ORIGEN ON THE SOUL'S IMMORTALITY.
By JACOB HARE
Speaking of Origen, Neander says: “To the end of his life he was occupied with theological labors. When he was sixty years of age he now, for the first time, permitted his discourses to be taken down by short-hand writers. In what high consideration he stood with the churches of these countries is evident from the fact that on important ecclesiastical questions where it was difficult to come at a decision, the opinion of Origen was consulted by Synods of Bishops. A case of this sort in which Beryllus, the Bishop of Bostra, in Arabia, submitted to be taught by him, we have noticed on a former occasion. We may here mention, as another instance of this kind, that a controversy had been excited by a party among the Arabian Christians, who asserted that the human soul died with the body, and that it was to be revived only with the body at the resurrection,—an ancient Jewish notion. Perhaps too in those districts whose situation brought them into frequent contact with Jews it was no new doctrine, but the one which had prevailed there from ancient times. And perhaps it was first brought about through the influence of Origen, in whose system the doctrine of the natural immortality of the soul, which is related to God, held an important place, that this latter doctrine now became here the more general one, and the small party who still adhered to the old opinion appeared to be heretical; if the case really was that the prevailing voice had expressed itself thus early against them. Hence it is explained how the convention of a great Synod came to be thought necessary for the purpose of settling these disputes. As they could not come to an agreement Origen was sent for, and it was brought about by his influence that the opponents of the soul's natural immortality confessed and renounced their error.” Jew is a common term applied to the people of God, or Israel. See Webster. Our author admits in the above quotation that they believed that the soul died with the body, and that it was only made alive in the resurrection. That it was an old Jewish notion is very significant, inasmuch as the writers of the word of God were all Jews; that the Son of God, with all the apostles, and New Testament writers, were Jews. Hence the admission that it was the prevailing opinion in the Christian church, before Origen, would seem conclusive.