in his Commentary upon the 43. Chapter of Augustin de haeresibus and Nicelas Choniates in his treasury of the Orthodox faith Lib. 4. Haeres 31. who there thus speaks of him that for natural and moral philosophy he was a Doctor acceptable unto all but for matters Dogmatical or of Faith of Theological speculation he shewed himself the most absurd of all that went before or followed after him Which also those frequent passages of Ierom do shew where he saith I commended him as an interpretor but not as a Dogmatist Again I call Origen ours for his learning and wit not for the truth of his opinions and Doctrine Lastly as I ever attributed unto Origen the Interpretation and idioms or proprieties of Scripture So I most constantly took from him truth in his opinions For this cause also having at his request sent unto Avitus his Translation of Origens books 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the close of his Epistle he prescribes this as an antidote against the errors therein contained Whosoever saith he will read these books and go toward the land of promise with his feet shod lest he be bitten of Serpents and smitten with the forked wound of the Scorpion let him read this book or Epistle wherein are declared the dangerous passages contained in those books that so he may know before he begin his journy what things he must shun avoid Hence Beza gives this censure of him certainly saith he this writer is every way so impure whether he wrote so himself or whether his writings were afterward depraved that in matters controversial he deserves no authority in the Church Yet notwithstanding in the judgment of some the good that was in him exceeded the evil so that although he were guilty of the errors imputed unto him yet being a man of so much learning he deserves to be pittied whose faults saith Haymo if there be any in his books may be overcome by the Celestial splendor of those things which are faithfully written by him And saith Scultetus this age might well bear the precipitate publication of his works by Ambrose or the malevolent depravation of them if withal they had all come to our hands Many of his errors began first to be entertained by the Monks and Disciplinarians in Egypt from whose Cells being vented they spread abroad and were embraced and maintained by very many unto whom as a Sect or swarm of Hereticks deriving their errors from Origen was given the name of Origenists or Adamantians who continued long even unto the time of Gregory the great for he testifieth that some of them were remaining in his days Adversus Origenistas inquit Baronius longa admodum periculosa fuit Ecclesiae concertatio § 7. Now as touching the last scene of his life his going off the Theatre of this world I find no large mention made of it That his sufferings for Christ were neither few nor small though he suffered not martyrdom is abundantly testified So that in the judgment of Merline as also of Mirandula he came but little short of it and deserves the palm semper Deo inquit Pontius Diaconus mancipata devotio dicatis hominibus pro martyrio deputatur And saith Haymo voluntate Martyr fuit though he laid not down his life yet he lost not the Honor of Martyrdom For they were many and sore things which he did undergo even in his old age besides what in former time had beâ—ided him at what time the persecution against the Church raged under the Emperor Decius whereof Eusebius makes report in these words drawing toward the close of Origen about which the most part of the sixth book is spent what things they were saith he and how great which hapned to Origen in that persecution and how he died the spiteful Devil pursuing him with his whole troop striving against him with all might and every kind of sleight that possibly could be invented and especially against him above all the rest which then were persecuted to death and what and how great things he sustained for the Doctrine of Christ imprisonments and torments of body scourging at Iron stakes stench of close prison and how for the space of many days his feet lay stretched four paces asunder in the stocks and how that constantly he endured the threats of fire and all that the enemy could terrifie him with and what end he made after the judge had wrought by all means possible to save his life and what speeches he uttered very profitable for such as need consolation sundry of his Epistles truly faithfully and curiously penn'd do declare He lived the space of sixty nine years of which reckoning from the time that he was by Demetrius made Catechist in the School of Alexandria he spent above fifty most laboriously in teaching and writing in the affairs and care of the Church in refuting Heresies and in the exercise of Piety and many notable vertues But notwithstanding all his labours and worth his age and end as well as the former part of his life were accompanied with poverty so small recompence and reward had he from men who haply could be well contented freely to afford him their praises but kept fast their purses sic virtus laudatur alget And for this rich Ambrose above all other deserves most blame that at his death was not more mindful of his old and indigent friend Origen Hence it came to pass that he ended his days in a mean and miserable condition miserabiliter inquit Nicephorus infoelix obiit dying in the famous City of Tyre where also he was buried in the reign of the Emperors Gallus and Volusian and in the year of Christ. 256. Cyprianus § 1. CYprianus called also Thascius was born at Carthage one of the chief Cities of Africa he was very rich and of great note and power there being one of the Senatorian Order and among them held the first or chief place his breeding was liberal and ingenuous from his tender years being trained up in and seasoned with the knowledge of the Arts wherein his proficiency was such that among the rest he became an excellent Rhetorician and publickly professed and taught that art at Carhage being had in very great esteem among them but all this while an Ethnick without the knowledge of Christ yea a most bitter persecutor of the Christians withal à Magician and skilled in those curious arts though this last be very improbable in the judgment both of Baronius and Pamelius How long he continued in this condition is uncertain yet that he was well stricken in years before converted unto Christianity may be conjectured 1. Partly from his own words for while being a Gentile he thought of receiving the Christian Faith he conflicted with such reasonings as these he conceived it a hard and difficult thing as sometime did Nicodemus for a man to
are as it were common places out of the Scriptures might be looked on by him as Commentaries wherein indeed he briefly glosseth upon and giveth some light unto many Texts though this were not the thing that he intended in those Tables Among the works of Cyprian that remain unto this day his excellent Epistles are deservedly ranked in the first place as having a notable vein of piety running through them Epistolae Cypriani inquit Chemnitius referunt pectus ardens Pietate ita ut lectorem accendere possint and wherein is discovered abundance of that prudence candour meekness modesty gravity and holy severity wherewith his rare spirit was so much adorned These are the most genuine births of our Author though yet they have not continued altogether untouched nor have escaped the injury of those whose fingers have been itching to tamper with and corrupt them for the support of their tottering cause which truth will never patronize There are at this day eighty three of them in number whereof some few were from others unto himself the rest written by him unto the Bishops Presbyters and Churches or Brethren They are by Pamelius digested and cast into this order two were written shortly after his Baptism thirty and eight in his first Exile which lasted the space of two years eighteen during the time wherein Cornelius and Lucius sate Bishops of Rome eight miscellany Epistles written in the times of the peace of the Church ten in the time of Stephen Bishop of Rome concerning the Rebaptization of Hereticks and seven in his last secession a little before his Martyrdom The same Authour hath taken good pains in his more exact Chronological account of the particular years wherein these Epistles as also his other Treatises were written which affords not a little light for the better understanding of them for he had found them to have such a mutual dependance one upon another that many of them without the help of others could not well be understood This Chronology is prefixed by Pamelius in his Edition of these Epistles together with the rest of Cyprian's works in whose diligence in his emendations and annotations which contain many Ecclesiastical Antiquities for the illustration of them deserveth commendation Yet in this was he unhappy that being a sworn Vassal of the Romish Synagogue he strains his Wit and skill to reconcile which cannot be the opinions and judgement of Cyprian and other Ancients with Pontifician Traditions and the Anathematisms of the Tridentine Conventicle which filth cast upon the famous Cyprian and Orthodox antiquity Simon Goulart hath with good success endeavoured to wipe off in his Learned notes as an antidote subjoyned unto those of Pamelius by which means this Edition comes to be more exact than any that were before it though there were divers Of which Pamelius a Lovain Divine the said Goulart gives this approbation that he was an ingenious Man of much reading most diligent of very accurate and quick expression and one that had merited much of those studious in Theology in his Edition of Cyprian if contenting himself to have pointed at the various readings he had either not touched or more sincerely explicated those Antiquities As touching these Epistles I shall refer the Reader for the Analysis and contents of them unto Scultetus who hath taken laudable pains in surveying the works of our Authour together with divers other of the Ancients It shall suffice me to reflect upon them in a more general way and what is remarkable in them and to hint somewhat that may be of use in reference unto them And herein I shall observe that order wherein they are ranked and set down by Pamelius The second Epistle contains a flourishing and eloquent Narration of his conversion and Baptism savouring much for its quaintness of the Rhetorick Schools from whence he was newly come The phrase of this Epistle saith Erasmus is more neat and florid then that of the rest retaining still the scent of Scholastical eloquence In Secundâ Epistolâ nonnihil lusit apparatu pompâque Sermonis unde Augustinus Lib. 4. cap. 14. de Doctr. Christian comptae jucundae splendidaeque dictionis depromit exemplum It is entituled by Trithemius lib. de gratiâ Dei And by Antoninus De Gratiâ abundantiâ malitiae saeculi But this accurate Eloquence of his gotten with so much sweat and augmented with continual exercise and for which he was famous every where he laid aside as of little profit and necessity preferring before it Christian simplicity Yet that in this Epistle he wrote in so high a strain I suppose it therefore so fell out saith Augustine or rather was advisedly done that posterity might know what a tongue the soundness of Christian Doctrine had recalled from such redundance or superfluity and restrained to a more grave and modest eloquence such as in his following writings is securely loved religiously desired but most difficulty performed Wherefore this holy Man did shew that he could so speak because some where he spake so but withal that he would not because he afterward no where doth so Nihil inquit Erasmus reperies in Cypriaeno quod ad ostentationem ingeâ—â— videri possit ascitum aut quod ullo pacto vafrieiem sapiat In the twelfth Epistle ad plebem wherein he desires them to wait for his return that we saith he and our fellow Bishops being assembled together may examine the Letters and desires of the blessed Martyrs according to the Doctrine of our Lord and in the presence of the Confessors secundum vestrâ—â— quoque sententiam and according as you shall think convenient Those last words are maliciously left out because saith Daille they would not have us to know that the faithful people had ever any thing to do with or had any vote in the affairs of the Church In the thirty first Epistle there remained for a long time a foul fault uncorrected by which the place was so depraved that no perfect sence could be made of it which was at length happily amended by the dexterity of that Phoenix of her Sex for Learning Margaret the Daughter of Sir Thomas Moor one unto whom Erasmus wrote many Epistles and dedicated his Commentaries on certain Hymns of Prudentius calling her the flower of all the Learned Matrons of England She was of a quick and sharp Wit and composed in Greek and Latin both Verse and Prose and that most eloquently to the admiration of those that perused her writings This Gentlewoman reading this Epistle and being come to the place corrupted which was this Absit enim ab Ecclesiâ Romanâ vigorem suum tam profanâ facilitate dimittere NISI VOS severitatis eversâ fidei Majestate dissolvere presently without help of other example or instruction quoth she those words Nisi Vos must be Nervos and so the sentence by
be none of Cyprians 3. Of the praise of Martyrdom unto Moses and Maximus wherein pennis eloquentiae se mirificè extulit But the stile is so elaborate and unequal that Erasmus supposeth no man is of so dull a scent but he must needs perceive it to be far different from that of Cyprian He thinks it therefore to be an Essay of some one that would exercise his pen wherein he shewed more care then wit and more affectation then ability Cardinal Baronius is very angry with him for this his censure calling him Mome telling us that he that will prudently compare it with the Apologetick unto Demetrian or his Epistle unto Donatus will easily perceive by the same lineaments of their faces that they proceeded from the same Author But the wit and wisdom of Erasmus dictator ille rei literariae and his ingenuity in this kind are sufficiently known and approved of by the Learned And as he was able so was he no less diligent in comparing one thing with another that he might the better give a right judgment So that the cavil might well have been spared and deserves little to be regarded as issuing rather from heat and interest then from candid and impartial animadversion The truth is both the Cardinal and the Canon Pamelius looked on it as advantageous and making somewhat for their market affording them a considerable authority for the Doctrines of Purgatory and the Invocation of Saints who therefore strain hard and would fain perswade us that it is Cyprians though they be levissima argumenta very trivial and slender arguments whereby they endeavor to make it appear so to be 4. Unto Novatian the Heretick that hope of pardon ought not to be denied unto the Lapsi such as fell in time of persecution which saith Erasmus the stile will not suffer us to believe that it is Cyprians But withal it is so Eloquent and Learned that he judgeth it not altogether unworthy of Cyprian yet rather thinks that Cornelius Bishop of Rome wrote it which conjecture he grounds upon the words of Ierom whom herein Honorius Augustodunensis follows and explains saying Cornelius wrote a very large Epistle unto Novatian and Fabius 5. Of the Cardinal or Principal works of Christ unto his ascension unto the Father which besides the Preface consisteth of twelve Chapters or Sermons 1. Of the Nativity of Christ. 2. Of his Circumcision 3. Of the Star and Wisemen 4. Of the Baptism of Christ and manifestation of the Trinity 5. Of his Fasting and Temptations 6. Of the Lords Supper and first institution of the Sacrament consummating all Sacraments wherein is comprehended the sense and consent of Orthodox Antiquity and the Catholick Church concerning the Lords Supper 7. Of washing the Disciples feet 8. Of Annointing with Oyl and other Sacraments 9. Of the passion of Christ. 10. Of his Resurrection 11. Of his Ascension 12. Of the Holy Ghost All these are urged as the authority of Cyprian by divers Romish Champions for the maintenance of many of their unsound Doctrines though it be doubted of by themselves for sundry weighty reasons among the rest these following 1. The stile is lower than Cyprian's useth to be 2. The Author in serm de tentatione sâ—ith that the Devil fell from Heaven before the creation of man contrary unto the opinion of Cyprian in his Treatise de telo invidiâ 3. In the Preface he gives unto Cornelius Bishop of Rome the Title of sublimitas veâ—ra your Highness whereas Cyprian always stiles him brother and Collegue The stile saith Erasmus argues it to be none of Cyprian's though it be the work of some learned man whereof that age had store Non Cypriani quidem inquit Casaubonus sed non indignus Cypriano And Bellarmin himself elsewhere affirms that the author of these Sermons without doubt lived long since Cyprian yea after the time of Augustine and taxeth the boldness of him that first put Cornelius his name in the fore front of this Book But in a very ancient Manuscript in the Library of All-Souls Colledge in Oxford the Author is called Arnaldus Bâ—naâ—illacensis who lived in the time of Bernard unto whom he hath written one or two Epistles and the Book is dedicated not unto Cornelius who lived about the year of Christ 220. but unto Adrian the Fourth who lived about the year 1154. and succeeded Eugenius the Third unto whom Bernard wrote his Book of Consideration Also that Learned Antiquary the Reverend Vsher saith he hath seen besides the abovenamed another Manuscript in the publick Library at Oxford wherein this Book bears the name of the said Arnaldus as the author thereof Taking it then for granted that it is none of Cyprian's let us give it its due in the words of Scultetus It is a Book full of Religious Piety and of great use to Preachers for they are popular declamations which do breath affections stirred up by the spirit of God 6. Of Dicers which Game he proves by many arguments to be unworthy of a Christian especially an Ecclesiastical man But it certainly appears to be none of his by the stile and seems to be written in the corrupter times of the Church Bellarmin and Pamelius speak doubtfully of it the former supposing it rather to be written by some one of the Bishops of Rome as plainly appears from the Author 's assuming unto himself the Presidentship of the universal Church and to be Christ's Vicar which indeed none ever dared to do but that proud Prelate of Rome 7. Of the Mountains Sina and Sion against the Jews being a mystical interpretation of them the stile shews it to be none of his as both Bellarmin and Pamelius confess yea it is altogether different both from the stile and also the Genius of Cyprian and is stuffed with such allegories and expositions of Scripture as are far from the Learning Piety and Simplicity of this Blessed Martyr 8. As for those Poems viz. Genesis Sodoâ—â— ad Senatorem Pamelius hath adjudged them rather unto Tertullian because of the stile and because Cyprian was never ranked among the Christian Poets but only by Fabricius he might have added Gyraldus so that he leaves the matter doubtful And saith Bellarmin we have no certain ground whence to conclude it So also for the Hymn de Pascha in many Manuscripts it is ascribed â—nto Victorinus Pictaviensis But saith Bellarâ—in of them Opera sunt gravia docta S. Cyprianâ— digna To which I add the Verses de Sanctae Crucis ligno which Lilius Gyraldâ—s ascribes unto Cyprian being sixty nine Heroicks in number Quos inquit ego legi si semel legatis iterum saepe legetis But as I find them no where else mentioned as Cyprian's so I conceive Pamelius would not have failed to rank them among the rest had he seen
and make his way and work by far more facil and pleasant which that it may be the issue of this undertaking is heartily desired by him who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I. H. Each Chapter consists of all or most of these following particulars concerning each Father 1 § A Brief account of his Life and Travels in the Church 2 § His Elogy and the esteem he was held in 3 § His labors and writings whereof 1. Some are lost 2. Some remain of which 1. Some are dubious 2. Some are spurious 3. Some are genuine and of these 1. Their sum 2. Their censure 4. § His language and stile 5. § Some notable and select passages 6. § His slips and errors whereof 1. The Occasion and Ground 2. The Apology and Plea that may be made for some of them 7. § His end and death The FATHERS treated of in this Treatise viz. Page 1. Ignatius Antiochenus 1 2. Iustinus Martyr 22 3. Irenaeus Lugdunensis 51 4. Clemens Alexandrinus 79 5. Tertullianus 111 6. Origenes Adamantius 171 7. Cyprianus Carthaginensis 248 8. Lactantius Firmianus 314 9. Athanasius Alexandrinus 339 10. Hilarius Pictaviensis 390 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 OR A VIEW of Antiquity 1. Ignatius Antiochenus §1 AS touching Ignatius surnamed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Ancient and Eminent Bishop and Martyr what Country-man he was how brought up and Educated in what manner and by what means converted unto the Christian Faith and advanced unto the weightier functions in the Church is no where extant nor recorded in history The relation of Nicephorus seems fabulous and inconsistent with what is to be found in the Epistles attributed by some unto Ignatius himself wherein 't is said that he never saw Christ corporally or in the flesh He therefore could not be as the above-named Author reports him to have been that little Child that Christ called unto him and set in the midst of his Disciples commending simplicity unto them and saying Except ye be converted and become as little children ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven But though he so saw not the Lord Jesus yet did he live and familiarly converse with them that had so seen him being as is generally received the Disciple of the Apostle Iobn as were also his contemporaries Papias Bishop of Hierapâ—lis and Polycarp ordained by the said Apostle Bishop of Smyrna as was our Ignatius Bishop of Antioch by the Apostle Peter of whose right hand saith Theodoret he received 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of which Church he was the third Pastor or Bishop the Apostle Peter being the first to whom next succeeded Evodius one of the seventy Disciples as saith Dorotheus Eusebius makes Evâ—dius the first and our Ignatius the second Pastor there which is true indeed of the fixed Bishops of that City for Peter stayed but a while there and then departed unto Ierusalem and other Eastern Regions If therefore the Apostle Peter begin the Catalogue as some make him to do then is he the third but if Evodint as others then the second Bishop of that place His zeal toward the house of God was exceeding great even burning hot for which he was had in as great esteem and most acceptable unto those of chiefest note especially Polycarp and the rest of the Asian Bishops whereof they gave an ample testimony by their flocking to him as the most famous man of all the East when they heard that he was lead bound toward Rome For in his way being at Smyrna the neighboring Churches having notice thereof sent each of them their messengers to salute and visit him in their behalf among whom were the Bishops of some of those places accompanied by the Elders and Deacons the like also was performed by the Bishop of Philadelphia upon his coming to Troas An evident demonstration of the high and more then ordinary respect which they bare unto him and his answerable worth who as they deemed deserved it from them § 2. He was accounted the first and chief of the Oriental Bishops as excelling them all both in the holiness of his life and his powerfulness in Preaching the Gospel as well as in the prerogative of his seat yea among the Fathers of the Primitive Church he holds the first place A Doctor in every regard blessed whom Bernard stiles by the name of the great Ignatius our Martyr with whose precious reliques saith he our poverty is inriched a most holy Man and altogether the most Ancient of all now extant one truly Divine and even unto our memory famous and in the mouthes of many a clear evidence of his admirable worth and that variety of the gifts of the holy Ghost wherewith he was choicely adorned a man of eminent Sanctity as also a singular and â—ervent lover of our Lord Jesus Christ in publishing the word of God very zealous and no less Learned in so much as his Learning as well as his vertues were celebrated of old amongst which the magnanimity of his spirit in the cause of Christ happily conjoyned with sweet humility and holy simplicity did add not the least lustre to this accomplish'd Martyr § 3. The remains of his Learning and labors are only some few Epistles written by him unto several Churches and Persons not long before his death which as a certain well drawn picture do excellently represent and give us a lively image of him for therein are notably discovered his vigorous and singular love to Christ his fervent zeal for God and his glory his admirable and undaunted courage and magnanimity in his cause accompanied with such sweet humility and exemplary meekness of Spirit that as in all he shewed himself to be a true Disciple and follower of Christ so may he well serve as a pattern for the imitation of succeeding generation Talis erat sublimis illius animi submissio è contra ejusdem submissi animi sublimitas ut mirâ quadam connexione summis ima conjungat quae admiratione delectatione animum simul afficiant Such was the submission of that sublime soul and on the other side such the sublimity of that submisse soul that with a certain admirable connexion he joyned together the lowest with the highest both which may well affect the mind with wonderment and delight These Epistles do amount as now extant unto the number of fifteen and may be divided or ranked in three sorts 1. Such as are Genuine and for the main and bulk of them by most apprehended and granted to be his of which Casaubon thus For the Epistles of Ignatius to deny them to be those of that most ancient Martyr and Bishop of Antioch would be Heresie at this day and verily as for some of them we shall else where if it shall please the Lord defend their antiquity by new reasons These are six in number though commonly thought to be seven
because so many are said to have been collected by Polycarp Bishop of Smyrna and so many are contained in the catalogues both of Eusebius and Ierom. But that skillful Antiquary the Reverend Vsher conceives that the Epistle to Polycarp which is reckoned among and makes up the seven is none of his Ignatius writing no peculiar Epistle unto him but that unto the Church of Smyrna only directed both unto them and also unto him joyntly as their Bishop or Pastour And this saith that learned Author I do not at all doubt to have been in the mind of Ierom whose words Et propriè ad Polycarpum commendans illi Antiochensem Ecclesiam are to be read as in a Parenthesis not as denoting a distinct Epistle from that to those of Smyrna but as relating to the same For as the quick eyed Casanbon observes those words of Ignatius mentioned by Ierom immediately after in quâ arte are not taken out of the Epistle to Polycarp as Baronius imagined but out of that unto the Church of Smyrna where only to this day they are to be read and not in the other And Eusebius produceth the same words out of the Epistle to the Smyrncans Thus Hic Ignatius cum Smyrnaeis scriberet c. Hence Honorius Augustodunensis in his Book de luminaribus Ecclesiae being an Epitome of Ierome Bennadius Isodore Hispalensis Beda and others enumerating the Epistles of Ignatius altogether omits that unto Polycarpus which therefore ought to be and is by Vsher accordingly ranked among the second sort of his Epistles The six Genuine Epistles then are these His Epistle 1. To the Ephesians wherein he mentions Onesimus their Pastour 2. To the Church of Magnesia lying on the River Meander whose Bishop was Dama 3. To the Church of Trallis whose Overseer was Polybius 4. To the Church of Rome All these were written at Smyrna in his journey from Syria to Rome His Epistle 5. To the Church of Philadelphia 6. To the Church of Smyrna Written from Troas Which yet the Centurists leave to the consideration of the diligent Reader how unlikely it is that they who conducted him should go so much out of the direct way and Road leading to Rome and fetch so great a compass about in their journey Though these and these only are judged to be genuine yet have they not escaped the hands of those who have offered no small injury unto them having most unworthily corrupted these ancient Reliques partly by addition and interpolation of what never fell from the pen of Ignatius and partly by diminution and substraction of that which they saw would prove of disadvantage and prejudicial unto them These Epistles saith Chemnitius have in them many sentences not to be contemned especially as they are read in the Greek but withal there are mingled other things not a few which verily have not in them Apostolical Gravity It 's most certain therefore saith Cook that his Epistles are either supposititious or at least filthily corrupted so mangled and changed by insertion or resection That saith Rivet they are of little or no credit but only in those things wherein they do agree with the writings of the Apostles from whose Doctrine that Ignatius did not recede both his Piety and Learning do perswade us So that even those six Genuine Epistles through the foul abuse that hath been offered unto them have clearly lost much of that authority which they they had of old For the discovery of this fraud take a few instances In Epist. ad Philadelph mention is made of this Heresie that there was in Christ no humane Soul yet was Apollinarius Laodicenus the first author thereof who lived about the year 370 a long time after Ignatius And as this is foysted in so are those words left out which are cited by Theodoret in Dialog 3. being taken by him out of the Epistle to the Smyrneans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. i. e They saith he speaking of those Hereticks that denyed the truth of Christ's flesh admit not of Eucharists and oblations but reject them because from the Eucharist is proved the truth of Christ's flesh For thus doth Tertullian learnedly argue lib. 4. contra Marcionem Quod est phantasma figuram capere non potest Atqui Corpus Christi capit figuram scil panem Igitur Corpus Christi non est phantasma I wonder therefore saith Scultetus what judgment they have who bring this place of Ignatius to establish trans and consubstantiation That passage also mentioned by Ierom Ignatius that Apostolical man boldly writes that the Lord chose Apostles who were sinners above all men is not now to be found which yet Ierom had out of one of the seven if not rather six Epistles contained in his catalogue for he speaks of and therefore 't is probable he had seen no more The second sort of Epistles are such as are dubious and concerning which it is very questionable whether they be his or no of these there be also six in number being the second collection made as the reverend Vsher conjectures by one Stephanus Gobarus Tritheita about the year 580 by Anastasius Patriarch of Antioch about the year 595 and by the Publisher of the Constantinopolitan Chronicle about the year 630. So that in the sixth Century after Christ they grew up to the number of 12 coming out of the same Shop that vented the Canons of the Apostles augmented by the addition of 35 to the former as also the Apostolical Constitutions variously trimmed and altered So that these are of a much later date than the former the only Genuine Birth of this famous Martyr These latter six are 1. Epistola ad Mariam Cassabolitam or as some call her Zarbensem In two ancient Manuscripts she is stiled Maria Proselyta Chassabolorum or Castabolorum It seems to be derived from the place of her Birth or Abode or both which may be a City in Cilicia in the lesser Asia not far from Tarsus famous for the Birth of the Apostle Paul there For so I find Strabo making Castabala to be a Town of Cilicia situate somewhat near unto the Mountain Taurus Pliny also reckons it for one of the inland Towns of this Country near unto which are the Anazarbeni now called Caesar-Augustani the Inhabitants of the City Anazarbus fruitful in Olives saith Rhodignie the Birth place of the Renowned Dioscorides as also of Oppian the Poet so Stephanus Bizantii 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To whom add Niger thus speaking The City Cesarea was aforetime called Anazarbeum situate near the Mountain Anazarbeum Again Castabala also is another Town beside the Mountain Taurus So that with a little alteration which might happen through time and the errour of Transcribers she might have the name of Cassobolita from the one and of Zarbensis from the other of those Towns Accordingly I find in one of the
given to the Bishops of Rome of the real presence of collegiate and cloystered Virgins of the vertue of the Sign of the Cross to terrifie the Devil of their Feasts and lenten Fast of the authority of Traditions and of the Church of Rome And well may they be driven to such shifts who shun the Scripture◠as insufficient yea justly are they given up to these delusions who not contenting themselves with the Sacred Oracles alone and the Doctrines contained in them which are able to make perfect and wise unto salvation do fansie and devise new ones in their own brains and then Coyn and impose authorities pretendedly Ancient for the maintaining of them Frivolous therefore and vain is the flourish of Baronius that it came to pass by the admirable Counsel and providence of God that these Epistles should all of them be written by Ignatius and notwithstanding the shipwrack which so many writings have suffer'd yet that these should be preserved intire and uncorrupt whereas 't is very evident that the greater part of them now extant are counterfeit and not his and the genuine miserably corrupted and alter'd So that it may upon better ground be said that herein the good providence of God hath been eminently seen that he hath been pleased to stir up and assist some of his servants in vindicating the writings of this and other of the Ancients from the injury that hath been offered them by base and disingenuous spirits who have preferr'd their own interest before the honour and truth of God and in plucking off the vizar and discovering the fraud and Leger-demain of those that would abuse and cheat the world by the obtrusion of Novelty instead of Antiquity thereupon § 4. His stile savours of a certain holy simplicity as did the State of the Church at that time full of gravity suitable unto a primitive Bishop lively fiery and solid becoming so glorious a Martyr § 5. That which is chiefly remarkable in these Epistles are those passages which are mentiond by Eusebius and Ierom as being most unquestionably such as fell from the penof this blessed Martyr wherein are in a lively manner drawn and deciphered the purtraiture of his most excellent spirit his singular and vigorous love to the Lord Jesus whose name is said to have been ingraven upon his heart in letters of gold as also his undaunted courage and Magnanimity in his cause accompanied with unconquerable constancy and sweet humility 1. His earnest desire of Martyrdom he thus expresseth From Syria even unto Rome I fight with beasts by land and sea night and day bound with ten Leopards i.e. with a guard of Souldiers who are the worse for favors But I am the more instructed by their injustice yet neither hereby am I justified Would to God I might injoy the beasts which are prepared for me who I wish may make quick dispatch with me and whom I will allure to devour me speedily lest as they have been terrified at others and did not touch them so they would not dare to touch my body and if they will not I will even force them thereunto Pardon me I know what is best for me Now I begin to be a Disciple of Christ desiring nothing of these things which are seen so I may win Jesus Christ. Let fire cross and troops of violent beasts breaking of bones dissipation of members contrition of the whole body and all the torments of the Divel let them all come upon me that I may injoy Jesus Christ. 2. When he was now condemned to the wild beasts and with an ardent desire of suffering heard the Lions roaring saith he I am the wheat of God whom the teeth of wild beasts shall grind that I may be found the pure or fine bread of God Immediately before which go these words I write to all the Churches and injoyn them all because I willingly die for God if ye hinder not I beseech you therefore that your love toward me be not unseasonable Suffer me to become the meat of wild beasts by whom I may obtain God 3. His care of the Churches was very great whom he earnestly presseth to holiness and a conversation becoming the Gospel And commendeth unto Polycarp whom he well knew to be an Apostolical Man the Flock or Congregation of Antioch praying him to be careful of the business there about the election of a Bishop or Pastor in his room manifesting herein his zeal for God and his glory as also his cordial affection and fidelity to the brethren Besides these there are in the Epistles other things worthy of notice though not so undoubtedly his as the above-mention'd They are such as these 4. His Creed or brief sum of Christian Doctrine wherein he accords with the Apostles Creed His words are Beloved I would have you to be fully instructed in the Doctrine of Christ who before all ages was begotten of the Father afterward made of the Virgin Mary without the company of man and conversing holily and without blame he healed all manner of infirmities and sicknesses among the people and did signs and wonders for the benefit of men and revealed his Father one and the only true God and did undergo his passion and by his murtherers the Jews suffered on the Cross under Pontius Pilate President and Herod the King and was dead and rose again and ascended into heaven unto him that sent him and fitteth at his right hand and shall come in the end of the world in his Fathers Glory to judge the quick and the dead and to render unto every one according to his works He that shall fully know and believe these things is blessed 5. Though he were one of the most eminent men of his time both for Piety and Learning yet out of the depth of his humility he thus speaks of himself when bound for Christ and his truth and lead toward his Martyrdom stiling his chains 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spiritual pearls although I be bound saith he yet am I not to be compared unto any one of you that be at liberty Again speaking of the Pastours of the Church saith he I blush to be named and accounted in the number of them for I am not worthy being the last lowest or meanest of them and an abortive thing he also divers times stiles himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the least 6. Speaking of the Lords day let every Christian saith he Celebrate as a Festival the day of the Lords resurrection which is the most eminent of all days 7. A Pious and Religious Man is money Coyned and stamped of God but a wicked and irreligious Man is false and counterfeit Coyn of the Devils making Matth. 22. 20. 8. As touching Antiquity thus I have heard saith he some to say I will not believe if I find not the Gospel among the Ancient Records But to such I say that JESUS CHRIST is to me
meetest man for such a work with their letters that he might comfort those afflicted Churches confirm them in the truth and confute those heretical adversaries He took Rome in his way haply to confer with and crave the advice and help of Eleutherius Bishop there about this affair unto whom he had letters recommendatory from the Churches making Honourable mention of him During his absence upon this weighty occasion in the great persecution under Antoninus Verus which much raged in the Churches of France the good Bishop Photinus aged ninety years is imprisoned and being brought before the tribunal and by the President asked this question who is the God of the Christians he perceiving this demand to be made rather in way of scorn then out of a serious desire to be informed because hâ— would not cast pearls before swine vouchsafed him no other answer but this si dignus fueris cognosces when thou shalt become worthy thou shalt know With which answer as contumelious the President being highly provoked commanded the Officers to beat him which accordingly they did handling him in a most barbarous and cruel manner and afterward almost breathless casâ— him into a filthy prison wherein about two days after by a glorious death he obtained the crown of Martyrdom The Church of Lyons by this means being destitute of a Bishop none was thought moâ—â— worthy to suceed the aged Martyr then his Presbyter Irenaeus who not long after returning was accordingly chosen anâ— took upon him the Government of thaâ— Church He entred upon the administration thereoâ— in a very unquiet and turbulent time the staâ—â— of affairs being much distracted not only bâ— reason of that grievous storm of persecutioâ— they had lately been under yea which 〈◊〉 yet scarcely calmed and blown over 〈◊〉 also through the busie attempts of diveâ—â— impostours cunningly seeking to underminâ— the Doctrine of Christ. For now had thâ— Valentinian Hereticks prevail'd and spread 〈◊〉 far as France and among others bewitchâ—â— sundry eminent women with their sottâ—â— and absurd opinions by means of one Mâ—â—cus a wretched sorcerer and a wicked deceiver and abuser of the weaker Sex But 〈◊〉 such a manner did this vigilant watchmaâ— and painful Pastour bestir himself that he notably prevented the farther spreading of this Pest and recovered many of those who had been therewith infected And having happily secured his own charge he rested not here but proceeded farther affording his help by his excellent letters unto other Churches also particularly unto that of Rome out of which he endeavoured to weed those tares which the envious man had there sown their careless Bishop how unfit to be an universal overseer it seems securely sleeping the while and leaving the work that properly belonged to himself unto another The chief instruments that Satan here imployed in sowing those tares were Florinus and Blastus Presbyters of this Church but by the Bishop degraded for their impiety in commiseration of whose sad condition infected with so soul Heresies he wrote as is reported those five learned books now extant In such kind of laborious imployments did he spend much of his time under the Emperours Antoninus the whole of Commodus and a good part of Severus Reigns being very serviceable unto the Church of God in his generation not only by his preaching and disputations but also by his writings which he left behind him as singular monuments unto posterity of his zeal for the glory of God and love to his truth as a bright shining lamp lighted and set up by the Lord he diffused his Rayes for the good of many till the oyl was wholly spent and consumed In his time fell out that sharp and lasting contention between the Eastern and Western Churches about the observation of the Feast of Easter as also about the kind and manneâ— of fasting The Churches of Asia as from an ancient Tradition and herein following the examples of Philip and Iohn Apostles as also of Polycarp with others their Successors observed this Feast on the fourteenth Moon upon what day of the week soever it fell out on which day the Jews were to offer theiâ— Paschal Lamb. But the Church of Rome together with others in the West did celebrate it always upon the Lord's day and hence grew a great rent between them for those of the East refusing to leave their former usage and custom for which they had so good â— warrant and to conform themselves hereiâ— unto the other Victor who was the Bishop of Rome possessing that Chair that would afterward usurp authority over all Churches and acting accordingly in the heighth of his pride and the heat of his passion begins to threaten and thunder out his excommunication against them Hereupon Irenaeus brooking his name as a lover of peace with the Brethren of the Gallican Churches being grieved at such insolent and harsh proceedings and foreseeing the sad effects they might produce thought it their duty not to stand still as idle Spectators but to interpose at least by their Letters and to endeavour a prevention if it might be of those evils that were like to ensue and follow upon so rigorous and sharp a censure which they did accordingly dealing plainly and roundly with the proud Prelate tartly reprehending him for handling his Brethren in so unchristian a manner and that for things indifferent which he made necessary he would fall upon so extreme a course the cutting off of so considerable a part from the Body shewing withal that his excommunication was void and of no force Now so great was the authority of the man with the Bishop of Rome who had not as yet exalted himself so high that it should not be lawful for any of his Fellow Bishops to take the boldness to admonish him or to say what dost thou though he should lead thousands to Hell and such the strength of the arguments alledged that the issue was as Feuardentius relates the asswaging of his fury and the deterring of him from that rash attempt of cutting off so many famous Churches from the Body of Christ whence followed a more serene face of things and a great tranquillity to the Churches of Christ. § 2. He was a man exceeding eminent and of chief note among those of his time very ancient and not far from the days of the Apostles Honourable mention is made of him by those of the following ages for Eusebius Inter omnes coaetaneos ei palmam tribuit gives him the preheminence above all his contemporaries Others stile him an Apostolical man admirable and the light of the Western Churches an ancient man of God highly commended he is as one in whom the resplendent Beams and brightness of Apostolical Doctrine did gloriously shine forth for what he had learned and received from Polycarp and Polycarp from the Apostle Iohn he retaining it in its purity communicated iâ— unto the Church so that in all things he
appears but rather a wonder he is no more so which proceeded not so much from want of skill in himself as from the incapacity of the Subject whereof he treateth A most difficult thing it is saith the same Author for him that discusseth things of a subtile Nature to joyn with perspicuity the care of polishing his Language § 5. Among many wherewith this Learned Piece is righly fraught and stored I shall cull out and present you with a few memorable passages 1. His Symbol or Creed containing a brief sum and confession of the Faith of the Churches of Christ at least in the West at that day his words are these The Church although dispersed through the whole World even unto the ends of the Earth received the Faith from the Apostles and their Disciples which is to believe In one omnipotent God which made Heaven and earth and the Seas and all things that are in them and in one Jesus Christ the Son of God incarnate for our Salvation and in the Holy Ghost who by the Prophets preached the mysteries of the dispensation and coming of Christ and his Birth of a Virgin and his Passion and Resurrection from the dead and the Assumption of the Beloved Christ Jesus our Lord in his flesh into Heaven and his coming from Heaven in the Glory of the Father to restore or recapitulate and gather into one all things and to raise the flesh or bodies of all mankind that unto Jesus our Lord and God and Saviour and King according to the good pleasure of the Father invisible every knee should bow both of things in Heaven and in the earth and under the earth and that every tongue should confess to him and that he should pass a righteous sentence or judgment upon all and send the spiritual wickednesses and the Angels that fell and became apostate and also ungodly unrighteous lawless and blasphemous men into eternal fire but for the righteous and holy and such as did keep his commandments and abide in his love some from the beginning and some by repentance gratifying them with life might bestow on them incorruptibility and give unto them eternal Glory Where observe by the way that though it may be wondered at that Irenaeus should no where expresly call the Holy Ghost God yet that he held him to be God equal with the Father and the Son is manifest in that he makes in his Creed the object of faith to be all the three persons of the Trinity alike As also from hence that elsewhere he ascribes the creation of man unto the Holy Ghost as well as to the Father and the Son 2. He gives the reason why the Mediatour between God and man ought to be both God and man For saith he if man had not overcome the enemy of man he had not been justly overcome again unless God had given salvation we should not have had it firmly and unless man had been joyned unto our God he viz. Man could not have been made partaker of incorruptibility For it became the Mediator of God and Men by his nearness unto both to reduce both into friendship and concord and to procure that God should assume Man or take him into communion and that man should give up himself unto God 3. The whole Scriptures both Prophetical and Evangelical are open or manifest and without ambiguity and may likewise be heard of all Again we ought to believe God who also hath made us most assuredly knowing that the Scriptures are indeed perfect as being spoken or dictated by the word of God and his Spirit 4. Fides quae est ad deum justificat hominem Faith towards God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 6. 2. justifieth a man 5. Concerning the marks of the true Church and that it is not tied to one place or succession he thus speaks When once the Gospel was spread throughout the world and the Church gathered out of all Nations then was the Church no where tied to one place or to any certain and ordinary succession but there was the true Church wheresoever the uncorrupted voice of the Gospel did sound and the Sacraments were rightly administred according to the Institution of Christ. Also that the pillar and ground of the Church is the Gospel and Spirit of Life 5. Of the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost continuing unto his time thus Some saith he cast out Devils soundly and truly so that oftentimes even they who were cleansed from wicked Spirits do believe and are in the Church others have the foreknowledge of things to come and also prophetical Visions and Sayings others do cure and restore to health such as labour of some infirmity by the laying on of their hands Moreover as we have said the dead also have been raised and continued with us many years And what shall I say the Graces are not to be numbred which throughout the whole world the Church receiving from God doth dispose in the name of Christ Jesus crucified under Pontius Pilate every day for the help of the Nations neither seducing any one nor taking money from him For as it hath freely received from God so also doth it freely administer nor doth it accomplish any thing by Angelical Invocations nor incantations nor any wicked curiosity but purely and manifestly directing their prayers unto the Lord who hath made all things 6. He plainly asserts that the world shall continue but six thousand years For saith he look in how many days this world was made in so many thousand years it shall be consummate Therefore 't is said in Gen. 2. 2. On the sixth day God finished all his works and rested the seventh day Now this is both a narration of what was done before and also a prophecy of things to come for one day with the Lord is as a thousand years in six days the things were finished that were made and it is manifest that the six thousandth year is the consummaâ—ion of them 7. He finds the number of the Beasts name viz. 666. iâ— the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whence he concludes it as very probable that the seat of that beast is the Latin or Roman Kingdom Take his own words Sed Lateinos nomen habet sexcentorum sexaginta sex numerum valdè verisimile est quoniam novissimum verissimum Erasm. edit Regnum hoc habet voâ—abulum Latini enim sunt qui nunc regnant Sed non in hoc nos gloriabimur 8. Of the four Evangelists he thus writeth Mathew saith he delivered unto the Hebrews the History of the Gospel in their own Tongue When Peter and Paul preached at Rome and planted that Church after their departure Mark the Disciple and also Interpreter of Peter delivered unto us in writing such things as he had heard Peter preach And Luke the companion of Paul comprised in one Volume the Gospel preached of him
Cloak and so continued year after year to put forth some or other of his Labours unto the time of his defection which fell out in the eighteenth year of that Emperour's Reign so that he remained in the Church after his conversion about fifteen years before he arrived unto his middle age and therefore could be of no great age when first he gave up his name to Christ. That which gave the occasion of his relinquishing the Heathenish and embracing the Christian Religion some conceive taking a hint hereof from a passage of his own to have been this viz. that the Devils being sometimes adjured did though unwillingly confess that they were the Gods of the Gentiles This put him upon the search and study of the Scriptures whose great antiquity as transcending all other writings in this regard asserted their authority and the truth of the predictions contained in them testified by answerable events was a sufficient argument of their Divinity which two duly considered could not but prove strong inducements to perswade him that the Doctrine and Religion therein taught and discoursed must needs be the truest and above any other most worthiest to be believed and embraced To which he added as no small help hereunto the diligent perusal of those writings of his Predecessors wherein they had testified against the Gentiles their profane practices and abominable Idolatries Having after his conversion spent some time in Carthage where he was promoted unto the degree and office of a Presbyter he afterward came to Rome in which City he was had in great estimation being famous among those learned men who flourished there at that time Upon what occasion he came to Rome and how long he made his abode there is uncertain Pamelius conceives thâ—â— his Book de coronâ militis was there writteâ— in the sixteenth year of Severus in the eighteenth year of whose Reign he made his defection from the Church upon which he was excommunicated and consequently in alâ— likelyhood then left that place returning again unto Carthage But how long or short soever his continuance was there it proveâ— too long for him in regard of the mischiâ—â— that there betided him for in this place 〈◊〉 was that he split and dashed himself upon the Rock of Montanism either through 〈◊〉 overlargeness of the Sails of self-conceit 〈◊〉 the impetuous gusts of his own passions Ierom and divers other Historians do agree in this that his defection took beginning from the envy conceived against and contumelies cast upon him by the Romish Clergy moved hereunto either by his Learning and Virtue wherein haply he might go beyond and out-shine them and so seem to detract from their worth and eclipse their Glory or for that being extremely studious of continence and chastity they thought him to lean toward and too much favour though closely the Heresie of Montanus or lastly because in some of his Books he had too sharply reprehended the vices which he had observed among them hereupon being a man of a cholerick and violent spirit impatient and unable to brook and bear such injuries Cum ingenio calamo omnia vinceret impatientiam vincere non potuit inquit Scultet Miserrimus ego inquit Tertullianus ipse semper aeger caloribus impatientiae patientiae sanitatem suspicem necesse est he openly joyned himself unto that Sect which being once faln to he as zealously laboured to defend and plead for as he had formerly opposed it proving as vehement an adversary of the Orthodox as he had been of the Hereticks Some conceive the occasion of his fall might be because that after the death of Agrippinus he suffered a repulse and was put by the Bishoprick of Carthage Sic Valentinus cum cujusdam Ecclesiae Episcopatum ambiret ipsius non fuisset habita ratio offensus hac re veteris cujusdom opinionis praestigias adversus orthodoxos docere caepit hoc videlicet pacto sui contemptum ulturus whereunto may be added as a step to his fall that he was a man of an easie belief and of no great judgement saith Rivet insomuch as he was apt to give credit unto the feigned Relations of every silly woman and to prefer them before the most certain and Catholick Doctrines These things thus making way for it the work became the more facile and easie whereof one Proclus was the unhappy instrument reputed a most eloquent man and one of the more moderate followers of Montanus with this Man being then at Rome Tertullian grew familiar having him in admiration for his eloquence and Virgin old age ut Proculus inquit nostrae Virginis senectae Christians eloquentiae dignitas loqui autem eum de Pâ—culo seu Proclo Montanistâ apparet inquit Pâ—melius de quo suprà auctor lib. de praescriâ—â— advers haeretic Proclus making his advantage hereof soon deceived him telling him that the Doctrine which he professed he had received not from Man but from the Paracleâ— that descended first upon Montanus he highly commended chastity injoyned fasting to be observed in the strictest manner as by the instinct of the spirit multiplyed watchings and prayers and so much extolled martyrdom that he held it unlawful to fly or use aâ— means for the preservation of life What 〈◊〉 thus confidently taught and delivered was â—â—greedily taken in by Tertullian in so much â— he quickly became giddy yea even drunkâ— with his Fanatical opinions which as he entertained with facility so did he retain theâ—â— with pertinacy in whom we find this verified that eminent gifts may occasion a 〈◊〉 fall but cannot keep him from falling it being Grace alone that makes the soul steddy and secures it against all the impetuous blasts of temptation Great parâ—s expose men to hazard 1. Through pride which is too often the companion of them and begotten by them hence they soar aloft prying into things secret not content to walk in the common and safe road they would as he Acts 8. 9. be some body more than ordinary and so transcending the limits of sobriety they do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon which precipice being once gotten they soon fall into the snare of the Devil 2. Through envy which for the most part follows them as the shadow the substance this blasting their reputation and being as a dead fly in the pot of their precious ointment they betake them unto factions chusing rather to side with the erroneus in esteem then with the orthodox in disgrace 3. Through ambition they would fain be as eminent in place as in parts accounting themselves injured when others are preferred before them hence it comes to pass that sometime in way of discontent and by way of revenge they have deserted yea set themselves against the truth because they would make opposition against those that have stood in their way and crost them in their expectations By this means he lost both his
sweet and precious amongst Men unto this day had not the dead fly corrupted and marr'd the savour of the fragrant oyntment Let Vincentius Lyrniensis be heard an ancient Father too and if any thing be wanting above he will supply it and make his encomium full He is saith he accounted the chief among the Latins for who more learned then this Man who more exercised in things both divine and humane In the wonderful vastness and capacity of his mind he comprehended all Philosophy and all the sects of Philosophers the authors and assertors of those sects together with all their Discipline all variety of History yea of all kinds of study Was not his Wit so weighty and vehement that he propounded almost nothing to himself to be overcome and master'd by him which he either brake not through with the sharpness or else dashâ— in pieces with the ponderousness of it Moreover who can set forth the praises of his speech which is so invironed with I know not what strength of reason that whom he could not perswade he doth even force to yeild to his consent in whom there are as many sentences as words and as many victories as reasons as Marcion Apelles Praxeas Hermâ—genes the Jews the Gentiles Gnosticks and others knew full well whose blasphemies he overthrew with the many and mighty mounts and batteries of his Volumes as it were with certain thunderbolts And yet even this man by much more eloquent than happy not holding the ancient Faith even he also became in Ecclesiâ magna tentatio a great temptation in the Churcâ— of God § 3. As he was a Man of great abilities sâ— was he of no less industry as appears by those lasting monuments of his learned and elaborate Volumes Acutus Scriptor gravis inquit Danaeus qui totum hominem desideret imò etiam saepè ingenii communem captum superet who was had in great estimation especially by holy Cyprian so that he suffered no day to pass without the diligent reading and perusal of some part of him testifying the extraordinary respect which he bare toward him by the words he was wont to use when he called for him saying Da Magistrum reach hither my Master whom also in many things he imitated borrowing even his words and expressions from him and transcribing many passages out of him which he inserted into his own books many other also of the Ancients that followed him made use of him viz. Ierom Ambrose Fortunatus Basil Isidore c which plainly shews that they had him in great veneration As the ancient Ethnicks honoured Homer the Prince of Poets and particularly Arcesilaus the Academick who was so delighted with and studious of him that he would always read somewhat of him before he went to sleep as also in the morning when he arose saying that he went ad Amasium to his beloved Of his works some are wanting but the most remaining unto this day Of the first sort are 1. His Treatise of the troubles attending marriage unto a Philosopher his friend which he wrote when he was but young â—um adhuc esset adolescens lusit in hac materiâ before as Pamelius thinks but in the judgement of Baronius after his conversion 2. His book of the Garments of Aaron which Ierom mentions in his Epistle to Fabiola 3. Of the hope of the faithful wherein he declares himself to be a Millenary himself mentions it advers Marcionem lib. 3. 4. Of Paradise which he thus speaks of himself habes etiam de Paradiso a nobis libellum quo constituimus omnem animum apud inferos sequestrari in die Domini 5. Against Apelles who with Lucian the Heretick having been the Disciple of Marcion and falling upon errours of his own differing from his Master became the author of a Sect that from him have the name of Apelletiani as Tertullian stiles them or Apelleiani as Epiphanius or Apellitae as Augustine or Apelliaci as Rhenanus alluding unto them as the denyers of the Flesh of Christ which was their errour Quasi sine pelle sive cute hoc est carne ut Horatius Iudaeum vocat Apellam quòd sine pelle sit nempe quòd praeputium non habeat Against these Hereticks did Tertullian write this Book inscribed adversus Apelletianos 6. Six Books 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of Rapture which saith Pamelius seem rather to have been written in Greek than Latine and a seventh which he wrote particularly against Appollonius who with Victor are the only two Latin Fathers that preceded Tertullian who hath the third place among them in Ieroms Catalogue wherein he endeavours to defend whatever the other reproved him for These were written after his defection against the Church containing in them divers of his wild Montanistical conceits which therefore may well be wanting without any detriment the bad by much over-weighing the good that was in them they might haply be suppress'd by some who wished well unto the peace of the Church and surely the loss of them would have proved a gain had the errours contained in them been with them buried in everlasting oblivion It 's a mistake of Platina to say that he wrote six Books of Ecstacy against Apollonius whereas 't was only a seventh So it is also of Honorius Augustodunensis who reckons but five of Ecstasie and six against Apollonius and of Trithemius who records but one of each which he saith he had seen so that they seem to have been extant even unto his time 7. A Book against Marcion as he himself intimates written by him in his yonger years somewhat overhastily as Ierom speaks of an Allegorical exposition of the Prophet Obadiab composed by himself in his youth liberè profiteor illud fuisse puerilis ingenii in libris quoque contra Marcionem Septimius Tertullianus hoc idem passus est 8. Of the submission of the Soul 9. Of the superstition of that age these two saith Gothfredus among the rest were in the Index of the Books of Tertullian which was prefix'd unto that Ancient Manuscript out of which he took those two Books of his ad Nationes which he published 10. That the Soul is corporeal volumen hoc suppressum putamus inquit Rhenanus To which added 11. De Fato 12. De Nuptiarum angustiis ad Amicum philosophum 13. De mundis immundis animalibus 14. De circumcisione 15. De Trinitate 16. De censu animae adversus Hermogenem which Pamelius hath in his Catalogue also 17. Trithemius sets down in his Catalogue a Book of his Contra omnes Haereses which begins with Divorum Haereticorum 18. The Book of English Homilies tom 2. part 2. against the peril of idolatry mentions his Book Contra coronandi morem which I find no where else spoken off unless it be the same with his Book De coronâ Militis 19. Bishop Andrews in
Original of wearing those Crowns in honour of the Heathen Gods Wherein he with much zeal opposeth whatsoever becometh not the profession of Christianity earnestly pressing Christians unto constancy in that way which they have entred into without â—â—rgiversation He in this tract also discovers his Montanism for answering the censurers of the Souldier planè superest inquit 〈◊〉 etiam martyria recusare meditentur qui prophetias ejusdem Spiritus Sancti respuerunt it 〈◊〉 therefore written after he was a Montaniâ—â— from whom he received all those idle Ceremonies which here he makes mention of 〈◊〉 the Centurists very profitably conjecture though Pamelius would fain have it otherwise 11. To the Martyrs which Book he 〈◊〉 unto those that were in prison whom hâ— stiles Designatos destined unto suffering for the Testimony of Jesus comforting confirming and exhorting them to constancy shewing the commodity or benefit of a prison that the Spirit is ready though the 〈◊〉 be weak and that even Heathens for 〈◊〉 glory have endured the utmost 12. Of the vailing of Virgins this 〈◊〉 wrote as well in Greek as in Latin whiâ—â— may be collected from those his first worâ—â— Proprium jam negocium passus meae opiniâ—â—â— Latinè quoque ostendam virgines nostras 〈◊〉 oportere Wherein he proves that Virgâ—â— ought to wear a veil upon their heads 〈◊〉 he was moved to do by a contrary custom 〈◊〉 those of Carthage whose Virgins used 〈◊〉 come into the Congregations unveiled 〈◊〉 so they might the more easily get them Husbands And whereas some objected that 〈◊〉 Apostle 1 Cor. 11. 10. Spake of married Women only our Author shews that he meant 〈◊〉 of Virgins also He concludes this Boâ—â— with these words which plainly shew it 〈◊〉 be his Haec cum bonâ pace legentibus c. 〈◊〉 those who with good and peaceable 〈◊〉 read these things preferring profit before custom peace and grace from our Lord Jesus be multiplyed upon them with Septimius Tertullian whose work this is 13. Of the habit of Women wherein he exhorts unto Christian modesty wishing them to avoid excess in their apparel and for this end to remember the condition that Eve hath brought them into that evil Angels were the first inventers of strange fashions and that gold and silver were not ordained of God for such an use 14. Of the decking or adorning of women a Book of a much like subject with the foregoing only herein he particularly blames curiosity about their hair and skin exhorting them not to addict themselves unto paintings and what might set off their Beauty 15. Unto his Wife two Books wherein 1. He adviseth her in case he should die before her not to marry again 2. He exhorts Christian Women to abstain from marrying with Heathens setting down the inconveniences of such Marriages viz. that they cannot so freely attend the Duties of Christianity and commends those of one Christian with another because such may have full liberty in their whole Duty which he thus particularly sets down Liberè aeger visitatur indigens sustentatur eleemosynae sine tormento sacrificia sine scrupulo quotidiana diligentia sine impedimento non furtiva signatio non trepida gratulatio non mutae benedictio sonant inter duos Psalmi Hymni mutuò provocant quis Deo meliùs â—anat talia Christus videns audiens gaudet 16. Of flight in time of persecution being consulted by one Fabius a Presbyter whether it were lawful to flie at such a time 〈◊〉 wrote this Treatise by way of answer wheâ—â— in he holds that in such cases a Christiâ—â— ought not to flie but rather valiantly to 〈◊〉 for the name of Christ and that that Precept Matth. 10. 23. When they shall persecute you in one City flee ye into another 〈◊〉 temporal and concern'd that time and stated the Church only But saith Peter Mony who will so diligently weigh his reasons 〈◊〉 find that they have in them much more eleâ—gancy than strength This Book was 〈◊〉 written against the Church after his defectâ—â—â— the errour herein maintained being one 〈◊〉 those he had learned from Montanus of 〈◊〉 Baronius taxeth him somewhat tartly 〈◊〉 Montanistarum inquit de non 〈◊〉 nec securitatem redimendo Tertullianus in pâ—â—ceps semel infeliciter actus edito eâ de 〈◊〉 mentario validissimè tutari conatus est 〈◊〉 admodum 17. Unto Scapula the President of Câ—thage whom because he threatened the Câ—â—stians with utmost punishment unless 〈◊〉 would abjure and deny Christ he depreâ—â— and admonisheth not to persist in his 〈◊〉 lest he should bring the wrath of God 〈◊〉 himself and the whole City as it had 〈◊〉 others whereof he giveth divers instances 18. An exhortation to Chastity whâ—â— he perswadeth his Friend who had lost 〈◊〉 wife to abstain from marrying again câ—â—cluding from those words 1 Cor. 7. 29. 〈◊〉 time is short That the last day was not 〈◊〉 off and therefore he should forbear as 〈◊〉 because of the impediment arising from marriage Here in his heat he condemns second marriage accounting it as Montanus had done but little better than adultery This Book is another of those which he wrote against the Church 1. Of once marrying or single marriage wherein he shews this discipline not to be new but ancient and peculiar unto Christians What in the former Treatise he only perswaded in this he magisterially enjoyns more openly condemning second marriage they are both of the same subject and in divers places agreeing even in the same words This is the fifth of those Books which he wrote against the Church after his defection 20. Of the Cloak written upon this occasion when Tertullian had laid aside his Gown the Roman Weed and taken on a Cloak as more becoming Christian Simplicity he was by one branded with the note of inconstancy hereupon in vindication of himself he writes this Book therein shewing the antiquity and commodious use of the Cloak This being the Garment of the Greeks which they were wont to cast over their other Garments hence it came to pass that by way of reproach the Christians using it were called Grecians and when they went abroad they commonly heard this nickname or taunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alluding unto their Garment Also because of the simplicity or meanness both of it and those that used it it grew into contempt and it became a Proverb among the Carthaginians a togâ ad pallium from the Gown to the Cloak noting the change from a more eminent to a meaner estate and condition from riches to poverty 21. Of the testimony of the Soul wherein by a prosopopoea he fetcheth arguments from the Soul it self even of Ethnicks whereby he convinceth them of their Atheism and abominable Idolatries among the rest from those speeches frequent in the mouths of such as are not Christians e. g. Si Deus voluerit Deus
bonus est benedicat te Deus Deus videt omnia Deo commendo Deus reddet Deus inter nos judicabit c. His last words in this Treatise are remarkable which are these Mâ—ritò igitur omnis anima rea testis est in tantum rea erroris in quantum testis veritatiâ— stabit ante aulas Dei die judicii nihil habens dicere Deum praedicabas non requirebas Daemonia abominabaris ilâ—a adorabas judicium Dei appellabas nec esse credebas inferna supplicia praesumebas non praecavebas Christianum nomen sapiebas Christianum persâ—quebaris 22. Of the Soul wherein he handles divers questions and discusseth many controversies with the Philosophers about the essence operations adjuncts and various state of the Soul which he would have to be corporeal endued with form and figure and to be propagated and derived from the substance of the Father to the body of the Son and engendred with the body encreasing and extending it self together with it and many other the like dreams he hath in the maintaining whereof he useth so much subtilty strength of reason and eloquence as that they are the words of the learned Daille you will hardly meet with throughout the whole stock of Antiquity a more excellent and more elegant piece than this Book of his yet was it composed by him when he was turned Cataphrygian Hence Bellarmine having made use of a passage taken from hence for the proof of Purgatory the most Reverend Vsher thus replies he must give us leave saith he to put him in mind with what spirit Tertullian was lead when he wrote that Book de animâ and with what authority he strengtâ—eâ—eth that conceit of mens paying in Hell for their small faults before the Resurrection namely of the Paraclete by whom if he mean Montanus the Arch-Heretick as there is small cause to doubt that he doth we need not much envy the Cardinal for raising up so worshipful a Patron of his Purgatory 23. Of Spectacles or Plays written as Pamelius conceives in the twelfth year of Severus the Emperour in which were exhibited unto the people those plays that were called Ludi seculares because they were presented only once in an age or an hundred years unto which therefore the people were solemnly invited by a publick cry made in these words Convenite ad ludos spectandos quos neque spectavit quisquam neque spectaturus est Come ye unto those Spectacles which no man now beheld or shall behold again Hereupon Tertullian in this Book which he wrote both in Greek and Latine makes it evident that these plays had their original from idolatry and were full of all kind of cruelty and obscenity and that therefore it was utterly unlawful for Christians to behold them and that they should provoke the truth of God against them should they not fear to be present at them Therefore Constantine the Great did by a law prohibit the setting forth and frequenting of such kind of plays And herein our Author doth so largely treat of the several sorts of play which then were wont to be made use of that a curious Reader needs no other commentary fully to acquaint himself with those Antiquities 24. Of Baptism against Quintilla one of the Disciples of Montanus who denyed or took away Baptism by water of whom he scoffingly thus speaks Optimè novit pisciculoâ— necare de aquâ auferens He therefore proves that it is not an empty or idle Ceremony but of great force and virtue setting down the form and manner together with the Rites observed by the Ancients in the administration thereof and resolves divers questions about it This also was written both in Greek and Latine 25. Scorpiacum a Book against the Gnosticks so called from one Scorpianus an Heretick against whom particularly it was intended saith Pamelius but more probably from the nature of it being an antidote against the bite and sting of the Scorpion to which purpose Ierom thus speaks Scribit adversum haerâ—sim tuam quae olim erupit contra Ecclesiam ne in hoc quasi repertor novi sceleris glorieris Tertullianus vir eruditissimus insigne volumen quod Scorpiacum vocat rectissimo nomine quia arcuato vulnere in Ecclesiae corpuâ— vâ—nena diffudit quae olim appellabatur Cainâ— Haeresis multo tempore dormiens vel sepultâ— nunc à dormitantio suscitata est These Hereticks vilified Martyrdom teaching that it was not to be undergone because God would not the death of a Sinner and Christ had died that we might not die By this Doctrine they did much harm to many weak ones in the Church who to save themselves would deny Christ and offer incense Against these Tertullian herein opposeth himself proving Martyrdom to be good and setting forth the excellency thereof by many examples And in thus doing he deserved well had he not unhappy man ran afterwards into the other extreme of the Montanists who magnified Martyrdom too much denying the lawfulness of flight to avoid danger in that case as these did too much undervalue it 26. Of Idolatry written about the same time with his Book de spectaculis wherein being desirous to take away all kind of idolatry lest Christians should longer labour under gross ignorance herein he shews the original of it and how many ways and not only in the worshipping of Idols they may be guilty of it all which they ought to beware of and avoid and not to comply with Idolaters in their Festivals Solemnities and such like observations 27. Of Chastity which was written upon this occasion Zephyrinus Bishop of Rome having published an Edict in which he gave notice unto all the faithful that the Catholick Church receives such as repent though they had fallen into the sins of Fornication and Adultery Tertullian herein opposeth him as may be gathered from his own words I do hear saith he that there is an Edict published and that a pâ—remptory one Pontifex scilicet maximus Episcopus Episcoporum dicit ego moechiae fornicationis delicta paenitentiae functis dimitto O edictum cui adscribi non poterit Bonum factum Erit ergò hic adversus Psychicos so he used to call the Orthodox after he became a Montanist And herein he undertakes to answer all the arguments brought for this practice denying that such ought to be received Ierom saith that he wrote this book against repentance and wonders at the man that he should think those publicans and sinners with whom Christ did eat to be Gentiles and not Jews the better to defend his error weakly grounding his opinion upon that in Deut. 23. non erit pendeâ—s vectigal ex filiis Israel This book he wrote against the Church 28. Of Fasting against the Psychiici So as we have said he
contumeliously calls the Orthodox accounting those to be carnal who rejected the prophesie of Montanus and those only spiritual alluding unto 1 Cor. 2. who received and embraced it Herein he defends the set Fasts and stations observed by the Montanists Of the name Psychicus Baronius gives us this account Ignominiae causâ— Orthodoxos Psychicos nominare fuit ut autor est Irenaeus lib. 1. cap. 1. Valentini haeresiarchae inventum qui Psychicos nominabat homines qui non essent sicut ipse ut aiebat spirituales Transiit vox eadem ad Cataphrygas qui aequè omnes non suscipientes Paracletum Psychicos appellabant 29. Of prayer which Hilary calls volumen aptissimum wherein he commendeth and commenteth upon the Lords Prayer adding somewhat of the adjuncts of prayer The title and subject hereof seem to intimate that it was a mistake in Sixtus Senensis to imagine that he wrote two books upon this subject one whereof he intitles in orationem dominicam the other de oratione 30. An Apology against the Gentiles in the behalf of the Christians wherein he notably and at large defends their innocency clearing them of the crimes falsely charged upon them and fully evincing the groundlesness of the adversaries hatred to and unjust proceedings against them imitating herein Iustin and Aristides who had undertaken the same task before him who yet he far transcends both in sharpness of wit and soundness of Learning how boldly doth he stand up against the Gentiles how constantly maintain the purity of our faith what Authors doth he not read which of their disciplines doth he not touch so that this book alone is abundantly sufficient to convince the pertinacy of the Gentiles It contains in it saith Ierom cunctam saeculi disciplinam wherein he is more elegant than ordinary the strength whereof was such that in likelyhood it was the thing that prevaii'd to the mitigation of the enemies fury and in some measure the cessation of the persecution then raised against the Christians It was written by him as both Pamelius and Baronius conjâ—ctâ—â—â— in the seventh year of the Emperor Severus An. Christi 201. Of the excellency hereof Prateolus thus speaks proculdubiò inquit verum est quum acris ardentis ingenii non ferens gentilium insolentiam atque saevitiam quâ in Christianos ferebantur omnes ingenii sui nervos in borum defensionem intendit incomparabiles interim eruditionis eloquentiae suae opes isthic oftentans 31. Ad nationes libri duo set forth and published singly by Iacobus Cothofrâ—dus I.C. which by divers arguments he would prove to be Tertullians also that they were written before his Apologetick as a Prodrome or preparatory to it as his book de testimonio animâ— followed after and was added as a third way whereby he attempted the Gentiles viz. by testimonies drawn from the soul and by those forms of speech wherein they named God in common use among them He also shews it to differ from his Apologetick because in these books he directs himself unto the Nations in general but in that only unto the Governors and Presidents of the Roman Empire besides these are purely Elenctical wherein he undertakes not to defend the cause of the Christians as in the other he doth but reproves the iniquity of the Nations against the Christians and shews the vanity of the Gentile Gods Ierom mentions these books contra gentes as distinct from his Apology quid inquit Tertulliano eruditius quid acutius Apologeticus ejus contra gentes libri cunctam saeculi continent Disciplinam Of these following it is doubted whether they be his or no. 1. An Epistle concerning Judaical meats wherein he shews that the difference between clean and unclean meats injoyned unto the Jews is taken away and abolished under the Gospel Pamelius thinks this Epistle to be none of his but rather Novatians whose name therefore he prefixeth to it thus Novatiani Romanae Ecclesiae presbyteri de cibis Iudâ—icis epistola It seems saith Bellarmine to have been sent by some Bishop unto his own people but Tertullian was no Bishop yet I determine nothing Both the Stile saith Rivet and the Texts of Scripture otherwise Translated then in Tertullian as also that the Author remembers his withdrawing in the time of persecution which Tertullian is every where against plainly shew it to be none of his 2. Of the Trinity concerning which Ruffin and others do report that certain of the Macedonian Hereticks who were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 finding somewhat in Tertullians book of the Trinity which was for their advantage inserted it among the Epistles of Cyprian causing them to be dispersed about Constantinople and sold at a low rate that so being the more bought up and read what was unsound therein might be the sooner embraced for the Authority of so great an Author by which means as they supposed their cause would be credited and promoted But saith Ierom there is no such matter for that book of the Trinity is neither Tertullians nor Cyprians but Novatians as both by the title and propriety of the stile doth evidently appear characterem alium genus dieendi nitidius in eo notat Laurentius Hence Ierom speaking of Novatian He wrote saith he grande volumen a great volum of the Trinity making as it were an Epitome of Tertullians work upon this subject which many ignorantly think to be Cyprians this piece of Novatians exceeding in bulk that of Tertullians now extant it must needs refer unto some book of his on that subject now wanting unless we will make which is absurd the Epitome to be larger then the book it self whose compend it is Bellarmine supposeth it to be beyond all doubt that this book is none of Tertullians because the heresie of Sabellius which began almost an hundred years after Tertullians time is therein by name refuted with whom Pamelius accords adding this as another reason of his confidence that the Author in the sixth Chapter denieth Corporeal Lineaments in God which Tertullian more then once affirms How ever it be it is a learned and elegant book though yet there are some things to be found in it not agreeable to the Christian Faith and I conclude saith Sculteius that whoever was the Author it is written according to the genius of Tertullian and therefore deservedly set forth under his name seeing it agrees so well with that Noble work of his against Praxeas Baronius tells us that those of the Eastern Church did receive it as the legitimate writing of Tertullian 3. Of Repentance wherein he discourseth of the excellency and utility thereof perswading to beware of recidivation and returning unto sin again after repentance particularly directing himself unto the Catechumens who for that they believed their sins would be all blotted out and wash'd away in Baptism were not so careful as
what use he made we shall hereafter declare Leaving Alexandria he went unto Rome in the time when Zephyrinus was Bishop there a little before his death as Baronius conjectures the cause why he undertook this journey was the great desire that he had to see the most ancient Church of the Romans where having made but a little stay he returned unâ—â— Alexandria again and there diligently attended his charge the success of his pains being the gaining of many to the embracing of the truth and the recovering of others from errour among whom one Ambrose addicted unto the Valentinian Heresie or as Ierom reports unto that of Marcion or as others partly a Marcionist and partly a Sabellian was brought to see and forsake his error and afterward called to the Office of a Deacon in the Church of Alexandria famous for his confession of the name of Christ a man noble rich and learned The same of Origen was now spread abroad even unto other Countries for a certain Soldier sent from the Governour of Arabia comes to Alexandria bringing with him Letters unto Demetrius the Bishop there and also unto him who was then Lieutenant of Egypt requesting them with all speed to dispatch Origen unto him that he might instruct him and his people in the Doctrine of Christianity for although there had before been a Church of Christ in Arabia yet it is credible that the Duke or Governour with his Court had persisted in his Heathenish Impiety even unto the time of Origen it being observed that for the most part the propagation of the Christian Religion begins with the lowest of the people and gradually by little and little ascends unto the Governours of Common wealths Origen accordingly goeth thither and having happily accomplished the end of his journey he not long after returneth again unto Alexandria where through a sedition finding all in a combustion and tumult and his Scholars scattered so that there was no abiding for him there no nor in any other place of Egypt in safety he left his Country and betook himself unto Caesarea a City of Palestina where he was earnestly entreated by the Bishops of that Province to expound the Scriptures though he were not as yet called to the Ministry Legatione ad eum missâ Episcopi permisere ut dissereret de sacris literis so Nicephorus reports it This act of his condescending to their request was much distasted by Demetrius who in a Letter which he wrote unto those Bishops thus speaks of it that such a practice was never heard of nor could there any where the like Precedent be found that Lay-men in the presence of Bishops have taught in the Church But they in defence of what had been done returning an answer unto him have therein such words as these we know not for what cause you report a manifest untruth since there have been such sound as in open assemblies have taught the people yea when as there were present learned men that could profit the people and moreover holy Bishops at that time also exhorting them to preach for example at Laranda Euelpis was requested of Neon at Icouium Paulinus was requested by Celsus at Synada Theodorus by Atticus who were godly Brethren It is like also that this was practised in other places though unknown to us Thus was Origen being a young man honoured of Bishops that were strangers unto him But the storm of civil dissentions being blown over and both Demetrius and the Deacons of the Church by Letters earnestly soliciting him to return he leaves Palestine and comes back again unto Alexandria and there applyeth himself to his accustomed manner of teaching Not long after Mammaea the Mother of the Emperour Alexander Severus a most pious and religious woman Christianissima inquit Trithemius quae a Christianissimo non abhorâ—â—it inquit Osiander hearing of the Eloquence and Apostolical Life of Origen and â—iving then at Antioch with her Son sent for him by some Soldiers to come unto her accounting it no small happiness if she might see him and hear his wisdom in the holy Scriptures which all men admired To whom he accordingly repaired and staying a while with her he instructed her in the Doctrine of Christianity which found so good acceptance with her that she became both a lover of it and a favourer of those who professed it not that she was now first brought to the knowledge and embracing of it as some conceive audito Origene Christianâ— facta est but rather further confirmed therein who so far prevailed with her Son that not only the persecution against the Christians ceased but they also had a place granted them for the exercise of Religion and were had in high esteem with him Having here detained him a while she at length dismissed him with honour who again betook him to his School at Alexandria And now did he begin to comment upon the holy Scriptures being much instigated thereunto by Ambrose whom he had reduced from errour as hath been before said who for his encouragement furnished him with necessaries for that purpose allowing parchments and no less than seven Notaries who by turns took from his mouth and wrote what he dictated unto them and as many Libraries maintained all at the charge of Ambrose who transcribed or copied out more fairly what the other had formerly taken and that this was the difference between the Notarii and the Librarii may be gathered from Erasmus his calling the one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or swift the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or fair writers Notariorum inquit Baronius erat scribere Librariorum exscribere Ierom saith Miraeus calls those Notaries who with a swift hand took the words of him that did dictate and sometimes they wrote by notes or characters but those Librarii or Scriveners who afterward more accurately committed the things so taken unto Books Of this Turuebus thus speaks Scribere notis non est compendio quodam literarum verba complecti ad celeritatem sed quibusdam fictis signis comprehendere idque docebantur pueri non tantùm scribere Cassianus enim Martyr qui puerorum sâ—ilis confossus Christo animam reddit notis scribere docuit Prudentias 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hym. 9. Magister literarum sederat Verba notis brevibus comprendere cuncta pertius Raptimque punctis dicta praepetibus sequi Aliud enim esse notis aliud literis scribere ostendit Manilius lib. 4. cap. 1 his verbis Hic scriptor erit felix cui litera verbum est Quique notis linguam superet cursumque loquentis Martial also the Epigrammatist of the Notary thus Currant verba licet manus est vâ—locior illis Nondum lingua suum dextra peregit opus So thirsty after the knowledge of the Scriptures and so pressing upon Origen unto this work was Ambrose whom he therefore calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he would scarce afford him sufficient time to eat sleep or walk for his recreation or to read and review what the Notaries had written as himself complains in a certain Epistle to his Friend About this time the Churches of Achaia being much pestâ—red and vexed with divers Heresies Origen is sent thither with Letters testimonial for the suppressing of them who was now in his middle age or about forty and three years old as Baronius conjectures he supposeth that the cause of his going into Greece was his great desire to get the sixth Edition of the Bible which was this year found at Nicopolis that he might adjoyn it unto the other five Versions which with unwearied pains and diligence he had formerly found out and so compose that laborious work of his which he called Hexoplâ— Now passing through Palestine toward Athens he was by Alexander and Theoctistus who greatly admired Origen two Bishops of great authority the one of Hierusalem the other of Cesarea by imposition of hands made or ordained Minister at Cesares which office gained him much more respect so that he was had in great esteem This begat envy in Demâ—trius who was highly offended with those Bishops for what they had done and by aspersions endeavoured to darken and eclipse the Glory of Origen in his Letters unto all the Bishops throughout the world and having nothing else to charge him withal that might tend to his disparagement he published his unadvised act of castration as a moâ—â— foul and absurd fact of his though when he first came to the knowledge thereof he had admired and praised him for it encouraging him still to go on in the office of catechising Origen therefore perceiving how much the mind of Demetrius was alienated from and in censed against him forbearing to make use of any bitterness against his detractors chose rather to pass by the injury in silence and to give place to their passion than further to exasperate them he therefore after his return and abode there for some small time lest Alexandria having committed the office of a Catechist there unto Heraclas formerly his assistant in that work and went again into Palestine remaining at Cesarea where he applyed himself unto the preaching of the word many not only of that Country but also strangers from other places resorting thither and attending upon his Ministry among whom were divers eminent men and of special note viz. Firmilian Bishop of Cesarea in Cappadocia who one while invited him into his Province to edifie or reform the Churches there another while under pretence of visiting the holy places he made a voyage into Palestine and for a good space continued there that by Origen he might be brought to the further understanding of the Scriptures Also Theodorus called afterward Gregorius Bishop of Neocaesarea in Pontus a man most renowned and for the miracles which he wrought surnamed Thaumaturgus together with his Brother Athenodorus whom continuing with him about the space of five years he converted from Heathenism to Christianity for which cause this Theodorus a while after penned a Panegyrick or Encoâ—miastick Oration in the praise of Origen to testifie his thankfulness for what he had received from him After this Beril Bishop of Bostra in Arabia falling into Heresie and maintaining that Christ before his Incarnation had no being he was dealt and disputed with by divers Bishops assembled together Origen also was sent for who by strength of Argument so convinced him of his error that he restored him again to his former sound opinion for which he returned him solemn thanks in divers letters written unto him Also certain others arose in Arabia who broached this pernicious Doctrine that the soul died and perished together with the body and that in the general resurrection they arose together and were restored unto life again These Hereticks are by Augustine called Arabiei by Damaseen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Animimortales about which a great Synod was assembled wherein Origen so discoursed of this matter that the erroneous did soon renounce their absurd opinion and were reduced to a better judgment He also suppressed the Heresie of the Helcesaits which sprung up about the same time called of Epiphanius Sampsaei in the region of Perâ—â— whose first Author was one Elxaeus who rejected part of the Old Testament denyed the Apostle Paul wholly counted it an indifferent thing to deny or not to deny with the mouth in time of persecution so that thou persist faithful in thine heart and used a certain book which as they say came down from heaven the which whosoever heareth and believeth say they shall obtain another kind of remission of sins then that which Christ purchased for us Growing now old above sixty years of age and much worn out and wasted with long study and painful exercise he at length was prevaild with and permitted that those things which he publickly preached and disputed should by Notaries be taken and Copied out which before he would not suffer to be done This Erasmus understands of his Sermons or Homilies tantae erat modestiae inquit ille ut serò pâ—ssus sit excipi quae disserebat And thus was his time and strength laid out and spent in the work of the Lord even from his Childhood unto his old age not hiding his talent but as a good servant improving it for the advantage of his Master who had intrusted him therewith § 2. He was man of extraordinary parts and endowments of Nature vir magnus excellentis ingenii which began to appear in him even from his very childhood vir magnus â—b infantiâ being a man in understanding when but a child in years stiled therefore by Erosmus senilis puer of a notable strong and piercing wit perspicacississimo ingenio saith Rhenanus for which nothing was too hard and so truly Adamantineâ— nor nothing too high and so truly Origenical 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Montigena such a one as Learned Greece the fruitful mother of the most happy wits scarce ever bred the like immortale inge nium so comprehensive as not to be bounded within the limits of ordinary capacities there being nothing within the Encyclopedy of Arts that could escape his knowledge for he exactly perused all kind of Authors wherein he had this advantage above many others that he lost no time ei inquit Erasmus nulla pars aetatis periit à studiis his tenderest years being improved this way by his pious and careful father By which means the fair field of his great abilities being so well cultured and manured began in his very spring to flourish and abound with the fruit of excellent skill in all the Liberal Sciences whereof he gave a large proof and testimony undertaking at the age of eighteen years the publick profession of the art
Plato that he had rather err with Origen than be of a right judgement with others Thus far Vincentius Origen thus every way excellent was withal a wonderfully industrious and laborious Man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inquit Athanasius wholly spending his time and improving his vast abilities in the work of the Lord and for the behoof of the Church and this he did partly by Preaching for which employment he was compleatly furnished being so familiarly acquainted with and ready in the holy Scriptures which he abundantly made use of beautifying and adorning therewith as with so many precious gems his discourses throughout Gentium Testimonia â—usquam adhibet nisi quoties id res ipsa postulat quum nullum autorum genus non exactè tenuerit sed totus hujus Sermo inquit Erasmus Sâ—crorum Voluminum sententiis undique seu gemmeis emblematibus distinctus est sed adeò commodé in loco insertis ut nihilo seciùs curâ—â—t oratio dicas esse non ascita sed ibi nata 〈◊〉 aliunde quaesita sed suâ sponte praesto esse And this he did the rather and I therefore add it because it is a notable testimony that the Scriptures at that time were read by all sorts of persons in the vulgar Tongue or that in use among them because in that Age the common people did understand the words of the Scripture being frequently exercised in the reading of the sacred Volumes For then even Weavers and Spinsters had those Books at home which as often as they had leasure they carefully perused neither to the understanding of them was their need of any other Language than that which the illiterate vulgar did make use of and certainly that reading brought this profit with it that they sate in the Church more docil or teachable before him that expounded the mysteries of the Scriptures unto them He had an admirable faculty of speaking ex tempore as he did many of those Homilies which were thought worthy of the publick view such were his six and twenty Homilies upon Ioshua Oratiunculâ—s viginti sex in Iesum Nave quas ex tempare in Ecclesiâ peroravit Adamantius senex ex Graeco Latinè tibi pro virium meâ—rum parvitate disserui inquit Ruffinus Also his explanation of the Epistle to the Romans His sixteen Homilies upon Leviticus c. quotidiâ— quasi ex tempore Scripturas ad populum enaâ—rabat Of which kind of speaking Meriâ— Casaubon thus reports in his Treatise of Enthusiasm For that faculty of the Sophists saith he of extemporary speaking upon any subject it was their common profession that is most certain and it was accordingly performed by many of them with singular dexterity to the great amazement of all their Auditors such was Callisthenes the Sophist or Philosopher The Tarsenses of Asia are by the Ancients noted as for their love to Learning in general so particularly to have excelled in this faculty And Quintilian a sober solid Man makes this a chief end and fruit of long pains and exercises in the Art of Rhetorick to attain to such a faculty as to be able upon any sudden occasion to speak pertinently without any premeditation thus he Origen was also very zealous and lively in his delivery for he loved the things which he spake and of such we use to speak with affection and delight His Sermons were commonly short for he would never exceed an hour lest he should cloy his Auditors judging it better to preach often than long In reproving he always remembred Christian moderation sharp he would be yet never bitter but for nothing he would more blame them then for seldom and slack coming to the hearing of the Word and for oscitancy when they came accounting diligence or negligence this way one principal note of proficiency or deficiency in Piety He observed this method First plainly and briâ—fly to expound the History then would he stir them up to observe the Mystical and Allâ—gorical sense and lastly handle some moral places making application of what he had delivered and unfolded Partly also by writing did he improve his abilities and dictating unto those that wrote whereunto of himself he was backward but set upon it by the inst gation of Ambrâ—se Christianae fidei confâ—ssor iâ—signis inquit Trithemius qui etiam ad offâ—cium diaconâ— tus meruit promoveri vir certè doctissimus librorum studiosus amator who pressed him hereunto above measure giving him no rest and exacted from him a continual or daily task His works were innumerable written by himself and others from his mouth many whereof Ierom saith he had gotten together and perused but not all For who of us saith he can read so much as he wrote Some affirm as from Ierom that he composed six thousand Volumes though yet Ierom himself deny it For saith he look over the Catalogue of his Books contained in the third Volume of the life of Pamphilus written by Eusebius and you shall not find the third part of that number yet did he utter above a thousand Tracts in the Church and besides set forth Commentaries innumerable in a word no man ever wrote more for which cause Suidas stiles him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Composer Ierom in his Epistle unto Paula the Mother of Eustocbiuâ—â— now not extant reckons up all the Monuments of Origens Wit comparing him unto that learned Varro who by that time he had arrived unto the age of eighty four years which yet it seems he exceeded for Pliny mentions the eighty and eighth of his age had written four hundred and ninety Books of whom Terentianus a Carthaginian Poet thus speaks Vir docâ—â—â—â—mus undecunque Varro qui tam multa legit ut aliquando scribere vacasse miremur 〈◊〉 multa scripsit quà m multa vix quemquam legere potuisse credamus Such another was Didymus of Alexandria sirnamed also Chalcenterus Nobilis grammaticus qui Iulii Caesaris evo floruit quod indefesso labore libris assideret who is reported to have written above three thousand and five hundred Books as Meursius and Suidas four thousand saith Seneca but withal handling such trivial things quae inquit erant dedâ—scenda si scires that it cannot be said of him as Erasmus of Origen In Origene nihil ineptum aut redundans Briefly his Works were such and so many That saith the learned Daille had we them all intire they would perhaps be able to give us more light and satisfaction about the present Controversies in Religion than all the rest of the Fathers His Works on the Scriptures are by Ieroâ— distinguished into three sorts or classes nullam scripturae partem ille praetermisit in quâ non scripserit inquit Erasmus the first sort he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ociosa i. e. brief Annotations upon obscure and difficult places when
was not wanting though absent in body yet very vigilant as present in spirit by his admonitions and otherwise to provide for and promote the welfare of the Brethren as much as he could constituting divers Presbyters to execute his office in his room But that which did occasion no small grief unto him was the schism and disorders that happened in the Church whereof his former adversary Felicissimus was the principal author with whom joyned five other Presbyters who granted rashly and promiscuously peace and communion to the Lapsi or such as through fear had faln in that time of persecution These were set on and abetted by Novatus a Presbyter of Carthage from whom afterward sprung Donatus and his Sect with whom sided Fortunatus set up by his party as a Mock-Bishop in opposition unto Cyprian who yet were of a contray opinion to the former denying all hope of peace to the Lapsi but though they were opposite in judgement unto each other yet did they all at length conspire together and made up one faction against Cyprian who had given order that as the Lapsi should not be altogether excluded so neither should they be admitted unto communion but upon their repentance and satisfaction given unto the Church This Felicissimus with his complices proceeded so far as that of those who adhered unto him who in number increased daily he constituted a Church of his own which he congregated in a certain Mountain from whence the name of the Montenses took its Original given afterward unto the party of the Donatists who in imitation of these lived in the Mountains But though Felicissiâ—us were the first in the Schism yet was he the less famous for his name growing more obscure Novatus gave the title unto the whole Sect who from him were called Novations as also Cathari or pure â—ecause they refused to communicate with the Lapsi though repenting accounting them unclean These Schismaticks growing unto this height the careful Cyprian though in exile is very sollicitous how to suppress them and to prevent further mischieâ—s that hereupon might ensue He falls upon the last remedy writing unto Caldonius and Herculanuâ— his Collegues as also unto Rogatian and Numidicus Compresbyters that they excommunicate Felicissimus and his followers which accordingly they performed as appears by their Letters unto the Clergy of Carthage After two years he returned from his banishment Decius that cruel Persecutor being slain by the Gotbs and so peace restored unto the Church Immediately after his return he useth his utmost endeavours to close up the rent that had been made in the Church during his absence for which end he convenes a Synod wherein after due debate this moderate temperament was agreed upon concerning the Lapsi that the causes and necessities of their fall being examined the Libellatici who were such as by their friends did offer or give in their Libels unto the Magistrate wherein they did deny Christ but withal desire that they might not be compelled to sacrifice as the less Delinquents should be admitted unto communion upon their repentance but the Sacrificati who were such as to preserve their Estates or being by others perswaded thereunto did offer unto the Idols should have a longer time of repentance set and assigned unto them and in case inâ—irmity urged they should receive peace or be reconciled at the time of their death In which Decree Cornelius Bishop of Rome agreed with them a little after calling a Council at Rome which consisted of sixty Bishops so many Presbyters and many Deacons wherein the business of the Lapsi was throughly scann'd and Novotian set up as Bishop of Rome by his party against Cornelius together with Novatus and Felicissimus were excommunicated the sum of which decree was this that Novatus together with such as consented unto his opinion which was repugnant unto brotherly love should be banished the Church and that the Brethren fallen through infirmity in the troublesome time of persecution should be received after that the salve of repentance and confession had been applied unto the Maladies By these Schisms was the Church much vexed for sometime and Cyprian loaded with calumnies by the Authors and Maintainers of them which he bare and overcame with invincible courage and patience Many Councils were celebrated at Carthage and in other Provinces both of the Eastern and Western Churches for the suppressing of them What afterward became of these Schismaticks is not found but persecution being renewed seems for the present to have put an end unto these Controversies After this arose the question about the rebaptization of Hereticks returning again unto the Church which had been in use in the African Churches in the time of Agrippinus the Predecessor of Cyprian and before him in the time of Tertullian This was occasioned by the practice of the Novatians who were wont to baptize again as unclean such as they had drawn from the Church unto their faction which provoked divers African Bishops to emulation among whom Cyprian was the chief Three Councils were by him call'd about this thing in the last whereof were assembled at Carthage out of Africa Numidia and Mauritania eighty and seven Bishops by whom it was concluded that such as had been by Hereticks baptized were upon their return unto the Church to be admitted again by rebaptization and that because there is but one Baptism which is no where to be found but in the true Church The sentence of Cyprian is in the last place set down in these words My sentence or judgement herein saith he the Epistle written unto our Collegue Iubaianus hath most fully express'd viz. that according to the Evangelical and Apostolical contestation the Adversaries of Christ and called Antichrists when they come unto the Church are to be baptized with the only Baptism of the Church that they may be made friends of foes and of Antichrists Christians Which Opinion was rejected by Stephen Bishop of Rome and the Council by him there assembled Yet did many of the Eastern Bishops and of Egypt as well as of Africa consent with Cyprian in this his opinion which having for a while to their utmost defended they at last relinquished it subscribing to Stephen and the rest of the Church of Rome and that Cyprian did so among the rest is very probable of which more hereafter Shortly after followed another grievous persecution under the Emperour Valerian and Galienus which lasted three years and an half and extending very far Africa as well as other Provinces felt the violence thereof where the first that was aimed at and vexed was Cyprian who by Paternus the Proconsul was banished unto Curubis or Curobis as Ptolemy a Town invironed with the Lybian Ocean almost in the manner of an Island standing on the Promontory
about weighty affairs his manner was to decree nothing without his colleagues neither would he pertinaciously love and adhere unto his own apprehensions but rather embrace what was by others profitably and wholesomely suggested 2. His Charity and compassion to those in want and durance for immediately upon his conversion he parted with what he had and gave it for the relief of the Poor He was as Iob speaks of himself eyes to the blind and feet to the lame a Father unto the Put and the cause which he knew not he searched out he brake the jaws of the Wicked and plucked the spoil out of his Teeth And when many had been taken Captives by the barbarous Goths or Scythians he sent an hundred thousand Sestertia from the Church for the redeeming of them so himself speaks misimus inquit Sestertia centum millia nummû◠quae isthic in Ecclesiâ cui de Domini indulgentiâ praesumus Cleri plebis apud nos consistentia collatione collecta sunt The sum being so vast Pamelius conjectures it ought to be only Sestertia centum and that millia nummûm added for explications sake is from the Margin crept into the Text or else he thinks it should be thus read Sestertium centum millia nummûm Yea while he was in exile he not only wrote but also sent relief unto those poor Christians who were condemned unto the Mines He manifested also this Grace in his Indulgence to forgive and receive those offenders who repenting returned unto the Church Hear his own words Remitto omnia inquit multa dissimulo studio voto colligendae fraternitatis etiam quae in Deum commissa sunt non pleno judicio Religionis examino delictis plusquam oportet remittendo penè ipse delinquo amplector prompâ—â plenâ dilectione cum paenitentiâ revertentes peccatum suum satisfactione humili simplici constâ—entes 3. His patience in bearing injuries and wrongs whereof he gave an ample testimony in his behaviour toward those who opposed him when he was chosen Bishop Oh how patiently did he bear with them and with what a deal of clemency did he forgive them reckoning them among his friends to the admiration of many 4. His equanimity and peaceableness being a very great lover and maintainer of unity among Brethren which he was studious to preserve and hold even with those that dissented from him as appears in the grand difference between him and Stephen Bishop of Rome and others about the rebaptization of Hereticks for as himself did not break Communion by separating from them so neither did he cease to perswade others also that they should bear with one another in love endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace his words that he used in the Council of Carthage speaks out this sweet temper of his Spirit Super est inquit Collegae dilectissimi ut de hac ipsâ re quid singuli sentiamus proferamus neminem judicantes aut à jure Communionis aliquem si diversum senserit amoventes To these many more might be added as his contempt of riches keeping under of his body purity of Life diametrically opposite to the lusts of his former conversation gravity joyned with humanity equi-distant both from arrogancy and baseness fidelity prudence industry watchings and the like which more at large are commemorated and recorded by Pontius and Nazianzen in all which regards he was very eminent Hence Vincentius stiles him illud Sanctorum omnium Episcoporum Martyrum lumen beatissimum Cyprianum He may be instead of many saith Erasmus whether you respect eloquence or Doctrine or the dignity of a Pastor or a brest every where breathing forth the vigour of an Apostolical Spirit or the glory of Martyrdom Whose writings saith Scultetus have in them so happy a genius that although they were interwoven with divers errours yet they found some Doctors of the Church not only admirers of the more sound Doctrine but candid Interpreters even of the errours contained in them How transcendent a Man he was in the judgement of the great Augustin is evident and may be collected from the Titles he gives him wherein the Epithets which for the most part he makes use of such as are Doctor Suavissimus lucidissimus pacis amantissimus excellentissimae gratiae also Martyr beatissimus fortissimus gloriosissimus c. A Man saith he whose praise I cannot reach to whose many Letters I compare not my writings whose Wit I love with whose mouth I am delighted whose Charity I admire and whose Martyrdom I reverence Add hereto the Encomium of Prudentius whose words are Tenet ille Regna coeli Nec minùs involitat terris nec ab hoc recedit orbe Disserit eloquitur tractat docet instruit prophetat Nec Lybiae populos tantum regit exitusque in ortum Solis usque obitum Gallos fovet imbuit Britanuos Praesidet Hesperiae Christum serit ultimis Hiberis Let me shut up all with the words of Pontius I pass by saith he many other and great things which the Volume lest it swell too big suffers me not more largely to relate of which let it suffice to have said this only that if the Gentiles might have heard them at their Bars they would perhaps forthwith have believed and become Christians § 3. The monuments of this excellent and choice spirit were many Sole clariora lively representing as in a glass his great worth and wherein though dead he yet liveth and speaketh Of which Augustin had so venerable an esteem that he accounted all his own works not equal unto one of Cyprian's Epistles And Ierom giving directions unto the noble Widow Laeta for the pious education of her Daughter Paula recommends the works of Cyprian to her continual perusal Cypriani inquit opuscula semper in manu teneat Cujus singula prope verba spirant Martyrium They are but fragments as it were that remain and the loss of what is wanting is much bewailed by Erasmus Of those many that are lost I find but few mentioned in any Authors so that it seems not only the Books themselves but even their very Names and Titles are exstinct with them Paulus Diaconus reckoneth among the innumerable Volumes as he hath it which he wrote a very profitable Chronicle compiled by him Also that he discoursed most excellently upon the Evangelists and other Books of the Scripture But how little credit this report deserves will appear from the words of Ierom a Man as well as most acquainted with the writings of those that went before him who tells us that he never commented upon the sacred Scriptures being wholly taken up with the exercise of vertue totus in exereitatione alià s exhortatione virtutum and occupied or hindred by the straits of persecution Unless his three books of testimonies unto Quirinus which
it which in a lofty strain he stirs them up unto for so Augustin ad virginitatem magno accendit eloquio Cyprianus In this Tract as in others also he much imitates his Master as he calls him Tertullian upon the like subject 2. De Lapsis 1. Of such as fell in time of persecution which Erasmus calls by the name of Sermo this with the two following was written shortly after his return from exile peace being restored unto the Church wherein congratulating the Confessors and blessing God for their invincible constancy under the Cross he greatly bewails the fall of such as by the threatenings of the adversary were drawn to sacrifice and did not rather withdraw according unto the counsel of Christ blaming them that before their repentance they would even extort communion and peace from some Presbyters without the consent of the Bishop and lastly by divers arguments he exhorts them unto a publick acknowledgment of their sin and to give satisfaction unto the Church Herein also he imitates Tertulian in his Book of repentance 3. Of the unity of the Church some do add the word Catholick and this Pamelius as himself more than once boastingly tells us from the fifty first Epistle first found out to be the true Title of this Book which Erasmus and some others do stile A Treatise of the Simplicity of Prelates and Augustine an Epistle touching unity A golden Book written by occasion of the Novatian Rent or Schism that he might deter his Carthaginians from siding with Novatus who were too much inclining unto and not so averse from him as they should have been Wherein he earnestly presseth the Pastours carefully to preserve unity in the Church by many weighty arguments shewing the original and sourse of Heresies to be the contempt of the truth and celestial Doctrine of Christ commending unity in the Church and in the close he discourseth of the Duty of those who stand firm in the unity of the Church viz. to shun the society of Schismaticks This excellent piece of Cyprian the Vassals of the Romish See have been most busily tampering with and as palpably corrupting for their advantage in point of the Popes Supremacy having boldly foysted in here and there as they thought fit whole periods and sentences against the faith of the best and most uncorrupted Manuscripts the additions are these following 1. He built his Church on him alone viz. Peter and commanded him to feed his Sheep 2. He established one Chair 3. The Primacy was given unto Peter to shew that there was but one Church of Christ and but one Chair 4. He that forsakes the Chair of Peter on which the Church was founded doth he hope himself to be in the Church Of these last words saith Philander after Theophilus had named six Editions of Cyprian in which they are not indeed I confess the words were wanting till Pamelius a Canon of Bruges found them in an old written Copy lying in the Abby of Cambron All these additions will evidently appear unto any one who without having recourse unto other copies will but compare Erasmus and Pamelius their Editions together He that desireth to be farther satisfyed in the foul fraud of these shameless forgers in this particular let him please to peruse the learned Doctor Reynolds in his conference with Hart chap. 5. division 2. Bilson in his difference c. part 1. pag. 89. and Doctor Iames of the Corruption of the Fathers part 2. So many have been the mutations additions detractions and variations of this small Book that the laborious abovenamed Doctor Iames in a little Treatise written by him which he entituled Cyprian restored or revived hath observed no less than two hundred and eighty eight of them by a diligent collation of four manuscript Copies this the bold Jesuit Possevine in his Apparatus inserts as his own which the Doctor thus chargeth him with It hath pleased him saith he in his first Tome at the word Cyprian to steal a Treatise of mine and concealing my name mutatis mutandis chopping and changing some few words at his pleasure to publish it unto the world Sic noâ— non nobis mellificamus apes A most unworthy act and at least deserving the brand of base ingenuity a fault that Crinitus blames in Macrobius who having been much beholding unto A. Gellius makes no acknowledgment thereof Cum sit inquit obnoxiae mentis ingenii maximè infaelicis uunquam fateri peâ— quos authores profeceris 4. Of the Lord's Prayer which Treatise Augustine thus commends I admonish saith he and much exhort you to read diligently that Book of Blessed Cyprian which he wrote of the Lord's Prayer and as the Lord shall help you to understand and commit it to memory he writes it unto one Valentinus and the Monks that were with him In this piece commending this prayer he shews how we ought to draw near unto God then explains the several parts and petitions of it unto which he subjoyns somewhat of the necessity of prayer how the mind ought to be composed in this duty and when it should be performed Herein also he imitates Tertullian de Oratione Est inquit Sixtuì Senensis sanctae venustae brevitatis explaâ—â—tio 5. Unto Demetrianus the Proconsul of Africa an Apologetical or invective Oration Erasmus wonders why any should rather call it a Treatise then an Epistle Wherein using a more elaborate stile he clears the Christians of those calumnies that were cast upon them by Demetrian and other Ethnicks who imputed it unto the Christians not worshipping the Gods that those grievous judgments of famine pestilence and war did so rage in the Romane Empire the true cause whereof he shews to be their contempt of Christianity which he proves by divers â—â—guments and closeth with an exhortation unto the Gentiles to come unto God and to believe on Jesus Christ. In this likewise he imitates his Master Tertullian in his Apology and in his book against Scapula but is blamed by Lactantius for not handling the matter as he ought because he dealt with an Heathen by Scripture testimonies which Demetrian esteemed as fained and vain who should have been refuted by reason and arguments grounded thereupon yet herein is he defended by Baronius who labors to excuse him 6. Of the vanity of idols or that idols are not gods wherein he proves that they were men and consequently that the worshipping of them can be no way profitable And that there is but one true God and Lord of all whom the Christians worship Erasmus suspects it to be a fragment of a larger work because it begins so abruptly Of which piece Ierom thus speaks commending his wit and skill with what brevity with what knowledge of all Histories with what splendor of words and sense hath Cyprian discussed that idols are not Gods Herein also as he imitated Tertullian in his
and learning among whom Tertulâ—ian and Augustin were chief but scarcely unto any one happened the genuine purity of the Roman Language but only unto Cyprian Thus Erasmus Like a pure fountain he flows sweetly and smoothly and withal he is so plain and open which is the chief virtue of speech that you cannot discern saith Lactantius whether any one were more comly in speaking or more facil in explicating or more powerful in perswading Prudentius also in this regard thus extols him O nive candidius linguae genus O novum saporem Vt liquor Ambrosius cor mitigat imbuit palatum Sedem animae penetrat mentem fovet pererrat artus His phrase is most elegant saith Sixtus Senensis and next unto Ciceronian Candour And in the judgment of Alsted as Lactantius may be truly accounted the Christian's Cicero so may Cyprian their Caesar for these two among the Latines added ornament unto Christian Doctrine Now Caesar saith Vives is egregiously useful for dayly speech unto whom Tully gives the praise of a pure and uncorrupted dialect Quintilian of elegancy whom he peculiarly studyed and Mr. Ascham in that learned and grave discourse which he calls his Schoolmaster judgeth that in Caesar's Commentaries which are to be read with all curiosity without all exception to be made either by friend or foe is seen the unspotted propriety of the Latine Tongue even when it was in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the highest pitch of all perfectness yet is his phrase various sometimes he soars aloft and is very copious with abundance of words as in his Epistle unto Donatus another time he falls as low as in his Epistle unto Caecilius of the Sacrament of the Lord's Cup but most commonly he is temperate and keeps the middle way between these extremes as in his Treatise of the Habit of Virgins In a word he was saith Hyperius plain vehement serious and not unhappily fluent his words breathing a venerable elegancy as the things which he wrote did piety and martyrdom whereof I now proceed to give a taste § 5. In his Treatise of the vanity of Idols we have a sum of his Faith which Froben in his Index affixed unto the edition of Erasmus stiles the most elegant Creed or Symbol of Cyprian containing the Doctrines of Christ his Deity Incarnation Miracles Death Resurrection Ascension and second coming His words are these Indulgentiae Dei gratiae disciplinaeque arbiter magister sermo filius Dei mittitur qui per Prophetas omnes retrò illuminator doctor humani generis praedicabatur Hic est virtus Dei hic ratio hic sapientia ejus gloria hic in Virginem illabitur carnem Spiritu Sancto cooperante induitur Deus cum homine miscetur hic Deus noster hic Christus est qui mediator duorum hominem induit quem perducat ad Patrem quòd homo est Christus esse voluit ut homo possit esse quòd Christus est Cum Christus Iesus secundùm a Prophetis ante praedicta verbo vocis imperio daemonia de hominibus excuteret leprosos purgaret illuminaret caecos claudis gressum daret mortuos rursus animaret cogeret sibi element a famulari servire ventos maria obedire inferos cedere Iudâ—ei qui illum crediderant hominem tontùm de humilitate carnis corporis existimabant magum de licentiâ potestatis Hunc Magistri eorum atque primores hoc est quos doctrina illâ ille sapientiâ revincebat accensi irâ indignatione provocati postremò detentum Pontio Pilato qui tunc ex parte Romanâ Syriam procuraâ—at tradiderunt crucem ejus mortem suffragiis violentis ac pertinacibus flagitantes Crucifixâ—s prevento carnis officio spiritum sponte dimisit die tertio rursus a mortuis sponte surrexit Apparuit discipulis talis ut fuerat agnoscendum se videntibus praebuit simul junctus substantiae corporalis firmitate conspicuus ad dies quadraginta remoratus est ut dâ— vel ab eo ad praecepta vitalia instrui possent discerent que docerent Tunc in Coelum circumfusâ nube sublatus est ut hominem quem dilexit quem induit quem a morte protexit ad patrem victor imponeret jam venturos è Coelo ad poenam Diaboli ad censuram generis humani ultoris vigore judicis potestate 2. Concerning the Article of Christ's descent into Hell the Author of the Exposition of the Apostles Creed thus speaks We are saith he verily to know that it is not to be found in the Creed of the Roman Church neither in the Oriental Churches yet the force of the words seemeth to be the same with those wherein he is said to be buryed 3. Of the Canonical Books of the Old and New Testament the same Author of the Exposition of the Apostles Creed having enumerated the same Books that we do These saith he are they which the Fathers concluded within the Canon out of which they would have the assertions of our Faith to consist But we are to know further that there are other Books which our Predecessors called not Canonical but Ecclesiastical as the Books of Wisdom Ecclesiasticus Toby Iudith and Maccabees all which they would indeed have to be read in the Churches but yet not to be produced for the confirmation of the Faith 4. Of how little esteem custom ought to be if not founded upon truth he pithily shews in that short sentence Consuetudo sine veritate vetustas erroris est Custom without truth is but mouldy errour In vain therefore saith he do some that are overcome by reason oppose or object custom unto us as if custom were greater than truth or that in Spirituals were not to be followed which for the better hath been revealed by the Holy Ghost Again if Christ alone must be heard as Matth. 17. 5. we ought not to heed what another before us thought fit to be done but what Christ who is before all first did Neither ought we to follow the custom of man but the truth of God 5. He understands by Tradition nothing but that which is delivered in the Scripture Let nothing be innovated saith Stephen unto him but what is delivered He replyeth whence is this Tradition whether doth it descend from the authority of the Lord and the Gospel or doth it come from the Apostles Commands and Epistles for those things are to be done that are Written If therefore this speaking of the Rebaptization of Hereticks or receiving them into the Church only by imposition of hands which later was Stephens opinion against Cyprian be either commanded in the Evangelists or contained in the Epistles or Acts of the Apostles let it be observed as a Divine and Holy Tradition 6. That the Baptism of children was then received and practised in the Church and that performed by aspersion as valid as that
against the defenders of true piety The Emperor understanding what had passed was much incensed against those Bishops and by his Letters sharply reprehended them for what they had done requiring them to appear before him at Constantinople whither being come they waving all former accusations instil into the Emperors ears another foul slander against Athanasius viz. That he had threatned to hinder the transportation of corn as was wont from Egypt unto Constantinople which begat in the Emperor such indignation against the Bishop that without hearing he banished him into France unto the City of Triers Galliarum metropolis inquit Athanasius Treviris ad Moselâ—ae râ—ipam olim inquie Victorius insignis Galliae nunc Germaniae imperialis urbs then belonging unto that Kingdom but since unto Germany being now the seat of one of the Ecclesiastical Electors although some conceive that the Emperor did this for the safety of Athanasius and in hope that hereupon peace and unity among the Bishops would ensue Arius upon the banishment of Athanasius entring again into Alexandria occasions new tumults there which when the Emperour understood he sendeth for him unto Constantinople requiring him by subscription to testifie his â—onsent unto the Nicen faith this he doth â—ignedly Hereupon the Emperour requires Alexander Bishop of Constantinople to receive â—im into communion Who all night long by â—arnest prayer beseecheth the Lord either to â—ake him out of this life or else to take away 〈◊〉 lest by him this Church should be inâ—icted with his heresie Arius the next day â—oming with a great company toward the Church in the way turns aside to ease himself which while he was doing he burst asunder in the midst like another Iudas so that â—is bowels came out and dyed ignominiously â—n the place whom the Eusebians with shame â—nough took thence and buried him So preâ—â—lent were the prayers of the good Bishop Alexander Shortly after this dyeth the Emperour Conâ—â—ntiâ—e the great leaving the Empire unto his three Sons viz. unto Constantius the East and the West unto the other two Constans and Constantine Before his death he had a purpose to recal Athanasius from his banishment 〈◊〉 being prevented he commits the doing â—ereof unto his Son Constantine which he accordingly performed sending him back with Letters recommendatory unto the Church of Alexandria unto which he returned after he had been about two years and four Months in exile But he held not his government quietly above three years for returning without out common consent and the decree of the Bishops he was by the Arians accused unto Constantius infected with and a great favourer of that Heresie and thereupon by the Synod of Antioch wherein the Arian faction prevailed consisting of ninety Bishops again deposed and one Gregory set up in his Room Athanasius now finding it not safe for him to continue in Alexandria fled unto Iulius Bishop of Rome who assembling the Western Bishops sends him back with Letters testimonial and pressing his restitution But upon his return unto Alexandria a great tumult being raised by the Arians wherein some were slain the blame hereof is cast upon Athanasius and this seconded with other calumnies which so enraged the Emperour Constantius against him that he sent one Cyrianus a Captain with many Soldiers to apprehend him Withal by his Edicts he required all his Officers to make diligent search for him promising rewards unto any that should bring him alive or else his head unto the Emperour Hereupon he is forâ—ed to hide himself which for sometime he did in a certain Well or Cave which was known unto none save only to one of his familar friends who sent him necessaries by a Servant who at length discovered him But Athanasius having timely notice hereof the same night wherein he should have been apprehended betook him unto another place Yet finding it not safe for him to remain in the dominions of Constantius he fled into the West unto the Emperour Constance who very honourably received him Unto whom he makes a very sad complaint of the injuries offered him by the Arians earnestly desiring him that a Synod might be called for the discussing of his cause The Emperour hearkning unto him obtains of his Brother that an universal Council both of the East and Western Bishops should be convened at Sardica in Illiricum Of which Binuius thus Concilium Sardicense inquit 〈◊〉 Nicaeni appendix et a multis Nicaeni nomine umprehenditur Sculteâ—us stiles it paâ—em Niâ—enae Synodo Where being assembled the Eastern Bishops required that Athanasius and his sautors should he removed from the Council Which being denied as unjust the Eastern Bishops withdrew and instituted an Anâ—â—synod at Philopolis in Thrace wherein the decrees of the Council of Tyre against Athanasius were confirmed the doctrine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concluded and agreed on and Iulius Bishop of Rome Hosius of Corduba Maximinus of â—riers and divers others for receiving Athaâ—asius unto communion were deprived of their Bishopricks What was the issue of these cross Councils appears in the following words Ex contrariis decretis harum Synodorum ortum est â—tron et diuturnum Schisma inter Orientales et Occidentales Ecclesias quod ante Gratianum et Theodosium Imperatores non desiit ita ut invicem â—â—n communicarent For on the contrary the Council of Sardica having heard Athanasius clearing his innocency received him unto communion condemning his accusers Withal they confirm'd the 〈…〉 Council and decreed that such as defended the contrary thereunto should not only be deprived of their Bishopricks but also excluded from the society and communion of the faithful Constantius notwithstanding the decree of this Council of Sardica for the restitution of Athanasius unto his Bishoprick refuseth to admit of him hereupon his Brother the Emperour Constans writes him a short but sharp Letter threatning that if he should still persist to oppose and hinder the return of Athanasius he himself would come with an Army and whether he would or no restore him again unto his place This so far prevailed that Constantius yields and again and again invites doubtful and delaying Athanasius to return by divers letters written unto him who at length hearkens and returns accordingly The Emperour meeting with him at Antioch gently entreats and confers with him permitting him with safety to go unto Alexandria withal promising to admit of no more accusations against him and by his Letters â—ommended him unto the Church of Alexandria for his singular piety exhorting them with all respect to receive him But before his departure from him he told him that the Bishops desired one thing of him namely that he would grant one Church in Alexandria unto those that dissented from and could not joyn in communion with him I am content quoth he so to do upon this condition that the Arians will vouchsafe one Church unto the Orthodox in the City of Antioch
him to have been dead though indeed he were then alive 3. His book against the Arians or agaâ—nst Auxentius Bishop of Millain written unto the Bishops and people detesting the Arian heresie which by Ierom is stiled an elegant book wherein he accuseth the said Bishop as infected with Arianism To which is annexed an Epistle of Auxentius wherein he cleareth himself as not guilty of the crime laid to his charge 4. His book of Synods unto the Bishops of France whom he congratulates that in the midst of so great tumults as are in the world they had kept themselves free from the Arian faction wherein he declares in what meetings of the Bishops the Arian heresie had been condemned This book as himself testifieth he translated out of Greek but with this liberty that neglecting the words he kept still to the sense and where the place invites him so to do he adds and intermingles somewhat of his own Of which Chemnitius thus speaks He gathered together saith he the opinions of the Greeks concerning the Trinity and unless he had collected the decrees of the Eastern Synods we should have known nothing of them as touching their opinions and doctrinâ—s 5. His commentary upon the Gospel of Matthew which he divided into thirty and three Canons by which name it is called of some Going through almost the whole of that Evangelist in a succinct and brief but learned and solid explanation Being more delighted with the allegorical than literal sense herein imitating Origen out of whom I doubt not saith Erasmus he translated this whole work it doth so in all things savour both of the wit and phrase of Origen For as it containeth many choice things which do proclaim the Author to have been most absolutely skilled in the sacred Scriptures so is he sometimes too superstitious and violent in his allegories a peculiar fault to be found in almost all the commentaries of Origen 6. His commentary upon the Psalms not the whole but upon the first and second then from the one and fiftieth unto the sixty and second according to Ierom's reckoning but as now extant in Erasmus his edition from the one and fiftyeth unto the end of the sixty and ninth which addition Sixtus Senensis saith he had read being printed Also from the hundred and nineteenth unto the end of the book only that upon the last Psalm is imperfect the last leaf saith Erasmus in the manuscripts being either torn or worn away as it oftentimes falls out This work is rather an imitation than a translation of Origen for he adds somewhat of his own some do affirm that he set forth tractates upon the whole book of the Psalms and that it was extant in Spain But commonly no more is to be found than the above mentioned as also his book of the Synods being very large Ierom transcribed with his own hand at Triers for he had him in very high esteem There are also some books abroad under his name which are justly suspected and taken for spurious As 1. An Epistle unto Abram or Afram his Daughter which is a mere toy of some idle and unlearned man it hath nothing in it worthy of Hilary much less that which follows viz. 2. An Hymn which hath in it neither rhythm nor reason yet doth Ierom testifie of Hilary that he wrote in verse and perhaps some of those hymns which at this day are sung in the Church whose Author is unknown may be his He was so far skill'd this way that Gyraldus gives him a place and ranks him among the Christian Poets Bellarmine and Possevin had but small reason upon so slender a ground as they have to affirm both of these to be his without doubt 3. A book of the unity of the Father and the Son which whether it were his or no seems very uncertain seeing Ierom makes no mention of it It seems to be a rhapsody of some studious man taken partly out of the second but for the most part out of the ninth book of the Trinity who omitted and added what he pleased With this as a distinct book from it Bellarmine joyns another of the essence of the Father and the Son which yet I find not named by any other Author Indeed there is an appendix unto the former of the various names of Christ which Bellarmine mentions not the phrase whereof differs much from Hilary's The Author whereof would fain imitate Hilary which he was not negligent in the performance of They are grave and learned books saith Bellarmine of his two and not unworthy the spirit and eloquence of Hilary 4. An Epistle unto Augustine concerning the remains of the Pelagian heresie which cannot be Hilary's because that heresie was not known in his time 5. Another Epistle unto Augustine being the eighty and eighth in number among Augustines in which he propounds certain questions to be resolved but neither this nor the â—ormer are our Hilary's who was dead before Augustine became a Christian and yet in his answer he stiles him his Son They both seem to belong unto another Hilary that was afterward made Bishop of Arles who together with Prosper of Aquitain defended the cause of Augustine against the French Semipelagians The former of the Epistles gave occasion unto Augustine to write his treatises of the predestination of the Saints and of the good of perseverance to which are prefix'd this Epistle together with one from Prosper concerning the same matter 6. A fragment concerning the things that were done in the Council of Ariminum rejected by Baronius 7. An heroick Poem stiled Genesis written unto Pope Leo who lived Ann. 440. at what time Hilary had left this life And therefore it cannot be his but may better be ascribed unto the abovenamed Hilary Bishop of Arles 8. A fragment of the Trinity which contains his creed but of little credit as being no where else mentioned It might happily be an extract out of his work upon this subject § 4. As for his stile it is perplex and thâ—rny such as should he handle matters in themselves very clear yet would it be both hard to be understood and easie to be depraved Very lofty he is after the Gallicane manner for this seems to be peculiar unto the wit and genius of that nation as appears in Sulpitius Severus Eucherius and of late the famous Budaeus adeo sublimis ut tubam sonare credas non bominem adeò faeliciter elaboratus ut eruditum lectorem nunquam satiet trivialiter literatos procul submoveat and being adorned with the Flowers of Greece he is sometimes involved in long periods so that he is far above the reach of and in vain perused by unskilful Readers which yet Sixtus Senensis thinketh ought to be referred unto his books of the Trinity wherein he imitated Quintilian both in his
passages of Ignatius might be reported by Origen as well as not And the Authority is of equal strength for the Affirmative or Negative nothing certain can be concluded from them 2. Erasmus his censure which you produce who thinks it none of his is not infallible and Merlin to whose pains we are beholding for one edition of Origen who therefore should be acquainted with his works is very confident that these commentaries are Origen's 3. The reason for which they are judged to be the work of some Latine Author seems not to be so cogent viz. because some Greek words are interpreted by Latine For this he might do for the help of those that might not so well understand some Greek words which therefore needed explication Besides it is known that for Origen's works although he wrote them in Greek yet have we scarcely any of them at this day but only in Latine except his excellent answer to Celsus in eight books Therefore these interpretations of divers Greek words by Latine and the saying that such a Latine word or expression is rendred so or so in the Greek may be done by the Translators of his works which is most likely from whence therefore it cannot be inferred that those Commentaries are none of Origen's 4. For his homilies on Luke they are not mentioned by either Cook or Rivet among the Tracts falsely ascribed to Origen which doubtless they would and in such a work their censure they ought to have done had they judged them not to be Origens 5. Ierom the interpreter of these Homilies on Luke thinks them to be Origens but a birth of his younger years and not so elaborate for some errors sprinkled amongst them Sixt. Senens in Biblioth which errors as Merlin imagines were inserted by those that envied him So that notwithstanding what is said by Mr. Dallee those sayings of Ignatius may have been related by Origen which he might be acquainted with from his Epistles 4. The fourth Argument or objection made by the dissenters is drawn from the testimony of Eusebius Bishop of Caesarea who in his Ecclesiatical History lib. 3. cap. 32. mentions six Epistles of Ignatius So the Reverend Vsser accounts them making that to the Church of Smyrna and to Polycarp their Bishop to be the same but others reckon seven judging that to Smyrna and that to Polycarp to be two distinct Epistles These six or seven saith Mr. Dallee p. 442. we confess that Eusebius acknowledgeth and holds them to be truly the Epistles of Ignatius To these Mr. Dallee's Solutions are 1. Solut. His testimony is of no force being of a man that was two hundred years later than Ignatius Answ. 1. The Epistles of Ignatius might well be preserved unto that time many mens writings have remained many hundred years longer 2. If so then might Eusebius well come to the sight of them though others not being a man so inquisitive after books and Pamphilus his intimate companion most studious and diligent in erecting the Library at Cesarea and searching after books So Ierom. Iulius Africanus began a well furnished Library in the University of Caesarea saith Middendorp of Academyes lib. 2. which Pamphilus and Eusebius so enriched that there is not a more famous one in the whole Earth Being then so intimately acquainted with Pamphilus as that he added his name to his own being called Eusebius Pamphili and assistant with him who was very curious to find out the writings of those that went before him in compleating his Library questionless they would not omit so precious a treasure as the epistle of Ignatius which saith Polycarp epist. ad Philip. are such that from them you may reap great profit for they contain faith patience and all edification pertaining to our Lord. Here then Eusebius might come to see and peruse them if he had them not among his own store 3. The work he undertook and accomplished viz. The compiling of an Ecclesiastical History wherein no one had gone before him required that he should be supplyed with fitting furniture for such an enterprise who therefore being most inquisitive after the chief monuments of antiquity doubtless would not neglect so choice a relique as those epistles that might contribute not a little to his intended design So that if Ignatius writ any epistles and saith Mr. Dallee it were a foolish part in any to deny that he did p. 450. who was more likely to obtain them reserved with utmost care by those that lived with him as Polycarp and the Churches to whom he sent them than Eusebius so conducing to his purpose 2 Solut. He leans saith Mr. Dallee upon a broken Reed viz. the two passages in Polycarp and Irenaeus which are falsly said to be found in them as hath been made to appear Answ. But we have shewed before that the allegations from them are a ground sufficient to prove that for which they were produced and therefore I refer you to what hath been said hereof already 3 Solut. He evidently overthrows this his opinion by somewhat laid down by himself elsewhere which Mr. Dallee stiles his Golden Rule which is this that no books inscribed with the names of the Ancients are to be accounted for true but only those whose testimonies were made use of by men either of the same or certainly of the next memory or Age Euseb. lib. 3. c. 34. Answ. Eusebius his words are these speaking of the second Epistle of Clement Bishop of Rome to the Corinthians we have to learn saith he that there is a second epistle of Clement which was not so received and approved of as the former seeing we find not that the Elders or Ancients did use it Now the question may be what use of it Eusebius means Not that which Mr. Dallee intends viz. their alledging of it in their writings but the publick reading of it in the Churches for so Eusebius records of his first epistle One undoubted Epistle saith he of his there is extant both worthy and notable which he wrote from Rome unto Corinth when sedition was raised among the Corinthians the same epistle we have known to have been read publickly in many Churches both of old and amongst us also hist. l. 3. c. 14. Again saith he Dionysius Bishop of Corinth writing an epistle to the Romans viz. unto Soter their Bishop remembreth the Epistle of Clement thus we have saith he this day solemniz'd the holy Sunday in which we have read your Epistle and always will for instructions sake even as we do the former of Clement written unto us hist l. 4. c. 22 So that Eusebius his golyen rule as your term it being thus misunderstood by you proves in its right sence as no way advantageous unto you so no whit at all prejudicial unto him Thus have I spoken a word in the behalf of Ignatius's his epistles which notwithstanding what hath been said by the learned Mr. Dallee do not appear to be altogether supposititious and that though they have been
great mischief Philosophy hath always done unto Christianity well therefore might the Apostle so caution the Colossians Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit Ierom also exercising some errours of his wherein he had followed Origen thus pleads for himself Fae me inquit errasse in adolescentiâ philosophorum i.e. gentilium studiis eruditum in principio fidei dâ—â—mata ignorasse Christiana hoc putasse in Apostolis quod in Pythagorâ Platone 〈◊〉 Empedocle legeram Cur parvuli in Christo 〈◊〉 lactentis errorem sequimini Cur ab eo imputatem discitis qui necdum pietatem noveratâ— Secunda post naufragium tabula est culpâ—â— simpliciter confiteri Imitati estis errantem imitamini correctum Erravimus juvenâ—â— emendemur senes c. Now among other things Philosophy doth beyond measure advance the power of mans will and naturâ— abilities and this opinion drew on withiâ— the extenuation of Original sin and the depravation of the Doctrine of the Merit of Christ into both which this Father among the rest was but meanly insighted And this may be the reason why the Reverend Calâ—â— stiles that Doctrine of Free-will Heatheniâ— Philosophy Procul sit inquit à Christiâ—â— pectore illa de arbitrii libertate Gentilis Philâ—sophia 5. He affirms that because the 〈◊〉 hath Free-will he may repent which saying of his seems to have been the occasion 〈◊〉 that errour in Origen his Scholar that the Devils might be saved as both the Centâ—rists and also Gentian Heroet conceive who in his Education hath this Note in the Mâ—â—gin upon these words of Clement hinc 〈◊〉 Origenis 7. He also phansied that some of the Aâ—gels were incontinent and being overcome with lust they descended and discloseâ— many secrets unto those woman with whom they fell in love and whatsoever things came to their knowledge which the other Angels conceal'd and reserved unto the coming of the Lord. Besides these there are some other things wherein he is judged to be both unsound and uncertain sometimes affirming one thing sometimes another as concerning the Baptism of Hereticks which he seems altogether to condemn Also that second Marriages have imperfection in them and are not without sin yea are little better than fornication contrary to that express Text. 1 Timoth. 5. 14. I will that the younger women viz. Widows verse 11. marry Likewise concerning good works perfection and repentance he seems sometimes to contradict himself and vents very dangerous opinions adeò in multis articulis lubricus est ac saepenumerò sibi contradicit ut quid constanti sententiâ affirmet vix interdum agnoseas § 7. How long this Father lived as also when where and how he ended his days is very uncertain Histories being silent herein only probable it is that he attained unto many years and continued long after the death of his Master Pantaenus For it seems that he compiled his Book both of Stromes and Informations or Institutions if not all the rest after that time seeing he mentions him as dead and some good while before as also that he had through length of time forgotten many of those things which he haâ— heard from him He flourished saith Iâ—rom under the Emperour Severus and Autoninus Caracalla and as some report 〈◊〉 ended his Pilgrimage by a natural death 〈◊〉 Alexandria where he had long taught dying In a good old age and full of days emâ—annum 195. Tertullianus HE stiles himself in the Titles prefixed to his Books by the name of Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus perhaps to distinguish himself from some others whose names did in part agree with his own For his Country he was an African and had for the place of his Birth there the famous City of Carthage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it 's called by Strabo Rome's Corrival de terrarum orbe aemula saith Pliny that contended with it for the Empire of the world And 't is observed as memorable that in his time two of his Countrymen held the places of highest Dignity both Civil and Ecclesiastical viz. Septimius Severus and Victor both Africans the one being Emperour and the other Bishop of Rome His Father was a Centurion one of eminent Rank as bearing the office of a Proconsul who took care to have his Son from his tender years to be well educated and trained up in the Schools where having a pregnant wit and excellent parts he proved a notable proficient and soon attained unto such a measure of knowledge in Philosophy and all kind of Learning that he was by all esteemed for one of the most exquisite and best accomplished Scholars of his time He for some years professed and taught the art of Rhetorick in Carthage with approbation and applause from which after a while he proceeded to the practice of the Law to the study whereof he had formerly applied himself and became well skilled therein as Eusebius testifieth stiling him a man well experienced in the Roman Laws accuratâ legum inquit Nicephorus actorum Româ—norum peritiâ clarus performing the office of an Advocate in pleading the causes of such Clients as entertained him with much dexterity But he is designed unto a more high and honourable employment viz. to plead the cause of God and to publish the glorious mysteries of the Gospel in order whereunto the divine goodness finds out a way for the translating of him from the School of the world into the Shool of Christ by his conversion from Gentilism to Christianity As touching the time and manner thereof though nothing be lefâ— upon Record either by himself or others directly pointing it out and acquainting us therewith yet are then some things to be found from whence it may be probably conjectured that it fell out while he was yet but young and in the prime of his years For 1. He wrote a Treatise of the troubles attending Marriage cum adhuc esset adoleseens when saith Ierom he was but a young man yet Baronius conceives it most likely to have been done by him after his conversion for saith he I cannot think that Ierom would have directed Eustochium whom he wished to read that Book of his unto the writingâ— of an Heathen for her instruction in that particular 2. Ierom and others report concerning him that he continued an orthodox Presbyter in the Church usque ad statam mediamque aetatatem unto his middle age and afterwards fell away unto the Heresie of the Montanists but now evident it is that he wrote the most of his Books before that time to the doing whereof and furnishing for such a work a great deal of time must needs be requisite In the judgment of Pamelius and according to his computation he became a Christian in the third year of the Reign of Severus in which also he is of opinion that he wrote his Book de Pâ—llio or of the