claimed the name of a Platonist dared to that one bishop in each province was precall in question. Such were the doctrines eminent over the rest in rank and authority. of one God the source of all things, of the This was necessary for maintaining that coneternity of the world, of the dependance of sociation of churches which had been intromatter on God, of the plurality of Gods, duced in the preceding century, and for holdof the method of explaining the popular ing councils more conveniently and readily. superstitions, and some others. Yet it must be added that the prerogatives 5. The estimation in which human learn of these principal bishops were not everying should be held, was a question on which where accurately ascertained; nor did the the Christians were about equally divided; bishop of the chief city in a province always for while many thought that the literature hold the rank of first bishop. It is also beand writings of the Greeks ought to receive yond controversy that the bishops of Rome, attention, there were others who contended Antioch, and Alexandria, as presiding over that true piety and religion were endangered the primitive and apostolic churches in the by such studies. But the friends of philo- greater divisions of the empire, had precesophy and literature gradually acquired the dence of all others, and were not only often ascendancy. To this issue Origen contri- consulted on weighty affairs, but likewise buted very much; who having carly im- enjoyed certain prerogatives peculiar to bibed the principles of the New Platonism themselves. inauspiciously applied them to theology, and 2. As to the bishop of Rome in particular, earnestly recommended them to the nume- he was regarded by Cyprian,3 and doubtless rous youth who attended on his instructions. by others likewise, as holding something of And the greater the influence of this man, primacy in the church. But the fathers, which quickly spread over the whole Chris- who with Cyprian attributed this primacy tian world, the more readily was his method to the Roman bishop, strenuously contended of explaining the sacred doctrines propa- for the equality of all bishops in respect to gated. Some of the disciples of Plotinus dignity and authority; and, disregarding connected themselves with the Christians, the judgment of the bishop of Rome whenyet retained the leading sentiments of their master, and these undoubtedly laboured to disseminate their principles around them, and to instil them into the minds of the uninformed. CHAPTER II. HISTORY OF THE TEACHERS AND THE ever it appeared to them incorrect, had no hesitation in following their own judgment. Of this Cyprian himself gave a striking example in his famous controversy with Stephen, bishop of Rome, concerning the baptism of heretics. Whoever duly considers and compares all their declarations, will readily perceive that this primacy was not one of power and authority, but one of precedence among associated brethren. That 1. THE form of ecclesiastical government is, the primacy of the Romish bishop in rewhich had been introduced was more and gard to the whole church was the same as more confirmed and strengthened, both in that of Cyprian in the African church, which respect to individual churches and the whole did not impair at all the equality of the African bishops, or curtail their liberties society of Christians. He must be ignorant of the history and the monuments of this and rights, but merely conferred the right age, who can deny that a person bearing of convoking councils, of presiding in them, the title of bishop presided over cach church and admonishing his brethren fraternally, in the larger cities, and managed its public concerns with some degree of authority, yet having the presbyters for his counsel, and taking the voice of the whole people on subjects of any moment." It is equally certain and the like.1 the sense of the whole church on subjects of peculiar interest. See Cyprian, Ep. v. p. 11; Ep. xiii. p. 23; Ep. xxviii p. 39; Ep. xxiv. p. 33; Ep. xxvii. pag. 37, 38. To the objection, that Cyprian did himself ordain some presbyters and lectors without the consent of his council and the laity, it is answered, that the persons so advanced were confessors, who according to usage, were entitled to ordination without any previous election. Cyprian, Ep. xxxiv. pag. 46, 47; Ep. xxxv. pag. 48, 49; Tertullian, De Anima, cap. lv. p. 353, &c. Mosheim, Comment. de Reb. Christ, &c. pag. 575-579. See 1 Augustine, Epistola lvi. Ad Dioscor. Opp. tom. ii. p. 260. 2 Authorities are cited by Blondell, Apologia pro Sententia Hieronymi de Episcopis et Presbyteris, p. 136, &c. -[and still more amply by Boileau under the fictitious-Mur. name of Claudius Fonteius, in his book De Antiquo Jure Presbyterorum in Regimine Ecclesiastico, Turin, tate Ecclesiæ, p. 195, ed. Baluze. 1676, 12mo. The most valuable of these testimonies are from the Epistles of Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, who was a warm advocate for episcopal pre-eminence, yet did not presume to determine any question of moment by his own authority, or without the advice and consent of his presbyters, and was accustomed to take 3 Cyprian, Ep. Ixxiii. p. 131; Ep. lv. p. 86, De Uni See Baluze, Annot. ad Cypriani Epist. pag. 387, 389, 400, &c. and especially Cyprian himself who con. tends strenuously for the perfect equality of all bishops. Ep. lxxi. p. 127. Nam nec Petrus vindicavit sibi aliquid insolenter, aut arroganter assumpsit se primatum tenere, et obtemperari a novellis et posteris sibi oportere. 3. Although the ancient mode of church of the clergy; for although examples of prigovernment seemed in general to remain mitive piety and virtue were not wanting, unaltered, yet there was a gradual deflection from its rules and an approximation towards the form of monarchy; for the bishops claimed much higher authority and power than before, and encroached more and more upon the rights not only of the Christian people, but also of the presbyters. And to give plausibility to these usurpations, they advanced new doctrines concerning the church and the episcopal office; which however were for the most part so obscure that it would seem they did not themselves understand them. The principal author of these innovations was Cyprian, the most bold and strenuous defender of episcopal power who had then arisen in the church. Yet he was not uniform and consistent, for in times of difficulty when urged by necessity, he could give up his pretensions and submit everything to the judgment and authority of the church.' 4. This change in the form of ecclesiastical government was followed by a corrupt state yet many were addicted to dissipation, arrogance, voluptuousness, contention, and other vices. This appears indubitable if we listen to the frequent complaints of the most credible persons of those times. Many bishops now affected the state of princes, and especially those who had charge of the more populous and wealthy congregations; for they sat on thrones surrounded by their ministers and other ensigns of their spiritual power, and perhaps also dazzled the eyes and the minds of the populace with their splendid attire. The presbyters imitated the example of their superiors, and, neglecting the duties of their office, lived in indolence and pleasure. And this emboldened the deacons to make encroachments upon the office and the prerogatives of the presbyters. 5. It was owing to this cause especially that, in my opinion, the minor orders of clergy were everywhere in this century added to the bishops, presbyters, and deacons. The words sub-deacons, acolythi, -Ep. lxxiii. p. 137. Unusquisque Episcoporum quod ostiarii or door-keepers, lectors or readers, putat faciat, habens arbitrii sui liberam potestatem.-exorcists, and copiata, designate officers, Ep. lv. Ad Cornelium Rom. p. 86. Cum statutum-et equum sit pariter ac justum, ut uniuscujusque causa illic audiatur ubi est crimen admissum, et singulis pastoribus portio gregis sit adscripta, quam regat unusquisque et gubernet, rationem sui actus Domino rediturus, [and Cyprian's address at the opening of the council of Carthage, A.D. 255, in his Works, p. 329, ed. Baluze. Neque enim quisquam nostrum Episcopum se esse Episcoporum constituit, aut tyrannico terrore ad obsequendi necessitatem collegas suos adigit, quando habeat omnis Episcopus pro licentia libertatis et potestatis suæ arbitrium proprium tamque judicari ab alio non possit, quam nec ipse potest alterum judicare. Sed expectemus universi judicium Domini nostri Jesu Christi, qui unus et solus habet potestatem et præponendi nos in ecclesiæ suæ gubernatione, ct de actu nostro Judicandi. The passages referred to in the preceding note, in which Cyprian not very intelligibly specks of a unity in the church and of a certain primacy of the Roman pontiff, must be so understood as not to contradict these very explicit assertions of the absolute equality of all bishops. See Mosheim, De Reb. Christ. &c. pag. 579-587.-Mur. I No man can speak in higher terms of the power of bishops than the arrogant Cyprian-that very Cyprian who, when not fired by any passion, is so condescending towards presbyters, deacons, and the common people. He inculcates, on all occasions, that bishops derive their office, not so much from their election by the clergy and people, as from the attestation and decree of God. See Ep. lii. pag. 68, 69; Ep. xiv. p. 59; Ep. lv. p. 82; Ep. Ixv. p. 113; Ep. Ixix. p. 121. He regards bishops as the successors of the apostles. Ep. xlii. p. 57. So that bishops are amenable to none but to God only; while presbyters are amenable to the religious society. Ep. xi. p. 19.-Deacons were created by the bishop; and therefore can be punished by him alone without the voice of the society. Ep. lxv. p. 114.-Bishops have the same rights with apostles, whose successors they are. And hence, none but God can take cognizance of their actions. Ep. lxix. p. 121.-The whole church is founded on the bishop; and no one is a true member of the church who is not submissive to his bishop. Ep. lxix. p. 123. Bishops represent Christ himself, and govern and judge in his name. Ep. lv. Ad Cornel. pages 81, 82. Hence all bishops, in the following ages, styled themselves Vicars of Christ. Bee Bingham's Orig. Eccles. vol. i. p. 81, &c. In the ninth century, a bishop which I think the church would have never of Paris is so styled in a letter of Lupus. Ep. xcix. p. 2 Origen, Comment. in Matthæum, par. i. Opp. pag. 420, 441, 442; Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. lib. viif. cap. i. p. 291; Cyprian, in many of his Epistles.-Mur. 3 See Gothofredus, Ad Codicem Theodosianum, tom. vi. p. 48. [Several of the Catholic writers, as, e. g. Baronius, Bellarmine, and Schelstrate, believed these minor orders of the clergy were instituted by the apostles; but the most learned writers of the Romish communion, and all the Protestants, maintain that they were first instituted in the third century. See Cardinal Bona, Rerum Liturgicar. lib. i. cap. xxv. sec. 16, 17; Morin, De Ordinatione, p. 3, Exerc. 14, cap. i. and Bingham's Orig. Eccles. vol. 1. Not one of these orders 6. Marriage was allowed to all the clergy from the highest rank to the lowest. Yet those were accounted more holy and excellent who lived in celibacy; for it was the general persuasion that those who lived in wedlock were much more exposed to the assaults of evil spirits than others: and it was of immense importance that no impure or malignant spirit should assail the mind or the body of one who was to instruct and govern others. Such persons therefore wished, if possible, to have nothing to do with conjugal life. And this many of the clergy, especially in Africa, endeavoured to accomplish with the least violence to their inclinations; for they received into their houses and even to their beds some of those females who had vowed perpetual chastity, affirming however most solemnly that they had no criminal intercourse with These concubines were by the Greeks called duveioazтo, and by the Latins mulieres subintroductæ. Many of the bishops indeed sternly opposed this shameful practice; but it was a long time before it was wholly abolished. Julius Africanus, a very learned man, most 185. His father Leonidas was a man of letters, a dean Alexandrian Greek, born of Christian parents, A.D. vout Christian, and took great pains with the education of his son, especially in the holy Scriptures, some portion of which he required him daily to commit to memory. His education, begun under his father, was completed under Clemens Alexandrinus and the philosopher Saccas. Origen was distinguished for precocity of genius, early piety, and indefatigable industry. when his father suffered martyrdom, A.D. 202, Origen, then seventeen years old, was eager to suffer with him, but was prevented by his mother. The property of the family was confiscated, and Origen with his widowed mother and six younger sons were left in poverty; but Origen found no difficulty in procuring a school for which his talents so well qualified him. The next year, A.D. 203, Demetrius, bishop of Alexandria, advanced him to the mastership of the catechetic school, though he was then only eighteen years old. His talents as an instructor, his eminent piety, and his assiduous attention to those who suffered in the persecution, procured him high reputation and numerous friends among the Christians; but his great success in making converts to Christianity and forming his pupils to be intelligent and devoted Christians, rendered him odious to the pagans who watched for opportunities to assassinate him. The austerity of his life was great. He fed on the coarsest fare, went barefoot, and slept on the ground. About this time he sold his large and valuable collection of pagan authors for a perpetual income of four oboli (about fivepence) a-day, which he regarded as a competent support. Construing the passage in Matth. xix. 12 literally, he acted upon that interpretation, in order to avoid temptation in his intercourse with his female pupils. About the year 212 he made a short visit to 7. Of the writers of this century the most Rome. On his return he took his former pupil Heradistinguished for the celebrity of his name clas to be his assistant in the school, so that he might and for the extent of his writings was Ori-devote more time to the exposition of the Scriptures. Many learned persons, pagans and heretics, were congen, a presbyter and catechist of Alexan-verted by him; and among them Ambrose, a Valendria, a man truly great and the instructor tinian and a man of wealth, who became a liberal patron of Origen and at last died a martyr. of the whole Christian world. Had his dis- 215, the persecution under Caracalla obliged Origen to cernment and the soundness of his judgment flee from Alexandria. He retired to Caesarea in Palestine, where he was received with high respect; and been equal to his genius, piety, industry, though not even a deacon at that time, the bishops of erudition, and his other accomplishments, Cesarea and Jerusalem allowed him to expound the he would deserve almost unbounded commendation. As he is, all should revere his virtues and bis merits.3 The second was them, 2 is even named by any writer who lived before Tertul- 2 Sec Dodwell, Diss. tertia Cyprianica; and Muratori, Diss. de Synisactis et Agapetis, in his Anecdota Græca, p. 218; Baluze, Ad Cypriani Epistol. p. 5, 12, and others. [This shameful practice commenced before this century. Slight allusions to it are found in the Shepherd of Hermas and in Tertullian; but the first distinct mention of it is in Cyprian, who inveighs severely against it in some of his Epistles. Such connexions were considered as a marriage of souls without the marriage of bodies. See Mosheim, De Reb. Christ. &c. p. 599, &c.-Mur. 3 See Huet, Origeniana, a learned and valuable work; Doucin, Histoire d'Origène et des Mouvemens arri vées dans l'église au sujet de sa Doctrine, Paris, 1700, 8vo; and Bayle, Dictionnaire, tome lil. art. Origène, and many others. [Origen, surnamed Adamantius, was In the year Scriptures publicly in their presence. The next year of whose labours and works are lost.' The | both the writers and the martyrs; but his name of Hippolytus ranks very high among history is involved in much obscurity. The by all around him till the day of his death. His residence was now fixed at Cæsarea in Palestine; but he occasionally visited other places. Against the more learned pagans and the heretics of those times, he was a champion who had no equal; he was also considered as a devout and exemplary Christian, and was beyond question the first biblical scholar of the age. He was master of the literature and the science of that age, which he valued only as subservient to the cause of Christ; but he was more skilful in employing them against pagans and heretics, than in the explanation and confirmation of the truths of revelation. In the latter part of his life, during the Decian persecution, A.D. 250, he was imprisoned for a considerable time, and came near to martyrdom which he showed himself willing to meet. He was, however, released; but his sufferings in prison, added to his intense literary labours, had broken down his constitution, and he died, A.D. 254, at Tyre, in the sixty-ninth year of his age. He was in general orthodox according to the standard of that age; but unfettered in his speculations and unguarded in his communications, he threw out some crude opinions which the next age gathered up and blazoned abroad, and for which he was accounted by some a heretic. The principal errors ascribed to him are derived from his four books repì ȧpxwv (De principiis, on the first principles of human knowledge), and are:first, the pre-existence of human souls and their incarceration in material bodies for offences committed in a former state of being;-second, the pre-existence of Christ's human soul and its union with the Divine nature anterior to the incarnation of Christ;-third, the transformation of our material bodies into ethereal ones at the resurrection;-fourth, the final recovery of all men and even devils through the mediation of Christ. Origen could number among his pupils many eminent martyrs and divines, among whom Firmilianus of Cappadocia, Gregory Thaumaturgus, and Dionysius the Great, bishop of Alexandria, are best known at the present day. His life and history are best related by Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. lib. vi. passim; and by Jerome, De Viris Illustr. cap. lv.; and Ep. xli. or lxv. The united work of Pamphilus and Eusebius, in defence of Origen, in six books, is unfortunately lost, except the first book, of which we have a translation by Rufinus. Epiphanius, Hæres. Ixiv. gives a philippic upon Origen and his followers. Photius, Biblioth. cxviii. affords us some knowledge of his lost works. Origen was a most voluminous writer. Eusebius says he collected 100 Epistles of Origen; and that when sixty years old Origen permitted stenographers to write down his extempore discourses. Besides these he composed eight Books against Celsus in defence of Christianity, which are still extant; four books Teρì άрxwv, extant, in a Latin translation by Rufinus; ten books entitled Stromata, which are lost; his Hexapla and Tetrapla, of which little remains; and tracts on prayer, martyrdom, and the resurrection; but his principal works are expositions of the Scriptures. It is said he wrote on every book in the Bible except the Apocalypse. His allegorical mode of interpreting Scripture is described by Mosheim in the next chapter. Origen's expositions are of three kinds: first, Homilies, or popular lectures;-second, Commentaries, divided into books, which are full, elaborate, and learned expositions; third, Scholia, or short notes, intended especially for the learned. A collection of Origen's Scholia, and scattered remarks on Scripture, compiled by Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen, is extant, bearing the title of Pokaλía. A large part of his Homilies and Commentaries is wholly lost, and some of the others have come to us only in the Latin translation of Rufinus. The earlier editions of Origen's works are chiefly in Latin, and of little value. Huet, a Benedictine monk, first published, A.D. 1668, in 2 vols. fol. the expository works of Origen, Greek and Latin with notes and a valuable introduction entitled Origeniana. Montfaucon, another Benedictine, collected and published what remains of his Hexapla and Tetrapla, Paris, 1714, 2 vols. fol.; but the best edition of all his works, except the Herapla, is that of the Benedictines De la Rue, Paris, 1733-59, 4 vols. fol. The principal modern writers concerning Origen, besides Huet and the De la Rues, are Tillemont, Mém. 2 à l'Hist. de l'Eglise, tome iii. pages 216-264; Bayle, Dict. art. Origène; Cave, Hist. Lit. tom. i. p. 112, &c.; Lardner, Credibility, part ii. vol. ii. p. 161, &c.; Haloix, Defence of Origen; Doucin, Histoire d'Origène, Paris, 1700, 8vo; Mosheim, De Reb. Christ. pag. 605-680; Schroeckh, Kirchengesch. vol. iv. pages 29-145; Neander, Kirchengesch. vol. i. pages 1172-1214; Milner's account of Origen, Eccles. Hist. cent. iii. chap. v. vi. xv. is not impartial.-Mur. [The most recent work on Origen is Redepenning, Origenes eine Darstellung sein. Lebens und sein. Lehre, Bonn, 1841, &c. The student should here again, in reference to Origen and the Alexandrian theology, consult Gieseler, Lehrbuch, &c. secs. 62, 63, 64; Davidson's Transl. vol. i. p. 229, &c. The only portion of Origen's works which has been translated into English is his Answer to Celsus, and even of that only the first two books were translated by Bellamy, Lond. 8vo. about 1710.-R. I Julius Africanus, for erudition and as an interpreter of Scripture, is ranked with Clemens Alexandrinus and Origen by Socrates, Hist. Eccles. lib. ii. cap. xxxv. The best account of this distinguished man is derived from Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. lib. vi. cap. xxxi.; and Jerome, De Viris Illustr. cap. Ixiii. He was probably of Nicopolis, once called Emmaus, in Judea, and is supposed to have died, being a man in years, about A.D. 232. Of his life little is known, except that he once visited Alexandria to confer with Heraclas, head of the cate chetic school after Origen; and that the city of Nicopolis having been burnt about A.D. 221, Africanus was sent as envoy to the emperor, with a petition that it might be rebuilt. His principal work was Annals of the World from the Creation down to A.D. 221, in five books, of which only fragments now remain. He was author of A Letter to Aristides, reconciling the two genealogies of our Saviour. Of this work we have a long extract in Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. lib. i. cap. 7, and a fragment in Routh's Reliquiæ Sacræ, vol. ii. p. 115. Another letter of Africanus, addressed to Origen, is still extant in the works of Origen, vol. i. pages 10-12, ed. De la Rue. Eusebius and others ascribe to Africanus another and larger work entitled KeσToí. miscellany and unworthy of a Christian divine. Many fragments of it have been collected by Thevenot, and published in his Collection of the Writings of the ancient Greek Mathematicians, Paris, 1693, fol.-Mur. It is a 2 The Benedictine monks have, with great labour and erudition, endeavoured to dispel this darkness. See Hist. Littér, de la France, tome i. p. 361, &c. Paris, 1733, 4to. [Both Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. lib. vi. cap. xx. xxii.; and Jerome, De Viris Illustr. cap. Ixi. make him to have flourished in the reign of Severus, A.D. 222, &c. and to have been a bishop, but of what city they could not learn. Subsequent writers were divided, some representing him as an Arabian bishop, and others as bishop of Ostia, near Rome, whence he is surnamed Portuensis. That he was a martyr is generally conceded: though the poem of Prudentius, on the martyrdom of Hippolytus, refers to another person who was a Roman presbyter. Eusebius, ubi supra, gives an account of his writings:-"Besides many other works, he wrote a treatise concerning Easter, in which he describes the succession of events, and proposes a Paschal Cycle of sixteen years; the work terminates with the first year of the Emperor Alexander." (Severus, A. D. 222.) "His other writings which have reached me are these: on the Hexaëmeron" (Gen. 1.); "on what follows the Hexaëmeron; against Marcion; on the Canticles; on parts of Ezekiel; concerning Easter; against all the heresies." Besides these Jerome mentions his Commentaries on Exodus, Zechariah, the Psalms, Isaiah, Daniel, the Apocalypse, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes; and some tracts. Certain other works of Hippolytus are enumerated in an inscription on the base of his statue, dug up near Rome in the year 1551; also by Photius, Biblioth. No. 121 and 122; and Ebedjesus, in Asseman's Biblioth. Orient. tom. iii. par. i. His Paschal Cycle is his only work which has come down to us entire. The dialogue concerning Christ and Antichrist, still extant, if really his, does him little credit as a theologian. The concluding part of his work against all the heresies still remains, and gives us the best account we have, though a lame one, of the heresy of Noëtus. writings now extant bearing the name of this great man are, not without reason, regarded by many as being either spurious or at least corrupted. Gregory, bishop of New Cæsarea [in Pontus], was surnamed Thaumaturgus on account of the numerous and distinguished miracles which he is said to have wrought. But few of his writings are now extant; his miracles are questioned by many at the present day. I could wish All that remains of him, genuine and adulterated, and all that is ascribed to him, are well edited by Fabricius, in two thin volumes, fol. Hamb. 1716-18. For a more full account of him and his writings, besides the Histoire Litt. de la France, and Fabricius, Ad Hippol. Opera; see Tillemont, Mémoires à l'Hist. Eccles. tome iii. pages 104 and 309, &c; Cave, Hist. Lit. vol. i. p. 102, &c; Lardner, Credib. part ii. vol. ii. p. 69, &c; Schroeckh, Kirchengesch. vol. iv. p. 154, &c.: Neander, Kirchengesch. vol. i. p. 1147, &c.-Mur. [An elaborate biography of this father may be seen in Smith's Dict. of Greek and Rom. Biogr. vol. ii. p. 490, where all the questions respecting his history and writings are carefully considered.-R. I See Anton. van Dale, Preface to his book, De Oraculis, p. 6. [Schroeckh, Kirchengesch. vol. iv. p. 351, &c. and pages 380-392, and Lardner, Credibility, part ii. vol. ii. p. 450, &c. Gregory of New Caesarea in Pontus, whose original name was Theodorus, was born of heathen parents at New Cæsarea near the beginning of this century. His family was wealthy and respectable. After the death of his father, which was when he was fourteen years old, his mother and the children became nominally Christians. But Gregory was a stranger to the Bible, and ambitious to make a figure in the world. About the year 231 he left Pontus, intending to study law in the famous law school at Berytus, but meeting with Origen at Cæsarea he was induced to change his purpose. He applied himself to the study of the Bible, was baptized, assumed the name of Gregory, and continued under the instruction of Origen eight years, except that he fled to Alexandria for a short time to avoid persecution. He was now a devoted Christian and a man of great promise. On leaving Origen, he composed and read in a public assembly a eulogy on his instructor, in which he gives an account of his own past life, and of the manner in which Origen himself allured him to the study of the scriptures, and changed all his views. He returned to Pontus and became bishop of his native city, New Cæsarea, where he spent the remainder of his life. When created bishop he found but seventeen Christians in his very populous diocese. When he died there was only about the same number of pagans in it. He and his flock endured persecution in the year 250. He attended the first council of Antioch against Paul of Samosata, in the year 264 or 265, and died soon after. Some account of him is given by Eusebius, H. E. lib. vi. cap. 30, and lib. vii. cap 11, 28; Jerome, De Viris Illustr. cap. lxv. and Ep. ad Magnum. But his great eulogists among the ancients were the two brothers, Basil the Great, and Gregory Nyssen, whose grandmother sat under the ministry of Gregory Thaum. and furnished her grandchildren with an account of him. Basil speaks of him in his Book on the Holy Spirit and in his Epistles, No. 28, 110, 204, 207, or 62, 63, 61, 75; and Nyssen, in his Life of Gregory Thaum. inter Opp. Gregorii Nys. tom. iii. p. 536, &c. Among the moderns who give us his history and enumerate his works, see Tillemont, Mémoires à l'Hist. Eccl. tomeiv. p. 131, &c. and Notes sur S. Greg. Thaum. p. 47; Du Pin, Nov. Biblioth. des Aut. Eccles, tome i. p. 184, &c.; Fabricius, Biblioth. Gr. vol. v. p. 247, &c; Cave, Hist. Lit. vol. i.; Neander, Kirchengesch. vol. i. pages 12-24, &c.; Schroeckh, ubi supra; Lardner, ubi supra, and Milner, Eccies. Hist. cent iii. chap. 18. The only genuine works of Gregory which are extant are his Eulogy on Origen, which has been mentioned; a Paraphrase on Ecclesiastes; a short Confession of Faith (the last part of which some have questioned), and a Letter containing counsel for the treatment of the lapsed. The spurious works attributed to him are, that many writings of Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, were now extant; for the few fragments which have reached us show that he was a man of distinguished wisdom and mildness of disposition, and prove that the ancients used no flattery when they styled him Dionysius the Great.2 Methodius was Capita xii. De Fide, with anathemas; In AnnuntiaTheophania sive de apparitione Dei et Christi Baptismo; tionem Sanctissimæ Mariæ Sermones tres; in Sancta De anima, disputatio ad Tatianum; Expositio Fidei Kaтà μÈрOS Tίoris, (relating only to the Trinity.) All these were collected and published with learned notes by Gerard Vossius, Mentz, 1604, 4to, and Paris, 1622, fol. with the works of Macarius, Basil of Seleucia, and a tract of Zonaras, subjoined.-Mur. 2 The history of Dionysius is carefully written by Basnage, Histoire de l'Eglise, tome i. livr. ii. chap. v. p. 68. [He was probably born of heathen parents but early converted to the Christian faith by Origen, under whom he had his education at Alexandria. He became a presbyter there; and succeeded Heraclas, as head of the catechetical school, about the year 232; and on the death of Heraclas, A.D. 248, he again succeeded him in the episcopal chair, which he filled till his death in the year 265, We know little of his history, while a catechist, except that he now read carefully all the works of heretics and pagans, and made himself master of the controversies of the day (Euseb. H. E. lib. vii. cap. vii). As a bishop he was uncommonly laborious and faithful, and had little rest from persecution, in which he and his flock suffered exceedingly. These sufferings are described in the copious extracts from his writings, preserved by Eusebius, in his Hist. Eccles. lib. vi. and vii. In the general persecution under Decius, Dionysius was under arrest, and suffered much with his flock for a year and a half. Soon after his release, the pestilence began to lay waste the church and the city, and did not entirely cease till the end of twelve years. The warm contest respecting the rebaptism of converted heretics, about the year 256, was submitted by both parties to him, and drew forth several able productions from his pen. Not long after he had to withstand the Sabellians in a long and arduous controversy. In the year 257 the persecution under Valerian commenced; and for about two years Dionysius was in banishment, transported from place to place, and subjected to great sufferings. After his return in the year 260, insurrection among the pagans and civil war and famine raged at Alexandria. Scarcely was quiet restored, when this aged and faithful servant of God was solicited to aid in the controversy against Paul of Samosata. His infirmities prevented his attending the council of Antioch in 265, where Paul was condemned; but he wrote his judgment of the controversy, sent it to the council, and died soon after in the close of that year. In his controversy with the Sabellians he was, to say the least, unfortunate; for in his zeal to maintain a personal distinction between the Father and the Son, he let drop expressions which seemed to imply, that the latter was of another and an inferior nature to the former. This led the Sabellians to accuse him of heresy; and a council assembled at Rome called on him to explain his views. He replied in several books or letters, addressed to Dionysius, bishop of Rome, which pretty well satisfied his contemporaries. Afterwards, when the Arians claimed him, Athanasius came forth in vindication of his orthodoxy. Mosheim, (De Rebus Christ. p. 696, &c.) supposed that Dionysius differed from the orthodox on the one hand, and from Sabellius on the other, in the following manner:-They all agreed, that in Jesus Christ two natures, the human and the divine, were united. The orthodox maintained, that both natures constituted but one person, and denied personality to the human nature. Sabellius admitted the union of two natures in Christ, but denied personality to his divine nature. Dionysius distinguished two persons, as well as two natures, in Christ; and affirmed that the actions and sufferings of the human nature could not be predicated of the divine nature. Natalis Alexander has a Dissertation (Hist. Eccles. sæcul. iii. diss. xix.) in vindication of the orthodoxy, though not of all the phraseology of Dionysius; for a knowledge of |