repentance for the remission of sins and life everlasting to all which the person answered I do believe This form of interrogation seems to have been very ancient in the Church and the Apostle is justly thought to refer to it when he stiles Baptism the answer of a good conscience towards God which can reasonably refer to nothing so well as that common custom of answering in Baptism These answers and actions in the adult were done by the persons themselves in children by their sponsores as Tertullian calls them their Sureties and undertakers for that both Infants and adult persons had those that undertook for them at their Baptism is so notoriously known that it were impertinent to insist upon it After this there was a kind of Exorcism and an insufflation or breathing in the face of the person baptized which S. Austine calls a most ancient tradition of the Church by which they signified the expelling of the evil spirit and the breathing in the good Spirit of God not that they thought that every one before Baptism was possessed by the Devil but only that we are by nature children of wrath enemies to God and slaves to Satan Nor did they lay any stress upon the bare usage of those Symbolick Rites but wholly upon the Churches Prayers which at the same time were made that God would deliver those persons from the power of Satan and by his Spirit unite them to the Church This being done they were brought to the Font and were first stript of their garments intimating thereby their putting off the old man which is corrupt with his deceitful lusts and that all occasions of scandal and immodesty might be prevented in so sacred an action the men and women as I observed before were baptized in their distinct apartments the women having Deaconesses to attend them to undress and dress them to stand about and overshadow them that nothing of indecency might appear then followed the Vnction a Ceremony of early date by which says S. Cyril they signified that they were now cut off from the wild Olive and were ingraffed into Christ the true Olive-tree and made partakers of his fruits and benefits or else to shew that now they were become Champions for Christ and had entred upon a state of conflict wherein they must strive and contend with all the snares and allurements of the world as the Athletae of old were anointed against their solemn Games that they might be more expedite and that their Antagonists might take less hold upon them or rather probably to denote their being admitted to the great Priviledges of Christianity a chosen generation royal Priesthood an noly nation as the Apostle stiles Christians Offices of which anointing was an ancient Symbol both of being designed to them and invested in them and this account Tertullian favours where speaking of this Unction in Baptism he tells us 't is derived from the ancient i. e. Jewish Discipline where the Priests were wont to be anointed for the Priesthood for some such purpose they thought it fit that a Christian who carries unction in his very name should be anointed as a spiritual King and Priest and that no time was more proper for it than at his Baptism when the name of Christian was conferred upon him Together with this we may suppose it was that the sign of the Cross was made upon the forehead of the party baptized when this Ceremony first began to be used in Baptism I find not S. Basil reckons it and he puts it too in the first place amongst those ancient Customs of the Church that had been derived from the times of the Apostles that it was generally in use in the times of Tertullian and Cyprian we have sufficient evidence from their Writings and indeed cannot reasonably suppose they should omit it in this solemn action where it is so proper when they used it in the commonest actions of their lives Tertullian expresly assuring us that upon every motion at their going out and coming in at their going to bath or to bed or to meals or whatever their employment or occasions called them to they were wont frontem signaculo terere to make the sign of the Cross upon their forehead and this they did as he there tells us not that it was imposed upon them by any Law of Christ but brought in by a pious custom as that which did very much tend to strengthen and increase their faith By this they shewed that they were not ashamed of the Cross of Christ nor unwilling to ingage in the service of a crucified Master which yet was so great a scandal to the Heathen-World and therefore so often triumphed in this Symbol and Representation of it Thus S. Hierom though he lived in a time when Christianity had almost quite prevailed over all other Religions in the World yet counted this the great matter of his glory that I am says he a Christian that I was born of Christian Parents and do carry in my forehead the Banner of the Cross And indeed so great a respect did they bear to this Representation of our Saviours death that though they did not worship the Cross yet they took care that it should not be put to any mean and trivial uses be painted or made upon the ground or engraven upon Marble Pavements or any thing where it might be trampled upon as is expresly provided by a Law of Theodosius and Valentinian The action having proceeded thus far the party to be baptized was wholly immerged or put under water which was the almost constant and universal custom of those times whereby they did more notably and significantly express the three great ends and effects of Baptism for as in immersion there are in a manner three several acts the putting the person into water his abiding there for a little time and his rising up again so by these were represented Christs death burial and resurrection and in conformity thereunto our dying unto sin the destruction of its power and our resurrection to a new course of life by the persons being put into water was lively represented the putting off the body of the sins of the flesh and being washed from the filth and pollution of them by his abode under it which was a kind of burial in the water his entring into a state of death or mortification like as Christ remained for some time under the state or power of death therefore as many as are baptized into Christ are said to be baptized into his death and to be buried with him by Baptism into death that the old man being crucified with him the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth he might not serve sin for that he that is dead is freed from sin as the Apostle clearly explains the meaning of this rite and then by his emersion or rising up out of the water was
long before others were called to do the same offices for them Their bodies they decently committed to the ground for they abhorred the custom so common amongst the Gentiles of burning the bodies of the dead which they did not as the Heathens objected because they thought that their bodies once burnt to ashes would be difficultly brought to a Resurrection a doctrine which they strenuously asserted and held fast as the main pillar of their comfort and confidence but because they looked upon it as inhumane and barbarous and contrary to the more ancient and better usage of mankind in this matter Tertullian calls this way of burial by inhumation a piece of piety and tells us they abstained from burning the Corps not as some did because they thought that some part of the soul remained in the body after death but because it savour'd of savageness and cruelty Therefore their enemies to do them the greater spite did not only put them to death but very often burn their dead bodies and sprinkle their ashes into the Sea partly to hinder them from a decent burial and partly as in that tumult at Alexandria under Julian that nothing might be left of them to be honour'd as the remains of Martyrs As Christianity got ground this more civil way of inhumation did not only take place but rooted out the contrary custome even amongst the Gentiles themselves For though the Emperour Theodosius the Great gives some intimation of it as remaining in his time yet not long after it wholly ceased as is expresly acknowledged by Macrobius who liv'd in the time of the younger Theodosius Nor did they ordinarily content themselves with a bare interrment but prepared the body for its funeral with costly Spices and rich odours and perfumes not sparing the best drugs and ointments which the Sabeans could afford as Tertullian plainly testifies They who while alive generally abstained from whatever was curious and costly when dead were embalm'd and entombed with great art and curiosity Whence Eunapius much such a friend to Christianity as Julian or Porphyry derides the Monks and Christians of Egypt for honouring the season'd and embalm'd bones and heads of Martyrs such says he as the Courts of Justice had condemned and put to death for their innumerable villanies This cost the Christians doubtless bestowed upon the bodies of their dead because they looked upon death as the entrance into a better life and laid up the body as the candidate and expectant of a joyful and happy resurrection Besides hereby they gave some encouragement to suffering when men saw how much care was taken to honour and secure the reliques of their mortality and that their bodies should not be persecuted after death This their enemies knew very well and therefore many times denied them the civility and humanity of burial to strike the greater dread into them Thus Maximus the President threatned Tharacus the Martyr that although he bore up his head so high upon the confidence that after his death his body should be wound up and embalm'd with ointments and odoriferous spices yet he would defeat his hopes by causing his body to be burnt and sprinkling his ashes before the wind Thus after they had put Polycarp to death they burnt his body out of spite to the Christians who had beg'd it of the Proconsul only to give it a solemn interrment whereupon gathering his bones which the mercy of the fire had spared they decently committed them to the earth and there used to meet to celebrate the memory of that pious and holy man During those times of persecution they were very careful to bury the bodies of the Martyrs some making it their particular business by stealth to interr those in the night who had suffered in the day this they did with great hazard and danger many of them as appears from the ancient Martyrologies suffering Martyrdom upon this very account Afterwards when the Church was setled there was a particular Order of men call'd Copiatae either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the pains they took or else 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because they committed the bodies of the dead to the grave the place of ease and rest appointed for this purpose about the time of Constantine or to be sure his Son Constantius in two of whose Laws they are expresly mentioned and in the latter said to be lately instituted Their office as Epiphanius tells was to wrap up and bury the bodies of the dead to prepare their graves and to interr them and because inhumation and giving burial to the dead was ever accounted in a more peculiar manner a work of piety and religion therefore these persons were reckoned if not strictly Clergy-men at least in a Clergy-relation being in both Laws of Constantius enumerated with and invested in the same immunities with the Clergy By the Authour in S. Hierom they are styled Fossarii grave-maker and by him plac'd in the first and lowest order of the Clerici and exhorted to be like good old Tobit in Faith Holiness Knowledge and Vertue In the great Church of Constantinople they were called Decani or Deans but quite distinct from the Palatin Deans spoken of in the Theodosian Code and freequently elsewhere who were a military order and chiefly belonged to the Emperours Palace they were one of the Collegia or Corporations of the City Their number was very great Constantine is said to have appointed no less than M. C. of them But by a Law of Honorius and Theodosius they were reduc'd to DCCCCL till afterwards Anastasius brought them back to their former number which was also ratified and confirmed by Justinian their particular duties and offices both as relating to the dead and all other things are largely described in two Novell Constitutions of his to that purpose Nor did they only take care that the body might be prepared for its funeral but to provide it of a decent and convenient Sepulchre wherein it might be honourably and securely laid up a thing which had been always practised by the more sober and civiliz'd part of mankind Their burying-places called Polyandria Cryptae Arenaria but most commonly Coemeteria or Dormitories because according to the notion which the Scripture gives us of the death of the Righteous Christians are not so properly said to dye as to sleep in the Lord and their bodies to rest in the grave in expectation of a joyful resurrection were generally in the fields or gardens it being prohibited by the Roman Laws and especially an ancient Law of the XII Tables to bury within the City walls This held for some Centuries after Christianity appeared in the world and longer it was before they buried within Churches within the out-parts whereof to be interred was a priviledge at first granted only to Princes and persons of the greatest rank and quality Chrysostome assures us that Constantius the Emperour reckoned he did his
the Emperours themselves to shew what veneration they have for this time commanding all Suits and Processes at Law to cease Tribunal-doors to be shut up and Prisoners to be set free imitating herein their great Lord and Master who by his death at this time delivered us from the prison and the chains of sin meaning herein those Laws of Theodosius Gratian and Valentinian which we lately mentioned We proceed now to enquire what other Festivals there were in those first Ages of the Church which I find to be chiefly these Easter Whitsuntide and Epiphany which comprehended two Christmass and Epiphany properly so called I reckon them not in their proper order but as I suppose them to have taken place in the Church Of these Easter challenges the precedence both for its antiquity and the great stir about it that in and from the very times of the Apostles besides the weekly returns of the Lords day there has been always observed an Anniversary Festival in memory of Christs Resurrection no man can doubt that has any insight into the affairs of the ancient Church all the dispute was about the particular time when it was to be kept which became a matter of as famous a Controversie as any that in those Ages exercised the Christian world The state of the case was briefly this the Churches of Asia the less kept their Easter upon the same day whereon the Jews celebrated their Passover viz. upon the 14. day of the first Month which always began with the appearance of the Moon mostly answering to our March and this they did upon what day of the week soever it fell and hence were stiled Quartodecimans because keeping Easter quarta decima Luna upon the 14. day after the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or appearance of the Moon The other Churches and especially those of the West did not follow this custom but kept Easter upon the Lords day following the day of the Jewish Passover partly the more to honour the day and partly to distinguish between Jews and Christians the Asiaticks pleaded for themselves the practice of the Apostles Polycarpus Bishop of Smyrna who had lived and conversed with them having kept it upon that day together with S. John and the rest of the Apostles as Irenaeus who himself knew Polycarpus and doubtless had it from his own mouth speaks in a Letter about this very thing though himself was of the other side And Polycrates in a Letter to the same purpose instances not only in S. John but S. Philip the Apostle who himself and his whole Family used so to keep it from whom it had been conveyed down in a constant and uninterrupted observance through all the Bishops of those places some whereof he there enumerates and tells us that seven Bishops of that place in a constant succession had been his Kinsmen and himself the eighth and that it had never been kept by them upon any other day this we are not so to understand as if S. John and the Apostles had instituted this Festival and commanded it to be observed upon that day but rather that they did it by way of condescension accommodating their practice in a matter indifferent to the humour of the Jewish Converts whose number in those parts was very great as they had done before in several other cases and particularly in observing the Sabbath or Saturday The other Churches also says Eusebius had for their patronage an Apostolical Tradition or at least pretended it and were the much more numerous party This difference was the spring of great bustles in the Church for the Bishops of Rome stickled hard to impose their custom upon the Eastern Churches whereupon Polycarpus comes over to Rome to confer with Anicetus who was then Bishop about it and though they could not agree the matter yet they parted fairly After this Pope Victor renewed the quarrel and was so fierce and peremptory in the case that he either actually did or as a learned man inclines rather to think probably to mollifie the odium of the Fact severely threatned to excommunicate those Eastern Churches for standing out against it this rash and bold attempt was ill resented by the sober and moderate men of his own party who writ to him about it and particularly Irenaeus a man as Eusebius notes truly answering his name both in his temper and his life quiet and peaceable who gravely reproved him for renting the peace of the Church and troubling so many famous Churches for observing the customs derived to them from their Ancestors with much more to the same purpose But the Asian Bishops little regarded what was either said or done at Rome and still went on in their old course though by the diligent practices of the other party they lost ground but yet still made shift to keep the cause on foot till the time of Constantine who finding this controversie amongst others much to disquiet the peace of the Church did for this and some other reasons summon the great Council of Nice by whom this question was solemnly determined Easter ordained to be kept upon one and the same day throughout the world not according to the custom of the Jews but upon the Lords day and this Decree ratified and published by the imperial Letters to all the Churches The Eve of Vigils or this Festival were wont to be celebrated with more than ordinary pomp with solemn watchings with multitudes of lighted Torches both in the Churches and their own private houses so as to turn the night it self into day and with the general resort and confluence of all ranks of men both Magistrates and people This custom of lights at that time was if not begun at least much augmented by Constantine who set up Lamps and Torches in all places as well within the Churches as without that through the whole City the night seemed to outvye the Sun at Noonday And this they did as Nazianzen intimates as a Prodromus or forerunner of that great light even the Sun of righteousness which the next day arose upon the world For the Feast it self the same Father calls it the holy and famous Passover a day which is the Queen of days the Festival of Festivals and which as far excels all other even of those which are instituted to the honour of Christ as the Sun goes beyond the other Stars A time it was famous for works of mercy and charity every one both of Clergy and Laity striving to contribute liberally to the poor a duty as one of the Ancients observes very congruous and sutable to that happy season for what more fit than that such as beg relief should be enabled to rejoice at that time when we remember the common fountain of our mercies Therefore no sooner did the morning of this day appear but Constantine used to arise and in imitation of the love and kindness of our blessed Saviour to bestow
necessary to be deferred so long and that it was their universal judgment and resolution that the mercy and grace of God was not to be denied to any though as soon as he was born concluding that it was the sentence of the Council that none ought to be forbidden baptism and the grace of God which as it was to be observed and reteined towards all men so much more towards Infants and new-born Children and that this sentence of theirs was no novel doctrine S. Augustine assures us where speaking concerning this Synodical determination he tells us that in this Cyprian did not make any new decree but kept the Faith of the Church most firm and sure I shall only taken notice of one place more out of Cyprian which methinks evidently makes for this purpose where describing the great wickedness and miserable condition of the lapsed such as to avoid persecution had done sacrifice to the Idols he urges this as one of the last and highest aggravations that by their apostasie their Infants and Children were exposed to ruine and had lost that which they had obtained at their first coming into the world which whether he means it of their right to Baptism or their having been actually baptized and losing the fruit and benefit of their Baptism is all one to my purpose and therefore he brings them in thus elegantly pleading against their Parents at the great day ' T was no fault of ours we did not of our selves forsake the Sacraments of our Lord and run over to join with prophane impieties the unfaithfulness of others has undone us we have found our Parents to be murderers they denied us God for our Father and the Church for our Mother for while we alas were little unable to take any care of our selves and ignorant of so great a wickedness we were ensnared by the treachery of others and by them betrayed into a partnership of their impieties This was the case of Infants but those who made up the main body of the baptized in those days were adult persons who flocking over daily in great numbers to the faith of Christ were received in at this door usually they were for some considerable time catechized and trained up in the principles of the Christian Faith till having given testimony of their proficiency in knowledge to the Bishop or Presbyter who were appointed to take their examination and to whom they were to give an account once a week of what they had learnt and of a sober and regular conversation they then became Candidates for Baptism and were accordingly taken in which brings me to the next circumstance considerable concerning The Time when Baptism was wont to be administred at first all times were alike and persons were baptized as opportunity and occasion served but the discipline of the Church being a little setled it began to be restrained to two solemn and stated times of the year viz. Easter and Whitsontide At Easter in memory of Christs death and resurrection correspondent unto which are the two parts of the Christian life represented and shadowed out in Baptism dying unto sin and rising again unto newness of life in order to which the parties to be baptized were to prepare themselves by a strict observation of Lent disposing and fitring themselves for Baptism by fasting and prayer In some places particularly the Churches of Thessaly Easter was the only time for Baptism as Socrates tells us which was the reason why many amongst them died unbaptized but this was an usage peculiar to them alone The ancient custom of the Church as Zonaras tells us was for persons to be baptized especially upon the Saturday before Easter-day the reason whereof was that this being the great or holy Sabbath and the mid-time between the day whereon Christ was buried and that whereon he rose again did fitliest correspond with the mystery of Baptism as it is the type and representation both of our Lords burial and resurrection At Whitsontide in memory of the Holy Ghosts being shed upon the Apostles the same being in some measure represented and conveyed in Baptism When I say that these were the two fixed times of Baptism I do not strictly mean it of the precise days of Easter and Whitsontide but also of the whole intermediate space of fifty days that is between them which was in a manner accounted Festival and Baptism administred during the whole time as I have formerly noted Besides these Nazianzen reckons the Feasts of Epiphany as an annual time of Baptism probably in memory either of the Birth or Baptism of our Saviour both which anciently went under that title this might be the custom in some places but I question whether it was universal besides that afterwards it was prohibited and laid aside But though persons in health and the space that was requisite for the instruction of the Catechumens might well enough comport with these annual returns yet if there was a necessity as in case of sickness and danger of death they might be baptized at any other time for finding themselves at any time surprized with a dangerous or a mortal sickness and not daring to pass into another world without this Badge of their initiation into Christ they presently signified their earnest desire to be baptized which was accordingly done as well as the circumstances of a sick Bed would permit These were called Clinici of whom there is frequent mention in the ancient Writers of the Church because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 baptized as they lay along in their beds This was accounted a less solemn and perfect kind of Baptism partly because 't was done not by immersion but by sprinkling partly because persons were supposed at such a time to desire it chiefly out of a fear of death and many times when not throughly Masters of their understandings For which reason persons so baptized if they recovered are by the Fathers of the Neocaesarean Council rendred ordinarily incapable of being admitted to the degree of Presbyters in the Church Indeed 't was very usual in those times notwithstanding that the Fathers did solemnly and smartly declaim against it for persons to defer their being baptized till they were near their death out of a kind of Novation principle that if they fell into sin after Baptism there would be no place for repentance mistaking that place of the Apostle where 't is said that if they who have been once enlightened 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Ancients generally understand of Baptism fall away 't is impossible to renew them again unto repentance For some such reason we may suppose it was that Constantine the Great deferred his Baptism till he lay a dying the same which Socrates relates of his Son Constantius baptized a little before his death and the like he reports of the Emperour Theodosius who apprehending himself to be arrested with a mortal sickness presently caused himself to be baptized
though he recovered afterwards To this custom of Clinic Baptism some not improbably think the Apostle has reference in that famous place where he speaks of those that are baptized for the dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which they expound with reference to the state of the dead and that 't is meant of such who in danger of death would be baptized that it might fare well with them after death This Epiphanius thinks the truest interpretation that it 's meant of Catechumens who being suddenly surprised with death would be baptized that so their sins being remitted in Baptism they might go hence under the hope of that eternal life which awaits good men after death and testifie their belief and expectation of their future happy resurrection Others think it may refer to the place of Baptism those who are baptized 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 over the Graves or Sepulchres of the dead it being an ancient and general custom to have their religious meetings and to perform their publick exercises at the Tombs of Martyrs there being numerous instances in the acts of the Martyrs of such as were baptized in the Coemeteria over the Monuments of the dead Which soever of these is most sutable yet certainly either of them is far more probable than that which many talk so much of as if the Apostle meant it of a custom common in those primitive times amongst the Cerinthians and other Hereticks where when any died without Baptism they used to place another under his Bed who was baptized for him in his stead whence Tertullian calls it a vicarious Baptism it being highly improbable that the great Apostle would fetch an argument to confirm so solemn and fundamental a principle of the Christian Faith as the doctrine of the Resurrection is from such an absurd and ridiculous rite used only by the worst of Hereticks But this only by the way For the Place where this solemn action was performed it was at first unlimited any place where there was water as Justin Martyr tells us in Ponds or Lakes at Springs or Rivers as Tertullian speaks but always as near as might be to the place of their publick Assemblies for it was seldom done without the presence of the Congregation and that for very good reason both as 't is a principal act of religious Worship and as 't is the initiating of persons into the Church which therefore ought to be as publick as it could that so the whole Congregation might be spectators and witnesses of that profession and engagement which the person baptized then took upon him and this they so zealously kept to that the Trullan Council allows not Baptism to be administred in a private Chappel but only in the publick Churches punishing the persons offending if Clergy with deposition if Laity with excommunication which yet as both Zonaras and Balsamon expound the Canon is to be understood unless it be done with the leave and approbation of the Bishop of the Diocess for this reason they had afterwards their Baptisteria or as we call them Fonts built at first near the Church then in the Church-Porch to represent Baptisms being the entrance into the mystical Church afterwards they were placed in the Church it self they were usually very large and capacious not only that they might comport with the general custom of those times of persons baptized being immersed or put under water but because the stated times of Baptism returning so seldom great multitudes were usually baptized at the same time In the middle of the Font there was a partition the one part for men the other for women that to avoid offence and scandal they might be baptized asunder Here it was that this great rite was commonly performed though in cases of necessity they dispensed with private Baptism as in the case of those that were sick or shut up in prison of which there were frequent instances in times of persecution Many there were in those days such especially as lived in the parts near to it whom nothing would serve unless they might be baptized in Jordan out of a reverence to that place where our Saviour himself had been baptized this Constantine tells us he had a long time resolved upon to be baptized in Jordan though God cut him short of his desire and Eusebius elsewhere relates that at Bethabara beyond Jordan where John baptized there was a place whither very many even in his time used to resort earnestly desiring to obtain their Baptism in that place This doubtless proceeded from a very devout and pious mind though otherwise one place can contribute nothing more than another nothing being truer than what Tertullian has observed in this case that it 's no matter whether we be haptized amongst those whom John baptized in Jordan or whom Peter baptized in Tyber The last circumstance I propounded concerns the manner of the celebration of this Sacrament and for this we may observe that in the Apostles Age Baptism was administred with great nakedness and simplicity probably without any more formality than a short prayer and repeating the words of institution and indeed it could not well be otherwise considering the vast numbers that many times were then baptized at once But after-ages added many rites differing very often according to time and place I shall not undertake to give an account of all but only of the most remarkable and such as did generally obtain in those times keeping as near as I can to the order which they observed in the administration which usually was thus Persons having past through the state of the Catechâ—mens and being now ripe for Baptism made it their request to the Bishop that they might be baptized whereupon at the solemn times they were brought to the entrance of the Baptistery or Font and standing with their faces towards the West which being directly opposite to the East the place of light did symbolically represent the Prince of darkness whom they were to renounce and defie were commanded to stretch out their hand as it were in defiance of him in this posture they were interrogated by the Bishop concerning their breaking of all their former leagues and commerce with sin and the powers of Hell the Bishop asking dost thou renounce the Devil and all his works powers and service to which the party answered I do renounce them dost thou renounce the world and all its pomps and pleasures Answer I do renounce them This renunciation was made twice once before the Congregation probably at their obtaining leave to be baptized and presently after at the Font or place of Baptism as Tertullian witnesses Next they made an open confession of their Faith the Bishop asking Dost thou believe in God the Father almighty c. in Jesus Christ his only Son who c. dost thou believe in the Holy Ghost the holy Catholick Church and in one Baptism of
were of a fearful and bashful temper which he utterly refused and openly made it before all the people affirming it to be unreasonable that he should be ashamed to confess his hopes of Salvation before the people who while he taught Rhetorick wherein he hoped for no such reward had publickly professed it every day An action that begat great wonder in Rome as it was no less matter of rejoycing to the Church No dangers could then sway good men from doing of their duty Cyprian highly commends Cornelius for taking the Bishoprick of Rome upon him in so dangerous a time for the greatness of his mind and the unshaken firmness of his Faith and the undaunted managery of his place at a time when Decius the Tyrant threatn'd such heavy severities to the Ministers of Christianity and would sooner endure a Corrival in the Empire than a Bishop to sit at Rome How freely how impartially did they speak their minds even to the face of their bitterest enemies When Maris Bishop of Chalcedon a man blind with age met Julian the Emperour he boldly charged him with his Atheism and Apostasie from the Christian Faith Julian reproach'd him with his blindness and told him his Galilean God would never cure him to which the good old man presently answered I thank my God who has taken away my sight that I might not behold the face of one that has laps'd into so great impiety Were they at any time attempted by arts of flattery and enticement the charms would not take place upon them So when Julian both by himself and the Officers of his Army set upon the Souldiers and by fair promises of preferments and rewards sought to fetch them off from Christianity though he prevail'd upon some few weak and instable minds yet the far greatest part stood off yea by many even of the meanest and most inconsiderable quality his temptations were as resolutely beaten back as the blow of an Engine is by a wall of marble Nor were they any more shaken by storms and threatnings When Modestus the Governour under Valens the Arrian Emperour could not by any means bring over S. Basil to the party he threatned him with severity Dost thou not fear this power that I have Why should I fear said Basil what canst thou do or what can I suffer the other answered the loss of thy Estate Banishnent Torment and Death but threaten us with something else if thou canst said Basil for none of these things can reach us confiscation of Estate cannot hurt him that has nothing to lose unless thou wantest these tatter'd and thread-bare garments and a few Books wherein all my estate lies nor can I be properly banished who am not tied to any place where-ever I am 't will be my Country the whole earth is Gods in which I am but a Pilgrim and a stranger I fear no torments my body not being able to hold out beyond the first stroke and for death 't will be a kindness to me for 't will but so much the sooner send me unto God for whose sake I live and am indeed in a great measure already dead towards which I have been a long time hastning And there 's no reason to wonder at this freedom of speech in other things we are meek and yielding but when the Cause of God and Religion is concerned over-looking all other things we direct our thoughts only unto him and then fire and sword wild beasts and engines to tear off our flesh are so far from being a terrour that they are rather a pleasure and recreation to us Reproach and threaten and use your power to the utmost yet let the Emperour know that you shall never be able to make us assent to your wicked Doctrine no though you should threaten ten thousand times worse than all this The Governour was strangely surpriz'd with the spirit and resolution of the man and went and told the Emperour that one poor Bishop was too hard for them all And indeed so big were their spirits with a desire to assert and propagate their Religion that they would not hide their heads to decline the greatest dangers When the Officers were sent to apprehend S. Polycarp and had with great industry and cruelty found out the place where he was though he had timely notice to have escaped by going into another house yet he refus'd saying the will of the Lord be done and coming down out of his Chamber saluted the Officers with a chearful and a pleasant countenance as they were carrying him back two persons of eminency and authority met him in the way took him up into their Chariot labour'd by all means to perswade him to do sacrifice which when he absolutely refus'd after all their importunities they turn'd their kindness into reproaches and tumbled him with so much violence out of the Chariot that he was sorely bruised with the fall but nothing daunted as if he had received no harm he chearfully went on his way a voice being heard as he went along as it were from Heaven Polycarp be strong and quit thy self like a man When he came before the Tribunal the Proconsul asked him whether he was Polycarp which he presently confessed then he attempted by all arts of perswasion to urge him to deny Christ or to do but something that might look like it but all in vain These fourscore and six years says he have I served Christ and he never did me any harm and how then can I blaspheme my Master and my Saviour Being urg'd to swear by the Emperours Genius he replyed Forasmuch as thou pressest me to do this pretending thou knowest not who I am know I am a Christian then the Proconsul told him he would throw him to the wild beasts unless he alter'd his Opinion Call for them answered Polycarp for we have no mind to change from better to worse as counting that change only to be honest and laudable which is from Vice to Vertue But if thou makest so light of wild beasts added the Proconsul I 'le have a fire that shall tame thee to which the good old man return'd You threaten Sir a fire that will burn for an hour and presently be extinguish'd but know not that there is a fire of eternal damnation in the judgement to come reserv'd for the punishment of all wicked men But why delay you execute what ever you have a mind to This and much more to the same purpose he discoursed of to the great admiration of the Proconsul being so far from being terrified with what was said to him that he was filled with joy and chearfulness and a certain grace and loveliness over-spread his face So likewise when Cyprian was brought before the Proconsul Thou art said he Thascius Cyprian who hast been a ringleader to men of a wicked mind the Emperours command thee to do sacrifice and therefore consult thy welfare To which he answered I am Cyprian I am a Christian
the publick treasury and themselves for ever reduc'd into the condition of slaves These were some of the more usual ways of punishment amongst the Romans though exercis'd towards the Christians in their utmost rigour and severity I omit to speak of Christians being scourg'd and whip'd even to the tiring of their executioners especially with rods called plumbatae whereof there is frequent mention in the Theodosian Code which were scourges made of cords or thongs with leaden bullets at the end of them of their being ston'd to death their being beheaded their being thrust into stinking and nasty prisons where they were set in a kind of stocks with five holes their legs being stretch'd asunder to reach from one end to the other We shall now consider some few of those unusal torments and punishments which were inflicted only upon Christians or if upon any others only in extraordinary cases Such was their being tied to arms of trees bent by great force and strength by certain Engines and being suddainly let go did in a moment tear the Martyr in pieces in which way many were put to death in the persecution at Thebais Sometimes they were clad with coats of paper linnen or such like dawb'd in the inside with pitch and brimstone which being set on fire they were burnt alive Otherwhiles they were shut into the belly of a brazen Bull and a fire being kindled under it were consumed with a torment beyond imagination Sometimes they were put into a great Pot or Caldron full of boyling pitch oyl lead or wax mixed together or had these fatal liquors by holes made on purpose poured into their bowels Some of them were hung up by one or both hands with stones of great weight tied to their feet to augment their sufferings others were anointed all over their bodies with honey and at mid-day fastned to the top of a pole that they might be a prey to flies wasps and such little cattle as might by degrees sting and torment them to death Thus besides many others it was with Marcus Bishop of Arethusa a venerable old man who suffered under Julian the Apostate after infinite other tortures they dawb'd him over with honey and jellies and in a basket fastned to the top of a pole expos'd him to the hottest beams of the Sun and to the fury of such little Insects as would be sure to prey upon him Sometimes they were put into a rotten ship which being turn'd out to sea was set on fire thus they serv'd an Orthodox Presbyter under Valens the Arrian Emperour the same which Socrates reports of fourscore pious and devout men who by the same Emperours command were thrust into a ship which being brought into open Sea was presently fir'd that so by this means they might also want the honour of a burial And indeed the rage and cruelty of the Gentiles did not only reach the Christians while alive but extend to them after death denying them what has been otherwise granted amongst the most barbarous people the conveniency of burial exposing them to the ravage and fierceness of dogs and beasts of prey a thing which we are told the Primitive Christians reckon'd as not the least aggravation of their sufferings Nay where they had been quietly buried they were not suffered many times as Tertullian complains to enjoy the Asylum of the grave but were plucked out rent and torn in pieces But to what purpose is it any longer to insist upon these things sooner may a man tell the stars than reckon up all those methods of misery and suffering which the Christians endured Eusebius who himself was a sad spectatour of some of the later persecutions professes to give over the account as a thing beyond all possibility of expression the manner of their sufferings and the persons that suffered being hard nay impossible to be reckoned up The truth is as he there observes and Cyprian plainly tells Demetrian of it their enemies did little else but set their wits upon the tenters to find out the most exquisite methods of torture and punishment they were not content with those old ways of torment which their forefathers had brought in but by an ingenious cruelty daily invented new striving to excel one another in this piece of hellish art and accounting those the wittiest persons that could invent the bitterest and most barbarous engins of execution and in this they improved so much that Vlpian Master of Records to Alexander Severus the Emperour and the great Oracle of those Times for Law writing several Books de Officio Proconsulis many parcels whereof are yet extant in the body of the Civil Law in the seventh Book collected together the several bloody Edicts which the Emperours had put out against the Christians that he might shew by what ways and methods they ought to be punished and destroyed as Lactantius tells us But this Book as to what concern'd Christians is not now extant the zeal and piety of the first Christian Emperours having banished all Books of that nature out of the World as appears by a Law of the Emperour Theodosius where he commands the Writings of Porphyry and all others that had written against the Christian Religion to be burned The reason why we have no more Books of the Heathens concerning the Christians extant at this day Having given this brief specimen of some few of those grievous torments to which the Primitive Christians were exposed they that would have more must read the Martyrologies of the Church or such as have purposely witten on this subject we come next to consider what was their behaviour and carriage under them this we shall find to have been most sedate and calm most constant and resolute they neither fainted nor fretted neither railed at their enemies nor sunk under their hands but bore up under the heaviest torments under the bitterest reproaches with a meekness and patience that was invincible and such as every way became the mild and yet generous spirit of the Gospel So Justin Martyr tells the Jew We patiently bear says he all the mischiefs which are brought upon us either by men or devils even to the extremities of death and torments praying for those that thus treat us that they may find mercy not desiring to hurt or revenge our selves upon any that injures us according as our great Law-giver has commanded us Thus Eusebius reporting the hard usage which the Christians met with during the times of persecution tells us that they were betrayed and butchered by their own friends and brethren but they as couragious Champions of the true Religion accustomed to prefer an honourable death in defence of the truth before life it self little regarded the cruel usage they met with in it but rather as became true Souldiers of God armed with patience they laughed at all methods of execution fire and sword and the piercings of nails wild beasts and the bottom of
Father Constantine the Great a peculiar honour when he obtained to have him buried in the Porch of the Church which he had built at Constantinople to the memory of the Apostles and wherein he had earnestly desired to be buried as Eusebius tells us and in the same many of his Successors were interred it not being in use then nor some hundreds of years after for persons to be buried in the body of the Church as appears from the Capitula of Charles the Great where burying in the Church which then it seems had crept into some places is strictly forbidden During the first ages of Christianity while the malice of their enemies persecuted them both alive and dead their Coemeteria were ordinarily under ground imitating herein the custome of the Jews whose Sepulchres were in Caverns and holes of rocks though doubtless the Christians did it to avoid the rage and fury of their enemies not so much upon the account of secrecy for their frequent retiring to those places was so notorious as could not escape the observation of their enemies and therefore we sometimes find the Emperours Officers readily coming thither but it was upon the account of that Sacredness and Religion that was reckon'd to be due to places of this nature it being accounted by all Nations a piece of great impiety Manes temerare Sepultos to disturb and violate the ashes of the dead They were large vaults dug in dry sandy places and arched over and separated into many little apartments wherein on either side the bodies of the Martyrs lay in distinct Cells each having an Inscription upon Marble whereon his Name Quality and probably the time and manner of his death were engraven Though in the heats of Persecution they were forced to bury great numbers together in one common grave LX Prudentius tells us he observ'd and then not the names but only the number of the interred was written upon the Tomb. Indeed the multitudes of Martyrs that then suffered required very large conveniencies of interrment And so they had insomuch that the last publisher of the Roma Subterranea assures us that though those Coemeteria were under-ground yet were they many times double and sometimes treble two or three stories one still under another By reason hereof they must needs be very dark having no light from without but what peep'd in from a few little cranies which filled the place with a kind of sacred horror as S. Hierom informs us who while a youth when he went to School at Rome us'd upon the Lords day to visit these solemn places Built they were by pious and charitable persons thence called after their names for the interrment of Martyrs and other uses of the Church for in these places Christians in times of persecution were wont to hide themselves and to hold their Religious Assemblies when banished from their publick Churches as I have formerly noted Of these about Rome only Baronius out of the Records in the Vatican reckons up XLIII and others to the number of threescore We may take an estimate of the rest by the account which Baronius gives of one called the Cemeterie of Priscilla discovered in his time An. 1578 in the Via Salaria about three miles from Rome which he often viewed and searched It is says he strange to report the place by reason of its vastness and variety of apartments appearing like a City under ground At the entrance into it there was a principal way or street much larger than the rest which on either hand opened into diverse other wayes and those again divided into many lesser ways and turnings like lanes and allies within one another And as in Cities there are void open places for the Markets so here there were some larger spaces for the holding as occasion was of their Religious Meetings wherein were placed the Effigies and Representations of Martyrs with places in the top to let in light long since stopt up The discovery of this place caused great wonder in Rome being the most exact and perfect Cemeterie that had been yet found out Thus much I thought good to add upon occasion of that singular care which Christians then took about the bodies of their dead If any desire to know more of these venerable Antiquities they may consult onuphrius de Coemeteriis and especially the Latin Edition of the Roma Subterranea where their largest curiosity may be fully satisfied in these things Many other instances of their Charity might be mentioned their ready entertaining strangers providing for those that laboured in the Mines marrying poor Virgins and the like of which to treat particularly would be too vast and tedious To enable them to do these charitable offices they had not only the extraordinary contributions of particular persons but a common stock and treasury of the Church At the first going abroad of the Gospel into the world so great was the Piety and Charity of the Christians That the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own but they had all things common neither was there any among them that lacked for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them and brought the prices of the things that were sold and laid them down at the Apostles feet and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need But this community of goods lasted not long in the Church we find S. Paul giving order to the Churches of Galatia and Corinth for weekly offerings for the Saints that upon the first day of week when they never fail'd to receive the Sacrament they should every one of them lay by him in store according as God had prospered him This custome Justin Martyr assures us still continued in his time for describing the manner of their assemblies on the Lords day he tells us that those who were able and willing contributed what they saw good and the collection was lodg'd in the hands of the Bishop or President and by him distributed for the relief of Widows and Orphans the sick or indigent the imprison'd or strangers or any that were in need In the next age they were reduced to monthly offerings as appears from Tertullian who gives us this account of them in his time That at their Religious Assemblies upon a monthly day or oftner if a man will and be able every one according to his ability laid by somewhat for charitable uses they put it into a kind of poor mans box call'd Arca that stood in the Church this they did freely no man being forced or compelled to it leaving it behind them as a stock to maintain piety and religion for 't is not spent says he upon feasts or drinking-bouts or to gratifie gluttony and intemperance but laid out in relieving the needy burying the dead providing for
Proconsul that as badly as they were used yet they ceased not to pray for the overthrow and expulsion of the common enemies for seasonable showers and either for the removing or mitigating publick evils begging of God day and night with the greatest instance and importunity for the peace and safety of their persecutors endeavouring to pacifie and propitiate God who was angry with the iniquities of the age Nor were they thus kind and good natur'd thus submissive and patient for want of power and because they knew not how to help it Tertullian answers in this case that if they thought it lawful to return evil for evil they could in one night with a few firebrands plentifully revenge themselves that they were no small and inconsiderable party and that they needed not betake themselves to the little arts of skulking revenges being able to appear in the capacity of open enemies that though but of yesterdays standing yet they had filled all places all Offices of the Empire and what wars were not they able to manage who could so willingly give up themselves to be slain did not the law of Christianity oblige them to be killed rather than to kill nay that they need not take up arms and rebel for their party was so numerous that should they but agree together to leave the Roman Empire and to go into some remote corner of the world the loss of so many members would utterly ruine it and they would stand amaz'd and affrighted at that solitude and desolation that would ensue upon it and have more enemies than loyal Subjects left amongst them whereas now they had the fewer enemies for having so many Christians The Christians then opposed not their enemies with the points of their swords but with solid Arguments and mild intreaties Thus when Julian the Emperour urg'd his army which was almost wholly made up of Christians to wicked counsels and the practices of idolatry they withstood him only with prayers and tears accounting this says my Author to be the only remedy against persecution So far were they from resisting or rebelling that they could quietly dye at the Emperours command even when they had power lying at their foot I cannot in this place omit the memorable instance of the Thebaean Legion being so exceedingly apposite and pertinent to my purpose and so remarkable as no age can furnish out such another instance I shall set down the story intirely out of the Author himself the account of their martyrdome written by Eucherius Bishop of Lyons who assures us he received the relation from very credible hands and it is thus Maximianus Caesar whom Dioclesian had lately taken to be his Colleague in the Empire a bad man and a bitter persecutor of the Christians was sent into France to suppress a mutiny and rebellion risen there to strengthen his Army there was added to it a band of Christians called the Thebaean Legion consisting according to the manner of the Romans of Six thousand six hundred sixty six faithful expert and resolute Souldiers Coming to Octodurus a place in Savoy and being ready to offer sacrifice to the gods he causes his Army to come together and commands them under a great penalty to swear by the Altars of their gods that they would unanimously fight against their enemies and persecute the Christians as enemies to the gods which the Thebaean Legion no sooner understood but they presently withdrew to Agaunum a place eight miles off call'd at this day S. Mauritzs from Mauricius the Commander of the Legion a place equally pleasant and strong being encompassed about with craggy and inaccessible rocks to avoid if it might be the wicked and sacrilegious command and to refresh themselves tyred with so long a march but the Emperour taking notice of the Army as they came to swear quickly miss'd the Legion and being angry sent Officers to them to require them forthwith to do it who enquiring what it was that they were commanded to do were told by the messengers that all the Souldiers had offered sacrifices and had taken the forementioned oath and that Caesar commanded them to return presently and do the like To whom the heads of the Legion mildly answered That for this reason they left Octodurus because they had heard they should be forced to sacrifice that being Christians and that they might not be defiled with the Altars of Devils they thought themselves oblig'd to worship the living God and to keep that Religion which they had entertain'd in the East to the last hour of their life that as they were a Legion they were ready to any service of the war but to return to him to commit sacriledge as he commanded they could not yield With this Answer the messengers returned and told the Emperour that they were resolved not to obey his Commands who being transported with anger began thus to vent his passion Do my Souldiers think thus to sleight my Royal Orders and the holy Rites of my Religion Had they only despised the Imperial Majesty it would have call'd for publick vengeance but together with the contempt of me an affront is offered to Heaven and the Roman Religion is as much despised as I am Let the obstinate Souldiers know that I am not only able to vindicate my self but to revenge the quarrel of my gods Let my faithful Servants make haste and dispatch every tenth man according as the fatal lot shall fall upon him By this equal death let those whose lot it shall be to die first know how able Maximian is severely to revenge both himself and his gods With that the command is given the Executioners sent the Emperours pleasure made known and every tenth man is put to death who chearfully offer'd their necks to the Executioners and the only contention amongst them was who should first undergo that glorious death This done the Legion is commanded to return to the rest of the Army Whereupon Mauritius the General of the Legion calling it a little aside thus bespake them I congratulate most excellent fellow-souldiers your courage and valour that for the love of Religion the command of Caesar has made no impression upon you you have seen your fellow-souldiers with minds full of joy undergoing a glorious death how much afraid was I lest being arm'd and how easie is it for such to do so you should under a pretence of defending them have endeavour'd to hinder their happy funerals See I am encompassed round with the bodies of my fellow-souldiers whom the dismal Executioner has torn from my side I am besprinkled with the blood of the Saints my clothes died with the reliques of their sacred blood and shall I doubt to follow their death whose example I so much congratulate and admire Shall I concern my self to think what the Emperour commands who is equally subject to the same law of mortality with my self I remember we once took this Military Oath that with the utmost hazard of our