{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c005\">17. We said formerly, when discussing the case of Pharaoh,\r\nthat sometimes it does not lead to good results for a man to\r\nbe cured too quickly, especially if the disease, being shut up\r\nwithin the inner parts of the body, rage with greater fierceness.\r\nWhence God, who is acquainted with secret things, and knows\r\nall things before they happen, in His great goodness delays the\r\ncure of such, and postpones their recovery to a remoter period,\r\nand, so to speak, cures them by not curing them, lest a too\r\nfavourable state of health<a id=\"r513\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f513\"><sup>[513]</sup></a> should render them incurable. It\r\nis therefore possible that, in the case of those to whom, as being\r\n“without,” the words of our Lord and Saviour were addressed,\r\nHe, seeing from His scrutiny of the hearts and reins that\r\nthey were not yet able to receive teaching of a clearer type,\r\nveiled by the covering of language the meaning of the profounder\r\nmysteries, lest perhaps, being rapidly converted and\r\nhealed, <i>i.e.</i> having quickly obtained the remission of their\r\nsins, they should again easily slide back into the same disease\r\nwhich they had found could be healed without any difficulty.\r\nFor if this be the case, no one can doubt that the punishment\r\nis doubled, and the amount of wickedness increased;\r\nsince not only are the sins which had appeared to be forgiven\r\nrepeated, but the court<a id=\"r514\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f514\"><sup>[514]</sup></a> of virtue also is desecrated\r\nwhen trodden by deceitful and polluted beings,<a id=\"r515\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f515\"><sup>[515]</sup></a> filled within\r\nwith hidden wickedness. And what remedy can there ever\r\nbe for those who, after eating the impure and filthy food of\r\nwickedness, have tasted the pleasantness of virtue, and received\r\nits sweetness into their mouths, and yet have again\r\nbetaken themselves to the deadly and poisonous provision of\r\nsin? And who doubts that it is better for delay and a\r\ntemporary abandonment to occur, in order that if, at some\r\nfuture time, they should happen to be satiated with wickedness,\r\nand the filth with which they are now delighted should\r\nbecome loathsome, the word of God may at last be appropriately\r\nmade clear to them, and that which is holy be not\r\ngiven to the dogs, nor pearls be cast before swine, which\r\nwill trample them under foot, and turn, moreover, and rend\r\nand assault those who have proclaimed to them the word of\r\nGod? These, then, are they who are said to be “without,”\r\nundoubtedly by way of contrast with those who are said to\r\nbe “within,” and to hear the word of God with greater\r\nclearness. And yet those who are “without” do hear the\r\nword, although it is covered by parables, and overshadowed\r\nby proverbs. There are others, also, besides those who are\r\nwithout, who are called Tyrians, and who do not hear at all,\r\nrespecting whom the Saviour knew that they would have\r\nrepented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes, if the\r\nmiracles performed among others had been done amongst\r\nthem, and yet these do not hear those things which are heard\r\neven by those who are “without:” and I believe, for this\r\nreason, that the rank of such in wickedness was far lower\r\nand worse than that of those who are said to be “without,” <i>i.e.</i>\r\nwho are not far from those who are within, and who have deserved\r\nto hear the word, although in parables; and because,\r\nperhaps, their cure was delayed to that time when it will be\r\nmore tolerable for them on the day of judgment, than for\r\nthose before whom those miracles which are recorded were\r\nperformed, that so at last, being then relieved from the weight\r\nof their sins, they may enter with more ease and power of\r\nendurance upon the way of safety. And this is a point which\r\nI wish impressed upon those who peruse these pages, that with\r\nrespect to topics of such difficulty and obscurity we use our\r\nutmost endeavour, not so much to ascertain clearly the solutions\r\nof the questions (for every one will do this as the Spirit\r\ngives him utterance), as to maintain the rule of faith in the\r\nmost unmistakeable manner,<a id=\"r516\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f516\"><sup>[516]</sup></a> by striving to show that the\r\nprovidence of God, which equitably administers all things,\r\ngoverns also immortal souls on the justest principles, [conferring\r\nrewards] according to the merits and motives of each\r\nindividual; the present economy of things<a id=\"r517\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f517\"><sup>[517]</sup></a> not being confined\r\nwithin the life of this world, but the pre-existing state\r\nof merit always furnishing the ground for the state that is to\r\nfollow,<a id=\"r518\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f518\"><sup>[518]</sup></a> and thus by an eternal and immutable law of equity,\r\nand by the controlling influence of Divine Providence, the immortal\r\nsoul is brought to the summit of perfection. If one,\r\nhowever, were to object to our statement, that the word of\r\npreaching was purposely put aside by certain men of wicked\r\nand worthless character, and [were to inquire] why the word\r\nwas preached to those over whom the Tyrians, who were\r\ncertainly despised, are preferred in comparison (by which\r\nproceeding, certainly, their wickedness was increased, and\r\ntheir condemnation rendered more severe, that they should\r\nhear the word who were not to believe it), they must be\r\nanswered in the following manner: God, who is the Creator\r\nof the minds of all men, foreseeing complaints against His\r\nprovidence, especially on the part of those who say, “How\r\ncould we believe when we neither beheld those things which\r\nothers saw, nor heard those words which were preached to\r\nothers? in so far is the blame removed from us, since they to\r\nwhom the word was announced, and the signs manifested,\r\nmade no delay whatever, but became believers, overpowered\r\nby the very force of the miracles;” wishing to destroy the\r\ngrounds for complaints of this kind, and to show that it was\r\nno concealment of Divine Providence, but the determination\r\nof the human mind which was the cause of their ruin, bestowed\r\nthe grace of His benefits even upon the unworthy\r\nand the unbelieving, that every mouth might indeed be\r\nshut, and that the mind of man might know that all the\r\ndeficiency was on its own part, and none on that of God;\r\nand that it may, at the same time, be understood and recognised\r\nthat he receives a heavier sentence of condemnation\r\nwho has despised the divine benefits conferred upon him\r\nthan he who has not deserved to obtain or hear them, and\r\nthat it is a peculiarity of divine compassion, and a mark\r\nof the extreme justice of its administration, that it sometimes\r\nconceals from certain individuals the opportunity of\r\neither seeing or hearing the mysteries of divine power, lest,\r\nafter beholding the power of the miracles, and recognising\r\nand hearing the mysteries of its wisdom, they should, on\r\ntreating them with contempt and indifference, be punished\r\nwith greater severity for their impiety.</p>","headings":["The Writings of Origen, Vol. 1 of 2","ORIGEN DE PRINCIPIIS.","BOOK III.","FROM THE LATIN."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70561-paragraph-229"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"d8d16e84bdad860a1d170c40486aa3b66c1f08f016d2bea17d534c8de101b4c8","edition_title":"The writings of Origen, Vol. 1 (of 2)","edition_translators":["Frederick Crombie"],"edition_year":1869,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg70561-f514","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":"f514","source_ebook":70561,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f514\">\n<p class=\"c006\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r514\">514</a>. </span><span lang=\"la\">Aula.</span></p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"de125e213d16053354f22b34a1c8d477ac23f201e660e4f4841b2ed7e05bb367","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70561/pg70561-images.html#f514","text_sha256":"1209822e08ddf435ec22297af7905907dba958ab088522c064ab2fa28380b053","verified":false,"work_id":null}