Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c006\">It is evident that, by the preceding remarks, Celsus charges\r\nthe Jews with falsely giving themselves out as the chosen portion\r\nof the Supreme God above all other nations. And he\r\naccuses them of boasting, because they gave out that they knew\r\nthe great God, although they did not really know Him, but\r\nwere led away by the artifices of Moses, and were deceived\r\nby him, and became his disciples to no good end. Now we\r\nhave in the preceding pages already spoken in part of the\r\nvenerable and distinguished polity of the Jews, when it existed\r\namongst them as a symbol of the city of God, and of His\r\ntemple, and of the sacrificial worship offered in it and at the\r\naltar of sacrifice. But if any one were to turn his attention\r\nto the meaning of the legislator, and to the constitution which\r\nhe established, and were to examine the various points relating\r\nto him, and compare them with the present method of worship\r\namong other nations, there are none which he would admire\r\nto a greater degree; because, so far as can be accomplished\r\namong mortals, everything that was not of advantage to the\r\nhuman race was withheld from them, and only those things\r\nwhich are useful bestowed. And for this reason they had\r\nneither gymnastic contests, nor scenic representations, nor horse-races;\r\nnor were there among them women who sold their\r\nbeauty to any one who wished to have sexual intercourse without\r\noffspring, and to cast contempt upon the nature of human\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_313\">313</span>generation. And what an advantage was it to be taught from\r\ntheir tender years to ascend above all visible nature, and to\r\nhold the belief that God was not fixed anywhere within its\r\nlimits, but to look for Him on high, and beyond the sphere of\r\nall bodily substance!<a id=\"r982\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f982\"><sup>[982]</sup></a> And how great was the advantage\r\nwhich they enjoyed in being instructed almost from their birth,\r\nand as soon as they could speak,<a id=\"r983\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f983\"><sup>[983]</sup></a> in the immortality of the soul,\r\nand in the existence of courts of justice under the earth, and\r\nin the rewards provided for those who have lived righteous\r\nlives! These truths, indeed, were proclaimed in the veil\r\nof fable to children, and to those whose views of things were\r\nchildish; while to those who were already occupied in investigating\r\nthe truth, and desirous of making progress therein,\r\nthese fables, so to speak, were transfigured into the truths which\r\nwere concealed within them. And I consider that it was in a\r\nmanner worthy of their name as the “portion of God” that\r\nthey despised all kinds of divination, as that which bewitches\r\nmen to no purpose, and which proceeds rather from wicked\r\ndemons than from anything of a better nature; and sought the\r\nknowledge of future events in the souls of those who, owing to\r\ntheir high degree of purity, received the spirit of the Supreme\r\nGod.</p>","headings":["The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 of 2","BOOK V.","Chapter XLII."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70693-paragraph-369"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"dfdbc405b8ac7e54b6cdd1e9aff129088992fcaab9897d4e56f90dabec29140d","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-f983","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":"f983","source_ebook":70693,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f983\">\n<p class=\"c007\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r983\">983</a>.  </span><span lang=\"grc\">συμπληρώσει τοῦ λόγου.</span></p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"76ed9a9fd752c1d5095189e38fe3dcbbea0fd23d6be719db17360e4da14552fa","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70693/pg70693-images.html#f983","text_sha256":"45dce1d8b884bca7e7ce2b77e78f50249e34cdd672944001160041e4b6c315c3","verified":false,"work_id":null}

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