{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c006\">But observe what he alleges as a proof of his statement:\r\n“Christians at first were few in number, and held the same\r\nopinions; but when they grew to be a great multitude, they\r\nwere divided and separated, each wishing to have his own\r\nindividual party:<a id=\"r271\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f271\"><sup>[271]</sup></a> for this was their object from the beginning.”\r\nThat Christians at first were few in number, in comparison\r\nwith the multitudes who subsequently became Christian, is undoubted;\r\nand yet, all things considered, they were not so very\r\nfew.<a id=\"r272\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f272\"><sup>[272]</sup></a> For what stirred up the envy of the Jews against Jesus,\r\nand aroused them to conspire against Him, was the great\r\nnumber of those who followed Him into the wilderness,—five\r\nthousand men on one occasion, and four thousand on another,\r\nhaving attended Him thither, without including the women and\r\nchildren. For such was the charm<a id=\"r273\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f273\"><sup>[273]</sup></a> of Jesus’ words, that not\r\nonly were <i>men</i> willing to follow Him to the wilderness, but\r\n<i>women</i> also, forgetting<a id=\"r274\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f274\"><sup>[274]</sup></a> the weakness of their sex and a regard\r\nfor outward propriety<a id=\"r275\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f275\"><sup>[275]</sup></a> in thus following their Teacher into\r\ndesert places. Children, too, who are altogether unaffected\r\nby such emotions,<a id=\"r276\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f276\"><sup>[276]</sup></a> either following their parents, or perhaps\r\nattracted also by His divinity, in order that it might be implanted\r\nwithin them, became His followers along with their\r\nparents. But let it be granted that Christians were few in\r\nnumber at the beginning, how does that help to prove that\r\nChristians would be unwilling to make all men believe the doctrine\r\nof the gospel?</p>","headings":["The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 of 2","BOOK III.","Chapter X."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70693-paragraph-142"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"f8545021721a399e0f135be0a636aafdba08351f5f49ecb97fcbdd0b3eb204c5","edition_title":"The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 (of 2)","edition_translators":["Frederick Crombie","W. H. Cairns"],"edition_year":1872,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg70693-f272","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":"f272","source_ebook":70693,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f272\">\n<p class=\"c007\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r272\">272</a>. </span><span lang=\"grc\">καί τοι οὐ πάντη ἦσαν ὀλίγοι.</span></p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"76ed9a9fd752c1d5095189e38fe3dcbbea0fd23d6be719db17360e4da14552fa","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70693/pg70693-images.html#f272","text_sha256":"340933dac1e584d05693506564d4ec67f45d923e22d28ed7abdda44899189c85","verified":false,"work_id":null}