not necessary nor ordained by the Apostles and he gives many reasons to which he adds divers Examples in Ecclesiastical History by which one may see he believes it not necessary that there be an Union of Discipline amongst the Churches Upon this occasion he particularly makes use of the Epistles of St. Cyprian by which it appears according to Dr. Barrow that every Bishop lay under a double obligation whereof one regarded his Flock in particular the other the whole Church By the first he was obliged to take care that every thing be done in good order in his Church and that nothing should be done which was not for Edification and this should be endeavour'd by taking counsel of his Clergy and his People By the second he was obliged when the good of his Flock required it to confer with other Bishops touching the means of preserving Truth and Peace But in that time a Bishop knew not what it was to be hindered from acting according to the extent of his Power by appealing to a Superior Power to which he was obliged to give an account of the Administration of his Charge Bishops were then as Princes in their Jurisdictions but they omitted not to keep a certain Correspondence for the preserving an universal Peace Statutum est omnibus-nobis saith St. Cyprian ac aequum est pariter ac justum ut uniuscujusque causa illic audiatur ubi est Crimen admissum singulis Pastoribus portio Gregis sit adscripta quam regat unusquisque praepositus rationem actus sui Domino redditurus and elsewhere Qua in re nee nos cuiquam facimus nec Legem damus cum habeat in Ecclesiae administratione voluntate sui liberum arbitrium unusquisque praepositus rationem actus sui Domino redditurus Dr. Barrow shews after this the Inconveniencies which would attend the Government of the Christian Church if it should acknowledge one Visible Head A famous Divine of the Church of England having maintained the Unity of an Ecclesiastical Discipline so that all the Christian Churches ought to be according to him in the nature of a Confederacy which submits every Church in particular to an entire body if it is permitted so to speak Dr. Barrow believes he is obliged to refute this Tenet and to that end he hath drawn from his Works twelve proofs of this Opinion which that Divine has spread in divers places and which he proposed with great care altho' after a manner very obscure and intricate This last Author having objected for instance to those who believe not that the Unity of Discipline is necessary the Article of the Creed where 't is said I believe in the Holy Catholick or Vniversal Church and the Creed of Constantinople where 't is said The Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church Dr. Barrow answers to this that this Article is not in the Abridgment of the Christian Faith which is found in St. Irenaeus Tertullian and St. Cyprian no more than in the Creed of the Council of Nice And 1. That it was not in the Apostles Creed which the Church of Rome makes use of but that it is added after the Times of Ruffinus and St. Augustine against the Heresies and Schisms which sprung up in the Christian Church 2. That it agrees with the Unity of the Catholick Church in many respects and that this is not the manner of Unity which is in Question and which is not decided in the Creed 3 'T is fairly supposed that the Unity which is spoken of in the Creed of Constantinople is that of outward Government 4. That one might reasonably think that the sense of this Article is no other than this That we make profession to remain stedfast in the body of Christians which are scatter'd throughout the whole World and which received the Faith the Discipline and the Manner of living Ordained by Iesus Christ and his Apostles that we are bound to be charitable to all good Christians with which we are ready to Communicate That we are willing to observe the Laws and Constitutions and Ioynt-Opinion of the Churches for the Conservation of Truth Order and Peace Lastly That we renounce all Heretick Doctrines all scandalous Practices and all manner of Factions 5. That it appears that this is the sense of this Article because that he hath put it in the Creed to preserve the Truth Discipline and Peace of the Church 6. That 't is not reasonable to explain this Article in any manner which agrees not with the Apostolick Times and Primitive Church for then there was no Union of Discipline amongst Christians like to what has been since As it was objected to Dr. Barrow that this opinion favours the Independants so afterwards he shews the difference between it and that of these Men after which he draws divers consequences from his own positions as That those who separate from the Communion of the Church in which they live that is established on good foundations are Guilty of Schism and ought to be Censured by and excluded from the Communion of all other Churches and they must not think themselves to be exempted from Error altho some other Church would receive them as a Subject cannot withdraw himself from the obedience of his natural Prince in putting himself under the Protection of another This also is defended by the Apostolick Canons which the antient Church hath observ'd with much Care as Dr. Barrow makes appear by many examples This is according to his opinion a means to extirpate Schisms and not that which is proposed by the Roman Church to wit to Establish a Political Vnion amongst divers Churches by which they are Subordinate to one only Every Church ought to suffer the others to enjoy in peace their Rights and Liberties and content it self to condemn dangerous errours and factions and to assist with Counsel the other Churches when they have need thereof The second Volume contains the explication of the Creed in 34 Sermons upon this Article I believe in the Holy Ghost The rest being briefly explained because that the Author has treated of 'em in other places of his Works marked in a little advertisment which is at the End of his Sermons These Sermons are not simple explications of the Letter of the Creed The Author hath explained the Articles as he had occasion by divers texts of Scripture treating of the matter that he found therein and the particular circumstances of each text He shews first how much doubting is necessary and on the contrary in the two following what Faith is Reasonable and Just. In the fourth and fifth he explains Justification by Faith He afterward proves in four Sermons successively the existence of a Deity by the Works of Creation by the order of the Body of Man consent of all Nations and by supernatural effects The tenth and two following treat of the Unity of God of his power and of the creation of the World In the 13th and to the 20th the Author
upon the perpetuity of the Faith of the Church concerning the Eucharist and concerning Bertram in particular his Work intituled Ratramne otherwise Bertram the Priest of the Body and Blood of the Lord printed in Latin and French with an Advertisement wherein in shewn that this Author is a witness not suspicious of the Faith of the Church in the ninth Age at Roan in 12. But the efforts that a great number of Learned men made against the new Tenets which were introducing in that time were unprofitable Whereas those Tenets were too advantageous to the Court of Rome not to maintain them with all their might It lacked but one thing only which was to diminish the power of Emperors to whom they were submitted until then It worked powerfully therein and begun by publishing Suppositious pieces in vertue of which the Popes pretended that the Soveraignty of Rome and Italy belonged to them and that they had an universal Jurisdiction over all the Bishops of the World to that purpose tended the false Donation of Constantine to Pope Sylvester and the Epistles attributed to the first Bishops of Rome of which Blondel and several other learned men have shewn the falshood Notwithstanding the manners of the People Monks and Clergy were in the utmost corruption and a horrible account is given us of the depravation of the tenth Age drawn as well from the writings of modern Catholicks as from the Authors of that time The conduct of the whole Clergy from the Bishops of Rome with the least degree of Priests and Monks was so far from the duties which the Gospel prescribes us that there have been few Ages whilst Europe continued in Paganism more corrupt than that was This is so known that it 's needless to make a further stop thereat and those who would be instructed throughly in it may only consult Vsher and the Authors whom he cites The eleventh Age is in like manner described and they assure us that the year M. after the Birth of our Lord was afflicted with divers Prodigies besides War the Plague and Famine which ravaged Europe a long-time as it appears by the testimony of divers Authors which may be read in Vsher. In that time they reckoned amongst Prodigies the Comets and Eclipses and the Historians a little while after describe them to us in such frightful terms as if we never had seen any we should tremble for fear in reading what they say thereof But when once one hath a wounded imagination nothing ordinary and common is seen all is great and wonderful and we see even that which never was such as was perhaps the Dragon whereof Glaber Rodolphus speaks in his 11. book c. 8. The Saturday night before Christmasday was seen in the Air saith he a surprizing Prodigy a frightful Dragon which was all Shining with Light and which went from the North to the South The evils of that time and the reports of these prodigies true or false made it to be believed that the time was come in which Antichrist was to appear after that the Dragon should be untied This was probably enough grounded upon what is said in the Apocalypse that the Dragon was to be chained during a thousand years and then let loose These thousand years were reckoned from the Birth of our Lord by which the Devil had begun to lose his Power until that time This calculation was not new seeing it is found conformable to that of St. Hippolita's Martyr of St. Cyril and Chrisostome It appeared without doubt more just and better grounded so that they expected from day to day the coming of Antichrist and end of the World Many People made a difficulty to undertake any considerable business and even of re-establishing the Churches which were destroyed fearing they should work for Antichrist Lastly when they saw it did not come they were perswaded that they did not well understand the Propheâ—y and went about rebuilding the Churches and to live as before Richard Victorinus of Scotland who upon the relation of Iohn Major his Compatriot is the first who maintain'd that the Holy Virgin was exempted from Original Sin saith in his Commentary upon the xx Chap. of the Apocalypse that as to the Letter the thousand years were already accomplished a long time since but that it could not be known when Antichrist would come nor when the Serpent would be unloos'd Thus it is that the Interpreters of Prophecies which they understand not never miss of a back door to escape at when the event sheweth that they are mistaken There is a great likelihood that our age will furnish us with some examples of this truth As it 's desired in great evils to know if they shall last long those who of late have arrived to a great many Protestant Churches have made a great many to covet a knowledge of the time to come some thought they foresaw it in the obscurity of the Praedictions of the Apocalypse and have foretold it with sufficient boldness tho' they agree not amongst themselves no more than those who undertook to do the same thing the eleventh and twelfth age Glaber Rodolph saith that in effect the Devil was let loose in 1000 because one Vilgard who taught Grammar at Ravenna and some others had essayed in that time to re-establish Paganism But this event appears too inconsiderable to apply unto him what is said in the Apocalypse of the Dragon who was to be loos'd Also our Archbishop believes that Antichrist was not to be be looked for out of Rome and that the Devil was enough at liberty whilst in the Pontifical Chair sate a Magician such as was Sylvester II. if the Authors of that time may be believed and whilst great errours were brought into the Church as the infinite Power of Popes Transubstantiation and Prayers for the Dead And it is observ'd that Berengarius Wickliff and his Disciples have maintained that from that time this Prophecy of the Apocalypse begun to be accomplished There have been notwithstanding some who have believed that the thousand years were to begin at the Ascension of our Lord as Iohn Purvey saith and Wickliff seems not far from this thought in a place of his Trialogue which Vsher cites Some persons had already been of this opinion in the time of St. Augustin as he testifies in his City of God l. XVIII c. 53. But these people speak with more precaution than the others for they did not positively say that the World would end 1000 years after the Ascension of Jesus Christ but only that it might be that there were but a thousand years from this term unto his last coming annos mille ab Ascensione Domini usque ad ultimum ejus adventum compleri posse One of the new Interpreters of the Apocalypse hath said the same with much prudence that the present Persecution may end in three years and a half God if he will saith he elsewhere can reckon the three years and half of the death of
who repented after having kept them some time in Prison to put upon their cloaths violet coulor'd Crosses which they thus wore all their Life not being suffered to appear with other cloaths and with this clause that the Inquisition reserved a full power of changeing the Sentence pronounced as it should be thought fit whether those who had been condemned to wear the Cross were accused anew or whether there was no accusation at all Those whom they resolv'd to mortifie by a sad imprisonment were kept between four Walls where they were constrained to go of themselves and where they were nourished only upon Bread and Water The obstinate Hereticks were put into the hands of the Secular There was at that time in Gasconny of divers sorts as well as before In this Register are Vaudois and Albigeses condemned for divers pretended Heresies as of denying Transubstantiation and the seven Sacraments of the Romish Church of maintaining that we shall not rise in spiritual Bodies c. There have been besides Baguins certain Monks of the third Order of St. Francis who thought that it was not lawful for them to possess any thing whatever who called the Pope Antichrist because he suffered the Religious of St. Francis to possess Riches and who suffer'd themselves to be burned rather than to retract these Fantastick Opinions There is also the Condemnation of divers Manicheans And the proceeding against Peter Ruffit who quite to overthrow Concupiscence had with a Woman the same commerce as some Priests had with Young Women in the time of St. Cyprian a Custom which lasted so long that the Council of Nice condemned it As being us'd in the beginning o' th' fourth Age and that St. Basil St. Chrysostome and St. Ierome employ'd all their Eloquence to cure several Ecclesiasticks of this Custom in their time an exact account hereof may be seen in Mr. Dodwel's third Dissertation upon St. Cyprian Two small pieces of James Usher Archbishop of Armagh One of the Original of Bishops and the other of Proconsulary Asia to which is added an Appendix of the Priviledges of the British Churches At London by Samuel Smith 1687. in 8vo And at Rotterdam by Renier Leers THis is another Posthume Work of the Learned Vsher Archbishop of Armagh which sufficiently testifies that profound Learning that hath rendered him so famous and makes him still respected as one of the Oracles of England The Question he starteth here has so imploy'd the wits for some years past that instead of reuniting for the common Interest they cannot without much ado calm the Agitation which this dispute hath caused tho' it only concerns Exterior Order It is therefore pretended that in this Work Episcopacy is a Divine Institution founded upon the Old and New Testament and the Imitation of the Ancient Church Vsher immediately remarks that the chief of the Levites bore a Title which was translated in Greek by that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Bishop of the Levites he expounds these Words of the Apocalypse Write to the Angel of Ephesus as if the word Angel was the same thing as that of Bishop The Succession of the Bishops of Ephesus appeared evident enough at the Council of Calcedon held in 451. And there 't is likely enough that Timothy or one of his Successors was the Angel to whom the words of St. Iohn are directed St. Ireneus says that he had seen Polycarp who was established Bishop of Smyrna by the Apostles Lastly he adds that Tertullian in his Book of Prescription against Hereticks and St. Irenaeus pressed the Hereticks by the Argument of the Succession of Bishops from the Apostles unto their time and chiefly upon that of the Bishops of Rome beginning with Linus Cletus or Clement that the Apostles had placed there and continuing until Elentherius the twelfth Bishop from the Apostles And it was Eleutherius who had the Glory of receiving into the Christian Faith Lucius King of England with all his Kingdom and that there were Bishops so well established from that time that ten years before the Council of Nice held in 325. three English Bishops assisted at the Council of Arles After having proved the establishment of Bishops by the Apostles Vsher examines the origine of the Metropolitans to whom he gives the same Antiquity For supposing as we have said that St. Iohn speaking of the seven Angels understands nothing else but Bishops he extends his conjecture so far as to say that St. Iohn having written to the seven Churches of Asia without denoting them more particularly it necessarily follows that they had some Preheminence and that they were distinguished by themselves that is to say by their quality of Metropolis He confirms it by this circumstance that the Prefects of the Romans resided in these Cities as Capitals and that the Adjacent Cities came for Justice thither Whence he concludes that they were as Mothers to the other Churches He concludes in shewing it to be the Sentiment of Beza and Calvin and proceeds to the second part of his Work which treats of the Proconsulary or Lydian Asia He observeth that the Name of Asia properly belonged to Lydia for they pretend that Asia was the Name of an ancient King of the Lydians and that it was Vespasian that made a Proconsulary Province on 't After that these three Questions are resolved The first if at the time of the Council of Nice all the Bishops were subject to the three Patriarchs of Rome Alexandria and Antioch It 's proved by the very Canons of the Council of Nice and by the first Council of Constantinople assembled under Theodosius the Great that each Patriarch had Power no farther than the extent of his Territory and over the Bishops of his particular Province And to inform us where the Patriarchats were limited he saith that that o◠Alexandria comprised Egypt Lybia and Pentapolis but that Africk Thebes nor the Mareotides were not subjected to it That of Antioch had not the whole Empire of the East whereof Constantinople was the Capital But only all that extended from the Mediterranean Sea towards the East to the Frontiers of the Empire That of Rome contained ten Provinces The Islands of Sicily Corse and Sardinia were three of them and the Continent of Italy on the East-side made the other seven that the ancient Lawyers called Suburbicaries But not to leave the work imperfect upon this Subject he examines in what dependance the Churches were who set up no Patriarchs To this purpose he observes that the Roman Empire was divided into thirteen Dioceses seven on the East-side and six on the West-side in all 120. Provinces Each Diocess had a Metropolis where the Primate resided as well as the Praetor or Vicar who decided appeals in Civil Affairs as also each Province had it's Metropolis It will not be useless to add that tho' Primates had the same Authority as the Patriarchs they preceded them notwithstanding in Councils and that Rome Alexandria and Antiochia were honoured
fit an infinite number of places of the Antient Councils without having respect to the MSS. which makes Vsher to give him the Title of Contaminator Conciliorum As Hilary and Leontius Archbishops of Arles had favoured Semi-Pelagianism Cesario who succeeded Leontius inclin'd to what the Divines of Marseille called Praedestianism to wit the Sentiments of St. Augustine It was by his direction that the second Council of Orange was held in the year DXXXIX which approved the opinions of St. Augustin and our Author gives us an account of all their entire acts A little while after another Council was held at Valence upon the same matters and which also condemned Semi-Pelagianism Boniface II. approved the acts of this Council by a Letter that he writ to Cesario in the year DXXXI and which Vsher hath inserted in his Works Here it is that endeth the History of Pelagianism and Semi-Pelagianism which was not nevertheless extinguished among the Gauls nor in England by so many Efforts and Decrees of the defenders of Grace as may be seen by the History of Godescalch written by the same Vsher. What can there be concluded from thence according to the Principles of St. Augustin but that God would not apply his Grace to Anathemas to Confiscations to Depositions and to Banishments whereof the Pious Emperors and Holy Councils made use of against the unfortunate Pelagians We may relate the beginning of the third part of the British Antiquities in p. 268. where the Author begins to speak of King Arthur and of the priviledges pretended to be given by him to the University of Cambridge The rest of the Chapter excepting what there is in it concerning Gildas of whose works Vsher makes long Extracts is but a collection of Fables and Citations of Monks The 15 th Chapter treateth of the Colonies that the Facts a People of Scythia and the Scâ—â—ch that inhabited Ireland sent into England and of the manner how these Barbarous People were converted to Christianity There are also in this place more Fables than Truths seeing if we except some general acts the remainder contains only impertinent fictions in this Chapter are also new Fables concerning St. Ursula which some Monks report to have been Daughter to a King of Scotland The 16 and 17 th Chapters which contain the Ecclesiastick Antiquities of Ireland are of the same stamp as the preceding ones and we may wonder how the Archbishop of Armagh hath had the patience to make such a great collection of Fables and to read such a great number of Works of Monks both Manuscript and Printed Those that are minded to know a great part of their fictions concerning the British Isles from the year DXXX unto the end of the fourteenth Age may have recourse to the Original In the same nevertheless may be found some more certain antiquities touching their firâ—â— Inhabitants and the names of these Islands and some considerable changes that happened in them The Author hath also added at the end a Chronological Index where one may see in what time each thing ought to be related It 's a thing much to be wish'd in other Works which contain such disquisitions of Antiquities where commonly there is a strange Confusion Those that desire to be throughly instructed in the Ecclesiastical Antiquities of England ought to add to Vsher's Work whereof we have given now the extract a Book in Folio of Doctor Stillingfleets Intituled Origines Britannicae or the Antiquities of the British Churches with a Preâ—aâ—e concerning some pretended Antiquities relating to Britain in vindication of the Bishop of St. Asaph Printed at London 1685. The true System of the Church or Analysis of Faith c. by Sieur Jurieu Doctor and Professor of Divinity At Dordrecht Sold by the Widdow Caspar and Theodore Goris 1686 in 8vo THIS piece is chiefly designed to answer Mr. Nicoli but the difficulties that Mr. Arnauld Father Maimbourg and the Bishop of Meaux have propos'd in the chapter of the Church are herein examined with the utmost exactness the whole is reduced to these five general questions 1. What are the essential parts of the Church 2. What is the invisibility and maâ—ks thereof 3. What is its extent 4. What is its Vnity and Schism 5. What is its authority and judgments the exact and profound discussion of these matters take up three Books The first is begun by the comparison of the Church with a Human Body animated and it 's pretended that as the essential parts of man are a reasonable Soul and an Organised Body and the Union of this Body and Soul likewise the essential parts of the Church are Faith and Charity the Profession of Faith the outward practice of Charity and the Union of these four Faith and Charity are the Soul of the Church the outward Profession and Practice the Body and according to this Idea neither the Saints in Paradise nor the Predestinated that are not yet born are any part of the Church which is proved by Scripture after that is examined if false Christians and Heretical Societies make part of the Church and having shewn the prodigious incumbrances whereunto the R. C. cast themselves in maintaining that an ill man may be a true member of the Church and even of those Members on whom God confers the Spirit of infallibility We are taught after what manner the men of the World are in the Church and may be lawful Pastors in it Mr. Nicoli stands here a rude brunt for he pretends that his efforts do make St. Augustin agree with the Scholastick Divines upon the question whether the wicked are true Members of the Church which is full of obvious contradictions As to Heretical or Schismatical Societies it 's needless to prove to the R. C. that they do not belong to the Church for they say it often enough yet without giving good reasons why crimes are more priviledged therein than errors but the incumbrance which may be in this respect hindreth not Mr. Iuricu from fully examining this matter he enters therefore into the discussion of the Unity of the Church He maintains always leaning upon his comparison of human bodies that all the Sects of Christianity belong really to the body of the Church and that in this there is no more absurdity than to maintain that a distemper'd Member is a true part of Mans Body he asks whence comes the Idea of the Unity which excludes from the Church all the Christian Societies but one and he persuades himself that the monstrous errors which are raised in the first Ages have been the true Origin of this Idea in accustoming the Orthodox to think that Hereticks are Members wholly separate from the Body He adds that St. Cyp finding this Idea ready at hand applyed the same to the Novations grounded thereon such strong reasons against the validity of the Baptism of Hereticks that nothing of weight was answered him this occasions the Author to criticise on the Hypotheses of St. Cyprians
antagonists He shews them that they understood not what the Unity of the Church is He makes the same reproach to St. Augustin and accuses him of perplexing himself with a thousand contradictions in maintaining on one side that the Baptism of Hereticks is valid and on the other that they are absolutely separated from the body of the Church But St. Ierom is not so used it 's granted that he has better understood the question and it 's proved by his disputes against the Luciferians that he excluded not from the Church even all Hereticks After this it is maintain'd by eleven proofs that the Catholick Church includes all the Christian Societies which retained the fundamentals of Christianity The first proof is drawn from the extent which the Word of God promiseth to the Church for as it is evident that there is no particular Church which hath ever compleated the notion of this extent the promises of God must either be false or verifie themselves by the extent of Christianity in General Here are refuted the pretensions of Mr. Nicole upon the extent of the Romish Communion the second proof is taken out of the places of the Word of God which foretel that the Church shall have a mixture of good and bad of wheat and tares for if crimes hinder not a Christian to be a Member of the true Church why should error have the fatality to hinder from it It is surely a pretention that abuses the light of Nature to say that a Man that kills another is yet a Catholick but if he blames the retrenchment of the Cup he is by that very thing Excommunicated and banished the whole Communion of the Church we need only to ask good reasons for this enormous inequality to make the most resolute Doctors sweat The third proof is drawn from this that God keeps the knowledge of the Truth and Preaching of his Word in Schismatick and erring Societies whence we must conclude that God saves Men in it Other proofs are founded on examples or on the Opinions and Conduct of the Roman Catholicks The examples are the Schisms of the ten Tribes which continued as this Author saith to be the People of God and the Iews that were converted to the Gospel in the Apostles time and who refused to have any Communion with the converted Gentiles For the proofs ad hominem they are drawn either from Father Goar or from Leo Alatius who said that the Schismatick Communions of the East are not out of the Church Or according to Mr. Nicole several persons have been saved tho' of the Arian Communion or else the Gentlemen of Port Royal err which glory in this point of Transubst antiation to have Conformed themselves to the Schismaticks or according to the Confession of the Romish Church that there is a true Mission and a saving Grace in the other Communions so that other sects are Christians and during the Schism of Anti-Popes the true Catholicity was found under divers obediences Mr. Nicole is strongly refuted upon this Article Neither is he with less vigour refuted upon the objection which he hath so much boasted of which is that the Vnity of the Church necessarily includes the Vnity of Communion It is the first difficulty which Mr. Iurieu examins in his answer to the arguments which may be alledged against his system The 2d difficulty is found in the 7th Book of Mr. Arnaud upon the downfal of Morality where he saith this System is that of the indifferency of Religions but 't is strongly denyed him for it 's maintained that one cannot be saved in all the Sects of Christianity and that there are cases wherein we must separate from them which err and that we cannot Communicate in all nor tolerate all nor pass successively from one unto another These are great questions and for to clear them one must have as much wit and depth of Judgment as Mr. Iurieu has He makes a thousand fine remarks upon all this he saith there are two ways which God makes use of to save Men in Heretical Societies one is the Grace he gives them to discern the true spiritual nourishment from the false The other is to bear with their faults according to his great mercy But lest People should abuse this Doctrine the Author brings several Cautions which shew that such as throw themselves into the Communion of Rome have reason to fear their Souls and maintains that it was well done to separate from it as in the last Age. He speaks much upon the important subject of Toleration nor will he have Soveraigns deprived of the liberty of reprehending their Heretick subjects in certain cases nor will he have them that err have any priviledge of maintaining their pretended Truths he examines upon this subject the reasons that have been lately published to maintain the priviledges of a Conscience that really errs and then passes to the visibility and perpetuity of the Church two great questions upon which he says some things that are both solid and curious And so much for the first Book The second runs upon a subject no less important that is upon the Authority of the Church and analysis of Faith The Author begins his proofs against the infallibility of the Church for this reason that the Universal Church being a Collection of all Societies that retain its grounds and principles can no ways be infallible nor has it any need of being unerrable for every part maintaining that each other part being contrary to it's self has fallen into error it follows that the Church being but a Collection of all these parts whereof the one refutes the rest is erroneous in all its parts and that being so how can it be infallible or any single part thereof be unerrable Nor is it less evident that the infallibility of the Church would be to no purpose because it is not possible that a Congregation of all Christian Sects should clear or decide any difficulty And it is confessed here that the unanimous consent of all Communions to teach a certain truth is a kind of infallible judgment given by the Church and moreover the Character of a fundamental truth so hard to be agreed upon is consented to but lest the Socinians might come to cross it it is declared that neither they nor the Fanaticks have any share in it nor yet the other Sectaries of these times After this the Authority of Councils is spoken of and divers reflections made thereon The Councils are considered different ways 1. Either as the meeting of wise Men that have a mind mutually to instruct each other and Communicate their knowledge 2. As commissioned Law-makers that Assemble for to regulate the form of Government 3. As Judges established by their Church to learn the prevarications of Religious Societies The first of these relations belong to them in respect of matters of Faith the 2d In respect of ordering of Discipline and the 3d. in respect of censures and Excommunications this is
by a very plain way Why was not Iesus pleased to render the way more easy and did not tell us where we should find such a Judge We are therefore obliged to look for him saith Episcopious and this Disquisition must necessarily aim at either of these two things Either that each particular Society of Christians and even each Member of this Society attribute to it self the Power of Soveraign judging of Controversies or that the Universal Church to wit the Body of all those who profess the Gospel hath at all times right to chuse such a Judge The first cannot be granted because every one looking upon himself as Infallible no body would submit himself to the Decisions of his Neighbour The second is naturally unpracticable for before the Universal Church can choose a Supream Judge of Controversies it must needs have cast it's Eyes upon divers Subjects capable of fulfilling this Charge and examined carefully their capacity And how shall it make this Examination All the Christian Societies must concur in this Election But how should they agree thereupon and whom could they choose who should not be suspitious or uncapable of this Employment Seeing all Christians have already taken Parties and those who are not Christians understand not our Disputes Add to this that tho Men would be decided by the ordinary Judges of the Roman Church there would still a Party of Male-Contents remain If the Pope was chosen France would appeal to the General Council if a Council was assembled Italy would not accept on 't until it had been confirmed by the Pope and this Bishop would only do it upon condition that this Ecumenick Council would acknowledge it self beneath him which is contrary to the pretensions of France The impossibility of this Design is an evident proof according to our Author that God will not have his Church to be governed after the manner of the Kingdoms of the Earth where one is obliged to submit without knowing for what because there is but the Body and some transitory Goods in question But the Kingdom of God extending it self over the Soul and Conscience Men must be instructed convinced and persuaded Men must read pray meditate and live Christianly to obtain the Grace of distinguishing Truth from Falshood In vain would Scripture teach us these Truths and exhort us to these practices if there were an infallible Judge All this would be useless neither is it of great me amongst those who believe they have one All the World knoweth the ridiculous explications the Roman Doctors gave to Scripture before Protestants had put it into the hands of the People and no body is ignorant of the many Truths which have been discovered since it hath been believed that every one should instruct himself in the Will of God by his Word It is true that there have arisen Disputes which are the unavoidable consequences of Examination But if Christians applyed themselves only to Scripture and that instead of deciding of their Differences when Scripture is not clear thereupon they supported each other with a mutual Charity we should soon see them become both more wholsome in their Opinions and more reformed in their Manners It is a consequence very clear and very easie to comprehend but such as apparently will never be justified by Experience V. The last writing of Bom is a small Treatise to prove that St. Peter hath been established Head of the Catholick Church where this Priest relates the common Passage of Controvertists Thou art Peter c. Feed my Sheep c. The Answer of Episcopius is not complete but that which there is on 't appears more than sufficient to refute all the Objections of the Missionaries The first Reason would be even enough which is that although his Adversary had clearly proved his Thesis he would do nothing for all that if he did not shew that the promises made to St. Peter regard also his Successors whereas most of the Fathers have taken them for personal Priviledges as Tertullian in his Book of Chastity c. 21. who speaks thus to Pope Zephirin If because the Lord hath said to Peter Vpon this Rock I will build my Church I will give thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and all that thou shalt bind or unbind upon Earth shall be bound or unbound in Heaven If I say for that cause you imagine that the power of unbinding or binding is passed unto you to wit to all the Churches founded by Peter Who are you that overturn and change the clear intention of the Lord who hath conferred this personally on Peter Vpon thee saith he I will build my Church and I will give thee the Keys and not to the Church and all that thou shalt unbind and not that they shall unbind 2. After having shewed that these Priviledges are not personal it should be proved that they regard only the Bishops of Rome excluding those of Antioch 3. That they regard them all without exception and without condition to wit That all and every one of the Popes are infallible as well in Fact as Right against the Experience and the Sentiment of most of the Doctors of the Roman Communion 4. It should be defined what the Catholick Church is and shewed by formal passages that these Terms denominate the Body of Pastours which is called the Representative Church which is impossible Whereas it is very easy to shew that the Church signifieth in Scripture only the People in opposition to Pastours And in this sense there is nothing more absurd than all that is said of the Power of the Church and it's Priviledges seeing it is but the Body of the Pope's Subjects and Roman Clergy and that Subjects who are far from making Decisions must submit and obey their Lot 5. After all this it should be still proved that the Priviledges given to St. Peter and the Bishops of Rome his Successors import not simply a Primacy of Order and some Authority in things which regard the Discipline and Government of the Church which Protestants could grant without doing a prejudice to their Cause but they do moreover mark a Primacy of Jurisdiction of Sovereignty and Infallibility in matters of Faith which is impossible to be proved by Scripture and all the Monuments we have of Antiquity and which is even contradictory seeing the belief of a Fact or Truth is persuaded and forceth not it self Have not Roman Catholicks much Grace to accuse Protestants of Obstinacy because they refuse to embrace a Hypothesis which supposeth so many dubious Principles whereof most are contested even amongst the Divines of Rome and to ask them to obey the Church without distinctly telling them what this Church is or in what consists the Submission which is required of them or how far it ought to be extended An Abridgment of Universal History The First Part containing the Ecclesiastical History in Two Books by Henry le Bret Provost of the Cathedral Church of Montauban in 125. 3 Volumes At
Domestick shewing his Friend in his Masters Library the suppressed Edition of M. de Meaux's Exposition with Marginal Notes which he assured him were Written by the hands of some of the Doctors of Sorbonne the Friend desired to borrow the Book which the Servant consented to So strange an accident made the borrower use his utmost care to get a Copy of the First Edition but there was such care taken to suppress it that all he could do was but to gather up some loose Leaves whereof he almost made an entire Book and copyed what he wanted out of M. Turenne's Original which he then restored to the Servant it is this same Copy which Mr. Wake has with his Certificate that gather'd it and compared it with the Mareschal's Copy It is not at all likely that Mr. Cramoisi Director of the Printing-House at the Louvre should Print a Book of Importance without the knowledge and good-will of the Author that was a Bishop and Tutor to the Dauphin and a great Favorite at Court and it is more unlikely that Mr. Crà moisi should obtain the King's leave and the Approbation of the French Prelates for a subreptitious Copy And why did not M. de Meaux shew his resentment for a boldness of this nature And how came he to give this Printer not only the Corrected Copy but also all the other Books that he made since We must examin but Fourteen places of the First Edition taken notice of by Dr. Wake to see whether the alteration that M. de Meaux made in it did only concern the exactness and neatness of the style First Edit p. 1. Thus it seems very proper to propose the Doctrine of the Catholick Church to the Reformers in separating the Questions which the Church hath decided from those which belong not to her Faith Second Edit p. 1. It seems that there can no better way be taken than simply to propose the Doctrine of the Catholick Church and to distinguish them well from those that are falsly imputed to her First Edit p. 7 8. The same Church Teaches That all Religious Worship ought to terminate in God as its necessary end So that the honour which the Church gives to the blessed Virgin and to the Saints is only Religious because this honour is given to them only in respect to God and for the love of him And therefore the honour we render our Saints is so far from being blamable as our Adversaries would have it because it is Religious that it would deserve blame if it were not so M. de Meaux has thought it expedient to blot out the last period and to express himself thus in his common Editions p. 7. And if the honour that is rendred to Saints can be called Religious it is because it regards God In the same place speaking of M. Daille the Author expressed it after a very ingenious manner but little favourable to his cause As for Mr. Daille said he he thought that he ought to keep to the Three first Ages wherein it is certain that the Church then was exercised more in Suffering than Writing and has left many things both in its Doctrine and Practice which wants to be made clearer This Acknowledgment was of importance and the Censurers had reason to note it and has not been seen since All the other Alterations are as considerable as these and Dr. Wake protests he could mention more if he were minded to shew all the places wherein the Manuscripts differed from the common Editions The Author may judge whether these be words or things that M. de Meaux has corrected but as to Father Cresset it may be said that this Bishop has strained his boldness to such a degree that none dares give him the Epithet it deserves Is it possible that this Author should not have heard of a great Volume in Quarto Writ against the profitable advice of the Blessed Virgin since the Pastoral Letter of the Bishop of Tournay who approved this last Book has caused such long Disputes in France Can it be supposed that M. de Meaux was ignorant that the Opinion of this Jesuit was contrary to his Exposition After M. de la Bastide reproached him with it in his Answer to the Advertisement And that the Author of the General Reflexions on his Exposition and M. Iurieu in his Preservative have made great Extracts out of the Book of The True Devotion Since Mr. Arnaud laughed at Father Cresset in his Answer to the Preservative and Mr. Iurieu refuted his Adversary in the Iansenist convicted of vain Sophistry That Mr. Imbert in his Letter to this Bishop offered to refute the Preservative provided he might be secured that no violence should be done him and that he might have the liberty of saying what he thought In fine after that he himself Answered divers passages of the Preservative in his Treatise of the Communion under both kinds Let us add to all this what M. de Meaux had the confidence to advance in his Pastoral Letter upon the Persecution of France I do not wonder says he my dear brethren that you are come in such great numbers and so easily into the Church none of you have suffered violence either in his Body or Goods And so far from suffering Torments that you have not heard talk of any I hear that other Bishops say the same Let this notorious falshood be compared with the Apology for the Persecution which this Prelate made in a Letter to one of his Friends that I read my self Writ and Signed by his own hand The Original whereof a certain Author proffered to shew him And it will be acknowledged that one may be very hard upon the Catholick Religion without committing so gross a contradiction But why should we stay so long upon the discovering the mystery of the Composition the Gentleman had done it himself without thinking of it Confessing that he weighed all his words and racked his Invention to cheat the simple At least this is what they that understand French will soon perceive in reading this period of his Advertisement In the mean time the Italian Version was mended very exactly and with as much care as a Subject of that importance deserved wherein one word turned ill might spoil all the Work Though one must be very dull to look upon these pious Cheats as a sincere dealing M. de Meaux was so fearful lest he might be thought to abolish some abuses and to labour to reform his own Church that he has lately given evident proofs of the hatred that he always bore the Protestants and which he thought fit to hide under an affected mildness until the Dragoon Mission It was in the History of Variations that he unmasked himself and shewed him what he was by the Injuries and Calumnies which he cast upon the Protestants and has given a Model of the manner how he deserves to be treated There were Three Months past when Dr. Burnet whom this Bishop attacked without any cause made
which they quote the Arch-bishop Laud Iackson Feilding Hâ—ylin Hammond and M. Thorndike There is not one but has writ the contrary These are the Points whereon the Enemies of Protestants would make the Church of England pass for half Papists tho there is not one but was taught by other Reformed excepting Episcopacy And this Government is so ancient that even those who think Presbytery better ought not to condemn for some little difference in Discipline a Church that is otherwise very pure unless they are minded to anathematize St. Ignatius St. Clement St. Polycarp St. Irenaeus St. Cyprian and the whole Church of the second and third Age and a great part of the first Without question the Episcopal Clergy of England have the like Charity for Presbyterians I will not alledge the Testimonies of Modern Doctors nor of such as were accused of having favoured the pretended Puritans we see the Marks of its mildness and moderation towards all excepâ—ing some turbulent Spirits amongst 'em which indeed are too common in all Societies If there ever was a time wherein the Church of England differed from Presbytery and had reason so to do it was in the middle of the Reign of K. Iamss the First and notwithstanding you may see how the Bishop of Eli speaks writing for the King and by his Order against Cardinal Bellarmin One may see how much the Protestants of this Country agree by Harmony of their Confessions where each Church acknowledges wherein she agrees with the rest Then lay aside those odious Names seek our Professions of Faith in our Confessions The Reproach you make us concerning the Puritans is altogether absurd because their number is but small and the most moderate among them agree with us in the chief Articles of Religion The Scotch Puritans Confession has no Error in Fundamental Points so that the King might say with reason That the Establish'd Religion of Scotland was certainly true And as for the rest there 's no reason to suspect Dr. Wakes Testimony for the Bishop of London and the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury have approved his Books None of the other Doctors contradicted him and some sided with him against Roman Catholicks And these last have not accused him of swerving from the common Doctrine of the Church of England only in the Article of the necessity of Baptism and he proves by several Authorities in his Defence of his Exposition what he therein advanced At the end of this Defence are several curious Pieces 1. A Comparison betwixt the Ancient and Modern Popery 2. An Extract of the Sentiments of Father Cresset and Cardinal Bona concerning the Devotion to the Blessed Virgin 3. The Letter of Mr. Imbert to Mr. de Meaux 4. The Epistle of St. Chrysostom to Caesarius with the Preface of Mr. Bigot which was suppressed at Paris in 1680. and a Dissertation of Dr. Wake upon Apollinarius's Sentiments and Disciples A DISCOURSE of the Holy EUCHARIST wherein the Real Presence and Adoration of the Host is treated on to serve for an Answer to two Discourses printed at Oxford upon this Subject With a Historical Preface upon the same Matter At London 1687. p. 127. in 4to DR Wake Minister of the Holy Gospel at London who is said to be the Author of this Book gives First In few words the History and Origine of Transubstantiation as it hath been ordinarily done amongst Protestants Secondly He names several Illustrious Persons of the Romish Church who have been accused of not believing the Real Presence or Transubstantiation to wit Peter Picherel Cardinal du Perron Barnes an English Benedictine and Mr. de Marca Arch-Bishop of Paris who gave his absolute Sentiment hereon in one of his Posthume Dissertations tho' in the Edition of Paris the places wherein he said it have been changed or blotted out But it could not be hindered but that this Work having appeared before Persons took notice of these Sentiments some entire Copies thereof have fallen into the hands of Protestants who got it printed in Holland in 1669. without cutting off any thing To these Authors are joined F. Sirmond the Iesuite who believed the Impanation and who had made a Treatise upon it which hath never been printed and whereof some persons have yet Copies M. de Marolles who got a Declaration printed in form in 1681. by which he declared that he believed not the Real Presence and which was inserted here in English And in short the Author of the Book Entituled Sure and honest means of Converting Hereticks whom we dare not affirm to be the same who published a Treatise of Transubstantiation which the Fifth Tome of the French Bibliotheque speaks of p. 455. The Cartesians and several others are suspected of not believing the same no more than the Protestants So that if the Catholicks cite some Reformed for them Protestants also want not Catholick Authors who have been of their Opinion Thirdly The Author sheweth the dangerous Consequences which arise according to the Principles of the Romish Church from the incredulity of so many Men of Knowledge be it in respect to Mass or in respect of the Infallibility and Authority of the Church The Treatise it self is divided into two parts The first contains two Chapters and an Introduction wherein is expounded the Nature and Original of the Eucharist much after the Ideas of Lightfoot In the first Chapter Transubstantiation is at large refuted by Scripture by Reason and the Fathers We shall make no stay at it because this Matter is so well known The Second Chapter is imployed to refute what Mr. Walker said concerning the Opinions of several Doctors of the Church of England upon the Real Presence Dr. Wake at first complains That his Adversary in that only repeats Objections which his Friend T. G. had before proposed in his Dialogues and which a Learned Man had refuted in an Answer to these Dialogues printed at London in 1679. As to what concerns the Faith of the Church of England which he maintains to have been always the same since the Reign of Edward He reduces it to this according to the Author who refuted T. G. viz. That she believes only a Real Presence of the invisible Power and grace of Iesus Christ which is in and with the Elements so that in receiving them with Faith it produces Spiritual and real Effects upon the Souls of Men. As Bodies taken by Angels continueth he may be called their Bodies whilst they keep them and as the Church is the Body of Iesus Christ because his Spirit animates and liveneth the Souls of the Believing so the Bread and Wine after the Consecration are the Real Body of Iesus Christ but spiritually and mystically He gives not himself the trouble to prove the solidity of this comparison by Scripture and when he comes to the Examination of the Authors that Mr. Walker hath quoted he contents himself to produce other Passages where they do not speak so vigorously of the participation of the substance of Iesus
Christ which according to Calvin descends not from Heaven The vertue of the Mind being sufficient to penetrate through all impediments and to surmount the distance of Places He cites several other places of Beza of Martyr and many English Doctors by which it appears that they did not believe the Body of Iesus Christ properly descended from Heaven into the Eucharist or is in divers places at the same time though they say we are nourished hereby through Faith but after an incomprehensible manner Yet it must be granted that if these Great Men understood nothing by nourishing our selves by the flesh of Iesus Christ but to believe that we are saved by his Sacrifice and to feed our selves with this hope or to receive his Spirit it was not necessary to tell us of a miraculous Union of our Spirits with the Body of Iesus Christ notwithstanding the distance of places the Spirit of God being every where and Faith having no relation to local distance there 's nothing in the Spiritual eating of the Body of Iesus Christ taken in the sense we have above-mentioned of Miraculous nor of Incomprehensible more than in other acts of Piety and other Graces which God gives unto us Whether we suppose this or any other method to expound the eating of the Body of Iesus Christ there would be no danger to the Reformation to say that these Learned Men have not had an Idea altogether distinct thereupon or that their Expressions are not exact Although it were granted that they mistook in some things it would not follow that the Romish Church could have justly rejected all their Doctrines or that Protestants are in the wrong by inviolably retaining their Sentiments as far as they are conformable to Holy Scripture and to abandon that wherein they might be deceived We do not make a profession of believing that those who err in one thing are deceived in all or of rejecting every thing they have said because they have not perceived the truth clearly enough in some things Thus all the Objections of this nature might be ruined without undertaking to defend indifferently all that the Reformers may have said seeing it 's agreed on that the Protestant Religion is not founded upon their Authority and that they might be mistaken in inconsiderable things without its being in danger But Dr. Wake thought not convenient to act in this manner He believes that the Reformed never changed their Opinions hereon and for the Divines of Edward and Elizabeth he maintains that they were perfectly of the same opinion which he proves by a passage of the History of the Reformation by Dr. Burnet In the Second Part which is wholly included in the 3d Chapter he answers first to what Mr. Walker affirms to have been allowed by Protestants and maintained against him that he hath not well understood the words of some of the Authors whom he cited that say very well that in Communicating Iesus Christ ought to be Adored but not as Corporally present under the Species of Bread and Wine As for Forbes and Marc-Antony de Dominis it is agreed on that the desire they had of reconciling Religions made them say too much Thorndyke speaks not less vigorously but upon a Hypothesis quite different from that of the Roman Church seeing he believed that the Bread is called the Body of Iesus Christ and the Wine his Blood because by the Consecration they are Hypostatically united to the Divinity of Iesus Christ as well as to his Natural Body It was spoken of in the First Part. To oppose to the Catholick Author Doctors of his own Party they say that Thomas Paludanus and Catharin maintains that it was an enormous Idolatry to Adore the Sacrament without believing Transubstantiation Thus although it is agreed on that if a Consecrated Host is truly Adorable one would not be guilty of Idolatry if one Adored one which should not be Consecrated thinking it once would be so It 's incredible that the Reformed Religion can receive so much prejudice hereby as the Authority of the Catholick Doctors who have been cited because the Reformed deny that a Host can be Adored whether it be Consecrated or not As to the Grounds of this Subject he sends us in his Preface to a Book Entituled A Discourse concerning the Adoration of the Host Printed at London 1685. In the Second place The Catholick Doctrine is briefly examined but as there is none who hath not read divers Treatises upon this Subject we shall insist no longer upon it ORIGINES BRITANNICAE Or the Antiquities of the British Churches with a Preface concerning some pretended Antiquities relating to Britain in vindication of the Bishop of St. Asaph by Dr. Stillingfleet London 1685 in Fol. p. 364. WE should speak of the Preface of this Work wherein the Author refutes the Opinion of the Scots concerning the Antiquity of their Kings if there had not been an Extract made of a Book wherein it is already done and the Principal reasons related with much fidelity It shall suffice to say in general that our Prelate in it defends the Bishop of St. Asaph who in his Relation of the Antient Ecclesiastical Government in Great Britain and in Ireland hath shewn 1. That the Scots could not be in Great Britain so soon as they say 2. That the Historians from whom this is maintain'd are not of sufficient validity for one to rely upon As the Scots may be pardoned the zeal they have for their Country their Neighbours likewise may be suffered to endeavor the refuting them if it be necessary It 's a contestation which as Dr. Stillingfleet observes will not be decided neither by a Combat nor a Process and which hath no influence in matters of Religion or State That which concerns the Antiquities of the British Churches is more considerable by the connection which this matter hath with the important Controversies as it will appear hereafter This nevertheless is but the Proof of a greater Work where the Author endeavors to clear the most important difficulties of Ecclesiastical History Judging that to Write a compleat Ecclesiastical History is a design too great for one Man to accomplish he hath only undertaken to clear some parts thereof and thought he was obliged to begin with that which concerns the Antiquities of the Church whereof he is a Member This Book is divided into Five great Chapters the Abridgment of which you have here 1. It hath been believed for a long time in England that the Gospel was Preached here in Tyberius's Reign But if the short time be considered betwixt the Resurrection of our Lord and the death of this Emperor and that 't is thought during a long while the Apostles Preached the Gospel only to the Iews it will be hard to suppose that in this little distance persons came from Iudea into Britain to Preach the Gospel Some of the Learned of the Church of Rome have by the same Reason refuted the Fabulous Tradition which
rest of the People till they were visited by the Priests and declared Lepers And this Inspection was neither made upon the Sabbath nor Holy-day that Devotion and Publick Rejoycings might not be hindered It is not likely that People should tarry so long a time to separate the Pestiferous 4. The Gentiles who were not Proselytes and who lived in Canaan were not obliged to shew themselves to the Priests though they were Leprous and yet they were not hindered to converse with all the World 5. Those who were suspected to be Lepers were shut up in the Field or even in the Town and there were only those who were judged Lepers that were obliged to go out which if they recovered were not suffered to enter till after many washings and other Ceremonies which they were to observe 6. According to the Judgment which the Priest pronounced a Man was looked upon to be clean or unclean and so he was conversed with or his company shunned But it is not likely that this Sentence rendered a Man more or less Contagious 7. The general Leprosie which covered the whole Body did not render a Man unclean because they were declared clean who had all their Body covered with White Leprosie and in whom there was not a bit of Live flesh to be seen Naaman the Leper had several to serve him and he himself was Minister to the King of Assyria which could not be if his Distemper was Contagious Also the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tame which is spoken of polluted and unclean People marks only a legal impurity and is not applyed to them who are Infected with a Contagion The Heptades are followed by a small Treatise entituled Sciagraphia Biblica seu specimen Oeconomiae Patriarcharum It is as it were a Historical Abridgment of Divinity disposed according to the order that is contained in Holy Writ This Treatise is not ended because it begins at the Creation and ends at the Punishment of Sodom The Letters of Mr. Alting are one of the most considerable Pieces of this Volume being all full of Moderation and Learning In the Second he proposes some difficulties to Mr. Wetstein Professor at Basil who said in one of his Dissertations that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 were Synonyms in St. Iohn The Author on the contrary will have the terms 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shew not only That the Word was in the beginning of all things but supposeth also that he was in being before whereas the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shew that this word is destined to the Office of Mediator which was done since or at the beginning God having Promised the Messia who was to bring Life to Men and that immediately after the first Sin In the Third Letter which is Written to Buxtorf the Son Mr. Alting to shew that the Sabbath was a Ceremonial Institution which Figured Iesus Christ and the Gospel thus Translates a passage in Isaiah 58.13 If thou call the Sabbath a delight 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Likdosâ—h Iehova mecubbad the Holy of the Lord. He pretends that this Holy of the Lord is the Messia who is called the Holy One of God Mark 1.24 Luke 4.34 And that the Father hath sanctified and sent him into the World John 10.36 The Author Answers in the 4 5 and 6th Letters some difficulties which were made upon the Explication of this passage and upon Iob 11.7 In the Ninth is sought the Origine of this Phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basar vedam Flesh and Blood which is common in the Rabbins and Writings of the new Testament The Author believes that the Iews did not begin to make use of it until after the Prophets times when Philosophy began to be brought in amongst them They saw some Pagan Philosophers define a man a compound of Body and Soul and searching in their own Tongue for familiar Terms which would answer this Definition they added to the word Basar Flesh by which the Scripture commonly marks Man that of Dam Blood Besides the passages of Genesis 9. and Levit 17. where it is said That the Blood is the Soul of Beasts there are many others by which it appears that the Soul and Blood are Synonymous with the sacred Writers so they say in some places the Messia has given his Blood and in other places he has given his Soul to ransom many There is in the 16.50 a Judgment which deserves our observation but to know the importance of it we must know the dispute upon which it was delivered about the end of the Year 1655. There arose a dispute amongst the Mennonite Ministers of Amsterdam about the external State of the present Christian Church from Conferences they came to Writings whereof there were several Copies soon made and as soon printed The first which appeared upon this Subject was signed by Gallenus and David Spruit who put it into the hands of their Brethren The 11 th of Ianuary 1657. it was digested in Nineteen Articles wherein these two Ministers expounded their Opinion touching the Church which is to this purpose 1. That there is but one Church which is called the Spouse and Body of Iesus Christ and that it was to that alone that the promises of Iesus Christ were made 2. That Iesus Christ has established in this Church Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastors and Doctors and hath given them the Gifts of the Holy Ghost which guide them infallibly so that they and their Hearers might be assured they did not err 3. That not only the Apostles but even the inferiour Ministers of the Apostolical Church and even the Deans and Antients after receiving the imposition of hands were endowed with miraculous Gifts which were necessary for the Exercise of their Charge 4. That so the first Ministers had a Right to call themselves Embassadors of Iesus Christ and that the People were obliged to receive them in that Quality 5. That the Church should fall into an entire Apostacy that this Prediction should be accomplished soon after the Death of the Apostles seeing that from the time of St. Paul and St. Iohn the mystery of Iniquity began to increase since there were already several Antichrists One must have but a small insight of Ecclesiastical History to know that the Zeal of Christians cooled a little after and that they fell from a Remissness into a corruption of Manners from a corruption of Manners into that of Doctrine and that instead of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost there was nothing seen to Reign in the Church but the Spirit of Superstition of Tyranny over Consciences of Schism and Excommunication 6. That those who undertook in these late Ages to reform the Church had neither miraculous Gifts nor an Express not extraordinary Vocation from Iesus Christ. 7. That to prove that the Assemblies which were held are the true Church they have only some Arguments drawn from passages of Scripture explained according to the weak Lights of their own reason or
a Successor to Melece would not hearken to this Proposition A Crowd of young Persons begun to cry out like Magpies and made so much noise that they even forc'd the old Bishops who should have resisted them and brought in question again the Affair of Gregory which had been decided Gregory perfectly describes their Ambition Ignorance and Defects in the Poem he hath made of his Life It is better to read it in the very Author than here Yet the People hearing that the Council gave Gregory a Distast and that the latter spoke of retiring cried out That they should not take away their Pastor and intreated him not to abandon his Flock About that time Timothy Bishop of Alexandria who succeeded Peter and who was of a Violent and Contentious Spirit arrived there with divers Egyptian Bishops The old Malice they had against Gregory upon the account of Maximus the Cynick had so much inflamed them against our Bishop that they began by complaining that the Canons had been violated in transporting Gregory from one Bishoprick to another This excited a great Noise in the Council and it was upon this occasion that Gregory made his Speech of Peace which is the Fourteenth wherein he at length presents the Advantages of Agreement and the evil Consequences of Divisions He highly Censures therein the lightness of the Bishops who had without reason changed their Opinion in his behalf and suffered themselves to be deceived by the Calmness of his Enemies He saith That Back-bitings ought to be slighted which are commonly spread of Moderate Persons and in fine we may easily see by what he hath said that it is not in our Age alone that Men do cover their Passions most unworthily under the fair name of Zeal for the Purity of Faith Gregory testifieth also that he told them For what concerned himself they should not put themselves to so much trouble but that they should endeavour to be reunited That it was time to make People cease laughing at them as wild Men who had learned nothing else but to fight That provided they would agree he consented to be Jonas who should make the Tempest cease That he had taken against his Will the Episcopal Seeâ— and that he quitted it freely and that his Body being weakened with old Age obliged him thereunto Notwithstanding all this they accused him of Ambition he therefore made a Speech which is the Twenty seventh wherein he protests he had accepted of the Bishoprick of Constantinople but by force and brings the People to witness it He saith That he cannot tell whether he ought to call the Seat of Constantinople The Throne of a Tyrant or the See of a Bishop he complains of the Distractions of his Enemies and the Envy they bore him because of his Eloquence and his Learning in the Sciences of the Heathens It may be that made some People envy him but the Post which he was in made a great many more envy him He would have suffered him to have made use of his Rhetorick at Sasine without giving him the least trouble for it After having declared in full Council that he desired to quit the place which was envied him he went to the Emperor's Palace to entreat him to suffer him to withdraw He obtain'd it with some difficulty and afterwards he only thought upon taking leave publickly which he did in the Cathedral in the presence of one hundred and fifty Bishops and all the People We have the Discourse he then made and 't is the Two and Thirtieth in order he there represents the Ill Condition wherein he found the Orthodox Church of Constantinople and the Change he had accomplish'd he makes a Confession of his Faith touching the Blessed Trinity and shews he had done nothing which was worthy of Censure he exhorts the Fathers of the Council to choose a Person worthy of the See of Constantinople to succeed him and afterwards took his leave of all that heard him In this Speech he complains of his Old Age and in the Poem of his Life he saith he was then but a dead Man animated which he could not say if he was according to the common Supposition but Fifty six Years Old As soon as he took his Leave the People and in general all those who had heard him at Constantinople testified a great deal of Grief The Conduct of the Council appears very unequal and Violent since after they Confirmed Gregory in the See of Constantinople they oblig'd him to quit it at the Age of about 80 Years This manner of acting so Unwise and Un-christian like gave pleasure enough to the Enemies of the Council and much diminished the Authority of their Decisions For in fine how can we think that Bishops so Factious so Unjust and so Ignorant as Gregory describes them in divers places were nor capable of Examining maturely the Doctrins in question If their Authority did not make them incline to the Orthodox â—ide it must needs be Chance only that led them into the right way The love of Truth is seldom found with so much Vanity and Ignorance Thus Gregory Abandoned the Bishoprick of Constantinople some few Weeks after he had been established by that Council that Banished him He withdrew into Cappadocia according to Gregory the Priest Author of his Life and went to live at Arianze where he was Born Amongst those that were presented to the Emperor some Bishops put up Nectairus Senator of Constantinople a Man of regulate Manners and comely Countenance but who was not as yet Baptized and who had scarcely any Learning It is not known whether Gregory parted for Cappadocia before this Election was made or staid at Constantinople until he had a Successor named to him Howbeit Gregory writ an Instruction to Nectairus where he begins thus That it seemed as if the Providence of God who before kept the Churches had altogether abandoned the Affairs of this Life That which made him speak thus he says was not his particular Evils tho so great that they would have seemed insupportable to any body else He assures us that the State of the Church only forc'd those words from his Mouth He afterwards describes to Nectaire the boldness of the Arians and Macedonians who were in as great a number at least as the Orthodox and who durst Assemble and form Churches a horrid Attempt after the Decisions of a Council so well Regulated as that which had been newly held Gregory comprehended not how his Holiness and his Gravity it was thus that Bishops were stiled permitted the Apollinists to Assemble He advertised him that Apollinarus said that the Body of the Son of God Existed before the World that the Divinity served him as a Soul and that his Body descended from Heaven and was essential to the Son yet nevertheless Died. Gregory thought tho I know not why that to permit these Men to Assemble was to grant that their Doctrine was truer than that
of the Canonical since there cou'd not be two Truths as if to suffer any one was a sign that they believed his Opinions to be true In fine he advises Nectairus to tell the Emperor that what he had done in favour of the Church would be of no use if Hereticks were admitted to Assemble It was thus that good Gregory who would not whilst the Arians were the strongest Party the Emperor being on their side have any thing undertaken which was blamed in them Exhorted his Successor to forget this good Lesson so difficult it is not to contradict our selves when we take not great care to free our selves from Passion The following Year CCCLXXVIII there was an Assembly of Bishops held at Constantinople where Gregory was called but he would not go to it and thus he Answer'd those which Invited him If I must write the truth to you I am disposed always to shun every Assembly of Bishops because I never saw a Synod which had good Success or which did not rather augment the Evil than diminish it The Spirit of dispute and Ambition without exaggerating upon it is so great there that it cannot be expressed It must not be thought that our Bishop said this without thinking well on it in a time wherein he might have any regret He repeats it again in his Letters LXV LXXI LXXII and LXXIV and also diverted himself by putting this thought in Verse I will never be present saith he at any Synod because none but Geese and Cranes herd there which fight without understanding one another There are Divisions among them Quarrels and shameful things which before were hidden and which are Re-assembled in one Place with Cruel Men. Being returned to Nazianze he found that Church Vacant a second time and by that reason Infected with the Opinions of Apollinarius He was immediately desired to take the Place of his Father but he never would do it and that gave occasion to his Enemies to accuse him of Pride as if he had scorned to take care of a small Church after having possest the Patriarchal See of Constantinople Gregory protests in one of his Letters that he had refused it only because he was too Old and too much Indisposed yet seems nevertheless to promise to lend his Body to the Church as he himself said which makes us believe he really took care of the Church of Nazianze at least until they had provided a Bishop for it We shall not speak of what hapned after the retreat of Gregory because he was not concern'd in it only he writ to several of his Friends to endeavour that the Bishops might live in Peace tho they were to be severely Censured for it At his leisure hours he composed some of the Poetry which we have and particularly that which concerns his Life We may say of his Poetry that the Stile is as Prosaick as that of his Speeches is Elevated As there is often top much Ornament in his Speeches so there is too little in his Verse the turn of which besides is harsh enough But he is not alone among excellent Orators who have been indifferent Poets The rest of his Poetry that is extant not being placed according to the order of Time we cannot well distinguish those that he made at the end of his Life from those writ under the Empire of Iulian as has been already observed unless there be in the very Poetry some matter of Fact which may distinguish the time Gregory died very Old according to the Relation of the Priest who writ his Life And Suidas tells us that he Lived above XC Years and died in the Year CCCXCI the third Year of the Reign of the Emperor Theodosius We have still a Testament which he made being at Constantinople and which is at the beginning of his Works some suspect it to be Supposititious but as it contains nothing Singular and no more than Gregory has said before there is no convincing reason that can make us reject it It is not requisite that I should make here an Encomium upon Gregory of Nazianze It might be seen by his Conduct and those Places we have related of his Writings what judgment may be made of him in general and it is not sure to trust to any whatever when we are to judge with exactness of an Author In his writings is a very faithful description of the Manners of that Age as wherein the Penitency of those that lay on the hard Ground and such as rose at Midnight to sing Hymns and to weep hindred not the Ecclesiasticks from being generally very Corrupt Religion began from that time to serve as a pretence to get Mony and as it is more easie to keep an outward guard upon our selves than to correct our inward Defects so cannot be thought strange that many Persons whose Conversation seemed unblameable were nevertheless after some time found out to be very ill Men. The Elections of Bishops were then for the most part made in Churches by the People amongst whom there was strange Caballing to be advanced Gregory wish'd that this Election depended on the Priests who were more capable of judging of the Capacity of Persons than those that considered nothing but their Riches or Authority where People acted impetuously without Reason and were very easily Bribed Nevertheless his own experience taught him as is evident that the very Bishops did not act on these occasions with more Widom than the Vulgar We only need to read his description of the Council of Constantinople to be convinced herein Their judgments were so much the more to be feared because they determin'd very speedily without being exactly informed of the matter in question but agree'd with very great difficulty as in the business of Maximus and Gregory They scarcely thought on any thing but to enrich themselves and to augment their Authority under pretence of Piety as Gregory reproacheth them in divers Places This inclination commonly possessing the Ecclesiasticks of that time made them gather the People into the Churches and begin to publish both Miracles and Legends much more frequently than before and to Preach up a blind Credulity instead of exhorting Christians to examine their Faith and to maintain it by good Reasons An Example whereof may be seen in the Eightenth Speech of Gregory which is in the Honour of St. Cyprian He Accuses the Bishop of Carthage who bore this name of being a Magician and of having endeavoured to seduce a Christian Virgin named Iustina by the means of a Demon who not being able to accomplish his aim entred into the very Body of Cyprian and was driven away by this Magician by calling upon the God of Iustina Those who have read St. Cyprian know that this Bishop never had such an accident and the refutation of the Fable may be seen in the Oxford Edition of St. Cyprian's Works before a supposititious piece that is Intituled Confessio S. Cypriani
retake that Shield which by their Apostacy they lost that so they may be armed not against the Church which grieves at their Misery but against their Adversary the Devil a modest Petition a bashful Supplication a necessary Humility and an Industrious Patience will be advantageous to them let them express their Grief by their Tears and their Sorrow and Shame for their Crimes by their Groans Ep. 31. ap Cypr. Tertullian in a like manner describes one in this State by lying in Sackcloth and Ashes by having a squalid Body and a dejected Soul by Fasting Praying Weeping Groaning and roaring night and day by throwing himself at the Clergies feet and kneeling before the Faithful begging and desiring their Prayers and Pardon If the Criminals Repentance was thought real he was admitted to part of the Service but not to all for a long time some two three five ten Years and some even to their Lives end On the day appointed for Absolution â—he came cover'd with Sackcloth and Ashes throwing himself at the Feet of the Clergy and Laity and with Tears in his Eyes begging their Pardon and Forgiveness confest his Fault and received Absolution by the Bishops putting his hand upon his Head and blessing him and then he was looked upon as a true Church-Member again 8. In the Eighth Chap. he comes to shew the Independency that Churches had one of another as to Superiority or Preheminence which concludes very strongly against the Usurpations of the See of Rome he Cites the Decree of the African Synod Apud Cyp. Ep. 55. § 16. Pag. 142. That every ones Cause should be heard where the Crime was committed because that to every Pastor was committed a particular Portion of Christ's Flock which he was particularly to rule and govern and to render an Account thereof unto the Lord. Yet he shews there was such a Dependence and Correspondence betwixt one another Cypr. Ep. 67. § 6. Pag. 199. Although they were many Pastors yet they were but one Flock and they ought to congregate and cherish all the Sheep which Christ redeemed by his own Blood and Passion And a little after We ought all of us to take care of the Body of the whole Church whose Members are distended through various Provinces Apud Cypr. Ep. 30. § 4. Pag. 67. Our Auâ—hor treats next of Provincial Synods which he proves were a Convocation of Bishops Presbyters Deacons and deputed Laimen who often met to advise about Eccâ—esiastical Affairs and reguâ—ate what should appear amiss He shews that this Convocation was usually every Year Per singulos annos in unum Conveniamus Apud Cyprian Ep. 75. § 3. Pag. 23â— In these Assemblies they chose out of the gravest and most renowned Bishops two to be Arbitrators and Moderators Apud Euseb Lib 5. Cap. 23. Pag. â—90 The Decrees that they made were binding and who ever broke them came under the Ecclesiastick Censure 9. In the Ninth Chap. our Author treats of the Unity of the Church Here he shews that the Unity of the Church consisted not in an Uniformity of Rites and Usages but every Church was at its own liberty to follow its own particular Customs Iren. apud Euseb. Lib. 5. Cap. 24. P. 193. In some Churches they fasted one day in others two in some more and in others forty hours but yet they still retained Peace and Concord the diversity of their commending the Unity of their Faith And a little after the same Father They retained Peace and Love and for the diversity of such Customs none were ever cast out of the Communion of the Church Also Firmilius apud Cyprian Ep. 75. § 5. Pag. 237. That in most Provinces their Rites were varied according to the Diversities of Names and Places and that for this no one ever departed from the Peace and Unity of the Catholick Church 'T would be well if this Primitive Union was well considered on by such as keep up the Dissentions amongst us at this day they will certainly have a severe Account to make one day to the Prince of Peace nor will their Ignorance excuse them in not making a due distinction betwixt the Fundamentals of Religion and mere Circumstances Our Author proceeds to shew what condescentions there were amongst them from Iustin Martyr who speaking of those Jewish Converts who adhered to the Mosaical Rites says That if they did this only through their Weakness and Imbecillity and did not perswade other Christians to the observance of the same Iudaical Customs that he would receive them into Church-fellowship and Communion Dialog cum Tryphon Pag. 266. After this our Author shews how the whole Churches censur'd such as were Authors of Divisions about the different Observation of Easter Baptizing Hereticks c. and afterwards he brings in Irenaeus saying That at the last day Christ shall judge those who cause Schisms who are inhuman not having the fear of God but preferring their own advantage before the Unity of the Church who for trivial and slight Causes rend and divide the great and glorious Body of Christ and as much as in them lies destroy it who speak Peace but make War truly straining at a Gnat but swallowing a Camel Lib. 4. Cap. 62. Pag. 292. Here our Authors defines Schism according to the Primitive Fathers to be an unnecessary causeless Separation from their lawful Pastor or Parish Church So that who ever separates upon such a Ground is a Schismatick then he comes to lay down such measures as the Primitive Christians did make use of for Separation from their Bishop 1 Apostacy from the Faith 2 Or when a Bishop renounc'd the Christian Faith and through fear of Persecution embrac'd the Heathenish Idolatries as was done in the Case of Martialis and Basilides two Spanish Bishops 3 ly When the Bishops Life was scandalous and wicked he gives Instances of all of them yet he brings in Origen against this last Opinion his words are these Origen Hom. 7. in Ezek. He that hath a care of his Soul will not be scandaliz'd at my Faults who am his Bishop but considering my Doctrin and finding it agreeable to the Churches Faith from me indeed he will be averse but he will receive my Doctrin according to the Precept of the Lord which saith The Scribes and Pharisees sit on Moses his Chair whatever therefore they say unto you hear and do but according to their Work do not for they say and do not The Scripture is of me who teach what is good and do the contrary and sit upon the Chair of Moses as a Scribe or Pharisee the Precept is to thee O People if thou canst not accuse me of false Doctrin or Heretical Opinions but only beholdest my wicked and sinful Life but do those things which I speak After having mentioned this Father's Opinion he adds that whether Irenaeus or an African Synod or Origen deserves most Credit he leaves it to the Learned to judge but however our Author gives his own Opinion that they
Gregory of Nyssa in his Discourses against those that defer Baptism distinguisheth three sorts of Persons with Relation to the other Life The first Order is that of the Saints and Righteous which will be happy the second those that shall be neither happy nor unhappy and the third those that shall be punished for their Sins He puts in the second Rank those that cause themselves to be Baptized at the point of Death There is a Letter of this Father concerning Voyages made to Ierusalem where he diverts the Faithful from undergoing slightly these sort of Pilgrimages by reason of the Abuses that proceed from thence Some Catholicks have been willing to make it pass as Supposititious but Mr. du Pin believes it to be true Here Priscillian and his Disciples are placed in the Rank of Ecclesiastical Authors after St. Ierom who speaks thus of them Priscillian Bishop of Avila was put to death in the City of Treves by the Command of the Tyrant Maximus having been oppressed by the Faction of Itharius He hath written several Works whereof some are come to us Some accuse him this day of the Heresie of the Gnosticks of Basilide and Marcion But others defend him and maintain that he was not Guilty of the Errors that are imputed to him It 's true pursues Mr. du Pin that the same St. Ierom in his Letter to Ctesiphon speaks of Priscillian as of a notable Heretick which hath made Mr. du Quesnel believe that this place of the Ecclesiastical Writers was corrupted This Conjecture which is grounded upon the Authority of a Manuscript would be of Consequence if we knew not that St. Ierom hath often spoke differently of the same Man besides it 's apparently the manner that St. Ierom speaks in his Catalogue which placed Priscillian and Matronian his Disciple in some Martyrologies amongst the Holy Martyrs The second Letter of Pope Syricius furnisheth us with a fine Example Saith Mr. du Pin of the Ancient manner of the Holy Patriarchs Iudging He writes in it to the Church of Milan that having Assembled all his Clergy he had condemned Jovinian and all his Sectators by the advice of the Priests Deacons and the whole Clergy Baronius Bellarmin and some others pretend that part of the second Letter of St. Epiphanius is Supposititious because he there relates a History which is not favourable to the Worship of their Church Being entred saith this Bishop into a Church of a Village in Palestine call'd Anablatha and having found a Vail that hung at the Door which was Painted where there was an Image of Iesus Christ or some Saint for I do not remember whose it was but since against the Authority of Holy Scripture there was in the Church of Iesus Christ the Image of a Man I rent it and gave order to those that had the Care of this Church to bury a dead Body with this Vail Mr. du Pin after having proved that all this Letter is St. Epiphanius's adds That though it be true that there were placed in some Churches Pictures that represented the Histories of the Scriptures and the Actions of the Saints and Martyrs it cannot be said that this use was general and that it must be granted that St. Epiphanius hath disapproved it although without reason according to him for I believe continueth he that it would be contrary to the Candor and Sincerity that Religion demands of us to give another Sense to these words After the Extracts of the Writings of the Fathers are found those of the Councils held in the Fourth Age. The Canons of that which is called the Council of Elvira are an old Code or an ancient Collection of the Councils of Spain and it cannot be doubted but these Canons are of great Antiquity and very Authentick The XXXIV Canon and the XXXVI have given much Exercise to the Roman Catholick Divines The one forbiding to light Wax-Candles in the Church-yard because the Spirits of Saints must not be troubled and the other Paintings in Churches lest the Object of our Adorations should be painted on the Walls They have endeavoured to give several Expositions on these Passages but it seems to me saith Mr. du Pin that it is better to understand them simply and to allow that the Fathers of this Council have not approved the use of Images no more than of Wax-Candles lighted in open day But continueth he these things are of Discipline and may or may not be in use and do no Prejudice to the Faith of the Church The XXXV Canon prohibits Women to pass in the Night in Church-yards because often under pretence of Praying they in secret committed great Crimes The LX deprives such of the quality of Martyrs as are killed in pulling down Idols publickly because the Gospel commands it not nor is it read that it was practised by the Christians in the time of the Apostles The same Spirit of Parties which wrested the Canons of the Council of Elvira hath caused Men to doubt of the History of Paphnusius related by Socrates lib. 1. c. 9. This Egyptian Bishop opposed the new Law that was going to be made in the Council of Nice to oblige Bishops Priests and Deacons to keep unmarried and abstain from Women that they had espoused before their Ordination Although he himself had never been married he maintained that this Yoke was not to be imposed upon the Clergy and that it was to bring the Chastity of Women in danger I believe saith Mr. du Pin upon this speaking of the Roman Catholick Doctors that this doubt proceeds rather from the fear they are in that this act should do some hurt to the present Disciplin than of any solid proof But these Persons should consider that this Regulation is purely a Disciplin which the Disciplin of the Church may change according to the times and that to maintain it it is not necessary to prove it hath always been uniform in all places The Author shews that it was Osius Bishop of Cordova who presided in the Council of Nice and not the Legats of the Pope He only acknowledges for Authentick Monuments of this Council the Form of Faith the Letter to the Egyptians the Decree touching Easter and the two first Canons He consequently rejects as Supposititious pieces the Latin Letter of this Council to St. Sylvester the Answer of this Bishop and the Canons of a pretended Synod held at Rome for the Confirmation of that of Nice The Christians of that time who were not perfectly instructed by the holy Scripture in what they ought to believe touching the Mystery of the blessed Trinity were in great uncertainty for neither the Tradition nor Authority of the Church were then infallible marks of the Truth of a Tenet since the Ecclesiastical Assemblies that the most reasonable Catholicks make the Depositaries of these Traditions and Authority some time declare for the Arians some time for the Orthodox and another for a third
Author of the Apostolick Constitutions is the first who attributed them to the Apostles before which time they were only call'd Ancient Canons or Ecclesiastick Canons 'T is he who hath inserted many words there to perswade us that the Apostles were the Authors of 'em and in his Constitutions which he would father upon Clement Romanus he attributes many things to 'em which don't agree with the Apostles such are those which concern Temples Catechumens Energumens Feast-Days c. There were even some things absurd and wicked such as that which orders Women to be Shav'd and not Men lib. 1. and that other which permits Womenâ—Slaves to suffer themselves to be corrupted by their Masters lib. 8. Constit. cap. 32. Altho' Baronius Bellarmin and some other Catholick Criticks receiv'd the Acts of the Passion of St. Andrew Mr. du Pin rejects 'em with his ordinary liberty as a Book doubtful and whereof we can make no use to prove an Article of Faith and which was not cited as we have it now till the Seventh or Eighth Age. In the speaking of the Sybils the Author says many things agreeable to what Mr. Petit does and shews in his Notes that there is nothing more uncertain than the Name and Number of these Prophetesses The most particular thought is his refutation of Mr. Vossius who maintained that in the Verses of the Sybils which Otacilius Crassus brought from Greece after the Conflagration of the Capital was slipt in some Iewish Prophesies that however past for the Sybils which are those that the Fathers have cited To Answer to this M. Du Pin shews that this System altho well enough invented suffers many difficulties and that the Doctrin of the Sybils Books is rather that of a Christian than that of a Iew Iesus Christ being therein more plainly foretold than in the Prophets and the Resurrection Judgment Reign of a Thousand Years with Antichrist being there remarkt in formal Terms Twou'd be a groundless imagination to say with Ierom that the Sybils had received the gift of Prophesying in Recompence for their Virginity It s very well known they applyed themselves entirely to things of greater Consequence and that it was often their Fate to be mistaken in profane Histories and cite Supposititious Books such as Hystaspus and Mercurius Trismegistus c. It is not easie to determine either when or by whom these false Oracles of the Sybils were made But as they made no noise till since the time of Antoninus the Pious he Conjectures that these Verses were towards the beginning of the Second Age 'T was says our Author by a Pious Fraud much like this by which a passage concerning Iesus Christ got into the Fourth Chapter of the 18 th Book of the Antiquities of the Iews But the perplexed turn and sequel of the Discourse shews that it enter'd in by force This he proves by Origen Theodoret and Photius to which Mr. Huet answers that these ancient Authors had Manuscripts of Iosephus from whence the Iews had taken away this passage The Book that bears Hermas's Name who was a Disciple to the Apostles is certainly his It was received as Canonical in many Churches and St. Ireneus and Origen cited it as such altho it is fill'd with a great Number of Visions Allegories and Similitudes which make it very tedious Amongst the Works that are attributed to St. Clement he admits as true only the two Epistles to the Corinthians The first of which according to our Author after Holy Scripture is one of the finest Monuments of Antiquity But the Second is not so certainly his The Apostolick Constitutions is a work of the Third or Fourth Age which from time to time was reformed changed and augmented according to the different Customs of times and places False Dionysius the Areopagite was an Author of the Fifth or Sixth Age whose Books were first cited in 532 by the Hereticks that were call'd Serezians The Author speaks there of the Trinity and Incarnation in such Terms as have been used only since the Fourth Age of the Church He proves in his Notes that the true Dionysius the Areopagite never was in France that Photinus Preached Christianity the first in that Kingdom and that from the time of Ireneus his Successor the Faith was only establisht in Two Provinces of the Gauls since there were Martyrs no where else in the Kingdom He rejects the Vulgar Edition of the Letters of St. Ignatius but receives the Seven that the Learned Isaack Vossius published from a Greek Manuscript of the Florence Library which is perfectly conformable to the Version that Usher has published He refutes two opposite Opinions whereof one is that of Belarmin Baronius and Possevinus who received all that were in Greek or who admitted the Three Latin ones as Father Haloix did who altho in a clearer time were not however the best Criticks The other is that of some Protestants as Salmasius Blondel Aubertinus and Dailleus who to the utmost of their power endeavour'd to destroy the Credit of Usher and Voissius's Editions All the World now agrees that the Letter of Polycarp to the Philipians is truly his and that the other Works that are attributed to him are supposititious The Martyrdom of this Saint is described after a very Circumstantial manner in a Letter from the Church of Smyrna to the Churches of Pontus and our Author relates a passage from thence that Merits a particular Notice The Heathens having hindred the Christians from carrying away the Body of Polycarp which continued untouched in the middle of the Flames said it was for fear they shou'd adore it instead of Iesus Christ The Church of Smyrna makes this reflection upon it Senseless as they were to be ignorant that the Christians adored Jesus Christ only because he was the Son of God and that they loved the Martyrs only who are his Disciples and Imitators because of the Love they Testified to have for their King and Master Afterwards the Centurian having burnt the body of this Martyr the Christians carryed away his bones more precious than the rarest Stones and more pure than Gold which they buried in a place where they assembled together to celebrate with joy and cheerfulness the day of his Martyrdom Thus Honouring the Memory of those that Gloriously fought for Religion that they might Confirm and Instruct others by their Examples This is adds Mr. du Pin the Opinion of the ancient Church concerning the respect due to Martyrs and their Relicks explained after a very curious way equally distant from the Contempt that the Hereticks of our time have for 'em and the Superstition of some Catholicks Speaking of Papias who though a Disciple of St. Iohn the Evangelist pass'd in the Judgment of Eusebius for a very Credulous Man and of a most indifferent Wit who pleased himself with the hearing and relating Stories and Miracles He says That he made Errors and Falsities pass for the
undoubtly his In the time of Dionysius of Alexandria who lived about the middle of the Third Age one Nepos Bishop of Egypt writing of a Book to maintain the Reign of a Thousand Years where he proves his opinion by the Apocalypse Dionysius undertook to refute him And to Answer to the Testimony of the Apocalypse that his Adversary quoted he says that some have slighted this Books thinking it the Heretick Cerinthus's who admitted no other Beatitude than what consisted in Corporeal Enjoyments But as for himself he says he durst not entirely reject it because it was esteemed by many Christians yet that he was perswaded that it had a hidden sense which cou'd not be comprehended by any one That it was the Book of some Author inspired by the Holy Ghost tho' not St. Iohn the Evangelist but another that bore his Name as he endeavours to prove by the difference of the Stile and thoughts Denis without doubt went too far upon this matter as well as in the Letter that he writ to the Bishops of Pentapolis when to refute the Error of Sabellius who confounded the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity this slipt from him That the Son is the work of the Father and that he was to the Father as a Vineyard is to it's Vinekeeper or a Ship to its Ship-wright and that he was not before he was made That happen'd to Dionysius adds our Author that does almost to all those that dispute against an Error viz. to speak after such a manner as favours the opposite Errors Baronius thinks that a Letter that Turrian published under the Name of Dionysius and which is inserted in the first Volume of the last Councils P. 850. is certainly his But Mr. Du Pin believes it a Supposititious Work because the Author of this Letter approves of the Word Consubstantial and says that the Fathers have thus call'd the Son of God Whereas it is certain that Dionysius and the Synod of Antioch received not this term and that in his time they cou'd not say that the Fathers commonly made use of it There remains nothing else of this Bishops but a letter to Basilides printed in the first Book of the Councils Besides many Fragments of Methodius Bishop of Olimpius or Patarus in Lycia that Father Combefix has taken from the Ancients or Collections of divers Manuscripts we have now his Feast of the Virgins compleat which we ow to Possinus the Jesuit 'T is a Dialogue of many Virgins each of which make a Discourse in praise of Virginity nevertheless without blaming Matrimony a Moderation very rare to the Ancients says Mr. Du Pin This Work is composed of Ten Discourses full of Allegories and places of Scripture and treats on divers matters as occasion serves In the Second to prove that God is not the Author of Aulteries altho' he Forms the Children that are produced by so wicked an Act he brings some natural instances In the Eighth Discourse this Father speaking against the Fatum of the Stoicks proves that Men are free and that they are not necessitated to do good or evil by the Influences of the Stars At the end of this Dialogue the Author speaks very Orthodoxly of the Holy Trinity if we may believe Mr. Du Pin. We have only some Scattered pieces of Methodius's Treatise against Origen taken from Saint Epiphanius and Father Sirmond Our Author doubts whether the passage that Iohn Damascenus relates in the Third Prayer to Images are Methodius's or no. He affirms there that the Christians made Images of Gold to represent the Angels for the Glory of God If this is our Bishops says Mr. Du Pin it must be that he meant something else than what Damascenus did and that by the Word Angels Principalities and Powers he must understand the Kings of the Earth He adds to the Authors of the Three First Ages Arnobius Lactantius Commodianus and Iulius Firmicus Maternus altho they pass'd the greatest part of their lives in the Fourth Age because they imitated the First Fathers in disputing more against the Heathans than Hereticks He praises Lactantius very much and confesses that in his Book of the Persecucutions he seems to Note that St. Peter came not to Rome till the beginning of Nero's Empire Afterwards he gives an account of the Councils held in the Three First Ages of the Church and affirms that there are none more ancient than those that were held in Victors time about the end of the Second Age upon the Celebration of Easter and that they held no Councils to condemn the First Hereticks the Disciples of Simon Carpocratus the Basilidians and Gnosticks because the Christianâ— abhorr'd all their Errors He rejects all the Decretals attributed to the First Popes And believes 't was Riculphus and Benet his Successor that counterfeited them in the Ninth Age. He ends this Volume with an abridgment of the Doctrin Disciplin and Morals of the Church in the Three First Ages He Makes no Notes upon this Abridgment because he takes it for granted that he has proved all he says there in the Body of his Work Nevertheless we have not observ'd says the Abridger upon the reading of it by what reasons Mr. Du Pin in his Treatise maintains the following Proposition which he advances in his short account 1. That altho' all the Fathers agreed not that Children were born subâ—ect to sin and deserving damnation yet the Church was of the contrary opinion 2. That they Celebrated the Sacrifice of the Mass in memory of the Dead 3. That they pray'd to Saints and Martyrs and believed that they besought God for the Living There are others also better maintain'd and of great consequence in relation to the differences that now separate the Christians 1. That the Ancients spoke of the Virgin Mary with much respect that they went not so far upon the subject as they have done since that for the Generality they did not believe she continued a Virgin after our Blessed Saviour was born that they spoke not of her Assumption and that there 's a passage of St. Ireneus which is not favourable to her Immaculate Conception 2. That the Scripture contains the chief Articles of our Faith and that all Christians may read it 3. That the Elements of the Eucharist were ordinary Bread and Wine mingled with Water That they divided the consecrated Bread into little bits that the Deacons distributed it to those present who received it in their hands and that they also gave them consecrated Wine That in some Churches this Distribution was reserved to the Priests but in others each Person drew near to the Table and took his Portion of the Eucharist 4. That in these Three First Ages the Unction of the Sick which St. Iames speaks of was not mentioned 5. That Priests were forbid to intermix their Civil and Spiritual Affairs 6. That the Priests were permitted to retain their Wives that were Espoused before Ordination but not to Marry afterwards Tho' Deacons
q. 4. Aged man whether possible to recover his vigor v. 2. n. 16 q 4. Athenians will they maintain what they assert v. 2 n. 17. q. 12. Athenian Project how long will it continue v. 2. n. 17. q. 13. Acquaint with the Athen how to v. 2 n. 18. q. 4. Accident following the finding of Money v. 2. n. 20. q. 6. Acumen Ingenium Sal which signifies wit v. 2. n. 14 q. 13. Animals whether their blood c. v. 2. n. 24. q. 19. Apostles did they know Salv. v 2 n. 26. q. 10. Adam had he stood wou'd c. v. 2. n. 26. q. 12. Abraham the Hist. of the Ang. v. 2. n. 27. q. 7. Adam did he lose the Image of G. v. 2. n. 29. q. 16. Adam was he a Giant v. 2. n. 30. q. 4. Aaron did he make the Calf v. 2. n. 30. q 6. Amazonâ—s whether there be any v 3. n 2. q. 7. Astronomers can they know the bigness of the Sun v. 3. n. 2. q. 8. Armies when engaged does God fight for one v. 3. n. 6. q. 1. Armies seen in the Air v. 3. n. 6. q. 6. Arts and Sciences how many may be attain'd v. 3. n. 9. q. 1. Atheism who its first founder v. 3. n. 9. q 4. Ark what became of it after the fl v. 3. n. 9. q. 10. Adam whether he wou'd have multiply'd Children v. 3. n. 10 q. 4. Antipathies in nature v. 3. n. 11. q. 2. Angel whether one makes a Species v. 3. n. 11. q. 3. Alderm in the City 7 Quest. in one v. 3. n. 12. q. 1. Athenian whether their credit v. 3. n. 13. q. 4. Adul whether the Laws against it v. 3. n. 13. q. 5. Adam and Eve why they sew'd Fig-leaves together v. 3. n. 17. q. 6. Atheist and Iew how will you prove the Scripture to 'em v. 3. n 18. q. 2. Angels whether they move v. 3. n. 20. q. 1. Ambergr and Musk how produced v. 3. n. 21. q. 8. Animal which is the happiest v. 3. n. 25. q. 1. Adam's Fall was it on the day of his Creation v. 3. n. 26. q 4. Adam did he sin more than once v. 3. n. 30. q. 5. Adam if he had not sinn'd had he been Immortal v. 3 n. 30. q. 8. Angels how many fell at first v. 3. n. 30. q. 9. Adam was he a perfect Man and Eve taken out of his side v. 4. n. 5. q. 5. Apparitions to warn a Man to repent of a crime v. 4. n. 7 q. 1. Apparition in Scotland v. 4 n. 7. q. 7. Apparitions 4 Rel. concerning 'em v. 4. n. 10. q. 1. Apparitions instanc'd in several throughout v. 4. n. 10. Adam had he stood wou'd the World increase as now v. 4. n. 15. q. 4. Athenians would they not oblige the World by Artificial Rarities v. 4. n. 7. q. 7. Abraham's Age how reconcil'd v. 4. n. 11. q. 9. Affronts offer'd me how shall I â—â—venge ' em v. 4. n 19. q. 6. Apparitions a large relation v. 4 n. 20. q. 1. Affidavits of several about Appar v. 4. n. 20 q. 21. Apparition to a Person of Quality v. 4. n. 22. q. 2. Apparition of a Grandmother by the Church door v. 4. n. 22. q. 3. Apoplexy which caused Dumbness v. 4. n. 22. q. 4. Afflicted in Body Medic. in vain v. 4. n. 24. q. 3. Atheism exposed v 4. n. 24. q. 7. Angels how can they be said to eat as in Lot's case v. 4. n. 28 q. 4. Athenian Society have they ever a Poet among 'em v. 5. n. 1. q. 1. Anabaptist a word to 'em v. 5. n. 5. q. at the end Apprentice at Cripplegate a strange Relation v. 5. n. 6. q. 1. Apostles Creed when Compil'd v. 5. n. 7. q. 10. Athenian Mercury whether Writ by one Man v. 5. n. 7. q. 12. Antients whether they knew the Mariners Compass v. 5. n. 7. q. 13. Angel that appear'd to Balaam v. 5. n. 10. q. 2. Anabaptist why are they vilified v. 5. n. 26. q. 17. Angels are there a perfect equality between 'em v. 5. n. 28. q. 2. Anabaptists last Book remarks upon it v. 5. n. 30. q. 1. Anabaptists Postscript remarks on 't v. 5. n. 30. ‖ ANimals whether any have Reason 1 Suppl p. 26. Art which is the most necessary of 'em 2 Suppl p. 27. Art of Divining 2 Suppl p. 28. Abortion to procure it is it Murther 5 Suppl p. 15. q. 12. Arminianism or Antinomianism 5 Suppl p. 24. q. 23. Athenian Project a full account of it 5 Suppl p. 27. †ANtiquity and Original of the Points Vowels and Accents that are placed to the Hebrew Bible in 2 Parts p. 241. Advice to Young Students in Divinity p. 241. Animadversions on the various Editions of the Bible by the Athenian Society p. 291. An Abridgment of Vniversal History p. 105. Altings Works p. 145. Art of Navigation demonstrated by Principles and confirmed by many Observations drawn from Experience p. 233. Anatomical Bibliotheque p. 414 Art of Preaching the Word of God containing the Rules of Christian Eloquence p. 430 B. * BEardless Men the cause on 't v. 1. n. 3 q 3. Beasts how they came into the Islands v. 1. n 4. q. 1. Babel Tower what was the height c. of it v. n. 14. q 4. Beauty real or imaginary v. 1. n. 18. q 1. Babels builders Languages confounded v. 1. n. 19. q. 3. Beasts in the Ark v. 1. n. 20. q. 11. Bodies what Matter shall they have in the other World v. 1. n 23. q. 10. Bottle let into the Sea v. 1. n. 26. q. 7. Brothers two born together v. 1. n. 29. q. 4. Burnet's Theory of the Earth about Peter v. 1. n. 29. q. 9. Buggs their Cause and Cure v. 2. n. 1. q. 2. Balaam's Ass what Language it spake v. 2. n. 1. q. 8. Bleeding an Experiment about it v. 2. n. 4. q. 2. Bodies deform'd what remedy v. 2. n. 5. q. 1. Baths why is the Water more Hot v. 2. n. 5. q. 10. Breath why does it blow cold v. 2. n. 12. q 4. Bullet-falling from the Ship v. 2. n. 12. q. 11. Bees a Swarm of 'em in Cheapside v. 2. n. 15. q. 4. Basilisk is there any such Creat v. 2. n. 15. q. 10 ' Bashfulness the cause of it v. 2. n. 16. q. 3. Burning-glass why it contracts the Sun-beams v. 2. n. 17. q. 5. Bodies when taken out of their graves has the Soul c. v. 2. n. 23. q. 7. Barrenness why counted a Curse v. 2. n. 27. q. 1. Being of God v. 2. n. 27. q. 12. Born Poor or Rich which best v. 2. n. 28. q. 9. Blockhead Why have one of ten v. 2. n. 29. q. 6. Birds have they any government v. 2. n. 29. q. 10. Bible how an ordinary capacity may know it v. 2. n. 30. q. 9. Bully o' th' Town drew in a young Lady v. 3. n. 10. q. 3. Brutus and the rest whether they did ill in killing Caesar