{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c006\">But since nothing belonging to human nature is permanent,\r\nthis polity also must gradually be corrupted and changed.\r\nAnd Providence, having remodelled their venerable system\r\nwhere it needed to be changed, so as to adapt it to men of all\r\ncountries, gave to believers of all nations, in place of the Jews,\r\nthe venerable religion of Jesus, who, being adorned not only\r\nwith understanding, but also with a share of divinity,<a id=\"r609\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f609\"><sup>[609]</sup></a> and\r\nhaving overthrown the doctrine regarding earthly demons, who\r\ndelight in frankincense, and blood, and in the exhalations of\r\nsacrificial odours, and who, like the fabled Titans or Giants,\r\ndrag down men from thoughts of God; and having Himself disregarded\r\ntheir plots, directed chiefly against the better class of\r\nmen, enacted laws which ensure happiness to those who live according\r\nto them, and who do not flatter the demons by means\r\nof sacrifices, but altogether despise them, through help of the\r\nword of God, which aids those who look upwards to Him. And\r\nas it was the will of God that the doctrine of Jesus should prevail\r\namongst men, the demons could effect nothing, although\r\nstraining every nerve<a id=\"r610\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f610\"><sup>[610]</sup></a> to accomplish the destruction of Christians;\r\nfor they stirred up both princes, and senates, and rulers\r\nin every place,—nay, even nations themselves, who did not\r\nperceive the irrational and wicked procedure of the demons,—against\r\nthe word, and those who believed in it; yet, notwithstanding,\r\nthe word of God, which is more powerful than all\r\nother things, even when meeting with opposition, deriving from\r\nthe opposition, as it were, a means of increase, advanced onwards,\r\nand won many souls, such being the will of God. And we have\r\noffered these remarks by way of a necessary digression. For\r\nwe wished to answer the assertion of Celsus concerning the\r\nJews, that they were “fugitives from Egypt, and that these\r\nmen, beloved by God, never accomplished anything worthy of\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_195\">195</span>note.” And further, in answer to the statement that “they were\r\nnever held in any reputation or account,” we say, that living\r\napart as a “chosen nation and a royal priesthood,” and shunning\r\nintercourse with the many nations around them, in order that\r\ntheir morals might escape corruption, they enjoyed the protection\r\nof the divine power, neither coveting like the most of mankind\r\nthe acquisition of other kingdoms, nor yet being abandoned\r\nso as to become, on account of their smallness, an easy object\r\nof attack to others, and thus be altogether destroyed; and this\r\nlasted so long as they were worthy of the divine protection.\r\nBut when it became necessary for them, as a nation wholly\r\ngiven to sin, to be brought back by their sufferings to their\r\nGod, they were abandoned [by Him], sometimes for a longer,\r\nsometimes for a shorter period, until in the time of the\r\nRomans, having committed the greatest of sins in putting\r\nJesus to death, they were completely deserted.</p>","headings":["The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 of 2","BOOK IV.","Chapter XXXII."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70693-paragraph-251"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"76be9b3c2f0d252d19c1f0615d598ef0720acc3fbb431c072db756fa34814120","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-f609","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":"f609","source_ebook":70693,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f609\">\n<p class=\"c007\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r609\">609</a>. </span><span lang=\"grc\">θείᾳ μοίρᾳ.</span></p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"76ed9a9fd752c1d5095189e38fe3dcbbea0fd23d6be719db17360e4da14552fa","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70693/pg70693-images.html#f609","text_sha256":"01ecf9d705609db2879f046c8d8dd0bbab0a632e8baa19ce6b42cb76b0be9052","verified":false,"work_id":null}