XXII. The progress of superstition in this cen⚫ DENT. IV. tury, and the erroneous notions that prevailed Jovinian. concerning the true nature of religion, excited the zeal and the efforts of many to stem the torrent. But their labors only exposed them to infamy and reproach. Of these worthy opposers of the reigning superstitions, the most eminent was Jovinian, an Italian monk, who, toward the conclusion of this century, taught first at Rome, and afterwards at Milan, that all those who kept the vows they made to Christ at their baptism, and lived according to the rules of piety and virtue laid down in the Gospel, had an equal title to the rewards of futurity; and that, consequently, those who passed their days in insocial celibacy, and severe mortifications and fastings, were in no respect more acceptable in the eye of God, than those who lived virtuously in the bonds of mar riage, and nourished their bodies with moderation and temperance. These judicious opinions, which many began to adopt, were first condemned by the church of Rome, and afterwards by Ambrose, in a council holden at Milan in the year 390h. The emperor Honorius seconded the authoritative proceedings of the bishops by the violence of the secular arm, answered the judicious reasonings of Jovinian by the terror of coercive and penal laws, and banished this pretended heretic to the island of Boa. Jovinian published his opinions in a book, against which Jerome, in the following century, wrote a most bitter and abusive treatise, still extanti.

to Origen.

XXIII. Among all the religious controversies Controverthat divided the church, the most celebrated, both sies relating for their importance and their duration, were those relating to Origen and his doctrine.

This illustrious man, though he had been, for a long time, charged with many errors, was deemed,

h Hieronymus in Jovinianum, tom. ii. op.-Augustin. de Hæres. cap. lxxxii.-Ambros. Epist. vi.

Codex Theodosianus, tom. iii. vi.

CENT. IV. by the generality of Christians, an object of high veneration; and his name was so sacred as to give weight to the cause in which it appeared. The Arians, who were sagacious in searching for succours on all sides to maintain their sect, affirmed that Origen had adopted their opinions. In this they were believed by some, who consequently included this great man in the hatred which they entertained against the sect of the Arians. But several writers of the first learning and note opposed this report, and endeavoured to vindicate the honor of their master from these injurious insinuations. Of these the most eminent was Eusebius, bishop of Cæsarea, as appears by his learned work, entitled, An Apology for Origen. It is extremely probable, that these clamors raised against the memory and reputation of a man, whom the whole Christian world beheld with respect, would have been soon hushed, had it not been for the rise of new commotions, which proceeded from another source, and of which we shall treat in the following section.

The progress

troversies.

XXIV. The monks in general, and the Egyptian of these con- monks in particular, were enthusiastically devoted to Origen, and spared no labor to propagate his opinions in all places. Their zeal, however, met with opposition, nor could they convince all Christians of the truth and soundness of the notions invented or adopted by that eminent writer. Hence arose a controversy concerning the reasons and foundations of Origenism, which was at first managed in a private manner, but afterwards, by degrees, broke out into an open flame. Among the numerous partisans of Origen, was John, bishop of Jerusalem ; which furnished Epiphanius and Jerome with a pretext to cast an odium upon this prelate, against whom they had been previously exasperated on other accounts. But the ingenious bishop conducted matters with such admirable dexterity, that, in defending himself, he vindicated, at the same time, the reputation of Origen, and drew to his party the

whole monastic body, and also a prodigious number CENT. IV. of those who were spectators of this interesting combat. This was merely the beginning of the vehement contests concerning the doctrine of Origen, that were carried on both in the eastern and western provinces. These contests were particularly fomented in the west by Rufinus, a presbyter of Aquileia, who translated into Latin several books of Origen, and insinuated, with sufficient plainness, that he acquiesced in the sentiments they contained, which drew upon him the implacable rage of the learned and choleric Jerome. But these commotions seemed to cease in the west after the death of Rufinus, and in consequence of the efforts which men of the first order made to check, both by their authority and by their writings, the progress of Origenism in those parts.

in the east

XXV. The troubles which the writings and Controversy doctrines of Origen excited in the east were more concerning grievous and obstinate. Theophilus, bishop of Alex- the writings andria, irritated for several reasons against the of Origen. Nitrian monks, represented them as infected with the contagion of Origenism, and ordered them to give up and abandon all the productions of Origen. The monks refused obedience to this command, and alleged in their defence two considerations: one was, that the passages in the writings of this holy and venerable man, which seeined to swerve from the truth, were inserted in them by ill-designing heretics; and the other, that a few censurable things were not sufficient to justify the condemnation of the rest. Matters were more exasperated by this refusal of submission to the order of Theophilus; for this violent prelate called a council at Alexandria, in the year 399, in which, having condemned the followers of Origen, he sent a band of soldiers to drive the monks from their residence on mount Nitria. The

* See Just. Fontaninus, Historia Literar. Aquileiensis, lib. iv. cap. iii.

CENT. IV. poor monks, thus scattered abroad by an armed force, fled first to Jerusalem, whence they retired to Scythopolis; and, finding that they could not live here in security and peace, determined, at length, to set sail for Constantinople, and there plead their cause in presence of the emperor. The issue of these proceedings will come under the history of the following century.

It is, however, necessary to observe here, that we must not reduce to the same class all those who are called Origenists in the records of this century; for this ambiguous title is applied to persons who differed widely in their religious notions. Sometimes it merely signifies such friends of Origen, as acknow→ leged his writings to have been adulterated in many places, and who were far from patronising the errors of which he was accused; in other places, this title is attributed to those who confess Origen to be the author of all the doctrines which are imputed to him, and who resolutely support and defend his opinions; of which latter there was a considerable number among the monastic orders.

A multitude of ceremo

nies introduced.

CHAPTER IV.

Concerning the Rites and Ceremonies used in the Church during this Century.

I. WHILE the Roman emperors were studious to promote the honor of Christianity by the auspicious protection they afforded to the church, and to advance its interests by their most zealous efforts, the inconsiderate and ill-directed piety of the bishops cast a cloud over the beauty and simplicity of the Gospel,

See Pierre Daniel Huet, Origeniana, lib. ii. cap. iv.-Louis Doucin, Histoire de l'Origenisme, livr. iii.-Hier. a Prato, Diss. vi. in Sulpitium Severum de Monachis ob Origenis nomen ex Nitria totaque Ægypto pulsis, p. 273.

by the prodigious number of rites and ceremonies CENT. IV, which they had invented to embellish it. And here we may apply that well-known saying of Augustin that the yoke under which the Jews formerly groaned, was more tolerable than that imposed upon many Christians in his time.' The rites and institutions, by which the Greeks, Romans, and other nations, had formerly testified their religious veneration for fictitious deities, were now adopted, with some slight alterations, by Christian bishops, and employed in the service of the true God. We have already mentioned the reasons alleged for this imitation, so likely to disgust all who have a just sense of the native beauty of genuine Christianity, These fervent heralds of the Gospel, whose zeal outran their candor and integrity, imagined that the nations would receive Christianity with more facility, when they saw the rites and ceremonies to which they were accustomed, adopted in the church, and the same worship paid to Christ and his martyrs, which they had formerly offered to their idol deities. Hence it happened, that, in these times, the religion of the Greeks and Romans differed very little, in its external appearance, from that of the Christians. They had both a most pompous and splendid ritual. Gorgeous robes, mitres, tiaras, wax-tapers, crosiers", processions, lustrations, images, gold and silver vases, and many such circumstances of pageantry,

m

Augustin, Epist. cxix. ad Januarium, according to the ancient division.

n The lituus, which, among the ancient Romans, was the chief ensign of the augurs, and derived its name from its resemblance to the military trumpet, became a mark of episcopal dignity. We call it the crosier, or bishop's staff,

∞ The word supplicationes, which I have rendered by that of processions, signified, among the pagans, those solemn, and public acts of gratitude for national blessings, or deprecation of national calamities, which were expressed by the whole body of the people by a religious approach to the temples of the gods, which, by a decree of the senate, were open to all without distinction. See Cic. Catil. iii. 6. Liv. x. 23.