{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c005\">14. But let us take from the Gospels also the similitudes\r\nof those things which we have mentioned, in which is described\r\na certain rock, having on it a little superficial earth,\r\non which, when a seed falls, it is said quickly to spring up;\r\nbut when sprung up, it withers as the sun ascends in the\r\nheavens, and dies away, because it did not cast its root deeply\r\ninto the ground.<a id=\"r491\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f491\"><sup>[491]</sup></a> Now this rock undoubtedly represents the\r\nhuman soul, hardened on account of its own negligence, and\r\nconverted into stone because of its wickedness. For God\r\ngave no one a stony heart by a creative act; but each individual’s\r\nheart is said to become stony through his own\r\nwickedness and disobedience. As, therefore, if one were to\r\nblame a husbandman for not casting his seed more quickly\r\nupon rocky ground, because seed cast upon other rocky soil\r\nwas seen to spring up speedily, the husbandman would certainly\r\nsay in reply: “I sow this soil more slowly, for this\r\nreason, that it may retain the seed which it has received; for\r\nit suits this ground to be sown somewhat slowly, lest perhaps\r\nthe crop, having sprouted too rapidly, and coming forth from\r\nthe mere surface of a shallow soil, should be unable to withstand\r\nthe rays of the sun.” Would not he who formerly\r\nfound fault acquiesce in the reasons and superior knowledge\r\nof the husbandman, and approve as done on rational grounds\r\nwhat formerly appeared to him as founded on no reason?\r\nAnd in the same way, God, the thoroughly skilled husbandman\r\nof all His creation, undoubtedly conceals and delays to\r\nanother time those<a id=\"r492\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f492\"><sup>[492]</sup></a> things which we think ought to have\r\nobtained health sooner, in order that not the outside of\r\nthings, rather than the inside, may be cured. But if any one\r\nnow were to object to us that certain seeds do even fall upon\r\nrocky ground, <i>i.e.</i> on a hard and stony heart, we should\r\nanswer that even this does not happen without the arrangement\r\nof Divine Providence; inasmuch as, but for this, it\r\nwould not be known what condemnation was incurred by\r\nrashness in hearing and indifference in investigation,<a id=\"r493\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f493\"><sup>[493]</sup></a> nor,\r\ncertainly, what benefit was derived from being trained in an\r\norderly manner. And hence it happens that the soul comes\r\nto know its defects, and to cast the blame upon itself, and,\r\nconsistently with this, to reserve and submit itself to training,\r\n<i>i.e.</i> in order that it may see that its faults must first be\r\nremoved, and that then it must come to receive the instruction\r\nof wisdom. As, therefore, souls are innumerable, so\r\nalso are their manners, and purposes, and movements, and\r\nappetencies, and incitements different, the variety of which\r\ncan by no means be grasped by the human mind; and therefore\r\nto God alone must be left the art, and the knowledge,\r\nand the power of an arrangement of this kind, as He alone\r\ncan know both the remedies for each individual soul, and\r\nmeasure out the time of its cure. It is He alone then who,\r\nas we said, recognises the ways of individual men, and determines\r\nby what way He ought to lead Pharaoh, that through\r\nhim His name might be named in all the earth, having previously\r\nchastised him by many blows, and finally drowning\r\nhim in the sea. By this drowning, however, it is not to be\r\nsupposed that God’s providence as regards Pharaoh was terminated;\r\nfor we must not imagine, because he was drowned,\r\nthat therefore he had forthwith completely<a id=\"r494\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f494\"><sup>[494]</sup></a> perished: “for in\r\nthe hand of God are both we and our words; all wisdom,\r\nalso, and knowledge of workmanship,”<a id=\"r495\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f495\"><sup>[495]</sup></a> as Scripture declares.\r\nBut these points we have discussed according to our ability,\r\ntreating of that chapter<a id=\"r496\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f496\"><sup>[496]</sup></a> of Scripture in which it is said that\r\nGod hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and agreeably to the\r\nstatement, “He hath mercy on whom He will have mercy,\r\nand whom He will He hardeneth.”<a id=\"r497\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f497\"><sup>[497]</sup></a></p>","headings":["The Writings of Origen, Vol. 1 of 2","ORIGEN DE PRINCIPIIS.","BOOK III.","FROM THE LATIN."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70561-paragraph-223"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"03ebb6664572e92c926d30e518368417e88bc8dac25d535f9cd478ad4364eae4","edition_title":"The writings of Origen, Vol. 1 (of 2)","edition_translators":["Frederick Crombie"],"edition_year":1869,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg70561-f496","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":"f496","source_ebook":70561,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f496\">\n<p class=\"c006\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r496\">496</a>. </span><span lang=\"la\">Capitulum.</span></p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"de125e213d16053354f22b34a1c8d477ac23f201e660e4f4841b2ed7e05bb367","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70561/pg70561-images.html#f496","text_sha256":"ddcf0eb1c61856b54ed270840a2323672f86ad055d5a46f4988935b77be639d2","verified":false,"work_id":null}