It will be observed, that the allegations of Celsus, while they are throughout constructed upon the express ground that Christ was believed to be strictly and properly THE SUPREME GOD, respect, not merely a few visionary individuals, but the whole collective body of the Church. As such, accordingly, they are understood and answered by Origen. Hence, whatever in the abstract we may think of the arguments on either side, we have (the sole matter with which I am at present concerned) the positive and admitted testimony of Celsus to the evidently well-known and familiar circumstance: that The Catholic Church, about the middle of the second century, or about some fifty or sixty years after the death of St. John, held and maintained the essential divinity of Christ, viewed under the aspect of God the Word, the eternal Son of the Father, cöexistent with him from the beginning in the inseparable unity of the Godhead.

III. Such being the case, we shall be prepared to expect the same charge from the mouth of Trypho the Jew in the celebrated conversation which he held with Justin Martyr some few years earlier than the epoch of the attack made by Celsus.

The conversation in question, as appears from

perly rendered The Deity, effectually precludes, even on grammatical principles, any socinian quibble, that Oɛos without the article, may be rendered a god, no less properly than God.

the evidence distinctly afforded by itself, took place in the year 136 '. Hence the allegations of Trypho will respect the faith of Christians, as by an enemy it was alleged to stand, and as by a professed believer it was admitted to stand, only thirtysix years after the death of the Apostle St. John.

Trypho exclaimed: My good friend, it would be well for us to follow the advice of our Rabbins, that we should converse with no one of you Christians. For you speak many blasphemies, wishing to persuade us that THIS CRUCIFIED MALEFACTOR WAS WITH MOSES AND AARON, and that HE CONVERSED WITH THEM IN THE PILLAR OF THE CLOUD, and that afterward he became man, and that he was crucified, and that he ascended to heaven, and that he will again appear upon earth, and that HE OUGHT TO BE

WORSHIPPED.

Whereupon I answered: I know, that, as the word of God spake, THIS GREAT WISDOM OF GOD THE ALMIGHTY CREATOr of all things is hidden from you. Hence, through pity, I labour, that you may under

1 Trypho speaks of himself, as having emigrated to Greece in consequence of the war which was then raging: φυγὼν τὸν võv yevóμerov tóλɛμov. Just. Dial. cum Tryph. Oper. p. 167. Sylburg. 1593. And this war is afterward described as the Jewish war : ἐμβαλόντος τινὸς αὐτῶν λόγον περὶ τοῦ κατὰ τὴν

'Iovdaíav yevoμévov Toλéμov. Ibid. p. 175. But this then Ἰουδαίαν γενομένου πολέμου. raging war in Judèa was doubtless the war of Adrian, which occurred in the year 136. Therefore, in that same year 136, the dialogue of Justin and Trypho must have been carried on.

stand these our doctrines which appear so paradoxical; or, if I fail of success, that at least in the day of judgment I may be irreprehensible'.

1

Καὶ ὁ Τρύφων εἶπεν· Ω ἄνθρωπε, καλὸν ἦν πεισθέντας ἡμᾶς τοῖς διδασκάλοις νομοθετήσασι, μηδενὶ ἐξ ὑμῶν ὁμιλεῖν, μηδέ σοι τούτων κοινωνῆσαι τῶν λόγων βλάσφημα γὰρ πολλὰ λέγεις, τὸν σταυρωθέντα τοῦτον ἀξιῶν πείθειν ἡμᾶς γεγεννῆσθαι μετὰ Μωϋσέως καὶ ̓Ααρών, καὶ λελαληκέναι αὐτοῖς ἐν στύλῳ νεφέλης, εἶτα ἄνθρωπον γενόμενον σταυρωθῆναι, καὶ ἀναβεβηκέναι εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν, καὶ πάλιν παραγίνεσθαι ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, καὶ προσκυνητὸν εἶναι.

Κἀγὼ ἀπεκρινάμην· Οἶδα ὅτι, ὡς ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγος ἔφη, κέκρυπται ἀφ' ὑμῶν ἡ Σοφία ἡ μεγάλη αὕτη τοῦ ποιητοῦ τῶν ὅλων καὶ παντοκράτορος Θεοῦ· διὸ συμπαθῶν ὑμῖν προσκάμνειν ἀγω‐ νίζομαι, ὅπως τὰ παράδοξα ἡμῶν ταῦτα νοήσητε· εἰ δὲ μὴ, ἵνα κἂν αὐτὸς ἀθῷος ὦ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ κρίσεως. Just. Dial. cum Tryph. Oper. p. 198.

An objection has been started by Episcopius: that, although Justin acknowledges Christ to be God; yet he distinguishes him from the Creator of the world, and therefore denies that he was the Creator. See Bull. Judic. Eccles. Cathol. append. ad c. vii. § 6.

I. Certainly Justin distinguishes Christ from the Creator of all things: but then it is in a passage, wherein he declares him to be the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.

Αλλοι γὰρ, κατ ̓ ἄλλον τρόπον, βλασφημεῖν, τὸν Ποιητὴν τῶν ὅλων, καὶ τὸν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ προφητευόμενον ἐλεύσεσθαι Χριστὸν καὶ τὸν Θεὸν ̓Αβραὰμ καὶ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ Ἰακὼβ, διδάσκουσιν. Justin. Dial. cum Tryph. Oper. p. 196.

Nor is this all he immediately afterward employs well nigh thirty folio pages to demonstrate, that Christ, from time to time appearing in a human form, was the God worshipped by the old Patriarchs. Ibid. P. 197-223.

Now

Then said Trypho: Taking up your discourse from the point where you ceased, now proceed: for it

Now the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, or the God of the old Patriarchs, was undoubtedly and confessedly Jehovah.

Hence, though Justin rightly distinguishes the Son from the Paternal Creator of all things, he furthermore, after the inspired Apostles Paul and John, teaches us that God the Father created the world THROUGH Christ his Son and Word; and that The Father spake unto Christ, when he said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.

Ὁ δὲ Υἱὸς ἐκείνου, ὁ μόνος λεγόμενος κυρίως υἱὸς, ὁ Λόγος πρὸ τῶν ποιημάτων καὶ συνὼν καὶ γεννώμενος, ὅτε τὴν ἀρχὴν δι' αὐτοῦ πάντα ἔκτισε καὶ ἐκόσμησε, Χριστὸς μέν. Justin. Apol. ii. Oper. p. 34, 35.

Ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα ἡμετέραν καὶ καθ' ὁμοίωσιν. — ̓Αλλὰ τοῦτο τὸ τῷ ὄντι ἀπὸ τοῦ Πατρὸς προβληθὲν γέννημα, πρὸ πάντων τῶν ποιημάτων, συνῆν τῷ Πατρί· καὶ τούτῳ ὁ Πατὴρ πрoσoμλε. Dial. cum Tryph. Oper. p. 221, 222.

II. Had these matters been duly attended to by Episcopius, he would have seen: that, when Justin distinguishes Christ from the Creator of all things, while at the same time he declares him to be Jehovah the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the other old Patriarchs, he means simply to distinguish him from God the Father; whom the ancient Church rightly deemed, the primary Creator of the Universe, and the αὐτόθεος and the πηγὴ θεότητος or the alone self-originating fountain of deity.

The doctrine, in short, of Justin and the Apostles, is that The Father created all things THROUGH the Son. Compare John i. 3. Hebr. i. 2.

Hence, though Justin pronounces the Son to be the Jehovah worshipped by the old Patriarchs, he rightly and soundly distinguishes him from the primordial Paternal Creator of the Uni

strikes me, as somewhat paradoxical and as by no means capable of an entire demonstration. With regard to what you assert, that THIS CHRIST, INASMUCH AS HE IS GOD, PREEXISTED BEFORE ALL AGES, and that he endured to be born a created man, and that he was not a mere man born from man in the ordinary course of nature: such an assertion seems to me, not only a paradox, but even a downright absurdity.

To this I replied: I know, that my discourse seems paradoxical more especially to those of your race, who were never willing either to understand or to perform the things of God'.

And Trypho said: You attempt to shew a matter

verse. Had he done otherwise, he would have anticipated the subsequent patripassian heresy of Praxeas and Sabellius.

Nakedly to state from Justin, that, in his judgment, Christ was distinct from the Creator; and, consequently, to insinuate the inference, that, in his judgment also, Christ, though styled God, is not truly and essentially God: thus to exhibit the doctrine of Justin, is certainly to misrepresent him.

* Καὶ ὁ Τρύφων εἶπεν· ̓Αναλαβὼν οὖν τὸν λόγον ὅθεν ἐπαύσω, πέραινε παράδοξος τὶς γάρ ποτε, καὶ μὴ δυνάμενος ὅλως ἀποδειχθῆναι, δοκεῖ μοὶ εἶναι· τὸ γὰρ λέγειν σε προϋπάρχειν Θεὸν ὄντα πρὸ αἰώνων τοῦτον τὸν Χριστὸν, εἶτα καὶ γεννηθῆναι ἄν θρωπον γενόμενον ὑπομεῖναι, καὶ ὅτι οὐκ ἄνθρωπος ἐξ ἀνθρώπου, οὐ μόνον παράδοξον δοκεῖ μοὶ εἶναι, ἀλλὰ καὶ μωρόν.

Καγὼ πρὸς ταῦτα ἔφην· Οἶδ' ὅτι παράδοξος ὁ λόγος δοκεῖ εἶναι, καὶ μάλιστα τοῖς ἀπὸ τοῦ γένους ὑμῶν, οἵτινες τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ οὔτε νοῆσαι οὔτε ποιῆσαι ποτὲ βεβούλησθε. Justin. Dial. cum Tryph. Oper. p. 207.