{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c006\">God accordingly, in His kindness, condescends to mankind,\r\nnot in any local sense, but through His providence;<a id=\"r884\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f884\"><sup>[884]</sup></a> while the\r\nSon of God, not only [when on earth], but at <i>all</i> times, is with\r\nHis own disciples, fulfilling the promise, “Lo, I am with you\r\nalways, even to the end of the world.”<a id=\"r885\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f885\"><sup>[885]</sup></a> And if a branch cannot\r\nbear fruit except it abide in the vine, it is evident that the disciples\r\nalso of the Word, who are the rational branches of the\r\nWord’s true vine, cannot produce the fruits of virtue unless they\r\nabide in the true vine, the Christ of God, who is with us locally\r\nhere below upon the earth, and who is with those who cleave\r\nto Him in all parts of the world, and is also in all places with\r\nthose who do not know Him. Another is made manifest by\r\nthat John who wrote the Gospel, when, speaking in the person\r\nof John the Baptist, he said, “There standeth one among you\r\nwhom ye know not; He it is who cometh after me.”<a id=\"r886\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f886\"><sup>[886]</sup></a> And\r\nit is absurd, when He who fills heaven and earth, and who\r\nsaid, “Do I not fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord,”<a id=\"r887\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f887\"><sup>[887]</sup></a> is with\r\nus, and near us (for I believe Him when He says, “I am a\r\nGod nigh at hand, and not afar off, saith the Lord”<a id=\"r888\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f888\"><sup>[888]</sup></a>), to seek\r\nto pray to sun or moon, or one of the stars, whose influence\r\ndoes not reach the whole of the world.<a id=\"r889\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f889\"><sup>[889]</sup></a> But, to use the very\r\nwords of Celsus, let it be granted that “the sun, moon, and\r\nstars <i>do</i> foretell rain, and heat, and clouds, and thunders,” why,\r\nthen, if they really do foretell such great things, ought we not\r\nrather to do homage to God, whose servant they are in uttering\r\nthese predictions, and show reverence to <i>Him</i> rather than His\r\n<i>prophets</i>? Let them predict, then, the approach of lightnings,\r\nand fruits, and all manner of productions, and let all such\r\nthings be under their administration; yet we shall not on that\r\naccount worship those who themselves offer worship, as we do\r\nnot worship even Moses, and those prophets who came from God\r\nafter him, and who predicted better things than rain, and heat,\r\nand clouds, and thunders, and lightnings, and fruits, and all sorts\r\nof productions visible to the senses. Nay, even if sun, and\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_281\">281</span>moon, and stars were able to prophesy better things than rain,\r\nnot even then shall we worship <i>them</i>, but the <i>Father</i> of the\r\nprophecies which are in them, and the <i>Word</i> of God, their\r\nminister. But grant that they are His heralds, and truly messengers\r\nof heaven, why, even then ought we not to worship\r\nthe <i>God</i> whom they only proclaim and announce, rather than\r\nthose who are the <i>heralds</i> and <i>messengers</i>?</p>","headings":["The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 of 2","BOOK V.","Chapter XII."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70693-paragraph-339"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"91067cd53c970833ab9f4cac11b642b69c93d5a71a9e2f681521df8dbc548f86","edition_title":"The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 (of 2)","edition_translators":["Frederick Crombie","W. H. Cairns"],"edition_year":1872,"explicit_reference_candidates":[{"book":"JER","chapter":23,"kind":"unreviewed","source_notation":"Jer. xxiii. 23","verse":23,"verse_end":23}],"headings":[],"id":"pg70693-f888","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":"f888","source_ebook":70693,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f888\">\n<p class=\"c007\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r888\">888</a>. </span><abbr class=\"spell\">Cf.</abbr> <abbr title=\"Jeremiah\">Jer.</abbr> <abbr title=\"twenty-three\">xxiii.</abbr> 23.</p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"76ed9a9fd752c1d5095189e38fe3dcbbea0fd23d6be719db17360e4da14552fa","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70693/pg70693-images.html#f888","text_sha256":"06f4fd0c2b4733e9d36d8eed1e525392bfe387ac6c3e31f6393407400919ed5d","verified":false,"work_id":null}