n on my
knees, and not presuming, on account of my crimes, to present my prayer
to God, I will invoke all the saints to my assistance. O ye saints of
heaven, I beseech you with a sorrow full of sighs and tears; fall at the
feet of the Lord of mercies for me, a miserable sinner,'--Lib. ii. De
Job." [Lectures on the Principal Doctrines and Practices of the Catholic
Church, by Nicholas Wiseman, D.D. London, 1836. Vol. i. preface, p. ix.
and vol. ii. p. 107.]

When we find such passages as these, which have been so long ago and so
repeatedly pronounced to be utterly spurious, yet cited in evidence at
the present time, and represented as conveying the genuine testimony of
Origen, we shall be pardoned for repeating the sentiments expressed so
many years ago by the learned Bishop of Avranches with regard to the
very work here cited, "It is wonderful that, WITHOUT ANY MARK OF THEIR
BEING FORGERIES, they should be sometimes cited in evidence by some
theologians."

Note.--Page 151.

The whole passage cited as Origen's comment on the words of Ezekiel,
"The heavens are opened," is in the Latin version as follows. The Greek
original, if it ever existed, is lost. The portion between brackets is
the part suspected of being an interpolation.

6. _Et aperti sunt coeli_. Clausi erant coeli, et ad adventum Christi
aperti sunt, ut reseratis illis veniret super eum Spiritus Sanctus in
specie columbae. Neque enirn poterat ad nos commeare nisi primum {403} ad
suae naturae consortem descendisset. _Ascendit Jesus in altum, captivam
duxit captivitatem, accepit dona in hominibus. Qui descendit, ipse est
qui ascendit super omnes coelos ut impleret omnia. Et ipse dedit alios
apostolos, alios prophetas, alios evangelistas, alios pastores et
magistros in perfectionem sanctorum_.

[7. _Aperti sunt coeli_. Non sufficit unum coelum aperiri: aperiuntur
plurimi, ut descendant non ab uno, sed ab omnibus coelis angeli ad eos
qui salvandi sunt. Angeli qui ascendebant et descendebant super Filium
hominis, et accesserunt as eum, et ministrabant ei. Descenderunt autem
angeli, quia prior descenderat Christus, metuentes descendere priusquam
Dominus virtutum omnium rerumque praeciperet. Quando autem viderunt
principem militiae coelestis in terrestribus locis commorari, tunc per
apertam viam ingressi sunt sequentes Dominum suum, et parentes voluntati
ejus qui distribuit eos custodes credentium nomini suo. Tu heri sub
daemonio eras, hodie sub angelo. _Nolite_,