Read the treatise of Josephus[149] _On the Universe_, elsewhere
called _On the Cause of the Universe_ and _On the Nature of the
Universe_. It consists of two little treatises, in which the author
shows that Plato contradicts himself. He also refutes Alcinous,[150]
whose views on the soul, matter, and the Resurrection are false and
absurd, and introduces his own opinions on the subject. He proves
that the Jewish nation is far older than the Greek. He thinks that
man is a compound of fire, earth, and water, and also of spirit,
which he calls soul. Of the spirit he speaks as follows: Taking
the chief part of this, he moulded it together with the body, and
opened a passage for it through every joint and limb. The spirit,
thus moulded together with the body and pervading it throughout,
is formed in the likeness of the visible body, but its nature is
colder, compared with the three other substances of which the body
is compounded. These views are not in harmony with the Jewish ideas
of human physiology, and are below the customary standard of his
other writings. He also gives a summary account of the creation of
the world. Of Christ the true God he speaks like ourselves, openly
giving Him the name of God, and describing, in language to which no
objection can be taken, His indescribable generation from the Father.
This might, perhaps, cause people to doubt whether the treatise is
really by Josephus, although in respect of style it does not differ
from the rest of his writings.
I find a marginal note to the effect that the work is not by
Josephus, but by one Gaius,[151] a presbyter of Rome, also the
author of _The Labyrinth_,[152] and of a dialogue against Proclus,
the champion of the Montanists.[153] The latter, which had no
ascription, is attributed by some to Josephus, by others to Justin
Martyr, and _The Labyrinth_ to Origen. But there is no doubt that
the work is by Gaius, the author of _The Labyrinth_, who at the
end of this treatise has left it on record that he was the author
of _The Nature of the Universe_. But it is not quite clear to me,
whether this is the same or a different work. This Gaius is said to
have been a presbyter of the Church at Rome, during the episcopate
of Victor[154] and Zephyrinus,[155] and to have been ordained bishop
of the gentiles. He wrote another special work against the heresy of
Artemon,[156] and also composed a weighty treatise against Proclus,
the supporter of Montanus. In this he reckons only thirteen epistles
of St. Paul, and does not include the _Epistle to the Hebrews_.