bishop of Cappadocia, who entertained a great kindness for him, and prevailed with him to go into those provinces for the edification of the churches.

About the year 235, persecution being again revived, Origen was entertained by a charitable lady named Juliana; and to contribute towards the consolation of Christians in that evil time, he wrote his book concerning martyrdom.

Having acquired a perfect knowledge of the Hebrew tongue, and having purchased from the Jews, what Eusebius terms, prоTUOUS ypapas, the original or most authentic copies of the Hebrew Scriptures (probably the autograph of Ezra is intended, for the Jews would part with any thing for money), he composed his Hexapla, in which were six Greek versions, arranged in parallel columns; that of Aquila, Symmachus, the Septuagint, Theodotion, and two others, with the Hebrew text in Hebrew characters, and the same in Greek letters.— This made eight columns, but it was called Hexapla, from having the six Greek versions. Finding this work too expensive and unwieldy for general use, he composed what is called the Tetrapla, which contained only these four versions, Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, and the Septuagint.

Both the Hexapla and the Tetrapla are lost, except a few fragments scattered through different ancient writers, which Father Montfaucon has carefully collected and published at Paris, 1713, two vols. folio, under the title Hexapla Origensis quæ supersunt.— Montfaucon supposes, that this work must originally have formed 50 vols. folio!

Berrillus, bishop of Bostra, having denied the proper divinity of Christ, the neighbouring bishops attempted to reclaim him; but all their endeavours proving ineffectual, the assistance of Origen was requested, by the strength of whose reasoning he was soon recovered from his dangerous mistake, and returned him hearty thanks for his kind endeavours in his behalf. Origen, though advanced above the age of threescore, yet remitted nothing of his usual industry, either in preaching or writing: and Celsus, the epicurean, having written a book, in which he attacked the Christian religion, with all the virulent aspersions that wit or malice could invent, Origen answered it, in a work containing eight books, and which bears its testimony to the greatness of his abilities. It is much to be regretted, that this incomparable work has never yet appeared in the English language, though one of the most valuable relics of antiquity.

Another persecution being raised by Decius, Origen, among many others, was seized and cast into the bottom of a loathsome dungeon, loaded with irons, and a chain about his neck. His feet were made fast in the stocks four holes asunder, for many days together. He was threatened with fire, and tried with all the torments which a merciless enemy could inflict: and notwithstanding his age, and the weakness of his body, now worn out with continual labours, he bore all with patience, declaring himself willing to receive the fatal stroke;

but the judge, to give all possible weight to his misery, ordered that they should so torment as not to kill him. How long he continued in this deplorable situation, is not certainly known; but having regained his liberty, he employed his time in comforting the weak and disconsolate; writing letters for that purpose to different parts of the world and after he had outlived the Decian persecution about three years, he peaceably ended his days at Tyre, in the year of Christ 254, aged 69. His remains were deposited in the church of the Sepulchre at this place, where a marble monument, adorned with gold and precious stones, was erected to his memory.

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Thus have we traced, through the several stages of his life, the much-admired and famous Origen. Certain it is, that he was a most extraordinary man; one of those rare intellects whom nature so seldom forms. He was endowed with a quick and piercing apprehensiona strong and faithful memory-a fertile imagination and ready utterance; which were improved by all the learning which Rome and Greece could afford: he was incomparably skilled in logic, geometry, arithmetic, music, philosophy, rhetoric, and the several sentiments of all the sects of philosophers: neither was his virtue or his piety in any way inferior to his abilities and accomplishments, his life being in every respect truly amiable. Such as his discourses were, such were his manners; so that he was himself that good man which he used to describe to his scholars: he had a high regard for the glory of God, and the good of mankind, whose happiness he studied every way to promote, and thought nothing hard or mean by which it might be advanced. He was modest, humble, and temperate; and so great was his abstinence, that he lived for many years upon the smallest quantity of the meanest food, abstaining from every thing that was not absolutely necessary to the support of life. He was, says Mosheim, a man of vast and uncommon abilities, and the greatest luminary of the Christian world that this age exhibited to view. Had the justness of his judgment been equal to the immensity of his genius, the fervour of his piety, his indefatigable patience, his extensive erudition, and his other eminent and superior talents, all encomiums must have fallen short of his merits. Yet such as he was, his virtues and his labours deserve the admiration of all ages; and his name will be transmitted with honour through the annals of time, as long as learning and genius shall be esteemed among men.

Works of ORIGEN, which are extant in the original Greek:

1. Exegetica, containing all that remains of his commentaries on the following books:-Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Joshua, 1 Sam. (chap. xxviii.), Psalms, Canticles, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Matthew, John, Acts, Romans, and Hebrews; but only a few fragments of the above have escaped the ravages of time.

2. His works against Celsus, an epicurean philosopher, in vindication of Christianity, which the unprincipled epicurean had ontra

geously calumniated. In this work he not only overthrows the objections of Celsus, but destroys their very foundation, and establishes the Christian religion, not by adducing reasons merely, but by producing facts-by the prophecies concerning Christ, his miracles, and the holy lives of his disciples. This is the most valuable work which remains of this voluminous writer.

3. A Treatise concerning Prayer, in which there are many exceptionable things;-such as-no prayer should be addressed either to Christ or the Holy Spirit, but to the Father alone; the stars are animated; the final restitution of all things, so that the salvation of dæmons is probable; the bodies of the saints in the resurrection will be spherical; the mediation of saints in heaven, &c. But with these, and other strange opinions, there are many excellencies.

4. Philocalia; which are extracts from Origen's works, made by Gregory Nazianzen, and Basil the Great; but they are principally taken from his Homilies on different books of the New Testament.

5. An Exhortation to Martyrdom, written and addressed to Ambrosius and Protoctetus during the Maximinian persecution. It is an admirable work, and incited many in the primitive church to court rather than shun martyrdom.

6. An Epistle to Africanus, concerning the authenticity of the book of Susanna. This was in an-wer to the exceptions against it by Africanus, in his letter to Origen.

7. A Dialogue against the Marcionites and Valentinians, or concerning true faith in God. This is a disputation held by Origen with Megethius, Marcus, Droserius, and Marinus. all heretics; who endeavoured to defend their respective creeds with conjoint malevolence. They all agreed to constitute a certain Greek philosopher, named Eutropius, judge. Before him, and in the presence of many Greeks and heretics, the disputation took place, which was prolonged through several sittings, during which Eutropius himself, with several, both heathens and heretics, were convinced of the truth At length the victory evidently declared in favour of Origen, and the piece concludes with praise to God, the fountain of wisdom and knowledge; " for David smote the tyrant Goliath, and Origen the impious doctrines, and took away the reproach from Israel !"—This is a very interesting and entertaining work; and from it may be easily collected the wild, extravagant, and impious opinions, held by the heretics of those times.

8. An Explication of the Hebrew Names and Measures mentioned in the Sacred Writings. This has been highly praised by some of the Ancients.

9. Philosophumena, or a Treatise against all Sects. This is a suppositious piece, and does not appear to be the genuine work of Origen, but as it is among his works, it may be necessary to give some general account of it.

The Philosophic Sects which are here particularly noticed, are1. The Physici, or Naturalists, the chief of which were Thales, Pythagoras, Empedocles, Heraclitus, Anaximander, Anaximines, Anaxagoras, Archelaus, Parmenides, Leucippus, Democritus, Xeno, phanes, Ecphantus, and Hippo.

2. The Ethici, or Moralists, which were Socrates, disciple of Archelaus, mentioned above; and Plato, disciple of Socrates.

3. The Dialectici, or Logicians, at the head of whom was Aristotle, the disciple of Plato, who reduced the whole Dialectic philosophy into a regular system.

4. The Stoici, or Stoics, from oroa, a porch, because they delivered their lessons in such places. These were Chrysippus and Zeno.

5. The Epicureans, from Epicurus, who held opinions contrary to all the rest, asserting, that there was nothing in nature but a vacuum and atoms, out of which sprang all visible and invisible things. The vacuum was the place in which he fixed his worlds, and the atoms were the materials out of which he composed them.

6. The Academici, or Sceptics, the founder of which system was Pyrrho; hence the whole doctrine has been called Pyrrhonism.

7. The Indian Brahmans, whose ceremonies and principal religious tenets are very nearly the same, according to this author, with those mentioned in the Zend Avesta of Mr, Anquetil du Perron; so that if that work, as Sir William Jones and Mr. Richardson contend, is a recent imposture, it certainly preserves the opinions and customs which have been among the Indians for more than 1400 years.

8. The Druids of Gaul, on whom the author employs a short chapter, and considers them as a kind of Pythagoreans.

9. The author concludes his work with an account of the Philosophy and Mythology of Hesiod, from whose Theogonia he makes a considerable extract, beginning at line 108, and ending with the 139th. In this extract there are many various readings not found in the commonly received text of Hesiod.

10. A fragment of a work, entitled, Teρe тov Tavros, has also been attributed to Origen; but this has also been attributed to Hippolytus, Josephus, Justin Martyr, Irenæus, and Caius the Presbyter. The real author is unknown.

Works of ORIGEN which exist only in Latin, the Greek originals being last.

These translations are principally the work of St. Jerom and Rufinus.

Homilies on Genesis, 17. On Exodus, 13. On Leviticus, 16. On Numbers, 28. On Joshua, 26. On Judges, 9. On 1 Kings, chap. i. and ii. 1.

Three books of Commentaries on the book of Job.

Scholia on the whole book of Job.

Nine Homilies upon Psalms, 36, 37, and 38. Two on the Canticles. Nine on Isaiah. A second and third on Jeremiah; the others, to the number of nineteen, are found in Greek; they are included in the Exegetica. Fourteen on Ezekiel.

- Discourses on Matthew, from the twenty-second to the thirty-fifth, the rest are in Greek, and have been published by Bishop Huet. Thirty-nine Homilies on Luke.

Ten books on the Epistle to the Romans.

Ten Homilies on select parts of Matthew and Luke.

11. IIɛpe apxwv, or concerning Principles, in four books. This work contains much curious information, much allegory, and much exceptionable theory on things, both divine and natural. Rufinus, by whom it was translated, acknowledges in his introduction, that he has either changed or omitted several things which were not consistent with orthodox sentiments.

12. The Lamentation of Origen, in having burnt incense before an idol. forgery.

which he bewails his sin, in This, we have no doubt, is a

13. The Epistle of St. Barba to Origen, and of Origen to St. Barba.

The piece De Singularitate Clericorum, attributed to Origen, is not his, but probably St. Cyprian's, among whose works it is found.

Of Origen's works, the greater part is lost; among which, as has already been observed, are the Hexapla and Tetrapla, the former of which Father Montfaucon thinks, must have made at least fifty large volumes! Eusebius says, his works were so numerous, that they required a separate work to describe them. He tells us, however, that he had given a catalogue of them in his Life of Pamphilus; but that work is lost also.

St. Origenis Opera, a Car. de la Rue, Gr. et Lat. fol. Paris. 1733-39, 4 vols. An excellent edition.

ad editionem Car. de la Rue recusa, Gr. et Lat. a Fr. Oberthur, 8vo. Wirceb. 1780–85. We have seen only nine volumes of this work: it is a very neat, convenient, and correct edition. Very little of this author's works has been translated into English. The following is the only regular translation of any of his tracts we have met with.

An Homelie of Marye Magdalene, declaring her fervent love and zele towards Christ; written by that famous clerke Origene. To which is annexed,

An Homilie of Abraham, how he offered up his sonne Isaac. Written by Origene. Newly translated. 16mo. Lond. Reginald Wolfe. 1565.

An excellent translation, in French, of the eight books against Celsus, by Mr. Bouhéreau, of Dublin, was printed at Amsterdam,