Bad Advertisement?
Are you a Christian?
Online Store:Visit Our Store
| Chapter LI
PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP 
Chapter LI.
On the present occasion, however, it is not our
object to enter into an explanation of the subject of intelligent and
sensible beings,4535
| 4535 περὶ νοητῶν
καὶ
αἰσθητῶν. | nor of the manner
in which the different kinds4536
| 4536 αἱ φύσεις
τῶν ἡμερῶν. | of days were
allotted to both sorts, nor to investigate the details which belong to
the subject, for we should need whole treatises for the exposition of
the Mosaic cosmogony; and that work we had already performed, to the
best of our ability, a considerable time before the commencement of
this answer to Celsus, when we discussed with such measure of capacity
as we then possessed the question of the Mosaic cosmogony of
the six days. We must keep in mind, however, that the Word
promises to the righteous through the mouth of Isaiah, that days will
come4537
| 4537 ἐν
καταστάσει
ἔσεσθαι
ἡμέρας. | when not the sun, but the Lord Himself, will be to them an everlasting light, and God
will be their glory.4538
And it is
from misunderstanding, I think, some pestilent heresy which gave an
erroneous interpretation to the words, “Let there be
light,” as if they were the expression of a wish4539
merely on the part of the Creator, that
Celsus made the remark: “The Creator did not borrow light
from above, like those persons who kindle their lamps at those of their
neighbours.” Misunderstanding, moreover, another impious
heresy, he has said: “If, indeed, there did exist an
accursed god opposed to the great God, who did this contrary to his
approval, why did he lend him the light?” So far are we
from offering a defence of such puerilities, that we desire, on the
contrary, distinctly to arraign the statements of these heretics as
erroneous, and to undertake to refute, not those of their opinions with
which we are unacquainted, as Celsus does, but those of which we
have attained an accurate knowledge, derived in part from the
statements of their own adherents, and partly from a careful perusal of
their writings.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
