Constantine assembled at Nice in Years of J. C. 315 Bythinia the first General Council where Years of J. C. 324 318 Bishops who represented all the Church Years of J. C. 325 condemned the Priest Arius that was an utter Enemy to the Divinity of Christ and there they made the Creed where the Consubstantiality of the Father and the Son was established The Priests of the Roman Church sent by Pope St. Sylvester preceded all the Bishops of that Assembly and an Antient Greek Author mentions among the Legates of the Holy See Gel. Cyric Hist. Conc. Nic. lib. ii 6. 27. the Famous Osiâ—s Bishop of Cordoüa who was President of that Council Constantine took his Seat there and received their Decisions as an Oracle from Heaven The Arians concealed their Errors and by their dissimulations recovered his good Favour Whilst that his valour kept the Empire in Soveraign Tranquillity Years of J. C. 320 the Quiet of his Family was disturbed by the Artifices of Fausta his Wife Crispus the Son of Constantine but by another marriage being accused by this his Step-mother for offering to violate her had the misfortune was to find his Father inflexible But his death was quickly revenged Fausta convicted was suffocated in the Bath But Constantine though he was dishonoured by the malice of his Wife yet at the same time received a great deal of Honour by the Piety of his Mother She discovered among the Ruins of the Old Jerusalem the True Cross that has been so fruitful in working of Miracles The Holy Sepulchre was likewise found The New City of Jerusalem which Adrian had caused to be built The place where our Saviour of the World was born and all the other holy Places were adorned with stately Temples by Helena and Constantine Four Years of J. C. 330 years after the Emperor rebuilt Bysantium which he called Constantinople and made it to be the second Seat of the Empire The peaceable Church under Constantine was miserably afflicted in Persia An infinite number of Years of J. C. 336 Martyrs there did signalize their Faith The Emperor in vain endeavoured to qualify Sapor and to bring him over to Christianity Constantine's Protection gave to the persecuted Christians a very favourable retreat Years of J. C. 337 That Prince blessed by all the Church departed this Life full of Joy and hope after he had shared the Empire amongst his three Sons Constantine Constantius and Constans But that Agreement was quickly troubled Constantine dyed in the War he had with his Brother Constance for the Limits of the Years of J. C. 340 Empire Constantius and Constance were not much longer united Constance held the Nicene Faith which Constantius opposed Then the Church admired the long and wonderful Sufferings of St. Athanasius the Patriarch of Alexandria and the defender of the Nicene Council Being driven from his See by Years of J. C. 341 Constantius Soc. Hist. Eccl. ii 15. Sozom. iii. 8. he was canonically re-invested by Pope St. Julius the first whose Decree Constance ratifyed and confirmed That good Prince lived not long The Tyrant Magnentius traiterously killed him but Years of J. C. 350 soon after conquered by Constantius he killed Years of J. C. 351 himself In the Battle where his Affairs were utterly quashed and ruined Valentiâ—s the Arrian Bishop secretly being advertised Years of J. C. 353 by his Friends assured Constantius that the Tyrant's Army was upon it's flight and made the weak Emperor to believe that this he knew by Revelation Upon this false Report Constantius delivers himself to the Arrians The Orthodox Bishops are banished from their Sees the whole Church is filled with confusion and trouble the constancy of Pop Liberius is overcome by the vexations of the exile torments force the Aged Osius Years of J. C. 357 to faint who was before the support and bulwark of the Church The Council of Rimini so strong at first no longer could hold out but yields by surprise and violence Nothing is done according to order and method The Emperor's Authority is now the only Law But the Arrians who did all by that means could not agree amongst themselves but were every day changing their Creed That of Nice continued St. Athanasius and St. Hilary Bishop of Poictiers it 's chief Defenders made themselves famous over all the Earth whilst the Emperor Constantius was so wholly taken up about the affairs of Arianism that he was carelâ—ss and negligent of those of the Empire the Persians got very considerable Advantages The Years of J. C. 357. 358. Germans and the Francs attempted on all Years of J. C. 359 parts to bring in the Gauls Julian one of the Emperâ—rs Kinsmen hindred them and beat them The Emperor himself defeated the Samatü and went against the Persians There began the Revolt of Julian against the Emperor his Apostasy the Death of Years of J. C. 360 Constantius the Reign of Julian his equitable Years of J. C. 361 Government and the new kind of Persecution which he brought upon the Church He made divisions in it he excluded the Christians not only from all manner of Honours but even from their Studies and in imitation of the Holy Discipline of the Church he thought to turn his own Arms against it Punishments were managed and appointed under other Pretences Years of J. C. 363 than that of Religion The Christians remained faithful to the Emperor but the Glory which he too earnestly sought destroyed him He was slain in Persia where he had too rashly and precipitately engaged himself Jovianus his Successor a zealous Christian sound things very sad and desperate and only lived to conclude a shameful Years of J. C. 364 and dishonourable Peace After him Valentinian made War like a mighty Captain he brought up his Son Gratianus to it very young kept up the Military Discipline beat the Barbanians fortified the Fronners of the Empire and protected the Nicene Faith in the West Valentius his Brother whom he made his Collegue persecuted it in the East and not being able to gain over nor to crush St. Basil and St. Gregory of Nazianzen he despaired of ever being able to conquer it There were some Arrians that joyned new Errors to the antient Dâ—gmata and precepts of their Sect. Aëâ—â—us an Arrian Priest is taken notice of in the Writings of the Fathers as the Author of a new Heresie Epiph. har 75. Aug. haer 53. for having equalized the Priesthood to the Episcopacy and for adjudging the Prayers and Oblations which the whole Church used to put up for the Dead to be unavailable and insignificant A third Error of this Grand Heretic was his reckoning among the Servitudes of the Law the keeping of certain appointed Fasts and for this being of opinion that Fasts should be always free and voluntary He lived when St. Epiphanius made himself so famous by his History of Heresies where he among the rest is refuted St. Martin Years of J. C. 375 was made Bishop of Tours
Constantinople and continued at Nice The Pope sent his Legates thither The Council of the Iconoclasts was condemned They are detested a Persons who led by the Example of the Saracens accused the Christians of Idolatry It was decreed that Images should be worshipped in Remembrance and for the Love of those whom they represented which is called in the Council a relative Worship and an honorary Adoration and Salutation opposed to the supreme worship and Adoration of Latria or entire Subjection which the Council reserved to God alone Besides the Legates of the Holy See and the presence of the Patriarch of Constantinople there appeared there the Legates of other Patriarchal Sees which were then oppressed by the Infidels Some disputed their Mission with them but that which was not at all contested was that far from disavowing them all the Sees accepted of the Council without shewing any Contradiction and it was received by all the Church The French encompassed with Idolaters or new Christians whose Ideas they were afraid to meddle with and on the other hand being harrassed with the equivocal Term of Adoration hesitated a long while Amongst all the Images they would only pay an Honour to that of the Cross absolutely different from the Figures which the Heathen believed were full of the Divinity They kept however in an honourable place and also in their Churches the other Images and hated the Iconoclasts What other Difference there was it made no Schism The French owned at last that the Nicene Fathers required to Images but the same kind of Worship all Proportions observed as they themselves paid to Relicks to the Book of the Gospel and to the Cross and that Council was honoured by all professing Christianity under the Name of the seventh general Council Thus have we seen the seven general Councils which the East and the West the Greek and the Latin Churches received with an equal Reverence The Emperors convoked those great Assemblies by the Soveraign Authority they had over all the Bishops or at least over the Chief on whom the rest depended and who were then Subject of the Empire The publick Carriages were provided by the Order of the Princes They assembled the Councils in the East where they made their Residence and they commonly sent thither their Commissaries to keep the Peace The Bishops so assembled brought with them the Authority of the Holy Ghost and the Tradition of the Churches From the beginning of Christianity there were three principal Sees which had the precedency of all others that of Rome that of Alexandria and that of Antioch Conc. Nic. Can. 7. Conc. C. P. 1. Can. 3. Conc. Chalced. Can. 21. The Nicene Council allowed the Bishop of the Holy City to have the first place The second and the fourth Council raised the See of Constantinople and would have that the second So that there were five Sees which afterwards were called Patriarchal The Precedency was given to them in the Council Among those Sees the See of Rome was always look'd on as the first and the Council of Nice regulated the others upon that Conc. Nic. Can. 6. There were also Metropolitan Bishops who were the Chiefs of the Provinces and who went before the other Bishops It was very late ere they began to be called Archbishops but their Authority was never the less When the Council was formed the Holy Scriptures were propounded the Passages of the antient Fathers Witnesses of Tradition were read It was Tradition which interpreted Scripture They believed its true Sence was that which the past Ages had owned it to be and none thought they ought to explain it otherwise Those who refused to submit to the Decisions of the Council were cursed with the Anathema After they had explained the Faith they regulated the Ecclesiastical Discipline and made Canons that is to say the Rules of the Church They thought the Faith did never change and tho' the Discipline might receive several Changes according to difference of Times and Places yet as much as possibly we can we ought to labour after a perfect imitation of Antiquity But the Popes were only there by their Legates in the first general Councils but they did however expresly approve of the Doctrine and there was but one Faith in the Church Constantine and Irene religiously executed Years of J. C. 787 the Decrees of the VII Council but the rest of their Conduct was intolerable The young Prince whom his Mother had persuaded to marry a Lady he could by no means love gave up himself to reproachful Applications and being weary of paying any longer a blind Obedience to the Imperiousness of his Mother he indeavoured to remove her from the Affairs which hitherto she had managed in spight of him Alphonso Years of J. C. 793 the Chaste reigned in Spain The perpetual Continence of that Prince deservedly conferred on him that famous Sirname and rend'red him worthy to release Spain from that infamous Tax of a hundred Maids which his Uncle Mauregate had granted to the Moores Seventy thousand of those Infidels slain in a Battle with Mugait their General signalized the Valor of Alphonsus Constantine did also indeavour to make himself famous against the Bulgari but the Success did by no means answer his Expectations He at last brought down all Irene's Power and being unable to govern himself as much as to suffer the Empire of another he repudiated his Wife Maria to marry Theodote who Years of J. C. 795 was one of her Maids of Honour His Years of J. C. 796 incensed Mother heightened the Troubles Years of J. C. 797 which were caused by so great a Scandal Constantine fell by her Artifices She gained the People again to her by lessening their Taxes and brought the Monks and the Clergy into her Interest by a shew of a visible Piety At length she was proclaimed sole Empress The Romans scorned her Government and so went over to Charlemagne who subdued the Saxons repressed the Saracens destroyed the Heresies protected the Popes drew over the Infidel Nations to Christianity re-established the Sciences and Ecclesiastical Discipline assembled famous Councils wherein his profound Learning was admired and the effects of his Piety and Justice was not only felt in France and Italy but it extended it self into Spain England and Germany and indeed where not To conclude in the DCCC XII Epoeha Charlemagne Or the re-establishment of the new Empire Year of our Lord that great Protector of Rome and of Italy or to speak more properly of all the Church and of all Christendome was chosen Emperor by the Romans without his ever dreaming of it and Crowned by Pope Leo III. who had engaged the People of Rome to that Choice became the Founder of the New Empire and of the temporal Greatness of the Holy See The End of the first Part. TO THE Dauphin YOVR Highness sees the twelve Epocha's which I have followed in this Abridgment I have chained to each of them the
were caused sometimes by the express orders of the Emperors and by the particular hatred of the Magistrates sometimes by the Insurrections of the People and sometimes the Decrees authentically pronounced in the Senate upon the Rescripts of Princes or in their Presence Then the Persecution was most universal and bloody and so the hatred of the Infidels still resolute to destroy the Church still grew on from time to time to new furies and outrages And it was by these Renewals of their violences and cruelties that the Ecclesiastical Writers counted the ten Persecutions under the ten Emperors Yet under such long and tedious Sufferings did not the Christians ever make the least Sedition Among all the faithful the Bishops still had the most vigorous assaults Among all the Churches the Church of Rome was persecuted with the most of violence and Thirty Popes confirmed by their blood the Gospel which they taught to all the Earth Domitian is killed The Empire begins to respire and breath again under Nerva His great age did not permit Years of J. C. 96 him to re-settle and establish affairs but yet as much as in him lay to lengthen out and continue the Repose of the Public he elected Trajan for his Successor The Empire Years of J. C. 97 at quiet within and triumphing without did Years of J. C. 98 not fail to admire so good a Prince for this he held for a constant Maxim that he ought so to let his Citizens find him as he would have been willing to have found the Emperor if he had been a simple Citizen This Years of J. C. 102 Prince subdued the Dacii and Decebalus their Years of J. C. 106 King extended his Conquests into the East Years of J. C. 115 gave to the Parthians a King and made Years of J. C. 116 them stand in awful fear of the insuperable power of Rome Oh happy Man whom Drunkenness and his infamous Loves such deplorable vices in so great a Prince never Years of J. C. 117 made to attempt any thing against Justice To these advantageous times for the Common-weal succeeded those of Adrian equally compounded of good and bad This Prince kept up the Military Discipline lived himself a military Life and with abundance of frugality supported the Provinces made the Arts to flourish and Greece which was Years of J. C. 120 the Mother of them The Barbarians were Years of J. C. 123 kept in awe by his arms and his Authority Years of J. C. 127 He rebuilt Jerusalem to which he gave his Years of J. C. 126 Name and from thence it is that the Name Years of J. C. 130 of Aelia happened to it but he banished the Jews out of it who were always rebellious to the Empire and those being obstinate found him an unrelenting Avenger By his Years of J. C. 135 Cruelties and Monstrous Loves he dishonoured a Reign which otherwise would have been very glorious and his infamous Antinous Years of J. C. 131 of whom he made a God was a most reproachful blot to his whole Life The Emperor seemed to repair his defects and to re-establish that glory and renown which he had so much defaced by adopting Antoninus Years of J. C. 138 the Pious who adopted Marcus Aurelius Years of J. C. 136 the Sage and the Philosopher In these two Years of J. C. 161 Princes appeared two lovely and beautiful Characters The Father always in Peace yet is always ready upon occasion to ingage in War the Son is always Warring and yet always ready to give Peace both to his Enemies and to the Empire His Father Antoninus had taught him that the saving of one single Citizen was much to be preferr'd to the defeating and getting the victory over a Years of J. C. 162 thousand Enemies The Parthians and the Marcomanni felt the valour of Marcus Aurelius The latter were somewhat Germans whom this Emperor had just subdued a little before his death By the vertue of the Years of J. C. 180 two Antoninus's that name became the delight of the Romans And the Glory of so indear'd a Name was not effaced either by the softness and effeminacy of Iucius Verus Brother to Marcus Aurelius and his Collegue in the Empire or by the Brutalities of Commodus his Son and Successor This latter unworthy to be the Off-spring of such a Father forgot both the Instructions and Examples of him the Senate and the People abhorred him his most fawning and assiduous Years of J. C. 162 Minions and his Mistress were the Cause of Years of J. C. 193 his death His Successor Pertinax a vigorous Asserter of the Military Discipline saw him sacrificed to the fury of licentious Soldiers that but a little before had raised him whether he would or no to the Soveraign Power The Empire being put to an Outcry by the Army soon found a Purchaser The Lawyer Didius Julianus adventured upon that bold bargain though it cost him his Life Severus Africanus made him to be killed Years of J. C. 194 revenged Pertinax passed from East to Years of J. C. 195 West triumphed in Syria in Gaul and in Years of J. C. 198 Great Britain c. The hasty Conqueror equal'd Caesar by his Victories but he did not imitate Years of J. C. 207 him in Clemency He could not make Years of J. C. 209 Peace between his Children Bassian or Caracalla Years of J. C. 208 his eldest Son a mock Imitator of Alexander Years of J. C. 211 immediately after the death of 〈◊〉 Years of J. C. 212 Father kill'd his Brother Geta an En◠〈◊〉 as well as himself even in the bosom 〈◊〉 â—â—lia their common Mother spent his Lifâ— in Cruelty and Slaughters and at length drew upon himself a Tragical Death Severâ—s had got for him the heart of the Soldiers and Years of J. C. 218 People by giving him the Name of Antoninus but he knew not how to keep up that honour The Syrian Heliogabalus or rather Alagabalus his Son or at least reputed for such tho' the Name of Antoninus had at first procured him the hearts of the Soldiers and the victory over Macrinus soon after by his Infamies became the horror of Mankind and Years of J. C. 222 he was his own destroyer Alexander Severus the Son of Mameus his Kinsman and Successor lived too little a while for the happiness of the world He complained that he was more put to it to keep his Soldiers in good order than he was to conquer his Enemies Years of J. C. 235 His Mother who governed him was Years of J. C. 233 the cause of his Ruin as she had also been that of his glory and renown Under him Artaxerxes the Persian slew his Master Artabanus the last King of the Parthians and re-established the Empire of the Persians in the East About these times the Church as yet but in its Minority Tertull. adv Jud. 7. Apolog 37. run over the whole Earth and not only in the East where it took
its first Rise that is to say Palestine Syria Aegypt lesser Asia and Greece but also in the West besides Italy the several Nations of the Gaules all the Spanish Provinces Africa Germany Great Britain in those Places that were impenetrable to the Roman Arms and also out of the Empire Armenia Persia the Indies the greatest Barbarians the Sarmatians the Dacians the Scythians the Moores the Getulians and even to the most unknown Islands The Blood of the Martyrs rendered it fruitful Under Trajan Saint Ignatius the Bishop Years of J. C. 107 of Antiochus was exposed to wild Beasts Marcus Aurelius unhappily prepossessed with the Calumnies wherewith Christianity was charged caused to be put to Death Saint Years of J. C. 163 Justin the Philosopher and the Apologist Years of J. C. 167 for the Christian Religion St. Polycarpus Bishop of Smyrna St. John's Disciple about fourscore Years of Age was condemned to the Flames under the same Prince The holy Martyrs of Lyon and Vienna suffered unheard of Punishments following the Example of St. Photin their Bishop of ninety Years of J. C. 177 Years of Age. The Gallican Churâ—h fill'd all the World with its Fame and Glory Years of J. C. 202 St. Ireneus the Disciple of St. Polycarpus and St. Photin's Successor imitated his Predeccessor and dyed a Martyr under Severus with a great Number of the Fideles Faithful of his Church sometimes the Years of J. C. 174 Persecution a little slackened At a time when there was an extream want of Water which Marcus Aurelius suffered in Germany there was a Christian Legion obtained such a Showre as was enough to quench the Thirst of all his Army and it was so followed with Thunder that it frightned all his Enemies The name of Thunderstriking was given or rather confirmed to that Legion by this Miracle The Emperor was so concern'd at it that he writ to the Senate in Favour of the Christians At last the Southsayers Persuasions were to attribute to their Gods and to their Prayers a Miracle which the Heathens never thought so much as to desire Other Causes suspended or slackened the Persecution for a little while but Superstition a Vice which Marcus Aurelius had not the Power to resist the common Hatred and the Calumnies that were cast upon the Christians quickly prevailed again The Fury and Rage of the Heathens was re-kindled and the whole Empire did as it were swim in the Blood of Martyrs Still their Doctrine went on and attended their Sufferings In Severus his time and some while after Tertullian Priest of Carthage illuminated the Church by his Writings defended it by a most admirable Apologism and left it at last being blinded by an haughty Severity and seduced by the Visions of the false Prophet Montanus Some time but not long after Clemens Alexandrinus indeavoured to pull up the Antiquities of Heathenism by the Roots that so he might utterly put an end to them Origen the Son of the Holy Martyr Leonidas made himself famous throughout all the Church even from his most tender Years and taught great Truths though they were mixt with several Errors The Philosopher Ammonius joined the Platonick Philosophy to Religion and gained to himself the Respect of the Heathens In the mean while the Valentinians the Gnosticks and the other impious Sects set up their false Traditions against the Gospel Iren. lib. iii. 1. 2 3. De prasc adv Har. c. 36. St. Ireneus opposed the Tradition and the Authority of the Apostolick Churches to theirs especially that of Rome founded upon the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul Tertullian did the same The Church is not shaken neither by Heresies nor by Schisms nor by the Fall of our most eminent Doctors The Holiness of her Conduct is so clear and perspicuous that she forces even her Enemies to break forth into Praises of her The Affairs of the Empire are imbroyled Years of J. C. 235 in a terrible manner After the Death of Alexander the Tyrant Maximinus that had killed him made himself Master though he was of Gothick Race The Senate set up four Emperors against him who died all within less than two Years Among them Years of J. C. 236 were the two Gordians the Father and Son Years of J. C. 237 the Darlings of the Roman People The Years of J. C. 238 young Gordian their Son although he was extreamly young yet shewed the Wisdom of a gained Experience and defended with great Difficulty against the Persians the Empire weakned by those manifold Divisions He had regained from them several very important Places But Philip Arabius killed Years of J. C. 242 this good Prince and for fear lest he Years of J. C. 244 should be utterly undone by the two Emperors Years of J. C. 245 whom the Senate chose one after the other he clapt up a dishonourable Peace with Sapor King of Persia He was the first of the Romans that had by Treaty parted with any Lands of the Empire 'T is said He embraced the Christian Religion and at such a time when on the sudden he had got the better and indeed he was favourable to the Christians In hatred to this Emperor Euseb l. 6. c. 39. Decius who slew him renewed the Persecution with more of Violence than ever The Church increased on all sides principally among Years of J. C. 249 the Gaules and the Empire soon lost Decius Greg. Tur. l. 1. Hist. franc 28. who with gret Resolution and Vigour Years of J. C. 251 defended it Gallus and Volusian went Years of J. C. 254 quickly after and Emilius was but just seen as it were The Soveraign Power was given to Valerianus and that Venerable old Man ascended to it through all the Dignities He was only Cruel to the Christians Under Years of J. C. 257 him Pope St. Stephen and St. Cyprian Years of J. C. 258 Bishop of Carthage notwithstanding all their Disputes which yet broke not off their Correspondence received both of them the same Crown St. Cyprian's Error which rejected Baptism given by the Hereticks neither hurt him nor the Church The Tradition of the Holy See supported it self by its own Force against the specious Arguments and against the Authority of so great a Man although there were other very great Men that defended the same Doctrine Another Dispute did more Mischief Sabellius Years of J. C. 257 confounded together the three Persons in the Divinity and acknowledged in God but one single Person under three Names This Novelty astonished the Church Euseb Hist. Eccl. l. 7. c. 6. and St. Denys Bishop of Alexandria discovered to Pope Sixtus II. the Errors of this arch-Heretick This Pope Years of J. C. 259 quickly followed the Martyr St. Stephen his Predecessor He was beheaded and left a very great Contest to be maintained by his Deacon St. Laurence Then was it that the Years of J. C. 258. 259. Iâ—undation of the Barbarians began to appear Years of J. C. 260 The Burguignions and the
and he filled all the World with the noise of his Holiness and his Miracles during his life and after his death Valentinian dyed after a most fierce and violent Harangue which he made to the Enemies of the Empire his passionate Impetuosity which made him so much feared by others proved fatal to himself His Successor Gratianus without any Invidiousness of the exaltation of his young Brother Valentinian II. who was made Emperour tho' he was but nine years of age His Mother Justina the Protectress of the Arrians had the Government during his Minority There Years of J. C. 377 happened in a few years very strange and Years of J. C. 378 wonderful Accidents the Revolt of the Goths against Valentius that Prince forsaking the Persians to repress the Rebels Gratianus running to him after he had got a signal Victory over the Germans Valentius resolving to conquer singly hastened the fight where he was killed near to Adrianople the Goths being victorious burn him in a Town whither he had retired Gratianus being oppressed with the weight of Affairs associated the Great Theodosius to the Empire and left the East to his Conduct The Goths are overcome Years of J. C. 379 all the Barbarians are kept in awe and that which Theodosius looked upon as no less the Macedonian Heretics who denyed the Divinity of the Holy Ghost were condemned Years of J. C. 881 at the Council of Constantinople And now there was only the Greek Church the consent of all the West and of Pope Damasus made him to call the Second General Council Whilst Theodosius governed with so much Power and Success Gratianus who Years of J. C. 383 was not inferior to him valour nor Piety abandoned by his Troops all made up of Strangers became a Sacrifice to the Tyrant Maximus The Church and the Empire bewailed Years of J. C. 386 387 the fate of that good Prince The Tyrant reigned over the Gauls and seemed to be satisfyed in that division The Empress Justina under her Son's Name set forth Proclamations in favour of Arrianism St. Ambrose Bishop of Milan opposed it with his holy Doctrin Prayers and Patience and knew that by such Arms he should not only preserve to the Church the * Basiliques Royal Palaces which the Heretics would fain have possessed but also that he should bring over the young Emperor to him In the mean while Maximus was in action and Justina found nothing more faithful than the Bishop whom she treated notwithstanding as a Rebel She sent him to the Tyrant whom his Discourses could not bend The young Valentinian is forced to betake himself to flight with his Mother Maximus is Master at Rome where he sets up again the Sacrifices unto false Gods in complaisance for the Senate as yet almost all Pagan After he had got possession of all Years of J. C. 388 the West and at that time when he thought himself most in Peace Theodosius aided by the Franks overcame him in Pannonia besieged him in Aquileia and suffered him to be killed by his Soldiers And now being absolute Master of both Empires he gave that of the West to Valentinian tho he did not enjoy it very long That young Prince raised and degraded Arbogastus too fast who was a Captain of the Franks valiant disinterested and one that by all manner of crimes was able Years of J. C. 392 to keep the Power he had acquired over the Troops He raised the Tyrant Eugenius who was only good at Discourse and killed Valentinian who would no longer have the proud Frank for his Master That detestable Fact was committed near Vienna in the Country of the Gauls St. Ambrose whom the young Emperor had sent for to receive Baptism from his hand lamented his loss and had very good hopes of his Salvation His death not long remain unpunished A very manifest Miracle gave to Theodosius the Years of J. C. 394 Victory over Eugenius and over the false Gods whose worship he had anew set up Eugenius was taken and must be sacrificed to the Public Vengeance that so the Rebellion might be quashed by his death The fierce and resolute Arbogastus became his own Murtherer rather than he would seek to the clemency of the Conqueror which all the other Rebels came to embrace Theodosius now sole Emperor was the joy and admiration of all the Universe He confirmed Religion put to silence Heretics abolished the corrupt and impure Sacrifice of the Heathen corrected vitious effeminacies and Years of J. C. 390 repressed all superfluous expences He humbly acknowledge his faults and repented of them he hearkened to St. Ambrose the famous Doctor of the Church who reproved him for his passion the only Vice of that great Prince Tho' always victorious yet he never made War but when forced to it by necessity He made the People happy Years of J. C. 395 and dyed in Peace more illustrious by Years of J. C. 386. 387. his Faith than by all his Conquests In his time St. Jerom the Priest being retired into the sacred solitary of Bethlehem put himself to vast labour and pains to explain the Scriptures read all the Interpreters of them searched into all Histories both Sacred and Profane which might give him any Light and out of the Original Hebrew composed that Version of the Bible which the Church in general hath received under the name of Vulgar The Empire which seemed to be invincible under Theodosius changed on the suddain under his two Sons Arcadius had the East and Honorius the West both of them governed by their Ministers they made their Power to serve their own particular Interests Eufinus and Eutropius successively favoured by Arcadius and each as wicked Years of J. C. 395 as the other were soon cut off and Affairs Years of J. C. 399 went no better under a weak Prince His Years of J. C. 403 Wife Eudoxa made him to persecute S. John Years of J. C. 404 Chrysostom the Patriarch of Constantinople and the Light of the East Pope S. Innocentius and all the West kept up that great Bishop against Theophilus the Patriarch of Alexandria and Minister of the Empress's cruelties The West was troubled with the Inundation of the Barbarians Radagasus a Years of J. C. 406 Goth and Heathen ravaged Italy c. The Vandals a Gothic and Arrian Nation seized on one part of Gallia and so spread themselves in Spain Alaricus King of the Visigoths an Arrian People forced Honorius to resign those great Provinces to him which were already possessed by the Vandals Stilicon â—mbarassed with so many Barbarians beat them managed them held secret Intelligences and broke with them sacrificed all to his Interest and notwithstanding kept the Empire which he was resolved to usurp In the mean Years of J. C. 408 time Arcadius dyed and thought the East so stript of good Subjects that he left his Son Theodosius of about eight years old to the Guardianship of Isdegerdus King of Persia But Pulcheria the
After a long War Childebert and Clothaire the Sons of Clovis conquered the Kingdom of Burgâ—ndy and at the same time sacrificed to their Ambition the younger Sons of their Brother Clodomir whose Kingdom they divided between themselves Some time after and whilest Belisarius was so vigorously attacking the Ostrogoths what they had in the Country of the Gaules was left to the French France extended it self then a good way beyond the Rhine but the Partages of Princes which made up so many Kingdoms kept it from being re-united under one and the same Dominion It s chief parts were Neustria that is to say Western France and Austrasia Years of J. C. 553 that is to say Eastern France The same year that Rome was re-taken by Narses Justinian caused the fifth general Council to be held at Constantinople which confirmed those that went before it and condemned some Writings that seemed favourable to Nestorius That is what we call the three Chapters because of the three Authors long since dead whereof they then treated It condemn the Memory and the Writings of Theodorus Bishop of Mopsueste a Letter of Ibas Bishop of Edessa and among Theodoret his Writings those he had drawn up against St. Cyrill The Books of Origen which pestered all the East for one whole Age were also reprobated This Council which began with but ill designs yet had a happy Conclusion and was received by the Holy See which at first had opposed it Years of J. C. 555 Two years after the Council Narses who had taken Italy from the Goths defended it against the French and obtained an absolute Victory over Bucelin General of the Troops of Austrasia Yet notwithstanding all these Advantages Italy did not long remain under the Government of Emperors Under Justin II. Nephew of Justinian and Years of J. C. 568 after the Death of Narses the Kingdom of Lombardy was founded by Alboün He took Milan and Pavia Rome and Ravenna were scarce safe from his Hands and the Lombards put the Romans to extream sufferings Years of J. C. 570. 571. and calamities Rome was but poorly assisted Years of J. C. 574 by her Emperors whom the Covetous Nations Scythia the Saracens a People of Arabia and the Persians more than all the other grievously tormented on all sides in the East Justin who only believed himself and his Passions was always beaten by the Persians and by their King Chosroes His resentment of so many Losses put him into a Years of J. C. 579 Phrensie so that his Wife Sophia governed the Empire This unhappy Prince too late recovered into his good Senses and confessed as he was dying the Malice of his Flatterers After him Tiberius II. whom he had named Emperor repressed the Enemies comforted the People and enriched Years of J. C. 580 himself by their Alms. The Victories of Years of J. C. 581 Mauritius the Cappadocian General of his Armies broke the heart of the proud Years of J. C. 583 Chosroes Those were recompenced by the Empire which Tiberius gave him at his death with his Daughter Constantina At that time the Ambitious Fredegunda Wife to King Chilperick the first put all France into a Combustion and engaged all the French King in most bloudy and cruel Wars In the midst of the Miseries of Italy and whilst Rome was visited with a most Years of J. C. 590 dreadful Pestilence St. Gregory the Great was advanced maugre all his resistance to the See of St. Peter That great Pope stayed the Plague by his devout Prayers instructed Emperors and did absolutely make a just Obedience to be paid to them comforted Africa and fortified it confirmed in Spain the Visigoths converted from Arianisme and Ricardes the Catholic who was just got in again into the Bosom of the Church converted England reformed the Discipline in France whose Kings being always Orthodox he exalted above all Kings in the World He overcame the Lombards saved Rome and Italy which the Emperors could give no assistance to suppressed the growing Pride of the Patriarchs of Constantinople illuminated the Church by his Doctrin governed both the East and the West with as much resolution as humility and gave unto the World a perfect Model of Ecclesiastical Government The History of the Church hath nothing more glorious than the Monk St. Austin's Years of J. C. 597 Entrance into the Kingdom of Kent with forty of his Companions Beda l. 1. who going before the Holy Cross and the Image of the Great King our Lord Jesus Christ made solemn Vows for the conversion of England S. Gregory who had sent them instructed them by Letters truly Apostolical Greg. lib. 9. Ep. 58. ind 4. and taught S. Austin to tremble amidst the continual Miracles which God wrought by his Ministry Bertha a Princess of France brought King Edhilbert her Husband over to Christianity The Kings of France and Queen Brunehault protected the new Mission The Bishops of France did also engage in this Work and it was they who by the Order of Du Paga consecrated St. Austin The Supply which St. Gregory sent to the new Bishop was productive of new Years of J. C. 601 Fruits and the English Church assumed its Years of J. C. 604 Form The Emperor Mauritius having tryed the fidelity of the Holy Pontiff was corrected by his advice and received from him that commendation so worthy of a Christian Prince as the Heretics durst not open their mouths in his time However that pious Emperor was guilty of a great Fault A Years of J. C. 601 vast number of Romans were destroyed by the hands of the Barbarians for want of being ransomed by a Crown per head Immediately afterwards the good Emperor testifyed his remorse and he poured out a Prayer to God to punish him in this World rather than in the other and then was the revolt Years of J. C. 602 of Phocas who before his eyes cut the throats of all his Family Mauritius being the last that was killed amidst all this sad Scene of calamities was heard to say nothing but only that verse of the Psalmist Psal 119. I know O Lord that thy Judgments are right and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me Phocas being advanced to the Empire by so horrid and Years of J. C. 606 detestable a crime endeavoured to gain the Years of J. C. 610 People in honouring the Holy See whose priviledges he confirmed But his Sentence was pronounced Heraclius proclaimed Emperor by the African Army marched against him Then Phocas found that oft-times debauches do more ruin Princes than Cruelties and Photin whose Wife he had vitiated betrayed him to Heraclius who caused him to be killed France a while after beheld a much Years of J. C. 614 stranger Tragedy Queen Brunchault being delivered up to Clothaire II. was sacrificed to the ambition of that Prince her Memory was quite effaced and her virtue so much extolled by Pope S. Gregory was scarce able to be defended The Empire in the mean time was
desolate without a Governor The King of Persia Chosroes II. under pretence of revenging Mauritius had attempted to destroy Phocas He push'd on his Conquests under Heraclius There was seen the Emperor beaten and the true Cross carryed away Years of J. C. 620 621. by the Infidels after by admirable return Years of J. C. 622 623 H raclius five times a Conqueror Persia over-run Years of J. C. 625 626. by the Romans Chosroes killed by his Son and the Holy Cross re-taken Whilst the Power of the Persians was so sharply repressed a worse mischief rose up both against the Empire and indeed against all Christianity Mahomet set himself up for a Prophet among the Saracens He was driven out from Mecha by his own People with his Flight commenced that memorable Hegyra from whence Years of J. C. 622 the Mahometans compute their Years This false Prophet gave his Conquests for all the sign of his mission In nine years he brought all Arabia under Subjection either on their own accord or by force and laid the Foundations of the Empire of the Caliphi To these Years of J. C. 629 Afflictions was superadded the Heresie of the Monothelites who through an almost inconceivable Blindness in owning two Natures in our Lord and Saviour would own that there was but one Will in him Man according to their Doctrine had nothing of Will in him and there was nothing in Jesus Christ but the sole Will of the Word These Hereticks concealed their Venom under ambiguous terms A false Love of Peace made them propose that there should be no speaking either of one or of two Wills By these Artifices they imposed upon Pope Years of J. C. 633 Honorius the First who entered with them into a very dangerous Menage and consented to that Silence whereby the Lye and the Truth were both equally suppressed And for the complement of all Afflictions some time after the Emperor Heraclius undertook Years of J. C. 639 to decide the Question by his Authority and proposed his Ecthesis or favourable Explication to the Monothelites but the Artifices of the Hereticks were at length discovered Pope John IV. condemned the Ecthesis Constance the Grandchild of Heraclius Years of J. C. 640 maintained the Edict of his Grandfather by his own called the Type The Years of J. C. 648 Holy See and Pope Theodoret opposed that Years of J. C. 649 attempt Pope St. Martyn I. assembled the Council of Lateran where he sentenced the Type and the Chiefs of the Monothelites to the Anathema St. Maximus celebrated over all the East for his Piety and his Learning leaves the Court which was infected with this new Heresie openly reproves the Emperors who had dared so to pronounce upon the Questions of Faith and suffers a world of Afflictions for the Catholic Years of J. C. 650. 654. Faith The Pope dragged from one Exile to another and always rudely treated by the Emperor at length dyes in the midst of his Sufferings without complaining nor remitting any thing he owed to the Function of his Ministery In the mean while the new English Church strengthened by the industrious Cares of the Popes Boniface V. and Honorius grew very famous over all the World Miracles abounded there with the Vertues as in the times of the Apostles and nothing was more splendid than the Years of J. C. 627 Sanctity of its Kings Edwin with all his Years of J. C. 634 Subjects embraced the Faith which had given him the Victory over his Enemies and converted his Neighbours Oswald served as an Interpreter to the Preachers of the Gospel and renowned by his Conquests he preferred the Glory of being a Christian to Years of J. C. 655 them all The Mercians were converted by the King of Northumberland Oswin Their Neighbours and their Successors followed their Steps and their good Works were infinite Every thing went to wrack in the East whilst the Emperors were destroying each other in Disputes about Religion and Years of J. C. 634 in inventing of Heresies the Saracens run Years of J. C. 635 through the Empire possessed themselves of Years of J. C. 636 Syria and Palestine the Holy City was subjected Years of J. C. 637 to them and Persia lay open to their Power by its Divisions so that they took that great Kingdom without any Resistance They entered into Africa in a posture of Years of J. C. 647 making it in a very little time one of their Years of J. C. 648 Provinces the Isle of Cyprus paid them Obedience and in less than thirty years they joyned all these Conquests to those of Mahomet Italy always unfortunate and forsaken groan'd under the Arms of the Lombards Constance despairing of his ever driving them out was resolved to ravage what he could no longer defend and was more cruel than the Lombards themselves He came not to Years of J. C. 663 Rome but to pillage the Treasures of it the Churches escaped not free from him He ruined Sardinia and Sicily and made himself odious to all the World and at last fell by the Hands of his own Servants Under Years of J. C. 668 his Son Constantine Pogonat that is to say Years of J. C. 671 the Bearded the Saracens possessed themselves Years of J. C. 672 of Cilicia and Lycia Constantinople Years of J. C. 678 was besieged and was saved even by a Miracle The Bulgari People that came from the mouth of Volga joyned with all those potent Enemies wherewith the Empire was infested and got themselves Masters of that part of Thrace called since Bulgaria which was the Antient Mysia The English Church was the Mother that brought forth new Churches and St. Wilfrid Bishop of York being expelled from his See converted Frieseland The whole Church received a new Light by the sixth general Council of * Alsted Chron. Years of J. C. 696 Constantinople where Pope St. Agatho presided by his Legats and explained the Years of J. C. 680 Catholic Faith by a most admirable Letter That Council anathematized one Bishop famous for his Learning one Patriarch of Alexandria four Patriarchs of Constantinople that is to say all the Authors of the Sect of the Monothelites without sparing Pope Honorius himself who had abetted and countenanced them After the Death of Agatho which happened during that Council Pope St. Leo II. confirmed their Decisions and received all their Anathema's Constantine Pogonat an imitator of the great Constantine and of Marcian entered into the Council after their Example and as he paid them the same Submissions they honoured him with the same Titles of Orthodox Religious and peaceful Emperor and the Restorer of Religion His Son Years of J. C. 585 Justinian II. succeeded to him then an Infant From his time the Faith increased and spread it self gloriously towards the North. Years of J. C. 586 St. Kylian sent by Pope Conon preached the Years of J. C. 589 Gospel in Franconia In the time of Pope Sergius Ceadwalla one of the Kings of England
came in Person to acknowledg it was from the Roman Church that the Faith came into his Isle and after he had received Baptism by the Hands of the Pope he dyed even according as he himself had wished The House of Clovis was fallen into a most deplorable Weakness Frequent Minorities had degenerated the Princes into such softnesses as they could not get out of when they were come to age From thence proceeded a long Succession of droaning Kings that only knew how to be content with the Name of King and delegated all their Power to the great Ministers of the Crown Under this Title Pepin Heristel governed all Years of J. C. 693 and raised up his House to the most exalted Years of J. C. 695 Hopes By his Authority and after the Martyrdom of St. Vigibert the Faith was established in Frieseland which France had then just added to her Conquests St. Swibert St. Willebord and other Apostolick Men spread abroad the Gospel in the neighbouring Provinces In the mean while the Minority of Justinian was happily got over the Victories of Leontius had brought down the Saracens and re-established the Glory of the Empire in the East But that Years of J. C. 694 valiant Captain unjustly arrested and unfortunately Years of J. C. 696 released cut his Masters Nose and drive him out That Rebel suffered a like treatment from Tiberius named Absimarus who himself did not long continue Justinian re-established was ungrateful to his Friends and in taking Revenge of his Enemies he raised himself up those that were more to be feared for they killed him The Images of Philippicus his Successor were Years of J. C. 702. 711. not received in Rome because he was a Favourer of the Monothelites and a declared Enemy to the sixth general Council At Constantinople they chose Anastasius II. a Years of J. C. 713 Catholic Prince and they pulled out Philippicus his Eyes At that time the Debauches of King Rodericus or Rodrigue caused Spain to be delivered up to the Moors So they called the Saracens of Africa Count Julian to be revenged for his Daughter whom Rodrigue had abused called those Infidels They came with vast Troops That King was ruined Spain submitted and the Empire of the Goths was brought to an end by it The Church of Spain was then put upon a new Proof and Tryal But as it had preserved it self under the Arians the Mahometans could not prevail over it They left it at first with Liberty enough but in the following Ages it indured great Combats and Chastity had its Martyrs as well as Faith under the Tyranny of a Nation as brutal as it was infidel The Emperor Years of J. C. 715 Anastasius continued not long The Army forced Theodosius III. to take up the Purple He was put upon fighting the new Emperor got the day and poor Anastasius was clapt into a Monastery The Moors being Masters of Spain hoped e're long to enlarge themselves beyond the Pyrenees But Charles Martel destined to suppress them was raised in France and had succeeded tho' a Bastard to the Power of his Father Pepin Heristel who left Austrasia to his House as a piece of soveraign Principality and the Command in Neustria by the charge of Grand Minister of the Crown Charles reunited all by his valour The Affairs of the East were embroyled Years of J. C. 716 Leo Isaurien Prefect of the East did not own Theodosius who without Resistance quitted the Empire which he had not accepted of but as it had been forced upon him and retired to Ephesus he spent the rest of his time about things that were truly great The Saracens received several cruel Shocks during the Empire of Leo. They shamefully raised the Siege at Years of J. C. 718. 719. Constantinople Pelagius who was canton'd in the Mountains of Asturia with the remains of those that were resolute among the Goths after a signalized Victory set up a new Kingdom in opposition to those Infidels whereby one day they were to be driven out of Spain Notwithstanding all the Efforts and the vast Army of Alderames their General Charles Martel gained over them the famous Battle of Toures There were killed there an infinite number of those Years of J. C. 725 Infidels and Abderames himself abode there upon the place This Victory was attended with other Advantages by which Charles put a stop to the Moors and extended the Kingdom even to the Pyrenees Then the Gauls scarce enjoyed any thing which was not in Obedience to the French and all acknowledged Charles Martel Powerful in Peace and in War and absolute Master of the Kingdom he reigned under several Kings with whom he fought and whom he conquered at his Pleasure but yet he durst never take upon him that great Title The Jealousy of the French Lords would have been thus deceived The Religion was established in Germany The Priest St. Boniface Years of J. C. 723 converted those People and was made Bishop thereof by Pope Gregory II. who had sent him thither The Empire was at that time pretty quiet But Leo began a trouble in it which lasted long before it ended He attempted to pull down as Idols the Images Years of J. C. 726 of Jesus Christ and of his Saints But tho' he could not come up to the Sentiments of St. Germane Patriarch of Constantinople he acted with his Authority and after a Decree of the Senate they saw him presently breaking an Image of our Saviour which was set up on the great Porch of the Church of Constantinople This began the Violences of the Iconoclasts that is to say of the breakers of Images Other Images which the Emperors the Bishops and all the Faithful had erected since the Peace of the Church both in publick and in private places went likewise all to wrack This Spectacle set the People into Motion The Statues of the Emperor were broke down in several places He look'd upon himself as being affronted in his Person and he was reproached for committing the like Affront upon Jesus Christ his Saints and that by his own Confession the Injury done to the Image reflected upon the Original Italy still went further the Impiety of the Emperor was the occasion that the common Taxes and Assessments were refused Luitprand King of the Lombards made use of the same Pretence to take Ravenna the Residence of the Exarchs So they called the Governors whom the Emperors sent into Italy Pope Gregory II. opposed the pulling down of Images but at the same time he opposed the Enemies of the Empire and indeavoured to retain the People Years of J. C. 730 in their Obedience Peace was made with the Lombards and the Emperor executed his Decree against Images more fiercely than ever But the famous John of Damas declared to him that in matters of Religion he knew no Decrees but those of the Church and he suffered much The Emperor removed from his Seat the Patriarch St. Germane who died in Exile being ninety years
paid to him Porphyry said so expresly and what is that else but to abolish all Religion and to leave him wholly without Worship whom however we acknowledge to be the God of Gods But what then were those Sacrifices which the Gentiles offered in all the Temples Porphyry had found out the secret of them There were Porphyr 2. de abstin Lab. aapud Aug. 8. de Civ 13. says he impure Spirits Deceivers Evil doers who through an extravagant Pride would needs be accounted as Gods and would make themselves be worshipped by men It was convenient to gratifie them for fear they should do us any hurt Some more gay and jolly were wroâ—ght upon by Speâ—tacles and Plays the more melancholy and reserved Humours of others were pleased with fat Odours and delighted in bloody Sacrifices What does it signifie to refuse these Absurdities there was so much that the Christians gained their cause This was certain that all the Gods to whom the Gentiles offered up Sacrifices were Evil Spirits whose Pride attributed the Godhead to themselves so that Idolatry to look upon it in it self seemed only to be the effect of a brutish Ignorance but to come up to the Source and Original of it it was a work brought from far driven on to the last Excesses by malicious Spirits 'T was what the Christians had always pretended what the Gospel had taught and what the Psalâ—ist so truly sang in these words Psal 96.5 for all the Gods of the Nations are Idols but the Lord made in Heavens And behâ—ld here the strange blindness of Mankind Idolatry tho' it was reduced to extremity and confounded by it self yet it was kept up in the World It was only to cloath it with some probability and explain it in words which carried a sound with them that charmed the ear and was enough to captivate the mind Porphyry was admired Jamblicus his follower was esteemed as a man divine because he had the art of wrapping up the Sentiments of his Master in terms that were seemingly very mysterious tho' in truth they were of no weight at all Julian the Apostate as cunning as he was was taken by those appearances which the Heathens themselves relate Enchantments whether true or false which the Philosophers boasted of their ill-understood Austerity their ridiculous Abstinence which even made it a crime to eat living Creatures Ennap Maxim Oribas Chrysanth Ep. Jul. ad Jamb Am. Marcell l. 21 23 25. their superstitious Purifications in a word their Contemplation which evaporated it self in vain thoughts and Chimâ—ra's and their words as little weighty as they seemed pompous and swelling put the cheat upon the World But yet I do not speak the bottom of all The holiness of the Christians behaviour the contempt of the Pleasures that it commanded and what is yet more than all the Humility which made up as it were the whole of the Christian Life these things offended Mankind and if we can comprehend it Pride Sensuality and Libertinism were the only Guards and Defences of Idolatry The Church was every day pulling it up by the Roots by her Doctrine but yet more by her Patience Yet those wicked Spirits who were never weary of deceiving men and who had plunged them into Idolatry were not now forgetful of their Malice They started up those Heresies in the Church which you have heard of The curious and inquisitive men and by that means vain and fickle and lovers of novelty would fain get to themselves a name among the faithful and could not be contented with that sober and temperate Wisdom which the Apostle had so much recommended to the Christians They launched too deep into those Mysteries which they pretended to measure out to our weak conceptions New Philosophers that mingled Humane Reasonings with Faith and undertook to lessen the difficulties of Christianity being able to digest all that folly which the World found in the Gospel Thus successively and with a kind of Method were all the Articles of our Faith assaulted the Creation the Law of Moses a necessary Foundation of ours the Divinity of Jesus Christ his Incarnation his Grace his Sacraments in short every thing occasioned matters for those scandalous Divisions Orig. lib. 5. cont Cels Celsus and others reproached us for them Idolatry seemed to ride in triumph It looked on Christianity as a new Sect of Philosophy which had the fate of all others and like them dwindled away of it self into several other Sects The Church seemed to them but a Humane Work that was ready to fall of it self And they concluded that it was not necessary in matters of Religion to refine more than our Ancestors nor to attempt to change the World In this Confusion of Sects which boasted themselves to be Christians God wanted not his Church He knew how to preserve to it a Character of Authority which Heresies were not able to master It was Catholick and Universal it continued throughout all times and extended it self on all sides Jer. 3.1 2 3 4. Tertul. de Carn Ch. 2. de praescrip 20 21 32. 36. It was Apostolick the Progress Succession the Chair of Unity and Primitive Authority belonged to it All those who had forsaken it first had acknowledged it and could not efface the Character of their Novelty nor that of their Rebellion The Heathens themselves looked on it as that which was the Stem the whole from whence all the parcels were detached the ever-living Trunk which the loâ—â— off Branches however left entire Celsus who reproached the Christians for their divisions into so many Schismatical Churches which he saw rise up yet observed one Church distinct from all the rest and always stronger which he also called for that reason the great Church There are some Orig. lib. 1. says he among the Christians who do not acknowledge the Creator nor the Traditions of the Jews meaning the Marcionites but goes he on the great Church receives them In the trouble which Paul of Samosata stirred up the Emperour Aurelian easily knew which was the true Christian Church to which belonged the House of the Church Euseb Hist Eccl. l. 7. c. 30. either because it was the place of Prayer or else the House of the Bishop He adjudged it to those who were in Communion with the Bishops of Italy and that of Rome because he always saw the Gross of Christians in that Communion When the Emperour Constance embroyled all in the Church the Confusion he made in it by protecting the Arrians could not keep Ammianus Marcellinus as much a Heathen as he was from confessing that that Emperour strayed out of the right way of the Christian Religion Am. Marcel l. 21. simple and particular by it self both in his Dogmata and Conduct And it was because the true Church had a Majesty and a Right which the Heresies could neither imitate nor obscure but on the contrary they bore testimony to the Catholick Church tho' at the same time
they never thought they did so Constance who persecuted St. Athanasius the Defender of the Ancient Faith ardently desired says Ammianus Marcellinus Id. lib. 15. to get him condemned by the Authority which the Bishop of Rome had over the others By seeking to support himself with that Authority he made the Heathens themselves sensible of what was wanting to his Sect and honoured the Church from which the Arrians had departed thus the Gentiles themselves acknowledged the Catholick Church If any one asked them where they kept their Assemblies and who were their Bishops they never deceived them As for Heresies whatsoever they made they could never get rid of the name of then Authors The Sabellians the Paulianists the Arrians the Pelagians and the rest were scandalized in vain at the title of the Faction which was given to them The World whatsoever they could do would speak naturally and designed every Sect by him from whom it first sprung As for the great Church the Catholick and Apostolick Church it was always impossible to affix any other Author to it than Jesus Christ himself nor to assign to it the first of its Pastors without going up as high as to the very Apostles nor to give it any other name than what it had before taken So that what Hereticks soever were made they could not conceal it from the Heathens She opened to them her Bosom all â—he World over and they ran to her in troops Some of them were possibly lost in the by-Paths but the Catholick Church was the great way wherein entred always most of those who sought after Jesus Christ and Experience has sufficiently discovered that to her it was given to bring in the fulness of the Gentiles Her also it was whom the unbelieving Emperours attacked with all their power and force Orig. cont Cels 7. Just. Apol. 2. Origen tells us that few of the Hereticks were sufferers for the Faith St. Justin more ancient than he hath observed that the Persecution spared the Marcionites and the other Hereticks The Heathens only persecuted that Church which they saw spread her self over the face of the whole Earth and only acknowledged her self for the Church of Jesus Christ What matters it to pull off some of the Branches her good Sap was not lost for all that she went into other places and the cutting down the superfluous Wood served but to make the Fruit come better In fine if we consider the History of the Church we shall always find that when ever one Heresie impaired it she recovered her losses both by enlarging outwardly and increasing inwardly light and piety whilst she beheld in some distant Corners the cut off Branches to dry and wither The work of man was perished notwithstanding the power of Hell to support it the work of God has continued and the Church hath triumphed over Idolatry and all Errours whatsoever THIS Church so always attacked XIII General Reflections on the Progress of Religion and the relation there is between the Books of the Scripture yet never overcome is a perpetual Miracle and a clear and shining Testimony of the Immutability of the Divine Councils In the midst of the agitation of Humane Affairs she still supported her self with an invincible force so that by an uninterrupted course for near these seventeen hundred years do we see her come up even to Jesus Christ in whom she hath collected the Succession of the ancient People and was found reunited to the Prophets and Patriarchs And so many astonishing Miracles which the Hebrews of old saw with their eyes do still serve at this day to confirm our Faith That great God who wrought them for a Testimony of his Unity and his Almightiness what could he do more authentick to preserve the memory of them than to leave in the hands of so great a People the Acts which punctually attest them in order of time this is what we now have in the Books of the Old Testament that is to say in the most ancient Books that are in the World in those Books which are the only ones of Antiquity where the knowledge of the true God is taught and his service ordained in those Books which the Jews have always so religiously kept 'T is certain that they were the only People who originally knew God the Creator of Heaven and Earth and consequently the only People to whom the Divine Secrets were to be committed They also kept them with a most religious care Those Books which the Egyptians and the other People called Divine are lost long since and there scarce remains so much as any confused Remembrance of them in ancient Histories The sacred Books of the Romans wherein Numa the Author of their Religion had written the Mysteries of them are perished even by the hands of the Romans themselves and the Senate commanded them to be burnt as tending to the overthrow of Religion And those same Romans at last suffered likewise the Books of the Sibyls Tit. Liv. li. 40. c. 29. Varr. l. de Cult Deor ap Aug. de Civ 12. 34. to be destroyed which were for so long time reverenced by them as Prophetical and wherein they would make the World believe that they found the Decrees of the Immortal Gods concerning their Empire and yet notwithstanding they never published I do not say one single Volume but so much as one single Oracle It has been only the Jews who have had the Sacred Scriptures in so much the greater Veneration as they were the more known Of all the ancient People these alone preserved the Primitive Monuments of their Religion albeit they so fully gave testimony of their Infidelity with that of their Ancestors And at this very day do this People still remain upon the Earth to carry into all Nations where they are dispersed together with the course and progress of their Religion the Miracles and Predictions which render it immoveable When Jesus Christ was come and sent by his Father to accomplish the Promises of the Law he confirmed his Mission and that of his Disciples by new Miracles which have been also written with the same exactness The Acts of them have been published all the World over the Circumstances of Time Persons and Places have made the Examen easie to all that have been careful of their Salvation The World was informed the World has believed and if we have but ever so little considered the ancient Monuments of the Church we must avow that never has any thing been determined with more of reflection and knowledge But as to the Relation which the Books of the two Testaments have to one another there is one difference to be considered that is that the Books of the ancient People were composed at divers times Some are the times of Moses others those of Joshua and the Judges and others of the Kings some are those when the People were brought out of Egypt and received the Law others those when they obtained the
promised Land and others those when they were re-established by visible Miracles To convince the incredulity of a People who were wholly devoted to their Senses God took a long extent of Ages in which he distributed his Miracles and his Prophets that so he might often renew the sensible Testimonies by which he attested his holy Truths In the New Testament he tooks another conduct He would no more reveal any thing anew to his Church after Jesus Christ In him was perfection and fulness and all the Divine Books that have been composed in the New Testament were made in the times of the Apostles That is to say that the Testimony of Jesus Christ and of those whom Jesus Christ hath been pleased to choose for the Witnesses of his Resurrection hath been sufficient for the Christian Church All that has come since has edified it but it has not been looked upon as purely inspired by God but what the Apostles have written or what they have confirmed by their Authority But in that difference which is found between the Books of the two Testaments God hath always observed that admirable order of making things to be written just at the times when they happened or at least when the memory of them was very fresh And so those that knew them wrote them those that knew them received the Books which bore witness of them and both the one and the other have left them to their Posterity as a most precious and invaluable Inheritance and they most carefully and piously have preserved them And thus was formed the Body of the Holy Scriptures as well the Old as the New Testament Scriptures which from their Original have been regarded as true in the whole as given by God himself and which have been also kept with that great Religion that it was thought none could dare to alter the least Letter of it without a strange Impiety And thus it was that they came down to us always holy always sacred always inviolable the one kept by the constant Tradition of the Jews and the other by the Tradition of the Christians so much the more certain as it was confirmed by the Blood and Martyrdom as well of those who wrote those Divine Books as of them that received ' em St. Austin and the other Fathers demand upon whose Faith we attribute the profane Books to certain Times and Authors Aug. cont Faust 11. 2. 32. 21. 33. 6. Every one readily answers that the Books are distinguished by the different Relations they have to the Laws Customs and Histories of a certain Time by the Stile it self which bears impressed the Character of particular Ages and Authors and more than all that Iren. 1.2.17 Tertul. adv Marc. 4. l. 4 5. Aug. de utilit ced 3. 17. cont Faust Manich. 22. 79. 28. 4. 32. 33. Cont. adv leg Porph. 1. 20. c. by the publick Faith and by a constant Tradition All these things concur to the establishment of the Divine Books to distinguish the Times and to mark out the Authors of them and the more Religion there was in preserving them entire the more indisputable is the Tradition which preserved them for us Thus hat it been always acknowledged not only by the Orthodox but also by Hereticks and even by Infidels Moses has ever passed in all the East and afterwards in all the World for the Legislator of the Jews and for being the Author of those Books that are attributed to him The Samaritans who had received them from the ten separated Tribes have as religiously kept them as the Jews You have seen their Tradition and their History Two People so opposite took them not one from the other but both received them from their Common Original in the Times of Solomon and David The ancient Hebrew Characters which the Samaritans still retain do sufficiently shew that they have not followed Esdras who changed them Thus the Pentateuch of the Samaritans and that of the Jews are two compleat Originals independant one on the other The perfect conformity that is seen in the substance of the Texts justifies the Sincerity of both those People They are faithful Witnesses that agree without understanding one another or to speak better who agree together notwithstanding all their Enmities V. sup 1. part p. 24 25 34 49 59 63 80 86 87. and which only Immemorial Tradition of both Parties hath united in the same mind Those therefore who say tho' without any reason that those Books being lost or having never been were set up or composed a new or altered by Esdras besides their being contradicted by Esdras himself as may very well be observed in the course of his History are likewise so by the Pentateuch which is even now at this day to be seen in the hands of the Samaritans so as it had been read in the first Agas by Eusebius of Cesaria St. Jerome and the other Ecclesiastical Author so as those People had kept it in their Original and a Sect so weak as that seems not to continue so long but to bear this Testimony to the Antiquity of Moses The Authors that wrote the four Evangelists received no less assured Testimony from the unanimous consent of the Faithful the Heathens and the Hereticks That great Number of various People who received and translated those Divine Books as soon as they were made agree in their date and in their Authors The Heathens have not contradicted this Tradition Nor Colsus who attacked those Sacred Books even in the first beginning of Christianity nor Julian the Apostate tho' he was neither ignorant of any thing nor omitted any thing that might descredit them nor has any other Heathen ever suspected them to be supposititious but on the contrary they have all given them the same Authors as the Christians The Hereticks although they were confounded by the Authority of those Books yet durst not say that they were not of the Disciples of our Lord. Nay some of those Hereticks saw the beginnings of the Church and before whose eyes were written the Books of the Gospel So that fraud if there could possibly be any would have appeared too near to have been successâ—ul 'T is true after the time of the Apostles and when the Church was already spread over the face of the Earth Marcion and Mannes always the most rash and the most ignorant of all the Hereticks notwithstanding the Tradition coming from the Apostles coâ—tinued by their Disciples and by the Bishops to whom they had left their Chair and the Conduct of the People and unanimously received by all the Christian Church were so bold as to say that there Evangelists were supposititious and that that of St. Luke which they preferred to all the others they knew not why since it came by no other way had been falsified But what proofs gave they of this nothing but meer Visions no positive Matters of Fact All the reason they gave was that what was contrary to their