Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c006\">Moreover, if the law of Moses had contained nothing which\r\nwas to be understood as having a secret meaning, the prophet\r\nwould not have said in his prayer to God, “Open Thou mine\r\neyes, and I will behold wondrous things out of Thy law;”<a id=\"r697\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f697\"><sup>[697]</sup></a>\r\nwhereas he knew that there was a veil of ignorance lying upon\r\nthe heart of those who read but do not understand the figurative\r\nmeaning, which veil is taken away by the gift of God, when\r\nHe hears him who has done all that he can,<a id=\"r698\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f698\"><sup>[698]</sup></a> and who by reason\r\nof habit has his senses exercised to distinguish between good\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_217\">217</span>and evil, and who continually utters the prayer, “Open Thou\r\nmine eyes, and I will behold wondrous things out of Thy law.”\r\nAnd who is there that, on reading of the dragon that lives in\r\nthe Egyptian river,<a id=\"r699\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f699\"><sup>[699]</sup></a> and of the fishes which lurk in his scales,\r\nor of the excrement of Pharaoh which fills the mountains of\r\nEgypt,<a id=\"r700\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f700\"><sup>[700]</sup></a> is not led at once to inquire who he is that fills the\r\nEgyptian mountains with his stinking excrement, and what the\r\nEgyptian mountains are; and what the rivers in Egypt are, of\r\nwhich the aforesaid Pharaoh boastfully says, “The rivers are\r\nmine, and I have made them;”<a id=\"r701\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f701\"><sup>[701]</sup></a> and who the dragon is, and\r\nthe fishes in its scales,—and this so as to harmonize with the\r\ninterpretation to be given of the rivers? But why establish\r\nat greater length what needs no demonstration? For to these\r\nthings applies the saying: “Who is wise, and he shall understand\r\nthese things? or who is prudent, and he shall know\r\nthem?”<a id=\"r702\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f702\"><sup>[702]</sup></a> Now I have gone at some length into the subject,\r\nbecause I wished to show the unsoundness of the assertion of\r\nCelsus, that “the more modest among the Jews and Christians\r\nendeavour somehow to give these stories an allegorical signification,\r\nalthough some of them do not admit of this, but on the\r\ncontrary are exceedingly silly inventions.” Much rather are\r\nthe stories of the Greeks not only very silly, but very impious\r\ninventions. For our narratives keep expressly in view the\r\nmultitude of simpler believers, which was not done by those\r\nwho invented the Grecian fables. And therefore not without\r\npropriety does Plato expel from his state all fables and poems\r\nof such a nature as those of which we have been speaking.</p>","headings":["The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 of 2","BOOK IV.","Chapter L."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70693-paragraph-271"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"718818e67453389190ef23966225c9bb714dd7aa1b26efc812870628863915c5","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-f698","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":"f698","source_ebook":70693,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f698\">\n<p class=\"c007\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r698\">698</a>.  </span><span lang=\"grc\">ἐπὰν ἐπακούσῃ τοῦ παρ’ ἑαυτοῦ πάντα ποιήσαντος.</span></p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"76ed9a9fd752c1d5095189e38fe3dcbbea0fd23d6be719db17360e4da14552fa","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70693/pg70693-images.html#f698","text_sha256":"d328468df0d4aa531ca05607920edf0aec08cc99b0bcb08eb7883010b9010998","verified":false,"work_id":null}

references: [] | work_id: | origin: existing-private-derived-record | source: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70693/pg70693-images.html#f698