{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c005\">16. Nor was it only with regard to those Scriptures which\r\nwere composed down to the advent of Christ that the Holy\r\nSpirit thus dealt; but as being one and the same Spirit, and\r\nproceeding from one God, He dealt in the same way with\r\nthe evangelists and apostles. For even those narratives which\r\nHe inspired them to write were not composed without the\r\naid of that wisdom of His, the nature of which we have above\r\nexplained. Whence also in them were intermingled not a\r\nfew things by which, the historical order of the narrative\r\nbeing interrupted and broken up, the attention of the reader\r\nmight be recalled, by the impossibility of the case, to an examination\r\nof the inner meaning. But, that our meaning\r\nmay be ascertained by the facts themselves, let us examine\r\nthe passages of Scripture. Now who is there, pray, possessed\r\nof understanding, that will regard the statement as\r\nappropriate,<a id=\"r935\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f935\"><sup>[935]</sup></a> that the first day, and the second, and the third,\r\nin which also both evening and morning are mentioned,\r\nexisted without sun, and moon, and stars—the first day even\r\nwithout a sky? And who is found so ignorant as to suppose\r\nthat God, as if He had been a husbandman, planted trees in\r\nparadise, in Eden towards the east, and a tree of life in it,\r\n<i>i.e.</i> a visible and palpable tree of wood,<a id=\"r936\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f936\"><sup>[936]</sup></a> so that any one\r\neating of it with bodily teeth should obtain life, and, eating\r\nagain of another tree, should come to the knowledge of good\r\nand evil? No one, I think, can doubt that the statement\r\nthat God walked in the afternoon in paradise, and that Adam\r\nlay hid under a tree, is related figuratively in Scripture, that\r\nsome mystical meaning may be indicated by it. The departure\r\nof Cain from the presence of the Lord will manifestly\r\ncause a careful reader to inquire what is the presence of God,\r\nand how any one can go out from it. But not to extend the\r\ntask which we have before us beyond its due limits, it is very\r\neasy for any one who pleases to gather out of holy Scripture\r\nwhat is recorded indeed as having been done, but what\r\nnevertheless cannot be believed as having reasonably and\r\nappropriately occurred according to the historical account.\r\nThe same style of scriptural narrative occurs abundantly\r\nin the Gospels, as when the devil is said to have placed Jesus\r\non a lofty mountain, that he might show Him from thence\r\nall the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them. How\r\ncould it literally come to pass, either that Jesus should be\r\nled up by the devil into a high mountain, or that the latter\r\nshould show Him all the kingdoms of the world (as if they\r\nwere lying beneath his bodily eyes, and adjacent to one\r\nmountain), <i>i.e.</i> the kingdom of the Persians, and Scythians,\r\nand Indians? or how could he show in what manner the\r\nkings of these kingdoms are glorified by men? And many\r\nother instances similar to this will be found in the Gospels\r\nby any one who will read them with attention, and will observe\r\nthat in those narratives which appear to be literally\r\nrecorded, there are inserted and interwoven things which\r\ncannot be admitted historically, but which may be accepted\r\nin a spiritual signification.</p>","headings":["The Writings of Origen, Vol. 1 of 2","ORIGEN DE PRINCIPIIS.","BOOK IV.","FROM THE LATIN."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70561-paragraph-318"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"0a4874c9ae88461e88b62b5c7cfd3bad061a7fb9a162042dca01bbe949b552d2","edition_title":"The writings of Origen, Vol. 1 (of 2)","edition_translators":["Frederick Crombie"],"edition_year":1869,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg70561-f935","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":"f935","source_ebook":70561,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f935\">\n<p class=\"c006\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r935\">935</a>. </span><span lang=\"la\">Consequenter, alii “convenienter.”</span></p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"de125e213d16053354f22b34a1c8d477ac23f201e660e4f4841b2ed7e05bb367","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70561/pg70561-images.html#f935","text_sha256":"16cd1c9febc97056048a4b57f9114b5d08972697f84c43ec72c36f7fac628a55","verified":false,"work_id":null}