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cause_n	begin_v	great_a	time_n	1,599	5	3.2122	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49900	The lives of Clemens Alexandrinus, Eusebius, Bishop of Cæsarea, Gregory Nazianzen, and Prudentius, the Christian poet containing an impartial account of their lives and writings, together with several curious observations upon both : also a short history of Pelagianism / written originally in French by Monsieur Le Clerc ; and now translated into English.	Le Clerc, Jean, 1657-1736.	1696 (1696)	Wing L820; ESTC R22272	169,983	390

Lucius Plotius who began to exercise the Youth in that Language Cicero being but a Child They distinguished those Exercises into several kinds sometimes they took a Moral Subject which they handled so as to alledge nothing that was particular but only some general Notions which had no relation to any Fact or Circumstance This they called Theses and * In Praef. Cont. Seneca the Rhetor says that those were the Exercises practised before Cicero although it appears from what hath been said that they had some other Exercises which consisted in some Discourses which they made upon a true Fact taken † Sucton in lib. de Claris Rhetoribus out of Ancient or Modern History Whereupon they enquired what ought to be done on some Occasions wherein they praised or blamed some Action Cicero calls those Subjects Causes and says in several places that he * Tuscul 1. c. 4. had much exercised himself in them Nay he says in one of his Letters † Ep. Famil l. 9. Ep. 16. that Hirtius and Dolabella Declamed at his House in an Age in which it seems that those Exercises were unseasonable Afterwards they found that true Subjects taken out of ancient History or such as lately happen'd were not fit for that They feigned some Facts and to have more occasion to say some extraordinary things ‖ Petron. Init. they cloathed them with strange Circumstances There was nothing to be heard but Discourses upon what a Man should do when he is ready to escape from a Ship-wrack and seeth upon the Shore some Pyrates who will bind him with Chains or concerning a Man whom a Tyrant should command upon pain of Death to kill his own Father or concerning a Father who should see his Children carried away to be sacrificed by the Command of an Oracle One may see a great number of such like Subjects in Seneca's and Quintilian's Controversies They handled them with such an Eloquence as came much nearer the Style of a Tragical Poet than a Judicious Orator That manner of Studying which was admired in the following Ages in which Men were much less polite made most Writers meer Declamators full of Exaggerations strained Figures Witticisms Equivocations Punns Arguments which prove nothing and all the other Defects of a false Rhetorick They undertook to maintain all sorts of Subjects without having any regard to Truth thinking that one might more improve by exercising one's self to defend bad Causes than to maintain good one 's Thus Julian being yet a Christian Declamed against the Christian Religion in the School of Libanius only said they to form his Mind and use himself to find out probable Arguments pro and con on all Subjects I was obliged somewhat to enlarge upon the Manner of Studying in those Centuries because without having some Notion of it these words of Prudentius in the Abridgment which he himself made of his Life cannot be understood Aetas prima crepantibus Flevit sub ferulis mox docuit toga Infectum vitiis falsa loqui non fine crimine That last Verse denotes well enough the Rhetorical Exercises which I have mention'd which Young Men applied themselves to when they had put on the thorough White Gown that is at Seventeen or Eighteen Years of Age. In effect they learned thereby to speak false things falsa loqui which though spoken as it were out of an ingenious Fancy yet were criminal non sine crimine because by that means they used themselves by degrees to Lye and speak against their Conscience Father Chamillard who put out Prudentius in usum Delphini hath paraphrased those words with some that are more obscure Plenus criminibus didici dicere falsa criminosé But I have not mention'd the Studies of Prudentius's time only by reason of that place but because as we shall see hereafter there is a great many others in our Poet which require that we should think of the Manner of Studying and the Eloquence of his Time The Christians Studied as others did and Reasoned almost as they did One may find a pleasant Description of the Eloquence of that time in St. Jerom's Letter to Nepotianus * Pag. 12. Ed. Gryph concerning the manner how Ecclesiasticks ought to behave themselves Don't you require of me says he Childish Declamations wherein one may find Sentences spread as it were Flowers through the whole Discourse far fetch'd Expressions to flatter the Hearer's Ear and at the end of every Article Witticisms shut up within few Words to excite the Applauses and Exclamations of those that hear us Ne à me quaeras pueriles declamationes sententiarum flosculos verborum lenocinia per fines capitulorum singulorum acuta quaedam breviterque conclusa quae plausus clamores excitent audientium For then to say so by by the bye Acclamations and Applauses were used in Churches as well as Theaters * Ib. p. 14. Which appears by St. Jerom's Advertisement in the same Letter I will not have you says he to be a Declamator and a Babbler without Reason but understand the Mysteries and be instructed in the Secrets of your God 'T is the part of Unlearned Men to seek to be Admired by the ignorant Vulgar by rowling as it were some words and reciting with an extraordinary swiftness An impudent Man doth often explain what he knows not and after he hath imposed upon others fancies himself to be Learned I desired once Gregory Nazianzen who was formerly my Master to explain to me what 's meant by the Second Sabbath after the First in St. Luke And he pleasantly answer'd I will teach you that at Church where when all the People shall applaud me you will be forced to know what you do not know or if you only keep silence you will be look'd upon as a Fool Docebo te super hac re in Ecclesia in qua mihi omni populo acclamante cogeris invitus scire quod nescis aut certè si solus tacueris solus ab omnibus stultitiae condemnaberis To return to Prudentius He confesses that when he applied himself to the Study of Eloquence he lived after a manner somewhat licentious Afterwards he began to make use of his Eloquence at the Barr where his desire of gaining all the Causes he undertook to defend either good or bad exposed him as he says to great Dangers Next to that he obtained twice the Government of some Provinces which he doth not name He was in the Army for some time and was raised by Theodosius or Honorius to a considerable Employment which he describes in these terms Tandem militae gradu Evectum Pietas Principis extulit Assumptum propiùs stare jubens ordine proximo Perhaps he had been Praefect of the Praetorium which was the Chief Dignity of the Empire 'T is not known why nor upon what occasion he retired Home but it appears that in the Fifty seventh Year of his Age he wrote the Preface of his Hymns for Every Day wherein he

against the Eunomians the Incomprehensibility of God which he doth often He shews that there is an infinite number of things in Nature which we do not comprehend to conclude from thence that 't is no good Reasoning to deny that something is in God only because we do not comprehend it Having thus prepared the Mind of his Reader or Hearer he proposes his Opinion concerning the Divinity of the Son ‖ Orat. 35. p. 562. and the Holy Trinity in general which he doth in these remarkable terms That which we worship is a Monarchy I don't call Monarchy what is possest by one Person only for it may happen that a Person not agreeing with himself produces the same effect as if there were many but what is grounded upon the Equality of Nature the Consent of the Will the same Motion and the same Design with respect to the things which that Monarchy produces which is not possible in Created Natures so that although those that compose that Monarchy differ in Number yet they differ not in Power Had Gregory believed the Numerical Unity of the Divine Essence he would have spoken very weakly and obscurely since instead of the Equality of the Nature he should should have said the Identity and not mention'd the Consent of Will but One only Will in Number In that Oration Gregory answers the Objections which the Arians raised against the Eternal Generation of the Son which are often very weak either because they are not well propounded or because the Arians argued not better However as one might Personate an Arian better so so one might perhaps maintain with greater advantage the Sentiments of the Council of Nice Among the Arian Objections which Gregory proposes to himself this is one of them which is the Eighth viz. * Pag. 569. That if the Son is as to the Essence altogether as the Father is it will follow that the Son is not Begotten as the Father is not Gregory answers not as the School-men do That the Son is not Begotten as to the Essence which is the same in Number with the Fathers as he should have said according to the Principles of the Modern Schools but that not to be Begotten is not a thing Essential to the Deity To which he adds Are you the Father of your Father that you may not be inferiour to him in any thing because you are the same thing as to the Essence If any one should doubt still whether the Vnity which our Orator speaks of is a Specifick or a Numerical one he needs only read these words which are at the bottom of the following Page † Pag. 570. This is our Doctrine As we judge alike of things which are under the same Species as a Horse an Oxe and a Man and every thing is properly called by the Name which suits the Nature of which it partakes whereas that which doth not partake of it doth not go by that Name or hath it but improperly so there is but One Essence and Nature in God which hath the same Name though the Persons and Names are distinguished by the Thoughts In the * Orat. 36. Fourth Oration Gregory resolves according to his way the Objections of the Arians by which they pretend to shew the Unequality of the Father and the Son In the † Orat. 37. Fifth he disputes about the Consubstantiality of the Holy Spirit against the Macedonians Some of those who believed the Divinity of the Son denied that of the Holy Spirit and were even so bold as to call the Holy Spirit a Strange God because he is styled God no where in the Holy Scripture Gregory made his Fifth and last Theological Oration against them In that Discourse speaking of the several Opinions that have been about that he says amongst other things ‖ Orat. ib. p. 595. That the greatest Theologers among the Pagans and those who came nearest to us have an Idea of Him though they gave him another Name having called him The Soul of the World and The Soul which comes from without and used some other such Names As for the Wise Men of our times some believe that the Holy Spirit is a Faculty some that he is a Creature some that he is a God and some know not in what Order of Things they should place him by reason of the respect they have for the Scripture which is not clear upon that Point Gregory maintains That 't is a Person Consubstantial with the Two other And when he answers his Adversaries who ask'd him wherein the Generation and Procession differed he hath recourse to the Incomprehensibility But one of the chief Objections against the Orthodox was * Pag. 600. That they acknowledged Three Gods If there is said their Adversaries a God and a God and a God how comes it that there are not Three Gods c. This is replyes Gregory what is said by those whose Impiety is come to its height and even by those who are in the Second rank that is who have a right Belief concerning the Son I have a common Answer to both and another which concerns only the latter I ask therefore the latter why they call us Tritheists since they honour the Son and whether though they leave out the Holy Spirit they are not Ditheists How d' ye explain your Ditheism when they offer you this Objection Teach us how we ought to answer for the Answer by which you will clear your selves from Ditheism will serve us to vindicate our selves from Tritheism c. Thus we shall get the Victory and our Accusers will be our Defenders c. But we have a Dispute with those two sorts of Adversaries and a common Answer to both We have but One God because there is but One Godhead and that those who emaned from it refer to One only thing though we believe Three of them The one is not more God than the other the one is not Anterior and the other Posterior They are not divided in Will nor separate in Power and there is nothing in them that is found in things divided but to say all in a word the Godhead is without Division in Three Divided Persons as in Three Suns fastened one to another there would be but One Mixture of Light When we consider the Deity and the First Cause of the Monarchy we conceive but One Thing but when we consider those in whom the Deity and those who emaned from the First Cause before Time was and enjoy the same Glory we worship Three But it will be said Is there not One only Deity among the Pagans as their most learned Philosophers say All Mankind hath but One Humanity and yet there are Many Gods among the Pagans not One only as there are Many Men. I answer That in those things the Unity lies only in the Thought Every Man is divided from others by Time Passions and Power which is not in God Therein doth the UNITY of God consist as far

it concerning the Discipline which I shall not mention the Business of Gregory and Maximus was debated in it and they made a Creed Maximus's † Conc. C.P. c. 4. Ordination and all those which he might have conferred were judged Null and then ‖ Carm. de Vit. p. 14. they declared Gregory Bishop of Constantinople though he endeavoured to be excused from it They made him promise he would stay in it because he persuaded himself that being in that Station he could more easily reconcile the different Parties which divided Christianity Indeed it was said against Gregory's Promotion that having been Bishop of Sasime and Nazianzum he could not be transferred to Constantinople without breaking the Fifteenth Canon of the Council of Nice which is Formal thereupon But Meletius Bishop of * Theodor. l. 5. c. 8. Antioch replied to that That the Design of that Canon was to bridle Pride and Ambition which had no share in that Business Besides it seems that that Canon was not observed in the East since † Carm. de Vit. sua p. 29. Gregory calls what they opposed to him Laws dead long since Furthermore he had exercised no Episcopal Function at Sasime and as to Nazianzum he had been only his Father's Coadjutor That Business being over they came to treat of the chief Subject for which they were met viz. Macedonius's Opinion who had been Bishop of Gonstantinople and believed that the Holy Spirit is but a Creature though all the Disciples of that Bishop agreed not about the Nature of that Divine Person as may be seen from a Passage of Gregory which I have quoted The Nicene Creed was presently confirmed in the Council and 't was thought fit ‖ Vid. Conc. Chalced. Act. 2. to make some Additions to it especially to what concerns the Holy Spirit That Addition is exprest in these words I believe in the Holy Ghost the Lord and Giver of Life who proceedeth from the Father who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified and who spake by the Prophets The Council did also Anathematize the Opinions of Sabellius Marcellus Photinus Eunomius Apollinaris and Macedonius but I shall not enlarge upon those Errors because they have no essential relation with the Life of Gregory For the same reason I shall omit what concerns the Discipline All things went quietly enough with respect to Gregory till there arose a Storm which deprived him of the Episcopal See of Constantinople when he least expected it The Spirit of Vengeance of a Party which he opposed was the cause of that Disturbance which Gregory who was not courageous enough to sustain the shock of his Adversaries could not get himself rid of but by running away There happen'd some time before a mischievous Schism in the Church of Antioch where there were Two Orthodox Bishops at the same time Meletius being dead at Constantinople before the Council was ended 't was proposed to give him a Successor Thereupon Gregory proposed an Expedient to put an end to that Schism viz. That Paulinus who was the other Orthodox Bishop * Carm. de Vit. p. 25. and had been Ordained by Lucifer of Cagliari should govern alone the Church of Antioch during the rest of his life and afterwards those of Melelius's Party being reunited with those of Paulinus's should chuse a Bishop by common Votes Lest it should be thought he had some Interest in favouring Paulinus and that he designed to make a Party he offered the Counsel to leave the Episcopal Throne of Constantinople on which he was just setled But the Ambitious Men and Incendiaries as Gregory calls 'em who began to move to give a Successor to Meletius would not hearken to that Proposal * Ib. p. 27. A company of Young Men fell a crying like Mag-pies and made so great a Noise that they drew in even the Old Bishops who should have resisted them and brought to a second Examination the Business of Gregory which was just before ended Gregory describes admirably well their Ambition Ignorance and their other Defects in the Poem he made concerning his Life One had better read it in the Author himself than here In the mean time the People having heard that Gregory began to be weary of the Council and was talking of retiring fell a crying that they would not take their Pastor from them and desired him that he would not leave his Flock Thereupon Timothy Bishop of Alexandria who had succeeded Peter and was of a violent and quarrelsom Temper arrived with several Egyptian Bishops The old Grudge they bore Gregory on the account of Maximus the Cynick had inflam'd them to such a degree against our Bishop that the first thing they did was to complain that they had broke the Canons by transferring Gregory from one Bishoprick to another This caused a great stir in the Council and on that occasion Gregory made his Oration concerning Peace which is the Fourteenth wherein he describes at large the Advantages of Concord and the Mischiefs which arise from Divisions He severely censures the Inconstancy of the Bishops who had other Thoughts of him without any reason and suffered themselves to be imposed upon by the Calumnies of his Adversaries He says that the ill Reports which are commonly spread against Moderate Men ought to be despised Lastly One may easily perceive by all that he says that 't is not only in our time that Men have cover'd their most shameful Passions with the specious Name of Zeal for the Purity of the Faith Wherefore Gregory says * Ib. p 29. that he told 'em That they should not trouble themselves so much with what concerned him but that they should endeavour to be re-united That 't was time for 'em to expose themselves no longer to be laught at as Wild Men and such as have learned nothing but Quarrelling That provided they would agree he would willingly be the Jonas who should make the Storm to cease That he had accepted of the Episcopal See against his will and willingly parted with it and that his Body weakened with Old Age obliged him to 't But because notwithstanding they charged him with Ambition still he made a Discourse which is his Twenty seventh Oration whereby he protests that he had accepted the Bishoprick of Constantinople against his will and appeals to all the People for it He says * Ortt. 27. p. 465. he doth not know whether he ought to call the See of Constantinople the Throne of a Tyrant or a Bishop He complains of his Enemies Evil-speaking and the Envy they bore him † Pag. 466. because of his Eloquence and Learning in the Sciences of the Pagans That perhaps raised the Envy of some but the Station he was in raised without doubt the Envy of many more He might have made use of all his Rhetorick at Sasime without being put to any trouble upon that account Having declared a Full Council that he desired to leave the