CAP. XVIII.
VVhat diuers men thought of Origen.* 1.1
THe heathenishe philosophers who then florished are witnesses approued of his good pur∣pose and industrie in this behalfe, in whose commentaries we finde often mention made of this man, wherof some haue dedicated their bookes vnto him, other some haue deliuered vp their works vnto him as vnto the censure of their maister. But what shall I speake of them, when as Porphyrius himselfe, then in Sicilia, striuinge and strugglinge against vs with his bookes en∣deuouring to confute holy scripture remembred the interpreters thereof? And beynge not able to charge, neither to impugne to any purpose our doctrine, any kinde of waye, now voyde of reason he fell to rayling speaches and sclaundering of the expositors. of which number namely he goeth about to accuse Origen, whome he reporteth to haue knowen of a child, yet through his vnaduised forgetfulnesse he commendeth the man, sometyme reporting truely when as he coulde not other∣wise chuse: sometime vntruely thinking thereby to delude others, and whilest that nowe he accu∣seth him for being a Christian, anone he paynteth forth, and wondereth at his singular gyfte and* 1.2 excellencie in philosophicall discipline. heare him therefore, for thus he writeth: Many beyng de∣sirous to finde out, not the imperfection and impietie of Ievvishe scriptures but the resolu∣tion, haue turned them selues vnto expositions not cohaerent, & interpretations of the scriptures inconuenient, and not onely allovvinge of forged scriptures, but also approuing and extollinge the commentators. for they alleaging the darke speaches vvhich are sayd to be manifest in Mo∣ses, and publishing them as Oracles replenished vvith hydd & concealed mysteries: they frame a charmed iudgement through the arrogancie of their minde and shevv forth their expositions. Agayne after a fewe lynes he sayeth: This is the absurde manner and guyse of that man, vvith vvhome I beyng very yonge haue had conference, vvho then vvas very famous, and at this daye also by reason of the commentaries he lefte behinde him (I meane Origen) is muche spoken of, vvhose greate prayse is blased farre and nyghe among the maisters and fauourers of that do∣ctrine. For vvhen he vvas the disciple of Ammonius, vvho in our tyme excelled for his fame in philosophie, he profited very muche vnder him beyng his maister, and obtayned greate knovv∣ledge in the sciences: but as toutchinge the right institution of lyfe, he tooke in hande an other trade quite kame from his. for Ammonius beyng a Christian and brought vp of christian parents vvhen he had grovven into rypenesse of iudgement and the knovvledge of philosophie, forth∣vvith he framed his trade of lyfe conformable vnto the lavves: but Origen beynge a Gentile and brought vp in the sciences of the Gentiles, degenerated and fell into that* 1.3 barbarous temeritie, vvherevvith beynge taken he corrupted both him selfe and the perfection of those sciences, lea∣ding a lyfe after the maner of the Christians, contrary vnto the lavves, according vnto their opi∣nions of celestiall matters and of God, preferring straunge fables before the science of the gen∣tiles. He continevvally perused Plato, he readde ouer the vvorkes of Numenius, Cronius, Apollo∣phanes, Longinus, Moderatus, Nicomachus, and the reste of the Pythagoreans, counted vvise and* 1.4 profounde men. he vvas vvel seene in Chaeremon the Stoicke, and in the vvorkes of Cornutus, vvhence he borovvinge of the Grecians maner, the allegoricall interpretation of mysteries, ap∣plyed it vnto the Ievvishe scriptures. These thinges hath Porphyrius written in his third-booke agaynst the Christians, truely reporting of this mans exercises, and sundry kindes of knowledge but vntruely in that he sayde, he should degenerate from the Gentiles. For how can he pronounce the trueth when as he practiseth to write againste the Christians? he sayeth that Ammonius from leading a good and a godly lyfe fell into heathenish idolatrie. for the doctrine of Christ the which Origen receaued of his forefathers the same he retayned as we haue largely declared before. And