Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c006\">In reply to these, we ask of those who accept such aspersions\r\nas are scattered against us, Do you regard all men as a collection\r\nof bats, or as frogs, or as worms, in consequence of the pre-eminence\r\nof God? or do you not include the rest of mankind\r\nin this proposed comparison, but on account of their possession\r\nof reason, and of the established laws, treat <i>them</i> as men, while\r\nyou hold cheap<a id=\"r556\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f556\"><sup>[556]</sup></a> <i>Christians</i> and <i>Jews</i>, because their opinions\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_184\">184</span>are distasteful to you, and compare them to the animals above\r\nmentioned? And whatever answer you may return to our\r\nquestion, we shall reply by endeavouring to show that such\r\nassertions are most unbecoming, whether spoken of all men in\r\ngeneral, or of us in particular. For, let it be supposed that you\r\nsay justly that all men, as compared with God, are [rightly]\r\nlikened to these worthless<a id=\"r557\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f557\"><sup>[557]</sup></a> animals, since their littleness is not\r\nat all to be compared with the superiority of God, what then\r\ndo you mean by littleness? Answer me, good sirs. If you\r\nrefer to littleness of body, know that superiority and inferiority,\r\nif truth is to be judge, are not determined by a bodily standard.<a id=\"r558\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f558\"><sup>[558]</sup></a>\r\nFor, on such a view, vultures<a id=\"r559\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f559\"><sup>[559]</sup></a> and elephants would be superior\r\nto us men; for they are larger, and stronger, and longer-lived\r\nthan we. But no sensible person would maintain that these\r\nirrational creatures are superior to rational beings, merely on\r\naccount of their bodies: for the possession of reason raises a\r\nrational being to a vast superiority over all irrational creatures.\r\nEven the race of virtuous and blessed beings would admit this,\r\nwhether they are, as ye say, good demons, or, as we are accustomed\r\nto call them, the angels of God, or any other natures\r\nwhatever superior to that of man, since the rational faculty\r\nwithin them has been made perfect, and endowed with all\r\nvirtuous qualities.<a id=\"r560\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f560\"><sup>[560]</sup></a></p>","headings":["The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 of 2","BOOK IV.","Chapter XXIV."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70693-paragraph-243"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"358e0cb4dc25344ebf08e392036ae9a3db35c664f271d403394dc803592fd02d","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-f560","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":"f560","source_ebook":70693,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f560\">\n<p class=\"c007\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r560\">560</a>.  </span><span lang=\"grc\">καὶ κατὰ πᾶσαν ἀρετὴν πεποίωται.</span></p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"76ed9a9fd752c1d5095189e38fe3dcbbea0fd23d6be719db17360e4da14552fa","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70693/pg70693-images.html#f560","text_sha256":"ad7e249275f504f2e484ee6044d78ac1643e98db62063d8c7aa00f1df408e378","verified":false,"work_id":null}

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