{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c005\">But if we were to reproach those who have been converted\r\nwith their former lives, then we would have occasion to accuse\r\nPhædo also, even after he became a philosopher; since,\r\nas the history relates, he was drawn away by Socrates from\r\na house of bad fame<a id=\"r1240\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f1240\"><sup>[1240]</sup></a> to the pursuits of philosophy. Nay,\r\neven the licentious life of Polemo, the successor of Xenocrates,\r\nwill be a subject of reproach to philosophy; whereas\r\neven in these instances we ought to regard it as a ground of\r\npraise, that reasoning was enabled, by the persuasive power\r\nof these men, to convert from the practice of such vices those\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_470\">470</span>who had been formerly entangled by them. Now among\r\nthe Greeks there was only one Phædo, I know not if there\r\nwere a second, and one Polemo, who betook themselves to\r\nphilosophy, after a licentious and most wicked life; while\r\nwith Jesus there were not only at the time we speak of, the\r\ntwelve disciples, but many more at all times, who, becoming\r\na band of temperate men, speak in the following terms of\r\ntheir former lives: “For we ourselves also were sometimes\r\nfoolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures,\r\nliving in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one\r\nanother. But after that the kindness and love of God our\r\nSaviour towards man appeared, by the washing of regeneration,\r\nand renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed upon\r\nus richly,”<a id=\"r1241\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f1241\"><sup>[1241]</sup></a> we became such as we are. For “God sent\r\nforth His Word and healed them, and delivered them from\r\ntheir destructions,”<a id=\"r1242\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f1242\"><sup>[1242]</sup></a> as the prophet taught in the book of\r\nPsalms. And in addition to what has been already said, I\r\nwould add the following: that Chrysippus, in his treatise on\r\nthe <i>Cure of the Passions</i>, in his endeavours to restrain the\r\npassions of the human soul, not pretending to determine\r\nwhat opinions are the true ones, says that according to the\r\nprinciples of the different sects are those to be cured who\r\nhave been brought under the dominion of the passions, and\r\ncontinues: “And if pleasure be an end, then by it must the\r\npassions be healed; and if there be three kinds of chief\r\nblessings, still, according to this doctrine, it is in the same\r\nway that those are to be freed from their passions who are\r\nunder their dominion;” whereas the assailants of Christianity\r\ndo not see in how many persons the passions have\r\nbeen brought under restraint, and the flood of wickedness\r\nchecked, and savage manners softened by means of the\r\ngospel. So that it well became those who are ever boasting\r\nof their zeal for the public good, to make a public acknowledgment\r\nof their thanks to that doctrine which by a new\r\nmethod led men to abandon many vices, and to bear their\r\ntestimony at least to it, that even though not the truth, it has\r\nat all events been productive of benefit to the human race.</p>","headings":["The Writings of Origen, Vol. 1 of 2","ORIGEN CONTRA CELSUM.","ORIGEN AGAINST CELSUS. BOOK I.","Chapter LXIV."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70561-paragraph-462"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"a41eb1a0dbd654a74d6d269ae5bf67ce0e6cb7c691493e270151fe64654f0a15","edition_title":"The writings of Origen, Vol. 1 (of 2)","edition_translators":["Frederick Crombie"],"edition_year":1869,"explicit_reference_candidates":[{"book":"PSA","chapter":107,"kind":"unreviewed","source_notation":"Ps. cvii. 20","verse":20,"verse_end":20}],"headings":[],"id":"pg70561-f1242","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":"f1242","source_ebook":70561,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f1242\">\n<p class=\"c006\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r1242\">1242</a>. </span><abbr class=\"spell\">Cf.</abbr> <abbr title=\"Psalms\">Ps.</abbr> <abbr title=\"a hundred and seven\">cvii.</abbr> 20.</p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"de125e213d16053354f22b34a1c8d477ac23f201e660e4f4841b2ed7e05bb367","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70561/pg70561-images.html#f1242","text_sha256":"668282c0ad127c66a4c40a4f8d0bbc3898ecb041e6405a9c54330a1e6beda689","verified":false,"work_id":null}