sleep, etc.; and the third after an inquiry into the nature of true beauty, goes on to condemn extravagance in dress, etc., both in men and women. At the end of this work Clement added a Hymn to Christ the Saviour, "that for sheer beauty, for gladness and purity of feeling is unmatched in early Christian literature." Bridle of colts untamed, over our wills presiding; Wing of unwandering birds, our flight securely guiding. The Miscellanies, or Stromata, 202, literally patchwork coverlet, was originally called Tapestries of Scientific Commentaries according to the True Philosophy. In this work CLEMENT poured out the contents of his memory and his notebooks, with little regard to order. It is an uncatalogued collection of literary treasures, with "a gay epitome of Greek literature in every sentence," to which more than a hundred authors lent quotations. CLEMENT had a definite purpose before him when he wrote this apparently unmethodical book. He sought to claim for Christianity the power of satisfying all the demands of life. All knowledge can be unified in the mind of the true gnostic, i.e. in the mind of the Christian thinker. Let these notes of ours . . . be of varied character-and as the name implies, patched together-passing constantly from one thing to another, and in a series of discussions hinting at one thing and demonstrating another. For those who dig for gold,' says Heraclitus, 'dig much earth and find little gold.' But those who are of the truly golden race, in mining for what is allied to them, will find the much in little. As, they say, when a certain slave once asked at the oracle what he should do to please his master, the Pythian priestess replied, 'You will find if you seek.' The little work Who is the Rich Man that is Saved?, 204, is a homily on Mark x.17-31. It teaches that the spirit in which wealth is possessed and used must be a spirit of detachment and unselfishness. The work of CLEMENT was of epoch-making importance in Hellenizing Christianity; after him philosophy became integral to the discussion of the Faith. He opened the mind of the Church to all that had been well said by the thinkers of all ages. His most characteristic saying is perhaps contained in the words: The way of truth is therefore one. But into it, as into a perennial river, streams flow from all sides. ORIGEN, 185-254, who succeeded CLEMENT as head of the School, was the greatest intellect of the Eastern Church, "the most distinguished and most influential of all the theologians of the ancient Church," and the first theologian to write a full systematic treatise of Christian doctrine. He stood alone in his day as a master of Hebrew. His Expositions of Scripture and his statements of doctrine furnished points for long continued controversies. Whole classes of his writings perished as a result of the edict of Justinian, 543, of the judgment of the Fifth General Council, 553, and of the Gelasian Decretal of books to be received and not to be received. "ORIGEN'S writings were, it is said, measured by thousands, and yet, as he argued, they were all one, one in purpose and in spirit multitude really lies in contradiction and inconsistency. A few books which are charged with errors are many. Many books which are alike inspired by the truth are one." "This claim which ORIGEN makes to an essential unity— a unity of purpose and spirit-in all his works is fully justified by their character. Commentaries, homilies, essays, tracts, letters, are alike animated by the same free and lofty strivings, toward a due sense of the Divine Majesty, and the same profound devotion to the teaching of Scripture."2 The Principles of Things, 230 is the earliest specimen of a dogmatic work in the Christian literature; it is also ORIGEN'S most speculative book. In it he surveyed all the ground of the later creeds in the hope of being able to form a philosophy of faith. The four books into which it is divided, deal with God and creation: creation and providence: man and redemption: the Bible. "The intellectual value of the work may best be characterised by one fact. A single sentence taken from it was quoted by BUTLER as containing the germ of his Analogy." His Expositions cover the whole Bible; the Commentary on John, the first fruits of his labours at Alexandria, marks an epoch in Christian literature and theological thought. Amid much that is faulty from the modern standpoint it contains fine thoughts and subtle criticisms; it "grapples with great difficulties: it unfolds great ideas." ORIGEN'S Bible work was crowned by his Hexapla, which contained in fifty volumes six critical versions of the Old Testament. The Tetrapla, was a later work which ORIGEN formed by extracting the third, fourth, fifth and sixth columns from the Hexapla. From these vast labours of scholarship ORIGEN turned to write Eight Books against Celsus, 248, in which he gave to ante-Nicene Christianity its greatest Apology. Celsus, a cultured heathen, had published in 178, A True Discourse, laughing, raging and scoffing at the Faith, in imitation of his satirical friend Lucian of Samosata. The Discourse was soon forgotten, but fifty years later, Ambrose, ORIGEN'S 2 B. F. Westcott, History of Religious Thought in the West, pp. 211, 212, patron, met with a copy and urged the theologian to answer it. After some hesitation, he "threw himself heart and soul into the controversy," and in no other of his works has he shown greater learning. Notwithstanding digression, excessive detail, and occasional confusion of thought, Against Celsus is an invaluable landmark in Christian literature. ORIGEN quoted the entire work of Celsus, piece by piece, and answered each piece in turn. This Jew of Celsus still accuses the disciples of Jesus of having invented these statements, saying to them: 'Even although guilty of falsehood, ye have not been able to give a colour of credibility to your inventions.' In answer to which we have to say, that there was an easy method of concealing these occurrences—that, namely, of not recording them at all . . . . Celsus, indeed, did not see that it was an inconsistency for the same persons both to be deceived regarding Jesus, believing Him to be God. . . . and to invent fictions about Him, knowing manifestly that these statements were false. The School of Alexandria had already welcomed the allegorical method of interpreting Scripture, but the genius of ORIGEN gave it a wider vogue. He explained the method in the Principles (Bk. IV., chap. i.). "As man is said to consist of body, soul and spirit, so also does Sacred Scripture. The body is the historical sense, the soul is the moral or religious sense, the spirit is the figurative, typical, mystical sense." From the standpoint of this theory, interpretation is the work of "transforming the sensible Gospel into a spiritual one." Allegorism was responsible for innumerable extravagances in Christian literature, until in the work of EMMANUEL SWEDENBORG, 1688-1772, it found final advocacy. ORIGEN left Alexandria in disgrace, 231, under the dis pleasure of his bishop. None such as he stood ready to assume his place, and ere long the famous school came to an end. Heraclas held the headship for a short time. He was followed by DIONYSIUS, who remained in office until 247, when he became bishop. DIONYSIUS wrote many books, but little remains of them beyond their titles. Fragments of a work On Nature, and of Two Books on the Promises, are in existence. His Letter to the anti-pope Novatian, is a noble and memorable docu ment. THEOGNOSTUS succeeded him; and after him came PRIERIUS, fl. 280-300; of their writings only a few sentences have survived. The influence of the scholarship and speculative theology of ORIGEN was maintained by his disciples. ALEXANDER of Jerusalem, d. 250, founded the theological library at Jerusalem. GREGORY THAUMATURGUS, 210-270, and ATHENODORUS, his brother, were outspoken in his praises. On the other hand, critics were not wanting. METHODIUS of Olympus, 260-312, traversed his teaching in two now lost works: the Resurrection, and Created Things. His only extant work is The Banquet, a Platonic symposium on chastity, carried on by ten virgins. Their feelings, at length, find expression in "a genuine lyric, a hymn of praise to Christ the Bridegroom," which is sung by one of the virgins, while the others respond in the chorus: I keep myself pure for Thee, O Bridegroom, And holding a lighted torch I go to meet Thee. |