a remarkable Instance of it in the two Verses of his * Ver. 12. Tenth Hymn wherein he describes Death thus Humus excipit arida Corpus Animae rapit Aura Liquorem The Earth receives the Body and the Wind carries away the Soul If we had nothing of him but those two Verses and if we knew not that he was a Christian we should maintain that he believed that the Soul dies together with the Body for the second of those two Verses doth naturally signifie so much and an Epicurean could not express himself better But besides that it cannot be doubted after the reading of Prudentius that he believed the Immortality of the Soul he explains himself in his second Book against Symmachus wherein he introduces †God speaking thus a Ver. ib. The Inward Man who lives in you shall not die he shall be punish'd with an Everlasting Punishment because he hath ill govern'd the Members that were subjected to him 'T is no difficult thing for me to surround a Liquid Substance with Flame though it flies as the Wind Nec mihi difficile est liquidam circumdare flammis Naturam quamvis perflabilis illa feratur More Noti He would have the Soul to be a very subtle Liquor which the Wind carries away but he pretended that it could not be dissipated The question is not whether he had a clear Idea of what he said and whether his Opinion is rational 't is enough to shew that he believed those two things lest he should be suspected of Epicureism F. Chamillard conjectures that he might believe that the Soul was of the same Nature with Heaven or of the Quint-Essence which Heaven is made of But Prudentius his Chimera's were not perhaps the same with those of the Peripateticks of our time II. The Work entitled De Coronis contains a Preface and Fourteen Hymns in Praise of several Martyrs especially of Spain which was our Poet 's Native Countrey 1. It doth clearly appear from several Places in those Hymns that they Prayed to Martyrs at that time and believed that they were appointed Patrons of some Places by God Some Protestant Writers who fancy that the Tradition of the Four or Five first Centuries of the Church ought to be joined with the Scripture have denied that the Saints were Prayed to in the Fourth Century but they should not have framed a Notional System before they were well instructed in Facts since they may be convinced of this by several places out of Prudentius Thus in the * Ver. 10. First Him which is in Praise of two Martyrs of Calahorra a City of Spain he says Exteri nec non Orbis c. Strangers come hither in Crowds because Fame hath publish'd through the whole World that the Patrons of the World Patroni Mundi are here whose Favour may be sought for by Prayers No Body did ever offer here pure Oraisons in vain Whosoever came to Pray to them perceiving that his just Requests had been granted him went away full of Joy having wept off his Tears Those Martyrs are so careful to intercede for us that they suffer not that they should be Prayed to in vain Whether it be done with a loud or a low Voice they hear it and report it to the Ears of the Eternal King Those who desire more Proofs of it need only read the Passages marked in the * Hymn II. ver 457. III. 311. IV. 175 196. V. 545. IX 97. X. 130. XIV 124. Margin It doth also appear from Vigilantius a Priest †Vid. Hieron T. 2. of Barcelona his upbraiding most of the Christians of his time upon that account that there were already great Abuses in the Honour which they paid to the Saints St. Jerom who answer'd him confirms the same by his manner of vindicating himself He feigneth so to understand the Objections of Vigilantius as if that learned Man had said that the Martyrs were Honoured as Gods whereas he only complained that they Prayed to them and Kissed their Relicks Hereupon his Antagonist denies that they Worshipped the Martyrs and believed they were Gods but he doth not deny that they Prayed to them One may see his violent Invective against Vigilantius in the Second Tome of his Works 2. Although Prudentius relates a great number of Circumstances of the Torments of the Martyrs whom he mentions yet he complains that Time and the Heathens have destroyed abundance of Acts from which one might have learned them O vetustatis silentis obsoleta oblivio Invidentur ista nobis fama ipsa extinguitur Chartulas blasphemus olim nam Satelles abstulit * Hymn I. ver 73. O Forgetfulness of Antiquity We are deprived of the knowledge of those Facts and the very Fame which would have mention'd them is extinguished for the Satellites of the Heathens have long since taken from us the Acts. The History of the Martyrs hath been the better adorned for it they are represented to us not as Men but as Persons that have no Feeling and at the same time are almost out of their Wits as it appears by the Hymns upon Lawrence and Agnes Hence it is also that Prudentius made but Two Persons of several Hippolytus's and Cyprian as F. Chamillard hath observed upon the Eleventh and Twelfth Hymns 3. They believed in our Poet's time that Rome was full of the Graves of Martyrs whereof the Number was not known †Hymn II. ver 541. as may be inferred from the following words Vix fama nota est abditis Quà m plena sanctis Roma sit Quà m dives urbanum solum Sacris sepulchris floreat 'T is scarce known how full Rome is of hidden Saints and how rich and adorned with holy Sepulchres the Soil of that City is The great Crowds of People about the Graves of the Martyrs brought then too great a Gain to the Ecclesiasticks in whose Parish they were found to believe them altogether upon their Word However they began then to set up the Catacombs of which here 's a Description taken out of the * Ver. 158. Eleventh Hymn Haud procul extremo culta ad pomoeria vallo Mersa latebrosis crypta patet foveris c. Not far from the Walls of the City is a Vault that lies open through dark Pits They go down into it by winding Stairs without seeing any thing at all for there is but a small Light that gets into it through the Door of the Stairs but when they go forward to the darkest Place after they have walked through the winding Bye-ways of that Den the Light comes in through a Gap that is above And although those Paths are very narrow and winding yet one sees often the Light through such like Gaps which are in the pierced Vault c. The Body of Hyppolitus says Prudentius was laid in that hidden Place 4. 'T is not only the Behaviour of the Christians towards the Martyrs after their Death which may be observed in the Works of
he says That no Body could do it but by a Divine Revelation but that if it should happen as it were by chance that any one did it without that help nothing would be more certain than that Philosophy and although he could not defend himself by the Authority of Revelation Truth would maintain it self only by its own Light Afterwards he blames those who stick to One Sect so as to embrace all its Opinions and condemn all other Sects being ready to dispute against all the Doctrines which they have not learned of their Masters That Design of collecting whatever the Philosophers said that was agreeable to the Gospel is undoubtedly a fine one and may very much conduce to convince Men of the Truth of the Christian Religion But to do it succesfully 't is necessary to understand both Philosophy and the Christian Religion well and to confine one's self to clear and undeniable Articles such as those that are Practical and some few Speculative ones The Heterodox of that time had introduced into the Christian Religion for want of Consideration an infinite number of Philosophical Doctrines which have no relation with those of the Gospel Thus the Carpocratians * Strom. l. 3. p. 430. believed as Clemens testifies That it was lawful to Lie promiscuously with all Women and did actually do it when they had supp't in a great Company and put out the Candles They fell into this Conceit because Plato would have Women to be Common in his Commonwealth and because they had wrested several Places of the Scripture to make them agree with that Opinion But Clemens is of opinion that they understood neither the Scripture nor Plato well This latter meant only this he thinks That there should be no Maid in the Common-wealth but to whom All the Citizens might indifferently pretend although if she had been Betrothed to any Man others could no more hope to Marry her I could easily shew that Clemens doth not explain well Plato's Meaning if this was a fit place for it The Marcionites †Ibid. p. 431 465 seq who said that Matter and Nature are Bad and condemn'd Marriage came by their Opinion so contrary to that of Carpocrates by Explaining some Passages of Scripture by the Platonick Principles Because the Scripture often describes the Miseries of this World and praises Continency they fancied that the Sacred Writers had the same Notions of this Life and Generation or Birth that Heraclitus and Plato had Those Philosophers believed that the Souls did exist before the Bodies into which they are sent only to be punisht for the Sins which they had committed in another Life So that to speak properly Birth should be called Death rather than a Beginning of Life and Death Life because when we are born our Souls are thrown into the Prison of the Body out of which they are set at liberty when we die Hence it is that those Philosophers and many Poets after 'em said That 't was better not to be born than to come into the World and to die in Childhood than to live many Years Hence it is also that some times they speak vehemently enough against the Use of Marriage because in their opinion it did only conduce to build a Prison for some Unfortunate Soul which was thrown into the Body that was produced The Valentinians had also learned what they said concerning the Generation of their Aeones of Hesiod as it will appear by comparing the Beginning of his Theogonia with the Doctrine of the Valentinians as it is reported by St. Irenaeus and St. Epiphanius who do not fail to upbraid them with their having taken their Doctrine from that Poet. 'T is likely they confounded Hesiod's Doctrine with that of the Holy Scripture because of some small resemblance that is between ' em I could easily shew that Hesiod by the Marriages between the Chaos Darkness Light Heaven Earth Air c. meant only that there is some Relation or Connexion between the Things which he joins and that 't was this that gave him occasion to Marry them together But my Business is only to shew by the Example of the ancient Hereticks that the Primitive Christians made a great use of the Heathen Philosophy and that many have perverted it as Clemens hath observed in several places As for him although he profest to follow the Method of the Eclecticks and take out of every Sect what he thought fit yet he was more enclined to the Stoick Philosophy because Pantaenus his last Master and whom he esteemed most as we have seen preferred that Sect before others Wherefore 't is observed that Clemens hath a close and harsh Style and that he affects some Paradoxes and to use New Words Characters whereby the Stoick and those that studied in their Schools were known Stoicorum says * In Bruto c. 31. Tully adstrictior est oratio aliquantóque contractior quà m aures populi requirunt * De Fin. lib. 4. Nova verba fingunt deserunt usitata at quanta conantur Mundum hunc omnem oppidum esse unum c. Pungunt quasi aculeis interrogatiunculis angustis Those that understand Greek and have read something of Clemens may have easily observed all this in his Stile There are many Paradoxes in his Paedagogus for instance he maintains Book 3. Chap. 6. That none but a Christian is Rich. A Paradox much like that of the Stoicks who said the same thing of their Wise Man Those Philosophers exprest themselves thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the Wise Man only is Rich And Clemens made no other Alteration in it but that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wise Man into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Christian The Reasons which he makes use of to prove his Assertion are not very different neither from those of the Stoicks as may be seen by comparing what he says with Cicero's Explication of that Stoical Maxim in his Paradoxes The Study of Heathen Authors produced in Clemens milder Thoughts with respect to them than those which Christians have had since He observes in many places †Strom. l. 1. p. 314. That whatever they say is not false And cites to prove it St. Paul's Discourse to the Athenians Act. 17. where that Apostle tells 'em That he preaches to them the same God to whom they had erected an Altar with this Inscription TO THE UNKNOWN GOD the same God of whom Aratus had said that We are his Off-spring Clemens believes that St. Paul approved what was Good in the Inscription of that Altar and in those words of Aratus and gave 'em only a clearer Knowledge of the True God whom they already perceived without knowing Him well He elsewhere * Strom. l. 6. p. 635. quotes a Book which was ascribed to St. Peter and was entituled ΚΗΡΥΓΜΑ ΠΕΤΡΟΥ The Preaching of St. Peter It appears that Clemens made no doubt but that Book was St. Peter's From whence one may conjecture that there was
many Christians to leave the Places of their Abode wherein they were too well known to give way to the Violence of the Persecution This seems to have given Clemens occasion to prove that it was lawful to run away in time of Persecution * Strom. l. 4. p. 503 seq Having said that Martyrdom cleanses from all Sins and exhorted those who are called to it to suffer it he observes That we ought to shew as well by our Manners as our Words that we are persuaded of the Truth of the Christian Religion Afterwards he explains that place of the Gospel When they persecute you in this City flee ye unto another The Lord says he doth not command us to flie as if to be Persecuted was an * That Reasoning is grounded upon the Principles of the Stoicks who deni'd that Pain was an Evil. Evil and doth not bid us avoid Death by flying as if we ought to fear it He will not have us to engage or help any Body to do ill c. Those who do not obey are rash and expose themselves to no purpose to manifest Dangers If he who kills a Man of God sins he who presents himself before a Judge's Tribunal is also guilty of his own Death c. He helps as much as lies in him the Wickedness of him who persecutes him If he exasperates him he is really the cause of his own Death just as if he had exasperated a Wild Beast that devoured him A little while after the Apostles some had been seen to look for Martyrdom but some having challenged the Executioners and having scandalously faln short of Christianity at the sight of the Torments that Conduct †Vid. Dodwel Diss Cyp. XII § 49. was found dangerous and those who willingly offered themselves to Martyrdom were Condemned as it appears by many Passages of the Antients and that of Clemens which I have just now quoted As we ought not to avoid Martyrdom when it cannot be done without renouncing Christianity or a Good Conscience so we ought to preserve our Lives as long as we can whilst 't is likely that we do Christians greater service by prolonging it if we fly than by losing it for the sake of Truth by staying in those Places where the Persecution rages and which we may come out of without ceasing to profess the Truth Those who blame or make some difficulty to justifie some Protestant Ministers who came out of a Kingdom wherein they could not stay without imminent Danger if they continued to perform their Functions should before prove that such a Conduct would have been more advantagious to Christianity than their Retreat Methinks the Solution of that Question which hath been lately moved viz. Whether they did well to retire depends upon this Clemens seems about that time to have left Alexandria since we read that he made some stay at Jerusalem with Alexander who a little while after was Bishop of that City and to whom he dedicated his Book entituled The Ecclesiastical Rule against those who follow the Opinions of the Jews Whilst he staid there he was very useful to that Church as it appears by a Letter of Alexander to the Church of Antioch of which Clemens was the Bearer * Euseb l. 6. p. 11. wherein that Bishop says That he was a Man of great Vertue as the Church of Antioch knew and would know it again and that being at Jerusalem by an Effect of God's Providence he had confirm'd and encreased the Church of God there From Antioch Clemens returned to Alexandria where 't is not known how long he lived All that can be said is that he survived Pantoenus at least some Years and that he was not Old when he writ his Stromata since he himself * Strom. l. 1. p. 274. says That he made them to serve him as a Collection in his Old Age when his Memory should fail History is silent concerning his Death but we may believe that his Memory was Blessed at Alexandria if we consider those words of the Bishop of Jerusalem whom I have just now mentioned who in a Letter to Origen says †Euseb ib. c. 14. That they both acknowledged for Fathers those Blessed Men who went out of this Life before them and with whom they should be in a short time viz. the Blessed Pantoenus and Pious Clemens of whom he had received great Help Amongst the many Works which Clemens wrote there are but Three extant that are considerable The First is An Exhortation to the Heathens Wherein he confutes their Religion and endeavours to persuade them to embrace Christianity The Second is entitled Paedagogus In which he directs the Manners of Young Men and gives them some Rules to live like Christians wherein he mixes some Maxims extremely severe and very remote from our Customs The Third is his Stromata that is to say Hangings which he entitled so * Ibid. l. 1. p. 276. l. 4. p. 476. l. 7. p. 766. because of the Variety of Matters which he handles in it He shews what Conformity there is between several Opinions of the Heathen Philosophers and those of the Jews and Christians He Censures what was Bad as he thinks in the Heathen Philosophy Defends and Explains the Christian Religion Refutes the Hereticks and shews every where a great Erudition But he observes little or no Order as he himself says at the End of the Seventh Book He takes occasion from one thing to pass to another without framing any Plan of what he is to say and without having any other Design but to collect the most useful things he had learned by Study and Meditation His Style in this latter Work is more harsh than in the two foregoing ones wherein notwithstanding there is more Affectation than Elegancy and Neatness He pretends that he had some Reason for it But there are Two great Inconveniences in such a Method The First is That for want of Order not only the strength of the most solid Proofs is not perceived but also an Author confounds himself often repeats the same thing and heaps up an infinite number of Arguments which prove nothing The Second is That a Carelesness of Style often makes what one says unintelligible for 't is not only Elegancy but Clearness that is wanting in it Now an Affected Obscurity in Difficult Matters as those are which Clemens treats of is so much the more to blame because 't is no easie thing to be understood even in Matters that are clear of themselves if One does not express himself neatly As we are to speak only to be understood so there is nothing can excuse an Author for not speaking clearly but an absolute impossibility of expressing himself better And indeed we are apt to believe that those who have an Obscure Style have no clear Head and that they speak so because they do not apprehend things more clearly than they speak ' em 'T is true that the affected Ornaments
of those whose Disposition made 'em not altogether unworthy of them 'T is true that †Pag. 70. Gregory says that some Lyes had been mixed with the Truth and relates only in a doubtful way what was reported that Julian as he was sacrificing saw a a Crowned Cross in the Bowels of a Victim But he assures as certain some things that are much more incredible in the following Oration * Pag. 71. and in this he says that Julian having called out the Daemons with certain Sacrifices could not forbear being frighted as soon as he heard the Noise and that he saw certain Fires which commonly precede their Apparition and that forasmuch as he had been bred up in the Christian Religion he made the Sign of the Cross which presently drove away all those Spectrum's The Priest who performed the Ceremonies and perceived the trouble Julian was in told him that the Gods abhorred him upon that account not that they were afraid of the Sign of the Cross which he had made 5. Gregory †Pag. 72. derides the Artifices which Julian made use of to persecute the Christians without procuring them the Honour of Martyrdom and without seeming to treat them ill because whatever Pretence he used one might easily see that their greatest Crime was Christianity Persecution upon the account of Religion is so odious of it self even to all those who have still some sense of Humanity left that even those who practice it are ashamed of it when Superstition and Cruelty allow them some time to think somewhat more calmly on what they are doing This is so true that most of those who have suffered themselves to be led by the blind Zeal of Persecution have used the same Artifices We have seen an egregious Example of it in our Age and if what Gregory says here of the pitiful Arts and Cunnings of Julian be compared with what was lately done in a great Kingdom one will find a great Resemblance between both I shall omit it here lest any body should think that I design to insist upon so odious a Parallel 6. Amongst other Reasons which Gregory uses to shew that Julian could not succeed in his Design he describes thus the Power of the Saints which the Christians honoured * Pag. 76 77. Did you not fear those on whom so great an Honour is bestowed and for whom solemn Feasts have been instituted by whom the Daemons are driven away and Diseases cured whose Apparitions and Predictions are known the very Bodies whereof have as much Vertue as their holy Souls whether they be touched or honoured some drops of whose Blood only have the same Vertue with their Bodies It appears from those words and several other places out of Gregory and other Fathers in his time that they had already a great respect for the Relicks of Saints and vented a great many Miracles wrought at their Graves 'T is to be wondered how Gregory who loved Exaggerations said not that the Bodies of the Saints had a greater Vertue after their Death than during their Life for there is no comparison between the multitude of Miracles which are said to have been wrought at the Graves of Martyrs and those which they wrought whilst they were alive Several People believe that the want of Sincerity of some Christians and the Credulity of some others did very much contribute to the keeping up of Paganism 7. Our Author * Pag. 77. makes afterwards an Encomium of the Monks and despises Socrates Plato and all the Heathen Philosophers Gregory upbraids Julian with his not esteeming Vertue in his Enemies but certainly his Zeal made him on this occasion commit somewhat like it and 't is very certain that he had learned more by the reading of Plato and Socrates's Discourses than by his Conversation with all the Monks he had seen As for Manners the continual Seditions of those Pious Hermits and their implacable Temper do plainly enough shew that they were infinitely below those great Patterns of the Pagan Antiquity 8. He †Pag. 80. rightly observes that to design the ruine of the Christian Religion in a time when the Roman Empire was full of Christians was to undertake to ruine the Empire it self When they were but a small number they might have been ill treated without any danger to the State but it could not then be done without causing great Commotions and too great Disorders in it It were to be wished that the Imitators of Julian had well considered that Advertisement of Gregory who despises with great reason whatever might be good in Julian's Government if compared with the mischief which so detestable a Design would have been the cause of if he had been able to execute it Besides one could have wish'd that our Age * Pag. 83 84. had been well acquainted with the horror the Christians had for the Snares which Julian laid for his Officers and Soldiers Gregory says that some Christian Soldiers having on one day wherein Julian was distributing some Liberalities to his Army thrown Incence into the Fire in his presence according to an ancient Custom it had been interpreted as if they had incens'd the Idols and having been told of their fault as they were praying to Christ by making the Sign of the Cross after a Meal by some who told 'em that they had renounced him they presently went into the publick Place and cried even in the Emperor's hearing that they had been surprized and were Christians Julian being angry because they had found out that Surprize sent 'em into Banishment 9. Gregory describes * Pag. 87 88. some horrible Cruelties against the Christians which Julian had either commanded or suffered in Egypt and Syria He says that the Inhabitants of Arethusa a Town of Syria after they had exposed some Virgins consecrated to God to a thousand Infamies killed them ate their Liver raw and threw their Bodies to be eaten by Dogs having cover'd them with Barley The same People treated with an abominable Barbarity the Bishop of that Town who notwithstanding seemed to be insensible in the midst of Torments There might be some Exaggerations in this and †Pag. 88. Gregory says that that Bishop had in Constans's time demolished an Habitation of Daemons that is a Pagan Temple according to the Power he had received from the Emperor That Action of Mark of Arethusa drew on him the Hatred of the People as a Heathen would have been detested by the Christians if he had pull'd down one of their Churches Notwithstanding Gregory says ‖ Pag. 97. a little lower not only that the Christians had not treated the Pagans as they were treated by them but he asks them what Liberty the Christians took from them As if it was nothing to pull down their Temples as they did * Sozom. l. 2. c. 5. since the Empire of Constantine They went on with the same Rigour under the following Emperors and to leave nothing that the
embraced That they admired among themselves what they sharply censured in another Party That there was nothing to be seen amongst 'em but Disputes like Night-Fights wherein Friends are not distinguished from Enemies That they wrangled about Trifles on the specious Pretence of defending the Faith Lastly That they were abhorred by the Heathens and despised by good Men among the Christians This is a true Picture of the Lives of the Ecclesiasticks in his time as it doth but too plainly appear by the History of that time It 's an unlucky thing that those of our time are so much like them that were it not known from whence those Complaints come one would be apt to look upon them as a Picture of our Modern Divines Another Difficulty which attended the Exercise of Episcopacy consisted in discoursing well of the Mysteries of Christianity and especially of the * Pag. 16. Holy Trinity concerning which according to Gregory a medium ought to be kept between the Jews who acknowledge but One God and the Pagans who worship Many A Medium which Sabellius did not keep by making the same God considered under several Relations Father Son and Holy Spirit nor Arius by maintaining that they are of different Natures As for him he believed as we have already seen and as he repeats it here and in many other places that he kept that wished for Medium by establishing Three Principles Equal in Perfection though the Father be the Principle of the Son and Holy Spirit It seems that Gregory had not been long his Father's Coadjutor when his Brother Caesarius died 'T was not long after the Earthquake which happen'd in Bithynia in October in the Year 368. He was then at * Orat. x. p. 169. Nice where he exercised the Office of Questor or the Emperor's Treasurer That City was almost altogether ruined and he was the only Officer of Valens who saved himself from that Danger Gregory made a Funeral Oration in his Praise which is the Tenth of those that are extant He makes a short Description of his Life the chief Circumstances of which I have related describes the Vanity of whatever we enjoy here and makes several Observations upon Death and the manner of comforting one's self upon the Death of one's Relations He wishes that his Brother may be in †Pag. 168. Abraham's Bosom whatever it may be And towards the ‖ Pag. 173. end describing the Happiness of Good Men after Death he says that according to Wise Men their Souls are full of Joy in the Contemplation of their future Happiness until they are received into the Heavenly Glory after the Resurrection Caesarius had given his Estate to the Poor at his Death yet notwithstanding they had much ado to save it those who were at his death having feized the greatest part of it as Gregory complains in his Eighteenth Letter whereby he desires Sophronius Governor of Bithynia to use his Authority in it Basil Gregory's Friend having been made Bishop of Caesarea * Vid. Pagi Crit. ad hunc ann in the Year 370 had some difference with Valens which I shall not mention here because it doth not at all relate to the Life of his Friend This was perhaps the reason that moved that Emperor to divide Cappadocia into Two Provinces and to make Tyane the Metropolis of the Second Cappadocia Forasmuch as the Jurisdiction of the Metropolitans reached as far as the extent of the Province several Bishops who were before Suffragan of Caesarea became Suffragan of Tyane so that Basil saw himself at the head of a lesser number of Bishops than before †Orat. xx p. 456. The new Metropolitan drew to himself the Provincial Assemblies ceased the Revenues of his Diocess and omitted nothing to lessen the Authority and Revenues of Basil Anthimus such was the Bishop of Tyane's Name who was an Arian shelter'd himself under the pretence of Piety and said that he could not give up the Flocks to Basil's Instruction whose Opinions concerning the Son of God were not right nor suffer that any Tribute should be paid to Hereticks Gregory assures us that he got some Soldiers to stop Basil's Mules to hinder him from receiving his Rents Basil found no other remedy to it but to make new Bishops who should have a greater care of the Flocks than he could have and by whose means every Town should carefully receive what was due to them Sasime being one of those Towns in which he was resolved to put some Bishops he cast his Eyes upon his Friend Gregory to send him to it without considering that that Place was altogether unworthy of a Person of such Merit 'T was a * Greg. de Vita sua p. 7. little Town without Water and Grass and full of Dust a Passage for Soldiers and inhabited only by some few poor Men. The Income of that Bishoprick was very small and besides he must either resolve to defend it by Force against Anthymus or submit to that new Metropolitan Gregory refused that Employment but at length the Importunity and Dexterity of Basil who wrought upon Gregory's Father obliged him to accept of it It seems that about that time he made his Seventh Oration wherein he addresses himself to his Father and Basil and desires their Help and Instruction to govern his new Church at Sasime Notwithstanding he says freely enough to Basil that the Episcopal Throne had made a great Alteration in him and that he was much milder when he was among the Sheep than since he was a Pastor The next day he made * Orat. vi another Oration on the Arrival of Gregory Nyssen Basil's Brother to whom he further complains of the violence his Brother had done him and because 't was a Day of some Martyr's Feast he adds several things on that occasion concerning the Manner of Celebrating Holy-days not with Profane Rejoycing but Pious Exercises He says amongst other things That 't is then time to raise one's self and become God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if one may so say and that the Martyrs perform therein the Office of Mediators 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That Expression to become God instead of to become a Good Man and despise Earthly things doth often occur in Gregory's Writings He says elsewhere That the Priests * Orat. i. p. 31. Orat. xxiii p. 410. are Gods and Deifie other Men †Orat. ii p. 46. That Solitude Deify's Introducing ‖ Orat. xx p. 349. Basil who refused to embrace Arianism he makes him say That he could not worship a Creature he who was a Creature of God too and had received a Commandment of being God It ought to be observed that that Expression was used among the Pythagoreans as may be seen by the last Golden Verse of Pythagoras upon which Hierocles may be consulted When Gregory came to Sasime the misery of that Place made him believe that Basil despised him and abused altogether his Friendship Though he took