Cardinall that we read of except in the counterfeit decretall Epistles before Pope Sylvester After Leo the fourth succeeds Pope Joan or John the eight born in Mentz went to Athens in mans apparell came to Rome and was to the Popedome advanced proved with child delivered as she was going to the Church of Lateran of whom Anastasius a Chronologer who lived about this time maketh no mention for shame of the fact but passed it Benedict the third honoured much the funerals of the Clergy with his own presence and desired the Bishops might by the whole Clergie Nicolaus the first succeeds him who suffered the Emperour Ludovicus the second to alight and lead his horse by the bridle a full mile He permitted divorces without consent of parties as the Anabaptists do and or dained that the Clergy should not be subject to civill Magistrates seats of Judicature And that none should receive the Sacrament from a married Clergy man and that the Emperour should not be present at Ecclesiasticall meetings unlesse some point of faith were to be handled and the common service of the Church to be in Latine in all Churches but dispensed with Sclavonia and Polonia He added to the Liturgie the Hymn of Glory be to God on high Hadrian the second succeeds who proudly commanded the King of France Carolus Calvus to let Hircmanus Bishop of Laudunum to appeale to Rome after his condemnation by a Councill in France but he refused However John the ninth his successor crowned him Emperor and after him Balbus and then Crassus all three named Charls Hadrian the third ordained that the Clergy and people of Rome should chuse their Pope without attendance upon the Emperours allowance or leave And that after the death of Carolus Crassus who died without succession that the imperiall title and government of Italy should belong to an Italian Prince which bred great contention and debate among the Princes and much trouble to the Chair of Rome every Prince striving to advance him to it that was most friend to himselfe Stephanus the fifth followed who ordained that whatsoever the Church of Rome appointed was to be perpetually observed Pormosus succeeds him who crowned the Emperour Arnulphus and then Boniface the sixt was next Then Stephanus the sixt who offered great violence to the dead body of Formosus cutting off his fingers and disanulling his ordination yea and his crowning the Emperour Arnulphus and set up Albertus Marquesse of Tuscia in his stead Now Antichrist appears more then ever before by putting down and setting up Emperours Romanus succeeds him and nuls the decrees of Stephanus Theodorus succeeds him and alloweth them againe John the tenth nuls the decrees of Stephanus the sixt and alloweth them of Formosus How were these men led infallibly by the spirit Sergius the third who again took up the body of Formosus after eight yeers and beheaded it He loved Marozia and on her begot a son who was afterward made Pope and called Iohn the twelfth Pope Iohn the thirteenth committing adultery was slain by the womans husband but first deposed by a Councill called by Otho the first Emperour Leo the eighth succeeds who finding and being weary of the sedition and insolence of the Roman people resigned the chusing of Popes to the Emperour Iohn the fourteenth succeeds who first brought in baptizing of bels and he called the great bell of the Church of Lateran by his own name Iohn Then Gregory the fifth who after much trouble by the advice of the Emperour O ho the third The seven Electors of the Empire appointed made a constitution of seven Electors to chuse the Emperour for the time to come which continueth still namely the Bishops of Mentz Colen and Tryer the Count Palatine the Duke of Saxony and the Marquesse of Brandenburgh and in case of difference the King of Bohemia Next followed Sylvester the second Platina a great scholler but a Magician He enquired of the devill how long he should live Pope he did answer him till he said masse at Ierusalem which fell out at a Chappell so called at Rome where this Pope saying masse in Lent was stricken with a feaver of which he died Mathe. But yet we hear of no great persecutions Phila. True Why no great persecution yet by the Pope because yet the Church was of one language and none stands up against the corrupt tenets of Rome Mathe. Why do you then reckon up this bedroll of Popes Phila. Because you may know how and by whom corruption crept in which corruption being contradicted by some whom God enlightned then began persecutions Mathe. I pray now go on Phila. I have not nor shall trouble you with all of them but with some who have acted things very remarkable Therefore after Sylvester the second and divers other Popes Leo the ninth called a Councill against Berengarius who denied transubstantiation Nicolaus the second followed who forced by a Councill Berengarius to recant who did yet afterward wrote against transubstantiation He was poisoned as other Popes before him Alexander the second followed who denied to rule as Pope without the Emperours consent For which he was beaten in a chamber by Hildebrand in his pontificials and cast into prison where he died Hildebrand called Gregorius the seventh succeeds He called the marrigâ—e of Priests the heresie of the Nicolaitans and receiving Ecclesiasticall preferments and offices from Lay men though Princes symony About this time William the Conquerour came into England This was brought to passe by the thunder of excommunications which made the Emperour Henry the fourth travell to Rome in the hard winter to get absolution from the Popes curse Vrbanus the second excited Princes to war against the Turks who had got Jerusalem This he did in a Councill held at Cleremount in France and by divers Princes recovered it for a while But this war made Christian Princes so weak both in power and purse that the Pope more easily brought them all under his girdle Paschalis the second succeeds him who at the Church of Lateran had a scepter put into his hand and girded with a girdle having seven seals and keies hanging at it signifying his power of binding and loosing shutting and opening sealing and resigning and judging He excommunicated Henry the fourth the Emperour and excites his son Henry the fifth against him He took up the corps of Henry the fourth and kept it above ground five yeers Well did the Bishop of Florence write in this Popes time that Antichrist was born and manifested to the world and therefore he was silenced by the Councill of Florence which this Pope called and his book burnt You see how persecutions began now upon Emperours and Bishops This Pope would not crown Henry the fifth Emperour unlesse he would give over his right of investment of Bishops by the staffe and ring but the Emperor laid hold of him and his Cardinals and compelled him to do it and the Pope solemnly divided the
one Ardaeus a Syrian Then followed the Messalians called Euchitae because they thought the whole duty of man consisted in praiers not hearing by which St Paul tels us that faith is begotten by which praier must be offered up They were also called Enthusiasts because when they were transported they thought the spirit was infused into them Theo. l. 4. c. 7. so that they needed neither holy discipline for the body as fasting nor doctrine for the soule Apollinaris followed who denied Christ to have any humane soule but that his divinity supplied the place of it But then Christ was not perfect man Donatus Bishop of Numidia held that the Catholick was bounded among those of his society in Africa and that no baptisme was rightly administred but by them The wildest branch of this heresie was the Circumcilionists who would cast themselves down from clifts and rocks and into fire and water out of assurance that it was martyrdome and fruits of their faith Our Quakers are like them Aug. con Donat. Collyridiani worshipped the Virgin Mary and offered cakes to her Epiph. cont haeres as the Jewes did to the Queen of heaven and as the Papists do adore her as a mediatrix There were some also after these that said Joseph knew Mary after she had borne Christ because of the word in Mat. 1.25 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 till which word signifieth never oftentimes As 1 Sam. 15.25 So Mat. 28.20 Samuel saw Saul no more till the day his death i. never So 1 Sam. 6.23 Michal had no child till the day of her death and all the Fathers generally hold she was a perpetual virgin and so have taken those words of the Apostles Creed born of the Virgin Mary as if of one that ever was a virgin Yea some of them have argued it from Ezek. 44.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by way of allegory that as the East gate of the Temple was to be shut up that no man might enter in nor go out there but the Prince So was the blessed Virgins body made the Temple of the Holy Ghost and her womb only for the ingresse and egresse of Messiah the Prince And though that some of the disciples were called Christs brethren as James and Joses Simon and Iude we know that those were so called in Scripture that were but Cozen germans and so these might be the sons of Iosephs brother or sisters or of Maries sister as Iames is said to be the son of Mary Cleophas Danaeus de heres fo 224. Epiph. de heres fol. 166. Or some might be the sons of Ioseph by a former wife if he were eighty yeers of age before he was contracted to Mary and so the more unlikely to know her after the flesh These hereticks were of the same mind with Nestorius and Helvidius who succeeded them But these were called from their opinion Antidicomarianitae After them sprang up the Seleucians that said that the Chaos of which God made the world was coeternall with God and that Angels created the souls of men Aug. and that Christ did not carry our nature up to heaven as it is said Acts 2.34 and cap. 3.23 Rom. 8.34 Ephes 1.20 but that he left his body in the body of the Sun These received not baptisme by water They denied the resurrection of the body and said only that was performed by succession of generation which it may be they borrowed partly from Plato and Pythagoras Himeneus and Philetus 2 Tim. 2.18 Pelagius affirmed that men by nature were able to fulfill the law of God contrary to Rom. 8.7 And denied originall sin contrary to Psal 51.5 and that it came not by propagation but imitation of Adams sin and that children need not be baptized for remission of sin Aug. con Pela and that the holy men that confessed sin did it rather for example of humility then for any necessity or guiltinesse Nestorius followed who denied the personall union of the divine and humane nature of which the blessed Virgin was the medium or mean and in that respect only called the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mother of God because she brought forth him that was by union both God and man inseparably and Nestorius would have her called only the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mother of Christ and therefore condemned by the first Councill of Ephesus and banished by Theodosius the Emperour and his tongue rotted in his mouth Eutyches confounded two natures in Christ humane and divine by saying that the divine swallowed up the humane and so Christ had only the divine nature He was condemned by the generall Councill of Chalcedon where sate 630. Fathers and the Emperour Martianus and it was decreed That the natures of Christ though united yet were not confounded Next followed those that worshipped the crosse and divers images which filth the Church of Rome hath licked up together with the worship of reliques One Godescalcus a Dutch man said that by predestination men were forced both to do good and evill About 1100. yeers after Christ a kind of monomachy arose between the Greek and Latine Churches about the bread in the Sacrament whether it should be leavened or unleavened The Greek Church was called Fermentarii the Latine Azymitae the first did leven it the other did not After this one Petrus Abolandus a French man said the Holy Ghost was the soul of the world and not of the substance of God the Father Almericus also of France said that God was the essence of all creatures and that they all should be converted into God again The Paleneni about Tholouze in France affirmed that a man might attain to such perfection in this world that he might be void of all sin and that such were not subject to any Civill or Ecclesiastick power that they had no need of praier and fasting or any exercise whereby grace may be increased These laid some grounds upon which the Anabaptists build now Others under a colour of Religion and charity made all things common and women also These surely began the Family of Love About 1600. years after Christ sprang up the Anabaprists but before I come to speak of them and others following from their time I must tell you according to your question how and when the Protestants came in and how persecuted by Papists and opposed by hereticks and schismaticks Mathe. I thank you for your remembrance and entreat you so to do Phila. You must take notice that the Protestant Religion hath been maintained in her doctrine from the beginning of the Primitive times First by the Bishops of Rome themselves for the first 300. years after Christ and many of them were Confessors and Martyrs though their pride began to appear 100. years before in Zepherinus and other Bishops following him as hath been declared before But after that they were grown rich and potent by the favour of Emperours and got
souls of their great Heroes were placed there and so called them after their names as Saturn Jupiter Mercury and then worshipped them for gods and called the daies of the week after their names and so made their superstitions more permanent Mathe. Why do we still retain these superstitious names to our daies and months Phila. By custome that ancient Tyrant which loveth no alteration although for the best otherwise we might find out twelve Apostles to name the months by and the first six Deacons if Nicholas be not liked to name the daies and as many noble martyrs to name the daies by and as many images of notable men actions and things named in Scripture Duhartas to configure with the celestiall constellations on the sphere better then Icarius Dog or Europa's Bull Hercules Hydra or Theseus Trull Since the whole world was made for the Scriptures I conceive it would conduce much to the honour of Christian Religion as it did to Rome to cal some months by the name of their Emperors as July and August But how much more if some parts of Scripture were turned into the text Latin and Greek of Poets and Orators and read in schools instead of the more vain prophane authors surely it would be a means to state verity in the place of vanity and so season tender years that so they might read those prophane books in riper years and not be infected Thus heaven and earth might meet together in one symphony without discord And to add one thing by the way Certainly as this being done would make Religion more setled in mens minds so if the memorable Feast of Christs Nativity had been fastned to the Lords day which by the account of some Chronologers hapned that year to be the 25. of December on which Christ was born the celebration would have been more certainly continued and yet this change could have altered no more the calculation then the difference of Astronomers among themselves about the Epoche of Christs birth some of them differing from others * Mercator Christianus Jos Scalig. Sethus Calvisius against the Quarte decemani 1 2 3 4 5. years Or then the alteration of Easter hath from the time of Constantine the Great who in the great Councill of Nice caused that Easter should be generally kept upon the Lords day and not on the 14. of the month Nisan and therefore made a new Decem novall or Golden number differing from the Roman This constitution continued not above seven years But the contention between the Latin and Greek Churches about it lasted 200. years Then about the time of Justinian the Emperor one Dionysius Abbas drew the Paschall tables which were confirmed by the Councill of Chalcedon that none should keep Easter but according to the Roman account and statute but should be accounted an Heretick and this held till the year 1582. yet they finding that the Equinoctium went back from the 21 of March to the eleventh the Romans corrected their Calender and so there is sometimes 28 daies difference between them and us as 1557. and sometimes 25. daies as in the year 1565. So they reformed their Paschall tables and appointed the Feast of Easter according to the Councill of Nice in Pontus 322. to be celebrated the Sunday after the first full moon that should happen after the Sun entred Aries we see still difference between us and them but yet all conclude it on the Lords day And indeed the very just day of either the Nativity or Resurrection is not much to be stood upon so the Feast be kept 1 Cor. 5.8 Mathe. God having made the world what did he next Phila. He made man of the earth and woman of man and then made them Lords of all he had made as Isa 45.12 I have made the earth and created man upon it And this we know by Scriptures the ground of that most excellent science called Divinity which leads us to the knowledge of God that made us Plutarch in the life of Theseus speaks of some such people called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 least we should imagine our selves sprung up of our selves though many will give more for a Parrat then a Preacher and to a Painter for the picture of their face then to one that can delineate their souls I suppose the reason is because Divinity is no flattering science it shewes our moules and spots where they are As Alexanders Limner did who drew his finger upon his face which he laied there to hide a skar It is the corruption of man that will make more of him that shapes his body in cloths though he deform it than of him that shewes him the God that made his soule and body Like Crates Laertius who gave in his Testament ten talents to his Parasite to his Harlot one 2 Talent is 375. l. to his Cook ten pound to his Physitian a groat and to his Philosopher but three halfe pence And why so little to the best science but because rich men know not the want of philosophy Diogenes though Philosophers know the want of monie They think with Laodicea they be happy enough but consider not that science which shewes them how to live when they are dead Mathe. Doth God immediately make all men Phila. He made the first man immediatly by himselfe and the first woman of the man but all other mediately by them two 1 Cor. 11.12 as the woman is of the man by creation so the man is of the woman by generation by the speciall concurrence of Gods providence It was impossible he should make himselfe any more then the world could For if it were nothing before it was something how could something come out of nothing Nor could any creature make him Pythag. ex nihilo nil fit he being above them both in eminence and excellence consisting of an heavenly and earthly nature his form is a reasonable soule his body upright beholding the heavens Ovid. Metam lib. 1. this body is more curiously made then any other creatures Psal 139.14 15. like unto rich Arras work The anatomy of it convinced Galen of a Godhead It was made in number weight and measure in weight that the earthy body might balast the light and nimble soule in number by the four qualities or temperaments of hot cold moist and dry in measure because at first each of them kept their several proportions though since the fall one invading the other breeds severall diseases A rare body it was being composed of so mean a matter as earth shewing thereby the most excellent skill of the workman Lecham is Lechem But now our flesh is become the bread of worms as Herod Agrippa's body proved not giving glory to God Acts 12.23 Mathe. Wherein doth it appear more excellent then other creatures Phila. Surely as Adams body was more excellent then other mens being Gods immediate worke so no doubt our bodies are more excellent then the common creature Adams
his sufferings of more value then if all men and Angels had suffered and though his death were but temporary yet it is more then all mens suffering eternall damnation 1. That it stands with Gods justice to punish the just if he be surety for the unjust as a man may justly exact mony of a surety which he never had Mathe. Was death all that Christ suffered for us Phila. No his whole life was a crosse and martyrdome For his sufferings were privative and positive the privative concerned both natures his divine because it was voluntarily deprived of that glory joy and felicity which it had for it was eclipsed while he dwelt upon earth John 17.5 in a vaile of flesh and by the darknesse of mens hearts who did not apprehend his glory So to his humane nature did justly belong all joy and happinesse because he did perfectly keep Gods Law yet he did want it in the daies of his flesh for he was of no reputation Phil. 2.7 And this he suffered to bring us to perfect glory and to teach us to hate sin which darkens the beams of Christs glory and to be content to have our lives hidden in Christ as his was till he be revealed in glory and we with him Col. 3.3 4. He suffered also positively and that 1. In regard of evill imputed to him for Gods justice charged all mans sins upon him as if he himselfe had been guilty of them all 2 Cor. 5.21 he was made sin for us and bare our sins in his body on the tree 1 Pet. 2.24 and therefore God cannot require us to answer for them also but we may live comfortably in holinesse 1 Pet. 2.24 and die in assurance of happinesse 2. He suffered positively in regard of evill inflicted upon him from his conception to his resurrection and all for us For the malediction of the Law laid upon us not only death but a wretched life and therefore he suffered both yet not sicknesse nor the pains of diseases which are not common to all the nature of man but speciall judgements upon some particular men But he suffered all the common miseries of mans nature which did concord to the free execution of his office of Redemption As 1. By the humility of his incarnation to be made a man Luke 2. Phil. 2. To come of mean parents and to be born in a stable and made of no account and reputation and this to expiate the arrogancy of our first parents who would be as God therefore he is put beneath the lowest condition of men So he hides the glory of his eternall birth by a temporary to purchase for us a spirituall and heavenly birth so to teach great men not to be proud of their birth but seek the new birth which is true honour and glory and to comfort the poor whose children have poor provision at their birth and Christ had lesse then they Again he was mightily debased from his birth to his death as by being forced to flye from his native Country to Aegypt to abolish Adams sin which exiled him from Paradise and to repurchase heaven for us and to comfort those godly by his example who suffer banishment Againe for thirty years together he lived obscurely under Joseph as if he had been the Carpenters son and so reputed no man acknowledging him either as the Son of God or the King of Israel or the worlds Saviour but was as a root springing out of a drie ground Isa 53.2 despised and rejected of men What need Gods children therefore be discontented if the world regard them not Christ was so used But these were but private sufferings the more publick began after his baptisme As 1. By being tempted of Satan Mat. 4. in the desart where he overcame the arch enemy of mankind in a single duell This was he led to by the spirit of God not by any lust of vain glory in himselfe that he might make our pilgrimage in this world safe and secure and that he having experience of his temptations might have sympathy of ours and be the more ready to help us Heb. 2.17 and shew us a way how to put the devil to flight even by quoting Scripture as he did which is indeed the sword of the spirit It teacheth us also to beware of being led into temptation by our lusts but let the spirit of God bring us to the combat and he will bring us off with honor as Christ was For he leads us not by seducement of deceit nor allureth us by inticements to evill or by perswasions to venture upon any sinfull way but doth actuate us to combate with those temptations which he foresees are laied for us that our vertues may be improved and God glorified by such probations of us So it may justly comfort us in all temptations that Christ having overcome the devill in our behalfe hath merited victory for us His next suffering was extream poverty and want of the comforts of this life Mat. 8.20 he had not where to lay his head He lived upon alms and borrowed an Asse And this was to make us rich 2 Cor. 8.9 yea to make our selves poor by our liberality to others 2 Cor. 8.9 and not to place our felicity in worldly things nor seek great matters for our selves but be content with the meanest estate Christ was as poor as any man Beside he had infirmities like us sin only excepted Heb. 4.15 He hungred and thirsted though he was the bread and water of life and was weary though the way to life He was subject to anger sadnesse fear and sorrow and this was that he might merit strength for us and we be enabled in him Further he suffered extream disgrace from the Jewes for they denied his divinity his birth by a Virgin nor would receive him as their King and Saviour John 1.11 They reproached him also unjustly and accused him of blasphemy against God and of seducing the people Against the Magistrate with treason and sedition against his own soule as if he had been a conjurer so with gluttony and drunkennesse and a favourer of sinners by which means the people were offended in him Mark 6.3 All this fell upon him by the imputation of our sins who were guilty though he was innocent and therefore he spake but little in his own defence Also that he might deliver us from eternall shame and merit for us eternall glory and that we might be ashamed for his sake to suffer all reproaches Heb. 12.3 4. Beside he underwent many dangers of being cast down the clift of Nazareth headlong and of stoning by the Jewes All which he suffered as the fruits and effects of our sins and to save us from everlasting destruction But above all this he suffered his enemies to consult his death to be betraid by Judas to be denied by Peter to be forsaken by the rest And this he suffered for our perfidiousnesse in Adam our forsaking God and denying his
he again slain by the souldiers who had before chose him Emperour Next followeth Valerianus Galienus 8. Persecution who raised the eighth persecution Now was Lucius Stephanus and Sixtus Bishops of Rome martyred and Laurence the Deacon broiled on a gridiron to death in patience Priscus Malchus and Alexander were devoured by wild beasts This Tyrant was taken captive by Sapor King of Persia and made his footstoole which made his son Galienus more mild and recalled those Christians that were banished Claudius and his son Quintilius succeed Claudius after great victory against the Goths in two years died Quintilius being chosen by his little army and hearing that Aurelianus was chosen also voluntarily bled to death Aurelianus raiseth the ninth persecution 9. Persecution Eus l. 7. c. 30. but it took no effect for as the Edict was proclaiming there fell a thunderbolt so neer the Emperour that he was taken up fordead He was after killed by his Secretary Mensth eus Aurelius Probus followed who after many great great victories employing the souldiers in husbandry Jup. hist saying there was no need of souldiers where there was no fear of enemies he was slain by them and much lamented Carus followed who was slain with thunder Numerianus his Son slain by Aper his father in Law Carinus his brother slain in battell by Dioclesian Dioclesian declared Emperour by the army kils Aper that had slain Numerianus In the nineteenth year of his reign 10. Persecution he raised the tenth persecution Now from the time of Valerian to the nineteenth year of Dioclesian and his associate Maximinianus the Church Christian had great peace and had great favor many of them with the Emperors and had some authority and offices committed to them Eus l. 8. c. 1. Beside they had liberty to build Oratories and Temples in Cites whereas before they worshipped in private houses of their own or in their burying places This liberty begate carnall security among Christians Caemeteria and wicked contentions and losse of charity and therefore God suffered this tenth persecution to awaken his people so that both these one in the East and the other in the West made fearfull havock of poor Christians This was the tenth persecution and it continued ten years for it ceased not from its first beginning by Dioclesian till the seventh year of Constantine that is all the time of Maxentius and Licinius Now were the Christian Temples pulled down the Scriptures burned Christian-officers displaced Bishops displaced imprisoned compelled to sacrifice to Idols if fortune could do it and all that would not renounce Christianity were disfranchised of their liberty and their offices and places John a Nobleman at Nicomedia Eus l. 8. c. 5. Eus l. 8. c. 6. tore down the Emperours Edicts and suffered a cruell death Peter a chiefe man in the Court was whipped and roasted and basted with vinegar and salt whose patience encouraged many to suffer Twenty thousand were burned in one Temple by Maximinus Dorotheus and Gorgonius after torments were strangled The prisons were so full of them there was hardly room for malefactors Women were hung up in trees by one leg Some rent by bowed trees some tortured many daies singing Psalms joifully Whole Towns full of Christians burned Whole Legions of Christian souldiers slain because they would not sacrifice to Idols by Maximinianus In divers Towns in France Italy and Germany the channels run with blood At last these cruell tyrants being weary of killing relented so far as to be contented to thrust out only their right eies and maim their left legs and condemn them to the mines After two years exercising this cruelty these two wicked tyrants gave over their imperiall offices Then the Empire remained to Constantius Chlorus and Galerius Maximinus Chlorus chose his son Constantine his associate under him and Galerius chose his two sons Maximinus and Severus to be Caesars under him and the souldiers set up Maxentius the son of Maximinianus to be their Emperour against whom Galerius sent his son Severus who was slain and Galerius chose Licinius in his stead Galerius Maximinus and Licinius drove on the persecution which Dioclesian began neer eight years together but Constantius Chlorus and his son Constantine were very favourable to Christians Maximinus seduced by sorcerers makes war against Licinius is vanquished and dieth Maxentius dishonoured the Ladies of Rome and commits such outrage that the people of Rome send to Constantine into France and Brittain for aid he was afraid of his charms but he had a sign given him in heaven of the crosse with stars that gave these words in hoc vinces In this thou shalt overcome He put therefore the crosse in his banner and overcame Maxentius who was drowned as he fled Licinius sets out lamentable edicts against poor Christians Eus lib. 2. de vita Constantini though Constantius Chiorus counted them the best subjects They might not meet or convent with Bishops nor women with men nor visite the imprisoned Christians so they retired to the woods and wildernesses The Bishops in Egypt and Lybia were cut in pieces Many were set in ponds of water all night and then burned the next day This Licinius made war with Constantine who overcame him and sent him away to live a private life in Thessalia where the souldiers slew him Rev. 2.10 And now ended the time prophecied of the Churches troubles by St. John saying that she should endure tribulation ten daies for now the Church begins to have great peace by the favour of Constantine who though not baptized till toward his end Eus de vita Const l. 4. yet was a continuall favourer of them as was his father Chlorus Mathe. Was here an end of persecution Phila. Yes of persecution of the Roman heathen Emperours but now persecutions arise from some Christians themselves Persecution of Christians by Christian Hereticks as Paul prophecied Acts 20.30 speaking perverse things to draw disciples after them not sparing the flock these were Hereticks Mathe. Were there not heresies before Constantines time Phila. Yes many Mathe. I pray tell me first what heresie is and then who those Hereticks were Phila. Heresie we count a chosen opinion contrary to the grounds of Christian faith and obstinately maintained by some that professe Christianity and therefore must not be Atheists carnall Christians Infidels Turks or Jewes nor weak minded Christians Mathe. Who were the Hereticks in chiefe before Constantine Mathe. The first was Simon Magus In the first hundred years after Christ Simon Magus whom Peter and Philip confounded at Samaria who though he were baptized because he professed himselfe to beleeve yet disclosing his prophane heart by offering mony to buy of St Peter the gifts of the Holy Ghost he was rejected From thence he fled to Rome where for his conjurations he was worshipped for a god in the time of Claudius by those Romans that would not admit Christ for God in the time