life. Origen's opinions are further embarrassed by the constant confusion which arises from the intermingling of ideas which belong to the close of the present order (αἰών) and the close of all things. It is again impossible to see clearly how the inalienable freedom of rational beings, which, originally led to the Fall, can be so disciplined as to bring them at last to perfect harmony. This, however, Origen holds; and though he is unable to realize the form of future purification, through which souls left unpurified by earthly existence will be cleansed hereafter, he clings to the belief that "the end must be like the beginning" (de Princ. i. 6, 2), a perfect unity in God. From this he excludes no rational creature. The evil spirits which fell have not lost that spirit by which they are akin to God, which in its essence is inaccessible to evil (in Joh. xxxii. 11, ἀνεπίδεκτον τῶν χειρόνων τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ ἀνθρώπου), though it can be overgrown and overpowered (cf. de Princ. i. 8, 3). And, on the other hand, freedom remains even when perfect rest has been reached, and in this Origen appears to find the possibility of future declensions (ib. ii. 3, 3, frag. Gr. ii. 2). Whether matter, the medium through which rational freedom finds expression (ib. iv. 35),will at last cease to be, or be infinitely spiritualized, he leaves undetermined. The question is beyond man's powers (ib. i. 6, 4; ii. 2; ii. 3, 3; iii. 6, 1), though man cannot but ponder upon it (ib. i. 6, 1 f.; iii. 4, 5 s. f.). So he presents, in imaginary outlines, the picture of the soul's progress through various scenes of chastisement or illumination (ib. i. 6, 3; iii. 6, 6; iii. 5, 6 ff., and Redepenning's note), till he can rest in the thought of a restoration in which law and freedom, justice and love, are brought to a perfect harmony (cf. de Orat. § 27, p. 227 L.). This thought assists Origen in forming a theory of future punishments. All future punishments exactly answer to individual sinfulness (in Matt. Comm. Ser. § 16), and, like those on earth, are directed to the amendment of the sufferers (c. Cels. iv. 10; Hom. in Ezech. v. 1). Lighter offences can be chastised on earth; the heavier remain to be visited hereafter (Hom. in Lev. xiv. 4). In every case the uttermost farthing must be paid, though final deliverance is promised (in Rom. v. 2 f.). Origen looked forward to a fiery ordeal, through which men should pass in the world to come. Every one already baptized with water and Spirit would, he thought, if he needed cleansing, be baptized by the Lord Jesus in a river of fire, and so purified enter into paradise (Hom. in Luc. xxiv.). In this sense also he looked forward to a (spiritual) conflagration of the world, by which all beings in need of such discipline should be at once chastised and healed (c. Cels. v. 15; cf. iv. 13).
On the other hand, since the future state is the direct fruit of this, there are, so Origen held, varieties of blessedness in heaven (in Rom. iv. 12), corresponding to the life of saints (ib. ix. 3, p. 303), and foreshadowed by the divisions of Israel (Hom. in Num. i. 3; xxviii. 2; Hom. in Jos. xxv. 4). Speaking generally, the believer after death enters a state of fuller knowledge and loftier progress de Princ. ii. 11, 6). The resurrection of the body completes the full transfiguration, without loss, of all that belongs to his true self; and he begins a nobler development of body and soul—moral, intellectual, spiritual—by which he is brought nearer to the throne of God (cf. ib. i. 3, 8; in Matt. Comm. Ser. § 51; Hom. i. in Ps. xxxviii. § 8). The relationships of earth come to an end (in Matt. t. xvii. 33: on this point Origen is not consistent). The visible ceases, and men enjoy the eternal, for which now they hope (in Rom. vii. 5). Thus human interest is removed from the present earth to its heavenly antitype. It is probably due to this peculiarity of his teaching that Origen nowhere dwells on the doctrine of Christ's return, which occupies a large place in most schemes of Christian belief. The coming of Christ in glory is treated as the spiritual revelation of His true nature (de Princ. iv. 25), though Origen says that he by no means rejects "the second presence (ἐπιδημία) of the Son of God more simply understood" (in Matt. t. xii. 30).
CHARACTERISTICS.—It cannot be surprising that Origen failed to give a consistent and harmonious embodiment to his speculations. His writings represent an aspiration rather than a system, principles of research and hope rather than determined formulas; and his enthusiasm continually mars the proportion of his work. His theorizing needs the discipline of active life, without which there can be no real appreciation of history or of the historical development of truth. Yet even in regard to the practical apprehension of the divine education of the world it is only necessary to compare him on one side with Philo and on the other with Augustine, to feel how his grasp of the significance of the Incarnation gave him a sovereign power to understand the meaning and destiny of life.
While ready to fully acknowledge the claims of reason (cf. Hom. in Luc. i. p. 88 L.), Origen lays stress on the new data given by revelation to the solution of the problems of philosophy (de Princ. i. 5, 4). He points out repeatedly the insufficiency of reason, of the independent faculties of man, to attain that towards which it is turned. Reason enables man to recognize God when He makes Himself known, to receive a revelation from Him in virtue of his affinity with the Divine Word, but it does not enable the creature to derive from within the longed-for knowledge. The capacity for knowing God belongs to man as man, and not to man as a philosopher. Origen therefore acknowledges the nobility of Plato's saying that "it is a hard matter to find out the Maker and Father of the Universe, and impossible for one who has found Him to declare Him to all men." But he adds that Plato affirms too much and too little (c. Cels. vii. 43). As Christians "we declare that human nature is not in itself competent in any way to seek God and find Him purely without the help of Him Who is sought, of Him Who is found by those who confess after they have done all in their power that they have yet need of Him. . ." (cf. Clem. Al. Cohort. § 6).
In the endeavour to fashion a Philosophy of Christianity Origen did not practically recognize the limits and imperfection of the human mind which he constantly points out. His
