Ordination and that it belongs to the Bishop only to confer it and she allows the Distinction of Orders And tho' there is none under a Deacon because the Scripture makes mention of none yet she acknowledges that they are very antient Sixthly As for the Real Presence tho' Dr. Wake treats of it at length we will omit speaking of it until we come to the XII Article where there are many Books seen that concern this Subject Seventhly We receive says the English Expositor with equal Veneration all that comes from the Apostles let it be by Scripture or Tradition provided we be assured that they are the true Authors of the Doctrine or Practice attributed to them so that when we are shewn that a Tradition was received in all Ages and by all Churches then we are ready to receive it as having the Character of an Apostolical Institution So our Church does not reject Tradition but only the Tenets and Superperstitions which Rome pretends to justify after this way Eighthly And as for the Authority of the Vniversal Church of all Ages the English acknowledges 1. That they have received Scripture from their Hands and it is chiefly for this Authority that they look upon Solomon's Song to be Canonical and reject other Books Apocryphal which perhaps they would have received with as much ease These Books have our respect even before we know by reading whether they be worthy of the Spirit of God but this Reading confirms us in the respect which the Authority of the Church gives unto them as to the Holy Writings II. If there had been an Vniversal Tradition not contested that had come from the Apostles to us concerning the meaning of the Holy Books as concerning their number the Church of England would receive it also but she does not believe that a particular Church such as that of Rome should usurp this Priviledge nor that it ought to force others to follow the Interpretations which she gives of the Passages of Scripture III. When any Disputes arise concerning Faith the best way to appease them is to assemble a Council but it does not follow that such an Assembly can say as the Assembly of the Apostles at Ierusalem It seem'd good to the Holy Ghost and to us nor that it is Infallible or that it's Canons are not subject to Correction IV. Dr. Wake goes on and says When we say I believe in the Holy Catholick Church we do not only understand that Iesus Christ has planted a Christian Church which is to last to the end of the World but also that the Son of God will conserve either among the Christians or in the Vniversal Church Truth enough to denominate it such a Church that is he will never suffer that Truths requisite for Salvation should be unknown in any place So that tho' the Vniversal Church can err it does not follow that it can sink altogether nor become wholly erroneous because then it would cease to be but such a particular Church as that of Rome can err and fall into utter Apostacy And tho' the Fundamental Points be clearly contained in Scripture and that it is very hard that one Man alone should gain-say the Opinion of all the Church nevertheless if this Man was certainly convinced that his Opinion was grounded upon the undoubted Authority of the Word of God we would be so far being afraid to bear with him that we all agree that the most glorious Action that St. Athanasius ever did was that he alone maintained Christ's Divinity against the Pope the Councils and all the Church V. And so tho we acknowledge that God has subjected Christians to the Government of the Church for Peaces sake and to preserve Vnity and Order and that she has power to prescribe to her Children what Doctrines are and are not to be publickly taught in her Communion yet we believe that the Holy Scripture is the only Support of our Faith and the last and infallible Rule by which the Church and we are to govern our selves Ninthly That there are some that think that the Church of England makes the Fathers of the three First Ages Idols and equals them in Authority to the Holy Scripture But Mr. Wake will undeceive them for says he Tho' we have appealed to the Churches of the first Ages for new Proofs of the truth of our Doctrine it is not that we think that the Doctors of those times had more right to judge of our Faith than those had that followed them but it is because that after a serious examination we have found that as for what concerns the common Belief that is among us they have believed and practised the same things without adding other Opinions or Superstitions that destroy them wherein they have acted conformably to their and our Rule the Word of God notwithstanding it cannot be denyed but that they effectually fell into some wrong Opinions as that of the Millenaries and Infant Communion which are rejected by both Parties Tenthly Whether one may be saved in the Roman Church the English think that as she yet conserves the Fundamental Doctrines those that live in her Bosom with a disposition to learn and leave off their pernicious Errors and profess all the truth that they will discover may be saved thro' the grace of God and Faith in Jesus Christ and by a general Repentance that puts their Errors in the number of the Sins they do not know of But that ill use may not be made of this charitable Grant the Expositor limits it as followeth I. That it is harder to be saved in the Communion of this Church since the Reformation than it was before because its Errors were not so well known nor so solidly refuted which rendred the ignorance excusable II. That they that live among Protestants and in a Country wherein they may learn and make publick and open profession of the Truth are more condemnable than the other III. That Priests are yet more than Laicks In a word the Protestants hope that the good Men of the Roman Church will be saved but they have no assurance that they are to be saved Whereas they are assured That they will be saved that live Christian-like in their own Communion They do not know whether God will condemn Roman Catholicks for the Errors they professed taking them for truth but they are assured that the Crime of those that being convinced of Popish Superstitions leave the Protestants thro' motives of Interest and Ambition and maintain Tyrannical and Superstitious Tenets against their Consciences deserve no pardon Eleventhly As for Idolatry the Homilies of the Church of England accuse that of Rome as well as the English Doctors who lived under Edward the VI. and Queen Elizabeth The Catholicks object that the Learned of this Kingdom changed Opinion in the Reign of King Iames the First and begun to maintain that the Church of Rome was not Idolatrous but these Gentlemen are so unlucky in Proofs that of six Authors
not necessary nor ordained by the Apostles and he gives many reasons to which he adds divers Examples in Ecclesiastical History by which one may see he believes it not necessary that there be an Union of Discipline amongst the Churches Upon this occasion he particularly makes use of the Epistles of St. Cyprian by which it appears according to Dr. Barrow that every Bishop lay under a double obligation whereof one regarded his Flock in particular the other the whole Church By the first he was obliged to take care that every thing be done in good order in his Church and that nothing should be done which was not for Edification and this should be endeavour'd by taking counsel of his Clergy and his People By the second he was obliged when the good of his Flock required it to confer with other Bishops touching the means of preserving Truth and Peace But in that time a Bishop knew not what it was to be hindered from acting according to the extent of his Power by appealing to a Superior Power to which he was obliged to give an account of the Administration of his Charge Bishops were then as Princes in their Jurisdictions but they omitted not to keep a certain Correspondence for the preserving an universal Peace Statutum est omnibus-nobis saith St. Cyprian ac aequum est pariter ac justum ut uniuscujusque causa illic audiatur ubi est Crimen admissum singulis Pastoribus portio Gregis sit adscripta quam regat unusquisque praepositus rationem actus sui Domino redditurus and elsewhere Qua in re nee nos cuiquam facimus nec Legem damus cum habeat in Ecclesiae administratione voluntate sui liberum arbitrium unusquisque praepositus rationem actus sui Domino redditurus Dr. Barrow shews after this the Inconveniencies which would attend the Government of the Christian Church if it should acknowledge one Visible Head A famous Divine of the Church of England having maintained the Unity of an Ecclesiastical Discipline so that all the Christian Churches ought to be according to him in the nature of a Confederacy which submits every Church in particular to an entire body if it is permitted so to speak Dr. Barrow believes he is obliged to refute this Tenet and to that end he hath drawn from his Works twelve proofs of this Opinion which that Divine has spread in divers places and which he proposed with great care altho' after a manner very obscure and intricate This last Author having objected for instance to those who believe not that the Unity of Discipline is necessary the Article of the Creed where 't is said I believe in the Holy Catholick or Vniversal Church and the Creed of Constantinople where 't is said The Holy Catholick and Apostolick Church Dr. Barrow answers to this that this Article is not in the Abridgment of the Christian Faith which is found in St. Irenaeus Tertullian and St. Cyprian no more than in the Creed of the Council of Nice And 1. That it was not in the Apostles Creed which the Church of Rome makes use of but that it is added after the Times of Ruffinus and St. Augustine against the Heresies and Schisms which sprung up in the Christian Church 2. That it agrees with the Unity of the Catholick Church in many respects and that this is not the manner of Unity which is in Question and which is not decided in the Creed 3 'T is fairly supposed that the Unity which is spoken of in the Creed of Constantinople is that of outward Government 4. That one might reasonably think that the sense of this Article is no other than this That we make profession to remain stedfast in the body of Christians which are scatter'd throughout the whole World and which received the Faith the Discipline and the Manner of living Ordained by Iesus Christ and his Apostles that we are bound to be charitable to all good Christians with which we are ready to Communicate That we are willing to observe the Laws and Constitutions and Ioynt-Opinion of the Churches for the Conservation of Truth Order and Peace Lastly That we renounce all Heretick Doctrines all scandalous Practices and all manner of Factions 5. That it appears that this is the sense of this Article because that he hath put it in the Creed to preserve the Truth Discipline and Peace of the Church 6. That 't is not reasonable to explain this Article in any manner which agrees not with the Apostolick Times and Primitive Church for then there was no Union of Discipline amongst Christians like to what has been since As it was objected to Dr. Barrow that this opinion favours the Independants so afterwards he shews the difference between it and that of these Men after which he draws divers consequences from his own positions as That those who separate from the Communion of the Church in which they live that is established on good foundations are Guilty of Schism and ought to be Censured by and excluded from the Communion of all other Churches and they must not think themselves to be exempted from Error altho some other Church would receive them as a Subject cannot withdraw himself from the obedience of his natural Prince in putting himself under the Protection of another This also is defended by the Apostolick Canons which the antient Church hath observ'd with much Care as Dr. Barrow makes appear by many examples This is according to his opinion a means to extirpate Schisms and not that which is proposed by the Roman Church to wit to Establish a Political Vnion amongst divers Churches by which they are Subordinate to one only Every Church ought to suffer the others to enjoy in peace their Rights and Liberties and content it self to condemn dangerous errours and factions and to assist with Counsel the other Churches when they have need thereof The second Volume contains the explication of the Creed in 34 Sermons upon this Article I believe in the Holy Ghost The rest being briefly explained because that the Author has treated of 'em in other places of his Works marked in a little advertisment which is at the End of his Sermons These Sermons are not simple explications of the Letter of the Creed The Author hath explained the Articles as he had occasion by divers texts of Scripture treating of the matter that he found therein and the particular circumstances of each text He shews first how much doubting is necessary and on the contrary in the two following what Faith is Reasonable and Just. In the fourth and fifth he explains Justification by Faith He afterward proves in four Sermons successively the existence of a Deity by the Works of Creation by the order of the Body of Man consent of all Nations and by supernatural effects The tenth and two following treat of the Unity of God of his power and of the creation of the World In the 13th and to the 20th the Author
Bread that the same Body of Iesus Christ which had been stretched upon the Cross was upon the Altar and his not appearing to be there Do you think that I stood to tell them all that in all Bodies there are small Entities vulgarly called Accidents and that amongst these Entities there is principally one called Quantity which extends the Body without being always extended it self of the Body or the Essence of the Body or the Moods of the Body and that God in the Eucharist depriving the Body of Iesus Christ of this Entity made it to stay without Extention Do you think I say that I went to tell them all this fine Discourse Truly I was far from it I should have embraced them again and even as they have a very subtil Wit more fit for Sciences than we when they are minded to apply themselves thereunto it may be I should have given them a distast I was satisfied to tell them simply and in three Words That God who had made that World of nothing could as well make that a Body should appear where there was none and that there should appear no Body where there was one He adds that these good People went away with this more contented and more submissive than if the Thing had been expounded to them after the ordinary manner He is not only contented to defend himself he besides attacks the Cartesians upon the infinity of the World the Soul of Beasts the cause of Motion and Free-Will c. The fourth Piece is the Work of a Cartesian against the same Mr. de la Ville and in favour of the excellent Philosopher who hath made the Disquisition of Truth Mr. de la Ville had witnessed some particular Spleen against him and had by the by attackt his Exposition of Original Sin He is answered and accused of relating the passage fasly After that he is told that the Counsels have not decided all the particular Tenets that the Philosophers of Schools have advanced to expound the Mysteries of the Eucharist and that one may be a very good Catholick without adopting all these Tenets That also it is not apparent that the Bishop of Condom spoke thereof in exposing the Doctrin of the Church It is maintained against him that these Tenets were unknown to the Ancient Fathers and consequently that Tradition and Reason are for those who are called Cartesians There is added a Memorial to expound the possibility of Transubstantiation It deserves to be read for it is a different manner of explication to all those which have been seen hitherto After these four Pieces in French comes a Dissertation in Latin Composed by a Protestant against the same Mr. de la Ville The Protestant is so wife as to intrude into the dispute which the Catholicks have amongst themselves upon the Tenet of the Real presence He lets them go on he supposeth that his mediation would displease both of 'em and that it would be thought he rather endeavoured to put the evil forward than allay it He is content to examin that place of the Book of Mr. de la Ville where this Author endeavours to prove by natural Reasons that the Extent is not of the Essence of the Body and because Mr. de la Ville to bring this about only weakeneth as much as he can the Reasons by which Cherselier Rohault and the Author of the Disquisition of the Truth have maintained that the Extent is the Essence of the Matter The Protestant is contented to Restablish the Reasons of these Gentlemen in all their strength in ruining all the Exceptions and all the subtility of Mr. de la Ville He applieth himself chiefly to shew that the penetration of Matter is impossible The Printer hath added to this Dissertation some Theses of Philosophy which come from the same Hand and where it is maintained amongst other things that Place Motion and Time have not as yet been defined but after an unexplicable manner It is also remarked that the Reflection of Bodies must needs proceed from their Elastick Vertue being Motion is Divisible to Infinity and that by Reason of this Divisibility any fixt Body cannot hinder that which is in Motion to continue in its Motion in a right Line Mr. Descartes had not taken care of this Lastly at the end of this Collection are the Meditations upon Metaphysicks which appeared in 1678. Under the name of William Wanduis In this is the quintessence of the Cartesian Metaphysicks and all the best things which are in the Meditations of Mr. Descartes It even appears to be much better digested in it more short and pertinent than in that of Mr. Descartes and that he is surpassed in it The French Author of the Learned Mercury of the Month of February speaks of these Meditations of William Wanduis and refutes some places thereof but his Remarks tho good in his System have no very great strength when they are used against the Principles of the Author of the Meditations Of the Agreement of Specifick Remedies with the Corpuscular Philosophy To which is added A Dissertation about the various usefulness of Simple Medicaments By Robert Boyle Esq Fellow of the Royal Society WHEN the Ancient Philosophers were asked the Reason of any Natural Effect their Custom was always to have recourse to certain occult Qualities whereof they had no Idea at all It was but in this latter Age that People began to Discourse according to the Rules of Geometry and to explain by Properties by which we clearly conceive the different Effects of Bodies the most universal Properties of Body and Extension Figure and Motion And whereas Bodies do not always act by their whole Bulk but sometimes by their insensible Particles it is necessary to speak of the Figure and Motion of these Particles There have been an infinite number of Conjectures made upon these little Bodies and some have made it their endeavour to draw hence Consequences not only for Natural and Experimental Philosophy but also for Medicine As for Example when some were satisfied that the mass of Blood was in a disposition that disagreed with its Nature they thought that particle of a certain Shape and Figure should be made use of to bring this Blood back to its due and natural Temper And there were some that believ'd that universal Remedies might be found out which would produce this Effect let the Distemper be what it would and so have insensibly fallen into an Opinion That what is said commonly of Specificks is but meer Fancy and an effect of our own Brain 1. Mr. Boyle intends to shew in the first of these two short Dissertations That the common Opinion concerning Specificks is not at all incompatible or inconsistent with the Modern Philosopher's Thoughts of the Operation of the insensible Particles of Bodies To avoid Obscurity and Equivocation Mr. Boyle takes notice from the very beginning That three kind of Remedies may be termed Specificks 1. Such as may serve for the Cure
had been in their time Resp. We have produced Instances out of the Caballistical Writings as the Zohar and the Bahir and out of the Mishna and both the Talmuds viz. that of Ierusalem and that of Babylon wherein the Points are not only mentioned but their Necessity and Antiquity is owned in part 1. cap. 15. And so hath Buxtorf de Punct Orig. part 1. cap. 5 6. at large where he produceth full Testimonies out of several Caballistical Books that mention very many of the Names of the Points as doth his Father in his Tiberias 2. The Points might be then and yet they might not have occasion to mention them as well as many voluminous Rabbinical Commentaries since the Masorites Alsheeck Abarbinel c. who make no mention of the Points 3. In the Points they were not like to find such Mysteries as in the Letters seeing the Points hinder the design of raising many Mysterious sences because they confine the Text to one certain sence 4. They might look for greater Mysteries in the Letters which they believe were given by the Lord himself than by the Points if they thought that Ezra invented them 5. And as to the Mishna and Talmuds there is not a Text as Buxtorf observes de Punct Orig. par 1. pag. 77. in all the Mishna or Talmuds any otherwise read than according to our present Punctation Now if Capellus placeth so much stress in the Argument that the LXX read otherwise than the Points direct therefore the Points were not then we may well lay as much stress on this The Mishna and both the Talmuds read all places according to the present Punctation therefore the Punctation was in their time Elias objects The Talmuds oft say Read not so but So as not Beneecha but Boneecha And there is a Mother to the Mikra or Scripture and a Mother to the Masora and that Joab slew his Master about the reading of the word Zacar which as 't is Pointed may be either the Male or the Memorial Now saith he if the Points were Divine they durst not say Read not so but So. Resp. R. S. Arcâ—volti in Arugath Habbosem cap. 26. answers this and saith Their Rabbins had received many Doctrines and Laws by Tradition which that they might preserve to Posterity they set up Tsionim Marks as 't is said Sima be-pyhem Put it in their Mouths They say read not Sima but Simanah Signs So that they alter the Letters as well as the Points hereby and we may as well say the Letters were not in their time as that the Points were not on this account for they say read not so but so of the Letters as well as of the Points Moreover R. Azarias shews that the Story of Ioab and the Saying Read not so but so are Allusive and Allegorical Expressions Which he shews are never to be allowed to prove any Doctrine by for their Midrash and Hagoda prove no Doctrine and must be took for no other use than that for which 't is brought and must never be taken or used against Scripture or Sence and Reason as the Jews acknowledge Vid. R. Azarias Meor Enaim cap. 59. pag. 92. Maim More Nebochim book 3. cap. 43. Pugio Fidei pag. 92. or 111. ult Edit So Deut. 23.13 A Paddle on thine Arm read not so saith the Talmud but read Put thy Finger to thine Ear. This none can suppose they design to be the meaning of it but is Allegorical as Poets use to speak in Metaphors and Symbols Vid. Pugio Fidei ut supra So that these Notes were only to help the Memory by such Allusions as R. S. Arcuvoliâ— observes CHAP. II. §. 1. The Objection of the ancient Translations of the LXX and the Chaldee Paraphrase using an Vnpointed Copy Answered §. 2. The Objection That the Ancient Character was the Samaritan and had no Points Answered §. 3. The Validity of the Testimony of the Iews not impaired in the least by any of the Objections § 1. 4. 'T Is objected That the LXX read otherwise than our Punctation directs and therefore 't is supposed the Points were not in their time Resp. 1. They also read with other Letters Words and Sentences in many places than our present Hebrew Copy directs And we may as well suppose our Copy was not in their time or that they used another Copy as Capellus openly avoweth Vind. lib. 1. cap. 4. sect 6. pag. 822. And in his Critica and elsewhere goes to mend our Bible by Conjectures at what words were in the Copy by which the LXX translated but will not say ours is corrupted when yet 't is to be mended by his Conjectures in innumerable places which cannot be admitted without supposing it corrupted and grossly too And we may here see whither this Opinion of the Novelty of the Points and this Argument about the LXX doth tend at last not only to deprive us of the Points but also of the Letters Words and Sentences even the Copy it self which we enjoy Hence Vossius more honestly rejects our Hebrew Bible and prefers the LXX as Authentick And the Papists on this account reject our Bible and prefer the Vulgar Latin But both are more kind than Capellus For though they take away our Bible as well as he doth yet they give us another in its stead which he doth not only leaves us to conjecture by ancient Translations what our Bible was of old And of this Argument of the LXX Dr. Broughton saith in his Positions touching the Hebrew Tongue pag. 669. Our late Men saith he help Elias his most deadly Errour with an Argument hard for the Unlearned to Answer viz. this of the LXX of which he saith Good Men used this Reason to help the Pope to disannull the Authority of Scripture and to betray their own strong Hold This Answer is sure the LXX never meant to open the Law to Heathen where they would play the Hogs or Dogs Christ hath promised Mat. 5.18 That not one jot of the Law shall perish That the Copy we now enjoy is the true Authentick Original we are ready to prove when 't is necessary so to do But seeing those in England who embrace Capellus his Opinion about the Points do yet reject this Notion about our Copy we need not here enlarge upon this Subject 2. Some who use this Argument of the LXX would nevertheless state the Question so smoothly as if they did not deny the Antiquity of the Sound and Force of the Punctation but of the Shapes only which the Masorites say they placed right according to the Sound which had been kept by Use to that time Vid. Considerat Consid. cap. 10. sect 6. pag. 206 207 208 c. Whereas they yet use this Argument of the LXX the Chaldee Paraphrase and Ierom's going off from the Punctation Which they do as much in the Sound as Shape or rather solely in the Sounds and Force of the Points which by this Argument then were not at that time and
also that divers Bishops succeeded Polycarp in the Government of the Church of Smyrna which shews it was a long time after the Death of that Holy Man Irenaeus might be then about eighty Years of Age. This Work against Heresies was not all writ at the same time nor was it built upon the same Foundation on the contrary it appears by divers places that the two first Books entirely took up the Design of the Author It was after these were ended that he thought of making a third which soon followed the other two After that he made a fourth and fifth Book wherein he speaks of the Doctrin of our Lord. But though he writ these things at several different times all the work was ended in a short time As Irenaeus himself says in a Letter to a Friend that had desired to write upon this Subject Mr. Dodwell acknowledges that he does not know who this Friend was and makes no Scruple to refute those that thought it Turibius a Priest of Toledo whom the Author of this Fable Confounds with one Turibius of Asturia who lived not till the fifth Age whether there were two of this name or that they made two of one which was often done it was so that Anaclet was made two Popes in taking away from him the two first Syllables of his name However this Friend must be a Grecian because St. Irenaeus writes to him in Greek and makes an Apology for the Roughness of his Style It may be he lived in Cephalonia or in some place of the Continent that is near this Island according to the Author's Conjectures who pretends that the Heretick Ptolomy was of this Country He desired him to explain the Doctrins of the Valentinians and because they imbraced almost all the Opinions of the other Hereticks it makes Irenaeus speak of them all in his Work going back as far as Simon the Magician pretending that they derived their Birth from him as the Orthodox did theirs from Iesus Christ and his Apostles It is true the Valentinians and other Hereticks of St. Irenaeus's time did not acknowledge this for they maintained on the contrary that they received their Doctrin from Theodad Disciple of St. Paul as Basilides said he received his from Glaucias Interpreter to St. Peter But this Father proves that they descended by an uninterrupted Succession from the Heretick Menander Disciple to Simon the Magician The better to apprehend all this the Author observes that the new Hereticks used always to joyn themselves to the Ancient ones and to enter into a Society with them adding also some new Error to their Heresie whereby to distinguish themselves And as among Philosophers there was one Potamon that pick'd and chose what he liked in all the rest to form his own Principles by So it is very likely that the Valentinians formed their Heresie from what they found in the other Heresies that suited with their Design This is the reason that Irenaeus calls it a Recapitulation of all Heresies Ptolomeus was one of the chief Disciples of the Valentinian Heresie who according to the Maxim we just before spoke of added new Errors to those of his Masters It 's of him that this Father speaks of in the beginning of his Work Marcus was Disciple to Ptolomeus erected a new School and is more spoken of in what follows than his Master His Errors spread as far as Gaul and all along the Rhine But Mr. Dodwell proves that the Valentinian Heretick Colorbasus was more ancient than either Marcus or Ptolomeus because he was contemporary to Valentine of whom he learned his Doctrin after which he formed a new School All which is contrary to what Epiphanius writ These Hereticks like the Pythagorians did not explain their Opinions nor communicate their Books to any but them who were initiated into their Mysteries which was the reason that very few were well acquainted with them this caused St. Irenaeus's Friend to desire him to inform therein therefore this Father design'd as he himself declares to discover the Practices of the Valentinians and exclaim against their Manners Mr. Dodwell Remarks upon this that the Fathers used to represent the Ill Lives of Hereticks thence to draw Consequences against their Doctrins according to the Maxim of Jesus Christ You shall know them by their works Matth. 7.16 Though this Consequence is not always lawful for the Manners of one that is Orthodox in his Judgment and may be corrupt and on the contrary a Heretick may lead a pure and holy Life But it was just against the ancient Hereticks whereof the most part approved by their criminal Opinions their lewd Practices They affirm'd that one might deny our Saviour by word of Mouth if Persecuted That Magick was lawful and that simple Fornication was not a Crime .c. The Author employs the rest of this Fourth Dissertation to find out the time wherein St. Irenaeus writ this piece against the Hereticks to which purpose he runs over all the Valentinian Hereticks of whom we before have spoken and by the great many helps of Conjectures and Inquiries discovers the Times wherein they lived and Taught and concludes at last that Irenaeus writ this Work after the Death of Photinus his Predecessor about the Year CLXVII of the common Aera and the ninth or tenth of his Episcopacy and because this Father speaks of the Version of Theodotian which is thought to have been later he endeavours to shew that it is a Mistake and that there is nothing in the whole but what agrees with his Calculation The Reasons may be seen in the Author because they cannot be alledged here without being Tedious The Fifth Dissertation treats of the Interpreter of St. Irenaeus and a Passage of St. Ierom which joins St. Irenaeus with the Greek Authors that clear'd Erasmus from his doubt whether he writ in Greek or Latin Mr. Dodwell adds another that neither Erasmus nor Father Feuardant who published an Edition of St. Irenaeus took notice of which is that St. Ierom says that he 'll mention none of the Greeks but Irenaeus Bishop of Lyons He adds Arguments to these Testimonies This Author excuses the Roughness of his Stile because he lived along time among the Celtes and was obliged to make use of their barbarous Language but had he writ in Latin this excuse would not have taken for there was not only a Roman Colony at Lyons but also every fifth Year they celebrated the terrible Combat of Orators in Honour to Augustus of which Iuvenal speaks in these Verses Aut Lugdunensem Rhetor dicturus ad Aram. St. Ierom says also that St. Irenaeus writ learnedly and eloquently and without dispute this Father was too good a Judge to give this Praise to so rude Latin as that of St. Irenaeus was if it were that which is now extant it is not difficult to observe that the Author of this Version understood Greek very well but could not speak Latin so that if St. Irenaeus had writ in
Latin we might justly apply to him the words of Cato Utican on the Subject of Posthumius Albinus who being a Roman would nevertheless write in Greek and yet excused the badness of his Stile saying He did not well understand the Greek Tongue He had rather says this grave Senator beg Pardon for his Fault than not to commit it He has also Expressions so proper to the Greek Tongue that they could not have slipt from an Author that had writ in Latin had he been never so little versed in the Tongue for Example this Author translates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Qui sunt ciro◠Ptolomaeum instead of saying barely Ptolomaeus or Ptolomaei Discipuli he also makes an Adjective of the proper Name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he translates Clarus Mr. Dodwell goes much further and maintains that this Latin Version is so far from being the Original or made by St. Irenaeus as some have believed that it appeared not until a long time after the Death of this Father since Tertullian quotes this Work always in other terms though he writ thirty Years after The first that produced formal Testimonies was St. Augustin in his Books against Iulian. What is most strange is that it seems this Father did not know that St. Irenaeus writ in Greek this Version then must be made in the time that passed between St. Augustin and Tertullian and whereas St. Ierom makes no mention of it in his Catalogue composed the Year of our Saviour CCCLXXX and the Fourteenth of Theodosius it must needs be made between the Year CCCLXXXV and the time which St. Augustin speaks of Our Author thinks it is the Work of some French or Spaniard that was very ignorant in the Latin who undertook this Version upon the account of the Priscillianists who renew'd the Errors of the Gnosticks which St. Irenaeus had disputed against This Version was the occasion of a very singular Action which was that after the Heresies were smothered this Version was so rough and full of strange Matter that it was quite despised so that Gregory the Great could not find one simple Copy of it after an exact Search which he caused to be made and that none of the ancient Schoolmen speak of it But on the contrary the Greek Authors had several Copies of the Greek Original and there are Fragments of it in all Places And nevertheless now this excellent Greek is lost and the World is full of the bad Latin Translation the Fate of Books very often is like that of Fountains there are little Rivers that carry their Name into the very Sea and very considerable ones that lose themselves without any Name St. Irenaeus writ his Books both without Distinction or Arguments and his Translator or some other Authors have added what we see at this day IV. Our Author in his last Dissertation of the other Works of St. Irenaeus begins his Letter writ to Blastus and by the first to Florinus the first treated of Schism and the second of Monarchy Baronius thought that Florin's Errors oblig'd St. Irenaeus to write the Books against Heresies but Mr. Dodwell is not of his mind It is manifest that it is against the Valentinians that this Father intended these Works and Florinus taught a quite contrary Doctrin to that of these Hereticks for whereas these Hereticks establish'd two Principles the one good the other bad them Florinus made conformable to the Doctrin of the Church but he made that the Author of Good and Evil. As for Blastus he is acquitted of the Crime of Heresie whereof many Ancient and Modern accused him and it s believed he was but a Schismatick having done the Office of a Priest after he was deposed by his Bishop These two Letters were writ at the same time after his Work against the Hereticks according to our Author in the Year CLXXXII and the Third of Comodus and the Eighty fifth of Irenaeus Florinus did not stop at these Errors he soon fell into the Dreams of the Valentinians which obliged St. Irenaeus to write him a second Letter which he entituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Eighth because it was writ against the Eighth des Eons de Valentinians Our Author believes that Irenaeus was above Eighty five years old when he writ it which was about the CLXXXII Year of Jesus Christ. Irenaeus writ also an Harangue against the Gentiles the Subject whereof was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Science It is known that Isocrates not having the necessary Talents for speaking publickly contented himself in writing several Orations with important Advise to them that ruled the People he was imitated by a great many others and the Christians themselves were assisted by this Custom to teach the Pagans the Truths of the Christian Religion and did not neglect to embellish their Orations with the vain Ornaments of the Sophists to move the Curiosity of the Readers whose Gust lay that way Such was then St. Irenaeus's Discourse of Science that it was addressed to the Greeks that is to say to all them that were not Christians for as the Christian Church succeeded that of the Iews and the Iews called all them Greeks that were not of their Religion so the Christians gave the same Name to all those that did not embrace their Opinions Mr. Dodwell believes that this Work was employ'd to refute the Opinion of some Philosophers who thought that by Study and Meditation one might raise himself beyond all that is sensible or material and to the perfect knowledge of God and of all Spiritual Beings and this by themselves that St. Irenaeus proved that Knowledge was reserved for the other Life and that we do not know in this but only by Faith St. Irenaeus writ another Work which he named the Demonstration of Preaching or of the Apostles Doctrin and dedicated it to one Mavejon to contradict several Writings that were father'd on the first Disciples of our Saviour and particularly the Sermons falsly attributed to St. Peter Mr. Dodwell says that the design of this Work was the same of that of the Prescriptions of Tertullian The Ancients speak yet of another Work of St. Irenaeus intituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is according to St. Ierom's and Mr. Dodwell's Interpretations a Book containing divers Treatises our Author imploys a long Discourse to shew that St. Irenaeus had erected a School in his latter days and that he taught his Scholars what he himself had learned of the Apostles Disciples that is to say Apostolical Traditions and that this Work we speak of was a Collection of the Lessons that he made in that School It is pleasant to see the trouble Mr. Dodwell gives himself to establish this his Opinion and it is like he took it with pleasure because it tends to the general end he proposed to himself of reconciling the Traditions of the two first Ages of the Church with the Scripture What is very advantageous is that all these Enquiries include many
had the honour to hear The one continueth he which I saw in Greece was of the Ionick Sect. I have seen two in Calabria the one of Syria and the other of Egypt I have met two others in the East whereof the one was of Assyria and the other with whom I have conversed in Palestine was of Iewish Extraction This last was the most deserving I stopt in Egypt where he was concealed to seek for him He was as the Proverb saith a true Bee of Sicily He gathered the scattered Flowers as it were in the Meadows of the Writings of the Prophets and Apostles by the means of which he could fill with a pure Knowledge the Souls of those who heard him These Men having conserved the true Tradition of the Blessed Doctrin immediately after the holy Apostles St. Peter St. James St. John and St. Paul as a Child who retains what he has learned of his Father though there are few who resemble them have lived till our times by the Will of God to pour into our Hearts the Seed they had received from the Apostles their Predecessors It is of a great Importance to know what Master an Author hath had for to understand well his Opinions for then as at this day Disciples applied themselves chiefly to the Methods of their Masters and expounded Religion as near as they could to the Principles of Philosophy which they learned Thus Divine School men who were Paripateticks have since Expounded Divinity by the Principles of Aristotle and thus in the places where the Philosophy of Descartes is received Divinity is treated on after the Cartesian way Therefore the Learned of our Age have endeavoured to Divine who those were which Clement spoke of It appears by the Version which hath been given of the words of this Father that he had five Masters but Mr. de Valois gives him but four because he follows the manner of the Reading of Eusebius It cannot positively be asserted which is the Letter but it may be said that the Interpreters who have taken the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for a proper Name have done it without reason There is no likelihood that Clement who mentions not the Names of others whom he acknowledges for his Masters should name this there was none in Antiquity who was named Ionick and this name may mark the Sect of Philosophy to which this first Master of Clement was chiefly applied Thales and Anaximander Philosophers of Milet a City of Ionia had been the Chief thereof Clement of Alexandria speaks honourably of both those Philosophers in his Writings Thales saith he in a Place was of Phoenicia according to the Relation of Leander and Herodotus He is the only Person who seems to have had Corrispondence with the Prophets of Egypt and we read not that any was his Master c. Anaximander a Milesian and Son to Praxidamus succeeded Thales and had for Successor Anaximenes Son to Euristratus likewise a Milesian Anaxagoras of Clazomenes Son to Hegesibule came after him he transported his Auditory from Ionia to Athens and was succeeded by Archelaus Master to Socrates Elsewhere he saith that Thales being interrogated what Divinity is he answered That which hath neither Beginning nor Ending And that another having asked him If Men can hide from God their Actions How shall that be possible answered he seeing they cannot hide even their Thoughts from him In speaking of Anaximander of Archelaus and Anaxagoras Philosophers of the same Sect he saith that the first has established for the first Being the Infinite and that the two others have said that the Mind governed the Infinite The Principles of these Philosophers may be seen more at large in Diogenes Laërtius and we may easily perceive that there are some who agree well enough with those of the Jews and Christians as that all that is upon Earth is come from Water that the Night was before the Day that the most part of Men are bad that for to live justly we must not do that which we reprehend in others that Heaven is our true Country c. It is not therefore incredible that a Philosopher of this Sect had imbraced Christianity and was the first Master of Clement of Alexandria All that can be said against this Thought is that the Succession of Philosophers of the Ionick Sect ended in Archelaus Master to Socrates But though there had been no Masters of this Philosophy who had immediately succeeded one another that hindred not but that those might have been Philosophers in divers Places who followed the Opinions of Thales and of his first Disciples Thus Diogenes Laërtius saith in his Preface that the Italick Sect whereof Pythagoras was chief ends at Epicurus though there were Pythagoreans several Ages after Epicurus It is no wonder that a Christian followed a certain Sect of Philosophy because it is not to be understood but as much as he judged it conformable to Christianity Thus Iustin Martyr was a Platonick and Pantenes Master to Clement was a Stoick The Name of the Second whom he had seen in Great Greece or in Calabria is entirely unknown Some Authors believe that that of Assyria was Tatian a Philosopher and Disciple to Iustin Martyr and others Bardesanes of Syria who had been a Valentinian who never left intirely the Sentiments of this Sect As for him who had been originally a Iew some believe he might be Theophilus Bishop of Caesarea though History does not observe that he was descended of the Iews Likewise others do conjecture that he was named Theodotus whose Doctrin Clemens Alexandrinus had exposed in his Books of Hypotyposes or Justifications of Christian Religion whence it comes that the Abridgment of this Work which is seen at the end of Clement is entituled An Extract of the Eastern Doctrin of Theodotus But some do attribute these Extracts to Theodotus of Byzantium a Courier by Trade but a Learned Man who was Excommunicated by Pope Victor in CXCIV for having Taught that Jesus Christ was but a mere Man In fine the least of the Masters of Clement whom he prefers to all the rest and with whom he sojourned was named Pantenus Eusebius believes it is of him that Clement speaks in the last words of the Passage which hath been cited of him and indeed Pantenus Taught in Egypt when Clement sojourned there and Clement called him his Master in his Books of the Hypotyposes The Country and Parents of Pantenus are unknown but we know he applied himself much to the study of Philosophy particularly to that of the Stoicks won perhaps by the Manners and severe Maxims of these Philosophers which agreed not ill with those of the Ancient Christians There had been a publick School at Alexandria for a long time and if some Authors may be believed ever since Mark the Evangelist where the Cathecumenes were Taught an employ which was given only to Learned Persons and of a good Life Pantenus was provided therewith and Taught a long while in this City
by Words and Writing He had made Commentaries upon Scripture whereof we have only remaining a few words which are found in the Extracts of the Oriental Doctrin of Theodotus where Clement of Alexandria speaketh thus Our Pantenus saith that the Prophets express themselves ordinarily by the Aoristus and make use of the time present for the Future and Past. There is a likelihood that Pantenus officiated as a Cathechist when Clement arrived in Egypt and that he studied some time under him before he succeeded him He applied himself there as elsewhere to the study of Philosophy though he was far from taking all those who bore the name of Philosopher for such We do not simply receive saith he every sort of Philosophy but that only whereof Socrates speaks in Plato Socrates observed That there are a great many called but few chosen For he adds in the Sequel that the latter according to his Opinion are those who have applied themselves as a thing very requisite to Philosophy That People should not be taken for Philosophers who perhaps had but a shew Clement would not apply himself to any Sect absolutely but followed this manner of Philosophising which was then Eclectick to wit that of those who chose out of all Tenets what appeared most reasonable unto them and formed a System thereof for their particular Use. Potamon of Alexandria who lived in the time of Augustus was the first who had put in Use this manner of Philosophising Clement could not choose a more commodious Method for a Christian Philosopher because there is no Philosopher whose Tenets are all conformable to those of the Gospel though there may be made a System drawing very near that of the Christian Doctrin in gathering in all the Philosophers what they have said conformably to the Light of Nature or to some ancient Traditions spread almost over the whole Universe It is Clement himself who speaks it and who assures us that he applied himself to the Eclectick Philosophy for the Reason we have alledged After having said that God sent Philosophers to Men he adds That he understands not neither that of the Stoicks nor that of the Platonicks nor that of the Aristoteleans But I give this Name continueth he to the Truths which these Sects have held and which may incline Men to Iustice and Piety I in no wise call Divine the false Thoughts of Men. He saith elsewhere that the barbarous Philosophy and that of the Greeks hath included some Fragments of Eternal Truths in them not from Mythology of Bacchus but of Reason which has always existed He that should rejoin continues he that which hath been divided and which would compose a perfect System could assure himself of acknowledging the Truth A like Thought is in Lactantius which affirms that it is easie to shew that Truth altogether hath been divided amongst the different Sects of the Philosophers and that if there was any who would gather the Truths scattered amongst all Sects and make but one Body of Doctrin certainly it would not be far from the Sentiments of Christians Quodsi extitisset aliquis qui veritatem sparsam per singulos per Sectasque diffusam colligeret in unum ac redigeret in corpus is profecto non dissentiret à nobis He saith afterwards that none could do it but by Divine Revelation but that if it happened as by hazard that some body should do it without this Succour there would be nothing more assured than this Philosophy and that though he could not defend himself by the authority of Revelation Truth wou'd be maintained of it self by its own Light He afterwards blames those who apply themselves to a Sect so that they would embrace all its Sentiments and condemn all others ready to dispute against all the Doctrins which they have not learned of their Masters This design of gathering all which Philosophers have said conformable to the Gospel is undoubtedly very fine and can much conduce to convine the Truth of Christian Religion But for to succeed therein the Christian Philosophy and Religion should be equally understood to comprehend the clear and undoubted Articles which regard Practice and Speculation The Heterodox of those Times for want of taking heed had introduced into Christian Religion an infinity of Philosophical Tenets which have no Relation with those of the Gospel Thus the Carpocratians believed according to the Relation of Clement that it was permitted to meddle confusedly with any Woman whatever and did it actually after having Supped in a great Company and extinguished the Candles they entertain'd this Thought because Plato would have Women to be common in his Republick and that they had wrested divers Passages of Scripture to accommodate them to this Sentiment Clement believeth that they ill understood not only Scripture but also Plato who according to him meaned nothing else but that there should be no Girl in the Commonwealth to which all the Citizens indifferently might not pretend though after she being Married to one Man others could no more hope to Espouse her It might be well shewn that Clement expounded not well the Thought of Plato if this was a Place for it The Marcionites who said that the Matter and Nature are bad and who condemned Weddings fell into this Opinion so opposite to that of Carpocrates because they expounded some Passages of Scripture by the Principles of the Platonicks Because the Scripture often describes the Miseries of this Life and praiseth Continence they imagined that the Sacred Authors had had the same Ideas of this Life and Generation or Birth that Heraclitus and Plato had These Philosophers believed as it hath been remarked that Souls existed before the Body where they are only sent to be punished for the Sins which they had committed in another Life and that thus to speak correctly Birth should be called a Death rather than a beginning of Life and Death a Life because when we are born our Souls are cast into the Prison of the Body from whence they are delivered when we dye that 's the reason that these Philosophers and several Poets after them said it was better not to be born than to come into the World and to dye in Childhood than to live several Years which is the Cause also that they speak sometimes in very harsh Terms against Matrimony because it served according to them only to build a Prison to some unhappy Soul which was precipitated into the Body that they produced The Valentinians had also taken what they said of the Generation of their Eones from Hesiod as will appear by comparing the beginning of his Theognia with the Doctrin of the Valentinians related by St. Irenaeus and St. Epiphanius who fail not to reproach them that they had their Doctrin from this Poet. There is some appearance that they confounded the Doctrin of Hesiod with that of the Scripture because of some light resemblance which is found betwixt them It would be easie to shew that Hesiod by the
Chatechumenes consisted in shewing them what there was that was good in the Heathen Philosophy and so insensibly conducted them to Christianity which they were in a much better way of embracing after having received several of his Maxims drawn from Natural Light and distributed through the Writings of Philosophers for whom they saw all the World had a respect If they were immediately told that they must renounce all their Opinions and look upon all the rest of Mankind not only as Men who were in an Error but such a had said nothing that was true As Labourers cast Seed into the Earth but not 'till after they have water'd it So saith Clement We take from the writings of the Greeks that which is necessary to water what we final Earthy in those we Instruct that they may afterwards receive the Spiritual Seed and that they may be in a mâ—re likely way to make it spring up more easily In effect the light of the Gospel supposes that of Nature and destroys it not We do not see that Iesus Christ and his Apostles have undertaken to give us a compleat System of all the Doctrins that have any reference to Religion they supposed that we were already prevented with divers thoughts established amongst all Nations upon which they Reasoned otherwise it would have been requisite for example that they should have exactly defined all the Vertues which they have not done because in respect to this they found Idea's in the minds of Men which tho imperfect were yet very true so they were satisfied to add what was lâ—cking or to cut off what evil Customs might have injuriously established therein Besides the Office of Catechist Clement was raised to the Priesthood at the beginning as 't is believ'd of the Empire of Severus because Eusebius in his History of the Events of CXCV gives to Clement the title of Priest It was about that time that he undertook to defend the Christian Religion against Heathens and Hereticks by a Work which he Entituled Stromates which we shall afterwards speak something of because in this Work in making a Chronological Computation he descends not lower than the Death of Commodus whence Eusebius concludes that he compos'd it under the Empire of Severus who succeeded this Emperour Severus enraged against the Christians because perhaps of a Rebellion of the Iews with whom the Heathens confounded those that professed Christianity began to Persecute them violently This Persecution arising at Antioch reached unto Egypt and obliged several Christians to withdraw from their Habitations where they were too well known to escape the Violence of the Persecution This seems to have given occasion to Clement of proving it was lawful to fly in time of Persecution After having said that Martyrdom purified them from all Sins and exhorting them to suffer if they were called to it he says that Persons ought to testifie that they are perswaded of the Truth of the Christian Religion as much by their Manners as Words After that he Expounds this Passage of the Gospel When you are Persecuted in one City flee into another The Lord saith he commands us not to flee as if it were an Evil to be Persecuted and bids us not to shun Death by flight as if we should fear it He will have us neither ingage in or assist any one to do Evil c. Those who obey not are Rash and throw themselves without reason into manifest Dangers If he who kills a Man of God Sinneth he also is guilty of his own Death he who presents himself to the Tribunal of the Jugde c. he assists as much as is capable the Wickedness of him by whom he is Persecuted If he exasperates him he is effectually the cause of his own Death as much as if he endeavoured to vex a wild Beast who afterwards devoured him A little while after the Apostles Persons were observ'd to covet Martyrdom but some after desiring the Executioners scandalously falling from Christianity at the sight of the Torments this Conduct was thought dangerous and those were condemned for it who offered themselves freely to be Martyr'd as appears by divers Passages of the Ancients and by that of Clement which we have related As Men ought not to shun Martyrdom when it cannot be avoided except by renouncing Christianity or a good Conscience so they ought to preserve their Lives as much as they can whilst there is any likelihood of serving the Christians rather to prolong it by flight than lose it by staying in Places where the Persecution is so violent and whence they may get away without ceasing to make Profession of Truth Those who blame or make some difficulty of absolving some Protestant Pastors because they came from a Kingdom where they could not tarry without an eminent Danger should first prove that another Conduct would have been more advantageous to Christianity than their Retreat hath been Here depends the Solution of this Question which hath been disputed of late If they have done well in withdrawing Clement seems then to have quitted Alexandria seeing we find that he made some Abode at Ierusalem with Alexander who was soon after Bishop of this City and to whom he dedicated his Book Entituled The Ecclesiastical Rules against those who follow the Opinions of the Jews During his Abode there he was very useful to this Church as appears by a Letter to Alexander to the Church of Antioch whereof Clement was bearer where this Bishop saith that he was a Man of great Virtue as the Church of Anitoch knew and would still acknowledge him so and that he being at Ierusalem by an effect of Divine Providence had confirmed and encreased the Church of the Lord. From Antioch Clement returned to Alexandria where it is not known how long he lived All that can be said is that he survived at least some Years after Pantenus and that he was not old when he composed his Stromates seeing he saith himself that he did them to serve him for a Collection in his old Age when his Memory should fail him History teacheth us nothing concerning his Death but it may be believed his Memory was blessed at Alexandria if these words of the Bishop of Ierusalem be considered which we have spoken of who in another Letter to Origen saith That they both acknowledged for Fathers these blessed Men who had quitted this Life before them and with whom they would soon be to wit blessed Pantenus and pious Clement from whom they had drawn great Succours Amongst several Works which Clement compos'd we have but Three remaining which are considerable The First is An Exhortation to Pagans where he refutes their Religion and endeavours to induce them to imbrace Christianity The Second is Entituled The Paedagogue where he forms the Manners of Youth and gives them Rules to behave themselves Christianly where he mixeth Maxims very severe and far from the Customs of this day The Third are the Stromates that is to say Tapistries which he
upon each of his Works and what been said in general upon this occasion there remains now only three things which are much worth our notice He often cites supposititious Writings as if they had been acknowledged by all the World as may be observ'd by the Passage of St. Peters Sermon which hath been a little before related and by another of St. Pauls which seems to be taken from the Book of his Voyages upon which see Eusebius and St. Ierom. This may make People believe that the great Reading of this Learned Man had not refined his Judgment for in fine there is no need of being a great Scholar to perceive what he cites resembles not the Style of the Apostles neither is it conformable to their Principles It cannot be doubted but that they believed the God whom the Iews adored was the true God Creator of Heaven and Earth and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who testifies it himself Neither can the Iews be accused of having worship'd Angels Months and Moons with any manner of Probability and the reason which the Author of St. Peters Sermon brings for it is so ridiculous that it can impose upon no body who is not very willing to be deceived It is true that some Learned Men have otherwise expounded this Accusation which this Author makes against the Iews but it 's plain by the Sequel that he understood it more simply than they do Howbeit this Book being visibly supposititious Origen acted much more prudently than his Master seeing he had Heracleon a Valentinian to refute who drew Consequences against the Old Testament from these pretended words of St. Peter he begins thus It would be very proper to examine whether this Book was really St. Peters or if it were not wholly supposititious and if not if any thing was not added to it after which he shews that the Iews adored the Creator of the World But it was the Custom of several of the Ancients to make use of all sorts of Reasons and Books to perswade what they had a mind to If it was so in our time Men would be accused immediately of Simplicity or of Falshood but each Age hath its Customs However its certain that Rules of sound Sense have always been the same and it s not less true that great Learning does not render the Mind more just according to the famous Maxim of Heraclitus which Clement relates amongst his Writings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clement also used to interpret Scripture allegorically without rendering his Allegories probable as the Ancients commonly did We may see what Mr. Huet says of the Origin of Allegories in his Origeniana l. 2. c. 2. Qu. 14. But if what Clement saith be read carefully in the fifth Book of his Stromates where he treats of it more at large one may easily perceive that what induced him chiefly to believe the Scripture was full thereof was that the Egyptians and Greeks had accustomed themselves to hide the Secrets of their Philosophy under Emblems and Fables It is true that the Iews were fallen into this Opinion before the coming of Jesus Christ. It is true also that in the most distant times this Nation expressed it self not only by dark words but symbolick Actions as appears by divers places of the Old Testament Notwithstanding there is no Example by which it's apparent that the Sacred Authors were willing to hide the Tenets of the Jewish Religion but on the contrary they exposed them very clearly and simply There are but few places of the History of the beginning of the World which may be turned into an Allegory with any probability and those which may only regard some Circumstances which signifie nothing in respect to the Foundation of the History and belong in no wise to the Worship of God or good Manners or Tenets without which they could not serve God nor be honest Men according to the Law In the rest of all the History of the Hebrews nothing appears which in the least resembles an Allegory all is simple and easie to be apprehended which makes us believe that those who writ it were in no wise Allegorists and that if there was any thing in the most ancient Events of the History of Mankind which may be understood that way the Hebrews have followed this turn only because the Tradition or the Memorials which they copied after were thus express'd We do not see that they amused themselves with Philosophy or gave any opinions of Physicks either clearly or obscurely and the places where Philo strives to find Philosophical Tenets are wrested after so violent a manner that there is no Person who perceives not that the Sacred Authors never thought upon what he makes them to say Also if we reflect upon the origin of Allegories amongst the Pagans it will appear that they are but of a late date and when Philosophers would give a Reason for Fables or the ancient Histories of the Gods that is to say to save the Honour of their most ancient Historians who were accused of having absurd Ideas of Nature as Excellent as that of the Gods according to their Idea of it Therefore it was necessary to make those believe whom these scandalous Histories offended that the Poets thought quite another thing than what they said and thence comes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies quite another thing than what is meant and is what is properly call'd Allegory It may be found out by reading of three Works lately Printed at Amsterdam and where mention is made in the 7th Tome of the Universal Bibleothick p. 109. Thus Histories amongst the Grecians were turn'd into Allegories fearing it should be thought that the Gods of Greece were only corrupted Men. The Iews who never applied themselves to the study of Criticks and Philosophy were no sooner amongst the Grecians but they found this Method of Expounding Religion and used it to explain the Sacred Books after a manner more conformable to the Opinion of the Pagans as is plain by the Example of Philo who Expounds all the Old Testament like a Platonick They even so much alter'd the Text that they expounded allegorically not only the places which might have any difficulty but also the most clear and simple without excepting even those that concern Manners which being literally understood include excellent Directions for the conduct of Life nor the most simple Histories whence most useful Instructions may be drawn without searching any other sense but that which offers it self to the mind Philo is full of such Examples The Christians afterwards imitated the Jews and were not satisfied to interpret allegorically the Old Testament but did the like concerning the New although neither Jesus Christ nor the Apostles proposed no Doctrin after an emblematick Manner which they expounded not clearly enough themselves to take away the trouble of seeking for the Sense in having recourse to Allegories which have nothing plain in them For in fine it must be granted that according to this