23. For perhaps as those who, departing this world in virtue of that death which is common to all, are arranged, in conformity with their actions and deserts--according as they shall be deemed worthy--some in the place which is called "hell," [2803] others in the bosom of Abraham, and in different localities or mansions; so also from those places, as if dying there, if the expression can be used, [2804] do they come down from the "upper world" [2805] to this "hell." For that "hell" to which the souls of the dead are conducted from this world, is, I believe, on account of this distinction, called the "lower hell" by Scripture, as is said in the book of Psalms: "Thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell." [2806] Everyone, accordingly, of those who descend to the earth is, according to his deserts, or agreeably to the position which he occupied there, ordained to be born in this world, in a different country, or among a different nation, or in a different mode of life, or surrounded by infirmities of a different kind, or to be descended from religious parents, or parents who are not religious; so that it may sometimes happen that an Israelite descends among the Scythians, and a poor Egyptian is brought down to Judea. And yet our Saviour came to gather together the lost sheep of the house of Israel; and as many of the Israelites did not accept His teaching, those who belonged to the Gentiles were called. From which it will appear to follow, that those prophecies which are delivered to the individual nations ought to be referred rather to the souls, and to their different heavenly mansions. Nay, the narratives of the events which are said to have happened either to the nation of Israel, or to Jerusalem, or to Judea, when assailed by this or that nation, cannot in many instances be understood as having actually [2807] occurred, and are much more appropriate to those nations of souls who inhabit that heaven which is said to pass away, or who even now are supposed to be inhabitants of it.
If now anyone demand of us clear and distinct declarations on these points out of holy Scripture, we must answer that it was the design of the Holy Spirit, in those portions which appear to relate the history of events, rather to cover and conceal the meaning: in those passages, e.g., where they are said to go down into Egypt, or to be carried captive to Babylonia, or when in these very countries some are said to be brought to excessive humiliation, and to be placed under bondage to their masters; while others, again, in these very countries of their captivity, were held in honour and esteem, so as to occupy positions of rank and power, and were appointed to the government of provinces;--all which things, as we have said, are kept hidden and covered in the narratives of holy Scripture, because "the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hid in a field; which when a man findeth, he hideth it, and for joy thereof goeth away and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field." [2808] By which similitude, consider whether it be not pointed out that the very soil and surface, so to speak, of Scripture--that is, the literal meaning--is the field, filled with plants and flowers of all kinds; while that deeper and profounder "spiritual" meaning are the very hidden treasures of wisdom and knowledge which the Holy Spirit by Isaiah calls the dark and invisible and hidden treasures, for the finding out of which the divine help is required: for God alone can burst the brazen gates by which they are enclosed and concealed, and break in pieces the iron bolts and levers by which access is prevented to all those things which are written and concealed in Genesis respecting the different kinds of souls, and of those seeds and generations which either have a close connection with Israel [2809] or are widely separated from his descendants; as well as what is that descent of seventy souls into Egypt, which seventy souls became in that land as the stars of heaven in multitude. But as not all of them were the light of this world--"for all who are of Israel are not Israel" [2810] --they grow from being seventy souls to be an important people, [2811] and as the "sand by the sea-shore innumerable."
[2698] Visibiliter de invisibilibus pronunciare.
[2699] Principis Christianorum religionis et dogmatis.
[2700] Satis idonei.
[2701] Religionem Christianæ doctrinæ.
[2702] Matt. x. 18.
[2703] Cf. Matt. xxiv. 14.
[2704] Cf. Matt. vii. 22, 23.
[2705] Fortasse minus vera esse viderentur.
[2706] Salutaria præcepta.
[2707] Illæ omnes ambitiones Judaicæ.
[2708] Cf. Hos. iii. 4. Quoted from the Septuagint.
[2709] On the Patriarch of the Jews, cf. Milman's History of the Jews, vol. ii. p. 399 sq., and vol. iii. p. 7 sq.
[2710] Deut. xxxii.
[2711] Deut. xxxii.
[2712] Deut. xxxii. 21.
[2713] 1 Cor. i. 26-28.
[2714] 1 Cor. i. 29.
[2715] Ps. xlv. 1, 2.
[2716] [See note infra, Contra Celsum, B. II. cap. xii. S.]
[2717] Cf. Ps. lxxii. 7.
[2718] Ps. lxxii. 8.
[2719] Cf. Isa. viii. 8, 9. Quoted from the Septuagint.
[2720] Cf. Mic. v. 2 with Matt. ii. 6.
[2721] Cf. Dan. ix. 25. Ad ducem Christum; "To Messiah the Prince," Auth. Vers.
[2722] The allusion is perhaps to Job xli. 1.
[2723] Divino, ut ita dixerim, cothurno.
[2724] "Nam et inter ipsos homines ab alio minus, ab alio amplius consideratur: plus vero ab omni homine, qui in terris est, quis-quis ille est coeli habitator, agnoscitur." The translation of Rufinus, as Redepenning remarks, seems very confused. Probably also the text is corrupt. The Greek without doubt gives the genuine thought of Origen. By omitting the ab we approximate to the Greek, and get: "but he, whoever he be, who is inhabitant of heaven, is better known than any man who is on the earth;" or according to the punctuation in the old editions, "but he who is inhabitant of heaven is better known than any man on earth, whoever he be."
[2725] In vilioribus et incomptis verborum vasculis.
[2726] Cf. 2 Cor. iv. 7.
[2727] Ad fidem credulitatemque.
[2728] 1 Cor. ii. 6.
[2729] Temporibus eternis.
[2730] Male.
[2731] Cf. Zech. ix. 10.
[2732] Cf. Isa. vii. 15.
[2733] Ut priusquam cognosceret proferre malum, eligeret bonum.
[2734] Contra jus fasque.
[2735] Cf. Jer. xv. 14.
[2736] Cf. Ex. xx. 5.
[2737] Cf. 1 Sam. xv. 11.
[2738] Cf. Isa. xlv. 7.
[2739] Cf. Amos iii. 6.
[2740] Cf. Mic. i. 12.
[2741] Cf. 1 Sam. xvi. 14; xviii. 10.
[2742] The text, as it stands, is probably corrupt: "Propter quod conabimur pro mediocritate sensus nostri his, qui credunt Scripturas sanctas non humana verba aliqua esse composita, sed Sancti Spiritus inspiratione conscripta, et voluntate Dei patris per unigenitum filium suum Jesum Christum nobis quoque esse tradita et commissa, quæ nobis videntur, recta via intelligentiæ observantibus, demonstrare illam regulam et disciplinam, quam ab Jesu Christo traditam sibi apostoli per successionem posteris quoque suis, sanctam ecclesiam docentibus, tradiderunt."
[2743] Dispensationes.
[2744] Religiosius.
[2745] Contra fas.
[2746] Sacramenta quædam.
[2747] Fas.
[2748] Cf. 1 Cor. ii. 16 and 12, 13.
[2749] Tantam occultationem ineffabilium sacramentorum.
[2750] Per breve quoddam receptaculum.
[2751] Immensæ lucis claritas.
[2752] Luke xi. 52.
[2753] Cf. Prov. xxii. 20, 21. The Masoretic text reads, kkyrvhl .trv tvts"mb (sysls, keri) svsls kkl ytvtk 'lh .kkychlsl tm' syrm' vyshl tm' yr"m' tsq
[2754] 1 Cor. ii. 6, 7.
[2755] Largitione.
[2756] [Hermas, vol. ii. pp. 3, 8, 12, this series. Origen seems to overrule this contempt of a minority; and, what is more strange, he appears to have accepted the fiction of the Pauline Hermas as authentic history. How naturally this became the impression in the East has been explained; and the De Principiis, it must not be forgotten, was not the product of the author's mature mind.]
[2757] Consquentia historialis intelligentiæ.
[2758] Metretes.
[2759] Cf. 1 Cor. ix. 9 and Deut. xxv. 4.
[2760] Cf. 1 Cor. ix. 9, 10.
[2761] Cf. 1 Cor. ii. 7.
[2762] In figurâ. Greek (text. recept.) tupoi. Lachmann reads tupikos.
[2763] 1 Cor. x. 11.
[2764] 1 Cor. x. 4.
[2765] Cf. Ex. xxv. 40 and Heb. viii. 5.
[2766] Gal. iv. 21-24.
[2767] Col. ii. 16.
[2768] Heb. viii. 5.
[2769] Rom. xi. 4; cf. 1 Kings xix. 18.
[2770] Quæ inter homines, vel de hominibus geruntur.
[2771] Figuraliter describebant.
[2772] Intercapedines.
[2773] Ut ita celsioris cujusdam et eminentioris tramitis per angusti callis ingressum immensam divinæ scientiæ latitudinem pandat.
[2774] Consequenter, alii "convenienter."
[2775] Lignum.
[2776] [See note, p. 262, supra. See also Dr. Lee, The Inspiration of Holy Scripture, pp. 523-527. S.]
[2777] Inconsequens.
[2778] Cf. Gen. xvii. 14.
[2779] Tragelaphus; "wild goat," Auth. Vers. Deut. xiv. 5; Heb. vq', hapax leg.
[2780] Gryphus; "ossifrage," Auth. Vers. Lev. xi. 13; Heb. srph.
[2781] Opinatissimâ.
[2782] Cf. Ex. xvi. 29.
[2783] Ulnas.
[2784] Jer. xvii. 21.
[2785] Luke x. 4.
[2786] Luke x. 4.
[2787] 1 Cor. vii. 18.
[2788] Secundo vero, quid obesset, si obscoenitatis vitandæ causa ejus, quæ ex circumcisione est, posset aliquis revocare præputium?
[2789] Duplici spelunca.
[2790] Cf. Gen. xlviii. 22 and Josh. xxiv. 32.
[2791] Cf. Ex. xx. 12 and Eph. vi. 2, 3.
[2792] Cf. Ex. xx. 13-16.
[2793] Cf. Matt. v. 34.
[2794] Matt. v. 28.
[2795] 1 Thess. v. 14.
[2796] In libro Jesu Naue.
[2797] 1 Cor. x. 18.
[2798] Rom. ix. 6.
[2799] Matt. xv. 24.
[2800] Ebion, Heb. nvyv', (from hv', to desire), lit. "wishing," "desiring;" secondarily, "poor."
[2801] Gal. iv. 26.
[2802] Cf. Heb. xii. 22, 23.
[2803] Infernus.
[2804] Velut illic, si dici potest, morientes.
[2805] A superis.
[2806] Cf. Ps. xxx. 3. and Deut. xxxii. 22.
[2807] Corporaliter.
[2808] Matt. xiii. 44.
[2809] Ad propinquitatem pertinent Israel.
[2810] Rom. ix. 6.
[2811] Ex ipsis Septuaginta animabus fiunt aliqui.
Translated from the Greek.
Chapter I.--On the Inspiration of Holy Scripture, and How the Same is to be Read and Understood, and What is the Reason of the Uncertainty in it; and of the Impossibility or Irrationality of Certain Things in it, Taken According to the Letter.
(The translation from the Greek is designedly literal, that the difference between the original and the paraphrase of Rufinus may be more clearly seen.)
1. Since, in our investigation of matters of such importance, not satisfied with the common opinions, and with the clear evidence of visible things, [2812] we take in addition, for the proof of our statements, testimonies from what are believed by us to be divine writings, viz., from that which is called the Old Testament, and that which is styled the New, and endeavour by reason to confirm our faith; and as we have not yet spoken of the Scriptures as divine, come and let us, as if by way of an epitome, treat of a few points respecting them, laying down those reasons which lead us to regard them as divine writings. And before making use of the words of the writings themselves, and of the things which are exhibited in them, we must make the following statement regarding Moses and Jesus Christ,--the lawgiver of the Hebrews, and the Introducer of the saving doctrines according to Christianity. For, although there have been very many legislators among the Greeks and Barbarians, and teachers who announced opinions which professed to be the truth, we have heard of no legislator who was able to imbue other nations with a zeal for the reception of his words; and although those who professed to philosophize about truth brought forward a great apparatus of apparent logical demonstration, no one has been able to impress what was deemed by him the truth upon other nations, or even on any number of persons worth mentioning in a single nation. And yet not only would the legislators have liked to enforce those laws which appeared to be good, if possible, upon the whole human race, but the teachers also to have spread what they imagined to be truth everywhere throughout the world. But as they were unable to call men of other languages and from many nations to observe their laws, and accept their teaching, they did not at all attempt to do this, considering not unwisely the impossibility of such a result happening to them. Whereas all Greece, and the barbarous part of our world, contains innumerable zealots, who have deserted the laws of their fathers and the established gods, for the observance of the laws of Moses and the discipleship of the words of Jesus Christ; although those who clave to the law of Moses were hated by the worshippers of images, and those who accepted the words of Jesus Christ were exposed, in addition, to the danger of death.
2. And if we observe how powerful the word has become in a very few years, notwithstanding that against those who acknowledged Christianity conspiracies were formed, and some of them on its account put to death, and others of them lost their property, and that, notwithstanding the small number of its teachers, [2813] it was preached everywhere throughout the world, so that Greeks and Barbarians, wise and foolish, gave themselves up to the worship that is through Jesus, [2814] we have no difficulty in saying that the result is beyond any human power, [2815] Jesus having taught with all authority and persuasiveness that His word should not be overcome; so that we may rightly regard as oracular responses [2816] those utterances of His, such as, "Ye shall be brought before governors and kings for My sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles;" [2817] and, "Many shall say unto Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not eaten in Thy name, and drunk in Thy name, and in Thy name cast out devils? And I shall say unto them, Depart from Me, ye workers of iniquity, I never knew you." [2818] Now it was perhaps (once) probable that, in uttering these words, He spoke them in vain, so that they were not true; but when that which was delivered with so much authority has come to pass, it shows that God, having really become man, delivered to men the doctrines of salvation.