of the doctrines condemned in
Origen in later days was that glorious doctrine that, even
for the worst of men, redemption and restoration were
possible, and that there was no such thing as an eternity of
evil in a universe that came from the Eternal Goodness, and
would return whence it came."

And from the writings of this great man we shall now quote.

In his great work "De Principiis," Origen begins with the statement
that only God Himself is fundamentally and by virtue of His essential
nature, Good. God is the only Good--the absolute perfect Good. When we
consider the lesser stages of Good, we find that the Goodness is
derived and acquired, instead of being fundamental and essential.
Origen then says that God bestows free-will upon all spirits alike,
and that if they do not use the same in the direction of
righteousness, then they fall to lower estates "one more rapidly,
another more slowly, one in a greater, another in a less degree, each
being the cause of his own downfall."

He refers to John the Baptist being filled with the Holy Ghost in his
mother's womb and says that it is a false notion to imagine "that God
fills individuals with His Holy Spirit, and bestows upon them
sanctification, not on the grounds of justice and according to their
deserts, but undeservedly. And how shall we escape the declaration,
'Is there respect of persons with God?' God forbid. Or this, 'Is there
unrighteousness with God?' God forbid this also. For such is the
defense of those who maintain that souls come into existence with
bodies." He then shows his belief in re-birth by arguing that John had
earned the Divine favor by reason of right-living in a previous
incarnation.

Then he considers the important question of the apparent injustice
displayed in the matter of the inequalities existing among men. He
says, "Some are barbarians, others Greeks, and of the barbarians some
are savage and fierce and others of a milder disposition, and certain
of them live under laws that have been thoroughly approved, others,
again, under laws of a more common or severe kind; while, some, again,
possess customs of an inhumane and savage character rather than laws;
and certain of them, from the hour of their birth, are reduced to
humiliation and subjection, and brought up as slaves, being placed
under the dominion either of masters, or princes, or tyrants. Some
with sound bodies, some with bodies diseased from their early ye