demons, and to his remarks on demons we gave such an answer as seemed to
us in accordance with the divine word. After having put this question
for the purpose of leading us to the worship of demons, he represents us
as answering that it is impossible to serve many masters. “This,” he
goes on to say, “is the language of sedition, and is only used by those
who separate themselves and stand aloof from all human society. Those
who speak in this way ascribe,” as he supposes, “their own feelings and
passions to God. It does hold true among men, that he who is in the
service of one master cannot well serve another, because the service
which he renders to the one interferes with that which he owes to the
other; and no one, therefore, who has already engaged himself to the
service of one, must accept that of another. And, in like manner, it is
impossible to serve at the same time heroes or demons of different
natures. But in regard to God, who is subject to no suffering or loss,
it is,” he thinks, “absurd to be on our guard against serving more gods,
as though we had to do with demi-gods, or other spirits of that sort.”
He says also, “He who serves many gods does that which is pleasing to
the Most High, because he honours that which belongs to Him.” And he
adds, “It is indeed wrong to give honour to any to whom God has not
given honour.” “Wherefore,” he says, “in honouring and worshipping all
belonging to God, we will not displease Him to whom they all belong.”
Chapter III.
Before proceeding to the next point, it may be well for us to see
whether we do not accept with approval the saying, “No man can serve two
masters,” with the addition, “for either he will hate the one, and love
the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other,” and
further, “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”[1564] The defence of this
passage will lead us to a deeper and more searching inquiry into the
meaning and application of the words “gods” and “lords.” Divine
Scripture teaches us that there is “a great Lord above all gods.”[1565]
And by this name “gods” we are not to understand the objects of heathen
worship (for we know that “all the gods of the heathen are
demons”[1566]), but the gods mentioned by the prophets as forming an
assembly, whom God “judges,” and to each of whom He assigns his proper
work. For “God standeth in the assembly of the gods: He judgeth among
the gods.”[1567] For “God is Lord of gods,” who by His Son “hath called
the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.”[1568]
We are also commanded to “give thanks to the God of gods.”[1569]
Moreover, we are taught that “God is not the God of the dead, but of the
living.”[1570] Nor are these the only passages to this effect; but there
are very many others.
Footnote 1564:
Matt. vi. 24.
Footnote 1565:
Ps. xcvii. 9.
Footnote 1566:
Ps. xcvi. 5.
Footnote 1567:
Ps. lxxxii. 1.
Footnote 1568:
Ps. l. 1.
Footnote 1569:
Ps. cxxxvi. 2.
Footnote 1570:
Matt. xxii. 32.
Chapter IV.
The sacred Scriptures teach us to think, in like manner, of the Lord of
lords. For they say in one place, “Give thanks to the God of gods, for
His mercy endureth for ever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for His
mercy endureth for ever;” and in another, “God is King of kings, and
Lord of lords.” For Scripture distinguishes between those gods which are
such only in name and those which are truly gods, whether they are
called by that name or not; and the same is true in regard to the use of
the word “lords.” To this effect Paul says, “For though there be that
are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, as there are gods many,
and lords many.”[1571] But as the God of gods calls whom He pleases
through Jesus to his inheritance, “from the east and from the west,” and
the Christ of God thus shows His superiority to all rulers by entering
into their several provinces, and summoning men out of them to be
subject to Himself, Paul therefore, with this in view, goes on to say,
“But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and
one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him;” adding,
as if with a deep sense of the marvellous and mysterious nature of the
doctrine, “Howbeit, there is not in every man that knowledge.” When he
says, “To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things;
and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things,” by “us” he means
himself and all those who have risen up to the supreme God of gods and
to the supreme Lord of lords. Now he has risen to the supreme God who
gives Him an entire and undivided worship through His Son—the word and
wisdom of God made manifest in Jesus. For it is the Son alone who leads
to God those who are striving, by the purity of their thoughts, words,
and deeds, to come near to God the Creator of the universe. I think,
therefore, that the prince of this world, who “transforms himself into
an angel of light,”[1572] was referring to this and such like statements
in the words, “Him follows a host of gods and demons, arranged in eleven
bands.” Speaking of himself and the philosophers, he says, “We are of
the party of Jupiter; others belong to other demons.”[1573]
Footnote 1571:
1 Cor. viii. 5, etc.
Footnote 1572:
2 Cor. xi. 14.
Footnote 1573:
Plato, _Phædrus_, p. 246.
Chapter V.
Whilst there are thus many gods and lords, whereof some are such in
reality, and others are such only in name, we strive to rise not only
above those whom the nations of the earth worship as gods, but also
beyond those spoken of as gods in Scripture, of whom they are wholly
ignorant who are strangers to the covenants of God given by Moses and by
our Saviour Jesus, and who have no part in the promises which He has
made to us through them. That man rises above all demon-worship who does
nothing that is pleasing to demons; and he rises to a blessedness beyond
that of those whom Paul calls “gods,” if he is enabled, like them, or in
any way he may, “to look not at the things which are seen, but at the
things which are unseen.” And he who considers that “the earnest
expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of
God, not willingly, but by reason of him who subjected the same in
hope,” whilst he praises the creature, and sees how “it shall be freed
altogether from the bondage of corruption, and restored to the glorious
liberty of the children of God,”[1574]—such a one cannot be induced to
combine with the service of God the service of any other, or to serve
two masters. There is therefore nothing seditious or factious in the
language of those who hold these views, and who refuse to serve more
masters than one. To them Jesus Christ is an all-sufficient Lord, who
Himself instructs them, in order that when fully instructed He may form
them into a kingdom worthy of God, and present them to God the Father.
But indeed they do in a sense separate themselves and stand aloof from
those who are aliens from the commonwealth of God and strangers to His
covenants, in order that they may live as citizens of heaven, “coming to
the living God, and to the city of God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to
an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of
the first-born, which are written in heaven.”[1575]
Footnote 1574:
Rom. viii. 19, 20.
Footnote 1575:
Heb. xii. 22, 23.
Chapter VI.
But when we refuse to serve any other than God through His word and
wisdom, we do so, not as though we would thereby be doing any harm or
injury to God, in the same way as injury would be done to a man by his
servant entering into the service of another, but we fear that we
ourselves should suffer harm by depriving ourselves of our portion in
God, through which we live in the participation of the divine
blessedness, and are imbued with that excellent spirit of adoption which
in the sons of the heavenly Father cries, not with words, but with deep
effect in the inmost heart, “Abba, Father.” The Lacedæmonian
ambassadors, when brought before the king of Persia, refused to
prostrate themselves before him, when the attendants endeavoured to
compel them to do so, out of respect for that which alone had authority
and lordship over them, namely, the law of Lycurgus.[1576] But they who
have a much greater and diviner embassy in “being ambassadors for
Christ” should not worship any ruler among Persians, or Greeks, or
Egyptians, or of any nation whatever, even although their officers and
ministers, demons and angels of the devil, should seek to compel them to
do so, and should urge them to set at nought a law which is mightier
than all the laws upon earth. For the Lord of those who are “ambassadors
for Christ” is Christ Himself, whose ambassadors they are, and who is
“the Word, who was in the beginning, was with God, and was God.”[1577]
Footnote 1576:
Herod. vii. 136.
Footnote 1577:
John i. 1.
Chapter VII.
But when Celsus speaks of heroes and demons, he starts a deeper question
than he is aware of. For after the statement which he made in regard to
service among men, that “the first master is injured when any of his
servants wishes at the same time to serve another,” he adds, that “the
same holds true of heroes, and other demons of that kind.” Now we must
inquire of him what nature he thinks those heroes and demons possess of
whom he affirms that he who serves one hero may not serve another, and
he who serves one demon may not serve another, as though the former hero
or demon would be injured in the same way as men are injured when they
who serve them first afterwards give themselves to the service of
others. Let him also state what loss he supposes those heroes or demons
will suffer. For he will be driven either to plunge into endless
absurdities, and first repeat, then retract his previous statements; or
else to abandon his frivolous conjectures, and confess that he
understands nothing of the nature of heroes and demons. And in regard to
his statement, that men suffer injury when the servant of one man enters
the service of a second master, the question arises: “What is the nature
of the injury which is done to the former master by a servant who, while
serving him, wishes at the same time to serve another?”
Chapter VIII.
For if he answers, as one who is unlearned and ignorant of philosophy,
that the injury sustained is one which regards things that are outside
of us, it will be plainly manifest that he knows nothing of that famous
saying of Socrates, “Anytus and Melitus may kill me, but they cannot
injure me; for it is impossible that the better should ever be injured
by the worse.” But if by injury he means a wicked impulse or an evil
habit, it is plain that no injury of this kind would befall the wise, by
one man serving two wise men in different places. If this sense does not
suit his purpose, it is evident that his endeavours are vain to weaken
the authority of the passage, “No man can serve two masters;” for these
words can be perfectly true only when they refer to the service which we
render to the Most High through His Son, who leadeth us to God. And we
will not serve God as though He stood in need of our service, or as
though He would be made unhappy if we ceased to serve Him; but we do it
because we are ourselves benefited by the service of God, and because we
are freed from griefs and troubles by serving the Most High God through
His only begotten Son, the Word and Wisdom.
Chapter IX.
And observe the recklessness of that expression, “For if thou worship
any other of the things in the universe,” as though he would have us
believe that we are led by our service of God to the worship of any
other things which belong to God, without any injury to ourselves. But,
as if feeling his error, he corrects the words, “If thou worship any
other of the things in the universe,” by adding, “We may honour none,
however, except those to whom that right has been given by God.” And we
would put to Celsus this question in regard to those who are honoured as
gods, as demons, or as heroes: “Now, sir, can you prove that the right
to be honoured has been given to these by God, and that it has not
arisen from the ignorance and folly of men who in their wanderings have
fallen away from Him to whom alone worship and service are properly due?
You said a little ago, O Celsus, that Antinous, the favourite of Adrian,
is honoured; but surely you will not say that the right to be worshipped
as a god was given to him by the God of the universe? And so of the
others, we ask proof that the right to be worshipped was given to them
by the Most High God.” But if the same question is put to us in regard
to the worship of Jesus, we will show that the right to be honoured was
given to Him by God, “that all may honour the Son, even as they honour
the Father.”[1578] For all the prophecies which preceded His birth were
preparations for His worship. And the wonders which He wrought—through
no magical art, as Celsus supposes, but by a divine power, which was
foretold by the prophets—have served as a testimony from God in behalf
of the worship of Christ. He who honours the Son, who is the Word and
Reason, acts in nowise contrary to reason, and gains for himself great
good; he who honours Him, who is the Truth, becomes better by honouring
truth: and this we may say of honouring wisdom, righteousness, and all
the other names by which the sacred Scriptures are wont to designate the
Son of God.
Footnote 1578:
John v. 23.
Chapter X.
But that the honour which we pay to the Son of God, as well as that
which we render to God the Father, consists of an upright course of
life, is plainly taught us by the passage, “Thou that makest thy boast
of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?”[1579] and
also, “Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought
worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the
blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and
hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?”[1580] For if he who
transgresses the law dishonours God by his transgression, and he who
treads under foot the word treads under foot the Son of God, it is
evident that he who keeps the law honours God, and that the worshipper
of God is he whose life is regulated by the principles and precepts of
the divine word. Had Celsus known who they are who are God’s people, and
that they alone are wise,—and who they are who are strangers to God, and
that these are all the wicked who have no desire to give themselves to
virtue,—he would have considered before he gave expression to the words,
“How can he who honours any of those whom God acknowledges as His own be
displeasing to God, to whom they all belong?”
Footnote 1579:
Rom. ii. 23.
Footnote 1580:
Heb. x. 29.
Chapter XI.
He adds, “And indeed he who, when speaking of God, asserts that there is
only one who may be called Lord, speaks impiously, for he divides the
kingdom of God, and raises a sedition therein, implying that there are
separate factions in the divine kingdom, and that there exists one who
is His enemy.” He might speak after this fashion, if he could prove by
conclusive arguments that those who are worshipped as gods by the
heathens are truly gods, and not merely evil spirits, which are supposed
to haunt statues and temples and altars. But we desire not only to
understand the nature of that divine kingdom of which we are continually
speaking and writing, but also ourselves to be of those who are under
the rule of God alone, so that the kingdom of God may be ours. Celsus,
however, who teaches us to worship many gods, ought in consistency not
to speak of “the kingdom of God,” but of “the kingdom of the gods.”
There are therefore no factions in the kingdom of God, nor is there any
god who is an adversary to Him, although there are some who, like the
giants and Titans, in their wickedness wish to contend with God in
company with Celsus, and those who declare war against Him who has by
innumerable proofs established the claims of Jesus, and against Him who,
as the Word, did, for the salvation of our race, show Himself before all
the world in such a form as each was able to receive Him.
Chapter XII.
In what follows, some may imagine that he says something plausible
against us. “If,” says he, “these people worshipped one God alone, and
no other, they would perhaps have some valid argument against the
worship of others. But they pay excessive reverence to one who has but
lately appeared among men, and they think it no offence against God if
they worship also His servant.” To this we reply, that if Celsus had
known that saying, “I and my Father are one,”[1581] and the words used
in prayer by the Son of God, “As Thou and I are one,”[1582] he would not
have supposed that we worship any other besides Him who is the supreme
God. “For,” says He, “my Father is in me, and I in Him.”[1583] And if
any should from these words be afraid of our going over to the side of
those who deny that the Father and the Son are two persons, let him
weigh that passage, “And the multitude of them that believed were of one
heart and of one soul,”[1584] that he may understand the meaning of the
saying, “I and my Father are one.” We worship one God, the Father and
the Son, therefore, as we have explained; and our argument against the
worship of other gods still continues valid. And we do not “reverence
beyond measure one who has but lately appeared,” as though He did not
exist before; for we believe Himself when He says, “Before Abraham was,
I am.”[1585] Again He says, “I am the truth;”[1586] and surely none of
us is so simple as to suppose that truth did not exist before the time
when Christ appeared. We worship, therefore, the Father of truth, and
the Son, who is the truth; and these, while they are two, considered as
persons or subsistences, are one in unity of thought, in harmony and in
identity of will. So entirely are they one, that he who has seen the
Son, “who is the brightness of God’s glory, and the express image of His
person,”[1587] has seen in Him who is the image of God, God Himself.
Footnote 1581:
John x. 30.
Footnote 1582:
John xvii. 22.
Footnote 1583:
John xiv. 11, and xvii. 21.
Footnote 1584:
Acts iv. 32.
Footnote 1585:
John viii. 58.
Footnote 1586:
John xiv. 6.
Footnote 1587:
Heb. i. 3.
Chapter XIII.
He further supposes, that “because we join along with the worship of God
the worship of His Son, it follows that, in our view, not only God, but
also the servants of God, are to be worshipped.” If he had meant this to
apply to those who are truly the servants of God, after His
only-begotten Son,—to Gabriel and Michael, and the other angels and
archangels,—and if he had said of these that they ought to be
worshipped,—if also he had clearly defined the meaning of the word
“worship,” and the duties of the worshippers,—we might perhaps have
brought forward such thoughts as have occurred to us on so important a
subject. But as he reckons among the servants of God the demons which
are worshipped by the heathen, he cannot induce us, on the plea of
consistency, to worship such as are declared by the word to be servants
of the evil one, the prince of this world, who leads astray from God as
many as he can. We decline, therefore, altogether to worship and serve
those whom other men worship, for the reason that they are not servants
of God. For if we had been taught to regard them as servants of the Most
High, we would not have called them demons. Accordingly, we worship with
all our power the one God, and His only Son, the Word and the Image of
God, by prayers and supplications; and we offer our petitions to the God
of the universe through His only-begotten Son. To the Son we first
present them, and beseech Him, as “the propitiation for our sins,”[1588]
and our High Priest, to offer our desires, and sacrifices, and prayers,
to the Most High. Our faith, therefore, is directed to God through His
Son, who strengthens it in us; and Celsus can never show that the Son of
God is the cause of any sedition or disloyalty in the kingdom of God. We
honour the Father when we admire His Son, the Word, and Wisdom, and
Truth, and Righteousness, and all that He who is the Son of so great a
Father is said in Scripture to be. So much on this point.
Footnote 1588:
1 John ii. 2.
Chapter XIV.
Again Celsus proceeds: “If you should tell them that Jesus is not the
Son of God, but that God is the Father of all, and that He alone ought
to be truly worshipped, they would not consent to discontinue their
worship of him who is their leader in the sedition. And they call him
Son of God, not out of any extreme reverence for God, but from an
extreme desire to extol Jesus Christ.” We, however, have learned who the
Son of God is, and know that He is “the brightness of His glory, and the
express image of His person,” and “the breath of the power of God, and a
pure influence flowing from the glory of the Almighty;” moreover, “the
brightness of the everlasting light, the unspotted mirror of the power
of God, and the image of His goodness.”[1589] We know, therefore, that
He is the Son of God, and that God is His Father. And there is nothing
extravagant or unbecoming the character of God in the doctrine that He
should have begotten such an only Son; and no one will persuade us that
such a one is not a Son of the unbegotten God and Father. If Celsus has
heard something of certain persons holding that the Son of God is not
the Son of the Creator of the universe, that is a matter which lies
between him and the supporters of such an opinion. Jesus is, then, not
the leader of any seditious movement, but the promoter of peace. For He
said to His disciples, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto
you;” and as He knew that it would be men of the world, and not men of
God, who would wage war against us, he added, “Not as the world giveth
peace, do I give peace unto you.”[1590] And even although we are
oppressed in the world, we have confidence in Him who said, “In the
world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome
the world.” And it is He whom we call Son of God—Son of that God,
namely, whom, to quote the words of Celsus, “we most highly reverence;”
and He is the Son who has been most highly exalted by the Father. Grant
that there may be some individuals among the multitudes of believers who
are not in entire agreement with us, and who incautiously assert that
the Saviour is the Most High God; however, we do not hold with them, but
rather believe Him when He says, “The Father who sent me is greater than
I.”[1591] We would not therefore make Him whom we call Father
inferior—as Celsus accuses us of doing—to the Son of God.
Footnote 1589:
Wisd. vii. 25, 26.
Footnote 1590:
John xiv. 27.
Footnote 1591:
John xiv. 28.
Chapter XV.
Celsus goes on to say: “That I may give a true representation of their
faith, I will use their own words, as given in what is called _A
Heavenly Dialogue_: ‘If the Son is mightier than God, and the Son of man
is Lord over Him, who else than the Son can be Lord over that God who is
the ruler over all things? How comes it, that while so many go about the
well, no one goes down into it? Why art thou afraid when thou hast gone
so far on the way? Answer: Thou art mistaken, for I lack neither courage
nor weapons.’ Is it not evident, then, that their views are precisely
such as I have described them to be? They suppose that another God, who
is above the heavens, is the Father of him whom with one accord they
honour, that they may honour this Son of man alone, whom they exalt
under the form and name of the great God, and whom they assert to be
stronger than God, who rules the world, and that he rules over Him. And
hence that maxim of theirs, ‘It is impossible to serve two masters,’ is
maintained for the purpose of keeping up the party who are on the side
of this Lord.” Here, again, Celsus quotes opinions from some most
obscure sect of heretics, and ascribes them to all Christians. I call it
“a most obscure sect;” for although we have often contended with
heretics, yet we are unable to discover from what set of opinions he has
taken this passage, if indeed he has quoted it from any author, and has
not rather concocted it himself, or added it as an inference of his own.
For we who say that the visible world is under the government of Him who
created all things, do thereby declare that the Son is not mightier than
the Father, but inferior to Him. And this belief we ground on the saying
of Jesus Himself, “The Father who sent me is greater than I.” And none
of us is so insane as to affirm that the Son of man is Lord over God.
But when we regard the Saviour as God the Word, and Wisdom, and
Righteousness, and Truth, we certainly do say that He has dominion over
all things which have been subjected to Him in this capacity, but not
that His dominion extends over the God and Father who is Ruler over all.
Besides, as the Word rules over none against their will, there are still
wicked beings—not only men, but also angels, and all demons—over whom we
say that in a sense He does not rule, since they do not yield Him a
willing obedience; but, in another sense of the word, He rules even over
them, in the same way as we say that man rules over the irrational
animals,—not by persuasion, but as one who tames and subdues lions and
beasts of burden. Nevertheless, He leaves no means untried to persuade
even those who are still disobedient to submit to His authority. So far
as we are concerned, therefore, we deny the truth of that which Celsus
quotes as one of our sayings, “Who else than He can be Lord over Him who
is God over all?”
Chapter XVI.
The remaining part of the extract given by Celsus seems to have been
taken from some other form of heresy, and the whole jumbled together in
strange confusion: “How is it, that while so many go about the well, no
one goes down into it? Why dost thou shrink with fear when thou hast
gone so far on the way? Answer: Thou art mistaken, for I lack neither
courage nor weapons.” We who belong to the church which takes its name
from Christ, assert that none of these statements are true. For he seems
to have made them simply that they might harmonize with what he had said
before; but they have no reference to us. For it is a principle with us,
not to worship any god whom we merely “suppose” to exist, but Him alone
who is the Creator of this universe, and of all things besides which are
unseen by the eye of sense. These remarks of Celsus may apply to those
who go on another road and tread other paths from us,—men who deny the
Creator, and make to themselves another god under a new form, having
nothing but the name of God, whom they esteem higher than the Creator;
and with these may be joined any that there may be who say that the Son
is greater than the God who rules all things. In reference to the
precept that we ought not to serve two masters, we have already shown
what appears to us the principle contained in it, when we proved that no
sedition or disloyalty could be charged against the followers of Jesus
their Lord, who confess that they reject every other lord, and serve Him
alone who is the Son and Word of God.
Chapter XVII.
Celsus then proceeds to say that “we shrink from raising altars,
statues, and temples; and this,” he thinks, “has been agreed upon among
us as the badge or distinctive mark of a secret and forbidden society.”
He does not perceive that we regard the spirit of every good man as an
altar from which arises an incense which is truly and spiritually
sweet-smelling, namely, the prayers ascending from a pure conscience.
Therefore it is said by John in the Revelation, “The odours are the
prayers of saints;”[1592] and by the Psalmist, “Let my prayer come up
before Thee as incense.”[1593] And the statues and gifts which are fit
offerings to God are the work of no common mechanics, but are wrought
and fashioned in us by the Word of God, to wit, the virtues in which we
imitate “the First-born of all creation,” who has set us an example of
justice, of temperance, of courage, of wisdom, of piety, and of the
other virtues. In all those, then, who plant and cultivate within their
souls, according to the divine word, temperance, justice, wisdom, piety,
and other virtues, these excellences are their statues they raise, in
which we are persuaded that it is becoming for us to honour the model
and prototype of all statues: “the image of the invisible God,” God the
only-begotten. And again, they who “put off the old man with his deeds,
and put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of
Him that hath created him,” in taking upon them the image of Him who
hath created them, do raise within themselves a statue like to what the
Most High God Himself desires. And as among statuaries there are some
who are marvellously perfect in their art, as for example Pheidias and
Polycleitus, and among painters, Zeuxis and Apelles, whilst others make
inferior statues, and others, again, are inferior to the second-rate
artists,—so that, taking all together, there is a wide difference in the
execution of statues and pictures,—in the same way there are some who
form images of the Most High in a better manner and with a more perfect
skill; so that there is no comparison even between the Olympian Jupiter
of Pheidias and the man who has been fashioned according to the image of
God the Creator. But by far the most excellent of all these throughout
the whole of creation is that image in our Saviour who said, “My Father
is in me.”
Footnote 1592:
Rev. v. 8.
Footnote 1593:
Ps. cxli. 2.
Chapter XVIII.
And every one who imitates Him according to his ability, does by this
very endeavour raise a statue according to the image of the Creator, for
in the contemplation of God with a pure heart they become imitators of
Him. And, in general, we see that all Christians strive to raise altars
and statues as we have described them, and these not of a lifeless and
senseless kind, and not to receive greedy spirits intent upon lifeless
things, but to be filled with the Spirit of God who dwells in the images
of virtue of which we have spoken, and takes His abode in the soul which
is conformed to the image of the Creator. Thus the Spirit of Christ
dwells in those who bear, so to say, a resemblance in form and feature
to Himself. And the Word of God, wishing to set this clearly before us,
represents God as promising to the righteous, “I will dwell in them, and
walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my
people.”[1594] And the Saviour says, “If any man hear my words, and do
them, I and my Father will come to him, and make our abode with
him.”[1595] Let any one, therefore, who chooses compare the altars which
I have described with those spoken of by Celsus, and the images in the
souls of those who worship the Most High God with the statues of
Pheidias, Polycleitus, and such like, and he will clearly perceive, that
while the latter are lifeless things, and subject to the ravages of
time, the former abide in the immortal spirit as long as the reasonable
soul wishes to preserve them.
Footnote 1594:
2 Cor. vi. 16.
Footnote 1595:
John xiv. 23.
Chapter XIX.
And if, further, temples are to be compared with temples, that we may
prove to those who accept the opinions of Celsus that we do not object
to the erection of temples suited to the images and altars of which we
have spoken, but that we do refuse to build lifeless temples to the
Giver of all life, let any one who chooses learn how we are taught, that
our bodies are the temple of God, and that if any one by lust or sin
defiles the temple of God, he will himself be destroyed, as acting
impiously towards the true temple. Of all the temples spoken of in this
sense, the best and most excellent was the pure and holy body of our
Saviour Jesus Christ. When He knew that wicked men might aim at the
destruction of the temple of God in Him, but that their purposes of
destruction would not prevail against the divine power which had built
that temple, He says to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I
will raise it again.... This He said of the temple of His body.”[1596]
And in other parts of holy Scripture where it speaks of the mystery of
the resurrection to those whose ears are divinely opened, it says that
the temple which has been destroyed shall be built up again of living
and most precious stones, thereby giving us to understand that each of
those who are led by the word of God to strive together in the duties of
piety, will be a precious stone in the one great temple of God.
Accordingly, Peter says, “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a
spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices,
acceptable to God by Jesus Christ;”[1597] and Paul also says, “Being
built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ our
Lord being the chief corner-stone.”[1598] And there is a similar hidden
allusion in this passage in Isaiah, which is addressed to Jerusalem:
“Behold, I will lay thy stones with carbuncles, and lay thy foundations
with sapphires. And I will make thy battlements of jasper, and thy gates
of crystal, and all thy borders of pleasant stones. And all thy children
shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy
children. In righteousness shalt thou be established.”[1599]
Footnote 1596:
John ii. 19, 21.
Footnote 1597:
1 Pet. ii. 5.
Footnote 1598:
Eph. ii. 20.
Footnote 1599:
Isa. liv. 11-14.
Chapter XX.
There are, then, among the righteous some who are carbuncles, others
sapphires, others jaspers, and others crystal, and thus there is among
the righteous every kind of choice and precious stone. As to the
spiritual meaning of the different stones,—what is their nature, and to
what kind of soul the name of each precious stone especially applies,—we
cannot at present stay to examine. We have only felt it necessary to
show thus briefly what we understand by temples, and what the one Temple
of God built of precious stones truly means. For as if in some cities a
dispute should arise as to which had the finest temples, those who
thought their own were the best would do their utmost to show the
excellence of their own temples and the inferiority of the others,—in
like manner, when they reproach us for not deeming it necessary to
worship the Divine Being by raising lifeless temples, we set before them
our temples, and show to such at least as are not blind and senseless,
like their senseless gods, that there is no comparison between our
statues and the statues of the heathen, nor between our altars, with
what we may call the incense ascending from them, and the heathen
altars, with the fat and blood of the victims; nor, finally, between the
temples of senseless gods, admired by senseless men, who have no divine
faculty for perceiving God, and the temples, statues, and altars which
are worthy of God. It is not therefore true that we object to building
altars, statues, and temples, because we have agreed to make this the
badge of a secret and forbidden society; but we do so, because we have
learnt from Jesus Christ the true way of serving God, and we shrink from
whatever, under a pretence of piety, leads to utter impiety those who
abandon the way marked out for us by Jesus Christ. For it is He who
alone is the way of piety, as He truly said, “I am the way, the truth,
the life.”
Chapter XXI.
Let us see what Celsus further says of God, and how he urges us to the
use of those things which are properly called idol offerings, or, still
better, offerings to demons, although, in his ignorance of what true
sanctity is, and what sacrifices are well-pleasing to God, he call them
“holy sacrifices.” His words are, “God is the God of all alike; He is
good, He stands in need of nothing, and He is without jealousy. What,
then, is there to hinder those who are most devoted to His service from
taking part in public feasts?” I cannot see the connection which he
fancies between God’s being good, and independent, and free from
jealousy, and His devoted servants taking part in public feasts. I
confess, indeed, that from the fact that God is good, and without want
of anything, and free from jealousy, it would follow as a consequence
that we might take part in public feasts, if it were proved that the
public feasts had nothing wrong in them, and were grounded upon true
views of the character of God, so that they resulted naturally from a
devout service of God. If, however, the so-called public festivals can
in no way be shown to accord with the service of God, but may on the
contrary be proved to have been devised by men when occasion offered to
commemorate some human events, or to set forth certain qualities of
water or earth, or the fruits of the earth,—in that case, it is clear
that those who wish to offer an enlightened worship to the Divine Being
will act according to sound reason, and not take part in the public
feasts. For “to keep a feast,” as one of the wise men of Greece has well
said, “is nothing else than to do one’s duty;”[1600] and that man truly
celebrates a feast who does his duty and prays always, offering up
continually bloodless sacrifices in prayer to God. That therefore seems
to me a most noble saying of Paul, “Ye observe days, and months, and
times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you
labour in vain.”[1601]
Footnote 1600:
Thucyd. i.
Footnote 1601:
Gal. iv. 10, 11.
Chapter XXII.
If it be objected to us on this subject that we ourselves are accustomed
to observe certain days, as for example the Lord’s day, the Preparation,
the Passover, or Pentecost, I have to answer, that to the perfect
Christian, who is ever in his thoughts, words, and deeds serving his
natural Lord, God the Word, all his days are the Lord’s, and he is
always keeping the Lord’s day. He also who is unceasingly preparing
himself for the true life, and abstaining from the pleasures of this
life which lead astray so many,—who is not indulging the lust of the
flesh, but “keeping under his body, and bringing it into
subjection,”—such a one is always keeping Preparation-day. Again, he who
considers that “Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us,” and that it
is his duty to keep the feast by eating of the flesh of the Word, never
ceases to keep the paschal feast; for the _pascha_ means a “passover,”
and he is ever striving in all his thoughts, words, and deeds, to pass
over from the things of this life to God, and is hastening towards the
city of God. And, finally, he who can truly say, “We are risen with
Christ,” and “He hath exalted us, and made us to sit with Him in
heavenly places in Christ,” is always living in the season of Pentecost;
and most of all, when going up to the upper chamber, like the apostles
of Jesus, he gives himself to supplication and prayer, that he may
become worthy of receiving “the mighty wind rushing from heaven,” which
is powerful to destroy sin and its fruits among men, and worthy of
having some share of the tongue of fire which God sends.
Chapter XXIII.
But the majority of those who are accounted believers are not of this
advanced class; but from being either unable or unwilling to keep every
day in this manner, they require some sensible memorials to prevent
spiritual things from passing altogether away from their minds. It is to
this practice of setting apart some days distinct from others, that Paul
seems to me to refer in the expression, “part of the feast;”[1602] and
by these words he indicates that a life in accordance with the divine
word consists not “in a part of the feast,” but in one entire and
never-ceasing festival. Again, compare the festivals, observed among us
as these have been described above, with the public feasts of Celsus and
the heathen, and say if the former are not much more sacred observances
than those feasts in which the lust of the flesh runs riot, and leads to
drunkenness and debauchery. It would be too long for us at present to
show why we are required by the law of God to keep its festivals by
eating “the bread of affliction,”[1603] or “leaven with bitter
herbs,”[1604] or why it says, “Humble your souls,”[1605] and such like.
For it is impossible for man, who is a compound being, in which “the
flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the
flesh,”[1606] to keep the feast with his whole nature; for either he
keeps the feast with his spirit and afflicts the body, which through the
lust of the flesh is unfit to keep it along with the spirit, or else he
keeps it with the body, and the spirit is unable to share in it. But we
have for the present said enough on the subject of feasts.
Footnote 1602:
Col. ii. 16. The whole passage in the English version is, “Let no man
judge you in meat, or in drink, or in _respect of an holyday_” (ἐν
μέρει ἑορτῆς). Origen’s interpretation is not followed by any modern
expositors. It is adopted by Chrysostom and Theodoret.
Footnote 1603:
Deut. xvi. 3.
Footnote 1604:
Ex. xii. 8.
Footnote 1605:
Lev. xvi. 29.
Footnote 1606:
Gal. v. 17.
Chapter XXIV.
Let us now see on what grounds Celsus urges us to make use of the idol
offerings and the public sacrifices in the public feasts. His words are,
“If these idols are nothing, what harm will there be in taking part in
the feast? On the other hand, if they are demons, it is certain that
they too are God’s creatures, and that we must believe in them,
sacrifice to them according to the laws, and pray to them that they may
be propitious.” In reference to this statement, it would be profitable
for us to take up and clearly explain the whole passage of the First
Epistle to the Corinthians, in which Paul treats of offerings to
idols.[1607] The apostle draws from the fact that “an idol is nothing in
the world,” the consequence that it is injurious to use things offered
to idols; and he shows to those who have ears to hear on such subjects,
that he who partakes of things offered to idols is worse than a
murderer, for he destroys his own brethren, for whom Christ died. And
further, he maintains that the sacrifices are made to demons; and from
that he proceeds to show that those who join the table of demons become
associated with the demons; and he concludes that a man cannot both be a
partaker of the table of the Lord and of the table of demons. But since
it would require a whole treatise to set forth fully all that is
contained on this subject in the Epistle to the Corinthians, we shall
content ourselves with this brief statement of the argument; for it will
be evident to any one who carefully considers what has been said, that
even if idols are nothing, nevertheless it is an awful thing to join in
idol festivals. And even supposing that there are such beings as demons
to whom the sacrifices are offered, it has been clearly shown that we
are forbidden to take part in these festivals, when we know the
difference between the table of the Lord and the table of demons. And
knowing this, we endeavour as much as we can to be always partakers of
the Lord’s table, and beware to the utmost of joining at any time the
table of demons.
Footnote 1607:
1 Cor. viii. 4, 11.
Chapter XXV.
Celsus says that “the demons belong to God, and are therefore to be
believed, to be sacrificed to according to laws, and to be prayed to
that they may be propitious.” Those who are disposed to learn, must know
that the word of God nowhere says of evil things that they belong to
God, for it judges them unworthy of such a Lord. Accordingly, it is not
all men who bear the name of “men of God,” but only those who are worthy
of God,—such as Moses and Elias, and any others who are so called, or
such as resemble those who are so called in Scripture. In the same way,
all angels are not said to be angels of God, but only those that are
blessed: those that have fallen away into sin are called “angels of the
devil,” just as bad men are called “men of sin,” “sons of perdition,” or
“sons of iniquity.” Since, then, among men some are good and others bad,
and the former are said to be God’s and the latter the devil’s, so among
angels some are angels of God, and others angels of the devil. But among
demons there is no such distinction, for all are said to be wicked. We
do not therefore hesitate to say that Celsus is false when he says, “If
they are demons, it is evident that they must also belong to God.” He
must either show that this distinction of good and bad among angels and
men has no foundation, or else that a similar distinction may be shown
to hold among demons. If that is impossible, it is plain that demons do
not belong to God; for their prince is not God, but, as holy Scripture
says, “Beelzebub.”
Chapter XXVI.
And we are not to believe in demons, although Celsus urges us to do so;
but if we are to obey God, we must die, or endure anything sooner than
obey demons. In the same way, we are not to propitiate demons; for it is
impossible to propitiate beings that are wicked and that seek the injury
of men. Besides, what are the laws in accordance with which Celsus would
have us propitiate the demons? For if he means laws enacted in states,
he must show that they are in agreement with the divine laws. But if
that cannot be done, as the laws of many states are quite inconsistent
with each other, these laws, therefore, must of necessity either be no
laws at all in the proper sense of the word, or else the enactments of
wicked men; and these we must not obey, for “we must obey God rather
than men.” Away, then, with this counsel, which Celsus gives us, to
offer prayer to demons: it is not to be listened to for a moment; for
our duty is to pray to the Most High God alone, and to the
only-begotten, the first-born of the whole creation, and to ask Him as
our High Priest to present the prayers which ascend to Him from us, to
His God and our God, to His Father and the Father of those who direct
their lives according to His word. And as we would have no desire to
enjoy the favour of those men who wish us to follow their wicked lives,
and who give us their favour only on condition that we choose nothing
opposed to their wishes, because their favour would make us enemies of
God, who cannot be pleased with those who have such men for their
friends,—in the same way those who are acquainted with the nature, the
purposes, and the wickedness of demons, can never wish to obtain their
favour.
Chapter XXVII.
And Christians have nothing to fear, even if demons should not be
well-disposed to them; for they are protected by the supreme God, who is
well pleased with their piety, and who sets His divine angels to watch
over those who are worthy of such guardianship, so that they can suffer
nothing from demons. He who by his piety possesses the favour of the
Most High, who has accepted the guidance of Jesus, the “Angel of the
great counsel,”[1608] being well contented with the favour of God
through Christ Jesus, may say with confidence that he has nothing to
suffer from the whole host of demons. “The Lord is my light and my
salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of
whom shall I be afraid? Though an host should encamp against me, my
heart shall not fear.”[1609] So much, then, in reply to those statements
of Celsus: “If they are demons, they too evidently belong to God, and
they are to be believed, to be sacrificed to according to the laws, and
prayers are to be offered to them that they may be propitious.”
Footnote 1608:
Isa. ix. 6 (LXX.).
Footnote 1609:
Ps. xxvii. 1, 3.
Chapter XXVIII.
We shall now proceed to the next statement of Celsus, and examine it
with care: “If in obedience to the traditions of their fathers they
abstain from such victims, they must also abstain from all animal food,
in accordance with the opinions of Pythagoras, who thus showed his
respect for the soul and its bodily organs. But if, as they say, they
abstain that they may not eat along with demons, I admire their wisdom,
in having at length discovered, that whenever they eat they eat with
demons, although they only refuse to do so when they are looking upon a
slain victim; for when they eat bread, or drink wine, or taste fruits,
do they not receive these things, as well as the water they drink and
the air they breathe, from certain demons, to whom have been assigned
these different provinces of nature?” Here I would observe that I cannot
see how those whom he speaks of as abstaining from certain victims, in
accordance with the traditions of their fathers, are consequently bound
to abstain from the flesh of all animals. We do not indeed deny that the
divine word does seem to command something similar to this, when to
raise us to a higher and purer life it says, “It is good neither to eat
flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleth, or
is offended, or is made weak;”[1610] and again, “Destroy not him with
thy meat, for whom Christ died;”[1611] and again, “If meat make my
brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I
make my brother to offend.”[1612]
Footnote 1610:
Rom. xiv. 21.
Footnote 1611:
Rom. xiv. 15.
Footnote 1612:
1 Cor. viii. 13.
Chapter XXIX.
But it is to be observed that the Jews, who claim for themselves a
correct understanding of the law of Moses, carefully restrict their food
to such things as are accounted clean, and abstain from those that are
unclean. They also do not use in their food the blood of an animal nor
the flesh of an animal torn by wild beasts, and some other things which
it would take too long for us at present to detail. But Jesus, wishing
to lead all men by His teaching to the pure worship and service of God,
and anxious not to throw any hindrance in the way of many who might be
benefited by Christianity, through the imposition of a burdensome code
of rules in regard to food, has laid it down, that “not that which goeth
into the mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh out of the mouth;
for whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is
cast out into the draught. But those things which proceed out of the
mouth are evil thoughts when spoken, murders, adulteries, fornications,
thefts, false witness, blasphemies.”[1613] Paul also says, “Meat
commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better;
neither, if we eat not, are we the worse.”[1614] Wherefore, as there is
some obscurity about this matter, without some explanation is given, it
seemed good to the apostles of Jesus and the elders assembled together
at Antioch, and also, as they themselves say, to the Holy Spirit, to
write a letter to the Gentile believers, forbidding them to partake of
those things from which alone they say it is necessary to abstain,
namely, “things offered to idols, things strangled, and blood.”[1615]
Footnote 1613:
Matt. xv. 11, 17-19.
Footnote 1614:
1 Cor. viii. 8.
Footnote 1615:
Acts xv. 28, 29. It was at Jerusalem.
Chapter XXX.
For that which is offered to idols is sacrificed to demons, and a man of
God must not join the table of demons. As to things strangled, we are
forbidden by Scripture to partake of them, because the blood is still in
them; and blood, especially the odour arising from blood, is said to be
the food of demons. Perhaps, then, if we were to eat of strangled
animals, we might have such spirits feeding along with us. And the
reason which forbids the use of strangled animals for food is also
applicable to the use of blood. And it may not be amiss, as bearing on
this point, to recall a beautiful saying in the writings of Sextus,
which is known to most Christians: “The eating of animals,” says he, “is
a matter of indifference; but to abstain from them is more agreeable to
reason.” It is not, therefore, simply on account of some traditions of
our fathers that we refrain from eating victims offered to those called
gods or heroes or demons, but for other reasons, some of which I have
here mentioned. It is not to be supposed, however, that we are to
abstain from the flesh of animals in the same way as we are bound to
abstain from all vice and wickedness: we are indeed to abstain not only
from the flesh of animals, but from all other kinds of food, if we
cannot partake of them without incurring evil, and the consequences of
evil. For we are to avoid eating for gluttony, or for the mere
gratification of the appetite, without regard to the health and
sustenance of the body. We do not believe that souls pass from one body
to another, and that they may descend so low as to enter the bodies of
the brutes. If we abstain at times from eating the flesh of animals, it
is evidently, therefore, not for the same reason as Pythagoras; for it
is the reasonable soul alone that we honour, and we commit its bodily
organs with due honours to the grave. For it is not right that the
dwelling-place of the rational soul should be cast aside anywhere
without honour, like the carcases of brute beasts; and so much the more
when we believe that the respect paid to the body redounds to the honour
of the person who received from God a soul which has nobly employed the
organs of the body in which it resided. In regard to the question, “How
are the dead raised up, and with what body do they come?” we have
already answered it briefly, as our purpose required.
Chapter XXXI.
Celsus afterwards states what is adduced by Jews and Christians alike in
defence of abstinence from idol sacrifices, namely, that it is wrong for
those who have dedicated themselves to the Most High God to eat with
demons. What he brings forward against this view, we have already seen.
In our opinion, a man can only be said to eat and drink with demons when
he eats the flesh of what are called sacred victims, and when he drinks
the wine poured out to the honour of the demons. But Celsus thinks that
we cannot eat bread or drink wine in any way whatever, or taste fruits,
or even take a draught of water, without eating and drinking with
demons. He adds also, that the air which we breathe is received from
demons, and that not an animal can breathe without receiving the air
from the demons who are set over the air. If any one wishes to defend
this statement of Celsus, let him show that it is not the divine angels
of God, but demons, the whole race of whom are bad, that have been
appointed to communicate all those blessings which have been mentioned.
We indeed also maintain with regard not only to the fruits of the earth,
but to every flowing stream and every breath of air, that the ground
brings forth those things which are said to grow up naturally,—that the
water springs in fountains, and refreshes the earth with running
streams,—that the air is kept pure, and supports the life of those who
breathe it only in consequence of the agency and control of certain
beings whom we may call invisible husbandmen and guardians; but we deny
that those invisible agents are demons. And if we might speak boldly, we
would say that if demons have any share at all in these things, to them
belong famine, blasting of the vine and fruit trees, pestilence among
men and beasts: all these are the proper occupations of demons, who in
the capacity of public executioners receive power at certain times to
carry out the divine judgments, for the restoration of those who have
plunged headlong into wickedness, or for the trial and discipline of the
souls of the wise. For those who through all their afflictions preserve
their piety pure and unimpaired, show their true character to all
spectators, whether visible or invisible, who behold them; while those
who are otherwise minded, yet conceal their wickedness, when they have
their true character exposed by misfortunes, become manifest to
themselves as well as to those whom we may also call spectators.
Chapter XXXII.
The Psalmist bears witness that divine justice employs certain evil
angels to inflict calamities upon men: “He cast upon them the fierceness
of His anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, sent by evil
angels.”[1616] Whether demons ever go beyond this when they are suffered
to do what they are ever ready, though through the restraint put upon
them they are not always able to do, is a question to be solved by that
man who can conceive, in so far as human nature will allow, how it
accords with the divine justice, that such multitudes of human souls are
separated from the body while walking in the paths which lead to certain
death. “For the judgments of God are so great,” that a soul which is
still clothed with a mortal body cannot comprehend them; “and they
cannot be expressed: therefore by unnurtured souls”[1617] they are not
in any measure to be understood. And hence, too, rash spirits, by their
ignorance in these matters, and by recklessly setting themselves against
the Divine Being, multiply impious objections against providence. It is
not from demons, then, that men receive any of those things which meet
the necessities of life, and least of all ourselves, who have been
taught to make a proper use of these things. And they who partake of
corn and wine, and the fruits of trees, of water and of air, do not feed
with demons, but rather do they feast with divine angels, who are
appointed for this purpose, and who are as it were invited to the table
of the pious man, who hearkens to the precept of the word, which says,
“Whether ye eat or drink, or whatever ye do, do all to the glory of
God.”[1618] And again, in another place it is written, “Do all things in
the name of God.”[1619] When, therefore, we eat and drink and breathe to
the glory of God, and act in all things according to what is right, we
feast with no demons, but with divine angels: “For every creature is
good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.”[1620] But it could
not be good, and it could not be sanctified, if these things were, as
Celsus supposes, entrusted to the charge of demons.
Footnote 1616:
Ps. lxxviii. 49.
Footnote 1617:
Wisdom of Sol. xvii. 1.
Footnote 1618:
Col. iii. 17.
Footnote 1619:
1 Cor. x. 31.
Footnote 1620:
1 Tim. iv. 4, 5.
Chapter XXXIII.
From this it is evident that we have already met the next statement of
Celsus, which is as follows: “We must either not live, and indeed not
come into this life at all, or we must do so on condition that we give
thanks and first-fruits and prayers to demons, who have been set over
the things of this world: and that we must do as long as we live, that
they may prove good and kind.” We must surely live, and we must live
according to the word of God, as far as we are enabled to do so. And we
are thus enabled to live, when, “whether we eat or drink, we do all to
the glory of God;” and we are not to refuse to enjoy those things which
have been created for our use, but must receive them with thanksgiving
to the Creator. And it is under these conditions, and not such as have
been imagined by Celsus, that we have been brought into life by God; and
we are not placed under demons, but we are under the government of the
Most High God, through Him who hath brought us to God—Jesus Christ. It
is not according to the law of God that any demon has had a share in
worldly affairs, but it was by their own lawlessness that they perhaps
sought out for themselves places destitute of the knowledge of God and
of the divine life, or places where there are many enemies of God.
Perhaps also, as being fit to rule over and punish them, they have been
set by the Word, who governs all things, to rule over those who
subjected themselves to evil and not to God. For this reason, then, let
Celsus, as one who knows not God, give thank-offerings to demons. But we
give thanks to the Creator of all, and, along with thanksgiving and
prayer for the blessings we have received, we also eat the bread
presented to us; and this bread becomes by prayer a sacred body, which
sanctifies those who sincerely partake of it.
Chapter XXXIV.
Celsus would also have us to offer first-fruits to demons. But we would
offer them to Him who said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb
yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose
seed is in itself upon the earth.”[1621] And to Him to whom we offer
first-fruits we also send up our prayers, “having a great high priest,
that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God,” and “we hold
fast this profession”[1622] as long as we live; for we find God and His
only-begotten Son, manifested to us in Jesus, to be gracious and kind to
us. And if we would wish to have besides a great number of beings who
shall ever prove friendly to us, we are taught that “thousand thousands
stood before Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand ministered unto
Him.”[1623] And these, regarding all as their relations and friends who
imitate their piety towards God, and in prayer call upon Him with
sincerity, work along with them for their salvation, appear unto them,
deem it their office and duty to attend to them, and as if by common
agreement they visit with all manner of kindness and deliverance those
who pray to God, to whom they themselves also pray: “For they are all
ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for those who shall be heirs
of salvation.”[1624] Let the learned Greeks say that the human soul at
its birth is placed under the charge of demons: Jesus has taught us not
to despise even the little ones in His church, saying, “Their angels do
always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.”[1625] And the
prophet says, “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that
fear Him, and delivereth them.”[1626] We do not, then, deny that there
are many demons upon earth, but we maintain that they exist and exercise
power among the wicked, as a punishment of their wickedness. But they
have no power over those who “have put on the whole armour of God,” who
have received strength to “withstand the wiles of the devil,”[1627] and
who are ever engaged in contests with them, knowing that “we wrestle not
against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places.”[1628]
Footnote 1621:
Gen. i. 11.
Footnote 1622:
Heb. iv. 14.
Footnote 1623:
Dan. vii. 10.
Footnote 1624:
Heb. i. 14.
Footnote 1625:
Matt. xviii. 10.
Footnote 1626:
Ps. xxxiv. 7.
Footnote 1627:
Eph. vi. 11.
Footnote 1628:
Eph. vi. 12.
Chapter XXXV.
Now let us consider another saying of Celsus, which is as follows: “The
satrap of a Persian or Roman monarch, or ruler or general or governor,
yea, even those who fill lower offices of trust or service in the state,
would be able to do great injury to those who despised them; and will
the satraps and ministers of earth and air be insulted with impunity?”
Observe now how he introduces servants of the Most High—rulers,
generals, governors, and those filling lower offices of trust and
service—as, after the manner of men, inflicting injury upon those who
insult them. For he does not consider that a wise man would not wish to
do harm to any, but would strive to the utmost of his power to change
and amend them; unless, indeed, it be that those whom Celsus makes
servants and rulers appointed by the Most High are behind Lycurgus, the
law-giver of the Lacedæmonians, or Zeno of Citium. For when Lycurgus had
had his eye put out by a man, he got the offender into his power; but
instead of taking revenge upon him, he ceased not to use all his arts of
persuasion until he induced him to become a philosopher. And Zeno, on
the occasion of some one saying, “Let me perish rather than not have my
revenge on thee,” answered him, “But rather let me perish if I do not
make a friend of thee.” And I am not yet speaking of those whose
characters have been formed by the teaching of Jesus, and who have heard
the words, “Love your enemies, and pray for them which despitefully use
you, that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven; for
He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain
on the just and on the unjust.”[1629] And in the prophetical writings
the righteous man says, “O Lord my God, if I have done this; if there be
iniquity in my hands; if I have returned evil to those who have done
evil to me, let me fall helpless under mine enemies: let my enemy
persecute my soul, and take it; yea, let him tread down my life upon the
earth.”[1630]
Footnote 1629:
Matt. v. 44, 45.
Footnote 1630:
Ps. vii. 3-6.
Chapter XXXVI.
But the angels, who are the true rulers and generals and ministers of
God, do not, as Celsus supposes, “injure those who offend them;” and if
certain demons, whom Celsus had in mind, do inflict evils, they show
that they are wicked, and that they have received no office of the kind
from God. And they even do injury to those who are under them, and who
have acknowledged them as their masters; and accordingly, as it would
seem that those who break through the regulations which prevail in any
country in regard to matters of food, suffer for it if they are under
the demons of that place, while those who are not under them, and have
not submitted to their power, are free from all harm, and bid defiance
to such spirits; although if, in ignorance of certain things, they have
come under the power of other demons, they may suffer punishment from
them. But the Christian—the true Christian, I mean—who has submitted to
God alone and His Word, will suffer nothing from demons, for He is
mightier than demons. And the Christian will suffer nothing, for “the
angel of the Lord will encamp about them that fear Him, and will deliver
them,”[1631] and his “angel,” who “always beholds the face of his Father
in heaven,”[1632] offers up his prayers through the one High Priest to
the God of all, and also joins his own prayers with those of the man who
is committed to his keeping. Let not, then, Celsus try to scare us with
threats of mischief from demons, for we despise them. And the demons,
when despised, can do no harm to those who are under the protection of
Him who can alone help all who deserve His aid; and He does no less than
set His own angels over His devout servants, so that none of the hostile
angels, nor even he who is called “the prince of this world,”[1633] can
effect anything against those who have given themselves to God.
Footnote 1631:
Ps. xxxiv. 7.
Footnote 1632:
Matt. xviii. 10.
Footnote 1633:
John xiv. 30.
Chapter XXXVII.
In the next place, Celsus forgets that he is addressing Christians, who
pray to God alone through Jesus; and mixing up other notions with
theirs, he absurdly attributes them all to Christians. “If,” says he,
“they who are addressed are called upon by barbarous names, they will
have power, but no longer will they have any if they are addressed in
Greek or Latin.” Let him, then, state plainly whom we call upon for help
by barbarous names. Any one will be convinced that this is a false
charge which Celsus brings against us, when he considers that Christians
in prayer do not even use the precise names which divine Scripture
applies to God; but the Greeks use Greek names, the Romans Latin names,
and every one prays and sings praises to God as he best can, in his
mother tongue. For the Lord of all the languages of the earth hears
those who pray to Him in each different tongue, hearing, if I may so
say, but one voice, expressing itself in various dialects. For the Most
High is not as one of those who select one language, barbarian or Greek,
knowing nothing of any other, and caring nothing for those who speak in
other tongues.
Chapter XXXVIII.
He next represents Christians as saying what he never heard from any
Christian; or if he did, it must have been from one of the most ignorant
and lawless of the people. “Behold,” they are made to say, “I go up to a
statue of Jupiter or Apollo, or some other god: I revile it, and beat
it, yet it takes no vengeance on me.” He is not aware that among the
prohibitions of the divine law is this, “Thou shalt not revile the
gods,”[1634] and this is intended to prevent the formation of the habit
of reviling any one whatever; for we have been taught, “Bless, and curse
not,”[1635] and it is said that “revilers shall not inherit the kingdom
of God.”[1636] And who amongst us is so foolish as to speak in the way
Celsus describes, and to fail to see that such contemptuous language can
be of no avail for removing prevailing notions about the gods? For it is
matter of observation that there are men who utterly deny the existence
of a God or of an overruling providence, and who by their impious and
destructive teaching have founded sects among those who are called
philosophers, and yet neither they themselves, nor those who have
embraced their opinions, have suffered any of those things which mankind
generally account evils: they are both strong in body and rich in
possessions. And yet if we ask what loss they have sustained, we shall
find that they have suffered the most certain injury. For what greater
injury can befall a man than that he should be unable amidst the order
of the world to see Him who has made it? and what sorer affliction can
come to any one than that blindness of mind which prevents him from
seeing the Creator and Father of every soul?
Footnote 1634:
Ex. xxii. 28.
Footnote 1635:
Rom. xii. 14.
Footnote 1636:
1 Cor. vi. 10.
Chapter XXXIX.
After putting such words into our mouth, and maliciously charging
Christians with sentiments which they never held, he then proceeds to
give to this supposed expression of Christian feeling an answer, which
is indeed more a mockery than an answer, when he says, “Do you not see,
good sir, that even your own demon is not only reviled, but banished
from every land and sea, and you yourself, who are as it were an image
dedicated to him, are bound and led to punishment, and fastened to the
stake, whilst your demon—or, as you call him, ‘the Son of God’—takes no
vengeance on the evil-doer?” This answer would be admissible if we
employed such language as he ascribes to us; although even then he would
have no right to call the Son of God a demon. For as we hold that all
demons are evil, He who turns so many men to God is in our view no
demon, but God the Word, and the Son of God. And I know not how Celsus
has so far forgotten himself as to call Jesus Christ a demon, when he
nowhere alludes to the existence of any evil demons. And finally, as to
the punishments threatened against the ungodly, these will come upon
them after they have refused all remedies, and have been, as we may say,
visited with an incurable malady of sinfulness.
Chapter XL.
Such is our doctrine of punishment; and the inculcation of this doctrine
turns many from their sins. But let us see, on the other hand, what is
the response given on this subject by the priest of Jupiter or Apollo of
whom Celsus speaks. It is this: “The mills of God grind slowly.”[1637]
Another describes punishment as reaching “to children’s children, and to
those who came after them.”[1638] How much better are those words of
Scripture: “The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor
the children for the fathers. Every man shall be put to death for his
own sin.”[1639] And again, “Every man that eateth the sour grape, his
teeth shall be set on edge.”[1640] And, “The son shall not bear the
iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of
the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the
wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.”[1641] If any shall say that
the response, “To children’s children, and to those who come after
them,” corresponds with that passage, “Who visits the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them
that hate me,”[1642] let him learn from Ezekiel that this language is
not to be taken literally; for he reproves those who say, “Our fathers
have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge,”[1643]
and then he adds, “As I live, saith the Lord, every one shall die for
his own sin.” As to the proper meaning of the figurative language about
sins being visited unto the third and fourth generation, we cannot at
present stay to explain.
Footnote 1637:
“The mills of the gods grind slowly, but they grind to powder”
(Plutarch).
Footnote 1638:
Hom. _Il._ xx. 308.
Footnote 1639:
Deut. xxiv. 16.
Footnote 1640:
Jer. xxxi. 30.
Footnote 1641:
Ezek. xviii. 20.
Footnote 1642:
Ex. xx. 5.
Footnote 1643:
Ezek. xviii. 2-4.
Chapter XLI.
He then goes on to rail against us after the manner of old wives. “You,”
says he, “mock and revile the statues of our gods; but if you had
reviled Bacchus or Hercules in person, you would not perhaps have done
so with impunity. But those who crucified your God when present among
men, suffered nothing for it, either at the time or during the whole of
their lives. And what new thing has there happened since then to make us
believe that he was not an impostor, but the Son of God? And forsooth,
he who sent his Son with certain instructions for mankind, allowed him
to be thus cruelly treated, and his instructions to perish with him,
without ever during all this long time showing the slightest concern.
What father was ever so inhuman? Perhaps, indeed, you may say that he
suffered so much, because it was his wish to bear what came to him. But
it is open to those whom you maliciously revile, to adopt the same
language, and say that they wish to be reviled, and therefore they bear
it with patience; for it is best to deal equally with both
sides,—although these [gods] severely punish the scorner, so that he
must either flee and hide himself, or be taken and perish.” Now to these
statements I would answer that we revile no one, for we believe that
“revilers will not inherit the kingdom of God.”[1644] And we read,
“Bless them that curse you; bless, and curse not;” also, “Being reviled,
we bless.” And even although the abuse which we pour upon another may
seem to have some excuse in the wrong which we have received from him,
yet such abuse is not allowed by the word of God. And how much more
ought we to abstain from reviling others, when we consider what a great
folly it is! And it is equally foolish to apply abusive language to
stone or gold or silver, turned into what is supposed to be the form of
God by those who have no knowledge of God. Accordingly, we throw
ridicule not upon lifeless images, but upon those only who worship them.
Moreover, if certain demons reside in certain images, and one of them
passes for Bacchus, another for Hercules, we do not vilify them: for, on
the one hand, it would be useless; and, on the other, it does not become
one who is meek, and peaceful, and gentle in spirit, and who has learnt
that no one among men or demons is to be reviled, however wicked he may
be.
Footnote 1644:
1 Cor. vi. 10.
Chapter XLII.
There is an inconsistency into which, strangely enough, Celsus has
fallen unawares. Those demons or gods whom he extolled a little before,
he now shows to be in fact the vilest of creatures, punishing more for
their own revenge than for the improvement of those who revile them. His
words are, “If you had reviled Bacchus or Hercules when present in
person, you would not have escaped with impunity.” How any one can hear
without being present in person, I leave any one who will to explain; as
also those other questions, “Why he is sometimes present, and sometimes
absent?” and, “What is the business which takes demons away from place
to place?” Again, when he says, “Those who crucified your God himself,
suffered no harm for doing so,” he supposes that it is the body of Jesus
extended on the cross and slain, and not His divine nature, that we call
God; and that it was as God that Jesus was crucified and slain. As we
have already dwelt at length on the sufferings which Jesus suffered as a
man, we shall purposely say no more here, that we may not repeat what we
have said already. But when he goes on to say that “those who inflicted
death upon Jesus suffered nothing afterwards through so long a time,” we
must inform him, as well as all who are disposed to learn the truth,
that the city in which the Jewish people called for the crucifixion of
Jesus with shouts of “Crucify him, crucify him,”[1645] preferring to
have the robber set free, who had been cast into prison for sedition and
murder, and Jesus, who had been delivered through envy, to be
crucified,—that this city not long afterwards was attacked, and, after a
long siege, was utterly overthrown and laid waste; for God judged the
inhabitants of that place unworthy of living together the life of
citizens. And yet, though it may seem an incredible thing to say, God
spared this people in delivering them to their enemies; for He saw that
they were incurably averse to any amendment, and were daily sinking
deeper and deeper into evil. And all this befell them, because the blood
of Jesus was shed at their instigation and on their land; and the land
was no longer able to bear those who were guilty of so fearful a crime
against Jesus.
Footnote 1645:
Luke xxiii. 21, 25.
Chapter XLIII.
Some new thing, then, has come to pass since the time that Jesus
suffered,—that, I mean, which has happened to the city, to the whole
nation, and in the sudden and general rise of a Christian community. And
that, too, is a new thing, that those who were strangers to the
covenants of God, with no part in His promises, and far from the truth,
have by a divine power been enabled to embrace the truth. These things
were not the work of an impostor, but were the work of God, who sent His
Word, Jesus Christ, to make known His purposes.[1646] The sufferings and
death which Jesus endured with such fortitude and meekness, show the
cruelty and injustice of those who inflicted them, but they did not
destroy the announcement of the purposes of God; indeed, if we may so
say, they served rather to make them known. For Jesus Himself taught us
this when He said, “Except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and
die, it abideth by itself alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much
fruit.”[1647] Jesus, then, who is this grain of wheat, died, and brought
forth much fruit. And the Father is ever looking forward for the results
of the death of the grain of wheat, both those which are arising now,
and those which shall arise hereafter. The Father of Jesus is therefore
a tender and loving Father, though “He spared not His own Son, but
delivered Him up” as His lamb “for us all,”[1648] that so “the Lamb of
God,” by dying for all men, might “take away the sin of the world.” It
was not by compulsion, therefore, but willingly, that He bore the
reproaches of those who reviled Him. Then Celsus, returning to those who
apply abusive language to images, says: “Of those whom you load with
insults, you may in like manner say that they voluntarily submit to such
treatment, and therefore they bear insults with patience; for it is best
to deal equally with both sides. Yet these severely punish the scorner,
so that he must either flee and hide himself, or be taken and perish.”
It is not, then, because Christians cast insults upon demons that they
incur their revenge, but because they drive them away out of the images,
and from the bodies and souls of men. And here, although Celsus
perceives it not, he has on this subject spoken something like the
truth; for it is true that the souls of those who condemn Christians,
and betray them, and rejoice in persecuting them, are filled with wicked
demons.
Footnote 1646:
ἀγγελμάτων. Spencer reads ἀγαλμάτων in this and the following
sentences.
Footnote 1647:
John xii. 24.
Footnote 1648:
Rom. viii. 32.
Chapter XLIV.
But when the souls of those who die for the Christian faith depart from
the body with great glory, they destroy the power of the demons, and
frustrate their designs against men. Wherefore I imagine, that as the
demons have learnt from experience that they are defeated and
overpowered by the martyrs for the truth, they are afraid to have
recourse again to violence. And thus, until they forget the defeats they
have sustained, it is probable that the world will be at peace with the
Christians. But when they recover their power, and, with eyes blinded by
sin, wish again to take their revenge on Christians, and persecute them,
then again they will be defeated, and then again the souls of the godly,
who lay down their lives for the cause of godliness, shall utterly
destroy the army of the wicked one. And as the demons perceive that
those who meet death victoriously for the sake of religion destroy their
authority, while those who give way under their sufferings, and deny the
faith, come under their power, I imagine that at times they feel a deep
interest in Christians when on their trial, and keenly strive to gain
them over to their side, feeling as they do that their confession is
torture to them, and their denial is a relief and encouragement to them.
And traces of the same feeling may be seen in the demeanour of the
judges; for they are greatly distressed at seeing those who bear outrage
and torture with patience, but are greatly elated when a Christian gives
way under it. Yet it is from no feeling of humanity that this arises.
They see well, that, while “the tongues” of those who are overpowered by
the tortures “may take the oath, the mind has not sworn.”[1649] And this
may serve as an answer to the remark of Celsus: “But they severely
punish one who reviles them, so that he must either flee and hide
himself, or be taken and perish.” If a Christian ever flees away, it is
not from fear, but in obedience to the command of his Master, that so he
may preserve himself, and employ his strength for the benefit of others.
Footnote 1649:
Euripides, Hippolytus.
Chapter XLV.
Let us see what Celsus next goes on to say. It is as follows: “What need
is there to collect all the oracular responses, which have been
delivered with a divine voice by priests and priestesses, as well as by
others, whether men or women, who were under a divine influence?—all the
wonderful things that have been heard issuing from the inner
sanctuary?—all the revelations that have been made to those who
consulted the sacrificial victims?—and all the knowledge that has been
conveyed to men by other signs and prodigies? To some the gods have
appeared in visible forms. The world is full of such instances. How many
cities have been built in obedience to commands received from oracles;
how often, in the same way, delivered from disease and famine! Or again,
how many cities, from disregard or forgetfulness of these oracles, have
perished miserably! How many colonies have been established and made to
flourish by following their orders! How many princes and private persons
have, from this cause, had prosperity or adversity! How many who mourned
over their childlessness, have obtained the blessing they asked for! How
many have turned away from themselves the anger of demons! How many who
were maimed in their limbs, have had them restored! And again, how many
have met with summary punishment for showing want of reverence to the
temples—some being instantly seized with madness, others openly
confessing their crimes, others having put an end to their lives, and
others having become the victims of incurable maladies! Yea, some have
been slain by a terrible voice issuing from the inner sanctuary.” I know
not how it comes that Celsus brings forward these as undoubted facts,
whilst at the same time he treats as mere fables the wonders which are
recorded and handed down to us as having happened among the Jews, or as
having been performed by Jesus and His disciples. For why may not our
accounts be true, and those of Celsus fables and fictions? At least,
these latter were not believed by the followers of Democritus, Epicurus,
and Aristotle, although perhaps these Grecian sects would have been
convinced by the evidence in support of our miracles, if Moses or any of
the prophets who wrought these wonders, or Jesus Christ Himself, had
come in their way.
Chapter XLVI.
It is related of the priestess of Apollo, that she at times allowed
herself to be influenced in her answers by bribes; but our prophets were
admired for their plain truthfulness, not only by their contemporaries,
but also by those who lived in later times. For through the commands
pronounced by the prophets cities were founded, men were cured, and
plagues were stayed. Indeed, the whole Jewish race went out as a colony
from Egypt to Palestine, in accordance with the divine oracles. They
also, when they followed the commands of God, were prosperous; when they
departed from them, they suffered reverses. What need is there to quote
all the princes and private persons in Scripture history who fared well
or ill according as they obeyed or despised the words of the prophets?
If we refer to those who were unhappy because they were childless, but
who, after offering prayers to the Creator of all, became fathers and
mothers, let any one read the accounts of Abraham and Sarah, to whom at
an advanced age was born Isaac, the father of the whole Jewish nation:
and there are other instances of the same thing. Let him also read the
account of Hezekiah, who not only recovered from his sickness, according
to the prediction of Isaiah, but was also bold enough to say,
“Afterwards I shall beget children, who shall declare Thy
righteousness.”[1650] And in the fourth book of Kings we read that the
prophet Elisha made known to a woman who had received him hospitably,
that by the grace of God she should have a son; and through the prayers
of Elisha she became a mother. The maimed were cured by Jesus in great
numbers. And the books of the Maccabees relate what punishments were
inflicted upon those who dared to profane the Jewish service in the
temple at Jerusalem.
Footnote 1650:
Isa. xxxviii. 19 (according to the LXX.).
Chapter XLVII.
But the Greeks will say that these accounts are fabulous, although two
whole nations are witnesses to their truth. But why may we not consider
the accounts of the Greeks as fabulous rather than those? Perhaps some
one, however, wishing not to appear blindly to accept his own statements
and reject those of others, would conclude, after a close examination of
the matter, that the wonders mentioned by the Greeks were performed by
certain demons; those among the Jews by prophets or by angels, or by God
through the means of angels, and those recorded by Christians by Jesus
Himself, or by His power working in His apostles. Let us, then, compare
all these accounts together; let us examine into the aim and purpose of
those who performed them; and let us inquire what effect was produced
upon the persons on whose account these acts of kindness were performed,
whether beneficial or hurtful, or neither the one nor the other. The
ancient Jewish people, before they sinned against God, and were for
their great wickedness cast off by Him, must evidently have been a
people of great wisdom.[1651] But Christians, who have in so wonderful a
manner formed themselves into a community, appear at first to have been
more induced by miracles than by exhortations to forsake the
institutions of their fathers, and to adopt others which were quite
strange to them. And indeed, if we were to reason from what is probable
as to the first formation of the Christian society, we should say that
it is incredible that the apostles of Jesus Christ, who were unlettered
men of humble life, could have been emboldened to preach Christian truth
to men by anything else than the power which was conferred upon them,
and the grace which accompanied their words and rendered them effective;
and those who heard them would not have renounced the old-established
usages of their fathers, and been induced to adopt notions so different
from those in which they had been brought up, unless they had been moved
by some extraordinary power, and by the force of miraculous events.
Footnote 1651:
φιλόσοφον.
Chapter XLVIII.
In the next place, Celsus, after referring to the enthusiasm with which
men will contend unto death rather than abjure Christianity, adds
strangely enough some remarks, in which he wishes to show that our
doctrines are similar to those delivered by the priests at the
celebration of the heathen mysteries. He says, “Just as you, good sir,
believe in eternal punishments, so also do the priests who interpret and
initiate into the sacred mysteries. The same punishments with which you
threaten others, they threaten you. Now it is worthy of examination,
which of the two is more firmly established as true; for both parties
contend with equal assurance that the truth is on their side. But if we
require proofs, the priests of the heathen gods produce many that are
clear and convincing, partly from wonders performed by demons, and
partly from the answers given by oracles, and various other modes of
divination.” He would, then, have us believe that we and the
interpreters of the mysteries equally teach the doctrine of eternal
punishment, and that it is a matter for inquiry on which side of the two
the truth lies. Now I should say that the truth lies with those who are
able to induce their hearers to live as men who are convinced of the
truth of what they have heard. But Jews and Christians have been thus
affected by the doctrines they hold about what we speak of as the world
to come, and the rewards of the righteous, and the punishments of the
wicked. Let Celsus then, or any one who will, show us who have been
moved in this way in regard to eternal punishments by the teaching of
heathen priests and mystagogues. For surely the purpose of him who
brought to light this doctrine was not only to reason upon the subject
of punishments, and to strike men with terror of them, but to induce
those who heard the truth to strive with all their might against those
sins which are the causes of punishment. And those who study the
prophecies with care, and are not content with a cursory perusal of the
predictions contained in them, will find them such as to convince the
intelligent and sincere reader that the Spirit of God was in those men,
and that with their writings there is nothing in all the works of
demons, responses of oracles, or sayings of soothsayers, for one moment
to be compared.
Chapter XLIX.
Let us see in what terms Celsus next addresses us: “Besides, is it not
most absurd and inconsistent in you, on the one hand, to make so much of
the body as you do—to expect that the same body will rise again, as
though it were the best and most precious part of us; and yet, on the
other, to expose it to such tortures as though it were worthless? But
men who hold such notions, and are so attached to the body, are not
worthy of being reasoned with; for in this and in other respects they
show themselves to be gross, impure, and bent upon revolting without any
reason from the common belief. But I shall direct my discourse to those
who hope for the enjoyment of eternal life with God by means of the soul
or mind, whether they choose to call it a spiritual substance, an
intelligent spirit, holy and blessed, or a living soul, or the heavenly
and indestructible offspring of a divine and incorporeal nature, or by
whatever name they designate the spiritual nature of man. And they are
rightly persuaded that those who live well shall be blessed, and the
unrighteous shall all suffer everlasting punishments. And from this
doctrine neither they nor any other should ever swerve.” Now, as he has
often already reproached us for our opinions on the resurrection, and as
we have on these occasions defended our opinions in what seemed to us a
reasonable way, we do not intend, at each repetition of the one
objection, to go into a repetition of our defence. Celsus makes an
unfounded charge against us when he ascribes to us the opinion that
“there is nothing in our complex nature better or more precious than the
body;” for we hold that far beyond all bodies is the soul, and
especially the reasonable soul; for it is the soul, and not the body,
which bears the likeness of the Creator. For, according to us, God is
not corporeal, unless we fall into the absurd errors of the followers of
Zeno and Chrysippus.
Chapter L.
But since he reproaches us with too great an anxiety about the body, let
him know that when that feeling is a wrong one we do not share in it,
and when it is indifferent we only long for that which God has promised
to the righteous. But Celsus considers that we are inconsistent with
ourselves when we count the body worthy of honour from God, and
therefore hope for its resurrection, and yet at the same time expose it
to tortures as though it were not worthy of honour. But surely it is not
without honour for the body to suffer for the sake of godliness, and to
choose afflictions on account of virtue: the dishonourable thing would
be for it to waste its powers in vicious indulgence. For the divine word
says: “What is an honourable seed? The seed of man. What is a
dishonourable seed? The seed of man.”[1652] Moreover, Celsus thinks that
he ought not to reason with those who hope for the good of the body, as
they are unreasonably intent upon an object which can never satisfy
their expectations. He also calls them gross and impure men, bent upon
creating needless dissensions. But surely he ought, as one of superior
humanity, to assist even the rude and depraved. For society does not
exclude from its pale the coarse and uncultivated, as it does the
irrational animals, but our Creator made us on the same common level
with all mankind. It is not an undignified thing, therefore, to reason
even with the coarse and unrefined, and to try to bring them as far as
possible to a higher state of refinement—to bring the impure to the
highest practicable degree of purity—to bring the unreasoning multitude
to reason, and the diseased in mind to spiritual health.
Footnote 1652:
Ecclus. x. 19. In the LXX. the last clause is, “What is a
dishonourable seed? They that transgress the commandments.”
Chapter LI.
In the next place, he expresses his approval of those who “hope that
eternal life shall be enjoyed with God by the soul or mind, or, as it is
variously called, the spiritual nature, the reasonable soul,
intelligent, holy, and blessed;” and he allows the soundness of the
doctrine, that “those who had a good life shall be happy, and the
unrighteous shall suffer eternal punishments.” And yet I wonder at what
follows, more than at anything that Celsus has ever said; for he adds,
“And from this doctrine let not them or any one ever swerve.” For
certainly in writing against Christians, the very essence of whose faith
is God, and the promises made by Christ to the righteous, and His
warnings of punishment awaiting the wicked, he must see that, if a
Christian were brought to renounce Christianity by his arguments against
it, it is beyond doubt that, along with his Christian faith, he would
cast off the very doctrine from which he says that no Christian and no
man should ever swerve. But I think Celsus has been far surpassed in
consideration for his fellow-men by Chrysippus in his treatise, _On the
Subjugation of the Passions_. For when he sought to apply remedies to
the affections and passions which oppress and distract the human spirit,
after employing such arguments as seemed to himself to be strong, he did
not shrink from using in the second and third place others which he did
not himself approve of. “For,” says he, “if it were held by any one that
there are three kinds of good, we must seek to regulate the passions in
accordance with that supposition; and we must not too curiously inquire
into the opinions held by a person at the time that he is under the
influence of passion, lest, if we delay too long for the purpose of
overthrowing the opinions by which the mind is possessed, the
opportunity for curing the passion may pass away.” And he adds, “Thus,
supposing that pleasure were the highest good, or that he was of that
opinion whose mind was under the dominion of passion, we should not the
less give him help, and show that, even on the principle that pleasure
is the highest and final good of man, all passion is disallowed.” And
Celsus, in like manner, after having embraced the doctrine, “that the
righteous shall be blessed, and the wicked shall suffer eternal
punishments,” should have followed out his subject; and, after having
advanced what seemed to him the chief argument, he should have proceeded
to prove and enforce by further reasons the truth that the unjust shall
surely suffer eternal punishment, and those who lead a good life shall
be blessed.
Chapter LII.
For we who have been persuaded by many, yea by innumerable, arguments to
lead a Christian life, are especially anxious to bring all men as far as
possible to receive the whole system of Christian truth; but when we
meet with persons who are prejudiced by the calumnies thrown out against
Christians, and who, from a notion that Christians are an impious
people, will not listen to any who offer to instruct them in the
principles of the divine word, then, on the common principles of
humanity, we endeavour to the best of our ability to convince them of
the doctrine of the punishment of the wicked, and to induce even those
who are unwilling to become Christians to accept that truth. And we are
thus anxious to persuade them of the rewards of right living, when we
see that many things which we teach about a healthy moral life are also
taught by the enemies of our faith. For you will find that they have not
entirely lost the common notions of right and wrong, of good and evil.
Let all men, therefore, when they look upon the universe, observe the
constant revolution of the unerring stars, the converse motion of the
planets, the constitution of the atmosphere, and its adaptation to the
necessities of the animals, and especially of man, with all the
innumerable contrivances for the wellbeing of mankind; and then, after
thus considering the order of the universe, let them beware of doing
aught which is displeasing to the Creator of this universe, of the soul
and its intelligent principle; and let them rest assured that punishment
shall be inflicted on the wicked, and rewards shall be bestowed upon the
righteous, by Him who deals with every one as he deserves, and who will
proportion His rewards to the good that each has done, and to the
account of himself that he is able to give. And let all men know that
the good shall be advanced to a higher state, and that the wicked shall
be delivered over to sufferings and torments, in punishment of their
licentiousness and depravity, their cowardice, timidity, and all their
follies.
Chapter LIII.
Having said so much on this subject, let us proceed to another statement
of Celsus: “Since men are born united to a body, whether to suit the
order of the universe, or that they may in that way suffer the
punishment of sin; or because the soul is oppressed by certain passions
until it is purged from these at the appointed period of time,—for,
according to Empedocles, all mankind must be banished from the abodes of
the blessed for 30,000 periods of time,—we must therefore believe that
they are entrusted to certain beings as keepers of this prison-house.”
You will observe that Celsus, in these remarks, speaks of such weighty
matters in the language of doubtful human conjecture. He adds also
various opinions as to the origin of man, and shows considerable
reluctance to set down any of these opinions as false. When he had once
come to the conclusion neither indiscriminately to accept nor recklessly
to reject the opinions held by the ancients, would it not have been in
accordance with that same rule of judging, if, when he found himself not
disposed to believe the doctrines taught by the Jewish prophets and by
Jesus, at any rate to have held them as matters open to inquiry? And
should he not have considered whether it is very probable that a people
who faithfully served the Most High God, and who ofttimes encountered
numberless dangers, and even death, rather than sacrifice the honour of
God, and what they believed to be the revelations of His will, should
have been wholly overlooked by God? Should it not rather be thought
probable that people who despised the efforts of human art to represent
the Divine Being, but strove rather to rise in thought to the knowledge
of the Most High, should have been favoured with some revelation from
Himself? Besides, he ought to have considered that the common Father and
Creator of all, who sees and hears all things, and who duly esteems the
intention of every man who seeks Him and desires to serve Him, will
grant unto these also some of the benefits of His rule, and will give
them an enlargement of that knowledge of Himself which He has once
bestowed upon them. If this had been remembered by Celsus and the others
who hate Moses and the Jewish prophets, and Jesus, and His faithful
disciples, who endured so much for the sake of His word, they would not
thus have reviled Moses, and the prophets, and Jesus, and His apostles;
and they would not have singled out for their contempt the Jews beyond
all the nations of the earth, and said they were worse even than the
Egyptians,—a people who, either from superstition or some other form of
delusion, went as far as they could in degrading the Divine Being to the
level of brute beasts. And we invite inquiry, not as though we wished to
lead any to doubt regarding the truths of Christianity, but in order to
show that it would be better for those who in every way revile the
doctrines of Christianity, at any rate to suspend their judgment, and
not so rashly to state about Jesus and His apostles such things as they
do not know, and as they cannot prove, either by what the Stoics call
“apprehensive perception,”[1653] or by any other methods used by
different sects of philosophers as criteria of truth.
Footnote 1653:
καταληπτικὴ φαντασία.
Chapter LIV.
When Celsus adds, “We must therefore believe that men are entrusted to
certain beings who are the keepers of this prison-house,” our answer is,
that the souls of those who are called by Jeremiah “prisoners of the
earth,”[1654] when eager in the pursuit of virtue, are even in this life
delivered from the bondage of evil; for Jesus declared this, as was
foretold long before His advent by the prophet Isaiah, when he said that
“the prisoners would go forth, and they that were in darkness would show
themselves.”[1655] And Jesus Himself, as Isaiah also foretold of Him,
arose as “a light to them that sat in darkness and in the shadow of
death,”[1656] so that we may therefore say, “Let us break their bands
asunder, and cast their cords from us.”[1657] If Celsus, and those who
like him are opposed to us, had been able to sound the depths of the
gospel narratives, they would not have counselled us to put our
confidence in those beings whom they call “the keepers of the
prison-house.” It is written in the Gospel that a woman was bowed
together, and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus beheld
her, and perceived from what cause she was bowed together, he said,
“Ought not this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound, lo, these
eighteen years, to be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?”[1658]
And how many others are still bowed down and bound by Satan, who hinders
them from looking up at all, and who would have us to look down also!
And no one can raise them up, except the Word, that came by Jesus
Christ, and that aforetime inspired the prophets. And Jesus came to
release those who were under the dominion of the devil; and, speaking of
him, He said with that depth of meaning which characterized His words,
“Now is the prince of this world judged.” We are, then, indulging in no
baseless calumnies against demons, but are condemning their agency upon
earth as destructive to mankind, and show that, under cover of oracles
and bodily cures, and such other means, they are seeking to separate
from God the soul which has descended to this “body of humiliation;” and
those who feel this humiliation exclaim, “O wretched man that I am! who
shall deliver me from the body of this death?”[1659] It is not in vain,
therefore, that we expose our bodies to be beaten and tortured; for
surely it is not in vain for a man to submit to such sufferings, if by
that means he may avoid bestowing the name of gods on those earthly
spirits that unite with their worshippers to bring him to destruction.
Indeed, we think it both reasonable in itself and well-pleasing to God,
to suffer pain for the sake of virtue, to undergo torture for the sake
of piety, and even to suffer death for the sake of holiness; for
“precious in the sight of God is the death of His saints;”[1660] and we
maintain that to overcome the love of life is to enjoy a great good. But
when Celsus compares us to notorious criminals, who justly suffer
punishment for their crimes, and does not shrink from placing so
laudable a purpose as that which we set before us upon the same level
with the obstinacy of criminals, he makes himself the brother and
companion of those who accounted Jesus among criminals, fulfilling the
Scripture, which saith, “He was numbered with transgressors.”[1661]
Footnote 1654:
Lam. iii. 34.
Footnote 1655:
Isa. xlix. 9.
Footnote 1656:
Isa. ix. 2.
Footnote 1657:
Ps. ii. 3.
Footnote 1658:
Luke xiii. 11, 16.
Footnote 1659:
Rom. vii. 24.
Footnote 1660:
Ps. cxvi. 15.
Footnote 1661:
Isa. liii. 12.
Chapter LV.
Celsus goes on to say: “They must make their choice between two
alternatives. If they refuse to render due service to the gods, and to
respect those who are set over this service, let them not come to
manhood, or marry wives, or have children, or indeed take any share in
the affairs of life; but let them depart hence with all speed, and leave
no posterity behind them, that such a race may become extinct from the
face of the earth. Or, on the other hand, if they will take wives, and
bring up children, and taste of the fruits of the earth, and partake of
all the blessings of life, and bear its appointed sorrows (for nature
herself hath allotted sorrows to all men; for sorrows must exist, and
earth is the only place for them), then must they discharge the duties
of life until they are released from its bonds, and render due honour to
those beings who control the affairs of this life, if they would not
show themselves ungrateful to them. For it would be unjust in them,
after receiving the good things which they dispense, to pay them no
tribute in return.” To this we reply, that there appears to us to be no
good reason for our leaving this world, except when piety and virtue
require it; as when, for example, those who are set as judges, and think
that they have power over our lives, place before us the alternative
either to live in violation of the commands of Jesus, or to die if we
continue obedient to them. But God has allowed us to marry, because all
are not fit for the higher, that is, the perfectly pure life; and God
would have us to bring up all our children, and not to destroy any of
the offspring given us by His providence. And this does not conflict
with our purpose not to obey the demons that are on the earth; for,
“being armed with the whole armour of God, we stand”[1662] as athletes
of piety against the race of demons that plot against us.
Footnote 1662:
Eph. vi. 11.
Chapter LVI.
Although, therefore, Celsus would, in his own words, “drive us with all
haste out of life,” so that “such a race may become extinct from the
earth;” yet we, along with those who worship the Creator, will live
according to the laws of God, never consenting to obey the laws of sin.
We will marry if we wish, and bring up the children given to us in
marriage; and if need be, we will not only partake of the blessings of
life, but bear its appointed sorrows as a trial to our souls. For in
this way is divine Scripture accustomed to speak of human afflictions,
by which, as gold is tried in the fire, so the spirit of man is tried,
and is found to be worthy either of condemnation or of praise. For those
things which Celsus calls evils we are therefore prepared, and are ready
to say, “Try me, O Lord, and prove me; purge my reins and my
heart.”[1663] For “no one will be crowned,” unless here upon earth, with
this body of humiliation, “he strive lawfully.”[1664] Further, we do not
pay honours supposed to be due to those whom Celsus speaks of as being
set over the affairs of the world. For we worship the Lord our God, and
Him only do we serve, and desire to be followers of Christ, who, when
the devil said to Him, “All these things will I give thee if thou wilt
fall down and worship me,” answered him by the words, “Thou shalt
worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.”[1665]
Wherefore we do not render the honour supposed to be due to those who,
according to Celsus, are set over the affairs of this world; for “no man
can serve two masters,” and we “cannot serve God and mammon,” whether
this name be applied to one or more. Moreover, if any one “by
transgressing the law dishonours the lawgiver,” it seems clear to us
that if the two laws, the law of God and the law of mammon, are
completely opposed to each other, it is better for us by transgressing
the law of mammon to dishonour mammon, that we may honour God by keeping
His law, than by transgressing the law of God to dishonour God, that by
obeying the law of mammon we may honour mammon.
Footnote 1663:
Ps. xxvi. 2.
Footnote 1664:
2 Tim. ii. 5.
Footnote 1665:
Matt. iv. 9, 10.
Chapter LVII.
Celsus supposes that men “discharge the duties of life until they are
loosened from its bonds,” when, in accordance with commonly received
customs, they offer sacrifices to each of the gods recognised in the
state; and he fails to perceive the true duty which is fulfilled by an
earnest piety. For we say that he truly discharges the duties of life
who is ever mindful who is his Creator, and what things are agreeable to
Him, and who acts in all things so that he may please God. Again, Celsus
wishes us to be thankful to these demons, imagining that we owe them
thankofferings. But we, while recognising the duty of thankfulness,
maintain that we show no ingratitude by refusing to give thanks to
beings who do us no good, but who rather set themselves against us when
we neither sacrifice to them nor worship them. We are much more
concerned lest we should be ungrateful to God, who has loaded us with
His benefits, whose workmanship we are, who cares for us in whatever
condition we may be, and who has given us hopes of things beyond this
present life. And we have a symbol of gratitude to God in the bread
which we call the Eucharist. Besides, as we have shown before, the
demons have not the control of those things which have been created for
our use; we commit no wrong, therefore, when we partake of created
things, and yet refuse to offer sacrifices to beings who have no concern
with them. Moreover, as we know that it is not demons, but angels, who
have been set over the fruits of the earth, and over the birth of
animals, it is the latter that we praise and bless, as having been
appointed by God over the things needful for our race; yet even to them
we will not give the honour which is due to God. For this would not be
pleasing to God, nor would it be any pleasure to the angels themselves
to whom these things have been committed. Indeed, they are much more
pleased if we refrain from offering sacrifices to them than if we offer
them; for they have no desire for the sacrificial odours which rise from
the earth.
Chapter LVIII.
Celsus goes on to say: “Let any one inquire of the Egyptians, and he
will find that everything, even to the most insignificant, is committed
to the care of a certain demon. The body of man is divided into
thirty-six parts, and as many demons of the air are appointed to the
care of it, each having charge of a different part, although others make
the number much larger. All these demons have in the language of that
country distinct names; as Chnoumen, Chnachoumen, Cnat, Sicat, Biou,
Erou, Erebiou, Ramanor, Reianoor, and other such Egyptian names.
Moreover, they call upon them, and are cured of diseases of particular
parts of the body. What, then, is there to prevent a man from giving
honour to these or to others, if he would rather be in health than be
sick, rather have prosperity than adversity, and be freed as much as
possible from all plagues and troubles?” In this way, Celsus seeks to
degrade our souls to the worship of demons, under the assumption that
they have possession of our bodies, and that each one has power over a
separate member. And he wishes us on this ground to put confidence in
these demons of which he speaks, and to serve them, in order that we may
be in health rather than be sick, have prosperity rather than adversity,
and may as far as possible escape all plagues and troubles. The honour
of the Most High God, which cannot be divided or shared with another, is
so lightly esteemed by him, that he cannot believe in the ability of
God, if called upon and highly honoured, to give to those who serve Him
a power by which they may be defended from the assaults directed by
demons against the righteous. For he has never beheld the efficacy of
those words, “in the name of Jesus,” when uttered by the truly faithful,
to deliver not a few from demons and demoniacal possessions and other
plagues.
Chapter LIX.
Probably those who embrace the views of Celsus will smile at us when we
say, “At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, of
things on earth, and of things under the earth, and every tongue” is
brought to “confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the
Father.”[1666] But although they may ridicule such a statement, yet they
will receive much more convincing arguments in support of it than Celsus
brings in behalf of Chnoumen, Chnachoumen, Cnat, Sicat, and the rest of
the Egyptian catalogue, whom he mentions as being called upon, and as
healing the diseases of different parts of the human body. And observe
how, while seeking to turn us away from our faith in the God of all
through Jesus Christ, he exhorts us for the welfare of our bodies to
faith in six-and-thirty barbarous demons, whom the Egyptian magi alone
call upon in some unknown way, and promise us in return great benefits.
According to Celsus, then, it would be better for us now to give
ourselves up to magic and sorcery than to embrace Christianity, and to
put our faith in an innumerable multitude of demons than in the
almighty, living, self-revealing God, who has manifested Himself by Him
who by His great power has spread the true principles of holiness among
all men throughout the world; yea, I may add without exaggeration, He
has given this knowledge to all beings everywhere possessed of reason,
and needing deliverance from the plague and corruption of sin.
Footnote 1666:
Phil. ii. 10, 11.
Chapter LX.
Celsus, however, suspecting that the tendency of such teaching as he
here gives is to lead to magic, and dreading that harm may arise from
these statements, adds: “Care, however, must be taken lest any one, by
familiarizing his mind with these matters, should become too much
engrossed with them, and lest, through an excessive regard for the body,
he should have his mind turned away from higher things, and allow them
to pass into oblivion. For perhaps we ought not to despise the opinion
of those wise men who say that most of the earth-demons are taken up
with carnal indulgence, blood, odours, sweet sounds, and other such
sensual things; and therefore they are unable to do more than heal the
body, or foretell the fortunes of men and cities, and do other such
things as relate to this mortal life.” If there is, then, such a
dangerous tendency in this direction, as even the enemy of the truth of
God confesses, how much better is it to avoid all danger of giving
ourselves too much up to the power of such demons, and of becoming
turned aside from higher things, and suffering them to pass into
oblivion through an excessive attention to the body; by entrusting
ourselves to the Supreme God through Jesus Christ, who has given us such
instruction, and asking of Him all help, and the guardianship of holy
and good angels, to defend us from the earth-spirits intent on lust, and
blood, and sacrificial odours, and strange sounds, and other sensual
things! For even, by the confession of Celsus, they can do nothing more
than cure the body. But, indeed, I would say that it is not clear that
these demons, however much they are reverenced, can even cure the body.
But in seeking recovery from disease, a man must either follow the more
ordinary and simple method, and have recourse to medical art; or if he
would go beyond the common methods adopted by men, he must rise to the
higher and better way of seeking the blessing of Him who is God over
all, through piety and prayers.
Chapter LXI.
For consider with yourself which disposition of mind will be more
acceptable to the Most High, whose power is supreme and universal, and
who directs all for the welfare of mankind in body, and in mind, and in
outward things,—whether that of the man who gives himself up to God in
all things, or that of the man who is curiously inquisitive about the
names of demons, their powers and agency, the incantations, the herbs
proper to them, and the stones with the inscriptions graven on them,
corresponding symbolically or otherwise to their traditional shapes? It
is plain even to the least intelligent, that the disposition of the man
who is simple-minded, and not given to curious inquiries, but in all
things devoted to the divine will, will be most pleasing to God, and to
all those who are like God; but that of the man who, for the sake of
bodily health, of bodily enjoyment, and outward prosperity, busies
himself about the names of demons, and inquires by what incantations he
shall appease them, will be condemned by God as bad and impious, and
more agreeable to the nature of demons than of men, and will be given
over to be torn and otherwise tormented by demons. For it is probable
that they, as being wicked creatures, and, as Celsus confesses, addicted
to blood, sacrificial odours, sweet sounds, and such like, will not keep
their most solemn promises to those who supply them with these things.
For if others invoke their aid against the persons who have already
called upon them, and purchase their favour with a larger supply of
blood, and odours, and such offerings as they require, they will take
part against those who yesterday sacrificed and presented pleasant
offerings to them.
Chapter LXII.
In a former passage, Celsus had spoken at length on the subject of
oracles, and had referred us to their answers as being the voice of the
gods; but now he makes amends, and confesses that “those who foretell
the fortunes of men and cities, and concern themselves about mortal
affairs, are earth-spirits, who are given up to fleshly lust, blood,
odours, sweet sounds, and other such things, and who are unable to rise
above these sensual objects.” Perhaps, when we opposed the theological
teaching of Celsus in regard to oracles, and the honour done to those
called gods, some one might suspect us of impiety when we alleged that
these were stratagems of demoniacal powers, to draw men away to carnal
indulgence. But any who entertained this suspicion against us, may now
believe that the statements put forth by Christians were well-founded,
when they see the above passage from the writings of one who is a
professed adversary of Christianity, but who now at length writes as one
who has been overcome by the spirit of truth. Although, therefore,
Celsus says that “we must offer sacrifices to them, in so far as they
are profitable to us, for to offer them indiscriminately is not allowed
by reason,” yet we are not to offer sacrifices to demons addicted to
blood and odours; nor is the Divine Being to be profaned in our minds,
by being brought down to the level of wicked demons. If Celsus had
carefully weighed the meaning of the word “profitable,” and had
considered that the truest profit lies in virtue and in virtuous action,
he would not have applied the phrase “as far as it is profitable” to the
service of such demons, as he has acknowledged them to be. If, then,
health of body and success in life were to come to us on condition of
our serving such demons, we should prefer sickness and misfortune
accompanied with the consciousness of our being truly devoted to the
will of God. For this is preferable to being mortally diseased in mind,
and wretched through being separate and outcasts from God, though
healthy in body and abounding in earthly prosperity. And we would rather
go for help to one who seeks nothing whatever but the well-being of men
and of all rational creatures, than to those that delight in blood and
sacrificial odours.
Chapter LXIII.
After having said so much of the demons, and of their fondness for blood
and the odour of sacrifices, Celsus adds, as though wishing to retract
the charge he had made: “The more just opinion is, that demons desire
nothing and need nothing, but that they take pleasure in those who
discharge towards them offices of piety.” If Celsus believed this to be
true, he should have said so, instead of making his previous statements.
But, indeed, human nature is never utterly forsaken by God and His
only-begotten Son, the truth. Wherefore even Celsus spoke the truth when
he made the demons take pleasure in the blood and smoke of victims;
although, by the force of his own evil nature, he falls back into his
errors, and compares demons with men who rigorously discharge every
duty, even to those who show no gratitude; while to those who are
grateful they abound in acts of kindness. Here Celsus appears to me to
get into confusion. At one time his judgment is darkened by the
influence of demons, and at another he recovers from their deluding
power, and gets some glimpses of the truth. For again he adds: “We must
never in any way lose our hold of God, whether by day or by night,
whether in public or in secret, whether in word or in deed, but in
whatever we do, or abstain from doing.” That is, as I understand it,
whatever we do in public, in all our actions, in all our words, “let the
soul be constantly fixed upon God.” And yet again, as though, after
struggling in argument against the insane inspirations of demons, he
were completely overcome by them, he adds: “If this is the case, what
harm is there in gaining the favour of the rulers of the earth, whether
of a nature different from ours, or human princes and kings? For these
have gained their dignity through the instrumentality of demons.” In a
former part, Celsus did his utmost to debase our souls to the worship of
demons; and now he wishes us to seek the favour of kings and princes, of
whom, as the world and all history are full of them, I do not consider
it necessary to quote examples.
Chapter LXIV.
There is therefore One whose favour we should seek, and to whom we ought
to pray that He would be gracious to us—the Most High God, whose favour
is gained by piety and the practice of every virtue. And if he would
have us to seek the favour of others after the Most High God, let him
consider that, as the motion of the shadow follows that of the body
which casts it, so in like manner it follows, that when we have the
favour of God, we have also the goodwill of all angels and spirits who
are friends of God. For they know who are worthy of the divine approval,
and they are not only well disposed to them, but they co-operate with
them in their endeavours to please God: they seek His favour on their
behalf; with their prayers they join their own prayers and intercessions
for them. We may indeed boldly say, that men who aspire after better
things have, when they pray to God, tens of thousands of sacred powers
upon their side. These, even when not asked, pray with them, they bring
succour to our mortal race, and if I may so say, take up arms alongside
of it: for they see demons warring and fighting most keenly against the
salvation of those who devote themselves to God, and despise the
hostility of demons; they see them savage in their hatred of the man who
refuses to serve them with the blood and fumes of sacrifices, but rather
strives in every way, by word and deed, to be in peace and union with
the Most High through Jesus, who put to flight multitudes of demons when
He went about “healing,” and delivering “all who were oppressed by the
devil.”[1667]
Footnote 1667:
Acts x. 38.
Chapter LXV.
Moreover, we are to despise ingratiating ourselves with kings or any
other men, not only if their favour is to be won by murders,
licentiousness, or deeds of cruelty, but even if it involves impiety
towards God, or any servile expressions of flattery and obsequiousness,
which things are unworthy of brave and high-principled men, who aim at
joining with their other virtues that highest of virtues, patience and
fortitude. But whilst we do nothing which is contrary to the law and
word of God, we are not so mad as to stir up against us the wrath of
kings and princes, which will bring upon us sufferings and tortures, or
even death. For we read: “Let every soul be subject unto the higher
powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are
ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the
ordinance of God.”[1668] These words we have in our exposition of the
Epistle to the Romans, to the best of our ability, explained at length,
and with various applications; but for the present we have taken them in
their more obvious and generally received acceptation, to meet the
saying of Celsus, that “it is not without the power of demons that kings
have been raised to their regal dignity.” Here much might be said on the
constitution of kings and rulers, for the subject is a wide one,
embracing such rulers as reign cruelly and tyrannically, and such as
make the kingly office the means of indulging in luxury and sinful
pleasures. We shall therefore, for the present, pass over the full
consideration of this subject. We will, however, never swear by “the
fortune of the king,” nor by aught else that is considered equivalent to
God. For if the word “fortune” is nothing but an expression for the
uncertain course of events, as some say, although they seem not to be
agreed, we do not swear by that as God which has no existence, as though
it did really exist and was able to do something, lest we should bind
ourselves by an oath to things which have no existence. If, on the other
hand (as is thought by others, who say that to swear by the fortune of
the king of the Romans is to swear by his demon), what is called the
fortune of the king is in the power of demons, then in that case we must
die sooner than swear by a wicked and treacherous demon, that ofttimes
sins along with the man of whom it gains possession, and sins even more
than he.
Footnote 1668:
Rom. xiii. 1, 2.
Chapter LXVI.
Then Celsus, following the example of those who are under the influence
of demons—at one time recovering, at another relapsing, as though he
were again becoming sensible—says: “If, however, any worshipper of God
should be ordered to do anything impious, or to say anything base, such
a command should in no wise be regarded; but we must encounter all kinds
of torment, or submit to any kind of death, rather than say or even
think anything unworthy of God.” Again, however, from ignorance of our
principles, and in entire confusion of thought, he says: “But if any one
commands you to celebrate the sun, or to sing a joyful triumphal song in
praise of Minerva, you will by celebrating their praises seem to render
the higher praise to God; for piety, in extending to all things, becomes
more perfect.” To this our answer is, that we do not wait for any
command to celebrate the praises of the sun; for we have been taught to
speak well not only of those creatures that are obedient to the will of
God, but even of our enemies. We therefore praise the sun as the
glorious workmanship of God, which obeys His laws and hearkens to the
call, “Praise the Lord, sun and moon,”[1669] and with all your powers
show forth the praises of the Father and Creator of all. Minerva,
however, whom Celsus classes with the sun, is the subject of various
Grecian myths, whether these contain any hidden meaning or not. They say
that Minerva sprang fully armed from the brain of Jupiter; that when she
was pursued by Vulcan, she fled from him to preserve her honour; and
that from the seed which fell to the ground in the heat of Vulcan’s
passion, there grew a child whom Minerva brought up and called
Erichthonius,
“That owed his nurture to the blue-eyed maid,
But from the teeming furrow took his birth,
The mighty offspring of the foodful earth.”[1670]
It is therefore evident, that if we admit Minerva the daughter of
Jupiter, we must also admit many fables and fictions which can be
allowed by no one who discards fables and seeks after truth.
Footnote 1669:
Ps. cxlviii. 3.
Footnote 1670:
Homer’s _Iliad_, ii. 547, 548.
Chapter LXVII.
And to regard these myths in a figurative sense, and consider Minerva as
representing prudence, let any one show what were the actual facts of
her history, upon which this allegory is based. For, supposing honour
was given to Minerva as having been a woman of ancient times, by those
who instituted mysteries and ceremonies for their followers, and who
wished her name to be celebrated as that of a goddess, much more are we
forbidden to pay divine honours to Minerva, if we are not permitted to
worship so glorious an object as the sun, although we may celebrate its
glory. Celsus, indeed, says that “we seem to do the greater honour to
the great God when we sing hymns in honour of the sun and Minerva;” but
we know it to be the opposite of that. For we sing hymns to the Most
High alone, and His Only-begotten, who is the Word and God; and we
praise God and His Only-begotten, as do also the sun, the moon, the
stars, and all the host of heaven. For these all form a divine chorus,
and unite with the just among men in celebrating the praises of the Most
High God and His Only-begotten. We have already said that we must not
swear by a human king, or by what is called “the fortune of the king.”
It is therefore unnecessary for us again to refute these statements: “If
you are commanded to swear by a human king, there is nothing wrong in
that. For to him has been given whatever there is upon earth; and
whatever you receive in this life, you receive from him.” We deny,
however, that all things which are on the earth have been given to the
king, or that whatever we receive in this life we receive from him. For
whatever we receive rightly and honourably we receive from God, and by
His providence, as ripe fruits, and “corn which strengtheneth man’s
heart, and the pleasant vine, and wine which rejoiceth the heart of
man.”[1671] And moreover, the fruit of the olive-tree, to make his face
to shine, we have from the providence of God.
Footnote 1671:
Ps. civ. 15.
Chapter LXVIII.
Celsus goes on to say: “We must not disobey the ancient writer, who said
long ago,
‘Let one be king, whom the son of crafty Saturn appointed;’”[1672]
and adds: “If you set aside this maxim, you will deservedly suffer for
it at the hands of the king. For if all were to do the same as you,
there would be nothing to prevent his being left in utter solitude and
desertion, and the affairs of the earth would fall into the hands of the
wildest and most lawless barbarians; and then there would no longer
remain among men any of the glory of your religion or of the true
wisdom.” If, then, “there shall be one lord, one king,” he must be, not
the man “whom the son of crafty Saturn appointed,” but the man to whom
He gave the power, who “removeth kings and setteth up kings,”[1673] and
who “raiseth up the useful man in time of need upon earth.”[1674] For
kings are not appointed by that son of Saturn, who, according to Grecian
fable, hurled his father from his throne, and sent him down to Tartarus
(whatever interpretation may be given to this allegory), but by God, who
governs all things, and who wisely arranges whatever belongs to the
appointment of kings. We therefore do set aside the maxim contained in
the line,
“Whom the son of crafty Saturn appointed;”
for we know that no god or father of a god ever devises anything crooked
or crafty. But we are far from setting aside the notion of a providence,
and of things happening directly or indirectly through the agency of
providence. And the king will not “inflict deserved punishment” upon us,
if we say that not the son of crafty Saturn gave him his kingdom, but He
who “removeth and setteth up kings.” And would that all were to follow
my example in rejecting the maxim of Homer, maintaining the divine
origin of the kingdom, and observing the precept to honour the king! In
these circumstances the king will not “be left in utter solitude and
desertion,” neither will “the affairs of the world fall into the hands
of the most impious and wild barbarians.” For if, in the words of
Celsus, “they do as I do,” then it is evident that even the barbarians,
when they yield obedience to the word of God, will become most obedient
to the law, and most humane; and every form of worship will be destroyed
except the religion of Christ, which will alone prevail. And indeed it
will one day triumph, as its principles take possession of the minds of
men more and more every day.
Footnote 1672:
Homer’s _Iliad_, ii. 205.
Footnote 1673:
Dan. ii. 21.
Footnote 1674:
Ecclus. x. 4.
Chapter LXIX.
Celsus, then, as if not observing that he was saying anything
inconsistent with the words he had just used, “if all were to do the
same as you,” adds: “You surely do not say that if the Romans were, in
compliance with your wish, to neglect their customary duties to gods and
men, and were to worship the Most High, or whatever you please to call
him, that he will come down and fight for them, so that they shall need
no other help than his. For this same God, as yourselves say, promised
of old this and much more to those who served him, and see in what way
he has helped them and you! They, in place of being masters of the whole
world, are left with not so much as a patch of ground or a home; and as
for you, if any of you transgresses even in secret, he is sought out and
punished with death.” As the question started is, “What would happen if
the Romans were persuaded to adopt the principles of the Christians, to
despise the duties paid to the recognised gods and to men, and to
worship the Most High?” this is my answer to the question. We say that
“if two” of us “shall agree on earth as touching anything that they
shall ask, it shall be done for them of the Father” of the just, “which
is in heaven;”[1675] for God rejoices in the agreement of rational
beings, and turns away from discord. And what are we to expect, if not
only a very few agree, as at present, but the whole of the empire of
Rome? For they will pray to the Word, who of old said to the Hebrews,
when they were pursued by the Egyptians, “The Lord shall fight for you,
and ye shall hold your peace;”[1676] and if they all unite in prayer
with one accord, they will be able to put to flight far more enemies
than those who were discomfited by the prayer of Moses when he cried to
the Lord, and of those who prayed with him. Now, if what God promised to
those who keep His law has not come to pass, the reason of its
non-fulfilment is not to be ascribed to the unfaithfulness of God. But
He had made the fulfilment of His promises to depend on certain
conditions,—namely, that they should observe and live according to His
law; and if the Jews have not a plot of ground nor a habitation left to
them, although they had received these conditional promises, the entire
blame is to be laid upon their crimes, and especially upon their guilt
in the treatment of Jesus.
Footnote 1675:
Matt. xviii. 19.
Footnote 1676:
Ex. xiv. 14.
Chapter LXX.
But if all the Romans, according to the supposition of Celsus, embrace
the Christian faith, they will, when they pray, overcome their enemies;
or rather, they will not war at all, being guarded by that divine power
which promised to save five entire cities for the sake of fifty just
persons. For men of God are assuredly the salt of the earth: they
preserve the order of the world; and society is held together as long as
the salt is uncorrupted: for “if the salt have lost its savour, it is
neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill; but it shall be cast out,
and trodden under foot of men. He that hath ears, let him hear”[1677]
the meaning of these words. When God gives to the tempter permission to
persecute us, then we suffer persecution; and when God wishes us to be
free from suffering, even in the midst of a world that hates us, we
enjoy a wonderful peace, trusting in the protection of Him who said, “Be
of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”[1678] And truly He has
overcome the world. Wherefore the world prevails only so long as it is
the pleasure of Him who received from the Father power to overcome the
world; and from His victory we take courage. Should He even wish us
again to contend and struggle for our religion, let the enemy come
against us, and we will say to them, “I can do all things, through
Christ Jesus our Lord, which strengtheneth me.”[1679] For of “two
sparrows which are sold for a farthing,” as the Scripture says, “not one
of them falls on the ground without our Father in heaven.”[1680] And so
completely does the divine providence embrace all things, that not even
the hairs of our head fail to be numbered by Him.
Footnote 1677:
Luke xiv. 34, 35; Matt. v. 13.
Footnote 1678:
John xvi. 33.