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| Chapter XXXIX
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Chapter
XXXIX.
We must notice the remarks which Celsus next
makes, when he says to us, that “faith, having taken possession
of our minds, makes us yield the assent which we give to the doctrine
of Jesus;” for of a truth it is faith which does produce such an
assent. Observe, however, whether that faith does not of itself
exhibit what is worthy of praise, seeing we entrust ourselves to the
God who is over all, acknowledging our gratitude to Him who has led us
to such a faith, and declaring that He could not have attempted or
accomplished such a result without the divine assistance. And we
have confidence also in the intentions of the writers of the Gospels,
observing their piety and conscientiousness, manifested in their
writings, which contain nothing that is spurious, or
deceptive,3560
or false, or
cunning; for it is evident to us that souls unacquainted with those
artifices which are taught by the cunning sophistry of the Greeks
(which is characterized by great plausibility and acuteness), and by
the kind of rhetoric in vogue in the courts of justice, would not have
been able thus to invent occurrences which are fitted of themselves to
conduct to faith, and to a life in keeping with faith. And I am
of opinion that it was on this account that Jesus wished to employ such
persons as teachers of His doctrines, viz., that there might be no
ground for any suspicion of plausible sophistry, but that it might
clearly appear to all who were capable of understanding, that the
guileless purpose of the writers being, so to speak, marked with great
simplicity, was deemed worthy of being accompanied by a diviner power,
which accomplished far more than it seemed possible could be
accomplished by a periphrasis of words, and a weaving of sentences,
accompanied by all the distinctions of Grecian art.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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