"what labor, with how many arguments, he strove "to make us believe that those coats were human "bodies! Among other things, he asks, Was God a "leather-dresser, that he should take the skins of "animals and fit them into coats for Adam and "Eve? Therefore it is manifest, says Origen, "that it is spoken of our bodies. 5. Who can patiently bear with him while he denies the res"urrection of this flesh? as he manifestly does, in "his explanations of the first psalm, and in many "other places. 6. Or who can endure his notion "that paradise, or the garden of Eden, was in the "third heaven! thus transferring it from the earth "to the skies, and, by an allegorical interpretation, "representing its trees to be angelic powers! 7. "Who but must instantly reject and condemn his "delusions, that those waters above the firmament, "mentioned in Genesis, are not waters, but certain "celestial spirits; and that those under the firma"ment, are demons! Why, then, do we read that, "in the deluge, the windows of heaven were opened, "and the waters of the flood descended? O, the "madness and stupidity of men who have neglected "what is said in Proverbs, My son, hear the word of

thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother. "8. I do not attempt to dispute against all his errors; "they are innumerable; but among other things he 66 even dared to say that Adam lost the image of “God! when there is not one passage of Scripture "that intimates it. If, indeed, that were the case, "then would all things, in the world, never have "been made subject to Adam's posterity, the human

Such are

"racé, as James the apostle teaches. "5 the particulars that Epiphanius selected for special reprehension. He again exhorted John, as his own son, to abstain from the heresy; and lamented that so many of their brethren had been already made "food for the devil."

We have said that in this passage occurs the first censure, which is to be found in all antiquity, against the doctrine of Universalism. We must remark, however, that, even here, the censure falls, as the reader may perceive, not on the doctrine of the salvation of all mankind, but on that of the salvation of the devil. This distinction, though it may seem captious, is of some consequence to an accurate understanding of subsequent occurrences.

IV. With the Letter to John, Epiphanius sent others, on the same subject, to the bishops of Palestine; and, as copies of the former as well as of the latter were freely circulated through the province, the matter soon awakened general interest. Many of the people, many of the clergy seem to have adhered to John; and Rufinus and Melania espoused his cause, as did also Palladius of Galatia, who had lately arrived from Nitria. But others, especially the monks of Bethlehem, took up for Epiphanius, withdrew from

8

5. Epiphanii Epist. ad Johannem, inter Hieronymi Opp. Tom. iv. Part. ii. Edit. Martianay. I give a faithful translation of Epiphanius's Catalogue of Origen's errors; but I have inserted the figures between the several particulars; omitted three uninteresting, and to most readers, unintelligible arguments which in the original stood between the 2d and 3d, the 4th and 5th, and the 6th and 7th errors; and passed over the exhortation which occurred between the 7th and 8th. 6. Hieronymi Epist. xxxviii. adv. Johan. Hierosol. p. 334. 7. Hieron. Epist. xxxiii. vel. 101. ad Pammach. p. 248. 8. Epiphani Epist. ad Johan. pp. 827, 829.

the communion of their accused bishop, and in return, suffered from him, it appears, some condemnatory sentence for their refractory procedure.10

Jerome, the admirer, and imitator of Origen, we should expect, of course, to discover among his bishop's adherents; but two or three circumstances conspired to engage him on the opposite side: The strongest affections of nature inclined him to defend the ordination of his own brother; some personal differences he had formerly had with the professed Origenists, both at Rome and Nitria, were, perhaps, remembered with resentment; and his pride of learning, his haughty and petulant spirit, must have made him restless under the immediate government of an ecclesiastical superior, who was his junior in age, and whom he might justly regard as far his inferior in talents and acquirements. He joined the party of Epiphanius, or perhaps gathered it, and translated the Letter to John, for the private use of such monks as were acquainted only with the Latin language. His translation, though intended for confidenA. D. 395. tial circulation, found its way, the next year, to Jerusalem; and it was immediately censured, by Rufinus, as unfaithful to the honorable appellations bestowed, in the original, upon his bishop. From this moment, we discover an open breach in the early and long cherished affection of the two friends Jerome, who could not bear reproof, defended himself, and resented the criticism with his

11. Hie

9. Hieron. Epist. adv. Johan. xxxviii. p. 308. 10. Ditto. And p. 333. And Epist. xxxix. ad Theophilum, p. 338, &c. ron. Epist. xxxiii. p. 248.

accustomed abuse, by calling its author a pseudomonk.12

V. The noise of the quarrel in Palestine had reached Alexandria ; and Isidorus, the aged patron of Origenism, felt himself called upon to encourage his brethren. Relying with a misplaced confidence on the integrity of his former friends, he addressed a letter to one Vincentius, a presbyter and monk at Bethlehem, whom he had probably seen, about ten years before, in company with Jerome in Egypt. He exhorted him to stand firm on the rock of faith, nor be terrified by the threats of the adversaries. "I myself" added he, "shall soon come to Jerusalem, and "the band of enemies shall be dispersed, who, always

66

resisting the faith of the church, attempt now to dis"turb the minds of the simpler sort. "13 But Vincentius, it seems, had already followed the example of his master Jerome, in siding with Epiphanius; and this letter accordingly proved a providential warning, instead of an encouragement.

The increasing contention, which attracted the notice of foreign Christians, alarmed the friends of tranquillity at home. Archelaus, one of the civil officers of the province, was vainly endeavoring to allay the disturbance. He invited both parties to a mutual conference, in which they should agree upon a common declaration of faith; but when the day arrived, John was absent on some parochial duty; and he never appeared, though the council, in reply to his

12. Ditto, 13. Hieron. Epist. xxxviii. p. 330,

excuse, offered to wait his convenience, at least for a few days.14

Two months afterwards a deputation arrived, not unexpectedly, from Theophilus, the powerful and aspiring archbishop of Egypt; who, either on the request of John, or at his own suggestion, gladly embraced this opportunity to extend his influence over the foreign churches of Palestine, Isidorus himself was entrusted with the commission, and as deputy, brought letters from the Alexandrian primate to John and Jerome, the respective heads of the contending parties. But a professed and zealous Origenist was much better qualified to inflame than to compose a difficulty, in which his favorite doctrine was involved; and on his arrival, his subserviency to the bishop of Jerusalem was so manifest, that Jerome refused, with reason, his partial mediation.15

A. D. 396.

VI. Frustrated in the special object of his mission, Isidorus devoted himself exclusively to the assistance of John. The letter of Epiphanius had now lain, unanswered, before the public, nearly two years; and the bishop availed himself of his friend's assistance to produce a Reply. It was addressed in the name of John, to Theophilus at Alexandria, to whose decision it appealed. The author, or authors, related the history of the difficulty, complained of the ordination of Paulinianus, inveighed against Jerome, and charged him with inconsistency in reproaching Origen whom he had translated and extolled; and they finally pro

14. Ditto. pp. 331, 332. 15. Ditto. pp. 330, 331.