786 O R I 
which were terminated by the fifth general council, af- 
fembled at Conftantinople, by Juftinian, A. D. 553, in 
which Origen and his followers were again condemned. 
The tenets of Origen which gave the greateft offence 
were the following: 1. That, in the Trinity, the Father 
is greater than the Son, and the Son than the Holy 
Gfhoft. 2. The pre-exiftence of fouls, which Origen con- 
fidered as fent into mortal bodies for the punifnment of 
fins committed in a former ftate of being. 3. That the 
foul of Chrift was united to the word before the incarna¬ 
tion. 4 That the fun, moon, and ftars, &c. were ani¬ 
mated, and endowed with rational fouls. 5. That, after 
the refurrehtion, all bodies will be of a round figure. 6. 
Tiiat the torments of the damned will have an end; and 
that, as Chrift had been crucified in this world to fave man¬ 
kind, he is to be crucified in the next to fave the devils. 
The myftic theology of Origen feems to be adopted by 
our modern Quakers. On the fubjeft of this article, con- 
fult Molheim’s Eccl. Hift. vol. i. and Lardner’s Works, 
vol. ii. 
ORI'GEN, a Gentile philofopher, and a contemporary 
of the foregoing, was the difciple and friend of Porphyry, 
and alfo ftudied philofophy under Ammonius. This per- 
fon has fometimes been confounded with the Chriftian 
Origen ; but he is the fame whom Plotinus fncceeded in 
the philofophical chair, and of whom mention is made by 
Longinus, Porphyry, Hierocles, Eunapius, Proclus, and 
others. 
ORIGE'NIANS, a fe£t of ancient heretics, who refem- 
bled, or even furpaffed, the abominations of the Gnoltics. 
St. Epiphanius fpeaks of them as fubfifting in his time, 
but in very fmall number. He charges them w'ith licen¬ 
tious principles, as well as fhameful practices. He feems 
to fix their rife about the time of the great Origen; but 
does not fay they took their name from him. On the 
contrary, he diftinguifhes them from the Origenifts, whom 
lie derives from Origen Adamantius; adding, indeed, 
that they firlt took their name from one Origen; by which 
lie intimates, that it was not the great Origen. And St. 
Auguftine fays exprefsly it was another. As to their doc¬ 
trine, all that modefty will allow to be faid is, that they 
rejected marriage; that they received and read divers 
feriptures of the Old and New Teftament; that they ufed 
feveral apocryphal books, as the Afts of St. Andrew, See. 
and that, to excufe their open crimes, they accufed the 
catholics of doing the fame in private. 
ORI'GENISM, f. The doctrines of Origen the Great. 
ORI'GENIST, f. A follower of Origen.— He is an 
Origenift, and believes in the converfion of the devil. 
Darke's Letter on a Regicide Peace. 
OR'IGIN, or Original, f [origine, Fr. from origo, 
Lat.] Beginning; firlt exiftence.—The facred hiftorian 
only treats of the origins of terreftrial animals. Bentleij .— 
Fountain; fource; that which gives beginning or exift- 
ence.—If any ftation upon earth be honourable, theirs 
was; and their pofterity therefore have no reafon to blufti 
at the memory of fuch an original. Atterliury. 
Nature, which contemns its origin, 
Cannot be border’d certain in itfelf. Shahefpeare. 
Original of beings! pow’r divine ! 
Since that I live and that I think is thine. Prior. 
Firlt copy ; archetype ; that from which any thing is 
tranferibed or translated. In this fenfe origin is not ufed. 
— Compare this tranllation with the original; the three 
firit (tanzas are rendered almolt word for word, not only 
with the lame elegance, but with the fame turn of ex- 
preflion. Addijbn. —External material things, as the ob¬ 
jects of fenfation; and the operations of our minds within, 
as the objects of reflection ; are the only originals from 
whence all our ideas take their beginnings. Locke. —Deri¬ 
vation ; defeent: 
They, like the feed from which they fprung, accurft, 
Againft the gods immortal hatred nurll; 
O R I 
An impious, arrogant, and cruel, brood, 
Exprefling their original from blood. Dt'yden. 
ORI'GINAL, adj. Primitive; priftine ; 'firft.— Had 
Adam obeyed God, his original perfection, the know¬ 
ledge and ability God at firft gave him, would kill have 
continued. Wake's Prep, for Death. 
You Hill, fair mother, in your offspring trace 
The flock of beauty deftin’d for the race; 
Kind nature, forming them, the pattern took 
From heav’n’s firft work, and Eve’s ongmanook. Prior. 
ORI'GINAL WRIT', or Original. The beginning 
of foundation of a fuit. When a perfon lias received an 
injury, and thinks it worth his while to demand a fatif- 
faCtion for it, he muft apply for that fpecific remedy which 
he isadvifed or determined to purfue. To this end he is 
to fueoutan original, or original writ, from the Court of 
Chancery, the ojficina jnjlitios, wherein all the king’s writs 
are framed. 
This original writ is a mandatory letter from the king 
in chancery, fealed with his great feal,and dire&ed to the 
ftierilf of the county in which the injury is committed, or 
fuppofed fo to be, requiring him to command the wrong¬ 
doer or party accufed, either to do juftice to the com¬ 
plainant, or elfe to appear in court, and anfwer the accu¬ 
sation againft him. Whatever the Iherift' does in purfu- 
ance of this writ, he muft return or certify to the court 
of Common Pleas, together with the writ itfelf; which 
is the foundation of the jurifdiCtion of that court, being 
the king’s warrant for the judges to proceed to the deter¬ 
mination of the caufe. In fmall aCtions, however, below 
thecvalue of 40s. which are brought in the court-baron, 
or county-court, no royal writ is neceftary; but the 
foundation of fuch fuits Continues to be, as in the times 
of the Saxons, not by original writ, but by plaint; that 
is, by a private memorial tendered in open court to the 
judge, wherein the party injured fets forth his caufe of 
adtion, and the judge is bound of common right to admi- 
nifter juftice therein, without any fpecial mandate from 
the king. Now, indeed, the royal writs are held to be de- 
mandable of common right, on paying the ufual fees; 
for any delay in the granting of them, or fetting an un- 
ufual or exorbitant price upon them, would be a breach 
of Magna Charta, c. 29. “ Nulli vendemns, nulli negabi- 
raus, aut differemus juftitiam vel certum.” 
In point of form, the original writ is either fpecial or 
general; nominatum vel innominatum. The former con¬ 
tains the time, place, and other circumftances, of the de¬ 
mand, very particularly; the latter only a general com¬ 
plaint, without exprefling the particulars, as the writ of 
trefpafs quare claufum fregit, ^c. But, in order to fave 
the great and unneceflary expenfe of filing forth fpecial 
writs in fmall and trifling fuits, and to avoid oppreflion. 
which might otherwife arile, it is enafted by flat. 5 Geo. II. 
c. 27. § 5. that “ no fpecial writ or procefs lhall be ifl’ued 
out of any fuperior court where the caufe of aeftion fhail 
not amount to the fum of ten pounds or upwards.” And 
by a rule of court, M. 23 Geo. III. “ in all adtions in 
which the plaintiff - fhail proceed againft the defendant by 
fpecial original writ, and fhail recover lefs than the fum of 
fifty pounds, he fliall not, on taxing cofts, be allowed any 
more or other cofts than he would be entitled to in cafe 
he had proceeded by bill ; except in fuch actions in which 
he could not proceed by bill, or in which any defendant 
fliall be actually outlawed.” 
Original writs alfo, are either optional or peremptory; 
or, in the language of our lawyers, they are either a 
“ praecipe” or a “ li te fecerit fecurum.” Both fpecies 
of writs are tfjled, or witnefled, in the king's own name: 
“ Witnefs ourfelf at Weftminfter,” or wherever the chan¬ 
cery may be held. The next ftep for carrying on the 
fnit, after filing out the original, is called the Process; 
which fee. 
ORIGINA'LIA, / In the treafurer’s remembrancer’s 
office in the Exchequer, the tranferipts, See. lent thither 
out 
