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
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
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
was a Greek Writer as well as Theophylact but when he likewise flourished it s controverted by many Authors some say be lived about 900 years after Christ others 1000. Sixtus Sinensis tells us that it must be after the 800 year in regard of those Authors he makes use of in his Works This man collected out of the Commentaries of the Fathers Expositions on the Acts the seven Canonical Epistles and all Saint Pauls which were rendred into Latine by Maximus Florentinus It s said That after this man had set out his Comments Theophylacts were not so highly valued the one being so much preferred in that way before the other and he also borrowed most of his Expositions from Chrysostome Sixtus Senensis speaking of this Writer calls him Graecum autorem valde doctum a Greek Author very learned and further he addes In explicandis divinis scripturis brevis apertus elegans in unfolding or expounding the divine Scriptures brief clear and elegant One Theodulus a Priest of Coelosyria has some Annotations on the Epistle to the Romans but they are all taken out of this Oecumenius Lanfrancus LAnfrancus an Italian by nation borne at Papia was Arch-bishop of Canterbury and in great esteem for his profound learning with our William the Conquerour he was Berengarius his great Antagonist and writ against him maintaining the errour of Transubstantiation which the said Berengarius had so stifly opposed he was one of those 113. Bishops which were convened by Pope Nicholas the second at Rome for the rooting out of that Sacramentall truth Berengarius had published It s a thing observed by the Orthodox learned that before this age of Lanfrancus the Doctrine of Augustine was universally received and followed first published by Egyppus Fulgentius his equal afterward by Fulgentius himself then by Primasius all of these being African Divines and eminent for their learning And so it continued to be maintained by Isidore Hispalensis Maximus Taurinensis and Prosper of Aquitane Nay ratified it was likewise by Council as the Aurasicane and the sixth Constantinopolitane and before that Charles the great governed the Roman Empire it was stoutly defended by Bede a Saxon and his Disciples Alcuinus Claudius Rabanus Maurus and by many other learned Doctors for the space of 500 yeers and upwards But now began men to swerve from that good and pure doctrine of Augustine and especially about that Article of the Sacrament Satan by his instruments promoting as Pareus expresseth it immanem illum Transubstantiationis errorem infinitorum aliorum fontem that huge errour of Transubstantiation the fountain of many others This Lanfrancus though he had so great an interest in the favour of the Conquerour as that he ordered all his Affaires both in Church and State yet when Rufus came to enjoy the crown he had not that influence for the Nobles of the Realme out of emulation and envy had alienated the young Kings affections from him which occasioned his sicknesse whereof he soon dyed Ranulphus relates this of him that it was his serious and frequent desire he might dye of no other disease then a Feaver or Dysenterie because in those distempers the use of speech would continue to the last breath he sate in his Archiepiscopal Chaire about nineteen yeers and dyed in the third yeer of the Raign of King Rufus Sixtus Senensis calls this man omnium suitemporis in omni literarum genere doctissimum of all men of his time the most learned in all kindes of learning and speaking of those works which he hath written he saith this of them Quod inter alia praestantis ingenii monumenta reliquit pios atque eruditos in totum psalterium commentarios That among many other monuments of his excellent wit he left behinde him pious and learned Commentaries on the whole book of Psalms He flourished when Henry the third enjoyed the imperiall diadem about the yeer of our Lord 1060. So saith Sixtus Senensis Anselmus ANselmus succeeded Lanfrancus in the Archiepiscopall See of Canterbury who for a Popish Writer was a man of great fame in the times he lived and of no mean repute for his learning even in the reformed Churches He was by birth a Burgundian and advanced from an Abbot to that eminent Ecclesiasticall dignity by William Rufus then King of England betwixt whom and this Bishop there happened afterwards hot contentions because the King had put up in his coffers some rents of Defunct Bishops which the Prelat would ever have peculiar and appropiate to the Church hereupon he was twice banished out of England but at last returning upon a solemne friendly invitation from the said King he was received by the people with high acclamations and great joyes This Bishop was very much against the marriage of the Clergie which it seems was in use till his time in England and he is said to attribute the honour to the Virgin Mother as he did to our Lord her Son He fell sick at Edmondbury and and on the 28th day of Aprill in the yeer of Christ 1109. being aged 76 yeers he dyed at Canterbury whether he had been removed in the time of his sicknesse and was buried at the head of his Predecessor Lanfrancus Though afterwards he was taken up and interred in the eastern part of the said Cathedral which he had in his life-time adorned with a most sumptuous structure This man because by his notable writings he had advanced the Papal Tyranny and depressed as much on the other side the Kingly Soveraignty therefore did Pope Urban Order and Decree That he and his successors should sit at his right Foot in every General Council and thus it was proclaimed when that place was given him in the open Assembly Includamus hunc in orbe nostro tanquam alterius orbis Papam Sixtus Senensis thus describes him Anselmus vir tam divinis quam humanis disciplinis nobiliter excultus stylo mire simplici puro sed non in jocundo His life was written by his intimate friend Edinerus He wished when he was dying that he might have had a little more time here allowed him till he had perfected that most obscure Problem of the Souls Original which it seems he had in his life-time taken in hand to determine but sayes one of him Hoc tempus datum ei non est ut majus bonum in aeternitate ei daretur This time was not given him that a greater good might be given to him in Eternity Bernardus BErnardus Abbot of Claraval flourished in the time of the Schoolmen and yet is reckoned as one of the Fathers for his sanctity of life and soundness of Doctrine Chemnitius saith of him this Recentissimus est vixitque post confirmatam Episcopi Romani Tyrannidem He is the latest Father and lived after that the Tyranny of the Roman Bishop was established Yet he did much inveigh against the impiety of the Pope his Cardinals Bishops and all that Antichristian Clergy Bishop Carleton sayes Utinam tales papistas multos imo vel unum talem hodie haberemus in toto regno Pontificio qualem Bernhardum fuisse constat I would to God we had this day many such Papists nay but one such as it is manifest Bernhard was â—e solidly disputes as the foresaid Bishop further doth observe of the chief Fundamentals and Heads of Faith as of the Scriptures of the Church of Mans Misery of free Justification of Grace of New Obedience all of these against the Fables of the Trent Council And saith Carleton Is he a Papist that follows the Catholick Church and the consent of the ancient Fathers against the Jesuites and the Trent Impostors Hence it is that many Princes made use of him for decision of controversies and composing of contentions in the Church This was he which advised Count Theobald when he saw him at great expences in the building of Temples that he would rather supply the houshold of Faith and build up the living Tabernacles of the most High He died in the 64 year of his age This is Erasmus his character of him Bernhardus festivus jucundus nec segnis in movendis aeffectibus Bernhard is pleasant sweet and not slow in moving the affections And again sayes the same Author Bernhardus vir Christiane doctus sancte facundus pie festivus in cap. 1. Rom. p. 243. This is Bishop Mortons Elogie which he gives him In atro Romanae Ecclesiae nocte fere solus â—ffulsit Bernhardus qui tam doctrinae quam vitae fuae lumine in multis articulis tenebras pontificias dispulit In the dark night of the Romish Church almost onely Bernhard shined forth who as well by the light of his doctâ—â—â—e as his life hath in many Articles scattered the Popish darkness I will adde no more but that of Sixtus Senensis who saith thus of him Oratio ubique dulcis ardens ita delectat ardenter incendit ut ex suavissima lingua ejus mel lac verborum fluere ex ardentissimo ejus pectore ignitorum affectuum incendia erumpere videantur His speech every-where sweet and ardent doth so delight and fervently inflame that there do seem to flow from his most sweet tongue honey and milk of words and out of his most ardent breast fires of burning affections to break out FINIS
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
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
to his haven in the dayes of the good Emperours Iovian and Valentinian who were an Asylum or refuge not to him onely but likewise to all the persecuted people of God This godly Father lived to the seventh year of Valentinian and then rested in the Lord anno Christi 371. This was a familiar speech of his Verberari Christianorum propium est flagellare autem Christianos Pilati Caiphae officia sunt It s proper for Christians to be beaten but to scourge them is the office of Caiphas Pilate he was Bishop of Alexandria forty six years of whose most excellent endowments Gregorie Naziane is the Trumpeter who speaks thus of him in his funeral oration Athanasium laudare idem esse ac virtutem ipsam laudare to commend Athanasius is to praise vertue it self Indeed no Doctour of the Church ever endured so sharp disputes and so bitter afflictions for the truth as he Photius the Arch-bishop of Constantinople writing to his brother Tarasius concerning the works of this pious Father he thus expresses him Athanasius in sermonibus ubique locutione clarus est brevis simplex acutus tamen altus argumentationibus omnino vehemens in his tanta ubertas ut admirabilis sit Athanasius in his Sermons is clear in epxression and short and plain yet acute and high in his arguments altogether vehement and in these so great fertility that it is admirable Theodoret calls propugnaculum veritatis the fortress of truth Nazianzen lumen ecclesiae the light of the Church Epiphaneus latrem rectae fidei the Father of the Orthodox Faith Others orbis oraculum the Oracle of the world Bishop Andrews of Winchester stiles him Athanasius the Great great in many respects but especially great for the Creed he compiled His writings against Apollinarius do excel for grace and ornament as also those Epistles of his wherein he doth excuse his banishment Possevinus saith of him Athanasius fuit tanquam columna ecclesiae adversus omnes haereticos Athanasius was as as it were the pillar of the Church against all hereticks And another calls him haeraeticorum Malleum The beetle of Hereticks as one which knockt them at head by his solid and substantiall reasonings When Iulian the Emperour had by his Imperiall Edict banisht him from Alexandria he comforted his people and friends whom he found lamenting his condition Bono animo estoto filioli Nubecula est brevi evanescet Be of good courage my sons it s but a little cloud and will vanish instantly Sixtus Senensis tells us That Gregorie a Divine did set forth the life of this Father in an excellent Oration Hilarius Pictaviensis HIlarius Pictaviencis Episcopus Bishop of Poicttiers did shine most brightly in the Reigns of these following Emperours Constantius Iulian Iovinian Valens and Valentinian He was an eloquent Preacher and a notable Disputant he did by his solid writings establish the disperst Churches of Illyria France and Italy We reade that he was banished with many other Orthodox Bishops by the power and Policie of the Arians of whom he was a mighty opposer and Antagonist but at length prevailing with the Emperour Constantius for his return he came back to his Charge at Poictiers in the yeer 360. Where he found all grievously distracted and miserably afflicted with the Arians leaven so that like a good and skilfull Chirurgion he laboured to binde up the wounds and to heal the distempers He wrote twelve books of the Trinity wherein as Ierom observes in an Epistle of his Ad Romanum Oratorem quod Duodecim Quintiliani libros stylo imitatus est numero That he imitated the twelve books of Quintilian both in style and also in number And in that worke of his he confuted the blasphemous doctrine of the Hereticke Arius Ierome tells us that he died in the yeer of Christ 372. when Valerian was Emperour and he bestowes on him this worthy Character Hillarius Gallicano attollitur cothurno Eloquentiae Latinae Rhodanus Hilary is lifted up with his Gallican buskins the Rhine of Latine eloquence And elsewhere the same Father stiles him Latinae Sermonis tubam The Trumpet of the Latine tongue Some say he wrote on the whole book of Psalms which work of his is extant in Spain being a great reader and studier of Origen he is said to make use of Heliodorus a Priest who was better skild in the Greek tongue then himself Hence some do impute his misinterpretation of the Psalms whilst in some places he leaves the Grammatical sense and turns it into one that is Allegoricall and Anagogicall meerly to his ignorance in the Hebrew language Sixtus Senensis Speaking of that work of his and of that on St. Matthew he gives us this account of the style of them Stylus absque ulla artis affectatione pressus interdum subobscurus ob id a simplicium fratrum lectione procul est His style short without any artificiall affectation sometimes dark and obscure and for that very reason not to be understood or read by unskilfull and illiterate men T is a commendation which Erasmus gives him In Hilario grandi materiae parem grandiloquentiam atque ut ita dicam cothurnum admiramur This Bishop took such great paines to purge the Churches of France of the Arian Heresie and so far prevailed by his unwearied labours that Ierom resembles him to Deucalion who both saw the flood of waters overflowing Thessalie and the abating of them also Even so this Hilarius saw in his time both the growth and the decay of Arianisme in France One Fortunatianus a successour of his wrote his life in Hexameter verse being Bishop of Poictiers in the yeer 570. Didymus Alexandrinus VVAs an excellent Grammarian and for his eminency in that Art was elected Governour of the School of Alexandria Ierome so highly extols him in his 65 Epistle that he saith there Se quod nescivit didicisse a Didymo quod sciebat illo docente non perdidisse That he learnt what he knew not of Didymus and that he preserved what he knew by his instruction Nicephorus doth seem to eclipse him with a report of some errours that he should seem to adhere and cleave to But Socrates in his History giveth him this credit That he was a chief Maintainer and Patron of the Nicene Faith And Zozomene informs us Arianis in Aegypto nihil fuisse integri quamdiu Didymus in ea floruerit That Arius had no hold at all in Egypt so long as Didymus flourished there This man was a great acquaintance and an intimate familiar of Ieromes insomuch that that Father was greatly delighted with his society He tells us this of him That although he was blinde from his younger dayes yet he proved an excellent Geometrician which chiefly requires the Instrument of sight to the wonder of the whole World He wrote a heavenly Book de Spiritu Sancto of the Holy Ghost which the said Ierome translated into the Latine Tongue and is now mingled with his Works
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
and advanced He wrote a book in confutation of no lesse then 80. Heresies which is called his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherein is also comprehended a History from Christ even to his own times He flourished in the reigns of the Emperours Valens and Gratian being Contemporary with those grand Lights of the Church Basil the Great Gregory Nazianzene Iohn Chrysostome with the latter of which he had a sharp contention about the writings of Origen which Epiphanius would have condemned as Hereticall at the Synod of Constantinople but Chrysostome withstood it in which bickering of theirs this hapned worthy of admiration That one was a true Prophet to the other Epiphanius presaging the deposition of Chrysostome and Chrysostome the sudden death of Epiphanius both which were accordingly accomplished the one being afterwards deposed and the other dying in his return to Cyprus Suidas saith thus much of this mans works Quod a doctis ob res ab indoctis propter verba leguntur and Ierom said the like That they are read of the learned for their matter and of the unlearned for their words His Panarium is stiled by another Vniversae antiquitatis Ecclesiasticae promptuarium A Cellar or Storehouse of all Ecclesiasticall Antiquity He was master of five learned tongues and thence it was that Ierom honoured him with this Epithet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Augustine addes this Elogie Apud Graecos inter magnos habitus a multis in Catholicae fidei sanitate laudatus With the Greeks he was reputed among the great ones and commended by many for his soundness in the Catholike Faith And yet Drusius fastens many an errour on him lib. 4. observat cap. 21. Epiphanium scimus omnes in multis graviter hallucinatum We all know that Epiphanius grievously erred in many things Ambrosius Mediolanensis AMbrosius Mediolanensis Episcopus the Bishop of Millain being Leiutenant of the Province was chosen Bishop of the City by the unanimous consent of the people and therein confirmed by the Emperour Valentinian he was high in the affections of five most noble Princes Valentinian the elder Gratian Valentinian the younger Theodosius the great and Honorius he was a man of great fame amongst the eastern Churches and very intimate and familiar with Basil of Caesarea and other eminent and famous Doctors even as the inscriptions of his Epistles to diverse of them do insinuate He baptized Augustine and was likewise his master before he was Bishop of Millain he governed Liguria he wrote many excellent books which deserved those characters that the learned have given him Erasmus saith thus of him Ambrosius juxta nomen suum vere coelesti manat Ambrosia dignus quisit quod dicitur Ambrosius hoc est immortalis non solum apud Christum sed etiam apud homines Ambrose according to his name doth truely flow with heavenly Ambrosia who is worthy to be what he is called Ambrosius that is immortal not with Christ onely but with men also It s Augustines commendation of him ejus eloquià strenue ministrant adipem frumenti divini laetitiam olei sobriam vini ebrietatem his eloquent speeches do stoutly administer the fat of divine bread-corn and the joy of oyle and of wine a sober drunkenness one of the Latine Poets speaks his worth in this following distich Cedite doctores Romani cedite graii Nescio quid majus nascitur Ambrosio Theodosius the Emperour being suspended from the Sacrament by this excellent Prelate because he came to it with the guilt of bloud upon his soul for being angry with the inhabitants of Thessalonica he had caused seven thousand of them to be slain having drawn them together for that end to a Stage-play he said of this Ambrose Neminem se nosse qui vere sciret episcopum gerere praeter unum Ambrosium that he did not know any man that truely knew how to behave himself like a Bishop besides Ambrose He dyed in the year of the Lord 398. aged 64 years Hieronymus HIeronymus was brought up at Rome in the time of Pope Damasus flourished in the Church about the year of Christ 390. providence so ordering that there should arise such shining lights at that time when the Church was pestered with the heresies of Arius and Pelagius there being no less then ten or twelve which in that short tract of time presented themselves to oppose them among which this Father was one of the chiefest He was a great traveller and had compassed the greatest part of Europe that he might have conference with the learned of that age at length returning to Judea he seated himself about Bethlehem where he composed most of those works we enjoy at this day and there he dyed full of dayes in the yeer of Christ 416. and in the 12 of the raign of Honorius The learned of latter times have highly extolled his repute and fame Hieronymus blandum facundiae nomen summis in omnibus artifex saith Caussinus Ierom a pleasant name of eloquence and in all things the best artist Barthius gives him this Elogy Hieronymi ingenium hoc fuit ut conscius sibi profundissimae eruditionis paucis dicere plura salem quendam acuminis relinquere velit in animo legentis this was Ieroms wit that being conscious to himself of his deep learning he would speak much in few words and leave a relish of his ingenuity in the mind of the Reader Augustine is very spaâ—ing of speaking in his praise because he lived in his time and was his scholar But Henisius doth of late break out into admiration of him Quo tandem modo aut quibus ego verbis tuam maxime Hieronyme ingentem simul pietatem ac facundiam describam After what manner and with what words O most great Ierome shall I describe thy vast piety and eloquence how shall I express and declare thy skill which was so admirable in all tongues and in all antiquity and Philosophy this Henisius speaks and much more of him in one of his orations they write that this man of all the Fathers onely had knowledge of the Hebrew tongue When he was at Rome he grew into acquaintance with some of the honourable Ladies there as Marcella Sophronia Principia Paula and Eustochium to whom he opened many difficult and knotty texts of Scripture for he was then a Priest after he left Rome as he journied to Palestine he acquainted himself with those three Doctors Epiphanius Bishop of Cyprus Nazianzene and Dydimus yet he was more addicted to an Eremetical life then to society Erasmus in his Preface to Hilarius having made mention of this Father he subjoynes this testimony quo viro nihil habet orbis latinius doctius vel sanctius then which man the world hath nothing more Latin and more learned or more holy Austin also speaking of his elegant speech saith thus cujus eloquium ex oriente in occidente instar lampadis resplenduit whose eloquence like a Lamp did shine out of the east into
year of our Lord 444. after he had sate in the Chair of Alexandria 32 years Nicephorus tells us That this Cyrillus did exercise an hostile hatred against Chrysostome for no other cause but because he did dissent in his judgement from the opinion of his Uncle Theophilus Niceph. lib. 14. cap. 27. Anastasius calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Seal of the Faith of the Fathers Leo the Emperour equals him to Athanasius Basil Nazianzen Nyssen and Chrysostome for eminency of exploits as their fellow Constit 88. Nicephorus in his 14 Book and 14 Chapter speaks thus of him Ad certamina natum nullam prorsus haeresin grassari passum fuisse That being born for conflicts and debates he would not suffer any heresie to spred Bellarmine affords him this Elogie Cyrillus vir fuit sanctissimus doctissimus at praesertim circa mysterium incarnationis Dominica a Deo doctus Bell. de Script Eccl. pag. 210. Cyril was a most holy and most learned man but taught of God especially about the Mystery of our Lords Incarnation Johannes Chrysostomus IOhannes Chrysostomus whom Montacutius calls Patrum disertissimum in Scripturis enarrandis Graecorum principem The most eloquent of the Fathers and in the unfolding the Scriptures of the Greeks the chief was born at Antioch of a Noble Family his Parents names were Secundus and Anthusa so Sixtus Senensis tells us He learnt Rhetorick of Libanius and Philosophy of Andragathius and Theologie of Diodorus the Bishop of Tarsus He was a great admirer of Aristophanes whose Comedies he would usually put under his Pillow whence some say he suckt his admirable eloquence He made so great progress in his Studies that he was the wonder of all that heard him After he was baptized he altogether spent his time in searching the hidden sense of the Scriptures and first he was appointed Lecturer at Antioch and last of all Bishop of Constantinople having with that many Churches of Thrace Asia and Pontus committed to his jurisdiction He used great freedom of speech as one that would neither seek the favour nor dread the power of any He was much envied and hated by the false Brethren who made it their work to load this zealous man with slanders and reproaches especially Theophilus the Alexandrian Bishop who was indeed the cause of the dissention betwixt him and Epiphanius He was likewise persecuted by the Empresse Eudoxia which prevailed with her husband for his banishment but being recall'd again by Arcadius when it was expected he should become much more sparing and less bitter in his Sermons he persisted still in his reproving of the Empress whereat her husband much incensed exiled him again to Pontus where being surprised with an head-ache and falling ill of a Feaver he concluded his life in the year of Christ 407. The Elogies of this Father are transcendent Suidas thus applauds him Lingua ejus Nili cataractis uberior nemo certa ab omni aevo tanta dicendi copia affluxit quanta solus ille abundavit solus absque fuco aureum divinum illud nomen est consecutus Numerum scriptorum ejus recensere non est hominis sed Dei potius omnia scientis His tongue more plentifull than the sluces of Nilus never did any in all ages flow with so great a stream of eloquence as he alone hath abounded and he onely hath without falshood obtained that golden and divine Name To reckon up all his writings it is not in the reach of man but rather of God who knoweth all things Caussinus styles him Theatrum quoddam divinae eloquentiae in quo Deus abunde videri voluit quid possit vitae sanctitas cum vi dicendi conjuncta A certain Theatre of divine eloquence in whom God would abundantly manifest what sanctity of life was able to effect being joyned with the foâ—…e of clocution Another allows him this Epithet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Golden-word Chrysostome Theoderet in Photius his Bibliotheca thus elevates this man O egregium post mortem ducem O Tristem etiam hostibus post sepulturam militem O Lyram omni harmonia praeditam morte jam solutam O Theatrum tanto Tibicine or batum c. O egregious Captain after death O Souldier sorrowful to thy enemies after burial O Harp endued with all harmony now broken by death O Theatre deprived of so great a Minstrel c. Sixtus Senensis speaking in the commendation of his Tongue he tells us That Libanius himself the Master of this Chrysostome did exceedingly admire the fluency and grace thereof and to that purpose he presents us with a shorâ— Epistle written to him by Libanius wherein he highly extolleth his Attick eloquence Leo Primus LEo Primus was by Nation an Italian born iâ— Thuscany and chosen Pope about the 3â— year of Theodosius and the 16 of Valentinian He sate in the Chair near 21 years He procure a Council to be called by the Emperour Theodosius against the Heresie of Eutyches which had in that age spread it self and infected the Church of God but yet it so fell out by the subtilty of Dioscorus the present Bishop of Alexandria that this foul errour was rather strengthned in that Council than weakned and rather ratified than suppressed Among this mans Canons and Papal Decrees none is more worthy of praise than his Edict against self-seeking ambitious men who affect continually superiorities advancements He ordered that such should be deprived of all maner of dignities and preferments as well Offices of lower degree as higher and more sublime of inferiour ones for their pride because they had so scornfully despised them and of the higher ones for their presumption and ambition because they had so greedily affected them Sixtus Senensis styles this man In divinis Scripturis eruditissimum in declamandis homiliis facundissimum Most learned in the Scriptures and most eloquent in his Homilies He wrote many Epistles some to the Emperours others to Councils others to the Churches of divers Provinces but of them all that Epistle which he wrote to Flavianus Bishop of Constantinople wherein he impugned the blasphemous opinion of the Heretick Eutyches is preferred for its singular excellence Pareus speaking of his writings saith thus of them In scriptis ejus elucet summa vis Ingenii mira in repellendis haereticorum ictibus dexteritas There sparkleth in his writings a notable vigour of wit and a wonderful dexterity in repelling the strokes of Hereticks He laboured as many of his Predecessors had done before him for the Primacy of the Roman Chair but with much more craft and cunning whence Chamierus gives him this suitable character Leo Magnus primus fuit Episcopus Romanus quidem ambitiosissimus When Attilus King of the Hunnes fell in upon Italy and wasted most part of it and was approaching with his bloody Army to Rome it self with a full purpose to destroy it this man with one of the Consuls and part of the Senate wenâ— forth to meet him
and so far he prevailed by his insinuating Rhetorick that he perswaded him to spare the City beyond the expectation of all men And after this when Gensericus that Tyrant of the Vandals and great persecuter of such as were sound in the Faith came with his displayed Banners against Rome being wooed thither by Eudoxia to revenge the death of her slain husband Valentinian the late Emperour he so wrought upon him by his conquering eloquence that he was content onely with the spoils and plunder of the City altogether abstaining from slaughter and bloodshed No marvel then if Trithemius style this Pope Primum Ecclesiasticae dictionis Tullium sacra Theologiae Homerum Rationum fidei Aristotelem Autoritatis Apostolicae Petrum in Cristiane pulpite Paulum The first Tully of Ecclesiastick speech The Homer of Sacred Theologie the Aristole of Reasons of Faith the Peter of Apostolicall Authority and the Paul in a Christian pulpit In this mans time those horrible earthquakes were asswaged which had ruined so many eminent Towns and cities The Papists do attribute some miracles to him as they have done to some other Popes before him Theodoretus THeodoretus the Bishop of Cyrus in Syria was the Scholar of Chrysostome of whom he was instructed both in Philosophy and Theologie he wrote an Ecclesiasticall History comprizing the beginnings of the Arian Sect and the contentions of the Church from the first yeer of Great Constantine to the beginning of the Raign of Theodosius which in all contains the space of an hundred and five yeers He had conflicts with the Heretick Eutyches not onely with voice but with style also It 's reported that his Mother being aged and as it were past hopes of having a childe the Monkes of Syria prevailed by their prayers for his Nativity who as soon as he was borne was forthwith consecrated to God Caussinus joyning him with Clemens and Cyrillus thus speaketh of him Clemens Alexandrinus Cyrillus Theodoretus inter eloquentes summe docti inter doctos summe eloquentes Amongst the Eloquent wonderously Learned amongst the Learned wonderonsly eloquent This man was Anathematized by Dioscorus of Alexandria and unjustly deposed from his Bishoprick because he consented with Flavianus of Constantinople in the condemnation of the Eutichian Heresie he is said to have written a deprecatory letter to Pope Leo for his restitution unto his Episcopal jurisdiction Dalleus stiles him virum sui seculi eruditissimum The most learned man of the age he lived in Illyrius sayes of him Quod instructus Ingenio excellentissimo ad omnis generis disciplinas percipiendas capacissimo fuit that he was furnished with a most excellent wit and most capable of all manner of learnings He was Cyrilli 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Contemporary with Cyrillus with whom he had some sharp disputes about the acts of the first Councill of Ephesus wherein he was present and afterward he was called to the Councill of Chalcedon Pareus saith that he dyed not very Aged but Sixtus Senensis tells us That he was a very old man before his death his dissolution happening about the yeer of Christ 450. Junilius Afer IUnilius Afer was a Bishop in Africa the cities name is not known certainly where he exercised his government He lived saith Sixtus Senensis under the Raign of Theodosius the younger about the yeer of our Lord 440. he was intimate with Primasius the learned Bishop of Vtica and the Disciple of Augustine By whose perswasions and encouragements some say he did collect those Explanations upon Genesis for the instruction of such as were unskilfull and unlearned in the Scriptures which work of his he dedicated to the said Primasius Some report that he wrote other Treatises but Trithemius makes mention that the never saw any other but this I meet with two Characters bestowed on this man the one is from Trithemius who stiles him Virum in Sacris Scripturis valde doctum inq secularibus disciplinis sufficienter instructum sensu profundum eloquio dulcem ornatum A man very learned in the Holy Scriptures and sufficiently instructed in humane disciplines deep or profound in his sense sweet and comely in his expression The other Elogie and much of the same sound is from Sixtus Senensis who calls him virum bonis artibus in seculo eruditum in Scripturis Sanct is peritissimum eloquio brevem sensu acutem A man learned in the liberall arts and most skilfull in the sacred Scriptures short in expression and acute in Sense Some say that that little Commentarie on the first Chapters of Genesis is none of this Iunilius his but that reverend Beda is the author thereof because it quotes Gregorie and is reckoned among the workes of Bedae Bel. de Scrip. Eccles in Iunil p. 246. Salvianus SAlvianus was Bishop of Marseilles in France styled by Sixtus Senensis Episcoporum sui temporis Magister The Master of the Bishops of his time he lived about 460. yeers after Christ or as some others will have it 480. It was about the time when the Northerly people of Gothes came down into France and fearfully overrun it which sad opression cansing the people of those parts to doubt of Gods Heavenly Providence in the worlds government gave occasion to this learned Prelat to write that good and excellent book of his De gubernatione Dei wherein he sheweth that it is a just and tighteous thing with God to punish sinfull men which knowing well what they are to do are yet negligent performers of their duty which little work of his he dedicated to Salonius who was at that time Bishop of Vienna Trithemius calls this man Virum in divinis Scripturis eruditissimum in secularibus literis sufficienter instructum A man most learned in the holy Scriptures and sufficiently skill'd in humane and secular learning agreeing with that of Sixtus Senensis Divina humana literatura copiose instructus The foresaid Historian speaking of his Epistles saith of them that they are Sale sapientiae conditae seasoned with the salt of wisdom And Sixtus Senensis in reference to all he hath written tells us Quod scripsit Latino candido succincto sermone multa laudatissima opuscula That he wrote many commendable works in the Latine Tongue both candidly and succinctly He was the Master of Veranius and Salonius both of which were also Bishops So Gennadius reports in his de viris Illustribus Prosper of Aquitain PRosper of Aquitain so called not as some think from his Bishoprick for he was Bishop of Reimes but from the place of his nativity he being an Aquitain by birth lived about the year of Christ 460. in the Reign of Leo Augustus he wrote excellent Tractates his Sentences are met with among the Works of Augustine He shewed himself a most fierce and sharp impugner of the heresie of Pelagius Besides his Theological writings he was the Author of a Chronologie mentioned by Gennadius He succeeded in his Episcopal See to the Bishop Faventius Trithemius thus
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