full and solid answer in eight Books wherein as he had the better cause so he managed it with that strength of Reason clearness of Argument and convictive evidence of truth that were there nothing else to testifie the abilities of this great man this Book alone were enough to do it It was written probably about the beginning of the reign of Philip the Emperour with whom Origen seems to have had some acquaintance who a Id. ibid. p. 233 wrote one Letter to him and another to the Empress From whence and some other little probabilities Eusebius first and after him the generality of Ecclesiastic Writers have made that Emperour to have been a Christian and the first of the Imperial line that was so The vanity of which mistake and the original from whence it sprung we have shewed elsewhere Nor is the matter mended by those who say that Philip was privately baptized by Fabian Bishop of Rome and so his Christian Profession was known onely to the Christians but concealed from the Gentiles which being but a conjecture and a gratis dictum without any authority to confirm it may with the same ease and as much justice be rejected as it is obtruded and imposed upon us Nor has the late learned publisher b Rod. Wetsteinius Praefat. in Orig. Dial. contr Marc. c. Ã se Edit Basil 1674. 4 of some Tracts of Origen who in order to the securing the Dialogue against the Marcionites to belong to Origen has newly enforced this argument said any thing that may persuade a wise man to believe a Story so improbable in all its circumstances and which must have made a louder noise in the World and have had more and better witnesses to attest it then an obscure and uncertain report the onely authority which Eusebius who gave the first hint of it pretends in this matter XXI THE good success which Origen lately had in Arabia in the cause of Beryllus made him famous in all those parts and his help was now again c Ibid. c. 37. desired upon a like occasion For a sort of Hereties were start up who affirmed that at death both body and soul did expire together and were resolved into the same state of corruption and that at the resurrection they should revive and rise together to eternal life For this purpose a general Synod of those parts was called and Origen desired to be present at it who managed the cause with such weighty Arguments such unanswerable and clear convictions that the adverse party threw down their weapons and relinquished the sentiments which they maintained before Another heretical crew appeared at this time in the East the impious and abominable Sect of the Helcesaitae against whom also Origen seems to have been engaged concerning whom himself d Homil. in Psal 82. ap Euseb ibid. c. 38. p. 233. gives us this account They rejected a great part both of the Old and New Canon making use onely of some few parts of Scripture and such without question as they could make look most favourably upon their cause S. Paul they wholly rejected and held that it was lawful and indifferent to deny the faith and that he was the wise man that in his words would renounce Christianity in a time of danger and Persecution but maintain the truth in his heart They carried a Book about with them which they affirmed to have been immediately dropt down from Heaven which whoever received and gave credit to should receive remission of sins though different from that pardon which our Lord Jesus bestowed upon his followers But how far Origen was concerned against this absurd and sensless generation is to me unknown The best on 't is this Sect like a blazing Comet though its influence was malignant and pestilential suddenly arose and as suddenly disappeared XXII PHILIP the Emperour being slain by the Souldiers Decius made a shift by the help of the Army to step into the Throne a mortal enemy to the a Ibid. â— 3â— p. 234. Church in whose short reign more Martyrs especially men of note and eminency came to the Stake then in those who governed that Empire ten times his reign In Palaestin Alexander the aged and venerable Bishop of Jerusalem was thrown into prison where after long and hard usage and an illustrious confession of the Christian Faith before the public Tribunal he died This Alexander whom we have often mentioned had been first Bishop in Cappadocia b Ibid. c. 11. p. 212. where out of a religious curiosity he had resolved upon a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to visit the holy and venerable Antiquities of that place whereto he was particularly excited by a divine revelation intimating to him that it was the will of God that he should be assistant to the Bishop of that place It happened at this time that Narcissus Bishop of Jerusalem being some years since returned to his See which he had deserted many years before was become incapable through his great age and infirmity being CXVI years old duly to manage his charge Alexander approaching near Jerusalem they were warned by a Vision and a Voice from Heaven to go out of the City and there receive him whom Heaven had designed to be their Bishop They did so and finding Alexander entertained and introduced him with all possible kindness and respect where by the importunity of the People and the consent of all the neighbour-Bishops he was constrained to become Colleague with Narcissus in the government of that Church This I suppose is the first express instance that we meet with in Church-antiquity of two Bishops sitting at once and that by consent in one See But the case was warranted by an extraordinary authority besides that Narcissus seems rather to have resigned and quitted the place retaining nothing but the title nor intermedling any further then by joining in prayers and devotions for the good of the Church surviving not above three or four years at most Alexander succeeding in the sole Presidency governed his Church with singular prudence and fidelity and among other memorable acts erected a Library at Jerusalem c Ibid. c. 20. p. 222. which he especially stored with Ecclesiastical Epistles and Records from whence Eusebius confesses he furnished himself with many considerable Memoirs and materials for the composing of his History He sate Bishop XXXIX years and after several arraignments and various imprisonments and sufferings died now in prison at Caesarea to the unconceivable loss and resentment of the whole Church and especially of Origen who had been ordained by him and whom he had ever found a fast Friend and Patron Nor did Origen himself who was at this time at Tyre escape without his share Eusebius does but briefly intimate his sufferings having given a larger account of them in another Book long since lost he tells d Ubi supr p. 234. us that the Devil mustered up all his Forces against him and assaulted him with all
of them by the plain confession of Heathen Writers and the enemies of Christianity a Annal. l. 15. c. 44. p. 319. Tacitus tells us That the Author of this Religion was Christ who under the reign of Tiberius was put to death by Pontius Pilat the Procurator of Judaea whereby though this detestable Superstition was suppressed for the present yet did it break out again spreading it self not onely through Judaea the fountain of the mischief but in the very City of Rome it self where whatever is wicked and shameful meets together and is greedily advanced into reputation b H. Eccl. l. 2. c. 2. p. 40. vid. Oros adv Pag. l. 7. c. 4. fol. 293. Eusebius assures us that after our Lords Ascension Pilat according to custom sent an account of him to the Emperour which Tiberius brought before the Senate but they rejected it under pretence that cognizance had been taken of it before it came to them it being a fundamental Law of the Roman State that no new god could be taken in without the Decree of the Senate but that however Tiberius continued his good thoughts of Christ and kindness to the Christians For this he cites the testimony of Tertullian who in his c Apolog. c. 5. p. 6. c. 21. p. 20. Apology presented to the Roman Powers affirms that Tiberius in whose time the Christian Religion entered into the World having received an account from Pilat out of Palestin in Syria concerning the truth of that Divinity that was there brought it to the Senate with the Prerogative of his own vote but that the Senate because they had not before approved of it would not admit it however the Emperour continued of the same mind and threatned punishment to them that accused the Christians And before Tertullian Justin Martyr d Apolog. II. p. 76. speaking concerning the death and sufferings of our Saviour tells the Emperours that they might satisfie themselves in the truth of these things from the Acts written under Pontius Pilat It being customary not only at Rome to keep the Acts of the Senate and the People but for the Governors of Provinces to keep account of what memorable things happened in their Government the Acts whereof they transmitted to the Emperour And thus did Pilat during the Procuratorship of his Province How long these Acts remained in being I know not but in the controversie about Easter we find the Quartodecimans e Ap. Epiph. Haeres L. p. 182. justifying the day on which they observed it from the Acts of Pilat wherein they gloried that they had found the truth Whether these were the Acts of Pilat to which Justin appealed or rather those Acts of Pilat drawn up and published by the command of f Eâ—seb H. Eccl. l. 9. c. 5. p. 350. Maximinus Dioclesians successor in disparagement of our Lord and his Religion is uncertain but the latter of the two far more probable However Pilats Letter to Tiberius or as he is there called Claudis at this day extant in the Anacephalaeosis g Ad calcem â— de Excid uâ—b Hicros p. 683. of the younger Egesippus is of no great credit though that Author challenges greater antiquity then some allow him being probably contemporary with S. Ambrose and by many from the great conformity of stile and phrase thought to be S. Ambrose himself who with some few additions compiled it out of Josephus But then it is to be considered whether that Anacephalaeosis be done by the same or which is most probable by a much later hand Some other particular passages concerning our Saviour are taken notice of by Gentile Writers the appearance of the Star by Calcidius the murder of the Infants by Macrobius the Eclips at our Saviours Passion by Phlegon Trallianus not to speak of his miracles frequently acknowledged by Celsus Julian and Porphyry which I shall not insist upon VI. IMMEDIATELY after our Lords Ascension from whence we date the next period of the Church the Apostles began to execute the Powers intrusted with them They presently filled up Judas his vacancy by the election of a new Apostle the lot falling upon Matthias and he was numbred with the eleven Apostles Being next endued with power from on high as our Lord had promised them furnished with the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost they set themselves to preach in places of the greatest concourse and to the faces of their greatest enemies They who but a while before fled at the first approach of danger now boldly plead the cause of their crucified Master with the immediate hazard of their lives And that nothing might interrupt them in this imployment they instituted the Office of Deacons who might attend the inferiour Services of the Church while they devoted themselves to what was more immediately necessary to the good of souls By which prudent course Religion got ground apace and innumerable Converts were daily added to the Faith till a Persecution arising upon S. Stephen's Martyrdom banished the Church out of Jerusalem though this also proved its advantage in the event and issue Christianity being by this means the sooner spread up and down the neighbour Countries The Apostles notwithstanding the rage of the Persecution remained still at Jerusalem onely now and then dispatching some few of their number to confirm and setle the Plantations and to propagate the Faith as the necessities of the Church required And thus they continued for near twelve years together our Lord himself having commanded them not to depart Jerusalem and the parts thereabouts till twelve years after his Ascension as the ancient Tradition mentioned both by a Ap. Euseb H. Eccl. l. 5. c. 18. p. 186. Apollonius and b Stromat l. 6. p. 636. vid. Life of S. Peter Sect. 11. num 5. Clemens Alexandrinus informs us And now they thought it high time to apply themselves to the full execution of that Commission which Christ had given them to go teach and baptize all Nations Accordingly having setled the general affairs and concernments of the Church they betook themselves to the several Provinces of the Gentile World preaching the Gospel to every Nation under Heaven so that even in a literal sense their sound went into all the earth and their words unto the ends of the World Infinite multitudes of people in all Cities and Countries says c Lib. 2. c. 3. p. 4â— Eusebius like Corn into a well-filled Granary being brought in by that grace of God that brings salvation And they whose minds were heretofore distempered and over-run with the errour and idolatry of their Ancestors were cured by the Sermons and Miracles of our Lords Disciples and shaking off those chains of Darkness and Slavery which the merciless Daemons had put upon them freely embraced and entertained the knowledge and service of the onely true God the great Creator of the World whom they worshiped according to the holy Rites and Rules of that divine and wisely contrived
he became the first Bishop propagating Christianity in all those parts But however that was probable it is that in the last periods of his life he returned unto Cyprus where my i Alexand. ib. n. XVIII seq Author tells us he converted many till some Jews from Syria coming to Salamis where he then was enraged with fury set upon him as he was disputing in the Synagogue in a corner whereof they shut him up till night when they brought him forth and after infinite tortures stoned him to death He adds and the faith of it must rest upon the credit of the Relater who k Ad Ann. 485. v. 4. p. 428. Baronius tells us lived at the same time when his corps was first found out that they threw his body into the fire with an intent to consume it but that the flames had not the least power upon it and that Mark his Kinsman privately buried it in a Cave not far distant from the City his Friends resenting the loss with solemn lamentation I omit the miracles reported to have been done at his Tomb the remains of his body were discovered in the reign of a Theod. Lect. H. Eccl. l. 2. p. 557. Alex. Mon. loc cit n. XXXI Zeno the Emperour b Niceph. H. Ecc. l. 16. c. 37. p. 716. Tom 2. Nicephorus by a mistake makes it the XII year of Anastasius Ann. CCCCLXXXV dug up under a Bean or Carob Tree and upon his Brest was found S. Matthews Gospel written with Barnabas his own hand which Anthemius the Bishop took along with him to Constantinople where it was received by the Emperour with a mighty reverence and laid up with great care and diligence The Emperour as a testimony of his joy honouring the Episcopal See of Salamis with this Prerogative that it should be sedes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 independent upon any Foreign Jurisdiction a Priviledge ratified by Justinian the Emperour whose Wife Theodora was a Cypriot The Emperour also greatly enriched the Bishop at his return commanding him to build a Church to S. Barnabas over the place of his interment which was accordingly erected with more then ordinary stateliness and magnificence 'T is added in the c Alex. ut sâ—prâ— n. XXIX XXX Story that these remains were discovered by the notice of S. Barnabas himself who three several times appeared to Anthemius which I behold as a meer addition to the Story designed onely to serve a present turn For Peter sirnamed the Fuller then Patriarch of Antioch challenged at this time a jurisdiction over the Cyprian Churches as subject to his See this Anthemius would not agree to but stiffly asserted his own rights and how easie was it to take this occasion of finding S. Barnabas his body to add that of the appearances to him to gain credit to the cause and advance it with the Emperor And accordingly it had its designed effect and whoever reads the whole Story and the circumstances of the apparitions as related by my Author will see that they seem plainly calculated for such a purpose XIV FOR his outward form and shape he is thus represented by the d Id. Ibid. nâ— XVIII Ancients He was a man of a comely countenance a grave and venerable aspect his eye-brows short his eye chearful and pleasant darting something of majesty but nothing of sowrness and austerity his speech sweet and obliging his garb was mean and such as became a man of a mortified life his gate composed and unaffected grave and decent This elegant structure was but the lodging of a more noble tenant a Soul richly furnished with divine graces and vertues a profound humility diffusive charity firm faith an immoveable constancy and an unconquerable patience a mighty zeal and an unwearied diligence in the propagating of Christianity and for the good of Souls So entirely did he devote himself to an ambulatory course of life so continually was he imployed in running up and down from place to place that he could find little or no time to leave any Writings behind him for the benefit of the Church at least none that have certainly arrived to us Indeed anciently there were some and e De pudicit c. 20. p. 582. vid. Philastr de Haeres c. 60. Tertullian particularly who supposed him to be the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews an opinion generally rejected and thrown out of doors there is also an Epistle still extant under his name of great antiquity frequently cited by Clemens Alexandrinus and his Scholar Origen to pass by others the latter of whom stiles it the f Contr. Cels lib. 1. p. 49. Catholic Epistle of Barnabas but placed by g H. Eccl. l. 3. c. 25. p. 97. Eusebius among the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Writings that were not genuine The frame and contexture of it is intricate and obscure made up of uncouth Allegories forced and improbable interpretations of Scripture though the main design of it is to shew that the Christian Religion has superseded the Rites and Usages of the Mosaic Law The latter part of it contains an useful and excellent exhortation managed under the notion of two ways the one of light the other of darkness the one under the conduct of the Angels of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those illuminating Ministers as he calls them the other under the guidance of the Angels of Satan the Prince of the iniquity of the Age. Under the way of light he presses to most of the particular duties and instances of the Christian and the Spiritual life which are there with admirable accuracy and succinctness reckoned up Under that of darkness he represents those particular sins and vices which we are to decline and shun and I am confident the pious Reader will not think it time lost nor repent his pains to peruse so ancient and useful a discourse Thus then he expresses himself XV. Evâ—aâ— Epist p. 2â—8 Edit Vess THE way of life is this Whoever travels towards the appointed place will hasten by his works to attain to it And the knowledge that is given us how to walk in this way is this Thou shalt love thy Creator Thou shalt glorifie him who redeemed thee from death Thou shalt be simple in heart and being rich in spirit shalt not join thy self to him that walks in the way of death Thou shalt hate to do that which is displeasing unto God Thou shalt hate all manner of hypocrisie Thou shalt not forsake the Commandments of the Lord. Exalt not thy self but be of an humble mind Thou shalt not assume glory to thy self Neither shalt thou take evil counsel against thy neighbor Thou shalt not add boldness to thy soul Thou shalt not commit fornication nor be guilty of adultery or buggery Thou shalt not neglect Gods command in correcting other mens impurity nor shalt thou have respect of persons when thou reprovest any man for his faults Thou shalt be meek and silent and stand
The multitude beheld with admiration these heavenly conflicts and stood astonished to hear the servants of Christ in the midst of all this with an unshaken mind making a free and bold confession of him destitute of any external succour but armed with a divine power and defending themselves with the shield of Faith VII TWO full years S. Cyprian had remained in his retirement when the Persecution being somewhat abated by the death of Decius he returned to Carthage An. CCLI where he set himself to reform disorders and to compose the differences that disturbed his Church For which purpose he conven'd a Synod of his neighbor-Bishops to consult about the cause of the lapsed Who were no sooner met a Ad Cornel. Epist 41. p. 55. but there arrived Messengers with Letters from Novatian signifying his Ordination to the See of Rome and bringing an accusation and charge against Cornelius But the men no sooner appeared but were disowned and rejected from Communion especially after that Pompeius and Stephanus were arrived from Rome and had brought a true account and relation of the case The Synod therefore advised and charged them to desist from their turbulent and schismatical proceedings not to rend the Church by propagating a pernicious Faction that it was their best way and the safest counsel they could take to shew themselves true Christians by returning back to the Peace of the Church As for the lapsed having discussed their case b Ad Anton. Epist 52. p. 67. according to the Rules of the holy Scripture they concluded upon this wise and moderate expedient that neither all hopes of Peace and communion should be denied them lest looking upon themselves as in a desperate case they should start back into a total apostacy from the Faith nor yet the censures of the Church be so far relaxed as rashly to admit them to Communion but that the causes being examined and regard being had to the will of the Delinquents and the aggravations of particular cases their time of penance should be accordingly prolonged and the divine clemency be obtained by acts of a great sorrow and repentance Their meaning is that the lapsed being of several sorts should be treated according to the nature of their crimes the Libellatici who had onely purchased libels of security and dismission from the Heathen Magistrate to excuse them from doing sacrifice in time of Persecution should have a shorter time of penance assigned them the Sacrificati who had actually sacrificed to Idols should not be taken in till they had expiated their offence by a very long penance and as they sometimes call it satisfaction This Synodical determination * Id. ibid. Euseb l. 6. c. 43. p. 242. was presently sent to Rome and ratified by Cornelius and a Council of sixty Bishops and above as many Presbyters and Deacons concluding and the Decree examined assented to and published by the Bishops in their several Provinces that Novatus and his insolent Party and all that adhered to his inhumane and merciless opinion should be excluded the Communion of the Church but that the Brethren who had fallen into that calamity should be gently dealt with and restored by methods of repentance About the same time there was a Synod also held at Antioch by the Eastern Bishops about the same affair For so Dionysius a Ap. Euseb H. Eccl. l. 6. c. 46. p. 247. Bishop of Alexandria in his Letter to Cornelius of Rome tells him that he had been summoned by Helenus Bishop of Tarsus Firmilian of Cappadocia and Theoctistus of Caesarea in Palestin to meet in Council at Antioch to suppress the endeavours of some who sought there to establish the Novatian Schism VIII THE next Year May XV. Ann. CCLII began another b Epist Synod ad Cornel. Ep. 54 p. 76. Ep. 55. p. 82. Council at Carthage about this matter and wherein they steered the same course they had done before being rather swayed to moderate counsels herein because frequently admonished by divine revelations of an approaching Persecution and therefore did not think it prudent and reasonable that men should be left naked and unarmed in the day of battel but that they might be able to defend themselves with the shield of Christs body and bloud For how should they ever hope to persuade them to shed their own bloud in the cause of Christ if they denied them the benefit of his bloud how could it be expected they should be ready to drink of the cup of Martyrdom whom the Church debarred the priviledge to drink of the cup of Christ While peace and tranquillity smiled upon the Church they protracted the time of penance and allowed not the Sacrificati to be readmitted but at the hour of death But that now the enemy was breaking in upon them and Christians were to be prepared and heartned on for suffering and encouragement to be given to those who by the sincerity of their repentance had shewed themselves ready to resist unto bloud and to contend earnestly for the Faith This they did not to patronize the Lazy but excite the Diligent the Churches Peace being granted not in order to ease and softness but to conflict and contention And if any improved the indulgence to worser purposes they did but cheat themselves and such they remitted to the divine Tribunal At this Synod appeared one c Ibid. p. 8â— Privatus who having some years since been condemned for Heresie and other crimes by a Council of XC Bishops desired that his cause might be heard over again but was rejected by the Synod whereupon gathering a Party of the lapsed or the Schismatics he ordained at Carthage one Fortunatus Bishop giving out that no less then five and twenty Bishops were present at the consecration But the notorious falshood and vanity of their pretences being discovered they left the place and fled over to Rome IX ABOUT this time happened that miserable Plague that so much afflicted the Roman World wherein Carthage had a very deep share d Pont. Diac. in vit Cypr. p. 13. Vast multitudes were swept away every day the fatal Messenger knocking as he went along at every door The streets were silled with the carcasses of the dead which seemed to implore the assistance of the living and to challenge it as a right by the Laws of Nature and Humanity as that which shortly themselves might stand in need of But alas all in vain every one trembled and fled and shifted for himself deserted their dearest friends and nearest relations none considered what might be his own case nor how reasonable it was that he should do for another what he would another should do for him and if any staid behind it was onely to make a prey In this calamitous and tragic Scene S. Cyprian calls the Christians together instructs them in the duties of Mercy and Charity and from the Precepts and Examples of the holy Scripture shews them what a mighty influence they have
should disbelieve them and count all Fables which were above the standard of their sentiments and apprehensions Indeed as to the main of the thing I might challenge the faith of all Ages ever since who have unanimously believed and conveyed the report of it down to us and upon this account the title of Thaumaturgus the Wonder-worker is constantly and uncontrollably ascribed to him in the Writings of the Church And S. Basil e De Spir. S. c. 2â— p. 360. Tom. 2. assures us that upon this very account the Gentiles were wont to call him a Second Moses and that in his time he was had in such universal admiration among the People of that Countrey and his memory so fresh among them that no time would be able to blot it out XIV IN this faithful and successful management of his place he quietly continued till about the year CCL when the Emperour a Id. ibid. p. 999 Decius vexed to see the Christian Religion so much get the ground of declining Paganism published very severe edicts against the Christians commanding the Governours of Provinces as they valued their heads to put them into a strict and rigorous execution wherein Pontus and Cappadocia shared if not deeper to be sure equal with the rest All other business seemed to give way to this persecuting the Christians was the debate of all public Councils and the great care of Magistrates which did not vent it self in a few threatnings and hard words but in studying methods of cruelty and instruments of torment the very apprehension whereof is dreadful and amazing to humane nature Swords and Axes Fire Wild Beasts Stakes and Engines to stretch and distend the limbs iron Chairs made red hot frames of Timber set up strait in which the bodies of the tormented as they stood were raked with nails that tore off the flesh and innumerable other arts daily invented every great man being careful that another should not seem to be more fierce and cruel then himself Some came in as Informers others as Witnesses some searched all private corners others seized upon them that fled and some who gaped for their Neighbours Estates took hold of the opportunity to accuse and persecute them for being Christians So that there was a general confusion and consternation every man being afraid of his nearest relatives the Father not consulting the safety of his Child nor the Child regarding its duty to its Parents the Gentile Son betraying his Christian Father and the Infidel Father accusing his Son for embracing Christianity and the Brother accounting it a piece of Piety to violate the Laws of Nature in the cause of Religion and to condemn his own Brother because a Christian By this means the Woods became full and the Cities empty and yet no sooner were many houses rid of their proper owners but they were turned into common Goals the public Prisons not being able to contain the multitudes of Christians that were sent to them You could not go into the Markets or places of usual concourse but you might have seen some apprehended others led to trial or execution some weeping others laughing and rejoicing at the common misery no regard had to Age or Sex or Vertue or Merit but as in a City stormed by a proud and potent Conquerour every thing was without mercy exposed to the rage and rudeness of a barbarous and inhumane enemy XV. S. GREGORY beholding the sad and calamitous state of the present time and having considered b Ibid. p. 1001. seriously with himself the frailty and imbecillity of humane nature and how few of his new Converts especially would be able to bear up under those fierce conflicts which the cause of Religion would engage them in timely advised his Church a little to decline the force of the present storms telling them 't was better by flying to save their souls then by abiding those furious trials to hazard their falling from the Faith And to let them see that this might be done and that herein there was no prejudice to their souls he resolved to shew them the way by his example himself first retiring out of danger retreating to a Desert Mountain accompanied with none but the Gentile Priest whom he had converted and who ministred to him in capacity of a Deacon And it was but time he should withdraw the enemy chiefly aiming at him as the head of the Party and laying all possible snares to take him Being informed where he lay concealed they went in vast numbers to hunt him out some besetting round the foot of the Mountain that he might not escape others going up searched every place till they came very near him He persuading his Deacon to a firm confidence of the divine protection presently fell to prayer as the other also did by his example with eyes and hands lift up to Heaven The Persecutors in the mean time pried into all places examined every bush and shrub every crevise of a Rock every nook and hole but finding nothing returned back to their companions at the bottom hoping that by this time he might be fallen into their hands And when the Informer described the very place where he lay they affirmed they saw nothing there but a couple of trees a little distant from each other The company being gone the Informer staid behind and went directly to the place where finding them at their devotions and concluding their escape to be the immediate effect of a divine preservation God having blinded their eyes that they should not see them fell down at the Bishops feet gave up himself to be a Christian and a companion of his solitudes and dangers XVI Ibid. p. 1002. DESPAIRING now of meeting with the Shepherd the Wolves fell with the fiercer rage upon the Flock that staid behind and not there onely but ran up and down all parts of the Province seizing upon Men Women and Children that had but any reverence for the name of Christ dragging them to the City and casting them into Prison where they were sure to be entertained with variety of tortures S. Gregory in the mean time remained in his solitary retirement till God having mercifully commanded the Storm to blow over and the tyranny of the Persecution to cease he quitted his shady and melancholy Walks and came back to Neocaesarea and visiting his Diocess all about established in every place anniversary Festivals and Solemnities to do honour to the memory of the Martyrs that had suffered in the late Persecution A great instance of his wisdom and prudence at that time not onely in doing right to the memory of the Martyrs but by this means training up people to a readier embracing of Religion when they saw that it indulged them a little mirth and freedom in the midst of those severe Yokes that it put upon them He had observed what advantage the idolatry of the Gentiles made by permitting its Votaries liberty indeed licentiousness in their religious solemnities and