that of Orpheus, and of those ancient muficians who were the authors of idolatry. "Thefe captivated men by the fweetnefs of their mufic with a view of rendering them miferable flaves to idols; and of making them like the very beafts, the ftocks, the ftones, which they adored;-whereas Jefus Chrift, who, from all eternity, was the Word of God, always had a compaffionate tenderness for men, and at laft took their nature upon him, to free them from the flavery of Demons, to open the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf, to guide their paths in the way of righteousness, to deliver them from death and hell, and to bestow on them everlafting life, and to put them into a capacity of living a heavenly life here upon earth; and, laftly, God made himself man to teach man to be like unto God." He thews them, that eternal falvation cannot otherwife be expected, and that eternal torments cannot otherwise be avoided, than by believing in Jefus Chrift, and by living conformably to his laws. "If you were permitted," fays he, "to purchafe eternal falvation, what would you not give for it? And now you may obtain it by faith and love;-there is nothing can hinder you from acquiring it ;-neither poverty, nor mifery, nor old age, nor any ftate of life. Believe, therefore, in one God, who is God and man, and receive eternal falvation for a recompence.→ Seek God, and you fhall live for ever." * In The candid Chriftian fees that the fundamentals of the Gospel are actually here, though not laid down in the cleareft and happiest manner. his Pædagogue he defcribes the WORD INCARNATE as the inftructor of men; and fays, "that he performs his functions by forgiving our fins as he is God, and by inftructing us he as is man, with great Du Pin. great sweetness and love:- He equally inftructs all forts, because, in one fenfe, all are children: yet we must not look on Chriftian doctrines as childish and contemptible: on the contrary, the quality of CHILDREN, which we receive in baptifm* -or regeneration,- renders us perfect in the knowledge of divine things, by delivering us from fins through grace, and by enlightening us with the illumination of faith; fo that we are at the fame time both children and men: and the milk with which we are nourished, being both the word and will of God, is very folid and fubftantial nourishment." Thefe appear to be fome of his best ideas of Christianity. In his Stromata he speaks with his ufual partiality in favour of philofophy, and fhews the effect his regard for it had on his own mind, by faying that faith is God's gift, but fo as to depend on our own free-will. His account of the perfect Chriftian, whom he calls Gnofticus, is fullied by ftoical rhapsodies t." He is never angry, and nothing affects him; because he always loves God: He looks upon that time as loft which he is obliged to spend in receiving nourishment: He is employed in continual and mental prayer. He is mild, affable, patient, but at the fame time fo rigid as not to be tempted; He gives way neither to pleafure nor to pain."-But enough of thefe views: Pfeudo-religionifts have fince his time dealt largely in fuch reveries, fo inconfiftent with that humbling fenfe of imbecility, and that fincere conflict againit the • The outward fign and the inward fpiritual grace, on account of their usual connexion in the primitive church, are ufed as fynonymous by a number of primitive writers, which has, unhappily, given occafion to one of the worst abufes, by thofe who place all grace in form and ceremony only. + Fleury, B. 4 the fin of our nature, which is peculiarly Chriftian. In truth-if his knowledge of Chriftian doctrine was really defective, the defect lay in the point of original fin. Of this His philofophical fect knew nothing aright; and it must be owned he fpeaks of it in a very confused, if not in a contradictory manner. On the whole,-fuch is the baneful effect of mixing things which will not incorporate, human inventions with Chriftian truths, that this writer, learned, laborious, and ingenious as he was, may feem to be far exceeded by many obfcure and illiterate perfons at this day, in true Scriptural knowledge and in the experience of divine things. That he was, in the main, a truly pious perfon, neither makes this account lefs credible, nor the danger lefs of admitting the peftilent fpirit of human felf-fufficiency to dictate in the Chriftian religion. CHAP. CHA P. V. THE STATE OF THE CHURCH DURING THE IT T feemed proper to prefix to the general history of the third century, the lives of the four perfons, which we have reviewed; partly because they were ftudious men not very much connected with the public ftate of Chriftianity; and partly because the knowledge of their views and tafte in religion may prepare the reader to expect that unhappy mixture of philofophical felf-righteoufnefs and fuperftition, which much clouded and depraved the pure light of the Gospel in this century. Severus, though in his younger day's a bitter perfecutor of Chriftians at Lyons, was yet, through the influence of the kindness which he had received from Proculus, favourably difpofed toward the Chriftians for a confiderable time. It was not till about the tenth year of his reign, which falls \ in with the year two hundred and two, that his 202. native ferocity of temper brake out afresh, and A. D. kindled a very fevere perfecution against the Chriftians, He was juft returned from the Eaft victo. rious and the pride of profperity induced him to forbid the propagation of the Gofpel. Chriftians ftill thought it right to obey God rather than man. Severus perfifted; and exercised the ufual cruelties. The perfecution raged every where; but particularly at Alexandria. From various parts parts of Egypt the Chriftians were brought thither to fuffer; and they expired in torments. Leonidas, father of the famous Origen, was allowed to be beheaded: His fon was then very young; but the account, which is given of him by Eufebius *, deferves our notice. Lætus was at that time governor of Alexandria and of the rest of Egypt; and Demetrius had been recently elected bishop of the Chriftians in that city. Great numbers now fuffering martyrdom, young Origen panted for the honour, and needlessly expofed himself to danger. His mother checked the imprudent zeal at firft by earnest entreaties; but perceiving that he ftill was bent on fuffering with his father, who at that time was closely confined, the very properly exercifed her motherly authority by confining him to the houfe, and by hiding from him all his apparel. The vehement spirit of Origen prompted him, when he could do nothing elfe, to write a letter to his father, in which he thus exhorted him, "Father, faint not, and don't be concerned on our account." He had been carefully trained in the ftudy of the Scriptures under the infpection of his pious father, who, together with the study of the liberal arts, had particularly fuperintended this most important part of education. Before he introduced his fon to any material exercises in profane learning, he inftructed him in the Scriptures, and gave him daily a certain tak out of them to repeat. The penetrating genius of Origen led him, in the courfe of his employment, to investigate the fenfe of Scripture, and to ask his father questions beyond his ability to folve. The father checked his curiofity, reminded him of his imbecility, and admo nished him to be content with the plain grammarical Eufeb. B. 6. C. 1. |