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council, in reply to his excuse, offered to wait his convenience, at least for a few days".

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 mediationo.

VI. Frustrated in the special object of his mission, Isidorus devoted himself exclusively to the assistance of John. The letter of Epiphanius had now A. D. 396. laid, unanswered, before the public, nearly two years; and the bishop availed himself of his friend's assistance to produce a Reply, which had become so imperiously required. It was addressed in the name of John, to Theophilus at Alexandria, to whose decision it appealed. The author, or rather the 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 n Ditto. pp. 331, 332, • Ditto. pp. 330, 331.

finally proceeded to an examination of the errors which Epiphanius had enumerated, and by implication, charged against John. Out of the eight, however, the writers answered to three only: to the first, concerning the Trinity; to the second, concerning Pre-existence; and to the fifth, concerning the Resurrection. On these three points, they either explained themselves favorably, or absolutely rejected the errors alleged; but if we may rely on the minute account, or on the confident judgment, of their prejudiced adversary, Jerome, they felt unprepared to disclaim the other five particulars in the catalogue. That they cautiously avoided any notice of them, is indubitable; and we may adopt the very natural conclusion that they really held what they so warily passed over, the salvation of the devil as well as the allegorical expositions of Origen". With this Reply to Epiphanius, or Apology to Theophilus, Isidorus departed for Alexandria; and he probably assisted in spreading copies of it through the churches.

VII. These copies were extensively dispersed, and soon reached Italy and Rome, where the Letter of Epiphanius had been already circulated. Here, as in other places, the people were variously affected, some inclining to one party, some to the other; and one of Jerome's correspondents wrote to him on the perplexi

P According to Jerome, (Epist. xxxviii.) they prevaricated on these points; but I think it evident from his own account that they fully denied that of Pre-existence. 9 Hieron. Epist. xxxviii. adv. Johan. Hierosolym. Their rejection of the error concerning Preexistence would, however involve a denial of those concerning the coats of skins, and the garden of Eden. John's Apology to Theophilus is lost; and we can judge of its contents only from Jerome's

account,

ties which the subject had occasioned, requesting a full statement of the affair. The communication of intelligence through a distance of nearly five hundred leagues, must have been dilatory and tedious; and Jerome seems to have taken the earliest opportunity, on reA. D. 397. ceipt of the request, to compose his bitter and sarcastic Answer to John's Apology.

He addressed it, for the most part, directly to John himself; but it was published in the form of a letter to his enquiring friend at Rome. The origin of the quarrel, the measures that had been adopted for a reconciliation, the answers which John had given to the three errors, and his silence with regard to the rest, were related and discussed at considerable length; and Jerome concluded by defending his own party from his bishop's accusations, and by retorting on him the charge of disturbing the church'.

He had just received a letter from Theophilus, exhorting the monks to peace and reconciliation with their bishop. It was an object of much importance to secure the assistance, or at least the neutrality, of this worldly minded but active and influential prelate, who had hitherto appeared to favor the cause of John. Jerome immediately replied to him in a flattering and insinuating strain; and declared that, agreeably to his recommendation, he himself was sincerely for peace; for such peace, however, as would, in reality, be cordial, for the peace of Christ; intimating, at the same time, that there never could be hearty concord between the faithful and

r Hieron. Epist. xxxviii.

the heretics. He embraced this opportunity, likewise, to lay before Theophilus a history of the disturbance, to defend the ordination of his brother, and to exonerate himself from that charge of inconsistency which John had urged against him for having translated the works of Origen that he now condemned".

No man, perhaps, in that age, possessed means more efficient for diffusing his prejudices, than Jerome. From his narrow and uncouth cell at Bethlehem, he could easily excite disaffection or distrust, in the remotest parts of christendom. He maintained an extensive correspondence; the fame of his knowledge procured him a welcome introduction wherever he sought assistance; and his penetrating discernment readily distinguished those who would prove most useful as coadjutors. The celebrated Augustine, now bishop of Hippo in Africa, a hundred and fifty miles west of Carthage, was too eminent for him to overlook; and he had already addressed him a letter with the information that Origen's works abounded with errors. But that honest and independent man could never be engaged in his violent measures, though he was, in reality, much farther from Origen's sentiments than Jerome himself.

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VIII. Meanwhile, Rufinus had bidden a final adieu to his friends in Palestine, and had sailed, in company with his patroness, for his native Italy. But before his departure a seeming reconciliation had been effected between him and Jerome; and in their last interview

8 Hieron. Epist. xxxix. ad Theophilum. Lib. ii. cap. 4. Sect. i. § 14.

* Huet. Origenian.

they had pledged themselves to refrain from their mutual hostilities ".

When he arrived with Melania at Rome, intent on diffusing his sentiments and partialities, and urged by Macarius, a civil officer of the city, he translated into Latin the first book of Pamphilus's and Eusebius's Apology for Origen, together with Origen's famous books Of Principles, and soon published them for the benefit of the western christians. To these works he affixed Prefaces and a Tract of his own; by which he apprized the public that in the books Of Principles he had omitted or amended the many erroneous representations concerning the trinity, which he supposed had been inserted or corrupted by the heretics. The other notions, he intimates, were preserved unaltered v. Unhappily, however, he could not altogether suppress a secret personal resentment, but embraced this opportunity to allude to a certain accomplished brother, who had ranked Origen next to the Apostles, and whose commendations of him had excited a general desire to obtain his works: who had already published in Latin above seventy of his Homilies, and who had promised to translate still more. This brother, was, of course, Jerome; and the allusion was manifestly intended to remind the few of his inconstancy, and to imply to the rest that he still continued, as he once had been, a follower of Origen. Nor did Rufinus stop

here; his smothered enmity broke out in a remark that

Hieron. Epist, xlii. vel 66. ad Rufinum, p. 348. Præfat. in Lib. Peri Archon, inter Origenis Opp. Tom. i. larue.

▾ Rufini Edit, De

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