16. I should have
thought that this statement, I mean the words, ‘I have expressed
nothing in my own words; I have only restored to Origen what was
really Origen’s, though found in other part of his works,’
would of itself have been sufficient for my defence even before the
most hostile judges. Have I thrust myself forward in any way? Have I
ever led men to expect that I should put in anything of my own? Where
can they find the words which they pretend that I have said, and on
which they ground their calumnious accusations, namely, that I have
removed what was bad and put good words instead, while I had translated
literally all that is good? It is time, I think, that they should show
some sense of shame, and should cease from false charges and from
taking upon themselves the office of the devil who is the accuser of
the brethren. Let them listen to the words ‘I have put in no
words of my own.’ Let them listen to them again and hear them
constantly reiterated, ‘I have put in no words of my own; I have
only restored to Origen what was really Origen’s, though found in
other parts of his works.’ And let them see how God’s mercy
watched over me when I put my hand to this work; let them mark how I
was led to forebode the very acts which they are doing. For my Preface
continues thus:
‘I have given this
statement in my Preface for fear that my detractors should think that
they had found a fresh reason for accusing me.’
When I said a fresh
charge I alluded to the charge which they had previously made against
the reverend Bishop John for the letter written by him to the reverend
Bishop Theophilus on the
articles of faith: they pretended that when he spoke of the human body
he meant something—I know not what—different from flesh. Therefore I spoke of a fresh charge. Take notice, then, I say, of the conduct of these perverse and contentious men.
‘I have undertaken this
great labour, (which I have only done at your entreaty) not with a view
of shutting the mouths of my calumniators, which indeed is impossible
unless God himself should do it, but in order to give solid information
to those, who are seeking to advance in knowledge.’
But, to show you that I foresaw
and foretold that they would falsify what I was writing, observe what I
said in the following passage:
‘Of this I solemnly warn
every one who may read or copy out these books, in the sight of God the
Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, and adjure him by our belief in the
kingdom which is to come, by the assurance of the resurrection from the
dead, and by that eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels,—I adjure him, as he would not have for his eternal portion that place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, where their worm dieth not and their fire is not quenched, that he should add nothing to this writing, take away nothing, insert nothing, and change nothing.’
Nevertheless, after I had warned
them by all these dread and terrible forms of adjuration, these men
have not been afraid to become falsifiers and corrupters of my work, though they profess to believe that the resurrection of the flesh is a reality of the future. Why, if they even believed the simple fact of the existence of God, they would never set their hands to acts so injurious and so impious. I ask, further, what line of my Preface can be pointed to in which I have, as my accuser says, praised Origen up to the skies, or in which I have called him, as he once did, an Apostle or a Prophet, or anything of the kind. I may ask indeed in what other matter they find any ground of accusation. I made at the outset a confession of my faith in terms which I think agree in all respects with the confession of the Church. I made a clear statement of my canons of translation, which indeed in most respects were taken from the model furnished by the very man who now comes forward as my accuser. I declared what was the purpose I set before me in making the translation. Whether I have proved capable of fulfilling the task more or less completely is, no doubt, a matter for the judgment of those who read the work, and who may be expected to praise it or to ridicule it, but not to make it a ground for accusation when it is a question of turning words from one language into another with more or less propriety.