Ἐπεὶ οὖν σννέστηκεν ἡ γραφὴ καὶ αὐτὴ oἱoveὶ ἐκ σώματος μὲν τοῦ βλεπομένου, ψυχῆς δὲ τῆς ἐν αὐτῷ νοούμενης καὶ καταλαμβανoμένης, καὶ πνεύματος τοῦ κατὰ τὰ ὑποδείγματα καὶ σκιὰν τῶν ἐπουρανίων· φέρε, ἐπικαλεσάμενοι τὸν ποιήσαντα τῇ γραφῇ σῶμα καὶ ψνχὴν καὶ πνεῦμα, σῶμα μὲν τοῖς πρὸ ημῶν, ψυχὴν δὲ ἡμῖν, πνεῦμα δὲ τοῖς ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι αἰῶνι κληρονομήσουσι ζωὴν αἰώνιον καὶ μέλλουσιν ἥκειν ἐπὶ τὰ ἐπουράνια καὶ ἀληθινὰ τοῦ νόμου, ἐρευνήσωμεν οὐ τὸ γράμμα ἀλλὰ τὴν ψυχὴν ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος· eἰ δὲ οἷοί τέ ἐσμεν, ἀναβησόμεθα καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ πνεῦμα, κατὰ τὸν λόγον τὸν περὶ τῶν ἀναγνωσθεισῶν θυσιῶν.

Since then Scripture itself also consists as it were of a visible body, and of the soul in it that is perceived and understood, and of the spirit which is according to the patterns and shadow of the heavenly things – come, let us call on Him who made for Scripture body and soul and spirit, a body for them that came before us, a soul for us, and a spirit for them that in the age to come shall inherit life eternal, and shall attain to the heavenly and true things of the law; and so let us for the present search not the letter but the soul. And if we are able, we shall ascend also to the spirit, in our account of the sacrifices whereof we have just read.

Ἑξῆς δὲ τούτοις ὁ Κέλσος ὑπιδόμενος τὰ ἐπιδειχθησόμενα ὑπὸ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ γεγενημένα μεγάλα, περὶ ὧν ὀλίγα ἀπὸ πολλῶν εἰρήκαμεν· προσποιεῖται συγχωρεῖν ἀληθῆ εἶναι, ὅσα περὶ θεραπειῶν, ἢ ἀναστάσεως, ἢ περὶ ἄρτων ὀλίγων θρεψάντων πολλοὺς ἀναγέγραπται, ἀφ' ὧν λείψανα πολλὰ καταλέλειπται, ἢ ὅσα ἄλλα οἴεται τερατευσαμένους τοὺς μαθητὰς ἱστορηκέναι, καὶ ἐπιφέρει αὐτοῖς· ' Φέρε πιστεύσωμεν εἶναί σοι ταῦτ' εἰργασμένα. ' καὶ εὐθέως κοινοποιεῖ αὐτὰ πρὸς τὰ ἔργα τῶν γοήτων, ὡς ὑπισχνουμένων θαυμασιώτερα, καὶ πρὸς τὰ ὑπὸ τῶν μαθόντων ἀπὸ Αἰγυπτίων ἐπιτελούμενα, ἐν μέσαις ἀγοραῖς ὀλίγων ὀβολῶν ἀποδιδομένων τὰ σεμνὰ μαθήματα, καὶ δαίμονας ἀπὸ ἀνθρώπων ἐξελαυνόντων, [καὶ νόσους ἀποφυσώντων,] καὶ ψυχὰς ἡρώων ἀνακαλούντων, δεῖπνά τε πολυτελῆ, καὶ τραπέζας, καὶ πέμματα, καὶ ὄψα τὰ οὐκ ὄντα δεικνύντων, καὶ ὡς ζῷα κινούντων οὐκ ἀληθῶς ὄντα ζῷα, ἀλλὰ μέχρι φαντασίας φαινόμενα τοιαῦτα. καί φησιν· ' Ἆρ' ἐπεὶ ταῦτα ποιοῦσιν ἐκεῖνοι, δεήσει ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς ἡγεῖσθαι υἱοὺς εἶναι θεοῦ; ἢ λεκτέον αὐτὰ ἐπιτηδεύματα εἶναι ἀνθρώπων πονηρῶν καὶ κακοδαιμόνων; '

In the next place Celsus, suspecting that we shall put forward the mighty works of Jesus, of which we have already spoken very slightly, professes to grant that they may be true – all that is recorded of healings, or of a 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 romancing – and adds, 'Well, suppose we believe that you really did them.' Then straightway he puts them on a level with 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 market-place, and cast out demons from men, and puff away 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 animais lifeless things which have only the appearance of animais. Then he says, 'Since the jugglers do these things, must we needs think them sons of God, or shall we say that these are practices of wicked wretches?'

Τίς τοῦτο εἶδε; γυνὴ πάροιστρος, ὥς φατε, καὶ εἴ τις ἄλλος τῶν ἐκ τῆς αὐτῆς γοητείας, ἤτοι κατά τινα διάθεσιν ὀνειρώξας, ἢ κατὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ βούλησιν δόξῃ πεπλανημένῃ φαντασιωθείς, ὅπερ ἤδη μυρίοις συμβέβηκεν· ἤ, ὅπερ μᾶλλον, ἐκπλῆξαι τοὺς λοιποὺς τῇ τερατείᾳ ταύτῃ θελήσας, καὶ διὰ τοῦ τοιούτου ψεύσματος ἀφορμὴν ἄλλοις ἀγύρταις παρασχεῖν.

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 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. <.p>

Ψεῦδος δὲ καὶ τὸ μόνους ἠλιθίους καὶ ἀγεννεῖς καὶ ἀναισθήτους καὶ ἀνδράποδα καὶ γύναια καὶ παιδάρια πείθειν ἐθέλειν τοὺς διδάσκοντας τὸν θεῖον λόγον· καὶ τούτους μὲν γὰρ καλεῖ ὁ λόγος, ἵνα αὐτοὺς βελτιώσῃ· καλεῖ δὲ καὶ τοὺς πολλῷ τούτων διαφέροντας· ἐπεὶ «σωτήρ ἐστιν πάντων ἀνθρώπων» ὁ Χριστὸς καὶ «μάλιστα πιστῶν», εἴτε συνετῶν εἴτε ἁπλουστέρων.

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 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.

Ἀποδεικνύντες δὲ ὡς ἐν ἐπιτομῇ περὶ τῆς θεότητος Ἰησοῦ, καὶ χρώμενοι τοῖς περὶ αὐτοῦ λόγοις προφητικοῖς , συναποδεί κνυμεν θεο πνεύστους 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 ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν ἐκλογῆς κεκρατηκότα. Λεκτέον δὲ ὅτι τὸ τῶν προφητικῶν λόγων ἔνθεον καὶ τὸ πνευματικὸν τοῦ Μωσέως νόμου ἔλαμψεν ἐπι δημήσαντος Ἰησοῦ. ἐναργῆ γὰρ παραδείγματα περὶ τοῦ θεοπνεύστους εἶναι τὰς παλαιὰς γραφὰς πρὸ τῆς ἐπιδημίας 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 τοῖ ς προφητικοῖς λόγοις, παθὼν ἐξ αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἀνα γινώσκειν 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 Ἰησοῦ ἐπιδημίᾳ «περιαιρεθέντος τοῦ καλύμ ματος» καὶ «τῶν ἀγαθῶν» κατὰ βραχὺ εἰς γνῶσιν ἐρχομένων, ὧν «σκιὰν εἶχε» τὸ γράμμα.

In this our Demonstration in brief of the divinity of 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 füll power and authority, 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 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 piain light as records made by the grace of heaven. He who with diligent attention reads the words of the prophets 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 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.

R.

Τίς γοῦν νοῦν ἔχων οἰήσεται «πρώτην καὶ δευτέραν καὶ τρίτην ἡμέραν ἑσπέραν τε καὶ πρωΐαν», χωρὶς ἡλίου γεγονέναι καὶ σελήνης καὶ ἀστέρων; τὴν δὲ οἱονεὶ πρώτην καὶ χωρὶς οὐρανοῦ; τίς δ' οὕτως ἠλίθιος ὡς οἰηθῆναι τρόπον ἀνθρώπου γεωργοῦ τὸν θεὸν «πεφυτευκέναι παράδεισον ἐν Ἐδὲμ κατὰ ἀνατολάς», καὶ «ξύλον ζωῆς» ἐν αὐτῷ πεποιηκέναι ὁρατὸν καὶ αἰσθητόν, ὥστε διὰ τῶν σωματικῶν ὀδόντων γευσάμενον τοῦ καρποῦ τὸ ζῆν ἀναλαμβάνειν· καὶ πάλιν «καλοῦ καὶ πονηροῦ» μετέχειν τινὰ παρὰ τὸ μεμα σῆσθαι τὸ ἀπὸ τοῦδε τοῦ ξύλου λαμβανόμενον; ἐὰν δὲ καὶ «θεὸς τὸ δειλινὸν ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ περιπατεῖν» 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 ἐντυγχάνοντα ζητεῖν, < τί > «πρόσωπον θεοῦ» καὶ τὸ «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 λόγων πεπλήρωται, «εἰς ὑψηλὸν ὄρος» τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἀναβιβάζοντος τοῦ διαβόλου, ἵν' ἐκεῖθεν αὐτῷ «δείξῃ τοῦ παντὸς κόσμου τὰς βασιλείας καὶ τὴν δόξαν αὐτῶν». τίς γὰρ οὐκ ἂν τῶν μὴ παρέργως ἀναγινωσκόντων τὰ τοιαῦτα καταγινώσκοι τῶν οἰομένων τῷ τῆς σαρκὸς ὀφθαλμῷ, δεηθέντι ὕψους ὑπὲρ τοῦ κατανοηθῆναι δύνασθαι τὰ κατωτέρω καὶ ὑποκείμενα, ἑωρᾶσθαι τὴν Περσῶν καὶ Σκυθῶν καὶ Ἰνδῶν καὶ Παρθυαίων βασιλείαν, καὶ ὡς δοξάζονται παρὰ ἀνθρώποις οἱ βασιλεύοντες; παραπλησίως δὲ τούτοις καὶ ἄλλα μυρία ἀπὸ τῶν εὐαγγε λίων ἔνεστι τὸν ἀκριβοῦντα τηρῆσαι ὑπὲρ τοῦ συγκαταθέσθαι συνυφαίνεσθαι ταῖς κατὰ τὸ ῥητὸν γεγενημέναις ἱστορίαις ἕτερα μὴ συμβεβηκότα.

What intelligent person would fancy, for instance, that a first, second, and third day, evening and morning, took 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 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 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 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 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 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 literally took place other things are interwoven which did not actually happen.

Οὐκοῦν ἐγκαταλείπεται θείᾳ κρίσει ὁ ἐγκαταλειπόμενος, καὶ μακροθυμεῖ ἐπί τινας τῶν ἁμαρτανόντων ὁ θεὸς οὐκ ἀλόγως, ἀλλ' ὡς αὐτοῖς συνοίσοντος ὡς πρὸς τὴν ἀθανασίαν τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ τὸν ἄπειρον αἰῶνα τοῦ μὴ ταχὺ συνεργηθῆναι εἰς σωτηρίαν, ἀλλὰ βράδιον ἐπὶ ταύτην ἀχθῆναι μετὰ τὸ πειραθῆναι πολλῶν κακῶν. ὥσπερ γάρ τινα καὶ ἰατροὶ δυνάμενοι τάχιον ἰάσασθαι, ὅταν ἐγκεκρυμμένον ἰὸν ὑπονοῶσιν ὑπάρχειν περὶ τὰ σώματα, τὸ ἐναντίον τῷ ἰάσασθαι ἐργάζονται, διὰ τὸ ἰᾶσθαι βούλεσθαι ἀσφαλέστερον τοῦτο ποιοῦντες· ἡγούμενοι κρεῖττον εἶναι πολλῷ χρόνῳ παρακατασχεῖν τινα ἐν τῷ φλεγμαίνειν καὶ κάμνειν ὑπὲρ τοῦ βεβαιότερον αὐτὸν τὴν ὑγείαν ἀπολαβεῖν, ἤπερ τάχιον μὲν ῥῶσαι δοκεῖν , ὕστερον δὲ ἀναδῦναι καὶ πρόσκαιρον γενέσθαι τὴν ταχυτέραν ἴασιν· τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον καὶ ὁ Θεός, γινώσκων τὰ κρύφια τῆς καρδίας καὶ προγινώσκων τὰ μέλλοντα, διὰ τῆς μακροθυμίας ἐπιτρέπει τάχα καὶ διὰ τῶν ἔξωθεν συμβαινόντων ἐφελκόμενος τὸ ἐν κρυπτῷ κακὸν, ὑπὲρ τοῦ καθᾶραι τὸν δι' ἀμέλειαν τὰ σπέρματα τῆς ἁμαρτίας κεχωρηκότα, ἵνα εἰς ἐπιπολὴν ἐλθόντα αὐτά τις ἐμέσας, εἰ καὶ ἐπὶ πλεῖον ἐν κακοῖς γεγένηται, ὕστερον δυνηθῇ καθαρσίου τυχὼν τοῦ μετὰ τὴν κακίαν ἀναστοιχειωθῆναι. Θεὸς γὰρ οἰκονομεῖ τὰς ψυχὰς οὐχ ὡς πρὸς τὴν φέρ' εἰπεῖν πεντηκονταετίαν τῆς ἐνθάδε ζωῆς, ἀλλ' ὡς πρὸς τὸν ἀπέραντον αἰῶνα· ἄφθαρτον γὰρ φύσιν πεποίηκε τὴν νοερὰν καὶ αὐτῷ συγγενῆ, καὶ οὐκ ἀποκλείεται ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τῆς ἐνταῦθα ζωῆς ἡ λογικὴ ψυχὴ τῆς θεραπείας.

He therefore that is left is left to the divine judgement; and God is long-suffering towards certain sinners, not unreasonably, but with intent to profit them, with a view to the immortality of the soul and the unending age, that they be not quickly brought into salvation, but led to it more slowly, after they have had trial of many evils. For even as physicians (though able to heal a man more quickly), when they suspect that there is hidden poison anywhere in the body, do the reverse of healing, and this they do because they wish to heal the more surely; counting it better to keep a man for a long time in inflammation and sickness that he may the more certainty recover his health, than that he should seem to gain strength more quickly and afterward fall back again, so that the quicker healing is but for a time; in the same way God also, knowing the secret things of the heart and foreknowing the things to come, through His long-suffering permits [sins], perhaps by means of outside events drawing together the evil that is in secret, for the sake of cleansing him who by reason of carelessness has received the seeds of sin, to the end that when they have come to the surface a man may spue them out, and even if he have been deep in wickednesses, may afterward be able to obtain cleansing after his wickedness and be renewed. For God disposes souls not as for say the fifty years of life on earth, but as for the unending age; for He has made the intelligent nature incorruptible and akin to Himself, and the rational soul is not shut out from cure as in this present life.