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ANCIENT HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 UNIVERSALISM: 
 
 FROM THE TIME OF THE APOSTLES, TO ITS CONDEMNATION 
 IN THE FIFTH GENERAL COUNCIL, A. D. 553. 
 
 AIV APPEJVDIX, 
 
 TRACING THE DOCTRINE DOWN TO THE 
 
 iSra of tije Btfotmcttidu. 
 
 BY HOSEA BAL.LOU, 2d. 
 
 Pastor of the Universalist Church and Society in Roxbury. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 MARSH AND CAPEN, 362 WASHINGTON-ST. 
 
 1829. 
 
«.1(5^ •<$; 
 
 DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, TO WIT : 
 
 District Clerk's Office. 
 
 Be it remembered, that on the thirtieth day of October, A. D. 
 1828, in the fifty third year of the Independence of the United States 
 of America, Hosea Ballon, 2d, of the said district, has deposited in 
 this Office the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as propri- 
 etor, in the words followung, to wit : — 
 
 "The Ancient History of Universalism : from the time of the 
 Apostles, to its condemnation in the Fifth General Council A.D.553. 
 With an Appendix, tracing the doctrine down to the era of the Reforma- 
 tion. By Hosea Ballon, 2d, Pastor of the Universalist Church and So- 
 ety in Roxbury." 
 
 In conformity to the actof the Congress of the U. States, entitled "an 
 act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of 
 maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies 
 during the times therein mentioned :" and also an act, entitled " an 
 act supplementary to an act, entitled, an act for the encouragement 
 of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books to the 
 authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein men- 
 tioned ; and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, 
 engraving, and etching historical and other prints." 
 
 JOHN W.DAVIS, 
 
 Clerk of the District of Mass. 
 
 DOW AND NILES, PRINTERS. 
 3G2 Washington st. — boston. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Preface - Page 18 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Opinions entertained hy the christians, froin A. D. 90, to 
 A. D. 150, concerning future punishment, and the eventual 
 salvation of the world, exhibited hy means of all the relative 
 passages in the Orthodox ivrntings extant of this period, and 
 hy a summary statement of the doctrine of the early Gnos- 
 tic sects. 
 
 A. D. SECT. 
 
 Extent, condition, and common faith of 
 90 the Orthodox and Heretics. 1 
 
 The Orthodox. Titles and character 
 of their writings yet extant. - - 2 
 
 90 — 95 Epistle of Clemens Romanus. Date of 
 94 — 100 St. John's writings, and time of his death. 13 
 
 107 or 116 Epistles of Ignatius. Relation of his 
 
 Martyrdom. - - _ 4 
 
 108 or 117 Epistle of Polycarp. - - - 5 
 
 Corruptions introduced into the Church. 
 116 to 126 Papias. Aristides. The Greek Philosophy. 6 
 131 Epistle of Barnabas. - - 7 
 About 150 Shepherd of Hermas. - - 8 
 90 to 150 The Gnostic Christians. Their gen- 
 eral doctrine and character. - - 9 
 About 120 The Basilidians. - - - 10 
 do. The Carpocratians. - - 11 
 
4 CONTENTS. 
 
 A. D. SECT. 
 
 About 130 The Valentinians. - - 12 
 
 What notions of the Gnostics were pe- 
 culiarly odious to the Orthodox. - 13 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Opinions of the christians from A. D. 150, to A. D. 
 199, concerning future punislimenty and the eventual salvation 
 of the world, illustrated hy extracts from cdlthe authors ex- 
 tant of this period, who have introduced the subject, 
 
 A. D. SECT. 
 
 Increase of Heretics. Gnostics. Ebi- 
 loO onites. Character of the Orthodox. 1 
 
 Change in the character of the christian 
 writings. Titles of those extant of this 
 period. - - - - 2 
 
 — 150 — The Sibylline Oracles, containing the 
 earliest explicit assertion of a restoration of 
 the damned. - - - - 3 
 
 150 to 162 
 
 The works of Justin Martyr. 
 
 4 
 
 160—170 
 
 Relation of the Martyrdom of Polycarp. 
 
 5 
 
 170 
 
 Oration of Tatian. 
 
 (3 
 
 173 
 
 Ecclesiastical History, by Hegesippus. 
 
 7 
 
 177 
 
 Epistle of the Churches of Lyons and 
 
 
 
 Vienna. . _ . _ 
 
 8 
 
 178 to 180 
 
 Works of Athenagoras. 
 
 9 
 
 181 
 
 Treatise of Theophilus. 
 
 10 
 
 180—190 
 
 Works of Irenasus. - - _ 
 Summary of the first two Chapters. Re- 
 
 11 
 
 
 marks. - _ . _ 
 
 12 
 
 
 Necessary change in the plan of this 
 
 
 
 History. - - - - - 
 
 13 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER in. 
 Clemens Alexandrinus, and Ids Cotcmporaries ; or the 
 Opinions of the Christians from A. D. 190, to A. D. 230, 
 concerning the future state. 
 
 A. D. SECT. 
 
 190 to 196 Clemens Alexandrinus, a Universalist. 
 His own testimonies. His views of the 
 future state. - . . i 
 
 His general system of doctrine. His 
 standing in the Orthodox church. - 'Z 
 
 His life. - - - - 3 
 
 His character. - - _ 4 
 
 200 to 204 Tertullian, a believer in endless misery. 5 
 210 Minucius Felix. - - - 6 
 
 Common notions among the Orthodox 
 concerning the state of the dead, and the 
 near approach of the last judgment. - 7 
 
 Concise account of the state of Univer- 
 salism among the Orthodox and Gnostics. 8 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Origen, and his Doctrine. 
 
 230 Origen's renown. His books Of Principlec. ( 
 
 His testimony in favor of Universalism 
 and Pre-existence. - - - 2 
 
 His Life from A. D. 185 to A. D. 203. 3 
 '' 203 " 216. 4 
 
 " 216 " 230. 5 
 
 His first publications. The general sys- 
 tem of doctrine taught in them. - 6 
 His rule for interpreting the Scriptures. 7 
 
b CONTENTS. 
 
 A. D. SECT, 
 
 His life from A. D. 230 to A. D. 245. 8 
 
 245 " 253. 9 
 
 His character. - - - 10 
 230 to 253 Universal ism a favorite topic with him. 
 
 Additional testimonies. - - 11 
 
 The manner in which he taught it. 12 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Origoi's ScJwlars and Cotemporaries ; or Opinions of 
 the christians from A. D. 230 to A. D. 270, concerning 
 Univcrsalism. 
 
 Difficulty in ascertaining the extent to 
 which Universalism prevailed. Origen's 
 influence. - - - - 1 
 
 Eastern Churches. Alexander, bishop 
 of Jerusalem ; and Theoctistus, bishop of 
 Cesarea in Palestine. - - 2 
 
 Heraclas, bishop of Alexandria. - 3 
 
 Ambrosius, Origen's patron. - 4 
 
 Firmilian, bishop of Cesarea in Cappadocia.5 
 Gregory Thaumaturgus, and Athenodo- 
 rus, bishops of Pontus. . _ g 
 
 Heretics, of all kinds. - - 7 
 
 249 to 258 Western Churches. Cyprian bishop 
 
 of Carthage. - - - - 8 
 
 250 to 270 Character, condition, and general doc- 
 
 trine of the Orthodox. - - 9 
 
 Appendix to Chapter v. The Manicheans. 
 Extensive and lasting consequences of 
 their heresy. Its author, Mani's Life. 1 
 
 265 His general system of doctrine. - 2 
 
CONTENTS. 7 
 
 A. D. SECT. 
 
 Its reception among the Persians and 
 Greeks, and its first appearance within the 
 limits of the Roman Empire. - 3 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 History of Origen's doctrine from A. D. 254 to A. D 
 390; and of the opinions entertained hy the christians, in the 
 meantime, concerning the future state. 
 
 Design and plan of this Chapter. Nepos 
 
 revives in Egypt the doctrine of the Mil- 
 
 257 to 263 lennium, against Origen ; but is refuted. 1 
 
 Origen's popularity. He is imitated by 
 
 some Egyptian writers. His doctrine at- 
 
 280—290 tacked by Methodius, bishop of Tyre. He 
 
 290—300 is imitated by Victorinus. - 2 
 
 About 300 Peter, bishop of Alexandria, reproaches 
 
 his memory. _ _ _ 3 
 
 305, 306 Arnobius, and Lactantius. Their opin- 
 ions concerning the future state. - 4 
 Complaints in the East against Origen's 
 307 to 310 doctrine. Pamphilus and Eusebius's Apol- 
 ogy for him. - - - - 5 
 
 Evidence that Universalism was not un- 
 popular, and that Pamphilus and Eusebius 
 were favorably disposed towards it. - 6 
 
 Livesof Pamphilus and Eusebius. - 7 
 Arian controversy. Origen's name and 
 32P'to 360 doctrine somewhat involved. - 8 
 
 Origen's notions attacked by Eustathius, 
 bishop of Antioch, and by Apollinarius, 
 ' bishop of Laodicea. - - -9 
 
8 CONTENTS. 
 
 A. D. SECT. 
 
 347 to 370 Opinions of the fathers concerning fu- 
 ture punishment. Athanasius, Cyrill of 
 Jerusalem, Ephraim the Syrian, and Hilary 
 of Poitiers. - - - - 10 
 
 360 to 370 Titus, bishop of Bostra, a Universalist. 11 
 370 Basil the Great, bishop of Cappadocia. 12 
 
 Gradual rise, and permanent establishment 
 of the monastic institution. The Origen- 
 370 to 376 ists. Their chief retreat at Nitria. - 13 
 376 They are attacked by Epiphanius, bishop 
 
 of Cyprus. - - - - 14 
 
 370 to 383 Many of the Orthodox fathers in the 
 East, are Universalists. Gregory Nazian- 
 zen's indecision. - - - 15 
 
 His life, eloquence and character. 16 
 
 Gregory Nyssen's testimony in favor of 
 Universalism. - - - 17 
 
 His general system of doctrine. His 
 works, life, and reputation among the Or- 
 thodox. - - - - 18 
 
 Didymus of Alexandria a Universalist. 
 His life, character, and works. - 19 
 
 380 to 390 Jerome a Universalist. His early life. 
 
 His friendship with Rufinus. - 20 
 
 390 Evagrius Ponticus a Universalist. His 
 
 life. . - - . 21 
 
 Most of the leading Origenists perhaps 
 
 Universalists. Palladius of Galatia. Isi- 
 
 dorus of Alexandria. John, bishop of 
 
 Jerusalem. - - - - 22 
 
 Western Fathers. Ambrose, bishop 
 
 384 to 390 of Milan. Ambrosiaster, or Hilary deacon 
 
CONTENTS. y 
 
 A. D. SECT. 
 
 384to390of Rome; their opinions of the future 
 
 state. _ - - - 23 
 
 Heretics. The Arians of this century. 
 SabelHans. Novatians, and other schismat- 
 icks. The Manicheans ; their opinions 
 concerning Universalism. - - 24 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The Contest icith the Origenists, from A. D. 391 to A. 
 D. 404 ; in ichich Universalism is for the first time censured^ 
 and in part condemned. 
 
 391 Principal bishops in Christendom. Prin- 
 
 cipal writers. Persons mentioned in the 
 preceding chapter. Banishment of the 
 Arians. Quiet of the Church. - 1 
 
 Epiphanius's attack upon John of Jeru- 
 salem in his church. His ordination of 
 
 393 Paulinianus, Jerome's brother. Complaints 
 
 of John. - - - - 2 
 
 394 Epiphanius's Letter to John, with his 
 catalogue of Origen's errors, in which 
 Universalism is for the first time censured. 3 
 
 The disturbance in Palestine. Jerome 
 
 395 sides with Epiphanius against John and 
 Rufinus. - _ - - 4 
 
 Letter of Isidorus. Attempt of Arche- 
 laus to reconcile the parties in Palestine. 
 Mission of Isidorus from Theophilus, arch- 
 bishop of Alexandria. His partiality to 
 John. _ - - - 5 
 
 396 He assists John in composing an Answer 
 
 to Epiphanius, or Apology to Theophilus. 6 
 
10 CONTENTS. 
 
 A. D. SECT. 
 
 396 Tlie christians at Rome are variously 
 affected by these publications ; and some 
 of them request information from Jerome. 
 
 397 He writes them an Answer to John's Apol - 
 ogy. He receives a letter from Theophi- 
 lus, and replies. His influence, and appli- 
 cation to Augustine. - - - 7 
 
 Reconciliation between Jerome and 
 Rufinus. Rufinus goes to Rome with Me- 
 lania, translates and publishes the first 
 book of the Apology for Origen, and Ori- 
 gen's books Of Principles, and covertly 
 attacks Jerome. Spread of Origenism at 
 397, 398 Rome. - ... 8 
 
 Jerome receives those works, writes to 
 398 or 399 Rufinus, and composes a Defence of him- 
 self, in which he denies a restoration from 
 hell, and states Origen's chief errors. - 9 
 
 Theophilus is assailed by the Anthropo- 
 morphites of Egypt, quarrels with Isidorus 
 and the Nitrian monks, and takes up 
 against the Origenists. Assembles a coun- 
 cil at Alexandria, in which Origen's doc- 
 
 399 trine and books are, for the first time, 
 formally condemned. Description of Ni- 
 tria. Theophilus enters the place with a 
 band of soldiers; before whom the Origen- 
 ists flee to Palestine. Conduct of John of 
 Jerusalem. Exultation of Theophilus, 
 Epiphanius and Jerome. Council at Cy- 
 
 400 prus, and decree of the Roman Pontiff 
 against Origen's works. - - 10 
 
CONTEXTS. 
 
 11 
 
 A. D. SECT. 
 
 Points of his doctrine condemned in 
 400 these proceedings. How his condemna- 
 tion was received by the orthodox in gen- 
 eral. - - - - 11 
 Deputation sent by Theophilus against 
 400 the Origenists to Chrysostom, bishop of 
 Constantinople. The Origenists proceed 
 thither, and are favorably received. Per- 
 to secution and exile of Chrysostom. Death 
 of Epiphanius, Isidorus, and the leaders 
 of the Origenists. Reconciliation of The- 
 
 403 ophilus with the rest. - - 12 
 
 Paschal Epistles of Theophilus to the 
 401 to 404 Egyptian churches against Origen's doc- 
 trine. - - - - 13 
 Italy. The Roman Pontiff cites Rufi- 
 400 to 404 nus to appear before him on a charge of 
 heresy; rejects the Apology which Rufinus 
 sends; and condemns him, Runnus's se- 
 cret Invective against Jerome. Extracts of 
 it privately sent to Jerome. - - 14 
 
 Jerome, in answer, writes his Apology 
 against Rufinus ; in which he defends 
 himself, accuses Rufinus, denies Univer- 
 sdism, and gives a catalogue of Origen's 
 principal errors. Rufinus is exasperated, 
 and threatens. Jerome adds the conclusion 
 to his Apology against Rufinus. - 15 
 
 404 End of the Contest. Review of its 
 character. - - - - 16 
 
12 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 History of Univei^salism from A, D. 405 to A. D. 500. 
 
 A. D. SECT. 
 
 Division of the Roman Empire into Eas- 
 tern and Western. Disorders and weakness 
 405 of the State. Progress of the Church to- 
 wards supreme power. Contest with the 
 Donatists. . - - - 
 
 405 The Origenists find repose. Rufinus, 
 
 Melania, John of Jerusalem, Evagrius Pon- 
 ticus, and Palladius of Galatia. Theoph- 
 ilus grows attached again to Origen's 
 to works. His death. Jerome avails him- 
 self of Origen's authority, though he in- 
 veighs against the Origenists. His pres- 
 ent professed views of future punishment. 
 412 Perhaps, in secret, a Universalist still. 2 
 
 The orthodox of this age divided into five 
 classes with regard to their notions of fu- 
 ture punishment, and of the final extent of 
 salvation. - - - - 3 
 
 Universalists in Spain, under the two 
 410 to 415 Avituses, Basil, &c. Their peculiar 
 opinions. Augustine, by request of the 
 Spanish bishops, writes against them. His 
 criticism on the Greek word translated ev- 
 erlasting. His arguments against Univer- 
 salism. - . _ _ 4 
 
 His influence, talents and character. 
 He was the author of the doctrine of total 
 depravity, irresistible grace, and sovereign^ 
 partial election. - - 5 
 
CONTEINTS. 13 
 
 A. D. SECT. 
 
 Unfavorable influence of that doctrine 
 against Universalism. - - 6 
 
 412 Account of its introduction. Pelagius 
 
 and Celestius teach their heresy ; and Au- 
 to gustine, in opposing them, runs to the op- 
 posite extreme. Other opposers of the 
 418 Pelagians. - - - - 7 
 
 413 to 420 Pelagius patronized by John of Jerusa- 
 lem. Death and character of the latter. 
 Death of Jerome. - - . 8 
 
 420 to 429 Theodorus of Mopsuestia, a Universal- 
 
 ist. His life, character, and works. - 9 
 430 to 450 Universalism prevails around Cesarea in 
 Palestine ; but no traces of the doctrine 
 afterwards can be discovered, till the end 
 of this century. - - - 10 
 
 450 to 500 Probable cause of this silence may be 
 found in the civil and ecclesiastical com- 
 motions which engrossed the public atten- 
 tion. Fall of the Western Empire. Nes- 
 torian controversy in the East. - 11 
 
 Manicheans and Gnostics of this century. 12 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 Revival and progress of Origenism in Palestine ; and 
 final condemnation of Universalism in the Fifth General 
 Council. 
 
 View of (he Solitude between Jerusalem 
 and the Dead Sea. - - - 1 
 
 Lauras and monasteries in that region, 
 500 Character of Sabas. Renewal of a dis- 
 2 
 
14 CONTENTS. 
 
 A. D. SECT. 
 
 501 to 507 affection in his Laura ; and the founding 
 
 of Nova Laura. - - - 2 
 
 514 Nonnus, Leontius, and other Origenists 
 
 admitted into Nova Laura. Their tenets. 
 Their expulsion; and re- admission. Their 
 to doctrine spreads in the country. The af- 
 fair introduced, by Sabas, to the notice of 
 
 531 the emperor Justinian. - - 3 
 
 Death of Sabas ; and the prosperity of 
 the Origenists. Domitian and Theodorus 
 
 532 Ascidas, Universalists. They go to Con- 
 stantinople, and are appointed archbishops, 
 the former of Galatia, and the latter of 
 Cappadocia. Their influence at Court ; 
 and their patronage of their friends in Pal- 
 estine. - - _ . 4 
 
 537 Gelasius, abbot of St. Sabas, orders the 
 Treatise of Antipater to be read in public, 
 and expels the leading Origenists from the 
 
 538 great Laura ; but is obliged to drive away, 
 in turn, some of his orthodox monks. 
 These go to Antioch, and lay the matter 
 before Ephraim, patriarch of that city ; 
 who calls a council of the bishops, and 
 anathematizes the heresy. The Origen- 
 ists in revenge, attempt to procure the ex- 
 communication of Ephraim. Peter, bishop 
 of Jerusalem, withstands them, and sends 
 an account of their heresy and conduct to 
 Justinian. - - - - 5 
 
 539 — 540 Justinian publishes an edict, addressed 
 to Mennas, patriarch of Constantinople, 
 
CONTENTS. 15 
 
 A. D. SECT. 
 
 commanding Origen's errors, among which 
 is Universalism, to be condemned, togeth- 
 er with their author and advocates. The 
 bishops at Constantinople meet in council 
 and approve the edict ; and the patriarchs 
 of the eastern and western churches sub- 
 scribe it. - - - - G 
 540 But in Palestine, Alexander, a bishop, 
 refuses to subscribe ; and the partizans of 
 Nonnus prefer banishment from their cells. 
 Peter of Jerusalem is soon compelled to 
 compromise and restore them. Their 
 to quarrels and combat with the orthodox 
 monks. Gelasius goes to Constantinople 
 to lay a complaint against them, before the 
 emperor ; but is driven away by Theodorus 
 Ascidas. The orthodox in Palestine are 
 
 546 dispersed, and the Origenists take posses- 
 sion of the Lauras and monasteries. Death 
 of Nonnus and Leontius. The Laura of 
 Sabas falls into the hands of the orthodox ; 
 while the Origenists gain the election of 
 Macarius to the bishopric of Jerusalem. 
 
 547 Dissention among themselves. - 7 
 546 Artful plan of Theodorus to revenge the 
 
 late condemnation of Origen. He pro- 
 to cures an edict from Justinian against the 
 
 Three Chapters. Commotions which fol- 
 553 lowed in the church. - - - 8 
 
 553 Meeting of the Fifth General Council, 
 
 in which certain writings of Theodorus 
 
 of Mopsuestia, Theodoret of Cyrus, and 
 
16 CONTENTS. 
 
 A. D. SECT. 
 
 Ibas of Edessa, are condemned. The 
 subject of Origenism is brought before 
 the council; anathemas pronounced against 
 the doctrine ; and the works of Didymus 
 of Alexandria, and of Evagrius Ponticus in 
 favor of Universalism condemned. 9 
 
 553 — 554 Execution of the Council's decrees io 
 Palestine ; and consequent dispersion of 
 the Origenists. - - - 10 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 TO THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF UNIVERSALISM. 
 
 Traces of the doctrine from the time of the Fifth Gefi- 
 eral Council to the Era of the Reformation. 
 649 to 869 The first Lateran Council, and the 
 seventh and eighth General Councils re- 
 peat the condemnation of Origen, Didy- 
 mus and Evagrius. Germanus writes 
 against the Universalists. - - 1 
 
 744 Clement, perhaps a Universalist, in 
 
 France. - - - - 2 
 
 850 to 1050 No new heresies arose in the church 
 during this age of midnight darkness. 
 Character of the clergy, and state of 
 religion. - - - - 3 
 
 660 The Paulicians perhaps the remote 
 
 occasion of the Reformation. Their 
 to character, manners, and doctrine. - 4 
 
 Their History. Their dispersion over 
 1 100 Europe, where they appeared under va- 
 rious denominations. _ - 5 
 
CONTENTS. 17 
 
 A. D. SECT. 
 
 1190 Rainold, abbot of St. Martin's, at 
 
 Nevers, in France, accused of Univer- 
 salism. _ _ - - 6 
 
 1200 to 1210 Amalric, or Amauri, perhaps a Uni- 
 versalist. His sentiments condemned at 
 Paris and Rome. Persecution of his 
 followers. - - - - 7 
 
 1230 to 123.4 Du Pin's account of the Stadings, in 
 
 Germany. _ _ . 8 
 
 1315, &LC. Lollards in Germany, Universalists, 
 
 according to Du Pin. _ - 9 
 
 1368 Universalism amongr the tenets taught 
 
 in England, an<i condemned by a Coun- 
 cil at Canterbury. - - 10 
 1400 to 1412 Men of Understanding, in Holland, 
 Universalists. ^gidius Cantor, and 
 William of Hildenissen. - 11 
 1480 to 1494 John Picus, an Italian prince, denies 
 the infinite demerit of sin ; is accused 
 of heresy, and makes his peace with the 
 Pope. - - . . 12 
 1490 to 1498 Peter D'Aranda, a Spanish bishop, 
 denies purgatory and hell ; is deposed 
 on a false charge of Judaism, and con- 
 demned to perpetual imprisonment. 12 
 
 Index to the Principal Notes. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The reader will perceive, in the com- 
 mencement of the following work, what he 
 may at first regard as a defect, that I have not 
 introduced, like others, a statement of the 
 scripture doctrine upon the subject of my Histo- 
 ry. For the omission, I submit these reasons : 
 it seemed to me that such a statement would 
 prove useless, as each one would form his own 
 opinion from other authority ; and that a satis- 
 factory discussion of the important question, 
 belonged rather to the Polemic than to the His- 
 torian. Accordingly, for the commencement of 
 my undertaking, I fixed on a date posterior to 
 the publication of most of the New Testament ; 
 and yet, as it was desirable to take into view 
 every other christian production extant of the 
 first ages, I was obliged to begin as early as 
 A. D. 90, before some, if not all of St. John's 
 writings were composed. 
 
 The attentive reader will also discover, as 
 he proceeds, that the Ancient History of Uni- 
 
PREFACE. 1 9 
 
 versalism is naturally distinguished, by certain 
 peculiarities, into three successive Periods : — 
 the First, extending to the year 190, and em- 
 braced in the first two chapters, affords but 
 few indisputable traces either of that doctrine, 
 or of its opposite ; the Second, running through 
 the third, fourth, fifth and sixth chapters, 
 to the year 390, or 394, is distinguished by the 
 prevalence both of Universalism and of the 
 doctrine of endless misery, without producing 
 the least disturbance or uneasiness in the 
 church ; the Third, reaching to the Fifth Gen- 
 eral Council, in A. D. 553, is marked with 
 continual censures, frequent commotions, and 
 some disgraceful quarrels, on that subject. 
 
 And as I have endeavored to vary my gener- 
 al plan, so as to suit the peculiar character and 
 circumstances of each of these periods, I would 
 here bespeak the reader's attention to the meth- 
 od I have pursued. In the first Period, then, 
 I have been careful to state, in his own words, 
 the opinion of every christian author extant, 
 concerning future punishment, and the eventual 
 salvation of the world ; and down to the year 
 150, I have, with still more particularity, in- 
 serted every passage which I thought belonged 
 to either of those subjects. Accordingly, it 
 
20 PREFACE. 
 
 may be expected that, to many, the first two 
 chapters will prove more tedious than the rest 
 of the work. In the second Period, while it 
 has been my principal object to give a full ac- 
 count of all those fathers, who, during that time, 
 advocated or favored Universalism, I have also 
 aimed to present a correct view of the opinions 
 entertained, the meanwhile, by the christian 
 world at large, on that point. In the third Pe- 
 riod I have pursued, nearly the same course ; 
 leaving, however, the common sentiment of the 
 church concerning the doctrine in question, to 
 be gathered from the controversies and quarrels 
 w^hich then occurred, and which I have minute- 
 ly described. Thus far, I may venture to pro- 
 nounce the History complete, in one sense : it 
 contains an account of every individual of note, 
 whom we have now the means of knowing to 
 have been a Universalist. 
 
 In the Appendix the plan is very different, as 
 a regular and connected history of Universalism, 
 from the Fifth General Council to the Refor- 
 mation, is, with me, utterly impracticable. 
 Here, therefore, nothing but a sketch is at- 
 tempted, pointing out those traces of the doc- 
 trine, which I have happened to discover in the 
 course of reading. 
 
PREFACE. 21 
 
 I would also take this opportunity, once for 
 all to apprize my readers of the sense in which 
 they will find certain terms and phrases used in 
 the following work. The title, bishop^ is sup- 
 posed to have signified, at first, only the chief 
 minister of a city, or territory ; though after- 
 wards it became confined in its application to a 
 distinct and superior order of clergy. By the 
 popular terms orthodox and heretic^ I mean, not 
 the true and the false creed, but the predomin- 
 ant, or catholic, and the dissenting, or anathema- 
 tized. To conclude, I have frequently spoken 
 of the Western or Latin Churches^ in distinc- 
 tion from the Eastern or Greek ; though they 
 were not actually separated from each others' 
 communion, till the ninth century. 
 Roxbunj, Oct. 22d, 1828. 
 
ANCIENT HISTORY 
 
 UNIYERSALISM. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 [From A. D. 90, to A. D. 150.] 
 
 A. D. 90.] I. At the date with which this his- 
 tory begins, none of the apostles are supposed to 
 have been alive, except the venerable St. John, who 
 then resided, at a very advanced age, in the great city 
 of Ephesus. St. Peter and St. Paul suffered mar- 
 tyrdom at Rome, more than twenty years before ; and 
 St. James the Great, and St. James the Less, at Jeru- 
 salem, still earlier. Of the deaths of the other apostles, 
 nothing can be pronounced with confidence, notwith- 
 standing the accounts of their martyrdom, given by 
 some ancient writers, and adopted by many of the 
 moderns. 
 
 Nor must we pretend to define tlie extent to which 
 Christianity had now spread ; as, on this subject, it is 
 often impossible to distinguish the true from the fabu- 
 lous accounts of early historians. It is, however, prob- 
 
24 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 abie that some churches were established in most of the 
 Roman provinces, especially in the eastern. But the num- 
 ber oi professed christians must still have been very small 
 in proportion to the whole mass of community, and com- 
 posed, with some exceptions, of the lower classes of peo- 
 ple. The rich and the noble were, for the most part, at- 
 tached to the ancient forms and institutions ; and the men 
 of great learning, and those of refined genius, did not 
 wander, as indeed they seldom do, from the Hmits of 
 that popular course where they might find reward, or at 
 least hope for admiration. 
 
 The Christians were, nevertheless, not an obscure 
 sect. Their religion was so novel, so different from 
 every other, and they were so zealous and successful in 
 its cause, that it drew much attention wherever it was 
 established. It was not, indeed, very well understood 
 by the public at large ; nor did it escape considerable 
 misrepresentations among its particular enemies^. These 
 injurious misrepresentations operated, undoubtedly, to 
 countenance the complaints of the heathen priests, who 
 felt their long unmolested repose disturbed by the grow- 
 ing desertion of their temples, and neglect of their ser- 
 vices. Still it must be remarked, that the christians 
 had suffered very little persecution, except slander, 
 since the death of the cruel Nero, more than twenty 
 years before. But the time drew near when they were 
 
 a. Plinii Epist. 97. Lib. x. and Taciti Annal. Lib. xv. cap. 44. 
 Afterwards, or towards the year 150, we find the most outrageous 
 calumny heaped upon the christians : they w^ere commonly called 
 Atheists; and all sorts of licentiousness, even such as cannot, for de- 
 cency's sake, be mentioned in the present age, were charged upon 
 them. To refute and expose these slanderous falsehoods, was a 
 grand object with several of the early christian writers. 
 
i] OF UNIVERSALIS3I. ;^^ 
 
 to encounter proscription, danger, and even death, from 
 the civil authorities : It was only four or five years after 
 this, that the jealousy of the emperor Domitian revived 
 the storm, which raged, with some considerable inter- 
 vals, till after the lapse of more than two centuries, the 
 inauspicious conversion of Constantine, gave to the 
 Church the kingdoms of this world, and the glory of 
 them. 
 
 As to the system of doctrine held by the christians at 
 this period, we can determine few of its particulars, if 
 indeed it be proper to say that such a system then pre- 
 vailed. Their religion had not yet been taught on any 
 regular plan, like that of a Body of Divinity. Its fun- 
 damental truths, that Jesus Christ was the Messiah of the 
 only true God, and the Saviour of men, and that he rose 
 from the dead, necessarily engrossed the chief attention 
 of its professors, as these were the important facts the}' 
 were obliged, almost continually, to urge on the peo- 
 ple, and to defend against opponents. It is extremely 
 difficult for us, who are brought up in a state of society 
 where Christianity is the original and universal religion, 
 and where our disputes extend only to its particular te- 
 nets, to conceive of the simplicity in which the first 
 preachers taught their faith, when, not the doctrine, but 
 the truth itself, of that religion, was the principal point 
 in dispute. When people were brought to acknowledge 
 the mission of Christ, they were considered christians ; 
 and if their conduct became their profession, they were 
 gladly received into the churches ; though further in- 
 structions were then given, or afterwards added, just as 
 3 
 
26 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 opportunities offered, and circumstances permitted''. 
 Such being the liberal conditions on which "the church- 
 es were gathered, they, of course, admitted persons of 
 different, and even opposite sentiments, on many points 
 of doctrine. Both the Jewish and Gentile converts re- 
 tained some of their respective prejudices and notions. 
 This circumstance had already occasioned disputes 
 among them, particularly concerning the obligation of 
 the Mosaic rituals, on one hand, and the heathen 
 schemes of philosophy on another. The apostles them- 
 selves had, years before, interposed to decide these 
 controversies ; but even their authority was not able to 
 remove the prejudices of the parties. Some of the 
 Gnostic believers, in particular, had, perhaps, gone so 
 far, even at this early period, as to separate from the 
 other churches, and to form themselves into distinct 
 bodies, which, however, must have been small and ob- 
 scure. After all, we cannot suppose that the christians 
 in general had so soon obliterated from their faith the 
 prominent features of the apostolic doctrine ; especially 
 when we consider that most of the books of the New 
 Testament were now in circulation, and that St. John 
 still lived to be consulted, and to give instructions *'. 
 
 II. Proceeding, now, to the particular subject of our 
 history, we shall, in the present chapter, produce all 
 
 ^- This was the practice of the apostles. See the abstracts and ac- 
 counts of those discourses which they aclclres.<5ed to imbelierers : Acts 
 ji. ]4— 41 . iii.J2— 2G. iv. 8—12. v. 2!'— 32. viii. 30—38. ix. 20—22. x.34 
 — 48.xiii.](i— 41.xvi.30— 33. xvii.2— 4. 18. 22^34. xxiii.fi.xxv. 18, 
 19. xxvi. xxviii. 23. c- The principal facts in this section are illustra- 
 ted at l^irge by Mosheim, Eccl. Hist. Cent, i ; and more particularly 
 in his Connncntaries on the Affairs of the Cliristians, before the Time 
 of Constantine, &c. Vol. i. VidaVs Translation. 
 
i. ] OF UNIVERSALISM. 27 
 
 that can be known, with any degree of certainty, of the 
 views entertained by the christians from this time till 
 A. D. 150, in relation to a future state of punishment 
 and the eventual salvation of the world. The only 
 direct hght that gleams, at intervals, through the general 
 obscurity of the course we now attempt, is derived from 
 the few christian writings of this period, which are 
 still extant. These are the productions of those com- 
 monly called the Apostolical Fathers, the first christian 
 authors, whose works have reached us, after the Apostles 
 themselves. They are the following : The First Epis- 
 tle of Clemens Romanus ; seven Epistles of Ignatius ; 
 The Epistle of Polycarp ; The Epistle of Barnabas ; 
 and The Shepherd of Hennas. Among these, we should 
 perhaps insert a Relation of the Martyrdom of Ignatius^. 
 These writings, composed by men of little learning, and, 
 forlhe most part, of as little judgment, are still valuable 
 as they afford us some notion of the state of the early 
 christians, and of the sentiments avowed by them ; but 
 whoever expects to find them instructive or edifying in 
 other respects, will rise from their perusal in disappoint- 
 ment, if not with disgust. 
 
 d- Of the Second Epistle of Clemens K^rmnus, so called, the genu- 
 ineness is considered doubtful by Eusebius, Jerome, Du Pin, Mosheim, 
 &c. and wholly denied by Photius, Archbishop Usher, Lardner, 
 Brucker, Le Clerc, and otiiers. Scarcely one admits it. There are 
 other writings extant, ascribed to Clemens Romanus, but which are 
 now universally considered forgeries, and of a much later date. I 
 omit The Acts of Paul and Thecla, a forgery of the First Century, be- 
 cause our present copy is either a forgery upon that original one, or 
 else so much interpolated that we cannot determine what is ancient. 
 See Lardner 's Credibility, &.c. Chap. S?ipposititioiis Writings of M 
 Centurij. The reason why I place The Epistle of Barnabas, and The 
 Shepherd of Hernias last in this catalogue, will be given under the ac- 
 counts of those works. 
 
28 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 r,r. III. The Epistle of Clemens Romanus 
 A. D. 90, .... 
 qr is distinguished for the respect it received 
 
 from the ancient churches, some of which 
 caused it to be read, in public, with the books of the 
 New Testament. It may be allowed, at least, the com- 
 mendations, that it is simple though difflise, somewhat 
 resembling, in character, St. James's Epistle, and that 
 it contains but one instance®, of those absurd allegories 
 which abound in the succeeding fathers. Clemens, who 
 was bishop of the church at Rome, and perhaps the 
 same person whom St. Paul mentions, (Phil, iv. 3.) 
 wrote this Epistle to the Corintliian christians for the 
 purpose of dissuading them from their quarrels and sedi- 
 tions. Earnestly exhorting them to repent of their 
 mutual envy and abuse, he adduces, among other con- 
 siderations, the justice of God as a motive of fear, and 
 the terrible destruction of Sodom and its neighboring 
 cities as instances of the divine judgments on sinners. 
 But it is remarkable that in the whole of this Epistle, 
 about as long as St. Mark's Gospel, there is no expres- 
 sion which discovers whether he believed in any future 
 state of punishment, nor whether he held the salvation 
 of all mankind. There are, indeed, two passages^ which 
 may naturally, not necessarily, be understood to intimate 
 
 e- Clemens Rom. Epis. § 12. Wake's Translation. The date of 
 this Epistle was probably between A. D. 90 and 95. Lardner places 
 it at A . D. 94 or 95 ; Junius, at 98 ; Baronius and Cotelerius, at 92 ; 
 Dodwell, Wake and Le Clerc, between 64 and 70. f. Clem. 
 Rom. Epis. § 2G and 49. In these two passages, Clemens expressly 
 mentions the resurrection of those who "religiously serve the Lord," 
 and are "made perfect in love;" but nowhere does he a^^erHhe res- 
 urrection of others. 
 
i.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 29 
 
 that those only, who here serve the Lord, will hereafter 
 be raised from the dead. 
 
 p . In passing over the time at which St. John 
 
 .^^ is supposed to have written the Revelation 
 
 to 100. ^^ . T-l . 7 
 
 and, perhaps, his Gospel and three Ejnstles^, 
 we may remark that this last of the Apostles died at 
 Ephesus, about the year 100. He left the world at 
 a period when old errors appear to have been spreading 
 in the church, and springing up there, under new forms 
 and modifications. They were chiefly of the Gnostic 
 kind, derived from the Oriental or Persian philosophy, 
 and consisting of a monstrous union of Christianity with 
 tlie eastern notions of the " endless genealogies" of the 
 Eons or angelic natures, and the inherent malignity of 
 all matter. The thorough Gnostics, among the chris- 
 tians, denied the real body of Christ, and the resurrec- 
 tion of the flesh. 
 
 IV. We come next to the famous Epis- 
 ' ties of Ignatius ; the genuineness of which 
 has been attacked and defended with a zeal 
 little proportioned to their worth or real weight in any 
 cause whatever. Though the question is still involved 
 in considerable uncertainty, we shall follow, with some 
 doubt, what Jippears tlie prevailing opinion, that tlie 
 
 s- Though there is not a universal agreement, there is but little 
 doubt as to the date of the Revelation: for if written by St. John, it 
 was during his banishment toPatmos, which most chronological crit- 
 ics assign to the year 94 or 96. Of the date of his other waitings, va- 
 rious opinions are entertained : Dr. Witherspoon places the Gofqid 
 at A.D. 96, and the Epistles at 9S ; Lardner dates the Gospel at A.D. 
 68, and the Epistles at 80 and 85 ; by Le Clerc, the Gospel is assign- 
 ed to the year 97, and the Epistles 'to 91 and 92; Dr. Owen places 
 the Gospel at about A.D. 69: Jer. Jones, at 97} and DuTin, at about 
 A.D. 100. 
 
 3* 
 
30 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 seven,* translated by Archbishop Wake, are, in the main, 
 genuine. They were written, if by Ignatius, while he 
 was conducted, partly by sea, and partly by land, on a 
 tardy journey of two thousand miles ^, from Antioch to 
 Rome, for the execution of the sentence of martyrdom. 
 He is said to have been bishop of the church in the former 
 city, for about forty years, and to have been personally 
 acquainted, in his younger days, with some of the Apostles. 
 His writings, however, are not always worthy of his 
 advantages : they contain some puerile conceits', betray 
 a fondness for the eastern fables concerning the angelic 
 world ^, and are filled with earnest injunctions of the 
 most unreserved submission of reason, faith and practice, 
 to the clergy ; whose authority is often liliened, express- 
 ly, to that of God and Jesus Christ. 
 
 We cannot ascertain the author^s views concerning 
 the final extent of salvation ; and the following is all 
 that seems to refer to a future state of punishment : 
 '• Those that corrupt families by adultery, shall not 
 
 * Even of these there are two very different copies : the larger 
 which is generally supposed to be much interpolated ; and the short- 
 er, which is followed by Wake, and almost universally preferred. 
 Mosheim, however, (Comment, on the Affairsof the Christians, &c.) 
 seems to doubt whether the larger be not the genuine, if indeed 
 either be so. 
 
 Ji- His route, real or fabulous, is traced from Antioch to Smyrna, 
 Troas, over the ^Egean, into Macedonia and through Epirus, across 
 the Adriatic and Tyrrhene Seas, to the mouth of the Tiber, and 
 thence to Rome. The date of his journey, and of course of his Epis- 
 tles and ]Martyrdom, is placed at A.D. 107, by Du Pin. Tillemont, 
 Cave and Lardner ; but at A.D. IIG, by Pearson. Loyd, Pagi, Le 
 Clcre and Fabrieius. If the Relation of the Martyrdom of lonuitvis, 
 which professes to be written by eye-witnesses, be genuine, this dis 
 ];uted date is fixed at A.D. 110. See § 3. Wake's Translation. 
 i. Ignat. Epist. to the Ephesians, § 9. Wake s trails. J- Ditto. § 10. 
 :uid Epist. to the Trallians, § 5. 
 
i. ] OF UNI VERS ALISM. 31 
 
 " inherit the kingdom of God. If therefore they who 
 " have done this according to the flesh have suffered death, 
 " how much more shall he die, who by his wicked doc- 
 " trine corrupts the faith of God, for which Christ was 
 " crucified ? He that is thus defiled, shall depart into 
 " unquenchable fire, and so also shall he that heark- 
 " ens to him^." In another place he says, in rather an 
 incoherent paragraph, " Seeing, then, all things have 
 " an end, there are these two indifferently set before us, 
 *' Life and Death ; and every one shall depart unto his pro- 
 per place'." In the same unconnected manner, he says 
 again, " For what remains, it is very reasonable that we 
 " should return unto a sound mind, whilst there is yet 
 "time to return unto God'"." Some of these passages 
 may, indeed, have no allusion to a future state. It must, 
 however, be remarked here, that the author evidently 
 believed that certain heretics, and perhaps the wicked 
 in general, will not be raised from the dead, but exist 
 hereafter as mere incorporeal spirits". 
 
 The Relation of the Martyrdom of Ignatius, written 
 by christian eye-witnesses of his trial and sufferings, 
 contains nothing to our purpose ; and we therefore pro- 
 ceed to 
 
 - ^Q V. The Epistle of Polycarp ; a piece 
 
 -, 1 -, which evinces a more resjular and intelli- 
 or 11 7 . . ^ . , 
 
 gent mind, than most of the ecclesiastical wri- 
 tings of that age. Its connexion is tolerably well main- 
 tained, and its style is simple, though it never rises into 
 
 ^ Epist. to the Ephes. § 2G. I' Epist. to the Magnesians, § 5. 
 
 "1. Epist. to the Smyrneans, §9. Q' Ditto, o 2 and 7. conipared 
 with Epist. to the Trail. ^9. and Epist. to the Romans, ^2. 
 
32 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 elegance. The author is guilty of one exception to his 
 general moderation, when he exhorts his brethren to be 
 " subject to the elders and deacons as unto ' God and 
 " Christ".' " 
 
 They who receive this epistle as Polycarp's^, gene- 
 rally suppose it written soon after the martyrdom of Ig- 
 natius, to which it alludes. Polycarp was bishop of the 
 church at Smyrna, from about the year 100, till after 
 the middle of the second century. He is said to have 
 been the disciple of St. John ; and he was certainly re- 
 garded, after the death of that Apostle, as the most em- 
 inent of the christians of Asia*^. 
 
 The following is all that his Epistle contains in rela- 
 tion to the particular subject of this history : " To whom 
 " [Christ] all things are made subject, both that are in 
 " heaven and that are in earth ; whom every living 
 " creature shall worship ; who shall come to be the 
 " judge of the quick and dead ; whose blood God shall 
 " require of them that believe not in him^" Alluding, 
 without doubt, to some of the Gnostic heretics, 
 he says, " Whosoever does not confess that Jesus 
 " Christ is come in the flesh, he is Antichrist. And 
 " whoever does not confess his suffering upon the cross, 
 " is from the Devil. And whosoever perverts the ora- 
 " cles of tlie Lord to his own lusts, and says that there 
 
 o. Polycarp's Epist. § 5. Wake's transl. P- M. Daille and Blon- 
 del reject it , and Mosheim says it ^' has merely a questionable claim 
 to credit." But Lardner, on the contrary, asserts that '• there is scarce 
 any doubt or question among learned men, about the genuineness of 
 this Epistle of Polycarp." i. By some he is considered the antrel of 
 the Church in ^niyrna, addressed in Rev. ii. 8. Tliis, however, is 
 doubtful, as it is probable that he was not ordained till after the Re- 
 velation was written. r Polycarp's Epist. $ 2. 
 
i. ] OF UNIVERSALISM. 33 
 
 " shall be neither any resurrection, nor judgment, he is 
 " the first-born of Satan^" There may also be a ques- 
 tion whether the author does not intimate that the fu- 
 ture resurrection depends on faith and obedience in this 
 life^ 
 
 VI. To these dates succeeds a period of several 
 years, from which no christian writings have descended 
 to us, except a few passages that happen to have been 
 quoted, by later writers, from Papias, Quadratus and 
 Agrippa Castor ; of which, however, we shall take no 
 notice, as they throw no Hght upon our subject. But it 
 is important to remark that Papias and Ai'istides (a wri- 
 ter of whom nothing whatever remains) contributed, un- 
 designedly, to corrupt the simplicity of Christianity. The 
 former, who was bishop at Hierapolis, near 
 Laodicea, is said to have devoted himself to 
 collecting traditions of the Apostolic doctrine and say- 
 ings ; but being very credulous and of a weak mind, he 
 received, with little discrimination, whatever was related 
 to him. Having thus formed a collection of idle tales 
 and foohsh notions, he published tliem to the world as 
 the authoritative instructions of Christ and his Apostles. 
 Such was the genius of the times, that his w^ork ap- 
 pears to have been well received ; and it certainly met 
 with considerable credit among the succeeding fathers. 
 
 s- Ditto. ^7. t- Ditto. §2 and 5. If Clemens Romanus and Po- 
 lycarp, as well as Ignatius, really held a partial resurrection, that of 
 the saints exclusively, the circumstance would seem to prove that the 
 notion of the Jews, or rather of the Pharisees, on this point, had 
 spreadpretty extensively in the church, — from Asia Minor to Rome — 
 at this early period. That such was the notion of tlie Pharisees, 
 about the end of the first century, see Josephus, &c. 
 
34 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 who adopted some of its fictions". But whatever were 
 tlie injurious effects of these pretended traditions, the 
 cause of truth afterwards sustained a much greater de- 
 triment from the gradual incorporation of the Grecian 
 philosophy. Ai'istides was probably the first professed 
 
 philosopher from the Grecian schools, who 
 ' took an active part in support of Christianity. 
 
 But he appears, unhappily, to have arrayed 
 it in the robe of the Academy ; for Jerome informs us 
 that the Apology, which he presented to the emperor 
 Adrian in behalf of the persecuted christians, was full of 
 philosophic notions, w"hich were afterwards adopted by 
 Justin Martyr''. The Grecian philosophy w^as nearly as 
 incompatible with Christianity, as w^as the Oriental ; but 
 the corruptions it introduced, flourished in the church, 
 after a few years, as in a congenial soil ; and in less 
 than a century, gave a new appearance to the general 
 mass of doctrine considered orthodox. 
 
 YII. The Epistle of Barnahas is the 
 A. D. 131. next, in order ; unless, as has been hither- 
 to conjectured, it belong to the first cen- 
 tury'^. It was composed by some Jewish christian, of 
 
 »■ Du Pin's BibliothecaPatrum, Article, Papias. Papias is said 
 to have flourished about A.D. IIC. v. Du Pin's Bibhoth. Pat. Art. 
 Quadratus and Aristides. The Apology of Aristides is supposed to 
 have been written about a.d. 124, or 126. w- it has been thought, 
 by most of the learned, that the Epistle of Barnabas was written in 
 the first century ; and, by many, that it was tlie work of that Barna- 
 bas who was the companion and fellow-traveller of St. Paul. The 
 latter opinion, Moshelm treats as scarcely worthy of a refutation ; and 
 though it has had some eminent advocates, it is now generally dis- 
 carded. That the furmer opinion is also incorrect, I cannot but think 
 sufficiently manifest from the Epistle itself. The author, speaking 
 of the temple of Jerusalem, says, "Again, he [Christ] speaketh after 
 '■ this manner : Beliold, they that destroy this temple, even they shall as:oin 
 ^^ build it up. And so it came to pass; for through their wars, it i^ 
 
i. ] OF UNI VERS ALISM. 35 
 
 mean abilities, for the purpose of representing the Mo- 
 saic law and other parts of the Old Testament as con- 
 taining a hidden account of Christ and his rehgion. The 
 allegorical and mystical interpretations, of which the 
 Epistle mostly consists, present an extraordinary in- 
 stance of bhnd stupidity aiming at discoveries : " Un- 
 " derstand, children," says he, " these things more 
 " fully : that Abraham, who was the first that brought in 
 '' circumcision, performed it, after having received the 
 
 " now destroyed by their enemies ; and the servants of their enemies 
 " build it up?' (Barnab. Epist. $ IG. IVM/ie's transl.J It will not be 
 questioned that the author here speaks, 1. of the destruction of the 
 Temple after our Lord's ministry ; i. e. of its destruction by Titus ; 
 and 2. of attempts at rebuilding it by the servants of the Romans, at 
 the time of writing this Epistle. JNow, it is well known that there 
 was no attempt at rebuilding either the temple or the city, after their 
 destruction by Titus, till the time of Adrian. He came to Jerusa- 
 lem, in the early part of his reign, on a visit to the eastern sections of 
 his empire, and found the city, except a few buildings, levelled with 
 the ground, and the temple trodden under foot. He is said to have 
 formed, at this time, the design of rebuilding the place; but he did 
 not actually undertake it till a.d. 130 or 131, when he sent a colony 
 to Jerusalem to restore the city, and on or near the site of the former 
 temple to erect a new one, which he afterwards dedicated to Jupi- 
 ter. (See Crevier's Hist, of the Rom. Emperors, Book xix. with his 
 Annals of Adrian, prefixed. Fleury's Eccl. Hist. Book iii. 24. and 
 Newton's Dissert, on the Prophecies, Dissert, xx. Part 3.) This cir- 
 cumstance appears to determine the date of the allusion quoted from 
 Barnabas ; and I know of nothing that can be urged against the hy- 
 pothesis. IreUcRus, about a.d. 11>0, is the first who seems to have 
 imitated any of the expressions of this Epistle ; and Clemens Alex- 
 andrinus, about a.d. 194, is the first who either mentioned it, or for- 
 mally alluded to it. It is but just, however, to apprize the reader, 
 that my hypothesis is not supported by the authority of the critics 
 who, so far as I know, have taken no notice of Barnabas's allusion to 
 the rebuilding of the temple. I think, however, that Cotelerius fPa- 
 tres ApostoliciJ had it in view, and suspected that the date of the Epis- 
 tle was as late as I have placed it. Mosheim supposes it to have 
 been written in the first century ; and he agrees with Cotelerius, 
 Brucker, Basnage and others, that its author was not the Barnabas 
 who was the companion of St. Paul. Wake, Du Pin and Lardner, 
 on the contrary, ascribe it to that Barnabas, and place its date about 
 A.D. 71 or 72. 
 
36 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 " mystery of three letters, by which he looked forward 
 *' in the spirit, to Jesus. For the scripture says that 
 " Abraham circumcised three hundred and eighteen 
 " men of his house. But what, therefore, was the mys- 
 " tery that was made known unto him ? Mark, first-, the 
 " eighteen ; and, next, the three hundred. For the nu- 
 " meral letters of ten and eight, are IH''. And these 
 " denote Jesus. And because the cross was that by 
 " which we were to find grace, he therefore adds three 
 " hundred ; the numeral letter of which isT, [the figure 
 " of the cross.] Wherefore, by two letters he signified 
 " Jesus, and by the third, his cross. He who has put 
 *' the engrafted gift of his doctrine within us, knows that 
 " I never taught to any a more certain truth ; but I 
 " trust that ye are worthy of it^." Such is one of the 
 important discoveries our author communicates ; and 
 strange as it may seem, the later fathers, even those of 
 undoubted learning^', appear to have been, by no means, 
 insensible to the charms of this kind of nonsense. 
 
 He speaks of Christ's coming, at the end of all 
 things, when he shall " abolish the season of the Wicked 
 " One, and judge the ungodly, and change the sun, the 
 *' moon and the stars'^." It was necessary, says he, 
 that Christ should appear in the flesh,- that " preparing 
 " himself a new^ j)^ople, he might demonstrate to them, 
 " whilst he was upon earth, that after the resurrec- 
 " tion, he would judge the w^orld''." It is worthy of re- 
 mark, that of all the christian writings, after the sacred 
 
 *• i. c the Greek Eta, or long E. — IE are the first two letters of 
 the word Jesus. y Barriabas's Epist. ^ 9. Wiike's trmisl. 
 
 z. Viz. Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, ClemensAlexandrinuSj &c. ». Bar- 
 nab. Epist. ^ 15. b. Ditto. ^ 5. 
 
i. ] OF UNIVERSALISM. 37 
 
 scriptures, this Epistle is the first in which we find the 
 vvord everlasting, or eternal, applied to suffering : Near 
 the end, Barnabas represents two ways, that of Light, 
 over which the angels of God are appointed, and that 
 of Darkness, where the angels of Satan preside ; and 
 after describing the manner of walking in the way of 
 Light, _he says, " But the way of Darkness is crooked, 
 " and full of cursing ; for it is the way of eternal death 
 *' with punishment, in which they that walk meet with 
 "those things that destroy their own souls'^." He af- 
 terwards adds, that he who chooses this part, shall " be 
 " destroyed, together with his works. For this cause, 
 " there shall be both a resurrection and a retribution'^." 
 Throughout his Epistle he says nothing of L^niversal 
 Salvation ; and it is manifest, from what we have quo- 
 ted, that he beUeved in a future state of punishment. 
 But whether he thought it endless, cannot be deter- 
 mined ; as the word everlasting or eternal, was used by 
 the ancients, to denote indefinite rather than intermina- 
 ble duration^. 
 
 VIIL The last, as well as the longest, of 
 A. D. 150. the works of the Apostolical Fathers, so call- 
 ed, is that efiusion of second childishness. 
 The Shepherd of Her mas^ . It was written at Rome, by 
 
 c Ditto. 6 18, and 20. d Ditto. ^21. e See instances of this 
 in the next Chapter, Sect, iii.iv. xi.and in succeeding Chapters. 
 fit had been long debated, by the learned, whether tiiis work was 
 composed in the first century, by that Hermas whom St. Paul men- 
 lions (Rom. xvi. 14.) ; or in the second century, by another Hermas, 
 brother to Pius, bishop of Rome. But the question was finally deci- 
 ded by a fragment of a work of the second century, brought to light 
 by Muratori ; " Hermas, brother to Pius bishop of the church in the 
 "city of Rome," says this fragment, "wrote very lately, in our own 
 "time, The Shepherd^ at Rome." (See Mosheim's Commentaries on 
 
 4 
 
38 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 a brother of the bishop of that city ; but it betrays an ig- 
 norant and imbecile mind, in absolute dotage. Its ob- 
 ject appears to have been to excite the professors of 
 Christianity to more uprightness, zeal, and abstraction 
 from the business as well as ordinary pleasures of hfe ; 
 and tliis, the author strives to effect by relating pre- 
 tended visions, and by introducing instructions from an 
 angel, who occasionally appeared to him, as he asserts, 
 in the habit of a shepherd. But the conversation he at- 
 tributes to his celestial visitants, is more insipid than we 
 commonly hear from the weakest of men. 
 
 Without extracting at full length, as in the case of 
 former w^orks, the several passages w^hich seem to have 
 a relation to our subject, it is sufficient to observe that 
 Herraas has left nothing to determine his views of the 
 final extent of salvation, unless it may be gathered, 
 from the following, that he totally precludes some of 
 the human race from all prospect of bhss : He teaches 
 that a christian, if he sin after his baptism, may possibly 
 be allowed the privilege of one repentance, and of one 
 only^ ; but that for such as apostatize from the faith, and 
 blaspheme God, there is no return. They have /orei^er 
 departed from God ; and, in the next world, they are 
 to be burned, together with the heathen nations''. Strong 
 as such language may seem, those acquainted with the 
 style of the earhest fathers, will not, perhaps, account it 
 
 the Affairs of the Christians, &c. eccl. hist, of the first Cent. ^ liv. 
 notes n and o; where may be found a full discussion of this point.) 
 Tile date o^The /Sf/tej9/ier(/,'therefore, cannot be much earlier than a. d. 
 150 ; perhaps later. s Hermas. Book ii. Command, iv. § 3. com- 
 pared with Book i. Vis. ii. ^ 2. Wake's transL h Ditto. Book iii. 
 IsJimil. vi. § 2 
 
i. ] OF UNI VERS ALISM. 39 
 
 altogether decisive in favor of endless perdition. We 
 may here add, that Hermas supposed that the Apos- 
 tles, after their death, went and preached to the souls 
 of those who had led pure and virtuous lives before 
 Christ's birth ; and that when those spirits had thus 
 heard the gospel, they received water baptism, in some 
 w^ay untold, and then entered the kingdom of God*. He 
 also held an opinion, common during the remainder of 
 this century, that the end of the world was near at handJ. 
 IX. We must now take our leave, for a while, of the 
 orthodox behevers, and go back to an account of a very 
 different kind of christians, concerning whom we have 
 not even the feeble hght hitherto enjoyed, to guide our 
 investigations. 
 
 go. No part of ecclesiastical history is in- 
 
 , ^ ^ volved in more uncertainty than that of the 
 Gnostic heretics of the first and second cen- 
 turies. Their own writings, except a few unconnected 
 fragments, are wholly lost; and the only way of at- 
 taining to an acquaintance with them and their senti- 
 ments, is by comparing the faulty, and often abusive, 
 representations of their zealous opposers, with the im- 
 perfect knowledge we have of that system of philoso- 
 phy, the Oriental, which they amalgamated \vith Chris- 
 tianity''. That they believed in our Saviour as a mes- 
 senger from the Supreme God, and generally main- 
 
 » Ditto. Book iii. Simil. ix. § 16. J Ditto. Book i. Vis. iv. § 3, 
 k I, however, attempt only to follow our modern historian, Mosheim, 
 (Ecclesiastical History : and Commentaries on the Affairs of the 
 Christians, Sec.) with some help from Le Clerc, (Histor. Eccl. duo- 
 rum primorum, a Christo nato, Sasculorum) from Beausobre, (Histoire 
 de Manichee &e.) and from the History of Heretics in Lardner's 
 Works. 
 
40 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 tained their christian profession amidst the opposition of 
 the heathens and the obloquy of the orthodox, is cer- 
 tain. But it is now considered equally certain that 
 they believed, some of them, that Jesus Christ was an 
 angehc being of the highest order, who came into 
 our world with only the visionary appearance, not the 
 real body, of a man ; and others, that Jesus alone was 
 -a mere man, with a human soul, into Vvhom the Christ, 
 a high celestial spirit, descended at his baptism in Jor- 
 dan. As to the object of our Saviour's mission, they 
 are thought to have been perfectly agreed, that it was, 
 not to satisfy any \andictive justice in Deity, whom they 
 considered infinitely good, but to deliver mankind from 
 the oppressive service of the degenerate gods of this 
 world, and to teach them how to subdue their passions, 
 and approximate the Supreme God, the fountain of pu- 
 rity and bhss. From the long-venerated, but chimeri- 
 cal, philosophy of the Persians, they retained the no- 
 tion that the material world was formed, not by the 
 Self-Existent, but by the inferior gods, called Eons, 
 whose being was derived through a long and intricate 
 succession, as most of them thought, originally from 
 him^ This led them to regard the God of the Jews, 
 the Jehovah of the Old Testament, as but a secondary 
 being, the principal Maker of this v.orld ; and they also 
 concluded that he had apostatized, more or less, from 
 the divine allegiance, inasmuch as he had arrogated to 
 
 1 A few of them, jc»er/if';><f, held two original, self-existent Beings, 
 an evil as well as u good Deity. Such, it is conjectured, was the 
 opinion of the Saturninians, about a. d. 120, and of the Marcionites, 
 about A. D. 140. This is, however, denied in the History of H-ere- 
 tics in Lardners Works, and also by Beausobre. 
 
i.] OF UNIVERSALISxM. 41 
 
 himself the honors of worship, and as Christ had been 
 sent to annul his ancient covenant, and to overthrow his 
 institutions. From the same philosophy, they also re- 
 ceived the doctrine of the eternity of matter, and, espe- 
 cially, of its inherent, radical depravity. Hence, they 
 in general discarded the hope of the resurrection of the 
 material body, which, in their view, would but perpetu- 
 ate the bondage and corruption of the soul. With such 
 dislike did most of them regard the body, that they 
 prescribed an excessively rigid discipline, a continual 
 abstinence, in order to thwart all its inclinations, and to 
 weaken, as far as possible, its power over the mind. 
 
 Such are the common outlines of their several sys- 
 tems, as laid down by the more judicious of modern his- 
 torians, who at the same time confess and lament the 
 impossibihty of arriving at a satisfactory knowledge of 
 the subject. All the Gnostics were reproached, by 
 their cotemporary orthodox adversaries, with being 
 abandoned to licentiousness : a character which the 
 heathens first bestowed with unsparing liberality, upon 
 the orthodox themselves, and which these, in turn, have 
 as freely transmitted, and doubtless from much the 
 same motives, to tlie successive orders of heretics"^ 
 
 m The licentiousness, alledged by the ancient orthodox against the 
 Gnostics, is in part denied, and in part admitted, by Mosheim ; uni- 
 formly mentioned in terms of uncertainty, by Le Clerc; and wholly 
 denied, by Beausobre ; as it likewise is, in the History of Heretics in 
 Lardner s Works. The following remark deserves more considera- 
 tion than, I fear, mostreaders will allow it : '■ This is certain, that as 
 bad things were said of the primitive christians, as were ever said of 
 the ancient heretics by the Catholics, [Orthodox.] Modern Refonn- 
 crs have been treated just in the same manner." (Hist, of Heretics, 
 Book i. Sect. 8. Lardner's Works.) Look into Roman Catholic wri- 
 tings, and see all kinds of immoral tenets attributed to Luther, Cal- 
 vin, and their associates ; turn to the Protestant side, and see the 
 4^ 
 
42 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 Some of the Gnostics, perhaps some of the earliest, 
 believed in the endless exclusion of a part of mankind 
 from the abodes of celestial light. But among those 
 who arose in Egypt there were many, particularly the 
 Basilidians, the Carpocratians and the Valentinians, who 
 are supposed to have held an eventual restoration, or 
 rather transmigration, of all human souls to a heaven of 
 purity and bliss. But this tenet they appear to have 
 involved in other notions wild and chimerical enough to 
 warrant the suspicion of lunacy, were it not for the an- 
 tiquity, prevalence, and reputation of that whimsical 
 philosophy from which they were derived. 
 
 AT X. The Basilidians and Carpocratians, it 
 
 -1^^ is said, beheved that such souls as here 
 
 A. D. 120. ' _ ^ 
 
 follow the instructions of our Saviour, 
 will, at death, ascend immediately to the happy man- 
 sions above ; while, on the contrary, such as neglect 
 and disobey, will be condemned to pass into other bo- 
 dies, either of men or brutes, until by their purification 
 they shall be fitted to share the joys of the incorporeal 
 blest ; and so, all will finally be sav'ed. 
 
 The Basilidians were the followers of Basihdes, a 
 Gnostic christian and Egyptian philosopher, who flour- 
 
 charge retorted with, at least, equal exaggeration ; hear the mutual 
 criminations of our modern sects, who accuse each other of principles 
 of conduct which they never thought of; — and then judge how much 
 credit sliould be given to ancient calumnies of the same sort ! It is 
 a curious circumstance that Mosheim, honored and admired, and 
 standing on high ground in a national church, had never, himself, en- 
 countered the slander of bigotry ; while Le Clerc, an odious Arminian 
 from Geneva, and Beausobre, a Protestant refugee from France, had 
 ample experience of its mahgnity and falsehood. The Unitarian 
 Lardner was, in his own country, a heretic of the most obnoxious 
 kind. 
 
iO OF UNIVERSALISM. 43 
 
 ished at Alexandria in the early part of the second cen- 
 tury, and died there between the years 130 and 140. 
 Though he beheved in one self-existent, supreme, and 
 infinitely glorious God, yet he also held that depraved 
 matter had been, in one state or another, coeval with 
 him. In the past ages of eternity, the deity produced 
 from himself certain Eons, who, in their turn, begat 
 others, but of a rank somewhat inferior, and of a low^er 
 station ; and from these again proceeded a species still 
 less exaked ; and so on in succession, till the celestial 
 hierarchy extended from the highest heaven down to 
 the vicinity of chaotic matter. The lowest race of 
 Eons, whose station was the nethermost heaven, under- 
 took, at length, to reduce the immense material mass 
 below them from its pristine state of disorder ; and ha- 
 ving formed it into a world, and made man with a body 
 and a material soul, the Deity, approving their work, 
 gave the creature a rational mind, and thus comj)leted 
 the undertaking. He then allowed these Eons to di- 
 vide among themselves the government of the world 
 they had formed. But they, swerving by degrees from 
 their allegiance, arrogated at length divine honors from 
 their creatures, grew ambitious of enlarging, each one, 
 his dominion over the territory of the others, and for this 
 purpose embroiled mankind in mutual wars, till the 
 world became full of wretchedness and crime. Touched 
 Vv'ith compassion for the human race, God sent his Son, 
 the first-begotten and noblest of all the Eons, to take up 
 his abode in the man Jesus ; and through him to pro- 
 claim the supreme, but forgotten. Deity, teach mankind 
 to abjure the authority of their tyrannical gods, espe- 
 
44 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [ Chap. 
 
 cially of the God of the Jews ; and to instruct them 
 how to subdue their own sinful propensities, by mortify- 
 ing their bodies, as well as by governing their passions. 
 The God of the Jews, alarmed for his dominion, exci- 
 ted the people to apprehend and crucify Jesus ; but 
 the Christ, the celestial Eon, had left his mortal abode 
 before the suffering man was nailed to the cross. 
 
 Basihdes taught that God is perfectly good, or bene- 
 volent, in the real sense of those words ; but that he in- 
 flicts the proper punishment for every wilful transgres- 
 sion, whether of saint or sinner. Reformation and im- 
 provement are the grand objects, as he appears to have 
 held, of all punishment, and of all God's dealings with 
 mankind. Though he treated the Old Testament with 
 respect, as the revelation of that dignified Being who 
 governed the Jews, he did not think it inspired by the 
 supreme God ; and he is accused of having also re- 
 jected some parts of the New Testament ; which, though 
 possibly a fact", cannot be satisfactorily proved. He 
 wrote a Commentary, in twenty four books, on the Gos- 
 pels, which was soon answered by Agrippa Castor, a 
 cotempory orthodox WTiter. 
 
 Basilides is thought to have been a grave and pious 
 man, but bewildered by the fabulous theology of the 
 East. He had a son, named Isidore, who wrote some 
 books, long since lost, in illustration of their religious 
 sentiments. His sect, though often assailed, and con- 
 stantly opposed, botli by the orthodox and the heathens, 
 
 n Mosheim thinks it credible; Beausobre sees no proof of it; and 
 in the History of Heretics in Lardner, it is disputed. Le Clerc says 
 nothing about it. 
 
i. ] OF UNI VERS ALISM. 45 
 
 was for a long time numerous, chiefly in Egypt and 
 Asia. After having continued about two hundred years, 
 we find it broken and decreased in the fourth century ; 
 and not long afterwards it probably became extinct, or 
 perhaps coalesced with that of the Manicheans. 
 
 XI. The Carpocratians, who arose at the same place, 
 and nearly at the same time, with the BasiUdians, agreed 
 with them in the final salvation of all souls, and did not 
 greatly differ from them in the general system of their 
 doctrine. Like them, they distinguished oetween the 
 Deity and the inferior Eons who formed the w^orld ; 
 hke them they beheved that matter had existed from 
 eternity, and was unalterably corrupt. They, indeed, 
 arranged the Eons in a little different order ; and there 
 is some reason to think that they considered our Saviour 
 not a tw^o-fold being, human and angelic, but a mere 
 man, though of more than ordinary wisdom and divine 
 intelligence. He was selected and appointed by Dehy, 
 to teach mankind the knowledge of the true God, and 
 to abolish the dominion of the arrogant makers of the 
 world. 
 
 Tliis sect, which seems never to have been large, 
 spread chiefly in Egypt and the adjoining parts of Asia ; 
 and disappeared, probably, in little more than a century 
 after its rise, if indeed it had ever been altogether dis- 
 tinct from that of the Basilidians. Its founder w^as Car- 
 pocrates, a learned Egyptian, who flourished at Alex- 
 andria, about the year 130. His son, Epiphanes, w^as 
 a youth of vast attainments and extraordinary promise 5 
 but he died (about A. D. 140) at the early age of se- 
 
46 THE ANCIExNT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 venteen, after having written several treatises on reli- 
 gious subjects. 
 
 Their ancient opponents accuse the Carpocratians of 
 avowing the most infamous principles of moral conduct, 
 and even of teaching that to arrive at heaven, we must 
 devote ourselves to the perpetration of every vile and li- 
 centious abomination : a calumny which, by its mani- 
 fest exaggeration and mahce, becomes injurious only to 
 its authors. Some of the learned allow no credit what- 
 ever to any of the disadvantageous representations of 
 their moral character ; while others refuse to exculpate 
 them entirely, at the consequent expense of their ortho- 
 dox slanderers*'. 
 
 About ^^^' ^ ^^^^^ more whimsical sect of 
 
 Gnostics than either of the preceding, was 
 
 A. D. 130. . Tx 1 .• • TiT • .1 ' • 
 
 the Valentmians. IVlan, m their view, was 
 a complex being, consisting, 1, of the outward visible 
 body; 2, of another body^' within this, composed of 
 fluid matter, and imperceptible to the senses ; 3, of an 
 animated soul, the seat of life and sensation ortly; and 
 4, of a nobler, rational soul, of an angelic substance. 
 The bodies, both outward and internal, were, they held, 
 destined to perish ; of the two souls, the animal or sen- 
 
 o Among the licentious tenets charged on the Carpocratians, some 
 of the. most moderate and judicious of the moderns consider that of 
 the community of women, as well as of goods, justly imputed to them. 
 But in the Hist, of Heretics in Lardner, (book ii. ch. iii. § 11.) this 
 charge is, I tiiink, fairly shown to rest on very uncertain authority, 
 and to be, in itself, quite improbable. Mosheim, in his Commenta- 
 ries. &c. has greatly softened the features of the picture which he 
 had drawn of the Carpocratians, in his Ecclesiastical History. 
 
 P At least, so asserts Mosheim, confidently; from whom, there- 
 fore, I dare not wander, though in this particular, I follow him with 
 much doubt. 
 
i. ] OF UNIVERSALISM. 47 
 
 sitive could be saved by its obedience, or by its negli- 
 gence bring upon itself entire dissolution at deatb ; but 
 the rational, intelligent soul, will, in all cases, be ad- 
 mitted to the realms of bliss. 
 
 In the immediate habitation of Deity, a world of pure 
 light, infinitely above the visible heavens, the Valentini- 
 ans placed thirty Eons, divided into three orders. These 
 were guarded by Horus, stationed on the extreme verge 
 of the high abode, to prevent them from wandering off 
 into the immense regions of chaotic matter which lay 
 around. The Eons, in process of time, grew envious of 
 the distinguished and peculiar fehcity enjoyed by the 
 first and highest individual of their number, who alone 
 was adequate to comprehend the Supreme Father's 
 greatness. The ardent desire to attain the same di\ine 
 pleasure grew stronger and stronger among them ; until 
 Wisdom, the youngest and weakest of all, became ex- 
 cessively agitated. From her ungovernable perturba- 
 tions sprang a daughter, who was immediately expelled 
 into the vast aWss of rude and unformed matter with- 
 out. To allay the agitation thus raised in the celestial 
 realm, the Deity produced two new Eons, who instruct- 
 ed the others to be content with their hmited capacity, 
 and to unite all their powers in giving existence to a 
 being called Jesus, the noblest and brightest of all the 
 Eons. 
 
 Scarcely was the tranquilhty of the heavenly world 
 thus restored, when the most violent commotions began 
 to agitate the drear abyss without. The exiled daugh- 
 ter of Wisdom had caught some glimpses of the eter- 
 nal radiance, and attempted to gain the glorious abode ; 
 
48 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 but being continually repulsed by its watchful guardian, 
 her passions of grief, anxiety and desire grew so vio- 
 lent, that the chaotic mass of matter in which she was 
 immersed, caught the strong contagious emotions, and 
 became thereby separated into the different elements 
 which exist in our world. By the assistance of Jesus, 
 she formed a being who is the Maker and Governor of 
 the material system. This creator, having afterwards, 
 with the same assistance, constructed the visible Uni- 
 verse, took up his abode in the lowest heaven, far from 
 the refulgent habitation of Deity ; and here his vanity at 
 length transported him to fancy himself really the only 
 true God, and to call upon mankind by his prophets, 
 especially by those he sent to the Jews, to worship him 
 as such. To extricate mankind from this delusion, to 
 reveal the Deity to them, to teach them piety and vir- 
 tue, was Christ, one of the Eons, sent into the world. 
 He had a real body, but different from those of mortals, 
 as it was composed of an etherial substance ; and when 
 he was baptized in Jordan, Jesus hlmgelf, in the form 
 of a dove, descended into him. Thus completely con- 
 stituted, our Saviour proceeded, by means of instruc- 
 tions and miracles, to fulfil his ministry, ^he Maker 
 of the world was enraged by his success, and procured 
 his apprehension and crucifixion ; but not till both Je- 
 sus and the spiritual, rational soul of Christ had as- 
 cended, leaving nothing but the sensitive soul and the 
 etherial body to suffer. Like other Gnostics, the Val- 
 entinians denied the resurrection of the body, and con- 
 sidered the authors of the Old Testament as being un- 
 der the inspiration of the Maker of this world. 
 
i.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 49 
 
 This sect sprung from Valentine, an Egyptian, who, 
 after propagating his notions, for a while, in his native 
 country, went, about A. D. 140, to Rome. Here, so 
 many professors embraced his \'iews, that the church 
 became alarmed, and after thrice excommunicating him, 
 succeeded in rendering his residence in Italy so uncom- 
 fortable, that he w^ithdrew to the island of Cyprus. 
 In this delightful and luxurious region, his sect flourish- 
 ed in quiet ; and after his death, which occurred, per- 
 haps, a little subsequent to A. D. 1 50, widely diffused 
 itself throughout Asia, Africa and Europe, and became 
 an object of considerable fear and apprehension to the 
 orthodox churches. It existed about a century and a 
 half; when it seems to have sunk gradually into obliv- 
 ion. Many of its sentiments, how^ever, were then revived 
 among the Manicheans, whom we shall consider in their 
 proper place. 
 
 XIII. In closing our account of these Gnostic sects, 
 it is important to remark, that while the orthodox fath- 
 ers warmly and bitterly attacked their respective sys- 
 tems in general, it does not appear that they ever se- 
 lected the particular tenet of the salvation of all souls, 
 as obnoxious. What chiefly excited their resentment 
 and animadversions, was, the distinction between Deity 
 and the Maker of the world, the fables of the Eons, the 
 views of our Saviour's person, the rejection of the Old 
 Testament, and the denial of the resurrection, and of a 
 future judgment. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 [From A. D. 150, lo A. D. 190.] 
 
 A. D. 150. I. Heresies had now multiplied to such 
 a number, and spread to such an extent, as to become 
 troublesome^ to the regular and approved churches; 
 and several sects had established separate communi- 
 ties, in distinction from the common body. Most of 
 these were of the Gnostic kind, already described ; but 
 there was one which, though small, deserves particular 
 mention, as consisting of that part of the original church 
 at Jerusalem, which continued to adhere, with unyield- 
 ing tenacity, to the practice of the Mosaic rituals. This 
 was the Nazarene, or Ebionite, sect, which is said to 
 have held the simple humanity of Jesus Christ. 
 
 But from the heretics, of all kinds, we return to a 
 view of the doctrine and character of the orthodox. 
 Many of the vulgar superstitions of the Gentiles began 
 to prevail among them, concerning magic, the demons, 
 and the poetical regions of the infernal world ; and the 
 Greek philosophy, which had begun to mingle with tlie 
 doctrine of Christ, was rapidly modifying his religion to 
 its own perverse genius. The creduhty of this age 
 was rank, and the learning of the day, at least that of 
 
 a This is evident from the circumstance that Agrippa Castor wrote 
 a book against the heretics some years before this period, and Justin 
 Martyr a little after. 
 
ii.] OF UxNIVERSALISM. gj 
 
 the fathers, was too superficial to prove either a pre- 
 ventive or remedy. Apostolical tradition also began 
 to be urged as proof, when it was so far lost or corrup- 
 ted, that even they who had been disciples of the apos- 
 tles, adduced contrary traditions on one and the same 
 point ^; and yet upon this very precarious authority 
 some whimsical notions*^ prevailed. To these shades 
 in the picture we must add a still darker : the christians, 
 orthodox, as well as heretics, appear to have employ- 
 ed, in some cases, known falsehood in support of their 
 cause. This pernicious artifice they are said to have 
 derived from the Platonic paradox, that it is lawful to 
 lie for the truth; but one would suppose it suggested 
 by their own intemperate zeal, rather than by any max- 
 ims of philosophy. They had already begun to forge 
 books in support of their religion, a practice which, it 
 is thought, they borrowed from the heretics; and they 
 now proceeded to propagate accounts of frequent mira-^ 
 cles, concerning which, all the earlier WTiters, after the 
 apostles, had been entirely silent. 
 
 II. In the works which we have hitherto had under 
 examination, we can discover little that belongs to the 
 Grecian literature, except the language. All their fanciful 
 conceits, all their extravagances, are either of that pecu- 
 liar character which denotes a Jewish, at least Asiatic, 
 origin ; or else are the natural efRisions of a stupidity 
 
 b Polycarp visited Anicetus, bishop at Rome, about a. d. 150, and 
 held an amicable discussion with him on the proper time for holding 
 Easter. Each, according to Eusebius (Hist. Eccl. lib. v. cap. 24,) al- 
 leged Apostolical tradition for his own time, in opposition to that 
 of the other; and they parted, but in friendship, without coming to 
 an agreement on the point. c The doctrine of the proper Millen- 
 arians, for instance. 
 
52 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 that needs not the aggravation of false learning to ren- 
 der itself ridiculous. But when we pass the Shepherd 
 of Hermas, we enter immediately on a new series of 
 ecclesiastical writings, in most of which the learn- 
 ing of the Athenian and Roman schools is divest- 
 ed of its elegance and converted into Christianity. 
 This, hov/ever, we shall have occasion to exempli- 
 fy, in detail, as we pursue the course of our examina- 
 tion. 
 
 The works which have descended to us from the pe- 
 riod embraced in this chapter, and which succeed those 
 of the ApostoHcal fathers, are The SibyUine Oracles, 
 The Writings of Justin Martyr, A Relation of the 
 Martyrdom of Polycarj), The Oration of Tatian, The 
 Letter of the Churches of Lyons and Vienna, Two pro- 
 ductions ofAthenagoras, A Treatise of Theophylus, and 
 The Works of Irenceus^, Through these, successive- 
 ly, we shall now attempt to follow the traces of our 
 general subject. 
 
 - -^ III. It will be difficult to give the reader 
 
 a just notion of the first work. The Sihyl- 
 
 ^^' line Oracles. They were forged® by some 
 
 christian or christians, generally supposed orthodox, 
 
 for the purpose of convincing tlie heathens of the truth 
 
 d The book of one Hermias in ridicule of the heathen philosophers, 
 though often mentioned among the ecclesiastical works of this pe- 
 riod, is, by all, acknowledged to be of uncertain date, and by the best 
 critics, considered the production of a later age. e Cave thinks 
 the larger part of them composed about a.d. 130, and the rest before 
 A. D. 192. Du Pin places them at about a. d. ICO. Lardner thinks 
 they may have been completed before a. d. 1G9, though possibly not 
 till A. D 190. Justin Martyr repeatedly refers to them} andHermas 
 probably alluded to them in Book i. Vis. ii. 
 
ii-] OF UNIVERSALISM. 53 
 
 of Christianity. The Sibyls were considered as very 
 ancient prophetesses, of extraordinary inspiration, 
 among the Romans and the Greeks ; but their books, 
 if they indeed existed, had ahvays been carefully con- 
 cealed from the public, and consulted only upon emer- 
 gencies, and by order of the government. The great 
 veneration in which these supposed, but unknown, pro- 
 phecies were held among the vulgar, induced some 
 zealots to fabricate, under the name of the sibyls, and 
 in the form of ancient predictions, a narrative of the 
 most striking events in sacred history, and a delinea- 
 tion of what was then considered the christian faith. 
 This work, which w^e now have with some variations,^ 
 in eight books of coarse Greek verses, was then sent 
 into the world to convert the heathens by the pretend- 
 ed testimony of their own prophetesses. It appears to 
 have been seized with avidity by the orthodox chris- 
 tians in general ; and all their principal writers^ quoted 
 it as genuine, and urged its testimonies as indubitable 
 evidence. It is mortifying to relate that not one of them 
 had the honesty to discard the fraud, even when it was 
 detected by their heathen opponents. 
 
 These books, though brougiit forth in iniquity, serve 
 
 f So think Fabricius, Du Pin, Le Clerc, Lardner and Jortin. Oth- 
 ers speak of these now extant as wholly the same with the ancient. 
 Paley, who by calling them Latin verses, betrays his' ignorance of 
 them, supposes they cannot be that ancient work, because sucii is 
 the manifestness of their forgery, that these could not have deceived 
 the early fathers into a belief of their genuineness. (Evidences of 
 Christian. Part i. chap. 0, sect, xi.) But ail this he might have said, 
 with equal propriety, of the very passages which they actually quot- 
 ed. They were probably aware of the forgery. ff Justin Mar- 
 tyr, Athenagoras, Tbeophilus of Antioch. Clemens Alexandrinus, 
 and the succeeding fathers. 
 
 5* 
 
54 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap, 
 
 to show what sentiments existed among the christians ; 
 which is, indeed, about all the utility of the genuine 
 productions of this period. They contain the earUest 
 explicit declaration extant of a restoration from the tor- 
 ments of hell. Having predicted the burning of the 
 universe, the resurrection of the dead, the scene before 
 the eternal judgment-seat, and the condemnation and 
 horrible torments of the damned in the flames of hell, 
 the writer proceeds to expatiate on the bliss and the 
 privileges of those who are saved ; and he concludes his 
 account by saying that, after the general judgment, 
 '* the omnipotent, incorruptible God shall confer anoth- 
 " er favor on his worshippers, when they shall ask him : 
 " he shall save mankind from the pernicious lire and 
 " immortal agonies. This will he do. For, ha\ing 
 " gatliered them, safely secured from the unwearied 
 " flame, and appointed them to another place, he shall 
 " send them, for his peoples' sake, into another and an 
 " eternal life, with the immortals on the Elysian plain, 
 " where flow perpetually the long dark waves of the 
 " deep sea of Acheron '\" 
 
 This work is full of the fables of the Greeks con- 
 cerning demons, the Titans or giants, and the infer- 
 nal regions. The world was to be burned about the 
 end of the second century ; and then all mankind 
 were to be brought forth from the secret receptacle of 
 the dead to judgment ; when the vicious and abomin- 
 able should be condemned to an intense fiery tor- 
 ment, repeatedly called everlastings and described much 
 
 l» Sibyll.Oracula, Lib. ii. p. 212. Edit. Opsopcei, Paris. 1607. 
 
ii.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 55 
 
 in the language, and with many of the circumstances 
 employed by the heathen poets. The righteous, on 
 the contrary, were to be received into a heaven too 
 nearly resembling the Elysian fields^ ; and finally, at 
 their request, the damned were to be admitted to the 
 hke happiness. 
 
 The following prophecy of the final conflagration may 
 amuse^ as a specimen of the author's descriptions : — 
 Elijah, " the Thesbite, shall descend from heaven, 
 " drawn in a celestial car, and show the whole 
 " world the three signs of the destruction of all fife. 
 " Woe unto them whom that day shall overtake op- 
 " pressed with the burden of the womb ; woe unto 
 " them who shall nurse children at the breast, and unto 
 " those who shall dwell near the waters. Woe unto 
 " them who shall see that day ; for from the rising to 
 '' the setting sun, and from the north to the south, the 
 " whole world shall be involved in the gloom of a hide- 
 " ous night. A burning river of fire shall then flow 
 " from the lofty heavens, and utterly consume the earth, 
 " the vast ocean with its cerulean abyss, the lakes, riv- 
 " ers, fountains, the horrible realm of Pluto, and the ce- 
 " lestial pole. The stars in heaven shall. melt and drop 
 " down without form. All mankind shall gnash their 
 " teeth, encompassed on every hand with a flood of fire, 
 " and covered with burning cinders. The elements of 
 " the world shall lie forsaken : the air, the earth, the 
 " heavens, the sea, the light, and nights and days be 
 " confounded^." 
 
 i All these particulars may be found in Lib. ii. J Ditto. Lib. ii, 
 p. 201. 
 
56 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 IV. We proceed to the writings of the 
 A. D. 150, renowned Justin Martyr, the first professed 
 to 162. scholar of the Grecian philosophy, whose 
 productions in favor of the christian reli- 
 gion, have reached us. He was a native of Neapolis, 
 the ancient Sichem, in Palestine. Having sought, as 
 he says, for the knowledge ofthe true God, among all 
 the sects of heathen philosophers, he was at length 
 converted to Christianity by the conversation of an old 
 man ; but he never laid aside the pecuHar habit nor the 
 profession of the Platonics. He engaged, however, 
 with great zeal and boldness in the christian cause, for 
 which he v/rote two Apologies : one, addressed to the 
 emperor Antoninus Pius, about A. D. 150; and the 
 other, about A. D. 162, to the succeeding emperor, 
 Marcus Antoninus, and to the Senate and People of 
 Ronie*^. It was in this city, where he had resided for 
 many years, that he sealed his testimony by martyrdom 
 about A. D. 166. 
 
 His profession of philosophy, his extensive though 
 cursory reading, together with his zeal and piety, se- 
 cured him a great reputation and influence among the 
 early fathers ; who lacked the discernment to perceive 
 his want of sober judgment, and to discover the frcvquent 
 mistakes into which his carelessness and gross credulity 
 betrayed him. His early heathen notions, so far from be- 
 
 k Cave, Pagi, Basnage and Le Clerc date Justin's First Apology at 
 about A. D.140; Massuet, 145 ; the Benedictine Editors and Tillc- 
 mont, Grabe, Du Pin, and Lardner, at 150. The Dialogue with Try- 
 pho was written certainly after the First Apology, but perhaps before 
 the Second, which is generally placed at the year lO"^. Besides these 
 three works, some attribute to him Two Orations to the Greeks, and 
 The Epistle to Diognetus. 
 
ii.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 57 
 
 ing dispelled by the light of truth, were only modified 
 to his new religion, and the more fondly cherished, as 
 they now formed part of a system he deemed sacred. 
 Angels, he supposes, once descended to the earth, be- 
 came enamored of women, and in their embraces begat 
 the demons. These demons, learning from the proph- 
 ets the principal events in Christ's life and administra- 
 tion, fabricated in order to imitate them, the stories of 
 the heathen mythology. They first instituted idolatry, 
 and they still continue to allure mankind to practise it 
 by the mysterious tricks they perform for the purpose ; 
 and all this out of a desire to feed on the fumes of the 
 sacrifices and libations'. It is astonishing what a varied 
 part the demons perform in this world, according to 
 Justin's representations. It would seem, however, that 
 they labored under one essential disadvantage ; for our 
 author assures us that the christians, in his time, had 
 the miraculous gift of exorcising them at pleasure, what- 
 ever shape they assumed, or wherever they concealed 
 themselves"^. The reader cannot now be surprised that 
 Justin apphed and explained scripture witliout the least 
 regard to rational interpretation. 
 
 His opinion concerning the future state of mankind 
 was, that all souls, after death, are reserved in a certain 
 place, probably the Infernum of the Latins, till the gen- 
 eral resurrection and judgment ; when the righteous, 
 whether christians, or such heathens as Socrates and 
 Plato, shall reign with Christ a thousand years upon 
 
 1 Justini Apolog, Prim. p. 61. Edit. Paris. mApol. Secund. 
 
 p, 45, and passim. 
 
58 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 earth, and then be admitted to the celestial mansions" ; 
 
 while the wicked shall be condemned to a punishment 
 
 which he frequently calls everlasting^ . In another place, 
 
 however, he states his opinion upon this last point more 
 
 particularly, and represents that the wicked will be, 
 
 eventLially, annihilated : " Souls," says he " are not im- 
 
 " mortal I do not say that all souls will 
 
 " die. Those of the pious will remain [after death] in 
 
 " a certain better place, and those of the unholy and 
 
 " wicked in a worse, all expecting the time of judg- 
 
 " ment. In this manner, those which are worthy to 
 
 " appear before God, never die ; but the others are 
 
 " tormented so long as God wills that they should exist 
 
 " and be tormented Whatever does, or ever 
 
 " will, exist in dependance, on the will of God, is of a 
 
 " perishable nature, and can be annihilated so as to 
 
 " exist no longer. God alone is self-existent, and by 
 
 " his own nature imperishable, and therefore he is God ; 
 
 " but all other things are begotten and corruptible. For 
 
 *' which reason, souls both suffer punishment and dieP." 
 
 . ^^ V. It was about this period, that the ven- 
 A. D. 100, 1 1 -n 1 1 
 
 erable Polycarp closed an aged and pious 
 
 ^ • life, amidst the flock he had long cherished 
 
 in the great city of Smyrna. Exhausted nature was not 
 
 permitted to expire in quiet decay; the persecuting 
 
 heathens apprehended the retiring saint, and crowned 
 
 him with the honors of martyrdom. The Relation of 
 
 his Martyrdom, written'^, if genuine, (of which there is 
 
 n Compare Dialog. c«m Tryph. p. 223, 300. Apol. i.p. 71. Apol, ii. 
 p. 83, ifec. Edit. Paris. 1742. o Apol. Prim. p.p. 57. 64, &c. 
 
 P Dialog, cum Tryphone, p.p. 222,223. <i Probably very soon 
 after the martyrdom it relates; which is placed by Pearson in a. d. 
 
ii.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 59 
 
 some doubt) by his own church at Smyrna, asserts that 
 the martyrs hoped, by suffering the momentary torments 
 of their cruel death, " to escape that fire which is eter- 
 " nal and shall not be extinguished'." And Polycarp 
 himself is represented, by these -writers, as reminding 
 the Proconsul before whom he was arraigned and tried, 
 of " the fire of future judgment, and of that eternal 
 " punishment which is reserved for the ungodly*." 
 
 This Relation, though apparently composed by plain, 
 unlettered men, and manifestly free from the corrup- 
 tions of the Greek j)hilosophy, affords a moderate spec- 
 imen of the hyperbolical genius of that age. When the 
 flame, say the writers, had arisen to a great height 
 around Polycarp at the stake, it made a sort of arch, 
 leaving him untouched in the midst ; while a rich 
 odour, as of frankincense, proceeded from his body, and 
 filled the air. The executioners, perceiving that they 
 could not destroy him by burning, struck him through 
 with a dagger ; upon wdiich, there came from him such 
 a quantity of blood as extinguished the flames ! so that 
 it " raised an admiration in all the people to consider 
 " what a difference there was between the infidels and 
 '' the electa" 
 
 VI. Tatian the Syrian, a convert from 
 
 A. D. 170, heathenism, and the scholar perhaps of 
 
 Justin Martyr, was a man of considerable 
 
 Greek reading, and the author of several works ; of 
 
 147; by Usher and Le Clerc, in 169; and by Petit in 175. Poly- 
 carp visited Rome vvhile Anicetus was bishop there ; to which office 
 the latter is commonly supposed to have been chosen as late as a. d. 
 150. r Relation of the Alartyrdom of Polycarp, § 2, Wakens trans. 
 s Ditto. §11. t Ditto. §15, 16. 
 
60 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 which only his Orrti? on against the Gentiles is extant. 
 In this he represents that such souls as have not the 
 truth, or knowledge of God, die with the body, and 
 with it rise to judgment, at the end of the world ; 
 when they are to undergo " a death in immortality"," by 
 which he perhaps means annihilation. To the sinful 
 demons he assigns the same final doom'''. It is suffi- 
 ciently evident that Tatian was, at this time, hke his 
 master, a follower of the Platonic philosophy; but to- 
 wards the end of his hfe, he ran into heresy, by pro- 
 hibiting marriage, wine, and divers sorts of meat, and 
 bv advocating certain Gnostic notions. 
 
 ,^.- VII. In order to embrace every thins; that 
 
 A. D. 173. , , . 11 
 
 relates to our subject, we must not overlook 
 a small fragment from an Ecclesiastical History by He- 
 gesippus, an author whose works are lost, but who is 
 suspected of having been a vv eak and credulous WTiter. 
 He relates^ that when some of our Saviour's kindred 
 vvere called before the emperor Domitian, and question- 
 ed on the nature of the kingdom they attributed to 
 Christ, they answered that it was merely celestial, and 
 would take place " at the consummation of the world, 
 " when he should come in his glory, judge the quick 
 " and the dead, and reward every man according to his 
 "works"''." This is evidence of the opinion of Hegesip- 
 pus ; but no historian would probably consider it as au- 
 thority for the sentiments of the persons he mentions. 
 
 u Tatiani Aspyr. Contra Grac. Orat. ^ 6 and 13. inter Justini 
 Martyr. Opp. Edit. Paris. 1742. This Oration is placed by Lardnor 
 between a. d. 163, and 172. v Ditto. ^ 14. %v Eusebii Hist. Eccl. 
 Ijb. iii. cap. 20. Lardner dates Heo;esippus's History at the year 
 173. 
 
ii.] OF UNIVERSALISM. gj 
 
 The whole story, indeed, is now suspected as fabu- 
 lous. 
 
 VIII. The Epistle of the Churches of 
 A. D. 1'77. Lyons and T^ienna, generally supposed to 
 
 have been written by the celebrated Ire- 
 naeus, claims but a moment's attention. It gives an af- 
 fecting, though perhaps exaggerated, account of the ter- 
 rible persecution and martyrdom of the christians in 
 those two cities, during the reign of the philosophical 
 emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Of one Byblias, who 
 through weakness had at first recanted her profession, 
 it is said, "that in the midst of her torments she retum- 
 " ed to herself, waking as it were out of a deep slum- 
 *' ber ; and calling to recollection the everlasting pun- 
 " ishment in hell, she, against all men's expectations, 
 " reproved her tormentors ^." 
 
 IX. The next, in order, is Athenagoras, 
 A. D. 1'78, an Athenian philosopher, and probably, for 
 
 to 180. a while, master of that distinguished chris- 
 tian seminary, the Catechetical School at 
 Alexandria in Egypt. He addressed to the emperor 
 Marcus Aurelius and to his son Commodus, an Apolo- 
 gy for the christians ; and WTOte a Treatise on the Res- 
 urrection, to remove the objections of the heathens, and 
 to convince them, by philosophical reasonings, of the 
 truth of that doctrine ^. Though a learned and polite 
 writer, little notice was paid him or his w^orks, by the 
 early fathers. 
 
 ^ Eusebii Hist. Eccl. Lib. v. cap. 1. Lardner assi2;ns this Epistle 
 to the year 177. y His Apology is placed by Lardner at a.d. 178. 
 His Treatise on the Resurrection was probably written soon after- 
 wards. 
 
 6 
 
52 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [ Chap. 
 
 He asserts it as a manifest fact, " that the righteous 
 " are not properly rewarded, nor the evil punished in 
 " this hfe ;" and contends that there is no ground on 
 which we can vindicate the ways of providence and 
 maintain the justice of God, but by admitting a resur- 
 rection to a state of retribution. At the future judg- 
 ment, says he, " rewards and punishments will be dis- 
 " tributed to all mankind, as they shall have conducted 
 " well or ill ^ ;" but of the duration of suffering, he has 
 left us no intimation. He treats it as a conjecture not at 
 all unreasonable, that the brutes may be raised from the 
 dead, and afterwards remain in subjection to man^. As 
 to the mode of governing the universe, he says that God 
 has distributed the angels into different ranks and or- 
 ders, and assigned to them the care of the elements, 
 the heavens and the earth. But the angel presiding 
 over matter, together with some others, swerving from 
 their allegiance, fell in love with women, and begat gi- 
 ants ; and those rebellious spirits now wander up and 
 down the earth, opposing God, exciting lust, and uphold- 
 ing idolatry, that they may refresh themselves with the 
 blood and steam of sacrifices ^. 
 
 X. Of Theophilus, bishop of the church 
 A. D. 181. at Antioch, we have only one work 
 remaining : a Treatise in defence of Chris- 
 tianity, addressed to Autolychus, a learned hea- 
 then. There are sufficient proofs that our author was a 
 man of at least a moderate degree of learning ; but like 
 his cotemporaries in general, he was unhappily an ad- 
 
 z Athenagor.' De Resurrec. passi??!. particularly the latter part, 
 a Ditto, near the beginning. b Athtnagorae Legat. passim. 
 
ii.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 53 
 
 mirer of the Greek philosophy, and a believer in the 
 vulgar superstitions of the heathens. His views of fu- 
 ture punishment may be discovered from his exhorta- 
 tion to Autolychus : " Do you also studiously read the 
 " prophetic scriptures, and you will have their safer 
 " light to enable you to shun everlasting torments." 
 Soon afterwards he says, of the unbelieving and abom- 
 inable, " to them there will be wTath and indignation, 
 "tribulation and anguish; and at length everlasting fire 
 " shall be their portion^." 
 
 Q^ XI. We arrive at last to the writings of 
 
 that distinguished father, Irenaeus. Born 
 and brought up in Asia Minior, he attended 
 in his youth, the discourses both of the venerable Poly- 
 carp, and of the weak, injudicious Papias ; and perhaps 
 enjoyed some acquaintance with such as had personally 
 conversed vvith the apostles. At a later period, he 
 travelled into France, where his piety, his zeal and de- 
 votedness to the christian cause, together with his ac- 
 quirements, rendered him conspicuous, and at length 
 elevated him to the bishopric of the church at Lyons, 
 But notwithstanding his advantages, there are some 
 things in his principal remaining work, that .^^a^WfJZer- 
 esies ^, which show that he yielded to the whimsical 
 and credulous turn of the age, if, indeed, that were not 
 also his own character. Miracles, he says, even from 
 the raising of the dead, down to the casting out of de- 
 
 c Theophili Ad Autolychum, Lib. i. cap. 14. inter Justini Martyr. 
 Opp. Edit. Paris. 1742. Lardner places this work at a. d. 181. 
 
 d This is a large, and in many respects a valuable work. Lard- 
 ner thinks it to have been published not long after a. d. 178; Tille 
 mont, near 190. 
 
64 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 mons, were, in his time, frequently performed by chris- 
 tians; so that it was "impossible to reckon up all the 
 " mighty works which the church performed, every day, 
 " for the benefit of the nations ^." With the Greek phi- 
 losophy he was not so thoroughly imbued as Justin Mar- 
 tyr ; but like his master Papias, he was an assiduous 
 collector of apostolic traditions, and upon their authori- 
 ty advanced some very ridiculous notions : In the Mil- 
 lennium, says he, " there shall grow vineyards, having 
 " each ten thousand vine-stocks ; each stock ten thous- 
 " and branches ; each branch ten thousand twigs ; each 
 " twig ten thousand bunches ; each bunch ten thousand 
 " grapes ; and each grape when pressed, shall yield 
 "twenty-five measures of wine. And when any of the 
 " saints shall go to pluck a bunch, another bunch will 
 " cry out, lam Letter, take me, and bless the Lord through 
 "me. In like manner, a grain of wheat sown, shall 
 " bear ten thousand stalks ; each stalk ten thousand 
 " grains ; and each grain ten thousand pounds of the 
 " finest flour," he J Some of liis allegorical inter- 
 pretations ^ of scripture, too, will almost vie in contempt- 
 ible absurdity with those of Barnabas. We remark, 
 once for all, that the principal writers mentioned in this 
 chapter agreed in attributing to the scriptures a double 
 meaning, a hidden and mysterious, as well as the obvi- 
 ous one. 
 
 With regard to the future state, Irenaeus supposes 
 that souls are, after death, reserved in some invisible 
 
 e Iren. Adv. Hseres. Lib. ii. cap. 57. f Ditto. Lib. v. cap. 32, 
 33, &c. K Ditio. Lib. iv cap. 42, and Lib. v. cap. 8. 
 
ii.] OF UNIVERSALISM. g5 
 
 place, the Infernum of the heathens, whither Christ 
 went and preached after his crucifixion, delivering from 
 sufferance those who there believed. At the end of 
 the world, which was then very near at hand, all w^ere 
 to be raised, and brought to judgment, when the just 
 should be admitted to a thousand years' reign with 
 Christ upon earth, preparatory to endless bhss in heav- 
 en ; but the unjust should be sent into inextinguishable 
 and eternal fire ^ . Here, he appears to think, they will 
 be annihilated : he contends that souls or spirits, like all 
 other created things, depend entirely on the uphold- 
 ing providence of God for their continuance in being, 
 and tliat they can " exist only so long as he wills. For," 
 says he, " the principle of existence is not inherent in 
 " our own constituion, but given us by God. He w^ho 
 " cherishes this gift, and is thankful to the Giver, shall 
 " exist forever ; but he who despises it, and is ungrate- 
 " ful, deprives himself of the privilege of existing forev- 
 " er. Therefore, the Lord said. If ye have not been 
 ^''faithful in a little, who will give you that which is 
 '■'•greater^ (Luke xvi. 11,) signifying that he who is 
 " ungrateful to him for this temporal life, which is little, 
 " cannot justly expect from him an existence which is 
 " endless'." 
 
 It is in Irenasus that we meet with the earliest attempt 
 at a formal summary of the faith as held by the ortho- 
 dox churches in general; fend on this account his com- 
 pendium or creed is worthy of particular notice. In 
 opposition to all the peculiar tenets of the Gnostics, he 
 
 h Ditto. Lib. V. cap. 27, and passim. i Ditto Lib. ii. cap. 64. 
 
 6* 
 
55 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap, 
 
 brings forward the system of doctrine which, he says, 
 " the churches, though scattered into all parts of the 
 " world, had received from the apostles and their dis- 
 " ciples, viz. : To believe in one God, the omnipo- 
 " tent Father, who made heaven, and earth, and sea, 
 " and all things in them ; in one Jesus Christ, the Son 
 " of God, incarnate for our salvation ; and in the Holy 
 " Ghost, who by the prophets declared the dispensa- 
 " tion and coming of Christ, his birth of a virgin, his 
 " suffering, his resurrection from the dead, his ascen- 
 " sion in his flesh into heaven, and his coming from hea- 
 " ven, in the glory of the Father to gather together in 
 " one all things, and to raise the flesh of all mankhid ; 
 " that unto Jesus Christ, our Lord, Saviour and King, 
 " according to the will, of the imdsible Fatlier, every 
 " knee shall bow, of things in heaven, on earth, and un- 
 '' der the earth, and every tongue confess to him ; and 
 " that he shall pass a righteous sentence upon all, and 
 " send wicked spirits, and the angels who have trans- 
 " gressed, together with ungodly men, into eternal fire, 
 " but give life to the righteous who have kept his com- 
 "mands'and abided in his love, either from the begin- 
 ' ning or after repentance, and confer on them immor- 
 " tality and eternal glory J." 
 
 XII. A great number of the early productions of the 
 orthodox, and all those of the heretics, are lost, and 
 with them, probably, some information upon the subject 
 
 j Ditto. Lib. i. cap. 2. Any reader, acquainted witli tlie notions at- 
 tributed to the Gnostics, will instantly perceive that almost every ex- 
 pression in this Creed w.is framed for the purpose of opposing them; 
 as, indeed, is intim^ited by the manner in which Irenaeus introduces 
 the passage. 
 
li.] OF UNIVERSAL ISxM. 57 
 
 of our history. Thus far, however, we have carefully 
 presented, in his own words, the opinion of every wri- 
 ter whose works are extant ; and we have also produced 
 the views of the heretics upon this subject, from the 
 best authorhies within our reach. To the reader be- 
 longs the privilege of such reflections as tlie wdiole case, 
 now pretty fully laid before him, may suggest. We 
 will, how^ever, observe that of the orthodox wTiters, 
 nearly all allude to, or expressly assert, a future judg- 
 ment and a future state of punishment : seven ^ call it 
 the everlasting, the eternal fire or torment ; but out of 
 these there are three v*ho certainly did not think it end- 
 less, as two of them believed the damned would be an- 
 nihilated, and the other asserted their restoration to bliss. 
 What w^ere the views of the remaining four, upon this 
 point, cannot be determined ; since the circumstance 
 just mentioned shows that their use of the word everlast- 
 ing, is no criterion. The others whom we have passed 
 in review, are silent with regard to the duration of mis- 
 ery. 
 
 To these remarks we must add, that such of the Gnos- 
 tic sects as are thought to have held the salvation of all 
 souls, still flourished ; but their history, like that of all 
 the heretic christians, is obscure and uncertain. 
 
 Among the orthodox, it is curious to mark the seem- 
 ing progress of sentiment concerning a future state 
 of punishment. In their earliest WTitings, that of Clem- 
 ens Romanus and those of Ignatius, it is either wholly 
 
 ^ Viz. Barnabas, Hermas, Sibylline Oracles, Justin Martyr, Rela- 
 tion of Polycarp's Martyrdom, Theophilus, and Irenaeus in the Let- 
 tor of the churches of Lyons and Vienna, and in his work Against 
 Heresies. 
 
68 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 omitted, or else expressed in the most indefinite man- 
 ner. Afterwards, we find it introduced as a peculiar 
 motive of terror ; and as such, it became more and 
 more employed, even by those who expressly assigned 
 it a limited duration. When the Greek philosophy and 
 heathen superstitions began to prevail in the church, 
 they soon succeeded in delineating the whole topogra- 
 phy of the infernal realm, pointed out its divisions, de- 
 scribed its regulations, and familiarly brought to light all 
 its secrets. 
 
 XIII. In the succeeding parts of our Vv'ork, we shall 
 not detain the reader with a distinct paragraph for eve- 
 ry ecclesiastical writer ; but direct our attention more 
 specially to those authors and those parties who advoca- 
 ted the salvation of all mankind. In the meantime, 
 however, we shall aim at such a representation as will af- 
 ford a general view of the notions entertained by the 
 church at large, in relation to that subject. 
 
CHAPTER m. 
 
 [From A. D, 190, to A. D. 230.] 
 
 I. Of all the christian fathers, before 
 ' Origen, the most illustrious writer and the 
 most renowned for extensive erudition, was 
 Clemens Alexandrinus. That he was a Universahst in 
 sentiment, is alleged against him by some of the learned^, 
 and sufficiently manifest from his works yet extant ; though 
 he sel:lom affords us a direct and positive assertion to this 
 point. He uniformly asserts, however, and illustrates, 
 the universal goodnes of God, the benevolent nature 
 of justice, the salutary design and effect of punishment 
 both here and hereafter, the purification of the damned 
 in hell, and their deliverance from suffering and exal- 
 tation to bliss. 
 
 a The learned and orthodox Daille says " It is manifest, through- 
 out his works, that Clemens thought all the punishments that God 
 inflicts upon men, are salutary, and executed by him only for the 
 purpose of instruction and reformation. Of this kind he reckons the 
 
 torments which the damned in hell suffer From which we 
 
 discover that Clemens was of the same opinion as his scholar Origen, 
 who every where teaches that all the punishments of those in hell are 
 purgatorial, that they are not endless, but will at length cease, when 
 the damned are sufficiently purified by the fire." Dallaei De Usu 
 Patrum Lib. ii. cap. 4. 
 
 Archbishop Poster, having spoken of Origen 's belief in the salva- 
 tion, of all the damned, and of the devil himself, adds, "from which 
 opinion Clemens does not appear to have differed much, as he taught 
 that the Devil can repent, and that even the most heinous sins are 
 purged away by punishments after death." V. Not. in Clem. Al- 
 exand. Strom. Lib. vi. p. 794. Edit. Potter. 1715. 
 
70 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 " The Lord," says he. " does good unto all, and 
 " delights in all ; as God, he forgives our transgres- 
 " sions, and as Man, he teaches and instructs us that 
 " we may not sin. Man is, indeed, necessarily dear to 
 " God, because he is his workmanship. Other things 
 " he made only by his order ; but man he formed by 
 " his own hand, and breathed into him his distinguish- 
 " ing properties. Now, whatever was created by him, 
 " especially in his OAvn image, must have been created 
 " because it was, in itself, desirable to God, or else 
 " desirable from some other consideration. If man 
 " was made because he was in himself desirable, then 
 " God loved him on account of his being good ; and 
 " there certainly is in man that lovely principle, called 
 " the breath or inspiration of God. But if it was on 
 " account of some other desirable end that he was 
 " made, then there could be no other reason why God 
 " should create him, than that God could not otherwise 
 " be a benevolent Maker, nor his glory be displayed to 
 
 " the human race And, indeed in either 
 
 " case, man may be said to be, in himself considered, 
 " a being desirable to God, since the Almighty, who 
 " cannot err in his undertakings, made him just such 
 ".as he desired. He therefore loves him. How in- 
 " deed is it possible that he should not love him, for 
 *' whom he sent his only begotten Son from his own bo- 
 "som^?" 
 
 There are some^, says Clemens, who deny that the 
 
 ^ Clem. Alexand. Paedagog. Lib. i.cap. 3, p. p. 101, 102. Edit. Pot- 
 ter, c Clemens here alludes to the Murcionites, a Gnostic 
 sect. 
 
iii.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 71 
 
 Lord is good, because he inflicts punishments and en- 
 joins fear. To this he repUes, that " there is nothing 
 " which the Lord hates ; for he cannot hate any thing 
 '• and yet will that it should exist ; nor can he will that 
 " any thing should not exist, and at the same time cause 
 " it to exist. Now as the Lord is certainly the cause 
 " of whatever exists, he cannot, of course, desire that 
 " any thing which is, should not be ; and therefore he 
 " cannot hate any thing, as all exist by his own will." 
 And, continues our author, " if he hates none of his 
 " works, then it is evident that he loves them all, es- 
 " pecially man above the rest, who is the most excel- 
 " lent of his creatures. Now whoever loves another, 
 " wishes to benefit him ; and therefore God does good 
 " unto all. He does not merely bless them in some 
 " particulars, yet neglect all care over them ; he is 
 " both careful for them, and solicitous for their interets." 
 Consistently with this, Clemens adds, that God's "jus- 
 " tice is, of itself, nothing but goodness ; for it rewards 
 " the virtuous with blessings, and conduces to the im- 
 " provement of the sinful. There are many evil afFec- 
 " tions which are to be cured only by suffering. Pun- 
 " ishment is, in its operation, like medicine : it desolves 
 " the hard heart, purges away the filth of uncleanness, 
 " and reduces the swellings of pride and haughtiness ; 
 " thus restoring its subject to a sound and healthful 
 " state. It is not from hatred, therefore, that the Lord 
 " rebukes mankind'^." 
 
 <i Ptedagog. Lib. i. cap. 8, p. p. l35 — 140. N. B. I have attempted', 
 in this paragraph to compress the argument which Clemens, in hisi 
 diffuse style and rambling method, spreads over two or three folic* 
 
72 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap 
 
 " It is the office of salutary justice," says he, in ano- 
 ther place, " continually to exalt every thing towards the 
 " best state of which it is capable. Inferior things are 
 " adapted to promote and confirm the salvation of that 
 " which is more excellent ; and thus, whatever is en- 
 " dued with any virtue, is forthwitli changed still for the 
 " better, through the liberty of choice, which the mind 
 " has in its own power. And the necessary chastisements 
 " of the great judge, who regards all with benignity, make 
 " mankind grieve for their sins and imperfections, and 
 " advance them through the various states of discipline 
 " to perfection®.*' " Even God's wrath, if so his admo- 
 " nitions can be called, is full of benevolence, towards 
 " the human race ; for whose sake the w^ord of God 
 " was made man ^." 
 
 The same means which are employed upon earth for 
 the salvation of the Hving, are introduced, he thinks, 
 among the dead, for the restoration of such as died, ei- 
 ther in sin, or in ignorance and unbehef of Jesus Christ : 
 " Wherefore, our Lord," says he, " preached also in the 
 *' regions of the dead ; for says the scripture, the Grave 
 " saith to Destruction, His countenance we have not 
 " indeed beheld, but we have heard his voice. (Job xxviii. 
 *'22.) It is not the ^/ace however, which thus speaks, 
 " but its inhabitants, who had delivered themselves to de- 
 *' struction. They heard the divine power and voice. 
 " And, indeed, who can suppose that souls [which de- 
 " parted ignorant of Christ] are indiscriminately aban- 
 " doned, the virtuous with the vicious, to the same con- 
 
 e Stromal. Lib. vii. cap. 2, p. 825. f Paedagog. Lib i. cap. 8. p 
 
 142. 
 
iii.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 73 
 
 " demnation, thus impeaching the justice of providence ? 
 " Does not the scripture inform us that the Lord 
 "preached the gospel even to those v»"ho perished in 
 " the deluge, and were confined in prison ? ^ We have 
 " already shown that the apostles also, as well as their 
 
 " Master, preached the gospel to the dead 
 
 " Wherefore, since the Lord descended to hell for no 
 "other purpose than to preach the gospel there, he 
 " preached it either to all, or only to the Jews. If to 
 " all, then all who believed there, were saved, whether 
 " Jews or Gentiles. And the chastisements of God are 
 " salutary and instructive, leading to amendment, and 
 " preferring the repentance to the death of the sinner ; es- 
 "pecially as souls in their separate state, though darken- 
 " ed by evil passions, have yet a clearer discernment 
 "than they had whilst in the body, because they are no 
 " longer clouded and encumbered by the flesh '^. " Again 
 he says, " Now all the poets, as well as the Greek philos- 
 " ophers, took their notions of the punishments after 
 "death, and the torments of fire, from the Hebrews. 
 "Does not Plato mention the rivers of fire, and that 
 " profound abyss which the Jews call Gehenna [hell,] 
 " together with other places of punishment, where the 
 "characters of men are reformed by suffering?^" It 
 
 s In another place Clemens says, '-If, therefore, the Loi-d preached 
 "the gospel to those in the flesh, lest they should be unjustly con- 
 " demned, was it not necessary, for the same reason, that he should 
 "preach also to those who had departed this life before his advent? 
 "And as all sinful flesh perished in the deluge, we must believe that 
 "the will of God, which has the power of instructing and operating, 
 "confers salvation upon those who are converted by the punishments 
 " inflicted on them." Stromat. Lib. vi. cap. 6, p. 766. h Stromal. 
 
 Lib. vi. cap. 6, p. p. 763, 764. i Ditto. Lib. v- cap. 14, p. 700. 
 
74 THE ANCIENT HISTORY ^ [Chip. 
 
 would, however, far exceed our limits, to transcribe the 
 passages of this kind, scattered through his writings. 
 
 With regard to the actual salvation of all, the follow- 
 ing are his fullest and most pointed expressions : " How 
 "is he a Saviour and Lord, unless he is the Sa\'iour and 
 " Lord of all ? He is certainly the Saviour of those 
 " who have believed ; and of those who have not be- 
 " heved, he is the Lord, until by being brought to con- 
 " fess him, they shall receive the proper and well adap- 
 " ted blessing for themselves'." " The Lord," says he, 
 " is the propitiation^ not only for our sins, that is, of the 
 "faithful, but also for the whole world (iJohn, ii. 2) : 
 " therefore he indeed saves all ; but converts some by 
 "punishments, and others by gaining their free will ; so 
 " that he has the high honor, that unto him every knee 
 '^should hoiv, of things in heaven, on earth, and under 
 " the earth ; that is, angels, men and the souls of those 
 "who died before his advent k." 
 
 It is remarkable that Clemens, unhke the other an- 
 cient fathers who beheved in Universalism, appears to 
 have avoided the use of such words as everlasting, for- 
 ever and ever, &ic. in connexion with misery ^ Nor 
 does he seem to have considered the torments of the 
 future state very intense, as he never represents them in 
 terrific colours, nor dwells upon them in a way to agi- 
 tate the mind with fear. When the virtuous christian 
 dies, he enters upon a mild and grateful discipline, 
 
 J Stromat. Lib. vii. cap. 2, p. 833. Fragmenta. Adumbrat. in 
 
 Epist. t. Julian, p. 1009. 1 The only place I recollect in all his 
 writings, where any of these controverted words is applied to suf- 
 fering, is Pffidagog. Lib.i cap. 8, end, p. 142. "When the soul has 
 " ceased to grieve for its sins, it is not, even then, a time to inflict up- 
 " on it a deadly wound, but a healthful one, that by a little grief it 
 eternal death." 
 
ili.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 75 
 
 which, by purifying his remaining faults, and supplying 
 his imperfections, elevates him by degrees from glory 
 to glory, till he arrives at perfection ; but the soul of an 
 obstinate and vicious infidel must, before it can begin 
 this sublime progression, be overcome by severe chas- 
 tisement, instructed in the knowledge of the truth, and 
 brought to control its passions. 
 
 II. Like all the early fathers, Clemens held the en- 
 tire and permanent freedom of the human will, contrary 
 to the present orthodox doctrines of predestination and 
 irresistible grace. Original sin and total depravity were 
 unknown in his day ; as was also the modern notion of a 
 mysterious and counter-natural conversion. 
 
 We may now complete the sketch of his general sys- 
 tem of doctrine : God, infinitely and unchangeably good, 
 created man upright, though not entirely "" perfect, and 
 designed him, and all his posterity for happiness. But 
 Adam, being left to his own free will, yielded to tempta- 
 tion 5 and so, in a greater or less degree, have all man- 
 kind, after him. As the world thus began to grow up 
 in ignorance of God, in the indulgence of vice, and un- 
 der the dominion of evil demons, the Almighty gave, as 
 a partial remedy, the Law to the Jew^s, and Philoso- 
 phy to the Gentiles, in order to restrain and enlighten 
 tliem in some measure, till the coming of Christ. Both 
 the Law and Philosophy were preparatory to the Gos- 
 pel; and so far. as the Hebrews on the one hand, and 
 the Heathens on the other, preserved and practised 
 their respective systems in their pristine purity, they 
 
 m Stromal. Lib. iv. cap. 23, p. G32. 
 
76 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 were justified ; though they still needed evangelical 
 faith to prepare them for heaven. At length God was 
 pleased to grant the world a full and perfect revelation ; 
 and for this purpose sent his Son, the Jehovah of the 
 Old Testament, who was a divine agent, begotten of the 
 Father. He came, not to appease God, whom Clem- 
 ens thought originally and immutably good, but to crush 
 the power of the evil demons, to impart the knowledge 
 and commend the love of God to mankind, to instruct 
 tliem in rehgion, and to set before them a perfect exam- 
 ple of piety and virtue. That these means may become 
 effectual to the salvation of the world, the whole system 
 of divine providence and government is constantly di- 
 rected to induce mankind to believe and obey their Sa- 
 viour. To this end, the Almighty urges them by threat- 
 enings and punishments, and allures them by promises and 
 rewards ; and if they die impenitent or unbeheving, a 
 similar course is pursued with them after death, until 
 they are brought to submission. After all, faith and obedi- 
 ence depend both here and hereafter, on the free will of 
 the creature ; though God communicates impressions, 
 by his holy spirit, to all, and by his grace assists those 
 who strive to obey. Such were his views. 
 
 He was a hearty champion of the orthodox church 
 against the heretics, particularly against all the Gnos- 
 tics ; and he has had the good or indifferent for- 
 tune, that notwithstanding his manifest Universalism, his 
 doctrine was reprehended by none of his cotempora- 
 ries, nor his standing ever impeached, even in after 
 ages, when the works of Origen came to be anathema- 
 tized, partly on account of the same sentiment. 
 
{ii.j OF UNIVERSALISxM. 77 
 
 III. Titus Flavius Clemens, usually called Clemens 
 Alexandrinus, or Clement of Alexandria, is thought, by 
 some, to have been a native of Athens, and by others, 
 of Alexandria in Egypt, where he certainly spent the 
 most memorable part of his life. The precise dates of 
 his birth and death are unknown ; and not the slightest 
 account is preserved of his childhood and youth. It 
 appears that after travelling through many countries in 
 pursuit of philosophical and religious knowledge, he sat 
 down at last under the instructions of the learned Pan- 
 tsenus, a christian philosopher in Egypt. Here Clem- 
 ens studied in conformity with the plan of his master, 
 to extract from all the schemes of philosophy then in 
 vogue, from the Oriental as well as the Grecian, what 
 he deemed their original principles, and to form a sys- 
 tem for himself out of all these combined ; though he 
 gave a decided preference to the tenets of the Stoics. 
 About the year 195, he was ordained a presbyter in 
 the church at Alexandria, and near the same time, was 
 appointed, in the absence of Pantsenas, to supply his 
 place as President of the famous Catechetical School 
 in tliat city. In addition to the cares and labors which 
 necessarily devolved upon him from these two offi- 
 ces, he composed, it is thought, at about this period, 
 those of his works which are yet extant". 
 
 n These are I, His Exhortation to the Gentiles, designed to con- 
 fute the notions of the heathens, and to convince them of the truth of 
 Christianity) 2, his Pccdagogue, written to instruct new converts, and 
 to train them up to a holy and truly christian life ; 3, his Stronmta, 
 a miscellaneous work, containing a more particular illustration of the 
 christian doctrine, together with confutations both of the heathen re- 
 ligions, and of the heretical opinions, particularly those of the Gnos- 
 tics ; 4, his Tract, entitled, Wliat rich man shall be saved ; 5, his Epito- 
 me of the Oriental Doctrine of Theodotus ; and 6, his Comments on some 
 
 7* 
 
78 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 Alexandria, next to Rome, the most populous and 
 frequented cit}^ of that age, was then the great empori- 
 um of literature, philosophy and religion. The splen- 
 dor of learning, which had once beamed so full upon 
 Athens, seemed returned, though with many fantastic 
 colours, to shine wpon the native land of letters and 
 of science. Some of the celebrity, and many of the ad- 
 vantages, which the capital of Egypt now enjoyed, 
 arose, undoubtedly, from its immense library, the larg- 
 est the world had ever seen. Seven hundred thousand 
 manuscripts, deposited in tvvo sections of the city, offer- 
 ed to the inquisitive geniuses who assembled from every 
 region, all the treasures of ancient wisdom and folly. 
 
 Ever since the days of the apostles, the christians 
 of this city had supported a school, founded, it is said, 
 by St. Mark ; but it had always been obscure, and kept 
 in rather a private manner, till the time of Pantaenus. 
 When he succeeded to its care, he brought it into public 
 notice, and soon rendered it the first in character and 
 renown, of all the ancient christian seminaries. 
 
 While Clemens presided here, with distinguished 
 reputation, he had the honor of instructing some who 
 arose to eminence in the church, particularly Alexander, 
 afterwards bishop of Jerusalem, and the celebrated Or- 
 igen. But about A. D. 202, the persecution under 
 
 of the Epistles of the Ncav Testament. These Comments were for- 
 merly thought supposititious; but they are now generally considered 
 fragments from his Htjpotyposes. a work which is lost. His exhorta- 
 tion to the Gentiles, Ptedagogue and Stromata, are supposed to have 
 been written between a. d. 193, and 195; (Dodwell. Dissert, iii. in 
 Irena^um, and Dissert, de prim. Pontif Roman, successione. Mosheira. 
 Dissertationes ad Hist. Eccl. vol. 1, p. 34 — 'd^.) his Hypotyposes per- 
 haps earlier. 
 
iil.] OF UNIVERSALISM. ^9 
 
 the emperor Severus, which spread death and terror 
 through the church at Alexandria, drove Clemens from 
 the city. It is supposed that he embraced this oppor- 
 tunity to revisit the eastern countries ; and we find him, 
 in die year 205, at Jerusalem, in company with his schol- 
 ar, Alexander. From this place we trace him to An- 
 tioch ; whence he returned, it is thought, to Alexandria, 
 and in connexion with Origen, resumed for a while, the 
 care of the school. He died not far, probably, from 
 A. D. 217«. 
 
 IV. So imperfect is the account preserved of this 
 distinguished father. Of his learning the ancients uni- 
 formly speak in terms of admiration. His reading was 
 certainly extensive, almost universal : history, poetry, 
 mythology and philosophy, seem perfectly familiar to 
 him ; and the sacred scriptures, together with all that 
 related to the concerns of the church, were treasured 
 in his memory. With his great learning and piety, the 
 placid benevolence of his disposition must have conspir- 
 ed to render him esteemed and beloved. If we may 
 judge from his writings, his passions were naturally mod- 
 erate, his heart benignant and incapable of sourness 
 and severity. Impartiality obhges us, however, to re- 
 mark, that hke the rest of the early fathers, he wanted 
 sober judgment : he was credulous, fanciful and in- 
 correct, ignorant of rational criticism, and delighted 
 with allegorical interpretations of scripture. His fond- 
 ness for the heathen systems of philosophy, was extrav- 
 agant ; and it is thought that his example had the 
 
 o For his life, see Cave's Lives of the Fathers, and Lardner's Cre- 
 dibility, &c. Chap. Clement of Alexandria. 
 
so THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 pernicious influence to recommend those systems to a 
 more general admiration in the church. He was nat- 
 urally of a poetical genius ; his style often runs into 
 metre, and his works abound with quotations from the 
 ancient poets and philosophers, as well as from the 
 scriptures. His method of writing is careless, feeble 
 and sometimes very rambling. 
 
 V. Passing over several writers of little note, we shall 
 now make some observations on the only succeeding fa- 
 thers of eminence, before Origen. Cotemporary with 
 Clemens, but belonging to the Western or Latin church, 
 
 was the celebrated Tertullian, a presbyter of 
 
 A. D. 200, Carthage in Africa: a man of extensive 
 
 to 204. learning, of strong and vehement genius, 
 
 but severe and morose, superstitious and 
 fanatical, even when compared with those of his own 
 age. He is thought to have been the first christian 
 writer who expressly asserted that the torments of the 
 damned will be of " equal^ duration" with the hap23iness 
 of the blest. This circumstance is, indeed, no positive 
 proof that the same opinion had never been entertained 
 before ; but we may safely say that of all the early fa- 
 thers there was none with whose natural disposition the 
 doctrine of endless misery better accorded, than with 
 Tertullian's : " You are fond of your spectacles," said 
 he, in allusion to the pagans; " there are other specta- 
 " cles : that day disbelieved, derided, by the nations, 
 
 p Tertulliani Apologet. cap. 18. At the general resurrection and 
 judgment, says he, " God will recompense liis worshippers with Hfe 
 "eternal; and cast the profane into a fire equally perpetual anduninter- 
 " mitted." See IVIiiston on the Eternity of Hell-Torments, p. 86. N. B, 
 Tertullian's Apology was written about a. d. 200. 
 
OF UNIVERSALIS31. 
 
 " tliat last and eternal clay of judgment, when all ages 
 " shall be swallowed up in one conflagration— what a 
 " variety of spectacles shall then appear ! How shall I 
 " admire, how laugh, how rejoice, how^ exult, when I 
 " behold so many kings, worshipped as gods in heaven, 
 "together with Jove himself, groaning in the lowest 
 « abyss of darkness ! so many magistrates who perse- 
 "cuted the name of the Lord, hquefying in fiercer 
 " flames than they ever kindled against christians ; so 
 " many sage philosophers blushing in raging fire, with 
 " their scholars whom they persuaded to despise God, 
 " and to disbelieve the resurrection ; and so many po- 
 " ets shuddering before the tribunal not of Radaman- 
 " tlius, not of Minos, but of the disbelieved Christ ! 
 " Then shall we hear the tragedians more tuneful un- 
 " der their own sufferings ; then shall we see the play- 
 " ers far more sprightly amidst the flames ; the chariot- 
 " eer all red-hot in his burning car ; and the wrestlers 
 " hm-led, not upon the accustomed list, but on a plain 
 " of fire'i." Such is the refigh with which his fierce 
 spirit dwells on the prospect of eternal torments. His 
 gloomy and enthusiastic disposition soon led him to 
 abandon the regular churches, as not sufficiently aus- 
 tere and visionary, and to join himself to the fanatical 
 
 sect of Montanists. 
 
 VI. NexttoTertuUian is Minucius Felix, 
 A. D. 210. another writer of the Western church, ei- 
 ther a Roman or an African, a lawyer by 
 profession, and a man of considerable learning. His 
 
 q Tertull. De Spectaculis, cap. 30. Written about a. d. 203, or 
 204. 
 
S2 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Cliap. 
 
 Dialogue, the only work he has left us, is a popular 
 disputation, elegantly written, in defence of Christianity 
 against paganism ; but its beauty is somewhat sulHed by 
 a mixture of heathen superstitions, and its force impair- 
 ed by frequent declamation instead of argument. The 
 author seems to assert the strict eternity of hell-tor- 
 ments, and to represent that his was the common opinion 
 of christians, on the subject. In allusion to the Gre- 
 cian fable of the tremendous oath of the gods, he says 
 that Jupiter swears by the broiling banks of the river 
 of fire, and " shudders at the torments which await 
 " him and his worshippers : torments that know neither 
 " measure nor end. For there the subtile fire burns 
 " and repairs, consumes and nourishes ; and as lighten- 
 " ings waste not the bodies they blast, and Etna, Vesu- 
 " vius and other volcanoes continue to burn without ex- 
 " pending their fuel, so these penal flames of hell are fed, 
 " not from the diminution of the damned, but from the 
 " bodies they prey upon without consuming'." The 
 objector to Christianity is, in another passage, represent- 
 ed as saying that christians threaten all but themselves 
 " with torments that never shall have an end^" 
 
 VII. Clemens, Tertullian, and Minucius Felix, in 
 treating of the infernal region and its torments, frequent- 
 ly adopt the language and some of the views of tlie 
 ancient heathen poets. Ever since Justin Martyr, it 
 had been a common opinion among the orthodox fa- 
 thers, that at death all souls, both the righteous and 
 
 r Minucii Fol. Dialog, cap. 34. Lardner dates this Dialogue at a. 
 D. 210; some critics have assigned it to an earlier period, and others 
 to a later, even to the year 230. ^ Ditto, cap. 11. 
 
iii.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 33 
 
 the wicked, descended to the Hades of the Greeks, or 
 Infernum of the Latins ; which was a subterranean world 
 consisting of two general divisions, the mansions of the 
 just, and the abodes of the guilty. Here the separate 
 spirits dwelt, either in joy or suffering, according to their 
 different characters and deserts ; undergoing various 
 courses of discipline and purification, as was thought by 
 some ; or fixed in their respective stations, awaiting the 
 decision of the approaching general judgment, as was 
 represented by others. Some of the fathers*, however, 
 do not seem to have believed in the conscious existence 
 of the soul from the instant of death, till the time of the 
 general judgment ; but the latter event, they all agreed, 
 was near at hand, when the w^orld should be destroy- 
 ed by fire, Tertullian says, in the end of his own age. 
 
 VIII. In concluding this chapter, it may be proper 
 to give, as far as practicable, a succinct account of 
 the state of Universalism, at the period now under 
 consideration. It appears, then, that of the orthodox 
 christians, some believed the eventual salvation of 
 all mankind, after a future punishment for the wicked ; 
 while others, again, held the doctrine of endless mis- 
 ery. This diversity of opinion, however, occasioned 
 no divisions, no controversies nor contentions among 
 them; and both sentiments existed together in the 
 church without reproach. If we may hazard a con- 
 jecture, the generality of the orthodox had not any 
 fixed nor definite opinion on the subject. That there 
 was a future state of suffering, they all agreed; but 
 whether it were endless, or would terminate in anni- 
 
 * Viz. Tatian, and perhaps Minucius Felix. 
 
S4 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 hilation, or whetlier it would result in a general res- 
 toration, were probably points which few inquired in- 
 to. Such, we may suppose, was the case with the 
 orthodox churches. 
 
 But we must not here forget the Universalists among 
 the Gnostic christians. The Basihdians, Garpocratians 
 and Valentinians were now thinly scattered over all 
 Christendom, and abounded in some places, particular- 
 ly in Egypt and the adjacent countries. Though they 
 agreed with the Universalists among the orthodox, in 
 the simple fact of the ultimate salvation of all souls, yet 
 their denial of the resurrection and of a future judg- 
 ment, their views concerning the creation of this world, 
 and, in short, the mass of Oriental fables which they 
 held in common with the rest of the Gnostics, deprived 
 them of all intercourse with their brethren, except as 
 opponents. They were Gnostics, and the others were 
 Orthodox : these were the terms of distinction. As Uni- 
 versalism, on either side, was not a subject of abuse, so 
 it was not an occasion for special favor and friendship ; 
 and the striking difference between their views on al- 
 most every particular in the whole circle of divinity, 
 created a perpetual altercation, in which the few instan- 
 ces of their mutual agreement were overlooked or for- 
 gotten. The entire body of the orthodox, whether 
 Universalists or not, stood in uniform array against the 
 Gnostics of all kinds ; and these, in their turn, united 
 their various sects, in the struggle against their common 
 adversaries. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 [Origen.] 
 
 I. Meanwhile, the attention of the chris- 
 A. D. 230. tian world was directed to an extraordina- 
 ry genius who had arisen in the church. 
 The name of Origen Adamantius had awakened an in- 
 terest among heathens as well as believers, from Egypt 
 and Greece eastward to the remotest provinces of the 
 Roman empire. As a doctor in the church, and as a 
 philosopher^ among the learned, he stood alone, with- 
 out either rival or competitor, and enjoyed a living rep- 
 utation, such as few, in any age, have ever acquired. 
 
 It was about the year 230 that he pubhshed, at Al- 
 exandria, among other works, his books Of Principles, 
 in which he advocated, at considerable length, the doc- 
 trine of Universal Salvation. This work has come 
 down to us only in the Latin translation by Rufinus, 
 who altered it in many places, especially in what relat- 
 ed to the Trinity, in order the more to accommodate 
 its doctrine to the faith' of the fourth century. This 
 
 a He became a philosopher, as many a one does, not by original 
 discoveries, nor by his own investigations into the nature of things ; 
 but by a thorough acquaintance with the philosophic principles and 
 maxims he had learned from his preceptors, and by his surprising, 
 though not always happy readiness in illustrating and tracing them, 
 and in accommodating them to every case and subject which occur- 
 red. In one word , he was a philosopher of the schools, not of na- 
 ture. Mosheim (De Reb. Christian. Ante Constant, pp. 611, 612.) 
 has drawn his character, as a philosopher, in strong, but not unfaithflil 
 colors. 
 
 8 
 
S6 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 circumstance throws a shade of uncertainty, in some re- 
 spects, upon the original character of the treatise. But 
 that it contained, in its first, as well as in its present 
 state, the doctrine in view, is beyond a question ; as an- 
 cient writers ^ who lived while the genuine Greek cop- 
 ies were yet extant, referred to them, and quoted their 
 language, for the purpose of exciting the indignation, or 
 calling forth the anathema, of the church, against the 
 memory of the illustrious author, for having asserted the 
 restoration of every fallen, intehigent creature. 
 
 II. Taking, then, the translation of Rufinus for our 
 authority, where we can obtain no other, it appears that 
 Origen introduced the doctrine of Universalism and that 
 of the Pre-existence of souls, together : " Whoever," 
 said he, " would read and acquaint himself with these 
 " subjects, so difficult to be understood, should possess 
 " a mature and well instructed understanding. For if 
 " he be not accustomed to such topics, they may appear 
 " to him vain and useless ; or if his mind be already es- 
 '• tablished in opposite sentiments, he may hastily sup- 
 "pose, through his own prejudice, that these are heret- 
 " ical and contrary to the faith of the church. Indeed, 
 " they are advanced by us with much hesitation, and 
 "more in the way of investigating and discussing them, 
 " than as pronouncing them certain and indisputable. 
 
 " The end and consummation of the world will take 
 "place, when all shall be subjected to punishments pro- 
 " portioned to their several sins ; and how long each 
 " one shall suffer, in order to receive his deserts,God 
 
 ^ Viz. Jerome, Justinian, &c. 
 
iv.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 37 
 
 " only knows. But we suppose that the goodness of 
 " God, through Christ, will certainly restore all crea- 
 " tures into one final state ; his very enemies being over- 
 " come and subdued. For thus saith the scripture : 
 " The Lord said unto my Loi'd, sit thou at my light hand, 
 '^ until I make thine enemies thy footstool. (Ps. ex. 1.) To 
 " the same amount, but more clearly, the apostle Paul 
 " says that Christ must reign till he hath put all enemies 
 ''^ under his feet. But if there be any doubt what is 
 " meant by putting enemies under his feet, let us hear 
 " the apostle still further, who says, for all things must 
 " be subjected to him.{lCoY. xv.) What, then, is that sub- 
 ejection with which all things must be subdued to Christ ? 
 "I tliink it to be that with which we ourselves desire to 
 " be subdued to him ; and with which also the apostles 
 " and all the saints who have followed Christ, have been 
 " subdued to him. For the very expression, subjected 
 " to Christ, denotes the salvation of those who are sub- 
 ejected : as David says, shall not my soul be subjected 
 " to God? for from him is my salvation. (Ps. Ixii. 1.) 
 " Such, then, being the final result of things, that all 
 " enemies shall be subdued to Christ, death the last en- 
 " emy be destroyed, and the kingdom be delivered up 
 " to the Father, by Christ ; let us, with this view be- 
 " fore us, now turn and contemplate the beginning of 
 "things. Now, the beginning always resembles the 
 " end ; and as there vrill be one common end or result 
 " to all, so we should believe that all had one common 
 " beginning. In other words, that as the great variety 
 " of characters and different orders of beings which now 
 e exist, will, through the goodness of God, their subjec- 
 
88 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 "tion to Jesus Christ, and the unity of the Holy Spirit, 
 " be finally restored to one and the same state ; so were 
 " they all originally created in one common condition, 
 " resembling that into which they are eventually to be 
 " recalled. All who are at last to bow the knee to Je- 
 " sus Christ, in token of subjection, that is, all who are 
 " in heaven, all on earth, and all under the earth, (by 
 " which three terms is comprehended the w^hole inteUi- 
 " gent creation) proceeded at first from that one com- 
 " mon state ; but as virtue was not immutably fixed in 
 " them, as in God, they came to Indulge different pas- 
 " sions, and to cherish different principles. They were 
 " therefore assigned to the various ranks and condi- 
 " tions they now hold, as the reward or punishment 
 " of their respective deserts^," he. he. The same sub- 
 ject he introduces repeatedly, with various illustra- 
 tions, in the course of this work. 
 
 III. Our author was, at this time, about forty-five 
 years old. From his childhood, the greatest expecta- 
 tions had been entertained of him ; and in his case, ma- 
 ture years did not disappoint the hopes which preco- 
 -jQ^ cious genius had inspired. Origen, after- 
 wards surnamed Adamantius, was born in 
 to 203. ^^^ city of Alexandria, A. D. 185, or 186. 
 Under his father, Leonidas, he was, while very young, well 
 instructed in all the rudiments of learning, and assidu- 
 ously trained to the study of the sacred scriptures. Of 
 these, it was his daily task to commit a portion to mem- 
 
 c Origen. dePrincipiis, Lib. i. cap. 6. N. B. The reader will find 
 our author's notion of Pre-existence more plainly described, in Sect, 
 vi. of this chapter. 
 
iv.] OF UNI\TERSALISM. 89 
 
 ory ; but with his characteristic passion for speculative 
 inquiry, he refused to be content with their obvious 
 meaning, and often perplexed his father by an inquishive 
 desire after a hidden, mysterious sense of the passages 
 which struck his attention. This imaginary sense was 
 then the great object of investigation, among all who as- 
 pired to superior attainments in rehgious knowledge ; 
 and therefore his son's inquiries, at so early an age, 
 were hailed by Leonidas with secret rapture, though he 
 seemingly checked his too manly researches, and ad- 
 monished him to confine his thoughts to subjects more 
 within the reach of his infantile powers. 
 
 When a little more advanced in years, Origen was 
 sent to the Catechetical School, where he studied di- 
 vinity under Clemens Alexandrinus. Here liis pursuits 
 were at length interrupted, in the seventeenth year of his 
 age, by the persecution under Severus ; which began at 
 Alexandria in A. D. 202, and soon obliged his master to 
 flee from the city. His father w^as seized and imprisoned 
 for his religion ; and many others shared the same fate. 
 But undismayed by the gathering dangers, the eager spirit 
 of the youth seemed to contemplate them with the 
 strange delight of an enthusiast. He would have 
 thrown liimself into the hands of the persecutors^ in hope 
 of obtaining the jorize of mart}Tdom, had he not been pre- 
 vented by his mother, who hid his clothes, and thus, by 
 the sense of shame, confined him to his house. Fearing 
 that his father's constancy would yield to anxiety for his 
 family's welfare, he entreated him, by letter, to perse- 
 vere : " Be steadfast, my father," said he, " and take 
 " heed that you do not renounce your profession, on our 
 8^ 
 
90 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap- 
 
 " account." Animated by his son's exhortation, he re- 
 mained inflexible to the last, and courageously suffered 
 martyrdom. 
 
 On the execution of the father, the estate was con- 
 fiscated, and the family reduced, at once, to extreme 
 poverty ; but a rich lady of Alexandria, either from 
 compassion, or respect, took Origen into her own 
 house, and freely gave him a support. There lived 
 with her, at the same time, Paul of Antioch, a fa- 
 mous heretic, Avhom she had adopted as her son, and 
 who held public lectures under her patronage. With 
 him though Origen was obliged by his situation to 
 converse, yet not even gratitude to their common 
 patroness could overcome his constant, perhaps bigot- 
 ed refusal to unite in prayers ; and he took every 
 method to express his abhorrence of heresy, little 
 thinking that future ages would repay this detestation 
 two-fold upon his own head. Whether his benefac- 
 tress began to withdraw her favor, or whether he re- 
 solved of himself to spare her charity, it appears that 
 in about a year he threw himself upon his own ex- 
 ertions for a livelihood. Having been engaged, ever 
 since his father's death, in the study of the sciences, 
 he now (A. D. 203,) opened a grammar school, from 
 which he had the prospect of deriving a support. But 
 his attention was immediately called to other subjects : 
 some of the heathens applying to him for religious 
 instruction, he gladly acceded to their request; the 
 number of his scholars and converts increased ; and 
 Demetrius, bishop at Alexandria, appointed him, though 
 but eighteen years old, to the care either of the great 
 
IV. ] OF UNIVERSALISM. gj 
 
 Catechetical School, or perhaps, at first, to a more 
 private one of the same kind. 
 
 IV. Placed in a station so congenial with 
 A. D. 203, his taste, all his talents and attainments 
 to 216. were devoted to the discharge of its du- 
 ties. Li order to abstract his attention 
 from other studies, as well as to secure himself a main- 
 tenance, he sold that part of his library which treated 
 of science and literature, and received from the pur- 
 chaser an obligation to supply him daily with /owr oholi^ 
 about five pence, as an income for his subsistence. 
 From this period, his life was one of the most rigid 
 abstinence and laborious study. The day he spent 
 partly in fasting and other religious exercises, and part- 
 ly in the duties of his office ; the night he passed in 
 the study of the scriptures, reserving a little time for 
 sleep, which he seldom took in bed, and generally on 
 tlie bare ground. A sort of monkish austerity had 
 grown to high repute in the church ; and accordingly 
 Origen's self-denial increased the fame of his sanctity, 
 and conspired, with his eloquence and extensive learn- 
 ing, to draw from every quarter a great number of dis- 
 ciples. They did not dishonor their master : Of their 
 constancy in the faith, he soon had an opportunity of 
 witnessing a full, though painful, proof; for in a furious 
 persecution which some of the Roman" magistrates set 
 on foot at Alexandria, several of his scholars undaunt- 
 edly sealed their professions with their lives. He him- 
 self was often attacked with showers of stones, w^hile 
 going to the place of execution to exhort and encour- 
 age the martyrs 'y and as no dangers ever deterred him 
 
92 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap . 
 
 from this practice, the exasperated heathens at length 
 beset his house, and obhged him to secrete himself, in 
 order to escape their rage. About this time, A. D. 
 206, in his twenty-first year, the excessive rigor of his 
 discipline led to an act which became an occasion of 
 self-regret, and of much reproach, in future life : un- 
 derstanding our Saviour to recommend emasculation*^, 
 he made himself a eunuch, not only for the kingdom of 
 heaven's sake, but also from prudential considerations; 
 his instructions being sought by both sexes. Demetri- 
 us, his bishop, applauded it, at first, as an act of the 
 greatest christian heroism ; though he, afterwards, al- 
 leged it against him as an inexcusable offence. 
 
 Such, at length, was the increase of his school, that 
 its cares engrossed too much of his thoughts, leaving him 
 no time for reflection and improvement. He therefore 
 committed the younger pupils to his friend Heraclas, 
 one of his earliest converts ; and employed the leisure 
 w^iich this arrangement afforded, in various studies and 
 occupations. He apphed himself to the Hebrew, a 
 language then but little known ; next he began, it is 
 thought, that astonishing monument of application and 
 labor, the Hexapla or Octapla, a Polyglott of the Old 
 Testament ; and it w^as, perhaps, not far from this 
 period^, that he attended the lectures of the ingenious 
 and subtile Ammonius Saccas, whose darling study it 
 was to harmonize all the different systems of philosophy 
 and religion, heathen as well as christian, by combining 
 
 d Matt. xix. 12. c So thinks Lardnerj other biograpliers, 
 
 however, refer his attendance at the School of Ammonius, to an ear- 
 lier period. 
 
iv.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 93 
 
 their leading principles, and by rejecting from each, 
 or turning' into allegory, whatever was absolutely dis- 
 cordant with his general design. Under him, Origen 
 became master of the Platonic, Pythagorean, Stoic, 
 and Oriental notions ; which, together with his previous 
 acquirements, rendered him so expert in the whole 
 circle of ancient literature and science, that many of 
 the learned, even among the heretics and the heathens, 
 came to make trial of his skill, or to be instructed by 
 him. Of these, there was one who preserved his 
 o\^Ti name from obli\aon, by the zeal with which he 
 assisted Origen, and the success with which he drew 
 forth his talents. The name of Ambrosius will fre- 
 quently occur in this biography. He was a wealthy 
 nobleman of Alexandria, who had followed the Valen- 
 tinian and Marcionite heresies ; but on being convinced 
 by attending the school of Origen, (A. D. 212,) he 
 joined the orthodox church, and became the great pat- 
 ron and benefactor of his master. Not far from the 
 year 213, Origen's curiosity led him to visit Rome. 
 Here, however, he tarried but a short time, and then 
 returned to Alexandria. Soon afterwards, he went in- 
 to Arabia, on the request of some leader of the wan- 
 dering tribes, who had earnestly entreated him to come 
 and instruct him in the christian religion. Scarcely 
 was he re-established in Alexandria, when the emperor 
 Caracalla (A. D 216,) threw the whole city into con- 
 sternation by an indiscriminate massacre, in revenge 
 for the jeers and scoffs he had received from some of 
 the inhabitants ; and to escape the terrible confusion, 
 Origen retired to Cesarea in Palestine. Here, the 
 
94 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 bishops of the province persuaded him, though never 
 Qi'dained, to expound the scriptures publicly to the 
 people. 
 
 V. This appointment, so honorable to Or- 
 A. D. 216, igen, was but the forerunner of an inveter- 
 to 230. ate, and at length fatal, persecution from 
 his own bishop at Alexandria. Demetrius 
 instantly addressed a letter of complaint to his brethren 
 in Palestine, asserting that it was a thing unheard of, 
 that a layman should preach in the presence of bish- 
 ops^; but Alexander bishop of Jerusalem, and Theoc- 
 tistus, bishop of Cesarea, answered him, by showing 
 that the practice had been sanctioned in the church by 
 several precedents. Demetrius, however, remained dis- 
 satisfied, and sent some deacons, to Origen, with an 
 order for his immediate return to Alexandria. He 
 came accordingly and resumed the care of his school. 
 This he seems to have prosecuted, in quiet, for five or 
 six years ; when an event occurred, which serves to 
 ,,diow, at once, the superiority of his reputation, and the 
 ' influence it had in recommending Christianity to the 
 favorable notice of the great. The princess Mammsea. 
 mother of Alexander the reigning emperor, sent for 
 Origen to visit her at Antioch, and furnished a mihtary 
 guard to escort him thither. Having given her a gen- 
 
 f Ecclesiastical historians from Euscbius downwards, have attrib- 
 uted Dcmctrius's conduct to envy ; but Moslieim (Dc Rebus Chris- 
 tian. Ante Constant, p. 071. and scq.) has shown it to liave been, more 
 probably, the result of policy in behalf of his- own church, .at first; 
 and afterwards, the effect of strong passion, roused by disregard of 
 his authority. 
 
iv.] OF UNI VERS ALISM. 95 
 
 eral illustration of the christian doctrine, he returned, 
 with her permission, to his charge at Alexandria. 
 
 At the earnest solicitation of Ambrosius, he now be- 
 gan his Commentaries. He was furnished, by this de- 
 voted patron, with every convenience for the purpose : 
 seven notaries stood ready to record as he dictated ; 
 and a number of transcribers received their hasty notes, 
 and wrote them out, in a plain and elegant hand. In 
 this manner he was engaged till A. D. 228 ; w^hen he 
 was sent into Achaia, on some ecclesiastical affairs, 
 with letters of recommendation from Demetrius. Pass- 
 ing through Palestine on his journey, he was ordained 
 Presbyter, by the bishops of that province. Demetrius 
 warmly resented this procedure of foreign prelates, with- 
 out his leave ; and wrote letters against Origen to the 
 churches, declaring him disqualified for the priesthood 
 by the act performed in his youth, and alleging that it 
 was unlawful to ordain the Principal of the Alexandrian 
 School, without his knowledge and concurrence. In 
 the midst of this ferment, Origen, having accomplished 
 his business in Greece, returned to Alexandria, finished 
 the first five books of his Commentaries on St. John, 
 those on the Lamentations, on some of the Psalms, 
 and on part of Genesis, and published them, A. D. 230, 
 together with his work entitled Stromata, and his book 
 Of Princij'les. 
 
 VI. These were, perhaps, his first publications. 
 From the last mentioned work, we have already seen 
 that, in connexion with Universalism, he held the doc- 
 trine of Pre-existence. His opinion was, that in the 
 past ages of eternity, God created, at once, all the ra- 
 
9^ THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 tional minds which liave ever existed, whether of angels 
 or men, gave them the same natm-e and the same powd- 
 ers, and placed them all in one celestial state. Accor- 
 dingly they w^ere all, at first, exactly alike in rank, 
 capacity and character. But as they all had perfect 
 freedom of will, they did not long continue in this state 
 of equality ; for while some improved themselves more 
 or less, others degenerated proportionally, till an infinite 
 diversity of character and condition began to take place 
 among them. In consequence of this, the Almighty 
 at length formed the material Universe out of pre-ex- 
 istent matter, and appointed those spirits to different 
 ranks and conditions in it, according to their respec- 
 tive deserts ; elevating some to the angelic order, con- 
 signing others to the infernal abodes as demons, and 
 sending the intermediate class, as occasion might re- 
 quire, into human bodies. Origen supposed also that 
 the Sun, Moon and Stars were animated by certain 
 spirits who had attained to great moral splendor, dig- 
 nity and power, and who might, with justice, claim 
 those bright and glorious spheres as their own appro- 
 priate bodies. 
 
 As all these intelligent beings, whatever their char- 
 acter and station, still retain their original freedom of 
 will, and are therefore capable of returning from their 
 former transgressions, of forfeiting their honors, or of ris- 
 ing to still higher degrees of excellence, their present con- 
 ditions are not only the allotments of retributive jus- 
 tice for tlie past, but are also states of discipline ad- 
 apted to reclaim the degenerate, and to encourage the 
 virtuous. To this end, indeed, are all the appoint- 
 
iv.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 97 
 
 merits of providence, and all the administrations of 
 the di\ine government, constantly directed ; and justice 
 itself steadily pursues the same gracious design^ in 
 
 ? iMany of the Gnostics held that Justice is opposed to Goodness, 
 and that "it is therefore an attribute of the stern Creator of this world, 
 and not of the benevolent Deity. Against these Origen says, '' Let 
 '• them consider this : if Goodness is a virtue, as doubtless they will 
 " confess it to be, what will they say of Justice ? They will not be 
 *•' so stupid, I think, as to deny that" Justice is a virtue. If Goodness 
 " then is a virtue, and Justice also a virtue, there is no question but 
 ''that Justice is Goodness. But if they still assert that Justice is not 
 " Goodness, it remains that it is either evil or inditferent. Now, I sup- 
 " pose it would be folly to reply to any who should say that Justice is 
 " evil ; for how can that be evil, which renders blessing to the good, 
 " as they themselves confess that Justice does ? But if they assert 
 "that it'^is indifferent, [neither good nor evil,] then it follows thatto- 
 " gether with Justice, every other virtue, as sobriety, prudence, &c. 
 "must be considered indifferent. And how then should we under- 
 " stand St. Paul, who says, If there be any virtue, any praise, think on 
 " these ihino-s irhich ye have both learned and received, and heard, and seen 
 "in me. (Phil. iv. 8,9.) Let them, therefore, learn by searching the 
 " scriptures, what are the several virtues. And when they allege 
 "that the God who rewards every one according to his deserts, ren- 
 " ders evil to the evil, let them not conceal the principle : that as the 
 " sick must be cured by harsh medicines, so God administers, for the 
 "purpose of emendation, what for the present appears to produce 
 "pain. They do not consider what is written concerning the hope 
 "of those who perished in the deluge; of which hope, St. Peter says, 
 " in his first Epistle, that Clu-ist was put to death in the flesh, but qnick- 
 " ened by the Spirit ; by ivhich also he ivent and preached to the spirits in 
 ''prison, ivhich sometime ivere disobedient, irhen once the long-suffering of 
 " God tvaited in the days of Noah, lohile the ark was a preparing, SfC. 
 " (1 Pet. iii. 18, 19, 20.) Let them also consider the instances of So- 
 "dom and Gomorrah : as they believe the prophecies are the word of 
 " that God, the Creator, who is said to have rained fire and brimstone 
 " upon them ; what, w^e ask, does the prophet Ezekiel say of thern ? 
 " Sodom, savs he, shall be restored to its former state. (Ezek. xvi. 55.) 
 " Now, he who afflicts those who deserve punishment, does he not 
 " afflict them for their good.^ He says also toChaldea, thouhast coals 
 "off re; sit upon them; they will he a help to thee. (Isa. xlvii. 14. 15.) 
 " Let them also hear what is said, in the Psafms, of those who fell in 
 " the desert : when he had slain them, then they sought him. (Ps. Ixxviii. 34.) 
 "It is not said, that when some were slain, the rest sought God ; 
 "but that such was the end of those wdio were slain, that when dead, 
 "thev sought him." De Princip. Lib. ii. cap. 5, ^ 3. 
 
 N."'B. Whenever the early fathers quote from the Old Testament, 
 they make use of the Septuagint version, which, »n many passages, 
 differs considerably from our translation. 
 
 9 
 
9S THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 all its severe but salutary inflictions. Such are the 
 views we may gather from Origen's books Of Princi- 
 ples^ and his other works published at this period. 
 
 The language in which he defines, or involves his 
 notions of the Trinity, is not always such as would now 
 be judged orthodox, though it was probably regarded as 
 sufficiently so, in his own age. Of the fall of man, 
 he has no other view than that it consisted in the de- 
 scent of the celestial soul to the prison of an earthly 
 body, in consequence of hs transgressions ; and it is 
 evident that he made no distinction between the nat- 
 ural state of Adam, and that in which all mankind have 
 since been born. He holds that none can ever be hap- 
 py or miserable but by the right or Avrong use of their 
 own free-wills ; and that even what are now called the 
 gracious influences of the Holy Spirit, are imparted to 
 creatures only in proportion to their previous deserts. 
 After death, the souls of the faithful may perhaps re- 
 main awhile upon earth, under a course of purification ; 
 then be taken into tlie air, and at length elevated by 
 degrees, to the highest heaven. In the resurrection, 
 mankind will come forth with bodies, not of gross earth- 
 ly matter, but of an aerial substance ; and then the 
 whole human race, both good and bad, will be subjected 
 to a fiery ordeal in the general conflagration, with differ- 
 ent degrees of pain, according to their moral purity or 
 corruption. The righteous will quickly pass through 
 this trial into the enjoyments of heaven; but the 
 wicked will then be condemned to the punishment 
 of hell, which consist both of inflicted pain, and of the 
 remorse of conscience. These sufierings, though he 
 
iv.] OF UNI VERS ALISM. 99 
 
 calls them everlasting^, Origen held, would be appor- 
 tioned, in length and severity, to each one's wickedness 
 and hardness of heart : for some, they wouid be shorter 
 and more moderate ; hut for others, especially for the 
 devil, they would necessarily be rendered intense, and 
 protracted to an immense duration, in order to overcome 
 the obstinacy and corruption of the guilty sufferers. 
 At last, however, the whole intelligent creation should 
 be purified, and God became all in all'. 
 
 VII. But nothing is more remarkable in these early 
 publications, than the rule they set forth for the inter- 
 pretation of scripture. We have already seen that the 
 allegorical method had long been in vogue ; and that 
 it had, now, become almost universal. Strange as it 
 may seem, Origen pursued this farther than even his 
 predecessors, and reduced it to a sort of system, une- 
 qualled in absurdity except by that of the famous Baron 
 Swedenborg. To the sacred ^mtings in general, he 
 attributed three distinct senses : 1, the literal, which 
 in no case is of great importance, and sometimes en- 
 tirely useless ; 2, the moral, superior in value to the 
 former, teaching us to consider every historical account 
 
 li Proem. Lib. De Principiis. and Lib. ii. cap 10, § 1 and 3. 
 
 i Huet, Du Pin, and others, represent Origen to have held a per- 
 petual change of character, and condition among'ail classes of rational 
 creatures; so that not only the damned will, in time, ascend to hap- ■ 
 piness, but also the blest may, at length, fall into sin and misery; and 
 joy as well as suffering come to an end. It is true, he holds the per- 
 petual freedom of the will, and seems to admit, in consequence, the 
 probability of a fall hereafter, from heaven, at least in individual cas- 
 es. But if I do not greatly mistake, he contemplates a distant peri- 
 od, beyond all revolutions, when every intelligent nature will have 
 become so thoroughly taught by experience and observation, and so 
 intimately united to God, as to be in no more danger of defection 
 SeeDe Princip. Lib. ii. cap 3, § 5, and Lib. iii. cap. 6, § 6. 
 
100 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 as an allegorical representation of certain virtues or vi- 
 ces in our own hearts ; as when the scripture relates 
 that Joseph being dead, the children of Israel increased 
 in number, we learn J, by the moral sense, that if we 
 receive the death of Christ, our spiritual Joseph, into 
 our sinful members, the children of Israel, that is, the 
 graces of the spirit, will be multiplied within us ; 3, the 
 mystical or spiritual sense the most excellent of all : by 
 wliich the more enlightened can trace in all the scrip- 
 ture narratives, of whatever sort, a latent history of 
 Christ's church ; and by which also they can discover, 
 in every account of earthly things, some representations 
 of that celestial, invisible world, of which the present 
 is but a faint and imperfect image. There, souls are 
 the inhabitants, and angels the rulers ; and there the 
 ideal regions and the order of events correspond, in some 
 degree, to those on earth. Ridiculous as was this sys- 
 tem of interpretation, it met the taste of his times; 
 though even then there were some who rejected it, at 
 least in part, and raised their feeble voice against its 
 extravagance. But they themselves often ran into oth- 
 er notions nearly as chimerical. 
 
 VIII. While Origen was engaged in 
 
 A. D. 230, preparing and publishing the works now 
 
 to 245. mentioned, the storm which his bishop had 
 
 raised against him, continued, increasing in 
 
 violence. Wearied out, at length, with contention, he 
 
 took a private and final leave of his native country, 
 
 J Homil. i. in Exod. § 4. I have taken this illustration from one 
 of Origen 's hiter works; but in the hooks Of Principles, the nature 
 and use of the moral sense arc abundantly explained. 
 
Iv.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 101 
 
 (A. D. 231,) and retired to Palestine, where he was 
 cordially received by his old friends, Alexander of Je- 
 rusalem, and Theoctistus of Cesarea. Immediately on 
 his retreat, Demetrius assembled all the Egyptian bish- 
 ops and such of the presbyters as he thought in his own 
 favor, with the hope of procuring the condemnation of 
 his victim. In this, however, he was disappointed : 
 the council decreed only that Origen should be depriv- 
 ed of his office in the Catechetical School, and of the 
 privilege of teaching at Alexandria ; but that he should 
 still enjoy his character of presbyter. This not satis- 
 fying his wrath, Demetrius called another council (prob- 
 ably in A. D. 232,) composed of such bishops only as 
 he saw fit to select from his own province. With these 
 he succeeded : they ordained that Origen should be de- 
 posed from his sacerdotal dignity, and excommunicated 
 from the church. When this sentence was thus for- 
 mally passed upon him, he could not, according to the 
 ecclesiastical Constitution and Canons, be received in 
 any church, nor by any bishop, under the Catholic, ju- 
 risdiction ; nevertheless the bishops of Arabia, Pales- 
 tine, Phoenicia, and Achaia, his personal acquaintances, 
 hazarded the experiment of supporting him, at the ex- 
 pense of non-conformity to the established regulations. 
 But in the West, and particularly at Rome, the sentence 
 of excommunication was readily confirmed. 
 
 That it was not for error in doctrine that Origen was 
 condemned, is expressly asserted by some of the an- 
 cients^, and evident from the silence of all the rest. It 
 
 k Jerome. Apud Ruf. Invect.ii. inter Hieronymi Opera. 
 
 9* 
 
102 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap, 
 
 is not incredible, indeed, that his adversary adopted the 
 usual expedient in ecclesiastical persecution, and in or- 
 der to increase the odium, represented some opinions 
 he had advanced, as worthy of reproof. But if this 
 were the case, it cannot have fornred a prominent 
 ground in the prosecution, as there is no trace of it left, 
 in all antiquity. What were the principal charges al- 
 leged against him, we can only conjecture ^ : The con- 
 sciences of an angy prelate, and of his select minions, 
 could not be very scrupulous in the choice of matter for 
 condemnation ; and it is thought to have related only 
 to some informality in his ordination, and to some dis- 
 regard of the customary claims of his bishop. Deme- 
 trius, however, did not long enjoy his revenge, as he 
 died, probably, this year. After his decease, the rage 
 of opposition appeared to subside ; but still Origen was 
 considered, by the Egyptian christians, as an excommu- 
 nicated person ; and such was their respect for the ec- 
 clesiastical Canons, that the sentence of Demetrius was 
 never revoked by their successors, Heraclas and Dio- 
 nysius, although they had been disciples of Origen, the 
 
 1 As for the story we find in Epiphanius (Hasres. Ixiv. 2.) that be- 
 fore Origen left Alexandria, he consented to hold incense over the 
 altar in honor of an idol, rather than be unnaturally defiled by an 
 Ethiopian, it is generally thought by the moderns to have been one 
 of Epiphanius's fables, or perhaps an interpolation in his works. Ni- 
 cephorus appears to have taken tlie same account, with some altera- 
 tions, from Epiphanius. Some later writer, in order to continue the 
 story, has forged a piece entitled The Lamentation of Origen, or OH- 
 geji's Rextentance, in which he is made to bcw^ail, in the most extrav- 
 agant manner, his having sacrificed to idols. See Huet. Origenian 
 Lib. i. cap. 4, ^ 4, and Append, ad Lib. iii. § 8, Cave's Lives of the 
 Fathers, Art. Origen, &c. Du Pin's Bibliotheca Patrum, Art. Ori- 
 gen, Note n; and Mosheim. Dc Reb. Christian. Ante Constant, p. 676. 
 The Lamentation of Origen may be found in Dr. Hanmer's English 
 translation of Eusebius, Socrates and Evagrius. 
 
iv.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 103 
 
 former his assistant, and though they both still retained 
 the greatest veneration, and the warmest affection for 
 him. 
 
 At Cesarea he was again appointed to expound the 
 scriptures to the people; and the bishops of Palestine, 
 themselv^es, often sat under his instructions, as though 
 he were their master. This city, at that time the larg- 
 est in the Holy Land, and the capital of one of its di- 
 visions, might be classed, perhaps, with the Roman 
 cities of the third rank in Asia, inferior not only to An- 
 tioch, the queen of the east, but also to Ephesus and 
 Smyrna. It rose on a gentle acclivity from the shore 
 of the Mediterranean, about mid-way between Joppa 
 and Ptolemais ; and its white marble buildings, its mag- 
 nificent amphitheatre, and higher than all the rest, its 
 splendid heathen temple, met the vdew of the distant 
 voyager as he coasted along, or approached the har- 
 bor™. Here, Origen opened a school, somewhat on 
 the plan of that at Alexandria, for the study of literature 
 and religion ; and his fame soon drew scholars both from 
 the adjacent province, and from remoter regions. From 
 Cappadocia, he received Firmihan, who afterwards re- 
 turned to his native country and became the most em- 
 inent bishop there. Still farther to the north, from 
 Pontus on the shore of the Euxine, came Gregory 
 Thaumaturgus and his brother Athenodorus. 
 
 Meanwhile, Origen proceeded with his Commentaries 
 on St. John's Gospel, and began those on Isaiah and 
 
 m Josephus Antiq. Book xv. chap. 9, § 6, and Reland. Falsest. II- 
 lustrat. Lib. Hi. Art. Cesarea. Tlie city was 62 miles N. W. of Jeru- 
 salem- 
 
104 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 Ezekiel. Thus constantly engaged either in his school, 
 or in preaching, or writing, he seems to have passed about 
 four years in quiet, till A. D. 235 ; when the barbarous 
 Maximin, on coming to the throne, instituted a persecu- 
 tion against the more distinguished of the christians, out 
 of a fearful suspicion that they cherished, with too grate- 
 ful a regard, the memory of his murdered predecessor. 
 Among others, Protoctetus, a presbyter of Cesarea, 
 and the generous Ambrosius, were thrown into prison, 
 and tortured with various cruelties. To them Origen 
 wrote and dedicated his book On Martyrdom ; but con- 
 cealed himself, the meanwhile, in a private family in 
 the city, and some time afterwards, retired across the 
 seas to Athens. Here he finished his Commentaries 
 on Ezekiel, and went forward with those upon Canticles. 
 From this place, it is thought he made a \dsit to his 
 friend Ambrosius ; who on being released from his suf- 
 ferings in Palestine, had gone, with his family, to the 
 city of Nicomedia, on the north east of the Propontis. 
 Returning at length to Cesarea, about A. D. 240, his 
 next journey, it seems, was to the city of the same 
 name in Cappadocia, the metropolis of that province, 
 whither his former scholar, Firmilian, now elevated 
 to the bishopric there, had importuned him to come, 
 in order to instruct his churches in the knowledge of the 
 scriptures. About A. D. 243, he went into Arabia, 
 on the request of a Council convened against Beryllus 
 of Bostra, a bishop of that country, who differed some- 
 what from the popular faith concerning the trinity. 
 With him Origen's conversation effected, what the coun- 
 cil had been unable to attain, the renunciation of his 
 
iv.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 105 
 
 supposed error ; and with such grace was this accom- 
 plished, that Beryllus became the lasting and ardent 
 friend of his victorious opponent. It was a little after this, 
 perhaps the next year, that he wrote, at the solicitation 
 of Ambrosius, his books Against Celsus, a heathen 
 philosopher of the second century, who had hoped, 
 by a labored treatise, to overthrow Christianity. To 
 this learned and witty enemy of the Gospel, Origen's 
 work is generally esteemed a candid and thorough an- 
 swer ; though some of the more judicious and impar- 
 tial have detected in it a few instances of the prevailing 
 disingenuousness and sophistry of the times. He was 
 soon called again into Arabia, by another council of 
 bishops, in order to reclaim some christians there, who 
 held that the soul dies with the body, and with it awakes 
 to consciousness at the resurrection. On his arrival, 
 he contended so successfully against the obnoxious sen- 
 timent, that its advocates changed their opinion, and 
 returned to the cordial fellowship of the church. This 
 was under. the reign of Philip, to whom, perhaps, more 
 properly belongs the distinction, commonly allowed to 
 Constantine, of having been, though secretly, the first 
 christian emperor. Be that as it may, Origen appears 
 to have been honored with his correspondence, and 
 with that of the empress. 
 
 c^.r IX. Notwithstandins; the multiplicity of 
 
 A. D. 24o, . . . ^ , . . . 
 
 his pursuits, the variety of his situations, 
 
 ^ ^ '^' and the changes of his fortune, he seems 
 
 never to have neglected the Hexapla or Octapla'', that 
 
 n It was called Tetrapla, Hexapla, or Octapla, according- as the copy 
 contained three, six, or all of the columns. 
 
106 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 great work, which alone would have immortalized his 
 name. At what time it was completed is unknown ; 
 probably, however, not far from this period. In its en- 
 tire state, it consisted of the Hebrew text of the Old 
 Testament, placed in the first column; the same, but 
 written in Greek letters, in the second ; the transla- 
 tion of Aquila, in the third ; that of Symmachus, in 
 tire fourth ; the Septuagint in the fifth ; the version of 
 Theodotion in the sixth ; two other versions of the 
 prophets, in the seventh and eighth ; together with a 
 translation only of the Psalms. Wherever he found 
 the Septuagint to depart from the Hebrew text, he 
 affixed different marks to denote what was omitted, 
 or what was added ; and by the same means he dis- 
 tinguished the various readings of the Original itself, 
 according to the countenance each one received from 
 the several translations. This is supposed to have 
 been the first attempt at a Polyglott, or critical com- 
 pilation of the scriptures in different languages ; and 
 in the great uncial letters of ancient manuscripts, it 
 must have swelled to an enormous bulk, amount- 
 ing, as Montfaucon thinks, to at least fifty volumes of a 
 very large size. Mosheim says, that " though almost 
 " entirely destroyed by the waste of time, it will even 
 " in its fragments, remain an eternal monument of the 
 " incredible application with which that great man la- 
 " bored to remove those obstacles which retarded the 
 " progress of the gospel." 
 
 But neither the services he had rendered the church, 
 nor the veneration with which his name was generally 
 regarded throughout the East, could stifle a strong disaf- 
 
iv.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 107 
 
 fection in many christians of that day, towards some of 
 his extravagances. We may perceive, in his later 
 writings, allusions to the complaints of such as repre- 
 hended his perpetual use of heathen philosophy, and of 
 those who animadverted on his allegorical system of in- 
 terpreting the scriptures. And we occasionally discov- 
 er that he felt and lamented, what is the common mis- 
 fortune of greatness, that the unbounded praises lavish- 
 ed upon him by his personal admirers, had awakened, 
 in others, a spirit of envy and abuse. An invidious 
 hostility, once excited, could never be at a loss, amidst 
 the prodigious number of his writings, to select some 
 wild notions, many unguarded expressions, which would 
 seemingly justify the clamors of passion, and the cold 
 discountenance of more prudent mahgnity; and it is 
 said that Origen at length judged it expedient to write 
 a letter to Fabian, the bishop of Rome, in vindication 
 of his impeached orthodoxy^. 
 
 o Eusebius (Hist. Eccl. Lib. vi. cap. 36.) barely mentions that Origen 
 wrote a letter to Fabian concerning his own orthodoxy ; but Jerome, 
 who is not the best authority, says, (Hieron. Epist. xli. vel 65, ad 
 Pammach. p. 347.) that Origen therein lamented that he had writ- 
 ten those things for which he had been censured, and that he also 
 cast upon Ambrosius the blame of having circulated those writings 
 which contained them, and which he Iiimself had intended only for 
 private use. How much of this improbable account is true, cannot 
 be determined, as the letter is lost. It is natural, here, to ask. 
 Was Ujiiversa/isni one of those, tenets uhicli then gave offence 1 But 
 to this interesting question no certain answer is to be found. Cir- 
 cumstances, however, would lead us to hazard an answer in the neg- 
 ative : 1, Origen continued to advocate that doctrine even in his 
 latest publications, (See note s. to § xi. of this chapter,) without an 
 intimation that it was censured ; 2, in all the succeeding controver- 
 sies concerning his orthodoxy, which began to rage in about forty 
 years after his death, we never find that doctrine invoh.iu. iili after 
 the contention had lasted a century ; (See chapters vi. and vii.) and it 
 is not likely that a doctrine of so much consequence, had it once been 
 
lOS THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Cha.p 
 
 Though now above sixty years of age, (A. D. 24G,) 
 he appears to have subjected himself to as great exertions 
 as at any former period ; proceeding in the composi- 
 tion of some large works, and at the same time de- 
 livering daily lectures to the people of Cesarea. These, 
 though extemporaneous and unprepared, were never- 
 theless so highly esteemed, that, with his consent, tran- 
 scribers w^ere now employed, for the first time, to take 
 them down as they were delivered, and then to pub- 
 lish them under the title of Homilies. At length his 
 Commentaries on St. Matthew's Gospel, those on the 
 twelve minor Prophets, and on the Epistle to the Ro- 
 mans, were finished in succession, having employed 
 him till near the year 250. At this date the terrible 
 
 pointed out as a subject of complaint, would have been forgotten, as 
 such, both by his adversaries and his apologists. 
 
 It does, indeed, appear, from an expression in his Letter to his 
 Alexandrian friends, as explained by Jerome, that a Velentinian her- 
 etic encfeavored to stigmatize him with holding the salvation of the 
 devil. But we have only a part of the Letter, and that only in the 
 translations of Rufinus (De Adulterat. Librorum Origen.) and of Jer- 
 ome (Apolog. adversus Rutin. Lib. ii. pp. 413, 415) : both of whom 
 are well known to have taken considerable freedom with Origen's 
 language. There is some difference in their versions of this passage ; 
 but much more in the light in which they leave the subject. Accord- 
 ing to the former, Origen incidentally observes that his enemies ac- 
 cused himof asserting the salvation of the devil, '"which," adds he, 
 "no one can assert, unless transported, or manifestly insane." Ac- 
 cording to Jerome, who corrects the misrepresentations of Rufinus, 
 Origen barely alludes to the cavils of a certain Valentinian concern- 
 ing the salvation of the devil ; '• which," continues he, '' none could 
 avow, unless insane." What is unaccountable in these two transla- 
 tions, is, not their difference, but the point in which they agree, viz. 
 that they both makcO rigen pronounce the salvation of the devil a tenet 
 which none could assert, unless insane ; when he himself had assert- 
 ed and illustrated it (De Principiis Lib. i. cap. G, and Lib. iii. cap. G, 
 ^ 5,) and continued to do so in his latest works (Tom. xiii. in Matt, 
 and Homil. in Josh.) -As neither Rufinus nor Jerome had this sen- 
 tence particularly in view, we may suspect th.'it they have given it a 
 false construction. 
 
iv.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 1Q9 
 
 persecution under the emperor Decius broke out ; and 
 Origen was seized at the city of Tyre, cast into pris- 
 on, and loaded with irons. Here he suffered the most 
 excruciating torments : his feet were kept in the stocks, 
 distended to the utmost extremity, for several days ; 
 he w^as then threatened with being burned alive ; and 
 when it appeared that threats could not shake his con- 
 stancy, he was racked with several kinds of torture. 
 At length his executioners, tired with the infliction of 
 unavailing cruelties, or more probably prevented by the 
 death of Decius, (A. D. 251,) suffered him to escape 
 alive. After this he held several conferences, and 
 wrote many letters, in all which he evinced a soul wor- 
 thy of the life he had led. He died at Tyre about 
 A. D. 253, in the sixty-sixth or sixty-seventh year of 
 his age ; and a splendid tomb, erected in that city, de- 
 clared to future times the grateful veneration which the 
 church paid to his memory p. 
 
 X. Nothing but a frame hke iron could so long have 
 held out under his rigid privations and unremitted la- 
 bors. Employed, for the most of his life, in the nu- 
 merous duties of a public and daily instructer, he still 
 found time to perfect himself in the whole circle of hu- 
 man knowledge, such as it then was, and after all, to 
 
 p For the Life of Origen, I have had recourse to the moderns, in- 
 stead of attempting to collect, arrange and illustrate the original ac- 
 counts scattered through Eusebius and other ancient writers. See 
 Huetii Origeniana, inter Origenis Opera; Cave's Lives of the Fa- 
 thers; Du Pin's Bibliotheca Patrum; Lardner's Credibility of the 
 Gospel History ; and Delarue's Notes and prefatory Remarks, 
 (Edit. Origenis Operum Delarue,) and Mosheim's Criticisms (De Re- 
 bus Christian. Ante Constantinum.) These authors, though they 
 agree in every thing important, differ somewhat in dates and in the 
 order of events. 
 
 10 
 
110 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 become one of the most voluminous '^ writers that ever 
 Uved. The wonder, with which the ancients regarded 
 his various achievements, was but natural ; and it was 
 with some propriety that they surnamed him Adaman- 
 tius, to intimate, it would seem, the invincible strength 
 of a constitution that sustained toils which would have 
 worn out several ordinary lives. With regard to his 
 native talents, there is a striking, though not singula}^ 
 contrariety in his character : Endued with a perception 
 the very quickest, and with a memory the most reten- 
 tive, but deficient in the more substantial gifts of cool 
 judgment and good sense, he appears, by turns, the 
 brightest of geniuses, and the wildest of visionaries. .As 
 a moral and religious man, however, his character is 
 consistent, and his reputation without a blot : both his 
 friends and his enemies agree in attributing to him the 
 most illustrious virtue, ardent piety, and the purest zeal. 
 Austere, but not morose, he never spared himself, and 
 amidst all the abuse he suffered, seldom evinced the 
 least severity against others. Naturally of a meek and 
 unassuming temper, he endured, unmoved, the admira- 
 tion of the world, with no apparent vanity, and without 
 that more treacherous symptom of pride, the affectation 
 of humility. As a writer, his style is simple, clear and 
 fluent; but careless, redundant, and often incorrect. 
 To conclude his character in the words of the most 
 learned and discriminating of ecclesiastical historians, 
 
 q He published, some say, six thousand volumes, many of which, 
 however, must, of course, have been very small. The remains of 
 this astonishing mass, are collected in four volumes folio, besides two 
 additional volumes containing the fragments of the Hexapla. 
 
iv.] OF UNIVERSALISM. m 
 
 he was " a man of vast and uncommon abilities, and the 
 " greatest kiminaiy of tlie christian world, which this 
 " age exhibited to view. Had the justness of his judg- 
 " ment been equal to the immensity of his genius, the 
 "fervor of his piety, his indefatigable patience, his ex- 
 " tensive erudition, and his other eminent and superior 
 " talents, all encomiums must have fallen short of his 
 " merit. Yet such as he was, his virtues and his labors 
 " deserve the admiration 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^" 
 
 XI. We have as yet quoted only one of his testimo- 
 nies in favor of Universalism. It was, with him, a fa- 
 vorite topic ; and he introduced it not only in his earli- 
 est, but also in his latest publications, in his popular 
 discourses, or Homilies, as well as in his more labored 
 and systematic treatises ^ Passing over his books Of 
 
 r Mosheim, Eccl. Hist. Cent. iii. Part 2, chap. ii. § 7. ^ I do 
 
 not attempt to point out all the passages in which Origen introduces 
 this doctrine ; but however imperfect, the following table of referen- 
 ces to Delarue's splendid edition of his works, may afford some no- 
 tion of its frequent occurrence, and assist the inquiries of such as wish 
 to consult the original. The dates here affixed to the respective 
 works, are those assigned by the learned editor. 
 
 De Principiis, A. D.230. Lib. i. cap. vi. and vii. § 5. Lib. ii. cap. i, 
 2. cap. iii. 3, 5, 7. cap. v. 3. cap. x. 5, 6. Lib. iii. cap. v. 5,6, 7, 8. 
 cap. vi. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9. Lib- iv. cap. 21 and 22 and 25.— 
 Homiliain Lucam. Perhaps about A. D. 230- Homil. xiv. — Commenta- 
 rioriim in Johannem Tom. i. cap. 14. About A. D. 230. — De Oratione, 
 After A. D. 231. Cap. v. p. 205. cap. xxvii. pp. 250, 251. cap. xxix. 
 pp. 261 to 264. — Comment, in Jolian. Tom. xix. cap. 3. About A. D. 
 234- — Tract xxxiv. in Johannem. — Commentarii in Matthceum. About a.d. 
 245. Tom. x. and xiii. and xv. — Tract, xxiii. and xxx. and xxxiii. in Math- 
 thccu7n. — Commenfarii in Epist. ad Romanos. About a. d. 246. Lib. v. cap. 
 7. Lib. viii. cap. 12. — Horhilicc. Between A. D. 245 and 250. Homil. in Li- 
 viticum vii. cap. 2, p. 222. Homil. viii. cap. 4, p. 230. Homil. in Numeros 
 
112 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 Principles, and many other works, in which this doc- 
 trine abounds, we shall transcribe only a passage or two 
 from one of his last productions, which is still extant 
 in the original Greek. 
 
 Celsus, the heathen philosopher, had accused the 
 christians of representing God in the character of a mer- 
 ciless tormentor, descending, at the end of the world, 
 armed with fire. To this charge Origen replied, that 
 " since the scoffing Celsus thus compels us to go into sub- 
 ejects of a profounder nature, we shall first say a few 
 " things, enough to give the readers a notion of our de- 
 " fence on this point, and then proceed to tlie rest. 
 " The sacred scripture does, indeed, call our God a 
 " consuming fire, (Deut. iv. 24,) and says that rivers of 
 ^^ fire go before his face, (Dan. vii. 10,) and that Ae 6'Art// 
 " come as a refiner'' s fire and as fuller'' s soap, and purify 
 ^Hlie people. (Mai. iii. 2.) As, therefore, God is a con- 
 " suming fire, what is it that is to be consumed by him ? 
 " We say it is wickedness, and whatever proceeds from 
 *' it, such as is figuratively called wood, hay and stub- 
 " ble. These are what God, in the character of fire, 
 " consumes. And as it is evidently the wicked works of 
 " man which are denoted by the terms wood, hay, and 
 " stubble, it is, consequently, easy to understand what is 
 " the nature of that fire by which they are to be consum- 
 
 vi. cap. 4. Homil. xi. cap. 5. Homil. xxvi. cap. 4, &c. Homil. in i Lib. 
 Reenni ii. cap. 28, pp. 494 to 498. Homil. in Lib. Jesu Nave viii. cap. 4. 
 p. 416. Homil. in Jeremiam ii. cap. 2 and 3. pp. 138, 139. Homil. xvi. cap. 
 5 and 6, pp. 232, 233. Homil. in Ezekielem iv. and v. and x.— Contra Cel- 
 sum. About A. D. 248 or 249. Lib. iv. cap. 10, p. 507. cap. 13, p. 509. cap. 
 28, p. 521. Lib. V. cap. 21, p. 594. cap. 15 and 16, pp. 588, 589. Lib. viii. 
 cap. 72. pp. 795, 796. 
 
iv.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 113 
 
 " ed. Says the apostle, the fire shall try every man's 
 " work of what sort it is. If any oneh work abide, which 
 "Ae hath built, he shall receive a reward. If any 
 ^^one^s work be burned, he shall suffer loss. (1 Cor. 
 «'iii. 13 — 15.) What else is here meant by the work 
 " which is to be burned, than whatever arises from ini- 
 " quity ? Our God is, accordingly, a consuming fire, in 
 " the' sense I have mentioned. He shall come also as a 
 " refiner^sfire, to purify rational nature from the alloy 
 " of wickedness, and from other impure matter which 
 " has adulterated, if I may so say, the intellectual gold 
 "and silver. Rivers of fire are, likewise, said to go forth 
 " before the face of God, for the piu'pose of consuming 
 "whatever of evil is admixed in all the soul*." 
 
 Again : Celsus had treated, as very extravagant, the 
 expectation of christians that all the nations of the earth 
 should at length agree in one system of belief and prac- 
 tice. On this, Origen observed, " it is here necessary 
 *' to prove that all rational beings, not only may, 
 " but actually shall, unite in one law. The Stoics say 
 " that when the most powerful of the elements shall 
 " prevail, then will come the universal conflagration, 
 •' and all things be converted into fire ; but we assert 
 " that the Word, who is the wisdom of God, shall 
 " bring together all intelligent creatures, and convert 
 " them into his own perfection, through the instrumen- 
 " tality of their free will and of their exertions. For 
 " though among the disorders of the body there are, 
 " indeed, some which the medical art cannot heal, yet 
 
 t Contra Celsum Lib. iv. cap. 13, p. 509- 
 10* 
 
114 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap, 
 
 " we deny that of all the vices of the soul, there is any 
 " which the supreme Word cannot cure. For the Word 
 " is more powerful than all the diseases of the soul ; 
 " and he applies his remedies to each one, according 
 " to the pleasure of God. And the consummation of all 
 " things will be the extinction of sin ; but whether it 
 " shall then be so abolished as never to revive again in 
 " the universe, does not belong to the present discourse 
 " to show. What relates, however, to the entire abo- 
 " lition of sin and the reformation of every soul, may 
 " be obscurely traced in many of the prophecies ; for 
 " there we discover that the name of God is to be in- 
 " voked by all, so that all shall serve him with one con- 
 " sent ; that the reproach of contumely is to be taken 
 " away, and that there is to be no more sin, nor vain 
 " words, nor treacherous tongue. This may not, in- 
 " deed, take place with mankind in the present hfe, 
 " but be accomplished after they shall have been liber- 
 " ated from the body''." 
 
 XII. In all his works, Origen fi-eely uses the ex- 
 pressions everlasting fire, everlasting punishment, ^-c. 
 without any explanation, such as our modern preposses- 
 sions would render necessary, to prevent a misunder- 
 standing. It should also be particularly remarked, that 
 among the numerous passages in which he advances 
 Universalism, there is not an instance of his treating it 
 in the way of controversy with the orthodox ; and that, 
 on the other hand, they themselves did not, so far as 
 we can discover, censure nor oppose it. Sometimes 
 he avails himself of its peculiar principles to vindicate 
 
 u Contra Celsum Lib. viii. cap. 72. pp. 795, 79G. 
 
iv.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 1 ] 5 
 
 Christianity from the reproaches or witticisms of the 
 heathens, and to maintain the benevolence of the one 
 God against the objections of the Gnostics. Sometimes, 
 again, he states and defines it, in a formal and labored 
 manner; but in most cases he introduces it incidentally, 
 either as the natural result of some well-known chris- 
 tian principle, or as the positive doctrine of particular 
 scriptures'". 
 
 ^' I subjoin the principal texts that he adduced in favor of Uni- 
 versalisra. Those from the Old Testament are translated accord- 
 ing to the Septuagint version, which Origen, like all the an- 
 cient fathers, followed. 
 
 Ps. xxxi. 19. Hov/ great is the multitude of thy favors, Lord, 
 which thou hast laid up in secret for those who shall fear thee ! — 
 Ps. Ixxviii. 30 — 35. Even vrhile their meat was yet in their mouth 
 the anger of God came up against them, and slew them in their 
 fatness, and crippled the chosen ones of Israel. In all this they 
 still sinned, and believed not his wondrous works : therefore their 
 days passed away in vanity, and their years, with speed. But 
 when he had slain them, then they sov ght him, and returned, and came 
 quicJihj to God ; and they rcmcvihcrcd that God teas their helper, 
 and that God the Most High teas their redeemer — Ps. ex. 1,2. The 
 Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, till I make 
 thine enemies thy footstool. Out of Zion the Lord will send 
 thee a rod of power ; rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. 
 — Isa. iv. 4. For the Lord shall wash away the filth of the sons 
 and of the daughters of Zion, and cleanse the blood from the midst 
 of them by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning. — 
 Isa. xii. l.*2. And in that day thou wilt say, I bless thee, O Lord; 
 for though thou v.-ast angry with me, thou hast turned away 
 thy fury and pitied mo. Behold, God is my saviour ; I will trust 
 in him and not be afraid ; because the Lord is my glory and my 
 praise, and hath saved nie. — Isa. xxiv. And the Lord shall bring 
 his hand upon the host of heaven, even upon the kings of this 
 land ; and they shall gather the congregation thereof to the prison, 
 and shall shut them up in the strong hold. Their visitation shall 
 be for many generations. But the Trick shall melt, and the icall 
 shall full ; because the Lord shall reign from Zion and from Jeru- 
 salem, and be glorified in the presence of the elders. — Isa. xlviL 
 14. Behold, they shall all be burned in the fire, as stubble, and they 
 shall not deliver their soul from the flame. Thou hast coals of fire ; 
 sit upoii thejn ; they will be a help to thct — Ezek. xvi. 53 — 55. And I will 
 restore their apostacies, even the apostacy of Sodom and of hec 
 daughters; and I will restore the apostacy of Samaria and of her 
 
115 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 Ill two places, however, he represents the Salvation 
 of All Men as one of the christian mysteries, which 
 should not be too freely divulged. But we must add, 
 that in this, he only followed a rule w4iich the ortho- 
 daughters ; and I will restore thine apostacy in the midst of them, 
 that thou mayest bear thy punishment, and be put to shame for all 
 thou hast done to provoke me to anger. And thy sister Sodom and 
 her daughters shall be restored as at the beginning; and thou and 
 thy daughters shall be restored to your former state. — Hosea xiv, 
 3^*4. We will no more say to the work of our own hands, Ye are 
 our Gods. He who is in thee shall have mercy on the fatherless. 
 I will heal their habitations ; I will lore them openly ; for he hath turned 
 aivay my icrath from himself. — Mieah vii. 8,9. Exult not over me, O 
 mine enemy; though I have fallen, I shall rise, though I should sit 
 in darkness, the Lord will give me light. I will sustain the anger 
 of the Lord, until he justify my cause, for I have sinned against 
 him. He will do me justice, and bring me into light, and I shall 
 behold his righteousness. — Malachi iii. '2, 3. Who shall abide the 
 day of his coming.? or who shall be able to endure his appearance.'' 
 For he cometh as the fire of arefiner's furnace, and as the soap of the 
 fullers. He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver and of gold ; 
 and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and melt them as gold and 
 silver. Then shall they present to the Lord an ofixn-ing in righteous- 
 ness. — INIatt. V. 26. Verily I say unto thee, thou shalt by no means 
 come out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing. — Matt, 
 xviii. 12, 13. {Parable of the Lost Sheep.] — John x. 16. And other 
 sheep I have, which are not of this fold : them also I must bring, and 
 they shall hear my voice ; and there shall be one fold and one shep- 
 herd. — Rom viii. 20 — 23. For the creature was made subject to van- 
 ity, not willingly, but by reason of him who li«th subjected the same 
 ill hope ; because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the 
 bondage of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the children of 
 God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth 
 in pain together until now ; and not only they, but ourselves also, 
 which have the first fruits of the spirit, even we ourselves groan 
 within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of 
 our body. — Rom. xi. 25,26. Fori would not, brethren, thatj-e should 
 be ignorant of this mystery, (lest ye should be wise in your own con- 
 ceits) that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of 
 the Gentiles be come in; and so all Israel shall be saved. — Verse 
 32. For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have 
 mercy upon all. — 1 Cor. iii. 13 — 15. Every man's work shall be 
 made manifest ; for the day shall declare it, because it shall be re- 
 vealed by fire ; and the fire shall try every man's work, of what sort 
 it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall 
 receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suf- 
 fer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. — 1 Cor. xv- 
 
iv.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 117 
 
 dox of his age observed widi regard to several points 
 in their common faith ; as they used much caution in 
 avowing some of their tenets, particularly concerning 
 Antichrist and the near approach of the end of the 
 world. Even the form of their creed, and the rites 
 of the Lord's supper, were concealed, under the name 
 of mysteries, from the uninitiated'^. Somewhat in such 
 a light, Origen appears to have supposed, the doctrine 
 of Universalism ought to be regarded : Commenting 
 on that text in Romans (xi. 26, 27.) where St. Paul 
 denominates the salvation of al] Israel, and of the Gen- 
 tile world, a mystery^ he takes particular notice of this 
 
 24 — 28. Then cometh the end, when lie shall have deliveredup the 
 kingdom to God, even the Father ; when he shall have put down all 
 rule, and all authority, and power. For he must reign till he hath 
 put all enemies under his feet. Death, the last enemy, shall be de- 
 stroyed. For He hath put all things under his feet. But when he 
 saith, all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted 
 which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be 
 subdued unto him, then shall the Son also iiimself be subject unto hina 
 that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. — Verse 54. 
 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mor- 
 tal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the say- 
 ing that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. — Eph. i. 9, 10. 
 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to 
 his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: that in the 
 dispensation of t!ie fulness of times he might gather together in one 
 all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which arc on earth, 
 even in him. — Eph. ii. 7. That in the ages to come, he might show 
 tlie exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us, through 
 Christ Jesus. — Eph. iv. 13. Till we all come in the unity of the faith 
 and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the 
 measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. — 1 Tim. iv. 10- For 
 therefore we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the 
 living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that be- 
 lieve. — 1 Pet iii. 19,20. By which, also, he went and preached unto 
 the spirits in prison, which sometime were disobedient, when once 
 the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, &c. — 1 John 
 ii. 1, 2. If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus 
 Christ, the righteous : and he is the propitiation for our sins ; and 
 not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world, 
 vr Mosheim. de Reb. Christian, ante Constant, pp. 304, 305. 
 
1 1 8 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 term, and then says, " the word of the gospel in the 
 " present Hfe, purifies the saints, whether Israehtes or 
 " Gentiles, according to that expression of our Lord, 
 " now ye are clean through the word I have spoken 
 '^'unto you. (John xv. 3.) But he who shall have 
 " spurned the cleansing which is effected by the Gos- 
 " pel of God, will reserve himself for a dreadful and 
 " penal course of purification ; for the fire of hell shall, 
 "by its torments, purify him whom neither the apos- 
 " tolic doctrine nor the evangelical word has cleansed : 
 "as it is written, / will thoroughly purify you with 
 ^^Jire. (Isa. i. 25.) But how long, or for how many 
 " ages, sinners shall be tormented in this course of pu- 
 " rification which is effected by the pain of fire, he 
 " only knows to whom the Father hath committed all 
 "judgment, and who so loved his creatures that for 
 " them he laid aside the form of God, took tlie form 
 " of a servant, and humbled himself unto death, that 
 ' * all men might be saved and come to the knowledge 
 " of the truth. 
 
 " Nevertheless, we ought always to remember, that 
 " the Apostle would have the text now under consid- 
 " eration, regarded as a mystery ; so that the faithful 
 " and thoroughly instructed should conceal its mean- 
 " ing among themselves, as a mystery of God, nor ob- 
 " trude it every w^here upon the imperfect and those 
 " of less capacity. For says the scripture, it is good 
 " to keep close the mystery of the king (Tobit. xii. 
 " 7.)^." Such is his suggestion. It may be difficult 
 
 X Comment, in Epist. ad Rom. Lib. viii. cap. 12. The other pas- 
 sage of this kind, is Contra Cclsum Lib. v. cap. 15. 
 
iv.] OF UNIVERSALISxU ^9 
 
 to reconcile it with the incontrovertible fact that he 
 himself was in the habit of publishing this secret doc- 
 trine in his works, and of proclaiming it in his ser- 
 mons. Of this species of inconsistency, however, there 
 are remarkable instances, not only among the ancients, 
 but also among the moderns ; who sometimes declare 
 the secret will of God, and maintain the doctrine of 
 of universal decree, w^iich they contend, the mean- 
 while, should be rather withheld than divulged. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 [Origen's Scholars and Cotemporaries.] 
 
 I. With the account of Origen naturally belongs a 
 view of the extent to which Universalism prevailed in 
 his time, together with some notice of the more eminent 
 of its believers among his cotemporaries. But here, 
 the clear hght of history forsakes us. In the destruc- 
 tive lapse of ten or fifteen centuries, every document, 
 if such there was, which might have pointed out the 
 state of the doctrine, has perished ; and we are left to 
 the uncertainty of conjecture, guided only by a circum- 
 stantial evidence, scanty and perplexed. 
 
 In attempting to gather some general opinion out of 
 this obscurity, we must place no great rehance on any 
 supposed effect which the plain testimonies of scripture 
 ought to have had upon the common belief of that 
 time ; for ecclesiastical history shows that in every age 
 christians have taken their sentiments from other sour- 
 ces than immediately from the Bible. Nor must we 
 adopt the convenient axiom of some enthusiasts, that 
 every essential christian truth, or what we deem such, 
 has found an uninterrupted succession of adherents, 
 from Christ to the present time ; for when w^e assume 
 this ground, we forsake, at once, the region of history, 
 for that of mere hypothesis. We must, in the present 
 case, judge what is probable, only from what is known ; 
 
v.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 121 
 
 and remember, the meanwhile, that, after all, we may- 
 err in our conclusions. 
 
 It certainly is not reasonable to suppose that the great 
 authority of Clemens Alexandrinus, and the vast influ- 
 ence of Origen, could have failed to secure many be- 
 lievers in all their prominent tenets. Were we to take 
 into our account all their disciples, patrons and admiring 
 friends, or even those of the latter alone, we should 
 have the main body of the bishops and churches through- 
 out all the East. Those of Arabia regarded him as the 
 great and successful champion of the faith ; in Palestine 
 and Phoenicia, his authority in doctrine was absolute ; 
 in Cappadocia, his instructions were eagerly sought and 
 followed ; and in the remote province of Pontus, his 
 scholars stood first among the bishops ; Greece had 
 long esteemed and revered him; and even in Egypt, 
 notwithstanding the quarrel of Demetrius, it is evident 
 that the churclies, together with the presbyters in gen- 
 eral, and many of their bishops, were warmly attach- 
 ed to Origen. But to reckon all these, simply on 
 this account, as UniversaUsts, would certainly be ex- 
 travagant : Many of his advocates probably regarded 
 him only for his astonishing genius, his universal er- 
 udition, his illustrious virtue, or the services he had ren- 
 dered the church ; some, perhaps, considered him 
 merely as a persecuted man, and overlooking his harm- 
 less peculiarities, felt it their duty to defend him against 
 injustice. It must also be remarked, that as his Uni- 
 versalism was not made a matter of complaint, we can 
 draw but little evidence of an agreement in that par- 
 ticular, from mere friendship and adherence to him ; 
 
 11 
 
122 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 but this circumstance, at the same time, leads us strong- 
 ly to suspect that a doctrine so momentous and yet un- 
 impeached, prevailed among his adversaries as well as 
 among his followers. 
 
 Without attempting, then, the impracticable task of 
 exploring the real extent of the doctrine at this period, 
 I shall only select from the Eastern or Greek churches, 
 which were the principal sphere of Origen's influence, 
 some eminent individuals, whose intimacy with him, 
 veneration for his opinions, and peculiar regard for his 
 expositions of scripture, can hardly be taken into view 
 without producing a conviction that they were Univer- 
 salists. 
 
 II. Among these, the venerable Alexander, bishop 
 of Jerusalem, holds a distinguished place. Somewhat 
 older, probably, than Origen, he had already studied 
 with Pantaenus, w^hen the former became his school- 
 fellow under Clemens Alexandrinus. In this situation, 
 the two scholars formed a friendship which was to en- 
 dure through hfe. After the interruption of their stud- 
 ies by the persecution under Severus, we find Alexan- 
 der in prison at Jerusalem, in A. D. 205 ; at which 
 time, his faithful sufferings were cheered, for a while, 
 by a visit from his late master Clemens, whom he al- 
 wa3^s regarded with great respect. The exact period 
 of his release is not known ; but within a few years he 
 was chosen bishop of some place in Cappadocia, per- 
 haps of the metropolis. He returned, however to Je- 
 rusalem, about A. D. 212; and on his arrival was 
 unanimously elected colleague with Narcissus, the su- 
 perannuated bishop of this city. From this time, we 
 
v.] OF UNIVERSALISxM. 123 
 
 hear nothing of him till Origen visited Palestine, about 
 A. D. 216 ; and the affectionate deference he then 
 paid his early friend, together with the faithful support 
 he afterwards gave him, has been already mentioned. 
 He and Theoctistus appear to have taken the lead in 
 the promotion and defence of their illustrious guest ; 
 and regarding him as their own master, they resigned 
 to him, in their respective churches, the authority of 
 pubHcly expounding the scriptures, and instructing the 
 people in rehgion. 
 
 To Alexander belongs the honor of having establish- 
 ed, at Jerusalem, the first ecclesiastical library of which 
 there is any account. Though a bishop of some em- 
 inence, he seems to have WTitten nothing, himself, ex- 
 cept common-place letters ; a few sentences only of 
 which are extant. In the general persecution under De- 
 cius, he was arraigned at Cesarea, and again cast into 
 prison, where he soon died, A. D. 250*. 
 
 Of Theoctistus. w^e have only to add, that after pre- 
 siding with reputation for many years, in the metropoli- 
 tan bishopric of Cesarea in Palestine, he died not far 
 from A. D. 260''. It does not appear that he left any 
 writings whatever. 
 
 III. Perhaps we ought here to mention Heraclas, the 
 successor of Demetrius, in the bishopric of Alexandria. 
 He was one of those heathens who were converted to 
 Christianity in the year 203, by Origen's instructions ; 
 
 a Cave's Lives of the Fathers, Chap. Clem. Alexand. § 4 and 5 ; 
 and Chap. Origen, § 22; and Chronol. Table, Ann. 212. Also Eu- 
 seb. Hist. Eccl. Lib. vi. cap. 14. I have omitted; in this account, a 
 vision or two. b Euseb. Hist. Eccl. Lib. vi. cap. 46. and Lib. 
 
 vii. cap. 14. 
 
124 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 and who then entered the great Catechetical School un- 
 der 'his care. Heraclas was soon called to witness the 
 sacrifice of his own brother, a fellows-convert and disci- 
 ple, among the early martyrs with which this seminary 
 was honored. Pursuing his studies, he seems to have 
 become the favorite of his master, since he was at 
 length selected as his assistant when Origen found the 
 increasing duties of the school too numerous for his sole 
 management. On the flight of the latter from Alexan- 
 dria, in A. D. 231, Heraclas succeeded him in the 
 Presidency ; and about a year afterwards, on the death 
 of Demetrius, he was promoted to the Alexandrian 
 bishopric, the second for dignity and influence, in all 
 Christendom. Here he continued to govern the church- 
 es till his death, which happened in A. D. 247, or 248 ; 
 when Dionysius the Great, another disciple and friend 
 of Origen, succeeded him. 
 
 Heraclas seems to have been of a quiet and philosoph- 
 ic disposition. He had the reputation of extensive 
 learning, particularly in secular literature, for which he, 
 perhaps, entertained a decided partiality ; as on his el- 
 evation to the bishopric, he adopted, and ever after- 
 wards wore, the philosopher's robe as his distinguishing 
 habit '^. He has left no wrhings. 
 
 IV. Ambrosius, the convert, patron, and familiar 
 friend of Origen, can hardly be refused, by the most 
 skeptical, a place among the believers in Universalism. 
 It was at his request, and by his pecuniary aid, that Ori- 
 gen composed several of those works in which that doc- 
 
 c Euseb. Hist. Eccl. Lib. vi. cap. 3, 15, 20, 26, 31, 35. 
 
v.] OF UNI VERS ALISM. 125 
 
 trine is found. So zealous was he to perfect himself in 
 the whole system of his master, that daring some years 
 in which they were almost constantly together, he suf- 
 fered scarcely a leisure moment to escape without addi- 
 tional instruction from him on religion. Their meals 
 and their walks, their morning and their evening hours, 
 were devoted to investigations of the scriptures, and to 
 the solution of difficult questions. 
 
 Havdng heretofore given most of the history of Am- 
 brosius, I may now only add the miscellaneous items, 
 that he was married, and had a large family, that he 
 was ordained deacon in the church of Alexandria, and 
 that he died before Origen. It is said tliat some of his 
 Letters, extant in Jerome's time, but long since lost, 
 except a short fragment, evinced considerable genius^. 
 
 V. Firmilian, who, after returning from his studies, pre- 
 sided with celebrity over the churches of Cappadocia, en- 
 tertained so warm an affection for his former master, and 
 so great a regard for his doctrine, that he made several 
 journies into Palestine, in order to enjoy his society, 
 and attend his instructions. At length he prevailed up- 
 on Origen to visit Cappadocia, in turn, and to gratify 
 the common wish of the churches there, by imparting 
 to them those treasures of religious knowledge which he 
 himself had so much admired, and which they were 
 so desirous to obtain. 
 
 Cesarea, the metropolis of Cappadocia, stood on the 
 northern declivity, at the foot of Mount Argseus ; which, 
 
 d Cave's Lives, &c. Chap. Origen, ^ 10} and Historia Literaria, 
 cap. Ambrosias. Also Du Pin's Bibliotheca Patrum, Art. Ambrose 
 and Tryphon. 
 
 11* 
 
126 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 rising to tlie south above the clouds, looked down on 
 the whole province, and from its summit of everlasting 
 snow, afforded an indistinct view, in either direction, of 
 the remote waters of the Euxine and the Mediterrane- 
 an. In this great city, of perhaps four hundred thous- 
 and inhabitants®, Firmilian was chosen bishop, not far 
 from A. D. 234, and appointed to the care of all the 
 churches in that region. He soon became eminent and 
 considerably known throughout Christendom, by his ex- 
 tensive correspondence, and the active part he took in 
 tlie general concerns of the church. On the famous 
 question which began to be agitated about A. D. 253, 
 concerning the validity of baptism administered by here- 
 tics, he, like the churches of Asia in general, maintained 
 the negative ; and in the violent contention which raged 
 upon that point, between the two w^estern bishops, Ste- 
 phen of Rome, and Cyprian of Carthage, he accordingly 
 sided with the latter. Soon after this, at the numerous 
 Synod held in Antioch, A. D. 264, against the unitari- 
 an Paul of Samosata, Firmilian is thought to have pre- 
 sided, and to have prevented his condemnation, being 
 either favorable to his sentiment, or perhaps deceived 
 with the evasions practised by the accused. As the mat- 
 ter was not put to rest, he was called to a second 
 council, held there on the same subject, and finally to a 
 third ; in going to which he died on the w^ay, at the city of 
 Tarsus, A. D. 2G9 or 270. He has left no writings 
 except a long Letter on the rebaptizing of heretics, ad- 
 
 e D'Anville's Ancient Geography. And Rees' Cyclopedia, Art. 
 Cesarea. 
 
v.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 127 
 
 dressed to Cyprian, In this we discover that Firmil- 
 ian entertained the common notion of tliat period, that 
 baptism, administered by proper autliority, conferred 
 remission of sins and the spiritual new birth ; that he 
 held the prevailing faith respecting the mysterious 
 tricks of demons, and their ordinary interference with 
 the concerns of life ; and that the good man was cap- 
 able of sarcasm, and boisterous invective, wliich he pours 
 out profusely against Stephen of Rome. The subject 
 does not lead to any discovery of his sentiments con- 
 cerning endless punishment, or universal salvation ^, 
 
 VI. The last, whom I here mention, are the two 
 brotliers, Gregory Thaumaturgus^ and Athenodorus* 
 Born of a rich and noble family at Neocesarea, the 
 capital of Pontus, they were brought up in a manner 
 suitable to their birth and fortune, and instructed in 
 heathenism, the common religion of the place. When 
 Gregory was about fourteen years old, their father died, 
 and tlieir mother, assuming the care of their education, 
 placed them successively under different masters, with 
 whom they studied Rhetoric, the Latin language, and 
 tlie Roman laws. At length their sister removing to 
 Palestine, the Governor of which had appointed her 
 husband one of his assessors or counsellors, the broth- 
 ers accompanied her as far as Berytus in Phoenicia, 
 where was a celebrated school for the study of law. 
 This happened about the time of Origen's flight from 
 
 f Firmiliani Epistola ad Cyprianum, is the Epist. Ixxv. inter Cyp- 
 riani Opera, Edit. Baluzii. For his life, see Cave's Lives, &c. Chap. 
 Origen, ^ 16; and Hist. Literaria, cap. Firmilianus. Consult also 
 Lardner's Credibility, &c. Chap. Firniilian. s His name ori- 
 
 ginally was Theodorus. 
 
128 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 Egypt, in A. D. 231 ; and the youths, eager to see and 
 converse with a man of his renown, went to visit him 
 at Cesarea. Here they were at length prevailed upon 
 by his entreaties, to apply themselves to the study of 
 philosophy, the introduction, as he considered it, of gen- 
 uine religion ; and when they had made sufficient pro- 
 gress, he led them to the study of the scriptures, ex- 
 plaining to them, as they proceeded, the obscure and 
 difficult passages. In this way, he trained them up to 
 a systematical knowledge and ardent love of Christianity, 
 which they had, indeed begun to regard with a favora- 
 ble eye when they left Pontus. It is worthy of remark 
 that in the early part of their residence in Palestine, 
 Frimilian was their fellow student, with whom they then 
 formed an acquaintance, which the future circumstan- 
 ces and events of their lives must have cherished. 
 
 Having remained with Origen about five years, they 
 were recalled to their native country. At their depart- 
 ure, Gregory pronounced in public his Panegyric on 
 Origen, yet extant, in which he la\ishes the most 
 extravagant praise on the genius and doctrine of his 
 master, recounts the history of their acquaintance with 
 each other, and laments, with fulsome declamation, the 
 necessity that tore them asunder. On the return of 
 the brothers to Neocesarea, it is said that the inhabit- 
 ants entertained so high an expectation of Gregory's 
 talents and acquirements, that, though heathens, they 
 desired him to reside among them as a public instructer 
 of philosophy and virtue. He soon received, also, a 
 letter from Origen, commending his abilities, and urging 
 him to prosecute his study of the scriptures and of the 
 
v.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 129 
 
 christian religion. But disliking the cares of a pub- 
 lic Hfe, or modestly distrusting his quahfications, he 
 comphed neither with the request of the citizens, nor 
 widi the evident wishes of his late master, and withdrew 
 to some obscure retreat in order to lead a solitary and 
 contemplative life. A certain bishop of that country, 
 however, pursued him w^ith unwearied sohcitations to 
 devote himself to the pubhc service of Christianity ; 
 and overcoming at length his reluctance, ordained him 
 about A. D. 240, or 245. 
 
 Neocesarea, an inland place, of considerable size,* 
 on the river Lycus, had scarcely been visited, as yet, 
 by the light of the gospel ; but when the popular Greg- 
 ory entered on his ministry there, things assumed a 
 new appearance. His success was surprising. A large 
 congregation was soon gathered ; the number of his 
 converts rapidly increased ; and eventually a stately 
 church, or christian temple, was erected : the first of 
 the kind, of which we have any distinct account in 
 ecclesiastical history. 
 
 In the general persecution of A. D. 250, he and 
 his people fled to caves and deserts for safety ; but 
 when the brief, yet violent, tempest subsided, he re- 
 turned with such of his brethren as had survived. 
 About ten years afterwards, an irruption of the north- 
 
 * It now bears the name of Niksai" and stands in a luxuriant and deligiitfuj 
 valley.throug-h which, to the west of the city, flows the river, called Reiki 
 Irmak, from south to north. Around, but a\ some distance, rise the moun- 
 tains, covered with forests of the wildest growth, and presenting- the most 
 romantic and picturesqe views. It is thirty miles north east of Tocat; and 
 is placed on the map at about eighty miles from the shoi'e of the Black Sea. 
 (Morier's Journey through Persia, Armenia, and Asia Minor, p. p. 332 
 334. Philadelphia, 1816.) 
 
130 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 ern barbarians carried universal desolation and distress 
 through Pontus and other Roman provinces ; and the 
 heathen inhabitants, though sufferers in common with 
 the christian, seem to have taken advantage of the gen- 
 eral confusion which ensued, to indulge their malice. 
 As many of the believers denied their faith in order 
 to save their lives, and as others committed depreda- 
 tions on the property of those who had fled, Gregory 
 was persuaded, at the request of a neighboring bishop, 
 to address them with a Canonical Epistle^ yet extant, 
 consisting of authoritative rules to regulate their con- 
 duct and discipline in those lawless times. In A. D. 
 264, he and Athenodorus, who also was an influen- 
 tial bishop of some place in Pontus, assisted at the 
 Council of Antioch against Paul of Samosata. Hav- 
 ing returned to Neocesarea, Gregory soon afterwards 
 died in peace, with the satisfaction of leaving but few 
 heathens in the city, where, at the beginning of his 
 ministry, Christianity had scarcely an advocate^'. He 
 was reckoned among the most eminent bishops of the 
 time ; but his reputation unfortunately increased and 
 grew monstrous after his death, when miracles the most 
 ridiculous and incredible were attributed to him, so that 
 his name went down to posterity with the significant 
 appellation of Thaumaturgus, or Wonderworker. Be- 
 sides his Panegyric on Origen and his Canonical 
 Epistle, we have his brief Paraphrase on Ecclesiastes^ ; 
 
 h In the account of Gregory Thaumaturgus and Athenodorus, I have 
 generally followed Lardnor, who allows but little credit to Gregory 
 Nyssen's legendary tale. Du Pin, also, seems to have discarded it. But 
 Cave and some others, adopt the whole, miracles and all, with vete- 
 ran credulity. i Some attribute to him the short Creed, relating 
 
v.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 23 j 
 
 but none of these being of a doctriDal character, they 
 throw no hght on his views concerning the final extent 
 of salvation, or the nature and result of future pun- 
 ishment. An ancient writer^, however, intimates, if I 
 mistake him not, that Gregory Thaumaturgus was well 
 known to have held, with his master, the doctrine of 
 Universal Restoration. 
 
 VII. With him ends our select catalogue of Origen's 
 cotemporary followers. It may serve, at least, to point 
 out some of the circumstances which, together with the 
 general diffusion of his writings, tended to spread his 
 sentiments widely through the East. What other par- 
 ticular causes" operated to diffuse or cherish Universal- 
 ism among the orthodox of this period, it is in vain 
 to enquire ; but we have no reason to believe that it 
 was confined exclusively to his adherents. 
 
 As to the different bodies of heretics, it is probable 
 that among the Gnostics the doctrine remained much 
 in the same state as formerly ; and among those of other 
 kinds, it may have found some believers and advocates^. 
 
 solely to the Trinity, which Gregory Nyssen says was brought to 
 him from heaven by St. John and the Virgin Mary. It is probable, 
 however, that Gregory Thaumaturgus never saw it. (See Lardnsr's 
 Credibility, &c. Chap. Gregory Thaumat.) The Brevis Exposiiio Fi- 
 del, which Cave, in his Lives of the Fathers, had ascribed to Grego- 
 ry, is allowed, in his Hist. Literaria, to be supposititious; in which ho 
 agrees with Du Pin, Fabricius, Tillemont and Lardner. 
 
 .i Rufinus (Invect. in Hieronym. Lib. i. pro/^e /new, inter Hierony- 
 miOpp.Tom. iv. Part. i. p. 40(5, Edit. Martianay) alludes to the fact, 
 as notorious, that Gregory Thaumaturgus erred with Origen; and it is 
 of Universalism that he is speaking. k The author of the 
 
 anonymous book called Prcedestinatus, attributed*by some to Primas- 
 ius an African bishop of the sixth century, but considered, by oth- 
 ers, of uncertain date and origin, says that one '• Ampullianus, a he- 
 " retic of Bithynia, avowed the following error: that all the guilty, to- 
 
132 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 VIII. Turning our eyes, for a moment, from the 
 Greek churches, to a hasty survey of the Western or 
 Latin, it may be remarked that here the influence of 
 Origen, as well as of the other Greek fathers, was par- 
 tial and feeble, on account of the difference of language, 
 which discouraged intimacy, and gradually promoted 
 distinction in their customs, manners and feelings. We 
 perceive no certain* traces of Universalism among them 
 
 ^' gether ivith the devil and the demons, loiLl be thoroughly purified in 
 " Gehenna, or hell, and come out thence ivholhj immaculate ; and when he 
 " had raised the whole church against himself, on this account, he 
 ^'- corrupted the works of Origen, especially the books Of Principles, 
 '* that he might sanction his own sentiments by their authority." 
 (Pra^destinat. Lib. i. Hasres. 43, inter Simondi Opera, Tom. i.) When 
 this Ampullianus lived, he does not inform us ; nor is his name so 
 much as mentioned by any other ancient writer. But though the 
 account of his having inserted the alleged error in Origen's works, is 
 demonstrably untrue, and universally disregarded, there yet may be 
 a question whether there was not a heretic of that name in Bithynia, 
 sometime during this century, who held the doctrine of Universal 
 Restoration. At any later period he could not well have escaped the 
 notice of other writers, whose works are extant; and indeed it 
 seems difficult to account for their profound silence, in any way 
 whatever, short of denying the whole story. INovatus, oVashe 
 
 is often called, Novatian, an eminent presbyter of Rome, who con- 
 tested the bishopric of the church there with Cornehus, advanced 
 something like Universalism He extolled in the highest, though in 
 general terms, the unbounded goodness of God ; (De Regula Fidei, 
 cap. ii. j^irope Jiwrn-. Edit. Jackson. Lond. 1723j pp." 2.3 — 25.) and 
 maintained that the wrath, indignation, and hatred of the Lord, so 
 called, are not such passions in him as bear the same name in man ; 
 but that they are operations in the divine mind which are directed 
 solely to our purification. (De Regula Fidei cap. iv.) In short he as- 
 serted the peculiar principles of Universalism ; but whether he pur- 
 sued t'lem out to their necessary I'esult, does not appear. 
 
 jVovatus flourished from A. D. 250, onwards, for several years. 
 After his contest for the bishopric, in which he was once elected, 
 he was condemned by his more fortunate rival, and excommunicated 
 for obstinately refu^gto admit to the conmnmion such members as 
 had once fallen from their purify or steadfastness, however penitent 
 they might become A considerable party attached itself to him, 
 which maintained his opinion and practice, on this point, till the 
 sevcntli century, and which was therefore occasionally treated as 
 heretical, and at other times merely as schismatical. 
 
v.] OF UNIVERSALISM. ^33 
 
 at this period. Indeed, the materials for determining, 
 with precision, their sentiments on a number of points, 
 are rather scanty. Though they had several bishops 
 and writers of temporary renown, there was but one 
 who still holds any distinguished place in ecclesiastical 
 history. This was the eloquent, the active and reso- 
 lute Cyprian, who presided in the bishopric of Car- 
 thage, from about A. D. 249, till his martyrdom in the 
 
 year 25S. Formerly a heathen professor 
 
 A. D. 249, of Rhetoric, he became, on his conversion, 
 
 to 258. one of the most zealous advocates of the 
 
 christian cause, sold his large estate to sup- 
 ply himself with the means of charity, and devoted all 
 his time and all his powers to the service in which he 
 had so late engaged. As a prelate, he must always 
 stand distinguished by his enterprizing and commanding 
 talents ; and as a writer, he evinces considerable ability, 
 though no extraordinary learning. His study, however, 
 was not doctrine, but discipline, the art of governing 
 his churches, and particularly the management of the 
 ecclesiastical concerns in times of great perplexity and 
 danger. For this difficult task he was qualified by a 
 genius of ready resource, a bold decision, and a vehe- 
 mence approaching to enthusiasm, which often car- 
 ried him through the execution of his designs with sur- 
 prising promptness, though at the expense of perpetual 
 contention. We may lament, rather than wonder, that 
 he had the faults natural to such a character : ambition 
 and a strong propensity to domineer; and that his con- 
 duct appears sometimes dictated by self-will and passion. 
 While he sternly opposed the arrogance of the Roman 
 
 12 
 
134 I'HE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 bishop, lie himself cherished extravagant notions of 
 Episcopal authority, and unwarily promoted that eccle- 
 siastical tyranny which was at length to enslave the chris- 
 tian world. But a worse fault than all these, at least 
 in moral principle, aside from its general consequences, 
 was his knavish assertion of visions and immediate rev- 
 elations from God, as his authority and justification, 
 whenever he encroached on the rights of others, or 
 resorted to unpopular measures. 
 
 As he seems to have had little acquaintance with the 
 Greek fathers in general, Firmilian excepted, and per- 
 haps none with Origen, his views of the future state 
 may be regarded as, in some degree, a specimen of 
 those that prevailed in the West. He held a tempora- 
 ry and mild purgatory for the less deserving saints ™ ; 
 but for impenitent unbelievers an endless punishment". 
 And it is too manifest that he indulged, at times, the 
 spirit of a doctrine so congenial with the hot African 
 temper : " O what a glorious day," says he, " will 
 " come, when the Lord shall begin to recount his peo- 
 " pie and to adjudge their rewards, to send the guilty 
 " into hell, to condemn our persecutors to the perpetual 
 " fire of penal flames, and to bestow on us the reward 
 " of faith and devotedness to him ! What glory, what 
 *' joy, to be admitted to see God, to be honored, to 
 *' partake of the joy of eternal light and salvation with 
 ** Christ the Lord your God ; to salute Abraham, Isaac 
 
 in Cypriani Epist. ad Antonianum lii. p. 72. Edit. Baluzii, Paris. 
 1726. n Cypriani Lib. contra Demetrian. p. 224. And Epist. 
 
 ad Clerum, p. 13 and passim. 
 
v.] OF UNIVERSALISM. I35 
 
 " and Jacob, and all the patriarchs and prophets, apos- 
 " tfes and martyrs, 'to rejoice with the righteous, the 
 " friends of God, in the pleasures of immortality ! When 
 " that revelation shall come, when the beauty of God 
 " shall shine upon us, we shall be as happy as the de- 
 " serters and rebellious will be miserable in inextinguish- 
 "able fire°." 
 
 Cyprian frequently imitates Tertullian, and some- 
 times borrows from him ; and, it is said, he was so 
 partial to that stern and gloomy enthusiast, that he daily 
 read his works, habitually calling out, as he sat down, 
 Give me my JMaster. His confident expectation of the 
 immediate end of the world, and near approach of 
 the general judgment, conspired with his naturally 
 warm temper, to cherish a high degree of devotional 
 fervor ; and of all the early fathers, there was none 
 whose general style of expression approached so near 
 that of the more enthusiastic or fanatical of the modern 
 orthodox. Yet his opinions are by no means reducible 
 
 o Cypriani Epist. ad Thibaritanos, hi. fine pp. 93, 94. Milner 
 the orthodox historian, whose translation I have here adopted, says 
 seriously, on quoting this passage, that "The pahn of heavenly mind" 
 " edness belonged to these persecuted saints; and I wish, with all 
 " our theological improvements, we may obtain a measure of this 
 *'zeal, amidst the various good things of this life which, as chris- 
 " tians, we at present enjoy." (Church- Hist. Cent. iii. chap. 12.) A 
 general collection of these heavenly-minded exultations, over the an- 
 ticipated torments of the damned, would have satisfied our visionary, 
 that latter ages can boast genuine instances of Tertullian's and Cyp- 
 rian's zeal. Had he considered, too, that there was some earthly 
 feeling of revenge to inspire the joy of the ancients in the damnation 
 of their persecutors, he must have adjudged the jjahn to the more dis- 
 interested moderns ; who, without the aid of provocation, indulge a 
 much more difficult satisfaction in expecting the agonies, not of their 
 oppressors, but of their supporters, their kindest benefactors, and of 
 their own families. 
 
136 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 to any creed approved at j^resent : He was a trinita- 
 rian, but ignorant of predestination and irresistible grace; 
 he held that remission of sins, and spiritual regeneration 
 were imparted by the minister to the candidate in the 
 rite of water baptism; that true converts might after- 
 wards utterly fall from grace ; that good works, particu- 
 larly prayers, tears, fasting and penance, m.ake satisfac- 
 tion to God for our sins ; and that matrimony is but a 
 sort of tolerated prostitution. 
 
 IX. In these particulars, however, he had the agree- 
 ment of a large proportion of his cotemporaries through- 
 out the East as well as the West. Christianity had 
 
 then assumed many of the pecuhar features 
 
 A. D. 250 it now wears in the Romish religion. Sal- 
 
 to 270. vation, it was represented, could be secured 
 
 only within the pale of the orthodox church ; 
 and all the heretics, the excommunicated and the dis- 
 senters, were exposed equally with the heathens, to the 
 torments of hell. These separate sects, in their turn, 
 however, usurped, at times, the same terrible prerog- 
 ative, and retorted upon the catholics their o\vn favorite 
 admonitions. At the head of the tiiie church, the cler- 
 ical body, and particularly that of the bishops, possessed, 
 when united, an influence uncontrolable, and powerful 
 even when divided by their frequent discords. Some 
 of the prelates began to affect the splendor and mag- 
 nificence of secular nobility, though the sword of per- 
 secution hung over their heads, and often fell upon them 
 in ruthless extermination. The christian ceremonies and 
 ordinances, to which extravagant spiritual efficacy was 
 generally attributed, were losing their pristine simplicity 
 
v.] OF UNIVERSALISM. I37 
 
 in pomp and tedious parade. Nor was the morality of 
 the gospel less perverted : though downright monachism 
 had not been introduced into the church, yet acts of 
 mortification and penance, were regarded as superior 
 to ordinary virtue, and a life of rigid abstinence as the 
 favorite institution of heaven. But, as might be expect- 
 ed, the manners of the time approached, at once, the 
 two extremes of austerity and licentiousness : some 
 who professed the abstinence of celibacy, even indulged 
 themselves, to. the great scandal of the better sort, in 
 the possession of concubines from among those who had 
 vowed perpetual chastity. 
 
 Amidst this scene of growing corruption, a jealous 
 zeal was cherished against all supposed error ; and the 
 church exhibited the striking, though not singular, spec- 
 tacle, of rage for soundness of faith, in proportion to 
 the common degeneracy. While the destructive per- 
 secutions of the heathens, urged at this time with un- 
 precedented violence, were drenching the earth w^ith 
 christian blood, the believers, both in the East and the 
 West, seemed to devote the intervals of repose, to a 
 mad search for non-conformity in doctrine and discipline, 
 which they hunted into every corner, and condemned 
 with little discrimination or reflection. In the West, 
 Novatus and his followers were excommunicated for 
 their factious conduct and for their obstinate exclusion 
 of the lapsed ; and Cyprian and the bishop of Rome 
 were engaged in a quarrel about rebaptizing heretics. 
 In the East, Noetus and Sabellius on the one hand, 
 and Paul of Samosata on the other, were arraigned and 
 condemned for opposite departures from the indefinable 
 12* 
 
13S THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Appendix to 
 
 and wavering standard of trinitarianism. Between the 
 East and the West, a controversy was kept up, concernmg 
 the proper days for fasting, and the time for the cel- 
 ebration of the Paschal Feast. In one word, so univer- 
 sal was the passion for censure, that scarcely an individ- 
 ual of eminence, escaped reproof from one quarter or 
 another. This circumstance will serve to introduce 
 us to the subject of the next chapter ; which returning 
 from our excursion among the cotemporaries of Origen, 
 takes up the history of his doctrine, from the time of 
 his death. 
 
 APPENDIX TO CHAPTER V. 
 
 I. But in order to avoid an unseasonable interruption 
 in that narrative, we must defer the history of Origen's 
 doctrine, till we shall have brought into notice a new 
 kind of Gnostic christians. The sect of IManicheans 
 began to appear, in the East, about this time ; and 
 though small at first, became, eventually, the most 
 famous of all the parties of oriental heretics that ever 
 arose. By gradually dra^^^ng into itself the more an- 
 cient bodies of Gnostics, it swelled, at length, to a for- 
 midable magnitude; the number of its converts, and 
 the talents of some of its members, gave it an alarming 
 respectability ; and so long did it flourish, so widely did 
 it diffuse its sentiments, under various modifications, 
 throughout Christendom, that its influence disturbed the 
 
Chap, v.] OF UNIVERSALISM. j 39 
 
 church for many succeeding centuries, and reached 
 even down to the remote era of the Reformation. 
 
 The author of this heresy was one Mani, a Persian 
 philosopher, who appears to have combined a daring 
 imagination and a most fertile genius with the austerest 
 life and manners. Though educated in the schools of 
 the Magi, and thoroughly instructed in the religion and 
 sciences of his country, he abandoned the ancient es- 
 tablished profession of Zoroaster, and embraced Chris- 
 tianity ; but like many other converted philosophers, 
 he attempted an accommodation between the gospel 
 and his former theology. His history is deeply involv- 
 ed in contradictions, and mixed with fables ; but if we 
 may adopt the most probable account, he 
 About was, on his conversion, ordained Presbyt- 
 A. D. 265. erinthe cityof Ahwaz, about seventy miles 
 north of the mouth of the Euphrates. 
 As his system of doctrine was, in some of its parts, too 
 manifestly inconsistent with the tenor of the scriptures, 
 as well as repugnant to the faith of the few christians 
 already in his country, he announced himself an apostle 
 of Jesus Christ, inspn-ed by heaven to complete the 
 imperfect revelation of his Master, by declaring the re- 
 maining truths which he had not divulged, and by ful- 
 filling his ancient promise of a Comforter. But whether 
 this was the assumption of sincere fanaticism, or the 
 impious pretence of designing imposture, cannot be 
 absolutely determined. 
 
 Removing, afterwards, to the capital cities of Ctesi- 
 phon and Ecbatana, he converted the Persian king, the 
 renowned Sapor, to his religion, and obtained, perhaps, 
 
140 THE ANCIENT HISTORY Appendix to 
 
 the place of tutor to the yoang prince, Hormizdas. 
 Emboldened by the royal patronage, and growing zealous 
 with the increasing number of his followers, he prose- 
 cuted a public attack on the old rehgion of the kingdom, 
 in order to substitute his o\mi. The ancient and numer- 
 ous priesthood of Zoroaster was alarmed at this daring 
 innovation within the very court ; the ]Magi, crowding 
 around the monarch, soon succeeded in alienating him 
 from the apostate, and in rousing him to a determination 
 of avenging the violated faith of his people. Mani 
 perceived the change ; and with his more faithful disci- 
 ples, fled from the impending blow, into Mesopotamia. 
 But on the death of Sapor, in A. D. 273, he returned 
 to the Persian court, under the favor of the new king, 
 his former pupil ; and was, by him, provided with a 
 residence in a strong tower, built for his security against 
 his numerous and enraged enemies. Meanwhile, his 
 disciples taught his doctrine, with success, in various 
 parts of the country, and, perhaps, carried it eastward 
 into India. The flattering prospect of safety and 
 patronage, however, was suddenly blasted. The faith- 
 ful Hormizdas died in the second year of his reign ; 
 and his son, Varanes, on ascending the throne, soon 
 yielded to the entreaties or warnings of the Magi. 
 Having by a specious pretence, enticed his destined 
 victim from his strong hold, he seized and put him to 
 death, about A. D. 277. Thus fell Mani, probably in 
 middle life ; but the blood of the martyr only quicken- 
 ed the growth of his cause ^. 
 
 a Mosheim (De Rebus Christian. &c. pp. 737 — 740,) has mani- 
 fested his usual good sense in gathering from the confused stories of 
 antiquity, a probable narrative of Mani's Life. 
 
Chap, v.] OF UNI VERS ALISM. 141 
 
 II. Like some other Gnostics, the Manicheans held 
 two Original, Self-existent Principles, the primary causes 
 of all things. From the depths of past eternity, the 
 Universe existed in two separate and adverse regions : 
 the pure and happy world of Light, on the one hand, 
 and on the other, the world of Darkness, where all was 
 corruption, turbulence and misery. Over the realm of 
 Light, which was much the larger of the two, reigned 
 the true God, self-existent, all-wise, omnipotent, com- 
 pletely blessed, and therefore perfectly good. Innu- 
 merable angels, derived from him, filled his tranquil 
 dominion, and partook of his uninterrupted enjoyment. 
 In the deep centre of the opposite world of primeval 
 darkness, was the abode of Hyle, or Satan, the loath- 
 some prince of evil, without beginning, but stupid and 
 feeble, though unceasingly engaged in malicious craft ; 
 and the countless demons he had produced, swarmed 
 through his hideous and boisterous realm, waging mu- 
 tual warfare, and profoundly ignorant, like their king, 
 of the existence of the world of light. 
 
 In the eternal lapse of ages, an accident at length 
 occurred, by which a partial mixture took place between 
 the two original substances, hitherto distinct. In one of 
 the intestine quarrels which continually raged in the 
 kingdom of Hyle, a vanquished party of demons fled 
 to the very confines of that world ; and from hs moun- 
 tainous borders, caught their first view of the neighbor- 
 ing realm of light. Struck with admiration at its splen- 
 dor and beauty, they paused ; their pursuers arrived ; 
 and all, forgetting their mutual hostility, united in consul- 
 tation how to gain possession of the glorious world 
 
142 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Appendix to 
 
 before them. An expedition was immediately under- 
 taken ; but the all-seeing Deity, beholding their ap- 
 proach, despatched a body of celestial powers under 
 the command of an appointed leader. In the conflict 
 that ensued, the forces of darkness were at first partially 
 victorious ; and though eventually repulsed, they suc- 
 ceeded in carrying into captivity a sufficient quantity of 
 light and divine intelHgence, to give them new capaci- 
 ties, and to produce a manifest change in their world. 
 Fearing, however, that Deity would liberate and with- 
 draw that portion of light now in their kingdom, they 
 contrived to retain it. For this purpose, they made, 
 out of evil matter, a human body, like that of the late 
 leader of the celestial forces, w^hose form they remem- 
 bered ; gave this body a soul merely animal, like their 
 own ; and then drew into it the captive substance of 
 light, which became a rational soul aUied to heaven. 
 Thus completely constituted, the creature was called 
 Adam, the first of the human race. Afterwards, Eve 
 was created in a similar manner, and wuth the same 
 diversity of souls ; and it is from this diversity that 
 arises the perpetual conflict between the sensual and 
 heavenly natures of mankind. 
 
 The Deity, hpwever, did not relinquish his design of 
 reclaiming the celestial substance from the world of 
 darkness. In order to provide a suhable dwelling-place 
 for man, that his soul might be brought to spurn the soft 
 enticements of the body and return to its native mansion, 
 he created our world, midway between the primeval 
 spheres of light and darkness, out of matter furnished 
 from both these regions. The sun he made of pure 
 
Chap. V ] OF UNI\^RSALISM; I43 
 
 fire, and the moon, of uncontaminated water ; the stars 
 and the atmosphere, of a substance somewhat tinctured 
 with evil ; and our earth, of a matter ahnost wholly- 
 depraved. Here was the appointed habitation of Adam ; 
 who possessing a large share of celestial nature, perse- 
 vered awhile in rectitude. But the influence of his 
 corrupt constitution increasing, he yielded, at length, to 
 the blandishments of Eve, and so transgressed the di- 
 vine law\ The superior, rational souls of the first pair, 
 were instantly overshadowed and obscured with dark- 
 ness, and their affections enslaved by the body ; their 
 evil propensities gained entire ascendency ; and all 
 their posterity, born in the same fallen condition, are 
 free, by nature, to do only evil ; or rather, have lost the 
 knowledge how to employ their will effectually to what 
 is good^. 
 
 ' b After a long discussion of their notions concerning free-will, 
 Beausobre comes to the following conclusions : "1, The Manicbeans 
 ''allowed the soul to be free in its origin, and during its state of in- 
 "nocence. For it had power to resist evil, and to overcome it. 
 " 2, After its fall it had not absolutely lost that power, but it had lost 
 ''the use, because it was ignorant of its nature, and of its origin, 
 " and of its true interests; and because concupiscence, which has its 
 *' seat in the flesh, carries it away by an invincible force to do, or al- 
 /'low what it condemns. 3, The gospel of Jesus Christ delivers the 
 " soul from that servitude, and gives it sufficient power to subdue 
 "sin and to obey the law of God, provided it make use of the helps 
 " therein afforded." Afterwards he adds : " Finally,! allow that the 
 " ancient fathers in general say that the Manicbeans denied free-will. 
 " The reason is, that the fathers believed and maintained, against the 
 '< Marcionites and Manicbeans, that whatever be the state man is in, 
 "he has the command over his own actions, and has equally power 
 •' to do good and evil. Augustine himself reasoned upon this prin- 
 *' ciple, as well as other catholics, his predecessors, so long as he had 
 *' to do.Avith the Manicbeans. But when he came to dispute with 
 " the Pelagians, he changed his system. Then, he denied that kind 
 " of freedom which he had before defended ; and so far as I am able 
 
144 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Appendix to 
 
 In order to promote the comfort of man, while upon 
 earth, but chiefly to aid the work of his restoration, the 
 Deity, after the creation of this world, produced from 
 his own being two peculiar existences, called Christ 
 and the Holy Ghost, who, with himself, constitute a 
 trinity, Christ, the brightness of eternal light, holds 
 his throne in the resplendent orb of the sun and ex- 
 tends his influence to the moon ; the Holy Ghost re- 
 sides in our atmosphere, mollifying its asperity, cherish- 
 ing the universal principle of vivification, and operating 
 on the minds of men. 
 
 When, for many ages, God had attempted, with 
 little success, to reclaim mankind through the ministry 
 of angels and inspired saints, he at length sent Christ 
 from his abode in the sun, to visit our world, not as a 
 vicarious sufferer, but as an infallible Teacher. Assu- 
 ming only the visionary appearance of a human body, 
 the Saviour entered on his mission, instructing our fall- 
 en race how to forsake the service of the prince of 
 darkness,^ to embrace that of the true God, and to sub- 
 ject the body to the government of the soul by a life of 
 rigid virtue and extreme austerity. He only introduced, 
 without perfecting, the system of Christianity, so that his 
 first apostles knew but in part and prophesied but in 
 part ; but near the close of his ministry, and just before 
 his seeming apprehension and suffering, he promised his 
 
 " to judge, his sentiment no longer differed from that of the Mani- 
 "cheans, concerning the servitude of the will. He, however, ascrib- 
 " ed that servitude to the corruption which original sin brought into 
 ^' our nature ; whereas, they attributed it to an evil quality eternally 
 '' inherent in jnatter." Hist, de Manichee, Tom. ii. pp. 447, 448. 
 These conclusions are adopted by Lardner, Credibility of the Gospel 
 Hist, part ii. chap. Ixiii. sect. iv. 13. 
 
Chap, v.] OF UNIVERSALISM. I45 
 
 disciples to send a Comforter, who should lead them 
 into all truth. Accordingly, in due time, Mani the com- 
 forter appeared ; and not only completed his Master's 
 revelation, but also restored that doctrine which Christ 
 had already taught, to its original simplicity, by exposing 
 the many corruptions introduced by his followers. 
 
 Those souls who here obey the instructions of Christ, 
 ascend, on the death of the vile body, to their native 
 sphere ; but they who neglect, are then sent into other 
 bodies of men, brutes, or plants, to repeat their mortal 
 course of discipline, until they are fitted for heaven. 
 Such, however, as fight against the truth and persecute 
 its adherents, are first driven into the dominions of the 
 Prince of darkness, to be tormented a while in flame, 
 before they transmigrate again upon earth. 
 
 At length, in the fulness of times, when all souls, or 
 nearly all, shall have been reclaimed, and the captive 
 particles of light won back to the kingdom of Deity, 
 the whole of this world shall be destroyed by fire. 
 Some of the Manicheans, perhaps, held the restoration 
 of all souls*'; but none of them, the salvation of Hyle 
 and his demons. These are independent powers, over 
 whom, so long as they remain in their own sphere, the 
 true God claims no jurisdiction. After the end of our 
 world, they are to be forever restricted to their original 
 empire of darkness, unblest with the least mixture of 
 the good substance ; and if any human souls shall be 
 found utterly kreclaimable, they will be stationed, as 
 a guard, on the frontiers of that realm, to keep the evil 
 hosts within their rightful dominions. 
 
 c Beausobre, Hist, de Manichee, Tom. ii. pp. 569 — 575. And 
 Lardner's Credibility &c. Chap. Mani and his followers, Sect. iv. 18. 
 
 13 
 
J 46 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Appendix to 
 
 After mentioning that, like other Gnostics, the Ma- 
 nicheans denied the resurrection of the body, we have 
 only to add that they rejected the Old Testament, pre- 
 tended that many parts of the New, especially of the four 
 Gospels, had been interpolated, either by ignorant or 
 designing men; and that they received the writings of 
 Mani, as of canonical authority '^ 
 
 III. To us their scheme of doctrine appears almost 
 too monstrous for conception ; but to those brought up 
 in the oriental philosophy, it was an ingenious system, 
 the fundamental principles of which accorded with all 
 their prejudices and habits of thinking. Nor was it so 
 utterly shocking to the more simple-minded Greeks; 
 and the advantages it was supposed to offer, in account- 
 ing for the introduction of evil without implicating the 
 purity and goodness of God, counterbalanced weighty 
 objections in the opinion of many. When it had spread 
 in Persia and other oriental countries awhile, it began 
 to appear among the christians in the eastern part of the 
 Roman empire, as early, probably, as A. D. 280 ; but 
 here its progress was, at first, undoubtedly slow, as the 
 orthodox fathers do not seem to have taken any notice 
 of it, till thirty or forty years afterwards. 
 
 The sources whence I have drawn this short account of Ma- 
 nicheism, are Moshemii De Rebus Christianorum &c. pp. 728 — 903; 
 Beauscbre's large work, Histoirc de Manichee et du Maiiicheisme ; 
 and Lardner's Credibility of the Gospel Hist. Part ii. Cliap. Ixiit 
 Of Beausobre, however, 1 have made but httle use, except what may 
 be derived from Lardner's remarks, extracts and references 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 [From A. D. 254, to A. D. 390.] 
 
 I. Throughout the long period of nearly a century 
 and a half, to be surveyed in this chapter, there is not 
 an intimation found that Origen's Universalism gave any 
 offence in the church, notwithstanding his writings, the 
 meanwhile, underwent the severest scrutiny, and w^ere 
 frequently attacked on other points. In order to give a 
 full view of the state of that doctrine in this age, we 
 must attempt a narration intricate and often digressive, 
 stating not only the opinions of all the principal fathers 
 concerning future punishment, but likewise all the com- 
 plaints and controversies that arose on Origen's senti- 
 ments^''. As we proceed we shall discov^er, what is a 
 very important fact, that even the few who treated his 
 
 a Huetii Origeniana, (inter Origenis Opera) particularly Lib. ii, 
 cap. 4. direct? to nearly all the materials for a history of Origen's 
 doctrine By his doctrine, we mean, of course, not his Universalism 
 in particular, but his general religious system, or rather the whole 
 body of his peculiar tenets. Whoever has perused Huet's work, 
 will scarcely be repaid for reading the smaller and less critical treat- 
 ise, '' Histoire de TOrigenisme, par le P. Louis Doucin," published at 
 Paris, 1700, in one volume, 16mo. of 388 narrow pages; but even 
 this contains much more information than Bishop Rust's '' Letter of 
 Resolution concerning Origen, and the Chief of his Opinions," which 
 may be found in the first volume of The Phenix, a miscellaneous 
 work begun at London in 1707. I have seen the following titles, 
 but not the works: ''Joh. Hen. Ilorbii Historia Origeniana, sive de 
 ultima origine et progressu Haereseos Origenis Adamantii." Franc. 
 1670 ; and " Berrow's Illustration and Defence of the Opinions of 
 Origen." 4to. 
 
148 • THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 name with indignity, and bitterly censured various parts 
 of his doctrine, uniformly passed, in silence, over the 
 prominent tenet of Universal Salvation. 
 
 It was but a few years after his death that some of 
 his views appear to have been, for the first time, iniMicly 
 impeached ; though in this instance, without mentioning 
 his name. Origen had combatted, even in his earhest 
 publications, the prevaihng notion of Christ's personal 
 reign on earth for a thousand years after the resurrection ; 
 and his successive attacks, which he continued to urge 
 against this point with more than his wonted spirit, had 
 eventually brought it into disrepute, to the great dissatis- 
 faction of the few who still adhered to it. 
 A. D. 257, Towards the year 260, as is supposed, 
 to 263. Nepos, bishop of some place in Egypt, 
 published in its defence, a Confutation of 
 the Allegorists ; a title which aimed, undoubtedly, 
 against Origen and his followers. This book, now lost, 
 was well received in some parts of Egypt, particularly 
 in the district of Arsinoe, south of the lake Moeris ; 
 where, under its influence, the doctrine of the Millen- 
 nium began to revive, and in the course of a few years, 
 involved several churches in schism. But Dionysius 
 the Great, formerly a scholar of Origen, and now bishop 
 of Alexandria, happening in the infected district, about 
 A. D. 262, undertook, with great moderation and pru- 
 dence, to eradicate the sentiment, and restore the 
 churches there to harmony. After a public discussion 
 of three days, he had the satisfaction of bringing over 
 all its advocates to his own opinion ; and following up 
 his peaceful victory, he wrote a book On the Divine 
 
vi.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 149 
 
 Promises, in which he contended that the passages 
 which had been used in evidence of a Millennium, 
 should be understood in an allegorical, rather than in 
 the literal sense. Here ended this affair''. 
 
 n. It will be readily believed that so obscure and 
 momentary a disturbance could not diminish the re- 
 nown of Origen. Accordingly, we find 
 A. D. 280, that twenty or thirty years afterwards, to 
 
 — 290. call an author by his name, was generally 
 
 esteemed the greatest honor which could 
 be conferred ; and it appears that he was imitated by 
 some Egyptian writers, particularly by the learned Pie- 
 rius, a presbyter of Alexandria, and by Theognostus, 
 president of the Catechetical School in that city : both 
 whose works have perished*^. But though his memo- 
 ry was held in general veneration, it seems, neverthe- 
 less, that the division originally occasioned by Deme- 
 trius, still continued in a certain degree, among the 
 Egyptian churches'^. 
 
 And in Asia, a public attack, more di- 
 A. D. 290, rect and hostile than that of Nepos, was, 
 
 — 300. about this time, made upon several points 
 
 of his doctrine. Methodius, bishop at first 
 of Olympus in Lycia, and then of Tyre, became, from 
 some cause unknown, bitterly prejudiced against his 
 memory, and sought every means to render it odious. 
 He published, professedly against him, a treatise On ths 
 
 b Cave's Lives of the Fathers, Chap. Dionysius, § l5. And Mo- 
 sheim, De- Rebus Christian. &c. pp. 720 — 728. c See the 
 
 accounts of Pierius and Theognostus, in Du Pin, Lardner, &c. 
 
 ^ Petrus Alexandrinus; apud Justiniani Epist. ad Menam, quoted 
 by Du Pin. 
 
 13* 
 
150 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 Resurrection, another On the Pythoness or Witch of En- 
 dor, and a third On Created Things; in all which, as 
 well as in some other pieces, he inveighed against his 
 opinions, and sometimes treated him with angry abuse. 
 In the first, he directed his attacks against such of Ori- 
 gen's notions as may be comprised under the following 
 heads, viz. 1, That mankind will rise from the dead 
 with aerial instead of fleshly bodies ; 2, That in the 
 ages of eternity, the saints will become angels ; 3, That 
 human souls have existed and sinned in a former state 
 of being ; 4, That Adam and Eve were, before their 
 transgression, incorporeal spirits ; and 5, that the gar- 
 den of Eden, so called, w^as an abode in heaven, be- 
 longing to the pre-existent state. The second work, 
 now lost, is said to have been a stricture upon some of 
 Origen's notions concerning the Witch of Endor, and 
 the apparition of Samuel ; and the third, of which only 
 a fragment remains, was a refutation of an opinion, at- 
 tributed perhaps falsely to him, that the world had no 
 begi7initig, as well as of another, which in some sense 
 he doubtless advanced, that the world existed long he- 
 fore the six days of creation mentioned in Genesis. 
 With these seven or eight particulars, there are some 
 points more trivial which Methodius selected as obnox- 
 ious ; but in all his search for errors, Universalism es- 
 caped without a censure ''. After these attacks, it 
 
 e Du Pin's Biblioth. Pat. Art. Methodius. And Lavdnnr's Credi- 
 bility &c. Chap. Methodius. And Epiphanii Panarium, Haires. Ixiv. 
 where most of Methodius On the Resurrection, is preserved. Also, 
 Photii Bibliotheca, Cod. 234, 235. Some have said that Methodius's 
 treatise On Free-will, was against Origen; but it was against the 
 Valentinians. 
 
vi.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 151 
 
 seems, he grew more favorably disposed towards the 
 object of his late enmity ; and at length joined in the 
 general admiration of his talents and virtues^. He was 
 a writer of no great celebrity. While this was transact- 
 ing in the East, Origen's writings appear to have found 
 a professed admirer in the West : Victorinus, who was 
 probably a Greek by birth and education, but now bish- 
 op of Petabiura on the Danube in Western Germany, is 
 said to have imitated him in his Commentaries, though 
 he disagreed with him in some of his views, particular- 
 ly on the Millennium ^. 
 
 III. In the numerous and influential churches of Al- 
 exandria, we discover that the troubles which arose on 
 his expulsion, seventy or eighty years before, had not 
 yet subsided. Among his adversaries, now, was Peter, 
 tlie bishop ; the first, probably, from that class, who had 
 presided there, since the time of Demetrius. About 
 this time, or a little after, Peter pijblicly opposed the 
 notion of pre-existence, though incidentally, perhaps, 
 and without ascribing it to Origen. But he certainly 
 betrayed his prejudice by unjustly stigmatizing him with 
 the character of a schismatic, merely for having disobey- 
 ed his passionate and domineering bishop^. There is 
 
 Lardner thinks that Methodius was made bishop about a. d, 290; 
 and martyred in the year 311, or 312. It is suspected that his mali- 
 cious treatment of Origen, was the reason of Eusebius's remarkable 
 omission of his name in his Ecclesiastical History. f Huet, 
 
 Origenian. Lib. ii. cap. 4, sect. i. § 2, inter Origenis Opera, Edit. 
 Delarue ; cum Not. in loco. s Hieronymi Epist. xxxvi. ad 
 
 Vigilant, p. 276, Edit. Martianay. And Cave, Hist. Literaria, Art. 
 Victorinus Petavionensis. h Petrus Alexandrinus apud Jus- 
 
 tiniani Epist. ad Menam, quoted by Du Pin, Biblioth. Pat. Art. Peter 
 of Alexandria 1. Yet Eusebius mentions Peter with praise. 
 
152 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 reason to suspect that the dissentions at Alexandria, 
 never ceased till they at length produced, as we shall 
 hereafter see, two avowed parties, both in the orthodox 
 churches there, and in the monasteries of the Egyptian 
 deserts. 
 
 IV. As we are now arrived, however, at the age of 
 two eminent fathers of the Western church, who expli- 
 citly stated their opinions of future torments, we shall 
 make a moment's digression in order to avail our- 
 selves of their representations. Arnobius of Sicca, 
 about seventy or eighty miles southwest of Carthage in 
 Africa, wrote his large work Against the Heathens, proba- 
 bly about A. D. 305 ; in which he asserted that the wick- 
 ed will, hereafter " be thrown into torrents of fire, amidst 
 " dark caverns and whirlpools, where they shall at length 
 "be annihilated and vanish in perpetual extinction," 
 while the righteous on the other hand, shall reign in 
 life eternal ; " for," says he, " souls are of such a mid- 
 '* die nature that they can be exterminated when they 
 " have not the knowledge of the God of Hfe, and can 
 " also be preserved from destruction by taking heed to 
 "his threatenings and his mercies'." So thought Ar- 
 nobius. But his own scholar, the celebrated Lactantius, 
 who, after going to Asia Minor, wrote his Institutes, ^^qv- 
 haps about A. D. 306 •", asserted the endless misery, 
 
 i Arnobius Adversus Gentes, Lib. ii, pp. 52, 53; Edit. LugdunS 
 Bat. 1651. It lias been said that this work was written soon after his 
 conversion, while he was only a Catechumen ; but Laidner shows, 
 Batisfactorily I think, from the book itself, that the author must have 
 been in full communion. See Lardner's Credibility &c. chap. Ar- 
 nobius. J Cave and Lardner place this work at a. d. 306; 
 and the latter assigns his reasons against the former critics, who had, 
 for the most part, brought it down to about a. d. 321. 
 
vi.] OF UNIVERSALISM. I53 
 
 instead of the annihilation of unbelievers. Having men- 
 tioned certain events to precede the end of the world, 
 he says, " After these things the secret place of the 
 " dead shall be laid open, and they shall rise. And 
 " on them the great Judgment shall set, conducted by 
 " that King and God, to whom the supreme Father 
 
 " shall give full power both to jndge and to reign 
 
 " Nevertheless, not the whole Universe, but only such 
 " as have professed the divine religion, shall then be 
 "judged. For since those who never confessed God, 
 " cannot possibly be absolved, they have been already 
 "judged and condemned : as the holy scriptures testify 
 " that the impious are not to rise in the judgment. 
 " (Ps. i. 5.) Accordingly those only will be judged 
 " who beheved in God ; and their deeds shall be 
 " weighed, the evil against the good, that if their right- 
 •' eous w^orks are more in number and weight, they may 
 *' be admitted to happiness ; but if their wicked acts ex- 
 " ceed, they may be condemned to punishment''." Af- 
 terwards he proceeds to describe more particularly the 
 future conditions of these several classes : the impious 
 who have never acknowledged the true God, shall be 
 consigned to endless torment, in devouring yet unconsum- 
 ing flame ; but the professors whose sins exceed their 
 righteousness, shall be more slightly touched and scorch- 
 ed by the fire ; while they who are fully matured in 
 holiness, shall pass through it without the least sensation 
 of pain K 
 
 k Lactantii Institut. Lib. vii. cap. 20. I Ditto. Lib. vii. cap. 
 
 21 . Du Pin has not exactly stated Lactantius's meaning here. 
 
154 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 Neither the sentiment of Arnobius, nor that of Lac- 
 tantius, on this subject, though different from each other, 
 appears to have occasioned any complaint or dissatisfac- 
 tion. Both of these authors acquired considerable 
 fame : the latter was the most elegant and classical 
 writer of all the Latin fathers ; and the fond partiality 
 of his admirers, has ventured to compare his style, for 
 excellence, with that of Cicero. 
 
 V. Resuming the history of Origen's doctrine, we 
 discover that in addition to the particulars on which 
 Methodius had inveighed against him, he began now to 
 be accused of error concerning the Trinity and Incarna- 
 tion. To the former of these points the public atten- 
 tion had been awakened more than half a century before, 
 by Origen's own controversy with Beryllus ; and 
 afterwards by those that the church carried on against 
 Noetus, Sabelhus and Paul of Samosata. And if, as 
 is thought, Lucian, a learned presbyter of Antioch, had 
 still more lately advanced notions contrary to trinitarian- 
 ism, the circumstance would naturally add fresh excite- 
 ment to feelings already on the alarm. The jealousy 
 thus roused and cherished, was now scrutinizing every 
 form of expression in order to detect heresy on this 
 subject : though the self-constituted censors were by no 
 means clear nor unanimous as to the precise point they 
 themselves would regard as truth. Many began to dis- 
 cover in the writings of the venerated Origen, expres- 
 sions inconsistent with their favorite tenet ; and conse- 
 quently the enmity against him, which had hitherto 
 been confined to a few individuals, instantly spread to 
 a considerable extent. Some became satisfied, un- 
 doubtedly from candid examination, that if he were not' 
 
vi.] OF UNIVERSALISM. I55 
 
 really heretical, he had given too much occasion to 
 error ; but others, having gathered up some of his more 
 adventurous speculations concerning the Godhead, broke 
 out into clamor, and pronounced him, at once, a here- 
 tic. And there were others again, unable to read the 
 Greek, who took up against him on mere report; of 
 which, as is usual in such cases, the loud tone of hatred 
 and abuse, was much sooner heard, than the still, small 
 voice of truth and commendation. They accused him 
 of various and opposite errors; and so manifest was the 
 falsehood of most of their charges, that nothing could 
 more conclusively demonstrate the unreasonable motives 
 of the attack. So high did the indignation rise, that 
 even those who only read his writings, or cherished his 
 reputation, were severely censured™. 
 
 This angry commotion, though in reality so insignifi- 
 cant that we cannot now ascertain its authors, was then 
 regarded as sufficiently formidable to require a public 
 defence of Origen ; and two distinguished admirers of 
 his writings, who held offices in the church where he 
 himself had flourished sixty or seventy years before, 
 undertook the work. Pamphikis, a learned presbyter 
 of Cesarea in Palestine, and Eusebius, his fellow pres- 
 byter, the renowned father of eclesiastical 
 A. D 307, history, wrote a large and labored Apology 
 to 310. for Origen; in part of which they stated 
 and thoroughly canvassed the accusations 
 brought against his doctrine. Happily for us, this part 
 which was the first book of the work, is still extant, in 
 the Latin translation of Rufinus. The authors formally 
 
 m Pamphili Praefat. ad Apolog. pro Origene, compared with 
 Apolog, cap. V, &c. inter Origenis Opera, Edit. Delarue, Tom. iv. 
 
156 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 arrange the charges of his enemies against him, in the 
 following order: "1. They [his accusers~\ say he as- 
 ' serted that the Son of God is unbegotten ; 2. they 
 * accuse him of teaching, like the Valentinians, that the 
 ' Son of God came into existence by emanation ; 3. 
 ' they charge him, contrary to the former accusations, 
 ' of holding with Artemas and Paul of Samosata, that 
 ' Christ, the Son of God, was a mere man, and not 
 ' God ; 4. next, they contradict all these charges by 
 ' saying (so blind is malice,) that he taught that it 
 ' was only in appearance the Saviour performed the 
 ' deeds ascribed to him, and that the history of him is 
 ' but an allegory, not a reality ; 5. another charge they 
 '^bring, is, that he taught there w^ere two Christs ; 6. 
 ' they add that he w'holly denied the literal accounts 
 ' w hich the scriptures give of the lives of the saints ; 
 ' 7. they calumniously attack him on the resurrection 
 ' of the dead, and the punishment of the impious ; ac- 
 ' cusing him of denying that torments are to be inflict- 
 ' ed on sinners ; S. they censure some of his arguments 
 ' oi" opinions concerning the soul, [i. e. its pre-exist- 
 ' ence ;] 9. the last charge of all, which is circulated 
 ' in every shape of infamy, is, that he asserted that 
 ' human souls will, after death, be changed into dumb 
 ' animals, either reptiles or quadrupeds ; and also that 
 ' brutes have rational souls : which charge w^e have 
 'placed last, that w^e may collect the more testimonies 
 ' from his books, to render the falsehood of it the 
 'plainer. Now," continue they, "observing the or- 
 ' der of the charges above stated, we will begin with 
 ' the first"". They accordingly proceed with them 
 
 1 Apolog. pro Origene. cap. v. 
 
vl] OF UNIVERSALISM. I57 
 
 in course ; and by adducing copious extracts from Ori- 
 gen's own writings, successfully defend him from each 
 of the accusations, except the eighth, which relates to 
 the pre-existence of human souls. This, they admit, 
 was truly his sentiment ; but they excuse it as being 
 probably correct, or at least of no consequence, even if 
 erroneous. 
 
 VI. We cannot discover in all this affair, that his 
 doctrine of Universal Salvation was regarded as censura- 
 ble ; and an incidental circumstance shows that his 
 learned Apologists neither knew that he had ever been 
 reproached for that tenet, nor suspected that it could oc- 
 casion any odium whatever. For when they come to 
 defend him against the latter item in the seventh charge, 
 that is, against the charge of having denied all future 
 punishment, they select, among several other testimonies 
 from his works, two distinct paragraphs, in which he 
 had as usual spoken of torments to be hereafter in- 
 flicted by fire; but in which he, at the same time, 
 represented them as altogether remedial : " we are to 
 " understand," said he, " that God, our physician, in or- 
 " der to remove those disorders which our souls con- 
 " tract from various sins and abominations, uses tliat 
 " painful mode of cure, and brings those torments of 
 " fire upon such as have lost the health of the soul, just 
 " as an earthly physician, in extreme cases, subjects his 
 " patients to cautery." " And Isaiah teaches that the 
 " punishment said to be inflicted by fire, is very need- 
 " ful ; saying of Israel, the Lord shall wash away the 
 ''^ filth of the sons and daughters of Zion, and purge the 
 14 
 
158 THE ANCIENT rilSTORY [Chap. 
 
 " blood from their midst, by the spirit of judgment, and 
 " the spirit of burning. (Isa. iv. 4.)" &lc°. 
 
 This testimony from Origen, like a thousand other 
 passages which might have been selected from his writ- 
 ings, was, indeed, an effectual refutation of the particu- 
 lar charge brought aganist him ; but it was, at the same 
 time, a proof that he regarded future punishment as pu- 
 rifying and salutary. Had this sentiment been obnox- 
 ious at that day, Pamphilus and Eusebius would 
 rather have avoided such passages, than have obtruded 
 them, thus unnecessarily, upon the attention of his cap- 
 tious enemies; lest in defending him from an accusation 
 so easily refuted, they should bring upon him one that 
 could never be removed. And we may add, that their 
 introducing such passages, without remark, while main- 
 taining that Origen was sound in the faith, gives, at 
 least, some color of probability to the charge, which was 
 nearly a century afterwards brought ^ against them, of 
 holding with him the doctrine of Universal Restitution, 
 as well as that of Pre-existence. Of Pamphilus there 
 is nothing else extant ; so that in his case, this appear- 
 ance can neither be confirmed nor removed. And it 
 would probably be difficult, if not impossible, to deter- 
 mine, from tbe numerous works which Eusebius after- 
 wards pubhshed, what was his opinion on this subject^. 
 
 o Apol. pro Origene cap. [viii. p By Jerome, Lib. ii. Ad- 
 
 versus Rufinum, p. 407. Tom. iv. Part. ii. Edit. Martianay ; and af- 
 terwards by an anonymous writer cfthe sixth century', published by 
 R. P. Lupo. See Delarue's Admonitio in ;Apolog. S. Pamphili pro 
 Origene. Both of these authors, however, seem to have grossly mis- 
 represented, at least, the circumstances of the case. a I have 
 not access to all the works of Eusebius ; but judge 'this state- 
 
vi.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 159 
 
 Both, however, were ardent admirers of Origen's wtU- 
 ings ; a large part of which, the former had laborious- 
 ly transcribed, with his own hand, for a famous ecclesi- 
 astical library, which he established at Cesarea. The 
 two friends had likewise pubhshed corrected copies of 
 the Septuagint, taken from the Hexapla. We may add, 
 that Eusebius has been accused of holding Origen's 
 peculiar notion, that human bodies, at the resurrection, 
 will be of an aerial substance \ 
 
 VII. Pamphilus was thrown into prison at Cesarea, 
 in the year 307, by the heathen persecutors ; and Eu- 
 sebius either underwent the same sentence, or volunta- 
 rily shared his confinement. It was here, that the two 
 friends began the Apology ; but when they had pro- 
 ceeded to the end of the fifth book, Pamphilus was re- 
 leased from his bonds, and led forth to martyrdom. 
 This was in the year 309. Eusebius then added the 
 sixth, or last, book to the common work, and dedicated 
 the whole to those christians who were condenmed to 
 labor as slaves in the mines of Palestine ^ 
 
 Eusebius survived to witness the most eventful and 
 momentous change which the church has ever experi- 
 enced. He was elevated to the bishopric of Cesarea, 
 about A. D. 313, when Christianity first received a full 
 and effectual toleration; and in succeeding years he 
 beheld it continually rising in the favor of Constantino, 
 till it was, at length, declared the establish- 
 A. D. 324. ed rehgion of the empire. Amidst the 
 scenes of security and worldly splendor, 
 
 ment correct, from the general character of his writings, and from thB 
 Bilence of all the ancient fathers and modern critics. r Photii 
 
 Epist. 144. s Delarue Admonit. in Apolog. pro Origene. 
 
1(30 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 which nov/ succeeded the long and tempestuous reign 
 of persecution, the bishop of Cesarea, high in the impe- 
 rial favor, often looked back, in tender remembrance, to 
 his early associate and martyred friend ; and as a 
 testimonial of an affection which neither time nor hon- 
 ors could extinguish, he wrote his life, and took upon 
 himself the surname of Pamphilus. That his admira- 
 tion also of Origen did not diminish with increasing 
 years, we find ample proof in his Ecclesiastical History^ 
 and in his succeeding works. He was by far the most 
 learned bishop of his time ; and what is greater praise, 
 he was moderate and unaspiring, in an age of cler- 
 ical \dolence and ambition. Though the favorite of 
 Constantine, he never abused his influence either for 
 personal or party purposes ; and when the great bishop- 
 ric of Antioch was offered him on the deposition of Eu- 
 stathius, he declined exchanging his own diocess of 
 Cesarea, for that of all the East, the third for dignity 
 in Christendom. 
 
 The latter part of his life was disturbed by the unho- 
 ly and cruel contest which began to rage between the 
 Arians and Trinitarians ; in which he often concurred 
 in the measures of the former, though he did not ap- 
 prove their doctrine. They were, in his time, the in- 
 jured party. Whether his views on the contested ques- 
 tion itself, were fully orthodox, is disputed ; and it is 
 certain that in the famous Council of Nice, he not only 
 urged the petulant bishops to adopt such a Declaration 
 of Faith as both parties could receive, but that he also 
 
vi.] OF UNIVERSALISM. Igl 
 
 refused to subscribe their Creed, except with an inter- 
 pretation of his own . 
 
 VIII. The Arian controversy, to which we have just 
 alluded, began at Alexandria, about A. D. 317, bringing 
 a dark cloud over the church, in the very morning of her 
 political establishment. It spread, instantly, hke a con- 
 flagration, over all Egypt, and soon involved Europe 
 and Asia. The great and imposing synod of all Chris- 
 tendom, which assembled, A. D. 325, at Nice, in Asia 
 Minor, was called together, by the Emperor, with the 
 vain hope of determining this dispute ; but though it 
 managed to decide against Arius, by an almost unanim- 
 ous decree, that the Son was Consubstantial with the 
 Father, it resulted only in dignifying the contention, and 
 enraging the temper of the partisans. These separated in- 
 to three divisions : the Consuhstantialists,ox'^dLXvonsoi\hQ 
 Nicene Creed ; the Semi-Arians, a sort of imperfect 
 trinitarians ; and the Arians, who held that Christ was 
 properly a created being. A most disgraceful scene 
 followed, till toward the close of this century. Coun- 
 cil against council assembled, and deliberately opposed 
 falsehood to falsehood, and fraud to fraud ; deposi- 
 tion and excommunication were decreed, as either par- 
 ty gained a momentary ascendancy in the church; 
 the imperial authority obsequiously enforced the mad 
 decrees alternately of each sect, till it filled the deserts 
 of Egypt, and the remote regions of the empire with 
 exiled bishops ; and the furious rabble on both sides, 
 
 t Jortin (Remarks on Eccl. Hist. Vol. iii.) treats largely and im- 
 partially of Eusebius's character. 
 
 14* 
 
162 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 at length resorted to riots and massacres, to gratify 
 their revenue, or to exercise their malicious zeal. The 
 heathens, from whom the power of persecution had 
 been so lately transferred, might have consoled tliem- 
 selves in prospect of its being more effectually exert- 
 ed in the self-destroying hands of a divided and fac- 
 tious national church. 
 
 Into this scene of contention we must now 
 A. D. 320, follow the history of Origen's doctrine. It 
 to 360. does not, indeed, appear to have been, at 
 first, so deeply involved as some writers 
 intimate. The virulent attacks from wdiich Pamphilus 
 and Eusebius had defended him, seem to have subsided; 
 and all the concern that his name, or his writings, had 
 with the grand controversy, till some time past the mid- 
 dle of this century, may be described in few words. 
 As his great authority would give considerable ad- 
 vantage to any cause in which it was exerted, the sev- 
 eral parties gladly availed themselves of it, whenever it 
 could be brought to operate in their favor; but on the 
 contrary, when it seemed to oppose their views, they 
 would naturally endeavor to depreciate it. The Arians, 
 however, do not appear to have been very confident of 
 securing the patronage of his name, though some of them 
 claimed him for their own ; but of the two other parties, 
 the Semi-Arians were generally his professed admirers ; 
 and the ConsubstantiaHsts also appealed to his testi- 
 mony, as full and exphcit upon their own side. Only 
 one of them, so far as we know, IMarcellus, bishop of 
 Ancyra in Galatia, incidentally impeached the sound- 
 
vi.] OF UNIVERSALISM. jg3 
 
 ness of his faith conceraing tlie trinity". This was about 
 A. D. 330. But he was an author whose complaint could 
 have little weight, as it was suspected that his zeal against 
 the damnable heresy of Arius, had precipitated him, 
 on the other hand, into the perdition of Sabellianism. 
 The guardian Genius of the Nicene faith, the great and 
 intrepid Athanasius, always quoted Origen as orthodox ; 
 Hilary of Poictiers in France, the ablest and most ac- 
 tive defender of the same faith, in the West, became 
 an imitator of his writings ; and so did Eusebius Ver- 
 cellensis'', another Athanasian bishop of distinction, who 
 presided over the churches scattered around the sources 
 of the Eridanus, or modern Po, in Italy. This exam- 
 ple of tlieir leaders was followed by most of the party. 
 Some years afterwards, or about A. D. 370, when Ba- 
 sil the Great, Didymus, and the two Gregories Nazian- 
 zen and Nyssen, stood at the head of the Consubstan- 
 tialists in the East, we find them among Origen's warm- 
 est admirers, defending him from the occasional claims 
 of the Arians. This sketch, though brief, is a pretty 
 full account of the treatment his name experienced in 
 the Arian dispute, till A. D. 360, and indeed till sever- 
 al years later. 
 
 IX. On certain other subjects, however, not imme- 
 diately connected with the main controversy, he was 
 once attacked, during this period, in a formal manner, 
 and with a very angry spirit, by Eustathius, an eminent 
 
 n Eusebii Contra Marcell. Lib. i. See Du Pin's Biblioth. Patr. 
 Art. Eusebius Pamphilus. ^ Hieronymi Epist. hxxiv. ad Au- 
 
 gustin. Tom. iv. Part. ii. p. 627; and Epist. xxxvi. ad Vigilant, p. 
 
154 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 orthodox bishop of the East. This prelate had been 
 ti'anslated from the bishopric of Beroea, the modern 
 Aleppo, to the great see of Antioch, about the time of 
 the Nicene council ; but in A. D. 330, he Avas deposed 
 by an Arian faction, and as we have observed his arch- 
 bishopric was" offered, though in vain, to Eusebius Pam- 
 philus, who had concurred with his adversaries. Wheth- 
 er it was after this deposition, that Eustathius made his 
 attack upon Origen, cannot be determined ; nor wheth- 
 er it was his motive to mortify his hated rival of Cesarea, 
 by bringing a general odium on the favorite father, whom 
 that learned historian had so highly extolled. But he 
 published, at what time is unknown ^^, a treatise against 
 Origen, in which he assailed him with much asperity, 
 and fooHshly charged him with lying against the scrip- 
 tures, and with endeavoring to introduce idolatry and 
 magic into the church. The professed object of his book 
 was, like that of the Pythoness of Methodius, to prove 
 that it was not the soul of the prophet Samuel, that the 
 Witch of Endor raised, as Origen had somewhere as- 
 serted, but only a phantom produced by the imposture 
 of the devil. He frequently takes occasion, however, 
 to rail against several other notions of Origen, particu- 
 larly against his views of the resurrection, and his 
 extravagant allegories. Of the latter he recites and 
 misrepresents numerous instances, Avith the manifest de- 
 sign to expose his doctrine in the worst possible light; 
 
 w There is much uncertainty in the history of Eustathius. Some 
 think he died about a, d. 337; others, that he Uved till about a. d. 
 360. See Cave, Hist. Literaria, and Du Pin's Bibliotheca Pat. Art. 
 Eustathius. 
 
vi.] OF UNIVERSALISM. I55 
 
 but in all this learned bishop's reproaches, which fell 
 even upon Origen's style of writing, Universalism, it 
 seems, escaped with impunity^. And what is equally 
 remarkable, this was likewise the case amidst all tlie 
 clamor of the Arian controversy, so far as we have just 
 surveyed it. 
 
 The next attack upon him was that of ApoUinarius 
 the Younger, a learned bishop and distinguished writer 
 of Laodicea in Phrygia, who was afterwards condemned 
 for Sabellianism. He is said to have written against 
 Origen, not far, probably, from A. D. 360 ; but on 
 what points is unknow^n, except that it was not on the 
 doctrine of the trinity^. This completes^ the account 
 of censures upon his sentiments till we arrive at the 
 year 376, when the attack of Epiphanius will come un- 
 der our notice. 
 
 X. Such was the general character of the proceed- 
 ings relative to Origen and his sentiments, and such the 
 
 X Eustath. de Engrastriniytho, adversus Origenem. 1 have notbeen- 
 able to find this book, and have therefore drawn my account from 
 the notices of it scattered through Huetii Origeniana, and from: 
 Du Pin's abstract, Bibhoth. Patr. Art. Eustathius. y Theo- 
 
 phiH Alexandrini Paschal. Lib. i. inter Hieronymi Opera, Tom. iv.. 
 p. CC4, Edit. Martianay. And Socratis Hist. Eccl. Lib. vi. cap. 13. 
 
 2 Cave mistakes when he says, in his Life of Origen, § 29, (Lives 
 of the Fathers) that Athanasius indirectly condemned his notion of 
 the end of hell-torments ; for the piece to which he refers (Testi- 
 monia ex Sac. Script, de Nat. Commun. simil. Essent. inter Pat- et 
 Fil. et Spirit. Sanct.) is not Athanasius's, but a much later author's. 
 See Cave, Hist. Literaria, and Du Pin's Bibhoth. Pat. Art. Athana- 
 sius, and the Benedictine Editors' Preface to that piece in Athanasii 
 Opera, Tom.ii. p. 3. 
 
 If Huet (Origeniana, Lib. ii. cap. 4, Sect. i. § 5,) alluded, as I 
 think he did, to Vitse Sancti Antonii cap. 75, for Athanasius's covert 
 censure of Origen's notion of the lapse of souls, he also mistook ; for 
 the passage regards only the notions of heathens on that point, not 
 Origen's. 
 
166 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 peculiar circumstances and facts we have narrated, as 
 to show, satisfactorily, that the doctrine of Universal 
 Restoration was regarded, in the church, as neither 
 heretical nor even unpopular; and that the standard of 
 orthodoxy, so far as it concerned that particular point, 
 was then supposed to require only a beUef in future 
 punishment. Still, we must not thence conclude that 
 the fathers of this age were, in general, decided Uni- 
 versalists. Many of them had, probably, no definite 
 opinion at all upon a subject which had never under- 
 gone the ordeal of controversy ; and several would 
 seem to have believed in endless misery. This will 
 be sufficiently apparent, if we select some of the strong- 
 est expressions which the more distinguished of them 
 indulged respecting the fate of the damned. Every 
 body knows that the first, in influence, 
 A. D. 347, among the orthodox at this time, was 
 to 370. Athanasius : " Repent," says he, " lest 
 " at any time your soul should be snatch- 
 " ed away by death ; for none can deliver those who, 
 " on account of tlieir sins, are confined in hell ^." Yet 
 the same author held that Christ descended to hell, 
 or the place of the dead, after his crucifixion, and 
 released the saints of the old dispensation, and likewise 
 the souls of such Gentiles as had, before his coming, 
 lived virtuously according to the light of nature ^. This, 
 too, was the opinion of Cyrill ", bishop of Jerusalem ; 
 
 a Athanasii Exposit. in Psalm, xlix. Tom. i. p. 1086. Edit. Paris. 
 1693. b Du Pin's Biblioth. Pat. An. Athanasius. 
 
 ^ Cyrilli Hierosolymit. Catechesis iv. cap.8j and Catechesis Mys- 
 tagogica v. 
 
^^.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 167 
 
 whom we might also pronoance a believer in endless 
 misery, if his frequent application of the word everlast- 
 ing to punishment, were proof. At the future coming 
 of Christ to the general Judgment, then just at hand, 
 and which is described, he thinks, in the last chapter 
 of Daniel, and m the twenty fourth and twenty fifth of 
 St. JMatthew, the just were to be admitted to eternal 
 life, and the wicked consigned to everlasting fire*^. 
 We may venture, nevertheless, to assert that neither of 
 these two bishops regarded Universalism with any an- 
 tipathy. Ephraim the SjTian, a gloomy, rigid, and 
 somewhat fanatical monk of Mesopotamia, but stih a 
 very eminent writer, asserted that " there is no con- 
 " fession in hell ; no tears, no groans, can there avert 
 "the sentence of the Judge. There will, no longer, 
 " be any time to repent. There is no return after 
 " death ; but every thing terrible and severe falls on 
 " those who have lost the opportunity for repentance ®." 
 In the western church, the celebrated Hilary, bishop 
 of Poictiers, taught, with a slight variation from what 
 Lactantius had advanced, that in the general judg- 
 ment neither the pious nor the infidels are to be airaign- 
 ed; because Christ had said He that believeth on me 
 shall not be judged, and jHe that believeth not, is con- 
 demned already. The judgment, accordingly, shall 
 be for those only who hold a middle grade between 
 these two characters f. And such, he probably held, 
 would be saved, after suffering the arrears due them 
 
 d Catechesis, XV. e Ephrsem Syri Lib.De Extreme Judi- 
 
 cio cap. 4. f Hilarii Enarratio in PsaJm. i. 
 
16S THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 from justice ; while the case of the obstinate infidels 
 would be utterly hopeless. But still it was his opinion 
 that all mankind, even the very holiest, must pass 
 through the intense and painful fire of the general con- 
 flagration : the Virgin Mary herself cannot be exempted 
 from this terrible purification ; for Simeon had fore- 
 warned her that a sword should pierce her own soul also. 
 (Luke ii. 35^.) As Hilary had been an exile in 
 Phrygia, he may have obtained some of these notions 
 among the eastern christians ; and perhaps from read- 
 ing Origen's works in particular, which he certainly 
 admired and imitated. 
 
 XI. There were, however, some decided 
 A. D. 360, Universalists among the orthodox bishops 
 to 370. of this age. About forty miles east of the 
 river Jordan, beyond the hilly tract of the 
 ancient Perea, the traveller descends upon a spacious, 
 barren plain, where vestiges of forgotten towns appear, 
 here and there, and a few sunken reservoirs still sup- 
 ply the wandering hordes, and the regular caravans, with 
 •water preserved from the winter torrents. Traversing 
 this neglected waste to the distance of a dozen or fif- 
 teen miles still eastward, he arrives at the ruins of an 
 ancient city, near the borders of the Desert Arabia. 
 Fragments of the old walls, remains of a splendid 
 temple, of triumphal arches, of a church and monastery, 
 and of a great mosque, together with numberless pillars 
 broken and lying among rose-trees in bloom, indicate 
 the site of the ancient Bostra^. In the fourth century 
 
 g Enarratio in Psalm, cxviii. liier, Gimel. h D'AnvHle's An- 
 
 cient Geography, vol. i.p. 425 ; and Burckhardt's Travels in Sy- 
 
vi.} OF UNIVERSALISM. jgg 
 
 it was a populous city, the capital of a small province to 
 which the vanity of the Roman conquerors had ar- 
 rogantly appropriated the name of Arabia. At the 
 period of which we write, Titus, a bishop of considera- 
 ble eminence, presided here, over the churches in this 
 district, and numbered among his own christian flock half 
 the inhabitants of the city. Though he appears to have 
 published several works, none remain except part of his 
 books Against the Manicheans, written, it is thought, 
 about A. D. 364. He says that the " abyss of hell is, 
 " indeed, the place of torment ; but it is not eternal, nor 
 "did it exist in the original constitution of nature. 
 " It was made afterwards, as a remedy for sinners, that 
 " it might cure them. And the punishments are holy, 
 " as they are remedial and salutary in their effect up- 
 " on transgressors ; for they are inflicted, not to pre- 
 " serve them in their wickedness, but to make them 
 "cease from their wickedness. The anguish of their 
 " sufiering compels them to break off their vices '." 
 His representation of this point, after passing unre- 
 proached through all the contests of antiquity, has, in 
 modern ages, attracted the notice of our ecclesiastical 
 critics, and engaged them in the contrary attempts of 
 exposing, and of exculpating, the author-*. It is re- 
 
 ria and the Holy Land. pp. 226—236. London 1822. N. B. On most 
 maps Bostra, or Bosra, is placed much too far north. It is directly 
 east from the ancient Bethsan, or Scythopolis, in Palestine. 
 
 i Titi Bostriensis Contra Manichasos Lib. i. p. 85. N. B. This 
 work is published only in Canisii Lector, and in the great Bibliotheca 
 Patrum , to neither of which I have access. I therefore quote from 
 Ceilleir's Histoire des Auteurs Sacres et Ecclesiastiques, Tom. vi. 
 chap. 6, p. 54. j Tillemont, though a most strenuous defend- 
 
 er of the fathers, is candid enough to acknowledge (Memoires Eccl. 
 Tom. vi.p. 671,) that " Titus seems to have followed the dangerous 
 
 15 
 
170 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 markable that he contended that death, as well as every 
 other dispensation of providence, viras designed for the 
 benefit both of the just, and of the unjust^ ; and that he 
 maintained against the Manicheans, that, even in this 
 world, mankind are happy or miserable, according to 
 their virtue or vice. With the doctrine of original sin, 
 he seems to have been utterly unacquainted ; and he 
 supposed that human agency was fully adequate, with- 
 out any supernatural control, to do good as well as 
 evil^ 
 
 Of the events of his life, we know little more than 
 that, like most of the distinguished orthodox bishops of 
 this time, he was honored with the notice and the perse- 
 cution of the emperor JuUan. In tlie year 362, this 
 zealous apostate endeavored to excite the people of 
 Bostra to expel their bishop ; but the influence of the 
 prelate seems to have prevailed over the exhortation of 
 the sovereign, and the malicious attempt to have proved 
 ineffectual. On the accession of Jovian to the empire 
 in A. D. 363, Titus attended the council of Antioch 
 under Meletius ; and though his name appears, with 
 thosis of some other orthodox bishops, among the sub- 
 scriptions to a Semi-Arian explanation of the Nicene 
 Creed™, he nevertheless seems to have been consider- 
 ed one of the Athanasian party. He died, it is thought, 
 about A. D. 370. 
 
 " error ascribed to Origen, that the pains of the damned, and even 
 " those of the demons themselves, will not be eternal." But Ceilleir 
 has the hardihood to plead that the passage is not clear, &c. 
 
 k Contra Manic h. Lib. ii. p. 107, 112. See the quotations in Ceilleir, 
 p. 51. 1 Du Pin's Bibliotheca Pat. Art. Titus of Bostra. 
 
 m Socratis Hist. Eccl. Lib. iii. cap. 21. 
 
vi.] OF UNI VERS ALISM. 171 
 
 XII. More learned and classical than 
 A. D. 370. Athanasius, and next to him in weight of 
 authority among the orthodox of the East, 
 was Basil the Great, bishop of Cesarea in Cappadocia. 
 With a constitution naturally feeble and broken moreo- 
 ver by monkish austerities, he possessed a strong mind, 
 a courageous resolution, a temper active, but too ambi- 
 tious, and an eloquence of a manly and noble kind. Of 
 his views respecting the doctrine under consideration, 
 we cannot pronounce with confidence, as his language 
 is not uniform, nor always reconcileable. He repeated- 
 ly states, at considerable length, that those who, after 
 baptism, indulge in sins, however heinous, and die under 
 the guilt of them, are to be purified in the fire of the 
 general judgment ° : distinguishing them, however, from 
 such as have never professed Christianity. Yet, at aao- 
 ther time, while admonishing one of those very charac- 
 ters, he conceals that notion, and for the sake, perhaps, 
 of striking the greater terror, asserts tliat their future 
 torments " will have no end," and that " there is no re- 
 " lease, no way to flee from them, after death. Now is 
 " the time in which we are allowed to escape them °." 
 On the contrary, again, he sometimes represents the puri- 
 fying and salutary operation of future fire or punishment 
 as extending, without distinction, to guilty souls in gene- 
 ral : Commenting on these words of Isaiah, (ix. 19, Sep- 
 tuagint version) because of the wrath of the Lord, the 
 whole earth is Jcindled into flamey and the jpeople shall 
 
 n BasilU CommeBt, in Cap. iv. 4, Esai8e,and cap. xi. 16, &c. Edit 
 Paris. 1637* o Basilii Epist* ad Virginem lapsam, Tom; iii< 
 
 p:18. 
 
172 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 he as though they were burnt up withfire^ Basil says, 
 " tlie prophet declares that, for the benefit of the soul, the 
 " earthly things are to be consumed by penal fire ; even 
 " as Christ himself intimates, saying, I have come to send 
 ^^jire upon the earth; what would I, except that it he 
 " kindled'^ (Luke xii. 49.) And the prophet adds, 
 ''^ the people shall he as though they were burnt up with 
 ^^fire : he does not threaten an absolute extermination, 
 " but intimates a purification, according to the sentiment 
 " of the apostle, that if any one's work he burned, he 
 " shall suffer loss, hut he himself shall be saved, yet so as 
 "by fire. (1 Cor. iii. 15.)^" From this solitary passage 
 we can only suspect that our author was, at times, in- 
 clined to Universalism. 
 
 His own brother, the bishop of Nyssa, was a Univer- 
 saiist ; and his most intimate friend, Gregory Nazian- 
 zen, may in some sense merit that appellation. Like 
 them, Basil was a professed admirer of Origen's writings ; 
 and with the assistance of the latter, he selected from 
 them and published a volume of choice extracts, con- 
 sisting of such passages as the two friends most highly 
 valued. It is a gratification to light upon circumstan- 
 ces that seem to connect the writers of this age with 
 earlier fathers, to whose acquaintance we have been in- 
 troduced at a former period. Basil was brought up in 
 the metropolis of Cappadocia, and perhaps in the very 
 
 p Basilii Comment, in Cap. ix,19, Esaiae, If the Regiilse Brevio- 
 res be Basil's, he there (Interrog. 267,) labored to reconcile the abso- 
 lute eternity of punishment with the fact that some shall be beaten 
 with many stripes, and others with few. But this piece has been 
 ascribed to Eustathius of Sebastca, (See Du Pin's BibliothecaPat. Art. 
 Basil.) acotemporary with Basil, Whoever the author was, he cer- 
 tainly meant to be considered a believer in strictly endless misery, 
 
vi.] OF UNI VERS ALISM. 1 73 
 
 church where the venerable Firmilian presided a cei> 
 tury before. His grandmother, Macrina, under whom 
 he received his juvenile education, and his first impres- 
 sions of piety, had been, in her youth, a hearer of Gre- 
 gory Thaumaturgus, in Pontus ; for whom she inspired 
 her young scholar witli a profound and lasting venera- 
 tion. He himself, in middle Hfe, spent some time as a 
 monk in the solitudes adjacent to the ancient residence 
 of the famous Wonderworker ; and soon afterwards, on 
 his return to Cappadocia in the year 370, he was or- 
 dained over the same bishopric which Firmilian had 
 once governed. 
 
 In his general system of doctrine, there was nothing 
 that can have struck his cotemporaries as very peculiar. 
 Though addicted to the allegorical mode of interpreting 
 the scriptures, he was quite moderate in this respect, 
 compared with some others of that age. It is worthy 
 of remark, that he approached nearer to the notion of 
 original and total depravity, than had any of the earlier 
 fathers ; though at the same time he fell short of the 
 modern standard, and was what we should now call an 
 Arminian. 
 
 In early life he travelled extensively, studying at Ce- 
 sarea in Palestine, at Constantinople, at Athens, and 
 finally in the monasteries of Egypt. Here he was ini- 
 tiated into the monastic life ; for which, hke most of 
 his cotemporaries, he always maintained a zealous at- 
 tachment. And hke them, too, he formed his views of 
 practical religion, by the false standard of that perverse 
 and fanatical discipline. 
 
 15* 
 
174 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap, 
 
 Xni. That class of devotees, to which 
 A, D. 370, we have once or twice alluded, the monks, 
 to 376. had now become numerous in many parts 
 of the East, where their unnatural mode of 
 hfe began to be held in general veneration, and to be 
 patronised by nearly all tlie bishops and doctors. 
 Athanasius, Basil, Ephraim the Syrian, the two Grego- 
 ries, Epiphanius, and others, were its strenuous advo- 
 cates. It had been very lately introduced, with great 
 success, into the desert parts of Palestine, Syria, Pon- 
 tus, aiid Mesopotamia ; but to Eg}'pt belopged the 
 glory, or more truly the dishonor, both of its origin, and 
 of its rapid growth to maturity. A century before the 
 present period, one or two indi^dduals. fled from the 
 heathen persecutions into the frightful wastes that bor- 
 der the long, narrow tract of vegetation watered by the 
 Nile. Habit and a mistaken devotion gave them a rel- 
 ish, at length, for what necessity had thus forced upon 
 them ; and they continued to follow, from choice, a 
 kind of life more suited to the reptiles, their associates, 
 than to human beings. Their example, so congenial 
 with the absurd notions of the times, drew many after 
 them : multitudes succeeded multitudes ; till the num- 
 ber of monks in that country alone, had now increased 
 to tens of thousands, all governed by established rules, 
 and forming an institution which was thought the bright- 
 est ornament of tlie church. 
 
 Among them we discover that, about this time, a con- 
 siderable body had become distinguished by an appella- 
 tion which seems to have been but newly introduced ; 
 
vi.] OF UNIVERSALISJVL ^75 
 
 that of Origenists '^, These were, of course, certain 
 followers of Origen. The name, however, of very in- 
 definite application probably at first, did by no means 
 extend to all his admirers, nor even to all his imitators ; 
 for dioiigh the celebrated fathers, Gregory Nyssen, Did- 
 ymus and Jerome, were known to be of the latter class, 
 it does not appear that they were considered, till after 
 many years, as belonging to the particular party under 
 consideration'. What distinguished the Origenists pro- 
 perly so called, from other avowed disciples of their 
 master, cannot be ascertained, unless it were some special 
 combination among themselves for party purposes, or 
 a more clamorous zeal in urging their peculiarities. That 
 they were, in some sense, a specific party, appears from 
 the circumstance of their sectarian denomination ; but it 
 should be remarked, at the same time, that they were 
 in the full fellowship of the orthodox communion, and 
 that they seem to have been scattered among the 
 churches, as well as monasteries, in various parts of 
 Egypt. 
 
 There was one celebrated retreat, however, where 
 they particularly abounded. About fifty miles south of 
 Alexandria, beyond the lake Mareotis and a long ex- 
 tent of burning sands succeeded by plains heaped with 
 pebbles, arose the bare and sun-burnt hills of Nitria, 
 
 a Epiphanii Panarium, Haeres. Ixiv. ^ 3, This is the earliest pas- 
 sage in which I have found that appellation. r In proof of 
 this, among many other facts, is that of Jerome's contention with 
 some Origenists at Rome, about a. d. 382, and his forsaking Nitria, 
 in A.D. 386, out of dislike to them; though he himself was, at this 
 time, a devoutadmirer of Origen's works. 
 
176 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 amidst a boundless prospect of desolation ^ It was in 
 the borders of the great Lybian Desert. Around these 
 hills the monks had gathered into a vast community, the 
 most famous, perhaps, and with one exception the most 
 numerous, of all they had yet formed. This was the 
 principal seat of the Origenists ; who appear to have 
 constituted the smaller part of five or six thousand re- 
 cluses ^ As strangers resorted hither, even from distant 
 countries, in order to acquire the monastic discipline and 
 precepts in their perfection, many attached themselves 
 to the new sect ; and travelling afterwards through dif- 
 erent parts of Christendom, propagated their views and 
 partialities wherever they went. At a period a few 
 years later, we shall find some, though perhaps not all, 
 of them to have been Universalists. 
 
 XIV. The Origenists, as a party, were 
 A. D. 376. attacked at this time, by Epiphanius, bish- 
 op of Salamis on the island of Cyprus. 
 He was a man of much reading, but very careless, in- 
 accurate, and notoriously disposed to adopt every slan- 
 derous report against those whom he dishked. In a 
 large work, designed to confute all the heresies that had 
 ever appeared, he devotes one of the longest articles 
 of thirty or forty folio pages, to the errors of Origen 
 Adamantius and his party ". Having given an account 
 of his hfe, in some points false and injurious, he says, 
 
 s Sonnini's Travels in Egypt, chap. 2G and 27. The desert of Ni- 
 tria is about 35 miles west ot'Tcrane, a village on the Nile. 
 
 t For the number of monks at Nitria, see Fleury's Eccl. Hist. 
 Book xvi. chap. 36. u The Origeniani, whom Epiphanius des- 
 
 cribes in Ila^rcs. Ixiii. arc suspected to have been creatures of his 
 imagination. See Lardner's Crcdibilityj &c. chap. Noetus, and others 
 called Heretics, fyc. 
 
vi.] OF UNIVERSALISM. X77 
 
 " As to the heresy of Origen, it was first propagated in 
 "Egypt; and at this day it flourishes chiefly among 
 " tliose who profess the monastic Ufe. It is a pestifer- 
 " ous heresy, exceeding in wickedness all former ones, 
 " tlie errors of which, it indeed embraces. For though 
 " it is attended with no appearance of vice among its vota- 
 " ries, it teaches the most absurd notion concerning God. 
 " From this fountain it was, that Arius and his secta- 
 " ries derived their errors. Origen proceeded to such 
 " an extent of temerity, as to assert that the only begot- 
 " ten Son cannot behold the Father, nor the Holy 
 '' Ghost see the Son, nor angels the Holy Ghost, nor 
 " man the Angels. This was his first error: For 
 " he held the Son to be of the substance of the 
 " Father in such a way as that he was nevertheless 
 " created. He held still more heinous errors ; for he 
 " taught that the souls of men existed before their bodies, 
 ^' and were angels or superior powers, who have been 
 ^ consigned, on account of their sins, to these mortal 
 " frames, for the purpose of punishment. We could 
 " mention ever so many of his notions : that, for in- 
 " stance, which he entertained, that Adam lost the di- 
 " vine image by transgression. Hence it is, says Origen, 
 " diat the scripture mentions the coats of skins with 
 " which God clothed our first parents : which coats he 
 " takes to be their bodies. There are, indeed, an in- 
 " finite number of dogmas advanced by him, worthy of 
 " ridicule and laughter. He even represented the r©- 
 " surrection in an imperfect and defective manner, part- 
 " ly asserting it in appearance, and partly denying it in 
 " reality. In other words, he supposed that only a part 
 
178 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 " of man is to be raised. And finally, he turned what- 
 " ever he could into allegories : such as Eden or Para- 
 " disc, and its waters ; and the waters which are above 
 " the firmament, and those which are under the earth." 
 &;c^. Epiphanius then proceeds to treat, at consider- 
 able length, on his views of the tiinity and the resurrec- 
 tion, inserting nearly all the treatise of Methodius on the 
 latter subject ; after which he returns to inveigh once 
 more against his notions of the coats of skins, of pre- 
 existence, and of the resurrection, calling him " an in- 
 fidel, and worse than an infidel." It is remarkable 
 that, like all the former opposers of Origen, he too 
 passes over the doctrine of Universalism in silence; 
 though we discover that he, himself, at the same time, 
 believed that there is no change of condition, nor room 
 for repentance, after death ^. This attack, though 
 professedly against the OrigenistSj was directed mgre 
 particularly against their Master himself ; and it seems 
 to have been the last he suffered, till the famous contest 
 that arose at the end of this century, in which Epiph- 
 anius will again appear, in the character of a principal 
 actor. 
 
 XV. We have already advanced into a 
 
 A. D. 370, period that forms a distinguished era in 
 
 to 383. our history. Universalism appears to have 
 
 been, for a while, the sentiment of a ma- 
 jority of the most eminent orthodox fathers in the East. 
 
 ▼ Epiphanii Panarium, Ilaeres. Ixiv, § 4. This passage, which I 
 have compressed a httlc, contains about every point that Epiphanius 
 censures throughout the whole article. This part of his work is 
 supposed to have been written in a. d. 376, See Lardner's Credibi- 
 lity &c. chap, Epiphanius, w Ditto. Hseres, lix. 
 
vi.] OF UNIVERSALISM. I79 
 
 Gregory Nyssen, Didymus, and Jerome, were its ad- 
 vocates ; and the celebrated Gregory Nazianzen, who 
 was elevated, at length, to the bishopric of Constan- 
 tinople, hesitated between this doctrine and that of 
 endless misery. His readiness in expounding the Nicene 
 faith, acquired for him the appellation of The TheO' 
 logian ; and of all the fathers, except Chrysostom, 
 he is the most renowned for a brilliant and glowing 
 eloquence. His works are, of course, declamatory 
 and exhortative, rather than doctrinal ; but he has still 
 left sufficient proofs of the unsettled state of his opinion: 
 sometimes he represented future misery as a dispensation 
 of mere torment, opposed to all corrective suffering ; 
 and asserted that in hell, or the place of the dead, 
 there can be no confession nor reformation'^. But at 
 other times he thought it probable that those torments 
 would be directed to the salvation of the sufferers : 
 " I have mentioned," says he, " the purifying fire 
 " which Christ came to kindle upon earth ; who is 
 " himself figuratively called fire. It is the nature of 
 " this fire to consume the grosser matter, or vicious 
 " character, of the mind. But there is also another 
 " sort of fire, not of purgation, but intended for a 
 " vindictive punishment of wickedness : whether it be 
 " that of Sodom, which, mixed with sulphur and storm, 
 " God pours upon all sinners ; or that which is prepar- 
 " ed for the devil and his angels ; or even that which 
 " proceeds before the face of the Lord ; or lastly, 
 " that more formidable than all, which is connected with 
 
 ^ Gregorii Nazianzeni Oratio Decimaquinta, p, 229, Tom, i. Edit, 
 Paris, 1630, 
 
J 30 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 " the unsleeping worm, and is never extinguished, but 
 " is continual and everlasting for the punishment of wick- 
 " ed men. It is the nature of all these to ruin, to 
 " destroy ; unless, however, one may suppose that the 
 " fire, in this case also, is to be understood more mod- 
 " erately, and as is worthy, indeed, of the God who 
 " punishes^." In another passage, speaking of the 
 Novatians, an heretical sect, he says, " perhaps they 
 " will be baptized, in the next world, with fire, which is 
 " the last baptism, and is not only keen, but of great 
 " duration, and which shall feed on tlie dull matter, as 
 " on hay, till it shall have consumed all their sins^ ." 
 Such is the indecision of Gregory upon this subject, 
 tliat it is of Httle consequence to mention his repeated 
 application of the word everlasting to future punish- 
 ment. 
 
 XVI. It has been said, by one of the best critics* on 
 ecclesiastical history, that of all the fathers of the fourth 
 century, there was not a more moderate nor worthier 
 man, than Gregory Nazianzen. Uniting a quick and deep 
 sensibility with a lofty imagination, he was too contem- 
 plative, too fond of retirement, to engage willingly in 
 the perpetual contentions of his age, or even to rehsh 
 the tumults of a public life. He condemned the cap- 
 tiousness of the zealous bigots upon doctrinal points ; 
 though one would suppose that he himself was, in this 
 respect, fastidious enough. The clergy of that day, he 
 boldly, and it appears justly, represented as a body of 
 
 y Greg. Nazianz. Oratio xl, pp, 664, 665. Tom. i, ^ Ditto. 
 
 Oratio xxxix, p. G36, Tom. i. a Le Clerc. See Jortin's Re- 
 
 marks on Eccl. Hist. vol. iv, p. 95. London, 1773. 
 
vi.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 131 
 
 men avaricious, quarrelsome, licentious, and in one 
 word, unprincipled ; and of the frequent councils which 
 then disturbed the peace of the church, he declared 
 that he was afraid of them, bacause he had never seen 
 the end of one that was happy and pleasant, or that did 
 not rather increase than diminish the evil ''. Nothing can 
 more strikingly evince the intolerant maxims and spirit of 
 tlie age, than that one of its most pacific men approved, 
 and sometimes urged, the persecution of heretics, and 
 openly lamented that the apostate emperor Julian had not 
 been put to death by his predecessor. 
 
 His intimacy with Basil the Great, began in early life, 
 amidst the schools of Athens. Having already studied 
 both in Palestine, and at Alexandria, Gregory repaired 
 to this seat of Grecian literature about the year 344 ; and 
 was, not long afterw^ards, joined by his young compan- 
 ion. Here they became acquainted with Julian, the fu- 
 ture emperor, then a youth like themselves. Gregory 
 at length returned home to Nazianzum, a small city in 
 the southwestern part of Cappadocia, of which his father 
 was bishop. But when Basil, on his return from the 
 monasteries of Egypt, retired to a soHtude in Pontus, 
 he followed him to that retreat, assisted him in estab- 
 lishing the monastic institutions there, and, as it seems, 
 remained awhile after his friend had engaged in a more 
 public and distinguished sphere. The latter was or- 
 dained bishop of Cappadocia, in A. D, 370 ; and wish- 
 ing to pre-occupy against the attempts of a rival, the 
 small and obscure village of Sasima, on the confines of 
 
 b Greg. Nazianz. Epist. Iv. 
 16 
 
182 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 his jurisdiction, he recalled Gregory from his retire- 
 ment, and appointed him bishop of the contested place. 
 Gregory resented this heartless conduct in his friend; 
 and refusing to accept the unworthy appointment, took 
 up his residence again at Nazianzum, assisting his aged 
 father in the care of the church. After the death of 
 his venerable parent, he went to Seleucia, and thence, 
 at the urgent request of the bishops, to Constantinople, 
 where he arrived about A. D. 378. He found the city 
 full of Arians, who occupied all the churches ; the or- 
 thodox few, dispirited, and destitute of a place for pub- 
 lic w^orship. After preaching awhile in private houses, 
 his eloquence and austere life drew into his flock a num- 
 ber sufficiently large to erect a spacious church, which 
 tliey called The Anastasia, or Resurrection, to intimate 
 the revival of the Consubstantial faith. The attention 
 of the whole city was roused : the triumphant orthodox, 
 the heretics of all kinds, and even the heathens, crowd- 
 ed in a mingled mass to the Anastasia, to feast on his 
 doctrine, or to admire the enchantment of his eloquence ; 
 and such was the pressure of the throng, as sometimes 
 to crush down the railing which enclosed the pulpit. 
 
 In the midst of his success, however, he was deeply 
 wounded by the ingratitude of an unprincipled but sanc- 
 timonious wretch, whom he had cherished. This im- 
 postor, named Maximus, formed a faction among the or- 
 thodox themselves at Alexandria and other places, to 
 usurp the bishopric of Constantinople ; came with his 
 partisans, and forcibly entered Gregory's own church ; 
 and when driven out by the alarmed multitude, appeal- 
 ed, though in vain, to the emperor Theodosius. He 
 
vi.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 183 
 
 finally succeeded, however, in prevailing on the Italian 
 bishops to countenance his project ; and he found too 
 many among the eastern clergy, who, out of envy, fa- 
 vored his cause. Few men, perhaps, were less fitted 
 than Gregory, to act amidst such circumstances. 
 Though bold, vehement and resolute when surrounded 
 by avowed enemies to his fahh, opposition from his own 
 party withered his heart, and sickened him of fife. He 
 sought to retire from Constantinople to solitude. But 
 the anxious entreaties of his people so far prevailed that 
 he deferred his resolution ; and the new emperor Theo- 
 dosius, making his first entry into Constantinople to- 
 wards the end of the year 380, drove the Arians from 
 all the churches in the city, banished their bishop, and 
 introduced Gregory to the possession, and to the reve- 
 nues, of their Great or Cathedral Church^. This new 
 state of thmgs seemed to afford him a space of quiet ', 
 and in the General Council which assembled the next 
 year, at Constantinople, he was confirmed in his bishopric. 
 Before the close of the session however, or perhaps in 
 another session held at the same place in A. D. 382, 
 new difficulties broke out : Gregory's stern integrity 
 gave offence to some, as it thwarted their intrigues ; and 
 his popularity aroused the jealousy of others. Sinking 
 under premature old age, wearied with contention, and 
 disgusted with the vices of the bishops, he resolved, not- 
 withstanding the bitter lamentations of his friends, to re- 
 sign a post that continually exposed him to the abuse of 
 clerical envy and ambition. In the Great Church of 
 
 c It stood on the spot now occupied by the great mosque of St 
 Sophia. 
 
184 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 Constantinople, so lately wrested from the Arians, he 
 ascended the pulpit for the last time, surrounded by the 
 members of the General Council, by his own beloved 
 people, and by the wonted crowd. He repeated the 
 history of his success in that city, described the doc- 
 trine he had preached, besought the bishops by forsak- 
 ing their contentious practices to heal the divisions of 
 the church, and concluded by taking leave of public life 
 and of the scenes of his labors. " Farewell, Anasta- 
 " sia !" said he ; " thou that sawest our doctrine raised 
 " up from its low despised estate ; dear seats of our com- 
 " mon victory, our new Siloam, w^here first the ark of our 
 " God rested, after its hopeless wanderings in the desert. 
 " Farewell, too, this great and august temple, where we 
 " meet ! our new heritage ; thou that wast a Jebus be- 
 " fore, now converted to a Jerusalem. And ye other 
 " sacred edifices also scattered over the whole city and 
 " its suburbs, farewell ! the grace of God, and not our 
 " feeble exertions, hath now filled you with the faithfuL 
 " Thou envied and dangerous pre-eminence, episcopal 
 " throne, farewell. Farewell, pontifical palace, vener- 
 " able for thine age and the majesty of the priesthood. 
 " Farewell ye choirs of Nazareans! whose strains of 
 " psalmody I shall no more hear, whose nocturnal cele- 
 " brations of our Lord's resurrection, I shall no more 
 *' attend. Ye holy virgins, ye widows and orphans, ye 
 " eyes of the poor, turned alternately to heaven and to- 
 " wards the preacher, farewell. Farewell, ye hospita- 
 " ble domes, devoted to Christ, which have so often as- 
 " sisted my infirmity. Ye mingling throngs that crowd- 
 '' ed to my sermons, ye swift-handed notaries, ye rails 
 
vi.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 185 
 
 " pressed by my greedy auditors, farewell. Farewell, 
 " emperors and courts. Farewell thou imperial city, 
 " whose zeal, though not perhaps according to knowl- 
 " edge, I yet will frankly testify. May thy service of 
 " God be more sincere, and thy fruits of righteousness 
 " more abundant. Ye bishops of the East and West, 
 " farewell ! why will not some of you imitate this my 
 "resignation, and restore peace to the divided and con- 
 "tentious church? I call you but to relinquish digni- 
 " ties upon earth, for heavenly thrones, far safer, and 
 " more exalted. Ye angels, the guardians of this 
 "church, and of my presence and wanderings, farewell. 
 " Thou sacred Trinity ! my meditation and my glory, O 
 " may I hear of the daily increase of this my people, 
 " their growth in knowledge and grace. And ye, my 
 " people, for mine ye are, though another shall govern 
 " you, — my little children, keep the faith I have deliver- 
 " ed you, remembering my labors and my sufferings '^." 
 He retired immediately to Nazianzum, where he liv- 
 ed in obscurity and quiet, employing himself in devout 
 exercises, and in poetic composition. He died about 
 A. D. 389, aged not far from seventy years. Hisplaizj 
 determined integrity is w^orthy of all praise ; and the un- 
 blemished purity of his hfe and manners, though veiled 
 under the shade of monastic gloom, commands our re- 
 spect, and excites our admiration. His eloquence, 
 which has been absurdly compared to that of Demosthe- 
 nes, w^as formed on the turgid style of the Asiatics, rath- 
 er than on the severe simpUcity of the Grecian ; and it 
 
 d Greg. Nazianz. Oratio. xxxii. fin. Tom. i. pp. 527, 523. 
 
 15* 
 
136 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 was therefore the better adapted to discourse on myste- 
 ries, and to excite the wonder of an ignorant populace. 
 
 The feebleness of a body subdued by rigorous aus- 
 terities, must have increased the sensibility of his tem- 
 perament ; and this, united with the generous and con- 
 fiding character of his affections, exposed him to per- 
 petual afflictions from the baseness' and ingratitude of 
 mankind. It is no wonder that to such a man, the dif- 
 ficult station^ which he prudendy resigned, was attend- 
 ed with a weight of cares insupportable. The church, 
 however, has always held his memory dear ; and his 
 name still occupies a respectable place on the pages of 
 ecclesiastical history. 
 
 Like Basil, he was moderately giv^n to the allego- 
 rical method of exposition ; and we have already men- 
 tioned their mutual admiration of Origen's writings. 
 
 XVn. But in this he was perhaps surpassed by his 
 friend, Gregory Nyssen, the brother of Basil the Great. 
 This eminent father and bishop followed Origen's sys- 
 tem in allegorizing the scriptures, farther than most of 
 his cotemporaries ; though he, at the same time, avoid- 
 ed many of his extravagances, and rejected some of 
 his notions®. The doctrine of Universal Salvation, 
 however, he adopted and taught more frequendy ^ than, 
 perhaps, any other early writer, whose works are ex- 
 tant. 
 
 e See Gregorii Nysseni Disputat. de Aniina et Resurrect, pp. 264. 
 265, 2G9. — Lib. de treatione Hcminis cap. 29. p. 459, and cap. 30, p. 
 462.— Dft Hist. SexDienim. p. 293, 294. Edit. Basil. 1562. 
 
 f A plea, first advanced more than tlirec hundred years after Gre- 
 gory Nyssen's death to defend him from tlie imputation of Univer- 
 salism, is sometimes repeated, though in a faultering manner, by 
 
vi.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 187 
 
 Endeavoring to wrest from the Arians that expression 
 of St. Paul, Then shall the Son also be subject unto 
 him who put all things under him, (i. Cor. xv. 28.) and 
 to make it appear consistent with trinitarianism, he 
 takes occasion to explain the connexion at large, in 
 order to point out what he supposes to be the Apostle's 
 argument : " What therefore," says he, " is the scope 
 " of St. Paul's dissertation in this place ? That the 
 " nature of evil shall, at length, be wholly exterminated, 
 " and divine, immortal goodness embrace within itself 
 " every rational creature ; so that of all who were made 
 " by God, not one shall be excluded from liis kingdom. 
 " All the viciousness, that like a corrupt matter is min- 
 
 modern critics. Germanus, bishop of Constantinople, who flourished 
 about A. D. 730, contended, that in Gregory Nyssen's Dialogue on 
 the Soul, in his great Catechetical Oration, and in his Tract on the Per- 
 fect Life of a Christian, all such passages as taught the restoration of 
 the devils and of the damned, had either been corrupted or added by 
 the Origenists; and fur proof he referred to the connexions of the 
 passages in question, and to the alleged fact that in other places 
 Gregory had contradicted that sentiment. (See Photii Biblioth. Cod. 
 233.) Du Pin, who by the way misrepresents Germanus, manifestly 
 desires to avail himself of this plea ; but at the same time, betrays 
 hiswant of confidence in it. (BibliothecaPatrum, Art.Gregory Nyssen.) 
 The truth is, it would be impossible to takeUniversalism out of Gregory 
 Nyssen's works, without destroying some of his pieces, and render- 
 ing others unintelligible ; and there is no reason to suspect that it 
 was wrongfully inserted in the three books which Germanus names. 
 That Gregory ever denies the doctrine in question, I have not disco- 
 vered. The independent Daille (Do Usu PatrumLib. ii. cap. 4, Latin 
 edition, for the English, and probably the French are incomplete) 
 treats Germanus's supposition with merited contempt: " it is the last 
 *' resort," says he, ''of those who with a stupid and absurd pertina- 
 *' city, will have it, that the ancients wrote nothing different from 
 "the faith at present received; for the whole of Gregory Nyssen's 
 '' Orations are so deeply imbued with the pestiferous doctrine in ques- 
 " tion, that it can have been inserted by none other than the author 
 '' himself" Dr. T. Burnet also (De Statu Mort. et Resurg. p. 138. 
 London, 1733) pronounces the pleaof Germanus vain. See note y fol- 
 Icnoing. 
 
X88 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 "gled in things, shall be dissolved and consumed in 
 " the furnace of purgatorial fire ; and every thing that 
 " had its origin from God, shall be restored to its pris- 
 " tine state of purity." The author proceeds to con- 
 tend, in his abstruse and mystical way, that the human 
 nature which Christ assumed, being so intimately con- 
 nected with the common nature of man, that the Apostle 
 here calls it " the first fruits" of the human race ; the 
 subjection of all mankind to God may, by a figure, be 
 called the subjection of Christ himself, the first fruits. 
 " When therefore the dominion of sin within us, shall 
 " be entirely overthrown, every thing must, of course, 
 " be subject to him who rules over all ; because there 
 " can be no opposing inclination in the Universe. Now, 
 " subjection to God is perfect and absolute alienation 
 " from evil. Wherefore, when we all shall be freed 
 " from sin, and perfectly assimilated to Christ, our first 
 " fruits, and made one uniform body with him, then what 
 " is called the subjection of Christ, is, in reality, accom- 
 " phshed in us ; and because we are his body, our sub- 
 " jection is attributed to him who effected it in ourselves. 
 "Such we think is the meaning of St. Paul in this 
 "passage : For as in Adam all die, so also through 
 " Christ shall all be made alive ; but every one in his 
 ^^ own order : Christ, the first fruits ; then they who are 
 " Chrisfs at his coming ; then cometh the end, when he 
 " shall have delivered up the kingdom to God even the 
 " Father, when he shall have abolished all dominion, 
 " and authority, and j^oiver. For he must reign till 
 " he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy, 
 " death, shall be destroyed. For he hath 'put all things 
 
vi.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 189 
 
 " under his feet. But when he saith all things are put 
 " under him, it is manifest that he is excepted who did 
 " put all things under him. And when all things shall 
 " be subjected to him, then shall the Son also himself be 
 " subjected to him who put all things under him ; that 
 " God may be all in all. (i. Cor. xv. 22—28.) It is 
 '' manifest that here the apostle declares the extinction* of 
 " all sin, saying, that God will be all in all. For God 
 "will be truly all in all only when no evil shall remain 
 " in the nature of things, as he is never engaged in 
 " evil," k,c \ 
 
 Gregory held different degrees of happiness in heav- 
 en, apportioned to the different merits which the bless- 
 ed had acquired upon earth ; and different degrees of 
 future punishment, according the various characters of 
 tlie sufferers : " I believe," said he, " that punishment 
 " will be administered in proportion to each one's cor- 
 " ruptness. For it would be unequal to torment with 
 " the same purgatorial pains, him who has long indulg- 
 " ed in transgression, and him who has only fallen into 
 " a few common sins. But that grievous flame shall 
 " burn for a longer or shorter period, according to the 
 " kind and quantity of the matter that supports it. There- 
 " fore, to whom there is much corruption attached, with 
 " him it is necessary that the flame which is to consume 
 " it, should be great, and of long duration ; but to 
 " him in wl om the wicked disposition has been already 
 " in part subjected, a proportional degree of that sharp- 
 " er and more vehement punishment shall be remitted. 
 
 s: Tract, in Dictum Apostoli, Tunc etiam ipse Filius subjicietur, &c. 
 p. 137, and seqq. h Lib. De Infantibus quae prsemature abripiun- 
 
 tur. 
 
190 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 " All evil, however, must, at length, be entirely remov- 
 " ed from every thing, so that it shall no more exist. 
 "For such being the nature of sin, that it cannot exist 
 " without a corrupt motive, it must, of course, be per- 
 " fectly dissolved and wholly destroyed, so that nothing 
 " can remain a receptacle of it, when all motive and 
 " influence shall spring from God alone." Sic \ 
 
 In another place he asserts that as the devil * as- 
 ' sumed a fleshly shape in order to ruin human nature, 
 ' so the Lord took flesh for the salvation of man ; and 
 ' thus he blesses not only him who was ruined, but him 
 * also who led him into perdition ; so that he both 
 ' delivers man from sin, and heals the author of sin him- 
 ' self J.' 
 
 Like the earlier Universalists, Gregory freely applied 
 the word everlasting to future punishment : a circum- 
 stance which, probably, has betrayed some critics into 
 the hasty conclusion, that he sometimes denied the 
 doctrine of Universal Restoration, and asserted that of 
 endless misery. A remarkable use of that phrase oc- 
 curs in a passage where he alludes to the ultimate fate 
 of such as have become confirmed in debauchery : " who- 
 " ever," says he, " considers the divine power, will 
 " plainly perceive that it is able, at length, to restore, 
 " by means of the everlasting purgation and expiatory 
 
 i Dispntatio de Anima et Resurrectione, p. 260. J Oratio 
 
 Catechetica, cap. 26. I here subjoin the titles of those works in which 
 Gregory Nyssen teaches Universalism : De Anima et Resurrectione. 
 — Oratio Catechetica.— De Infantibus qui pr i mature abripiuntur. — 
 Oratio de Mortuis— In dictum Apostoli, Tunc ipse Fiiius subjicietur 
 Patri. — De Perfectione Christian! , 
 
vi.] OF UNIVERSALISM. IQl 
 
 " sufferings, those who have gone even to this extremity 
 " of wickedness ^". 
 
 XVIII. His general system of doctrine, it is unneces- 
 sary to state at large, since it was the same that dis- 
 tinguished the orthodox of his age. A few particulars, 
 however, may be specified : The opinion universally 
 received by the christians of this century, that regene- 
 ration Vas experienced only in the rite of water baptism, 
 was, of course, entertained by Gregory ; and with them 
 he agreed, that it was effected by the exertions of the 
 human will, aided by the proffered assistance of the di- 
 vine spirit. Predestination and irresistible grace, in 
 their modern sense, were as yet unknown in the church. 
 In one or two respects, our author was an honorable 
 exception to the prevalent superstition of his cotempo- 
 raries : he dissuaded from the growing practice of pil- 
 grimages to shrines and holy places ; and though a 
 patron of the monastic life, he defended the excellence 
 of matrimony, both by precept and example : being one 
 of the few married bishops of that age. 
 
 He has left one production, his lAfe of Gregory 
 Thaumaturgiis, which involves him, as an author, in 
 the charge either of unbounded credulity, or of total 
 disregard of historical truth. It is a worthless legend, 
 enlivened only with fictitious miracles the most foolish, 
 and with disgusting tales the most incredible. That he 
 even presumed to lay it before the world, is a sufficient 
 indication of the universal stupidity, and of the thorough 
 corruption of the public taste. Could illustrious pre- 
 cedent, however, exonerate from the criminality of 
 
 k De Infantibus qui praemature abripiuntur, p. 178. 
 
192 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 falsehood or disingenuous fiction, he might justly plead 
 that of the great Athanasius, who appears to have set 
 tlie first example of these monkish romances, by his 
 Ldfe of Anthony ; and three or four productions of the 
 - same character which soon afterwards appeared under 
 the honored names of Jerome and Sulpitius Severus, 
 have contributed much to relieve Gregory from the 
 disgrace of solitary folly. The rest of our author's 
 works are composed in a style dry, involved and ob- 
 scure ; and they abound in absurd allegories and abstruse 
 mysticism. In learning, he was second to few of his 
 day ; in influence, he stood among the first in the or- 
 thodox party. It is remarkable that he has never 
 been condemned for his Universahsm ; and that he 
 was never even censured for it, till two or three centu- 
 ries after his death. 
 
 Li his youth he was so strongly inclined to a literary 
 life, that it was with much difiiculty he was persuaded to 
 abandon his favorite study of rhetoric, in order to take 
 upon himself the duties of the ministry. About A. D. 
 371, when not far from thirty two years old, he was 
 ordained bishop of Nyssa, a small city in the western part 
 of Cappadocia. Valens, the Arian emperor, being then 
 on the throne of Constantinople, drove several orthodox 
 bishops into exile; and in the year 374, procured, by 
 the means of his lieutenant Demosthenes, the expulsion 
 of Gregory from his church. But after four years of 
 absence, he was recalled, with the rest of the banished 
 bishops, on the accession of Theodosius the Great, and 
 permanently established in his office. Soon afterwards, 
 either the Council of Antioch, or that of Constantinople 
 
vi.] OF UNIVERSALISM. I93 
 
 appointed him to visit, with other delegates, the curches 
 of Pontus and those of Arabia, in order to revive among 
 them the orthodox faith and disciphne ; and the new 
 em.peror honored him, in the prosecution of this duty, 
 with a pubhc conveyance. Some time after his return, 
 he seems to have been called to Constantinople, on 
 tlie death of the empress Placilla, in A. D. 385, to 
 pronounce her funeral oration. He died at Nyssa, 
 about the year 394, aged nearly sixty. 
 
 XIX. We have somewdiat delayed the introduction 
 of an eminent Universalist who flourished, at this period, 
 among the orthodox in Egypt, and whose renown for 
 profane and sacred learning, filled all the East. Didy- 
 mus, the blind, of Alexandria, though much older than 
 Basil or either of the Gregories, seems not to have ac- 
 quired his extensive reputation, till their fame also had 
 spread through the church. Deprived forever of his 
 eye-sight when only five years old, he nevertheless 
 succeeded in making himself master of grammar, rheto- 
 ric, logic, music, arithmetic, and even the most difficult 
 parts of the mathematics ; and his knowledge of divinity 
 was so highly esteemed, that he was elected President 
 of tlie great Catechetical School in his native city. He 
 was a professed admirer of Origen, whom he considered 
 as his master, and whose books Of Principles he illus- 
 trated w4th brief Commentaries, defending them against 
 the misconstructions of the Arians. 
 
 That he w^as a Universahst, the uncontradicted testi- 
 mony of cotemporary and succeeding writers', is, per- 
 
 Jerome and Rufiiius allude to it, as a well known fact. Cyrillus 
 Scythopolitanus, (Vitse S.P. Sabae cap. 90. inter Cotelerii Mon. Eccl. 
 
 17 
 
194 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 haps, sufficient evidence ; but his condemnation, as 
 such, by the General Council of Constantinople, more 
 tlian a century and a half after his death, confirms the 
 fact, and at the same time proves that, with the doctrine 
 of the Restoration, he also held that of the Pre-exist- 
 ence of souls ™. That posthumous sentence of excom- 
 munication, however, by consigning his heretical works 
 to destruction, has denied us the satisfaction of adducing 
 his own language ; but even in the few of his writings 
 that still remain, we find some traces of the obnoxious 
 doctrine, which were probably overlooked by the ancient 
 censors. He says that " as mankind, by being reclaim- 
 " ed from their sins, are to be subjected to Christ in 
 " the fulness of the dispensation instituted for the salva- 
 " tion of all, so the superior rational intelligences, the 
 " angels, will be reduced to obedience by the correction 
 " of their vices "." It is said that he also disapproves 
 of all servile fear ^. 
 
 We might here take our leave of his writings. But 
 on one subject, remotely connected with Universalism, 
 he has some remarks which deserve our notice, as evinc- 
 ing tlie gleams of a more rational view of the scriptures, 
 than was common in his time. To prove the godhead 
 and personality Of the Holy Ghost, he wrote a much ad- 
 mired treatise, preserved to us by the translation of his 
 
 Graecoe Tom. iii.) a writer of the sixth century, is the next whom I 
 recollect. m Cyrill. Scythopoiit. Vit. S. P. Sabse cap. 90. 
 
 n Didyrni Comment, in i Pet. iii. I have not access to this work, 
 which is to be found only in the great Bibliotheca Patrum ; and I 
 therefore quote from Huetii Origenian. Lib. ii. Cap. 2. Quoest. iii. 
 § 26. o Du Pin's Bibliotli. Pat. Art. Didymus. He refers to 
 
 the above-named work. 
 
vi.] OF UNI VERS ALISM. 195 
 
 friend Jerome ; and in the course of the work, he took 
 occasion to treat of the ' blasphemy which shall not be 
 * forgiven in this age, nor in that to come.' The blas- 
 phemers, he thinks, may have been the blinded Jews 5 
 and their punishment, that which came upon them when 
 tliey were delivered up to the Romans, and scattered 
 over the whole earth. Admitting this application, says 
 he, " we are to understand, that they will be pursued 
 " with vengeance from the Lord, not for a short period 
 " only, but for the whole future age ; so that they shall 
 " be captives and fugitives even to the end of the world, 
 " wandering among all nations, and possessing neither 
 " city nor country. Nevertheless, as God who over- 
 " threw them, is naturally kind and compassionate, he 
 " hath still reserved to them a space for repentance, if 
 " they will but be converted. Wherefore it is said. He 
 " hath called to mind the days of the age. Accordingly, 
 " he hath opened the door which was closed against a 
 " certain part of them ; and after the fulness of the Gen- 
 " tiles shall have come in, then all Israel (who shall be 
 " worthy of this appellation) will be saved p." It is not 
 unreasonable to suppose that we are indebted to Jerome 
 for the parenthesis. 
 
 Though not reckoned among the Orlgenists of his 
 time, Didymus was undoubtedly by them considered, 
 and justly too, as their chief patron. His apparent good 
 sense, and what was still more rare, his universal can- 
 dor, reflect an agreeable light even upon their character, 
 and clear them from some of tlie aspersions afterwards 
 
 P Didymi Lib. De. Spiritu Sancto, cap. 3. Inter Hieronymi Opera, 
 Edit, Martianay, Tom. iv. Pt. i. p. 522. 
 
196 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 cast upon their name. He was a voluminous ^vi'iter; 
 but only two or three of his works, his treatise On the 
 Holy Ghost, his Comment allies on the Canonical Epist- 
 les, and a fragment of his book Against the Manicheans,"^ 
 have survived the waste of time, and the exterminating 
 decrees of later ages. During his life, however, he 
 was accounted a distinguished champion of the ortho- 
 doxy of that period ; and he died peacefully in the 
 general communion, honored and esteemed by the 
 church. Like most of his cotemporaries, he engaged 
 heartily in support of the monastic institution ; and his 
 renown, and his influential station as President of the 
 first school in Christendom, enabled him to exert his 
 zeal with much effect. In the list of scholars who, at 
 various times, studied under him, appear the names of 
 Jerome, Rufinus, Palladius and Isidorus. He died 
 probably in the year 394, aged about ninety''. 
 
 XX. Could learning, talents and immortal 
 A. D. 380, renown, when dissociated from sound in- 
 to 390. tegrity and the mild spirit of the gospel, 
 confer honor on any doctrine, Universalisra 
 might exult in pronouncing the famous Jerome one of 
 her advocates. Twenty or thirty years ^ since, while 
 yet a boy, he w^as sent from his native Pannonia be- 
 yond the Adriatic, to pursue his studies at Rome. 
 
 There are some fragments o? Comment aries on the Psalms, bearing 
 his name, in the '"Aurea Catena, interprete Daniele Barbaro." Ven- 
 etiis, 15()9. But I suppose that we liave no good authority for at- 
 tributing these to Didymus. ^ Hieronymi Catalog. Art. 
 Didymus Alexandrinus. Tom. iv. Du Pin mistakes his age, if indeed 
 the figures in his arronnt. be not an error of tlie press. s The 
 year of Jerome's birtli is uncertain. Du Pin whom I follow, has at- 
 tempted a chronology of the principal events of his life, according to 
 which he must have' been born about A. D. 840. or 342, Biblioth. 
 Pat. Art. Jerome, Note (b.) 
 
vL] OF UNIVERSALISM; I97 
 
 Having at length completed his education there, and 
 received baptism, he travelled, with an insatiable thirst 
 for knowledge, first into the West, and visited the learn- 
 ed men in Gaul ; whence he returned, and after a short 
 stay in Italy, continued his journey, around the head 
 of the Adriatic, into the East. Here he spent many 
 years in Syria, Palestine and Egypt, studying with the 
 eminent fathers and doctors, attending the councils, and 
 practising the monastic discipUne in all hs rigors. In 
 the course of these various pursuits, he studied awhile 
 (about A. D. 380,) under Gregory Nazianzen at Con- 
 stantinople ; and after making a visit of some length at 
 Rome, he sailed to Egypt, and entered the monasteries 
 of Nitria, in the year 386. He soon came down to 
 Alexandria, however, and there spent about a month 
 under the instructions of Didymus. But disliking the 
 Origenists, though himself a professed admirer of their 
 master, he left Egypt and retired to Palestine. Seclud- 
 ed in a little cell at Bethlehem, amid the scenes of our 
 Saviour's nativity, he devoted his time to monkish 
 austerities, and to writing Commentaries, in imitation 
 of Origen, on the JYew Testament, These appeared 
 about A. D. 388. 
 
 In that upon Ephesians, he represents the Apostle as 
 teaching that all mankind shall eventually come, in the 
 unity of the faith, and in the knowledge of the Son of 
 God, into a perfect man in Christ Jesus* ; and that '' in 
 " the end or consummation of things, all shall be 
 " restored to their original state, and be again united in 
 
 t Hieronymi Comment. Lib, ii. in Epist. ad Ephes. cap, iv. 13. 
 Tom. ivi Part. i. Edit. Martianay. 
 
 17* 
 
198 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap- 
 
 " one body "." He says " we cannot be ignorant that 
 " Christ's blood benefitted the angels and those who 
 " are in hell ; though we know not the manner in which 
 " it produced such effects ""." In another passage he 
 represents " the whole intelligent creation by the simile 
 of an animal body," of w^hich the flesh, arteries, veins, 
 nerves and bones, having been dissected and scattered 
 around, are all to be united again, by a skilful hand, 
 and reanimated. " Now^," continues he, " in the res- 
 " titution of all things, when Christ, the true Physician, 
 " shall come to heal the body of the universal church, 
 " torn at present and dislocated in its members, then 
 " shall every one, according to the measure of his ow^n 
 " faith and knowledge of the Son of God, assume his 
 " proper office, and return to his original state ; not, 
 " however, as some heretics represent, that all will be 
 " changed into angels, or made into creatures of one 
 " uniform rank. But each member shall be made per- 
 " feet according to his peculiar office and capacity. 
 " For instance : the Apostate angel shall become such 
 " as he was created ; and man, who has been cast out 
 " of paradise, shall be restored thither again. And this 
 " shall be accomplished in such a way, that all shall be 
 " united together by mutual charity, so that the mera- 
 " bers will delight in each other, and rejoice in each 
 " others' promotion. Then shall the whole body of 
 " Christ, the universal church, such as it was originally, 
 " dwell in the celestial Jerusalem, which, in another 
 "passage, the Apostle calls the mother of saints'^." 
 
 u Ditto, ad Ephes. cap. iv. 4. ▼ Ditto, ad Ephes. cap. iv. 10, 
 
 w Ditto, ad Ephes, cap. iv 16. 
 
vi.] OF UNIVERSALISat I99 
 
 Again, Jerome says, " the apostate angels, and th€ 
 " prince of this world, and Lucifer the morning star, 
 " though now ungovernable, licentiously wandering 
 " about, and plunging themselves into the depths of sin, 
 " shall, in the end, embrace tlie happy dominion of 
 " Christ and his saints^. 
 
 At the time of writing these Commentaries, Jerome 
 was towards the age of fifty. His influence among the 
 ortliodox, we shall have abundant occasion to exemplify. 
 At present, however, we may only trace a particular 
 friendship, the unhappy termination of which, we shall 
 be obliged hereafter to describe as agitating the church, 
 and in some measure affecting the cause of Universal- 
 ism. Nearly twenty years since, during his first journey 
 into the East, he happened to stop awhile in the city 
 of Aquileia, at the northern extremity of the Adriatic, 
 and there formed an acquaintance with Rufinus, a young 
 
 ^ Ditto. Lib. i. in fjpist. ad Ephes. cap. ii. 7. In two other works, 
 also, written about this time. Jerome asserted Universalism : Hie- 
 ronymi Comment. Lib, ii. in Epist. ad Galatas, cap. iv. 1. — and Com- 
 ment, in Amos cap. iv. The latter was not composed till about 
 A. D. 390 
 
 Afterwards^ in his famous quarrel with Rufinus, Jerome denied 
 the doctrine of Universal Salvation, and attempted, by numerous 
 prevarications, to escape the just charge of having been a follower 
 of Origen. Among other things, he pretended (Apolog. advers. 
 Rufinum Lib. iii. p. 447. Tom.iv. Part, ii.) that in his Commentaries 
 on Ephesians he had merely introduced some sentiments as Ori- 
 gen's, without approving them. As to this pretence, I shall here 
 only subjoin the deliberate judgment of two critics, who will not be 
 suspected of injustice to Jerome : Huet (Origenian. Lib. ii. cap. 4, 
 Sect, i, § 17.) thinks it fully proved against Jerome, that he had 
 commended Origen's doctrine ; and that he himself was forced, at 
 last, virtually to confess the charge. To this judgment of Huet, says 
 Du Pin (Bibliotheca Pat. Art. Jerome.) " I willingly subscribe ; and 
 " do not doubt that as many as have ever read Jerome , will be 
 " of the game mind." See the next Chapter, particularly Seet. xt. 
 
200 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 and promising scholar of the place. Their friendship 
 continued undisturbed down to the present period, and 
 even somewhat later. Rufinus had early followed him 
 into the East : in company with Melania, a nohle lady 
 of Rome, he had sailed to Egypt in A. D. 372, visited 
 tlie monks of Nitria, spent some time with Didyraus 
 at Alexandria, and then retired, probably the next 
 year, with his patroness to Jerusalem. Here Melania 
 employed her abundant wealth in religious and charitable 
 donations, in advancing the monastic cause, and in 
 supporting the numerous pilgrims who resorted to the 
 holy places. With her, Rufinus among others enjoyed 
 a quiet retreat, and devoted himself to study and pious 
 services, surrounded by the venerable objects which 
 the Holy City presented to awaken his devotion. He 
 still remained here, when Jerome took up his permanent 
 abode at Bethlehem, only six miles distant. Both had 
 already entered freely into the sentiments of Origen ; 
 and their present intimacy was well calculated to cherish 
 those notions. There is no reason, however, for sup- 
 posing Rufinus to have been, at anytime, a Universalist^; 
 unless we may derive a faint, and it seems unwarrantable 
 suspicion, from his having preserved, in his numerous 
 translations from Origen, those passages entire which 
 taught Universalism, while he altered or omitted such 
 as disagreed with the orthodox trinitarianism. This 
 circumstance does, indeed, show that if he did not be- 
 
 y Huet (Origenian. Lib. ii. cap. 2, Qusest. xi, $ 25,) thinks Rufinus 
 insinuated that though the devil would be endlessly miserable, yet 
 guilty men would suifer only temporary punishment. But to me, the 
 passages to which Huet refers, convey no intimation of the latter 
 opinion, but rather the contrary. 
 
vi.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 201 
 
 lieve the former doctrine, he nevertheless regarded it, 
 like his cotemporaries, as no reprehensible error ; and 
 his faithful attachment to John, the bishop of Jerusalem, 
 confirms this conclusion. Before we pass, it should 
 be remarked, that both Jerome and Rufinus, though 
 Latin writers, and natives of the West, belonged more 
 properly to the eastern church, where their principal 
 connexions were formed, and their doctrinal education 
 matured. 
 
 XXI. Evagrius Ponticus, v/ho flourished 
 A. p. 390. among the orthodox of this period, as a 
 scholar and monk of considerable emin- 
 ence, must be pronounced a Universalist, on the un- 
 disputed testimony of the Fifth General Council ; in 
 which, a century and a half after his death, he was 
 anathematized with Didymus, for having taught the 
 Restoration of all, and the Pre-existence of souls ,^. 
 But the same sentence which has preserved the mem- 
 ory of his doctrine, destroyed the obnoxious part of 
 his writings, and left nothing but a few^ works consist- 
 ing chiefly of ceremonial rules and practical instructions 
 for monks. In these, both their subject and the cir- 
 cumstance of their having been tolerated, render it 
 improbable that any thing is to be found to our purpose. 
 We have therefore only to add a brief sketch of his 
 life, and then proceed to some accounts of other indi- 
 viduals. 
 
 Having come from his native country of Pontus, to 
 Cappadocia, not far from A. D. 375, he w'as appointed 
 
 z Cyrilli Scythopolit. Vit, S,P. Sabre cap. 90. 
 
202 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 Reader in the church of Cesarea, by Basil the Great ; 
 on whose death, Gregory Nyssen ordained him Deacon. 
 After a while, Evagrius went to Constantinople, where 
 he studied the scriptures under Gregory Nazianzen, 
 and was, by him, promoted to the Archdeaconship. 
 Here he remained a few years after his master retired 
 from the city ; but being himself at length obhged to 
 flee from the matrimonial jealousy of a nobleman, he 
 came to Jerusalem, about A. D. 385, and was received 
 and supported in the charitable establishment of Mela- 
 nia. In the society of Rufinus and others, he was here 
 persuaded to embrace the monastic life ; and after a 
 residence of five years in Palestine, he went, in A. D. 
 390, to the famous retreat of Nitria, where he took 
 up his permanent abode among the Origenists. The 
 remainder of his life was passed in great austerity, 
 and in close application to study and composition. He 
 lived in the orthodox communion, and died at the age 
 of fifty four with the reputation of much sanctity and 
 considerable learning ^. 
 
 XXII. Were it allowable to indulge conjecture on 
 mere appearances, w^e might conclude that nearly all 
 the leading Origenists of this period were believers in 
 Universalism ; for such is the impression the historian 
 must naturally feel in contemplating the peculiar cir- 
 cumstances of their lives, their intimacy with Didymus 
 and with others who are known to have held that doc- 
 trine, and their respect for the favorite father whose 
 
 a We must not confound Evagrius Ponticus with his cotemporary, 
 Evagrius Antiochenus, nor with a later writer, Evagrius Scholasticus, 
 the ecclesiastical historian. 
 
vi.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 203 
 
 name they bore. Passing over the undistinguished 
 multitude, who had, perhaps, only their wretchedness 
 and austerity to recommend them to a momentary rep- 
 utation, and who could now form, at best, but a blank 
 catalogue of names, there are still two or three who 
 must here be introduced to notice. Palladius a native 
 of Galatia, and a disciple of Evagrius Ponticus in Egypt, 
 was one of the ablest and most faithful supporters of 
 the party. He was now a monk in the solitude of Ni- 
 tria; but ill health soon driving him into the world, he 
 afterwards obtained a bishopric in Asia Minor, became 
 considerably known by the part he took in the public 
 affairs of the church, and preserved his name from ob- 
 livion by writing some historical or biographical works, 
 which yet remain. Another influential member of the 
 party was the venerable Isidorus, an aged Presbyter 
 of Alexandria, whom Athanasius had ordained many 
 years before, and who had spent his early life among 
 the monasteries of the Nitrian desert. 
 
 Directing our view to the churches of Palestine, we 
 behold the episcopal chair of the Holy City filled by 
 John of Jerusalem, an Origenist, who with Isidorus, will 
 hereafter appear, bearing an important part in the sub- 
 ject of this history, and affording some evidence that he 
 w^as a Universalist. He had lately^ succeeded Cyrill in 
 tlie bishopric of Jerusalem ; and the friendship of Mela- 
 nia, Rufinus, and their associates, reheved his cares, and 
 strengthened his influence. Of his earher life, we only 
 know that he was born about A. D. 356, that his 
 
 bin A,D,387, 
 
204 THE ANCIExNT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 youth was devoted to the monastic disciplme, but that, 
 quitting his retirement, he was ordained Presbyter before 
 tlie year 378, and that he was chosen to the see of Je- 
 rusalem in A. D. 387. 
 
 XXIII. Having so long confined ourselves to the eas- 
 tern churches, where alone we can discover the preva- 
 lence of Universalism, we may now turn our attention 
 to the West. A multitude of obscure names, almost 
 for2;otten, if we except those of Optatus, a Numidian 
 bishop, and Philastrius, an Itahan, fill the hst of ecclesi- 
 astical writers, among the Latins, in the interval be- 
 tween the time of Hilary, and the present. Now, how- 
 ever, they had a very eminent and popular doctor in 
 Ambrose, archbishop of Milan in Italy : a man of mod- 
 erate learning, but of a polite education, of the most 
 vigorous talents, determined courage, and of an in- 
 fluence so powerful as to approach towards absolute au- 
 thority in the state, as well as in the church. Of the 
 future condhion of mankind, his views nearly coincided 
 with those which Hilary and Lactantjus had before ad- 
 vanced : All who have attained, in this life, 
 A. D. 384, to the character of perfect saints, such as 
 
 to 390. the apostles, and some others, w411, he sup- 
 posed, rise from the dead in the first resur- 
 rection 5 and enduring, with litde pain, the ordeal of the 
 flaming sword, or the baptism of fire, at the gate of Pa- 
 radise, they will quickly enter into everlasting joy. But 
 the imperfect saints will undergo a trial severer in pro- 
 portion to their vices ; and such as have only been be- 
 lievers, without the virtues of the gospel, whom he de- 
 nominates the sinners^ will remain in the torments of fire 
 
vi.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 205 
 
 till the second resurrection, and perhaps still longer, that 
 they may be purified from their wickedness. These 
 three classes, the perfect saints, the imperfect, and the 
 sinners, shall each be arraigned, except perhaps the 
 first, at the great Judgment-day ; and what is remark- 
 able, all who are then tried, shall sooner or later be 
 saved. But there is another, a fourth class, which he 
 distinguishes as the impious or the infidels, who, to- 
 gether with the Devil and his angels, shall never be 
 brought to judgment, because they have been already 
 condemned. For these he apparently reserves no 
 chance of restoration, but leaves them to an eternity 
 of hopeless suffering °. 
 
 The author usually quoted under the name of Am- 
 brosiaster, who is generally supposed to have been one 
 Hilary a deacon of Rome, held that all such behevers 
 as embrace erroneous doctrines, while they neverthe- 
 less retain the essential principles of Christianity, must 
 be subjected to the purification of fire, in the future 
 world, before they can be saved*^. He likewise taught 
 that our Saviour descended, after his crucifixion, to the 
 invisible regions of the dead, and there converted all, 
 whether impious or^ ordinary sinners, who willingly 
 sought his aid®. Christ's mission, indeed, according 
 to him, enabled even the erring and apostatized powers 
 of heaven to cast off the yoke of the devil, and to re- 
 
 c Ambrosii Mediolanensis in Psalm. 1. Enarrat, § 51, 52,53, 54, 56; 
 in Ps. cxviii. Exposit. Serm. iii. § 14 — 17. & Serm. xx. § 12. 13, 14, 
 23. 24. The dates of these works are pl.iC6d from A. D. 386 to 
 A. D. 390. d Comment, ad Epist. i Corinth, cap. iii. 15. in 
 
 Append, ad Ambrosii Mediolanensis Oper. Tom. ii. e Com- 
 
 ment, in Epist. ad Ephes. cap iv. 8, 9. 
 
 18 
 
206 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 turn to God^; but still it appears to have been his 
 decided belief that there were cases of such obstinate 
 rebellion, among wicked souls as well as angels, as to 
 be past all recovery. 
 
 With the notice of this writer, we close, for the pres- 
 ent, our account of the orthodox christians. 
 
 XXIV. During more than half of this century, the 
 Arians were numerous enough to dispute the superiority 
 in the church, especially in the East 5 and it is natural 
 for us to enquire, what were their sentiments with re- 
 gard to the ultimate salvation of the world ? But we 
 shall seek in vain for their own testimony in answer. 
 Though they were supported, in their day, by the influ- 
 ence of eminent bishops, and defended by the labors 
 of learned doctors, the victorious fortune of their ad- 
 versaries has obliterated almost every fragment of their 
 writings from the pages of time, and left a wide erasure 
 which no learning nor art can restore. We only know 
 that, except what related to the trinity, their doctrine 
 was considered the same with that of the Consubstan- 
 tiahsts ; and it seems that in all the passion of contro- 
 versial warfare, they never reproached their unsparing 
 opponents for their frequent avowal of Universalism ^, 
 
 f Ditto ad Ephes. cap. iii. 10. N. B These Commentaries are sup- 
 posed to have been written about A. D. 384. s Ennoniius, one 
 cf the most celebrated Arians, who flourislied from A. D. 360 to 
 A. D. 3l!4, is cliarged by three Greek writers of the 12th century, 
 with having held that all the threatenings of eternal torments were 
 intended only to terrify mankind, and were never meant to be exe- 
 cuted. (See Dalsamon ad Canon, i Constantinopol. And Ilarmenop- 
 ulus, De Sect. 13. And J. Zonaras ad Canon, in Deiparam.) The 
 authority of these modern Greeks, however, is but small; and in 
 this case it is not sustained by any testimony more ancient, nor by 
 
viL] OF UNIVERSALISM. 207 
 
 These circumstances may strengthen a conjecture, 
 which is not in itself improbable, that the doctrine 
 received about the same degree of patronage among 
 both parties ; so that neither was under temptation 
 to accuse the other. From similar considerations, the 
 suspicion of ambiguity naturally rests, liliewise, upon the 
 few Sabellians of this period. And we may extend the 
 remark to the small schismatical sects of IVovatians, 
 Donatists, and Meletians ; who were separated from the 
 orthodox church, only by some trivial distinctions of 
 disciphne and ecclesiastical government, or by the ir- 
 regular succession of their bishops. 
 
 The uncertain, or perhaps divided, opinions of the 
 Manicheans, on the subject of Universal Salvation, have 
 been already mentioned. At present, however, it seems 
 to have become the general belief, at least of those in 
 Africa '\ that many human souls would prove utterly 
 irreclaimable, and be therefore stationed forever, as a 
 guard, upon the frontiers of the world of darkness. The 
 sect had now increased to a vast number, although ab- 
 horred by every other party, and indefatigably opposed 
 by a large proportion of the orthodox writers, from Eu- 
 sebius Pamphilus downwards ; and it lurked in all parts 
 
 the fragments of Eunomius yet extant. On the contrary, in the for- 
 mal Declaration of Faith, which he sent to the emperor Theodosius, 
 A. D. 383, he says, '' they who persevere in impiety or sin till the 
 " close of life, shall be delivered to everlasting punishment." 
 (Fabricii Biblioih. Grfec. Tom. viii. p. 260.; At the end of his Epi 
 log. ad Apologiam, he remarks that in the general judgment, Christ 
 will consign such as make light of sin, to remediless suffering. (Cavei 
 Hist. Literar. Art, Eunomius, p. 222.) 
 
 h Lardner's Credibility &c. Chap. Mani and his Followers. Sect, 
 iv. nS. 
 
208 "THE AxNCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 of Christendom, notwithstanding it had been repeatedly 
 proscribed by the edicts of successive emperors. Al- 
 ready could the alarming and inextinguishable heresy 
 boast of many eminent advocates, and of some respec- 
 table authors ; and for several years it received the 
 flattering patronage of the young Augustine, the future 
 bishop of Hippo and renowned orthodox latlier. The 
 care of a pious mother had trained him up in the prin- 
 ciples of the catholic faith ; but at the age of seventeen, 
 he imbibed the sentiments of Mani ; and though never 
 a very zealous partizan nor a thoroughly instructed 
 disciple, he continued to cherish the proscribed doctrine 
 till he entered on his thirty first year. Residing how- 
 ever at Milan in Italy, in A. D. 385, he was so struck 
 with the arguments and illustrations of the eloquent 
 archbishop Ambrose, that he resolved to forsake tlie 
 heresy ; and in the course of a year or two, he was 
 fully converted to the orthodox religion, and received 
 by baptism, into the church. 
 
CHAPTER Vn. 
 
 [From A. D. 391, to A. D 404.] 
 
 I. The three prmcipal Sees of christen- 
 A. D. 391. dom were now filled by Pope Smcius at 
 Rome, by the ambitious and unprincipled 
 Theophilus at Alexandria, and by Evagrius, (not Evag- 
 rius Ponticus) at Antioch. Of some inferior, yet dis- 
 tinguished bishoprics, that of Constantinople was held 
 by old Nectarius, successor of Gregory Nazianzen ; that 
 of the island Cj^rus, by Epiphanius, the aged and 
 persevering enemy of the Origenists ; and John the 
 Universalist, presided over that of Jerusalem. In the 
 West, Ambrose governed tlie churches of Milan, and 
 by his astonishing influence controled the civil as well 
 as the religious concerns of Italy and Gaul. Of a mul- 
 titude of ecclesiastical writers who flourished at this 
 time, we may here mention only three : the learned 
 Jerome, whose fame had already filled the world ; young 
 Chrysostom the prince of christian orators, whose renown 
 began to extend beyond the sphere of his labors hi the 
 great city of Antioch ; and the immortal Augustine, who 
 was rising into notice, amidst his native Numidia in 
 Africa. Of the authors formerly mentioned, Titus of 
 Bostra and Basil the Great, had long been dead ; Greg- 
 18* 
 
210 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap, 
 
 ory Nazianzen expired in his native village, about two 
 years since ; Didymus still sur\ived, at Alexandria, but 
 in extreme old age ; and Gregory Nyssen had approach- 
 ed within three or four years the close of his life. 
 Jerome continued at his cell in Bethlehem ; Evagrius 
 Ponticus and Palladius of Galatia were among the monas- 
 teries of Nitria ; and Isidorus was at Alexandria, under 
 the patronage of the archbishop Theophilus. 
 
 The long struggle between the Consubstantialists and 
 the Arians, had now ceased throughout the civilized 
 world. The latter, driven from all their numerous 
 churches in the East, by the vigorous and unsparing 
 persecution of Theodosius the Great, and from those in 
 the West, by the imperial authority of Gratian, had 
 taken refuge among the barbarous nations of Goths and 
 Vandals. The schismatical sects were, in a measure, 
 suppressed ; and, for a moment, the weapons of contro- 
 versy and violence which the orthodox had so long 
 vsdelded, seemed to hang useless in their hands. But 
 an occasion for their use soon offered, among themselves, 
 in a personal contention, obscure and trifling at first, 
 which swelled and extended by degrees, till it agitated 
 the whole church. 
 
 n. Epiphanius visiting Jerusalem, this year^, and 
 preaching there before a large concourse, in the cathe- 
 dral church, made an insidious attack upon John the 
 bishop, by inveighing against Origen, whom the latter 
 
 a The dates in this contention with the Origcnists, down to the 
 year 397, 1 have endeavored, with some care, to calculate froniMar- 
 tianay's chronoloffical notes prefixed to the 4th. Tom. of his edition 
 of Jerome, and from several e-xprcssions found in Epist. xxxiii. and 
 xxxviii. Hieronymi Opp, Tom.iv . Part ii. Some of these dates have 
 manifestly been mistaken by Huet, Du Pin, Fleury, &c. 
 
yii.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 211 
 
 was known to admire. He reproached that ancient 
 father, in his wonted strain, as the parent of Arianism 
 and other heresies ; till at length John sent his arch- 
 deacon, in view of the whole assembly, to request him to 
 forbear. A procession followed, to tlie place of our 
 Saviour's crucifixion ; and on the way the two prelates 
 betrayed some indications of resentment on the one 
 hand, and of neglect on the other. After their return, 
 and w^hile the people still waited, John himself addressed 
 them ; and as many opposers of the Origenists actually 
 attributed to Deity a body like our own, he declaimed 
 vehemently against tliat gross error, in order to reflect the 
 suspicion of it upon Epiphanius. But the latter, im- 
 mediately standing up, joined his brother in severely 
 reprobating the notion ; then, turning suddenly, called 
 upon the assembly to condemn likewise the perverse 
 dogmas of Origen ; and he even besought and warned 
 John himself to avoid them. This undisguised attack 
 produced some sensation among the people, and left, it 
 seems, an indelible impression on the minds of both 
 the bishops.*^ 
 
 A year or two afterwards, Epiphanius 
 A. D. 393. came again into Palestine, and spent a while 
 at a monastery he had founded in his na- 
 tive village, about twenty miles west of Jerusalem. 
 Though the natural simpHcity of the bishop of Cyprus 
 may, perhaps^ forbid the charge of studied or intentional 
 wrong, yet his inconsiderate officiousness, and his child- 
 ly Hieronymi Epist. xxxviii. vel 61. Tom. iv. Part. ii. pp. 312, 313, 
 Edit. Martianay. And Epiphanii Epist. ad Johannem Hierosolym. 
 in eodem Tom. p. 824. 
 
212 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 ish vanity, which led him sometimes to overlook the 
 prescribed rights of others, gave just occasion for the 
 apprehensions of John ^, that this visit would be marked 
 witli some act of intrusion. No sooner had Pauhnianus, 
 the brother of Jerome, arrived on business from Beth- 
 lehem, than Epiphanius, who had long sought the op- 
 portunity, ordered him to be seized, stopped his mouth 
 to prevent his refusal, and then, by force, made him 
 deacon : a mode of procedure not very unfrequent in 
 that age. A few days afterward, he seized him again, 
 during the services of the monastery, and with the same 
 violence, imposed on him the sacred ordination of a 
 presbyter. This official act, performed by Epiphanius 
 out of his own jurisdiction, and in the neighborhood, if 
 not within the diocess of Jerusalem, highly exasperated 
 John ; who complained angrily of the insult he had suf- 
 fered in the ordination of one of his monks of Bethle- 
 hem, whhout his knowledge and permission. Rumor 
 also brought to his ears an unfounded report, that Epi- 
 phanius was in the habit of abusing him in his public 
 prayers. The pilgrims who resorted to the Holy City 
 heard, and on their return probably circulated, his com- 
 plaints and invectives; and he at length threatened 
 openly to send letters to the churches of the East and 
 West, and thus publish his wrongs to the world ^. 
 
 III. The news of the disturbance he had 
 
 A. D. 394. left behind him in Palestine, soon reached 
 
 Epiphanius at Cyprus; who at length 
 
 wrote to John, endeavoring to excuse his ordination of 
 
 c Epiphanii Epist, ad Johan. p. 823. ^ Epiplianii Epist. 
 
 ad. Johan. p. 823. And Hieronymi Epist. xxxix. vel 02. p. 337. 
 
Tii.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 213 
 
 Paulinlanus, by alleging a practice among the bishops 
 of his island to officiate on similar occasions without 
 regard to each others' jurisdictions. He declared, 
 however, that he well knew John's wrath arose, not 
 from this ordination, but from the old reproof for Origen- 
 ism; and earnestly beseeching him to save himself from 
 tlie " untoward generation of heretics," he proceeded to 
 enumerate the several errors of Origen. This cata- 
 logue, though nearly the same he had published eighteen 
 years before, is distinguished for containing the first 
 censure, on record, against Universahsm. " 1. Who 
 " among the catholics," said he, " and such as adorn 
 " their faith with good works, can hear, with an undis- 
 "turbed mind, the doctrine of Origen, or believe that 
 " notorious declaration of his. The Son cannot behold 
 " the Father, nor the Holy Ghost the Son ! 2. Who 
 " can endure him when he says that souls were origi- 
 " nally angels in heaven, but cast down into this world 
 " after sinning in the celestial state, and imprisoned here 
 " in bodies, as in sepulchresj in order to punish them 
 " for their former transgressions ! so that the bodies of 
 " believers are not the temple of Christ, but the prisons 
 " of the damned. 3. That also which he strove to es- 
 "tablish, I know not w^hether to laugh or grieve at: 
 " Origen, the renowned doctor, dared to teach that the 
 " Devil is again to become what he originally was, to 
 " return to his former dignity, and to enter the kingdom 
 " of heaven ! O wickedness ! who is so mad and 
 ** stupid as to believe that holy John Baptist, and Peter, 
 " and John the Apostle and Evangelist, and that Isaiah 
 " also, and Jeremiah, and the rest of the prophets, are 
 
214 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 '' to become fellow-heirs with the Devil in the kingdom 
 " of heaven ! 4. I pass over his frivolous explanation 
 " of the coats of skins : with what labor, with how^ many 
 " arguments, he strove to make us believe that those 
 " coats were human bodies ! Among other things, he 
 " asks. Was God a leather-dresser, that he should take 
 " the skins of animals and fit them into coats for Adam, 
 " and Eve ? Therefore it is manifest, says Origen, that 
 '^ it is sjyoken of our bodies. 5. Who can patiently 
 " bear with him while he denies the resurrection of this 
 " flesh ? as he manifestly does in his explanations of the 
 " First Psalm, and in many other places. 6. Or who 
 " can endure his notion that Paradise, or the Garden of 
 " Eden, was in the third heaven ! thus transferring it 
 " from the earth to the skies, and, by an allegorical in- 
 " terpretation, representing its trees to be angelic powders ! 
 " 7. Who but must instantly reject and condemn his 
 " delusions, that those waters above the firmament, 
 " mentioned in Genesis, are not waters, but certain ce- 
 " lestial spirits ; and that those under the firmament, 
 " are demons ! Why, then, do we read that in the 
 " deluge the windows of heaven were opened, and the 
 " waters of the flood descended ? O, the madness and 
 "stupidity of men who have neglected what is said in 
 " Proverbs, My son, hear the word of thy father, and 
 ^forsake not the law of thy mother, S. I do not at- 
 " tempt to dispute against all his errors ; they are in- 
 " numerable ; but among other things he even dared to 
 " say that Adam lost the image of God ! when there is 
 " not one passage of scripture that intimates it. If, in- 
 " deed, that were the case, then would all thmgs wliich 
 
vii.] OP UNIVERSALISM. 215 
 
 " are in the world never have been made subject to 
 "Adam's posterity, the human race, as James the 
 "Apostle teaches^." Such are the particulars that 
 Epiphanius selected for special reprehension. He again 
 exhorted John, as his own son, to abstain from the 
 heresy ; and lamented that so many of their bretliren 
 had already been made " food for the devil." 
 
 We have said that in this passage occurs the first cen- 
 sure which is to be found in all antiquity against the 
 doctrine of Universalism. We must remark, however, 
 tliat even here the censure falls, as the reader may per- 
 ceive, not on the doctrine of the salvation of all man- 
 kind, but on that of the salvation of the devil. This 
 distinction, though it may seem captious, is of some con- 
 sequence to an accurate understanding of subsequent 
 occurrences. 
 
 IV. With the Letter to John, Epiphanius sent others, 
 on the same subject, to the bishops of Palestine ^; and as 
 copies of the former as well as of the latter were freely 
 circulated through the province, the matter soon awaken- 
 ed general interest^. Many of the people, many of the 
 clergy seem to have adhered to John; and Rufinus 
 and Melania espoused his cause, as did also Palladius of 
 Galatia*^, who had lately arrived from Nitria. But 
 
 e Epiphanii Epist. ad Johannem, inter Hieronymi 0pp. Tom. iv. 
 Part. ii. Edit. Martianay. I give a faithful translation of Epiphani- 
 us's Catalogue of Origen's errors; but I have in.serted the figures be- 
 Ivv^een the several pa-rticulars ; omitted three uninteresting, and 
 to most readers, unintelligible arguments which in the original stood 
 between the 2d and 3d, tiie 4th and 5th, and the 6th and 7th errors; 
 and passed over the exhortation which occurred between the 7th and 
 8th. Hieronymi Epist. xxxviii. adv. Johan. Hierosol. p. 334. 
 
 g Hieron. Epist. xxxiii. vel 101. ad Pammach. p. 248. 
 
 b Epiphanii Epist. ad Johan. pp. 827, 829. 
 
216 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 otliers, especially the monks of Bethlehem, took up for 
 Epiphanius, withdrew from the communion of their ac- 
 cused bishop ', and in return, suffered from him, it ap- 
 pears, some condemnatory sentence for their refractory 
 procedure •". 
 
 Jerome, the admirer, the imitator of Origen, we 
 should expect, of course, to discover among his bishop's 
 adlierents ; but two or three circumstances conspired 
 to engage him on the opposite side : The strongest af- 
 fections of nature inclined him to defend the ordination 
 of his own brother ; some personal difference she formerly 
 had with the professed Origenists, both at Rome and 
 Nitria, vrere, perhaps, remembered with resentment ; 
 and his pride of learning, his haughty and petulant spirit, 
 must have made him restless under the immediate go- 
 vernment of an ecclesiastical superior, who was his junior 
 in age, and whom he might justly regard as far his in- 
 ferior in talents and acquirements. He joined the party 
 of Epiphanius, or perhaps gathered it, and translated 
 the Letter to John, for the private use of such monks 
 as were acquainted only \n\h the Latin language. His 
 
 translation, though intended for confidential 
 A. D. 395. circulation, found its way, the next year*^, 
 
 to Jerusalem ; and it was immediately cen- 
 sured, by Rufinus, as unfaithful to the honorable appel- 
 lations bestowed, in the original, upon his bishop. From 
 this moment we discover an open breach in the early 
 and long cherished affection of the two friends : Jerome, 
 
 i Hieron. Epist. adv. Johan. xxxviii. p. 308. j Ditto. And p. 
 
 833. And Epist. xxxix. ad Tlieophilum, p, 338, dec. k Hieron. 
 
 Epist. fxxiii. p. 248. 
 
vii.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 217 
 
 who could not bear reproof, defended himself, and re- 
 sented the criticism with his accustomed abuse, by call- 
 ing its author a pseudo-monk'. 
 
 V. The noise of the quarrel in Palestine had reached 
 Alexandria ; and Isidorus, the aged patron of Origen- 
 ism, felt himself called upon to encourage his brethren. 
 Relying \\ith a misplaced confidence on the integrity of 
 his former friends, he addressed a letter to one Vincen- 
 tius, a presb}^er and monk at Bethlehem, whom he had 
 probably seen, about ten years before, in company with 
 Jerome in Egypt. He exhorted him to stand firm on 
 tlie rock of faith, nor be terrified by the threats of the 
 adversaries ; and added, " I myself shall soon come to 
 " Jerusalem, and the band of enemies shall be dispers- 
 " ed, who, always resisting the faith of the church, at- 
 " tempt now to disturb the minds of the simpler sort™." 
 But Vincentius, it seems, had already followed the ex- 
 ample of his master Jerome, in siding with Epiphanius ; 
 and this letter accordingly proved a providential warning, 
 instead of an encouragement. 
 
 The increasing contention, which attracted the notice 
 of foreign christians, alarmed the friends of tranquillity at 
 home. Archelaus, one of the civil officers of the prov- 
 ince, was vainly attempting to allay the disturbance. 
 He invited both parties to amutual confeience, in which 
 they should agree upon a common declaration of faith ; 
 but when the day arrived, John was absent on some 
 parocliial duty; and he never appeared, though the 
 
 1 Ditto. m Hieron. Epist. xxxviii. p. 330. 
 
 19 
 
2 IS THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 council, in reply to his excuse, offered to wait his con- 
 venience, at least for a few days". 
 
 Two months afterwards a deputation arrived, not 
 unexpectedly, from Theophilus, the powerful and aspiring 
 archbishop of Egypt ; who, either on the request of 
 John, or at his own suggestion, gladly embraced this 
 opportunity to extend his influence over the foreign 
 churches of Palestine. Isidorus himself was entrusted 
 with the commission, and as deputy, brought letters from 
 the Alexandrian Primate to John and Jerome, the re- 
 spective heads of the contending parties. But a pro- 
 fessed and zealous Origenist was much better qualified 
 to inflame than to compose a difficulty, in which his 
 favorite doctrine was involved ; and on his arrival, his 
 subserAiency to the bishop of Jerusalem was so manifest, 
 that Jerome refused, with reason, his partial mediation". 
 VI. Frustrated in the special object of his mission, 
 Isidorus devoted himself exclusively to the assistance of 
 
 John. The letter of Epiphanius had now 
 A. D. 396. laid, unanswered, before the public, nearly 
 
 tvvo years ; and the bishop availed himself 
 of his friend's assistance to produce a Reply, which had 
 become so imperiously required. It was addressed in 
 the name of John, to Theophilus at Alexandria, to 
 whose decision it appealed. The author, or rather the 
 authors, related the history of the difficult}^, complained 
 of the ordination of Paulinianus, inveighed against Je- 
 rome, and charged him with inconsistency in reproaching 
 Origen whom he had translated and extolled ; and they 
 
 n Ditto, pp. 331 , 332. o Ditto, pp. 330; 331. 
 
vii.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 219 
 
 finally proceeded to an examination of the errors which 
 Epiphanius had enumerated, and by implication, charg- 
 ed against John. Out of the eight, however, the wTiters 
 answered to three only : to the first, concerning the 
 Trinity ; to the second, concerning Pre-existence ; and to 
 the fifth, concerning the Resurrection. On these three 
 points, they either explained themselves favorably p, or 
 absolutely rejected the errors alleged ; but if we may 
 rely on the mmute account, or on the confident judg- 
 ment, of their prejudiced adversary, Jerome, they felt 
 unprepared to disclaim the other five particulars in the 
 catalogue. That they cautiously avoided any notice of 
 them, is indubitable ; and we may adopt the very nat- 
 ural conclusion that they really held what they so warily 
 passed over, the salvation of the devil as well as the 
 allegorical expositions of Origen*^. With this Reply to 
 Epiphanius, or Apology to Theophilus, Isidorus de- 
 parted for Alexandria; and he probably assisted in 
 spreading copies of it through tlie churches. 
 
 VII. These copies w^ere extensively dispersed, and 
 soon reached Italy and Rome, where the Letter of 
 Epiphanius had been already circulated. Here, as in 
 other places, the people were variously affected, some 
 inclining to one party, some to the other ; and one of 
 Jerome's correspondents wrote to him on the perplexi- 
 
 p According to Jerome, (Epist. xxxviii.) they prevaricated on 
 these points; but I think it evident from his own'account that they 
 fully denied that of Pre-existence, q Hieron. Epist. xxxviii. adv. 
 
 Johan. Hierosolyra. Their rejection of the error concerning Pi'e- 
 existence would, however involve a denial of those concerning the 
 coats of skins, and the garden of Eden. John's Apology to The- 
 ophilus is lost; and we can judge of its contents only from Jerome's 
 account. 
 
220 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 ties which the subject had occasioned, requesting a full 
 statement of the affair. The communication of intelligence 
 through a distance of nearly five hundred leagues, must 
 have been dilatory and tedious ; and Jerome seems to 
 
 have taken the earliest opportunity, on re- 
 A. D. 397. ceipt of the request, to compose his bitter 
 
 and sarcastic Answer to Johi's Apology. 
 He addressed it, for the most part, directly to John 
 himself; but it was published in the form of a letter to 
 his enquiring friend at Rome. The origin of the quar- 
 rel, the measures that had been adopted for a reconcil- 
 iation, the answ^ers which John had given to the three 
 errors, and his silence with regard to the rest, were 
 related and discussed at considerable length ; and 
 Jerome concluded by defending his own party from his 
 bishop's accusations, and by retorting on him the charge 
 of disturbing the church''. 
 
 He had just received a letteT from Theophilus, ex- 
 horting the monks to peace and reconciliation with their 
 bishop. It was an object of much importance to secure 
 tlie assistance, or at least the neutrahty, of this worldly 
 minded but active and influential prelate, who had 
 hitherto appeared to favor the cause of John. Jerome 
 immediately replied to him in a flattering and insinuat- 
 ing strain ; and declared that, agreeably to his recom- 
 mendation, he himself was sincerely for peace ; for such 
 peace, however, as would, in reality, be cordial, for the 
 peace of Christ ; intimating, at the same time, that tliere 
 never could be hearty concord between the faithful and 
 
 I Hieron. Epist. xxxviii. 
 
vii.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 221 
 
 the heretics. He embraced this opportunity, like-^ise, 
 to lay before Theophilus a history of the disturbance, 
 to defend the ordination of his brother, and to exoner- 
 ate liimself from that charge of inconsistency which John 
 had urged against him for having translated the works 
 of Origen that he now condemned ^ 
 
 No man, perhaps, in that age, possessed means more 
 efficient for diffusing his prejudices, than Jerome. From 
 his narrow and uncouth cell at Bethlehem, he could 
 easily excite disaffection or distrust, in the remotest 
 parts of Christendom. He maintained an extensive cor- 
 respondence ; the fame of his knowledge procured him 
 a welcome introduction wherever he sought assistance ; 
 and his penetrating discernment readily distinguished 
 those who would prove most useful as coadjutors. The 
 celebrated Augustine, now bishop of Hippo in Africa, 
 a hundred and fifty miles west of Carthage, was too 
 eminent for him to overlook ; and he had already ad- 
 dressed him a letter with the information that Origen's 
 works abounded with errors'. But that honest and 
 independent man could never be engaged in his violent 
 measures, though he was, in reality, much farther from 
 Origen's sentiments than Jerome himself. 
 
 VIII. Meanwhile, Rufinus had bidden a final adieu 
 to his friends in Palestine, and had sailed, in company 
 with his patroness, for liis native Italy. But before his 
 departure a seeming reconciliation had been effected 
 between him and Jerome ; and in their last interview 
 
 s Hieron. Epist. xxxix. ad Theopbilum. t Huet. Origenian. 
 
 Lib. ii. cap. 4. Sect. i. § J4. 
 
 19^ 
 
222 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap 
 
 they had pledged themselves to refrain from their mu- 
 tual hostilities ". 
 
 When he arrived with Melania at Rome, intent on 
 difRising his sentiments and partialities, and urged by 
 Macarius, a civil officer of the city, he translated into 
 Latin the first book of Pamphilus's and Eusebius's 
 Apology for Origen, together with Origen's famous 
 books Of Principles, and soon published them for the 
 benefit of the western christians. To these works he 
 affixed Prefaces and a Tract of his own ; by which he 
 apprized the public that in the books Of Principles he 
 had omitted or amended the many erroneous represent- 
 ations concerning the trinity, which he supposed had 
 been inserted or corrupted by the heretics- The other 
 notions, he intimates, were preserved unaltered v. Un- 
 happily, however, he could not altogether suppress a 
 secret personal resentment, but embraced this oppor- 
 tunity to allude to a certain accomplished brother, who 
 had ranked Origen next to the Apostles, and whose 
 commendations of him had excited a general desire to 
 obtain his w^orks : who had already pubhshed in Latift 
 above seventy of his Homilies, and who had promised 
 to translate still more. This brother, was, of course, 
 Jerome ; and the allusion w^as manifestly intended 
 to remind the few of his inconstancy, and to im- 
 ply to the rest that he still continued, as he once 
 had been, a follower of Origen. Nor did Rufinus stop 
 here ; his smothered enmity broke out in a remark that 
 
 " Hieron. Epist. xlii. vel GG. ad Rufinum, p. 348. v Rufioi 
 
 Prspfat. in Lib. Peri Archon, inter Origenis 0pp. Tom, i. Edit, De- 
 larue. 
 
vii.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 22o 
 
 there were authors who, having stolen all their w^orks 
 out of Origen, afterwards reproached their master, in 
 order to conceal their o\\ti plagiarisms by deterring the 
 world from reading the original '^. These sly insinua- 
 tions, though veiled under the language of respect and 
 esteem, could not escape the notice, nor elude the 
 understanding, of Jerome's western friends ; and it was 
 easily foreseen that the reconciliation, so lately confirm- 
 ed in Palestine . must soon share the common fate of 
 attempts at renewing old friendships once violated with 
 insult. 
 
 The books Of Principles^ though they contained, 
 besides Universalism, the doctrine of pre-existence and 
 
 other novel opinions, were readily received 
 
 A. D. 397, by many at Rome, and attached a number 
 
 — 398. of priests, monks and common christians to 
 
 Origen^. Others, how^ever, rose in oppo- 
 sition ; and a lady of influence, by the name of Mar- 
 cella, with whom Jerome maintained a correspondence, 
 appears to have taken the lead in fixing the stigma of 
 heresy on the gathering party of Origenists. Assisted 
 by Vincentius, who had returned from Bethlehem, and 
 seconded by the numerous and powerful friends of 
 Jerome, she soon succeeded in rousing and directing 
 the pubhc indignation 5". It seems probable, how^ever, 
 that even Jerome's own friends did not consider the 
 books Of Principles very heretical as they stood in the 
 translation ^ ; and the more moderate and impartial dis- 
 
 w Ditto. And Rufirii Lib. De Adulterat. Origenis Librorum. 
 
 X Hieron. Epist. xcvi. vel. 16 ad Principium. p. 782. y Ditto, 
 
 z Jerome's friends, Pammachius and Oceanus (Epist. xl. vel €4 
 
224 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap, 
 
 covered notliing alarming in the late publications, if we 
 may judge from the conduct of Pope Siricius : It was 
 one of the last acts of his life, to grant letters of recom- 
 mendation to Rufinus, who was preparing to proceed, 
 after an absence of twenty-five years, to his native city 
 of Aquileia*. 
 
 IX. Jerome at length received, with sur- 
 A. D. 398, prise, an account sent from Italy, of the 
 — 399. artful procedure of Rufinus ; but with a 
 moderation unusual for him, he wrote to 
 his false friend in terms of manly and candid expostula- 
 tion, entreating him, as a brother, to offer no more abuse, 
 and to regard their parting conciliation ^. As he was, 
 however, accused of inconsistency in his treatment of 
 Origen, not by Rufinus alone, but by many others at 
 Rome, at Alexandria, and indeed throughout Christen- 
 dom, he composed a formal explanation of the praises 
 he had formerly bestowed upon that father, and sent it 
 to his Roman friends. I have, indeed, commended him, 
 said he, as an able interpreter, but not as a correct dog- 
 matist ; I have admired his genius, without approving 
 his doctrine. Have I ever adopted his detestable re- 
 presentations concerning the Trinity, or concerning the 
 Resurrection ? Have I not, on the contrary, carefully 
 omitted them in my translations ? If people would know 
 my sentiments, let them read my Commentaries on Ephe- 
 
 inter Hieronymi (Opp. Tom. iv.) say they have found in Rufinus's 
 translation of the books Of Principles, many things not so very 
 orthodox ; still they suspect that Rufinus liad omitted w^hatever 
 v^ould more plainly expose Origen's impiety ; and therefore they 
 request Jerome to send them a correct translation. 
 
 a Huet. Origenian, Lib.ii. Cap. 4, Sect, i, $ 16. b Hieron, 
 
 Epist, xlii. 
 
lii j OF UNIVERSALIS^. 225 
 
 sians, and on Ecdesiastes^ where I have uniformly 
 contradicted his opinions. I certainly never followed 
 his notions ; or if I have, yet now I repent. And let 
 others imitate this my example ; " let us all be con- 
 " verted to God. Let us not wait the repentance of 
 " the devil ; for vain is the presumption that extends 
 " into the abyss of hell. It is in this world that life must 
 "be sought, or lost<^." In the conclusion, he exposed 
 the absurdity of Rufinus's pretence that Origen's works 
 had been interpolated; and with a daring assurance, 
 denied that the Apology for Origen was written by 
 Pamphilus. At the same time, he also sent to Rome, 
 at the request of his friends, an accurate version of the 
 books Of Principles, in order, as he said, to expose the 
 mistranslations of his rival ^. 
 
 By the passage just quoted from his Defence, we dis- 
 cover that he was now disposed to deny a Restoration 
 from hell, which he had formerly asserted. But still, 
 it appears, he did not account that notion one of the 
 heinous, alarming errors in question, as is manifest from 
 his referring to his Commentaries on Ephesians in proof 
 that he had uniformly contradicted them; for those 
 Commentaries, though they opposed some other tenets 
 ascribed to Origen, abounded, as we have seen, with 
 the fullest declarations of Universalism. What he now 
 treated as the great, detestable errors of his master, may 
 be learned from the following passage in the same De- 
 fence : "I acknowledge that Origen erred in certain 
 " things : that his opinion was wrong concerning the 
 
 c Hieron. Epist. xli. vel 65. ad Pammach. etOceanum, p, 345. 
 d Ditto, p. 348. 
 
226 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 " Son, and worse concerning the Holy Ghost ; that he 
 " impiously supposed that our souls fell from heaven ; 
 " that he acknowledged the Resurrection only in words, 
 " denying it in reality ; and that he held that in future 
 " ages, after one universal restitution, Gabriel would at 
 " length become what the devil now is, Paul what Caia- 
 " 2)has, and Virgins what Prostitutes are^. When you have 
 " rejected these errors, you may read him with safety ^ ," 
 X. Jerome and Epiphanius now began to discover in 
 the disposition of the Alexandrian bishop, a favorable 
 change which they had long sought to procure. Flat- 
 tery and exhortation had been spent upon him in vain : 
 he had still inclined to the side of Jolin. But what no 
 persuasion could effect, self-interest and revenge speed- 
 ily accomplished. Theophilus had been, for some time, 
 involved in a contention with his Egyptian monks, the 
 smaller, more ignorant, and therefore the more turbu- 
 lent part of whom, hated the name of Origen, because 
 his doctrine w^as so directly opposed to their own gross 
 and monstrous notion tliat Deity possessed a body like 
 man's. "^ These Anthropomorphites, so called, were 
 
 ^ ^' — et post mtilta saecula atque unam omnium reslitiitionem, id- 
 "ipsum fore Gabriclem quod Diabolum, Paulum quod Caiapham, 
 "virgines quod prostibulas." In his Epist. xxxaI. ad Vigilantium, 
 written about this time, Jerome acknowledges tliat Origen " erred 
 '^ concerning the state of the soul, [i. e, Pre-existcnce,] and the re- 
 " pentance of the Devil ; and what is of more importance than these, 
 ''that the Son of God and the Holy Ghost, he pronounced, in his 
 ''Commentaries on Isaiah, to be Seraphim." p. 27G. Afterwards, 
 Jerome reproaches Vigilantius for having misinterpreted the vision 
 of the mountain, in Daniel ii, and insultingly tells iiim to repent "if, 
 " indeed, this impiety can be forgiven you ; and then you may ob- 
 '^ tain pardon when, according to the error of Origen, the Devil shall 
 "obtain it; who was never guilty of worse blasphemy than yours." 
 p. 278. f Hieron, Epist. xli. p. 345. 
 
 * Socratis Hist, Eccl. Lib. vi. cap. 7. 
 
OF UNIVERSALISxM 
 
 227 
 
 roused to open insurrection by one of their bishop's late 
 Addresses, in which he had freely reproached tlieir er- 
 ror ; and assembling from various parts of Egypt, they 
 crowded to Alexandria with the intention of murdering 
 him. To save his life, Theophilus deceived the fierce 
 assailants into a persuasion that he himself was convert- 
 ed to their belief; and promising, at their instance, to 
 condemn the works of their great adversary, Origen, he 
 dismissed them in peace. Meanwhile, the aged Isido- 
 rus, whom he had always honored, and whom he had 
 lately attempted to place in the vacant bishopric of Con- 
 stantinople, had incurred his dangerous displeasure, by 
 refusing to countenance his unjust and rapacious schemes. 
 Some of the Origenist monks of Nitria, also, where Isido- 
 rus sought and obtained refuge, fell under his resentment. 
 Theophilus went and invaded their quiet retreat, seized 
 and tortured those who refused to deliver up his victim, 
 burnt their monasteries ; and bethinking hmiself of an 
 easier way to satiate his baffled vengeance, denounced 
 them to the fierce Anthropomorphites as Origenists. 
 Sacrificing every thing to his wrath, he now determined 
 to fulfil his late extorted promise ; and siding with the 
 more dilatory Jerome and Epiphanius, he proceeded to 
 the hazardous measure of engaging the church in his 
 
 quarrel. Accordingly, he called a Synod 
 A. D. 399. of the neighboring bishops at Alexandria, 
 
 and procured a decree, remarkable for 
 being the first of its kind, condemning Origen, and an- 
 athematizing all who should approve his works. He 
 dared not arraign the whole multitude of offenders ; but 
 three of them, called the tall brethren, were condemned 
 
228 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 by name, under the pretence of their holding false doc- 
 trines, though neitiier they nor any of their party were 
 present. Theophilus then contrived to obtain, from the 
 Governor of Egypt, authority to drive the excommuni- 
 cated out of the province ; and taking a band of sol- 
 diers, marched again for the famous retreat of the 
 Origenists ^. 
 
 The cells and monasteries of Nitria clustered along 
 two parallel but distant chains of naked hills, and were 
 thinly scattered, perhaps, in the deep and arid waste 
 tliat lay between. From the summits of the northeast- 
 ern ridge, the spectator surveyed, w^ith secret horror, 
 an inanimate world of eternal barrenness and solitude, 
 glowing beneath the scorching firmament. In whatever 
 direction he turned, the great Desert of Lybia stretched 
 away, over uneven plains and precipices, to the verge of ' 
 tlie horizon. To the southwest, at the distance of ten 
 or a dozen miles, stood the opposite ridge ; nearer, lay 
 before him the wide valley of sand, furrowed through 
 with deep gorges, and extending far off to the north- 
 west and southeast ; and below him, at the foot of the 
 precipices on which he stood, his eyes rested on the 
 small crusted lakes of natron, surrounded by slu'ubs and 
 reeds, the only contrast to the universal desoladon ^ . 
 All was motionless silence ; except when the beasts and 
 birds of the desert came to allay their burning thirst, or 
 the monks swarmed forth from their cells at the appoint- 
 ed hours of social devotion. 
 
 s In the account of Thcopliilus, I follow Huet (Origenlan. Lib. ii, 
 cap. 4. Sect, ii. vS 1, 2, 3.) and Floury (Eccl. Hist. Book xxi. chap. 10, 
 12. h Sonnini's Travels in Upper and Lower Egypt, chap; 
 
 27, 28, 29, 
 
vii.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 229 
 
 Into this abode of mortification and religious musing, 
 Theophilus entered with his troop, in the dead of night, 
 and drove away the bishop of the mountain ; but unable 
 to discover his destined victims, who had been secreted, 
 he burnt their cells, pihaged the monasteries, and then 
 set out on his retreat. When returned to Alexandria, 
 he encountered a general indignation and horror, which 
 the news of his cruelty and sacrilege soon roused. The 
 Origenists, however, took warning, and fled to other 
 countries. Isidorus and about three hundred of his 
 brethren sought the protection of John in Palestine, and 
 retired, the larger part of them, to the palm-groves 
 around Scythopolis, nearly seventy miles northward 
 from Jerusalem. But Theophilus, with the extermina- 
 ting zeal of a true foe, wrote immediately to the bishops 
 of that province, forgiving, on the ground of ignorance, 
 their first reception of the condemned, but requiring 
 them, for the future, to exclude the refugees, from every 
 church. It is mortifying to relate that John of Jerusa- 
 lem was overcome by this sudden change in the power- 
 ful patron to whom he had referred his cause ; and that 
 he appears to have wanted the resolution to defend his 
 guests, and the courage to treat the Egyptian Primate's 
 orders with much neglect ^ 
 
 Great were the mutual congratulations of Theophilus, 
 Epiphanius and Jerome, on these decisive measures. 
 They informed each other, in their bombastic letters, 
 tliat the snake of Origenism was now severed and dis- 
 embowelled by the evangelical sword, that the host of 
 
 i Huetii Origenian. Lib. ii. cap. 4, Sect. ii. § 3. Fleury's Eccl. Hist 
 Book xxi. chap. 12. 
 20 
 
230 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 Amalek was destroyed, and the banner of the cross 
 erected on the altars of the Alexandrian church. Theo- 
 philus sent letters to Rome, to Cyprus, and to Constan- 
 tinople, proclaiming his late measures, and exhorting the 
 respective bishops to follow his example. Accordingly, 
 Anastasius, the new Pope, who had succeeded Siricius 
 
 at Rome, readily gratified the numerous 
 A. D. 400. partisans of Jerome in that city, by issuing 
 
 a decree which was received through all the 
 West, condemning the works of Origen ; and Epipha- 
 nius soon afterwards convened a synod of his bishops in 
 Cyprus, and procured from them a hke sentence. But 
 Chrysostom, who now held the episcopal chair of Con- 
 stantinople, delayed all notice of the Egyptian Prelate's . 
 recommendation J , and thereby involved himself in a 
 scene of troubles that closed only with his life. 
 
 XI. We have passed, with barely a hasty notice, over 
 the decree of the Roman Pontiff, and the two synods of 
 Alexandria and Cyprus, agamst Origen and his works. 
 Tlicy constitute, however, an important event in the his- 
 tory of Universahsm, being the first public acts of the 
 church which at all affected that sentiment ; and it is 
 worth the while to pause and ascertain the particular 
 points of doctrine which were then condemned. All 
 the formal records of those proceedings have long since 
 perished ; but from cotemporary authority we learn that 
 the tenet which gave most offence in the Alexandrian 
 synod, was this: "that as Christ was crucified in our 
 " world for the redemption of mankind, so he would 
 
 J Huot. Orlgenian. Lib, ii. cap. 4. Sect. ii. §5. et Sect, i, $19. 
 
vii.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 231 
 
 " taste death, in the eternal state, for the salvation of the 
 " Devil""." This two-fold death of Christ, though some- 
 times intimated by Origen, was by no means one of his 
 fixed opinions ; and it can have been only from an un- 
 generous zeal to take the utmost advantage of his sug- 
 gestions, that it was inserted in the present charge. It 
 also appears, that in addition to this particular, his doc- 
 trine of 'the salvation of the devil and his angels', was 
 expressly condemned in some of these public decrees, 
 either at Alexandria, Cyprus or Rome ; and likewise 
 another notion, which cannot, with so much justice, be 
 ascribed to him, 'that in the distant ages of eternity, the 
 blessed in heaven will, by degrees, relapse into sin, and 
 descend into the regions of woe, while, on the other 
 hand, the damned will rise to the mansions of purity and 
 joy : thus constituting, by perpetual revolutions, a cease- 
 less alternation of happiness and misery'.' These, we 
 are informed, were the principal errors now condemned ; 
 and they were probably alleged to justify the sentence 
 which was passed, forbidding his works to be read, and 
 placing him on the list of heretics. But, what is re- 
 markable, it is, at the same time, certain that his doc- 
 trine of the salvation of all mankind, was not con- 
 demned, and that some of the orthodox continued 
 to avow it in the church with impunity"^. 
 
 k Sulpitii Severi Dialog, i. cap. 3. I quote from G. Bulli Defens. Fid. 
 Nicsenoe cap. ix. ^ 23. 1 Augustinus De Civ. Dei, Lib, xxi. cap. 
 
 17. ni Augustine (De Civitate Dei Lib. xxi. cap. 17.), about 
 
 twenty years afterwards, reasons with those merciful brethren among 
 the orthodox, who held the salvation of all mankind. He says they 
 urged the superior benevolence of iheir doctrine as a proof of its truth ; 
 and he exposes their inconsistency in using this argument, by daring 
 them to extend it, like Origen, to the salvation of the devil and his 
 angels. For this, adds he, the church has condemned him ; and they, 
 of course, dare not go to the same extremity. 
 
232 'I'HE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 The prohibition of his writings, and the angry indig- 
 nity with which his name was treated, were regarded by 
 the more dispassionate throughout all Christendom, as 
 unnecessarily severe ; but as the authoritative acts had 
 been regularly passed, the orthodox generally acquies- 
 ced, though with reluctance, reserve, and some ex- 
 ceptions''. 
 
 XII. When the persecuted Origenists 
 A. D. 400, who had fled to Palestine from the rage of 
 to 403. Theophilus, learned that he had sent a de- 
 putation against them to Constantinople, they likewise 
 proceeded thither to defend themselves, and to seek an 
 asylum under the strong protection of the bishop of that 
 city, the celebrated Chrysostom. Fifty aged men, 
 among whom were Isidorus and the three tall brethren, 
 came and presented themselves before him; and such 
 was the wretchedness of their appearance that Chrysos- 
 tom, it is said, melted into tears at the sight. He gave 
 them the desired protection till their cause should be 
 heard ; and wrote immediatel}^ to Theophilus in their 
 behalf. But his interference was haughtily resented, 
 and drew upon him a long and fierce persecution, the 
 particulars of which have no direct relation to the sub- 
 ject of this history. We may only mention that the 
 Origenists, having formally disavowed all heretical doc- 
 trines, continued to enjoy his countenance, as well as that 
 of the empress Eudoxia ; and were thus emboldened to 
 accuse their bishop before the tribunal of the emperor 
 Arcadius. Upon this, Epiphanius hastened from Cy- 
 
 nHuet.Origenian. Lib. ii. cap. 4. Sect. ii. ^4. 12. Chrysostom, Au- 
 gustine. Siilpitius Severus, Vincentius Lirinens's, &o. were favorably 
 disposed towards the memory, though not the doctrine, of Origen, 
 
vii.] OF UNI VERS ALISM. 233 
 
 prus to Constantinople ; and awhile afterwards, the un- 
 daunted Theophilus arrived, in obedience to the imperial 
 summons, attended, however, by a host of bishops, from 
 Egypt. Their vengeance was directed not so much 
 against the Origenists as against Chrysostom. That 
 ready engine of mischief, a Synod, was formed ; but 
 when the members were gathered, they immediately 
 separated in two bodies, and met in different places : 
 tliose who hated the bishop of Constantinople, in the 
 suburbs ; and those who favored him, in the city. Among 
 his friends, Palladius of Galatia, now bishop of Helen- 
 opohs in Bithynia, seems to have taken a distinguished 
 part ; and could a majority have availed against intrigue 
 and power, Chrysostom had triumphed. But he sunk, 
 at length, with all his influence, under the combined 
 assaults of the Alexandrian party, the rage of the insult- 
 ed empress Eudoxia, and the obsequious edicts of the 
 timid Arcadius : and in the year 403, he was wickedly 
 deposed and banished, together with some of his ad- 
 herents. But in the mean time, the relenting Epipha- 
 nius had died on his voyage back to Cyprus ; and Isi- 
 dorus and the three tall brethren had closed their 
 lives, in the city, amidst the cruel storm which their 
 great and injured patron had brought upon himself. 
 The objects of his hatred being thus removed, Theophi- 
 lus was easily reconciled to the rest of the Origenists, 
 and finally received them into his favor °, 
 
 o Huetii Origenian. Lib. ii. cap 4. Sect. ii. § 11, 12, 13. And 
 Fleury's Eccl. Hist. Book xxi. chap. 23—3-^. 
 
 20* 
 
234 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 Xin. The Alexandrian bishop had not 
 A. D. 401, suffered his exeitions, all this time, to be 
 to 404. confined to the city of Constantinople. 
 While his party was managing his contest 
 there, he himself was often engaged at home, rousing 
 the indignation of the Egyptian christians against Ori- 
 gen's name and doctrine. It was his practice to pub- 
 lish, annually, a General or Paschal Epistle to liis 
 churches; and in that of the year, 401, his newly 
 adopted zeal gave itself full utterance. He inveighed, 
 with much bitterness, against Origen's heresies, which 
 he comprised in the following particulars : that the 
 kingdom of Christ would finally end, while the devil 
 should return to his pristine glory, and become subject 
 to the Father ; that the blessed in heaven may fall 
 away ; that Christ is to be crucified in the invisible 
 world, for the demons and wicked angels ; that the 
 bodies of the saints, after the resurrection, will at length 
 decay and become extinct ; that the Son is not to be 
 addressed in prayer ; that neither magic nor idolatry 
 are sinful; and that marriage is dishonorable, as the re- 
 sult of oujL' own guilty connexion with the body p. 
 
 In the nfext year's Epistle, Theophilus resumed the 
 unfinished topic, and entered again upon his conflict 
 with the " Hydra of Origenism." The errors he now se- 
 lected as the points of his attack, were, that human souls 
 pre-existed, but for their transgressions were doomed to 
 this world, which was formed for their reception ; that 
 the Sun, Moon and Stars are animated ; that our fleshly 
 
 p Theophili Paschal. Lib. ii. (properly i.) inter Hieronynii 0pp. 
 Tom. iv. Part ii. For the date and order of these books, see Du Pin, 
 Cave, Fleury, &c. 
 
vii.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 235 
 
 bodies are not to rise ; that the dignitaries of the angelic 
 world were not created such, but rose from the original 
 equality of souls to their present elevations, by means of 
 their own self-improvement ; that the Holy Ghost does 
 not operate on irrational animals ; that the immediate 
 providence of God extends only to things in heaven ; that 
 Christ is not the supreme God ; that all souls came from 
 one common and uniform mass of mind ; that the soul 
 which Christ assumed was one with his divine nature, just 
 as he is one with the Father ; and that God could govern 
 no more creatures than he has made, so that his power is 
 finite '5. We have another of his annual Epistles, writ- 
 ten in the year 404. Here, his zeal had begun to 
 abate ; but amidst a chaos of general and indefinite ex- 
 hortation, there are some incidental attacks upon Origen's 
 notions of pre-existence, and of the condemnation of 
 souls to earthly bodies ^ 
 
 These three Epistles were afterwards translated by 
 Jerome, for the use of the Latin christians ; and with 
 them several odiers, which have since perished. 
 
 XIV. While thus Theophilus was pur- 
 A. D. 400, suing his quarrel in Constantinople, and at 
 
 to 404, the same time, sounding the alarm in 
 Egypt, against the newly denominated her- 
 esy, the storm which had arisen in Italy continued with- 
 out cessation. Soon after the passing of the decree, in 
 A. D. 400, against Origen's works, Pope Anastasius 
 cited Rufinus to appear before him, on a charge of he- 
 resy. But the latter, instead of leaving his friends at 
 
 a Theophili Paschal. Lib. i. (properly ii.) r Theophili Pas- 
 
 chal. Lib. iii. 
 
236 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 Aquileia, sent to the pontiff a formal Apology^ or State- 
 ment of his faith and conduct ; professing his hearty- 
 assent to the creeds of the churches at Rome, Alexan- 
 dria, Jerusalem and Aquileia ; and declaring his belief 
 in the trinity, in the resurrection of this very flesh, in a 
 future judgment, and in the endless punishment of the 
 devil, of all his angels, and of wicked men, particularly, 
 says he, '' of those who slander their brethren. And 
 " whoever denies this, let eternal fire be his portion, that 
 " he may feel what he denies ^" The same doctrine 
 he also asserted, in general terms, but with much expli- 
 citness, in his Treatise on the Apostles'^ Creed * ; and we 
 have no reason to doubt his sincerity. The Italian bi- 
 shops, it seems, were generally satisfied " ; but Anasta- 
 sius, either suspecting dissimulation, or determined at 
 all events to crush the obnoxious translator, passed upon 
 him the dread sentence of excommunication. This 
 was in A. D. 401. The Pope afterwards refused, per- 
 emptorily, to restore him to fellowship, notwithstanding 
 a friendiy remonstrance that he received, the next year, 
 with much seeming respect, from John of Jerusalem ^. 
 
 During all these transactions, Rufinus was solacing 
 hnTiself with secret revenge, by circulating, in private, a 
 work which he had composed to defend his own con- 
 duct, to excuse Origen, but especially to expose Jerome. 
 To this production, the partial resentment of the church 
 has since affixed the hostile name of Invective, instead 
 
 s Rufini ad Anastasium Apologia, inter Hieron. 0pp. Tom. v. p. 
 259. t Rufini iSymboluni, inter .Hieron. Opp. Tom. v. pp. 127 
 — 150 N. B. See the preceding Chap. Sect. xx. note (y.) 
 
 u Hieron. Apol.adv. Rufin. Lib. iii, p. 453. v Huetii Origenian. 
 Lib. ii. cap. 4, Sect. i. § 20. 
 
vii.j OF UNIVERSALISM. 237 
 
 of the original and more peaceful title of Apology, 
 Paulinianus, then residing in Italy, contrived to obtain 
 sight of it, and having secretly transcribed copious ex- 
 tracts, sent them to his brother at Bethlehem. From 
 tliese, Jerome had the vexation to discover that the 
 Defence he addressed, a few years before, to his friends 
 at Rome, had been turned back, with effect, against 
 himself. He saw^ that Rufinus had succeeded in expos- 
 ing much inconsistency, and some prevarication, in the 
 explanations there given concerning his former and 
 present treatment of Origen. But what was more per- 
 plexing, a fatal advantage had been taken of his favor- 
 ite Commentaries on Ejjhesians and Ecclesiastes. From 
 these very works, to which Jerome had expressly 
 referred as a clear delineation of his views, Rufinus had 
 now selected ample quotations that taught, in the fullest 
 manner, the several doctrines of the resurrection of 
 aerial instead of fleshly bodies, pre-exisence, and univer- 
 sal restoration, not only of m.ankind, but also of the 
 devil and his angels. Particular expressions had, 
 moreover, been pointed out, which seemed to intimate 
 a perpetual rotation of happiness and misery, the event- 
 ual return of all intellectual creatures into one order 
 or grade of being, and the animation of those glorious 
 bodies, the sun, the moon and stars. " It is well," said 
 his triumphant, exulting accuser, " for such as you to 
 condemn Origen '^^'." 
 
 w Ilieron. Apolog. adv. Rufinum Lib, i. & ii. Tom. iv. Jerome had 
 not yet seen Rufinus's Invective entire, but only the extracts which 
 Paulinianus had sent him. What these were we can learn only by 
 Jerome's answer. 
 
238 THE ANCIENT HlS'ToRY [Chap. 
 
 XV. Disturbed, but not dismayed, by this unexpect- 
 ed attack, Jerome sat down angrily to the composition 
 of his Apology against Rufinus : replying haughtily, and 
 sometimes disingenuously, to the numerous charges 
 against his conduct, recriminating on his antagonist for 
 the same acts which he excused in himself, and at- 
 tempting by the most groundless insinuations to render 
 him suspected of evasion in his late Apology to Anas- 
 tasius. We have litde concern, however, except with 
 what relates to Universalism. To extricate . himself 
 from the awkward predicament in which he was placed 
 by the unfortunate reference to his Commentaries on 
 Ephesians and Ecdesiastes, he resorted to the desper- 
 ate plea, that as the passages containing the doctrines 
 of an aerial resurrection, pre-existenc«, and universal 
 restoration, w^ere abridged by him from Origen and 
 other authors, he was not responsible for the sentiments. 
 The truth was, he had incorporated them into his own 
 work, without a mark of censure, and without giving 
 the original writers as his authority^. 
 
 That he would now be understood to deny the sal- 
 vation of the devil and of the damned, is certain ; and 
 he even complained that upon this, as well as other 
 points, Rufinus had not been sufficiently explicit in his 
 Apology to the Roman pontiffs. But it is remarkable 
 that he still avoided reckoning it among the important 
 errors of Origen, and that he invariably passed over it, 
 when he referred to them; as in the following catalogue: 
 " I point out to you, in Origen's works,*' said he to 
 Rufinus, " many evil things, and particularly these here- 
 " sies: that the Son and the Holy Spirit are subordinate; 
 
 » Ditto. y Ditto. Lib. ii. p. 393. 
 
vii,] OF UNIVERSALISM; 239 
 
 " that there are innumerable worlds succeeding each 
 " other to all eternity ; that angels ' were changed into 
 *' human souls ; that Christ's human soul existed be- 
 " fore it was born of Mary ; and that it was this which 
 " thought it no robbery to be equal with God, seeing it 
 " was in the form of God, yet humbled itself, and took 
 " the form of a servant ; that in the resurrection our 
 " bodies will be aerial, without members, and that they 
 " w^U eventually vanish into nothing ; that in the uni- 
 "versal restitution, the celestial powers and the infernal 
 " spirits, together with the souls of all mankind, will be 
 " reduced into one order or rank of beings ; and that 
 " from this uniform state of equality they will again 
 " diverge, as formerly, holding various courses, until 
 " at length some, falhng into sin, shall be born once 
 " more, into a mortal world, with human bodies. So 
 " that we, who are now men, may fear hereafter to be 
 " women ; and they who are now virgins, to be, then, 
 " prostitutes. These heresies I point out in Origen's 
 " works ; do you now show me in what work of his you 
 " can find the contrary ^ ." 
 
 This jijyology, abounding in ridicule and sarcasm, 
 was finished in two books, and sent to Italy, some time 
 in the year 403 ^ , while Rufinus was still flattering him- 
 self that the secret of his performance had not trans- 
 pired. Stung into madness by the lampoons, the insults 
 
 z Ditto, Lib.ii. p, 403,See also Lib. i. pp. 355, 371. and Lib. ii. p. 407, 
 And Lib. iii. p. 441. a Huet, Du Pin, &c. say in A. D. 402j 
 
 but as Jerome mentions Anastasius's Letter to John of Jerusalem 
 (Lib. ii. p. 405,) which could not have reached Palestine before the 
 close of the year 402, or beginning of 403, 1 have given Jerome's 
 Apology the later date. 
 
240 I'HE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 and the misrepresentations of his opponent, Rufinus 
 immediately sent to 'Bethlehem the whole of his Invec- 
 tive, accompanied with a letter threatening prosecution, 
 and perhaps death. Upon this, Jerome added to his 
 Apology a third book, written in a style which showed 
 tliat he w^ould not be outdone in rage nor in vulgar 
 abuse. Though too much engrossed by other matters 
 to pay particular attention to the old topic of Origen's 
 errors, he nevertheless repeated his attacks on the no- 
 tion that all rational creatures will eventually return to 
 one common grade of being, and that they may after- 
 wards relapse, and renew their present diversity b. It 
 is remarkable that he seemed almost to concede, not- 
 withstanding his perverse temper, that he had once 
 followed Origen too far ^ . 
 
 XVI. With this hot altercation and with the 
 A. D. 404. simultaneous triumph of Theophilus, sub- 
 sided, for the present, the public contest in 
 the church, concerning Origenism. Its professors were 
 every where obliged to conceal their belief; and their 
 doctrine was generally regarded as heretical, at least as 
 dangerous to the peace of Christendom. Some of its 
 particulars, however, were still avowed without censure, 
 when no partiality towards the sect w^as suspected. But 
 Universalism, having been condemned in one of its 
 points, received a check from which it never entirely 
 recovered in the catholic church. 
 
 We may pronounce it probable that the doctrine of 
 the salvation of the devil and his angels, would, for this 
 time, have escaped condemnation and perhaps reproach, 
 
 b Apolog. Lib. iii. p. 441. c Ditto, pp 445, 447. 
 
vii.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 241 
 
 had it not been found in company with other offensive 
 tenets. As to the general character of the violent pro- 
 ceedings now described, it is too manifest tliat they de- 
 serve the brand of personal quarrels, rather than the 
 honorable appellation of a contest for the truth. Of 
 the three chief agents, Epiphanius, an honest but cre- 
 dulous and bigoted man, may indeed be supposed to 
 have acted, in a great measure, from principle, as he 
 had long been distinguished for zeal against Origenism. 
 But Theophilus engaged in the quarrel through policy 
 and grudge, and prosecuted it for private revenge ; and 
 we must pass nearly the same judgment on the motives 
 of Jerome. Both had formerly been admirers of Ori- 
 gen ; and both, after the strife was past, betrayed again, 
 though with caution, their partiality for his works. 
 
 21 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 [From A. D. 404, to A. D. 500.] 
 
 I. After two or three centuries of decay^ 
 A. D. 405. the unwieldly mass of the Roman Empire 
 had now fallen into two parts, by a perma- 
 nent separation of the East from the West. Over these 
 divisions, the innocent but effeminate sons of Theodosius 
 the Great, enjoyed the name of sovereignty, while their 
 feeble hands, unable to sway the sceptre, resigned to 
 their favorites and ministers the actual exercise of au- 
 thority. Arcadius, the eastern emperor, sat on his 
 father's throne in Constantinople ; and his younger 
 brother, Honorius, held the western court at Ravenna 
 in Italy. Rome, the eternal city, the boasted mistress 
 of the world, was no longer honored with the empty 
 compliment of the imperial residence. Patriotism, 
 courage, and even bodily strength, had, to a great 
 degree, forsaken a people dispirited by ages of despot- 
 ism, corrupted by its vices, and enervated by luxury 
 and sloth. Throughout the East, internal disorders 
 agitated the public tranquilhty, and open rebellion alarm- 
 ed the feeble administration. But in the West, all 
 hearts were trembling at the portentous movements of 
 the fierce barbarians of the North, who hovered in fear- 
 
viii.] OF UNIVERSALISM. ' 343 
 
 ful array on the frontiers of Greece and Italy, and who 
 threatened, not in vain, to pour their forces over the 
 beautiful territories into the ancient seat of empire. 
 Already had they made an alarming incursion, from 
 which they were repelled partly by force of arms, and 
 partly by gold ; and they waited but the preparation of 
 four or five years for their more successful return, when 
 Rome itself was to be taken and sacked by Alaric at 
 the head of his Goths. 
 
 In this period of terror and disorder, the Church sym- 
 pathized, of course, in the perils and fears of the State, 
 with which she was so intimately connected ; but her 
 worldly power naturally increased in proportion as the 
 civil establishment grew weaker, and less able, as well 
 as less willing, to control her aspiring influence. The 
 public dangers never made her, for a moment, loose 
 sight of the favorite object of ambition, towards which 
 she advanced with the slow but fatal steadiness of the 
 laws of nature. Nor did she withdraw her attention 
 from her more domestic concerns : among other em- 
 ployments, her clergy now found a grateful exercise for 
 their zeal and violence, in the overthrow of the last 
 monuments of heathenism, and in the suppression of the 
 rebellious sects among themselves. The affair of the 
 Origenists had been, to all appearance, successfully des- 
 patched ; but in Africa, a very numerous and trouble- 
 some party of orthodox believers, the Donatists, stood 
 out, with pecuhar obstinacy, against all the invitations 
 and the threatenings of the church. In the course of 
 three years, as many councils had assembled at Car- 
 thage, under the influence of the celebrated Augustine, 
 
244 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 with the design of compelling them to return to the cath- 
 olic commnnion : from which they had separated, in an 
 electioneering quarrel, nearly a century before. But 
 these measures though seconded by the severe edicts 
 of Honorius, had Httle success ; the schismatics, for the 
 most part, remained stubborn, and their savage partizans 
 continued to carry sword and fire through the province. 
 II. The political commotions and eccle- 
 A. D. 405, siastical disturbances of the time, operated, 
 to 412. undoubtedly, to divert the pubhc attention 
 from the subject of Origenism, and to af- 
 ford repose to the obnoxious party. The clamour of 
 the late contest seems to have sunk, at once, into silence ; 
 and as the impression was almost universal that the dif- 
 culty had been, in a great measure, personal, that it 
 had been marked with unwarrantable violence, and pur- 
 sued too far ^, its victims were regarded with less rigor 
 than was usual in cases of adjudged heresy. Rufinus 
 appears to have enjoyed, at Aquileia, the patronage of 
 his own bishop^, and the countenance, perhaps, of other 
 dignitaries in the Itahan churches ""^ He spent die re- 
 mainder of his life, unmolested, in composing Commen- 
 taries on the scriptures, and in translating Origen and 
 other Greek writers; till in A. D. 409, he fled, at 
 the approach of the northern barbarians, and retired 
 into Sicily, where he died the next year. Melania, his 
 
 a The banishment of Chrysostom roused tlie grief and indignation 
 of a numerous party in the East, and of all the West. Unremitted 
 efforts were made for his recall, but he died in the mean time ; and 
 though it had been resolved to arraign Theophilus before a General 
 Council, the affair was dropped. b He translated Kusebius's 
 
 Eccl. History at the request of Chromatius, bishop of Aquileia. 
 
 c Hieron. Apolog. adv, Rufin. Lib. iii. p. 453, 
 
viii.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 245 
 
 noble and faithful patroness, accompanied him, with a 
 numerous train, to Sicily. Proceeding thence to Africa, 
 where she received the praises of Augustine, she pur- 
 sued her way into Palestine. Her death soon followed, 
 at Jerusalem, the scene of her former munificence ; and 
 notwithstanding her connexion with the Origenists, she 
 was honored with the tide of saint, and her name in- 
 serted in the pubhc martyrologies ^. John of Jerusalem 
 was, the meanwhile, strongly suspected of retaining a 
 secret partiality for the proscribed doctrines; but he 
 conducted so warily, as to enjoy his bishopric in quiet ; 
 and even his implacable neighbor, Jerome, could find 
 no pretence for renewing the quarrel^. Evagrius Pon- 
 ticus, having been overlooked in the rage of Theophi- 
 lus, died, probably about this time, in some undisturbed 
 retreat among the Egyptian monasteries ; but Palladius 
 of Galatia, late bishop of Helenopolis, was suffering in 
 banishment, not for his Origenism, but for his adherence 
 to the exiled Chrysostom. He Avas afterwards recalled, 
 however, and appointed over the church of Aspora, in 
 his native province ^. Theophilus himself now provoked 
 the abhorrence of such as remembered his former vio- 
 lence and solemn prohibitions, by amusing his leisure 
 with the perusal of Origen's works ; and he openly 
 asserted, as his justification, that among some thorns 
 which they contained, he found many beautiful and 
 
 dJFleury's Eccl. Hist. Book xxii. chap. 22. And Huetii Origeni- 
 n.'Lib. ii. cap. 4. Sec. 1. § 22. e Hieronymi Fpist. Ixxvii, 
 
 vel 81. ad Augustin. Tom. iv. Part ii. p. 642. f Du Pin's 
 
 Bibliotheca Patrum, Art. Palladius. And Cave, Hist. Lit. Art. Pal- 
 ladius. And Fleury's Eccl. Hist. Book xxi. chap. 59, and xxii. 
 3, 10. 
 
 21^ 
 
246 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chup. 
 
 precious flowers. He had, however, written a large 
 volume against Origen, which, though it has long since 
 perished, survived his death in A. D. 412. It is re- 
 markable, also, that Jerome still continued to quote 
 Origen, as an able and authoritative expounder of scrip- 
 ture % while he, at the same time, maintained his hatred 
 against Rufinus and his party, and never spoke of them 
 but with indecent abuse ''. The errors of Origen, that 
 23hrase so indefinite though so often repeated, were also 
 the subject of his occasional reprehension. He con- 
 tinued to dwell on nearly the same particulars as for- 
 merly ; and still passed over the tenet of Universalism, 
 although it was plainly taught in some of those extracts 
 which he adduced as pernicious on other accounts'. 
 
 §■ Hieron3'mi Epist, Ixxiv. vcl 81). ad Augustin. pp. G19, G20. 
 
 h Hieron. Epist. xcvi. vel IG. ad Princip. pp. 781, 782. And 
 Epist. xc\ii. vel 8. ad Demetriad. pp. 793, 794. i Hieron. 
 
 Epist. xciv. vel 59. ad Avitujn. Jerome v.'rotc this letter about a. d. 
 407, to accompany his translation of Origen "s boohs Of Principles, 
 which he gave to one Avitus, a Spaniard. It wa.s composed for the 
 purpose of pointing out the errors which those books contained ; and 
 the following ho selects as the principal : 1. That concerning the 
 trinity. 2. The original equality of all intellectual creatures, and 
 tlieir perpetual revolution from bliss to misery, and from misery to 
 bliss, by means of vice and virtue. 3. That all bodies whatever, 
 with wliich rational beings are clotlied, will at lengtli vanish into 
 nothing. 4. That innumerable worlds have preceded, and that in- 
 numerable others are to succeed this present. 5. TJiat the flames 
 and tonnenls of Gehenn.., or hell, which the scriptures threaten to 
 sinners, -ne nothing butthe remorse of ihcir consciences, in the future 
 world. G. That onr present conditions and circumsfames arc allot- 
 ted us on account of our ujcrits or dcmciits in a former state of 
 being. And 7. That as Christ has been crucified for mankind in 
 this world, so lie will, perliaps, suffer death in eternity, for tlie salvar 
 tion of the devil and his angels. These errors of Origon, Jerome 
 exposes by means of long cpiotations from the books Of Principles; 
 and several of these extracts incidentally mention the Restitution of 
 all creatures to purity and bliss ; but on this particular our author 
 raakes no direct remarks. 
 
viii.] OF UNI VERS ALISM. 247 
 
 His professed belief, however, at present, was, that the 
 devil and his angels, obstinate infidels and open blas- 
 phemers, shall suffer endless torments, while such as 
 have embraced Christianity, yet led vicious lives, shall 
 be consigned only to a long, but temporary, purgatory 
 after death-*. This doctrine he appears to have avowed 
 for the rest of his life ^, acknowledging, however, at 
 times, that those sinners who have been severely pun- 
 ished in this world, such as the ante-diluvians, the Sod- 
 omites and Pharaoh's host, will be pardoned, in the 
 next^ After all, there is some reason to suspect that 
 Jerome still remained, though in secret, a Universalist'". 
 
 J Hieron. Comment, in Esaiam. Lib. xvi. (cap Ixvi. v. 24.) Written A. D. 
 409. Tom. ill. k Hieron. Contra Pelagian. Lib. i. cap. 9. Written 
 
 about A. D. 415. 1 Du Pin's Biblloth. Pat. Art, Jerome. 
 
 m See his Comment, in Esaiam Lib. xvi. (cap. Ixvi. v. 24.) Commenting 
 upon these words of the prophet, Theij shall go forth and look upon the 
 carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me ; for their worm 
 shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched ; and they shall be an ab- 
 horring unto all flesh, Jerome says, •' this fire will burn as long as that 
 '' matter remains vv-hich feeds the voracious flame. If, therefore, any one's 
 " conscience be infested with tares, which the enemy sowed while the 
 " householder was asleep, the fire will burn and devour ihem. And in the 
 " eyes of all the saints shall be manifested the torments of those who, in- 
 " stead of laying gold, silver, precious stones upon the foundation of the 
 " Lord, have built thereupon hay, wood, stubble, the fuel of the eternal 
 "fire. Moreover, they who would have these torments, though protracted 
 " through many ages, come at length to an end, use the following texts 5 
 *' when the fulness of the Gentiles shall have come in, then all Israel shall 
 "■ be saved, (Horn. xi. 25, 26 ) Again : God hath concluded all under sin, 
 '•' tJiat he may have mercy upon all. In another passage it is said, / will 
 '■'sustain the wrath of the Lord, for I have sinned against him, until he 
 "justify my cause, and bring forth my judgment, and lead me into light. 
 " (Micah vii, 9,) And again : / will bless thee O Lord, that thou wast 
 *' angry with me. Thou didst turn thy face from me ; but thou hast had 
 '' compassion upon me, (Isa. xii. 1.) The Lord also saj's to the sinner, 
 '• ichen the tcrath oj' my fury sliall have passed, I ivill heal thee again. Ac- 
 " cordingly it is said, in another place, how great is the muUitude of thy 
 *^ favors, O Lord, lohich thoic hast laid up in secret, for them th'U fear thee! 
 " (Ps. xxxi. 19.) All which texts they repeat, in order to maintain that after 
 '' punishments and torture, there will be a refreshing, which must now be 
 " hidden from those to whom fear is necessary, that while they fear the tor- 
 " ments they may desist from sin. We ought to leave it to the wisdom of 
 
248 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 III. Nor did he stand altogether alone in the church. 
 The orthodox of this age may be divided into five 
 classes, with respect to their views of future punishment 
 and the final extent of salvation : 1 . The most rigid 
 among them beheved that none would hereafter be 
 saved, except those who died in the true faith, and in 
 the exercis^ of godhness ; and most, if not all of these 
 held, for the less deserving saints, a mild purgatory, by 
 which they were to be thoroughly cleansed, before their 
 admission into heaven. Such were the sentiments of 
 the famous Augustine ", the oracle of the western church. 
 2. Another class held, in substance whh the more an- 
 cient fathers Lactantius, Hilary, Basil and Ambrose, 
 that all would finally be saved, who continued to the 
 last in the catholic faith and discipline, whatever were 
 their moral characters ; but that such of them as lived 
 wickedly should suffer a long and excruciating trial by 
 fii'e in the future world, before their reception to bliss. 
 This, probably, was the common, the popular behef ; and 
 Jerome must be numbered among its professed advocates. 
 
 " God alone, whose measure not only of mercy, but of torment is just, and 
 " who knows whom to judge, and hi what manner, and how long- to punish. 
 " We may only say, as becomes human frailty, Lord, contend not icith me 
 "inthtjfunj,noriii tinj u- rath take me aivay. (Ps.) And as we believe 
 " in the eternal tonnents of the devil and of all deniers and impious men 
 *' who have said in their heart There is no God ; so we may suppose that 
 " the sentence of the Judge on those sinners and impious persons who 
 " nevertheless are christians, and whose works are to be tried and purged 
 " in the fire, will be moderated and mixed with mercy." Considenag 
 Jerome's usual positiveness, and especially his violence in the late con 
 tention, I cp.nnot satisfactorily account for the foregoing language, sa 
 moderate if not even equivocal, without supposing that he hnnself se- 
 cretly agreed Avith those Restorationists of whom he speaks-. 
 
 n Augustin. l)e Civilate Dei Lib. xx. cap. 1. and xxi. 24, and 26. See 
 also Du Pin's Biblioth. Patmm, Art, Augustine, 
 
vlii.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 249 
 
 3, Others believed that all would eventually be saved, 
 who had been baptized in the catholic church, and had 
 partaken of the eucharist, into whatever crimes, errors 
 and heresies they might afterwards have fallen ; alleging 
 in their support, the declarations of the Saviour, that 
 whoever eateth of this bread, shall live forever, and the 
 remark of the apostle, that the church is the body of 
 Christ. 4, There were some of the orthodox, who, 
 though they held agreeably to the decision of the 
 late councils against Origen, that the devil and his an- 
 gels would suffer endless punishment, believed, never- 
 theless, that all mankind, without exception, would be 
 saved ; the wicked, after ages of torment in hell. 5, The 
 last class of the orthodox, which w^as undoubtedly small, 
 held that God had indeed threatened future misery on 
 the impenitent, but that the saints, at the great judgment 
 day, would so earnestly intercede with the Almighty in 
 behalf of the world, that all mankind, even the impious 
 and. the infidels, would be saved, without any suffering at 
 all ; while the devil and his angels should be abandoned 
 to endless torture. To prove the right of God to remit 
 his threatenings, they adduced the judgment denounced, 
 but not executed, upon Nineveh ° . 
 
 All his variety of opinion appears to have been toler- 
 ated in the church ; and it is natural to suppose tliat there 
 were some who still held in secret, with Origen, that all 
 intelligences, including the apostate angels, w^ould ulti- 
 mately be reconciled to God. 
 
 o Augiistin. De Civit. Dei Lib. xxi. cap. 17 — 21- 
 
250 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 IV. This last opinion, heretical as it had 
 A. D. 410, been adjudged, was certainly spreading, 
 to 415. and openly taught, in the northeastern prov- 
 ince of Spain, that now bears the name of 
 Catalonia. About fifty miles beyond the mouth of the 
 Ebro, stands the modern city of Tarragona, on the ven- 
 erable ruins of the ancient metropolis, Tarraco ; which, 
 from the summit of a gentle eminence, overlooked the 
 Mediterranean to the south, and a fertile country 
 around p. Two of the citizens, by the name of Avitus, 
 having spent some time in the east, returned not far from 
 A. D. 410; and one of them brought from Jerome in 
 Palestine, the correct translation of Origen's books Of 
 Principles, together with a long Letter pointing out their 
 erroneous doctrines '^. But the antidote proved only a 
 partial preventive. While the two friends rejected some 
 of Origen's speculations, they adopted others ; and with 
 the assistance of one Basil, a Grecian, they proceeded 
 to teach among the people the following peculiar tenets : 
 1, That all things had, from eternity, a real existence in 
 the mind of Deity. 2, That angels, human souls and 2 
 demons were of one uniform, equal substance, and ori- ^ 
 ginally of the same rank ; and that their present diversi- 
 ty is the consequence of their former deserts. 3, That 
 this world was made for the punishment and purification 
 of the souls which had sinned in the pre-existent state. 
 4, That the flames of future torment are not material fire 
 but only the remorse of conscience. 5, That they are 
 
 P Swinburne's Travels in Spain. q Hieronynii Epist. xciv. 
 
 ve].59, ad Avitum. See Sect. ii. of this chapter, Note i. 
 
viii.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 251 
 
 not endless ; for although tliey are called everlasting^ 
 yet that word in the original Greek, does not, according 
 to its etymology, and its frequent use, signify endless, 
 but answers only to the duration of an age ; so that eve- 
 ry sinner, after the purification of his conscience, shall 
 return into the unity of the body of Christ. 6, That 
 the devil himself will at length be saved, when all his 
 wickedness shall have been subdued. 7, That Christ had 
 been employed, before his advent on earth, in preaching 
 to the angels and exalted powers. 8, That the sun, 
 moon and stars, are to be reckoned among those intelli- 
 gent rational creatures who, according to St. Paul, were 
 made subject to vanity, and likewise to hope ^' . 
 
 These doctrines, together with the separate heresy of 
 the Priscillianists which flourished in Spain, caused so 
 much disturbance atTarraco and its neighborhood, that 
 
 two of the bishops at length sent a deputa- 
 A. D. 415. tion on the subject to Augustine in Africa; 
 
 and he wrote, immediately, in return a 
 small book Against the Priscillianists and Oi'igenists, 
 but chiefly against the latter. In opposition to their 
 views of future punishment, he asserted the materiality 
 of its fire, and laboriously defended the eternity of its 
 duration : attempting to maintain that the original word, 
 translated everlasting, always signified endless. But be- 
 cause there might be some exceptions, as he at the same 
 time inconsistently admitted,he then changed his ground, 
 and resorted to that declaration of Christ, These shall go 
 
 r Orbsii Consultatio sive Commonitorium ad Augustin. inter Au- 
 gustini Opp, Tom. vi. Edit. Basil, 1569. 
 
252 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 away into everlasting punishment, hut the righteous into 
 life eternal, (Matt. xxv. 46,) where the same Greek 
 word was applied to the torments of the damned, and 
 to the bhss of the saints : so that if the Origenists would, 
 through compassion, Hmit the duration of the former, 
 they must also restrict that of the latter. But even if 
 this should not convince them, how could they elude 
 that declaration of the prophet Isaiah, their ivorm shall 
 not die, neither shall their fire he quenched? (Isa. Ixvi. 
 
 Such is the order and substance of his arguments. It 
 is remarkable, that here we meet ■v\ith the earhest at- 
 tempt at criticism on that original word which has been 
 the subject of so much useless controversy in modern 
 times. But Augustine, a Latin writer, was very imper- 
 fectly acquainted with the Greek language ; and if we 
 may judge from what we have observed in our own day, 
 his criticisms were accounted satisfactory by the deter- 
 mined believers in endless misery, but absurd, by the 
 Universahsts. A few years afterwards, in composing a 
 general body of Divinity, he repeated some of these ar- 
 guments, with several additions, and combatted the no- 
 tions of all the several classes just mentioned, who extend- 
 ed the happiness of heaven beyond the number who died 
 in faith and holiness * . He has furnished the moderns 
 with many of the trite but popular objections which are 
 now alleged from the scriptures, against the salvation of 
 all mankind.^ 
 
 B Augustini Lib. Contra Priscillianisias et Origenistas, Tom. vi. 
 
 t Augustin. De Civit. Dei Lib. xxi. cap. 2:) — 24. 
 
 * As a specimen of his reasoning, or declamation, which with him 
 
viii.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 25& 
 
 V. But however inconclusive his arguments may have 
 been deemed, the great authority of his opinions, espe- 
 cially in the western churches, must have checked the 
 progiess of any docti'ine which he was known so decid- 
 
 was original, I subjoin an entire chapter from his great work, 
 The Citij of God. 
 
 " And in the first place we should ascertain why the Church has refused 
 
 " to allow people to dispute in favor of a purification and release of the 
 
 ''■ devil hhnselt, after very great and lasting punishments: It was not that 
 
 '^ so man}- holy men, so well instructed in the Old and New Testaments, 
 
 " grudged any of the angels a purification, and the bliss of heaven after so 
 
 " great torments 3 but it wa^ because they saw it impossible to annul or 
 
 '^ weaken that divine sentence which the Lord declared he would pro- 
 
 " nounce in the judgment, Depart from me, ye cursed, into eternal fire, 
 
 " preinired for the devil and his angels. (Matt. xxv. 41.) For thus it is shown 
 
 " that the de\il and his angels are to burn in eternal fire. As it is written 
 
 " in the Apocalypse : The devil who deceived them was cast into the lake of 
 
 *' fire and brimstone, where are the beast and the false prophet ; and they sJiall 
 
 "be tormented daij and night forever and ever. (Rev. xx. 10.) What is called in 
 
 " the other passage eternal, is here expressed hy forever and ever : by which 
 
 " words the divine scripture is wont to mean nothing but what is endless in 
 
 " duration. And there is no other reason, nor can one more just and man- 
 
 " ifest be found, why we should hold it fixed and immutable in the sincerest 
 
 " piety, that the devil and his angels are never to return to righteousness £uid 
 
 " the life of the holy, than that the scripture, which deceives no one, says 
 
 ''that God spared them not (2 Pet.ii. 4-,) but delivered them up to be kept 
 
 ''in prisons of infenial darkness, in order to be punished at the lastjudg- 
 
 " ment, when the}' shall be sent into eternal fire, where they shall be tor- 
 
 "mented forever and ever. This being the case, how can all, or any of 
 
 " mankind, after a certain period, be restored from the eternity of this pun- 
 
 " ishment, and not immediately weaken that faith by which we believe the 
 
 " torments of the demons will be endless ? For if all or any. of those to 
 
 " whom it shall be said. Depart from me, ye cursed, into eternal fire, 
 
 '^prepared for the devil and his angels, shall not alwa3's remain there, what 
 
 '•' reason have we to believe that the devil and his angels will always re- 
 
 " main there 1 Will the sentence of God which is pronounced both against 
 
 " the evil angels and men, be true with respect to the angels, and false with 
 
 "respect to men ? Thus it will plainly be, if not what God said, but what 
 
 " men suspect, avail the most. But be<ause that cannot be the case, thej 
 
 " who would shun eternal torments, ought, while there is time, to yield to 
 
 " the divine precept, instead of arguing against God. And again : how can 
 
 "we suppose eternal torment to be only a fire of long duration, and yet 
 
 " eternal life to be without end, when in the very same passage, and in on© 
 
 " and the same sentence, Christ said with reference to both. These shall go 
 
 " away into et'irnal punishment, but the ri-rhteo^is in'o eternal, life ? 
 
 " (Matt. xxv. 46.) As both are eternal, both certainly ought to be under- 
 
 *' stood either as of long duration but with an end, or else as perpetual, with 
 
 " no end. For they are connected together : on the one hand, eternal pun- 
 
 " ishment ; on the other eternal life. And it is very absurd to say, in this one 
 
 22 
 
^54 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 edly to oppose. Already were his talents, his virtues, 
 and his unremitted faithfulness repaid with a general hom- 
 age, such as had been enjoyed by none of the christian 
 doctors, since the time of the more vigorous and enter- 
 prizing, but less amiable Athanasius. His decisions 
 were received in the West, with almost universal def- 
 erence ; and in the East, his name was regarded with 
 great, though perhaps, not equal veneration. A long 
 and intimate familiarity with the holy scriptures, a com-» 
 
 '' amd the same sense, that eternal life will be without end, and eternal punish- 
 "ment will have an end. Whence, as the eternal life of the saints will be with- 
 " out end, so also the eternal punishment of those who shall suffer it, will^ 
 " without any douI)t, have no end." De Civitate Dei Lib. xxi. cap. 23. 
 This lemains, even to the present da}^ the most popular, and perhaps the 
 most plausible argument used against the doctrine of Universal Salvation j 
 and yet it is founded on one of the most palpable blunders into which the 
 church has fallen : that of applying- to eternit}^ what Christ declared should 
 be accomplished in his own generation. Compare Matt. xxv. 31 — , with its 
 immediate connexion. Matt. xxiv. 30 — 34; and also with Matt. x. 23 — xvL 
 27, 28.— Mark viii. 38, ix. 1.— Luke ix. 26, 27. 
 
 Another chapter of the same work, furnishes us with the original, I be- 
 lieve, whence has been derived one of the popular methods of justifying- the 
 '^'infli.tion of endless tonnents : " But to human notions eternal punishment 
 '' seems hard and unjust, because that in the weakness of our mortal senses 
 *' we are destitute of that most exalted and pure wisdom by which we could 
 *' realize how great was the wickedness comuiitled in the first transgression. 
 '^ For in proportion as man enjoyed God, was the magnitude of his impie- 
 " ty in forsaking God ; and he was worthy of eternal evil, who destroyed 
 ''in himself that g-ood which might have been eternal. And the whole 
 " mass of the human race was therefore condemned, because that he who 
 ^' first introduced sin, was punished together with his posterity which had 
 ''its root in him; so that none could be released from this just and merited 
 " penalty, but by mercy and unmerited g-race. And thus mankind are so 
 " situated that in some of them the power of merciful grace may be exhibit- 
 "ed; and in the rest, the power of vindictive justice. For both could not 
 " be manifested upon all ; because if all should remain in the suf^erin^s of their 
 '^just damnation, in none v.ould appear the merciful grace of redemption, 
 " and if all should be translated from darkness into light, in none would 
 " appear the severity of vengeance. Of the latter class there are many 
 " more than of the former ; that thus might be shown what was due to all, 
 " And if it had been inflicted upon all, none could, with propriety, have 
 " called in question the justice of the vengeance 5 and the release of so 
 " many as are saved therefrom, should be an occasion of the greatest 
 " thanksgiving for the gift of redemption." De Civitate Dei Lib. xxi. 
 cap. 12. 
 
 N. B. This was written about A. D. 420, or 426. 
 
viii.] OF UNIVERSALISM; 255 
 
 petent share of learning, and a large fund of general 
 information, which had been rather hastily collected} 
 supplied his strong capacious mind with subjects for re- 
 flection, and pro\'ided his argumentative genius with the 
 weapons of controversy. These, however, he gener- 
 ally managed with moderation. In addition to the nu- 
 merous avocations of a bishop, his remaining works, in 
 ten folio volumes, demonstrate his incessant and labori- 
 ous industry ; but they, at the same time, show that, 
 like most of the ancient fathers, he was a hasty writer, 
 and that it w^as not uncommon for him to venture upon 
 subjects the most important, without the precaution of 
 understanding himself, at least, of defining his view^s in 
 his own mind. The credulity and spirit of religious ro- 
 mance which then prevailed, frequently seduced his bet- 
 ter judgment ; and his imagination was sometimes suf- 
 fered to roam, though with a cautious step, into the 
 fashionable regions of whim and extravagance. But 
 even in his vagaries, he may be distinguished among his 
 cotemporaries, for an air of reflection ; and he frequent- 
 ly evinces a degree of sound common sense, to which 
 tliey were strangers. His fame and influence never 
 rendered him assuming ; and his humility always ap- 
 pears natural and unaffected. Warm and devotional in 
 his piety, pure in his morals, even to austerity, he en- 
 joyed a serene and benignant temper, which was seldom 
 ruffled or embittered by his perpetual controversies. In 
 general, he treated his very opponents with an indul- 
 gence to which they were unaccustomed, and which 
 would appear with advantage in the theological warfare 
 of a later and more refined age. That he sometimes 
 
266 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 dissembled for truth's sake, and that he counte- 
 nanced the legal persecution of schismatics, when 
 he could not persuade them to re-enter the catholic 
 church, may in justice be imputed to the per- 
 nicious but approved maxims of Ids times. Such was 
 Augustine, a great and a good man. Yet he was the 
 father of the present orthodox system of total depravi- 
 ty, irresistible grace, and sovereign, partial election. 
 
 VI. By introducing this system of doctrine into the 
 church, he unknowingly laid upon the cause of Univer- 
 salism a remote, but eventually, a more fatal check 
 than even the decisions of a council would have im- 
 posed. Hitherto, none of the catholic christians had 
 gone farther, in their very lowest descents into orthodoxy, 
 than to represent that irom the fall of Adam all his pos- 
 terity inherited a mortal constitution, an unhappy weak- 
 ness of soul, and such a degree of depravity as caused 
 a propensity to sin ; and that the supernatural influences 
 of God's spirit were necessary to aid, not strictly to cre- 
 ate, human resolutions, and to render them effectual. 
 But this divine agency they had ever held, was always 
 received or rejected, cherished, or suppressed, yielded 
 to or resisted, entirely by the free will of the creature : 
 and they had never disputed that all had competent pow- 
 er, both natural and moral, to avail themselves of its as- 
 sistance. It was proffered sincerely to all, for the sin- 
 gle purpose of preserving in holiness such as were 
 already pure, and of reclaiming the sinful ; for it was une- 
 quivocally the will of God that all should be saved. 
 There may, indeed, have been some who entertained a 
 vague notion that the devil and his angels, when they 
 
viii.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 257 
 
 apostatized, sunk below the reach of divine mercy, and 
 tliat impenitent sinners, when they die, pass the irreme- 
 able line ; but that God had sought to prevent the fatal 
 catastrophe appears to have been doubted by none,, and 
 that his decrees were concerned in procuring it, was a 
 tliought from w^hich every one would have shrunk with 
 horror. 
 
 So long as it was the invariable opinion that God sin- 
 cerely aimed at the repentance and salvation of all his 
 erring creatures, it is easy to discover that a silent but 
 strong influence was constantly bearing the more re- 
 flecting minds towards Universahsm; as it was unnatu- 
 ral to suppose that the will of an immutable Deity could 
 ever totally abandon its aim, or that Omnipotence 
 would be forever frustrated in its objects by the impo- 
 tence of man. Resulting from this view there was also 
 a favorable, though often indefinite, persuasion of the 
 general goodness of God, which tended to suggest 
 doubts of the eternal infliction of a torment as fruitless 
 as it was unmerciful. But when christians became ac- 
 customed to consider it the arbitrary determination of 
 the Almighty Sovereign to save a part, and a part only, 
 and at the same time to abandon the rest to certain and 
 complete ruin, the doctrine of endless misery stood on 
 its own proper and substantial foundation, the divine 
 counsel ; for it was not likely that the neglected and 
 helpless wretches would be saved, when their recovery 
 was not actually desired by God ". 
 
 a I do not forget, what may at first seem to contradict this reason- 
 ing, that the high Calvinisai of Whitfield and his school, was the 
 immediate occasion of the ri-e of the present sect of Universalists. 
 But, then, the leading preachers of Whitfield's connexion did not 
 
 22* 
 
258 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 VII. This change of doctrine, one of 
 A. D. 412, the most momentous which has ever oc- 
 to 418. curred, appears to have entered the church, 
 hke many others, by accident rather than 
 by design. Two British monks, Pelagius and his dis- 
 ciple Celestius, residing at Rome early in this century, 
 imbibed some pecuhar sentiments from certain chris- 
 tians "^ who had studied in the East. Though these 
 sentiments were silently spreading in the city, little 
 notice was taken of them; and Pelagius continued to 
 enjoy a high and deserved reputation for the purity of 
 his character and for the warmth of his devotion to the 
 church. Going at length into Africa, he formed some 
 acquaintance with Augustine ; and then pursued his 
 course on a visit to John, in Palestine, leaving Celestius 
 at Carthage. Here, the latter was soon involved in a 
 charge of heresy ; and he was condemned at the 
 Council of Carthage, in A. D. 412, for teaching what 
 was certainly a considerabe variation from the popular 
 belief of the age, that Adam was created mortal, that 
 
 generally dwell on the black side of the picture. The favorite 
 themes on which they used to expatiate, with all the fervor of enthusi- 
 asm, w^ere, the complete pardon purchased by Christ, the free, un- 
 conditional gift of salvation, and the omnipotent energy of God's 
 spirit in converting sinners. When these encouraging topics were 
 so zealously urged, without a corresponding regard for the decree 
 of damnation, it was but one step forward to the hope, the conclu- 
 sion, that God would have all men to be saved ; and to this step, the 
 strong tide of their new feelings, their view of the Messiah's increas- 
 ing and victorious kingdom, as well as the testimonies of scripture, 
 impelled them, often before they were thoroughly aware. 
 
 V It has been supposed that one Rufinus, a Syrian (a friend and 
 not the opponent of Jerome) brought this doctrine from Asia Minor, 
 and perhaps from Theodorus of Mopsuestia, to Rome, and here 
 taught it to Pelagius, 
 
 I 
 
viii.] OF^UNIVERSALISM. 259 
 
 his transgressioa aifected none of his posterity, but him- 
 self alone, and that children dying in infancy whether 
 baptized or unbaptized, immediately enter the joys of 
 heaven. To these particulars we may here add some 
 others which were involved during the progress of the 
 succeeding controversy, and which complete the doc- 
 trine of Pelagianism : that as mankind are now born 
 pure, they are able, after transgression, to repent, re- 
 form, and arrive at length to the highest degrees of 
 virtue and piety, even to perfection, by the exercise 
 merely of their own natural powers ; that though the 
 external excitements of divine grace are necessary to 
 rouse their endeavors, yet they have no need of any in- 
 ternal agency of the Holy Ghost ; that infant baptism 
 does not wash away sin, but is only a ceremony of ad- 
 mittance into the church of Christ; and that good 
 works are meritorious as the conditions of salvation. 
 Such, it appears, were the real tenets of Pelagius and 
 Celestius, though they were sometimes unjustly charged 
 with disowning the necessity of the grace of God, in 
 every sense relative to human actions, and with denying 
 tlie utility of infant baptism. 
 
 On the condemnation of Celestius in the Council of 
 Carthage, Augustine began to preach and to write against 
 tlie heresy, with his characteristic tenderness at first 
 towards its authors, but always with a cool, invincible 
 determination to destroy their doctrine, root and branch. 
 Their equivocations, at least indecision and ambiguity, 
 conspired at length with the ardor of controversy to 
 provoke his zeal ; and the hesitation of some of the 
 councils, and of the Roman Pontiff in particular, left to 
 
260 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 him the whole responsibility of the warfare. After six 
 years, however, of indefatigable peseverance, he suc- 
 ceeded in procuring the effectual condemnation and 
 general suppression of Pelagianism. But in this long 
 contest, he himself had gone over, by degrees, to the 
 opposite extreme ; and influenced, perhaps, by the 
 early bias of his Manichean principles "', he maintained 
 what was new in the church, that Adam's transgression 
 had so thoroughly corrupted all his posterity, that by 
 nature, they could do only evil, and that nothing but the 
 hresistible spirit of the Almighty could incline their wills 
 to good, and induce them, contrary to their nature, to 
 accept of his grace. God alone was, from first to last, 
 the immediate agent of their counternatural conversion ; 
 and on his arbitrary pleasure only did it depend whether 
 the impotent sinner should be renovated. From these 
 premises he advanced to the necessary conclusion that 
 God had foreordained whom to convert and finally 
 save, without reference to any thing which they should 
 perform ; while he had hkewise predetermined to pass 
 by all the remainder of the fallen race. Such was the 
 first organization of the present orthodox system, so far 
 as it regards total depravity, election and reprobation ''. 
 With somewhat different views, the Pelagians were 
 
 ^ See Appendix to Chapter v. Sect. 2. Note (b.) It is a curious 
 circumstance tliat nearly all the fathers who had been converted 
 from other religions, always retained some of the peculiarities of 
 their former doctrines, notvvithstanding they became the most stren- 
 ncus opposcrs of those systems, taken as a whole. Witness the con- 
 verts from the Greek superstitions, who corrnjitcd Christianity with 
 their old philosophy ; and those from the Magian religion, who in- 
 troduced the monstrous fables of the Gnostics. x The differ- 
 ence between Augustine's doctrine and that of Calvin, on election 
 and reprobation, though small, is such as to betray the crudeness of 
 
viii.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 261 
 
 attacked by other cotemporaiy writers, and among the 
 rest by Jerome, with his accustomed violence. But 
 he, abiding by the common doctrine of the age, went 
 no farther than to maintain the absolute necessity of 
 Christ's assistance in the performance of good works, 
 and the impossibility of living in this w^orld entirely free 
 from sin. He still taught that it depefnded on man to 
 accept or refuse God's aid, and that election was found- 
 ed, not on the independent, sovereign purpose, but on 
 the divine foreknowledge of the creature's obedience ; 
 and what is remarkable, he seems, notwithstanding tlie 
 essential difference in their views, to have considered 
 himself a co-worker with the bishop of Hippo. 
 
 In short, it was for various reasons that Pelagius was 
 almost universally discarded ; while Augustine's novel 
 and arbitrary scheme met with the success which often 
 attends a bold advancement, rather than a retrogression, 
 from former principles. It spread extensively in the 
 West ; but was, for many years, generally rejected in 
 the East. The authority of his name, however, pre- 
 
 tlie Masier, and the finishing touches of his Scholar. Augustine 
 seems to have held that God did not ordain the fall of Adam, and 
 tliat it was after that event occurred, and when it had become cer- 
 tain that the whole race would be born totally depraved and therefore 
 under helpless bondage to sin, that the elect were chosen and the 
 reprobate abandoned. The original plan of creation did not embrace 
 such a result. But Calvin and other Reformers, with a better digest- 
 ed arrangement, carried back the separating decree to the past ages 
 of eternity ; so that mankind were originally created for their respec- 
 tive destinations. Augustine was by no means thoroughly syste- 
 matic : He held that Christ died for all men ; that even genuine 
 conversion is no security of final happiness, as the subjects may after- 
 wards fatally relapse and perish ; and that the grace of perseverance 
 alone is the pledge of pei-sonal election. No infants who had not 
 been baptized could be sa\-ed ; because regeneration was effected 
 only in the rite of water baptism. 
 
262 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 served his followers from condemnation, so long as they 
 adhered strictly to his definitions, nor suffered them- 
 selves to assert that God had foreordained the original 
 fall and the succeeding sins of mankind. But the sub- 
 ject occasioned long and intricate controversies, in 
 which the disputants perpetually ran mto error, and 
 sometimes into heresy, on one extreme or the other ; 
 and the metaphysical subtilities then involved, have not 
 ceased to employ the ingenuity of logicians, and to feed 
 the spleen of bigots, do^vn to the present day. 
 
 VIII. During the first three or four years 
 A. D. 413, of his troubles, Pelagius resided in Pales- 
 to 220. tine, enjoying the patronage of John of 
 Jerusalem ; and w^hen, in A. D. 416, he 
 was arraigned, on a charge of heresy, before a Synod at 
 Diospolis, near Joppa, that prelate earnestly defended 
 him, and procured his entire acquittal ^, But John did 
 not live to witness the conclusion of the controversy. 
 A peaceful death closed his career in the beginning of 
 A. D. 417, at about the age of sixty. He was consider- 
 ably famous in his day, but chiefly for the part he bore 
 in the contests which agitated the church. We discover 
 nothing in his hfe, that evinces superior learning, talents, 
 or piety ; and as he has been generally described, he 
 betrays some appearances of petulance, of timidity, and 
 of a wary cunning. In justice to him, however, we 
 must remember that his history is collected wholly from 
 his opponents, and chiefly from his bitter enemies. His 
 friends, it is certain, gave him the character of a worthy 
 
 y Fleury's Eccl. Hist. Book xxiii. chap. 19, 20. 
 
 i 
 
viii.] OF UNIVERSALISM, 263 
 
 and pious man ; and even Pope Anastasius and Augus- 
 tine addressed him in terms of respect and esteem. 
 Indeed, such as he actually appears, it would be no 
 disparagement to the generality of his cotemporaries to 
 compare them with him. He was a zealous patron of the 
 monastic life, and joined in the prevailing veneration of 
 relics ; and his last days were honored, to adopt the 
 language of those times, by the miraculous discovery of 
 the bodies of Stephen the first martyr, of Nicodemus who 
 came to our Saviour by night, and of Gamaliel the mas^ 
 ter of St. Paul. These remains, undoubtedly of some 
 nameless persons, drew vast concourses on their revela- 
 tion from the grave, excited universal awe, and of course 
 wrought numerous miracles, according to the invariable 
 custom of relics in that superstitious age ^ . 
 
 In taking our final leave of John of Jerusalem, we 
 must also bid adieu to an individual who has borne a 
 still more conspicuous part in the events of this History. 
 Jerome died, very old, at Bethlehem, in the year 420; 
 but the account we have already given of his life and 
 conduct, sufficiently exhibits his character, without the 
 tediousness of a formal description. 
 
 IX. Of all the ancient Universalists, the 
 
 A. D. 420, most respectable for good sense and sober 
 
 to 429. judgment, if we may rely on the opinion 
 
 of modern critics ^, was, probably, Theo- 
 
 dorus bishop of Mopsuestia, a very eminent orthodox 
 
 ^ Fleury's Eccl. Hist. Book xxiii. chap. 22, 23. a Beauso- 
 
 bre, (Hist, de Manichee Lib. i. chap. 4. Tom. i. p. 288.) Lardner, 
 (Credibility &c. Chap. Theodore of Mopsuestia) and Mosheim, 
 (Eccl. Hist. Cent, v. Part ii. chap. 2, 3.) speak in the highest terms of 
 bis useful talents and apparent sound judgment. 
 
264 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 father of the East, and a voluminous writer. Unhke 
 the earlier believers in the salvation of all mankind, he 
 was neither a follower nor admirer of Origen, but on 
 the contrary stood forth an opposer of him, by publish- 
 ing a book against his allegorical system of interpreta- 
 tion*'. Belonging to a small school of divines w^ho 
 may in some sense merit the epithet of rationaP, he 
 was the principal advocate, of that age, for the simple, 
 historical method of explaining the scriptures; and it 
 seems, from a few fragments which alone have descend- 
 to us of his numerous works, that he pursued that course 
 with more care and success than most even of our 
 modern Commentators. 
 
 Born of illustrious Syrian parents, he spent his youth 
 under the famous heathen sophist, Libanius of Antioch ; 
 and then, in company with the celebrated Chrysostom, 
 he applied himself to the study of divinity under the in- 
 structions of Diodorus, afterwards bishop of Tarsus in 
 Cilicia, the birth place of St. Paul. Nearly forty miles 
 eastward of this city, stood the ancient Mopsuestia, di- 
 vided into two parts, the old and the new, between 
 which flowed the river Pyramus, on its way across ex- 
 tensive plains from the gorges of Mount Taurus in the 
 north, to the Cilician Sea'*. Theodorus was elevated 
 to the bishopric of this place as early as the year 394. 
 
 b Facundi Hermianensis De Tribus Capit. Lib. iii. cap. 6. inter 
 Sirmondi Opp. Tom. ii. p. 362. c Eusebius Emisenus an 
 
 Arian, Diodorus of Tarsus an Orthodox, and Theodorus of Mopsues- 
 tia, (of whom the two former were much older than the last) appear 
 to have been singular in their attachment to the rational method of 
 exposition. d gee the abstract of Capt. Kinnier's Travels, in 
 
 the Modern Traveller, Part vi. pp. 278 — 281, Also Beaufort's Kas- 
 amania. Chap. xiii. 
 
 I 
 
viii.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 265 
 
 Here he passed a long episcopate of about thirty six 
 years, in composing Commentaries, and polemical 
 -works ; and in the meanwhile, he maintained the repu- 
 tation of a distinguished preacher, at Antioch, at Con- 
 stantinople, and over all the east. He had been a firm 
 and steady opposer of Arianism ; and during his hfe 
 time, his orthodoxy seems never to have been impeach- 
 ed, notwithstanding it is certain that he held, to their ut- 
 most extent, the tenets for which Pelagius was con- 
 demned, and though it is probable that he was the 
 source whence they were indirectly transmitted to that 
 unfortunate heretic. It appears also that he avowed 
 with impunity, the restoration of the wicked from hell, 
 long after the contest with the Origenists, had brought 
 it into disrepute^; and it is suspected that he was the 
 
 e Photius, of the ninth century, the best ecclesiastical critic of all antiqui- 
 ty, says he had read a work of Theodoras of Mopsuestia, " in five books, 
 '"<■ against thos ; who asserted that men sin by nature, and not by free will; 
 " Tlieodorus considers it a doctrine held by the western christians, and from 
 " them brought into the east, especially by an author called Aram, (who he 
 " is I do not know,) who had written several books in defence of it. The 
 " opinions of that sect, Theodorus represents in this manner : ' One of them 
 " is, that men sin b}' nature, not by choice 5 by nature, however, not mean- 
 " ing- that in which Adam was first fonned, (for that, they say, was good,) 
 '^ but that which he had after he transgressed, when his nature had become 
 " evil instead of good, and mortal instead of immortal. Hence, men, hav- 
 " ing become bad by nature, who were before good, now sin by nature and 
 " not by choice. Consequent upon this is another opinion of theirs, that in- 
 " fants, even when just bom, are not free from sin 3 forasmuch as from 
 '^ Adam's transgression, a sinful nature^ as they express it, is derived to 
 " all his posterity : for which they allege those words of the Psalmist, I was 
 " born in sin, (Ps. li. 5.) and other passages.' Here also," adds Photius, 
 " appear Nestorian principles, and the notion of Origkn concerning 
 
 " (HE TERMINATION OF THE PUNISHMENTS OF THE FUTURE STATE: 
 
 '•He also says that man was at first made mortal, though death be represented 
 " as die consequence of his transgression, the better to convince us of the 
 '' evil of sin." Photii Bibliothecse Cod. 177. N. B. I have placed the date 
 of the book here described, between a.d. 420, and the time of Theodorus's 
 deathj for it is evident it was written after the Pelagian controversy had 
 made considerable noise, even in the east. 
 
 23 
 
266 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 father of Nestorianism, a doctrine which arrived, though 
 in a blind and very circuitous way, to little else than the 
 simple humanity of Jesus Christ. He died undisturb- 
 ed, however, in the catholic communion, about A. D. 
 429, aged not far, probably, from seventy years. 
 
 But after his death he was often reproached for his 
 Pelagianism, and for his connexion with his scholar 
 Nestorius ; and in the middle of the next century, he 
 was anathematized on the latter account, by the Fifth 
 General Council. Accordingly, his works, for the most 
 part, have either perished, or been preserved only in the 
 Syriac language, among the Nestorians of the east^; and 
 one of these lots, probably the former, has fallen to the 
 particular treatise in which, it is said, he advanced the 
 doctrine of Universal Restoration. 
 
 X. Directing our attention from Cihcia 
 A. D. 430, down the Mediterranean coast to the Holy 
 to 450. Land, we discover that here Universalism 
 prevailed, about this time, to a considera- 
 ble extent among the monks, especially around Cesarea 
 in Palestine. But the glimpse we obtain of the fact is 
 casual and imperfect, and soon obstructed by surround- 
 ing darkness. We only know that Origenism had open- 
 ly appeared in the country, with a numerous party of 
 advocates ; and that the particulars in their doctrine 
 
 f Besides fragments of his wTitings amonff the ac ts of the Fifth General 
 Council, in Facundus Hermianensis, and in Photius. it is supposed that the 
 Cotmnentury on the Psalms, under the name of Theodorus, in Catena Cor- 
 derii, belongs to our author. It is said also that his Commentaries on the 
 Twelve }\iiiior Prophets, exist in manuscript in the Emperor's Librgu-y at 
 Vienna, in the Library of St. Mark at Venice, and in the Library of the 
 Vatican. These, however, form but a very small part of the ancient cata- 
 logue of his works. 
 
viii.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 267 
 
 which gave most offence, were the pre-existence of 
 souls, and the Universal Restoration. Against both of 
 these points, Euthymius, the chief abbot who then pre- 
 sided over the monasteries in the desert between Jeru- 
 salem and the Dead Sea, opposed his utmost zeal and 
 indignation ^, but with what effect we are not informed. 
 It does not appear, however, that any of the party were 
 arraigned, nor their tenets condemned. We may nat- 
 urally suspect that their faith had always lingered around 
 the churches where Origen preached, and where Alex- 
 ander, Theoctistus and John presided ; and there is 
 some reason to suppose that it continued to exist in the 
 country, till it broke out, as Ave shall learn, sixty or 
 seventy years afterwards, and spread through a large 
 part of Palestine. 
 
 But for the remainder of the present cen- 
 A. D. 450, tury, we seek in vain for any traces of the 
 to 500. doctrine. It had grown unpopular. For 
 though it had not hitherto been judicially 
 branded with the indelible mark of heresy, save when 
 it embraced the salvation of the devil and his angels, 
 yet even in its restricted form, as extending only to the 
 restoration of all mankind, it had been pointed out as 
 an obnoxious and kindred error ; and the repose of the 
 pubHc, as well as the quiet of the individual, must have 
 suggested the prudence of concealment. Even the 
 familiar name of Origenism almost wholly disappears, 
 
 5 Vita Euthymii, per Cyrillam Scythopolitanum, inter Cotelerii 
 Monumenta Graec. Ecclesise Tom. iv. p. 52. See also a Paraphrase 
 of this work, by Symeon Metaphrastes, in Tom. ii. 
 
268 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 during this period ^^ . We may, indeed, discover a fa- 
 vorable disposition in the ecclesiastical historians, Soc- 
 rates, Sozomen and Theodoret ; of whom the two 
 first defended the reputation of its former advocates, 
 and the last neglected to insert it in his general Cata- 
 logue of heresies. But on the other hand, it appears 
 that Antipater, bishop of Bostra in Arabia, undertook to 
 refute the Apology of Pamphilus and Eusebius for 
 Origen ; and that about the same time, a Council at 
 Rome, in A. D. 496, either gave or followed the ex- 
 ample ^ . 
 
 XI. But other and more interesting 
 
 A. D. 450, causes maybe assigned for the deep silence 
 
 to 500. which pervades the ecclesiastical writings 
 
 of this period, with regard to Universalism. 
 
 h To this period, if not to a later, may perhaps be assigned the anon- 
 ymous Apology for Oiigen, in five hooks, wliich Photius describes (Bib- 
 lioth. Cod. 117.) without fixing its date. According to him, it was 
 of little value. The author, it appears, mentioned Clemens Alex- 
 andrinus, Dionysius the Great, and even Demetiius, as witnesses in 
 favor of Origen ; and he strove, particularly, to defend Pamphilus 
 and Eusebius, which shows that it was after they had been reproach- 
 ed for their Apology, perhaps by Jerome, perhaps by Antipater. He 
 also acknowledged and maintained Origen's doctrine of Pre-exist- 
 ence and some other heierodox notions; but he denied that Origen 
 had been guilty of the following errors charged upon him; 'That 
 the Son is not to be iuAoked, is not absolutely good, and knows not 
 the Father as he knows himself; That rational natures enter into 
 brutes, and that there is a transmigration into different kinds of 
 bodies; That the soul of Christ was that of Adam ; That there is 
 no eternal punishment for sinners, nor resurrection of the flesh ; 
 That magic is not evil, and that the influence of the stars governs 
 our conduct; That the only begotten Son will, hereafter, possess 
 no kingdom ; That the holy angels came into the world as fallen 
 creatures, not to assist others ; That the Father cannot be seen by 
 the Son ; That the Cherubim are merely the tlioughts of the Son j 
 That Christ, the image of God, so far as he is the image, is not the 
 true God.' » Huet, Origenian. Lib. ii. cap. 4. Sect. ii. § 24, 25. 
 
 I 
 
viii.J OF UNIVERSALISM. 259 
 
 There is no wonder it should have been overlooked, or 
 if known to exist, that it should have been suffered to 
 pass unnoticed, when subjects far different, and of the 
 most distracting nature, engrossed the attention of all 
 Christendom. The Roman Empire in the West, was 
 going to wreck amidst the boisterous and conflicting 
 waves that rolled in upon it from the fierce North ; and 
 it finally sunk under the ceaseless attacks, in the year 
 476. Odoacer, king of the Heruli, enjoyed the spoils, 
 and stretched his sceptre over all Italy. But though 
 fallen, the country was not permitted to repose in the 
 quiet of death. Other conquerors advanced from the 
 exhaustless regions of barbarism, and in their turn 
 wrested the power from the recent victors. From Rome 
 to Britain, from the Danube to Africa, all was a scene 
 of anxiety, alarm and distress. Amidst the general 
 commotion, the church beheld, with equal chagrin and 
 fear, the exiled Arians return along with the invad- 
 ing hosts of their barbarian converts, and under the pa- 
 tronage of the Huns, Goths and Vandals, assume the 
 preeminence in Italy, Gaul and the African provinces. 
 The Catholics now dreaded, and they sometimes felt, 
 the scourge of retribution ; but they still retained suf- 
 ficient spirit to wage, at intervals, a polemical contest 
 with the Pelagians and Semi-Pelagians. The doctrines 
 of absolute moral inability, and arbitrary election, were 
 so novel, that a large part of the western christians re- 
 tained, like the eastern, the former ground, on a medium 
 between Augustine and his professed opponents ; and 
 23* 
 
270 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 the extreme difficulty of distinguishing the variable 
 limits of heresy and ortho-doxy, betrayed several into 
 what was thought fatal error, and gave an earnest of 
 the endless and undeterminable controversy which had 
 been provided for acute and subtile disputants. The 
 Roman Pontiffs, however, had other subjects of inter- 
 est, in the terrible and shameful contentions that raged, 
 with unprecedented violence and duration, in the east- 
 ern churches. 
 
 The Empire of the East, though little annoyed by 
 foreign enemies, was agitated by the desperate quarrels 
 of the clergy, who have left on the records of this age 
 one of the blackest stains that disgrace the pages of 
 ecclesiastical history. The great archbishopric of Egypt, 
 which had hitherto maintained its superiority among 
 the eastern diocesses, watched, with an envious eye, 
 the growing influence of the new See of Constantino- 
 pie, which was rapidly ascending to a rank next that of 
 Rome ; and the two successive prelates of Alexandria, 
 who inherited the vices and the jealousy of Theophilus, 
 had already shaken Nestorius and after him Flavian, 
 from the episcopal throne of the rival city, by means of 
 some intricate questions concerning the union of the di- 
 vine and human natures of Christ. All the East, from 
 the Nile and the Bosphorus to the Euphrates, took sides 
 for a long contest, in which honor and freedom were 
 staked, and deposition and banishment were the penalty 
 of failure. The artifices, the outrageous injustice and 
 shameless effrontery which prevail in the most degene- 
 rate courts in times of violent faction, disgraced three 
 
Yiii.J OF UNIVERSALISM. 271 
 
 General Councils , in quick succession, and procured 
 for one of them, even in that age, an appellation which 
 truly belonged to all, The Assembly of Robbers. The 
 indignant spectator gladly turns from these deplorable 
 scenes ^ ; and we may only remark, that before the 
 close of this century, the Nestorian, Eutychian and 
 Monophysite heresies were successively condemned, as 
 they arose, and that amidst riots, intrigue, bribery, kicks 
 and blows, was established the present orthodox faith 
 concerning the two natures of Christ : that his divinity 
 and humanity are most closely and intimately united in 
 one person, while they are nevertheless distinct. 
 
 XII. Nothing remains but to close with a passing 
 notice of the Manicheans. Under this appellation, 
 which had now grown somewhat indefinite, may be 
 comprehended about all the Gnostic christians of this 
 century; for the Priscillianists, who were numerous in 
 Spain, and a few Marcionites, scattered in various parts, 
 were often classed, and not very improperly , with the 
 more genuine followers of Mani, who lurked in every 
 quarter of Christendom.. All of them had been led, by 
 their intercourse with the Roman world, to modify their 
 general system, and to omit some of their fables ; but they 
 always adhered to their fundamental doctrine of two Ori- 
 
 j At Ephesus, in a. d. 431 ; at the same place, in a. d. 449; and at 
 Chalcedon, in a. d. 451. That in a. d. 449 is not reckoned, by the 
 Catholics, among the General Councils, because the legates of the 
 Pope were excluded. ^ Of this contest Gibbon (Decline 
 
 and Fall &c. chap, xlvii.) has given a description to the life, which 
 though slightly marked with his infidel irony, seems well sup- 
 ported, and does not differ, materially, from the narrative of the 
 Catholic Fleury, (Eccl. Hist, Book xxv. and onwards.) 
 
272 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Clmp. 
 
 ginal Principles, the distinct causes of Good and Evil. 
 On one solitary point we may prefer their views to 
 those entertained by a large part of the orthodox : they 
 contemplated Deity in the unchangeable character of 
 universal and perfect benevolence. This important sen- 
 timent, together with their fanciful notion concerning 
 the divine emanation of all souls, would naturally in- 
 cline them to expect the eventual recovery of human 
 nature ; but how far they approached towards this con- 
 clusion, does not distinctly appear. They still retained 
 enough of their oriental pecuHarities to render them in- 
 tolerable to the Greek and the Roman sects'; and while 
 the cruel laws of persecution compelled them to the 
 most careful concealment, the sharp-sighted zeal of the 
 bishops and governors often detected them tlirough all 
 their disguises. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 [From A. D.500, to A. D. 554.] 
 
 I. The opening scene of our narrative lies in the 
 barren Solitude between Jerusalem and Bethlehem on 
 the West, and the sunken coast of the Dead sea, or 
 Lake Asphaltites, oa the East. The wild and austere 
 features of desolation whicli pervade this mountainous 
 desert, will readily occur to the imagination of every 
 one who has attentively studied the geography of Pales- 
 tine. But it can scarcely be accounted a useless inter- 
 ruption, if we pause here to take a more careful and 
 particular view of a region so full of interest, and which 
 retains to this day nearly the same appearance it wore 
 m the sixth century. 
 
 Beginning our survey at the northeastern extremity, 
 and standing on some elevated spot, if such there be, 
 in the fields adjacent to the once flourishing Jericho, we 
 should find ourselves in the midst of an uneven plain, 
 of great length and considerable breadth. Its fertility 
 departed, ages ago, with the banished tribes, and left 
 little remains on the parched surface, except a kind of 
 spiny grass, and a few detached groves and plantations. 
 Two leagues to the East, the plain is divided by the 
 
274 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap, 
 
 reedy and shriib-covered banks of the Jordan, whose 
 turbid waters hasten along through a narrow channel 
 towards their entrance into the Dead Sea. If we turn 
 around, so as to face the North, we behold the level 
 country lose itself in the distance. But close at hand 
 appears the miserable village of Arab huts, which occu- 
 py a little space on the site of the ancient Jericho ; and- 
 several spots of beautiful vegetation, sometimes improv- 
 ed into gardens, mark the course which the streams 
 from Elisha's Fountain, a little distant, still maintain 
 through the surrounding barrenness. If we now cast 
 our eyes to the West, the huge, precipitous mountain of 
 Quarantania, at the distance of only three miles, stands 
 full before us, and hfts to heaven those naked cliffs, 
 whence, tradiiion says, the Tempter showed our Sa- 
 viour all the kingdoms of this world. Looking past the 
 southern side of the mountain, we discover, a little 
 farther off, in the way to Jerusalem, the wild congrega- 
 tion of barren hills that form the boundary of the plain. 
 Rising just behind the first range, are seen tops of rifted 
 and shapeless mountains, among whose deep and tre- 
 mendous ravines, lies, hidden from our view, the Desert 
 of the Temptation. Far in the rear, beyond a succeed- 
 ing tract of less elevation, and of less sterility, we 
 might perhaps descry, through some fortunate opening, 
 the low, triple summits of Mount Olivet, at the distance 
 of eighteen miles to the southwest, shutting out the city 
 of Jerusalem from the eastern prospect. 
 
 As we turn around to the left from the quarter of 
 Mount Olivet, with our backs upon Jericho, the eye still 
 
ix.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 275 
 
 ranges along the broken mass of hills, a few miles south- 
 ward, where the plain terminates at their bases, or is 
 invaded by their more advanced and separate crags. 
 Beyond them all, we catch the glympse of remoter em- 
 inences appearing here and there above the horizon, and 
 by their dismal whiteness betraying the solitude and 
 decay which reign in the interior. Traversing, with a 
 sidelong glance, the successive ridges down to the left, 
 as they approach the Dead Sea, we perceive their 
 height gradually increasing to the very brink w^here 
 they suddenly fall off, to make room for the bed of the 
 lake. The lake itself may be seen, still farther around 
 to the eastward, coming up into the limits of the plain ; 
 and nothing but an intervening promontory shuts out, 
 from our eye, the whole expanse of waters spreading 
 southward to indiscernible distance. 
 
 From our post of observation, it is but five or six 
 miles, over a sandy tract, to the nearest part of the Dead 
 Sea ; and if quitting the fields of Jericho, we now pro- 
 ceed thither, and follow the shore down to the South, 
 we come at length to the mountainous border already 
 surveyed. Here, w^e enter on a wide beach, which 
 runs the whole remaining length, perhaps, of the lake, 
 between the margin of the waves and the lofty battle- 
 ment of cliffs on the West. Advancing along this des- 
 olate valley, we traverse heaps of sand, and patches of 
 dry mud, covered thick with salt ; and sometimes a 
 sohtary and stunted shrub shakes the dust from its scanty 
 fohage, in the wind. On our right, we see the towering 
 masses of rock still bearing onward, but frequently broken 
 
276 THE ANICENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 by huge chasms that wind in many intricacies through their 
 heavy range. The dreary lake now spreads full before us, 
 to the south ; but its extremity is far beyond the reach of 
 the eye. To the east, however, we see its contracted 
 breadth, at the distance of ten or fifteen miles, bounded 
 by the dark, and to appearance, perpendicular moun- 
 tains of Arabia, which stand on the opposite shore like 
 a stupendous wall. Not a solitary peak seems to break 
 the uniformity of their continuous summit ; and we 
 merely perceive slight inflections here and there, as 
 though the hand of the painter, who drew this horizontal 
 hne across the sky, had sometimes trembled m the bold 
 execution. 
 
 After following the wide strand or valley for six or 
 eight miles, to the south, w^e may turn to the right, and 
 seek our way up the precipices. Arrived at the sum- 
 mit of the range, the whole country, as far as Mount 
 Olivet in the northwest, the hills of Bethlehem in the 
 west, and those of Tekoa in the southwest, bursts at 
 once in desolate majesty, upon our sight. Plains and 
 narrower glens without verdure or inhabitant, hills whose 
 aged rocks are themselves decaying into dust, sharp 
 ridges and misshapen points in the distance, fill up the 
 scene. Throughout a large part of this tract, the spirit 
 of rehgious madness, of fanatical seclusion, might find 
 accommodations in the profound labyrinths channelled 
 out between solid cliffs, and in numerous caverns, some of 
 them almost inaccessible. Even close around the sum- 
 mit on w^iich w^e stand, we may look down into chasms 
 that sink to the very base. 
 
ix.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 277 
 
 If we look to the North, the plain of Jericho appears ; 
 if to the South, the concourse of mountains stretches 
 ofi beyond the outlet of the Cedron, and finally fades 
 in the prospect amidst the vast Desert of Ruba. Below 
 us, to the West, extends a considerably wide plain, 
 through which, in ancient times, lay the rode from Jeri- 
 cho to Hebron. Descending from the heights, and 
 crossing this open space westwardly, our course runs 
 among little hillocks of chalk and sand, and some scat- 
 tered patches of herbage ; till, at the end of three miles, 
 we come to the boundary. Here we begin to climb 
 through the narrow gorges of another chain of moun- 
 tains, white, arid, and dusty ; and not a solitary shade, 
 not a plant, not even the last effort of vegetation, a sin- 
 gle tuft of moss, meets the eye as we proceed. Four 
 or five miles, in the same direction, brings us to the 
 edge of the long, tremendous chasm, through which, ia 
 the rainy season, gushes the torrent Cedron, on its 
 southeastward course from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea. 
 Through a sudden opening, that city itself may be des- 
 cried, looking like a confused heap of rocks, nearly a 
 dozen miles to the northwest ; and the naked summits 
 that rise on every quarter above us, command a pros- 
 pect of the eastern lake. Proceeding, now, a small 
 distance up the channel of the Cedron, we discover, in 
 its very bed, and three or four hundred feet below us, 
 the ancient monastery of St. Sabas, surrounded with 
 numerous cells in the precipices, and still occupied as a 
 convent '\ 
 
 a For the account of this region, see Relandi Palasstina Illus- 
 trataj Pococke's Description of the East, Vol. ii. Part 1. pp. 30 — 45 j 
 
 24 
 
273 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 II. At the beginning of the sixth century, 
 A. D. 500. this great solitude had long been peopled 
 with monks. Many Lauras, or collections 
 of recluse cells and caverns, were prepared in different 
 quarters, and a number of monasteries, or regular con- 
 vents, were erected in other parts. Of the latter there 
 were several at Jerusalem, at Bethlehem, and at Jeri- 
 cho, besides those in the desert. Of the form.er, omit- 
 ing some whose position cannot be determined, we may 
 mention the Laura of Xenochium near Jericho, that of 
 Pharan six miles from Jerusalem, and that of Succa 
 not far, probably, from five miles southeast of Bethle- 
 hem, or about two, northward of Tekoa. But the 
 most famous of all, even at this period, was the Laura 
 of St. Sabas, the remains of which we have just survey- 
 ed. It wT.s founded, less than twenty years before, by 
 the distinguished abbot of that name ; and five or six 
 thousand monks had already gathered in the deep chan- 
 nel of the Cedron, under the protection of his reputed 
 miracles and sanctity. A very successful struggle, of 
 more than fifty years, ag:\inst every natural mode of 
 human existence, had conferred on Sabas a venerable 
 preeminence over the whole desert ; and a mild and 
 patient temper gave his authority a sort of fatherly cha- 
 racter. With these quahfications, it is no wonder that 
 the scrupulous exactness of his faith, the wretchedness 
 of his appearance, and the supposed gifts of command- 
 
 Sandys's Travels, Book iii. Maundrell's Journey'to Jerusalem ; Dr. 
 E. D. Clark's Travels tlirough Greece, Egypt and the Holy Land, 
 Chap. 17, 18; and Chateaubriand's Travels, Part iii. Several strik- 
 ing hints may be gathered from Cyrilli Scythopolitani Vita S. SabjB, 
 Inter Coteleri Men. Eccl. Grsecoe Tom. iii. 
 
ix.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 279 
 
 ing rain from heaven, and of shutting the mouths of wild 
 beasts, should make him known abroad, in that age, as 
 " the light and ornament of all Palestine." 
 
 But between the years 501 and 506, an 
 A. D. 501, old^ difficulty was renewed in the midst of 
 — 506. his own Laura. Forty of his monks be- 
 came greatly dissatisfied ; and he, nvho 
 seldom contended with opposition, left the place and 
 retired to a cave near Scythopohs. After a while he 
 returned ; but finding the number of malecontents in- 
 creased now^ to sixty, and grown utterly irreconcileable, 
 he again departed. This sudden and unexpected ab- 
 sence gave his enemies occasion to flatter themselves, 
 at least to report, that he was devoured by wild beasts ; 
 and going to Jerusalem, they entreated Elias, the bishop 
 of that city, to appoint them another abbot. Their 
 report, however, did not gain credit, nor their request, 
 a favorable hearing ; and Elias was by no means disap- 
 pointed, when, some time afterwards, he beheld Sabas 
 himself, with several disciples from his new retirement, 
 enter the Holy City, on the anniversary festival of the 
 Dedication of the Temple. The bishop solemnly ad- 
 jured him to return to his Laura, and wrote a le>tter to 
 the monks there, commanding them to receive him with 
 honors, and submit to his authority. But when Sabas 
 arrived and produced the letter in public, the disaffect- 
 ed rose in rebellion, assailed one of the buildings in 
 their wrath, and overthrew it into the torrent. The 
 rioters, to the number of sixty, then took their course 
 
 b Vit, Sabse cap. 19. 
 
280 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 over the hills, southwestwardly, to the Laura of Succa, 
 about eight or ten miles distant^. Applying there in 
 vain for admittance, they turned to the southeast, and 
 pursued their way, in this direction, for two or three 
 miles, when they entered the deep valley under the 
 southern side of the hill on which stood the ruined vil- 
 lage of Tekoa. Here, finding a little w'ater, and some 
 old forsaken cells, they took up their abode, and called 
 the place Nova Laura, or the New Laura. Having no 
 church, they were obliged, for a while, to hold their pub- 
 lic exercises in an old one at Tekoa, dedicated to the 
 prophet Amos, an inhabitant of this village^. Sabas, 
 however, soon obtained information of the place of their 
 retreat, visited them with necessary supplies ; and pro- 
 curing afterwards from Elias at Jerusalem, a sum of 
 
 gold for the purpose, built them a church, 
 A. D. 507. and dedicated it in A. D. 507. His care 
 
 and beneficence seemed to reconcile them ; 
 and they allowed him to place over their Laura a Su- 
 perior, who governed it in quiet for seven years^. 
 
 in. On the death of this overseer, his 
 A. D. 514. successor admitted, through ignorance it is 
 
 said, four Origenists ; of whom the chief 
 were Nonnus, whose earlier history is entirely unknown, 
 
 i; The Laura of Sncca was not for from Tekoa, eilhcr to the North 
 or to the South ; (compare Vit. Sabce cap- 36, with Vit. Cyriaci,- inter 
 Cotelerii Mon. Eccl, Grseca^ Tom. iv. pp. 117, 118.) but in which of 
 these directions, cannot be determined. The fnm of the expression, 
 however, in Vit. Sabos, seems to intimate that it was towards the 
 Laura of Sabas from Tekoa ; and according to Pococke (Vol. ii. Part 
 i. pp. 41. 42.) the ravines between Tekoa and the Mountain of the 
 Franks, offered choice situations for a Laura. Mr. Fisk (Missionary 
 Herald, Vol. xxi. No. 3. p. G7.) saw many caves and some ruins in 
 this place. d Amos i. 1. e Vit. Saboe cap. 33 — 36 
 
ix.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 281 
 
 and one Leontius of Byzantium, or Constantinople. 
 Their distinguishing tenet appears to have been the 
 Pre-existence of human souls ; but to this, it seems, we 
 must add that of Universal Restoration^. Both these 
 opinions, however, remained undiscovered, at least un- 
 reproved, for about six months ; when a new Superior, 
 the third in succession, being appointed at Nova Laura, 
 soon detected the alarming doctrine, and by the autho- 
 rity of Elias of Jerusalem, expelled the believers. These 
 retired to other parts of the country and propagated 
 
 their sentiments in silence. Two or three 
 A. D. 517. years afterwards, Elias himself was deposed 
 
 amid some of the ecclesiastical revolutions 
 which-, in the East, yet followed the Nestorian contro- 
 versy of the preceding century ; and when John suc- 
 
 f That Nonnus and Lecntius were Universal ists is not absolutely 
 certain, thougli very probable. I here subjoin the best evidence I 
 have found of the fact: 1. SymeOn Metaphrastes, a Greek writer of 
 the tenth century, who recomposed the lives of the saints from the 
 original documents, but who is by no means indisputable authority, 
 adduces, in his Life oi Cyriacus, (Cotelerii Mon. Eccl. Grsecse Tom. 
 iv. pp. 117, 118.) the testimony of Cyrill of Scythopolis, a credible 
 witness, that Nonnus and Leontius avowed the doctrines of Pre- 
 existence and Universal Restoration, 2. Cyrill himself, who by the 
 way, was a monk of Subas's Laura, and a cotemporary of Nonnus 
 and Leontius, invariably represents them as teaching Pre-existence; 
 and he also says (Vit. Sabce cap. 36,) that they derived it from Origen,, 
 Evagrius and Didymus. Now, in the doctrine of these fathers the 
 two notions of Pre-existence and Restoration were so insepara- 
 bly connected, as the beginning and end of their system, that who- 
 ever followed them in one, could hardly avoid adopting the other. 
 3. Domitian, archbishop of Galatia, a convert and patron of Nonnus 
 and Leontius, was certainly an advocate of both these notions; (Fa- 
 cundi Hermionensis Dofens. Trium Capit. inter Sirmondi Opp. 
 Tom. ii. pp. 384, 385,) and Facundus, a cotenporary, observes that it 
 was particularly on account of these tenets that his party was ac- 
 cused. Several other circumstances might be mentioned in favor of 
 their Universalism ; and nothing, so far as I know, can be found to 
 thecontrar3^ 
 
 24* 
 
282 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Ch a 
 
 ceeded to the bishopric of Jerusalem, the Origenists 
 came and asked to be restored to their Laura. But he 
 being informed by Sabas of their heresy, denied their 
 request. Leontius, indeed, was received, at length, into 
 the Great Laura of Sabas himself; but the moment he 
 became known, the aged father drove him away. 
 
 Better fortune, however, awaited the outcasts : Not 
 many years afterwards, one Mamas, on succeeding 
 to the care of Nova Laura, admitted, it seems without 
 hesitation^, Nonnus, Leontius, and their party to the cor- 
 dial fellowship of the brotherhood. There followed 
 such an increase of Origenism in tire country, as to pro- 
 duce considerable uneasiness ; and an opportunity soon 
 offered of introducing the affair to the attention of the 
 ambitiously orthodox emperor Justinian : Some public 
 grievances rendering it necessary to send an agent to the 
 court of Constantinople, the bishops of Palestine unan- 
 imously deputed Sabas, whose sanctity had long been 
 venerated in the imperial palace, and known throughout 
 all the east. He accordingly visited the capital; and 
 having accomplished his business, was about 
 A. D. 53 L to take his leave, when the doting emperor 
 humbly asked what revenues he should be- 
 stow on the monasteries and Lauras of the desert, in or- 
 der to secure their prayers for himself and his govern- 
 ment. ' Grant the petitions that I have brought,' replied 
 the abbot, * and in recompense God will add to your do- 
 ' minions, Africa, Rome, and the whole of the western 
 
 e Cyrill says (Vita Sabse.) that Mamas did not know their senti- 
 ments; but how could he be ignorant after the previous disturban- 
 ces? 
 
ix.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 283 
 
 ' empire : upon one condition, however, that you deliv- 
 ' er the churches from the three heresies of Ariiis, Nes- 
 * torius, and Origen.' The obedient emperor loaded 
 him with gifts, promised whatever he desired, and ana- 
 thematized those heresies ; but whether he then issued 
 any special decree against them, does not appear ^. 
 
 IV. Sabas died at his Laura, in the end 
 A. D. 532. of the year 531, soon after his return from 
 Constantinople ; and the Origenists of No- 
 va Laura, feeling themselves reheved- from the oppres- 
 sion of his great authority, began to propagate their doc- 
 trine, with less reserve. Their success was, if possible, 
 more than proportioned to their zeal : in a short time 
 they converted all the most learned in their own cells, 
 placed their partizans over some of the neighboring mo- 
 nasteries, spread their opinions through several large 
 communities of monks in the desert, and established 
 them even in the Great Laura of Sabas. 
 
 Among their adherents, perhaps among the new con- 
 verts, were two individuals, introduced now for the first 
 time to our notice, vi^ho afterwards rose to considerable 
 eminence, and bore a distinguished part in the ecclesias- 
 tical history of the period.^ Domitian was abbot of a 
 monastery in the desert ; and Theodorus Ascidas was 
 deacon, or one of the principal officers, of Nova Laura. 
 Both were Origenists ; both, probably Universalists. 
 Such, at least, did Domitian avow himself'. Going, 
 
 h Vit. Sabae cap. 36; and 70—74. Fleury's Eccl. History, book 
 xxxiii. ehap. 3. > Faciindus,a cotemporary author, says (Defens. 
 
 Triura Capitul. Lib. iv. cap. 4, inter Sirmondi Opp. Tom. ii. pp. 334. 
 
284 THE ANCIENT HISTORY fChar. 
 
 about this time, to Constantinople, they were accompa- 
 nied by Nonniis and Leontiiis ; and through the recom- 
 mendation of the latter, who seems to have had some 
 influence in his native city, our two adventurers obtained 
 the patronage of Eusebius, a favorite bishop at court. By 
 his means they were then introduced to the emperor 
 himself; and concealing their sentiments and peculiar at- 
 tachments, they so far won the partiality of Justinian, 
 that he placed them over two extensive bishoprics in 
 Asia Minor. Domitian was elevated to that of Galatia, 
 and immediately ordained at its metropolitan city, Ancy- 
 ra ; Theodorus Ascidas, at Cesarea, in the large and 
 influential see of Cappadocia, was seated on the same 
 Episcopal throne which had been honored by the an- 
 cient, and perhaps more worthy fathers, Firmilian, and 
 Basil the Great. Neither of the new prelates, it would 
 seem, spent much of their time in their respective di- 
 ocesses ; but following the fashion of that age, resorted, 
 among a crowd of other bishops, to the court of Con- 
 stantinople, and there engaged in the intrigues of the 
 palace and of the church. Theodorus long maintained 
 a considerable ascendancy over the measures, though 
 
 385,) "Domitian, form^rlv bishop of Ancyra in Galatii, writing a 
 "book to Pope Vigiliiis, complained of those v/iio confradictod the doc- 
 '' trine of Origen, thtt hunuin souls existed before tlie body in a cer- 
 ''tain happy state, and tliat all who are consigned to everlasting tor- 
 ''ments shall b(; restored, together with the devil and Jiis angels, to 
 '' their primeval blessedness. Domitian also asserts that 'theylmve even 
 '' anathemniizcd the 7nflst holy and renoioned doctors, on a-coiint of those 
 *' thi7io;s ivhicJt were agitated in favor of Pre-existnice, and U lirersal Res- 
 " toration. This they hare done under pretence of condemning Ongen ; but 
 " in reality, condenmin'r all the saints irJw were before him, and who have 
 '* been afti-r him." Tais book of Domitian was written, probably, about 
 the year 546, or a little after. 
 
ix ] OF UNIVERSALISM. 285 
 
 not over the faith of the royal polemic himself, and fre- 
 quently perverted the imperial authority, to the promo- 
 tion of such objects, as, if discovered, would have been 
 instantly condemned. Amidst the honors to which he 
 had been advanced, and the splendor with which he was 
 surrounded, he did not forget his old associates in the 
 solitude of Palestine, but continued to exert, in their be- 
 half, al 1 the influence he dared to employ in such a 
 cause. Nor were they, on their part, unconscious of 
 the increased advantages they might derive from the 
 countenance, however cautiously granted, of two pow- 
 erful friends at court. Emboldened by the patronage, 
 and encouraged by their good fortune, the Origenists 
 labored with redoubled energy, and in a short time suc- 
 ceeded in difKising their doctrine through the whole of 
 Palestine ; an undertaking which was the more readily 
 accomplished on account of the former prev-alence of 
 Origenism in the country J. 
 
 V. About five years after the death of Sabas. his 
 second successor Gelasius, . on being elected over the 
 Great Laura, determined to check the prevailing here- 
 sy among his own flock ; and to this end he consulted 
 a few of his yet orthodox brethren, and appointed the 
 Treatise of Antipater of Bostra against Origen, to be 
 read publicly in the church. But this indignity only 
 
 provoked a disturbance ; and Gelasius soon 
 A. D. 537. found it necessary in prosecuting his scheme 
 
 to expel some of the leaders of the op- 
 position, among whom was one of his deacons. It was 
 
 j Vit. Sabse cap. 77—83. 
 
286 • THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 too late, however, for violent measures ; the expulsion 
 of their leaders roused the spirit of the rest, and forty 
 others weie soon afterwards driven away. The out- 
 casts repaired immediately to Nova Laura, where they 
 enjoyed the protection of Nonnus, Leontius and their 
 brethren, and assisted in propagating their faith among 
 the various monasteries in the neighborhood''. The 
 next year, Eusebius, the episcopal courtier who had 
 introduced Domitian and Theodorus to Jus- 
 A. D. 538. tinian, happened at Jerusalem ; and Leon- 
 tius, in company with the outcasts from the 
 Great Laura, embraced the fortunate opportunity to 
 carry before him a complaint against the Abbot, for 
 their expulsion. The haughty bishop, a favorite of the 
 court, assumed the seat of judgment; and sending for 
 Gelasius, ordered him either to receive the Origenists, 
 or else to expell their accusers. The timid, or per- 
 haps politic Abbot returned, upon this, to the Laura of 
 Sabas, chose the latter alternative ; and probably with 
 their consent, dismissed six of his orthodox monks. 
 These, however, went directly to Antioch, related to 
 Ephraim, the powerful archbishop of that city, the af- 
 fair of Origenism in Palestine, and showed him the 
 books of Antipater of Bostra against the doctrine. 
 Ephraim immediately called a provincial Synod at An- 
 tioch, and procured, for the first time since the days of 
 Theophilus and Jerome, an anathema against the heresy ; 
 but on what particular points, is unknown. 
 
 k Cyrill's story (Vit. Sabre cap. 84-.) of llieir lioslile expedition for the 
 purpose of destroying- the Great Laura, of the supernatural darkness which 
 blinded and misled them so that they could not lind tbc well-known place, 
 &c. is incredil)le, unless we admit, with him, the miraculous interference of 
 the deceased Sabas. 
 
ix.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 287 
 
 When the news of this procedure reached Palestine, 
 tlie Origenists were, of course, alarmed. Leontius had 
 sailed for Constantinople ; but Nonnus went to Peter, 
 tlie present bishop of Jerusalem, and importuned him to 
 erase the name of Ephraim from the sacred Diptychs, 
 or official Registers of bishops in fellowship and com- 
 munion. Leontius at Constantinople also exerted his 
 influence to procure the excommunication of the arch- 
 bishop of Antioch; and Domitian and Theodorus strove 
 to compel the patriarch of Jerusalem to execute the 
 proposed measure. Already was there a strong disaf- 
 fection against Peter, among the monks of the Desert ; 
 and to screen himself from the indignation which, it was 
 easy to foretell, the course he had adopted would 
 arouse, he contrived to procure some of the orthodox 
 Abbots to write a tract against Origenism, and in favof 
 of Ephraim of Antioch. This was, accordingly, com- 
 posed, and presented to him ; and Peter immediately 
 directed it, together with some writings of his ow^n, 
 pointing out the heresies and the disorders of the Ori- 
 genists, to the emperor Justinian at Constantinople. 
 The monks w^ho were entrusted with these documents, 
 arrived at the imperial city, attached themselves to the 
 deacon Pelagius, Legate from the Pope of Rome, 
 and an enemy to Theodorus ; and, by their united 
 exertions, soon succeeded in laying the matter in form 
 before the emperor K 
 
 VL Justinian, who had now sat about a dozen years 
 on the throne of the eastern empire, was one of the few 
 
 1 Vit. Sabffi cap. 85. And Fleury's Eccl. Hist, Book xxxiii^ Chap. 3, 4. 
 
288 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 sovereigns whose ruling ambition has been to shine in 
 theological disputes, and to acquire, by superior ortho- 
 doxy and austere mortifications, the proud epithet of 
 The Pious. Nothing could be more gratifying than 
 this reference of the affair of Origenism to his judgment 
 and decision. He lost no time, therefore, in order- 
 ing a long Edict to be drawn up, addressed to Mennas, 
 
 archbishop of Constantinople, and pubhshed 
 
 A. D. 539, as early as the year 540. "We are told," 
 
 — 540. says he, " of some who not having the 
 
 " fear of God before their eyes, have for- 
 " saken the truth, without which there is no salvation, 
 " and departed from the doctrine of the scriptures and 
 " of the Cathohc fathers, by adhering to Origen, and 
 " maintahiing his impious notions, which are hke those 
 " of the Arians, Manicheans, and other heretics." He 
 then proceeds to recount, in a formal catalogue, and 
 under six heads, the errors attributed to Origen : "1. 
 " That the Father is greater than the Son, and the Son 
 " greater than the Holy Ghost, as the Holy Ghost is 
 " superior to other spirits ; and that the Son cannot be- 
 " hold the Father, nor the Holy Ghost see the Son. 
 "2. That the power of God is limited, because he can 
 " create and govern only a certain number of souls, and 
 " a certain quantity of matter ; that every species of 
 " being was coeternal with the Deity ; that there have 
 " already been, and that there will hereafter be, several 
 " worlds in succession, so that the Creator has never 
 " been without creatures. 3. That rational spirits were 
 " clothed with bodies, only for their punishment ; and 
 " that the souls of men, in particular, were at first pure 
 
ix ] OF UNIVERSALISM. 289 
 
 " and holy intelligences, who becoming weary of divine 
 " contemplation, and inclining to evil, were confined in 
 •'* earthly bodies, as a retribution and chastisement for 
 " their former follies. 4. That the Sun, the Moon, the 
 " Stars, and the Waters above the heavens, are animated 
 " and rational creatures. 5. That in the resurrection 
 *' human bodies ^\-ill be changed into a spherical shape. 
 "6. That wicked men and devils will at length be dis- 
 " charged from their torments, and re-estabhshed in 
 " their original state." Each of these six errors, Jus- 
 tinian attempts to refute by authorities from the scrip- 
 tures, and from the fathers ; but he directs his labors 
 more particularly against the third, concerning Pre- 
 existence, and against the sixth, concerning the Resto- 
 ration. Then, addressing Mennas, he adds, " we 
 " therefore exhort you to assemble all the bishops and 
 " abbots of Constantinople, and oblige them to anathe- 
 " matize in writing the impious Origen AdamantiuSj 
 " together with his abominable doctrines, and especially 
 " the articles we have pointed out. Send copies of 
 " what shall be transacted, to all other bishops and 
 " to all superiors of monasteries, that they may follow 
 " the example; and for the future let there be no bishops, 
 " nor abbots ordained, who do not first condemn Origen, 
 " and all other heretics, according to custom. We have 
 " already WTitten thus to Pope Vigilius, and to the rest of 
 " the Patriarchs." After a collection of heretical extracts 
 from the books of Origen, the emperor subjoins nine ana- 
 themas : six, against the forementioned errors ; and three 
 against the following on the Incarnation. " 1, That the 
 " human soul of Jesus Christ existed long before it 
 25 
 
290 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 " was united to the Word ; 2, that his body was formed, 
 " in the Virgin, before its union either with the Word, 
 " or with his own soul ; and 3, that he will, hereafter, 
 " be crucified for the salvation of the devils." To 
 conclude, their is a tenth anathema against tlie person 
 of Origen and against those of his followers ™. 
 
 This sweeping decree, which aimed full against Uni- 
 versalism, went forth, of course, as a law of the realm ; 
 and Justinian's ambition to shine in the church conspired 
 with his natural jealousy as a sovereign, to see that his 
 orders were rigidly enforced. Accordingly, the bishops 
 then residing at Constantinople, were immediately as- 
 sembled in council, by the patriarch Mennas, to subscribe 
 the Edict ; and soon afterwards. Pope Vigilius at Rome, 
 Zoilus on the archie [)iscopal throne of Alexandria, 
 Ephraim at Antioch, and Peter at Jerusalem, obeyed 
 the mandate and followed the example. Even Domi- 
 tian of Ancyra and Theodorus of Cappadocia, though 
 favorites, were obliged to yield to the imperial command; 
 and rather than suffer expulsion, they affixed their 
 names to the anathemas which condemned some of theip 
 own sentiments ". 
 
 VII. In Palestine, however, there were 
 
 A. D. 540, some bold and determined enough to with- 
 
 to 546. stand the emperor's authority. Alexander, 
 
 bishop of Abyla°, who is known only by the 
 
 m See Du Pin's Biblioth. Pat. Vol. v. Art. Hist, of Fifth Gen. 
 Council, And Fleiiry's Eccl. Hist. Book xxxiii. chap, 4. I know 
 not where to look for an entire copy of this very important docu- 
 ment, Justinian's Edict to Mennas, except in Harduin's Concilia, 
 Tom. iii. p. 243; and this valuable collection is out of my reach. 
 
 n Fleury's Eccl, Hist. Book xxxiii. ch. 4. And Du Pin's Biblioth, 
 Patrum Vol, v. Art. Hist, of Fifth Gen. Council. o There were 
 
ix.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 291 
 
 part he bore in this affair, refused to subscribe the decree ; 
 and Nonnus, together with his party in general, remained 
 faithful to their cause, at the expense of exclusion from 
 tlie catholic communion, and of banishment from Nova 
 Laura. But their powerful patron, Theodorus of Cap- 
 padocia, soon heard of their treatment; and sending 
 for certain agents from the church of Jerusalem who 
 resided at Constantinople, he angrily threatened to 
 deprive their bishop, Peter, of his See, unless he should 
 give satisfaction to the outcasts, and restore them to 
 their former standing. At the same time he sent to 
 Nonnus and his adherents, advising them to propose to 
 tlieir bishop a sort of compromise, in which he should 
 only pronounce some indefinite form of words, annulling, 
 in general terms, all anathemas which were not agreeable 
 to the will of God. As the real and manifest intent, how- 
 ever, of this equivocal formality, was to imply a censure 
 of the emperor's late Edict, Peter at first refused ; but 
 fearing the dangerous influence of Theodorus at court, 
 he at length privately pronounced the sentence, re- 
 admitted the Origenists into their Laura, and finally 
 appointed two of their leading members his suffragans, 
 or bishops in immediate attendance on his person. 
 Emboldened by the success of this attempt, the parti- 
 zans of Nonnus did not hesitate openly to preach their 
 doctrine from house to house ; and it would have been 
 honorable to them had they proceeded no farther. But 
 remembering with resentment the indignities they had 
 
 several cities or villages, by the name of Abyla, or Abila, in the 
 northern part of Palestine (See Relandi Falsest Illust.5) and this was 
 probably one of them. 
 
292 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 suffered from the orthodox, they unhappily turned back 
 upon them the tide of contempt and abuse. Disputes 
 and violent altercations were quickly succeeded by 
 stripes, which fell, of course, on the catholic or weaker 
 party ; and it soon became unsafe for them to appear 
 abroad, especially in the city of Jerusalem. Finding 
 their numbers unequal to the quarrel, they procured a 
 reinforcement of a savage race of monks from the banks 
 of the Jordan. When these arrived at the Holy City, 
 and joined the orthodox host, an engagement ensued ; 
 but the Origenists succeeded at last in putting them 
 all to flight, and in driving them as far as the great 
 Laura of Sabas. Here, the vanquished retreated into 
 a fortified place, and their pursuers were, in their turn, 
 obliged to fly, after one of the most valorous of their 
 enemies had fallen, the only victim of the combat. 
 
 The pubhc had long been too familiar with scenes of 
 this shameful character, to regard them with that abhor- 
 rence they merited ; and it was probably the urgent 
 motive of self-preservation alone, which induced the 
 remnant of the orthodox, on the present exigency, to 
 seek the prevention of these disorders. Accordingly, 
 Gelssius, the Abbot of the great Laura, set out on a 
 journey to Constantinople, in order to lay the aflair 
 before Justinian. But Theodorus of Cappadocia, hav- 
 ing notice of his arrival, contrived to prevent all access 
 to the emperor, so that after several ineffectual attempts, 
 Gelasius was obliged to depart without accomplishing 
 his purpose. Returning towards Palestine, he died at 
 a small city in Phrygia ; and with him expired, for a 
 season, the hopes of the orthodox party in the Desert 
 
ix.] OF UNIVERSALISM, 293 
 
 of Judea. For when the monks of the great Laura 
 went to Jerusalem to ask the appointment of a new 
 Abbot, the suffragans of Peter, imitathig the cunning 
 of Theodorus, drove them away ; and immediately all 
 the monastic communities in that region, yielding to the 
 strong, popular current, were carried over, by flattery 
 or by fear, to the side of Origenism. Even the great 
 Laura itself submitted, soon afterwards, to an Abbot 
 appointed by the dominant party ; and the few ortho- 
 dox leaders in the place forsook their long venerated 
 cells, and sought other retreats. But the very day on 
 which the triumphant Origenists saw the feeble remnant 
 of their opposers retire, called them also to mourn the 
 
 sudden and unexpected death of Nonnus 
 A. D. 546. at Nova Laura. This loss was the more 
 
 severely felt, as Leontius, the other chief 
 of the party, had died, a year or two before, at Con- 
 stantinople. What was the real character of these two 
 individuals, and what their abilities, we have no satis- 
 factory means to ascertain. That they had considerable 
 influence among tlie monks, is fully evident ; and that 
 they were feared and hated by their opposers, is certain.. 
 Should we judge of them, however, by their cotempora- 
 ries, we could boast nehher of their intelligence, nor of 
 their peaceable and christian temper. IS onnus had the 
 satisfaction of leaving their cause, though proscribed bj 
 tlie government, in a very prosperous condition through- 
 out Palestine. At the great Laura of Sabas, however, 
 the orthodox regained an ascendancy, seven months 
 after his death, and appointed a new Abbot ; who was 
 succeeded, in less than a year, by Conon, another of 
 
 25* 
 
294 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 their most enterprizing leaders. The loss of this im- 
 portant place seemed, soon afterwards, more than made 
 up to the Origenists, by a fortunate acquisition on their 
 part : Peter, who had always opposed them, 
 A. D. 547. died about this time ; and by their influ- 
 ence, their friend, Macarius, was chosen 
 his successor in the bishopric of Jerusalem. But their 
 affairs remained, for five or six years, unstable and fluc- 
 tuating in the country. A sedition followed the elec- 
 tion of the new prelate ; and Justinian commanded 
 him to be expelled from his See. What was still more 
 injurious to their interests, the Origenists themselves 
 had abused their success and suffered prosperity to 
 cherish a factious spirit, which divided thera, on some 
 trivial question, into hostile parties ^\ 
 
 VJII. Meanwhile, an artful plot was con- 
 A. D. 546, trived and put in execution, at Constanti- 
 to 553. nople ; the pardculars of wdiich it is neces- 
 sary to relate, although they have no other 
 bearing on the doctrine of Universal Salvation, than as 
 they led eventually, to the assembling of the Fifth Gen- 
 eral Council. Theodorus of Cappadocia had not for- 
 gotten the malicious interference of Pelagius, in procur- 
 ing the late imperial Edict against Origen and his doc- 
 trines ; and he resolved to retaliate upon his enemy, 
 by taking advantage of some unsettled affairs in the old 
 Nestorian controversy. He happened to belong to a 
 party that hated the memory of the General Council of 
 Chalcedon, held in the middle of the last century ; 
 
 p Vit. Sabae cap. 86—90. Flcury's Eccl. Hist. Book x.wiii. ch. 20. 40. 
 
ix.] OF UiVlVERSALISM. 295 
 
 while the Roman Legate, on the contrary, zealously 
 supported its authority and cherished its reputation. To 
 impair its credit, and to vex its advocates, Theodorus 
 contrived to procure the condemnation of some of the 
 fathers whom it had approved. Among those of this 
 class, he found the name of Theodorus of Mopsuestia ; 
 and ignorant, probably, that he had been^ in his day, a 
 Universalist, and knowing only that he was celebrated 
 as an opposer of Origen, he thought that by anathema- 
 tizing him, he should accomplish, at once, two impor- 
 tant o!)jects : that of avengmg, in some degree, tlie late 
 indignities inflicted on the memory of his own master; 
 and that also of bringing disgrace on the obnoxious 
 council. 
 
 Accordingly, he cautiously suggested to his patron, 
 the emperor, that he might easily efl:ect a work in which 
 he was laboriously engaged, the reconciliation of a cer- 
 tain party in the church, merely by condemning Theo- 
 dorus of Mopsuestia, Theodoret of Cyrus, and Ibas of 
 Edessa, together with the writings they had left in favor 
 of Nestorianism. Justinian had not sufficient penetra- 
 tion to discover the subtlety of his adviser; and with 
 his characteristic officiousness assumed the authority of 
 pronouncing, for the whole church, upon one of the 
 most hazardous topics he could have selected. But it 
 was foreseen that when he had once promulgated his 
 decision, his theological vanity would be security against 
 all retraction, and his pride of power a guarantee of his 
 perseverance and final victory. Accordingly, Theodo- 
 rus felt already assured of success, when he received 
 a command to draw up an Edict in the Emperor's name, 
 
296 '^WE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap. 
 
 condemning the fathers in question, together with their 
 obnoxious writings ; which have since been known by 
 the title of the Three Chapters. This Edict was pub- 
 lished A. D. 546, in the forai of a Letter addressed to 
 the whole catholic church ; and all bishops were re- 
 quired to subscribe its anathemas. Most of them, ap^ 
 parently against their conscience, complied, after some 
 hesitation, and were liberally rewarded ; but such as 
 maintained their integrity and refused, were of course 
 banished. A violent and general contention followed, 
 for several years. Books w^ere wiitten on both sides. 
 The Roman Pontiff himself continually shuffled between 
 fear of the sovereign's vengeance, and regard for the 
 consistency of the ciiurch. The passions of men grew 
 inflamed, till all Christendom was so agitated that the 
 usual expedient became necessary in order to allay, or 
 rather to give vent to the fermentation i. 
 
 IX. On the fourth of May, A. D. 553, 
 A. D. 553. the Fifth General Council was therefore 
 opened at Constantinople, under the eye of 
 Justinian, by one hundred and fifty one bishops from 
 the Greek and African churches ; and it was continued, 
 with the accession of fourteen other bishops, till the se- 
 cond day of tlie following month. Every thing appears 
 to have been managed, as was expected, according to 
 the emperor's pleasure. The Three Chapters were con- 
 demned with extravagant expressions of zeal ; and the 
 person of Theodorus of Mopsuestia was anathematized, 
 not for his UniversaHsm, but for his alleged Nestorian- 
 
 q Fleury's Eccl. Hist. Book xxxiii. ch. 21 — 43* 
 
ix.] OF UNIVERSALISM. 297 
 
 ism. Thus far, the artful bishop of Cappadocia saw his 
 plan go into complete effect. But he could not stop 
 the ponderous machinery which he had put in motion ; 
 and he was destined to feel, before the close of its op- 
 erations, that his cunning had overreached itself. While 
 he was, in reality, the prime but covert manager, stead- 
 ily controling the results, by first suggesting to Justinian 
 the course to be pursued, and then dictating, in his 
 name, to the council, the subject of Origenism, entirely 
 foreign from the business of the session, was suddenly 
 brought before the obsequious conclave % in spite of all 
 his efforts to the contrary. The emperor's attention 
 had lately been directed to it by some incidents in 
 Palestine ; certain deputies from Jerusalem, with Co- 
 non, the Abbot of St. Sabas, at their head, urged its 
 immediate consideration ; and Justinian was by no 
 means backward to show^ his zeal and faithfulness in the 
 affair. He despatched a message to the assembled 
 bishops, exhorting them to examine the doctrine of " the 
 " impious Origen," and to condemn him and his follow- 
 ers, together vv^ith their tenets. x\s a form which they 
 
 r Here I follow Huet (Origenian. Lib. ii. cap. 4. Sect. iii. ^ t4 — 16,) 
 Fleury (Eccl. Hist. Book xxxiii. ch. 40. 51,) and ihe testimony of 
 antiquity, in preference to the authority of Du Pin (Biblioth. Put. Vol. 
 V. Art. Hist, of Fifth Gen. Council,) who contends, with some others, 
 that the affair of Origen, Didymus and Evagiius, was not examined 
 in this Council, but only in that which was called together, at Con- 
 stantinople, by JMennas, on re( eiving Justinian's Edict, in a. d. 540. 
 Without incurring the charge of pretending to decide this question, 
 I may say that the general voice of history is against Du Pin ; and 
 that whether he was correct or not, this is certain, that the condena- 
 nation of Origen, Didymus and Evagrius, having been almost inva- 
 riably attributed to the Fifth General Council, has been received in 
 the catholic church with the deference which is paid to the decisions 
 of such a body. 
 
298 THE ANCIExNT HISTORY [Chap: 
 
 might use in framing their decrees, he sent them, at 
 the same time, the long Edict which he had published, 
 thirteen or fourteen years before, with its catalogue of 
 heresies and of anadiemas. 
 
 On the receipt of these papers, the fathers of the 
 Council hastened to pay obedience to the request ; and 
 the following decree served at once to commend them 
 to their master, and to betray, to the eye of the histo- 
 rian, their servility to the imperial dictation. " Whoever 
 " says or thinks that the souls of mankind pre-existed as 
 " intellectual, holy natures, but that growing weary of 
 " divine contemplation they degenerated to their present 
 " character, and were sent into these bodies for the 
 " purpose of punishment, let him be anathema. Who- 
 " ever says or thinks that the human soul of Christ pre- 
 " existed, and became united to the Word before its in- 
 " carnation and nativity of the blessed Virgin, let him be 
 " anathema. Whoever says or thinks that the body of 
 " Christ was first formed in the womb of the holy Virgin, 
 " and that the Word and his pre-existent human soul 
 " were afterwards united with it, let him be anathema. 
 " Whoever says or thinks that the Divine Word is to 
 " become like the angelic and celestial powers, and thus 
 " be reduced to an equality with them, let him be anath- 
 " ema. Whoever says or thinks that in the resurrection 
 " human bodies are to be of a round, globular form, or 
 " whoever will not acknowledge that mankind are to 
 " rise in an erect posture, let him be anathema. Who- 
 " ever says that the sun, the moon, the stars, and the 
 " waters above the heavens, are certain animated or in- 
 " telligent powers, let him be anathema. Whoever says 
 
w.] OF UiMVERSALISM. 299 
 
 " or thinks that Christ is to be crucified in the future 
 " world for the demons, as he was, in this, for men, let 
 *' him be anathema. Whoever says or thinks that the 
 "power of God is limhed, and that it has created all 
 '' that it was able to embrace, let him be anathema. 
 " Whoever says or thinks that the torments of the de- 
 *' mons and of impious men are temporal, so that they will, 
 *' at length, come to an end, or whoever holds a restor- 
 " ation either of the demons or of the impious, let him 
 " be anathema. Anathema to Oiigen Adamantius, who 
 " taught these things among his detestable and accursed 
 " dogmas ; and to every one who believes these things, 
 " or asserts them, or who shall ever dare to defend them 
 " in any part, let there be anathema : In Christ Jesus 
 " our Lord, to whom be glory forever. Amen^" 
 
 In addition to these fulminating sentences, an act of 
 condemnation was passed upon those writings of Didy- 
 mus of Alexandria and of Evagrius Ponticus, which ad- 
 vocated Pre-existence and Universal Restoration ^ 
 
 X. The decree of a General Council 
 A. D. 553 was unalterable, and fixed the faith, at 
 and 554. least the creed, of the Catholic Church, 
 forever. It only remains that we mention 
 the effects of this decision, on the Origenists of Pales- 
 tine. When the condemnatory acts were sent to that 
 province, they were subscribed by all the prelates, ex- 
 cept Alexander of Abyla, who was accordingly expelled 
 from his bishopric. The. monks of Nova Laura also 
 refused obedience, and withdrew from the general com- 
 
 « Summa Conciliorum, Auctore M. L. Bail. Tom. 1. p, 235, 286 
 Edit, Paris. IG72. t Vit. Sabae cap. 90. 
 
300 THE ANCIENT HISTORY [Chap, 
 
 munion. The new Patriarch of Jerusalem, who had 
 been appointed to that See during the late council, en- 
 deavored to reclaim the dissenters ; but at the end of 
 eight months, finding all persuasion vain, he availed 
 himself of the emperor's authority, and by force drove 
 the Origenists out of the country ". 
 
 o Ditto. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 TO THE ANCIEiNT HISTORY OF UNIVERSALISM. 
 [From A. D. 554, to A.D. 1500.] 
 
 I. Having brought the history of Universalism down 
 to its complete and authoritative condemnation, we may, 
 with all propriety, close the regular and connected nar- 
 rative ; especially as we have followed it into the dim 
 twilight preceding the long age of darkness. But as 
 curiosity naturally looks onwards, with an enquiring eye, 
 through the gloomy succession of centuries from the 
 Fifth General Council to the Era of the Reformation, I 
 shall here annex such notices of the doctrine, during 
 that period, as have occurred to me. 
 
 In the first Lateran Council, convened 
 A. D. 649. at Rome, by Pope Martin I, in the year 649, 
 
 against those who asserted but one will in 
 Jesus Christ, the fathers repeated the anathema against 
 Origen, and his followers, Didymus and Evagrius. 
 
 The Sixth General Council, held at 
 A. D. 680. Constantinople in A. D. 680, recognized, 
 
 for some reason, the condemnation of Or- 
 igen, Didymus and Evagrius : either from a supicion 
 that the heresy was still cherished ; or else from a cas- 
 ualty in the form of expression. The principal business 
 of this Council, convened like the Lateran against the 
 
 26 
 
302 APPENDIX. 
 
 Monothelites, a sect so called fro.n some distinguishing 
 notions concerning the two natures of Christ, had not 
 the least connexion with the subject of Origenism. Yet 
 one of the declarations reads thus : " We agree with 
 " the holy and universal, or general. Councils in all 
 " things ; especially with the last of them, the Fifth, 
 " which was assembled in this city against Theodorus 
 " of Mopsuestia, Origen, Didymus and Evagrius." 
 
 The Seventh General Council also, 
 A. D. 787. which met, A. D. 787, at Nice in Bithyn- 
 ia, for the purpose of defending and es- 
 tablishing the use of images, relics, &:c. in churches, 
 has left on its records a sentence that may induce a 
 suspicion diat Universalism was not quite extinct : " we 
 " anatliematize the fables of Origen, Didymus and Eva- 
 " grius." 
 
 And the Eighth General Council, at 
 A. D. 869. Constantinople in A. D. 869, likewise di- 
 gressed from its pro[)er objects, in order to 
 pronounce an " anathema against Origen, who advanced 
 " many errors ; and against Evagrius and Didymus, 
 " who are caught in the same abyss of perdition '^." 
 This Council \Yas called together on the memorable 
 quarrel which resulted in the separation of the Greek 
 from the Latin church ; and therefore it had no natural 
 concern with the fathers here condemned. 
 
 The introduction of this foreign topic, in these suc- 
 cessive Synods, is at least a ciicumstantial evidence that 
 it was not altogether accidental; and that the obnoxi- 
 ous sentiments were thought to have some abettors, 
 probably in the eastern church. 
 
 This indication is confirjiied by a circumstance that 
 
 a For the sentences extracted from the Sixth, Seventh and Eighth 
 Councils, see Hist, de rOrigenismc, par Louis Doucin, pp. 3:J^1, 322. 
 For the notice of the Lateran Council, see Huetii Origenian. Lib. ii. 
 cap. 4. Sect. iii. 17, 
 
APPENDIX. 303 
 
 happens to have come to our knowledge. 
 A. D. 713, Germanus, archbishop of Constantmople in 
 to 730. the former part of the eigthth century, pub- 
 hshed a Dook, we are told, to confute " the 
 " heretical doctrine that the demons shall be restored to 
 " their pristine state, and that those who die in their 
 " sins, shall, after certain punishments, be gathered into 
 " the number of the blest. This impiety, so full of 
 " fables, he disproved, first, by the words of the Lord, 
 " then by the apostolic decrees ; to which he adds also 
 " the testimonies of the prophets, which show clearly 
 " that as the enjoyment of the blest is eternal and ineffa^ 
 " ble, so also the punishment of sinners will be endless 
 " and infinite. And not only by these testimonies did 
 " he confound the profane and poisonous error, but also 
 " by those of the holy fathers ; and particularly by the 
 " very writings of him [Gregory Nyssen] whom this 
 " heresy perfidiously claimed as its patron. By means 
 " of all these authorities, he freed the whole ecclesiasti- 
 " cal body from that scheme of fables so pernicious to the 
 " the soul." In part of his book, Germanus under- 
 took the impracticable task of showing that the ancient 
 father, Gregory Nyssen, was not an advocate of Uni- 
 versalism. The occasion of this bold attempt is said to 
 have been '' because that they who favored the notion 
 " that the demons and the damned might be delivered, 
 *' endeavored to mix the dark and pernicious poison of 
 " Origen's dreams with Gregory's luminous and sal'i- 
 " tary wTitings, and strove secretly to add an heretical 
 *' madness to the virtue and renowned orthodoxy of him 
 " whom they knew to be distinguished for doctrine and 
 " eloquence, and the bright reputation of whose sanctity 
 *' they knew was talked of by all." We are hkewise 
 told that " those books of Gregory which the heretics 
 '* craftily endeavored to bring to their aid, but which 
 " Germanus, the advocate of the truth, had preserved 
 
304 APPENDIX. 
 
 " uninjured from their attempts, were The Dialogue 
 " concerning the soul : The Catechetical Oration ; and 
 " the Book concerning a Perfect Lifey"^ 
 
 This account, taken from a writer of the ninth cen- 
 tury, who was one of the most renowned ecclesiastical 
 critics of all antiquity, shows that, about the time of 
 Germanus, the heresy of Universal Restoration made 
 some noise in the East. 
 
 11. In the western church there appeared, among 
 several other sectaries, a preacher who claims our no- 
 tice. Clement, a native of Ireland, seems to have been 
 regularly ordained a presbyter, or minister, in the Rom- 
 ish communion. But he at length discarded its super- 
 stitions, renounced its authority, and rejected the whole 
 mass of ecclesiastical canons, the decrees of the coun- 
 cils, and all the treatises and expositions of the fathers ; 
 reserving to himself, probably, as the guide of his faith, 
 the Bible alone, which was nov/ forbidden the people. 
 He taught that Christ, when he descended to Hell, re- 
 stored all the damned, even infidels and idolaters ; and 
 he differed, on what particulars we know not, from the 
 catholic doctrine concerning predestination. Several 
 independent congregations were gathered, under his 
 ministry, in part of France and Germany ; and such 
 was his progress as to awaken the attention of both the 
 civil and ecclesiastical powers. In a coun- 
 A. D. 744. cil of twenty three bishops, assembled A. 
 D. 744, at Soissons in France, by king 
 Pepin, Clement was deposed from the priesthood, con- 
 demned among other heretics, and imprisoned. Boni- 
 face, archbishop of Mentz, and legate of the Holy See, 
 presided, probably, in this council ; and he immediately 
 sent to the Pope an account of the affair. It was soon 
 
 * Photii Bibliothec. Cod- 233. See Note ( f ) to sect, xvii of the 
 vi. Chap, of tliis History. 
 
APPENDIX. 305 
 
 discovered that Clement had left disciples even among 
 the lower orders of the clergy ; and in a council of seven 
 bishops held, the following year, by pope Zachary, at 
 Rome, he was again deposed, and anathematized to- 
 gether with his followers, in case they should not re- 
 nounce their error. Two years afterwards the pope 
 advised Boniface to call a council in his neighborhood, 
 and ascertain whether Clement and certain other here- 
 tics would submit to the church ; and in case of their 
 obstinacy to send them to Rome. It does not appear, 
 however, that any thing further w^as done ; and it is 
 probable that Clement died in prison. Boniface re- 
 ported that he was guilty of adultery''; but as some 
 such accusation was the customary expedient of the 
 catholics on similar occasions, the story is unworthy of 
 notice. Mosheim says that " by the best and most au- 
 '^ thentic accounts, Clement Vv^as much better acquainted 
 *' with the true principles and doctrines of Christianity, 
 ** than Boniface himself; and hence he is considered by 
 '' many as a confessor and sufferer for the truth, in this 
 " barbarous age '^." Priestley also thinks " it is probable 
 *' that if his sentiments and conduct were fully known, 
 " he would be ranked with the most early reformers ^" 
 III. From about the year 850, for two centuries 
 onwards, both the Greek and the Roman or Latin 
 Church enjoyed, within their own respective commu- 
 nions, the golden age of profound ignorance and undis- 
 turbed orthodoxy. One of the most learned and im- 
 partial of the catholic historians says, '^ in this age of 
 " the church, there were no controversies concerning 
 
 b Fleury's Eccl. Hist. xlii. cb. 39, 50, 52, 53, 54, 58. The ortho- 
 dox enthusiast, Milner, applauds the soul-saving zoal of Boniface on 
 this occasion ; and commends the discipline inflicted upon Clement 
 and his associates. See his Hist, of the Church, Cent. viii. ch. 4. 
 
 c Mosheim's Eccl. Hist. Cent. viii. Ft. ii. ch. 5. § 2. 
 
 d Priestley's Hist, of the Church. Period xv, Sect. v. p. 181. 
 
 26* 
 
306 APPENDIX. 
 
 " articles of faith or doctrinal points of divinity, because 
 " there were no heretics, nor other inquisitive persons, 
 " who refined upon matters of rehgion, or undertook to 
 " dive to the bottom of its mysteries. The sober part 
 " contented themselves with yielding implicit faith to 
 " whatever the churchmen thought fit to dehver from 
 "the pulpit; and as for the profligate wretches, they 
 "abandoned themselves to gross sensualities for the 
 " gratification o.f their brutal appetites, rather than to 
 " the vices of the mind, to which' none but ingenious 
 " persons are liable. Therefore, in this age of darkness 
 " and ignorance, the Church, not being disturbed upon 
 " account of its doctrines, had nothing to do but to sup- 
 " press the enormities which abounded with regard to 
 " discipline and manners'^." Another catholic histori- 
 an, having repeated that no heretics arose in the ninth 
 and tenth centuries, exclaims, " A stupendous prodigy 
 "of divine providence in behalf of the Church ! Doubt- 
 " less, because she was agitated with other commotions 
 " during these two ages, God was pleased to grant her rest 
 " from the troubles of heresy*"." A protestant historian 
 shall describe to us the real character of this church, so 
 unmolested by error, at this period : " Both in the east- 
 " ern and western provinces, the clergy w^ere, for the 
 " most part, composed of a most worthless set of men, 
 " shamefully illiterate and stupid, ignorant more especi- 
 " ally in religious matters, equally enslaved to sensuahty 
 " and superstition, and capable of the most abominable 
 " and flagitious deeds. This dismal degeneracy of the 
 " sacred order was, according to the most credible 
 " accounts, principally owing to the pretended chiefs and 
 " rulers of the universal church, who indulged them- 
 " selves in th.e commission of the most odious crimes, 
 
 e Du Pin's Eccl. Hist. Vol. viii, ch. G. f Notitiae Eccl. per 
 
 Scdalitatem Academ. Bambergcn&em, Pars Tertia, Saeculum x. 
 
APPENDIX. 307 
 
 " and abandoned themselves to the lawless impulse of 
 " the most licentious passions, without reluctance or re- 
 " morse; who counibunded, in short, all difference be- 
 " tween just and unjust to satisfy their impious ambition ; 
 " and whose spiritual em])ire wTtS such" a diversified 
 " scene of iniquity and violence, as never was exhibited 
 " under any of those temporal tyrants, who have been 
 " the scourges of mankind '." " Both Greeks and Latins 
 " placed the essence and hfe of religion in the worship 
 " of images and departed saints ; in searching after with 
 '' zeal, and preserving with a devout care and venera- 
 " tion, the sacred relics of holy men and v.^omen ; and 
 '* in accumulating riches upon the priests and monks, 
 " whose opulence increased with the progress of super- 
 " stition. Scarcely did any christian dare to approach 
 " the throne of God, without first rendering the saints 
 *' and images propitious by a solemn round of expiatory 
 " rites and lustrations. The ardor also with which 
 " relics were sought, surpasses almost all credibility : it 
 " had seized all ranks and orders among the people, 
 " and was grown into a sort of fanaticism and phrenzy ; 
 *' and, if the monks are to be believed, the Supreme 
 " Being interposed, in an especial and extraordinary 
 " manner, to discover to doating old wives, and bare- 
 " headed friars, the places where the bones or carcasses 
 *• of the saints lay dispersed or interred ''." Such was 
 the age of midnight darkness. 
 
 IV. But though no new heresies, so called, arose at 
 this period within the two vast communities which arro- 
 gated to themselves the appellation of The Churchy. yet 
 one earlier and very powerful sect, that of the Pauli- 
 cians, still existed in the East, and under several names 
 w^as spread in the West. It is in this heterogeneous 
 body that modern historians ' have sought, wdth some 
 
 s Mosheim's Eccl. Hist. Cent. x. Ft. 2. ch. ii. 1. h Ditto, 
 
 ch. iii. J. i Mosheim (Eccl. Hist. Cent. x. Part 2. ch. v. 2. and 
 
308 APPENDIX. 
 
 appearance of success, for the embryo germ of the Re- 
 formation ; and it is among the same people that we may- 
 discover some vague elements of Universalism, confused 
 and doubtful indeed at first, but afterwards assuming a 
 more distinct character, and coming out into more de- 
 cided results. The Paulicians were, at once, descend- 
 ants and dissenters, from the Manicheans ; with whose 
 Gnosticism they were considerably tainted, while they 
 rejected the denomination whh the utmost abhorrence. 
 " Extraordinary as it may appear, the same general 
 " principles, from which were derived, in the very age 
 '^ of the Apostles, the earhest corruptions of the christian 
 " doctrine, were the means of bringing about the Refor- 
 " mation of Christianity ; and having effected this pur- 
 " pose, they are now become extinct'." 
 
 Of the rise, doctrine, and progress of this sect many 
 particulars are extremely uncertain ; but we may ven- 
 ture to follow, v.'ith some confidence, one of the most 
 clear sighted masters of history^, whose account has, 
 in the present affair, been commended both by the lib- 
 eral and the bigoted, by the Protestant and the Cath- 
 olic, notwithstanding his general hostility to revealed 
 
 Cent. xi. Part 2. ch. v. compared with Cent. xii. Part 2. ch. v, &c.) has 
 traced tlie Puiilicians down into the Albanenscs, Albigenscs, Cathari 
 &c. &c. Cihbon (Decline and Fall &c. ch. liv.) has foHowed the 
 same line of descent, and connected them witli the Reformation ; 
 and so has Priestley (Hist, of the church. Period xviii. Sect. vii. p. 
 102 — 104, &c.) Milner doubts their relation to the forerunners of 
 the Reformation, because he is not convinced of their dispersion 
 through Europe (Hist, of the Churc!), Cent. ix. ch. 2;) but he is con- 
 fident tli;it they were very ^ood saints. Catholic historians agres 
 fully witi) Gibbon, as it regards their connexion with the Reformers. 
 
 J Priestley's Hi;t. of the Church, Period xviii. Sect. vii. pp. 103,104. 
 
 k Gibbon's Decline and Fall &c. ch. liv. Milner says " the candor 
 '•of Gibbon is remarkable in this part of his history. O, si sic om- 
 •* nia!" and tlie learned Cliarles Butler (Book of the Roman Catho- 
 lic Church, Note at the end of Letter xii.) thinks this the most inter- 
 esting chapter of his work. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 509 
 
 religion. About the year 660, we first 
 A. D. 660. discover this people, in considerable num- 
 bers, spreading quietly from the neighbor- 
 hood of Samosata, in the upper region of the Euphra- 
 tes, northeastwardly through Armenia, and northwardly 
 through Cappadocia and Pontus. Descended from the 
 Gnostics, who had never been affected with the gradu- 
 al corruptions of the Cathohcs, they abhorred the use of 
 images, of relics, pompous ceremonies, and ecclesiastical 
 domination ; and they dispensed with even the rites of 
 water baptism and tlie Lord's supper. Their preachers 
 were distinguished by no title from their brethren ; and 
 no superiority was allovv^ed, except what arose from 
 the austerity of their lives, their zeal or their knowledge. 
 The jManichean books they rejected, and likewise the 
 Jewish, as they called the Old Testament ; but the New 
 Testament, which in the- orthodox church had almost 
 disappeared from the laity, they received as the ines- 
 timable and only volume of sacred scripture, and en- 
 joined its diligent perusal on all the people. It is pro- 
 bable, however, that they disowned the two Epistles of 
 St. Peter, and the Revelation of St. John ; and it is 
 certain that their favorite books were the writings of 
 St. Paul : from whom they, perhaps, took their name 
 of Paulicians. Still, they held the Manichean notion 
 of two Original Principles, the Good and the Bad ; and 
 tliey looked forward to the triumph of the former 
 over his rival, either by the entire abolition ', or partial 
 conquest of death, sin and misery. The body with 
 which Christ was seen upon earth, together with his 
 crucifixion, they supposed to have been apparent only; 
 
 1 I have ventured, without any express authority, to attribute 
 to them a difference of opinion among themselves, on this point; 
 because such seems to have been the case with their predecessors, 
 the jManicheaiis and other GnosticS; and also with their descendants, 
 the Albigenses &c. 
 
310 APPENDIX. 
 
 and of course it is probable tbat they denied his real 
 resurrection, and that of mankind. 
 
 V. Their Oriental notions might, with 
 A. D. 670, all propriety, be disliked by the church, 
 to 845. But the plain simplicity of their institutions, 
 their total disrespect of images and relics, 
 tlieir contempt of all those artifices by which the craft 
 got their living, kindled against them the most implaca- 
 ble hatred ; and the orthodox emperors of the East 
 resolved on their complete extermination. For an 
 hundred and fifty years they sustained a bloody perse- 
 cution, with a patience and inoffensive meekness that 
 converted some even of their executioners. But all 
 human endurance may at length be overcome ; and 
 when that sanguinary zealot, the empress Theodora, 
 succeeded to the regency of the East, during her son's 
 minority, she drove them beyond the bounds of forbear- 
 ance. In those parts of Asia Minor where they abound- 
 ed, and in Armenia, she confiscated their goods, and 
 put to death by the sword, the gibbet and the flames, 
 more than a hundred thousand of their number, making 
 them expire slowly by a variety of the most excruciating 
 torments. Such as escaped the horrible 
 A. D. 845, massacre, fled immediately for refuge to 
 to 880. the Saracens, accepted with gratitude per- 
 mission to build a city on the frontiers of 
 Armenia, and entered into an alliance with their Ma- 
 hometan protectors. They soon gathered an army, and 
 marched back to avenge on the Greeks the sufferings 
 of their martyred brethren. The war was carried on 
 with alternate advantage, about forty years ; but to- 
 wards the close of the century, the power of the Pauli- 
 cians was effectually broken, and tliey were obliged to 
 seek security in the fastnesses of the Armenian moun- 
 tains. 
 
APPENDIX. 312 
 
 But they had akeady obtained a permanent footing 
 in Europe. As long ago as the middle of the preceding 
 century, and in the midst of those persecutions they so 
 patiently endured, a colony of them was transported, 
 by one of the Greek emperors, from Asia to Thrace, 
 westward of Constantinople. With a zeal which no 
 sufferings could repress, they labored successfully to 
 diffuse their doctrine among their northern neighbors, 
 the Bulgarians, in the lower region of the Danube. 
 After sustaining many hardships and cruelties for more 
 
 than two hundred years, they were, at 
 
 A. D. 970, length, reinforced by another and very 
 
 to 1100. numerous colony from Armenia ; and they 
 
 were also privileged with a full toleration 
 of their faith. In course of time they occupied a line 
 of villages and castles from Thrace westwardly through 
 Macedonia and Epirus ; and by the various chances of 
 trade, of emigration and of persecution, they became 
 scattered in small numbers, over all Europe. Their 
 Manichean or oriental principles w^ould have been, per- 
 haps, a fatal preventive to the reception of their faith 
 among the people of the West, had it not been counter- 
 acted by the simphcity of their religious institutions. A 
 strong though secret discontent had been generally pro- 
 voked by the avarice, the despotism, the mumm.ery and 
 the dissoluteness of the church of Rome ; and when 
 tlie oppressed and neglected populace beheld a sect of 
 professed chrisuans blameless in their hves, humble in. 
 tlieir deraeanoi", and disclaiming all tyrany over the con- 
 sciences of men, the spectacle was, to many, so attrac- 
 tive, that they became partial converts to the new 
 system, and adopted even their doctrines, though with 
 various modifications. From this amalgamadon arose 
 all those sects of the eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, and 
 fourteenth centuries, which the Catholic writers denom- 
 inate Manicheans, but which are known to Protestants 
 
312 APPENDIX. 
 
 under the name of Albanenses, Albigenses, Cathari, 
 and, perhaps, Waldenses. This mongrel race, it is well 
 known, spread through Italy, France and Germany ; 
 and for a long period suffered from the Ciiurch all the 
 cruelty that cunning could devise and power inflict. 
 'It was about the year 1150 that several part^ of the 
 ' continent had become pervaded by men, chiefly of 
 ' the poorer and laborious classes of life, who were 
 ' forming themselves into religious communities, distinct 
 ' from the established Catholic church, and who had 
 
 • the scriptures with them in their vernacular languages, 
 ' and were intently and critically comparing the tenets, 
 ' system, and conduct of the papal clergy, with the pre- 
 ' cepts and instructions of the Evangelists and Apostles. 
 ' They were universally difliised. In France they were 
 
 * called Weavers, Poor of Lyons, Waldenses, and Albi- 
 ' genses; in Flanders, Piphles ; and in Germany, Catha- 
 ' ri. They were at Bonn, and in the diocese of Cologne; 
 ' they abounded near the Alps and Pyrenees ; they 
 ' were greatly diffused through Provence and in Tho- 
 ' louse ; they existed in Spain ; and had spread 
 ' through Lombardy to Padua and Florence, and some 
 ' had even entered Naples. They were distinguished 
 ' for their missionary spirit, and the caution with which 
 ' they pursued it.""" 
 
 With various opinions as to the Manichean doctrine 
 of two Original Principles, they were nevertheless unit- 
 ed in denouncing, as antichristian, the authority, the 
 ceremonies, and the whole hierachy, of the Romish 
 communion. It is probable that many of them held, in 
 some form, the doctrine of the salvation of all souls ; 
 for of this they are accused by the Catholic writers, 
 
 * History of England, by Slinron Turner, Vol. ii. pp. 331 382. Lend. 
 ]815. N. B. This learned aisd piiilosophical Historian follows Gib- 
 bon, in deducing the above named sects from the Paulicians. 
 
APPENDIX. 313 
 
 who also assert that they denied a future judgment and 
 future punishment™. 
 
 VI. We find a solitary trace of Univer- 
 D. 1190. salism, at this time, among the monks oi 
 France. At the city of Nevers, which 
 stands on the river Loire, about a hundred and forty 
 miles south of Paris, one Rainold presided as abbot 
 over the monastery of St. Martin; and he was accused 
 in a council, held this year, at Sens, of maintaining two 
 errors : 1 , That the bread of the sacrament was corrup- 
 tible, and that it was digested, like other bread ; and 2, 
 that all men will eventually be saved, as Origen had 
 taught ^ . What was the result of the complaint 1 know 
 not. 
 
 VII. It is, perhaps, impossible to deter- 
 A. D. 1200, mine whether we ought to rank Amalric, 
 to 1210. or Amauri, an eminent professor of logic 
 and theology at Paris, among the Univer- 
 salists. Like the celebrated Wickliffe « , he was charg- 
 ed with holding the pantheistical tenet that the Universe 
 is God ; but it is certain that the whole tenor of the 
 doctrine attributed to him, opposes that proposition, at 
 least in its exceptionable sense. " According to Fleury, 
 " he held diat, in order to be saved, every person must 
 " believe that he is a member of Jesus Christ ; but that 
 " the pope condemning this opinion, he retracted it be- 
 " fore his death. Fleury also ascribes to the followers 
 " of Amauri an opinion which is said to have taken its 
 " rise from a book by Joachim, entitled The Everlasting 
 *' Gospel, viz. that Jesus Christ abolished the old law, 
 " and that in his time commenced the dispensation of 
 " the holy spirit, in which confession, baptism, the 
 
 tn See Gabrielis Prateoli Marcossii Vita Hgereticornm, Art. Alban- 
 enses, Albi^enses, &c. And Berti Breviarium Hist Eccl. Cent. viii. 
 — xii. cap. 3. And Notitiae Eccl. Pars Terlia, per Sodalet. Academ. 
 Bambergensem, tfcc. " Priestley's Hist, of the Christian Church, 
 
 Period xviii. Sect. ix. p. 136, 137. ° Lenfant's Hist, of the Coun- 
 
 cil of Constance, Book iii. eh. 42; Art, 28, vol. i, p. 419. 
 
 37 
 
314 APPENDIX 
 
 " eucharist, and other sacraments, would have no place ; 
 " but that persons might be saved by the interior grace 
 " of the Holy Spirit, without any external acts. He 
 " moreover says that Amauri denied the resurrection, 
 " said that heaven and hell were in men's own breasts, 
 " that the pope was Antichrist, and Rome Babylon p." 
 I shall now set down, in their own words, the catalogue 
 which other Catholic writers have made of his errors : 
 " 1, Amalric said that the body of Christ was notother- 
 " wise present in the bread of the sacrament, than as it 
 " is in other bread, and in every thing else ; so that he 
 " denied transubstantiation. 2, He said God had spok- 
 " en by Ovid, as much as by Augustine. 3, He denied 
 " the resurrection of the body, and likewise heaven and 
 "hell; saying that whoever enjoyed the knowledge of 
 " God in himself, enjoyed also heaven in himself, and 
 " that on the contrary whoever committed deadly sin, 
 " experienced hell in himself. 4, He asserted that to 
 " dedicate altars to the saints, to burn incense to ima- 
 " ges, and to invoke the saints, was Idolatry. 5, He 
 " affirmed, not only with the Armeni, that Adam and 
 " Eve would never have cohabited, had they continued 
 " in their first state, but also that there would have 
 " been no difference of sex, and that the multipHcation 
 " of mankind would have been like that of the angels ; 
 " thus contradicting what is written in Genesis ; God 
 " created man in his own image ; in Ms image created 
 " he him, male and female. 6, He asserted that 
 " God is not to be seen in himself, but in his creatures, 
 " as the light is seen in the air. 7. He said that 
 " what would otherwise be mortal sin, would, if done 
 " in charity, be no sin : thus promising impunity to 
 " sinners. 8, He affirmed that those ideas which are 
 
 p Priestley's Hist, of the Christ. Church, Period xix. Sect. xi. pp. 
 296-299. 
 
APPENDIX. 315 
 
 " in the divine mind, are both capable of being created, 
 " and actually are created ; when Augustine on the 
 " contrary has declared, that there is nothing in the 
 " divine mind, but what is eternal and incommunicable. 
 -'^ 9, He fancied that the soul of the contemplative, or 
 " happy saint would lose itself, as to its own nature, 
 " and return into that ideal existence which it had in 
 "the divine mind. 10, He taught that all creatures, 
 " in the end, would return into God, and be converted 
 " into him ; so that they will be one, individually, with 
 " him •^." As this account is given by his enemies, we 
 must make an allowance in his favor; and it is not an 
 unreasonable conclusion that he only opposed the cor- 
 ruptions and errors of the Church, that he adopted 
 some mystic notions which then prevailed concerning 
 spiritual union with Deity, and that he believed that 
 finally God would become " all in all." With regard 
 to the resurrection, he may have made, like the cele- 
 brated Locke, some distinctions which gave his adver- 
 saries occasion to charge him with denying it. 
 
 Some of the opinions of Amalric, or Amauri, as he 
 is generally called, were condemned by the University 
 of Paris, and hkewise by pope Innocent III. and just 
 before his death, the author was compelled to retract 
 them. But he left disciples; and in A. D. 1209, a 
 council was called at Paris, in which ten priests or stu- 
 dents of divinity were condemned to the flames, and 
 four to perpetual imprisonment. At the same time, the 
 name of Amauri, who had died in peace, was anathema- 
 tized, and his bones were dug up and thrown upon a 
 dunghill. 
 
 VIII. I present to the reader the follow- 
 
 A. D. 1230, ing account entire, as it stands in a Cath- 
 
 to 1234. olic historian. I add no remarks, because 
 
 every reflecting person will discover much 
 
 q Summa Conciliorum, per M. L. Bail, Torn. i. p. 432. 
 
316 APPENDIX: 
 
 incongruity between the different parts of the statement ; 
 and every one who is at all acquainted either with 
 the habitual language of the old Romish authors con- 
 cerning heretics, or with the odious representations 
 that are even now given, in our own country, con- 
 cerning Universalists, will readily understand the pres- 
 ent case. " Among all the sects which started up, 
 " during the thirteenth century, there was none more de- 
 " testable than that of the Stadings, which showed itself 
 " by the outrages and cruelties which it exercised, in 
 " Germany, A. D. 1230, against the catholics, and 
 " especially against the church-men. Those impious 
 " persons honored Lucifer, and inveighed against God 
 " himself, beheving that he had unjustly condemned 
 " that angel to darkness, that one day he would be re- 
 " established, and that they should be saved with him. 
 " Whereupon they taught, that until that time, it was 
 " not requisite to do any thing which was pleasing to 
 " God, but quite the contrary. They were persuaded 
 " that the Devil appeared in their assemblies. They 
 " therein committed infamous things, and uttered strange 
 " blasphemies. It is said, that after they had received 
 " the eucharist, at Easter, from the hands of the [cath- 
 " ohc] priest, they kept it in their mouths without swal- 
 " lowing it, in order to throw it away. Those heretics 
 " spread themselves in the bishopric of Breme, and in 
 " the frontiers of Friezland and Saxony ; and getting to 
 " a head, they massacred the ecclesiastics and monks, 
 " pillaged the churches, and committed a world of dis- 
 " orders. Pope Gregory IX. excited the bishops and 
 " lords of those countries to make war against them, in 
 " order to extirpate that wicked race. The archbishop 
 " of Breme, the duke of Brabant and the count of Hol- 
 " land, having raised forces, marched, in the year 1234, 
 " to engage them. They made a vigorous defence, 
 "but were at last defeated and cut to pieces. Six 
 
APPENDIX, 317 
 
 " thousand were killed upon the spot ; the rest perished 
 " in several ways, and they were all routed ; so that 
 *' there were but few left, who were converted and re- 
 " turned to their obedience the next year^" 
 
 IX. " The sect of the Lollards spread 
 A. D, 1315, " through Gernaany, and had ior their lead- 
 Sic. — " er, Walter Lollard, who began to disperse 
 
 "his errors about the year 1315. They 
 " despised the sacraments of the [cadiolic] church, 
 " and derided her ceremonies and her constitutions, 
 " observed not the fasts of the church, nor its abstinen- 
 " ces, acknowledged not the intercession of the [de- 
 " ceased] saints, and believed that the damned in hell, 
 " and the evil angels, should one day be saved. Trith- 
 " emius, who recites the errors of these sectaries, says 
 " that Bohemia and Austria were infected with them ; 
 *' that there were above twenty four thousand persons in 
 " Germany who held these errors ; and that the greater 
 " part defended them with obstinacy, even unto deaths" 
 
 X. In England, Langham, Archbishop 
 A. D. 1368. of Canterbury, convened a council in A. D. 
 
 1368, and with the advice of his divines, 
 gave judgment against thirty propositions which were 
 taught in his province. Among them " the following 
 opinions were condemned: 1. Every man ought to 
 ^' have the free choice of turning to God, or from him ; 
 " and according to this choice he will be saved or 
 " damned. 2. Baptism is not necessary to the sal- 
 " vation of infants. 3. No person will be damned for 
 " original sin only. 4. Grace, as it is commonly ex- 
 " plained, is an illusion ; and eternal hfe may be ac- 
 " quired by the force of nature. 5. Nothing can be 
 *-bad merely because it is forbidden. 6. The fruh 
 
 r Du Pin's Eccl. Hist. Vol, xi. ch. ix. p. 153. s Du Pin's 
 
 Eccl. Hist. Vol. xii. ch. viii. p, 113. 
 
 27* 
 
318 APPENDIX. 
 
 "that Adam was forbidden to eat, was forbidden be- 
 " cause it was in itself bad. 7. Man is necessarily 
 " mortal, Jesus Christ included, as well as other animals. 
 " 8. All the damned, even the demons, may be restored 
 ''^and become happy. 9. God cannot make a reason- 
 " able creature impeccable, or free from a liability to sin. 
 " It was an honor to the age and to the country," says 
 Priestley, " to produce such sentiments as these ; but it 
 " was but a sudden blaze in the midst of much thick 
 " darkness, and, as far as appears, was soon extin- 
 " guished t ." 
 
 XI. "In the year 1411, a sect was dis-. 
 A. D. 1400, " covered in Flanders, and more especially 
 to 1412. " at Brussels, which owed its origin to an 
 " illiterate man, whose name was jEgidius 
 "Cantor, and to WilHam of Hildenissen, a Carmelite 
 " monk, and whose members were distinguished by the 
 " title of Men of Understanding. There were many 
 " things" says Mosheim, " reprehensible in the doctrine 
 " of this sect, which seemed to be chiefly derived from 
 " the theology of the Mystics. For they pretended to 
 " be honored with celestial visions, denied that any 
 " could arrive at a perfect knowledge of the holy scrip- 
 " tures, without the extraordinary succors of a divine 
 " illumination ; declared the approach of a new revela- 
 " tion from heaven, more complete and perfect than 
 " the gospel of Christ ; maintained that the resurrection 
 " was already accomplished in the person of Jesus, and 
 " that no other resurrection was to be expected ; af- 
 " firmed that the inward man was not defiled by the 
 " outward actions, whatever they were ; that the pains of 
 " hell were to have an end, and that, not only all man- 
 " kind, but even the devils themselves, were to return 
 
 t Priestley's Hist, of the Christian Church, Period xx. Sect, xii. 
 pp. 498. 499. See also Du Pin's Eccl. Hist. Vol. xii. ch. viii. p, 115. 
 
APPENDIX. 319 
 
 "to God, and be made partakers of eternal fellclt);. 
 " This sect seems to have been a branch of that of The 
 " Brethren and Sisters of the Free Spirit ; since they 
 " declared that a new dispensation of grace and spiritual 
 " liberty was to be promulgated to mortals by the Holy 
 " Ghost. It must, however, be acknowledged, on the 
 " other hand, that their absurdities were mingled with 
 " several opinions which showed that they were not 
 " totally void of understanding ; for they maintained, 
 " among other things, 1. that Christ alone had merited 
 *• eternal life and felicity for the human race, and that 
 " therefore, men could not acquire this inestimable 
 " privilege by their own actions alone ; 2. that the 
 ** priests, to whom the people confessed their transgres- 
 " sions, had not the power of absolving them, but that 
 " it was Christ alone in whom this authority was vested ; 
 " and 3. that voluntary penance and mortification v/ere 
 " not necessary to salvation. These propositions how- 
 " ever, and some others, were declared heretical by 
 *' Peter D'Ailly, bishop of Cambray, who obliged Wil- 
 " ham of Hildenissen to abjure them, and who opposed 
 " with the greatest vehemence and success the progress 
 " of this sect "". Such is Mosheim's account, which is 
 the most particular I have seen. 
 
 XII. John Picus, earl of Mirandola and 
 A. D. 1480, Concordia, a distinguished scholar in Italy, 
 to 1494. alarmed the church, about this period, by 
 advancing some opinions which properly 
 come under our notice. From infancy he had evinced 
 a remarkable quickness of mind and a prodigious mem- 
 ory. At the age of fourteen, he studied law at Eologne ; 
 and afterwards spent seven years in vishing the most 
 famous Universities of France and Italy, and in convers- 
 ing with the learned of those countries. He then went 
 
 u Mosheim's Eccl, Hist. Cent, xv- Part ii. ch. v. 4. 
 
320 APPENDIX. 
 
 to Rome ; and in A. D. 1486, when he was only 
 twenty one years old, he published, in this city, nine hun- 
 dred propositions upon various subjects in the several 
 branches of theology, magic, the cabahstic art, and phi- 
 losophy, and engaged to maintain them in public dispu- 
 tation, according to a custom of those times. These 
 propositions were, for the most part, either of a meta- 
 physical kind, or of a character merely verbal ; but 
 among them were the following, of a more important 
 nature : " Jesus Christ did not descend into hell in per- 
 " son, but only in effect : Infinite pain is not due even 
 " to mortal sin ; because shi is finite, and therefore 
 " merits but finite punishment ; Neither crosses nor 
 " images ought to be adored ; There is more reason to 
 "beheve that Origen was saved, than that he was 
 " damned &:c." But instead of a controversy which 
 he had challenged, he soon found that other means 
 were likely to be employed in refuting him. His ene- 
 mies sounded the alarm of heresy ; the Pope appointed 
 commissioners to examine his publications ; and, to his 
 dismay, they at length brought in a judgment censuring 
 the foregoing propositions, together with nine others, 
 some of which seemed to disagree with the doctrine of 
 transubstantiation. Upon this, Picus wrote an Apology, 
 and by means of metaphysical subtleties, explained away 
 the heretical character of the obnoxious propositions, 
 and humbly submitted himself to the Holy See. As to 
 his former statement concerning the demerit of sin, he 
 now endeavored to reconcile it with the doctrine of 
 endless misery. After all, the Pope forbade the reading 
 of his books ; and sometime afterwards, when Picus had 
 retired from Rome, he cited him to appear before the 
 dread tribunal of the Chuich. But while this was yet 
 pending, he obtained an absolution from the Pontiff, in 
 the year 1493. After this he devoted himself wholly 
 to the study of the scriptures and to controversial writ- 
 
APPENDIX. 321 
 
 ings, resigned his earldom, and distributed all his goods 
 among the poor. He died at Florence, A. D. 1494, 
 aged only twenty nine years v 
 
 XIII. In the year 1498, a Spanish pre- 
 A. D. 1490, late by the name of Peter D'Aranda, was 
 to 1498. degraded and condemned to perpetual 
 imprisonment in the castle of St. Angelo 
 at Rome, on being convicted, it is said, of Judaism. 
 He was bishop of Calahorra in Old Castile, near the 
 river Ebro ; and he held the office of Master of the 
 Sacred Palace. He is said to have taught that the Jew- 
 ish religion acknowledged but one principle, while the 
 christian recognized three : alluding probably to the 
 doctrine of the Trinity. " In his prayers he said Glory 
 " to the Father, without adding, to the Son, or to the 
 " Holy Ghost. He said that indulgences were of no 
 " avail, but were invented for the profit that was drawn 
 " from them ; that there was neither purgatory nor hell, 
 ^^ but only paradise. He observed no fasts, and said 
 " mass after dinner. From his saying mass, or receiving 
 " the Lord's supper, it is evident he was not a Jew, 
 " but probably a Unitarian Christian '''." 
 
 V Dn Pin's Eccl. Hist, vol. xiii. ch. 4, p. 95, 96. 
 w Priesiley's Hist, of the Christian Church, Period xxi. Sect. vii. 
 p. 86. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 X O complete the work begun in this volume, there 
 will be put to press, in the course of a few months, 
 
 *' The Modern History of Universalism : from the 
 Era of the Reformation, to the Present Time. By Thomas 
 Whittemore, Pastor of the First Universalist Church and 
 Society in Cambridge." In 1 vol. to match with this. 
 
 Both volumes, the Ancient and the Modern, will pre- 
 sent a continued History of Universalism, from the time 
 of the Apostles, to the present day. 
 
INDEX 
 
 TO THE PRINCIPAL NOTES. 
 
 Acts of Paul and Thecla, a double forgery - - Pag'e 27 
 
 AmpuUianus said to have been a Universal st heretic of Bithynia 131, 1S2 
 Anicetus and Polycarp disagree about the time for holding Easter 51 
 Apology for Origen, hy an anonymous author ... 268 
 
 Athanasius di i 7iot censu.'e Crigen"s Uni\ ersalism; nor his notion 
 
 of the fdU of souls ._.... 165 
 
 Atheists, primitive christians so called by the hesCthens - 24 
 
 Augustine adopted and retained the Manichein notion of the 
 
 servitude of the will ------ 143, 144 
 
 Augustine's arguments against Universalism; and justification 
 
 of endless torment - ... 253,254 
 
 Augustine and Calvin, difference batweea their doctrines 260, 261 
 
 Barnabas's Epistle, its date ascertained - - - -34,35 
 
 Basil the Great, or Eustathius of Sebastea, an ad\ ocate for end- 
 less misery . . _ . . . . 172 
 Bostra, situation of ...... 169 
 
 Calvin and Augustine, difference between their c'octrines - 260, 261 
 Carpocratians charged, perhaps fal^sely, with holding a commu- 
 nity of women ...... 4^ 
 
 Cave's and Huet's mistakes in saying- that AthcUiasius censured Origen 165 
 Ceillier's dising-enuous evasion about Titus of Rostra's Universalism 170 
 Clemens Alexandriuus accused, by Daille and archbishop Potter, 
 
 of Universalism ------ 69 
 
 '' " on the preaching- of the g-ospel to the ante- 
 
 diluvians among the dead ----- 73 
 
 " " his application of the word everlasting to death 74 
 
 " '* catalogue of his works extant - 77, 78 
 
 Clemens Romanus's second Epistle, a forgery . - - 27 
 
 Converts of other religious generally retain some of their former notions 260 
 
 Daille and archbishop Potter accuse Clemens Alexandrinus of 
 
 Universalism --.--..69 
 
 Demetrius's motives in persecuting Origen - - - 94 
 
 Domitian of Ancyra's book, complaining of the enemies of Uni- 
 versalism .-.--- 283,284 
 
 Doucin's Hibtorie de TOrigenisme . . - - 147 
 
324 INDEX 
 
 Epiphanius, date cf part of his work against heretics - - 178 
 
 Eunomius falsely accused, by some, of denying the reahty of fu- 
 ture punishment .--■-- 206, 207 
 
 Eusebius Pamphilus and Pamphilus accused of Universalism, by 
 
 Jerome and an anonymous author . . . . 158 
 
 Eustathius of Sebastea, or Basil the Great, a believer in endless misery 172 
 
 Fifth General Council, whether it debated and determined the 
 
 affair of Origenism ------ 297 
 
 Germanus of Constantinople c-t'-- p's to clear Gregory Nyssen 
 
 from the imputation of Universalism - - - 186,187 
 
 Gnostics, modern authorities for their history - - - 39 
 
 " some of them perhai s held two original self-existent Beings 40 
 " charged, perhaps falsely, with licentiousness ; op n.ons cf 
 
 modem historians on this point - - - - 41^ 42 
 
 Gregory Nyssen, catalogue cf the works in which he asserts Universalism 190 
 
 Gregory Thauiuciiui g is, his fabulous biography' by Gregory Nyssen 130 
 '' " pieces falsely attributen to him - 130,131 
 
 " " is said to have erred with Origen - 131 
 
 Hermas's Shepherd, its author and date - - - 37^ 38 
 
 Hermias's work against the philosophers, its uncertain date - 52 
 
 Huetii Origeniana, and other histories of Origenism - - 147 
 
 Huet's and Cave's mistake in Sciviiig that Athanasius censured Origen 165 
 Huet and Du Pin say that Jerome hecatily adcpiea Origen's doctrine 199 
 
 Ignatius's route from Antioch to Rome - - - - 30 
 
 " Epistles much altered 5 which copy is preferred - 30 
 
 Jerome's qnarrol wth tie Origenists cf Rome and Egypt before 
 
 he denounced Origen - . . . . 175 
 
 " works advocating Universalism. His denial of the doctrine 199 
 
 " insult of Vigilantius ----- 226 
 
 *' catalogue of Origen's errors in his Epist. ad Avitum 246 
 
 '' intimation of Universalism, after his quarrel with Rufinus 247, 248 
 
 John St. dates of h.s 1 1 i th'.^ , Go^jv 1 and Revelation - - 29 
 
 Laura of Succa, its situation ----- 280 
 
 Leontius and Nonnus, evidence that they were Universalists - 281 
 
 Licentiousness alleged against the ancient Gnostics, doubtful 41, 42 
 
 Manicheans, their notion of the servitude of the will nearly the 
 
 same with Augustine's - - . . . 143^ 144 
 
TO THE NOTES. 325 
 
 Manichcans, authorities for their history .... 145 
 
 Mai-cionit:3S held perhaps two original, self-existent Beings - 40 
 
 Miluer's (Rev. Joseph) commendation of Cyprian's inhumanity - 135 
 
 '' " " of the persecution of Clement by Boniface 305 
 
 Neocesarea, or Tsiksar, modern description of - - - 129 
 
 iNitria, its situation ...--- 176 
 
 Nonnus and Lepntlus, evidence that they were Universalists - 281 
 Novatus, or Novatian, his liberal views of the divine character. 
 
 His Life and Followers ----- 132 
 
 Origcn, his character as a philosopher - - - - 85 
 
 " his argument against the Gnostics, for the benevolent 
 
 nature of Justice ...... 97 
 
 '' his belief in the fall of souls hereafter, from heaven ; but 
 
 also in the ultimate permanency and universality of happiness 99 
 " his sacrificing to idols, and composing a Lamentation 
 
 thereon, a falsehood ..... 102 
 
 '' his Hexapla, Tetrapla, Octapla - ... 105 
 " his Letter to Fabian on his orthodoxy, and Iiis denial of 
 
 the salvation of the devil - - 107,108 
 
 •' number of volumes he published, and the remains of them 110 
 '' table of references to those passages in wliich he teaches 
 Universalism ...... 111,112 
 
 '' collection of the principal texts he used in support of 
 
 Universalism ..... 115, 116, 117 
 
 " modem histories of his doctrine ... - 147 
 " Apology for him, by an anonymous author - - 268 
 '• whether he, his doctrine, and his followers were con- 
 demned by the Fifth General Council - - - 297 
 Origeniani mentioned by Epiphanius .... 176 
 
 Paley's mistake about the Sibylline Oracles - - - 63 
 
 Pamphilus and Eusebius accused of Universalism by Jerome, &c. 158 
 Paulicians, their connexion \vith the forerunners of the Reformation 307, 308 
 
 Photius's account of Theodorus of Mopsuestia's Treatise - 265 
 
 Polycarp's Epistle, contrary opinions concerning its genuineness 32 
 
 '' probably not the angel of the Church in Smyrna, address- 
 ed in (he Revelation ..... 32 
 
 '^ and Anicetus disagree on the time for holding Easter 51 
 
 Potter and Daille accuse Clemens Alexandrinus of Universalism 69 
 
 Resurrection of saints only, held perhaps in common by some of 
 
 the early christians and by the Pharisees - - •^ 33 
 
32G INDEX TO THE NOTES. 
 
 Kufinus mcoiTectly accused by Huet of insinuating the salvation 
 
 of all men ' - -' 2C0 
 
 Jliist's (Bishop) Letter of Resolution concerning Origen • - 147 
 
 Satuminians held perhaps two original, self existent Beings - 40 
 
 Succa, Laura of, its situation . - - - - 
 
 - 580 
 
 80 
 258 
 
 Tertullian asserted future happiness and misery to be of equal 
 duration ... - ... 
 
 Theodorus of 3Iop$ucstia perhaps the author of Pelagianism 
 
 •' is praised by modern ecclesiastical historians lor his good sense 263 
 account of his works . - - - -.65, ^GG 
 
 Theophilus, of Alexandria threatened witii a citation before a 
 
 (Joneral Council ------ ^^4» 
 
 Tillcmont acknowledges that Titus of Bostra held Univcrsalism 169, 170 
 
 Vigilantius insulted by Jerome - - - " ' ^^" 
 
 AVhitfield's high Calvinism the occasion of the rise of the sect of ^^^ 
 
 Uuiversalists under Relly, in England - - '^^''' ^^^ 
 
 Errata.— Page 17, line 2 from the bottom, — for 12, read 13. Page 44, 
 line 7 from the bottom, — for cotempory, read cotemporary. Page 52, line 
 16 from the top, — for Theophykis, read TVieophilus. Page 71, lino 17 
 from the top, — for interets, read interests. Page 99, line 9 Vrom the top, 
 — for hecavie, read become. Page 102, line 20 from the top. — for thdr, 
 read his. Page 128, line 14 from top, — for Friviilian. read Firmilian. In 
 ff few of the -impressions the folloicwir errors escaped: Page 63, line 13 from 
 the top, — Asia Minior for Asia Riinor. Page 108, line 4 from top < f the 
 rs'ote, — Velentinian for Valentinian. Page 123, line 12 from top, JeruraUm 
 for Jenisalem. 
 
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