{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c005\">10. But since we acknowledge the God who spoke by\r\nMoses to be not only just, but also good, let us carefully inquire\r\nhow it is in keeping with the character of a just and good\r\nDeity to have hardened the heart of Pharaoh. And let us see\r\nwhether, following the example of the Apostle Paul, we are\r\nable to solve the difficulty by help of some parallel instances:\r\nif we can show, <i>e.g.</i>, that by one and the same act God has\r\npity upon one individual, but hardens another; not purposing\r\nor desiring that he who is hardened should be so, but because,\r\nin the manifestation of His goodness and patience, the heart\r\nof those who treat His kindness and forbearance with contempt\r\nand insolence is hardened by the punishment of their crimes\r\nbeing delayed; while those, on the other hand, who make His\r\ngoodness and patience the occasion of their repentance and\r\nreformation, obtain compassion. To show more clearly, however,\r\nwhat we mean, let us take the illustration employed by\r\nthe Apostle Paul in the Epistle to the Hebrews, where he\r\nsays, “For the earth, which drinketh in the rain that cometh\r\noft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom\r\nit is dressed, will receive blessing from God; but that which\r\nbeareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing,\r\nwhose end is to be burned.”<a id=\"r440\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f440\"><sup>[440]</sup></a> Now from those words of\r\nPaul which we have quoted, it is clearly shown that by one\r\nand the same act on the part of God—that, viz. by which He\r\nsends rain upon the earth—one portion of the ground, when\r\ncarefully cultivated, brings forth good fruits; while another,\r\nneglected and uncared for, produces thorns and thistles.\r\nAnd if one, speaking as it were in the person of the rain,<a id=\"r441\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f441\"><sup>[441]</sup></a>\r\nwere to say, “It is I, the rain, that have made the good\r\nfruits, and it is I that have caused the thorns and thistles to\r\ngrow,” however hard<a id=\"r442\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f442\"><sup>[442]</sup></a> the statement might appear, it would\r\nnevertheless be true; for unless the rain had fallen, neither\r\nfruits, nor thorns, nor thistles would have sprung up, whereas\r\nby the coming of the rain the earth gave birth to both.\r\nNow, although it is due to the beneficial action of the rain\r\nthat the earth has produced herbs of both kinds, it is not to\r\nthe rain that the diversity of the herbs is properly to be\r\nascribed; but on those will justly rest the blame for the bad\r\nseed, who, although they might have turned up the ground\r\nby frequent ploughing, and have broken the clods by repeated\r\nharrowing, and have extirpated all useless and noxious\r\nweeds, and have cleared and prepared the fields for the\r\ncoming showers by all the labour and toil which cultivation\r\ndemands, have nevertheless neglected to do this, and who\r\nwill accordingly reap briers and thorns, the most appropriate\r\nfruit of their sloth. And the consequence therefore is, that\r\nwhile the rain falls in kindness and impartiality<a id=\"r443\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f443\"><sup>[443]</sup></a> equally upon\r\nthe whole earth, yet, by one and the same operation of the\r\nrain, that soil which is cultivated yields with a blessing useful\r\nfruits to the diligent and careful cultivators, while that which\r\nhas become hardened through the neglect of the husbandman\r\nbrings forth only thorns and thistles. Let us therefore\r\nview those signs and miracles which were done by God, as\r\nthe showers furnished by Him from above; and the purpose\r\nand desires of men, as the cultivated and uncultivated soil,\r\nwhich is of one and the same nature indeed, as is every soil\r\ncompared with another, but not in one and the same state of\r\ncultivation. From which it follows that every one’s will,<a id=\"r444\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f444\"><sup>[444]</sup></a>\r\nif untrained, and fierce, and barbarous, is either hardened by\r\nthe miracles and wonders of God, growing more savage and\r\nthorny than ever, or it becomes more pliant, and yields itself\r\nup with the whole mind to obedience, if it be cleared from\r\nvice and subjected to training.</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-215"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"4518e20315777d04e31260048252b263fb1b2981ecb788f9a06dc69e3161d624","edition_title":"The writings of Origen, Vol. 1 (of 2)","edition_translators":["Frederick Crombie"],"edition_year":1869,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg70561-f443","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":"f443","source_ebook":70561,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f443\">\n<p class=\"c006\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r443\">443</a>. </span><span lang=\"la\">Bonitas et æquitas imbrium.</span></p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"de125e213d16053354f22b34a1c8d477ac23f201e660e4f4841b2ed7e05bb367","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70561/pg70561-images.html#f443","text_sha256":"0bfa9f915b8ad69e6e8235b43229363c58b26c34120550d3aa61cd065b330339","verified":false,"work_id":null}