Origen against Celsus translated from the original into English by James Bellamy ...

CHAP. XXXII.

I Have this to say farther to the Greeks, who wo'n't believe, that our Saviour was born of a Virgin, that the Creator of the World, if he pleases, can make ev'ry Animal bring forth its young, in the same wonderful manner, that is observ'd of some inanimate Creatures, and nothing hinders, but he may cause, if he pleases, the like unusual Productions in the World of Men.

For among Animals, there are some Females, that bring forth their young, without any previous Copulation with the Males, as, for Instance, the Vul∣tures, which propagate their Kind in this uncommon Way, as the best Wri∣ters

of Natural History do acquaint us. What Absurdity is there then, in supposing, that the All-wise God, de∣signing to bless Mankind, with an ex∣traordinary, and truly-divine Teacher, shou'd so order Matters, that our Bles∣sed Saviour shou'd not be born, in the ordinary Method of humane Genera∣tion?

And the Greeks themselves do rea∣dily acknowledge, that some Men have come into the World, without the Con∣junction of Man and Woman. For if the World had a Beginning, as many of 'em grant it had, then the first Man was not produc'd in the common Way, but, according to them, by the Sperma∣tick Vertue of the Earth, which, to me seems much more strange, and unac∣countable, than our Saviour's Nati∣vity, if we do but follow the Dictates of impartial Reason, since the Way in which he was born, has some Resem∣blance with the usual Method of car∣nal Copulation.

And, since I'm concern'd with the Learned Greeks, it may not be impro∣per, to make my Appeal, ev'n to their own Histories, that it may appear to the World, that Others, as well as the Christians, must, upon their own Prin∣ciples, acknowledge the Possibility of so extraordinary a Production, against

which they so loudly exclaim. Now some of their Modern Authors tell us, that Plato was born of Amphictione, without the Conjunction of Ariston, who was forbid to touch his Wife, 'till she shou'd be deliver'd of a Son, whom she shou'd conceive by Apollo.

This is a meer Fable, I confess, in∣vented in Favour of a Person, whose uncommon Attainments made 'em in∣clin'd to think, that ev'n his Body was of a Divine Original, since they thought, 'twas fit, that the Bodies of those Per∣sons, who are not on a Level with the rest of Men, shou'd have some honou∣rable Mark, by which they may be distinguish'd from Vulgar Mortals.

And because Celsus's Jew continues his Discourse with our Blessed Saviour, and ridicules the Fiction, as he is pleas'd to call it, of his being born of a Vir∣gin, and ranks it among the Fables of the Greeks, concerning Danae, Menalippe, Auge, and Antiope, I answer, that such pityful Drollery as this, wou'd look with an agreeable Air, in a Merry An∣drew, who gathers a Mob about him, and plays his Monkey-Tricks on a Stage, but don't at all become one, who wou'd treat of Matters of great Impor∣tance, with that Gravity, and Serious∣ness, which the Nature of the Things may justly challenge from us.