industry After which he returned to Alexandria and the discharge of his Office where how long he continued or by what death he died Antiquity is silent Certain it is that for some considerable time he out-lived Pantaenus who died in the time of Caracalla and when he wrote his Stromata he tells us that he did it that he might lay up things in store against old Age a plain intimation that he was then pretty far from it I add no more but what Alexander of Hierusalem a Ap. Euseb l. 6. c. 14. p. 216. says in a Letter to Origen where having told him that their friendship which had commenced under their Predecessors should continue sacred and inviolable yea grow more firm and fervent he adds For we acknowledge for our Fathers those blessed Saints who are gone before us and to whom we shall go after a little time Pantaenus I mean the truly happy and my Master and the holy Clemens my Master and one that was greatly useful and helpful to me VI. TO commend this excellent man after the great things spoken of him by the Ancients were to hold a Candle to the Sun Let us hear the character which some of them give of him The holy and the blessed Clemens a man very virtuous and approved as we have seen Alexander Bishop of Jerusalem who knew him best testifying of him Indeed his zeal and piety modesty and humility could not but endear him unto all For his learning he was in b Epist ad Magn. Orat. p. 327. S. Hieroms judgment the most learned of all the Ancients A man admirably learned and skilful and that searched to the very bottom of all the learning of the Greeks with that exactness that perhaps few before him ever attained to says c Contr. Julian l. 7. p. 221. Tom. 6. vid. l. 6. p 205 S. Cyril of Alexandria An holy man says d Haeret. Fabul l. 1. c. 6. p. 197. Theodoret 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and one that for his vast and diffusive learning incomparably surpassed all other men Nor was he less accurate in matters of Theology then humane learning an incomparable Master in the Christian Philosophy as Eusebius stiles him Witness his many Books crowded as e H. Eccl. l 6. c. 13. p. 215. Eusebius tells us with variety and plenty of useful knowledge derived as f De Script in Clem. ad Magn. Or. loc cit S. Hierom adds both from the holy Scriptures and secular learning wherein there is nothing unlearned nothing that it is not fetched out of the very center and bowels of Philosophy The titles of them those two Authors have preserved the far greatest part of the Books themselves having perished among which the most memorable was the Hypotyposes or Books of Institution so often cited by Eusebius which contained short and strict explications of many passages of holy Scriptures wherein a Cod. CIX col 285. Photius tells us there were many wild and impious opinions as That Matter was eternal and that Idaeas were introduced by certain Decrees that there is a transmigration of Souls and were many Worlds before Adam that the Son is among the number of created Beings and that the Word was not really made flesh but onely appeared so and many more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 monstrous blasphemies But withall insinuates that probably these things were inserted by another hand as b Apol. pro Orig. inter Oper. Hier. Tom. 4. p. 195. Rufinus expresly assures us that Heretics had corrupted Clemens his Writings Certainly had these Books been infected with these prophane and poysonous dogmata in Eusebius his time we can hardly think but that he would have given us at least some obscure intimations of it And considerable it is what Photius observes that these things are not countenanced by his other Books nay many of them plainly contradicted by them VII THE Books yet extant besides the little Tract entituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lately published are chiefly three which seem to have been written in a very wise and excellent order the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Exhortation to the Gentiles the Paedagogus or Christian Instructor and the Stromata or Various Discourses in the first he very rationally refutes the follies and impieties of the Gentile Religion and strongly persuades men to embrace Christianity in the second he tutors and instructs new Converts and by the most admirable rules and pathetical insinuations prepares and forms them to an holy and truly Christian life in the third he administers strong meat to them that are of a more full age a clearer explication of the Christian Doctrine and a more particular confutation both of Gentile and Heretical opinions admitting the Disciple after his first purgation and initiation into a more immediate acquaintance with the sacred Mysteries of Religion His Stromata c Vid. Euseb l. 6. c. 13. p. 214. are nothing but Miscellaneous Discourses composed out of the holy Writings and the Books of the Gentiles explaining and as occasion is confuting the opinions of the Greeks and Barbarians the Sentiments of Philosophers the notions of Heretics inserting variety of Stories and Treasures out of all sorts of Learning which as himself tells us d Strom. l. 1. p. 278. l. 4. p. 476. he therefore stiled Stromata that is a variegated contexture of Discourses and which e Lib. 7. p. 766. he compares not to a curious Garden wherein the Trees and Plants are disposed according to the exactest rules of Method and Order but to a thick shady Mountain whereon trees of all sorts the Cypress and the Plantane the Laurel and the Ivy the Apple the Olive and the Figtree promiscuously grow together In the two former of his Books as f Loc. supr cit col 288. Photius observes his stile is florid but set off with a well proportioned gravity and a becoming variety of Learning In the latter he neither designed the ornaments of Eloquence nor would the nature of his design well admit it as he truly g Ubi supr p. 767. apologizes for himself his main care h Ib. l. 1. p. 293. was so to express things that he might be understood and further eloquence then this he neither studied nor desired If in these Books of his there be what i Ubi supr Photius affirms some few things here and there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not soundly or warily expressed yet not as he adds like those of the Hypotyposes but capable of a candid and benign interpretation not considerably prejudicial either to the doctrine and practice of Religion and such as are generally to be met with in the Writers of those early Ages And it is no wonder if the good and pious men of those times who were continually engaged in fierce disputes with Heathens on the one side and Jews and Heretics on the other did not always 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 divide the truth aright in some nicer lines
several columns in this order in the first column was the Original Hebrew in its native characters in the next the Hebrew in Greek Letters in the third the translation of Aquila then that of Symmachus next the Septuagint in the sixth that of Theodotion and in the two last that of Jericho and the other of Nicopolis Indeed plain it is from what d Comment in Tit. c. 3. p. 256. T. 9. S. Hierom tells us that these two last were not compleat and intire Translations but contained only some parts of the Old Testament especially the Prophetical Books But whether from hence we may conclude the Hexapla and the Octapla to have been but one and the same Work onely receiving its different title according to those Parts that had these two last Versions annexed to them I will not say Besides these there was a Seventh Edition but this belonging onely to the Book of Psalms made no alteration in the title of the whole The frame and order of this excellent contrivance the Reader will better apprehend by this following Scheme formed according to a Specimen of the Hexapla extant in Cardinal Barberines very ancient Manuscript of the Minor Prophets upon these words Hos XI 1. When Israel was a child then I loved him and called my Son out of Egypt Octapla Hexapla Tetrapla Text. Hebr. lit Hebr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut supra Heb. lit Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aquila 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hebr. lit Graec. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Hebr. lit Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Symmachus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aquila 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Aquila 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Symmachus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Symmachus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theodotion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  Theodotion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Theodotion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  Edit V. Hierich Desideratur   Edit VI. Nicopol Desideratur   And to make the Work more compleat and useful he distinguished the additions and deficiences by several marks a Vid. praeter script citat Orig. Comment in in Matth. Edit Haet gr l. p. 381. Resp ad Epist Afric p. 226 227. Edit Basil vid. Ruffin Invect II. in Hieron inter oper Hier. T. 4. p. 230. where any thing had been added by the LXX besides the faith of the Original Text he prefixed an Obelus before it where any thing was wanting which yet was in the Hebrew he in serted the words with an Asteric to distinguish them from the rest of the Septuagint Translation Where various Lections were confirmed by the greater number of Translations he added a note called Lemniscus where two of them onely concurred an Hypolemniscus By which means he did right to truth without doing wrong to any A work of infinite labour and admirable use and which was therefore peculiarly stiled by the Ancients Opus Ecclesiae the Work of the Church upon the account whereof S. Hierom a In Tit. loc supr cit calls him Immortale illud ingenium as indeed had there been nothing else this alone had been sufficient to have eternized his name and to have rendred him memorable to posterity and how happy had it been had it been preserved the loss whereof I can attribute to nothing more then the pains and charge the trouble and difficulty of transcribing it Though some part of it viz. the Septuagint was taken out and published more exact and correct from the faults which had crept into it by transcribing by Eusebius and Pamphilus afterwards It was a Work of time and not finished by Origen all at once begun by him at Caesarea and perfected at Tyre as Epiphanius plainly intimates XIX FROM Caesarea Origen upon what occasion I know not seems to have taken a second journey to Athens For during his stay there we find him finishing his Commentaries b Euseb ib. c. 32. p. 231. upon Ezechiel and beginning his Exposition upon the Canticles five Books whereof he there perfected making an end of the rest at his return to Caesarea The opportunity of this journy it 's conceived by some he took to go to Nicomedia to visit his friend Ambrosius who with his wife and children at that time resided there While he continued here which was not long he returned an answer to the Letter which he had lately received from Julius Africanus concerning the History of Susanna which Africanus by short but very forcible arguments maintained to be a fictitious and spurious relation Origen undertakes the case and justifies the Story to be sincere and genuine but by arguments which rather manifest the acuteness of his parts then the goodness of his cause and clearly shew how much men of the greatest learning and abilities are put to it when engaged to uphold a weak side and which has no truth of its own to support it self It happened about this time that Beryllus c Ibid. c. 33. Bishop of Bostra in Arabia fell into absurd and dangerous errours asserting that our Lord before his incarnation had no proper subsistence no personal Deity but onely a derivative divinity from his Father The Bishops of those parts met about it but could not reclaim the man whereupon Origen's assistance was requested who went thither and treated with him both in private conferences and in public Synods His greatest difficulty was to know what the man meant which when he had once found out he plied him so hard with cogent reasonings and demonstrations that he was forced to let go his hold recant his errours and return back into the way of truth Which done Origen took his leave and came back for Palestin And Beryllus d Hieron de Script in Beryll as became a true Convert in several Letters gave thanks to Origen for his kind pains in his conviction kissing the hand that brought him back XX. ORIGEN was now advanced e Eus Ibid. c. 36. p. 232. above the age of threescore and yet remitted nothing of his incredible industry either in preaching or writing At Ambrosius his intreaty he took to task Celsus his Book against the Christians This Celsus was an Epicurean Philosopher contemporary with Lucian the witty Atheist who dedicated his Pseudomantis to him as indeed there seems to have been a more then ordinary sympathy of humour and genius between these two persons Celsus was a man of Wit and Parts and had all the advantages which Learning Philosophy and Eloquence could add to him but a severe and incurable enemy to the Christian Religion against which he wrote a Book entituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the true Discourse wherein he attempted Christianity with all the Arts of insinuation all the witty reflections virulent aspersions plausible reasonings wherewith a man of parts and malice was capable to assault it To this Origen returns a
and authentic Copy of it And the same foul play he lets them know he had met with in other places as at Ephesus and at Antioch as he there particularly relates And if they durst do this while he was yet alive and able as he did to right himself what may we think they would do after his death when there were none to controul them And upon this account most of those assertions must especially be discharged wherein Origen is made to contradict himself it being highly improbable as Rufinus f Loc. cit p. 194. well urges that so prudent and learned a person one far enough from being either fool or mad man should write things so contrary and repugnant to one another And that not only in divers but in one and the same Book XXIX I might further observe his constant zeal against Heretics his opposing and refuting of them wherever he came both by word and writing his being sent for into foreign Countries to convince gainsayers his professing to abominate all heretical doctrines and his refusing so much as to communicate in prayer with Paul the Heretic of Antioch though his whole maintenance did depend upon it And methinks it deserves to be considered that Athanasius in all the heat of the Arrian controversies then whom certainly none was ever more diligent to search out heretical persons and opinions or more accurate in examining and refuting the chief of those doctrines that are laid at Origen's door should never charge him upon that account Nay he particularly quotes him g Decret Synod Nic. contr Haeres Arrian p. 277. T. 1. vid. de Blasph in S. S. p. 971. Socr. H E. l. 6. c. 13. p. 320. to to prove our Lords coeternity and coessentiality with the Father exactly according to the decisions of the Nicene Synod dismissing him with the honourable character of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the most admirable and infinitely industrious person Nor is there any heterodox opinion of his that I know of once taken notice of in all his works but only that concerning the duration of future torments and that too but h De Com. essent Patr. F. S◠p. 236. T. 1. obliquely mentioned Whence I am apt to conclude either that Origen's writings were not then so notoriously guilty or that this great man and zealous defender of the Churches doctrin who being Bishop of Alexandria could not be ignorant of what Origen had taught or written nay assures us he had read his Books did not look upon those dangerous things that were in them as his sense And indeed so he says expresly that what things he wrote by way of controversie and disputation are not to be looked upon as his own words and sentiments but as those of his contentious adversaries whom he had to deal with which accordingly in the passages he cites he carefully distinguishes from Origen's own words and sense To all which I may add that when the controversie about the condemnation of his Books was driven a Socrat. H. Eccl. l. 6. c. 12. p. 319. on most furiously by Theophilus and Epiphanius Theotimus the good Scythian Bishop plainly told Epiphanius that for his part he would never so much dishonour a person so venerable for his piety and antiquity nor durst he condemn what their Ancestors never rejected especially when there were no ill and mischievous Doctrins in Origen's Works therewithall pulling out a Book of Origen's which he read before the whole Convention and shewed it to contain Expositions agreeable to the Articles of the Church With these two excellent persons let me join the judgment of a Writer of the middle Ages of the Church b Breviar H. Eccl. l. 6. c. 3. p. 108 109. Haymo Bishop of Halberstad who speaking of the things laid to Origen's charge For my part says he saving the faith of the Ancients I affirm of him either that he never wrote these things but that they were wickedly forged by Heretics and fathered upon his name or if he did write them he wrote them not as his own judgment but as the opinion of others And if as some would have it they were his own sentiments we ought rather to deal compassionately with so learned a man who has conveyed so vast a treasury of Learning to us What faults there are in his Writings those orthodox and useful things which they contain are abundantly sufficient to over-ballance XXX THIS and a great deal more is and may be pleaded in Origen's defence And yet after all it must be confessed that he was guilty of great mistakes and rash propositions which the largest charity cannot excuse He had a natural warmth and fervor of mind a comprehensive wit an insatiable thirst after knowledge and a desire to understand the most abstruse and mysterious speculations of Theology which made him give himself an unbounded liberty in inquiring into and discoursing of the nature of things he wrote much and dictated apace and was ingaged in infinite variety of business which seldom gave him leisure to review and correct his writings and to let them pass the censure of second and maturer thoughts he traded greatly in the writings of the Heathens and was infinitely solicitous to make the doctrines of Christianity look as little unlike as might be to their best and beloved notions And certainly what Marcellus a Ap. Euseb contr Marcel l. 1. p. 23. Bishop of Ancyra long since objected against him is unquestionably true notwithstanding what Eusebius has said to salve it that coming fresh out of the philosophic Schools and having been a long time accurately trained up in the principles and books of Plato he applied himself to divine things before he was sufficiently disposed to receive them and fell upon writing concerning them while secular learning had yet the predominancy in his mind and so unwarily mingled philosophic notions with Christian principles further than the analogy of the Christian faith would allow And I doubt not but whoever would paralell his and and the Platonic principles would find that most of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is charged with his master-notions were brought out of the School of Plato as the above mentioned Huetius has in many things particularly observed S. Hierom himself whom the torrent of that time made a severe enemy to Origen could but have so much tenderness for him even in that very Tract b Ad Pammach de error Orig. p. 192. Tom. 2. wherein he passes the deepest censures upon him after he had commended him for his parts zeal and strictness of life Which of us says he is able to read so much as he has written who would not admire the ardent and sprightly temper of his mind towards the holy Scriptures But if any envious Zealot shall object his errours to us let him freely hear what was said of old Quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus Horat. de Art Poet. v. 359. p. 815. Verum opere
eyes I mean confused and uncertain in point of Chronology The greatest part of what we have is from Eusebius in whose account of Times some things are false more uncertain and the whole the worse for passing through other hands after his Indeed next to the recovering the lost portions of Antiquity I know nothing would be more acceptable then the setting right the disjointed Frame of those Times a Cure which which we hope for shortly from a very able hand In the mean time for my own part and so far as may be useful to the purposes of the following Papers I have by the best measures I could take in some hast drawn up a Chronology of these three Ages which though it pretends not to the utmost exactness and accuracy that is due to a matter of this nature yet it will serve however to give a quick and present prospect of things and to shew the connexure and concurrence of Ecclesiastical Affairs with the Times of the Roman Empire So far as I follow Eusebius I principally rely upon the accounts given in his History which being written after his Chronicon may be supposed the issue of his more exact researches and to have passed the judgment of his riper and more considering thoughts And perhaps the Reader will say and I confess I am somewhat of his mind had I observed the same rule towards these Papers he had never been troubled with them But that is too late now to be recalled and 't is folly to bewail what is impossible to be remedied ERRATA INTROD p. 5. l. 41. read Claudius p. 14. l. 45. r. ornaverint p. 17. l. 40. r. refers p. 29. l. 41. after assures add us BOOK p. 5. l. 41. marg r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 101. l. 51. r. Emperour p. 149. l. 12. for to r. of p. 156. l. 6. after that r. is p. 164. l. 34. r. condemnation p. 228. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 240. l. 23. r. librum p. 262. l. 37. for spread r. spilt p. 273. l. 20. for them r. him THE CONTENTS The Introduction THE several periods of the three first Ages Our Lords coming and the seasonableness of it for the propagation of the Gospel His entrance upon his Prophetic Office and the sum of his Ministry The success of his doctrine and the several places where he preached The Story of Agbarus not altogether improbable Our Lords Death What attestation given to the passages concerning Christ by Heathen Writers The testimony of Tacitus Pilats relation sent to Tiberius The Acts of Pilat what Pilats Letter now extant Spurious The Apostles entering upon their Commission and first Acts after our Lords Ascension How long they continued in Judaea Their dispersion to preach in the Gentile Provinces and the success of it The state of the Church after the Apostolic Age. The mighty progress of Christianity The numbers and quality of its Converts It s speedy and incredible success in all Countries noted out of the Writers of those Times The early conversion of Britain to Christianity The general declension of Paganism The silence and ceasing of their Oracles This acknowledged by Porphyry to be the effect of the Christian Religion appearing in the World A great argument of its truth and divinity The means contributing to the success of Christianity The miraculous Powers then resident in the Church This proved at large out of the Primitive Writers The great learning and abilities of many of the Churches Champions The most eminent of the Christian Apologists The principal of them that engaged against the Heresies of those Times Others renowned for other parts of Learning The indefatigable zeal and industry used in the propagation of Christianity Instructing and Catechizing new Converts Schools erected Travelling to preach in all parts of the World The admirable lives of the ancient Christians The singular efficacy of the Christian doctrin upon the minds of men A holy life the most acceptable sacrifice Their incomparable patience and constancy under sufferings A brief Survey of the Ten Persecutions The first begun by Nero. His brutish extravagances and inhumane cruelties His burning Rome and the dreadfulness of that conflagration This charged upon the Christians and their several kinds of punishment noted out of Tacitus The chief of them that suffered The Persecution under Domitian The Vices of that Prince The cruel usage of S. John The third begun by Trajan His character His proceeding against the Christians as illegal Societies Plinies Letter to Trajan concerning the Christians with the Emperours answer Adrian Trajan's successor a mixture in him of Vice and Vertue His persecuting the Christians This the fourth Persecution The mitigation of it and its breaking out again under Antoninus Pius The excellent temper and learning of M. Aurelius The fifth Persecution raised by him It s fierceness in the East at Rome especially in France the most eminent that suffered there The Emperours Victory in his German Wars gained by the Christians Prayers Severus his temper his cruelty towards the Christians The chief of the Martyrs under the sixth Persecution Maximinus his immoderate ambition and barbarous cruelty The Author of the seventh Persecution This not universal The common evils and calamities charged upon the Christians Decius the eighth Persecutor otherwise an excellent Prince The violence of this Persecution and the most noted sufferers The foundations of Monachism when laid The ninth Persecution and its rage under Valerian The most eminent Martyrs The severe punishment of Valerian his miserable usage by the Persian King The tenth Persecution begun under Dioclesian and when The fierceness and cruelty of that time The admirable carriage and resolution of the Christians under all these sufferings The proper influence of this argument to convince the World The whole concluded with Lactantius his excellent reasonings to this purpose Page i. The Life of S. STEPHEN the Protomartyr The violent opposition that Christianity at its first appearance met with both from Jews and Gentiles S. Stephens Kindred unknown One of the Seventy The great Charity of the Primitive Believers Dissension between the Hebrews and Grecians Hellenists who The Original of Deacons in the Christian Church The nature of their Office the number and qualification of the Persons Stephen's eminent accomplishments for the place The envy and opposition of the Jews against him The Synagogue of the Libertines what Of the Cyrenians Alexandrians c. Their disputation with S. Stephen and the success of it False Witnesses suborned to depose against him The several parts of their charge considered The mighty veneration of the Jews for their Temple and the Mosaic Institutions It s destruction by Titus and their attempts to rebuild it under Julian frustrated by a miracle Stephen's Apology before the Sanhedrin The Jews rage against him He is encouraged by a vision Stoning to death what kind of punishment the manner of it among the Jews S. Stephen's Martyrdom His Character and excellent Vertues The time and place
either because 't was their humor to lay their own children at other mens doors or to decline the censure which the notions they published were likely to expose them to or principally to conciliate the greater esteem and value for them by thrusting them forth under the name of those for whom the World has a just regard and veneration As for Monsieur Dailles conjecture De Script Dionys c. 39. p. 221. that the reason why several learned Volumes were written and fastned upon the Fathers of the ancient Church was to vindicate them from that common imputation of the Gentiles who were wont to charge the Christians for being a rude and illiterate generation whose Books were stuffed with nothing but plain simple Doctrines and who were strangers to all kind of Learning and Eloquence that to obviate this objection several took upon them to compose Books full of Learning and Philosophy which they published under the names of the first preachers and propagaters of the Christian Faith and that this particularly was the case of the Recognitions ascribed to Clemens and the Writings attributed to Dionysius The first I grant very likely and rational the Recognitions being probably written about the second Century when as appears from Celsus his Book against the Christians this objection was most rife and when few learned discourses had been published by them But can by no means allow it as to the second Dionysius his Works being written long after the Learning and Eloquence of the Christians had sufficiently approved it self to the World to the shame and conviction the envy and admiration of its greatest Enemies And there was far less need of them for this purpose if it be true what Daille himself so confidently asserts and so earnestly contends for that they were not written till the beginning of the sixth Century about the year DXX when there were few learned Gentiles left to make this objection Heathenism being almost wholly banished out of the civilized World XVI BUT whoever was their genuine Parent or upon what account soever he wrote them it is plain that he laid the foundation of a mystical and unintelligible Divinity among Christians and that hence proceeded all those wild Rosicrucean notions which some men are so fond of and the life and practice whereof they cry up as the very soul and perfection of the Christian State And that this Author does immediately minister to this design let the Reader judge by one instance and I assure him 't is none of the most obscure and intricate passages in these Books I have set it down in its own Language as well as ours not being confident of my own version though expressed word for word for I pretend to no great faculty in translating what I do not understand Thus then he discourses concerning the knowledge of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dionys de Divin Nomin cap. 7. p. 238. God saith he is known in all things and without all things he is known by knowledge and by ignorance there is both a cogitation of him and a word and a science and a touch and a sense and an opinion and an imagination and a name and all other things and yet he is neither thought nor spoken nor named He is not any thing of those things that are nor is he known in any of the things that are he is both all things in all and nothing in nothing out of all things he is known to all and out of nothing to nothing These are the things which we rightly discourse concerning God And this again is the most divine knowledge of God that which is known by ignorance according to the union that is above understanding when the mind getting at a distance from all things that are and having dismissed it self is united to those super-illustrious Beams from whence and where it is enlightned in the unfathomable depth of wisdom More of this and the like stuff is plentifully scattered up and down these Books And if this be not mystical and profound enough I know not what is and which certainly any man but one well versed in this sort of Theology would look upon as a strange Jargon of non sense and contradiction And yet this is the height of devotion and piety which some men earnestly press after and wherein they glory As if a man could not truly understand the mysteries of Religion till he had resigned his reason nor be a Christian without first becoming an Enthusiast nor be able to speak sense unless in a Language which none can understand Writings falsly attributed to him De Coelesti Hierarchia Lib. I. De Divinis Nominibus I. De Ecclesiastica Hierarchia I. De Mystica Theologia I. Epistolae ad Caium IV. Ad Dorotheum I. Ad Sosipatrum Epistola I. Ad Polycarpum I. Ad Demophilum I. Ad Titum I. Ad Joannem Evangelistam I. Ad Apollophanem I. The End of S. DIONYSIUS's Life THE LIFE OF S. CLEMENS BISHOP of ROME Michael Burghers delineavit et sculpsit S. CLEMENS ROMANUS His birth-place His Parents Kindred Education and Conversion to Christianity noted out of the Books extant under his name His relation to the Imperial Family shewed to be a mistake His being made Bishop of Rome The great confusion about the first Bishops of that See A probable account endeavoured concerning the order of S. Clemens his succession and the reconciling it with the times of the other Bishops What account given of him in the ancient Epistle to S. James Clemens his appointing Notaries to write the Acts of the Martyrs and dispatching Messengers to propagate the Gospel The Schism in the Church of Corinth and Clemens his Epistle to that Church An enquiry into the time when that Epistle was written The Persecution under Trajan His proceeding against the Heteriae A short relation of S. Clemens his troubles out of Simeon Metaphrastes His banishment to Cherson Damnatio ad Metalla what The great success of his Ministry in the place of his exile S. Clemens his Martyrdom and the kind of it The anniversary miracle reported on the day of his solemnity The time of his Martyrdom His genuine Writings His Epistle to the Corinthians the commendations given of it by the Ancients It s Stile and Character The great modesty and humility that appears in it The fragment of his second Epistle Supposititious Writings The Recognitions their several titles and different editions Their Antiquity what A conjecture concerning the Author of them The censures of the Ancients concerning the corrupting of them considered The Epistle to S. James I. IT makes not a little for the honour of this Venerable Apostolical Man for of him all antiquity understands it that he was Fellow-labourer with S. Paul and one of those whose names were written in the Book of Life He was born at Rome upon Mount Caelius as besides others the a Vit. Clement Concil Tom. 1. col 74. Pontifical under the name of Damasus
in the name of the Church of Rome without so much as ever mentioning his own but in that he treats them with such gentle and mild persuasives Nothing of sowreness or an imperious lording it over Gods heritage to be seen in the whole Epistle Had he known himself to be the infallible Judge of Controversies to whose sentence the whole Christian World was bound to stand invested with a supreme unaccountable Power from which there lay no Appeal we might have expected to have heard him argue at another rate But these were the Encroachments and Usurpations of later Ages when a spirit of Covetousness and secular ambition had stifled the modesty and simplicity of those first and best Ages of Religion There is so great an affinity in many things both as to Words and Matter between this and the Epistle to the Hebrews as tempted Eusebius and S. Hierom of old and some others before them Ibid. to conclude S. Clemens at least the Translator of that Epistle This Epistle to the Corinthians after it had been generally bewailed as lost for many Ages was not more to the benefit of the Church in general then the honour of our own in particular some forty years since published here in England a treasure not sufficiently to be valued Besides this first there is the fragment of a second Epistle or rather Homily containing a serious exhortation and direction to a pious life ancient indeed and which many will persuade us to be his and to have been written many years before the former as that which betrays no footsteps of troublesom and unquiet times but Eusebius S. Hierom Losis suprecitat and Photius assure us that it was rejected and never obtained among the ancients equal approbation with the first And therefore though we do not peremptorily determine against its being his yet we think it safer to acquiesce in the judgment of the Ancients then of some few late Writers in this matter X. AS for those Writings that are undoubtedly spurious and supposititious disown'd as a Ibid. pag. 110. Eusebius says because they did not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 retain the true stamp and character of Orthodox Apostolic Doctrin though the truth is he speaks it onely of the Dialogues of Peter and Appion not mentioning the Decretal Epistles as not worth taking notice of there are four extant at this day that are entitled to him the Apostolical Canons and the Constitutions said to be penned by him though dictated by the Apostles the Recognitions Praef. to Primit Christianity and the Epistle to S. James For the two first the Apostolic Canons and Constitutions I have declared my sense of them in another place to which I shall add nothing here The Recognitions succeed conveyed to us under different titles by the Ancients sometimes stiled S. Clemens his Acts History Chronicle sometimes S. Peters Acts Itinerary Pâ—riods Dialogues with Appion all which are unquestionably but different inscriptions or it may be parcels of the same book True it is what b Cod. CXII col 289. Photius suspected and c Praefat. ad Gaudent p. 397. Rufinus who translated it expresly tells us that there were two several editions of this Book differing in some things but the same in most And it deserves to be considered whether the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mentioned by d H. Eccl. l. 3. c. 18. p. 248. Nicephorus and which he says the Church received and denies to be those meant by Eusebius and those Clementine Homilies lately published under that very name be not that other Edition of the Recognitions seeing they exactly answer Rufinus his Character differing in some things but in most agreeing with them There is yet a third Edition or rather Abstract out of all stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Clemens his Epitome of the Acts Travels and Preachings of S. Peter agreeing with the former though keeping more close to the Homilies then the other This I guess to have been compiled by Simeon the Metaphrast as for other reasons so especially because the appendage added to it by the same hand concerning Clemens his martyrdom is word for word the same with that of Metaphrastes the close of it onely excepted which is taken out of S. Ephraems Homily of the miracle done at his Tomb. XI THE Recognitions themselves are undoubtedly of very great antiquity e Pseudo-Isid p. 28. written about the same time and by the same hand as Blondel probably conjectures with the Constitutions about the Year CLXXX or not long after Sure I am they are cited by f Philocal c. 23. p. 81 82. Origen as the Work of Clemens in his Periods and his large quotation is in so many words g Recognit l. 10. extant in them at this day Nay before him we meet with a very long fragment of Bardesanes the h Extat ap Euseb Praep. Evan. l. 6. c. 10. p. 273 seq vid. Recogn lib. 9. p. 503. c. Syrian who flourished Ann. CLXXX concerning Fate word for word the same with what we find in the Recognitions and it seems equally reasonable to suppose that Bardesanes had it thence as that the other borrowed it from him Nay what if Bardesanes himself was the Author of these Books 'T is certain that he was a man of great parts and learning a man prompt and eloquent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i Euseb H. Eccl. l. 4. c. 30. p. 151. Epiph. Haeres LVI p. 207. an acute and subtle Disputant heretically enclined for he came out of the School of Valentinus whose uncouth notions he had so deeply imbibed that even after his recantation he could never get clear from the dregs of them as Eusebius informs us though Epiphanius tells us he was first Orthodox and afterwards fell into the errours of that Sect like a well fraighted Ship that having duly performed its Voyage is cast away in the very sight of the Harbour He was a great Mathematician and Astrologer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 k Enstb Praep. Evang. l. 6. c. â— p. 273. accurately versed in the Chaldaean learning and wrote incomparable Dialogues concerning Fate which he dedicated to the Emperour Antoninus And surely none can have looked into the Recognitions but he musâ— see what a considerable part the Doctrines concerning Fate the Genesis the Influence of the Stars and heavenly Constellations and such like notions make there of S. Peters and S. Clemens his Dialogues and Discourses To which we may add what Photius has observed Ubi supre and is abundantly evident from the thing it self that these Books are considerable for their clearness and perspicuity their eloquent stile and grave Discourses and that great variety of Learning that is in them plainly shewing their Composer to have been a Master in all Humane Learning and the Study of Philosophy I might further remarque that Bardesanes seems to have had a peculiar genius for Books of this nature it being
for a due flight for Heaven without a mighty portion of grace to assist it The mysteries of Christianity as c Lib. 4. p. 181. vid. etiam ib. p. 227. Origen discourses against Celsus cannot be duly contemplated without a better afflatus and a more divine power for as no man knows the things of a man save the spirit of a man that is in him so no man knows the things of God but the Spirit of God it being all to no purpose as he elsewhere observes unless God by his grace does 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 enlighten the understanding Haec erit vis divinae gratiae potentior utique natura habens in nobis subjacentem sibi liberam arbitrii potestatem quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicitur Tertul. de Anim. c. 21. p. 279. I add no more but that of Tertullian who asserts that there is a power of divine grace stronger then nature which has in subjection the power of our Free Will So evident it is that when the Fathers talk highest of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the powers of nature they never intended to exclude and banish the grace of God Some other disputable or disallowed opinions may be probably met with in this good mans Writings but which are mostly nice and philosophical And indeed having been brought up under so many several Institutions of Philosophy and coming as most of the first Fathers did fresh out of the Schools of Plato 't is the less to be wondred at if the notions which he had there imbibed stuck to him and he endeavoured as much as might be to reconcile the Platonic principles with the dictates of Christianity His Writings Genuine Paraenesis ad Graecos Elenchus seu Oratio ad Graecos Apologia pro Christianis prima Apologia pro Christianis secunda Liber de Monarchia Dei forsan in fine mutilus Dialogus cum Tryphone Judaeo Epistola ad Diognetum Not extant Liber de Anima Liber Psaltes dictus Contra omnes Haereses Contra Marcionem Commentarius in Hexameron cujus meminit Anastasius Sinaita De Resurrectione Carnis teste Damasceno Doubtful Aristotelicorum quorundam Dogmatum eversio Epistola ad Zenam Serenum Supposititious Quaestiones Respons ad Graecos Quaestiones Graecanicae de incorporeo c. ad easdem Christianae Responsiones Quaestionum CXLVI Responsio ad Orthodoxos Vid. an hic liber sit idem sed interpolatus de quo Photius hoc titulo Dubitationum adversus Religionem summariae solutiones Expositio Fidei de S. Trinitate The End of S. JUSTIN Martyrs Life THE LIFE OF S. IRENAEUS BISHOP of LYONS Michael Burghers delineavit et sculpsit S. IRENAEUS His Countrey enquired into His Philosophical Studies His institution by Papias Papias who His education under S. Polycarp His coming into France and being made Presbyter of Lyons Pothinus who how and by whom sent into France The grievous Persecution there under M. Aurelius The Letters of the Martyrs to the Bishop of Rome Pope Eleutherius guilty of Montanism Irenaeus sent to Rome His writing against Florinus and Blastus The martyrdom of Pothinus Bishop of Lyons and the cruelty exercised towards him Irenaeus succeeds His great diligence in his charge His opposition of Heretics The Synods said to have been held under him to that purpose The Gnostic Heresies spread in France Their monstrous Villanies His confutation of them by word and writing Variety of Sects and Divisions objected by the Heathens against Christianity This largely answered by Clemens of Alexandria Pope Victor 's reviving the controversie about Easter The contests between him and the Asiatics Several Synods to determine this matter Irenaeus his moderate interposal His Synodical Epistle to Victor The Persecution under Severus It s rage about Lyons Irenaeus his Martyrdom and place of Burial His Vertues His industrious and elaborate confutation of the Gnostics His stile and phrase Photius his censure of his Works His errour concerning Christs Age. Miraculous gifts and powers common in his time His Writings I S IRENAEVS may justly challenge to go next the Martyr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a De Spirit S. c. 29. p. 358. Tom. 2. S. Basil stiles him one near to the Apostles which b Epist ad Theodoâ— p. 196. T. 1. S. Hierom expresses by being a man of the Apostolic times His Originals are so obscure that some dispute has been to what part of the World he belonged whether East or West though that he was a Greek there can be no just cause to doubt The Ancients having not particularly fixed the place of his Nativity he is generally supposed to have been born at Smyrna or thereabouts In his youth he wanted not an ingenuous education in the Studies of Philosophy and Humane Learning whereby he was prepared to be afterwards an useful Instrument in the Church His first institution in the Doctrine of Christianity was laid under some of the most eminent persons that then were in the Christian Church S. Hierom c Lic citat makes him Scholar to Papias Bishop of Hierapolis who had himself conversed with the Apostles and their Followers This Papias as d Adv. Haeres l. 5. c. 33. p. 498. ap Euseb l. 3. c. 39. p. 110. Irenaeus and others inform us was one of S. Johns Disciples by whom though Eusebius understands not the Apostle but one sirnamed the Elder which he seems to collect from a passage of e Euseb loc cit Papias himself yet evident it is that though Papias in that place affirms that he diligently picked up what Memoirs he could meet with concerning the Apostles from those that had attended and followed them yet he no where denies that he himself conversed with them He was as f Ibid. c. 36. p. 106. Eusebius characters him a man very learned and eloquent and knowing in the Scriptures though as g Ibid. c. 39. p. 113. elsewhere he adds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of a very weak and undiscerning judgment especially in the more abstruse and mysterious parts of the Christian Doctrine which easily betrayed him and others that followed him into great errours and mistakes He wrote five Books entituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the explanation of our Lords Discourses and as he in h Steph Gob. ap â—bot Cod. CCXXXII col 901. Photius intimates and the i Au. III Oâ—vnp 235. Ind. I. M. Aâ—â—elâ—â— Alexandrine Chronicon expresly affirms died a Martyr being put to death at Pergamus in the Persecution under M. Aurelius He is said to have trained up many Scholars in the Christian Institution and among the rest our Irenaeus Which though not improbable yet we are sure not onely from the testimonies of a H. Eccl. l. 5. c. 5. p. 170. Eusebius and b Adv. Haeres dial 1. Theodoret but what is more from his c Epist ad Flor. apâ—d Euseb lb. c. 20. p. 188 Hieroâ— de Script iâ— Iren. own that he was trained
Justin Martyr the rest are of an inferiour and more inconsiderable notice As for his affirming that our Lord was near d Adv. Haeres l. 2 c. 39. p. 192. c. 40. ibid. fifty years of age at the time of his public Ministry it was an errour into which he was betrayed partly from a false supposition that our Lord must be of a more mature and elderly Age that so he might deliver his doctrine with the greater authority partly from a mistaken report which he had somewhere picked up and it may be from his Master Papias that S. John and the rest of the Apostles had so affirmed and taught it and partly out of opposition to his adversaries who maintained that our Saviour staid no longer upon earth then till the thirty first year of his age against whom the eagerness of disputation tempted him to make good his assertion from any plausible pretence and to take the hint though his impetus and the desire of prosecuting his Argument would not give his thoughts leave to cool and take the place into sober consideration from that question of the Jews to Christ thou art not yet fifty years old and hast thou seen Abraham whence in transitu he took it for granted that the Jews had some ground for what they said and that he must be near that age XI HIS care to have his Writings derived pure and uncorrupted to posterity was great and admirable adding to his Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this solemn and religious obtestation e Ap. Euseb H. Eccl. l. 5. c 20. p. 187. I adjure thee whoever thou art that shalt transcribe this Book by our Lord Jesus Christ and by his glorious coming wherein he shall judge the quick and the dead that thou compare what thou transcribest and diligently correct it by the Copy from whence thou transcribest it and that thou likewise transcribe this adjuration and annex it to thy Copy And well had it been with the ancient Writers of the Church had their Books been treated with this care and reverence more of them had been conveyed down to us at least those few that are had arrived more sound and unpolluted I note no more and it is what Eusebius long since thought worth taking notice of then that in his time miraculous gifts and powers were very common in the Church For so he f Adv. Haeres l. 2. c. 57. p. 218. ap Eusch l. 5. c. 7. p. 171. tells us that some expelled and cast out Devils the persons often embracing Christianity upon it others had Visions and Revelations and foretold things to come some spake all manner of Languages and as occasion was discovered mens thoughts and secret purposes and expounded the mysteries and deep things of God others miraculously healed the sick and by laying their hands upon them restored their health and many who raised the dead the persons so raised living among them many years after The Gifts as he speaks which God in the name of our crucified Lord then bestowed upon the Church being innumerable all which they sincerely and freely improved to the great advantage and benefit of the World Whence with just reason he urges the truth of our Religion in general and how much advantage true Christians had to triumph over all those Impostors and Seducers who sheltered themselves under the venerable Title of being Christians His Writings Extant Adversus Haereses seu De refutatione eversione falsae scientiae Libri V. Not extant Libellus de Scientia adversus Gentes Demonstratio Apostolicae praedicationis ad Marcianum fratrem Liber de Ogdoade Epistola ad Blastum de Schismate Ad Florinum de Monarchia seu Quod Deus non sit conditor mali Epistola Ad Victorem Episcopum Romanum de Paschate Epistola Ad varios Episcopos de eadem re Epistolae plures Variorum Tractatuum Liber The End of S. IRENAEUS 's Life THE LIFE OF S. THEOPHILUS BISHOP of ANTIOCH Micha Burg Dili et sculpsit S. THEOPHILUS ANTIOCHENUS The great obscurity of his Originals His learned and ingenuous Education and natural parts An account of his Conversion to Christianity and the reasons inducing him thereunto collected out of his own Writings His scrupling the Doctrine of the Resurrection The great difficulty of entertaining that Principle Synesius his case Theophilus his conquering this objection His great satisfaction in the Christian Religion His election to the Bishoprick of Antioch His desire to convert Autolycus Autolycus who His mighty prejudice against Christianity Theophilus his undertaking him and his free and impartial debating the case with him His excellent merage of the controversie His vigorous opposing the Heresies of those times His Books against Marcion and Hermogenes His death and the time of it S. Hieroms Character of his Works His Writings I. THOUGH the Ancients furnish us with very few notices concerning this venerable Bishop yet perhaps it may not be unacceptable to the Reader to pick up that little which may be found The mistake is not worth confuting and scarce deserves mentioning that makes him the same with that Theophilus of Antioch to whom S. Luke dedicates his Evangelical Writings so great the distance of time if there were nothing more between them Whether he was born at Antioch is uncertain but where-ever he was born his Parents were Gentiles by whom he was brought up in the common Rites of that Religion that then governed the World They gave him all the accomplishments of a learned and liberal Education and vast improvements he made in the progress of his Studies so that he was throughly versed in the Writings of all the great Masters of Learning and Philosophy in the Heathen World which being set off with a quick and a pleasant wit as appears from his Disputes against the Gentiles rendred him a man of no inconsiderable note and account among them II. WHEN or by what means converted to Christianity is impossible particularly to determine thus much onely may be gathered from the Discourses which he left behind him Being a man of an inquisitive temper and doubtless of a very honest mind he gave up himself to a more free and impartial search into the nature and state of things He found that the account of things which that Religion gave wherein he was then engaged was altogether unsatisfactory that the stories of their gods were absurd and frivolous and some of them prophane and impious that their Rites of Worship were trifling and ridiculous he considered the several parts of the Creation and that excellent providence that governed the World wherein he easily discerned the plain notices of a wise and omnipotent Being and that God had purposely disposed things thus that his Grandeur and Majesty might appear to all Accordingly he directs his friend to this method of conviction as that which doubtless he had found most successful and satisfactory to himself He bids a Ad Autolyc l. 1. p. 72. him
b Vid. l. de Menogam c. 1. p. 525. c. 3. 4. passim de Jejun c. 12. p. 550 551. more then once particularly tells us Not to say that Montanus his followers as is usual with the after-brood of every Sect asserted many things which their Master himself never dreamt of which yet without distinction are laid at his door and Tertullian too because a favourer of the Party drawn into the guilt and made liable to many improvements to the Hay and Stubble which the successors of that Sect built upon it X. BUT however it was he stomached his excommunication and was highly offended at the looseness and remissness of the Discipline among the Catholics whom with great smartness he persecutes under the name of Psychici or Animal persons as those that took too much liberty in their manners and practices of devotion stiling his own party Spiritales as whom he thought more immediately guided by the Spirit more plentifully endowed with the gifts of it and conversant in a more divine and spiritual life Against these Psychici he presently published a Tract De Jejuniis wherein he defends the Montanists in the observation of their Fasts their abstinence from Flesh and feeding onely upon dried meats their Stationary days and the keeping them till the very evening while the Orthodox broke up theirs about three of the Clock in the afternoon in all which respects he makes many tart and severe reflections upon them Indeed the devotions of those times were brisk and fervent their usages strict and punctual their Ecclesiastic Discipline generally very rigid and extreme seldom admitting persons that had lapsed after Baptism to Penance and the Communion of the Church But this was looked upon by moderate and sober men as making the gate too strait and that which could not but discourage Coverts from entering in Accordingly it began to be relaxed in several places and particularly the Bishop of Rome c Tert. de Pudic cit c. 1. p. 555. had lately published a constitution wherein he admitted persons guilty of Adultery and Fornication and probably other crimes to a place among the Penitents Against this Tertullian storms cries up the severity of the antient Discipline writes his Book De Pudicitia wherein he considers and disputes the case and aggravates the greatness of those offences and undertakes the Arguments that pleaded for remission and indulgence And if in the mentioning this Decree the Bishop of Rome be stiled Episcopus Episcoporum the Champions of that Church before they make such advantage of it should do well to prove it to have been a part of the Decree or if it was that it was mentioned by Tertullian as his just right and priviledge and not rather which is infinitely more probable Tertullians Sarcasm intended by him as an Ironical reflection and a tart upbraiding the pride and ambition of the Bishops of that Church who took too much upon them and began as appears from Pope Victors carriage towards the Asian Churches in the case of Easter to domineer over their Brethren and usurp an insolent authority over the whole Christian Church And that this was his meaning I am abundantly satisfied from a Apud Cyprian p. 282. Cyprians using the phrase in this very sense in the famous Synod at Carthage where reflecting upon the rash and violent proceedings of the Bishops of Rome whom though he particularly names not yet all who are acquainted with the Story know whom he means against those who were engaged in the cause of rebaptizing Heretics he adds that as for themselves the Bishops then in the Synod none of them made himself Bishop of Bishops or by a tyrannical threatning forced his Colleagues into a necessity of Compliance since every Bishop according to the power and liberty granted to him had his proper jurisdiction and could no more be judged by another then he himself could judge others XI WHETHER ever he was reconciled to the Catholic Communion appears not 't is certain that for the main he forsook the b August de Haeres c. 86. Tom. 6. col 31. Cataphrygians and kept his separate meetings at Carthage and his Church was yet remaining till S. Augustins time by whose labours the very reliques of his followers called Tertullianists were dispersed and quite disappeared How long he continued after his departure from the Church is not known S. Hierom c De Script in Tertull. says that he lived to a very decrepit age but whether he died under the reign of Alexander Severus or before the Ancients tell us not as neither whether he died a natural or violent death He seems indeed to have been possessed with a passionate desire of laying down his life for the Faith though had he been a Martyr some mention would without peradventure have been made of it in the Writings of the Church XII HE was a man of a smart and acute wit though a little too much edged with Keeness and Satyrism acris vehementis ingenii as d Loc. citat S. Hierom characters him one that knew not how to treat an adversary without salt and sharpness He was of a stiff and rugged disposition a rigid Censor inclined to choler and impatient of opposition a strict observer of Rites and Discipline and a zealous asserter of the highest rigors and most nice severities of Religion His learning was admirable wherein though many excelled he had no superiours and few equals in the Age he lived in Tertulliano quid eruditius quid acutius says e Epist ad Mag. Grator p. 328. T. 2. S. Hierom who adds that his Apology and Book against the Gentiles took in all the treasures of Humane Learning f Commonit adv Haeres cap. 24 p. 59 60. Vincentius of Lire gives him this notable Elogium He is justly says he to be esteemed the Prince among the Writers of the Latin Church For what more learned who more conversant both in divine and humane Studies who by a strange largeness and capacity of mind had drawn all Philosophy and its several Sects the Authors and Abettors of Heresies with all their Rites and Principles and the whole circumference of History and all kind of Study within the compass of his own breast A man of such quick and weighty parts that there was scarce any thing which he set himself against which he did not either pierce through with the acumen of his Wit or batter down with the strength and solidity of his Arguments Who can sufficiently commend his Discourses so thick set with Troops of Reasons that whom they cannot persuade they are ready to force to an assent who hath almost as many sentences as words and not more periods then victories over those whom he hath to deal with XIII FOR his Books though time has devoured many yet a great number still remain and some of them written after his withdrawment from the Church His stile is for the most part abrupt and