Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c006\">5. This too, I think, should next be inquired into, viz.\r\nwhat are the reasons why a human soul is acted on at one\r\ntime by good [spirits], and at another by bad: the grounds\r\nof which I suspect to be older than the bodily birth of the\r\nindividual, as John [the Baptist] showed by his leaping and\r\nexulting in his mother’s womb, when the voice of the salutation\r\nof Mary reached the ears of his mother Elisabeth; and\r\nas Jeremiah the prophet declares, who was known to God\r\nbefore he was formed in his mother’s womb, and before he\r\nwas born was sanctified by Him, and while yet a boy received\r\nthe grace of prophecy.<a id=\"r691\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f691\"><sup>[691]</sup></a> And again, on the other hand, it\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_243\">243</span>is shown beyond a doubt, that some have been possessed by\r\nhostile spirits from the very beginning of their lives: <i>i.e.</i>,\r\nsome were born with an evil spirit; and others, according to\r\ncredible histories, have practised divination<a id=\"r692\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f692\"><sup>[692]</sup></a> from childhood.\r\nOthers have been under the influence of the demon called\r\nPython, <i>i.e.</i> the ventriloquial spirit, from the commencement\r\nof their existence. To all which instances, those who\r\nmaintain that everything in the world is under the administration\r\nof divine providence (as is also our own belief), can,\r\nas it appears to me, give no other answer, so as to show that\r\nno shadow of injustice rests upon the divine government,\r\nthan by holding that there were certain causes of prior existence,\r\nin consequence of which the souls, before their birth in\r\nthe body, contracted a certain amount of guilt in their sensitive\r\nnature, or in their movements, on account of which they\r\nhave been judged worthy by Divine Providence of being\r\nplaced in this condition. For a soul is always in possession\r\nof free-will, as well when it is in the body as when it is\r\nwithout it; and freedom of will is always directed either to\r\ngood or evil. Nor can any rational and sentient being, <i>i.e.</i>\r\na mind or soul, exist without some movement either good\r\nor bad. And it is probable that these movements furnish\r\ngrounds for merit even before they do anything in this\r\nworld; so that on account of these merits or grounds they\r\nare, immediately on their birth, and even before it, so to\r\nspeak, assorted by Divine Providence for the endurance\r\neither of good or evil.</p>","headings":["The Writings of Origen, Vol. 1 of 2","ORIGEN DE PRINCIPIIS.","BOOK III.","CHAPTER III. ON THREEFOLD WISDOM."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70561-paragraph-256"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"c908d1abfdb6bd7a87e21fab475d3bfaf9d00e2143cbb57e1c96a2712fa2a1e0","edition_title":"The writings of Origen, Vol. 1 (of 2)","edition_translators":["Frederick Crombie"],"edition_year":1869,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg70561-f692","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":"f692","source_ebook":70561,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f692\">\n<p class=\"c006\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r692\">692</a>.  </span><span lang=\"la\">Divinasse.</span></p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"de125e213d16053354f22b34a1c8d477ac23f201e660e4f4841b2ed7e05bb367","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70561/pg70561-images.html#f692","text_sha256":"de822af72ea07c12688ccee3640c409ed397282246c4e6fc84618abe7928704e","verified":false,"work_id":null}

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