chaste That this is to do like the Pharisees who made every thing appear clean without while they were full of Impurities within That we ought to be Virgins both in Body and Spirit and that we must watch and labour incessantly lest Idleness and Negligence give an open entrance to other Sins After this Discourse all of them Sing their Prayers and several times repeat I preserve my self chaste for thee O my Divine Spouse and desire to walk before thee with a burning Lamp At last Gregoriam and Methodius Surnamed Eubulus who entertained themselves with the Discourses of these Virgins discuss this Question viz. Who were the most perfect Virgins either those that feel no Motions of Desire or those that feel them and though they are assaulted and tormented by them yet heroically resist and extinguish them Gregorium gave the preference to the first But Methodius shews her by the Example of Mariners Physicians and Wrestlers that those Virgins who preserve themselves chaste in the midst of those violent Agitations and Tempests that are excited by their Passions who have the Art to cure the various Diseases of Concupiscence and cannot only resist but also defeat the disorderly Motions of the Flesh deserve a great deal more than those that have no Appetites and Inclinations to struggle with This Dialogue is full of Allegories and Citations out of Scripture explained in a mystical Sence and the Doctrine contained in it is exceeding Orthodox He does not condemn or speak dishonourably of Marriage even when he is setting out Virginity to the greatest Advantages a Moderation seldom to be found in the Ancients Photius tells us That this Book has been corrupted by the Hereticks and that there are some Expressions in it which the Arians use And indeed he tells us in the Seventh Discourse That the Son who is above all Creatures made use of the Testimony of the Father who alone is greater than he But if by reason of this single Expression we must immediately cry out that this Dialogue has been abused by the Arians we must likewise say the same thing of the Gospel of St. John and there is no greater difficulty in giving a good Sence to this Expression in Methodius than in the Gospel and so much the rather since in the same place and indeed as often as he speaks of the WORD in this Dialogue he says That he was before all Ages And towards the end of the following Discourse which is the Eighth explaining these Words of the Psalmist Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee We ought to observe cries he that he says Thou art my Son being willing to have it known that he had from all time the quality of the Son that he will never cease to have it and that he who was begotten was and ever will be the same As for what concerns the following Passage this day have I begotten thee it is to show that he who was before all Ages in Heaven was born in time for the good of the World A little after he takes occasion to speak of the Hereticks who have erred concerning the Trinity Some of them says he as Sabellius have erred concerning the Person of the Father who maintained that it was the Almighty that suffered Others concerning the Son as Artemas and some others that affirm he was only a Man in outward appearance Others concerning the Holy Ghost as the Ebionites who pretend that the Prophets spoke of themselves For I will not speak of Marchion Valentinus and Helcesaites These Words demonstrate that we may very well defend Methodius from the Imputation of any Errour concerning the Trinity I cannot spend any more time to observe that he taught the Opinion of the Millenaries in this Treatise or to give an exact relation of his Doctrine which may be learnt out of the Abridgment we have made of his Banquet of the Virgins The Treatise of the Resurrection was written against Origen's Opinion who believed that Men were not to be raised up again from the Dead in the Flesh. This Book also was composed in form of a Dialogue between Aglaophon who maintained Origen's Assertion and Proclus and Methodius or Eubulus who dispute against him St. Epiphanius has cited a large Fragment of it in his Account of the Heresie of Origen and Father Cambesis has added some other Fragments to it taken out of a Manuscript of Sermondus He first of all proves under the Person of Procius Thâ—t Man was created Immortal that Death was occasioned by his Sin of which it is the Punishment That Sin was caused by the Envy of the Devil and that the Devil himself who was created in Righteousness like to the other Angels fell through the Sin of Envy and an inordinate Passion he had for Women That our first Parents had a real Body and real Flesh before their Transgression That the Fig-leaves wherewith they covered themselves denote that after the Death of Man Sin shall be entirely rooted out of the Heart For though Mens Sins are blotted out by Baptism yet nevertheless there remains a Root still that shoots up young Branches in this Life So that all we can do to hinder these Branches from spreading is to root them up and prune them often with the Pruning-knife of the Word of God He tells us that Man is like a cast Statue which having been disfigured by some Accident the Workman that made it casts it anew before he erects it again That after the same manner God â—lmighty who made Man was willing that his Work which was disfigured by Sin should be destroy'd by Death that so he might re-establish him by the Resurrection That it is a folly to imagine a Resurrection of the Soul since the Soul does not die That Air Earth Heaven and the World shall not be destroy'd at the Day of Judgment but that they shall only be purged and renewed by the Fire of Heaven That Men shall not change their Nature at the Resurrection and that they shall not be transformed into Angels but that they still have Body and Flesh though immortal and incorruptible All this is extracted from the words of Proclus St. Epiphanius afterwards cites those of Methodius who continues to refute Origen's Errour about the Resurrection and who likewise endeavours to prove in the same place against the same Author That the Body cannot pass the Chains and Prison of the Soul That the Paradice where Adam lived was upon Earth That Man does not consist of the Soul alone as Plato believed but that the Body and Soul are the two parts of him That 't is Fabulous to say that Souls were thrown headlong down from Heaven in their Bodies or that they passed through Vertices of Elementary Fire and through the Waters of the Firmament before they came to the Earth And at last he makes several curious useful Remarks upon the Scriptural Notion of Flesh and of the Sin that dwells in our Bodies explaining at the
to the Just and that a sharp Death remits Sins He examines why Baptism remitting Original Sin does not free Men from the Law of Death and he gives two Reasons for it taken out of S. Austin and of Julian Pomerius He believes Angels assist the Just at their Death and that Devils do then lie in wait for them He commends the Piety of the Faithful who take care to do the last Office to their Parents hereupon he produces some Passages out of S. Austin about the Sacrifices offered for the Dead and the Suffrages of Martyrs In the Second which is of the State of Souls after Death he says Those of perfect Christians are immediately carried into a Paradise where they remain joyfully waiting for the Resurrection of their Bodies And that they enjoy in that Place the Happiness and the Knowledge of God He believes those of them who have some Sins to blot out are detain'd for a while but neither the one not the other do enjoy as perfect a Vision of the Divine Substance as they shall do after the Resurrection tho' they do already see God and reign with Christ That the Wicked immediately after Death are precipitated into Hell where they undergo endless Torments He establisheth * Vid. not u Purgatory which he believes to be a real Fire wherewith Sins remaining at ones Death are expiated in the other World and that the Time of the Soul 's abiding there is proportion'd to the number or the grievousness of Sins committed by them He affirms That the Souls of the Dead may know one another He says The Dead pray for the Living but not for the Damned that they know what is done here below that they pity those they have been acquainted with that they are earnestly desirous of Men's Salvation that sometimes they appear to the Living that the Damned see only some of the Blessed c. The Third Book is of the Judgment and Resurrection These are his Opinions Neither the Time nor the Place of the Final Judgment can be known nor how long it will last Jesus Christ shall appear descending from Heaven with Angels carrying his Cross At the Sight of him the very Elect shall tremble for fear and that Fear shall purify them from their Sins but the ungodly shall be in a strange Confusion All the Saints shall judge the World together with Christ. All Men shall rise in a Moment and shall put on again a true Body and Flesh but uncorruptible without Defect Imperfection or Mutilation in a perfect Age and perfect Beauty The Difference of Sexes shall remain but without Lust without any need of Food or Raiment All Children who had any Life in their Mothers Womb shall rise again Angels shall separate the Good from the Bad the Consciences of both shall be laid open the ungodly shall be cast down head-long into real Fires in which their Bodies shall burn without being consumed there shall be different Torments according to the Difference of Crimes and the Children guilty of Original Sin only shall suffer the easiest Pain of all It is needless to ask where that Fire shall be after the Condemnation the Recompence of the Just shall follow and then the Heaven and the Earth shall be set on Fire there will be a New Heaven and a New Earth where the Saints may dwell tho' they may also ascend up into the Heavens they shall then see God as the Angels do see him now they shall enjoy a Liberty so much the more perfect as they shall no more be obnoxious to Sin they shall all be happy tho' in different Degrees of Happiness they shall be wholly employed in praising God they shall place all their Felicity in the perpetual Contemplation and Love of him These are the Points of Doctrine which Julian gathereth from the Fathers of the Church for properly this Work is nothing else but a Collection of Passages of the Fathers chiefly of S. Augustin S. Gregory and Julian Pomerius The Treatise against the Jews is more of Julian's Composition He proves in the first Book That the Signs of the Messias's coming pointed at in the Old Testament are come to pass That the Time set down by Daniel agrees with the coming of Christ and that after Jerusalem's Destruction the Jews can expect no other Messias In the second he shews by the History of the New Testament That Jesus Christ is the Messias and that the Apostles did convince the Jews of it In the last he distinguisheth the Ages of the World by the Generations and shews we are in the sixth Age The first is from Adam to the Flood the second from the Flood to Abraham the third from Abraham to David the fourth from David until the carrying away into Babylon the fifth from the carrying away into Babylon to Jesus Christ. He compares the Account of the Years of the Hebrew Text and of the Septuagint and preferrs the latter because it was more suitable to his Design finding by this means 5000 Years run out from the Beginning of the World to Christ's Birth He extols the Authority of the Version of the Septuagint and affirms that the Jews have corrupted the Hebrew Text. He adds That altho it were not so yet the distinction of the Generations shews the fifth Age of the World was run out when Christ came into the World The History of the Acts of Wamba in Gallia being no Ecclesiastical Work we will make no Extract of it here contenting our selves in observing that it is found in the first Volume of the Historiographers of France put out by Du Chesne In the Bibliotheca Patrum of Colen in 1618. they have attributed to Julian of Toledo a Book of Antilogies * at Basil in 1530. at Colen in 1533. octavo or seeming Contrarieties of the Scripture which had been already printed without the Author's Name but it was found to be Berthorius's Abbot of Mount Cassin There was also part of a Commentary upon the Prophet Nahum published under Julian's Name But besides that there is nothing said of it in Felix's Catalogue the Style and the manner of the Writing of it shews plainly enough it belongs to another Author tho' bearing Julian's Name in the Manuscript upon which Canisius publish'd it THEODORUS of Canterbury THEODORUS bred a Monk of Tarsus was ordained Bishop by Pope Vitalian and sent in 668. into England to govern the Church of Canterbury He arrived there Two Theodorus of Canterbury Years after his departure staying long in France as he went and was well entertained by King Egbert who had sent to Rome to desire a Bishop to be sent to him He laboured much in the establishing of the Faith and the Church-discipline in England He held several Councils made Bishops founded Monasteries made Peace between Princes kept the People in their Duty and having thus performed all the parts of a good Pastor during the space of 20 years he died in 690. being 88 years old He
of the Cuman Sibyl foreshewing the Birth of a new King that should deâ—oend from Heaven In short it is most certain that the Gentiles acknowledged that the Books of the Sibyls were favourable to the Christians insomuch that the later were prohibited to read them as appears from the Words of Aurelian to the Senate recited by Vopiscus I admire says he Gentlemen that you should spend so much time in consulting the Writings of the Sibyls as if we were debating in an Assembly of Christians and not in the principal place of the Roman Religion These Arguments seem to be very plausible but if we examine them we shall find that they contain nothing that is solid The Pagans never submitted to the Authority of these Books of the Sibyls that were quoted by the Fathers on the cantrary it is manifest that Celsus was perswaded that they were forged by the Christians and St. Augustine plainly declares that this was the general Opinion of all the Gentiles The Sibylâ—â—e Verses mentioned by Tully were Paracrosticks that is to say the first Verse of every Sentence comprehended all the Letters in order that began the following Verses now among all the Verses of the Sibyls only those cited by Constantine are composed in Acrosticks As for the Asseâ—tion that in the time of Pâ—â—pey Julius Caesar and Augustus there was a general report that it was â—oretold in the Sibylline Books that a new King should be born within a little while we may easily reply with Tully that the Verses attributed to the Sibyls by the Heathens were made after such a manner that any sense whatsoever might be put upon them and that perhaps mention might be made therein of a certain future King as it is usual in this kind of Prophecies Therefore when the Grandeur of Pompey began to be formidable to the Roman Empire they thought it fit to make use of this pretence to prevent him from going into Egypt with an Army And Lentulus to whom this Charge was committed being Governor of Syria vainly flattered himself with this Prediction which â—…ight peradventure be further confirmed by the Prophecies of the Jews who expected the Coming of the Messiah believing that he ought to be their King Afterwards when it happened that Julius Caesar and Augustus after him actually made themselves Masters of the Roman Empire the Prophetical Expressions of the Sibyls were interpreted in their favour neither was it necessary on this account that they should clearly point at the Coming of Jesus Christ â—s it is expressed in the Writings of the Sibyls that are alledged by the Fathers but it was sufficient that they mentioned a future King which is the usual practice of all those that undertake to utter Predictions of extraordinary Events This gave occasion to Virgil who intended in his fourth Ecâ—â—gue to compose Verses in Honour of Pollio his Patron as also to Extol Augustus at the same time and to describe the Felicity of his Reign this I say afforded him an opportunity to do it with greater Majesty to make use of the name of the Sibyl and to pronounce these Verses Ultima Cumaei venit jam carminis â—t as Magâ—… ab integro 〈◊〉 nâ—scitur or do Jam 〈◊〉 progenes Câ—… alto Jam redit Virgo redeunt Saturnia regna By which nothing else is meant but that at the Nativity of Saloninus the Son of Pollio under the Consulate of his Father and the Reign of the greatest Prince in the World the Golden Age should return as it was foretold by the Sibyl That Plenty and Peace should flourish throughout the whole Universe and that the Virgin Astrâ—â— the Goddess of Justice who had abandoned the Earth at the beginning of the Iron Age should descend again from Heaven What is there in all this that resembles the Prophecies concerning Jesus Christ Or rather what is there that is not altogether prophane and â—â—gned by an Heathen Poet who only makes use of the Sibyls Name to flatter the Ambition of Augustus and to add greater Authority and Lustâ—e to that which he says in his Commendation Lastly the Words of Aurelian do not intimate that the Christians were forbidden by the Pagans to read the Sibylline Books but only that the Christians looked upon them as prophane Writings which in no wise related to their Religion and to which they gave no Credit THE Books that are attributed to Hystaspes and Mercurius Trismegistus and cited likewise by the ancient Fathers are not more Genuine than the Verses of the Sibyls There is nothing now extant of Hystaspes and this Aâ—… was altogether unknown to the ancient Heathens but the same thing connot be said of Merâ—â—riâ—â— Sirnamed Trismegistus n Sirnamed Trismegistus In Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Egyptians call him Thaaut some affirm that he was styled Trismegistus by the Grecians because he was a great King a great Priest and a great Philosopher others as Lactantius that this Name was attributed to him by reason of his incomparable Learning who is mentioned by the most ancient Pagan Writers o Mentioned by the most ancient Pagan Writers Plato in Phaedrus declares that he invented the Characters of Letters together with Arts and Sciences Cicero in Lib. 3. de Natura Deâ—rum assures us that he governed the Egyptians and that he gave them Laws and found out the Characters of their Writings It is Recorded by Diodorus Siculus that he taught the Grecians the Art of discovering the Secrets of the Mind And we are informed by Jamblichus who quotes Manetho and Scleucus that he wrote above Thirty five thousand Volumes St. Clemens Alexandrinus in Stromat Lib. 6. makes mention of Forty two Books of this Author and gives an Account of the Subject of some of them The Works of Mercurius Trismegistus are cited as favourable to the Christian Religion by the Author of the Exhortation to the Centiles said to be St. Justin by Lactantius in the Fourth Book of his Institutions by St. Clement in Lib. 1. Stromat by St. Augustine in Tract de 5. Haeres and in Lib. 8. De Civit. Dei Chap. 23. by S. Gyril of Alexandria in Lib. 1. contra Julianum and by many others as an incomparable Person and an Inventer of all the Liberal Arts and Sciences He was an Egyptian and more ancient than all the Authors whose Works are still extant Hystaspes and Mercurius Trismegistus He is believed to be as Old as Moses he either wrote or at least it is said that he wrote Twenty five or Thirty thousand Volumes But we have only two Diologues at present under his Name one whereof is called by the Name of Poemander and the other of Asclepius who are the principal Speakers The first Treatise is concerning the Will of God and the second Treats of the Divine Power these have been cited by the ancienâ— Fathers to prove the Truth of our Religion by the Authority of so famous an Author But it is certain that they cannot be
was always co-existent with the Father and Equality with the Father r And his equality with the Father In the fourth Book ch 8. he says that the Son is the measure of the Father because he comprehends him He seems to have said something contrary to this lib. 2. where he says that the Father is greater than the Son that he knew not of the day of Judgment And in another place he says that the Father is invisible and the Son visible But as to the first passage there is no more difficulty in it than in that of S. John and he speaks there of Jesus Christ considered as a Man And the second ought to be understood after the same manner as we have explained a like passage of S. Justin. It is yet more favourable to us because he says that the Son makes the Father visible Visibile Patris Filius Which shews that the Father and the Son are of the same nature In the Second Book s In the second Book Lib. 2. c. 51 c. principally in the 59 60 61 62 63 and 64. where he speaks of the Immortality of the Souls of the Just. See likewise Chap. 37. and 73. of the fourth Book and Lib. 5. c. 32. he Treats at large â—onccerning the Faculties of the Soul he conceives that it is distinguished from the Body and that it is of a different Nature he there refuâ—es the Metempsychosiâ— or Transmigration of Souls out of one Body into another and proves that those of the just shall subsist Eternally But 〈◊〉 sâ—…s to have believed as well as S. Justin that they are immortal only through Grace and that those of the wicked shall cease to be after they have been tormented for a long time He maintains also another particular Opinion that the Souls assume the Figure of their Bodies but this word Figure may be understood of some peculiar Quality of the Soul He Discourseth in many places of the Fall of the first Man and of the lamentable Consequences of his Sin t Of the lamentable consequences of his Sin Lib. 3. c. 20 33 34 and 35. and in several places of the fifth Book he teacheth that to repair this 〈◊〉 and for the Redemption of Mankind the Word was made Man and that 〈◊〉 is through Grace that he hath merited for us by his Passion that all Men may be saved u That all Men may be saved Lib. 3. cap. 18 20 22 and 33. Lib. 4. chap. 5. As for the State of Souls separated from their Bodies he determined that they were conveyed into an invisible place where they expected the Resurrection of the Body and that the Just after having Reâ—gned with Jesus Christ on Earth during the space of a Thousand years and enjoyed temporal Pleasures should enter into Heaven to possess Eternal Happiness x To possess eternal happiness Lib. 5. c. 31 32 c. He imagined also that our Saviouâ— descended into Hell to preach the Faith there into the Patriarchs and to the ancient just Men as well Jews as Gentiles and that they that believed at his Preaching should be reckoned in the number of the Saints y Number of the Saints Lib. 4. c. 39 and 45. Moreover he maintained some other particular Opinions he believed for Example that Jesus Christ lived above Fifty years upon Earth z Above fifty years upon Earth Lib. 1. c. 40. c. and that as Man He was ignorant of the Day of Judgment c. He approves the Judgment of S. Justin that the Devil knew not his Condemnation before the coming of Jesus Christ aa Before the coming of Jesus Christ. Lib. 4. c. 78. He asserts that the Saints shall undâ—rstâ—nd by little and little those things whereof they had no knowledge in their Entrance into Happiness bb Whereof they had no knowledge in their Entrance into happiness Lib. 2. c. 47. Lastly he imagines that God sent Enoch to the Angels cc To the Angels Lib. 4. c. 30. whom he conceives to 〈◊〉 câ—rporeal The ancient Propagators of Christianity ought to be excused for these sorts of Opinions thâ—… being scarcely one of them that had not admitted some Notions almost like these The Style of S. 〈◊〉 as far as we can judge by that part of his Works which as yet remains is succinct clear and 〈◊〉 but not very sublime He declares himself in his Preface to the First Book That the Elegancy of a poâ—â—e Dissertation ought not to be sought for in his Works because residing among the Celtae it is impossible but that he should â—nter many barbarous Words that he did not affect Discourse with Eloquence 〈◊〉 Ornament and that he knew not how to perswade by the force of his Expressions but that he wrote with a vulgar Simplicity He takes more pains to instruct his Reader than to divert him and he endeavours more to convince him by the Matters which he propounded than by the manner of Expressing them It cannot be doubted but that he was a very profound Scholar in all sorts of Knowledge as well prophane as Sacred he perfectly understood the Poets and Philosophers dd The Poets and Philosophers It is certain he understood Homer very well since he collects several Verses taken out of different places to describe the carrying away of Cerberus lib. 1. And as for the Pagan Philosophers he knew them so very thoroughly that in the second Book ch 11. he discovers all that the Valentinians had borrowed from each of them We need only read over his first Book to be sufficiently persuaded that he had very particularly applied himself to know all the Opinions of the Hereticks One sees by the Histories which he cites as well in his Books as in his Letter to Victor how well he was verst in History and in the Discipline of thâ— Church there was no Heretick of whose Doctrine and Arguments he was ignorant he had an exquisite knowledge of the Holy Scriptures he retained an infinite number of things which the Disciples of the Apostles had taught by word of mouth Lastly he was exceeding well versed in History and in the Discipline of the Church so that nothing can be more literally true than what is attested of him by Terâ—dlian Irenaeus â—â—â—niuâ— Doctrinarum Cariosissimus explorator Moreover his Learning was accompanied with a great deal of Prudence Humility Efficacy and Charity and it may be justly affirmed that he wanted nothing that was necessary for the Qualification of a good Christian an Accomplished Bishop and an able Ecclesiastical Writer However the Learned Photius had reason to take notice of one defect which is common to him with many other ancient Authors that is That he weakens and obscures if we may so term it the most certain Truths of Religion by Arguments that are 〈◊〉 very solid ee Arguments that are not very solid Phot. God 120. Etsi in aliquibus Ecclesiasticorum dogmatum certa veritas spuritis rationibus
which relate to Discipline The first is concerning the Baptism of St. John whether it were from Heaven or from Earth He says that it was from Heaven because it was ordained by Heaven However That it did not bestow any thing that was Heavenly but that it made way for Heavenly things by bringing us to Repentance and that it neither conferred the Holy Ghost nor Remission of Sins The Second is concerning the Necessity of Baptism upon which he starts a considerable Objection taken from what there might seem that the Apostles of whose Salvation no doubt can be made were never Baptized To this he Answers That possibly they might have been Baptized though we find no mention of it and in the Second place that that Familiarity which they had with Jesus Christ the Greatness of their Faith and the Ardency of their Charity might supply in them the Defect of Baptism since Jesus Christ has promised the Remission of Sins and Salvation to those Persons who had Faith though they were not Baptized That nevertheless there is no doubt to be made but that at present Baptism is necessary to Salvation and that though formerly a Man might be saved only by Faith in one God yet that now we must believe in Jesus Christ and that it was necessary that this Faith should be sealed by Baptism that Jesus Christ had made a Law for it and prescribed the Manner saying Go and teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost And that this Sentence of the Gospel If a Man be not born again of Water and the Holy Ghost he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven does invincibly establish the Necessity of Baptism The Third Question is Whether one may Baptize more than once He says expresly that there is but one Baptism that it never ought to be reiterated He excepts however the Baptism of Hereticks Who says he are not able to give it because they have it not And therefore it is that we have a Rule among us to Re-baptize them He adds that Martyrdom is a kind of Second Baptism which is instead of the Baptism of Water when any Person has not received it and which repairs it when that Grace is lost which it conferred The Fourth Question is concerning the Minister of Baptism He says the Bishop has Power of Administring it and after him the Priests and Deacons nevertheless with his Permission to set a higer Value on the Priesthood That in This is also ingenuously taken notice of because the Church of Rome allows Women to Baptize in Case of Necessity Case of Necessity any Man may administer it and that we should be Guilty of the Loss of a Soul if we did not afford it that Grace whereby it may be saved there are none but Women to whom he seems absolutely to prohibit the Administring of Baptism in any Circumstance whatsoever The Fifth Reflection is concerning the Condition of those who are to receive Baptism He says that it is not to be Administred rashly and that it is good sometimes to put some Stop to it that those who receive it may be the better disposed He would chiefly have this Discipline observed in respect to Infants and though he supposes that they are capable of receiving Baptism yet he will not allow them to be Baptized without Necessity What Necessity is there says be to expose God-fathers to the Hazard of Answering for those whom they hold at the Fonts since they may be prevented by Death from being able to perform those Promises which they have made for the Children or else may be disappointed by their Evil Inclinations Jesus Christ says indeed Hinder not little Children from coming to me but that they should come to him as soon as they are advanced in Years as soon as they have leart their Religion when they may be taught whither they are going when they are become Christians when they begin to be able to know Jesus Christ. What is there that should compel this innocent Age to receive Baptism And since they are not yet allowed the Disposal of Temporal Goods is it reasonable that they should be entrusted with the Concerns of Heaven For the same Reason he farther says it is proper to make those who are not Married wait for some time by reason of the Temptations which they have to undergo till they are Married or have attained to the Gift of Continency Lastly he says Those who shall duely consider the great weight and Moment of this Divine Sacrament will rather be afraid of making too much haste to receive it than to defer it for some time that so they may be the better capable of receiving it more worthily The Sixth Is concerning the proper time for Administring of Baptism He says That it may be done at any time but that the solemn Days for performing it are the Times of Easter and Penticost Lastly he says That those who are desirous to dip themselves Holily in this Water must prepare themselves for it by Fastings by Watchings by Prayers and by sincere Repentance And this is what the Second Part contains wherein there are but two Errors the First whereof concerning the Baptism of Hereticks is common to him with several others and the Second which relates to the Baptism of Infants is particular to him alone and we shall not find any of the Ancients speaking after the same manner The Book of Penance is the First of those which relate meerly to the Discipline of the Church therein he distinguishes two sorts of Penance the first is that which is performed before Baptism and the second is that of those who being so unhappy as to fall into Enormous Sins after Baptism do recover themselves by a laborious Penance In the First Part he shews the Necessity there is of proving and preparing Ones self for a long time for the Reception of this Grace of Baptism by a true Repentance He fears not to say that Baptism is to no purpose if we have not repented of our Sins and amended them and that it is great Presumption to imagine that having led a disorderly Course of Life till the very Day of Baptism we should be made Holy all of a sudden and that we should cease from Sinning immediately after we have received this Sacrament Can it be believed says he that the Reformation is made just at the time when we are absolved No certainly it is made at the time when the Pardon is yet in suspence and that we are afraid still of the Punishment though we had not as yet deserved to be delivered from our Sins that we might be in a Capacity of deserving it When God still threatens us and not when he has pardoned us I confess that God grants Remission of Sins to those who receive Baptism but they must take Pains to be made worthy of it for who would be so bold as to confer this Sacrament on a
This Fire as l Tract 30 34. in Matt. lib. 2. in Ep. ad Rom. lib. 9. Hom. 6. in Exod. Hom. 3. in Psal. 36. Hom. 14 in Luc. lib. 5. cont Cels. lib. 8. ad Rom. he Explains it in other Places is Remorse of Conscience and Vexation of Spirit n Lib. 4. Per cap. 2. lib. 1. cap. 6. Philocal cap. 1. He makes Blessedness to consist in an Union with God He says that Souls come to it by degrees that after they are separated from their Bodies they are for some time upon Earth in order to be purified that afterwards they are taken up into the Air and instructed by Angels that they pass through several Places where they remain for some time and that at last they come to the Highest Heaven in comparison whereof the Firmament is but a Hell that the more they retain of Earth in them the longer they are upon this Journey That the Souls which are arrived at this Sovereign Degree of Bliss may fall from it and that they are sent back again into Coelestial Bodies or others and that they afterwards return from whence they were driven that so Blessedness may have an End and that Torments shall have a Conclusion likewise n Lib. 2. de Prin lib. 5. con Cels. Tract 34. in Joan. Hom. 26. in Num. 27 28. Passim Tract 30. in Matt. Lib. 1. de Prin. c. 6. lib. 2. c. 3. 12. lib. 3. cap. 6. lâ—b 3. de Prin. c. 3. lib. 2. Hom. 7. in Levit. Hom. 6. in Num. in Reg. in Ezech. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib. 1. Per. c. 6. 〈◊〉 15. Tract 33. in Matt. Hom. 8. in Lâ—vit 14. in Luc. He says in his Preface to the Book de Principiis that God Created the World that it had a Beginning and that it must have an End but that it is not determined by Tradition what it was before and what it will be after He imagines that it was made if I may so express it to be a Place of Banishment for all Intelligent Creatures He makes no Difficulty of asserting that there were more Worlds before this and that there shall be more after it He says That God always had the Matter upon which he wrought which supposes that it is Eternal since God Created it from all Eternity o Lib. 2. cap. 1. 8. Tom. 19. in Joan. Justin. Ep. ad Mennam and two Passages from Lib. 1. 4. Hieront Ep. 59. ad Aâ—ituâ— He says That the Earthly Paradise was in Heaven and he has explained of the Souls which were there that which is said in Genesis concerning Adam and Eve He understands by the Fig-Leaves wherewith they covered themselves after the Fall the Mortal Bodies to which the Souls were Chained It may be concluded from all that we have already said concerning Origen's Doctrine upon the Tenets of our Religion that although he professed to believe the Doctrine of the Church p Lib. 1. Per. c. 2. Method apud Pâ—â—tiam c. 3. on Genesâ— c. 1. This was objected against him by Methodius in Epiphanius by Photius by Eustathius by John of Jerusalem by St. Jerome and it may be found in Lib. 4. de Prin. 〈◊〉 2. yet he sets up some Philosophical Principles the Consequences of which were found contrary to what was taught by the Christian Religion which obliged him in order to accomodate these things which were so directly opposite one to the nother to invent several Opinions that were very far from the Simplicity of the Faith So that we must distinguish in Origen what he says according to the way of Speaking used by the Church in his Time and what he says according to the Principles of Plato's Philosophy and then we need not wonder if after having acknowledged the Truths of Christianity he should lose himself by advancing such Platonick Notions as are destructâ—â—e to them And this in my Opinion is the reason of his principal Errors which are all of them founded upon three Principles taken from the Platonick Philosophy which are First That Intelligent Creatures have always been and shall eternally exist Secondly That they have always been free to do Good and Evil. And Lastly That they have been precipitated into the Lower Places and confined to Bodies for a Punishment of their Sins Let any one throughly examine all Origen's Errors of which we have just now spoken and he will easily perceive that they all proceed from this that he was willing to accommodate the Truths of the Christian Religion to these Platonick Principles There are besides some other slighter Errors in Origen into the greatest part of which he fell by confining himself too much to the Allegorical Sense of the Scripture for Example q Tom. 12. in Matthaeum Explaining Christ's Words concerning the Power of Binding and Loosing which he granted to St. Peter he seems to reserve this Power to those Bishops and Priests who imitate the Virtues of this Apostle and in the same Sense he says that all Spirituall Men are this Rock upon which Jesus Christ has built his Church So likewise r Tom. 11. in Matt. explaining that Passage of Scripture where it is said Not that which goeth into the Mouth defileth a Man he speaks of the Eucharist after so Obscure and Allegorical a manner that it is very difficult to comprehend his Meaning s Hom. 〈◊〉 in Num. Tract 35. in Matt. Hom. 7. in Levit. 〈◊〉 Tom. 〈◊〉 in Joan. He likewise explains Alllegorically what is said of the Eucharist in other Places of the Word of God It is easie however to defend him against the Protestants upon the Subject of the Real Presence since he acknowledges in the Eighth Book that the Loaves which are offered in the Church are made a Holy Body by Prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We might easily bring other Examples of the Oversights that he has committed endeavouring too much to Spiritualize the Words of the Scripture but I shall pass them over in Silence He speaks of the Sacred Scripture after a very excellent manner as of a Book written by Persons who were inspired by God His Passages upon this Subject have been collected by St. Basil and St. Gregory Nazianzen in a Book which they have Entituled Philocalia t Hom. 2. 6. in Gen. Hom. 3. 5. in Levit. Hom. 2 3. in Exod. item 7 11. in Levit. lib. 1. Per. c. 2. Hom. 9 2. in Jâ—s He distinguishes the three Senses of Scripture but he applies himself particularly to the Allegorical Interpretation and he affirms that there are some Places which have no literal Meaning He proves that every Body ought to read the Scripture Now for some Points of Discipline which may be observed in his Works The Christians assembled together in his Time in the Churches not only on Sundays and Festivals but also on other Days u H'm. 10 13. 9 in Num. Hom. 6 in
Thanks for the Benefits which we have received He gives Examples taken from the Holy Scripture of each of these kinds of Prayer This first Part of his Treatise concerning Prayer is followed with an Explication of the Lord's Prayer He maks two Observations upon these first words Our Father The first is That it is only in the New Testament where there is given to God with assurance the Title of Our Father The second That if we would say these words as we ought we must be of the number of the true Children of God that is to say Free from Sin and in a state of Grace He says upon these words which ar◠in Heaven That we must not understand them in a gross sense as if God was in Heaven after a corporeal manner Upon these words Hallowed be thy Name That it is not as if God were not Holy in himself but only that we desire that men should acknowledge this Holiness in his Conduct He observes That this and the following Forms are in the Imperative but that it is taken for the Optative Mood And from hence he takes occasion to confute Tatian who affirmed that these Words of God in Genesis Let there be light was not an express Command but only a simple Wish By these other Words Thy kingdom come the faithful Person prays the Lord That the Kingdom of Jesus Christ which is in him may be perfected and compleated by the expectation of the Day of Judgment By these Thy will be done we desire of God That men may fulfil God's Will upon Earth as it is accomplished in Heaven or else That the Wicked being represented by the Earth should perform God's Will as it is already done by Just Persons Origen would not have us understand these following words Give us this day our daily bread of bodily Bread but he understands them of the Doctrine of Jesus Christ weo is our Bread and our Nourishment He observes that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Supersubstantialis which we render by DAILY is not to be met with in any Author and that it is peculiar to the Evangelists In order to explain it he tells us That as bodily Bread is changed into our Substance so this Bread of the Word of God communicates its Nature and Efficacy to our Souls By Daily Bread he means Eternity Upon these Words And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us he explains the several Duties of Men. He says That they owe to themselves the good of their Souls that they owe very much to their Guardian Angels but that they are above all things indebted to Jesus Christ and to the Holy Ghost that every Condition and every Estaté has its peculiar Duties There is one Duty says he of a Wife another Duty of a Widow another of a Deacon another of a Priest another of a Bishop whose Charge is much the greater and he shall render an exact Account to God who will punish him very severely if he does not acquit himself well of his Duty He adds That as we are indebted to others so others are indebted to us and that if we call to mind those Duties wherein we have been wanting towards others we shall easily pardon those who have been deficient therein towards us as God forgives us the faults which we have committed against him That the Priests forgive in the Name of Jesus Christ the Sins of Men but that in imitation of the Priests of the Old Law they must be instructed by the Holy Ghost who those are for whom they ought to offer up Sacrifices when and after what manner they must do it Wherefore he blames those who not being sensible of what is beyond their Power boast of their being able to pardon Idolatry and to forgive Adultery and Fornication which shews that at that time they refused Communion to Idolaters in some Churches Upon these words And lead us not into temptation Origen says That it is impossible to pass through this life without temptations and he proves it by giving a Catalogue of those temptations to which we are exposed in all conditions and at all times from whence he concludes That we ought not to pray not to be tempted but only not to sink under temptation He observes That God suffers us to fall therein for a punishment of our sins He here delivers his Opinion of those Souls that were always free which were sent into this world for a punishment of the faults which they had committed in the other life He afterwards discourses of the advantage of temptations for the trial and proving of our Vertue Lastly Upon these words But deliver us from evil he says That God does not deliver us from all the troubles and afflictions of this life but that he makes us support them with patience After having explained the Lord's Prayer he discourses of the temper and disposition of mind that is requisite for Prayer of the place where we are to pray and of the time proper for Prayer He would have him that is to pray to recollect and prepare himself that so he may perform it with the greater attention and fervency and that after having purified his mind from the thoughts of this World and banished from his heart all passions and earthly affections he should reflect upon the excellency of the life to come That he should drive from his heart all thoughts of hatred and enmity That he should lift up his hands and eyes towards Heaven when nothing hinders him for he allows sick Persons to pray sitting or lying He observes that kneeling is necessarily when we ask God pardon for our Sins Concerning the place of Prayer he says that every place is proper to pray in but that Custom will have it that we should chuse the most retired part of the House for our Prayers and that we should prefer the place which is set apart for the Assemblies of the Faithful where the Angels are present where we may be sensible of the Efficacy of Jesus Christ of that of the Holy Ghost and of the Suffrages of the Saints departed He would have us always turn our selves towards the East whether we be in our Chamber or in an open place Lastly He distinguishes four Branches or Common-Places of Prayer The Doxology which ought to be said says he at the beginning of Prayer praising and glorifying the Father of Jesus Christ through the Holy Ghost It ought to be followed with Thanksgiving Afterwards we must make a Confession or an Accusation of our selves for our Sins to which we ought to add the craving of Heavenly Benedictions for us and our Friends Lastly We must conclude our Prayer by praising God through the Son in the Holy Ghost And this is a great part of what is contained in this Treatise of Origen's which sufficiently shews it to be of great use There is nevertheless one passage which may create a great deal of difficulty to those that
him tho' after his Resurrection he gave equal Power and Authority to all his Apostles St. Cyprian's words are these Loquitur Dominus ad Petrum ego tibi dico inquit quia tu es Petrus super istam Petram aedificabo Ecclesiam meam portae inferorum non vincent eam c. iterum eidem post Resurrectionem suam dicit Pasce oves meas Super unum aedificat Ecclesiam suam Et quamvis Apostolis omnibus parem potestatem tribuat dicat si cui remiseritis peccata remittentur illi Si cui tenueritis tenebuntur tamen ut unitatem manifestaret unitatis ejusdem originem ab uno incipientem sua auctoritate disposuit Hoc erant utique caeteri Apostoli quod fuit Petrus pari consortio praediti honoris Potestatis sed exordium ab unitate proficiscitur ut Ecclesia una monstretur The Lord said unto Peter I say unto thee says he that thou art Peter and upon that Rock I will build my Church and the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it c. and again after his Resurrection he says to the same St. Peter Feed my Sheep He builds his Church upon one And thô he gives equal Power to all the Apostles and tells them whose Sins ye retain they shall be retained and whose Sins ye forgive shall be forgiven yet that he might make that Unity manifest he ordered by his own Authority that the Original of that very Unity should begin from one For the other Apostles were the same as he equally Partners of Honour and Power but the beginning springs from Unity that the Church may be shew'd to be but one Here is no distinction made of different Powers granted before and after the Resurrection St. Cyprian seems to have designed to obviate this Objection and lest any Man should think that any Primacy except that of being named first was intended he says that the other Apostles were St. Peter's equals both in Honour and Power But this Passage has had foul dealing shew'd to it long ago Manutius published it at Rome with Interpolations in his Edition in 1563. Rigaltius was ashamed of it and so Printed it in his Notes faithfully The wonder is how Mr. Du Pin should say That Jesus Christ gave the Power of the Keys to St. Peter only when he had the Oxon Edition before him and all the other Editions that preceded Manutius's of which he has given us a Catalogue One sees the the Reason now why he desires afterwards that some Catholick Divine as he calls them would Reprint St. Cyprian and Illustrate him with Catholick Commentaries This is the Reason why the Oxon Edition could not satisfie him Bishop Fell's Notes are too candid and sincere for any one of that Communion so that thô he could not omit speaking honourably of it lest his judgment should have been questioned yet the want of Catholick Commentaries was so very deplorable a thing that he thought by this fly insinuation to depreciate so valuable an Edition of so great a Father For St. Cyprian alone cannot be put into all Mens hands without danger and it is an unanswerable Argument how little Antiquity favours their Cause when the Father who wrote more and more earnestly for Catholick Unity and the support of Ecclesiastical Discipline against Schismaticks and Disturbers of the Peace of the Church than any Man before the Council of Nice cannot be brought to speak as they would have him without using the most palpable misrepresentation and the most unjust dealing that can be shewn to the Writings of any Author whatever The Treatise about the Lord's Prayer immediately follows that of the Unity of the Church in Pontius the Deacon's Catalogue and it is probable that it was composed soon after towards the beginning of the Year 252. In this Book he highly recommends Amity and Concord which shews that he writ it soon after the former when he had his Head full of the same thoughts and at a juncture when it was necessary to inforce them the second time on the World We may divide it into seven Parts In the first he demonstrates that the Lord's Prayer is the most excellent and efficacious Prayer since Jesus Christ himself composed it for our use In the second he sets down Rules how we ought to Pray and tells us we must do it with a World of Reverence and Modesty that the tone of our voice ought not to be high that when Christians assemble together to celebrate Divine Sacrifices with the Bishop it is convenient that they should remember to be moderate and not to make a confused noise with their Voice because it is not the Voice but the Heart which is to be elevated to Heaven that we must pray with great Humility which he confirms by the example of Hannah the Mother of Samuel and of the Publican mentioned in the Gospel In the third part he instructs us what things we are to Pray for and taking occasion to explain the Lord's Prayer he observes in the first place that we do not say My Father but Our Father because the Prayer of every Christian is a common Prayer who does not pray for himself alone but for the whole Congregation of the Faithful which make up but one body that we invoke God by the name of Father because we are made his Children by Baptism that we beseech him that his name may be sanctified in us that is to say we pray him to sanctifie and purifie us continually to the end of our Life that the Kingdom of Jesus Christ which we expect is the recompence we hope to receive in the other Life at the day of Judgment that when we pray to God that his Will may be done our meaning is not that he would do whatever pleases him but that he would work in us what he would have us to do that is to say that he would make us accomplish his Will which no body is able to do by his own strength alone without the assistance of God's Mercy that this Will of God which we are required to fulfil is no other than what Jesus Christ has done and taught that is to say Humility Stedfastness in the Faith Prudence Justice Mercy a good Deportment to do wrong to none to preserve Peace with our Brethren to love God with all our Heart and to prefer nothing before Jesus Christ since he himself preferred nothing before us that when we pray that this Will may be done in Earth as it is in Heaven we mean according to his Explication in our Body and in our Mind or rather in the Unbelievers as well as the Believers After this he says that the daily Bread we pray for in the Lord's Prâ—yer may be understood either of Spiritual or Corporeal Bread that the Spiritual Bread we beg for is the Body of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist which the Christians who are truly devoted to Jesus Christ desire to receive daily fearing to
Beauty by the Communication of the Word and by the Union it maintains with him that Catechumens are as it were Infants that are as yet in their Mothers Belly that being perfectly instructed they are born through Baptism and at last become perfect full grown Men that we ought not therefore to abuse these Words and employ them to oppose Virginity to which St. Paul exhorts the Fiathful not allowing Marriage it self and second Marriages in particular but as a Remedy for Incontinence like one that should desire a Person that is Sick and Indisposed to eat on a Fast-day and say to him It were to be wished that you were able to East as all of us have done to day for you know eating is forbidden but since you are sick it is expedient for you to eat that you may not die In the Fourth Discourse that goes under the Name of Theopatra it is maintained That nothing is more efficacious than Virginity to make a Man enter again into Paradise and enjoy a blessed Immortality In the Fifth Thalusa endeavours to demonstrate That the most excellent Gift we can present to God and the most worthy of Him is to embrace Virginity and she gives several Cautions and Advertisments to Virgins how to preserve their Virginity without Spot or Blemish Agatha that manages the Conference after Thalusa undertakes to prove in the Sixth Discourse that Virginity â—â—ght to be accompanied with Vertue and good Works and to this purpose she explains the Parable of the Ten Virgins Procilla afterwards begins the Seventh Discourse wherein she shews the Excellency of Virginity because of all Vertues this is that which has the Honour to be the Spouse of Jesus Christ. She explains a a certain place out of the Sixth Chapter of the Canticles ver 7. and 8. There are threescore Queens and fourscore Concubines and Virgins without number My dove my undefiled is but one Thecla assuming the Discourse after this observes That the Greek word that signifies Virginity only by adding one Letter to it denotes an Union with God and a frequentation of Heavenly Things She takes occasion from tâ—…ce to show That Virginity elevates us up to Heaven and makes us despise the Vanity of things below and having cited a place in the Revelations Chap. 12. concerning a Woman that is there described she explains it of the Church In short after she has drawn some Allegories from Numbers she exhorts all Virgins to persevere in their Virginity and to resist the Attacks of the Serpent that is to say the Temptations of the Devil From thence she launches out into other matter and shows that Men are free Agents and that they are not necessitated to do good or ill by the Insâ—…ences and Configurations of the Stars deâ—iding the Effects that the Astrologers attribute to the Constellations because of their Names For says she if there was any such thing as fatal Necessity from the beginning of the World it was â—o no purpose for God to place the Stars of Men and the Stars of Beasts in order and that if there was not a necessity at that time wherefore should God establish it since the World was then in its full perfection and in a time which they called the Golden Age She afterwards demonstrates That if we were necessitated by the Fatality of our Nativity under such and such a Constellation it would follow that God who is the Author of the Stars and of their Motion and Disposition would likewise be the Author of Sin and Iniquity She adds That Laws being contrary to things that are done by a fatal Necessity it is impossible that these Laws should be made by mere Fatality For says she it is not to be supposed that this Fatality would destroy it self Now if those that had a share in making these Laws were not subject to this fatal Necessity why should we not pass the very same Judgment upon others Besides if such a Fatality really took place it would be Injustice either to recompence the Good or punish the Bad or rather there would be neither Good nor Evil in the World since every one would be constrained to Good or Evil. Afterwards to explain the Cause of Evil she says There are two contrary Motions in us one of which is called the Concupiscence of the Flesh the other the Concupiscence of the Spirit that This is the Original of all Good and the Other the Cause of all Evil. After this Tysians taking up the Discourse explains in the Ninth Discourse a place of Leviticus V. 36. Chap. 23 where mention is made of the Feast of the Seventh Month that is to say the Fifteenth of September which is the Scenopegia or Feast of Tabernacles She reprehends the Jews for stopping at the bare Letter of Scripture without penetrating into the hâ—dden mysterious Sence and for taking the Figures of things to come as Marks of things that were already past She instances in the Paschal Lamb which they did not comprehend to be a Type of Jesus Christ who at the Day of Judgment shall save Souls marked with his own Blood That the Law was the Figure of the Gospel That these Shadows and Representations are no more but that we shall have a perfect Knowledge of all things when we shall be raised up from the Dead That Man was created Immortal but that his Sin causing him to incline towards the Earth God made him Mortal lest he should continue a Sinner everlastingly That for this reason he separated the Soul from the Body that so the Sin which is in the Body being dead and destroyed he might raise it up again immortal and delivered from the tyranny of Sin That we ought to adorn this Body which may be called a Tabernacle with Faith with Charity Vertue and particularly with Chastity That those that live chastly in the state of Marriage adorn it in part but not so perfectly as those that have made a Profession of Virginity That those Persons who have thus adorned and set out the Tabernacle of their Bodies in this Life shall enjoy after the Resurrection a Thousand Years of Repose and Felicity upon the Earth with Jesus Christ that afterwards they shall follow him to Heaven and that this is the promised Beatitude in which there shall be no more Tabernacles that is to say in which our Bodies shall be changed and become incorruptible and Men shall be made like Angels Lastly Domnina to show the Excellency of Virginity falls into a very obscure Allegory upon a place of Scripture taken out of the Book of Judges After her Harangue is ended Arete assuming the Discourse tells them That to be truly a Virgin it is not sufficient barely to preserve and keep Continence of Body but that it is likewise necessary to purifie ones self from all Sensual Desires That we actually dishonour and fully Virginity when we abandon our selves to Pride or permit a Spirit of Vanity to possess us because we have preserved our Bodies
Carthage whatever Albaspinaeus says and the Second Donatus was Successor to Majorinus against whom St Austin wrote a Book call'd a Discourse against the Epistle of Donatus which was written the last by Donatus for he compos'd that Epistle which St. Austin refutes and confirm'd the Faction of the Donatists by his Eloquence Donat. and Vitell. and Macrob. He says That he wrote many Books concerning his own Sect and a Book of the Holy Spirit whose Doctrine was agreeable to that of the Arians St. Augustin has wrote a Book against a Letter of this Donatus b St. Augustin has wrote a Book against a Letter of this Donatus Lib. I. Retract ch 21. I have written says he a Book against the Epistle of Donatus who was Bishop of Carthage next after Majorinus wherein he pretends that the Baptism of Jesus Christ is not valid out of his own Communion and he assures us in his Book of Heresies That he was an Eloquent Writer Gennadius mentions two other Authors of the same Party The First is Vitellius Who wrote says he a Book to Defend his Party upon this Argument That the Servants of God are hated of the World This Book adds he contain'd Excellent Doctrine if he had not treated the Catholicks as Persecutors He has written also against the Gentiles and against the Catholicks who as he pretends basely betray'd the Holy Books in the time of Persecution There are some other Writings of his which concern the Discipline of the Church He flourish'd under Constans the Son of Constantine The Second is Macrobius a Donatist Priest who is mention'd in the Writings of Optatus c Who is mention'd in the Writings of Optatus B. II. p. 37. Ye say says he speaking to the Donatists That ye have many of your Party in the City of Rome This is a Branch of your Error which proceeds from a Lye and can't come from the Root of Truth And if it be demanded of Macrobius what See he belongs to he may say that he belongs to the Chair of St. Peter which perhaps he never saw How can he enter into the Church where the Sepulchers of St. Peter and St. Paul are Did he ever offer to do it who was afterwards sent to Rome to be Bishop there of those of his Party He wrote before his Separation a Book directed to Confessors and Virgins which is a Book of Morality and contains very useful Instructions chiefly to teach one to live in Inviolable Chastity He flourish'd in Africa among the Catholicks and at Rome among the Donatists St. ANTHONY ST ANTHONY who was the First Institutor of a Monastick Life was born towards the Year 250 in Egypt His Parents who were Christians and very considerable for their Nobility took St. Anthony great Care to Educate him in Piety He was not Instructed in humane Learning neither had he any Commerce with the World His Father and Mother dying when he was but Eighteen Years old left great Riches to him and his Sister But a little after he took up a Resolution of forsaking the World entirely and then he distributed his Inheritance to his Neighbours Sold his Moveables and gave the Price of them to the Poor and so retir'd into a solitary Place towards the Year 270. The first place of his Retreat was a Cell near his own Village and after that he shut himself up in a Sepulchre that was more remote but at last he pass'd over the Nile and retir'd into the Ruines of an Old Castle where he stay'd near 20 Years But he was forc'd to come forth from thence towards the Year 305 to govern those that came to put themselves under his Conduct About this time the number of those that follow'd him encreasing daily several Monasteries were begun to be built in the Desarts to which St. Anthony was as a Father His Charity oblig'd him to go out of his Solitude during the Persecution of Maximinus and to come to the City of Alexandria that he might assist the Christians which suffer'd for Jesus Christ. But the Persecution was no sooner ended but he return'd to his Monastery where he betook himself to his former Exercises and wrought many Miracles for Delivering those that were possess'd and Curing those that were sick But these Extraordinary Actions drawing after him a great Multitude of Persons who troubled his Retirement he withdrew to the remotest Part of the Mountains and there built a Cell or a little Monastery upon Mount Colzim about a Day 's Journey from the Red. Sea He liv'd long in this Solitude out of which he went nevertheless from time to time to visit his former Disciples who look'd upon him always as their Father In a word After he had acquir'd an Immortal Fame here on Earth he went to receive the Reward of his Labours in Heaven in the 19th Year of the Reign of Constamius i. e. in the Year 356 being the 105th Year of his Age. These are the principal Circumstances of the Life of St. Anthony taken out of the History of his Life attributed to St. Athanaesius which one may read if he has a mind to know those things more particularly But this is not the place to insist upon them for we consider him neither as a Monk nor as a Saint but only as a Writer And one may say with all the respect that is due to him That in this Capacity he was much less Famous and less known for as he had not studied at all so he could not undertake to write any Great Books but the quickness of his Wit might furnish him with Pieces of less Consequence such as Letters Exhortations and Answers so that no Writings but of these sorts are attributed to him St. Jerom says That he wrote in the Egyptian Tongue Seven Letters to several Monasteries which come near says he to the Opinions of the Apostles and their manner of Writing and these have been translated into Greek but we have nothing of them at present but a Latin Version which is attributed to one Sarrasius The First of these Letters is concerning Vocation the Second concerning the Snares of the Devil and the means of avoiding them the Third is concerning the Blessings of God towards Manking the Fourth concerning the Incarnation of Jesus Christ the Fifth concerning Christian Vigilance the Sixth concerning the Knowledge of one's self and the Necessity of the Incarnation the Seventh and Last is also concerning the Knowledge of our selves and he Concludes with an Advertisement against Arius Of these Letters there are Six address'd to the Arsinoites i. e. to the Monks of one of his Monasteries which was at Arsinoe tho' St. Jerom speaks but of one that was directed to them These are all written with much Candor the Thoughts and Expressions indeed are something elevated but the Air is simple and without Ornament There a Man may find a great deal of Piety and many Excellent Counsels especially for those Persons that make profession of a
their Letter 366 The Book against Auxentius Bishop of Milan is a Manifesto against this Bishop and against those that maintain him Who because they cover'd themselves chiefly under the Cloak of procuring Peace and Unity St. Hilary says That we can have no other true Peace but that of Jesus Christ and the Gospel and that this Peace cannot take place in a time when the Ministers of the Church are become Anti-Christs by opposing the Doctrine of Jesus Christ and the Gospel while they pretend to preach it He complains That they make use of Temporal Power to maintain a False Doctrine He endeavours to prove that Auxentius fosters Heretical Opinions he recites the Conference that he had with him and exhorts the Catholicks to take heâ—d of Anti-Christ and to separate themselves from Auxentius After this Book follows a Letter of Auxentius to the Emperour wherein he endeavours to purge himself from the Heresy of Arius yet without approving the Term Consubstantial or rejecting the Creed of Ariminum The Commentaries of St. Hilary upon St. Matthew are very excellent for there he had made many very useful Historical and Moral Observations The Chief of them are these following In the 1st Canon he endeavours to reconcile the two Genealogies of Jesus Christ by saying That St. Matthew describes the Royal Race of Jesus Christ by Solomon and St. Luke the Sacerdotal Race by Nathan He maintains That the Virgin was of the same Tribe and the same Family with Joseph and that she continued a Virgin after her Child-bearing and that the Persons who are call'd in Scripture the Brethren of Jesus Christ were indeed the Children of Joseph that he had by a former Wife He says That the Wise-men acknowledg'd the Royal Power of Jesus Christ by presenting him with Gold his Divinity by offering him Incense and his Humanity by giving him Myrrh He observes That Rachel who mourn'd for her Children is a Figure of the Church which having been a long time barren became afterwards fruitful He says That the Innocents were made partakers of Eternal Life by the Martyrdom which they suffer'd In the 2d Canon he says That Jesus Christ did not cause St. John to Baptize him for the Purification of his Sins since he was without Sin but that Water might Sanctify us by Jesus Christ. Then he speaks of the Effects of Baptism After Baptism says he the Holy Spirit descends upon the baptiz'd he fills them with a Caelestial Unction and makes them the adopted Children of God In the 3d. Canon he explains the Temptations of Jesus Christ and speaks of his Fast for Forty Days He says That the Devil was ignorant of the Incarnation In the 4th he explains the Beatitudes He says That none but the perfect Man who is wholly purified from his Sins shall enjoy the Vision of God He observes That Adultery is the only cause for which married Persons can be Divorc'd He condemns Oaths Revenge and Vanity In the 5th he sends the Reader to a Book of St. Cyprian for the Explication of the Lord's Prayer He also mentions Tertullian but he says of this last Author That his following Errors depriv'd his First Books of that Authority which he could otherwise have allow'd them He occasionally says That the Soul is Corporeal In the 6th Canon he particularly recommends Good Works without which all other things are unprofitable to Salvation In the 7th he explains allegorically the Cure of the Leper and of St. Peter's Mother-in-Law understanding those places of the Curing of Sinners He compares the Church to a Ship tost with a Tempest and towards the latter End he observes That we ought not to mention the Names of Dead Infidels in the Commemorations of the Saints In the 8th he Discourses particularly of the Fall of humane Nature by the Sin of the first Man and of the Reparation of Mankind by Jesus Christ. In the 10th he Advises Catholicks not to enter into the Churches of Hereticks He observes That nothing in the Ecclesiastical Ministry ought to be sold for Money and that the Ecclesiastical State ought not to be ambitious of obtaining Temporal Authority He says That at the End of the World the Jews that shall be then alive shall believe in Jesus Christ and be saved He assures us That Man was created Free but that the Sin of Adam enslav'd him to Sin and Vice and that in Baptism we are deliver'd by the Word from Sins contracted by our Birth Towards the latter End of the 11th he explains wherein the Easiness of Christ's Yoke consists excellently and in a few Words What is more Easy says he than the Yoke of Christ and what is more Light than his Burthen It is only to be obliging to all the World To abstain from committing Sin To desire that which is Good not to desire that which is Evil To Love our Neighbour To Hate no Body To lay up for Eternity Not to addict our selves to things present Not to do to another what we would not they should do unto us In the 12th he explains after the same Manner as St. Athanasius the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost by saying That it is the denying of Jesus Christ to be God In the 13th he observes That those who are out of the Church cannot understand the Word of God In the 14th speaking of St. Joseph he says That he was a Lock-Smith and not a Carpenter as is commonly believ'd In the 15th he observes that those who are to be baptiz'd make profession of their Faith in Jesus Christ and of being firmly persuaded of his Death and Resurrection and that their Actions may be agreeable to their Words they pass all the time of the Passion of Christ in Fasting that so in some measure they may suffer with Jesus Christ. He speaks in the 16th of the Prerogative that St. Peter receiv'd when Jesus Christ gave him the Keys of his Church after this manner O happy Foundation of the Church says he in the change of your Name O Rock worthy of the Building of Jesus Christ since it was to abrogate the Laws of Hell to break its Gates and to open all the Prisons of Death O happy Porter of Heaven to whom are entrusted the Keys of admission into it and whose Judgment on Earth is a fore-judging of what is done in Heaven since whatsoever he binds or looses upon Earth shall be bound or loosed in Heaven In the 18th Canon he concludes with these Words of Jesus Christ The Angels of these Children see the Face of my Father From whence says he it may be concluded That the Angels rejoyce at the Sight of God and that they preside over the Prayers of the Faithful which they offer continually to God He says that those who are bound on Earth by the Ministers of Jesus Christ that is says he those whom the Ministers of Jesus Christ leave bound in their sins and that those who are loosed by receiving them unto the Grace of Salvation upon
Days of the Creation which are mention'd in Genesis do not begin at Night but at the Morning and end at the Morning of the Day following The First and Third of his Hymns are in commendation of the Mystery of the most Holy Trinity which he explains in many Words The Second is a Prayer to God and is rather in Prose like the Creed attributed to St. Athanasius than in Verse The Poem of the Maccabees is a Description in Hexameter Verse of the Martyrdom of those Seven Brethren There is nothing extraordinary in this Poem there is nothing Poetical in it but some mean Imitations of Virgil and for the most part the Verses are low and despicable The Commentaries of Victorinus upon St. Paul have not yet been publish'd Sirmondus found some Fragments of them in a Manuscript from which he took those two little Treatises of which we have already spoken But probably he judg d them not worth publishing though he says in his Advertisement That the Stile of these Commentaries is more clear and clean than that of his Dogmatical Works There are many Philosophical Books attributed to the same Victorinus as his Commentaries upon Tully's Rhetorick cited by Cassiodorus in his Bibliotheca and by Pope Sylvester the II. in his Epistle 130 which have been Printed several times There is also attributed to him the Version of Porphyrie's Isagoge which is amongst Boetius's Works a Book about Poetry and some Books of Grammar But those sort of Books ought not to come into our Bibliotheca which should contain none but Ecclesiastical Monuments St. PACIANUS ST PACIANUS Bishop of Barcelona no less Famous says St. Jerom for the Holiness of his Life than the Eloquence of his Discourse wrote many Books among which there is one entitled St. Pacianus Cervus or The Hart and some other Treatises against the Novatians He died under the Reign of Theodosius towards the Year 380. We have three Letters of his against the Novatians address'd to Sempronianus who was of this Sect. An Exhortation to Repentance and a Treatise or Sermon of Baptism address'd to the Catechumens All these Pieces are written with much Wit and Eloquence The First Letter to Sempronianus has Two Parts In the First he makes use of the way of Prescription from the Name and Authority of the Catholick Church to show that the Sect of the Novatians cannot be the Church of Jesus Christ. In the Second he refutes their Doctrine about Repentance He observes at the beginning of the First Part That since the coming of Jesus Christ there have appear'd an infinite Number of Sects who have all been denominated from the Names of their Authors That the Name of Catholick is continued only in the True Church That the Novatians make one of those Sects which are separated from the Catholick Church That they have forsaken the Tradition of the Church under pretence of Reformation He opposes to them the Authority of the Ancient Fathers of the Church who were Successors to the Apostles Why should not we says he have a Respect to the Authority of those Apostolical Men Shall we pay no Deference to the Testimony of St. Cyprian Would we teach this Doctrine Are we wiser than he But what shall we say of so many Bishops dispers'd over all the World who are united with these Saints What shall we say of so many Venerable Old Men of so many Martyrs and so many Confessors Is it for us to Reform them Shall our times corrupted by Vice efface the Venerable Antiquity of our Ancestors My Name says he addressing himself to Sempronianus is Christian and my Sur-Name is Catholick Christianus mihi nomen est Catholicus cognomen He explains afterwards the Name of Catholick and tells us that the most Learned say that it signifies Obedient and that according to others it means one thro' all and shews that these two Significations agree to the Catholick Church which alone is obedient to the Voice of Jesus Christ and which only is the same in all the World After he has thus spoken of the Church he proceeds to Penance and so he enters into the Merits of the Question May it please God says he that none of the Faithful may ever stand in need of it That no Man after Baptism may ever fall into the precipice of Sin That so the Ministers of Jesus Christ may never be oblig'd to Preach and Apply long and tedious Remedies for fear of Patronizing the Liberty of sinning by flattering Sinners with their Remedies Nevertheless we allow this Mercy from our God not to those who are so happy as to preserve their Innocence but to those who have been so unhappy as to lose it by their Sins It is not to the Sound but to the Sick that we Preach these Remedies If the Evil Spirits have no more Power over the baptiz'd If the Fraud of the Serpent which destroy'd the first Man and gave so great occasion of Damnation to his Posterity has ceas'd If I say the Devil is gone out of the World If we may sport our selves in Peace If Man does not fall into many Sins of Thought Word and Deed Then let us not acknowledge this Gift of God Let us reject this Aid Let us have no more Confessions Let us no longer hearken to Sighs and Tears Let Justice and Innocence proudly despise these Remedies But if Man be subject to these Miseries Let us no more accuse the Mercy of God who has propos'd these Remedies to our Diseases and Rewards to those that preserve their Health Let us no more efface the Titles of God's Clemency by an unsupportable Rigour nor hinder Sinners by an inflexible hardness from rejoycing in those Gifts which he has freely bestow'd upon them 'T is not we who give this Grace of our own Authority but God himself who says Be converted to me c. After he has set down many Passages of Scripture which prove That God Pardons penitent Sinners he proposes this Objection of the Novatians God only will you say can grant Pardon of Sin That 's true answers he but what he does by his Ministers he does by his own Power For he says to his Apostles Whatsoever ye shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on Earth shall be loos'd in Heaven But perhaps he did not give this Power to any but the Apostles If this were true then we must say That they only had also Power to Baptize to give the Holy Spirit and to Purify the Gentiles from their Sins For in the same place where he gives them Powr to Administer the Sacrament of Baptism he also gives them Power to loose Sinners Either then these two Powers were peculiarly reserv'd to the Apostles or they are both continued to their Successors and therefore since it is certain that the Power of giving Baptism and Unction is continued in the Bishops that same must consequently be granted of the Power of binding and loosing
the Novatians and shows that the passage of St. Matthew Whatsoever ye shall loose on Earth shall be loos'd in Heaven cannot be understood of Baptism He proves all the Answers of Sempronianus to the Passages alledg'd in his first Letter to him to be false He objects to the Novatians their Hard-heartedness with reference to Penitents He shows That those of this Sect are not so pure nor so Innocent as they boast themselves to be and that there have been many Persons among them guilty of enormous Crimes He opposes to them the Authority of St. Cyprian and Tertullian before his Fall He ends with an Exhortation to Sempronianus to return into the Church He begins his Exhortation to Repentance with an Introduction wherein he observes That often-times it were better not to mention some Sins than to reprove them because the Sin is rather learn'd than restrain'd He says That the Book that he had written against the Play called Cervulus or the Little Hart had the Misfortune to render that Immorality the more common Concerning which we may learn by the by That the Book of St. Pacianus entituled Cervus or Cervulus The Little Hart mention'd by St. Jerom which is not extant was compos'd against some Profane and Lascivious Play or Ceremony wherein probably there were us'd indecent Postures He adds That this Treatise was written against the Heathens who mocked at it and that he was not to expect better success from this Exhortation to Repentance which was address'd to the Christians of his own Diocess He says That we cannot but imagine that this Book was design'd only for Penitents since Penance is as it were the Bond of all Ecclesiastical Discipline For says he we must take care of Catechumens that they fall not into Sin of the Faithful that they relapse not after they have been Purified and of Penitents that they may receive quickly the fruit of their Humiliation After this he divides his Discourse into Three Parts He treats in the First of the different sorts of Sin lest any should imagine that all Sins deserve the same Punishment In the Second he discourses of some Persons that are asham'd to make use of the Remedy of Penance and so receive the Sacrament with an heart and mind polluted with Sin They are fearful says he before Men but impudent before God they defile by their impure Hands and by their corrupt Mouth they defile I say that Altar which makes the Angels themselves to tremble The last Part Is of the Pains that they shall suffer who do no Penance and of the Reward of those that Purify themselves by a true and sincere Confession of their Sins In the First Part he distinguishes Sins from Crimes He averrs That we must not imagine that Men are oblig'd to do Penance for an infinite number of small Sins from which no Person is exempt That according to the Dispensation under the Old Testament lesser Faults were rigorously punish'd but Jesus Christ is come to deliver us from this Yoke of the Law Thus after Pardon if a Man may so speak of an infinite number of Sins which need no Powerful Remedies to cure them there remains a small number which may be easily avoided that deserve a severe Punishment Amongst these he reckons Idolatry Murder and Adultery As for other Sins says he they may be cur'd by the Practice of Good Works Inhumanity by Civility Injuries by Satisfaction Sadness by Mirth Harshness by Sweetness Lightness by Gravity and so of other Vices which are punish'd by the contrary Vertues But what shall be the Punishment of Idolatry What shall the Murderer do to expiate his Crime What shall be the remedy of an Adulterer or Fornicator These are my Brethren Capital Sins these are Mortal Sins After he has terrified those who have committed these Crimes with the dreadful words of Fire and Brimstone and almost made them despair of Pardon he adds However you may be healed if you begin to be sensible of the greatness of your Crime and the state to which you are reduc'd if you have a Fear that approaches near to Despair I address my self first of all to you who having committed those Crimes refuse to do Penance you who are so timorous after you have been so impudent you who are asham'd to do Penance after you have sinned without blushing you who are not asham'd to commit those Crimes but are asham'd to confess them you who approach the Holy of Holies with a Conscience polluted by these Crimes without trembling when ye present your selves before the Altars you who receive the Mysteries from the hands of the Priests in the presence of the Angels as if ye were innocent you who trample upon the Patience and Mercy of God and present at his Altars a defil'd Soul and an unclean Body After he has thus spoken a word to Impenitent Sinners he represents to them the Punishments that God has threatned to those that approach unworthily to Holy Things He proposes to them the terrible words of St. Paul and exhorts them by most powerful Motives and most convincing Reasons to discover the Wounds of their Conscience The Sick that are Prudent says he do not hide their Wounds from their Physicians even those that are in the most secret Parts They suffer them to apply the Iron the Fire and Causticks to Cure them And shall a Sinner be afraid to purchase Eternal Life for a little Shame Shall he dread to discover his Sins to God which are but ill hid from him He that dares offend against God why does he blush at any thing would he rather Perish without shame than be asham'd to Perish But though you should be asham'd to discover your Misery to others yet fear not to discover it to your Brethren who bear a part in your unhappiness It does not become one Part of the Body to rejoyce in the Evil that befalls another Member of the same Body they suffer all the same Pain and contribute to the Remedy The Church consists of the Faithful and Jesus Christ is in his Church and so he that discovers his Sins to his Brethren is assisted by the Tears of the Church and Absolv'd by the Prayers of Jesus Christ. After this he speaks a word to those who under pretence of being willing to do Penance lay open indeed their Wounds by Confession but know not what it is to do Penance nor what the Remedies which must Cure them who are exactly like those who discover their Wounds and Diseases to Physicians but neglect to bind up their Wounds and to apply necessary Remedies nay encrease their Disease by taking contrary Remedies and pernicious Potions and add new Crimes to their old Sins What can I do for these I who am a Bishop Says he 'T is very late to give them a Remedy but yet if any of you be willing to suffer the Iron and the Fire I can apply them Behold the Razor which the Prophet presents me Turn ye
Serpent that theyjoyn themselves with Thieves since they correspond with the Devil to extirpate one part of the Flock of Jesus Christ. He describes this after a very pleasant manner All Men says he that come into the World tho' they be born of Christian Parents are fill'd with an unclean Spirit which must be driven away by Baptism This is done by the Exorcism which drives away this Spirit and makes it fly into remote places After this the Heart of Man becomes a most pure Habitation God enters and dwells there according to that of the Apostle We are the Temple of God When therefore ye re-baptize Men and exorcise them anew and when ye say O accurs'd come forth of this Man 't is to God that ye speak after this manner you drive him disgracefully out of this Man and the Devil re-enters into his Heart This place of Optatus is very express for proving Original Sin and the Antiquity of Exorcisms At last Optatus shows That the Donatists render themselves Companions of Adulterers because they separate from the Church which is the only lawful Spouse of Jesus Christ to unite themselves with Adulterers He comes afterwards to the second Passage taken out of Psal. 140. Let not the Oyl of the wicked anoint my Head and he observes That this should only be applied to Jesus Christ and that it is a Prayer and not a Precept a Wish and not a Command Then he explains also two other Passages which Parmenianus had quoted against the Catholicks and shews that the First is to be understood of Adulterers or Hereticks and the Second of Jews and that neither the one nor the other is applicable to Catholicks In the Fifth Book Optatus proves That the Donatists commit a great Crime in reiterating Baptism which Jesus Christ has commanded to be given but once only He approves of the Commendations which Parmenianus has given this Sacrament by saying That it is the Life of Vertue the Death of Crimes the Immortal Birth the means of obtaining the Kingdom of Heaven the Port of Innocence and the Shipwrack of Sins But he adds That 't is not he who gives this Sacrament of Baptism that conferrs these Graces but the Faith of him that receives it and the Virtue of the Trinity and consequently that Baptism is not to be reiterated which is administred in the Name of the Trinity He has also here a most Remarkable Reflection about the Rule which we should Consult in all Ecclesiastical Controversies We ask says he if it be lawful to repeat Baptism given in the Name of the Trinity Ye maintain That it is lawful we say That it is forbidden The People are in Suspence between your affirming and our denying the same thing and they can neither believe you nor us for we are all fallible Men Let us then search after Judges in this Case But where are they to be found If they be Christians they are either of your Party or ours and by consequence cannot be Judges of our Difference We must then enquire after a Judge out of Christendom But then if he be a Pagan he understands not our Mysteries if he be a Jew he is an Enemy to the Baptism of Christians There cannot therefore be found any Judge upon Earth but we must seek for one in Heaven But why should we have recourse to Heaven since we have the Testament of our Father upon Earth Let us search after his Will in the Gospel which will inform us that he who has been once wash'd needs not to be wash'd again Wherefore adds he we do not re-baptize those who have been baptiz'd when they return again to us He proves also That it ought not to be done because there is but one Faith one Jesus Christ and one Sacrament of Baptism That there are three Things to be considered in this Sacrament the Trinity the Faith of him that receives it and the Person that administers it That the Trinity is the first Thing of absolute necessity without which there can be no Sacrament at all That the Faith of him that receives the Sacrament is the second Thing which is no less necessary because it ought always to be the same but then there is not the same Necessity that the Minister should be Faithful and Just because the Ministers are chang'd every day and it is Jesus Christ who baptizes and the Minister ought not to attribute to himself the Effect of the Sacrament which is owing to God only and in short because the Sacraments are Holy and do Sanctify by themselves tho' the Holiness of the Minister do not contribute to it Optatus proves this Truth by many Reasons and many Testimonies He observes by the bye That those who had been baptiz'd by John before Jesus Christ instituted Baptism were not re-baptiz'd but those who were baptiz'd after Jesus Christ had instituted Baptism have been re-baptiz'd At last he endeavours to prove That the Faith of him that receives Baptism is necessary to the validity of this Sacrament which must be understood of Adult Persons only The Sixth Book is written against the Impieties and Sacrileges of the Donatists who had broken cut in pieces raz'd and overturn'd the Altars of the Catholicks Those Altars says Optatus which have born the Offerings of the People and the Members of Jesus Christ upon which the Almighty God has been invok'd upon which the Holy Spirit has descended where the Faithful have receiv'd the earnest of eternal Salvation the Support of their Faith and the Hopes of a blessed Resurrection those Altars upon which we are forbidden to offer any other Offerings but those of Peace For what is the Altar but the place where the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ are laid What hath Jesus Christ done to you says he further to the Donatists that you should destroy the Altars on which he rests at certain times Why do ye break the Sacred Tables where Jesus Christ makes his abode Ye have imitated the Crime of the Jews for as they put Jesus Christ to Death upon the Cross so ye have beaten him upon these Altars If ye believ'd that the Eucharist of the Catholicks is Sacrilegious yet at least ye should have some respect to the former Offerings that your selves have made upon these Altars Upon this occasion Optatus puts a very pleasant Objection to them All the Faithful know says he that Linen Clothes are laid upon the Altars for the Celebration of the Holy Mysteries The Eucharist does not touch the Wood of the Altar but only the Linen Clothes Why then do ye break Why do ye scrape Why do ye burn the Wood of the Altar If the Impurity can pass through the Linen Why cannot it penetrate the Wood nay and the Ground also If therefore ye scrape off something from the Altars because they are impure I advise you also to dig into the Ground and there to make a great Ditch that ye may offer in a most pure Place But take heed
used to dignify the Divinity of the Son of God were eluded by these Bishops by far-fetch'd Explications the Council was forced for excluding all kind of Ambiguity to say That the Son of God was Consubstantial to his Father This Word was the Subject of a great Dispute among the Bishops which was allay'd by the Prudence of the Emperour who made them all agree in the Sence of this Word And thus in the Confession of Faith or in the Creed made by this Council Profession is made Of believing in one only God the Creator of all things visible and invisible and in one only Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God begotten of the Father the only Son of the Substance of the Father God of God Light of Light very God of very God begotten not made Consubstantial to his Father by whom all things were made in Heaven and on Earth who descended for us Men and for our Salvation who was incarnate and made Man who suffered and rose again and ascended into Heaven and who shall come to judge the quick and the dead And in the Holy Spirit After this Creed followed an Anathema against those who should say That there was a time when the Son of God was not or that he was not before he was begotten or that he was created of nothing or that he was of another Substance and another Essence or that he was created and subject to Change All the Bishops except Secundus of Ptolemais and Theonas of Marmarica Signed this Confession of Faith g All the Bishops except Secundus and Theonas Signed this Creed This appears by the Letter of the Synod and by the Testimony of Theodoret B. I. Ch. 7. and of Philostorgius Some say that Eusebius and Theognis would not Sign the Condemnation of Arius and that they were condemned in the Council This is not true and if they did alledge this distinction it was after the Council of Nice and not in the Council Eusebius of Caesarea refus'd to Sign it at First but he did it the next Day After this Arius Secundus and Theonas were condemned in the Council h Arius Secundus and Theonas were condemned c. This appears by the Letter of the Council tho' St. Jerom affirms the contrary concerning Arius St. Athanasius who is more to be credited than St. Jerom in this matter says several times that Arius was condemned in the Council of Nice Socrates Sozomen and Theodoret do also testify the same thing and a Book of the First entitled Thalia was proscrib'd The Council having thus judged the Arians with rigor treated the Meletians with more moderation It permitted Meletius to continue in the City and to retain the name of Bishop and the honour annexed to that Office but it absolutely forbad him to ordain any body It preserved also the Rank Honour and Office of those whom he had ordained provided nevertheless that they should be confirmed by a more Sacred Imposition of Hands which is a kind of Re-ordination i Which is a kind of Re-ordination It is commonly thought that this Imposition of Hands which the Fathers of this Council call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was only a Ceremony but Valesius has very well proved that it was a new Ordination and this is the thing which the Word does properly signify that they should be inferiour to those who had been ordained by Alexander and that they should have no hand in the Election of Bishops Nevertheless it permits the People and the Clergy to choose them Bishops if they were found worthy of it provided that the Bishop of Alexandria approve this Election Last of all the Council made a Decree concerning the Celebration of Easter and ordained that this Feast should be celebrated only on the Sunday Constantine wrote a general Letter to the whole Church to acquaint them with the Decisions of this Council and the Bishops wrote a Letter particularly to the Christians of Egypt wherein they inform them exactly of what had been ordained about the Cause of the Arians and Meletians and about the Celebration of Easter St. Ambrose indeed seems to intimate that this Council made a Paschal Cycle but these Words must be so understood as meaning only That the Determination of the Council gave occasion to make use of Cycles St. Leo adds in Ep. 64. That the Council gave Order to the Bishop of Alexandria to give notice every Year to the Bishop of Rome of Easter-day that he might publish it to all the Churches of the World But if the Council had made this Order they would have signified it in their Letter to the Egyptians where they speak favourably of Alexander and his Church The Council of Nice did not only determine the Differences which troubled the Church by its Decisions but also made Rules concerning the Discipline of the Church These Rules which are call'd Canons are in number Twenty and there never were more Genuine k There were never more Genuine Theodoret and Ruffinus mention only these 20 Canons tho' the latter reckons 22 of them yet he own'd no more because he divided 2 of them The Bishops of Africa found but 20 of them after they had enquired very diligently all over the East for all the Canons made by the Council of Nice Dionysius Exiguus and all the other Collectors of Canons have acknowledg'd but those 20. The Arabick Canons which Echellensis publish'd under the Name of the Council of Nice cannot belong to this Council tho' some Modern Authors have added many more The First Canon excludes from Sacred Orders those that made themselves Eunuchs but not those who became so by Sickness or by the Cruelty of Barbarians The 2d forbids to advance those Persons to the Orders of Priest or Bishop who were lately baptiz'd and Ordains that those who shall be convicted of any Crime shall be depriv'd of their Ecclesiastical Functions The Third forbids Bishops Priests Deacons and other Clergy-men to keep Women in the House with them yet it excepts Mothers Sisters and other Persons of whom there can be no bad suspicion The 4th Ordains That a Bishop should be Ordain'd by all the Bishops of the Province if it can be done but if it be too difficult to assemble them all either because of an urgent necessity or because of their great distance he may be Ordain'd by Three Bishops provided that those who are absent be willing and consent by their Letter that this Ordination should be made but it adds That the validity of what is done in the Province depends upon the Metropolitan The 5th Ordains That none of those who shall be separated from the Church by the Bishops in each Province can be receiv'd or restor'd to Communion in any other place and that enquiry be the better made whether their Bishop has justly excommunicated them they Ordain That Two Synods shall be held every Year in every Province one before Lent and the other in Autumn The 6th Canon
than Sermons S. Chrysostom does not inlarge so much upon Moral Topicks as to give the sence and understanding of the Text. He follows the Version of the LXX but he often hath recourse to the differences of the Ancient Greek Versions and quotes even the Hebrew Text in some places to clear difficulties There are some Psalms upon which we have no Homilies of S. Chrysostom as the first and second but there are upon the third and following to the 13th upon the 41st and 43d and so on the 117th and from the 119th to the last which make in all sixty Homilies which certainly are S. Chrysostom's To these may be added the Homily upon the thirteenth Psalm and two others upon the fiftieth which have likewise S. Chrysostom's Style Those upon the 51st 95th and 100th are more doubtfull yet I see no reason that we should reject them It is not so of the Commentaries upon the 101st Psalm and upon the six that follow which are Theodoret's The Commentary upon the 119th belongs to some modern Greek that speaks against the Iconoclasts and takes out of Theodoret's Commenâ—aries part of what he writes There are also four Sermons upon particular passages of the Psalms but they must not be joined to the rest because they are not Explications of the Text of the Psalms but Sermons upon distinct Subjects These are a Discourse upon these words of the 44th Psalm The Queen standeth at thy right hand preached in Constantinople some Days after Eutropius his Disgrace who had retired into the Church but was gone out again He speaks in his Preface of the Advantage of reading the Holy Scripture He describes afterwards how the Church was beset when Eutropius had taken Sanctuary there He relates what he had done to help him and with what sincerity he had spoken without fearing the Threatnings uttered against him He observes that he was taken by his own fault for the Church had not forsaken him but he had quitted it But yet it was no wonder that he reaped no greater benefit from that Sanctuary because he entred not into it with a Christian heart That when any Man flies into the Church to take sanctuary there he ought to go in with his Mind as well as with his Body because the Church is not made up of Walls but of an Holy Union among the Members of Jesus Christ. Upon occasion of this Eunuch's Disgrace he shews how little Solidity there is in the goods of this World and draws a fine Picture of the Instability of Riches and then concludes with an excellent Description of the Church Nothing says he to his Auditors is stronger than the Church Let it be your Hope your Haven and Refuge It is higher than the Heavens of a larger extent than the Earth She never waxeth old but still retaineth her strength and vigour for this cause the Scripture calleth her a Mountain to shew her stability a Virgin because she cannot be corrupted a Queen because of her Magnificence and Splendour and it gives her the Name of Daughter by reason of her Union with God c. Both the Sermons upon these words of the 48th Psalm Be not thou afraid when one is made rich were likewise preached in Constantinople In them he recommends Alms-deeds and Hospitality and he toucheth upon the Necessity of being present at Divine Service The Homily on these words of the 145th Psalm My Soul bless thou the Lord is a Sermon for the Holy Week called then the great Week The reason of that Name S. Chrysostom gives in the beginning of his Discourse which is this This Week says he is called the great Week because Jesus Christ wrought great Mysteries at this Time He delivered Man from the Tyranny of the Devil he overcame Death bound the strong armed Man blotted out Sin But as this Week is the great Week because it is the first of Weeks for the same reason Saturday is called the great Day and for this cause many of the faithfull do upon this Day double their Exercises some fast with greater Austerity others watch continually others bestow much on the poor some apply themselves with greater Zeal to the Practice of good Works and by their Piety bear witness to the Mercy of God Emperours themselves honour this Week they grant a Vacation to all Magistrates that so being freed from worldly Care they may spend these Days in the Worship of God They give honour also to this Day by sending Letters every where to command the Prison doors to be opened Let us also have regard to these Days and instead of Palm-branches let us offer him our Hearts Then he explains the Psalm My Soul praise thou the Lord. The royal Prophet says he cries out Praise the Lord O my Soul why does he direct his Discourse to the Soul to teach us that the Soul should apply her self to the words that are uttered For if he that prayeth doth not understand his own words how would he have God to give ear to him God often doth not grant our Petitions but that is for our good he deferrs some time not to deceive us with vain hopes but to make us more zealous and diligent for the fervency of Prayer 〈◊〉 ceaseth when we have what we desired so that to keep up our Devotion God is pleased to with-hold his Gifts He observes in this Sermon that the Righteous after Death live with us pray with us and are amongst us c. S. Chrysostom writ a Commentary upon Isaiah but we have only part of it from the beginning to the eleventh Verse of the eighth Chapter Both the historical and spiritual Sence is set forth with much solidity and clearness There are also five Homilies of his upon these words of Isaiah ch 6. I saw the Lord â—pon an high Throne and one concerning the Seraphim spoken of in the same place they are moral 〈◊〉 upon various Subjects and especially of the reverence due to sacred things and of the dignity of the Priesthood there is a very remarkable passage concerning the Ecclesiastical and the Civil Power Uzziah saith he went himself into the Holy of Holies to offer Incense 〈◊〉 being King he would usurp the Priesthood I will said he burn Incense for I am worthy to do it Oye Princes keep within the Limits of your own Power The bounds of Ecclesiaâ—tical power differ from those of secular Government The King rules over earthly things the Churches Jurisdiction relates to heavenly goods God hath committed to Kings the things of the Earth and to me those of Heaven when I say to me I mean to Priests So that though a Priest prove unworthy of his Office yet for all that you ought not to despise the dignity of the Priesthood God hath made the Body subject to Kings and the Soul to Priests The King pardons corporal Offences but the Priest remits Sins The one compels the other exhorts the one imposes a law the other gives counsel one uses spiritual
Antioch in the absence of the Bishop He commends the Martyrs and treats of Contrition of Heart and of Alms-deeds The Seventieth is upon the Feast of S. Bassus Bishop and Martyr upon an Earthquake that happened at Antioch and upon the Words of Jesus Christ Matthew c. II. v. 29. Learn of me for I am meek and lowly of heart The Seventy-first is a Panegyrick upon S. Drosis The Seventy-second is a Sermon of Penance mention'd in the Ninth Homily of Penance All these Sermons now mention'd were preached at Antioch by S. Chrysostom when he was Priest of that Church There are but two more in this Volume preached at Constantinople the first was after the expulsion of Gainas from the City and the other was after S. Chrysostom's return from his first Exile At the latter end of the Fourth Volume there are Three Sermons of the same The First was preached at Antioch by S. Chrysostom immediately after his being made Priest This Sermon is a Panegyrick upon Flavianus who Ordained him It is the First that S. Chrysostom ever preached The Two others in the same place were preached towards the latter end of his Life The First at the time when they contrived his Deposition and former Banishment the Second after he was recalled In it there is an excellent Comparison of Sarah seized upon by the King of Egypt and of the Church of Constantinople deprived of his presence by the Caballings of Theophilus an Egyptian Bishop and a dextrous Commendation of the Empress Eudoxia The first Volume contains several other Sermons preached for the most part at Antioch The first Twenty-one are called Sermons of Statues because they were preached at the time and upon the occasion of a sedition in Antioch in the beginning of the Year 388 wherein the People had thrown down and dragged about Streets the Statues of Theodosius and of the Empress Flaccilla The first Sermon is upon these words of S. Paul to Timothy Use a little Wine for thy Stomach's sake and often Infirmities wherein he alledgeth several reasons why God permits his Saints to be afflicted he preached it sometime before that Tumult which obliged him to discontinue his preaching But the heat of that sedition was no sooner over and the People of Antioch astonished with the fearfull Threatnings of the Emperour had acknowledged their fault and turned their fury into Mourning but he resumed the Chair for the comfort of that desolate People And Flavianus their Bishop as a good Father went to the Emperour to asswage his Anger The first Sermon of S. Chrysostom upon this Subject is that which is called the second of Statues There he bewails the Unhappiness of that City exhorting the Inhabitants to implore the Mercy of God by fervent Prayers and turn away his Wrath by good Works to prevent the Danger that threatned them This Discourse is very eloquent Here are some Fragments whereby one may judge of the rest What shall I say What shall I speak of Our present Condition calls for Tears rather than Words Lamentations rather than Discourses and Prayers rather than Sermons The blackness of our Action is so great the Wound we have given to our selves is so deep and so hard to be cured that we have need to apply our selves to an Almighty Physician Then having compared the Misery of that City to that of Job he adds Seven Days have I kept silence as formerly did Job's Friends Give me leave to open my Mouth and bewail our Misery I groan I weep not for the severity of the Threatnings but for the excess of our Folly For though the Emperour were not angry with us and should forbear to punish us how should we suffer the shame of our Action After this he describes very elegantly the Happiness which that City enjoyed before that Mutiny and the Misery it was now reduced to and concludes this Description with these Words The great City of Antioch is in danger of being utterly destroyed she that lately had an infinite Number of Inhabitants will shortly prove a Wilderness none in this World can help her For the offended Emperour hath no equal upon Earth he is the Sovereign and the Master of all Men. All we can do is to make our Application to the King of Heaven let us address our selves to him and call upon him for help If we obtain not Mercy from Heaven we have no remission to hope for He observes that God permitted that Mischief to punish the People for their Blasphemies and teaches rich Men what use they are to make of their Riches The next Sermon was preached when Flavianus was gone to Court to sollicite the Business of the City of Antioch There he represents the Charity of Flavianus who would undertake that Journey He tells them the things that the Bishop was to represent to the Emperour and bids them hope that these Remonstrances will be heard affirming that he is confident of all through God's Mercy God says he will stand betwixt the petitioning Bishop and the Emperour addressed to he will soften the King's Heart and put in the Bishop's Mouth the Words which he should speak He intreats the People to pray earnestly that God would mollifie the Spirit of the Emperour He speaks of fasting in Lent affirming that right fasting is to abstain from Sin At last he advises the People to avoid three Vices Evil speaking hatred of their Neighbour and Blasphemy He goes on to instruct and comfort the People of Antioch in the following Sermons In the 4th he praises God that the Christian's Affliction in the City of Antioch had put them upon thoughts of their Salvation and exhorts them to Patience And in the last place inveigheth against Swearing and promises to speak of it all the Week This Sermon was preached upon Munday of the First week in Lent Next day he continued the same Subject encouraging the People of Antioch to bear with Constancy and Generosity all the Threatnings against them and not to fear either Death or Sufferings He shews that Sin is the only thing that Christians ought to fear and he speaks again eagerly against Swearing The 6th Sermon was preached the next Day after for the Consolation of the People that were intimidated by the Magistrate He giveth God thanks that Flavianus was arrived before those that carried the News of the Mutiny He tells the reasons that the Bishop was to use to the Emperour and explains a Law that was to be urged He tells them That Sin only was to be feared and that Swearing ought to be avoided The 7th and 8th were preached upon Thursday and Friday of the same Week He comforts the People and explains the beginning of Genesis which was then begun to be read in the Chuches in Lent He discourses against Swearing and reminds them that it was the sixth Day that he had preached against that Sin and that it should be the last time Which shews that the 15th Sermon followeth this for there he tells them
who thought that by his refusal he had offended them that had chosen him he answers in the first place That none ought to be afraid of offending Men when they cannot any other ways avoid it but by offending God 2. He shews that he was so far from disgracing them by his Denial that he pretended on the contrary that he obliged them very much by not exposing them to the reproaches to which they might otherwise have been subject and the false reports which might have been raised against them Is it not certain says he that had I accepted the Bishoprick then those that love to caluminate might have suspected and spoken many things not only of me but also of my Electours They would have said for example that they had respect to Riches or were blinded with the Luster of Birth or won by my Flatteries I know not whether they would not have dared to say that I had bribed them with Money But thanks be to God I took from them all these occasions of Evil-speaking and they can no more tax me with Flattery than they can accuse these good Men of being corrupted For why should he that bestowed Money or used Flattery to get an Office suffer another to take it when he might have it himself Again what might not have been said by detracting Men after my coming to the Office Could I have made Apologies sufficient to answer their Accusations Though all my Actions had been without reproach had they found no pretence to blacken me But now they have none for I have delivered those that might have chosen me from all imputations No complaints will be made of them It will not be said publickly They have entrusted young Fools with the highest and most considerable Offices they have exposed God's Flock to all sorts of Corruption Christianity is now made a jest of and they delight to render it ridiculous Now the mouth of iniquity must be stopped For if Calumniatours do thus complain of You addressing himself to Basil you will let them see that a man's Wisdom is not to be judged of by the Number of his Years nor old Age measured with Gray-hairs and that not young Men but Neophytes are to be excluded from Ecclesiastical Dignities Thus he concludes the second Book To defend himself against such as accused him of refusing the Bishoprick out of pride he says that it is not to be presumed that any Man could refuse so eminent a Dignity out of Vanity and that such as are of that opinion must needs be despisers of that high Office To undeceive them he speaks of the Priesthood in these Terms Though the Priesthood is exercised upon Earth yet it ought to be reckoned amongst heavenly Goods since neither Man nor Angel nor Archangel nor any created Power but the Holy Ghost himself established that sacred Order and made men think that they exercised a Ministry of Angels in a mortal Body Wherefore whosoever is raised up to the Priesthood ought to be as pure as if he were already in Heaven among those blessed Spirits When you see our Lord placed and offered upon the Altar The Bishop celebrating the Sacrifice and praying for the whole People dyed and made red with his precious Blood do you think that you are amongst Men and upon Earth Do you not believe your selves to be taken up into Heaven for that moment And do you not put off the thoughts of the flesh Do you not behold heavenly things with a pure Spirit and a naked Soul O Miracle O Bounty of God! He that is above with his Father suffers himself to be touched by the hands of all in this moment and gives himself to be held and embraced by those that desire it Afterwards he compares the Divine Mysteries to Elias his Sacrifice which caused Fire to come down from Heaven to consume the Victims He saith that the Bishop in like manner causeth by his Prayers not Fire from Heaven but the Holy Ghost to descend upon the Altar Having thus exalted the Dignity of the Priesthood because of the Power which they have to consecrate the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ he discourses of their Power of binding and loosing Sinners which is not less honourable nor less usefull to the Salvation of Men. For saith he living as yet upon the Earth they dispose of the things of Heaven and they have received a Power which God would give neither to Angels nor to Archangels having said unto Men and not to them What you shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven Temporal Princes have a power to bind but that is the Body only whereas Episcopal Power bindeth the Soul and reacheth unto Heaven because God ratifieth above what the Bishops do here below and the Master confirmeth the Sentence of his Servants This Power is as much above the Temporal as Heaven is nobler than the Earth and the Soul than the Body It were madness to despise a Power without which we could hope for no Salvation nor the possession of the promised Goods For if none can enter into the Kingdom of Heaven unless he be first regenerated with Water and the Holy Ghost And if he that eateth not the Flesh of the Lord and drinketh not his Blood is deprived of Eternal Life And if it be these holy Hands I mean by the hands of Bishops that all these things are done How can either the Fire of Hell be avoided or the Crowns prepared for us in Heaven be obtained without their help They and only they are intrusted by God with these spiritual Births and that regeneration which is wrought by Baptism By them we put on Christ we are united to the Son of God and become Members of his sacred Body Bishops do not judge of the Leprosie of the Body as the Priests did under the old Law they judge of that of the Soul and they do not onely enquire whether Souls be purified but they have power also to purify them Wherefore those that despise them commit a much greater Crime and are worthy of a much severer Chastisement than Dathan and his Companions Having thus exalted the Dignity of the Priesthood he discovers the Dangers that attend this Office on all sides He compares a Bishop that has the Care of a Diocess with a Pilot that hath the Charge of a Ship But a Bishop saith he is more agitated with Cares than the Sea with Winds and Storms The first Rock he meets with is vain Glory Anger Peevishness Envy Quarrelling Calumnies Accusations Lying Hypocrisies Treachery and precipitate Violence against the Innocent joy to see those that serve the Church neglect their Duty and sorrow to see them discharge it worthily love of Praise desire of Honour which is one of the most pernicious passions of the Soul Discourses where pleasure is more looked after than the profit of the Hearers servile Flatteries base Complacency Contempt of the
Apronius for opposing the errors of the Origenistes and invites him to come to Jerusalem Both these Letters are written under the Pontificate of Anastasius about the year 400. The two following Letters are written to Pope Damasus out of the Desarts of Syria S. Jerom asks his advice what he should do about the disputes then in the East I am saith he tyed to your Holiness's Communion that is to S. Peter ' s Chair I know that the Church is founded upon that Rock Whosoever eateth the Lamb out of that House is a prophane Man Whosoever is not found in that House shall Perish by the Flood But forasmuch as being retired into the Desart of Syria I cannot receive the Sacrament at your hands I follow your Collegues the Bishops of Egypt I do not know Vitalis I do not communicate with Meletius Paulinus is a stranger to me He that gathereth not with us scattereth He gives an account afterwards of the occasion of those Divisions After the decision of the Council of Nice after the Decree of the Council of Alexandria enacted with the consent of both the Eastern and Western Bishops they yet ask of me that am a Roman a new Confession of Faith to acknowledge three Hypostases It is an Arian Bishop and the Montanists who require that of me ..... We ask what signifies this Word Hypostasis they say that it signifies a subsisting person we answer that if it be so we are of that opinion They are not satisfied with our professing that Sence but they require further that we own these Terms There must be some Poyson hid under these words We say openly if any one owns not three subsisting Persons let him be Anathema but because we do not use the Terms which they require we are accused of being Hereticks ..... Order me if you please what I should do I will not be afraid to say that there are three Hypostases if you command me so to do Yet he is afterwards of opinion that this way of speaking is not to be approved of because the Term Hypostasis is for the most part equivalent to that of Substance The fifty eighth Letter to Damasus is much upon the same Subject and he asks his advice with whom he ought to communicate Meletius Paulinus or Vitalis These Letters are of 374. The following Treatise is a Dialogue betwixt an Orthodox Christian and a Disciple of Lucifer Calaritanus This Man defends the Conduct and Opinions of those of his Sect maintaining that those are not to be owned as Bishops that Communicated with the Arian Bishops and that such as were Baptized by Hereticks ought to be Baptized again The Orthodox Christian affirms the contrary S. Jerom introduces the Orthodox Christian relating the History of the Council of Ariminum and the dissentions that troubled the Church and shewing that it was a reasonable thing to Pardon those Bishops that had been surprized There is in that Treatise a curious passage about Tradition which he proves by the custom of imposing of Hands and the Invocation of the Holy Ghost after the administration of Baptism He adds That many other things are observed in the Church upon the account of Tradition without being authorized by a written Law as saith he the dipping of the Head three times in Water at Baptism the giving Milk and Honey to the Baptized not bowing the Knee upon Sundays nor all the time betwixt Easter and Whitsontide The Luciferian advances this Proposition and the Orthodox Christian agrees to it confessing that the Bishop alone lays his Hands upon the Baptized to cause the Holy Ghost to come down upon them that he only conferrs the Sacrament of Confirmation But he says that this Custom was introduced rather for the honour of the Priesthood than through any necessity That however the Holy Ghost descends upon them that are Baptized tho' they receive not the imposition of hands from the Bishop This Treatise was written at Rome about the year 384. The 59th Letter to Avitus contains any numeration of those errours which S. Jerom had found in the Books of Origen's Principles Translated by Rufinus which Pammachius had sent him ten years since which shows that it was written about the year 407. The 60th is a Translation of S. Epiphanius's Letter to J. of Jerusalem concerning the Ordination of Paulinianus whom S. Epiphanius had ordained Deacon and Priest in a Monastery of S. Jerom's which John of Jerusalem pretended to be under his jurisdiction This Letter is very cunningly written He complains of the anger which John of Jerusalem had shewed for that ordination representing to him that such behaviour was contrary to the Spirit of the Church and that instead of being angry that he had ordained a Priest in a Monastery of strange Monks that were not of his Diocess he ought to show much satisfaction because there ought to be no Dissention among Priests when no other thing is aimed at but the good of the Church That though all Bishops have every one their Church committed to their Charge and whereof they ought to take Care and that no Man is to Incroach upon another's Jurisdiction yet Christian Charity which hath no Bounds is to be preferred in all things and that the Action is not to be considered in its self but respect ought to be had to the Circumstances of Time Place Persons and Occasions He urges afterwards such things as might excuse his Ordination by saying that there being but two Priests in their Monastery Jerom and Vincentius who would not perform any Function of their Ministery he thought it his Duty to give them a Priest and having met with Paulinianus who so declined the Priesthood that John could not seize upon him to put him into Orders he caused him to be taken by Force and Ordain'd a Deacon and that afterwards he Ordained him Priest against his Will when he waited at the Altar and that however the Ordination was performed in a Monastery and not in a Parish of his Diocess He adds that the Bishops of Cyprus were much more simple and careless in the Sence of John of Jerusalem for they were so far from finding Fault that their Fellow-Bishops Ordained out of their Diocesses those Persons that declined the Priesthood That on the contrary they Exhorted them to do it He speaketh next against Origen's Errors and desireth John of Jerusalem to Condemn them He reduceth them to Eight principal Heads which are these 1. That the Son of God does not see his Father and that the Holy Ghost doth not see the Son 2. That Men's Souls were sent from Heaven to the Earth for their Sins and shut up in Bodies as in so many Prisons 3. That the Devils shall repent one day of their Faults and shall reign with the Saints in Heaven 4. That Adam and Eve had no Flesh before they committed sin and that the Skins wherewith they are said to have been covered signifie their Bodies 5. That man shall not rise again with
Especially about the years of the Kings of Israel and of Juda but he would have no Man trouble himself much to Explain them The Hundred and thirty third Letter to Marcella is a Critick upon the Commentary upon the Canticles that was made by Rheticius Bishop of Autun He observes several Faults in that Author which were mentioned in the second Volume of this Bibliotheca The Hundred and thirty fourth to Sophronius containeth Notes upon the Psalms He saith that some divide them into Five Books but that he Comprehended all in one Volume following therein the Authority of the Jews and the Apostles He affirms that they are written by those whose Names are found at the beginning of every Psalm He speaks afterwards of his Latin Translation of the Psalms and of Sophronius's design to Translate it into Greek The Hundred and thirty fifth Letter to Sunia and Fretella is a Critick upon those passages of the Psalms where the Greek of the Septuagint and the Latin Version differ S. Jerom layeth this down for a Rule That when there is a Difference betwixt the Latin Copies of the New Testament they ought to go to the Original So likewise when there is any Difference between the Greek and the Latin of the Old Testament to find out the Truth the Hebrew Text ought to be consulted By this Rule he explains all those passages of the Psalms where the Greek of the Seventy and the Version then in use did not agree In the Hundred and thirty sixth to Marcella he expounds the ten several Names given to God in the Hebrew Tongue In the Hundred and thirty seventh to the same he gives the Signification of the Terms Halleluja Amen Maranatha Halleluja according to him signifies praise the Lord. Amen is a Word which signifies that Credit is given to a thing desiring that it may be so and which may be rendred So be it Maranatha is a Syriack Word which S. Jerom translateth Our Lord comes In the Hundred and thirty eighth Epistle to the same he shows the Meaning of the Hebrew Selah which the Greeks translate Diapsalma a Word very frequent in the Psalms He saith that some have said that the Diapsalma was an Alteration of the Verse and others that it signified a Pause others a Change of the Tune He is not of their mind but saith with Aquila that Selah signifies always The Hundred and thirty ninth to Cyprian is an Exposition of the Eighty ninth Psalm according to the Hebrew Text. The Hundred and thirtieth to Principia is an Exposition of the Forty fourth Psalm The Hundred and forty first containeth certain Remarks to understand the Hundred and twenty sixth Psalm The Hundred and forty second and Hundred forty third to Damasus clears the History of Uzziah speaks of the Seraphim the Holy holy holy and the rest of Isaiah's Vision described in the sixth Chapter of his Prophecy The Hundred and forty fifth Letter to Pope Damasus explains the meaning of the Word Hosanna rejecting S. Hilary's Opinion who thought that it signified The Redemption of David ' s House as also that it signified Glory To expound it he appeals to the Hebrew Text and pretends that Hosanna whereof they have made Hosanna signifies Save us Lord. The Hundred and forty sixth to the same is an allegorical Exposition of the Parable of the prodigal Son whom he supposes to be a Figure of the Gentiles converted to the Faith In the Hundred and forty seventh to Amandus he gives a literal Explication of three passages of the New Testament of these Words of Jesus Christ Matth. ch 6. Take no thought for the morrow sufficient unto the Day is the evil thereof Of those of S. Paul 1 Cor. 2. He that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body and of that other of S. Paul 1 Cor. 15. where he saith that all things are subject to the Son of God and that he is subject to him who hath put all things under him At the latter end he moves the Question whether a Woman having left her Husband because he was an Adulterer or given to unnatural Lusts may be married to another and if having done it she might be admitted to the Communion He answers That she cannot marry without sinning and ought not to be admitted to the Communion but after Penance and having renounced the second Husband In the Hundred and forty eighth he resolves five Questions which Marcella put to him upon several passages of the New Testament The first is How S. Paul could say that eye hath not seen nor ear heard neither have entred into the heart of Man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him Since he says in another place that God hath revealed them by his Spirit S. Jerom answereth that in the former place S. Paul speaks of the things which the Eyes and Ears of Flesh may apprehend and what may be comprehended by humane Understanding without Revelation The second Question was about the Exposition which S. Jerom had given of the Parable of the Goats and of the Sheep which are at the right and at the left Hand of God whereby he understood the Jews and the Gentiles and not good and evil Men. Here S. Jerom referrs to what he had said in his Books to Jovinian The third Question was concerning those of whom the Apostle saith that they shall be carried alive into the Air at the Day of Judgment to meet Jesus Christ. S. Jerom sticks not to say that this is to be understood literally and that such as shall be found alive then shall not die but their Bodies shall become incorruptible and immortal The fourth is about those Words of Jesus Christ to Mary Magdalen Touch me not This is the Sence of them according to S. Jerom You deserve not to fall down at my Feet and worship me seeing you doubted of my Resurrection It is more natural to expound them after this other manner Do not make haste to embrace and to hold me I am not yet ascended into Heaven I will abide for some time upon Earth and you may do it at leisure The last Question is to know whether Christ being upon Earth after his Resurrection was likewise in Heaven at the same time S. Jerom answereth that it is unquestionable that the Word of God was every where but he does not answer the Question proposed precisely which was not concerning the Divinity but the Humanity of Jesus Christ. In the Hundred and forty ninth Letter he proposeth to himself one of the chiefest and most considerable Difficulties of the New Testament namely what is the Sin against the Holy Ghost and in what Sence it is unpardonable But he doth not go to the bottom of the Question shewing only by the bye against Novatian that it is not the Sin of Idolatry The Hundred and fiftieth to Hebidia and the Hundred and fifty first to Algasia contain Solutions of three and twenty Difficulties about particular Passages of the New Testament
of Jesus Christ with their sacred Mouth Qui Christi corpus Sacro ore conficiunt In his Commentary upon Zephaniah he seems to doubt whether wicked Priests consecrate it But 't is probable that he speaks thus rather to terrifie them than to establish a Proposition whose Consequences would prove very dangerous I add an excellent Passage of this Father concerning the Sacrament of Penance taken out of his Commentary upon these Words of the 16th Chapter of S. Matthew Whatsoever ye shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven Some saith he Priests and Bishops of the New Law understanding not the sence of these words doe imitate the pride of the Pharisees by ascribing to themselves a power to condemn the Innocent and to absolve the Guilty But God doth not so much consider the Sentence of the Priest as the Life of the Penitent And as the Levites did not cleanse the Lepers but only separated those that were cleansed from those that were not by the knowledge which they had of the Leprosie Even so the Bishop or the Priest doth not bind those that are innocent and loose the guilty but having heard the difference of Sins he knows whom to bind and whom to loose in the discharge of his Ministery In this place we may take notice 1. Of the Custom of declaring Sins to the Priest 2. The Power which Priests had to Absolve 3. The use Priests were to make of the Keys and the care they were to take not to Absolve but such as were truly penitent * After what has been already said of S. Jerom one can hardly esteem him a Person upon whose Authority Points of Doctrine or Matters of Discipline can safely be established He may however give the Sence of the Church in his own time in Matters wherein he personally was not concerned in which we have Reason to think that he gives a faithfull Account of things And therefore since we have no Cause to disbelieve what he says of the Eucharist and of what the Church of Rome calls the Sacrament of Penance but on the contrary may reasonably suppose that he spake the Sence of the Church The Passages themselves are to be examined Of those concerning the Eucharist we are to consider 1. That he keeps himself to the Language of the New Testament in his Answer to Hedibia's Question and only confutes the Millennaries but says nothing of the Modus of the Presence of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Sacrament 2. That his Interpretation of those Words in S. John My Flesh is Meat indeed and my Blood is Drink indeed of the Spiritual and Divine Flesh of Jesus Christ shews that he understood them Allegorically for he distinguishes that from the Flesh of Jesus Christ which suffered upon the Cross Now there is equal Reason to believe that what our Saviour says in the 6th Chapter of S. John concerning Eating his Flesh and Drinking his Blood is literally to be understood as what he says in the Institution of the Sacrament of the Eucharist And if one is Allegorically to be interpreted then they are both 3. That the Mysteâ—â—â—s of Religion were as nicely examined in that Age as in any since Jesus Christ declared it to the World and when every thing else that was Mysterious was controverted this single Article of the Real Presence as defined by the Council of Trent which is contrary to that Reason that the other Disputes concerning the Trinity and the Divine Decrees are properly above was never debated This is so strange if we suppose the Doctrine of the Church of Rome to have been then receiv'd that it is incredible especially when we consider 4. That the generality of the Fathers at that time interpreted every thing in Scripture Allegorically to which they could not assign a convenient Literal sence This the People were used to This was S. Jerom's practice very often and he had learnt it of Origen whom he seems sincerely to have follow'd till he quarrelled with Rufinus So that we have great Reason to think that Men so accustomed to Allegories as the Teachers and the People were in this Age would not be at a Loss to interpret our Blessed Saviour's meaning in any of his Words which Literally interpreted would contradict and do Violence to that Reason by which they were capacitated to understand any part of his Law The Passage produced in favour of Auricular Confession proves nothing less S. Jerom says That after the Priest had heard the difference of Sins he knew whom to bind and whom to loose that is very true but that is no Reason for Men to reveal all their Sins to the Priest because the Church in that Age put Men under Penance only for publick Sins those that had committed private ones of such a Nature as would if discovered have made them unfit to come to the Sacrament were exhorted to put themselves under a voluntary Penance and if they did so they were obliged to declare why they did it that so the time of their Penance might be regulated but this seems to have been left to themselves which makes it quite another thing from the practice of the Church of Rome S. Jerom's Works were published by Erasmus and printed in six Volumes at Basil from the Year 1516 to the Year 1526. In 1530 they were again printed at Lions by Gryphius and at Basil by Froben in 1553. The First Edition of Marianus was at Rome by Manutius in the Years 1565 1571 and 1572. The Second at Paris by Nivelle in 1579. The Third at Antwerp in 1579. The Fourth at Paris with Gravius his Notes in 1609. The Fifth is of 1624 at Paris The Last was printed in 1643. These are the Collections of all this Father's Works There are several of them printed by themselves as the Letters in Octavo printed at Rome by Manutius Dr. Cave mentions an Edition of S. Jerom's Works at Frankfort in 1684 in 12 Volumes in folio with all the Scholia Censures Index's and Collections of all sorts that had been printed till that time upon S. Jerom which are all comprized in the three last Volumes in 1566 at Antwerp in 1568 with Gravius's Notes and at Mentz in 1470 at Venice in 1476 at Paris in 1583 at Dilingen in 1565 at Louvain in 1573. The Book of Famous Men at Louvain and Helmstad in 1611 at Colen in 1580 at Lions in 1617 at Antwerp in 1639. The Epistles to Theophilus at Paris in 1546 and 1589. The Book of Virginity at Rome in 1562. The Treatise of Hebrew Names at Wirtemberg in 1626. I say nothing of the Editions of the Chronicon because they were mentioned in the Account of Eusebius his Works The Benedictines of the Congregation of S. Maura will soon undertake a new Edition of S. Jerom There is reason to hope that it will not be inferior either in Beauty or Exactness to those of S.
lawful for a Man to kill himself nor any other that was desirous of Death He Answers the Case of Razias which is well told in the Maccabees and was looked upon as a noble and generous Action but not approved by him as Wise and Vertuous This Letter was written in Gaudentius's time and composed in 420. The 205th Letter to Consentius contains the Explication of some Difficulties about the Nature of glorified Bodies Consentius had asked St. Augustin whether our Saviour's Body hath now Flesh and Bones with the same parts and features which he had upon Earth St. Augustin resolveth this question saying That Christ's Body is altogether such in Heaven as it was upon Earth when he left it to ascend intoHeaven and that it appeareth by the Gospel that he had Hands and Feet Flesh and Bones as well after as before the Resurrection That no mention is made of his Blood and it is not convenient to ingage too far in those Matters for fear of entring upon other very hard Questions such as these If there is Blood is not there also Phlegm Choler or Melancholy since the mixture of these four Humours make up the Temper of Humane Bodies Yet St. Augustin denieth not but that these Humours may be in glorified Bodies but that we ought to have a care of believing them alterable and corruptible whereupon he undertakes to show by the Testimony of St. Paul that glorified Bodies shall be incorruptible and freed from all corporeal and earthly qualities Consentius had asked likewise whether those that had been baptized and died without Penance for Sins committed after Baptism should obtain Remission of them in a certain time St. Augustin remits him to his Treatise of Faith and Good Works where he had handled that Question Lastly Consentius desired to know VVhether God's breathing upon Adam was his Soul St. Augustin answers That it was either his Soul or that which produced it but we must be sure not to believe that the Soul is any part of God Consentius to whom this Letter is written is the same to whom St. Augustin dedicated his Treatise of Lying composed in 420. It is probable that if this Letter be of the same time it was written after his Book of Faith and Good Works which was made in 413. The 206th is a Letter of Recommendation to Count Valerius in the behalf of Bishop Felix The next is that which St. Augustin writ to Bishop Claudius when he sent him his Books against Julianus published after St. Jerom's Death in 421. In the 208th St. Augustin exhorts the Virgin Felicia newly returned to the Church from the Donatist's Party and Scandalized by some Bishops disorders to continue always in the bosom of the Catholick Church notwithstanding all those Scandals where she was afflicted And this gave occasion to his Discourse of Good and Evil Pastors It is thought that the occasion of this Letter was the Scandal given by Antonius Bishop of Fussala mentioned in the following Letter supposed to have been written in the end of the Year 422. but that is uncertain It is equally uncertain that the next Letter to Pope Coelestine is written by St. Augustin some Criticks doubt it 1. Because the Stile of this Letter is not as they pretend perfectly like that of the other Letters of St. Augustin 2. Because it is found but in one only Manuscript of the Vatican Library which is not above 200 Years old 3. Because St. Augustin seems to speak there after a low manner and unworthy of his wonted Courage 4. Because it seemeth not to agree with the Opinions of St. Augustin nor of the other Africans about Appeals 5. Because Coelestine could not threaten then to send Clerks into Africa to see his Judgments executed as he doth in this Letter because Affairs in Africa were then in great Disorder and the Emperors had not much Authority in those Provinces that were 〈◊〉 by a Tyrant Yet it must be confessed That this Letter agrees exceeding well to the Customs and Manners of the African Church in St. Augustin's time and has a Character of Sincerity However If this Letter be truly St. Augustin's he writ it in the beginning of Coelestine's Pontificat since he begins it with congratulating his Promotion which was compassed without Intrigues or Division He speaks afterwards of Antonius his Business whom he had ordained Bishop of Fussala a Town in the Diocess of Hippo where no Bishop had been before This Man was brought up in St. Augustin's Monastery and looked upon by him as a Man of great Probity but seeing himself exalted to such a Dignity he gave way to his Passions lived disorderly and greatly vexed the People that were under his Jurisdiction being accused before the Provincial Council he could not be convicted of the Sin of Uncleanness that was laid to his Charge but it appeared that he had oppressed and tyrannized over the People intolerably Thus the Judges finding not sufficient cause utterly to deprive him and being withal unwilling his Fault should pass without Punishment left him the quality of Bishop upon condition that he should not perform the Functions thereof nor have any Authority over a People whom he had used so unjustly To hinder the Execution of this Judgment Antonins appealed to the Pope who pretended a Right to receive Appeals from the Judgments of the African Bishops though these contested his Right This happened at a time when they had bound themselves to see the Canons of the Council of Sardica which the Pope had alledged as the Canons of the Council of Nice executed with this Proviso Till they were assured that they were actually made by the Council of Nice Antonius therefore obtained of Boniface a Letter enjoyning that he should be restored if he had truly stated his Case He returned triumphing with that Letter But the African Bishops regarded it not And being threatned that the Civil Authority should be made use of to make them observe the Pope's Orders St. Augustin took upon himself to write this Letter to Coelestine wherein he intreateth him by the Blood of Jesus Christ and by St. Peter's Memory who forbad the Pastors of the Church to exercise Dominion not to suffer things to go to that extremity telling him That his Heart was so set upon that Business That he would renounce his Bishoprick if Antonius was restored at Fussala He was not restored and we learn by the 224th Letter That his Diocess was immediately dependant upon St. Augustin though afterwards we meet with a Bishop of that place Antonius flattered himself with these hopes either that they would have degraded him from the Episcopal Dignity or have left him in the Bishoprick St. Augustin affirms on the contrary That there are Examples of Judgments given or approved by the Holy Apostolick See whereby Bishops were Punished without being absolutely degraded He citeth three of the latest That of Priscus Bishop of the Province of Mauritania Caesariensis who was suffered to continue in
make use of the Parable of Lazarus and Dives S. Cyril maintains That the Judgment ought not to be passed till after the Resurrection and that it is absurd to say That the Good or Sinners have received their Reward already And that what is said of Lazarus and Dives is a Parable which signifies only that Merciless Rich Men shall one Day be grievously punished This doth not at all agree with the particular Judgment and Blessedness of Souls after Death The Sixteenth How the Angels if they have no Bodies can have any Carnal Knowledge of Women as it is said in Genesis S. Cyril answers That they are not Angels which are spoken of in Genesis but the Posterity of Enos who had Commerce with the Daughters of Cain And for this Reason it is that Four Interpreters who have translated this Place after the LXX have rendered it Sons of the Mighty or Princes and not Sons of God That in Sum it is a great Weakness to think That the Angels can have Children The Seventeenth and Eighteenth are against those who affirm That the Person of the Son being made Man and descending to the Earth was not united to his Father nor did inhabit in Heaven In the Nineteenth S. Cyril explains his Opinion about the Incarnation and holds That it may be said That the Flesh of Jesus Christ did Miracles because the Word and Man being united in the same Person and in the Son only both the Divine and Humane Operations may be attributed to him In the Twentieth it is said That Jesus Christ is ascended into Heaven with the Flesh which was united to him but for all that it cannot be said that the Body of Jesus Christ was mingled with the Trinity In the Twenty first he treats also of this nice Question In what Sence the Flesh of Jesus Christ may be said to do Miracles and explains it by this Example although it be the Soul that moves the Body in all its Operations yet we call it the Action of the Body as well as of the Soul The same â—…ay be said of the Miracles which the Word doth by his Humanity In the Twenty second he says That the Humane Nature in Jesus Christ was subject to Sin certainly because he came to deliver Man from Sin The Twenty third Question is this Why the Word was not made Man at the beginning of the World Why staid he till these last Times S. Cyril answers That he acted the part of a good Physician who does not undertake the Cure of a Disease in its beginning but waits till the Disease plainly discovers it self So did the Word wait till the Sins and Wickedness of Man had fully manifested themselves The Twenty fourth imports That the Head of the Infernal Dragon shall not be entirely broken till after the Resurrection This puts me in mind of the Title of a very fantastical Book A Treatise of the broken Head of the Infernal Dragon I believe the Author had not read this Place of S. Cyril The Twenty fifth is a very obscure Comparison between the Flame that appeared to Moses in the Flaming-Bush and the Mystery of the Incarnation In the Twenty seventh he saith That Zacharias was slain between the Temple and the Altar for suffering Mary to enter into that Place where the Virgins only had a Right to enter The last explains in a few Words the Causes of the Joy which the Angels shewed at the Birth of Jesus Christ. The following Treatise about the Holy Trinity is written by an Author more modern than S. Cyril although it comes very near his Doctrine and his Method and Principles but it is easy to discern that he lived after the Rise of the Heresy of the Monothelites for he throughly discusses this Question Whether there are Two Wills and Two Operations in Jesus Christ. He confutes those that hold the contrary and explains the Sence of the Ancients who taught That there was in Jesus Christ but one incarnate Nature and one Operation as God-man The Collection of Expositions upon the Old Testament is not wholly taken out of the Works of S. Cyril only but also of S. Maximus and several other Interpreters So that it must not be looked upon as S. Cyril's Work Balthazar Corderius published 19 Homilies upon Jeremiah printed at Antwerp in Greek and Latin in 1648 Octavo which bear the name of S. Cyril * But are found to be Origen's Care As for the Moral Fables put out by the same Author in 1631. under the name of S. Cyril they belong to a Latin Author The 16 Books upon Leviticus which were heretofore among S. Cyril's Works are Origen's It is nothing to the purpose that some have doubted whether the Treatise of the Adoration in Spirit be S. Cyril's since it is his Style and Photius attributes it to him Nor is there greater reason to doubt of the Letter to Coelosyrius nor of the other Works of which we have spoken He made Commentaries upon all the Prophets but they were never yet printed His Commentary upon S. Matthew cited several times in the 6th and 7th General Councils and that upon the Epistle to the Hebrews cited by Theodoret are lost If we may believe Cassiodorus he made Commentaries upon all the Books of Holy Scripture Gennadius mentions two Treatises of S. Cyril's which we have not viz. A Treatise of the Defect of the Synagogue And a Book of Faith against the Hereticks The same Author assures us That he composed divers Treatises upon various Subjects and a great number of Homilies which the Grecian Bishops got by Heart to preach to the People So that tho' the Works of S. Cyril which we now have make up at present 7 great Volumes yet we should have several others if we had all that he hath written It is very wonderful That a Bishop of so great a See as that of Alexandria busied with so many Affairs and engaged in so great a Contest as that with the Eastern Bishops was should have time to compose so many Works But S. Cyril was wonderfully ready at Composing and applyed himself to a way of Writing which it is easie to furnish out for either he copyed out Texts of Scripture or made large Discourses or expounded Allegories It is easie to make great Works of this Nature in a little time especially when we bestow no time to polish our Discourse nor keep it within certain bounds and we resign up our Hand and Pen entirely to all the Notions that come into our Heads After this manner did S. Cyril write and he was so much accustomed to this way of Writing that he had as Photius observes a Style altogether particular which seemed contrary to others and in which he extreamly neglected the exactness and cadency of his Expressions He had a Subtle and Metaphysical Genius and readily spake the finest Logick His Wit was very proper for subtle Questions which he had to do with upon the Mystery of the Incarnation He
That the Son of God did not begin to pour down his Graces upon Men but from the time of his Incarnation That Sins are not entirely forgiven by Baptism That the Saints of the Old Testament are dead in a State of Sin That Man is necessitated to Sin That Sin cannot be avoided even with Grace Lastly he condemns the gross Errors of the Pelagians viz. Those who said That Men can avoid Sin without the help of God That Infants ought not to be baptized or that other Terms ought to be used in baptizing them That they who are born of baptized Parents have no need of the Grace of Baptism That Mankind died not by Adam and is not raised by Jesus Christ. In the last part the Bishops in whose name this Profession was written declare to Zosimus That if he still persists to molest them they will appeal to a fuller Synod That they could not sign a condemnation passed against the absent but were ready to suffer the worst rather than forsake Justice and Truth He ends with a Passage of S. Chrysostom's Sermon to the Novices The Letter of Julian and other Bishopâ— to Rufiâ—us of Thessalonica is recited almost entire in the 3 last Books of S. Austin to Boniface It contain'd the Heads of the Accusations which we have delivered in speaking of that Treatise of S. Austin The first Book to Turbantius is recited entire in the second Book of S. Austin of Marriage and Concupisence There are â—ragments of 3 other Books in the 6 Books of S. Austin against Julian Lastly all the 5 Books of Julian to Florus are copyed out whole in the 6 Books of S. Austin's imperfect Work Beda makes mention also of three Books of Julian * This is a kind of Prefatory Discourse to the Commentary upon Canticles and so not a distinct Book A Treatise of Love A Commentary upon the Canticles and A Book of †De bâ—no Constantiae Constancy It appears by the Fragments which Beda hath taken out of those Works That he delivers the same Principles in them as in his other Books That we are absolutely free to do good or evil That the love of Man inclines him naturally to do good and That Man is not born in Sin He cites in his Last Book a little Treatise of S. Chrysostom which bears this Title No Man is Hure but by himself Lastly some attribute to Julian the Translation of the Profession of Faith which bears the Name of Rufinus but they bring no proof of it NESTORIUS NESTORIUS born at Germanicia a City of Syria brought up and baptized at Antioch withdrew himself into the Monastery of Euprepius which was in the Suburbs of that Nestorius City He was ordain'd Priest by Theodorus and in a little time acquired a very great Reputation by his way of living and by his Sermons Sisinnius Archbishop of Constantinople being dead in 4â—7 the Ambition which the Clergy of that City had to obtain the Government of that Church made the Emperour resolve not to suffer any of them to be chosen Bishops and to cause a Clergy-man of some other Church to be chosen notwithstanding the Pains that were taken to procure it by some for Philip of Sida and by others for Proclus He cast his Eyes upon Nestorius chose him * It seems abâ—urd when 't is said the People desired others And Sâ—crates says That Sisinnius was chosen by consent orall but not Nestorius for he was chosen rather against than by the consent of all by common consent caused him to come from Antioch and 3 Months after his Election he was ordained and put in possession of the See of Constantinople in the Month of April in the year †A great Mistake in Chronology for Atticus died Octob. 427. Sisinnius was Arch-bishop almost 2 years as Socrates tells us l. 7. c. 28. Nestorius was ordained 〈◊〉 Months after Sisinnius's death so that he could not be in possession of the Patriarchate till near 430. and yet Dr. 〈◊〉 agâ—…s 〈◊〉 Duâ—in 428. In his first Sermon which he made in the presence of the Emperour he declared the design he had to make War with the Hereticks speaking boldly to the Emperour Sir Free the Earth from Hereticks and I will give you Heaven joyn in the War against them with me and I will assist you against the Persians Altho' the hatred which many of the People had for the Hereticks made them approve of this Discourse yet the wiser sort saith Socrates condemned the Pride and Fierceness of it and were amazed to see a Man before he had tasted as he says the Water of the City declare That he would persecute those who were not of his Opinion These Threatnings were followed with a suitable effect for 5 days after his Consecration he attempted to demolish the Church where the Arians tho' secretly celebrated their Assemblies and reduced them to so great despair that they set it on Fâ—â—â— themselves which being consumed the Flame took the Neighbouring Houses This Fire stirred up an unusual Disorder and from that time he was called An Incendiary He did all he could to vex the Novatians but the Emperour stopt his Fury He exercised also so great Severities against those People of Asia Lydia and Caria who kept the Feast of Easter upon the xiv day of the Moon that many Murthers happened by them at Miletum and Sardis He persecuted also the Macedonians and took their Churches from them He did not spare so much as the Pelagians but at length prevailed with the Emperour to make a Law against all Hereticks He brought the Memory of S. Chrysostom into Veneration He lived in a very regular and strict manner and applyed himself diligently to the Duties of his Ministry In a word he might have passed for a great Saint if he had not engaged himself to maintain an Opinion which made him condemned as an Heretick Which came this way to pass He had brought from Antioch a Priest called Anastasius for whom he had a very particular esteem and whom he made use of in all Affairs of Importance This Anastasius preaching one day in the Church ventured to say Let no Man call Mary the Mother of God Mary wâ—â— a Woman and God cannot be born of a Woman This Proposition gave great offence among the People who accused this Priest of Impiety A Bishop called Dorotheus confirmed the Opinion of Anastasius by saying Anathema to all that call the Virgin the Mother of God and Nestorius himself discoursing upon this Question in his Sermons took his Priest's part and always rejected the Name of the Mother of God The People being accustomed to hear this Expression were much inflamed against their Bishop being perswaded That he revived the Error of Paulus Samosatenus and Photinus and believed That Jesus Christ was a meer Man The Monks declared themselves openly against him and separated themselves from his Communion The People and some more considering Men followed their
had subjected Valentia Tarentasia Geneva and Grenoble to the Bishop of Vienna and left the other Churches under the Jurisdiction of the Bishop of Arles Caesarius was at Rome when this Canon was made as appears by the ninth Letter dated Novemb. 13th in the Year 502. But let us return to the former Letters The third is a Letter of Complement to Patricius Liberius upon the Election of a Bishop of Aquileia It is dated Octob. 15. in the Year 499 but the Date appears to be added this is the first Letter of the fifth Book of Ennodius and it may be that he compos'd it for this Pope The fourth is not a Letter of Symmachus to Laurentius of Milan as the Title supposes but it is the third part of the Rhetorick of Ennodius of Pavia Any one may be satisfy'd by reading it that it was never a Letter The Letter or Memorial of Caesarius Bishop of Arles contains four Requests which he made to Pope Symmachus In the first he remonstrates to him that among the Gaules the Possessions of the Church were easily alienated from whence it came to pass that the Goods design'd for relieving the Necessities of the Poor were daily diminish'd He prays that this Alienation may be wholly forbidden by the Authority of the Holy See except what shall be thought convenient to be given to the Monasteries He requests in the second place that it may be declar'd also that the Judges and Governours of Provinces cannot be appointed until they have been try'd a long time before 3. He desires that it may be forbidden to marry the Widows who have wore a Religious Habit for a long time and the Virgins who have been for many years in Monasteries 4. He requests that care may be taken to hinder all Canvassing and giving of Bribes for obtaining a Bishoprick The Pope answers these Requests in the following Letter of Novemb. 6th which is the fifth and says That altho the Ecclesiastical Canons have provided for these things which he desires yet it is good to renew them 1st Then he forbids the Alienation of the Possessions of the Church by any Contract and upon any pretence whatsoever but yet he allows some part of them to be given to Clergy-men to Monasteries and to Strangers who are in necessity provided always that they shall only enjoy the Profits of them during their Life 2. He threatens those with the rigor of the Canons who endeavour to promote themselves to the Priesthood by promising to give away the Possessions of the Church 3. He ordains that Lay-men shall observe the Times appointed by the Canons before they be promoted to the Priesthood 4. He declares that he abhors those who ravish Widows or Virgins consecrated to God and that he condemns even those who marry them altho they who are married mean well He ordains that such shall be cast ouâ— of the Communion of the Church and he forbids Widows who have liv'd a long while unmarried and Virgins who have been a considerable time in Monasteries to marry 5. He forbids all Sollicitations and Promises which are made for Promotion to a Bishoprick The sixth Letter of Symmachus is his Apology wherein he vindicates himself from the Crimes charg'd upon him by the Emperor Anastasius In it he writes to this Emperor with great boldness and shews him that he ought not to take in ill part his Answer to the Reproaches spoken against him That if he be consider'd in the quality of Roman Emperor he ought to hear patiently the Messages of the People and even of the Barbarians and if he be consider'd as a Christian Prince he ought to hear the voice of the Bishop of the Apostolick See That for his own part he could not dissemble these Calumnies altho he ought to bear with them and that it was even the Interest of the Emperor to have the falshood of them discover'd that the scandal might be remov'd He taketh the whole City of Rome to witness that he was no Manichean and that he had never warp'd from the Faith he had receiv'd in the Church of Rome since he first left Paganism He accuses the Emperor in his turn of being an Eutychian or at least of favouring the Eutychians and communicating with them He reproves him for despising the Authority of the Holy See and of the Bishop who was Successor to St. Peter He maintains that his Dignity is higher than that of the Emperor Let us compare says he to him the Dignity of a Bishop with that of an Emperor There is as great difference between them as between the things of this Earth whereof the latter has the administration and the things of Heaven whereof the former is the Dispenser O Prince you receive Baptism from the Bishop he gives you the Sacraments you desire of him Prayers you wait for his Blessing and you address your self to him that you may be put under Penance In a word you govern the Affairs of Men and he dispenses the Blessings of Heaven Wherefore the Office of a Bishop is at least equal if not superior to yours After this he proposes That as the Emperor would undoubtedly make him lose his Dignity if he could prove the Articles of Accusation alledg'd against him So he should hazard the loss of his if he could not prove it He admonishes him to remember that he is a Man and that he can no ways avoid the discussion of this Cause before the Tribunal of God That 't is true due respect ought to be paid to Secular Powers but then they ought not to be obey'd when they desire such things as are contrary to the Laws of God in fine That if Obedience is due to Superior Powers it is chiefly due to those that are Spiritual Honour God in us says he and we will honour him in you but if you have no respect for God you cannot claim that priviledge from him whose Laws you despise You say adds he that I have Excommunicated you with the Consent of the Senate In this I have done nothing but follow'd the righteous Example of my Predecessors You say that the Senate has evil entreated you If you think that you are abus'd by exhorting you to separate from Hereticks can it be said that you would have treated us well when you would have forc'd us to joyn with Hereticks You say that what Acacius has done does not at all concern you If it be so trouble your self no more about him joyn no more with his followers If you do not this it is not we that Excommunicate you but your self by joyning your self to one that is Excommunicated He concludes with a smart Remonstrance wherein he exhorts the Emperor to return to the Communion of the Holy See and to separate from the Enemies of the Truth and the Church The seventh Letter is the fourteenth Epistle of the eleventh Book of Ennodius's Letters It may be he wrote it in the Pope's Name The eighth Letter of Symmachus is
1580 Carterius publish'd the Commentary of Procopius upon Isaiah from a Manuscript of the Cardinal of Rochefoucault This Work is printed at Paris in Greek and Latin over against it and is very carefully done The Anonymous Author of an Exposition of the Octateuque THis Author who is mention'd by Photius in the 36th Volume of his Bibliotheque liv'd under the Empire of Justinus He had compos'd a Book entitled The Book of Christians or An Exposition The Anonymous Author of an Exposition of the Octateuque of the Octateuque dedicated to one nam'd Pamphilus The style of this Work was mean and the Syntax of it not extraordinary He has proposed many Parodoxes altogether indefensible which are more like Tales and Fables then any thing that is serious Here follow some of them That the Heaven and the Earth are not of around figure but the Heaven is in the form of a Vault or an Arch That the Earth is longer one way and that its Extremities touch the Heaven That all the Stars are in Motion and that the Angels move them with several other things of this Nature He speaks also of Genesis and Exodus but as it were by the by He dwells a long time upon the Description of the Tabernacle he runs thro the Writings of the Prophets and Apostles he says that the Sun is as big The Monk Jobitus as the two Climates that the Angels are not in Heaven but above the Firmament and amongst us That Jesus Christ ascending into the Heavens stay'd between the Heavens and the Firmament that this is the place which is call'd the Kingdom of Heaven These are some part of the Absurdities which this Author asserts His Work was divided into Twelve Books We have none of them now remaining and what we have now said shews sufficiently how little reason we have to regret the loss of them The Monk Jobius THis is also an Author of the sixth Age out of whom Photius has preserv'd long and excellent Extracts The Monk Jobius wrote a Treatise of the Word Incarnate divided into nine Books and 45 Chapters upon those matters which were disputed in this Age concerning the Mystery of the Incarnation Photius remarks that he treated the Questions largely enough but he gave not very good Solutions of them contenting himself with what might probably satisfie without searching deeply into the Truth That his Doctrine was very Orthodox both in this Work and in what he wrote against Severus that he was well-skill'd and vers'd in the Holy Scripture and that he undertook to write this Treatise at the desire of an honourable Person This is what Photius observes in general upon this Work of which he afterwards gives an Abridgment The first and second Book were for the Explication of this Question Why is the Son made Man and not the Father or the Holy Spirit The Reason that he gives for it is That the Son bears the Name of the Image of the Father and of his Reason and that from these Titles it was reasonable that he should come to reform the Image of Man and restore to him that Reason which he had lost He thinks that the Birth of Jesus Christ in a Stable among Oxen and Asses the Parable of the Nets cast into the Sea which took all sorts of Fish the Piece of Silver which was found by St. Peter in a Fish the Entrance of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem upon an Ass and the Gift of Tongues are Figures of this Truth After this Preface which appears not very grave nor worthy of the matter he handles In the third Book which begins at the ninth Chapter he gives another Reason why the Son of God was made Man And that is because it was reasonable that he who created and form'd Man should create him anew and reform him Now tho the Father and the Holy Spirit created Man as well as the Son yet the Creation is attributed to the Son and 't is said that by him the Father made all things He demands afterwards Why Redemption was not made by an Angel or a Man And upon this Question he says That Men have try'd many times to bring Salvation to Men but with all they could do they were not capable of saving one single Nation how much more then was it impossible for them to redeem all Mankind and to chain up the Devil who was become their Master That no meer Man could do it because none of them is free from sin That neither did this agree to an Angel to whom it did not belong to lead Spiritual Powers in triumph That One being of the same Nature with the Rest could not bring them into subjection and that if St. Michael disputing with the Devil about the Body of Moses durst not bring a railing Accusation against him how much lefs could an Angel make us Children by Adoption From this Question he passes to another Why God did not redeem Men by his Divinity without making himself Man He answers That God having not done it we should believe that he ought not to have done it This is the best Answer or rather the only reasonable one and this being propos'd all the other become needless In this place he shows that tho God be Almighty yet there are some things which he cannot do because it would be a defect or imperfection to do them He says moreover That the Redemption of Mankind was a more excellent thing then his Creation and that it is a more particular sign of the Love of God to us He adds That it was fit the Word should be made Man for our Salvation since all other means had been ineffectual But one may say Why did he permit that Man should become wicked why did he not create him necessarily good If this had been so he would have had no Free-will and consequently he could have deserv'd nothing Why did not he make him may one say like the Angels This could not have been an advantage to Man answers our Author because God did not save the Angels who sinned But we easily fall into sin Yes says he and we rise again easily God having left to Man a thousand ways whereby he may do Penance and save himself He proposes to himself another very important Question Why God made Man of two Parts of a different Nature But he answers not this Question very well for he only relates some passages of the Fathers and says That the Terrestrial Substance must have been adorn'd with the Union of a Spiritual Substance He enquires Why the Word was made Man and he gives three Reasons for it The first is That he might give us an Example of Vertue The second is To deliver us from the Bondage of Sin The third To blot out Original Sin and restore us to the state in which we were before Sin He remarks that in the Trinity the Father is consider'd as the first Cause the Son as the acting Cause and the Holy Spirit as that
and advertises him that he may nevertheless with good Works * Merit Pardon Heaven Under the word merit which is often met with in the Fathers The Church of Rome which generally conches her new and false Doctrines under old Names would have us understand a Merit ex condigno whereby we deserve Heaven as a just reward of our Works whereas they mean a Merit of impetration as a conditional qualification for happiness merit Heaven He Counsels him not to be surprized at the attempts of his Enemies but to be encourag'd by the truth of the Gospel and to believe in his Judge and his King who has given him a Crown on Earth and promised him one in Heaven He tells him that if the Conspiracy of his Enemies have done him any wrong he should trouble himself but little about it but be thankful to his Defender and Saviour Jesus Christ who afflicts nd chastizes all those that he loves He exhorts him in fine not to seek after any Revenge but heartily to forgive all such as have offended him This Treatise is Elegant and well Written M. Balusius has also Published in the first Tome of his Miscellaneous Works his Treatise about the account of Time directed to Macarius Rabanus writ this when he was a private Monk in the year 820. This Book is written by way of Questions and Answers It treats of all that relates to the Kalendar as Days Months Years Epacts Cycles and Easter These Matters tho they be very obscure are here treated of with a great deal of Exactness and Method The same M. Balusius hath put out in another of his Works viz. his Collection of some ancient Acts which he has put at the end of his Capitularies a Letter of Rabanus's to Regenbaldus Suffragan of Mayence about some Questions that Regenbaldus had propounded to him about several cases The first is concerning a Person who having beaten his Wife had caused her to bring forth a dead Child He answers he ought to be dealt with as a Man-slayer The second is about a Person who having been bit by a Dog applyed immediately some of his Liver to the Wound as most likely to heal it He excuses him that did this through Ignorance but he says he ought to be forwarn'd of committing the like again The third is concerning such as are guilty of the Sin of Bestiality He condemns them to suffer the Punishments specified in the ancient Canons The fourth is Whether it be lawful to eat the Calves brought forth by Cows polluted with the Abominations of Men He Answers that that is not forbid to his knowledge The fifth is concerning the Penance of those that have voluntarily involuntarily or otherwise killed their Parents and other Relations He refers these to what has been said about Homicides In the Conclusion he tells this Suffragan that he may moderate Canonical Punishments with Prudence and Discretion There is at the end of the eight Volume of Councils in the last Edition another Letter of Rabanus's to the same Reginbold or Reginbald about other questions of like nature with the former The first is concerning those that carry away and sell Christians to Pagans He Answers that they ought to be subjected to the Penance for Homicides The second is about Infants who are stifled by lying with their Fathers and Mothers He says that although these Children came by their Death contrary to the knowledge of them that were the cause of it nevertheless they ought not to be exempt from doing some Penance and if they knew it they ought to have been punisht as Homicides The third is about the degrees of Consanguinity within which it is forbid to Marry He sends him upon this question the letter which he writ to Humbert The fourth is concerning the Sins of Fornication or Adultery amongst Relations Rabanus hereupon quotes divers Canons The fifth is whether it be lawful to Pray for a dead Slave who had run away from his Master Rabanus says that we ought not to refuse to Pray for him if he had committed no other Crime but withal that we ought to admonish other Slaves not to commit the like The sixth is concerning a Man who pleading to be a Priest althó he was none had Administred the Sacrament of Baptism Rabanus says it ought not to be reiterated if it was Conferred in the Name of the Holy Trinity The last is about those that eat Flesh in Lent and who swear by Relicks Rabanus answers that they do very ill and that they ought to be made to do Penance for their Crime Walafridus Strabo so called as some think because he was Squint-Ey'd a Monk of Fulda a Scholar of Rabanus afterwards Dean of St. Gallus and Abbot of Richenou followed and imitated Walafridus Strabo his Master not only i◠Composing a Glosse upon the whole Bible Collected principally out of his Commentaries but also in making a Treatise about the Beginning and Progress of Divine Worship Dedicated to Reginbert in which he explains particularly what relates to the Ceremonies of the Church This Work has been Printed in the Collections of Writers concerning Divine Offices by Cochlaeus at Mentz 1549. and Hittorpius at Paris 1610. and also in the Bibliotheca Patrum Tom XV. The principal Points which he handles in this Book are these He says about the Original of Altars and Temples that Noah Abraham and Isaac erected them in Honour of God That Moses was the first that Built a Tabernacle for the People to Worship God in That Solomon afterwards Built a Temple which was preserved a great while by the Jews That Pagans and Authors of false Religions have imitated in this the Worship of the True in Honouring Devils and False Gods with the like Ceremonies That when Christians who are the true Worshippers of God in Spirit and Truth began to set up Places for their Worship they always sought out pure places distant from the noise and hubbub of the World where they might quietly offer God their Prayers Celebrate the Holy Mysteries and Comfort one another That they have sometimes made use of their houses for that purpose but the number of them encreasing they were forced to build Churches That oftentimes to avoid Persecution they have met together in Caves Caverns Church-yards and other private places but at length Religion being fully establisht they Built new Churches and turn'd the Temples of their False Gods into those of the True That they then did not much mind in what Scituation their Churches were built although the common custom has been since to turn towards the East to Pray That at first they had no Signal to call them to the Assemblies That some were led thither by their Devotion others had notice of the Day and Hour at their last Meeting and others by reading it upon certain Tables set up in their Assemblies for that purpose That they afterwards made use of an Horn and Trumpet and at last of Bells the larger of which
accuses Peter Abaelard of treating of the Trinity like Arius Abelaard's Doctrine Examined of Grace like Pelagius and of the Incarnation like Nestorius of having bragg'd that he was ignorant of nothing and of being never willing to say Nescio i. e. I do not know of being willing to expound inexplicable things and to comprehend incomprehensible Mysteries Of giving a reason for that which was above Reason of believing nothing but what Reason discovers to us of placing Degrees in the Trinity Terms and Limits to the Majesty of God and Numbers in Eternity These are the general Reflections which he cast upon him In particular he finds fault with those Expressions of Abaelard concerning the Holy Ghost viz. That he is not of the same substance with the Father as the Son is He is astonish'd to find him on one side owning that he is Consubstantial to the Father and the Son and on the other side denying that he proceeds from the substance of the Father and the Son He maintains that the absolute Attributes of God such as his Omnipotence Wisdom and Mercy does not agree more to one than to another of the Three Divine Persons He opposes Abaelard's Comparison taken from a Seal and the material whereof 't is made He finds fault with the Definition of Faith which Abaelard makes use of because he therein gives to Faith the name of Estimation which is of too loose a Signification He omits speaking to several other Propositions of Abaelard that Jesus Christ had not the Spirit of Fear That the fear of God will not subsist in the other Life That the Accidents of the Bread and Wine after the Consecration are in the Air That the Demons do not tempt Men but only by the Virtue of some Stones and of some Herbs which they know and make use of That the Holy Ghost is the Soul of the World Proceeding afterwards to what relates to the Incarnation he in the first place cites the Proposition wherein Abaelard maintain'd that Jesus Christ did not come into the World on purpose to redeem Mankind upon this he urges the Business very home to him and shews that neither Scripture nor Tradition acknowledge any other end of the Incarnation beside the redeeming of Mankind from the Bondage of the Devil into which they had faln by the Sin of their first Parent He charges him with such things as he only advanc'd in his Commentary by way of Query He demonstrates in opposition to Abaelard that the end of Redemption does not consist in the Love of Jesus Christ since Infants are redeem'd by Baptism before they arrive to the use of Reason and consequently before they are capable of loving at all Lastly he considers three things in the Incarnation The example of Humility which God has given us by thus abasing himself The measure of Charity which he extended so far as to the Death upon the Cross and the Sacrament of Redemption whereby he has deliver'd Men from Death by his Death These are the Heads whereof St. Bernard treats in his large Letter against Abaelard directed to Pope Innocent II. which makes the Eleventh of his Opuscula But to come to an exact knowledge of all the Errors charg'd upon Peter Abaelard 't is sufficient only to consult the Collection of the Propositions extracted out of his Works which was read in the Council of Sens and sent to the Pope It consists of Fourteen Propositions The first is the Comparison which he makes of a Seal of Copper to explain the mystery of the Trinity The second is that which he says of the Holy Ghost viz. That the Holy Ghost is not a Power nor of the substance of the Father though the Three Persons of the Trinity are of the same substance The third that God cannot do any thing else but what he does do The fourth that the end of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ was not only to redeem Mankind but to inlighten the World with the Lustre of his Wisdom The fifth that speaking properly and without a Figure we cannot say that Jesus Christ is a third Person of the Trinity The sixth that God has not given more Grace to him who is sav'd than to him who is not before the former has cooperated with his Grace that he offers his Grace to all the World and that it depends on the Freedom of Men's Will whether they will make use of it or reject it The seventh that God ought not nor cannot hinder Evil. The eighth that when 't is said that Infants contract Original Sin this ought to be understood of the Temporal and Eternal Punishment which is due to them because of Adam's Sin The ninth that the Accidents which remain after the Consecration of the Eucharist are not joyn'd to the substance of the Body of Jesus Christ as they were to the Bread and Wine but are in the Air That the Body of Jesus Christ retains its Figure and Lineaments and that what we see are false appearances under which the Body of Jesus Christ is hid The tenth that 't is not the outward Action but the Will and the Intention which render Men either Good or Bad. The eleventh that the Jews who crucified Jesus Christ in ignorance and out of Zeal for the Law did not commit any Sin in so doing and shall not be condemn'd for this Action but for their former Sins which merited this Blindness The twelfth that those Words whatsoever you shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven are to be understood thus Whatsoever you shall bind in this present Life Abaelard's Doctrine examin'd shall be bound in the present Church That none but the Apostles had this Power and that if it had been communicated to their Successors 't is to be understood only of those who have the Holy Ghost The thirteenth that neither the Suggestion nor the Pleasure which follows it are sinful but the consenting to an Evil Action and the contempt of God The fourteenth that Omnipotence belongs only to the Father as a Personal Attribute Abaelard in his Apology disowns the Heretical meaning of those Propositions but the Question which still remains is to know in what Sense he advanc'd them It cannot be deny'd but that he had Catholick Notions about the mystery of the Trinity and did believe that the Three Divine Persons were of the same Nature The Comparison of a Seal which he makes use of to explain this Mystery is not altogether exact nor does he pretend that it is but he owns that we can find nothing among the Creatures which perfectly resembles this incomparable Mystery Nor does he deny that Power Wisdom and Love are such Attributes as are common to the Three Divine Persons he declares the contrary even in express Terms but he attributes Power to the Father Wisdom to the Son and Love to the Holy Ghost only by way of Appropriation wherein he seems not to disagree from the Doctrine of the Fathers and Divines But
of Repentance and of the Priest's Power of binding and loosing and of the Use that they ought to make of it The same Subject is farther handled in the Seventh Part where he also treats of the Fruits of Repentance of Church-Discipline of Ecclesiastical and Civil Power of the Distinction of Sacred Orders of the Qualities of Ministers and of Marriage In the Eighth Part he treats of the Eucharist of the last Judgment and of the State of the Blessed and Damned Spirits This Author is somewhat obscure but argues with a great deal of Judgment His Style is not altogether rude neither is it perplexed with Scholastical Terms and Distinctions He does not start any Subtil and Metaphysical Questions but only such as relate to Points of Doctrine Discipline or Morality neither does he resolve them by Principles of Logick or Philosophy but by Passages of the holy Scripture and according to the received Doctrine of the Church and of the Fathers which he makes use of as a firm Basis or Ground-work He sometimes produces certain particular Opinions which nevertheless are common to him with many of these Ancient School-men and he is one of those who have maintain'd the fewest erroneous or dangerous Opinions In the First Part he says that the Father and the Son are Two Principles of the Holy Ghost but this Expression may be taken in a good Sense and he never asserted that the Father and the Son were Two Principles or Essences of a distinct Substance but Two Persons who produced a Third by an Action which although really the same may be virtually distinct He shews in discoursing of the Sacrament of Penance that it does not take away the Guilt of Sin but only remits the Punishment and that the Priest's Absolution is a Declaration that the Penitent is absolv'd from the Guilt of his Sin and that he is free'd from the Punishment due to it by the Satisfaction made by him to God An Opinion which the Author holds in common with many Ancient School-Divines There are also found in his Book some other Opinions which are not approv'd and amongst others That the Union of the Word was not made with an animated Body but with the Mass of Flesh of which the Body was first form'd and afterwards the Soul That the Torments of the Damned may be diminished That the Devils are not as yet cast into everlasting Flames and that they Sin'd even at the very instant of their Creation That if the First Man had not committed Sin those who are Damned would not have been brought forth into the World That the Saints do not really descend on Earth in Apparitions And that St. Benedict had a clear Knowledge of God in this World even such as the blessed Spirits have in Heaven This Author is one of those who have most peremptorily affirmed That the Souls are immediately created by God at that instant when they are united to their Bodies and that the Angels are pure Spirits He likewise maintains That the inward Intention of the Minister is not necessary for the Validity of the Sacrament that without the Love of God Sin could not be forgiven that Infants dying without Baptism are damn'd and that for that Reason they are not bury'd in consecrated Ground For matter of Discipline it may be observ'd That Confession made to Laicks for Venial Sins and even for Mortal ones in case of necessity when there was no Priest present was in use at that time That not only the Communion but also Absolution was also deny'd to Criminals condemn'd to Death That Priests were wont to Discipline their Penitents That Parents were prohibited to enter the Church till their Children were Baptiz'd That it was permitted to receive but not to exact Money for the Administration of the Sacraments and even for the Celebration of Mass That Fast was usually broke at Noon or at the Hour of * One of the Canonical Hours None but that there was no Collation That the Custom of Fasting on Fridays was observ'd although not reputed to be of very great Antiquity and that Saturday-Fasts were not so regularly kept That in many Churches some repast was taken on Holy Thursday in the Evening and that this Custom began to prevail That Baptism even that of Infants was reserv'd for Solemn Days That the Participation of the Cup in the Communion among the Laity was still in use but seldom put in practice And that the Belief of the corporal Assumption of the Virgin Mary was established by the Custom of the Church This Work by Robert Pullus was published by Father Mathoud of the Congregation of St. Maur illustrated with learned and curious Notes and printed at Paris A. D. 1655. The Ecclesiastical Writers who cite this Author mention some other Works compos'd by him particularly a Commentary an the Psalms of David another on the Revelation of St. John a Treatise of the Contempt of the World Four Books concerning the Sentences of the Doctors a Volume of his Lectures and several Sermons We have none of these Works printed neither is it known whether any of them be still extant in Manuscript except certain Sermons which were in Petavius's Library PETER OF POITIERS made use of a more Scholastick Method than any of the above-mention'd Peter of Poitiers Chancellor of the Church of Paris Authors He succeeded them in the Divinity-Chair of the Schools at Paris and was promoted to the Dignity of Chancellor of the Church of that City which he enjoy'd during 38 Years He compil'd his Collection of the Sentences in the Year 1170. dedicated it to William Archbishop of Sens and died in 1200. In Doctrinal Points he follows the Master of the Sentences but uses a quite different Method as to the manner of handling the Matters For he explains and resolves all the Questions by the Principles of Philosophy and treats of them as a Logician with formal Arguments after a very dry and uncouth Manner This Work was set forth by Father Mathoud at the end of that of Robert Pullus Peter of Poitiers likewise wrote certain Allegorical Commentaries on the Books of Exodus Leviticus and Numbers a Commentary on the Book of Psalms and other Works some of which are to be found in the Libraries ROBERT DE MELUN liv'd at the same time and in the end of his Life was ordain'd Bishop Robert de Melun Bishop of Hereford Gautier Regular Canon of St. Victor of Hereford A. D. 1163. His System of Divinity in Manuscript is kept in the Library of St. Victor at Paris and often cited by Father Mathoud in his Notes on Robert Pullus GAUTIER or GAUTERIUS a Regular Canon of St. Victor in the end of this Century took upon him to confute the new Method of these Divines and compos'd a Work which he call'd A Treatise against the Four Labyrinths of France viz. Peter Abaelard Gillebert de la Porrée Peter Lombard and Peter of Poitiers whom he accuses of having asserted many Heresies and
Paschasius Cent. 9th p. 77. to whom may be added Theodolphus Bishop of Orleans Walafridus Strabo Abbot of Richenou Ahyto Bishop of Basil and Rabanus Mâ—â—rus Archbishop of Mayence who did also oppose the Doctrin of Paschasius in the same Century and particularly Râ—banus in his Penitential which was written in the Life-time of Paschasius censures his Doctrin about the Eucharist as a Novel Error as is prov'd in a Dissertation about Bertram's Book of the Body and Blood of Christ annexed to the Translation of it and printed at London in 1686. I shall only add that the Doctrin of Bertram's Book against Paschasius about the Eucharist appears plainly to have been generally receiv'd by the Church of England in the 10th Century from the Paschal Homily which Elfric Archbishop of Canterbury translated into the Saxon Tongueabout the Year 970. which is published at London in 1566. and attested to be a true Copy by the hands of fifteen Prelats and several Noblemen for this Book was commanded by a Canon to be read publickly to the People as is observed by Dr. Cave Hist. Lit. p. 589. and contains the same Aguments and for the most part the same Expressions which were us'd by Bertram against Transubstantiation as is prov'd by A. B. Usher in his Answer to the Jesuites Challenge c. 3. And that Bertram's Book was directly levell'd against Transubstantiation as it is now defin'd by the Council of Trent will plainly appear by citing a few passages out of many that are in that little Book to this purpose For first he says expresly that the Eucharist is the Body of Christ not Corporally but Spiritually and then he proves That what is Orally receiv'd in the Sacrament is not Christ's natural Body because it is incorruptible whereas that which we receive in the Eucharist is corruptible and visible And again Christ's natural Body had all the Organical parts of a humane Body and was quickened with a human Soul whereas his body in the Sacrament hath neither he proves that the Words of the Institution are figurative because the Symbols have the Name of the thing signified by them 2. He says expresly That as to the Substance of the Creatures what they were before Consecration they remain after it Bread and Wine they were before Consecration and after it we see they continue Beings of the same kind and nature He denies any natural Change and affirms it to be only spiritual and invisible such as was made of the Manna and Water in the Wilderness into the Body and Blood of Christ. These things are so plainly and frequently asserted in this Book that I must Transcribe the greatest part of it if I would produce all the Passages which are to this Purpose and therefore I cannot but wonder to find Du Pin so far mistake the Questions which are handled by Bertram as he does in the Hist. of the 9th Century where he makes the sense of the first Question to be this Whether the Body and Blood of Christ be in the Eucharist without a Veil so as to appear to our outward Eyes and the meaning of the 2d to be no more than this Whether the Body of Christ be in the same manner in the Eucharist as it was on Earth and is in Heaven and Whether it be there in as visible and palpable a manner for it cannot be supposs'd that ever any Man in his Wits should maintain that the Body of Christ in the Eucharist is visible to our Eyes with all its Lineaments and distinction of Parts and that the Flesh and Bones there are palpable to our hands or that the Body of Christ in the Eucharist is both Earthly and Corruptible as it was upon Earth and Spiritual and Incorruptible as it is now in Heaven These are such wild Imaginations as could never enter into the Mind of any Man of sound Senses and therefore Bertram cannot be suppos'd such a Fool as to confute them seriously with many Arguments and that in a Letter to the Emperor which were no less Ridiculous than if a Man should write a Book on purpose to prove that a Man does not appear visibly in the shape and figure of a Horse or a Mouse like an Elephant The main Question of Bertram's Book then is not as Du Piu puts it Whether the Body of Christ be in the Eucharist in as visible and palpable a manner as when he liv'd upon Earth which I believe was never affirm'd by any either in that Age or any other But Whether in the Sacrament we receive the same Body of Christ which was Born of the Virgin Crucified and Rose again supposing what is agreed on all hands that it is not visibly there and this he flatly denies and plainly disproves in direct opposition to Paschasius and the Doctrin of the present Roman Church He says indeed the Elements are truly Christ's Body and Blood but then he explains himself they are not so as to their sible Nature but by the Power of the Divine Word and then he adds the visible Creature feeds the Body but the Virtue and Efficacy of the Divine Word feeds and sanctifies the Souls of the Faithful From which and many other such like Expressions it plainly appears that he did not believe the Sacrament to be a meer Sign and Figure of Christ's Body and Blood but thought they were Really present not in a Carnal but Spiritual Sense 1 In regard of the Spiritual Virtue and Efficacy of them which by the Divine Blessing is communicated to the Faithful in which sense only they can be profitable to the Soul for the Flesh profits it nothing and if Du Pin contends for the Real Presence only in this sense the Church of England will readily grant it which has taught her Catechumens to say that the Body and Blood of Christ are verily and indeed taken and receiv'd by the Faithful in the Lord's-Supper But if he contends for a Corporal Presence of Christ's Natural Flesh and Blood the Doctrin of Bertram is no less expresly against it than that of the Church of England and the latter may as easily be reconcil'd to Transubstantiation as the former And this I have the longer insisted upon both because most of the Writers of that Age whom we have alledg'd against Transubstantiation follow the Principles and make use of the Arguments and Expressions in Bertram's Book and chiefly because this Book seems to have been the Model by which the first Reformers fram'd this Article of the Eucharist for so Bishâ—p Ridley who had a great hand in Compiling this Article intimates as we find in the Preface of a Book De Coena Domini Printed at Geneva in 1556. where he says That it was this Book which first put him upon Examining the Old Opinion about the Presence of Christ's very Flesh and Blood by Scripture and Fathers and Converted him from the Errors of the Church of Rome in this Point which is also affirm'd by Dr. Burnet's History of
the 2d is of the Spiritual Genealogy of Jacob and the Figures which serve for Contemplation the 3d of the Spiritual Senses of a Man elevated to Contemplation A work of the four steps of a Spiritual Ladder taken from St. Bernard A short Discourse upon the Book of Psalms Meditations upon the thirtieth Psalm upon the Psalm Judica me Deus upon the seven Penitential Psalms upon the Canticles upon the Ave Maria upon the Songs of the Virgin Zachary and Simeon together with an Epiâ—ogue of the four Spiritual Exercises A Treatise of the Lord's Prayer a Tract of the twelve Honours of St. Joseph The Treatise of the Soul Re-printed at Paris in 1505. Twenty Sermons among which is a Sermon of the Trinity Preach'd in the year 1405. at Geneva before Benedict XIII wherein he persuades him to cause the Feast of the Holy Trinity to be celebrated in every Church with a Constitution of this Pope upon this Subject and a Treatise of the form and manner of choosing a Pope which was made in the time of the Council of Constance as also his Treatise of the Reformation of the Church presented to the Fathers of this Council in the year 1415 Printed in the Collection Entituled Fasciculus rerum expetendarum and a Treatise of the Authority of the Church and Cardinals among the Works of Gerson There is also a Sacramental which goes under the Name of Peter of Ailly printed at Lovain in 1487. and the Life of St. Peter of Moron or Celestine printed at Paris in 1539. A Treatise of Ecclesiastical Power A Treatise of the Interdict A Treatise of the Permutation of Benefices of Laws and of a General Council Some Questions about the Creation An Answer to the Conclusions of Friar Matthew for the Sect of Whippers together with the Book of the Agreement of Astrology and Theology These two last are among the Works of Gerson the other have been printed at Collen with some other Treatises of Astronomy A Treatise of the Sphere printed at Paris in 1494 and at Venice in 1508 A Treatise upon the Meteors of Aristotle and the Impressions of the Air printed at Strasburg in 1504. and at Vienna in 1509. He had a great esteem of Judicial Astrology and refers to the Stars not only Civil Events but also Changes of Religion and the Birth of Heresies and he believ'd That by the Principles of this Science a Man might even foretel the Birth of Hereticks Prophets and of Jesus Christ himself The Manuscript Works of Peter of Ailly which are to be found in the Bibliotheque of the College of Navar according to Monsieur Launoy who has made a Catalogue of them are as follows A Question decided in the Schools of Navar viz. Whether it be Heretical to say That 't is lawful to give or receive Mony for obtaining a Right to Preach A Proposition made before the Pope against the Chancellor of the University of Paris which begins with these Words Lord I suffer Violence A Question upon the Reprimand which St. Paul gave St. Peter An Answer made in the Sorbon upon this Question viz. Whether it be a Perfection to be three Subsistences in one and the same Nature Another Question to which he answer'd in the Sorbon viz. Whether the erroneous Conscience of a reasonable Creature can excuse its Action An Answer made in the Hall of the Bishoprick viz. Whether he that has a Power which Jesus Christ has given him can be justly damn'd Another Question viz. Whether the Liberty of reasonable Creatures is equal before and after the Fall An Invective of Ezechiel against False Preachers A Sermon made in the Chapter of the College of Navar upon this Text Truth is gone out of the Earth A Sermon upon St. Bernard A Sermon upon these Words The Kingdom of Heaven belongeth to them A Sermon preach'd in the Synod of Amiens when he was yet but Subdeacon upon this Text Let your Priests be cloth'd with Righteousness Another Sermon preach'd in the Synod of Paris A Treatise upon Boetius's Book of Consolation Two Treatises upon the False Prophets in the latter of which he treats of Hypocrisie of Knowledge of the Discourse of good and bad Angels and of Judicial Astrology A Discourse of the Vision of the Garden of Scripture which serves as a Preface to his Commentary upon the Canticles Two Discourses spoke before the Pope and the Consistory of Cardinals against Friar John of Monteson A Treatise made in the Name of the University of Paris against the Errors of the same Friar whereof the greatest part is printed at the end of the Master of the Sentences The most considerable Work of Peter of Ailly is his Treatise of the Reformation of the Church which is nothing but an Abridgment of many other Works which he wrote upon the same Subject He shews in the Preface the necessity of Reforming the Church because of the Disorders which abound in the greatest part of its Members which will still encrease unless a speedy Remedy be applied The Body of the Work is divided into six Chapters the first is about the necessity of Reformation in the Universal Church for which end he shews That General Councils must be celebrated oftner than they have been in Times past and that Provincial Councils must be held every two Years The second concerns what must be reform'd in the Head of the Church i. e. in the Pope and the Court of Rome wherein there are many Things to be reform'd First That Abuse which has been the Origin of Schism that one Nation should detain the Pope in their Country for a considerable time to the prejudice of the rest of Christendom and to prevent this he thought it would be convenient That no more Cardinals should be made of one Nation than Another Secondly That to hinder the Cardinals from alledging they had made the Election of a Pope thro' fear or violence a Time must be fix'd after which this Exception shall be no more receiv'd and that the Council must judge to whom it belongs to take cognizance of it Thirdly That a Remedy must be applied to the three principal Grievances that the other Churches object against the Church of Rome and which consist in the great number of Exactions of Excommunications and Constitutions Fourthly That care must be taken as to Collations and Elections of Benefices to retrench many Exemptions which the Court of Rome had granted to Abbots Convents and Chapters and to abolish many Rights which the Officers of the Court of Rome had usurp'd The third Chapter is concerning the Reformation of the Church in its Principal Parts i. e. the Prelats of the first Order there he explains the Qualities which Bishops ought to have after what manner they should live he proves the Obligation they lie under to Reside in their Diocess and shews what care they ought to have to avoid all appearance of Simony and to take nothing for Orders nor for the Administration of the
or 458. in the Seventieth or Eightieth Year of his Age. But his Enemies after his Death revived the Accusations That they had formed against him in his Life-time and contrary to the Judgment of the Council of Chalcedon used all their Endeavours to obscure his Memory The Ring-leaders of this Faction designed it against the Council it self and did not attack the Memory of Theodoret with any other Design but that they might give a Blow to the Council it self But they had insensibly drawn over many Orthodox persons to their Opinion and being upheld by the Authority of Justinian the Emperor they brought about their Undertaking by causing his Writings to be condemned in the Council which they account the Fifth General Council But notwithstanding the Judgment of this Council many of the Orthodox have always defended and do still defend his Person and Writings But this is not a convenient Place to treat of this Matter of which I shall speak afterward This sufficeth to have advertised you That Theodoret met with as bad Usage almost after his Death as he had while he lived Of all the Fathers who have composed Works of different kinds Theodoret is one of those who hath been very lucky in every one of them There are some who have been excellent Writers in Matters of Controversie but bad Interpreters Others have been good Historians but naughty Divines Some have good success in Morality who have no skill in Doctrinal Points Those who have applied themselves to confute the Pagan Religion by their own Principles and Authors have ordinarily little knowledge in the Mysteries of our Religion Lastly It is very rare for those who have addicted themselves to Works of Piety to be good Criticks Theodoret had all these Qualities and it may be said That he hath equally deserved the Name of a good Interpreter Divine Historian Writer of Controversies Apologist for Religion and Author of Works of Piety But he hath principally excelled in his Composures upon the Holy Scripture He hath out-done almost all other Commentators in that kind according to the Judgment of the learned Photius His Language saith the same Author is very proper for a Commentary for he explains in proper and significant Terms whatsoever is obscure and difficult in the Text and renders the Mind more fit to read and understand it by the pleasantness and elegancy of his Discourse He doth not weary his Reader by long Digressions but on the contrary he labours to instruct him ingeniously clearly and methodically in every thing that seems hard He never departs from the Purity and Elegancy of the Attick Tongue if there be nothing that obliges him to speak of abstruse Matters to which the Ears are not accustomed For it is certain That he passes over nothing that needs Explication and it is almost impossible to find any Interpreter who unfolds all manner of Difficulties better and leaves fewer things obscure We may find many others who speak elegantly and explain clearly but we shall scarcely find any who have written well and who have forgotten nothing which hath need of Illustration without being too diffuse nor without running out into Digressions at least such as are not absolutely necessary for clearing the Matter in Hand Nevertheless this is what Theodoret has observed in all his Commentaries upon Holy Scripture in which he hath wonderously well opened the Text by his Labour and diligent Search There are two sorts of Works of Theodoret upon Holy Scripture The one is by way of Question and Answer the other is a Commentary wherein he followeth the words of the Text. The eight first Books of the Bible that is to say the Pentateuch of Moses the Books of Joshua Judges and Ruth the Books of Kings and Chronicles are explained after the first manner the other are expounded by Commentaries The first of these Works is intitl'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is translated thus Of some select doubtful Questions of Holy Scripture but may be better translated Select Questions upon the difficult places of Holy Scripture It is written by way of Questions and Answers The Question propounds the difficulty and the Answer resolves it This is the last of the Works of Theodoret. He composed it at the desire of Hypatius as he tells him in the Preface where he observes That there were two sorts of Persons who raise difficulties out of the Holy Scriptures the one do it with a wicked intent to find in the Holy Scriptures Falsities or Contradictions but others do it with a design to inform themselves and learn that which they demand Theodoret undertakes to stop the Mouth of the former by making it appear That there is neither Falsity nor Contradiction in Holy Scripture and to content the latter by satisfying all their Doubts so that the intent of this Work is not so much to explain the Literal Sence of Holy Scripture as to answer the Scruples that might rise in the Mind by reading the Text. There are some of the Questions which are very useless and which do not naturally come into the Mind As for Example he demands in the first Question Why the Author of the Pentateuch did not make a Discourse upon the Being and Nature of God before he spake of the Creation Few Men would make that Doubt Theodoret says That he condescended to the Weakness of those he had to instruct in speaking first of the Creatures which they knew that he might make known the Creator to them for he hath sufficiently discovered the Eternity Wisdom and Bounty of that Being in composing a History of the Creation and lastly because he spake to Persons who had already some Idea of him since Moses had spoken already in Aegypt in his Name and had taught them that he is what he is a Name that signifies his Eternity The following Questions are concerning the Angels He pretends That Moses hath not spoken of their Creation for fear they should be taken for Gods He teaches That they are created and finite Beings That they keep their place in the Universe That they are appointed to defend the People and Nations and likewise That every Person hath his Guardian Angel That they were created at the same time with the World tho' it may be said That their Creation was before that of Heaven and Earth After these Preliminary Questions which serve only for the explication of the Text he resolves others that serve to clear the Text. One of the Principal is upon these words The Spirit of God moved upon the Face of the Waters Some saith he believe That it is the Holy Spirit who animated the Waters and made them fruitful but I am of Opinion That it is the Air which is called in this place the Spirit of God For having said That God created the Heaven and Earth and made mention also of the Waters under the Name of the Abyss he ought necessarily to speak of the Air which is extended upon the Surface of the Waters
even to the Heaven And it is for that reason that he makes use of the Term it moved which shews the Nature of the Air. Theodoret propounds also a multitude of other Questions that are curious such as these that follow Whether there be one only Heaven or many He seems to admit of no more than two He is not contented to give Solutions of his own but sometimes he relates other Mens as upon that famous Text of Genesis where it is said That Man was made in the Image and Likeness of God He cites some Passages out of Diodorus Theodorus of Mopsuesta and Origen to prove that it ought to be understood of the Soul of Man and he quotes them also tho' but seldom upon some other Questions if yet these Citations have not been added to the Text of Theodoret which is so much the more probable because they are not to be found in the Manuscript of the King's Library That he may give the true sence of Scripture he hath recourse often to the Versions of the ancient Greek Translators and likewise to the Hebrew Text which he read in the Hexapla of Origen and in the Interpretation of Hebrew words by that Father He doth not at all search into the Allegories but applies himself to the explication of the Letter and the History and ordinarily he pitches upon the most plain and natural sence As for Example when he explains what is meant by the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil he thinks it enough to say that these Names were given them upon the account of the Effects which they produced That the one preserved Life and the other made Man to know what Sin was To make it evident why our first Parents were not ashamed of their Nakedness he saith That they were like Infants being not yet defiled with Sin In sum That Custom did take away or diminish Shame as we see in Seamen who being accustomed to be Naked are not in the least ashamed when they strip themselves and as it is the fashion in Baths without which it would make some Impression He believes not That Man was created Immortal but he says That God did not pass the Sentence of Death upon him till after he had sinned That he might beget in him a greater hatred of Sin He saith That Adam being driven out of Paradise was sent into a place not much distant from it that the sight of the place might put him in mind of his Sin He quotes Theodorus who thought that by the Cherubims which were placed at the Gate of Paradise they ought not to understand Angels nor any Spiritual Essences but Apparitions and Phantoms which had the shape of Ghastly Creatures He doubts not but that Enoch was translated alive into some place to preach the Resurrection but that no Man ought to trouble himself to know where it is The Sons of God of whom it is said That they had familiarity with the Daughters of Men are not according to the Judgment of Theodoret Angels but the Posterity of Seth who marryed themselves to the Daughters of the Generation of Cain of whom were born those great Men to whom they gave the Names of Giants The reason why the first Patriarchs lived so long a time was That Mankind might be multiplied and for that reason it was That they married so many Women In the Questions upon Exodus he maintains That it was God and not an Angel which appeared to Moses in the Flaming Bush. He enlarges himself much upon these words The Lord hardned the Heart of Pharaoh that he might prove that it was Pharaoh himself that hardened his own Heart against all the Admonitions and Chastisements of God who treated him with Goodness and Mercy in sparing him And in explaining in what sence God may be said to harden his Heart he brings this familiar Example The Sun is said to melt Wax and harden Clay altho' there is but one Vertue only in it which is to make hot by the same Goodness and Patience of God two contrary Effects are wrought the one is profitable to some and the other renders others guilty which is as much as to say That it converts some and hardens others As Jesus Christ hath declared in his Gospel when he says that he came That those that see not might see and that they which see might be made blind The design of Jesus Christ was not to make those blind who could see for he wills That all Men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth but he notes by this what happened For Man being a free Agent they who have believed secure their Salvation but on the contrary they who believe not are themselves the Authors of their own Damnation It is in this sence that Judas who could see as he was an Apostle became blind 't is in this sence also that S. Paul who was blind received his sight 't is in this sence likewise that the Jews are blinded and the Gentiles see yet the World may not be deprived of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ because some Men make an ill use of it Altho' Theodoret seldom expounds any Allegories he cannot avoid doing it sometimes In speaking of the Jewish Passover he there discovers the Relation it has to the new Law which he unfolds in a very natural way The Sacrifices and Ceremonies of the old Law afford him Subjects of Allegory in his Questions upon Leviticus He also referrs many to Morality and draws Instructions for Mens manners out of the greatest part of the Ordinances of Leviticus and the Book of Numbers He hath made many such like Reflections in his Questions upon Deuteronomy He confines himself more to the Historical and Literal sence in his Questions upon Joshua Judges and Ruth which make up the Octateuch and in those which he hath composed upon the 4 Books of Kings and 2 Books of Chronicles These last are a second part of his Work and have a special Preface in which he observes after what manner the Books of Kings and Chronicles were composed These are his own Words There were saith he many Prophets who have left us no Books and whose Names we learn out of the History of the Chronicles Every one of these Prophets wrote ordinarily what happened in their time For this reason it is that the first Book of the Kings is called by the Hebrews and Syrians The Prophecy of Samuel We need only to read it and we shall be convinced of the Truth of this They then that composed the Books of Kings wrote them a long time after from these ancient Memoirs For how could they that lived in the time of Saul or David write that which happened afterward under Hezekiah and Josiah How could they relate the War of Nebuchadnezzar the Siege of Jerusalem the Captivity of the People and the Death of Nebuchadnezzar It is then visible That every Prophet wrote what passed in