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| Chapter XLII
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Chapter
XLII.
It is evident that, by the preceding remarks,
Celsus charges the Jews with falsely giving themselves out as the
chosen portion of the Supreme God above all other nations. And he
accuses them of boasting, because they gave out that they knew the
great God, although they did not really know Him, but were led away by
the artifices of Moses, and were deceived by him, and became his
disciples to no good end. Now we have in the preceding pages
already spoken in part of the venerable and distinguished polity of the
Jews, when it existed amongst them as a symbol of the city of God, and
of His temple, and of the sacrificial worship offered in it and at the
altar of sacrifice. But if any one were to turn his attention to
the meaning of the legislator, and to the constitution which he
established, and were to examine the various points relating to him,
and compare them with the present method of worship among other
nations, there are none which he would admire to a greater degree;
because, so far as can be accomplished among mortals, everything that
was not of advantage to the human race was withheld from them, and only
those things which are useful bestowed.4219
| 4219 [Note this eulogy on
the law, even though it “made nothing perfect.”] | And for this reason they had neither
gymnastic contests, nor scenic representations, nor horse-races; nor
were there among them women who sold their beauty to any one who wished
to have sexual intercourse without offspring, and to cast contempt upon
the nature of human generation. And what an advantage was it to
be taught from their tender years to ascend above all visible nature,
and to hold the belief that God was not fixed anywhere within its
limits, but to look for Him on high, and beyond the sphere of all
bodily substance!4220
And how great
was the advantage which they enjoyed in being instructed almost from
their birth, and as soon as they could speak,4221
| 4221 συμπληρώσει
τοῦ λόγου. | in
the immortality of the soul, and in the existence of courts of justice
under the earth, and in the rewards provided for those who have lived
righteous lives! These truths, indeed, were proclaimed in the
veil of fable to children, and to those whose views of things were
childish; while to those who were already occupied in investigating the
truth, and desirous of making progress therein, these fables, so to
speak, were transfigured into the truths which were concealed within
them. And I consider that it was in a manner worthy of their name
as the “portion of God” that they despised all kinds of
divination, as that which bewitches men to no purpose, and which
proceeds rather from wicked demons than from anything of a better
nature; and sought the knowledge of future events in the souls of those
who, owing to their high degree of purity, received the spirit of the
Supreme God.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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