resurrection, or of the many who fed on a few loaves and left of them many fragments, and all the rest of the stories in telling which he thinks the disciples were romancingand adds, 'Well, suppose we believe that you really did them.' Then straightway he puts them on a level with 5 the works of the jugglers, on the ground that their professions are still more marvellous, and with the performances of those who have learned from the Egyptians, who sell their venerated arts for a few pence in the open marketplace, and cast out demons from men, and puff away 10 diseases, and call up souls of heroes, and exhibit costly dinners with tables and cakes and dainties non-existent, and set in motion as living animals lifeless things which have only the appearance of animals. Then he says, 'Since the jugglers do these things, must we needs think 15 them sons of God, or shall we say that these are practices of wicked wretches?'

Celsus on the Lord's Resurrection.

WHO saw this? A frantic woman, as you say, and possibly some other in the same imposture, either dreaming it through some personal peculiarity, or by a 20 wandering imagination shaping it according to his own. will, which is just what has happened in so many cases; or, what is more likely, desiring to scare the rest with this quackery, and by a falsehood of this sort to give an opening to other impostors.

The Gospel not specially addressed to Fools.

THAT again is false, that it is 'only simpletons and low people, and stupid, and slaves, and womenkind, and children,' whom the teachers of the Divine word desire to persuade. For though the word does call these, that

25

καλεῖ δὲ καὶ τοὺς πολλῷ τούτων διαφέροντας· ἐπεὶ σωτήρ ἐστι πάντων ἀνθρώπων ὁ Χριστός, καὶ μάλιστα πιστῶν, εἴτε συνετῶν εἴτε καὶ ἁπλουστέρων. Ibid. iii. 49.

LIA.

Αποδεικνύντες δὲ ὡς ἐν ἐπιτομῇ περὶ τῆς θεότητος 5 ̓Ιησοῦ, καὶ χρώμενοι τοῖς περὶ αὐτοῦ λόγοις προφητικοῖς, συναποδείκνυμεν θεοπνεύστους εἶναι τὰς προφητευούσας περὶ αὐτοῦ γραφάς· καὶ τὰ καταγγέλλοντα τὴν ἐπιδημίαν αὐτοῦ γράμματα καὶ διδασκαλίαν μετὰ πάσης δυνάμεως καὶ ἐξουσίας εἰρημένα, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τῆς το ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν ἐκλογῆς κεκρατηκότα. Δεκτέον δὲ ὅτι τὸ τῶν προφητικῶν λόγων ἔνθεον, καὶ τὸ πνευματικὸν τοῦ Μωσέως νόμου, ἔλαμψεν ἐπιδημήσαντος Ἰησοῦ. ἐναργῆ γὰρ παραδείγματα περὶ τοῦ θεοπνεύστους εἶναι τὰς παλαιὰς γραφὰς πρὸ τῆς ἐπιδημίας 15 τοῦ Χριστοῦ παραστῆσαι οὐ πάνυ δυνατὸν ἦν· ἀλλ ̓ ἡ Ἰησοῦ ἐπιδημία δυναμένους ὑποπτεύεσθαι τὸν νόμον καὶ τοὺς προφήτας ὡς οὐ θεῖα εἰς τοὐμφανὲς ἤγαγεν ὡς οὐρανίῳ χάριτι ἀναγεγραμμένα. ὁ δὲ μετ ̓ ἐπιμελείας καὶ προσοχῆς ἐντυγχάνων τοῖς προφητικοῖς λόγοις, παθὼν ἐξ 20 αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἀναγινώσκειν ἴχνος ἐνθουσιασμοῦ, δι' ὧν πάσχει πεισθήσεται οὐκ ἀνθρώπων εἶναι συγγράμματα τοὺς πεπιστευμένους ἡμῖν εἶναι θεοῦ λόγους. καὶ τὸ ἐνυπάρχον δὲ φῶς τῷ Μωσέως νόμῳ, καλύμματι ἐναποκεκρυμμένον, συνέλαμψε τῇ ̓Ιησοῦ ἐπιδημίᾳ, περιαιρεθέντος τοῦ καλύμ 25 ματος, καὶ τῶν ἀγαθῶν κατὰ βραχὺ εἰς γνῶσιν ἐρχομένων, ὧν σκιὰν εἶχε τὸ γράμμα.

ORIGEN, De Principiis, iv. 6 = Philoc. p. 12.

LI B.

Τίς γοῦν νοῦν ἔχων οἰήσεται πρώτην καὶ δευτέραν καὶ τρίτην ἡμέραν, ἑσπέραν τε καὶ πρωΐαν, χωρὶς ἡλίου γε

it may make them better, yet it also calls those who are much better than these, since the Christ is the Saviour of all men, and specially of such as believe, whether prudent or simple.

The true ground of Old Testament Inspiration.

In this our Demonstration in brief of the divinity of 5 Jesus, and in our use of the words of the Prophets concerning Him, we are making simultaneous demonstration of the inspiration of those scriptures which prophesy about Him, and proving the literature which proclaims His coming to be an utterance of full power and authority, 10 which for that reason has laid firm hold of the elect of the Gentiles. Indeed, we may say that the inspired character of the prophetic writings and the spirituality of the law of Moses shone out when Jesus came. Clear proofs of the inspiration of the Old Testament could not well be given 15 before the Christ had come. Till then the law and the prophets were open to a suspicion of not being truly divine: it was the coming of Jesus that set them in a plain light as records made by the grace of heaven. He who with diligent attention reads the words of the prophets 20 will from his very reading experience a trace and vestige of inspiration in himself, and this personal experience will convince him that those are no compilations of men, which we are firmly persuaded are the words of God. The light, too, that was always there in the Mosaic law, though 25 covered with a vail, shone out simultaneously with the coming of Jesus, when the vail was taken away and the good things came little by little into view, those good things whose shadow was found in the letter.

The Parabolic Element in Scripture Narratives.

R.

WHAT intelligent person would fancy, for instance, that 30 a first, second, and third day, evening and morning, took

γονέναι καὶ σελήνης καὶ ἀστέρων; τὴν δὲ οἱονεὶ πρώτην καὶ χωρὶς οὐρανοῦ; τίς δ ̓ οὕτως ἠλίθιος ὡς οἰηθῆναι τρόπον ἀνθρώπου γεωργοῦ τὸν θεὸν πεφυτευκέναι παράδει σον ἐν Ἐδὲμ κατὰ ἀνατολάς, καὶ ξύλον ζωῆς ἐν αὐτῷ 5 πεποιηκέναι ὁρατὸν καὶ αἰσθητόν, ὥστε διὰ τῶν σωματικῶν ὀδόντων γευσάμενον τοῦ καρποῦ τὸ ζῆν ἀναλαμβάνειν καὶ πάλιν καλοῦ καὶ πονηροῦ μετέχειν τινὰ παρὰ τὸ μεμασῆσθαι τὸ ἀπὸ τοῦδε τοῦ ξύλου λαμβανόμενον; ἐὰν δὲ καὶ θεὸς τὸ δειλινὸν ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ περιπατεῖν το λέγηται, καὶ ὁ Ἀδὰμ ὑπὸ τὸ ξύλον κρύπτεσθαι· οὐκ οἶμαι διστάξειν τινὰ περὶ τοῦ αὐτὰ τροπικῶς διὰ δοκούσης ἱστορίας καὶ οὐ σωματικῶς γεγενημένης, μηνύειν τινὰ μυστήρια, ἀλλὰ καὶ Κάιν ἐξερχόμενος ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ θεοῦ σαφῶς τοῖς ἐπιστήσασι φαίνεται κινεῖν τὸν 15 ἐντυγχάνοντα ζητεῖν πρόσωπον θεοῦ καὶ ἐξέρχεσθαί τινα ἀπ' αὐτοῦ. καὶ τί δεῖ πλείω λέγειν, τῶν μὴ πάνυ ἀμβλέων μυρία ὅσα τοιαῦτα δυναμένων συναγαγεῖν, ἀναγεγραμμένα μὲν ὡς γεγονότα, οὐ γεγενημένα δὲ κατὰ τὴν λέξιν; ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ εὐαγγέλια δὲ τοῦ αὐτοῦ εἴδους τῶν 20 λόγων πεπλήρωται· εἰς ὑψηλὸν ὄρος τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἀναβιβάζοντος τοῦ διαβόλου, ἵν ̓ ἐκεῖθεν αὐτῷ δείξῃ τοῦ παντὸς κόσμου τὰς βασιλείας καὶ τὴν δόξαν αὐτῶν. γὰρ οὐκ ἂν τῶν μὴ παρέργως ἀναγινωσκόντων τὰ τοιαῦτα καταγινώσκοι τῶν οἰομένων τῷ τῆς σαρκὸς ὀφθαλμῷ, 25 δεηθέντι ὕψους ὑπὲρ τοῦ κατανοηθῆναι δύνασθαι τὰ κατωτέρω καὶ ὑποκείμενα, ἑωρᾶσθαι τὴν Περσῶν καὶ Σκυθῶν καὶ Ινδῶν καὶ Παρθυαίων βασιλείαν, καὶ ὡς δοξάζονται παρὰ ἀνθρώποις οἱ βασιλεύοντες; παραπλησίως δὲ τούτοις καὶ ἄλλα μυρία ἀπὸ τῶν εὐαγγελίων ἔνεστι τὸν 30 ἀκριβοῦντα τηρῆσαι, ὑπὲρ τοῦ συγκαταθέσθαι συνυφαί νεσθαι ταῖς κατὰ τὸ ῥητὸν γεγενημέναις ἱστορίαις ἕτερα μὴ συμβεβηκότα.

ID. De Principiis, iv. 16 = Philoc. p. 24.

τίς

place without sun, moon, and stars; and the first, as we call it, without even a heaven? Who would be so childish as to suppose that God after the manner of a human gardener planted a garden in Eden towards the east, and made therein a tree, visible and sensible, so that one could 5 get the power of living by the bodily eating of its fruit with the teeth; or again, could partake of good and evil by feeding on what came from that other tree? If God is said to walk at eventide in the garden, and Adam to hide himself under the tree, I fancy that no one will 10 question that these statements are figurative, declaring mysterious truths by the means of a seeming history, not one that took place in a bodily form. And Cain's going forth from the presence of God, as is plain and clear to attentive minds, stirs the reader to look for the meaning 15 of the presence of God, and of any one's going forth from it. What need of more, when all but the dullest eyes can gather innumerable instances, in which things are recorded as having happened which did not take place in the literal sense? Nay, even the Gospels are full of sayings of the 20 same class: as when the devil takes Jesus up into a high mountain, to show him from thence the kingdoms of the whole world and the glory of them. Who but a careless reader of such words would fail to condemn those who think that by the eye of flesh, which needed a height 25 to bring into view what lay far down beneath, the kingdoms of Persians, and Scythians, and Indians, and Parthians, were seen, and the glory men give to their rulers? Countless cases such as this the accurate reader is able to observe, to make him agree that with the histories which 30 literally took place other things are interwoven which did not actually happen.

R