Moreover, since Celsus asserts that “the soul is the work of God, but
that the nature of body is different; and that in this respect there is
no difference between the body of a bat, or of a worm, or of a frog, and
that of a man, for the matter is the same, and their corruptible part
alike,”—we have to say in answer to this argument of his, that if, since
the same matter underlies the body of a bat, or of a worm, or of a frog,
or of a man, these bodies will differ in no respect from one another, it
is evident then that these bodies also will differ in no respect from
the sun, or the moon, or the stars, or the sky, or any other thing which
is called by the Greeks a god, cognisable by the senses.[713] For the
same matter, underlying _all_ bodies, is, properly speaking, without
qualities and without form, and derives its qualities from some [other]
source, I know not whence, since Celsus will have it that nothing
corruptible can be the work of God. Now the corruptible part of
everything whatever, being produced from the same underlying matter,
must necessarily be the same, by Celsus’ own showing; unless, indeed,
finding himself here hard pressed, he should desert Plato, who makes the
soul arise from a certain bowl,[714] and take refuge with Aristotle and
the Peripatetics, who maintain that the ether is _immaterial_,[715] and
consists of a fifth nature, separate from the other four elements,[716]
against which view both the Platonists and the Stoics have nobly
protested. And we too, who are despised by Celsus, will contravene it,
seeing we are required to explain and maintain the following statement
of the prophet: “The heavens shall perish, but Thou remainest: and they
all shall wax old as a garment; and as a vesture shalt Thou fold them
up, and they shall be changed: but Thou art the same.”[717] These
remarks, however, are sufficient in reply to Celsus, when he asserts
that “the soul is the work of God, but that the nature of body is
different;” for from his argument it follows that there is no difference
between the body of a bat, or of a worm, or of a frog, and that of a
heavenly[718] being.
Footnote 713:
αἰσθητοῦ θεοῦ.
Footnote 714:
Cf. Plato in _Timæo_.
Footnote 715:
ἄϋλον.
Footnote 716:
πέμπτης παρὰ τὰ τέσσαρα στοιχεῖα εἶναι φύσεως.
Footnote 717:
Cf. Ps. cii. 26, 27.
Footnote 718:
αἰθερίου.