"attached, with him it is necessary that the flame, "which is to consume it, should be great, and of long "duration; but to him in whom the wicked disposi"tion has been already in part subjected, a propor"tional degree of that sharper and more vehement punishment shall be remitted. All evil, however, 66 must, at length, be entirely removed from every "thing, so that it shall no more exist. For such be ing the nature of sin, that it cannot exist without a "corrupt motive, it must, of course, be perfectly dis"solved and wholly destroyed, so that nothing can "remain a receptacle of it, when all motive and influ"ence shall spring from God alone." &c.65 In another place he asserts that as the devil' as'sumed a fleshly shape in order to ruin human nature, 'so the Lord took flesh for the salvation of man; and 'thus he blesses not only him who was ruined, but him 'also who led him into perdition; so that he both delivers man from sin, and heals the author of sin him'self. "66 Like the earlier Universalists, Gregory freely applied the word everlasting to future punishment; a circumstance which, probably, has betrayed some critics into the hasty conclusion, that he sometimes denied the doctrine of Universal Restoration, and asserted that of endless misery. A remarkable use of that phrase occurs in a passage where he alludes to the ultimate fate 66. Oratio 65. Disputatio de Anima et Resurrectione, p. 260. Catechetica, cap. 26. I here subjoin the titles of those works in which Gregory Nyssen teaches Universalism: De Anima et Resurrectione. Óratio Catechetica.-De Infantibus qui præmature abripiuntur.-Oratio de Mortuis.-In dictum Apostoli, Tunc ipse Filius subjicietur Patri.-De Perfectione Christiani. of such as have become confirmed in debauchery : "whoever," says he, "considers the divine power, "will plainly perceive that it is able, at length, to re"store, by means of the everlasting purgation and ex"piatory sufferings, those who have gone even to this extremity of wickedness, "67 XIX. His general system of doctrine, it is unnecessary to state at large, since it was the same that distinguished the orthodox of his age. A few particulars, however, may be specified: The opinion, universally received by the Christians of this century, that regeneration was experienced only in the rite of water baptism, was, of course, entertained by Gregory; and with them he agreed, that it was effected by the exertions of the human will, aided by the proffered assistance of the divine spirit. Predestination and irresistible grace, in their modern sense, were as yet unknown in the church. In one or two respects, our author was an honorable exception to the prevalent superstition of his cotemporaries: he dissuaded from the growing practice of pilgrimages to shrines and holy places; and, though a patron of the monastic life, he defended the excellence of matrimony, both by precept and example; being himself one of the few married bishops of that age. He has left one production, his Life of Gregory Thaumaturgus, which involves him, as an author, in the charge, either of unbounded credulity, or of total disregard of historical truth. It is a worthless legend, enlivened only with fictitious miracles the most foolish, 67. De Infantibus qui præmature abripiunter, p. 178. and with disgusting tales the most incredible. That he even presumed to lay it before the world, is a sufficient indication of the universal stupidity, and of the thorough corruption of the public taste. Could illustrious precedent, however, exonerate from the criminality of falsehood or disingenuous fiction, he might justly plead that of the great Athanasius, who appears to have set the first example of these monkish romances, by his Life of Anthony; and three or four productions, of the same character, which soon afterwards appeared under the honored names of Jerome and Sulpitius Severus, have contributed much to relieve Gregory from the disgrace of solitary folly. The rest of our author's works are composed in a style dry, involved and obscure; and they abound in absurd allegories and abstruse mysticism. In learning, he was second to few of his day; in influence, he stood among the first in the orthodox party. It is remarkable that he has never been condemned for his Universalism; and that he was never even censured for it, till two or three centuries after his death. In his youth he was so strongly inclined to a literary life, that it was with much difficulty he was persuaded to abandon his favorite study of rhetoric, in order to take upon himself the duties of the ministry. About A. D. 371, when not far from thirty-two years old, he was ordained bishop of Nyssa, a small city in the western part of Cappadocia. Valens, the Arian emperor, being then on the throne of Constantinople, drove several orthodox bishops into exile; and in the year 374, procured, by the means of his lieutenant Demosthenes, the expulsion of Gregory from his church. But, after four years of absence, he was recalled, with the rest of the banished bishops, on the accession of Theodosius the Great, and permanently established in his office. Soon afterwards, either the council of Antioch, or that of Constantinople appointed him to visit, with other delegates, the churches of Pontus and those of Arabia, in order to revive among them the orthodox faith and discipline; and the new emperor honored him, in the prosecution of this duty, with a public conveyance. It appears that some time after his return, he was called to Constantinople, on the death of the empress Placilla, in A. D. 385, to pronounce her funeral oration. He died at Nyssa, about the year 394, aged nearly sixty. XX. We have somewhat delayed the introduction of an eminent Universalist who flourished, at this period, among the orthodox in Egypt, and whose renown for profane and sacred learning filled all the East. Didymus, the blind, of Alexandria, though much older than Basil or either of the Gregories, seems not to have acquired his extensive reputation, till their fame also had spread through the church. Deprived forever of his eye-sight when only five years old, he nevertheless succeeded in making himself master of grammar, rhetoric, logic, music, arithmetic, and even the most difficult parts of the mathematics; and his knowledge of divinity was so highly esteemed, that he was elected President of the great Catechetical School in his native city. He was a professed admirer of Origen, whom he considered as his master, and whose books Of Principles he illustrated with brief Commentaries, defending them against the misconstructions of the Arians. That he was a Universalist, the uncontradicted testimony of cotemporary and succeeding writers,68 is, perhaps, sufficient evidence; but his condemnation, as such, by the General council of Constantinople, more than a century and a half after his death, confirms the fact, and at the same time proves that, with the doctrine of the Restoration, he also held that of the Preexistence of souls.69 That posthumous sentence of excommunication, however, by consigning his heretical works to destruction, has denied us the satisfaction of adducing his own language; but even in the few of his writings that still remain, we find some traces of the obnoxious doctrine, which were probably overlooked by the ancient censors. He says that "as man kind, by being reclaimed from their sins, are to be "subjected to Christ in the fulness of the dispensation "instituted for the salvation of all, so the superior ra"tional intelligences, the angels, will be reduced to. "obedience by the correction of their vices. "70 is said that he also disapproves of all servile fear.71 It Though not reckoned among the Origenists of his time, Didymus was undoubtedly regarded by them, and justly too, as their chief patron. We can hardly 68. Jerome and Rufinus allude to it, as a well known fact. Cy. rillus Scythopolitanus, (Vitæ S. P. Sabæ cap. 90. inter Cotelerii Mon. Eccl. Græcæ Tom. iii.) a writer of the sixth century, is the next whom I recollect. 69. Cyrill. Scythopolit. Vit. S. P. Sabæ cap. 90. 70. Didymi Comment. in 1 Pet. iii. I have not access to this work, which is to be found only in the great Bibliotheca Patrum; and I therefore quote from Huetii Origenian. Lib. ii. cap. 2. Quæst. iii. § 26. 71. Du Pin's Biblioth. Pat. Art. Didymus, He refers to the above-named work, |