{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c006\">Celsus goes on to say: “They must make their choice between\r\ntwo alternatives. If they refuse to render due service to the\r\ngods, and to respect those who are set over this service, let them\r\nnot come to manhood, or marry wives, or have children, or\r\nindeed take any share in the affairs of life; but let them depart\r\nhence with all speed, and leave no posterity behind them, that\r\nsuch a race may become extinct from the face of the earth.\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_540\">540</span>Or, on the other hand, if they will take wives, and bring up\r\nchildren, and taste of the fruits of the earth, and partake of all\r\nthe blessings of life, and bear its appointed sorrows (for nature\r\nherself hath allotted sorrows to all men; for sorrows must\r\nexist, and earth is the only place for them), then must they\r\ndischarge the duties of life until they are released from its\r\nbonds, and render due honour to those beings who control the\r\naffairs of this life, if they would not show themselves ungrateful\r\nto them. For it would be unjust in them, after receiving the\r\ngood things which they dispense, to pay them no tribute in\r\nreturn.” To this we reply, that there appears to us to be no\r\ngood reason for our leaving this world, except when piety and\r\nvirtue require it; as when, for example, those who are set as\r\njudges, and think that they have power over our lives, place\r\nbefore us the alternative either to live in violation of the commands\r\nof Jesus, or to die if we continue obedient to them.\r\nBut God has allowed us to marry, because all are not fit for the\r\nhigher, that is, the perfectly pure life; and God would have us\r\nto bring up all our children, and not to destroy any of the offspring\r\ngiven us by His providence. And this does not conflict\r\nwith our purpose not to obey the demons that are on the earth;\r\nfor, “being armed with the whole armour of God, we stand”<a id=\"r1662\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f1662\"><sup>[1662]</sup></a> as\r\nathletes of piety against the race of demons that plot against us.</p>","headings":["The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 of 2","BOOK VIII.","Chapter LV."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70693-paragraph-602"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"88ecea713f317efae3db2eb4d1f0e651f831a6cc432a498292c3eae23939643d","edition_title":"The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 (of 2)","edition_translators":["Frederick Crombie","W. H. Cairns"],"edition_year":1872,"explicit_reference_candidates":[{"book":"EPH","chapter":6,"kind":"unreviewed","source_notation":"Eph. vi. 11","verse":11,"verse_end":11}],"headings":[],"id":"pg70693-f1662","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":"f1662","source_ebook":70693,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f1662\">\n<p class=\"c007\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r1662\">1662</a>. </span><abbr title=\"Ephesians\">Eph.</abbr> <abbr title=\"six\">vi.</abbr> 11.</p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"76ed9a9fd752c1d5095189e38fe3dcbbea0fd23d6be719db17360e4da14552fa","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70693/pg70693-images.html#f1662","text_sha256":"27146510746bf4f4702582fb8c3410cf6ed64b0aad8f1bc6f9cc6730ac51efc1","verified":false,"work_id":null}