Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c005\">9. Now the reason of the erroneous apprehension of all\r\nthese points on the part of those whom we have mentioned\r\nabove, is no other than this, that holy Scripture is not understood\r\nby them according to its spiritual, but according to its\r\nliteral meaning. And therefore we shall endeavour, so far\r\nas our moderate capacity will permit, to point out to those\r\nwho believe the holy Scriptures to be no human compositions,\r\nbut to be written by inspiration of the Holy Spirit,\r\nand to be transmitted and entrusted to us by the will of God\r\nthe Father, through His only-begotten Son Jesus Christ, what\r\nappears to us, who observe things by a right way of understanding,<a id=\"r869\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f869\"><sup>[869]</sup></a>\r\nto be the standard and discipline delivered to the\r\napostles by Jesus Christ, and which they handed down in\r\nsuccession to their posterity, the teachers of the holy church.\r\nNow, that there are certain mystical economies<a id=\"r870\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f870\"><sup>[870]</sup></a> indicated in\r\nholy Scripture, is admitted by all, I think, even the simplest\r\nof believers. But what these are, or of what kind they are,\r\nhe who is rightly minded, and not overcome with the vice of\r\nboasting, will scrupulously<a id=\"r871\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f871\"><sup>[871]</sup></a> acknowledge himself to be ignorant.\r\nFor if any one, <i>e.g.</i>, were to adduce the case of the\r\ndaughters of Lot, who seem, contrary to the law of God,<a id=\"r872\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f872\"><sup>[872]</sup></a> to\r\nhave had intercourse with their father, or that of the two\r\nwives of Abraham, or of the two sisters who were married\r\nto Jacob, or of the two handmaids who increased the number\r\nof his sons, what other answer could be returned than that\r\nthese were certain mysteries,<a id=\"r873\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f873\"><sup>[873]</sup></a> and forms of spiritual things,\r\nbut that we are ignorant of what nature they are? Nay,\r\neven when we read of the construction of the tabernacle, we\r\ndeem it certain that the written descriptions are the figures\r\nof certain hidden things; but to adapt these to their appropriate\r\nstandards, and to open up and discuss every individual\r\npoint, I consider to be exceedingly difficult, not to say impossible.\r\nThat that description, however, is, as I have said,\r\nfull of mysteries, does not escape even the common understanding.\r\nBut all the narrative portion, relating either to\r\nthe marriages, or to the begetting of the children, or to\r\nbattles of different kinds, or to any other histories whatever,\r\nwhat else can they be supposed to be, save the forms and\r\nfigures of hidden and sacred things? As men, however,\r\nmake little effort to exercise their intellect, or imagine that\r\nthey possess knowledge before they really learn, the consequence\r\nis that they never begin to have knowledge; or if\r\nthere be no want of a desire, at least, nor of an instructor,\r\nand if divine knowledge be sought after, as it ought to be,\r\nin a religious and holy spirit, and in the hope that many\r\npoints will be opened up by the revelation of God—since to\r\nhuman sense they are exceedingly difficult and obscure—then,\r\nperhaps, he who seeks in such a manner will find what\r\nit is lawful<a id=\"r874\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f874\"><sup>[874]</sup></a> to discover.</p>","headings":["The Writings of Origen, Vol. 1 of 2","ORIGEN DE PRINCIPIIS.","BOOK IV.","FROM THE LATIN."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70561-paragraph-304"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"abe8dace27477ddc1a90d2a87d0b681562f3189d70029e8ff797d5255c36ddb5","edition_title":"The writings of Origen, Vol. 1 (of 2)","edition_translators":["Frederick Crombie"],"edition_year":1869,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg70561-f874","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":"f874","source_ebook":70561,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f874\">\n<p class=\"c006\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r874\">874</a>.  </span><span lang=\"la\">Fas.</span></p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"de125e213d16053354f22b34a1c8d477ac23f201e660e4f4841b2ed7e05bb367","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70561/pg70561-images.html#f874","text_sha256":"3c8632e5155c663b3a5d03cf7c5c3916a22e58c02afab7060e3e616b9c82ad69","verified":false,"work_id":null}

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