Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c005\">But after this, Celsus, having a suspicion that the great\r\nworks performed by Jesus, of which we have named a few\r\nout of a great number, would be brought forward to view,\r\naffects to grant that those statements may be true which are\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_475\">475</span>made regarding His cures, or His resurrection, or the feeding\r\nof a multitude with a few loaves, from which many fragments\r\nremained over, or those other stories which Celsus thinks the\r\ndisciples have recorded as of a marvellous nature; and he\r\nadds: “Well, let us believe that these were actually wrought\r\nby you.” But then he immediately compares them to the\r\ntricks of jugglers, who profess to do more wonderful things,\r\nand to the feats performed by those who have been taught\r\nby Egyptians, who in the middle of the market-place, in\r\nreturn for a few obols, will impart the knowledge of their\r\nmost venerated arts, and will expel demons from men, and\r\ndispel diseases, and invoke the souls of heroes, and exhibit\r\nexpensive banquets, and tables, and dishes, and dainties having\r\nno real existence, and who will put in motion, as if alive,\r\nwhat are not really living animals, but which have only the\r\nappearance of life. And he asks, “Since, then, these persons\r\ncan perform such feats, shall we of necessity conclude that\r\nthey are ‘sons of God,’ or must we admit that they are the\r\nproceedings of wicked men under the influence of an evil\r\nspirit?” You see that by these expressions he allows, as it\r\nwere, the existence of magic. I do not know, however, if he\r\nis the same who wrote several books against it. But, as it\r\nhelped his purpose, he compares the [miracles] related of\r\nJesus to the results produced by magic. There would indeed\r\nbe a resemblance between them, if Jesus, like the dealers in\r\nmagical arts, had performed His works only for show; but\r\nnow there is not a single juggler who, by means of his proceedings,\r\ninvites his spectators to reform their manners, or\r\ntrains those to the fear of God who are amazed at what they\r\nsee, nor who tries to persuade them so to live as men who are\r\nto be justified<a id=\"r1249\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f1249\"><sup>[1249]</sup></a> by God. And jugglers do none of these\r\nthings, because they have neither the power nor the will, nor\r\nany desire to busy themselves about the reformation of men,\r\ninasmuch as their own lives are full of the grossest and most\r\nnotorious sins. But how should not He who, by the miracles\r\nwhich He did, induced those who beheld the excellent results\r\nto undertake the reformation of their characters, manifest\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_476\">476</span>Himself not only to His genuine disciples, but also to others as\r\na pattern of most virtuous life, in order that His disciples\r\nmight devote themselves to the work of instructing men in\r\nthe will of God, and that the others, after being more fully\r\ninstructed by His word and character than by His miracles,\r\nas to how they were to direct their lives, might in all their\r\nconduct have a constant reference to the good pleasure of\r\nthe universal God? And if such were the life of Jesus, how\r\ncould any one with reason compare Him with the sect of\r\nimpostors, and not, on the contrary, believe, according to the\r\npromise, that He was God, who appeared in human form to\r\ndo good to our race?</p>","headings":["The Writings of Origen, Vol. 1 of 2","ORIGEN CONTRA CELSUM.","ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. BOOK I.","Chapter LXVIII."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70561-paragraph-467"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"094d02dd080ea9482d79a59134a9f7468d6acfae220456a21721a664a040d3f8","edition_title":"The writings of Origen, Vol. 1 (of 2)","edition_translators":["Frederick Crombie"],"edition_year":1869,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg70561-f1249","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":"f1249","source_ebook":70561,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f1249\">\n<p class=\"c006\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r1249\">1249</a>.  </span><span lang=\"grc\">ὡς δικαιωθησομένους.</span></p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"de125e213d16053354f22b34a1c8d477ac23f201e660e4f4841b2ed7e05bb367","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70561/pg70561-images.html#f1249","text_sha256":"b8d3c3ad59f6f48f037013c996c02ce88207de34227f60355f982f6113ec0701","verified":false,"work_id":null}

references: [] | work_id: | origin: existing-private-derived-record | source: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70561/pg70561-images.html#f1249