_Origen_ being thus condemned as an Heretic, near 150 Years after his Death, _Anastasius_, at the Instigation of _Marcella_, _Pammachius_, _Oceanus_, and some other of _Jerom_’s Friends in _Rome_, writ to _Ruffinus_, complaining of his Translation, and summoning him to appear, and give an Account of his Faith. In Answer to this Letter, _Ruffinus_ sent him a Confession of Faith intirely agreeable to that of the Catholic Church, adding, that he held no other; that his Faith had been sufficiently tried in the Persecution of _Valens_; and that, as to the Translation of _Origen_’s Work, he had there neither approved nor disapproved, but barely related, the Sentiments of that Writer. He modestly declined complying with the Summons calling him to _Rome_; and concluded with declaring, that the Faith of the _Roman_ Church and his were one and the same[1362][N42]. ----- Footnote N42: The chief Errors of _Origen_ were concerning the Trinity, the Resurrection of the Body, the Eternity of Hell-Torments, and the Origin of Souls. If his Works were not interpolated by the Heretics, as _Ruffinus_ pretended they were, it is no easy Matter to determine what was his real Opinion with respect to the Trinity; for in some Passages he seems to acknowlege an Equality, and in others to establish an Inequality, between the Father and the Son. As to the Resurrection, he was accused of not believing, that the Body, at least the same Body, was to rise from the Dead. He denied the Eternity of Hell-Torments, and held, that even the Devils would repent in the End, and be saved. He maintained the Souls to have been created before the World; to have been confined to the Bodies, which they animated, as so many Prisons, to expiate there the Sins which they had committed; to be in perpetual Motion passing from one Body to another, and at last to become Angels. With the Three last Errors chiefly _Ruffinus_ was charged by St. _Jerom_; and it was to clear himself from such an Imputation, that, in his Answer to _Anastasius_ summoning him to _Rome_, he declared his Belief with respect to those Articles, styling his Answer on that Account an _Apology_. As to the Trinity, those whom they called _Origenists_, were allowed, even by their Enemies, to be quite orthodox in their Belief of that Mystery. Touching the Resurrection, _Ruffinus_ declared and explained his Faith in such clear Terms as ought to have left no room, even for St. _Jerom_, to arraign him on that Head. He expressed himself in a manner no less orthodox with respect to the Eternity of the Pains of Hell. But, as to the Origin of Souls, he owns himself to be quite at a Loss what to think, and what to determine, on that Subject, since no particular Opinion had been yet settled by the Church, and the Ecclesiastical Writers disagreed in that Point among themselves; some believing, with _Tertullian_ and _Lactantius_, the Souls to have been formed with the