word doth breath Martyrdome His expressions are all Spirit and Passion as if he had writ them with his blood and conveyed the anguish of his sufferings into his writings I dare not say so much of Paulinus nor of any other Father of the Church but I fear not to say that Paulinus both durst and had he beene called to it would have laid downe his life for the love of Christ Four yeares hee spent in these remote parts of Spain during which time he did lead a most solitary and austere life labouring by all meanes to conceale and vilifie himself But a City that is built upon a hill cannot be hidden his holinesse and humility had so awaked the Common people dwelling about the place of his abode that they would not rest again till they had him for their Minister This most honourable and sacred charge he would by no meanes adventure to undergo judging himselfe a most unworthy vile sinner not fit to deale in holy Scripture much lesse to handle and administer the mystical Elements of life But God who had ordained him for it would not suffer this For the people not without violence and some rudeness carried him away to Barcinoe where holy Lampius then Bishop of that Sea did upon Christmasse day by the laying on of his hands consecrate him a faithfull steward and learned dispenser of the Mysteries of God This passage we have fully related in his sixth Epistle to Severus Nos modo in Barcinonensi ut ante Scripsâ—ram civitate consistimus c. I live now saith he as I formerly writ to you in the City of Barcinoe where since the last letters received from you I was by the violence of the people God I believe having foreordained it compell'd to enter into holy Orders upon that day in which our Lord was born I confesse it was done against my will not for any dislike that I have to the place for Christ is my witnesse that my highest desire was to begin my imployment in his house with the office and honour of a door-keeper but having designed my selfe as you know elsewhere I was much terrified with this sudden and unexpected pleasure of the Divine will However I refused it not but submitted with all humility and have put my necke into the Yoke of Christ though altogether unworthy and unable I see now that I have medled with things that are too wonderful for me I am made a Steward of the Secrets of the Almighty and honourd with the dispensation of Heavenly things and being called nearer to my Master I am exercised about the Body about the Spirit and the glory of Jesus Christ The narrownesse of my understanding cannot comprehend the signification of this high and sacred dignity and I tremble every minute when I consider my own infirmities to thinke of the great burthen that is laid upon me But he that gives wisedome to his little ones and hath perfected praise out of the mouths of babes and sucklings is able to finish what he begun in me that by his mighty working I may be made worthy who was most unworthy to be called The Priesthood is an Office belonging to the Kingdome of Heaven It is an honour that is ranged upon holy ground and by it selfe Worldly dignities which are but humane inventions are and may be acquired with lesse offence by humane meanes as bribery ambition and policie But to take hold of this white robe with such dirty hands is nothing lesse then to spit in the face of Christ and to dishonour his Ordinance He that doth it and he that permits it to be done agree like Herod and Pilate to dispise and crucifie him They that Countenance and ratifie such disorders take care to provide so many Judasses to betray Christ and then vote the treason to be lawfull Every man can speak but every man cannot preach Tongues and the gift of tongues are not the same things The wisdome of God hath depth and richâ—s and things hard to be spoken as well as milk and the first principles of his Oracles Wee have amongst us many builders with hay and stubble but let them and those that hired them take heed how they build The tryal will be by fire and by a consuming fire The hidden things of dishonest the walking in Craftinesse and the handling deceitfully of the word of God they are well versed in bâ— true sanctifie and the Sâ—irit of God which Saint Paul thought he had I am very sure they have not A modest reader would now thinke that Paulinus had removed himselfe farre enough from the elaborate temptations and clamorous pursuits of Ausonius But even in this will he be deceived For at the fourth years end did the Incantations of this busie and obstinate Charmer find him out God no doubt providing for the security of his servant all that while by delaying them in severall regions or else by concealing the abode of his beloved votary from this pursuer of Soules For with all the artifice and strength of wit did he set upon him in this last letter which the divine providence suffered not to come into his hand till he had set both his hands to the plough and seald his conformation with that indelible Character And now having set a hedge about his beloved he suffered this Fowle of the Evening to fly over which chattered to him in these melodious numbers Vertisti Pauline tuâ—s dulcissimâ— mores c. Sweet Paulinus is thy nature turn'd Have I so long in vaine thy absence mourn'd Wilt thou my glory and great Romes delight The Senates prop their oracle and light In Bilbilis and Calagurris dwel Changing thy Ivorie-chair for a dark Cell Wilt bury there thy Purple and contemn All the great honours of thy noble stem To this Roman Magick and most pernicious Elegancy Paulinus replyed with a certain sacred and serene simplicity which proved so piercing and powerful that he was never after troubled with the Poetry of Ausonius Revoe andum me tibi credam Cum steriles fundas non ad divina percatus Castatidis supplex averso numine musis c. Shall I beleeve you can make me return Who pour your fruitless prayers when you mourn Not to your Maker Who can hear you cry But to the fabled Nymphs of Castalie You never shall by such false Gods bring me Either to Rome or to your company As for those former things you once did know And which you still call mine I freely now Confesse I am not he whom you knew then I have dyed since and have been borne agen Nor dare I think my sage instructor can Believe it errour for redeemed man To serve his great redeemer I grieve not But glory so to erre Let the wise knot Of worldlings call me fool I slight their noise And heare my God approving of my choice Man is but glass a building of no trust A moving shade and without Christ meer dust His choice in life concerns
save their Soules What place is there in the World what solitude what Seas which acknowledge not the good works of holy Paulinus All men desired his acquaintance and did extreamly long to have a sight of him Who ever came to him without joy or who went from him but he desired to stay longer those that could not see him in the body desired to see him in his writings for he was sweet and gentle in his Epistles elegant and ravishing in his Poems What more shall I say The relations that may be given of him would be scarse credible but that his knowne integrity is above falshood Nola was at this time a very famous and splendid City nothing inferiour to the best Emporiums of Italie and had withall a very rich Sea which questionlesse was a great occasion that the piety of this blessed Bishop was so renowned and so familiarly spoken of in the most remote parts of the World So the just and faithfull God exalteth those that humble themselves and honours those that honour him He had beene faithfull in those things that were his own and was therefore intrusted with the treasures of the Church Prosper in his second book de vitâ Contemplativâ and the ninth Chapter tells us how hee disposed of them Sanctus Paulinus ut ipsi meliùs nostis ingentia praedia quae fuerunt sua vendita pauperibus erogavit sed cum posteà factus esset Episcopus non contempsit Ecclesiae facultates sed fidelissime dispensavit Holy Paulinus saith he as you best know sold all those princely Possessions which were his own and gave of them to the poor but when he was afterwards consecrated Bishop he neglected not the revenues of the Church but was a most faithfull Steward and dispenser of them So faithfull that when he lay upon his death bed hee had not one piece left to relieve himself but was driven to lay out for some Cloathes which he had given to the poor a small summe of mony which God ordained to be sent to him for that very purpose a litle before the hour of his dissolution So that living and dying he kept to the Apostles rule and owed no man any thing but love Hee was a great lover of learned and holy men and confesseth in one of his Epistles to Alypius that his affection to Saint Ambrose was the first inducement which he felt to incline him to Christianity His dearest and most intimate friends were Saint Augustine Saint Ambrose Saint Hierome Saint Martin the Bishop of Tours Delphinus the Bishop of Burdeaux and Amandus his Successour Alypius the Bishop of Tagasta Januarius the Bishop of Naples afterwards a Martyr Victricius the Rhotomagensis Aper Severus and Nicetas of Daâ—ia I may say of him as the Scripture saith of Moses he was the meekest man upon the face of the Earth He was not onely obedient and serviceable to these Fathers and pillars of the Church but to his own Presbyters and Domesticks he judged himself the most unworthy and the most unable of all his brethren Victor the Monk sent from Severus to see him according to the custome of those times washed his feete This was a ceremony which in that age of holinesse could not be refused But Victor by this did not onely wash his feet but his face also for he drew tears from him because hee might not deny him the performance of that Evangelical service Servivit ergo mihi peccatori vae misero mihi quod passus sum he served me a sinner saith the holy Bishop and woe is to me because I suffered him But he staid not at tears for as soone as Victor had done washing his feet to requite his service he fetched him clean water and held the bason while he wash'd his hands He was not like that insolent Abbot that did cast off his humility with his Cowle and being asked by his brethren why he was then so proud that was formerly such an humble Monk made answer that in his Monachisme when he went so low and stooping he was searching for the keyes of the Abbey but now having found them he did hold up his head to ease himself This true carriage of an Evangelist made him both honourd and beloved the Church rejoyced and glorified â—od for him and the Court admired him Holynesse is a light that cannot be hidden It is a candle set upon a hill stars never shine more glorious then when they are neare black Clouds In the year of our Lord four hundred and nineteen a grievous Schism then happening in the Church there was a convention of certain Bishops and Fathers at Rome to quiet those groundlesse perturbations and stop the breach But Honorius the Emperour judging by his skil in the temper of those Church-men that no good would be done without the presence of Paulinus who then lay sick at Nola dispatched his Imperial leâ—ter to this holy Bishop wherein he earnestly intreated him if possible to shake off his present indisposition and to repaire in person to the Synod lest that great blessing of peace which he and the Church did earnestly hope and long for might by his absence unfortunately miscarry This royall record because it is a monument of no lesse sincerity then concernment and discovers unto us much of the face of those times I shall verbatim insert Sancto venerabili Patri Paulino Episcopo Nolensi TAntùm fuit apud nos certa sententia nihil ab his sacerdotibus qui ad Synodum convenerant posse definiri cum beatitudo tua dé corporis inaequalitate causata itineris non potuit injuriam sustinere ut propter absentiam sancti viri non quidem obtentura Interim tamen vitia gratulantur cùm prava vetus ambitio cum benedicto viro sanctaeque vitae diù velâ—t habere certamen ut contra haec Apostelicae institutionis bona de praesumptis pâ—r vim parietâ—bus â—xistimet confidendum O verè digna causa quam non nisi coronae tâ—ae beata vita designat Dilatum itaque Judicium nuntiamus ut divina praecepta ex venerationis tuae ore promantur qui easecutus implesti nec potest alius â—orum praeceptorum lator existere quam qui dignus Apostolicis disciplinis est approbatus Specialiter itaque domine sancte meritò venerabilis pater Justus dei famulus divinum opus contempâ—o labore tributum hoc nobis visitationis tuae si ita dicendum est munus indulge ut postpositis omnibus quantùm temperantia his tranquillitas suffragantur Synodo profuturus sine intermissione etiam desideriis nostris benedictioni quam cupimus te praestare digâ—eris To the holy and reverend Father PAULINUS Bishop of Nola. SUch a firm opinion have we that nothing can be agreed and concluded upon by the Bishops met in this Synod your Holinesse by reason of your bodily indisposition being not able to travel hither that for your onely absence it is not like to continue In
their blessed and beloved Bishop Some few daies after thâ— old Tyrant as God had foretold by his holy Servant departed out of this World into his owne place And so that scourge which God had put into his hand for the punishment of a great part of the Christian World was taken away and the instrument cast into the fire Wherefore whoever thou beest that readest this book and art a sufferer thy selfe or doest see and grieve for the calamities of the Church the oppression of the poor the violent perverting of judgement justice in a province do not thou marvel at the matter nor vex thy self for he that is higher then the highest regardeth it and there be higher then tâ—ey Envy not the glory of Sinners for thou knowest not what will be their end but submit thy self under the mighty hand of God expecting with patience the time of refreshing and I do assure thee upon my Soul thou shalt not be deceived Paulinus with all his joyfull Captives was now landed in Campania where all the Inhabitants as upon a solemne feast-day flocked together to welcome him and to poure their joyes into his bosome some received their Sonnes some their brothers and some their husbands both the receivers and the received were beholding to Paulinus They commended honoured and admired him He exhorted incouraged and confirmed them Mutuall Consolations are a double banquet they are the Churches Eulogiae which we both give and take What the Campanians most admired in Paulinus was that which the Scripture commends in Moses youthfullnesse in old age He was now as earnest as hearty and as active for the glory of God as in his most vigorous years His spiritual force was not abated nor the Eye of his Soul any way dimmed Hee did not coole towards his setting but grew more large more bright and more fervent Bearing trees when their fruit is ripe bend their boughes and offer themselves to the gatherers hands He knew that his time of departure was at hand and therefore Moses-like he made his Doctrine to drop as the raine and his speech distilled as the dew Hee poured out his milk and his Wine and made them drink abundantly To labour in the heat of the day and to give over in the cool is great indiscretion the contention should be alwaies hottest towards the end of the race I am now come to my last Paragraph which all this while I did reserve for his Works of Piety And these indeede if wee consider his unworldlinesse and religious poverty were very great and very sumptuous He repaired and beautified the four old Basilica's or Churches dedicated to the Martyr Felix and built the fifth which exceeded them all both for beauty and largenesse This he dedicated to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ It was adorned with two stately Porches the one opend towards the way of Publick resort the other was a private Postern and the path leading to it was through a pleasant green field set with fruit-trees and other shady wood â—enced about with a very high and sumptuous wall The entrance into this Court was through a fair Marble-Gate in whose Front were cut these following verses Caelestes intrate vias per amoena vireta c. Through pleasant green fields enter you the way To blisse and wel through shades and blossoms may The walkes leade here from whence directly lyes The good mans path to sacred Paradise This Church was joyned to the other four and an entrance made from the one into the other by high and spatious Arches supported with pillars of Marble Through these pillars whose height did almost reach to the roof as through a traverse was to be seene by those that came from the old Châ—rch into the new the picture of the Crosse limned in most lively and glorious Colours and hung with Garlands of palms and flowers above it shined a cleare and luminous skie and on the Crosse which was all Purple sate perching a flock of white Doves at the bottome of this Paisage were written these verses Ardua florifera Crux c. The painfull Crosse with flowers anâ— Palms is crown'd Which prove it springs though all in blood ' is drown'd The Doves above it shew with one consent Heaven opens onely to the innocent In the Courts belonging to this Church were very faire and spatious walks paved with stone and covered over head against the violence of weather The outside was supported with Pillars and the Inner was divided into neat and cleanly Cells opening towards the Walks where the people that came thither to celebrate the Vigils of Felix reposed themselves Round about these Courts were great Cisterns and Lavers of severall kinds of Marble most curiously polished whose diverse-formes and colours were very delightfull and much recreated the beholders The Porches which were very large and contained with in them many private Oratories or places of prayer were all richly pictured with sacred Histories out of the Pentateuch the book of Joshuah Judges and Ruth This Church is fully described in his twelfth Epistle to Severus and his ninth Natalis when Nicetas came out of Daciae to see him Ecce vidès quantus splendor velut aede renatâ Rideat insculptum camerâ crispante lacunar In ligno mentitur ebur tectoque supernè Pendentes lychni spiris retinentur ahenis Et medio in vacuo laxis vaga lumina nutant Funibus undantes flammas levis aura fatigat c. You see what splendour through the spatious Isle As if the Church were glorified doth smile The Ivory-wrought beams seem to the sight In graven while the carv'd roofe looks curl'd and bright On brasse hoopes to the upmost vaults we tie The hovering Lamps which nod and tremble by The yeelding Cords fresh Oyle doth still repair The waving flames vex'd with the fleeting aire Having finished this Church hee built another not far from Nola in a litle Town called Fundi where his possessions which he afterwards sold and gave to the poor were situate this also de dedicated to our Lord Jesus whom he used to call thâ— Saint of Saints and the Marty of Martyrs In this Church in the great Isle leading to the Altar he caused to be put up another peece of Limning or sacred Paisage which for bâ—auty â—nd exceâ—lâ—ncie exceeded all the formâ—r We have it most lively described and explained in these following verses Sanctorum labor merces sibi rite cohaerent Ardua Crux pretiumque crucis sublime corona c. The paines of Saints and Saints rewards are twins The sad Crosse and the Crowne which the Crosse wins Here Christ the Prince both of the Cross and Crown Amongst fresh Groves and Lillies fully blown Stands a white Lamb bearing the purple Crosse White shewes his purenesse Red his bloods dear losse To ease his sorrowes the Chast Turtle sings And fans him swetting blood with hâ—r bright wings While from a shining Cloud the Father Eyes His Sons sad conflict with his Enemies And on
two years old and under So that considering all the Circumstances which offer themselves for the clearing of this point it will evidently appear that he was baptized as I have said before in the eight and thirtieth year of his age The onely Instrument which God was pleas'd to ordain and imploy upon the Earth for his Conversion was his dear and Virtuous Wife Therasia Which makes me conjecture that she was borne of Christian parents and had received the faith from her infancie This Ausonius his old Tutor who was scarce a good Chrihian forgat not to upraid him with in most injurious termes calling her Tanaquil and the Imperatrix of her Husband To which passionate passages though sadly resented Paulinus râ—plyed with all the humanity and sweetnesse which language could exprâ—sse Thus Ausonius barks at him Undè istam meruit non foelix Charta repulsam Hostis ab hoste tamen c. how could that paper sent That luckless paper merit thy contempt Ev'n foe to fo though furiously replies And the defied his Enemy defies Amidst the swords and wounds ther 's a Salute Rocks answer man and though hard are not mute Nature made nothing dumb nothing unkind The trees and leaves speak trembling to the wind If thou doest feare discoveries and the blot Of my love Tanaquil shal know it not To this Poetical fury Paulinus reposeth with that Native mildnesse which he was wholly composed of Continuata meae durare silentia linguae Te nunquam tacito memoras placit amque latebris Desidiam exprobras neglectaeque insuper addis Crimen amicitiae formidatamque Jugalem Objicis durum iacis in mea viscera versum c. Obdurate still and tongue-tyed you accuse Though yours is ever vocall my dull muse You blame my Lazie lurking life and adde I scorne your love a Calumny most sad Then tell me that I fear my wife and dart Harsh cutting words against my dearest heart Leave learned Father leave this bitter Course My studies are not turn'd unto the worse I am not mad nor idle nor deny Your great deserts and my debt nor have I A wife like Tanaquil as wildly you Object but a Lucretia chast and true To avoid these clamours of Ausonius and the dangerous sollicitations of his grâ—at kindred and friends he left Burdeaux and Nola and retyred into the Mountanous and solitary parts of Spaine about Barcinâ—e and Bilbilis upon the River Sale Two journeyes he made into Spain this last and his first before his baptism upon the Emperours affairs he Sojourned then in new Castiâ—e in the City of Complutum now called Alcala de henares where his wife Therasia was delivered of her onely Son Celsus who died upon the eighth day after his birth Holy Paulinus in his Panegyrick upon the death of Celsus the Son of Pneumatius by his Wife Fidâ—lis takes occasion to mention the early death of this blessed infant Hoc pignus commune superno in lumine Celsu Credite vivorum lacte favisque frui Aut cum Bethlaeis infantibus in Paradiso Quos malus Herodes perculit invidiâ Inter odoratum ludit nemus c. This pledge of your joint love to Heaven now fled With honey-combs and milk of life is fed Or with the Bethlem-Babes whom Herods rage Kill'd in their tender happy holy age Doth walk the groves of Paradise and make Garlands which those young Martyrs from him take With these his Eyes on the mild lamb are fixt A Virgin-Child with Virgin-infants mixt Such is my Celsus too who soon as given Was taken back on the eighth day to Heaven To whom at Alcala I sadly gave Amongst the Martyrs Tombes a little grave Hee now with yours gone both the blessed way Amongst the trees of life doth smile and play And this one drop of our mixt blood may be A light for my Therasia and for me These distant and obscure retirements he made choice of because he would not be known of any nor hindred in his coursâ— Which at Nola and the adjacent parts of Rome where his Secular honours an I antient descent made all the people obsequious to him could not possibly be effected Besides very few in those Western parts especially of the Nobility had at that time received the Christian Faith for they look'd upon it as a most degenerate unmanly profession such a good opinion had those rough times of peace and humility This made him lesse looked after by the Inhabitants of those parts and his own friends not knowing what became of him began to give him over and not onely to withdraw from him in their care but in their affections also giving out that he was mad and besides himself But all this moved him not he was not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ he counted all things dung that he might gaine his Saviour and hee fainted not but endured as seeing him that is invisible The first step to Christianity saith Saint Hierome is to contemne the censures of men This foundation he laid and upon this he built he had given himselfe wholly to Christ and rejected the world he tooke part with that man of sorrowes and suffered the scoffs and reproaches of these men of mirth The people are the many waters he turn'd their froth and some into pearls and wearied all weathers with an unimpaired Superstitie Hee was sounded upon that Rock which is not worne with time but wears all that oppose it Some dispositions love to stand in raine and affect wind and showers beyond Musick Paulinus sure was of this temper he preferred the indignation and hatred of the multitude to their love he would not buy their friendship with the losse of Heaven nor call those Saints and propagators who were Devills and destroyers What courage he had in such tempests may be seen in every line almost of his workes I shal insert one or two out of his 6th Epistle to Severus Utinam frater mi digni habeamur qui maledicamur notemur conteramur atque etiam interficiamur in nomine Jesu Christi dum non ipse occidatur Christus in nobis c. I would saith he my dear brother that we might be counted worthy to suffer reproach to be branded and troden upon Yea and to be killed for the name of Christ so that Christ be not killed in us Then at last should we tread upon the Adder and the Dragon and bruise the head of the old Serpent But alas wee as yet relish this World and do but pretend to love Christ we love indeed to be commended and cherished for professing his name but wee love not to be troubled and afflicted for his sake And in his first Epistle to Aper O blessed displeasures saith he to displease men by pleasing Christ Let us take heed of the love of such who will be pleased without Christ It is an observation of the Readers of Saint Cyprian quod in ejus scriptis singula propè verbâ— Martyrium spirant that through all his writings almost every