Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c005\">After this he continues: “These herdsmen and shepherds\r\nconcluded that there was but one God, named either the\r\nHighest, or Adonai, or the Heavenly, or Sabaoth, or called\r\nby some other of those names which they delight to give\r\nthis world; and they knew nothing beyond that.” And in\r\na subsequent part of his work he says, that “It makes no\r\ndifference whether the God who is over all things be called\r\nby the name of Zeus, which is current among the Greeks, or\r\nby that, <i>e.g.</i>, which is in use among the Indians or Egyptians.”\r\nNow, in answer to this, we have to remark that this involves a\r\ndeep and mysterious subject—that, viz., respecting the nature\r\nof names: it being a question whether, as Aristotle thinks,\r\nnames were bestowed by arrangement, or, as the Stoics hold,\r\nby nature; the first words being imitations of things, agreeably\r\nto which the names were formed, and in conformity\r\nwith which they introduce certain principles of etymology;\r\nor whether, as Epicurus teaches (differing in this from the\r\nStoics), names were given by nature,—the first men having\r\nuttered certain words varying with the circumstances in\r\nwhich they found themselves. If, then, we shall be able to\r\nestablish, in reference to the preceding statement, the nature\r\nof powerful names, some of which are used by the learned\r\namongst the Egyptians, or by the Magi among the Persians,\r\nand by the Indian philosophers called Brahmans, or by the\r\nSamanæans, and others in different countries; and shall be\r\nable to make out that the so-called magic is not, as the\r\nfollowers of Epicurus and Aristotle suppose, an altogether\r\nuncertain thing, but is, as those skilled in it prove, a consistent\r\nsystem, having words which are known to exceedingly\r\nfew; then we say that the name Sabaoth, and Adonai, and\r\nthe other names treated with so much reverence among the\r\nHebrews, are not applicable to any ordinary created things,\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_422\">422</span>but belong to a secret theology which refers to the Framer of\r\nall things. These names, accordingly, when pronounced with\r\nthat attendant train of circumstances which is appropriate to\r\ntheir nature, are possessed of great power; and other names,\r\nagain, current in the Egyptian tongue, are efficacious against\r\ncertain demons who can only do certain things; and other\r\nnames in the Persian language have corresponding power\r\nover other spirits; and so on in every individual nation, for\r\ndifferent purposes. And thus it will be found that, of the\r\nvarious demons upon the earth, to whom different localities\r\nhave been assigned, each one bears a name appropriate to\r\nthe several dialects of place and country. He, therefore, who\r\nhas a nobler idea, however small, of these matters, will be\r\ncareful not to apply differing names to different things; lest\r\nhe should resemble those who mistakenly apply the name of\r\nGod to lifeless matter, or who drag down the title of “the\r\nGood” from the First Cause, or from virtue and excellence,\r\nand apply it to blind Plutus, and to a healthy and well-proportioned\r\nmixture of flesh and blood and bones, or to what is\r\nconsidered to be noble birth.<a id=\"r1165\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f1165\"><sup>[1165]</sup></a></p>","headings":["The Writings of Origen, Vol. 1 of 2","ORIGEN CONTRA CELSUM.","ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. BOOK I.","Chapter XXIV."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70561-paragraph-422"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"d81ba3c1b526e6f84db48b380653837cbf8b4e51b304a68e0f614c012cbe7b28","edition_title":"The writings of Origen, Vol. 1 (of 2)","edition_translators":["Frederick Crombie"],"edition_year":1869,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg70561-f1165","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":"f1165","source_ebook":70561,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f1165\">\n<p class=\"c006\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r1165\">1165</a>.  </span><span lang=\"grc\">Ἐπὶ τὸν τυφλὸν πλοῦτον, καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν σαρκῶν καὶ αἱμάτων καὶ ὀστέων\r\nσυμμετρίαν ἐν ὑγείᾳ καὶ εὐεξίᾳ, ἤ τὴν νομιζομένην εὐγένειαν.</span></p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"de125e213d16053354f22b34a1c8d477ac23f201e660e4f4841b2ed7e05bb367","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70561/pg70561-images.html#f1165","text_sha256":"f95492bffe1b83b37cb4a59ed7cd3cea2444e6b597a67608288937434e8b8216","verified":false,"work_id":null}

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