{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c006\">Celsus supposes that we may arrive at a knowledge of God\r\neither by combining or separating certain things after the\r\nmethods which mathematicians call synthesis and analysis, or\r\nagain by analogy, which is employed by them also, and that in\r\nthis way we may as it were gain admission to the chief good.\r\nBut when the Word of God says, “No man knoweth the Father\r\nbut the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him,”<a id=\"r1513\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f1513\"><sup>[1513]</sup></a>\r\nHe declares that no one can know God but by the help of\r\ndivine grace coming from above, with a certain divine inspiration.\r\nIndeed, it is reasonable to suppose that the knowledge of\r\nGod is beyond the reach of human nature, and hence the many\r\nerrors into which men have fallen in their views of God. It is,\r\nthen, through the goodness and love of God to mankind, and\r\nby a marvellous exercise of divine grace to those whom He saw\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_467\">467</span>in His foreknowledge, and knew that they would walk worthy\r\nof Him who had made Himself known to them, and that they\r\nwould never swerve from a faithful attachment to His service,\r\nalthough they were condemned to death or held up to ridicule\r\nby those who, in ignorance of what true religion is, give that\r\nname to what deserves to be called anything rather than religion.\r\nGod doubtless saw the pride and arrogance of those who,\r\nwith contempt for all others, boast of their knowledge of God,\r\nand of their profound acquaintance with divine things obtained\r\nfrom philosophy, but who still, not less even than the most\r\nignorant, run after their images, and temples, and famous\r\nmysteries; and seeing this, He “has chosen the foolish things\r\nof this world”<a id=\"r1514\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f1514\"><sup>[1514]</sup></a>—the simplest of Christians, who lead, however,\r\na life of greater moderation and purity than many philosophers—“to\r\nconfound the wise,” who are not ashamed to address\r\ninanimate things as gods or images of the gods. For what\r\nreasonable man can refrain from smiling when he sees that one\r\nwho has learned from philosophy such profound and noble\r\nsentiments about God or the gods, turns straightway to images\r\nand offers to them his prayers, or imagines that by gazing upon\r\nthese material things he can ascend from the visible symbol to\r\nthat which is spiritual and immaterial. But a Christian, even\r\nof the common people, is assured that every place forms part\r\nof the universe, and that the whole universe is God’s temple.\r\nIn whatever part of the world he is, he prays; but he rises\r\nabove the universe, “shutting the eyes of sense, and raising\r\nupwards the eyes of the soul.” And he stops not at the vault\r\nof heaven; but passing in thought beyond the heavens, under\r\nthe guidance of the Spirit of God, and having thus as it were\r\ngone beyond the visible universe, he offers prayers to God.\r\nBut he prays for no trivial blessings, for he has learnt from\r\nJesus to seek for nothing small or mean, that is, sensible objects,\r\nbut to ask only for what is great and truly divine; and\r\nthese things God grants to us, to lead us to that blessedness which\r\nis found only with Him through His Son, the Word, who is God.</p>","headings":["The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 of 2","BOOK VII.","Chapter XLIV."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70693-paragraph-521"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"1304985253740ebd112e64350efc5a1c28e79df95ae7257e85eabf7973c26dc0","edition_title":"The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 (of 2)","edition_translators":["Frederick Crombie","W. H. Cairns"],"edition_year":1872,"explicit_reference_candidates":[{"book":"1CO","chapter":1,"kind":"unreviewed","source_notation":"1 Cor. i. 27","verse":27,"verse_end":27}],"headings":[],"id":"pg70693-f1514","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":"f1514","source_ebook":70693,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f1514\">\n<p class=\"c007\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r1514\">1514</a>. </span>1 <abbr title=\"Corinthians\">Cor.</abbr> <abbr title=\"one\">i.</abbr> 27.</p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"76ed9a9fd752c1d5095189e38fe3dcbbea0fd23d6be719db17360e4da14552fa","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70693/pg70693-images.html#f1514","text_sha256":"284b132e4accbdc8e6efd8de0e59911f728af18c14437599ec5519a032cba1aa","verified":false,"work_id":null}