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| Chapter II
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Chapter II.
I have made these remarks in reply to the charges
which Celsus and others bring against the simplicity of the language of
Scripture, which appears to be thrown into the shade by the splendour
of polished discourse. For our prophets, and Jesus Himself, and
His apostles, were careful to adopt4284
a style of
address which should not merely convey the truth, but which should be
fitted to gain over the multitude, until each one, attracted and led
onwards, should ascend as far as he could towards the comprehension of
those mysteries which are contained in these apparently simple
words. For, if I may venture to say so, few have been benefited
(if they have indeed been benefited at all) by the beautiful and
polished style of Plato, and those who have written like him;4285
| 4285 [See Dr.
Burton’s Bampton Lectures On the Heresies of the Apostolic
Age, pp. 198, 529. S.] | while, on the contrary, many have received
advantage from those who wrote and taught in a simple and practical
manner, and with a view to the wants of the multitude. It is
easy, indeed, to observe that Plato is found only in the hands of those
who profess to be literary men;4286
while
Epictetus is admired by persons of ordinary capacity, who have a desire
to be benefited, and who perceive the improvement which may be derived
from his writings. Now we make these remarks, not to disparage
Plato (for the great world of men has found even him useful), but to
point out the aim of those who said: “And my speech and my
preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in
demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that our faith should not
stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.”4287
For the word of God declares that the
preaching (although in itself true and most worthy of belief) is not
sufficient to reach the human heart, unless a certain power be imparted
to the speaker from God, and a grace appear upon his words; and it is
only by the divine agency that this takes place in those who speak
effectually. The prophet says in the sixty-seventh
Psalm, that “the Lord
will give a word with great
power to them who preach.”4288
| 4288 Such is the reading of
the Septuagint version. The Masoretic text has: “The
Lord gave a word; of them who published it there was a great
host.” [Cf. Ps.
lxviii. 11. S.] | If,
then, it should be granted with respect to certain points, that the
same doctrines are found among the Greeks as in our own Scriptures, yet
they do not possess the same power of attracting and disposing the
souls of men to follow them. And therefore the disciples of
Jesus, men ignorant so far as regards Grecian philosophy, yet traversed
many countries of the world, impressing, agreeably to the desire of the
Logos, each one of their hearers according to his deserts, so that they
received a moral amelioration in proportion to the inclination of their
will to accept of that which is good.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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