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
Philosopher of Athens turned Christian and flourished if we may believe Bellarmine in the year of Christ 142. when Antonius Pius was Emperour and Telesphorus the Roman Bishop though Baronius will not have him to appear till the year of our Lord 179. which was the time when Aurelius sat in the Throne and Soter or Eleutherius in the Chair He was a man of very gteat esteem with the said Prince for his vast abilities and profound learning he wrote an Apology in the behalf of his fellow Christians and likewise undertook an Embassie that he might speak as an Advocate for them to the Roman Majesty He published a golden book as one cals it of the Resurrection set out and interpreted by Andreas Gesner Epiphanius cites this mans Apology in the Heresie of Origen where he relates the words of Proclus out of Methodius Bellarmine in his book of Ecclesiastical Writers saith Scriptorem hunc carere suspicione That this Writer is without suspition and yet he is constrained to confesse that he was over-passed both by Eusebius and Ierome Varro saith that this Author writ also some books of Husbandry How he dyed I read not what is now extant of his Works you have printed in one volume with Iustine Martyr Irenaeus IRenaeus flourished say some about the 160. year of Christ others the 180. when Aurelius Antonius and Commodus were Emperours and in that he saith that in his childhood he converst with Polycarpus some of the learned think that he was born either at Smyrna or not far from it that he was a Greek his name is their warrant to conjecture it Eusebius saith that he succeeded Pothinus in the Bishoprick of Lyons where he governed the Church say some for thirty years others say more Some which have written Martyrologies speaking of his death doe tell us that he was butchered by the Tyrant Maximinus who was a great persecutor of the Saints and people of God Bargnius saith that he was martyred with almost all his people of Lyons in that horrid storm which was raised against the Christians by the Emperour Severus He wrote against the heresies of those times which Satan had spread abroad on purpose to eclipse if not altogether to extinguish the sun-shine of the Truth He was at Rome with Eleutherius where he indeavoured the conviction of Blastus and Florinus two notable Schismaticks and to allay that malignant spirit of error which their stinking breath had raised He also sharply reyroved the Roman Bishop Victor for that he had injuriously excommunicated the Asian Churches so saith Eusebius Erasmus thinks that this Author wrote in Latine and not in Greek and being skilled in Greek he therefore useth Graecismes But Rhenanus judges the contrary because Ierome reckons him among the Grecian Writers Tertullian doth bestow on this man this following admirable character Irenaeus omnium doctrinarum curiosissimus explorator A most exquisite and curious searcher into all manner and kind of learning Epiphanius cals him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Most blessed and most holy Ireneus Erasmus in an Epistle of his thus sets him forth first he commends him from his name Magnus ille Ecclesiae propugnator pro sui nominis augurio pacis Ecclesiae vindex and then he goes on highly extolling his writings spirant illius scripta priscum illum Evangelii vigorem ac phrasis arguit pectus martyrio paratum habent enim Martyres suam quandam dictionem seriam fortem masculam That great defender of the Church for the divination of his name a maintainer of the Churches peace his writings breath that ancient vigour of the Gospel and his phrase argues a heart prepared for martyrdome for Martyrs have a certain serious expression valiant and masculine Bellarmine speaking of the books which this man wrote saith of them Quod pleni sum doctrina pietate that they are full of learning and piety Yet notwithstanding this great Light had his eclipses as appears by somewhat that is unsound in his own writings Particularly he was entangled with the snare of Papias who was the Father of the Chiliasts this Eusebius doth charge him with as we find it in the third book of his history the six and thirtieth chapter against which opinion of his Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria is said to have written somewhat in confutation so saith Sixtus Senensis He was likewise once an allower of free-will in spirituals though afterwards he expressed himself to the contrary saying Non a nobis sed a Deo esse bonum salutis nostrae that our salvation is not from our selves but God There was one strange opinion more to which he was addicted and that was Animas a corpore separatas habere hominis figuram characterem corporis ut etiam cognoscantur That souls departed and separated from the body have mans figure and form of his body so that they may be known by it Pantaenus PAntaenus was of the School of Alexandria where at first he professed the Philosophy of the Stoicks but afterwards became very eminent in the profession of Christian Divinity It s said of him by learned Pareus Quod primus scholam ex ethnica in christianaem mutavit that he was the first which changed an ethnick school into a christian He was sent from Alexandria by Demetrianus the Bishop thereof into India to establish that church in the sacred Truth which the Apostles of our Lord Jesus had there planted where meeting with the Gospel of St. Matthew written in Hebrew and left there with those Eastern people by Bartholomew he brought it thence say some to the City of Alexandria though Eusebius tels us that it remained there even in his time He was the Master of that famous Schollar Clemens Alexandrinus he flourished under the Emperours Severus and Antonius Caracalla about the year of Christ 200. he left behind him some certain Commentaries on the holy Scripture which are not now extant though Ierome had in his time the knowledge of them Eusebius stiles him a famous learned man and one in great estimation lib. 5. cap. 9. and Senensis speaking of him tels us that he was eminent propter tam secularis literaturae quam sacrae eruditionis gloriam as well for the glory of his secular learning as his sacred erudition Clemens Alexandrinus CLemens Alexandrinus So called because he was a Presbyter of Alexandria preached the Gospel both at Ierusalem and at Antioch he was the master of Origen and moderated in the School of Alexandria after Pantaenus He flourished in the raign of Severus and his son Antonius He wrote many learne books Eusebius calls him in Divinis Scripturis exercitatum one exercised in the Divine Scriptures Causabon inexhaustae Doctrinae virum a man of unexhausted learning Henisius Penu eruditionis Seientiae The granary of Erudition and Science Caussinus Plutarchum Christianum The Christian Plutark Dempster gravem disertum authorem A grave and eloquent author but the Centuriators of of Magdeburg are full and large in
his Character which we have from them as followeth Fuit in hoc homine omnino Ingens discendi cupiditas ingenium acutum tenacissima memoria Fervens Zelus Gloriae Dei Religionis Christianae ut ex suis Scriptis conspici potest maximae eruditionis Zeli facundiae ac proinde etiam authoritatis sed etiam Scriptis tum toti Ecclesiae sui Aevi tum etiam posteritati in perpetuum profuit There was in this man altogether a vast desire of learning an acute wit a most tenacious memorie a fervent zeal of Gods glory and the Christian Religion as may be seen out of his writings of very great erudition zeal eloquence and so also of authority neither did he onely advantage his Auditors by his voice but likewise by his writings both the whole Church of his age as also posterity throughout all ages This man with his Master Pantaenus is reported to have been the first founders of publike Academies for they delivered the fundamentals of Heavenly truth not by sermons to the people but by Catechisticall doctrine to the learned in the Schooles S. Ierom saith this of this mans Workes Feruntur ejus insignia volumina plenaque eruditionis eloquentiae tam de Scripturis Divinis quam de secularis literaturae instrumento Yet this man had too high an esteem of Tradition whereby it hapned that he fell into various errours amongst which he affirmed That afterour calling to the Knowledge of the truth possibly God might grant to them that have sinned a recovery into their former state for once or twice by repentance but if they should fall oftner into sin then so there is no more restitution to be expected or hoped for but a fearfull looking for a finall judgement And yet afterward forgetting this his assertion he saith in his fourth book of Strom. That Whensoever sinners do repent whether here in this world or else in the next they may be received to Gods mercy In which passage of his he seems to insinuate that men may repent and so finde favour at the hands of God after that this present life is determined Then which Position there is nothing more contrary to the Scripture and likewise to his own forementioned and foregoing expression Moreover he delivered lib. 7. Strom. That the law of Moses was sufficient to the Iewes and to the Heathens or Gentiles their Philosophy before Christs coming to salvation In his first Book you have these words touching the Justification of the Gentiles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philosophy heretofore did of its own nature justifie the Greeks You have an enumeration of all this mans errours from Chemnitius in the first part of his Examen pag. 78. He dyed at Alexandria where he taught so saith Baronius Origenes Adamantius ORigenes Adamantius flourished say some vnder Gallus and Volusian others under Galienus and Valerian He was the son of Leonides and disciple of Clemens of Alexandria he first taught by way of Catechizing when he was but aged eighteen yeers and saith one of him Quemadmodum docuit sic vixit quemadmodum vixit sic docuit As he taught so he lived and as he lived so he taught When he was but a child he encouraged his father to continue constant in the Christian cause himself being forward to seal it with his own blood if his mother had not as Eusebius records prevented him in it Ierome in his Catalogue of Illustrious Writers relates this of him in commendation of his great learning that he read publike Lectures in these following sciences Logick Geometry Arithmetike Musick Grammer Rethorick and other Philosophicall disciplines When he was but a youth he would search very narrowly into the sence of the Holy Scriptures which his father Leonides observing would now and then gently reprove him in these or the like expressions Nequid supra aetatens quaeras Dive not into that mystery which is out of the reach of thy youthfull yeers to comprehend And yet coming to his bedside at night and uncovering his breast he would kindly kisse it judgeing himself most happy in this that he had so gracious a son Some write that he made himself an Eunuch for chastities sake Epiphanius records of him that he wrote 6000. volumes Opera ejus ascendunt ad sena millia librorum and t is Ieroms Quis nostrum tanta potest legere quanta ille conscripsit Which of ours can read so much as he hath written It s an ancient observation concerning this Father Origenes ubi bene Scripsit nemo melius ubi male nemo peius Where Origen wrote well 〈◊〉 wrote better where ill none worse Whence for some errors he is reckoned by some Authors in the number of Heriticks Vincentius Lyrinensis tels us Errorem Originis propter ejus tum doctrinam tum zelum magnam in Dei Ecclesia fuisse tentationem That the errour of Origen both for his learning and zeal was a great temptation in the the Church of God He was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the number of the books he did compile and set out which he ever writ standing Gregory saith that all the latter Doctors of the Church were much furthered by this mans works whence 't is said as it is in Suidas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Origen the whet-stone of us all Ierome stiles him Sacrorum omnium expositorum victorem the victor of all sacred Expositors Erasmus Theologorum sine controversia principem of Divines the chief without controversie And Possevinus speaking of his works saith of them In qua parte probantur neminem post Apostolos habuit aequalem in them which are approved he had none after the Apostles his equal Yet however some there be that doe debase him Basil charges him that he had not a sound opinion of the Holy Ghost Ierome cals his opinions Venenata dogmata aliena Scripturis vim facientia Scripturis invenomed opinions erring from the Scriptures and doing them violence Causabon will have him accounted a Platonick Philosopher rather than a Divine Ribera stiles him Arii patrem aliarum heresew radicem the father of Arius and the root of all heresies out of Epiphanius He dyed at Tyre in the year of his age 69. Tertullian TErtullian of Carthage in Affrica first studied Philosophy and the Civil Law but afterwards addicted himself to the study of Theologie he was the son of a Centurion called Florens from the habit or garb of his body he was a man of admirable parts and most piercing wit excelling in the knowledge of the Greek and Latine tongues he flourished when Alexander Severus and Antonius Caracalla were Emperours At first he was a Priest at Rome where he continued to the midst of his years and then being driven thence he returned to Carthage where for a time he maintained the damnable opinion of the heretick Montanus but at last some say that he recanted and renounc'd it He waged many disputes with the Iews and with those detestable instruments of Satan
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
ungodly Marcion Valentinus the Gentile wicked Hermogenes and Praxeas he lived till he was very aged So admired saith Ierome he was of Cyprian that not a day passed without his reading some portion of his works it being his usual speech Da mihi Magistrum give me my Master The learned have afforded him many excellent Eulogies Omni literarum genere peritus saith Lactantius skill'd in every kind of learning Yertullianus mihi certe ter Tullius Rosa est saith another and t is Lypsius his commendation Quis post Tertullianum inter sacros scriptores doctior who amongst the sacred writers was after Tertullian more learned And as another of the Criticks speaks eruditissimus quantum patitur aetas illa patria Affrica eloquentissimus most learned and as much as that age and his countrey Affrick doth permit most eloquent Yet this man was carryed away with strange errors whence Ierome could say in Tertulliano laudamus ingenium sed damnamus Haeresin we commend Tertullians wit but we condemn his heresie He attributed a body to God he condemned second marriage he asserted that the sonne had a beginning tempus fuit cum filius non fuit are his own words in his book against Hermogenes not far from the beginning which is the very phrase of Speech used by the heretick Arius After baptisme he allowed but onely one repentance he gave too much to the power of mans will he asscribed remission of sins to humane satisfactions and lastly he was a Chiliast no wonder then if his authority be so little set by of many Bellarmine rejects his testimony and undervalues his authority in many of his writings in one place this he sayes of him Tertullianus haeresiarcha fuit Tertullian was a principal or Arch-heretick in another this Eusebii Tertulliani parva autoritas Eusebius and Tertullians authority is but small and besides Bellarmine Lirinensis stiles him universalis ac vetustae fidei parum tenacem ac disertiorem nullo quam fideliorem one that hath little hold of the universal and ancient faith and much more eloquent then faithful and Austin saith that he was the head of a new sect which were called Tertullianists some tell us that he was desirous of Martyrdome but of what kind of death he dyed no author doth certainly report it Gregorius Thaumaturgus GRegorius Thaumaturgus this man had another name Eusebius calls him Theodorus brother to Athenodorus he was drawn from the study of the Greek and Roman discipline and from the love of Philosophy to the study of the holy Scripture that true divine Philosophy indeed by the ministry of Origen of whom he was a zealous auditor whilst he with many others flockt to him preaching at Caesarea Eusebius tells us that he and his brother were ordained Bishops of certain Churches in Pontus he usually passes under the title of Episcopus Neocaesariensis the Bishop of Neocaesarea they say that he wrought many miracles whence he had the name of Thaumaturgus He was present at the council of Antioch against Samosatenus that Arch-heretick as Pareus calls him he was eminent in the raign of the Emperour Severus he wrote an oration in the praise of his master Origen stiled by Sixtus Senensis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Panegyrick of gratitude of which oration Pamphilus the Martyr doth as Socrates reports make mention in his books written in Origens defence It s said of this holy man that he blessed God when he was Bishop of Neocaesarea espeâ—ially for this mercy that when he first undertook that great charge upon him he found not above seventeen Christians and when he left them he had not in all his jurisdiction so many unbelievers Basil saith of him that he was stiled by the enemies of the truth another Moses and Ierom calls him virum apostolicorum signorum virtutum a man of apostolical signes and vertues and Barthius thus dignifies him too while he writes him virum apostolicarum virtutum he died say some when Aurelian was Emperour Sixtus Senensis makes mention of his Metaphrase which he writ on Ecclesiastes which Suidas calls very short but admirable this was first printed under his own name but afterwards it came forth under the name of Gregorie Nazianzene but Ierome expounding the fourth chapter of Ecclesiastes and making use of this Gregories paraphrase upon some passage thereof he doth ingenuously discover the right Author in these following words vir sanctus Gregorius Ponti Episcopus Originis auditor in metaphrasi Ecclesiastis ita hunc locum intellexit A holy man Gregory the Bishop of Pontus the auditor of Origen in his metaphrase of Ecclesiastes thus understood this place the workes of this Father in Greek and Latine together with what is now extant of Macarius of Egypt and Basilius of Seleucia were printed in one volume at Paris 1622. Cyprianus CYprianus Presbyter of Carthage being yet a Gentile was a master of Rhetorick which he publikely professed with great admiration and repute he also studied the Magick Art but being afterwards converted to the Christian Faith he gave that study over and applyed himself to the study of the Scriptures he was set over the Churches in Spain and in the East where to his great praise he did execute the Office of a laborious Bishop In the writings which this man hath left behind him there appear the Symptomes of a learned headpiece and yet they are not altogether pâ—re and free from errour for he asserted that rebaptizing of Hereticks was necessary this champion contended with the heathens and the Jews as also with Novatus and many other hereticks for which cause being grievously persecuted by his enemies he stept aside from their fury for the Churches sake whose peaceand tranquillity his presence did at that time seem to prejudice Demster calls this Praelat insignem authorem interdum floridum a famous Author and sometimes thetorical and floury but Lactantius speaks more loftily of the man in these following words Cyprianus Episcopus Martyr unus praecipuns clarus extitit qui magnam sibi gloriam ex artis oratoriae professione quaesivit admodum multa conscripsit in suo sacro genere miranda erat enim ingenio facili copioso suavi quae sermonis maxima est virtus aperto ut discernere nequeas utrumne ornatior in eloquendo an peritior in persuadendo fuerit Cyprian the Bishop and Martyr was a man very eminent and famous who acquired to himself great fame and glory by the profession of his Art of Oratory and he wrote very many things in their sacred kind admirable for he was of a facil wit copious sweet and which is the greatest vertue of speech open that you cannot discern whether he were more fluent in speaking or more skilful in perswading instit lib. 5. Sixtus Senensis in his Bibliotheca speaking of his phrase of speech and style sayes this of him Quod multa piissima opuscula elegantissimae phraseos Ciceroniano candori proximae ad aedificationem
He lived to the 83 year of his age and was almost all his time desirous of privacy and retiredness Ierome saith of him Se in multis Scripturae locis difficilibus eo magistro usum That he made use of him to help him out in the explication of many hard Texts of Scripture And further speaking of his Writings he gives him this Elogie Certe qui hunc legerit latinorum furta cognoscet contemnet rivulos cum coeperit haurire de fontibus Imperitus Sermone est sed non Scientia Apostolicum virum ipso stylo exprimens tam sensus lumine quam simplicitate verborum Truly he that will reade him will know the thefts of the Latines and he will despise the rivulets when he hath begun to drink of the fountains he is in Speech unskilful but not in Science in his very style expressing an Apostolick Author as well in the light of his sense as in the simplicity of his words Antonius a Monk travelling in company with him to the City of Alexandria used these or the like words to him as Sixtus Sinensis delivers them Nihil O Didyme turbet te corporalium oculorum jactura talibus enim destitutus es oculis quibus Muscae culices videre possunt sed laetare quod oculos habes quibus Angeli vident Deus consideratur lux ejus apprehenditur Let not the loss of thy corporal eyes trouble thee O Didymus for thou art deprived of such eyes wherewith Flies and Gnats can see but rejoyce thou that thou hast eyes by which Angels do behold and God is considered and his light is apprehended He flourished under the great Theodosius Optatus BIshop of Milevita appeared glistering in his Orb about the time that Valentinian and Valeus were Emperours Morn lib. 1. de Euchar. cap. 6. saith that he lived paulo ante Augustinum magni in Africa nominis a little before Augustine of great fame in Africa He was a man well skill'd in most kindes of Literature his life was pious and his doctrine sincere and sound He shewed himself a notable Antidonatist and thereupon he wrote six Books for the confutation of Parmenianus So Ierome But now they are numbred seven the seventh consenting in all respects with the six so that Ierome's number is conceived to be erroneous Barthius calls this man Pium elegantemque scriptorem quod in eo dignum honore summo summum argumentandi artificem A pious and elegant writer and which is praise-worthy a most exquisite artist in arguing and disputing Paraeus thus expresses him Vir fuit instructus multiplici eruditione constanti pietate doctrina sincera He was a man well furnished with various learning constant piety and sound doctrine Mr. Leigh in his Treatise of Religion and Learning calls him that learned Bishop of Milevita Whereas the Donatists of old did assert that the Church of God was no where else but onely among them limited unto and shut up in a corner of Africk where their Heresie prevailed this excellent man confuted that opinion by that of the second Psalm where God saith in a promise to his blessed Messias Ask of me and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession Which Scripture doth evidently demonstrate the Church of the Gospel to be spred all over the whole world and not to be restrained as these Donatists did vainly imagine to a particular Region And whereas they affirmed likewise That the Ordinance of Baptism was altogether ineffectual unless some of their Ministers were in place to perform it He to confute them replied That when God made the world at the beginning the presence of the glorious Trinity was powerful enough in operation to create Water though none of the Donatists were then in presence Even so saith he the blessed Trinity can work effectually in Baptism although not administred by the Donatists yea and that it was God the Author of Baptism and not the Minister which did sanctifie a cording as it is expressed by the holy man David Psal 51. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow Basilius Magnus BAsil the Great was Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia his father was of the same name and a devout Christian his brethren were Gregory of Nyssa and Peter of Sebasta who conform'd to him both for purity of doctrine and piety of conversation He was brought up at Athens the School of the Philosophers under Libanius his Master where he fell into acquaintance with Gregory Nazianzen But after a while leaving Athens he returned to Caesarea where being called to the Pastoral Function by the Bishop of the place Eusebius he expounded some places of Scripture with that gravity and accurateness that he was had in great admiration for his abilities and gifts but at length there arising some difference betwixt him and Eusebius he discreetly withdrew himself on purpose to prevent a greater combustion However in the end he was constrained to return through the Faction of the Hereticks that he might strengthen the hands of the Bishop against them But Eusehius after a few years deceasing this Basil was by the general consent chosen Bishop in his room And now he was no sooner entred on his charge but he met with many violent and tempestuous storms raised by that tyrannous Emperour Valens against him For he coming to Caesarea would have forced this holy man to have closed with the doctrine of Arius threatning his refusal with banishment and death But Basil was most resolute and couragious as appears by this his gallant answer Pueris inquit ille ista terriculamenta proponenda esse sibi vero vitam eripi posse sed confessionem veritatis eripi non posse Those affrightments saith he should be proposed to children Life indeed might be taken from him but the confession of the truth could never be taken away from him It is reported That when he was at his devotions in the Temple the Emperour coming with his Guard to apprehend and seize him he was himself on the sudden surprised with such a Vertigo or dizziness that he had faln immediately if one of his servants had not supported him Socrates tells us in his Ecclesiastical History Chap. 21. of thefourth Book That this Emperours Son by name Galeates falling sick of a dangerous and desperate disease and being given over by Physicians Dominica his Mother told her husband that the same night she was fearfully disquieted with horrible shapes and dreadful visions and that the childe was visited with sickness because of their ill usage of Basil the Bishop The Emperour well marking the words of his Wife at length sent for that good man and because he would know the truth he reasoned thus with him If thy Faith he meant of one substance be true pray that my Son die not of this disease Then Basil answered If thou wilt promise to believe as I do and to bring the Church to Unity and
wâ—ites of him Prosper Episcopus Rhegiensis vir in divinis Scripturis eruditissimus in secularibus nobiliter doctus carmine excellens prosa eloquio disertus sensu profundus ingenio subtilis assertione nervosus vita conversatione sanctissimus apparuit Prosper the Bishop of Rheims appeared to be a man most learned in the divine Scriptures and nobly instructed in things that were Secular excellent both for verse and prose eloquent in speech profound in sense subtile in wit sinewous in assertion and holy in life and conversation He wrote a book de Ingratis Of Unthankeful men by which name he alwayes meant the Pelagians which sprung up out of the ashes of that Arch-heretick Pelagius So Bishop Usher writes in his eighth Chapter de Primord Britan. Eccles Bellarmine saith this of him to his honour Quod multa praeclara scripsit pro gratia Dei contra Pelagianos That he wrote many excellent things for the grace of God against the Pelagians Seque Augustini discipulum defensorem acerrimum demonstravit and proved himself to be a disciple and most sharp defender of Augustine Sixtus Senensis styles him Virum acris ingenii dictionis pressae nervosae elegantis A man of a piercing wit of a brief sinewous and elegant elocution Petrus Chrysologus PEtrus Chrysologus was Archbishop of Ravenna born of Noble Parentage styled by Sixtus Senensis Vir tam vitae sanctitate quam omni eruditionis genere excellens A man excelling as well for sanctity of life as for all kinde of learning He was instructed in Christian literature by Cornelius a certain Bishop and advanced by Pope Sixtus the third to that eminent dignity at Ravenna In this mans time there were two Councils summoned the one by Coelius Symmachus the Pope the other by Theodoricus the King of the Ostrogoths the one sitting at Rome and the other at Ravenna This Prelate was called to both And besides he delivered Letters to the Council of Chalcedon against the heretick Eutyches which Letters are yet extant He had the name of Chrysologus given him because he was so near in conformity to Chrysostome there being in both of them par phrasium majestas a like majesty of phrase In the Epistle prefixed to this mans Sermons you have this commendation bestowed upon him Si cum hoc quosdam Neotericos aut commentatores conferas Pigneum Atlanti comparare videaris If you confer any of your Neotericks or late Commentators with this Author you may seem to compare a Pigmy to Atlas Sixtus Senensis speaking of those hundred two and twenty Sermons preached by this Prelate he doth thus expresse them Breves quidem sed sensus gravitate venerandes candore sermonis venustisque verborum flosculis amaenos argutis quibusdam sententiolis naturali quadam facilitate fluentibus jucundos validis quibusdam affectibus interdunt verbis tragicis expressis admirandos Short Sermons indeed but yet for the gravity of sense venerable for candor of speech and beautiful flowers of words delectable and for witty sentences flowing with a natural facility pleasant and for strong affections exprest sometimes with tragical words admirable He dyed about the year of our Lord 500. when he had governed the Church of Ravenna 60 years Fulgentius FUlgentius an African a Citizen of Carthage appeared soon after Prosper about the year of Christ 500. He was Bishop of Rusp in Africk and in his time had hot contentions with the Arians condemned long before by the General Council of Nice He confuted those which asserted the doctrine of Free-will approving himself a puissant maintainer of the servitude of mans will to Sin and Satan which he had received from Augustine or rather from the Scriptures He was Bishop of that Church near twenty five years and dyed piously in the year of his age 65. He flourished under Anastasius the Emperour and Thrasimundus the King of the Vandals In his life he shined with transcendent humility and sincerity detesting nothing more than pride luxury He abstained from flesh feeding altogether upon herbs and eggs He did wear only one garment both in Summer and Winter this being a usual saying with him Corda potius quam vestimenta mutanda esse That mens hearts were rather to be changed than their garments He was so far from harbouring of wrath against any of his enemies that being extremely injured by one Felix an Arian and thereupon counselled by his friends to seek a remedy at Law he sweetly replied to them Christiani esse non ulcisci sese Deum enim ulturum injuriam suis illatam That its the Christians duty not to avenge himself for God is the avenger of his children In the time of his sickness his Physicians advising him to bathe much he replied Putatisne balnea hominis mortalis fata impeditura Do you think that baths will hinder the death of a man by nature mortal And he would have these words very often in his mouth Domine hic da mihi poenitentiam postea indulgentiam Lord give me here repentance and afterwards indulgence Vossius calls this man in allusion to his name Fulgentissimum Ecclesiae sydus The most brightsome star of the Church It s said of him by Gomarus Quod sententiis Augustini adeo delectatus erat ut eas pluribus in locis non tam imitatus sit quam expresserit That he was so far forth delighted with the sentences of Augustine that he did not so much imitate them as to the very life express them One takes notice of some of his writings that they are thorny sharp and piercing quasi aculeos in verbis inservisse visus esset as if he had implanted stings in his words This is noted chiefly in his Mythologie whereas as the same author well observeth alia pie quidem Christiane scripta non tam horrida sunt other of his Works being piously and Christianly written are not so rough He was banished with an hundred more African Bishops into the Island of Sardinia by Thrasimundus the King of the Vandals which might be the occasion of so much gall in some of his Treatises Gregorius Papa GRegorius Papa called Gregory the Great he was constituted Bishop of Rome after Pelagius drawn as it were into the Chair by constraint He was a Roman by birth the first of the Popes saith one that discovered an humble and lowly minde who would be called Servus servorum Dei The servant of those which serve God He was wonderfully averse to that great and proud Title of Oecumenical or Universal Bishop boldly saying In istud scelestum vocabulum consentire nihil aliud esse quam fidem perdere That to agree to that wicked denomination were nothing else but to destroy the Faith He ever did acknowledge himself the Emperour Mauritius his Subject He maintained disputes with the Jews and against Hereticks He confirmed by publick Decrees these four Councils of Nice of Constantinople of Ephesus and of Chalcedon He sustained many afflictions by
the Longobards who had with violence entred Italy and wasted many of the Churches He wrote many books which were consumed after his death by them that hated them a few onely being preserved through the intercession of Petrus Diaconus He dyed in the year of Christ 606. he is said to have countenanced Images in Churches although we finde no such toleration in the writings of former Fathers but no wonder if being a Monk he was a Patron of Superslition and Idolatry yet Barthius gives him this character Ejus Homiliae mirifice bonis rebus plenae exemplar sequentium seculorum doctoribus His Homilies are wonderfully full of good things and as a copy set for the Doctors of the following ages to write after Nay Erasmus calls him simplicem pium And again sayes he In Gregorio pluram nulloque fuco picturatam sanctimoniam agnoscimus We acknowledge in Gregory pure sanctimony and painted with no false deceitful colour But Martin Luther doth not without some colourable grounds disparage him whilst he hath this passage in the 49 Chapter of Genesis Gregorium admodum tenuiter cognovisse Christum verbum Evangelii That Gregory knew Christ and the word of his holy Gospel very slenderly The successor of this Pope Sabinianus by name out of spight and spleen to his memory endeavoured the destruction of all his Works Of which Sabinianus we reade that he was the first Inventer of the use of Bells and of Lamps perpetually burning Isidorus Hispalensis ISidorus Hispalensis lived in the yeer of the Lord 630. and dyed in the raign of the Emperour Heraclius Gesner saith that he wrote a Commentarie almost on all the Scripture besides he wrote a book De ortu obitu Sanctorum Of the birth and death of the Saints and of the Nativity Passion and resurrection of our Saviour together with many Philosophicall Treatises as of Astronomy Cosmography and Grammaticall learning moreover he wrote two books of Epistles to severall persons contemporary then with him Iohn Gerson doth affirm that the acts of the Councills were collected by this Isidore Sixtus Senensis saith that this man was conceived to have been the Disciple of Great Gregorie Our Bishop Downham having an occasion to mention him tells us that he was Archbishop of Sivill in Spain and one of the most learned writers which have been in the Church within these thousand yeers He is said to have culd and gathered out of the immense writings of the ancient Fathers innumerable volumes of all Arts and Sciences To him in regard of his great Sanctity of life Annuall honours on the sixteenth of Ianuary are decreed Hildephonsus composed a Catalogue of his works This Isidore was called Isidore Iunione or the younger Isidore in distinction to another of that name called Isidore Pelusiota who flourished about 450. yeers after Christ and was the disciple of Iohn Chrysostome He wrote a hundred and thirty Greek Epistles now extant as some write in the Vaticane Library wherein he did explain the deep mysteries of the Christian Religion Cardinall Baeronius has inserted into his Annalls an Epistle of this mans written to the Emperour Theodosius in whose Raign he flourished Suidas doth thus advance him telling us quod una cum simplicitate veritatem amaret probaret sine omni simulatione loqueretur That he loved the Truth with simplicity That he approved of it and would speak it without dissimulation or hypocrisy And Demster gives Hispalensis Isidore this following Elogie Grammaticus necessarius in que pleraque quae nusquam alibi A needfull Grammamarian in whom there are many things no where else to be met with Beda BEda was an English man by birth calle Venerabilis venerable for his great learning and gravity and yet he was miserably ensnared with Popish errours which in those times had overspread like a Gangrene every Nation wherein there was a possession of Christianity so that it might be said that as the whole world was once called Arian so then it might have been stiled Antichristian Yet this man though corrupt in his opinions and judgement was very zealous in the duties of his calling fervent in prayer laborious in reading writing and preaching of the Gospel But there is nothing makes more for his commendation then his noble patience in bearing those heavy and fearfull agonies which he underwent immediately before his death He was of great fame in the Raign of Iustinian the second of that name about the yeer of Christ 690. He lived as some reports Vitam longissimam till he was very aged He dyed under Leo the third in the yeer 731. so some say but others 734. His works are set out in eight Tomes His Commentaries on Pauls Epistles he gathered out of Augustine as himself doth insinuate by these words in the preface of them In Apostolum quaecunque in opusculis S. Augustini exposita Inveni contra per ordinem transcribere curavi Whatsoever I have found expounded on the Apostle in the works of S. Augustine I have taken care to transcribe them in their order Durandus writes of this Bede that being blinde by reason of his great Age he caused himself to be led into the villages by certain guides that he might preach the Word unto the people and when on a time they carried him into a valley full of stones and his leaders deluded him saying that there was a throng of people met together whereas indeed there was not a man come to hear him he began to preach very zealously as was his manner and when he had concluded his Sermon with these words per secula seculorum instantly all the stones cryed out with a loud voice Amen Venerabilis Beda Amen whence it was saith this Durandus that he was ever after stiled Venerable Beda Johannes Damascenus IOhannes Damascenus was a superstitious Monk the disciple of Cosmus contemporary with Bede who appeared in the West as he did in the East He was for a time mingled with the Saracens and for fear of death committed Idolatry amongst them worshipping as they did the bones of Mahomet He stood stifly for Imagery whereupon he was excommunicated in the General Council assembled by Constantius Copronymus He was much conversant in the books of the ancient Fathers as appears by his Treatise de Orthodoxa Fide but if he had been as narrow a searcher of the holy Scriptures he had not fallen into those Popish snares He was the first man that brought Christian Religion to a certain method in imitation of whom Peter Lombard styled The Master of the sentences did the like He flourished under Leo Isaurus and Constantius Copronymus about the year of Christ 730. Suidas does commend him in these words Damascenus vir doctrissimus aetatis suae nulli eorum qui doctrina illustres fuerunt secundus Damascene a most learned man second to none of his age that were accounted learned Baronius censures him for a vain empty light and lying Writer And Bellarmine lib. 2. de
Purgator cap. 8. doth disparage and extenuate this mans authority and yet he makes use of a book of his to prove his Purgatory Those Orations which this Author did write concerning Images this is Baronius his judgment of them Fidem illius scripti in multis vacillare compluribus scatere mendaciis Tom. 2. Annal. ann 31. 675. Rabanus Maurus RAbanus Maurus by Nation a German was the fourth Abbot of Fulda and from that degree advanced to the Archbishoprick of Ments being the sixth Prelate which possessed that Chair He was sometime scholar to that famous English man Alcuinus All the while he was Abbot his Monks hated him because they saw him so intent upon his studies and so neglectful of worldly advantages and interests Whereupon he left them and went to Lewis the Emperour and would not return any more unto his Abbey though much importuned by those his Monks to come God so ordering it for their downfal and destruction for no sooner was he advanced to his Archiepiscopal See of Ments but their confusion immediately followed While he lived in his Monastery some say that he compiled Commentaries on all the Scriptures being encouraged thereunto by the Emperours Lewis and Lotharius which he gathered out of the Latine Fathers from Ierome to Venerable Bede evermore holding to their sayings sentences and senses and in those places wherein he did not meet with the Expositions of those foresaid Fathers he made supply with his own yet withall for distinction sake that the Reader might know and understand which was his Explanation and which theirs he alwayes set the Authors Names to their Annotations Trithemius in his Catalogue of famous men bestows upon him this Elogie In omni eruditione tam secularium quam divinarum Scripturarune longe doctissimus evasit cui similem suo tempone non habuit Ecclesia He was esteemed most learned in all manner of erudition as well sacred as secular The Church had not his fellow or equal in his time And Sixtus Senensis speaks as full as much in the praise of this man who styles him Virum omnium disciplinarum cognitione absolutissimum Rhetorem Poetam Astronomum Philosophum Theologum cui nullum in illo seculo Germania habuit parem A man most absolute in the knowledge of all disciplines a Rhetorician a Poet an Astronomer a Philosopher and a Divine to whom Germany in that age could not finde a Peer Helvieus saith that this man flourished in the year of Christ 814. others 840. Bellarmine calls him Virum aeque doctum ac pium a man equally learned and pious Haymo HAymo a Monk of Fulda and near kinsman of the Reverend Bedes was one of Alcuinus his scholars and school-fellow together with Rabanus Maurus He was chosen Bishop of Halberstade about the year of our Lord 840. He wrote Commentaries on the Scriptures which he gathered out of those that were before him He was of the Romish Church but yet he is not altogether so erroneous as other Popish Writers both before and after him Besides his foresaid Commentaries he published in ten Books a compendious Ecclesiastical History He continued in his Episcopal See about thirteen years some say he died in the year of Christ 853. and that he lieth buried in that Cathedral Sixtus Senensis styles him virum sanctitate eruditione insignem a man famous for his sanctity and learning and the same Author speaking likewise of those good Commentaries this man put out he gives them this following commendation Pietate brevitate dictionis simplicitate ac perspicuitate laudandos To be praised for their piety brevity simplicity of expression and perspicuity And further he saith of this Expositor Quod versatus est ferme semper in allegoricis anagogicis sensibus quos velut spiritualis apicula ex omnium antiquorum hortis ac pratis florentissimis excerpsit quo legentibus esset parata saluberrimi mellis copia He was almost alwayes conversant in allegorical and anagogical senses which as a spiritual Bee he gathered out of the most flourishing gardens and meadows of all the Ancients whereby there might be provided for them which reade him plenty of most wholesom honey And Trithemius in his Catalogue of illustrious men thus pourtrayeth him Vir in divinis Scripturis eruditissimus insecularibus literis nulli suo tempore secundus ingenio acutus sermone disertus vita conversatione devotus in declamandis ad populum Omiliis celeberrimis industriae fuit A man most learned in the Scriptures and for secular learning second to none in his time of an acute wit eloquent in speech devout in life and conversation and in declaiming of Homilies to the people he was of a most transcendent industry And yet Erasmus doth somewhat diminish him in these words Haymo non uno altero loco deliravit Haymo hath doted more than in a few places Theophylactus THeophylactus was Archbishop of Bulgaria There is difference among Writers concerning the time when he lived Gerhard in his Patrologie tells us that he flourished when Alexander was Pope and Diogenes was Emperour about the year 1071. though Baronius and Bellarmine say it was in 880. and others 990. and Eutropius 760. But it s likely because he was the instrument that converted the Bulgariaus that he appeared sooner than some will have him He wrote Commentaries on the Gospels on Pauls Epistles the Acts and on some of the Prophets all in the Greek Tongue which were translated by Montanus and some others He was an imitator of Chrysostome Hence saith Sixtus Senensis of him that he was in Chrysostomi lectione diu multumque versatus ac detritus much worn and a long while conversant in the reading of Chrysostome Nay all his Comments are reputed nothing else but an Abridgement of the Writings of that excellent Author and so the foresaid Senensis intimates in these words Redegit in breve apertum compendium quicquid admirabilis ille pater ex aureo suo ore veluti ex abundantissimo fonte in exponendis scripturis sanctis effuderat He did reduce into a short and open Compend whatsoever that admirable Father had in expounding of the holy Scriptures poured out of his golden mouth as it were out of a most abundant fountain He did sharply refute the Hereticks of old but for the errours of the Roman Church in his own time he did too much indulge to He had an honourable esteem of Marriage and was of opinion that Antichrist should then appear when the Roman Empire did begin to sink Erasmus gives him this Elogie Bulgarius Interpres Graecus recentior sed haud quaquam malus mea sententia The Bulgarian Bishop a more late Greek Interpreter but not a bad one in my opinion 'T is Luther's Augustinus Hilarius Theophylactus excellunt In Coll. Mens cap. 30. Bellarmine proves this man schismatical because in the third Chapter of Iohn he reproves the Latines for believing the holy Ghost to proceed also from the Son Oecumenius OEsumenius