Note.—­Page 134.

In the text it has been observed, that “Coccius in his elaborate work quotes the two following passages as Origen’s, without expressing {402} any hesitation or doubt respecting their genuineness; in which he is followed by writers of the present day.”

The modern works, to which reference is here made, are chiefly the Lectures delivered by Dr. Wiseman, in the Roman Catholic Chapel in Moorfields in the year 1836, and the compilation of Messrs. Berington and Kirk [Berington and Kirk.  London, 1830, p. 403.], from which Dr. Wiseman in his preface to his Lectures (p. ix.) informs us, that in general he had drawn his quotations of the Fathers.  In citing the testimony of Origen in support of the invocation of saints, it is evident that Dr. Wiseman has drawn from that source; for whereas the two confessedly spurious passages, from the Lament, and from the Book on Job, are in that compilation quoted in the same page, Dr. Wiseman cites only the passage from the Lament, as from a work on the Lamentations, but gives his reference to the Book on Job.  His words are these:—­“Again he (Origen) thus writes on the Lamentations:  ’I will fall down on my knees, and not presuming, on account of my crimes, to present my prayer to God, I will invoke all the saints to my assistance.  O ye saints of heaven, I beseech you with a sorrow full of sighs and tears; fall at the feet of the Lord of mercies for me, a miserable sinner,’—­Lib. ii.  De Job.” [Lectures on the Principal Doctrines and Practices of the Catholic Church, by Nicholas Wiseman, D.D.  London, 1836.  Vol. i. preface, p. ix. and vol. ii. p. 107.]

When we find such passages as these, which have been so long ago and so repeatedly pronounced to be utterly spurious, yet cited in evidence at the present time, and represented as conveying the genuine testimony of Origen, we shall be pardoned for repeating the sentiments expressed so many years ago by the learned Bishop of Avranches with regard to the very work here cited, “It is wonderful that, WITHOUT ANY MARK OF THEIR BEING FORGERIES, they should be sometimes cited in evidence by some theologians.”

Note.—­Page 151.

The whole passage cited as Origen’s comment on the words of Ezekiel, “The heavens are opened,” is in the Latin version as follows.  The Greek original, if it ever existed, is lost.  The portion between brackets is the part suspected of being an interpolation.

6. Et aperti sunt coeli.  Clausi erant coeli, et ad adventum Christi aperti sunt, ut reseratis illis veniret super eum Spiritus Sanctus in specie columbae.  Neque enirn poterat ad nos commeare nisi primum {403} ad suae naturae consortem descendisset. Ascendit Jesus in altum, captivam duxit captivitatem, accepit dona in hominibus.  Qui descendit, ipse est qui ascendit super omnes coelos ut impleret omnia.  Et ipse dedit alios apostolos, alios prophetas, alios evangelistas, alios pastores et magistros in perfectionem sanctorum.