before. But these measures though seconded by the severe edicts of Honorius, had little success; the schismatics, for the most part, remained stubborn, and their savage partizans continued to carry sword and fire through the province.

A. D. 405, to 412.

II. The political commotions and ecclesiastical disturbances of the time, operated, undoubtedly, to divert the public

attention from the subject of Origenism, and to afford repose to the obnoxious party. The clamour of the late contest seems to have sunk, at once, into silence; and as the impression was almost universal that the quarrel had been, in a great measure, personal, that it had been marked with unwarrantable violence, and pursued too far,1 its victims were regarded with less rigor than was usual in cases of adjudged heresy. Rufinus appears to have enjoyed, at Aquileia, the patronage of his own bishop,2 and the countenance, perhaps, of other dignitaries in the Italian churches.3 He spent the remainder of his life, unmolested, in composing Commentaries on the Scriptures, and in translating Origen and other Greek writers; till, in A. D. 409, he fled, at the approach of the northern barbarians, and retired into Sicily, where he died the next year. Melania, his noble and faithful patroness, accompanied him, with a numerous train, to Sicily,

1. The banishment of Chrysostom roused the grief and indignation of a numerous party in the East, and of all the West. Unremitted efforts were made for his recall, but he died in the mean time; and though it had been resolved to arraign Theophilus before a General Council, the affair was dropped. 2. He translated Eusebius's Ecel. History at the request of Chromatius, bishop of Aquileia. 3. Hieron. Apolog. adv. Rufin. Lib. iii. p.

Proceeding thence to Africa, where she was complimented by Augustine, she pursued her way into Palestine. Her death soon followed, at Jerusalem, the scene of her former munificence; and, notwithstanding her connexion with the Origenists, she was honored with the title of saint, and her name inserted in the public martyrologies. John of Jerusalem was, the meanwhile, strongly suspected of retaining a secret partiality for the proscribed doctrines; but he conducted so warily, as to enjoy his bishopric in quiet; and even his implacable neighbor, Jerome, could find no pretence for renewing the quarrel.5 Evagrius Ponticus, having been overlooked in the rage of Theophilus, died, probably about this time, in some undisturbed retreat among the Egyptian monasteries; but Palladius of Gallatia, late bishop of Helenopolis, was suffering in banishment, not for his Origenism, but for his adherence to the exiled Chrysostom. He was afterwards recalled, however, and appointed over the church of Aspora, in his native province. Theophilus, himself, now provoked the abhorrence of such as remembered his former violence and solemn prohibitions, by amusing his leisure with the perusal of Origen's works; and he openly asserted, as his justification, that, among some thorns which they contained, he found many beautiful and precious flowers. He had, however, written a large volume against

4. Fleury's Eccl. Hist. Book xxii. chap. 22. And Huetii Origenian. Lib. ii. cap. 4. Sec. 1. § 22. 5. Hieronymi Epist. lxxvii. vel. 81. ad Augustin. Tom. iv. Part ii. P. 642, 6. Du Pin's Bibliotheca Patrum, Art. Palladius. And Cave, Hist. Lit. Art. Palladius. And Fleury's Eccl. Hist. Book xxi. chap. 59, and xxii. 3, 10.

Origen, which, though it has long since perished, survived his death in A. D. 412. It is remarkable, also, that Jerome still continued to quote Origen as an able and authoritative expounder of Scripture,7 while he, at the same time, maintained his hatred against Rufinus and his party, and never spoke of them but with indecent abuse.8 The errors of Origen, that phrase so indefinite though so often repeated, were also the subject of his occasional reprehension. He continued to dwell on nearly the same particulars as formerly; still passing over the tenet of Universalism, although it was plainly taught in some of the extracts which he adduced as pernicious on other accounts. His present belief however, at least his professed belief, was, that the devil and his angels,

7. Hieronymi Epist. lxxiv. vel. 89. ad Augustin. pp. 619, 620. 8. Hieron. Epist. xcvi. vel. 16. ad Princip. pp. 781, 782, And Epist. xcvii. vel. 8. ad Demetriad. pp. 793, 794.

9. Hieron. Epist. xciv. vel. 59. ad Avitum. Jerome wrote this letter about A. n. 407, to accompany his translation of Origen's books Of Principles, which he gave to one Avitus, a Spaniard. It was composed for the purpose of pointing out the errors which those books contained; and the following he selects as the principal 1. That concerning the trinity. 2. The original equality of all intellectual creatures, and their perpetual revolution from bliss to misery, and from misery to bliss, by means of vice and virtue. 3. That all bodies whatever, with which rational beings are clothed, will at length vanish into nothing. 4. That innumerable worlds have preceded, and that innumerable others are to succeed, this present. 5. That the flames and torments of Gehenna, or hell, which the Scriptures threaten to sinners, are nothing but the remorse of their consciences, in the future world. 6. That our present conditions and circumstances are allotted us on account of our merits or demerits in a former state of being. And 7. That as Christ has been crucified for mankind in this world, so he will, perhaps, suffer death in eternity, for the salvation of the devil and his angels. These errors of Origen, Jerome exposes by means of long quotations from the books Of Principles; and several of these extracts incidentally mention the Restitution of all creatures to purity and bliss; but on this particular our author makes no direct remarks.

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obstinate infidels and open blasphemers, shall suffer endless torments, while such as have embraced Christianity, yet led vicious lives, shall be consigned only to a long, but temporary, purgatory after death.10 This doctrine he appears to have avowed for the rest of his life,11 sometimes acknowledging, however, that those sinners who have been severely punished in this world, such as the antediluvians, the Sodomites and Pharaoh's host, will be pardoned, in the next.12 After all, there is some reason to suspect that Jerome still remained, though in secret, a Universalist.13

10. Hieron. Comment. in Esaiam. Lib. xvi. (cap. Ixvi. v. 24.) Written A. D. 409. Tom. iii. 11. Hieron. Contra. Pelagian. Lib. i. cap. 9. Written about A. D. 415. 12. Du Pin's Biblioth. Pat. Art. Jerome. 13. See his Comment. in Esaiam. Lib. xvi. (cap. lxvi. v. 24.) Commenting upon these words of the prophet, They shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against mo; for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh, Jerome says, "this fire will burn as long as that matter "remains which feeds the voracious flame. If, therefore, any "one's conscience be infested with tares, which the enemy sowed "while the householder was asleep, the fire will burn and devour "them. And in the eyes of all the saints shall be manifested the "torments of those who, instead of laying gold, silver, precious "stones upon the foundation of the Lord, have built thereupon "hay, wood, stubble, the fuel of the eternal fire. Moreover, they "who would have these torments, though protracted through many "ages, come at length to an end, use the following texts; when "the fulness of the Gentiles shall have come in, then all Israel shall "be saved. (Rom. xi. 25, 26.) Again: God had concluded all "under sin, that he may have mercy upon all. In another passage it is said, I will sustain the wrath of the Lord, for I have "sinned against him, until he justify my cause, and bring forth my judgement, and lead me into light. (Micah vii. 9.) And "again: I will bless thee O Lord, that thou wast angry with me. "Thou didst turn thy face from me; but thou hast had compassion upon me. (Isa. xii. 1.) The Lord also says to the sinner, when "the wrath of my fury shall have passed, I will heal thee again. "Accordingly it is said, in another place, how great is the multi"tude of thy favors, O Lord, which thou hast laid up in secret, for "them that fear thee! (Ps. xxi. 19.) All which texts they repeat, "in order to maintain that after punishments and torture, there "will be a refreshing, which must now be hidden from those to

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III. Nor did he stand altogether alone in the church. The orthodox of this age may be divided into five classes, with respect to their views of future punishment and the final extent of salvation: 1, The most rigid among them believed that none would hereafter be saved, except those who died in the true faith, and in the exercise of godliness; and most, if not all of these held, for the less deserving saints, a mild purgatory, by which they were to be thoroughly cleansed, before their admission into heaven. were the sentiments of the famous Augustine,14 the oracle of the western church, who was, however, disposed, at times, to mitigate the severity of damnation.15 2, Another class held, in substance with the more ancient fathers Lactantius, Hilary, Basil and Ambrose, that all would finally be saved, who continued to the last in the catholic faith and discipline, whatever were their moral characters; but that such

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"whom fear is necessary, that while they fear the torments they may desist from sin. We ought to leave it to the wisdom of "God alone, whose measure not only of mercy, but of torment is "just, and who knows whom to judge, and in what manner, and "how long to punish. We may only say, as becomes human frailty, Lord, contend not with me in thy fury, nor in thy wrath "take me away. (Ps.) And as we believe in the eternal torments "of the devil and of all deniers and impious men who have said in "their heart There is no God; so we may suppose that the sentence "of the Judge on those sinners and impious persons who never"theless are Christians, and whose works are to be tried and purg"ed in the fire, will be moderated and mixed with mercy." Considering Jerome's usual positiveness, and especially his violence in the late contention, I cannot satisfactorily account for the foregoing language, so moderate if not even equivocal, without supposing that he himself secretly agreed with those Restorationists of whom he speaks.

14. Augustin. De Civitate Dei Lib. xx. cap. 1. and xxi. 24, and 26. See also Du Pin's Biblioth. Patrum, Art. Augustine.

15. Augustin, Enchiridion ad Laurentium, cap. 112, 113. De Fide. et Op. cap. 23, 26.