194 CHARACTER, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS 



were written to expound their doctrines, and vindi- 

 cate their authority. 



Much was done in this way by the zeal and labours 

 of Origen, a presbyter of Alexandria ; who, in point 

 of erudition, was the greatest luminary of the church 

 in his time. We learn from Eusebius that, on the 

 invitation of an Arab prince, he repaired to that 

 country, and succeeded in converting a certain tribe 

 of Bedouins to the Christian faith. His services 

 in behalf of the disciples in Arabia were likewise 

 signalized in the field of controversy. A sect of 

 philosophers had arisen there, the followers of a 

 master whose obscurity has concealed him from the 

 knowledge of succeeding ages, who denied the im- 

 mortality of the soul. "^ Origen was summoned to 

 oppose these heretics : in a full council he disputed 

 their tenets with such ability and success that they 

 abandoned their errors and returned to the orthodox 

 belief. Among other conversions achieved by the 

 arguments of this Father, we find that of Beryllus, 

 bishop of Bosra, who had espoused the doctrines of 

 the Monophysites. Unable to resist the eloquent 

 reasoning' of his antagonist, he candidly yielded the 

 cause, and again avowed himself a believer in the 

 pre-existence of Christ's divine nature.* 



In the third and fourth centuries, Arabia became 

 the common asylum for numerous victims of perse- 

 cution under the Roman emperors, chiefly of the 

 Jacobite or Monophysite persuasion. At that time 

 the principal Christian tribes were those of Hamyar, 

 Rabiah, Taglab. Bahra, Tanuch, and part of Tai and 

 Khodaah. "Nearly all the inhabitants of Nejeran 

 were Christians in the reign of Dunowas. The 

 Gassanites had been converted at a very early 

 period. Abulfeda states that many churches were 

 planted in Hira. Mondar declared 'war against the 

 Emperor Justinian, for oppressing the Jacobites on 

 account of their supposed heterodoxy ; so we may 



» Moshsim s Chiirch Hist. -^ol. i. chap, v. 



