ALE 



and his mafter to the hatred of the whole nation. Deme- 

 trius, the elJcll of the deceafed kinjj's fons, availed himfclf 

 of this opportunity for recovering his right ; and was ac- 

 knowledged by ApoUonius, governor of Ca:ltfyria and 

 Fhccnice. When Alexander was roufed out of his lethargy, 

 and perceived the danger of his iituation, he applied to his 

 father-in-law, Ptolemy, for adillance ; and he marched to 

 his relief with an army, which the author of the fecond 

 book of Maccabees compares to the fand of the fea-fliore. 

 Upon his arrival at Ptoltmais he was informed, or as others 

 fay, he pretended, that Alexander was plotting againft his 

 life, and that Ammonias had charged himfelf with the exe- 

 cution of this deteflable fcheme of treachery. Ptolemy 

 complained to the king of Syria of this plot, and demanded 

 the criminal to be delivered up to him ; hut Alexander re- 

 fufmg to comply, Ptolemy concluded that he was privy to 

 the defign, and that Ammonins was only executing his 

 mailer's orders. Upon this real or feigned plea, Ptolemy 

 determined to turn his arms againll his ibn-in-law, and fent 

 amhaiTadors to young Demetrius, offering him his daughter 

 Cleopatra, the wife of Alexander, and promifing to fettle 

 him on the throne of his ancellors. Demetrius accepted the 

 offer, and when the news of this event reached Antioch, 

 Ammonius was put to death by the populace ; but the inha- 

 bitants of the city refufcd to declare in favour of Demetrius. 

 However, fuch was the hatred they had conceived againll 

 Alexander, that they entered into a confederacy againil him, 

 and opened their gates to Ptolemy, offering to put the crown 

 on his head. This prince, fays Jofephus, knowing how 

 to fet bounds to his ambition, rcjefted ti»e propofal, and 

 vith Angular felf-denial and generoiity, declared, that he 

 could not, without the moil flagrant injuftiee, place himfclf 

 on the throne of Syria, by excluding the lawful heir. He 

 proceeded to recommend Demetrius by an eulogy on his 

 charafter, and by pledging himfelf as guarantee for his 

 future conduft, at the fame time undertaking to affiH him, 

 and to teach him the art of governing. Thefe difiaterefled 

 reprefentations of Ptolemy had the defired effeft. Deme- 

 trius was proclaimed king of Syria, and placed on the throne 

 of his ancellors. Alexander, who was then in Cihcia, af- 

 fembled a numerous army and advanced to Antioch. Pto- 

 lemy met him, aid a bloody engagement enfiied, in whie'i 

 Alexander was defeated ; and his adherents abandoning him, 

 efpoufed the caufe of Demetrius. Upon this Alexander 

 fled to Arabia, and feeking refuge in the houfe of Zabdiel 

 or Zabel, or as Diodorus Siculus (in Excerpta Photii cod. 

 244.) calls him. Diodes, was murdered by his treacherous 

 holl. Ptolemy was wounded mortally by Alexander's 

 friends ; and when the head of the murdered prince was 

 brought to him as a prefent from the Arabian, the joy he 

 felt on the occafion foon put an end to his life. Demetrius, 

 without any further oppofition, took poffcffion of his father's 

 dominions, and llyled himfelf from this vielory Nlcalor, or 

 the conqueror. Alexander Balas had reigned, according to 

 Jofephus, five, but according to the hillory of the Maccabees, 

 fix years, reckoning from the i6oth year of tlie sra of the 

 Seleueidre to the 167th, which was the firil year of the 

 reign of Demetrius Nicator. This happened in the year 

 before Chrill 145. Such is the account which Jofephus 

 gives of the troubles of Syria, and the death of Alexander 

 Balas. But the author of the hiftoi-y of the Maccabees 

 varies much from him, efpecially in what relates to the cha- 

 rafter of Ptolemy Philometor, whom Jofephus highly com- 

 mends ; whereas the author of the firlt book of the Macca- 

 bees reprefents him as an ambitious and perfidious prince, 

 who trampled under foot die raolt facred laws of jiature and 



ALE 



jnftice, to raife himfelf on the ruins of his fon-in-la«r. Jj. 

 lephus Ant. lib. xiii. c. 2.4. torn. i. p. 634 — 643. DiudMrua 

 Sic. torn. ii. p. 592. i Maccabees xi. "4 — 12. Ane. Uii. 

 Hill. vol. viii. p. 224 — 2^3. 



Alkxandkr, bhhop of Jerufalcm, was a difciple of Pan- 

 txnus and Clement of Alexandria, towards the clofc of the 

 fecond century, and dillinguidied in his maturer ycart, by the 

 iirmnefs and zeal with v/hich he maintained his ChrilUan pro- 

 feffion at a period of fevere perfecution. In the I2thytar 

 of the emperor Sevtrus, A. D. 204, when he was bil'hop 

 of the church in Cappadocia, he was imprifoned for his pro- 

 feffion of theChriilian faith ; and his fidelity and fortitude 

 on this occafion induced the church at Jerufalem to chufc 

 him as colleague to Narciffus, whofe advanced age of n6 

 years rendered him incapable of performing the duties ol*liis 

 office. His imprifonment feems to have continued from the 

 year 204 to the year 2i i, at which time it appears from a- 

 letter written by him to the church of Antioch he was not 

 releafed from confinement. About this time, however, or 

 foon after, he vifited the church at Jerufalem, and was pro- 

 moted to the hifliopric of that church. Of the revelation 

 and vifions which are laid to have preceded his eledion, it is 

 not neceffary to give any account in this place ; as they are 

 not likely to obtain much credit, plis known charadler ai-d 

 tried integrity obvioufiy recommended him to this choice, 

 and he approved himfelf worthy of it by a courfc of fervice 

 and fuffering that lailed 39 years. When the perfecution of 

 the Chrilbans was renewed under the emperor Decius, Alex- 

 ander, now venerable for his old age and grey hairs, as En- 

 lebius expreffes himfelf, was fummoned "to the governor's 

 tribunal at Cefarea, and about the year 250, avowing Iris 

 profeffion, before the tribunal, he was call into prifon, where 

 his confinement and fufferings terminated in his dctith, 

 A. D. 251. From the fragments of his hillory ihat remain, 

 and that are chiefly preferved by Eufcbius in his " Ecclc- 

 fiaflical Plillory," (p. 212. 216. 222. ed. Valef.), welearn, 

 tl'.at Alexander erefted a libraiy at Jerufalein, which con- 

 tinned in his time, and furnifhed materials for iiis hifton-. It 

 appears alfo from the tellimony of Origen, with whoin 

 Alexander was intimate, that he was not only eminently 

 pious and devout, but peculiarly diflinguiflied by his hu- 

 mlhty, meeknefs and gentlenefs ; that he was a frequent and 

 agrecab'e preacher ; that he was a perfon of competent 

 knowledge and learning, having been educated by Pant.Tnu3 

 and Clement, and maintaining an intimate friendfliip with 

 Origen and Clement, two of the mod learned men that ever 

 lived, and that he was alfo a patron of learning. We 

 are alfo indebted to him for his glorious tellimony to the truth 

 of the Chriilian religion, and his own remarkable example 

 of lleadinefs in the faith of Chrifl, of which he made 

 two confeffions before heathen magillrates, at the dillancof 

 above 40 years from each other, for the lail of which he 

 fuffered an imprifonment, under which he made a happy 

 end. And certainly the fncccfl^on of bifliops and churches 

 in the land of Judea, where the preaching, miracles and 

 fufferings of Chnll and his firil apollles, ar.i placed by the 

 evangelills, under fo many difficulties and troubles, affords 

 a ftrong argument for ihe truth of thofe great and extraor- 

 dinary fads, upon wliieh the Chriitian religion is founded. 

 Lardner'o Works, vol. ii. p. 391 — 397., Cave. Hill. Liter. 

 Sxc. iii. tom. i. p. 100. ed. Oxon. 



Alexander, bilhop of Alexandria, fucceeded Achillas 

 in this fee, in the year 312 or 313. In his time commenced 

 the Arian controvcrfy, in which he appears to have engai-til 

 with an ardour that was blended with a very confidenible 

 degree of bittemefs of fpiiit. He culls Arius and 'Lis fol- 

 lowers 



