We shall therefore say, in the first place, that if he who disbelieves
the appearance of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove had been
described as an Epicurean, or a follower of Democritus, or a
Peripatetic, the statement would have been in keeping with the character
of such an objector. But now even this Celsus, wisest of all men, did
not perceive that it is to a Jew, who believes more incredible things
contained in the writings of the prophets than the narrative of the
appearance of the dove, that he attributes such an objection! For one
might say to the Jew, when expressing his disbelief of the appearance,
and thinking to assail it as a fiction, “How are you able to prove, sir,
that the Lord spake to Adam, or to Eve, or to Cain, or to Noah, or to
Abraham, or to Isaac, or to Jacob, those words which He is recorded to
have spoken to these men?” And, to compare history with history, I would
say to the Jew, “Even your own Ezekiel writes, saying, ‘The heavens were
opened, and I saw a vision of God.’[1189] After relating which, he adds,
‘This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord; and
He said to me,’”[1190] etc. Now, if what is related of Jesus be false,
since we cannot, as you suppose, clearly prove it to be true, it being
seen or heard by himself alone, and, as you appear to have observed,
also by one of those who were punished, why should we not rather say
that Ezekiel also was dealing in the marvellous when he said, “The
heavens were opened,” etc.? Nay, even Isaiah asserts, “I saw the Lord of
hosts sitting on a throne, high and lifted up; and the seraphim stood
round about it: the one had six wings, and the other had six
wings.”[1191] How can we tell whether he really saw them or not? Now, O
Jew, you have believed these visions to be true, and to have been not
only shown to the prophet by a diviner Spirit, but also to have been
both spoken and recorded by the same. And who is the more worthy of
belief, when declaring that the heavens were opened before him, and that
he heard a voice, or beheld the Lord of Sabaoth sitting upon a throne
high and lifted up,—whether Isaiah and Ezekiel or Jesus? Of the former,
indeed, no work has been found equal to those of the latter; whereas the
good deeds of Jesus have not been confined solely to the period of His
tabernacling in the flesh, but up to the present time His power still
produces conversion and amelioration of life in those who believe in God
through Him. And a manifest proof that these things are done by His
power, is the fact that, although, as He Himself said, and as is
admitted, there are not labourers enough to gather in the harvest of
souls, there really is nevertheless such a great harvest of those who
are gathered together and conveyed into the everywhere existing
threshing-floors and churches of God.
Footnote 1189:
Cf. Ezek. i. 1.
Footnote 1190:
Cf. Ezek. i. 28 and ii. 1.
Footnote 1191:
Cf. Isa. vi. 1, 2.