Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume IV/Origen/Origen Against Celsus/Book III/Chapter LXIII

Chapter LXIII.

After this, not understanding how it has been said that &#8220;every one who exalted himself shall be abased;&#8221; nor (although taught even by Plato) that &#8220;the good and virtuous man walketh humbly and orderly;&#8221; and ignorant, moreover, that we give the injunction, &#8220;Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time;&#8221; he says that &#8220;those persons who preside properly over a trial make those individuals who bewail before them their evil deeds to cease from their piteous wailings, lest their decisions should be determined rather by compassion than by a regard to truth; whereas God does not decide in accordance with truth, but in accordance with flattery.&#8221; &#160; Now, what words of flattery and piteous wailing are contained in the Holy Scriptures when the sinner says in his prayers to God, &#8220;I have acknowledged my sin, and mine iniquity have I not hid.&#160; I said, I will confess my transgression to the Lord,&#8221; etc., etc.?&#160; For is he able to show that a procedure of this kind is not adapted to the conversion of sinners, who humble themselves in their prayers under the hand of God?&#160; And, becoming confused by his efforts to accuse us, he contradicts himself; appearing at one time to know a man &#8220;without sin,&#8221; and &#8220;a righteous man, who can look up to God (adorned) with virtue from the beginning;&#8221; and at another time accepting our statement that there is no man altogether righteous, or without sin; for, as if he admitted its truth, he remarks, &#8220;This is indeed apparently true, that somehow the human race is naturally inclined to sin.&#8221;&#160; In the next place, as if all men were not invited by the word, he says, &#8220;All men, then, without distinction, ought to be invited, since all indeed are sinners.&#8221;&#160; And yet, in the preceding pages, we have pointed out the words of Jesus:&#160; &#8220;Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.&#8221; &#160; All men, therefore, labouring and being heavy laden on account of the nature of sin, are invited to the rest spoken of in the word of God, &#8220;for God sent His word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.&#8221;