{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c006\">We ought to take note, however, that the power of foreknowing\r\nthe future is by no means a proof of divinity; for in itself\r\nit is a thing indifferent, and is found occurring amongst both\r\ngood and bad. Physicians, at any rate, by means of their professional\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_263\">263</span>skill foreknow certain things, although their character\r\nmay happen to be bad. And in the same way also pilots, although\r\nperhaps wicked men, are able to foretell the signs<a id=\"r836\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f836\"><sup>[836]</sup></a> [of\r\ngood or bad weather], and the approach of violent tempests\r\nof wind, and atmospheric changes,<a id=\"r837\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f837\"><sup>[837]</sup></a> because they gather this\r\nknowledge from experience and observation, although I do\r\nnot suppose that on that account any one would term them\r\n“gods” if their characters happened to be bad. The assertion,\r\nthen, of Celsus is false, when he says: “What could be called\r\nmore divine than the power of foreknowing and foretelling the\r\nfuture?” And so also is this, that “many of the animals claim\r\nto have ideas of God;” for none of the irrational animals\r\npossess any idea of God. And wholly false, too, is his assertion,\r\nthat “the irrational animals are nearer the society of God\r\n[than men],” when even men who are still in a state of wickedness,\r\nhowever great their progress in knowledge, are far\r\nremoved from that society. It is, then, those alone who are\r\ntruly wise and sincerely religious who are nearer to God’s\r\nsociety; such persons as were our prophets, and Moses, to\r\nthe latter of whom, on account of his exceeding purity, the\r\nScripture said: “Moses alone shall come near the Lord, but\r\nthe rest shall not come nigh.”<a id=\"r838\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f838\"><sup>[838]</sup></a></p>","headings":["The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 of 2","BOOK IV.","Chapter XCVI."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70693-paragraph-324"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"7b080dda457dbf1f1ccddc3559152a323feb6e7f2a9f3e75f21b1ee0d5ca2ceb","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-f838","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":"f838","source_ebook":70693,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f838\">\n<p class=\"c007\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r838\">838</a>. </span><abbr class=\"spell\">Cf.</abbr> <abbr title=\"Exodus\">Ex.</abbr> <abbr title=\"twenty-four\">xxiv.</abbr> 2.</p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"76ed9a9fd752c1d5095189e38fe3dcbbea0fd23d6be719db17360e4da14552fa","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70693/pg70693-images.html#f838","text_sha256":"d53045cd450a3ce42352fb651874b61b500b006256a73e21efb3c2bdf1f2d3b1","verified":false,"work_id":null}