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| Chapter LXIV
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Chapter
LXIV.
Celsus appears to me to have misunderstood the
statement of the apostle, which declares that “in the latter
times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits
and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their
conscience seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding
to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with
thanksgiving of them who believe;”4272
and to have misunderstood also those who employed these declarations of
the apostle against such as had corrupted the doctrines of
Christianity. And it is owing to this cause that Celsus has said
that “certain among the Christians are called ‘cauterized
in the ears;’”4273
| 4273 ἀκοῆς
καυστήρια.
Cf. note in Benedictine ed. | and also that some
are termed “enigmas,”4274
| 4274 αἰνίγματα.
Cf. note in Benedictine ed. | —a term
which we have never met. The expression
“stumbling-block”4275
is, indeed, of
frequent occurrence in these writings,—an appellation which we
are accustomed to apply to those who turn away simple persons, and
those who are easily deceived, from sound doctrine. But neither
we, nor, I imagine, any other, whether Christian or heretic, know of
any who are styled Sirens, who betray and deceive,4276
| 4276 ἐξορχουμένας
καὶ
σοφιστρίας. | and stop their ears, and change into swine
those whom they delude. And yet this man, who affects to know
everything, uses such language as the following: “You may
hear,” he says, “all those who differ so widely, and who
assail each other in their disputes with the most shameless language,
uttering the words, ‘The world is crucified to me, and I unto the
world.’” And this is the only phrase which, it
appears, Celsus could remember out of Paul’s writings; and yet
why should we not also employ innumerable other quotations from the
Scriptures, such as, “For though we do walk in the flesh, we do
not war after the flesh; (for the weapons of our warfare are not
carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds,)
casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself
against the knowledge of God?”4277
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