in the course of controversies against heretics and non- Christians to a systematic form was first felt by the teachers in the school for catechists, and they, in going to work to meet this necessity, were guided by the bap- tismal confession and the Regula Fidei. In the writ- ings of Clement the subjects of his Gnosis are loosely combined, and the treatises disclose no plan followed in detail; they are only labors preparatory to a sj-stem. Setting out with these materials, Origen laid the foun- dation of a regular system of Christian dogmas. Yet his order was not very exact, and the gain of a system- atic doctrinal form was not secured without material loss. The doctrine relating to the premundane exist- ence of God, being placed first in the regular scholastic order, concealed those living germs seated in man's re- ligious feeling or contained in the history of religion, which might otherwise have influenced beneficially the historical development of Christian doctrine; and the doctrine of Soteriology was left comparatively un- developed. Origen says, " The apostles taught only what was necessary ; many doctrines were not an- nounced by them with perfect distinctness; they left the more precise determination and demonstration of many dogmas to the disciples of science, who were to build up a scientific system on the basis of the given articles of faith" (Be Princ. Praf. p. 3 sq.). The prin- ciple that a sj'stematic exposition shall begin with the consideration of that which is naturally first is express- ly announced by Origen {Tom. in Joan, x, 178), where, in an allegorical interpretation of the eating of fishes, he says : " In eating, one should begin with the head, i. e. one should set out from the highest and most fun- damental dogmas concerning the heavenly, and should stop with the feet, i. e. should end with those doctrines which relate to that realm of existence which is far- thest removed from the heaveidy source, whether it be that which is most material or to the subterraneal, or to the evil spirits and impure da>mons." The order of presentation in the four books respecting fundament- al doctrines is (according to the outline given by Rede- penning {Orig. ii, 276) as follows: "At the commence- ment is placed the doctrine of God, the eternal source of all existence, as a point of departure for an exposition in which the knowledge of the essence of God, an<l of the unfoldings of that essence, leads on to the genesis of the eternal in the world, viz. the created spirits, whose fall first occasioned the creation of the coarser material world. This material is without difficulty arranged around the ecclesiastical doctrines of the Father, Son, and Spirit, of the creation, the angels, and the fall of man. All this is contained in the first book of Origen's work on fun- damental doctrines. In the second book we set foot upon the earth as it now is : we see it arising out of the ante-mundane though not absolutely eternal matter, in time, in which it is to lead its changing existence until the restoration and emancipation of the fallen spirits. Into this world comes the Son of God, sent by the God of the Old Testament, who is no other than the Father of Jesus Christ; we learn of the incarnation of the Son, of the Holy Ghost as he goes forth from the Son to enter into the hearts of men, of the psychical in man in distinction from the purely spiritual in him, of the purification and restoration of the psychical man by judgment and punishment, and of eternal salvation. In virtue of the inalienable freedom belonging to the spirit, it fights its way upwards in the face of evil pow- ers of the spiritual world and against temptations from within, supported by Christ himself, and by the means of grace, i. e. by all the gifts and operations of the Holy Ghost. This freedom, and the process bj^ which man becomes free, are described in the third book. The fourth book is distinct from the rest and inde- pendent, as containing the basis on which the doctrine of the preceding books rests, viz. the revelation made by the Holy Scriptures" (whereas later dogmatists have been accustomed to place the doctrine before the other contents of the system).
ORIGEN
432
ORIGEN
4. Among Origen's practical works are specially note- worthy his treatise on prayer, with an exposition of the Lord's Prayer, and exhortation to martj'rdom. It was written during the persecution of Maximinus. Besides these works, Origeii wrote many letters, 'EvriaToXai (Ej)istul(e), of which Eusebius collected over eight hun- dred. We have, too, a few fragments of an answer to Ju- lius Africanus on the authenticity of the history of Su- sanna. Delarue has given (i, 1-32), whether complete or fragmentary, all that remains of them. Among the works of Origen is also usually inserted the Philocalia {^iXoKokia), a collection of extracts from his writings on various exegetical questions. The compilation was made, however, by Gregory of Nazianzum and Basil the Great. It is entitled Philocalia, de obscuris S. Scrip- turcB locis, a SS. PP. Basilio ^faf/m> et Gregorio theo- logo, ex variis Oregenis commentariis excei-pta, Omnia nunc primum Greece edita, ex Bihlioiheca Regia, opere et studio Jo. Tarini, Andegavi, qui et Latine fecit et notis iUustravit (Paris, 1619, 4to).