the cause of our feeling hunger and thirst, so\r\nneither is he the cause of that appetency which naturally\r\narises at the time of maturity, viz. the desire of sexual intercourse.\r\nNow it is certain that this cause is not always so\r\nset in motion by the devil that we should be obliged to\r\nsuppose that bodies would not possess a desire for intercourse\r\nof that kind if the devil did not exist. Let us consider, in\r\nthe next place, if, as we have already shown, food is desired\r\nby human beings, not from a suggestion of the devil, but by\r\na kind of natural instinct, whether, if there were no devil,\r\nit were possible for human experience to exhibit such restraint\r\nin partaking of food as never to exceed the proper limits;\r\n<i>i.e.</i> that no one would either take otherwise than the case\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_226\">226</span>required, or more than reason would allow; and so it would\r\nresult that men, observing due measure and moderation in\r\nthe matter of eating, would never go wrong. I do not think,\r\nindeed, that so great moderation could be observed by men\r\n(even if there were no instigation by the devil inciting\r\nthereto), as that no individual, in partaking of food, would\r\ngo beyond due limits and restraint, until he had learned to\r\ndo so from long usage and experience. What, then, is the\r\nstate of the case? In the matter of eating and drinking it\r\nwas possible for us to go wrong, even without any incitement\r\nfrom the devil, if we should happen to be either less temperate\r\nor less careful [than we ought]; and are we to suppose,\r\nthen, in our appetite for sexual intercourse, or in the restraint\r\nof our natural desires, our condition is not something similar?<a id=\"r621\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f621\"><sup>[621]</sup></a>\r\nI am of opinion, indeed, that the same course of\r\nreasoning must be understood to apply to other natural movements,\r\nas those of covetousness, or of anger, or of sorrow, or\r\nof all those generally which through the vice of intemperance\r\nexceed the natural bounds of moderation. There are therefore\r\nmanifest reasons for holding the opinion, that as in good\r\nthings the human will<a id=\"r622\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f622\"><sup>[622]</sup></a> is of itself weak to accomplish any\r\ngood (for it is by divine help that it is brought to perfection\r\nin everything); so also, in things of an opposite nature we\r\nreceive certain initial elements, and, as it were, seeds of sins,\r\nfrom those things which we use agreeably to nature;<a id=\"r623\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f623\"><sup>[623]</sup></a> but\r\nwhen we have indulged them beyond what is proper, and\r\nhave not resisted the first movements to intemperance, then\r\nthe hostile power, seizing the occasion of this first transgression,\r\nincites and presses us hard in every way, seeking to\r\nextend our sins over a wider field, and furnishing us human\r\nbeings with occasions and beginnings of sins, which these\r\nhostile powers spread far and wide, and, if possible, beyond\r\nall limits. Thus, when men at first for a little desire money,\r\ncovetousness begins to grow as the passion increases, and\r\nfinally the fall into avarice takes place. And after this,\r\nwhen blindness of mind has succeeded passion, and the hostile\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_227\">227</span>powers, by their suggestions, hurry on the mind, money is\r\nnow no longer desired, but stolen, and acquired by force, or\r\neven by shedding human blood. Finally, a confirmatory\r\nevidence of the fact that vices of such enormity proceed from\r\ndemons, may be easily seen in this, that those individuals\r\nwho are oppressed either by immoderate love, or incontrollable\r\nanger, or excessive sorrow, do not suffer less than those who\r\nare bodily vexed by devils. For it is recorded in certain\r\nhistories, that some have fallen into madness from a state of\r\nlove, others from a state of anger, not a few from a state of\r\nsorrow, and even from one of excessive joy; which results,\r\nI think, from this, that those opposing powers, <i>i.e.</i> those\r\ndemons, having gained a lodgment in their minds which\r\nhas been already laid open to them by intemperance, have\r\ntaken complete possession of their sensitive nature,<a id=\"r624\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f624\"><sup>[624]</sup></a> especially\r\nwhen no feeling of the glory of virtue has aroused them to\r\nresistance.</p>","headings":["The Writings of Origen, Vol. 1 of 2","ORIGEN DE PRINCIPIIS.","BOOK III.","CHAPTER II. ON THE OPPOSING POWERS."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70561-paragraph-245"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"8c9f3d3eadaf5f6e4d44df5642335a9081ce2ac3f0788db6c9dece2349ae82a0","edition_title":"The writings of Origen, Vol. 1 (of 2)","edition_translators":["Frederick Crombie"],"edition_year":1869,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg70561-f621","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 1869 English translation; translator died 1889. Electronic transcription subject to Project Gutenberg reuse terms.","source_anchor":"f621","source_ebook":70561,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f621\">\n<p class=\"c006\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r621\">621</a>.  </span><span lang=\"la\">Quod non simile aliquid pateremur?</span></p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"de125e213d16053354f22b34a1c8d477ac23f201e660e4f4841b2ed7e05bb367","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70561/pg70561-images.html#f621","text_sha256":"111436170dd531025800e28a2ff955469b78aebb269cc3531abbf04e8949cb37","verified":false,"work_id":null}

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