herein lies the difference between this new feet and the Eclec tics, who had, before this time, flourished in Egypt. The Eclectics held, that in every fect there was a mixture of good and bad, of truth and falfhood, and accordingly they chofe and adopted out of each of them, such tenets as feemed to them conformable to reafon and truth, and rejected fuch as they thought repugnant to both. Ammonius, on the contrary, maintained, that the great principles of all philofophical and religious truth were to be found, equally, in all fects; that they differed from each other, only in their method of expreffing them, and in fome opinions of little or no importance; and that, by a proper interpretation of their respective fentiments, they might cafily be united into one body. It is further to be obferved, that the propenfity of Ammonius to fingularity and paradox, led him to maintain, that all the gentile religions, and even the Chriftian, were to be illuftrated and explained by the principles of this univerfal philofophy; but that, in order to this, the fables of the priests were to be removed from paganism, and the comments and interpretations of the difciples of Jefus from Christianity.

This arduous defign, which Ammonius had formed of bringing about a coalition of all the various philofophical fects, and all the different fyftems of religion, that prevailed in the world, required many difficult and difagreeable things in order to its execution. Every particular fect and religion must have feveral of its doctrines curtailed or diftorted, before it could enter into the general mass. The tenets of the philofophers, the fuperftitions of the heathen priefts, the folemn doctrines of Chriftianity, were all to fuffer in this caufe, and forced allegories were to be fubtilly employed in removing the difficulties with which it was attended. How this vaft project was effected by Ammonius, the writings of his difciples and followers, that yet remain, abundantly teftify. In order to the accomplishing his purpose, he fuppofed, that true philofophy derived its origin and its confiftence from the eastern nations; that it was taught to the Egyptians by Hermes; that it was brought from them to the Greeks, by whofe vain fubtilties and litigious disputes it was rendered fomewhat obfcure and deformed; but was, however, preferved in its original purity by Plato, who was the beft interpreter of Hermes, and of the other oriental fages. He maintained, that all the different religions that prevailed in the world, were, in their original integrity, conformable to the genius of this ancient philofophy; but that it unfortunately hap pened that the fymbols and fictions, under which, according to the eastern manner, the ancients delivered their precepts and their doctrines were, in procefs of time, erroneously understood both by priests and people in a literal fenfe; that, in confequence

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of this, the invifible beings and demons, whom the fupreme deity had placed in the different parts of the univerfe as the minifters of his providence, were, by the fuggeftions of fuperftition, converted into gods, and worshipped with a multiplicity of vain ceremonies. He therefore infifted, that all the religions. of all nations should be restored to their original purity, and reduced to their primitive ftandard, viz. "The ancient philofophy of the east ;" and he affirmed, that this his project was agreeable to the intentions of Jefus Chrift, whofe fole view, in descending upon earth, was to fet bounds to the reigning fuperBition, to remove the errors that had crept into the religions of all nations, but not to abolish the ancient theology from whence they were derived.

Taking thefe principles for granted, Ammonius adopted the doctrines which were received in Egypt, the place of his birth and education, concerning the universe and the deity confidered as conftituting one great whole; as alfo concerning the eternity of the world, the nature of fouls, the empire of providence, and the gowernment of this world by demons. For it is most evident, that the Egyptian philofophy, which was faid to be derived from Hermes, was the basis of that of Ammonius; or, as it is otherwife called, of the more modern Platonifm; and the book of Jamblichus, concerning the mysteries of the Egyptians, puts the matter beyond difpute. Ammonius, therefore, affociated the fentiments of the Egyptians with the doctrines of Plato, which was eafily done by adulterating fome of the opinions of the latter, ard forcing his expreffions from their obvious and natural fenfe, And, to finish this conciliatory scheme, he fo interpreted the doctrines of the other philofophical and religious fects, by the violent fuccours of art, invention, and allegory, that they feemed, at length, to bear some resemblance of the Egyptian and Platonic fyftems.

To this monftrous coalition of heterogeneous doctrines, its fanatical author added a rule of life and manners, which carried an afpect of high fanctity and uncommon aufterity. He, indeed, permitted the people to live according to the laws of their country and the dictates of nature; but a more fublime rule was laid down for the wife. They were to raise above all terrestrial things, by the towering efforts of holy contemplation, thofe fouls whofe origin was celeftial and divine. They were ordered to extenuate, by hunger, thirft, and other mortifications, the fluggish body, which confines the activity, and reftrains the liberty of the immortal fpirit; that thus, in this life, they might enjoy communion with the fupreme being, and afcend after death, active and unencumbred, to the univerfal parent, to live in his presence for ever. As Ammonius was born and educated among the Chriftians, he fet off, and even gave an air of au

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thority to these injunctions, by expreffing them partly in terms borrowed from the facred fcriptures, of which we find a vast number of citations, alfo, in the writings of his difciples. To this auftere difcipline, he added the pretended art of fo purging and refining that faculty of the mind, which receives the images of things, as to render it capable of perceiving the demons, and of performing many marvelous things by their affiftance. This art, which the difciples of Ammonius called theurgy, was not, however, communicated to all the schools of this fanatical philofopher, but only to thofe of the first rank.

The extravagant attempts of Ammonius did not cease here. To reconcile the popular religions of different countries, and particularly the Chriftian, with this new fyftem, he fell upon the following inventions: 1ft, He turned into a mere allegory the whole hiftory of the gods, and maintained that thofe beings, whom the priests and people dignified with this title, were no more than celeftial minifters, to whom a certain kind of worship was due; but a worship inferior to that which was to be referved for the fupreme deity. 2dly, He acknowledged Chrift to be a most excellent man, the friend of God, the admirable theurge; he denied, however, that Jefus defigned to abolish entirely the worship of demons, and of the other ministers of divine providence, and affirmed, on the contrary, that his only intention was to purify the ancient religion, and that his followers had manifeftly corrupted the doctrine of their divine mafter.

This new fpecies of philofophy, imprudently adopted by Origen and many other Chriftians, was extremely prejudicial to the cause of the gospel, and to the beautiful fimplicity of its celeftial doctrines. For hence it was, that the Chriftian doctors began to introduce their fubtile and obfcure erudition inta the religion of Jefus, to involve in the darkness of a vain philofophy, fome of the principal truths of Christianity that had been revealed with the utmoft plainnefs, and were indeed obvious to the meanest capacity, and to add, to the divine precepts of our Lord, many of their own, which had no fort of foundation in any part of the facred writings. From the fame fource arofe that melancholy fet of men, who have been diftinguished by the name of Myftics, whose fyftem, when feparated from the Platonic doctrine concerning the nature and origin of the foul, is but a lifeless mafs, without any vigour, form, or confiftence. Nor did the evils, which fprung from this Ammonian philofophy, end here. For under the fpecious pretext of the neceffity of contemplation, it gave occafion to that flothful and indolent courfe of life, which continues to be led by myriads of monks retired in cells, and fequeftred from fociety, to which they are neither ufeful by their inftructions, nor by their examples. To

this philofophy we may trace as to their fource, a multitude of vain and foolish ceremonies, proper only to caft a veil over truth, and to nourish fuperftition, and which are, for the most part, religiously obferved by many, even in the times in which we live. It would be endless to enumerate all the pernicious confequences that may be justly attributed to this new philofophy, or rather to this monstrous attempt to reconcile falfhood with truth, and light with darkness. Some of its most fatal effects were its alienating the minds of many, in the following ages, from the Chriftian religion, and its fubftituting in the place of the pure and fublime fimplicity of the gospel an unfeemly mixture of Platonifm and Chriftianity.

'The number of learned men among the Chriftians, which was very small in the preceding century, grew confiderably in this. Ámong thefe there were few rhetoricians, fophifts, or orators. The most part were philofophers attached to the Eclectic fyftem, though they were not all of the fame fentiments concerning the utility of letters and philofophy. Thofe, who were themselves initiated into the depths of philofophy, were defirous that others, particularly fuch as afpired to the offices of bifhops or doctors, fhould apply themfelves to the ftudy of human wisdom, in order to their being the better qualified for defending the truth with vigour, and inftructing the ignorant with fuccefs. Others were of a quite different way of thinking upon this fubject, and were for banishing all argumentation and philofophy from the limits of the church, from a notion that erudition might prove detrimental to the true fpirit of religion. Hence the early beginnings of that unhappy conteft between faith and reafon, religion and philofophy, piety and genius, which increased in the fucceeding ages, and is prolonged even to our times with a violence, that renders it extremely difficult to be brought to a conclufion. Thofe, who maintained that learning and philofophy were rather advantageous, than detrimental to the caufe of religion, gained, by degrees, the afcendant, and, in confequence thereof, laws were enacted, which excluded the ignorant and illiterate from the office of public teachers. The oppofite fide of the question was not, however, without defenders; and the defects and vices of learned men and philofophers contributed much to increase their number, as will appear in the progrefs of this hiftory.'

In treating of the Afcetics, our learned Author obferves, there is a particular confideration, which will enable us to render a natural account of the origin of that auftere difcipline they impofed upon themselves, and which is drawn from the genius and temper of the people by whom it was firft practifed. It was" in Egypt, he fays, that this morofe difcipline had its rife; and it is obfervable, that Egypt has in all times, as it were by an immutable

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mutable law, or difpofition of nature, abounded with persons of a melancholy complexion, and produced, in proportion to its extent, more gloomy fpirits than any other part of the world. It was here that the Ellenes and the Therapeute, those difmal, gloomy fects, chiefly dwelt, long before the coming of Christ'; as alfo many others of the Afcetic tribe, who, led by a certain melancholy turn of mind, and a delufive notion of rendering themfelyes more acceptable to the Deity by their aufterities, withdrew from human Society, and all the innocent pleasures and comforts of life. From Egypt, this four, unfociable difcipline paffed into Syria, and the neighbouring countries, which alfo abounded with perfons of the fame difmal conftitution with that of the Egyptians; and from thence, in procefs of time, its infection reached to the European nations.

In the account our Author gives of the state of learning and philofophy during the fifth century, he tells us, that the credit of the Platonic philofophy, and the preference that was given to it, as more excellent in itself, and lefs repugnant to the genius of the gospel than other fyftems, did not prevent the doctrine of Ariftotle from coming to light after a long ftruggle, and forcing its way into the Chriftian church. The Platonics themfelves, he fays, interpreted, in their schools, fome of the writ ings of Ariftotle, particularly his Dialectics, and recommended that work to fuch of the youth as had a tafte for logical difcuffions, and were fond of difputing, In this, the Chriftian doctors imitated the manner of the heathen schools, and this was the first step to that univerfal dominion, which the ftagyrite afterwards obtained in the republic of letters, A fetond, and a yet larger ftride which the Ariftotelian philofophy made towards this univerfal empire, was, during the controverfies which Origen had occafioned, and the Arian, Eutychian, Neftorian, and Pelagian diffenfions, which, in this century, were fo fruitful of calamities to the Chriftian church. Origen, as is well known, was zealously attached to the Platonic fyftem: when therefore he was publicly condemned, many, to avoid the imputation of his errors, and to prevent their being counted among the number of his followers, adopted openly the philofophy of Ariftotle, which was entirely different from that of Origen. The Neftorian, Arian, and Eutychian controverfies were managed, or rather drawn out, on both fides, by a perpetual recourse to fubtle diftinctions, and captious fophifms. And no philofophy was fo proper to furnish fuch weapons, as that of Ariftotle; for that of Plato was far from being adapted to form the mind to the polemic arts. Befides, the Pelagian doctrine bore a striking refemblance of the Platonic opinions concerning God and the human foul; and this was an additional reafon which engaged many