necessary if not more then enough upon this argument though as to the date of their birth and first appearance when he thrusts them down to the sixth Century he takes somewhat off from the antiquity which may with probability be allowed them XIII WHO was the particular Author of these Books is not easie to determine Among the several conjectures about this matter none methinks deserves a fairer regard then what d Annot. in Act. Apost c. 17. Laurentius Valla tells us some learned Greeks of his time conceived that it was Apollinaris but whether Father or Son it matters not both being men of parts and of the same strain and humour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 e Socrat. H. Ecc. l. 2. c. 46. p. 160. both of them Masters in all the learning of the Greeks though of the two the Son was most likely to be the man Certain it is that Apollinaris was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as f H. Eccl. l. 5. c. 18. p. 623. Socr. loc citat Sozomen describes him trained up to all sorts of Learning and skilled in the artifices and frames of Words and Speeches and g Ep. LXXIV p. 125. Tom. 2. S. Basil says of him that being indued with a facility of writing upon any argument joined with a great readiness and volubility of language he filled the World with his Books though even in his Theologic Tracts he sought not to establish them by Scripture-proofs but from humane arguments and ways of reasoning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as h Leont de Sect. Act. IV. p. 446. another also says of him He was born and bred at Alexandria then which no place more famous for Schools of Humane Learning especially the Profession of the Platonic Philosophy and afterwards lived at Laodicea where he was so intimately familiar with the Gentile-Philosophers that Theodotus Bishop of the place forbad him though in vain any longer to keep company with them fearing lest he might be perverted to Paganism as afterwards George his successor excommunicated him for his insolent contempt in not doing it This is said to have given the first occasion to his starting aside from the Orthodox Doctrines of the Church For resenting it as an high affront and being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Socrat. ib. p. 161. prompted with a bold conceit of his sophistical Wit and subtle ways of reasoning he began to innovate in matters of Doctrine and set up a Sect after his own name And certainly whoever thoroughly considers Apollinaris his principles as they are represented by b Socrat. 〈◊〉 citat Socrates c Sâ—â—â—n l. 6. c. 27. p. 676. ex Ep. Nâ—â—ian de Necâ—â—â— Sozomen d Thâ—â—dor l. 5. c. 3. p. 2â—0 Theodoret e Basil ubi supr Basil and f Epiph. Haeres 77. p. 421. Epiphanius will find many of them to have a great affinity with the Platonic notions and some of them not un-akin to those in Dionysius his Books and that as to the Doctrine of the Trinity they were right in the main which g Ibid. vid. 〈◊〉 loc citat Socrates particularly tells us the Apollinarians confessed to be consubstantial To which I add what a learned h Dr. Stillingfl his Answer to Cress Apolog. c. 2. §. 17. p. 133. man of our own has observed upon this argument that Apollinaris and his followers were guilty of forging Ecclesiastical Writings which they fastned upon Grâ—gory Thaumaturgus Athanasius and Pope Julius as l De Sect. Act. VIII p. 527. Leontius particularly proves at large So that they might be probably enough forged in the School of Apollinaris either by himself or some of his Disciples XIV IT makes the conjecture look yet more favourable that there was one k Vid. Collat. Catâ—ol cum Seveâ—â—an Coâ—â— Trâ— 4. 〈◊〉 1767. Dionysius a friend probably of Apollinaris to whom he is said to have written that famous Epistle that went under the name of Pope Julius and then among his own Scholars he had a Timotheus condemned together with his Master by l 〈◊〉 H. Ecc. â— 5. c. â— 10. p. 21â— Damasus and the Synod at Rome so that they might easily enough take occasion from their own to vent their conceptions under the more venerable names of those ancient and Apostolic persons Or which is more probable Apollinaris himself so well versed in the arts of counterfeiting might from them take the hint to compose and publish them under the name of the ancient Dionysius Nor indeed could he likely pitch upon a name more favourable and agreeable to his purpose a man born in the very Center of Learning and Eloquence and who might easily be supposed to be bred up in all the Institutions of Philosophy and in a peculiar manner acquainted with the Writings and Theorems of Plato and his Followers so famous so generally entertained in that place And there will be the more reason to believe it still when we consider that m Socrat. l. 3. c. 16. p. 187. Apollinaris reduced the Gospels and the Writings of the Apostles into the form of Dialegues in imitation of Plato among the Greeks And then for the stile which is very lofty and affected we noted before how peculiarly qualified Apollinaris was with a quick invention of words and a sophistical way of speech and the n Soâ—om l. 6. c. 25. p. 672. Historian observes that the great instrument by which he set on foot his Heresie and wherein he had a singular talent was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 artificial Schemes of Words and subtle ways to express himself Soâ—om l. 5. c. 18. p. 623. Besides he was an incomparable Poet not onely the Father but the Son to the study whereof he peculiarly addicted himself and wrote Poems to the imitation and the envy of the best among the Heathens In imitation of Homer he writ Heroic Poems of the History of the old Testament till the reign of Saul Comedies after the manner of Menander Tragoedies in imitation of Euripides and Odes in imitation of Pindar he composed Divine Hymns Id. l. 6. c. 25. p. 671. that were publicly sung in the Churches of his separation and Songs which men sung both in their Feasts and at their Trades and even women at the Distaff By this means he was admirably prepared for lofty and poetic strains and might be easily tempted especially the matter admitting it to give way to a wanton and luxuriant fansie in the choice composition and use of words And certainly never was there a stranger heap 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Maximus himself calls it of sublime affected bombast and poetic phrases then is to be met with in these Books attributed to S. Denys XV. IF it shall be enquired why a man should after so much pains chuse to publish his Labors rather under another mans name then his own there needs no other answer then that this has been an old trade which some men have taken up
he had bitterly quarrelled with Theophilus This notwithstanding he is not affrighted from undertaking him but treats him with all the freedom and ingenuity that became a Friend and a Philosopher tells e Ib. l. 1. p. 70. him that the cause was in himself why he did not discern and embrace the truth that his wickedness and impieties had depraved his mind and darkned his understanding and that men were not to blame the Sun for want of light when themselves were blind and wanted eyes to see it that the rust and soil must be wiped off from the Glass before 't would make a true and clear representation of the object and that God would not discover himself but to purged and prepared minds and such who by innocency and a divine life were become fit and disposed to receive and entertain him Then he explains to him the nature of God and gives him an account of the Origin of the World according to the Christian doctrin disproves and derides the ridiculous deities of the Heathens and particularly answers those black imputations usually laid upon the Christians and because Autolycus had mainly urged the lateness and novelty of the Christian Faith he shews shews at large how much superiour it was in many parts of it in point of Seniority and that by many Ages to any thing which the Heathen Religion could pretend to pressing him at every turn to comply with so excellent a Religion and assuring him the * Lib. 3. p. 127. People whom he invited him to were so far from being such as he represented them that they lived under the Conduct of Modesty and Sobriety Temperance and Chastity banished Injustice and rooted up all Vice and Wickedness loved Righteousness lived under Law and Rule exercised a Divine Religion acknowledged God served the Truth were under the preservation of Grace and Peace directed by a sacred Word taught by Wisdom rewarded by a life immortal and governed by God himself What the issue of his Discourses was we cannot tell but may probably hope they had a desired success especially since we find ⸫ Lib. 2. p. 80. Autolycus after the first conference a little more favourable to the cause abating of his conceived displeasure against Theophilus and desiring of him a further account of his Religion And certainly if Wisdom and Eloquence if strength of Reason and a prudent managing the Controversie were able to do it he could not well fail of reclaiming the man from his Errour and Idolatry V. NOR was he more sollicitous to gain others to the Faith then he was to keep those who already had embraced it from being infected and depraved with Errour For which cause he continually stood upon his guard faithfully gave warning of the approach of Heresie and vigorously set himself against it For notwithstanding the care and vigilance of the good and pious men of those days as a H. Eccl. l. 4. c. 24. p. 146. Eusebius observes envious men crept in and sowed Tares among the sincere Apostolic Doctrine so that the Pastors of the Church were forced to rise up in every place and to set themselves to drive away these wild Beasts from Christs Sheep-fold partly by exhorting and warning the Brethren partly by entering the lists with the Heretics themselves some personally disputing with and confuting them others accurately convincing and refuting their Opinions by the Books which they wrote against them Among whom he tells us was our Theophilus who conflicted with these Heretics and particularly wrote against Marcion who asserted two Deities and that the Soul onely as being the divine and better part and not the Body was capable of the happiness of the other World and this too granted to none but his Followers with many such impious and fond Opinions Another Book he wrote against Hermogenes one better skilled in Painting then drawing Schemes of new Divinity he forsook the Church and fled to the Stoies and being tinctured with their Principles maintained matter to be eternal out of which God created all things and that all evils proceeded out of Matter asserting moreover as Clemens of Alexandria b In excerpt Graec. Theod. ap Cl. Alex. p. 808. D. informs us that our Lords Body was lodged in the Sun ridiculously interpreting that place in them hath he set a Tabernacle for the Sun Nor did our Theophilus neglect the weak and younger part of the charge he had not onely Physic for the Sick and strong meat for them of full age but milk for Babes and such as were yet unskilful in the word of righteousness composing many Catechetic Discourses that contained the first rudiments of the Faith VI. HE sate thirteen years c Niceph. C. P. Chronograph ap Scalig. p. 311. in his Bishoprick XXI says the Patriarch of Alexandria d Eutych Annal p. 359. and died about the second or third year of the Emperour Commodus for that he out-lived M. Antoninus is evident from his mentioning a Ad Autol. l. 3. p. 138. his death and the time of his reign in his Discourses with Autolycus after which he composed those Discourses but what kind of death it was whether natural or violent is to me unknown From the calmness and tranquillity of Commodus his reign as to any Persecution against the Christians we may probably guess it to have been a peaceable and quiet death Books he wrote many whereof b Hieron 〈◊〉 de Script in Theoph. S. Hierom gives this Character that they were elegant Tracts and greatly conducive to the edification of the Church And further adds that he had met with Commentaries upon the Gospel and the Proverbs of Solomon bearing his name but which seemed not to answer his other Writings in the elegancy and politeness of the stile His Writings Extant Ad Autolycum Libri III. Not Extant Contra Haeresin Hermogenis Adversus Marcionem Libri aliquot Catechetici Doubtful Commentarii in Evangelium Commentarii in Proverbia Solomonis The End of S. THEOPHILUS 's Life THE LIFE OF S. MELITO BISHOP of SARDIS M. Burg. sculp S. MELITO His Countrey and Birth-place His excellent Parts and Learning His being made Bishop of Sardis His coelibacy His Prophetic gifts The Persecution under Marcus Aurelius Melito his Apology for the Christians A fragment of it cited out of Eusebius The great advantages of Christianity to the Empire His endeavour to compose the Paschal Controversie His Book concerning that Subject His journey to Jerusalem to search what Books of the Old Testament were received by that Church The Copy of his Letter to his Brother Onesimus concerning the Canon of the Old Testament What Books admitted by the ancient Church Solomons Proverbs stiled by the Ancients the Book of Wisdom His death and burial The great variety of his works Vnjustly suspected of dangerous notions An account given of the titles of two of his Books most liable to suspicion His Writings enumerated I. S MELITO was born in Asia and probably at Sardis
judgment and our conformity to him in glory and to hope for a state in the Kingdom of God wherein they should be entertained with such little and trifling such fading and transitory things as this World does afford Dionysius being then in the Province of the Arsenoitae where this Opinion had prevailed so far as to draw whole Churches into Schism and Separation summoned the Presbyters and Teachers who preached in the Country Villages and as many of the People as had a mind to come advising them that in their Sermons they would publicly examine this Doctrin They presently defended themselves with this Book whereupon he began more closely to join issue with them continuing with them three days together from morning to night weighing and discussing the doctrins contained in it In all which time he admired their constancy and love to truth their great quickness and readiness of understanding with so much order and decency so much modesty and moderation were the Discourses managed on both sides doubts propounded and assent yielded For they took an especial care not pertinaciously to defend their former opinions when once they found them to be erroneous nor to shun any objections which on either part were made against them As near as might be they kept to the present question which they endeavoured to make good but if convinced by argument that they were in the wrong made no scruple to change their minds and go over to the other side with honest minds and sincere intentions and hearts truly devoted to God embracing whatever was demonstrated by the holy Scriptures The issue was that Coracion the Commander and Champion of the other Party publicly promised and protested before them all that he would not henceforth either entertain or dispute or discourse or preach these opinions being sufficiently convinced by the arguments which the other side had offered to him all the Brethren departing with mutual love unanimity and satisfaction Such was the peaceable conclusion of this Meeting and less could not be expected from such pious and honest souls such wise and regular Disputers And happy had it been for the Christian World had all those controversies that have disturbed the Church been managed by such prudent and orderly debates which as usually conducted rather widen the breach then heal and mend it Dionysius to strike the controversie dead while his hand was in wrote a Book concerning the Promises which S. Hierom forgetting what he had truly said a De script in Dionys elsewhere that it was written against Nepos tells b Praef at in l. 18. Com. in Esa p. 242. T. 5. us was written against Irenaeus Bishop of Lyons mistaking the person probably for his opinion in the first part whereof he stated the question laid down his sense concerning it in the second he treated concerning the Revelation of S. John the main Pillar and Buttress of this Opinion where both by reason and the testimony of others he contends that it was not written by S. John the Apostle and Evangelist but by another of that name an account of whose judgment herein we have represented in another place c Antiq. Apost Life of S. John n. 14. XVI THE last controversie wherein he was concerned was that against Paul of Samosata Bishop of Antioch who had d Euseb ubi sup c. 27. p. 277 281. Epiph. Haeres LXV p. 262. Athanas de Syn d. Arim. Seleuc. p. 920. Niceph. l. 6. c. 27. p. 420. confidently vented these and such like impious dogmata that there is but one person in the Godhead that our blessed Saviour was though a holy yet a meer man who came not down from Heaven but was of a meer earthly extract and original in whom the word which he made not any thing distinct from the Father did sometimes reside and sometimes depart from him with abundance of the like wicked and sensless propositions Besides all which he was infinitely obnoxious in his e Epist Synod II. Antioch ap Euseb ib. c. 30. p. 280. c. morals as few men but serve the design of some lust by Schism and bad opinions covetous without any bounds heaping up a vast estate though born a poor mans son partly by fraud and sacriledge partly by cruel and unjust vexations of his brethren partly by fomenting differences and taking bribes to assist the weaker party Proud and vain-glorious he was beyond all measure affecting Pomp and Train and secular Power and rather to be stiled a temporal Prince then a Bishop going through the streets and all public places in solemn state with persons walking before him and crouds of people following after him In the Church he caused to be erected a Throne higher then ordinary and a place which he called Secretum after the manner of Civil Magistrates who in the inner part of the Praetorium had a place railed in with Curtains hung before it where they sate to hear Causes He was wont to clap his hand upon his thigh and to stamp with his feet upon the Bench frowning upon and reproaching those who did not Theatrically shout and make a noise while he was discoursing to them wherein he used also to reflect upon his predecessors and the most eminent persons that had been before him with all imaginable scorn and petulancy magnifying himself as far beyond them The Hymns that were ordinarily sung in honour of our Lord he abolished as late and novel and in stead thereof taught some of his proselyted Females upon the Easter solemnity to chaunt out some which he had composed in his own commendation to the horrour and astonishment of all that heard them procuring the Bishops and Presbyters of the neighbouring parts to publish the same things of him in their Sermons to the People some of his Proselytes not sticking to affirm that he was an Angel come down from Heaven All which he was so far from controlling that he highly encouraged them and heard them himself not onely with patience but delight He was moreover vehemently suspected of incontinency maintaining 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subintroduced Women in his house and some of them persons of exquisit beauty contrary to the Canons of the Church and to the great scandal of Religion And that he might not be muh reproached by those that were about him he endeavoured to debauch his Clergy conniving at their Vices and Irregularities and corrupting others with Pensions and whom he could not prevail with by evil arts he awed by power and his mighty interest in the Princes and great ones of those parts so that they were forced with sadness to bewail at home what they durst not publish and declare abroad XVII TO rectifie these enormities most of the chief Bishops of the East resolved to meet in a Synod at Antioch a Euseb ib. c. 27. p. 277. c. 30. p. 279. to which they earnestly invited our Dionysius But alas age and infirmities had rendred him incapable of such a journey
a life of true Philosophy and Vertue Ap. Dioâ— Hali◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. â—5 Tem. 2. History says Thucydides being nothing else but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philosophy drawn from Examples the one is a more gross and popular Philosophy the other a more subtle and refined History These considerations together with a desire to perpetuate the memory of brave and great Actions gave birth to History and obliged mankind to transmit the more observable passages both of their own and foregoing Times to the notice of Posterity The first in this kind was Moses the great Prince and Legislator of the Jewish Nation who from the Creation of the World conveyed down the Records of above MMDL years the same course being more or less continued through all the periods of the Jewish State Among the Babylonians they had their public Archives which were transcribed by Berosus the Priest of Belus who composed the Chaldean History The Egyptians were wont to record their memorable Acts upon Pillars in Hieroglyphic notes and sacred Characters first begun as they pretend by Thouth or the first of their Mercuries out of which Manethos their Chief Priest collected his three Books of Egyptian Dynasties which he dedicated to Ptolomy Philadelphus second of that line The Phoenician History was first attempted by Sanchoniathon digested partly out of the Annals of Cities partly out of the Books kept in the Temple and communicated to him by Jerombaal Priest of the God Jao this he dedicated to Abibalus King of Berytus which Philo Byblius about the time of the Emperour Adrian translated into Greek The Greeks boast of the Antiquity of Cadmus Archilochus and many others though the most ancient of their Historians now extant are Herodotus Thucydides and Xenophon Among the Romans the foundations of History were laid in Annals the public Acts of every year being made up by the Pontifex Maximus who kept them at his own house that the people upon any emergency might resort to them for satisfaction These were the Annales Maximi and afforded excellent materials to those who afterwards wrote the History of that great and powerful Commonwealth But that which of all others challenges the greatest regard both as it more immediately concerns the present enquiry and as it contains accounts of things relating to our biggest interests is the History of the Church For herein as in a Glass we have the true face of the Church in its several Ages represented to us Here we find with what infinite care those Divine Records which are the great instruments of our eternal happiness have through the several periods of time been conveyed down to us with what a mighty success Religion has triumphed over the greatest oppositions and spread its Banners in the remotest corners of the World With how incomparable a zeal good men have contended earnestly for that Faith which was once delivered to the Saints with what a bitter and implacable fury the Enemies of Religion have set upon it and how signally the Divine Providence has appeared in its preservation and returned the mischief upon their own heads Here we see the constant succession of Bishops and the Ministers of Religion in their several stations the glorious company of the Apostles the goodly fellowship of the Prophets the noble Army of Martyrs who with the most chearful and composed minds have gone to Heaven through the acutest torments In short we have here the most admirable examples of a divine and religious Life of a real and unfeigned Piety a sincere and universal Charity a strict Temperance and Sobriety an unconquerable Patience and Submission clearly represented to us And the higher we go the more illustrious are the instances of Piety and Vertue For however later Ages may have improved in knowledge Experience daily making new additions to Arts and Sciences yet former Times were most eminent for the practice and vertues of a holy life The Divine Laws while newly published had a stronger influence upon the minds of men and the spirit of Religion was more active and vigorous till men by degrees began to be debauched into that impiety and prophaneness that in these last Times has over-run the World It were altogether needless and improper for me to consider what Records there are of the state of the Church before our Saviours Incarnation it is sufficient to my purpose to enquire by what hands the first affairs of the Christian Church have been transmitted to us As for the Life and Death the Actions and Miracles of our Saviour and some of the first acts of his Apostles they are fully represented by the Evangelical Historians Indeed immediately after them we meet with nothing of this nature H. Eâ—cl l. 3. c. 24. p. 94. the Apostles and their immediate Successors as Eusebius observes not being at leisure to write many Books as being imployed in Ministeries greater and more immediately serviceable to the World The first that engaged in this way was Hegesippus an ancient and Apostolic man as he in Photius stiles him an Hebrew by descent Cod. 232. col 893. and born as is probable in Palestin He flourished principally in the reign of M. Aurelius and came to Rome in the time of Ancietus where he resided till the time of Eleutherius He wrote five Books of Ecclesiastical History which he stiled Commentaries of the Acts of the Church wherein in a plain and familiar stile he described the Apostles Travels and Preachings the remarkable passages of the Church the several Schisms Heresies and Persecutions that infested it from our Lords death till his own time But these alas are long since lost The next that succeeded in this Province though the first that reduced it to any exactness and perfection was Eusebius He was born in Palestin about the later times of the Emperour Gallienus ordained Presbyter by Agapius Bishop of Caesarea who suffering about the end of the Dioclesian Persecution Eusebius succeeded in his See A man of incomparable parts and learning and of no less industry and diligence in searching out the Records and Antiquities of the Church After several other Volumes in defence of the Christian Cause against the assaults both of Jews and Gentiles he set himself to write an Ecclesiastical History Lib. 1. c. 1. p. 3. wherein he designed as himself tells us to recount from the birth of our Lord till his time the most memorable Transactions of the Church the Apostolical successions the first Preachers and Planters of the Gospel the Bishops that presided in the most eminent Sees the most noted Errours and Heresies the calamities that befel the Jewish State the attempts and Persecutions made against the Christians by the Powers of the World the torments and sufferings of the Martyrs and the blessed and happy period that was put to them by the conversion of Constantine the Great All this accordingly he digested in Ten Book which he composed in the declining part of his life Praefat. de
learning His Writings His Hypotyposes Photius his account of them corrupted by the Arrians His Books yet extant and the orderly gradation of them His Stromata what the design of it His stile what in this what in his other Books A short Apology for some unwary assertions in his Writings His Writings enumerated Pag. 193. The Life of TERTULLIAN Presbyter of Carthage His names whence His Father who His education in all kinds of Learning His skill in the Roman Laws Different from Tertylian the Lawyer His way of life before his conversion enquired into His married condition His conversion to Christianity when The great cruelty used towards the Christians Severus his kindness to them Tertullians excellent Apology in their behalf His address to Scapula and the tendency of that discourse Severus his violent persecuting the Christians His prohibition of the Heteriae Tertullians Book to the Martyrs and concerning Patience His zeal against Heresies and Writings that way His Book De Pallio when written and upon what occasion His becoming Presbyter when His Book De Corona and what the occasion of it His declining from the Catholic Party Montanus who and whence His principles and practices Tertullians owning them and upon what occasion His morose and stubborn temper How far he complied with the Montanists and acknowledged the Paraclete How he was imposed upon His Writings against the Catholics The severity of the ancient Discipline Episcopus Episcoporum in what sense meant by Tertullian concerning the Bishop of Rome His separate meetings at Carthage His death His Character His singular parts and learning His Books His phrase and stile What contributed to its perplexedness and obscurity His un-orthodox opinions A brief plea for him Pag. 201. The Life of ORIGEN Presbyter Catechist of Alexandria Origen where and when born Several conjectures about the original of his name His Father who His juvenile education and great towardliness in the knowledge of the Scriptures His Philosophical Studies under Clemens Alexandrinus His Institution under Ammonius Ammonius who His fame and excellency confessed by the Gentile Philosophers Another Origen his Contemporary These two heedlesly confounded His Fathers Martyrdom and the confiscation of his Estate Origen's resolute encouragement of his Father His own passionate desire of Martyrdom His maintenance by an honourable Matron of Alexandria His zeal against Heretics His setting up a private School He succeeds Clemens in the Catechetic School at eighteen years of Age. The frequency of his Auditors Many of them Martyrs for the Faith Origen's resolution in attending upon the Martyrs His danger His couragious act at the Temple of Serapis His emasculating himself and the reasons of it The eminent chastity of those Primitive Times Origen's journey to Rome and return to Alexandria His taking in a Colleague into the Catechetic Office He learns the Hebrew Tongue The prudent method of his Teaching Ambrosius converted Who he was His great intimacy with Origen Origen sent for by the Governour of Arabia His journey into Palestin and teaching at Caesarea Remanded by the Bishop of Alexandria Alexander Severus his excellent Vertues and kindness for the Christian Religion Origen sent for by the Empress Mammaea to Antioch He begins to write his Commentaries How many Notaries and Transcribers imployed and by whom maintained Notaries their Original and Office Their use and institution in the Primitive Church His journey into Greece His passage through Palestin and being ordained Presbyter at Caesarea Demetrius of Alexandria his envy and rage against him Origen condemned in two Synods at Alexandria and one at Rome The resignation of his Catechetic School to Heraclas Heraclas who The story of his offering Sacrifice The credit of this story questioned and why His departure from Alexandria and fixing at Caesarea The eminency of his School there Gregorius Thaumaturgus his Scholar His friendship with Firmilian Firmilian who The Persecution under Maximinus Origen's Book written to the Martyrs His retirement whither He compares the Versions of the Bible His Tetrapla Hexapla and Octapla what and how managed A Specimen given of them His second journey to Athens His going to Nicomedia and Letter to Africanus about the History of Susanna His confutation of Beryllus in Arabia His answer to Celsus Celsus who Origens Letters to Philip the Emperour The vanity of making him a Christian Origens journey into Arabia to refute Heresies The Helcesaitae who What their Principles Alexanders miraculous election to the See of Jerusalem His Coadjntorship Government Sufferings and Martyrdom Origens grievous sufferings at Tyre under the Decian Persecution His deliverance out of Prison Age and Death His Character His strict life His mighty zeal abstinence contempt of the World indefatigable diligence and patience noted His natural parts incomparable learning His Books and their several Classes His stile what His unsound opinions The great Out-cry against him in all Ages The Apologies written in his behalf Several things noted out of the Ancients to extenuate the charge His assertions not Dogmatical Not intended for public view Generally such as were not determined by the Church His Books corrupted and by whom His own complaints to that purpose The testimonies of Athanasius and Theotimus and Haymo in his vindication Great errours and mistakes acknowledged What things contributed to them His great kindness for the Platonic Principles S. Hierom's moderate censure of him His repenting of his rash Propositions His Writings enumerated and what now extant Pag. 213. The Life of S. BABYLAS Bishop of Antioch His Originals obscure His education and accomplishments enquired into Made Bishop of Antioch when Antioch taken by the King of Persia Recovered by the Roman Emperour Babylas his fidelity in his charge The Decian Persecution and the grounds of it severely urged by the Emperours Edicts Decius his coming to Antioch His attempt to break into the Christian Congregation Babylas his bold resistance This applied to Numerianus and the ground of the mistake The like reported of Philip the Emperour Decius his bloudy act related by S. Chrysostom His rage against Babylas and his examination of him The Martyrs resolute answer His imprisonment and hard usage The different accounts concerning his death Three Youths his fellow-sufferers in vain attempted by the Emperour Their Martyrdom first and why Babylas beheaded His command that his chains should be buried with him The translation of his body under Constantius The great sweetness and pleasantness of the Daphne Apollo's Temple there S. Babylas his bones translated thither by Gallus Caesar The Oracle immediately rendered dumb In vain consulted by Julian The confession of the Daemon Julian's command for removing Babylas his bones The Martyrs Remains triumphantly carried into the City The credit of this Story sufficiently attested The thing owned by Libanius and Julian Why such honour suffered to be done to the Martyr Julian afraid of an immediate vengeance His Persecution against the Christians at Antioch The sufferings of Theodorus The Temple of Apollo fired from Heaven Pag. 241. The Life of
help or benefit by the gods A great argument as Eusebius well urges of our Saviours Divine authority and the truth of his Doctrine For when says he a little before such numbers of fictitious deities fled at our Lords aprearance who would not with admiration behold it as an uncontroulable demonstration of his truly saving and excellent Religion whereby so many Churches and Oratories through all the world both in Cities and Villages and even in the Desarts and Solitudes of the most barbarous Nations have been erected and consecrated to the great Creator and the only Sovereign of the World when such multitudes of Books have been written containing the most incomparable rules and institutions to form mankind to a life of the most perfect Virtue and Religion precepts accommodate not to men only but to women and children when he shall see that the Oracles and Divinations of the Daemons are ceased and gone and that the Divine and Evangelical virtue of our Saviour no sooner visited mankind but they began to leave off their wild and frantic ways of worship and to abhor those humane sacrifices many times of their dearest relations wherewith they had been wont to propitiate and atone their bloody and merciless Daemons and into which their wisest and greatest men had been bewitched and seduced I add no more but S. Chrysostoms b Orat. III. adv Judaeos p. 420. Tom. 1. challenge Judge now with me O thou incredulous Jew and learn the excellency of the truth what Impostor ever gathered to himself so many Churches throughout the world and propagated his worship from one end of it to the other and subdued so many Subjects to his Crown even when thousands of impediments lay in the way to hinder him certainly no man a plain evidence that Christ was no Impostor but a Saviour and Benefactor and the Author of our life and happiness XII WE have seen with what a mighty success Christianity displayed its banners over the world let us next consider what it was that contributed to so vast an increase and propagation of it And here not to insist upon the blessing of the Divine Providence which did immediately superintend its prosperity and welfare nor upon the intrinsic excellency of the Religion it self which carried essential characters of Divinity upon it sufficient to recommend it to every wise and good man there were five things among others that did especially conduce to make way for it the miraculous powers then resident in the Church the great learning and abilities of its champions and defenders the indefatigable industry used in propagating of it the incomparable lives of its professors and their patience and constancy under sufferings It was not the least means that procured the Christian Religion a just veneration from the world the miraculous attestations that were given to it I shall not here concern my self to shew that miracles truly and publicly wrought are the highest external evidence that can be given to the truth of that Religion which they are brought to confirm the force of the argument is sufficiently pleaded by the Christian Apologists That such miraculous powers were then ordinary in the Church we have the concurrent testimonies of all the first Writers of it Justin Martyr a Apol. I. p. 45. tells the Emperor and the Senate that our Lord was born for the subversion of the Daemons which they might know from the very things done in their sight for that very many who had been vexed and possessed by Daemons throughout the world and in this very City of theirs whom all their exorcists and conjurers were not able to relieve had been cured by several Christians through the name of Jesus that was crucified under Pontius Pilate and that at this very time they still cur'd them disarming and expelling the Daemons out of those whom they had possess'd The same he affirms in his discourse with Trypho b Dial. cum Tryph. p. 24â— p. 302. the Jew more than once that the Devils trembled and stood in awe of the power of Christ and to this day being adjured by the name of Jesus Christ crucified under Pontius Pilat the Procurator of Judaea they were obedient to Christians Irenaeus c Adv. Haeres l. 2. c. 56. p. 215. c. 57. p. 218. assures us that in his time the Christians enabled by the Grace of Christ raised the dead ejected Daemons and unclean spirits the persons so dispossessed coming over to the Church others had Visions and the gift of Prophesie others by Imposition of hands healed the Sick and restored them to perfect health But I am not able says he to reckon up the number of those gifts which the Church throughout the world receiving from God does every day freely exercise in the name of Jesus Christ crucified under Pontius Pilate to the benefit of the world Tertullian d Apol. c. 23. p. 22. challenges the Roman Governors to let any possessed person be brought before their own Tribunals and they should see that the spirit being commanded to speak by any Christian should as truly confess himself to be a Devil as at other times he falsly boasted himself to be a God And he tells Scapula e Ad Scap. c. 2. p. 6â— that they rejected disgraced and expelled Daemons every day as most could bear them witness Origen f Contr. Cels l. 2. p. 80. bids Celsus take notice that whatever he might think of the reports which the Gospel makes concerning our Saviour yet that it was the great and magnificent work of Jesus by his name to heal even to this day whom God pleased that he a Ib. l. 3. p. 124. himself had seen many who by having the name of God and Christ called over them had been delivered from the greatest evils frenzy and madness and infinite other distempers which neither men nor devils had been able to cure What influence these miraculous effects had upon the world he lets us know elsewhere The Apostles of our Lord says b Lib. 1. p. 34. he without these miraculous powers would never have been able to have moved their Auditors nor perswaded them to desert the institutions of their Country and to embrace their new Doctrine and having once embraced it to defend it even to death in defiance of the greatest dangers Yea even to this day the foot-steps of that Holy Spirit which appeared in the shape of a Dove are preserved among the Christians they exorcize Daemons perform many cures and according to the will of God foresee and foretel things to come At which though Celsus and his personated Jew may laugh yet I affirm further that many even against their inclinations have been brought over to the Christian Religion their former opposition of it being suddenly changed into a resolute maintaining of it unto death after they have had Visions communicated to them several of which nature we our selves have seen And should we only reckon up those at which we
who the great honours done him by the Emperour Justin 's discourse with the Praefect His freedom and courage His sentence and execution The time of his death His great Piety Charity Impartiality c. His natural parts and excellent learning His unskilfulness in the Hebrew Language noted A late Author censured His Writings The Epistle to Diognetus Diognetus who His stile and character The unwarrantable opinions he is charged with His indulgence to Heathens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in what sense used by the ancient Fathers How applied to Christ how to Reason His opinion concerning Chiliasm The concurrence of the Ancients with him herein This by whom first started by whom corrupted Concerning the state of the Soul after this life The doctrine of the Ancients in this matter His assertion concerning Angels maintained by most of the first Fathers The original of it Their opinion concerning Free-will shewed not to be opposed by them to the Grace of God What influence Justin 's Philosophic education had upon his opinions His Writings enumerated I. JVSTIN the Martyr was one as of the most learned so of the most early Writers of the Eastern Church not long after the Apostles as a H. Eccl. l. 2. c. 13. p. 50. Eusebius says of him near to them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Methodius b Ap. Phot. Cod. CCXXXIV col 921. Bishop of Tyre both in time and vertue And near indeed if we strictly understand what he c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epist ad Diognet p. 501. says of himself that he was a Disciple of the Apostles which surely is meant either of the Apostles at large as comprehending their immediate successors or probably not of the Persons but Doctrine and Writings of the Apostles by which he was instructed in the knowledge of Christianity He was d Apol. II. p. 53. born at Neapolis a noted City of Palestine within the Province of Samaria anciently called Sichem afterwards as e De Bell. Jud. l. 5. c. 4. p. 890. Josephus tells us by the inhabitants Mabartha corruptly by f H Nat. l. 5. c. 13 p. 79. Pliny Mamortha by the Romans Neapolis and from a Colony sent thither by Flavius Vespasian stiled Flavia Caesarea His Father was Priscus the Son of Bacchius for so the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Sylburgius and Valesius observe must necessarily be understood implying the one to have been his Father the other his Grandfather a Gentile and as g Animadv ad Eus Chron. n. MMCLVII p. 219. Scaliger probably thinks one of those Greeks which were in that Colony transplanted thither who took care together with Religion to have him educated in all the Learning and Philosophy of the Gentile World And indeed how great and exact a Master he was in all their Arts and Learning how thoroughly he had digested the best and most useful notions which their Institutions of Philosophy could afford his Writings at this day are an abundant evidence II. IN his younger years and as is probable before his conversion to Christianity he travelled into foreign parts for the accomplishment of his Studies and particularly into Egypt the Staple-place of all the more mysterious and recondite parts of Learning and Religion and therefore constantly visited by all the more grave and sage Philosophers among the Heathens That he was at a Paraenes ad Graec. p. 14. Alexandria himself assures us where he tells us what account he received from the inhabitants of the Seventy Translators and was shewed the Cells wherein they performed that famous and elaborate work which probably his inquisitive curiosity as a Philosopher and the reports he had heard of it by living among the Jews had more particularly induced him to enquire after Among the several Sects of Philosophers after he had run through and surveyed all the Forms he pitched his Tent among the Platonists whose b Apol. I. revera II. pag. 50. notions were most agreeable to the natural sentiments of his mind and which no doubt particularly disposed him for the entertainment of Christianity c Ibid. pag. 51. himself telling us that the principles of that Philosophy though not in all things alike were yet not alien or contrary to the Doctrines of the Christian Faith But alas he found no satisfaction to his mind either in this or any other till he arrived at a full persuasion of the truth and divinity of that Religion which was so much despised by the Wise and the Learned so much opposed and trampled on by the Grandees and Powers of the World Whereof and of the manner of his conversion to the â—â—ristian Religion he has given us a very large and punctual accou◠〈◊〉 his Discourse with Trypho I know this account is suspected by some to he onely a Prosopopoeïa to represent the grounds of his becoming a Christian after the Platonic mode by way of Dialogue a way familiar with the Philosophers of that Sect. But however it may be granted that some few circumstances might be added to make up the decorum of the Conference yet I see no reason nor is any thing offered to the contrary besides a bare conjecture to question the foundation of the Story whereof the sum is briefly this III. Dialog cum Tryph. p. 218. c. BEING from his Youth acted by an inquisitive Philosophic genius to make researches and enquiries after truth he first betook himself to the Stoics but not satisfied with his Master he left him and went to a Peripatetic Tutor whose sordid covetousness soon made him conclude that truth could not dwell with him accordingly he turned himself over to a Pythagorean who requiring the preparatory knowledge of Music Astronomy and Geometry him he quickly deserted and last of all delivered himself over to the Institution of an eminent Platonist lately come to reside at Neapolis with whose intellectual notions he was greatly taken and resolved for some time to give up himself to solitude and contemplation Walking out therefore into a solitary place by the Sea side there met him a grave ancient man of a venerable aspect who fell into discourse with him The dispute between them was concerning the excellency of Philosophy in general and of Platonism in particular which Justin asserted to be the onely true way to happiness and of knowing and seeing God This the grave person refutes at large and at last comes to shew him who were the most likely persons to set him in the right way He tells him that there were long before his reputed Philosophers certain blessed and holy men lovers of God and divinely inspired called Prophets who foretold things which have since come to pass who alone understood the truth and undesignedly declared it to the World whose Books yet extant would instruct a man in what most became a Philosopher to know the accomplishment of whose predictions did sufficiently attest their faithfulness and integrity and the mighty miracles which
which being formed according to the mode of the Greeks as a Contr. Cels l. 6. p. 3â—6 Origen long since observed in this very instance who were wont to add as to the termination of words borrowed from a Foreign Language becomes Satanas an adversary And therefore a late b Sand. Tâ—eâ—t de Vet. Script Eccl. Hist Ecccles Tom. 1. Praefix p. 44. Author who has weeded the Writings of the Ancients and whose quotations savour of infinitly greater oftentation then either judgment or fidelity sufficiently betrays his ignorance in those vety Fathers with which he pretends so much acquaintance when to prove the Quaest Resp ad Orthodoxos not to be the genuin work of our Jusâ—â— he urges the odd and ridiculous interpretation of the word Osanna there rendred c Vid. Quaest L. p. 421. by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 super-excellent magnificence of the true signification whereof says he Justin himself being a Samaritan could not be ignorant When as his unquestionable Tracts afford such evident footsteps of his lamentable unskilfulness in that Language But the man must be excused seeing in this as in many other things he traded purely upon trust securely stealing the whole passage word for word out of another Author Vid. Rivet Crit. Sacr. l. 2. c. 5. p. 198. so little skill had he to distinguish between true and false and to know when to follow his Guides and where to leave them As for Justin himself his ignorance herein is the less to be wondered at if we consider that his Religion as a Gentile born his early and almost sole converse with the Greeks his constant study of the Writings of the Gentile Philosophers might well make him a stranger to that Language which had not much in it to tempt a meer Philosopher to learn it In all other parts of Learning how great his abilities were may be seen in his Writings yet extant to say nothing of them that are lost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as d H. Eccl. l. 4. c. 18. p. 139. Eusebius says of them the Monuments of his singular Parts and of a mind studiously conversant about divine things richly fraught with excellent and useful knowledge They are all designed either in defence of the Christian Religion both against Jews and Gentiles or in beating down that common Religion and those prophane and ridiculous Rites of Worship which then governed the World or in prescribing Rules for the ordinary conduct of the Christian Life all which he has managed with an admirable acuteness and dexterity Some Books indeed have obtruded themselves under his name as the Expositio Fidei Quaestiones Responsa ad Orthodoxos Quaestiones Graecanicae ad Christianos Quaestiones V. ad Graecos c. all which are undoubtedly of a later Age composed after Christianity was fully setled in the World and the Arrian controversies had begun to disturb the Christian Church Or if any of them were originally his they have been so miserably interpolated and defaced by after-ages that it is almost impossible to discern true from false XIX AS for the Epistle to Diognetus though excepted against by some yet is it fairly able to maintain its title without any just cause alledged against it Nor is it improbable but that this might be that very Diognetus who was Tutour to the Emperour M. Aurelius who as himself confesses a M. Aurel. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. l. 1. §. 6. p. 1. persuaded him to the study of Philosophy and gave him wise counsels and directions to that purpose and being a person of note and eminency is accordingly saluted by the Martyr with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 most excellent Diognetus His temper and course of life had made him infinitely curious as is evident from the first part of that Epistle to know particularly what was the Religion what the Manners and Rites of Christians what it was that inspired them with so brave and generous a courage as to contemn the world and to despise death upon what grounds they rejected the Religion and disowned the deities of the Gentiles and yet separated themselves from the Jewish Discipline and way of worship what was that admirable love and friendship by which they were so fast knit together and why this novel Institution came so late into the World To all which enquiries suitable enough to a man of a Philosophic genius Justin to whom probably he had a ddressed himself as the most noted Champion of the Christian cause returns a very particular and rational satisfaction in this Epistle though what effect it had upon the Philosopher is unknown That this Epistle is not mentioned by Eusebius is no just exception seeing he confesses b H. Eccl. l. 4. c. 18. p. 140. there were many other Books of Justins besides those which he there reckons up that it is a little more then ordinary polite and philosophical is yet less for who can wonder if so great a Scholar as Justin writing to a person so eminent for Learning and Philosophy endeavoured to give it all the advantages of a florid and eloquent discourse It must be confessed that his ordinary stile does not reach this for which let us take Photius c Loc. supr citat his censure a man able to pass a judgment in this case he studied not says he to set off the native beauty of Philosophy with the paint and varnish of Rhetorical Arts. For which cause his Discourses though otherwise very weighty and powerful and observing a composure agreeable enough to Art and Science have not yet those sweet and luscious insinuations those attractives and allurements that are wont to prevail upon vulgar Auditors and to draw them after them XX. THAT which may seem most to impair the credit of this ancient and venerable man is that he is commonly said to be guilty of some unorthodox sentiments and opinions disagreeing with the received Doctrines of the Church True it is that he has some notions not warranted by general entertainment or the sense of the Church especially in later Ages but yet scarce any but what were held by most of the Fathers in those early times and which for the main are speculative and have no ill influence upon a good life the most considerable whereof we shall here remark First he is charged with too much kindness and indulgence to the more eminent sort of Heathens and particularly toward Socrates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apol. II. pag. 83. Heraclitus and such like such indeed he seems to allow to have been in some sense Christians and of Socrates particularly d Apol. I. p. 48. affirms that Christ was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in part known to him and the like elsewhere more then once The ground of all which was this that such persons did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 live according to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word or reason and that this naturally is in every man and manifest to him
haughty and its face full of ancient wrinkles of which a Lib. 5. cap. 1. p. 459. Lactantius long since gave this censure that though he himself was skilled in all points of Learning yet his stile was rugged and uneasie and very obscure as indeed it requires a very attentive and diligent a sharp and sagacious understanding yet is it lofty and masculine and carries a kind of majestic eloquence along with it that gives a pleasant relish to the judicious and inquisitive Reader It is deeply tinctured with the African dialect and owes not a little of its perplexedness and obscurity to his conversing so much in the Writings of the Greeks whose forms and idioms he had so made his own that they naturally flowed into his pen and how great a Master he was of that Tongue is plain in that himself b De Baptism c. 15. p. 230. de Coron c. 6. p. 104 tells us he wrote a Book concerning Baptism and some others in Greek which could not but exceedingly vitiate and infect his native stile and render it less smooth elegant and delightful as we see in Ammianus Marcellinus who being a Greek born wrote his Roman History in Latin in a stile rough and unpleasant and next door to barbarous Besides what was in it self obscure and uneven became infinitely worse by the ignorance of succeeeding Ages who changed what they did not understand and crowded in spurious words in the room of those which were proper and natural till they had made it look like quite another thing then what it was when it first came from under the hand of its Author XIV HIS errours and unsound opinions are frequently noted by S. Augustin and the Ancients not to mention later Censors and Pamelius has reduced his Paradoxes to thirty one which together with their Explications and Antidotes he has prefixed before the Editions of his Works That of Montanus his being the Paraclete we noted before and for other things relating to that Sect they are rather matters concerning Order and Discipline then Articles and Points of Faith It cannot be denied but that he has some unwarrantable notions common with other Writers of those Times and some more peculiar to himself But he lived in an Age when the Faith was yet green and tender when the Church had not publicly and solemnly defined things by explicit Articles and nice Propositions when the Philosophy of the Schools was mainly predominant and men ran immediately from the Stoa and the Academy to the Church when a greater latitude of opining was indulged and good men were infinitely more solicitous about piety and a good life then about modes of Speech and how to express every thing so critically and exactly that it should not be liable to a severe scrutiny and examination His Writings Genuine Apologeticus Ad Nationes Libri II. De Testimonio Animae Ad Scapulam De Spectaculis De Idololatria De Corona De Pallio De Poenitentia De Oratione Ad Martyras De Patientia De cultu foeminarum Lib. II. Ad Vxorem Lib. II. De Virginibus Velandis Adversus Judaeos De Praescriptione Haereticorum De Baptismo Adversus Hermogenem Adversus Valentinianos De Anima De Carne Christi De Resurrectione Carnis Adversus Marcionem Lib. V. Scorpiace Adversus Praxeam Libri post Lapsum in Montanismum scripti De Exhortatione Castitatis De Monogamia De fuga in Persecutione De Jejuniis De Pudicitia Supposititious Poemata Adversus Marcionem Lib. V. De judicio Domini Genesis Sodoma Not extant De Paradiso De Spe Fidelium De Ecstasi Adversus Apollonium Adversus Apellecianos De Vestibus Aaron De Censu Animae Graece De Corona De Virginibus Velandis De Baptismo The End of TERTULLIAN 's Life THE LIFE OF ORIGEN Presbyter Catechist of ALEXANDRIA Michael Burghers sculpsit ORIGEN Origen where and when born Several conjectures about the original of his name His Father who His juvenile education and great towardliness in the knowledge of the Scriptures His Philosophical Studies under Clemens Alexandrinus His Institution under Ammonius Ammonius who His fame and excellency confessed by the Gentile Philosophers Another Origen his contemporary These two heedlesly confounded His Fathers martyrdom and the confiscation of his Estate Origen 's resolute encouragement of his Father His own passionate desire of Martyrdom His maintenance by an honourable Matron of Alexandria His zeal against Heretics His setting up a private School His succeding Clemens in the Catechetic Shool at eighteen years of Age. The frequency of his Auditors Many of them Martyrs for the Faith Origen 's resolution in attending upon the Martyrs His danger His couragious act at the Temple of Serapis His emasculating himself and the reasons of it The eminent chastity of those Primitive times Origen 's journey to Rome and return to Alexandria His taking in a Colleague into the Catechetic Office His learning the Hebrew Tongue The prudent method of his Teaching Ambrosius converted Who he was His great intâ—maâ—y with Origen Origen sent for by the Governour of Arabia His journey into Palestin and teaching at Caesarea Remanded by the Bishop of Alexandria Alexander Severus his excellent Vertues and kindness for the Christian Religion Origen sent for by the Empress Mammaea to Antioch He begins to write his Commentaries How many Notaries and Transcribers imployed and by whom maintained Notaries their Original and Office Their use and institution in the Primitive Church His journey into Greece His passage through Palestin and being ordained Presbyter at Caesarea Demetrius of Alexandria his envy and rage against him Origen condemned in two Synods at Alexandria and one at Rome The resignation of his Catechetic School to Heraclas Heraclas who The story of his offering sacrifice The credit of this story questioned and why His departure from Alexandria and fixing at Caesarea The eminency of his School there Gregorius Thaumaturgus his Scholar His friendship with Firmilian Firmilian who The Persecution under Maximinus Origen 's Book written to the Martyrs His retirement whither His comparing the Versions of the Bible His Tetrapla Hexapla and Octapla what and how managed A Speâ—imen given of them His second journey to Athens His going to Nicomedia and letter to Africanus about the History of Susanna His confutation of Beryllus in Arabia His answer to Celsus Celsus who Origens Letters to Philip the Emperour The vanity of making him a Christian Origen 's journey into Arabia to refute Heresies The Helcesaitae who What their Principles Alexander 's miraculous election to the See of Jerusalem his Coadjutor-ship Government Sufferings and Martyrdom Origen 's grievous sufferings at Tyre under the Decian Persecution His deliverance out of Prison Age and Death His Character His strict life His mighty zeal abstinence contempt of the World indefatigable diligence and patience noted His natural parts incomparable learning His Books and their several Classes His stile what His unsound opinions The great Out-cry against him in all Ages
accomplished with a prodigious furniture of learning and all the improvements which Rome or Greece could afford being incomparably skilled as d De script in Orig. S. Hierom and e In Orig. p. 387. Suidas observes both in Gentile and Christian learning Logic Geometry Arithmetic Music Philosophy Rhetoric and the several sentiments and opinions of all the Sects of Philosophy and who always entertained his Auditors with something above common observation So great the force and acuteness of his parts says Vincentius Lerinensis f Contr. Haeres c. 23. p. 55. so profound quick and elegant that none could come near him so vast his stock of all sorts of Learning that there were few corners of divine and perhaps none of humane Philosophy which he had not accurately searched into and when the Greeks could lead him no further with an unparallel'd industry he conquered the language and learning of the Jews But no other character need be given him then what Porphyry a Ap. Euseb l. 6. c. 19. p. 220. who knew him though a learned man b L. Holsten de vit script Porphyr c. 6. p. 27. who from that passage in Eusebius makes him to have been his Scholar proceeds doubtless upon a great mistake and was an enemy bestows upon him that he was held in very great esteem in those times and had purchased a more then ordinary glory and renown from the greatest Masters which Christianity then had in the World and that under the discipline of Ammonius he attained to an admirable skill in Learning and Philosophy The monuments and evidences whereof as he there observes were the Books and Writings which he left behind him considerable not for their Subjects onely but their multitude arising to that vast number that Epiphanius c Ubi supr p. 256. vid. Ruffin Apol. pro Orig. inter Oper. Hier. T. 4. p. 197. tells us it was commonly reported that he wrote six thousand Volumes The greatest part of which being understood of Epistles and single Homilies the account will not be above belief nor give any just foundation for Rufinus and S. Hierom to wrangle so much about it the latter of whom point-blank denies that ever himself read or that Origen himself wrote so many d Loc. citat Vincentius affirms that no man ever wrote so much as he and that all his Books could not onely not be read but not so much as be found out by any So that it was not without reason that antiquity fastned the title of Syntacticus or the Composer upon him his innumerable Discourses upon all sorts of Subjects justly appropriating that title to him His Books were of old enumerated by many and digested into their proper Classes whether Scholia short strictures upon obscure difficult places Homilies and Tomes as the Ancients divided them or Exegetica and Syntagmata under which rank some Modern Writers comprehend them the greatest part whereof though they have long since perished through the carelessness and ill will of succeeding Times yet does a very large portion of them still remain His phrase and way of writing is clear and unaffected fluent and copious e Censur de Oper. Orig. Erasmus gives a high encomium of it preferring it before most other Writers of the Church that it is neither turgid and lofty like that of S. Hilary flying above the reach of ordinary Readers nor set off with gaudy and far-fetcht ornaments like that of S. Hierom nor abounding with flowers of Rhetoric and smart witty sentences like that of S. Ambrose nor over-seasoned with tart and satyrical reflections and obscured with obsolete and antiquated terms as that of Tertullian not superstitious in the curious and accurate structure of its several parts like that of S. Gregory nor running out into large digressions nor affecting a chiming cadency of words like that of St. Augustin but always brisk and lively easie and natural But when he commends it for its conciseness and brevity he certainly forgot himself or mistook and what wonder he should when t is like he took his measures not so much from the Original as Translations For his stile though it be generally plain and perspicuous yet is it diffusive and luxuriant flowing with plenty of words which might be often spared and therefore charged by some of his critical adversaries that he did infinita verba multiplicare f Epiph. Ep. ad Joan. Hierosol ap Hieron T. 2. p 158. g Eustath Antioch dissot de Engastrym adv Orig. inter Crit. S. Tom. 8. col 441 453. multiply an infinite crowd of words and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he filled the World with a company of needless and idle words which he unmeasurably poured out and that he did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exceedingly trifle with vain tautologies and repetitions A censure wherein envy and emulation must be supposed to have had the predominant and over-ruling stroke For though abounding with words he was always allowed to be eloquent for which Vincentius highly commends him Ubi supr affirming his phrase to be so sweet pleasant and delightful that there seemed to him to have dropt not words so much as honey from his mouth XXVI BUT that alas which has cast clouds and darkness upon all his glory and buried so much of his fame in ignominy and reproach is the dangerous and unsound doctrines and principles which are scattered up and down his writings for which almost all Ages without any reverence to his parts learning piety and the judgment of the wisest and best of the times he lived in have without any mercy pronounced him Heretic and his sentiments and speculations rash absurd pernicious blasphemous and indeed what not The alarm began of old and was pursued with a mighty clamour and fierceness especially by Methodius Bishop of Olympus Eustathius of Antioch Apollinaris Theophilus of Alexandria and Epiphanius and the cry carried on with a loud noise in after-ages insomuch that the very mention of his name is in the Greek Church abominable at this day I had once resolved to have considered the chief of those notions and principles for which Origen is so heavily charged by the Ancients but superseded that labor when I found that the industry of the learned Monsieur Huet in his Origeniana had left no room for any to come after him so fully so clearly so impartially with such infinite variety of reading has he discussed and canvassed this matter and thither I remit the learned and capable Reader And for those that cannot or will not be at the pains to read his large and excellent Discourses they may consult nearer hand the ingenious Author of the Letter of Resolution concerning Origen and the chief of his opinions Edit Lond. 1661. 4. where they will find the most obnoxious of his dogmata reckoned up and the Apologies and Defences which a sincere lover of Origen might be supposed to make in his behalf and these
they wrought set the truth of what they said beyond all exception that they magnified God the great Creator of the World and published his Son Christ to the World Concluding his discourse with this advice But as for thy self above all things pray that the Gates of Light may set open to thee for these are not things discerned and understood by all unless God and Christ grant to a man the knowledge of them Which discourse being ended he immediately departed from him IV. Ibid. pag. 225. THE wise discourse of this venerable man made a deep impression upon the Martyrs mind kindled in his soul a divine flame and begot in him a sincere love of the Prophets and those excellent men that were friends to Christ And now he began seriously to enquire into and examine the Christian Religion which he confesses he found 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the onely certain and profitable Philosophy and which he could not but commend as containing a certain majesty and dread in it and admirably adapted to terrifie and persuade those who were out of the right way and to beget the sweetest serenity and peace in the minds of those who are conversant in it Nor was it the least inducement to turn the scale with him when he beheld the innocency of the Christians lives and the constancy of their death with what fearless and undaunted resolutions they courted torments and encountred Death in its blackest Shape This very account he gives of it to the Roman Emperour For my own part says a Apol. I. p. 50. he being yet detained under the Platonic Institutions when I heard the Christians traduced and reproached and yet saw them fearlesly rushing upon Death and venturing upon all those things that are accounted most dreadful and amazing to humane nature I concluded with my self 't was impossible that those men should wallow in Vice and be carried away with the love of Lust and Pleasure For what man that is a Slave to Pleasure and Intemperance that looks upon the eating humane Flesh as a delicacy can chearfully bid Death welcom which he knows must put a period to all his pleasures and delights and would not rather by all means endeavour to prolong his life as much as is possible and to delude his adversaries and conceal himself from the notice of the Magistrate rather then voluntarily betray and offer himself to a present execution And certainly the Martyrs reasonings were unanswerable seeing there could not be a more effectual proof of their innocency then their laying down their lives to attest it Zeno was wont to say he had rather see one Indian burnt alive then hear a hundred arguments about enduring labour and suffering Whence b Stromat l. 2. p. 414. Clemens Alexandrinus infers the great advantages of Christianity wherein there were daily Fountains of Martyrs springing up who before their eyes were roasted tormented and beheaded every day whom regard to the Law of their Master had taught and obliged 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to demonstrate the truth and excellency of their Religion by sealing it with their bloud V. WE cannot exactly fix the date of his conversion yet may we I think make a very near conjecture a H. Eccl. l. 4. c. 8. p. 122. Eusebius tells us that at the time when Hadrian consecrated Antinous Justin did yet adhere to the Studies and Religion of the Greeks Now for this we are to know that Hadrian coming into Egypt lost there his beloved Catamit Antinous whose death he so resented that he advanced him into the reputation of a Deity whence in an ancient inscription at b Ap. Casau not in Ael Spart vit Adr p. 66. Rome he is stiled ϹΥÎΘΡΟÎΟΣΤΩΠΕΠΑΙΓΥΠΤΩ ΘΕΩΠthe Assessor of the Gods in Egypt He built a City to him in the place where he died called Antinoe erected a Temple and appointed Priests and Prophets to attend it instituted annual solemnities and every five years Sacred Games called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 held not in Egypt onely but in other parts whence an c Marm. Oxon. CXLIII p. 277 Inscription not long after those times set up by the Senate of Smyrna mentions Lerenius Septimius Heliodorus ANTINOEA who overcame in the Sports at Smyrna But to return 'T is very evident that Hadrian had not been in Egypt till about the time of Servianus or Severianus his being Consul as appears from that Emperours Letters d Ext. ap Vopist in vâ—t Saturn p. 959. to him whose Consulship fell in with Ann. Chr. CXXXII Traj XVI So that this of Antinous must be done either that or at most the foregoing year and accordingly about this time as Eusebius intimates Justin deserted the Greeks and came over to the Christians Whence in his first Apology presented not many years after to Antoninus Pius Adrians Successor he speaks e Apol. II. revera I. p. 72. of Antinous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who very lately lived and was consecrated and of the Jewish War headed by Barchachab as but lately past which we know was concurrent with the death and apotheosis of Antinous For that Justin's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in both passages cannot be precisely confined to the time of presenting that Apology is evident to all and therefore as the phrase is sometimes used must be extended to what was lately done VI. THE wiser and more considerate part of the Gentiles were not a little troubled at the loss of so useful and eminent a person and wondred what should cause so sudden a change For whose satisfaction and conversion as well as his own vindication he thought good particularly to write a Discourse to them in the very first words whereof he thus bespeaks them f Orat. ad Graec. p. 37. Think not O ye Greeks that I have rashly and without any judgment or deliberation departed from the Rites of your Religion For I could find nothing in it really sacred and worthy of the divine acceptance The matters among you as your Poets have ordered them are monuments of nothing but madness and intemperance and a man can no sooner apply himself even to the most learned among you for instruction but he shall be intangled in a thousand difficulties and become the most confused man in the World And then proceeds with a great deal of wit and eloquence to expose the folly and absurdness of the main foundations of the Pagan Creed concluding his address with these exhortations Come hither O ye Greeks Ibid. p. 40. and partake of a most incomparable wisdom and be instructed in a divine Religion and acquaint your selves with an immortal King Become as I am for I sometimes was as you are These are the Arguments that prevailed with me this the efficacy and divinity of the doctrine which like a skilful charm expels all corrupt and poisonous affections out of the soul and banishes that Lust that is the Fountain of all evil whence Enmities Strifes Envy Aemulations Anger