Although the Jew, then, may offer no defence for himself in the
instances of Ezekiel and Isaiah, when we compare the opening of the
heavens to Jesus, and the voice that was heard by Him, to the similar
cases which we find recorded in Ezekiel and Isaiah, or any other of the
prophets, we nevertheless, so far as we can, shall support our position,
maintaining that, as it is a matter of belief that in a _dream_
impressions have been brought before the minds of many, some relating to
divine things, and others to future events of this life, and this either
with clearness or in an enigmatic manner,—a fact which is manifest to
all who accept the doctrine of providence; so how is it absurd to say
that the mind which could receive impressions in a _dream_ should be
impressed also in a waking vision, for the benefit either of him on whom
the impressions are made, or of those who are to hear the account of
them from him? And as in a dream we fancy that we hear, and that the
organs of hearing are actually impressed, and that we see with our
eyes—although neither the bodily organs of sight nor hearing are
affected, but it is the mind alone which has these sensations—so there
is no absurdity in believing that similar things occurred to the
prophets, when it is recorded that they witnessed occurrences of a
rather wonderful kind, as when they either heard the words of the Lord
or beheld the heavens opened. For I do not suppose that the visible
heaven was actually opened, and its physical structure divided, in order
that Ezekiel might be able to record such an occurrence. Should not,
therefore, the same be believed of the Saviour by every intelligent
hearer of the Gospels?—although such an occurrence may be a
stumbling-block to the simple, who in their simplicity would set the
whole world in movement, and split in sunder the compact and mighty body
of the whole heavens. But he who examines such matters more profoundly
will say, that there being, as the Scripture calls it, a kind of general
divine perception which the blessed man alone knows how to discover,
according to the saying of Solomon, “Thou shalt find the knowledge of
God;”[1196] and as there are various forms of this perceptive power,
such as a faculty of vision which can naturally see things that are
better than bodies, among which are ranked the cherubim and seraphim;
and a faculty of hearing which can perceive voices which have not their
being in the air; and a sense of taste which can make use of living
bread that has come down from heaven, and that giveth life unto the
world; and so also a sense of smelling, which scents such things as
leads Paul to say that he is a sweet savour of Christ unto God;[1197]
and a sense of touch, by which John says that he “handled with his hands
of the Word of life;”[1198]—the blessed prophets having discovered this
divine perception, and seeing and hearing in this divine manner, and
tasting likewise, and smelling, so to speak, with no sensible organs of
perception, and laying hold on the Logos by faith, so that a healing
effluence from it comes upon them, saw in this manner what they record
as having seen, and heard what they say they heard, and were affected in
a similar manner to what they describe when eating the roll of a book
that was given them.[1199] And so also Isaac smelled the savour of his
son’s divine garments,[1200] and added to the spiritual blessing these
words: “See, the savour of my son is as the savour of a full field which
the Lord blessed.”[1201] And similarly to this, and more as a matter to
be understood by the mind than to be perceived by the senses, Jesus
touched the leper,[1202] to cleanse him, as I think, in a two-fold
sense,—freeing him not only, as the multitude heard, from the visible
leprosy by visible contact, but also from that other leprosy, by His
truly divine touch. It is in this way, accordingly, that John testifies
when he says, “I beheld the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove,
and it abode upon Him. And I knew Him not; but He that sent me to
baptize with water, the same said to me, Upon whom you will see the
Spirit descending, and abiding on Him, the same is He that baptizeth
with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bear witness, that this is the Son
of God.”[1203] Now it was to Jesus that the heavens were opened; and on
that occasion no one except John is recorded to have seen them opened.
But with respect to this opening of the heavens, the Saviour,
foretelling to His disciples that it would happen, and that they would
see it, says, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye shall see the heavens
opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of
man.”[1204] And so Paul was carried away into the third heaven, having
previously seen it opened, since he was a disciple of Jesus. It does
not, however, belong to our present object to explain why Paul says,
“Whether in the body, I know not; or whether out of the body, I know
not: God knoweth.”[1205] But I shall add to my argument even those very
points which Celsus imagines, viz. that Jesus Himself related the
account of the opening of the heavens, and the descent of the Holy
Spirit upon Him at the Jordan in the form of a dove, although the
Scripture does not assert that He said that He saw it. For this great
man did not perceive that it was not in keeping with Him who commanded
His disciples on the occasion of the vision on the mount, “Tell what ye
have seen to no man, until the Son of man be risen from the dead,”[1206]
to have related to His disciples what was seen and heard by John at the
Jordan. For it may be observed as a trait of the character of Jesus,
that He on all occasions avoided unnecessary talk about Himself; and on
that account said, “If I speak of myself, my witness is not true.”[1207]
And since He avoided unnecessary talk about Himself, and preferred to
show by acts rather than words that He was the Christ, the Jews for that
reason said to Him, “If thou art the Christ, tell us plainly.”[1208] And
as it is a Jew who, in the work of Celsus, uses the language to Jesus
regarding the appearance of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, “This
is your own testimony, unsupported save by one of those who were sharers
of your punishment, whom you adduce,” it is necessary for us to show him
that such a statement is not appropriately placed in the mouth of a Jew.
For the Jews do not connect John with Jesus, nor the punishment of John
with that of Christ. And by this instance, this man who boasts of
universal knowledge is convicted of not knowing what words he ought to
ascribe to a Jew engaged in a disputation with Jesus.
Footnote 1196:
Cf. Prov. ii. 5.
Footnote 1197:
Cf. 2 Cor. ii. 15.
Footnote 1198:
Cf. 1 John i. 1.
Footnote 1199:
Cf. Ezek. iii. 2, 3.
Footnote 1200:
Ὠσφράνθη τῆς ὀσμῆς τῶν τοῦ υἱοῦ θειοτέρων ἱματίων.
Footnote 1201:
Cf. Gen. xxvii. 27.
Footnote 1202:
Cf. Matt. viii. 3.
Footnote 1203:
Cf. John i. 32-34.
Footnote 1204:
Cf. John i. 52.
Footnote 1205:
Cf. 2 Cor. xii. 2.
Footnote 1206:
Cf. Matt. xvii. 9.
Footnote 1207:
John v. 31.
Footnote 1208:
John x. 24.