to oblige God to us that it was no wonder if their charity extended onely to their own Party the way to be perfect and to be Christians indeed was to od something more then Heathens and Publicans to overcome evil with good and in imitation of the divine benignity to love our enemies and according to our Lords advice to pray for the happiness of them that persecute us that God constantly makes his Sun to rise and his rain to fall upon the Seeds and Plants not onely for the advantage of his own children but of all other men that therefore they should act as became the nobility of their new birth and imitate the example of such a Father who professed themselves to be his children Persuaded by this and much more that he discoursed to the same effect enough to convince the very Gentiles themselves they presently divided their help according to each ones rank and quality Those who by reason of poverty could contribute nothing to the charge did what was infinitely more personally laboured in the common calamity an assistance infinitely beyond all other Contributions Indeed every one was ambitious to engage under the conduct of such a Commander and in a service wherein they might so eminently approve themselves to God the Father and Christ the Judge of all and in the mean time to so pious and good a Bishop And by this large and abundant charity great advantage redounded not to themselves onely who were of the houshold of Faith but universally to all And that he might not be wanting to any he penned at this time his excellent Discourse concerning Mortality wherein he so eloquently teaches a Christian to triumph over the fears of death and shews how little reason there is excessively to mourn for those friends and relations that are taken from us X. THIS horrible pestilence together with the Wars which of late had and even then did over-run the Empire the Gentiles generally charged upon the Christian Religion as that for which the gods were implacably angry with the World To vindicate it from this common objection Cyprian addresses himself in a Discourse to Demetrian the Proconsul wherein he proves that these evils that came upon the World could not be laid at the door of Christianity assigning other reasons of them Exoritur ultio violati nominis Christiani 〈◊〉 ad profligandas Ecclesias edicta Decii 〈…〉 eatenus incredibilium morborum pestâ—â— extenaitur Nalla fere provincia Romana nulla Civitas calla domus fuit quae non illa generaii 〈…〉 a atque vastata sit P. Orosius 〈…〉 l. 7. c. 21. fol. 310. p. 2. and among the rest their wild and brutish rage against the Christians which had provoked the deity to bring these calamities upon them as a just punishment of their folly and madness in persecuting a Religion so innocent and dear to heaven The Persecution being over a controversie arose concerning the time of baptizing Infants started especially by Fidus a Vid. Epist Synod ad Fld. Ep. 59. p. 94. an African Bishop who asserted that Baptism was not to be administred on the third or fourth but as Circumcision under the Jewish state to be deferred till the eighth day S. Cyprian in a Synod of sixty six Bishops determined this question that it was not necessary to be deferred so long nor the grace and mercy of God to be denied to any as soon as born into the World that it was their universal sentence and resolution that none ought to be prohibited baptism and the grace of God which as it was to be observed and retained towards all so much more towards Infants and new born children Not long after which another Council was held by b Epist 68. p. 112. seq Cyprian importuned thereunto by the Bishops of Spain to consult concerning the case of Basilides Bishop of Asturica and Martial of Emerita in Spain who had lapsed into the most horrible idolatry in the late Persecution and yet still retained their places in the Church The Synod resolved that they were fallen from their Episcopal Order and the very lowest degree of the Ministry and that upon their repentance they were to be restored to no more then the capacity of Laics in the Communion of the Church XI IN this Synod or another called not long after the famous contest about rebaptizing those who had been baptized by Heretics received its first approbation It had been sometime since by occasion of the Montanists and Novatians canvassed in the Eastern parts thence it flew over to Numidia by the Bishops whereof it had been brought before Cyprian and the Council at Carthage who determined that the thing was necessary to be observed and that this was no novel sentence but had been so decreed by his Predecessors and the thing constantly practised and observed among them as he assures them in the Synodical c Epist 69. p. 117. Epistle about this matter Among others to whom they sent their Decrees the Synod d Epist 72. p. 121. especially wrote to Stephen Bishop of Rome who had so far espoused the contrary opinion as to excommunicate the Synod at Iconium for making the like determination him they acquaint with the sentence they had passed and the reasons of it which they hoped he also would assent to however did not magisterially impose it upon him every Bishop having a proper authority within the jurisdiction of his own Church whereof he is to render an account to God Pope Stephen with whom stood a great part of the Church liked not their proceedings whereupon a more general Council was summoned where no less then LXXXVII Bishops from all parts of the African Churches met together who unanimously ratified the former sentence whose names and particular votes are extant in the e Apud Cypr. p. 282. Concil Tom. 1. col 786. Edit noviss Acts of that Council But numbers made the cause never the better resented at Rome and indeed the controversie arose to that height between these two good men that Stephen gave Cyprian very rude and unchristian language f Firmil Epist ad Cypr. p. 150. stiling him false Christ false Apostle deceitful worker and such like while on the other hand Cyprian treated him with more then ordinary sharpness and severity charging g Ad Pompâ—i Epist 74. p. 129. him with pride and impertinence and self-contradiction with ignorance and indiscretion with childishness and obstinacy and other expressions far enough from that reverence and regard which S. Stephen's successors claim at this day And no better usage did he find from Firmilian Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia as may be seen in his Letter to Cyprian h Apud Cypâ— p. 143. charging Stephen with sacrificing the Churches Peace to a petulant humour where inhumanity audaciousness insolence wickedness are some of the characters bestowed upon him A great instance how far passion and prejudice may transport wise and good men beyond
b Vid. l. de Menogam c. 1. p. 525. c. 3. 4. passim de Jejun c. 12. p. 550 551. more then once particularly tells us Not to say that Montanus his followers as is usual with the after-brood of every Sect asserted many things which their Master himself never dreamt of which yet without distinction are laid at his door and Tertullian too because a favourer of the Party drawn into the guilt and made liable to many improvements to the Hay and Stubble which the successors of that Sect built upon it X. BUT however it was he stomached his excommunication and was highly offended at the looseness and remissness of the Discipline among the Catholics whom with great smartness he persecutes under the name of Psychici or Animal persons as those that took too much liberty in their manners and practices of devotion stiling his own party Spiritales as whom he thought more immediately guided by the Spirit more plentifully endowed with the gifts of it and conversant in a more divine and spiritual life Against these Psychici he presently published a Tract De Jejuniis wherein he defends the Montanists in the observation of their Fasts their abstinence from Flesh and feeding onely upon dried meats their Stationary days and the keeping them till the very evening while the Orthodox broke up theirs about three of the Clock in the afternoon in all which respects he makes many tart and severe reflections upon them Indeed the devotions of those times were brisk and fervent their usages strict and punctual their Ecclesiastic Discipline generally very rigid and extreme seldom admitting persons that had lapsed after Baptism to Penance and the Communion of the Church But this was looked upon by moderate and sober men as making the gate too strait and that which could not but discourage Coverts from entering in Accordingly it began to be relaxed in several places and particularly the Bishop of Rome c Tert. de Pudic cit c. 1. p. 555. had lately published a constitution wherein he admitted persons guilty of Adultery and Fornication and probably other crimes to a place among the Penitents Against this Tertullian storms cries up the severity of the antient Discipline writes his Book De Pudicitia wherein he considers and disputes the case and aggravates the greatness of those offences and undertakes the Arguments that pleaded for remission and indulgence And if in the mentioning this Decree the Bishop of Rome be stiled Episcopus Episcoporum the Champions of that Church before they make such advantage of it should do well to prove it to have been a part of the Decree or if it was that it was mentioned by Tertullian as his just right and priviledge and not rather which is infinitely more probable Tertullians Sarcasm intended by him as an Ironical reflection and a tart upbraiding the pride and ambition of the Bishops of that Church who took too much upon them and began as appears from Pope Victors carriage towards the Asian Churches in the case of Easter to domineer over their Brethren and usurp an insolent authority over the whole Christian Church And that this was his meaning I am abundantly satisfied from a Apud Cyprian p. 282. Cyprians using the phrase in this very sense in the famous Synod at Carthage where reflecting upon the rash and violent proceedings of the Bishops of Rome whom though he particularly names not yet all who are acquainted with the Story know whom he means against those who were engaged in the cause of rebaptizing Heretics he adds that as for themselves the Bishops then in the Synod none of them made himself Bishop of Bishops or by a tyrannical threatning forced his Colleagues into a necessity of Compliance since every Bishop according to the power and liberty granted to him had his proper jurisdiction and could no more be judged by another then he himself could judge others XI WHETHER ever he was reconciled to the Catholic Communion appears not 't is certain that for the main he forsook the b August de Haeres c. 86. Tom. 6. col 31. Cataphrygians and kept his separate meetings at Carthage and his Church was yet remaining till S. Augustins time by whose labours the very reliques of his followers called Tertullianists were dispersed and quite disappeared How long he continued after his departure from the Church is not known S. Hierom c De Script in Tertull. says that he lived to a very decrepit age but whether he died under the reign of Alexander Severus or before the Ancients tell us not as neither whether he died a natural or violent death He seems indeed to have been possessed with a passionate desire of laying down his life for the Faith though had he been a Martyr some mention would without peradventure have been made of it in the Writings of the Church XII HE was a man of a smart and acute wit though a little too much edged with Keeness and Satyrism acris vehementis ingenii as d Loc. citat S. Hierom characters him one that knew not how to treat an adversary without salt and sharpness He was of a stiff and rugged disposition a rigid Censor inclined to choler and impatient of opposition a strict observer of Rites and Discipline and a zealous asserter of the highest rigors and most nice severities of Religion His learning was admirable wherein though many excelled he had no superiours and few equals in the Age he lived in Tertulliano quid eruditius quid acutius says e Epist ad Mag. Grator p. 328. T. 2. S. Hierom who adds that his Apology and Book against the Gentiles took in all the treasures of Humane Learning f Commonit adv Haeres cap. 24 p. 59 60. Vincentius of Lire gives him this notable Elogium He is justly says he to be esteemed the Prince among the Writers of the Latin Church For what more learned who more conversant both in divine and humane Studies who by a strange largeness and capacity of mind had drawn all Philosophy and its several Sects the Authors and Abettors of Heresies with all their Rites and Principles and the whole circumference of History and all kind of Study within the compass of his own breast A man of such quick and weighty parts that there was scarce any thing which he set himself against which he did not either pierce through with the acumen of his Wit or batter down with the strength and solidity of his Arguments Who can sufficiently commend his Discourses so thick set with Troops of Reasons that whom they cannot persuade they are ready to force to an assent who hath almost as many sentences as words and not more periods then victories over those whom he hath to deal with XIII FOR his Books though time has devoured many yet a great number still remain and some of them written after his withdrawment from the Church His stile is for the most part abrupt and
full and solid answer in eight Books wherein as he had the better cause so he managed it with that strength of Reason clearness of Argument and convictive evidence of truth that were there nothing else to testifie the abilities of this great man this Book alone were enough to do it It was written probably about the beginning of the reign of Philip the Emperour with whom Origen seems to have had some acquaintance who a Id. ibid. p. 233 wrote one Letter to him and another to the Empress From whence and some other little probabilities Eusebius first and after him the generality of Ecclesiastic Writers have made that Emperour to have been a Christian and the first of the Imperial line that was so The vanity of which mistake and the original from whence it sprung we have shewed elsewhere Nor is the matter mended by those who say that Philip was privately baptized by Fabian Bishop of Rome and so his Christian Profession was known onely to the Christians but concealed from the Gentiles which being but a conjecture and a gratis dictum without any authority to confirm it may with the same ease and as much justice be rejected as it is obtruded and imposed upon us Nor has the late learned publisher b Rod. Wetsteinius Praefat. in Orig. Dial. contr Marc. c. Ã se Edit Basil 1674. 4 of some Tracts of Origen who in order to the securing the Dialogue against the Marcionites to belong to Origen has newly enforced this argument said any thing that may persuade a wise man to believe a Story so improbable in all its circumstances and which must have made a louder noise in the World and have had more and better witnesses to attest it then an obscure and uncertain report the onely authority which Eusebius who gave the first hint of it pretends in this matter XXI THE good success which Origen lately had in Arabia in the cause of Beryllus made him famous in all those parts and his help was now again c Ibid. c. 37. desired upon a like occasion For a sort of Hereties were start up who affirmed that at death both body and soul did expire together and were resolved into the same state of corruption and that at the resurrection they should revive and rise together to eternal life For this purpose a general Synod of those parts was called and Origen desired to be present at it who managed the cause with such weighty Arguments such unanswerable and clear convictions that the adverse party threw down their weapons and relinquished the sentiments which they maintained before Another heretical crew appeared at this time in the East the impious and abominable Sect of the Helcesaitae against whom also Origen seems to have been engaged concerning whom himself d Homil. in Psal 82. ap Euseb ibid. c. 38. p. 233. gives us this account They rejected a great part both of the Old and New Canon making use onely of some few parts of Scripture and such without question as they could make look most favourably upon their cause S. Paul they wholly rejected and held that it was lawful and indifferent to deny the faith and that he was the wise man that in his words would renounce Christianity in a time of danger and Persecution but maintain the truth in his heart They carried a Book about with them which they affirmed to have been immediately dropt down from Heaven which whoever received and gave credit to should receive remission of sins though different from that pardon which our Lord Jesus bestowed upon his followers But how far Origen was concerned against this absurd and sensless generation is to me unknown The best on 't is this Sect like a blazing Comet though its influence was malignant and pestilential suddenly arose and as suddenly disappeared XXII PHILIP the Emperour being slain by the Souldiers Decius made a shift by the help of the Army to step into the Throne a mortal enemy to the a Ibid. â— 3â— p. 234. Church in whose short reign more Martyrs especially men of note and eminency came to the Stake then in those who governed that Empire ten times his reign In Palaestin Alexander the aged and venerable Bishop of Jerusalem was thrown into prison where after long and hard usage and an illustrious confession of the Christian Faith before the public Tribunal he died This Alexander whom we have often mentioned had been first Bishop in Cappadocia b Ibid. c. 11. p. 212. where out of a religious curiosity he had resolved upon a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to visit the holy and venerable Antiquities of that place whereto he was particularly excited by a divine revelation intimating to him that it was the will of God that he should be assistant to the Bishop of that place It happened at this time that Narcissus Bishop of Jerusalem being some years since returned to his See which he had deserted many years before was become incapable through his great age and infirmity being CXVI years old duly to manage his charge Alexander approaching near Jerusalem they were warned by a Vision and a Voice from Heaven to go out of the City and there receive him whom Heaven had designed to be their Bishop They did so and finding Alexander entertained and introduced him with all possible kindness and respect where by the importunity of the People and the consent of all the neighbour-neighbour-Bishops he was constrained to become Colleague with Narcissus in the government of that Church This I suppose is the first express instance that we meet with in Church-antiquity of two Bishops sitting at once and that by consent in one See But the case was warranted by an extraordinary authority besides that Narcissus seems rather to have resigned and quitted the place retaining nothing but the title nor intermedling any further then by joining in prayers and devotions for the good of the Church surviving not above three or four years at most Alexander succeeding in the sole Presidency governed his Church with singular prudence and fidelity and among other memorable acts erected a Library at Jerusalem c Ibid. c. 20. p. 222. which he especially stored with Ecclesiastical Epistles and Records from whence Eusebius confesses he furnished himself with many considerable Memoirs and materials for the composing of his History He sate Bishop XXXIX years and after several arraignments and various imprisonments and sufferings died now in prison at Caesarea to the unconceivable loss and resentment of the whole Church and especially of Origen who had been ordained by him and whom he had ever found a fast Friend and Patron Nor did Origen himself who was at this time at Tyre escape without his share Eusebius does but briefly intimate his sufferings having given a larger account of them in another Book long since lost he tells d Ubi supr p. 234. us that the Devil mustered up all his Forces against him and assaulted him with all
it seems to pack Hierotheus into Spain that room might be made for him Indeed that Dionysius was and that without any affront to S. Hierotheus the first Bishop of Athens we are assured by an Authority that cannot be doubted a Apud Euseb H. Eccl. l. 3. c. 4. p. 74. l. 4. c. 23. p. 144. Dionysius the famous Bishop of Corinth who lived not long after him expresly affirming it and b Niceph. H. Ecc. l. 2. c. 20. p. 167. Nicephorus adds what is probable enough that it was done with S. Pauls own hands I shall but mention his journey to Jerusalem to meet the Apostles who are said to have come from all parts of the World to be present at the last hours of the Blessed Virgin and his several Visitations of the Churches in Phrygia and Achaia to plant or confirm the Faith VII ALL which supposing they were true yet here we must take our leave For now the Writers of his Life generally make him prepare for a much longer journey Having setled his affairs at Athens and substituted a Successor in his See he is said to go to Rome a brief account of things shall suffice where no truth lies at the bottom at Rome he was dispatched by S. Clemens into France where he planted the Faith and founded an Episcopal See at Paris whence after many years about the ninetieth year of his Age he returned into the East to converse with S. John at Ephesus thence back again to Paris where he suffered martyrdom and among infinite other miracles reported of him he is said to have taken up his head after it had been cut off by the Executioners and to have carried it in his hands an Angel going before and an heavenly Chorus attending him all the way for two miles together till he came to the place of his interment where he gently laid it and himself down and was there honourably entombed This is the sum of a very tedious Story A Story so improbable in it self so directly contrary to what c Saâ—â— Hist lib. 2. pag. 143. Severus Sulpitius affirms that none were martyred for the Faith in France till the fifth Persecution under the reign of M. Aurelius Antoninus that I shall not spend much time in its confutation Especially when the thing has been unanswerably done by so many learned and ingenious men in the Church of Rome and by none more effectually then Sirmond and Launoy who have cleared it beyond all possibilities of just exception VIII INDEED we find in several very ancient d Usuard Martyr Calend. Octob. VII Id. Octob. Martyr Bede VII Id. Octob. Martyrologies as also in e Greg. Turon Hist Franc. lib. 1. c. 28. p. 265. Edit Du. Châ—sn Gregory Bishop of Tours who reports it out of the Acts of Saturninus the Martyr that one Dionysius with some others was sent by the Bishop of Rome into France in the time of Decius the Emperour Ann. Chr. CCL where he preached the Christian Faith and became Bishop of Paris and after great torments and sufferings was beheaded for his resolute and constant profession of Religion and accordingly his martyrdom is recorded in the most ancient Martyrologies upon a day distinct from that of the Athenian Dionysius and the same miracles ascribed to him that are reported of the other And that this was the first and true foundation of the Story I suppose no wise man will doubt Nor indeed is the least mention made of any such thing I am sure not any in Writer of Name and Note till the times of Charles the Great When f Vâ—â— Epist ejaâ— Hilduin Rescript apud Surdoc citat Ludovicus Emperour and King of France wrote to Hilduin Abbot of S. Denys to pick up what ever Memoirs he could find concerning him either in the Books of the Greeks or Latines or such Records as they had at home and to digest and compile them into orderly Tracts He did so and furnished out a very large and particular relation which was quickly improved and defended by Hinemar Bishop of Rhemes Scholar to Hilduin and Anastasius Bibliothecarius of Rome to whom the Greek Writers of that and the following Ages readily gave their Vote and Suffrage Nor has a late a J. Mabillonâ— not ad Epist Hincmar inter Analect Veter p. 63. Author much mended the matter in point of antiquity who tells us that in a convention of Bishops in France held Ann. DCCCXXV ten years before Hilduin wrote his Areopagitics mention is made of S. Dionysius his being sent into France by Clemens S. Peters Successor For we can easily allow that there might about that time be some blind and obscure Tradition though the fragment of the Synod which he there produces speaks not one syllable of this Dionysius his being the Areopagite or having any relation to Athens In short the case seems plainly this IX HILDVIN set on by his potent Patron partly that he might exalt the honour of France partly to advance the reputation of his particular Convent finding an obscure Dionysius to have been Bishop of Paris removes him an Age or two higher and makes him the same with him of Athens a person of greater honour and veneration and partly from the Records partly from the Traditions currant among themselves draws up a formal account of him from first to last adding 'tis like what he thought good of his own to make up the Story These Commentaries of his we may suppose were quickly conveyed to Rome where being met with by the Greeks who came upon frequent Embassies to that See about that time they were carried over to Constantinople out of which Methodius who had himself been Aprocrisiarius or Embassador from Nicephorus the Greek Patriarch to Pope Paschal at Rome and after infinite troubles was advanced to the Patriarchat of Constantinople furnishes himself with materials to write the life of Dionysius for that he had them not out of the Records of his own Church is plain in that when Hilduin set upon composing his Arcopagitics he expresly says b Rescript ad Ludov. Imper. n. 10. ibid. that the Greeks had written nothing concerning the Martyrdom of S. Denys the particulars whereof by reason of the vast distance they could not attain Out of Hilduin therefore or at least some reports of that time Methodius must needs derive his intelligence but most probably from Hilduin between whose relation and that of Methodius there is so exact an agreement not onely in particular passages but oft-times in the very same words as c Respons discuss cap. 9. p. 120. Monsieur Launoy has demonstrated by a particular collation Methodius his Tract was by the Greek Embassadors quickly brought from Constantinople to Rome where d Epist ad Carol Calv. Imp. apud Sur. ibid. p. 132. Anastasius confesses he met with it translated it into Latine and thence transmitted it into France where it was read owned and published by e Extat
particularly a Epipâ— loc cit noted of him that besides the Scriptures he traded in certain Apocryphal Writings He wrote 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b Euseb H. Eccl. ubi supr de Script Eccl. in Bardes which S. Hierom renders infinite Volumes written indeed for the most part in Syriac but which his Scholars translated into Greek though he himself was sufficiently skilful in that Language as Epiphanius notes In the number of these Books might be the Recognitions plausibly fathered upon S. Clemens who was notoriously known to be S. Peters Companion and Disciple and were but some of his many Books now extant I doubt not but a much greater affinity both in stile and notions would appear between them But this I propose onely as a probable conjecture and leave it at the Readers pleasure either to reject or entertain it I am not ignorant that both c Apol. adv Rufin p. 219. S. Hierom and d Phot. Cod. CXII col 289. Photius charge these Books with haeretical Opinions especially some derogatory to the honour of the Son of God which it may be Rufinus who e Apolog. pro Orig. ap Hieron Tom. 4. p. 195. confesses the same thing and supposes them to have been inserted by some haeretical hand concealed in his Translation Nay f Haeres XXX p. 65. Epiphanius tells us that the Ebionites did so extremely corrupt them that they scarce left any thing of S. Clemens sound and true in them which he observes from their repugnancy to his other Writings those Encyclical Epistles of his as he calls them which were read in the Churches But then its plain he means it onely of those Copies which were in the possession of those haeretics probably not now extant nor do any of those particular adulterations which he says they made in them appear in our Books nor in those large and to be sure uncorrupt fragments of Bardesanes and Origen is there the least considerable variation from those Books which we have at this day But of this enough XII THE Epistle to S. James the brother of our Lord is no doubt of equal date with the rest in the close whereof the Author pretends that he was commanded by S. Peter to give him an account of his Travels Discourses and the success of his Ministry under the title of Clemens his Epitome of Peters popular preachings to which he tells him he would next proceed So that this Epistle originally was nothing but a Praeface to S. Peters Acts or Periods the same in effect with the Recognitions and accordingly in the late Edition of the Clementine Homilies which have the very Title mentioned in that Epistle it is found prefixed before them Loc. supra citat This Epistle as Photius tells us varied according to different Editions sometimes pretending that it and the account of S. Peters Acts annexed to it were written by S. Peter himself and by him sent to S. James sometimes that they were written by Clemens at S. Peters instance and command Whence he conjectures that there was a twofold Edition of S. Peters Acts one said to be written by himself the other by Clemens and that when in time the first was lost that pretending to S. Clemens did remain For so he assures us he constantly found it in those many Copies that he met with notwithstanding that the Epistle and Inscription were sometimes different and various By the Original whereof now published appears the fraud of the Factors of the Romish Church who in all Latine Editions have added an Appendix almost twice as large as the Epistle it self And well had it been had this been the onely instance wherein some men to shore up a tottering Cause have made bold with the Writers of the ancient Church His Writings Genuine Epistola ad Corinthios Doubtful Epistola ad Corinth secunda Supposititious Epistola ad Jacobum Fratrem Domini Recognitionum lib. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seu Homiliae Clementinae Constitutionum App. lib. 8. Canones Apostolici The End of S. CLEMENS's Life THE LIFE OF S. SIMEON BISHOP of JERUSALEM Micha burgh deli et sculp S. SYMEON HIEROSOLYMITANUS The heedless confounding him with others of the like name His Parents and near Relation to our Saviour The time of his Birth His strict Education and way of Life The Order and Institution of the Rechabites what His conversion to Christianity The great care about a Successor to S. James Bishop of Jerusalem Simeon chosen to that place when and why The causes of the destruction of the Jewish state The original and progress of those Wars briefly related The miserable state of Jerusalem by Siege Pestilence and Famine Jerusalem stormed The burning of the Temple and the rage of the Fire The number of the Slain and Captives The just accomplishment of our Lords predictions The many Prodigies portending this destruction The Christians forewarned to depart before Jerusalem was shut up Their withdrawment to Pella The admirable care of the Divine Providence over them Their return back to Jerusalem when The flourishing condition of the Christian Church there The occasion of S. Simeons Martyrdom The infinite jealousie of the Roman Emperours concerning the line of David Simeons apprehension and crucifixion His singular torments and patience His great age and the time of his death I. IT cannot be unobserved by any that have but looked into the Antiquities of the Church what confusion the identity or similitude of names has bred among Ecclesiastic Writers especially in the more early Ages where the Records are but short and few An instance whereof Vid. Caron Alexandr Olymp. CCXX Ind. I. Traj VII Ann. sequent p. 594. were there no other we have in the person of whom we write Whom some will have to be the same with S. Simon the Cananite one of the twelve Apostles others confound him with Simon one of the four brethren of our Lord while a third sort make all three to be but one and the same person the sound and similitude of names giving birth to the several mistakes For that Simeon of Jerusalem was a person altogether distinct from Simon the Apostle is undeniably evident from the most ancient Martyrologies both of the Greek and the Latine Church where vastly different accounts are given concerning their persons imployments and the time and places of their death Simon the Apostle being martyred in Britain or as others in Persia while Simeon the Bishop is notoriously known to have suffered in Palestine or in Syria Nor are the testimonies of Dorotheus Sophronius or Isidore considerable enough to be weighed against the Authorities of Hegesippus Eusebius Epiphanius and others But of this enough II. S. Simeon was the son of a Hâ—gesip ap Euseb l. 3. c. 11. p. 87. Epiph. Haeres LXVI p. 274. omnia antiqua Martyrologia Adonis Bedae Notkeri Usuardi apud Bolland de Vit. SS ad diem XVIII Febr. pag. 53 54. Cleophas brother to Joseph husband
which he made use of in the Government of the Empire But to return to Mammaea Being a Syrian born she could not be unacquainted with the affairs both of Jews and Christians and having heard of the great fame of a Euseb loc cit Origen was very desirous to see him and hear him discourse concerning Religion that she might know what it was for which the whole World had him in such veneration And for this purpose she sent for him ordering a military guard to conduct him to Antioch where he staid some considerable time and having fully opened the Doctrines of our Religion and given her many demonstrations of the Faith of Christians to the great honour of God and of Religion he was dismissed and permitted to return to his old charge at Alexandria XIII HENCEFORWARD he set upon writing b Ibid. c. 23. p. 224. Commentaries on the Holy Scripture at the instigation of his dear friend Ambrosius who did not onely earnestly importune him to it but furnish him with all conveniences necessary for it allowing him besides his maintenance seven and as occasion was more Notaries to attend upon him who by turns might take from his mouth what he dictated to them and as many Transcribers besides Virgins imployed for that purpose who copied out fair what the others had hastily taken from his mouth These Notaries were very common both among the Greeks and Romans making use of certain peculiar notes and signs either by way of occult or short-writing being able by the dexterity of their Art to take not words onely but entire sentences The original of it is by some ascribed to Tyro Cicero's servant by others to Aquila servant to Mecaenas by others to Ennius and that it was polished and enlarged afterwards first by Tyro then by Aquila and some others It may be in its first rudeness it was much more ancient and improved and perfected by degrees every new addition entitling it self to the first invention till it arrived to that accuracy and perfection that as appears from what c Lib. 14. Epigr. 208. Martial says in the case and Ausonius d Epigram 36. reports of his Amanuensis they were able not onely to keep pace with but many times to out-run the speaker That they were of frequent use in the Primitive Church is without all doubt being chiefly imployed to write the Acts of the Martyrs for which end they were wont to frequent the Prisons to be present at all Trials and Examinations and if the thing was done intra Velum within the Secretarium they used by bribes to procure Copies of the Examinations and Answers from the Proconsul's Register thence they followed the Martyrs to the place of Execution there to remarque their sayings and their sufferings This was done in the most early Ages as is evident from e De Coron c. 13. p. 109. Tertullians mentioning the Fasti Ecclesiae and from what f Epist XXXVII p. 51 S. Cyprian says in his Epistle to the Clergy of his Church and g In vit Cypr non long ab init Pontius the Deacon in his life where he tells us that their Fore-fathers were wont to register whatever concerned the Martyrdom of the meanest Christian the Acts whereof descended down to his time Thus h H. Eccl. l. 5. c. c. 21. p. 189. Eusebius speaking of the Martyrdom of Apollonius in the reign of Commodus tells us that all his Answers and Discourses before the President 's Tribunal and his brave Apology before the Senate were contained in the Acts of his Martyrdom which together with others he had collected into one Volume So that the Original of the Institution is not without probability referred to the times of S. Clemens Bishop of Rome All which I the rather note because it gives us a reasonable account how the Answers and Speeches of the Martyrs the Arguments and Discourses of Synods and Councils and the Extempore Homilies of the Fathers came to be transmitted so intire and perfect to us But I return to Origen whom we left dictating to his Notaries and they delivering it to those many Transcribers that were allowed him all which were maintained at Ambrosius's sole expence a Cod. CXXI col 301. Photius indeed makes this charge to have been allowed by Hippolytus deriving his mistake it 's plain from the Greek Interpreter of b Vid. Hieron de Script in Hippol. S. Hieroms Catalogue who did not rightly apprehend S. Hieroms meaning and who himself speaking of Hippolytus inserts this passage concerning Ambrose I know not how and for no other reason that I can imagin but because in Eusebius his History he found it immediately following the account that was given of Hippolytus his Works d Haeres LXIV p. 228. Epiphanius will have these Commentaries written and the expences allowed to that purpose by Ambrosius at Tyre and that for that end he resided there XXVIII years together An intolerable mistake not onely disagreeing with Eusebius his account but plainly inconsistent with the course of Origen's life And indeed Epiphanius alledges no better an Author then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having picked up the Story from some vulgar tradition and report His industry and diligence in these Studies was incredible few parts of the Bible escaping his narrow and critical researches wherein he attained to so admirable an accuracy and perfection that e Hoc unum dico quod vellem cum invidia nominis ejus habere etiam scientiam Scripturarum floccipendens imagines umbrasque larvarum quarum natura esse dicitur terrere parvulos in angulis garrire tenebrosis Hieron Praef. in Quaest in Genes Tom. 3. p. 201. S. Hierom himself not always over-civil to him professes he could be content to bear that load of envy that was cast upon his name so that he had but withall his skill and knowledge in the Scriptures A passage which f Invectiv II. in Hieron inter oper Hier. Tom. 4. p. 225. Ruffinus afterwards smartly enough returns upon him XIV BUT a stop for the present was put to this work by some affairs of the Church which called him into Achaia then disturbed with divers Heresies that over-ran those Churches And at this time doubtless it was that he staid a while at Athens where as g Ubi supr p. 227. Epiphanius tells us he frequented the Schools of the Philosophers and conversed with the Sages of that place In his journey to Achaia he went through h Euseb loc cit Hier. de Script in Alex. Palestin and took Caesarea in his way where producing his Letters of recommendation from Demetrius he was ordained Presbyter by Alexander of Jerusalem and Theoctistus Bishop of Caesarea Not that this was done by any sinister Arts or the ambitious procurement of Origen himself but was intirely the act of those two excellent persons who designed by this means to furnish him with a greater authority for the management of his
Embassie and to render him more serviceable to the affairs of the Church However the thing was infinitely resented by Demetrius as an affront against his jurisdiction and a contempt of his authority and now the wind is turned into a blustring quarter and nothing but anathema's are thundred out against him from Alexandria Demetrius had for some time born him a secret grudge and he takes this occasion to fall upon him The truth is he * Euseb ib. c. 8. p. 109. envied the honour and reputation which Origen's Learning and Vertue had raised him in the thoughts and mouths of all men and wanting hitherto an opportunity to vent his emulation he had now one put into his hand and accordingly charges him with all that spight and spleen can invent publicly accusing him what before he admired in him for making himself an Eunuch and severely reflecting upon the Bishops that ordained him Nay so high did he raise the storm that he procured Origen to be condemned a Paâ—phil Apolog ap Phot. Cod. CXVIII col 297. in two several Synods one of Bishops and Presbyters who decreed that he should be banished Alexandria and not permitted either to live or teach there the other under Demetrius who with some Bishops of Egypt pronounced him to be degraded from his Priesthood his greatest favourers subscribing the Decree b Apud Ruffin Invect II. in Hieron inter oper Hier. T. 4. p. 225. S. Hierom adds that the greatest part of the Christian World consented to this condemnation and that Rome it self convened a Synod against him not for Heresie or Innovations in Doctrin but meerly out of envy as not able to bear the glory and renown of his Learning and Eloquence seeing while he taught they were looked upon as mute and dumb as the Stars disappear at the presence of the Sun And yet all this combustion vanished into smoke Origen still retaining his Priesthood publicly preaching in the Church and being honourably entertained where-ever he came by the wiser and more moderate party of the Church XV. WEARIED out with the vexatious assaults of his enemies he resolved to quit Alexandria where the sentence of the Synods would not suffer him long to abide having first resigned the Government of his Catechetic School intirely to his Colleague Heraclas c Euseb ib. c. 26. p. 228. This Heraclas was a Gentile born brother to Plutarch who as before we noted suffered Martyrdom for the Faith together with whom he became Origen's Scholar by whom he was converted and built up in the Faith then taken in as his Vsher or Partner in the Catechetic Office afterwards his successor and last of all Bishop of Alexandria A man of unwearied diligence and a strict life learned and eloquent a great Master in Philosophy and all humane but especially versed in divine Studies He retained his Philosophic habit even after he was made Presbyter of Alexandria and ceased not with a mighty industry still to read over and converse with the Writings of the Gentiles indeed arrived to that singular fame and reputation that Julius Africanus one of the most learned men of those times came d Ibid. c. 31. p. 230. on purpose to Alexandria to see and hear him No wonder therefore if Origen committed this great care and trust to him whose personal merit and particular obligation as his Scholar might seem to challenge it Before his departure for they that refer it to the time of Decius speak at random Origen not being then at Alexandria an accident fell out which if true hastned his flight with more shame and sorrow then all the malice of his bitterest enemies could create him Thus then we are told e 〈◊〉 â—bi sâ—p p. 22â— Lâ—â—nt de Sect. Act. X. p. some Gentiles that were his mortal enemies seized upon him and reduced him to this strait that either he should abuse his body with a Blackmoor or do sacrifice to an Idol Of the two he chose to sacrifice though it was rather their act then his for putting Frankincense into his hand they led him up to the Altar and forced him to throw it into the fire Which yet drew so great a blot upon his name and derived so much guilt upon his conscience that not able to bear the public reproach he immediately left the City The credit of this Story is not a little shaken by the universal silence of the more ancient Writers in this matter not so much as intimated by Eusebius Pamphilus or Origen's own contemporary Dionysius of Alexandria not objected by his greatest adversaries as is plain from the Apologies written in his behalf not mentioned by Porphyry who lived in those times and whom we cannot suppose either to have been ignorant of it or willing to conceal it when we find him falsly reporting of Ammonius that he apostatized from Christianity and of Origen himself that he was born and bred an Heathen In short not mentioned by any before Epiphanius and besides him not by any else of that time not S. Hierom Rufinus Vincentius Lerinensis or Theophilus of Alexandria some of whom were enemies enough to Origen So that it was not without some plausibility of reason that a Ad Ann. 253. n. CXXIII Baronius suspected this passage to have been foisted into Epiphanius and not to have been the genuine issue of his Pen. Though in my mind Epiphanius himself says enough to make any wise man ready to suspend his belief for he tells b Ibid. p 229. us that many strange things were reported concerning Origen which he himself gave no credit to though he thought good to set down the reports and how often he catches up any common rumours and builds upon them none need to be told that are acquainted with his Writings Nor is it likely he would balk any Story that tended to Origen's disgrace who had himself so bitter a zeal and spleen against him I might further argue the improbability of this Story from hence that this being a long time after his famous emasculating of himself which by this time was known all abroad it is not reasonable to suppose that the Heathens should make the prostituting himself in committing adultery one part of his choice which his self-contracted impotency and Eunuchism had long since made impossible to him However supposing the matter of fact to be true it sounds not more especially considering how much there was of force and compulsion in it to his disparagement then his solemn repentance afterwards made for his honour and when the desire to preserve his chastity inviolable is laid in the Scale with his offering Sacrifice XVI ANN. CCXXXIII c Euseb ib. c. 26. p. 228. Origen left Alexandria and directing his course for Palestin went to his good Friend and Patron Theoctistus Bishop of Caesarea and from thence to Jerusalem to salute Alexander Bishop of it and to visit the venerable Antiquities of that place And here Epiphanius in pursuance of the
Father the Invisible of the Invisible the Incorruptible of the Incorruptible the Immortal of the Immortal and the Eternal of Him that is Eternal There is one Holy Ghost having its subsistence of God which appeared through the Son to mankind the perfect Image of the perfect Son the Life-giving Life the holy Fountain the Sanctity and the Author of Sanctification by whom God the Father is made manifest who is over all and in all and God the Son who is through all A perfect Trinity which neither in Glory Eternity or Dominion is divided or separated from it self To this Creed he always kept himself the Original whereof written with his own hand my Author assures us was preserved in that Church in his time VIII THUS incomparably furnished he began to apply himself more directly to the charge committed to him in the happy success whereof he was infinitely advantaged by a power of working miracles so much talked of among the Ancients bestowed upon him As he was a Ibid. p. 980. returning home from the Wilderness being benighted and overtaken with a storm he together with his company turned aside to shelter themselves in a Gentile Temple famous for Oracles and Divinations where they spent the night in prayers and hymns to God Early in the morning came the Gentile Priest to pay the accustomed devotions to the Daemons of the place who had told them it seems that they must henceforth relinquish it by reason of him that lodged there he made his lustrations and offered his Sacrifices but all in vain the Daemons being deaf to all importunities and invocations Whereupon he burst out into a rage and passion exclaiming against the holy man and threatning to complain of him to the Magistrates and the Emperour But when he saw him generously despising all his threatnings and invested with a power of commanding Daemons in and out at pleasure he turned his fury into admiration and intreated the Bishop as a further evidence of that divine authority that attended him to bring the Daemons once more back again into the Temple For whose satisfaction he is said to have torn off a piece of Paper and therein to have written these words Gregory to Satan enter Which Schedule was no sooner laid upon the Altar and the usual incense and oblations made but the Daemons appeared again as they were wont to do Whereby he was plainly convinced that it was an Authority superiour to all infernal powers and accordingly resolved to accompany him but being unsatisfied in some parts of the Christian Doctrin was fully brought over after he had seen S. Gregory confirm his discourses by another evident miracle whereupon he freely forsook house and home friends and relations and resigned up himself to the instructions of his divine Wisdom and Philosophy IX THE fame of his strange and miraculous actions had prepared b Id. ibid. p. 983. the People of Neocaesarea to entertain him with a prodigious reverence and regard the people generally flocking out of the City to meet him every one being ambitious to see the person of whom such great things were spoken He unconcerned in the applause and expectations of all the Spectators that were about him without so much as casting his eye on the one side or the other passed directly through the midst of the crowds into the City Whither being come his friends that had accompanied him out of his solitudes were very solicitous where and by whom he should be entertained But he reproving their anxiety asked them whether they thought themselves banished the divine Protection whether Gods providence was not the best and safest refuge and habitation that whatever became of their bodies it was of infinitely more importance to look after their minds as the onely fit and proper habitations which were by the Vertues of a good life to be trimmed and prepared furnished and built up for Heaven But there wanted not many who were ready enough to set open their doors to so welcom a guest among which especially was Musonius a person of greatest honour estate and power in the City who intreated him to honour his house with his presence and to take up his lodging there whose kindness as being first offered he accepted dismissing the rest with a grateful acknowledgment of that civility and respect which they had offered to him X. IT was no little abatement to the good mans joy to think in what a prophane and idolatrous place his lot was fallen and that therefore it concerned him to lose no time Accordingly that very day a Ubi supr p. 985. he fell to preaching and with so good success that before night he had converted a little Church Early the next morning the doors were crowded persons of all ranks ages infirmities and distempers flocking to him upon whom he wrought two cures at once healing both soul and body instructing their minds convincing their errours reclaiming and reforming their manners and that with ease because at the same time strengthening the infirm curing the sick healing the diseased banishing Daemons out of the possessed men greedily embracing the Religion he taught while they beheld such sensible demonstrations of its power and divinity before their eyes and heard nothing reported but what was verified by the testimony of their own senses Having thus prepared a numerous Congregation his next care was to erect a Church where they might assemble for the public solemnities of Religion which by the chearful contributions of some and the industrious labour of others was in a little time both begun and finished And the foundations of it seem to have been laid upon a firmer basis then other buildings seeing it out-stood not onely Earthquakes frequent in those parts but the violent storm of Dioclesian's reign who commanded the Churches of the Christians in all places to be demolished and was still standing in Gregory Nyssen's time who further tells us that when a terrible Earthquake lately happened in that place wherewith almost all the buildings both public and private were destroyed and ruined this Church onely remained entire and not the least stone was shaken to the ground XI S. Gregory Nyssen b Ibid. p. 1007. reports one more memorable passage then the rest which at his first coming to the place made his conversion of the people much more quick and easie There was a public festival held in honour of one of the gods of that Country whereto not onely the Neocaesareans but all the inhabitants of the neighbour-Countrey came in and that in such infinite numbers that the Theater was quickly full and the crowd so great and the noise so confused and loud that the Shews could not begin nor the solemn rites be performed The People hereupon universally cried out to the Daemon Jupiter we beseech thee make us room S. Gregory being told of this sent them this message that their prayer would be granted and that greater room would be quickly made them then they desired
farther then Jerusalem But to what degrees of truth or probability that opinion may approve it self I leave to others to enquire IV. DIONYSIVS having finished his Studies at Heliopolis returned to Athens incomparably fitted to serve his Countrey and accordingly was advanced to be one of the Judges of the Areopagus a place of great honour and renown The Areopagus was a famous Senate-house built upon a Hill in Athens wherein assembled their great Court of Justice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as b Arislid Tom. 1. p. 331. one calls it the most sacred and venerable Tribunal in all Greece Under their cognizance came all the greater and more capital Causes and especially matters of Religion blasphemy against the gods and contempt of the holy mysteries and therefore S. Paul was arraigned before this Court as a setter forth of strange gods when he preached to them concerning Jesus and Anastasis or the Resurrection None might be of this Council but persons of birth and quality wise and prudent men and of very strict and severe manners and so great an awe and reverence did this solemn and grave Assembly strike into those that sate in it that c Loco supr landat Isocrates tells us that in his time when they were somewhat degenerated from their ancient Vertue however otherwise men were irregular and exorbitant yet once chosen into this Senate they presently ceased from their vicious inclinations and chose rather to conform to the Laws and Manners of that Court 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then to continue in their wild and debauch'd course of life They were exactly upright and impartial in their proceedings and heard causes at night or in the dark that the person of the Plaintiff or the Pleader might have no undue influence upon them Their sentence was decretory and final and from their determination lay no appeal Their number was uncertain by some restrained to nine by others enlarged to thirty one by others to fifty one and to more by some Indeed the Novemviri who were the Basileus or King the Archon the Polemarchus and the six Thesmothetae were the constant Seminary and Nursery of this great Assembly who having discharged their several Offices annually passed into the Areopagus and therefore when Socrates was condemned by this d D. Laert. l. 2. in vit S. â—at p. 115. Court we find no less then two hundred fourscore and one giving their Votes against him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Caetera vid. apud R. Volaterran Comment Urban l. 8. tâ—l 318. besides those whose White Stones were for his absolution and in an ancient Inscription upon a Column in the Acropolis at Athens erected to the memory of Rufus Festus Proconsul of Greece and one of these Judges mention is made of the Areopagite Senate of three hundred V. IN this grave and venerable judicature sate our S. Denys when S. Paul about the year XLIX or L came to Athens where he resolutely asserted the cause of Christianity against the attempts of the Stoic and Epicurean Philosophers who mainly appeared against it The Athenians who were infinitely curious and superstitious in matters of Religion not knowing what to make of this new and strange Doctrin that he taught presently brought him before the Areopagite-Senate to whom the proper cognizance of such causes did belong Here in a neat and eloquent discourse delivered not with greater freedom of mind then strength of reason he plainly demonstrated the folly and absurdity of those many vain deities whom they blindly worshipped explained to them that infinite Being that made and governed the World and what indispensable obligations he had laid upon all Mankind to worship and adore him and how much he had enforced all former engagements to gratitude and obedience to repentance and reformation by this last and best dispensation by sending his Son to publish so excellent a Religion to the World His discourse however entertained by some with scorn and laughter and gravely put off by others yet wanted not a happy influence upon many whom it convinced of the reasonableness and divinity of the Christian Faith among whom was our Dionysius one of the Judges that sate upon him and Damaris his wife for so a Desacerdot l. 4. c. 7. p. 67. T. 4. Ambros Epist 82. p. 198. Tom. 3. S. Chrysostom and others make her and probably his whole house An b Hild. in passio S. Dionys n. 6 7 8. ap Sur. Octob. IX p. 122. Author I confess I know not by what Authority relates a particular dispute between Dionysius and S. Paul concerning the Vnknown God who as God-man was to appear in the latter Ages to reform the World this the Apostle shewed to be the Holy Jesus lately come down from Heaven and so satisfied S. Denys that he prayed him to intercede with Heaven that he might be fully confirmed in this belief The next day S. Paul having restored sight to one that was born blind charged him to go to Dionysius and by that token claim his promise to be his Convert who being amazed at this sight readily renounced his Idolatry and was with his house baptized into the Faith of Christ But I know the credit of my Author too well to lay any great stress upon this relation and the rather because I find that Baronius himself is not willing to venture his Faith upon it To which I might add c Loc. supr citat S. Chrysostoms observation that the Areopagite was converted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 onely by S. Pauls discourse there being no miracle that we know of that might promote and further it VI. BEING baptized he was we are d S. Metaphr ap Sur. ibid. Maxim Syncel ubi supr Psendo-Dionys de divin nomin c. 2. p. 175. T. 1. told committed to the care and tutorage of S. Hierotheus to be by him further instructed in the Faith a person not so much as mentioned by any of the Ancients which creates with me a vehement suspicion that it is onely a feigned name and that no such person ever really was in the World Indeed the e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greek Menaeon makes him to have been one of the Nine Senators of the Areopagus to have been converted by S. Paul and by him made Bishop of Athens and then appointed Tutor to S. Denys f Pseudo-Dext Chron. ad Ann. Chr. LXXI Others make him by birth a Spaniard first Bishop of Athens and then travelling into his own Countrey Bishop of Segovia in Spain And both I believe with equal truth Nor probably had such a person ever been thought of had there not been some intimations of such an instructor in Dionysius his Works confirmed by the Scholiasts that writ upon him and afterwards by others improved into a formal Story As for S. Dionysius he is made to travel with S. Paul for three years after his Conversion and then to have been constituted by him Bishop of Athens so that it was necessary