THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 FROM THE LIBRARY OF 
 ERNEST CARROLL MOORE
 
 ;,
 
 r 
 
 Tt : CHRISTIAN PLATONISTS 
 OF ALEXANDRIA 
 
 BIGG
 
 Yorfe 
 
 MACMILLAN AND CO. 
 
 112, FOURTH AVENUE
 
 THE CHRISTIAN PLATONISTS 
 
 OF 
 
 ALEXANDRIA 
 
 EIGHT LECTURES 
 
 PREACHED BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD 
 IN THE YEAR 1886 
 
 ON THE FOUNDATION OF THE LATE REV. JOHN HAMPTON, M.A. 
 CANON OF SALISBURY 
 
 CHARLESlBIGG, D.D. 
 ( , -* 
 
 Assistant Chaplain of Corpus Christi College, formerly Senior Student of 
 Christ Church, Oxford 
 
 OXFpRD 
 AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 
 
 NEW^YORK 
 MACMILLAN AND CO. 
 ' i 886 
 
 [ All rights reserved ]
 
 EXTRACT 
 
 FROM THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT 
 
 OF THE LATE 
 
 REV. JOHN BAMPTON, 
 CANON OF SALISBURY. 
 
 " I give and bequeath my Lands and Estates to the 
 
 " Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars of the University of Oxford 
 " forever, to have and to hold all and singular the said Lands or 
 " Estates upon trust, and to the intents and purposes hereinafter 
 " mentioned ; that is to say, I will and appoint that the Vice- 
 " Chancellor of the University of Oxford for the time being shall 
 " take and receive all the rents, issues, and profits thereof, and 
 " (after all taxes, reparations, and necessary deductions made) 
 " that he pay all the remainder to the endowment of eight 
 " Divinity Lecture Sermons, to be established for ever in the 
 " said University, and to be performed in the manner following: 
 
 " I direct and appoint, that, upon the first Tuesday in Easter 
 ' Term, a Lecturer may be yearly chosen by the Heads of Col- 
 " leges only, and by no others, in the room adjoining to the 
 " Printing-House, between the hours of ten in the morning and 
 "two in the afternoon, to preach eight Divinity Lecture 
 " Sermons, the year following, at St. Mary's in Oxford, between 
 "the commencement of the last month in Lent Term, and the 
 "end of the third week in Act Term. 
 
 -2298
 
 vi Extract from the Rev. John Bamptons Will. 
 
 " Also I direct and appoint, that the eight Divinity Lecture 
 " Sermons shall be preached upon either of the following 
 " Subjects to confirm and establish the Christian Faith, and 
 "to confute all heretics and schismatics upon the divine 
 "authority of the holy Scriptures upon the authority of the 
 "writings of the primitive Fathers, as to the faith and practice 
 " of the primitive Church upon the Divinity of our Lord and 
 " Saviour Jesus Christ upon the Divinity of the Holy Ghost 
 "upon the Articles of the Christian Faith, as comprehended in 
 " the Apostles' and Nicene Creed. 
 
 "Also I direct, that thirty copies of the eight Divinity Lec- 
 " ture Sermons shall be always printed, within two months after 
 " they are preached ; and one copy shall be given to the Chan- 
 " cellor of the University, and one copy to the Head of every 
 " College, and one copy to the Mayor of the city of Oxford, and 
 "one copy to be put into the Bodleian Library; and the 
 " expense of printing them shall be paid out of the revenue of 
 " the Land or Estates given for establishing the Divinity Lecture 
 " Sermons; and the Preacher shall not be paid, nor be entitled 
 " to the revenue, before they are printed. 
 
 " Also I direct and appoint, that no person shall be qualified 
 "to preach the Divinity Lecture Sermons, unless he hath taken 
 " the degree of Master of Arts at least, in one of the two Uni- 
 "versities of Oxford or Cambridge; and that the same person 
 " shall never preach the Divinity Lecture Sermons twice."
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 NOT many words will be necessary by way of Prole- 
 gomena to this book. A glance at the Synopsis will 
 explain what I have undertaken; and the Lectures 
 themselves will prove with what means, in what spirit, 
 and with what success, the undertaking has been 
 achieved. 
 
 A Bampton Lecturer labours under some peculiar 
 difficulties. His eight discourses eight Stromatcis or 
 . Carpet Bags, if I may use the quaint phrase of Clement 
 will not pack away more than a limited, if somewhat 
 elastic, number of articles. I have preferred to omit 
 what could not comfortably be included, rather than 
 force things in, to the destruction of their proper shape 
 and utility. It is better to travel expcditus than to carry 
 about a mere collection of samples. But then it becomes 
 necessary to keep to the main lines of country, and not 
 wander off into every tempting nook, or down each 
 shadowy lane. The voyager may do this with safety, if 
 he makes careful note of the finger-posts and by-roads, 
 which others with more leisure and ampler means may 
 wish to investigate. I trust I have given such landmarks 
 as may enable the reader to check my own aberrations 
 from the king's highway, and to gather for himself any 
 further information that he may desire.
 
 viii Preface. 
 
 The accomplished student will notice other deficiencies 
 of a more serious kind ; and here again the high-sounding 
 title of Bampton Lecturer entails a penalty. Quid 
 dignum tanto feret hie promissor hiatti ? I wish I could 
 take for my motto the words of Clement (Strom. i. i. 
 1 7), ' No book can be so fortunate, but that some will 
 find fault ; and that may be reckoned to have fared not 
 ill, which none can with justice censure.' It was a wise 
 as well as a graceful practice of older times to begin 
 every preface with the address Lectori Benevolo. All I 
 can hope is that my shortcomings are not due to slack- 
 ness or indolence, to want of consideration for my readers, 
 or of reverence for those bright stars of holiness, of 
 wisdom, of erudition, whose names occur in the following 
 pages. Here I may observe that the Bishop of Durham's 
 monumental work on Ignatius did not come into my 
 hands till too late to be of much service. I had deferred 
 the perusal till the completion of my own task should 
 have set me at freedom once more to become a learner, 
 not anticipating (as I ought to have done) that it would 
 in so many ways shed light upon my theme. It is 
 necessary to mention this, lest the reader should suspect 
 me, on one or two points, of a desire to controvert, with- 
 out reason given, the opinion of so illustrious a scholar. 
 
 One such point arises out of a passage in the Epistle 
 of Ignatius to the Romans (chap. 7) : ($>v yap y/3a</>o> vy.lv 
 ep<3i> TOV aiiodavtlv. 6 e/zos epcos eoravpcorai, /cat OVK CVTIV v 
 fj.ol irvp (J)iX6v\ov, v$b)p 8e &v nal \a\ovv ey e/xoi, eo-oo0eV juoi 
 \iyov' Aevpo Ttpbs TOV Trarepa. Origen (see Lecture V. 
 p. 1 88) translated the words 6 e/xo?
 
 Preface. ix 
 
 ' Meus autem Amor crucifixus est.' Dr. Zahn objects 
 to this ; ' Non Christum, quern solum amet, crucifixum 
 esse dicit Ignatius, quemadmodum plerique post 
 Origenem intellexerunt, nee vero eum, qui crucifixus est 
 amorem suum vocavit, sicuti graecorum verborum ignari 
 nonnulli halucinati sunt, sed suam rerum terrestrium 
 cupiditatem quasi crucifixam esse profitetur (cf. Gal. vi. 
 14).' It did not appear to me that a comment, which 
 attributed ignorance of Greek to Origen, called for special 
 notice. But as Dr. Zahn's conclusion has been adopted 
 and supported by the high authority of the Bishop of 
 Durham, it is no longer safe or respectful to pass over 
 the matter in silence. It is not indeed a necessary part 
 of my task to consider whether Origen was right or 
 wrong. Nevertheless as the Commentary on the Song 
 of Songs fostered, if it did not initiate, a remarkable 
 change in the expression of Christian love, it is of interest 
 to trace this change as near the fountain-head as possible. 
 
 I do not quite understand the point of Dr. Zahn's 
 assertion that Origen's rendering is bad Greek. He 
 may mean that e/xos ought not to be confounded with 
 dyaTrrj. Or he may mean that e/xos, which signifies the 
 passion of love, or the god by whom the passion was 
 supposed to be inspired, does not signify the object of 
 the passion, the darling or beloved one. 
 
 To the first question it is almost sufficient to reply, that 
 whether the confusion of epo>s and aya-nt] ought to have 
 been made or not, it certainly was made, not only by 
 Origen but by Clement (6 epao-ros of Christ, Strom, vi. 9. 
 72). And if by them why not by Ignatius? Origen, a
 
 x Preface. 
 
 good Greek scholar pace Dr. Zahn, asserts that Ignatius 
 employed this hyperbole in the present passage. And 
 what other sense can the words convey? Can epo)?. 
 when used without limiting additions, signify ' earthly 
 passions,' ' carnal appetites ? ' Like our ' love,' of which 
 it is almost an exact equivalent, it may be applied to 
 base uses, but it is not, like k-iiiBv^ia, a base word. From 
 the time of Parmenides it had been capable of the most 
 exalted signification ; it is introduced here by the 
 participle ep<3i> in the sense of ardent spiritual desire ; it 
 is opposed in true Platonic fashion to TrCp <f>i\6vXov (we 
 have other Platonic phrases in this same Epistle : chap, 
 iii, ovSey ijnuv6ftPOV K.aX6v : chap, vi, /xTjSe v\r] KoA.a/cevo-rjre). 
 The second point is but a trivial one. It has been 
 remarked that epto? is almost an exact equivalent of 
 'love.' The exception is that in classical Greek it 
 perhaps never signifies 'the beloved.' Yet it may be 
 urged that all words indicative of strong feeling may 
 be used to denote the person by whom the feeling is 
 aroused my life, my joy, my dread, and so on and it 
 certainly would not be a very hazardous stroke to employ 
 in the same manner, though the usual term is 6 
 or 6 epacrros. Thus Fritzsche explains Theoc. 
 ii. 151, aiev Ipcoro? d/cparco e7rex*~o, and, even if this 
 instance is dubious, phrases like that of Meleager, 
 Anthol. Pal. v. 166, 77 vtos aAAos epco?, via vaiyvia, or that 
 of Euripides, Oed. frag. 551, Bind., fvbs 5' e/xoro? ovros ov 
 pC 77801/7], show how difficult it is to keep the senses 
 apart. Again, we have the closely allied words e/xoriAos 
 (Theoc. iii. 7), epom's (Theoc. iv. 59), and the common
 
 Preface. xi 
 
 proper names Erotion (Plautus, Men. i. 2. 60 ; Martial, 
 v. 34 ; 37 ; x. 61) and Eros (Martial, x. 80 ; other 
 instances in Pape and Benseler), all blending in the same 
 way the ideas of ' love,' ' Cupid,' ' darling ; ' and the latter 
 at least denoting not sexual passion but the love of parent 
 for child (cp. Eurip. Erech. frag. 360, Dind., epare /^Tjrpo's, 
 TratSes, a>? OVK ear' Ipcos rotoCros aA.A.09 oorts fjbtav epay). 
 Lastly, in Alciphron, Epp. i. 34, we have the very phrase 
 of which we are in quest, 6 ejuos epcos Evdvbr]iJ.e. If then 
 there is any violation of usage in the expression of 
 Ignatius (on the supposition that Origen is right), it is 
 but slight, and cannot cause surprise in the case of 
 a writer who treats grammar like a slave. 
 
 The Bishop of Durham does not, as I understand him, 
 deny that Origen's rendering is admissible as a question 
 of Greek, but maintains that it ' tears the clause out of 
 the context.' But is this so? 
 
 What is Ignatius saying ? ' For I that write unto you 
 am living, but in love with death. My Love is crucified, 
 and in me there is no earth-fed fire, but living water 
 speaking in my heart and saying Come hither to ne 
 Father.' Why is he in love with death? Because 
 Christ, his Beloved, is crucified, and perfect union with 
 Him will be attained by death, a martyr death like His. 
 Because, his heart being with Christ, there is no fire of 
 sin to drown the voice that calls him. If we translate 
 as proposed by Dr. Zahn and the Bishop of Durham, we 
 not only do great violence to the word epco?, but lose an 
 impassioned phrase quite in harmony with the general 
 colour of this highly figurative and enthusiastic passage.
 
 xii Preface. 
 
 Origen rarely misunderstands, except where some 
 strong prepossession deflects his judgment, and here his 
 mind was biassed rather in the other direction. Not- 
 withstanding the difference of time he was a strong con- 
 servative precisely where Ignatius was a bold innovator, 
 but in this one instance he sanctioned the new modes of 
 expression, which, as Liicke pointed out, were brought 
 into vogue largely through the influence of the martyrs, 
 and of Ignatius above all. 
 
 It remains only to express my gratitude to those who 
 have helped me on my way; to the authorities of the 
 Bodleian ; to Corpus Christi College (my alma nutrix to 
 whom I am indebted not merely for the loan of books 
 but for the will and power to profit by them) ; to the 
 Librarian of Christ Church, whose iron discipline has 
 been relaxed in my behalf ; and to many friends whose 
 advice, assistance and sympathy have been of supreme 
 value to me. One there is in particular, of a communion, 
 alas, that is not my own, on whose patience and erudition 
 I have been suffered to make prodigal drafts. To him I 
 could have wished to dedicate this book, Quicquid hoc 
 libelli Qualectmque, did I not know too surely that there 
 is much in it of which he cannot approve, and that I 
 should vex the modesty, which veils learning that would 
 grace a professed theologian, by adding his name. 
 
 CHARLES BIGG. 
 
 OXFORD : 
 Sept.1%, 1886.
 
 SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS. 
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. PHILO AND THE GNOSTICS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE MUSEUM OF ALEXANDRIA i 
 
 Influence of the Pagan University upon Christian thought only 
 distant and indirect ....... 
 
 THE EGYPTIAN JEWS were the active mediators between 
 
 European and Oriental ideas ...... 2 
 
 Their wealth, numbers, and privileges ..... 3 
 
 The Septuagint and consequent outbreak of literary Activity . 
 
 Propaganda 4 
 
 Hellenism 
 
 Aristeas , 6 
 
 Aristobulus ........ 
 
 Greek Philosophy ' stolen ' from the Jew . 
 
 Logos Doctrine before Philo ..... 
 
 PHILO 
 
 Opposition to Anthropomorphism 7 
 
 Negative Conception of Deity 8 
 
 Limitation of the Analytic Method in Philo ... 9 
 
 Evil of Matter ......... 1 1 
 
 Hence Creation and Providence delegated to Subordinate 
 Powers ......... 
 
 Relation of Powers to Angels, Logoi, Ideas, Demons . 1 2 
 
 The Two POWERS of GOODNESS and JUSTICE 
 
 Their indistinct Personality . . . . . . 13 
 
 Relation to earlier Jewish speculations . . . . 14 
 
 The LOGOS 
 
 History of the Term 15 
 
 Relation of the LOGOS to GOD 
 
 Wisdom .......... 1 6 
 
 Intelligible World
 
 xiv Synopsis of Contents. 
 
 Schechinah ......... 
 
 Eldest Son 
 
 Second God ......... 17 
 
 Relation of the LOGOS to the Two POWERS .... 
 
 Book of Creation ........ 
 
 King's Architect 
 
 Charioteer ......... 
 
 Relation of the LOGOS to the World 
 
 Seal. Divider. Bend ....... 
 
 High Priest's Vesture 
 
 Creator 18 
 
 Helmsman, Pilot of Creation ...... 
 
 Vicegerent of God 
 
 Relation of the LOGOS to Man 
 
 Heavenly Man 
 
 Mediator as Prophet and Law 19 
 
 as High Priest and Atoner .... 
 The Two LIVES, corresponding to the distinction between 
 
 GOD and the LOGOS 21 
 
 Faith and Wisdom. The Sensible and the Ideal 
 
 The Three Paths ........ 22 
 
 Vision, Ecstasy ........ 
 
 Relation of Philonism to historic Judaism . . . . 23 
 
 Relation of Philonism to the Christian Church ... 24 
 
 Facilitated the definition of the Trinity . . . . 25 
 
 Impeded the understanding of the Atonement . 
 Intellectualism its good and evil . . . . . 26 
 
 THE GNOSTICS 
 
 Subordinate interest of Gnostic Metaphysics . . . . 27 
 
 Their predominant Ethical motive 28 
 
 Plutarch and the Heathen Gnostics . . . . . 29 
 
 The Chiistian Gnostics ......... 
 
 Their Dualism ......... 30 
 
 Their Exegesis . . 
 
 Their Theory of Salvation ...... 
 
 Christology of Theodotus . . . . . . 31 
 
 The Three Natures of Man 32 
 
 Eschatology 33 
 
 Relation of Gnosticism to Platonism 34 
 
 Mazdeism ..... 
 
 Ebionitism 
 
 St. Paul 
 
 General Character and Effects of Gnosticism .... 35
 
 Synopsis of Contents, xv 
 
 LECTURE II. 
 
 CLEMENT. 
 
 THE ALEXANDRINE CHURCH ...... 
 
 Founded according to tradition by St. Mark .... 36 
 
 Its wealth and importance at the end of the second century 
 
 Its conservatism in ritual and discipline 38 
 
 Changes effected by Demetrius . ... 
 
 The College of Presbyters . . . . . . 39 
 
 The Suffragan Bishops ....... 40 
 
 The CATECHETICAL SCHOOL 
 
 Object of the Institution 41 
 
 Course of Instruction 43 
 
 The first Master ATHENAGORAS (?) . . . . 43 
 
 PANTAENUS 
 
 T. FLAVIUS CLEMENS ....... 
 
 His Life 45 
 
 His Character and Attainments . . . . . . 46 
 
 His Love of Literature 
 
 And of PHILOSOPHY ........ 
 
 Unity of Truth . 48 
 
 Science a Covenant of God 
 
 Apologists not unfriendly to Philosophy ^ 49 
 
 Philosophy brought into discredit by the Gnostics . 
 Clement proclaims its necessity to the Church . . 50 
 
 His position on one side Rationalist, on another M) stic . 5 1 
 
 The CANON OF SCRIPTURE 
 
 How far settled in Clement's time . . . . . 52 
 
 'Paulinism' . 53 
 
 The Unity of Scripture 
 
 Denied on moral grounds by the Ebionites . . 54 
 
 and by the Gnostics 
 Clement defends the Moral Law by maintaining the 
 
 essential identity of Justice and Goodness . . 55 
 And the Sacrificial Law on the ground of its per- 
 manent doctrinal value 56 
 
 ALLEGORISM the Key to the Unity of Scripture 
 General character of Alexandrine Allegorism . 
 
 Opposition to popular Theology .-7 
 
 Reserve . . 5^
 
 xvi Synopsis of Contents. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE HOLY TRINITY 
 
 Universal admission of the doctrine in some shape or other . 59 
 Previous Speculation on the subject. Emanationism. Modalism 
 Difference between the Philonic and the Christian Logos 
 
 Doctrine .......... 60 
 
 The Prophoric Logos ........ 61 
 
 THE FATHER . . 
 
 Method of Clement 
 
 The Revelation of Scripture 62 
 
 Analysis or Elimination ....... 
 
 The Monad 63 
 
 The Son the Consciousness of God 64 
 
 Kelation of Clement to Neo-Platonism .... 
 
 Futility of his Method 65 
 
 THE SON 
 
 His Personality. Coequality. Coetemity ... 66 
 
 Terminology of Clement . . . . . . . 67 
 
 Use of Philonic phraseology 
 
 Clement rejects the term ' Prophoric Logos ' . 68 
 
 Subordinationism strictly secondary in Clement . . 69 
 
 THE HOLY SPIRIT 
 
 His Personality not yet clearly defined .... 70 
 
 How far explained by Clement 
 
 Office of the Holy Spirit 
 
 Jealousy of Pantheism . . . . . . . 71 
 
 THE INCARNATION AND REDEMPTION . 
 
 The Human Soul of Jesus 
 
 Semi-Docetism 
 
 The Passion of Jesus undesigned by God .... 72 
 
 Christ the Light of the World 
 
 Hellenism in Clement's view of Redemption .... 73 
 
 The Ransom 
 
 Forgiveness .......... 
 
 Reconciliation and Propitiation . . . ' . . 74 
 
 Clement's Typology 
 
 Manifestation of Christ as Man in the Lower Life, as Physician, 
 
 Shepherd, Tutor, Lawgiver ...... 
 
 In the higher Life as God, as Light, Truth, Life ... 75 
 
 As High Priest 
 
 Redemption the consummation of the spiritual development of 
 
 mankind
 
 Synopsis of Contents. xvii 
 
 LECTURE III. 
 
 CLEMENT. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CREATION 
 
 Denial of Pre-existence and of Eternity of Matter ... 76 
 
 The Six Days allegorised . . . . . 
 
 The Soul of Man . 77 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF EVIL 
 
 Opposition to Gnosticism . . . . 
 
 THE FREEDOM OF THE WILL 78 
 
 Departure from Plato and St. Paul 79 
 
 Rejection of Determinism ....... 
 
 Indifferentism 
 
 Doctrine of ORIGINAL SIN unknown to Clement .... 80 
 
 Adam potentially not actually perfect 
 
 The Soul does not descend from Adam 
 
 Allegorism of the Fall 8 r 
 
 Infant Baptism not the rule at Alexandria .... 
 
 FAITH AND GRACE 82 
 
 THE BAPTISM OF REGENERATION 83 
 
 THE Two LIVES 
 
 Historical Conditions of Clement's view 
 
 Gnosticism and Paulinism 
 
 Legalism ......... 
 
 Necessity of Discipline enhanced by the rapid expansion 
 
 of the Church 84 
 
 Social, moral, spiritual inequality amongst the brethren . 85 
 
 Distinction between Visible and Invisible Church not yet 
 familiar ......... 
 
 Documentary sources of his view 
 
 Heathen Philosophy 86 
 
 Apostolic Fathers ........ 
 
 Scripture 
 
 Characteristic Notes of the Two Lives 
 
 Faith, Fear, Holiness 
 
 Knowledge, Love, Righteousness ..... 
 The Compromise between the Church and the World . . 87 
 
 Criticism of this VIA MEDIA 
 
 How different from Gnosticism 
 
 Breach of continuity between the Two Lives . 
 
 Egotism 88 
 
 Clement's treatment of Faith 
 
 And of Hope 
 
 And of Fear 89 
 
 b
 
 xviii Synopsis of Contents. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE LOWER LIFE as described in the Pedagogue .... 
 
 Stoicism .......... 90 
 
 Aristotelianism 
 
 THE HIGHER LIFE 
 
 Described in terms borrowed from the Greek Mysteries . 91 
 
 Knowledge. Gnosis. The true Gnostic . 
 
 Indefectibility of Knowledge ...... 
 
 Object of Knowledge 92 
 
 Holiness the indispensable condition of Knowledge . 
 Connection with Allegorism ...... 
 
 Necessity of mental cultivation 93 
 
 Love 
 
 Relation to Knowledge 
 
 How affected by Stoicism and Platonism . . 
 
 Apathy 
 
 Disinterested Love 94 
 
 Relation of Clement's view to Mysticism .... 95 
 
 Stress laid upon Holiness 
 
 And upon Righteousness 96 
 
 And upon due use of the Means of Grace . . . 97 
 
 Silent Prayer 
 
 The indefectibility of Gnosis excludes Ecstasy ... 98 
 Connection of Christian Mysticism with the Song of 
 
 Songs 99 
 
 THE CHURCH 
 
 One 100 
 
 Holy , 
 
 The Priesthood 
 
 The Gnostic the only Hiereus 101 
 
 Sacrifice. Altar. Incense 
 
 Penance 
 
 Spiritual Direction 102 
 
 The Eucharist . 
 
 Not separate at Alexandria from the Agape . . . 103 
 
 The Public Agape 
 
 The Aoxi? ......... 
 
 The House-Supper 
 
 The Eucharistic Grace 105 
 
 It is Gnosis 
 
 ESCHATOLOGY .... 
 
 Resurrection 
 
 Pagan doctrine of Immortality 108 
 
 Variety of opinion in the Church
 
 Synopsis of Contents. xix 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Resurrection of ' this flesh ' ... . 109 
 
 Chiliasm . . . . . . . 
 
 Belief in the nearness of the End of the World . 
 
 Various opinions as to Rewards and Punishments . no 
 
 Prayers for the Dead ...... 
 
 Clement's own view in 
 
 The glorified body ....... 
 
 The double office of Fire 
 
 Punishments .......... 
 
 Spiritual in nature ........ 
 
 The prayers of the Saints . , , . . . 112 
 Possibility of Repentance till the Last Day 
 
 The State of the Blessed 
 
 All purged by Fire 113 
 
 The Seven Heavens ........ 
 
 The Ogdoad of Rest . 114 
 
 The Poena Damni 
 
 The Beatific Vision . 
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 
 ORIGEN. 
 
 His LIFE AND CHARACTER 115-123 
 
 His WORKS 
 
 Textual Criticism .,.,..... 
 
 The New Testament . 123 
 
 The Hexapla 125 
 
 Origen's knowledge of Hebrew 
 
 The Controversy with Africanus . . . . 126 
 
 Exegesis 
 
 The Scholia 127 
 
 The Homilies 
 
 Church-buildings, Liturgy, Character of the Congre- 
 gation 128 
 
 Origen as a Preacher 129 
 
 The Commentaries 
 
 Their general plan 131 
 
 Origen's services as an Expositor of the real sense of 
 Scripture ........ 
 
 ALLEGORISM 
 
 General difference between Clement and Origen . . 134 
 
 ba
 
 xx Synopsis of Contents. 
 
 The Law of Correspondence 
 
 The Three Senses of Scripture 136 
 
 How distinguished ....... 
 
 The Negative use of Allegorism . . . . 137 
 
 Denial of the Literal Sense 
 
 Reasons for this 138 
 
 Biographical interest of Origen's view . . 139 
 
 The Positive use of Allegorism 
 
 The Discovery of Mysteries 
 
 Economy or Reserve . . . . . . 141 
 
 The Two Lives in Origen 
 
 Scope and Purpose of Alexandrine Reserve 
 Erroneous inferences that have been drawn 
 
 from it 143 
 
 How far capable of defence . . . . 144 
 Objections to the Alexandrine method of Allegorism 
 
 It is seen at its worst on its Apologetic side . . 146 
 May be charged with dishonesty 
 Reasons for modifying this judgment 
 Its Positive use . . 
 
 Differing judgments 148 
 
 In application to the Old Testament it confounds 
 
 symbol with proof 
 
 In application to the Church of the Present it is the 
 
 expression of spiritual freedom and enlightenment . 150 
 In application to the Church of the Future it is open 
 to the charge of presumption .... 
 
 But this may be extenuated .... 
 
 LECTURE V. 
 
 ORIGEN. 
 
 The Regula Fidei .... ^ .... 152 
 
 Anxiety of Origen to keep within the Canon 
 
 His teaching always Scriptural 154 
 
 The Three Methods of Pagan Theology 155 
 
 The Christian Method 
 
 THE NATURE OF GOD. 
 
 The Negative Attributes ....... 
 
 The Positive Attributes 157 
 
 God not Impassible 158 
 
 Our knowledge of Him inadequate but true
 
 Synopsis of Contents. xxi 
 
 PAGE 
 
 God is Perfect, not Absolute . . . . . . . 159 
 
 Limitation of Creation 
 
 Eternity of Creation . 
 
 Optimism ......... 160 
 
 Divine Power conditioned by Goodness and Wisdom . 161 
 
 THE HOL Y TRINITY 
 
 Theodotus 162 
 
 The Noetians 
 
 Hypostasis. Ousia. Person. Substance .... 163 
 The Mystery of the Economy . ...... 166 
 
 THE FATHER 167 
 
 THE SON 
 
 His Hypostasis . 
 
 Coeternity. Coequality ........ 
 
 Epinoiai of the Son 168 
 
 Essential Wisdom, Word, Light, Truth .... 169 
 
 Accidental Propitiation, Redemption, Mediation . 
 
 In what sense the office of Mediation ceases . . . 1 70 
 
 THE HOLY SPIRIT 171 
 
 His Relation to the other Persons undetermined 
 
 The title ' God ' 172 
 
 Coeternity and Coequality . . . . . . . 173 
 
 His Office . 
 
 THE UNITY IN TRINITY 
 
 The Translations of Rufinus . . . . . 1 75 
 
 Persons numerically but not locally distinct . . . . 1 76 
 
 The Allegorism of the Shew Bread 
 
 The Eternal Generation 177 
 
 Rejection of the terms ' Projection," ' Prophoric ' . . 178 
 
 UNITY OF PERFECT HARMONY 
 
 UNITY OF SUBSTANCE 
 
 The term Homoousios 1 79 
 
 UNITY OF DERIVATION 180 
 
 Subordinationism 
 
 Origen's view Scriptural, not Metaphysical . . 181 
 His object is to restrict the ancient idea of Subordina- 
 tion and expand that of the Equality of the Persons 182 
 
 Prayer to the Son 183 
 
 How limited by Origen ..... 
 Conservatism of his language . . . . 1 86 
 Influence of his Commentary on the Song of 
 
 Songs . . . . . . J 88
 
 xxii Synopsis of Contents. 
 
 THE INCARNATION Tscj 
 
 The God-Man 
 
 The Human Soul of Jesus ....... 
 
 The Flesh of Jesus 190 
 
 The last trace of Docetism 191 
 
 The Humanity of Jesus eternal . . . . 192 
 
 LECTURE VI. 
 
 ORIGEN. 
 
 CREATION 193 
 
 The Eternity before and after this World .... 
 
 Disorder of Creation 194 
 
 Injustice, Inequality 195 
 
 Pre-existence 
 
 The First Heaven and Earth 196 
 
 Free Will. The Fall 197 
 
 The Visible Heaven and Earth 
 
 The Soul of Man 199 
 
 Philosophical objections to Origen's theory 
 
 Scriptural objections 
 
 Predestination ........ 200 
 
 Grace . 201 
 
 Original Sin 202 
 
 Origen did not at first hold this tenet 
 
 Grounds of his later belief 
 
 Infant Baptism 
 
 Law of Purification ...... 203 
 
 ' Families ' in earth and Heaven 
 
 ' Seed of Abraham ' 204 
 
 Fall of Adam 
 
 Descent of Sinless Souls . . . . . 205 
 
 The ' Reign of Death ' . . . 
 
 Sense of Guilt stronger in Origen than in Clement 206 
 
 THE FOUR REVELATIONS 
 
 THE NATURAL LAW 207 
 
 Position of the Gentiles 
 
 THE LAW OF MOSES 208 
 
 Not the cause of Sin 
 
 Idea of Development not so clear in Origen as in 
 Clement
 
 Synopsis of Contents. xxiii 
 
 THE GOSPEL 
 
 The Two Lives 
 
 Faith and Wisdom 209 
 
 The object of Faith. ' Jesus my Lord and Saviour '. 210 
 The Epinoiai in their subjective aspect 
 
 Levitical Typology 
 
 Ransom. Redemption 
 
 Propitiation . . . . . . . 211 
 
 The Duplex Hostia 212 
 
 The Church 
 
 One and Catholic 213 
 
 The Promise to Peter 
 
 Rome ........ 
 
 The Clergy 214 
 
 Symbolised by the Mosaic Hierarchy 
 
 The Dominion of Grace 215 
 
 Confession 216 
 
 Penance. Absolution .... 
 
 History of the Question .... 
 
 Origen's View 217 
 
 The Eucharist . . . . . . . . 219 
 
 Growing sense of reverence and mystery 
 
 In what sense the Eucharist is a Mystery . . 220 
 
 The Presence of Christ, in what sense Real . 221 
 
 THE ETERNAL GOSPEL 222 
 
 The Spiritual Church 
 
 Meaning and scope of the Eternal Gospel . . . 223 
 
 Hades and Paradise 224 
 
 The Day of Judgment 
 
 The Resurrection of the Flesh 225 
 
 The ' Germinative Principle ' 
 
 Details of his View 226 
 
 The Aeons to Come 227 
 
 Enduring Freedom ....... 
 
 Rise and Fall of the Soul 228 
 
 Uncertainty of Origen's opinion 
 
 The ' Refiner's Fire' 229 
 
 Punishment, its nature and object 
 
 General Principles of Origen . . . . 230 
 
 Scriptural basis 
 
 The word ' Eternal ' 231 
 
 The voice of Scripture .... 
 Vacillation of Origen. The Wedding Guest 232 
 The Demons .
 
 xxiv Synopsis of Contents. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Consummation of All Things 233 
 
 The Beatific Vision . . . . . . . 234 
 
 The Poena Damni . 
 
 LECTURE VII. 
 
 THE REFORMED PAGANISM. 
 
 The Second Century an Age of Revival 235 
 
 ORIENTAL HENO THEISM 236 
 
 MlTHRA 237 
 
 Previous history of Mithraism ...... 
 
 Redemption ....,.,... 238 
 
 Atonement * 
 
 The Taurobolium. Regeneration 
 
 The Mithraic Messiah 
 
 Mithraic Eschatology 239 
 
 Hierarchy. Sacraments 
 
 SARAPIS 
 
 Connection with Ebionitism and Valentinianism 
 
 And with Christianity 240 
 
 THE PHILOSOPHERS 
 
 The Belief in the Immortality of the Soul 
 
 THE PYTHAGOREANS 241 
 
 Their General Character 
 
 Their Rivalry with Christianity , . . . 242 
 THE LIFE OF APOLLONIUS ...... 243 
 
 Its Origin and Purpose 244 
 
 Outline of the Book 245 
 
 The Imperial Eirenicon ..... 247 
 
 THE TRINITARIAN PLATONISTS .... 248 
 History of the Platonic Trinity .... 
 
 The Platonic Letters 249 
 
 Platonic Monotheism, Ditheism, Tri theism . 250 
 
 NUMENIUS OF APAMEA 
 
 His Trinity 251 
 
 His Obligation to Philo 252 
 
 And to Christianity 
 
 His relation to Plotinus 253
 
 Synopsis of Contents. xxv 
 
 THE UNITARIAN PLATONISTS .... 
 
 CELSUS 254 
 
 The True Word 
 
 Origan's Reply 
 
 Celsus not an Epicurean 
 
 His character, attainments, and temper . . . 255 
 Legal position of Christianity at this time . . 256 
 His criticism of the Gospel and the Law . 
 
 The One God 257 
 
 The Demons .258 
 
 Special Providence 
 
 Mediation. Revelation. Miracles . 
 
 The Two Lives ...... 260 
 
 Chief Points in the Debate ..... 
 
 Knowledge of God in Christ. The Incarnation 
 
 A Priori Objections of Celsus . . . 261 
 Answer of Origen ....... 
 
 Historical Objections of Celsus . . . 262 
 Answer of Origen. Christian Evidences . 263 
 The Word of God .... 
 
 Miracles 
 
 Prophecy 264 
 
 Sufferings of the Apostles . 
 
 Nature and Origin of Evil 
 
 Resurrection of the Body 265 
 
 Celsus' attempt at Reconciliation . . . . 266 
 Why not serve Two Masters ? . . . . 
 The real difficulty ; Form and Matter . . 268 
 
 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 SUMMARY. 
 
 CLEMENT 
 
 His after History 
 
 The Index of Gelasius 269 
 
 Photius 270 
 
 Neglect of Clement's Writings . . . 271 
 Clement VIII erases his name from the Martyrology . 272 
 Benedict XIV defends and maintains the erasure 
 
 Is Clement a Saint ? . ....
 
 xxvi Synopsis of Contents. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 ORIGEN 273 
 
 His books condemned by Theophilus and Epiphanius . 275 
 And by Pope Anastasius and others .... 
 
 Condemnations of the Home Synod and the Fifth Council 2 76 
 
 Treatment of his Name . . . . . . 277 
 
 Importance of the Historical point of view . . . 279 
 
 ALEXANDRINE EXEGESIS 281 
 
 In what sense it survived ....... 
 
 SPECIAL DOCTRINES 
 
 PRE-EXISTENCE . . , , , , . . 282 
 
 PAULINISM 
 
 How far understood by the Alexandrines . . . 283 
 
 FREE WILL AND GRACE 
 
 Doctrine of the Alexandrines 284 
 
 Doctrine of Augustine ...... 285 
 
 Confusions of Augustine's treatment of the Will 
 Superiority of his view of Grace . . . 288 
 Errors arising out of the incompatibility of 
 Augustine's doctrine of Grace with his general 
 ecclesiastical theory . . . . . 289 
 
 REDEMPTION 290 
 
 Doctrine of Origen ....... 
 
 of Augustine ...... 
 
 of Anselm 
 
 RESURRECTION 291 
 
 RESTITUTION ..,.,.... 
 
 Clement and Origen not strictly speaking Universalists 292 
 In what sense Punishment is Eternal 
 
 Other opinions on the subject ..... 293 
 The Monks of Egypt and Palestine . 
 
 Diodorus and Theodore 
 
 The two Gregories ...... 
 
 Jerome 294 
 
 The Doctrine of Purgatory ..... 
 
 In the Greek Church 295 
 
 In the Roman Church 
 
 Distinction between the Doctrine of Purgatory and 
 
 the speculations of Origen . , . . 296 
 
 Relation of Origenism to our own belief . . . 298 
 Morality of the Alexandrine speculations . . . 299
 
 Synopsis of Contents. xxvii 
 
 PAGE 
 
 QUIETISM 
 
 Relation of the Quietists to Clement . . . 300 
 
 Substantial justice of their condemnation . . . 30 1 
 
 GENERAL MERITS OF THE ALEXANDRINES . . 302 
 
 Reasonableness 
 
 Services against Gnosticism, Chiliasm, and Montanism . 303 
 Their Preaching of the Fatherhood of God
 
 LECTURE I. 
 
 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and* 
 the Word was God. ST. JOHN i. i. 
 
 I PROPOSE to offer in the Lectures, which I am to have 
 the privilege of delivering, a contribution towards the 
 history of Alexandrine Platonism in the Christian 
 Church. It will be my endeavour to sketch the con- 
 ditions out of which it arose in the teaching of Philo 
 and the Gnostics, to describe its full development in 
 Clement and Origen, to measure its reflex action on 
 Pagan religion and philosophy, and in conclusion to 
 estimate the value of its results, to ascertain, as far as 
 may be, the services it was enabled to render to the 
 Church and to humanity. It is not possible within 
 the limited time at my command to reap the whole 
 harvest of a field so large and so fruitful. But I shall 
 be able at any rate to show what profit is to be 
 looked for. And though we can only follow the 
 main outlines of the subject, we shall succeed perhaps 
 in gaining a just conception of a great crisis in the 
 history of the Church, and of the great men who 
 played a conspicuous part in it. 
 
 It was not without reason that the first systematic 
 attempt to harmonise the tradition of faith with the 
 free conclusions of human intellect was made neither 
 at Rome nor at Athens, but in Egypt. Yet it is not 
 to the famous University that we must look for its
 
 2 The Pagan University. [Lect. 
 
 source l . Alexandria still possessed its three great 
 royal foundations, the Museum, the Serapeum, and the 
 Sebastion ; its three libraries, its clerical heads, its 
 well-endowed staff of professors and sinecure fellows. 
 Nor did these misuse their advantages. Though the 
 hope of imperial favour drew the more ambitious 
 teachers of philosophy and rhetoric irresistibly towards 
 Rome, letters were still cultivated, and the exact 
 sciences flourished as nowhere else by the banks of 
 the Nile. But the influence of the Pagan University 
 upon Christian thought was distant and indirect. The 
 Greek professor, throned beneath the busts of Homer 
 and Plato, regarded himself as an apostle of Hellenic 
 culture in the midst of an alien and barbarous race ; 
 and though a few, like Chaeremon 2 , may have bestowed 
 serious attention upon the monuments of the Pharaohs, 
 the impulse would scarcely have passed the limits of 
 a learned curiosity had it acted upon the Greeks alone. 
 It was in the mind of the Jew that Eastern and Western 
 ideas were first blended in fruitful union. 
 
 The Jews of Egypt, if we may credit Philo, numbered 
 not less than a million souls. In no city of the Empire 
 were they so wealthy or so powerful as at Alexandria. 
 Of the five regions of the town two were almost entirely 
 given up to them, and they swarmed in the other three. 
 
 1 The history of the Alexandrine University may be read in Matter, 
 Histoire de tcole (T Alexandrie, 2nd ed., Paris, 1840, or in Parthey's 
 excellent little book, Das Alexandrinische Museum, Berlin, 1838. There 
 is some interesting information in Mommsen's fifth volume. The ' sinecure 
 fellows ' are the dre\fis <f>t\6cro<poi. Hadrian gave one of those places to 
 a successful athlete; see Parthey, p. 94. I infer that the Sebastion or 
 Claudianum had a clerical Head : there is no doubt that it was so in the 
 case of the Museum or the Serapeum; cp. Mommsen, v. 569, 579. 
 
 a According to Mommsen, v. 579, Chaeremon was an Egyptian. See 
 Muller, Frag. Hist. Grace, iii. 495.
 
 I.] The Alexandrine yews. 3 
 
 Many dwelt in the country districts also, and the con- 
 vents of their Therapeutae were to be found in every 
 nome 1 . They had their own senate and magistrates, 
 who apportioned the taxation and settled the disputes 
 of the community. They enjoyed -the rights of iso- 
 polity 2 , standing on an equal footing with the Greek 
 burgesses, and possessing immunities denied to the 
 native Copts. It is probable that the great corn-trade 
 offered them facilities which, with the commercial genius 
 of their race, they were not slow in turning to profit. 
 In more than one respect their position offers a striking 
 resemblance to that afterwards enjoyed by their country- 
 men in Spain. 
 
 For our present purpose the first great event in their 
 history is the translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into 
 Greek. In whatever way this most ancient and famous 
 of all Versions came into existence, whether it grew up 
 gradually out of the interpretation of the daily lessons, 
 or was made by the order, and under the patronage of 
 Ptolemy 3 , it gave the signal for a remarkable outbreak 
 
 1 Philo, De Vita Cont. 3. 
 
 2 As to isopolity, see Dahne, i. p. 19. Egypt was governed by the 
 Emperor as a crown colony, and the dignity of all citizens was lower there 
 than in other provinces. But the Jews possessed the same privileges as the 
 Greeks. Burgesses were scourged when necessary by different officers, with 
 a different kind of rod, from the Coptic non-burgesses. Philo complains 
 bitterly that Flaccus had ordered eminent Jews to be flogged like Copts, 
 and not ra?y e\fvOepiojT(pats Kal iroXiTiKwrtpais pt&nftr. Tiberius Julius 
 Alexander, a Jew and nephew of Philo, attained to the equestrian dignity 
 and was made governor of Egypt by Nero, though at the cost of apostasy. 
 A vivid picture of the numbers, wealth, privileges, and unpopularity of the 
 Jews in Egypt will be found in Philo, In Flaccum. See Siegfried, Philo, 
 p. 5 ; Dahne, Geschichtliche Darstdlung der jiidisch-alexandrinischen Re- 
 ligions-philosophic, i. 16 sqq. For the magnificence of the Onias Temple 
 at Leontopolis and the great Synagogue at Alexandria, see Delitzsch, Znr 
 Gesch. der jiidischen Poesie, pp. 25 sqq. 
 
 3 The story of Aristeas has long been given up. Even that of Aristo- 
 
 B 2
 
 4 The Alexandrine Jeivs. [Lect. 
 
 of literary activity. So far as this was apologetic and 
 propagandist, a branch of that new-born zeal which com- 
 passed sea and land to make one proselyte, its history, 
 character, and effect on pagan life and literature, interest- 
 ing as they are, lie beyond our scope *. But side by 
 side with this outward aggressive movement ran another 
 and a different one, the object of which was to appro- 
 priate, and to justify the appropriation, of Greek wisdom, 
 to reconcile Judaism with the culture of the Western 
 world. Even before the completion of the Septuagint 
 this tendency was at work. Platonism is discoverable 
 in the Pentateuch, Stoicism in the Apocrypha 2 . It is 
 
 bulus appears to be now generally rejected. According to the latter the 
 translation of the Law was made by the order and at the expense of 
 Ptolemy Philadelphia, whose instigator and agent was Demetrius Phalereus; 
 Eus. Praep. Ev. xiii. 12. 2. But, as Scaliger first pointed out, Hermippus, 
 a writer of very good note, relates that Demetrius Phalereus was banished 
 by Philadelphus, whose succession to the throne he had endeavoured to 
 prevent. This error discredits the whole statement of Aristobulus, and it 
 is accordingly more than doubtful whether the translation of the Pentateuch 
 was in any way encouraged by Philadelphus, though such a work suits very 
 well with his general character as a magnificent patron of literature. 
 Hence by some the translation is supposed to have grown up gradually out 
 of a custom introduced by Ezra. By the side of the reader of the Law 
 stood an interpreter (Meturgeman) who translated the lesson from Hebrew 
 into the vernacular tongue. See Delitzsch, Zur Geschichte der jiidisc hen 
 Poesie, p. 19; Redepenning, Origenes, ii. 158, 217; Siegfried, Philo, p. 7. 
 It is certain that the Septuagint Version was made at different times by 
 different hands. The Pentateuch, the oldest portion, dates from the first 
 half of the third century B. c. ; the Hagiographa, the most recent portion, 
 was in existence about 150 B.C. Schiirer {Geschichte des jiid. Volkes, 
 zweit. Theil, 1886, pp. 697 sqq.), says nothing about the Meturgeman, but 
 regards it as clear that the translation was originally a private work, and 
 gradually acquired official recognition. Tischendorf, Proleg. in Vettts Test., 
 leaves the question of Ptolemy's co-operation undecided. Dr. Edersheim, 
 Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, vol. i. p. 26 sq., accepts the account 
 of Aristobulus as substantially correct, and thinks that the whole transla- 
 tion was completed by 221 B. c. at latest. 
 
 1 The student will find full information in Schiirer. 
 
 2 The extent to which the translation of the Hebrew books is coloured
 
 L] The Alexandrine Jews. 5 
 
 probable that every school of Greek philosophy, except 
 the ' godless Epicurean,' had its representatives among 
 the Alexandrine Jews. But the favourite was Platonism 
 as it was then understood, Platonism that is to say 
 hardened into a system, filled up and rounded off, in its 
 theology with Peripateticism, in its ethics with Stoicism. 
 The myths of the poet-philosopher have become dogmas, 
 and the central point of the whole is the enigmatical 
 Timaetis. 
 
 But in yielding thus to the fascinations of Greek 
 wisdom the Jew stumbled on many difficulties. His own 
 Scriptures he had been taught to regard as divine and 
 sufficient. If the doctrines of the Academy were true, 
 they were true only in so far as they coincided with the 
 word of God. Thus it became incumbent on the party 
 of the new learning for the satisfaction of their own 
 conscience to find Plato in the Law, and for the satisfac- 
 tion of their more scrupulous countrymen to find the 
 Law in Plato. These objects, though to some degree 
 facilitated by the Septuagint translators themselves, 
 could only be fully secured by violent means. Hence 
 
 by Greek philosophy is matter of doubt. Dahne, ii. 1 1 sqq., and Gfrorer, 
 Urchristenthum, ii. 8-18, find many traces of adaptation which are disal- 
 lowed by Frankel, Zeller, and Siegfried. But Siegfried admits that in Gen. 
 i. 2, % S( -yfj -qv aoparos ai aKaraaKtvaaros, there is an unmistakeable 
 reference to the Koa^os vorjros. The difficulty of decision arises in part out 
 of the fact that many ideas were common to the Rabbinical and the Hellen- 
 istic schools. But the statement in the text that the work of the latter 
 was facilitated by the LXX translators is amply borne out by the way in 
 which the latter (i) avoid anthropomorphic phrases thus the ' repentance 
 of God,' Gen. vi. 6, disappears ; (ii) substitute 0(6s and Kvptos for the 
 Tetragram; (iii) introduce the later doctrine of Guardian Angels, Deut. 
 xxxii. 8. This verse in its Septuagint form became in fact the foundation 
 of the doctrine which, if Rabbinical, is also certainly Platonic. The 
 influence of Platonism and Stoicism on the Book of Wisdom and Mace. iv. 
 is unquestioned. See Siegfried, Philo, pp. 6 sqq. ; Schiirer.
 
 6 The Alexandrine Jews. [Lect. 
 
 the fable of Aristeas, which, transferring to the Greek 
 text the literal inspiration claimed for the Hebrew, 
 rendered possible the application of those modes of 
 interpretation, by which any language could be forced 
 to yield any sense desired. Hence again the fiction of 
 Aristobulus *, which asserted the existence of a previous 
 and much older translation of the Law. By this means 
 it was possible to argue that Plato was but ' an Attic 
 ' Moses 2 ,' and a swarm of treatises on Plagiarism solaced 
 the weaker brethren with ample proof that all the best 
 sayings of all the Greek philosophers were ' stolen ' from 
 the Jew, and might lawfully be reclaimed. Thus fortified 
 the Hellenising party moved steadily onward in the 
 development of those ideas, which we now associate with 
 the name of Philo, because he is to us their sole expo- 
 nent. But in truth even the Logos doctrine, the key- 
 stone of the whole structure, was already in place when 
 he took up the work 3 . 
 
 1 Eus. Praep. Ev. xiii. 12. This positive statement is a pure fiction 
 (see Ewald, Gesch. des V. /., iv. 337, ed. 1864), made for the purpose of 
 supporting his assertion that the peripatetic philosophy was based upon the 
 Law and the Prophets. Clem. Strom, v. 14. 97. For the character and 
 influence of Aristobulus, see Valckenar, Diatribe ; Dahne, ii. 73 sqq. ; 
 Ewald; Zeller, iii. 2. 219 sqq. Schiirer defends Aristobulus against the 
 charge of forgery, maintaining that he was himself deceived by the 
 adulterated passages which he quotes. Cobet holds the same view; see 
 Preface to Dindorfs edition of Clement, xxv. But there is no ground for it. 
 
 2 The phrase is ascribed to Numenius by Clement, Strom, i. 22. 150. 
 Eusebius, Praep. Ev. xi. 10. 14, only says that it is with good reason attri- 
 buted to Numenius. But Clement's language is so clear and positive 
 (Nov i*.r}vios , . . avTiicpvs ypd<f>ei) that Schiirer (p. 830) cannot be right in 
 doubting whether that philosopher was really the author of the phrase. 
 
 3 Siegfried, p. 223 : ' Dass er auch hierin Vorganger hatte, deutet er selbst 
 an. So erwahnt er de somn. i. 19 (i. 638) eine altere Auslegung von Gen. 
 xxviii. n, welche den TOKOS auf den Logos bezog.' Zeller, iii. p. 628, insists 
 upon the remarkable passage in de Cherubim, 9 (i. 143) where Philo speaks 
 of both doctrines, that of the Two Powers and that of the Logos, as given to
 
 I.] Philo. 7 
 
 It is only in a peculiar sense that Philo is to be called 
 a philosopher l . His works form a discursive commentary 
 upon the Law, taking up point after point, not in their 
 natural order, but as they spring out of the text before 
 him. And his object is not to investigate but to har- 
 monise. The idealism of Plato is to be discovered in 
 the history of the Patriarchs and the precepts of the 
 Law, and amalgamated with the products of Rabbinical 
 speculation. The religious interest is with Philo the 
 predominant ; hence he starts not with the analysis of 
 the act of knowledge, but with the definition of God. On 
 this theme two very divergent views were entertained. 
 Some of the Rabbis, relying upon those passages of the 
 older Scriptures, where the Deity is spoken of as wearing 
 the form and actuated by the feelings of humanity, were 
 Anthropomorphists 2 , and expressed this opinion in the 
 simplest and most direct fashion. Others, following the 
 
 him by special revelation. Philo, however, may mean only that the convic- 
 tion of their truth and the sense of their full import were imparted to him in 
 a divine ecstasy, as the knowledge of Christ was given to St. Paul in the 
 same way. 
 
 1 My guides to the understanding of the text of Philo have been Dahne, 
 GeschichtlicheDarstellungderjiidisch-alexandrinischen Religions-philosophic, 
 Halle, 1834 ; Grossmann, Quaestiones Philoneae ; Zeller ; and Siegfried, Philo 
 von Alexandria, Jena, 1875. The last is excellent and indispensable. All 
 other authorities on the subject will be found in Siegfried or in Schiirer, by 
 whom the list of German literature is continued down to the present year. 
 I have seen also the French writers Reville, Soulier, Vacherot, Simon. 
 For the relation between Philo and Rabbinical speculation, a point on 
 which I cannot pretend to form an independent judgment, I have relied 
 implicitly on Siegfried, with some assistance from Gfrorer and Maybaum. I 
 may refer the reader also to Dr. Edersheim's forthcoming article in the 
 Dictionary of Christian Biography, the proof-sheets of which I have been 
 enabled to use by the kindness of the learned author. 
 
 Zeller rates him higher than Dahne; iii. p. 594, ed. 1852: 'Was den 
 Philo von semen Vorgangern unterscheidet ist die Vollstandigkeit und 
 Folgerichtigkeit, mit der er ihren Standpunkt zum System ausgefuhrt hat.' 
 
 2 See Gfrorer, Das Jahrhundert des Heils, Stuttgart, 1838, i. p. 276 sqq.
 
 8 Pkilo. . [Lect. 
 
 lead of the Prophets, and developing the conception of 
 the Ineffable Name, refused to think or speak of Jehovah 
 except as a pure spirit. ' God sees,' said one, ' and is not 
 seen ; so the soul sees and is not seen V 
 
 For the Hellenist truth lay wholly in the latter con- 
 ception, which was maintained by the Peripatetic Aristo- 
 bulus, and developed by the Platonist Philo. In one 
 remarkable passage he comments upon the words 'it 
 repented God that He had made man 2 .' To accept such 
 language in its literal sense is impiety greater than any 
 that was drowned in the Flood. In truth God is not as 
 man, is not as the world, is not as heaven. He is above 
 space, being Himself Space and Place, inasmuch as He 
 embraces all things and is embraced of none; above time, 
 for time is but the register of the fluctuations of the 
 world, and God when He made the world made time 
 also. His Life is Eternity, the everlasting Now, wherein 
 is neither past, present, nor future. He is unchanging, 
 for the Best can change only by becoming worse, which 
 is inconceivable. Change, again, is the shifting of rela- 
 tions, the flux of attributes, and God has neither relations 
 nor attributes. Hence He has no name. Man in his 
 weakness is ever striving to find some title for the 
 Supreme. But, says Philo, 'names are symbols of 
 created things, seek them not for Him who is uncreated.' 
 Even the venerable and scriptural titles of God and Lord 
 are inadequate, must be understood as metaphors, and 
 used with reserve. The phrases that Philo himself 
 prefers to employ are ' the One/ ' He that is/ ' Himself.' 
 
 1 Gfrorer, Das Jahrhundert des Heils, i. p. 289. 
 
 7 Qtiod Dcus Immtitabilis, 5 (i. 275) sqq. But I need not give detailed 
 references for this section. See Siegfried, 199 sqq. ; Dahne, i. 118 sqq.
 
 I.] The Deity. 9 
 
 From all this it follows that God is incomprehensible. 
 , We know that He is, to know what He is transcends 
 the powers vouchsafed to man. 
 
 Thus in the extravagance of his recoil from materialism 
 Philo transformed the good Father and Lord of the Bible 
 into the Eternal Negation of dialectics. But Philo, 
 though he marked out the way for later transcenden- 
 talism, does not himself push his argument to its extreme 
 conclusion. He does not mean all that he appears to 
 say 1 . The analytic method is Aristotelian rather than 
 Platonic, and the influences of the Timaeus, of Stoicism, 
 of the Bible, all combine as yet to modify its rigour. 
 When Philo tells us that God has no qualities, we are 
 to understand that He is immaterial, and can therefore 
 experience none of those passions that attach to the 
 body 2 . Hence again He cannot be said to possess any 
 of those virtues, that depend upon the regulation of the 
 passions by the reason. But reason itself He possesses 
 in the same sense as man 3 . If He has no relations, this 
 
 1 Dahne, i. p. 127 sqq., regards Philo's conception of God as practical 
 Atheism. ' Er philosophirte aber auch gar nicht (wenigstens nicht znerst) 
 im Interesse des menschlichen Geschlechts, dem er freilich auf diese Weise 
 seinenGott raubte, sondern lediglich im Interesse dieses Gottesselbst' (p. 136). 
 Siegfried too thinks that he was only able to save religion by a want of 
 philosophic perspicacity, which enabled him to mix up the Stoic doctrine of 
 the Immanence of God with this theory of the Absolute without perceiving 
 that the two were irreconcileable. It is certain that Philo often speaks in 
 Stoic language of God, advancing at times to the very verge of Pantheism ; 
 Siegfried, p. 204 ; Dahne, i. 280 sqq. But he never for a moment ceases to 
 think of God in Platonic fashion as pure Spirit opposed to Matter. Whereas 
 to the Stoic Matter and Spirit were at bottom the same thing ; all is ulti- 
 mately resolved into Matter; Zeller, vol. iii. p. 77, ed. 1852. On the side 
 of theology Philo was no more really Stoic than St. Paul, who also did not 
 hesitate to use the language of Aratus. Those who wish to see what 
 theology becomes in the hands of a Stoic should read the Homilies. 
 
 2 See especially Quod Dtus Imm. n (i. 280). 
 
 3 See especially QuodDeus Imm. 6 (i. 276). God is changeless, not because
 
 IO Philo. [Lect. 
 
 merely means that He wants nothing, and depends on 
 nothing, because He is perfect and the source of all that 
 is 1 . Philo does not intend to exclude the relation of 
 subject and object like Plotinus, who denies that God 
 can be said to think 2 . Again, if God is One, is incom- 
 prehensible, so too is the human mind. Of this also, 
 though it is our self, we know only that it is 3 . ' God,' 
 says Philo, ' possesses not intelligence only but reasoning, 
 and using these powers He ever surveys all that He has 
 made, suffering nothing to transgress its appointed 
 order V Neo-Platonism is already in view, but between 
 Plotinus and Philo there are several stages to be passed. 
 One of these is marked by the name of Basilides, another 
 by that of Clement. 
 
 It is evident that Philo was not prevented by any 
 metaphysical bar from attributing the work of Provi- 
 dence, or even of Creation, to the Deity. There was 
 however a grave moral difficulty. For the world was 
 
 He is a blank, but because He is perfect. ' Since then the soul of man by the 
 soft breezes of science and wisdom calms the surge and seething, roused 
 by the sudden bursting of the fierce blast of vice, and allaying the swelling 
 billows reposes in sunny and windless calm, canst thou doubt that the In- 
 corrupt and Blessed, He who has girded Himself with the might of the 
 virtues and perfection itself and happiness, suffers no change of mind ? ' He 
 is by no means the Aristotelian Deity who ' thinks Himself.' ... ' It is 
 clear then that the father must know his children, the artist his works, the 
 steward his charge, and God is in truth Father, Artist, Steward of all that 
 is in heaven or in the world.' Consciousness of the external does not in 
 Philo 1 s view imply change in God, who sees not as man sees in time, but 
 in eternity. 
 
 1 The idea of Relation is defined De mutatione Nominum, 4 (i. 583). 
 
 2 Enn. iii. 9. 3. 
 
 3 Legis Alleg. i. 30 (i. 62) : '/COTODS ovv o 'ASa.fi, rovreanv 6 vovs, r<i aXAa 
 ovoftafav ai KaTaXanfiavcav eavry ovofj.a OVK eirtTiOrjcriv OTI eavTov ayvoti ical 
 rfjv ibiav (pvffiv. De mut. Nom. 2 (i. 579) : KOI ri Oavfuicruv, ti TO ov avOpiii- 
 TTOJS a.Ka.Ta.\T)TTTov, oirore at 6 kv exaffTy vovs dyvuffTos fifjuv tan ; Ti'y ^nx^s 
 ovffiav fiStv ; 
 
 * Quod Deus Immut. 7 (i. 277).
 
 I.] The Powers. 1 1 
 
 created out of pre-existing matter. And matter, though 
 eternal, was evil 'lifeless, erroneous, divisible, un- 
 equal 1 .' It seemed impossible to bring the Perfect 
 Being into direct contact with the senseless and cor- 
 ruptible 2 . Hence when Philo speaks of the royal or 
 fatherly operations of the Deity, he is generally to be 
 understood as referring not to God Himself but to His 
 Powers or Ministers. ' Though throned above Creation 
 He nevertheless fills His world, for by His power, reach- 
 ing to the utmost verge, He binds together each to each 
 by the words of harmony.' Here the meaning is so 
 obscure that it might pass without detection, but the 
 language that follows is more explicit : ' Though He be 
 far off, yet is He very near, keeping touch by means of 
 His creative and regulative Powers, which are close to 
 all, though He has banished the things that have birth 
 far away from His essential nature 3 .' 
 
 What are these Powers? On one side they are the 
 Angels, on whom a world of curious ingenuity had been 
 expended in the Jewish schools. On the other they are 
 
 1 Quis rer. div. haeres. 32 (i. 495). The idea that Matter is Evil, which exer- 
 cises so important an influence on the whole system of Philo, rests especially 
 on his explanation of Gen. i. 31, ' God saw everything that He had made, 
 and behold it was very good.' But He had not made Matter, and spoke no 
 praise of this. The belief in the pre-existence of Matter had found acceptance 
 among the Jews before Philo ; Siegfried, p. 230. 
 
 3 Devict. offer. I3(ii. 261): ovycip fyOefius dirtipovKoi irtfpvp/j.fj'TjsvXrjsif'a.veit' 
 . . . Oeuv. De confus. ling. 34 (1.431) : xpeios fj.ev yap ovSevos tarty u TOV iravrus 
 irarrip, us StioOai TJJS a<p' tTfpow ft (0t\oi 5i]fj.iovpyfjffai' rb 5 irpeirov opaiv kavrSi 
 re Kal TOIS fivofjifvois TUIS viTTjKoois Swd/jLeoiv lOTiv a 5iair\aTTttv (<pfJKtv. 
 Another more tender and certainly more beautiful way of expressing the 
 same thing is found hi passages like De mundi op. 6 (i. 5), where it is said 
 that God's goodness is bounded by the receptivity of His creatures. A 
 full revelation, an unlimited gift, would undo us. Compare p. 13, below. 
 Even God's Powers must divest themselves of their ' fire ' before they can 
 touch our weak and tainted nature without consuming it. 
 
 3 De post. Caini, 5 (i. 229).
 
 1 2 Pkilo. [Lect. 
 
 the Logoi of the Stoic, the Ideas of the Platonist, the 
 thoughts of God, the heavenly models of things upon 
 earth, the types which, imprinted upon matter like a seal 
 upon wax, give to it life, reality, durability 1 . The Ideas, 
 again, could be identified with the discrowned gods of 
 Olympus, the heroes and demons, who in the Platonic 
 religion play a part analogous to that of the angels 2 . 
 In either aspect they are innumerable 3 . But considered 
 as types they may be summed up in two great master- 
 types, considered as Angels they are ruled by two great 
 Archangels, representing one the Goodness, the other the 
 
 1 They are t5'a, apxervnoi lotat, TVTTOI, nerpa, atypayTSes. These are 
 Platonic terms denoting the Essence or Form, the principle of reality. 
 Again, \6foi, \6yoi airtpfj.aTi.Koi, ffTrtp/j.ara KCU picu KadeOetaai virb rov Oeov. 
 These are Stoic terms denoting, not the Essence which to the Stoic was 
 matter, but the principle of Life, Force, the particle of divine spirit inherent 
 in things. Again, they are Swa/teis, affu^aroi 5vva/j.eis, oopv<popoi Swa^tis, 
 dyyf\oi, "xapiTts. These are Jewish terms. See Grossmann, Quaest. Phil. 
 p. 23; Dahne, i. 205 sqq., 253 sqq. 
 
 What the student has most to be afraid of is the giving to Philo more consis- 
 tence and system than he really possesses. In a rapid account it is impossible 
 to avoid this fault. What I have said in the text is I believe in the main 
 correct, but everything is floating and hazy. Thus De conf. ling. 34 (i. 431) 
 the Powers are distinct from the Ideas which they create, and apparently 
 from the Angels. They are certainly distinct from the Angels, De Man. ii. i 
 (ii. 222). But De Mon. i. 6 (ii. 218, 219) they are the Ideas. Nor can I find 
 that the Powers are anywhere expressly identified with the Angels, though 
 Siegfried, p. 211, says that they are. 
 
 The Angels and the Logoi are identified, DeSomniis,i. 19 (i. 638) : aOavdrois 
 \6yois ovs KO.\(IV (Oos dyyt\ovs. And when we consider the close affinity 
 of \6yos and t'St'a, and the fact that the Logos is the Sum of the Powers, it 
 is very difficult to see how the Angels can be kept apart. 
 
 2 De gigantibus, 2 (i. 263) ; De somniis, i. 22 (i. 642) : ravras oai/j.ovas (iev 
 ol d\\ot (pi\6ffo<f>oi, 6 5e iepos Xoyos ayyeXovs ticaOe KaXfTv. 
 
 3 As Ideas certainly: see note above. Zeller, p. 619. De proftigis, 18 
 (i. 560) Philo counts six powers corresponding in number to the Cities 
 of Refuge. His enumeration is: (i) 6tios \6yos; (2) fj TTOITJTIKTI 8vva/us; 
 (3) jy fiaaiXiKr] ; (4) ^ i\eajs ; (5) 77 vop,o&fTiuri ; (6) 6 Koapos vot)T6s. 2 and 
 4 belong to Goodness, 3 and 5 to Justice, 6 is a mere etcetera = all the 
 Ideas.
 
 I.] The Powers. 1 3 
 
 Justice of the Eternal 1 . The former, the older and 
 stronger Power, is generally intended in Scripture by 
 the word God, the latter by the word Lord, which Philo 
 apparently did not understand to be used merely as a 
 substitute for the Ineffable Name 2 . 
 
 If it be asked whether the Powers are persons or not, 
 it is difficult to find a satisfactory reply. In one point 
 of view they are mere abstractions. But in the mind 
 of the Jew these scholastic entities tend inevitably to 
 become things, living beings. The Powers are ideas, 
 but then again they are God's agents, who create the 
 ideas, and stamp them on matter. They are the two 
 Cherubim 3 who keep the gates of Paradise, the two 
 Angels who entered Sodom 4 . Yet Philo never for a 
 moment regards them as existing apart from their 
 source. They are the breath of God's mouth. They 
 are as rays of the sun, which at first are pure, and as 
 incomprehensible as their source, but, as they shoot 
 down through the dim air, lose their fire while retain- 
 ing their light. Otherwise they would destroy what 
 their mission is to cherish and preserve 5 . 
 
 1 The names vary. The First, the better and elder, is Of 6s, i) notrjTticri, 
 dyaOorrjs, x a pi aTlK '']i fvtpftns ; the Second is Kiipios, i) fiaaiXtKT), dpxf],fovcria, 
 TI vofio0(Tiieri, % KoKaariKT]. Siegfried, p. 213; Dahne, i. 231. 
 
 2 Siegfried, p. 203. 
 
 '' De Cherub. 9 (i. 144). 
 
 4 De Abr. 24. 25 (ii. 19). In Gen. xvii. i the words uxpOrj icvpios are 
 explained to mean that the @aai\iitT) Svvafus appeared to Abraham. In 
 Gen. xviii. 2 the three men are 6 0efo 8opv<popovfj,evos VIT& Svefv raiv dvajrarca 
 Svvdfj,faiv, dp\rjs re av KO.I dyaBorrjros, but the following words again seem 
 to destroy the personality of the Powers, tls &v 6 /it'cros rpiTrds (pavraoias 
 evdpfd^eTo rrj opariK^ ^1>XV> de SS. Abelis et Caini, 15 (i. 173). 
 
 5 Leg. Alleg. i. 13 (i. 51); Quod Deus Im. 17 (i. 284) ; Sieg. p. 216. A 
 ^ point which makes against the personality of the Powers is the way in 
 
 which they can be broken np and combined ; see Dahne, i. p. 242 sqq. ;
 
 14 P/lllo. [Lect. 
 
 In all this Philo was following in the track of earlier 
 Jewish speculation 1 . The Rabbis of Palestine had 
 made many efforts to penetrate the mystery of the 
 creatures who in Ezekiel's vision sustain the chariot- 
 throne of the Almighty, and found in them a symbol 
 of the divine justice and goodness. The subject was 
 treated as a profound mystery, and there was a party 
 which discouraged all attempts to pry into it. Only 
 four men, it was said, had penetrated this magic garden, 
 and one only, the great Akiba, had returned in safety. 
 But the Hellenists of Alexandria were more audacious. 
 They had ' eaten too much honey/ and intoxicated by 
 the sweets, of which they had ' rifled the hives of the 
 Greeks, they dared to speak of the Powers in a way 
 that seemed to impair the unity of God. They had 
 ventured even farther. The duality of Persons did not 
 satisfy their craving for philosophic completeness. 
 Behind this pair of persons, or personifications, there 
 must be one more puissant Being, one more compre- 
 hensive generalisation. This was the Logos, a term 
 which Philo found already in use. 
 
 Logos 2 is a phrase of the Hellenic schools. It has a 
 
 Gfrorer, Philo, p. 239. The fact is that Philo wavers between the one 
 mode of conception and the other. This applies to the Logos also. See 
 Zeller, iii. 626. 
 
 1 For this section see Siegfried, p. 211 sq. 
 
 2 An excellent account of those Jewish speculations which paved the way 
 for the Alexandrine Logos theory will be found in Siegfried, pp. 219 sqq. 
 The actual title Logos comes to Philo in a direct line from the Greek 
 Pantheists Heraklitus and the Stoics. The reason why he preferred this 
 title to that of Idea is to be found in the Biblical ' Word of God.' To the 
 Stoic the \6yos Koiv6s, the \6yos ffirtpiMTiKos is the Divine Force, the Anima 
 Mundi of which Virgil sings Aen. vi. 724 : ' Principio caelum ac terras . . ' 
 Spiritus intus alit, totamque infusa per artus Mens agitat molem et magno 
 se corpore miscet.' It is resolvable ultimately into the Divine Matter. ' Es 
 durfte nur dieser stoischen Logoslehre durch die Unterscheidung des Logos
 
 I.] The Logos. 1 5 
 
 long history, and had already gathered round itself many 
 associations, that fitted it for the new part it was now to 
 assume. It denotes with equal facility the uttered word, 
 ' the reasoning mind, or again a plan, scheme, system. It 
 is the Platonic Idea of Good, the Stoic World-Spirit, or 
 Reason of God, immanent in creation which it fosters and 
 sustains. Round this heathen stem clustered a number 
 of ideas that were floating in solution in the schools of 
 the Jews the Shechinah, the Name of God, the Ten 
 Words of Creation that might perhaps be One, the great 
 Archangel and chief of the Chariot-bearers, Metatron, the 
 Heavenly Man, the High Priest. Philo has gathered 
 together from East and West every thought, every 
 divination, that could help to mould his sublime con- 
 ception of a Vicegerent of God, a Mediator between the 
 Eternal and the ephemeral. His Logos reflects light 
 from countless facets. It is one of those creative phrases, 
 struck out in the crisis of projection, which mark an 
 epoch in the development of thought. 
 
 What the Logos became in the hands of Philo we 
 shall see most clearly by considering him in his fourfold 
 relation to God to the Powers to the World and 
 to Man. 
 
 In his relation to God he is first of all Wisdom l . 
 
 von der Gottheit ihr pantheistisches, durch seine Unterscheidung von dem 
 gebildeten Stoff ihr materialistisches Geprage abgestreift warden, und der 
 Philonische Logos war fertig' (Zeller, iii. 630). The word is emptied, that 
 is to say, of its true Stoic significance, and becomes partly the Idea, partly 
 the Agent by whom the idea is impressed upon matter. 
 
 1 The precise relation of Wisdom to the Logos is by no means without 
 difficulty, for here as everywhere Philo's language fluctuates. Some have 
 maintained that they are identical. Dahne, i. p. 221, thinks that Sophia is 
 ^ a ' theilkraft ' of the Logos ; so that Logos may always be used for Sophia, 
 but not the reverse. But Siegfried points out (p. 222, cp. p. 215) that 
 Sophia is sometimes spoken of as the higher principle, the Fountain or
 
 1 6 Philo. 
 
 Already, in the Book of Proverbs 1 , Wisdom appears 
 as the eternal Assessor of the Most High ' When He 
 prepared the heavens I was there.' In the Alexandrine 
 Book of Wisdom 2 , written probably under Stoic influ- 
 ences, this Power assumes new titles and significance. 
 He is 'the loving Spirit of the Lord that filleth the 
 earth,' holy, only-begotten, ' the brightness of the ever- 
 lasting light, the unspotted mirror of the Power of God, 
 the image of His Goodness.' Philo is but translating 
 this hymn of praise into scientific terminology, when he 
 calls the Word the Intelligible World, that is the sum of 
 the thoughts of God, or again the Idea of Ideas, which 
 imparts reality to all lower ideas, as they in turn to all 
 sensible kinds 3 . The Word is the whole mind of God, 
 considered as travelling outside itself, and expressing 
 itself in act. Hence he is styled its Impress, its Like- 
 ness, its House. This is his abstract Greek side. In his 
 more realistic Hebrew aspect he is the Schechinah or 
 glory of God ; or again, as that glory falls upon our sight 
 only veiled and dimmed, he is the Shadow of God. And 
 
 Mother, of the Logos. The differing gender of the two words in Greek, 
 the one being feminine and the other masculine, was a difficulty. This 
 Philo endeavoured to solve in the curious allegorism on the name of 
 Bethuel, De Prof. 9 (i. 553). Bethuel signifies 'daughter of God,' that is, 
 Wisdom. But this virgin daughter is father of Rebecca, that is, Patience. 
 So all the virtues have feminine names (in Greek), because in relation to 
 God they are derivative and receptive. But in relation to us they are mas- 
 culine. Hence we may say that Wisdom, the daughter of God, is a man 
 and a father, begetting in the soul knowledge, understanding, and all good 
 and praiseworthy actions. The drift of this passage is no doubt to blend 
 the Logos with Sophia. The confusion of gender with sex offers a curious 
 instance of the tendency of Philo's mind to turn abstractions into things. 
 
 1 viii. 27. 
 
 2 i. 6, 7 5 vii. 22 sqq. 
 
 * De Mundi Opif. 6 (i. 5). For the numerous other passages referred to 
 in this account of the Logos it is sufficient to refer generally to Siegfried 
 and Grossmann.
 
 L] The Logos. 17 
 
 growing ever more definite and personal, he is the Son, 
 < the Eldest Son, the Firstborn of God. Many of the 
 divine titles are his by right. He too is the Sun, the 
 Darkness, the Monad, God 1 , the Second God. 
 
 In his relation to the other Powers, again, there is the 
 same graduated ascent from the abstract to the real. If 
 * the Powers are Ideas, the Word is their .Sum. He is 
 the Book of Creation, in which all the subordinate 
 essences are words. But, again, he is their Creator, 
 the King's Architect, in whose brain the plan of the 
 royal city is formed. He stands between them divid- 
 ing, yet uniting, like the fiery sword between the 
 Cherubim at the gates of Eden. He is their leader, 
 their Captain, their Charioteer, the. Archangel of many 
 names. 
 
 As regards the world he is on the one side the Arche- 
 typal Seal, the great Pattern according to which all is 
 made. He is the Divider, in so far as he differentiates, 
 and makes each thing what it is. He is the Bond, in so 
 far as all existence depends on the permanence of form. 
 Hence in him both worlds, the intelligible and the sen- 
 sible, form one great whole, a figure of which is the 
 vesture of the High Priest. On the head is the plate of 
 gold with its legend ' Holiness to the Lord ; ' the blue, 
 the purple, the scarlet of the robe are the rainbow web 
 of Nature ; the bells about the feet, whose silver sound 
 is heard when Aaron goeth into the Holy Place, signify 
 the rapt joy of the human spirit when it penetrates into 
 the divine mysteries. The robe is woven of one piece, 
 and may not be rent, because the Word binds all 
 
 1 &fos, but not 6 Qe6s, De Somn. 39 (i. 655) ; the distinction recurs in 
 Origen.
 
 1 8 PJlllo. [Lect. 
 
 together in life and harmony 1 . So far we are still 
 breathing Greek air. But then again the Word is the 
 Instrumental Cause, the Organ of Creation. He is the 
 Creator, the Helmsman, and Pilot of the universe. 
 ' God with justice and law leads His great flock, the 
 four elements and all that is shaped thereof, the circlings 
 of sun and moon, the rhythmic dances of the stars, 
 having set over them His upright Word, His Firstborn 
 Son, who will receive the charge of this holy flock as a 
 Vicegerent of the Great King 2 .' Here Philo is thinking, 
 not of Wisdom, but of the mighty ' God said ' of the 
 Book of Genesis. The word is, not the Spirit only, or 
 the Mind, but the Will of God 3 . 
 
 But the crowning interest of these speculations 
 depends on their relation to human life. What is this 
 Son of God to us ? 
 
 The answer is given by the peculiar position of the 
 Logos, who stands between God and Man partaking of 
 both natures. For Man, as regards his reason, is the 
 image of the Logos, as the Logos is the image of God. 
 Hence the Logos is the Mediator, the Heavenly Man 4 , 
 who represents in the eyes of God the whole family 
 upon earth. He is not indeed the point of union, 
 because we may rise above him. The knowledge which 
 
 1 See the beautiful passage in De migrat. Abr. 18 (i. 452). Cp. De Vita 
 Mas. iii. 14 (ii. 155). 
 
 2 De Agric. 12 (i. 308). 
 
 3 Canon Westcott {Introd. to the Gospel of St. John, p. xvi) maintains 
 that the Logos of St. John is derived , not from Philo, but from the Palestinian 
 Schools, mainly on the ground that in Philo Logos is Reason and not Will. 
 But to a Platonist like Philo there is no difference between Reason and 
 Will. And the passages referred to in the text are sufficient to show that 
 the Logos of Philo is conceived of as ' a divine Will sensibly manifested in 
 personal action.' 
 
 * Siegfried, p. 221.
 
 I.] The Logos. 19 
 
 he gives is a lower knowledge, the knowledge of God in 
 Nature, and our allegiance to him is therefore but 
 temporary and provisional. But he is necessary as the 
 door, through which we must pass to direct communion 
 with his Father. 
 
 Here Philo could borrow no light from the Greeks, to 
 whom the idea of Mediation was foreign ; though, as we 
 shall see, there were elements in the current Platonism, 
 which were readily adapted to this end J . 
 
 The Logos then is first the Prophet of the Most 
 High, the Man whose name is the Dayspring, the 
 Eternal Law. He is the Giver of the divine Light and 
 therefore the Saviour, for to the Platonist sin is dark- 
 ness. But it is not enough that our eyes should be 
 opened. For the visual ray within us is weakened or 
 quenched by vice, our rebellions have alienated us from 
 God. We need therefore an Atonement. Still more 
 do we need strength and sustenance. 
 
 All these requirements are satisfied by the Logos. 
 For his atoning function Philo found a fitting symbol 
 ready to hand in the High Priest 2 , who since the days 
 of the Exile, in the abeyance of the throne, had risen in 
 Jewish eyes to a dignity almost superhuman. His 
 vesture, as we have seen, was the type of the whole 
 world, for which he interceded with its Maker. He alone 
 
 1 See the doctrine of the Demons in Lecture vii. 
 
 2 See Siegfried, p. 221. The four prayers uttered by the High Pnest on 
 the Day of Atonement, ' most precious fragments of the Liturgy of the Old 
 Testament Temple worship,' will be found in Delitzsch (Zur Geschichte 
 der Jiid. Poesie, pp. 184 sqq.). The first three, pronounced by the High 
 Priest with his hand on the head of the sin offering, were (i) for himself 
 and family ; (ii) for the sons of Aaron ; (iii) for the whole people. The 
 fourth was uttered immediately on leaving the Holy of Holies. In each 
 the Ineffable Name was pronounced three times. 
 
 c a
 
 2O Philo. [Lect. 
 
 might pronounce the Ineffable Name. He alone might 
 enter into the Holy of Holies, behold the glory of God, 
 and yet live. He held this high prerogative, because 
 when he entered into the sanctuary he was, says Philo 
 with an audacious perversion of the text, ' not a man V 
 The true High Priest is sinless; if he needs to make an 
 offering and utter prayer for himself, it is only because 
 he participates in the guilt of the people, whom he 
 represents. Thus the Word is the Supplicator, the 
 Paraclete, the Priest who presents the soul of man 
 ' with head uncovered ' before God 2 . He is figured by 
 Aaron, who stands with burning censer between the 
 living and the dead. ' I stand,' Philo makes him say, 
 ' between the Lord and you, I who am neither un- 
 created like God nor created like you, but a mean 
 between the two extremes, a hostage to either side 3 .' 
 And as he teaches, as he atones, so he feeds and sus- 
 tains his people, falling upon every soul as the manna 
 fell like dew upon the whole earth. In this sense he is 
 Melchisedech, priest of the Most High God, King of 
 Salem, that is of peace, who met Abraham returning 
 from his victory over the four kings, and refreshed him 
 with the mystic Bread and Wine 4 . 
 
 1 De Somn. ii. 28. (i. 684) : orav yap, <f>r]criv, elairj (is rcL ayia rwv dylaiv 
 6 apxiepevs, avQpcaitos OVK ecrrai (Lev. xvi. 17). Tis ovv el ^7) avOpairos ; apd 
 ye 0e6s ; 
 
 2 De Cher. 5 (i. 141). 3 Quis Rerum Div. Her. 42 (i. 502). 
 
 * Ammon (= Sense) and Moab (=the Intellect divorced from God) 
 refused Israel bread and water. ' But let Melchisedec give wine instead of 
 water, and refresh the soul with pure juice of the grape, that it may be 
 possessed by divine intoxication, more sober than sobriety itself. For he is 
 the Priest Word,' Leg. Alleg. iii. 26 (i. 103). Ibid. 56 (i. 119) Philo 
 goes on to explain what is this heavenly food of the soul. It is Light, 
 true Education, the knowledge of God, which is given by the Word. The 
 passage is referred to by Clement, Strom, iv. 26. 161.
 
 I.] The Two Lives. 21 
 
 Such a division in the divine nature leads to a 
 corresponding distinction in the moral and spiritual 
 life. To know God in His Powers is one thing, to know 
 Him in Himself is another and a higher. The first is 
 the life of Faith, Hope, Discipline, Effort, the second is 
 that of Wisdom, Vision, Peace. Those who are still 
 struggling upwards in obedience to the Word are 
 servants, whose proper food is milk ; those who have 
 emerged into the full light are grown men, the friends 
 of God, the seeing Israel l . 
 
 ' How terrible is this place,' cried Jacob awaking from 
 his dream, ' this is none other than the House of God.' 
 So the soul starting up from the sleep of indifference 
 
 1 Philo divides men into two great classes, in each of which there are 
 several subdivisions. I. The godless, the non-moral, the Fool. His guide 
 is the lower intelligence ; see De Migr. Abr. 1 2 (i. 446) : iropevtrai 81 6 
 afypajv SL aptporepcav, QVJJ.OV re /cal fTridvpias dei, firjSfva Sia\(iTTCtii' \povov, 
 rbv f/vioxov /ecu ftpaptvTrjv \6-yov airo^a\wv. His highest faculty is lost or 
 debased ; he has nothing but the vovs jrjtvos, (pi\offufMTos, (f>i\oira.0-fis. To 
 this class belong the Sensualist, such as Ham ( = 6ep/j,Tj, Fever) ; the vain 
 Sophist, such as the ' archer ' Ishmael ; the Sceptic, such as Cain ; the self- 
 seeking politician, such as Joseph. II. The Moral, Spiritual Life. This 
 has two stages that of the Babe, that of the Perfect. De Migr, Abr. 9 (i. 
 443) : erfpos vrjiriajv KOI tripos TfXtiwv xupos fffnv, & piy oco/iafd/wi/os 
 aatcrjais, 6 Se Ka\ov]j.evos cro<pia. Their food is injiria ical ya\a/fTu8r)s : ibid. 
 6 (i. 440). The Lower Stage has three subdivisions daKrjffis, ftdOrjcris, 
 <pvats: De Som. i. 27 (i. 646). The consummation the Higher Stage 
 whether attained by moral discipline, intellectual training, or natural 
 development, is Wisdom, Perfection. 
 
 See Siegfried, pp. 249 sqq. ; Dahne, pp. 341 sqq. The two stages 
 are the ftios trpaicTiKos, the /3/os Ofupijnicos of the Greek philosophers ; the 
 TrpoKoirf) and aofyia of the later Stoics ; but with this difference, that in Philo 
 both stages are religious. The three avenues to perfection are given by 
 Aristotle, Diog. Laert. v. 18 : rpiwv (<prj Stiv iraiSeiav <pvatcas fiaOrjfffajs 
 aaicfoecus. But Philo regards them as characteristic of three distinct classes 
 of learners, while the pagan philosopher regarded them as means of im- 
 provement which must be employed in combination by every learner. 
 Hence the three classes of Proficients in Seneca, Epistle 75, answer to 
 different degrees of progress, not to different lines of progress. This, as 
 will be seen, is nearly Clement's view.
 
 22 Pkilo. [Lect. 
 
 learns with a shock of amazement, that the world is, 
 not a tavern, but a temple. Wherefore it exclaims, ' It 
 is not as I fancied, for the Lord is in this place.' 
 This sensible world is indeed the House of God, the 
 gate of Heaven. For the spiritual world of ideas can 
 be comprehended only by climbing upwards from what 
 we see and feel. ' Those who wish to survey the beauty 
 of a city must enter in at the gate ; so those who would 
 contemplate the ideas must be led by the hand by the 
 impressions of the senses V We must know God as He 
 is manifested to us in the experience of life, first by fear 
 of His Justice, then by love of His Goodness, before we 
 can attain to Jerusalem, the Vision of Peace. But the 
 Powers are summed up in the Word. Hence the In- 
 terpreter Word is the God of those that are imperfect, 
 but of the wise and perfect the First God is King 2 . 
 
 The knowledge of the Most High is Vision, the direct 
 personal communion of a soul that no longer reasons 
 but feels and knows. It was reached by Abraham 
 through learning, by ' the wrestler ' Jacob through moral 
 effort, by Isaac, ' the laughter of the soul,' through the 
 natural development of a sweet and gracious spirit. It 
 is attainable, if not by all, yet by the purest and keenest 
 sighted, if not in permanence, yet frequently. ' I will 
 not be ashamed to relate,' says Philo, ' what has hap- 
 pened to myself a thousand times. Often when I have 
 come to write out the doctrines of philosophy, though 
 
 I well knew what I ought to say, I have found my mind 
 
 1 De Somn. 32 (i. 649). 
 
 2 Leg. Alleg. iii. 73 (i- 128) : OVTOS yelp fjnuv rwv o.rt\uiv av (ir) 0e6s,Twv SI 
 ffo<f>5iv ai Tt\flaif 6 irpSiros. The difference between the knowledge of God 
 in His works and the knowledge of God in Himself (the latter Philo calls the 
 Great Mysteries) is explained in the sublime passage beginning Leg. Alleg. 
 iii. 31 (i. 106).
 
 I.] Ecstasy. 23 
 
 dry and barren, and renounced the task in despair. At 
 other times, though I came empty, I was suddenly filled 
 with thoughts showered upon me from above like snow- 
 flakes or seed, so that in the heat of divine possession 
 I knew not the place, or the company, or myself, what I 
 said, or what I wrote V 
 
 Here then, but still in a singularly cool and tem- 
 perate form, we have the second great doctrine of Neo- 
 Platonism Ecstasy, the logical correlative of the 
 Absolute God. As held by Numenius and his fol- 
 lowers it is certainly derived from Philo, though here 
 again there was in Paganism a germ, which only needed 
 fertilisation. The idea of a personal Revelation comes 
 to Philo from the Prophetic Vision of the Old Testa- 
 ment. It is already found in Plutarch 2 , by whom it is 
 connected with the frenzy of the Pythoness or the 
 Corybant. But its later systematic form and scientific 
 grounding are historically connected with the specula- 
 tions of the Alexandrine Jew. 
 
 Such was the teaching of Philo so far as it falls within 
 our present scope. We need not dwell upon its rela- 
 tion to historic Judaism. Philo remained to the last 
 a devout 'and trusted Jew. Yet he placed a new re- 
 ligion, a Greek philosophic system, above the faith of 
 
 1 De Migr. Abr. 7 (i. 441). See also the account of the ' divine in- 
 toxication ' of Samuel's mother, De Ebrietate, 36 (i. 380) ; Quis Rerum Div. 
 Heres. 14 (i. 482). De Vita Contemp. 2, 3 (ii. 473, 475) actual vision 
 seems to have been enjoyed by the Therapeutae only in dreams. De Cher. 9 
 (i. 144) Philo says that he had learned the significance of the two Cherubim 
 and the fiery sword : irapa if/vxfjs ^775 elaiOvias rcL iroX\ci OfoKrj'nrfiaOai. 
 
 2 See De Pythiae Orac. 21, 22 ; De def. Orac. 48 ; Amatorius, xvi. 4. 
 Plutarch recognises only the official ecstasy of priest and prophetess. His 
 attitude is apologetic; he has to explain how it is that the revelation is 
 sometimes imperfect, deceitful, impure. Enthusiasm is a part of his religion, 
 but not of his philosophy. See Zeller, vol. iii.
 
 24 Philo. [Lect. 
 
 his fathers. He retained the Law as the worship of 
 the Logos ; high over this stands the free spiritual 
 worship of the Eternal. The one is but the preparation, 
 and in its ancient national form not even a necessary 
 preparation, for the other. It will be obvious how this 
 facilitated the task of the Christian teacher 1 . 
 
 But what concerns us at present is his direct influence 
 upon the Church. This falls into two branches, for it 
 is probable that Philonism coloured the New Testament 
 itself, and it is certain that it largely affected the after 
 development of Christian doctrine. The first conse- 
 quence is no doubt capable of exaggeration. The ideas 
 of the purely Palestinian schools coincided in many 
 points with those of the Alexandrines, of which they 
 formed the basis, and it is perhaps by this fact rather 
 than by any immediate contact that we should explain 
 the resemblances of St. Paul, St. James, and even of 
 the Epistle to the Hebrews, with Philo. But there can 
 be little doubt that St. John acquired from Alexandria 
 that conception of the Word, which first brought 
 Christian theology within the sphere of metaphysics 2 . 
 
 1 Siegfried, pp. 157 sqq. 
 
 " Not necessarily from Philo, if, as seems probable, the Logos dqctrine is 
 somewhat older than Philo's time. The question turns mainly upon (i) the 
 exact significance and (ii) the date of the Memra of the Targums. May- 
 baum, Die Anthropomorphien und Anthropathien bei Onkelos, Breslau, 
 1870, maintains that in Onkelos 'Word of God' is a mere periphrasis for 
 God, and is never regarded as having a hypostatic existence. Gfrorer, 
 Jahrhundert des Heils, i. 310 sqq., maintains the opposite, but regards the 
 idea as unquestionably Alexandrine in origin. With this agrees the view of 
 Dr. Edersheim, Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, vol. i. pp. 46, 56. 
 Siegfried (p. 317) asserts that 'it is universally acknowledged that John 
 borrowed from Philo the name of Logos to express the manifestation of 
 God.' He refers to Ballenstedt, Dahne, Gfrorer, Liicke, de Wette-Briickner, 
 Dorner, Neander, Tholuck, Lutterbeck. Nevertheless his language is too 
 peremptory. Ewald (v. 153 sqq. ; vi. 277) holds that the doctrine of the
 
 I ] Influence of Ms Teaching. 25 
 
 Philo's influence upon the mind of post-apostolic 
 times was partly helpful, partly detrimental. It was 
 given to the Alexandrine Jew to divine the possibility 
 and the mode of an eternal distinction in the Divine 
 Unity, and in this respect the magnitude of our debt 
 can hardly be overestimated. How large it is we may 
 measure in part by the fact that the doctrine of the 
 Holy Spirit, which has no place in his system, remained 
 for a long time meagre, inarticulate, and uncertain. But 
 the Logos is not Christ, is not the Messiah l . Far less is 
 he Jesus, for from the Platonic point of view the Incar- 
 nation is an impossibility. Hence though Philo supplied 
 the categories, under which the work of Jesus continued 
 to be regarded, his influence on this side was upon the 
 
 Word grew up among the Jews and had become an article of the 
 popular belief as well as a tenet of the schools. And that the book of Enoch 
 shows that before the beginning of the second century B.C. the Word was 
 identified with the Messiah. (Other authorities however regard the Book 
 of Enoch as, in part at any rate, Christian.) Harnack, Dogmengeschichte, 
 p. 79, note, says, ' Die Auffassung des Verhaltnisses von Gott und Welt im 
 vierten Evangelium ist nicht die Philonische. Daher ist auch die Logos- 
 lehre dort im wesentlichen nicht die Philo's.' This is maintained at length 
 by Dr. Westcott, Introduction to the Gospel of St. John, pp. xv. sqq., and by 
 Schanz,a recent Roman Catholic editor of the same Gospel. But the difference, 
 while sufficient to show that St. John is applying a partially heathen phrase to 
 a wholly Christian conception, is byno means such as toexclude the possibility 
 of connection, and in any case very little weight can be attached to this line 
 of argument in default of proof that a homegrown Logos doctrine existed in 
 Palestine before the time of St. John. Some importance is perhaps to be 
 attached to the fact that in the Pseudo-Clementine Homilies, a work which 
 seems to be built upon a Palestinian system, we have God and the Two Powers 
 but not the Logos. Yet the writer was acquainted with St. John, and would 
 surely have given this title to the Son if he had found it current in the 
 Palestinian schools. 
 
 1 The traces of a Messianic hope in Philo are very indistinct. De Execr. 
 9 (ii. 436) the dispersed of Israel shall return from exile : tv ayovptvot irpos 
 nvot OfioTtpas $ Kara <pvaiv dvepamivi)* (we should surely read avOpwmvr]v} 
 fyeoas. Siegfried (p. 222) refers this to the Logos. Dahne, p. 437, thinks 
 it not improbable that the Logos is meant.
 
 26 Influence of Philo. [Lect. 
 
 whole hurtful. To Philo religion is the emancipation 
 of the intelligence from the dominion of sense. In 
 such a scheme knowledge is more than Faith 1 , For- 
 giveness has no real place, and Vicarious Suffering no 
 meaning. Such words as Atonement, Mediator, High 
 Priest, could not mean to the Platonist what they must 
 mean to the Christian, and down to the time of Clement 
 Philo's great name stood between the Church and a 
 clear understanding of. their real signification. 
 
 Other parts of his legacy were more questionable 
 still his vicious Allegorism, his theory of the Absolute 
 God. But upon these we shall be compelled to dwell 
 at some length further on, and therefore need speak no 
 more in the present place. Let us only add that 
 Alexandrine iritellectualism, though it leads to an over- 
 estimate of human effort and to a self-centred concep- 
 tion of virtue, has yet the great merit of finding blessed- 
 ness in the soul itself. The Kingdom of God is within 
 us, even in this life. Thus it affords the means for 
 rectifying a tendency very prevalent in the early 
 Church, that of looking for happiness only in another 
 world as a compensation for suffering in this. Its 
 
 1 Philo speaks of Faith the most perfect of virtues, the queen of virtues 
 in very splendid terms. See especially De Abrahamo, 46 (ii. 39) ; Quis 
 Rerum Div. Heres. 18 (i. 486). But in section 21 of the last-named treatise 
 it appears to be distinguished from aotyia iri the same way as by Clement, 
 as the cause of obedience, as the characteristic of the lower stage of the 
 spiritual life. This indeed is a consequence of his system. But Philo 
 has a clearer view that spiritual health is the one thing desirable, and is 
 not hampered by the question that pressed heavily on Clement what 
 is the minimum condition of salvation? Hence his conception of Faith is 
 nobler, it may be said more Pauline, than Clement's. So again, not being 
 troubled by the problem of Responsibility, he uses much stronger and 
 grander language on the subject of Grace. See Siegfried, p. 307 ; Denis, 
 Philosophic <fOrigne, p. 222.
 
 I.] The Gnostics. 27 
 
 reward is holiness, the vision of God ; its punishment 
 is that of being what sinners are. Thus it is directly 
 opposed in principle, if not always in practice, to the 
 vulgar paradise of Chiliasm, and even to Asceticism. 
 For Asceticism, as distinguished from temperance, rests, 
 not upon the antithesis of spirit and matter, but upon 
 ' other-worldliness,' the delusion that heaven can be 
 purchased by self-torture in this life. 
 
 Our view of the conditions out of which Christian 
 Platonism sprung would be incomplete without a brief 
 notice of Gnosticism 1 . It will be needless to enter into 
 the confused details of the so-called Gnostic systems. 
 The Aeons of Valentinus and others are but the Ideas 
 of Plato seen through the fog of an Egyptian or Syrian 
 mind. They were not understood to affect the unity of 
 God, and, except as guardian Angels, play no practical 
 part. Clement and Origen scarcely ever allude to them, 
 and they have no place at all in the systems of Marcion 
 and Basilides 2 . For us they have mainly this interest, 
 
 1 The standard authorities on the subject of Gnosticism are Neander, 
 Church History, vol. 2 ; Baur, Die Christliche Gnosis, Tubingen, 1835 ; 
 Matter, Histoire Critique du Gnosticisme, 2nd edition, Strasbourg and Paris, 
 1843; Lipsius, article Gnosticismus in Ersch and Gruber, Leipzig, 1860; 
 Mansel, Gnostic Heresies, 1875. All except the last two are anterior in date 
 to the publication in 1851 of six additional books of the Philosophumena 
 which have given an entirely new view of Basilides. We are concerned 
 entirely with what Lipsius counts as the second or Alexandrian stage of 
 Gnosticism. The view takn in the following pages rests mainly on the 
 Gnostic fragments which will be found collected in Stieren's edition of Irenaeus, 
 on the Excerpta ex Theodoto, and the general impression left on the mind by 
 the study of Clement, Origen, and the Pseudo-Clementine Homilies. 
 
 2 To Valentinus the Aeons were simply the ideas, the thoughts of 
 God. Tertullian, Adv. Valentin, iv : Earn postmodum Ptolemaeus 
 intravit, nominibus et numeris Aeonum distinctis in personales substantias, 
 sed extra deum determinatas, quas Valentinus in ipsa summa divini- 
 tatis ut sensus et affectus motns incluserat.' This is confirmed by a striking 
 extract from an Epistle of Valentinus given by Clement, Strom, ii. 20. 114;
 
 28 The Gnostics. [Lect. 
 
 that they complete the work of the Philonic analysis. 
 God is finally separated from His attributes, the Aeons 
 of Reason and Truth, and becomes the Eternal Silence 
 of Valentinus, the Non-existent God of Basilides 1 . 
 
 It is a mistake to approach the Gnostics on the meta- 
 physical side. There is a certain wild poetical force in 
 Valentinus, but otherwise their world - philosophy is 
 purely grotesque. The ordinary Christian controver- 
 sialist felt that he had nothing to do but set out at 
 unsparing length their tedious pedigrees, in the well- 
 grounded confidence that no one would care to peruse 
 them a second time. The interest, the meaning, of 
 Gnosticism rest entirely upon its ethical motive. It 
 was an attempt, a serious attempt, to fathom the dread 
 mystery of sorrow and pain, to answer that spectral 
 doubt, which is mostly crushed down by force Can 
 the world as we know it have been made by God? 
 ' Cease,' says Basilides, ' from idle and curious variety, 
 and let us rather discuss the opinions, which even bar- 
 barians have held, on the subject of good and evil 2 .' 
 ' I will say anything, rather than admit that Providence 
 is wicked 3 .' Valentinus describes in the strain of an 
 ancient prophet the woes that afflict mankind. ' I durst 
 
 Stieren, Irenaeus, p. 910. ut the same thing is probably true of Ptolemy 
 and of Heracleon. The use of the word aeon by the Gnostic writers them- 
 selves is obscure. I find it used to denote, (i) God ; Heracleon apud 
 Origen in loan. ii. 8 (Lomm, i. 117), rov alwva ff TO. kv TO) aluivi. Hence 
 6 tv alSnfi, ibid. xiii. 19 (Lomm, ii. 33^, is Jesus: (ii) Aeons = Ideas? 
 = Emanations ? Exc. ex Theod. 23. ibid. 32, tKaaros rSjv aluvaiv tSiov ex fl 
 ir\7]paifjui, TTJV av^iry'iav ; (iii) Angels; Exc. ex Theod. 25, the Valentinians 
 \tyovffi TOWS alojvas Gfj.aivv{*cas T \6yca \6yovs, Here Aeon = \6yos = Angels 
 = Stars. So in section 7, dyvcacrros ovv 6 irarfip uiv f/0e\r]fffv fvcaaOffvai rois 
 alwaiv : cp. St. Paul, Eph. ii. 7. As to the Guardian Angels, see below, p. 33. 
 
 1 Philos. vii. 21 : OVTOJS OVK aiv Oeos firoirjfff tcoaftov oitc ovra t ovic uvrcuv. 
 
 1 Stieren's Irenaeus, p. 901. 
 
 3 Stieren's Irenaeus, p. 903 ; Clem. Strom, iv. 12. 82.
 
 I.] Their Ethical Motive. 29 
 
 not affirm,' he concludes, ' that God is the author of all 
 this V So Tertullian says of Marcion, ' like many men 
 of our time, and especially the heretics, he is bewildered 
 by the question of evil V 
 
 They approach the problem from a non-Christian 
 point of view, and arrive therefore at a non-Christian 
 solution. Yet the effort is one that must command our 
 respect, and the solution is one that a great writer of 
 our own time thought not untenable 3 . Many of them, 
 especially the later sectaries, accepted the whole Chris- 
 tian Creed 4 , but always with reserve. The teaching 
 of the Church thus became in their eyes a popular 
 exoteric confession, beneath their own Gnosis, or Know- 
 ledge, which was a Mystery, jealously guarded from 
 all but the chosen few. They have been called the 
 first Christian theologians. We may call them rather 
 the first Freemasons. 
 
 There is no better example of the cultivated Gnostic 
 than Plutarch. Perplexed by the nightmare of physical 
 and moral evil this amiable scholar could see no light 
 except in the dualism of Zoroaster 5 . The world was 
 created by Ormuzd, the spirit of Good, but Ahriman, 
 the dark and wicked, had. broken in and corrupted all. 
 
 1 From the remarkable fragment of the Dissertation on the Origin of 
 Evil, Stieren's Irenaeus, p. 912. 
 
 " Adv. Marcion. i. 2. 
 
 3 See J. S. Mill, Three Essays on Religion, ed. 1874, PP- 2 5>37> 5%- Mr. 
 Mill himself rejected the Dualistic solution; ibid. p. 185. 
 
 * Basilides accepted the whole of the Gospel narrative, Philos.\\\. 27. So 
 did Theodotus. Tertullian, Adv. Val. i : ' Si subtiliter tentes per ambiguitates 
 bilingues communem fidem adfirmant.' Irenaeus, Preface, 2 : ovs <j>v\&aativ 
 irafrfifytXtttv r^uv Kvpios o/xofa (itv \a\ovvTas, dt/6fj.oia 5% Qpovovvras. See the 
 accounts of Cerdon, Irenaeus, iii. 4. 3, and Apelles, Eusebius, H. E. v. 13 ; 
 Harnack, Dogmengesch. p. 186. 
 
 5 De Iside et Osiride, 45 sqq.
 
 3O Gnostic Exegesis. [Lect. 
 
 From Plutarch sprang a succession of purely heathen 
 Gnostics, against whom, more than a century later, 
 Plotinus felt it necessary to take up the pen l . Between 
 these and the Gnostics known to Christian controversy 
 there is no essential difference. Both start from the 
 same terrible problem, both arrive at the same conclu- 
 sion, the existence of a second and imperfect God. 
 They identified this Being with the Creator or Demi- 
 ' urge, and ascribed to him the authorship of the whole, 
 or the greater part, of the Old Testament. For, though 
 they allegorised the New Testament, the Gnostics did 
 not, in any of their voluminous commentaries, apply 
 this solvent to the Hebrew Scriptures. These they 
 criticised with a freedom learned from the Essenes 2 . 
 They found there, side by side with the eternal 
 spiritual law, the code of an imperfect and transient 
 morality ; worse than all, they found there passion, 
 revenge, and cruelty ascribed to the Most High. It 
 is not possible to read the remarkable letter of Ptolemy 
 to Flora, without perceiving that Old Testament exegesis 
 was the real strength of Gnosticism. It was so power- 
 ful because it was so true. On this one point they 
 retained their advantage to the last. The facts were 
 in the main as they alleged, and the right explanation 
 depended on principles equally foreign, at that time, to 
 Gnostic and to orthodox. 
 
 Their views of religion, of salvation, were as various 
 as their strange and perplexing cosmogonies. We may 
 
 1 Porph. Vita Plotini, 16. 
 
 3 Compare the exegesis of the Pseudo-Clementine Homilies with that of 
 Ptolemy's Epistle to Flora. The author of the Homilies considered that 
 he was refuting Gnosticism, but there was certainly a historical connection 
 between his views and those of the Valentinians. See below, p. 34.
 
 I.] Gnostic Christology. 31 
 
 leave out of sight the Paulinism of Marcion, and take as 
 a type the system of Theodotus, a leader of the Eastern 
 Valentinians, with whose writings Clement had an in- 
 timate acquaintance *. Christ came, he taught, not for 
 our redemption alone, but to heal the disorders of the 
 whole universe. For Earth, and Heaven, and even God 
 Himself, were diseased by the revolt of Wisdom, who in 
 blind presumption had given birth to she knew not 
 what. But for man's sake Christ became Man 2 , taking 
 
 1 It is doubtful what the Excerpta ex Theodoto really are. ' Descripta 
 videntur ex libris Hypotyposeon,' says Valesius on Eus. H. E. v. n. 2. 
 Zahn, Forschungen zurGesch. des N. T. Kanons, Erlangen, 1884, vol. iii. p. 
 122, thinks that they are a collection of extracts from the eighth book of 
 the Stromateis. Renan, Marc-Aurtle, p. 118, regards them as a collection 
 of extracts from the writings of the Valentinian Theodotus made by Clement 
 for his own use, and this seems the best view. It is doubtful again who 
 Theodotus was. Neander and Dorner think him the same as Theodotus the 
 money-changer. Zahn inclines, rather fancifully, to identify him with the 
 Theodas (if that is the right name ; the reading is doubtful) of Strom, vii. 
 1 7. 106, the disciple of Paul and teacher of Valentinus, and thinks that there 
 may have been a book bearing the name of this supposed pupil of the 
 Apostle. It should be added that Theodotus is referred to by name only 
 five times, and that much of the information for which Clement refers vaguely 
 to ' the Valentinians ' may come from some other source. The text is ex- 
 ceedingly obscure and corrupt. Bunsen, Anal. Ante-Nic. vol. i, gives the 
 conjectural emendations and Latin translation of Bernays. The accusations 
 brought byPhotius against the orthodoxy of Clement may rest in part upon a 
 misunderstanding of this curious and difficult treatise. See also Dr. West- 
 cott's article, Clement of Alexandria, in the Dictionary of Christian 
 Biography. 
 
 2 The Christology of Theodotus diners somewhat from that ascribed to 
 Valentinus by the author of the Philosophumena. (i) The Only-Begotten 
 God ( 6 ; this is I suppose the earliest authority for this reading in John 
 i. 1 8), Nous, Aletheia, Logos, Zoe appear to be only different names for 
 the Spirit of Knowledge, the irpo^oAiy, or externalised thought of God. 
 (ii) Christ is a irpof)o\T) of exiled Wisdom who returns to the ir\r)paifjia to 
 beg aid for his mother, is detained there, and apparently united to the 
 Only-Begotten; 23, 39, 44. (iii) Jesus the rrpo/SoAij of all the Aeons 
 is sent forth to comfort Wisdom ; 23. (iv) Jesus is never separated from 
 the Only-Begotten ; 7, 43. (v) Jesus descends to the world through the 
 realm of Space, that is the Demiurge, and takes to himself the Psychic
 
 32 The Gnostics. The Three Natures. [Lect. 
 
 upon Him our threefold nature, body, soul, and spirit, 
 though His body was spiritual, not gross as ours. Yet 
 He is not the Saviour of all, but of those only who can 
 receive Him, and in so far as they can receive Him 1 . 
 Some there are who cannot know Him. these are they 
 who have flesh but not soul, who perish like the beasts. 
 Some again, the spiritual, are predestined to life 
 eternal 2 . They are akin to the light, knowledge once 
 given leads them on inevitably to perfection, annihil- 
 ating all their earthly passions. Between these hover 
 'the psychic,' the feminine souls, to whom faith is 
 granted, but not knowledge. Before the coming of 
 Christ these were creatures of destiny, the sport of evil 
 angels, whom they could not resist 3 . But the Incarna- 
 tion and Baptism of our Lord broke their bonds, and 
 by faith and discipline they become capable of eternal 
 life 4 . 
 
 In that future existence the soul needs no body, for 
 
 . Christ, 59, the irpo0o\^ of the Demiurge, 47 that is to say, his vovs 
 assumes a tyvxfi and weaves for Himself a body tic rfjs dtyavovs if/vxtieijs 
 ovalas, 59. (vi) He was born of the Holy Ghost and the Virgin; 23. 
 The whole of the Gospel narrative then follows. 
 
 1 7 : 6 8 CLVTOS tan TOIOVTOS wv tKaaTca otos Kfx<*>pi]ffO<u Siivarat. 
 
 2 56 : TO /j.Zv ovv TTVfvp.aTi.Kov <j>vati aca^ofitvov, TO Se if/vxticov avTf ovffiov 
 ov firiTijStioTTjTa % irpos T6 irianv KOI atyOapaiav Kal npbs aTriariav KOI 
 <}>6opav KO.TCL rf)v oiKtlav aiptfftv, TO Si v\mov <pvaei dir6\\vTCu. The 
 Spiritual, the Elect, are masculine, children of Adam ; the Psychic, the 
 Called, are feminine, children of Eve; 21. This idea is found in the 
 Homilies. The Spiritual must be 'shaped' by knowledge; 57, 59: 
 the Psychic must be ' grafted on to the fruitful olive ; ' 56, ' changed ' 
 from slavery into freedom, from feminine into masculine, 57, 79. Unless 
 they become spiritual they are burnt up in the fire, 52, body and soul 
 perish in Gehenna (proved by Matt. x. 28), 51, that is to say before 
 they rise to Paradise the fourth heaven, which earthly flesh may not 
 enter, 51 : this last idea is based upon 2 Cor. xii. 2. 
 
 3 69-75- 
 
 4 76-78.
 
 I.] Gnostic Eschatology. 33 
 
 it is itself a body, as the Stoics taught *. It is im- 
 mortal and for ever blessed. But there are degrees of 
 felicity. The spiritual soar up at once through the 
 seven planetary orbits to the Ogdoad, the region of 
 the fixed stars, where is no more labour nor change. 
 There they await the consummation, when Christ, the 
 great High Priest, shall lay aside His soul, and enter 
 through the Cross that is the upper Firmament into 
 the Holy of Holies, taking with Him His children, now 
 become pure Words like Himself. The Psychic are 
 cleansed by fire, the sensible and the intellectual fire 2 , 
 the pangs of sense, the stings of remorse. Aided and 
 comforted by guardian angels 3 , who were 'baptised for 
 them,' while yet they were ' dead in trespasses and 
 
 1 14, dA\<i at 17 ^x^ ffw/io. For how, the author asks, can the souls 
 who are chastised feel their punishments if they are not bodies ? Corporeal 
 also, though in an ever-ascending scale of fineness, are the demons, the 
 angels, archangels and Protoctists, the Only-Begotten, and apparently even 
 the father; 10, u. 
 
 2 81. 
 
 3 Theodotus appears to distinguish two classes of Angels ; those created 
 by the Demiurge, who like all his works are imperfect copies of the 
 existences of the spiritual world, 47, and the ' male angels,' the creation 
 of the Only-Begotten, 21. It is by union with these that the 'female 
 soul' becomes masculine and capable of entering the Pleroma. It is 
 these angels that are ' baptised for the dead ' (t Cor. xv. 29). Hence 
 the Valentinian was baptised tls \vrpcaaiv ayytXueriv, in the same Name 
 in which his guardian Angel had previously been baptised; 22. The 
 male Angels came down with Jesus for our salvation, 44, and ' pray for 
 our forgiveness that we may enter in with them. For they may be said 
 to have need of us that they may enter in, for without us this is not 
 permitted to them ; ' 35. Similar ideas will be found in the religion of 
 Mithra, see below, Lecture vii, and in the Homilies, ix. 9 sqq. (though 
 here the union is between the bad man and his demon). So Heracleon 
 says (apud Origen in Joan. xiii. n) that the Samaritan woman's husband 
 is her Pleroma. Cp. also Irenaeus, iii. 15. 2 : ' est inflatus iste talis, neque 
 in caelo neque in terra putat se esse, sed intra Pleroma introisse et conv- 
 plexum iam angelum suum.' Also the Valentinian epitaph quoted by 
 Renan, Marc-AurZle, p. 147. 
 
 D
 
 34 Gnostic Eschatology. [Lect. 
 
 sins,' who love them, and yearn for them as their 
 spiritual brides, they rise, through three 'mansions' or 
 stages of discipline, to the Ogdoad their final home, 
 their Rest J . Thus spirit, soul, and body, the com- 
 mingling of which is the cause of all evil and suffering, 
 are finally separated into their appointed places, and 
 the healing work of Christ is achieved. It is not diffi- 
 cult to trace here a barbaric Platonism, mingled with 
 Mazdeism, coloured by the influence of the Ebionites, 
 and strangely refracted echoes of St. Paul 2 . St. Paul 
 
 1 Jesus in his descent puts on the Psychic Christ in TOTTOJ, Space, the 
 realm of the Demiurge ; 59. It was the Psychic Christ, that is the 
 Human Nature, that died, 61, and now sits on the right hand of the 
 Demiurge, 62, till the Restitution, 'in order that he may pacify Space 
 and guarantee a safe passage for the Seed into the Pleroma,' 38. Then 
 He lays aside ^v\r) and ou>fj.a and passes through the Veil, 27, taking 
 with him His children, His Body, the Church, 42. Till then the 
 elect await Him in the Ogdoad, the eighth heaven, the changeless region 
 of the fixed stars, 26, 63, becoming Words, Intelligent Aeons, \6yoi, 
 aluves voepoi, 27, 64. At the same time the Psychic rise from the 
 Kingdom of the Demiurge to the Ogdoad, 63. 
 
 a The barbaric cast of their Philosophy may be seen in the grotesque 
 character assumed by the Logoi or Aeons in the popular systems, in 
 the crude description of the Non-Existent God by Basilides, and generally 
 in the Gnostic incapacity for abstract ideas. Thus the inner Veil which 
 divides the Ogdoad from the Pleroma, the world of Ideas, is Heaven. 
 But one derivation given for the word ovpavos is opos, a boundary or 
 division. Horos might mean a pole, such as Greeks employed to mark 
 the limits of a field. Hence the upper firmament might be called ^ravpos, 
 the Cross which divides believers from unbelievers ; Excerpta, 42. The 
 passions were conceived of in Stoic fashion as actual bodies hanging on 
 to the soul, the Trpoffaprrj/Mra or Trpoffipvrjs tyvxh- Man thus becomes, says 
 Clement, a kind of Trojan Horse; Strom, ii. 20. 112 sqq. As to the 
 Mazdeism, there is clear historical proof of the connection of Gnosticism 
 with the system of Zoroaster ; cp. Lect. vii, the passages referred to above 
 from Plutarch and Porphyry, Duncker, vol. v. pp. 53 sqq. of the English 
 translation. As to Ebionitism, I notice the following points of resemblance 
 between Theodotus and the Homilies Anthropomorphism the Syzygies 
 the antitheses of Male and Female, Fire and Light, Right and Left the 
 union of the soul with its Angel the idea that the Water of Baptism 
 quenches the fire of sin, suggesting or suggested by the ancient reading in
 
 I.] Results of Gnosticism. 35 
 
 was held in high esteem by these sectaries, and to their 
 sinister admiration is largely due the neglect of his 
 special teaching in the early Church. 
 
 This Dualism, this Fatalism, for the three natures are 
 a modified fatalism, are vain and worse than vain. 
 They belong to a lower stage of religious life, above 
 polytheism, yet far- below Christianity. From this 
 semi-barbarism spring all the faults of Gnosticism, its 
 conceit, its uncertain morality, its chimeras, its peremp- 
 tory solutions of the insoluble. Like all half-truths it 
 perished self-convicted, melting away like Spenser's 
 woman of snow in presence of the living Florimell. It 
 left a certain mark upon Catholicism, and partly by 
 shaking the older faiths, partly by preparing men's minds 
 for a better belief, partly by compelling the leaders 
 of the Church to ask what they believed and why they 
 believed it, aided not inconsiderably in the triumph of 
 the Gospel, and in the development of the Creed 1 . But 
 in the second century, while it was yet living and 
 aggressive, it constituted a danger greater than the 
 Arian controversy, greater than any peril that has ever 
 menaced the existence of the Faith. 
 
 Matt. iii. 15, which tells how a fire shone in the Jordan at the baptism 
 of Jesus. Lastly, the doctrine of several Incarnations of Jesus is found 
 in the Excerpta, 19. Zahn is therefore mistaken in saying (p. 123) that 
 there is no trace of Ebionitism in the Christology of Clement's Theodotus. 
 
 1 The first philosophical statement of the Real Presence is to be found 
 Excerpta, 82. To Gnostics is due the importation of the words ovaia, 
 vwoffraols, 0/j.oovatos into theology. They held the Virgin in high honour ; 
 Kenan, Marc-Aurele, p. 145. They were the first to speculate on the date 
 of the Nativity, Strom, i. 21. 145, and to attempt the portraiture of Christ ; 
 Iren. i. 25. 6. Beyond this I see nothing but the influence of antagonism. 
 See however Harnack, Dogmengeschichte, pp. 185 sqq. 
 
 D 2
 
 LECTURE II. 
 
 That -was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh 
 into the world. ST. JOHN i. 9. 
 
 ACCORDING to the earliest tradition, that which is 
 preserved in the Pseudo-Clementine Homilies, Chris- 
 tianity was first preached in the streets of Alexandria 
 by Barnabas a . But for ages the Egyptians have attri- 
 buted the foundation of their Church to St. Mark, the 
 interpreter of St. Peter. At a later date the Patriarchs 
 of Alexandria were elected beside the tomb of the 
 Evangelist in the great church of Baucalis, the most 
 ancient ecclesiastical edifice in the city, in close prox- 
 imity to the wharves and corn-magazines of the crowded 
 harbour.- 
 
 At the close of the second century the Church of 
 Alexandria was already a wealthy and flourishing com- 
 munity. Its warfare is said to have been comparatively 
 bloodless. Three times within a hundred years Egypt 
 had endured all the horrors of unsuccessful rebellion, and 
 once a sanguinary riot had been occasioned by the dis- 
 
 1 Horn. i. 8 sqq. The claims of Mark find no support from Clement. 
 But Bishop Lightfoot thinks there is no reason to doubt the tradition ; 
 Philippians, p. 223, ed. 1873. See Redepenning, Origenes, i. p. 185, note. 
 
 The sources employed for this sketch of the history of the Alexandrine 
 Church are Contextio Gemmarum sive Eutychii Pair. Alex. Annales, 
 Pocock, Oxford, 1656 ; Eutychii Origines Eccl. Alex., Selden, London, 
 1642 ; Le Quien, Oriens Christianus ; Renaudot, Historia Patriarcharum 
 Alex. Jacobitarum ; Neale, Holy Eastern Church. Some information is 
 to be gathered from the Oracula Sibyttina, see Excur. in Alexandre's ed., 
 and much from Clement. Origen's church was that of Palestine. The 
 letter of Hadrian to Servianus in Vopiscus, Vita Saturnini, is regarded as a 
 forgery by Mommsen, v. p. 579 note. .
 
 T/ie Alexandrine Church. 37 
 
 covery of the Apis bull *. Amid scenes like these the 
 Christians no doubt bore their full share of suffering. 
 But down to the time of Severus there appears to have 
 been no definite persecution of the faith 2 . The execu- 
 tion of Christians was in general a concession to the 
 mob, and it is probable that in Alexandria in ordinary 
 times the populace was held down by a much more 
 severe restraint than elsewhere, the Emperors being 
 always nervously apprehensive of any disturbance by 
 which the supply of corn might be interrupted. Under 
 these favouring circumstances the Church had spread 
 with great rapidity. Already the house-church of the 
 first age had been replaced by buildings specially con- 
 structed for the purposes of Christian worship 2, and it 
 would seem therefore that the right of holding land was 
 enjoyed, perhaps under some legal fiction, by the 
 Alexandrine, as it certainly was by the African and 
 Roman communities 4 . In other matters the Egyptian 
 
 1 In 115 the Jews of Egypt and Cyrene revolted, and were quelled by 
 Marcius Turbo. The rebellion of Barcochba extended to Egypt, and in 
 the reign of Marcus occurred the insurrection of the Bucoli ; see Mommsen, 
 v. 581. The Apis sedition is recorded in Spartian's Life of Hadrian, 12. 
 
 2 Clement says (Strom, ii. 20. 125), fjfuv Se a<p9ovoi ^aprvpoiv irrjyal 
 enaaTrjs ij/x/xzs ev 6<0aA/tofs f/fiwv Qfaipovptvai impoirr 'ptvcav dvaaKtvSvXtvo- 
 Htvcuv ras Kt<pa\ds a.TTOT(fj.vofJLfvaiv. He may be speaking of sufferings in 
 other countries, or Christian blood may have been shed in Alexandria 
 before the official commencement of the persecution of Severus. See Aube, 
 Les Chretiens dans V Empire Romain, pp. 117 sqq. Nevertheless persecution 
 was always going on more or less in every province where the governor 
 happened to be weak or hostile. Since the discovery of the Greek text of 
 the Acts of the Scillitan martyrs, this tragedy is known to have occurred in 
 180, a time otherwise of peace : see Gorres, Jahrb. fur Prot. Theol. 1884, 
 parts ii and iii. 
 
 3 Clement speaks of ' coming from church 'just as we do, Paed. ii. 10. 96, 
 prjSe (KK\rjaias, </>'/>*> ^ ayopds IJKOVTCI, but does not like Origen refer to 
 the arrangements of the building. See on this subject Probst, Kirchliche 
 Disciflin, pp. 181 sqq. 
 
 * ' Areae Christianorum ' are mentioned by Tertullian, Ad Scapulam, 3.
 
 38 The Alexandrine Church. [Lect. 
 
 Church seems to have moved less rapidly than its neigh- 
 bours. The traces of a written liturgy in Clement are 
 scanty and vague 1 . The Eucharist was not yet disjoined 
 from the Agape. Infant Baptism was not yet the rule. 
 Discipline was not so severe as elsewhere. The Bishop 
 was not yet sharply distinguished from the Presbyter, 
 nor the Presbyter arfd Deacon from the lay-brother. 
 The fidelity, with which the Alexandrines adhered to 
 the ancient democratic model, may be due in part to 
 the social standing and intelligence of the congregation. 
 The same reason may account for their immunity from 
 many of the ecclesiastical storms of the time. Gnosti- 
 cism indeed was rampant in this focus of East and 
 West. But of Noetianism, of the Easter controversy, 
 of Montanism hardly a sound is to be heard 2 . 
 
 About the same time Callistus was overseer of the cemetery at Rome ; 
 Philos. ix. 12. 
 
 1 Probst (Liturgie, p. 9) gives reasons for supposing that the first sketch 
 of a written Liturgy existed in the middle of the second century, and (ibid. 
 pp. 135 sqq.) finds in Clement traces of a Liturgy resembling in its main out- 
 lines that given in the eighth book of the Apostolical Constitutions. It is most 
 difficult to say what precise facts underlie Clement's allusive phrases. The 
 only passages, so far as I know, in which written formularies may be re- 
 ferred to are Strom, vii. 12. 80, where TO. 0)0 TO. Sofu\oya TO. Sia 'Haaiov dA- 
 XTjyopovufva seem to allude to the Trisagion uttered by the Cherubim and 
 Seraphim (Renaudot, Liturgiarum Orient. Collectio,\. p. 46), and Protrep. 
 xi. in, where the 'outstretched hands of Christ' may be explained by a 
 phrase in the ancient Alexandrine Liturgy translated by Ludolfus, from the 
 Ethiopic (in Bunsen, Hippolytus, iv. p. 242), ' ut impleret voluntatem tuam 
 et populum tibi efficeret expandendo manus suas.' For the Agape and 
 Infant Baptism, see next Lecture. 
 
 2 Of Noetianism Clement does not speak. He wrote a treatise Ilfpt TOV 
 ndffxo-, in which he considered the relation of St. John's narrative to that of 
 the Synoptists ; see the Fragments, the best account is that of Zahn, Forsch- 
 ungen, iii. p. 32) ; and the Kavuv iKKXrjaiaariKbs TJ irpbs TOUS lovSai^ovras 
 may have been directed against the Quartodecimans (see Zahn, ibid. p. 35). 
 The Treatises (Sermons, Zahn thinks) on Fasting and the promised but 
 not written treatise on Prophecy were certainly aimed at the Montanists, 
 whom he mentions with forbearance, Strom, iv. 13. 93; vi. 8. 66. But
 
 ii.] The Alexandrine Church. 39 
 
 Nevertheless wealth and numbers brought dangers of 
 their own, and Alexandria was driven along the same 
 road which other Churches were already pursuing. The 
 lowering of the average tone of piety and morals among 
 the laity threw into stronger relief the virtues of the 
 clergy, and enabled them with a good show of justice 
 and necessity to claim exclusive possession of powers, 
 which had originally been shared by all male members 
 of the Church. 
 
 We can still trace the incidents, by which this mo- 
 mentous change was effected. The most interesting 
 feature in the Alexandrine Church was its College of 
 twelve Presbyters, who enjoyed the singular privilege of 
 electing from among themselves, and of consecrating, 
 their own Patriarch l . They were the rectors of the 
 twelve city parishes, which included certain districts 
 
 he does not seem to have been troubled at home by either Montanism or 
 Judaism. 
 
 1 Contextio Gemmarum, p. 331 : ' Constituit autem Evangelista Marcus, 
 una cum HananiaPatriarcha, duodecimPresbyteros, qui nempe cum Patriarcha 
 manerent, adeo ut cum vacaret Patriarchatus unum e duodecim Presbyteris 
 eligerent, cujus capiti reliqui undecim manus imponentes ipsi benedicerent et 
 Patriarcham crearent ; deinde virum aliquem insignem eligerent quern secum 
 Presbyterum constituerent loco eius qui factus est Patriarcha, ut ita semper 
 extarent duodecim. Neque desiit Alexandriae institutum hoc de Presbyteris, 
 ut scilicet Patriarchas crearent ex Presbyteris duodecim, usque ad tempora 
 Alexandri Patriarchae Alexandrini qui fuit ex numero illo cccxvin. Is 
 autcm vetuit ne deinceps Patriarcham Presbyteri crearent et decrevit ut 
 mortuo Patriarcha convenirent Episcopi qui Patriarcham ordinarent. . . . 
 Atque ita evanuit institutum illud antiquius.' In Selden, p. xxxi. 
 
 Cp. Jerome, Ep. 146 (in Migne), Ad Evangelum : ' Nam et Alexandriae a 
 Marco Evangelista usque ad Heraclam et Dionysium Episcopos Presbyteri 
 semper unum ex se electum in excelsiori gradu collocatum Episcopum 
 nominabant : quomodo si exercitus Imperatorem faciat.' Eutychius also 
 tells us that Demetrius was the first to appoint Suffragans. See Bishop 
 Lightfoot, Philippians, Excursus on the Christian Ministry. The inference 
 that there was a prolonged struggle between the two orders is Ritschl's 
 Entstehung dcr Altk. Kirchc, 2nd ed. p. 432.
 
 4O The Alexandrine Church. [Lect. 
 
 outside the walls. Even in the time of Epiphanius 
 they exercised a sort of episcopal jurisdiction 1 . They 
 formed a chapter, of which the Patriarch was President, 
 and to this chapter all provincial letters were addressed. 
 But towards the close of the second century their chief 
 and distinguishing prerogative had been lost. While 
 the Patriarch Julian lay upon his death-bed, he was 
 warned by an angel in a vision, that the man, who next 
 day should bring him a present of grapes, was destined 
 to be his successor. The sign was fulfilled by Deme- 
 trius, an unlettered rustic, and, what to later ages seemed 
 even more extraordinary, a married man. In obedience 
 to the divine warning Demetrius was seated almost by 
 force in the throne of St. Mark. He proved a stern 
 and enterprising ruler. He stripped the people of one 
 of their few remaining privileges by the censure, which 
 he pronounced on Origen for preaching while yet a 
 layman, and he broke the power of the Presbyteral 
 College by the appointment of a number of Suffragan 
 Bishops, whom he afterwards persuaded to pass sentence 
 of degradation upon Origen, a sentence which the Pres- 
 byters had refused to sanction 2 . From this time the 
 Chapter never succeeded in regaining its prerogative, 
 though the struggle appears to have been protracted 
 till the incumbency of the Patriarch Alexander. Thus 
 was finally abolished this most interesting relic of a 
 time, when there was no essential difference between 
 . Bishop and Priest, and of a later but still early time, 
 when the Bishop was chairman or life-president of a 
 
 1 Epiph. Ixix. I. 
 
 2 Redepenning, Origenes, i. p. 412 ; Huet, Origeniana,'\. 2. 12 (Lomm. 
 xxii. 44) ; Photius, cod. cxviii.
 
 II.] The Catechetical School. 41 
 
 council of Priests, by whom the affairs of a great city- 
 church were administered in common. 
 
 A large and rich community, existing in the bosom of 
 a great University town, could not long submit to exclu- 
 sion from the paramount interests of the place. Their 
 most promising young men attended the lectures of the 
 heathen professors. Some like Ammonius relapsed into 
 Hellenism, some drifted into Gnosticism like Ambrosius, 
 some like Heraclas passed safely through the ordeal, and 
 as Christian priests still wore 'the pallium, or philoso- 
 pher's cloak, the doctor's gown we may call it of the 
 pagan Academy. Learned professors like Celsus, like 
 Porphyry, began to study the Christian Scriptures with a 
 cool interest in this latest development of religious 
 thought, and pointed out with the acumen of trained 
 critics the scientific difficulties of the Older Testament 
 and the contradictions of the New. It was necessary to 
 recognise, and if possible to profit by, the growing con- 
 nection between the church and the lecture-room. 
 Hence the catechetical instruction, which in most other 
 communities continued to be given in an unsystematic 
 way by Bishop or Priest, had in Alexandria developed 
 about the middle of the century into a regular institu- 
 tion. 
 
 This was the famous Catechetical School 1 . It still 
 continued to provide instruction for those desirous of 
 admission into the Church, but with this humble routine 
 it combined a higher and more ambitious function. It 
 was partly a propaganda, partly we may regard it as a 
 
 1 Schools of a similar description existed at Antioch, Athens, Edessa, 
 Nisibis ; Gnerike, De Schola Alex. p. 2 ; Hamack, Dogmengeschichte, 501 
 sqq.
 
 42 The Catechetical School. [Lect. 
 
 denominational college by the side of a secular univer- 
 sity. There were no buildings appropriated to the 
 purpose. The master received his pupils in his own 
 house, and Origen was often engaged till late at night 
 in teaching his classes or giving private advice or in- 
 struction to those who needed it. The students were 
 of both sexes, of very different ages. Some were con- 
 verts preparing for baptism, some idolaters seeking for 
 light, some Christians reading as we should say for 
 orders or for the cultivation of their understandings. 
 There was as yet no rigid system, no definite classifica- 
 tion of Catechumens, such as that which grew up a 
 century later. The teacher was left free to deal with 
 his task, as the circumstances of his pupils or his own 
 genius led him. But the general course of instruction 
 pursued in the Alexandrine school we are fortunately 
 able to discover with great accuracy and fulness of detail. 
 Those who were not capable of anything more were 
 taught the facts of the Creed, with such comment and 
 explanation as seemed desirable. Others, Origen tells us, 
 were taught dialectically. The meaning of this phrase 
 is interpreted for us by Gregory Thaumaturgus, one of 
 the most illustrious and attached of Origen's disciples. 
 At the outset the student's powers of reasoning and exact 
 observation were strengthened by a thorough course of 
 scientific study, embracing geometry, physiology, and 
 astronomy. After science came philosophy. The writ- 
 ings of all the theological poets, and of all the philoso- 
 phers except the 'godless Epicureans,' were read and 
 expounded. The object of the teacher was no doubt in 
 part controversial. He endeavoured to prove the need of 
 revelation by dwelling on the contradictions and imper-
 
 II.] The Catechetical School. 43 
 
 factions of all human systems, or he pointed out how the 
 partial light vouchsafed to Plato or Aristotle was but an 
 earnest of the dayspring from on high. But the attitude 
 of Clement or Origen towards Greek thought was not 
 controversial in any petty or ignoble sense. They looked 
 up to the great master-minds of the Hellenic schools 
 with a generous admiration, and infused the same spirit 
 into their disciples. 
 
 Philosophy culminated in Ethics, and at this point 
 began the dialectic training properly so called. The 
 student was called upon for a definition of one of those 
 words that lie at the root of all morality, Good or Evil, 
 Justice or Law ; and his definition became the theme of 
 a close discussion conducted in the form of question and 
 answer. In the course of these eager systematic con- 
 versations every prejudice was dragged to light, every 
 confusion unravelled, every error convicted, the shame 
 of ignorance was intensified, the love of truth kindled 
 into a passion. So far the course pursued did not differ 
 essentially from that familiar to the heathen schools. 
 But at this point the characteristic features of the Chris- 
 tian seminary come into view. We find them in the 
 consistency and power, with which virtue was represented 
 as a subject not merely for speculation but for practice 
 in the sympathy and magnetic personal attraction of 
 the teacher but above all in the Theology, to which all 
 other subjects of thought were treated as ancillary x . 
 
 It may be doubted whether any nobler scheme of 
 Christian education has ever been projected than this, 
 
 1 The materials for this account will be found in Guerike and the 
 Panegyric of Gregory Thaumaturgus (in Lomm. xxv. 339). Gregory is 
 describing the teaching of Origen as he had profited by it in Caesarea. But 
 the description will hold good of his earlier work at Alexandria.
 
 44 Clement. [Lect. 
 
 which we find in actual working at Alexandria at the 
 end of the second century after Christ. I have dwelt 
 upon it at some length, partly because of the light it 
 throws upon the speculations of the great Alexandrine 
 divines, partly in view of the charges of ignorance and 
 credulity so often levelled at the early Christians. The 
 truth is, that so far as the Church differed from the rest 
 of society it differed for the better. Whatever treasures 
 of knowledge belonged to the ancient world lay at 
 its command, and were freely employed in its service, 
 and it possessed besides the inestimable advantage of 
 purer morals and a more reasonable creed. 
 
 The first master of the Alexandrine school is said to 
 have been the Apologist Athenagoras. But the state- 
 ment rests upon evidence so insufficient that we may be 
 permitted to disregard it 1 . The teacher, under whom 
 the institution first attains to a place in history, 
 is Pantaenus, a converted Stoic philosopher 2 , who in 
 the course of a mission journey to India is said to have 
 discovered a Hebrew version of the Gospel of St. Mat- 
 thew. He was an author of some eminence, but all that 
 we possess of his writings is a fragment of some half-dozen 
 lines, containing however a sensible and valuable remark 
 on the relations of the Greek and the Hebrew verb. 
 His pupil and successor was the more famous Clement. 
 
 . Titus Flavius Clemens was a Greek, and probably an 
 Athenian 3 . He was born about the middle of the 
 
 1 The name of Athenagoras is found first in the list of masters of the 
 Alexandrine school given by Philippus Sidetes in a fragment discovered by 
 Dodwell. Guerike inclines to accept the statement. Redepenning, i. 63, 
 regards it as highly doubtful. See also Otto, Proleg. to Athenagoras, 
 p. xxii. 
 
 2 See Guerike, Routh. 
 
 3 Epiph. xxxii. 6 : KAiy/x^s ov </>a0i Ttv 'A.\(av8p(a trtpoi 5 'AOrjvaTov, It
 
 II.] His Life. 45 
 
 second century, and inherited his name in all likelihood 
 from an ancestor enfranchised by Vespasian or his son. 
 He was the child apparently of heathen parents l , and 
 Eleusis and the Schools had been to him the vestibule 
 of the Church. Like many another ardent spirit in that 
 restless age he wandered far and wide in quest of truth, 
 till at last in Egypt he ' caught ' Pantaenus, ' that true 
 Sicilian bee,' hidden away in modest obscurity, and in 
 his lessons found satisfaction alike for soul and mind. 
 Here at Alexandria he made his home. He received 
 priestly orders 2 , and was appointed master of the Cate- 
 chetical School, at first probably as assistant to Pan- 
 taenus. He appears to have fled from the persecution 
 of Severus in 203, and did not return to Egypt. After 
 this date we catch but one uncertain glimpse of him 3 , 
 and it would seem that he died about 213. 
 
 It is not an eventful biography. Clement was essen- 
 tially a man of letters, and his genial contemplative 
 
 seems a natural inference from the account of his wanderings in Strom, i. 
 i. ii that he was not a native Alexandrine, and that his starting-point 
 was Hellas. The statement that he was an Athenian is rendered probable 
 by the character of his style, which is deeply tinged with Homeric phrases 
 and bears a strong resemblance to that of Philostratus and the Sophists 
 whom Philostratus describes, and again by his familiarity with Attic usage. 
 See for this last point Paed. i. 4. n ; 5. 14; ii. n. 117; 12. 122. But 
 Dindorf, Preface, p. xxvii, tries to make him more Attic than he is. For 
 the special bibliography of Clement the reader may consult Guerike, Dr. 
 Westcott in Dictionary of Christian Biography, Jacobi's article in Herzog, 
 and Dr. Harnack's Dogmengeschichte. 
 
 1 Eus. Praep. Ev. ii. 2. 64, iravrtav fiev 5id irdpas (\0iijv avr/p, Odrr6v ye 
 nty rfjs Tr\avrjs dvavevoas. We may perhaps infer from the knowledge of 
 the Mysteries displayed in Protrep. ii. that he had been initiated. But the 
 teachers to whom he expresses his obligations in Strom, i. i. n were all 
 Christians. See the note in Heinichen's Eusebius, H.E.v.ii. 3. 
 
 8 Paed. i. 6. 37. 
 
 3 Heinichen's Eus. H. E. vi. n. 6. For further information as to the 
 life of Clement see Guerike or Dr. Westcott's article in Dictionary of 
 Christian Biography.
 
 46 Clement. [Lect. 
 
 temper rendered him averse to direct controversy and 
 the bustle of practical life. His writings are the faithful 
 mirror of his studies and thoughts, but tell us little of 
 incident. In later times he was considered a marvel of 
 learning. Nor was this estimate ill-grounded, for the 
 range of his acquaintance with Greek literature, eccle- 
 siastical T , Gnostic, and classical, was varied and extensive. 
 There are indeed deductions to be made. His citations 
 are often taken at second-hand from dubious sources, 
 and he did not sift his acquisitions with the scholar's in- 
 stinct 2 . He passes many a sharp remark on the rhetori- 
 
 1 Clement was acquainted with Barnabas, Hermas, Clemens Romanus, 
 with Melito, Irenaeus (Eus. H. E. vi. 13. 9; compare Strom, vii. 18. 109 
 with Irenaeus v. 8, and perhaps Protr. xi. in with Irenaeus iii. 22. 4; in 
 both Adam is created as a child, and Eve is at first his playmate), possibly 
 with Papias (but the ^oi/ew iroiKi\ai may come from Irenaeus v. ad Jin. or 
 elsewhere ; see Routh, Papias, frag. 5) and Tatian. With Justin (or the 
 author of the Cohort, ad Gentiles and de Man.} and Athenagoras he has certain 
 quotations in common. These however are probably drawn by all three from 
 Hecataeus; cp. Strom, v. 14. 113. He has no knowledge of Ignatius or 
 Tertullian. Of other books quoted I may name the Gospels according to 
 the Hebrews and Egyptians, the Revelation of Peter, the Preaching of Peter, 
 the Preaching of Paul (a distinct book), the Acts of Peter (?), the 
 Assumption of Moses (Adumb. p. 1008), the Syllogisms of Misael, the 
 Ji/larOiov TrapaSoaeis, Doctrina Apostolomm, Duae Viae, Enoch (Adttmb. 
 1008), Sophonias (Strom, v. II. 77). Others, the prophecies of Ham, 
 Nicolaus, Parchor, &c., seem to be distinctively Gnostic. References will 
 be found in editions of the Pp. App., Hilgenfeld, Bryennius, &c. I think 
 it probable that he had read the Homilies. See Lardner, Credibility, 
 vol. 2. A list of quotations from unknown Apocryphal sources will be 
 found in Bishop Kaye. 
 
 2 On the cucpiaia of Clement see Dindorf, Preface, xxii. Even when he 
 quotes KO.TCL \fw there can be no doubt that he is generally following some 
 secondary authority, often dishonest Jews, Hecataeus or Aristobulus. 
 Anthologies abounded at Alexandria, and often bore fanciful names, such as 
 \ei/jui>v, f\ifsut>, KTjpiov, irtTr\os, irapdSficros (Strom, vi. i. 2). A mere refer- 
 ence to the indices will show that Clement's knowledge of the dramatists is 
 not to be compared with that of Athenaeus. The lengthy passage begin- 
 ning Strom, i. 21, with all its imposing array of authorities, is compiled from 
 Tatian and Casianus. Lastly, though Clement refers to Varro and to Roman
 
 ii.] His Learning and Character. 47 
 
 cians l , but at bottom he is himself a member of their 
 guild, cloudy, turgid, and verbose. But Theology had not 
 yet driven out the Muses. His love of letters is sincere, 
 and the great classics of Greece are his friends and coun- 
 sellors. Even the comic poets are often by his side. If 
 we look at his swelling periods, at his benignity and 
 liberality and the limitations of his liberality, at his 
 quaint and multifarious learning, at his rare blending of 
 gentle piety and racy humour, we shall find in him a 
 striking counterpart to our own author of the Liberty 
 of Prophesying. 
 
 Clement is not a great preacher, for he has neither 
 acted nor witnessed such a soul's tragedy as that dis- 
 closed by Augustine in his Confessions. He is no such 
 comforter for the doubting and perplexed as the fearless 
 Origen. Still less is he one of those dialecticians who 
 solace the logical mind with the neatness and precision 
 of their statements. He is above all things a Mis- 
 sionary. For one thus minded the path of success lies 
 in the skill, with which he can avail himself of the good, 
 that lies ready to his hand. He must graft the fruitful 
 olive on to the wild stem, and aim at producing, not a 
 new character, but a richer development of the old. 
 
 This is his guiding principle. The Gospel in his view 
 is not a fresh departure, but the meeting-point of two 
 
 customs and history in four or five places, he seems to have been almost 
 wholly ignorant of the West. 
 
 1 They are ' a river of words, a drop of sense,' or like old boots of which 
 all but the tongue is worn out (Strom, i. 3. 22), full of quibbles and disputes 
 about shadows (Strom, vi. 18. 182 ; Strom, i. 5. 29). Clement says of those 
 who give themselves up to Rhetoric, ' as most do,' that they have fallen in 
 love with the handmaid and neglect the mistress. This last figure is 
 from Philo, De Congr. Erud. Grat. 27 : the handmaid is Hagar, secular 
 knowledge ; the mistress Sarah, divine philosophy. He disparages style, 
 Strom, i. 10. 48 ; ii. i. 3.
 
 48 Clement. 
 
 converging lines of progress, of Hellenism and Judaism. 
 To him all history is one, because all truth is one. 
 ' There is one river of Truth,' he says, ' but many 
 streams fall into it on this side and on that V Among 
 Christian writers none till very recent times, not even 
 Origen, has so clear and grand a conception of the 
 development of spiritual life. The civilisation of the 
 old world had indeed led to idolatry. But idolatry, 
 shameful and abominable as it was, must be regarded 
 as a fall, a corruption 2 . The fruits of Reason are to be 
 judged not in the ignorant and sensual, but in Hera- 
 clitus, in Sophocles, in Plato. For such as these Science 
 had been a covenant of God 3 , it had justified them as 
 the Law justified the Jew 4 . He still repeats the old 
 
 1 Strom, i. 5. 29. So a drachma is one and the same, but if you give it 
 to a ship-captain it is called ' fare,' if to a revenue officer ' tax,' if to a land- 
 lord ' rent,' if to a schoolmaster ' fee,' if to a shopkeeper ' price ;' Strom, i. 
 20. 97, 98. Truth is like the body of Pentheus, torn asunder by fanatics, 
 each seizes a limb and thinks he has the whole ; Strom, i. 13. 57. This last 
 famous simile is borrowed from Numenius, Eus. Praep. Ev. xiv. 5. 7. 
 
 8 It was a corruption of Star- worship which God gave to the Gentiles 
 as a stepping-stone to a purer religion ; Strom, vi. 14. no sq. This idea, 
 which is also found in Origen (Redepenning, ii. 27), is based partly on a mis- 
 interpretation of Deut. iv. 19 (see Potter's Note), partly on the history of 
 Abraham as told by Philo. The origin of Mythology Clement has analysed 
 with considerable skill ; Protrep. ii. 26. But in general he hovers between 
 the two views prevalent in the early Church. Sometimes he speaks of the 
 gods, with Euemerus, as ' dead men,' sometimes as ' demons.' Athenagoras, 
 Tertullian, Minucius Felix combine these two beliefs and represent the gods 
 as dead men whose temples, images, and tombs were haunted by the 
 demons for the sake of the steam and blood of the sacrifices. 
 
 3 Strom, vi. 8. 67. 
 
 4 Strom, i. 5. 28 ; vi. 5. 42 sqq. Philosophy is an imperfect gift bestowed 
 ov irpoi]yov/j.tvcas dAAd tear' eira.KO\ovOr)na, i. e. not by special revelation 
 but as a natural consequence of the possession of reason. Hence its right- 
 eousness is imperfect and preparatory, and cannot avail those who deli- 
 berately reject the Gospel ; Strom, i. 7. 38. It justified the Philosopher 
 when it led him to renounce idolatry, vi. 6. 44. and carry his principles into 
 practice, vi. 7. 55. But Sixaios Sixaiov icaOo 8iKcu6s (<JTIV ov 8ta(f>(pet, vi. 6. 47.
 
 II.] Value of Philosophy. 49 
 
 delusion that the Greek philosopher had ' stolen ' his 
 best ideas from the books of Moses 1 . But his real belief 
 is seen in the many passages where he maintains that 
 Philosophy is a gift not of devils 2 but of God through 
 the Logos, whose light ever beams upon his earthly 
 image, the intelligence of man. 'Like the burning 
 glass, its power of kindling is borrowed from the sun 3 .' 
 
 It was not only a wise but a courageous view. The 
 Apologists had not as a rule been hostile to secular 
 learning, but they made little use of it. Pleading for 
 toleration, for life, to educated men they laboured to 
 prove that the Christian doctrines of God, the Word, 
 Virtue, Immortality, are those of all true philosophy, 
 that Revelation is the perfection of Common Sense 4 . 
 But they did not go beyond this ; their object was not to 
 set out the whole of Christian teaching, still less to 
 coordinate it. The Gnostics alone had attempted this. 
 But the Gnostics endeavoured to combine the Evan- 
 gelical theory with wholly alien beliefs. Hence, rejecting 
 the Old Testament, they denied what all Chfistians 
 
 Christ preached in Hades not only to Jews but to Greeks ; it would be ' very 
 unfair,' Tr\foveias ov rrjs rvxovarjs fpyov, that the latter should be condemned 
 for ignorance of what they could not know. See for other quotations, 
 Guerike, Redepenning, Origenes, i. 139 sqq. 
 
 1 Clement refers to the Greek Philosophers the words of onr Lord, John x. 8. 
 Yet all their knowledge was not 'stolen;' Strom. i. 17. 87. But he maintains 
 the hypothesis of ' theft ' at great length, v. 14. 89 sqq. 
 
 3 Here too Clement vacillates. Strom, v. I. 10 he adopts the doctrine of 
 the Homilies (or Enoch?) that the fallen angels betrayed the secrets of 
 heaven to their earthly wives. Elsewhere philosophy is a fruit of the in- 
 dwelling of the divine spirit, the lnq>var\\w., Protr. vi. 68 ; Strom, v. 13. 87. 
 Its doctrines are kvava^ara riva rov \6yov, Protr. vii. 74. Or it is given 
 by the good Angels, Strom, vi. 17. 156 sqq. 
 
 3 Strom, vi. 17. 149. Strom, i. 5. 37 it is finely compared to God's rain 
 which falls upon all kinds of soil and causes all kinds of plants to grow. 
 
 * See Harnack, Dogmengeschichte, pp. 379 sqq. 
 
 E
 
 50 Clement. [Lect. 
 
 regarded as the principal evidence of the Divinity of 
 Christ, their Docetism reduced Redemption to a purely 
 moral and intellectual process, their Dualism cut away 
 the testimony of Scripture and of experience to the 
 existence and character of God 1 . There arose a violent 
 reaction. Irenaeus maintains that God has given to 
 us two infallible criteria, our own senses and Scripture, 
 and that all beyond is superfluous and fallacious. Tatian 
 inveighs against the Schools with fierce derision. Her- 
 mias and Tertullian 2 assert with the Book of Enoch 
 that Greek Science is the invention of devils, the bridal 
 gift of the fallen Angels to the daughters of men. 
 This opinion was strongly represented at Alexandria, 
 which was indeed the hotbed of Gnosticism. The 
 ruling party there was that of the Orthodoxasts, whose 
 watchword was ' Only believe/ who took their stand 
 upon the Creed and refused to move one step beyond 3 . 
 Even in that age and place Clement saw and dared 
 to proclaim, that the cure of error is not less knowledge 
 but more. Hence he strenuously asserted not only the 
 merits of Philosophy in the past but its continuous 
 necessity in the Church 4 . Not merely does learning 
 
 1 This argument against Dualism is nowhere so forcibly expressed as by 
 the ingenious editor of the Recognitions, i\. 52 : 'Aperi nobis . . . quomodo tu ex 
 lege didiceris deum quern lex ipsa nescit.' Ibid. 60 : ' Da ergo nobis . . . sensum 
 aliquem novum per quem novum quern dicis deum possimus agnoscere ; isti 
 enim quinque sensus, quos nobis dedit creator deus, creatori suo fidem 
 servant.' Simon Magus replies that the sixth sense required is Ecstasy, and 
 Peter in answer finely exposes the vanity of such a source of knowledge. 
 
 2 See Irenaeus, ii. 26, 27; Tert. Apol. 35; De Idol. 9; Hermias, ad 
 init. (cp. Otto's Prolegomena, pp. xliii. sqq.); Tatian, 25 sqq. 
 
 3 The opOoSoaffrai, Strom, i. 9. 45. He calls them also <f>i\e'yK\ri(j.ovfs, 
 ifttxpoSfets. They demand tyiXriv rrjv vianv, i. i. 18 ; 9. 43. For a lively 
 but malicious picture of this party by the hand of a clever unbeliever, see 
 Origen, Contra Celsum, iii. 44-78. 
 
 4 Strom, i. 5. 28.
 
 II.] Value of Philosophy. 51 
 
 grace the preacher, not merely does it impart clearness, 
 security, elevation to the convictions, but it is essential 
 to conduct. For Christianity is a reasonable service. 
 The virtue of Justice in particular is impossible without 
 intelligence. Science is the correlative of Duty. And 
 though Scripture is the all-sufficient guide, even here 
 the Christian must borrow assistance from the Schools. 
 For Philosophy is necessary to Exegesis. ' Even in the 
 Scriptures the distinction of names and things breeds 
 great light in the soul 1 .' 
 
 Thus, however much the field of enquiry is limited by 
 Authority, learning is still indispensable as the art of 
 expression, as logic, as ethics, as sociology, as philology. 
 But the Alexandrines went further. They professed 
 and exhibited the most entire loyalty to the Creed. 
 But outside the circle of Apostolical dogma they held 
 themselves free. They agreed with the Orthodoxasts 
 that Scripture was inspired. But their great Platonic 
 maxim, that ' nothing is to be believed which is un- 
 worthy of God,' makes reason the judge of Revelation 2 . 
 They held that this maxim was a part of the Aposto- 
 lical tradition, and accordingly they put the letter of the 
 Bible in effect on one side, wherever, as in the account of 
 Creation or of the Fall, it appeared to conflict with the 
 teaching of Science. But though there is in them a 
 
 1 Strom, i. 2. 19, 20; 20. 99, too; vi. 6 sqq., 10 sqq. The Lord an- 
 swered Satan with a play upon the word ' bread,' i. 9. 44, ' and I fail to see 
 how Satan, if he were, as some consider, the inventor of philosophy and 
 dialectics, could be baffled by the well-known figure of amphiboly.' For 
 the relation of Science to Duty see especially Strom, i. 9. 43 ; 10. 46 ; for 
 its service to Exegesis, i. 9. 44 sq. ; vi. 10. 82. 
 
 2 This maxim is enunciated by Clement, Strom, vi. 15. 124 ; vii. 16. 196, 
 and lies at the root of Allegorism. It is the guiding principle also of the 
 Homilies (ii. 40, vdv \(x Gtv % "ffMvpZv Kara rov Qtov ifsfvSos effriv), and of 
 
 the Gnostics. 
 
 E 2
 
 52 Clement. [Lect. 
 
 strong vein of Common Sense or Rationalism, they 
 were not less sensible of the mystic supernatural side 
 of the religious life than Irenaeus. The difference is, 
 that with them the mystical grows out of the rational, 
 that they think always less of the historical fact than of 
 the idea, less of the outward sign than of the inner 
 truth. Their object is to show, not that Common Sense 
 is enough for salvation, but that neither Faith without 
 Reason nor Reason without Faith can bring forth its 
 noblest fruits, that full communion with God, the 
 highest aim of human effort, can be attained only by 
 those who in Christ have grown to the stature of the 
 perfect man, in whom the saint and the thinker are 
 blended together in the unity of the Divine Love. 
 Hence they represent on one side the revolt of Pro- 
 testantism against Catholicism, on the other that of 
 Mysticism against Gnosticism. And their great service 
 to the Church is, that they endeavoured faithfully to 
 combine the two great factors of the spiritual life. 
 
 The Canon of Scripture had already assumed very 
 nearly its permanent form *. Gradually, with infinite 
 care and discussion, those documents, which could be 
 
 1 See Dr. Westcott, On the Canon, pp. 354 sqq., ed. 1881 : 'Clement it 
 appears recognised as Canonical all the books of the New Testament 
 except the Epistle of St. James, the second Epistle of St. Peter, and the 
 third Epistle of St. John. And his silence as to these can prove no more 
 than that he was not acquainted with them.' Most of the references to 
 James given in the Index are doubtful. But in Strom, vi. 18. 164 there 
 seems to be a clear allusion to the ' royal law ' of love. And the mention 
 of James with Peter, John, and Paul as the founders of Christian Gnosis, 
 Strom, i. i. n ; vi. 9. 68, would be very remarkable unless James were 
 known to Clement as a Canonical writer. Again, Eusebius (H. E. vi. 14) and 
 Cassiodorius both testify that James was commented upon in the Hypoty- 
 poses. On the authority attributed by Clement to Barnabas and the 
 Revelation of Peter (both were included in the Hypotyposes), see Dr. West- 
 cott, App. B.
 
 ii.] The Canon. 53 
 
 regarded as possessed of Apostolical authority, had been 
 set apart to form the New Testament. And as the 
 circle was drawn closer, as the living voice of Prophecy 
 died away, so the reverence for the canonical books grew 
 higher, till they were regarded as inspired in the same 
 sense as the older Scriptures. But, as soon as men began 
 to read the New Testament as a divinely given whole, 
 they could not fail to be struck by the violent contrast 
 between the teaching of St. Paul and the whole system 
 of the existing Church. Down to this time no trace of 
 ' Paulinism ' is to be found, except among the Gnostics. 
 Even Clement apologises for treating ' the noble Apostle 1 ,' 
 as he calls him, with the same deference as the Twelve. 
 But he does so without hesitation, and the working of 
 the new leaven is seen at once in his view of Knowledge, 
 of the Resurrection, of Retribution. Indeed, we may 
 characterise this period as the first of those Pauline 
 reactions, which mark the critical epochs of theology. 
 It is the age of Irenaeus and the Alexandrines. But 
 while the leading motive of the former is the Incarna- 
 tion, the mystical saving work of Christ, the guiding 
 principles of the latter are the goodness of God and 
 the freedom of Man. Hence Paulinism assumed very 
 
 1 'O dirooroAos, 6 waXoj, Oecrirefftos, fevvaios dir6ffTo\os. The passage 
 referred to is Strom, iv. 21. 134, 'Icrrtov fj.fvroi on, el leal 6 IlauAos rofy 
 Xpovois vtdfi evOiis /tera TTJV TOV Kvpiov dvd\r]tyiv dn/jtaffas, d\\d ovi> 17 ypcupfl 
 a\ni (K TTJS im\aids ^prrjrat SiaOrjKijs Ket0fv dvairvfovffa /cal \a\ovffa. 
 
 Clement maintains against the Ebionites that St. Paul is in complete 
 accordance with the Jewish Scriptures. At the same time he regards him, 
 like Origen, as one of the chief authorities for the use of Allegorism. On 
 the terms 'Judaism,' 'Jewish Christian,' 'Paulinism,' see Dr. Harnack's 
 excellent remarks (Dogmengeschichte, pp. 215 sqq.). Dr. Harnack also sets 
 the Simon Magus myth in a true historical light (ibid. p. 179). It is 
 cheering to notice the dying away of the wilful Tubingen theories, on 
 which so much erudition and ingenuity have been wasted.
 
 54 Clement. [Lect. 
 
 different shapes in the Western and the Eastern doctors *. 
 In the former the antithesis of the First and the Second 
 Adam is already pointing the way to the Augustinian 
 doctrine of Grace, in the latter the vision of the great 
 day, when Christ shall deliver up the kingdom to His 
 Father, leads on to Universalism. 
 
 The second great question arising out of the com- 
 pletion of the Canon was that of the Unity of Scripture. 
 This the Catholic strenuously asserted, the Gnostic denied 
 or admitted only with large reservations. 
 
 What is the relation of the Old Testament to the 
 New? What is that Law which Jesus came not to 
 destroy but to fulfil ? The Ebionites replied that it was 
 the Spiritual Law, that is to say the Moral Law, with 
 the addition of certain positive precepts circumcision, 
 the sabbath, abstention from blood 2 . The general body 
 
 1 Harnack, Dogmengeschichte, pp. 424 sqq. 
 
 2 I refer to the Homilies. Circumcision is there regarded as of eternal 
 obligation ; thus in the Epistle of Peter and The Contestation it is ordered that 
 the sacred books of the sect shall be entrusted to none but a circumcised 
 believer. In the body of the work this condition is not insisted upon. But 
 Clement had become a Jew at Rome; iv. 22. The observation of the 
 Sabbath, again, is not insisted upon, but it underlies the effSonaSos itvarriptov 
 of xvii. i o. The precepts of the Spiritual Law are given in vii. 4. Abstention 
 from blood was the law of the whole Church (see Or. Sibyllina, ii. 96 ; viii. 
 402 ; Eusebius, H. E. v. i. 26 ; Tert. Apol. 9 ; Clement, Paed. ii. i. 17 ; 
 Origen, In Rom. ii. 13, Lorn. vi. 1 28). It was falling into desuetude in the 
 time of Augustine ; see note in Heinichen on Euseb. H. E. v. i. 26. The 
 Sabbath was kept as a holy day ; see Bingham, xiii. 9. 3. It was still 
 necessary to argue the higher sanctity of the Lord's Day, the eighth day. 
 Hence the earnest iteration with which Clement dwells on the 'Oyoodoos 
 fjvffrripiov, Strom, iv. 17. 109; v. 6. 36 ; 14.106; vi. 14. 108 ; 16. 138. 
 In the last passage he argues that Light was created on the first day, then 
 follow six days of creative work, then the eighth a repetition of the first. 
 I may notice here that in one passage (Strom, v. ii. 74) Clement speaks of 
 the Law as actually forbidding Sacrifice. This is the view of the Homilies, 
 of Barnabas, ii. 9, of the Epistle to Diognetus, iii. iv, and of the Praedicatio 
 Petri apud Strom, vi. 5. 41. It is a good instance of Clement's erudite 
 uncertainty.
 
 II.] Unity of Scripture. 55 
 
 of the Church differed from this definition only in so far 
 as they rejected the rite of circumcision. But the Ebion- 
 ites went on to declare, that the whole of the Old Testa- 
 ment, so far as it was not in strict agreement with this 
 standard, is a forgery of the Evil Spirit. They involved 
 in one sweeping condemnation the Temple ritual, the 
 history of the wars, and the Monarchy, and a large part 
 of the prophetic writings 1 . This was in substance the 
 view of the Gnostics also. These maintained that the 
 Author of the Old Testament is described sometimes 
 as evil, sometimes as imperfect, commanding fierce wars 
 of extermination, caring for sacrifice, governing by pay- 
 ment and punishment. He is Just, they said, at best, 
 but surely not Good. 
 
 Clement, whose intellect is penetrating but not syste- 
 matic, did not grasp the whole range of the problem 
 before him. He leaves for Origen the task of dealing 
 with those passages, in which, as the Gnostics aiftrmed, 
 the Scriptures attribute direct immorality to Jehovah, 
 and confines himself to the proposition that goodness is 
 not inconsistent with severity, that He who teaches must 
 also threaten, and He who saves correct. Justice, he 
 insists, is the reverse side of Love. ' He, who is Good 
 for His own sake, is Just for ours, and Just because He 
 is Good 2 .' The moral Law then, though inferior to the 
 Gospel Law, because it works by fear and not by love, 
 and reveals God as Lord but not as Father, is yet one 
 
 1 Not all the prophets; see the references in Lagarde's edition of the 
 Homilies. In particular, Is. vii. 6, ix. 6 are applied to Christ, Horn. xvi. 14, 
 from which it would seem that the first chapter of Matthew was not omitted 
 by the Ebionites. This was quite consistent with a denial of Chribt's 
 Divinity, as in the case of Theodotus of Byzantium ; Philos. vii. 35. 
 
 2 Paed. i. 10. 88 ; the theme is dwelt upon at great length in this book 
 from chap. 8 onwards. Cp. Strom, i. 27. 171 ; ii. 7. 32 sqq. ; iv. 3. 9.
 
 56 Clement. [Lect. 
 
 with it in the way of development, as a needful prepara- 
 tory discipline, as a step in the divine education of the 
 world, or of the individual 1 . The rest of the Old Testa- 
 ment, though in one sense transient, has yet an eternal 
 significance as the shadow of good things to come, as 
 revealing Christ throughout, though but in riddles and 
 symbols. It has therefore a high doctrinal value for 
 those who can read it aright. Already the Sacrificial 
 Law was looked upon as the charter of the Christian 
 hierarchy 2 . But this opinion, so pregnant of conse- 
 quences in later times, Clement deliberately rejects. In 
 this point he differs from Origen, by whom the Priest 
 and Levite are regarded as types of the Christian 
 Presbyter and Deacon, though even he does not carry 
 the parallel so far as was afterwards done. 
 
 The method by which this inner harmony is discover- 
 able, the key to the riddles of the Old Testament, is Alle- 
 gorism. What this singular system effected in the hands 
 of the Alexandrine Jew, we have already seen. By the 
 Christian it was adapted to fresh purposes the explana- 
 tion of Prophecy and of the .New Testament itself. It 
 was in universal use, and was regarded by all as one 
 of the articles of the Ecclesiastical Canon or Tradition 3 . 
 
 1 For the unity of Inspiration, and so of all Scripture, see Strom. 
 ii. 6. 29 ; iii. n. 76 ; iv. 21. 132 ; iv. 22. 135 ; vi. 13. 106 ; vi. 15. 125; vii. 
 16. 95 ; vii. 18. 107. The Law is inferior to the Gospel as teaching only 
 abstinence from evil, yet this is the way to the Gospel and to well-doing ; 
 iv. 21. 130. The Law and Prophets taught in riddles what the Gospel 
 teaches clearly; vi. 7. 58; 15. 123. The Law governs by fear, ii. 6. 30, 
 and reveals God as Lord, i. 27. 173, a very Philonic passage. 
 
 2 In the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs. See Lightfoot, Philip-biuns, 
 pp. 252 sqq. 
 
 3 Origen, De Princ., Preface, 8. Clement appears to distinguish between 
 two traditions, the Ecclesiastical and the Gnostic, the KO.VWV TTJS tKKkrjaias, 
 Strom. i. i. 15 ; 19. 96 ; vii. 15. 90 ; 16. 95, 104, and the yvaiffTiKr) TrapaBoais,
 
 ii.] Alkgorism. 57 
 
 We shall be compelled to revert to this topic at a later 
 period, and it will be sufficient here to notice, that the 
 Alexandrines differed from their contemporaries in three 
 important points. They regarded Allegorism as having 
 been handed down from Christ and a few chosen Apostles, 
 through a succession, not of Bishops, but of Teachers 1 . 
 They employed it boldly, as Philo had done before them, 
 for the reconciliation of Greek culture with the Hebrew 
 Scriptures. And lastly they applied it to the New Testa- 
 ment, not merely for the purpose of fanciful edification, but 
 with the serious object of correcting the literal, mechanical, 
 hierarchical tendencies of the day 2 . This is in truth the 
 noblest side of Allegorism, for here it deals with cases, 
 where the antithesis of letter and spirit is most real and 
 
 Strom, i. i. 15, or yi-cuais, iv. 15. 97. The latter was communicated by 
 Christ to James, Peter, John, Paul, and the other Apostles, vi. 8. 68, but 
 only to the Four, i. i. n ; cp. iv. 15. 97. The former is the Little, the 
 latter the Great Mysteries. The former gives the facts of the Creed, and 
 Faith and Obedience, being ' watered ' by Greek philosophy, lead up to the 
 spiritual interpretation of the facts. See the opening of Strom, i. generally. 
 The Gnostic tradition is secret in so far as all Christians do not as a matter 
 of fact understand it, yet not secret in so far as all ought to understand it. 
 Hence Clement, Paed. i. 6. 33, denies that the Church has SiSaxas a\\as 
 airopprjTovs, while he yet speaks of TO rrjs yvwpTjs aTrupprjTof, Quis Dives 
 Salmis, 5; Strom, i. i. 13. The difference between this teaching and 
 Origen's is merely verbal. 
 
 1 See Strom, i. i. n ; vi. 9. 68. 
 
 2 I may notice here that Clement speaks of Four Senses of Scripture. 
 The MS. reading Tfrpax^s in Strom, i. 28. 1 79 is quite right, in spite of the 
 doubts of Bishop Potter and Sylburg. Compare 176, 17 ptv ovv Kara 
 Mcavaea <pi\oao<pia rtrpa\ri Te/j.verai, that is to say into History, Legislation 
 ( = Ethics), Sacrifice ( = Physics), and Theology or Epopteia ( = Dialectic 
 or Metaphysics). Here the three higher divisions answer to the branches 
 of Philosophy as taught in the Greek schools. In 1 79 Clement repeats 
 this : ' \Ve must interpret the law in four ways as giving a type, or a moral 
 command or a prophecy.' The literal sense is omitted. The identification 
 of Sacrificial Typology with Physics is very arbitrary. Theodotus, Ex- 
 cerpta, 66, speaks of Three Senses, the Literal, the Parabolic, and the 
 Mystical, just like Origen, but finds them only in the New Testament.
 
 58 Clement. [Lect. 
 
 vital. Yet it was this crowning merit of the Alexandrines 
 that led to one of their most serious errors. On many 
 points the explanation of those much-contested words, 
 Priest, Altar, Sacrifice, the Body and Blood of Christ, 
 the Power of the Keys, Eternal Life, Eternal Death 
 they were at variance with the spirit of the age. Hence 
 they were driven to what is known as Reserve. The 
 belief of the enlightened Christian becomes a mystery, 
 that may not be revealed to the simpler brother, for 
 whom the letter is enough. They strove to justify them- 
 selves in this by texts of Scripture, but their Reserve is 
 in fact the 'medicinal lie 1 ' of Plato, the freemasonry of 
 the Gnostics, and their best defence is that in practice it 
 is little more than a figure of speech. 
 
 From the Unity of Truth flows the necessity of Reve- 
 lation. For all knowledge must rest ultimately on the 
 same small group of Axioms, which cannot be proved, as 
 the Greek understood proof 2 . 'There is then no third term 
 between a self-communication of the Divine and absolute 
 scepticism. 
 
 The ultimate and therefore, strictly speaking, only in- 
 demonstrable axiom of religious philosophy is that, which 
 concerns the Being and the Nature of God. By the 
 grace of the Logos He has been known though imper- 
 fectly in all ages and climes to those, who diligently 
 sought Him. But to us He is revealed in the New 
 Testament as a Triad 3 Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 
 
 1 Strom, vii. 9. 53, of the Gnostic : a\r)&fj re yap <ppovet a/jui KOL a\t)0ev(i, 
 irXr)i/ ! /7 iroTf kv Sfpcurfias fifpd, teaffairtp iarpbs irpos voaowras eirl aoirrjpia 
 runs KayaiQVTOiv \fttvfftTai fj if/tvSos eptT Kara TOVS ao<f>t<TTas. 
 
 2 Strom, ii. 4. 13 ; vi. 7. 57 sq. 
 
 3 Strom, v. 14. 103. The word is used by Theophilus, Ad Autol. ii. 15. 
 But it is doubtful whether Theophilus was the first to employ it. Cp. 
 Excerpta ex Theod. So, where it is said that the believer 5<d Tpiuv ovo^aTiav
 
 II.] The Trinity. 59 
 
 What is the exact signification of these titles ? What 
 is the precise relation to one another and to us of the 
 Entities they denote ? The answer to these questions was 
 the first and most difficult task of Christian Theology. 
 
 From the very outset all Christian sects baptised and 
 pronounced the benediction in the Triple Name. Even 
 those, who could not understand, did not venture to abjure 
 this authoritative formula, and the problems agitated, 
 serious as they undoubtedly were, turned solely upon 
 the manner of its explanation. Some like the author of 
 the Homilies, and the Gnostics generally, tried to fit it 
 on, by the most violent methods, to opinions derived 
 from external sources 1 . Others endeavoured to recon- 
 cile the One with the Three, by what is known as 
 Emanationism. The Son, the Holy Spirit, were occa- 
 sional expansions of the Divine Nature, shooting forth 
 like rays from a torch, and again absorbed into the 
 parent flame 2 . Others, again, regarded the Three Names 
 as three phases, or manifestations, of the One Divine 
 Activity 3 . But the main body of the Church asserted 
 
 irdarjs TTJS eo <j>dopa, rpiaSos airij\\a"fr). The form of the antithesis seems 
 to imply that the Three Namls were already spoken of as a Trias. 
 
 1 The Homilies afford perhaps the most striking of all external proofs of 
 the authenticity of the Baptismal Formula. The Son, one of the two powers 
 of God, is emphatically ' not God.' The Holy Spirit is a mere occasional 
 emanation, ' a hand put forth ' for the purpose of creation and then 
 ' drawn back again,' xvi. 12 ; 15 ; xx. 8. Yet the sect which adhered to this 
 Jewish ante-Philonie system baptised in the Triple Name, ix. 19, and used 
 the doxology, iii. 72. The point is urged by Dorner, vol. i. p. 168 of the 
 English translation. A widely different view is maintained by Harnack, 
 Dogmengeschichte, p. 56 ; Scholten, Die Taufformel. 
 
 * The Son, Justin, Trypho, 128 (p. 458 in Otto's ed.). This passage is 
 wrongly referred to by Bishop Potter, and apparently by Siegfried, p. 334, 
 as giving Justin's own opinion. The Holy Spirit, Athenagoras, p. 48 of 
 Otto's ed. 
 
 3 Perhaps the Alogi, see Domer ; but Dr. Schaff (Diet, of Christian Biog. t 
 Alogians) doubts this. The Monarchians, Neander, ii. p. 295 of the English
 
 60 Clement. [Lect. 
 
 the Deity and Personality of the Son, and, though with 
 less unanimity, those also of the Holy Ghost, and spoke 
 of the Three as united in Power or in Spirit. 
 
 The Christian doctrine differed from that of Philo in 
 many important features. In the latter, as we have 
 seen, a certain doubt hangs over the number and even 
 the existence of the Powers. They are a divination, a 
 poet's vision of what may be, of what must be, but hardly 
 more. And, because they form an indefinite series, the 
 Powers are essentially inferior to their source. The 
 Divine Energy is degraded as it approaches the sphere 
 of material existence, the Logos has the light but not 
 the fire of God. It is because he is inferior that he is 
 the Demiurge, the Eternal Himself may not be brought 
 into contact with evil. But the Christian held that God 
 made the world out of nothing, and made it good. 
 Hence the concrete is no longer polluted, and creation 
 is a mark rather of the exaltation than of the inferiority 
 of its Agent. ' In Him was Life.' Thus there remains 
 no other difference between the Father and the Logos 
 than that between the One and the Many, an eternal 
 antithesis, which in Clement's view implies the mutual 
 necessity of the two terms, in that of Origen, who lays 
 more stress upon the idea of causation, a distinction of 
 dignity but not of nature. This mode of thought was 
 immensely strengthened by the Incarnation, by which 
 
 translation. Monarchianism was especially strong in Rome, Ens. H. E. v. 
 28 ; Philos. ix ; Tert. Adv Prax. It is to be regarded neither as the pre- 
 vailing view of the Roman Church, nor as a heresy introduced at a late 
 date, but as an ancient opinion which had always existed side by side with 
 the belief in a Personal Trinity. The incompatibility of the two modes of 
 conception was not distinctly realised till towards the end of the second 
 century. The chronology and details of the history of Monarchianism are 
 very obscure. See Harnack, 564 sqq.
 
 ii.] Previous Speculations. 61 
 
 humanity is taken up into the bosom of the Divine, and 
 the deepest humiliation becomes a gauge of the Love 
 and Wisdom that prompted it. Again in Philo there is 
 scarcely a trace of any Messianic hope, while, in the belief 
 of the Christian, Christ is at once the Giver, the Sum, and 
 the Accomplisher of all Revelation. Other functions, 
 that especially enhance the distinction between the two 
 points of view, are those of Pardon and of Judgment. 
 
 On the other hand, in one remarkable point the ideal 
 of Christianity was in danger of falling below that of 
 Philo. For there was a tendency in less philosophical 
 minds to distinguish between the unspoken and the 
 spoken Word, to conceive of the Son, the Divine Reason 
 or Logos, as at first immanent in the mind of the Father 
 and assuming hypostasis for the purpose of Creation 1 . 
 
 It is at this point that Clement takes up the thread. 
 But it must be observed, that he is never controversial 
 nor even historical in his method. His horizon is limited 
 by the Eastern world. He never glances at Monarch- 
 ianism, which was already perhaps the subject of fierce 
 debate in Rome. Hence it is difficult to trace the exact 
 relation of his ideas to those of his predecessors or 
 contemporaries. 
 
 The knowledge of God is necessarily the starting-point 
 of the religious philosopher. But how is God to be 
 known? Philo dwells upon the lessons to be learned 
 from the order and beauty of Creation. These give a 
 true though inadequate picture of Jehovah, and form the 
 
 1 Philo does not apply to the Divine Logos the distinction of evdidOeros 
 and irpo<f>opiKos. It is employed by Theophilus, Ad Aut. ii. 10. 22, by 
 Tertullian, Adv. Prax. 5, and the author of the Philos. x. 33. Irenaeus rejects 
 these terms as Gnostic, ii. 28. 6. See Baur, Dreieinigkeit, pp. 163 sqq. ; 
 Lehrb. der Chr. Dogmengesch, p. 105.
 
 62 Clement. [Lect. 
 
 creed of the lower life, of those who have not risen above 
 the guidance of the Logos. But Clement knows the 
 world only through books, and hardly touches upon this 
 fruitful and persuasive theme 1 . For him the channels of 
 revelation are only Scripture and abstract reason. He 
 ought on his own principle to have regarded the second 
 as merely ancillary to the first. This however is far 
 from being his real view. Scripture gives us such an idea 
 of God, as is sufficient to start and guide us in our efforts 
 to attain moral purity. But purity is only a negative 
 state, valuable chiefly as the condition of insight. He who 
 has been purified in Baptism and then initiated into the 
 Little Mysteries, has acquired that is to say the habits 
 of self-control and reflection, becomes ripe for the Greater 
 Mysteries 2 , for Epopteia or Gnosis, the scientific know- 
 ledge of God. From this point he is led on by the 
 
 1 He touches upon it, Protrep. i. 5 ; iv. 63. But we should notice that 
 the Protrepticus is addressed to the unconverted heathen. 
 
 2 The three stages are represented loosely by the three surviving treatises 
 of Clement. The Protrepticus is an exhortation to the heathen world to 
 turn to the Word, the Light, and leads up to Baptism. The Paedagogus 
 shows how the baptised Christian is further purified by discipline which 
 eradicates passion = r<i Kadapvia, ra fjmcpii ftvarripia. The Stromateis as we 
 have them are a rambling account of the moral side of Gnosis. They 
 describe Book i the relation of Faith to Education ; Book ii the definition 
 of Faith and its relation to Knowledge ; Book iii the Gnostic virtue of 
 Temperance ; Book iv Courage and Love ; Book v Relation of Faith to 
 Symbolism ; Book vi Knowledge, Apathy, the use of Philosophy ; Book vii 
 description of the Gnostic life. The last two books conclude what he calls 
 the riOiitos ronos, and were to be followed by an investigation of the a.p\ai, 
 the Gnosis proper. This he never wrote. The logical treatise which 
 forms Book viii may have been intended as an introduction to the Christian 
 metaphysics. Thus Clement never really reached the /j.tyd\a /^var-^pia or 
 ftroirrfia. See Strom, i. i. 15 ; v. u. 71 ; vi. i. i ; vii. 4. 27 ; Protrep. xii. 
 118 sqq. ; Paed. i. i. For a fuller analysis of his writings, see Westcott, 
 Clement of Alexandria, in Diet, of Ch. Biog. ; Overbeck, Theol. Lit. Ztg., 
 1879, No. 20; and Hist. Ztschr., N. F., Bd. xii. pp. 455-472 ; Zahn, 
 Forschungen. Other information in Fabricius, Dahne, De fvwati.
 
 II.] The Deity. 63 
 
 method of Analysis or Elimination 1 . 'Stripping from 
 concrete existence all physical attributes, taking away 
 from it in the next place the three dimensions of space, 
 we arrive at the conception of a point having position.' 
 There is yet a further step, for perfect simplicity has not 
 yet been gained. Reject the idea of position, and we 
 have reached the last attainable abstraction, the pure 
 Monad. 
 
 This is God. We know not what He is, only what 
 He is not. He has absolutely no predicates, no genus, 
 no differentia, no species. He is neither unit nor 
 number, He has neither accident nor substance. Names 
 denote either qualities or relations. God has neither. 
 ' He is formless and nameless, though we sometimes 
 give Him titles, which are not to be taken in their proper 
 sense, the One, the Good, Intelligence, or Existence, or 
 Father, or God, or Creator, or Lord.' These are but 
 honourable phrases, which we use, not because they 
 really describe the Eternal, but that our understanding 
 may have something to lean upon 2 . 
 
 The next step must obviously be to find some means 
 of restoring to the Supreme Being the actuality, of 
 which He has been deprived in this appalling definition. 
 This Clement effects through the doctrine of the Son. 
 ' The God then, being indemonstrable, is not the object 
 
 1 dvd\vais, Strom, v. II. 71, or /card atyaipfffiv, Alcinous, chap. lo. The 
 same method is applied by Maximus Tyrins, xvii. 5 sqq. See Lecture V ad in. 
 
 2 The leading passages are Strom, v. n. 71 ; 12. 81 sq. ; vi. 18. 166 ; cp. 
 also ii. i. 6. God is iitiittiva. rov epos KOI virtp avrjjv fj.ova.Sa, Paed. i. 8. 71. 
 But though this really means the same as 1-ntKtiva. rrjs ovaias, Clement 
 avoids the use of this Platonic phrase. God is or has ovaia, Strom, ii. 2. 5 ; 
 iv. 26. 162 ; v. 10. 66 ; Fragment of ittpl irpovoias, Dmdorf, iii. 497 ; Zahn, 
 iii. 40. Clement departs from Plato again in applying the term Infinite to 
 God.
 
 64 Clement. [Lect- 
 
 or knowledge, but the Son is Wisdom, and Knowledge, 
 and Truth, and whatever else is akin to these, and so is 
 capable of demonstration and definition. All the powers 
 of the Divine Nature gathered into one complete the 
 idea of the Son, but He is infinite as regards each of 
 His powers. He is then not absolutely One as Unity, 
 nor Many as divisible, but One as All is One. Hence 
 He is All. For He is a circle, all the powers being 
 orbed and united in Him.' 
 
 The Son in this Pythagorean mode of statement is 
 the circle, of which the Father is the central point. He 
 is the ideal Many, the Mind, of which the Father is the 
 principle of identity. He is in fact the consciousness of 
 God 1 . 
 
 We are here brought into contact with one of the 
 most pregnant thoughts of the second century. Clement 
 it will be seen, though Philo is before his eyes, has 
 taken the leap from which Philo recoiled. He has 
 distinguished between the thinker and the thought, be- 
 tween Mind and its unknown foundation, and in so 
 doing has given birth to Neo-Platonism 2 . 
 
 1 Strom, iv. 25. 156. If Zahn is right (Forsch. iii. 77) in ascribing to 
 the Hypotyposes the fragment preserved by Maximus Confessor, Clement 
 expressly denied to God any consciousness of the external world. He sees 
 the object only as mirrored in the Son. This will then be the signification 
 of the words us iSia 6t\ijp.ara 6 Otos ra ovra fivwfficei. Routh (vol. i. p. 
 378) with better reason attributes the fragment to Pantaenus. But in any 
 case Clement's meaning seems to be clear. 
 
 2 The doctrine of the Absolute God Clement may have drawn through 
 Basilides or Valentinus from Aristotle. The conception of the Son as the 
 Father's complement, the vorjats which the Father voeT, is not, so far as 
 I am aware, to be found in any Gnostic writer. Contrast with Clement's 
 language Excerpta, 7. The doctrine of Nnmenins, as I shall endeavour 
 to show in Lecture vii, is quite different. Nor can Clement have been 
 indebted to Ammonius Saccas. For Ammonius would be only about 
 thirty years of age in 290 A. D. Philosophers rarely began to teach before
 
 II.] The Deity. 65 
 
 It is essentially a heathen conception, and can be 
 developed consistently only on heathen principles. 
 Clement has gone astray from the first by his mode of 
 approaching the subject. The question as he has posed 
 it is, not what is Spirit ? or what is the Idea of Good ? 
 but a very different one, what is the simplest thing con- 
 ceivable? And he assumes that this is, and that it is 
 the cause of all that exists. Nothing that is part of the 
 effect can belong to the Cause. Hence, instead of 
 seeking for the Perfect Being, he has fallen upon this 
 futile method of Analysis, which deals with words not 
 with things, and asks, not what is divisible in reality, 
 but what is divisible in logic. The result is a chimera, 
 a bare Force, which neither is nor is not, neither thinks 
 nor thinks not, a Cause divided by an impassable gulf 
 from all its effects. Nor has Clement been at any pains 
 to surround his doctrine with the needful explanations 
 and safeguards. This work he left entirely to Plotinus. 
 
 Some indeed of the consequences Clement foresaw. 
 Thus he tells us that man may become by virtue like 
 the Son, but not like God 1 . Others he does not appear 
 to have felt at all. The transcendental God, who is not 
 the object of knowledge, can be approached only by a 
 faculty other than reason, by direct Vision or Ecstasy, 
 
 that age, and Ammonius, who is said to have been originally a porter, prob- 
 ably did not attain any eminence till even a later period of life. This 
 renegade Christian was most likely himself indebted to Clement. On the 
 relation of Clement to Plotinns, see especially A. Richter, Neu-Platoniscke 
 Studien, Halle, 1867. Also Dahne, De yv&att : Vacherot, Histoire de 
 locale d'Alexandrie. 
 
 1 Strom, vi. 14. 114, it is impious to suppose (as the Stoics did) that the 
 virtue of God and that of man are the same. ' Some Christians," however, 
 maintained that man by virtue becomes like God, Strom, ii. 22. 131. See 
 Irenaeus, v. 6; Tert. De Bapt. 5; Recognitions t v. 23 ; Dahne, De 
 p. 103 note. 
 
 F
 
 66 Clement. [Lect. 
 
 but Clement does not teach this J . He believed in the 
 revelation of God by His Son. But what gospel has 
 revealed this Monad, how could He be revealed, what 
 good would the revelation do us if given, or how could 
 we test the revelation? The true conclusion from 
 Clement's premisses is the moral paradox, which has 
 been maintained with consummate ability from this 
 very place 2 , that, as we can know nothing of God, we 
 must accept without question whatever we are told. 
 But he was far from thinking this, and his whole argu- 
 ment against Gnosticism proceeds upon the assumption, 
 that the Goodness and Justice of God are the same in 
 kind as our oWh. It is true that he sometimes draws a 
 distinction between having virtue and being virtue, from 
 which we might suppose that, like Philo, he regarded 
 the difference between human and divine morality as 
 lying in the mode of its possession. But this merely 
 proves, that in practice he denies, what in theory he 
 asserts, because to the Christian conscience God is, and 
 must be, not the Everlasting No, but the Everlasting Yea ;J> . 
 Clement's mode of statement is such as to involve 
 necessarily the Unity, Equality, and Eternity of the 
 First and Second Persons 4 . It has been asserted, that 
 
 1 Strom, v. ii. 74. Direct Vision is granted only in heaven ; the instru- 
 ment of knowledge in this life is Dialectic. See next Lecture. 
 
 2 The allusion is to Dean Hansel's Limits of Religious Thought, the 
 Bampton Lectures for 1858. The reader who is interested in the discussion 
 of the point should refer also to the controversy between Dean Mansel and 
 Mr. Goldwin Smith, and to F. D. Maurice's What is Revelation ? Cambridge, 
 1859; and Sequel to the Inquiry what is of Revelation, Cambridge, 1860. 
 with the Reply of Dean Mansel. 
 
 3 The distinction between having virtue and being virtue is applied, not to 
 God but to the Gnostic,' Strom, iv. 6. 40 ; vii. 7. 38. God is vovs ; Pro- 
 trep. x. 98 ; Strom, iv. 25. 155 ; vi. 9. 72 : is good, just, beneficent, omniscient ; 
 v. 14.141; vi. 15. 141; 17. 155. 
 
 * See passages in Bull, ii. 6.
 
 ii.] The Son. 67 
 
 he hardly leaves sufficient room for a true distinction of 
 Hypostasis x . But, though he possesses no technical 
 name either for Substance or Person 2 , there is no 
 doubt that the latter conception was clearly present to 
 his mind. 'O mystic wonder,' he exclaims, ' One is the 
 Father of All, One also the Word of All, and the Holy 
 Ghost is One and the same everywhere 3 .' His method 
 of developing this proposition is determined partly by 
 language inherited from his predecessors, partly by 
 veins of thought afterwards seized and expanded by 
 Origen. But he differs in a marked degree both from 
 his pupils and his teachers. 
 
 Many of the phrases which he applies to the Son 
 the Name, the Face, the House of God, and so on are 
 'borrowed from Philo 4 . From Christian writers he had 
 learned to speak of Christ as ' begotten of the Will of 
 
 1 Dorner, vol. i. p. 288 ; Cognat, Clement d" 1 Alexandrie, p. 448. 
 
 2 Substance is T& dpprjrov, nvtvfui, Averts. But the word ovaia. is already 
 emerging into use as the distinctive expression. See note above, p. 63. 
 Strom, vi. 16. 138. Person is (pvais, Strom, vii. 2. 5 ; ri tv, Paed. i. 6. 42 ; 
 and even viroaraais, Strom, ii. 18. 96 : TTJS Tpirys TjSrj /j.ovfjs (so we should 
 read, not IJIOVTJS, as Potter, Klotz, Dind.) awairTovaqs tnl rrjv rov Kvpiov 
 7TapTrjv vnoaraaiv. The third 'mansion' is Charity, which joining on 
 to the Person of the Lord makes up the rerpas of Virtues. Potter is quite 
 mistaken in explaining this obscure passage so as to make Tfraprrj viroaraats 
 signify ' humanam Christi naturam quae cum tribus divinis personis numerata 
 quaternionem quodammodo efficit.' 
 
 3 Paed. i. 6. 42 ; iii. 12. 101 ; Strom, vi. 7. 58. 
 
 4 Name of God, Strom, v. 6. 38 : Face, Paed. i. 7. 57 ; Strom, v. 6. 34 : 
 Image, avOpco-nos diraGr]*, Heavenly Man, Paed. i. 12. 98 ; Strom, v. 14. 94 : 
 High Priest, Strom, v. 6. 32: Charioteer, Paed.\\\. 12. 101 : Pilot (perhaps 
 directly 1'rom Numenius), Strom, vii. 2.5: Idea or Sum of Ideas, Strom. 
 v. 3. 16: Sum of the Powers, Paed. i. 8. 74; Strom, iv. 25. 156: House 
 of God, Paed. i. 9. 81 : Melchisedech, Strom, iv. 25. 161 : The Mystic 
 Angel, Paed. i. 7. 56 sqq. Ebionite is the identification of Christ with 
 ' the Beginning,' Strom, v. 6. 38 ; vi. 7. 58. Valentinian probably is the 
 Angel of the Great Council, Paed. i. 5. 24, cp. Excerpta, 43 and the 
 representation of Christ as chief of the Seven Protoctists, Strom, v. 6. 32, 
 35 ; vii. 6. 143. 
 
 F 2
 
 68 Clement. [Lect. 
 
 the Father,' as 'coming forth for the sake of creation 1 .' 
 But to Clement such words could only mean, that the 
 difference of Persons is first manifested in their external 
 relations. He rejects the distinction between the 
 Spoken and the Unspoken Word 2 . There was no 
 doubt in his mind as to the timeless Personality of the 
 Logos. ' If God is Father,' he says, ' He is at the same 
 time Father of a Son 3 .' Again God is Just from all 
 eternity because the Son is in, yet distinct from, the 
 Father, so that the ' equipoise ' of knowledge and love 
 between the Two is the first idea of justice 4 . 
 
 He does not indeed shrink from giving expression to 
 the ministerial capacity implied in the very name of 
 Son. In a famous passage of the Stromateis 5 all 
 rational existence is figured as a vast and graduated 
 hierarchy, like a chain of iron rings, each sustaining and 
 sustained, each saving and saved, held together by the 
 magnetic force of the Holy Spirit, which is Faith. It is 
 the belief in the solidarity of all that thinks and feels, 
 which was afterwards the master-thought of Origen. 
 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are succeeded by the 
 orders of Angels, and these in their turn by men. If 
 we look upwards, the Son is ' next to the Almighty,' ' a 
 kind of Energy of the Father.' If we look downwards, 
 He is the Great High Priest, in whom all are reconciled 
 
 1 Strom, v. 3. 16. Similar language is used by Tatian, Ad Graecos, 5 ; 
 Theophilus, Ad Aut. ii. 22 ; Tertullian, Adv. Prax. 5. 
 
 2 Strom, v. i. 6 ; Nitzsch, Dogmengesch. i. 203 ; Redepenning, Origenes, 
 i. 112. But Zahn, Forsch. iii. 145 note ; Harnack, Dogmengesch. 531 note, 
 explain the passage differently. In Strom, vii. 2. 5, the words OVK cnro- 
 T(fa>6fjievos imply a rejection of the word wpooAij by which the Generation 
 of the Son was sometimes described. 
 
 8 Strom, v. i. i. 
 
 4 See the three remarkable passages, Paed. i. 8. 71, 74 ; 10. 88. 
 
 s vii. 2. 9.
 
 II.] The Son. 69 
 
 to God. But the idea of subordination is strictly 
 secondary in Clement. The text ' none is good save 
 One' does not mean to him, what it meant to his 
 scholar 1 . Always he recurs to the essential Unity of 
 the Father and the Son. He has no scruple about 
 prayer to the latter 2 . ' Let us pray to the Word Be 
 propitious, O Teacher of thy children, Father, Chario- 
 teer of Israel, Son and Father, Lord who art Both/ 
 So complete is the union, that he does not hesitate to 
 transfer to the Son the peculiar titles of the Father. If 
 the one is ' beyond all intelligible,' so also is the other, if 
 the one is Almighty, so also is the other, and, following 
 the example of Philo and Justin. Clement applies to the 
 Son passages of the Old Testament, where Lord is 
 employed as the substitute for Jehovah 3 . 
 
 1 Paed. i. 8. 74. 
 
 * Paed. iii. 12. 101 ; Strom, vii. 12. 72. See also the first Hymn to the 
 Saviour Christ appended to the Pedagogue. It is probably genuine ; Rede- 
 penning, i. 121. 
 
 3 The Son is eirticfiva rov vorjrov, Strom. \. 6. 38. He is TTO.VTOK pinup, 
 Paed. i. 5. 24 ; iii. 7. 39 ; Protrep. viii. 81 ; Strom, iv. 3. 148 : Kvptos, Paed. 
 i- 7- 56, 57 : the Father alone is perfect, for in Him is the Son, and in the 
 Son the Father, Paed. i. 7. 53. The passages usually quoted as showing 
 Clement's tendency to Subordinationism are Strom, vii. I. 2, irpea&vrepov iv 
 yeveaei ; vii. 2. 5, the Father is 6 /twos -aa.vroKpa.rsap \ Strom, v. I. 6, the 
 Son is a tivvapis, vii. 2. 8 an ivfpyeia, Paed. iii. i. 2 a Statcovos of the 
 Father; Protrep. x. no He is made equal to the Father; Paed. iii. 12. 98 
 He is the dyaOov ^ovX^na of the Father; Strom, vi. 7. 59 Creation runs up 
 to the Father, Redemption to the Son. Rufinus, Epil. in Apol. Pamphili, 
 Clement sometimes ' filium Dei creaturam dicit.' This must refer to the word 
 Krifav used of Wisdom (Prov. viii. 22), Strom, v. 14. 89. Even iroitTv might be 
 used, Strom, vi. 7. 58 (in a quotation from the Herpov ljp.), 6s apx^v rwv 
 airavTfuv tiroirjaev. Cp. Adumb. in i Joan. p. 1009, ' hae namque primitivae 
 virtutes ac primo creatae ' of the Son and Holy Spirit. On the interpretation 
 of this passage of the Book of Proverbs, see Huet, Origeniana, ii. 2. 21 
 (Lomm. xxii. 176); Rosenmiiller, Hist. Interp. iii. 216, 229; Baur, 
 Dreieinigkeit . Bull and Domer do not regard Clement as a Subordina- 
 tionist. Huet maintains the opposite view. Redepenning occupies an 
 intermediate position. The statement of Photius that Clement spoke of two
 
 70 Clement. The Holy Spirit. [Lect. 
 
 Down to this point the expansion of Christian doc- 
 trine had been facilitated by the speculations of Philo. 
 But here the light of philosophy fails. Philo had no 
 Trinity, unless the World be counted as the third term. 
 Hence perhaps it resulted, that a certain doubt hangs over 
 the Personality of the Holy Spirit in Hermas, in Athena- 
 goras, and even m Hippolytus 1 , not to speak of later times. 
 
 Clement proposed to enter at length upon the subject 
 in a separate treatise, perhaps with a special view to 
 Montanism 2 . But the plan was never carried out. Hence, 
 though there is no doubt that he regarded the Spirit as 
 a distinct hypostasis 3 , we cannot state with precision how 
 he considered the Third Person to be related to the First 
 and Second. It is the Holy Spirit, equally with the Logos, 
 who speaks by the Prophets 4 . It is He, as we have seen, 
 who binds together the Church Visible and Invisible 5 . 
 It is He whose ' dew' washes away our sins, and sanctifies 
 both soul and body 6 . Out of this last office of sancti- 
 fication arises the only point, that Clement has deemed 
 it needful to define. The Third Person of the Platonic 
 Trinity is the World Spirit, of which the soul of man is 
 a part or effluence. Clement is jealous of the slightest 
 approach to Pantheism, and takes occasion more than 
 once to warn his readers, that the Holy Spirit, though 
 
 Logi must rest upon a blunder ; see Dr. Westcott, Clement of Alexandria, 
 in Diet. Christ. Biog. ; Zahn, Forsch. iii. 144 ; and Lect. viii. 
 
 1 See the commentators on Hermas, Sim. v. 6 ; Athenag. Supplicatio, 10 ; 
 Hippolytus, Contra Noetum, 14. p. 52, ed. Lagarde. The author of the 
 Philosophumena in the sketch of vital Christian doctrine with which he 
 concludes his work omits all mention of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 2 Strom, v. 13. 88. 
 
 3 Paed. i. 6. 42 ; iii. 12. 101 ; Strom, v. 14. 103 ; vii. 2. 9 ; Redepenning, 
 i. 122; Guerike, ii. 134. 
 
 * Protrep. i. 8 ; viii. 79. 5 Strom, vii. 2. 9. 
 
 6 Quis D. Salvus, 34; Strom, iv. 26. 163.
 
 ii.] The Incarnation. 71 
 
 said to be breathed into the believer, is present in the 
 soul not as a part of God, not in essence, but in power. 
 What he means he explains by a quotation from the 
 Apostolic Barnabas. 'Wherefore in us as in a temple 
 God truly dwells. But how ? By the word of His faith, 
 by the calling of His promise, by the wisdom of His 
 statutes, by the precepts of His doctrine 1 .' 
 
 We have yet to speak of the Incarnation and the 
 redeeming work of Jesus. 
 
 The Word, the whole Word, took flesh of the Virgin 
 Mary, and became Man. Jesus alone is both God and 
 Man 2 . He who is God became Man, that we might 
 become gods 3 . It has been doubted whether Clement 
 ascribed to the Lord a human soul, but without reason, 
 for it is the soul of Jesus that was our Ransom 4 . But 
 His Flesh was not wholly like ours, inasmuch as it was 
 exempt from all carnal desires and emotions, even the 
 most necessary and innocent 5 . And as his Platonic dis- 
 
 1 Strom, vii. 14. 87 ; vi. 16. 138 ; ii. 20. 117 ; v. 13. 88. 
 
 2 See esp. Strom, iii. 17. 102 ; Protrep. i. 7 ; x. 106 ; Quis D. Salvus, 
 37. In the last very striking passage the words TO app^Tov aiiTov irar^p, TO 
 81 TJIUV ovfjaraGls ytyovt nrjTrjp refer to the Eternal Generation, from which 
 Clement passes on to the Incarnation. 
 
 3 Protr. i. 8 ; cp. Strom, iv. 23. 152 ; vii. 3. 13; 10. 56 ; 13. 82, referring 
 to John x. 34. The same strong phrase is used by the author of the Philos. 
 x. 34, yeyovas yap 6e6s . . . ov yap iiTaixfvfi 0efc Kal at Qfbv iroi^aas is 
 86av avTov. It is a favourite with Origen also. 
 
 4 Redepenning, i. 401 : ' Clemens nur von einer Verbindnng des Logos mit 
 einem menschlichen Korper ohne Seele weiss.' But Paed. i. 2. 4, He is 
 arrowy TTJV tyvxf)v ; cp. ibid. i. 9. 85, 6 T& pfyiffTov iiir^p i^Miv T^V ifjv\^if 
 OVTOV (iriSiSovs, and Q. D. S. 37. Clement probably held with Origen that 
 the Ransom was specially the Soul and not the Body of Christ. 
 
 * Strom, vi. 9. 71, He was diraaw\cvs aira&ris, and ate and drank only to 
 forestall Docetism. Strom, iii. 7. 59 the opinion of Valentinus is quoted, 
 apparently with approval. Indeed the view of Clement differs but little 
 from that of Valentinus and Apelles, who held that the Saviour's body was 
 propriae qualitatis, Tert. de Res. Carnis, 2 ; Adv. Marc. iii. 1 1 ; Philos. vii.
 
 72 Clement. [Lect. 
 
 like of the body has led Clement here, though no 
 Docetist, perilously near to the confines of Docetism, 
 so another Platonic theory, that all suffering is corrective, 
 has induced him to speak of the Passion of Jesus as 
 undesigned by God. ' We must say then that God did 
 not prevent it, for this alone saves both the providence 
 and the goodness of God.' But in truth Clement has 
 saved neither. What he has done is to introduce dis- 
 sension into the counsels of the Most High 1 . 
 
 Clement's Christology is often spoken of as meagre 
 and unsatisfactory. In one aspect this is unjust. For 
 Clement's idea of the Saviour is larger and nobler may 
 we say less conventional ? than that of any other doctor 
 of the Church. Christ is the Light that broods over all 
 history, and lighteth every man that cometh into the 
 world. All that there is upon earth of beauty, truth, 
 goodness, all that distinguishes the civilised man from 
 the savage, the savage from the beasts, is His gift. No 
 later writer has so serene and hopeful a view of human 
 nature as Clement, and though this may seem to depress 
 his estimate of the Redeemer, it surely exalts in the 
 same measure his belief in the fostering bounty of the 
 Eternal Word. Especially is the goodness of Christ 
 manifested towards His Church, to whom He has given 
 a life, and promised a future, which He alone can bestow. 
 
 But if we ask why the Birth, the Passion, the Cross ? 
 why Jesus redeemed us in this way, and no other? 
 Clement has no answer. It may be urged that all 
 
 38. This was also the teaching of Theodotus, see above, p. 32. The curious 
 tradition recorded Adumb. in Epist.Joan. i. p. 1009 refers apparently to 
 the flesh of Jesus after the Resurrection, but it is doubtful whether this pas- 
 sage is not an interpolation. See Dr. Zahn's note. 
 1 Strom, iv. 12. 86.
 
 II.] Redemption. 73 
 
 answers are but formal. Or that Clement speaks the 
 language of the whole sub-apostolic age. But this is 
 only partially true. The spirit of Hellenism lies heavier 
 on Clement than on others, and led him to draw a line 
 between the Cross and the Ascension, between the 
 'death unto sin' and the 'new life unto righteousness,' 
 which though it has connections with Scripture, is yet 
 not Scriptural. We shall see farther on how he regards 
 the Passion of our Lord, Redemption, as the source of 
 Fear and Hope, but most strangely not of Love. 
 
 By His death Christ Ransoms us from the powers of 
 evil 1 , and bestows upon us Forgiveness, relieving us 
 thereby not merely from the punishment, or guilt, but 
 from the ignorance, which is the power of sin. Forgive- 
 ness was undoubtedly a most difficult idea to the Alex- 
 andrines, who believed firmly in the changelessness of 
 God, and carried their faith in the wholesome necessity 
 of correction so far, that they admitted a quantitative 
 relation between the offence and its chastisement. They, 
 held that Pardon can be freely bestowed only in Baptism, 
 and that the Christian should be taught to look, not upon 
 the Crucified, but upon the Risen Lord, the fountain not 
 of pardon, but of life 2 . Jesus again reconciles us to God. 
 
 1 For the \vrpov, see Q. D. S. 37 ; 42 ; Paed. i. 5. 23, and elsewhere. 
 Clement does not say expressly to whom the ransom is paid ; see however 
 Protrep. xi. in. Distinguish from anoKinpoiais, complete emancipation 
 from sin, perfected only in the other life, Strom, vii. 10. 56. 
 
 3 The free pardon purchased for us by Christ is expressly limited to actual 
 sin committed before Baptism, Q. D. S. 40, raiv plv ovv trpoyfyefrjfj.evajv Oeos 
 SiSaiatv d<peatv ruiv 5 iirtuvTuv avros tteaaros favrcjj. Cp. Strom, ii. 14. 58; 
 iv. 24. 153; 25. 154. Christ, as God, forgives sins, and then disciplines the 
 believer as Man, Paed. i. 3. 7. It should be observed that forgiveness in 
 Clement's mind signifies not merely the cancelling of a penalty, but the 
 cure of that ignorance which is the cause and strength of sin. Sin done 
 before Baptism, in darkness, does not necessarily imply badness of heart,
 
 74 Clement. [Lect. 
 
 He is our Propitiation, but this word, which, if more than 
 a figure of speech, is so supremely difficult, Clement leaves 
 unexplained 1 . Notwithstanding his Allegorism Clement 
 quotes few Messianic prophecies, and, in respect of typo- 
 logy, does not venture beyond the track marked out by 
 Phik> and Barnabas, except when authorised by the New 
 Testament. Hence the only sacrificial title, which he 
 distinctly applies to our Lord, is that of the Lamb of 
 God 2 . 
 
 To the Christian pilgrim, in the lower life, Christ 
 manifests Himself as Physician, Shepherd, Tutor, Law- 
 giver, calming the fever of passion by gentle words of 
 admonition or bitter roots of fear. This He does as 
 Man, by virtue of His humiliation and perfect obedience 
 
 hence for this no remedy is necessary except light. In all other cases the 
 penalty is itself the earnest of forgiveness. 
 
 1 He rarely touches upon this aspect of Redemption. Paed. iii. 12. 98, 
 Kai avr&s l\aap.6s tan irtpl rwv a/jiapTiwv rifJ-uv, us <prjaiv 6 'luavvrjs (i. 2. 2), 
 6 lajfitvos TI\UUV na.1 au/j.a KO.I tf/vxrjv. Protrept. i. 6, vlovs airttO(Ts 8ta\\dai 
 irarpi: x. no, 6 icaOdpcnos teal aarr-qpios na.1 f*ei\ixios . . . 6 airov5o<f>6pos KO.L 
 8iaX\aT7)s teal aaiTrjp fip.Siv \6yos. Paed. iii. I. 2, neaiTrjs yap 6 \6yos. 
 Everywhere the barrier is not God's wrath, but man's impurity. 
 
 2 Paed. i. 5. 24, Christ is afivbs TOV Oeov in respect of His innocence : Strom. 
 v. 6. 32, He is the Lamb with seven eyes of Rev. v. 6 : Strom, v. n. 70 ; 
 vii. 3. 14, He is 6\oKapira)fM, in the latter passage littp -fjiMuv ifpfvOtvra. : 
 Paed. i. 5. 23, Isaac is Itpeiov us 6 icvpios : Paed. i. 6. 47, the blood of Abel 
 is a type : Paed. i. 8. 61, Joshua : Paed. i. n. 97, Christ is our Itpttov : 
 Protr. xi. in, the outstretched hands of Moses are a type : Paed. ii. 8. 75, 
 the burning bush foreshadows the crown of thorns: Paed. ii. 9. 81, Lot the 
 Just: Paed. iii. 12. 85, (\vrpwOr}fiev . . . TI/J.'IO> ai'nan us apvov a/j.cu/j.ov ai 
 affiri\ov Xpiffrov (Peter i. i. 19) : Strom, v. n. 72, the Tree of Life : v. i. 8, 
 Abraham, the Elect Father of Sound, is the Logos (from Philo) ; Strom. 
 vi. ii. 84, the 318 servants of Abraham signify Christ (from Barnabas ; this 
 is the only passage where Clement appears to imply literal inspiration ; 318, 
 in Greek writing TIH, denotes the Cross and the name IH2OT2) : iii. 12. 86, 
 Land of Jacob (from Barnabas; another very forced allegory) : v. 6. 32, the 
 High Priest's Mitre signifies Christ the Head of the Church (adapted from 
 Philo) : vi. n. 88, David's lyre is a type : iv. 25. 161, Melchisedech (from 
 Philo).
 
 ii.j Redemption. 75 
 
 unto death 1 . Gradually He makes Himself known to 
 us in the higher life as God, feeding us in the Eucharist, 
 or Agape, with His Body and Blood, the sacred food of 
 Gnosis, becoming our Light, our Truth, our Life, bestow- 
 ing upon us the Adoption of Sons, binding us in closest 
 unity with the Spirit, leading us on to the holy mountain, 
 the better Cithaeron, the spiritual Church 2 . Clement 
 speaks of Jesus as our High Priest, but only in the 
 Philonic sense, as our Representative and Intercessor 3 . 
 The idea of the 'Recapitulation' of all men in Christ 
 as the second Adam, so fruitful in the brooding soul of 
 Irenaeus, is strange to him. He looks upon Redemption, 
 not as the restitution of that which was lost at the Fall, 
 but as the crown and consummation of the destiny of 
 Man, leading to a righteousness such as Adam never 
 knew, and to heights of glory and power as yet un- 
 sealed and undreamed. 'The Word of God became Man, 
 in order that thou also mayest learn from Man, how 
 man becomes God V 
 
 1 Protrept. i. 7, r& <3 tfjv e8iSaev eTrupavels us 5i5dcr/caA.os, tVa rb del fjv 
 varepov us Oebs X o P r rfh <J1 ' Paed. i. 3. 7, TO, fi.lv d/zapi-iy/jara us Oe&s atpieis, 
 (Is St TO /XT) ffcafJ.apTa.veiv TratSayaryuv us dv9puiros. 
 
 2 See especially the fine outburst at the close of the Protrepticus, and the 
 opening of the Paedagogus. 
 
 3 Protrept. xii. 120; Strom, vii. 2. 9. But Strom, v. n. 70, though 
 'Apxifpevs is not used, Christ offers Himself to the Father as a 00/xa dirvpov, 
 a phrase borrowed from Euripides, ' the scenic philosopher.' In v. 10. 66 
 He is the diropov Ovfta of Plato, Rep. ii. p. 378 A. So closely are Clement's 
 reminiscences of the Classics intertwined with his theology. 
 
 4 Protrept. i. 8. The reader will find it instructive to compare with this 
 sketch of the Christology of Clement, Dr. Haraack's account of the teach- 
 ing of Irenaeus, Dogmengeschichte, p. 478 sqq.
 
 LECTURE III. 
 
 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three : but the greatest of 
 these is charity. i COR. xiii. 13. 
 
 CLEMENT did not admit the pre-existence of the soul 
 or the eternity of Matter \ but in other respects followed 
 closely the Philonic view of Creation. God of His 
 goodness and love created the world of Ideas, the in- 
 visible heaven and earth, and in accordance with this 
 divine model the Word gave shape and substance to the 
 material universe 2 . The six days are not to be under- 
 stood literally. They express in an allegory the differ- 
 ing dignity of the things recorded to have been created 
 on each in succession 3 . The pre-eminence of Man is 
 further shown by the fact, that he was. not called into 
 existence by a mere command, but moulded, if we may 
 so speak, by the very hands of God 4 , who breathed into 
 his nostrils the ' spirit,' or ' intellect,' the ' sovereign 
 faculty ' of the tripartite soul 5 . Thus Man received at 
 
 1 The eternity of matter is denied, Strom. \. 14. 89. The pre-existence 
 of the soul is rejected, Strom, iii. 13. 93 ; iv. 26. 167 ; Eclogae Proph. 
 17. Yet it appears to be implied, Q.D.S. 33, 36 ; Strom, vii. 2. 9. 
 
 2 Strom, v. 6. 39 ; 14. 93 sq. 
 
 3 Strom, vi. 16. 142. 
 
 4 Paed. i. 3. 7. 
 
 8 Clement analyses the ^v\i\, a. philosophically into t-niGvfua, Ovfj.6s and 
 \oyiffnos from the ethical point of view, Strom, iii. 10. 68, and into the 
 rpia fj.tr pa or Kpir-fjpia, aiaOr/ais, \6yos, vovs from the logical, Strom, ii. n. 
 50 (the latter is from Philo, see Potter's note) ; b. theologically, Strom. 
 vi. 1 6. 134 sqq., into ten parts, corresponding mystically to the Decalogue. 
 From the point of view of the New Testament these ten faculties may 
 be summed up in two, the Sicrad irvtvfiara. The first <rap, aapxiKov irvtiifta, 
 T<) vnoKtipei'ov, the animal and emotional nature, is actually materialised
 
 Creation. Freedom. 77 
 
 birth the ' image,' and may acquire by a virtuous life the 
 ' likeness/ of God, or rather of the Son. The ' image,' 
 the Reason, may be blurred and defaced, but can never 
 be wholly destroyed. It is the l love-charm,' which 
 makes Man dear to God for his own sake *. It is the 
 fountain of that natural yearning, which makes the 
 child always unhappy, when banished from his Father's 
 home. It is by this that he receives, understands, 
 recognises his Father's voice. 
 
 But here there arises a difficulty, which had never 
 before been felt in all its force. If God made all things 
 out of nothing, what is the cause of Evil ? According to 
 the heathen Platonist, and even in the eyes of Philo, it 
 was Matter. God's purpose was limited and frustrated 
 by the nature of the substance, on which He was com- 
 pelled to work. The Gnostics carried this view so far 
 as to maintain, that creation was the act of a rebellious 
 spirit, who mingled together things that ought to have 
 been kept apart. But the Christian believed that 
 Matter, as well as Form, was created by God. How 
 then were the imperfections of the universe, pain, sin, 
 waste, inequality, to be accounted for? They can be no 
 
 by sin and is cast off in heaven, Strom, v. 6. 52 ; the second is the -nvtvyua pro- 
 per, the vovs or \6yos in Platonic, the ffttnovticov in Stoic, the (n<f>vffi)fta in 
 Philonic language. In the latter consists the likeness to God, or rather 
 to the Son ; Protrept. x. 98 ; Paed. i. 3. 7 ; Strom, ii. 19. 102 ; v. 13. 87 ; 
 vi. 9. 72. It is to be distinguished from the Holy Spirit which is said 
 irpoatinirvtiaBat., Strom, v. 13. 88. M. Denis is quite mistaken in ascribing 
 the error of Tatian to Clement, Philosophic cTOrigtne, p. 225. 
 
 1 Paed. i. 3. 7, the (n<f>var)na is a (pi\rpov which makes man dear to God 
 for his own sake. See also Protrept. x. 100, irityvnt yap d\\eas 6 dvOpoJiros 
 oiKdais ex 6 "' W P S & f v ' Strom, v. 13. 87, man has an ffupaau 0eov <pvaiKT). 
 But on the other hand, Strom, ii. 16. 74, God has no (pvffiK^i ffx'<ns with 
 man. Man's spirit is not a part of God as on the Pantheistic theory. 
 Otherwise He would be partaker in our sins.
 
 78 Clement. [Leci. 
 
 part of the intention of Him, who gave all things being 
 because He is Good. 
 
 Here again Clement does not grasp the whole range 
 of the problem. He is not affected by the disorder of 
 external Nature, as was the troubled and far-glancing 
 spirit of Origen. To the former all that seems to 
 demand explanation is the existence of Sin, and for this 
 he found an adequate reason in the Freedom of the 
 Human Will. 
 
 This conception is as new as the difficulty out of 
 which it sprang. It is to be found in the Apologists, 
 but the Alexandrines were the first to define it and 
 make it the foundation of a system. 
 
 St. Paul speaks of Freedom from conflicting motives, 
 but never of Freedom of the Will. There are those who 
 being servants of sin are free from righteousness, those 
 again who being free from sin are servants to God. 
 Between these stand a third class, who are in bondage 
 yet longing to break their fetters 'to will is present 
 with me, but how to perform that which is good I find 
 not.' This is in fact the doctrine of the Platonist, who 
 held that the soul has two instinctive and antagonistic 
 movements, that of Reason towards the Ideal and that 
 of Sense towards Gratification, and that the man is then 
 only truly free, when his sovereign faculty soars freely 
 towards the Good unimpeded by the clamour of Desire. 
 In what sense Will itself is free the Greeks did not 
 attempt to decide. Generally speaking they regarded 
 it as the expression of character, and did not or could 
 not clear up the previous question, how character itself 
 is formed J . 
 
 1 The difficulty was felt but not removed by Aristotle. See especially
 
 in.] Freedom. 79 
 
 Yet precisely at this point, where Plato and St. Paul 
 are in substantial agreement, the Alexandrines broke 
 loose from their allegiance. There were strong reasons 
 for this revolt. They had to account for the Fall of the 
 First Man. This was no mere academical thesis, it was 
 pressed upon them by an active, subtle, and formidable 
 antagonist. If Adam was created perfect, said the 
 Gnostic, he could not have fallen. He was then created 
 imperfect, and in that case the Creator was the cause of 
 his imperfection, and must therefore be imperfect Him- 
 self 1 . Closely connected with this argument is the 
 Gnostic Dualism and their peculiar doctrine of pre- 
 destination. At a later period, when gnosticism was 
 practically vanquished, Augustine did not hesitate to 
 maintain that, though God predestines, He is yet not the 
 author of evil. But to the Alexandrines this did not 
 seem possible. Determinism in any shape appeared to 
 them to impugn both the divine goodness and the divine 
 right to punish sin, and though they held that in truth 
 God does not punish, they would not acknowledge this 
 in set terms. Hence they were driven to make Will an 
 independent faculty, knowing both good and evil and 
 choosing between them, selecting and in fact creating its 
 own motive. The actual phrase Free Will, Liberum 
 Arbitrium, is due to Tertullian, but it expresses with 
 
 Eth. Nic. iii. 5. 17, i Stris \tyoi on iravrts f<f>i(vrat TOV (pcuvofitvov dyaOov, 
 TTJy Se <f>avraaias ov icvpioi, dAA" oirotos iro&' ttcaaros ton TOIOVTO Kal TO re'Aos 
 faivtrai avrw, K,T.\. 
 
 1 The Gnostics went so far as to assert that 6 JIT) euAu<ras curios, he 
 who did not prevent evil is the cause of the evil. The argument is retorted 
 upon them with unanswerable force in the Recognitions, ii. The Demiurge 
 is evil because he tolerates evil. Why then does God tolerate the Demiurge ? 
 The difficulty was strongly felt by Clement, whom it drove to the assertion 
 that Christ's Passion was not ordained by the Father, Strom, iv. 12. 86 sq.
 
 8o Clement. [Lect. 
 
 Latin precision what Clement and Origen really 
 mean. 
 
 No wise man will attempt to find a precise solution 
 for the eternal antinomy of Freedom and Necessity. It 
 is enough to point out what the Alexandrines did. In 
 their recoil from Gnosticism they abolished Necessity 
 altogether, and gave Freedom a new meaning. We can 
 only judge of their action by its results. It has become 
 possible to ask whether God can do wrong, and almost a 
 heresy to speak of Christ as begotten by the Will of the 
 Father. And already the door is opened for all the 
 barren disputes, that troubled the Church and the 
 Schools from the days of Augustine to those of Pascal 1 . 
 
 Evil then in Clement's view is, not a Power, but an 
 Act. It is not the Platonic 'lie in the soul,' nor the 
 Pauline 'law of sin,' not a vicious motive nor a false 
 belief, because these have no constraining force. Vice 
 consists in acting the lie, and we need not act it unless 
 we choose. Clement could not then believe in any 
 inherited depravity of human nature. This follows 
 indeed already from his opinion, that the Reason comes 
 in each case fresh from the hands of its Maker. Adam 
 
 1 Origen has formally explained the Alexandrine doctrine of Freedom 
 in the third book of the De Principiis. Neither he nor Clement clearly saw 
 what Jeremy Taylor insists upon, that ' in moral things liberty is a direct 
 imperfection, a state of weakness, and supposes weakness of reason and 
 weakness of love.' But practically they admit, as we shall see, that at 
 a certain point in the upward progress Grace absorbs the Will, and that at 
 a certain point in the downward progress evil becomes second nature. Thus 
 the demons have sinned so deeply ' ut revocari nolint magis quam non possint^- 
 De Princ. i. 8. 4. But this point of irremediable depravity, of complete 
 a.Ko\aaia, they refused to fix. This seems to be the essential difference 
 between the Alexandrines on the one hand and the Gnostics and Augustine 
 on the other. Mehlhorn, Die Lehre von der menschlichen Freiheit nach Or., 
 Zeitsch. fur Kirch. Gesch. 2 Band, p. 234, is referred to by Dr. Harnack, but 
 I have not seen the article.
 
 in.] Grace. 81 
 
 was created perfect, yet not perfect ; perfect inasmuch as 
 every faculty was sound and apt for virtue, not perfect 
 inasmuch as virtue was not yet actualised by obedience. 
 He fell by lust, and so we all fall 1 . There is no entailed 
 necessity between his sin and ours. But though Free 
 Will and Reason, both gifts of God, are enough for 
 guidance in this world, they cannot tell us fully what 
 God is, they cannot bring us into living communion 
 with Him. 'Each of us justifies himself.' 'The true 
 Gnostic creates himself.' Men may ' choose to believe 
 or to disbelieve V Yet Faith itself is a grace 3 ; ' the 
 ball-player cannot catch the ball unless it is thrown to 
 him.' We are created capable of wisdom, goodness, 
 
 1 The soul does not come from the parent, Strom, vi. 16. 135. For 
 the original estate of Adam see Strom, iv. 23. 150; vi. 12. 96. The 
 Serpent was pleasure, Protrept. xi. in, and the precise sin may have been 
 that the first parents anticipated the time fixed by God for their marriage, 
 Strom, iii. 17. 103. Compare Philo, De Mundi Op. 55 (i. 37) sqq. 'Ita 
 vix alia Adamum primo vixisse conditione noster censet quam posterorum 
 infantes,' Guerike, i. p. 143. Clement does not admit any hereditary guilt. 
 For (i) God punishes only voluntary sins, Strom, ii. 14. 60 ; and again, 
 those sins which are not imputed are those which are ^ KOTO, irpoaiptaiv, 
 Strom, ii. 15. 66. (ii) The sins forgiven in Baptism are always spoken 
 of as actual sins, (iii) Infant Baptism, a practice which is very closely 
 connected with the tenet of Original Sin, is never certainly mentioned by 
 Clement. Mr. Marriott (article Baptism in Diet. Christian Antiquities') 
 cites Paed. iii. II. 59, rSiv If vSaroj avaairointvcav iraiSiwv, but in this treatise 
 wcuSiov is used of ' babes in Christ ' without any reference to age. (iv) In 
 Strom, iii. 16. 100 Clement replies to the Encratites, who forbade marriage 
 on the ground that the children are accursed, XtftTuaav fjiuv irov iiropvevaev 
 TO yfiri/rjO^v ircuoiov, i) ir>s VTTO rfjv TOV 'Aocifi viroiriirTtaKtv apav TO jtTjSlv 
 fvfp-yrjffav. (v) The causes of sin are v\rjs affOtveta and ayvoia, Strom, vii. 
 3. 16. Yet Adam is the type, though not the source, of sin, Protrept. 
 xi. ill. So also Adumb. in Ep. Judae, p. 1008, 'Sic etiam peccato Adae 
 sub^icemus secundum peccati similitudinem,' where the negative is omitted, 
 as by Origen, in the well-known verse, Rom. v. 14. But I doubt very much 
 whether this passage, which goes on to lay down the doctrine of Reprobation, 
 is from the hand of Clement. 
 
 2 Strom, iii. 9. 65 : vii. 3. 13 : iv. 25. 157. 
 
 3 Strom, ii. 4. 14: iii. 7. 57. 
 
 G
 
 8 2 Clement. [Lect: 
 
 felicity, which yet we can only attain by grasping the 
 Divine Hand outstretched to lift us up. ' Not without 
 special grace does the soul put forth its wings V 
 
 The secrets of this diviner life cannot be expressed in 
 rules and formulas. But there is a point where grace 
 and nature meet, which is the proper field of discipline. 
 Knowledge must be gradually assimilated. Love must 
 creep before it can fly. Christ has revealed to us all 
 truth, but truth is precept before it is conviction. It is 
 by obedience to Authority, that the carpenter and the 
 pilot acquire their skill. So the Christian life begins in 
 Faith 2 , that is belief in the desirability of the End, and 
 willing submission to the Means in their regular pro- 
 
 1 The ball-player, Strom, ii. 6. 25. So in Paed. i. 6. 28 regeneration 
 is compared to waking or the removal of a cataract ; we open our eyes 
 and the light streams in. The words 'no man can come to Me except 
 my Father draw him,' Clement explains differently at different times, 
 Strom, iv. 22. 138 ; v. 13. 83. In the latter passage he quotes with approval 
 the saying of Plato in the Meno, that virtue comes to those to whom 
 it comes, Oficf, po'ipa. Compare also v. I. 7 ; vi. 6. 45 ; Q. D. S. 10, 21. 
 
 2 See especially Strom, ii. 2, 3, 4. Clement was very anxious to connect 
 Faith, the Christian watchword, with philosophy. Plato, who refers it 
 (Rep. vi. adfineni) to the T///*a TOV al<r6r)Tov and regards it as unintelligent 
 belief in material objects, gave him no assistance, and perhaps helped to 
 mislead him. He found better definitions in Aristotle, Topics, iv. 126 B. 
 18, TI marts viroXrjtyis a<po5pa, in the irpoaipecris of the Ethics, in the Epicurean 
 irp6\t]ipis, in the Stoic avyKaraBeffis. It is the faculty by which we grasp 
 the apxai These to Clement are not, as to the Stoic and Epicurean, the 
 facts of sense alone, but the a priori data of deduction identified with 
 the articles of the Creed. Hence Faith in Strom, ii. 4. 13, 14 is an act 
 of vovs conditioned by ataOrjffis. That is to say, experience brings home 
 to us and ratifies the dicta of Revelation. Hence Knowledge and Faith 
 may be spoken of as in substance identical ; Strom, iv. 16. 100 ; v. 1.2; 
 vi. 17. 155; vii. 2. 5. But generally speaking i^jXi) immy is sharply 
 distinguished from Gnosis. It is the /ito KadoXuci) awrrjpia, Paed. i. 6. 30, 
 or rather the irpuirr] vpos CKurrjpiav vtvais, Strom, ii. 6. 31. But 'honour' 
 is more than salvation, vi. 13. 109. Faith is in fact the minimum condition 
 of admittance into the Kingdom of Heaven. But it is not full spiritual 
 life, Paed. i. 1.3, lacu 8' OVK karbv vyida KCU yvaiais.
 
 in.] Faith and Baptism. 83 
 
 gression. But we can learn only within the school, and 
 we must first be cleansed. Hence the gate of the 
 Church is the Baptism of Regeneration. Herein we 
 receive Forgiveness, the only free forgiveness, of all past 
 sins, which leaves the mind like a sheet of blank paper, 
 not good yet ' not bad,' we are brought within the circle 
 of light, within reach of all wholesome sacraments and 
 aids. We have started fairly in the race for the eternal 
 crown a . 
 
 Beyond this point stretches out the Christian Life, 
 and here begins the most distinctive portion of Cle- 
 ment's teaching. We shall fail to do him justice unless 
 we bear steadily in view the two influences that deter- 
 mined his path on the one hand the love of St. Paul, 
 on the other the dread of Gnosticism, a dread which did 
 not prevent him from seeing that this peculiar form of 
 error answered to a real and pressing need of the human 
 mind. Gnosticism was in one aspect distorted Paulinism. 
 The cure lay in a full and true presentation of the 
 Apostle's teaching. But Clement only half understood 
 
 1 The locus dassicus on Baptism is Paed. i. 6. It carries with it a double 
 grace, Forgiveness and Light. For the first see 30, travra /uv ovv 
 diro\ov6fif0a rcL a.fmapr'fjfiara ovxtn Sf tafifv trapa Tr6Sas Katcoi. Light in a 
 sense has been given before, for irians and Karrix r } ffis precede Baptism. But 
 mcms d'/xa pairTiaiuiTi ayiy iraiSci/erac Trvtvfiari. The gift is perfect, 
 because it is the gift of the perfect God. That is to say, it is objectively 
 perfect ; our subjective perfection, TO rt\os, the Promise, Rest, is attained 
 only in the Resurrection. It is a perfect gift at first imperfectly grasped. 
 Clement gives no details about icar^x r ] ffl ^- Strom, i. 19. 96 he speaks of 
 the OVK olKtiov teat yv-fjcriov vScup of heretical baptism. The only ritual usage 
 he mentions is that of giving milk and honey to the newly baptised at their 
 first communion, Paed. i. 6. 35. See Tertullian, De Cor. Mil. iii ; Bingham, 
 xii. 4. 6; Probst, Kirchliche Disciplin, p. 321. Probst finds allusions to 
 Confirmation and to a week of instruction and daily communion succeeding 
 Baptism, Sakramente, pp. 159 sqq., 193 sqq.,but they are very dubious. Infant 
 Baptism appears to have been not the rule at Alexandria, see above, p. 81. 
 
 G 2
 
 84 Clement. [Lect. 
 
 St. Paul, and in his desire to win back the sectaries he 
 draped Christianity in a Gnostic garb. 
 
 He saw around him a system little better than the 
 liberal form of Judaism out of which it sprang. The 
 new wine was fermenting in old bottles, the Christian 
 still trembled beneath the handwriting of ordinances. 
 If we read the Doctrine of the Apostles, we find there a 
 law which differs from the Mosaic mainly in being more 
 searching and elaborate. The circumstances of the 
 time were such as to confirm and even justify this 
 legalism. Crowds were pressing into the Church, 
 mostly ignorant and undisciplined, some rich and wilful. 
 They brought with them the moral taint, the ingrained 
 prejudices of their old life. We learn from many 
 sources that the same incongruous blending of the 
 Gospel with pagan superstitions, which recurred during 
 the conversion of the Northern Barbarians, existed in 
 some degree in the second and third centuries 1 . Disci- 
 pline, teaching, supervision, direction, were absolutely 
 necessary to the purity and maintenance of the Faith, 
 and no wise man would attempt to weaken the growing 
 authority of the Priest. 
 
 Yet there were those again for whom this atmosphere 
 was not the best, devout souls whose life was hidden 
 with Christ in God, men and women of cultivated 
 thoughtful minds, who fretted under a system of routine 
 and dictation administered, we may suppose, not unfre- 
 quently, by ignorant and fanatical officers. Social and 
 
 1 See Miinter, Primordia Ecclesiae Africanae, pp. 6, 68, 95. The curses 
 on tombstones by which the grave was secured against violation were often 
 copied with slight alterations from the formulas in use among Pagans. See 
 Mr. Ramsay's article, Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia, Journal of 
 Hellenic Studies, Oct. 1883, p. 400.
 
 in.] The Two Lives. 85 
 
 personal distinctions were perhaps greater in those days 
 than they have ever been since, and in times of intense 
 religious excitement these distinctions shape themselves 
 into forms of character, which, though held together by 
 the most powerful of all bands, are yet as different as it 
 is possible for children of the same family to be. No- 
 where do we see this more clearly than in the history of 
 the Martyrs. There were those who died, as Polycarp, 
 Perpetua, Blandina, Christlike blessing their persecutors ; 
 there were those who brought their fate on their own 
 heads by wild defiance, and went to meet it like Pris- 
 tinus drugged to insensibility by the fumes of wine; 
 there were others again, like Peregrinus, who found 
 suffering for the Name an easy road to profit, and if the 
 worst happened to notoriety 1 . It was out of this diver- 
 gence of type that the Gnostic made his gain. What 
 was the Christian teacher to do ? How was he to deal 
 with the spirit of discontent and disillusion which he 
 knew to be at work? It was impossible to alter the 
 existing framework of the community. But there might 
 be a life within a life, a Church within a Church, a quiet 
 haven for the spiritually free. 
 
 Had Clement written a few years later he would have 
 taken refuge in the distinction between nominal and real 
 Christianity, between the Visible and the Invisible 
 Church. But he lived in a time of transition. As yet 
 the ancient view that all the brethren were in process of 
 
 1 For Pristinus see Tertullian, De Jej. 12 ; Miinter, Prim. Eccl. Afr. p. 
 183. The history of Peregrinus will be found in Lucian. He was actually 
 a confessor, and it was not his own fault that he was not a martyr. That 
 these were not isolated instances is clear from the earnestness with which 
 Clement maintains against Heracleon that even those who had denied Christ 
 in their lives washed away their sins by martyrdom ; Strom, iv. 9. 72 sqq.
 
 86 Clement. [Lsct. 
 
 salvation, though shaken, was not abandoned. Hence he 
 falls back upon his philosophy, and finds the solution in 
 the Two Lives of Philo, the practical and contemplative 
 Life of Plato and Aristotle, still more exactly in the 
 Stoic distinction between Proficiency and Wisdom 1 . He 
 thought he found the same idea in certain antitheses of 
 St. Paul's the milk and the solid food faith and 
 knowledge or mysteries the spirit of bondage and the 
 spirit of adoption faith and hope which are less than 
 charity. There were indications in the Roman Clement, 
 in Hennas, in Barnabas 2 , that pointed in the same 
 direction. Other cherished ideas appeared to fit in the 
 opposition between the servant and the son of God, be- 
 tween God the Lord and God the Father, between the 
 letter and the spirit, between the Human and the Divine 
 Natures of Christ. Gathering all these hints into one, 
 Clement proclaims that the life of the ordinary believer, 
 that is to say of the great body of the Church, is a 
 lower life. Its marks are Faith, Fear and Hope 3 un- 
 questioning obedience to the letter of Authority, a 
 selfish motive, a morality of abstinence from wrong. 
 It is the sphere of discipline, of repression, of painful 
 effort. Its crown is Holiness 4 , the negative virtue of 
 
 1 See the description of the Stoic TT/XWOITJJ or Proficiency in Seneca, 
 Ep. 75- 
 
 2 Clem. Rom. i. i. 2 ; 7. 4 ; 36. 2 ; 40. i ; 41. 4 ; 48. 5 ; Hennas, Vis. i. 
 2. I; Barnabas, i. 5 ; ii. 2. 3 ; v. 4; vi. 9; ix. 8 ; x. 10 ; xiii. 7. In 
 Hennas and Barnabas the connection of Gnosis with Allegorism is clearly 
 asserted. 
 
 s Strom, ii. 12. 55 ; iv. 7. 53. Sometimes he drops Fear, and speaks of 
 the ayia Tpids, Faith, Hope and Charity, corresponding to the three man- 
 sions in the Father's House. 
 
 * Strom, iv. 22. 135, % diroxr) rwv KCIKUV, trnfiaOpa yap avrrj 
 Hf"fiaTT]s : vi. 7. 60, TI dirox^ ruv KO.KWV ffv rives reXfiojaiv r/yovvrai teal 
 dirAws rov KOIVOV iriarov 'lovSaiov re KOI "E\\rjvos r) T(\fi(aais avrrj.
 
 TIL] The Two Lives. 87 
 
 Self-Control. It is a state of salvation, but not of peace 
 or joy. Above it stands the Higher Life, that of the true 
 Gnostic, the life of Love, Righteousness, Knowledge, 
 of serene and reasonable convictions, of glad and spon- 
 taneous moral activity, in .which the spirit of man is so 
 closely wedded to the spirit of his Lord that there is no 
 more recalcitrance, and freedom is merged in the beata 
 necessitas non peccandi. 
 
 Thus Clement insisted as against the Gnostic that 
 purity is the condition of insight, as against the Ortho- 
 doxast that law is meant to issue in freedom. On these 
 two piers he built his Via Media the Christian Gnosis. 
 It is a compromise between the Church and the world, 
 but the later history of Catholicism is enough to prove 
 how inevitable is such a concession to a body that will 
 govern and yet purify society. 
 
 As against the Gnostic, again, Clement protests that 
 the Two Lives are not divided by any law of nature. 
 The one must and should grow out of the other, the one 
 is incomplete without the other. All men, all women are 
 called, as he says, ' to philosophise V to strive upwards ' 
 to the highest ideal. Yet the distinction in itself is evil, 
 and Clement has expressed it in such a way as to make 
 not a distinction but a real difference, a breach of prin- 
 ciple and continuity. The spiritual life is one because 
 Love, its root, is one. But this Faith, which in the 
 Lower Life leads through Fear and Hope to Love, is 
 itself not Love, but imperfect intellectual apprehension ; 
 
 1 Paed. i. 4; 6.33: Strom, iv. 8. 59, 63; 19. 118-124. In this last 
 passage he refers to Judith, Esther, Susanna, Miriam, and a host of women 
 famous in Greek story, but to none of those mentioned in the New Tes- 
 tament, and quotes from Euripides the character of a good wife as a pattern 
 for the Christian matron.
 
 88 Clement. [Lect. 
 
 not personal trust in the Saviour, but a half-persuasion 
 of the desirableness of what the Saviour promises *. 
 The belief, the morality, the reward are all external. 
 Fear and Hope are the lifej not the outer husk which 
 shields and protects the life till it is strong enough to 
 act by itself. Clement has attempted to seize the 
 Pauline doctrine of Grace without the Pauline doctrine 
 of Faith 2 . He has superposed the Gospel freedom 
 upon the Aristotelian theory of Habit, upon ' reasonable 
 self-love,' upon the legal Christianity of his time, with- 
 out seeing that between these two an entirely new 
 element must come into play. 
 
 This element he has endeavoured to supply by 
 banishing Fear and Hope from the Higher Life. ' Perfect 
 Love casteth out Fear,' which indeed is not a motive but 
 a check. But disinterestedness, which is what Clement 
 wants, does not depend upon the presence or absence of 
 Hope, but on the nature of the thing hoped for. That 
 which was mercenary in its original conception does not 
 become less mercenary because Hope is swallowed up in 
 fruition. In Clement's view the supreme End of all is 
 
 1 Clement partly realised all this. To the Platonist the vovs has an tpais 
 for the vorjrd. The spark of knowledge contains the spark of desire, and 
 this is kindled to a flame by better knowledge gained through practice, 
 Strom, vi. 17. 150 sqq. 
 
 2 How little Clement understood what St. Paul means by Faith will be 
 seen from the following quotations. Strom, vi. 13. 108, 'thy faith hath 
 saved thee ' was said not to Gentiles, but to Jews who already abounded in 
 good works, vi. 12. 98, Faith is not good in itself, but as leading to Fear 
 and Hope. vi. 13. in, every act of the Gnostic is a KaTupOcofjui, every act 
 of the simple believer a pcffT] irpais. He constantly uses these Stoic phrases, 
 vi. 12. 103, 'Faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness when he 
 had advanced to that which is greater and more perfect than faith. For he 
 who merely abstains from wrong is not righteous unless he adds well-doing 
 and knowledge of the reason why he ought to do some things and not do 
 Bothers.' iv. 18. 113, Love is the motive of the Gnostic, Fear that of Faith.
 
 in.] The Lower Life. 89 
 
 not Love but Knowledge, and this misplacement of the 
 Ideal involves an egotism which he vainly struggles to 
 escape. He succeeds in placing felicity within the soul, 
 in the fulness of spiritual life, but he has not really 
 advanced beyond the point of view of Philo. 
 
 But Fear he has handled in a truly Christian spirit. 
 It is not the fear of the slave who hates his master, it is 
 the reverence of a child for its father, of a citizen for the 
 good magistrate. Tertullian, an African and a lawyer, 
 dwells with fierce satisfaction on terrible visions of tor- 
 ment. The cultivated Greek shrinks not only from the 
 gross materialism of such a picture, but from the idea of 
 retribution which it implies. He is never tired of re- 
 peating that Justice is but another name for Mercy. 
 Chastisement is not to be dreaded, but to be embraced. 
 ' The mirror is not evil to the ugly face because it shows 
 it as it is, the physician is not evil to the sick man 
 because he tells him of his fever. For the physician is 
 not the cause of the fever.' Still more evidently true is 
 this of Jesus. ' The Lord who died for us is not our 
 enemy.' Here or hereafter God's desire is not ven- 
 geance but correction. In truth it is not He that 
 punishes, but we that draw chastisement on our own 
 heads 1 . 
 
 The life of Faith, as he has described it in the later 
 books of the Pedagogue, is in beautiful accordance with 
 these maxims 2 . It is a life, like that of the Puritans in 
 
 1 Paed. i. 8. 62, tK\a6ufitvoi 5e TO pfyiorov avrov ri}y (piKavB 'paiirias on 
 8C jj/xas avOpajiros iyevfro : ibid. 67, us d\T)9ais dyaOd rtdaxovaiv of biicrjv 
 SiSovrfs : ibid. 69, a'tptirai 5e tKaffros fjpxuv rds ri^oipias auT^y tKwv dfiap- 
 TO.V.WV, atria 5 eXo/iti/ou 6eos dvatrtos. For the mirror see Paed. i. 9. 88. 
 The same simile is found in Epictetus, ii. 14. 21. It was probably a Stoic 
 commonplace. 
 
 3 Clement's doctrine on the subject of Pleasure is to be found in Paed. }j,
 
 90 Clement. [Lect. 
 
 Milton's youth, of severe self-restraint, but built on broad 
 principles, not captious and not gloomy. It should be 
 as the Stoics taught, ' according to Nature,' hence all 
 artificial desires are evil. But Clement condemns on 
 the one hand the self-torture in which some of the 
 Gnostics emulated the Hindoo Fakirs, on the other the 
 Stoic paradox that things external are things indifferent. 
 Here again he is Aristotelian. Innocent pleasure is 
 the salt of life. Wealth rightly used is a blessing. The 
 first requisite is the beauty of virtue, the second the 
 beauty of health ; -Christ Himself was not beautiful in 
 person J . Many thoughts are suggested by this charming 
 
 iii ; Strom, iii. iv. His general aim is to moderate the antique rigour in 
 favour of the wealthier classes. His leading principle is the ^\v KO.TO, <pvaiv 
 of the Stoics, but he rejects the older Stoic doctrine of the dSiatpopa, Strom. 
 iv. 5. 19, and adopts the more modern distinction of external circumstances 
 into irpoT)y/j.(va. and aTToirporj'Y^eva, which comes to the same thing as the 
 threefold division of Good characteristic of Peripateticism, Strom, iv. 26. 
 164, 166. His chief axioms are that pleasure as such is not to be desired 
 by the Christian, and that to be ' according to nature ' it must be strictly 
 limited to the end which God intended it to promote. Hence the rule of 
 marital continence, the prohibition of the use of the 'bones of dead 
 animals,' ivory and tortoiseshell, of dyes, and artificial hair. No ring is 
 allowed but a signet. There is a natural and an unnatural use of flowers. 
 ' For in spring-time to walk abroad in meadows dewy and soft and springing 
 fresh with jewelled flowers delights us with a natural and wholesome 
 fragrance, and we suck their sweetness as do the bees. But it is not meet 
 for grave men to carry about in the house a plaited chaplet from meads 
 untrodden.' The stern prohibition of the use of cut flowers is one of the 
 most singular features of primitive Christian discipline. It is hardly 
 necessary to refer to the De Cor. Mil. of Tertullian. Art he disparages, but 
 the signet may tear a simple Christian emblem, a dove, a fish, a ship 
 in full sail, a lyre, an anchor, a fisherman. But he was quoted on this 
 account in the Iconoclastic controversy as a favourer of Christian imagery, 
 Photius, Cod. no. Generally speaking, he gives innocent pleasure a liberal 
 scope. ' Wine,' he says, quoting Plato, ' makes a man good-tempered, agree- 
 able to his company, more lenient to his slaves, more complaisant to his 
 friends.' He is much less austere than Origen. 
 1 Strom, iii. 17. 103 ; vi. 17. 151.
 
 Hi.] The Higher Life. 91 
 
 and authentic picture of daily Christian life. We see the 
 vulgarity and thinly -veneered barbarism of Roman 
 luxury giving way to true courtesy and refinement. We 
 see the Church, no longer oppressed by instant expecta- 
 tion of the Last Day, settling quietly down to her task 
 of civilising the world. Already her victory is assured. 
 
 Those who have been trained in the school of Jesus 
 the Pedagogue are fitted for, are imperatively summoned 
 to a better service. Clement delights to speak of the 
 Higher Life in terms borrowed from Eleusis. It is the 
 Greater Mysteries, of which Christ is the Hierophant and 
 Torchbearer. Such language is partly conventional and 
 common to all the Platonists of the time 1 . Again it 
 is intended to conciliate the Gnostics and the religious 
 heathen, who had all been initiated, as probably Clement 
 himself had been in his youth. But it is also connected 
 with, and tends to strengthen, the unfortunate doctrine 
 of Reserve. 
 
 In the Higher Life Faith gives way to Knowledge, 
 Fear and Hope to Love, while Holiness is merged in 
 Righteousness. 
 
 Knowledge, Gnosis, demerit has defined in words 
 taken partly from Philo, partly from the Stoics. From 
 the first he learned that it is the intuitive communion of 
 the intelligence with the Ideas, from the latter that being 
 science it is indefectible 2 . To the Christian doctor 
 
 1 It is to be found in Plato himself and Aristotle (see Lobeck, Aglao- 
 phamus, p. 128), in Philo, and in Plutarch. 
 
 2 It is '(?, SidOfats, KaTa\r)if/is rts fiefiaia. KOI a^trdrnwros, (iriaT-fipij 
 dvairopkrjTos. Clement uses he strongest language to express the union of 
 the Gnostic with his knowledge; it is (VOTTJS, oitcdcaffis, dvditpaffts, the dt'Sios 
 Bfcapia becomes his ovaia, his uiaa vnoaraffis. He no longer has goodness, 
 he is goodness, Strom, iv. 22. 136; 25. 157 ; vi. 9. 71; vii. 12. 79. This
 
 92 Clement. [Lect. 
 
 Christ is not only the Sum of the Ideas, but the co- 
 equal Son of God, and Gnosis therefore is the ' appre- 
 hensive contemplation ' of God in the Logos, and not, as 
 in Philo, of God above the Logos 1 . Yet there is a 
 progress in the object of Knowledge, measured by the 
 varying aspect of Christ, who in the Lower Life is mani- 
 fested chiefly on the human side as Physician, Tutor, and 
 so on, in the Higher chiefly on the divine as Light, 
 Truth, Life. Holiness is the indispensable preliminary 
 of knowledge, which is partly Theology, but still more 
 the experimental knowledge of Christ. The Gnostic is 
 the ' pure in heart ' who ' sees God.' ' He that would 
 enter the fragrant shrine,' says Clement, quoting the in- 
 scription over the temple gate of Epidaurus, ' must be 
 pure, and purity is to think holy things V He is the 
 ' approved money-changer,' whose ' practised senses ' are 
 the touchstone of truth. His Faith has become Con- 
 viction, Authority is superseded by the inner light. To 
 him the deep things of Scripture are revealed. He reads 
 the spirit beneath the letter. In Christ he understands 
 past, present, and future, the theory of Creation, the 
 symbolism of the Law, the inner meaning of the Gospel, 
 the mysteries of the Resurrection 3 . He sees the vital 
 harmony of dogma with dogma, of all dogmas with 
 Reason 4 . In a word, he is an Allegorist. Moral purity 
 and assiduous study of Scripture are the only training 
 
 language is important as bearing on his doctrine of Grace. We have here 
 the beata necessitas non peccandi. Again it entirely excludes Ecstasy. 
 
 1 Gnosis is always in Christ; Strom, iv. 25. 155; v. 3. 16 ; vi. 9. 78.. 
 Nay, the Saviour is our knowledge and spiritual paradise ; vi. I. 2. 
 
 2 Strom, v. I. 13. Another favourite quotation is from Plato's Phaedo, 
 p. 67, oil Koffapca ycip KaOapov ((fMnrtaOai /XT) ov Qfpnbv . 
 
 3 Strom, vi. 7. 54. 
 
 4 The ffvi>a.(f>T) rwv Soy/MTuy, Strom. L.2. 20.
 
 III.] The Higher Life. 93 
 
 that is absolutely necessary 1 . But Clement well knew 
 the importance of mental cultivation. His Gnostic still 
 reads Plato in his leisure moments. ' He is not like the 
 common run of people who fear Greek philosophy as 
 children fear a goblin lest it should run away with 
 them 2 .' 
 
 Of Knowledge Love is at once the life-element and 
 the instrument. For ' the more a man loves the more 
 deeply does he penetrate into God 3 .' But here again, 
 most unhappily, Stoicism comes in, and casts the chill 
 shadow of Apathy over the sweetest and simplest of 
 Christian motives. Platonism also helped to mislead. 
 For though the Alexandrines held that Matter is the 
 work of God, they could not wholly divest their minds of 
 the old scholastic dislike of the brute mass and the emo- 
 tions connected with it. The first thought suggested 
 by the Incarnation is Fear. Love is not of Jesus, but of 
 the Logos, the Ideal. Clement could not bear to think 
 that the rose of Sharon could blossom on common soil 4 . 
 This was the price he paid for his Transcendental 
 Theology. 
 
 Love makes man like the beloved. But Christ, like 
 God, was absolutely passionless. So too were the 
 Apostles after their Master's Resurrection. So too 
 must the Gnostic be. Self-control, Holiness, has made 
 
 1 The majority of the Christians had not received a regular education 
 and some did not know their letters, Strom, i. 20. 99. Erudition is some- 
 times hurtful to the understanding, as Anaxarchus said, iro^vfiaOir) xdpra 
 plv uxp(\fei Kapra 5e P\dirT(i TOV txovra, Strom, i. 5. 35. 
 
 2 Strom, vi. 10. 80; 18. 162. 
 Q. D. S. 27. 
 
 * The most singular instance of Clement's disparagement of human love 
 is to be found in Strom, vii. 12. 70, where married life is regarded as supe- 
 rior to celibacy because it offers so many more temptations to surmount.
 
 94 Clement. [Lect. 
 
 the reason absolute master of the brute in the centaur 
 man. He will feel those desires which, like hunger or 
 thirst, are necessary for self-preservation, but not joy 
 nor sorrow nor courage nor indignation nor hatred. He 
 lives in the closest union with the Beloved, so absorbed 
 in the Divine Love that he can no longer be said to love 
 his fellow-creatures in the ordinary sense of the word x . 
 
 There were many in Clement's own time who shrank 
 from this too ethereal ideal, which, to use his own phrase, 
 ' touches earth with but one foot.' If we take away hope 
 and joy, they urged, will not the Christian be swallowed 
 up by the sorrows of life ? And if all union with the 
 Beautiful is preceded by aspiration, how can he be pas- 
 sionless who aspires to the Beautiful 2 ? How can we 
 rise without desire, and how can we desire the extinction 
 of desire ? It is the argument afterwards pressed with 
 irresistible force by Bossuet and Bourdaloue against 
 Fenelon. Clement replies, ' Love is no more desire but 
 a contented self-appropriation, which restores the Gnostic 
 into oneness with Christ by faith, so that he needs 
 neither time nor place. For by Love he is already in 
 that scene where he will one day dwell. And having an- 
 ticipated his hope by Gnosis he desires nothing, for he 
 holds in closest possession the very object of desire.' It 
 is the Love which we mortals feel ' in our diviner mo- 
 ments, when Love is satisfied in the completeness of the 
 beloved object.' So absolute is its content, that if it 
 were possible to separate eternal salvation from the 
 knowledge of God, and a choice were given to the 
 
 1 The leading passages on the subject of Apathy and disinterested 
 Love are Strom, iv. 6. 30; 18. in; 22. 135-146; vi. 9. 71; 12. looj 
 16. 138. 
 
 2 Strom, vi. 9. 73.
 
 III.] The Higher Life. 95 
 
 Gnostic, he would without hesitation choose the latter. 
 It is the paradox of Mysticism : 
 
 Be not angry ; I resign 
 
 /Henceforth all my will to thine: 
 I consent that thou depart, 
 Though thine absence breaks my heart ; 
 Go then, and for ever too ; 
 All is right that thou wilt do 1 . 
 
 Of this Ideal (for it is perhaps no more 2 ) enough has 
 been said. Clement no doubt overshot the mark. It 
 remains to be seen whether by so doing he encouraged 
 presumption, or led weakness astray. The answer is to 
 be found in the rigour with which he insists upon Holi- 
 ness as the indispensable condition, on Righteousness 
 as the indispensable fruit of Love. 
 
 Like all the early Fathers he attached a very real 
 sense to the word Righteousness. ' Ye were justified by 
 the name of the Lord, ye were made just as He is, and 
 joined in the closest possible union with the Holy 
 Spirit 3 .' It is not mere abstention from evil, which 
 
 1 It was insisted upon by the' Quietists. It is a paradox because the 
 separation is impossible. The Kingdom of Heaven is within you. Milton 
 makes Satan complain, ' Which way I go is hell, myself am hell ;' and the 
 converse is true also. But Clement knew this well ; cp. Strom, v. 10. 63, 
 TO 8 asyvotiv TOV iraTtpa Oavaros tanv, us rb fvuivai car) aluvios. Nor did 
 the Quietists think otherwise. Bossuet did not venture directly to deny the 
 mystic paradox, which is in fact admitted in the Articles of Issy. But 
 I must refer my readers to Mr. Vaughan's charming Hours with the Mystics, 
 vol. ii. pp. 170, 217, 380, ed. 1856. 
 
 2 Clement ascribes Apathy to Christ and to the Apostles after the Resur- 
 rection, Strom, vi. 9. 71. As regards men he uses sometimes very strong 
 language. The Gnostic becomes a god upon earth, iv. 23. 149 ; vii. 3. 13 ; 
 10. 56 : he is iaayythos tvravOa <parreivbs S% 77877, vi. 13. 105. On the other 
 hand, Paed. i. 2. 4; Strom, iv. 21. 130 ; Q. D. S. 40, more sober language is 
 employed ; Christ is the only perfect man, passion cannot be wholly 
 eradicated in this life, the wise man touches no known sin. It is the posse 
 non peccare, not the non posse peccare. But Clement is less introspective 
 than Origen. The mere frailty of human nature does not distress him so 
 long as he feels that his heart is safe in Christ. 
 
 3 Strom, vii. 14. 87. On Righteousness, see especially the fine passage,
 
 96 Clement. [Lect. 
 
 is Holiness, the virtue of the Lower Life, but the free 
 active joyous service of those who are sanctified. It is 
 life which needs no rule. The Gnostic, says Clement in 
 language very like that of Madame de Guyoh, has no 
 virtue, because he is virtue. Nature is absorbed by 
 Grace. It is easier to do good than to leave it undone, 
 hence ' good works follow Gnosis as shadow follows sub- 
 stance 1 .' Contemplation is the Gnostic's chief delight, 
 the next is active beneficence, the third is instruction, 
 the work of making others like himself. God gives him 
 an exceeding great reward, the salvation of other men 2 . 
 Thus Apathy, Detachment, make the sanctified be- 
 liever not less but more useful to his kind. It is 
 important to add, in view of the objections afterwards 
 urged against the Quietists, that Clement lays great 
 stress upon the observance of the existing Church disci- 
 
 Strom. vi. 12. 102. Origen distinguishes two modes of Righteousness, 
 Innocence, the effect of Baptismal Forgiveness, and the active virtue of 
 Justice. Clement speaks only -of the latter. The just man is faithful, but 
 the faithful man is not necessarily just. Faith is salvation, but not righteous- 
 ness ; it gives the will, but not immediately the power to do right. Faith is 
 life, righteousness is health (v-yifia'). It would seem then that we might be 
 ' saved ' without good works, but Clement never expressly deals with this 
 question. He seems to assert the opposite, Strom, v. i. 7, \apni yap 
 ffw^oftfOa OVK avfv pevTOi rwv Ka\uv epjeav, but here perhaps aairrjpia is used 
 in the sense of vyitta. On the necessity, the 'merit' of good works, see 
 Strom, v. 13. 86; vii. 12. 72 ; 14. 108. 
 
 1 Strom, vii. 13. 82. 
 
 2 Strom, iv. 22. 136. In ii. II. 46 the three characteristics of Gnosis are 
 Ofoipia 77 rOav kvroKoiv Imre \fffis avdpuv dyaOuiv KaraffKfvr) : vi. 17. 160 the 
 Gnostic is compared to a iraiSoTpifirjs who teaches in three ways, Kara irapaKO- 
 XovOrjaiv, putting the pupil in the requisite posture and making him do the thing 
 required ; KOL&' 6p.oi(oatv, by example and emulation ; Kara irpocrragiv, when the 
 pupil has mastered all his exercises and simply requires to be told which he 
 is to perform : the last may refer to spiritual direction : vii. I. 3 the life of 
 the Gnostic is a constant Gepairtia of two kinds, @e\ricoTiKri, in which he 
 resembles the presbyter, vmjpfTtKri, in which he resembles the deacon. See 
 Baur, Christliche Gnosis, p. 507.
 
 in.] The Higher Life. 97 
 
 pline, the regular use of all the ordinary means of Grace. 
 I will not here dwell upon what he says about Public 
 Worship, iJ^e reading of Scripture, the Eucharist, Alms- 
 giving, Falting 1 . It will be sufficient to state his views 
 on the subject of Prayer 2 , the point on which the 
 Quietists departed most widely from the lines he laid 
 down. 
 
 The Gnostic prays without ceasing. He would rather 
 forego the grace of God than enjoy it without prayer. 
 But indeed this is impossible. For our holiness must 
 cooperate with the providence of God, if the blessing is 
 to be perfect. Holiness is a correlative of Providence 3 . 
 For God Himself is a voluntary agent. He does not 
 ' warm like fire ' as Plutarch thought, nor can we receive 
 His best gifts involuntarily, even if they be given before 
 we ask. 
 
 But God reads the heart, and therefore few words are 
 needed or none. ' Ask,' He says, ' and I will do, think, 
 and I will give 4 .' Good is the prayer which Christians 
 utter in the church, with head and hands uplifted, and 
 foot raised at the Amen, as if to soar above earth. 
 
 1 Public Worship in the morning, Patd. ii. 10. 96: Fasting on Wednesday 
 and Friday, Strom, vii. 12, 75- The Scripture says (Tobit xii. 8), dyaffov 
 vrjortia fifTO. irpoatvx^, vrjartiat 8^ airoxas KOKUJV firjvvovatv eiTraf cnrAais : ob- 
 servance of the Lord's Day, Strom, vii. 12. 76 : Reading of Scripture, Paed. ii. 
 10. 96 ; Strom, vii. 7. 49 ; Almsgiving, Q. D. S. 33 ; Strom, ii. 15. 96, 
 f\tr)iioffvvais ovv nal mareat anoxaOaipovTai at d/xa/mat : on the Eucharist 
 see below. 
 
 * See generally Strom, iv. 23. 148 ; viii. 7. 35 sqq. 
 
 3 avTtmaTpcKfir), avTiarpfxpos, Strom, vii. 7. 42. The reference to Plutarch 
 (an author whom Clement several times quotes) is non posse suavitcr vim 
 sec. Epic, xxii, ovrt yap Otppov ri ifvxftv oAAd vb Oepnaivtiv Sicrrrtp ovS' 
 d-yaOov T& BXatTTtiv. This will further illustrate what was said in Lecture I 
 on Plutarch's connection with Gnosticism. 
 
 4 alrrjaai ual TJoirfaca' tvvorjOrjTi ical Swaca, a favourite quotation (see Strom. 
 vi. 9. 78 ; 12. 101 ; vii. 7. 40 ; 12. 73) from some apocryphal book. 
 
 H
 
 98 Clement. [Lect. 
 
 Good is prayer at the three hours 1 , with face turned 
 towards the East, as even pagans use. But better still 
 is the inner colloquy of unspoken supplication for 
 which no place or time is set apart, the praise of him 
 who ploughs, of him who sails upon the sea. The 
 Gnostic's prayer is chiefly Thanksgiving and Interces- 
 sion, as was that of our Saviour. Beyond this he will 
 ask only for the continuance of the blessings he enjoys, 
 for he desires nothing that he has not, and the Father's 
 Will is enough for him. 
 
 The prayer of the Gnostic, even when speechless, is 
 still conscious and active. It is far removed from the 
 blank vacuity of the soul which, as Molinos says, ' lies 
 dead and buried, asleep in Nothingness 2 : -thinking 
 without thought of the Unconditioned. The Silent 
 Prayer of the Quietist is in fact Ecstasy, of which there 
 is not a trace in Clement. 
 
 For Clement shrank from his own conclusions. 
 Though the father of all the Mystics he is no Mystic 
 himself. He did not enter the 'enchanted garden' which 
 he opened for others. If he talks of ' flaying the sacrifice,' 
 of leaving sense behind, of Vision, of Epopteia, this is 
 but the parlance of his school. The instrument to 
 which he looks for growth in knowledge is not trance, 
 but the disciplined reason. Hence Gnosis when once 
 attained is indefectible, not like the rapture which Plo- 
 tinus enjoyed but four times during his acquaintance 
 with Porphyry, which in the experience of Theresa 
 
 1 Strom, vii. 7. 40 ; the Gnostic rose also at intervals during the night to 
 pray, Paed. ii. 9. 79 ; Strom, vii. 7. 49. 
 
 * ' Endormie dans le neant,' Molinos, Guide Spirituelle, iii. 20. 201. I 
 owe the reference to La Bruyere, Dialogues sur le Quietisme, vol. ii. ed. 
 Servois.
 
 in.] The Church. 99 
 
 never lasted more than half-an-hour 1 . The Gnostic is 
 no Visionary, no Theurgist, no Antinomian. 
 
 These dangers were not far away in the age of Mon- 
 tanus and the Neo-Platonists. The Alexandrines have 
 perhaps too much ' dry light,' but their faith was too 
 closely wedded to reason and the written word to be 
 seduced by these forbidden joys. Mysticism is as yet a 
 Pagan solace. The time for a purely Christian mysti- 
 cism, which Gerson evolves not from the reason but 
 from the emotions, had not yet arrived. Yet Clement 
 laid the fuel ready for kindling. The spark that was 
 needed was the allegorical interpretation of the Song of 
 Songs. This was supplied, strange to say, by Origen, 
 the least mystical of all divines. 
 
 Every baptised Christian, who has not been ' cut off' 
 like a diseased limb by solemn judicial process, is a 
 member of the Church upon earth, is therefore within 
 the pale of salvation. The Church 2 is the Platonic City 
 of God, ' a lovely body and assemblage of men governed 
 by the Word,' ' the company of the Elect.' She is the 
 Bride of Christ, the Virgin Mother, stainless as a Virgin, 
 loving as a Mother. She is One, she is Catholic, be- 
 
 1 Porphyry, Vita Plotini, 23, p. 116, ed. Firmin-Didot. For St. Theresa 
 see Barthelemy Saint-Hilaire, l?cole d'Alexandrie, pp. xlv, Ixxix; for 
 Gerson, ibid. Ixii, xcviii. Vacherot in his third volume traces the connec- 
 tion of the Alexandrines with mediaeval mysticism. Dahne, De Tvwaei, 
 p. 112, insists that Clement himself was a mystic. It depends upon the 
 meaning which we attach to the word. In one sense all believers in the 
 unseen are Mystics ; in another, all believers in whom the emotional element 
 predominates largely over the intellectual. I have taken Mysticism as co- 
 extensive with Ecstasy. Of this again there are several degrees, ranging 
 from the inarticulate communion of the Qnietists to pictorial visions. Such 
 visions were regarded with suspicion by Mystics of the higher class, such as 
 St. John of the Cross. See Vaughan, Hours with the Mystics. 
 
 3 Strom, iv. 26. 172; vii. 5. 29; iii. 6. 49; u. 74; Paed. i. 6. 42; 
 Strom, vii. 17. 107 (one, true, ancient, catholic), 108 (apostolic). 
 
 H 2,
 
 ioo Clement. [Lect. 
 
 cause the doctrine and tradition of the Apostles is one ; 
 the heretic who has forsaken her fold has ' an assembly 
 devised by man,' ' a school,' but not a Church x . One in 
 belief, but not in mechanism. Peter is the first of the 
 Apostles 2 , but the See of Peter is never named. The 
 West is as unknown to Clement as it was to his 
 favourite Homer. Yet in this One Church there is a 
 distinction. There are those who within her fold live as 
 do the Gentiles, these are the flesh of Christ's Mystical 
 Body; there are those who cleave to the Lord and 
 become one spirit with Him, the Sons of God, the 
 Gnostics ; these are the Holy Church, the Spiritual 
 Chufch ; these, and they who are in process to be- 
 come as these, are the rings which have not dropped 
 from the magnetic chain, but in spiritual union with 
 saints and angels ' wait for the Rest of God 3 .' 
 
 The Stromateis were written during the Patriarchate 
 of Demetrius amid the bustle and excitement of a revo- 
 lution. But no echo of the strife penetrated the tranquil 
 
 q, Strom, vii. 15. 92 : avBpwtrivai. awrjKvffeis, vii. 17. 106. The 
 notes of heresy are contempt of apostolical tradition, vii. 16. 95, 6 
 avaKaKriaas rrjv (KK\r]aiaaTiK^v irap&Soo'iv, and defiance of Scripture, which 
 the Gnostics reject in part, vii. 16. 97, irapeire^avro ras ypa<pas, or inter- 
 pret by vicious methods out of </>iAatm'a. Those who use only water in the 
 Eucharist are heretics, i. 19. 96 ; and there is also a heretical baptism, ibid. 
 On the asceticism and in some cases lax morality of the Gnostics, see 
 Strom, iii. The ' Phrygians ' are not called heretics, iv. 3. 93. 
 
 2 Q.D. S. 21, 6 fMKapios irerpos 6 (K\tKTos 6 ifaiperos 6 irpOaTos ruiv 
 fj.a.BrjTOjt' vir(p ov n6vov teal eavrov rbv <f>6pov 6 acarr^p IT Aef. 
 
 3 Strom, vii. n. 68 : in vii. 14. 87 the Gnostics are the Holy Church, the 
 Spiritual Body of which those who only bear the name of Christian and 
 do not live according to reason are the flesh. Had this point of view been 
 habitual to him Clement must have written very differently about the Lower 
 Life. The Invisible Spiritual Church, the Communion of Saints, is compared 
 to a chain of rings upheld by a magnet, vii. 2.9. It is the Church of the 
 First Born, Protrept. ix. 82.
 
 in.] The Clergy. 101 
 
 seclusion in which Clement lectured and composed. 
 He reflects with calm fidelity the image of the antique 
 times in which he had himself been reared. His heart 
 is with the Republic ; he is the Samuel of the new 
 monarchy. 
 
 One of the chief pillars of the aggressive theory of 
 Church polity was the claim of the Christian ministry 
 to be regarded as lineal successors of the sacrificial 
 hierarchy of the Jews. But to Clement the true anti- 
 type of Levite or Hiereus is the Gnostic, the son or 
 daughter of God, who has been anointed like King, 
 Prophet, or High Priest of the Law, but with the 
 spiritual unction of the Holy Ghost 1 . The Gnostic 
 sacrifice is that of praise, of a contrite spirit, of a soul 
 delivered from carnal lusts ; the incense is holy prayer ; 
 the altar is the just soul, or the congregation of 
 believers 2 . Beyond this there is no sacrifice except the 
 ' costly,' the ' fireless ' Victim once offered upon the 
 Cross 3 . Clement quotes the famous verse of Malachi, 
 but the ' pure offering ' is the knowledge of God as 
 Creator derived by the heathen from the light of the 
 universal Word 4 . The much disputed text about the 
 power of the keys he never cites at all, and in the 
 Penance controversy, which was already agitating men's 
 minds, he follows Hermas, allowing but one Absolution 
 for mortal sin after Baptism, a view highly unfavourable 
 
 1 itpeTs, Strom, iv. 25. 157 sq. ; vii. 7. 36. In Strom, vi. 13. 106 the 
 Gnostic is a true Presbyter, though he be not honoured irpcaTOKaOfSpiq,. 
 
 ' J The sacrifice, Paed. iii. 12. 90 ; Strom, ii. 18. 79, 96 ; v. u. 67 (imme- 
 diately after an allusion to the Eucharist) ; vii. 3. 14 ; 6. 31, 32. The last 
 cited passage explains the terms altar, incense. 
 
 3 Strom, v. ii. 66, 70. See also passages quoted in Lecture II. 
 
 4 Strom, v. 14. 136. The verse had already been applied to the Eucharist 
 in the Doctrine of the Apostles, Irenaeus and Justin.
 
 IO2 Clement. [Lect. 
 
 to the growing authority of the Bishop *. He rarely 
 mentions the three orders of Clergy 2 , and never in con- 
 nection with the Sacraments. The rich man should 
 have a domestic chaplain or spiritual director, who is to 
 be ' a man of God V The unlearned brother is not to 
 trust his private judgment, but the interpreter of Scrip- 
 ture is no doubt the Gnostic. The one office assigned 
 to the Presbyter is that of ' making men better,' and this 
 is also the special function of the Gnostic. 
 
 It seems most probable that at this time, in the 
 Church of Alexandria, the Eucharist was not yet dis- 
 
 1 Strom, ii. 13. 56. Clement follows Hennas, Mand. iv. 3, almost 
 verbally, though without naming his authority. He supports this view 
 by Heb. x. 26, 27. Clement nowhere expressly draws a distinction between 
 mortal and venial sins, but it is implied here and in Strom, vi. 12. 97, where 
 he speaks of fitravoia Siaa^, the first being conversion, the second repentance 
 for minor daily sins. It is the first, repentance of mortal sin, that could 
 only be repeated once after baptism. It is singular that in Q. D. S. he does 
 not enter upon the question. (I observe that in 39 the right reading is un- 
 doubtedly toy fj^i {nrevijvexGai Tf\tov, OVTOS ov Ka.Tfifff)<piffTOi.) For further 
 information see Lecture vi. 
 
 2 Strom, vi. 13. 107.- Bishop, Priest, and Deacon symbolise the ' three 
 Mansions,' the three degrees of the Angelic Hierarchy: iii. 12. 90, Priest 
 and Deacon distinguished from Xaios : vii. I. 3, Priests exercise the 
 /SeATKWTiKjj, Deacons the virrjpeTiiti) Ofparrda : vi. 13. 106, Priests have 
 wfKUTOKaOfSpia, sitting probably in a semicircle with the Bishop in their 
 centre round the east end of the church: Paed. i. 6. 37, Tsoiptvts kaptv ol 
 TOIV (KK\Tjatn/ irpoT/yoviJiti'oi. 
 
 3 Q.D.S.4I. Probst, Sakramente, p. 261, unhesitatingly identifies the 
 Man of God with the Priest. It is just possible that we have here the same 
 admonition as in Origen, Sel. in Psalmos, Horn. ii. 6 (Lorn. xii. p. 267), 
 4 tantummodo circumspice diligentius, cui debeas confiteri peccatum tuum. 
 Proba prius medicum.' He may mean that the chaplain is to be a priest, but 
 a worthy priest. But were there more than twelve priests in Alexandria, 
 and in any case can there have been enough to supply domestic chaplains to 
 all the rich men who needed them ? I do not doubt that the chaplain is to 
 be a Gnostic who is a judge in spiritual matters, Strom, vii. 7. 45. Rufinus, 
 before his ordination, seems to have held such a post in the household of 
 Melania. Compare note above, p. 96. Probst, I may add, endeavours to 
 prove that the Gnostic is the Priest by combining what Clement says of the 
 Gnostic, of Moses, of the Law, and of Christ the Shepherd.
 
 III.] The Eucharist. 103 
 
 tinguished in time, ritual, or motive from the primitive 
 Supper of the Lord 1 . Of this, the Agape, the Love- 
 Feast, or Banquet, there were two forms, the public and 
 the private, the first celebrated at a full gathering of the 
 brethren on fixed evenings in the church, the second in 
 private houses 2 . 
 
 1 This statement, that the Eucharist at Alexandria was not yet separated 
 from the Agape and that both were celebrated together in the evening, may 
 seem doubtful, and indeed I make it with some hesitation. It may be argued, 
 on the other side, (i) That the separation was already made in the West, as 
 we see from Justin and Tertullian, and is found immediately after Clement's 
 time in Palestine, teste Origen. (ii) That the word Eucharist is employed 
 by Clement for the Elements, Strom, i. I. 5, and for the rite, Paed. ii. 2. 20; 
 Strom, iv. 25. 161. (iii) That there was a morning service at Alexandria, 
 though we are not told that it included the Eucharist, Paed. ii. 10. 96. On 
 the other hand, (i) the Liturgy, so far as we can judge, is not nearly so 
 developed in Clement's church as in that of Origen ; (ii) the Agape in both 
 its forms is distinctly mentioned, the Eucharist as a separate office is 
 not ; (iii) the word Eucharist is employed of the Agape, Paed. ii. 10. 
 96. (iv) The Agape is mentioned in the Sibylline Oracles Or. viii. 402, 497, 
 temp. Trajan or Hadrian ; Or. v. 265, temp. Antoninus Pius while the 
 Eucharist is not : see Alexandre, ii. 547. It is true that both these authori- 
 ties are anterior in date to Clement, (v) Dionysius of Alexandria still uses of 
 the rite of Communion the same word, lortacns, which in Clement means the 
 Agape, Eus. H. E. vi. 42. 5, ai irpoawxuiv aurofs- KO.I kffTidaav eKoivuvrjaav. 
 (vi) Lastly, I do not know of any passage in an Oriental writer before 
 Clement's time in which the Eucharist appears as a distinct and substan- 
 tive office. In the Doctrine of the Apostles Hilgenfeld observes upon the 
 word fp.-n\r]adr)vai in chap. 10, ' eucharistia vere coena communis nondum 
 separata ab Agape.' And from Socrates, v. 22, it appears that the Agape 
 lingered on in the churches of Upper Egypt longer than elsewhere. We 
 may infer from this perhaps that Alexandria also had clung to the primitive 
 usage after it had been abandoned by others. 
 
 2 The public Agape is the Sr)wii5r)s iariaffis of Paed. ii. i. 12. But we 
 read of TOV Kfn\rjKura, ibid. 10. This is the 80x17- Yet further the ' Feast' 
 is universal and daily, Paed. ii. 10. 96, taittpas 5% dvairavaaadai KaOr)Kti 
 Herd ^r|v toriaaiv Kal fjifrd TTJV Iir2 rais diro\avff(ffiv (\i\apiariav. Here 
 Clement obviously means the ordinary house supper. So again, Strom, vii. 
 7. 49, at Trpb TT)S eff-riaaews tvr(v(is TWV ypa<pu>v, \f/a\fj.ol St Kal VJJLVOI wapd rf)v 
 (ffriacriv irp6 ff TTjy KO'ITTIS. No priest can have been present in the vast 
 majority of cases ; the devotional exercises of the family and the ' thanks- 
 giving' constituted the meal an Eucharist. The phrase in Q. D. S. 23, ir6na 
 jta$' fjp.fpav fvSiSovs dOavaaias, may perhaps thus be explained. The private
 
 io4 Clement. [Lect. 
 
 The first was still disfigured by those excesses and 
 disorders, which St. Paul sharply rebuked, but a century 
 of discipline had not eradicated. It was preceded by 
 reading of the Scriptures, psalms and hymns. After 
 this the Bread and Wine were blessed, and then dis- 
 tributed by the deacons x . Viands of every kind, often 
 costly and richly dressed, were provided by the liberality 
 of the wealthier brethren. Clement does not attempt to 
 lay any puritanical restrictions upon social enjoyment. 
 He enforces the rule prohibiting the taste of blood or of 
 meat offered to idols, he explains the code of good 
 manners, and insists upon moderation. The Christian 
 must eat to live, not live to eat. He must not abuse the 
 Father's gifts. He must show by precept and example 
 that the heavenly banquet is not the meat that perisheth, 
 but love, that the believer's true food is Christ 2 . 
 
 All that Clement says upon this subject is of the 
 highest value to those who wish to recast for themselves 
 a faithful image of the Church life of the end of the 
 
 Agape is the ordinary evening meal also in Cyprian, Ep. 63. 16. p. 714, 
 ed. Hartel. In a somewhat later time the clergy appear to have been gene- 
 rally but not always present at the 80x17, which has become a charity dinner, 
 to which especially poor old women were invited, Const. Ap. ii. 28. The 
 Council of Laodicea prohibited the Agape in churches, can. 28, and in 
 private houses, can. 58. Mansi, iii. 563. Hefele. 'Hoc modo in totum 
 eucharistia ab agapis distincta et separata fuit,' Bohmer, Dissertatioms 
 Juris Eccles. Lipsiae, 1711, diss. iv. The consecration of the Eucharist by 
 laymen was not unknown in Tertullian's church, Exhort. Cast. vii. 
 
 1 Supper followed the Eucharist, see Paed. ii. i. n, /*er<i -TT)V tv \6yq> 
 rpv<f>T)v. The deacons carried round the supper as well as the consecrated 
 bread and wine ; see the following words, avfjLntTa<p(pofj.evris avraiv, uis eiirtiv, 
 7TJs diepaffias nptis raiv SiaKovoav. 
 
 2 The description of the Agape will be found at the opening of Paed. ii. 
 For a similar and equally graphic account of the coarse vulgarity of Alex- 
 andrine luxury, see Philo, De Vita Cont. 5 (ii. 477)- The contrast between 
 the heathen man of the world and the Christian gentleman as drawn by 
 Clement is most instructive.
 
 ill.] Ttie Eucharist. 105 
 
 second century. But of all his phrases the most im- 
 portant are those which assure us, that the ordinary 
 evening meal of a Christian household was in a real 
 sense an Agape. It was preceded by the same acts of 
 worship ; it was blessed by thanksgiving ; it was a true 
 Eucharist. The house father is the house priest. The 
 highest act of Christian devotion is at the same time the 
 simplest and most natural. Husband, wife and child, 
 the house slave, and the invited guest gathered round 
 the domestic board to enjoy with thankfulness the good 
 gifts of God, uplifting their hearts in filial devotion, ex- 
 panding them in brotherly bounty and kindness. To us 
 the word Eucharist has become a term of ritual, whose 
 proper meaning is all but obsolete. To the Greek it 
 was still a word of common life thanksgiving, the 
 grateful sense of benefits received, of good gifts showered 
 by the good Father on mind and heart and body. ' He that 
 eateth eateth unto the Lord and keepeth Eucharist to 
 God ... so that a religious meal is an Eucharist V 
 
 All these good gifts sum themselves up in one, the 
 gift of the Son. In the Eucharist, in its narrower sense, 
 we eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ, ' hallowed 
 food,' of which the bread and wine given by Melchise- 
 dech to Abraham was a type 2 . It is ' a mystery pass- 
 ing strange V ' I will, I will impart to you this grace 
 also, the full and perfect bounty of incorruption. I give 
 
 1 Paed. ii. I. 10, us tlvai TT)I/ SiKaiav rpcHprjv fiix 
 
 2 Strom, iv. 26. 161. The figure is from Philo, and must be interpreted 
 by Philo's light. 
 
 3 fivffTrjptov irapaooov, Paed. i. 6. 43 : the following quotation is from 
 Protrept. xii. 120. The chief passages on the subject of the Eucharist are, 
 besides these two, Paed. ii. 2. 19 sq. ; Strom, v. 10. 66. Other notices in 
 Paed. i. 5. 15; 6. 38; Strom, i. 10. 46; 19. 96; v. 11. 70; vi. 14. 113; 
 Q.D.S. 23.
 
 io6 Clement. Lect. 
 
 to you the knowledge of God. I give to you my perfect 
 Self.' Christ's own Sacrifice, the charter of His High 
 Priesthood, is the condition of His sacramental agency. 
 But what is the special boon that He conveys in that 
 supreme moment, when His sacrifice co-operates with 
 ours, when ' in faith ' we partake x of the nourishment 
 which He bestows? Not forgiveness that gift is be- 
 stowed in the laver of Regeneration, and if lost must be 
 regained by the stern sacrament of Penance but incor- 
 ruption, immortality 2 . The Bread, the Wine mingled 
 with Water, are an allegory. ' The Blood of the Lord 
 is twofold. One is fleshly, whereby we have been ran- 
 somed from corruption ' in Baptism ' one is spiritual, 
 with this we have been anointed' in the Eucharist. 
 The Body is Faith, the Blood is Hope, which is as it 
 were the lifeblood of Faith. 'This is the Flesh and 
 Blood of the Lord, the apprehension of the Divine 
 power and essence.' ' The Blood of His Son cleanseth 
 from all sin. For the doctrine of the Lord which is 
 very strong is called His Blood V 
 
 The elements are ' hallowed food ' ; ' the meat of 
 babes, that is to say the Lord Jesus, that is to say the 
 Word of God, is spirit made flesh, hallowed flesh from 
 heaven V These phrases have been interpreted in very 
 
 1 Paed. ii. 2. 20, fjs of Kara irianv nTa.Xa.p,ftavovTts. 
 
 1 Paed. ii. 2. 19; iii. i. 2. 
 
 3 For these four quotations see Paed. ii. 2. 19 ; i. 6. 38 ; Strom, v. 10. 
 66 ; Adumb, in Ep. foan. I. p. 1009. I quote the last book always with 
 hesitation. 
 
 * Strom, iv. 26. 161 ; Paed. i. 6. 43. The two opposing views are 
 maintained by Dollinger, Die Eucharistie in den drei erstenjahrb., Mainz, 
 1826, and Probst, Liturgie, on the one hand, and by Hofling, Die Lehre 
 der altesten Kirche vom Opfer im Leben und Cultus, Erlangen, 1851. 
 Upon the whole Hofling's view appears to me to be correct. But I must 
 in fairness add, what I do not remember to have seen mentioned, that the
 
 III.] The Eucharist. 107 
 
 different senses. One writer sees in them the doctrine 
 of Transubstantiation, another the doctrine of Zwinglius. 
 Those who read Clement as a whole, who reflect upon 
 his strong antithesis of the letter, the flesh, to the spirit, 
 who take into due account his language on the subject 
 of Priest and Sacrifice, and his emphatic declaration that 
 ' knowledge is our reasonable food 1 ,' will be inclined to 
 think that the latter view is far nearer to the truth. 
 Christ is present in the Eucharist as Gnosis, ' in the 
 heart, not in the hand.' The Elements are a symbol, an 
 allegory 2 , perhaps a vehicle, an instrument, inasmuch as 
 they are ordained by Christ Himself, and to substitute 
 
 doctrine of the Real Presence is stated, Excerfta, 82, 6 apros KCU TO eAeuov 
 ayia^frai TTJ Swdfiti rov ovofnaros ov ra avrd ovra Kara ro <paiv6fievov ola 
 e\ri<p0T), d\\a Sui/d/xet els Svvafuv itvtvuaTiitty /j. ( ra/3 (ft \ijrat. And the 
 precise idea of transubstantiation was familiar to Clement, Paed. L 6. 40, 
 aa.a\ti 8 rr/v nfra&o^v Kara irotorrjra ov tear' ovaiav. He is speaking of 
 the change of the mother's blood into milk, and his point is that the Faith 
 of the Lower Life is the same in substance as the Gnosis of the Higher. It 
 is barely possible that there may be also some allusion to the Elements, but 
 I do not think there is. 
 
 1 Strom, v. 1 1. 70, \oyiicov TJ/J.IV Ppa/M 17 yvwais : L IO. 46, iva 8?) <pdyjjfj.ev 
 \oyiKu>s: v. lo. 66, fipuiffis yap KO.I troais rov Oelov \6yov fj yvwffis earn rfjs 
 Otias ovaias: Adumb. in Ep.Joan. /. p. ion, sanguis quod est cognitio. 
 There is a remarkable departure from the ordinary symbolism in the very 
 obscure passage, Paed. ii. 2. 19, 20. Clement's drift is that those are to 
 be praised who abstain from wine altogether, and he illustrates this by the 
 mixed chalice. The Wine is the Blood, the symbol of Redemption, Bap- 
 tism, Faith, and Discipline ; the Water is the Spirit, the better gift. 
 
 3 Paed. ii. 2. 32, at/ia rrjs ap.iri\ov, ibv \6yov rov wept iro\\uv tuxtofjitvov 
 (Is d<peaiv apapTituv tixppoavvrjs ayiof d\\rjyopfi vapa.: i. 6. 47, ^ yap ifal 
 oi>xi oivos a\\T)yop(iTai. Much depends on the meaning of the word 
 Allegory and the purpose of the Alexandrine Disciplina Arcani. On this 
 I shall speak in Lecture iv. It may be noticed here that Clement mentions 
 the kiss of peace, Paed. iii. ii. 81 ; the practice of anointing the eyes with 
 a drop of the wine from the lips (a bare allusion), Paed. ii. 12. 129 ; and 
 tells us, Strom, i. i. 5, that some clergymen made the communicant take 
 his piece of bread instead of giving it to him, lest they should become 
 partakers in the sin of the unworthy recipient; see Probst, Liturgie, 
 pp. 135 sqq.
 
 io8 Clement. [Lect. 
 
 any other figure for the one so ordained is heresy. But 
 the veil, though a holy thing because it belongs to the 
 sanctuary, is not the mystery that it shrouds, the alle- 
 gory is not the truth that it bodies forth. 
 
 The chief article of the Christian Gnosis was that of 
 the Future Life. It was as interesting to Pagans as to 
 Christians. ' What will become of the soul after death ? ' 
 asks Plotinus, as he enters upon this universally fascinat- 
 ing theme. The immortality of the soul was positively 
 denied by none but the ' godless Epicureans.' But the 
 doctrine of the Resurrection was peculiar to the Church, 
 and, while it strengthened her hold upon the masses, 
 was a great stumbling-block in the way of the educated. 
 The Platonist looked upon the body as the ' dungeon of 
 the soul,' and could not understand how any pious man 
 should expect a good God to renew and perpetuate that 
 degrading bondage. 
 
 Within the Church itself there was some variety and 
 much confusion of thought. Tertullian and many others 
 held that the soul itself was material *. From this fol- 
 lowed the terrible belief of Tatian, that it dies with the 
 body, and is raised again with the body, by an act of 
 Divine power, for an eternity of suffering or joy. Others, 
 especially Arabian Christians, held that after dissolution 
 the soul sleeps unconscious, till awakened to life by the 
 restoration of its organism. But the majority believed 
 in an intermediate yet conscious state of existence in 
 Hades or Paradise, extending to the Day of Judgment, 
 
 1 A Montanist sister in one of her visions saw a soul ' tenera et lucida et 
 aerii coloris et forma per omnia humana,' De Anima, 9. Tatian's doctrine 
 in Oratio ad Graecos, 13. For the Arabians, Eus. H. E. vi-. 37; Rede- 
 penning, Origenes, ii. 105 sqq. The if/vxotravwxia may perhaps be found 
 also in Athenagoras, De Res. 16, though Otto thinks not.
 
 in.] Resurrection. 109 
 
 when the soul is reunited to the body, from which it has 
 been for a time divorced. 
 
 The Resurrection itself they interpreted in the most 
 literal sense. It would be a resurrection of ' this flesh,' 
 of the identical body which had been dissolved by death. 
 The ' change,' spoken of by St. Paul, was strictly limited 
 to the accession of the new attribute of incorruption *.- 
 Closely allied to this view was the widespread opinion 
 of the Chiliasts, who, resting upon the prophecies of 
 Isaiah and the Apocalypse, believed that after the first 
 Resurrection the saints should reign in the flesh upon 
 earth for a thousand years under the sceptre of Christ. 
 Chiliasm, which in vulgar minds was capable of the most 
 unhappy degradation, was in turn strengthened by the 
 urgent expectation of the End of the World. In the 
 lower strata of Christian society prophecies on this 
 subject were rife At this very time a calculation, based 
 on the numerical value of the letters composing the 
 word Rome, fixed the downfall of the Empire and the 
 coming of Christ for judgment for the year 195 A. D. 2 
 The Montanists held that the appointed sign was the 
 appearance of the New Jerusalem in heaven ; and this 
 sign was given during the expedition of Severus against 
 the Parthians, when for forty consecutive mornings the 
 vision of a battlemented city hanging in the clouds 
 was beheld by the whole army 3 . 
 
 1 See Irenaeus, v. 13 ; Athenagoras, De Res. 
 
 8 The four letters composing the word foifo] 948, hence it was sup- 
 posed the empire would last that number of years, Or. Sib. viii. 148. When 
 this expectation was frustrated by the course of events, the authors of the 
 last four Sibylline books struck off 105 years from the Roman Fasti and 
 fixed upon the year 305 in the reign of Diocletian. See much curious 
 information upon similar speculations which recurred again and again from 
 the persecution of Nero downwards, Alexandre, ii. pp. 485 sqq. 
 
 8 Tertullian, Adv. Marc. iii. 24; Miinter, Primordia Eccl. Afr. p. 141.
 
 no Clement. 
 
 There were differences of opinion again as to the 
 nature, object, duration, of the sufferings that await the 
 wicked in the life to come, especially among the outlying 
 sects. The Valentinians, as we have seen, taught ' con- 
 ditional immortality,' and regarded the future life as a 
 state of education, of progress through an ascending 
 series of seven heavens. The Clementine Homilies, a 
 work composed under strong Judaic influences, expresses 
 different views in different places. In one the sinner is 
 warned that eternal torments await him in the life to 
 come. In another St. Peter proclaims that those who 
 repent, however grievous their offences, will be chastised 
 but for a time, that those who repent not will be tortured 
 for a season and then annihilated 1 . The Church at large 
 believed in an eternity of bliss or of woe. Yet among 
 the Montanists prayers and oblations were offered up on 
 behalf of the departed, and it was thought that these 
 sacrifices could in certain cases quicken the compassion 
 of God towards those who had died in sin. The widow 
 prayed that her lost husband's pangs might be alleviated, 
 and that she might share with him in the First Resurrec- 
 tion. Perpetua, the matron lily of martyrs, in that jail 
 which seemed to be a palace while her baby was at her 
 breast, cried for mercy upon the soul of her little brother, 
 who had died unbaptised 2 . 
 
 1 Eternal torments in i. 7 ; xi. II : the other view in iii. 6. 
 
 2 Tertullian, De Monogamia, 10, the widow prays for her husband's soul ; 
 ' enimvero et pro anima eius drat, et refrigerium interim adpostulat ei et in 
 prima resurrectione consortium, et offert annuls diebus dormitionis eius :' De 
 Cor. Mil. 3, 'oblationes pro defunctis, pro natalitiis, annua die facimus' 
 (here he rests the usage on tradition, and not on Scripture : but he may mean 
 only that the oblation is not scriptural as the use of prayer is sanctioned by 
 2 Tim. i. 18) : see also De Exhort. Cast. n. All these treatises are Mon- 
 tanist according to Miinter. Montanist also in the opinion of Valesius are
 
 ill.] Resurrection. 1 1 1 
 
 Clement never composed his promised treatise on the 
 Resurrection, and it is not always easy to attach a definite 
 meaning to his allusive style. But the general outline of 
 his teaching is sufficiently clear. He rejects with scornful 
 brevity the fancies of Chiliasm 1 . The Resurrection body 
 is not ' this flesh,' but, as St. Paul taught, a glorified frame, 
 related to that which we now possess as the grain of corn 
 to the new ear, devoid in particular of the distinctions of 
 sex 2 . The change is wrought by fire. Even Christ rose 
 ' through fire.' Fire is here the agent not of chastise- 
 ment, but of that mysterious sublimation by which our 
 organism is fitted for existence in a new sphere. 
 
 For the sinner the fire burns with a fiercer intensity, 
 because it has a harsher office. It is the pang of un- 
 satisfied lusts that gnaw the soul itself for want of food, 
 the sting of repentance and shame, the sense of loss. It 
 
 the Acta of St. Perpetua. As to the latter it should be observed that the 
 little brother Dinocrates for whom Perpetua intercedes had certainly died 
 unbaptised. For his father was a Pagan Perpetua herself was baptised in 
 the prison and the effect of her prayer is that Dinocrates is admitted to the 
 benefits of baptism. ' I saw Dinocrates coming forth from a dark place 
 very hot and thirsty, squalid of face and pallid of hue . . . And hard by 
 where he stood was a tank full of water, the margin whereof was higher 
 than the stature of the child, and he stood on tiptoe as if he would drink. ' 
 Again, 'on the day on which we lay in the stocks,' she prays, and sees 
 Dinocrates cleansed, dressed, and cool, drinking eagerly of the water. 
 ' Then I knew that he was released from pain." Further, the privilege of 
 intercession is granted to Perpetua by revelation as a special mark of favour. 
 So Clement appears to restrict it to the Gnostic. The practice of prayer for 
 the dead was certainly uncommon at the end of the second century. It is not 
 found in Origen, for in Rom. ix. 1 2 is confessedly from the hand of Rufinus. 
 
 1 Strom, vii. 1 2. 74, the Gnostic, iwv Koa\tiKuiv KCUTOI Oficav ovrcav (iraf- 
 yt\iuns KaTfntya\o<f>p6vrj<j(v. Guerike considers that these words refer to 
 Chiliasm, ii. p. 163. 
 
 2 Paed. i. 4. 10 ; 6. 46. In this last passage it is said that Christ rose 
 ' through fire,' which changes the natural into the spiritual body, as earthly 
 fire changes wheat into bread. But the resurrection body may still be 
 called flesh, Paed. ii. 10. 100; iii. i. 2.
 
 112 Clement. [Lect. 
 
 is ministered not by fiends but by good angels 1 , it is 
 alleviated by the prayers of the saints on earth 2 . 
 
 There can I think be no doubt (though it has been 
 doubted) that Clement allowed the possibility of repent- 
 ance and amendment till the Last Day. At that final 
 Assize there will be found those who, like Aridaeus 3 , are 
 incurable, who will still reject, as man always can reject, 
 the proffered grace. But he nowhere expressly limits 
 probation to this brief life. All his theory of punish- 
 ment 4 , which is strictly Platonic, for he hardly ever 
 quotes Scripture in this connection 5 , points the same 
 way. And many passages might be adduced which 
 prove how his maxims are to be applied. ' Let them 
 be chastised,' he says of the 'deaf serpents' who refuse 
 to hear the voice of the charmer, 'by God, enduring His 
 paternal correction before the Judgment, till they be 
 ashamed and repent 6 .' In that fiery trial even Sodom 
 
 1 Strom, v. 14. 90 ; vii. 2. 12. 
 
 2 The Gnostic, oi/rmpet roi/s /^ra 6a.va.Tov natSevofjifvovs Sid TTJS KoXdaeojs 
 aKovatcvs fo/j.o\oyovpevovs, Strom, vii. 12. 78. Yet Clement does not ex- 
 pressly say that he prays for them. 
 
 3 Strom, v. 14. 90 : in iv. 24. 154 the ' faithless' are as the chaff which 
 the wind driveth away. 
 
 * The object of ($Aa<ns is threefold amendment, example, and protection 
 of the weak, Strom, i. 26. 168 ; iv. 24. 154; vi. 12.99. The distinction 
 between K6\ao~is and rifitapla, Strom, iv. 14. 153 ; Paed. i. 8. 70, the latter 
 is the rendering of evil for evil, and this is not the desire of God. Both 
 Ko\ao-is and rifjioipia are spoken of in Strom, v. 14. 90, but this is not to be 
 pressed, for in Strom, vi. 14. 109 the distinction between the words is 
 dropped and both signify purgatorial chastisement. 
 
 6 Isaiah iv. 4 is quoted, Paed. iii. 9. 48, and Cor. i. 3. 10-13, Strom. 
 v. 4. 26. 
 
 6 Strom, vii. 16. 102. Repentance is attributed to the dead again in 
 Strom, vi. 14. 109. If it be asked which repentance Clement speaks of 
 here (see note above, p. 102), the instance of Sodom and Gomorrha, Adumb. 
 in Ep.Jtidae, p. 1008, is very strong. It rests upon Ezekiel xvi. 33, 55, and 
 is employed by Origen in the same way. Even stronger is the language of 
 Strom, vii. 2. 12, ircudfvffeis . . . roiis iirl irXtov a.Ttrj\fr)KoTa^ itc@iaovTcu
 
 in.] The Future Life. 113 
 
 and Gomorrha cried unto God and were forgiven. There 
 is no difference between his teaching and that of Origen, 
 except that he generally seems to be thinking of the 
 doom of Christians, that he regards probation as ceasing 
 at the Day of Judgment 1 , and that he does not contem- 
 plate the possibility of a fall from grace in the after-life. 
 
 Even the just must be purged by the ' wise fire 2 ,' before 
 they are fit for the presence of the Most Holy God. Not 
 at once can they see face to face, or enter into possession 
 of those good things which 'eye hath not seen nor ear 
 heard.' When the burden of sin has been laid down, 
 when the angels have taken their appointed ' toll 3 ,' the 
 spirit must still grow in knowledge, rising in due course 
 through the seven heavens of the Valentinian, through 
 the three ' mansions' or 'folds' prefigured by the triple 
 hierarchy of the Church 4 . Some those who have 
 
 peravottv. The question of the orthodoxy or heterodoxy of the Alexan- 
 drines in this part of their teaching turns entirely upon the word ' repent- 
 ance,' to which we shall recur in Lecture VIII. 
 
 1 See Strom, vii. 2. 12. It should be observed that the word irpoiepiffeis 
 here may refer to ' previous judgments ' in this life ; that is to say, to the 
 Sacrament of Penance : compare Adumb. in Ep. Petri. \. p. 1007. 
 
 2 Strom, vii. 6. 34, irvp ov TO irafj.tp&yov KOI pdvavffov dAAd TO <ppovifiov 
 \ffovTts, TO oiiKvovf^tvov oto. ^v\r)s Trjs Sifpxopfvrjs TO irvp. Cp. Eclogae 
 Proph. 25. p. 995, and Minucius Felix, xxxv, illic sapiens ignis membra 
 urit et reficit ; carpit et nntrit. There is an allusion to Isaiah iv. 4, but the 
 actual phrase ' wise fire ' comes from Heraclitus and the Stoics. 
 
 3 The Angels who guard the road up to the highest heaven 'take toll' cf 
 the passer-by, Strom, iv. 18. 117. 
 
 * Clement may have taken the seven heavens from Valentinus or from the 
 Revelation of Sophonias, Strom, v. II. 77. He found allusions to them in 
 Plato's Timaeus, p. 31 ; in Clemens Romanus, i. 20 (of the 'lands' beyond 
 the ocean) ; in St. Paul, and elsewhere. The same idea is found in the 
 book of Baruch (Origen, De Princ. ii. 3. 6), and in Aristo, Fragment iv. in 
 Otto, Corp. App. vol. ix. p. 363. See also Hennas, Vis. iii. 4, and note 
 there in the ed. of Gebhardt and Harnack. The seven days of purification 
 are a type, Strom, iv. 25. 158. The /lorai iroiKi\ai are from Papias (Fragm. 
 v. in Routh). They answer to the three stages of Fear, Hope, and Love, 
 
 I
 
 ii4 Clement. The Future Life. 
 
 brought forth thirty, or sixty, or a hundredfold, yet 
 have fallen short of what they might have been mount 
 no higher than this 1 . But the Gnostic, scaling from 
 glory up to glory, will attain at last to the stature of the 
 perfect man, and find rest upon the holy mountain of 
 God, the Church that is above all. There in the change- 
 less Ogdoad, a name borrowed from the Valentinian by 
 the Catholic, as indeed is the greater part of this descrip- 
 tion, he shall dwell for ever with Christ, the God and 
 Guardian of his faith and love, beholding the Father no 
 longer ' in a glass darkly,' but with the direct unclouded 
 vision of a pure heart, in light that never fades 2 . 
 
 Clement speaks of this final consummation as Rest. 
 But it is the rest of God, ' who ceases not from doing 
 good 3 .' There is no absorption, no confusion of subject 
 and object. It is the rest not of unity but of perfect 
 similarity, perfect reciprocity, the polar rest of a soul 
 energising in unimpeded knowledge and love. Farther 
 than this Clement does not dare to pry into the sanctuary 
 of Light. ' I say no more glorifying the Lord *.' 
 
 to the three divisions of the Temple, to the three kinds of seed, Strom, vi. 
 14. 114, to the three grades of the hierarchy, vi. 13. 107. 
 
 1 This seems to be clearly meant in Strom, iv. 18. 114 ; vi. 14. 108, 114; 
 cp. also Ed. Proph. 56. But if so, the foena damni never wholly ceases, 
 Strom, vi. 14. 109. 
 
 8 Strom, iv. 25. 158 ; vi. 14. 108; vii. 10. 56, 57. 
 
 3 Strom, vi. 12. 104. 
 
 * Strom, vii. 3. 13.
 
 LECTURE IV. 
 
 Again the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in afield ; the 
 which when a man hath found he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and 
 selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. ST. MATT. xiii. 44. 
 
 CLEMENT as we have seen is a philosopher of a 
 desultory and eclectic type and so far as the needs 
 of his tranquil spirit led him on. Egypt is his world, 
 Gnosticism his one trouble. Origen had travelled to 
 Rome in the West and Bostra in the East, and had 
 found everywhere the clash of arms. But apart from this 
 he was not one of those who discover the rifts in their 
 harness only on the morning of the battle. His sceptical 
 intelligence pries unbidden into every defect, and antici- 
 pates the hostile thrust. He stands to his arms for life 
 or death, like a Dominican theologian of the thirteenth 
 century, or an English divine of the nineteenth. The 
 range of his activity is amazing. He is the first great 
 scholar, the first great preacher, the first great devotional 
 writer, the first great commentator, the first great 
 dogmatist. But he is nothing else. Already we have 
 entered upon the joyless age of erudition. The beauties 
 of Hellenism, in which Clement still delighted, are a 
 withered flower, and Christian art is as yet unborn. 
 
 The life of Origen extended from 185 A.D. to 254 A.D., 
 from the reign of Commodus to that of Valerian and 
 Gallienus. During this long and eventful period his 
 activity was constant, varied and distinguished, and 
 friends and enemies, both equally ardent, have left us 
 large materials for his biography. It is impossible here 
 
 I 2
 
 1 1 6 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 to deal exhaustively with a subject so wide. We must 
 content ourselves with touching upon the most charac- 
 teristic features l . 
 
 He was 'by race an Egyptian,' a Copt, one of the 
 children of the soil, despised by the Greek colonists for 
 their animal-worship and their petulant turbulence, and 
 treated even by the upright Roman law on the footing 
 of slaves. Son a's he was of Christian parents he yet 
 bore the name of one of his country's deities, Origenes, 
 
 * child of Hor, the god of Light 2 . From his blood he 
 drew that fiery ardour which long tribulation softened 
 but could not quench. He was a martyr by race, but a 
 stern schooling was needed before he learned to drink 
 the cup as God had mixed it for him. When his father 
 
 1 For fuller information about the biography of Origen the reader should 
 consult Thomasius, Redepenning, or Huet. Denis, Philosophic d'Origtne, 
 
 is a most valuable aid to the study of his system of doctrine. Dr. Har- 
 nack's Dogmengeschichte is also very useful. Redepenning, ii. 472, gives a 
 list of editions. The special literature will be found in Moller's article in 
 Herzog, in Nitzsch, Dogmengeschichte, or in Ueberweg, Grundriss der Gesch. 
 der Philosophic. All my references are to the edition of Lommatzsch, the 
 volume and page have been noted where it seemed desirable. 
 
 2 G. J. Voss was the first who gave the right derivation of the name of 
 Origen ; Redepenning, i. 421. Suidas, Erasmus, Halloix, Cave were satis- 
 fied with the impossible etymology, 'born in the mountains.' Origen is 
 commonly spoken of by the by-name Adamantius, which, according to 
 Photius, Cod. 1 18, means the same as Doctor Irrefragabilis, on dSanavrivois 
 Sffffiois ewKfffav ots ai> Sijereie \6yovs, according to Jerome denotes his inde- 
 fatigable capacity for labour (hence Jerome also calls him xaXictvTepos), 
 according to Huet the firmness with which he stood like a rock against 
 Heretics. For the heathen philosopher of the same name see Porphyry, 
 Vita Plotini, 20 ; Eunapius, Vita Porphyrii, p. 457 ; Ruhnken, Diss. philo- 
 logica de -vita et scriptis Longini, in his ed. of Longinus, Oxford, 1806. 
 
 v Epiphanius endeavoured to save the reputation of Origen by inventing 
 a second author of the same name, to whom he ascribed the more heterodox 
 articles of Origenism, Haer. Ixiii. I ; Ixiv. 3. The Praedestinati auctor, 
 Haer. 42, calls this phantom heresiarch Syrus sceleratissimus, and adds 
 a third Origen, who denied the Resurrection. See Huet, Origeniana, 
 i. I. 7.
 
 IV.] His Life. 117 
 
 Leonidas fell a victim to the persecution of Severus, 
 nothing but the womanly sense of his mother prevented 
 Origen, then a boy of seventeen, from drawing destruc- 
 tion on his own head by open defiance of the authorities. 
 The destitute orphan found shelter in the house of a 
 wealthy Alexandrine lady, but neither gratitude nor the 
 sense of a common misfortune could induce him to 
 behave with civility to her Gnostic chaplain. Shortly 
 afterwards, at the age of eighteen, he found independence 
 in the mastership of the Catechetical School, left vacant 
 by the flight of Clement. He breathed his own spirit 
 into his pupils, of whom six at least perished. Nor was 
 it Origen's fault that he did not share their fate. He 
 visited them in prison, he acted as their advocate, and 
 gave them the brotherly kiss in open court. We are 
 not surprised to hear that he narrowly escaped stoning 
 in the streets, or that he was hunted from house to house 
 by the gendarmery. What is remarkable is that he 
 escaped, and even contrived throughout the reign of 
 terror to keep his school together. It is probable that 
 the edict of Severus, which was directed against converts 
 only, did not touch him, and that so long as he abstained 
 from formal defiance he was personally safe 1 . And he 
 had already learned that formal defiance was suicide. 
 
 The second path that allures the wilful martyr is that 
 of self-torture. Like Buddha, like Marcus Aurelius, like 
 Wesley, like many another enthusiast in every age and 
 clime and church, Origen flung himself into asceticism 
 only to learn the truth of the old Greek adage, ' He who 
 starts in the race before the signal is given is whipped.' 
 
 1 An excellent account of the persecution of Severus will be found in 
 Aube, Les Chretiens dans V 'Empire Remain. See also Miinter, Primordia 
 Ecd. Afr.
 
 1 1 8 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 He sold the manuscripts of the Greek classics, which he 
 had written out with loving care, for a trifling pension, in 
 order that he might be able to teach without a fee, and 
 subjected himself for some years to the severest discipline 
 by night and day. This was the time of his bondage to 
 the letter. He would carry out with severest fidelity 
 the precept of the Saviour, ' provide neither gold nor 
 silver . . . neither two coats, neither shoes.' He went, as 
 is well known, even farther than this, and did what was 
 condemned at once by the wholesome severity of the 
 Roman law, and the conscience, if not the actual ordin- 
 ance of the Church. This error too he learned to 
 renounce, but not wholly nor frankly, for to the last he 
 looked with a sombre eye on the affections of the flesh. 
 
 Rebellion is the third temptation of undisciplined zeal, 
 and this charge also may be laid to Origen's account. 
 Here unhappily our materials are too scanty for a clear 
 and dispassionate judgment. The bare facts are that in 
 the year 215 Origen, being then at Caesarea, accepted 
 the invitation of Alexander, Bishop of Jerusalem, and 
 Theoctistus, Bishop of Caesarea, to expound the Scrip- 
 tures before the assembly of the Church, though as yet a 
 layman, and that in 228 he was ordained at the same 
 place by the same Bishops. We cannot tell how far 
 these acts were in violation of the existing discipline. 
 Both were lawful in Palestine, both were regarded by 
 Demetrius as unlawful. If the rule was more stringent 
 at Alexandria, it was possibly a recent innovation. We 
 do not know how far the dispute was complicated by 
 the character of the Patriarch, by the teaching and 
 conduct of Origen, or by the peculiar position of the 
 Alexandrine Presbytery. But it is significant that the
 
 iv.j His Life. 119 
 
 extreme penalty of degradation was carried only by the 
 voices of the newly created suffragan bishops, against 
 the inclination of the priests. These latter could not but 
 sympathise with a victim of the same usurpation that 
 lay so heavy on themselves. 
 
 For our present purpose the importance of the incident 
 is that it marks the final renunciation by Origen of that 
 narrow legal spirit, which leads by many paths to the 
 one goal of servitude. He was learning in strange and 
 unexpected ways the true meaning of the Christian 
 sacrifice. He had been willing and eager to 'give his 
 body to be burned,' he had ' given all his goods to feed 
 the poor,' and his reward had been not the martyr 
 crown but the martyr spirit, 'love which beareth all 
 things.' Now, when he had found his true career in 
 indefatigable labour for the Word of God, and sought to 
 sanctify his toil and enlarge his influence by the name 
 and authority of a priest, what he sought was given to 
 him, but at the cost of banishment and obloquy. Such 
 discipline was needed before this high impatient spirit 
 could obey with docility the bridle of God. 
 
 Many years before this it had become manifest in 
 what direction Providence was leading him. As a child 
 he had received by his father's care not only a minute 
 knowledge of Scripture, a great part of which he learned 
 by heart, but a thorough training in what was called the 
 encyclic discipline the grammar, rhetoric and science 
 which formed the ordinary education of a youth of good 
 family. Hebrew, a rare accomplishment, and philo- 
 sophy J , he acquired while so absorbed in school work 
 
 1 Origen does not name the professor whose lectures he attended. The 
 belief that it was Ammonius Saccas rests upon the statement of Porphyry.
 
 1 20 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 that he could find time for study only by curtailing the 
 hours of sleep. His literary activity began in 223, when 
 he would be thirty-eight years old, and continued inces- 
 santly to the end of his life. Like many other men of 
 studious habits he found the labour of composition 
 irksome, but Ambrosius, a wealthy and intelligent man 
 whom Origen had reclaimed from Gnosticism, continually 
 spurred him on, and overcame the physical difficulty by 
 providing him with a number of shorthand writers and 
 copyists. From this time his labours were unremitting. 
 ' The work of correction,' he says in one of his letters, 
 ' leaves us no time for supper, or after supper for exercise 
 and repose. Even at these times we are compelled to 
 debate questions of interpretation and to emend MSS. 
 Even the night cannot be given up altogether to the 
 needful refreshment of sleep, for our discussions extend 
 far into the evening. I say nothing about our morning 
 labour continued from dawn to the ninth or tenth hour. 
 For all earnest students devote this time to study of the 
 Scriptures and reading V 
 
 Such was his life during the progress of the Hexapla, 
 and indeed at all times. The volume of writing thus 
 produced was enormous. But it is evident that no man 
 can accomplish the best work of which he is capable 
 under these conditions, harassed by the demands of 
 
 Porphyry, who was an excellent man, no doubt spoke in good faith, 
 but he has confused the heathen Origen whom he once knew with the 
 Christian Origen whom he can never have known, and therefore no weight 
 at all can be attached to what he says. The teacher may well have been 
 Ammonius, but it is by no means certain. For even if that distinguished 
 man was already in the chair, it appears from the opening of the Eunuchus 
 ascribed to Lucian, that at a great school there were two professors of each of 
 the four sects of philosophy. Their stipend was 10,000 drachmas per annum. 
 See notes in Heinichen on Eusebius, H. E. vi. 19. 
 
 1 From the Epistle to a Friend about Ambrosius, in Lomm. xvii. p. 5.
 
 IT.] His Life. 121 
 
 pupils, toiling with feverish anxiety to master the ever- 
 growing mountain of minute facts, and in hardly won 
 intervals pouring out the eager flow of extemporaneous 
 thought to nimble-fingered stenographers 1 . The marvel 
 is' not that Origen composed so much, but that he 
 composed so well. 
 
 And to these professional labours must be added a 
 far-reaching personal influence, with all its responsibilities 
 and engagements. Origen was essentially a man of the 
 student type, but he wielded that powerful charm which 
 attaches to high intellectual gifts when combined with 
 an ardent and sympathetic nature. His pupil Gregory 
 Thaumaturgus speaks of his 'sweet grace and persua- 
 sion mingled with a certain constraining force 2 ,' and uses 
 towards him that strong Greek word by which Plato 
 describes the love of the soul for its ideal. Such a 
 charm is a practical power, and works with more 
 freedom and pungency in a private station of life. It 
 
 1 Ambrosius, whom Origen calls his fpyotitwKTijs, taskmaster, provided 
 him with seven stenographers, and the same number of calligraphists. We 
 may compare them with the staff of a modern lexicographer. But Origen 
 used them for his commentaries and other composition. Thus In Joan. vi. i 
 (Lorn. i. p. 176) he complains that his work has been at a standstill 
 because the ffwfjOca ra\vypa<poi were not with him. After the year 246 
 his extemporaneous Homilies were taken down by shorthand writers. 
 
 2 From the Panegyric of Gregory Thaumaturgus, 6 (in Lom. xxv). The 
 student of Origen should certainly begin with this graphic and loving though 
 too rhetorical sketch of the great master. Gregory was on his way to the 
 Roman law school at Berytus, where he was to study for the bar. But by a 
 series of accidents, which he regarded afterwards as divinely ordered, he fell 
 in with Origen at Caesarea, and could not tear himself away. ' It was as if 
 a spark fell into my soul and caught fire and blazed up, such was my love for 
 the Holy Word and for this man its friend and advocate. Stung by this 
 desire I forgot all that seemed to touch me most nearly, my studies, even my 
 beloved jurisprudence, my country, my relatives, my present mission, the 
 object of my travels.' Gregory stayed with Origen for five years, became a 
 bishop, and was famed for his miracles.
 
 1 2 2 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 constituted Origen the unofficial representative, arbiter, 
 peacemaker of the Eastern Church. A provincial 
 governor consults him on affairs of the soul, the 
 Christian or half- Christian Emperor Philip corresponds 
 with him, the Empress Mother Mammaea summons him 
 to Antioch and provides him with a guard of honour l . 
 The Churches of Achaea and Arabia make him their 
 umpire, and peace follows his award. In the furnace of 
 affliction he has grown to be one of those magnetic 
 natures that test the capacity for love and veneration 
 in every one that comes within their sphere. 
 
 Origen had long learned to acquiesce in the prevalent 
 view of the Easterns that martyrdom involves a high 
 responsibility, that the Christian has no right either to 
 fling away his life or to fix the guilt of blood upon ' the 
 powers ordained of God.' The Church would gladly 
 have restricted this Olympian contest to her chosen 
 athletes. Hence he quitted Alexandria during the Fury 
 of Caracalla, which though not specially directed against 
 Christians, no doubt involved them. Once again he fled 
 from the persecution of Maximin to Caesarea of Cappa- 
 docia, where in the house of Juliana he whiled away the 
 stormy days in labour upon the Hexapla. What thoughts 
 solaced him during this dry and gigantic task we know 
 from the treatise on Martyrdom, composed at this time 
 for the benefit of his friend Ambrosius, who had been 
 thrown into prison, ' a golden book ' it has been called 
 
 1 The date of the interview with Mammaea is doubtful. Baronius, Tille- 
 mont and De la Rue (see Huet) place it in 218. Redepenning, i. 372, in 223 ; 
 this is Huet's own opinion. Aube, pp. 306 sqq. throws it forward to 232, 
 on the ground that it was after the ordination of Origen, but I am not aware 
 what reason he has for this statement. On the vexed question of the relation 
 of Philip to Christianity see Huet and Aube, pp. 470 sqq.
 
 IV.] Text of the New Testament. 123 
 
 with truth, for it touches not a single false note. At 
 last his own summons came. He was incarcerated in 
 the persecution of Decius, and treated with a severity 
 which shattered his frame already enfeebled by labour 
 and old age. 
 
 He was buried in Tyre, where for centuries his tomb, 
 in the wall behind the high altar, formed the chief orna- 
 ment of the magnificent cathedral of the Holy Sepulchre. 
 Tyre was wasted by the Saracens, but even to this day, 
 it is said, the poor fishermen, whose hovels occupy the 
 site of that city of palaces, point to a shattered vault 
 beneath which lie the bones of ' Oriunus V 
 
 We may consider his voluminous and many-sided 
 works under three heads Textual Criticism, Exegesis, 
 and Religious Philosophy. The first of these does not 
 properly fall within the scope of our enquiry, but a brief 
 notice may be permitted for the sake of the side-light 
 which it throws upon the character of our author. 
 
 He devoted much time and labour to the text of the 
 New Testament, which was already disfigured by corrup- 
 tions, 'some arising from the carelessness of scribes, 
 some from the evil licence of emendation, some from 
 arbitrary omissions or interpolations 2 .' Already the 
 records were perverted in numberless passages, not only 
 by Gnostic audacity, but by those minor variations 
 which constitute what are known as the Western and 
 Alexandrine families. Between errors of the latter class 
 and the genuine reading he had no means of deciding 
 except the perilous canon of intrinsic probability, which 
 
 1 I owe this fact to Dr. Westcott's article, Origen and the beginnings of 
 Christian Philosophy, in the Contemporary Review for May, 1879. 
 
 2 In Matth. xv. 14 (Lorn. iii. 357).
 
 124 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 he applies with much acuteness, but at the same time 
 with severe caution 1 . All that he could hope was to 
 purify his own MS. or MSS. 2 (for he used more than 
 one, and those of different families) from mani.est faults 
 of transcription and from recent and obvious deprava- 
 tions. This he effected with care and ability. The 
 Exemplaria Adamantii acquired the authority of a 
 standard, and derived additional importance from the 
 fact that a copy was presented by Eusebius to the 
 Emperor Constantine. But Origen's fame as a critic 
 rests chiefly upon the Hexapla. In controversy with 
 the Jews the Christian disputant was constantly baffled 
 by the retort, that the passages on which he relied were 
 not found, or were otherwise expressed, in the Hebrew. 
 Several new translations or recensions of the whole or 
 part of the LXX had been produced, in which the 
 discrepancies of the Alexandrine Version from the 
 original were brought into strong relief. Origen saw 
 clearly the whole of the difficulties involved, and with 
 
 1 See the Diss. critica de Cod. IV Evang. Origenis in Griesbach, Opus- 
 cula Academica, vol. i. Origen sometimes makes conjectures in his 
 Commentaries, but never admitted them into his text. Thus he thought 
 the words ' thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself spurious in Matt. xix. 
 19 (see In Matth. xv. 14), but he does not venture to expunge them. He sup- 
 ports the reading TepyeaTjvcjv in Matt. viii. 28 and the parallel passages, but it 
 is doubtful whether he actually inserted it in his MS. ; see In Joan. vi. 24 ; 
 Redepenning, ii. 184 note ; and Tischendorf. Bethabara he found in some 
 copies. In Rom. v. 14 the majority of his MSS. omitted the AMJ, In Rom. 
 v. I (Lorn. vi. 344). There were bolder critics in his time. Some wished 
 to set aside the story of Dives and Lazarus, In Joan, xxxii. 13 (Lorn. ii. 
 447) ; the words ' to-day thou shalt be with me in Paradise,' In Joan. 
 xxxii. 19 (Lorn. ii. 481) ; and the advice given to slaves, I Cor. vii. 21, In 
 Rom. i. i (Lorn. vi. 12). 
 
 2 Redepenning, ii. 182 sqq. ; Griesbach, p. 240. The latter scholar 
 pointed out that the text of Mark used by Origen for In Matth. was Western, 
 while that quoted in the In Joan, is Alexandrine. See Gregory, Pro- 
 legomena to Tischendorf, p. 189 ; Westcott and Hort, p. 113.
 
 IV.] The Hexapla. 125 
 
 characteristic grandeur and fearlessness determined 
 upon producing an edition of the Old Testament that 
 should exhibit in parallel columns the Hebrew text and 
 the rival versions, thus bringing before the eye of the 
 enquirer in one view the whole of the evidence attain- 
 able 1 . At the same time he corrected and supple- 
 mented the LXX from the other versions, chiefly those 
 of Theodotion and Aquila. This gigantic and costly 
 scheme was rendered feasible by the munificence, and 
 facilitated by the active cooperation, of Ambrosius. 
 
 The Hexapla, the first great achievement of Christian 
 erudition, is impressive in many ways, not least as a 
 proof of the intelligence and sincerity of the community 
 to which it was addressed. But with all his devotion 
 and learning Origen was not a consummate master in 
 the higher functions of criticism. His equipment was 
 insufficient. His knowledge of Hebrew was respectable, 
 and for his age remarkable, but not profound. He had 
 a fair acquaintance with the grammar and dictionary, 
 but had not penetrated into the genius of the language 2 . 
 
 1 Field, in his magnificent work, Origenis Hexapla, xlviii. does not think 
 that Origen had a distinctly controversial purpose in view. But see Rede- 
 penning, i. 234. 375; ii. 170. The locus classicus is In Matth. xv. 14. 
 Partly owing to the plan followed by Origen, partly to the haste and 
 inaccuracy of transcribers, the Hexapla caused very serious changes in the 
 text of the LXX. Jerome, Praefatio in Librum Paral., Migne, vol. xxviii. 
 p. 1323; Schiirer, p. 701. 
 
 2 Redepenning, i. 367 ; ii. 166. 198 ; Ernesti, Opuscula Philologica et 
 Critica. There is however some reason for lowering this estimate. In 
 JVum.,Hora. xiv. i, Aiunt ergo qui hebraicas literas legunt, in hoc loco Deus 
 non sub signo tetragrammati esse positum, de quo qui potest requirat 
 (Redepenning thinks these words may have been inserted by the translator) ; 
 Contra Celsum, i. 34, i) n\v At'f is 77 'AaX/wi, fjv ol niv l/SSo/^/covTa peTti\'fiipaai 
 vp&s TJJJ/ irapOfvov, aAAoi SJ (Is TT)I/ vtaviv, Kfirai, us (jxj.ai, Kal tv TOI Aevrf- 
 povofiicu tirl irapdfvov. Origen does not speak of his own knowledge on this 
 important and much debated point, and the authorities on whom he relied 
 misled him, for the word almah is not found in the passage to which
 
 126 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 Again he was hampered by prejudice. He regarded the 
 LXX as an independent and inspired authority, and, like 
 Justin, accounted for its variation from the Hebrew by 
 supposing that the latter had been deliberately falsified 
 by the Jews 1 . In this way he explained the absence 
 from the Canon of the Apocryphal Books. On one 
 occasion he had employed in a public debate doctrinal 
 proofs taken from the History of Susanna. This drew 
 upon him an epistle from Julius Africanus, in which it 
 was shown with great force and ingenuity that this addi- 
 tion to the Book of Daniel could not have been com- 
 posed in Hebrew 2 . Origen with much learning and 
 some little warmth refused to be convinced, but the 
 honour of arms remained with Africanus, whose letter 
 indeed is a signal refutation of the epithets ' credulous ' 
 and ' uncritical ' so often applied to the age in which, and 
 the men by whom, the Canon of the New Testament was 
 settled. 
 
 Of the stately Hexapla time has spared us nothing 
 but a gleaning of scattered fragments. The original MS. 
 perished probably when the library of Caesarea was 
 destroyed by the Arabs in the middle of the seventh 
 century, and its immense size it consisted of not less 
 than fifty great rolls of parchment must have prevented 
 its ever being copied as a whole, though the revised LXX 
 
 he refers, Deut. xxii. 23-26. It is evident from the Ep. ad Afric. that 
 Origen could not walk alone in Hebrew. Hence Boherellus inferred ' Ori- 
 genem hebraice plane nescivisse.' See Rosenmiiller, iii. 63. 23. 153. 
 
 1 Justin, Trypho, 71 ; Otto, p. 256. 
 
 2 The chief point urged by Africanus is the play of words (TXIVOS ff\iffis, 
 wptvos irpiois. Origen struggles against this cogent argument in the Ep. ad 
 Afric. But in a Fragment from Strom, x. (Lorn. xvii. p. 74) he admits 
 that if the paronomasia does not exist in Hebrew the objection is fatal. 
 The z/"is not critical but theological. See Schiirer, p. 717.
 
 IV.] The Scholia. 127 
 
 was circulated separately, and indeed still exists in a 
 Syriac translation T . But of the exegetic work of Origen 
 a very considerable mass is still extant, partly in the 
 authentic Greek, partly in Latin translations. The 
 surviving remains cover a large part both of the Old 
 and of the New Testaments, and afford ample material 
 for judging the method and substance of his teaching. 
 Yet they are but a portion of what he accomplished. 
 In the form of Scholia, Homilies or Commentaries he 
 expounded nearly every book in the Bible, and many 
 books were treated in all three ways. 
 
 The Scholia 2 were brief annotations, such as are com- 
 monly found on the margin of ancient MSS. The 
 Homilies and Commentaries require a fuller notice. 
 
 Already the old prophesyings and speaking with 
 tongues, except among the Montanist sectaries, have 
 disappeared before the growing reverence for Scripture 
 and the increasing stringency of discipline. Their place 
 
 1 The Syro-Hexaplar text is probably nearly all -in existence, though till 
 all the Fragments have been published it cannot be known what deficiencies 
 may exist. See the articles Versions in Diet, of Bible by Tregelles and 
 Syrische Bibeliibersetzungen by Nestle in Herzog ; Field ; Ceriani, Codex 
 Syro-hexaplaris Ambrosianus, Milan, 1874; Lagarde, V. T. ab Origene 
 recensiti frag, apud Syros servata quinque, Gottingen, 1880; Dr. T. Skat 
 Roerdam, Librijudicum et Ruth, Hauniae, 1861 ; the last-named authority 
 gives full and elaborate prolegomena. 
 
 2 Jerome, Preface to his translation of the Homilies on Ezekiel, ' Scias 
 Origenis opuscula in omnem Scripturam esse triplicia. Primum eius 
 Excerpta, quae Graece axo\ia nuncupantur, in quibus ea quae sibi videbantur 
 obscura atque habere aliquid difficultatis summatim breviterque perstrinxit.' 
 In the Preface to his Comm. on Matthew, Jerome calls them ' commaticum 
 interpretandi genus.' The word arjudcaais, which also occurs, appears to be 
 used in the general sense of ' notes,' which were sometimes perhaps <rxoAo, 
 sometimes extracts from the Commentaries or Homilies, Origeniana, iii. 1. 4, 
 but see Redepenning, ii. 376 ; Emesti, Opuscula Philologica. Such are the 
 fragmentary extracts, chiefly from Catenas and of somewhat doubtful 
 authenticity, published as Selecta. See the monita in De la Rue. Gallandi, 
 vol. xiv.,^f//., has collected many fragments that are not given in Lommatzsch.
 
 128 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 was supplied by the Homily 1 or Discourse, a name 
 derived from the philosophic schools, expressive of the 
 character of Christian eloquence, which was didactic and 
 not rhetorical. In the days of Origen, and in Palestine, 
 (for his priestly activity belongs wholly to the time after 
 his exile from Egypt) public worship was held no longer 
 in the large room of some wealthy brother's house, but in 
 buildings definitely appropriated for the purpose, in which 
 the Bishop and his clergy were seated in a semicircle 
 round the decorated Altar 2 . The service was divided 
 into two portions, corresponding to what were afterwards 
 known as the Mass of the Catechumens and the Mass of 
 the Faithful. To the first, which was held daily, belonged 
 the reading of Scripture, the Sermon, and apparently 
 certain prayers 3 ; to the second, celebrated on Sundays 
 and festivals, the prayers properly so called and the 
 Eucharist. At the first catechumens, even heathen, were 
 allowed to be present ; from the second all, save the 
 baptised, were rigidly excluded. 
 
 The Lessons were often of considerable length, com- 
 prising as much as three or four of our modern chapters, 
 and went on in regular order, and the preacher ex- 
 pounded the whole or a portion of each according to 
 the direction of the presiding bishop 4 . It is probable 
 
 1 Redepenning, ii. 2 1 2 sqq. The terms KTipv-ypa and StaXt^swere also in use. 
 
 2 In Jesu Nave, Horn. x. 3 (Lorn. xi. 104) ; Injudices, Horn. iii. 2 (Lorn. 
 xi. 237) ; Probst, Kirchliche Disciplin, p. 212. 
 
 3 Many of the Homilies end with the admonition to stand up and pray, e.g. 
 In Luc. xxxix. Catechumens were addressed In Luc., Horn. vii. Heathen 
 were sometimes present, Injerem., Horn. ix. 4 (Lorn. xv. 210). 
 
 * The Lesson read before the Sermon on the Witch of Endor included 
 I Sam. xxv. xxvi. xxvii. xxviii. Origen, standing in the pulpit, asks which 
 of the four irtpiKoirai he is to take for his subject, o TL irore Povkerai o 
 tmoKonos irpoTtivcna) TUJV Tfaaapuv, iva. irtpi TOVTO aaxo^-rjOSafitv, and the 
 Bishop replies, ' the Witch of Endor.' There was as yet only one lesson, 
 taken sometimes from the Old, sometimes from the New Testament. At
 
 IV.] The Homilies. 129 
 
 that the friendly prelate of Caesarea suffered Origen to 
 follow his own plan ; hence his Homilies form a continuous 
 exposition of the several books. They were delivered 
 before a mixed, shifting, and not always orderly congre- 
 gation. The services were daily and long. Some of the 
 brethren would attend only on feast-days, and not always 
 then. Some left the church before the sermon began, or 
 if they remained, gathered in knots in the farther end of 
 the building, the place of the heathen and unbaptised, 
 ' turning their backs on the Word of God and busying 
 themselves with secular gossip.' There were broad 
 differences again in knowledge and morality. Some 
 thought it not inconsistent with their Christian profes- 
 sion to haunt the circus or the amphitheatre ; some fluc- 
 tuated between Gnosticism and the Church ; some were 
 still tainted with heathen superstitions ; some, sincere 
 but ignorant, interpreted the promises of the Gospel in 
 the most gross and carnal sense, or ' believed of God what 
 would not be believed of the crudest of mankind.' Hence 
 the duty of Reserve, which Origen everywhere professes, 
 weighs upon him with especial urgency in the Homilies 1 . 
 The Homilies are rather what we should call Lectures 
 than Sermons. His object in the pulpit, Origen tells us, 
 is not the explanation of the letter so much as the 
 
 a somewhat later period there were four, divided into two pairs, the first 
 pair from the Old, the second from the New Test., and between the two 
 readings a psalm was sung, Const. A pp. ii. 57, but no trace of this usage is 
 found in Origen, Redepenning, ii. 221 sqq. ; Probst, Liturgie, 152. Many 
 of Origen's Homilies must have taken an hour and a half in the delivery. 
 
 1 The behaviour of the women was especially troublesome, ' quae tantum 
 garriunt, quae lantum fabulis obstrepunt, ut non sinant esse silentium. lam 
 quid de mente earum, quid de corde discutiam, si de infantibus suis aut de lana 
 cogitent aut de necessariis domus,' In Exod. Horn. xiii. 3 : cp. In Num. 
 Horn. v. i ; In Lev. Horn. ix. 5. 7. 9 ; In Gen. Horn. x. i ; Philocalia, i. 
 8 ad fin. ; Redepenning, ii. 229. 
 
 K
 
 1 30 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 edification of the Church ; hence he dwells here almost 
 entirely upon the moral and spiritual sense l . There is 
 abundance of allegory but little exhortation, still less 
 unction or pathos. Origen does not wind himself into 
 the heart. He has not the blithe geniality of Clement, 
 whose cloistered life seems never to have felt a storm. 
 In Origen there is a subdued fire that reveals the tale of 
 mental suffering and exhausting toil. Hence that austere 
 solemnity, that absolute sincerity, that breadth and 
 dignity of mind, which still grasp and detain the reader 
 with the same spell that was cast upon Gregory. 
 Origen is emphatically { a man of God,' strong and 
 subtle yet infinitely humble and gentle, a true Ductor 
 Dubitantium, because he knew there was much that he 
 did not know and yet was not afraid. His style is 
 almost everywhere loose and prolix, owing to his habit 
 of extemporaneous speech or dictation. This applies 
 to the Commentaries as well as to the Homilies. 
 Where he used the pen it is terser and more collected. 
 But it is always simple and direct, flowing straight from 
 the heart, devoid of every ornament, and owing its force 
 entirely to that glowing fusion of thought and feeling 
 by which it is informed. 
 
 1 In Lev. Horn. i. I ; In Num. Horn. xiv. I . The reader may acquire a 
 just idea of Origen as a preacher by perusing In Gen. viii ; In Lev. vii ; In 
 Luc. xiv. The Homilies on Judges we know to have been written, though 
 extempore passages were added in the delivery, see Horn. i. 3 : ' Sed et illud 
 quod dicentibus nobis occurrit,' &c. Beyond this passage I am not aware 
 of the existence of any positive evidence as to which of his works were 
 written with his own hand, though some, e.g. the In Joan., we know were 
 not. But I cannot think that the De Principiis, the De Oratione, or the De 
 Martyrio belonged to the latter class. Eustathius complains of Origen's 
 aperpos <p Xvapia ; Theophilus called him 'Seminariumloquacitatis;' Erasmus 
 on the other hand praises his brevity, Huet, Orig. iii. i. i ; Redepenning, ii. 
 352. Some interesting remarks will be found in Rothe, Geschichte der 
 Predigt, Bremen, 1881.
 
 IV.] The Commentaries. 131 
 
 The plan which he laid down for himself in the Com- 
 mentaries l was to give first the literal, then the moral, 
 then the spiritual sense of each verse in regular succes- 
 sion. The text is but the threshing-floor on which he 
 pours out all the harvest of his knowledge, his medita- 
 tions, his hopes. Any word may open up a train of 
 thought extending throughout all Scripture and all time. 
 Hence there is much repetition and confusion. Even 
 here the object is not so much instruction as the deep- 
 ening of the Christian life. We lose in perspicuity, but 
 we never miss the inspiriting sense of immediate contact 
 with a great character. 
 
 To us, though not to himself nor to the men of his 
 time, Origen's merit as an expositor rests mainly upon 
 the skill and patience with which he evolved the real and 
 natural sense of the Bible 2 . He himself saw clearly that 
 
 1 I may recommend to the reader the allegory on the Treasury In Joan. 
 xix. 2 ; the passage on the Death of Christ, ibid, xxviii. 14 ; on Faith, ibid. 
 xxxii. 9 ; the allegory on the Mercy Seat, In Rom. iii. 8, and the Exposition 
 of the Parables in St. Matthew. The latter Commentary is generally superior 
 to that on St. John. But those who wish to see Origen at his best will seek 
 him where he is least allegorical, in the Contra Celsum, or the treatises on 
 Prayer and on Martyrdom. 
 
 a Perhaps the best instance of Origen's merits and defects in dealing with 
 the literal sense is to be found in his comments on the opening words of 
 St. John's Gospel In Joan. i. 16 onwards. In the New Testament he is 
 always excellent, but we must compare him with the ancient commentators 
 on Homer, not, as Rosenmiiller practically does, with the best modern 
 divines. I have adhered to Origen's own distinction of the literal from the 
 mystic sense. But it must be remembered that many of the most important 
 passages in the N. T. are figurative, and that it is precisely in the explanation 
 of these that the merit of Origen is to be found. Perhaps his supreme excel- 
 lence lies in his clearness and courage in pointing out difficulties, the moral 
 anomalies which beset the Gnostic and the ignorant Christian, the apparent 
 non-fulfilment of the Messianic hope which rebuffed the Jew (see for all 
 this the opening of the Philocalia} ; the contradictions of the Evangel- 
 ists, In Joan. x. 3 sqq. ; the chronological difficulty involved in the 'four 
 months before harvest,' In Joan. xiii. 39 ; the historical difficulty in the title 
 Paffi\ii(6s, In foan. xiii. 57. If he often creates perplexities out of insigni- 
 
 K 2
 
 132 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 this is the foundation of everything. If we measure 
 him by the best modern commentators, we may be 
 struck by his deficiencies. But in relation to his own 
 age his services are extraordinary. He need not fear 
 comparison with the great pagan grammarians. He 
 took great pains as we have seen to ascertain the text ; 
 he insists on the necessity of fixing the precise meaning 
 of the words, and for this purpose will hunt a phrase 
 through the whole Bible with a fertility of quotation 
 truly prodigious, when we remember that it rests upon 
 unaided memory. He never slurs a difficulty, raising 
 and discussing every doubt that can by any possibility 
 suggest itself. Hebrew he knew but imperfectly, and 
 this is a fatal defect in dealing with the LXX. But in 
 the New Testament he displays an accurate and intelli- 
 gent appreciation of Greek grammar. Where he fails it is 
 from preconceived ideas, from the hairsplitting and over- 
 subtlety which are the Nemesis of Allegorism, or from 
 deficiency of that sense of humour which corrects the 
 extravagances of Clement. He cannot understand irony, 
 and the simpler a thing is the more difficult he makes 
 it l . Such scientific knowledge as the times could supply 
 is at his call 2 , and he had travelled in Palestine with a 
 
 ficant verbal distinctions, this is still a fault on the right side. For details 
 see Redepenning, ii. 200 sqq. ; Rosenmiiller. Ernesti, Opuscula Philologica et 
 Critica, rates him very high as the founder of textual criticism and scientific 
 inductive exegesis. 
 
 1 A good instance of this is this treatment of the gift of Caleb to his 
 daughter Achsa (Joshua xv. 19"), 'Et accepit Gonetlam superiorem et 
 Gonetlam inferiorem . . . Videtis quia vere auxilio Dei opus est ut haec 
 explanari queant,' Injesu Nave, Horn. xx. 4. 
 
 2 It did not amount to much. See the ac'count of the different kinds of 
 pearls In Matt. x. 7. Origen thought that the popular beliefs that serpents 
 spring from the spinal marrow of dead men, bees from oxen, wasps from 
 horses, beetles from asses, that serpents have a knowledge of antidotes, that 
 the eagle uses the dmrijs \iOos as an amulet for the protection of its young
 
 IV.] The Commentaries. 133 
 
 keen eye for the geography of the Gospels. Philosophy 
 too was at his command, though he does not rate it so 
 high as Clement 1 . ' Few,' he says, 'are those who have 
 taken the spoils of the Egyptians and made of them the 
 furniture of the tabernacle.' Learning is useful, he tells 
 his pupil Gregory, but the Scriptures are their own best 
 key. ' Be diligent in reading the divine Scriptures, yes, 
 be diligent . . . Knock and the doorkeeper will open unto 
 ~thee . . . And be not content to knock and to enquire, 
 for the most necessary aid to spiritual truth is prayer. 
 Hence our Saviour said not only " knock and it shall be 
 opened," and "seek and ye shall find," but "ask and it 
 shall be given you V : 
 
 were possibly true, Contra Celsum, iv. 57. 86. But he is no worse than 
 Celsus himself or Pliny. Similar absurdities are to be found in Clement. 
 For Origen's other accomplishments, see Origeniana, ii. I ; Redepenning, 
 i. 219. M. Denis, p. 14, rates them very low. Indeed absorbed as Origen 
 was in the drudgery of tuition from his eighteenth year, it is impossible 
 that he can have gone profoundly into any line of knowledge not immedi- 
 ately connected with his special studies. 
 
 1 For the use that he made of philosophy, see the Panegyric of Gregory, 
 and the account of his method of teaching in Lecture II. M. Denis, Philo- 
 sophic fOriglne, p. 30, says : ' II ne conservait de 1'esprit philosophique qne 
 1'insatiable curiosite,' and complains, in the chapter on Anthropologie, of his 
 neglect of ethics, psychology and politics. The duties of citizens would not 
 have been a safe theme for a Christian writer under the heathen Empire. 
 Psychology again is for another reason an exceedingly difficult subject for a 
 Christian, because he cannot isolate it, because he has to regard above all 
 things the point of junction with metaphysics, and with the metaphysics of 
 Revelation. Clement and Origen were the first to attempt the problem from 
 this point of view. The same difficulty attaches to the theory of Ethics. 
 The practice of Ethics is undervalued both by Clement and Origen, though 
 not so markedly by the latter. Hence it is a just criticism, ' Qu'il y a bien 
 plus a apprendre sur 1'observation interieure non settlement dans Saint 
 Augustin ou dans Saint Jerome, mais encore dans Tertullien.' The remarks 
 of M. Denis are brilliant and in the main accurate, but the plan of his work 
 compels him to approach Origen obliquely, and view him in a false light. 
 Origen is before all things a theologian, but a philosophical theologian. The 
 reader may consult with advantage Harnack, Dogmengeschichte , pp. 514 sqq. 
 
 3 From the Epistola ad Gregonum. The difference between the attitude of
 
 1 34 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 But it is when the sense is ascertained, or as he calls it 
 'cleansed/ that the supreme task of the Commentator 
 first comes into view. By all the means that science 
 can bring to our aid we can do no more than attain to 
 the ' letter that killeth,' that bald first sense of Scripture 
 which fluctuates between Atheism and Superstition. 
 We must believe only what is worthy of God. Where 
 then are we to find the true divine message ? Origen 
 like Clement held firmly to the unity and inspiration of 
 all Scripture, and therefore like Clement he was driven 
 to find the answer to this question in Allegorism. 
 There is however considerable difference in detail 
 between the two teachers. 
 
 Clement is content to accept Allegorism as a fact, as 
 a part of Tradition. It was sanctioned by the practice of 
 Philo and Barnabas, and appeared to derive authority 
 from certain passages of Scripture. This is not enough 
 for Origen, whose reason works always with a broad 
 poetic sweep, and never rests till it has brought the 
 particular affirmation under the scope of some all- 
 embracing law. To him Allegorism is only one mani- 
 festation of the sacramental mystery of Nature. There 
 are two heavens, two earths the visible is but a blurred 
 copy of the invisible. The divine wisdom and goodness, 
 which are the cause of both, are in this world of ours 
 distorted by refraction arising from the density of the 
 medium. Yet they may be discerned by those that 
 have eyes to see. Allegorism, Teleology, the argument 
 from Analogy are all different aspects of one great 
 truth. God made man in His own image and likeness, 
 
 Clement and Origen towards philosophy is well described by M. Denis, 
 Introduction.
 
 IV.] Allegorism. 135 
 
 and so perhaps He made other creatures in the image 
 and likeness of other heavenly things. Hence the grain 
 of mustard, which, though it is the least of all seeds, 
 when grown is the greatest among herbs, and becometh 
 a tree, may be a parable of the kingdom of heaven . . . 
 What is true of seeds is true also of trees, of animals. 
 Again in the grain of mustard lurks more than one 
 analogy to eternal verities, for it is a symbol also of 
 faith. ' If a man have faith as a grain of mustard seed 
 he may say unto this mountain, Be thou removed!' There 
 are then in this one seed many virtues serving as symbols 
 of heavenly things, and of these virtues the last and 
 lowest is that whereby it ministers to our bodily needs. 
 So with all else that God made it is good for the use 
 of man, but it bears also the imprint of celestial things, 
 whereby the soul may be taught, and elevated to the 
 contemplation of the invisible and eternal. Nor is it 
 possible for man, while he lives in the flesh, to know any- 
 thing that transcends his sensible experience, except by 
 seizing and deciphering this imprint. For God has so 
 ordered His creation, has so linked the lower to the 
 higher by subtle signatures and affinities, that the world 
 we see is, as it were, a great staircase, by which the mind 
 of man must climb upwards to spiritual intelligence 1 . 
 
 From this Law of Correspondence springs incidentally 
 the profound observation that suggested the Analogy. 
 ' He, who believes the Scripture to have proceeded from 
 Him who is the Author of Nature, may well expect to 
 find the same sort of difficulties in it as are found in the 
 
 1 The passage quoted is from In Cant, Canticorum, iii. (Lorn. xv. 48). 
 Consult also In Lev. Horn. v. i (Greek text in Philoc. chap. i. ad fin.') and 
 De Princ. iv.
 
 136 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 constitution of Nature.' But the antagonists whom 
 Origen had in view were not so much the Platonic 
 Deists as the Jew and especially the Gnostic. Hence 
 .the turn which he gives to the argument is in the main 
 different from that of Bishop Butler. 
 
 Scripture has in general three senses the literal, the 
 moral, and the spiritual 1 . Not that every passage is 
 susceptible of all three modes of interpretation. Many 
 texts have no literal sense at all. Some, like the Deca- 
 logue, have a moral signification, of such a kind that it is 
 needless to seek farther. The distinction between the 
 two higher senses is not always very clearly drawn, as 
 there are regions where the one shades off into the other 
 by very fine gradations. But there is an abundance of 
 passages where they are so sharply defined as to show 
 us exactly what Origen meant. Thus the grain of 
 mustard is first the actual seed, then faith, then the 
 Kingdom of Heaven. So again the 'little foxes ' of the 
 Song of Songs are typical, in the second sense of sins 
 affecting the individual, in the third of heresies distract- 
 ing the Church 2 . The moral embraces all that touclies 
 the single soul in this life, in its relation to the law of 
 right, or to God ; the spiritual includes all ' mysteries,' all 
 
 1 Redepenning, i. 299 sqq. ; Origeniana,\\. 2. 13 (Lorn, xxiii. 254). For 
 the spiritual sense Origen uses more than a score of different terms, Red. 
 p. 305. Some have thought that he made a triple division of the spiritual 
 into allegoric, tropologic, and anagogic, or a double into allegoric and ana- 
 gogic, but without sufficient reason. That there were neither more nor less 
 than three senses was proved by Prov. xxii. 20, xal ov 5e airoypaif/ai avra 
 aeavTcu rpiyaws fls @ov\r)v KOI yvcacnv em TO TrXdros TTJJ KapS!as crov. They 
 answer to body, soul, and spirit, and are alluded to in the waterpots holding 
 ' two or three firkins apiece,' and in the Shepherd of Hermas, a book, ' qui a 
 nonnullis contemni videtur,' where Grapte, Clement, and Hermas represent 
 the three classes of believers. De Princ. iv. n. 
 
 a In Cant. Cantic. iv. (Lorn. xv. p. 83 sqq.)
 
 IV.] Negative Use of Allegorism. 137 
 
 the moments in the history of the community, the 
 Church, in time and still more in eternity. 
 
 To interpret and set forth these mysteries, these moral 
 enigmas, is the task of Allegorism. But we must now 
 notice that this Biblical alchemy is capable of applica- 
 tion to two distinct purposes. One is negative and 
 apologetic, the other is positive and didactic. Origen 
 employed it in both directions with singular freedom 
 and address. But it is his use of the negative side that 
 is the more characteristic. 
 
 He held that innumerable passages in both Testa- 
 ments have no sense at all except as Allegories 1 . 
 Neither Clement nor Philo expressly affirmed this, 
 though the idea certainly lurked within their minds 2 . 
 But Origen was not the man to disguise from himself 
 or from others the exact nature of what he was doing. 
 Many passages of Scripture, he says, are excluded from 
 belief by physical impossibility. Such are those which 
 speak of morning and evening before the creation of the 
 Sun, the story of the Fall, and the carrying up of our 
 Lord into an exceeding high mountain by Satan in the 
 Temptation. Others again imply moral impossibilities. 
 Such are those which speak of the child as punished for 
 the sin of the parent, the law that on the Sabbath no 
 Jew should take up a burden or move from his place, 
 the precepts of the Saviour not to possess two coats, to 
 pluck out the offending eye, to turn the right cheek to 
 him that has smitten the left. Yet another class are 
 rejected by the enlightened conscience. Such are the 
 
 1 De Princ. iv. 15 sqq.v 
 
 * Philo comes very near denying the literal sense in De Ebriet. 36 (i. 379), 
 Sa/^ovTJA S( ytfovf ptv iffois avdpcDiros, iraptiXriirrai 81 oi/x ws aiivdtrov ^uiov 
 a\\' us vow \arpeia ai Otpairtia 0(ov (tuvov x a ' i p cat '-
 
 138 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 adventures of Lot, the cruelties of the Jewish wars, the 
 execrations of the Psalms. All these antinomies of 
 Scripture were forced upon him on one side by the 
 Ebionite and Gnostic, on the other by the Greek 
 philosopher, who was beginning to study the Bible in 
 a spirit of not wholly unfriendly curiosity, and was 
 violently repelled by these proofs, as he thought them, 
 of Jewish barbarism. Origen . felt the embarrassment 
 most acutely, and his fearless logic saw but one way of 
 escape. These passages, he admitted, in their literal 
 sense are not true. Why then, urged the adversary, 
 are they found in what you Christians call the Word of 
 God ? To this he replied that, though in one sense 
 untrue, they are in another the highest, the only valuable 
 truth. They are permitted for an object. These im- 
 possibilities, trivialities, ineptitudes are wires stretched 
 across our path by the Holy Spirit, to warn us that we 
 are not in the right way. We must not leap over them ; 
 we must go beneath, piercing down to the smooth broad 
 road of the spiritual intelligence. They are the rough 
 outer husk, which repels the ignorant and unfit reader, 
 but stimulates the true child of God to increased exer- 
 tion. The letter is the external garb, often sordid and 
 torn, but 'the king's daughter is all glorious within.' It 
 is as if the sunlight streamed in through the crannies of 
 a ruinous wall ; the wall is ruinous in order that the 
 sunlight may stream in l . 
 
 Origen could not rest content with an easy, optimism 
 like that of Clement, who stopped short at the assertion 
 of the unity of Divine Justice and Goodness. For there 
 
 1 The foundations of this section will be found in De Princ. iv. and the 
 Philocalia.
 
 IV.] Positive Use of Allegorism. 139 
 
 was that in Scripture which appeared to him irreconcile- 
 able with both. These passages were in fact the key 
 of the Gnostic position. What the Gnostic asserted was 
 not merely that Justice and Goodness are different 
 things, but that God as He is depicted in the Old Testa- 
 ment is certainly not good, though He may be called 
 just in the sense in which that epithet is applied to 
 earthly rulers, who, though harsh and vindictive, do not 
 punish without a reason. The difficulty is certainly 
 there, and Origen with his far-sighted intrepidity fixes 
 and grapples with it. It is a serious effort to solve a 
 serious and, if left unsolved, fatal objection. 
 
 We may notice also in passing the biographical inter- 
 est of his mature teaching on this point. If we compare 
 what he says in the De Principiis^ where he treats the 
 command about the two coats as purely figurative, 
 with the passionate asceticism of his youth, we shall 
 see how the letter had been to him in very truth at 
 once a stumbling-block and a cranny in the wall. It 
 was by bruising himself in the fiery endeavour to obey, 
 that he learned what obedience really means. 
 
 On its negative side Allegorism then is apologetic, on 
 its positive it is the instrument for the discovery of 
 Mysteries 1 . What these are we have seen already in 
 
 1 The word Mystery is used in two senses. First of the Christian worship 
 or ritual, the modern Sacraments. Of these, though their general nature 
 could not be kept secret, all minute knowledge was reserved for those who 
 had the right to be present at their enactment. In this respect they resem- 
 bled the Mysteries of Samothrace or Eleusis, hence the name. So Ignatius, 
 Ad Eph. 1 2, speaks of Christians as avpnvarai : cp. Ad Trail, ii. 3 : see 
 also Ep. ad Diognetum, i ; Tertullian, Apol. 7. In this sense that of natural 
 reserve, of reluctance to lay bare the whole organism of the Church to un- 
 sympathetic hearers, the Disciplina Arcani is no doubt very ancient, though 
 its growth can be traced. It cannot have been viewed as a rule of con- 
 science by St. Paul who on the ship ' took bread and gave thanks to God
 
 I4-O Origen. [Lect. 
 
 the case of Clement, and shall see more clearly still as 
 we advance. In both respects it must be handled with 
 a certain reserve. The rule of Economy was directed 
 partly against the mocking heathen ; that which is sacred 
 must not be given to dogs. But it had also another 
 and even more serious application as a law of forbear- 
 ance towards the weaker brethren. From these too ' it 
 is good to hide the mystery of the King V Origen does 
 not distinguish between the higher and lower Life quite 
 in the same way as Clement, who regards all Christians 
 as members of the true Church, though ranked in an 
 
 before them all.' Second, of what we may call Theology the doctrine of the 
 Trinity, of Angels, of the Resurrection, the explanation and idealisation of 
 rites, the hidden meaning of the Law. In this sense the word Mystery 
 is found in the New Testament. Ignatius hints at mysteries concerning the 
 unseen world which he is not at liberty to divulge, Ad Smyrn. vi. i ; 7^rall. 
 v. 2. The word might be used of the visions of the Montanists. But in 
 the Alexandrines it means almost always intellectual interpretation, in fact 
 theology. See Probst, Kirchliche Disciplin, 303 sqq. ; Bingham, x. 5, and 
 Mr. Haddan's article Disciplina Arcani in Diet, of Christ. Ant. 
 
 1 Tobit xii. 7 quoted Contra Celswn, v. 19. Many passages were thought 
 to inculcate the duty of Reserve. Clement, Strom, v. 10. 63, cites nvarrjpiov 
 f/jLov tfj.ol teal rots vtoii Tov oiKov (JLov, Theodotion's version of Isaiah xxiv. 16 
 (but he quotes it from a Gospel, probably the Gospel according to the 
 Egyptians ; Hilgenfeld, Novum Test, extra Can. Rec. iii. p. 46. The verse 
 is used in the same way in the Homilies, xix. 20. See note in Field), and 
 Strom, ii. 2. 8, Proverbs v. 16, /iij virepdcxtiaQai ffot vSara e r^y arjs ^777779, 
 where the negative is not found in the Hebrew. In the New Testament it 
 was based mainly upon Matt. vii. 6 ; Mark iv. 34. In Clement and Origen 
 it is almost always spoken of as intended for the protection of the weaker 
 brethren. Thus the main reason why Scripture speaks in allegories is to 
 stimulate enquiry, and one principal difference between the simple believer 
 and the Gnostic is that all allegories are withheld from the former. See 
 especially Paed. ii. 8. 73, where Clement breaks off his explanation of the 
 mysteries involved in the Crown of Thorns with the words, d\\' ftfflTjv yap 
 Tov iraiSaycayiKov rvirov TO SiSaaKaXiKov flSos irapeiffdfcav. Origen professes 
 his inability to say all that might be said on the mysteries of the Trinity and 
 Eternal Punishment in an exoteric treatise, Contra Celsum, vi. 18. c6, yet it 
 is not the doctrines but the allegories involved that he finds it impossible to 
 explain to unbelievers. See also the passages referred to above, p. 129.
 
 IV.] Economy. 141 
 
 ascending scale of faith and knowledge. He takes a 
 much severer view of the insufficiency of nominal 
 Christianity, and on the other hand accentuates the 
 distinction between theology and acquiescence. Hence 
 the difference between the Two Lives has a marked 
 tendency to pass over, on the side of knowledge into 
 that between professional and unprofessional, between 
 cleric and lay, on the side of conduct into that between 
 the Visible and Invisible Church *. 
 
 ' The holy Apostles,' he says, ' in preaching the faith 
 of Christ declared with the utmost clearness whatever 
 they thought necessary to salvation, even to those who 
 are slothful in the investigation of divine science, leaving 
 the reason of their assertions to be sought out by those 
 who should deserve the excellent gifts of the Spirit, and 
 especially the graces of utterance, wisdom and knowledge. 
 But as to other things they affirmed indeed that they 
 are, but why or whence they did not explain 2 .' He 
 
 1 Origen speaks of the three degrees of Christian perfection, distinguished 
 by Faith, Hope, and Charity, In Rom. iv. 6 (Lorn. vi. 271) and elsewhere. 
 The distinction between the Two Lives is laid down In Joan. xx. 26 sqq. as 
 by Clement, the airXovarfpov irtaTevoi/rts who do not understand the word 
 which they obey, the slaves whose motive is Fear, are opposed to the sons, ot 
 SiopariKwrtpoi' Karavoovvres (the Seeing Israel). Even Paul was by nature a 
 child of wrath, so are we all ; we become adopted sons by using the light 
 and power given to us, especially by loving our enemies. Compare In Joan. 
 xx. 15 ; Pro/, in Cant. C antic., where again the stress is laid upon Love. 
 Elsewhere more value is assigned to Knowledge, and so the distinction at 
 times seems to coincide very nearly with that between Clergy and People, 
 Contra Celsum, i. 9 ; Injesu Nave, Horn. xvii. But even among the Clergy 
 there were those who could speak only of the literal and moral senses, and 
 so belonged to the lower class, In Lev. Horn. xiii. i. 3. The difference be- 
 tween the Visible and Invisible Church in the sense of nominal and real 
 Christianity is very forcibly expressed In Matt. xii. 12. See further in Lec- 
 ture VI. 
 
 8 De Princ. i. 3. The following passage is from In Num. Horn. v. i. It 
 will be observed that though the_son of Kohath is a communicant, the rule of
 
 142 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 found a symbol of this distinction of believers in the 
 arrangements for carrying the Tabernacle on the march. 
 Aaron and his sons were to wrap the sanctuary and 
 all the vessels of the sanctuary in the appointed covering 
 of badgers' skins or cloths of blue and scarlet, ' after that 
 the sons of Kohath shall come to bear them, but they 
 shall not touch any holy thing lest they die . . . they 
 shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered 
 lest they die.' So in our ecclesiastical observances there 
 are some things that all must do, but that all cannot 
 understand. Why for instance we should kneel in 
 prayer, or why we should turn our faces to the East, 
 could not I think be made clear to everybody. Who 
 again could easily expound the manner of celebration 
 of the Eucharist, or of its reception, or the words and 
 actions, the questions and replies of Baptism ? And yet 
 all these things we carry veiled and covered upon our 
 shoulders, when we so fulfil them as they have been 
 handed down to us by the Great High Priest and his 
 Sons.' Only the son of Aaron, the man of spiritual 
 intelligence, might gaze upon the holy things naked and 
 unveiled. To the son of Kohath belonged unquestion- 
 ing obedience ; he carried the burden, but was forbidden 
 to demand the reason. Nor might the son of Aaron 
 declare it. To uncover the mystery, to explain that 
 which the bearer was not able to comprehend, was 
 spiritual homicide. 
 
 The nature and scope of the Alexandrine Disciplina 
 
 Reserve, 'nolite mittere sanctum canibus,' applies to him, In Lev. Horn. vi. 6 ; 
 xii. 7. In Num. Horn. iv. 3, ' Aut si res poscit proferre et inferioribus, id est 
 imperitioribus, tradere, ne nuda proferat, ne aperta ostendat et penitus 
 patentia ; alioquin homicidium facit et exterminat plebem.'
 
 IV.] Economy. 143 
 
 Arcani 1 are sufficiently clear from these extracts, which 
 might be indefinitely multiplied. The Reserve or 
 Economy of Clement and Origen was directed mainly 
 against Christians of the simpler sort, and its object was 
 5 to save them from waters too deep for them, to guard 
 them from discussions involving doubts that would cer- 
 tainly perplex, and might altogether mislead, a faith 
 earnest and correct, though supported by slender in- 
 tellectual gifts. In plain words the faith of the son of 
 Kohath is Catholicism, and that of the son of Aaron 
 is Idealism, and the Allegorism of Clement and Origen 
 is a plea for the utmost freedom of thought, on con- 
 dition that it keeps within the teaching of Christ and 
 His Apostles, and is couched in a learned language. 
 
 Only by perverse ingenuity can it be twisted into an 
 argument in defence of the very mode of conception 
 against which it is especially directed 2 . The Eucharist 
 
 1 Probst would restrict this phrase (first used by Meier, a professor of 
 __ Helmstadt in 1677) to the rule forbidding the revelation of the Christian 
 rites to heathen and distinguish it from the pedagogic Economy, which may 
 be expressed in the words of the Council of Trent : ' Apud radem vero 
 plebem difficiliores ac subtiliores quaestiones quaeque ad aedificationem 
 non faciunt,et ex quibus plerumque nulla fit pietatis accessio, a popularibus 
 concionibus secludantur. Incerta item vel quae specie falsi laborant evul- 
 gari ac tractari non permittunt,' Kirchliche Disciplin, pp. 303 sqq. Perhaps 
 the distinction is not ill grounded, for Origen is certainly reticent as to the 
 ritual of the Eucharist, In Lev. Horn. ix. 10. It may be noticed here that 
 he uses the phrase ' sancta sanctorum ' to express not the secrecy but the 
 spiritual nature of the Eucharist, the difference between worthy and unworthy 
 recipients, In Lev., Horn. xiii. 6 ; Prol. in Cant. Cantic. (Lorn. xiv. 314). 
 As regards theology there is really no secret at all. So far as Clement and 
 Origen had explicit views they declared them in one place or another. M. 
 Denis says of the latter, ' Nul parmi les docteurs de 1'Eglise n'use moins de 
 la methode de parler par 1'economie quoiqu'il en reconnaisse 1'utilite et la 
 sagesse.' 
 
 a As by Eellarmine and his followers, see Bingham, x. 5. The argument 
 from the Disdplina Arcani, in its strict logical form, proceeds on the axiom
 
 1 44 Origen, [Lect. 
 
 is doubtless one of the mysteries, to be spoken of with 
 guarded reserve in the presence not only of heathen, but 
 of simple or careless believers. But it is a mystery 
 in precisely the same sense as any other, and precisely 
 the same solvent must be applied, before we can obtain 
 the spiritual truth hidden beneath the rough ore of the 
 words. ' Even in the New Testament there is a letter 
 which killeth him who does not spiritually consider 
 what is said. If according to the letter you follow the 
 very words of Christ . . . unless ye eat my Flesh and 
 drink my Blood, this letter killeth 1 .' Nor was it the 
 greatest of the mysteries. There was doubtless a party 
 in the Church who attached a very literal sense to these 
 words of the Saviour, and bitterly resented any attempt 
 to idealise them. But the danger of wounding the 
 simple faith and suggesting doubts that might weaken 
 the sanctions of morality lay in a different direction in 
 speculations upon foreknowledge, predestination and 
 birth-sin, in attempts to penetrate the secrets of the 
 Eternal Gospel, the doctrine of angels and demons, and 
 the history of the soul after death. Of these it is said 
 they are ' mysteries which may not be entrusted even 
 to paper 2 .' 
 
 It is possible to defend the practice of Reserve, if it 
 
 
 
 that complete silence is absolute proof, and that, failing this, the less the 
 evidence the more certain the conclusion. This is obviously absurd. Hence 
 the Disciplina Arcani, as a controversial weapon, has been superseded by 
 the doctrine of Development, though it is still employed to eke out insuffi- 
 cient evidence. 
 
 1 In Lev. Horn. vii. 5 (Lorn. ix. 306). 
 
 3 In Rom. ii. 4, of the mode in which the souls of good men operate 
 after dissolution as good angels, those of the wicked as bad angels, it is 
 said that these things are ' ne chartulae quidem committenda mysteria.' 
 Compare the Prol. in Cant, Cantic. (Lorn. xiv. 320).
 
 IV.] Economy. 145 
 
 be taken to represent the method of a skilful teacher, 
 who will not confuse the learner with principles beyond 
 his comprehension l . This however is by no means what 
 the Alexandrines intended. With them it is the screen 
 of an esoteric belief. They held that the mass of men 
 will necessarily accept the symbol for the idea, will, that 
 is, be more or less superstitious. It is enough if their 
 superstition is such as to lead them in the right direction. 
 This is a necessary corollary of the new compromise be- 
 tween the Church and the world, a taint inherited from 
 
 z the Greek schools in which Truth was not a cardinal 
 virtue. Freedom remains, but it is a freedom of the 
 Mite, which may be tolerated so long as it does not cry 
 aloud in the streets. But let us remember the Alex- 
 andrines were pleading for the freedom, not for the 
 restriction. It was not altogether their fault, if they 
 were driven to approximate on this point to the dreaded 
 Gnostics. 
 
 Origen differs from Clement in regarding Allegorism 
 
 ' rather as a personal gift than as an inherited tradition ' 2 . 
 He differs from him still more in the volume, ingenuity, 
 beauty of his applications of the method. All Scripture 
 becomes transparent beneath his touch ; the ' crannies 
 
 1 It is so defended by J. H. Newman, Arians, i. 3. pp. 40 sqq. 3rd ed. ; see 
 also the Apologia pro Vita Sua ; and by Origen himself, Contra Celsum, iii. 
 52 sqq. 
 
 2 Clement's few Allegorisms are almost without exception borrowed. We 
 may say that he regarded not only the sanction but the substance of this 
 mode of interpretation as given by Tradition. Origen feels that he has a 
 personal illumination : In Levit. Horn. viii. i, 'putas possumus veteris instru- 
 menti formas novi testamenti gestis et sermonibus coaptare ? Possumus, si 
 nos ipsum Dei Verbum et juvare et inspirare dignatur.' In this respect he 
 is more of a Mystic than Clement, but Rosenmuller, iii. p. 146, is harsh in 
 comparing him to the fanatics of the Inner Light. 
 
 L
 
 1 46 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 in the wall' multiply and widen, till the wall itself 
 disappears. The dangers of such a mode of procedure 
 are obvious, and there were not wanting those who 
 urged them, though they directed their protest mainly 
 against its application to the New Testament *. Many 
 probably were offended by precisely those features of 
 Origen's teaching which were of the deepest and most 
 permanent value. But there are objections which may be 
 pressed without suspicion of narrowness or prejudice. 
 
 The Alexandrine method as applied by Origen is 
 undoubtedly unsound. He appeals to the examples of 
 Christ and St. Paul 2 , and to a certain limited extent 
 with justice. But his rules of procedure, his playing 
 with words and numbers and proper names, his bound- 
 less extravagance are learned not from the New Testa- 
 ment, but through Philo from the puerile Rabbinical 
 schools 3 . Yet we must distinguish. On its apologetic 
 side Allegorism is seen at its worst. When the Stoics 
 assure us that the heathen deities are but symbols of 
 the forces of Nature, and turn the hideous myths of Zeus 
 or Dionysus into a manual of physical science ; when 
 Philo makes Tamar represent the soul widowed from 
 sensual delights ; when Clement turns the unclean meats 
 
 1 In Lev. Horn. xvi. 4, ' dicet fortassis auditor quid iterum hie euresilogus 
 agit:' In Gen. Horn. xiii. Here the objection is to Allegorism in general. 
 But in application to the Old Testament it was in universal use among 
 orthodox Christians. 
 
 2 In Num. Horn. i. 3, Apostolo nobis Paulo spiritualis intelligentiae 
 semina respergente ; In Num. Horn. iii. 3, Non possum illuc adscendere 
 nisi praecedat me Paulus. He is referring to the Epistle to the Hebrews, which 
 he certainly regarded as the work of St.Pa.nl, DePrinctflns, preface, I ; though 
 he thought that the actual wording of the Epistle was due not to the Apostle 
 himself but to one of his disciples, Eus. H. E. vi. 25. u. 
 
 * For the relation of Origen's allegorism to that of Philo, see Siegfried, 
 pp. 351 sqq.
 
 I V .] A llegorism, 147 
 
 into vices that are to be shunned, we rebel. This is 
 not the meaning. Such paltering with the text is not 
 honest, and in this respect there was reason in the re- 
 proach of Celsus that Jews and Christians alike were 
 ashamed of their Bible. Yet let us not be harsh. To 
 us it is not difficult to allow that the Old Testament is 
 the history of a people and not merely of a religion, that 
 God's revelation is progressive, that He speaks by human 
 messengers, that something has been permitted because 
 of the hardness of men's hearts. But to the Alexandrines, 
 bound as they were by their Jewish theory of inspiration 
 and beset by eager foes, it was not easy to admit all 
 this. Concessions are not readily made by men struggling 
 for all that they hold dear. Nor indeed was the notion 
 of historical development familiar to their times. Per- 
 haps we may say that its first fruitful germ is found in 
 the Church, in the qualified admission of the inferiority 
 of the Old Testament to the New. The Alexandrines 
 went so far as to explain certain passages those which 
 attribute human figure and emotions to God by the 
 principle of accommodation or condescension, and Origen 
 even admitted the existence of degrees of inspiration 1 . 
 Through these observations lay the way to a clear 
 solution of the difficulty. But though the key was 
 actually in the lock, Origen did not turn it. The time 
 had not yet come. 
 
 1 See especially In Joann. i. 4 onwards. The Law is inferior to the 
 Gospel ; in the New Testament the Epistles stand below the Gospels, and 
 of the Gospels the dnapxri is that of John, ' whose sense none can grasp 
 unless he has fallen upon the breast of Jesus and received from Jesus Mary 
 to become his mother.' Compare also Contra Celsum, iv. 8, where again he 
 hints at the subject, but declines to pursue it because it is a Mystery : ex ei ^~ 
 rt 6 irtpl Tovroiv \6yos [wariKwrtpov Kal ffaOvrtpov at JJ.T) Travv n <}>6<ivfiv 
 Swd/Atvov fwl Tty Sr](j.(u8fOT(pav dtcorjv. 
 
 L 2
 
 148 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 Again, of the positive use of Allegorism it is not 
 possible to speak without qualification. What is the 
 value of the mysteries which it aims at discovering? 
 Does it really discover mysteries at all? One critic 
 regards it as wholly futile, 'an excellent means of 
 rinding what you already possess.' To another it is 
 fecunda mater errorum, superstitionum, fanaticarum- 
 que opinionum. Yet a third considers it to have been 
 the bulwark of orthodoxy against the sceptical literal 
 method of the school of Antioch 1 . The truth is that it 
 means very different things in relation to the Law and 
 to the Gospel, and within the sphere of the latter in 
 relation to the Church of the Present and to the Church 
 of the Future. 
 
 As regards the Old Testament, it is a dangerous and in 
 its actual use a delusive method, delusive because it 
 proceeds upon the exaggeration of a truth. If we think 
 of that long Revelation, unfolding itself gradually through 
 centuries, and growing ever fuller and clearer as it pro- 
 ceeds, we cannot deny that its earlier stages contained 
 the germ of the later, that much was anticipatory and 
 preparative, that God granted to chosen spirits a vision 
 more or less distinct of the long-hoped-for consummation. 
 The Priest, the King, the Prophet foreboded with in- 
 creasing clearness the Lamb of God, the Son of David, 
 the Man of Sorrows. There were shadows of good things 
 to come ; there were vaticinations ; there were types. But 
 it does not follow that all was type ; it does not follow 
 that the type is a perfect and elaborate figure of the 
 
 1 The first reference is to M. Denis, who has many clever epigrams on 
 this subject ; the second to Rosenmiiller ; the third to Cardinal Newman, 
 Development of Christian Doctrine, p. 343, ed. 1878.
 
 IV.] Allegorism. 149 
 
 antitype. The Alexandrines erred in both ways. They 
 found symbols where there was no symbol ; they treated 
 symbols not as indications, as harbingers, but as proofs. 
 Thus they undertook to demonstrate Christian doctrine 
 by passages which in the belief of the Jew were not 
 Messianic at all, or, if Messianic, had not been fulfilled. 
 They neglected the difference between before and after. 
 As we look back, we see many things in the Old Testa- 
 ment which find their explanation only in the New. 
 We see how the providence of God was leading his 
 people up to precisely this issue and no other. Like 
 the minister of Queen Candace, we recognise under 
 Philip's guidance that Isaiah prophesied not of himself 
 but of Jesus. So the old in a thousand points illustrates, 
 prognosticates, confirms the new. But the shadow is not 
 a demonstration, for the very reason that it is a shadow. 
 The road by which we are guided is the right road, but 
 until we reach the goal we cannot be certain whither 
 it will lead us. The early Christians forgot this, forgot 
 the doubts and perplexities through which they had 
 themselves attained their bourne. Hence their angry 
 amazement at the blindness and obstinacy of the Jew. 
 
 The Alexandrines are open to this animadversion. 
 They found in the Old Testament what they already 
 possessed, what they could not have found unless they 
 had possessed it. But at any rate they found nothing 
 more. They avoided the worst excesses. They are 
 always intelligent and reasonable, and their extravagance 
 is that of the poet-philosopher, not that of the dogmatist. 
 And they did not invert their Allegorism. They found 
 the New Testament in the Old, but they had far too 
 clear a sense of the spirituality of true religion to
 
 1 50 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 attempt to carry the Old over into the New. They 
 evaporated the letter ; they did not stereotype the spirit. 
 What Allegorism signified as applied to the Church 
 of the Present and to the Church of the Future has been 
 partly explained, and we shall have to recur to the point 
 again. Let us only notice here that it is to speculations 
 on the latter subject, on Eschatology, that the charge of 
 presumption applies. Here too there is a truth. All 
 language that we use, that even Christ could use, of the 
 world behind the veil, is necessarily mythical, figurative. 
 But in this case we have not yet reached the bourne, and 
 therefore the key to the hieroglyph is wanting. This 
 Irenaeus saw ; this Origen refused to see. There were 
 questions to which he felt some answer must be found. 
 There were questions on which he obtained real though 
 limited and uncertain light. Indeed it was not his 
 nature to rest content. He held with Philo, that even if 
 truth be unattainable the happiness of man lies in the 
 ceaseless pursuit of this ideal, that ever flies as he 
 advances. ' If we see some admirable work of human 
 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,' he continues, 'has without doubt been im- 
 planted in us by God. And as the eye seeks 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 V 
 
 1 De Princ. ii. n. 4. In the translation of this passage I have borrowed 
 the language of Dr. Westcott, Cont. Review, May, 1879, P- 335-
 
 IV.] A llegorism. 151 
 
 This is noble language, and the modest devotion with 
 which he strove to fulfil it is equally noble. If we are 
 less aspiring, let us not say presumptuous, it is because 
 we have learned from him, because we dare not gaze 
 upon the darkness of excessive light that even ' the eagle 
 eye of Origen J ' failed to pierce. 
 
 1 The phrase is from Cardinal Newman's lines on the Greek Fathers, 
 Verses on Various Occasions, 1868, p. 83.
 
 LECTURE V. 
 
 Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me. ST. JOHN 
 
 xiv. ii. 
 Why callest thou me good? there is none good but One, that is, God. 
 
 ST. MATTHEW xix. 1 7. 
 
 WE have already seen what Origen regarded as the 
 proper task of the Christian philosopher. Tradition, 
 embodying the teaching of the Apostles, has handed 
 down certain facts, certain usages, which are to be 
 received without dispute, but does not attempt to 
 explain the why or the whence. It is the office of 
 the sanctified reason to define, to articulate, to co- 
 ordinate, even to expand, and generally to adapt to 
 human needs the faith once delivered to the Church. 
 
 What then is the utterance of Tradition ? It tells us 
 that there is One God who created all things out of 
 nothing, who is Just and Good, the Author of the Old 
 as of the New Testament, the Father of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ : that Jesus Christ was begotten of the Father 
 before every creature, that through Him all things were 
 made, that He is God and Man, born of the Holy Spirit 
 and the Virgin Mary, that He did truly suffer, rise 
 again, and ascend into heaven : that the Holy Ghost 
 is associated in honour and dignity with the Father and 
 the Son, that it is He who inspired the saints both of 
 the Old and of the New Dispensation : that there will 
 be a Resurrection of the dead, when the body which is 
 sown in corruption will rise in incorruption, and that in
 
 The Regula Fidel. 153 
 
 the world to come the souls of men will inherit eternal 
 life or suffer eternal punishment according to their 
 works : that every reasonable soul is a free agent, 
 plotted against by evil spirits, comforted by good angels, 
 but in no way constrained : that the Scriptures were 
 written by the agency of the Spirit of God, that they 
 have two senses, the plain and the hidden, whereof the 
 latter can be known only to those to whom is given the 
 grace of the Holy Spirit in the word of wisdom and 
 knowledge 1 . 
 
 Here then we have the pith and substance of that 
 doctrine which, in Alexandria at any rate, was taught to 
 all Christians in the time of Origen. It differs from the 
 Nicene Creed in that it does not use the terms ' Very 
 God ' or ' Homoousian ' of the Son, in that it asserts the 
 moral attributes of God, the creation of the world out of 
 nothing, the spiritual nature of the Resurrection Body, 
 the connection of punishments and rewards with conduct, 
 the eternity of punishment, the existence of Angels, the 
 freedom of the Will, the double sense of Scripture. It 
 is rather a Regula Fidei 2 than a Creed in the strict 
 sense of the word. But the language is already so 
 
 1 De Principiis, preface, 4 onwards. Origen, like Clement, had the 
 strongest persuasion that all his speculations lay within this norm. ' Servetur 
 vero ecclesiastica praedicatio per successionis ordinem ab apostolis tradita, 
 et usque ad praesens in ecclesiis permanens : ilia sola credenda est veritas 
 quae in nullo ab ecclesiastica et apostolica discordat traditione.' Yet there 
 is a sense in which the perfect Christian rises above Tradition, Injoann. xiii. 
 16. This thought also is shared by Clement. In both Knowledge is more 
 than P'aith, and Ordinances, though always obligatory, cease to be 
 necessary. 
 
 2 The KOVUIV (KKXrjffiaariKos, icavuv TTJS fKK\rjatas, or rijs impaSoaeus, or rov 
 fvayyt\iov, or again, 17 airoarokiKf) xal (K/c\rjataaTi>cr) opOorofua rwv Soffjtdrojv 
 of Clement. The latter has nowhere set out his creed in the same systematic 
 way as Origen, but there is a complete agreement between the two.
 
 1 54 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 framed as definitely to exclude the Gnostics, the Noe- 
 tians, possibly the Chiliasts, and certainly all those who 
 doubted the Personality of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 Within these limits all is open ground. Even the 
 definition of the terms, especially of the word ' eternal,' is 
 subject to reverent but free discussion. And Origen has 
 availed himself of this liberty to the fullest extent. 
 One of his earliest works is the De Principiis, ' On First 
 Principles,' that is to say on the data of the Creed, in 
 which he maps out the field of investigation, and ex- 
 presses with fearless candour all his doubts, beliefs, 
 suggestions, divinations about each article in turn. He 
 was already of mature age when he composed this 
 treatise, and his voluminous later writings are little more 
 than an expansion of the ideas there set down. Much 
 might be said of the De Principiis, the most remarkable 
 production of ante-Nicene times, but it has three merits 
 at least that must not be omitted. Origen never slurs 
 a difficulty, never dogmatises, never consciously departs 
 from the teaching of Scripture. It is in this last point 
 that he differs most, in point of method, from Clement, 
 who not unfrequently leaves us in doubt as to the precise 
 Scriptural basis of his ideas. Sometimes Origen's in- 
 terpretations are wrong ; sometimes again he attaches 
 undue weight to particular expressions. Certain texts 
 seem to dominate him and colour all his views 1 . But 
 his most daring flights always start from some point in 
 the written Word. The connection with the particular 
 passage under discussion may be of the most fanciful 
 kind, but the opinion itself is never arbitrary. 
 
 We shall obtain the clearest view of Origen's teaching 
 
 ' 
 
 1 Denis, p. 56.
 
 V.] The Method of Theology. 155 
 
 by following in the main the plan traced in the De 
 Principiis, and proceeding from those high problems 
 that touch upon the nature of God to the consideration 
 of His Economy, His dealings with the Church and the 
 soul of man. 
 
 The heathen Celsus lays down three methods l by 
 which men may attain to a certain, though limited, 
 knowledge of God. They are Analysis, Synthesis, and 
 Analogy. The nature and results of the first we have 
 seen in the case of Clement. Synthesis is the inductive 
 mode, by which we gather from the constitution of the 
 world an idea of Him by whom the world was made. 
 Analogy is the poet's faculty bodying forth in a myth, 
 a simile, that which language is inadequate to express. 
 Thus Plato in the Republic compares the Idea of Good 
 to the Sun. Origen insists on the contrary that the 
 Christian knows God in a way better than any of these, 
 as revealed in the Incarnate Christ. Yet to some extent 
 he admits the use of Synthesis. For the world was made 
 by God through Christ, and still bears the legible imprint 
 of its Author. 
 
 Accordingly he takes his point of departure from the 
 words of our Saviour ' God is a Spirit,' from the words 
 of St. John ' God is Light V ' It must not be supposed 
 then that God is a body, or in a body, but a simple 
 
 1 Contra Cetsum, vii. 42. 44. They are defined also by Alcinous, chap. 10. 
 Compare Maximus Tyrius, xvii. 8. The three methods of Celsus appear to 
 answer to his three classes of religious teachers, ao<f>oi, <pi\uacxfoi, and ZvOeoi 
 iroiT)rai. M. Denis complains, p. 85, that the passage in Celsus is 'tres 
 brouille.' But the text as given in Lomm. is quite clear. M. Vacherot, 
 cole <T Alexandrie, iii. p. 220, has a chapter on the Method of the 
 Alexandrines, but the references given above will suffice to show that he 
 is entirely wrong in his assertion that ' la pensee qui la domine et 1'inspire 
 est etrangere aux ecoles grecques.' 
 
 3 De Principiis, i. i .
 
 156 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 intellectual nature, admitting of no addition at all. There 
 is in Him no greater or less, no higher or lower, for He 
 is the Monad, the Unit, Mind, the Fountain of all 
 mind.' From this first conception flow the negative 
 attributes of the Divine Nature, and here Origen is 
 compelled in spite of his disclaimer to make a certain 
 use of the method of Analysis. Being Mind God is 
 incorporeal l . This point, owing perhaps to the in- 
 fluence of Stoicism, had as yet been very imperfectly 
 apprehended in the Church, and it is not the least of 
 Origen's merits that he seizes upon it with insight and 
 decision, proving the immateriality, that is in fact the 
 existence of the soul, and so of God, by an argument 
 resembling the famous Cogito ergo sum 2 . Being in- 
 corporeal God is independent of the laws of Space 
 and Time, omniscient, omnipresent, unchanging, incom- 
 prehensible. His dwelling-place is the -thick darkness. 
 ' How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways 
 past finding out.' He has in a sense no titles, and His 
 fittest name is He That Is. 
 
 Thus far Origen is in agreement with his predecessors, 
 though rather with Philo than with Clement. But here 
 he strikes off into a wholly different train of thought. 
 Our knowledge of the Divine spreads out on all sides 
 
 1 In the view of the Homilies, the Valentinians, Melito (see Routh, and 
 Heinichen's note on Eus. H. . iv.-26. 2), Tertullian, Adv. Praxeam, 7, 
 God is corporeal. Even Irenaeus finds the image of God in the body of man, 
 v. 6. i , and not as the Alexandrines in the vovs. Anthropomorphism lingered 
 on long in the East. It is one of the chief merits of the Alexandrines that 
 they treated this point with no less emphasis and distinctness than Philo. 
 Two great difficulties were the facts that the term aaw^aros is not Scriptural, 
 though found in the Doctrina Petri, where the words ' Non sum daemonium 
 incorporeum ' were attributed to the Saviour after the Resurrection, and that 
 vvfvfM. does not in itself connote immateriality. See De Princ., praefatio, 8 ; 
 Injoann. xiii. 24 ; De Oratione, 23, 24. 
 
 2 De Princ. i. I. 7 ; ii. II. 4 ; iv. 36 ; Denis, p. 310.
 
 V.] The Negative Attributes. 157 
 
 into the inconceivable, but it is rooted in the positive. 
 Before we can know what He is not, we must know what 
 He is ; the titles Good, Wise, Just, which we apply to 
 Him, are inadequate but not untrue. 
 
 God is incomprehensible. But the cause of the in- 
 comprehensibility is in us, not in Him. His dwelling 
 is the thick darkness, but He Himself is Light ; and the 
 more nearly we approach Him the more completely will 
 the darkness melt away into light. There will come a 
 time when, becoming one spirit with the Word, we shall 
 see Him face to face, and know even as we are known. 
 Even now we are not left without some understanding of 
 Him which, imperfect as it may be, is yet true as far as 
 it goes. We see Him dimly revealed in Creation. The 
 order, the beauty of Nature are scintillations of the 
 Divine goodness, as far inferior to their source as the 
 sunbeams that stream through a keyhole to the Sun 
 itself; yet authentic, homogeneous. Still more veritably 
 we see Him in the Word, for ' he who hath seen the Son 
 hath seen the Father,' seen Him in the express Image 
 of His Person, though only in such degree as the divine 
 grace has enabled him l . 
 
 Again, God being unchanging, eternal, must needs be 
 passionless. Scripture attributes to Him wrath, hatred, 
 repentance, but only in condescension to our infirmities. 
 He is righteous and good, and desireth not the death 
 of a sinner. Punishment is not His work, but the 
 necessary consequence of sin 2 . There will come a time 
 in the restitution of all things when it will no longer 
 
 1 De Princ. i. I. 
 
 a The justice and goodness of God are maintained, De Princ. ii. 5, with 
 great force and subtlety.
 
 158 O rig en. 
 
 be possible to speak of the wrath of God. But though 
 Origen cannot think of the Deity as agitated by passions 
 in the narrower sense of the word, by mental disturbance 
 or unreason of any kind, it follows from the language 
 already cited that he was far from regarding Him as 
 devoid of attributes. 'The Father Himself and God 
 of all,' he says, ' is longsuffering, merciful and pitiful. 
 Has He not then in a sense passions? The Father 
 Himself is not impassible. He has the passion of 
 Love 1 .' 
 
 Hence when Celsus, in true Platonic fashion, using 
 almost the very words of Philo or Clement, asserts that 
 God has no name, because He has no passions in the 
 sense of attributes that can be denoted by a name, 
 Origen replies with a distinction. It is true, he admits, 
 in a sense, that no name can express the exact nature 
 of the properties of God, just as no single word will 
 express the difference between the sweetness of a date 
 and the sweetness of a fig. Yet both are sweet; we 
 know what the term means in each case, and the dis- 
 parity of the meanings is not so great but that they 
 
 1 In Ezech. Horn. vi. 6. See also the exceedingly beautiful passage, In 
 Num. Horn, xxiii. 2, where he dwells on the same subject at length. But 
 he concludes with a retractation, as if he felt that he had been carried-too far : 
 ' Haec autem omnia, in quibus vel lugere vel gaudere vel odisse vel laetari 
 dicitur Deus, tropice et humano more accipienda sunt ab Scripturis dici. 
 Aliena porro est divina natura ab omni passionis et permutationis affectu, in 
 illo semper beatitudinis apice immobilis et inconcussa perdurans.' Yet 
 Origen had experienced that state of consciousness, exemplified for us by all 
 exalted Christian spirits, in which joy and sorrow cease to be passions and 
 are no longer contraries. He did not clearly see that what is true of Good- 
 ness and Justice is true of Love and Sympathy. They differ not in themselves, 
 but in their objects. Or again, we may say he did not clearly see that self- 
 sacrifice is divine, and that the Incarnation is only the most striking instance 
 of an universal law. Yet in the passages quoted he has given expression to 
 this truth, though with timidity.
 
 V.] The Positive Attributes. 159 
 
 are in substance identical 1 . The same reasoning will 
 apply to those epithets which are common to virtuous 
 men and to God. We cannot comprehend God, we 
 cannot explain Him, for He is infinitely better than all 
 we can think about Him. But if we argue from the 
 justice of man to the justice of God, we are proceeding 
 like the geometer from the imperfect to the perfect, not 
 like the alchemist from the known to the unknowable. 
 
 It will be seen that the God of Origen is no longer 
 the Unconditioned. He is not Absolute but Perfect, 
 and perfection is itself a condition. He is perfectly wise, 
 perfectly just, perfectly mighty, but the perfection of 
 these attributes consists precisely in the fact that they 
 are limited by one another 2 . From this consideration 
 flow Origen' s peculiar views as to Creation. Nature 
 is not infinite ; God created all things by number and 
 measure because perfect wisdom cannot comprehend 
 an unlimited object. Nature again is eternal. The ex- 
 istence of the universe can in a sense be measured by 
 time, for time and the world began together, time is 
 
 1 Contra Celstim, vi. 65. 
 
 2 See De Princ. ii. 9. I : ' Non enim, ut quidam volunt, finem putandum 
 est non habere creaturas ; quia ubi finis non est nee comprehensio ulla nee 
 circumscriptio esse potest.' So the Wisdom of Solomon says, xi. 20, that 
 God created all things ' in numero et mensura ; ' De Princ. iv. 35 (Greek, 
 text), fj.t]5fls Se irpoffKoirreTU T$ \6ya> el fitrpa (mTiOeptv Kal rrj rod Otov 
 5vvdfj.fi, aTrtipa ~fap iKpiXa&tiv ry <pvaet aSvvarov rvyx^ vet - Other passages 
 in Redepenning, ii. 290. Like the English Platonist Henry More, Origen 
 finds the idea of God in that of the Perfect Being. His point of view is 
 moral, not like that of Clement pseudo-metaphysical. Hence all the so- 
 called negative attributes sink at once into a secondary place. The more 
 the reader reflects upon this the more important I feel persuaded he will see 
 it to be. What an absurd yet mischievous word is ' infinite,' purely material 
 in all its associations, and as unmeaning when applied to spirit as ' colour- 
 less ' or ' imponderable ' would be. Yet it is habitually used as if it were the 
 highest term of reverence. To a Platonist ' infinite ' means almost the same 
 as ' evil.' Limitation is of the essence of truth and of beauty.
 
 1 60 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 the register of the world's life. But in another sense 
 creation is timeless. Creator and Creation are correla- 
 tive notions ; the one cannot be thought of without the 
 other. God must indeed precede logically, as the cause 
 is in conception prior to the effect, but His inner per- 
 fection implies external realisation. From the first He 
 was King, He was righteous, because there was some- 
 thing not Himself that He could rule in righteousness. 
 Otherwise we must suppose a change in Him, a de- 
 velopment, a passage from the potential to the actual. 
 But this it would be impious to think of God, who from 
 the first is Act, is Perfect. Readers of Lucretius will 
 recollect the Epicurean argument against Creation which 
 Origen appears to have here in view. And it is evident 
 how little he would have been embarrassed by modern 
 geology \ 
 
 From the same mode of thought flows a qualified 
 Optimism similar to that of Leibnitz or Butler. Origen 
 does not shut his eyes to the manifold traces of disorder 
 and inequality in Nature. Nevertheless, despite the 
 existence of ' hideous monsters and vermin,' of physical 
 
 1 De Princ.'\. 2. 10 : ' Quemadmodum pater non potest esse quis, si filius 
 non sit, neque dominus quis esse potest sine possessione sine servo, ita ne 
 omnipotens quidem Deus dici potest, si non sint in quos exerceat potentatum ; 
 et ideo ut omnipotens ostendatur Deus omnia subsistere necesse est.' See the 
 whole section. Origen is of course speaking of the first heaven and earth, 
 not of that world in which fallen men live, the ' mundus hie qui ex certo tern- 
 pore coepit' of De Princ. iii. 5. i. The Epicurean argument against crea- 
 tion was based upon the impossibility of God beginning to do anything. 
 Cicero, De Nat. Deorum, i. 9 : ' Quid autem erat, quod concupisceret Deus 
 mundum et signis et luminibus, tamquam aedilis, ornare ? Si ut ipse melius 
 habitaret ; antea videlicet tempore infinito in tenebris tamquam in gurgustio 
 habitaverat : ' Lucretius, v. 165 sqq. The same argument in Origen's mind 
 proved the Eternal Generation of the Son and the eternity of Creation. 
 Later theologians regarded it as admirable in the first case and abominable 
 in the second.
 
 v.] Self -Limitation of God. 161 
 
 and moral wrong, he held that the world is good because 
 it answers to the plan of a wise Creator 1 . Nay it is the 
 best of all possible worlds. For if there could have 
 been a better, we must suppose either that the Divine 
 Power was insufficient to realise it, or that the Divine 
 Wisdom failed to conceive it. Such an optimism was 
 peculiarly easy to the Platonist, who regarded the world 
 as a scene not of probation only but of correction, and 
 linked the imperfections of man's environment with the 
 sin of a previous life. But this tenet does not affect 
 the main position, which is in fact that of Bishop Butler, 
 ' that we are not competent judges of this scheme from 
 the small parts of it that come within our view in the 
 present life.' 
 
 But Origen went farther than this, and drew or ap- 
 peared to draw the startling conclusion that God cannot 
 do anything that He has not done. This was actually 
 maintained by Abelard, ' though,' as he adds, ' this opinion 
 of ours has few 6r no supporters, and differs widely from 
 the utterances of the Saints, and somewhat from reason 
 itself 2 .' It is not indeed certain that Origen formally 
 inferred this consequence, though it was laid to his 
 account by enemies who accused him of teaching that 
 God is All-Ruler but not Almighty. But the inference 
 does not seem to involve any distortion of the facts. 
 For Origen regarded the Divine Goodness, Wisdom, 
 Power as working in perfect harmony and co-extension, 
 so as to be in fact different aspects of the same energy. 
 If God's Power is limited, it is limited 'not by the re- 
 sistance of matter, for God created matter and made 
 
 1 Injoann. xiii. 42. 
 
 3 I owe the quotation to Huet, Origeniana, ii. i. I. 
 M
 
 1 62 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 it what it is, but by His own reason and His own bene- 
 ficence. That He can do nothing that is evil is admitted 
 by all. Origen possibly, Abelard certainly, advanced 
 a step farther, and declared that He can leave undone 
 nothing that is good. For otherwise in our desire to 
 get rid of one restriction we are compelled to admit 
 another of a far more dangerous kind, because impeach- 
 ing either the Wisdom or the Goodness of Him who, 
 if any gradation of His virtues is conceivable, is Good 
 and Wise even before He is Mighty. 
 
 The Christian Deity is One in Three. But in what 
 sense One, in what sense Three? These questions were 
 already the subject of fierce debate, especially at Rome, 
 where the fire that had long been smouldering had been 
 kindled into a blaze by the action of two Popes. Victor 
 had excommunicated Theodotus, who denied in some sense 
 the Divinity of Jesus 1 . Callistus had expelled from the 
 
 1 Eus. H. E. v. 28. 6 : "BiKToip Qf65oTov TOV anvTta,Tbv dpxrjyov KOI irarepa 
 TavTijs rfjs dpvijaiOeov diroaraaias, dirfK^pv^e TTJS Koivowias, irpuTov eiirovra 
 tyiXbv avQparnov TOV Xpiar6v. See notes in Heinichen. But the anonymous 
 writer quoted here is by no means accurate in his statements. Theodotus, 
 if he is the same as Theodotus of Byzantium, did not assert that ' Christ 
 was a mere man,' nor was he the inventor of his doctrine. He belonged to 
 the Ebionite school, and taught that 'Jesus was a man born of the Virgin, 
 according to the will of the Father, who having lived the life of other men 
 but in perfect piety, afterwards at his baptism in Jordan received the Christ, 
 who came down from above in likeness of a dove. Hence the miraculous 
 powers did not work in Him till the Spirit which Theodotus calls Christ 
 came down and was manifest in Him ; ' Philos. vii. 35. The passage con- 
 tinues : Ofbv be ovSfifOTe TOVTOV yfyoffvat OVTOI Oe\ovffiv tm rf) KaBoSy TOV 
 irvev/jiaTOs, trtpoi SI /xerd rr)v etc vfKpuv dvaaraaiv. There must be some 
 error in the text here, as ovStirore cannot be reconciled with ITTI TJ) Ka$6St(> TOV 
 irvfvpaTos. Probably the words OVTOI . . . ava.aTO.aiv are a gloss. What 
 Theodotus taught was that the preexistent Christ was not God ; cp. x. 23. 
 He held doubtless with the Homilies that he was the Eldest Power but yet 
 not God in the strict sense of the word. I observe that the party violence 
 of this anonymous author has turned what is an argument in favour of the 
 doctrine of the Trinity into an argument against it. See Lecture ii. p. 59.
 
 V.] Hypostasis and Ousia. 163 
 
 Church the Noetians, who denied the Personality of the 
 Son and the Holy Ghost 1 . Origen had visited Rome 
 during the papacy of Zephyrinus 2 , and was keenly 
 alive to the perils of the crisis. Hence his views and 
 language exhibit a marked advance upon those of his 
 predecessor. 
 
 The terminology indeed is still fluctuating and un- 
 certain, but the later usage is already all but established. 
 The word for Person in Origen is commonly Hypostasis, 
 that for the Divine Nature is less determinate but is 
 frequently Ousza 3 . The two expressions were current 
 
 Harnack, Dogmengeschichte, p. 573 sqq., gives the latest authorities on the 
 subject. 
 
 1 'Ka.n\a.c]a,Dogmengeschic'hte, pp. 601 sqq. ; Philos. ix. n sqq. Noetianism, 
 Monarchianism, Patripassianism, Modalism, Unitarianism should be regarded 
 in one sense as an ancient, in another as a recent opinion. Doubtless in 
 some form or another it had existed before the debate reached the acute 
 stage. But the sentiment which prevails is the sentiment of the majority. 
 
 2 Eus. H. E. vi. 14. 10 : 6 \.kvroi 'AoapavTios, ical TOVTO yap rfv rS> 
 'flpiytvei ovofia, Zf(f>vptvov Kara TOvaSe rovs XP OVOVS T 5 S 'Poi/Jtaiojv eKK\r]aias 
 fj-fovftevov fTri8r]/j.T)ffa.i TT/ 'Pw/xj; Kal avTos irov ypd(pft \tyoiv ' (vgdnevos rrjv 
 ap\aiorarr]v 'Pa}/j.aicav (KK\r)o~iav !5etV.' 
 
 3 For Person we have viroaraais, In Joann. ii. 6, i^iefs pevroi ye rpfis 
 viroardatis TrttOo/j.ei'oi Tvyxdvew : ovaia I8la, ibid., Soyftarifav prjS^ ovatav 
 rivd ISiav v<pfffTavai TOV ayiov irvfv/MTOS : ISiorrjs and ovaia. Kara irepiypa^v, 
 In Joann. ii. 2 : ovaia alone, In Joann. i. 30 ad fin., ii. 18 : viroKtipevov, In 
 Jerem. Horn. viii. 2 : the two combined, De Orat. 15, trepos KO.T' ovaiav nal 
 vTTOKti/j.(v6v (so English ed. and de la Rue, al. viroKeifjiev6s') lanv 6 vios TOV 
 irarpos. For Substance, ovaia is used, In Joann. x. 21 (Lorn. i. p. 350), 
 oiovrai (K TOVTUV TrapiaraaOai f^T) Sta<pfpeiv rSi apiOfica ruv vibv TOV vaTpos, 
 dAX' ti> ov fji6vov ovaia d\\a Kal inro/cfintvy Tvy\dvovTas aivportpovs Kara. 
 Tivas eirtvoias Sta<f>6povs ov naTa viroffTaffiv \tytaQai iraripa Kal viov : De Orat. 
 23 (Lorn. xvii. p. 183), olovel dotards TT^V ovaiav TOV Oeov dirb iravTQiv TUJV 
 ytvvTjTuv : In Matth. xvii. 14 (Lom. iv. 116) we have TO !i/ viroKfipevov : 
 Cels. viii. 12, OVTO. Svo TQ VTroardatt irpdy/j.aTa tv 8^ TTJ o/jiovoiq, Kal T?) 
 avn<p<aviq Kal Tainan TOV 0ovXr)naTos. I have not noted other instances of 
 the use of ovaia, but in the Latin translations substantia occurs frequently ; 
 In Num. Horn. xii. i ; In Rom. vii. 13 ; viii. 5 ; De Princ. i. 2. 5 ; In Levit. 
 Horn. xiii. 4 ; In Cant. Cantic. iii. (Lom. xv. 56), qui ibi Trinitas propter 
 distinctionem personarum, hie unus Deus intellegitur pro unitate substantiae. 
 But here we may trace the hand of Rufinus. 
 
 M 2
 
 1 64 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 in the philosophy of the time, and mean precisely the 
 same thing. The difference between them appears to 
 be merely this, that Ousia is properly Platonic, while 
 Hypostasis, a comparatively modern and rare word, is 
 properly Stoic. To the Platonist Ousia denoted the 
 Idea, by participation in which the thing is what it is, 
 * which is prior to and above the thing. To the Stoic both 
 words signified the thing itself, the essential substratum 
 which, having no qualities, is yet the vehicle of all 
 qualities *. Hypostasis bears also the meaning of an 
 
 1 The definition of ovaia is given at length by Origen, De Oral. 2 7 (Lorn, 
 xvii. 210) : ff nfVTOi Kvpiws ovaia rofy fj.fv Trpoij-fovntvijv TTJV ruv aacafMroiv 
 viroaraaiv fivai <pda>covai (that is by the Platonist) V(v6fitarai Kara rci 
 dad/para TO ivai fifpaicus t~xoi>Ta .... rots ot (iraKo\ov9r)TtKf)v avrfjv tivat 
 vo/j.iovai TrpoTjyov^evrjv Se TTJV TOJV ff<afj.dra}v (that is to the Stoics) opoi avrrjs 
 ovTOt elai' ovala early 57 irpdiTt] TWV ovrcav V\TJ . , . . jj TO irpurov inroararov 
 airoiov. In this latter sense it is identical with frrtHrttfurar, which already in 
 Aristotle means the substantia materialis, vXTjquae determinaturper formam, 
 or ovaia. cui inhaerent nddrj avu^f^Kora. See the Index of Bonitz. This 
 was the view of the Stoics ; see Ritter and Preller, Hist. Phil. Gr. et Rom. 
 403. In this sense the ovala was said ixpiaraaOai or v^tardvai, and from 
 this verb is formed viroffraais. The latter in the precise sense of substance 
 is exceedingly rare, and as far as I can gather distinctively Stoic. It became 
 naturalised in Latin as Substantia in the time of Seneca and Quintilian. 
 Cicero attempted to represent ovaia by Essentia Seneca, Ep. 58 ad in., 
 cupio, si fieri potest, propitiis auribus tuis, essentiam dicere. Si minus 
 dicam et iratis. Ciceronem auctorem huius verbi habeo, puto locu- 
 pletem but this harsh form did not live in classic Latin. There is a 
 remarkable passage in Socrates, H. E. iii. 7, where we are informed 
 that Irenaeus, a grammarian, in his Atticistes calls the word Hypostasis 
 barbarous because the ancients did not use it or gave it a wholly 
 different sense. But he continues, lariov nkv-roi OTI, ei aal ol ira\aiol 
 <pi\6ao<poi TT)I> \tiv iraptXiirov, d\\' o/us ot vtwrepot rSiv (f>t\oao<p<av awtxaii 
 avrl TTJS ovffias TT) \fti rrjs vTroaraffeus a-ncxpriaavTO. The ffvve\S>s 
 is a great exaggeration. The reader will find ovaia fifty times when he 
 finds vtroffraffis once. Lastly, these scientific terms were introduced into 
 theology by the Gnostics : ovaia, vnoaraais, vTroKfi^evov, dftoovaios all occur 
 in Irenaeus, i. 5. I. Yet it should be added that vnoaraais is used byTatian 
 (Otto, pp. 22, 28); ovaia and vrroaraais by Athenagoras, De Res. i. Suppl. 
 24 (Otto, pp. 130, 188) ; viroaraais in the Ep. ad Diog. 2 ; and ovaia by
 
 V.] Person and Substance. 165 
 
 actually subsisting entity, the manifestation of the es- 
 sence in the phenomenon. But this sense belongs to 
 Ousia also, so that the theological distinction between 
 the two terms is purely arbitrary. In the West Persona 
 and Substantia are already familiar to Tertullian l . Of 
 these terms, Persona, a singularly material word, belongs 
 not to the schools but to the Latin law courts, and 
 means ' a party,' ' an individual,' with all his legal duties 
 and rights. Stibstantia is a translation of Hypostasis. 
 Thus it came about that the same word, which in the 
 metaphysical East signified Person, was employed by 
 the prosaic and law-loving West for Substance ; an un- 
 happy confusion which gave rise to much acrimonious 
 debate 2 . 
 
 Melito, De Incar. Christi (Routh, i. p. 121), ras Svo avrov ovffias, of the two 
 natures in Christ. 
 
 1 Adv. Prax. 2. Gregory Nazianzen, Orat. xxi. 46, regards Persona as 
 a translation of irpbaomov. It is true that irpoffonrov, under Hebrew influ- 
 ences, had imbibed the notion of individuality. But we may venture to 
 think that Gregory has inverted the actual course of things. The reason 
 why the Westerns adopted the word Hypostasis for Substance is no doubt 
 that Substantia existed in Latin, while Essentia did not. In this sense in 
 Latin theology Hypostasis is a translation of Substantia. The same is true 
 I believe of the word itpocranrov, which is first found in Hippolytus, 
 Contra Noetum, 14, ed. Lagarde, p. 52, and the Philos. ix. 12. These 
 authors (or this author, for Dr. Dollinger appears to have demonstrated 
 that the Philos. is the work of Hippolytus) write in Greek but think in 
 Latin. Their style is steeped in Latin idioms. And besides, it is 
 highly unlikely that they would have selected a Greek phrase to 
 emphasise the point of a dispute which was being eagerly debated on all 
 sides in colloquial Latin. For the legal use of Persona compare dc.pro 
 Milone, 12, itaque illud Cassianum cui bono fuerit in his personis valeat. 
 For other information on these famous words see Baur, Dreieinigkeit, i. 446, 
 note; Liddon, Bampton Lectures, ed. 10, p. 33, note; Huet, Origeniana, 
 ii. 2. 3; Redepeuning, ii. p. 82 ; Bull, Defence of the Nicene Creed, vol. i. 
 pp. 1 88, 236, English translation of 1851. 
 
 2 See the account of the Council of Alexandria in 362, Mansi, iii. p. 350. 
 Jerome, Ep. xv. ad Damasum (in Migne, vol. xxii. p. 355), complains that 
 he is looked upon as a heretic in the East because he would not use the
 
 1 66 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 The controversy of the times turned mainly upon 
 what was called by Western divines ' the mystery of 
 the Economy 1 ,' the right mode that is to say of appre- 
 hending the personal difference, especially as regards 
 the relation of the Father to the Son. The problem 
 of the Unity was of course involved in this, but it was 
 not the immediate point at issue ; hence the phraseology 
 on this side was less guarded and precise. For Origen 
 and the men of his time the great object was to establish 
 the true Personality of Christ, to show that though God 
 He yet was not the Father. Their reasoning applies 
 also to the Holy Spirit, but not so pointedly; and as 
 regards the Third Person, there is still some degree of 
 hesitation and obscurity which the Alexandrines, and 
 in particular Origen, did much to dissipate. 
 
 phrase ' tres hypostases.' He objects that the formula is not Apostolical, 
 but this applies equally to his own mode of statement. 
 
 1 Tertullian, Adv. Praxeam, 2 : Quasi non sic quoque unus sit omnia, dum 
 ex uno omnia, per substantiae scilicet unitatem, et nihilominus custodiatur 
 oiKovofilas sacramentum, quae unitatem in trinitatem disponit. Ibid. 3 : 
 Sed monarchiam sonare student Latini, O\KOVO\UOV intelligere nolunt etiam 
 Graeci. Hippolytus, Contra Noetum, 14 (ed. Lagarde, p. 52), Svo ptv OVK 
 epui Oeovs d\\' rj tva, trpoaojira 8e Svo, otKOVOpia 5e rpirrjv rr)v XP tv T v dytov 
 irvevfiaTos, Trarf/p u.\v ycip fis irpoffcaira 8% Svo ort KO! 6 vlos, TO 8% Tpirov TO 
 afiov Trvev/JLa. TTOTT)/) fVTf\\(Tai, \6yos a.TTOT(\(T, vlos 8% SeiKVVTai, Si' ov iraT^p 
 iriffTeveTai, oiKovo/j.ias avfiKpaivia (this is surely the right reading ; Lagarde has 
 oiKovon'iq ffvptyuvia) avvdyeTai els eva Otov. Ibid. 4 (p. 46, Lagarde), 
 u.vaTj\piov otKOPOfjiias. A little lower down the word appears to bear even in 
 this usage its ordinary sense of 'dispensation.' Ibid. 14 (p. 53, Lagarde), 
 yivwffKcav ovv o iraTpyos \6yos TTJV o'tKOVopiav Kal TO 6(\rj/j.a TOV ira.Tp6s, 
 OTI OVK oAAws 0ov\eTai 8oafa0at ij OVTOK. But it has evidently acquired 
 a technical sense. Baur, Dreieinigkeit, ed. 1841, p. 178, ' Es liegtin ihm der 
 Begriff einer durch eine Vielheit sich vermittelnden Einheit.' Tatian, Ad 
 Graecos, 5 (p. 24 of Otto's ed.), yeyove 8t (o \6yos~) KUTCL u.tpiav.()v, ov icaTa 
 diroKoirrjV TO yap airoTfirjO^v TOV irpwTov Ke~)(wp lOTai > T0 8 p.tpia6tv oiKovop.ias 
 TT)V diptaiv Trpoa\a(}bv OVK tvSfd TOV o6ev efarjjrTai itt-noirjKev, If he were 
 asked how the Son could be distinguished from the Father without impairing 
 the perfections of the Father, Tatian replies, ' this is the mystery of the Divine 
 Will.' But see the note in Otto.
 
 V.] The Son. 167 
 
 The definition of the Father is already contained 
 in its main outlines in what has been said about the 
 Deity. The specific attributes of the First Person will 
 be best ascertained by considering His relation to the 
 Second and the Third. 
 
 The Son then is a Hypostasis, Living Wisdom, or, as 
 He is entitled in the Acts of Paul, in the first rude 
 attempt at definition, 'a living animal 1 .' He is verily 
 and substantially God, and therefore of necessity co- 
 eternal and coequal with the Father. On the first 
 point there is no shadow of doubt as to Origen's mean- 
 ing. ' There never can have been a time when He was 
 not. For when was that God, whom John calls the 
 Light, destitute of the radiance of His proper glory, so 
 that a man may dare to ascribe a beginning of existence 
 to the Son . . . Let a man, who ventures to say there 
 was a time when the Son was not, consider that this 
 is all one with saying there was a time when Wisdom 
 was not, the Word was not, the Life was not 2 / Nor, if 
 
 1 De Principiis, i. 2.3: Unde et recte mihi dictus videtur sermo ille, qui 
 in Actibus Pauli scriptus est, quia ' hie est verbum animal vivens.' 
 
 3 De Princ. iv. 28. Nothing can be stronger than Origen's language on 
 the co-eternity of the Son : ' Qui autem initium dat Verbo Dei, vel Sapientiae 
 Dei, intuere ne magis in ipsum ingenitum Patrem impietatem suam iactet, 
 cum eum neget semper Patrem fuisse, et genuisse Verbum, et habuisse 
 Sapientiam in omnibus anterioribus vel temporibus vel saeculis vel si quid 
 illud est quod nominari potest.' Origen is the inventor of the phrase ou/t 
 i<ST(.v ore OVK fy, famous afterwards as the watchword of the Catholics 
 against the Arians, De Princ. i. 2. 9 ; iv. 28 ; In Rom. i. 5. Nor can we 
 suspect here the hand of Rufinus, for the phrase is guaranteed not only 
 by Pamphilus in his Apology, but by Athanasius, De Deer. Syn. Nic. 
 chap. 27, ed. Migne. Further, as if this were not enough, Origen warns his 
 reader that when we say the Son ' never ' had a beginning we are speaking 
 not of Time but of Eternity : Nam et haec ipsa nomina temporalis vocabuli 
 significantiam gerunt, id est quando vel nunquam ; supra omne autem tempus, 
 et supra omnia saecula, et supra omnem aeternitatem intelligenda sunt ea, 
 quae de Patre et Filio et Spiritu Sancto dicuntur ; De Princ. iv. 28. Father, 
 if we may so speak, is the most ancient title of God : De Princ. i. 2. 10, non
 
 1 68 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 we keep in view his most deliberate and emphatic ut- 
 terances, can there be any doubt about the second. 
 The proof is taken from the Epistle to the Hebrews, 
 where the Son is called ' the express image of the 
 Hypostasis of God ; ' from the Book of Wisdom, where 
 He is ' the unspotted mirror of the power of God.' For 
 the property of a mirror is to reflect every feature, every 
 act of him that looks therein, without the slightest change. 
 Hence the Saviour Himself says, 'All mine are thine 
 and thine are mine,' ' What things soever the Father 
 doeth these also doeth the Son likewise ; ' and St. John 
 in the Apocalypse applies to Christ the Ineffable Name, 
 Thus saith the Lord God, who is, and who was, and 
 who is to come V 
 
 But Scripture carries us beyond this, giving to the 
 Son a number of titles to denote His Epinoiai, His 
 economic functions, His relations to the world 2 . In 
 this sense the Father is One and Simple, while the Son 
 is Many. He is, firstly, Wisdom, the perfect image of 
 the mind and will of God, which He expresses in crea- 
 
 potest antiquior esse in Deo Omnipotentis appellatio quam Patris : per 
 Filium enim omnipotens est Pater. On this point of the Coeternity there 
 cannot be any doubt as to Origen's meaning. See the Excursus of Maranus 
 in Lorn. vol. xxii. p. 351. 
 
 1 De Princ. \. 2. 
 
 2 In Cant, Cant. iii. (Lorn. xv. p. 29) : Et ne mireris, si idem ipse et 
 arbor vitae et diversa alia dicatur, cum idem et panis verus, et vitis vera, et 
 agnus Dei, et multa alia nominetur. Omnia namque haec Verbum Dei 
 unicuique emcitur, prout mensura vel desiderium participantis exposcit : 
 secundum quod et manna, qui cum esset unus cibus, unicuique tamen desi- 
 derio (desiderii ?) sui reddebat saporem. The peculiarity of Origen's view 
 is that he endeavours to arrange these titles of Christ in an ascending scale, 
 and regards them as denoting successive stages of the believer's progress and 
 receptivity. This was a Valentinian idea. Excerpta ex Theodoto, 7, 6 8 
 avr6s tort TOIOVTOS &v edoT<j> 010$ Kt\<apfia6ai Svvarai, and a similar view 
 gave their name to the Docetae (see the Diet, of Christ. Biog.). But the 
 graduation of the titles is necessarily difficult, obscure, and fluctuating.
 
 V.] Epinoiai of the Son. 169 
 
 tion. Secondly, He is the Word, ' because He is as it were 
 the interpreter of the secrets of the divine intelligence,' 
 the channel of Revelation 1 . Hence He is also the Life 
 and the Truth, the giver and sustainer of physical being 
 and spiritual well-being. These are properties of His 
 Deity which can never change. Others He has as the 
 God-Man, Propitiation, Physician, Shepherd, Redemp- 
 tion, the True Bread, the True Vine, the Lamb of God. 
 These are accidental, for had man never fallen into sin 
 they would have been needless 2 . Origen compares these 
 
 1 Wisdom is the first and highest of the Epinoiai : Injoann. ii. 6, Trpoem- 
 voov(j.(vi]s rov \6yov atxpias. In this sense Christ is the Mind of God, 
 continens in semet ipsa universae creaturae vel initia vel formas vel species, 
 De Princ. i. 2. 2. All things were created according to the ideas which God 
 had previously brought to consciousness (Trporpavai9(vras) in Wisdom, as 
 a house, a ship is built according to the plan or scheme existing in the mind 
 of the builder ; Injoann. i. 22. Here we have the King's Architect of Philo. 
 In this sense He may be the K6fffj.os vorjros, In Joann. xix. 5 ; cp. Contra 
 Celsum, v. 22, 39 ; vi. 64. In the De Princ. ii. 3. 6 Origen does not reject 
 the doctrine of Ideas, but merely denies the independent existence of the 
 Koa^os vorjTos : utique a nostris alienum est mundum incorporeum dicere, in 
 sola mentis phantasia vel cogitationum lubrico consistentem. As Wisdom 
 Christ is Creator ; Injoann. i. 22, Srj/juovpyos 5e 6 Xpiaros usdpxri, Ka86 o~o<f>ia 
 fffri. The Epinoia of the \Vord comes after that of Wisdom, De Princ. i. 2. 3 ; 
 Injoann. i. 2 2. It is the outer aspect, if we may so say, of the Son's Divinity, 
 the side on which He communicates with the world, the first link in the chain 
 between God and man. See Denis, Philosophic cFOrigtne, pp. 89 sqq. 
 
 - Origen distinguishes, Injoann. i. 22, between the Epinoiai which belong 
 to Christ as properties of His eternal Nature and those which are accretions, 
 assumed for the purpose of Redemption. It is in respect of the latter that 
 the Son is Many, while the Father is One. To the latter class belong First- 
 bom from the Dead, iKaaTrjpiov, Light, Shepherd ; to the former, W T isdom, 
 Word, Life, Truth. Taxa yap ffotyia Zpfve fiovov, tj /cat \6yos, rj ical arf], 
 iravrais oe KOI aMjdeia' ov nty 5f ical TO, d\\a ova 81' i^tas irpoad\ri<pt. In 
 Joann. i. 30, the latter are the alaQrjra, the former the vorjrd, and here comes 
 in the distinction between the Two Lives as in Clement. Those who know 
 Christ only as aladrjros are ruled by Him as Man ; those who have risen to a 
 perception of the vorjrd are fiaatKevontvoi viro rfjs npor]"fovfi.tvr]s (piifffois rov 
 povo-ffvovs, governed by Christ as God. The reader will observe how 
 closely this is connected with the teaching of Philo, though the Christian 
 could not admit that the Word is God only of the imperfect.
 
 1 70 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 Epinoiai to the steps of the Temple leading up to the 
 Holy of Holies. The lower flight is the Humanity, the 
 upper the Divinity, the whole make up our knowledge 
 of the Saviour 1 . We have already seen the same idea 
 in Clement, though not so clearly developed. 
 
 ' Let no one think,' says Origen, ' that we are intro- 
 ducing a distinction into the essence of the Son V But the 
 mode of expression has given rise to misunderstanding. 
 It is not meant that Christ will ever put off His Hu- 
 manity 3 or that we shall ever cease to need Him, for 
 even at the climax of all things He will still be the Life 
 and the Truth. We shall see the Father face to face, but 
 only because we shall be ' one spirit with the Lord.' 
 In this sense only Origen believed that the work of 
 Redemption and Mediation will have an end. We shall 
 see the Father no longer in the Son, but as the Son sees 
 Him, in the day when God shall be all in all 4 . But to 
 
 1 In Joann. xix. i (Lorn, ii, 149). In this passage in oiairtp rGivavapaOiuav 
 6 (j.ovoyevr)s Ian irpuros lirl rci KCLTOI read 6 ptv tart Trpwros. In Joann. 
 xxxii. 19 there are Epinoiai of the believer corresponding to those of Christ. 
 He is first the slave, then the disciple, the little child, the child, the brother 
 of Jesus, the son of God. 
 
 * In Joann. i. 30 ad fin. Huet charges Origen with asserting that the 
 title Word belongs to the Son only accidentally, like those of Light and 
 Shepherd, but he is entirely wrong. The reader of the Origeniana must be 
 on his guard throughout. Huet's timidity leads him into frequent errors, in 
 spite of his learning and his sincere desire to do justice. Maranus and de 
 la Rue are not only more generous but safer guides. 
 
 3 See the end of this Lecture. 
 
 * In Joann. xx. 7. The reader may consult M. Denis, p. 379. There is, 
 however, an important distinction. We shall no longer see the Father 
 in the Son, but we, being in the Son, shall see the Father face to face. And 
 in this sense the work of Mediation does not cease. See De Princ. iii. 
 5. 6 sq., Cum ipsis et in ipsis Ipse quoque subiectus dicitur Patri. De 
 Princ. iii. 6. I Origen quotes John xvii. 21, 24, ' Pater, volo ut ubi ego 
 sum et isti sint mecum, et sicut ego et tu unum sumus ita et isti in nobis 
 unum sint.' This is one of his favourite texts. The same idea is developed, 
 In Levit. Horn. vii. 2. Here again the reference is to i Cor. xv. 28. Why
 
 v.] The Holy Ghost. 171 
 
 Origen, as to Clement, the belief in Jesus as Redeemer is 
 the note of the lower life. We must rise above the 
 sensible to the intelligible, from obedience to love and 
 knowledge, from Jesus to the Word. Redemption is 
 forgiveness and healing discipline, and the true Christian 
 has ceased to need these. Hence the startling phrase 
 that ' to know Christ crucified is the knowledge of babes V 
 Or again, ' Blessed are those who want the Saviour no 
 longer as Physician, Shepherd, Redemption 2 .' But 
 Origen's outlook is darker than that of Clement. He 
 throws the higher life farther and farther back, and 
 exhibits a growing intensity of devotion towards the 
 Son of Man. 
 
 The heathen Platonists have attained, says Origen, by 
 the light of Nature to a knowledge of the Father and 
 even of the Son ; but the belief in the Holy Ghost is 
 the distinguishing prerogative of Christianity 3 . The 
 statement marks his sense of the importance of this 
 article of the Creed, which he did much to strengthen 
 and expand. He has indeed no technical word to 
 denote the relation of the Third to the other Persons, 
 
 does the Apostle say ' then shall the Son Himself be subject to the Father ? ' 
 Not that He needs subjection to the Father, but on my account, in whom 
 He has not yet perfected His work, He is said to be as yet not subject. But 
 when He shall have finished His office and brought all His creatures to the 
 top of perfection, then He Himself shall be called subject in those whom 
 He hath put under the Father, and in whom He has perfected the work 
 that the Father gave Him to do, that God may be all in all. Then and 
 not till then Christ's joy shall be full. 
 
 1 Injoann. i. 20, tyvati p.tv avrov apx?) f) Gearys, irp&s ^fj.ds 8, pi) diro rov 
 fifftOovs avrov Swaptvovs apaaOai rijs irtpl avrov a\r)0eias, f) dvOpcuTroTrjs 
 avrov, Ka6o rofy vrjiriois KaTayy(\\(rai 'lijcrovs Xpj<rTos,/zt OVTOS karavpaifj.tvos. 
 So also Ibid. xix. 3. 
 
 2 Injoann. i. 22. 
 
 3 The leading passages on the subject of the Holy Spirit are De Princ. \. 
 3 ; ii. 7 ; Injoann. ii. 6.
 
 172 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 nor does he ever definitely bestow upon Him the title 
 of God l . But the idea, if not the word, is clearly there. 
 
 1 In De Princ. ii. 7. I he appears even to deny it: ' Nam ut concedamus 
 Marcioni vel Valentino posse differentias deitatis (of Father and Son) in- 
 ducere . . . quid inveniet ut differentiam Spiritus Sancti introducat.' But he 
 certainly spoke of the divinity of the Holy Spirit ; Ibid. 3, the Mon- 
 tanists ' minora quam dignum est de ejus divinitate sentientes erroribus se ac 
 deceptionibus tradiderunt.' Basil (De Spir. Sancto, vol. ii. p. 358, ed. Paris, 
 1638), who considers that the doctrine of Origen was not sound on all 
 points, quotes from the In Rom., ai iepal Swdfteis ^cu^Tt/ccu T v 
 Kal rrjs TOV ayiov irveiifMTOs OforrjTos, and adds, ovrois. olp,ai rb 
 l<j\vpov fvrjye Tro\\aKis TOVS avSpas Kal TOIS olxfiots avruiv Soyp-aviv dv 
 The latter remark is unjust. Tradition was certainly on the side of Origen 
 as against Basil ; for the title Deus is first expressly bestowed upon the 
 Holy Spirit by Tertullian in his Montanist treatise Adv. Praxeam, 3. 13 ; 
 cp. Baur, Dreieinigkeit, ed. 1841, p. 177 note. In the Preface to the 
 De Principiis, 4, it is affirmed that the praedicatio apostolica does 
 not decide of the Spirit utrum natus an innatus. Jerome has utrum 
 factus an infectus. Apparently Rufinus read yevvrjTos rj dytvvrjros, 
 Jerome yevrjTos fj dyevqTos. The words are constantly interchanged in 
 MSS. In Joann. ii. 6 Origen starts several questions whether the Spirit 
 has a hypostatic existence ; whether He is one of the all things which 
 were made (tyevero) through the Son ; whether He is less or greater 
 than the Son. The first he answers by affirming the Three Hypostases. 
 The reply to the second is very hesitating and tortuous. It is perhaps the 
 worst instance of the evil of his extemporaneous method of composition. At 
 first (p. no Lorn.) he regards it as the more pious and true conclusion that the 
 Spirit is not included in the ' all things ' that were made by the Son. But 
 TOV vlov XP*l flv fOiKe TO ayiov Trvevfui, SIOKOVOVVTOS avTov ry VTroardffei ov 
 (jiovov tls TO tivai d\\oL nal aotpbv etvai Kal \oytKov ical SiKaiov, KOI nav 
 ornroTovv xpJ) o,i>T(> voetv Tvyx. avelv Kara fifro'^v TUV irpofiprjuevcav f)\uv 
 Jipiarov tmvoiuv. And three pages further on (p. 113 Lorn.) he slides into 
 the affirmative, Tavra Se eiriiro\v (^rjTaffrai ffafftearfpov ISftv @ov\ofj,evois TJUJS, 
 (I TrdvTa Sid TOV \6yov tyevero, Kal TO irvtvfj.a Sid TOV \6yov eyevfTO ev TUIV 
 ndvTcav Tvfxdvov. Thus the relation of the Spirit to the Son appears to be 
 analogous to that of the Son to the Father. Perhaps this need not be under- 
 stood as directly contradicting De Princ. i. 3. 4, neque enim putandum 
 est quod etiam Spiritus Filio revelante cognoscit. Si enim revelante Filio 
 cognoscit Patrem Spiritus Sanctus, ergo ex ignorantia ad scientiam venit. 
 De Princ. ii. 2. i we read, Sicut ingenitum Filium generat Pater et Spiritum 
 Sanctum profert ; In Rom. vii. i, Qui vere ex ipso Deo procedit ; De 
 Princ. i. 2. 13, In eo fonte de quo vel natus est Filius vel procedit Spiritus 
 Sanctus. But in these passages Rufinus is hardly trustworthy. To the 
 third question he replies finally that the Spirit is viroSeeaTfpov TOV dt' ov
 
 V.] The Holy Ghost. 173 
 
 The full divinity of the Holy Spirit lay enfolded in the 
 Baptismal formula, and is the logical consequence of the 
 assertion of His hypostasis. His eternity Origen teaches 
 as distinctly as that of the Son ; His equality is virtually 
 though not so clearly contained in many passages. 
 Thus He is ' associated in honour and dignity with the 
 Father and the Son.' He is one of the adorable Trinity 
 which is wholly present in each of the Persons. And 
 Origen himself invokes the Holy Spirit in prayer 1 . 
 
 It is He that in the beginning moved upon the face of 
 the waters 2 ; He that is to be understood both in Old and 
 
 eyevfTo. ri-yveoOat, yevrjros, were not in themselves incorrect words to use 
 either of the Son or of the Holy Spirit ; see Orig. ii. 2. 23 (Lorn. xxii. 
 p. 184), with the note of Maranus, and Exc. v. at end of volume. But the 
 Bishop of Durham, Apost. Fathers, part ii. vol. 2. sect. I. p. 90, inclines to 
 doubt this. How cautious Origen is may be seen, De Princ. i. 3. 3 : 
 Verumtamen usque ad praesens nullum sennonem in scriptis sanctis 
 invenire potuimus per quern Spiritus Sanctus factura esse vel creatura 
 diceretur, ne eo quidem modo, quo de Sapientia referre Salomonem supra 
 edocuimus. He found /m'fetv used of Wisdom but not of the Holy Spirit. 
 The idea suggested, Injoann. ii. 6, that the work of redemption was properly 
 the function of the Holy Spirit, but that He, being unable to sustain the 
 task, delivered it over to the Son, is, as Maranus pointed out, a mere 
 scholastic diropia illustrating only the freedom with which Origen moved. 
 
 1 See De Princ. i. 3 throughout; In Joann. vi. 17 (Lorn. i. 227), TO) 
 (/ATrapfXOVTi tavrov Trj GewrrjTi rfjs 5vvdfius TOIV rfjs irpoffKin'rjTfjs TptdSos 
 firiKXrjaetov, quoted by Basil, De Spir. Sancto, 29 ; De Princ., Preface, 4, 
 Honore ac dignitate Patri ac Filio sociatum tradiderunt Spiritum Sanctum ; 
 In Levit. Horn. i. i, Ipse igitur nobis Dominus, ipse Sanctus Spiritus 
 deprecandus est, ut omnem nebulam omnemque caliginem, quae peccatornm 
 sordibus concreta visum nostri cordis obscurat, auferre dignetur ; In Isai. 
 Horn. i. 4, Denique ut unitatem Deitatis in Trinitate cognoscas solus 
 Christus in praesenti lectione nunc peccata dimittit, et tamen certum est a 
 Trinitate peccata dimitti ; Ibid. iv. I, Non iis sufficit semel clamare 
 ' Sanctus/ neque bis, sed perfectum numerum Trinitatis assumunt, ut mnlti- 
 tudinem sanctitatis manifestent Dei, quae est trinae sanctitatis repetita com- 
 munitas, sanctitas Patris, sanctitas unigeniti Filii et Spiritus Sancti. See 
 Denis, pp. 117 sqq. 
 
 2 De Princ. i. 3. 3. Participation in the work of Creation is again assigned 
 to the Holy Spirit, De Princ. iv. 30, on the authority of Psalm xxxiii. 6, 
 Verbo Domini coeli firmati sunt, et spiritu oris eius omnis virtus eomm.
 
 1 74 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 New Testament by the words Spirit or Holy Spirit. 
 But His special work is that of sanctification. The 
 Father gives being to all that exists ; the Son imparts 
 reason, Logos, to all that is capable of it ; the Holy 
 Ghost works life in those that believe. Hence though 
 all men may be said to participate in the First and 
 Second Persons, not all men share in the Third. It is 
 He that creates in man the capacity to receive Christ, 
 first as Justice, then as Wisdom, and so on in ever- 
 deepening affinity, till at last the gift of being becomes 
 worthy of the Giver. Man is made what God meant 
 him to be, good and permanently good, by the ceaseless 
 ministrations of the Holy Spirit. Thus it may be said 
 that the Son and the Holy Spirit are the cause of the 
 knowledge of God, that the Holy Spirit is the substance 
 of the graces of the Father *. * 
 
 Thus far the Alexandrines cleared and defined the 
 notion of the Divine Persons. But a not less difficult 
 task remained behind. Granting the triple Personality, 
 where then is the Unity, or as it was called the Monarchy ? 
 The question was involved in Noetianism, it was pressed 
 upon the Church from without by Celsus, the champion 
 of reformed Heathenism. It involved the very essence 
 and existence of the faith. If Christianity was Mono- 
 theism in the sense of Noetus, where was the reality of 
 the work of Jesus? if it were not Monotheism in the sense 
 
 This is important, as showing that in De Princ. i. 3. 5 the words ' ut operati- 
 onem specialem Spiritus Sancti et specialem Patris ac Filii describamus ' are 
 not inserted by Rufinus. This is a sufficient answer to the strictures of 
 Theophilus, Jerome and Justinian, for which see the Origeniana. 
 
 1 De Princ. i. 3. 5 ; Prol. in Cant. Cant. (Lorn. xiv. 307) ; Injoann. 
 ii. 6 ; In Jerem.'ttora.. viii. i. Substance of the graces, v\rj ruiv \apio {J.O.TOIV. 
 As the Son is f/jaf'vxos ffotyia, so the Holy Spirit is epfrvx * X^P iS > though this 
 phrase is not actually used.
 
 V.] The Unity in Trinity. 175 
 
 of Celsus, in what was it better than the religion of 
 Mithra, and what became of its exclusive claims? 
 
 We enter here upon one of the most fiercely decried 
 portions of Origen's teaching 1 . Let it be observed by 
 way of caution that he had no paper money, no accepted 
 phrases to pass current instead of thought ; that speaking 
 of the most awful mystery that can exercise the mind of 
 man, he expresses himself by no means with neatness 
 and precision, but with becoming hesitation, as of one 
 who hears only ' fragments of the mighty voice,' and 
 faithfully endeavours to render the whole of what he 
 hears. Hence his language is partly that of later 
 times, partly not ; most startling when most Biblical. 
 Rufinus, the translator of the De Principiis, has doubt- 
 less tampered with his text. But we have abundant 
 means of checking his divagations. There is no im- 
 portant point on which we cannot produce the exact 
 meaning of Origen 2 . 
 
 1 The chief among the ancient assailants of Origen and Origenism were 
 Methodius, De Resurrectione, fragments only are extant, bat there is an ab- 
 stract of the work in Photius, Cod. 234 ; Eustathius, De Engastrimytho, 
 in Migne, vol. xvii. 614; Epiphanius, Haereses, Ixiv; Ep. ad Joann. Ep. 
 Hieros., Latin translation in Jerome's Epistles, 51, Migne, vol. xxii ; Theo- 
 philus, Paschal Letters, i. 2. 3, Greek fragments in Migne, vol. Ixv. 54, 
 Latin translations in Jerome's Epistles, 96, 98, 100, Migne, vol. xxii ; 
 Jerome, Epp. 84, Ad Pammachium et Oceanum, 124 Ad Avitum, Migne, 
 vol. xxii ; Apologia adv. libros Rufini ; Justinian, Adv. Origenem or Ad 
 Menam, Mansi, ix. 487 ; Migne, Ixxxvi. 946 ; Labbe, v. 635. 
 
 a The life and works of Rufinus (whose cognomen is variously given as 
 Toranus, Turranius, or Tyrannius) will be found in Migne, vol. xxi. See 
 also Origeniana, ii. 4. 10 ; Redepenning, ii. 61, 68, 254; Neander, iv. 
 447 (Eng. Trans.) ; Gieseler, Lehrbuch der Kirchengeschichte, 1824, part i. 
 p. 284 sqq. Rufinus, a monk of Aquileia, in 372 accompanied a pious and 
 wealthy lady Melania to the East as a kind of domestic chaplain, though 
 not yet ordained. In Palestine, where he remained till 397, living for a part 
 of the time with the hermits on the Mount of Olives, he had a serious 
 quarrel with Jerome, arising out of the dispute between Epiphanius and
 
 1 76 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 Let us begin with passages representing the line of 
 thought that was afterwards predominant. Origen insists 
 that both terms of the antinomy, the One and the Many, 
 must be equally kept in view. Thus in the Homily on 
 the Shew Bread, one of his most remarkable allegories, 
 the bread, he says, is made of two-tenths of flour. It is 
 significant then of the two Persons, for ten, the perfect 
 number, is emblematic of Deity. The loaves are laid 
 one upon another to show that they are one mass, one 
 
 John of Jerusalem. The latter was accused of Origenism and Rufinus took 
 his part. On his return to Italy he began to translate Greek theological 
 works into Latin at the request of friends, in particular the De Principiis. 
 This led to a renewal of hostilities with Jerome, and drew upon Rufinus the 
 censure of Pope Anastasius, though he does not appear to have been formally 
 condemned. He died in Sicily, whither he had fled for shelter during the 
 invasion of Alaric. Here in sight of the blazing villages of Calabria, in the 
 midst of horrors that might seem to denote the approaching end of all 
 things, he found comfort in the mystical commentary on the Song of Songs. 
 Besides the De Principiis he gave to Latin the pseudo-Clementine Recogni- 
 tions. The Westerns appear to have been at this time profoundly ignorant 
 of Greek speculations, and Rufinus was much in the position of the scholars 
 who first introduced modern German theology into England. To him we 
 owe the Latin version of the Homilies on Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, 
 Numbers, Joshua, Judges, i Samuel (the last probably, Red. ii. 255), 
 Psalms 36-38, the Commentaries on the Song of Songs, and Romans, and 
 the De Principiis, with the Apology of Pamphilus. The translation of the 
 Homilies on the Song of Songs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Luke, is by 
 Jerome. The author of the version of the latter part of the Commentary on 
 Matthew is unknown. We have also some fragments of the translation of 
 the De Princ. by Jerome, and of a Homily on Job by Hilarius Pictaviensis. 
 Rufinus has described his mode of translation very candidly (see his Pre- 
 faces to Numbers, Joshua, Psalms, De Princ. i. and iii, and the peroratio to 
 In Rom.). He dealt with great freedom, expanding, condensing, com- 
 bining, expurgating, and amending. The gist of Jerome's attack upon the 
 translation of the De Princ. is not that Rufinus had softened or omitted un- 
 orthodox expressions on the subject of the Trinity (for he had done the same 
 thing himself in his version of the Homilies on Isaiah), but that he had 
 supported and strengthened Origen's views on the subject of the Fall, Resti- 
 tution, &c. The worst that can be said of Rufinus is that his judgment 
 and temper were not perfect. Huet treats him very harshly in order to 
 relieve Jerome.
 
 V.] The Unity in Trinity. 177 
 
 Bread. ' For I cannot separate the Son from the Father, 
 the Father from the Son.' Yet again, the loaves are 
 placed in two layers to denote the Personal distinction. 
 'We call Him Father who is not Son, Him Son who is 
 not Father V Again, elsewhere the Persons are numeri- 
 cally distinct 2 . But this is not to be taken to imply local 
 division. ' For to ascribe division to an incorporeal 
 substance is the act not only of extreme impiety but of 
 the dullest folly 3 .' Hence the Generation of the Son is 
 to be regarded as a continuous process. ' The Father did 
 not beget His Son and let Him go from Himself, but 
 always begets Him 4 .' For this reason he rejects the 
 phrases which earlier writers had employed, that of 
 
 1 In Levit. Horn. xiii. 4. 
 
 2 The Noetians hold yd\ Sia<pfpfiv rw apiOp-Si rov vlbv rov iraTp6s, In Joann. 
 x. 21. So Justin, Apol. i. 22, the Son erep6s tan rov 6(ov dpiOfJUu dXX' ov 
 fvwu.T). Again, Trypho, 56 (Otto, p. 192). 
 
 3 De Princ. i. 2. 6 : Observandnm namque est ne quis incurrat in 
 absurdas fabulas eorum qui prolationes quasdam sibi ipsis depingunt, ut 
 divinam naturam in partes vocent, et Deum patrem quantum in se est divi- 
 dant, cum hoc de incorporea natura vel leviter suspicari non solum extremae 
 impietatis sit verum ultimae insipientiae. 
 
 * Injerem. Horn. ix. 4, ad Jin. : ov\l iytvvrjffev 6 irarrip rov vl&v ical 
 airf \vaev avrov o irarfip airo TTJJ ffvtataK avrov dAA'dei fevvq avrov. Origen 
 goes on to illustrate his meaning by the simile of the Torch and the Ray. 
 Huet regards with suspicion this figure, which was indeed used by unorthodox 
 writers to give the idea of an occasional emanation, emitted from and again 
 absorbed into the parent flame. See above, p. 59, note. But de la Rue. 
 defends it with perfect success, though the language of De Princ. i. 2. 7, 1 1 
 hardly needs defence. Cp. also In Joann. xxxii. 18 (Lorn. ii. 470), S\rjt 
 ptv ow oifj.ai TT/S Sofas rov Oeov avrov diravyaa JJM tlvat rov v\6v. The idea 
 of occasional emanation attaches also to the phrase Prophoric Logos, that is 
 Spoken Word,which Origen rejects, In Joann. i. 23 (Lorn. i. 50): teal fid\tffra, 
 iwfl awe\us \pSjvrai r> eTjpevaro f/ KapSia fi.ov \6yov ayaOuv, oi6ft(vot 
 vpo<popav irarpiKT)v olovd (v av\\a0aTs Kttfj.tvr)v elvai rov vlov rov Ofov iced 
 icarcL rovro vttoffraaiv avry, et dnpi^Sis avrwv rrvvOavoifitOa, ov StSoao'iv. De 
 Princ. i. 2. 4 Origen rejects also the Adoption theory. Ibid. i. 2. 6 the 
 Son's existence depends upon the Will of the Father and the Divine Genera- 
 tion is illustrated by the relation of volition to intelligence. 
 
 N
 
 178 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 Projection, that of the Prophoric Logos, and prefers 
 the beautiful simile of the Torch and the Ray. So far 
 his view is that known as Circumincession, the idea of 
 perfect mutual interpenetration. He has addressed him- 
 self mainly to the relation between Father and Son. But 
 what is true of them is true of the whole Trinity. 
 
 But still it may be asked in what precisely does the 
 unity consist ? In this particular form the question had 
 as yet hardly been posed, and it would have been better 
 had it never been stated. The most we can do is to 
 agree upon a word, and at such altitudes words lose their 
 vitality. But it was not Origen's nature to gloss over a 
 difficulty, and in those days of Polytheism it would not 
 perhaps have been safe to do so. He will give then 
 what answer he can, though he well knows what the 
 answer is worth. At one time in reply to Celsus he 
 places the unity in perfect moral harmony. ' We worship 
 the Father of Truth, and the Son who is Truth, Two in 
 Person, but One in agreement and concert and identity 
 of will.' It is a union -like that of the Church, ' the multi- 
 tude of them that believed were of one heart and one 
 soul V At another time he uses the expression One in 
 
 1 Contra Celsum,\\\\. 12. After quoting John xiv. n,'I am in the Father 
 and the Father in Me,' Origen proceeds, ei 5e rts ! TOVTOJV irepiairaaOriafrai 
 {trf irrj a.vrofio\ov[i.tv irpos TOVS dvaipovvTas Svo flvat viroffraffeis irarepa Kal 
 vlov, fTriffrrjaarca T$ rjv 5k iravrcav ruiv iriartvaavTiav j) KapSia Kal ff ^v 
 tva, Geaiprjcrri rb eyu KOI 6 irarfjp ev tfffitv. "Eva ovv 0t6v, us d 
 T&V irarepa Kal TOV vlbv 6(patrtvop.(v .... ovra Svo rrj viroffraffd irp 
 If St T{) bpovoiq KOI TT) avfttycavia Kal ry Tavrorrjn rov }OV\T]/MTOS. The 
 same definition supported by the same illustration was censured in the case 
 of Abbot Joachim by the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 ; see Mansi, xxii. 
 981 sqq., or Denzinger, Enchiridion, 358. Abbot Joachim preached also 
 ' the Eternal Gospel,' though he gave to the phrase a political significance 
 and used it to express the social and religious reformation yearned for by 
 the enthusiasts of his time. M. Denis, pp. 576 sqq., appears to me to 
 underrate the connection between Origen and Joachim.
 
 V.] The Mode of Unity. 179 
 
 Substance, and Pamphilus even ascribes to him the famous 
 Homoousion of the Nicene Fathers l . This however could 
 not be his definite opinion, partly because the word Ousia 
 or Essence still means at times Person or Hypostasis ; 
 partly because from either point of view, the Stoic or the 
 Platonic, it was by no means clear whether God could 
 be spoken of as having Ousia at all, because He is rather 
 ' above all Ousia 2 ; ' partly again because the term belongs 
 
 1 Frag. 3 from commentary In Hebr. quoted by Pamphilus in \\isApology, 
 Quae utraeque similitudines (vapor virtutis Dei and 'aporrhoea gloriae 
 Omnipotentis purissima) manifestissime ostendunt communionem substantiae 
 esse Filio cum Patre. Aporrhoea enim 6/j.oovfftos videtur, id est unius sub- 
 stantiae cum illo corpore ex quo est vel aporrhoea vel vapor (Lorn. xxiv. 
 359). The word 6/j.oovaios is used by Heracleon to denote the natural affinity 
 which he in common with the other Valentinians conceived to exist between 
 the Pneumatic and God and between the Hylic and the Devil, Injoann. xiii. 
 25 ; xx. 18 (Lorn. ii. 43, 241). This idea is rejected both by Clement, Strom. 
 ii. 16. 74 ; iv. 13. 91, and by Origen. In this usage the word means made 
 of the same stuff, of the same genus, governed by the same laws, but does not 
 imply equality. In this sense it is applied to the Son by the author of the 
 Homilies, xx. 7. The Son is ojttoovcrios rw 6t> laoSwafios 8 ov. As a term 
 of theology the word appears to have been first employed in these ways by 
 Gnostics and Ebionites. In the passage quoted above from Origen it 
 appears for the first time in its later Nicene sense, for I cannot regard the 
 passage in the Adumbrationes, p. 1009, as Clement's, though Zahn, Forsch- 
 ungen,^. 138, thinks otherwise. The word was not regarded as orthodox 
 by the Antiochene Fathers, see Routh, iii. p. 314. Like many other words 
 it acquired a technical meaning which at first undoubtedly it did not possess. 
 Bull, book ii. chapter i, may still be read with advantage, though he 
 endeavoured to prove too much. 'Oftoouo-tos is certainly not ' a word of 
 which the precision and exactness precluded all attempt at equivocation.' 
 See also Harnack, Dogmengeschichte, pp. 531 sqq. 
 
 " See Contra Celsum, vi. 64. Celsus says, ou8' ovffias pertx** o 6(6s. 
 No, replies Origen, /T*XTCU -yap /jia\\ov r) (terexfi. So the Saviour, ov 
 /iTtx l&v SiKaioavvrjr Sitcaioavvij 8 wv fierexfrat inrb TUV SiKaicuv. . . . 
 rioA.ii? 56 6 itfpl TJJJ over/as \6yos /cat SvaGtuiprjTOS .... ir6r(pov int/cuva 
 ovaias la-rl Trpfff&tiq /cat 5vi/(i/xet o Otos /itraSiSovs ovoias . . f) Kal avros (ffny 
 ovffia. . . . ZrjTrjTfov 8^ KOI ti ovaiav fJLtv ovfftwv \fKTtov Kol IStav ISfSiv teal 
 apXyv T OV fiovoyfvfj /cat irp<uT6TOKOv irdarjs Kriatcas, (jriKfiva 8^ -navTtav TOVTOJV 
 TOV -nartpa avrov /cat Otov. In Joann. xix. I (Lorn. ii. p. 149), "iv OUTCUS 
 f\0ri firt TO (ViSftf T ouaia fj rrj v-ntptKtiva. TTJS ovaias Svvdfj.(i ical </>i5crt TOW 
 
 N a
 
 1 80 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 to the vocabulary of science and not of Scripture, and 
 even in science denotes not knowledge but the absence 
 of knowledge. For the Ousia is precisely that about a 
 thing of which we are wholly ignorant. Hence again, 
 taking his stand upon the words of our Saviour ' that 
 they may know Thee the only true God,' upon the words 
 of St. Paul ' to us there is but One God the Father,' he 
 seeks for the ground of unity in the derivation of the 
 Second Person from the First, of the Third from the 
 Second and First. The Father is 'the God,' 'the only 
 true God.' The Son is ' God ' without addition, because 
 His Deity is derived 1 . 
 
 The Son, as we have seen, possesses all the attributes 
 of God, His Goodness, His Wisdom, His Power. He 
 possesses them in full and perfect measure, not acci- 
 dentally but substantially and unchangeably, not pre- 
 cariously but by virtue, if we may so speak, of a law of 
 the Divine Nature. He is begotten, not created. The 
 Son is in the Father, the Father in the Son, and no 
 schism is conceivable between them. Yet the Word is 
 the Splendour of the Divine Glory, the Image of the 
 Father's Person, in a word He is the Son. The Father 
 is the ' Fountain ' from whom His Divinity is ' drawn V 
 
 6eo5. If ovffta be taken in its Platonic sense as signifying Idea it is prior 
 to the Thing, and thus the Idea of God would be above God ; again, the 
 Ideas are sometimes spoken of as created by God. If the word be taken in 
 its Stoic sense, we arrive at a distinction between the irpurr} v\rj and the iraOij 
 of the Deity. Words like these, which represent or are supposed to repre- 
 sent the teaching of sensible experience, explain without explaining that 
 which ' eye hath not seen.' 
 
 1 Injoann. ii. 2, 3, 18 ; xiii. 25 ; xxxii. 18 ; Contra Celsum, viii. 14, 15. 
 
 * In Joann. ii. 2, airaaas TTJS Otorrjros tls favrov. ' Hoc est portionem 
 divinitatis non divinitatem ' remarks Huet, with whom agrees M. Denis, p. 
 1 10. This is laying far too much stress upon a word. Besides, had Origen 
 written rrjv Bforrjra, he would have meant that the Son had deprived the 
 Father of Deity.
 
 V.] Derivation. Subordination. 181 
 
 It is the difference between Cause and Effect, and in this 
 aspect it sometimes seems to Origen immense 1 . Yet if 
 we look downwards, if we compare the God Son with 
 the highest of created things, with principalities and 
 archangels, there is a gulf more enormous still, because 
 of another kind. 
 
 We shall however wrong Origen, if we attempt to 
 derive his Subordinationism from metaphysical con- 
 siderations. It is purely Scriptural, and rests wholly 
 and entirely upon the words of Jesus, ' My Father is 
 greater than I,' ' that they may know Thee the only true 
 God,' ' None is Good save One.' The dominant text in 
 Origen's mind was the last. Hence he limits the rela- 
 tivity to the attribute to which it is limited by Christ 
 Himself. The Son is Very Wisdom, Very Righteous- 
 ness, Very Truth, perhaps even Very King, but not Very 
 Goodness. Perfect Image of the Father's Goodness, but 
 not the Absolute Good, though in regard to us He is the 
 Absolute Good 2 . There are indeed passages where 
 
 1 In Joann. xiii. 25, travrcav n\v ru>v fevrjTuv virtpexew ov ffVfKpifffi a\\' 
 vtr(ppa.\\ovari virtpox'tj <pa/j.fv TOV ^Soirrjpa Kal TO itvtviM TO ayiov virfpf\6- 
 [ttvov TOOOVTOV r) Kal irKtov airo TOV irarpos, offy virepex f i avTos Kal TO afiov 
 TTI>(V/M TUIV \oiiruiv. Observe the words ov avfupiafi, the Son and Holy 
 Spirit are not to be compared with created things. With this passage 
 should be contrasted In Matth. xv. 10, ir\eicav -yelp r) virepo\^i irpos rcL 
 irnoSetcTTtpa ayada tv Ty ^carfjpi, tca06 fOTiv (IKOJV TTJS dfaOoTTjros CLVTOV TOV 
 0(ov, ijtrep J) vrr(po\r) TOV 6(ov OVTOS ayaOov irpbs TOV tlirovTa ^carrjpa o irai^p, 
 o irtfi^as pc, ptifav fiov kaniv OVTO. irpos tTtpovs Kal ftKova TTJS ayaQoTijTOS 
 
 TOV 0(OV. 
 
 2 The boldness with which Rufinus corrected his text is nowhere more 
 evident than in De Princ. i. 2. 13. The most important passage of the 
 original Greek is given in Justinian, Ad Menam : OVTCJ ro'ivvv ^yov^ai ical tirl 
 TOV auirrjpos Ka\ws av KtxOrjafaOat OTI tixajv dyaOuTTjTOs TOV Ofov taTiv, a\\' 
 OVK avToayaQuv. Kal Ta\a Kal vlos ayaOos, dAA.' ovx. ws drrAcDs dyaOos. Kal 
 Siffirtp tlxuv fffTt TOV Otov TOV dopaTOV Kal Kara TOVTO Oeos, d\\' ov irepl ov 
 \ejfi avTos 6 X/uoroy, tva yivuaKoiai ae TOV povov d\t]6ivov 0t6v OVTCUS IIKUIV
 
 1 82 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 Origen hesitatingly suggests the question whether there 
 may not be in the Father abysses of knowledge, glory, 
 power beyond all that is given to the Son l . These 
 however must not be insisted upon. Where he pro- 
 nounces his real thought, the difference between the 
 Persons is conceived not as quantitative nor as quali- 
 tative, but as modal simply. The Son qua Son is 
 inferior to the Father qua Father. 
 
 ' Speculate not,' says Gregory Nazianzen, ' upon the 
 Divine Generation, for it is not safe ... let the doctrine 
 be honoured silently ... It is a great thing for thee to 
 know the fact ; the mode we cannot admit that even 
 
 ov\ &s o -irarrfp aTra/wAAa/fTwy ayaOos. The best comment 
 on this passage is afforded by In Matth. xiv. 7, avros yap tanv 6 BaatAeui 
 rtav ovpavwv, Kal Siatrtp avros kariv 17 avToao<pia Kal f) avToStKaioffvvij Kal 17 
 avToa\rjOtia, ovrca prjiroTe KOI $ a.vTofiaai\tia. But here again it will be 
 observed not rb avroayaOov. Now as the whole existence of the Son is 
 derived from the Father, and He is therefore strictly speaking no more 
 avroffo(pia than avroayaOov, it will be evident that Origen is here struggling 
 against his own principles and endeavouring to reduce the doctrine of 
 Derivation and Subordination, which he had inherited from his predecessors, 
 to the narrowest limits consistent with the direct teaching of Scripture. 
 There is a sense even in which the Son may be called the Absolute Good, 
 if not in respect of God yet in respect of man : ws filv irpbs rbv irarepa tlKwv 
 fffrtv ayaQ6TT]T05, us S irpbs TO. \otna orrfp 'fj TOV irarpbs dyaOoTTjs irpbs avr6v, 
 In Matth. xv. 10. What struck later ages as the novelty and audacity of 
 Origen's doctrine was in truth its archaism and conservatism. ' La verite, 
 c'est que la pensee d'Origene se meut dans deux directions tout opposees. 
 Lorsqu'il ne suit que la logique et les idees ou sa fervente piete 1'inclinait, 
 il va a 1'egalite des personnes divines. Lorsqu'il s'en tient a la tradition . . . 
 il recule devant les consequences de sa piete et de la logique, et se jette a 
 1'extremite opposee ; ' Denis, p. in. 
 
 1 De Princ. iv. 35, ware Kal \v rtf votiv 6 narrjp nti6v<us KOI rpavorfpcas 
 teal T(\ttoT(pws vofirai v<f>' iavrov $ virb TOV vlov : In Joann. xxxii. 18 the 
 glory which the Father has in Himself is greater than that which He has in 
 His Son. On the other hand, In Joann. i. 27 the Son's knowledge is equal 
 to that of the Father. Redepenning, ii. 277 sqq. ; Denis, in sqq. ; Ori- 
 geniana, ii. 2. 19 (Lorn. xxii. p. 172); Bull, ii. 9. At any rate Origen 
 did not think himself debarred from considering the question.
 
 v.] Subordination. 183 
 
 angels understand, much less thou 1 .' It is a wise 
 admonition, but it is double-edged, and must not be so 
 applied as to smite Origen alone. Nor indeed is it just 
 to blame him here for presumption. He could not, he 
 dared not, shrink back where the word of God led him 
 on. He could not think that a truth three times at 
 least pressed upon the Church by Christ Himself might 
 safely be ignored. To his dauntless spirit these words 
 of the Master seemed to be not a scandal but a flash of 
 light. They spoke of the supreme anchor of all our 
 hopes, the transcendental Goodness of Him from whom 
 all things ultimately proceed, of that day when Christ 
 shall render up His Kingdom to the Father, and God, 
 the Good, shall be all in all. Lastly, let us remember, he 
 is speaking, though more emphatically than others, the 
 belief of his time 2 . He was condemned by Jerome and 
 Justinian ; but he has been acquitted by Athanasius and 
 theologians of every school to whom history and Scripture 
 do not speak in vain. 
 
 The objections urged in ancient times against Origen's 
 Subordinationism, objections resting in many cases on 
 the most serious misapprehension, may for the present 
 be dismissed 3 . But there is one true consequence of his 
 view so momentous that it must not be passed over. 
 I refer to his teaching on the subject of prayer offered to 
 the Son. 
 
 He has declared himself upon this point many times, 
 
 1 Orat. xxxv. 29. 30 ; in Migne, xxix. 8. 
 
 * See the catena of patristic explanations of John xiv. 28 given by Dr. 
 Westcott, Gospel of St. John, p. 213, ed. 1882. ' Towards the close of the 
 fourth century the opinion began to gain currency that the superior greatness 
 of the Father was referred to the human life of the Son.' 
 
 * The curious reader will find them in the Origeniana.
 
 1 84 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 especially in the Celsus. 'Away with the advice of 
 Celsus that we should pray to demons. For we must 
 pray only to the Supreme God, yes, and we must pray 
 to the Only-Begotten and Firstborn of every creature, 
 and beseech Him as our High Priest to offer to His God 
 and our God, to His Father and the Father of all that 
 live, our prayers as they come first to Him.' The 
 meaning of these words is explained at large in the 
 Treatise upon Prayer. Starting from the text of St. 
 Paul, ' I exhort therefore that first of all supplications, 
 prayers, intercessions and giving of thanks be made for 
 all men 1 ,' he proceeds to draw a distinction between 
 these four terms. Prayer in its proper sense, he con- 
 cludes, is that which the soul sends up with clearest 
 
 1 I Tim. ii. I : irapcucaXSj ovv irpSirov navrcav iroifTffdai Str/cnis, irpoafvxfe, 
 vrev(is, evxapiarias virlp iravrcav avOpw-noiv. There is a difficulty in ex- 
 plaining Origen's meaning because ' prayer ' must be used as the equivalent 
 - both of tvx'h and of npoatvx'n. E&X 5 ? seems to be regarded as the genus 
 including these four species. Aerjais is defined rty irtpl (so the English 
 editor) lAXenrwros rivi fjied' lieealas irtpl rov eaeivov TVX*IV ava.-nt\jmo)i.iwr\v 
 tvxnv. It is prayer without worship (itpoaKiivrjais}. Intercession is a con- 
 fident appeal for benefits to oneself or to others, rfjv virb irapprjcriav rtvdk 
 nKtiova. txovros irepi TIVWV ai<aaiv irpbs Oeov : the difference here lies in the 
 character of the speaker, it is the address of a son to his father. It should 
 be added that Origen lays down not only that we must pray to God through 
 Christ, but that we must not pray to Him in any other way. In the opening 
 of the eighth book Contra Celsum where Origen is replying to the reproach 
 of Celsus that the Christian served two Masters and so introduced araais, 
 hostile division, between the old Deity and the new, he uses of Christ not 
 merely rtfjidv and Ofpairtvtiv, but fft@tiv, Oprjatceveiv, Sov\evfir, referring to John 
 v. 23; x. 30; xiv. ii; xvii. 22. Ibid. i. 51 Christ is 6 virb XpiffTiavuiv 
 irpoffKvvovn(i>os. Worship, the highest adoration, is offered to God through 
 Christ, and to Christ as He is in, as He is One with the Father. This will 
 explain the language of the De Oratione where it is said that worship 
 (irpoaKvi'rjais) belongs to Christ only in a figurative sense, not absolutely or 
 in His own right. Everywhere Origen's language is the same. With the 
 fullest recognition of the Divinity of the Son there is the constant warning 
 that we must not forget that God is our Father and the Father of all that is.
 
 V.] Prayer to Christ. 185 
 
 insight for the higher spiritual gifts, and is accompanied 
 by a Doxology. The three lower forms of petition 
 may be addressed to men for help or pardon, or to 
 saints or angels, or to the Holy Spirit or Christ, the 
 last and highest only to the Father in the Son's 
 name l . 
 
 He does not, it will be observed, forbid the Christian 
 to pray to Christ as God. He refers to the prayers of 
 the Penitent Thief, of Stephen, of the father of the 
 lunatic child, all addressed to the Son and the Son 
 alone, and he himself prays to the Son in the same 
 way 2 . We may throw light upon his meaning by refer- 
 
 1 Contra Ce!sum,v. 4 ; viii. 13, 26 ; De Orat. 14, 15. The words 'with 
 clearest insight ' are given as a translation of ueya\o(pv(orepov in De Orat. 
 14 (Lorn. xvii. 142). It is justified by the observation that (i(ya\o<pv(s is 
 frequently used of the mystic spiritual sense. Prayer in the sense of suppli- 
 cation, Sevens, to saints, ibid. (Lorn. xvii. 146), rf)v SJ Strjatv povois dyiots, ft 
 ns evp(6firj Hav\os f] Tlfrpos, I'va uxpfkriauaiv f)/j.ds diovs notovvrts rov rvxtiv 
 TTJs SfSofj.ffTjs avroTs tovaias irpos ro afiaprrifjara d(pi(vat. Origen no doubt 
 regarded this kind of prayer as lawfully offered to saints, whether on earth 
 or in heaven. As regards the Angels see Contra Celsztm, v. 4; viii. 57, but 
 especially viii. 13, where Origen says that a sort of Otpairtia may be offered 
 to the angels if we understand exactly what we mean by the word. In De 
 Mart. 6, 7 he denies that either \arptia or irpoaKvvrjais could be offered to 
 Angels, but this language does not exclude prayer provided that in prayer 
 we do not confound these high servants of the Almighty with their Maker 
 and Master. In this sense Origen may be said to pray to the guardian 
 Angel of the newly baptized, In Ezech. Horn. i. 7 (Lorn. xiv. 20), Omnia 
 angelis plena sunt, veni Angele, suscipe sermone conversum ab errore pristine. 
 
 2 Contra Celsum, v. 4, ScrjoofifBa Se Kal avrov rov \6yov /cal fvr(v6fj,t0a avry 
 nal fvx a piffrrjffofji(v Kal irpooevgofitOa Sf, tdv SwufjitOa Ka-raicovftv rfjs irfpl irpoa- 
 i/X'7 J icvpio\tias Kal KaTaxpr)ff<us : explained ibid. viii. 26, p6vf(> ycLp itpoatvie- 
 reov rcf (m iraai 6ty KOI TrpofftvKTtov "ye rw novo-ytvtt teal TtptarorfiKw iraffrjt 
 Kriaicas, \d~fw 6tov, teal dicuTtov avr&v us dpxitpta rrp> fir' ainov <pOaaaoav ij/xwv 
 tvxty avafptpttv tnl rov Oeov avrov Kal 8tbv fjfiwv, KCU irartpa avrov Kal irartpa 
 TUV fiiovvroiv KarcL rov \6yov rov 6fov. Hymns were sung to the Father 
 and to Christ, Ibid. viii. 67. See also In Exodum, Horn. xiii. 3, Domine 
 Jesu, praesta mihi ut aliquid monumenti habere merear in tabernaculo tuo : 
 In Levit. Horn. i. I, ipse igitur nobis Dominus, ipse Spiritus Sanctus depre-
 
 1 86 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 ence to his favourite idea of the Epinoiai. We may 
 address the Saviour, in immediate supplication, for those 
 boons which it is His special province to bestow. But 
 in the supreme moment of adoration, when the soul 
 strains upwards to lay itself as a sacrifice before the 
 highest object of thought, we must not stop short of 
 Him who is above all. Such prayer is necessarily 
 attended by a 'doxology,' a clear recognition of the 
 Nature of Him before whom we stand, and in the 
 doxology the Father's Name is first. Origen appeals 
 to the express command of Jesus, ' Whatsoever ye shall 
 ask the Father He will give it in My name/ to the usage 
 of Scripture, and lastly to the usage of the Church. 
 
 It is probable that at this very time a change was 
 creeping into the language of worship. 'Are we not 
 
 candus est, ut omnem nebulam, omnemque caliginem, quae peccatorum 
 sordibns concreta visum nostri cordis obscurat, auferre dignetur : In Levit, 
 Horn. v. 5, Dominum meum Jesum invocare me oportet ut quaerentem me 
 faciat invenire et pulsanti aperiat : In Num. Horn. xxv. 3, nos autem oremus 
 ex corde Verbum Dei, qui est unigenitus eius, et qui revelat Patrem quibus 
 vult, ut et nobis haec revelare dignetur : In Ezech. Horn. iii. 4, Praesta mihi, 
 Christe, ut disrumpam cervicalia in animarum consuta luxuriam : In Rom. 
 viii. 4, Sed et in principio Epistolae, quam ad Corinthios scribit, ubi dicit 
 1 cum omnibus qui invocant nomen Domini nostri Jesu Christi, in omni loco 
 ipsorum et nostro,' eum cuius nomen invocatur Dominum (al. Deum) Jesum 
 Christum esse pronuntiat. Si ergo et Enos et Moses et Aaron et Samuel 
 ' invocabant Dominum et ipse exaudiebat eos,' sine dubio Christum Jesum 
 Dominum invocabant : et si invocare nomen Domini et orare Dominum 
 unum atque idem est, sicut invocatur Deus invocandus est Christus, et sicut 
 oratur Deus ita et orandus est Christus . . . Unum namque utrique honorem 
 deferendum, id est Patri et Filio, divinus edocet sermo, cum dicit ' ut omnes 
 honorificent Filium sicut honorificant Patrem.' But this last passage goes 
 beyond Origen's usual language and may have been amended by Rufinus. 
 It will be observed that he insists upon the difference between the itvpio\fia 
 and KaTaxpr/ffts, the absolute and relative sense, of Prayer, and that his own 
 Prayers to the Son are ejaculatory and brief. The reader may consult 
 Liicke, De Invocations Jesu Christi in precibus Christianorum accuratius 
 definienda, Gottingae, 1 843 ; Redepenning, Origenes,\i. 38 sqq. ; Bingham, 
 xiii. 2. 3.
 
 v.] Prayer to Christ. 187 
 
 divided,' he asks, ' if we pray some to the Father, some 
 to the Son, falling into the error of ignorant men because 
 we have never enquired into the real nature of what we 
 are doing l ? ' Strange and innovating as his words may 
 seem to us, they are really the very opposite of this. 
 They are a plea for ancient usage in a time of change. 
 It has been thought that his protest refers specially to 
 the Eucharist, the Anaphora or Missa Fidelium, in which 
 for long after this time there was no direct address to 
 the Son 2 . But in truth it has a wider scope. He is 
 warning his readers not against excessive devotion to 
 ' the Lord and Saviour Jesus,' for in this Origen himself 
 yields to none, nor against the fullest belief in Christ's 
 Divinity, for here also Origen's doctrine, in the judgment 
 of those most worthy of our deference, stands above 
 suspicion, but against the language, if I may risk the 
 
 1 De Or at. 16. 
 
 2 At the time when Gregory the Great introduced the Christe Eleison into 
 the Roman Mass it was not found in the Greek Liturgies. Greg. Epp. ix. 
 1 2, Ad Joannem Syracusanum Episcopum : ' Kyrie Eleison autem nos neque 
 diximus neque dicimus sicut a Graecis dicitur, quia in Graecis simul omnes 
 dicunt, apud nos autem a clericis dicitur et a populo respondetur, et totidem 
 vicibus etiam Christe Eleison dicitur, quod apud Graecos nullo modo dicitur.' 
 The Kyrie Eleison had been introduced into the Western Mass about the be- 
 ginning of the sixth century ; see Canon 3 of Cone. Vasense III. in Mansi, viii. 
 727. In the Church of Africa a protest was made at the end of the fourth 
 century against the insertion of prayers to the Son in the Mass. See the 2ist 
 of the second series of Canons of the Synod of Hippo held in 393 (Hefele, 
 vol. ii. p. 398, Eng. trans.) : ' In prayers no one shall address the Son instead 
 of the Father or the Father instead of the Son, except at the altar, when 
 prayer shall always be addressed to the Father. No one shall make use of 
 strange forms of prayer without having first consulted well-instructed brethren.' 
 Probst, Liturgie, pp. 141 sqq., finds in the four words defined by Origen an 
 outline of the whole Liturgy. Atrjcrts, he thinks, means the prayers of the 
 Catechumens and Penitents ; irpoatvxri, the Thanksgiving, Trisagion, and 
 Confession ; fvrfvts, the Memento ; and ux a P (<Tr( ' a > the Thanksgiving after 
 Communion. His view is too ingenious, but it seems not unlikely that by 
 npoatvxn Origen means particularly the prayers that accompanied the 
 Eucharist.
 
 1 88 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 phrase, of partial adoration, which verges on the one 
 hand towards Noetianism, on the other towards some 
 form of Gnosticism, that is of moral opposition. Is it 
 too much to assert that the latter and graver danger has 
 more than once been perilously near at hand, that the 
 Father has, in appearance at any rate, been obscured 
 behind the Son, as the Son in turn behind the Virgin 
 and the Saints ? 
 
 It is curious to observe that Origen himself contributed, 
 perhaps more than any one else, to direct and feed this 
 movement by his Commentary and Homilies on the 
 Song of Songs. He undertook the work with many 
 misgivings, for he was startled at finding the Greek word 
 which denotes sexual affection used, as he thought, of the 
 love between Christ and His mystical Bride. But he 
 persuaded himself that there is no real difference between 
 the Eros of poetry and the Agape of the New Testament. 
 ' It matters not therefore which word we use of God. 
 Nor do I think any one can be blamed if he calls God 
 Eros, as John called Him Agape. Lastly, I remember 
 that one of the Saints, Ignatius by name, said of Christ, 
 " My Eros is crucified ; " nor do I think he should be 
 censured.' Jerome said of the Homilies on the Canticles 
 that Origen, who had surpassed all other writers in his 
 other books, had in this surpassed himself. It gave 
 welcome expression to what after the triumph of Atha- 
 nasius was the dominant feeling, and redeemed in some 
 degree the fame of its author, damaged by his supposed 
 inclination to Arianism. And thus Origen, the first 
 pioneer in so many fields of Christian thought, the 
 father in one of his many aspects of the English Lati- 
 tudinarians, became also the spiritual ancestor of Bernard,
 
 V.] The Incarnation. 189 
 
 the Victorines, and the author of the De Imitatione, of 
 Tauler and Molinos and Madame de Guyon l . 
 
 In Subordinationism, in the theory of the Two Lives, 
 above all in Allegorism, we may still discern the hand of 
 Philo. But the influence of the illustrious Jew was far 
 weaker on Origen than it had been on Clement. No- 
 where is this emancipation so visible as in the doctrine of 
 the Incarnation. Greatest of all miracles is this, that the 
 Very Word and Wisdom of God should have dwelt 
 within the frame of that Man who appeared in Judaea, 
 should have been born and wailed as an infant, should 
 have died and risen again. The understanding of man 
 is stupefied and knows not whither to turn. If we think 
 of Him as God, behold He is Man ; if as Man, we see 
 Him returning from the grave, bearing in triumph the 
 spoils of conquered death 2 . 
 
 Origen's view of the God-Man a term which he first 
 employed differs from the ordinary view, generally 
 speaking, only in so far as it is conditioned by his 
 opinions of the preexistence of the Soul and of the 
 nature of the resurrection body. 
 
 He is the first to speak at large of the Human Soul of 
 Jesus. Like other souls, it was eternal and eternally 
 
 1 See the Prologue to the Commentary on the Song of Songs, and Jerome's 
 Preface to his translation of the Homilies on the same book. It need 
 hardly be said that Origen himself remains faithful to the ideal point of 
 view, and is never betrayed into the imagery of earthly passion used by the 
 monastic writers on the subject of ' the Bridegroom's Kiss ' and similar 
 phrases. These widowed spirits transferred to Jesus that ' mortal yearning ' 
 which they were forbidden to indulge towards wife or husband. Hence 
 the Mysticism of the Middle Ages, so alluring in its finer manifestations, so 
 revolting, so nearly allied to the most frightful form of hypocrisy in its 
 coarser shapes. 
 
 3 De Princ. ii. 6. a.
 
 1 90 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 united with the Word. From the first it received Him 
 wholly, and clove to Him inseparably. It was like in all 
 things to all other human souls, free as they, but the 
 perfection of love, the singleness of worthiness bound it 
 so closely to the Godhead, that the union of the two may 
 be compared to a mass of iron glowing for ever with a 
 white heat. He who should touch the iron would feel not 
 the iron but the fire. Hence in Scripture we commonly 
 find the titles proper to the Humanity of our Lord 
 transferred to His Divinity and conversely. It is the 
 Communicatio Idiomatum l . 
 
 The flesh of Jesus was pure from all birth stain, from 
 all defilement of every kind 2 . It was real flesh. His 
 
 1 De Princ. ii. 6. 4 sqq. ; Injoann. i. 37 ; xx. 17; Contra Celsum, i. 32, 
 33. Nevertheless the properties of the Two Natures remain in truth 
 distinct, Contra Celsum, iv. 15 ; vii. 16. Redepenning, ii. 387, points out 
 that the soul of Christ being sinless was in Origen's theory not a soul at all. 
 For the word if^x 1 ? is derived fancifully from ^v\o), and explained to mean 
 'the spirits whose love had grown cold' through their defection from God. 
 There is certainly an inconsistency here ; but Origen held, as we shall see in 
 the next Lecture, that many sinless or nearly sinless spirits had assumed 
 flesh to aid in our redemption. Other difficulties have been raised by those 
 who are determined to see something unsound in all that Origen wrote. If 
 the soul of Christ existed before the union, can it be said to have deserved 
 the union ? Again, ' ex unione hypostatica Verbi cum anima aut peccatrice 
 aut quae peccare et damnari potuisset sequereter de Verbo sic ei unito idem 
 ob communionem idiomatum dici posse,' see the Origeniana. This how- 
 ever is absurd. According to Origen the soul of Christ was created sinless 
 but free. It was in the same position as the soul of Adam before the Fall, 
 and by its union with the Word was removed" for ever from the possibility of 
 sin. Origen proves the existence of Christ's human soul partly by Scripture, 
 'e.g. Matth. xxvi. 38, 'My soul is exceeding sorrowful,' partly by the con- 
 sideration that it was necessary as a link of connection between the Godhead 
 and the Flesh, see De Princ. ii. 6. 
 
 a In Levit. Horn. xii. 4. Hence when, as In Levit. Horn. ix. 6, Origen 
 regards the High Priest Joshua ' clothed in filthy garments ' (Zech. iii. 3) as 
 a type of the Incarnation, we must understand him to be speaking merely of 
 the Saviour's humiliation. This is expressly stated In Lucam, Horn, xiv, 
 ' ut autem scias Jesum quoque sordidatum sentiendum secundum ignominiam
 
 V.] The Incarnation. 191 
 
 Life, His Passion were in no sense fantastic 1 . So real 
 was His Body that we cannot accept in the literal sense 
 the story of His being carried up into a mountain by the 
 Tempter 2 . But as the pellucent alabaster vase shows 
 the fire within, so the flesh of Jesus was at times suffused 
 by the glory of the indwelling Deity. So it was espe- 
 cially at the Transfiguration, so it was according to an 
 ancient tradition throughout the year of His ministry. 
 Some saw but the figure without grace or comeliness of 
 the carpenter's son, but those whose eyes were opened 
 by the Spirit discerned the beauty of the Word flashing 
 through the veil of matter. Hence it came to pass that 
 the followers of Judas at the Betrayal knew not who He 
 was ; the darkness of their own souls was projected 
 upon the features of Him they sought. In this beautiful 
 fancy we may perhaps recognise the last faint trace of 
 Docetism 3 . 
 
 crucis, non secundum ipsam quam assumpsit sanctam camem.' So again, In 
 Levit. Horn. viii. 2, the law of purification applies to every woman ' quae 
 susceperit semen et pepererit.' The last words are intended to exclude the 
 Virgin. See also In Rom. vi. 1 2. 
 
 1 Contra Celsum, iii. 23 ; iv. 19. As Man He was not aTrafairXws airafljfc, 
 as Clement taught : icaOb 5% avOpornos TJV, iravrbs fj.d\\ov dvOpuirov KfKOffnijutvos 
 TTJ aicpa nfToxy TOV avro\6^ov KCU. rijs avroootyias, virffiftvtv ws ffo<f>tis teal 
 Tf\tios arrfp i\pr)v virof^tLvai rbv vit\p iravr&s TOV ytvovs ruiv avBp&nroJv, ff ical 
 rSiv XoyiK&v, uavra irpdrrovra, Contra Celsum, vii. 17. He suffered sorrow 
 at Gethsemane, In Matth. Comm. Series, 92 ; temptation, In Luc. Horn, 
 xxix. 
 
 2 De Princ. iv. 16, Quod secundum literam quomodo fieri potuisse 
 videbitur, ut vel in excelsum montem ednceretur a diabolo Jesus, vel etiam 
 carnalibus oculis eius tanquam subiecta, et adiacentia uni monti omnia 
 mundi ostenderet regna. 
 
 s In Matth. Com. Series, 100; Contra Celsum, ii. 64. Connected with 
 this perhaps is his refusal to accept the ancient view that the human form of 
 Jesus was wanting in beauty or dignity. See Contra Celsum, vi. 75, where 
 he contrasts Is. liii. 1-3 with Psalm xlv. 3, 4, -nepifaaai TTJV po^<paiav oov 
 firl TOV ftrjpov ffov, Swart, rrj uipau.6rrjTi aov ital ry icd\\n ffov. Origen 
 appears to have thought that Jesus resembled John the Baptist in features,
 
 192 Origen. The Ascension. 
 
 Jesus truly rose from the dead, not in this flesh but in 
 that glorified Body of which St. Paul speaks. Pure as 
 it is, as it was,, it is the Body of our Brother, and our 
 High Priest may be said to need purification for the sins 
 of the people that are laid upon Him 1 . Hence the 
 mysterious ' Touch Me not.' ' At even He washed His 
 garment in wine, that is His blood.' ' It was necessary 
 that my Lord and Saviour should not only be born 
 among men but also descend into hell, that as a man 
 prepared He might lead the scapegoat into the wilder- 
 ness, and returning thence, His work being now achieved, 
 might ascend to the Father, and there be purified more 
 fully at that heavenly altar, that He might endow with 
 perpetual purity the pledge of our flesh which He had 
 carried up with Him.' 
 
 hence the mistake of Herod, Matth. xiv. 2 ; In Joann. vi. 30. He was 
 baptized in the month of January ; In Ezech. Horn. i. 4. 
 
 1 In Levit. Horn. ix. 5 ; In Joann. vi. 37. Redepenning therefore is 
 wrong in speaking of Origen 's 'Auflosung der menschlichen Natur des Herrn 
 bei der Erhohung desselben.' Whatever criticisms attach to Origen's view of 
 the Resurrection of men attach also to his view of the Resurrection of Jesus, 
 but no others.
 
 LECTURE VI. 
 
 That God may be all in all. i COR. xv. 28. 
 
 CREATION, as the word is commonly understood, was 
 in Origen's views not the beginning, but an intermediate 
 phase in human history. Aeons rolled away before this' 
 world was made ; aeons upon aeons, days, weeks, months 
 and years, sabbatical years, jubilee years of aeons will 
 run their course, before the end is attained. 
 
 The one fixed point in this gigantic drama is the end, 
 for this alone has been clearly revealed, ' God shall be 
 all in all.' There will come a time when man, com- 
 pletely subjected to Christ by the operation of the Holy 
 Ghost, shall in Christ be completely subjected to the 
 Father. But now, he adds, the end is always like the 
 beginning 1 . The manifold diversity of the world is to 
 close in unity, it must then have sprung from unity. 
 
 1 De Princ. i. 6. 2, Semper enim similis est finis initiis, et ideo sicut 
 unus omnium finis, ita unus omnium intelligi debet initium. The end of 
 all intelligent work is perfection ; it cannot be regarded as ended till per- 
 fection is attained. ' Finis vel consummatio rerum perfectarum consumma- 
 tarumque esse videtur indicium.' But the beginning is the desire of perfection , 
 and though absolute Wisdom plans the beginning in such a way that it 
 carries within itself the means of its own fulfilment, each stage in the de- 
 velopment is preparatory to all that follow, and in this sense inferior to 
 them, and in this sense evil, relatively evil and relatively good. Even in 
 God's work then it is not strictly true that the end is always like the be- 
 ginning. The caution given by Origen at the commencement of this 
 chapter applies to all his speculations outside the letter of the Creed and 
 must never be forgotten : ' Nunc autem disputandi specie, magis quam 
 definiendi, prout possumus, exercemnr.' Compare i. 6. 4, Certius tamen 
 qualiter se habitura sit res, scit solus Deus, et si qui eius per Christum et 
 Spiritum Sanctum amici sunt ; ii. 6. 6, Si quis sane melius aliquid poterit 
 invenire, et evidentioribus de Scripturis sanctis assertionibus confirmare quae 
 dicit, ilia potius quam haec recipiantur. Innumerable passages of the same 
 
 O
 
 1 94 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 His expansion of this theory is in fact an elaborate 
 commentary upon the eighth chapter of the Epistle to 
 the Romans and the fifteenth chapter of the First 
 Epistle to the Corinthians. These he felt were the 
 two keys, the one to the eternity before, the other to 
 the eternity after. 
 
 What is it that we see ? A vast creation orderly and 
 beautiful, yet manifestly out of joint. Everywhere the 
 order is crossed and marred, yet the disorder is not 
 intentional. It is that of an organism striving to shake 
 off a mortal disease. The soul wrestles with the body, 
 and the thrill of man's agony is felt by the great system 
 of which he is a member. ' The whole creation groaneth 
 and travaileth together in pain until now.' What do 
 these words mean? If we look upwards, we see Sun, 
 Moon and Stars, intelligent creatures like ourselves, 
 condemned to minister to our needs, nourishing the 
 fruits of earth for our subsistence, marking the seasons 
 for our direction. If we search the Scriptures, we read 
 of Angels and Archangels, who are all of them ' min- 
 istering spirits.' So 'the creature was made subject 
 unto vanity,' ordained to help the vain and corruptible 
 body of man, not willingly, but by reason of God who 
 hath subjected the same in hope. And the hope is ' the 
 manifestation of the sons of God,' the day when those 
 things shall be revealed, which God has prepared for 
 those who shall deserve to be His Sons, or when, the 
 veil being taken away, it shall be known that they are 
 His Sons. Nay the trouble of sin reaches higher still. 
 
 kind might be cited, but these will suffice. The reader will understand that 
 Origen never dogmatises. This point is insisted upon by Pamphilus in the 
 Apologia.
 
 VI.] Disorder of Nature. 195 
 
 As yet even the Saviour will not ' drink wine ' in the 
 kingdom of God. He will not drink it, for He is alone. 
 He waits for us. He will not receive His perfect glory 
 without thee, that is without His people, which is His 
 Body. Thus all evil is resolved into sin. And sin is not 
 isolated or individual. For all intelligent creatures are 
 knit together in a solidarity so close, that the defect 
 of one clouds the felicity and impedes the energies of all. 
 
 But again, we see apparent injustice. Everywhere 
 there is inequality. Star differeth from star in glory. 
 Among the angels themselves there are grades thrones, 
 dominations, princedoms, powers there are even those 
 who have fallen wholly from their high estate. On 
 earth it is the same. One man is born within the fold 
 of God's Church, another in polished Athens, a third 
 is a lawless Scythian or a cannibal Ethiope. There are 
 the wise man and the fool, the rich and the poor, the 
 civilised and the squalid savage. Everywhere Jacob is 
 chosen, while Esau is cast out. The facts of life led 
 the Gnostics to predestination, the sense of violated 
 justice to the belief in conditional immortality. But it 
 appeared to Origen, that the equity of God was imper- 
 fectly vindicated by a theory, which assigned to the 
 majority of mankind a life of misery rounded off by 
 annihilation. Thus opposition to Gnosticism becomes 
 the motive of his practical theology, as it was also of 
 his exegesis. Yet on one main point he is in agreement 
 with the great Gnostic chief Basilides. Evil flows from 
 precedent evil. But, as differences of circumstance and 
 faculty are congenital, it follows that this life must be re- 
 garded as the continuation of one that has gone before l . 
 
 1 For the foundation of the preceding sections, see De Princ. ii. 9 ; In 
 
 o a
 
 1 96 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 Whence then comes Evil? Not from God, for God 
 would then not be God. Not from Matter, for this is 
 another form of fatalism, leading directly to the hope- 
 less Stoic doctrine, that the quantity of evil is fixed and 
 unalterable. It must then be the work of man l . 
 
 In the beginning God created the heavens and the 
 earth, that is the perfect heavens and earth, and peopled 
 this world with Intelligences, forming in the Son the 
 
 Rom. vii. 4 sqq. ; In Num. Horn, xxiii. 2 ; In Lev. Horn. vii. 2 ; Denis, 
 Philosophic d'Origine, chapter on Cosmologie ; Redepenning, ii. 315 sqq.; 
 Guerike, ii. 185 sqq. ; Harnack, pp. 539 sqq. 
 
 1 On the Stoic doctrine, see Lecture vii. It was held also by some at 
 any rate of the Platonists, as for instance Celsus. So Contra Celstim, iv. 62, 
 naica 5' iv roTs ovffiv ovre TrpoffOev, ovrf vvv, ovre avOts ffrrca Kal trXeicii yevotr' 
 av. Mia fap rj -rSiv o\cw <pv<Jts Kal r) avrrj, ical KaKwv ytveffis ad 17 avrr). The 
 same fatal notion is at the bottom of the smiling toleration of M. Aurelius. 
 To philosophers of this school nothing is intolerable but enthusiasm. 
 Celsus continues, ' It is not easy for any one but a philosopher to understand 
 the nature of evil ;' Ibid. 65. Origen replies, ' It is not easy even for the 
 philosopher, nor perhaps possible \av ^77 Ofov (irnrvota. Evil is not of God, 
 nor yet of matter, rb yap etcaarov faftfuvutbr atnov rrjs vwoffTairrjs tv avrw 
 Kaxias tariv, ijns effri TO KUKOV,' Ibid. 66. The subject is recurred to Ibid. 
 vi. 54 sqq. Virtue and Vice are good and evil Kvpicas. Bodily goods or 
 ills, ra TTporjff^fva, diroTrprirjyfMfva, are good or evil KaraxprjaTLKwrepov. To 
 these latter refers Isaiah xlv. 7. 'Evil then, if by the word we understand 
 that which is essentially evil, God did not create, though some evils, few in 
 number if compared with the order of the whole world, followed as a con- 
 sequence upon the plan of His work, just as spiral shavings and sawdust 
 follow as a consequence upon the plan of a carpenter's work, just as builders 
 seem to "make " the heaps of broken stone and mortar that are left lying by 
 the side of their buildings.' As to evils then in the secondary sense, we may 
 admit that God is their author, iVo SicL TOVTOJV eniarpi^ TIVO.S, as similar 
 so-called evils are caused by fathers, teachers, surgeons, for corrective pur- 
 poses. Of moral evil Origen speaks sometimes as if it were positive, some- 
 times as if it were negative. De Princ. ii. 9. 2, Certum namque est malum 
 esse bono carere ; but again just below, in contrarium boni, quod sine 
 dubio malum est, trahebatur. But God does not know evil or the evil man. 
 Tnis is illustrated by the words, 'Adam, where art thou?' of Gen. iii. 9. 
 This is- from Philo, cf. In Psalm, i. 6 (Lorn. xi. 392) with Leg. Alleg. iii. 17 
 (i. 97). See also below, p. 200. For the mode in which God brings good 
 out of evil the reader should turn to In Num. Horn. xiv. 2, one of the finest 
 passages in all Origen.
 
 VI.] Creation. The Fall. 197 
 
 ideas, which were then realised by the Son as Agent *. 
 The Intelligences were limited in number, for Wisdom 
 is finite, and cannot comprehend the infinite. Except 
 the Holy Trinity nothing is incorporeal. Each of the 
 created spirits had from the first an envelope, a principle 
 of differentiation, a body, adapted to the nature of its 
 environment, at first then of fine ethereal texture fitted 
 in all respects for its celestial habitation. The spirits 
 were equal and like, but they were free. Some sinned 
 and fell, some remained stedfast in their first estate, or 
 rose to higher levels of power and goodness. The latter 
 are the stars, the angels in the various degrees of their 
 hierarchy. Of those who rebelled some became devils, 
 fiends or archfiends, according to the manifold pro- 
 portions of their transgression. But those whose error 
 was less, whose love of God is cold yet not extinct (it 
 is one of Origen's fanciful etymologies 2 ), turned into 
 ' souls,' better or worse according as the faculties of 
 sense and desire gained the upper hand over the in- 
 telligence. For these at any rate there is hope of resti- 
 tution, yet only through chastisement. The appointed 
 scene of their discipline is this world, a later and grosser 
 model of the first. It is infinitely various, to afford scops 
 for the treatment proper to every phase of character, ' like 
 a great house, in which are vessels of gold and silver, 
 of wood and clay, some to honour and some to dis- 
 honour.' ' Wherefore neither will the Creator seem 
 
 1 De Princ. ii. 9. Philo and Clement explained the first verse of Genesis of 
 the creation of the Ideal World. To Origen it denotes the creation of the first, 
 the perfect, but still material world. Thus he tells us of two creations and 
 if we may add the creation of Ideas in the Son (see above, p. 169), of three. 
 
 2 ^!\i\i), from tyvx<>>, to make cold. Plato, Cratylus, 399 E, suggests the 
 same derivation in a different sense. It is called ^fx 1 ? because it avaif,vxti
 
 198 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 unjust, when He distributes to each his earthly lot, nor 
 will any "one think, that birth happy or unhappy is ruled 
 by chance, nor that there are different creators, nor that 
 souls have different natures.' 
 
 Origen rejected the Platonic doctrine of Metempsy- 
 chosis 1 , but he adopted that of pre-existence, and that 
 which ascribes a soul to the stars. Both he found in 
 Philo, and both were' regarded as open questions in 
 the Church 2 . It is not necessary to dwell at any length 
 upon the philosophic difficulties attending his theory. 
 He has not attempted to get rid of the break of con- 
 
 1 Origen no doubt held that at the Resurrection the soul passes from one 
 body into another. He himself insisted that the Resurrection body was in 
 a true sense the same as the body of this life, but it is open to any one to 
 argue that he has not proved the identity. See further on in this Lecture. 
 But Metempsychosis in the sense of a migration of the soul into another 
 human body or into the body of a beast, a plant, and so forth in another 
 life on this same earth (and this is the only meaning of the word) he cer- 
 tainly did not hold ; see Contra Celsum, iv. 7 ; v. 49 ; viii. 30 ; In Rom. v. 
 I ; vi. 8 ; In Mat. x. 20 ; xi. 17 ; xiii. i ; In Joan. vi. 7. Yet Justinian 
 and Jerome charged him with asserting it. Unfortunately the passage on 
 which their accusation is based, De Princ. i. 8. 4 ad fin., has been modified 
 by Rufinus. A fragment of the Greek will be found in the Ad Menam, a 
 Latin abstract in Jerome's Ep. ad Avitum. Both are given in the footnote 
 in Lommatzsch. Jerome himself allows that Origen concluded his dis- 
 cussion with the words ' haec iuxta nostram sententiam non sint dogmata, 
 sed quaesita tantum atque proiecta, ne penitus intractata viderentur.' 
 Proiecta here means ' rejected ;' ' discussionis gratia dicta sint, et abiiciantur' 
 is the version of Pamphilus, Apologia, ix. ad fin. Pamphilus adds that 
 the words objected to were not Origen's own but were put into the mouth 
 of an adversary or interlocutor. See Origeniana, ii. 6. 17 sqq. ; Denis, 
 
 pp. 19 s qq- 
 
 2 He found them also in Scripture. Psalm cxlviii. 3, ' Praise Him, all ye 
 stars of light;' Job xxv. 5, ' The stars are not pure in his sight.' Neither 
 Jerome nor Augustine ventures to deny that the stars may have souls. 
 Ambrosius agrees with Origen, and even Aquinas regards the question as 
 open ; Origeniana, ii. 8. 2 sqq. The great support of the pre-existence 
 doctrine was John ix. 2, ' Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that 
 he was born blind?' Jerome himself at one time held pre-existence. 
 Augustine did not deny it, and down to the time of Gregory the Great the
 
 VI.] Inherent Difficulties. 199 
 
 sciousness between the two lives, as Plato did, by the 
 idea of partial reminiscence *. Yet if in this life we have 
 no recollection of what happened to us before our birth, 
 why it may be asked should we have any knowledge, 
 in a future existence, of what befell us here on earth? 
 What is the value of a schooling, in which each lesson 
 is forgotten as soon as learned ? Again, if the soul ac- 
 cording to his fanciful etymology is the 'cold' sen- 
 sualised intelligence, how does this agree with what 
 he tells us about the sinless soul of Jesus ? These are 
 minor flaws, but there is one of a far more serious kind. 
 If the spirits were all alike, all subject to precisely the 
 same , conditions, why did any fall away ? Because, he 
 tells us, they were free. But this is no answer. What 
 is the faculty, which can thus oscillate between perfect 
 virtue and vice ? What is this mysterious paralysis, but 
 the very fatalism he is struggling to avoid? In the 
 Phaedrns myth the souls are neither pure nor equal ; 
 the unruly steed Desire is yoked from the first by the 
 side of Reason, and the charioteer who cannot curb his 
 wanton plunges, is flung down from the cope of heaven. 
 This did not satisfy Origen's craving for justice. But 
 all he could accomplish by. his departure from Plato was 
 to push the insoluble problem a step farther back, and 
 to stereotype Clement's vicious theory of the indiffer- 
 entism of the Will. 
 
 But there were other difficulties arising out of the 
 
 question remained undecided. See his Epistles, vii. 53 ; Origeniana, ii. 
 6. 8 sqq. Mr. Neale, Holy Eastern Church, i. p. 36, regards the belief in 
 pre-existerice as erroneous but not heretical. 
 
 1 The only passage, so far as I know, where Origen hints at the doctrine 
 of Anamnesis is De Orat. 24 (Lorn. xvii. p. 186), ray -re rpavuiv KOI ra 
 irf pi TOV Ofov u7ro/ti/W7jcr/fTai fj.d\\ov rj fj.avOa.vtt, KO.V dir6 TWOS aicovfiv 60/07, 
 ff evpiffKfiv von'ify TO, TTJS OtoatlBtias fjtvffrrjpia.
 
 2OO Origen. [Lect. 
 
 language of Scripture itself. Most perplexing, in view 
 of the Alexandrine theory of Freedom, were the words 
 of St. Paul, ' Whom He did foreknow He did also pre- 
 destinate.' The passage was at this time the sword 
 of Gnosticism, as at a later date, by one of those singu- 
 lar exchanges of weapons that have often occurred in 
 the chance medley of controversy, it became the sword 
 of Augustinianism. But Origen could admit neither 
 election nor reprobation. If, he argues, God predestines 
 only those whom He foreknows, it follows that He does 
 not foreknow those whom He does not predestine. This 
 is absurd. We are compelled therefore to drop the 
 preposition. Foreknow is the same as know, know in 
 countless passages of Scripture is equivalent to love. 
 God knows only the good, whom He loves ; of evil He 
 has no knowledge. Again, ' whom He did predestinate 
 them He also called according to purpose.' According, 
 that is, to their own purpose; or if according to the 
 purpose of God, then because He knew that they 
 desired salvation. Origen in fact held that man is 
 free in such a sense that God Himself cannot foresee 
 what he may choose to do J . 
 
 1 The passage cited in the text is In Rom. vii. 8, with which should be 
 read the preceding chapter. Here Origen expressly denies foreknowledge 
 in the ordinary sense of the word. ' Non enim secundum communem vulgi 
 opinionem putandum est bona malaque praescire Deum, sed secundum 
 Scripturae sanctae consuetudinem sentiendum . . . "Novit enim Deus 
 eos qui sunt eius "... Caeteri autem praesciri non dicuntur ; non 
 quod aliquid latere possit illam naturam quae ubique est et nusquam 
 deest, sed quia omne quod malum est scientia eius vel praescientia ha- 
 betur indignum (see above, p. ic,6). Sed et hoc intuere si praescire et 
 praedestinare dici potest Deus de his qui nondum sunt, an de his qui sunt 
 quidem, nondum tamen conformes sunt imaginis Filii sui ; et si praesci- 
 entiam in hoc magis esse convenit, quam in eo quod futurum sit id quod 
 nondum est. In hoc enim voluntas magis est quam praescientia conditoris. 
 Nam praescientia in quo videbitur, cum id quod futurum est pendeat in
 
 'VI.] Predestination. Grace. 201 
 
 Another text which distressed him beyond measure 
 was 'whom He will He hardeneth.' But even these 
 terrible words he thought he could explain. Let us 
 remember, he says, how the kindness of a lenient 
 master makes the bad slave worse, how the same sun- 
 shine melts the wax but hardens the clay. God may 
 be said to harden the sinner in this sense, that the 
 contemptuous disregard of His goodness produces hard- 
 ness. Or again, He hardens the wicked man, inasmuch 
 as He abandons him, withdrawing from him His fatherly 
 chastisements, and deferring the cure of his sins to the 
 next life. And this is doubtless right, better for the 
 sinner himself. For God alone knows both the disease 
 and the remedy, and can measure out the time of 
 healing l . 
 
 The same considerations determine his view of Grace, 
 which is that of Clement. God perpetually incites, 
 surrounds, sustains, rewards, but does not constrain 
 
 factoris arbitrio ?' Then follows the passage the sense of which is given in 
 the text. Origen continues, ' Hoc ergo pacto neque in praescientia Dei vel 
 salutis vel perditionis nostrae causa consistit, neque justificatio ex sola voca- 
 tione pendebit, neque glorificari de nostra penitus potestate sublatum est.' 
 But, he adds, if foreknowledge be taken in the ordinary sense of the word, 
 ' Non propterea erit aliquid quia id scit Deus futurum, sed quia futurum est 
 scitur a Deo antequam fiat.' Language more in accordance with the general 
 view is to be found In Rom. i. 2,3, 18 sqq. ; De Oral. 6. Jansen, who in 
 his Augustinus vehemently attacked Origen's doctrine of predestination, 
 complains that he makes election depend ' ex praevisis hominum meritis ' 
 and vocation proceed ' secundum propositum hominis non Dei.' Huet 
 replies that the first proposition is still open in the Catholic Church, and 
 that the second was maintained by Chrysostom and Theodoret, Origeniana, 
 ii. 7. But neither Huet nor Jansen appears to grasp the full scope of 
 Origen's teaching. Semi-Pelagianism was merely his Sevrtpus ir\ovs, the 
 second line of defence on which he fell back if foreknowledge was to be 
 taken in the vulgar sense of the word. 
 
 1 De Princ. iii. i. 7 sqq. ; Fragment from Comm. in Exodum in Philo- 
 calia, xxvii. It should be borne in mind that all these passages were 
 Gnostic strongholds.
 
 2O2 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 the will. To use the language of a later time, Grace 
 is prevenient, concomitant, peculiar, but not efficacious. 
 We must go to Christ, that He may open our eyes. 
 'As if,' retorts Bishop Huet, 'the will, that makes us 
 go, were not given to us by God.' ' But,' replies Origen, 
 ' he who does not know his sickness, cannot seek the 
 physician, or, if healed, will not thank the physician.' 
 And if pressed with the text ' God worketh in us both 
 to will and to do,' he will answer, that the Apostle 
 means the general faculty, not the special determination 
 of volition 1 . 
 
 A further and still more serious difficulty arises out 
 of the doctrine of Original Sin. This tenet is found 
 in Irenaeus and Tertullian, but not in Clement 2 or the 
 De 'Princifiis, and we may perhaps infer, that Origen 
 did not seriously consider the question, or perceive 
 its bearing upon his other views, till after his settlement 
 at Caesarea. There he found the practice of Infant 
 Baptism, with which the doctrine of birth-sin is closely 
 connected, in general use, and the difficulty at once 
 pressed upon his mind. The Church, he says, in 
 obedience to a tradition received from the Apostles, 
 
 1 De Princ. iii. i. 19. I shall recur to the Alexandrine doctrine of 
 Grace in Lecture viii, and it will therefore be sufficient here to refer to 
 Origeniana, ii. 7, with the Excursus from De la Rue given in Lommatzsch, 
 xxiii. p. 333. 
 
 3 See Irenaeus, iii. 2 2 sq. ; Tertullian, De Anima, xli. Neither regarded 
 the depravation consequent upon Original Sin as absolute. Justin is wrongly 
 referred to by Bingham ; see the note in Otto's ed. p. 320, on Trypho, 
 88. Justin held that before Baptism men are children of necessity ; Af. \. 
 61, Otto, p. 166. Theodotus and the Homilies also teach that before the 
 birth of Christ men were creatures of Necessity. That is to say, being 
 ignorant and weak, they were doomed to sin. But there is no connection 
 between this frailty of nature and the sin of Adam. Fragment 5, Otto, 
 vol. iii. 256, is wrongly ascribed to Justin. For Clement's doctrine, see 
 Lecture iii.
 
 VI.] Original Sin. 203 
 
 baptizes even infants. ' For those, to whom are com- 
 mitted the secrets of the divine mysteries, know, that 
 there is in every human being a real stain of sin, which 
 must be washed away by water and the Spirit 1 .' 
 
 But whence comes this stain? It is sufficiently ac- 
 counted for by the doctrine of pre-existence, and at times 
 Origen appears to rest in this explanation. But there 
 are traces in Scripture, which point in a different direc- 
 tion, and when these are before his mind he stumbles 
 and hesitates. Such was the Law of Purification. We 
 see from this, that a certain impurity attaches to birth, 
 though what this can be is a great mystery. So David 
 says ' in sin hath my mother conceived me,' showing 
 that every soul, that is born in the flesh, is polluted by the 
 filth and iniquity of sin. Occasionally Origen seems to 
 apply these words to the material uncleanness of the 
 body, for in his system the flesh is more nearly akin to 
 evil than in that of Clement. But the notion of physical 
 pollution runs up into that of moral guilt. ' If there were 
 nothing in little children to call for remission and indul- 
 gence, the grace of Baptism would seem superfluous 2 .' 
 And this is connected with the Fall. Our body is the 
 ' body of sin,' because Adam's children were not born till 
 after his disobedience 3 . 
 
 Other passages again speak of heredity, of transmitted 
 qualities of body and mind. There are ' families,' we 
 read, in heaven and on earth. Souls have ' marks,' which 
 
 1 In Rom. v. 9. 
 
 3 In Lev. Horn. viii. 3. In this passage Origen makes the curious remark 
 that in Scripture we read of none but wicked men celebrating their birthday. 
 He regarded the body and its affections with fastidious disgust, In Rom. vii. 
 4. but he distinguishes the physical uncleanness of birth from sin, In Lev. 
 Horn. xii. i ; In Lucam, Horn. xiv. 
 
 3 In Rom. v. 9.
 
 204 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 express themselves through the body in the face, in the 
 handwriting 1 . The difference here thought of is one of 
 texture rather than of kind. Peter and Paul are both 
 -good men, but the goodness of each has its own peculiar 
 colour. But again, we read of the ' seed of Abraham V 
 The soul then has a pedigree as well as the body. As 
 the latter reproduces the features of this or that of its 
 countless ancestors, so the former comes into life bringing 
 with it ' spermatic germs ' of good and evil. It may be, 
 that he conceived of the soul as waiting till a body like 
 itself and fit for its reception should be born 3 , but he 
 has not cleared up this point. And probably heredity 
 as regards the soul is a figure of speech, denoting merely 
 affinities, which the soul creates for itself. For he refers 
 us for its explanation to the doctrine of pre-existence. 
 But it is evident, that we have here two radically incon- 
 gruous trains of thought.. 
 
 But there are places, where his vacillation is more con- 
 spicuous still. Writing against Celsus he treats the Fall 
 as a pure allegory. Adam is Man. His sin is a mystical 
 presentation of the defection of the souls, that fell away 
 from God. The ' coats of skins ' may perhaps be the 
 bodies, in which they were clothed on their expulsion 
 from Paradise 4 . Yet again, ' The Lord God expelled 
 
 1 In Num. Horn. ii. 
 
 2 In Joan. xx. i sqq. 
 
 3 This is the opinion of Redepenning, ii. 21, but he rests it upon a wrong 
 explanation of Origen's commentary on the Parable of the Labourers in the 
 Vineyard, In Matt. xv. 31. 
 
 * Contra Celstim, iv. 40. He is replying to the scoff of Celsus that ' God 
 made one man with his own hands and could not persuade that one to do 
 right.' Again, In Lev. Horn. vi. 2, the ' coats of skins ' are a symbol of 
 mortality. Julius Casianus, a Gnostic teacher, gave this explanation ; see 
 Clement, Strom, iii. 14. 95. It is found also in the Kabbalah, Ginsburg, 
 p. 30, and no doubt comes from a Rabbinical source.
 
 VI.] Original Sin. 205 
 
 Adam from Paradise, and planted him in this earth. 
 This was the punishment of his sin, which without doubt 
 has extended to all men. For all of us have been set in 
 this place of humiliation, this valley of tears, whether 
 because all Adam's descendants were in the first father's 
 loins and banished with him, or whether each, one is 
 thrust out of Paradise in some other way ineffable and 
 known to God alone 1 .' The latter words are a salvo, 
 but it is evident that Origen is here on the very point of 
 abandoning the belief in pre-existence with all its con- 
 sequences. 
 
 Hence men are evil not only because they are ' the 
 sons and disciples of sinners 2 ,' but by the entailed sin of 
 the first father. Yet not all alike. Some stainless spirits, 
 like that of John the Baptist, have been sent down to 
 labour for us ; some not wholly pure have descended for 
 our sakes lower than the law of their own purification 
 required 3 . And even in ordinary men Origen was far 
 from admitting a complete depravation. By Adam's sin 
 death, that is spiritual death, entere^d into the world and 
 ' passed upon ' all, affected that is with some touch of its 
 contagion even the just. But it ' reigned ' over none but 
 those, who sinned after the similitude of Adam's trans- 
 gression. The sense of the last words is doubtful. They 
 may have a mystical meaning, that is they may refer to 
 the character of the antenatal sin. Or they may denote 
 
 1 In Rom. v. 4 ad Jin. Compare In Joan. xx. 21 (Lorn. ii. p. 257 . 
 Rut In Joan. xx. 3, it is still a question among some whether Adam is to be 
 reckoned among the righteous or the unrighteous. The author of the 
 Homilies vehemently asserts the former. Injerem. Horn. xvi. 4, the sin of 
 Adam was not so grave as the sin of Cain. 
 
 3 In Rom. v. i (^Lom. vi. 342). 
 
 3 The KaOoSos ruiv (vyevtarepcav if/vx&v, In Joan. xiii. 43 ad Jin. ; 'cp. 
 Ibid. ii. 24, 25 ; In Matt. xii. 30; Origeniana, ii. 5. 24.
 
 206 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 our inherited wickedness, or the evil imprinted on us by 
 bad education. 'In any case Christ has provided a 
 remedy. Our mortal generation is changed by the 
 regeneration of Baptism, and the doctrine of piety shuts 
 out the doctrine of impiety V 
 
 Thus Theology finally triumphs over Ethics. Clement's 
 Apathy is a Stoic phantasm ; his language is loose and 
 presumptuous, but it breathes a joyous confidence in the 
 assured victory of good over evil even in this world. 
 Origen looks habitually on the darker side. Life is an 
 expiation. Earth is a prison house. Man may be just 
 and holy compared with his fellow-men or even with 
 angels, but never in comparison with God. The son of 
 God indeed is not the servant of sin ; he sins, but he is 
 not a sinner. Or again, ' he that believes sins not, that is 
 to say falls not into sins unto death.' But ' if any man 
 say that he has no sin, he is a liar, and the truth is not 
 in him.' ' I do not think any one's heart can become so 
 pure, that thoughts of evil never stain it.' There will 
 come a time, when Jesus will ' wash our heads,' but the 
 time is not yet. Such thoughts necessarily colour his 
 view of Grace and Redemption, even where his language 
 seems to be the same as that of Clement 2 . 
 
 1 In Rom. v. i. Origen, it should be observed, omitted the negative in 
 Rom. v. 14. But he remarks that the reading twi rovs ^ d/MprTjffavTas 
 was found in some copies. In the Commentary on Romans Origen appears 
 to accept almost without reserve the literal sense of the story of the P'all. 
 On the question of Original Sin, see Origeniana, ii. 7. 24. 
 
 2 In Joan. xix. 6, ris ovv dpa tarlv o iriartvoiv, rj 6 irt-novQujs (K TOV SiaKtiaQcu. 
 Kara TOV \6yov xal avfj.Trf>vKtvai avrw rb JJLT) inirffftiaOat av, offov ftrl TOVTOIS 
 TOIS PATOIS, th TO. \f-^6(ji(va irpos Oavarov tlvai afjLapTrjfuiTa. So In Rom. he 
 distinguishes ' peccatorem esse' from 'peccare.' In Rom. i. i, Qni etenim in 
 carne quis positus adipisci integram libertatem ut in nullo iam serviat carni ? 
 sicut nee adoptionem filiorum quis in corpore positus habere ex integro 
 potest ; Ibid. v. 9, Nam omnino ex integro nescire peccatum solius Christi
 
 VI.] Laws of Natiire and of Moses. 207 
 
 Looking back over history Origen distinguished three 
 separate progressive revelations of God, the Natural Law, 
 the Law of Moses, and the Gospel. A fourth is still to 
 come. It is the Eternal Gospel. 
 
 The first two we may pass over with brief notice. His 
 view is substantially that of Clement, though with a sweep 
 of imagination reminding us of Hooker and Wordsworth 
 he regards the Natural Law, the ' stern daughter of the 
 voice of God,' as swaying not men only, but angels and 
 stars. But he places the Gentile 1 and even the Jew 
 
 est ; In Jesu Nave, Horn. xxi. 2, Non puto cniquam tantum in corde 
 puritatis evenire ut nunquam adversae cogitationis contagione maculetur. 
 See also the commentary on Jesus washing the disciples' feet, In Joan, xxxii. 
 ad in. The passages referred to by Huet, Orig. ii. 7. 18, where sinlessness 
 is attributed to the perfect Christian, are all to be understood in this light. 
 
 1 The Natural Law, the Law of Conscience, is tfonos opposed to 6 No/xoy, 
 the Mosaic Law, In Rom. iii. 7 ; it is the Law which binds men, angels and 
 all reasonable creatures, In Rom. v. I. Commenting on the words 'there 
 is none that doeth good, no, not one,' ' What none,' he asks, ' who sheltered 
 a stranger, or gave bread to the hungry, or clothed the naked, or rescued the 
 innocent from the gripe of the oppressor ? I do not think that Paul the 
 Apostle wished to make so incredible a statement.' But a man is said 
 irotftv xpijffTOTTjra, as he might be said to build a house. If he has only got 
 together material, or laid the foundations, or built a room or two, he has 
 not built a house. ' Ita arbitror et hie Apostolum dicere neminem fecisse 
 bonitatem, hoc est a nullo earn ad perfectum et ad integrum consumma- 
 tam,' In Rom. iii. 3. Again, the Gentile who has followed the guidance of 
 the law of reason, ' licet alienus a vita videatur aeterna, quia non credit 
 Christo, et intrare non possit in regnum coelorum, quia renatus non est ex 
 aqua et Spiritu, videtur tamen quod per haec quae dicuntur ab Apostolo 
 bonorum operum gloriam et honorem et pacem perdere penitus non possit,' 
 In Rom. ii. 7. There is a reward for him, then, though not the highest. 
 See also iii. 6. Jansen, who held the absolute reprobation of the heathen, 
 found great fault with Origen here. In the passage quoted above the 
 Gentiles are excluded from the 'kingdom of Keaven,' the Beatific Vision, 
 because they do not believe in Christ. This is modified, though it is doubt- 
 ful to what precise extent, by what we read elsewhere. Thus, In Matt. 
 Comm. Series, 39 (Lorn. iv. 271), Quid autem dicamus de Britannis aut 
 Germanis qui sunt circa Oceanum, vel apud Barbaros Dacas et Sarmatas et 
 Scythas, quorum plurimi nondum audierunt evangelii verbum, audituri sunt
 
 2o8 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 decidedly lower in the scale of God's favour. We may 
 say that his idea of development is not so clear or serene. 
 ' History tells us,' he says, ' that the wickedness of the 
 world is greater than it was V He would not go so far as 
 to allow that the Greek was 'justified ' by his philosophy. 
 To his mind there is a certain breach of continuity, though 
 probably he would not have admitted this. The Gospel 
 is not the natural crown of Reason and the Law, but 
 rather a remedy for their failure 2 . 
 
 Again, as regards the Gospel itself there are numerous 
 differences. On one side Origen is far more evangelical, 
 on another far more ecclesiastical than his master. He 
 speaks like Clement of the Two Lives, but as we have 
 already noticed in a very different way ; he no longer 
 
 autem in ipsa saeculi consummatione ? This was proved by Matth. 
 xxiv. 14. 
 
 1 Contra Celsum, iv. 63. 
 
 * In Rom. v. 6, ' Law (there is no article) which entered that offence 
 might abound ' (Rom. v. 20) is the law of our members which rises up to 
 resist the natural law. So too is the ' law which worketh wrath,' though it 
 may be the Law of Moses, inasmuch as it fixes definite punishments for sins. 
 Again, in chap. vii. 7, ' I had not known sin but by law/ law is the natural 
 law. Origen will not admit that the Law is in any sense the cause of sin. 
 On the contrary, it struck the first effective blow at the power of sin. 
 The locus classicus for this is In Rom. v. i, 'Per legem enim purificatio 
 peccatorum coepit aperiri et ex parte aliqua tyrannidi eius obsisti per hostias, 
 per expiationes varias, per sacrificia varia, per praecepta.' Being insuffi- 
 cient it was supplemented by the Prophets, by Christ. But it is not 
 abolished so much as absorbed into the Gospel, In Rom. iii. 1 1 ; In Lev. 
 Horn. vi. 2, ' Lavet te igitur Moses.' The works of the Law by which no 
 flesh could be saved are not works of justice, but circumcision, sacrifice, 
 keeping of new moons and sabbaths, In Rom. viii. 6. The Faith of Law 
 and Gospel is One, In Jesu Nave, Horn. xvii. 2 ; cp. In Joan. xx. 12, but 
 the Law is inferior, because to the Jews, except a few, God was known only 
 as Lord, that is to say, was obeyed through fear, In Joan. xix. i ; again, 
 because ' legis observantia poenam tantummodo effugit, fidei vero meritum 
 spem repromissionis expectat,' In Rom. iv. 3. The Law is the clay figure 
 which the artist afterwards casts in bronze, In Lev. Horn. x. I ; it is ' the 
 lantern ' opposed to 'the light.' In Lev. Horn. xiii. 2. M. Denis, p. 41 sqq., 
 lays too much stress on the inferiority of the Law.
 
 VI.] The Gospel. 209 
 
 clings to the primitive belief, that all members of the 
 Church are ip so facto in a state of salvation. The general 
 relation of Faith and Conduct is the same, but in Origen 
 Knowledge, or as he prefers to call it Wisdom, is only a 
 deeper and fuller faith *. We hear no more of Apathy 
 or of Disinterested Love 2 . There is a difference also in 
 the object of Faith. To Clement Christ is principally 
 
 1 Faith in Origen, as in Clement, means Belief determining Action and 
 leading up through Obedience to Love. A leading passage is In Jocyi. 
 xxxii. 9, where taking his start from the words ' Increase our Faith,' 
 ' Though I have all Faith,' Origen distinguishes between perfect and im- 
 perfect Faith. They are different in extension, not in intensity. The 
 contents of Faith are the articles of the Creed, to which we may add the 
 Epinoiai of Christ. The distinction between Knowledge and Faith in 
 Origen is evanescent. In Rom. iv. 5 he speaks of Two Faiths, a human 
 and a divine. The addition of the latter makes perfect justifying faith. 
 The one is of reason, the other of grace, the special gift of God, and both 
 must coexist. As to the relation of Faith and Conduct, we know that men 
 are justified by Faith without the works of the Law, for instance the Peni- 
 tent Thief; and works without Faith justify no man, for instance the 
 Pharisee of Luke xviii. 10 ; In Rom. iii. 9. This point is not brought out by 
 Clement. But there are two justifications, one by faith, one by works. 
 The former makes man just in the sight of God, it is forgiveness, known to 
 God alone ; the latter makes him just also in the sight of saints and angels. 
 The former is strictly only the 'initium iustificari ;' it is imperfect faith. 
 The faith which was imputed to Abraham for righteousness was perfect 
 faith, which had already manifested itself in obedience. This is ' justified 
 by God,' the man is made really and truly righteous. Then his faith is no 
 longer ' imputed to him for righteousness,' for he is righteous. This is 
 further illustrated from Ps. xxxii. i, 2, 'Blessed is he whose transgression 
 is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord 
 imputeth not iniquity.' First the soul leaves its evil and obtains pardon. 
 Next by good deeds it covers its sins. Ubi vero iam ad perfectum 
 venerit, ita ut omnis de ea malitiae radix penitus amputetur, eo usque ut 
 nullum in ea vestigium possit inveniri nequitiae, ibi iam summa perfectae 
 beatitudinis promittitur, cum nnllum possit Dominus imputare peccatum ; 
 In Rom. iv. I sqq. 
 
 2 Injesu Nave, Horn. ix. 6, the six tribes who stood on Ebal are those 
 who only desire to escape punishment, the six on Garizin are those who 
 long for the blessing and the promises. Otherwise he speaks of the three 
 degrees of perfection, the two classes of hearers, the milk and solid food 
 much in the same way as Clement ; Injesu Nave, Horn. xxii. 2. 
 
 P
 
 2io Origen. [Lect. 
 
 the Word and the Light ; to Origen He is more emphati- 
 cally ' my Lord and Saviour Jesus.' The life of the 
 Christian is a growing receptivity of the Incarnate Son 
 in His successive Epinoiai. But we cannot attain beyond 
 the lower Epinoiai, those of Redemption and Mediation, 
 in this world, nor for aeons yet to come. The Cross in 
 all its wonder, its bounty, its power, is always before the 
 eyes of Origen. ' We are justified,' he says, ' by faith, 
 but far more by the blood of Jesus V Those mysteries, 
 which Clement scarcely dared to gaze upon, Qrigen has 
 endeavoured to explain. He is the first to attempt a 
 philosophy of the Atonement. Christ is our Teacher 
 and Example, but above all He is our Sacrifice, and 
 under the touch of Allegory the whole ritual of Leviticus 
 becomes eloquent of Him, who bore our sins upon the 
 tree. 
 
 Christ is our Ransom, our Redemption. By His 
 precious Blood, that is not by His body but by His 
 human soul, which the God within the Man, the Great 
 High Priest, laid as a lamb upon the altar, He bought 
 us from the powers of sin. His Death in some mystic 
 way broke the powers of sin, as even now martyrs by 
 Christlike self-surrender daunt and diminish the army of 
 Satan. The spirits of evil were terrified and conscience 
 stricken, some of them were even converted, by that 
 immeasurable defiance 2 . 
 
 1 In Rom. iv. 1 1 (on Rom. v. 8, 9), Ex quo ostendit quod neque fides 
 nostra sine Christ! sanguine, neque sanguis Christi nos sine fide nostra iusti- 
 ficat ; ex utroque tamen multo magis sanguis Christi nos quam fides nostra 
 iustificat. See also the passage quoted below, p. 221. 
 
 2 In Matt. xvi. 8 (Lorn. iv. 28), Ae'Sorcu 5e \vrpov vtrep ^fj.aiv r) ^t>x*7 
 roO vlov TOV Oeov Kal ovre TO Trvfvpa avrov . . . ovre TO atjj^a, ovSev yap 
 evponsv irca TOIOVTOV irtpl avrov ytypafifitvov. The ^vxh would include the 
 Blood which is its ovaia, De Princ. ii. 8. a. In Joan. vi. 35 the Victim is
 
 vi .] The t Gospel. 211 
 
 Again, He is our Propitiation. ' The true High Priest, 
 He hath made God propitious to thee by His Blood, and 
 reconciled thee to the Father.' ' For God,' says Origen 
 in language that seems, but only seems, to anticipate 
 Anselm, 'is just, and the just cannot justify the unjust. 
 Therefore He willed the intervention of a Propitiator, 
 that those might be justified by faith in Him, who could 
 not be justified by their own works V 
 
 the Man which is laid upon the altar by the God the great High Priest, but 
 this does not contradict the former passage. In Rom. iii. 7 Christ paid his 
 own Life as a Ransom to the powers of evil by whom man was held in cap- 
 tivity ; Ibid. iv. 1 1 , Tradens sanguinem suum principi huius mundi, se- 
 cundum sapientiam Dei, quam nemo principum huius mundi cognovit ; si 
 enim cognovissent nunquam Dominum maiestatis crucifixissent, ne sanguis 
 ille quern sitierant, non tarn sitim quam vires eorum exstingueret regnumque 
 destrueret. See also In Matt. xvi. 8. Some of the Guardian Angels of 
 Nations were converted at the sight of Jesus, and this may account for the 
 rapid spread of the Gospel in those regions over which they presided, In 
 Joan. xiii. 58. But In Lucam, Horn, xii, this is put differently. Each 
 Nation, like each individual, has two Angels who watch over it, one good, 
 the other evil. The Incarnation strengthened the hands of the good Angels. 
 For the manner in which Christ's Death broke the power of the evil spirits, 
 see especially the grand passage In Joan, xxviii. 14. Origen attributes the 
 same power to all acts of self-sacrifice, especially to the martyr's death ; In 
 Jesu Nave, Horn. xv. 6, Puto sane quia sancti . . . imminuant exercitum 
 daemonum ; cp. In Num. Horn. x. 2 ; xxiv. I ; In Levit. Horn. ix. 3 ; In 
 Joan. vi. 35. 36 ; In Matt. xv. 34 ; Contra CeZsum, viii. 44 ; De Mart. 
 30. 50. But while the sacrifice of Christ is the one sufficient atonement for 
 all the sins of the whole world, the benefit of the martyr's example extends 
 but to a few, and owes its efficacy to the Cross of Jesus. The merits of 
 Christ's Death are conveyed through seven channels of remission, Baptism, 
 Martyrdom, Almsgiving, Forgiveness, Conversion of a Sinner, Charity, 
 Penitence ; In Lev. Horn. ii. 4. To these must be added the Eucharist ; In 
 Matt. Comm. Series, 86. Nevertheless Origen's view coincides with that of 
 Clement, that the only free forgiveness is that conveyed in Baptism ; In 
 Lev. Horn. ii. 4, Apud nos una tantummodo venia est peccatorum quae 
 per lavacri gratiam in initiis datur. For though these words are put into 
 the mouth of an interlocutor, Origen appears to adopt them. We are to 
 distinguish free 'venia' from purchased 'remissio.' 
 
 1 See especially In Rom. iii. 8 ; iv. 8. In the former passage will be 
 found the fine allegory on the Mercy Seat. Here God is spoken of as 
 reconciled to man. But ' God declares His righteousness ' (Rom. iii. 25) is 
 
 P 2
 
 2 1 2 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 Nay the salvation of man seems to be an inadequate 
 object for that unspeakable effort of Divine Goodness. 
 To Origen as to the Gnostics, as to Ignatius, the death 
 of Jesus is a world-sacrifice 1 . ' Christ was a double 
 Victim, meet for those in heaven, as for those on earth.' 
 The blood, which was shed in Jerusalem, was mystically 
 sprinkled on the altar above, where the Saviour pleads 
 His Atonement, till sin shall be no more. Wide as the 
 violated order of God is the healing influence of His 
 Love. All creation groaning and travailing in sympathy 
 with man's distress is soothed and strengthened, and will 
 be restored to perfect harmony, by Him, who in the blood 
 of Jesus reconciles all things unto Himself, whether they 
 be things in earth or things in heaven 2 . 
 
 explained to mean, manifests, confers upon man His righteousness. In 
 the second passage the reconciliation is of man to God. Jesus Christus 
 nos per hostiam sanguinis sni reconciliavit Deo, sicut scriptum est, ' cum 
 essemus inimici Dei, reconciliati sumus Deo per sanguinem crucis Filii 
 eius (Rom. v. 10).' Et alibi idem Panlus addidit his dicens ' rogamus pro 
 Christo, reconciliamini Deo (2 Cor. v. 20).' Christ is our Peace because 
 He breaks down the hedge ' quam peccando texuimus.' The idea seems 
 to be that prior to the Atonement of Christ God could not pardon, not 
 because He had not received a sufficient price for His forgiveness, but 
 because man could only be made good enough to receive pardon through 
 faith in a crucified Saviour. 
 
 1 Ignatius, Ad Smyrn. vi; Ad Trail, ix. i ; Dorner, i. I. p. 113, Eng. 
 trans. 
 
 2 In Lev. Horn. i. 3, Nisi quia forte hoc intellegi voluit, quod sanguis 
 Jesn non solum in Jerusalem effusus est, ubi erat altare . . . sed et quod 
 supernum altare quod est in coelis, ubi et ecclesia primitivorum est, idem 
 ipse sanguis adsperserit; sicut et apostolus dicit, quia 'pacificavit per san- 
 guinem crucis suae sive quae in terris sunt sive quae in coelis ' (Col. i. 20) . . . 
 Vis autem scire quia duplex hostia in eo fuit conveniens terrestribus et apta 
 coelestibus? But In Lev. Horn. ii. 3 on earth He is offered 'pro peccato,' 
 in heaven ' pro munere.' That the Passion of Christ ' profuisse coelestibus ' 
 is stated also In Luc. Horn, x; In Rom. v. 10 ; In Matt. xiii. 8. It was 
 proved not only by Col. i. 20 but by Hebr. ii. 9, where Origen preferred the 
 reading x<"/>ts "yap Qtov virep travrbs fffvffaro Oavarov, He tasted death for 
 all except God, In Joan. i. 40. Eph. iii. 10 was held by many of the early
 
 VI.] The Church. 213 
 
 In discipline as in doctrine Origen is the exponent of 
 a later age than Clement. The Catholic Church is one, 
 but still with a spiritual, not an administrative unity. 
 
 Hence Origen speaks of ' the Churches ' as often as of 
 'the Church.' The famous words of Christ to Peter, 
 ' whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in 
 heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall 
 be loosed in heaven,' are spoken also to all Christians, 
 whose faith is like that of Peter 1 . But the majesty of 
 the ' most ancient Church ' of Rome exercised a certain 
 fascination upon his mind. He did not think his educa- 
 tion complete,, till he had seen with his own eyes and 
 heard with his own ears the ritual and the doctrine of 
 
 Fathers to mean that the Angels received some benefit from the Incarnation. 
 Origen thought that in His descent Christ actually took upon Himself the 
 form of an Angel ; In Gen. Horn. viii. 8, Unde puto quod sicut inter hom- 
 ines habitu repertus est ut homo, ita et inter angelos habitu est repertus ut 
 angelus. So also In Matt. xiv. 7 ; In Joan. i. 34 ; In Rom. i. 4, Si ergo 
 cum apparuit nobis hominibus non sine Evangelic apparuit, consequentia 
 videtur ostendere, quod etiam angelico ordini non sine Evangelio apparu- 
 erit, illo fortassis quod aeternum Evangelium a Joanne memoratum supra 
 edocuimus. Huet comments, Singulis angelorum ordinibns in sua uni- 
 cuique forma apparuisse, Evangelium praedicasse et in coelo denique mortem 
 pro its obiisse sciscere videtur aliquando. I can find no . authority for the 
 words italicised. All benefits to whatever recipients flow from the one 
 death of Christ upon Calvary ; see In Rom. v. 10. But Jerome and Jus- 
 tinian allege that according to Origen Christ was to be crucified again for 
 the sins of the Demons, not once but many times. They refer to De Princ. 
 iv. 25, where again Rufinus has altered his text. But Origen there (see 
 Jerome's translation and the Greek fragment given by Justinian, both in 
 Lorn. ) seems to mean that the Passion of Christ in a sense endures to the 
 Consummation of All, referring no doubt to the altar on which stood ' a 
 Lamb as it had been slain.' Origeniana, ii. 3. 23 sq. The difficult words 
 In Lev. Horn. i. 3, 'et hie quidem pro hominibus ipsam corporalem materiam 
 sanguinis sui fudit, in coelestibus vero ministrantibus, si qui illi inibi sunt, 
 sacerdotibus vitalem corporis sui virtutem, velut spirituale quoddam sacrifi- 
 cium immolavit,' whatever thej may mean precisely, do not refer to a 
 sacrifice numerically different. See Redepenning, ii. 400 ; Hofling, ii. 25. 
 1 In Matt. xiii. 31 ; De Orat. 14 (Lorn. xvii. 146).
 
 214 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 the great Italian see, which was already designated by its 
 wealth and splendour, its authority and orthodoxy, as 
 the leader, the champion, the arbiter of Christendom. 
 He seems to have felt the acquiescence of Rome in the 
 sentence of Demetrius as a heavy addition to his mis- 
 fortune, and somewhere about the year 246 despatched a 
 letter to Fabian, the reigning Pope, in which he pro- 
 tested his orthodoxy 1 , and solicited readmission to 
 communion. We must not however lay too much stress 
 upon this fact. The same letter appears to have been 
 addressed to the Bishops of all the Churches, which had 
 ratified his condemnation. It was written after the 
 accession of his pupil and friend Dionysius to the Patri- 
 archate of Alexandria towards the end of Origen's life, 
 when for the first time he felt it possible to make over- 
 tures towards reconciliation without disparagement to 
 his self-respect. 
 
 The history of his career shows how little he thought 
 the judgment of one Bishop ought to influence the action 
 of another. Nor does he appear to have felt his disgrace 
 as a bar to his activity or a burden on his conscience. 
 Yet, rebel as he was, he ranked far higher than Clement 
 the authority and privileges of the clergy. The analogy 
 between the Christian and the Mosaic hierarchy is con- 
 
 1 Eus. 
 
 re irkeiarois &p\ovaiv fKK\rjffiuv, jrepl TTJS tear' avrbv 6p0o5oias. Jerome, 
 Ep. Ixv. ad Pammachium (in Migne, Ixxxiv), Ipse Origenes in epistola 
 quam scribit ad Fabianum Romanae urbis episcopum, poenitentiam agit 
 cur talia scripserit, et causam temeritatis in Ambrosium confert, quod 
 secreto edita in publicum protulerit. Origeniana, i. 3. 13. That Origen 
 in this letter recanted doctrines which he continued to teach to the end of his 
 life, or that he endeavoured to throw the blame of his heterodoxy on his 
 friend and benefactor is not to be believed on the unsupported testimony of 
 Jerome. See, however, Dr. Westcott's article on Ambrosius, Diet. Christ. 
 Biog.
 
 VI.] The Priest. 215 
 
 stantly in his mind, and if he does not draw from it all 
 the consequences that have been supposed, it is no less 
 true that in his view the priest is no longer the minister 
 of the congregation, but the vicar of God. The ordinary 
 Christian is indeed a priest, but only in the moral or 
 spiritual sense, that is to say only in a figure, inasmuch 
 as he offers to God the sacrifice of his own heart and 
 mind l . We still trace the working of the ancient mode 
 of thought in the emphasis laid by Origen upon the 
 moral and spiritual qualifications of the minister. His 
 doctrine of clerical authority is not unlike that of Wiclif. 
 The power to bind and loose depends upon the spiritual 
 worthiness of him who wields it 2 . He who is not holy 
 
 1 Origen constantly speaks of the true Christian as a Priest, In Lev. Horn, 
 iv. 6 ; vi. 5 ; ix. i. 8 ; xiii. 5. But the layman is a priest only ' secundum 
 moralem locum ; ' In Lev. Horn. i. 5 ; ii. 4 ; ix. 6 ; or ' secundum spiritualem 
 intelligentiam,' In Lev. Horn. xv. 3. A very modern sounding phrase may 
 be noticed, In Num. Horn. ii. i, where it is said of priests, virgins, ascetics, 
 that they are in professione religionis. Injesii Nave, Horn. xvii. 2, shows 
 that there was a strong tendency in Origen's mind to restrict the language 
 concerning the Priesthood of the Christian to these ' religious.'' 
 
 - The locus classicus is In Lev. Horn. v. 3. The Priest ' eats the sins of 
 the people,' that is, takes them upon himself and remits them, ' secundum 
 imaginem eius qui sacerdotium ecclesiae dedit.' But he must ' eat the sin ' 
 in a clean place, that is, he must have charity, faith, and a good conscience. 
 He is said again ' repropitiare delictum,' and this phrase is explained to 
 mean the moral amendment which the good Priest works in the sinner. 
 Probst, Sakramente, p. 267, argues that Origen means only that the sin 
 destroys the force of the priestly judgment if it affects him in respect of 
 the particular act. If the Priest was generally speaking a good man, 
 but absolved a particular penitent from personal affection, his absolution 
 would be of no avail. But if, though generally speaking a bad man, he 
 condemned a particular sinner after conscientious examination of his 
 case, the condemnation would hold good just as a secular judge may pro- 
 nounce just and valid sentences though his private life may be thoroughly 
 vicious. This implies entire ignorance of the Alexandrine doctrine of 
 spiritual knowledge, and is refuted by the entire run of the Homily referred 
 to. The Priest is to have for himself ' the breast,' ' the right shoulder,' that 
 is to say, he must have a heart pure from sin, a hand fruitful of good works. 
 ' Nisi habeat pectus ex omnibus membris electum non est sacerdos et nisi
 
 2i6 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 is no priest, and his sentence has no effect at all. Nor is 
 the priestly absolution in itself of force. The priest 
 declares, but does not bestow forgiveness. Nevertheless 
 he alone may teach. He has received judgment of souls. 
 It is his office to stablish the sinner, who is converted 
 from his sin. He is to invite confession both public and 
 private, and to declare the conditions of absolution, the 
 kind and degree of penance, by which the sinner may 
 gain his restoration to the peace of the Church l . 
 
 How far this power extended was matter of grave 
 doubt. The disputes, which afterward issued in the 
 Novatian schism, were already smouldering in the 
 Church. In many communities the opinion prevailed, 
 that for mortal sins, especially for unchastity, murder, 
 and idolatry, committed after Baptism, there was no 
 forgiveness on earth. Early in the second century Hermas 
 at Rome pleads for a mitigation of this stern rule, and 
 would allow of one absolution for even the worst offences. 
 This was, as has been said, the opinion of Clement also. 
 In the time of Origen even a more lenient practice 
 appears to have been adopted in the Church of Rome. 
 At first perhaps those guilty of sins of unchastity, but 
 soon afterwards all offenders of every grade, were de- 
 
 habeat brachium dextrum non potest adscendere ad altare Dei et sacerdos 
 nominari? To this end he needs the priestly science (De Orat. 28 ; 
 Probst wrongly explains it to mean casuistry}, but this he cannot have unless 
 he is spiritual and pure, ' et ita demum ernditionis capax fiat, si prius capax 
 fuerit sanctitatis.' Compare In Psalm, xxxvii. Horn. ii. 6 (Lorn. xii. 267), 
 Tantummodo circumspice diligentius, cui debeas confiteri peccatum tuum. 
 Proba prius medicum ; In Matt. xii. 1.4, if the gates of hell prevail against 
 the Priest, in vain does he bind or loose. 
 
 1 The Priest has 'iudicium animarum,' In Lev. Horn. v. 12. For con- 
 fession see In Lev. Horn. ii. 4 ; In Psalm, xxxvii. Horn. ii. 6. The judgment 
 of any righteous man has power to bind and loose, as was shown above, 
 but not as regards the discipline of the Church.
 
 VI.] Absolution. 217 
 
 clared capable of forgiveness on proper evidences of 
 contrition. Thus the gates of mercy were thrown wide 
 open, and the sin against the Holy Ghost, the unpar- 
 donable sin, was declared to be defiance of the Church, 
 obdurate refusal of the terms of pardon. It is possible 
 that in some communities this view had prevailed from 
 the first J . 
 
 On this point, as on some others, Origen's views 
 underwent a modification. It may be that he was 
 softened by age ; it may be that he was carried along 
 by the changing sentiment of the Church around him. 
 In his earlier writings 2 he gives unflinching expression 
 
 1 See the letter of Dionysius of Corinth, circa A.D. 169, to the Churches 
 of Pontus, Eus. H. E. iv. 23. For the obscure and difficult history of the 
 Penance Controversy the student may consult Dollinger, Hippolytus and 
 Callistus, p. 117 sqq., Eng. trans. ; Probst, Sakramente, p. 296 sqq. ; Har- 
 nack, article Novatian in Herzog, ed. 1882, Dogmengeschichte, p. 331 sqq. 
 An interesting monument of the triumph of the more merciful view is to be 
 found in the Jonah pictures in the Chapel of the Sacraments in the Cemetery 
 of Callistus ; Probst, Kirchliche Disciplin, p. 239. 
 
 2 In De Orat. 28 (written about A.D. 236) idolatry, adultery, forni- 
 cation and wilful murder are death-sins. The distinction between mortal 
 and venial sins is based upon the Law of Moses, ot KC.TO. vofiov j'epefs 
 KuXvovTai Trepi tivtav irpoff<p(peti' d^aprrjfjidTcav Ovatav, and on I Sam. ii. 25. 
 (Other texts appealed to by the severe party, and with good reason, were 
 I John v. 16; Hebr. vi. 4; the precise meaning of Matt. xii. 31 is in 
 dispute.) For these sins there is no forgiveness in the Church, though 
 some tavroTs tmrptyavrfs rd virtp rfiv UpariK^v diav, rd\a /wjS* d/tpiPovvrts 
 rf)v IfpartK^v emarrifirjv, presume to think they may be forgiven, Sid TTJS 
 fi>Xns avrwv. De la Rue considered that Origen meant to blame the rash- 
 ness of Priests who ventured to give absolution for mortal sins without 
 proper evidence of contrition, but the reader will see, I think, that he denies 
 the possibility of absolution for these sins on any terms. With this is to 
 be compared In Ezech. Horn. iv. 8, where Origen reproves ' nonnullorum 
 insipientiam, qui sensum animi sui Dei esse asserunt veritatem et frequenter 
 dicunt " futurum est ut unusquisque nostrum precibus suis eripiat quoscunque 
 voluerit de gehenna." ' These words may seem to refer to Prayers for the 
 Dead, but it is better to explain them in the same way as the passage of the 
 De Oratione. Origen goes on to icprove those who ' qui in sanctis fiduciam 
 habent.' The influence of confessors and martyrs was largely instrumental 
 in breaking down the antique rigour.
 
 2 1 8 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 to the stern old rule. No death-sin can be forgiven, 
 and those priests, who presume to pronounce absolution 
 in cases of this nature, are ignorant of the priestly science. 
 Not that the sinner is forbidden to hope. ' God alone 
 knows,' he says, speaking of the crime of apostasy, ' what 
 evils He will bring upon those who deny and do not 
 repent, what upon those who deny and repent V The 
 Church cannot pardon them, but God may. The sin, 
 which has no forgiveness . in this aeon or the aeon to 
 come, may be atoned for in some one of the countless 
 aeons of the vast hereafter. 
 
 But in his later works he speaks with another voice. 
 Even death-sins may be forgiven once they may be 
 forgiven a second and a third time there are no limits 
 to the Church's power of absolution. One crime alone, 
 obdurate impenitence, has no forgiveness. The sinner 
 who refuses to hear the Church, whether his offence be 
 light or heavy, is cast forth, and when once expelled 
 from the fold can never again re-enter. Yet even so it is 
 better for him to repent, that he may have fewer sins to 
 atone for in the Day of Judgment 2 . 
 
 1 In Matt. Comm. Series, 114. This passage belongs to those that 
 express the later and more lenient view, but the particular words here quoted 
 are applicable in either case. 
 
 2 In Lev. Horn. xv. 2, In gravioribus enim criminibus semel tantum 
 poenitentiae conceditur locus ; ista vero communia quae frequenter incurri- 
 mus semper poenitentiam recipiunt ; In Lev. Horn. xi. 2, Quod et si 
 aliquis est qui forte praeventus est in huiuscemodi peccatis admonitus nunc 
 verbo Dei, ad auxilium confugiat poenitentiae ; ut si semel admisit, secundo 
 non faciat, aut si et secundo, aut etiam tertio praeventus sit, ultra non addat. 
 Contra Celsum, iii. 51, the sinner is readmitted to communion, after pro- 
 longed penance, but cannot be promoted to office in the Church. There are 
 two remarkable passages in the Commentary on Matthew. In Tom. xiii. 
 30 Origen is explaining Matth. xviii. 15, 'If thy brother shall trespass 
 against thee,',&c.' Some, he says, take this to mean that even death-sins 
 may be forgiven. Others that even the lightest sins are shut out from for-
 
 VI.] The Eucharist. 219 
 
 On another important subject, the Eucharist 1 , we 
 observe a similar advance beyond the position of 
 
 giveness. Both have erred through not keeping closely to the text. Jesus 
 says if the sinner repents on the first admonition, 'thou hast gained thy 
 brother.' But what happens if he does not repent ? This Jesus does not 
 say. In that case then he is neither wholly gained nor wholly lost. We know 
 not what he will suffer. God knows ; we judge not, that we be not judged. 
 In the words that follow a superfluous negative appears to have crept into 
 the text, on OVK tfecm Sis fijs (IT) aKovaavra. T& Tpirov ajcovffai. The ov 
 should surely be omitted. If, Origen says, this rule seems hard upon those 
 who have committed only light sins, let us remember that they have three 
 chances of amendment. He goes on to say that it is better in any case to 
 repent, \vaire\(i \tt<? oitoaaow d/zapTjy/xara utravotiv, that we may have less 
 to atone for at the Last Day. He certainly teaches here that if the shiner 
 after three admonitions refused to submit to penance he was cut off from 
 the Church, and this excommunication was final, whatever the gravity of the 
 sin that had brought it about. But apparently there is no limit to the 
 number of times that the sinner might be admitted to penance. In the 
 Comm. Series, 1 14, Peter's apostasy was pardoned because he repented at 
 the crowing of the cock, before the break of day, that is before the 
 descent of the Holy Spirit. Since that time there is no remission of this 
 sin for those who deny Christ ' in the day.' But, he adds, the denial itself 
 proves that the day has not really dawned upon them. ' Forsitan autem 
 et omnes homines quando denegant Jesum, ita ut peccatum denegationis 
 eorum recipiat medicinam, ante galli cantum denegare eum videntur.' 
 Origen appears in these last words to be defending with some reluctance the 
 practice of granting absolution even to apostates. Hence even this passage 
 belongs to those in which the more lenient view is maintained. 
 
 1 The best account of Origen's doctrine on this subject is that given by 
 Hb'fling, Die Lehre der altesten Kirche vom Offer im Leben und Culhis 
 der Christen, 1851. The controversy on the subject between Romanists 
 and Protestants in the Reformation times will be found hi the Origeniana. 
 Both parties claimed Origen as a friend. Against Hofling may be set 
 Db'llinger, Die Eucharistie in den drei ersten Jahrhunderten, 1826. The 
 Alexandrines held a real but spiritual and in no sense material Presence of 
 Christ in the Eucharist. But there was undoubtedly a party which believed 
 in Transubstantiation, though probably there was as yet no set philosophical 
 explanation of this belief. See In Joan, xxxii. 16, voeiffda Se 6 dpros xal 
 rofy fjilv air\ovffTfpois Kara TTJV KOivortpav irepl T?;J eux a P'" r '' as 
 jjv, rofy S( ffaBvrepov aicovfiv nt/M0T]K6<nv Kara TT)V Oeiortpav not irfpl rov 
 rpo<}ii/j.ov TTJS dXrjOttas Ao-yoti fTrayyt\iav (Lorn. ii. 459). Here the belief 
 in a Corporal Presence is regarded as belonging to the Lower Life, the life 
 of those who do not go beyond the letter. Transubstantiation rests upon 
 Aristotelic or Stoic Realism, and is diametrically opposed to Platonism.
 
 220 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 Clement, though here probably the difference is greater 
 in language than in reality. The Church has its 'altar,' 
 ' consecrated by the precious Blood of Christ V The 
 Bread is ' Sacerdotal Bread,' ' a kind of holy Body.' 
 The communicant is said to ' receive the Body of the 
 Lord,' ' the sacraments of the Lord's Body V In these 
 and similar phrases we trace the growing reverence and 
 mystery attached to the material of this greatest of 
 Christian rites. Yet we must not be carried too far. 
 The Eucharist is a Mystery, one of the chiefest Mys- 
 teries, for here too there is a letter that killeth, a spirit 
 that giveth life 3 . The Bread and Wine are an allegory, 
 
 Leading passages on the subject of the Eucharist are, In Matt. xi. 14 (Lorn, 
 iii. 106 ; quite decisive as to the opus operatum and the value of the i/'A.?;) ; 
 Comm. Series, 85 ; In Lev. Horn, xiii (the whole Homily should be read); 
 In Num. Horn, xxiii. 6. It has been observed above, p. 143, that the 
 Eucharist is a mystery in a double sense, firstly as regards its ritual, secondly 
 as regards its doctrinal explanation. 
 
 1 Injesu Nave, Horn. ii. i ; x. 3 ; Injud. Horn. iii. 2 ; Probst, Kirch- 
 liche Disciplin^ p. 212. Injesu Nave, Horn. viii. 6, Christ is Priest, Victim, 
 Altar. Ibid. Horn. ix. Origen uses the language of Clement. The believers 
 are the altar on which Christ offers His sacrifice to the Father. The 'or- 
 natus altaris ' is the Law in the type engraved by Joshua on stones, in the 
 antitype by Christ on the heart ; and all true Christians are Priests and 
 Levites. Compare Contra Celsum, viii. 17. 
 
 2 In Exodum, Horn. xiii. 3, Cum suscipitis corpus Domini, cum omni 
 cautela et veneratione servatis, ne ex eo parum quid decidat, ne consecrati 
 muneris aliquid dilabatur; Contra Celsum, viii. 33, dprovs ta6iofj.fv OW/M 
 yeco/iei'ovs 5id rrjv fv^y aytov 11 /cal a-yidfov TOVS /(?' vyiovs Trpo6tffus 
 avrSi xpcu/zeVous ; In Lev. Horn. xiii. 6, Ille sacerdotalis panis qui est 
 secretus et mysticus sermo. 
 
 3 In Lev. Horn. vii. 5. The whole passage is one of the most important : 
 Jesus ergo quia totus ex toto mundus est, tota eius caro cibus est, et torus 
 sanguis eius potus est, quia omne opus eius sanctum est, et omnis sermo 
 eius verus est. Propterea ergo et caro eius verus est cibus et sanguis eius 
 verus est potus. Carnibus enim et sanguine verbi sui tanquam mundo cibo 
 ac potu, potat et reficit omne hominum genus. Secundo in hoc loco post 
 illius camem mundus cibus est Petrus et Paulus et omnes Apostoli. Tertio 
 loco discipuli eorum. ' Das Wort, die Verheissung des Herrn ist der 
 heilskraftige Leib und das heilskraftige Blut, das wir sowohl innerhalb als
 
 VI.] The Eucharist. 221 
 
 a symbol. ' For it was not that visible bread, which He 
 was holding in His hand, that God the Word called His 
 Body ; it was the word as a symbol whereof that bread 
 was to be broken. Nor was it that visible cup, that He 
 called His Blood, but the word as a symbol whereof that 
 wine was to be poured out . . . Why did He not say, this 
 is the Bread of the New Testament, as He said, this is 
 My Blood of the New Testament ? Because the bread 
 is the word of righteousness, but the wine is the word of 
 the knowledge of Christ. Since then the covenant of 
 God is placed in the blood of the passion of Christ, so 
 that we are saved by faith and not by righteousness, it is 
 said of the chalice alone, this is the cup of the New 
 Testament V There is a sacrifice in the Eucharist, and 
 there is a. commemoration of a sacrifice, the first is that 
 of the believer himself, the second is that of Christ -. 
 There is a Presence of Christ, but it is a spiritual, and 
 therefore in Origen's view the only real, Presence, real pre- 
 cisely because in nowise material. It is worth while to 
 
 ausserhalb des Sakramentes empfangen und geniessen sollen.' Hence it is 
 sometimes difficult to decide when Origen is speaking of the Eucharist and 
 when of general spiritual communion with Christ, as In Matt. Comnt. Series, 
 86 ; Cels. viii. 22 ; De Orat. 27 ; In Jer. Horn. xii. 2. Hbfling. 
 
 1 In Matt. Comm. Series, 85. 
 
 2 In Lev. Horn. ix. 8. 9, at the heavenly altar, till the end of this world, 
 Christ offers the incense which we must put into His Hands. Our sacri- 
 fices can have no propitiatory value unless He thus takes them, receiving 
 from us both the incense and the coals, the fire of love. For the Christian's 
 sacrifice, see In Num. Horn. xii. 3 ; xxiv. 2 ; In Exod. Horn. xiii. 2 ; De 
 Orat. 12. But In Lev. Horn. v. 3, Ipse Christus solus est hostia pro pec- 
 catis et ipse est hostia sancta sanctorum. He is the only sacrifice in the 
 sense of sin-offering. In Lev. Horn. iii. 5, Omnis quidem paene hostia 
 quae offertur habet aliquid formae et imaginis Christi. Especially the 
 young bullock of Lev. iv. 3, the ram of the trespass-offering, and the Paschal 
 Lamb. But not the scape-goat. In the Eucharist we plead the death of 
 Christ ; In Lev. Horn. xiii. 3, Quod ista est commemoratio sola quae 
 propitium facit hominibus Deum.
 
 222 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 repeat that Origen held the Sacrifice of Christ to have 
 consisted not of His Body but of His Soul. The Soul 
 answers to the Wine, for according to the book of Genesis 
 the blood is the soul or life. This one fact is enough to 
 prove that, as regards the bread at any rate, Origen 
 cannot have held the doctrine of transubstantiation in 
 any shape whatever. 
 
 But the thoughts of Origen turn with constant hope 
 and longing from the Church on earth, where tares grow 
 side by side with the wheat, to the spiritual invisible 
 Church, the Church of the faithful and true, which has 
 neither spot nor blemish nor wrinkle. It is linked in 
 close and vital union to the Church above, the Church of 
 the first-born, of saints and martyrs and angels. These 
 two form the Body, the Temple of the Lord, older in 
 the counsels of God than creation itself. This is the 
 saving Ark, the Church outside of which is no salvation. 
 Men might belong to the visible Church, and yet be dead 
 in trespasses and sins ; they might be cut off from the 
 visible Church, and yet be true brothers of Christ. So 
 different is the view of Origen from that of the organising 
 law-loving West a . 
 
 1 Church buildings, Injesu Nave, Horn. ii. i, Cum videris . . . ecclesias ex- 
 trui; their disposition, Ibid., Horn, x-3 ; Injtid. Horn. iii. 2. The Church had 
 been corrupted by prosperity, Injer. Horn. iv. 3 (Lorn. xv. 140) : ' If we judge 
 things by truth and not by numbers we shall see now that we are no longer 
 faithful. But in bygone times we were faithful when the people suffered mar- 
 tyrdom, when from the cemeteries to which we had escorted the bodies of 
 the martyrs we returned to our places of meeting, and the whole church was 
 gathered together, none falling away, and the catechumens were instructed 
 in martyrdom and in the deaths of those who confessed the truth even unto 
 blood, not yielding to temptation or being confounded before the living 
 God. Then we know they saw signs and wonders ; then few were faithful, 
 but they were faithful indeed, treading the strait and narrow path that 
 leadeth unto life. But now when we have become many for it is not pos- 
 sible that there should be many elect, for Jesus truly said many are called
 
 VI. ] The Eternal Gospel. 223 
 
 To the Spiritual Church belongs the Eternal Gospel, 
 a phrase taken from the Book of Revelation 1 . The 
 Eternal Gospel bears the same relation to the actual 
 Gospel, as this to the Law, or as Deuteronomy to 
 the rest of the Pentateuch. It is that full disclosure 
 of the purposes of God, which could not be given in the 
 New Testament because of the nature of human lan- 
 guage and the limitations of the flesh-bound mind. Yet 
 there are hints, fragments, shadows, which he, who un- 
 derstands the reading of the Mystic Sense, can seize 
 and interpret. These hints, these ' crannies in the wall,' 
 Origen finds abundantly in the Books of Joshua and 
 Leviticus ; the earthly altar is a type of the heavenly 
 altar ; the earthly Canaan is a model of the Promised 
 
 but few chosen out of the multitude of them that profess godliness there 
 are very few that attain to the election of God and blessedness.' Compare 
 Injesti Nave, Horn. xxi. The true Church, 17 Kvplais lA^<ria, is holy and 
 undenled, De Orat. 20 ad in. Outside the Church is no salvation, Injesii 
 Nave, iii. 5, Nemo semet ipsum decipiat ; extra hanc domum, id est extra 
 ecclesiam nemo salvatur. Contrast however with this Infer. Horn. xx. 3, 
 Qui extra ecclesiam est neque vas misericordiae est neque irae . . . sed vas in 
 aliud quiddam reservatum (see above, p. 207, note). But there are those within 
 the Church who do not belong to it, there are those who have been driven 
 forth wrongfully and yet remain members ; In Lev. Horn. xiv. 3. Christ, the 
 Angels, the holy dead are all present at the public worship of the Church ; In 
 Lucam, Horn, xxiii, Duplex hie adest ecclesia una hominum altera angelorum ; 
 cp. De Orat. 31. In Lev. Horn. ix. 8. 9, there are two Temples, the Holy 
 Place and the Holy of Holies, the Church on earth, the Church in heaven. 
 The former is the irapaSeicros rpvtyTjs, 'paradisus deliciarum,' a phrase 
 borrowed from Philo, Leg. All. i. 14 (i. 52), In Cant. Cant, in (Lorn. xv. 
 29), but this term expresses the Holy Church as a whole on earth or in 
 heaven ; see In Ezech. Horn. xiii. 2. The Church in Heaven is the 'eccle- 
 sia primitivorum ' (from Heb. xii. 23), In Jesu Nave, Horn. ix. 4. We find 
 the phrases ecclesia catholica, catholice, doctores catholici, and even catho- 
 licus, a Catholic, the last In Lev. Horn. xiv. 2. 
 
 1 Rev. xiv. 6. See De Princ. iv. 25 ; In Joan. i. 9. 10; In Rom. i. 4 ; 
 ii. 5 ; In LevTRom. xiii. 2. The imperfection of Revelation in the usual 
 sense of the word, the alaOrjTov eva.-fli\iov t appeared to be proved, especi- 
 ally by i Cor. xiii. 9, 10, and John xxi. 25.
 
 224 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 Land above. But the most significant are furnished by 
 St. Paul. Pieced together by his cunning hand they 
 form what is called his Eschatology, his vision of the 
 life to come. He differs from Clement mainly in detail 
 and the anxious care with which he discussed, debated, 
 explained away the language of Scripture. 
 
 He learned from the Bible that the soul passes at 
 death into one of two abodes, which in accordance with 
 the general belief of his time he regarded as situated 
 beneath the earth. The first is Hades, the prison of the 
 imperfect. It is guarded by the Cherubim, who with 
 their fiery sword keep the way of the Tree of Life. 
 Nor had any been suffered to pass these stern sentinels, 
 till Christ descended, and carried the souls of the Patri- 
 archs and Prophets in His train to Paradise, the man- 
 sion of the blessed. Since that day the true believer 
 passes at once into Paradise, unharmed by the fiery 
 sword 1 . Even in this place of rest the soul still has 
 a bodily form, such as that which clothed it before its 
 entry into life. 
 
 At the close of this present Aeon will come the 
 Great Day, when Christ will return to judgment. As 
 in Clement, we hear nothing of the imminence of this 
 catastrophe ; what the more refined minds are pondering 
 is not the time, but the manner of the great change, the 
 
 1 In libr. I Sam. Horn. 2 (Lorn. xi. 331) ; De Princ. ii. n. 6, Puto 
 enim quod sancti quique discedentes de hac vita permanebunt in loco 
 aliqno in terra posito, .quern Paradisum dicit Scriptura divina, velut in 
 quodam eruditionis loco, et, ut ita dixerim, auditorio vel schola animarum. 
 ' In terra,' I presume, is ' within the earth,' ' under the earth.' Compare 
 also In Lucam, Horn, xxiv; De Mart. 36. All pass 'the fiery sword,' 
 ' the fire,' but the righteous are not harmed nor stopped by the screen of 
 flame because there is in them no fuel for it to fasten upon. That the soul 
 in Hades or Paradise has a body was proved by the Parable of Dives and 
 Lazarus; Redepenning, ii. 126.
 
 VI.] The Resurrection. 225 
 
 meaning of the Resurrection, the nature of the reward l . 
 The first of these questions Origen passes over, content 
 to warn his readers that the Gospel prophecy must not 
 be taken in its literal sense 2 . Enough that there will be 
 a new heaven and a new earth. And yet it is but ' the 
 fashion ' of this world that passeth away. The new uni- 
 verse will still be material, still infinite in variety, and 
 apt as this for the discipline of those that dwell therein 3 . 
 In that Great Day men will be reunited to their 
 bodies. This is the undoubted assurance of Scripture. 
 But it constituted one of the great difficulties of the 
 time. Christians were perplexed by it ; heathen con- 
 troversialists poured upon it unmixed ridicule and scorn. 
 Origen like Clement found a solution of all his doubts 
 in the teaching of St. Paul, but he refined upon this in 
 a way peculiar to himself. The resurrection body will 
 be the same as that we now inhabit, and yet not the 
 same. Not the same because spiritual and glorious, 
 because again its material substance will be entirely 
 different. Yet the same, as our body of to-day is the 
 same with our body of twenty years ago ; every particle 
 is changed, yet the body as a whole is not changed. 
 Origen found an explanation of this identity in difference 
 in what he calls the 'germinative principle,' a power 
 similar to that, by which the ear of corn is evolved from 
 the seed. The soul has a vital assimilative 'spark,' or 
 ' principle,' which lays hold of fitting matter, and shapes 
 
 1 Chiliasm is emphatically condemned, De Princ. ii. 11.2. The First and 
 Second Resurrection are distinguished, Sel. in Psalm, i. (Lorn. xi. 392), as 
 that of righteous and that of wicked. But In Joan. xx. 2 1 (Lom. ii. 259) the 
 First Resurrection is for the ' dead in Christ,' the imperfectly righteous, who 
 need resurrection most. 
 
 1 In Matt. Comm. Series, 49. 
 
 3 De Princ. i. 6. 4 ; ii. i. 3. 
 
 Q
 
 226 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 it into a habitation suited to its needs. The same pro- 
 cess, by which it repairs the daily waste of our organism 
 now, will enable it then to construct a wholly new tene- 
 ment for itself 1 . 
 
 It has been urged that Origen's system leaves no 
 real place for the Resurrection 2 . This he would most 
 strenuously have denied. And it is in fact untrue. 
 The body of the soul in Paradise, though different from 
 that which it inhabited in life, is still a body belonging 
 to this Aeon, this world ; the resurrection body is the 
 body of another Aeon, another world. Hence though 
 its features are the same, because these are the natural 
 outward expression of its abiding individuality, its tex- 
 ture is far different, because adapted on the one hand 
 to its new element, on the other to the varying degrees 
 of the soul's purity or impurity 3 . Man, he tells us, will 
 
 1 De Princ. ii. 10. 3; iii. 6. 4 sqq. ; Sel. in Psal. i. 5 (Lorn. xi. 392) ; 
 Contra Celsum, v. 2 2 sqq. The ' germinative principle ' is the ^.0705, sub- 
 stantiae ratio, ffmv0r)piffiJ.6s, (vrtpiuvr]. 
 
 3 Redepenning, ii. 127; Denis, 325. 
 
 3 The principles laid down by Origen are four. The Resurrection body 
 will be infinitely more beautiful ; it will retain its general type and be 
 recognisable ; it will be adapted to the requirements of its new environment ; 
 it will have no superfluous organs. In consequence of the latter rule the 
 ' gnashing of teeth ' is not to be literally understood. The Resurrec-. 
 tion body of the wicked will differ from that of the righteous, De 
 Princ. ii. 3 ; 10. 2 sq. ; iii. 6. 4. Origen taught the Resurrection of 
 ' this body,' and even of ' the flesh ' (Pamphilus insists upon this point, 
 Apol. 7), but not of 'this flesh.' Even in his own time many were 
 offended at his doctrine, De Princ. ii. 10. i, and Jerome and others 
 attacked him with great vehemence. The Origenist monks are said to have 
 believed that the Resurrection body would be spherical, and this opinion is 
 charged upon Origen by Justinian, The accusation rests probably upon 
 De Orat. 31 (Lorn. xvii. 278), where this shape is attributed to the bodies 
 of the stars. The same general principles applied to the Body of our Lord 
 as to that of man ; see Contra Celsum, ii. 62 ; iii. 41, and passages referred 
 to at end of last Lecture. Some charged Origen with asserting that the 
 Saviour laid aside His Body in the Sun. Some Christians, according to
 
 VI.] The Future Life. 227 
 
 eventually cease to be 'a soul ' at all. When his re- 
 demption is complete, his love will be no longer ' cold ' ; 
 he will become a pure Intelligence, as he was before he 
 lapsed from his first estate. But even so he will still be 
 corporeal, for except the Trinity no spirit can exist 
 without a shroud. The same law will apply to the 
 Saviour, in so far as He is perfect Man. 
 
 Clement figured the future life as an upward pro- 
 gress of the soul through seven heavens to rest in the 
 Ogdoad. But Origen doubted whether this Gnostic 
 conception had sufficient Scripture warrant. Hence, 
 following the hint conveyed in the phrase 'aeons of 
 aeons,' he speaks of a vast stretch of cycles reaching 
 onwards in almost illimitable extension to the Consum- 
 mation of All. There is in this a certain resemblance 
 to Stoicism, but it is merely superficial 1 . 
 
 In that future life the soul is still free, is still tested 
 by its use of freedom, rises and falls, is punished or 
 
 Pamphilus, Apol, 7, actually held this strange tenet, interpreting in this way 
 Psalm xix. 4, in sole posuit tabernaculum suum. It is perhaps a Gnostic 
 idea; see the account of Theodotus in Lecture i. Any stone was good 
 enough to fling at Origen. See for the whole subject, Origeniana, ii. 9 ; 
 Denis, p. 297 sqq. ; Redepenning, places cited in Index. De la Rue con- 
 sidered that there was nothing in Origen's speculations opposed to the 
 Catholic faith, ' si modo quasdam exceperis quaestiunculas quas luxurians 
 Origenis ingenium curiosius persequens paullo longius prosequitur.' The 
 reader should also bear in mind De Princ. i. 5. 4, Certius tamen qualiter 
 se habitura sit res scit solus Deus et si qui eius per Christum et Spiritum 
 Sanctum amici sunt. 
 
 1 Contra Cehum, vi. 21, the canonical scriptures do not speak of seven or 
 any definite number of heavens, yet do speak of heavens in the plural, 
 whether these are to be identified with the Greek spheres or understood in a 
 mystical sense. De Princ. ii. 3. 7, the eighth heaven, the dir^av^s atyupa. 
 There are three heavens, In Matt. xxx. 5 1 ; In Psalm, xxxix. Horn. i. 8 ; De 
 Mart. 13. De Princ. ii. 3. 5, Multorum saeculorum finis dicitur esse hie 
 mundus qui et ipse saeculum dicitur : compare De Oral. 2 7 (Lorn. xvii. 
 226) ; In Matt. xv. 31. 
 
 Q2
 
 228 . Origen. [Lect. 
 
 rewarded, according to its works *. All punishment is 
 medicinal, at least in the purpose of the good God 2 . 
 And the reward is not payment like that of an earthly 
 master, who gives money in return for toil. The King- 
 dom of God is within us, and what He promises is not 
 happiness, still less pleasure, but the full satisfaction of 
 that restless love of truth which He has implanted in 
 the soul, most surely not in vain 3 . But all revelation 
 must be gradual, must be willingly received. Hence 
 
 1 De Princ. i. 6. 3, Ex quo, ut opinor, hoc consequentia ipsa videtur 
 ostendere, unamquamque rationabilem naturam posse ab uno in alterum 
 ordinem transeuntem per singulos in omnes, et ab omnibus in singulos 
 pervenire, dum accessus profectuum defectuumve varios pro motibus vel cona- 
 tibus propriis unusquisque pro liberi arbitrii facultate perpetitur. The drift of 
 the passage compels us to apply these words to the future as well as to the past 
 and present life. Still more distinct is De Princ. iii. 1.21, Ex quo opinamur 
 quoniam quidem, ut frequenter diximus, immortalis est anima et aeterna, quod 
 in multis et sine fine spatiis per immensa et diversa saecula possibile est, ut 
 vel a summo bono ad infima mala descendat, vel ab ultimis malis ad summa 
 bona reparetur : and more explicit still are De Princ. ii. 3. 3 ad Jin., and 
 the Fragment from Jerome's translation of De Princ. in the Ad Avitum 
 (Lorn. xxi. 133). The possibility of a fall in the future life is the special 
 characteristic of Origen's view. It appeared to flow necessarily from the 
 doctrine of Free Will, on the other hand it is limited by the doctrine of Grace ; 
 see below at the end of this Lecture. But I have not noticed any passage 
 where Origen affirms this possibility outside of the De Principiis, and it is 
 expressly denied In Rom. v. 10. 
 
 2 The best passage for the curative nature of all punishment is to be found 
 in the Selecta in Exodum on the hardening of Pharaoh's heart. Origen's 
 belief is summed up very forcibly in the words fKaaros ovv aweiSws a^aprias 
 eavry (v\iaOca Ko\aaQr)vai (Lorn. viii. 328). Compare also De Princ. i. 
 6. 3. The weak part of his doctrine is the tendency to regard the relation 
 between vice and punishment as quantitative. In Lev. Horn. xiv. 3 there 
 are three degrees of sinfulness, denoted by the ' wood, hay, straw ' of 
 i Cor. iii. 12, which the fire burns up in a longer or shorter time. In Lev. 
 Horn. xi. 2 ; xiv. 4 the death, which was the punishment of certain sins 
 under the Law, wiped out the sin. The Christian must make atonement 
 either by penance ; this is the ' tradidi in interitum carnis ' of i Cor. v. 5 ; or by 
 fire in the next world. Here, as often, Origen is drawn in different directions 
 by three irreconcil cable principles discipline, literalism, and spiritualism. 
 
 3 De Princ. ii. n. 4 sqq.
 
 VI.] The Future Life. 229 
 
 the future life is to be looked upon as one of progress 
 through discipline. 
 
 ' The Lord is like a refiner's fire.' ' It is certain that 
 the fire which is prepared for sinners awaits us, and we 
 shall go into that fire, wherein God will try each man's 
 work of what kind it is .... Even if it be a Paul or a 
 Peter, he shall come into that fire, but such are they of 
 whom it is written, " though thou pass through the fire, 
 the flame shall not scorch thee.'" The holy and the 
 just are cleansed, like Aaron and Isaiah, with coals from 
 off the altar. But sinners, ' among whom I count my- 
 self,' must be purged with another fire. This is not of 
 the altar, it is not the Lord's, but is kindled by the 
 sinner himself within his own heart. Its fuel is our own 
 evil, the wood, the hay, the straw, sins graver or lighter, 
 which we have built upon the foundation laid by Christ. 
 Anger, envy, remorse, these rack men even in this life 
 with anguish so intolerable, that many perish by their 
 own hand rather than bear their torments longer. How 
 much fiercer will b'e the smart, when the soul in the 
 light of eternity surveys the history of all its wickedness 
 written in indelible characters upon its own. texture l ; 
 when it is ' sawn asunder ' by the pangs which attend 
 the separation of the guilty passions from the pure 
 spirit ; when it bewails in ' outer darkness ' its banishment 
 from Him, who is the Light and the Life 2 . 
 
 1 The soul never really forgets anything, but retains within itself ' signa 
 quaedam et formas ' of all its misdeeds, De Princ. ii. 10. 4. The same 
 idea, that sin leaves an imprint on the soul, is expressed by the x.eip6^pa<pov 
 of De Orat. 28 ; the cicatrix of In Lev. Horn. viii. 5 ; the rinros written on 
 the heart with iron pen and nail of adamant, Infer. Horn. xvi. 10. 
 
 2 In Psal. xxxvii. Horn. iii. i ; In Lev. Horn. ix. 8 ; In Lucam, Horn, xiv, 
 Ego puto quod et post resurrectionem ex mortuis indigeamus sacramento 
 eluente nos atque purgante ; nemo enim absque sordibus resurgere poterit ;
 
 230 Origen. [Lect. 
 
 Origen's view we must not say his doctrine rests 
 largely upon general principles : that justice and good- 
 ness are in their highest manifestation identical; that 
 God does not punish, but has made man so, that in 
 virtue only can he find peace and happiness, because He 
 has made him like Himself; that suffering is not a tax 
 upon sin, but the wholesome reaction, by which the 
 diseased soul struggles to cast out the poison of its 
 malady ; that therefore, if we have done wrong, it is 
 good to suffer, because the anguish is returning health, 
 will cease when health is restored, and cannot cease till 
 then. Again, that evil is against the plan of God, is 
 created not by Him but by ourselves ; is therefore pro- 
 perly speaking a negation, and as such cannot be eternal. 
 These are in the main Greek thoughts ; their chief 
 source is the Gorgias of Plato. But his final appeal is 
 always to Scripture. The texts on which he mainly relies 
 are those of St. Paul, He shall be saved yet so as by 
 fire,' ' God shall be all in all.' But starting from these he 
 finds a thousand hints and 'crannies,' especially in the 
 Old Testament 1 . He laboured to answer objections. 
 
 nee ullam posse animam reperiri quae universis statim vitiis careat ; De Princ. 
 ii. 10. 4 sqq. Injerem. Horn. ii. 3 Origen speaks as if the saints donot need this 
 baptism of fire. But this must be understood in the light of the above passages. 
 1 Besides the famous texts Luke iii. 16, I Cor. iii. 15, Is. iv. 4, Origen 
 quotes Is. xii. i, 'Though Thou wast angry with me, Thine anger is turned 
 away;' xxiv. 22, 'And they shall be gathered together as prisoners are 
 gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days 
 shall they be visited;' xlvii. 14, 15, on x f ' s avepaieas irvpos, KaBiaai k-n 
 auTofy OVTOI tffovrai ffot QoriOfia. : Micah vii. 9, ' I will bear the indignation 
 of the Lord, because I have sinned against Him . . . He will bring me forth 
 to the light ; ' Ezekiel xvi. 53, 55, Restituetur Sodoma in antiquum ; Jerem. 
 xxv. 15, 1 6, Per Hieremiam prophetam iubetur calix furoris Dei propinari 
 omnibus gentibus ut bibant et insaniant et evomant. In quo comminatur 
 dicens quia si quis noluerit bibere non mundabitur ; Matth. xviii. 30, ' Went 
 and cast him into prison till he should pay the debt;' John x. 16, ' There shall
 
 VI.] The Future Lije. 231 
 
 The word ' eternal ' as applied to death does not neces- 
 sarily mean ' endless V The sin, which is not forgiven 
 in this aeon or the aeon to come, might yet be blotted 
 out in some one of the aeons beyond 2 . But he could 
 not be blind to the fact, that there are in Scripture 
 passages that make directly against him. Hence Resti- 
 tution is a great and terrible mystery. It is taught in 
 Scripture not explicitly but in allegories. And there is 
 a reason for this, because many men are so vile, that 
 even the dread of endless torments will scarcely curb 
 their evil passions. Considerations such as these lay 
 heavy upon his candid spirit. Hence though un- 
 doubtedly his prevailing hope is. that all men shall be 
 healed in that far-off day, when there shall be one flock 
 and one shepherd, and even Sodom, as Ezekiel pro- 
 phesied, shall be restored, at times his vision fails. ' Who 
 
 be one fold and one shepherd;' Rom. xi. 25, 26, 'Blindness in part is hap- 
 pened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in, and so all Israel 
 shall be saved ;' Rom. xi. 32, 'God hath concluded them all in unbelief that 
 He might have mercy upon all;' i Peter iii. 18-21, 'Christ went and 
 preached to those who perished in the Flood ; ' Ps. Ixxviii. 34, ' When He 
 slew them then they sought Him.' Other texts are given by Huet, Ori- 
 geniana, ii. u. 20. 
 
 1 In Exodum, Horn. vi. 13, Domine qui regnas in saeculum et in saeculum 
 et adhuc ; De Princ. ii. 3. 5 ; In Lev. Horn. xiii. 6, Legitimum namque 
 et aeternum est omne quod mysticum est. Contra Celsum, vi. 26, Origen 
 seems to allow that aluvios implies endless duration, but argues that the 
 word is used Sia rows poyis tyofiy TTJS alwvtov oAd<recuy KO.V avart\\ovras 
 iiri itooov XT}? ica/cias teal riuv air' avrfjs apapravofjitvajv -xvaiv. The word 
 alwv in the usage of the Platonists of the time, certainly included the idea 
 of endless, changeless duration, see Plutarch, De Ei apud Delphos, 20 ; 
 and it must be admitted that the arguments employed in the passages quoted 
 above are not sufficient to prove Origen's point. Origen speaks of eternal 
 punishments in many passages. Vincenzi, In S. Greg. Nyss. et Origenis 
 Scripta et Doctrinam, Rome, 1865, refers to In Lev. Horn. ix. 4. 5 ; xiv. 4 ; 
 In Jesu Nave, Horn. xvi. 3 ; In Ezech. Horn. vi. 26 ; In Matt. Com. xvi. 
 22; De Mart. 25, and others, but he endeavours to prove far too much. 
 See Origeniana, ii. 1 1 . 
 
 2 In Matt. Com. xv. 21.
 
 232 Origen. 
 
 is that guest who is bound hand and foot, and cast into 
 outer darkness ? You will ask whether he remains bound 
 in the outer darkness for ever ? for the words ' for this 
 aeon,' or ' for the aeons,' are not added or whether he 
 will in the end be loosed ? for it does not appear that 
 anything is written about his future release. It does not 
 seem to me to be safe, seeing I have no full understand- 
 ing, to pronounce an opinion, especially in a case where 
 Scripture is silent 1 .' The same hesitation is apparent, 
 where he is led to speak of the final doom of the evil 
 spirits 2 . 
 
 Indeed the Alexandrine doctrine of Volition is such, 
 that it is hard to reconcile with the hope of final unity. 
 If the will is wholly free, unconditioned, indifferent, what 
 after all is the use of these long ages of discipline? 
 What can they produce, but an eternity of sterile change, 
 in which each rise is balanced by a fall, and after the 
 lapse of a million ages the end is no nearer than it was 3 . 
 
 1 In Joan, xxviii. 7; see also In Rom. viii. 12 ; In Jer. Horn, xviii. 15. 
 
 2 De Princ. i. 6. 3, the salvability of some of the evil spirits is an open 
 question.. Ibid. i. 8. 4, the ' adversariae virtutes' are divided into two 
 classes, I. ' principatus, pot estates mundi rectores ;' of these he only says that 
 they are not essentially evil : 2. another class has sunk so deep ' ut revo- 
 cari nolit magis quam non possit.' Ibid. iii. 6. 5, 'The last enemy that 
 shall be destroyed is Death.' That is to say, not the substance but the 
 wicked will of the Devil will at last be annihilated. He will cease to be 
 an enemy. But this is denied, In Rom. viii. 9, Istius autem qui de coelo 
 cecidisse dicitur nee in fine saeculi erit ulla conversio. In the Epistola ad 
 Amicos (Lorn. xvii. 8) according to the version of Jerome certain of Origen's 
 adversaries taught that the Devil ' posse salvari,' according to that of Ru- 
 finus they affirmed that Origen taught 'diabolum esse salvandum.' Both 
 translators agree in the sense of the following words, ' quod ne mente 
 quidem quis captus dicere potest.' 
 
 3 Jerome, Ad Avitum, considers that the result of Origen's speculations 
 is ' rursum nasci ex fine principium et ex principio finem.' But Origen ex- 
 pressly denies this, De Princ. iii. 6. 6. See Denis, pp. 176, 328, 347. 
 Redepenning raises other difficulties on which it is unnecessary to enter.
 
 vi.] The Future Life. 233 
 
 This is Jerome's criticism, and it has been pressed by 
 later writers. It may be a logical sequence, but it is 
 certainly not the meaning of Origen. Some spirits may 
 be rebellious to the last, and it is certain that God 
 Himself can constrain no man to goodness. But who 
 shall presume to say from observation of this life, which 
 is but a pin-point in the boundless ocean, that the soul 
 will always be obdurate. Great is the truth and it will 
 prevail, if it have but time to work in. Slowly yet cer- 
 tainly the blessed change must come, the purifying fire 
 must eat up the dross, and leave the pure gold. Per- 
 haps not till after many ages, not till after discipline 
 prolonged through geologic cycles, the sinner will learn 
 to kiss the rod, and submit to be healed. But at last 
 his eyes will be opened, the prodigal will fall on the 
 Father's bosom, and becoming ' one spirit with the Lord' 
 will thenceforth sin no more. One by one we shall 
 enter into rest never to stray again. Then when Death 
 the last enemy is destroyed, when the tale of His children 
 is complete, Christ will ' drink wine in the Kingdom of 
 His Father.' This is the End, when ' all shall be one, 
 as Christ and the Father are One,' when ' God shall be 
 all in all.' 
 
 From this time forth there is no further change, but the 
 soul remains secure in the fulness of intellectual fruition. 
 Yet not all alike. To the Beatific Vision none can be 
 admitted save the pure in heart. Though all other 
 chastisements cease, when their object is fulfilled, the 
 poena damni may still endure. . Star differeth from star 
 in glory. There are many mansions, many degrees 1 . 
 
 1 The many mansions are typified by the stages on the march of the 
 Israelites from Egypt to the Promised Land. The end of the journey is
 
 234 Origen. The Fixture Life. 
 
 There are those, who bring forth thirty-, sixty-, a hun- 
 dred-fold. ' The righteous shall shine as the sun. And 
 upon whom shall they shine but on those beneath them?' 
 If we do not misinterpret these expressions, they 
 appear to mean, that the soul by sin may lose capacities, 
 which can never be -wholly regained, and in this sense 
 at least Origen teaches the eternity of punishment. 
 
 the ' river which makes glad the city of God,' In Num. Horn. xxvi. 4. 5 ; 
 xxviii. 2.3. But again, Injesu Nave, xxv. 4, there are different abodes even 
 in the last degree figured by the final settlements of the tribes in East, West, 
 South and North. Again, In Num. Horn. xi. 4. 5, as in this world the 
 Gentile races are under the care of Guardian Angels, while Israel is the 
 special portion of God, ' ita credo et in fine huius mundi atque in initio 
 saeculi alterius futurum ut iterum dividat excelsus filios Adam, et qui non 
 potuerint ita mundi esse corde ut ipsum videant Dominum et esse portio 
 Domini videant sanctos angelos et sint secundum numerum angelorum Dei. 
 It may be doubted here whether Origen is speaking of the Day of Judg- 
 ment or of the Consummation, but In Num. Horn. xxi. I he is certainly 
 speaking of the latter. The same uncertainty attaches to In Luc. Horn, 
 iii, where it is said that though all the redeemed will be in one place, only the 
 pure in heart will be able to see God. But here again I think he refers to 
 the End. So again, Ibid, xvii, the Siyafios is excluded from the church of 
 the firstborn, ' non quo in aeternum mittatur incendium sed quo partem non 
 habeat in regno Dei.' He may be saved but is not crowned. So again, In 
 Lev. Horn. xiv. 3, he who is spotted with vices not of a mortal kind, ' huic 
 etiamsi secundum Apostoli sententiam negantur regna coelorum non tamen 
 alterius beatitudinis abscinditur locus.' Similar language is used of the 
 Gentiles (see above, p. 207). To these passages may be added De Mart. 
 13. 14; In Matt. x. 3. The point is of importance because it is the only 
 ground on which Jerome attacks Origen's doctrine of the Restitution of Man, 
 alleging (Ep. Ixxxiv. Migne, Ad Pammachium et Oceanum) that he taught 
 ' post multa saecula atque unam omnium restitutionem id ipsum fore 
 Gabrielem quod diabolum, Paulum quod Caipham, virgines quod prosti- 
 bulas.' See Origeniana, ii. n. 21.
 
 LECTURE VII. 
 
 No man can serve two Masters. ST. MATT. vi. 24. 
 
 OUR account of Origen would be essentially defective 
 without a notice of his controversy with Celsus. We 
 have seen how the Church utilised philosophy; we 
 must now reverse the picture, and consider what the 
 philosophers had to say on their side. It will be inter- 
 esting to observe the attitude they took with regard 
 to Christianity, the points they conceded, the points 
 they denied, and to ascertain, as clearly as we can, what 
 they treated as the vital issues of the great debate. 
 But we shall be enabled to do this better, if we permit 
 ourselves a wider scope, and review not the controversy 
 with Celsus alone, but the mutual action and reaction 
 of Christianity and Paganism during this period. 
 
 It would be a serious error to regard the Second 
 Century as a time of irreligion. On the contrary it 
 was an age of revival. Everywhere men were seeking 
 with restless eagerness for deeper, more positive, more 
 vital beliefs. The ancient mythology had perished with 
 the Republic, and the old Greek and Roman deities 
 appear henceforth for the most part as intermediate 
 beings, angels or demons, who people the spaces of 
 air between man and the supreme object of his worship. 
 This is no longer Zeus or Jupiter, but a God of Syrian, 
 or Persian, or Egyptian nationality. The altars of 
 the Great Mother, of Isis and Serapis, of Mithra, are
 
 236 The Reformed Paganism. [Lect. 
 
 to be found all over the world, from Bactria to Gaul, 
 in Northumberland, on the Rhine, in Numidia, wherever 
 the Roman eagles flew, in the provinces, in Rome, in 
 Caesar's palace. 
 
 The change is significant in many ways. It shows, 
 firstly, the irresistible tendency of the times towards 
 a Monotheistic worship. For these Oriental Gods, 
 though many in name, are in reality but one. As we 
 gaze upon them they seem to melt into one another. 
 Who is the Syrian Goddess ? She is the Aramaic 
 Astarte, the Babylonian Mylitta, she is the Great 
 Mother, she is Isis, Universal Nature, the maternal 
 feminine aspect of God. And God is the Sun, whose 
 ray-crowned head is to be seen on Roman coins from 
 the reign of Commodus to that of Constantine. Osiris, 
 Mithra, Elagabalus, are all the same. They are the 
 fatherly, fostering, masculine side of the Divine, aptly 
 figured by the orb of day 1 . 
 
 1 The same idea, that of the substantial identity of deities, regarded by 
 the vulgar as distinct, is found in Aeschylus, Prom. Vine. 210, efus ai 
 Tufa TroXAcDi/ ovofj-aroiv popfprj /ita. This mode of conception it has been 
 called Henotheism is an intermediate stage between Polytheism and Mono- 
 theism. It had prevailed from very early times in Egypt (see M. Le Page 
 Renouf, Hibbert Lectures for 1879 ; G. Maspero, Histoire Ancienne des 
 Peuples de F Orient, 4th ed., Paris, 1886) and obtains full expression in the 
 De hide et Osiride of Plutarch, the De Dea Syria of Lucian. See also 
 Mommsen, v. 454. It is the chief reason for the great fascination exercised 
 by the Egyptian religion, notwithstanding its zoolatry, upon Greek minds. 
 Henotheism, however, preserves in a confused way the personality of the 
 different deities, and does not go so far as to assert that the different names 
 only mark more or less perfect or imperfect ideas of the same God. This 
 was asserted in one passage by Clement, Strom, v. 14. 101, where he 
 affirms that God is meant by the Zeus of the poets. Origen would not 
 admit this. When Celsus insists that all mankind worship the same Father, 
 whether they call Him ' Jehovah, Jove or Lord,' he replies that words have 
 a natural affinity to things, that language is <f>vcrti not Gecret, that the different 
 names of the pagan gods have a real connection with demon-worship, as is
 
 VIL] Mithra. 237 
 
 But besides this striving after unity, so natural to all 
 civilised men, there were other motives at work. What 
 these were we shall best see by a brief account of Mithra, 
 the most popular and powerful of all the new order of 
 deities. 
 
 Mithra was a God of the world-old Arian stock 1 . 
 In the Vedas he is the giver of light, life, and truth, 
 the assessor, almost the double of Varuna, the Lord 
 of Heaven. In the new dualism of the Iranian peoples 
 he is degraded to a subordinate place, and becomes, 
 as Plutarch says, a mediator between Ormuzd the good 
 and Ahriman the evil spirit, or between God and Man. 
 
 proved by their efficacy in magical incantations, and finally quotes Plato, 
 TO 8' efj.ov Stos, w Upwrax*, iff pi TO. bvofjMra TUIV Qvav OVK oklyov, Contra 
 Celsum, i. 24 ; v. 44. 
 
 1 The history of Mithra worship in its original home will be found in the 
 admirable Introduction of Darmsteter to his translation of the Vendidad in 
 Sacred Books of the East. Duncker also may be consulted. For the 
 spread of Mithra worship in Europe, see Preller, Rb'mische Mythologie ; 
 Renan, Marc Aurele, 576; Dollinger, The Gentile and the Jew; Keim, 
 Rom und das Christenthum. An account of Mithraic monuments in 
 England will be found in the C. I. L. vol. vii ; and Bruce, Wallet Book of 
 the Roman Wall. Almost any volume of the Inscriptions will supply in- 
 teresting information ; see especially the account of the Mithraic cave at 
 Constantine in Algeria, vol. viii. pt. i. no. 6975. The Mithra monuments 
 were erected mainly by Roman officers. This fact proves how worthless is 
 the distinction between licitae and illicitae religiones which used to be re- 
 garded as explaining the Christian persecutions. The birthday of Mithra, 
 the Sol Invictus, was December 25, on which day the festival of the Nativity 
 of Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, began to be celebrated not long before 
 the time of Chrysostom. It may be that the heathen festival was retained 
 under a Christian name from a politic desire to soften the change from the 
 old order of things to the new, though the positive evidence for this rests 
 upon a Homily formerly attributed to Chrysostom but of doubtful date and 
 authorship. See King, The Gnostics and their Remains, p. 47 ; and 
 Mr. Sinker's article Christmas in Diet. Christ. Ant. The same motive 
 may account for the fact that the figure of the Sun, with the legend ' To the 
 Invincible Sun, my Companion,' is found upon copper coins of Constantine ; 
 though not after the year 323, when his victory over Licinius raised him above 
 the necessity of dissimulation. See Eckhel, vol. viii. pp. 75, 79.
 
 238 The Reformed Paganism. [Lect. 
 
 He is the Sun, who shoots his rays down into this world 
 to fight for man against cold, darkness, and disease. 
 Hence he was worshipped in caves, and depicted as a 
 youth slaying a bull. The cave is this dim earth ; the 
 bull is the changing world or evil, whose death is the 
 life of the soul. So Mithra is a Redeemer, and the 
 blood of the slain bull is an Atonement. His monu- 
 ments exhibit beneath these figures a dog, emblem 
 of the purified soul, lapping up the blood ; and beneath 
 all is the legend ' A holy stream,' or ' The stream that 
 is shed for all V 
 
 Connected with Mithra worship, though properly be- 
 longing to that of the Great Mother, was the barbarous 
 rite of the Taurobolium. The devotee was seated in 
 a trench, so that the blood of the slaughtered bull 
 gushed all over him. Monuments which commemorate 
 this hideous baptism speak of him by whom it was 
 received as ' regenerate ' Renatus in aeternum Tauro- 
 bolio 2 . 
 
 Mithraism had also its Messiah 3 . In the fulness of 
 time shall come a Saviour, a divine son of Zarathustra, 
 the lawgiver. He shall bring to a glorious close the 
 aeonian strife between good and evil. Death and Hell 
 shall be destroyed, and men shall live in blessedness 
 
 1 Na/Hi crefiriffiov : nama cunctis ; Preller, p. 761. 
 
 1 ' Der Einzuweihende wurde mit einem armlichen Gewande bekleidet, 
 um so recht eigentlich als "armer Siinder" die reinigende Bluttaufe iiber 
 sich ergehen zu lassen.' The oldest monument in commemoration of the 
 Taurobolium is at Naples and dated 133, the most recent is at Rome and 
 belongs to 390. Preller thinks the word renattis is borrowed from Christi- 
 anity. It was in common use in the Isis mysteries ; Apuleius, Metam. 
 xi. 21. 
 
 3 He was known by the name of Saoshyant. A tolerably precise outline 
 of the doctrine is given by Theopompus, Fragments 71, 72 in Muller's 
 Frag. Hist. Grace.
 
 vii.] Mithra. 239 
 
 for evermore, ' casting no shadow,' children, as we say, 
 of light. Even before that consummation there is a 
 heaven for the righteous. It is figured as a staircase with 
 seven portals l . These are the seven heavens, the abode 
 of the six great Emanations and of Mithra. Through 
 these the soul ascends, protected by its guardian angel, 
 into the eighth, where it rests in the presence of Ormuzd. 
 It is peculiar to the religion of Mithra and to that of 
 Serapis, which is in other respects very similar, that 
 the guardian angel is the intelligence, the better and 
 purer half of human nature, which becomes after death 
 the champion, or spiritual bride, of the lower soul. 
 How closely all this resembles the ideas derived by 
 Clement from the Valentinian Theodotus will be dis- 
 cerned without further comment. 
 
 1 Contra Celsum, vi. 22. ' The priests held that only the pure and bright 
 part of the soul could live on after death. Hence even in the living they 
 distinguished this part from the polluted part, and in the pure immortal 
 half they saw the side ereated by the good gods, its true being, the Fra- 
 vashi, or protecting spirit allotted to each man ; ' Duncker, v. p. 1 80, Eng. 
 trans. So in the Egyptian Mysteries, 'At death the intellect (Khu or Ka) 
 becomes a demon ; the soul passes into the under world and appears at the 
 judgment bar of Osiris-Khent-Ament, and his thirty-two assessors. Its 
 conscience, or as the Egyptians say its heart, accuses it. It is weighed in 
 the balance of truth and justice. According as it is found light or heavy the 
 righteous doom is pronounced, and the intellect, the demon, becomes the 
 executioner. It reminds the soul how it neglected its warning and would 
 none of its reproof ; it flogs it with the scourge of its sins, and delivers it up 
 to the storm and the whirlwind;' Maspero, Germ, trans, of 1877, p. 39. 
 The account is taken from the Book of the Dead, a copy of which was 
 buried with every mummy. But I observe that in his last edition M. Mas- 
 pero does not bring out this peculiar relation of the intellect to the soul as 
 its guardian angel or avenging demon. Compare p. 33 above, and Le Page 
 Renouf, p. 147. Serapis or Sarapis (both spellings are found in inscriptions) 
 is Osiris- Apis, that is, ' the dead Apis.' All men after death were regarded 
 as entering into union with, as becoming Osiris. ' A partir de la xii e 
 dynastic le defunt est nomine couramment 1'Osiris .A 7 ";' Maspero, pp. 31, 
 35, 38, ed. Paris, 1 886.
 
 240 The Reformed Paganism. [Lect. 
 
 The disciples of Mithra formed an organised church 
 with a developed hierarchy. They possessed the ideas 
 of Mediation, Atonement, and a Saviour, who is human 
 and yet divine, and not only the idea, but a doctrine of 
 the Future Life. They had a Eucharist, and a Baptism, 
 and other curious analogies might be pointed out be- 
 tween their system and the Church of Christ l . Most 
 of these conceptions, no doubt, are integral parts of 
 a religion much older than Christianity. But when we 
 consider how strange they are to the older polytheism 
 of Greece and Rome, and when we observe further that 
 Mithraism did not come into full vogue till the time 
 of Hadrian, that is to say till the age of Gnosticism, 
 we shall hardly be wrong in judging that resemblances 
 were pushed forward, exaggerated, modified, with a 
 special view to the necessities of the conflict with the 
 new faith, and that differences, such as the barbarous 
 superstitions of the Avesta, were kept sedulously in the 
 background with the same object. Paganism was copy- 
 ing Christianity, and by that very act was lowering 
 her arms. 
 
 This process of approximation, so visible in the popu- 
 lar religions, was carried to even greater lengths in the 
 region of philosophy. The old scepticism was still 
 represented by the Stoics, who combined the worship 
 of humanity with speculative doubt, and by the Epi- 
 cureans, who were practically Atheists. But these were 
 the creeds of a few rebellious intellects. The belief 
 
 ' A 
 
 in a future life, which Cicero had ridiculed in a court 
 
 1 Justin, Apol. i. 66 ; Try f ho, 70 ; Tertullian, De Baft. 5 ; De praescr. 
 Haer. 40 ; Preller, p. 759 ; Dollinger, The Gentile and the Jew, \. 416, Eng. 
 trans.
 
 VII.] The Pythagoreans. 241 
 
 of law, and Caesar and Cato had repudiated in the 
 open Senate, had become a test. At Athens one who 
 like Demonax stood aloof from the Mysteries was a 
 marked man, much as a non-communicant would have 
 been in the last century. This was the chief reason 
 why Stoicism, for all its noble morality and its high 
 services to law and to humanity, was swept away by the 
 rise of the Platonising schools l . 
 
 We may divide the heathen Platonists into two main 
 branches, according to the predominance in their cast 
 of thought of the religious or the philosophic vein. To 
 the former belong the Pythagoreans. These gave a 
 general adherence to the teaching of Plato, but combined 
 with it a high veneration for all 'philosophers, wise men, 
 and inspired poets ; ' for the shadowy figures of Pytha- 
 goras, Orpheus. Linus, Abaris, Zamolxis ; for the much 
 talked of but little known Brahmins and Buddhists 2 ; 
 
 1 The 'godless Epicureans' were not popular, hence Origen thinks that 
 Celsus was afraid to come forward openly in his true character as a professed 
 Epicurean, lest he should be regarded even by the Greeks as dOeos. For the 
 denial of the future life by Cicero, see Pro Cluentio, 61 (in the Tusculan 
 Disptitations he professes to delight in the Platonic doctrine of immor- 
 tality) ; by Caesar and Cato, Sallust, Cat. 51, 52. For Demonax, see n 
 of Lucian's charming sketch. When accused of Atheism on the ground that 
 ou (pvrjOT) /xoi/os airavTajv rats 'TZXtvaivicus, he replied that if the mysteries 
 were bad he should have denounced them, and if they were good he should 
 have revealed them to all men ; a noble sentiment in which he agrees with 
 Philo. Stoicism, the ancient Positivism, was always sceptical. Their prayer 
 always begins, ' O God, if there be a God.' The hypothesis was not neces- 
 sary to their system. See the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, ix. 28. They 
 did not absolutely deny the Future Life, though they were vague on the 
 point, and admitted at most a possible immortality for a few illustrious souls ; 
 so Tacitus, Agricola, 46. Stoicism throve because, like Christianity, it is a 
 philosophy of suffering ; it fell because, unlike Christianity, it is a philosophy 
 of despair. 
 
 2 There was no doubt a certain kind and degree of intercourse between the 
 West and India by way of the Red Sea, and overland through the half 
 Hellenised kingdom of Bactria (see Lassen, Zur Geschichte der Griech. und 
 
 R
 
 242 The Reformed Paganism. [Lect. 
 
 for Magi, Thracians, Egyptians, Jews. They profess 
 to distil an elixir from all religions, from all that is 
 except Christianity, which they never name. Yet the 
 Church, from which they avert their eyes as from the 
 angel of doom, is really the prompter and guide of all 
 their efforts. If their beloved Hellenism was to be saved, 
 it must be by reforms borrowed from this hated rival. 
 And so they set to work with the energy of despair to 
 prove that so far as Christianity was true it was not new. 
 
 What was the secret, they asked, of the formidable 
 growth of this new sect? They could not miss the 
 external conditions. Christianity was a development 
 of an ancient faith ; it had been preached by a divine 
 person, whose mission was accredited by miracles. It 
 taught a pure morality, and kindled a zeal that was 
 stronger than the fear of death. It had its sacred books, 
 dictated or inspired by the Spirit of God. Were not 
 similar weapons to be found in their own armoury ? 
 
 If they were not to be found, at any rate they were 
 easy to manufacture. There were books of Orpheus, 
 Hermes, Zoroaster, Osthanes, which would serve for 
 Gospels. If Christ was Son of God, so were Plato, 
 Pythagoras, Apollonius. If Christ wrought signs and 
 wonders, Pythagoras also caused a miraculous draught 
 of fishes and fasted for forty days, Theosebius cast out 
 devils, the death of Proclus was foreboded by a super- 
 natural darkness so thick that the stars were seen at 
 
 Indo-skyth. Konige in Baktrien, Kabul und Indien, Bonn, 1838), but in 
 default of accurate literary information it cannot have been of such a nature 
 as seriously to affect the course of European thought. The merchant 
 mariners brought back little knowledge, see Strabo, xv. 4. What knowledge 
 there was appears to be derived chiefly from Megasthenes ; see the fragments 
 in Mu'ller, Frag. Hist. Grace, ii. p. 437. But it is sufficient to refer to Bishop 
 Lightfoot, Colossians, p. 151 sqq., ed. 1875.
 
 vii.] The Pythagoreans. 243 
 
 noonday. If Christ taught in parables, so too did 
 ^ Pythagoras. If the Church had martyrs, philosophy 
 could boast of Damon and Phintias, of Myllius and 
 Timycha, and of Anaxarchus. It was Pythagoras who 
 * first proclaimed the golden rule 'thou shalt love thy 
 friend as thyself,' and his morning and evening hymn 
 were cited as models of devotion 1 . In all this we may 
 surely discern the reflex of Christian ideas. On the 
 other hand it must be conceded that the doctrinal 
 Reserve and the severe Asceticism attributed by the 
 Pythagoreans to their founder affected sensibly the 
 practice of the Church. 
 
 Very little is really known of Pythagoras, and the 
 twenty biographies which were current in the second 
 century are little better than a mass of fiction 2 . The 
 same thing is true of the Life of Apollonius, yet this 
 extraordinary romance has a genuine historical interest 
 of its own 3 . 
 
 1 The miraculous draught of fishes, Porphyry, Vita Pyth. 25 ; the fast of 
 forty days, Ibid. 57 ; for Theosebius, see Damascius, Vita Isidori, 56 ; for 
 Proclus, Marinus, Vita Prodi, 37 ; the philosopher healed the daughter of 
 Archiades when at the point of death, Ibid. 29. Porphyry also tells us that 
 Pythagoras first taught TOV <pi\ov a\\ov kavrov iivai, 33 ; that no one ever 
 saw him weep (whereas Jesus wept), 35 ; that he taught all but his chosen 
 disciples in parables, 37 ; and speaks of his morning and evening hymn, 
 40. For Damon and Phintias, Myllius and Timycha, see Ibid. 60, 61 . Anax- 
 archus, Contra Celsum, viii. 53. The Platonists were very anxious to prove 
 that all Christianity taught was better taught in their own books ; see Augus- 
 tine's Confessions, vii. 9. 
 
 3 More than a score of complete or partial biographies of Pythagoras are 
 referred to by Clement, Strom, i. 14. 62 sqq., and Porphyry in the Life. 
 The only documentary foundation for all this mass of literature was the 
 brief account of their master's teaching said to have been drawn up by Lysis 
 and Archippus, and certain viro/j.vf)fiaTa K}>a\atw5r) asserted to have been 
 composed by anonymous individuals for their private edification and handed 
 down from father to son ; Porph. Vita, 58. 
 
 * The Life of Apollonius has been dealt with by Gibbon, Neander, Meiners, 
 
 R 2
 
 244 The Reformed Paganism. [Lect. 
 
 It was composed by the courtly sophist Philostratus 
 at the command of Julia Domna, wife of Severus, mother 
 of Caracalla, aunt of Elagabalus and Alexander Severus. 
 This princess was well acquainted with the faith and 
 practice of Christians, who abounded in the royal house- 
 hold. Nor was she hostilely disposed towards them. 
 But she was deeply interested in the Syrian worship 
 of the Sun, to which her family owed its consequence, 
 and she presided over a coterie of lawyers and men of 
 letters, which was ardent in the defence of Paganism. 
 To a lady so learned and so august the settlement of 
 ecclesiastical disputes was a tempting, and seemed an 
 easy, task. Let paganism be set forth at its best, let 
 it be shown that the old mythologies also carried in 
 their bosom the germ of their own regeneration, and 
 could provide rational satisfaction for all the cravings 
 of heart and mind, and then the reformed Judaism 
 would be compelled to renounce its exclusive pre- 
 tensions, and fall at once into its proper place in the 
 new Pantheon. The necessary ideas were already cur- 
 rent in the imperial saloons. What was wanting was 
 a Messiah, some personage, not too ancient and not too 
 modern, who would inspire the system with the need- 
 ful human interest and vitality. Such a figure was to 
 be found in Apollonius, a sage, though some said a 
 charlatan, of the first century, and Philostratus was 
 
 Buhle, Jacobs, Letronne, Baur. I have made much use of Aube, Histoire 
 des Persecutions de Vglise, to which I may refer the reader for further 
 information. Of the three main authorities referred to by Philostratus, 
 Damis the Ninevite is probably his own invention, Maximus of Aegae 
 wrote an account only of such part of the life of Apollonius as was spent at 
 Aegae, and Moeragenes (cp. Contra Celsum, vi. 41) appears to have treated 
 the sage much as Lucian dealt with Alexander.
 
 Vii.] Apollonius. 245 
 
 commissioned to employ his facile pen and his rhetorical 
 tropes in the great cause. 
 
 The birth of Apollonius was announced by Proteus, 
 the changing god of Nature, the World Spirit, or Platonic 
 Holy Ghost. 'What is it that I shall bring forth?' 
 asked the mother. The god replied ' Myself.' At the 
 age of sixteen the divine child entered on his mission. 
 He gave away his patrimony, vowed perpetual chastity, 
 and submitted to the law of five years' silence. His 
 flowing hair, his bare feet and white linen robe, his rigid 
 abstinence from flesh, marked him as a Pythagorean. 
 His speech was sententious and authoritative, his radiant 
 beauty imposed awe upon the most profane, and he 
 dwelt in temples, especially those of Aesculapius the 
 Healer, like a child in his father's house. One further 
 testimony was needed, and to obtain this he journeyed 
 on foot to the land of the Brahmins, who dwell with the 
 gods, and for their purity and wisdom have been dowered 
 with miraculous gifts. Thence he returned to be the 
 saviour of the Hellenic world. He is described as wan- 
 dering from city to city, in East and farthest West, 
 attended by disciples, who like those of Jesus are 
 devoted yet slow of heart to understand, as possessing 
 all languages even that of birds, as healing diseases, as 
 raising the dead to life. The heathen priests oppose 
 him, but the people hang upon his words. There were 
 no bounds to his mysterious power ; the downfall of 
 Nero and Domitian, the elevation of the good emperors 
 Vespasian and Nerva, were due to the influence of this 
 holy man. 
 
 Hearing of the persecution of the philosophers by 
 Domitian he resolves at once to offer himself as a volun-
 
 246 The Reformed Paganism. [Lect. 
 
 tary sacrifice to the tyrant's rage, and gently reproving 
 the fears of his disciples makes his way to Rome. There 
 he is charged with the crime that was so commonly 
 urged against the Christians, that of having immolated 
 a child in secret magic rites ; he is insulted, thrown into 
 chains, and mockingly invited to save himself, if he can, 
 by a miracle. But the child of God suffers only so far 
 as is worthy of his Father. From the very tribunal of 
 Domitian Apollonius vanishes away, and appears the 
 same day to two of his disciples, who are seated in a 
 grotto of the Nymphs at Puteoli, talking sadly about 
 their lost Master. Damis, one of the two, cannot 
 believe his eyes, and is convinced by a grasp of the 
 hand. 
 
 After this Apollonius renews his beneficent activity 
 for a time. Where or when the end came no man knew, 
 but according to one story which Philostratus probably 
 intends his readers to accept, it befell in Crete. The 
 priests of Dictynna had confined him in their temple. 
 But at midnight the sage arose before his gaoler's eyes, 
 the chains fell from his limbs, the great gate swung open, 
 and he went forth. A choir of angels was heard to salute 
 him with the cry ' Away from earth to heaven, away ; ' 
 and Apollonius was seen in the flesh no more. Yet 
 once again after this translation he appeared to a mourn- 
 ing disciple, to confirm his faith and assure him of the 
 truth of immortality. 
 
 It is the story of the Gospel corrected and improved. 
 Apollonius is what the enlightened circle of Julia Domna 
 thought Christ ought to have been. His portrait is 
 copied with minute care from that of the Son of Mary, 
 but it has been adorned and dignified according to
 
 vn.] Apollonius. 247 
 
 heathen notions. It is interesting to notice the point 
 at which his passion ceases. To the Sun-worshipper, 
 as to the Gnostic, the details of the Crucifixion seemed 
 degrading. If Christ were what he professed to be, he 
 could not have fallen so low. This was in the eyes of 
 Celsus also one of the gravest objections to Christianity. 
 
 We see from this curious romance precisely how far 
 the authorities, with whose sanction it was published, 
 were ready to advance on the path of concession. 
 Apollonius refuses to be present at a bloody sacrifice, 
 and contents himself with scattering incense on the altar 
 of the Sun. He preaches against image worship, and 
 against the barbarous shows of the amphitheatre. On 
 the other hand, he loyally accepts the Emperor as Head 
 of Church and State. At Alexandria, when the philoso- 
 pher Euphrates exhorts Vespasian to restore the Re- 
 public, Apollonius replies that monarchy is the only 
 form of government suited to the times. ' For me all 
 constitutions are indifferent, for I depend upon God 
 alone, but I do not wish the flock to perish for want 
 of a good and faithful shepherd.' These were the terms 
 now offered to the Christians, and had they accepted 
 them they would have been protected against the hos- 
 tility of the heathen priests, which Apollonius is repre- 
 sented as defying, a hostility just as bitterly irritated 
 against the new Imperial religion as against the Church. 
 
 Such was Pythagoreanism at its best. It is needless 
 to exhibit its lower forms, or to describe at length that 
 grovelling theurgy which represents with such startling 
 exactness the coarse impositions of modern spiritualism. 
 Sufficient to say that they are all there, the table-rapping, 
 the apparitions, the aerial music, the floating in the air,
 
 248 The Reformed Paganism. [Lect. 
 
 the magic writing, the thought reading, the medium with 
 his sham miracles. The same causes produced the same 
 effects, and then as now the most determined enemies 
 of the quack were, as the arch-quack Alexander com- 
 plains, the Epicurean Agnostic, and the Christian l . 
 But we must turn from the Pythagoreans to the more 
 scientific family of Platonists. Of these there were two 
 branches, the Trinitarian and the Unitarian. We may 
 take as representatives of the first Numenius 2 , of the 
 second Celsus. 
 
 The genesis of the Platonic Trinity is one of the most 
 perplexing questions in the history of philosophy. Like 
 almost all the leading ideas of the time it had its roots 
 
 1 ' The famous oracle which predicted the death of Valens was obtained 
 by certain men who sat round a table and noted letters of the alphabet, 
 which were spelt out for them by some automatic agency after a fashion 
 which, from the description of Ammonius, we cannot precisely determine.' 
 Mr. F. W. H. Myers, Greek Oracles in Hellenica, p. 467. The reference is 
 to Ammon. Marc. xxix. 2 ; xxxi. i. Compare for talking tables, Tertullian, 
 Apol. 23 ; dancing furniture in the Homilies, ii. 32 ; ' levigation ' in the 
 account of the Brahmins in Philostratus, Vita Ap. ; magic writing in 
 Macrobius, Sat. i. 23, and Lucian's Alexander. See also the Philopsevdes, 
 and 'Lob&c\i ) Aglaophamus. ' Telepathy,' thought-reading, are very common ; 
 there is a good story in the account of Sosipatra in the life of Aedesius ; 
 Eunapius, p. 469, ed. Firmin-Didot. These ' miracles ' attracted the notice 
 of the police magistrate, and ceased or were concealed after the accession of 
 Constantine ; Eunapius, p. 461. The dislike of the famous impostor 
 Alexander for the disciples of Christ was expressed with the most outspoken 
 candour. He complained that ' Pontus was full of Christians and Atheists,' 
 25, and denounced them by solemn proclamation at the commencement of 
 his mystic rites. ' First of all there was an expulsion of strangers, and 
 Alexander cried aloud, "Out with the Christians," to which the congrega- 
 tion replied, " Out with the Epicureans ;" ' 38. 
 
 a For this philosopher, see Zeller, iii. p. 545 sqq. ; Vacherot, i. p. 31 9 sqq. ; 
 Siegfried, p. 277; Ritter and Preller, 525 sqq.; and the fragments 
 preserved by Eusebius, Praep. Ev., by Porphyry and lamblichus in Stobaeus, 
 Ed. i. 836 ; and by Nemesius, De Nat. Horn. ii. 69 ; iii. 129-137. There 
 was also a school of Platonists who held by the Timaeus and spoke of Two 
 Gods. It was represented in the second century by Alcinous (see below, 
 p. 250), but is not of sufficient interest to call for separate notice.
 
 VII.] The Platonic Trinity. 249 
 
 in the manysided speculations of Plato himself, and was 
 largely modified by influences from other quarters. In 
 the Republic we have, beside or above God, the Idea of 
 Good, the cause of truth, knowledge and existence, itself 
 above existence in majesty and power. If God is good, 
 his goodness must be derived from this source, and it 
 would seem at first as if we had here two divinities, the 
 Father and the Son. Yet again in the same dialogue 
 God is the creator at least of the subordinate Ideas. In 
 the Timaeus the Demiurge forms the World-Spirit 
 according to the pattern of the Ideas, which appear 
 to be independent eternal existences. We have here 
 three conceptions, God, the Ideas, the World-Spirit. 
 Plato has nowhere explained or harmonised this triad. 
 This was done in some way by the author of the Epistles^ 
 who speaks, in obscure language and with much parade 
 of mystery, of Three Gods. Unfortunately the author- 
 ship and date of the Epistles in general, and of this 
 passage in particular, are highly uncertain 1 . 
 
 1 The passage is Ep. ii. p. 312 E. It is quoted by Athenagoras, Suppl. 
 23; Justin, Apol. i. 60; Clement, Strom, v. 14. 104; Eus. Praep. Ev. xi. 
 17. 20, and others. Karsten, Commentatio Critica de Platonis quae feruntur 
 Epistolis, Traiecti ad Rhenum, 1864, gives a history of opinion as to the 
 authenticity and date of the letters, and concludes that all are spurious, 
 by different hands at different times, the Second being one of the latest 
 and worst. Cobet, Var. Lect. ed. 1873, p. 235, says of Ep. vii, ' Platonis ipsius 
 esse et argumentum et stilus clamant ; ' and Dr. Thompson ( Gorgias, p. xii) 
 appears inclined to follow Mr. Grote in regarding all the Epistles as the 
 work of Plato himself. Zeller thinks that their composition falls at 
 latest in the second half of the first century before Christ, but regards 
 fcheir spuriousness as beyond all question. I find it impossible to believe 
 that this particular passage, which, though containing a most remarkable 
 and important doctrine, is unknown to Philo or any of the heathen Platonists 
 before Numenius, is much earlier in date than the last-named philosopher. 
 It is to be observed that in Ep vi. 323 C, D, only two Gods are spoken of. 
 The two Epistles represent different schools, for in Origen's time some of 
 the Platonists believed in two Gods, some in three ; Contra Celsum, v. 7.
 
 250 The Reformed Paganism. [Lect. 
 
 In the time of Plutarch many regarded the Ideas as 
 thoughts existing in the divine Mind \ For those who 
 held this view there were two principles, as they were 
 called, God and the World; and the latter might be 
 regarded as a divine Being or not. Others, like Moder- 
 atus 2 and Nicomachus, assigned to the Ideas a substan- 
 tive existence outside the divine Mind. For these there 
 were accordingly three principles. But, though the Ideas 
 might doubtless be gathered up into one, none of the 
 later Platonists had as yet personified the Arch-Idea, or 
 spoken of it as a God. This was the work of Numenius, 
 a Syrian of Apamea, whose date falls probably about the 
 middle of the second century 3 . 
 
 1 Plutarch, De Placitis Phil. i. lo. I, ScaKparrjs at nXarcui/ x a} P'" ras TTJS 
 vAj/y ovaias rds ISe'as viTO\afji@avfi tv TO?S vorjuaai Kal rafs (pavraaiais TOV 
 Oeov, TOVTeffTi TOV vov v<f>effTwffas. 
 
 2 See Zeller, iii. p. 514 note. Simp. Phys. f. 50 b, OVTOS yap Kara TOVS 
 Hvdayoptiovs TO n\v itpGijTov virep TO eivai Kal iraTav ovo'iav viro<paivTai' TO oe 
 ofVTtpov (V, oirep lerri TO OVTCOS KOI VOTJTOV, TO, fiSi] (ptjalv tTvai' TO Se Tpirov, 
 oirep IOTI fyvxiKQV, /<T6x "' T0 ^ * vos /fa ' r '" v fioaiv. Moderatus of Gades 
 then (temp. Nero) summed up the Ideas in the one Idea of Good, but did 
 not apparently personify them. Zeller insists that OVTOS is Plato, not Mode- 
 ratus, but this makes no real difference, for Simplicius is describing what 
 Moderatus held to be the doctrine of Plato. M. Vacherot has therefore no 
 ground for regarding Moderatus as the first propagator of the Platonic 
 Trinity. Nor is he better advised in attributing the same doctrine to Alci- 
 nous. For, though Alcinous speaks (chap. 10) of the ovpavios vovs and 17 
 i[>v\ri TOV Koffpov as distinct from God, these are merely two parts of the one 
 Anima Mundi, as appears from chap. 14, Kal TT)J/ tfvx^v TTJV del ovffav TOV 
 Koapov oi>xl iroief 6 0ebs ciAAa KaraKoanei' Kal rainri. Ae-ycnr' av Kal iroifTv, 
 iyf'ipow Kal InffTpfyw Trpos avrbv TOV Te vow avTrjs Kal avTrjv uffirep IK Kapov 
 TWOS fj ftaOeus vnvov orj\ov ovv OTI >ov av eirj 6 Koff/J.os Kal votpov . . . iffaK 
 oi>x oiov Tf OVTOS vov avev if>vxrjs vnoaTTJvat. The doctrine of Apuleius 
 (De Habit. Doctr. Plat. i. p. 162 Bip. ; Ritter and Preller, 530) appears to 
 agree with that of Alcinous. The question is perplexed by the difficulty of 
 the dates. All we know of Alcinous and Nicomachus is that they are older 
 than Plotinus. But, with the exceedingly dubious exception of the Second 
 Platonic Epistle, it may be confidently affirmed that no Trinity is to be found 
 in any Pagan philosopher who was not well acquainted with Christianity. 
 
 3 All we know as to his date is that he is older than Clement, who refer
 
 VII.] Numenius. 251 
 
 That Numenius differed from all his predecessors in 
 this article is clear from the fact that he claimed to be 
 regarded as the regenerator of philosophy on this very 
 account. He boasts that he has gone back to the 
 fountain head, to Plato, Socrates and Pythagoras, to 
 the ancient traditions of Brahmins, Magi, Egyptians and 
 Jews, and has restored to the schools the forgotten 
 doctrine of Three Gods 1 . Of these the first is Mind, 
 simple and changeless, good and wise 2 . Being change- 
 less he cannot create, hence there is derived from him a 
 second God, the Creator 3 . The Son is no longer simple, 
 
 to him by name and borrows from him not only the well-known comparison 
 of Truth to the body of Pentheus (above, p. 48), but probably that also of 
 the Pilot, and the phrase about the Son of God never leaving his irtpicuirq ; 
 cp. Strom, vii. 2. 5 ; Eus. Praep. Ev. xi. 18. 10, 24. Apamea was one of 
 the centres of Neo-Platonism. There lived Amelius, who quoted the 
 Gospel of St. John in support of the doctrine of the Logos, Eus. Praep. Ev. 
 xi. 19, and his adopted son Hostilianus Hesychius ; Porphyry, Vita Plotini, 
 2, 3. Numenius was a foolish, gossiping man ; see the long and absurd 
 story about Lacydes, Eus. Praep. Ev. xiv. 7. 
 
 1 Eus. Praep. Ev. xiv. 5. 5, ainov 6e on, rpffs Oeovs riOtfjifvov "ScaKpaTOVs 
 KOI <pi\ocro([>owTos avrois tv rots Trpocrfjicovaiv tKaarai pvOp-ots, ol SiaKovaavrts 
 TOVTO nlv fftvoow, K.T.\. Numenius is no doubt referring to the Second 
 Platonic Epistle, the author of which not only makes Plato ascribe his 
 Trinity to Socrates, but actually affirm that he himself had never written 
 upon theological questions at all ; 314 C, Sici ravra ovotv TTOJITOT' tyu irtpl 
 TOVTcaif ytypfxpa, ov5' fart ffvyy pap.[J.a HXdraovos ovS^v ovo' tcrrai, TO. 5e vvv 
 \(y6fj.fva ~5.caKpa.rovs effri fca\ov /cat veov yeyovoros. I understand the author 
 to mean not that Plato did not write the dialogues but that they are 
 what they profess to be, mere verbatim reports of the teaching of Socrates. 
 
 3 For the attributes of the Supreme God, see Eus. Praep. Ev. xi. 22. 3 sqq., 
 and xi. 10. It will be observed that the Deity of Numenius still possesses 
 moral and intellectual qualities. Richter thinks that his doctrine of the 
 Absolute did not differ from that of Clement or Plotinus, Neu-Platonische 
 Studien, p. 60; but see Praep. Ev. xi. 18. 20, where even 'movement' is 
 attributed in some sense to the Supreme. The doctrine of Ecstasy, in a 
 form not unlike the self-induced mesmerism of the Quietists, is to be found 
 in the extract from the irtpl rdyadov given by Eus. Praep. Ev. xi. 22. i. 
 
 3 Zeller, iii. 547, note, thinks that Numenius derived his doctrine of the 
 Son-Creator from the Gnostics. This is quite impossible, for there is no 
 trace of hostility between the two Deities.
 
 252 The Reformed Paganism. [Lect. 
 
 like the Father, but twofold. ' Condescending to Matter, 
 which is multiple, he gives to it unity, but is himself 
 divided.' Part of him is incorporated in the things that 
 he has made, becomes in fact the World Spirit; part 
 hovers over the world as its guide, ' riding on Matter as 
 a pilot on his ship,' and maintaining it in harmony with 
 the will of God. ' He touches the sensible and cares for 
 it, drawing it up to his own nature, because he yearns 
 for it V Hence, as Proclus says, the Trinity of Numenius 
 consists of the Father, the Creator, and the World. 
 
 Numenius is but repeating the fashionable language 
 of his school when he talks of Brahmins, Magi and 
 Egyptians. The real source of his doctrine is un- 
 doubtedly Jewish. We learn that he allegorised the 
 Old Testament with some skill and success, and, when 
 he called Plato an Attic Moses, he must have had Philo 
 in his mind. But there is an element in his doctrine 
 which is not Philonic. He speaks of Matter not as the 
 cause of evil, but as something which the Son loves and 
 cares for, so much so that in a peculiar sense he conde- 
 scends to take its nature upon him. And in strict con- 
 formity with this he regarded sin as the result of a 
 conflict riot between Mind and Matter, but between the 
 higher and lower spirit of man. This is the language of 
 St. Paul ; and, when we consider that he was well ac- 
 
 1 Eus. Praep. Ev. xi. 18. I, 24. It will be observed that even in Nu- 
 menius the doctrine of the Trinity has not yet attained to clearness and 
 consistency. Though he speaks of Three Gods, the Son is still in part the 
 same as the Anima Mundi : 6 Otos fitvroi 6 Seurepos KOI rpiros iarlv tfs' 
 avfuptpoftevos 5% rrj V\TJ SvaSt 01)077, kvoi fj.\v O.VTTJV, ffj(itTCU 8e I/TT' avrrjs, 
 firi9vfit]TiKc>i' rjQos txovfffjs teal fifovarjs. Matter is a dyad, I presume, 
 because it has a ^ux 7 ?. tuat is Ovpos and irnQviua, but no vovs till this regu- 
 lative unifying principle is infused into it by union with the Son. Numenius 
 then has Three Gods but not Three Hypostases. Plotinus speaks of rpefs 
 s, but not till after this phrase was current among Christians.
 
 VIL] Numenius, 253 
 
 quainted with t,he Gospels and possibly with the Epistles, 
 it seems reasonable to conclude that in this peculiar 
 view, on which he is in direct and violent contra- 
 diction with Philo and the heathen Platonists in a 
 body, he is reflecting the ideas proper to Christianity l . 
 The same thing is, I believe, true of his doctrine of 
 the Trinity, which marks a distinct advance on the 
 teaching of Philo, and an advanced/in the direction of 
 the Church. 
 
 Numenius may not unfairly be regarded as the founder 
 of Neo-Platonism, with the reservation already pointed 
 out in favour of Clement 2 . But I should be carried 
 far beyond my limits, if I were to attempt to define 
 his relation to the great Plotinus. I must turn away 
 from this tempting subject to the system of Unitarian 
 Platonism as it is depicted in the extant fragments of 
 Celsus 3 . 
 
 1 Contra Celsum, i. 15; iv. 51. The story of Jannes and Jambres he 
 may have learned either from 2 Tim. iii. 8 or from pseudo-Jonathan ; see 
 Siegfried. In the latter case he must have had a very remarkable acquaint- 
 ance with Rabbinical literature, and we can hardly avoid the suspicion that 
 he was a Jew. For his doctrine of Evil as arising out of the strife between 
 the two souls of man, see Zeller. No true Greek would have explained the 
 theory of Ideas in so materialistic a way as "Numenius. God, the Good, is 
 the Idea of the Son, whom He consequently creates. Just so every sensible 
 Kind has its Idea, and the concrete Man, Ox, Horse, are created by the Ideal 
 Man, Ox, Horse; Praep. Ev. xi. 22. 9. This is the view also of Philo 
 and Clement. I suspect that the motive of Numenius' treatise Tlepl totrov 
 was given by Philo, in whose terminology Place is another name for the 
 Son. Of the same school and about the same date are Cronius and Harpo- 
 cration, who are known to us only by name. 
 
 2 Porphyry ( Vita Plotini, 21) would not admit that Plotinus was indebted 
 to Numenius. Nevertheless there was a historical connection between the 
 two teachers. Numenius was, as Longinus pronounced, far inferior in 
 a.Kpi&fia to Amelius and Plotinus, but, as Zeller says, he pointed out the 
 way for them. 
 
 3 The author of the 'AXrjOfy \6-yo? may or may not have been the Celsus 
 to whom Lucian addressed his exposure of the tricks of Alexander of Abo-
 
 254 The Reformed Paganism. [Lect. 
 
 Celsus wrote his True Word against the Christians 
 amid the civil troubles that clouded the latter days of 
 M. Aurelius. Half a century afterwards the treatise 
 fell into the hands of Ambrosius, who sent it to Origen, 
 with a request that he would reply to it. Origen 
 was reluctant to undertake the task, thinking that the 
 one effective answer to all opponents lay in the actual 
 triumph of the Gospel. But as soon as he began to 
 read the book he perceived the gravity of the attack, 
 and threw himself heart and soul into the controversy. 
 Like most of Origen's work the Contra Celsum is marred 
 by the fiery impetuosity of its author. He alters and 
 enlarges the plan of his defence. With such haste does 
 he pour out the eager flood of dictation, following and 
 combating his antagonist sentence by sentence, that he 
 often does not catch the point of an argument till he 
 has wandered round it for many a page, and even to 
 
 noteichos. The name was not uncommon. Nor perhaps is it necessary to 
 suppose that the friend of Lucian was an Epicurean, though that is certainly 
 the natural inference from the words TO TrXe'ov Sf, oirtp KOI aol rjSiov, 'ETTJ- 
 Kovpy rifuapSiv, avSpl us dXrjGws l(pw ical Oeairtaica rrjv (pvffiv, Alexander, ad 
 fin. The author of the True Word was undoubtedly a Platonist, though 
 Origen charges him with masking atheism under the garb of Platonism, 
 Contra Celsum, i. 8 ; ii. 13 ; iii. 35. 80 ; iv. 4. 54 ; v. 3. He seems to have 
 jumped at this conclusion from the way in which Celsus spoke of the 
 miracles of Jesus, admitting some of them to be true but ascribing them to 
 vulgar magic ; see Contra Celsum, i. 68, opas ws Sia TOVTUV olovd irapaSe- 
 Xtrat ftaytiav tlvai- OVK oida el 6 avros wv T> ypaif/avrt Kara paytias &i@\ia 
 nXtiova. Now the Celsus who was Lucian's friend had written Kara fj.djwv, 
 Alex. 2 1 . Origen no doubt identified the two, and took it for granted that 
 Lucian's friend was an Epicurean. Keim shows good reason for supposing 
 that he was right in the first inference and wrong in the second. The date 
 of the True Word is about 178. Nearly the whole work is found em- 
 bedded in the reply of Origen. The fragments have been collected, trans- 
 lated, and commented on by several hands, especially by Theodor Keim, 
 Celsus'' Wahres Wort, Zurich, 1873, and with less erudition but great clear- 
 ness and an interesting criticism by B. Aube in the Histoire des Persecutions 
 deftiglise, Paris, 1878.
 
 Vii. ] Celsus. 255 
 
 the last he does not clearly realise that Celsus was 
 not an Epicurean but a Platonist. 
 
 Celsus is scarcely to be called a philosopher, for he 
 is deficient in system, penetration and sympathy. But 
 he is a favourable specimen of the highly cultivated 
 man of the world, keen, positive and logical, sceptical 
 and mocking, yet not without genuine moral convictions, 
 a student of the science of religion, an enlightened ad- 
 vocate of the reformed Paganism. He was well armed 
 for his task, for he had studied the four Gospels and the 
 books of Genesis and Exodus, possessed some knowledge 
 of the Prophets and Epistles, and had read more or less 
 of Gnostic and Jewish, or Jewish-Christian, literature : . 
 Besides he had travelled widely, and sought conversation 
 with religious professors of every shade, especially with 
 Christians. He had gained, as he thought, full know- 
 ledge of his subject before he took up the pen. Nor 
 is he consciously unjust. He pours out his scorn with 
 perfect impartiality upon the begging priests, and 
 mountebanks, and gross superstitions of the popular 
 religions. He does not repeat the old and not yet 
 extinct slanders against the Church, and pays a grudg- 
 ing respect to the purity of Christian morals. Yet 
 
 1 According to Tischendorf and Volkmar, Celsus used all the canonical 
 and some uncanonical Gospels ; according to Meyer and Zeller, the Synop- 
 tics but not John ; according to Redepenning and Mosheim, no canonical 
 Gospel at all but Jewish and Apocryphal documents. The question is dis- 
 cussed by Keim, p. 219 sqq., who concludes that Celsus was well acquainted 
 with all four canonical Gospels, that he makes most use of that of Matthew, 
 that the general colouring of the Christology known to him is Johannine, 
 and that there is no certain trace of his employment of any apocryphal 
 Gospel. Of the Pauline Epistles Keim thinks he knew only a few phrases 
 picked up in conversation, and his acquaintance with Old Testament 
 prophecy is general and vague. See also Dr. Westcott, On the Canon, 
 p. 404.
 
 256 The Reformed Paganism. [Lect. 
 
 when he charges the Christians with sorcery, want of 
 patriotism and disloyalty, when he asserts with emphasis 
 that every church is an illicit college, he is deliberately 
 giving a new edge to the most deadly of all the ac- 
 cusations under which the Christians suffered 1 . Well 
 did he know the fatal significance of these cruel in- 
 sinuations. 
 
 We need not follow in detail his criticism of the 
 Scriptures. He treats the Gospel from the point of 
 
 1 Their churches are illicit colleges, i. i. 7 ; the charge of magic is 
 made, i. 6. 68; vi. 39; that of want of patriotism, faction, viii. 2. 21. 
 - The law against illicit clubs or colleges was severe and bore very hard 
 on the Christians. See the exceedingly interesting treatise of Mommsen, De 
 Collegiis et Sodaliciis Romanorum, Kiliae, 1843. A Senatus Consultum 
 passed probably under Augustus, while recognising the ancient collegia 
 opificum, rendered all other clubs except burial societies illegal. They 
 were allowed to meet once a month for business purposes, when the subscrip- 
 tion (the ' stips menstrua') was collected, but they had other unrestricted 
 meetings for the purpose of offering sacrifice in the temple of the patron God 
 and feasting together. The qualified toleration of benefit societies by the 
 Sctum of Augustus appears to have been confined to Rome, and was extended 
 to Italy and the Provinces by Severus (Digest xlvii. 22). Before this time 
 clubs of all kinds and denominations appear to have been illegal in Italy and 
 the Provinces without special authorisation from the Emperor, and this was 
 very grudgingly conferred (see the Rescript of Trajan in Pliny, Ep. x. 42, 43 ; 
 Tac. Ann. xiv. 17). The language of Tertullian, Apol. 39, shows how 
 easily the Christian Churches could be brought under this law. He does not 
 deny that each Church is a collegium ; all he aims at proving is that its 
 objects are good, and its management exemplary. The very phrases that 
 are used of colleges occur in his description, and no doubt are used purposely 
 ' coimus in coetum si quod arcae genus est,' the regular word for the treasure 
 chest of a collegium ' modicam unusquisque stipem menstrua dievelquum 
 velit et si modo velit et si modo possit apponit ' the money was applied 
 ' egenis alendis humandisque? They had coenae also, but how different 
 from those of the colleges ! He concludes, ' quum probi quum boni 
 coeunt, quum casti congregantur, non est factio dicenda sed curia? 'Curia' is 
 apparently equivalent to ' collegium licitum,' as 'factio ' to ' collegium illicitum. ' 
 The charge of factiousness, want of patriotism, brought the Christian under 
 the law of Maiestas, and magic was a capital crime. The subject of the 
 laws under which Christians suffered has been investigated by M. E. Le Blant, 
 Note sur les bases juridiques des poursuites dirigees contre les Martyrs, 
 Acad. des Inscr. Nouvelle Serie, vol. 2 (1866), p. 358. It seems probable
 
 VII.] Celsus. 257 
 
 view of the Jew, the Law from that of an educated 
 Greek. This enabled him to insist upon the factious 
 nature of the new faith, the Christians being renegade 
 Jews as the Jews themselves were renegade Egyptians ; 
 and at the same time to set in the strongest and most 
 repulsive light whatever had been or could be urged 
 against their documents. He was under no inherited 
 restraint, and whatever his biting wit could find to say 
 he said. But what we are concerned with is the more 
 serious part of his work, his own belief, his intellectual 
 relation towards Christianity, his view of the general 
 religious position of the time. 
 
 In the creed of Celsus there is one supreme God. 
 He is good, beautiful and happy, but has no movement, 
 attribute or name. He created all reasonable immortal 
 beings, the soul of man and the lower deities, and the 
 lower deities created the world. His work is perfect, so 
 
 that there never was any law against Christianity as such. But there were 
 several Rescripts directing how the laws in point were to be enforced. Of 
 these the most important were that of Trajan forbidding anonymous 
 accusations, that of Hadrian ordering that Christians should not be con- 
 demned except for definite offences against the laws, and another or others 
 unknown directing that when convicted they should be put to death by 
 decapitation, and that torture should only be applied in the usual way to 
 force confession. See Tertullian, Ad Scapulam, 4 : Quid enim amplius 
 tibi mandatur quam nocentes confesses damnare, negantes autem ad tormenta 
 
 revocare sine accusatore negans se auditurum hominem secnndum 
 
 mandata Nam et nunc a praeside Legionis et a praeside Mauri- 
 
 taniae vexatur hoc nomen, sed gladio tenus sicut et a primordio mandatum est 
 animadverti in huiusmodi. The same treatise shows how little these wise 
 restrictions were regarded by many of the governors. Severus is said to 
 have gone further. ludaeos fieri sub grandi poena vetuit : idem etiam de 
 Christianis sanxit ; Spartian, Vita Severi, 17. That he made sharp 
 enactments against conversion to Judaism seems to be certain ; see Julius 
 Paullus, Sent. v. 22. 3, in Huschke, Jurisp. Antejust.; the incident 
 recorded in Spartian's Life of Caracalla, chap. i. ; and Origen, Contra 
 Celsum, ii. 13. But it is almost certain from Tertullian, Apol. 5 and Ad 
 ' Scap., that he made no new and special enactment against Christianity. 
 
 S
 
 258 The Reformed Paganism. [Lect. 
 
 that He never needs to interfere for its correction or 
 improvement. And being absolutely just and good, He 
 is untouched by pity. Man's relation to Him may alter, 
 but His relation to man must ever be the same 1 . It is 
 still the old conception of God as pure Intelligence. 
 
 God is the supreme ruler of Nature, whose laws are 
 the expression of His reason, and in this sense He may 
 be considered as exercising a general providence. But 
 something more than this was demanded by the con- 
 science of the times in which Celsus lived. To satisfy 
 this need he inserts between God and the world the 
 hierarchy of the inferior gods or Demons. These sub- 
 ordinate powers fill a very remarkable place in all the 
 Platonic systems of the time. They change philosophy 
 into religion, they are the mediators between God and 
 man, and, what is even still more important, they form 
 the connecting link between the old and the reformed 
 Paganism. 
 
 It is not indeed a novel conception, for the Demons 
 are as old as the poems of Hesiod, and appear in the 
 Timaeus and the Symposiiim. But in the modern 
 Platonists, Plutarch, Maximus Tyrius, or Celsus, they 
 are no longer a subordinate accidental feature. Like 
 the Powers of Philo, they are the real creators of all 
 except the soul of man. Some of them are demons 
 in the lowest sense of the word, spirits of evil banished 
 
 1 On this point it is worthy of notice that Origen does not contradict 
 Celsus : /xera ravra 8' lavra) Xanfiavti TO pi) StSo/^evov inro TWV \oytKtarfpov 
 viarevovruv, rdxa iirro TIVOW dvorjrcav vo/jufyntvoi', us dpa ofioicvs rots olfcrq) 
 Sov\vov<n 5ov\(vaas, oiKrca rwv otxnfo/l&W 6 6(os TOVS Kaxovs Kov<piti, teal 
 HqStv TOIOVTO Spuivras roiry dyaOovs aTroppiirrff oirtp karlv dStKUTaTov, iii. 71. 
 But God, in the view of Celsus, is still moral and intelligent, though He has 
 no name. For He knows what goes on upon earth ; iv. 3.
 
 vii.] C els us. 259 
 
 from the presence of God. But for the most part they 
 are of mixed nature, some almost wholly divine, some 
 little better than man. They exercise rule over special 
 provinces of Nature, sending the lightning and the 
 rain ; they are the ' invisible farmers,' who make the 
 crops to grow and the cattle to increase. They are 
 the ' lords of the prison-house,' rulers of the darkness 
 of this world in which the fallen spirit of man is con- 
 fined for its purification. They are the gods of the 
 old national mythologies, whom in times past men 
 ignorantly worshipped as the Supreme. They give 
 oracles, prophecies, revelations, send and cure diseases, 
 work miracles. They claim honour and service from 
 man, the lower delighting in the steam and blood of 
 sacrifices, the higher accepting no offering but that of 
 a pure and holy spirit. Thus the Platonist found still 
 a way to believe in the personal loving care of God 
 for His creatures. He who denies the Demons, says 
 Plutarch, denies providence, and breaks the chain that 
 unites the world to the throne of God 1 . 
 
 1 Plutarch, De defectu Orac. 1 3. Special Providence and Mediation were 
 the two great religious needs supplied by the doctrine of Demons. Both are 
 very clearly brought out by Maximus Tyrius. For the latter, see Oration xv. 
 Without the Demons no relation could exist between God and man. Awo 
 ydp Trpayfiarcuv K(\(apiafJ.(V<av ry <f>vofi \<apiaOiifftrai teal fj iirtfuficnrai'Tdira.criv, 
 fav /j.r] ns KOIVOS opos dfttporepa viroSfgrjToi. It is necessary then that there 
 should be a class of beings partaking of both natures, rj arraOts Gvrjrov $ 
 aSavcnov f/jLiraOts. For the former see xvii. 12, where there is an elaborate 
 picture of the world as the palace of God. ' There is the great King 
 tranquil as Law, bestowing upon his subjects the salvation that exists in 
 him. There are the partners of his rule, many visible gods, many invisible. 
 Some wait at his threshold, as it were his ushers (ticrayyfXtrs) ; some are 
 kinsmen of the king, who share his table and his hearth ; some are ministers 
 again of these, and some are still lower in degree. Thou seest the hierarchy 
 and graduation of rule which stretches down from God to earth.' Maximns 
 distinguishes Two Lives in almost exactly the same way as Philo. The 
 lower is the knowledge of God in His works. For God is beautiful, and all 
 
 S 3
 
 260 The Reformed Paganism. [Lect. 
 
 There are so many coincidences between the Pagan 
 doctrine of the Demons and the Christian doctrine of 
 Angels and demons, that we are justified in assuming 
 a close historical connection between the two. But 
 the relation of these discrowned gods to the life of the 
 soul is Philonic or Gnostic rather than Christian. They 
 are the Gods of the imperfect, the saviours of those 
 who are capable of virtue but not of knowledge. Here 
 again we have the theory of the Two Lives, but they 
 are separated by an impassable gulf. All but the 
 gifted few are debarred by the law of Nature from the 
 higher. 
 
 This brings us to the first cardinal difference between 
 Celsus and Origen. How can God be known ? ' It is 
 hard to find Him out,' replied the heathen, ' impossible 
 to reveal Him to all.' The knowledge of God cannot 
 be conveyed in words, but from much meditation and 
 close personal converse with the wise a spark is kindled 
 in the soul. Philosophy can give us ' some conception,' 
 which the mind of the elect must develope for itself. The 
 Christian replied, ' God is known to us, as far as He can 
 be known, in the Incarnate Christ.' 
 
 that is beautiful will guide us to Him, the beauty of the human frame, of a 
 flowering mead, of a fair-flowing river, of the sea and sky and the gods in 
 the sky, that is the stars. ' If these are enough for thee, thou hast seen 
 God.' But for higher minds there is higher knowledge. To them (xvi. 7) 
 the sensible suggests the suprasensual ; as the song of Demodocus suggested 
 to Odysseus the siege of Troy, as the lyre suggests the beloved one who 
 played on it, so the mind mounts up from lower to higher by a process 
 resembling the thrill which vibrates through the slender shaft of a lance 
 when you grasp the butt. The same ideas will be found in Plutarch, and 
 indeed in Plato, Symposium, 202 E. But in Maximus and Celsus they have 
 grown immensely in relative importance, and the reason for this is to be 
 found no doubt in the conflict with Christianity. The doctrine of the 
 Demons properly understood would, it was hoped, make the belief in Christ 
 unnecessary.
 
 VII.] Celsus. 261 
 
 This was the great rock of offence. Celsus flung 
 himself with all his force against the doctrine of the 
 Incarnation. He resisted it on a priori grounds. Why 
 should God come down to earth ? Does He not already 
 know what is happening there, and can He not remedy 
 what is amiss without descending in person? How can 
 He forsake His proper abode, when, if you make the 
 least change in the order of Nature, all must go to 
 wreck? God is perfectly good, beautiful, happy; if He 
 descends into the world in human shape, He must 
 change, and suffer in the change an unutterable degra- 
 dation. And why should He need like a bad workman 
 to correct what He has once made? Or if at all, why 
 not till after the lapse of so many ages, waking out of 
 sleep, as it were, and proceeding in unseemly haste to 
 amend the consequences of His long neglect ? 
 
 The answer to all this from the Christian point of 
 view was easy. Celsus does not realise, as Origen with 
 truth insists, either the nature of God, or the value of 
 the human soul, or the necessary operation of its free- 
 dom. No Christian asserted that God ' came down,' 
 in such a sense as that His throne in heaven should be 
 left untenanted. Nor was it His own work that needed 
 correction, but the work of man. Nor was the resolve 
 a late and sudden one, for law-giver, priest, and prophet 
 had borne their part in the progressive revelation, and 
 the birth of Christ is but the crown of a long develop- 
 ment 1 . Nor was God degraded by taking upon Him 
 the form of a servant. For He who knew no sin knew 
 
 1 Contra Celsum, iv. 4. 7. But in the next chapter Origen goes on to say, 
 <?X T < ^ wept TOVTQJV \6yos fjivarmwrfpoi' KOI fiaOvrtpov. The full explana- 
 tion, that is to say, depends on the doctrine of pre-existence and the varying 
 needs of purification entailed by the ante-natal sin.
 
 262 The Reformed Paganism. [Lect. 
 
 .no shame. But here the Christian and the heathen 
 move in different planes, and their minds do not touch. 
 To the one moral evil is the only pollution ; to the 
 other mere contact with matter is, in the case of God, 
 inconceivable. Even the Christian is here betrayed 
 into weakness by mental associations which he could not 
 wholly shake off. Christ came ' out of condescension 
 to those who cannot look upon the dazzling radiance of 
 the Godhead; He becomes Man till he that has received 
 Him in this guise, being little by little lifted up by the 
 Word, is able to contemplate His proper shape 1 .' Origen 
 held, and it is, as we have seen, one of his characteristic 
 thoughts, that the Incarnation was a weakening and 
 obscuring of the divine glory. It is not with him the 
 highest and profoundest revelation of the divine love. 
 
 In the historical argument of Celsus again we see this 
 Platonic hatred of matter come out in strong relief. 
 Jesus, he affirmed, making use of Jewish fables still 
 to be found in the Talmud, was an impostor, who suf- 
 fered the death he deserved. He was not the promised 
 Messiah, for the Prophets spoke only of a King and 
 Conqueror. He was not a Son of God, for then His 
 mother would have been a queen like Semele or Andro- 
 meda. His person would have been beautiful ; His flesh 
 would not have been liable to pain ; He would have 
 vanished from the Cross, and appeared again in majesty 
 to confound His enemies. His miracles, allowing them 
 genuine, prove nothing, as He Himself admitted. His 
 
 1 Contra Celsum, iv. 15. 19. In the latter passage we read the singular 
 words, xal ycLp OVK aroirov tern rov i&fjitvov <pi\ovs voffowras laaaaOai TO 
 <pl\ov TWV avOpunrcav yfvos rofs rotofcrSe oh OVK av TLS \p-qaairo Trporjyov/jLtvcas 
 dAA.' etc irfpiarafffcas. The language is to be explained by Origen's view of 
 the Epinoiai ; see Lecture v.
 
 vir.] Celsus. 263 
 
 Resurrection rests upon the testimony of ' a hysterical 
 woman V Above all He failed, for the Jews who were 
 yearning for their Saviour rejected Him, and His own 
 disciples abandoned and denied Him. 
 
 It did not occur to this singularly able man that, 
 when the assigned cause is so inadequate to the manifest 
 result, there must be some flaw in the calculation. 
 Celsus dashes against the facts in passionate derision. 
 ' He has failed,' he cries, ' and yet you believe Him.' 
 The Christian's rejoinder was triumphant. He had but 
 to point to the churches, springing up on all sides like 
 grass after rain, and answer, ' He has not failed because 
 we believe Him.' This is in fact the chief of the external 
 supports on which the faith of Origen reposed. He 
 believed Scripture to be the Word of God, yet as we 
 have seen he did not insist upon its literal truth. He 
 believed in Miracles, and held that the power of working 
 them was still bestowed upon the Church. Yet he con- 
 fesses that, however powerful these signs and wonders 
 had once been in calling forth faith, they had come to 
 be regarded as myths, and themselves needed proof 2 . 
 
 1 Jesus warned His disciples that false Christs would work miracles ; ii. 
 48. 49. 54. As pointed out above, Celsus did not wholly deny the miracles 
 of Jesus, though he denied their significance. The ' hysterical woman ' is 
 the Magdalene. See ii. 55, ris TOVTO tlSe ; Twij irapoiarpos, us <pa.T(, KOI ti 
 
 TIS d\\OS TUJV (K TTJS OUTTJJ -yO^TfiaS, fjTOi KO.TO. TWO. SiadfOlV OVftpwaS (the 
 
 theory of Strauss) TJ Kara rfjv CLVTOV &ov\T)aiv oori TrcirXavrj/^fvri (fiavraatoidfis, 
 oirfp STJ [ivpiois avf*P(l3r)Kev' 77, oirtp /iaAAof, eKir\r)a.i TOVS \ourovs Trj Tfpareia 
 Tavrr) 0(\ri(ra.s ical Sid. rov TOIOVTOV if/evfffjuiTos a<[>opfjiT)v aAAois afvprais 
 irapaffxfw (the theory of deliberate imposition). 
 
 2 In Joan. ii. 28 (Lorn. i. 152), ical TOVTO Se (TriVKfirTeov, OTI at pif 
 TfpdffTtoi ovvdfieis TOVS KO.TCL TOV xpovov TOV XpitrroC yfvofJitvovs TTpoKa.\tiaQai 
 im TO iriaTevfiv tovvavTcr oiiie ta<vov ol TO t/j.<pa.Ttitbv fitrci xpovovs w\fiovas, 
 TJSr/ ical fj.vOoi twai iinovorjOfiaai. Some miracles Origen doubted or explained 
 away ; the carrying of Christ up into a mountain by the Tempter he 
 thought impossible, and (Cels. ii. 48) the daughter of the Ruler of the
 
 264 The Reformed Paganism. [Lect. 
 
 The argument from the fulfilment of prophecy he con- 
 sidered as among the greatest of all the evidences 1 . 
 But the one crowning proof of the truth of the Gospel, 
 the miracle of all miracles, was the Christian life and 
 the Christian society. To this he recurs again and 
 again. He who questioned all things could doubt of 
 nothing, when he fixed his eyes on the figure of the 
 Church advancing swiftly onwards with the star of 
 victory on her brow 2 . 
 
 Other questions mooted in this famous debate, con- 
 cerning the estate and destiny of man, are of secondary 
 importance. Evil, Celsus held, was caused by the 
 resistance of Matter to the moulding hand of God. 
 Now, as the quantity of Matter is fixed and its resist- 
 
 Synagogue perhaps only slept. But the latter is accepted as a real 
 instance of raising the dead, In Galatas (Lorn. v. 269), where it is said 
 that Christ's miracles were historically true, and continue in the Church in 
 a spiritual sense. In Jerem. Horn. iv. 3, the power of miracles has been lost 
 by the Church because of her corruption. But this refers only to the greater 
 miracles, and indeed only with some limitation even to these ; see Contra 
 Celsum, ii. 8, tx vr t * 7r ' iroabv irapa "X.piaria.voi's tvpiffKfrai, al rtva 76 pti^ova, 
 Koi ei iriaroi \ypev \tyovTfs, fupa.KafKi' not -qntis. The tx. VT l are Exorcism, 
 Healing, Prophecy, Ibid. i. 46. But the disciples of Jesus work even greater 
 miracles in opening the eyes of the spiritually blind, Ibid. ii. 48. Miracles 
 prove the divinity of Christ, and are themselves proved by prophecy, Ibid. 
 viii. 9. The spread of Christianity was at first due to Miracles, Ibid. viii. 
 47. Chrysippus, Plutarch, Numenius tell of Pagan miracles, which even 
 Celsus believed in. Why then are Christian miracles false? Care and 
 study are requisite to distinguish true miracles from imposture, Ibid. v. 57. 
 Miracles are virtp <pioiv, not irapa <pvaiv, Ibid. v. 23 ; see also the following 
 chapter. Another great evidence was to be found in the voluntary sufferings 
 of the Apostles, Ibid. i. 31 ; iii. 23. 
 
 1 Prophecy is more important than Miracles, In Joan. ii. 28 ; cp. In Joan. 
 xxxii. 9, ad Jin. ; Contra Celsum, vi. 10 ; viii. 48. 
 
 * Contra Celsum, iii. 9 ; iv. 32 ; vii. 26 ; In Cant. Cant. iii. (Lorn. xv. 43). 
 There are many other passages of the same tenor. If we may rely upon In 
 Lucam, Horn. vi. (Lorn. v. 106), Christianity had already been preached 
 in Britain, but this appears to be contradicted by the passage quoted above, 
 p. 207. In Contra Celsum, iii. 65, Origen tells us that the converts were 
 not as a rule drawn from the vicious classes.
 
 VII. ] Celsus. 265 
 
 ance is uniform, it follows that the quantity of Evil also 
 is capable neither of increase nor of diminution. Man 
 again, he taught, was by no means the chief object of 
 divine care, many of the animals being equal, or even 
 superior, to him in wisdom and in piety 1 . These two 
 ideas caused in him a cynical scorn of all endeavours to 
 raise the vulgar masses from their degradation, and here 
 again, surely from no truly philosophic reason, he was in 
 fierce antagonism to the active, and oftentimes doubtless 
 ignorant, Christian missionaries. His doctrine of a Future 
 Life was that of his school. The main point at issue 
 here was the belief in the Resurrection of the Body. 
 To the Platonist this was revolting. ' They say,' he 
 exclaims, ' that everything is possible to God. But 
 God cannot do what is shameful, and will not do 
 what is unnatural 2 .' His arguments are levelled 
 
 1 For the fixed quantity of Evil, see iv. 62. 69. 99 ; for its connection 
 with Matter, iv. 65 ; viii. 55. Keim maintains that Celsus departs from 
 Socrates and Plato in denying that God made the world for man any more 
 than for brutes ; that man as regards his body is no better than the brutes ; 
 that God is no more angry with man than with apes or flies, and that many 
 of the animals are better than man, iv. 52-99. It must be allowed that his 
 language on the subject of Evil is rather Stoic than Platonic. But all that 
 he says is a natural consequence of the doctrines of the independence of 
 Matter and of Metempsychosis. The Cynics, who were indefatigable street 
 preachers (and in other respects also bore a striking resemblance to the 
 Mendicant Friars), were in this honourably distinguished from their Stoic 
 cousins. See Contra Celsum, iii. 50. It was the Cynic Demonax who 
 Advised the Athenians to destroy the altar of Pity if they persisted in their 
 plan of introducing gladiatorial shows into the city ; Lucian, Demonax, 57. 
 To this love of souls rather than to the reason assigned by Augustine we 
 may ascribe the singular fact that Cynicism outlived Stoicism. See Aug. 
 Contra Academ. iii. 19 : Nunc philosophos non fere vidimus nisi aut Cynicos 
 aut Peripateticos aut Platonicos. Et Cynicos quidem, quia eos vitae quaedam 
 delectat libertas atque licentia. 
 
 2 The hope of the Resurrection is aiKoX-qitcav iKir'is, v. 14; the Christians 
 are Sei\tiv KCU <pikoau^.a.Tov yivos, vii. 36, and mureAws TTJ aapicl (vStoepfvot, 
 vii. 42. In vii. 36 again he says, OVK uvOpuirov n^v ou5J 7779 ifivxijs dAAa 
 TT?S aapwos fi <ji(uvr]. ' For this use of the word " flesh " by Stoics and
 
 266 The Reformed Paganism. [Lect. 
 
 against the cruder forms of the belief, and we have 
 already seen what was Origen's reply. 
 
 Celsus was a bitter foe to Christianity, but he was 
 also a man of far-sighted practical vision, and his hostility 
 had its limits. He forgot philosophy, and even justice, 
 in his anger against these wilful sectaries, whose growth 
 threatened destruction to temple and school. But he 
 was the first of the governing classes who clearly dis- 
 cerned the rift that was beginning to divide society, and 
 he viewed with alarm the danger that might arise from 
 a large, intelligent, ill-used and alienated class, at a time 
 when the state was called upon to struggle for its exist- 
 ence against the barbarians of the Danube. And so 
 while Marcus Aurelius was lamenting in neatly turned 
 phrases the 'dogged obstinacy' of the martyrs of Vienna, 
 whom he had himself condemned to death on the most 
 ridiculous accusations, this unknown scholar was asking 
 whether it was already too late to heal the breach. 
 
 Changing his tone of angry mockery for one of stern 
 but not unfriendly remonstrance, he presses the Chris- 
 tians to consider whether after all it is impossible to 
 serve Two Masters. Every good citizen ought to respect 
 the worship of his fathers. And God gave to the Demons 
 the honour which they claimed. Why then should the 
 Christian refuse to eat at the Demons' table? They 
 give us corn and wine and the very air we breathe ; we 
 must either submit to their benefits or quit the world 
 
 Platonists cp. Seneca, Ep. 65 ; Consol. ad Mar. 24 ; Persius, ii. 62 (pulpa).' 
 Zeller, Theol.Jahrb. 1852, pp. 293 sqq. It may perhaps be doubted whether 
 this word was borrowed from the Christian vocabulary. But this doubt 
 will hardly apply to the word 'angel.' Maximus Tyrius, xvii. 9, 6 ef 
 'AicaSTjuias i^uv a~f~f(\os of Plato. I have seen also the phrase ' angelic life,' 
 but cannot now recover the reference.
 
 Vii.] Celsus. 267 
 
 altogether. All that is really important in Christianity 
 is the belief in the immortality of the soul, in the future 
 blessedness of the good, the eternal punishment of the 
 wicked. Better suffer any torments than deny this 
 faith 1 . But why not swear by the Emperor, the dis- 
 penser of all temporal blessings, as God of all spiritual? 
 Why not sing a paean to the bright Sun or Athena, and 
 at any rate kiss the hand to those lower deities who can 
 do us harm if neglected 2 ? It cannot be supposed that 
 the great Roman Empire will abandon its tried and 
 ancient faith for a barbarous novelty. ' He who thinks 
 this knows nothing 3 .' If there is to be unity the Church 
 must make concessions, and Christ must accept a place, 
 as in the Lararium of Alexander Severus, side by side 
 with Apollonius and the chief gods of Rome. 
 
 And so Celsus concludes with an almost pathetic 
 exhortation to the injured Christians to have pity on 
 their country, to rally round Caesar's eagles against the 
 common foe, and not to refuse to serve in public offices, 
 but in this way also to give their support to the laws and 
 piety. The conclusion of the True Word is creditable 
 both to the sagacity and to the temper of its author. 
 But, when the persecutor thus found his weapons break- 
 ing in his grasp, and stooped to appeal to the generosity 
 of his victim, it is evident that the battle was already lost. 
 
 1 Contra Celsum, viii. 53. 66. 
 
 1 AftovffOcu, not Oprjaietijtiv or Otpairtveiv or Sov\tvtiv, is all the obser- 
 vance Celsus claims for those inferior demons, like the Egyptian Decani, 
 whose influence was chiefly malefic ; viii. 58. Yet what a concession is this ! 
 Gibbon might well have reckoned amongst the causes of the triumph 
 of Christianity the immorality and absurdity of the best alternative that the 
 best Pagans could offer. On kissing the hand to idols, see Dr. Holden's 
 note to Minucius Felix, Octavius, 2, 
 
 3 Contra Celsum, viii. 72.
 
 268 The Reformed Paganism. 
 
 ' Did Celsus know/ says Origen in one place 1 , ' what 
 to think of the immortal soul, its nature, its destiny, he 
 would not mock at the Incarnation which is due to the 
 great love of God for man.' There is justice in this 
 reproach as regards Celsus, but it is hardly applicable to 
 the Platonists generally. The real root of the difficulty 
 lay in their sharp antithesis of Form as good to Matter 
 as evil. Had Philo ever considered the question, he 
 must have rejected Christ on the same grounds as 
 Celsus, though assuredly without denying, as Celsus 
 did, the moral beauty of the Saviour's life. Connected 
 with the abhorrence of Matter was the disapproval of all 
 emotion, which was regarded as inseparably linked with 
 the perishable body. Hence the ancient world, with all 
 its noble and intelligent devotion to truth and justice 
 and the masculine virtues generally, was unable to per- 
 ceive that the one cure for moral evil is Love, and that, 
 as Love is necessarily self-sacrificing, so vicarious suffering 
 is the deepest and most universal law of Ethics. This 
 was then, as it is now, the leading difference between 
 the ' wisdom of the world ' and the preaching of the 
 Cross. Even the Church hardly realised the full mean- 
 ing of the truth of which she was the custodian. But 
 the truth was given to her not in a doctrine, nor in a 
 tradition, but in a life. The love of Jesus, like 
 the power of light, may be wrongly analysed, but its 
 width and its potency are none the less for our failure to 
 explain them. It is one of the powers of Nature ; it is 
 enough that it is there. 
 
 1 Contra Celsum, iv. 17.
 
 LECTURE VIII. 
 
 Blame not before thou hast examined the truth : understand first 
 and then rebuke. ECCLESIASTICUS xi. 7. 
 
 WE have traced in the previous Lectures the rise of 
 the Eclectic Alexandrine Platonism and the mode of 
 its application to Christian life and doctrine. In the 
 latter sphere its effect is to be traced mainly in the 
 development of those articles of the Creed which treat 
 of the mystery of the Trinity ; in the former in the 
 attempt to reconcile the peculiar teaching of St. Paul, 
 or, to employ a much abused word, Paulinism, with the 
 older disciplinary theory of the Church. We have seen 
 also how heathen Platonism borrowed light from the 
 Gospel. There can be little doubt that in all essential 
 points, especially as regards the doctrine of the Trinity, 
 the indebtedness lies not upon the Church, but upon the 
 School. It remains for us in the present Lecture to 
 pass in hasty review the later history of Alexandrinism, 
 and to estimate in some degree the permanent value of 
 their contribution to Christian thought. 
 
 Clement had no enemies in life or in death. He did 
 not, it is true, escape censure. Pope Gelasius is said to 
 have placed his writings in the first Index librorum pro- 
 hibitorum, but the statement probably refers to the 
 author of the Pseudo- Clementine Homilies and Recogni- 
 tions 1 . More serious was the attack of Photius in the 
 
 1 The decree of Gelasius will be found in A. Thiel's Epistolae Pont. Rom. 
 Genuinae, pt. i. p. 461. Gelasius amongst other books condemns 'Itinera- 
 rium nomine Petri Apostoli quod appellatur Sancti Clementis, libri numero
 
 2 7O Summary. [Lect. 
 
 ninth century, though even this was temperate and not 
 unkindly. The censures of Photius were directed against 
 the Hypotyposcs, a commentary on the Bible in eight 
 books, of which we now possess only a few Greek frag- 
 ments, and an adulterated Latin version of the notes on 
 the Catholic Epistles. Some of his charges can rest 
 upon nothing but error. Others are accurate but insig- 
 nificant and uncritical 1 . In Egypt a certain suspicion 
 
 decem, apocryphum.' This probably refers to the Recognitions. Then 
 after a considerable number of other works, ' Opuscula alterius dementis 
 Alexandrini apocrypha.' Benedict XIV considered this to refer to our 
 Clement ; the Bollandists to ' another,' the pseudo-Clement. Not less than 
 three words in this brief sentence are obscure, opuscula, alterius, and 
 apocrypha. The first can hardly refer to works of the bulk of the Stromateis 
 and Hypotyposes ; the second, standing as it does practically by itself, may 
 distinguish Clement of Alexandria from the author of the Recognitions or 
 our Clement from another Alexandrine Clement ; the third may refer to the 
 professions of mystery so common in the Stromateis and elsewhere, or may 
 refer to ' spurious ' works. Zahn (Forsch. iii. 140) is inclined to think that 
 the genuine works of our Clement are meant. But I doubt whether the 
 works of our Clement were known at Rome, seeing that the much more 
 famous Origen was wholly unknown to Pope Anastasius before the Rufinian 
 commotion, and almost wholly unknown to Augustine. 
 
 1 Photius thought the Stromateis unsound in some points which he does 
 not specify {Cod. cxi), and enumerates several definite errors which he 
 detected in the Hypolyposes. Clement, he says, here taught the Eternity of 
 Matter, Metempsychosis, and the existence of several worlds before Adam, 
 that is to say Pre-existence. All these Clement in his extant works denies 
 (but the last with some uncertainty, see above, p. 76). Photius is right in 
 affirming that Clement held the doctrine of Ideas, but wrong if he means 
 that he attributed to the Ideas an independent existence outside of the Son. 
 He is probably right again in his statement that Clement applied the verb 
 Kri^iv to the Generation of the Son (see above, p. 69), and certainly right 
 in his statement that Clement interpreted Genesis vi. 2 of actual marriage 
 between the fallen angels and the daughters of men. Again, he asserts that 
 Clement described the creation of Eve from Adam in a manner that con- 
 tradicted Tradition. To what this refers we do not know. Again, that he 
 taught fir) aa.pKuQrjva.i TOV \6yov a\\d 56ai. This is a grave exaggeration. 
 It is incredible that Clement should have taught Docetism pure and simple 
 in the Hypotyposes, though there is that in the Stromateis which shows us 
 how the exaggeration might arise (see above, p. 71). Lastly, Ao-youy roC 
 irarpos ovo TeparokoySiiv dirf\(fx frat - This most probably rests on some
 
 vm.] Clement. 271 
 
 appears to have fallen upon Clement, owing to his 
 personal connection with Origen *. But with these 
 exceptions his posthumous history has been like his 
 life, peaceful, honourable and obscure. Among Mystic 
 writers he has enjoyed a certain fame, but he has been 
 little read, and Bishop Potter is almost the only scholar 
 of note who has cared to spend much labour upon his 
 writings. Partly this is due to his antique cast of 
 thought ; partly to his style, which elaborate as it is 
 does not lend itself to quotation ; partly to the extreme 
 difficulty of the text. Yet his books are in many ways 
 the most valuable monument of the early Church, the 
 more precious to all intelligent students because he 
 lived, not like Origen in the full stream of events, but in 
 a quiet backwater, where primitive thoughts and habits 
 lingered longer than elsewhere. It is much to be desired 
 that some competent editor should present his writings 
 to the world in a less repulsive form than they bear 
 at present, overlaid as they are with the rust of long 
 neglect. 
 
 Down to the seventeenth century the learning, virtues 
 
 confusion between the universal logos, the voSy of man, and the hypostatic 
 Logos, the Son (see Zahn, Forschungen, iii. p. 144). The accusation is 
 especially based upon the Hypotyposes, otherwise we might suppose with 
 Dr. Westcott that it rests upon a misunderstanding of the Excerpta. Origen 
 also (see Pamphilus, Apologia, and Huet, Origeniana, ii. 3. 15) was charged 
 with preaching ' two Christs,' as afterwards was Nestorius. In all three 
 cases the accusation has no other root than an unreasoning bitterness of 
 which the most ardent controversialist would now feel ashamed. Photius 
 showed his kindly feeling towards Clement, not by trying to understand 
 him, but by supposing that his writings had been adulterated : at oAAa 81 
 pvpia <p\vap(i teal &Kaa$r)ii.ii err* avroy, tire ris trepos TO avrov 
 
 1 Dr. Zahn, Forschungen, iii. p. 141, refers to a Coptic Synaxarium in 
 which Clement, Origen, and Arius are said to have been excommunicated 
 by the Patriarch Demetrius.
 
 272 Summary. [Lect. 
 
 and orthodoxy of Clement were held to merit for him 
 the title of Saint. His name filled a place in the Mar- 
 tyrologies, and his festival was fixed for the fourth of 
 December. But, when the Roman Martyrology was 
 revised by Clement VIII, the name of the Alexandrine 
 doctor was omitted from the roll on the advice of Car- 
 dinal Baronius. Benedict XIV maintained the decision 
 of his predecessor, on the grounds that Clement's life 
 was little known, that he had never obtained public 
 cultus in the Church, and that some of his doctrines 
 were, if not erroneous, at least suspect. The last article 
 refers chiefly to the accusations of Photius l . But the 
 Abbe Cognat does not hesitate to discuss the reasons 
 upon which this verdict is based. It is not he urges an 
 ex cathedra judgment, and therefore though valid may 
 be reversed. Its effect is simply to banish the name of 
 Clement from the Martyrology, and to refuse him the 
 honour oidttlia. But in his own mind the candid Roman 
 Catholic priest still appears to regard as a saint the 
 saintly advocate of Disinterested Love, and few deserve 
 the title better than this most reasonable, humane, and 
 sunny spirit 2 . 
 
 1 Benedict justified the omission of Clement's name in the course of his 
 elaborate Letter to King John of Portugal, who had undertaken to bear the 
 expense of a new edition of the Martyrology. The Letter will be found in 
 the Bullarium of Benedict XIV published at Venice 1778, no. liv. in vol. ii. 
 p. 195. Abbe Cognat refers to the Mechlin Bullarium of 1827, vol. vi. 
 p. 122. Benedict rested his doubts upon the Decree of Gelasius, the remarks 
 of Cassiodorus (or Cassiodorius) upon the Adumbrationes (see Zahn, iii. 
 133 sqq.), the criticisms of Barbeirac and Petavius, and those of Photius. 
 
 2 See C lenient cCAlexandrie, par 1'Abbe J. Cognat, Paris, 1859. In. France 
 Clement has never lost his title. ' Ni 1'autorite de Benoit XIV ni celle du 
 Martyrologe Romain n'ont jamais empeche les Eglises de France de celebrer 
 sa fete le 4 decembre, snivant le martyrologe et 1'autorite d'Usuard ; ' Die- 
 tionnaire de Patrologie, Migne. His name will be found in the popular 
 lists of saints whose names may be given to French children at baptism (see
 
 Viii.] Origen. 273 
 
 Very different has been the fate of Origen. Even 
 before his death he was the mark of the most devoted 
 affection and of the bitterest hostility 1 , and for many 
 ages the same stormy halo surrounded his name. Down 
 to the end of the fourth century he retained upon the 
 whole the high estimation to which his learning, his 
 piety, and his sufferings entitled him. If portions of 
 his doctrines were assailed by Methodius and Eustathius, 
 Pamphilus and Eusebius cherished his memory with 
 loyal veneration, and protested against the ignorant mis- 
 representations of those who could not understand the 
 greatness they decried ; Athanasius stamped with high 
 approval his doctrine of the Trinity ; Basil and Gregory 
 Nazianzen edited the Philocalia, a selection from his 
 works, including passages from the De Principiis, reputed 
 the most dangerous of all ; Gregory of Nyssa repeated 
 a large portion of his speculations ; Hilary of Poitiers, 
 Eusebius of Vercellae, Ambrose translated into Latin 
 certain of the Commentaries or Homilies. Even Jerome, 
 in his earlier and better days, could find no language 
 too strong to express his admiration for one who was ' a 
 teacher of the Church second only to the great Apostle 2 .' 
 
 for instance Bouillet's Atlas d'Histoire et de Geographic, Hachette, 1877). 
 Bossuet speaks of him as St. Clement after his erasure from the Roman 
 Martyrology. 
 
 1 In Lucam, Horn, xxv : Quod quidem in ecclesia patimur ; plerique 
 enim dum plus nos diligunt quam meremur haec iactant et loquuntur 
 sermones nostros doctrinamque laudantes, quae conscientia nostra non 
 recipit. Alii vero tractatus nostros calumniantes, ea sentire nos criminantur 
 quae nunquam sensisse nos novimus. De Princ. ii. 10. i : Offenduntur 
 quidam in ecclesiastica fide, quasi velut stulte et penitus insipienter de 
 resurrectione credamus ; praecipue haeretici : cp. De Princ. i. 16. I, the 
 Epistola ad Arnicas, and the Apologia of Pamphilus. The foundation 
 of the following sections will be found, where not otherwise specified in the 
 note?, in Huet and Denis. 
 
 . ' In the Preface to his translation of the Homilies 'on Ezekiel. In the 
 
 T
 
 2 74 Summary. [Lect. 
 
 But towards the end of the fourth century the clouds 
 began to gather. The Church was distracted by a series 
 of heresies, and though none of these could be traced 
 directly to Origen, there were expressions in his endless 
 discussions that might seem to favour them all. The 
 Arians never appealed to him ; yet he was called the 
 father of Arianism. Pelagius considered that he was 
 refuting Origen ; yet Jerome, not without reason, treated 
 the two doctrines as closely allied. The name of Origen 
 again was brought into question by the Eutychian and 
 Nestorian disputes. All this fostered a sense of uneasi- 
 ness, which was aggravated by the growing but obscure 
 popularity of his teaching on the subjects of Pre-existence 
 and the Resurrection. Many of the monks in Egypt 
 and Palestine brooded in the silence of their Lauras over 
 the fascinating visions of the Eternal Gospel, and it be- 
 came a question with the rulers of the Church whether 
 books so dangerous ought not to be taken by force out 
 of the hands of the faithful. 
 
 The commotions that ensued form one of the most 
 painful episodes in ecclesiastical history. There was 
 zeal for truth no doubt in the victors, but it was a base 
 and cruel zeal. Origenism was laid under the ban in 
 
 Preface to his translation of the Homilies on the Song of Songs he applies to 
 Origen the text, ' introduxit me rex in cubiculum suum.' In his later days 
 Jerome pressed very unfairly upon Origen, and is not to be acquitted of 
 inconsistency, sophistry, harshness, and duplicity. Yet let us notice here he 
 always spoke with the profoundest respect of Origen's services : Hoc unum 
 dico ; vellem cum invidia nominis eius, habere etiam scientiam Scripturarum, 
 flocci pendens imagines umbrasque larvarum, qnarum natura esse dicitur 
 terrere parvulos, et in angulis garrire tenebrosis ; Liber Hebraic. Quaest. in 
 Gen., Preface. Again, in the Letter to Pammachius and Oceamis: Non 
 imitemur eius vitia cuius virtutes non possumus sequi. . . . Sed dicas, Si 
 multorum communis est error cur solum persequimini ? Quia vos laudatis 
 ut apostolum. Tollite amoris virfp&o\riv et nos tollimus odii magnitudinem.
 
 VIII.] Origen. 275 
 
 the synods of Alexandria and Cyprus 1 . In Italy, where 
 Origen was as yet only known by versions of his exe- 
 getical writings, the translation of the De Principiis 
 caused a storm that was only allayed by the condemna- 
 tion of Origenism and the disgrace of Rufinus at the 
 instigation of Jerome 2 . In the East the quarrel of the 
 bad Theophilus with the Nitrian monks led to a far 
 more deplorable catastrophe. Expelled from Egypt, 
 the monks found shelter at Constantinople. Theophilus 
 
 1 Matters were brought to a crisis by three disputes that between 
 Theophilus and the Nitrian monks ; that between Epiphanius and Jerome 
 on the one side and John of Jerusalem on the other ; and that between 
 Jerome and Rufinus. Origenism was condemned by Synods held at 
 Alexandria and in Cyprus, and according to Jerome the sentence was 
 adopted by the Bishops of Rome, Milan, Aqtiileia, ' et omnis tarn Orientis 
 quam Occidentis Catholicorum Synodus.' Jerome's statement is to some 
 extent confirmed by the Letter of Pope Anastasius to John of Jerusalem, 
 which will be found in Mansi, vol. iii. 943. Anastasius, who frankly con- 
 fesses that he had never heard of Origen before the translation of the De 
 Principiis, appears to have personally approved of the action of Theophilus. 
 But he says nothing about Western Synods. And it is certain that Origen 
 was not condemned as a heretic, though Jerome appears to assert this ; 
 Adv. Ruf. ii. 22 ; Ad Painm. et Marc. 97 (Migne). For long after this in. 
 the deliberations which preceded the Fifth Council the question was de- 
 bated whether anathema could be pronounced against the dead (Evagrius, 
 iv. 38). The sentence applied only to his books, and to them with some 
 restriction, whether some of these were condemned and some allowed, as 
 afterwards by Pope Gelasius ; or whether all were directed to be read with 
 caution by the learned. The latter is the more probable supposition ; see 
 Jerome, Ad Tranquillinum, Ep. 62 (Migne). And there is a story that 
 Theophilus himself was found reading the works of Origen after the down- 
 fall of Chrysostom, and defended himself by saying (Socrates, vi. 1 7), rd 
 'ftpcyei/ous eo(/c /3tj3A/a \etfj,uivt iravrcav dvOfaiv. Et rt ovv kv aurofy e(pfvpa> 
 Ka\uv, TOVTO Spfiro^iai' ei 8e ri ftot dicavOu/Ses (pave'ir), TOVTO a;? Kevrpov 
 vtTfp0aiv(u. Socrates however (vi. 10) and Sozomen (viii. 14) say that the 
 reading of the books of Origen was absolutely forbidden. So also Anasta- 
 sius, Letter to Simplicianus, Mansi, iii. 945. 
 
 a Pope Siricius supported Rufinus, but the next Pope, Anastasius, at the 
 instance of Marcella, a disciple of Jerome, joined in the condemnation of 
 Origen and censured Rufinus for his rashness in translating the De Principiis, 
 but did not molest him any further. Jerome calls this ' a glorious victory.* 
 
 T3
 
 2 76 Summary, [Lect. 
 
 eagerly caught the opportunity of humbling the rival 
 Patriarch, and, aided by the wounded vanity of the 
 empress Eudoxia, drove the holy Chrysostom to exile 
 and death. Of his two allies, one, Epiphanius, repented 
 too late, when he learned from Eudoxia's own lips the 
 nature of the service expected from him. But Jerome 
 was not dismayed by the tragic issue. He exulted over 
 the ruin of a great and good man, whose only fault was 
 that he had extended the hand of charity to the hunted 
 exiles, whose innocence Theophilus himself was not 
 ashamed to acknowledge when once his vengeance was 
 secured. ' Babylon,' Jerome wrote to his accomplice, 'is 
 fallen, isf alien.' Babylon was Chrysostom 1 . 
 
 The same excited state of feeling continued during 
 the next century and a half. In 496 A.D. Origen was 
 branded as a schismatic by Pope Gelasius 2 ; and the 
 fierce disputes of the Origenist and orthodox monks for 
 possession of the convents of St. Saba in Palestine led 
 to fresh condemnations in the reign of Justinian 3 . From 
 
 1 Jerome, Ep. 88, Ad Theophilum. But in Migne this letter (numbered 
 113) is ascribed to Theophilus. 
 
 3 Gelasius forbade the use of all those works of Origen which Jerome had 
 not sanctioned by turning them into Latin. ' Item Origenis opuscula 
 nonnulla quae vir beatissimus Hieronymus non repudiat legenda suscipimus. 
 Reliqua autem omnia cum auctore suo dicimus renuenda.' In the next 
 sentence the epithet schismaticus is applied to Origen ; Thiel, Epistolae. 
 Rom. Pont. Genuinae, pt. i. p. 461. 
 
 8 What these condemnations precisely were is an intricate, thorny, and in 
 part perhaps insoluble question. I. Huet refers to a Synod of Antioch ; 
 Origeniana, ii. 3. 19 (Lorn, xxiii. 328), Antiochena Ephraemii Synodus 
 anathema dixit Origeni ; and again, ii. 4. 3. 6 (Lorn. xxiv. 78), Qua 
 circiter tempestate harum regionum Origenistas collecta.ab Ephraernio 
 Antiocheno praesule synodus anathemate damnavit, ut narrat auctor 
 Synodici, quod nuper in Bibliotheca Juris Canonici recudi curavit erudi- 
 tissimus et humanissimus Henricus Justellus. The reference is to the Bill. 
 Jur. Can., Paris, 1661, vol. ii. p. 1202 ; and the notice runs thus, 'Ev <5 Kaipta 
 TOL wpiftvda 5o7/iara VTTO nvwv rwv HaXatarivrjs (J.ova)(wv fKpaTvvero' KO.&'
 
 VIII.] Origen. 277 
 
 that time throughout the Middle Ages the name of 
 Origen was a byword in the East, and the margins of 
 
 >v 6 fjifyas 'Eixppaipios, ' 'ArTtoxeias 'Svpias dpx< 7R ' <J ' /foiroy > Gflav avvoSov teal 
 Ifpav ffvffTT]oa(j.tvos dvaOt/j-an TOVS vpoacrmaTas ainwv KareSiicafff. Huet's 
 first notice then is incorrect ; the sentence of this Synod was launched not 
 against Origen but against the ringleaders of the turbulent Origenist monks 
 by name. II. In the Epistle of Justinian to Menus nine anathemas are 
 propounded by the Emperor, covering the whole list of Origen's ' errors.' 
 They will be found in Mansi, ix. 534. The nine anathemas given by 
 Nicephorus (H. E. xvii. 27) are these nine, which were framed by the 
 Emperor himself and never sanctioned by any ecclesiastical authority. 
 They appear to have been laid before the Home or Domestic Synod of 
 Bishops habitually resident in Constantinople, by Menas in 541, and the 
 Synod in reply enacted fifteen anathemas (they will be found in Mansi, ix. 
 395), embodying the substance of those of Justinian, but with considerable 
 difference, and far inferior accuracy, of expression. III. Origen's name 
 occurs also in the eleventh anathema of the Fifth General Council, though 
 in somewhat singular company and without reason given (Mansi, ix. 377). 
 This anathema was reaffirmed, as it stood, by the First Lateran Council 
 in 696 (Mansi, x. 1051). Origen's name is mentioned again in combination 
 with those of Evagrius and Didymus in the Imperial Edict recited at the 
 Sixth General Council (the Third Council of Constantinople, A.D. 680): 
 Suscepimus quoque et quae in temporibus Justiniani divae memoriae in 
 praedicta a Deo conservanda nostra felicissima civitate complosa est synodus 
 contra Dei impugnatores Origenem, Didymum et Evagrium ; Mansi, xi. 710. 
 This probably is intended to repeat the sentence of the Fifth Council, 
 though it may refer to that of the Home Synod. It is difficult to suppose 
 that the theologians of the Lateran Council were imposed upon by a forgery, 
 yet it has been maintained upon very serious grounds that the name of 
 Origen was added to the anathema of the Fifth. Council at a later date. 
 The point has been discussed at length by Walch, vol. vii ; Huet, Origeniana, 
 ii. 3. 14 ; Cave, Hist. Lit. i. 558 ; Garnerius, in Gallandi, xii. 168 ; Caidinal 
 Noris, Diss. de Synodo V, vol. i. p. 638, ed. Ballerini ; Hefele, Concilien- 
 geschichte, vol. ii. p. 834, ed. 1856 ; Dr. Pusey, What is of Faith, &c., p. 
 137; F. N. Oxenham, What is the Truth as to Everlasting Punishment, 
 part ii ; Vincenzi, In S. Greg. Nyss. et Origenis scripta et doctrinam. It 
 will be observed that the Fifth Council, though it probably denounced 
 Origen by name as a heretic, did not specify, and apparently did not discuss, 
 any one of his erroneous opinions. ' Allerdings hat die fiinfte Synode auch 
 den Origenes anathematisirt, aber nicht in einer besondern Sitzung und 
 nicht in Folge von besondern Verhandlungen, sondern nur transeundo und 
 in cumulo, indem sie in ihrem Xlten Anathematismus unter einer Anzahl 
 alterer Haretiker auch seinen Namen auffiihrte ;' Hefele. The documents 
 referred to, with the exception of the Epistola ad Menam, are given by
 
 2/8 Summary. [Lect. 
 
 his MSS. are found scrawled over with fierce execrations 
 of his heresies and his blasphemies 1 . But the Westerns, 
 among whom the respect for learning never wholly died, 
 took a more generous view. Leo III inserted passages 
 from his works among the readings from the Fathers in 
 the Roman breviary 2 . Mechtildis, a saintly woman of 
 the fourteenth century, saw a vision in which she was 
 assured that God had been merciful to his errors. Books 
 were written to prove that his salvation might be believed 
 in, notwithstanding the anathemas of the Church 3 . His 
 works continued to be studied, and all that seemed un- 
 sound was charitably ascribed to heretical interpolation 4 . 
 
 Denzinger, who, with others, still ascribes the Fifteen Anathemas to the 
 Fifth Council. ' 
 
 1 ~B\aa<pr)[j.iis aiperiKf et similia. Even in the West fierce notes of the 
 same kind are to be found. Thus in three MSS. of Jerome's De Viris 
 lllustribus Martianaeus found the following scholion on the life of Origen : 
 ' Haec laus Origenis et falsa est et deceptio plurimorum, qui in amorem 
 eius provocantur, cum constet eum super omnes haereticos venenato ore 
 inauditas et intolerabiles blasphemias spiritu diabolico in Dominum nostrum 
 Jesum Christum locutum fuisse : quique a sanctis Patribus, episcopis et 
 monachis anathematizatus, etiam bona illius minime legi debere.' 
 
 2 Huet, Origeniana, ii. 3. 19 (Lorn, xxiii. 331). 
 
 3 Robert Curzon, an Englishman, wrote a book De Salvatione Origenis ; 
 Bale, Centtir. 3 : Picus Mirandulanus maintained in a printed treatise 
 ' Rationabilius esse credere Origenem esse salvum quam credere ipsum esse 
 damnatum : ' Stephanus Binetus also wrote ' De Salute Origenis.' See 
 Huet, Origeniana, ii. 4. 3. 18 sqq. (Lom. xxiv. 98 sqq.), where other 
 interesting information on the same point will be found collected. 
 
 * The foundation for this mode of defence is to be found in the Epistola 
 ad Amicos, where Origen complains that reports of public disputations 
 between himself and Gnostic teachers had been manipulated by the latter, 
 and in one case at least actually manufactured. There is no reason what- 
 ever for supposing that his works, as we have them, have been tampered 
 with. But the theory furnished a convenient shelter for timid friends, as we 
 have already seen in the case of Photius and Clement. It is found in 
 Rufinus' Preface to his translation of the De Principiis, and though justly 
 set aside by Jerome, Adv. Rufinum, ii. 4. 5, held its ground throughout the 
 Middle Ages. So in the well-known passage of Vincentius Lirinensis, Comm. 
 i. 17, which deserves quotation also as showing the strange problem which
 
 VIII.] Origen. 279 
 
 Probably Luther, whose passionate phrase, Origenem 
 jam dtidum dirts devovi, is one of many that lie heavy 
 on the great Reformer's fame, is the only man of emi- 
 nence that ever spoke of Origen in language like this ; 
 though the Augustinian divines of the sixteenth and 
 seventeenth centuries were scarcely more just towards 
 the great Alexandrine than the Graeculi of the Lower 
 Empire 1 . Even Methodius, even Theophilus, were dili- 
 gent students of his books. Augustine, Bede, Bernard, 
 respect the memory of one with whom they had little 
 in common but learning and greatness of soul. Origen's 
 name has been a kind of touchstone. There has been 
 no truly great man in the Church who did not love him 
 a little. 
 
 In later times he has not missed the respect which is 
 
 Origen presented to a saintly and not unlearned man in uncritical times : 
 ' Sed forte discipulis parum felix ? Quis unquam felicior ? Nempe innumeri 
 ex sinu suo doctores, innumeri sacerdotes, confessores et martyres extiterunt 
 ... Sed dicet aliquis corruptos esse Origenis libros. Non resisto ; quin 
 potius et malo. Nam id a quibusdam et traditum et scriptum est, non 
 Catholicis tantum verum etiam Haereticis. Sed illud est quod nunc de- 
 bemus animadvertere, etsi non ilium, libros tamen sub nomine eius editos, 
 magnae esse tentationi.' Others, as has been said (above, p. 1 16), had recourse 
 to the hypothesis of two and even of three Origens. 
 
 1 The quotation from Luther, which I have not been able to verify, I owe 
 to Huet. Melanchthon (ed. Wittebergae, 1564. vol. iii. p. 1060) criticises 
 Origen at some length ; approves his doctrine of the Trinity, but rejects that 
 of Faith and Justification. He says of Rom. viii, ' hoc totum caput Pauli 
 sceleste contaminatum est ab Origene.' The Alexandrine teaching on the 
 subject of Free Will, &c. was harshly criticised by Jansen in his Au^ustinus. 
 On the other hand Erasmus writes (vol. iii. p. 99, ed. Basel, 1558), Quid 
 aliis usu veniat nescio ; in me certe comperio quod dicam ; plus me docet 
 Christianae philosophiae unica Origenis pagina quam decem Auguslini : and 
 again (vol. ix. p. 75), Nam Origenis exemplum fortassis reiecturi sunt, 
 etiam si nemini plus tribuendum arbitror exceptis dogmatibus aliquot : and 
 yet again (praef. in opera Origenis ; this quotation also I borrow), ' He 
 loved that of which he spoke, and we speak with delight of the things which 
 we love.'
 
 280 Summary. [Lect. 
 
 his due. He has had zealous friends, liberal critics, 
 editors whose erudition and industry are beyond all 
 praise. But only in recent times has it been possible to 
 treat him with justice. For all depends upon the point 
 of view. Those who judge him in the light of later 
 opinion must either condemn him with reluctance, like 
 Vincent of Lerins, or defend him as from a brief like 
 Halloix and Vincenzi. But in no other field of know- 
 ledge would such a course be tolerated. Theology is 
 the only ungrateful science. She crushes her builders 
 with the very stones they helped to pile. Among the 
 greatest of these builders were Clement and Origen. 
 We must ask what they found to build with. We must 
 throw ourselves back into the days when tradition was in 
 the making, and beliefs, which afterwards seemed eternal 
 truths, had as yet occurred to no man. We must com- 
 pare them not with Anselm, or Augustine, or Basil, or 
 Athanasius, but with Irenaeus, or Tertullian, or Hip- 
 polytus, or Justin ; and where these disagree we must 
 allow that there was as yet no definite creed. 
 
 If we compare the creed of the fourth century with 
 that of the second, we cannot deny that there has been 
 development. There has been no demonstrable change, 
 if by change we mean shifting of ground or alteration of 
 principle. Yet- doctrine is not the same thing as senti- 
 ment, nor technical formularies as implicit belief. The 
 Church of Origen is no more the Church of the Athana- 
 sian Creed, than the Parliament of Charles I is the 
 Parliament of Queen Victoria. 
 
 Where does this process of expansion, governed as it 
 is not by Scripture but by philosophy, cease to be 
 wholesome and necessary ? The problem of the earliest
 
 VIII.] Development. Exegesis. 281 
 
 Christians was to harmonise the Three Names of God 
 with Monotheism, in such a way that they could justify 
 their faith and live by it. That of later ages was the 
 repression of error, a very different thing. At what 
 point this later motive, in itself not indefensible, becomes 
 purely mischievous, each party, each 'heresy,' will decide 
 for itself. The Alexandrines were animated by the 
 earlier purer motive. They did not see all that their 
 successors saw; but the question arises whether they 
 did not see all that there was to be seen. In any case 
 the later faith passed through theirs, grew out of theirs. 
 And certainly if sufficiency of knowledge is to be tested 
 by fulness and purity of the moral life, they will not be 
 found to fail. 
 
 It has been said that their Exegesis survived while 
 their Philosophy perished 1 . This is true in a sense. 
 They left behind them a strong influence, but they 
 founded no school. Their spell was laid on Eusebius 
 and his circle, on Didymus who, blind from his fifth 
 year, became one of the leading scholars of his time and 
 never dissembled his love for Origen, on Basil and the 
 two Gregories. Their mode of thought may be traced 
 far down into the sixth century, when it vanished, 
 crushed out by tyranny and the leaden ignorance of 
 the age. But in truth their exegesis was too closely 
 wedded to their philosophy not to share its fortunes. 
 Allegorism in a sense survived ; so far, that is, as its 
 object was to multiply types, symbols, Messianic pro- 
 phecies, proof-texts 2 ; or to give meaning to what in the 
 
 1 By M. Denis ; Philosophic efOi'igtne, p. 416. 
 
 8 Basil rejected the theory of the Ideal world and accepted the history of 
 Creation in the literal sense. What I have called the negative apologetic
 
 282 Summary. [Lect. 
 
 prevailing oblivion of Hebrew, and in the West of Greek 
 also, was unintelligible. But its great principles perished. 
 Origen held that God can do nothing which is not just ; 
 Augustine that what God does must be just. The pro- 
 positions are convertible, but they lead to very different 
 interpretations of Scripture. To Origen again the 'letter 
 which killeth ' was the transient, mechanical, carnal, 
 whether in the New Testament or in the Old. The 
 Ceremonial Law was symbolical of Christ, but only in a 
 very limited degree of the Christian hierarchy. Here 
 his weapons were turned against him, and became the 
 instrument, not of freedom, but of servitude. 
 
 In this last respect the Reformation divines recurred 
 to the Alexandrine method without realising that they 
 had done so. For the word Allegorism, like many 
 others, has changed its meaning. When Clement ex- 
 plains the precept ' Sell all that thou hast and give to 
 the poor ' in such a way as to legitimatise the retention 
 of wealth, when he says that the Christian altar is the 
 congregation, when he defines spiritual death as aliena- 
 tion from God, or the Heavenly Bread as Gnosis, all 
 these in his view are Allegories. We should call them 
 by another name. 
 
 We need not pause on Origen's idea of Pre-existence, 
 
 use of Allegorism disappeared entirely, and thus the door which had been 
 opened for the partial admission of philosophy and science was again closed. 
 Those Allegorisms again by which Christian dogmas were discovered in the 
 Old Testament came very early to be regarded as the indisputable literal 
 sense of the several passages and not allegorisms at all. A remarkable in- 
 stance of this is furnished by the decrees of the Council of Sirmium in 357 : 
 Si quis Faciamus hominem non Patrem ad Filium dixisse, sed ipsum ad 
 semetipsum dicat Deum locutum, anathema sit. See Rosenmiiller, iii. p. 290. 
 Thus the word Allegorism gradually drifted into its modern sense and came 
 to mean loosely any metaphorical application of the language of Scripture 
 to the purpose of edification.
 
 VIII.] Pre-existence. Paiilinism. 283 
 
 on which time has delivered a sufficient verdict. It is 
 enough to repeat that it was no mere arbitrary crotchet, 
 but a serious and systematic attempt to explain and 
 vindicate the distributive justice of God. Origen was 
 the first to apply it in this way; but the belief itself was 
 one that had an imposing array of authority, both 
 Pagan and Jewish, in its favour, and might even claim 
 support from the well-known passage in St. John's 
 account of the healing of the man who was born 
 blind. 
 
 But what we have called the Paulinism of the Alexan- 
 drines is far too important to be dismissed without 
 further notice. It is here that we have to appreciate 
 their contribution to religion, to the grasp of opinion 
 upon conduct. They endeavoured to show that Christi- 
 anity is not a doctrine but a life, not a law but a spirit. 
 The Christian must be holy yet free, obedient yet intel- 
 ligent, able to judge and act for himself, a true son of 
 God, needing no earthly director because guided by his 
 Father's eye. 
 
 This they achieved. They showed that, though Habit 
 is good, Knowledge and Love are better. They taught 
 how Freedom is to be harmonised with Reverence and 
 Order ; the spontaneity of individualism with unity 
 through the trained and sanctified intelligence. They 
 struck the golden mean between Anarchy and Des- 
 potism, a lesson which after times discarded, which even 
 at this day is not sufficiently apprehended. It was not 
 their fault, if they failed to grasp the true relation 
 between the beginning and the end of the spiritual pro- 
 gress. Their errors were two, both given to them by 
 the modes of thought in which they had been trained.
 
 284 Summary. [Lect. 
 
 They regarded Habit as the cause, or rather as the indis- 
 pensable condition, of Love ; and Love as the Platonic 
 love of the Ideal in itself, not of the Ideal as discerned 
 in and through the perfect Humanity. The influence of 
 St. Paul did not rise high enough to sweep away these 
 misconceptions till the time of the Pelagian controversy. 
 Even then the real lesson of the debate was obscured by 
 the misplacement of the point. It was made to hinge 
 on the insoluble problem of the Freedom of the Will. 
 But this is in truth a side issue. The really fruitful 
 question is the nature of the Motive, not the mode of its 
 operation. Yet it will conduce to the justice of our 
 estimate, if we compare the teaching of the Alexandrines 
 with that of Augustine on both points. 
 
 The Alexandrines held, as we have seen, the theory 
 of IndifTerentism. The Will is a non-moral faculty, the 
 power of choosing motives. They did not clearly see 
 that the state of liberty, as they understood it, is a state 
 of imperfection. Practically they admitted that at a 
 certain point the soul, through union with Christ, be- 
 comes so pure that it can no longer sin. But generally 
 and in this life they maintained that man can do what 
 he likes. Thus they accounted for the fall of Adam. 
 Since that lapse the whole world has been prone to sin. 
 But men are still so far free that they can choose at any 
 rate the beginnings of amendment. Beyond this the 
 Alexandrines distinguished between Virtue and Salva- 
 tion. To the former man could attain by reason, which 
 is itself a gift, a general grace, of God. But goodness 
 varies in direct relation to knowledge, and perfect know- 
 ledge is revealed in Christ alone. Hence salvation, 
 spiritual health, life eternal, sonship, is in the fullest
 
 VIII. ] A ugustinianism. 285 
 
 sense a gift of God. For it is the union of the soul 
 with God, and that there may be this union God must 
 come to us. We cannot claim His coming. But we can 
 at least desire it. We can go to meet Him ; we can 
 hold out our hand for His gift. This one point, the 
 initial desire of amendment, is all that Origen and even 
 Clement postulates ; and even this, being reasonable, is, 
 let us repeat, a grace, inasmuch as it is the voice of that 
 word which God breathed into us at Creation 1 . 
 
 Small as the postulate may seem, it involves an insu- 
 perable speculative difficulty. For it requires us to 
 admit that man can do not only what he likes, but 
 what ex hypothesi he does not like. Origen knew this. 
 It was not through failure of insight that he adopted a 
 theory, which, if scientifically imperfect, is consistent 
 with itself, is in harmony with the facts of experience 
 and involves no moral paradox. 
 
 The theory of Augustine is open to objection on all 
 these grounds. We may say indeed that he has no theory. 
 He approaches the subject from the side of Scripture, 
 which may be quoted with equal facility in either sense, 
 and his language varies with the point that he desires to 
 establish. He explained the Fall on the Alexandrine 
 
 1 The difference between Origen and Augustine as to the necessity of the 
 Divine Grace is very like that between Law and Wesley. After his conver- 
 sion Wesley wrote a somewhat petulant letter to Law, whose Serious Call 
 had for years been his model and guide. It had taught him, he says, that 
 the law of God is holy, but he had learned also that he had not the power 
 to fulfil it, and in this state he might have groaned till he died had not the 
 Moravian Bohler showed him the better way of salvation by Faith. Why 
 then, he asks, did you never give me this advice ? Law replies, ' You have 
 had a great many conversations with me, and you never were with me for 
 half an hour without my being large upon that very doctrine which you 
 make me totally ignorant and silent of.' See Tyerman's Life of Wesley, 
 vol. i. p. 185.
 
 286 Summary. [Lect. 
 
 view, though this is far more difficult for him, because 
 he regarded Adam as originally perfect. This is the 
 first terrible weakness in his position. He is driven into 
 it not only by the nature of the case, but by the sup- 
 posed necessity of justifying the reprobation of the 
 entire world, which sinned in Adam 1 . Here again 
 there is another and even more startling breach of se- 
 quence. For, as he refuses to deny that each soul 
 comes fresh from the hand of God, the phrase that 
 * in Adam all die ' cannot have the meaning that he 
 gives it 2 . 
 
 But, as regards the actually existing race of men he 
 asserts a wholly different thesis. ' The Will,' he says, 
 ' is always free, but it is not always good. It is either 
 free from Righteousness, and then it is evil ; or it is free 
 from sin, and then it is good 3 .' His sense is confused 
 
 1 De Corrept. et Gratia, 10: Quia vero (Adam) per liberum arbitrium 
 Deum deserait, iustum indicium Dei expertus est, ut cum tota sua stirpa, 
 quae in illo adhuc posita tota cum illo peccaverat, damnaretur. Ibid. 1 1 : 
 Posset enim perseverare si vellet : quod ut ncllet de libero descendit arbitrio; 
 quod tune ita libenim erat, ut bene velle posset et male. 
 
 2 Ep. 169. 13 : Scripsi etiam librum ad sanctum presbytenim Hierony- 
 mum de animae origine {Ep. 166) consulens eum, quomodo defend! possit 
 ilia sententia, quam religiosae memoriae Marcellino suam esse scripsit, sin- 
 gulas animas novas nascantibus fieri, ut non labefactetur fundatissima ecclesiae 
 fides, qua inconcusse credimus quod in Adam omnes moriuntur, et nisi per 
 Christum liberentur, quod per suum Sacramentum etiam in parvulis operatur, 
 in condemnationem trahuntur. Augustine then was quite aware of the diffi- 
 culty. But again, Opus Imperf. iv. 104, he writes, Argue de engine animarum 
 cunctationem meam, quia non audeo docere vel affirmare quod nescio. 
 
 3 De Gratia ct Libero Arbitrio, 15 : Semper est autem in nobis voluntas 
 libera, sed non semper est bona. Aut enim a iustitia libera est quando servit 
 peccato, et tune est mala : aut a peccato libera est, quando servit iustitiae et 
 tune est bona. Gratia vero Dei semper est bona, et .per hanc fit ut sit homo 
 bonae voluntatis, qui prius fuit voluntatis malae. He ridiculed the ' balance ' 
 theory of the Pelagians, Opus Imperfect, iii. 117: Libra tua, quam conaris ex 
 ntraque parte per aequalia momenta suspendere, ut voluntas quantum est 
 ad malum, tantum etiam sit ad bonum libera. But this is exactly what he 
 himself maintained as regards the First Parent. Nor does he get out of this
 
 VIII.] Augustinianism. 287 
 
 here by an inherited phrase, which to him has no 
 meaning, which he ought to have rejected, and retains 
 only for a purpose. What he says amounts in fact to 
 this, that there is no such thing as Freedom of Will, but 
 that the man himself is free when his energy is un- 
 impeded. He can do what he likes, but never what he 
 dislikes. It is a tenable view, but it carries with it 
 obligations ; and if these are disregarded, it becomes at 
 once immoral. Augustine did disregard them. Action, 
 he maintains, follows the strongest motive, and the 
 strongest motive is given to us, either by the direct 
 operation of God, or by Nature. But Nature is tainted ; 
 hence prior to Grace the strongest motive is invariably 
 evil. 
 
 Thus Augustine explains with facility those dark and 
 reluctant utterances of the Epistle to the Romans under 
 which Origen writhes in vain. Yet even he has not 
 exactly caught the meaning of the Apostle, who speaks 
 of man as free when enabled by grace, and not free yet 
 yearning for freedom while sold under sin. ' For to will 
 is present with me, but how to perform that which is 
 good I know not.' Nor can his view be made to fit his 
 theology without additional machinery, like the Ptole- 
 maic epicycles. For though Grace furnishes the stronger 
 motive, and so constrains the will, it is in itself valueless. 
 Man may fall away by Free Will, which here again has 
 
 difficulty by distinguishing two kinds of Grace of which the first only was 
 given to Adam; De Correptione et Gratia, n, Prima est enim qua fit ut 
 habeat homo iustitiam si velit ; secunda ergo plus potest, qua etiam fit ut 
 velit. For what is the first except Free Will in the Alexandrine sense ? No 
 Greek and no philosopher could have written as Augustine wrote here. It 
 would have been far better if he had made the same confession of ignorance 
 as regards Free Will that he makes frankly as regards the origin of the souL 
 But then the Pelagians could not have been condemned.
 
 288 Summary. [Lect. 
 
 to reappear. For upon this phantom phrase hangs 
 nothing less than the Divine Justice. Hence above 
 Grace Augustine is compelled to place the gift of Per- 
 severance x ; and this, and not Grace, is the cause of 
 Salvation, which is here conceived of in the archaic 
 fashion as something not to be attained till after death. 
 Augustine has been called more logical than Origen. 
 But surely on insufficient grounds. 
 
 But by far the more important question remains. 
 What is Grace? According to the Alexandrines it is 
 anything that makes men better. According to Augus- 
 tine it is Love, the one and only thing that makes men 
 better. ' For when it is asked,' he says, ' whether any 
 one be a good man, it is not asked what he believes, or 
 what he hopes, but what he loves. For he who loves 
 rightly without doubt he rightly believes, and rightly 
 hopes ; but he who loves not believes in vain, hopes in 
 vain V ' Little love is little righteousness ; great love is 
 great righteousness ; perfect love is perfect righteous- 
 ness.' Here we have the full meaning of the Gospel. 
 Such language is far in advance of the Alexandrines, 
 who puzzle themselves and their hearers with their 
 moral alchemy, seeking to distil love out of hope and 
 fear, or to climb to it by the ladder of discipline, which 
 without love has no ground to stand upon. The whole 
 cumbrous structure of the Two Lives disappears at once. 
 Henceforth except among the Mystics, who will be some- 
 thing more than Christians, there is but One. 
 
 1 See especially the De Dono Perseverantiae. 
 
 3 Concerning Faith, Hope, and Charity, i. 1 1 7 (I quote the Enchiridion 
 here from Mr. de Romestin's Translation, Parker, 1885). The following 
 passage is from De Natura et Gratia, 70 : Caritas inchoata inchoata iustitia 
 est ; caritas provecta provecta iustitia est ; caritas magna magna iustitia est ; 
 caritas perfecta perfecta iustitia est.
 
 VIII. ] A iigustinianism. 289 
 
 Had Augustine rested here all would have been well. 
 For Determinism loses its terrors when we call it by its 
 heavenly name of Charity. But here again his theology 
 was too strong for his ethics. He has to combine his 
 Determinism, not only with the terrible doctrine that all 
 men are reprobate for a sin that was not their own, but 
 with the scarcely less terrible doctrine that the healing 
 love of God flows only through the ordinances of a 
 Church, from which all but a fraction of humanity have 
 been shut out by His own direct act. The unbaptised 
 infant is doomed to eternal exclusion from the Beatific 
 Vision 1 . Fabricius will be punished less than Catiline, 
 not because he is good, but because Catiline is worse 2 . 
 St. Paul never taught Augustine this. If he is asked, 
 how then God is just, he replies, ' He is just ; I know 
 not how.' 
 
 It is not difficult to understand why his opponents 
 asserted that Augustine had never ceased to be a 
 Manichee. His system is in truth that of the Gnostics, 
 the ancestors of the Manichees. For it makes no real 
 
 1 This has been held to be the sole penalty of Original Sin as such. It 
 implies no poena sensus, no suffering, and has been called ' a natural beati- 
 tude.' See the decree of Pope Innocent III (Deer. iii. 42. 3 in Denzinger, 
 Enchiridion, p. 145, ed. 1865) : Poena originalis peccati est carentia visionis 
 Dei, actualis vero poena peccati est gehennae perpetuae cruciatus. The same 
 view is maintained by Thomas Aquinas. Before this time the state of un- 
 baptised infants after death is spoken of as one of punishment, but of punish- 
 ment in its most attenuated form. So Augustine, Concerning Faith, Hope, and 
 Charity, i. 93 : ' The mildest punishment indeed of all will be theirs, who 
 have added no sin further besides the sin of origin.' And even at a much 
 later date the same language was used. See the Professio Fidei Graecis 
 praeuripta a Gregorio XIII (in Denzinger, Enchiridion, p. 295, ed. 1865) : 
 Illorum autem animas qui in actuali mortal! peccato, vel solo original! de- 
 cedunt, mox in infemum descendere, poenis tamen disparibus puniendas. 
 I might therefore have used a stronger phrase in my text. 
 
 a Contra Julianum, iv. 3 : Minus enim Fabricius quam Catilina punietur 
 non quia iste bonus, sed quia ille magis malus. 
 
 U
 
 290 Summary. [Lect. 
 
 difference whether our doom is stamped upon the nature 
 given to us by our Creator, or fixed by an arbitrary 
 decree. It is Gnosticism without the consolatory belief 
 in conditional immortality. He could never have written 
 as he did, had Gnosticism still borne as menacing a 
 front as in the days of Origen. As regards the doctrine 
 of Redemption he still occupies the ground of earlier 
 theology. It was reserved for Anselm, centuries after- 
 wards, to array the Justice against the Goodness of God, 
 and thus to complete the resemblance of Christianity to 
 its ancient deadly foe 1 . 
 
 1 Anselm's doctrine rests upon the idea that sin constitutes a debt to 
 God. God has been defrauded and must be repaid, The obligation is so 
 huge that man cannot satisfy it. Christ pays it for him ; and receives from 
 God Forgiveness, which, as He does not need it Himself, He bestows upon 
 man. Cur Dais Homo, i. 23 : Quid abstulit homo Deo cum vinci se 
 permisit a diabolo ? . . . Nonne abstulit Deo quidquid de humana natura 
 facere proposuerat ? Non potest negari. Intende in districtam iustitiam ; 
 et iudica secundum illam, utrum ad aequalitatem peccati homo satisfaciat 
 Deo ; nisi id ipsum quod, permittendo se vinci a diabolo, Deo abstulit, 
 diabolum vincendo restituat ; ut quemadmodum, per hoc quod victus est, 
 rapuit cliabolus quod Dei erat, et Deus perdidit ; ita per hoc quod vincat, 
 perdat diabolus et Deus recuperet. Ibid. ii. 20 (Migne) : Quantum autem 
 sit quod Filius sponte dedit non est opus exponere. Sufficienter patet. 
 Eum autem qui tantum donum sponte dedit Deo sine retributione debere 
 esse non iudicabis. Immo necesse esse video ut Pater Filio retribuat ; 
 alioquin aut iniustus esse videtur, si nollet, aut impotens si non posset ; 
 quae aliena sunt a Deo. ... Si voluerit Filius quod sibi debetur alii dare, 
 poteritne Pater iure ilium prohibere aut alii cui dabit negare ? Immo et 
 iustum et necessarium intellego, ut cui voluerit dare Filius a Patre reddatur ; 
 quia et Filio quod suum est dare licet, et Pater quod debet non nisi alii 
 reddere potest. According to Anselm, then, Christ redeems mankind from 
 God. Redemption is thus conceived of as a kind of mercantile transaction ; 
 its moral and spiritual significance is thrown into the background. Again, 
 it is impossible, on this mode of statement, to avoid the suspicion of moral 
 opposition between Him who exacts and Him who pays the debt. This is 
 of course not so violently expressed by a pure Trinitarian like Anselm as by a 
 Gnostic, in whose idea the God from whom man was redeemed was the 
 Demiurge, an imperfect Being and not a member of the Trinity. Neverthe- 
 less the difficulty is inherent in Anselm's theory, and has often led to the use
 
 VIII. j The Resurrection. 291 
 
 The Alexandrines were blamed also for their view of 
 the nature of that body which the soul will receive at 
 the Resurrection. It may still be doubted whether 
 Origen does not offer a fair explanation of the words 
 ' flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God.' 
 As on the question of the Will so here Augustine, before 
 he became Bishop, held an opinion undistinguishable 
 from that of the Alexandrine. Even his later revised 
 belief is more like that of Origen than it is like that of 
 Athenagoras 1 ; and it is probable that Origen's specula- 
 tions would have escaped rebuke, had they not been 
 
 of language that is most earnestly to be deprecated. The old view was 
 that Christ redeemed man from the Powers of Evil. This again is capable 
 of being understood in two very different ways. According to Origen the 
 death of Christ partly daunts and weakens the Powers of Evil conceived as 
 external entities, partly breaks the grasp of evil conceived as a moral force 
 existing in the soul ; and thus by making man better reconciles him to God. 
 See in addition to passages quoted above (p. 210) In Rom. v. 10 (Lorn. vi. 
 406). But here also the mercantile theory obtruded itself. By Augustine 
 God is regarded as buying man from the Devil by the sacrifice of Christ. 
 De Trinitate, xiii. 12 : Quaclam iustitia Dei in potestatem diaboli traditum 
 est genus humanum. ... Si ergo commissio peccatorum per iram Dei iustam 
 hominem subdidit diabolo, profecto remissio peccatorum per reconciliationem 
 Dei benignam emit hominem a diabolo. And again, Ibid. 14 : Quae est 
 ergo iustitia qua victus est diabolus? Quae nisi iustitia Christ! ? 'Et 
 quomodo victus est? Quia cum in Illo nihil dignum morte inveniret, 
 occidit tamen. Et utique iustum est ut debitores quos tenebat liberi 
 dimittantur, in eum credentes quern sine ullo debito occidit. Hoc est quod 
 iustificari dicimur in Christi sanguine. Augustine was still keenly alive to 
 the danger of introducing any shadow of antagonism into the relation 
 between Father and Son. So Ibid. 1 1 : Sed quid est iustificati in sangtdnt 
 ipsius? Quae vis est sanguinis huius, obsecro, ut in ea iustificentur 
 credentes ? Et quid est reconciliati per mortem Filii eius ? Itane vero, 
 cum irasceretur nobis Deus Pater, vidit mortem Filii sui pro nobis et 
 placatns est nobis ? This cannot be, for omnia simul et Pater et Filius et 
 amborum Spiritus pariter et concorditer operantur. The ancient view also, 
 like its successor, is capable of degradation and caricature. But, if under- 
 stood as it is meant, it is far profounder than that of Anselm. 
 
 1 Retractationes, i. 17 ; Concerning Faith, Hope, and Charity, i. 84 sqq. 
 (Trans, of Mr. de Romestin.) 
 
 U 2
 
 292 Summary. [Lect. 
 
 seized upon and caricatured by the ignorant Eastern 
 monks. Far greater is the interest that attaches to the 
 doctrine of Restitution or Catharsis. Here again Au- 
 gustine is in opposition to Origen. Yet let us observe 
 his opposition is managed with forbearance. If in one 
 passage he speaks of this tenet as one ' which the Church 
 rightly detests,' in another he regards those who hold it 
 as yet Catholics, and ' deceived by a certain human 
 kindness V 
 
 Neither Clement nor Origen is properly speaking a 
 Universalist. Nor is Universalism the logical result of 
 their principles. ForSf the goodness of God drew them 
 in one direction, the Freedom of the Will, their negative 
 pole, drove them with equal force in the other. Neither 
 denied the eternity of punishment. What is known 
 as the Poena Damni exclusion that is from the sight 
 of God they held would never cease. The soul that 
 
 1 Hoc in Origene dignissime detestatur Ecclesia ; De gestis Pelagii, iii. 
 i(X Nevertheless Augustine always treated Origen with great respect and 
 forbearance. He refused to be entangled by Jerome in the controversy with 
 John of Jerusalem. In Ep. 8 he expresses the wish of the African Church 
 that Jerome would continue his work of interpreting the Greek divines, 
 especially Origen, and when warned by Jerome that he should be careful 
 how he read Origen, merely begged to be informed what the errors of 
 Origen were ; Origeniana, ii. 4. i. 14. In the De Civitate Dei, xxi. 17, it 
 is noticeable that he does not attribute Universalism to Origen : Qua in re 
 misericordior profecto fuit Origenes, qui et ipsum diabolum atque angelos 
 eius post graviora pro meritis et diuturniora supplicia ex illis cruciatibus 
 eruendos atque sociandos sanctis Angelis credidit. Sed ilium et propter 
 hoc, et propter alia nonnulla, et maxime propter altemantes sine cessatione 
 beatitudines et miserias, et statutis seculorum intervallis ab istis ad illas 
 atque ab illis ad istas itus ac reditus interminabiles, non immerito reprobavit 
 Ecclesia. . . . Longe autem aliter istorum misericordia hnmano erat affectu, 
 qui hominum illo iudicio damnatorum miserias temporales, omnium vero, 
 qui vel citius vel tardius liberantur, aeternam felicitatem putant. Of these 
 last he says (Concerning Faith, Hope, and Charity, i. 67), 'But they who 
 believe this and yet are Catholics seem to me to be deceived by a certain 
 human kindness.'
 
 VIII.] Restitution. 293 
 
 has sinned beyond a certain point can never again 
 become what once it might have been. The ' wise fire ' 
 will consume its evil fuel; anguish, remorse, shame, 
 distraction, all torment will end when 'the wood, 
 the hay, the straw' are burnt up. The purified spirit 
 will be brought home ; it will no longer rebel ; it will 
 acquiesce in its lot ; but it may never be admitted within 
 that holy circle where the pure in heart see face to face. 
 Even this general cessation of ' the pain of sense ' they 
 hoped, but did not venture to affirm. Man tramples on 
 God's goodness here ; he may scorn and defy it for ever. 
 And so long as he answers ' I will not ' to the eternal 
 ' Thou shalt,' so long must his agony endure. 
 
 The hope of a general Restitution of all souls through 
 suffering to purity and blessedness lingered on in the 
 East for some time J . It was widely diffused among the 
 monasteries of Egypt and Palestine. It was taught by 
 Diodorus and Theodore 2 . The names of these liberal 
 theologians are regarded with suspicion. But there is 
 no stain on the orthodoxy of the two Gregories. Yet 
 Gregory Nazianzen regarded it as an open question 3 ; 
 while Gregory of Nyssa, one of the most revered leaders 
 in the Church of the fourth century, proclaims it more 
 
 1 See M. Denis, Philosophic d'Origtne, pp. 535 sqq. 
 
 2 The opinion is attributed to Theodore of Mopsuestia and Diodorus of 
 Tarsus by Salomon, Metropolitan of Bassora in A.D. 1222. See Assemanni, 
 Bibl. Orient, iii. 323. 
 
 3 Oratio 40. 36 : OlSa KO.I irvp KaOaprripiov . . . 0180. teal irvp ov Kadap- 
 TTjpiov dAAa Ko^affTripiov. . . . travra fap TO.VTO. rfjs cupai'io'TtKrjs tan Swdfitcas' 
 fl fj.ii TO) (pi\oi> KavravQa votiv TOVTO <pi\avOpanroTfpov, Kal TOV KO\O.OVTOS 
 (iraficus. Poemata de Seipso, i. 543 (Migne, xxxvii. 1010) he says of God, 
 T Oy pa. KOI ovSlv eovras firrj^aro teal nfrtireira, \vofnivovs Trrj^fi ff xal ts Riov 
 aXXov tpvafftt, fi -nvpos, } QfoTo <par<p6pov avnaaovras. fl Sf fov nod 
 airavras eavartpov ; d\\oOi iciiaOtu. It is evident that Nazianzen regarded 
 the doctrine as tenable, if he did not hold it himself.
 
 294 Summary. [Lect. 
 
 emphatically and absolutely than the Alexandrines 1 . 
 Even Epiphanius and Theophilus, the fierce antagonists 
 of Origenism, appear to have regarded this particular 
 article with indifference, except in so far as it embraced 
 the fallen angels. The attitude of Jerome is highly 
 ambiguous 2 . Origen's speculations on the subject of 
 Catharsis were drowned in the general condemnation of 
 
 1 Or. in I Cor. xv. 28 (Opp. ii. 6, ed. Paris, 1638) : ' What then is the 
 scope of the word which the Apostle authoritatively uses in this passage ? 
 That one day the nature of evil shall pass into nothingness, being altogether 
 destroyed from among things that are ; and that the divine and unsullied 
 goodness shall embrace within itself all intelligent natures, none of those 
 whom God hath made being exiled from the kingdom of God ; when, all 
 the alloy of evil that has been mixed up in things that are having been 
 separated by the refining action of the purgatorial fire, everything that was 
 created by God shall have become such as it was at the beginning, when as 
 yet it had not admitted evil. . . . This is the end of our hope, that nothing 
 shall be left contrary to the good, but that the divine life penetrating all 
 things shall absolutely destroy death from among things that are ; sin 
 having been destroyed before him, by means of which, as has been said, 
 death held his kingdom over men." De Anima et Resurrectione (Opp. ii. 
 pp. 226-229, ed. Paris, 1638) is equally strong. St. Germanus, Patriarch 
 of Constantinople, in his Retribuens et Legitimus maintained that the 
 latter treatise had been interpolated by heretics. We have seen the same 
 subterfuge adopted in the case of Origen. Dr. Pusey and Vincenzi quote 
 numerous passages in which the Nyssen speaks very clearly and strongly of 
 eternal punishments. This again is true of Origen. 
 
 2 Jerome at one time asserted (see Rufin. Apol. ii. 20) that Origen had 
 been banished and degraded out of mere envy, 'non propter dogmatum 
 gravitatem, non propter haeresim, ut nunc contra eum rabidi canes simulant, 
 sed quia gloriam eloquentiae eius et scientiae ferre non poterant, et illo 
 dicente omnes muti putabantur.' In his preface to the translation of the 
 Homilies on Ezekiel he called Origen ' alterum post Apostolum Ecclesiarum 
 magistrum.' Yet in these Homilies Origen's doctrine of Restitution is very 
 clearly expressed, and at the time when Jerome wrote these words he must 
 have been familiar with the De Principiis. Afterwards he inveighed strongly 
 against the belief of the salvability of the Demons and against that of the 
 restitution of man so far as it implied or seemed to imply restitution of the 
 best and worst to an identical grade of blessedness (see above, p. 234). His 
 own doctrine is that the demons and impii, that is men who never knew God 
 or, having known, abandoned Him, will be punished for ever, but that all 
 ' Christians' will be cleansed by fire. Huet speaks of this view as unortho-
 
 VIII.] Restitution. 295 
 
 his name and teaching l ; but their place was to a large 
 extent supplied by the doctrine of Purgatory. This 
 existed in germ in the days of the Alexandrines 2 , and 
 is found fully developed in the Church of Augustine. 
 From that time the Greek and Latin communions, that 
 is to say the great majority of Christians, have held the 
 faith that some sinners are punished but for a time 3 . 
 
 dox, but, if impii means those dying in mortal sin, it appears to coincide 
 very nearly with the general doctrine of Purgatory, at any rate in its earlier 
 form. For it was held by many that all Christians must pass through the 
 Purgatorial flame. See especially Ambrose, In Psalm, xxxvi. 1 5 and cxviii. 
 153 ; Alexandre, Oracula Sibyllina, ii. p. 531 ; Huet, Origeniana, ii. n. 25. 
 1 The Greek Church holds that Origen was condemned by the Fifth 
 Council principally on this ground. Confessio Orthodoxa, i. 66 (in Kimmel, 
 Monumenta Fidel Eccl. Orient.} : De Purgatorio autem igne quid nobis 
 iudicandum ? Nihil usquam de eo in sacris literis traditur, quod temporaria 
 ulla poena, animorum expurgatrix, a morte exsistat. Imo vero earn prae- 
 cipue ab causam in Secunda Synodo Constantinopolitana Origenis damnata 
 est sententia. But, as has been pointed out above, it is doubtful whether he 
 was condemned by the Fifth Council at all7and probable that if he was no 
 reason was assigned. The only express condemnation of his Restitution 
 theory is to be found in the Fifteen Anathemas ascribed to the Home Synod, 
 of which the first runs, TLS rty fj.v9u>Sr] npovirapfiv j-aiv \fv\wv KO.I rr)v ravry 
 (irofitvrji' TfpaTajSr) diroKardo'Tainv Trptfffievfi, avdQtp.a eara) : and the fifteenth, 
 i TIS \eyfi OTI T) dyaryti rwv vouiv ff avrfj fffrai TTJ uporepa, ore OVJTOJ viro@f- 
 fJrjKfffai' $i KaTairfirruKfiffav, us rfjV dp^f/v r ty aiir^v eivat T<2 rt\ft teal rd 
 rt\os rfjs d.px*i s ptTpov ftvai, dvd9fj.a tarai. But the Home Synod consisted 
 only of a handful of Bishops resident in the capital, and has no claim to be 
 regarded as the mouth-piece of the Church at large. As to the condemnation 
 by the Fifth Council (if it was really pronounced), our sense of its gravity 
 must be profoundly modified by the fact that it was 'pronounced not less than 
 three hundred years after the death of Origen. 
 
 * In the Montanist treatises of Tertullian see above, p. 1 10. For Augus- 
 tine's view see Enchirid. ad Laur. 67 ; De Civ. Dei, xx. 18 ; De gestis 
 Pelagii, iii. 10. 
 
 * Mr. H. N. Oxenham (Catholic Eschatology and Universalisnt) regards 
 the teaching of the two Churches as identical. There is however consider- 
 able difference in detail. The Greeks have no word for Purgatory, and 
 certainly do not admit the existence of Purgatory as a distinct state. So 
 Confessio Orthodoxa, \. 64: Annon et aliqui sic diem suum obeunt ut 
 beatorum damnatorumque medii sint ? Huiusmodi homines nulli reperiuntur. 
 Again, the Greek belief rests upon a different foundation. They make no
 
 296 Summary. [Lect. 
 
 What then is the true difference between this ancient 
 and all but universal belief and that of the Alexandrines? 
 
 It is by no means easy to define. For this question 
 lies so near the roots of life, it is united by such tender 
 fibres to our dearest hopes and fears, that it cannot be 
 touched without a thrill. Hence it is seen through the 
 mist of love and horror, and these two emotions intensify 
 one another. The thought of the City of Destruction 
 adds wings to the pilgrim's feet ; and while he rejoices 
 with trembling over his own salvation, he cannot wish 
 that the pursuing fury should seem less vengeful to 
 others. Hence there has been much diversity. Words 
 have been employed in very different senses. Points, 
 upon which high authorities have insisted as vital, are 
 treated by other authorities not less high as subordinate 
 and immaterial. Yet if we fix our attention upon the 
 
 use of the texts I Cor. iii. 15, Matth. iii. II, on which according to Cardinal 
 Newman the Roman doctrine reposes. They find no mention in Scripture 
 of any ' purgatorial fire ' or of any punishments that are not eternal. On 
 the other hand, they attach great importance to Luke xii. 5, ' Fear Him which 
 after He hath killed hath power to cast into hell.' It is to be inferred from 
 this that God does not in all cases use this power ; that there are some souls 
 whom He releases from torment. Nor does the Greek Church attempt to 
 ascertain who these souls are. This lies entirely in the hand of God ; Conf. 
 Orthod, i. 65. Whereas the Roman Church defines that none are admitted 
 to Purgatory except those ' qui vere poenitentes in Dei caritate decesserint, 
 antequam dignis poenitentiae fructibus de commissis satisfecerint et omissis.' 
 Both Churches believe in the efficacy of prayers and sacrifices for the dead, 
 but the indefiniteness of the Greek doctrine has saved it from the practical 
 abuses that have arisen out of the Roman view. So indefinite is the Greek 
 doctrine that it was possible for Cyril'Lucar to deny that his Church believed 
 in Purgatory ; and Gerganus declared that ' the Popish Purgatory was the 
 invention of Virgil.' The Greek view will be found in the Confessio Ortho- 
 doxa in Kimmel or Schaff ; Cyrilli Lucaris Patr. Const. Confessio Christi- 
 anae fidei cui adiitncta est gemina eiusdem confessionis censura, 1 645 ; 
 Hofmann, Symbolik, p. 186, and article Fegfeuer in Herzog; Loch, Das 
 Dogma der Gr. Kirche vom Purgatorium. The Roman doctrine will be 
 found most conveniently in Denzinger's Enchiridion.
 
 vin. ] Restitution. 297 
 
 language of the wisest teachers, there is also considerable 
 agreement. As to the instruments of the Divine Retri- 
 bution *, there is no longer any serious dispute. Nor 
 perhaps will any one now deny, that the first object of 
 chastisement is the amendment of the sinner, and that if 
 in any case it appears to lead to a different issue, the 
 cause is in the sinner himself. 
 
 But if we compare the teaching of Origen or Clement 
 with that of Augustine or Aquinas, we shall find two 
 points of antagonism, of which the first is real, the 
 second verbal only. 
 
 Both would agree that, if the grace of God is dead 
 within the soul, hope can shine no more. But to the 
 Alexandrines every man that lives is a child of God, 
 a possessor of the divine grace, inasmuch as he bears 
 within him, in his reason and his conscience, the image 
 of the Divine Word. It may be that he has cast down 
 and broken the image, that he has wholly embruted 
 himself. But unless he has sunk to this frightful depth 
 by his own free will, unless he has ceased to be a man, 
 the Alexandrines held that we may leave him with fear- 
 ful hope to the judgment of God. The later theologians 
 took a far more sombre view. They who are in the 
 Church and they only are within the pale of the Divine 
 Love. Upon the excommunicate, the unbaptised, the 
 heathen, the door is shut 2 . This is the real distinction 
 between the two. 
 
 1 The Greek Church believes only in mental, spiritual punishment. The 
 Roman Church does not define this point ; but what her best minds think 
 may be seen in the Dream of Gerontius or the meditations of St. Katharine 
 of Genoa (in Loch, p. 150). 
 
 8 The Council of Trent mitigated this. Qu.ie quidem translatio (in 
 statum gratiae) post Evangelium promulgatum sine lavacro regenerationis 
 aut eius voto fieri non potest ; Sess. vi. c. 4. We may observe here that
 
 298 Siimmary. [L3ct. 
 
 The other, though it has been regarded as of the 
 essence of the question, is in reality a purely verbal 
 difference. It is this, whether the soul that is admitted 
 to purgation can be said to repent or not ? This Origen 
 affirmed, this the Roman and the Greek deny. But it 
 matters little what language we employ, so long as the 
 thing signified is the same. As the stress of its anguish 
 passes, so the soul is braced to completer submission ; 
 so it wakes to more fervent love, to deeper knowledge ; 
 so it turns from its evil, and fixes its gaze with intenser 
 faith upon its Judge and Saviour. Origen meant no 
 more than this ; nor do the Roman and the Greek mean 
 less 1 . 
 
 With respect to the bearing of Origenism on the 
 teaching of our own Church I may venture to observe 
 
 there are several expressions (chiefly Eastern) of a belief that' great power 
 attached to the prayers of persons eminent for sanctity. Thus Perpetua 
 (above, p. no) is said to have rescued the soul of her unbaptised brother 
 Dinocrates ; Gregory the Great to have obtained pardon for the Emperor 
 Trajan ; Thecla for her heathen mother Falconilla ; and Johannes Dama- 
 scenus for his Mahometan father. See Loch, p. 79, and the Bishop of 
 Durham, Apostolic Fathers, part ii. vol. i. p. 3. 
 
 1 The Greek Church has denned this point strictly and repeatedly. Con- 
 fessio Orthodoxa, i. 64 : Qnibus ex verbis clarum evadit ab excessu suo 
 liberari per se animam poenitentiamque agere non posse, nihilque eiusmodi 
 moliri quo infernis eximatur vinculis. The Roman Church does not appear 
 to have decided it further than by condemning a proposition of Martin Luther, 
 ' nee probatum est ullis aut rationibus aut Scripturis ipsas (animas in Purga- 
 torio) esse extra statum merendi aut augendae charitatis ' (Denzinger, 662), 
 and by the definition already quoted that the soul must have 'truly re- 
 pented' in this life. Mr. H. N. Oxenham (Catholic Eschatology and 
 Universalisni) holds that the words ' repentance,' ' probation,' cannot be 
 applied to the future life. ' The acts of the soul in Purgatory are moral, 
 though they are not strictly speaking meritorious ; they do not affect its final 
 destiny which is already fixed.' ' We cannot admit that Purgatory includes 
 the idea of a second probation for those who have already had their trial and 
 failed.' All depends upon what we mean by ' repentance,' ' probation,' and 
 especially 'failure.'
 
 VIIL] Restitution. 299 
 
 that here again there are two points involved. The first 
 is as before as to the nature, the scope, still more the 
 degree of saving grace. Few among us would desire to 
 bar the gates of heaven against the Unitarian Channing, 
 against the Buddhist ascetic, against even the naked 
 savage who on his sea-swept coral reef, forsaken as he 
 may seem of God and man, is yet just and grateful and 
 kind to wife and child. Yet few would think that for 
 these maimed souls no instruction is needed, that the 
 mere rending of the veil can make tolerable the splendour 
 which it reveals. We believe in the many stripes and 
 the few. We believe that star differeth from star in 
 glory, and in these words lies all that any sober-minded 
 man has ever maintained. 
 
 ' God shall be all in all.' These words were never out 
 of Origen's mind. He looked upon the hope that they 
 enshrine as the golden key to every doubt. Nor can his 
 hope, even in its fullest sweep, be thought unscriptural 
 so long as this text remains part of the Bible. For we 
 can hardly say that an explanation adopted by Origen 
 and by Gregory of Nyssa is wholly baseless. 
 
 It is not for me to defend the moral character of 
 Clement or of Drigen. Yet, as it has been argued that 
 their teaching implies an inadequate conception of sin, 
 a few words may be permitted. 
 
 It is not possible to exaggerate the horrors of that 
 abyss, when we figure to ourselves all that it holds within 
 its dark recesses. Nor will any one who lifts up his eyes 
 to Him, in Whose sight the very heavens are not clean, 
 dare to extenuate the measure of his own transgressions. 
 But guilt may be exaggerated, our own and still more 
 easily our brother's. The mote is not as the beam. Is
 
 300 Summary. [Lect. 
 
 it not an exaggeration to say, or to imply, or to dream, 
 that because God is infinite all offences against His Holy 
 Law are also infinite, or to think of Him as angry with 
 sin, as losing by sin? The Alexandrines protested 
 against such errors, but they regarded sin as spiritual 
 death ; as separating us from Him, who is the joy and 
 glory and life of the soul; as needing, as doomed', to be 
 eradicated by anguish sharper than a sword. They 
 knew well ' the agony of seeing all past sins in the sight 
 of Jesus V But they believed above all things in the 
 Father's love. They did not understand how His Crea- 
 tion could for ever groan and travail, or how the Saviour 
 could ' drink wine ' in the sight of endless misery and 
 wrong. 
 
 Origen's view has been called a cruel view 2 , because 
 aeonian probation implies aeonian change, and so eternal 
 hope seems to issue in never-ending fear. Neither 
 Clement nor 'Gregory admitted the possibility of a fall 
 from grace in the future life. Even Origen held that 
 there is a point, here or hereafter, at which love takes 
 complete possession of the will, and the spirit is secure in 
 the bosom of God. 
 
 Space does not permit me to cast more than a flying 
 glance upon the pathetic history of Quietism. The 
 opinions which drew shame and ruin upon Molinos, 
 F&ielon. Madame de Guyon, in a hypocritical court and 
 
 1 The phrase is from Dr. Pusey, What is of Faith, p. 116. 
 
 a By Mr. H. N. Oxenham. In Rom. v. TO (Lorn. vi. 407 sqq.) Origen 
 expressly denies the possibility of declension from grace in the future life, on 
 the ground that ' charity never faileth ' and that ' nothing can separate us 
 from the love of God ' (Rom. viii. 35, 39 ; I Cor. xiii. 8). And I do not 
 feel sure that the passages quoted above, p. 228, are sufficiently clear to 
 demonstrate that he ever held the opposite opinion. At any rate the love 
 of God in Christ, when once kindled in the soul, is indefectible.
 
 VIII.] Quietism. 301 
 
 a timeserving Church, were in substance those of Cle- 
 ment. Again, we read of the Absolute Good, the Two 
 Lives, Apathy, Disinterested Love, Silent Prayer. But 
 that which in the Alexandrine was largely traditional 
 and academic has become personal and impassioned, 
 that which was intellectual and Platonic has passed over 
 into the emotional and even sensuous. It rests no 
 longer upon the Phaedrus or St. John, but on the 
 Song of Songs. 
 
 The Quietists were but lightly touched by the charac- 
 teristic infirmities of Mysticism. They were guarded 
 from these not only by deep piety, but by their high 
 social standing and cultivated minds. Like all their 
 class they sought to ' antedate the peace of heaven ' 
 an impossible and to untutored spirits a perilous effort. 
 The moral dangers of this presumption were not far 
 distant when Madame de Guyon was pressing the doc- 
 trines of Silent Prayer and Disinterested Love upon a 
 bevy of school-girls at St. Cyr. But their real offence 
 was not this. Quietism is a form of spiritual liberty, 
 and this was a fatal blot in an age of directors and 
 confessors. But there is no need to dwell upon a subject 
 so fascinating in itself and so accessible to all. Those 
 who wish to know what Quietism really was can peruse 
 the Maxims of the Saints. Those who care to see how 
 readily it lends itself to perversion and ridicule may read 
 Bossuet or La Bruyere. A just and temperate censor 
 will be found in Bourdaloue, a sympathising critic in 
 Vaughan l . 
 
 1 The instruments condemnatory of Molinos and the doctrine of Dis- 
 interested Love will be found in Denzinger, pp. 333-348, ed. 1865. It is 
 impossible not to feel and express sympathy for the Quietists, who but for 
 political reasons would probably have been left unmolested, and were
 
 f 
 
 2 Summary. [Lect. 
 
 As we turn the pages of the Alexandrines, it is, to use 
 a well-worn simile, as if we were walking through the 
 jistreets of some long-buried city. Only with effort, only 
 imperfectly, can we recall the vanished life. Even when 
 we succeed in reconstructing the image of the past our 
 first impulse is an ungenerous one How different these 
 men were to ourselves, how different and how inferior ! 
 A second and finer thought teaches us better. They 
 were as we are. We have drifted far away from them, 
 and experience has taught us many things. But our 
 * horizon is no wider, and our light no fuller. We know 
 no more than they. The only way in which we can 
 hope to surpass them is by the renunciation of vain 
 endeavours, and the concentration of all our efforts on 
 the ideal of Duty. 
 
 They were too subtle, too inquisitive, but the good 
 sense of the world has already judged their presump- 
 tuous sallies. It has been urged that they are too intel- 
 lectual and cramp the play of the emotions. This is 
 true, and it is a fault, but on the other hand they are 
 not effeminate. Their tone is bracing and salutary. 
 Their use of Scripture is often wild and fantastic, but 
 it has not the faults of the Middle Age ; it is free, un- 
 prejudiced, reasonable in endeavour if not always in 
 result. The one point on which we may justly blame 
 
 certainly harshly used. Nevertheless the authorities who condemned them 
 were in the right. Beautiful as Quietism is m its highest expression, in 
 cultivated and truly saintly spirits, it is yet rooted in error ; it is a revolt against 
 reason and the facts of life, as well as against the teaching of Revelation. 
 Hence in grosser natures it leads inevitably to moral depravation. Sufficient 
 proof of this will be found in the account of Wesley's struggle with Quietism 
 of the lower type given in Tyerman's Life. The Dialogues on Quietism re- 
 ferred to above will be found in M. Servois' edition of La Bruyere, but there 
 is some doubt as to their real author. They are written somewhat in the 
 style of Pascal, but with a far coarser touch.
 
 VIII.] Merits of the Alexandrines. 303 
 
 them is their immoral doctrine of Reserve. Yet it is 
 precisely this blot in their conduct which has most com- 
 monly escaped censure, because it was capable of being 
 turned to profit. 
 
 But this is the stain of the age in which they lived 
 and cannot obscure their great services to Christianity. 
 His work upon the text of Scripture alone would entitle j 
 Origen to undying gratitude. It was he and his prede- \ 
 cessor, more than any others, who saved the Church not 
 only from Noetianism but from Gnosticism, Chiliasm, 
 Montanism, that is from Paganism, Sensualism, Fana- 
 ticism. In that age so like our own, when the Church 
 had not yet acquired that civil support, that prescriptive 
 hold upon the imagination, which now again she is rapidly 
 losing, they broke the power of the Stoic Religion of 
 Humanity, of Epicurean Agnosticism, of Platonic Spiri- 
 tualism. . Almost alone they strove to reconcile the 
 revelation of God in Jesus with the older revelation of 
 God in Nature. What could be done at that time they 
 did, and their principles are of permanent value. They 
 never wrestle with Science for a few inches of doubtful 
 ground. For the ground of Science is not theirs, and 
 that sense of Scripture, which alone can conflict with 
 Science, is not the ' spirit that giveth life.' 
 
 Last and highest among their merits we must place 
 their preaching of the Fatherhood of God. It may be 
 that on some points they erred, like Fcnelon, ' from 
 excess of love,' but such errors, if they are really there, 
 must be treated in the spirit from which they flow. 
 Their teaching is associated, in Origen at least, with 
 ideas on which most Christians fear to dwell, though 
 they are impressed upon us by the authority of the
 
 304 The Kingdom of God. 
 
 4 
 Saviour Himself. They taught that the Just One is 
 
 Good, as few since have taught that highest and most 
 lifegiving of all truths. Origen added that Goodness is 
 the source of all that is, that in all the efforts of our 
 soul we should strive through Christ to Him who is 
 the First Source of Redemption as of all other blessings, 
 that there will come a time when the work of Media- 
 tion and Salvation will be achieved, when Christ will 
 present the Church, His Sanctified Body, to the Father, 
 Whom we shall see ' face to face.' 
 
 It is the teaching of St. Paul. ' Then cometh the 
 End when He shall have delivered up the Kingdom to 
 God, even the Father . . . Then shall the Son also 
 Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under 
 Him, that God may be all in all V 
 
 1 In two passages, Contra Cekum, viii. n ; De Orations, 25 (where he 
 is commenting on ' Thy Kingdom come '), Origen speaks of the delivering 
 up of Christ's Kingdom to the Father. There will come a time when the 
 Church and each of its members, being purified from all stain of sin, will be 
 ' governed by God alone.' These passages must be read in connection with 
 those cited above (pp. 169-170) as to the cessation of the Mediatorial office 
 of Christ, and In Matth, xiv. 7, where it is said that Christ is 'perhaps' 
 avrofiaffiXfia. Some light again may be thrown upon Origen's meaning 
 by other passages where it is intimated that the Father Himself has 
 Epinoiai as ' consuming fire ' and ' light,' and again as ' Lord ' and 
 ' Father ' ; not that He changes, but that we change in relation to Him. 
 See M. Denis, p. 378. Christ does not cease to be the Head of the Church 
 or the King of Heaven. But He brings man when sin is dead within him, 
 when he is now capable of the highest revelation of all, into immediate 
 contact with the Father, so that he may see Him ' face to face,' ' as He is.' 
 This contact depends on our complete and eternal union with Christ, and this 
 again on the complete and eternal union of Christ with His Father. We 
 have here no doubt the final expression of Origen's Subordinationism. But 
 it must be observed ' subjection ' means absolute harmony with the Arche- 
 typal Will. At the End all will be one because the Father's Will is all in all 
 and all in each. Each will fill the place which the Mystery of the Economy 
 assigns to him.