Hence
God could never receive a mutation of this kind*.
God could never receive a mutation of this kind*.
Tacitus
Let us now hear who those are that are called to the Christian
mysteries. '_Whoever is a sinner, whoever is unwise, whoever is a
fool, and whoever, in short, is miserable, him the kingdom of God will
receive_. ' Do you not therefore call a sinner, an unjust man, a thief,
a housebreaker, a wizard, one who is sacrilegious, and a robber of
sepulchres? What other persons would the crier nominate, who should call
robbers together?
"God, according to the Christians, descended to men; and, as consequent
to this, it was fancied that he had left his own proper abode.
"God, however, being unknown among men [as the Christians say], and in
consequence of this appearing to be in a condition inferior to that of
a divine being, was not willing to be known, and therefore made trial of
those who believed and of those who did not believe in him; just as
men who have become recently rich, call on God as a witness of their
abundant and entirely mortal ambition.
{23}
"The Christians have asserted nothing paradoxical or new concerning a
deluge or a conflagration, but have perverted the doctrine of the
Greeks and barbarians, that in long periods of time, and recursions and
concursions of the stars, conflagrations and deluges take place; and
also that after the last deluge, which was that of Deucalion, the period
required, conformably to the mutation of wholes, a conflagration*.
This the Christians, however, have perverted by representing God as
descending with fire as a spy.
"Again, we will repeat and confirm by many arguments, an assertion which
has nothing in it novel, but was formerly universally acknowledged. God
is good, is beautiful and blessed, and his very nature consists in that
which is most beautiful and the best. If therefore he descended to men,
his nature must necessarily be changed. But the change must be from good
to evil, and from the beautiful to the base, from felicity to
infelicity, and from that which is most excellent to that which is most
worthless. Who, however, would choose to be thus changed? Besides, to be
changed and transformed pertains to that which is naturally mortal; but
an invariable
* See Taylor's translation of Proclus on the Timæus of
Plato, Book I.
{24}
sameness of subsistence is the prerogative of an immortal nature.
Hence
God could never receive a mutation of this kind*.
"Either God is in reality changed, as the Christians say, into a mortal
body,--and we have before shown that this is impossible; or he himself
is not changed, but he causes those who behold him to think that he is,
and thus falsifies himself, and involves others in error. Deception,
however, and falsehood are indeed otherwise evil, and can only be
[properly] employed by any one as a medicine, either in curing friends
that are diseased or have some vicious propensity, or those that are
insane, or for the purpose of avoiding danger from enemies. But no one
who has vicious propensities, or is insane, is dear to Divinity.
Nor does God fear any one, in order that by wandering he may escape
danger**.
* See a most admirable defence of the immutability of
Divinity, by Proclus, in Taylor's Introduction to the Second
and Third Books of Plato's Republic, in vol. i. of his
translation of Plato's Works. See also Taylor's note at the
end of vol. iii. of his translation of Pausanias, p. 235.
** The original of this sentence is, [--------] the latter
part of which, [--------], is thus, erroneously translated
by Spencer, "ut imposture opus habeat ad evadendum
periculum. "
{25}
"The Christians, adding to the assertions of the Jews, say that the
son of God came on account of the sins of the Jews; and that the Jews,
punishing Jesus and causing him to drink _gall_, raised the _bile_ of
God against them. "
Celsus after this, in his usual way deriding both Jews and Christians,
compares all of them to a multitude of bats, or to ants coming out of
their holes, or to frogs seated about a marsh, or to earthworms that
assemble in a corner of some muddy place, and contend with each other
which of them are most noxious. He likewise represents them as saying,
"God has manifested and predicted all things to us; and deserting
the whole world and the celestial circulation, and likewise paying no
attention to the widely-extended earth, he regards our concerns alone,
to us alone sends messengers, and he will never cease to explore by what
means we may always associate with him.
mysteries. '_Whoever is a sinner, whoever is unwise, whoever is a
fool, and whoever, in short, is miserable, him the kingdom of God will
receive_. ' Do you not therefore call a sinner, an unjust man, a thief,
a housebreaker, a wizard, one who is sacrilegious, and a robber of
sepulchres? What other persons would the crier nominate, who should call
robbers together?
"God, according to the Christians, descended to men; and, as consequent
to this, it was fancied that he had left his own proper abode.
"God, however, being unknown among men [as the Christians say], and in
consequence of this appearing to be in a condition inferior to that of
a divine being, was not willing to be known, and therefore made trial of
those who believed and of those who did not believe in him; just as
men who have become recently rich, call on God as a witness of their
abundant and entirely mortal ambition.
{23}
"The Christians have asserted nothing paradoxical or new concerning a
deluge or a conflagration, but have perverted the doctrine of the
Greeks and barbarians, that in long periods of time, and recursions and
concursions of the stars, conflagrations and deluges take place; and
also that after the last deluge, which was that of Deucalion, the period
required, conformably to the mutation of wholes, a conflagration*.
This the Christians, however, have perverted by representing God as
descending with fire as a spy.
"Again, we will repeat and confirm by many arguments, an assertion which
has nothing in it novel, but was formerly universally acknowledged. God
is good, is beautiful and blessed, and his very nature consists in that
which is most beautiful and the best. If therefore he descended to men,
his nature must necessarily be changed. But the change must be from good
to evil, and from the beautiful to the base, from felicity to
infelicity, and from that which is most excellent to that which is most
worthless. Who, however, would choose to be thus changed? Besides, to be
changed and transformed pertains to that which is naturally mortal; but
an invariable
* See Taylor's translation of Proclus on the Timæus of
Plato, Book I.
{24}
sameness of subsistence is the prerogative of an immortal nature.
Hence
God could never receive a mutation of this kind*.
"Either God is in reality changed, as the Christians say, into a mortal
body,--and we have before shown that this is impossible; or he himself
is not changed, but he causes those who behold him to think that he is,
and thus falsifies himself, and involves others in error. Deception,
however, and falsehood are indeed otherwise evil, and can only be
[properly] employed by any one as a medicine, either in curing friends
that are diseased or have some vicious propensity, or those that are
insane, or for the purpose of avoiding danger from enemies. But no one
who has vicious propensities, or is insane, is dear to Divinity.
Nor does God fear any one, in order that by wandering he may escape
danger**.
* See a most admirable defence of the immutability of
Divinity, by Proclus, in Taylor's Introduction to the Second
and Third Books of Plato's Republic, in vol. i. of his
translation of Plato's Works. See also Taylor's note at the
end of vol. iii. of his translation of Pausanias, p. 235.
** The original of this sentence is, [--------] the latter
part of which, [--------], is thus, erroneously translated
by Spencer, "ut imposture opus habeat ad evadendum
periculum. "
{25}
"The Christians, adding to the assertions of the Jews, say that the
son of God came on account of the sins of the Jews; and that the Jews,
punishing Jesus and causing him to drink _gall_, raised the _bile_ of
God against them. "
Celsus after this, in his usual way deriding both Jews and Christians,
compares all of them to a multitude of bats, or to ants coming out of
their holes, or to frogs seated about a marsh, or to earthworms that
assemble in a corner of some muddy place, and contend with each other
which of them are most noxious. He likewise represents them as saying,
"God has manifested and predicted all things to us; and deserting
the whole world and the celestial circulation, and likewise paying no
attention to the widely-extended earth, he regards our concerns alone,
to us alone sends messengers, and he will never cease to explore by what
means we may always associate with him.
