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A36910	The Young-students-library containing extracts and abridgments of the most valuable books printed in England, and in the forreign journals, from the year sixty five, to this time : to which is added a new essay upon all sorts of learning ... / by the Athenian Society ; also, a large alphabetical table, comprehending the contents of this volume, and of all the Athenian Mercuries and supplements, etc., printed in the year 1691.	Dunton, John, 1659-1733.; Hove, Frederick Hendrick van, 1628?-1698.; Athenian Society (London, England)	1692 (1692)	Wing D2635; ESTC R35551	984,688	524

antagonists He shews them that they understood not what the Unity of the Church is He makes the same reproach to St. Augustin and accuses him of perplexing himself with a thousand contradictions in maintaining on one side that the Baptism of Hereticks is valid and on the other that they are absolutely separated from the body of the Church But St. Ierom is not so used it 's granted that he has better understood the question and it 's proved by his disputes against the Luciferians that he excluded not from the Church even all Hereticks After this it is maintain'd by eleven proofs that the Catholick Church includes all the Christian Societies which retained the fundamentals of Christianity The first proof is drawn from the extent which the Word of God promiseth to the Church for as it is evident that there is no particular Church which hath ever compleated the notion of this extent the promises of God must either be false or verifie themselves by the extent of Christianity in General Here are refuted the pretensions of Mr. Nicole upon the extent of the Romish Communion the second proof is taken out of the places of the Word of God which foretel that the Church shall have a mixture of good and bad of wheat and tares for if crimes hinder not a Christian to be a Member of the true Church why should error have the fatality to hinder from it It is surely a pretention that abuses the light of Nature to say that a Man that kills another is yet a Catholick but if he blames the retrenchment of the Cup he is by that very thing Excommunicated and banished the whole Communion of the Church we need only to ask good reasons for this enormous inequality to make the most resolute Doctors sweat The third proof is drawn from this that God keeps the knowledge of the Truth and Preaching of his Word in Schismatick and erring Societies whence we must conclude that God saves Men in it Other proofs are founded on examples or on the Opinions and Conduct of the Roman Catholicks The examples are the Schisms of the ten Tribes which continued as this Author saith to be the People of God and the Iews that were converted to the Gospel in the Apostles time and who refused to have any Communion with the converted Gentiles For the proofs ad hominem they are drawn either from Father Goar or from Leo Alatius who said that the Schismatick Communions of the East are not out of the Church Or according to Mr. Nicole several persons have been saved tho' of the Arian Communion or else the Gentlemen of Port Royal err which glory in this point of Transubst antiation to have Conformed themselves to the Schismaticks or according to the Confession of the Romish Church that there is a true Mission and a saving Grace in the other Communions so that other sects are Christians and during the Schism of Anti-Popes the true Catholicity was found under divers obediences Mr. Nicole is strongly refuted upon this Article Neither is he with less vigour refuted upon the objection which he hath so much boasted of which is that the Vnity of the Church necessarily includes the Vnity of Communion It is the first difficulty which Mr. Iurieu examins in his answer to the arguments which may be alledged against his system The 2d difficulty is found in the 7th Book of Mr. Arnaud upon the downfal of Morality where he saith this System is that of the indifferency of Religions but 't is strongly denyed him for it 's maintained that one cannot be saved in all the Sects of Christianity and that there are cases wherein we must separate from them which err and that we cannot Communicate in all nor tolerate all nor pass successively from one unto another These are great questions and for to clear them one must have as much wit and depth of Judgment as Mr. Iurieu has He makes a thousand fine remarks upon all this he saith there are two ways which God makes use of to save Men in Heretical Societies one is the Grace he gives them to discern the true spiritual nourishment from the false The other is to bear with their faults according to his great mercy But lest People should abuse this Doctrine the Author brings several Cautions which shew that such as throw themselves into the Communion of Rome have reason to fear their Souls and maintains that it was well done to separate from it as in the last Age. He speaks much upon the important subject of Toleration nor will he have Soveraigns deprived of the liberty of reprehending their Heretick subjects in certain cases nor will he have them that err have any priviledge of maintaining their pretended Truths he examines upon this subject the reasons that have been lately published to maintain the priviledges of a Conscience that really errs and then passes to the visibility and perpetuity of the Church two great questions upon which he says some things that are both solid and curious And so much for the first Book The second runs upon a subject no less important that is upon the Authority of the Church and analysis of Faith The Author begins his proofs against the infallibility of the Church for this reason that the Universal Church being a Collection of all Societies that retain its grounds and principles can no ways be infallible nor has it any need of being unerrable for every part maintaining that each other part being contrary to it's self has fallen into error it follows that the Church being but a Collection of all these parts whereof the one refutes the rest is erroneous in all its parts and that being so how can it be infallible or any single part thereof be unerrable Nor is it less evident that the infallibility of the Church would be to no purpose because it is not possible that a Congregation of all Christian Sects should clear or decide any difficulty And it is confessed here that the unanimous consent of all Communions to teach a certain truth is a kind of infallible judgment given by the Church and moreover the Character of a fundamental truth so hard to be agreed upon is consented to but lest the Socinians might come to cross it it is declared that neither they nor the Fanaticks have any share in it nor yet the other Sectaries of these times After this the Authority of Councils is spoken of and divers reflections made thereon The Councils are considered different ways 1. Either as the meeting of wise Men that have a mind mutually to instruct each other and Communicate their knowledge 2. As commissioned Law-makers that Assemble for to regulate the form of Government 3. As Judges established by their Church to learn the prevarications of Religious Societies The first of these relations belong to them in respect of matters of Faith the 2d In respect of ordering of Discipline and the 3d. in respect of censures and Excommunications this is

the Gauls The conduct of Victor pleased not all the other Bishops who exhorted him in their turn to have sentiments conformable to a Peace Unity and Love to our Neighbours There are still of their Letters adds Eusebius wherein they reprehend Victor with eagerness enough Amongst these Bishops was Irenaeus who in the Letter which he Writ upon this Subject in the Name of the Brothers over whom he presided among the Gauls maintains also that one Sunday must be Celebrated the Resurrection of our Lord yet he advertiseth Victor with much gravity that he ought not to cut off from the Communion whole Churches of God who observe a Tradition and Ancient Custom It will be some difficulty to believe that Bom found in this Affair a Proof of the Authority of the Pope Notwithstanding it is the conclusion he draws from it and grounds 1. Upon that the Bishops who were displeased at this Excommunication would undoubtedly have acted with more haughtiness against Victor if he had not been their Superior whereas they speak unto him with a mildness which marks well that they contested not the Right of Excommunicating the Churches as not being of his Jurisdiction but that they only found fault with the use he made thereof the cause of the Excommunication not being of consequence enough according to them 2. That notwithstanding they were deceived in that and that Victor did well to use this rigour because Blastus one of the principal Patrons of the Opinion of the Asiaticks would have introduced Iudaism under this pretence 3. That the Church approved of the Conduct of Victor in condemning the Bishops of Asia to whom was given the name of Quartodecimal Hereticks 4. That Irenaeus himself hath not doubted of the Superiority of the Bishop of Rome seeing he saith elsewhere That all the Churches must to wit all the Faithful of what place soever they are come to this Church in which the Apostolical Tradition hath been preserved by those who came to it from every Part because of its more powerful Principality Ad hanc enim Ecclesiam propter potentiorem Principalitatem necesse est omnem convenire Ecclesiam hoc est eos qui sunt undique fideles in qua semper ab his qui sunt undique conservata est ea quae est ab Apostolis Traditio To this Episcopius Replies That the Answer of the Bishops of Asia and the Letter of Irenaeus would not be very respectful if Victor had been the Chief of the Church that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies properly to give a contrary order and those of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 acerbius perstringere are not invented to express the submission of a Subject to his Prince and that if these Bishops could take it ill that their Judge a pretended Soveraign and Infallible should banish from the Church and exclude from Heaven so great a number of Churches for so slight a cause they have therefore thought that he might be mistaken in his Decisions upon matters of Faith and that they had a right to examine them 2. That the Heresie of Blastus justifies not the proceedings of Victor seeing the Asiaticks looked not upon the Celebration of the Passover as a necessary Observance and which should precisely be applyed to such a day that they were contented that Victor and other Bishops should Celebrate it on Sunday if they had their Reasons for it but that they having not the same proofs thereof believed themselves not obliged to abandon the Apostolical Tradition It hath not been remarked that our Professor answereth the passage of Irenaeus because we need only to read it throughly to shew that there is no mention there of the Right of the Bishop of Rome in the Decision of Controversies but only of the Characters which they in the time of Irenaeus did acknowledge Apostolical Thereupon he saith That it must be sought for in the places where the Apostles have established Bishops but because it would be too long to make an enumeration of all the Apostolick Churches he stops at one of the most ancient and greatest which is the Church of Rome As this City was the Capital of the Empire Principalitas Potentior and that for that Reason the Inhabitants of divers Provinces negotiated there and were obliged to come thither Irenaeus concludes that the Apostolical Tradition could not fail of having been faithfully kept there since that if the Christians of a Province or of a City had been minded to corrupt it the Christians of other places who were at Rome would have opposed it it being improbable to suppose that so many different Nations would agree to abandon in so little a time the Doctrine of the Apostles II. Bom often alledged passages out of St. Augustin for the Authority of Popes that gave occasion to Episcopius of citing him the 22d Canon of the Council of Millan where St. Augustin was Secretary and another Canon of the 6th Council of Carthage where this Bishop also assisted both which prohibited the drawing Ecclesiastical Causes of the Diocess of Africk on the other side the Sea whether they regard the Inferior Members of the Clergy or the very Bishops That the Deputies of the Pope having represented to the Assembly That this Canon destroyed the Priviledges which the Council had granted to the Patriarch of Rome in permitting Ecclesiasticks to appeal unto him in Judgments had against them by the Ordinaries the Bishops of Africk were extreamly surprized and said all Unanimously That they never heard of such Priviledges Thereupon these Deputies related three Canons which they said to be of the Council of Nice the Fathers of Carthage to Constantinople Alexandria and Antioch and the Authentick Copies of this Council where not finding these three Canons they Writ to the Pope That the Right of Appealing which he pretended to in quality of Supream Judge and belonged not to him by virtue of the Council of Nice seeing the Three Canons upon which he grounded his pretentions were not to be found in the Originals The Exceptions are reduced to this 1. That the Council of Millan prohibits but the Inferior Clerks to Appeal beyond the Sea and that this is evident because Pope Innocent to whom the Synod of Millan submitted all their Decrees as to the Head of the Church approved the Canon in question 2. That there is no reason to believe that the Copy of the Council of Nice which was kept at Rome was supposed but that there is much more likelyhood that those of Constantinople Antioch and Alexandria were defective seeing the Manuscript upon which Ruffinus Writ his History was so and that there are several Canons of this Council cited in that of Calcedonia and in St. Ambros St. Augustin and Ierome which are not found in this Historian 3. That the Decrees which are accused of Supposition have been cited by other Popes before Zozime as Iulius speaks who living but Twenty years after the Council of Nice could easily have been convinced

we have spoke Then it was that Gregory composed his two Invectives against Iulian where he omits nothing to render him Odious to all Posterity These two Speeches are assuredly full of all the Eagerness and Passion that can be imagined against a Man who setting aside his Paganism had been one of the greatest Emperors which hath been in the Roman Empire A Learned Man hath unreasonably thought that these two Speeches were published during the Life of Iulian Gregory speaks of his Death in both of them The same Author remarketh reasonably enough That the Authority of some that have been in times past Illustrious in the Church doth mightily deceive us when we judge after them of some Princes of their time Prejudices are so strong saith he that they seldom come into Examination but suffer themselves to be entertain'd under the Authority of the Holiness of these Illustrious Men. The Vulgar imagines it a great Sin to disbelieve that the Piety of these Men has not always been accompanied with a great deal of Candor As for my part as I am perswaded that they were Vertuous so I know that they have committed Faults through Passion To say nothing of others those that had some Reputation in Greece have been subject to the evil Custom of their Nation to fall into Extremities c. They have cast head-long into Hell those they were angry with though their Vertue had raised them up to Heaven And on the contrary they have so highly raised those they have undertaken to Praise that Posterity this day admires their Vertue which scarcely was indifferent It is necessary to remember this Genius of the Grecians if we have a mind sincerely to judge of the Panegyricks and Invectives of Christian Antiquity 1. Gregory begins his first Invective with Furious Railings against Iulian which he invites Heaven and Earth to hear He particularly maketh his Address to the Soul of Constantius who had set up Iulian to be Caesar. In speaking to him he adds these words If the Dead perceive any thing By which it appears he doubted if the Dead know any thing of what passeth here on Earth Notwithstanding he saith elsewhere That he reprehends him as if Constantius was present and did hear him though he was with God and enjoyed his Glory This sheweth that this is but an Apostrophe of Rhetorick whence nothing can be concluded 2. He mightily wonders that Constantius had raised Iulian to the Dignity of Caesar knowing what he was and sets forth at the same time the Praise of the first whose Piety he boasts of every where he defends him against those who accused him of Imprudency for having raised up Iulian after having put to Death his Brother Gallus and saith That he thought to mitigate the mind of Iulian by Kindnesses and that full of Confidence in his own Strength he feared him not as it might be seen if Constance had not been Dead In the following Speech against Iulian speaking of the same Emperor he excuses him for the Protection he had given the Arians He saith That he suffered himself to be put upon by Simplicity and want of Firmness and that the appearance of Zeal that he saw in the Arian Officers at Court had seduced him It would be hard to grant this with the Principles of Gregory who looked on the Questions of Arianism as Capitals if it were not known that the Expressions of Orators are not to be pressed as those of a Geometrician But there would be much ado to reconcile him with St. Hilary of Poictiers who hath treated Constantius a great deal worse than Gregory treateth Iulian. These great Men acted as others according to the Passion that animated them at the present without too much weighing the Figures and Expressions which they made use of 3. Gregory Laughs at Iulian who hindred the Christians to teach Prophane Letters because the Reasons of Christians would not be the less Strong tho they were not proposed with so much Purity But he makes as if he despised Eloquence and Politeness which in truth he did not despise and which he sheweth as much as he can in all his Writings which would be even very often more clear if there was not so much Rhetorick in them He also Reproacheth Iulian who trusted much on his Eloquence the desire he testified to take from the Christians the means to acquire it Which is saith he the same thing as if a Wrestler play'd the Bravade after having prohibited all the Vigorous Wrestlers to Contend with him 4. He assures us That Constantius had carefully Educated Gallus and Iulian Sons to one of his Uncles and who also was named Constantius to shew that he had no share in the Murder of the latter which had been Commissioner when Constantius Son to Constantine ascended the Throne He was willing even to communicate the Empire to his two Sons who were of a very different Disposition if we believe Gregory Tho they had been instructed after the same manner and were both of them willing to be Anagnostes or to read the Holy Scriptures at Church it appeared afterwards that one of them was not a Christian It was said and Gregory believed it to be true that Gallus and Iulian building a Temple at equal Expences in Honor of some Martyrs what Gallus Builded did sensibly Augment but that the Ground Trembled in the Place where Iulian built and that all which was done did Fall There happened besides many other Miracles far different from those of the Gospel which were not so much in favour of the Incredulous as of those whose Disposition did not render them quite unworthy True it is that Gregory saith that Falshood was mixed with Truth and relates but doubtfully what was said that Iulian in Sacrificing had seen a Crowned Cross in the Entrails of a Victim But he relates for truth things far more incredible in the following Speech and in this he saith That Iulian having call'd out the Devils by certain Sacrifices could not forbear trembling so soon as he heard the noise and saw certain Fires which usually precede their Apparition and that as he had been Educated in Christianity he made the sign of the Cross which immediately banished all these Spectres The Priest that acted the Ceremonies and perceived the disturbance of Iulian told him that the Gods abhorr'd him for that reason and not that they were in any wise fearful of the sign of the Cross which he had made So he begun the Sacrifice again and Iulian look'd upon the Devils 5. Gregory laugheth at the Artifices which Iulian made use of to Persecute the Christians without procuring them the Honor of Martyrdom and without seeming to entreat them evilly because whatever Pretence he made use of it was easily seen that Christianity was their greatest Crime Persecution for the cause of Religion is so Odious in it self in those who have retained any spark of Humanity that the

such as were Commemorated in Divine Service the Changes which this Custom underwent and the Source which the Author thinks it proceeded from furnish him with a fair Subject The degrees of several Priests and their Ecclesiastick Deputations furnish him with a no less pleasant entertainment in the Sixth Dissertation The Seventh runs upon a very obscure Point because it relates to the Principle of the Unity of the Church and the different Arguments which St. Cyprian drew from thence for the several Disputes which he maintained The Subject of the Eighth is not less difficult because to clear it well we must go back to the Roman Laws to examine the grounds of such who being received in Peace by the Martyrs after their Fall from the Faith thought that to be reconciled with the Church there was no need of the Authority of their Bishops We shall mention this but in general no more than the distinction of Priests and Bishops which is spoke of in the two following Dissertations we are brief in them that we may have more room to speak fully on the last Dissertations wherein ancient Martyrs are treated upon which is a curious Subject for all sorts of People You must know then that the Author had the same Fate as Astrologers when they endeavoured to number the Stars exactly they believed without doubt what the Commonalty does to this very day that the Stars which are seen in a clear Night are Innumerable yet they hardly find 1022 in the Firmament after they have contemplated the two Hemispheres Thus it hapned to Mr. Dowdell as to the number of ancient Martyrs I do not doubt but that before he Studied the Matter whilst he believed common Tradition he thought that the Pagan Emperors put to Death a prodigious number of the Faithful for so all the World represent to themselves the ancient Persecutions We imagin Martyrs in Heaps and Piles like to the Miracles in the History of Francis Xavier who tells us that such a day was Consecrated to the Memory of 1100 Martyrs and Virgins It is certain that there are great abatements to be made in Peoples Imaginations upon this matter and if we were exact in our account it will be found that the Popes and Roman Catholick Princes have made more suffer for the sake of Religion than the Heathen Emperors ever did but Prejudices are strange things they lessen or augment the same Actions as they proceed from such or such Persons Let us be so just to the Christian Authors that wrote the first after the Heathen Persecutions to think that they have not changed things much 'T was they who were remote from matter of Fact that gave us such false accounts and 't is the ordinary Fate of Human effects as has been observed on the occasion of St. Ignatius's Miracles There is nothing can be so strong a proof that few Martyrs suffer'd in the first Ages as a passage of Origen's where he plainly says that few died for the Faith of Iesus Christ. Would he have said so who writ against a Heathen Philosopher He that had so great a knowledge of things if accounts were true in the Martyrologies which the following Ages compiled Nor is Eusebius's Authority less in reducing the Martyrs to a small number for there are not many spoke of in the two Collections which he made whereof tho one was lost there were Fragments enough of it preserved in his Ecclesiastick History to let us understand what it contained Here also are Proofs alledged which are strengthned before hand against that plausible Objection that during the great Tempests which tost the Church it was not easie to collect Memoires for it is clearly justified by the practice of the first Christians that they were extream exact and devout in celebrating the Memory of their Martyrs and that it was easie for them to learn their Names and the circumstances of their Punishment for we cannot imagine but than they had some good Intervals and this is a point whereby the common Opinion is retrieved in shewing that the Heathen Emperors were not always such Devils as they are though● to be for of 'em some have been Friends and Patrons to Christians and others have valued themselves so much upon Clemency that they made the chiefest good of their Reign consist in that they could boast they did not cause the effusion of Blood Nor must we believe that the Intendants of Provinces have put many to Death under these Emperors for however brutal an Intendant might be he would not think of making himself a fierce and bigotted Converter when he knew the Court would disprove it and they seldom satisfied their barbarous or superstitious Tempers until they had brought the Prince on their side St. Ambrose tells us that the greatest part of Pagan Governors of Provinces gloried in leaving them without putting any one to Death But whereas these general Reasons would not with all Readers be of sufficient force against the vast Collections of Martyrologies which have been a long time made and are become the Subject of Meditation not only to devout Souls but also to sevoral Rhetoricians the Author takes a particular review of each Persecution of the ancient Church He begins with that of Nero and presently meets with a Passage of Tacitus which does not seem to favour him because this Author says that they put a great number of Christians to Death The Author seeks for no frivolous subtilty to elude this Autorhity but on the contrary he strengthens the Objection with a false Remark in applying to that Time these words of Tacitus Repressar in praesens exitiabilis Superstitio which manifestly relates to the Suffering of Jesus Christ. He acknowledges then the great Multitude but pretends that this Storm fell only upon the Christians at Rome and so diminishes much the Idea's that People framed to themselves of this first Persecution He also believes that the Names of these Martyrs were not put in the Archives whether it was that it was thought they ought not to be put in the number of Martyrs who were not put to death under pretext of Religion but because they were suspected to have set Rome on Fire or whether it was that the Custom of Anniversaries was not then established among the Christians upon this he gives us several critical Remarks and passes to the Persecution of Domitian and shews clearly that it was but little or nothing Since that time to the time of Decius the Church enjoyed great rest if we believe Lactantius It is already a great Prejudice to suppose that it was miserably torn in this Interval for whence should Lactantius's ignorance of all this proceed But not to ground all this Affair on his Omission all that concerns the Persecution of Trajan Adrian Anthoninus Marcus Aurelius Severus and Maximinus is carefully examined and the Advocates of Martyrologies are shewn that their account is to be much lessened This place teaches us a thousand curious things concerning

retake that Shield which by their Apostacy they lost that so they may be armed not against the Church which grieves at their Misery but against their Adversary the Devil a modest Petition a bashful Supplication a necessary Humility and an Industrious Patience will be advantageous to them let them express their Grief by their Tears and their Sorrow and Shame for their Crimes by their Groans Ep. 31. ap Cypr. Tertullian in a like manner describes one in this State by lying in Sackcloth and Ashes by having a squalid Body and a dejected Soul by Fasting Praying Weeping Groaning and roaring night and day by throwing himself at the Clergies feet and kneeling before the Faithful begging and desiring their Prayers and Pardon If the Criminals Repentance was thought real he was admitted to part of the Service but not to all for a long time some two three five ten Years and some even to their Lives end On the day appointed for Absolution ●he came cover'd with Sackcloth and Ashes throwing himself at the Feet of the Clergy and Laity and with Tears in his Eyes begging their Pardon and Forgiveness confest his Fault and received Absolution by the Bishops putting his hand upon his Head and blessing him and then he was looked upon as a true Church-Member again 8. In the Eighth Chap. he comes to shew the Independency that Churches had one of another as to Superiority or Preheminence which concludes very strongly against the Usurpations of the See of Rome he Cites the Decree of the African Synod Apud Cyp. Ep. 55. § 16. Pag. 142. That every ones Cause should be heard where the Crime was committed because that to every Pastor was committed a particular Portion of Christ's Flock which he was particularly to rule and govern and to render an Account thereof unto the Lord. Yet he shews there was such a Dependence and Correspondence betwixt one another Cypr. Ep. 67. § 6. Pag. 199. Although they were many Pastors yet they were but one Flock and they ought to congregate and cherish all the Sheep which Christ redeemed by his own Blood and Passion And a little after We ought all of us to take care of the Body of the whole Church whose Members are distended through various Provinces Apud Cypr. Ep. 30. § 4. Pag. 67. Our Au●hor treats next of Provincial Synods which he proves were a Convocation of Bishops Presbyters Deacons and deputed Laimen who often met to advise about Ecc●esiastical Affairs and regu●ate what should appear amiss He shews that this Convocation was usually every Year Per singulos annos in unum Conveniamus Apud Cyprian Ep. 75. § 3. Pag. 23● In these Assemblies they chose out of the gravest and most renowned Bishops two to be Arbitrators and Moderators Apud Euseb Lib 5. Cap. 23. Pag. ●90 The Decrees that they made were binding and who ever broke them came under the Ecclesiastick Censure 9. In the Ninth Chap. our Author treats of the Unity of the Church Here he shews that the Unity of the Church consisted not in an Uniformity of Rites and Usages but every Church was at its own liberty to follow its own particular Customs Iren. apud Euseb. Lib. 5. Cap. 24. P. 193. In some Churches they fasted one day in others two in some more and in others forty hours but yet they still retained Peace and Concord the diversity of their commending the Unity of their Faith And a little after the same Father They retained Peace and Love and for the diversity of such Customs none were ever cast out of the Communion of the Church Also Firmilius apud Cyprian Ep. 75. § 5. Pag. 237. That in most Provinces their Rites were varied according to the Diversities of Names and Places and that for this no one ever departed from the Peace and Unity of the Catholick Church 'T would be well if this Primitive Union was well considered on by such as keep up the Dissentions amongst us at this day they will certainly have a severe Account to make one day to the Prince of Peace nor will their Ignorance excuse them in not making a due distinction betwixt the Fundamentals of Religion and mere Circumstances Our Author proceeds to shew what condescentions there were amongst them from Iustin Martyr who speaking of those Jewish Converts who adhered to the Mosaical Rites says That if they did this only through their Weakness and Imbecillity and did not perswade other Christians to the observance of the same Iudaical Customs that he would receive them into Church-fellowship and Communion Dialog cum Tryphon Pag. 266. After this our Author shews how the whole Churches censur'd such as were Authors of Divisions about the different Observation of Easter Baptizing Hereticks c. and afterwards he brings in Irenaeus saying That at the last day Christ shall judge those who cause Schisms who are inhuman not having the fear of God but preferring their own advantage before the Unity of the Church who for trivial and slight Causes rend and divide the great and glorious Body of Christ and as much as in them lies destroy it who speak Peace but make War truly straining at a Gnat but swallowing a Camel Lib. 4. Cap. 62. Pag. 292. Here our Authors defines Schism according to the Primitive Fathers to be an unnecessary causeless Separation from their lawful Pastor or Parish Church So that who ever separates upon such a Ground is a Schismatick then he comes to lay down such measures as the Primitive Christians did make use of for Separation from their Bishop 1 Apostacy from the Faith 2 Or when a Bishop renounc'd the Christian Faith and through fear of Persecution embrac'd the Heathenish Idolatries as was done in the Case of Martialis and Basilides two Spanish Bishops 3 ly When the Bishops Life was scandalous and wicked he gives Instances of all of them yet he brings in Origen against this last Opinion his words are these Origen Hom. 7. in Ezek. He that hath a care of his Soul will not be scandaliz'd at my Faults who am his Bishop but considering my Doctrin and finding it agreeable to the Churches Faith from me indeed he will be averse but he will receive my Doctrin according to the Precept of the Lord which saith The Scribes and Pharisees sit on Moses his Chair whatever therefore they say unto you hear and do but according to their Work do not for they say and do not The Scripture is of me who teach what is good and do the contrary and sit upon the Chair of Moses as a Scribe or Pharisee the Precept is to thee O People if thou canst not accuse me of false Doctrin or Heretical Opinions but only beholdest my wicked and sinful Life but do those things which I speak After having mentioned this Father's Opinion he adds that whether Irenaeus or an African Synod or Origen deserves most Credit he leaves it to the Learned to judge but however our Author gives his own Opinion that they

Dissertation is extremely short the Reader is desired to consult it We shall only Remark that according to this Author St. Peter being upon the point of parting from Rome for England in the Year of our Lord LV he established Linus to govern the Church of Rome in his absence whither being returned in LXVI he found it without a Pastor Linus being dead during his absence A little time after being cast into Prison he established Clement in the place of Linus towards the time of the Pass-over in LXVII a few Months before his Death St. Clement held the See nine Years and eleven or twelve Days after which great Contestations arose in the Church of Rome which obliged St. Clement to quit the Episcopacy It would not be permitted if we believe Vandelin that St. Clement should succeed in the See of Rome by virtue of St. Peter's Testament fearing lest this Example might render the Episcopacy Hereditary and St. Clement having declared That if it was upon his account that these Contestations happened he was ready to retire in what place of the World they would have him he was taken at his word and Cletus was chosen in his place to whom Anacletus Evaristus Alexander Telesphorus c. succeeded in the order we have named them Vendelin believes that the first Epistle of St. Clement as it is commonly called was written by this Holy Man not in his own particular name but in that of the Clergy of Rome in XCV after the death of Anacletus and during the Vacancy of the See though according to him Evaristus had been nominated to succeed Anacletus so that this Letter was written during the most violent Persecutions of Domitian But Vendelin pretends that which is called the Second was written in a time wherein the Christian Church enjoyed an entire Peace in LXXV after which account the second would have been written twenty Years before the first He grounds what he says chiefly upon a Letter of Denys Bishop of Corinth to Pope Soterus written about the Year CLXVII where Denys speaks thus to the Church of Rome We have celebrated Sunday this day in which we have read your Letter which we always read for our Instruction as well as the former that Clement writ to us He believes the latter to be that which is called the second of St. Clements and that the other is the first which Clement of Alexandria calleth according to the Remark of Mr. Colomies the Epistle of the Romans to the Corinthians After the Dissertation of Vendelin are the two Epistles of St. Clement in Greek and Latin the first of the Version of Iunius and the second translated by Vendelin Mr. Colomies hath joined to it little Notes where 1. he corrects some places of the Text which Iunius had ill transcribed from the Original For Example from the first Page there is according to the Edition of Iunius That Grace and Peace which come from God-Allmighty through Iesus Christ be abundantly poured upon you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. upon every particular Person amongst you and upon one towards another We have thought most dear Brethren a little later then we should have done upon what you have demanded of us by reason of the evils and accidents which happened to us c. but according to the MS. of Alexandria the Phrase is much more clear since there it is That Grace and Peace c. be given to you abundantly by reason of the unforeseen Evils and Accidents which have happened to us one after another we have thought c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mr. Colomies Remarks also in a place or two wherein the Original was not observed but these Passages are not of the same Importance with that which we have cited 2. Some Conjectures are in these Notes and varieties of Reading taken from Clement of Alexandria who has several times cited St. Clement of Rome which places are all marked here as well as the rest of the Ancients who have cited the latter Clement 3. Mr. Colomies in some places corrects the Latin Version 4. He Expounds divers words of the Original 5. Upon the occasion of St. Clement he makes some critical Observations about Ecclesiastical History Thus also upon what St. Clement saith § 21. of the death of St. Peter and St. Paul he affirms that the time of their death is not certain A Council held at Rome under Pope Galasius says that the Hereticks pretend that St. Peter and Paul received the Crown of Martyrdom in divers times nevertheless it was the Opinion of Iustin Martyr and St. Irenaeus who said St. Paul died five Years after St. Peter Philastrius also reckoned amongst Hereticks those who give the names of the Seven Planets to the days of the Week though St. Ignatius and Iustin Martyr followed the received Custom therein St. Clement in Chapter 28th cites a Passage of the Psalms under the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Writing upon which it 's remarked that Mr. Vossius was mistaken when he saith that this word was found out by Aquila and that seems to teach us that the word Chetoubim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Writings to mark the Psalms Proverbs Iob and the other Books which the Iews comprise this day under this name is not new 2. There have been in England several Learned Men who having consumed all their Life in the study of Antiquity seem to have studied only for their particular Satisfaction without caring to impart to the publick their admirable knowledge therein Such was Richard Thomson Gerard Langbaine and Matthew Bustus whose few Writings which remain amongst us serve for almost nothing but to discover to us what these great Men might have done had they been willing Mr. Colomies adds Thomas Bruno Chanon of Windsor who left several Collections with his Friend Mr. Vossius but of which there is scarcely any thing that is fit for the Press The Dissertation which we have of it here De Therapeutis Philonis adversus Henr. Valesium was by good Luck ended and it is to Mr. Vossius who communicated it to Mr. Colomies that the Publick is indebted Amongst the Works of Philo is found a Treatise of a Contemplative Life where he describes the Esseans manner of living who dwelt near Alexandria and solely applied themselves to Contemplation There were Esseans spread through all Egypt who sent the most virtuous amongst them to inhabit a Hill which is near the Lake of Maria in a Place agreeable enough and which is not far from Alexandria They lived there after a Devout manner and very austere and Eusebius thought that when St. Mark went to Preach the Gospel into Egypt he converted them to the Christian Faith Ioseph Scaliger hath very bitterly reprehended Eusebius for saying so and many times that these Therapeutes as Philo calls them never were Christians but only Essean Jews Mr. Valais in his Annotations upon Eusebius holds with Scaliger that the Therapeutes did not embrace Christianity