{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c006\">Seeing, however, that Celsus quotes from an epistle of Plato\r\nanother statement to the following effect, viz.: “If it appeared\r\nto me that these matters could be adequately explained to the\r\nmultitude in writing and in oral address, what nobler pursuit\r\nin life could have been followed by me, than to commit to\r\nwriting what was to prove of such advantage to human beings,\r\nand to lead the nature of all men onwards to the light?”—let us\r\nthen consider this point briefly, viz. whether or not Plato were\r\nacquainted with any doctrines more profound than are contained\r\nin his writings, or more divine than those which he has\r\nleft behind him, leaving it to each one to investigate the subject\r\naccording to his ability, while we demonstrate that our prophets\r\ndid know of greater things than any in the Scriptures, but which\r\nthey did not commit to writing. Ezekiel, <i>e.g.</i>, received a roll,<a id=\"r1066\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f1066\"><sup>[1066]</sup></a>\r\nwritten within and without, in which were contained “lamentations,”\r\nand “songs,” and “denunciations;”<a id=\"r1067\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f1067\"><sup>[1067]</sup></a> but at the command\r\nof the Logos he swallowed the book, in order that its\r\ncontents might not be written, and so made known to unworthy\r\npersons. John also is recorded to have seen and done a similar\r\nthing.<a id=\"r1068\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f1068\"><sup>[1068]</sup></a> Nay, Paul even heard “unspeakable words, which it\r\nis not lawful for a man to utter.”<a id=\"r1069\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f1069\"><sup>[1069]</sup></a> And it is related of Jesus,\r\nwho was greater than all these, that He conversed with His\r\ndisciples in private, and especially in their secret retreats, concerning\r\nthe gospel of God; but the words which He uttered\r\nhave not been preserved, because it appeared to the evangelists\r\nthat they could not be adequately conveyed to the multitude in\r\nwriting or in speech. And if it were not tiresome to repeat\r\nthe truth regarding these illustrious individuals, I would say\r\nthat they saw better than Plato (by means of the intelligence\r\nwhich they received by the grace of God), what things were to\r\nbe committed to <i>writing</i>, and how this was to be done, and what\r\nwas by no means to be written to the multitude, and what\r\nwas to be expressed in <i>words</i>, and what was not to be so conveyed.\r\nAnd once more, John, in teaching us the difference\r\nbetween what ought to be committed to writing and what not,\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_343\">343</span>declares that he heard seven thunders instructing him on certain\r\nmatters, and forbidding him to commit their words to\r\nwriting.<a id=\"r1070\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f1070\"><sup>[1070]</sup></a></p>","headings":["The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 of 2","BOOK VI.","Chapter VI."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70693-paragraph-399"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"bcb9129dea1289d67d4526bbe63c85718960359e3cd8a013aba66ea973341d63","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-f1070","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":"f1070","source_ebook":70693,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f1070\">\n<p class=\"c007\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r1070\">1070</a>. </span><abbr class=\"spell\">Cf.</abbr> <abbr title=\"Apocalypse\">Apoc.</abbr> <abbr title=\"ten\">x.</abbr> 4.</p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"76ed9a9fd752c1d5095189e38fe3dcbbea0fd23d6be719db17360e4da14552fa","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70693/pg70693-images.html#f1070","text_sha256":"0b6848e061d23e9c462fad0ffc82c3d9464db11f73f47370be3ed89914f846c6","verified":false,"work_id":null}