and this visible, material world, was created for their recep

tion.

Some were placed in the bodies of the sun and stars, and were appointed to the noble office of enlightening and adorning the universe, and continue to shine with greater or less splendor, according to their moral merits. The stars are thus animated, endowed with reason, and have partaken of sin. They receive the commands of God, and move in their prescribed courses; they still retain the attribute of freedom; their virtue is capable of increase or diminution, and they will hereafter be judged. They are able, by their positions and aspects, to prefigure future events; and apostate spirits, deriving their knowledge from them, transmitted the arts of astrology to man.*

Of others, was formed the community of angels, who, according to Origen, are clothed with light, ethereal vehicles, to which, in consistency with the philosophical tenets in which he was reared, he seemed inclined to add bodies of a grosser sort, thus making them compound beings, like man, consisting of body and soul. He assigns them various offices. He sometimes speaks of each individual of our race, as constantly attended by a good and bad angel. Christians, especially, enjoy the benefit of a tutelar spirit, but whether appointed at their birth, or baptism, he does not afford us the means of determining. Some preside over communities, and churches, and hence we hear of the angels of the churches,' in the Revelation; some over inanimate objects, the operations of nature, human inventions, and arts; over plants and animals; each having received the charge for which he is, by disposition, best fitted, regard being had to his merit or demerit in a preëxistent state. Thus Raphael is the patron of the medical art; to Gabriel are assigned the affairs of war; and to Michael, for his piety, the offering of the prayers of the saints. They assist in transmitting souls into bodies, in disengaging them at death, in conducting them to judgment. Like the souls of stars, they retain their freedom, and will be rewarded or punished, for the use or abuse of their liberty. Finally, they are entitled to a degree of reverence and worship, corresponding to their nature and offices, though we must be careful not to confound the regard which is their due, with

* Comment. in Gen. Opp. T. 1. p. 9.

† De Princip. L. 1. c. 8.

the supreme adoration due to God, who alone is to be addressed in prayer.*

The more guilty spirits were depressed into the rank of demons, who possess bodies far grosser than those of angels, as, in their prior state, they contracted greater impurity. These, too, retain their moral liberty, are still capable of virtue, and may yet

'reascend,

Self-raised, and repossess their native seat.'

Others were destined to become human souls, and, for the punishment of their sins, were imprisoned in bodies of flesh, and are subjected to the discipline best fitted for their recov

ery.

Such, according to this Father, is the general system of rational natures. All existed in a prior state; all were made capable of virtue or vice, but, abusing their liberty, were degraded from a superior to inferior orders of beings. Some became angels, and some demons; some the souls of sun, moon, and stars; and some were imprisoned in bodies of flesh. The present condition of all, is the result of their conduct in a former state of trial; it is a state of punishment and continued probation; they are still capable of recovering themselves, are still free. By new sin, or new virtue, they may be still further depressed, or rise; they may regain a higher order, and again relapse, and sink; from men become angels, and from angels, men.

We are now prepared to resume the subject of the extent of the benefits ascribed by Origen to the death of the Saviour.

* From the above account of the offices attributed to angels, we perceive how completely the heathen notion of tutelar spirits and genii was transferred to Christianity. According to the splendid mythology of the Pagans, every grove, temple, stream, and fountain, all seasons and arts, business and pleasure, had their presiding deities. Christianity banished these false divinities from the earth, but in the theology of the Fathers, angels succeeded to their places. All the operations of Providence were supposed to be performed by their ministrations, and they became objects of reverence, as the guardian divinities of the heathen had been before them.

To Origen's general principle, that the souls of men were shut up in bodies as a punishment for sins committed in a preëxistent state, he admits a few exceptions. These are cases of men of distinguished sanctity, who have lived in times past, and whose souls were, in fact, angels, sent on an extraordinary legation, as in the case of John, to testify to the truth, and conduct men to virtue and happiness.

On this subject, subsequent Fathers preferred against him many and grievous complaints. Thus he maintained, it is said, that Christ suffered for the redemption of all rational natures, including the souls of men, angels, demons, sun, moon, and stars. He asserted, says Theophilus of Alexandria, that Christ was 'fixed to the cross for demons and wicked spirits above'; and Jerome accuses him of saying, that he had often suffered, and would suffer in the air, and places above, for the salvation of demons.' Theophilus complains, that he would save even the devil,' and in the language of the prophet, ‡ calls on the heavens to be astonished, and to be horribly afraid,' at such daring impiety!

But let us consult Origen himself. In his tenth homily on Luke, he says expressly, that the advent of Christ 'profited celestials,' and, in support of the assertion, refers to Colos. i. 20. In his first homily on Leviticus, he speaks of a double sacrifice,' and 'double victim,' of the blood of Christ sprinkled on the earthly, and also on the 'supernal' altar; and he asserts explicitly, that he was offered a victim, not only for terrestrial, but also for celestial beings,' || and more to the same purpose. Again, in his commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, he says, 'So great was the efficacy of Christ's cross and death, that it was sufficient not only for the human race, but for celestial powers and orders. For, according to the sentiment of the Apostle Paul, Christ pacificated, by the blood of his cross, not only "things in earth," but also" things in heaven," ¶ that is, angels, sun, moon, and stars. Again, He is the great high priest, who offered himself not only for men, but also for every being partaking of reason; - he died not only for men, but likewise for other rational beings; he tasted death for every creature; for it is absurd to say, that he tasted death for human sins, but not also for whatever other beings, besides man, have committed sin; for example, for the stars, the stars not being pure in his sight, as we read in Job, xxv. 5, "Yea, even the stars are not pure in his sight," unless perchance this is said hyperbol

* Lib. Pasch. II.

† Apol. ad Ruf. L. 1. & Epist. 94, al. 59, ad Avit.

Jeremiah, ii. 12.

Opp. T. 1. p. 943.

|| Opp. T.

II. p.

186.

¶ Opp. T. IV. p. 568. The passage of St. Paul is that above alluded to, Colos. i. 20.

ically.'* Such, according to Origen, was the extent of the redemption through Christ.

It may well be doubted whether there is any solid foundation for the other part of the accusation brought against him by Theophilus, Jerome, and others, that he believed that Christ had repeatedly suffered, or would suffer, in the heavens and in the air. This doctrine is not expressly taught in any of his writings now extant, and the contrary seems to be often implied. True, he alludes to an offering in the heavens, but apparently speaks of it as accompanying his sacrifice on earth, and not as an act to be repeated.

With regard to the points afterwards agitated during the famous Pelagian controversy, the authority of Origen, as well as that of all preceding Fathers, could be adduced in opposition to the Augustinian doctrines. These doctrines seem to have been regarded as a novelty at the time; and many of those, who condemned the opinions of Pelagius, were not prepared to adopt, in full extent, the views of his celebrated antagonist. Origen has been called the father of Pelagianism, and certainly the germ and substance of the Pelagian doctrines are found in his writings.

His views of the effects of Adam's sin were censured by the orthodox of subsequent ages, but were apparently in unison with the opinions of the church at the time he wrote. He has the phrase 'sin of nativity,' and speaks of the 'similitude of Adam's transgression, not only derived from birth, but contracted,' but in what sense he understood these, and similar expressions, is matter of doubt; certainly not in the modern. He had no notion of any such consequences attending Adam's transgression, as have been ascribed to it in orthodox systems from the time of Augustine down to the present day. In a moral view, he seems, in fact, hardly to attribute any thing to the fall, and in his general reasoning, does not distinguish between what is called a state of fallen nature,' and a state of primitive integrity, at least so far as the sin of our first parents is concerned. All souls, he supposed, sinned in a preëxisting state, and consequently came into the world under certain disadvantages. But they But they are subjected to these disadvantages, not by the disobedience of Adam, but by the guilt contracted, by our abuse of liberty, in a prior state.

* Comment. in Joan. T. 1. Opp. T. iv. pp. 41, 42. See also Comment. in Matt. T. III. pp. 380, 381.

Origen allows to the soul, in its fallen state, the most perfect freedom and moral ability; the power to choose and pursue virtue, and reject and fly from sin, and this power is retained by demons, and even the devil. Good, as well as evil motives, originate in the heart. To live well, is our own work,' the result of our own volitions and efforts; 'God demands it of us, not as his work, but as our own.' And he goes on to show, from numerous texts of the Old and New Testament, that it is in our power to live as God requires, and that 'we are the cause of our perdition or salvation.' He then proceeds to explain certain passages, which, it seems, were adduced by some heretics of the Oriental, or Gnostic sects, to establish a different doctrine; and these, it is deserving of notice, are precisely those, which, in modern times, have been brought to prove that our goodness is the work of God, and not of ourselves; that it is the result of the special agency of his spirit, and not primarily of our own volitions. On all these he puts a construction, which would now be called decidedly Arminian. The passages referred to are, the hardening of Pharaoh's heart, Exod. iv. 21; the taking away a heart of stone, and giving a heart of flesh, Ezek. xi. 19; 'It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy,' Rom. ix. 16; 'He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth,' and the following verses, containing the illustration of the potter and the clay, Rom. ix. 18-23; and some others. All these, he so explains as to leave man entire freedom and ability, moral as well as physical, to do good or evil, and make sin or virtue his own act. He attributes to God not our volition, but only the power of volition. Thus, in explaining the phrase, 'To will, and to do, is of God,' as he quotes, Phil. ii. 13, he observes, 'The Apostle does not say, that to will good or evil, and to do better or worse, are of God, but only generally to will, and to perform,' that is, the power to will and to perform. He draws an illustration from the power of motion. That we are capable of motion, he says, is of God, but the particular direction of our motions depends on ourselves; so we receive of God the power to will, but we may use this power for good or for evil, as also the power to perform.'*

6

*De Princip. L. III. c. 1. De Arbitrii Libertate.