them, which happily resulted in the conversion of a certain tribe of wandering Arabs to the Christian Faith." And so great was the fame of this Father, as a Christian Divine and Philosopher, that Julia, the mother of Alexander, then at Antioch, invited him to repair from Alexandria to the latter place, that they might converse with him and be instructed in the Christian Faith.

We have purposely introduced this eminent Father to the particular notice of our readers, because the generality of Ecclesiastical Historians have attributed to him the honor of having originated the Doctrine of Universal Salvation; whereas, we have in our previous Section brought forward numerous and indisputable passages, both of the Old and New Testament, to prove that it was an Apostolic and hence, a Scripture doctrine, long before the discovery and promulgation of it by Origen.

That this acute Father, in his patient and laborious attention to the criticism of the Bible, could not fail of discovering this most glorious feature of the Scripture doctrines Old and New, can be readily admitted. It was one of those Scripture truths that being surrounded with threatenings of the law, and promises of the Gospel, was thus measurably hid from the eye of the superficial reader, but which could not escape the keen, anxious and critical examination of this profound Philosopher and Scholar. He discovered not only in the New, but also in the Old Testament, complete copies of which, he had in his possession, that there were strong and indisputable evidences recorded in them in confirmation of this Faith, and having satisfied himself that it was a genuine Scripture doctrine, he gave it, among other things, to the world as such, in his invaluable translation of the writings of the Sacred Scriptures.

From this circumstance, we readily concede that he is the honored and pious renovator and promulgator of this most ancient doctrine; and that previously to his writings there were no other ex-Apostolic records of the same;

Mosheim Eccl. Hist. vol. 1, p. 195.

we nevertheless contend, that whether there had been or not, any writings of these Fathers to that effect; the doctrine was of record in the writings of the Prophets of the Old, and the Apostles of the New Testament, as we have shown at large in our preceding section, and this alone without regarding the writings of any other than the Prophets and Apostles, are sufficient of themselves to estab lish the truth of the fact, even though there had never been another line written on the subject. And although it could be proved to have remained a dead letter from the time of the last of the Apostles, until the time of the critical examination of the Scriptures by Origen; the fact of the previous existence of the passages quoted in our first section, and upon which this doctrine is founded, as a Scripture doctrine is, what we have a right to presume, no rational and consistent Christian, can upon any satisfactory principle attempt to deny.

Truc, we are not ignorant, that there are, and even has been, since the days of Origen, very many pious and good men, who have taken upon themselves the responsibility of terming this doctrine, that has been founded upon those glorious promises of God, and that are as plain as the sun at noon day, to be "the idle fancies of Origen," a dangerous doctrine, and even worse, a doctrine of devils; while the more modest have accused its followers and advocates, as the advocates of a fatal and delusive error; and if so, then indeed the error, if error it is, is to be attributed to the Prophets and Apostles, as may be seen in the foregoing extracts; and consequently, many thousands of honest souls that confided in these most cheering promises of God, and which "He spake by the mouth of all his holy Prophets since the world began," instead of having died in the Faith of Jesus Christ, as St. Paul assures us they did; must have died in error, if the assertions of the opponents to this doctrine be true. We will now return to the writings of the early Fathers, Dr. Mosheim, remarking on the Grecian and Oriental

*

*Eccl. Hist. vol. 1, p. 212.

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writers of the third century, thus testifies of Origen: "that he was the most eminent of these, whether we consider the extent of his fame, or the multiplicity of his labors; that he was a man of vast and uncommon abilities, and the greatest luminary of the Christian world, which this age exhibited to view"-and "had the justness of his judgment been equal to the immensity of his genius, the fervor of his piety, his indefatigable patience, his extensive erudition, and his other eminent and superior talents; all encomiums must have fallen short of his merits. Yet, such as he was, his virtues and his labours deserve the admira tion of all ages, and his name will be transmitted with honor through the annals of time, as long as learning and genius shall be esteemed among men."

The Rev. Dr. Maclaine, in a note corrective of a paragraph accusing Origen as the head of a speculative tribe, who were desirous of bringing the doctrines of celestial wisdom into a certain subjection to the precepts of their Philosophy, &c. says, "among the errors attributed to this great man, and which gave most offence were, 1. that in the Trinity, the Father was greater than the Son, and the Son, than the Holy Ghost. 2. The pre-existence of souls, which he considered as sent into mortal bodies, for the punishment of sins committed in a former state of being. 3. That the soul of Christ was united to the Word before the incarnation. 4. That the sun,

moon, stars, &c. were animated and endowed with rational souls. 5. That after the resurrection, all bodies. will be of a round figure. 6. That the torments of the damned will have an end; and that as Christ had been crucified in this world to save mankind, he is to be crucified in the next to save devils.†

These articles are said to have been charged, together with others of less import against Origen, by the Council of Constantinople. The first article is unqestionably a forgery, as will be hereafter seen, when we come to treat of the Confession of Faith of these early Fathers respec+Ib. id, note, p. 427.

tively. The Rev. Dr. Middleton has also accused him of favoring the superstitions of the age in which he lived, and his writings on that account have been rejected by many as "fanciful." We do not pretend to deny, that even the profoundly learned Origen, was tinctured in some degree with the superstitions of the age in which he lived and was educated; but we have it on the same authority that classed him among the credulous and superstitious writers of the third century, that he was least of all tinctured with these weaknesses of any writer.‡

To reject his authority therefore, only because he gave his sanction to the superstitions of his predecessors and contemporary authors, and in some instances, yielded to the influence of opinions purely hypothetical; while on the fundamental and essential doctrines of Christianity, his writings not only bear the broad stamp of Orthodoxy, and have for centuries withstood the repeated "denunciations of Priests, and of the thunders of Synods and Councils," as also the prohibitory edicts of Emperors would be in fact something like rejecting gold, because it was not separated from its ore.

It has been made clearly to appear, from the writings of Dr. Mosheim, that the principal cause of the grievous persecutions of this great man, and his doctrines, original ted in the jealousies and envy of a few factious and less gifted Bishops, among whom Demetrius, a Presbyter of Alexandria may be considered as the ringleader. Origen was ordained a Presbyter of Alexandria, by the laying on of the hands of the Bishops of Cæsaria and Jeru ́salem, some time in the year 210. We have already seen, that so great was his fame as a scholar and divine, that his company and conversation was eagerly sought after by Emperors, Empresses and Kings. His method of translating the Scriptures became popular, so much so, "that the Christian doctors who applied themselves to the study of letters and philosophy interpreted the

Dr. Middleton's Free Inquiry, p. 14, 16. For his doctrine and tenets, see Miss H. Adams' Dictionary of all Religions, art. "Origenists."

Scriptures after the method of Origen, whose method was almost universal in the fourth century. In the fifth century the greatest part of commentators, both Greek and Latin followed the doctrine and method of Origen."*

We need not wonder therefore, at the envy and jealousies of his factious enemies; the dispositions of men, in all ages and in all countries, are nearly the same, and we are justified in believing, that thus they will continue while the minds of men remain carnal; and it is with real regret we are constrained to say, that even in this enlightened age and in this happy country; which secures by its valued constitution, civil and religious liberty to all men, and to all sects of Christians, we still discover a disposition among professing Christians; not more favorable to the principles of toleration than that manifested by the enemies of the illustrious Origen.

Irenæus, Clemens Alexandrinus, Minutius and Hypollitus, were the contemporaries and friends of Origen The first named Father in his " Apostolic traditions, lib. ii. ch. 39." declares as Apostolic and Orthodox, the faith of the church from its commencement to be, "that Christ came to save all men of all ranks and degrees." Hypollitus who was esteemed one of the most celebrated authors, but whose works are lost, suffered martyrdom for his faith, as also did Leonidas, the Father of Origen. Dionysus, Bishop of Alexandria, who was called, by way of eminence, the Great; Theognostus a writer of note, and Eusebius, Bishop of Cæsaria, were the warm friends of Origen and the advocates and espousers of the Universal doctrine, and when Demetrius arrayed his party against Origen, under the specious pretext of attacking the errors of that great man; but in truth, to indulge and gratify this envy and spleen; the Bishops of Achaia, Palestine, Phoenecia and Arabia, espoused his cause against Demetrius and his party.

Da Benedict's Hist. of all Religions, pp. 241. See also, an account of the "Syrian Churches," in Miss Adams' Dictionary of all Religions.