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Translated from the Greek original by Frederick Crombie.
This Part: 128 Pages
Page 13
Chapter LIII.
In the next place, mixing up together various heresies, and not observing that some statements are the utterances of one heretical sect, and others of a different one, he brings forward the objections which we raised against Marcion. [4543] And, probably, having heard them from some paltry and ignorant individuals, [4544] he assails the very arguments which combat them, but not in a way that shows much intelligence. Quoting then our arguments against Marcion, and not observing that it is against Marcion that he is speaking, he asks: "Why does he send secretly, and destroy the works which he has created? Why does he secretly employ force, and persuasion, and deceit? Why does he allure those who, as ye assert, have been condemned or accused by him, and carry them away like a slave-dealer? Why does he teach them to steal away from their Lord? Why to flee from their father? Why does he claim them for himself against the father's will? Why does he profess to be the father of strange children?" To these questions he subjoins the following remark, as if by way of expressing his surprise: [4545] "Venerable, indeed, is the god who desires to be the father of those sinners who are condemned by another (god), and of the needy, [4546] and, as themselves say, of the very offscourings [4547] (of men), and who is unable to capture and punish his messenger, who escaped from him!" After this, as if addressing us who acknowledge that this world is not the work of a different and strange god, he continues in the following strain: "If these are his works, how is it that God created evil? And how is it that he cannot persuade and admonish (men)? And how is it that he repents on account of the ingratitude and wickedness of men?
[4543] Cf. bk. v. cap. liv.
[4544] The textual reading is, apo tinon eutelos kai idiotikos, for which Ruaeus reads, apo tinon eutelon kai idiotikon, which emendation has been adopted in the translation.
[4545] hoionei thaumastikos.
[4546] akleron.
[4547] skubalon.
Reference address : https://ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/fathers/origen/contra-celsum-4.asp?pg=13