Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c006\">6. But it will not appear absurd if we employ another\r\nsimilitude to make the matter clearer. Our eyes frequently\r\ncannot look upon the nature of the light itself—that is, upon\r\nthe substance of the sun; but when we behold his splendour\r\nor his rays pouring in, perhaps, through windows or some\r\nsmall openings to admit the light, we can reflect how great\r\nis the supply and source of the light of the body. So, in\r\nlike manner, the works of Divine Providence and the plan\r\nof this whole world are a sort of rays, as it were, of the\r\nnature of God, in comparison with His real substance and\r\nbeing. As, therefore, our understanding is unable of itself\r\nto behold God Himself as He is, it knows the Father of\r\nthe world from the beauty of His works and the comeliness\r\nof His creatures. God, therefore, is not to be thought of as\r\nbeing either a body or as existing in a body, but as an uncompounded\r\nintellectual nature,<a id=\"r31\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f31\"><sup>[31]</sup></a> admitting within Himself\r\nno addition of any kind; so that He cannot be believed to\r\nhave within Him a greater and a less, but is such that He is\r\nin all parts Μονάς, and, so to speak, Ἑνάς, and is the mind\r\nand source from which all intellectual nature or mind takes its\r\nbeginning. But mind, for its movements or operations, needs\r\nno physical space, nor sensible magnitude, nor bodily shape,\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_13\">13</span>nor colour, nor any other of those adjuncts which are the properties\r\nof body or matter. Wherefore that simple and wholly\r\nintellectual nature<a id=\"r32\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f32\"><sup>[32]</sup></a> can admit of no delay or hesitation in its\r\nmovements or operations, lest the simplicity of the divine\r\nnature should appear to be circumscribed or in some degree\r\nhampered by such adjuncts, and lest that which is the beginning\r\nof all things should be found composite and differing,\r\nand that which ought to be free from all bodily intermixture,\r\nin virtue of being the one sole species of Deity, so to speak,\r\nshould prove, instead of being one, to consist of many things.\r\nThat mind, moreover, does not require space in order to carry\r\non its movements agreeably to its nature, is certain from\r\nobservation of our own mind. For if the mind abide within\r\nits own limits, and sustain no injury from any cause, it will\r\nnever, from diversity of situation, be retarded in the discharge\r\nof its functions; nor, on the other hand, does it gain any\r\naddition or increase of mobility from the nature of particular\r\nplaces. And here, if any one were to object, for example,\r\nthat among those who are at sea, and tossed by its waves, the\r\nmind is considerably less vigorous than it is wont to be on land,\r\nwe are to believe that it is in this state, not from diversity of\r\nsituation, but from the commotion or disturbance of the body\r\nto which the mind is joined or attached. For it seems to be\r\ncontrary to nature, as it were, for a human body to live at\r\nsea; and for that reason it appears, by a sort of inequality of\r\nits own, to enter upon its mental operations in a slovenly and\r\nirregular manner, and to perform the acts of the intellect\r\nwith a duller sense, in as great degree as those who on land\r\nare prostrated with fever; with respect to whom it is certain,\r\nthat if the mind do not discharge its functions as well as\r\nbefore, in consequence of the attack of disease, the blame is\r\nto be laid not upon the place, but upon the bodily malady, by\r\nwhich the body, being disturbed and disordered, renders to\r\nthe mind its customary services under by no means the well-known\r\nand natural conditions: for we human beings are\r\nanimals composed of a union of body and soul, and in this way\r\n[only] was it possible for us to live upon the earth. But God,\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_14\">14</span>who is the beginning of all things, is not to be regarded as\r\na composite being, lest perchance there should be found to\r\nexist elements prior to the beginning itself, out of which\r\neverything is composed, whatever that be which is called\r\ncomposite. Neither does the mind require bodily magnitude\r\nin order to perform any act or movement; as when the eye\r\nby gazing upon bodies of larger size is dilated, but is compressed\r\nand contracted in order to see smaller objects. The\r\nmind, indeed, requires magnitude of an intellectual kind,\r\nbecause it grows, not after the fashion of a body, but after that\r\nof intelligence. For the mind is not enlarged, together with\r\nthe body, by means of corporal additions, up to the twentieth\r\nor thirtieth year of life; but the intellect is sharpened by exercises\r\nof learning, and the powers implanted within it for intelligent\r\npurposes are called forth; and it is rendered capable\r\nof greater intellectual efforts, not being increased by bodily\r\nadditions, but carefully polished by learned exercises. But\r\nthese it cannot receive immediately from boyhood, or from\r\nbirth, because the framework of limbs which the mind employs\r\nas organs for exercising itself is weak and feeble; and it is\r\nunable to bear the weight of its own operations, or to exhibit\r\na capacity for receiving training.</p>","headings":["The Writings of Origen, Vol. 1 of 2","ORIGEN DE PRINCIPIIS.","BOOK I.","CHAPTER I. ON GOD."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70561-paragraph-71"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"60cdae471850ddcfbe77b9374c7eacfb680e3d6437e9f9f9f8fe58fb0affbd0c","edition_title":"The writings of Origen, Vol. 1 (of 2)","edition_translators":["Frederick Crombie"],"edition_year":1869,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg70561-f31","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":"f31","source_ebook":70561,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f31\">\n<p class=\"c006\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r31\">31</a>.  </span><span lang=\"la\">“Simplex intellectualis natura.”</span></p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"de125e213d16053354f22b34a1c8d477ac23f201e660e4f4841b2ed7e05bb367","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70561/pg70561-images.html#f31","text_sha256":"4907ad4d7c907720b569dd342a6c4e5eaaddf9a0f35bbe376a4207593ffe9459","verified":false,"work_id":null}

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