CHA P. XV.

CYPRIAN COMPARED WITH ORIGEN.

HE eaft and the weft beheld at the fame

Time thefe two men, in talents, activity, and attainments much fuperior to the rest of the Chriftian world. The Roman feems, beyond contradiction, to have much excelled the Grecian in thofe things in which true Chriftian virtue confifts; yet, as the latter, by the FRUITS of his life, -though they were miferably tarnished and clouded by a depraved philofophy,-ftill claims a just place among faints, it may anfwer fome valuable purpose, not impertinent to the defign of this hiftory, to compare, in feveral particulars, the refpective endowments, defects, and excellencies of thefe extraordinary men.

1. There may have been as pious and holy men as Cyprian, in the interval of time between the Apoftles and him, but we have no opportunity of knowing any other Chriftian fo well. The diftin&t particularity of the accounts concerning him makes his character remarkably deferving of our attention. The dealings of God with a finner, at his first converfion, often give a ftrong tincture to the whole future life. Cyprian was intended for very great and important fervices in the Church; and, thofe of an active nature, and attended with an almost uninterrupted feries of fufferings;-fuch as no man could perform to the glory of God, but

one,

one, who knew affuredly the ground on which he ftood, by a strong work of the divine Spirit on his foul. His experience in converfion he himself defcribes in his letter to Donatus. His reception of Christianity was not the effect of mere reasoning or fpeculation. It was not carried on in a fcholaftic or philofophical manner, but may truly be faid to have been "in the demonftration of the Spirit and of power." He felt the doctrines of the Gofpel,-namely, the grace of God; forgivenefs of fins by Jefus Chrift; and the influence of the Holy Ghoft,-powerful, exuberant, and victorious. His foul was brought into the love of God, and that of the pureft kind, tempered ever with humility and godly fear: and it is evident

that he always faw the work to be of God, and beheld nothing in himself as wife, holy, and glorious; and that a fpirit of thankfulness for redeeming love, of fimple dependence on the divine promifes, and, of fteady charity to God and man was the refult. His race was of no long duration; only about twelve years; and by far the greater part of the time he was bishop of Carthage. He lived a Chriftian life; and no part of it was exempt from much labour or much affliction. He feems never to have known what it was to fettle into a luke-warm ftate. The fire which was first kindled in him, burnt ferene and steady to the end of his days.-I am aware that Mofheim charges him with an ambitious, domineering fpirit, that invaded the rights of the lower clergy and people *. But I take the liberty of affuring the cautious reader, that this excellent and very judicious SECULAR hiftorian, is not to be trufted in his accounts of men of REAL HOLINESS.

Ecclef. Hiftory, Century 3, Chap. 2.

From

the

the most attentive review which I have been able to make of the character of the African prelate, by a repeated perufal of the exifting evidence, especially his epiftles, I cannot fee any thing on which to ground fuch a cenfure. He did nothing, in general, without the clergy and people. He was ever fedulous in promoting the good of the whole. The epifcopal authority was, in his time, at no very blamable height in the Church: nevertheless, through the gradual growth of fuperftition, it was, naturally, advancing to an excefs of dignity; and it is not to be denied that fome few expreffions favouring of haughtiness and afperity are to be found in the writings of Cyprian.-But these few expreffions were evidently the effect of particular provocation ;-nor is there the leaft evidence that ambition was his vice. Candour would rather fay, he was, in general, influenced by a very fervent zeal, fupported in its exertions by a temper remarkably active and fanguine. But, whoever looks into the original records with an expectation of finding any thing felfish, proud, or domineering in his general conduct, will be difappointed; and, on the contrary, will be ftruck with the fteady tenor of gentleness, charity, and humility. In fine, if he had not been a CHRISTIAN, one might have held him forth to the world as a GREAT man;-if it be the part of a great man to unite, in a large and capacious mind, many virtues, and each of them in a high degree of perfection;-virtues too, which are oppofite in their nature, and which rarely meet in firm confiftence in the fame fubject;-for example, vigour and mildnefs, magnanimity and mercy, fortitude and prudence, warmth of temper and accuracy of judgment, and, above all,-zeal and difcretion.

In

In Origen's converfion we fee nothing remarkable. He received Chriftianity in a way of education, rather than by quick, lively, and decifive operations of the Holy Spirit. It is not ufual with God to make ufe of such perfons for extraordinary fervices, like thofe for which Cyprian, in the prime of life, appears to have been felected from the world. Origen's views of the peculiar truths of Christianity were,-to fay no more, too faint and general;-nor ever SUFFICIENTLY dif tinguished from moral and philofophical religion. He bore perfecution, when young, with much zeal and honefty; but he lived many years in peace and profperity. Much refpected and fought after by philofophers, highly efteemed and honoured by courts and by the great, he lived a fcholaftic rather than an active life in the Church; always fully employed indeed, but more like a man of letters than a minifter of the Gofpel; ever bent on promoting truth and holiness fo far as he knew them; but always leaving one's mind diffatisfied on account of the defectiveness of his views. His laft fcenes are the moft fatisfactory and the moft decifively Chriftian. He fuffered perfecution with the patience and honefty of a martyr; and proved INDEED whofe difciple he was on the whole. Mofheim charges him with dishonesty in his arguments againft Celfus; and fays that any one that has penetration and judgment may difcern it*. It would have been more to the purpose to have pointed out the inftances of dishoneft argumentation, which he alludes to My examination of the tract in queftion induces me to diffent from this learned hiftorian; and further, I am convinced that great uprightnets of mind was a ruling fea

Mofheim's Eccl. Hiftory, Century 3, Chap. 3.

ture

ture in Origen's character.-But it is not the practice of modern writers to be candid in their judgment of the antient Chriftians.

After this general review of these two men, and, after it has been admitted that integrity and fairnefs of mind were poffeffed by both in a very great degree, it may be natural to afk-In what confifted the fuperior excellence of Cyprian ?-The general answer to fuch an enquiry is-The manner of their first converfion has appeared to have been ftrikingly different in the two cafes; and ftill more foThe work of God upon their hearts afterwards.— But befides this,

2. Cyprian was poffeffed of a fimplicity of TASTE to which Origen feems ever to have been a ftranger. By fimplicity of taste I mean here a genuine and unadulterated relifh for the doctrine and spirit of the Chriftian religion, juft as it ftands in its real nature. It is poffible for a perfon very eminent in this gift,-which is purely divine and fpiritual, to be, in no way, remarkable for his knowledge of evangelical truth: In refpect of knowledge he may not much exceed another who is far his inferior in the former grace of the Spirit: The light and means of information are very dif ferent in different ages of the Church; and it is evident that the third century fuffered a decline in illumination. But where a man is deficient in knowledge, yet if his fimplicity of Chriftian taste be very great, he will be filent on thofe fubjects which he does not understand, or at leaft he will be extremely cautious in oppofing any part of divine truth. This was Cyprian's cafe. He appears not, for inftance, to have understood the doctrine of the election of grace. Since Juftin's days the knowledge of that article of faith was departing from the

Church