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book_n	christian_a	church_n	faith_n	1,944	5	5.0013	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A88705	Speculum patrum: A looking-glasse of the Fathers wherein, you may see each of them drawn, characterized, and displayed in their colours. To which are added, the characters of some of the chief philosophers, historians, grammarians, orators, and poets. By Edward Larkin, late Fellow of Kings Colledge in Cambridge, and now minister of the Word at Limesfield in Surrey.	Larkin, Edward, 1623-1688.	1659 (1659)	Wing L444A; ESTC R230373	42,396	106

Nice this man brake off his compliance with that Hereticall party and from thence forward joyned himself in fellowship and society with the Orthodox Nay he is conceived by some Authors to have been the compilers of the Nicene Creed He wrote in ten books an Ecclesiasticall History from Christs time to the yeer 325. Ierome saith of him quod pulchre contexuerit Historiam Ecclesiasticam Basil calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Worthy of credence and Chemnitius comparing this authors History with that of Nicephorus he saith Major est gravitas in illius historia quam in Nicephori There is much more gravity in his History then in that of Nicephorus Besides this work he writ also a Panagyrick of the life of Great Constantine which comprehendeth Acts done in the Church for the space of thirty yeers together with the Lawes and Edicts that the Emperour had made relating to the Christian faith He refuted the Ethnicks and Jewes in his Books of Preparation for and Demonstration of the Gospell he left behinde him a Chronology from Abrahams birth to the 326. yeer of our Lord which doth in all contain 2347. yeers He condemned that pestilent fellow Arius with his own hand in the Nicene Councell and yet further to cleer him from all suspicion of favouring that wicked Heresie and Heretick Socrates hath written an Apology in his behalf which you will meet in his history He died about the yeer of Christ 340. He was called Pamphilus from the affection and singular love he did bear to Pamphilus the Martyr with whom he was most familiar and intimate Bibliander gives him this Character Eusebius inter Graecos Theologos Antesignanus Eusebius among the Greek Divines the principall Causabon calls him virum longe doctissimum in omni literarum genere exercitatissimum A most learned man and most exercised in all kinde of literature T is Ludovicus Vives his description of him Vir fuit immensa lectione proinde summa eruditione He was a man of immense reading and for that cause of very great erudition Scaliger commends him in one respect and in another disparages him as appears by these words of his Quo speaking of this Eusebius nullus Ecclesiasticorum veterum plura ad Historiam contulit Christianismi Then whom none of the Ancient Ecclesiastick writers hath contributed more to the History of Christianisme There is his commendation Nullus plura errata in scriptis suis re liquit Nullius plures hallucinationes extant No man hath left more faults in his writings No man hath extant more errours There 's his disparagement The Arrians having unjustly procured the deposition of Eustatius the Bishop of Antiochia they desired that his Office might be supplied by this Eusebius but he refusing it the Emperour Constantine so far commended his modesty therein that he said of him He deserved to be made Bishop of the whole world Ierome observing in this mans Commentaries on the Prophet Esay that he swerved from his purpose and promise whilst in many places he imitated Origens Allegories He said this of him Ita separata consociat ut mirer cum nova sermonis fabrica in unum corpus lapidem ferumque conjungere He so unites things which are separate that I wonder he doth in his new Fabrick and Structure of speech joyn together into one body Stone and Iron Athanasius AThanasius worthy to be immortall in his fame as his name importeth was born at Alexandria and consecrated Bishop of that City in the room of Alexander deceased this honour was conferred on him in the yeere 325. at which time the Churches of God were most grievously infested and distracted with the Heresie of Arius so that this holy man saw he was to sail in a very stormie and tempestuous sea which made him desirous at the beginning to decline that high advancement whereunto he was preferred His life was not unlike unto a Comedy his five banishments being fitly resembled to the five Acts thereof the chief cause of his troubles say some was Eusebius the then Bishop of Nicomedia a principal member of the Arian faction For when Arius condemned by the Nicene Council had made his appeal to great Constantine with promise never to disturb the Churches peace again and thereupon was licensed to return unto his charge at Alexandria where he was a Priest This Athanasius did refuse to admit him thereto and wrote unto the Emperour an account of his refusal which was to this effect Nempe quod semel damnatum haereseos ab ecclesia non fas esset recipere absque legitima cognitione ecclesiae that it was not lawful to receive an heretick condemned by the censure of the Church without the cognizance of the Church especially when there appeared no outward symptomes of repentance and amendment from him Now this reply from Athanasius gave the Emperour great discontent so that he most sharply menaced the holy Bishop if he did persist in his denial and now Eusebius thinking this opportunity very lucky to his designe he so farr improves it that good Athanasius is most strangely traduced many scandalous matters laid unto his charge as if he imposed intolerable burdens on the Churches of Egypt and as though he practised treason against the life of his soveraign but at length being by a Warrant fetcht to Constantinople he so wiped off all these foule aspersions that he returned with apparent testimonies of a spotless innocence Caesar himself dismissing him not without honour and applause But yet his enemies bearing towards him implacable malice and not satisfied with this publike tryal of his Christian sincerity do not give over their furious chace but further accuse him of other misdemeanours as witchcraft and murder but the Judge appointed to hear his cause acquitted him of all those calumnies and once again the Emperour commends his integrity and exhorts him to vigilancy in his episcopal function But yet at length these Arians prevailing through their importunate slanders procured his exise to Trevers in France where he hid his head for the space of two years and four months with the Bishop Maximinus neither did his sufferings end with the death of Constantine but his two sonnes swaying the Scepter after him he was much persecuted through the influence his enemies had upon Constantius of whom they effected that he was three times banished first to Rome then into the remote corners of the east and lastly into the deserts of Lybia Thus indeed was this excellent Prelate tossed to and fro finding no rest for his peaceable feet no not in those halcyon dayes of the good Emperour Constantine much less in the raign of Constantius who being also removed by death Iulian the Apostate succeeds in the empire one which at first favoured both the person and cause of Athanasius restoring to him his liberty and attendance on his office but in the end he persecuting the truth was likewise stirred up to thunder out a banishment against him however God brought him peaceably

strong armour against hereticks This Father was wont to say when he spake of our Saviours death and passion that his Love was crucified Ireneus gives us an account of his Martyrdome and sets down the very words he should utter a little before his sufferings which were to this effect or sense Inasmuch as I am the wheat of God I am to be ground with the teeth of beasts that I may be found pure bread or fine manchet His Epistles were printed at Oxford 1644. Polycarpus POlycarpus whose name signifieth much fruit was the Disciple of St. Iohn the Apostle ordained by him Bishop of the Church of Smyrna he went to Rome in the reign of Antonius Pius Anicetus being Prelate at that time there where he reduced to the true faith those which were bewitched by the hereticks Marcion and Valentinus It happened that wicked Marcion there meetting him thus spake to him Knowest thou us O Polycarpus To whom forthwith this grave and holy man most disdainingly answered I know thee to be the first-born of the Devil This godly Professor was in the dayes of Antoninus the Philosopher and Lucius Verus Roman Emperors tied to a stake in the midst of the Amphitheater and there devoured by the mercilesse flames as Volaterrane and Eusebius have written but others yet say that he could not burn the Lord from Heaven restraining the natural violence of the fire by a miracle and thereupon they slew him with the sword at Smyrna in the year of our Lord 167. In this mans time Egesippus the Iew was converted to the Christian Faith who afterward wrote in five books the History of the Church from Christ to his own time This Polycarpus writ an Epistle to the Philippians so saith Ierome and another to great Dionysius the Areopagite so Suidas Socrates in his Ecclesiastical History tels us That this man did communicate with Anicetus the Roman Bishop though he differed in opinion from him about the celebration of Easter Ireneus commends that Epistle of his to the Philippians in his third book against heresies saying That it is so full furnished to this that out of it all those which have any care of their salvation may know the character of faith and the doctrine of truth Eusebius recites the Prayer which this holy and devout man did conceive and utter immediately before he was martyred it begins thus O Father of thy beloved and blessed Son Iesus Christ by whom we have knowledge of thee Ireneus gives this eminent Saint this following commendation Hic docuit semper quae ab Apostolis didicerat Ecclesiae tradidit quae sola sunt vera This man alwayes taught that which he had learnt of the Apostles and delivered to the Church those things which are only true 'T is Dalleus his Blogy of him Quo viro post Apostolos quorum familiaris fuit vix ullus apud Christianos unquam fuit sanctior ant divinior Then which man after the Apostles whose familiar companion he was there was scarce any one among the Christians more holy and divine Eusebius gives us an account of his martyrdom by an Epistle of the Church of Smyrna inserted in his History wherein we have many remarkable passages one is a Voice speaking to Polycarpe from Heaven and saying thus O Polycarpe be of courage and play the man even then when he was standing before the Judgement-seat Another is the stout Reply which he made the Proconsul when he tempted him to deny the Lord Jesus which was much to this effect Fourscore and five years have I served him neither hath he ever offended me and how can I revile my King who hath hitherto kept me A third is that when his body was burning it seemed to the senses of them that beheld it to send forth a sweet and fragrant smell as of Frankincense or such like odoriferous perfume Justine Martyr IUstine Martyr fiourished in the reign of Antonius Pius and so was contemporary with Polycarpe Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical history speaking of him saith that this man was famous in the Christian Doctrine a little after the times of the Apostles He was the son of Priscas Bacchus born at Flavia a new City of Syria Palestina so he himself tels us in one of his Apologies It s said that the Emperour upon his reading of this mans Apologies which he had dedicated to him wherein he pleaded the righteous cause of poor distressed and calamitous Christians that he gave order for the ceasing of the persecution Tertullian and Suidas doe speak great matters in the honour and praise of this Champion He wrote against the Heretick Marcion whose venome it seems had spread it self farre and wide in his dayes He was a notable Philosopher and in his Dialogue with Trypho he saith that he had been an Auditor of all the Sects of them of Stoicks Peripateticks Pythagoreans and Platonicks Ierome tels us in his Catalogue of Ecclesiastical Writers that he did habitu Philosophico incedere walk in the guise and habit of a Philosopher He was beheaded at Rome saith Eusebius in the reign of Lucius Verus but according to Epiphanius it was before even in the time of Adrian His death whensoever it was was promoted and procured by the malice and revenge of Crescens an ungodly Philosopher who being worsted by him in his excellent disputations never left till his malignancy had brought to passe this pious Martyrs destruction whence you have this or the like passage from his own mouth in his Apologie relating to his persecutor Crescens I look for no other thing then this that I be betrayed by some one of them called Philosophers or knockt in the head by Crescens no Philosopher indeed but only a proud self-conceited boaster and so he goes on in that Apology This Father records of himself that he was prevailed withall and won to imbrace the Christian Faith through the cruelties of heathen Tyrants against the Saints of Christ and their couragious patience under them We meet with a worthy character given this man in the Bibliotheca of Photius which is as followeth or much to that sense Est vir ille ad Philosophiae tum nostrae tum potissimum profanae summum evectus fastigium multiplicisque eruditionis historiarum copia circumfluens That man is an eminent proficient both in our Christian Philosophy and also in prophane and overflowing with abundance of various learning and histories Pareus saith this of his works quod ejusdem scripta etiamnum cum fructu leguntur That his writings are now read with benefit Epiphanius cals him Virum sanctum Dei amantem a holy man and a lover of God Tatianus in his book against the Gentiles stiles him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 most admirable Yet this man though he did apologize for Christianity had his errors In his Dialogue with Trypho he shews himself an Abetter of the opinion of the Chiliasts and the barbarous Gentiles he did entitle to salvation A thenagoras A Thenagoras a

ecclesiae scripsit that he wrote many most pious works of most elegant phrase and neer Ciceroes candour to the edification of the Church he was an extreme charitable man for as soon as he was turned from gentilisme to christianity he gave up all his substance to the support of poor Christians Ierome writing to Paulinus saith of this Father Quod instar fontis purissimi levis incessit placidus that like a most pure fountain he ran light and pleasing he wrote a famous treatise of mortality on purpose to comfort men against approching death in the time of a fearful pestilence Among all his writings that treatise of his de unitate ecclesiae of the unity of the Church is most set by and advanced Erasmus in an Epistle thus commends this man inter Latinos ad apostolici pectoris vigorem ubique sentias loqui pastorem ac martyrio destinatum And again saith he In Cypriano spiritum veneramur apostolicum we reverence in Cyprian an apostolical spirit t' is Austins in the second book against the Donatists chap. 1. non me terret autoritas Cypriani quia reficit humilitas Cypriani the autority of Cyprian doth not terrifie me because the humility of Cyprian doth refresh me A Deacon of his by name Pontius wrot the History of his life and Martyrdome he was martyred under Valerian and Galienus Arnobius ARnobius was a famous Rhetorician in Affrick the master of Lactantius of whom Eusebius Pamphilus reports that being a teacher of Rethorick and a Gentile he was constrained through sundry dreames to beleeve the glorious Gospel and yet the Christian Bishops would not receive him to their Fellowship till he had written and published those excellent Books of his against Gentilisme wherein he confuted that vain Superstition and Idolatry whereof he had been before so great a Patron and Advocate He wrote but seven books in number and the eighth which is thereto added is none of his compiling but as some say the Author of it was Minutius Felix He is said besides these books to have written Commentaries on the Psalmes But they are as Bellarmine well observes the workes of some later Author which he proves by their making mention of the Pelagian Heresie which was not broached till the time that Austine lived which was many yeers after Arnobius and besides Salmeron speaks of another Bishop of the same name to whom he ascribes those Expositions This man flourished about the yeer of Christ Christ 300. He is not without some speciall Characters Barthius saith this of him Si non extaret Densa nox foret in Superstionibus veterum If this man had not been living it had yet been right in the Superstitions of the Ancients Dempster calls him virum reconditae eruditionis styli asperioris A man of deep learning of rougher stile But Henisius above all others doth advance him Ille Patrum praesul optimus ille Christianae Varro maximus eruditionis That president of the Fathers that Varro of Christian Erudition but yet in some respects Ierome doth depresse him Arnobius inaequalis nimius est absque operis sui partitione confusus Arnobius is unequall and too much and without partition of his work confused Lactantius Firmianus LActantius Firmianus whom Alstedius stiles by the name of Cicero Christanorum the Christians Cicero was the Disciple of Arnobius who being eminent for eloquence in the raign of Diocclesian taught Rethorick at Nicomedia and and wrote those elegant books against the Religion of the Heathens of whom Ierome said Lact antius quasi quidam fluvius eloquentiae Tullianae vtinam tam nostra confirmare potuisset quam facile aliena destruxit Lactantius as it were a certain river of Ciceronian Eloquence I would to God he could as well have confirmed our own as he he did destroy the Religion of our Adversaries Lodovicus Vives having occasion to mention him saith this of him Septem scripsit volumina elegantissima acutissima nec est ullus inter Christianos scriptores tam vicinus dictioni Tullianae He wrote seven most elegant and acute volumes neither doth any among our Christian Writers come so neer the speech of Tully Pisecius stiles him Lacteum mellitissimum Scriptorem A milkie and most honey writer And Amesius too speaking of hm in his Book entituled Bellarminus Enervatus thus saith Quod inter omnes Patres audit Ciceronianus That among all the Fathers he is the Ciceronian I shall add but one Elogie more to him and t is that of Henisius Quid Tertulliani porro vim ac lacertos Quid Clementis variam prope incredibilem scientiam aut Hilarii Cothurnum aut Chrysostomi digressiones melle dulciores aut acumen Augustini aut diffusam cum solo Cicerone conferendam Firmiani eloquentiam commemorem What should I commemorate the force and strength of Tertullian Why the incredible Science of Clemens or the statelinesse of Hilary or the digressions of Chrysostome more sweet then Honey or the acutenesse of Augustine or the diffused eloquence of Firmianus who alone is comparable to Cicero And yet he is charged by Bellarmine with many errours whose words are these Lib. 1. de Sanct. beat Cap. 5. circa fin Lactantius in plurimos errores lapsus est praesertim circa futurum seculum cum esset magis librorum Ciceronis quam Scriptur arum Sanctarum peritus Lactantius fell into very many errors especially about the world to come seeing he was more skilfull in the workes of Cicero then in the books of the holy Scriptures Hence Chemnitius discourages us from reading of him saying Non multum potest juvare Lectorem He cannot much profit the reader Ierome particularly notes this in him that he denied the Holy Spirit to be a substance or person and beside this errour he addes another whilst he attributes reason to brute creatures lib. 3. instit cap. 1. He wrore his book of Divine Institutions under Dioclesian as himself expresseth it in the fourth Chapter of the fifth book and he published it in the Raign of the Great Constantine to whose Imperiall Majesty he doth direct his speech in it He was called Firmianus from his Countrey Town Firmii situate among the Picens in Italy and Lactantius as one well notes a Lacteo eloquentiae flumine from his milkie river of Eloquence He was in his old age Tutour to Crispus the son of Constantine how he dyed I read not Eusebius EUsebius was Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine he flourished about the yeer of our Lord 320. He was looked on at the first as the principall man of the Arian faction Chemnitius de lect Patr. stiles him apertissimum propugnatorem Arii A most open defender or abetter of Arius Baronius stiles him with Tertullian manifestum Hereticum a manifest Heretick Ierom in both his books which he wrote against Ruffinus doth not onely call him Arianum an Arian but likewise signiferum principem Arianorum The Standard bearer or Ensign of the Arians Yet certainly at the Councill of