Eastern Country But it did not enjoy them long For that King who had illustrated it with such magnificence when he was dying saw the approaching ruin of that famous City His Son Evilmerodac Years be ∣ fore J. C. 562 whose Debauches had rendred him odious Years of Rome 192 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 560 lived not long for he was killed by Neriglissor Years of Rome 194 his brother-in-Brother-in-Law Abyd apud Euseb l. 9. Praep. Ev. c. ult who usurped the Kingdom Pisistratus also in Athens usurp'd the Soveraign Authority which he understood very well how to keep for thirty years amidst several vicissitudes and afterwards left it to his Children Neriglissor could not bear with the power of the Medes which grew very great in the East and therefore declared war against them Whilst Astyages the Son of Cyagorus I. was preparing to resist him he dyed and left the War to be maintain'd by his Son Cyagorus II. called in Daniel Darius the Mede He appointed for the General of his Army Cyrâ—s the Son of Mandana his Sister and of Cambyses King of Persia who was subject to the Empire of the Medes The Reputation of Cyrus which had been signalized in divers Wars under Astyages his Grand-father re-united most of the Eastern Kings under the Standards of Cyagorus He Years be ∣ fore J. C. 548 took in his Capital City Croesus King of Lydia Years of Rome 206 and possest himself with his vast Estate and Riches he brought down the other Allies Years be ∣ fore J. C. 543 of the Kings of Babylon and extended Years of Rome 211 his Dominion not only over Syria but also very far in the lesser Asia At last he marches Years be ∣ fore J. C. 538 against Babylon takes it and submits it to Years of Rome 216 Cyagorus his Uncle who being no less affected with his Fidelity than his great Exploits gave him his only Daughter and Heiress in Years be ∣ fore J. C. 537 Marriage In the Reign of Cyagorus Daniel Years of Rome 217 already honoured under the precedent Reigns with several Visions from Heaven in which he saw pass before him in such plain and manifest Figures so many Kings and Empires learnt by a New Revelation those Seventy famous Weeks by which the Time of Jesus Christ and the Destiny of the Jewish People are explained It was the Weeks of Years and contain'd 490 Years and this way of computation was ordinary and familiar among the Jews who observed the Seventh Year as well as the Seventh Day with a Religious repose Years be ∣ fore J. C. 536 Some time after this Vision Cyagorus dyed Years of Rome 218 as well as Cambyses the Father of Cyrus and this great Man who succeeded them joined the Kingdom of Persia till then obscure unto the Kingdom of the Medes so mightily greatn'd by its Conquests Thus was He the quiet and peaceable Master of all the East and founded the greatest Empire that ever was in the World But that which is most remarkable for the continuance of our Epochas is that this great Conquerour in the first Year of his Reign gave his Decree for the Re-establishing of the Temple of God in Jerusalem and the Jews in Judea Here we ought a little to make a stop because it is the most entangled place of all the Antient Chronology by reason of the difficulty in conciliating the Prophane History with the Sacred No question but your Highness hath already observed that this account I have given you of Cyrus is much different from what you have read of him in Justin that he speaks nothing of the second Kingdom of the Assyrians nor of those famous Kings of Assyria and Babylon so memorable in the Sacred History and in short this Relation of mine is very incongruous to that which is reported by the Author of the three first Monarchies of that of the Assyrians ended in the Person of Sardanapalâ—s that of the Medes ended in Astyages the Grandfather of Cyrus and this of the Persians began by Cyrus and destroy'd by Alexander Your Highness may be pleased to add to Justin Diodorus with most of the Greek and Latin Authors whose Writings are yet extant who give you these Histories after quite another manner than this I have followed As to what belongs to Cyrus Hieron in Dan. the Prophane Authors are in no agreement among themselves about his History but I thought it best to follow rather Xenophon with St. Jerome than Ctesias a fabulous Author whom most of the Grecians have copy'd and written after as Justin and the Latins have follow'd the Grecians and I have preferred him even to Herodotus himself tho' he is a most excellent and judicious Reporter And that which hath determined me to this choice is that Xenophon's History the most probable and likely in it self hath also this great advantage that it is the most conformable to the Scriptures which by reason of its antiquity and the Relation of the Jewish Affairs to those of the Eastern People deserves to be esteemed beyond all the other Greek Histories tho' one did not know that it had been dictated by the Holy Spirit Plat. in Tim. As to the three first Monarchies what most of the Greek Authors have written of them seems very doubtful to the Sages of Greece Plato in general shews us that under the name of Egyptian Priests the Greeks were extreamly ignorant of Antiquities and Aristotle hath ranged among the fabulous Reporters Arist â—olit v. 10. those that have written of the Assyrians The Greeks have written very negligently and because they had a mind to please and divert by their Historical relating of their Antiquities Greece which was ever very curious about them they have taken up Reports upon confused and dark Memorandums and so satisfied themselves with putting them into an agreeable and delightful order without being at any great pains or care to search whether they were true or not And certainly the way which was commonly taken to rank the three first Monarchies is most apparently fabulous For after the downfal of the Empire of Assyria under Sardanapalus next appear the Medes and after them the Persians as if the Medes had been Successors to the mighty Power of the Assyrians and the Persians had established themselves upon the ruin of the Medes Whereas on the contrary it is most certain that when Arbaces abandoned the Medes against Sardanapalus he did only deliver them without any submitting of the Assyrian Empire to them Herodotus Herod l. 1. c. 26 27. followed herein by the most approved Chronologers mentions nothing of their first King Dejoces until 50. years after their revolt and it is the more to be credited because of the concurrent Testimony both of this great Historian and of Xenophon not to trouble you now with any others that during the time that is allotted to the Empire of the Medes Herod 1. Xenoph. Cyrop â— vi c. there were in Assyria such
that Temple is dedicated Behold Mal. 3.1 I will send my Messenger and he shall prepare the way before me and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his Temple evâ—n the Messenger of the Covenant whom ye delight in behold he shall come saith the Lord of Hosts A Messenger is an Envoy But behold here is an Envoy of a very wonderful Dignity an Envoy who hath a Temple an Envoy who is no less than God and who enters into the Temple as into his own House an Envoy in whom all the People delight who cometh to make a new Covenant and who for that reason is called the Messenger of the Covenant 'T was therefore in the second Temple that God sent from God was to appear Mal. 3.1.4.5 6. But another Messenger comes before him to prepare his way for him There we see the Messiah preceded by his Fore-runner The Character of that Fore-runner is also discovered to the Prophet That was to be a new Elijah remarkable for his Holiness for the Austerity of his Life for his Authority and for his Zeal Thus the last Prophet of the antient People shews the first Prophet who was to come after him that is to say that Elijah the Fore-runner of the Lord who was to appear Until that time the People of God were to expect no more Prophets The Law of Moses was to be sufficient for them and therefore does Malachi shut up all with these words Remember ye the Law of Moses my Servant which I commanded unto him in Horeb. for all Israel Mal. 4.4 6 6. with the Statutes and Judgments Behold I will send you Elijah the Prophet and he shall turn the Heart of the Fathers to the Children who will shew to them what they are to expect To this Law of Moses God had joyned the Prophets who had spoken in conformity and the History of the People of God made by the same Prophets in which were confirmed by visible experiences the Promises and Threatnings of the Law Every thing was very carefully and distinctly writ every thing digested by the order of particular times and this was what God left for the Instruction of his People when he caused the Prophecies to cease Those Instructions wrought a wonderous change in the Manners of the Israelites V. The Times of the second Temple They had no more need of either Apparitions or manifest Predictions nor of those unheard of Prodigies which God wrought so often for their Deliverance and Salvation The Testimonies they had already received satisfied them and their Incredulity not only convinced by the event of things but also so frequently punished had at last rendered them tractable and orderly Wherefore from that time they were no more seen to return to Idolatry to which they were so strangely inclined before They were mightily ashamed that they had rejected the God of their Fathers They were ever mindful of Nebuchadnezzar and their own Ruine so often foretold in all its circumstances and which had always fallen upon 'em sooner than they believed it would They no less stood in admiration of their re-establishment wrought contrary to all appearance at the time and by him who had been pointed out to them They never beheld the second Temple but they remembred what was the reason for which the first was destroyed and how this had been rebuilt thus they confirmed themselves in the Faith of their Scriptures to which every circumstance of their Condition bore witness There was no more seen amongst them any false Prophets They were absolutely driven off from the inclination they formerly had to believe them and from that affection too they did bear then to Idolatry Zachâ—riah had prophesied by one and the same Oracle that those two things should happen to them His Prophecy had a most plain and manifest accomplishment Zâ—â—â— 13.2 3 4 5. And it shall come to pass saith the Lord of Hosts that I will cut off the names of the Idols out of the Land and also I will cause the Prophets and the unclean Spirit to pass out of the Land And it shall come to pass that when any shall yet prophesy then his Father and his Mother that begat him shall say unto him Thou shalt not live for thou speakest lies in the name of the Lord and his Father and his Mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth And it shall come to pass in that day that the Prophets shall be ashamed every one of his Vision when he hath prophesied neither shall they wear a rough Garment to deceive The false Prophets shall cease under the second Temple the People disabused of their former Error shall no longer hearken to them Isâ—i 41.11 12 13 4â— 18 19.49 â—8 19 2â— 21.52.1 2 7.54 55 c. 6â— 15.16 c. Ezâ—k â—6 38.11 12 13 14. Jer. 46.27 The true Prophets of God were read and read again without ceasing there was no need of any Comment for the things which happened every day in the execution of their Prophecies were but the too faithful Interpreters of them All their Prophets had effectually promised them a most profound Peace They read also with joy the curious Descriptions which both Isaiah and Ezekiel made of those happy Times which should follow the Captivity of Babylon All the Ruins are repaired the Cities and the Villages are magnificently rebuilt the People are innumerable the Enemies are defeated Plenty and Abundance are in their Cities and in their Fields There is seen Joy Rest and Quietness and at last all the Fruits of a sweet and lasting Peace God promises to keep his People in a durable and perfect Tranquillity They enjoyed it under the Kings of Persia As long as that Empire lasted the favourable Decrees of Cyrus who was the founder thereof secured the repose of the Jews Though they had been threatned with their final Ruine under Ahasuerus howsoever it was God being moved by their tears on a sudden changed the heart of that King and drew on a most remarkable Vengeance on Haman their mortal Enemy Esth 4 5 7 8 9. Excepting that very Conjuncture which was quickly over they were always without fear Instructed by their Prophets to be obedient to Kings to whom God had submitted them their Fidelity was inviolable Jer. 27.12 17.40.9 So likewise were they evermore kindly treated By the favour of a very small Tax which they paid to their Soveraigns who were their Protectors rather than their Masters they lived after their own Laws The Sacerdotal Power was absolutely preserved The Chief Priests conducted the People The publick Council established first by Moses had all its Authority and they exercised among themselves the power of Life and Death and no Body medled with them about it The Kings did so ordain it The mine of the Persian Empire brought no change to their Affairs Alexander respected their Temple admired their Prophecies and increased their Priviledges Joseph an
Mother to whom they belonged even more than to their Parents The word Civility did not only signify among the Greeks Humanity Kindness and mutual deference which made Men Sociable a Civil Man was nothing else but a good Citizen who always considered himself as a Member of the State which submitted to be governed by Laws and with them Conspired to the publick good without making invasions upon any Man 's right and property The antient Kings whom the Greeks had had in divers Countries as Minos Cecrops Plat. de leg 3. Theseus Codrus Temenes Cresphontus Eurysthenes Patroclus and such as these had infused this Principle into all the Nation They were all popular not at all in flattering the People but in procuring their well-fare and in making the Laws to be observed What shall I say of the gravity of their Judgments What graver Tribunal was there ever than that of the Areopagus so much had in reverence throughout all Greece as that it was said the Gods appeared there It has been famous from the earliest of time and Cecrops probably founded it after the model of the Tribunals in Egypt Not any Society has so long kept up the reputation of its ancient Gravity for all manner of deceitful Rhetorick was ever banished from it The Greeks thus polished by little and little thought they were able to govern themselves and most of the Cities formed themselves into Common-Wealths But the wise Legislators who were set up in every Country Thales Pythagoras Pittacus Lycurgus Solon Philolas and as many others as Histories inform us of took care that Liberty should not degenerate into Licentiousness Laws simply writ and few in number kept the People in their Duty and made them all concur to the publick Weal of the Country The Idea of Liberty which such a Conduct inspired was admirable For the Liberty which the Greeks figured to themselves was a Liberty subject to the Law that is to say to Reason it self acknowledged by all the People They would not have Men to have Power among them The Magistrates who were feared during the time of their Ministry became private Men who had only so much Authority as their Experience gave them The Law was look'd on as the Mistress It was that which set up Magistrates regulated their Power and in a word which punished their Male-administration It is not here necessary to examine whether those Ideas were as solid as they were specious In short Greece was charmed with them and preferred the Inconveniencies of Liberty to those of lawful Subjection tho' in reality much less But as every form of Government has its Advantages that which Greece got from her own was that the Citizens were so much the more in Love with their own Country as the all contributed to its Administration and Government and as every private Man might come up to the highest Honours How far Philosophy helped to preserve the State of Greece is incredible The more those People were free the more necessary was it to establish among them Rules of good Manners and of Society Pythagoras Thales Anaxagoras Socrates Archytas Plato Xenophon Aristotle and a world of others filled Greece with those excellent Precepâ— There were some extravagant Men that assumed the Name of Philosophers but those who were followed were such as taught them to sacrifice their private Interest and even their own Lives for the general Interest and Safety of the State And it was the most common Maxim of the Philosophers that Men ought either to withdraw from publick Affairs or else only have respect to the publick Weal But why do we speak of the Philosophers The very Poets themselves who were in the Hands of all the People instruct them much more than they divert them The most famous of Conquerors look on Homer as a Master that taught to reign well That great Poet no less instructed how to obey well and to be a good Citizen He and a many others whose Works are equally grave as they are pleasant celebrate only those Arts that are useful to human Life recommend only the publick Weal their Country Society and that admirable Civility which we have here displayed When Greece was thus refined she look'd on the Asiaticks with their Delicacy their starched Dressâ—s and Beauty like that of their Women and had them in greatest Contempt But their form of Government which was only regulated by the Will and Command of their Prince which was the Mistress of all even their most sacred Laws wrought an absolute Abhorrence in them And the most odious Object that all Greece had were the Barbarians The Grecians conceived this hatred from the very beginning and it was become as their second Nature Isoc Paneg. One thing that made Homer's Poetry be beloved was because he sang the Victories and Advantages of Greece over Asia On the part of Asia was Venus that is to say Pleasures foolish Loves and Softnesses and on that of Greece was Jum and that is as much as Gravity joyned with Conjugal Affection Mercury with Eloquence Jupiter and Politick Wisdom On the side of Asia was Mars impetuous and brutish that is to say War made with Fury on the Gâ—ecian side was Pallas that is to say the Military Art and Valour led on by the Conduct of the Mind Greece had always from that time believed that Understanding and true Courage was her natural Lot and Portion She could by no means suffer Asia to think of subduing her for in undergoing that Yoke she knew she must subject Vertue to Pleasure the Mind to the Body and true Courage to a mad extravagant Force which consists only in the Multitude Greece was full of those Sentiments when she was attacked by Darius the Son of Hystaspes and by Xerxes with Armies whose greatness seems fabulous because it was so excessive Immediately each are prepared to defend their Liberty Although all the Cities of Greece were as so many Common-wealths yet their common Interest reunited them and there were no Disputes among them but to shew who should do most for the Publick Weal It cost the Athenians nothing to leave their City to be pillaged and burnt and after they had saved their old Men and their Wives with their Children they put into Ships all that were capable of bearing Arms. To put a stop for some days to the Persian Army at a strait and difficult Passage and to make it sensible what Greece was a handful of Lacedemonians ran with their King to an assured Death being contented that in so dying they had sacrificed to their Country an infinite number of those Barbarians and had left to their Compatriots the brave Example of an unheard of Boldness and Gallantry Against such Armies and such a Conduct Persia found her self weak and oftentimes found to her loss what Discipline could do against Multitude and Confusion and what Valour was able to effect that was conducted with Art against a blind Impetuosity Persia that was so
of Age. A little while after the Lombards Years of J. C. 739. 740. re-assumed their Arms and in the Calamities which they made the People of Rome to suffer they were only kept in by the Authority of Charles Martel whose Assistance Pope Gregory II. had implored The new Kingdom of Spain called at first the Kingdom of Oriedo grew greater by the Victories and the Conduct of Alphonsus Son-in-Law to Pelagius who following the Example of Recaredes from whom he was Years of J. C. 741 descended took upon him the Name of Catholic Leo died and left the Empire as well as the Church in a great Fermentation Artabaces Pretor of Armenia caused himself to be proclaimed Emperor instead of Constantine Copronimus the Son of Leo and set up Images again After the death of Charles Martel Luitprand threatned Rome anew The Exarch of Ravenna was in danger and Italy owed its Safety to the Prudence of Pope Zachary Constantine being Years of J. C. 742 embraced in the East thought only of setting Years of J. C. 743 up himself he beat Artabazus took Constantinople and filled it with instances of his Revenge The two Sons of Charles Martel Years of J. C. 747 Carlomane and Pepin had succeded to the Power of their Father but Carlomane disgusted with the Age in the midst of his Greatness and his Victories embraced a monastick Life By this means his Brother Pepin reunited all the Power into his own Person He knew how to keep it by a great desert and formed his Design to raise himself Years of J. C. 752 up to the Kingdom Childerick the most miserable of all Princes opened him the way to it and added to the quality of a lumpish Tool that of Madman The French being sick of their dull heavy Princes and accustomed so long to the House of Charles Martel ever abounding with great Men were only troubled at the Oath they had taken to Childerick Upon the Answer of Pope Zachary they thought themselves free and so much the more disengaged from the Oaths they had taken to their King as that he and his Predecessors seemed for these two Hundred Years to have renounced all Right to command over them in intailing as it were the whole Power of ruling to the office of the great Minister of the Palace So that Pepin was set up on the Throne and the Name of King was annexed to the Authority Years of J. C. 753 Pope Stephen III. found in the new King the same Zeal that Charles Martel had testified for the Holy See against the Lombards After he had in vain implored the Assistance of the Emperor he threw himself Years of J. C. 754 into the Arms of the French The King received him in France with respect and would be consecrated and crowned with his Hand At the same time he passed the Alps delivered Rome and the Exarchy of Ravenna and reduced Astolphus King of the Lombards to an equitable Peace In the mean while the Emperor made work with the Images Conc. Nic. 11. act 6. To strengthen himself with the Ecclesiastick Authority he assembled a numerous Council at Constantinople However there was not seen as was wont Ibid. defin Pseudosyn C. P. to appear either the Legates of the Holy See or the Bishops or the Legates of the other Patriarchal Sees In that Council they did not only condemn as Idolatrous all Honour paid to Images in remembrance of their Originals but also the very Sculptures and Pictures of them as of detestable Arts. It was the Opinion of the Saracens whose Councels it was said Leo had followed when he broke down the Images But yet there appeared nothing against Reliques The Council of Copronymus did not forbid Honour to be paid to them Ibid. Pseudosyn C. P. Can. 9. 11. he thundered out his Anathemaes against those who refused to have recourse to the Prayers of the Holy Virgin and of Saints The Catholics persecuted for the Honour they gave to Images answered the Emperor that they had rather indure all manner of Extremities than not honour Jesus Christ even in his Shadow In the mean time Pepin repassed the Alps and chastised the Infidel Astolphus for denying to execute the Treaty of Peace The Church of Rome never received a more noble Gift than that which the Pious Prince then made her He gave her the Towns Years of J. C. 755 recovered from the Lombards and laughed at Copronymus who re-demanded them he that could however never defend them Since that time the Emperors were very slenderly acknowledged in Rome they became there contemptible by their weakness and odious by their Errors Pepin was looked upon there as the Protector of the People and of the Church of Rome This Quality seemed as hereditary to his House and to the Kings of France Charlemain the Son of Pepin maintained it with a Courage Years of J. C. 772 equal to his Piety Pope Adrian had recourse to him against Didier King of the Lombards who had taken several Cities Years of J. C. 773. 774. and threatned all Italy Charlemain passed the Alps. Every thing bowed Dydier was delivered the Lombard Kings Enemies both of Rome and of Popes were destroyed Charlemain made himself to be crowned King of Italy and took upon him the Title of King of the French and of the Lombards At the same time he exercised in Rome the same soveraign Authority in the Quality of a Patricius and confirmed to the Holy See the Donations of the King his Father The Emperors with great Difficulty resisted the Bulgari and vainly supported the dispossessed Lombards against Charlemain The Quarrel of Images still was kept on Foot Leo IV. Son of Copronymus seemed at first to be pretty quiet but he renewed the Persecution Years of J. C. 780 so soon as ever he thought himself to be master He died quickly after His Son about ten Years old succeeded to him and reigned under the Tutelage of the Empress Years of J. C. 784 Irene his Mother Then things began to appear with a new Face Paul the Patriarch of Constantinople declared towards the latter end of his Life that he had opposed Images against his Conscience and retired into a Monastery where in the presence of the Empress he deplored the Mischief of the Church of Constantinople separated from the four Patriarchal Sees and proposed to her the Celebration of an universal Council as the only Remedy proper for the healing of so dangerous a Distemper Tarassus his Successor maintained that the Question had not been judged orderly because it began by a Decree of the Emperor and that a Council held against all due form had followed whereas in matters of Religion it belongs to the Council to begin and then the Emperors to strengthen the Judgment of the Church Grounded upon this Reason he accepted of the Patriarchate Conc. Nic. 2. Act. 7. but upon condition Years of J. C. 787 that an universal Council should be held It was begun at
Authentique Precedents which being carefully reviewed and kept by the Priests and Levites were esteemed as Originals and Records The Kings for Moses had wisely foreseen that these People would at last have Kings as well as other Nations The Kings I say were obliged by an express law in Deuteronomy to receive from the hands of the Priests and Levites one of these Precedents which were so religiously corrected Deut. 17.18 that they might transcribe and read it all their lives The Precedents thus reviewed by publick Authority were held by all People in singular Veneration they looked on them as being immediately derived from the hands of Moses as pure and entire as God had dictated them to him An ancient Volume of this severe and religious Correction having been found in the House of the Lord 2 Kings 22.8 c. 2 Chron. 34.14 c. in the Reign of Josiah and peradventure was that very Original which Moses had caused to be put in the side of the Ark of the Covenant stirred up the Piety of that holy King and thereby was the occasion of bringing that People to Repentance The great effects which all along the publick reading of that Law wrought are innumerable In a word it was a perfect Book which being joyned by Moses to the History of the People of God it taught them their Origine their Religion Polity Manners Philosophy and whatsoever conduced to the regulation of Life whatsoever united and formed Society the good and the bad Examples The Reward of the one and the rigorous Punishments which had attended the other By that admirable Discipline a People brought out of Slavery and Bondage and kept forty years in the Wilderness came all fitted to the Land which they were to possess Moses brings them to the Entrance and being informed of his approaching end he commits the remains of what was yet to be done to Joshua Deut. 31.14 c. But before he dyed he composed that long and most excellent Song which begins with these words Give ear O ye Heavens Deut. 32.1 and I will speak and hear O Earth the words of my mouth In that Silence of all nature he speaks first to the People with a sorce that was inimitable and foreseeing their Infidelities he discovers to them the dreadfulness of it All of a sudden he goes out of himself as if he found all Humane Discourse below so great a Subject he reporteth what God saith and it makes him speak with so much elevation and so much sweetness that we know not which inspired him most whether Fear and Confusion or Love and Confidence All the People learnt by heart that Divine Song by the order of God Deut. 31.19 22. and of Moses That great Man after that died content as a Man that had forgot nothing which might preserve in the Memory of his People the Benefits and Precepts of God He leaves his Children in the midst of their Citizens without any distinction and without any extraordinary establishment He hath been admired not only by his People but by all the People of the World and never had any Legislator so great a name as He among all Mankind 'T is believed that he writ the Book of Job The Sublimity of the Thoughts and the Majesty of the Style make that History worthy of Moses For fear lest the Hebrews should be puffed up by attributing the Grace of God to themselves alone it was necessary to make them to understand that that great God had his chosen ones even in the Race of Esau And what Doctrine was more important and what more profitable Consolation could Moses give to the People afflicted in the Wilderness than that of the Patience of Job who being delivered into the hands of Satan to be exercised by all manner of Miseries saw himself deprived of his Wealth his Children and all the Comforts of this World presently after struck with a horrible Disease and moved within by the Temptation of Blasphemy and Despair yet he remaining firm and resolute in his Integrity made it evident that a faithful devout Soul supported by the Divine Relief in the midst of the fiercest and most frightful Trials and in spight of all the blackest thoughts which the Evil Spirit could suggest to it knew not only how to maintain an invincible Trust and Confidence Job 13.15.14.14.15.16.21.19.25 c. but also to raise up it self by his own greatest Afflictions to the highest Contemplation and to acknowledge in the Sufferings it endures with the Vanity and Nothingness of Man the Supreme Empire of God and his Infinite Wisdom This is what the Book of Job instructs us in To keep up the Character of Time here is seen the Faith of the holy Man crowned by Temporal Prosperities but yet the People of God are hereby taught to know what is the virtue of Sufferings and to have a fore-taste of the Grace which was one day to be fastened to the Cross Moses had tasted it when he preferred the Sufferings and Ignominy which he was to undergo with the People of God to the Delicacies and Abundance in the House of the King of Egypt From that time God made him to taste of the Reproaches of Jesus Christ He tasted them also again in his precipitated Flight and in his Exile of forty years Heb. 11.24 25 26. But he drunk even to the bottom of Christ his Cup when being chosen to save that People Numb 14.10 c. he was forced to undergo their continual Revoltings wherein he ran the hazard of his life He learnt what it would cost him to save the People of God and shewed at a distance what a higher deliverance 't was one day to cost the Saviour of the World That great Man had not so much as the consolation of entering into the promised Land he only saw it from the top of a Mountain Numb 20.12 13.27.14 Deut. 32.50 51. and was not ashamed to confess that he was excluded from it by a sin which tho' it seemed but little yet deserved to be punished so severely in a man whose Grace was so particularly eminent Moses served for an example to the severe Jealousie of God and to the Judgments which he executed with so terrible an exactness on those whom his Bounty and Kindness obliged to a more perfect Fidelity But still a higher Mystery is shewn us in this Exclusion of Moses That wise Legislator who by so many Miracles did only lead the Children of God in the Neighbourhood of their Land serves himself to us for an Evidence Heb. 7.19 that his Law made nothing perfect and that without being able to give us the accomplishment of the Promises it makes us only as it were to salute them at a distance or leads us at most but to the gate of our Inheritance It was a Joshua a Jesus for it was the true name of Joshua who by that name and by his office represented the Saviour of
paid what he never owed and acquits the Sinners of their debt for what could better cover our Sins than his Righteousness What better way could the Rebellion of Servants be expiated than by the obedience of the Son The iniquity of many is hid in one just One and the justice of One alone makes it that many are justified What then are we not to pretend to God commendeth has love towards us Rom. 5.8 9. in that while we were yet sinners Christ dyed for us Much more then being now justified by his Blood we shall be saved from wrath through him All was for us by Jesus Christ Grace holiness life glory blessedness the Kingdom of the Son of God is our Inheritance there is nothing above us provided only that we do not degenerate and make our selves vile Whilst Jesus Christ was filling up our desires and surpassing our hopes he finished the work of God which was begun under the Patriarchs and in the Law of Moses Then God resolved to make himself known by sensible Experiences he shewed himself very magnificent in Temporal Promises good in heaping upon his Children such Blessings as flattered the Senses powerful in delivering them from the hands of their Enemies faithful in leading them into the Land of Promise to their Fathers just by the Rewards and Punishments which he openly sent them according to their works All his marvellous Works prepared the way for the Truths which Jesus Christ came to teach If God be so good as to bestow on us what is agreeable to our Senses how much rather shall he give unto us what is agreeable to our Souls which were made after his own Image If he be so tender and beneficent towards his Children shall he shut up his love and his bounty in those few years which make up our life Will he give to those whom he loves only a shadow of Felicity a fertile Land in Corn and Oyl Will there not be a heavenly Country wherein he will abundantly recompence us with true and everlasting good things There will be one without all peradventure and Jesus Christ will come to shew it us For indeed the Almighty would do works very unworthy of himself if all his magnificence should terminate in Grandeurs that were only exposed to our weak and infirm Senses Whatsoever is not eternal is neither correspondent to the Majesty of an Eternal God nor does it answer the hopes of man to whom he hath made known his eternity and that unchangeable fidelity which he bears to his Servants will never have an Object proportionable to it until it be extended to something that is immortally permanent Therefore will Jesus Christ at last come and open the Heavens to us to disocover there to our Faith that abiding City Heb. 11.8.9 10 13 14 15 16. which hath Foundations whose Builder and Maker is God where we are to be gathered together after this life He shews us that if God make Eternal to be one of his Titles the Name of the God of Abraham of Isaac and of Jacob it is because those holy men are always living before him Matth. 22.32 Luke 20.38 For God is not the God of the dead but of the living It is below him to do only as men accompany his friends to the Grave without giving them any hope beyond and it would be if I may speak with reverence reproachable for him to call himself with so much of force and energy the God of Abraham if he had not founded in the Heavens an Eternal City wherein Abraham and his Children may be happy throughout all Generations 'T is thus therefore that these Truths of a Futurity were unfolded to us by Jesus Christ Heb. 11.14 15 16. He shewed them to us even under the Law the true Land of Promise was the heavenly Kingdom 'T was that blessed Country that Abraham Isaac and Jacob desired Palestine did not deserve to be the Boundary of their fervent Vows nor to be the sole object of so long an expectation of our Fathers Egypt from whence we were to come out the Wilderness through which we were to pass Babylon whose Prison-walls we were to break to enter or to return into our Country that was this World with all its delights and vanities for here it was that we were truly Captives and Pilgrims led astray by Sin and Concupiscence we were to shake off this Yoke to find in Jerusalem and in the City of our God true liberty and an House or Sanctuary not made with hands 2 Cor. 5.1 eternal in the Heavens where the Glory of the God of Israel should be manifested to us By this Doctrine of Jesus Christ the Mystery of God was laid open to us the Law was all Spiritual its Promises were introductive of those of the Gospel and served as a Foundation to them One and the same light was visible throughout it arose under the Patriarchs under Moses and the Prophets it increased Jesus Christ who was greater than the Patriarchs who came with more Authority than Moses and who was more illuminated than all the Prophets discovered this unto us in his fulness To this Christ to this God-Man to this Man who held upon Earth as St. Austin speaks the place of The Truth and discovers it to be personally resident amongst us to him I say it was reserved to shew us all Truth that is to say so much of the Mysteries of the Vertues and of the Rewards as God had designed for those whom he really loved These were the Grandeurs which the Jews ought to have look'd for in their Messiah There is nothing so great and glorious as to carry in it self and to discover unto men Truth in its fulness and perfection which seeds them and directs them and clears up their eyes so as to make 'em capable of seeing God Now in this time when the Truth was to be discovered to men with that fulness it was also commanded to be promulged throughout all the Earth and at all times God gave to Moses but one single People and one determined time but all Ages and all the People of the World were given to Jesus Christ he hath his Elect every where and his Church extensive as the Universe shall never leave off her bringing them forth Go saith he therefore and teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father Matth. 28.19 20. and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo I am with you alway even unto the end of the World Amen VII The Descent of the Holy Ghost the Establishment of the Church The Judgements of God on the Jews and on the Gentiles To disperse into all Places and in all Ages such eminent Truths and to put such pure and admirable Practices in force amidst such Corruption there was need of a Vertue more than Humane Wherefore Jesus Christ promised to send the Holy
who holding all things in the hollow of his Hand was able by himself alone both to begin and carry on a design wherein all Ages are comprehended We need therefore no longer wonder as we commonly do why God proposes to us to believe so many things so worthy of him and yet at the same time so impenetrable to Humane Understanding But we should rather wonder that he having established the Faith upon so firm and manifest an Authority there should yet be any in the World blind and incredulous Our disorderly Passions our being bewitched to our Senses and our incurable Pride are the cause of it We choose rather to venture all than to put a constraint upon our selves we choose rather to continue in our Ignorance than to confess it and are pleased rather with a vain Curiosity and indulging our unruly Spirits in the liberty of thinking whatsoever delights 'em than to yield to the yoke of Divine Authority From thence it is that there are so many Unbelievers and God suffers it to be so for the instruction of his Children Unless we had the Blind the Savage and the Infidel and that in the very Bosom too of Christianity we should not be sensible enough of the Corruption of our Nature nor of that Abyss of Misery from whence Jesus Christ hath delivered us If his holy Truth was not contradicted we should not see the Miracle which hath constantly carried it through so many Contradictions and we should forget at last that we are saved by Grace Now the Incredulity of the one does humble the rest and those Rebels that oppose God's Decrees make that Power conspicuous by which indepently from all things else he accomplishes the Promises he hath made to his Church What therefore is it that we look for now to make us humble and submiss do we look that God should still work new Miracles that he should make them useless by his continuing of them that he should accustom our eyes to them as he does to the Course of the Sun and to all the other Marvels of Nature or else do we ever expect that the wicked and the opinionative man should be silent that good and vertuous men and dissolute Libertines should bear an equal Testimony to the Truth that all the World by one common consent should prefer it to their Passions and that false Knowledge which only the Novelty of it causes to be admired should cease its usual way of surprising men Is it not enough that we see it is impossible for men to combate with Religion but they must at the same time shew by prodigious wandrings that their Senses are perverted and that they only defend themselves either by Presumption or ignorance Cannot the Church which hath been victorious both over Ages and Errours I say cannot that overcome in our Minds those weak and miserable Reasonings which are opposed to her and cannot the Divine Promises which we see every day are accomplishing elevate and raise us above our Senses Now let us not say that these Promises are still kept in suspence and as they are to hold out to the end of the World so it will not be until the end of the World that we can boast we have seen the accomplishment of them For on the contrary that which is already past assures us of the future so many ancient Predictions so visibly fulfilled make us satisfied that there will be nothing but what shall be accomplished and that the Church against which according as the Son of God hath promised us even the Gates of Hell shall never prevail will be always subsisting until the consummation of all things for that Jesus Christ who is true in all hath prescribed no other bounds to its duration The same Promises do likewise assure us of a future Life God who hath shewn himself so faithful in accomplishing what respects the present Age will be no less faithful in accomplishing that which respects the Future of which all that we see is but a preparation and the Church will be always unshaken and invincible on the Earth until that her Children being gathered together she be entirely conveyed to her which is her only true Mansion As for those who shall be excluded from that heavenly City an eternal Vengeance is reserved for them and after they have lost by their Sin and Folly a blessed Eternity there will be left for them no other place but a Hell of Eternal woe and misery Thus the Decrees of God are to terminate by an immutable state his Promises and his Threatnings are equally certain and what he executes in time assures us of what he hath commanded us either to expect or fear in Eternity You now see what may be learned from the continual progress of Religion as it is in short presented to your Eyes By time it conducts you to Eternity You see a constant order in all God's Decrees and a visible Mark of his Power in the perpetual duration of his People You cannot but confess that the Church hath a Branch always subsisting which cannot be separated from it without destroying it and that those who being united to this Root do perform such Works as are worthy of their Faith and secure to themselves eternal Life Your Highness is therefore to study but to study with attention this uninterrupted Course of the Church which so clearly assures to you all the Promises of God Whatsoever breaks this Chain whatsoever goes out of this Course whatsoever advances it self and does not come by virtue of the Promises made to the Church from the beginning of the World you are to have in horrour Imploy all your power to recall into this Unity whatsoever is stragled out of the way of it and to make it hearken to the Church by which the Holy Spirit of God pronounces its Oracles The Glory of your Ancestors is not only that they never forsook it but that they always supported it and thereby deserved to be called the Eldest Sons which is certainly the most glorious of all their Titles 'T is needless for me to mention to you Clovis Charlemaine or St. Louis Consider only the time you live in and from what Father God hath given you your Birth A King so great in every thing yet is more to be distinguished by his Faith than by all his other admirable Qualities He protects Religion not only within but out of his Kingdom and even to the last Extremities of the World His Laws are one of the firmest Rampiers of the Church His Authority revered as much by the Merit of his Person as by the Majesty of his Scepter never supports it self so well as when it defends the Cause of God We hear no more Blasphemies Impiety trembles before him this is the King taken notice of by Solomon Prov. 20.26 that in his Wisdom scattereth the Wicked and bringeth the Wheel over them If he attacks Heresie by such means and that more too than ever did any of
obedient and that Revolts should be so seldom The Roman Polity had taken care of it by divers ways which it will not be amiss briefly to explain to your Highness The Roman Colonies established on all sides in the Empire wrought two admirable effects the One was to discharge the City of a great number of Citizens and the most part of them poor the other to keep the principal Posts and by degrees to accustome strange People to the Roman Manners Those Colonies which carried with them their Priviledges remained always attached to the Body of the Republick and populated all the Roman Empire But besides Colonies a great many Cities obtained for their Citizens the priviledge of Roman Citizens and being by their Interest united to the commanding People they kept the neighbouring Cities in their duty It happened at last that all the Subjects of the Empires believ'd themselves Romans The Honours of the Victorious People by little and little were communicated to the conquered People the Senate was open to them and they could aspire even to the Empire Thus by the Roman Clemency all the Nations were but as one single Nation and Rome was looked on as the common Country What Facility did not that marvellous union of all the People of the World under one and the same Empire bring to Navigation and Commerce The Roman Society embraced all and excepting some Frontiers now and then disturbed by their Neighbours all the rest of the Universe enjoyed a most profound Peace Neither Greece nor lesser Asia nor Syria nor Egypt nor to conclude scarce were any of the other Provinces ever without War but under the Roman Empire and it is easy to conceive that so pleasant a Commerce of the Nations held to keep throughout the whole Body of the Empire Concord and Obedience The Legions divided for the Guard of the Frontiers by defending those without strengthned those that were within 'T was not the Custom of the Romans to have Citadells in their Holds nor to fortify their frontiers and I scarce find when that Care began but in Valentinian the first 's time Before then the Strength and Security of the Empire was solely placed in the Troops which they disposed in that manner that they mutually assisted each other Now as it was ordered that they should be always encamped the Cities were not incommoded by it and the Discipline did not suffer any of the Soldiers to disperse themselves into the open Fields By that means the Roman Armies neither troubled commerce nor tillage Their Camps were to them in the nature of Cities which differed little from others but because they were there in continual Exercises their Discipline more severe and their Command more resolute They were always ready for the least Motion and it was sufficient to keep the People in their Duty to shew them only in the Vicinage that invincible Militia But nothing so much maintained the Peace of the Empire as the order of Justice The ancient Republick had established it the Emperors and the Sages had explained it upon the same Foundations all the People even the most Barbarous looked on them with admiration and by that principally the Romans were judged worthy to be the Masters of the World Now if the Roman Laws have appeared so sacred that their Majesty continues still notwithstanding the ruin of the Empire it was because their good Sence which is the Mistress of humane Life was seen every where in them and there was no where seen a more delicate and fairer application of the Principles of natural Equity But notwithstanding all that greatness of the Roman Name notwithstanding her profound Polity and all the fine Instititutions of that famous Republick she yet carried in her own Breast the cause of her ruine in the perpetual Jealousie of the People against the Senate or rather of the Plebeians against the Patricii Romulus had set up that distinction It was necessary for Kings to have persons distinguished whom they should engage to their Person by particular Bonds and by whom they should govern the rest of the People Dion Hal. 2. Therefore did Romulus choose the Fathers of whom he formed the Body of the Senate They called them so by reason of their Dignity and their Age. And from them afterwards sprung the Patrician Families Now whatsoever Authority Romulus had reserved to the People he had put the Plebeians in divers respects in a dependance on the Patricii and that subordination necessary to Royalty had been preserved not only under Kings but also in the Republick It was always from the Patricii that the Senators were made To the Patricii belonged the Employments Commands Dignities and even that of the Priesthood and the Fathers who had been the Authors of Liberty did not quit their Prerogatives But Jealousy was quickly put between those two orders For I need not here speak of the Roman Knights a third order as being in common between the Patricii and the simple People who espoused sometimes one side and sometimes another It was therefore between those two orders that Jealousy aâ—ose It was provoked upon divers occasions but the chief cause of all which kept it up was their love of Liberty The fundamental Maxim of the Republick was to look upon Liberty as a thing inseparable from the Roman Name A People bred up in that Mind nay more a People who thought themselves born for commanding other People and whom Virgil for that reason so nobly calls a Kinglike People would receive no Laws but from their own selves The Authority of the Senate was judged necessary for the moderating of publick Councils which without that temperature would have been too tumultuous But at the bottom it was the Peoples Province to give commands to make Laws to decide Peace and War A People that enjoyed the most essential Rights of Royalty in some manner were of the Temper of Kings They were willing to receive grave advices but they would not be forced by the Senate Whatsoever seemed too imperious every thing that was too highly advanced in a word whatsoever wounded or was likely to wound that Equality which a free State required gave suspicion to so nice and delicate a People The love of Liberty that of Glory and Conquests made such Spirits very difficult to be managed and that daring audacity which made them attempt all things abroad could not fail to cause divisions at home among themselves Thus Rome that was so Jealous of her Liberty through that Love of Liberty which was the Foundation of her Government saw divisions spread through all the orders of which she was Composed From thence arose those furious Jealousies between the Senate and People between the Patricii and the Plebeians the one alledging always that excess of Liberty would at last destroy it self and the others fearing just the contrary that Authority which in its own nature was always for encreasing would at last degenerate into Tyranny Between those two
of those Laws belonged to them Jealousie increased by those Pretensions made them to resolve by common Consent to send an Embassy into Greece to search therefor the Institutions of the Cities of that Country and especially for the Laws of Solon which were the most popular The Laws of the twelve Tables were established and the Decemviri who digested them were deprived of the Power which they abused Whilest every thing appeared placid and tranquil and that such equitable Laws seem'd eternally to establish the publick Repose Dissentions started up again by new Pretensions of the People who aspired to Honours and to the Consulate which till then were reserved only to the first Order The Law to admit them to them was propounded Rather than to have the Consulate pulled down the Fathers consented to the Creation of three new Magistrates who should have the Authority of Consuls under the Name of Military Tribunes and the People were admitted to that Honour Being contented to have their Right established they used moderately their Victory and continued sometimes in giving the Command to the Patricii only After long and various Disputes they returned to the Consulate and by degrees the Honours became common between the two Orders tho' the Patricii were always the most considered in the Elections The Wars continued and the Romans subjected after five hundred Years the Gaules Cisalpines App. praef Ep. their principal Enemies and all Italy There began to Punick Wars and things went on so forward that each of those two jealous People believed they could not subsist but by the Ruine of the other Rome ready to fall was chiefly kept up during her Misfortunes by the Constancy and Wisdom of the Senate At last the Roman Patience got the better Hannibal was overcome and Carthage subjugated by Scipio Africanus Victorious Rome enlarged her self prodigiously for two hundred Years both by Sea and by Land and reduced all the World under her Power In those times and since the Ruine of Carthage the Offices whose Dignity as well as Profit increased with the Empire were underhand furiously laboured for The Ambitious Pretenders took care only to flatter the People and the concord of the Orders held up by the Business of the Punick Wars was troubled more than ever The Gracchi put all things into Confusion and their seditious Propositions were the begâ—nning of all the Civil Wars Then began they to bear Arms and by open Force to act in the Assemblies of the Roman People where before every one desired only to carry it by lawful Ways and with Liberty of Opinions The wise Conduct of the Senate and the great Wars happening moderated their Disorders Marius the Plebeian a great Man of War with his military Eloquence and his seditious Harangues wherewith he was continually attacking the Pride of the Nobles awakened the Peoples Jealousies and by that means raised himself to the greatest Honours Sylla a Patrician put himself at the Head of the contrary Party and became the Object of Marius his Jealousie Factions and Corruptions could do all things in Rome The Love of their Country and deference to their Laws were quite extinguished there And to compleat their Miseries the Wars of Asia taught the Romans Luxury and increased their Avaâ—ice Then the Generals began to joyn themselves to their Souldiers who till that time saw nothing but the Character of publick Authority in them Sylla in the War against Mithridates let his Souldiers enrich themselves the better to gain them Marius on his side proposed to his Associates the Shares of both Money and Lands By that means being Masters of their Troops the one under pretence of supporting the Senate and the other under the name of the People they made a most furious War even in tne Heart of the City The Party of Marius and of the People were utterly beaten and Sylla made himself a Soveraign under the Name of Dictator He made most dreadful Slaughters and treated the People with Severity both in Deeds and Words even in their lawful Assemblies Being more Puissant and better established than ever he retreated to a private Life but it was after he had shewn that the Romans could indure a Master Pompey whom Sylla had raised succeded to a great part of his Power He flattered sometimes the People and sometimes the Senate to get himself established But his Inclination and Interest at length fixed him to the latter Being a Conqueror of the Pyrates of Spain and all the East he became very puissant in the Republick and in the Senate Caesar who was resolved at least to be his Equal turned to the People's side and imitating in his Consulate the most seditious Tribunes he proposed with the Divisions of the Land the most popular Laws he could invent The Conquest of the Gaules brought the Glory and Power of Caesar to the highest Pitch Pompey and he were united thro' Interest and afterwards broke again thro' Jealousie The Civil War began to kindle Pompey thought that his Name alone would carry all and so neglected himself Caesar active and discerning obtained the Victory and got the Mastery of him He made several Attempts to see whether the Romans could be brought to use the name of King But they only served to make him odious To increase the publick Hatred the Senate decreed him Honours until then unheard of in â—oâ—e so that he was slain in the full Senate as a Tyrant Anthony his Creature who was Coâ—sul at the time of his Death stirred up the People against those who had killed him and indeavoured to take his Advantage of those Commotions to usurp the soveraign Authority Lepidus who had also a great Command under Caesar indeavoured to keep it At last young Caesar â—bout nineteen Years of age undertook to revenge the Death of his Father and so sought an Occasion to succeed to his Power He knew how for his own Interest to make use of the Enemies of his House and even of his Competitors His Father's Troops went over to him being touched with the name of Caesar and the prodigious Rewards which he promised them The Senate signified nothing any longer All things were done by Force and Souldiers who were at their Service that would give 'em most In that fatal Conjuncture the Triumvirate destroyed all those whom Rome had bred up that were of greatest Courage and most opposite to Tyranny Caesar and Anthony defeated Brutus and Cassius Liberty expired with them The Conquerors after they had got rid of feeble Lepidus made divers Accords and divers Partages where Caesar as being the more Cunning found always the way how to get the better part and so put Rome into his Interests and overtopped him Anthony in vain undertook to relieve himself and the Battle of Actium brought the whole Empire under the Power of Augustus Caesar Rome being weary and exhausted by so many civil Wars to get some Repose was forced to renounce her Liberty The House of the Caesars fixed