Τεκμήριον γὰρ τῆς ἐκχυθείσης χάριτος ἐν χείλεσιν αὐτοῦ τὸ ὀλίγου διαγεγενημένου τοῦ χρόνου τῆς διδασκαλίας αὐτοῦ, ἐνιαυτὸν γάρ που καὶ μῆνας ὀλίγους ἐδίδαξεν, κ, τ. λ.

Si ergo considerem verum pontificem meum, Dominum Jesum Christum, quomodo in carne quidem positus, per totum annum erat cum populo, annum illum de quo ipse dicit: Evangelizare pauperibus misit me, et vocare annum Domini acceptum, et diem remissionis adverte quomodo semel in anno isto, in die repropitiationis intrat in sancta sanctorum, hoc est, cum impleta dispensatione penetrat cœlos, et intrat ad patrem 2.

Prædicare annum Domini acceptum-juxta simplicem intelligentiam aiunt uno anno Salvatorem in Judæa evangelium prædicasse, et hoc esse quod dicitur, Prædicare a, etc.

Ἐὰν δὲ αὐτὴ ἡ ἑορτὴ τοῦ Πάσχα ἣν (John v. 1.) οὐ προσκεῖται τὸ ὄνομα αὐτῆς· στενοχωρεῖ δὲ τὸ ἀκόλουθον τῆς ἱστορίας, καὶ μάλιστα ἐπεὶ μετ' ὀλίγα ἐπιφέρεται ὅτι ἦν ἐγγὺς ἡ ἑορτὴ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἡ σκηνοπηγία.

Καίτοιγε Αριστοτέλης μὲν εἴκοσιν ἔτεσι λέγεται πεφοιτηκέναι Πλάτωνι· οὐκ ὀλίγον δὲ χρόνον καὶ ὁ Χρύσιππος παρὰ τῷ Κλεάνθει πεποιῆσθαι τὰς διατριβάς. ὁ δὲ Ἰούδας παρὰ τῷ Ἰησοῦ οὐδὲ τρία διέτριψεν ἔτη.

Si autem oportet et de temporibus aliquid dicere; dicimus quoniam in Chronicis Phlegontis cujusdam dicitur, (si tamen debemus et hunc quasi vera dicentem de templo suscipere,) quoniam circa quadragesimum annum a quinto decimo anno Tiberii Cæsaris facta est destructio Jerusalem, et templi quod fuit in ea. deduc ergo prædicationis Domini fere annos tres, et tempus resurrectionis ipsius, quando per dies quadra

y Operum i. 160. De Principiis, iv. 5. Homilia ix. 5. a Operum iii. 970. C. in iv. 250. A. B. in Joh. Comm. tom. xiii. 39. Celsum, ii. 12.

z Operum ii. 239. C. In Leviticum Lucam Homilia xxxii. b Operum c Operum i. 397. E. Contra

ginta apparens illis docebat eos de regno Dei, et invenies forsitan plus minus: quoniam circa dimidium septimanæ, computans per decadas annorum, est completum quod dictum est, &c.d

To understand this passage, we must compare it with the following just before, and with Jerome's commentary on Dan. ix.

Hæc enim septimana, quæ propter septem decadas annorum dicitur septimana, confirmat testamentum multis, quando et Apostoli Christi post ascensionem ipsius, orationi et verbo instantes, a Deo illuminabantur in omnem scientiam voluntatis divinarum scripturarum, et a Spiritu Sancto. in dimidio autem septimanæ, id est, in tribus et semis decadis annorum, sublatum est sacrificium altaris: id est in triginta quinque annis impletum est quod fuerat scriptum, &c.e

Dicit idem Eusebius et aliam opinionem, quam ex parte non reprobo: quod plerique unam hebdomadem annorum in septuaginta annos extendant: per singulos hebdomadis annos decennio supputato. et volunt a passione Domini, usque ad Neronis imperium, annos esse triginta quinque, quando contra Judæos Romana primum arma commota sunt; et hanc esse dimidiam hebdomadam annorum septuaginta. postea vero a Vespasiano et Tito, et deinceps quando Jerosolyma templumque succensum est, usque ad Trajanum, alios esse annos triginta quinque: et hanc esse hebdomadem de qua Angelus loquitur Danieli: Confirmabit autem pactum multis hebdomada una. in totum enim orbem per apostolos Evangelium prædicatum est: qui usque ad illud tempus perseveraverunt, tradentibus Ecclesiasticis historiis Johannem Evangelistam usque ad tempora vixisse Trajani £.

With regard to the dates and order of these several

d Operum iii. 859. C. Comm. in Matt. Series secundum Veterem Interpretationem, 40. e Ibid. 858. F. f Hieronymus, Operum iii. 1114. ad principium.

passages, they may be determined in a great measure from the internal evidence of the works themselves; so far at least as to demonstrate that the first four are prior in point of time to the two last. The Homilies on St. Luke are quoted in the Commentaries on St. John : and the Commentaries upon St. John in those on St. Matthewh. The Commentaries on the books of the Old Testament are frequently mentioned in the work against Celsus i.

Eusebius informs us that Origen was seventeen when his father suffered martyrdom under Severus, in the tenth year of his reign, A. D. 202*: and was eighteen when he was appointed to the head of the catechetical school at Alexandriak: that he emigrated from Alexandria to Cæsarea, about the tenth of Alexander Severus, A. D. 231: that five books of his Commentaries on St. John had been written before that time; and that the remainder, seventeen in number, were written after it; the last, about the time of Maximin's persecution, A. D. 235-238'; that he was upwards of sixty in the third of Philip, when he composed his work against Celsus, and his Commentary upon St. Matthew; and that he died at sixty-nine or seventy, sometime in the persecution under Gallus, A. D. 252-254m.

* Severus' persecution of Christianity seems to be fixed to this year by the testimony of Spartian also; Vita, 17. compared with 16; U. C. 955. A. D. 202: though in the life of Antoninus Caracallus, 1. he speaks

of some persecution, when Antoninus was seven years old: which would be A. D. 194 or 195. See Dio, lxxviii. 5, 6. 14: Herodian, iv. 26. Spartian, Antoninus, 6. 9. A. D. 194 or 195. would be the first or second of Severus.

g xxxii. 2. Operum iv. 404. D. h Operum iii. 748. C. D. tom. xvi. 19, 20. Cf. 893. B. Comm. in Matt. Series, 77. and Operum iv. 192. A. in Joh. tom. x. 18. i Operum i. 530. C. lib. iv. 37: 670. E. vi. 49: 672. C. vi. 51: 678. F. vi. 60: 701. E. F. vii. 11. &c. * E. H. vi. 2. 3. 201. Č. 203. B-204- B. 1 E. H. vi. 21. 24. 26. 28. m Ibid. vi. 35, 36. and vii. 1. Cf. Hieronymus, De Viris Ecclesiasticis, liv. Operum iv. pars 2a. 115. Syncellus, 682. 8. 707. 10 Photius, Codex 118. page 92. Suidas, 'Opryévns. The year of his death must have been A. D. 254, if he was sixty-nine complete at his death, and seventeen A. D. 202.

The precise time of the work against Celsus may very probably be collected from certain passages therein: first, where the author is speaking of the paucity of martyrs-though only in comparison of the much greater numbers who always survived these attacks on the church "—and from what he says of the continued increase of Christianity, without hindrance or molestation, at the time when he was writing, it seems a necessary inference that no such thing as the persecution under Decius, or under Gallus and Volusianus, had as yet taken place, and therefore that he was not writing later than A. D. 249. Secondly, from what he says of the existence of political commotions and troubles, at the time when he was writing P, it is equally necessary to infer that he was writing at the close of the reign of the two Philippi, which is known to have been distinguished by such disturbances; and therefore not later than A. D. 248, or A. D. 249.

This is sufficient to prove that the work against Celsus, and consequently the Commentaries on St. Matthew, which furnish the evidence of the change in Origen's opinion of the duration of our Saviour's ministry, are the latest of his productions which have come down to us; and were written in the maturity of his judgment, and not many years before his death. The former, besides being a perfect work, which has been transmitted to us in its original state, is deservedly to be considered the most masterly of his numerous compositions; and as the index of his deliberate sentiments, ought on every account to be preferred to the

rest.

When, therefore, he observes in it, ó dè 'loudas Taρà τῷ ̓Ιησοῦ οὐδὲ τρία διέτριψεν ἔτη, he cannot affirm less

n Lib. iii. 8. Operum i. 452. D. 456. C. q Zosimus, Historiæ, i.

o Lib. vii. 26. 712. F.

p Lib. iii. 15.

than that Judas was with Jesus more than two, though perhaps not quite three years: and this may mean, not that the ministry of our Lord did not last three years, but that Judas, like the rest of the apostles, was not called to be a disciple and to company with Jesus, until part of its first year was over. From the other passage, however, Deduc ergo prædicationis Domini fere annos tres, I should conclude he thought its duration was not quite three years; though not much less

than that.

HIPPOLYTUS-On the authority of the Chronicon, ascribed to Hippolytus Portuensis, in the passage cited from it, as Alexander died Ol. 114. 1. B. C. 324, the Nativity is placed apparently B. C. 4. U. C. 750. But the author of the Chronicon speaks inaccurately; and the true date of the Nativity, as adopted by him, was U. C. 752. B. C. 2.

For he twice reckons it 206 years from the Passion to the thirteenth of Alexander Severus; which thirteenth expired March 11, U. C. 988. Two hundred and six years before that go back to U. C. 782. And he twice reckons it thirty years from the Nativity to the Passion; which last being dated U. C. 782, the Nativity is dated U. C. 752. He reckons fifty-nine Olympiads, or 236 years, a Christo usque annum xiii Imperii Alexandri; and from B. C. 2, or U. C. 752, 236 years bring us to A. D. 235, U. C. 988. But it is unnecessary to multiply the proofs of this position. It is more important to observe that the author of the Chronicle places the Nativity at the time of the Jewish Passover; that is, in the spring: a conclusion obviously to be collected from such passages as these: Post Hezram, servatoris usque generationes Christi . . . Pascha fit-A generatione autem Christi, post triginta