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| Chapter LXXIX
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Chapter
LXXIX.
The conclusion of all these arguments regarding
Jesus is thus stated by the Jew: “He was therefore a man,
and of such a nature, as the truth itself proves, and reason
demonstrates him to be.” I do not know, however, whether a
man who had the courage to spread throughout the entire world his
doctrine of religious worship and teaching,3433
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could accomplish what he wished without the divine assistance, and
could rise superior to all who withstood the progress of his
doctrine—kings and rulers, and the Roman senate, and governors in
all places, and the common people. And how could the nature of a
man possessed of no inherent excellence convert so vast a
multitude? For it would not be wonderful if it were only the wise
who were so convened; but it is the most irrational of men, and those
devoted to their passions, and who, by reason of their irrationality,
change with the greater difficulty so as to adopt a more temperate
course of life. And yet it is because Christ was the power of God
and the wisdom of the Father that He accomplished, and still
accomplishes, such results, although neither the Jews nor Greeks who
disbelieve His word will so admit. And therefore we shall not
cease to believe in God, according to the precepts of Jesus Christ, and
to seek to convert those who are blind on the subject of religion,
although it is they who are truly blind themselves that charge us with
blindness: and they, whether Jews or Greeks, who lead astray
those that follow them, accuse us of seducing men—a good
seduction, truly!—that they may become temperate instead of
dissolute, or at least may make advances to temperance; may become just
instead of unjust, or at least may tend to become so; prudent instead
of foolish, or be on the way to become such; and instead of cowardice,
meanness, and timidity, may exhibit the virtues of fortitude and
courage, especially displayed in the struggles undergone for the sake
of their religion towards God, the Creator of all things. Jesus
Christ therefore came announced beforehand, not by one prophet, but by
all; and it was a proof of the ignorance of Celsus, to represent a Jew
as saying that one prophet only had predicted the advent of
Christ. But as this Jew of Celsus, after being thus introduced,
asserting that these things were indeed in conformity with his own law,
has somewhere here ended his discourse, with a mention of other matters
not worthy of remembrance, I too shall here terminate this second book
of my answer to his treatise. But if God permit, and the power of
Christ abide in my soul, I shall endeavour in the third book to deal
with the subsequent statements of Celsus.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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