ly other writer of note who flourished after Cyprian, in the third
century, [383:2] was _Gregory_, surnamed _Thaumaturgus_, or _The
Wonder-Worker_. He belonged to a pagan family of distinction; and, when
a youth, was intended for the profession of the law; but, becoming
acquainted with Origen at Caesarea in Palestine, he was induced to
embrace the Christian faith, and relinquish flattering prospects of
secular promotion. He became subsequently the bishop of Neo-Caesarea in
Pontus. When he entered on his charge he is said to have had a
congregation of only seventeen individuals; but his ministry must have
been singularly successful; for, according to tradition, all the
inhabitants of the city, with seventeen exceptions, were, at the time of
his death, members of the Church. The reports respecting him are
obviously exaggerated, and no credit can be attached to the narrative of
his miracles. [384:1] He wrote several works, of which his "Panegyric on
Origen," and his "Paraphrase on Ecclesiastes," are still extant. The
genuineness of some other tracts ascribed to him may be fairly
challenged.

The preceding account of the fathers of the second and third centuries
may enable us to form some idea of the value of these writers as
ecclesiastical authorities. Most of them had reached maturity before
they embraced the faith of the gospel, so that, with a few exceptions,
they wanted the advantages of an early Christian education. Some of
them, before their conversion, had bestowed much time and attention on
the barren speculations of the pagan philosophers; and, after their
reception into the bosom of the Church, they still continued to pursue
the same unprofitable studies. Cyprian, one of the most eloquent of
these fathers, had been baptized only about two years before he was
elected bishop of Carthage; and, during his comparatively short
episcopate, he was generally in a turmoil of excitement, and had,
consequently, little leisure for reading or mental cultivation. Such a
writer is not entitled to command confidence as an expositor of the
faith once delivered to the saints. Even in our own day, with all the
facilities supplied by printing for the rapid accumulation of knowledge,
no one would expect much spiritual instruction from an author who would
undertake the office of an interpreter of Scripture two years after his
conversion from heathenism. The fathers of the second and third
centuries were not regarded as safe guides even