he had been found by one who came down | The last book in his trilogy is fitly called to earth and became flesh. Others labo-"Miscellanies." He appears also to have riously framed systems designed to meet wanted practical energy, and even if this the wants and the intelligence of the few: assertion seems to be a paradox, I believe he appealed to all in virtue of a common that this defect accounts for his intellectual divine faculty and a common God-given failure. His successor, Origen, supplied freedom, of a universal message and a that which was wanting. He did not stop universal fact. Others looked forward for at writing "Miscellanies." He was filled peace, to the advent of what they called with the conception of a vast moral unity; "the Great Ignorance," when each creat- as a necessity, therefore, he felt that the ure should obtain perfect repose by know-truths by which this unity was established ing nothing better than itself: he had already begun to know the calmness of joy in absolute surrender to one infinitely great.

must form a unity also. It is then to him rather than to his predecessors, or perhaps it may be more true to say to his predecessors in him, that we must look if we wish to gain a right notion of typical Christian thought at Alexandria, a right notion of the beginnings of Christian philosophy.

The development and co-ordination of these conceptions, of these realities was, or rather is, necessarily gradual. But it is of importance to notice that from the moment when philosophers expressed their Origen was of Christian parentage. difficulties, Christian teachers undertook The son of a martyr, he earned himself to meet them on their own lines. Chris- the martyr's crown, through the continuous tian teachers did not lay aside the philoso- labors of seventy years. In his case no pher's mantle in virtue of their office, but sharp struggle, no violent change, no slow rather assumed it. At Alexandria, a process wrought the conviction of faith. Christian "School" the well-known He did not, like Justin Martyr, or his Catechetical School arose by the side immediate predecessors, Pantænus and of the Museum. In its constitution no Clement, find in Christianity after painful less than in its work this school bore a wanderings that rest which he had sought striking if partial resemblance to the vainly in the schools of Greek wisdom. "schools of the prophets" under the old He did not, like Tertullian, follow the bent dispensation. It was not ecclesiastical in of an uncontrollable and impetuous nature, its organization. Its teachers were not and close in open schism a life of cournecessarily, or always in fact, priests. Its ageous toil. He did not, like Augustine, aim was not to perpetuate a system, but to come to the truth through heresy, and bear gain fresh conquests. From obscure be- even to the last the marks of the chains ginnings the work went on. Great by which he had been weighed down. thought, great principles found utterance; His whole life, from first to last, was fashand then a master was raised up not un-ioned on the same type. It was according worthy to combine and quicken them. to his own grand ideal "one unbroken The first famous names which occur in prayer" (uía πроσevx) ovvexquévn), one cease. connection with the school, those of Pan- less effort after closer fellowship with the tænus and Clement, might well detain us.† Unseen and the Eternal. No distractions Both men were led to the faith through the diverted him from the pursuit of divine study of philosophy. Both continued the wisdom. No persecution checked for study as Christians. They had learnt the more than the briefest space the energy of needs of men by their own experience, and his efforts. He endured" a double marby that they interpreted what they had tyrdom," perils and sufferings from the found. The scanty notices of Pantænus heathen, reproaches and wrongs from which have been preserved suggest the Christians; and the retrospect of what he idea of a man of originality and vigor, who had borne only stirred within him a humcombined action with thought. bler sense of his shortcomings.

Clement again is perhaps in intuitive In Origen we have the first glimpse of power the greatest in the line of Catechists. a Christian boy. He was conspicuous, It would be easy to collect from his writ-"even from his cradle: " "a great man ings a series of pregnant passages con- from his childhood," is the judgment of taining, with some significant exceptions, his bitterest enemy. From the first the an outline of the system of Origen; but range of his training was complete. His he had himself no sense of a system. father Leonidas, after providing carefully

*Comp. Kingsley, "The Schools of Alexandria," Comp. Alexander ap. Euseb. H. E. vi. 14.

D. 100,

Euseb. H. E. vi. 2; Hieron. Ep. 84, 85 (ad Pam mach. et Ocean.).

for his general education, himself instruct- neglected forms of truth to make known; ed him in Holy Scripture. The boy's na- and Origen became one of his hearers. ture answered to the demands which were The situation was remarkable, and full of made upon him. His eagerness to pene- interest. The master of Christianity was trate to the deeper meaning of the written a learner in the school of Greeks. There Word gave early promise of his character- can be no doubt that Origen was deeply istic power; and it is said that Leonidas influenced by the new philosophy, which often uncovered his breast- his breast, seemed to him to unveil fresh depths in and not his brow-pectus facit theologum the Bible; and it is not unlikely that this as he lay asleep and kissed it, as though connection, which lasted for a considerable it were already a dwelling-place of the time, gave occasion to those suspicions Holy Spirit. and jealousies on the part of some memWhen Origen had reached his seven-bers of the Church at Alexandria, which teenth year the persecution under Severus broke out. Leonidas was thrown into prison. Origen was only hindered by the loving device of his mother from sharing his fate. As it was, he wrote to strengthen his father with the simple words: "Take heed! let no thought for us alter your purpose." Leonidas was martyred; his property was confiscated; and the young student at once entered on the career of independent labor which closed only with his life.

At first Origen supported himself by teaching grammar, but immediately a richer field was opened to him. The Cat echetical School in which he had worked under Pantænus and Clement was left without a head, owing to the fierceness of the persecution. For a time Origen gave instruction in Christianity privately to those heathen who wished to learn. His success was such that before he was eighteen he was appointed to fill the vacant post of honor and danger. Martyrs Eusebius enumerates seven passed from his class to death. His own escape seemed to be the work of Providence. Marked and pursued, he still evaded his enemies. His influence grew with his self-devotion, and further experience of his new work stirred him to larger sacrifices. He had collected in earlier times a library of classical authors. This he now sold for an annuity of four obols sixpence a day, that he might need no assistance from the scholars, who were grieved that they might not help him. So he lived for more than five-and-twenty years, laboring almost day and night, and offering such an example of absolute self-denial as won many to the faith of which he showed the power in his own person.

While Origen was thus engaged, his principles were put to a severe test. Ammonius Saccas, the founder of Neo-Platonism, began to lecture at Alexandria. His success showed that he had some

Euseb. H. E. vi. 3.

at no long interval bore bitter fruit. Origen, however, was clear and steadfast as to his purpose, and he found at least some sympathy. For when in later years he was assailed for giving his attention to the opinions of heretics and Gentiles, he defended himself not only by the example of Pantænus, but also by that of Heracles, his fellow-student in the school of Am. monius, who "while now," he writes, a presbyter at Alexandria, still wears the dress of a philosopher, and studies with all diligence the writings of the Greeks."*

An anecdote which is told of the time of his early work may seem in this respect as a symbol of his life.t A heathen mob seized him one day and placed him on the steps of the Temple of Serapis, forcing him to offer palm-branches in honor of the god to those who came to worship. He took the palms, and cried out, Come, take the palm, not the palm of the idol, but the palm of Christ."

66

The way of Greek wisdom was not the only unusual direction in which Origen sought help for that study of Scripture to which he had consecrated his life. He turned to the Jews also, and learnt Hebrew, a task which overcame the spirit of Erasmus, as he tells us, even in the excitement of the Renaissance. About the same time, when he was now fully equipped for work, he found assistance and impulse from the friendship of Ambrose, a wealthy Alexandrine whom he had won from heresy to the truth. Origen draws a lively picture of the activity and importunity of his friend. Meals, rest, exercise, sleep, all had to be sacrificed to zeal, which may be measured by the fact that he furnished Origen with seven clerks to write at his dictation.§

This period of happy and incessant labor was at last rudely interrupted. After working publicly at Alexandria for twenty

Epist. ap. Euseb. H. E. vi. 19. ↑ Epiph. Hær. 64, 1, p. 524. Epist. 95.

Euseb. H. E. vi. 23.

Origen lay was only known by tradition. This tradition, however, still lingers about the ruins of the city; for it is said that the natives, to the present time, point out the spot where "Oriunus " lies under a vault, the relic of an ancient church now covered by their huts.*

eight years, with short intervals of absence the sixteenth century, the place where on foreign missions, Origen was driven from the city to which he was bound by every sacred tie, and never visited it again. There is no need to attempt to unravel the circumstances which led to the catastrophe. It is enough to notice that no word of anger escaped from the great master when he showed afterwards how keenly he felt the blow. Thenceforth the scene, but not the character of his work was changed; and he was enabled to carry on at Cæsarea for twenty years longer, with undiminished influence, all the tasks which he had begun. Ambrose was still with him, and his reputation even attracted Porphyry for a brief visit.

At length the end came. In the perse cution of Decius he was imprisoned, tortured, threatened with the stake. From the midst of his sufferings he wrote words of encouragement to his fellow-confessors. His persecutors denied him the visible glory of the martyr's death, but already exhausted by age and toil he sank, three years afterwards, under the effects of what he had suffered (A.D. 253).

He was buried at Tyre; and his tomb was honored as long as the city survived. When a cathedral named after the Holy Sepulchre was built there, his body is said to have occupied the place of greatest honor, being inclosed in the wall behind the high altar.† The same church received in a later age (A.D. 1190) the remains of Barbarossa; but the name of the great theologian prevailed over the name of the great warrior. Burchard, who visited Tyre in the last quarter of the thirteenth century (c. 1283), saw the inscription in Origen's memory in a building which was amazing for its splendor. Before the close of the century the city was wasted by the Saracens; but if we may trust the words of a traveller at the beginning of the sixteenth century (c. 1520), the inscription was still preserved on "a marble column, sumptuously adorned with gold and jewels."§ Not long after, at the end of

* William of Tyre (c. 1180), Hist. xiii. 1: Hæc (Tyrus) et Originis corpus occultat, sicut oculata fide etiam hodie licet inspicere. + Cotovicus (1598), Itin. Hier. p. 121: Pone altare maximum magni Originis corpus conditum ferunt. Burchardus, Descript. Terra Sanctæ, p. 25 (ed. Laurent): Originis ibidem in ecclesia Sancti Sepulcri requiescit in muro conclusus. Cujus titulum ibidem uidi (the edition of 1587 adds et legi). Sunt ibi columpnae marmoreae et aliorum lapidum tam magnae, quod stupor est uidere.

Bart. de Saligniaco, Itin. Hier. ix. 10: In templo Sancti Sepulcri Originis doctoris, ossa magno in honore servantur, quorum titulus est in columna marmorea magno sumptu gemmarum et auri. It is not unlikely, I fear, that this statement is a false rendering of Bur

Origen's writings are commensurate in range and number with the intense activity of his life. They were, it is said, measured by thousands, and yet, as he argued, they were all one, one in purpose and in spirit; and it is almost amusing to observe the way in which he writes to Ambrose, who urged him to fresh labors, pleading that he has already broken, in the letter, the command of Solomon to "avoid making many books." But he goes on to argue, multitude really lies in contradiction and inconsistency. A few books which are charged with errors are many. Many books which are alike inspired by the truth are one. "If, then," he concludes, "I set forth anything as the truth which is not the truth, then I shall transgress. Now, while I strive by all means to counteract false teaching, I obey the spirit of the precept which seems at first to condemn me."

This claim which Origen makes to an essential unity-a unity of purpose and spirit-in all his works is fully justified by their character. Commentaries, homilies, essays, tracts, letters, are alike animated by the same free and lofty strivings towards a due sense of the Divine Majesty, and the same profound devotion to the teaching of Scripture. It is no less remarkable that in all these different departments of literature his influence was decisive and permanent. In this respect his reputation, however great, falls below the truth. Those parts of his teaching which failed to find general acceptance were brought into prominence by the ani mosity of Jerome, who himself often silently appropriated the other parts as belonging to the common heritage of the Church. Origen, in a word, first laid down the lines of a systematic study of the Bible. Both in criticism and in interpretation his labors marked an epoch. There were homilies before his, but he fixed the type of a popular exposition. His "Hex

chard's notice. Burchard's book was very widely known in the sixteenth century. The statements of Adrichonius (Theatr. T. S. Tr. aser, 84), which are repeated by Huet and others, have no independent value whatever.

Prutz, Aus. Phönicien, 219, 306, quoted by Piper, Ztschr. für Kchgsch. 1876, p. 208. ↑ In Joh. v. Praf.

...

apha" was the greatest textual enterprise | and prepared us for the reception of of ancient times. His treatise on "First the words of truth ," "by probing us Principles was the earliest attempt at a and questioning us, and offering problems systematic view of the Christian faith. for our solution."* In this way Origen taught his scholars to regard language as designed not to furnish materials for display, but to express truth with the most exact accuracy and logic; as powerful, not to secure a plausible success, but to test beliefs with the strictest rigor.

But we must not linger over his writings. Writings are but one element of the teacher. A method is often more characteristic and more influential than doctrine. It was so with Origen; and, in his case, we fortunately possess a vivid and detailed description of the plan of study which he pursued and enforced. Gregory, surnamed Thaumaturgus, the wonder-worker, from his marvellous labors in Pontus, after working under him for five years at Cæsarea, at a later time delivered a farewell address in his presence (c. 239 A.D.). In this the scholar records with touching devotion the course along which he had been guided by the man to whom he felt that he owed his spiritual life. He had come to Syria to study Roman law in the school of Berytus, but on his way there he met with Origen, and at once felt that he had found in him the wisdom for which he was seeking. The day of that meeting was to him, in his own words, the dawn of a new being; his soul clave to the master whom he recognized, and he surrendered himself gladly to his guidance. As Origen spoke he kindled within the young advocate's breast a love for the Holy Word, the most lovely of all objects, and for himself, the Word's herald. "That love," Gregory adds, "induced me to give up country and friends, the aims which I had proposed to myself, the study of law of which I was proud. I had but one passion -philosophy and the godlike man who directed me in the pursuit of it." +

This was the first stage of intellectual discipline, the accurate preparation of the instruments of thought. In the next place, Origen led his pupils to apply them, first, to the "lofty and divine, and most lovely" study of external nature. Here he stood where we stand still, for he made geometry the sure and immovable foundation of his teaching, and from this rose step by step to the heights of heaven and the most sublime mysteries of the universe. Gregory's language implies that Origen was himself a student of physics; as, in some degree, the true theologian must be. Such investigations served to show man in his just relation to the world. A rational feeling for the vast grandeur of the external order, "the sacred economy of the universe," as Gregory calls it, was substituted for the ignorant and senseless wonder with which it is commonly regarded. The lessons of others, he writes, or his own observation, enabled him to explain the connection, the differences, the changes of the objects of sense.

But physics were naturally treated by Origen as a preparation, and not as an end. Moral science came next; and here he laid the greatest stress upon the method of experiment. His aim was not merely to analyze and to define and to classify feelOrigen's first care, so his scholar Greg-ings and motives, though he did this, but ory tells us, was to make the character of to form a character. For him, ethics were a pupil his special study. In this he fol- a life, and not only a theory. The four lowed the example of Clement. He as cardinal virtues of Plato - practical wiscertained with delicate and patient attention dom, self-control, righteousness, courage the capacities, the faults, the tendencies, seemed to him to require for their maof him whom he had to teach. Rank turing careful and diligent introspection growths of opinion were cleared away; and culture. And here he gave a comweaknesses were laid open; every effort mentary upon his teaching. His diswas used to develop endurance, firmness, cipline lay even more in action than in patience, thoroughness. "In true Socratic precept. His own conduct was, in his fashion he sometimes overthrew us by ar- scholars' minds, a more influential persua gument," Gregory writes; "if he saw us sion than his arguments.‡ restive and starting out of the course. The process was at first disagreeable to us, and painful; but so he purified us

...

So it was that Origen was the first teacher who really led Gregory to the pursuit of Greek philosophy, by bringing speculation into a vital union with practice.§

* Paneg. c. 7.
+ Id. c. 8.
↑ Id.

Id. cc. 11, 12.

Gregory saw in him the inspiring example offers of a system of Christian training of one at once wise and holy. The noble actually realized exhibits a type which we phrase of older masters gained a distinct cannot hope to surpass. May we not say meaning for the Christian disciple. In failure and weakness he was enabled to perceive that the end of all was "to become like to God with a pure mind, and to draw near to him and to abide in him."

Guarded and guided by this conviction, Origen encouraged his scholars in theology to look for help in all the works of human genius. They were to examine the writings of philosophers and poets of every nation- the dogmatic atheists alone excepted with faithful candor and wise catholicity. For them there was to be no sect, no party. And in their arduous work they had ever at hand in their master a friend who knew the difficulties of the ground to be traversed. If they were bewildered in the tangled mazes of conflicting opinions, he was ready to lead them with a firm hand. If they were in danger of being swallowed up in the quicksands of shifting error, he was near to lift them up to the sure resting-place which he had himself found.*

that the ideal of Christian education and the ideal of Christian philosophy were fashioned together? And can we wonder that, under that comprehensive and loving discipline, Gregory, already trained in heathen schools, first learnt, step by step, according to his own testimony, what the pursuit of philosophy truly was, and came to know the solemn duty of forming opinions which were to be, not the amusement of a moment, but the solid foundations of lifelong work? Have we yet, perhaps we ask, mastered the lessons?

The method of Origen, such as Gregory has described it, in all its breadth and freedom was forced upon him by what he held to be the deepest law of human nature. It may be true (and he admitted it) that we are, in our present state, but poorly furnished for the pursuit of knowledge; but he was never weary of proclaiming that we are at least born to engage in the endless search. If we see some admirable work of man's art, he says, we are at once eager to investigate the nature, the manner, the end of its production; and the contemplation of the works of God stirs us with an incomparably greater longing to learn the principles, the method, the purpose of creation. "This desire, this passion, has without doubt," he continues, "been implanted in us by God. And as the eye seeks the light, as our body craves food, so our mind is impressed with the characteristic and natural desire of knowing the truth of God and the causes of what we observe." Such a desire, since it is a divine endowment, carries with it the promise of future satisfaction. In our present life we may not be able to do more by the utmost toil than obtain some small fragments from the infinite treasures of divine knowledge, still the concentration of our souls upon the lovely vision of truth, the occupation of our various faculties in lofty inquiries, the very ambition with which we rise above our actual powers, is in itself fruitful in Such, in meagre outline, was, as Greg- blessing, and fits us better for the recepory tells us, the method of Origen. He tion of wisdom hereafter. at some later describes what he knew and what his hear-stage of existence. Now we draw at the ers knew. I know no parallel to the pic- best a faint outline, a preparatory sketch ture in ancient times. And when every of the features of truth; the true and liv. allowance has been made for the partial ing colors will be added then. Perhaps, enthusiasm of a pupil, the view which it he concludes most characteristically, that is the meaning of the words "to every

Even yet the end was not reached. The hierarchy of sciences was not completed till theology, with her own proper gifts, crowned the succession which we have followed hitherto, logic, physics, ethics. New data corresponded with the highest philosophy; and Origen found in the Holy Scriptures and the teaching of the spirit the final and absolute spring of divine truth. It was in this region that Gregory felt his master's power to be supreme. Origen's sovereign command of the mysteries of "the oracles of God," gave him perfect boldness in dealing with all other writings. "Therefore," Gregory adds, "there was no subject forbidden to us; nothing hidden or inaccessible. We were allowed to become acquainted with every doctrine, barbarian or Greek, on things spiritual, or civil, divine and human, traversing with all freedom, and investigating the whole circuit of knowledge, and satis fying ourselves with the full enjoyment of all the pleasures of the soul. 't

* Id. c. 14.

† Id. c. 15.

De Princ. ii. 4, p. 105.