do them justice They obeyed this his order coming to the appointed place repeated with much heat those accusations which before they had deposed without any more proofe this second time then they had done at the first The Apostle answered likewise in his defence the same as before and Festus being desirous to gratifie the Jews though at the cost of the Apostles innocency and life asked him if he were not willing to go to Hierusalem to be judged there by him He answered No and that he appealed to the Tribunal of Caesar for if I have offended him as I am accused or done harm to any 't is there I will suffer death But if I be innocent of these crimes wherewith I am charged as I maintain I am and as you your selves well know no man can oblige me to suffer my self to be judged by my Adversaries And I appeal to the supream Authority of Caesar Festus surprised with this discourse and having maturely considered what he were best to do in this occasion was enforced to tell him Thou hast appealed to Caesar before him thou shalt go At that time young Agrippa came to Cesarea to salute Portius Festus together with his Sister Berenice who had espoused in her first nuptials Herod her Unckle King of Chalcides and in her second marriage Polemon little King of Cilicia This young Prince was not above seventeen yeares of age when his Father of whose death we have spoken in the first Book left him the Scepter The Emperour Claudius at whose Court he then was conserved to him all the estates of his Father except Iudea which he durst not trust in his hands by reason of his youth and the turbulent humor of the Iewes But Nero added to them many little Provinces Some dayes after his arrival Festus spake to him of the Apostle told him all that had passed concerning that business and that it was now suspended because of his appeal to Cesar Agrippa was very glad of the newes for the reputation of S. Paul had made him a long time desirous to see him At the day appointed he came to the place ordained for publick audience in the company of his Sister Berenice with whom the common rumor famed him to have greater familiarity then honesty permitted The Apostle was brought thither and Festus shewing him to Agrippa said This is the man of whom I spake to you and against whom the Iewes were so fiercely bent as they sought his ruine by all maner of means although for my part I finde him not guilty of any crime In fine I intended to send him to Caesar to whom he hath appealed but being ignorant what to write in this affaire it concerning some point of Religion about a certain man named Jesus of Nazareth whom the accused affirmes to be risen againe after his death and whom the Iewes on the other side condemned as an Impostor I am very willing to have him speak before so noble an Assembly and before a Prince well versed in all those questions Hereupon Agrippa made sign to the Apostle that he should defend himself which he did in this manner It is no small consolation to me King Agrippa that I am to speak this day before you in answer to the accusations of my enemies because you are perfectly instructed in all the questions of the Law whereof I am accused to be a publick enemy Hence also I assure my self that you by your piety being interessed in this cause will afford me a favorable hearing Me thinks I ought to be the least suspected of any person to be guilty of this crime wherewith I am charged For if my accusers would but acknowledge the truth they will know in what manner I have lived in Hierusalem all the time of my youth amongst those of my Nation I was brought up under the discipline of the Pharisees which is the sect the most pure of greatest authority in our Religion I do not believe to have done any thing contrary to the rules of my Profession which might give the least occasion to feare the judgement of men if there were question of my behaviour But all my pretended crime hath relatition to my beliefe and I finde my self reduced to a necessity of defending my self in publique because I place my hope in him who was promised to our foreFathers and from whom I expect my salvation as they have done serving God day and night and carefully observing all the precepts which he gave unto them for that end Now this hope does not terminate in this life it is accomplished in the other by the resurrection of the body which places man in a glorious State where he is to receive the recompence of his good deeds and the accomplishment of that salvation which has been here the subject of hope Behold a second crime raised against me by some who following the principles of their Sect deny what I believe and what I teach concerning this point of the resurrection What is there in it that seems to you incredible who dares say God cannot restore life to the dead who had the power to give life when he placed them in the world For the first point of my accusation I confess I have had opinions far different from that of which they would now make me guilty For sometime I believed as others did that I ought to do all things to the dishonour of Jesus of Nazareth and the more I shewed my rage against his name the more notice was taken of my piety The city of Hierusalem is witness of the violences I used I made search in all places after those who professed that doctrin I have cast many of them into prison by authority from the Princes of the Priests to that effect and when they have been condemned to death I have not only by my vote approved the sentence to be just but have been the bearer of it I went to all the Synagogues endeavouring sometimes by force and sometimes by Stratagems to make those who had imbraced the belief of the Gospel to renounce it and I esteemed it a great victory when I could corrupt any disciple of J. Christ I deserved to have continued in my blindeness and to have found in the end the just punishment of my cruelty which extended it self even to forrain and remote Cities But he whom I persecuted had compassion of my ignorance would in shewing mercy to me shew to all sinners the excess of his goodness and long patience I went to Damasco to imprison all those who believed in him and in the way about noon a great light environed me and those who were in my company we all fell to the ground and I heard a voice that spake to mee in the Hebrew tongue Saul Saul Why doest thou persecute me It is in vaine to kicke against the prickes I answered Who are you Lord The Lord replied I am Jesus of Nazareth whom thou doest persecute but arise and
that is his Church and consequently deprived of the food which he has prepared to nourish his Spouse during her Pilgrimage and if they eat it they shall eat their judgement the body of Jesus Christ shall enter into their breasts and there engrave in characters undeleble the arrest of their death and whilest they think to receive a pledge of their salvation it shall prove the assurance of their damnation For they will be not onely guilty persons but persons already condemned and adjudged to death and the separation of them from the Elect shall be justly grounded upon the litle distinction they made of the body and bloud of the Sonne of God taking ordinary meat with more care and circumspection Alas there are but too many who are guilty of this Sacriledge Men know them not but they cannot lye hid from God who reads their most secret thoughts and sees clearly the evil dispositions of their carnal soules We see young men perish in the flower of their age we behold strong and lusty men fall into languishing diseases of which we know not the cause Suddain death dayly takes away divers persons who in respect of their age and health might have promised themselves a long life These accidents are ordinarily attributed to natural causes but beleeve it 't is a secret punishment for the profanation of the body of Jesus Christ Therefore judge your selves to the end you be not judged Yet be not seized with so great a fear as to hinder you from approaching to him who is as wel bread to strengthen the weak and fraile as to nourish the strong and is a medicine as well as food Eat dayly of this bread but then let your life correspond with your food and as the one is heavenly let not the other savour of the corruption of the Earth As you eat of the same bread and drink of the same cup at the Table of your Father so let there be a perfect union in your desires and in your thoughts as to be one thing This bread which is made of many graines of corn and the wine which is drawne from many grapes teach you to unite your hearts by charity You must be to one another as one bread by an amorous communication of your gifts either spiritual or temporal that all shadow of division even of singularity may be banished from the Church Goe on then my dear Brethren in such a manner as may answer the Sanctity of your name and vocation You are called Christians and this name shewes your Royal Unction and Priesthood together You are of that Kingly Stock doe not then make your selves slaves of sinne which is the most infamous and cruel Master you can choose You are Priests therefore cloath your selves with justice Offer your selves to God as a holy Host immaculate by Jesus Christ our Lord who is the Eternal Priest by whom and in whom our oblations are made acceptable to the heavenly Father I behold here persons of all conditions and therefore I will briefly set down some rules how to performe the duty of Christians Husbands and Wives I would have you know that marriage which has joyned you together is a great Sacrament in Jesus Christ and his Church It represents the adorable union of the heavenly Espouse and this Chaste Bride whom he has purified from all uncleanness by the word of life so that she who before was black and soyled in the time of her disorders now appears more white then Lilies without any spot or wrinckle to dishonour her He has not onely expressed his love to her by these favours but also given his life for her and made his bloud the Seale of his love Therefore love your Wives after this model and consider their bodies as a thing that is yours and consequently ought to be the subject of your care But as the love which Jesus Christ beares to his Church is pure so let the love which you bear to the companions of your bed be likewise pure As Jesus Christ beares with the frailties of his Church so you must bear the infirmites of those whose Sex being more fraile is more excusable and may better claim to be supported when you love them you love your selves for marriage makes that you are two in one flesh Wives be you subject to your husbands as to those who hold the place of our Lord over you they are your heads as Jesus Christ is head of the Church The head conducts the rest of the body take them therefore for the guides of your life and repose more trust in their conduct then in that of your own reason As the Church is subject to the will of Jesus Christ be you obedient to the wills of your husbands never give them any cause of anger nor occasion to distrust you Think not of pleasing any but them to that end adorn your selves modestly as Sarah did and those holy women in times past who were so carefull of gaining the hearts of their husbands as they called them their Lords and were much more carefull in the adorning of their souls then bodies Curled hair with affectation your costly Jewels garments of gold and silver and other dressings of vanity by which you desire to draw the eies of others upon you are unworthy of a Christian wife and indeed in stead of setting her forth renders her deformed Fathers and Mothers breed your Children in the fear of our Lord Suffer them not in your presence to offend him unto whom they appertain more then to your selves and for whose service you ought to bring them up Be carefull rather to make them good then rich and breed them rather for heaven then the earth Never provoke them to anger nor make them despair by holding too vigorous a hand over them but rather use indulgence towards them to reduce them to reason if they fly out Children obey your Fathers and Mothers the observance of this command for your encouragement is recompenced with the promise of a long life The honour which you give them returns to God who is the fountain of all Paternity both in heaven and earth Bear with their froward humors shun all occasions of displeasing them and assuredly believe you can never acquit your selves of the obligations you owe in duty to them You that are servants respect your Masters with a sincere and upright heart and believe that in serving them as you ought you serve Jesus Christ Do not render them service only when they look upon you for hope of reward or fear of punishment but do it in conformity to the faith and religion you profess Consider your selves as Servants of our Lord for the love of whom you serve men whose providence you ought to adore that has put you in that condition Think not of freeing your selves of that bondage but to use it well and to make it voluntary Expect from him the rewards due to your service your fidelity and diligence with love and
to bring his Father Jacob to him The good old man surprised with these glad tydings was overjoyed to think he should satisfie his eyes before he left this world with the sight of him whom he had often bewayled as dead he went then into Egypt and after he had lived there some years in great quiet and peace died in the arms of his Son Joseph Our Ancestors also died there and those that descended of them multiplied extreamly in a few years At last the time of the Divine promise made to Abraham drawing nigh there sate in the Throne of Egypt a Prince who had never heard the name of Joseph time having made him forgotten and seeing the daily increase of our Nation after an extraordinary manner he began to apprehend least those strangers should render themselves Masters of his country whereupon he imployed both craft and violence to work their extirpation To this end there is nothing horrid in Tyranny which he did not impose upon them But notwithstanding their labour and bad dyet they thrived so wel that it seemed rather to contribute to their increase then ruine Hence by an impious edict be commanded their Midwives to stifle all the Male Children of the Israelites and save onely the Female But this inhumane command was not obeyed and God abundantly recompenced the mercy shewed to those innocent creatures whom a barbarous Tyrant would have sacrificed to his jealousie Moses was born in this wonderful persecution His parents after they had concealed him three moneths in their house fearing least he might be discovered exposed him upon the River Pharao's Daughter coming thither to bath her self perceived the Cradle of Bull-rushes in which he floted upon the water she sent to take it up and by that means was the instrument of his preservation She was not satisfied in exhibiting an ordinary compassion towards him but tendered him with a Motherly care and of an Infant exposed she adopted him Son and Heir to a great Kingdom His Education was answerable to so high a fortune and by the progress he made in all the Sciences of the Egyptians by the excellency of his wit his solid judgement his generous courage his modest behavior and the greatness of his actions he shewed himself worthy of the Scepter ordained for him But God had other designs and would make use of him to destroy that Empire which he seemed to be chosen out to govern At the age of forty yeers God inspired him to visit those of his Nation in the places where they dwelt and there he found an Egyptian roughly treating an Israelite whence a just resentment transported him to revenge the Injury done unto his Brother by the death of him that abused him The next day seeing two Israelites quarrelling together he said to them you are Brethren why injure you one another But he that abused his Companion without cause askt him who hath made you our Prince and the Judge of our differences perhaps you will kill me as you did yesterday the Egyptian That discourse troubled Moses and by divine providence made him to fly into the Land of Madian where taking a Wife he begot two Sons He was fourscore years of age when in the Desarts of Mount Sina an Angel appeared to him in the middest of a flaming bush unconsumed This Prodigy astonished him and drawing neer to behold it at a less distance The Lord spake unto him in these words I am the God of thy Fore-fathers the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob put of thy shooes for the earth thou treadest upon is holy I have beheld the affliction of my captive people their complaints have reached my ears I am descended to deliver them from this cruel bondage and upon this occasion I will send you into Egypt Fathers and Brethren observe here that this Moses whom the two Israelites rejected with disdain saying who has established thee Judge and Prince over us was the Prince and Redeemer of the Jewish people with the assistance of that Angel which appeared to him in the burning bush Egypt wondered at the miraculous things of his Rod the Sea divided it self to make passage for the multitude he led in the Desart The rock yeilded him water for the space of forty years a celestial Manâ—◠〈◊〉 every morning from Heaven to 〈◊〉 our 〈◊〉 And a thousand other wonders â—â—â—…ered his govâ—rnment faâ—â—us May not we here behold an admirable figure of the Saviour which you have rejected notwithstanding that he came to deliver you from a more cruel captivity and more miserable then that of our Fore-fathers But this same Moses whose Doctrine you accuse me to condemn did not he promise to you him whose Gospel I now preach and whose name is so odious to you when he said God will raise from the middest of you a Prophet whom you shall hear as you hear me certainly you heard him as our Ancestors heard Moses and whilest Moses was conversing with our Lord upon the Mountain those ungratefull people inforced Aaron to make molten gods which should conduct them not knowing as they saiea what was become of Moses They adored the Golden Calf and gave that honour to the work of their hands which was due onely to their Creator This horrible Idolatry so incensed God that be exterminated this great multitude by divers punishments Two only of them that remained besides those who were born in the Desarts entered into the Land of Promise under the conduct of Joshua The assistance of our Lord ceased not with the death of this great Captain Our Ancestours alwayes found him favourable so long as they continued faithfull to his service The divers servitudes they were under so long as the government remained in the hands of Judges were onely caused by their Idolatry and prostitution to all sorts of wickedness Ease and plenty corrupted those whom the perils of Warre and feare of Enemies had kept within the bounds of fidelity They contracted unfortunate marriages with the daughters of their neighbours and that conjugall union occasioned their separation from God for by little and little they followed the manners of their Wives and to make themselves good husbands they were not afraid to become wicked men They left the God of Heaven for the stars which he had fixed there and the purity of his sacrifices for the abominations of Moloch Their ingratitude was not left unpunished for our Lord at severall times raysed Infidel Kings against them who made them know their sin by the rigour they used towards them The yoke of the Philistins was the longest and David delivered them entirely from it He was the man according to Gods heart It was he whom God placed in the Throne with a solemn promise that his Posterity should reign for ever This Prince who was as godly as valiant desired to build a house to our Lord that might be stable and firm for since they left Egypt they had adored him in a
wishing the Empire unto Caligula who afterwards magnificently requited his affection for no sooner had he attained unto it but he set him at liberty and gave him a chain of gold of equal weight with that of iron wherewith he had been loaden for his sake To this he added the gift of those Provinces which his Uncle Philip who dyed without out Children possess'd and gave him leave to take the Title of King upon him This dignity begot a jealousie in Herod Antipas who was the murtherer of Saint John Baptist Herodias who had set him on to commit that crime perswaded him to goe to Rome and court the Emperor thereby to purchase that Crown to himself which with envy she beheld upon the head of his Brother But at his Arrival he found the Emperor so strongly prepossess'd against him by reason of the great provisions of war which he had made and for the which he could give no account that he sentenced him unto Banishment together with the incestuous companion of his bed who would not leave him in his declining fortune Lyons was the place of their Exile and the witness of their miserable but just death since it revenged that of the Precurser of Jesus Christ Caligula also soon felt the justice of God irritated by his cruelties Never was there beast more savage and less capable of being made tame His neerest Friends could not save themselves from his hands In his indignation he regarded neither Dignity nor Age All condemned persons he reserved to be the food of his wilde beasts which he kept for his delight because the flesh of other creatures would cost too much He also set upon those which were innocent with the like brutality By his command some were branded on the Fore-head others condemned to the Mines These he shut up in Cages of iron others he caused to be severed in two by the middle with a Sawe He made Fathers to be present at the Execution of their Children and sent Litters to fetch those who excused themselves by reason of their indisposition After that he invited them many times to Feasts and Comedies forcing them to shew signs of joy At one time he massacred all that were banished imagining they prayed to God for his death He was angry against the felicity of his Age esteeming that of Augustus more happy in which the Legions of Varrus were lost and envying that of Tiberius memorable in his opinion for the fall of the Theatre which crushed to death twenty thousand persons All these were ralleries rather of a Monster then a Man The Books of his Library were reduced unto two memorials the one was called his sword the other his dagger and the rarities of his Closet were several sorts of poyson His Successor caused them to be cast into the Sea and their malignity was such as it killed multitudes of Fishes In fine his madness came to that height as he would be adored for a God he made the Figure of his head to be set upon the troncks of the Idols of Jupiter Olimpius He placed himself betwixt the Statues of Castor and Pollux to receive adoration from those who entred the Court. In the Temple which bare his name the Sacrifices were Peacocks Pheasants and such like extraordiry Fowl He knew that amongst all the people of the world the Jewes have a horrour to worship their Ancient Gods and would with greater reason refuse to yeild him divine honour in his life-time this increased a passion in him to have his Statue set up in the Temple of Hierusalem He wrote to Petronius Governour of Judaea in a stile that well shewed he would be obeyed The Jewes hearing the newes were touched with such sorrow as cannot be expressed Petronius knowing their humour and fearing as he had cause a general revolt judged it best to defer the Execution of this wicked command And to furnish himself with a fair pretext he summoned from the neighbouring Provinces Ingravers injoyning them to labour with all possible care in making a Statue which might be worthy to represent an Emperor and fit for the place where it was to stand He wrote a Letter to Caligula in which he handsomly excused himself that he had not as yet put in execution his orders But the Emperor well perceived he had more regard to the Prayers and Religion of the Jewes then to fulfill his will Notwithstanding he dissembled his wrath in the answer he returned him and yeilded to the prayers and grief of Agrippa whom he loved so far as he agreed to let alone the consecration of his Statue But being very inconstant in his designes he soon repented the favour he had shewed and commanded that a Statue should be made at Rome of brass gilded over intending to send it to Hierusalem and place it in the Temple before the noise of it should be dispersed amongst the Jewes but death hindered the course of this execrable design He that had wished the people of Rome had but one head was killed by Chereas and Sabinus Captains of his Guard after the Reign or rather after the Tyranny of three years and some moneths Claudius his Uncle and Brother to Germanicus succeeded in the Empire at the Age of fifty years At his first entrance he confirmed to Herod Agrippa the Kingdom which his Predecessor had given him and restored to him the Provinces of Judaea and Samaria as having heretofore belonged to the Demain of Herod his Grandfather This was not sufficient to satisfie his Liberality he added to it the Country which Lysanius held In stead of receiving so great benefits from the hands of God and to lay the Foundation upon his protection for the glory and repose of his new Kingdome he suffered himself to be blinded with his Greatness and followed the Maximes of the unhappy Polititian who perswades Princes that crimes are to be permitted when profitable It was upon this ground that presently after his Arrival at Hierusalem to gain the good will of the Jewes he caused the head of Saint James Brother to Saint John to be cut off a man even to his Enemies venerable for his piety To this death he would have added also that of Saint Peter but to observe a form of Justice he made him to be bound with two chains and shut up in an obscure prison with intention after the Feast of Easter to please the people with the Spectacle of his Execution This accident astonished the Church now in her Infancy and moved her to ordain continuall and publick prayers conceaving the storm which then threatned to be of highest danger Her members careful for the preservation of their Head prayed night and day for the obtaining of his life and liberty both which were desperate according to humane probability But Almighty God carefully preserved him to make him instrumental unto greater things then which he had already done The night before that day which was ordained for his appearance before the people an
Gods permission who would have him thereby known a viper issuing forth fastned upon his hand there hung the Islanders according to their feeble understanding judged him to be some wicked man whom the divine Justice had saved from the fury of the sea to punish more exemplarly rigorously at land But when they beheld him to shake the viper into the fire and that he had no harm by the biting of it As the mindes of the Vulgar in the same moment are capable of different impressions they presently took him for a God hidden under a humane form The marvelous cure of Publius his Father Prince of that Island oppressed by a strong Fever and Disentery increased their respect and esteem of his sanctity and caused them to bring to him from all parts diseased persons whom he restored to health by invocating the name of Jesus Christ He converted there many to the faith and at this day it is the Bulwark against the fury of the Turks who finde it a stubborn rock to resist their power by the visible protection of God He stayed there three moneths and at the end departed thence in a vessel of Alexandria which had wintred there The winde was favourable to them till they came to Syracusa where they tarried three dayes from thence coasting along the land they got to Regium and the next day arrived at Putzeoli They found Christians there who conjured him to stay seven dayes with them to which he easily condescended in acknowledgment of their charity and of the honour which they had done him The report of his arrival being spread through Rome most of the faithfull that dwelt there came to meet him some as farre as the market place of Appius and others to a structure called the Three Taverns the sight of them afforded him great consolation He with them entered into this great City which one may call the seat of Idolatry as well as of the Empire in whose conversion that of the whole world was included So great a worke required a zeale no less ardent and a minde no less cleare then that of the Apostle whom God had ordained together with S. Peter by their preaching to found the principal Church upon earth to cultivate it by their cares and as we shall see a little after to consecrate it with their bloud The Captain who conducted him remitted him with the rest of his prisoners into the hands of the Prefect of the Pretorium who was named Burrus this man was content to allow the Apostle a souldier for his guard so that though he was not intirely free yet he might go whither he pleased with his guard who was fastned to him with the same chain as the custom was but so as it hindered him not from walking he by that meanes with facility declared the Gospel to the Jewes Gentiles that lived in Rome He began first with the Jewes and the third day after his arrival assembled the principal of them together and told them That he was made Prisoner at Hierusalem and put into the hands of the Romanes by those of his own nation although he was not guilty of any crime either in word or deed against any particular person or against the Law That the hatred and fury of his accusers constrained him to appeale to Caesar that he came thither to present himself not to accuse his Country-men but onely to defend his owne innocency That he found his chain very pleasing since he bore it for declaring the coming of him who was the hope of Israel and that he might give them an account of all things hee defired them they would come unto him They answered him they had received no letters from Judea nor seen any body that had made the least complaint against him and for the rest they desired him hee would freely tell them what this new Sect was which he preached and which they understood was generally opposed with great contradiction The Apostle unable then to satisfie their desires appointed them another day when he should have more time to explicate so highly important verities They failed not to come to this conference and when every one had taken his place S. Paul spake much after this manner Brethren in the subject you desire to be instructed it is a great advantage to me and likewise a great consolation that I am not obliged to prove the principles to you from which I am to draw my Consequences You receive Moses for the Law giver and with reason esteem his words as Oracles Certainly it is most reasonable we should hearken to him whom God treated with so much familiarity upon the Mountain and by whom he hath wrought so many wonders in favour of our fore-fathers We must onely be careful that we go not contrary to the intentions of this great man He hath been faithful in the house of God but it has been in quality of a Servant He hath declared to the people the will of the eternal Father but as Interpreter He has established Purifications and sacrifices but it was onely for that time according as providence had ordained which was to preceed the birth of the new Law giver whom I preach and who is no other then Jesus Christ It is he Brethren by whom God hath vouchsafed to speake to us in these last ages having spoken in the former by the Prophets after divers manners This is the Son to the Father of that Family whereof Moses is a member This is the truth of all our figures the end of the whole body of the Law the object of all the Prophesies His death was figured in that of Abell whose innocent blood Cain spilt througy a raging jealousie Moses in delivering our Ancestors from the bondage of Egypt represents the exemption from the tyranny of sin and death wrought by him whom I preach unto you The brazen Serpent erected in the Desart which was a Cure for the biting of real Serpents teacheth us that the Son of man was to be lifted up from the Earth and placed upon the Cross and that he should prove a saving Physitian to the Mortal desease of humane nature The immolation of the Paschal Lamb the sacrifice of the Goat emissary on whom were charged all the sins of the people were the images of his bloody oblation which hath opened us the way to eternal life and which has expiated all the sins of the world The Prophet Esay seems to have beheld it with his eyes and unless you will blind your selves you must acknowledge that which he spake of a Virgin that should conceive and bring forth a Son who should be the light the hope the leader the Master and King of Nations in whom the Spirit of Wisedome Counsel and Force should reside whose feet and hands should be pierced who should be made a man of dolours a man chastised by God for the sins of his people and in whom neither beauty nor comlinesse should appear insomuch
this unknown voyage he spent eight yeares during which time the Church lost many of her Masters and Children or rather sent them to heaven by a glorious martyrdom The death of S. James who was called the brother of our Lord according to the testimony of Jesephus himselfe drew upon the city of Hierusalem the horrid calamities of that famous siege which ruined it intirely Hee had governed that Church twenty nine yeares with so great a reputation of sanctity that the people when hee walked in the streets thought themselves very happy if they could but touch the hemm of his garment Eusebius and before him Hegesippus sayes that he was sanctified in his mothers womb that he ever abstained from all sort of liquours which might cause drunkenness and from flesh that a rasor never toucht his head that hee was never in the bathes and that by his long continuance in prayer there was a scale like to the skin of a Camel grown over his knees The Scribes Pharisees alwaies the same could not support the credit reputation of this man who converted sinners by his example as well as words Wherefore in a great assembly of the people they endeavoured to perswade him publickly to profess Judaism which hee refusing was forthwith precipitated from the top of the Temple where at the foot a dyer with a Lever killed him out-right We have a Canonical Epistle of his in which hee labours principally to prove the necessity of good works to refute the error of Simon the Magician who said faith alone was sufficient to salvation After him Simon the son of Cleophas also called the brother of Jesus Christ because he was his cozen was chosen Bishop of Hierusalem S. Barnaby the faithfull companion of the Apostle in his peregrinations at the same time time received also the crown of martyrdom in the Isle of Cyprus On the other side Mark the disciple of S. Peter and one of the Evangelists after he had governed the Church of Alexandria with great sanctity was taken on a Sunday by the Gentiles who put a rope about his neck and so dragged him for two dayes together about the streets and in rough and uneven places where in the end he finished his life The Christians that were under his conduct led a marvelous holy life Philo the Jew composed a book expresly in their praise called The Contemplative Life wherein hee gives them the name of Essens taking them for Jewes because in that time they retained many legal Ceremonies I know there are great disputes among learned men upon this passage but since I write not for them it were to little purpose to go about to cleare tha difficulty more curious then profitable wee shall doe better to return to Rome where the Church was agitated with a horrible persecution Nero in the tenth of his Empire increasing in wickedness as he grew up in years gave fire himself to the Citie of Rome The streets were too narrow for him and he had a mind to rebuild it that it might bear his name The fire began in that part of the Cirque which joyned to the Mounts Palatine and Caelius and from thence meeting with Magazines filled with combustible matter and being carried with the winde which began to rise it spread it selfe with such violence that remedies were too late to resist its fury The air ecchoed with the lamentable cryes of Women and children who in that apprehension of fear knew not whither to go for safety and hindered those that would have helpt them for whilest some either expected or would secure others they so troubled one another that they found themselves encompassed with flames In the narrow streets where there were many turnings the throng was so great there was no passing When men were gotten so far as they thought the fire could not reach them then they were suddenly surprised by it as it seemed rather to flie then to creep along Many to save their wives perisht themselves and others would not out-live them although they might easily have been saved Fathers lost their lives staying by their children in fine never was seen so horrible a spectacle such as would have brought water or pulled down houses before the fire were hindered with Officers who at the corners of streets throwing about fiery balls cryed out that what they did was by order meaning by the command of the Emperour who as is commonly reported during this sad calamity was singing on the stage the Burning of Troy Notwithstanding he sought to suppress this opinion causing many hutts to be built in his gardens for those who had lost their houses by the fire Of fourteen quarters which composed the city there were but four left intire The houses of three of them were intirely levelled with the ground and in the other seven there remained onely the tops of buildings half burnt and ruined Thus all the riches heaped together since the foundation of the Common-wealth of so many Statues so many Pictures and other other rarities transported from all the Nations of the world of so many Temples built with such magnificence and by the Superstition of the people rendered so famous and renowned there remained onely a little heap of Ashes a sad example of the vanity of all humane things But to see that great City all in flames was not so dreadfull as afterwards to behold a great number of Christians tormented by Nero as authors of the fire without distinction either of age or quality and adding derision to his cruelty hee commanded some to be covered with the skins of wilde beasts to the end they might be worried to death by fierce dogs Others he nailed upon Crosses and caused their bodies to be rubbed over with pitch and other things apt to take fire that in the night time they served for torches to light those who passed by whilest they consumed like living holocausts for the defence of the name of J. Christ His gardens were the theatre of this abominable execution Although the Christians were odious to the Romanes who distinguished them not from the Jewes Hereticks of that time whose abominations indeed by right deserved their publick hatred yet they had compassion of these for every one saw they perished not for their own crimes but to satisfie the unsatiable cruelty of the Emperor who would justifie himself at their costs This was the first persecution in which God would try his Church amongst the Gentiles It was a while interrupted by a conspiracy discovered against this Tyrant in which Seneca being accused to have a hand was forced to make satisfaction with his life let out by his veins a greater resolution could not be desired then what he shewed in his death but me thinks 't is yet to be deplored since this constancy was only Philosophical not Christian Plautus Lateranus whose Palace was afterwards changed into a Church which yet bears the name of Lateran many other persons of quality perished for