eriod long subsequent to the date assigned to Methodius.
In speaking of our blessed Saviour, for example, he employs expressions
to guard against the Arian heresy, and makes extracts apparently from
the Nicene creed, "God of himself, and not by grace," "Very God of very
God, very light of very light, who for us men and our salvation, &c."
The general opinion indeed seems to be that this, and many other
writings formerly ascribed to the first Methodius, were written by
persons of a subsequent age, who either were of the same name or assumed
his. Even were the work genuine, it would afford just as strong a
demonstration that Methodius believed that the city of Jerusalem could
hear his salutation, as that the saints could hear his prayer; for he
addresses the same "Hail" to Mary, Symeon, and the Holy City alike,
calling it the "earthly heaven." [Greek: Chairois hae polis, ho epigeios
ouranos.] {133}

* * * * *

SECTION V.--THE EVIDENCE OF ORIGEN.

Jerome informs us that Tertullian, whose remains we have last examined,
lived to a very advanced age. Long, therefore, before his death
flourished Origen, one of the most celebrated lights of the primitive
Church. He was educated a Christian. Indeed his father is said to have
suffered martyrdom about the year 202. Origen was a pupil of Clement of
Alexandria. His virtues and his labours have called forth the admiration
of all ages; and though he cannot be implicitly followed as a teacher,
what still remains of his works will be delivered down as a rich
treasure to succeeding times. He was a most voluminous writer; and
Jerome asked the members of his church, "Who is there among us that can
read as many books as Origen has composed?" [Vol. iv. epist. xli. p.
346.] A large proportion of his works are lost; and of those which
remain, few are preserved in the original Greek. We are often obliged to
study Origen through the medium of a translation, the accuracy of which
we have no means of verifying. A difficult and delicate duty also
devolves upon the theological student to determine which of the works
attributed to Origen are genuine and which are spurious; and what parts,
moreover, of the works received on the whole as genuine came from his
pen. Of {134} the spurious works, some are so palpably written in a much
later age, and by authors of different religious views, that no one,
after weighing the evidence, can be at a loss what decision to mak