Complete Works XVIII: Against Celsus I-IV (Lommatzsch)

...nowhere else does Origen display such an abundance of Christian and profane doctrine, or such weight of arguments; likewise, according to the learned Dupin, of all the apologies for the Christian religion published in the earlier centuries of the Church, none seems comparable to this most absolute work of Origen. Finally, for the recommendation of this work, it will not be irrelevant to transcribe here what George Bull says in his Defense of the Nicene Faith, page 168: "If all the writings of Origen, pure and uncorrupted, existed today, they would not all equally serve to declare his true and genuine opinion. For the nature of the various works of this polygraphos prolific writer would be different. For some he wrote secretly to friends, which he hoped would never see the light of day; in these he argued freely and almost skeptically, and usually proposed not so much his own certain and definite opinion, but rather the reasonings of others, or his own scruples and small doubts, for the clearer elucidation of the truth. Others he himself sent into the public sphere, whether against infidels, or against heretics, or finally to instruct the Christian plebs; in these, treading a beaten and safe path, he studied to hand down the doctrine received in the Catholic Church. Then, he dictated others hastily, while others he worked out with more diligent care. Finally, others (to use the words of Huet), the aged Adamantius, with a mind more refined by age, polished; others he poured out with the fertility of his spirit in the heat of his youth. Regarding which, Jerome spoke excellently in the prologue to his Commentaries on Luke, saying that Origen in certain treatises 'plays, as it were, like a child; others are the mature works of his manhood and the serious products of his old age.' It cannot be denied, however, that Origen's judgment on Catholic doctrine should be sought especially from those writings which he himself intended for public use; which he wrote out thoughtfully and attentively; and which, finally, he composed as an old man, taught by long use and experience. Such are, by the consensus of all, the eight books..."