all the Functions of the Mediator of Redemption may be reduced to these Three principal ones First Christ hath taught Men the true and only way that leadeth to Heaven having brought Life and Immortality to light through the Gospel Secondly Christ by his Death hath reconciled God to Men and the Merits of his Cross are the source of their Peace and Righteousness God having made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we should be the Righteousness of God in him In the Third Place Christ is the Dispenser of all those good things which are the effects and consequences of that eternal and new Covenant which he hath brought into the World and sealed with his own Blood upon the Cross all power being giveâ— him both in Heaven and Earth that he might save to the uttermost all that come to God by him Now we think we have great reason to accuse the Roman Church of attributing to the Saints these Functions of the High Priest of the New Covenant For as if the Gospel were not a sufficient Rule to direct us the way to Heaven the Romish Church teaches that her Dominicks Francis's Loyola's c. have received from Heaven Rules more certain and powerful to raise those who follow them to a higher Perfection than those of the Gospel it self And for the proof hereof they produce the Heavenly Visions Divine Apparitions and other Miracles wherewith they pretend God hath honoured the calling of these Founders of Orders Moreover the Romish Church holds that by Christ's Death only our Mortal Sins and the eternal punishment due to them were expiated so that Men must have recourse to other ways of Expiation both for their Venial Sins and the temporal Punishments due to their Mortal ones Therefore was Purgatory invented and to that purpose are likewise applied the Fasts the disciplining Whips the Obits or Offices for the Dead the pious Foundations the Masses and the Canonical Penances injoyned by the Confessors at the Tribunal of Penitence as they call it But the most powerful Machine is the Treasury of Indulgences that Treasury which hath drawn so much Money into the Pope's Exchequer and which they say is silled up with the Overplus of the Satisfactions and Merits of Saints which superabundance is by Indulgences applied either for the expiation of Venial Sins or for a compensation for the temporal Penalties due to Mortal Sins This is the ground of that Prayer which the Priest saith in the Mass when he asks of God the forgiveness of Sins by the Merits of those Saints whose Reliques are at rest under the Altar Finally the Roman Church makes her Addresses to the Saints as to the Dispensers of Heavenly Graces and we might observe a Hundred Places in their Prayer-Books Rituals Breviaries and other Books of their Religion where it plainly appears that they ask of them the forgiveness of Sins the Grace of Perseverance and good Dispositions for Dying well But here perhaps it may be objected that the Church of Rome makes a great difference in its Practice between Christ's Mediation and that of the Saints which is so far from being true that one of her most famous Writers sadly complains that it is evident that most of the People put more trust in the Intercession of the Saints than in Christ's Intercession and that they have recourse with more zeal to their Protection than to the Patronage of that great Redeemer And after all this distinction of Mediator of Redemption and Mediator of Intercession is very injurious to Christ and to the fulness of his Priesthood The Apostle willing to condemn the partialities of the Corinthians some saying they were of Paul and others of Cephas asked them with indignation Have Paul Apollos or Cephas been Crucified for you And may not we then with more reason ask the Doctors of the Romish Church have Francis Dominick or Ignatius Loyola been Crucified for you For Christ's Priesthood comprehends two parts namely Sacrifice and Intercession one upon the Earth and the other in Heaven one on the Cross and the other beyond the Vail in the true and incorruptible Sanctuary that 's to say that his Intercession is nothing but a continuation of his Priesthood and that the reason why he is our Advocate is because he was crucifi'd for us But in what order of Mediators can the Romish Church put St. Christopher St. Longine St. Catharine the eleven thousand Virgins and the Thebean Souldiers since it is plain that at the best they are nothing but meer figments They will not sure offer to own them Mediators of Intercession and therefore they must confess that they have errâ—d and are still in error The Seventh device of the Church of Rome to excuse the Worship they render to Saints iâ— That they would fain perswade us That the Council of Trent hath not determined this Worship to be necessary but only simply declared that it was a good and profitable practice To which it will suffice to oppose this Argument That Practice must needs be held necessary to Salvation for the not observing of which People are declared to be damned Now it is evident that the Church of Rome damns all those who believe that Saints ought not to be prayed to from whence it ought to be inferr'd that the Worship of Saints is according to the Principles of the Roman Church a practice necessary to Salvation The proof for the Minor of this Argument is found in the 25th Session of the Council of Trent where is a Canon that Anathematizeth all those who deny the lawfulness of calling upon Saints conformably to the use and practice of the Roman Church Unless they would say that the Council of Trent did pronounce these Anathemas notwithstanding they were of Opinion that the worshiping of Saints is not a practice necessary to Salvation But while they go about to set off the Wisdom of the Fathers assembled in that Council they are not aware that they accuse them both of Levity and want of Charity in damning Men for things that may be either done or let alone without prejudice to Salvation The Doctors of the Church are hardly put to it to know what things the Council of Trent hath judged Ceremonial and what Dogmatical and Essential to Religion That which gives occasion to these Disputes is That in some States that submitted to the Pope's Authority the Decisions of the Council of Trent have been recieved as to the Dogmatical part of Religion though they will not acknowledge them as to Rites and Ecclesiastical Discipline I shall observe by the by that the Illustrious Peter de Maâ—ca frequently lays iâ— down as a certain Truth That France approved of and received the Council of Trent in the year 79 of the last Age. However we find in the History of the Cardinal Duke of Joyeuse compos'd by Haberi a Barester at the Parliament of Paris a Brief of Pope Paul the V. sent to the Cardinal of
hath spoken of the Rule which King Sigismond caused to be established there adds that this Rule was strictly observed there usque â—odie to this very day So that were it true that St. Eucherius was the Author of this Work he must of necessity not only have been contemporary to King Sigismond but more than that he must have out-lived him many Years But now it happens to be quitâ— contrary for St. Eucherius was dead when Sigismond was yet on the Throne Most Historians do reckon the Death of this King of Burgundy to have happen'd about the Year 520 and place that of St. Eucherius in the Year 441. 'T is true that Mr. Dupin refers it to the Year 454. upon the Authority of Prosper's Chronicle Some on the contrary carry it as far back as the Year 421. Amongst whom are Gennadius and Ado. But there is much reason to suspect in both these Authors the disingenuity of some Transcriber since it could not be unknown to Gennadius and Ado that St. Eucherius was present at the Council of Orange where his Name is found amongst the Subscribers and that it is agreed on by every Body that this Council was held about the Year of our Lord 441. Some indeed to save this Anachronism pretend that there have been two Eucherius's like the Jews who to mend their desperate Cause have invented two Messia's to reconcile in both the fulfilling of the Oracles which they cannot apply to one alone But in short 't is not possible that St. Eucherius Bishop of Lions should be the Author of the Passion of the Thebean Legion unless we allow him to have had the gift of Prophecy and make him speak Prophetically of those Rules which were to be settled in the Monastery of Agaunum several Ages after his Death Should some Person now put out any Writings under the Name of Monsieur de Marca or of Cardinal Duperron and mention therein the establishment and Foundation of St. Cyr. To shew that these Writings ought not to be ascribed to these two great Men it would suffice to make it appear that they were dead several Years before Lewis the 14 th made this Foundation Nevertheless this so plain a demonstration of Forgery hath not hindered Surius in his Relation of the Martyrdom of the Thebean Legion on the 22. of September from confidently asserting that St. Eucherius was the Author of the Acts of their Passion 'T is very strange that Baronius should make the same blunder both in his Annals and in his Notes on the Roman Martyrology And indeed this would seem yet more strange were it not plain that this Learned Cardinal undertook in his Annals not so much to give us the History of the Church as to defend the prejudices and ambitious pretensions of the Church of Rome Therefore when it s an advantage to him to overlook some supposititious and Counterfeit Writing he pretends he sees neither contradiction nor Anchronism in it he is no longer that able Critick whose pierceing knowledge nothing can escape and who clears and extricates the most obscure and knotty things of Antiquity In a word he is no more Baronius Cardinal Bellarmine whose Zeal for the glory of the Roman Church did not yield to that of Baronius hath taken another way to save the â—ruth of the Passion of the Thebean Legion that it might not be objected to his Church that it worshipped some for Saints who never had so much as a being in the World For since Men would at the very first sight be startled to see so long an interval of time between St. Eucherius and St. Sigismond he hath endeavoured to cut it much shorter and to render it so little as that it might pass wholly unobserved or however be but very little minded He tells us that this Bishop of Lions lived till the Year 499. and he grounds his conjecture upon a place in the Life of St. Cesarius Bishop of Arles compos'd by Cyprian the Priest where it is said that these two Bishops being in company together restored a Woman to her former health who was afflicted with a very sore Distemper If there were any certainty in this Conjecture of Cardinal Bellarmine Eucherius would have been almost contemporary with King Sigismond For Messanius a Priest and Stephen a Deacon two other Disciples of St. Cesarius in the Book they have added to the Life of this Holy Prelate say that he dyed forty Years after he had been made a Bishop and since every body knows that he succeeded Ennoius about the Year 504. his Death should be placed in the Year 544 or 545. For it is certain that he was present at the Council of Arles in 524 and at the second Council of Orange in 529 And to prove that he was alive in 528. we have a Letter that Pope Vigil wrote to him under the Consulship of John and Volusian But though we should grant Cardinal Bellarmine's Conjecture not to be groundless yet he would be but little the better for it 'T is not enough to prolong St. Eucherius's Life to the Year 499. 'T is to no purpose likewise to prove that St. Eucherius might have seen St. Cesarius Bishop of Arles King Sigismond dyed about the Year 520. and they must make it appear that St. Eucherius out-lived him a great many Years to make good the usque hodie of the place we have before quoted Now it is so far from being true that St. Eucherius did out-live St. Sigismond that on the contrary there is no likely-hood that he liv'd till the Year 499. according to Cardinal Bellarmine's Conjecture It appears by the Subscriptions of the first Council of Orange that he was Bishop of Lions in 4â—1 and consequently he must have been then at least thirty or forty Years Old for at that time it was not usual to raise any person under that age to the Dignity of a Bishop Bishopricks being not yet bestowed as rewards upon Families and the Holiness of Canons holding yet out against the Vanity of the Clergy and the Usurpations of Kings Now since we are certain of this can we think it probable that St. Eucherius should live to see St. Cesarius Bishop of Arles who was not raised to that Dignity till after the Death of Ennoius about the Year 504 Indeed I think a Man must needs be very bold in his Conjectures who can allow St Eucherius to have lived above a Hundred Years if he have no other Warrant for it but that place of the Life of St. Cesarius Those who shall carefully examine this Life of St. Cesarius will agree that it ought not to be rely'd upon too much 'T is true it is polite and judicious enough for that Age and seems not unworthy of him who had been one of the Disciples of St. Cesarius and who for his great Piety and Merits was raised to the Dignity of a Bishop as appears by his Name found in the Subscriptions of the second Council of
Temple we cannot but conclude that many of the Infidel Neighbour Nations were also employed in it and so much the rather because the Jews apply'd themselves more to Husbandry than to other Mechanick Arts. It was by God's Order that the Gold and Silver of the Idolatrous Jericho were put into the Sacred Treasury Those Tables and Precious Vessels and the other rich Presents which Ptolomy Philadelphus and Queen Helena sent to the Temple at Jerusalem were no doubt of the Gentiles making nevertheless they were accepted of by the High-Priests and Consecrated to the Service of the God of Israel In what School then did the Thebean Souldiers Learn that piece of Morality that it was not allowable in a Pagan to help in the Building of Christian Churches Certainly the Romish Church must think that Saints have now-a-days much abated of the severity of their Morals and are grown much more humane and tractable since in the Cathedral in Rome a Brazen St. Peter is seen which formerly was a Statue of Jupiter and in whose Hands the Keys were put instead of the Thunder-Bolt and fiery Arrows that they held before and since the Pantheon which was the Temple Dedicated to all the Heathen Gods is now a Church Consecrated to the Blessed Mother of our Lord. CHAP. XI In which the thoughts and dispositions for Martyrdom which are attributed to those Saints in the Acts of Agaunum are Examined VVE must not forget that the Historian of the Thebean Souldiers represents them all possessed with a burning Zeal for Martyrdom He saith that they were all inflamed with a Noble desire to die for Jesus Christ and that the Ministers of the Emperour being arrived to put his barbarous Orders in Execution the Thebean Souldiers made not the least resistance or endeavour to escape but â—endered their Necks of their own accord to the Executioners This was not set down without some design the Author had a mind to answer before hand a difficulty which might be objected by the Readers He fore saw that it would not well go down with some considering Men that a whole Legion well Armed had suffered their Throats to be cut without making the least opposition and that these brave Souldiers who fought like Lions in so many Battels should have permitted themselves to be led as Lambs to the Slaughter But now he thinks he hath removed the difficulty by saying that they were possessed with a fiery heat and a kind of fury for the glory of Martyrdom as appears especially in that Victor whose Death is related towards the end of the Acts of the Martyrs of Agaunum who sought for Death and brought it upon himself by his own indiscretion For being invited by some Pagan Souldiers to come and make merry with them with the spoils of the Thebean Souldiers he returned their kindness with a Thousand Imprecations and Curses and declared without necessity that he himself was a Christian But these things are not perhaps so certain as to leave no manner of suspicion behind them 'T is true that we find in Eusebius Sulpitius Severus and Lactantius many fine things said upon the Noble Ardour of Christians in the primitive Ages for Martyrdom It cannot be denyed neither but in the Church History there are particular Examples of some who had more zeal than knowledge and who in the time of Persecution when they might have made their escape or hidden themselves chose rather to run into the hands of their unmerciful Judges and Tormenters But here the case is otherwise for we are not speaking of some simple ignorant People whom a blind zeal might carry too far in the first heats of Christianity but of a whole Legion which they suppose had been well instructed by a Bishop of Jerusalem and confirmed in the Faith by Pope Marcelline Amongst these were a great number of Officers who no doubt had a competent share of Learning and were sufficiently instructed in Christian Morality as not being Christians by their Birth and Education but by choice In the Archives of the Metropolitan Church of Turin is kept a Manuscript-life of St. Second one of the Thebean Souldiers wherein it is said that he was of one of the best Families of the Province of Thebaide brought up in all the best accomplishments and by his extraordinary Merit raised to a considerable Office in the Imperial Palace Now if notwithstanding all these fine qualifications this St. Secundus was left out in the Acts of Agaunum we may well think that Mauricius Candidus Exuper Ursus and Victor who are mentioned there ought to have been Men of transcendent Parts and Ability Nevertheless the Acts of their Passion do attribute to them such Thoughts as are quite contrary to the Principles and Morals of Christianity If the Author of these Acts was of opinion that they should have offended God by endeavouring to flye from the Orders and Cruelty of the Emperour we need no other premises to conclude that the true St. Eucherius is not the Author of this Relation This Holy Bishop well knew that Christ did suffer his Disciples when they were persecuted in one place to flee to another He knew undoubtedly very well that true Religion strengthned the Saints against dangers but that it forbad 'em to stay for them or to go meet them A man that is throughly convinced of the truth of Gods promises and hath experienced the Comforts of 'em will certainly without any change or being in the least daunted look upon a fiery Furnace but yet he will not run himself head-long into it As we ought not to be afraid of Death so neither are we to grow weary and prodigal of Life Ignatius and Albina may serve as Patterns to Christians of both Sexes but not Cato and Lucretia The Crown of Martyrdom comes from the hand of God we ought to wait for it without anticipating the time said St. Cyprian the great Panegyrist of Martyrdom the Thebean Souldiers had an excellent Model in St. Paul to frame themselves upon who being chosen by God to â—reach the Gospel to the Gentiles feared neither Tribulation nor Anguish nor Persecution nor Hunger nor Nakedness nor Peril nor Sword he challenged Life and Death Angels Principalities Powers things present and things to come the heighth the depth and all the Creatures together to shake his unmoveable steadiness and fidelity But withal he never faced the dangers whenever it was in his Power to decline them and made no scruple to turn aside when he foresaw some great mischief in the way An instance of which was his going out of Damascus as you see in the 9. Ch. of the Acts. This was also a known Practice in the time in which 't is supposed that the Thebean Legion suffered Martyrdom Let one but look over the Collection of Penitential Canons by Peter of Alexandria who was in great esteem about the time of the Persecutions of Dioclesian This Bishop does there Censure those obstinate Martyrs who having
If it could be applied to any particular one it must be to that which was raised at Rome and in which Baronius relates that St Sebastian suffered Martyrdom rather than to any other But of this the Cardinal observes that it extended not much further than Rome and consequently not so far as the Alpes and to Agaunum In short before the time of the General Persecution we find some Christians Condemned to Death in some parts of the Empire but before the unhappy Congress at Nicomedia 'ts not possible to shew any-where during the whole Reign of Dioclesian any such Massacre as that of a whole Legion CHAP. XV. That the Martyrdom of the Thebean Legion cannot be reconciled with the History and Years of the Emperour Maximian THE Character of Forgery which we have dispatched in the Precedent Chapter will appear yet more Evident by considering further that 't is supposed that the Thebean Legion suffered Death by Order of Maximian whereas there is no room for this Martyrdom either in the Life or Years of this Emperour The Copies of Surius and Chifflet and all the Legend-Writers who have followed them agree in this that this Emperour caused the Thebean Souldiers to be put to Death in an Expedition which he made into Gaul Accordingly then a place must be found for their Martyrdom in some of Maximian's Voyages on the other side of the Alpes Lactantius in his History of the Deaths of the Persecutors makes mention of three of them The First was occasioned by the Marriage of his Daughter Fausta with Constantine to whom he gave the Title of Augustus he having had only that of Caesar before He was forc'd to undertake the Second to shun the fury of his Souldiers who were extreamly incensed against him for designing to deprive his Son Maxentius of the Empire by whom he had been restored to the Purple which he had freely Abdicated before And he came the third time into Gaul at his return from his Journey into Hungary whither he went but unsuccessfully to Sollicite Dioclesian to resume the Government and it was then that Constantine perceiving the ill Design he had formed to destory him thought it necessary to prevent him and caused him to be strangled But the Martyrdom of the Thebean Legion does not answer to any of these Expeditions since they are all posterior to the Year 306. and all Historians agree that the General Persecution at that time began to abate in the West Besides it is certain that Maximian in none of these Progresses passed the Alpes with an Army and that his Fortune and the posture of his Affairs at that time did not put him into a condition to deprive himself of a whole Legion Where shall we then find a fourth Expedition of Maximian into Gaul in which this Emperour might be supposed to have Murthered the whole Thebean Legion There is none left but that which is mentioned by Eutropius and Aurelius Victor These two Historians agree that some Troops of Banditi or Rapperees who were called Bagauds having raised a Tumult in Gaul and put themselves under the Conduct of Amandus and Aelianus Dioclesian made Maximian his Partner in the Government and sent him in all haste with an Army to punish those Rebels But the time of this Expedition is not agreed upon Father Petau relates at large the different Opinions of the Learned concerning it in his Book of the Doctrine of times He thinks that Maximian's Reign began in the Year of our Lord 285. Dioclesian being then Emperour and vested the second time with the Tribunitian Power and he confutes Baronius who was led into a mistake by a passage of Mamertine Mr. Baluze affirms that Dioclesian having been raised to the Empire on the 20 of November in the Year 284. took Maximian into the Government on the First of April in the Year 285. and sets it down as a point universally agreed in History that the I wentieth Year of Maximian ought to answer his Eighth Consulship From whence he concludes that Dioclesian Reigned Twenty Years Five Months and twelve Days and Maximian Twenty Years and a full Month. So that if this Calculation be just the beginning of Maximian's Reign ought to be reckoned from the First of April in the Year 285. Father Pagi followeth the Author of the Alexandrian Chronicle and having placed the beginning of Dioclesian's Reign on the 17 th of September in the Year 284 he adds that Maximian was Created Caesar on the 20 of Novemb. the same Year Eutropius and Aurelius Victor are different in their Expression concerning the Character which Dioclesian gave to Maximian when he sent him into Gaul against the Bagands Eutropius saith Herculeum Caesarem misit and Aurelius Victor saith Imperatoreâ— jubet Which difference occasioneth another Dispute amongst the Criticks viz. Whether Maximian was made first Caesar and then Augustus according to the usual Custom or whether both the Dignities were conferred on him at one and the same time Anthony Pagi and Henry Noris differ onely in the time in which they suppose Maximian was raised to the Dignity of Augustus and they are of Opinion that before this he was made Caesar But though both of them are great Masters and seem able to pronounce upon this Matter yet Mr. Baluze in his Notes on Lactantius is for the contrary and alledges several Laws from whence he gathers that Maximian was first Created Augustus Against which Opinion of his a Medal of Francis Angeloin's inscribed NOBILIS CAESAR and on the Reverse PRINCIPI IVVENTVTIS was thought to make very much But this difficulty the famous Mr. Cuper in his Notes on Lactantius hath removed Where he observes that this Medal ought to be referred to Galerius Maximianus by reason that several of his are found with the same Inscriptions which are not upon any of the Medals of Herculeus Maximianus Collected by Counte Mezabarba But the Subject we have before us does not require that we should trouble our selves about these Chronological questions We are in search of the time when Maximian took another Journey into Gaul not mentioned by Lactantius Now the difficulty is not to find out that time seeing it is circumstanced both in Eutropius and Aurelius Victor by two Memorable Events one of which is his Exaltation to the Empire and the other the Bagaudian Revolt under their Leaders Amandus and Aelianus Both which do shew that he undertook the Gallican Expedition in the Year of our Lord 285. to Wit at the beginning of his Reign and above Eighteen Years before he took his other Journies spoken of by Loctantius But our business is to examine whether we can fix the Martyrdom of the Thebean Legion to that time And the Dispute is at an end if we give Credit to those Acts of the Agaunian Martyrs which both Surius and Baronius have followed For there mention is made of the Bagauds of Amandus and Aelianus of Maximian s Assumption to the Empire and of