In the next place, Celsus, as is his custom, having neither proved nor
established anything, proceeds to say, as if we talked of God in a
manner that was neither holy nor pious, that “it is perfectly manifest
that they babble about God in a way that is neither holy nor
reverential;” and he imagines that we do these things to excite the
astonishment of the ignorant, and that we do not speak the truth
regarding the necessity of punishments for those who have sinned. And
accordingly he likens us to those who “in the Bacchic mysteries
introduce phantoms and objects of terror.” With respect to the
mysteries of Bacchus, whether there is any reliable account of them,
or none that is such, let the Greeks tell, and let Celsus and his
boon-companions[506] listen. But we defend our own procedure, when we
say that our object is to reform the human race, either by the threats
of punishments which we are persuaded are necessary for the whole
world,[507] and which perhaps are not without use[508] to those who
are to endure them; or by the promises made to those who have lived
virtuous lives, and in which are contained the statements regarding
the blessed termination which is to be found in the kingdom of God,
reserved for those who are worthy of becoming His subjects.
Footnote 506:
συνθιασῶται.
Footnote 507:
τῷ παντὶ.
Footnote 508:
οὐκ ἀχρήστους. On Origen’s views respecting rewards and punishments,
cf. Huet’s _Origeniana_, Book ii. question xi.