With respect to Celsus, the author of the following Fragments, he lived in the time of the Emperor Adrian. and was, if Origen may be credited, an Epicurean philosopher. That he might indeed, at some former period of his life, have been an Epicurean maybe admitted; but it would be highly absurd to suppose that he was so when he wrote this invective against the Christians; for the arguments which he mostly employs show that he was well skilled m the philosophy of Plato: and to suppose, as Origen does, that he availed himself of arguments in
* [—Greek—]
which he did not believe, and consequently conceived to be erroneous, in order to confute doctrines which he was persuaded are false, would be to make him, instead of a philosopher, a fool. As to Origen, though he abandoned philosophy for Christianity, he was considered as heterodox by many of the Christian sect. Hence, with some of the Catholics, his future salvation became a matter of doubt*; and this induced the celebrated Johannes Picus Mirandulanus, in the last of his Theological conclusions according to his own opinion, to say: "Rationabilius est credere Uriginem esse salvum, quam credere ipsum esse damnatum," i. e. It is more reasonable to believe that Origen is saved, than that he is damned.
I shall conclude this Introduction with the following extract.
* 'In Prato Spiritual!, c. 26, quod citatur, à VIL Synodo,
et à Johanne Diacono, lib. ii. c. 45. vitas B. Gregorii
narratur fevelatio, qua Origines viras est in Gehenna ignis
cum Alio et Netftorio."*—Fobric. BMiotk Grate torn. v. p.
216
Directions of Dr. Barlow, Bishop of Lincoln, to a young divine.
"It will be of great use for a divine to be acquainted with the arts, knavery, and fraud of the Roman inquisitor, in purging, correcting, or rather corrupting authors in all arts and faculties. For this purpose we may consult the Index Expurgatorius. By considering this Index, we come to know the best editions of many good books.
"1st. The best books; that is, those that are condemned.