of Antoninus Caracalla who began his reign Ann. CCXI. though the exact date and manner of his death be lost his memory is preserved in the Roman Calendar on the seventh of July And certainly a just tribute of honour is due to his memory for his admirable zeal and piety his indefatigable pains and industry his exquisit abilities 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Eusebius truly characters him a man singularly eminent in all kinds of Learning and c Apud Euseb l. 6. c. 19. p. 221. Origen who lived nearer to him and was one of his Successors commends him for his great usefulness and ability both in Philosophical speculations and Theological Studies in the one able to deal with Philosophers in the other to refute Heretics and Seducers In his School he displayed as Eusebius tells us both by word and writing the Treasures of the Sacred Doctrines though he taught says S. Hierom rather viva voce then by Books who mentions onely his Commentaries upon the holy Scripture and of them not the least fragment is remaining at this day The End of S. PANTAENUS 's Life THE LIFE OF S. CLEMENS OF ALEXANDRIA Mic. Burghers sculpsit S. CLEMENS ALEXANDRINVS His Countrey The progress of his Studies His instruction in the Christian doctrin His several Masters His impartial enquiry after truth The elective Sect what It s excellent genius Clemens of this Sect. His succeeding Pantaenus in the Catechetic School He is made Presbyter of Alexandria His Stromata published when Lawfulness of flying in time of persecution His journey into the East What Tracts he wrote there His going from Jerusalem to Antioch and return to Alexandria His death The Elogia given of him by the Ancients His admirable learning His Writings His Hypotyposes Photius his account of them corrupted by the Arrians His Books yet extant and the orderly gradation of them His Stromata what the design of it His stile what in this what in his other Books A short Apology for some unwary assertions in his Writings His Writings enumerated I. TITVS Flavius Clemens was probably born at Athens For when a Haeres XXXII p. 96. Epiphanius tells us that some affirmed him to be an Alexandrian others an Athenian he might well be both the one being the place of his nativity as the other was of his constant residence and imployment Nor can I imagine any other account upon which the title of Athenian should be given to him And the conjecture is further countenanced from the course and progress of his Studies the foundations whereof were laid in Greece improved in the East and perfected in Egypt And indeed his incomparable abilities in all parts of Science render it a little more probable that his early years commenced in that great School of Arts and Learning But he staid not here his insatiable thirst after Knowledge made him traverse almost all parts of the World and converse with the Learned of all Nations that he might furnish himself with the knowledge of whatever was useful and excellent especially a thorough acquaintance with the mysteries of the Christian Doctrine He tells us b Stromat l. 1. p. 274. ap Euseb l. 5. c. 11. p. 176. of those lively and powerful Discourses which he had the happiness to hear from blessed and truly worthy and memorable persons who preserving that sincere and excellent doctrine which like children from the hands of their Parents they had immediately received from Peter James John and Paul the holy Apostles were by Gods blessing come down to his time sowing those ancient and Apostolic seeds of Truth A passage which I doubt not c Lib. 6. c. 13. p. 215. Eusebius intended when he says that Clemens speaking concerning himself in the first Book of his Stromata affirms himself to have been of the next succession to the Apostles II. OF these venerable men to whose tuition he committed himself he himself has given d Loc. citat us some though but obscure account The first was Ionicus a Coelo-Syrian whom he heard in Greece and whom e Ad Ann. 185. n. IV. Baronius conjectures to have been Caius or Dionysius Bishop of Corinth a second an Egyptian under whose Discipline he was in that part of Italy called Magna Graecia and since Calabria Hence he travelled into the East where the first of his Masters was an Assyrian supposed by some to have been Bardesanes by others Tatian the Scholar of Justin Martyr the next originally a Jew of a very ancient stock whom he heard in Palestine whom Baronius will have to have been Theophilus Bishop of Caesarea though for his Hebrew descent there be no evidence among the Ancients others f Vales Annot. in Euseb p. 95. more probably Theodotus whence the excerpta out of his Hypotyposes still extant are stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Epitome of Theodotus his Oriental Doctrin that is the Doctrin which he learnt from Theodotus in the East The last of the Masters whom he met with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he says of him but the first and chief in power and vertue was one whom he inquisitively sought out and found in Egypt and in whose institution he fully acquiesced and sought no further This person is generally supposed to have been Pantaenus whom Clemens elsewhere a In lib. Hypot ap Euseb l. 5. c. 11. p. 175. expresly affirms to have been his Master and whom in the forementioned Epitome he stiles b Ad Calc Clem. p. 808. our Pantaenus III. BUT though he put himself under the discipline of so many several Masters yet was it not out of any vain desultory lightness or phantastic curiosity but to make researches after truth with an honest and inquisitive mind He loved what was manly and generous where-ever he met it and therefore tells us c Stromat l. 1. p. 315. he did not simply approve all Philosophy but that of which Socrates in Plato speaks concerning their mysterious Rites 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intimating as he expresses it in the stile of the Scripture that many are called but few elect or who make the right choice And such adds Socrates and such onely in my opinion are those who embrace the true Philosophy Of which sort says Clemens through my whole life I have to my power approved my self desiring and endeavouring by all means to become one of that number For this purpose he never tied himself to any particular institution of Philosophy but took up in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Elective Sect who obliged not themselves to the dictates and sentiments of any one Philosopher but freely made choice of the most excellent principles out of all This Sect as the Philosophic Historian d D. Laert. prooem ad vit Philos p. 14. informs us was begun by Potamon an Alexandrian too who out of every Sect of Philosophy selected what he judged best He gave himself liberty impartially to enquire into the natures of things and what
foregoing Story tells us that being mightily importuned to preach he stood up in the Congregation and having pronounced those words of penitent David But unto the wicked God saith what hast thou to do to declare my statutes and that thou shouldst take my covenant in thy mouth he could go on no further but shut the Book and laid it down and sitting down burst out into sighs and tears the whole Congregation bearing part with him in that mournful Scene And to carry on the humour and make the Story more compleat after-Ages present us with a d Extat Inter Oper. Orig. Tom. 1. p. 752. Eait◠Erasm Discourse under his name called Origen's Complaint wherein he passionately resents and laments his fall as a desperate wound to himself a grief to good men and an unconceivable dishonour to God and to Religion And pitty it is if the Story be true that this Lamentation were not genuine but as it is the best ground it has to support it self is that it is calculated to gratifie a pious fansie and a melting passion there being nothing in it otherwise worthy of this great man and I fear was first designed by him that made it as a reflection upon him and to give countenance to the report that was raised concerning him From Jerusalem he not long after returned back to Caesarea where as before he had done at Alexandria he set up a a Id. ibid. c. 30. p. 229. School both for divine and humane learning and his great name quickly procured him Scholars from all parts not onely of the Country thereabouts but from the remotest Provinces Among which of most remarque were Gregory called afterwards Thaumaturgus and his Brother Athenodorus who leaving the study of the Law as being more delighted with Philosophy and humane Arts committed themselves to his conduct and tutorage who first instructed them in Philosophy and then trained them up to a more accurate knowledge of the Christian Faith Five years they remained under his Discipline when being sufficiently enriched with the knowledge of Religion they returned into Pontus their own Countrey where they both became Bishops and proved eminent Lights and Governours of the Church During his residence at Caesarea there was a firm intimacy and league b Ibid. c. 27. p. 228. of friendship contracted between Origen and Firmilian Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia who had so great a kindness for him that sometimes he would prevail with him to come over into that Province for the edification of the Churches in those parts sometimes he himself would go into Judaea to visit him and stay a considerable while with him to perfect himself by his society and converse This Firmilian was a Gentleman of Cappadocia afterwards made Bishop of Caesarea in that Countrey A person of great name and note and who held correspondence with most of the eminent men of those times Few considerable affairs of the Church wherein he was not concerned either by his presence or advice Great contests were between him and Stephen Bishop of Rome concerning the Baptism of heretical persons wherein he took part with Cyprian He was twice at Antioch to examine the case of Paul of Samosata Bishop of that Church and coming a third time to a Synod convened there for that purpose died at Tarsus by the way Nor was Origen admired and courted onely by foreigners and young men who had been his Scholars but by the grave and the wise at home both Alexander and Theoctistus though ancient Bishops did not disdain in a manner to become his Disciples committing to his single care the power of interpreting the holy Scriptures and whatever concerned the Ecclesiastical Doctrin XVII IT was now about the year CCXXXV when Maximinus the Thracian succeeded in the Empire a man fierce and ill-natured and according to his education brutish and cruel He hated whatever had relation to his Predecessor and because the c Id. ibid. c. 28. Christians had found some favourable entertainment in his Family he bega◠first with them and especially the Bishops as the chief Pillars and promoters of their Religion whom he every where commanded to be put to death To contribute toward the consolation of Christians in this evil time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orig. Exhort ad Martyr pag. 200. Origen wrote his Book concerning Martyrdom which he jointly dedicated to his dear Ambrosius and to Protoctetus Presbyter of Caesarea as who had undergone a joint share of imprisonment and sufferings under the present Persecution and had made a glorious and illustrious confession of the Christian Faith As for Origen himself he is said to have taken sanctuary in the house of Juliana a wealthy and charitable Lady who courteously entertained him and furnished him with Books useful for him particularly with Symmachus a Euseb ib. c. 17. p. 218. his Version of the Old Testament and his Commentaries in defence of the Ebionites particularly levelled against S. Matthews Gospel Books which Juliana enjoyed as by right of inheritance devolved upon her XVIII WHILE he enjoyed the happy opportunity of this retirement he more directly applied himself to what he had long since designed the collecting and collating the several Editions and Versions of the Old Testament with the Original Text which he finished by three several parts b Id. ibid. c. 16. p. 217. Epiph. loc supr citat de ponder mensur p. m. 534 539. Hier. de Script in Orig. Suid. in voc Orig. the Tetrapla the Hexapla and the Octapla In the first which considered as a distinct part was made last were four Translations set one over against another that of Aquila Symmachus the Septuagint and Theodotion these made up the Tetrapla In the second were these four Versions disposed in the same order and two other columns set before them thus first the Hebrew Text in its own Letters then in a column next adjoining the same Hebrew Text in Greek characters that they who were strangers to the one might be able to read the other next followed the several Versions of Aquila Symmachus the Septuagint and Theodotion And these constituted the Hexapla Where the Septuagint being placed after that of Aquila and Symmachus gave some ignorant undiscerning persons occasion to think that it had been made after the two former whereas it was placed in the middle as Epiphanius c Ibid. p. 539. informs us onely as a Standard by which the goodness and sincerity of the rest were to be tried and judged In the third which made the Octapla were all that were in the former and in the same manner and two more Versions added at the end of them one called the Fifth Edition found by a Student at Jerusalem in a Hogshead at Jericho in the time of the Emperour Caracalla and another stiled the Sixth Edition found by one of Origen's Scholars at Nicopolis near Actium in the reign of Alexander Severus All which in the Octapla were disposed in
his leave he made an Oration before his Master and in a numerous Auditory wherein as he gives Origen his just commendations so he particularly blesses God g Ibid. p. 178 181. for the happy advantages of his instructions and return thanks to his tutelar and guardian Angel which as it had superintended him from his birth so had especially conducted him to so good a Master elegantly bewailing h Ibid. p. 218. 〈◊〉 his departure from that School as a kind of banishment out of Paradise a being turned like the Prodigal out of his Fathers house and a being carried captive as the Jews were into Babylon concluding that of all things upon earth nothing could give so great an ease and consolation to his mind as if his kind and benign Angel would bring him back to that place again V. HE was no sooner returned to Neocaesarea but Origen followed him with a Letter a Extat in Orig. Philoâ—â— c. 13. p. 41. commending his excellent parts able to render him either an eminent Lawyer among the Romans or a great Philosopher among the Greeks but especially persuading him to improve them to the ends of Christianity and the practice of Piety and Vertue For which purpose he lets him know that he instructed him mainly in those Sciences and parts of Philosophy which might be introductory to the Christian Religion acquainting him with those things in Geometry and Astronomy which might be useful for the understanding and explaining the holy Scriptures these things being as previously advantageous to the knowledge of the Christian Doctrin as Geometry Music Grammar Rhetoric and Astronomy are preparatory to the study of Philosophy Advising him before all things to read the Scripture and that with the most profound and diligent attention and not rashly to entertain notions of divine things or to speak of them without solemn premeditation and not onely to seek but knock to pray with faith and fervency it being in vain to think that the door should be opened where prayer is not sent before-hand to unlock it At his return b Gr. Nyss ib. p. 975. all mens eyes were upon him expecting that in public meetings he should shew himself and let them reap some fruit of all his studies and to this he was universally courted and importuned and especially by the wise and great men of the City intreating him to reside among them and by his excellent precepts and rules of life to reform and direct the manners of men But the modest young man knowing how unfit they generally were to entertain the dictates of true Philosophy and fearing lest by a great concourse and applause he might be insensibly ensuared into pride and vain-glory resisted all addresses and withdrew himself into the Wilderness where he resigned up himself to solitude and contemplation conversing with God and his own mind and delighting his thoughts with the pleasant speculations of nature and the curious and admirable works of the great Artificer of the World VI. NEOCAESAREA was a place large and populous but miserably over-grown with Superstition and Idolatry so that it seemed the place where Satans seat was and whither Christianity had as yet scarce made its entrance to the great grief and resentment of all good men who heartily wished that Religion and the fear of God were planted in that place c Id. ib. p. 976. Phaedimus Bishop of Amasea a neighbour City in that Province a man indued with a Prophetic spirit had cast his eye upon our young Philosopher as one whose ripe parts and piety did more then weigh down his want of age and rendred him a person fit to be a Guide of Souls to the place of his Nativity whose relation to the place would more endear the imployment to him The notice hereof being intimated to him he shifted his Quarters and as oft as sought for fled from one Desert and solitary shelter to another so that the good man by all his arts and industry could not lay hold of him the one not being more earnest to find him out then the other was vigilant to decline him Phaedimus at last despairing to meet with him resolved however to go on with his design and being acted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by a divine and immediate impetus betook himself to this pious stratagem the like president probably not to be met with in the Antiquities of the Church not regarding Gregorius his absence who was at that time no less then three days journy distant from him he made his address and prayer to God and having declared that both himself and Gregory were at that moment equally seen by God as if they were present in stead of imposition of hands he directed a Discourse to S. Gregory wherein he set him apart to God and constituted him Bishop of that place and God who steers the hearts of men inclined him how averse soever before to accept the charge when probably he had a more formal and solemn Consecration VII THE Province he entered upon was difficult the City and parts thereabouts being wholly given to the worship of Daemons a Id. ubi supr p. 977. and enslaved to the observance of Diabolic Rites there not being above seventeen Christians in those parts so that he must found a Church before he could govern it and which was not the least inconvenience Heresies had spread themselves over those Countries and he himself though accomplished with a sufficient furniture of humane Learning yet altogether unexercised in Theological studies and the mysteries of Religion For remedy whereof he is said to have had an immediate assistance from Heaven For while one night he was deeply considering of these things and discussing matters of Faith in his own mind he had a vision wherein two august and venerable persons whom he understood to be S. John the Evangelist and the blessed Virgin appeared in the Chamber where he was and discoursed before him concerning those points of Faith which he had been before debating with himself After whose departure he immediately penned that Canon and rule of Faith which they had declared and which he ever after made the Standard of his Doctrin and bequeathed as an inestimable Legacy and depositum to his Successors the Tenor whereof we shall here insert together with the Original Greek which being very difficult to be exactly rendred into our Language the learned Reader if he likes not mine may translate for himself There is one God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Father of the living Word and of the subsisting Wisdom and Power and of Him who is his Eternal Image the perfect begetter of Him that is perfect the Father of the onely begotten Son There is one Lord the onely Son of the onely Father God of God the Character and Image of the Godhead the powerful Word the comprehensive Wisdom by which all things were made and the Power that gave Being to the whole Creation the true Son of the true
Church This was done at his Baptism when the Holy Ghost in a visible shape descended upon him and God by an audible voice testified of him This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased Accordingly he set himself to declare the Counsels of God Going about all Galilee teaching in their Synagogues and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom He particularly explained the Moral Law and restored it to its just authority and dominion over the minds of men redeeming it from those corrupt and perverse interpretations which the Masters of the Jewish Church had put upon it He next insinuated the abrogation of the Mosaic Oeconomy to which he was sent to put a period to enlarge the bounds of salvation and admit both Jew and Gentile to terms of mercy that he came as a Mediator between God and Man to reconcile the World to the favour of Heaven by his death and sufferings and to propound pardon of sin and eternal life to all that by an hearty belief a sincere repentance and an holy life were willing to embrace and entertain it This was the sum of the doctrin which he preached every where as opportunity and occasion led him and which he did not impose upon the World meerly upon the account of his own authority and power or beg a precarious entertainment of it he did not tell men they must believe him because he said he came from God and had his Warrant and Commission to instruct and reform the World but gave them the most satisfactory and convictive evidence by doing such miracles as were beyond all powers and contrivances either of Art or Nature whereby he unanswerably demonstrated that he was a Teacher come from God in that no man could do those miracles which he did except God were with him And because he himself was in a little time to return back to Heaven he ordained twelve whom he called Apostles as his immediate Delegates and Vicegerents to whom he deputed his authority and power furnished them with miraculous gifts and left them to carry on that excellent Religion which he himself had begun to whose assistance he joined LXX Disciples as ordinary coadjutors and companions to them Their Commission for the present was limited to Palestin and they sent out onely to seek and to save the lost sheep of the house of Israel III. HOW great the success of our Saviours Ministry was may be guessed from that complaint of the Pharisees John 12.19 Behold the World is gone after him people from all parts in such vast multitudes flocking after him that they gave him not time for necessary solitude and retirement Indeed he went about doing good preaching the word throughout all Judaea and healing all that were possessed of the Devil The seat of his ordinary abode was Galilee residing for the most part says one of the Ancients a â—â—seb Demonstrat Evang. l. 9. p. 439. in Galilee of the Gentiles that he might there sow and reap the first fruits of the calling of the Gentiles We usually find him preaching at Nazareth at Cana at Corazin and Bethsaida and the Cities about the Sea of Tiberias but especially at Capernaum the Metropolis of the Province a place of great commerce and traffique He often visited Judaea and the parts about Jerusalem whither he was wont to go up at the Paschal solemnities and some of the greater festivals that so the general concourse of people at those times might minister the fitter opportunity to spread the net and to communicate and impart his doctrine to them Nor did he who was to be a common Saviour and came to break down the Partition-wall disdain to converse with the Samaritans so contemptible and hateful to the Jews In Sychar not far from Samaria he freely preached and gained most of the inhabitants of that City to be Proselytes to his doctrine He travelled up and down the Towns and Villages of Caesarea Philippi and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon and through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis and where he could not come the renown of him spread it self bringing him Disciples and Followers from all quarters Indeed his fame went throughout all Syria and there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee Judaea Decapolis Idumaea from beyond Jordan and from Tyre and Sidon Nay might we believe the story so solemnly reported by Eusebius a H. Eccl. l. 1. c. 13. p. 31. and the Ancients and excepting the silence of the Evangelical Historians who recorded onely some of the actions and passages concerning our Saviour I know no wise argument against it Acbarus Prince of Edessa beyond Euphrates having heard of the fame of our Saviours miracles by Letters humbly besought him to come over to him whose Letter together with our Lords answer are extant in Eusebius there being nothing in the Letters themselves that may justly shake their credit and authority with much more to this purpose transcribed as he tells us out of the Records of that City and by him translated out of Syriac into Greek which may give us some account why none of the Ancients before him make any mention of this affair being generally strangers to the Language the Customs and Antiquities of those Eastern Countries IV. OUR Lord having spent somewhat more then three years in the public exercise of his Ministry kept his last Passover with his Apostles which done he instituted the Sacramental Supper consigning it to his Church as the standing memorial of his death and the Seal of the Evangelical Covenant as he appointed Baptism to be the Foederal Rite of Initiation and the public Tessera or Badge of those that should profess his Religion And now the fatal hour was at hand being betrayed by the treachery of one of his own Apostles he was apprehended by the Officers and brought before the public Tribunals Heavy were the crimes charged upon him but as false as spightful the two main Articles of the Charge were Blasphemy against God and Treason against the Emperour and though they were not able to make them good by any tolerable pretence of proof yet did they condemn and execute him upon the Cross several of themselves vindicating his innocency that he was a righteous man and the Son of God The third day after his interment he rose again appeared to and conversed with his Disciples and Followers and having taken care of the affairs of his Church given a larger Commission and fuller instructions to his Apostles he took his leave of them and visibly ascended into Heaven and sate down on the right hand of God as head over all things to the Church Angels Authorities and Powers being made subject unto him V. THE faith of these passages concerning our Saviour are not onely secured to us by the report of the Evangelical Historians and that justified by eye-witnesses the evidence of miracles and the successive and uncontrolled consent of all Ages of the Church but as to the substance
parts and duties of their Office and that they did not judge it fit and reasonable to neglect the one that they might attend the other that therefore they should chuse out among themselves some that were duly qualified and present them to them that they might set them apart peculiarly to superintend this affair that so themselves being freed from these incumbrances might the more freely and uninterruptedly devote themselves to prayer and preaching of the Gospel Not that the Apostles thought the care of the Poor an Office too much below them but that this might be discharged by other hands and they as they were obliged the better attend upon things of higher importance Ministeries more immediately serviceable to the souls of men This was the first original of Deacons in the Christian Church they were to serve Tables that is to wait upon the necessities of the Poor to make daily provisions for their public Feasts to keep the Churches Treasure and to distribute to every one according to their need And this admirably agrees to one ordinary notion of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Foreign Writers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lucian Chronosol scu de Legg Saturnal Tom. 2. p. 823. where 't is used for that peculiar Servant who waited at Feasts whose Office it was to distribute the portions to every Guest either according to the command of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Orderer of the Feast or according to the rule of Equality to give every one alike But though 't is true this was a main part of the Deacons Office yet was it not the whole For had this been all the Apostles needed not to have been so exact and curious in their choice of persons seeing men of an ordinary rank and of a very mean capacity might have served the turn nor have used such solemn Rites of Consecration to Ordain them to it No question therefore but their serving Tables implied also their attendance at the Table of the Lords Supper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 h. e. non â—olum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ignat. Epist ad Trall Append. Usser p. 17. For in those days their Agapae or common Love-Feasts whereat both Rich and Poor sate down together were at the same time with the Holy Eucharist and both administred every day so that their ministration respected both the one and the other And thus we find it was in the practice of the Church for so Justin Martyr tells us it was in his time Apol. II. p. 97. that when the President of the Assembly had consecrated the Eucharist the Deacons distributed the Bread and the Wine to all that were present and after carried them to those who were necessarily absent from the Congregation Nor were they restrained to this one particular Service but were in some cases allowed to Preach Baptize and Absolve Penitents especially where they had the peculiar warrant and authority of the Bishop to bear them out nor need we look far beyond the present Story to find St. Philip one of the Deacons here elected both preaching the Gospel and baptizing Converts with great success VI. THAT this excellent Office might be duly managed the Apostles directed and enjoined the Church to nominate such persons as were fitted for it pious and good men men of known honesty and integrity of approved and untainted reputations furnished and endowed with the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost wise and prudent men who would discreetly discharge the trust committed to them The number of these persons was limited to seven probably for no other reason but because the Apostles thought these sufficient for the business unless we will also suppose the whole body of Believers to have been disposed into seven several Divisions for the more orderly and convenient managery of their common Feasts and distributions to the Poor and that to each of these a Deacon was appointed to superintend and direct them without further designing any peculiar Mystery which * Vid. Baron ad Ann. 112. n. 7. Tom. 2. some would fain pick out of it However the Church thought good for a long time to conform to this Primitive Institution insomuch that the Fathers of the †Conc. Neo-Caes can 15. Couc Tom. 1. Col. 1484. Neo-Caesarean Council ordained that in no City how great soever there should be more then seven Deacons a Canon which they found upon this place and ⸫ Hist Eccl. lib. 7. c. 19. p. 734. Sozomen tells us that in his time though many other Churches kept to no certain number yet that the Church of Rome in compliance with this Apostolical example admitted no more then seven Deacons in it The People were infinitely pleased with the order and determination which the Apostles had made in this matter and accordingly made choice of seven whom they presented to the Apostles who as the solemnity of the thing required first made their address to Heaven by Prayer for the divine blessing upon the undertaking and then laid their hands upon them an ancient symbolic Rite of Investiture and Consecration to any extraordinary Office The issue of all was that the Christian Religion got ground and prospered Converts came flocking over to the Faith yea very many of the Priests themselves and of their Tribe and Family of all others the most zealous and pertinacious asserters of the Mosaic Constitutions the bitterest adversaries of the Christian Doctrine the subtlest defenders of their Religion laid aside their prejudices and embraced the Gospel So uncontroulable is the efficacy of divine truth as very often to lead its greatest enemies in triumph after it VII THE first and chief of the persons here elected who were all chosen out of the LXX Disciples as * Haeres XX. p. 27. Epipâ—anius informs us and whom the Ancients frequently stile Arch-deacon as having the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as †Homil. XV. in Act. p. 555. Chrysostom speaks the Primacy and Precedence among these new-elected Officers was our St. Stephen whom the Author of the Epistle to â‚ Epist ad Hâ—ron in Bibl. PP Gr. Lat. p. 37. Hero under the name of Ignatius as also the Interpolator of that to the Ep. ad Trall p. 6. Ibid. Trallians makes in a more peculiar manner to have been Deacon to St. James as Bishop of Jerusalem He is not onely placed first in the Catalogue but particularly recommended under this character a man full of Faith and of the Holy Ghost he was exquisitly skilled in all parts of the Christian Doctrine and fitted with great eloquence and elocution to declare and publish it enriched with many miraculous gifts and powers and a spirit of courage and resolution to encounter the most potent opposition He preached and pleaded the cause of Christianity with a firm and undaunted mind and that nothing might be wanting to render it effectual he confirmed his doctrine by many publick and unquestionable miracles plain evidences and demonstrations of the truth and
that peculiarly derives its name from Sodom And such being the case what wonder if S. Paul bids Titus reprove them sharply seeing their corrupt and depraved manners would admit of the sharpest lancets and the most stinging corrosives he could apply to them VI. IN the Epistle it self the main body of it consists of rules and directions for the several ranks and relations of men and because Spiritual and Ecclesiastical affairs are of all others most considerable he first instructs him in the qualifications of those whom he should set apart to be Bishops and Guides of Souls that they be holy and harmless innocent and inoffensive such as had not divorced and put away their first Wife that they might marry a second whose children were sober and regular and trained up in the Christian Faith that they be easie and treatable meek and unpassionate free from the love of Wine and a desire after riches by sordid and covetous designs that they be kind and hospitable lovers of goodness and good men modest and prudent just and honest strict and temperate firm and constant in owning and asserting the Doctrines of Christianity that have been delivered to them that being thoroughly furnished with this pure Evangelical Doctrine they may be able both to persuade and comfort others and mightily to convince those that resist and oppose the truth And certainly it was not without great reason that the Apostle required that the Guides and Governours of the Church should be thus able to convince gainsayers For whatever Authors report of Crete that it bred no Serpents or venomous Creatures yet certain it is that the poison of Errour and Heresie had insinuated it self there together with the entertainment of Christianity Tit. 1.10 there being many unruly and vain talkers especially they of the Circumcision Verse 14. who endeavoured to corrupt the Doctrine of the Gospel with Jewish Fables groundless and unwarrantable Traditions mystical and Cabalistic explications 3.9 and foolish questions and genealogies For the Jews borrowing their notions herein from the Schools of Plato were fallen into a vein of deriving things from an imaginary generation first Binah or Understanding then Achmoth or Cochmah Wisdom and so till they came to Milcah the Kingdom and Schekinah or the Divine Presence Much after the same rate as the Poets of old deduced the pedigrees of their gods they had first their several 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their conjunctions the coupling and mixing of things together and thence proceeded their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their genealogies or generations out of Chaos came Erebus and the dark Night the conjunction of whom begot Aether and the Day and thence a Hesiod Theogon p.m. 466. Hesiod proceeds to explain the whole Pagan Theology concerning the original of their gods VII IN imitation of all which and from a mixture of all together the Valentinians Basilidians and the rest of the Gnostic crew formed the sensless and unintelligible Schemes of their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and XXX Aeones divided into three Classes of Conjunction in the first were four couples Profundity and Silence Mind and Truth the Word and Life Man and the Church in the second five viz. Profound and Mixture Ageratus and Vnion c. in the third six the Paraclete and Faith Patricos and Hope c. Of all which if any desire to know more they may if they can understand it find enough in Irenaeus Tertullian and Epiphanius to this purpose The b Haeres XXXI pâ—g 76. vid. Tertull de Praescript Haeret. c. 7. p. 204. last of whom not onely affirms expresly that Valentinus and his Party introduced 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the fabulous and Poetic fancies of the Heathens but draws a particular parallel between Hesiods Theogonia and their thirty Aeones or Ages consisting of fifteen Couples or Conjugations Male and Female which he shews exactly to agree both in the number design and order of them For instance Valentinus his Tribe begins thus Ampsiu that is Profundity Auraan that is Silence Bucua that is Mind Tharthuu that is Truth Vbucua that is Word Thardeadie that is Life Merexa that is Man Atarbarba c. that is Church c. All which was nothing but a trifling and fantastical imitation of Hesiods Progeny and generation of the gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. ibid. which being joined in conjugations succeeded in this order Chaos Night Erebus Earth Aether Day c. There being as he observes no difference between the one Scheme and the other but onely the change and alteration of the names This may suffice for a Specimen to shew whence this idle Generation borrowed their extravagant conceits though there were that had set much what the like on foot before the time of Valentinus By such dark and wild notions and principles the false Apostles both in Crete and elsewhere sought to undermine the Christian Doctrin mixing it also with principles of great looseness and liberty that they might the easilier insinuate themselves into the affections of men whereby they brought over numerous Proselytes to their Party of whom they made merchandise Tit. 1.11 gaining sufficient advantage to themselves So that 't was absolutely necessary that these mens mouths should be stopped and that they should not be suffered to go on under a shew of such lofty and sublime speculations and a pretence of Christian liberty to pervert men from the Christian Religion and the plainness and simplicity of the Gospel Having done with Ecclesiastics he proceeds to give directions for persons of all Ages and Capacities whether old or young men or women children or servants and then of more public concernment Rulers and People and indeed how to deport our selves in the general carriage of our lives In the close of the Epistle he wishes him to furnish Zenas and Apollos the two Apostolical Messengers by whom this Letter was conveyed to him with all things necessary for their return commanding that he himself with all convenient speed should meet him at Nicopolis though where that was is not certain whether Nicopolis in Epirus so called from Augustus his Victory there over Antony and Cleopatra or rather Nicopolis in Thrace upon the River Nesus not far from the borders of Macedonia whither S. Paul was now going or some other City whereof many in those parts of that name where he had resolved to spend his Winter And that by withdrawing so useful and vigilant a Shepherd he might not seem to expose his Flock to the fury and the rage of the Wolves he promises to send Artemas or Tychicus to supply his place during his absence from them VIII S. PAVL departing from Ephesus was come to Troas where though he had a fair opportunity to preach the Gospel offered to him yet as himself tells us he had no rest in his spirit 2 Cor. 2.12 13. because he found not Titus his brother whom he impatiently expected to bring him an account of the state of the
industry After which he returned to Alexandria and the discharge of his Office where how long he continued or by what death he died Antiquity is silent Certain it is that for some considerable time he out-lived Pantaenus who died in the time of Caracalla and when he wrote his Stromata he tells us that he did it that he might lay up things in store against old Age a plain intimation that he was then pretty far from it I add no more but what Alexander of Hierusalem a Ap. Euseb l. 6. c. 14. p. 216. says in a Letter to Origen where having told him that their friendship which had commenced under their Predecessors should continue sacred and inviolable yea grow more firm and fervent he adds For we acknowledge for our Fathers those blessed Saints who are gone before us and to whom we shall go after a little time Pantaenus I mean the truly happy and my Master and the holy Clemens my Master and one that was greatly useful and helpful to me VI. TO commend this excellent man after the great things spoken of him by the Ancients were to hold a Candle to the Sun Let us hear the character which some of them give of him The holy and the blessed Clemens a man very virtuous and approved as we have seen Alexander Bishop of Jerusalem who knew him best testifying of him Indeed his zeal and piety modesty and humility could not but endear him unto all For his learning he was in b Epist ad Magn. Orat. p. 327. S. Hieroms judgment the most learned of all the Ancients A man admirably learned and skilful and that searched to the very bottom of all the learning of the Greeks with that exactness that perhaps few before him ever attained to says c Contr. Julian l. 7. p. 221. Tom. 6. vid. l. 6. p 205 S. Cyril of Alexandria An holy man says d Haeret. Fabul l. 1. c. 6. p. 197. Theodoret 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and one that for his vast and diffusive learning incomparably surpassed all other men Nor was he less accurate in matters of Theology then humane learning an incomparable Master in the Christian Philosophy as Eusebius stiles him Witness his many Books crowded as e H. Eccl. l 6. c. 13. p. 215. Eusebius tells us with variety and plenty of useful knowledge derived as f De Script in Clem. ad Magn. Or. loc cit S. Hierom adds both from the holy Scriptures and secular learning wherein there is nothing unlearned nothing that it is not fetched out of the very center and bowels of Philosophy The titles of them those two Authors have preserved the far greatest part of the Books themselves having perished among which the most memorable was the Hypotyposes or Books of Institution so often cited by Eusebius which contained short and strict explications of many passages of holy Scriptures wherein a Cod. CIX col 285. Photius tells us there were many wild and impious opinions as That Matter was eternal and that Idaeas were introduced by certain Decrees that there is a transmigration of Souls and were many Worlds before Adam that the Son is among the number of created Beings and that the Word was not really made flesh but onely appeared so and many more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 monstrous blasphemies But withall insinuates that probably these things were inserted by another hand as b Apol. pro Orig. inter Oper. Hier. Tom. 4. p. 195. Rufinus expresly assures us that Heretics had corrupted Clemens his Writings Certainly had these Books been infected with these prophane and poysonous dogmata in Eusebius his time we can hardly think but that he would have given us at least some obscure intimations of it And considerable it is what Photius observes that these things are not countenanced by his other Books nay many of them plainly contradicted by them VII THE Books yet extant besides the little Tract entituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lately published are chiefly three which seem to have been written in a very wise and excellent order the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Exhortation to the Gentiles the Paedagogus or Christian Instructor and the Stromata or Various Discourses in the first he very rationally refutes the follies and impieties of the Gentile Religion and strongly persuades men to embrace Christianity in the second he tutors and instructs new Converts and by the most admirable rules and pathetical insinuations prepares and forms them to an holy and truly Christian life in the third he administers strong meat to them that are of a more full age a clearer explication of the Christian Doctrine and a more particular confutation both of Gentile and Heretical opinions admitting the Disciple after his first purgation and initiation into a more immediate acquaintance with the sacred Mysteries of Religion His Stromata c Vid. Euseb l. 6. c. 13. p. 214. are nothing but Miscellaneous Discourses composed out of the holy Writings and the Books of the Gentiles explaining and as occasion is confuting the opinions of the Greeks and Barbarians the Sentiments of Philosophers the notions of Heretics inserting variety of Stories and Treasures out of all sorts of Learning which as himself tells us d Strom. l. 1. p. 278. l. 4. p. 476. he therefore stiled Stromata that is a variegated contexture of Discourses and which e Lib. 7. p. 766. he compares not to a curious Garden wherein the Trees and Plants are disposed according to the exactest rules of Method and Order but to a thick shady Mountain whereon trees of all sorts the Cypress and the Plantane the Laurel and the Ivy the Apple the Olive and the Figtree promiscuously grow together In the two former of his Books as f Loc. supr cit col 288. Photius observes his stile is florid but set off with a well proportioned gravity and a becoming variety of Learning In the latter he neither designed the ornaments of Eloquence nor would the nature of his design well admit it as he truly g Ubi supr p. 767. apologizes for himself his main care h Ib. l. 1. p. 293. was so to express things that he might be understood and further eloquence then this he neither studied nor desired If in these Books of his there be what i Ubi supr Photius affirms some few things here and there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not soundly or warily expressed yet not as he adds like those of the Hypotyposes but capable of a candid and benign interpretation not considerably prejudicial either to the doctrine and practice of Religion and such as are generally to be met with in the Writers of those early Ages And it is no wonder if the good and pious men of those times who were continually engaged in fierce disputes with Heathens on the one side and Jews and Heretics on the other did not always 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 divide the truth aright in some nicer lines
an immoderate ambition betrayed the man into the snare and condemnation of the Devil At which breach Satan having entered took possession of the man who acted by the influence of an evil Spirit was wont on a suddain to fall into Enthusiastic fits and Ecstatic raptures and while he was in them in a furious and a frantic manner he poured out wild and unheard of things prophecying of what was to come in a way and strain that had not been used hitherto in the Church Proselytes he wanted not that came over to his Party At first onely some few of his Country-men the Phrygians whence his Sect derived the title of Cataphryges were drawn into the snare whom he instructed in the Arts of Evil speaking teaching them to reproach the whole Christian Church for refusing to entertain and honor his Pseudo-prophetic Spirit the same Spirit on the contrary pronouncing them blessed that joyned themselves to this new Prophet and swelling them with the mighty hopes and promises of what should happen to them sometimes also gently reproving and condemning them Among the rest of his Disciples two women were especially remarkable Prisca and Maximilla whom having first corrupted he imparted his Daemon to them whereby they were presently enabled to utter the most frantic incoherent and extravagant Discourses The truth is he seemed to lay his Scene with all imaginable craft and subtlety in the great and foundation-principles of Religion he agreed with the Catholics embraced entirely the holy Scriptures and pretended that he must receive the gifts of Divine Grace extrarordinarily conferred upon him which he gave out were more immediately the Holy Ghost he made a singular shew of some uncommon rigours and severities in Religion gave Laws for more strict and solemn Fasts and more frequently to be observed then were among the Orthodox taught Divorces to be lawful and forbad all second marriages called Pepuza and Tymium two little Towns of Phrygia Jerusalem that so he might the more plausibly invite simple and unwary Proselytes to flock thither And because he knew no surer way to oblige such persons as would be serviceable to him then by Proposals of gain and advantage he used all methods of extorting money from his deluded followers especially under the notion of Gifts and Offerings for which purpose he appointed Collectors to receive the Oblations that were brought in with which he maintained under-Officers and paid Salaries to those that propagated his Doctrines up and down the World Such were the Arts such the Principles of the Sect first strated by Montanus what additions were made by his followers in after-Ages I am not now concerned to enquire IX ALLURED with the smooth and specious pretences of this Sect Tertullian began to look that way though the particular occasion of his starting aside * Ubi supra vid. Niceph. l. 4. c. 12. p. 298. S. Hierom tells us was the envy and reproaches which he met with from the Clergy of the Church of Rome They that conceive him to have sued for the See of Carthage vacant by the death of Agrippinus and that he was opposed and repulsed in it by the Clergy of Rome and so highly resented the affront as thereupon to quit the Communion of the Catholic Church talk at random and little consider the mortified temper of the man and his known contempt of the World Probable it is that being generally noted for the excessive and over-rigorous strictness of his manners he had been charged by some of the Roman Clergy for compliance with Montanus and it may be admonished to recant or disown those Principles Which his stubborn and resolute temper not admitting he was together with Proclus and the rest of the Cataphrygian Party cut off by the Bishop of Rome from all Communion with that Church For there had been lately a disputation held at Rome between Caius an ancient Orthodox Divine and Proclus one of the Heads of the Montanist Party as a Lib. 6. c. 20. p. 222. l. 2. c. 25. p. 67. Hieron de Script in Caio Eusebius who read the account of it published by Caius informs us wherein Proclus being worsted was together with all the followers of that Sect excommunicated and Tertullian himself among the rest as he sufficiently b Dâ— jejun c. 1. p. 544. intimates This a man of a morose and unyielding disposition and who could brook no moderation that seemed to intrench upon the Discipline and Practice of Religion could not bear and therefore making light of the judgment and censures of that Church flew off and joined himself to Montanus his Party whose pretended austerities seemed of all others most agreeable to his humour and genius and most exactly to conspire with the course and method of his life But as it cannot be doubted that he looked no further then to the appearances and pretensions of that Sect not seeing the corrupt Springs by which the Engine was managed within so it is most reasonable and charitable to conceive that he never understood their principles in the utmost latitude and extent of them If he seems sometimes to acknowledge Montanus to be the Paraclete that was to come into the World probably he meant not something distinct from the Holy Spirit bestowed upon the Apostles but a mighty power and extraordinary assistance of the Holy Ghost shed upon Montanus whom God had sent into the World more fully and perfectly to explain the Doctrines of the Gospel and to urge the rules and institutions of the Christian life which our Lord had delivered when he was upon earth but did not with the greatest accuracy the things were capable of the minds of men not being then duly qualified to receive them That for this end he thought Montanus invested with miraculous powers and a spirit of Prophesie a thing not unusual even in those times and might believe his two Prophetesses to be acted with the same spirit All which might consist with an honest mind imposed upon by crafty and plausible pretences And plain it is that for some considerable time Montanus maintained the reputation of great piety zeal sanctity and extraordinary gifts before he was discovered to the World And Tertullian in all likelihood had his accounts concerning him not from himself but from Proclus or some others of the Party who might easily delude him especially in matters of fact with false informations However nothing can be more evident then that he looked a De Jejun loc citat upon these new Prophets as innovating nothing in the principles of Christianity that Montanus preached no other God nor asserted any thing to the prejudice of our blessed Saviour nor subverted any rule of Faith or Hope but onely introduced greater severities then other men that he was not the Author but the restorer of Discipline and onely reduced things to that ancient strictness from which he supposed they had degenerated especially in the cases of coelibacy single marriages and such like as he
pleas represented with all the advantages with which Wit Reason and Eloquence could set them off XXVII NOR wanted there of old those who stood up to plead and defend his cause especially Pamphilus the Martyr and Eusebius who published an Apology in six Books in his behalf the first five whereof were written by Pamphilus with Eusebius his assistance while they were in prison the last finished and added by Eusebius after the others Martyrdom Besides which a Cod. CXVIII col 297. Photius tells us there were many other famous men in those times who wrote Apologies for him he gives us a particular account b Cod. CXVII col 293. of one though without a name where in five Books the Author endeavours to justifie Origen as sound and Orthodox and cites Dionysius Demetrius and Clemens all of Alexandria and several others to give in evidence for him The main of these Apologies are perished long ago otherwise probably Origen's cause might appear with a better face seeing we have now nothing but his notions dressed up and glossed by his professed enemies and many things ascribed to him which he never owned but were coined by his pretended followers For my own part I shall onely note from the Ancients some general remarques which may be pleaded in abatement of the rigour and severity of the sentence usually passed upon him And first many things were said and written by him not positively and dogmatically but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says the c Ibid. col 296. Author of his Apology in Photius by way of exercitation and this he himself was wont to plead at every turn and to beg the Readers pardon and profess that he propounded these things not as Doctrins but as disputable Problems and with a design to search and find out the truth as a Apolog. ap Hieron Tom. 4. p. 172. Pamphilus assures us and S. Hierom himself b Ad Avit p. 151. Tom. 2. cannot but confess and if we had the testimony of neither there is enough to this purpose in his Books still extant to put it beyond all just exception Thus discoursing concerning the union of the two natures in the person of our blessed Saviour he affirms c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 2. c. 6. p. 698. it to be a mystery which no created understanding can sufficiently explain concerning which says he not from any rashness of ours but onely as the order of Discourse requires we shall briefly speak rather what our Faith contains then what humane Reason is wont to assert producing rather our own conjectures then any plain and peremptory affirmations And to the same purpose he expresses himself at every turn Not to say that he wrote many things in the heat of disputation which it may be his cooler and more considering thoughts would have set right So the Apologist in Photius d Cod. CXVII col 296. pleads that whatever he said amiss in the doctrin of the Trinity proceeded meerly from a vehement opposition of Sabellius who confounded the number and difference of persons and whose Sect was one of the most prevailing Heresies of that time The confutation whereof made him attempt a greater difference and distinction in the persons then the rules of Faith did strictly allow Secondly those Books of his e Pamph. Apol. ubi supr p. 174 177. wherein he betrays the most unsound and unwarrantable notions were written privately and with no intention of being made public but as secrets communicable among friends and not as doctrines to disturb the Church And this he freely acknowledged in his Letter to Fabian f Ap. Hieron in Epist ad Pammach de err Orig. p. 193. 〈◊〉 Bishop of Rome and cast the blame upon his friend Ambrosius quod secretò edita in publicum protulerit that he had published those things which he meant should go no further then the brests or hands of his dearest friends And there is always allowed a greater freedom and latitude in debating things among friends the secrets whereof ought not to be divulged nor the Public made Judges of that innocent liberty which is taken within mens private walls Thirdly the disallowed opinions that he maintains are many of them such as were not the Catholic and determined Doctrins of the Church not defined by Synods nor disputed by Divines but either Philosophical or Speculations which had not been thought on before and which he himself at every turn cautiously distinguishes from those propositions which were entertained by the common and current consent and approbation of the Christian Church Sure I am he lays it down as a fundamental maxim in the very entrance upon that g Praef. ad lib. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 665. Book wherein his most dangerous assertions are contained that those Ecclesiastic Doctrins are to be preserved which had been successively delivered from the Apostles and were then received and that nothing was to be embraced for truth that any ways differed from the tradition of the Church XXVIII FOURTHLY Divers of Origen's works have been corrupted and interpolated by evil hands and Heretics to add a lustre and authority to their opinions by the veneration of so great a name have inserted their own assertions or altered his and made him speak their language An argument which however laughed at by S. Hierom a Ad â—ammath ubi supr is yet stifly maintained by Rufinus b Apol. pro Orig. apud Hier. Tom. 4. p. 194 195. c. Praef. ad lib. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ib. Tom. 2. p. 188. who shews this to have been an old and common art of Heretics and that they dealt thus with the writings of Clemens Romanus of Clemens and Dionysius of Alexandria of Athanasius Hilary Cyprian and many more Dionysius c Ap. Euseb H. Eccl. l. 4. c. 23. p. 145. the famous Bishop of Corinth who lived many years before Origen assures us he was served at this rate that at the request of the brethren he had written several Epistles but that the Apostles and Emissaries of the Devil had filled them with weeds and tares expunging some things and adding others The Apologist in Photius d Ubi supr tells us Origen himself complained of this in his life time and so indeed he does in his e Ap. Ruffin iâ— Tom. 4. p. 195. Letter to them of Alexandria where he smartly resents that charge of blasphemy had been ascribed to him and his doctrine of which he was never guilty and that it was less wonder if his doctrine was adulterated when the great S. Paul could not escape their hands he tells them of an eminent Heretic that having taken a Copy of a dispute which he had had with him did afterwards cut off and add what he pleas'd and change it into another thing carrying it about with him and glorying in it And when some friends in Palestin sent it to him then at Athens he returned them a true