{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c005\">7. But since certain declarations of the Old Testament\r\nand of the New lead to the opposite conclusion—namely, that\r\nit does not depend on ourselves to keep the commandments\r\nand to be saved, or to transgress them and to be lost—let us\r\nadduce them one by one, and see the explanations of them,\r\nin order that from those which we adduce, any one selecting\r\nin a similar way all the passages that seem to nullify free-will,\r\nmay consider what is said about them by way of explanation.\r\nAnd now, the statements regarding Pharaoh have\r\ntroubled many, respecting whom God declared several times,\r\n“I will harden Pharaoh’s heart.”<a id=\"r418\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f418\"><sup>[418]</sup></a> For if he is hardened by\r\nGod, and commits sin in consequence of being hardened, he\r\nis not the cause of sin to himself; and if so, then neither\r\ndoes Pharaoh possess free-will. And some one will say that,\r\nin a similar way, they who perish have not free-will, and will\r\nnot perish of themselves. The declaration also in Ezekiel,\r\n“I will take away their stony hearts, and will put in them\r\nhearts of flesh, that they may walk in my precepts, and keep\r\nmy commandments,”<a id=\"r419\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f419\"><sup>[419]</sup></a> might lead one to think that it was\r\nGod who gave the power to walk in His commandments, and\r\nto keep His precepts, by His withdrawing the hindrance—the\r\nstony heart, and implanting a better—a heart of flesh. And\r\nlet us look also at the passage in the Gospel—the answer\r\nwhich the Saviour returns to those who inquired why He\r\nspake to the multitude in parables. His words are: “That\r\nseeing they might not see; and hearing they may hear, and\r\nnot understand; lest they should be converted, and their sins\r\nbe forgiven them.”<a id=\"r420\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f420\"><sup>[420]</sup></a> The passage also in Paul: “It is not\r\nof him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God\r\nthat showeth mercy.”<a id=\"r421\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f421\"><sup>[421]</sup></a> The declarations, too, in other places,\r\nthat “both to will and to do are of God;”<a id=\"r422\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f422\"><sup>[422]</sup></a> “that God hath\r\nmercy upon whom He will have mercy, and whom He will\r\nHe hardeneth. Thou wilt say then, Why doth He yet find\r\nfault? For who hath resisted His will?” ”The persuasion\r\nis of Him that calleth, and not of us.”<a id=\"r423\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f423\"><sup>[423]</sup></a> “Nay, O man, who\r\nart thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed\r\nsay to him that hath formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?\r\nHath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump\r\nto make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?”<a id=\"r424\"></a><a class=\"c007 pginternal\" href=\"#f424\"><sup>[424]</sup></a>\r\nNow these passages are sufficient of themselves to trouble the\r\nmultitude, as if man were not possessed of free-will, but as if\r\nit were God who saves and destroys whom He will.</p>","headings":["The Writings of Origen, Vol. 1 of 2","ORIGEN DE PRINCIPIIS.","BOOK III.","FROM THE GREEK."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70561-paragraph-210"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"1e7765867cfe1fbaeb08fa78eb7f746e50f10906776092a3fe4619cd81381815","edition_title":"The writings of Origen, Vol. 1 (of 2)","edition_translators":["Frederick Crombie"],"edition_year":1869,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg70561-f418","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":"f418","source_ebook":70561,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f418\">\n<p class=\"c006\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r418\">418</a>. </span><abbr title=\"Exodus\">Ex.</abbr> <abbr title=\"four\">iv.</abbr> 21, <abbr class=\"spell\">cf.</abbr> <abbr title=\"seven\">vii.</abbr> 3.</p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"de125e213d16053354f22b34a1c8d477ac23f201e660e4f4841b2ed7e05bb367","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70561/pg70561-images.html#f418","text_sha256":"71b5998a7070eaaa3e050168df8612ffb45b42da3e115a89761d418d344fa480","verified":false,"work_id":null}