{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c006\">We are careful not to oppose fair arguments even if they\r\nproceed from those who are not of our faith; we strive not to\r\nbe captious, or to seek to overthrow any sound reasonings. But\r\nhere we have to reply to those who slander the character of\r\npersons wishing to do their best in the service of God, who\r\naccepts the faith which the meanest place in Him, as well as\r\nthe more refined and intelligent piety of the learned; seeing\r\nthat both alike address to the Creator of the world their prayers\r\nand thanksgivings through the High Priest who has set before\r\nmen the nature of pure religion. We say, then, that those who\r\nare stigmatized as “lamed and mutilated in spirit,” as “living\r\nonly for the sake of the body which is dead,” are persons whose\r\nendeavour it is to say with sincerity: “For though we live<a id=\"r1518\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f1518\"><sup>[1518]</sup></a> in\r\nthe flesh, we do not war according to the flesh; for the weapons\r\nof our warfare are not fleshly, but mighty through God.” It is\r\nfor those who throw out such vile accusations against men who\r\ndesire to be God’s servants, to beware lest, by the calumnies\r\nwhich they cast upon others who strive to live well, they “lame”\r\ntheir own souls, and “mutilate” the inner man, by severing from\r\nit that justice and moderation of mind which the Creator has\r\nplanted in the nature of all His rational creatures. As for\r\nthose, however, who, along with other lessons given by the Divine\r\nWord, have learned and practised this, “when reviled to bless,\r\nwhen persecuted to endure, when defamed to entreat,”<a id=\"r1519\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f1519\"><sup>[1519]</sup></a> they\r\nmay be said to be walking in spirit in the ways of uprightness,\r\nto be purifying and setting in order the whole soul. They distinguish—and\r\nto them the distinction is not one of words\r\nmerely—between “substance,” or that which is, and that\r\nwhich is “becoming;” between things apprehended by reason,\r\nand things apprehended by sense; and they connect truth with\r\nthe one, and avoid the errors arising out of the other; looking,\r\nas they have been taught, not at the things “becoming” or\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_470\">470</span>phenomenal, which are seen, and therefore temporary, but at\r\nbetter things than these, whether we call them “substance,”\r\nor “spiritual” things, as being apprehended by reason, or “invisible,”\r\nbecause they lie out of the reach of the senses. The\r\ndisciples of Jesus regard these phenomenal things only that\r\nthey may use them as steps to ascend to the knowledge of the\r\nthings of reason. For “the invisible things of God,” that is, the\r\nobjects of the reason, “from the creation of the world are clearly\r\nseen” by the reason, “being understood by the things that are\r\nmade.” And when they have risen from the created things of\r\nthis world to the invisible things of God, they do not stay there;\r\nbut after they have sufficiently exercised their minds upon these,\r\nand have understood their nature, they ascend to “the eternal\r\npower of God,” in a word, to His divinity. For they know that\r\nGod, in His love to men, has “manifested” His truth, and “that\r\nwhich is known of Him,” not only to those who devote themselves\r\nto His service, but also to some who are far removed from\r\nthe purity of worship and service which He requires; and that\r\nsome of those who by the providence of God had attained a\r\nknowledge of these truths, were yet doing things unworthy of\r\nthat knowledge, and “holding the truth in unrighteousness,”\r\nand who are unable to find any excuse before God after the\r\nknowledge of such great truths which He has given them.</p>","headings":["The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 of 2","BOOK VII.","Chapter XLVI."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70693-paragraph-523"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"733db629a0cbaa159bc4a72eea970e4f1835741d44a5b29f4da97e0c8075e4c5","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":10,"kind":"unreviewed","source_notation":"1 Cor. x. 3","verse":3,"verse_end":3}],"headings":[],"id":"pg70693-f1518","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":"f1518","source_ebook":70693,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f1518\">\n<p class=\"c007\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r1518\">1518</a>. </span>1 <abbr title=\"Corinthians\">Cor.</abbr> <abbr title=\"ten\">x.</abbr> 3, 4. The received text has “walk” instead of “live.”</p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"76ed9a9fd752c1d5095189e38fe3dcbbea0fd23d6be719db17360e4da14552fa","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70693/pg70693-images.html#f1518","text_sha256":"b2cc59d9f81623fcbfe53e36c587147010f723fb3c2d62f7b401bea38cd8b804","verified":false,"work_id":null}