Philocalia · The Philocalia of Origen 11

CHAP. XXVII. ---- The meaning of the Lord's hardening Pharaoh's heart.

1. Nearly all readers of the Book of Exodus, both they who disbelieve, and they who say they believe it, are disturbed at the frequently occurring words, "The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh," and "I will harden the heart of Pharaoh." For among many other causes of men's disbelief we must include this, that things unworthy of God are spoken of God, and it is unworthy of God to bring about the hardening of any man's heart, and to effect the hardening in order that he who is hardened may disobey the will of Him who hardens. And they further ask, Is it not absurd for God to influence any one to disobey His will? That would be a clear proof that God did not wish |225 Pharaoh to be obedient to His commands. And to ordinary believers it sounds very harsh to say, "The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh." For readers who are convinced that there is no other God but the Creator, think that God arbitrarily, as it were, has mercy on whom He will have mercy, and hardens whom He will, when there is no reason why one man should have mercy shown him by God, and another be hardened by Him. And others, better advised than these, say they look upon Scripture as containing many secrets, and that they do not on that account turn aside from the sound faith; and one of the secrets they hold to be the true account of this portion of Scripture. Others, alleging that there is a God other than the Creator, will have Him to be just but not good, very foolishly and impiously going the length of severing righteousness from goodness, and supposing that it is possible for righteousness to exist in any one apart from goodness, and for goodness to be separated from righteousness. And although they say this, they nevertheless, in contradiction of their own conception of a righteous God, concede the point that He hardens the heart of Pharaoh, and makes him disobedient to Himself. For if He who giveth to every man his due, and bestoweth on those who have themselves been the cause of progress or deterioration, such things as He knoweth each one to be fitted to receive,----if He is just, how can that God be just Who was the cause of Pharaoh's sin? not absolutely the cause, indeed, but so far as they understand Him to have contributed to Pharaoh's becoming a most unrighteous man. For inasmuch as they refer the hardening of Pharaoh's heart to nothing worthy of the purpose of a just God, I fail to understand how, even on their own showing, they can make the hardener of Pharaoh's heart a just God. We must therefore press them in the exposition of the passage before us either to show how a just God hardens, or to pluck up courage and say that the Creator, because He hardens, is a wicked God. If they can find but scanty proofs that the just God is capable of hardening a man's |226 heart, and dare not be so godless as to own that they charge the Creator with wickedness, let them take refuge in some other way of interpreting the words, "The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh," and no longer contradict their own conception of a just God, because they think they understand the literal meaning. They will at last, perhaps, confess that they are at a loss to know what the Word is hinting at.

2. Away, then, with such conceptions of the Divine nature as we are investigating in the question before us. They are torn to shreds. But inasmuch as there are those who advance the plea of natural constitution, supposing some persons to have been created to perdition, and adduce these passages in support of their views, maintaining that their contention is clearly proved by the fact that Pharaoh's heart was hardened by the Lord, come, let us ask them a few questions. A man created to perdition would never be able to grow in goodness, because his original nature neutralises his efforts to attain to virtue. What need, then, was there for Pharaoh, who was, as you say, a son of perdition, to be hardened by God so that he should not let the people go? For you tell us that if he had not been hardened he would have let them go. Further, we should like an answer to another question: What would Pharaoh have done if he had not been hardened? If he had let them go, not being hardened, he had not a nature doomed to perdition. If he had not let them go, the hardening of his heart was superfluous; for he would just the same have refused to let them go, even if he had not been hardened. And what did God do to control his reason when he hardened him? And how is it that He blames him, saying, "Because thou disobeyest me, behold I will slay thy first-born." Can it be that He who hardens, hardens one already hard. Clearly, the hard is not hardened, but the change is from softness to hardness; and softness of heart is, according to the Scripture, praiseworthy, as we have often observed. Let them, |227 therefore, tell us whether Pharaoh turns from good to bad; further, whether God in blaming Pharaoh blames him without cause, or not without cause; if without cause, how is He any longer wise and just? if not without cause, Pharaoh was responsible for his sins of disobedience; and if he was responsible, he had not a nature doomed to perdition. We must certainly ask another question, because the Apostle, pushing his arguments to their full conclusion, says, "So then he hath mercy on whom he will, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he still find fault? For who withstandeth his will? " Who, we ask, is it that hardeneth and hath mercy? The hardening surely does not belong to one God, and the having mercy to a different one, if we follow the apostolic utterance, but both are attributed to the same God. Either, then, they who in Christ find mercy, belong to Him Who hardeneth Pharaoh's heart, and it is idle for our opponents to invent any other god than (as they allow Him to be) the good God, Who not only hath mercy but also hardens; or He would no longer be, as they suppose, even good.

3. We have advisedly gone into all these details at considerable length, in opposition to those who unwarrantably congratulate themselves on their understanding, and complain of our simplicity, in order to show that neither in their conceptions of God, nor in their doctrines of natures, does the Word when examined give them any support. For ourselves, we are for many reasons convinced, both as we study the sacred Scriptures, and as we contemplate the magnitude of the forces at work in creation, and the evidences of orderly design, that things visible and invisible, things temporal and things eternal, come from God the Creator, Who is to be regarded as one and the same with the Father of our Lord and Saviour, the good and just and wise God; and in handling the Scriptures we strive to keep that steadily in view, begging God our Saviour to show us all things pertaining to a good |228 and just and wise God, for we suppose that the things we speak of cannot be regarded, at least by intelligent beings, as the result of chance, but that we must ask ourselves whether they are consistent with His goodness and justice and wisdom.

4. Something like this, then, we suppose to be the meaning of the words,"The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh." The Word of God is a physician of the soul, and uses the most diverse, suitable, and seasonable methods of healing the sick; and of these methods of healing, some more, some less, give pain and torment to those who are under treatment; and the remedies, moreover, seem unsuitable, sometimes not; and, further, they act speedily or slowly; and are sometimes applied when the patients have had their fill of sin, or when, so to speak, they have only touched it. The whole of inspired Scripture abounds in proofs of each of these statements. For example, we read that remedies more or less sad were applied to the people in the course of what befell them, for the sake of punishment and correction, in wars of greater or less magnitude, and in famines of longer or shorter duration; and we have an instance of seemingly unsuitable treatment in the passage, "I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom, nor your brides when they commit adultery." It may be that God leaves to themselves the souls that eagerly desire the sweets of bodily pleasure, until being satiated they abandon the objects of their longing; they are, as it were, sick of them, and not likely to fall quickly into the same snares, because they are disgusted and have been so far tormented. Souls are more slowly healed, because, if they were soon rid of their sufferings, they would think little of falling a second time into the same evils. The God who designed them knows all their different constitutions, and, for that He is an expert in the art of healing, it is for Him alone to say what is best to be done for each, and when.

5. In some bodily sicknesses, when the mischief is, as |229 they say, deep-seated, the physician with the aid of certain drugs draws and forces the matter to the surface, producing severe inflammation and swelling, causing more pains than those which a patient had before he put himself under treatment----as is the practice in cases of Hydrophobia and similar diseases. So God also, I think, deals with secret, deep-seated mischief in the soul. The physician might say in one of his cases, "I will set up inflammation round about the injury, and will force certain parts to swell, so as to produce a bad abscess"; and when he speaks thus, one hearer will not blame a scientific expert but will even praise him for, as it were, threatening to produce these effects, while another hearer will blame him, and will allege that a man who makes a cure depend on inflammations and abscesses must be a quack; so it is, I think, when God says, "I will harden the heart of Pharaoh." And seeing that these things are written, he that heareth them as the oracles of God, observing the dignity of the Speaker, accepts them, and every one who seeketh, findeth a way of showing even herein the goodness of God; for the people were through the numerous miracles more openly assured of safety; and, secondly, there was goodness as regards the Egyptians, as many as, amazed at what took place, intended to follow the Hebrews: for "a mixed multitude," says the historian, "of the Egyptians went out with them"; and there was perhaps a deeper and more secret purpose of benefiting Pharaoh himself, when he shall no longer conceal the poison nor check the malady, but draw it forth to the light, and perhaps by his conduct put a stop to it: so that having gone through all the stages of the eruption of the wickedness within him, he may find the tree which bore the evil fruit less vigorous, perhaps at last withering away, when he is overwhelmed in the sea: not, as one might suppose, to perish altogether, but that he may cast away and be relieved of the burden of his sins, and, it |230 may be, descend to Hades in peace, or in less warfare of the soul.

6. Readers, however, may hardly be convinced: they will suspect that there is something forced in our version of the matter, viz. that the hardening of Pharaoh's heart was for his good, and that everything we are told, right up to the overwhelming in the sea, was for his sake. Let us see, then, if we cannot remove this reluctance, and convince our readers of the truth of what we say. "Many are the scourges," says David, "of the wicked"; and his son teaches that "God scourgeth every son whom he re-receiveth." And elsewhere David in a prophetic promise concerning Christ and those who believe on Him, says, "If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; if they profane my statutes, and keep not my commandments; then will I visit their transgressions with the rod, and their iniquities with scourges. But my mercy will I not utterly take from them." So, then, it is a favour from the Lord that the transgressor is visited with a rod and the sinner with scourges. And so far as the sinner is not scourged, he is not yet brought under discipline and correction. And this is why God threatens, that if the sins of the inhabitants of Judah become great, He will no longer punish their daughters when they commit whoredom, nor their brides when they commit adultery. And elsewhere he says, "Because I have purged thee, and thou wast not purged, I will not again be furious over thee, nor again be jealous over thee." So, then, there are sinners with whom God is not furious; if I may so speak, though He is angry, He is not furious.

7. We must also observe that the threats of the Prophets against the many end with "They shall know that I am the Lord"; and not only the threats against the Israelites, but also those against the Egyptians and Assyrians and the other enemies of the people. And this |231 familiar ending of many threats is found also in the Book of Exodus: "And all the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord": the usual sufferings being brought upon them for this very purpose, that they may know the Lord. And in the Maccabees something similar is said: "Now I beseech those that read this book, that they be not discouraged for these calamities, but that they judge those punishments not to be for destruction, but for a chastening of our nation. For it is a token of His great goodness, when wicked doers are not suffered any long time, but forthwith punished. For not as with other nations whom the Lord forbeareth to punish, till they be come to the fulness of their sins, so dealeth he with us; but though he punish with adversity he doth not forsake his own people." If the incurring punishment for sins is a token of God's great goodness, I would have you consider whether Pharaoh, inasmuch as he was punished after the hardening of his heart, and chastised as well as his people, was not punished with good reason, and according to his own wickedness. And David, as it were imitating God, and having due regard to times and seasons, when he gives Solomon command concerning Joab, to chastise him for his offences against Abner the son of Ner, and to slay him for his errors, goes on to say, "And thou shalt bring down his hoar head in peace to the grave." And it is clear, as the Jew also told us, that Joab's resting in peace would be the result of his punishment, torment and punishment being no longer due to him after his discharge therefrom, for he had therein already received his deserts. And so we think that every threat and pain and punishment, things that come from God, are never inflicted to injure the sufferers, but always to do them good. And what are considered the severest |232 terms we can apply to God, fury and anger, are called rebuking and chastening in the passage, "O Lord, rebuke me not in thy fury, nor chasten me in thine anger"; where the suppliant begs that he may not need rebuke through God's fury, and chastening through God's anger, for some there were who would be rebuked in God's fury, and chastened in His anger.

8. But that we may the more readily assent to what has been said, we must make use of similar passages from the New Testament. The Saviour says, "I came to cast fire upon the earth; and what will I, if it is already kindled." If the fire which He came to cast upon the earth had not been a saving fire, at all events a saving fire for men, the Son of the good God would not have said this. And then there is the case of Peter, who, when with the sword of his mouth he slew Ananias and Sapphira, because they sinned by lying, not to men but to the Lord, had in view not only the edification of such as seeing what was done would show more reverence towards the Faith of Christ, but also the welfare of the offenders visited with death. He wished them to depart from the body purified by their sudden and unexpected death; for they had some right on their side, inasmuch as they gave even the half of their possessions for the wants of the needy. And Paul also, though he pronounces the sentence of blindness on the companion of Sergius Paulus the Proconsul, endeavours through suffering to turn him from sin to godliness, for he says to him, "O full of all guile, and all villainy, thou son of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? And now thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season." What "season" would it be, except such time as, having been punished and tormented for his sins, he would repent and become worthy of both ways seeing the sun?----with his bodily eyes, that the Divine power might be proclaimed in the restoration of his sight, |233 and with the eyes of the soul, when, as a believer he would delight in godliness. Demas, too, and Hermogenes, whom Paul delivered to Satan that they might learn not to blaspheme, experienced something like what we have spoken of. And the man at Corinth that had his father's wife was himself, also, delivered to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord. No wonder, then, if the treatment of Pharaoh, so that he was hardened and finally involved in such chastisements, is to be traced to the goodness of God. For the present let the foregoing, which we put down as it came into our head, suffice for the words, "And the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart." If any one with due regard to God's glory should discover better arguments, and such as have no tincture of impiety, and can support them with the evidence of the Divine Scriptures, we will gladly avail ourselves of them.

Origen elsewhere discusses the same subject----

9. Among other considerations, I would further urge that possibly as physicians in the treatment of Hydrophobia, to prevent the poison from getting a hold within and killing the man, draw it to the surface, thus causing more acute suffering and inflammation: so God through His healing art draws out the secret mischief lurking in the depths of the soul, and makes it show itself, in order that He may afterwards induce a healthy state. This, I think, is the meaning of what we read in Deuteronomy: "And thou shalt remember all the way that the Lord thy God hath led thee these forty years in the wilderness, that He might humble thee, to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep His commandments, or no. And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every thing that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live." Observe here that God humbles |234 and tries, in order that what is in each man's heart may be known, inasmuch as it lies deep and is revealed through tribulations. And such is the declaration of the Lord to Job in storm and whirlwind: "Dost thou think that I have dealt with thee for any other purpose than that thou mayest appear righteous?" He did not say, "That thou mayest be righteous," but, "That thou mayest appear righteous. Righteous he was even before his trials, but God would have him show his righteousness by what befell him.

Elsewhere in the same Commentaries on Exodus----

10. One of our friends to relieve the difficulty takes an illustration from daily life, and tells us how frequently it happens that masters who are kind and long-suffering towards their erring servants say, "I ruined you"; and "I spoiled you"; meaning to imply that their kindness and long-suffering seem to have occasioned worse behaviour. As then a sophistical reasoner may say that because the master speaks thus, he confesses that he has spoiled the servant; so, it may be urged, what God in His goodness does, having been made the occasion of Pharaoh's hardness, is described as having hardened Pharaoh's heart. And our friend will discover in the Apostle's own words the softer meaning he desires: "Or despisest thou the riches of His goodness, and forbearance, and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up for thyself wrath in the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; who will render to every man according to his works." Anyway, the same Apostle, in the same Epistle to the Romans, says, "What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering vessels of wrath fitted unto destruction," as if the long-suffering of God having endured the vessels of wrath, had, as it were, produced them. For if, because of His long-suffering He did not chastise the sinners but took pity on them, and if wickedness thereby abounded, He in a way by His long-suffering endured |235 the vessels of wrath, and, so to speak, Himself made them vessels of wrath, and accordingly Himself hardened their heart. For when Pharaoh, although so many signs and wonders were wrought, is not persuaded, but after his strange experiences still resists, is he not certainly proved to be harder and more unbelieving, and does it not look as though the hardness and unbelief had arisen from the marvellous miracles? The passage in the Gospel is similar: "For judgment came I into this world"; for the Saviour did not purpose to come for judgment, but His coming for judgment of those who after His marvellous works believed not on Him was a consequence of His coming; He, moreover, came for the fall of many; but He did not purpose when He came to make them fall for whose fall He came.

And elsewhere----

11. So the marvellous things, to those who accept them and believe, as was the case with the mixed multitude of Egyptians who went out with the people, mean mercy; but to the unbelieving they bring hardness of heart. And, further, besides what has been said, we may adduce similar passages from the Gospel, which go to show that even the Saviour appears to have been the cause of evil to some people. "Woe unto thee. Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And thou, Capernaum," and so on. The Saviour knew beforehand the unbelief of the dwellers at Chorazin and Bethsaida and Capernaum, and that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for them. Why, then, does He do His marvellous works in Chorazin and Bethsaida, though He sees that those works will make it more tolerable in the day of judgment for the people of Tyre and Sidon than for them? |236

And again----

12. "And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Israel is my son, my first-born: and I have said unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me; and if thou refusest to let him go: behold, I will slay thy son, thy first-born." Let me ask those persons who allege that this is the action of a just God, and suppose, according to the literal meaning of the words, that Pharaoh's heart was hardened, how He Who hardened the heart of Pharaoh that he might not let the people go, can be just, and at the same time threaten that unless Pharaoh will let them go, He will slay his first-born son? Being hard pressed they will confess that He must be a bad God. Then, again, they will be upset by other passages and forced to escape from their bondage to the letter, inasmuch as the literal meaning, according to them, is inconsistent, with the justice of the Creator. And once they are compelled to investigate the matter, they will proceed so far that they will no longer accuse the Creator, but will allow that He is good. Let us then ask those who think they understand the words, "The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh," whether they believe the above threats were uttered by God through the mouth of Moses inspired for the occasion, or whether there was no truth in them? If there was no truth in them, God according to them is neither just nor true, and on their own showing is not God at all; but if the words were truly spoken, I would have them consider whether God does not blame Pharaoh as a free agent when He says, "If thou wilt not let my people go"; and in another place, "How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me?" For the question, "How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me?" is intended to shame Pharaoh, because, if he did not humble himself, it was not that he could not, but that he would not. And then there is what was said before by Moses to Pharaoh: "That thou mayest know that the earth is the Lord's. |237 But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye have not yet feared the Lord." This shows that they will fear----a good argument against the heterodox, for it proves the goodness of God, and disproves their tenet of a man's being naturally doomed to perdition.

And in Book II. of the Commentaries on the "Song of Songs "----

13. Observe further that the sun though white and shining seems to be the cause of a man's turning black, not because of what it does itself, but because of him who turns black. And so also, perhaps, the Lord hardens Pharaoh's heart, though the cause of this was connected with the king's making the lives of the Hebrews bitter with hard service, in clay and in brick, and in all the service, not on the mountains and hills, but in the plains. For becoming a material man through his own wickedness, and living a life in all things according to the flesh, just because he is fond of clay, he wishes to turn the Hebrews also into clay, for his own reason is not purified from the clay; and just as clay is hardened by the sun, so his reason was hardened by the bright beams of Godhead visiting Israel. And that something like this is the interpretation of the passage, and that it is not the purpose of God's servant to write mere history, will be clear to any one who notices that when the children of Israel groaned they did not groan because of the brick, nor because of the clay, nor because of the straw, but because of the service; and their cry went up to God not because of the clay, but, we repeat, because of the service. Wherefore God also heard their groans, though He did not hear the groaning of such as cried to Him, not because of the service, but because of the clay and their earthly condition. |238

Footnotes

1. As "oracles." ↩

2. Matt. x. 18; cf. Mark xiii. 9. ↩

3. Matt. vii. 22 f.; cf. Luke xiii. 26. ↩

4. Cf. Gen. xlix. 10. ↩

5. Hos. iii. 4. ↩

6. For the Heb. teraphim the Sept. has delon. Schleusner shows that this word was used for the clear or shining stones, the Urim and Thummim. The teraphim were idolatrous means of divination (Pusey). The Seventy appear to have had in view the use of the Urim and Thummim by the high priest. ↩

7. Gen. xlix. 10. ↩

8. Deut. xxxii. 21. ↩

9. 1 Cor. i. 26 ff. ↩

10. Ps. xlv. (xliv.) 1 f. ↩

11. Ps. lxxii. (lxxi.) 7 f. ↩

12. Cf. Isa. vii. 14; Matt. i. 215. ↩

13. Isa. viii. 11 f. ↩

14. Matt. ii. 6; cf. Mic. v. 2. ↩

15. Dan. ix. 24. ↩

16. Job iii. 8. ↩

17. Luke x. 19. ↩

18. Cf. Heb. ii. 4. ↩

19. Cf. 2 Cor. iii. 16; Heb. x. 1. ↩

20. 2 Cor. iv. 7, ↩

21. Or, "being stored up in the books (of the Bible)," etc. ↩

22. 1 Cor. ii. 4 f. ↩

23. Heb. vi. 1. ↩

24. 1 Cor. ii. 6 f. ↩

25. Rom. xvi. 25 ff. ↩

26. 2 Tim. i. 10. ↩

27. Isa. lxi. i. ↩

28. Isa. xlv. 13. ↩

29. Zech. ix. 10. ↩

30. Isa. vii. 15. ↩

31. Isa. xi. 6 f. ↩

32. Jer. xv. 14. ↩

33. Ex. xx. 5. ↩

34. Cf. 1 Sam. xv. 11, 17, 35. ↩

35. Isa. xlv. 7. ↩

36. Amos iii. 6. ↩

37. Mic. i. 12. ↩

38. 1 Sam. xvi. 14. ↩

39. World-builder----Creator. ↩

40. Cf. Gen. xix. 30 ff. ↩

41. Cf. Gen. xvi. ↩

42. Cf Gen. xxix. 21 ff. ↩

43. Cf. Ex. xxv. ff. ↩

44. 1 Cor. ii. 16, 12 f. ↩

45. The Greek word is used in the Sept. for the Heb. for network, laced work, and so a lattice. In Eccles. xii. 3, a window, as closed by a lattice, and not with glass. In Hos. xiii. 3, a chimney, or hole for the smoke, covered with lattice-work. See Gesenius and Schleusner. ↩

46. Luke xi. 52. ↩

47. Prov. xxii. 20 f. ↩

48. 1 Cor. ii. 6 f. ↩

49. Heb. x. 1. ↩

50. Herm. Vis . ii. 4. ↩

51. Widows and orphans----" Those who are not yet united with the Spouse of the Church, though divorced from their old connection, nor yet adopted children of the Father."----Westcott. ↩

52. "By this he evidently means that certain passages taken literally do not instruct us, for no one can deny that they have a meaning."----Westcott. ↩

53. John ii. 6. ↩

54. Rom. ii. 29. ↩

55. That is, a number equal to the sum of its factors or divisors. Thus 6 = 3 + 2 + 1. ↩

56. 1 Cor. ix. 9 f.; cf. Deut. xxv. 4. ↩

57. Heb. viii. 5; x. 1. ↩

58. 1 Cor. ii. 7 f. ↩

59. 1 Cor. x. 11. ↩

60. 1 Cor. x. 4. ↩

61. Heb. viii. 5; cf, Ex. xxv. 40. ↩

62. Gal. iv. 21 ff ↩

63. Col. ii. 16 f. ↩

64. Heb. viii. 5. ↩

65. That is, "inspired." ↩

66. Rom. xi. 4 ; cf. 1 Kings xix. 18, ↩

67. Rom. xi. 5. ↩

68. "Divine." ↩

69. See sec. 14, beginning. ↩

70. Gen. i. 5. ↩

71. Gen. ii. 8 f. ↩

72. Gen. iii. 8. ↩

73. Gen. iv. 16. ↩

74. Matt. iv. 8. ↩

75. Cf. Lev. xi. 14. ↩

76. Gen. xvii. 14. ↩

77. Cf. Deut. xiv. 5, 12. ↩

78. Ex. xvi. 29. ↩

79. Jer. xvii. 21. ↩

80. Luke x. 4. ↩

81. Matt. v. 39. ↩

82. Matt. v. 28 f. ↩

83. 1 Cor. vii. 18. ↩

84. See above. The Spirit is supposed to invent some of the history for the sake of the spiritual meaning conveyed. ↩

85. Gen. xxv. 9 f. ↩

86. Gen. xlviii. 22; Josh. xxiv. 32. ↩

87. Ex. xx. 12; cf. Eph. vi. 2 f. ↩

88. "The spiritual world in which the interpretation of Scripture is realised, may be regarded as heavenly, or as Christian and earthly; when we contemplate the former, we explain anagogically, and allegories properly are applied only to the latter. Thus the prophecies which describe the character and fate of various nations under the Jewish dispensation may be referred, according to the one system (anagoge), to the inhabitants of the celestial regions correlative to the kingdoms on earth, or by the other (allegoria), to spiritual characters unfolded by Christianity."----Westcott. ↩

89. Ex. xx. 13 ff. ↩

90. Matt. v. 22. ↩

91. Matt. v. 34. ↩

92. 1 Thess. v. 14. ↩

93. John v. 39. ↩

94. 1 Cor. x. 18. ↩

95. Rom. ix. 8, 6. ↩

96. Rom. ii. 28 f. ↩

97. Matt. xv. 24. ↩

98. Rom. ix. 8. ↩

99. Gal. iv. 26 f. ↩

100. Heb. xii. 22 f. ↩

101. Rufinus, "If we listen to the words of Paul as the words of Christ speaking in him." ↩

102. Or, "refers us." ↩

103. That is, "Egyptians," etc., literally. ↩

104. Isa. xiv. 12. ↩

105. Ezek. xxix. 11 f. ↩

106. Matt. xv. 24 ; cf. John xi. 52. ↩

107. Matt. xiii. 44. ↩

108. Col. ii. 3 ; Isa. xlv. 2f. ↩

109. Heb. xi. 12 ; cf. Gen. xxii. 17. ↩

110. Matt. v. 14. ↩

111. Rom. ix. 6. ↩

112. Eccles. v. 1. ↩

113. Ex. xxxiv. 20. ↩

114. Cf. Isa. i. 16. ↩

115. Rom. ix. 33; 1 Pet. ii. 7; cf. Isa. viii. 14. ↩

116. Rom. ix. 33; cf. Isa. xxviii. 16. ↩

117. Or, "reconciling the nmrder of the man with his evident kindliness." ↩

118. Wisd. xvii. 1. ↩

119. 1 Cor. ii. 7 f. ↩

120. Rom. xvi. 25 f. ↩

121. 2 Tim. i. 10; John i. 1 f. ↩

122. Rom. ii. 28 f. ↩

123. Rom. i. 20. ↩

124. That is, which come within the province of the reason, as opposed to things simply visible. ↩

125. Heb. viii. 5. ↩

126. Ex. xxviii. 32. ↩

127. Rev. iii. 7 f. ↩

128. Rev. v. 1 ff. ↩

129. Isa. xxix. 11 f. ↩

130. Luke xi. 51; cf. Matt. xxiii. 14. ↩

131. 1 Cor. ii. 13. ↩

132. See Chap. viii. ↩

133. Ps. xii. (xi.) 7. ↩

134. Cf. Luke i. 2. ↩

135. Matt. v. 18. ↩

136. Or, "providence." ↩

137. This total was made by taking Ruth with Judges, and Lamentations with Jeremiah. See Sanday, Inspiration, pp. 56 ff., 111 ff., on "the Symbolism of. Numbers." "Origen was the first who pointed out this number was also that of the letters in the Hebrew alphabet (Euseb. H.E. vi. 25, and the coincidence is emphatically repeated by Athanasius, Gregory of Nazianzus, Hilary of Poitiers, and Epiphanius, as well as by Jerome. The coincidence, it was thought, could hardly be accidental. The 'twenty-two' books of the Greek Bible must, it was supposed, represent 'twenty-two' books of the Hebrew Bible; hence, it was concluded, the number of the books in the Hebrew Canon was providentially ordained to agree with the number of the Hebrew letters."----Ryle, Canon of the Old Testament, p. 221. ↩

138. "It is noteworthy that the supposed agreement in the number of the Hebrew letters with the number of the Hebrew sacred books seems to be of Greek origin, and does not appear in Hebrew tradition,"----Ryle, p. 222. ↩

139. Or, "inaccurate." ↩

140. I Cor. ii. 4. ↩

141. 2 Cor. xi. 6. ↩

142. 2 Cor. iv. 7. ↩

143. Col. ii. 3. ↩

144. 1 Cor. i. 26 f. ↩

145. Rom. i. 14. ↩

146. 2 Cor. iii. 6. ↩

147. 1 Cor. ii. 4 f. ↩

148. "Not content with the labour of lecturing and collating MSS., Origen composed numerous books. These were all written to the order of his patron Ambrose, who had at one time been attracted by Gnosticism, but was won over to orthodoxy by Origen. Ambrose made use of his wealth to give the poor but independent scholar the only aid he was likely to accept. He supplied him with quarters and a staff of shorthand writers and copyists. Ambrose not only provided the means, he also prescribed the subjects." ---- Origen the Teacher, S.P.C.K., p. 9. ↩

149. Eccles. xii. 12. ↩

150. " Nisi primum, plane secundum; si vero secundum, non primum omnino. " ↩

151. Eccles. xii. 12. ↩

152. Prov. x. 19. ↩

153. 1 Kings iv. 32 f. ↩

154. Prov. i. 24. ↩

155. Acts xx. 7 f. ↩

156. John i. 1. ↩

157. Lit., "consisting of many theorems." ↩

158. John v. 39. ↩

159. Ps. xl. (xxxix.) 7. ↩

160. Rev. v. 1 ff. ↩

161. Rev. iii. 7. ↩

162. Ps. lxix. (lxviii.) 29. ↩

163. Dan. vii. 10. ↩

164. Ex. xxxii. 32. ↩

165. Isa. xxii. 22; cf. Rev. iii. 7. ↩

166. Ezek. ii. 10. ↩

167. Cf. Rev. x. 10. ↩

168. Rom. ii. 16. ↩

169. 2 Cor. iii. 6. ↩

170. Lit., "dictation." According to others, "too boldly give advice." ↩

171. Matt. v. 9. ↩

172. Prov. viii. 8. ↩

173. Ps. lxxii. (lxxi.) 7. ↩

174. R.V., "The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails well fastened are the words of the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd." The margin has for "masters of assemblies " the alternative "collectors of sentences." ↩

175. Eccles. xii. 11. ↩

176. Cf. Luke viii. 8. ↩

177. 1 Sam. xvi. 14. ↩

178. That is, "treatment." ↩

179. "Inconsequence in the connections, abruptness in the transitions." ↩

180. A Homily was a popular exposition. Origen's writings were of three kinds----tomes, properly sections ( volumina, Jerome), commentaries, homilies. ↩

181. Ps. cix. (cviii.) 1, 8. ↩

182. Acts i. 16. ↩

183. Ex persona Dei. On the prosopopoeia of Scripture, see Schleusner. The verb signifies personas fictos induco, personas fingo, or confingo. Cf. "The heavens declare the glory of God"; "The sea saw that and fled," etc. ↩

184. That is, "inaccurate expressions." ↩

185. Hos. xii. 4. ↩

186. Gen. ii. 16 f. ↩

187. One "thing." Cf. S. John x. 30, and see below. ↩

188. 1 Cor. x. 17. ↩

189. Cf. Eph. iv. 5 f. ↩

190. Cf. Rom. xii. 5 ; Gal. iii. 28. ↩

191. 2 Cor. xi. 2. ↩

192. The neuter. ↩

193. Cf. John xvii. 11, 21. ↩

194. Rom. xii. 5. ; Eph. iv. 25. ↩

195. Herm. Vis . xi. ↩

196. Rom, vii. 7. ↩

197. Gal. iii. 10; cf. Deut. xxvii. 26. ↩

198. Gal. iii. 19. ↩

199. Gal. iii. 24 ff. ↩

200. Gal. iv. 21 ff. ↩

201. John xv. 25; cf. Ps. xxxv. (xxxiv.) 19. ↩

202. 1 Cor. xiv. 21; cf. Isa. xxxviii. 11 f. ↩

203. Rom. vii. 14. ↩

204. Rom. ii. 14f. ↩

205. The governing part, or reason. The Stoics taught that the soul had eight parts, the hegemonicon or governing part, the five senses, the faculty of speech, and the generative force. The word occurs also in xx. 12 (rational and irrational), xx. 22, xxi. 3, xxvii. 2, xxvii. 13. ↩

206. Rom. v. 13. ↩

207. Rom. vii. 7. ↩

208. Jolm iv. 35. ↩

209. That is, "literal." See above. ↩

210. John ix. 39. ↩

211. Cf. Rom. iii. 21. ↩

212. John i. 18. ↩

213. Rom. ix. 33; 1 Pet. ii. 7; cf. Isa. viii. 14. ↩

214. Rom. ix. 33; cf. Isa. xxviii. 16. ↩

215. Matt. xii. 36. ↩

216. Cf. Matt. v. 18. ↩

217. Ezek. xxxiv. 17 ff. ↩

218. Ezek. xxxiv. 19. ↩

219. Ps. ciii. (cii.) 1. ↩

220. 1 Cor. xiv. 14. ↩

221. Cf. Matt. ix. 29. ↩

222. Cf. 2 Tim. iii. 16. ↩

223. Gregory Thaumaturgus, so called from his miracles, converted by Origen about 234 A.D., afterwards Bishop of his native place, Neocaesarea in Cappadocia. ↩

224. Ex. xi. 2; xii. 35 f. ↩

225. Lit., "things received," viz. "in the Mount," Ex. xxv. 40, etc. ↩

226. Ex. xxvii. 16. ↩

227. 1 Kings xi. 14 ff. In the text, Ader (accurately, Eder, 1 Chron. viii. 15). ↩

228. 1 Kings xii. 28 f., Jeroboam. ↩

229. John x. 3. ↩

230. Matt. vii. 7; Luke xi. 9. ↩

231. Heb. iii. 14. ↩

232. Gen. i. 16 ff. ↩

233. " In principatum." ↩

234. " Ut proeessent." In Greek the Infinitive. ↩

235. " In potestatem." ↩

236. " Ut potestatem habeant." ↩

237. John v. 19. ↩

238. John i. 29. ↩

239. 2 Cor. v. 19. ↩

240. Lit., "distinction of points, or stops." ↩

241. I take this to be Origen's meaning. Cf. Westcott, Introduction to the Gospel of St. John, p. 50. ↩

242. 1 Cor. ii. 4 f. ↩

243. Cf. 1 Cor. ii. 4. ↩

244. "Sermonis gratia allicere ad obsequium: sicut veteres in ore Herculis aureas catenas finxerunt, quae vulgus hominum auribus traherent."----Calvin on Ps. xlv. 3. ↩

245. Ps. lxviii. (lxvii.) 12. ↩

246. Plat. Ep. vii. 341 C, D. ↩

247. Rom. i. 19. ↩

248. Cf. Rom. i. .18 ff. ↩

249. Plat. Ep., ibid. ↩

250. Cf. Plat. Rep. i. 327, A. ↩

251. Cf. Plat. Phaedo, 118, A. ↩

252. "Noumena" as opposed to "phoenomena." ↩

253. Rom. i. 25. ↩

254. 1 Cor. i. 27 ff. ↩

255. Or, "Word = Scripture." ↩

256. Cf. Plat. Ep. vii. 341 C, D. ↩

257. Hos. x. 12. ↩

258. John i. 4, 9. ↩

259. Cf. Matt. v. 14. ↩

260. 2 Cor. iv. 6. ↩

261. Ps. xxvii. (xxvi.) 1. ↩

262. Ps. cxix. (cxviii.) 105. ↩

263. Ps. iv. 7. ↩

264. Ps. xxxvi. (xxxv.) 10. ↩

265. Isa. lx. 1, ↩

266. Matt. iv. 16, ↩

267. Cf. Isa. ix. 2. ↩

268. Cf. Matt, xxv. 4. ↩

269. Plato, Crito, 49 B. ↩

270. 1 Cor. ii. 5; cf. i. 26; 2 Cor. i. 12. ↩

271. Luke vi. 29. ↩

272. Matt. v. 40. ↩

273. Isa. liii. 1 ff. ↩

274. Sept. paidi/on . Heb. Sugens = tenera planta.----Schleusner. ↩

275. Ps. xlv. (xliv.) 4 f. ↩

276. Cf. Matt. xvii. 1 f. ↩

277. Luke ix. 30 f. ↩

278. Isa. liii. 2. ↩

279. Or, " the prophecy," viz. in Ps. xlv. above referred to. ↩

280. "Demiurge." ↩

281. Cf. Matt. xvii. 6. ↩

282. Or, forms." ↩

283. "The Divine Word," introducing a quotation from St. Paul, is found in Theophilus of Antioch as a name for Holy Scripture. ---- Sanday, Inspiration, p. 28. ↩

284. Cf. Matt. xvii. 1. ↩

285. See Cont. Cels. vi. 68, "Caused us to ascend to the lofty mountain of His Word," etc. ↩

286. Isa. liii. 2 f. ↩

287. 1 Cor. i. 21. ↩

288. Matt, xvi. 18. ↩

289. Ps. ix. (viii.), 14. ↩

290. Cf. Mark iii. 1. ↩

291. Matt. i. 1. ↩

292. John xxi. 25. ↩

293. Cf. 2 Cor. xii. 2 ff. ↩

294. John i. 1. ↩

295. Phil. ii. 7. ↩

296. In the Apocalypse (xix. 13) the "Word of God" is a title of the Son of God. ↩

297. John i. 14. ↩

298. Cf. John xiii. 25; Matt. xvii. 1. ↩

299. Cf. John i. 14. ↩

300. 1 Cor. ii. 7. ↩

301. The Dogmatici, Empirici, Methodici, Pneumatici, Eclectici, etc. ↩

302. 1 Cor. xi. 19. ↩

303. Cf. Rom. iii. 29. ↩

304. 2 Tim. i. 3. ↩

305. Tertullian called those who rejected the Montanist view Psychici, that is, animal or carnal: while the followers of Montanus were called Spiritales, spiritual. See Snicer. The Gnostics also reproached Catholic Christians as being ignorant, animal, and worldly, but called themselves spiritual, perfect. ↩

306. Cor. iv. 12f. ↩

307. Tit. iii. 10 f. ↩

308. Matt. v. 9. ↩

309. Matt. v. 5. ↩

310. De Interp. Bk. i. part 1, chap. 2. See also Plato, Cratylus. Hermogenes, one of the speakers, maintained that all the words of a language were formed by an agreement of men among themselves, or were conventional. "Do you prefer the notion of Hermogenes and of many others who say that names are conventional, and have a meaning to those who have agreed about them, and who have previous knowledge of the things intended by them, and that convention is the only principle?"----(Jowett's translation.) ↩

311. According to Epicurus words, were formed originally, not by an arbitrary, but by a natural process, in correspondence with our sensations and ideas. ----Ueberweg. Hist. Phil. I. p. 206. "Democritus, and after him, Epicurus, say that speech consists of elementary parts (in Physics, atoms), and, to use their own expression, call it a stream of words."----A. Gellius, Bk. v. c. 15, quoted by Selwyn. ↩

312. The Brahmans were the hereditary priests of the Indian Theosophists. The Samaneans were picked men, recruited from those who wished to be Theosophists. They were also found among the Bactrians of Persia. ↩

313. "Demiurge." ↩

314. Lit., "after ": the names being given after the demons. See L. and Sc. ↩

315. "Demiurge." ↩

316. Plat. Phileb. 12 B, C. ↩

317. That is, "Zeus." ↩

318. Lit., "If we translate into Greek him that was originally called (or invoked)," etc. ↩

319. The point of the passage appears to be the difference between translation and transliteration. These translations correspond to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ↩

320. Cf. Plat. Phileb. 12 B, C. ↩

321. See Clem. Aleu., Exhortation to the Heathen, chap. 2. "The token of the Sabazian mysteries to the initiated is the deity gliding over the breast, the deity being this serpent crawling over the breast of the initiated." Zeus was said to have intercourse with his daughter Core (Persephone) in the shape of a dragon or serpent (see p. 83). ↩

322. "From her being an infernal divinity, she came to be regarded as a spectral being, who sent at night all kinds of demons and terrible phantoms from the lower world." ↩

323. Or, "since probability is the guide of human life." ↩

324. 1 Cor. iii. 18 f. ↩

325. Others translate, "and that it was only in certain circumstances that the latter course was desired by Christianity, in order not to leave men altogether without help." The meaning perhaps is that bare faith is better than leaving men altogether unprofitable, or hurtful. ↩

326. 1 Cor. i. 21. ↩

327. Lit., "Arrangement of the offer (of the Gospel"), as opposed to the matter." ↩

328. 1 Cor. ii. 4 f. ↩

329. Matt. iv. 19. ↩

330. 1 Cor. ii. 4. ↩

331. Ps. lxviii. (lxvii.) 12 f. ↩

332. Jerome----"Dominus dabit verbum Evangelizantibus virtute multa, Rex virtutum Dilecti." ↩

333. Ps. cxlvii. 15. ↩

334. Cf. Ps. xix. (xviii.) 5. ↩

335. Matt. ix. 37 f. ↩

336. Ep. Barn. v. 9. ↩

337. Luke v. 8. ↩

338. 1 Tim. i. 15. ↩

339. Tit. iii. 3 ff. ↩

340. Ps. cvii. (cvi.) 20. ↩

341. Matt. x. 23. ↩

342. John xiv. 6. ↩

343. John viii. 40. ↩

344. Others, "Be led by human guidance to keep out of the way of dangers." ↩

345. Cf. Gen. xix. 11. ↩

346. " Proprie."---- Bp. Bull. ↩

347. 1 Cor. i. 24. ↩

348. Matt. v. 28. ↩

349. Or, "the 'word' of Christians." See below. ↩

350. PS. li. (l.)8. ↩

351. Cf. 2 Chron. i. 10. ↩

352. 1 Kings x. 1 ff. ↩

353. 1 Kings iv. 29 ff. ↩

354. "Problems." ↩

355. Hos. xiv. 9. ↩

356. Dan. i. 20. ↩

357. Ezek. xxviii. 3. ↩

358. Mark iv. 11, 34. ↩

359. Matt. xxiii. 34. ↩

360. 1 Cor. xii. 8 ff. ↩

361. Acts vii. 11. ↩

362. Ex. vii. 22. ↩

363. Cf. 1 Cor. ii. 6. ↩

364. Rom. i. 21. ↩

365. Rom. i. 19 ff. ↩

366. Or, "spiritual." ↩

367. 1 Cor. i. 26 ff. ↩

368. Cf. Tit. i. 9. ↩

369. Cf. 1 Tim. iii. 2. ↩

370. 1 Tim. iv. 10. ↩

371. 1 John ii. 2. ↩

372. Others see an allusion to the jugglers in the market-places, and render, "performing their disgraceful tricks," etc. ↩

373. For the Catechumens (instructed privately without the Church), the Hearers (so called from their being admitted to hear sermons and the Scriptures read in the Church), the Kneelers, the Competentes (petitioners for baptism), and Electi (candidates approved), the Registers, etc., see Bingham, Book x. chap. II. ↩

374. The Catechumens were treated with more moderation than others, because "their sins were committed whilst they were unregenerate in the old man, and therefore were more easily pardoned than crimes committed by believers after baptism."----See Bingham, Book x. chap. II. sec. xvii. ↩

375. 1 Cor. iii. 2 f. ↩

376. Heb. v. 12ff. ↩

377. Cf. Rom. i. 14. ↩

378. Prov. viii. 5. ↩

379. Prov. ix. 4ff., 16. ↩

380. Or, "Ye Greeks, it seems, may invite, etc. . . . and yet, if we do so, there is no motive of humanity in what we do, though we wish," etc. ↩

381. The Athenian legislator, born about 638 B.C. ↩

382. The Spartan legislator, probably about 800 B.C. ↩

383. The Locrian legislator, the date of his legislation is assigned to 660 B.C. His code is said to have been the first collection of written laws that the Greeks possessed. ↩

384. 1 Cor. i. 27. ↩

385. Rom. i. 22 f. ↩

386. Antinous was the favourite of the Emperor Hadrian. He was drowned in the Nile, 122 A.D. Hadrian enrolled him among the gods, etc. See Cont. Cels. iii. 36, 37. ↩

387. This is explained below, "Men are more or less fortunate in their beliefs." ↩

388. Lit., "Faith having first taken possession of us produces such an assent, or submission, to Jesus." ↩

389. Or, "piety." ↩

390. Waterland says, "It is difficult to express the full force of this passage in English." ↩

391. Lat., secundae. ↩

392. Grasses, or any plants that bear leaves and seeds from the root. ↩

393. Or, "roots." ↩

394. Ps. civ. (ciii.) 14 f. ↩

395. Ecclus. xxxix. 21 17. ↩

396. Cf. Hom. Od. ix. 109. ↩

397. Others, "that it was only the things on earth which underwent deluges and conflagrations, and that all these things did not happen at the same time." ↩

398. See Plato, Legg. 677 B. ↩

399. Hesiod. ↩

400. Or, "assemblies." ↩

401. Or, "destroy their useful doctrines, and at the same time the agreement of Christianity and philosophy in these respects." ↩

402. Admit them among rational creatures? ↩

403. Ecclus. xvi. 27, "He garnished his works for ever." Wisd. xi. 20, "Thou hast ordered all things in measure and number and weight." Origen's word is the same as that in the former, but equivalent to the word used in the latter. ↩

404. Cf. Gen. i. 26. ↩

405. "Logos, or Word." ↩

406. Prov. xxx. 24 ff. (xxiv. 59 ff.). ↩

407. John xvi. 25. ↩

408. Or, "have certain sacred modes of converse with one another." ↩

409. Circ. 544 B.C. Generally regarded as the teacher of Pythagoras. ↩

410. Ps. xlix. (xlviii.) 12, 20. ↩

411. The conjectural reading. ↩

412. Iliad, ii. 308 ff. (Lord Derby's translation). ↩

413. Hom. Il. xii. 200 ff. ↩

414. Hom. Il. ii. 309. ↩

415. Cf. Hom. Od. xv. 526. ↩

416. Cf. Lev. xi. ↩

417. John xii. 31; 2 Cor. iv. 4. ↩

418. Cf. Hom. Od. iv. 685, xx. 116, 119. ↩

419. Hom. Od. xx. 120. ↩

420. Cf. Hom. Od. xvii. 541 ff. ↩

421. Lev. xix. 26. ↩

422. Deut, xviii. 14; cf. 12. ↩

423. Deut, xviii. 15. ↩

424. Num. xxiii. 23. ↩

425. Prov. iv. 23. ↩

426. Cf. 2 Cor. iv. 6. ↩

427. Cf. Rom. viii. 14. ↩

428. Ex. xxiv. 2. ↩

429. Or, "complete and perfect in all respects." ↩

430. See Chap. xxi. 2, "promptings to the contemplation of virtue and vice." ↩

431. Or, "is included in." ↩

432. Inanimate nature. ↩

433. Animate nature. Lit., "by nature and a soul." Cf. Arist. Nic. Eth. Bk. III. c. 1, "The man acts voluntarily, because the originating of the motion of his limbs in such actions rests with himself; and where the origination rests in himself, it rests with himself to do or not to do" (Chase's translation). ↩

434. Lit., "out of." ↩

435. So Rufinus explains "phantasy," voluntas vel sensus. ↩

436. Or, "speaking generally." Others translate, "the greater part of the nature assigned to all things is a varying quantity among animals." ↩

437. Rufinus----" naturalem corporis intemperiem. " ↩

438. See Ellicott on 1 Tim. ii. 2, "Decency and propriety of deportment." ↩

439. Mic. vi. 8. ↩

440. Deut. xxx. 19. ↩

441. Isa. i. 19. ↩

442. Ps. lxxxi. (lxxx.) 13 f. ↩

443. Matt. v. 39. ↩

444. Matt. v. 22. ↩

445. Matt. v. 28. ↩

446. Matt. vii. 24, 26. ↩

447. Matt. xxv. 34 f. ↩

448. Matt. xxv. 41. . ↩

449. Rom. ii. 4 ff. ↩

450. Ex. iv. 21, vii. 3. ↩

451. Ex. xi. 19 f. ↩

452. Mark iv. 20 ; cf. Luke viii. 10. ↩

453. Rom. ix. 16. ↩

454. Cf. Phil. ii. 13. ↩

455. Rom. ix. 18 f. ↩

456. R.V. "This persuasion came not of him that calleth you." ↩

457. Cf. Gal. v. 8. ↩

458. Rom. ix. 20 f. ↩

459. Rom. ix. 18. ↩

460. Cf. Ex. iv. 23, ix. 17. ↩

461. Cf. Ex. xii. 12. ↩

462. According to others, "If any one should stand, declaring with uncovered head that the Creator of the world was inclined to wickedness," etc. ↩

463. Heb. vi. 7 f. ↩

464. The word denotes the deliberate selection of a course of conduct. ↩

465. Others, "as regards the point in question." ↩

466. Cf. Ex. viii. 28. ↩

467. Rom. ii. 4 f. ↩

468. Isa. lxiii. 17 f. ↩

469. Jer. xx. 7. ↩

470. Isa. lxiii. 17. ↩

471. Sus. 42. ↩

472. Cf. Luke xiv. 11. ↩

473. Cf. Matt. xi. 25; 1 Cor. i. 29. ↩

474. Others, "he that is abandoned is abandoned to the Divine judgment." ↩

475. Matt. xiii. 5 f. ↩

476. Or, "applied"; lit. "cast upon." ↩

477. That is, "check the growth." ↩

478. Or, "to us," that is, "in our opinion." ↩

479. Wisd. vii. 16. ↩

480. Cf. Ex. vii. 14 ; Rom. ix. 18. ↩

481. Ezek. xi. 19, 20. ↩

482. Mark iv. 11 f. ↩

483. "Demiurge." ↩

484. Sus. 42. ↩

485. Lit., "helping them does not help." ↩

486. Cf. Mark iv. 11. ↩

487. Cf. Matt. xi. 21. ↩

488. Lit., "the things of those without." ↩

489. Or, "in addition to our inquiring." ↩

490. Rom. ix. 16. ↩

491. Or, "the 'furniture' which God gave them for life." Cf. Eur. Supp. 214. ↩

492. Or, "deliberate purpose." ↩

493. The same phrase as in Chap. xviii. 26. ↩

494. Rom. ix. 15. ↩

495. Or, "Degrees." ↩

496. Ps. cxxvii. (cxxvi.) 1 f. ↩

497. Cf. Phil. iii. 14. ↩

498. Rom. ix. 16. ↩

499. 1 Cor. iii. 6f. ↩

500. Or, "our own free will." ↩

501. Cf. Phil. ii. 13. ↩

502. Rom. ix. 18 ff. ↩

503. 2 Cor. xii. 21. ↩

504. 2 Tim. i. 16 ff. ↩

505. 2 Cor. v. 10. ↩

506. 2 Tim. ii. 20 f. ↩

507. Either ( a ) God's foreknowledge of man's efforts, or ( b ) the soul's conduct in a prior state of existence, or ( c ) both. ↩

508. Rom. ix. 20. ↩

509. Ex. xix. 19. ↩

510. Rom. ix. 19. ↩

511. Rom. ix. 20. ↩

512. That is, "soul natures, perishing or being saved." Rufinus---- "Diversas animarum naturas." ↩

513. 2 Tim. ii. 21. ↩

514. Rom. ix. 21. ↩

515. The Greek word occurs in 2 Macc. iii. 39, vii. 35, 3 Macc. ii. 21. Schleusner gives inspector as the equivalent. L. and Sc. "overseer, watcher, esp. of a god." "Intendant," an officer who superintends, is perhaps the least cumbrous and the least ambiguous for our purpose. For the different Greek word in Dan. iv. 13, translated watcher (not a guardian, but a wakeful one), see Driver's Daniel, page 49. ↩

516. The ruling spirits. ↩

517. The same word as above. See Huetii Origeniana, lib. ii. c. ii. quaest. v. 26, "De angelis tutelaribus. Assignatos esse angelos ut curam earum pastorum instar gererent, et primitias ex iis Deo offerrent, homines nimirum qui meritis praecellerent et virtute, eorumque pias cogitationes." Origen thought that both bad and good angels might have "provinces." "Neque enim, inquit, fas est credere malos angelos suis proeesse provinciis et bonos non easdem provincias habere permissas."---- Cont. Cels. lib. viii. 34, Hom. 12 in Luc. ↩

518. Explained above. ↩

519. Sophrosune , "Perfected self-mastery." ↩

520. Deut. xxxii. 8 f. ↩

521. Gen. xi. 1 ff. ↩

522. Wisd. x. 5. ↩

523. Tob. xii. 7. ↩

524. Cf. Matt. vii. 6. ↩

525. Wisd. i. 4. ↩

526. See Chap. i. (heading) for "invented history." ↩

527. Gen. xi. 3. ↩

528. Cf. Gen. xi. 4. ↩

529. Cf. Deut. xxxii. 9. ↩

530. Cf. Rom. i. 28, 26, 24. ↩

531. Cf. Gal. i. 4. ↩

532. Cf. 1 Cor. ii. 6. ↩

533. Ps. ii. 8. ↩

534. Gen. xlix. 10. ↩

535. See the De Princip. Bk. i. c. 7, s. 3. It was Origen's belief that the stars were living beings, capable of receiving commandments from God. ↩

536. Eumque rerum istarum fontem esse ac principium esse negabunt.----Viger. ↩

537. "Demiurge." But Waterland (i. p. 383, Ox. 1843) says "the three words texni/thj, dhmiourgo_j , and poihth&j , especially the two last, seem to have been used by the ancients promiscuously; and to have been applied indifferently to Father or Son, as they had occasion to mention either." See also, note 71. ↩

538. Gen. i. 14. ↩

539. Sus. 42 f. ↩

540. 1 Kings xii. 32. ↩

541. 1 Kings xiii. 1 ff. ↩

542. 1 Kings xiii. 5. ↩

543. Reading u(pakou~sai . See Schleusner. ↩

544. Lit. "strength." ↩

545. Isa. xlv. ff. ↩

546. Cf. Dan. ii. 37 ff. ↩

547. R.V. "the river." "The Eulaeus was a large artificial canal some 900 feet broad, of which traces remain, though it is now dry."----Prof. Driver. ↩

548. Dan. viii. 5 ff. ↩

549. Luke xxi. 20. ↩

550. Ps. cix. (cviii.) 12, 16 f. ↩

551. Or, "giving an oracular response." ↩

552. Or, "common moral notions." ↩

553. Jer. xxvi. (xxxiii.) 3. ↩

554. Ex. iv. 11. R.V. "Dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind." ↩

555. Ps. cix. (cviii.) ff. ↩

556. Ps. cix. (cviii.) 16. ↩

557. Eur. Phoen. 18 ff. ↩

558. Cf. John ii. 25. ↩

559. Matt. xxvi. 23. ↩

560. Viger---- singularem horam. Of birth? ↩

561. Or, "productive." How we are to tell when the stars are causative, and when they are merely indicative. ↩

562. Cf. Test. Aser , 7. ↩

563. Isa. xxxiv. 4. ↩

564. Gen. i. 14. ↩

565. Jer. x. 2. ↩

566. Following ABC; Viger, "vel leviter haerere." ↩

567. Eusebius, "shooting stars." ↩

568. "Twelfth part." ↩

569. "Thinkable, intelligible." Viger----" quod mente percipitur." ↩

570. " Contemperatio ." ↩

571. "A mathematician ( i.e. astrologer) can indeed indicate the desire which a malignant power produces; but whether the acting or the issue of this desire shall be fulfilled or not, no one can know before the accomplishment of the thing, because it depends upon freedom of will."---- Recognitions of Clement, Bk. x. c. xii. ↩

572. Isa. xlvii. 13. ↩

573. Cf. Test. Aser., 7. ↩

574. 2 Cor. xii. 4. ↩

575. Wisd. viii. 18. ↩

576. "The fire of God." See 2 Esd. iv. 1, 36, v. 20, x. 28 In the second of these passages he is called "the Archangel." ↩

577. Rom. ix. 17. ↩

578. Cf. Ex. ix. 16. ↩

579. Cf. Heb. i. 14. ↩

580. Lit., "take." ↩

581. For the story of Clement being appointed S. Peter's attendant, for the doings at Laodicea, and how Clement discovered his father in the poor old workman, and the discussions between father and son, see the Clementine Recognitions, vii. 25, viii. 1, etc. ↩

582. That is, the travels of S. Peter. ↩

583. In popular language mathematici was the exclusive name for astrologers, who were so called from employing diagrams used by geometricians. ↩

584. Had returned at the end of its cycle. ↩

585. From the point of opposition. ↩

586. From the centre (mid-heaven). ↩

587. Through the kindness of the Rev. P. H. Kempthorne I am favoured by E. Walter Maunder, Esq., F.E.A.S., with some notes on this difficult passage. As regards the phrase rendered "retrograding," Mr. Maunders writes: "In a modern horoscope no planet could be left outside it. I think it just possible that it (the phrase) may mean 'contrary to its proper course,' that is to say, ' retrograding,' but I am not sure of this. If it does not mean this, I think it must mean 'not operative,' 'negligible.' " ↩

588. Lit., "unconnected with." ↩

589. In an (ill-omened) "house." ↩

590. Lit. "not conjoined." ↩

591. Perhaps, the Zodiac. Others translate, "the circle is equally complete in every part." Possibly, "co-extensive with," wide as, the heavens. ↩

592. See Plat. Gorg. 506 E. Another rendering is "in things unordered." ↩

593. Viger---- "Si ex rerum genitarum ortu atque natura in eam te mentem adductum esse diceres, id ortu carere materiam putares ." ↩

594. "Are spontaneous" does not quite convey the meaning, because the architect is supposed to create the skill. ↩

595. "Demiurge." ↩

596. The word denotes the mixing of two things, so that they are blended and form a compound, as in wine and water. ↩

597. The word denotes mixing, as of two sorts of grain----mechanical mixture. ↩

598. See Robinson, p. xli. et seq ↩

599. Rom. i. 1. ↩

600. Gal. i. 15 f. ↩

601. Ps. Iviii. (Ivii.) 3. ↩

602. Rom. viii. 28 ff. ↩

603. Or, predestination, and so throughout. ↩

604. For salvation or perdition. ↩

605. Rom. viii. 29. ↩

606. Cf. Col. i. 15. ↩

607. According to Origen, God created a finite number of souls to begin with; they were all equal, not in fixed classes; gifted with free will, and capable of growing better or worse. The soul of Christ, like all souls, pre-existed from the beginning of the world. By its decision for the good, and by its virtue, it was fitted for unflinchingly carrying out all the will and all the saving revelations of the Word and Wisdom. The Logos dwelt in an unique manner in this soul. At the commencement of creation, it is true, He was united with all souls; but this one alone clung to Him so closely, faithfully, and unchangeably, that it became one spirit with Him.----See Dorner, Doctrine of the Person of Christ, div. I. vol. ii., p. 138. ↩

608. Cf. Sus. 42. ↩

609. Rom. viii. 28 f. ↩

610. Matt. xxv. 21, 23. ↩

611. Matt. xxv. 26 f. ↩

612. Matt. xxv. 34 f. ↩

613. Matt. xxv. 41 f. ↩

614. Rom. i. 1. ↩

615. Gal. i. 15. ↩

616. 1 Cor. ix. 27. ↩

617. 1 Cor. ix. 16. ↩

618. 2 Cor. xi. 2:3 ff. ↩

619. Cf. Rom. v. 3 f. ↩

620. Or, on "purpose," "choice," or "deliberate preference," which is a part of the voluntary, but not co-extensive with it. For Aristotle's description of the Chief Good as "that which all things aim at," and for the discussion of various theories concerning the Chief Good and Happiness, see Arist. Eth. Nic. bk. 1 (Chase's translation). ↩

621. Ps. iv. 6. ↩

622. "Does happiness come from self? Is it a thing that can be learned, or acquired by habituation or discipline of some other kind? Does it come in the way of Divine dispensation, or even in the way of chance?"----Arist. Eth. Nic. bk. i. 7. ↩

623. Making happiness a mere external thing. ↩

624. Making happiness = internal good, "living well and doing well." ↩

625. Matt. xxv. 21, 23. ↩

626. Luke vi. 45. ↩

627. Ex. xv. 20. ↩

628. Deut. xxviii. 58 ff . ↩

629. Lev. xxvi. 16. ↩

630. Cf. Deut. xxxii. 24. ↩

631. " Opisthonia, tetanic recurvation; Pliny's dolor ( cervicum ) inflexibilis ." ↩

632. Lev. xxvi. 3 ff. ↩

633. Deut. xxviii. 1 ff. ↩

634. Sept., "remainders," from misunderstanding the Heb. root. ↩

635. Deut. xxviii. 16 ff. ↩

636. Cf. Matt. iv. 23, ix. 35. ↩

637. Cf. Matt. iv. 24. ↩

638. "Demiurge." ↩

639. Cf. 1 Kings xvii. 8 f. ↩

640. Cf. 2 Kings iv. 8 ff., xiii. 14. ↩

641. Cf. Isa. xx. 3. ↩

642. Cf. Jer. xxxviii. (xlv.) 6, ix. 2. ↩

643. Cf. Matt. iii. 4. ↩

644. Cf. Rom. v. 3. ↩

645. Cf. 2 Cor. iv. 8 f., iv. 9 f. ↩

646. Ps. xxxiv. (lxxxiii.) 19. ↩

647. Job xl. 3. ↩

648. Cf. Rom. viii. 28. ↩

649. Cf. Deut. xv. 6. ↩

650. Some MSS. omit "the righteous man." ↩

651. Ps. xv. (xiv.) 5. ↩

652. Cf. Exek. xviii. 8. ↩

653. Prov. xiii. 8. ↩

654. Isa. i. 6. ↩

655. "Happiness," according to Aristotle, "combines the good, the noble, the pleasurable; and though external prosperity is not of its essence, yet it is necessary to its full development" (Chase---- Analysis of Arist. Eth. Nic. c. 6). ↩

656. Ps. cxxvii. (cxxvi.) 1. ↩

657. Cf. Ezek. xxviii. 15. ↩

658. Cf. Isa. xiv. 12. ↩

659. Cf. Rom. ix. 16. ↩

660. Ps. iv. 6. ↩

661. Job ii. 10. ↩

662. Mic. i. 12 ; cf. Jer. xvii. 27. ↩

663. Ex. x. 27. ↩

664. Ex. vii. 3. ↩

665. "Demiurge." ↩

666. Rom. ix. 18. ↩

667. Sound. ↩

668. Ex. x. 27. ↩

669. Cf. Ex. iv. 23. ↩

670. Rom. ix. 18. ↩

671. Ex. x. 27. ↩

672. Hos. iv. 14. ↩

673. Ex. vii. 3. ↩

674. Cf. Matt. vii. 8. ↩

675. Ex. xii. 38. ↩

676. Ps. xxxii. (xxxi.) 10. ↩

677. Prov. iii. 12. ↩

678. Ps. lxxxix. (lxxxviii.) 30 ff. ↩

679. Cf. Hos. iv. 14. ↩

680. Cf. Ezek. xxiv. 13. ↩

681. Ezek. vii. 27, et passim. ↩

682. Ex. vii. 5. ↩

683. 2 Macc. vi. 12 ff. ↩

684. 3 Kings ii. 6. ↩

685. The Jew----probably a Rabbi, whom Origen employed to teach him Hebrew. Cf. De Princip. i. 3, 4 (Hebraeus magister), iv. 26 (Hebraeus doctor). I am indebted to Dr. Sanday for the references. See also Chap, ii. 3 of this book. ↩

686. Ps. vi. 1, xxxviii. (xxxvii.) 1. ↩

687. Luke xii. 40. ↩

688. Cf. Acts v. 4. ↩

689. Acts xiii. 10 f. ↩

690. Cf. 1 Tim. i. 20. ↩

691. 1 Cor. v. 5. ↩

692. Ex. x. 27. ↩

693. Deut. viii. 2 f. ↩

694. Job xl. 8. ↩

695. Rom. ii. 4 ff. ↩

696. Rom. ix. 22. ↩

697. John ix. 39. ↩