and promising scholar of the place. Their friendship continued undisturbed down to the present period, and even somewhat later. Rufinus had early followed him into the East: in company with Melania, a noble lady of Rome, he had sailed to Egypt in A. D. 372, visited the monks of Nitria, spent some time with Didymus at Alexandria, and then retired, probably the next year, with his patroness to Jerusalem. Here Melania employed her abundant wealth in religious and charitable donations, in advancing the monastic cause, and in supporting the numerous pilgrims who resorted to the holy places. With her, Rufinus among others enjoyed a quiet retreat, and devoted himself to study and pious services, surrounded by the venerable objects which the Holy City presented to awaken his devotion. He still remained here, when Jerome took up his permanent abode at Bethlehem, only six miles distant. Both had already entered freely into the sentiments of Origen; and their present intimacy was well calculated to cherish those notions. There is no reason, however, for supposing Rufinus to have been, at any time, a Universalist"; unless we may derive a faint, and it seems unwarrantable suspicion, from his having preserved, in his numerous translations from Origen, those passages entire which aught Universalism, while he altered or omitted such as disagreed with the orthodox trinitarianism. This circumstance does, indeed, show that if he did not be Huet (Origenian. Lib. ii. cap. 2. Quæst. xi, § 25,) thinks Rufinus insinuated that though the devil would be endlessly miserable, yet guilty men would suffer only temporary punishment. But to me, passages to which Huet refers, convey no intimation of the latter opinion, but rather the_contrary, the lieve the former doctrine, he nevertheless regarded it, like his cotemporaries, as no reprehensible error; and his faithful attachment to John, the bishop of Jerusalem, confirms this conclusion. Before we pass, it should be remarked, that both Jerome and Rufinus, though Latin writers, and natives of the West, belonged more properly to the eastern church, where their principal connexions were formed, and their doctrinal education matured. A. D. 390. XXI. Evagrius Ponticus, who flourished among the orthodox of this period, as a scholar and monk of considerable eminence, must be pronounced a Universalist, on the undisputed testimony of the Fifth General Council; in which, a century and a half after his death, he was anathematized with Didymus, for having taught the Restoration of all, and the Pre-existence of souls. But the same sentence which has preserved the memory of his doctrine, destroyed the obnoxious part of his writings, and left nothing but a few works consisting chiefly of ceremonial rules and practical instructions for monks. In these, both their subject and the circumstance of their having been tolerated, render it improbable that any thing is to be found to our purpose. We have therefore only to add a brief sketch of his life, and then proceed to some accounts of other indi viduals. Having come from his native country of Pontus, to Cappadocia, not far from A. D. 375, he was appointed 2 Cyrilli Scythopolit, Vit, S, P. Sabæ cap. 90. Reader in the church of Cesarea, by Basil the Great; on whose death, Gregory Nyssen ordained him Deacon. After a while, Evagrius went to Constantinople, where he studied the scriptures under Gregory Nazianzen, and was, by him, promoted to the Archdeaconship. Here he remained a few years after his master retired from the city; but being himself at length obliged to flee from the matrimonial jealousy of a nobleman, he came to Jerusalem, about A. D. 385, and was received and supported in the charitable establishment of Melania. In the society of Rufinus and others, he was here persuaded to embrace the monastic life; and after a residence of five years in Palestine, he went, in A. D. 390, to the famous retreat of Nitria, where he took up his permanent abode among the Origenists. The remainder of his life was passed in great austerity, and in close application to study and composition. He lived in the orthodox communion, and died at the age of fifty four with the reputation of much sanctity and considerable learning ". XXII. Were it allowable to indulge conjecture on mere appearances, we might conclude that nearly all the leading Origenists of this period were believers in Universalism; for such is the impression the historian must naturally feel in contemplating the peculiar circumstances of their lives, their intimacy with Didymus and with others who are known to have held that doctrine, and their respect for the favorite father whose a We must not confound Evagrius Ponticus with his cotemporary, Evagrius Antiochenus, nor with a later writer, Evagrius Scholasticus, the ecclesiastical historian: name they bore. Passing over the undistinguished multitude, who had, perhaps, only their wretchedness and austerity to recommend them to a momentary reputation, and who could now form, at best, but a blank catalogue of names, there are still two or three who must here be introduced to notice. Palladius a native of Galatia, and a disciple of Evagrius Ponticus in Egypt, was one of the ablest and most faithful supporters of the party. He was now a monk in the solitude of Nitria; but ill health soon driving him into the world, he afterwards obtained a bishopric in Asia Minor, became considerably known by the part he took in the public affairs of the church, and preserved his name from oblivion by writing some historical or biographical works, which yet remain. Another influential member of the party was the venerable Isidorus, an aged Presbyter of Alexandria, whom Athanasius had ordained many years before, and who had spent his early life among the monasteries of the Nitrian desert. Directing our view to the churches of Palestine, we behold the episcopal chair of the Holy City filled by John of Jerusalem, an Origenist, who with Isidorus, will hereafter appear, bearing an important part in the subject of this history, and affording some evidence that he was a Universalist. He had lately succeeded Cyrill in the bishopric of Jerusalem; and the friendship of Melania, Rufinus, and their associates, relieved his cares, and strengthened his influence. Of his earlier life, we only know that he was born about A. D. 356, that his b In A, D, 387, b youth was devoted to the monastic discipline, but that, quitting his retirement, he was ordained Presbyter before the year 378, and that he was chosen to the see of Jerusalem in A. D. 387. XXIII. Having so long confined ourselves to the eastern churches, where alone we can discover the prevalence of Universalism, we may now turn our attention to the West. A multitude of obscure names, almost forgotten, if we except those of Optatus, a Numidian bishop, and Philastrius, an Italian, fill the list of ecclesiastical writers, among the Latins, in the interval between the time of Hilary, and the present. Now, however, they had a very eminent and popular doctor in Ambrose, archbishop of Milan in Italy: a man of moderate learning, but of a polite education, of the most vigorous talents, determined courage, and of an influence so powerful as to approach towards absolute authority in the state, as well as in the church. Of the future condition of mankind, his views nearly coincided with those which Hilary and Lactantius had before advanced All who have attained, in this life, to the character of perfect saints, such as the apostles, and some others, will, he supposed, rise from the dead in the first resurrection; and enduring, with little pain, the ordeal of the flaming sword, or the baptism of fire, at the gate of Paradise, they will quickly enter into everlasting joy. But the imperfect saints will undergo a trial severer in proportion to their vices; and such as have only been believers, without the virtues of the gospel, whom he denominates the sinners, will remain in the torments of fire A. D. 384, to 390. |