O R I 
cuttings, planted in a border of good earth in any of the 
fummer-months, (haded and duly watered. Plant them 
in final! pots filled with light kitchen-garden mould, 
when they are well rooted, and place them in the (hade 
till they have taken new root; then remove them to an 
open fituation till the end of Oftober, when they mult be 
placed under (belter. Under a hot-bed frame, where they 
may be protected from hard froft, and have as much free 
air as poflible in mild weather, they will thrive better 
than if more tenderly treated. 
2. Dittany of Crete is increafed in the fame manner, in 
pots or a (hady border, covering the (lips or cuttings clofe 
with a bell-glafs or hand-glafs, and now and then refrefti- 
ing them with water, but not too much. The following 
fpring fome of the plants may be (haken out of the pots, 
and planted in a warm border, in a dry foil, where they 
will live through common winters; but, being liable to be 
killed by fevere froft, it will be proper to keep a few 
plants in pots, to be (heltered in winter. 3, 4. May be 
propagated and treated in the fame manner. 
5, 6. Are increafed by parting the roots in autumn; 
but muft have a dry foil and a warm fituation. 
j. Winter fweet-marjoram is hardy enough to thrive in 
the open air in England, in a dry foil, and is generally 
propagated by parting the roots in autumn. 8. Common 
marjoram, with all its varieties, is propagated in the fame 
manner; or it will rife plentifully from fcattered feeds. 
9, ro, 11. May be increafed by cuttings or (lips. 
12. Swe^t-marjoram is propagated by feeds, which are 
generally imported from the fouth of France or from 
Italy, for they feldom ripen in England. Sow them on 
a warm border towards the end of March; and, when the 
plants are about an inch high, tranfplant them into beds 
of rich earth, at fix inches diftance every way; watering 
them duly till they have taken new root: after which 
they require only to be kept clean from weeds. See Cli- 
nopodium and Monarda. 
ORPGEN, one of the mod celebrated ecclefiaftical 
writers, greateft genlufes, and moll learned men, of the 
primitive church, during the third century, was born at 
Alexandria in the year 185; and was furnamed Adamantus, 
either from his indefatigable application to ftudy, or from 
the firmnefs he difcovered amidft the torments he fuffered 
for the faith. Leonides, his father, trained him at home 
with great care, and made him apply to the ftudy of the 
Holy Scriptures from his infancy, in which he made fur- 
prifing progrefs. The fon’s inclination and turn fuited 
exaCtly with the father's defign; for he purfued his ftudies 
with a mod extraordinary zeal and ardour; and, being 
endued with a quick apprehenfion and a ftrong imagina¬ 
tion, did not content himfelf with that fenfe which at 
firft prefented itfelf, but farther endeavoured to dive into 
myfterious and allegorical explications of the facred 
books. He would fometimes even puzzle his father, by 
too much foliciting him for recondite meanings ; which 
obliged the good man to reprehend him a little, and 
withal to advife him not to attempt to penetrate too far 
in the ftudy of the Holy Scriptures, but to content him¬ 
felf with their mod clear, obvious, and natural, fenfe. 
Hence he is univerfally known as the father of the alle¬ 
gorical fehool of interpretation (of the Scriptures), which 
has its difeiples even in the prefent day, and in fome 
places is doing infinite mifchief. Yet his literal interpre¬ 
tation of Matth. xix. 12. occafioned him to caftrate him¬ 
felf. Of his ftrange perverfions of Scripture, a lingular 
fpecimen is furniflied, (in Cox’s Lives of eminent Fa¬ 
thers,) in which he makes it out that “ Pharoah king of 
Egypt is tht devil; the male and female children are the 
animal and rational faculties of the foul. (Exod.i. 15-22.) 
Pharoah, the devil, wifties to deflroy all the males; i. e. the 
feeds of rationality and fpiritual feience, by which the 
foul may tend to, and feek, heavenly things; but he 
wifties to preferve the females alive, i. e. all thofe animal 
propenfities of man by which he becomes fenfual, carnal, 
and devilifti. Hence, when you fee a man living in 
Vc&L. XVII. No. 1312 . 
GEN. 733 
luxury, banqueting, pleafures, and fenfual gratification, 
know, that the king of Egypt has deftroyed all the males, 
and preferved the females alive. The midwives are the 
Old and New Teftaments with a great deal more of the 
fame kind of abfurdities, which Dr. Clarke calls pious and 
ingenious. Britijh Rev. May 1817. 
When Origen was of a proper age, he became a cate¬ 
chumen in the Chriftian fehool of Alexandria, under 
Clement, by whom he was introduced to an acquaint¬ 
ance with the firft principles of philofophy, and imnreffed 
with a perfuafion of its utility as preparatory to the ftudy 
of Chriftian truth. After this he attended the philofo- 
phical fehool of the celebrated Ammonius Saccus, the 
founder of the Ecledlic philofophy, which was frequented 
by Pagans and Chriftians: here he made a great profi¬ 
ciency in the ftudy of philofophy, and became intimately 
acquainted with the writings of the Greek philofophers ; 
at the fame time, by his talents and unwearied induftry, 
he made himfelf mailer of all the learning of the age. In 
the year 202, when the perfecutions of the Chriftians 
broke out under the emperor Severus, Origen lpft his 
father, who was firft thrown into prifon, and foon after¬ 
wards fuffered martyrdom. On this occafion, the love 
which Origen bore for his father, and for the truth, on 
account of which he was doomed to fuffer, excited in 
him fo earned a defire to die in the fame caufe, and at the 
fame moment, that his mother found it neceffary to hide 
his clothes to prevent him from going abroad, and throw¬ 
ing himfelf into the way of his perlecutors. The mar¬ 
tyrdom of Leonides being followed by the confifcation of 
his property, his wife and feven children had at firft 
nothing to rely on for fupport but the bounty of a rich 
and honourable lady of Alexandria, till Origen, - though 
now but feventeen years of age, was enabled to furnifn 
them with the means of fubfiftence by teaching grammar. 
In this undertaking he met with great fuccefs; and his 
fehool was crowded with young men, both oLChriftian 
and Pagan families. At this time the terror of perfecu- 
tion had caufed fo many to abfeond or flee from the city 
of Alexandria, that there was no one in the public fehool 
to teach the principles of the Chriftian religion ; and 
many heathens came to Origen, defiring to be taught by 
him. The firft of thefe was Plutarch, who obtained the 
honour of martyrdom. The fecond was Heraclius, Plu¬ 
tarch’s brother, who became bi(hop of Alexandria after 
the death of Demetrius. Origen was not more than 
eighteen years of age when he was feledled to prefide 
over the catechetical fchools by appointment of Deme¬ 
trius; in which important office he gained univerfal 
efteem, by his frequent vilits, and the other kind offices 
that he performed, to the confeffors in prifon, whether 
(trangers or friends. No lefs than feven of his fcholars 
fuft'ered martyrdom, one of whom was a woman. It was 
while he was very young, fearcely more than twenty 
years of age, that he was guilty of that rafh and unjufti- 
fiable adlion, which he intended as well to preferve hjm 
from temptation, as to fulfil upon himfelf, in a literal 
fenfe, the faying of Chrift, when he fpeaks of thofe “ who 
make themfelves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven.” 
He was afterwards fatisfied of his erroiy and publicly 
confuted in his writings the literal interpretation of that 
text, in fuch a manner as to (how that he condemned 
himfelf. 
About the year 213 he went to Rome, having a defire 
to fee the moll ancient church of the Romans. Having 
made a fliort (lay there, he returned to Alexandria, and 
applied himfelf with great diligence to the ordinary work 
of teaching the principles of religion. His reputation 
was now fo great, and the number of his difeiples in¬ 
creafed fo much, that he found it neceffary to have an 
afliftant, that he might be able to devote a due portion of 
his time to the ftudy and interpretation of the holy Scrip¬ 
tures, To him was committed the inftnnffion of the 
younger fcholars in the firft principles of religion, while 
Origen referved to his own care thofe who had made 
9 A l'ome 
