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AucHELAUS, Bishop 171 Mesopotamia. 257
A rclielaiis, or whoever is the writer, naming" several heretics,
mentions none below*^ Sabellius: nor do there any where
appear in this book any traces of that remarkable period
in the church, the council of Nice. Moreover, the author
allots but^ one year to Christ's ministry, or at least to the
most pul)lic part of it, after he had called his disciples to
attend him. He allows that" men might attain to virtue by
the light of nature, though a few only. He does not extol
affected voluntary poverty, as some have done ; but'' allows
him who well useth a good estate, to be equally virtuous
with him who gives away all he has. Tillemont says: ' In
' this work we meet with some opinions more common in
' the' primitive times than they have been since the history
' and the doctrine of the church have been cleared up. The
' author seems not to understand the union of the two natures
' in Christ.' Beausobre has an observation of the like kind,
and says, that'' ' the author speaks more like an unitarian
' than a catholic' I add, that he seems to have condemned
all war as unlawful; for,' relating- that some Roman soldiers,
charmed with the piety and generosity of Marcellus, were
induced to embrace the christian religion, he says that they
immediately forsook the profession of arms.
These particulars may be reckoned evidences of great
antiquity : but when the book was composed, I cannot
certainly say ; whether near the end of the third or at the
beginning of the fourth century : nor am I able to determine
M'ho is the author.
n. My extracts out of it will contain chiefly the author's
testimony to the books of the New Testament.
1. But I would just observe, that"^^ he speaks of divers
of our Lord's miracles, and other historical facts, recorded
in the gospels.
2. We do not find all the books of the New Testament
* Vid. cap. 37, et 38. ' Nee in aliquo remoratus Dominus
noster Jesus intra unius anni spatiiim languentium multitudines reddidit
sanitati, mortuos luci. ib. c. 34. p. 58. Cum discipuli ejus per annum integrum,
manserunt cum eo. ib. c. 50. p. 93. m. b Verum quia pauci per
hunc modum poterant ad justitiae culmen adscendere, id est, per parentum
traditiones, nulla in Uteris lege conscripta. c. 28. p. 48.
*" Bonum, inquam, his qui possunt : sed abuti diviliis ad opus justitiae atque
misericordiae parem gratiam tribuit, [Jesus,] ac si universis pariter renuntietur.
c. 42. p. 75. ' Mem. Ec. T. 4. P. 2. Les Manicheens. Art. 12.
p. 796. ^ Beaus. ib. p. 116.
' At illi [milites] admirati, et amplexi tam immensam viri pietatem, munificentiamque,—commoventur,
ut plurimi ex ipsis adderentur ad fidem Domini
nostri Jesu Christi, derelicto milifiae cingulo. Arch. cap. 1. p. 2. Vid. ib.
Sacagn. not. [3.] et conf. Beaus. Hist. Manich. T. 2. p. 797.,
" Vid. cap. 34. p. 58. c. 36. p. 63.
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