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as an allegorical representation of certain virtues or vi ces in our own hearts; as when the scripture relates that Joseph being dead, the children of Israel increased in number, we learn, by the moral sense, that if we receive the death of Christ, our spiritual Joseph, into our sinful members, the children of Israel, that is, the graces of the spirit, will be multiplied within us; 3, the mystical or spiritual sense the most excellent of all: by which the more enlightened can trace in all the scripture narratives, of whatever sort, a latent history of Christ's church; and by which also they can discover, in every account of earthly things, some representations of that celestial, invisible world, of which the present is but a faint and imperfect image. There, souls are the inhabitants, and angels the rulers; and there the ideal regions and the order of events correspond, in some degree, to those on earth. Ridiculous as was this system of interpretation, it met the taste of his times; though even then there were some who rejected it, at least in part, and raised their feeble voice against its extravagance. But they themselves often ran into other notions nearly as chimerical.

VIII. While Origen was engaged in A. D. 230, preparing and publishing the works now to 245. mentioned, the storm which his bishop had raised against him, continued, increasing in violence. Wearied out, at length, with contention, he took a private and final leave of his native country,

j Homil. i. in Exod. § 4. I have taken this illustration from one of Origen's later works; but in the books Of Principles, the nature and use of the moral sense are abundantly explained.

(A. D. 231,) and retired to Palestine, where he was cordially received by his old friends, Alexander of Jerusalem, and Theoctistus of Cesarea. Immediately on his retreat, Demetrius assembled all the Egyptian bishops and such of the presbyters as he thought in his own favor, with the hope of procuring the condemnation of his victim. In this, however, he was disappointed : the council decreed only that Origen should be deprived of his office in the Catechetical School, and of the privilege of teaching at Alexandria; but that he should still enjoy his character of presbyter. This not satisfying his wrath, Demetrius called another council (probably in A. D. 232,) composed of such bishops only as he saw fit to select from his own province. With these he succeeded: they ordained that Origen should be deposed from his sacerdotal dignity, and excommunicated from the church. When this sentence was thus formally passed upon him, he could not, according to the ecclesiastical Constitution and Canons, be received in any church, nor by any bishop, under the Catholic jurisdiction; nevertheless the bishops of Arabia, Palestine, Phoenicia, and Achaia, his personal acquaintances, hazarded the experiment of supporting him, at the expense of non-conformity to the established regulations. But in the West, and particularly at Rome, the sentence of excommunication was readily confirmed.

That it was not for error in doctrine that Origen was condemned, is expressly asserted by some of the ancients, and evident from the silence of all the rest. It

k Jerome. Apud Ruf. Invect. ii. inter Hieronymi Opera.

is not incredible, indeed, that his adversary adopted the usual expedient in ecclesiastical persecution, and in order to increase the odium, represented some opinions he had advanced, as worthy of reproof. But if this were the case, it cannot have formed a prominent ground in the prosecution, as there is no trace of it left, in all antiquity. What were the principal charges alleged against him, we can only conjecture1: The consciences of an angy prelate, and of his select minions, could not be very scrupulous in the choice of matter for condemnation; and it is thought to have related only to some informality in his ordination, and to some disregard of the customary claims of his bishop. Demetrius, however, did not long enjoy his revenge, as he died, probably, this year. After his decease, the rage of opposition appeared to subside; but still Origen was considered, by the Egyptian christians, as an excommunicated person; and such was their respect for the ecclesiastical Canons, that the sentence of Demetrius was never revoked by their successors, Heraclas and Dionysius, although they had been disciples of Origen, the

1 As for the story we find in Epiphanius (Hæres. Ixiv. 2,) that before Origen left Alexandria, he consented to hold incense over the altar in honor of an idol, rather than be unnaturally defiled by an Ethiopian, it is generally thought by the moderns to have been one of Epiphanius's fables, or perhaps an interpolation in his works. Nicephorus appears to have taken the same account, with some alterations, from Epiphanius. Some later writer, in order to continue the story, has forged a piece entitled The Lamentation of Origen, or Origen's Repentance, in which he is made to bewail, in the most extravagant manner, his having sacrificed to idols. See Huet. Origenian Lib. i. cap. 4, § 4, and Append. ad Lib. iii. § 8, Cave's Lives of the Fathers, Art. Origen, &c. Du Pin's Bibliotheca Patrum, Art. Origen, Note n; and Mosheim. De Reb. Christian. Ante Constant, p. 676. The Lamentation of Origen may be found in Dr. Hanmer's English translation of Eusebius, Socrates and Evagrius.

former his assistant, and though they both still retained the greatest veneration, and the warmest affection for him.

At Cesarea he was again appointed to expound the scriptures to the people; and the bishops of Palestine, themselves, often sat under his instructions, as though he were their master. This city, at that time the largest in the Holy Land, and the capital of one of its divisions, might be classed, perhaps, with the Roman cities of the third rank in Asia, inferior not only to Antioch, the queen of the east, but also to Ephesus and Smyrna. It rose on a gentle acclivity from the shore of the Mediterranean, about mid-way between Joppa and Ptolemais; and its white marble buildings, its magnificent amphitheatre, and higher than all the rest, its splendid heathen temple, met the view of the distant voyager as he coasted along, or approached the harbor". Here, Origen opened a school, somewhat on the plan of that at Alexandria, for the study of literature and religion; and his fame soon drew scholars both from the adjacent province, and from remoter regions. From Cappadocia, he received Firmilian, who afterwards returned to his native country and became the most eminent bishop there. Still farther to the north, from Pontus on the shore of the Euxine, came Gregory Thaumaturgus and his brother Athenodorus.

Meanwhile, Origen proceeded with his Commentaries on St. John's Gospel, and began those on Isaiah and

m' Josephus Antiq. Book xv. chap. 9, § 6, and Reland. Palæst. IIlustrat. Lib. iii. Art. Cesarea. The city was 62 miles N. W. of Jerusalem.

Ezekiel. Thus constantly engaged either in his school, or in preaching, or writing, he seems to have passed about four years in quiet, till A. D. 235; when the barbarous Maximin, on coming to the throne, instituted a persecution against the more distinguished of the christians, out of a fearful suspicion that they cherished, with too grateful a regard, the memory of his murdered predecessor. Among others, Protoctetus, a presbyter of Cesarea, and the generous Ambrosius, were thrown into prison, and tortured with various cruelties. To them Origen wrote and dedicated his book On Martyrdom; but concealed himself, the meanwhile, in a private family in the city, and some time afterwards, retired across the seas to Athens. Here he finished his Commentaries on Ezekiel, and went forward with those upon Canticles. From this place, it is thought he made a visit to his friend Ambrosius; who on being released from his sufferings in Palestine, had gone, with his family, to the city of Nicomedia, on the north east of the Propontis. Returning at length to Cesarea, about A. D. 240, his next journey, it seems, was to the city of the same name in Cappadocia, the metropolis of that province, whither his former scholar, Firmilian, now elevated to the bishopric there, had importuned him to come, in order to instruct his churches in the knowledge of the scriptures. About A. D. 243, he went into Arabia, on the request of a Council convened against Beryllus of Bostra, a bishop of that country, who differed somewhat from the popular faith concerning the trinity. With him Origen's conversation effected, what the council had been unable to attain, the renunciation of his