as whom they judged the best of all their Princes He conversed freely and innocently with all men being desirous rather to be beloved than than either fear'd or honour'd by the people The glory of all which is exceedingly stain'd in the Records of the Church by his severe proceedings against the Christians He looked upon the Religion of the Empire as daily undermin'd by this new way of Worship that the numbers of Christians grew formidable and might possibly endanger the peace and tranquillity of the Roman State and that there was no better way to secure to himself the favour of the gods especially in his Wars than to vindicate their cause against the Christians Accordingly therefore he issued out orders to proceed against them as illegal Societies crected and acting contrary to the Laws in which number all Colleges and Corporations were accounted that were not a L. 1. 3. ss de Colleg. corp Lib. 47. tit 22. settled either by the Emperors constitution or the Decree of the Senate and the persons b Ulplan de off procons l. 6. ib. l. 2. frequenting them adjudged guilty of High Treason Indeed the Emperors as we have elsewhere observed were infinitely suspicious of such meetings as which might easily conspire into Faction and Treason and therefore when Pliny c Lib. 10. Epist 42 43. interceded with Trajan in behalf of the City of Nicomedia that being so subject to fires he would constitute a corporation of Smiths though but a small number which might be easily kept in order and which he promised to keep a particular eye upon The Emperor answered By no means for we ought to remember says he that that Province and especially those Cities are greatly disturbed by such kind of Factions and whatever the title or the occasion be if they meet together they will be Heteriae though less numerous than the rest That they look'd upon the Christian Assemblies as in the number of these unlawful Corporations and that under this pretence Trajan endeavoured to suppress them will appear from Pliny's Letter to him In the mean time he commanded them either to offer sacrifice to the gods or to be punished as contemners of them The people also in several places by popular tumults falling foul upon them The chief of those who obtained the Crown of Martyrdom under him were S. Clemens Bishop of Rome S. Simeon Bishop of Jerusalem and S. Ignatius Bishop of Antioch whom Trajan himself condemned and sent to Rome there to be thrown to wild Beasts XXI THE Persecution rag'd as in the other parts of the Empire so especially in the Provinces of Pontus and Bithynia where Pliny the younger who had some time since been Consul then governed as Pro-Praetor with Consular power and dignity Who seeing vast multitudes of Christians indicted by others and pressing on of themselves to execution and that to proceed severely against all that came would be in a manner to lay waste those Provinces he thought good to write to the Emperor about this matter to know his pleasure in the case His Letter because acquainting us so exactly with the state of the Christians and the manner of proceeding against them and giving so eminent a testimony to their innocency and integrity we shall here insert C. PLINIUS to the Emperor TRAJAN IT is my custom Sir in all affairs wherein I doubt to have recourse to you For who can better either sway my irresolution or instruct my ignorance I have never been heretofore present at the examination and trial of Christians and therefore know not what the crime is and how far it is wont to be punished or how to proceed in these enquiries Nor was I a little at a loss whether regard be to be had to difference of age whether the young and the weak be to be distinguished from the more strong and aged whether place may be allowed to repentance and it may be of any advantage to him who once was a Christian to cease to be so Whether the name alone without other offences or the offences that go along with the name ought to be punished In the mean time towards those who as Christians have been brought before me I have taken this course I asked them whether they were Christians if they confessed it I asked them once and again threatning punishment if they persisted I commanded them to be executed For I did not at all doubt but that whatever their confession was their stubbornness and inflexible obstinacy ought to be punished Others there were guilty of the like madness whom because they were Roman Citizens I adjudged to be transmitted to Rome While things thus proceeded the error as is usual spreading farther more cases did ensue A nameless Libel was presented containing the names of many who denied themselves to to be or to have been Christians These when after my example they invocated the gods and offered Wine and Incense to your Statue which for that purpose I had commanded to be brought together with the images of the gods and had moreover blasphemed Christ which its said none that are true Christians can be compelled to do I dismiss'd others mentioned in the Libel confessed themselves Christians but presently denied it that they had indeed been such but had renounced it some by the space of three years others many years since and one five and twenty years ago All which paid their reverence and veneration to your Statue and the images of the gods and blasphemed Christ They affirmed that the whole sum of that Sect or error lay in this that they were wont upon a set solemn day to meet together before Sun-rise and to sing among themselves a Hymn to Christ as the God whom they worshipped and oblige themselves by an Oath not to commit any wickedness but to abstain from Theft Robbery Adultery to keep Faith and when required to restore any pledge intrusted with them Which done then to depart for that time and to meet again at a common meal to partake of a promiscuous and harmless food which yet they laid aside after I had published an Edict forbidding according to your order the Heteriae or unlawful Assemblies to be kept To satisfie my self in the truth hereof I commanded two Maidens called Deaconesses to be examined upon the Wrack But I perceived nothing but a lewd and immoderate Superstition and therefore surceasing any farther process I have sent to pray your advice For the case seemed to me very worthy to be consulted about especially considering the great numbers that are in danger for very many of all ages and ranks both men and women are and will be called in question the contagion of this Superstition having over-spreâ—d not only Cities but Towns and Country Villages which yet seems possible to be stopt and cur'd It 's very evident that the Temples which were almost quite forsaken begin to be frequented that the holy Rites and Solemnities of a long time neglected are set
these more predominant then in those Times and parts of the World wherein this good man lived II. ANN. Chr. CCXXXIX Gordian Imper. I. died a Fâ—seb H. Eccl. lâ— 16. c. 29. p. 229. Zebinus Bishop of Antioch in whose room Babylas succeeded He was a stout and prudent Pilot who as S. Chrysostom b Homil. de S. Bâ—byl p. 641. Tem. 1. says of him guided the holy Vessel of that Church in the midst of Storms and Tempests and the many Waves that beat upon it Indeed in the beginning of his Presidency over that Church he met not with much trouble from the Roman Powers the old Enemies of Christianity but a fierce storm blew from another quarter For Sapor King of c Capitol in Gâ—â—â—diâ—a III. 〈◊〉 26. p. 〈◊〉 Persia had lately invaded the Roman Empire and having over-run all Syria had besieged and taken Antioch and so great a dread did his Conquests strike into all parts that the terrour of them flew into Italy and startled them even at Rome it self He grievously oppressed the People of Antioch and what treatment the Christians there must needs find under so merciless and insolent an Enemy at no time favourable to Christians is no hard matter to imagine But it was not long before God broke this yoke from off their necks For Gordian the Emperour raising a mighty Army marched into the East and having cleared the Countries as he went along came into Syria and went directly for Antioch where he totally routed the Persian Army recovered Antioch and the conquered Cities and gained some considerable places belonging to Sapor whom he forced to retire back into his own Countrey of all which he gives an account in a * Ibid. c. 27. p. 670. Letter to the Senate who joyfully received the news and decreed him a triumph at his return to Rome III. THE Church of Antioch being thus restored to its former tranquillity Babylas attended his charge with all diligence and fidelity instructing feeding and governing his Flock preparing both young and old to undergo the hardest things which their Religion might expose them to as if he had particularly foreseen that black and dismal Persecution that was shortly to overtake them Having quietly passed through the reign of Philip who was so far from creating any disturbance to the Christians that he is generally though groundlesly supposed to have been a Christian himself he fell into the troublesome and stormy times of Decius who was unexpectedly advanced and in a manner forced upon the Empire One whose character might have passed among none of the worst of Princes if he had not so indelebly stained his memory with his outragious violence against the Christians The main cause whereof the generality of Writers taking the hint from Eusebius a H. Eccl. l. 6. c. 39. p. 234. make to have been hatred to his Predecessor Philip a Christian as they account him and whom he resolved to punish in his spleen and malice against them But methinks much more probable is the account which Gregory Nyssen b De vit Greg. Thaum p. 999. Tom. 2. gives of this matter viz. the large spread and triumphant prevalency of the Christian Faith which had diffused it self over all parts and planted every corner and filled not Cities onely but Countrey Villages the Temples were forsaken and Churches frequented Altars overthrown and Sacrifices turned out of doors This vast increase of Christianity and great declension of Paganism awakened Decius to look about him he was vexed to see the Religion of the Empire trodden under foot and the worship of the gods every where slighted and neglected opposed and undermined by a novel and upstart Sect of Christians which daily multiplied into greater numbers This made him resolve with all possible force to check and control this growing Sect and to try by methods of cruelty to weary Christians out of their Profession and to reduce the People to the Religion of their Ancestors Whereupon he issued out Edicts to the Governours of Provinces strictly commanding them to proceed with all severity against Christians and to spare no manner of torments unless they returned to the obedience and worship of the gods Though I doubt not but this was the main Spring that set the rage and malice of their enemies on work yet Cyprian c Epist VII p. 16. like a man of great piety and modesty seeks a cause nearer home ingenuously confessing that their own sins had set open the Flood-gates for the divine displeasure to break in upon them while Pride and Self-seeking Schism and Faction reigned so much among them the very Martyrs themselves who should have been a good example unto others casting off the order and discipline of the Church and being swelled with so vain and immoderate a tumor it was time God should send them a thorn in the flesh to cure it IV. THE Provincial Governours forward enough to run of themselves upon such an errand made much more haste when they were not onely encouraged but threatned into it by the Imperial Edicts so that the Persecution was carried on in all parts with a quick and a high hand concerning the severity whereof we shall speak more elsewhere At present it may suffice to remarque that it swept away many of the most eminent Bishops of the Church Fabian Bishop of Rome Alexander Bishop of Hierusalem and several others Nor was it long before it came to S. Babylas his door For Decius probably about the middle of his reign or some time before his Thracian expedition wherein he lost his life came into Syria and so to Antioch to take order about his affairs that concerned the Persian War I confess his coming into these parts is not mentioned in the Roman Histories and no wonder the accounts of his life either not having been written by the Historiae Augustae Scriptores or if they were having long since perished and few of his Acts are taken notice of in those Historians that yet remain However the thing is plainly enough owned by Ecclesiastical Writers While * Chrysost lib. de S. Babyl Tom. 6. pag. 658. passim Philost H. Eccl. l. 7. c. 8. p. 94. Suid. in voc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Niceph. H. Eccl. l. 10. c. 28. p. 63. he continued here either out of curiosity or a design to take some more plausible advantage to fall upon them he would needs go into the Christian Congregation when the public Assembly was met together This Babylas would by no means give way to but standing in the Church Porch with an undanted courage and resolution opposed him telling him that as much as lay in his power he would never endure that a Wolf should break in upon Christs Sheepfold The Emperour urged it no further at present either being unwilling to exasperate the rage and fury of the People or designing to effect it some other way This passage there are and Nicephorus among the rest with whom
Church This was done at his Baptism when the Holy Ghost in a visible shape descended upon him and God by an audible voice testified of him This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased Accordingly he set himself to declare the Counsels of God Going about all Galilee teaching in their Synagogues and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom He particularly explained the Moral Law and restored it to its just authority and dominion over the minds of men redeeming it from those corrupt and perverse interpretations which the Masters of the Jewish Church had put upon it He next insinuated the abrogation of the Mosaic Oeconomy to which he was sent to put a period to enlarge the bounds of salvation and admit both Jew and Gentile to terms of mercy that he came as a Mediator between God and Man to reconcile the World to the favour of Heaven by his death and sufferings and to propound pardon of sin and eternal life to all that by an hearty belief a sincere repentance and an holy life were willing to embrace and entertain it This was the sum of the doctrin which he preached every where as opportunity and occasion led him and which he did not impose upon the World meerly upon the account of his own authority and power or beg a precarious entertainment of it he did not tell men they must believe him because he said he came from God and had his Warrant and Commission to instruct and reform the World but gave them the most satisfactory and convictive evidence by doing such miracles as were beyond all powers and contrivances either of Art or Nature whereby he unanswerably demonstrated that he was a Teacher come from God in that no man could do those miracles which he did except God were with him And because he himself was in a little time to return back to Heaven he ordained twelve whom he called Apostles as his immediate Delegates and Vicegerents to whom he deputed his authority and power furnished them with miraculous gifts and left them to carry on that excellent Religion which he himself had begun to whose assistance he joined LXX Disciples as ordinary coadjutors and companions to them Their Commission for the present was limited to Palestin and they sent out onely to seek and to save the lost sheep of the house of Israel III. HOW great the success of our Saviours Ministry was may be guessed from that complaint of the Pharisees John 12.19 Behold the World is gone after him people from all parts in such vast multitudes flocking after him that they gave him not time for necessary solitude and retirement Indeed he went about doing good preaching the word throughout all Judaea and healing all that were possessed of the Devil The seat of his ordinary abode was Galilee residing for the most part says one of the Ancients a â—â—seb Demonstrat Evang. l. 9. p. 439. in Galilee of the Gentiles that he might there sow and reap the first fruits of the calling of the Gentiles We usually find him preaching at Nazareth at Cana at Corazin and Bethsaida and the Cities about the Sea of Tiberias but especially at Capernaum the Metropolis of the Province a place of great commerce and traffique He often visited Judaea and the parts about Jerusalem whither he was wont to go up at the Paschal solemnities and some of the greater festivals that so the general concourse of people at those times might minister the fitter opportunity to spread the net and to communicate and impart his doctrine to them Nor did he who was to be a common Saviour and came to break down the Partition-wall disdain to converse with the Samaritans so contemptible and hateful to the Jews In Sychar not far from Samaria he freely preached and gained most of the inhabitants of that City to be Proselytes to his doctrine He travelled up and down the Towns and Villages of Caesarea Philippi and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon and through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis and where he could not come the renown of him spread it self bringing him Disciples and Followers from all quarters Indeed his fame went throughout all Syria and there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee Judaea Decapolis Idumaea from beyond Jordan and from Tyre and Sidon Nay might we believe the story so solemnly reported by Eusebius a H. Eccl. l. 1. c. 13. p. 31. and the Ancients and excepting the silence of the Evangelical Historians who recorded onely some of the actions and passages concerning our Saviour I know no wise argument against it Acbarus Prince of Edessa beyond Euphrates having heard of the fame of our Saviours miracles by Letters humbly besought him to come over to him whose Letter together with our Lords answer are extant in Eusebius there being nothing in the Letters themselves that may justly shake their credit and authority with much more to this purpose transcribed as he tells us out of the Records of that City and by him translated out of Syriac into Greek which may give us some account why none of the Ancients before him make any mention of this affair being generally strangers to the Language the Customs and Antiquities of those Eastern Countries IV. OUR Lord having spent somewhat more then three years in the public exercise of his Ministry kept his last Passover with his Apostles which done he instituted the Sacramental Supper consigning it to his Church as the standing memorial of his death and the Seal of the Evangelical Covenant as he appointed Baptism to be the Foederal Rite of Initiation and the public Tessera or Badge of those that should profess his Religion And now the fatal hour was at hand being betrayed by the treachery of one of his own Apostles he was apprehended by the Officers and brought before the public Tribunals Heavy were the crimes charged upon him but as false as spightful the two main Articles of the Charge were Blasphemy against God and Treason against the Emperour and though they were not able to make them good by any tolerable pretence of proof yet did they condemn and execute him upon the Cross several of themselves vindicating his innocency that he was a righteous man and the Son of God The third day after his interment he rose again appeared to and conversed with his Disciples and Followers and having taken care of the affairs of his Church given a larger Commission and fuller instructions to his Apostles he took his leave of them and visibly ascended into Heaven and sate down on the right hand of God as head over all things to the Church Angels Authorities and Powers being made subject unto him V. THE faith of these passages concerning our Saviour are not onely secured to us by the report of the Evangelical Historians and that justified by eye-witnesses the evidence of miracles and the successive and uncontrolled consent of all Ages of the Church but as to the substance
of them by the plain confession of Heathen Writers and the enemies of Christianity a Annal. l. 15. c. 44. p. 319. Tacitus tells us That the Author of this Religion was Christ who under the reign of Tiberius was put to death by Pontius Pilat the Procurator of Judaea whereby though this detestable Superstition was suppressed for the present yet did it break out again spreading it self not onely through Judaea the fountain of the mischief but in the very City of Rome it self where whatever is wicked and shameful meets together and is greedily advanced into reputation b H. Eccl. l. 2. c. 2. p. 40. vid. Oros adv Pag. l. 7. c. 4. fol. 293. Eusebius assures us that after our Lords Ascension Pilat according to custom sent an account of him to the Emperour which Tiberius brought before the Senate but they rejected it under pretence that cognizance had been taken of it before it came to them it being a fundamental Law of the Roman State that no new god could be taken in without the Decree of the Senate but that however Tiberius continued his good thoughts of Christ and kindness to the Christians For this he cites the testimony of Tertullian who in his c Apolog. c. 5. p. 6. c. 21. p. 20. Apology presented to the Roman Powers affirms that Tiberius in whose time the Christian Religion entered into the World having received an account from Pilat out of Palestin in Syria concerning the truth of that Divinity that was there brought it to the Senate with the Prerogative of his own vote but that the Senate because they had not before approved of it would not admit it however the Emperour continued of the same mind and threatned punishment to them that accused the Christians And before Tertullian Justin Martyr d Apolog. II. p. 76. speaking concerning the death and sufferings of our Saviour tells the Emperours that they might satisfie themselves in the truth of these things from the Acts written under Pontius Pilat It being customary not only at Rome to keep the Acts of the Senate and the People but for the Governors of Provinces to keep account of what memorable things happened in their Government the Acts whereof they transmitted to the Emperour And thus did Pilat during the Procuratorship of his Province How long these Acts remained in being I know not but in the controversie about Easter we find the Quartodecimans e Ap. Epiph. Haeres L. p. 182. justifying the day on which they observed it from the Acts of Pilat wherein they gloried that they had found the truth Whether these were the Acts of Pilat to which Justin appealed or rather those Acts of Pilat drawn up and published by the command of f Eâ—seb H. Eccl. l. 9. c. 5. p. 350. Maximinus Dioclesians successor in disparagement of our Lord and his Religion is uncertain but the latter of the two far more probable However Pilats Letter to Tiberius or as he is there called Claudis at this day extant in the Anacephalaeosis g Ad calcem â— de Excid uâ—b Hicros p. 683. of the younger Egesippus is of no great credit though that Author challenges greater antiquity then some allow him being probably contemporary with S. Ambrose and by many from the great conformity of stile and phrase thought to be S. Ambrose himself who with some few additions compiled it out of Josephus But then it is to be considered whether that Anacephalaeosis be done by the same or which is most probable by a much later hand Some other particular passages concerning our Saviour are taken notice of by Gentile Writers the appearance of the Star by Calcidius the murder of the Infants by Macrobius the Eclips at our Saviours Passion by Phlegon Trallianus not to speak of his miracles frequently acknowledged by Celsus Julian and Porphyry which I shall not insist upon VI. IMMEDIATELY after our Lords Ascension from whence we date the next period of the Church the Apostles began to execute the Powers intrusted with them They presently filled up Judas his vacancy by the election of a new Apostle the lot falling upon Matthias and he was numbred with the eleven Apostles Being next endued with power from on high as our Lord had promised them furnished with the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost they set themselves to preach in places of the greatest concourse and to the faces of their greatest enemies They who but a while before fled at the first approach of danger now boldly plead the cause of their crucified Master with the immediate hazard of their lives And that nothing might interrupt them in this imployment they instituted the Office of Deacons who might attend the inferiour Services of the Church while they devoted themselves to what was more immediately necessary to the good of souls By which prudent course Religion got ground apace and innumerable Converts were daily added to the Faith till a Persecution arising upon S. Stephen's Martyrdom banished the Church out of Jerusalem though this also proved its advantage in the event and issue Christianity being by this means the sooner spread up and down the neighbour Countries The Apostles notwithstanding the rage of the Persecution remained still at Jerusalem onely now and then dispatching some few of their number to confirm and setle the Plantations and to propagate the Faith as the necessities of the Church required And thus they continued for near twelve years together our Lord himself having commanded them not to depart Jerusalem and the parts thereabouts till twelve years after his Ascension as the ancient Tradition mentioned both by a Ap. Euseb H. Eccl. l. 5. c. 18. p. 186. Apollonius and b Stromat l. 6. p. 636. vid. Life of S. Peter Sect. 11. num 5. Clemens Alexandrinus informs us And now they thought it high time to apply themselves to the full execution of that Commission which Christ had given them to go teach and baptize all Nations Accordingly having setled the general affairs and concernments of the Church they betook themselves to the several Provinces of the Gentile World preaching the Gospel to every Nation under Heaven so that even in a literal sense their sound went into all the earth and their words unto the ends of the World Infinite multitudes of people in all Cities and Countries says c Lib. 2. c. 3. p. 4â— Eusebius like Corn into a well-filled Granary being brought in by that grace of God that brings salvation And they whose minds were heretofore distempered and over-run with the errour and idolatry of their Ancestors were cured by the Sermons and Miracles of our Lords Disciples and shaking off those chains of Darkness and Slavery which the merciless Daemons had put upon them freely embraced and entertained the knowledge and service of the onely true God the great Creator of the World whom they worshiped according to the holy Rites and Rules of that divine and wisely contrived
Religion which our Saviour had introduced into the World But concerning the Apostles travels the success of their Ministry the Places and Countries to which they went the Churches they planted their Acts and Martyrdoms for the Faith we have given an account in a Work peculiar to that Subject so far as the Records of those times have conveyed any material notices of things to us It may suffice to observe that God was pleased to continue S. John to a very great age beyond any of the rest that he might superintend and cultivate confirm and establish what they had planted and be as a standing and lively Oracle to which they might from all parts have recourse in any considerable doubts and exigences of the Church and that he might seal and attest the truth of those things which men of corrupt and perverse minds even then began to call in question VII HENCE then we pass on to survey the state of the Church from the Apostolic Age till the times of Constantine for the space of at least two hundred years And under this period we shall principally remarque two things What progress the Christian Religion made in the World Secondly What it was that contributed to so vast a growth and increase of it That Christianity from the nature of its precepts the sublimeness of its principles its contrariety to the established Rites and Religions of the World was likely to find bad entertainment and the fiercest opposition could not but be obvious to every impartial considerer of things which accordingly came to pass For it met with all the discouragement the secret undermining and open assaults which malice and prejudice wit and parts learning and power were able to make upon it Notwithstanding all which it lift up its head and prospered under the greatest oppositions And the triumph of the Christian Faith will appear the more considerable whether we regard the number and quality of its Converts or the vast circumference to which it did extend and diffuse it self Though it appeared under all manner of disadvantages to recommend it self yet no sooner did it set up its Standard but persons from all parts and of all kind of principles and educations began to flock to it so admirably affecting very many both of the Greeks and Barbarians as Origen a Contr. Cels l. 1. p. 21 22. tells Celsus and they both wise and unwise that they contended for the truth of their Religion even to the laying down their lives a thing not known in any other Profession in the World And b Ibid. l. 3. p. 124. elsewhere he challenges him to shew such an unspeakable multitude of Greeks and Barbarians reposing such a confidence in Aesculapius as he could of those that had embraced the Faith of the holy Jesus And when c Ib. l. 1. p. 7. Celsus objected that Christianity was a clandestin Religion that sculked and crept up and down in corners Origen answers That the Religion of the Christians was better known throughout the whole World then the dictates of their best Philosophers Nor were they onely mean and ignorant persons that thus came over but as d Adv. Gent. l. 2. p. 21. Arnobius observes men of the acutest parts and learning Orators Grammarians Rhetoricians Lawyers Physicians Philosophers despising their formerlybeloved sentiments sate down here e Apol. c. 37. p. 30. Tertullian addressing himself to the Roman Governours in behalf of the Christians assures them that although they were of no long standing yet that they had filled all places of their Dominions their Cities Islands Castles Corporations Councils Armies Tribes Companies the Palace Senate and Courts of Judicature that if they had a mind to revenge themselves they need not betake themselves to clancular and sculking Arts their numbers were great enough to appear in open Arms having a Party not in this or that Province but in all quarters of the World nay that naked as they were they could be sufficiently revenged upon them for should they but all agree to retire out of the Roman Empire the World would stand amazed at that solitude and desolation that would ensue upon it and they would have more Enemies then Friends or Citizens left among them And he f Ad Sâ—apâ—â— c. 4. p. 71. bids the President Scapula consider that if he went on with the Persecution what he would do with those many thousands both of men and women of all ranks and ages that would readily offer themselves what Fires and Swords he must have to dispatch them Nor is this any more then what a Ad Traj lib. 10. Epist 97. Pliny himself confesses to the Emperour that the case of the Christians was a matter worthy of deliberation especially by reason of the multitudes that were concerned for that many of each Sex of every age and quality were and must be called in question this Superstition having infected and over-run not the City onely but Towns and Countries the Temples and Sacrifices being generally desolate and forsaken VIII NOR was it thus onely in some Parts and Provinces of the Roman Empire but in most Nations and Countries b Dial. cum Tâ—yph p. 345. Justin Martyr tells the Jew that whatever they might boast of the universality of their Religion there were many places of the World whither neither they nor it ever came whereas there was no part of mankind whether Greeks or Barbarians or by what name soever they were called even the most rude and unpolished Nations where Prayers and Thanksgivings were not made to the great Creator of the World through the name of the crucified Jesus The same Bardesanes c Lib. de Fat. ap Euseb praep Evang. l. 6. c. 10. p. 279. the Syrian Justins contemporary affirms that the followers of the Christian Institution though living in different parts of the World and being very numerous in every Climat and Countrey were yet all called by the name of Christians So d De Justit l. 5. c. 13. p. 494. Lactantius the Christian Law says he is entertained from the rising of the Sun to the going down thereof where every Sex and Age and Nation and Countrey does with one heart and soul worship God If from generals we descend to particular Places and Countries e Adv. Haeres l. 1. c. 3. p. 52. Irenaeus who entered upon the See of Lyons Ann. Chr. CLXXIX affirms that though there were different languages in the World yet that the force of Tradition or that Doctrin that had been delivered to the Church was but one and the same that there were Churches setled in Germany Spain France in the East in Egypt and Lybia as well as in the middle of the World f Adv. Judaeos c. â— â— 189. Tertullian who probably wrote not above twenty years after Irenaeus gives us in a larger account Their sound says he went through all the Earth and their words to the ends of the World For in whom but
Christ did all Nations believe Parthians Medes Elamites the inhabitants of Mesopotamia Armenia Phrygia and Cappadocia of Pontus Asia and Pamphylia those who dwell in Egypt Afric and beyond Cyrene strangers at Rome Jews at Jerusalem and other Nations as also now the Getuli and the Mauri the Spaniards and the Gauls yea and those places of Britain which were unapproachable by the Roman Armies are yet subdued to Christ the Sarmatae also and the Daci the Germans and the Scythians together with many undiscovered Countries many Islands and Provinces unknown to us which he professes himself unable to reckon up In all which places says he the name of Christ reigns as before whom the Gates of all Cities are set open and to whom none are shut before whom Gates of Brass fly open and bars of iron are snapt asunder To which g Lib. 2. p. 23. Arnobius adds the Indians the Persians the Serae and all the Islands and Provinces which are visited by the rising or setting Sun yea and Rome it self the Empress of all IX FROM Tertullians account we have a most authentic testimony how early Christianity stretched it self over this other World having before his time conquered the most rough and inaccessible parts of Britain to the banner of the Cross which may probably refer to the conversion of King Lucius the first Christian King that ever was a potent and considerable Prince in this Island who embraced the Christian Religion about the year CLXXXVI and sent a solemn Embassie to Eleutherius Bishop of Rome for some who might further instruct him and his people in the Faith who accordingly dispatched Faganus and Derwianus hither upon that errand Not that this was the first time that the Gospel made its way through the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Clemens a Epist ad Corinth p. 28. calls the British Ocean and so the Ancients constantly stile it the unpassable Ocean and those worlds which are beyond it that is the Britannic Islands it had been here many years before though probably stifled and overgrown with the ancient Paganism and Idolatry St. Clemens b Ibid. p. 8. tells us of St. Paul that he preached both in the East and West and having instructed the whole world in righteousness made his way to the utmost bounds of the West by which he must either mean Spain or more probably Britain and it may be both Accordingly Theodoret c Comment in Psal 116. speaking of his coming into Spain says that besides that he brought great advantage to the Isles of the Sea and he reckons d De curand Graecor affect Serm. IX p. 125. the Cimbri and the Britains among the Nations which the Apostles and he particularly mentions the Tent-maker converted to the Christian Faith If after all this it were necessary to enter into a more minute and particular disquisition I might enquire not only in what Countries but in what Towns and Cities in those Countries Christianity fixed it self in what places Episcopal Sees were erected and what succession of Bishops are mentioned in the Records of the Church but that this would not well consist with the designed shortness of this Introduction and would be more perhaps than the Readers patience would allow X. THE shadows of the night do not more naturally vanish at the rising of the Sun than the darkness of Pagan Idolatry and Superstition fled before the Light of the Gospel which the more it prevailed the clearer it discovered the folly and impiety of their worship Their solemn Rites appeared more trifling and ridiculous their Sacrifices more barbarous and inhumane their Daemons were expelled by the meanest Christian their Oracles became mute and silent and their very Priests began to be ashamed of their Magic Charms and Conjurations and the more prudent and subtle heads among them who stood up for the Rites and Solemnities of their Religion were forced to turn them into mystical and allegorical meanings far enough either from the apprehension or intention of the vulgar The truth is the Devil who for so many ages had usurped an Empire and tyranny over the souls of men became more sensible every day that his Kingdom shaked and therefore sought though in vain by all ways to support and prop it up Indeed some time before our Saviours Incarnation the most celebrated Oracle at Delphos had lost its credit and reputation as after his appearance in the world they sunk and declined every day whereof their best Writers universally complain that their gods had forsaken their Temples and Oracular Recesses and had left the world in darkness and obscurity and that their Votaries did in vain solicit their Counsels and answers Plutarch who lived under Trajan wrote a particular Tract still extant concerning the ceasing of Oracles which he endeavours to resolve partly into natural partly into moral partly into political causes though all his Philosophy was too short to give a just and satisfactory account of it One cause he assigns of it is the death and departure of those Daemons that heretofore presided over these Oracles To which purpose he relates a memorable passage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 419. concerning a voice that called three times aloud to one Thamus an Egyptian Ship-master and his company as they sailed by the Echinadae Islands commanding him when they came near to Palodes to make Proclamation that the great Pan was dead which he did and the news was entertained not with the resentment of one or two but of many who received it with great mourning and consternation The circumstances of this story he there reports more at large and adds that the thing being published at Rome Thamus was sent for by Tiberius to whom he gave an account and satisfied him in the truth of it Which circumstance of time Eusebius a Praepar Evang. l. 5. c. 17. p. 207. observes corresponds with our Lords conversing in the world when he began openly to dispossess Daemons of that power and tyranny which they had gained over mankind And if the calculation which some make hit right it fell in about the time of our Saviours Passion who led captivity captive spoiled principalities and powers and made a shew of them openly triumphing over them in his Cross and by his Death destroyed him that had the power of death that is the Devil XI HOWEVER that the silence of Oracles and the enervating the power of Daemons was the effect of the Christian Religion in the world we need no more then the plain confession of Porphyry himself truth will sometimes extort a confession out of the mouth of its greatest enemy who says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb ubi supr c. 1. p. 179. that now it s no wonder if the City for so many years has been overrun with sickness Aesculapius and the rest of the gods having withdrawn their converse with men For that since Jesus began to be worshipped no man hath received any public
divinity of that Religion that he taught But Truth and Innocency and a better Cause is the usual object of bad mens Spight and Hatred The zeal and diligence of his Ministry and the extraordinary success that did attend it quickly awakened the malice of the Jews and there wanted not those that were ready to oppose and contradict him So natural is it for Errour to rise up against the Truth as Light and Darkness mutually resist and expel each other VIII THERE were at Jerusalem besides the Temple where Sacrifices and the more solemn parts of their Religion were performed vast numbers of Synagogues for Prayer and Expounding of the Law whereof the Jews themselves tell us there were not less then CCCCLXXX in that City In these or at least some apartments adjoining to them there were Schools or Colledges for the instruction and education of Scholars in their Laws many whereof were erected at the charges of the Jews who lived in Foreign Countries and thence denominated after their names and hither they were wont to send their Youth to be trained up in the knowledge of the Law and the mysterious Rites of their Religion Of these five combined together to send some of their Societies to encounter and oppose St. Stephen An unequal match 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Chrysostom calls it a whole Army of wicked adversaries Orat. in S. Steph. Tom. 6. p. 276. the chief of five several Synagogues are brought out against one and him but a stripling too as if they intended to oppress him rather with the number of assailants then to overcome him by strength of Argument IX THE first of them were those of the Synagogue of the Libertines but who these Libertines were is variously conjectured Passing by Junius his conceit of Labra signifying in the Aegyptian Language the whole Precinct that was under one Synagogue whence Labratenu Jun. in loc in Gâ—n 8.4 or corruptly says he Libertini must denote them that belonged to the Synagogue of the Egyptians omitting this as altogether absurd and fantastical besides that the Synagogue of the Alexandrians is mentioned afterwards Suidas tells us 't was the name of a Nation Suid. in voc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but in what part of the World this People or Countrey were he leaves us wholly in the dark Most probably therefore it relates to the Jews that were emancipated and set at liberty For the understanding whereof we must know that when Pompey had subdued Judaea and reduced it under the Roman Government he carried great numbers of Jews captive to Rome as also did those Generals that succeeded him and that in such multitudes that when the Jewish State sent an Embassy to Augustus Josephus tells us Antiquit. Jad lib. 17. c. 12. p. 610. that there were about eight thousand of the Jews who then lived at Rome that joined themselves to the Embassadors at their arrival thither Here they continued in the condition of Slaves till by degrees they were manumitted and set at liberty which was generally done in the time of Tiberius Phil. de legat ad Gai. p. 78â— who as Philo informs suffered the Jews to inhabit the Transtiberin Region most whereof were Libertines such who having been made Captives by the Fortune of War had been set free by their Masters and permitted to live after the manner of their Ancestors They had their Proseucha's or Oratories where they assembled and performed their devotions according to the Religion of their Country every year they sent a Contribution in stead of first-fruits to Jerusalem and deputed certain persons to offer sacrifices for them at the Temple Indeed afterwards as we find in * Tac. Annal. lib. 2. c. 85. p. 88. Tacitus and †Sueton. in vit Tâ—bâ—â— 36 p. 334. Suetonius by an Order of Senate he caused four thousand Libertini generis of those Libertine Jews so many as were young and lusty to be transported into Sardinia to clear that Island of Robbers the occasion whereof is related by ⸫ Antiq. l. 18. c. 5. p. 623. Josephus and the rest both Jews and Proselytes to be banished the City Tacitus adds Italy it self This occasion I doubt not many of these Libertine-Jews took to return home into their own Countrey and at Jerusalem to erect this Synagogue for themselves and the use of their Countreymen who from Rome resorted thither stiling it from themselves the Synagogue of the Libertines and such questionless St. Luke means when among the several Nations that were at Jerusalem at the day of Pentecost he mentions Strangers of Rome and they both Jews and Proselytes X. THE next Antagonists were of the Synagogue of the Cyrenians that is Ap. Jâ—â—ph Antâ—â— Jad lib. 16. c. 10. p. 561. Jews who inhabited Cyrene a noted City of Libya where as appears from a Rescript of Augustus great numbers of them did reside and who were annually wont to send their holy Treasure or accustomed Offerings to Jerusalem where also as we see they had their peculiar Synagogue Accordingly we find among the several Nations at Jerusalem Act. 2.10 those who dwelt in the parts of Libya about Cyrene Thus we read of Simon of Cyrene whom the Jews compelled to bear our Saviours Cross of Lucius of Cyrene Act. 13.1.11.19 20 a famous Doctor in the Church of Antioch of men of Cyrene who upon the persecution that followed St. Stephens death were scattered abroad from Jerusalem and preached as far as Phoenice Cyprus and Antioch The third were those of the Synagogue of the Alexandrians there being a mighty intercourse between the Jews at Jerusalem and Alexandria where what vast multitudes of them dwelt and what great priviledges they enjoyed is too well known to need insisting on The fourth were them of Cilicia a known Province of the lesser Asia the Metropolis whereof was Tarsus well stored with Jews it was S. Pauls birth-place whom we cannot doubt to have born a principal part among these assailants finding him afterwards so active and busie in S. Stephens death The last were those of the Synagogue of Asia where by Asia we are probably to understand no more then part of Asia properly so called as that was but part of Asia minor viz. that part that lay near to Ephesus in which sense 't is plain Asia is to be taken in the New Testament And what infinite numbers of Jews were in these parts and especially at Ephesus the History of the Apostles Acts does sufficiently inform us XI These were the several parties that were to take the Field persons of very different Countries men skilled in the subtleties of their Religion who all at once rose up to dispute with Stephen What the particular subject of the disputation was Loc. 〈◊〉 citat we find not but may with St. Chrysostom conceive them to have accosted him after this manner Tell us Young man what comes into thy mind thus rashly to reproach the Deity Why doest thou study
by laying his hands upon them and when he constituted Joshua to be his Successor he laid his hands on him and gave him the charge before all the Congregation This custom they constantly kept in appointing both Civil and Ecclesiastical Officers and that not onely while their Temple and Polity stood but long after the fall of their Church and State For so a Itinerar p. 73. Benjamin the Jew tells us that in his time all the Israelites of the East when they wanted a Rabbin or Teacher in their Synagogues were wont to bring him to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they call him the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Head of the Captivity residing at Babylon at that time R. Daniel the son of Hasdai that he might receive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 power by imposition of hands to become Preacher to them From the Jews it was together with some other Rites transferred into the Christian Church in ordaining Guides and Ministers of Religion and has been so used through all Ages and Periods to this day Though the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are not of equal extent in the writings and practice of the Church the one implying the bare Rite of laying on of hands while the other denotes Ordination it self and the intire solemnity of the action Whence the b Lib. 8. c. 28. col 494. Apostolical Constitutor speaking of the Presbyters interest in this affair says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he lays on his hands but he does not ordain meaning it of the Custom then and ever since of Presbyters laying on their hands together with the Bishop in that solemn action VIII BARNABAS and Paul having thus received a divine Commission for the Apostleship of the Gentiles and taking Mark along with them as their Minister and attendant immediately entered upon the Province And first they betook themselves to Seleucia a neighbour City seated upon the influx of the River Orontes into the Mediterranean Sea hence they set sail for Cyprus Barnabas's Native Country and arrived at Salamis a City heretofore of great account the ruines whereof are two miles distant from the present Famagusta where they undantedly preached in the Jewish Synagogues From Salamis they travelled up the Island to Paphos a City remarkable of old for the Worship of Venus Divapotens Cypri the tutelar Goddess of the Island who was here worshipped with the most wanton and immodest Rites and had a famous Temple dedicated to her for that purpose concerning which the Inhabitants have a c Cotovic Itin. l. 1. c. 16. p. 100. Tradition that at S. Barnabas his Prayers it fell flat to the ground and the ruines of an ancient Church are still shewed to Travellers and under it an Arch where Paul and Barnabas were shut up in Prison At this place was the Court or Residence of the Praetor or President of the Island not properly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Proconsul for Cyprus was not a Proconsular but a Praetorian Province who being altogether guided by the counsels and sorceries of Bar-Jesus an eminent Magician stood off from the Proposals of Christianity till the Magician being struck by S. Paul with immediate blindness for his malicious opposition of the Gospel this quickly determined the Governours belief and brought him over a Convert to that Religion which as it made the best offers so he could not but see had the strongest evidences to attend it IX Act. 13.13 LEAVING Cyprus they sailed over to Perga in Pamphilia famous for a Temple of Diana here Mark weary it seems of this itinerant course of life and the unavoidable dangers that attended it took his leave and returned to Jerusalem which laid the foundation of an unhappy difference that broke out between these two Apostles afterwards The next place they came to was Antioch in Pisidia where in the Jewish Synagogue S. Paul by an elegant Oration converted great numbers both of Jews and Proselytes but a persecution being raised by others they were forced to desert the place Thence they passed to Iconium a noted City of Lycaonia where in the Synagogues they preached a long time with good success till a conspiracy being made against them they withdrew to Lystra the inhabitants whereof upon a miraculous cure done by S. Paul treated them as gods come down from Heaven in humane shape S. Paul as being principal Speaker they termed Mercury the interpreter of the gods Barnabas they looked upon as Jupiter their soveraign deity either because of his Age or as a Homil. XXX in Act. App. p. 361. Chrysostom thinks because he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the gravity and comeliness of his person being as antiquity represents him a very goodly man and of a venerable aspect wherein he had infinitely the advantage of S. Paul who was of a very mean and contemptible presence But the malice of the Jews pursued them hither and prevailed with the People to stone S. Paul who presently recovering he and Barnabas went to Derbe where when they had converted many to the Faith they returned back to Lystra Iconium and Antioch and so through Pisidia to Pamphylia thence from Perga to Attalia confirming as they came back the Churches which they had planted at their first going out At Attalia they took Ship and sailed to Antioch in Syria the place whence they had first set out where they gave the Church an account of the whole success of their travels and what way was made for the propagation of Christianity in the Gentile World X. THE restless enemy of all goodness was vexed to see so fair and smooth a progress of the Gospel and therefore resolved to attempt it by the old subtle arts of intestine divisions and animosities what the envious man could not stifle by open violence he sought to choke by sowing tares Act. 15.1 Some zealous Converts coming down from Jerusalem to Antioch started this notion which they asserted with all possible zeal and stiffness that unless together with the Christian Religion they joined the observance of the Mosaic Rites there could be no hopes of salvation for them Paul and Barnabas opposed themselves against this heterodox opinion with all vigour and smartness but not able to beat it down were dispatched by the Church to advise with the Apostles and Brethren at Jerusalem about this matter Whither they were no sooner come but they were kindly and courteously entertained and the right hand of fellowship given them by the three great Apostles Peter James and John and an agreement made between them that where-ever they came they should betake themselves to the Jews while Paul and Barnabas applied themselves unto the Gentiles And here probably it was that Mark reconciled himself to his Uncle Barnabas which a Alexand. Monach ubi supr n. XV. one tells us he did with tears and great importunity earnestly begging him to forgive his weakness and cowardice and promising for the future a
at least they had continued at Corinth when S. Paul resolved upon a journy to Jerusalem where he staid not long but went for Antioch and having travelled over the Countries of Galatia and Phrygia to establish Christianity lately planted in those parts came to Ephesus where though he met with great opposition yet he preached with greater success and was so wholly swallowed up with the concerns of that City that though he had resolved himself to go into Macedonia he was forced to send Timothy and Erastus in his stead who having done their errand returned to Ephesus to assist him in promoting the affairs of Religion in that place V. S. PAVL having for three years resided at Ephesus and the parts about it determined to take his leave and depart for Macedonia And now it was as himself plainly intimates 1 Tim. 1.3 and the Ancients generally conceive that he constituted Timothy Bishop and Governour of that Church he was the first Bishop says a H. Eccl. l. 3. c. 4. p. 73. Eusebius of the Province or Diocess of Ephesus he did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says the b Martyr Tim. ap Phot. Cod. CCLIV col 1401. Author in Photius first act as Bishop of Ephesus and in the Council of Chalcedon XXVII Bishops are said successively to have sitten in that Chair whereof S. Timothy was the first c Conc. Chalced. Act. XI Conc. Tom. 4. col 609. In the d Lib. 7. c. 47. col 451. Apostolical Constitutions he is expresly said to have been ordained Bishop of it by S. Paul or as he in Photius expresseth it a little more after the mode of his time he was ordained and enthroned or installed Bishop of the Metropolis of the Ephesians by the great S. Paul Ephesus was a great and populous City and the Civil Government of the Proconsul who resided there reached over the whole Lydian or Proconsular Asia And such in proportion the Ancients make the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of that Church a Homil. XV. in 1 Tim. p. 1606. S. Chrysostom affirming it to be plain and evident that Timothy had the Church or rather the whole Nation of Asia committed to him to him says b Argum. in 1 ad Tim p. 462 Theodoret divine S. Paul committed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the care and the charge of Asia upon which account a little after c Com. in 1 Tim. 3. p. 475. T. 3. he calls him the Apostle of the Asians As for the manner of his Ordination or rather designation to the ministeries of Religion it was by particular and extraordinary designation God immediately testifying it to be his will and pleasure thence it is said to have been done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 1.18 1 Tim. 4.14 according to some preceding predictions concerning him and that he received it not onely by the laying on of hands but by prophesie that is as d Homil. V. in 1 Tim. p. 1545. Chrysostom truly explains it by the Holy Ghost it being part of the Prophetic Office as he adds and especially it was so at that time not onely to fore-tell future events but to declare things present God extraordinarily manifesting whom he would have set apart for that weighty Office Thus Paul and Barnabas were separated by the special dictate of the Holy Ghost and of the Governours of the Ephesine Churches that met at Miletus it is said that the Holy Ghost had made them Bishops or Over-seers of the Church And this way of election by way of prophetic revelation continued in use at least during the Apostolic Age e Epist ad Corinth pag. 54. Clemens in his Epistle to the Corinthians tells us that the Apostles preaching up and down Cities and Countries constituted their first-fruits to be the Bishops and Deacons of those who should believe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 making trial of them by the spirit and another f Clem. Al. lib. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ap Euseb H. Eccl. l. 3. c. 23. p. 92. Clemens reports of S. John that visiting the neighbour Churches about Ephesus he ordained Bishops and such as were signified or pointed out to him by the spirit VI. THIS extraordinary and miraculous way of chusing Bishops and Ecclesiastic Officers besides other advantages begat a mighty reverence and veneration for the Governours of the Church who were looked upon as God's choice and as having the more immediate character of Heaven upon them And especially this way seemed more necessary for S. Timothy then others to secure him from that contempt which his youth might otherwise have exposed him to For that he was but young at that time is evident from S. Pauls counsel to him 1 Tim. 4.12 so to demean himself that no man might despise his youth the Governours of the Church in those days were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in respect of their age as well as office and indeed therefore stiled Elders because they usually were persons of a considerable age that were admitted into the Orders of the Church This Timothy had not attained to And yet the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 youth admits a greater latitude then we in ordinary speech confine it to g In Orator p. 266. Tom. 1. Cicero tells us of himself that he was adolescentulus but a very youth when he pleaded Roscius's cause and yet h Noct. Attic. l. 15. c. 28. p. 383. A. Gellius proves him to have been at that time no less then XXVII years old Alexander the son of Aristobulus is called i Joseph Antiq. l. 14. c. 13. p. 480. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a youth at the time of his death when yet he was above thirty Hiero in k Hist l. 1. p. 11. Edit 8. ubi vid. Casaub Comment p. 129. ejusd exercit ad Baron Appar n. 99 p. 154. Polybius is stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a very young man whom yet Casaubon proves to have been XXXV years of Age and the same Historian speaking of T. Flaminius his making War upon Philip of Macedon says he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a very young man for that he was not above thirty years old it being as Casaubon observes the custom both of Greek and Latine Writers to extend the juventus or youthful age from the thirtieth till the fortieth year of a mans life To which we may add what Grotius observes that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 answering to the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 denotes the Military Age Annot. in loc all that civil and manly part of a mans life that is opposed to Old Age so that Timothies youth without any force or violence to the word might very well consist with his being at least thirty or five and thirty years of age and he so stiled onely comparatively with respect to that weighty Function which was wont to be conferred upon none but grave and aged men But of this enough VII Acts 20.2 3 c. S. TIMOTHY thus
is under the Turkish yoke at this day is without the limits of my business to enquire To look a little higher to the Times we write of though I love not to make severe and ill-natured interpretations of the actions of Divine Providence yet I cannot but observe how heavy the Divine Displeasure not long after Polycarps death fell as upon other places so more particularly upon this City by Plague Fire and Earthquakes mentioned by a Niphil Epit. Dion in M. Aâ—ton p. 281. others but more fully described by b In Orat. Monodia dict vid. Philastr de vit Sophâ—â—t l. 2. in Aristid p. m. 659. Aristides their own Orator who was contemporary with S. Polycarp By which means their City before one of the Glories and Ornaments of Asia was turned into Rubbish and Ashes their stately Houses overturned their Temples ruined one especially which as it advanced Asia above other Countries so gave Smyrna the honour and precedence above other Cities of Asia their Traffick spoiled their Marts and Ports laid waste besides the great numbers of People that lost their lives Indeed the fate so sad that the Orator was forced to give over professing himself unable to describe it XVII I cannot better close the Story of Polycarps Martyrdom then with the Preface which the Church of Smyrna has in the beginning of it as what eminently represents the illustrious faith and patience of those Primitive Christians Edit Usser p. 14. confer Euseb l. 4. c. 15. p. 129. Evident it is say they that all those Martyrdoms are great and blessed which happen by the will of God for it becomes us Christians who have a more divine Religion then others to ascribe to God the soveraign disposure of all events Who would not stand and admire the generous greatness of their mind their singular patience and admirable love to God who when their flesh was with scourges so torn off their backs that the whole frame and contexture of their bodies even to their inmost Veins and Arteries might be seen yet patiently endured it Insomuch that those who were present pitied and grieved at the sight of it while they themselves were endued with so invincible a resolution that none of them gave one sigh or groan the holy Martyrs of Christ letting us see that at that time when they were thus tormented they were strangers to their own bodies or rather that our Lord stood by them to assist and comfort them Animated by the grace of Christ they despised the torments of men by one short hour delivering themselves from eternal miseries the fire which their Tormenters put to them seemed cool and little while they had it in their eye to avoid the everlasting and unextinguishable flames of another World their thoughts being fixed upon those rewards which are prepared for them that endure to the end such as neither ear hath heard nor eye hath seen nor hath it entered into the heart of man but which were shewn to them by our Lord as being now no longer Mortals but entering upon the state of Angels In like manner those who were condemned to be devoured by wild Beasts for a long time endured the most grievous tortures shells of Fishes were strewed under their naked bodies and they forced to lie upon sharp pointed stakes driven into the ground and several such like Engines of torture devised for them that if possible by the constancy of their torments the enemy might drive them to renounce the Faith of Christ Various were the methods of punishments which the Devil did invent though blessed be God there were not many whom they were able to prevail upon And at the end of the Epistle they particularly remark concerning Polycarp 〈…〉 p. 28. that he was not onely a famous Doctor but an eminent Martyr whose Martyrdom all strove to imitate as one who by his patience conquered an unrighteous Judge and by that means having attained an immortal Crown was triumphing with the Apostles and all the souls of the righteous glorifying God the Father and praising of our Lord the disposer of our bodies and the Bishop and Pastor of the Catholic Church throughout the World Nor were the Christians the onely persons that reverenced his memory but the very Gentiles as a Loc. supr cit p. 135. Eusebius tells us every where spoke honourably of him XVIII AS for his Writings besides that b Epist ad Lâ—cia p. 194. Tom. 1. S. Hierom mentions the Volums of Papias and Polycarp and the above-mentioned c Vit. Polycarp c. 3. n. 12. p. 697 ubi supr Pionius his Epistles and Homilies d Epist ad Florin ap Euseb ubi supr Irenaeus evidently intimates that he wrote several Epistles of all which none are extant at this day but the Epistle to the Philippians an Epistle peculiarly celebrated by the Ancients very useful says e De Script in Polycarp S. Hierom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as f Suid. in voc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Suidas and g Sophron. ap Hieron ib. Sophronius stile it a most admirable Epistle h Adv. Hares l. 3. c. 3. ap Eus l. 4. c. 15. p. 128. Irenaeus gives it this Elogium that it is a most perfect and absolute Epistle whence they that are careful of their salvation may learn the character of his Faith and the truth which he preached To which Eusebius adds that in this Epistle he makes use of some Quotations out of the first Epistle of S. Peter An observation that holds good with the Epistle as we have it at this day there being many places in it cited out of the first not one out of the second Epistle Photius passes this just and true judgment of it that it is full of many admonitions delivered with clearness and simplicity according to the Ecclesiastic way way and manner of interpretation It seems to hold a great affinity both in stile and substance with Clemens his Epistle to the Corinthians often suggesting the same rules and making use of the same words and phrases so that it is not to be doubted but he had that excellent Epistle particularly in his eye at the writing of it Indeed it is a pious and truly Christian Epistle furnished with short and useful Precepts and Rules of Life and penned with the modesty and simplicity of the Apostolic Times valued by the Ancients next to the Writings of the Holy Canon Ubi supr and S. Hierom tells us that even in his time it was read in Asiae conventu in the public Assemblies of the Asian Church It was first published in Greek by P. Halloix the Jesuit Ann. MDCXXXIII and not many years after by Bishop Vsher and I presume the pious Reader will think it no unuseful digression if I here subjoin so venerable a monument of the ancient Church THE EPISTLE OF S. POLYCARP Bishop of Smyrna and Martyr to the Philippians Polycarp and the Presbyters that are with him to the
up under the tutorage and instructions of S. Polycarp Bishop of Smyrna and S. Johns Disciple from whom he received the seeds of the true Apostolic Doctrine and for whom he had so great a reverence and regard that he took a most exact and particular notice of whatever was memorable in him even to the minutest circumstances of his conversation the memory whereof he preserved fresh and lively to his dying day II. BY whose hands he was consecrated to the Ministeries of Religion as also when and upon what occasion he came into France is not known Probable it is that he accompanied S. Polycarp in his journey to Rome about the Paschal controversie where by his and Anicetus his persuasions he might be prevailed with to go for France in some parts whereof and especially about Marseilles great numbers of Greeks did reside then beginning to be over-run with those pernicious Heresies which at that time invaded and disturbed the Church that so he might be helpful and assisting to Pothinus the aged Bishop of Lyons in quelling and subduing of them Hist Franc. lib. 1â— 29. This Pothinus if we may believe Gregory Bishop of Tours who resided some time in this City with his Uncle Nicetius Bishop of it came out of the East and had been dispatched hither also by S. Polycarp to govern and superintend this Church If it seem strange to any how S. Polycarps care came to extend so far as to send a Bishop into so remote and distant parts of the World it seems not improbable to suppose that Lyons being a City famous for Commerce and Traffique some of its Merchants might trade to Smyrna where being converted by Polycarp they might desire of him to send some grave and able person along with them to plant and propagate the Christian Faith in their own Country which accordingly fell to Pothinus his share But then that this must needs be done by the Authority and ratified by the Decree of the Bishop of Rome P. de Marc. dissert de Primat n. 111. p. 227. a learned man will never be able to convince us though he offers at three Arguments to make it good weak I must needs say and inconcluding and which rather shew that he designed thereby to reconcile himself to the Court of Rome whose favour at the time of his writing that Tract he stood in need of in order to his admission to the Bishoprick of S. Leiger de Conserans to which he was nominated and wherein he was delayed by that Court offended with his late Book De Concordia Sacerdotii Imperii then argue the truth of what he asserts so unsuitable are they to the learning and judgment of that great man But I return to Irenaeus He came to Lyons the Metropolis of Gallia Celtica situate upon the confluence of the two famous Rivers the Roan and La Saona or the ancient Arar famous among other things for its Temple and Altars erected to the honour of Augustus at the common charge of all France where they held an annual solemnity from all parts of the Countrey upon the first of August and upon d Euseb H. Eccl. l. 5. c. 1 p. 162. this day it was that most of the Martyrs suffered in the following Persecution These Festival solemnities were usually celebrated not onely with great contentions for Learning and Eloquence but with Sports and Shews and especially with the bloody conflicts of Gladiators with barbarous usages and throwing Malefactors to wild Beasts in the Amphitheatre wherein the Martyrs mentioned by Eusebius bore a sad and miserable part Irenaeus being arrived at Lyons continued several years in the station of a Presbyter under the care and Government of Pothinus till a heavy storm arose upon them For in the reign of M. Aurelius Antoninus Ann. Chr. CLXXVII began a violent Persecution a Euseb l. 5. Praef. p. 153. against the Christians which broke out in all places but more peculiarly raged in France whereof the Churches of Lyons and Vien in a b Apud Euseb ibid. p. 154 155 c. Letter to them of Asia and Phrygia give them an account where they tell them 't was impossible for them exactly to describe the brutish fierceness and cruelty of their Enemies and the severity of those torments which the Martyrs suffered banished from their houses and forbid so much as to shew their heads reproached beaten hurried from place to place plundered stoned imprisoned and there treated with all the expressions of an ungovernable rage and fury as they particularly relate at large The occasion c Euseb ibid. c. 3. p. 168. of writing this account was a controversie lately raised in the Asian Churches by Montanus and his followers concerning the Prophetic Spirit to which they pretended for the composing whereof these Churches thought good to send their judgment and opinion in the case adjoyning the Epistles which several of the Martyrs while in Prison had written to those Churches about that very matter all which they annexed to their Commentary about the Martyrs sufferings penned no doubt by the hand of Irenaeus III. NOR did the Martyrs write onely to the Asian Churches but to Eleutherus Bishop of Rome about these controversies And just occasion there was for it if which is most probable this very Eleutherus was infected with the errours of Montanus for d Adv. Prax. c. 1. p. 501. Tertullian tells us that the Bishop of Rome did then own and embrace the Prophesies of Montanus and his two Prophetesses and upon that account had given Letters of Peace to the Churches of Asia and Phrygia though by the persuasions of one Praxeas he was afterwards prevailed with to revoke them Where by the way may be observed that the infallibility of the Pope was then from home or so fast asleep that the envious man could sowe Tares in the very Pontifical Chair it self This Bishop e Ad Ann. 173. n. IV. Baronius will have to be Anicetus but in all likelihood was our Eleutherius who in his after-commendation of the Montanists followed the example of his f Tertull. ibid. Predecessors no doubt Soter and Anicetus who had disowned and rejected Montanus his Prophesie nor can it well be otherwise conceived why the Martyrs should so particularly write to him about it And whereas g Ad. Ann. 201. n. IX Baronius would have Pope Eleutherius dead long before Tertullian became a Montanist because in his Book against Heresies he stiles h De Praescript Haeret. c. 30. p. 212. him the blessed Eleutherius as if it were tantamount with cujus memoria est in benedictione nothing was more common then to give that title to eminent persons while alive as Alexander of Jerusalem calls i Euseb l. 6. c. 11 p. 113. Clemens Alexandrinus who carried the Letter the blessed Clemens in his Epistle to the Church of Antioch and the Clergy of the Church of Rome stiles k Ad Cler. Carthag Epist II. p. 8.
World that we should universally submit to his will and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 chearfully embrace with all our souls all the issues and determinations of his providence that we ought not to think it enough to be happy alone but that 't is our duty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to love men from the very heart to relieve and help them advise and assist them and contribute what is in our power to their welfare and safety and this not once or twice but throughout the whole life and that unbiassedly without any little designs of applause or advantage to our selves that nothing should be equally dear to a man as honesty and vertue and that this is the first thing he should look at whether the thing he is going about be good or bad and the part of a good or a wicked man and if excellent and vertuous that he ought not to let any loss or damage torment or death it self deter him from it And whoever runs over the Writings of Seneca Antoninus Epictetus Arrian c. will find these and a great many more claiming a very near kindred with the main rules of life prescribed in the Christian Faith And what wonder if Pantaenus was in love with such generous and manly principles which he liked so well that as he always retained the title of the Stoic Philosopher so for the main he owned the profession of that Sect even after his being admitted to eminent Offices and Imployments in the Christian Church IV. BY whom he was instructed in the Principles of the Christian Religion I find not a Cod. CXVIII col 297. Photius tells us that he was Scholar to those who had seen the Apostles though I cannot allow of what he adds that he had been an Auditor of some of the Apostles themselves his great distance from their times rendring it next door to impossible But whoever were his Tutors he made such vast proficiences in his Learning that his singular eminency quickly recommended him to a place of great trust and honour in the Church to be Master of the Catechetic School at Alexandria For there were not onely Academies and Schools of Humane Literature but an Ecclesiastical School for the training persons up in divine knowledge and the first principles of Christianity and this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says b Loc. supr citat Eusebius of very ancient custom from the very times of S. Mark says c Descript in Pantaen S. Hierom the first Planter of Christianity and Bishop of that place From whose time there had been a constant succession of Catechists in that School which Eusebius tells us continued in his time and was managed by men famous for eloquence and the study of divine things The fame and glory of Pantaenus did above all others at that time design him for this place in which he accordingly succeeded and that as d Cap. 9 10. ut supr Eusebius intimates about the beginning of Commodus his reign when Julian entered upon the See of Alexandria for about that time says he he became Governour of the School of the Faithful there And whereas others before him had discharged the place in a more private way he made the School more open and public freely teaching all that addressed themselves to him In this imployment he continued without intermission the whole time of Julian who sate ten years till under his Successor he was dispatched upon a long and dangerous journey whereof this the occasion V. ALEXANDRIA was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Orator e Dion Chrysost Orat. XXXII p. 375. vid. p. 373. stiles it one of the most populous and frequented Cities in the World whither there was a constant resort not onely of neighbour Nations but of the most remote and distant Countries Aethiopians Arabians Bactrians Scythians Persians and even Indians themselves It happened that some Indian Embassadors whether sent for this particular purpose is not certain intreated f Hieron de Script ubi supr Demetrius then Bishop of Alexandria to send some worthy and excellent person along with them to preach the Faith in those Countries None appeared qualified for this errand like Pantaenus a grave man and a great Philosopher incomparably furnished both with divine and secular Learning Him Demetrius persuades to undertake the Embassy and though he could not but be sufficiently apprehensive that he quitted a pleasant and delightful Country a place where he was beloved and honoured by all with a just esteem and reverence and that he ventured upon a journey where he must expect to encounter with dangers and hardships and the greatest difficulties and oppositions yet were all these easily conquered by his insatiable desire to propagate the Christian Religion even to the remotest corners of the World For there were many Evangelical Preachers even at that time as g Loc. citat Eusebius adds upon this occasion who inflamed with a divine and holy zeal in imitation of the Apostles were willing to travel up and down the World for enlarging the bounds of Christianity and building men up on the most holy Faith What India this was to which Pantaenus and after him Frumentius for that they both went to the same Countrey is highly probable was dispatched is not easie to determine There are and they men of no inconsiderable note that conceive it was not the Oriental but African India conterminous to Aethiopia or rather a part of it These Indians were a Colony and Plantation derived at first out of the East For so a Chron. ad An. Abrah CCCCIV Eusebius tells us that in the more early Ages the Aethiopians quitting the parts about the River Indus sate down near Egypt Whence b Vit. Apolion l. 6. c. 8. p. 287. Philostratus expresly stiles the Aethiopians a Colony of Indians as c Ibid. l. 3. c. 6. p. 125. elsewhere he calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Indian generation The Metropolis of this Countrey was Axumis of which Frumentius is afterwards said to be ordained Bishop by Athanasius An opinion which I confess my self very inclinable to embrace and should without any scruple comply with did not d Hist Eccl. ubi supr Eusebius expresly say that Pantaenus preached the Gospel to the Eastern Nations and came as far as to India it self A passage which how it can suit with the African India and the Countries that lie so directly South of Egypt I am not able to imagine For which reason we have elsewhere fixed it in the East Nor is there any need to send them as far as India intra Gangem there are places in Asia nearer hand and particularly some parts of Arabia that anciently passed under that name whence the Persian Gulf is sometimes called the Indian Sea But let the judicious Reader determine as he please in this matter VI. BEING arrived in India he set himself to plant the Christian Faith in those parts especially conversing with the
The issue was that Gallienus his Party prevailed to let in Theodotus and his Army who seized the Tyrant and sent him to the Emperour who caused him to be strangled in Prison XIII HOW stormy and tempestuous is the Region of this Lower World one Wave perpetually pressing upon the neck of another The Persecution was seconded by a Civil War and a cruel Famine and that no sooner over but a terrible Plague followed close at the heels of it one of the most dreadful and amazing Judgments which God sends upon mankind It over-ran City and Country sweeping away what the fury of the late Wars had left there not having been known saith the Historian a Zosim Histoâ— l. 1. p. 347. in any Age so great a destruction of mankind This Pestilence which some say b Pomp. Lâ—t in vit Galli p.m. 1235. â—utrop H. Rom. l 9. p. 1924. came first out of Aethiopia began in the reign of Gallus and Volusian and ever since more or less straggled over most parts of the Roman Empire and now kept its fatal residence at Alexandria where by an impartial severity it mowed down both Gentiles and Christians and turned the Paschal solemnity it being then the time c Dionys ib. c. 22. p. 268. of Easter into days of weeping and mourning all places were filled with dying groans and sorrows either for friends already dead or those that were ready to depart it being now as formerly under that great Egyptian Plague and something worse there was a great cry in Egypt for there was not an house where there was not only one but many dead In this sad and miserable time how vastly different was the carriage of the Christians and the Heathens The Christians out of the superabundance of their kindness and charity without any regard to their own health and life boldly ventured into the thickest dangers dayly visiting assisting and ministring to their sick and infected brethren chearfully taking their pains and distempers upon them and themselves expiring with them And when many of those whom they thus attended recovered and lived they died themselves as if by a prodigious and unheard of charity they had willingly taken their diseases upon them and died to save them from death And these the most considerable both of Clergy and People chearfully embracing a death that deserved a title little less then that of Martyrdom They embraced the bodies of the dead closed their eyes laid them out washed and dressed them up in their funeral weeds took them upon their shoulders and carried them to their Graves it not being long before others did the same offices for them The Gentiles on the contrary put off all sense of humanity when any began to fall sick they presently cast them out ran from their dearest friends and relations and either left them half dead in the high-ways or threw them out as soon as they were dead dreading to fall under the same infection which yet with all their care and diligence they could not avoid XIV NOR were these the onely troubles the good man was exercised with he had contests of another nature that swallowed up his time and care Sabellius a Libyan born at Ptolemais a City of Pentapolis had lately started d Dion Epist ad Sex ib. c. 6. p. 252. Niâ—â—pb l. 6. c. 26. p 419. dangerous notions and opinions about the doctrin of the holy Trinity affirming the Father Son and Holy Ghost to be but one subsistence one person under three several names which in the time of the Old Testament gave the Law under the notion of the Father in the New was made man in the capacity of the Son and descended afterwards upon the Apostles in the quality of the Holy Ghost Dionysius as became a vigilant Pastor of his Flock presently undertakes the man and while he managed the cause with too much eagerness and fervency of disputation he bent the stick too much the other way asserting not onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 e Basil ad Mâ—gâ— Phiâ—â—â— Epist XLI p 60. a distinction of Persons but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a difference of Essence and an inequality of Power and Glory For which he is severely censured by S. Basil and some of the Ancients as one of those that mainly opened the gap to those Arrian impieties that after broke in upon the World Though S. Ubi sâ—pr Basil could not but so far do him right as to say that it was not any ill meaning but onely an over-vehement desire to oppose his adversary that betrayed him into those unwary and inconsiderate assertions Some Bishops of Pentapolis immediately took hold of this and going over to Rome represented his dangerous errours where the case was discussed in a Synod and Letters written to Dionysius about it who in a set Apology answered for himself and declared his sense more explicitly in this controversie as may be seen at large in a De Sentent Dionys Tom. 1. p. 548. c. vid Phot. Cod. CCXXXII col 901. Athanasius who has with infinite pains vindicated our Dionysius his Predecessor as a man sound and orthodox and who was never condemned by the Governours of the Church for impious opinions or that he held those abominable tenets which Arrius broached afterwards And certainly S. Basil might and would have passed a milder censure had he either perused all Dionysius his Writings or remembred how much he concerned himself to clear S. Gregory of Neocaesarea Dionysius his contemporary from the very same charge for which he could not but confess he had given too just occasion XV. NO sooner was this controversie a little over but he was engaged in another b Euseb ibid. c. 24. p. 270. Nepos an Egyptian Bishop lately dead a man eminent for his constancy in the Faith his industry and skill in the holy Scriptures the many Psalms and Hymns he had composed which the Brethren sung in their public Meetings had not long since fallen into the errour of the Millenaries and had published Books to shew that the promises made in the Scriptures to good men were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to the sense and opinion of the Jews to be literally understood and that there was to be a thousand years State upon Earth wherein they were to enjoy sensual pleasures and delights Endeavouring to make good his assertions from some passages in S. John's Revelation stiling his Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A Confutation of Allegorical Expositors This Book was greedily caught up and read by many and advanced into that esteem and reputation that Law and Prophets and the Writings of the Evangelists and Apostles were neglected and thrown aside and the doctrine of this Book cried up as containing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some great and extraordinary mystery concealed before from the World the more Simple and Unwary being taught to disband all sublime and magnificent thoughts of our Lords glorious coming the Resurrection and final
judgment and our conformity to him in glory and to hope for a state in the Kingdom of God wherein they should be entertained with such little and trifling such fading and transitory things as this World does afford Dionysius being then in the Province of the Arsenoitae where this Opinion had prevailed so far as to draw whole Churches into Schism and Separation summoned the Presbyters and Teachers who preached in the Country Villages and as many of the People as had a mind to come advising them that in their Sermons they would publicly examine this Doctrin They presently defended themselves with this Book whereupon he began more closely to join issue with them continuing with them three days together from morning to night weighing and discussing the doctrins contained in it In all which time he admired their constancy and love to truth their great quickness and readiness of understanding with so much order and decency so much modesty and moderation were the Discourses managed on both sides doubts propounded and assent yielded For they took an especial care not pertinaciously to defend their former opinions when once they found them to be erroneous nor to shun any objections which on either part were made against them As near as might be they kept to the present question which they endeavoured to make good but if convinced by argument that they were in the wrong made no scruple to change their minds and go over to the other side with honest minds and sincere intentions and hearts truly devoted to God embracing whatever was demonstrated by the holy Scriptures The issue was that Coracion the Commander and Champion of the other Party publicly promised and protested before them all that he would not henceforth either entertain or dispute or discourse or preach these opinions being sufficiently convinced by the arguments which the other side had offered to him all the Brethren departing with mutual love unanimity and satisfaction Such was the peaceable conclusion of this Meeting and less could not be expected from such pious and honest souls such wise and regular Disputers And happy had it been for the Christian World had all those controversies that have disturbed the Church been managed by such prudent and orderly debates which as usually conducted rather widen the breach then heal and mend it Dionysius to strike the controversie dead while his hand was in wrote a Book concerning the Promises which S. Hierom forgetting what he had truly said a De script in Dionys elsewhere that it was written against Nepos tells b Praef at in l. 18. Com. in Esa p. 242. T. 5. us was written against Irenaeus Bishop of Lyons mistaking the person probably for his opinion in the first part whereof he stated the question laid down his sense concerning it in the second he treated concerning the Revelation of S. John the main Pillar and Buttress of this Opinion where both by reason and the testimony of others he contends that it was not written by S. John the Apostle and Evangelist but by another of that name an account of whose judgment herein we have represented in another place c Antiq. Apost Life of S. John n. 14. XVI THE last controversie wherein he was concerned was that against Paul of Samosata Bishop of Antioch who had d Euseb ubi sup c. 27. p. 277 281. Epiph. Haeres LXV p. 262. Athanas de Syn d. Arim. Seleuc. p. 920. Niceph. l. 6. c. 27. p. 420. confidently vented these and such like impious dogmata that there is but one person in the Godhead that our blessed Saviour was though a holy yet a meer man who came not down from Heaven but was of a meer earthly extract and original in whom the word which he made not any thing distinct from the Father did sometimes reside and sometimes depart from him with abundance of the like wicked and sensless propositions Besides all which he was infinitely obnoxious in his e Epist Synod II. Antioch ap Euseb ib. c. 30. p. 280. c. morals as few men but serve the design of some lust by Schism and bad opinions covetous without any bounds heaping up a vast estate though born a poor mans son partly by fraud and sacriledge partly by cruel and unjust vexations of his brethren partly by fomenting differences and taking bribes to assist the weaker party Proud and vain-glorious he was beyond all measure affecting Pomp and Train and secular Power and rather to be stiled a temporal Prince then a Bishop going through the streets and all public places in solemn state with persons walking before him and crouds of people following after him In the Church he caused to be erected a Throne higher then ordinary and a place which he called Secretum after the manner of Civil Magistrates who in the inner part of the Praetorium had a place railed in with Curtains hung before it where they sate to hear Causes He was wont to clap his hand upon his thigh and to stamp with his feet upon the Bench frowning upon and reproaching those who did not Theatrically shout and make a noise while he was discoursing to them wherein he used also to reflect upon his predecessors and the most eminent persons that had been before him with all imaginable scorn and petulancy magnifying himself as far beyond them The Hymns that were ordinarily sung in honour of our Lord he abolished as late and novel and in stead thereof taught some of his proselyted Females upon the Easter solemnity to chaunt out some which he had composed in his own commendation to the horrour and astonishment of all that heard them procuring the Bishops and Presbyters of the neighbouring parts to publish the same things of him in their Sermons to the People some of his Proselytes not sticking to affirm that he was an Angel come down from Heaven All which he was so far from controlling that he highly encouraged them and heard them himself not onely with patience but delight He was moreover vehemently suspected of incontinency maintaining 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 subintroduced Women in his house and some of them persons of exquisit beauty contrary to the Canons of the Church and to the great scandal of Religion And that he might not be muh reproached by those that were about him he endeavoured to debauch his Clergy conniving at their Vices and Irregularities and corrupting others with Pensions and whom he could not prevail with by evil arts he awed by power and his mighty interest in the Princes and great ones of those parts so that they were forced with sadness to bewail at home what they durst not publish and declare abroad XVII TO rectifie these enormities most of the chief Bishops of the East resolved to meet in a Synod at Antioch a Euseb ib. c. 27. p. 277. c. 30. p. 279. to which they earnestly invited our Dionysius But alas age and infirmities had rendred him incapable of such a journey