Origen appears to
have given us the words of Celsus, where he professes to give them, very
faithfully; and amongst other reasons for thinking so, this is one, that
the objection, as stated by him from Celsus, is sometimes stronger than
his own answer. I think it also probable that Origen, in his answer, has
retailed a large portion of the work of Celsus:
"That it may not be suspected," he says, "that we pass by any chapters
because we have no answers at hand, I have thought it best, according to
my ability, to confute everything proposed by him, not so much
observing the natural order of things, as the order which he has taken
himself." (Orig. cont. Cels. I. i. sect. 41.)
Celsus wrote about one hundred years after the Gospels were published;
and therefore any notices of these books from him are extremely
important for their antiquity. They are, however, rendered more so by
the character of the author; for the reception, credit, and notoriety of
these books must have been well established amongst Christians, to have
made them subjects of animadversion and opposition by strangers and by
enemies.
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