{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c006\">Observe, now, here at the very beginning, how, in ridiculing\r\nthe doctrine of a conflagration of the world, held by certain of\r\nthe Greeks who have treated the subject in a philosophic spirit\r\nnot to be depreciated, he would make us, “representing God, as\r\nit were, as a cook, hold the belief in a general conflagration;”\r\nnot perceiving that, as certain Greeks were of opinion (perhaps\r\nhaving received their information from the ancient nation of\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_283\">283</span>the Hebrews), it is a purificatory fire which is brought upon the\r\nworld, and probably also on each one of those who stand in\r\nneed of chastisement by the fire and healing at the same time,\r\nseeing it <i>burns</i> indeed, but does not <i>consume</i>, those who are\r\nwithout a material body,<a id=\"r895\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f895\"><sup>[895]</sup></a> which needs to be consumed by that\r\nfire, and which burns and consumes those who by their actions,\r\nwords, and thoughts have built up wood, or hay, or stubble, in\r\nthat which is figuratively termed a “building.”<a id=\"r896\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f896\"><sup>[896]</sup></a> And the Holy\r\nScriptures say that the Lord will, like a refiner’s fire and\r\nfuller’s soap,<a id=\"r897\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f897\"><sup>[897]</sup></a> visit each one of those who require purification,\r\nbecause of the intermingling in them of a flood of wicked\r\nmatter proceeding from their evil nature; who need fire, I\r\nmean, to refine, as it were, [the dross of] those who are intermingled\r\nwith copper, and tin, and lead. And he who likes\r\nmay learn this from the prophet Ezekiel.<a id=\"r898\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f898\"><sup>[898]</sup></a> But that we say\r\nthat God brings fire upon the world, not like a cook, but like a\r\nGod, who is the benefactor of them who stand in need of the\r\ndiscipline of fire,<a id=\"r899\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f899\"><sup>[899]</sup></a> will be testified by the prophet Isaiah, in\r\nwhose writings it is related that a sinful nation was thus addressed:\r\n“Because thou hast coals of fire, sit upon them:\r\nthey shall be to thee a help.”<a id=\"r900\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f900\"><sup>[900]</sup></a> Now the Scripture is appropriately\r\nadapted to the multitudes of those who are to peruse\r\nit, because it speaks obscurely of things that are sad and gloomy,<a id=\"r901\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f901\"><sup>[901]</sup></a>\r\nin order to terrify those who cannot by any other means be\r\nsaved from the flood of their sins, although even then the\r\nattentive reader will clearly discover the end that is to be accomplished\r\nby these sad and painful punishments upon those who\r\nendure them. It is sufficient, however, for the present to quote\r\nthe words of Isaiah: “For my name’s sake will I show mine\r\nanger, and my glory I will bring upon thee, that I may not\r\ndestroy thee.”<a id=\"r902\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f902\"><sup>[902]</sup></a> We have thus been under the necessity of\r\nreferring in obscure terms to questions not fitted to the capacity\r\nof simple believers, who require a simpler instruction in words,\r\nthat we might not appear to leave unrefuted the accusation of\r\nCelsus, that “God introduces the fire, [which is to destroy the\r\nworld], as if He were a cook.”</p>","headings":["The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 of 2","BOOK V.","Chapter XV."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70693-paragraph-342"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"4e75a7dc789a748e1aceee3a60ae1807c025edbb003c7a0e735e6fe94c34e37f","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-f901","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":"f901","source_ebook":70693,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f901\">\n<p class=\"c007\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r901\">901</a>. </span><span lang=\"grc\">τὰ σκυθρωπά.</span></p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"76ed9a9fd752c1d5095189e38fe3dcbbea0fd23d6be719db17360e4da14552fa","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70693/pg70693-images.html#f901","text_sha256":"31b045417972506c13fe48d67d8b869f0d401e47f153e957b4655816f6556799","verified":false,"work_id":null}