Chapter X.

But observe what he alleges as a proof of his statement:  “Christians at first were few in number, and held the same opinions; but when they grew to be a great multitude, they were divided and separated, each wishing to have his own individual party:392    Matt. xxvi. 38.    στάσεις ἰδίας.  for this was their object from the beginning.”  That Christians at first were few in number, in comparison with the multitudes who subsequently became Christian, is undoubted; and yet, all things considered, they were not so very few.393    Herodot., i. cap. 47.    καί τοι οὐ πάντη ἦσαν ὀλίγοι.  For what stirred up the envy of the Jews against Jesus, and aroused them to conspire against Him, was the great number of those who followed Him into the wilderness,—five thousand men on one occasion, and four thousand on another, having attended Him thither, without including the women and children.  For such was the charm394    καὶ Θεὸν κατὰ τὸν τῶν ὅλων Θεὸν καὶ πατέρα.  “Ex mente Origenis, inquit Boherellus, vertendum ‘Secundo post universi Deum atque parentem loco;” non cum interprete Gelenio, ‘Ipsius rerum universarum Dei atque Parentis testimonio.’  Nam si hic esset sensus, frustra post ὑπὸ τῶν προφητῶν, adderetur κατὰ τὸν Θεόν.  Præterea, hæc epitheta, τὸν τῶν ὅλων Θεὸν καὶ πατέρα, manifestam continent antithesin ad ista, μεγάλην ὄντα δύναμιν καὶ Θεόν, ut Pater supra Filium evehatur, quemadmodum evehitur, ab Origene infra libro octavo, num. 15.  Τοῦ, κατά, inferiorem ordinem denotantis exempla afferre supersedeo, cum obvia sint.”—Ruæus.  [See also Liddon’s Bampton Lectures on The Divinity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, p. 414, where he says, “Origen maintains Christ’s true divinity against the contemptuous criticisms of Celsus” (book ii. 9, 16, seq.; vii. 53, etc.).  S.]    ἴϋγξ. of Jesus’ words, that not only were men willing to follow Him to the wilderness, but women also, forgetting395    Ps. cxlviii. 5.    The reading in Spencer’s and the Benedictine edition is ὑποτεμνομένας, for which Lommatzsch reads ὑπομεμνημένας. the weakness of their sex and a regard for outward propriety396    περιγεγραμμένον τινά.    καὶ τὸ δοκοῦν. in thus following their Teacher into desert places.  Children, too, who are altogether unaffected by such emotions,397    John i. 26.    ἀπαθέστατα. either following their parents, or perhaps attracted also by His divinity, in order that it might be implanted within them, became His followers along with their parents.  But let it be granted that Christians were few in number at the beginning, how does that help to prove that Christians would be unwilling to make all men believe the doctrine of the Gospel?

Ὅρα δὲ καὶ τί φησιν εἶναι τούτου τεκμήριον· ὅτι ἀρχόμενοι μέν, φησίν, ὀλίγοι τε ἦσαν καὶ ἓν ἐφρόνουν· εἰς πλῆθος δὲ σπαρέντες αὖθις αὖ τέμνονται καὶ σχίζονται καὶ στάσεις ἰδίας ἔχειν ἕκαστοι θέλουσι· τούτου γὰρ ἀρχῆθεν ἔχρῃζον. Ὅτι μὲν οὖν συγκρίσει τοῦ ἑξῆς πλήθους ὀλίγοι ἦσαν ἀρχόμενοι Χριστιανοὶ δῆλον, καίτοι οὐ πάντῃ ἦσαν ὀλίγοι. Τὸ γὰρ κινῆσαν φθόνον τῷ Ἰησοῦ καὶ διερεθίσαν Ἰουδαίους πρὸς τὴν κατὰ τούτου ἐπιβουλὴν τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἑπομένων αὐτῷ εἰς τὰς ἐρήμους ἦν, πεντακισχιλίων καὶ τετρακισχιλίων ἀνδρῶν αὐτῷ ἀκολουθούντων χωρὶς τοῦ τῶν γυναικῶν καὶ τῶν παιδίων ἀριθμοῦ. Τοσαύτη γάρ τις ἴϋγξ ἦν ἐν τοῖς Ἰησοῦ λόγοις, ὡς οὐ μόνον ἄνδρας ἕπεσθαι θέλειν αὐτῷ εἰς τὰς ἐρημίας ἀλλὰ καὶ γυναῖκας, οὐχ ὑπο μεμνημένας τὴν γυναικείαν ἀσθένειαν καὶ τὸ δοκοῦν ἐν τῷ ἀκολουθεῖν εἰς τὰς ἐρημίας τῷ διδασκάλῳ· ἀπαθέστατα δὲ παιδία, ἤτοι τοῖς γεννήσασιν ἑπόμενα ἢ τάχα καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς θειότητος αὐτοῦ ἀγόμενα, ἵνα αὐτοῖς ἐνσπαρῇ θειότης, ἠκολούθει μετὰ τῶν γεγεννηκότων. Ἀλλ' ἔστω ὀλίγους γεγονέναι κατὰ τὴν ἀρχήν· τί τοῦτο συμβάλλεται πρὸς τὸ μὴ ἂν ἐθελῆσαι Χριστιανοὺς ἐμποιῆσαι πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις περὶ τοῦ λόγου πειθώ;