distinct remark, that, among the scholars who studied under him, while at Antioch, were John Chrysostom and Theodorus of Mopsuestia, afterwards so celebrated." 9 84

XXV. 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 almost forgotten, and obscure names, and 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 Victorinus, 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

A. D. 384, to 390.

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

84. For notices of his life, see Du Pin's Bib. Pat. Art. Diodorus bishop of Tarsus. Murdock's Mosheim, vol. i. p. 295.

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 till the second resurrection, and perhaps still longer, that they may be purified from their wickedness. These three classes, the perfect saints, the imperfect, and the sinners, shall each be arraigned, except perhaps the first, at the great Judgement-day; and, what is remarkable, all who are then tried, shall sooner or later be saved. But there is another, a fourth class, which he distinguishes as the impious or the infidels, who, together with the devil and his angels, shall never be brought to judgement, because they have been already condemned. For these he apparently reserves no chance of restoration, but leaves them to an eternity of hopeless suffering.85

The author usually quoted under the name of Ambrosiaster, who is generally supposed to have been one Hilary a deacon of Rome, held that all such believers as embrace erroneous doctrines, while they nevertheless retain the essential principles of Christianity, must be subjected to the purification of fire, in the future world, before they can be saved.86 He likewise taught that our Saviour descended, after his crucifixion, to the invisible regions of the dead, and there converted all, whether impious or ordinary sinners, who willingly sought his aid, 87 Indeed,

85. Ambrosii Mediolanensis in Psalm. 1. Enarrat. § 51, 52, 53, 54, 56; in Ps. cxviii. Exposit. Serm. iii. § 14-17. & Serm. xx. § 12, 13, 14, 23, 24. The dates of these works are placed from A. D. 386 to A. D. 390. 86. Comment. ad Epist. 1 Corinth. cap. iii. 15. in Append. ad Ambrosii Mediolanensis Oper. Tom. ii. 87. Comment. in Epist. ad Ephes. cap. iv. 8, 9.

Christ's mission, according to him, enabled even the erring and apostatized powers of heaven to cast off the yoke of the devil, and to return to God; 88 still, it appears to have been his decided belief that there were cases of such obstinate rebellion, among wicked souls as well as angels, as to be past all recovery.

With the notice of this writer, we close, for the present, our account of the orthodox Christians.

XXVI. During more than half of this century, the Arians were numerous enough to dispute the superiority in the church, especially in the East; and it is natural to enquire, What were their sentiments with regard to the ultimate salvation of the world? But we shall seek in vain for their own testimony in answer. Though supported, in their day, by the influence of eminent bishops, and defended by the labors of learned doctors, the victorious fortune of their adversaries has obliterated almost every fragment of their writings, and left a wide erasure which no learning nor art can restore. We only know that, except in what related to the trinity, their doctrine was considered the same with that of the Consubstantialists; and it seems that, in all the passion of controversial warfare, they never reproached their unsparing opponents for their frequent avowal of Universalism.89 These circumstances may strengthen

88. Ditto. ad Ephes. cap. iii. 10. N. B. These Commentaries are supposed to have been written about A. D. 384. 89. Eunomius, one of the most celebrated Arians, who flourished from A. D. 360 to A. D. 394, is charged by three Greek writers of the 12th century, with having held that all the threatenings of eternal torments were intended only to terrify mankind, and were never meant to be executed. (See Balsamon ad Canon. i. Constantinopol. And Harmenopulus, De Sect. 13. And J. Zonaras

a conjecture, which is not in itself improbable, that the doctrine received about the same degree of patronage among both parties; so that neither was under temptation to accuse the other. From similar considerations, the suspicion of ambiguity naturally rests, likewise, upon the few Sabellians of this period. And we may extend the remark to the small schismatical sects of Novatians, Donatists, and Meletians; who were separated from the orthodox church only by some trivial distinctions of discipline and ecclesiastical government, or by the irregular succession of their bishops.

The uncertain, or perhaps divided, opinions of the Manicheans, on the subject of Universal Salvation, have been already mentioned. At present, however, it seems to have become the general belief, at least of those in Africa,90 that many human souls would prove utterly irreclaimable, and be therefore stationed forever, as a guard, upon the frontiers of the world. of darkness. The sect had now increased to a vast number, although abhorred by every other party, and indefatigably opposed by a large proportion of the orthodox writers, from Eusebius Pamphilus downwards; and it lurked in all parts of christendom,

ad Canon. in Deiparam.) The authority of these modern Greeks, however, is but small; and in this case it is not sustained by any testimony more ancient, nor by the fragments of Eunomius yet extant. On the contrary, in the formal Declaration of Faith, which he sent to the emperor Theodosius, A. D. 383, he says, "they who persevere in impiety or sin till the close of life, shall "be delivered to everlasting punishment." (Fabricii Biblioth. Græc. Tom. viii. p. 260.) At the end of his Epilog. ad Apologiam, he remarks that in the general judgement, Christ will consign such as make light of sin, to remediless suffering. (Cavei Hist. Literar. Art. Eunomius, p. 222.) 90. Lardner's Credibility, &c. Chap. Mani and his Followers. Sect. iv. § 18.

notwithstanding it had been repeatedly proscribed by the edicts of successive emperors. Already could the alarming and inextinguishable heresy boast of many eminent advocates, and of some respectable authors; and for several years it was honored with the patronage of the young Augustine, the future. bishop of Hippo and renowned orthodox father. The care of a pious mother had trained him up in the principles of the catholic faith; but, at the age of seventeen, he imbibed the sentiments of Mani; and, though never a very zealous partizan nor a thoroughly instructed disciple, he continued to cherish the proscribed doctrine, till he entered on his thirty-first year. Residing however at Milan in Italy, in A. D. 385, he was so struck with the arguments and illustrations of the eloquent archbishop Ambrose, that he resolved to forsake the heresy; and in the course of a year or two, he was fully converted to the orthodox religion, and received, by baptism, into the church.