Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c006\">Immediately after this, Celsus, assailing the contents of the\r\nfirst book of Moses, which is entitled “Genesis,” asserts that\r\n“the Jews accordingly endeavoured to derive their origin from\r\nthe first race of jugglers and deceivers,<a id=\"r611\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f611\"><sup>[611]</sup></a> appealing to the\r\ntestimony of dark and ambiguous words, whose meaning was\r\nveiled in obscurity, and which they misinterpreted<a id=\"r612\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f612\"><sup>[612]</sup></a> to the unlearned\r\nand ignorant, and that, too, when such a point had never\r\nbeen called in question during the long preceding period.”\r\nNow Celsus appears to me in these words to have expressed\r\nvery obscurely the meaning which he intended to convey. It is\r\nprobable, indeed, that his obscurity on this subject is intentional,\r\ninasmuch as he saw the strength of the argument which\r\nestablishes the descent of the Jews from their ancestors; while\r\nagain, on the other hand, he wished not to appear ignorant that\r\nthe question regarding the Jews and their descent was one that\r\ncould not be lightly disposed of. It is certain, however, that the\r\nJews trace their genealogy back to the three fathers, Abraham,\r\nIsaac, and Jacob. And the names of these individuals possess\r\nsuch efficacy, when united with the name of God, that not\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_196\">196</span>only do those belonging to the nation employ in their prayers\r\nto God, and in the exorcising of demons, the words, “God of\r\nAbraham, and God of Isaac, and God of Jacob,” but so also\r\ndo almost all those who occupy themselves with incantations\r\nand magical rites. For there is found in treatises on magic in\r\nmany countries such an invocation of God, and assumption of\r\nthe divine name, as implies a familiar use of it by these men in\r\ntheir dealings with demons. These facts, then—adduced by\r\nJews and Christians to prove the sacred character of Abraham,\r\nand Isaac, and Jacob, the fathers of the Jewish race—appear\r\nto me not to have been altogether unknown to Celsus, but\r\nnot to have been distinctly set forth by him, because he was\r\nunable to answer the argument which might be founded on\r\nthem.</p>","headings":["The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 of 2","BOOK IV.","Chapter XXXIII."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70693-paragraph-252"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"7c4cfca26009f01e01063e41b4f1c8bfe692baecac69ba9945e2fd8ac1788ae0","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-f612","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":"f612","source_ebook":70693,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f612\">\n<p class=\"c007\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r612\">612</a>.  </span><span lang=\"grc\">παρεξηγούμενοι.</span></p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"76ed9a9fd752c1d5095189e38fe3dcbbea0fd23d6be719db17360e4da14552fa","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70693/pg70693-images.html#f612","text_sha256":"1e1f567db068064894b8b0936e85608d3228a48a9781e8e5b903765f20369843","verified":false,"work_id":null}

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