nation is treated of in II. 6. The teachers of
Valentinus' school accordingly appear more Christian when contrasted
with Origen. If we read the great work [Greek: peri archon], or the
treatise against Celsus, or the commentaries connectedly, we never cease
to wonder how a mind so clear, so sure of the ultimate aim of all
knowledge, and occupying such a high standpoint, has admitted in details
all possible views down to the most naive myths, and how he on the one
hand believes in holy magic, sacramental vehicles and the like, and on
the other, in spite of all his rational and even empirical views,
betrays no doubt of his abstract creations. But the problem that
confronts us in Origen is that presented by his age. This we realise on
reading Celsus or Porphyry (see Denis l.c., p. 613: "Toutes les theories
d'Origene, meme les plus imaginaires, represent l'etat intellectuel et
moral du siecle ou il a paru"). Moreover, Origen is not a teacher who,
like Augustine, was in advance of his time, though he no doubt
anticipated the course of ecclesiastical development. This age, as
represented by its greatest men, sought to gain a substructure for
something new, not by a critical examination of the old ideas, but by
incorporating them all into one whole. People were anxious to have
assurance, and, in the endeavour to find this, they were nervous about
giving up any article of tradition. The boldness of Origen, judged as a
Greek philosopher, lies in his rejection of all polytheistic religions.
This made him all the more conservative in his endeavours to protect and
incorporate everything else. This conservatism welded together
ecclesiastical Christianity and Greek culture into a system of theology
which was indeed completely heterodox.]

[Footnote 710: The proof from prophecy was reckoned by Origen among the
articles belonging to faith, but not to Gnosis (see for ex. c. Cels. II.
37); but, like the Apologists, he found it of great value. As far as the
philosophers are concerned, Origen always bore in mind the principle
expressed in c. Cels. VII. 46: [Greek: pros tauta d'emeis phesomen hoi
meletesantes medeni apechthanesthai ton kalos legomenon; kan hoi hexo
tes pisteos legousi kalos.] In that same place it is asserted that God
in his love has not only revealed himself to such as entirely consecrate
themselves to his service, but also to such as do not know the true
adoration and reverence which he requires. But as remarked above, p.