{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c005\">16. There is next brought before us that declaration\r\nuttered by the Saviour in the Gospel: “That seeing they\r\nmay see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and\r\nnot understand; lest they should happen to be converted, and\r\ntheir sins be forgiven them.”<a id=\"r506\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f506\"><sup>[506]</sup></a> On which our opponent will\r\nremark: “If those who shall hear more distinctly are by all\r\nmeans to be corrected and converted, and converted in such\r\na manner as to be worthy of receiving the remission of sins,\r\nand if it be not in their own power to hear the word distinctly,\r\nbut if it depend on the Instructor to teach more openly\r\nand distinctly, while he declares that he does not proclaim\r\nto them the word with clearness, lest they should perhaps\r\nhear and understand, and be converted, and be saved, it will\r\nfollow, certainly, that their salvation is not dependent upon\r\nthemselves. And if this be so, then we have no free-will\r\neither as regards salvation or destruction.” Now were it not\r\nfor the words that are added, “Lest perhaps they should be\r\nconverted, and their sins be forgiven them,” we might be\r\nmore inclined to return the answer, that the Saviour was\r\nunwilling that those individuals whom He foresaw would not\r\nbecome good, should understand the mysteries of the kingdom\r\nof heaven, and that therefore He spoke to them in parables;\r\nbut as that addition follows, “Lest perhaps they should be\r\nconverted, and their sins be forgiven them,” the explanation\r\nis rendered more difficult. And, in the first place, we have\r\nto notice what defence this passage furnishes against those\r\nheretics who are accustomed to hunt out of the Old Testament\r\nany expressions which seem, according to their view, to\r\npredicate severity and cruelty of God the Creator, as when\r\nHe is described as being affected with the feeling of vengeance\r\nor punishment, or by any of those emotions, however\r\nnamed, from which they deny the existence of goodness in\r\nthe Creator; for they do not judge of the Gospels with the\r\nsame mind and feelings, and do not observe whether any such\r\nstatements are found in them as they condemn and censure\r\nin the Old Testament. For manifestly, in the passage referred\r\nto, the Saviour is shown, as they themselves admit,\r\nnot to speak distinctly, for this very reason, that men may\r\nnot be converted, and when converted, receive the remission\r\nof sins. Now, if the words be understood according to the\r\nletter merely, nothing less, certainly, will be contained in\r\nthem than in those passages which they find fault with in\r\nthe Old Testament. And if they are of opinion that any\r\nexpressions occurring in such a connection in the New Testament\r\nstand in need of explanation, it will necessarily follow\r\nthat those also occurring in the Old Testament, which are the\r\nsubject of censure, may be freed from aspersion by an explanation\r\nof a similar kind, so that by such means the passages\r\nfound in both Testaments may be shown to proceed from\r\none and the same God. But let us return, as we best may,\r\nto the question proposed.</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-227"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"b326f403d855708d9a570416cd6a908d83ec0dd2b65a4a08a4572f5c0d3138a1","edition_title":"The writings of Origen, Vol. 1 (of 2)","edition_translators":["Frederick Crombie"],"edition_year":1869,"explicit_reference_candidates":[{"book":"MRK","chapter":4,"kind":"unreviewed","source_notation":"Mark iv. 12","verse":12,"verse_end":12}],"headings":[],"id":"pg70561-f506","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":"f506","source_ebook":70561,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f506\">\n<p class=\"c006\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r506\">506</a>. </span>Mark <abbr title=\"four\">iv.</abbr> 12.</p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"de125e213d16053354f22b34a1c8d477ac23f201e660e4f4841b2ed7e05bb367","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70561/pg70561-images.html#f506","text_sha256":"6eccb24b8fe9aac2c0de6a340fc5df7629f97db902552632d5249d29ab8b9479","verified":false,"work_id":null}