great peace and friendship the difference of the observotion not at all hindering the agreement and harmony of the Churches it being agreed amongst them by common consent says Sozomen speaking of this passage that in keeping this festival they should each follow their own custom but by no means break the peace and communion that was between them for they reckoned it says he a very foolish and unreasonable thing that they should fall out for a few rites and customs who agreed in the main Principles of Religion The Christians of those times had too deeply imbibed that precept of our Saviour love one another as I have loved you to fall out about every nice and trifling circumstance no when highliest provoked and affronted they could forbear and forgive their enemies much more their brethren and were not like the waspish Philosophers amongst the Heathens who were ready to fall foul upon one another for every petty and inconsiderable difference of opinion that was amongst them So Origen tells Celsus Both amongst your Philosophers and Physicians say he there are Sects that have perpetual feuds and quarrels with each other whereas we who have entertained the Laws of the blessed Jesus and have learnt both to speak and to do accordding to his doctrine bless them that revile us being persecuted we suffer it being defamed we entreat nor do we speak dire and dreadful things against those that differ from us in opinion and do not presently embrace those things which we have entertain'd But as much as in us lies we leave nothing unattempted that may perswade them to change for the better and to give up themselves only to the service of the great Creatour and to do all things as those that must give an account of their actions In short Christians were careful not to offend either God or men but to keep and maintain peace with both thence that excellent saying of Ephraem Syrus the famous Deacon of Edessae when he came to die In my whole life said he I never reproached my Lord and Master nor suffered any foolish talk to come out of my lips nor did I ever curse or revile any man or maintain the least difference or controversie with any Christian in all my life CHAP. IV. Of their Obedience and Subjection to Civil Government Magistracy the great hand of publick peace This highly secured by Christianity The Laws of Christ that way express and positive Made good in his own practice and the practice of his Apostles The same spirit in succeeding Ages manifested out of Justin Martyr Polycarp Tertullian and Origen Praying for Rulers and Emperours a solemn part of their publick worship Their ready payment of all Customs and Tributes and their faithfulness in doing it Christians such even under the heaviest oppressions and persecutions and that when they had power to have righted and reveng'd themselves An excellent passage in Tertullian to that purpose The temper of the Christian Souldiers in Julian's Army The famous Story of Mauricius and the Thebaean Legion under Maximinianus reported at large out of Eucherius Lugdunensis The injustice of the charge brought against them by the Heathens of being enemies to Civil Government Accused of Treason Of their refusing to swear by the Emperours genius Their denying to sacrifice for the Emperours safety and why they did so Their refusing to own the Emperours for gods and why Their not observing the solemn Festivals of the Emperours and the reasons of it Accused of Sedition and holding unlawful Combinations An account of the Collegia and Societies in the Roman Empire Christianity forbidden upon that account The Christian Assemblies no unlawful Conventions A vast difference between them and the unlawful factions forbidden by the Roman Laws Their confident challenging their enemies to make good one charge of disturbance or rebellion against them Their Laws and principles quite contrary The Heathens them selves guilty of rebellions and factions not the Christians The Testimony given them by Julian the Emperour A reflection upon the Church of Rome for corrupting the doctrine and practice of Christianity in this affair Their principles and policies in this matter Bellarmin's position that 't is lawful to depose infidel and heretical Princes and that the Primitive Christians did it not to Nero Dioclesian c. only because they wanted power censured and refuted This contrary to the avow'd principles of honest Heathens HOw much Christian Religion transcribed into the lives of its professors contributes to the happiness of men not only in their single and private capacities but as to the publick welfare of humane societies and to the common interests and conveniences of mankind we have already discovered in several instances now because Magistracy and Civil Government is the great support and instrument of external peace and happiness we shall in the last place consider how eminent the first Christians were for their Submission and Subjection to Civil Government And certainly there 's scarce any particular instance wherein Primitive Christianity did more triumph in the world than in their exemplary obedience to the Powers and Magistrates under which they lived honouring their persons revering their power paying their tribute obeying their Laws where they were not evidently contrary to the Laws of Christ and where they were submitting to the most cruel penalties they laid upon them with the greatest calmness and serenity of soul The truth is one great design of the Christian Law is to secure the interests of civil Authority our Saviour has expresly taught us that we are to give unto Caesar the things that are Caesars as well as unto God the things that are Gods And his Apostles spoke as plainly as words could speak it Let every soul be subject to the higher powers for there is no power but of God the powers that be are ordain'd of God Whosoever therefore resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation Wherefore you must needs be subject not only for wrath but also for conscience sake for for this cause pay you tribute also for they are Gods Ministers attending continually upon this very thing Render therefore to all their dues tribute to whom tribute is due custom to whom custom fear to whom fear honour to whom honour Where we may take notice both of the strictness and universality of the charge and what is mainly material to observe this charge given the Romans at that time when Nero was their Emperour who was not only an Heathen Magistrate but the first persecutor of Christians a man so prodigiously brutish and tyrannical that the world scarce ever brought forth such another monster 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Orator truly stiles him a beast in the shape of a man The same Apostle amongst other directions given to Titus for the discharge of his office bids him put the people in mind to be subject to principalities and powers and to obey Magistrates
whole Religion is to live without spot or blemish from whence they might easily gather had they any understanding that piety is on our side and that they themselves are vile and impious And Eusebius tells us that in his time the Christian Faith had by gravity sincerity modesty and holiness of life so conquered all opposition that none durst bespatter it or charge it with any of those calumnies which the ancient Enemies of our Religion used to fasten upon it What Religion says Arnobius can be truer more useful powerful just than this which as he elsewhere notes renders men meek speakers of truth modest chaste charitable kind and helpful to all as if most nearly related to us and indeed this is the genuine and natural tendency of the Christian Doctrine and which it cannot but effect where-ever 't is kindly embraced and entertained So true is that which Athenagoras told the Emperours that no Christian could be a bad man unless he were an hypocrite and Tertullian openly declares that when men depart from the discipline of the Gospel they so far cease amongst us to be accounted Christians and therefore when the Heathens objected that some that went under that name were guilty of great enormities and enquired how comes such a one to be a cheat if the Christians be so righteous how so cruel if they be merciful he answers that by this very thing they bore witness that they who were real Christians were not such that there 's a vast difference between the crime and the name the opinion and the truth that they are not presently Christians that are called so but cheat others by the pretence of a name that they shunn'd the company of such and did not meet or partake with them in the offices of Religion that they did not admit those whom meer force and cruelty had driven to deny Christianity much less such as voluntarily transgressed the Christian Discipline and that therefore the Heathens did very ill to call them Christians whom the Christians themselves did disown who yet were not wont to deny their own party CHAP. V. Of the positive parts of their Religion and first of their piety towards God The Religion of the ancient Christians considered with respect to God themselves and other men Their piety seen in two things their detestation of Idolatry and great care about the matters of divine Worship What notion they had of Idolatry their abhorrency of it Their refusing to give divine honour to Angels and created Spirits this condemned by the Laodicean Council Their denying any thing of divine honour to Martyrs and departed Saints The famous instance of the Church of Smyrna concerning S. Polycarp S. Augustine's testimonies to this purpose Their mighty abhorrence of the Heathen Idolatry The very making an Idol accounted unlawful Hatred of Idolatry one of the first principles instilled into new Converts Their affectionate bewailing any that lapsed into this sin Several severe penalties imposed by the ancient Council of Illiberis upon persons guilty of Idolatry They were willing to hazard any thing rather than sacrifice to the Gods Constantius his plot to try the integrity of his Courtiers A double instance of the Christian Souldiers in Julian's Army Their active zeal in breaking the Images of the Heathen gods and assaulting persons while doing sacrifice to them this whether justifiable Notwithstanding all this the Christians accused by the Heathens of Idolatry of worshipping the Sun whence that charge arose Of adoring a Cross Of worshipping an Asses head Christians called Asinarii The absurd and monstrous Picture of Christ mentioned by Tertullian The occasion of this ridiculous fiction whence HAving thus seen with how much clearness the ancient Christians vindicated themselves from those unjust aspersions which their spightful and malicious adversaries had cast upon them we come now to take a more direct and positive view of their Religion which according to S. Pauls division we shall consider as to their piety towards God those virtues which more immediately concern'd themselves and those which respected their behaviour and carriage towards others Their piety towards God appeared in those two main instances of it a serious and hearty detestation of Idolatry and a religious care about the concerns of Divine Worship Idolatry in those times was the prevailing sin of the world the principal crime of mankind the great guilt of the Age and the almost sole cause of mens being brought into judgment as what in a manner contains all sins under it as Tertullian begins his Book upon that subject a crime of the first rank and one of the highest sorts of wickedness as 't is called by the most ancient Council in Spain They looked upon it as a sin that undermined the very being of the Deity and ravished the honour of his Crown Before we proceed any further we shall first enquire what was the notion they generally had of Idolatry and they then accounted that a man was guilty of Idolatry when he gave divine adoration to any thing that was not God not only when he worshipped a material Idol but when he vested any creature with that religious respect and veneration that was only due to God Idolatry says Tertullian robs God denying him those honours that are due to him and conferring them upon others so that at the same time it does both defraud him and reproach him and a little after he expresly affirms that whatever is exalted above the Standard of civil Worship in imitation of the divine excellency is directly made an Idol thus S. Gregory for his solid and excellent learning call'd the Divine a title never given to any besides him but to St. John the Apostle defines Idolatry which says he is the greatest evil in the world to be the translation of that worship that is due to the Creator upon the Creature Accordingly we find them infinitely zealous to assert divine adoration as the proper and incommunicable prerogative of God alone and absolutely refusing to impart religious Worship to any though the best of Creatures surely if any one would think Angels the first rank of created beings creatures of such sublime excellencies and perfections might have challenged it at their hands but hear what Origen says to this we adore says he our Lord God and serve him alone following the example of Christ who when tempted by the Devil to fall down and worship him answered thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve which is the reason why we refuse to give honours to those spirits that preside over humane affairs because we cannot serve two Masters to wit God and Mammon as for these Daemons we know that they have no administration of the conveniencies of mans life yea though we know that they are not Daemons but Angels that have the Government of fruits and seasons and the productions of Animals committed to them we indeed speak well
of them and think them happy that they are intrusted by God to manage the conveniencies of mans life but yet do not give them that honour that is only due to God for this neither does God allow of neither do they desire it but equally love and regard us when we do not as if we did sacrifice to them And when Celsus a little before had smartly pressed him to do honour to Daemons he rejects the motion with great contempt away says he with this counsel of Celsus who in this is not in the least to be hearkned to for the great God only is to be adored and prayers to be delivered up to none but his only begotten Son the first born of every creature that as our High-Priest he may carry them to his Father and to our Father to his God and to our God 'T is true that the Worship of Angels did and that very early as appears from the Apostles caveat against it in his Epistle to the Colossians creep into some parts of the Christian Church but was always disowned and cryed out against and at last publickly and solemnly condemned by the whole Laodicean Council it is not lawful says the thirty fifth Canon of that Council for Christians to leave the Church of God and to go and invocate Angels and to make prohibited assemblies if therefore any one shall be found devoting himself to this private Idolatry let him be accursed forasmuch as he has forsaken the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God and has delivered up himself to Idolatry From which nothing can be more clear than that it was the sense of these Fathers that the worshipping of Angels was not only down-right Idolatry but a plain apostasie from the Christian Faith Nor were they more peremptory in denying divine honour to Angels than they were to Martyrs and departed Saints for though they had a mighty honour and respect for Martyrs as we shall take notice afterwards as those that had maintained the truth of their Religion and seal'd it with their blood and therefore did what they could to do praise and honour to their memories yet were they far from placing any thing of Religion or divine adoration in it whereof 't will be enough to quote one famous instance The Church of Smyrna writing to the Churches of Pontus to give them an account of the martyrdom of Polycarpus their Bishop tells them that after he was dead many of the Christians were desirous to have gotten the remains of his body possibly to have given them decent and honourable burial but were prevented in it by some Jews who importun'd the Proconsul to the contrary suggesting that the Christians leaving their crucified Master might henceforth worship Polycarpus whereupon they add that this suggestion must needs proceed from ignorance of the true state of Christians this they did say they not considering how impossible 't is that ever we should either forsake Christ who died for the salvation of mankind or that we should worship any other We adore him as the Son of God but the Martyrs as the Disciples and Followes of our Lord we deservedly love for their eminent kindness to their own Prince and Master whose Companions and Fellow-Disciples we also by all means desire to be This instance is so much the more valuable in this case not only because so plain and pertinent but because so ancient and from persons of so great authority in the Church For this is not the testimony of any one private person but of the whole Church of Smyrna according as it had been trained up under the Doctrine and Discipline of Polycarpus the immediate Disciple of S. John This was the Doctrine and practice of Christians then and it held so for some Ages after even down to the times of S. Augustine when yet in many other things the simplicity of the Christian Religion began to decline apace we set apart says he no Temples nor Priests nor divine services nor sacrifices to Martyrs because they are not God but the same who is theirs is our God indeed we honour their memories as of holy men who have stood for the truth even unto death that so the true Religion might appear and those which are false be convinc'd to be so but who ever heard a Priest standing at the Altar built for the honour and worship of God over the body of the holy Martyr to say in his Prayers I offer sacrifice to thee Peter or Paul or Cyprian for in such commemorations we offer to that God who made them both men and Martyrs and has made them partners with holy Angels in the heavenly glory and by these solemnities we both give thanks to the true God for the victories which they have gain'd and also stir up our selves by begging his assistance to contend for such crowns and rewards as they are possessed of so that whatever offices religious men perform in the places of the Martyrs they are only ornaments to their memories not sacrifices or divine services done to the departed as if they were Deities More to the same purpose we may find in that place as also in infinite other places of his Works where were it worth the while I could easily shew that he does no less frequently than expresly assert that though the honour of love respect and imitation yet no religious adoration is due either to Angels Martyrs or departed Saints But the great instance wherein the primitive Christians manifested their detestation of Idolatry was in respect of the idolatrous Worship of the Heathen world the denying and abhorring any thing of divine honour that was done to their gods They looked upon the very making of Idols though with no intention to worship them as an unlawful trade and as inconsistent with Christianity how have we renounced the Devil and his Angels says Tertullian meaning their solemn renunciation in baptism if we make Idols nor is it enough to say though I make them I do not worship them there being the same cause not to make them that there is not to worship them viz. the offence that in both is done to God yet thou dost so far worship them as thou makest them that others may worship them and therefore he roundly pronounces that no Art no Profession no service whatsoever that is employed either in making or ministring to Idols can come short of Idolatry They startled at any thing that had but the least shadow of symbolizing with them in their Idolatry therefore the Ancyran Council condemned them to a two years supension from the Sacrament who sat down with their Heathen friends upon their solemn Festivals in their Idol-Temples although they brought their own Provisions along with them and touched not one bit of what had been offered to the Idol Their first care in instructing new Converts was to leaven them with the hatred of Idolatry those that are to be initiated into our Religion says Origen
of persecution for so we find in a Law of Constantine and Licinius where giving liberty of Religion to Christians and restoring them freely to the Churches which had been taken from them and disposed of by former Emperours they further add and because say they the same Christians had not only places wherein they were wont to assemble but are also known to have had other possessions which were not the propriety of any single person but belonged to the whole body and community all these by this Law we command to be immediately restored to those Christians to every Society and Community of them what belonged to them And in a rescript to Anulinus the Proconsul about the same matter they particularly specifie whether they be Gardens or Houses or whatever else belonged to the right and propriety of those Churches that with all speed they be universally restored to them the same which Maximinus also though no good friend to Christians yet either out of fear of Constantine or from the conviction of his conscience awakened by a terrible sickness had ordained for his parts of the Empire Afterwards Constantine set himself by all ways to advance the honour and interests of the Church out of the Tributes of every City which were yearly paid into his Exchequer he assigned a portion to the Church and Clergy of that place and setled it by a Law which excepting the short Reign of Julian who revoked it was as the Historian assures us in force in his time Where any of the Martyrs or Confessors had died without kindred or been banished their native Country and left no heirs behind them he ordained that their Estates and Inheritance should be given to the Church of that place and that whoever had seized upon them or had bought them of the Exchequer should restore them and refer themselves to him for what recompence should be made them He took away the restraint which former Emperours had laid upon the bounty of pious and charitable men and gave every man liberty to leave what he would to the Church he gave salaries out of the publick Corn which though taken away by Julian was restored by his Successor Jovianus and ratified as a perpetual donation by the Law of Valentinian and Marcianus After his time the Revenues of Churches encreased every day pious and devout persons thinking they could never enough testifie their piety to God by expressing their bounty and liberality to the Church I shall conclude this discourse by observing what respect and reverence they were wont in those days to shew in the Church as the solemn place of Worship and where God did more peculiarly manifest his presence and this certainly was very great They came into the Church as into the Palace of the great King as Chrysostom calls it with fear and trembling upon which account he there presses the highest modesty and gravity upon them before their going into the Church they used to wash at least their hands as Tertullian probably intimates and Chrysostom expresly tells us carrying themselves while there with the most profound silence and devotion nay so great was the reverence which they bore to the Church that the Emperours themselves who otherwise never went without their Guard about them yet when they came to go into the Church used to lay down their Arms to leave their Guard behind them and to put off their Crowns reckoning that the less ostentation they made of power and greatness there the more firmly the imperial Majesty would be entailed upon them as we find it in the Law of Theodosius and Valentinian inserted at large into the last edition of the Theodosian Code But of this we may probably speak more when we come to treat of the manner of their publick adoration CHAP. VII Of the Lords-Day and the Fasts and Festivals of the ancient Church Time as necessary to religious actions as Place Fixed times of Publick Worship observed by all Nations The Lords Day chiefly observed by Christians Stiled Sunday and why Peculiarly consecrated to the memory of Christs Resurrection All kneeling at prayer on this day forbidden and why Their publick Assemblies constantly held upon this day Forced to assemble before day in times of persecution thence jeered by the Heathens as Latebrosa Lucifugax Natio The Lords day ever kept as a day of rejoycing all fasting upon it forbidden The great care of Constantine and the first Christian Emperours for the honour and observance of this Day Their Laws to that purpose Their constant and conscientious attendance upon publick Worship on the Lords Day Canons of ancient Councils about absenting from publick Worship Sabbatum or Saturday kept in the East as a religious day with all the publick Solemnities of Divine Worship how it came to be so Otherwise in the Western Churches observed by them as a Fast and why This not universal S. Ambrose his practice at Milain and counsel to S. Augustine in the case Their solemn Fasts either Weekly or Annual Weekly on Wednesdays and Fridays held till three in the Afternoon Annual Fast that of Lent how ancient Vpon what account called Quadragesima Observed with great strictness The Hebdomada Magna or the Holy Week kept with singular austerity and the reason of it Festivals observed by the Primitive Christians That of Easter as ancient as the times of the Apostles An account of the famous Controversie between the eastern and Western Churches about the keeping of Easter The intemperate spirit of Pope Victor Irenaeus his moderate interposal The case sinally determined by the Council of Nice The Vigils of this Feast observed with great expressions of rejoycing The bounty of Christian Emperours upon Easter-day The Feast of Pentecost how ancient Why stiled Whitsunday Dominica in Albis why so called The whole space between Easter and Whitsuntide kept Festival The Acts of the Apostles why publickly read during that time The Feast of Epiphany anciently what Christmas-day the ancient observation of it Epiphany in a strict sense what and why so called The Memoriae Martyrum what When probably first begun The great reverence they had for Martyrs Their passions stiled their Birth-day and why These anniversary Solemnities kept at the Tombs of Martyrs Over these magnificent Churches erected afterwards What religious exercises performed at those meetings The first rise of Martyrologies Oblations for Martyrs how understood in the ancient Writers of the Church These Festivals kept with great rejoycing mutual love and charity their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or common Feasts Markets held for that purpose in those places The ill use which after-times made of these memorials TIme is a circumstance no less inseparable from religious actions than Place for man consisting of a soul and body cannot always be actually engaged in the service of God that 's the priviledge of Angels and souls freed from the fetters of mortality so long as
observed the Apostolick Canon not to chuse a Novice but of an age competent to that Office that he was chosen to though it varied according to times and persons and the occasions of the Church For that of Bishops I find not any certain age positively set down Photius in his Nomo-Canon speaks of an Imperial constitution that requires a Bishop not to be under thirty five but the Apostolical Constitutions allow not a man to be made a Bishop under fifty years of age as having then passed all juvenile petulancies and disorders 'T is certain they were not generally some extraordinary instances alter not the case promoted to that Office till they were of a considerable age and thence frequently stiled majores natu in the Writings of the Church Presbyters were commonly made at thirty yea the Council of Neocaesarea decreed that no man though otherwise of never so unquestionable a conversation should be ordained Presbyter before that age the reason whereof they give because Christ himself was not baptized nor began to preach till the thirtieth year of his age The Council of Agde requires the same age but assigns another reason not before thirty years of age because then say they he comes to the age of a perfect man Deacons were made at twenty five and the like distance and proportion observed for the inferiour Officers under them I take no notice in this place of Monks Hermits c. partly because although they were under a kind of Ecclesiastical relation by reason of their more than ordinarily strict and severe profession of Religion yet were they not usually in holy Orders and partly because Monachism was of no very early standing in the Church begining probably about the times of the later persecutions and even then too Monks were quite another thing both in profession habit and way of life from what they are at this day as will abundantly appear to him that will take the pains to compare the account which S. Hierom Augustine Palladius Cassian and others give of those primitive Monks with the several Orders in the Church of Rome at this day I shall only add that out of the Monks persons were usually made choice of to be advanced into the Clergie as is evident not only from multitudes of instances in the Writers of the fourth and following Centuries but from an express Law of the Emperour Arcadius to that purpose the strictness of their lives and the purity of their manners more immediately qualifying them for those holy Offices insomuch that many times they were advanced unto the Episcopal Chair without going through the usual intermediate Orders of the Church several instances whereof Serapion Apollonius Agatho Aristo and some others Athanasius reckons up in his Epistle to Dracontius who being a Monk refused a Bishoprick to which he was chosen But because we meet in the ancient Writings of the Church with very frequent mention of persons of another Sex Deaconesses who were employed in many Offices of Religion it may not be amiss in this place to give some short account of them Their original was very early and of equal standing with the infancy of the Church such was Phebe in the Church of Cenchris mentioned by S. Paul such were those two Servant-maids spoken of by Pliny in his Letter to the Emperour whom he examined upon the Rack such was the famous Olympias in the Church of Constantinople not to mention any more particular instances They were either Widows and then not to be taken into the service of the Church under threescore years of age according to S. Paul's direction or else Virgins who having been educated in order to it and given testimony of a chast and sober conversation were set apart at forty what the proper place and ministry of these Deaconesses was in the ancient Church though Matthew Blastares seems to render a little doubtful yet certainly it principally consisted in such offices as these to attend upon the Women at times of Publick Worship especially in the administration of Baptism that when they were to be divested in order to their immersion they might overshadow them so as nothing of indecency and uncomeliness might appear sometimes they were employed in instructing the more rude and ignorant sort of women in the plain and easie principles of Christianity and in preparing them for Baptism otherwhiles in visiting and attending upon Women that were sick in conveying messages counsels consolations relief especially in times of persecution when it was dangerous for the Officers of the Church to the Martyrs and them that were in Prison and of these women no doubt it was that Libanius speaks of amongst the Christians who were so very ready to be employed in these offices of humanity But to return Persons being thus set apart for holy Offices the Christians of those days discovered no less piety in that mighty respect and reverence which they paid to them that the Ministers of Religion should be peculiarly honoured and regarded seems to have been accounted a piece of natural justice by the common sentiments of mankind the most barbarous and unpolished Nations that ever had a value for any thing of Religion have always had a proportionable regard to them to whom the care and administration of it did belong Julian the Emperour expresly pleads for it as the most reasonable thing in the world that Priests should be honoured yea in some respects above civil Magistrates as being the immediate attendants and domestick servants of God our intercessors with Heaven and the means of deriving down great blessings from God upon us But never was this clearlier demonstrated than in the practice of the primitive Christians who carried themselves towards their Bishops and Ministers with all that kindness and veneration which they were capable to express towards them S. Paul bears record to the Galatians that he was accounted so dear to them that if the plucking out their eyes would have done him any good they were ready to have done it for his sake and S. Clement testifies of the Corinthians that they walked in the Laws of God being subject to them that had the rule over them yielding also due honour to the seniors or elder persons that were amongst them That by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this place he should mean Civil Magistrates as some have told us I can hardly be perswaded both because 't is the same word that 's used by the Author to the Hebrews obey 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 them that have the rule over you and submit your selves and indeed both Eusebius and S. Hierom of old observed such a mighty affinity in the phrase between this and the Epistle to the Hebrews as certainly to conclude S. Clemens to have been if not the Author at least the Translator of that Epistle and also because the sole occasion of S. Clements writing this Epistle was a mutiny which they had
endeavours to find out many mystical significations intended by it and seems to intimate as if he had been peculiarly warned of God to observe it according to that manner an argument which that good man often produces as his warrant to knock down a controversie when other arguments were too weak to do it But although it should be granted that our Saviour did so use it in the institution of the Supper the Wines of those Eastern Countries being very strong and generous and that our Saviour as all sober and temperate persons might probably abate its strength with water of which nevertheless the History of the Gospel is wholly silent yet this being a thing in it self indifferent and accidental and no way necessary to the Sacrament could not be obligatory to the Church but might either be done or let alone The posture wherein they received it was not always the same the Apostles at the institution of it by our Saviour received it according to the custom of the Jews at meals at that time lying along on their sides upon Beds round about the Table how long this way of receiving lasted I find not in the time of Dionysius Alexandrinus the custom was to stand at the Lords Table as he intimates in a Letter to Pope Xystus other gestures being taken in as the prudence and piety of the Governours of the Church judged most decent and comely for such a solemn action the Bread and Wine were delivered into the hands of those that communicated and not as the superstition of after-ages brought in injected or thrown into their mouths Cyrill tells us that in his time they used to stretch out their right hand putting their left hand under it either to prevent any of the sacramental Bread from falling down or as some would have it hereby to shadow out a kind of figure of a Cross During the time of administration which in populous Congregations was no little time they sung Hymns and Psalms the compiler of the Apostolical Constitutions particularly mentions the 33. Psalm which being done the whole action was solemnly concluded with prayer and thanksgiving the form whereof is likewise set down by the Author of the Apostolical Constitutions that God had thought them worthy to participate of such sacred mysteries and the people being blessed by the Bishop or the Minister of the Assembly and having again saluted each other with a Kiss of Peace as a testimony of their hearty love and kindness whence Tertullian calls this Kiss signaculum Orationis the Seal of Prayer the Assembly broke up and they returned to their own houses This for the main was the order wherein the first Christians celebrated this holy Sacrament for though I do not pretend to set down every thing in that precise and punctual order wherein they were always done and how should I when they often varied according to time and place yet I doubt not but who ever examines the usages of those times will find that 't is done as near as the nature of the thing would bear The end of the first Part. Primitive Christianity OR THE RELIGION OF THE Ancient Christians In the first Ages of the Gospel PART II. The Religion of the Primitive Christians as to those Vertues that respect themselves CHAP. I. Of their Humility This second branch of Religion comprehended under the notion of Sobriety and discovered in some great instances of it The proper tendency of the Christian Religion to beget humility This divine temper eminently visible in the first Christians made good out of their writings The great humility and self-denial of Cyprian What Nazianzen reports to this purpose of his own Father Their modest declining that just commendation that was due to them Many who suffered refus'd the honourable title of Martyrs Nazianzen's vindication of them against the suggestions of Julian the Apostate The singular meekness and condescension of Nebridius amidst all his honours and relations at Court Their stooping to the vilest Offices and for the meanest persons dressing and ministring to the sick washing the Saints feet kissing the Martyrs chains The remarkable humility of Placilla the Empress and the Lady Paula An excellent discourse of Nyssen's against Pride NExt to Piety towards God succeeds that part of Religion that immediately respects our selves expressed by the Apostle under the general name of Sobriety or the keeping our selves within those bounds and measures which God has set us Vertues for which the Primitive Christians were no less renowned than for the other Amongst them I shall take notice of their Humility their contempt of the World their temperance and sobriety their courage and constancy and their exemplary patience under sufferings To begin with the first Humility is a vertue that seems more proper to the Gospel for though Philosophers now and then spake a few good words concerning it yet it found no real entertainment in their lives being generally animalia gloriae creatures pufft up with wind and emptiness and that sacrific'd only to their own praise and honour whereas the doctrines of the Gospel immediately tend to level all proud and swelling apprehensions to plant the world with mildness and modesty and to cloath men with humility and the ornament of a meek and a quiet spirit By these we are taught to dwell at home and to converse more familiarly with our selves to be acquainted with our own deficiencies and imperfections and rather to admire others than to advance our selves for the proper notion of Humility lies in a low and mean estimation of our selves and an answerable carriage towards others not thinking of our selves more highly than we ought to think nor being unwilling that other men should value us at the same rate Now that this was the excellent spirit of Primitive Christianity will appear if we consider how earnestly they protested against all ambitious and vain-glorious designs how chearfully they condescended to the meanest Offices and Imployments how studiously they declin'd all advantages of applause and credit how ready they were rather to give praise to others than to take it to themselves in honour preferring one another S. Clemens highly commends his Corinthians that all of them were of an humble temper in nothing given to vain-glory subject unto others rather than subjecting others to themselves ready to give rather than receive Accordingly he exhorts them especially after they were fallen into a little faction and disorder still to be humble-minded to lay aside all haughtiness and pride foolishness and anger and not to glory in wisdom strength or riches but let him that glories glory in the Lord and to follow the example of our Lord the Scepter of the Majesty of God who came not in the vain-boasting of arrogancy and pride although able to do whatsoever he pleased but in great meekness and humility of mind appearing in the world without any form or comeliness or any beauty that he
S. Peter delivers the same doctrine to a tittle Submit your selves to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake whether it be to the King as Supreme or unto Governers as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers and for the praise of them that do well for so is the will of God that with well-doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men Such are the commands and such was the practice of Christ and his Apostles When a tax was demanded of him though he was the Son of God he refused not to pay tribute unto Caesar even when it put him to the expence and charges of a miracle When arraigned for his life at Pilat's bar he freely owned his authority and chearfully submitted to that wicked and unrighteous sentence though able to command more than twelve Legions of Angels for his rescue and deliverance The Apostles though unjustly scourged before the Council yet made no tart reflections but went away rejoycing When Herod had cut off S. James his head and consigned Peter in prison to the same butchery and execution what arms did the Christians use rise up and put him out of the throne scatter libels raise tumults or factions in the City Oh no the Churches weapons were prayers and tears their only refuge in those evil times Nor did this excellent spirit die with the Apostles we find the same temper ruling in the succeeding Ages of Christianity The Christians says one of the Antients obey the Laws that are made and by the exactness of their lives go beyond that accuracy which the Law requires of them they love all men though all men study to afflict and persecute them Are there any as Athenagoras concludes his address to the Emperours more devoted to you than we who pray for the happiness of your Government that according to right and equity the Son may succeed his Father in the Empire that your dominions may be enlarged and that all things may prosper that you take in hand and this we do as that which turns both to yours and our own advantage that so under you leading a quiet and peaceable life we may chearfuly obey all those commands which you lay upon us S. Polycarp a little before his Martyrdom wrote to the Christians at Philippi earnestly exhorting them all to obey their Rulers and to exercise all patience and long-suffering towards them and when he stood before the Proconsul he told him that this was the great Law of Christianity that we are commanded by God to give all due honour and obedience to Princes and Potentates such as is not prejudicial to us i.e. for so doubtless he means such as is not contrary to the principles of our Religion Tertullian tells us 't was a solemn part of the Church-service in his time to pray for the happiness and prosperity of the Princes under whom they lived We pray says he for the Emperours for the Grandees and Ministers of State for the prosperity of the Age for the quietness of affairs for the continuance of their lives and Government that God would give them a long life a secure reign and undisturbed house powerful Armies faithful Senators honest Subjects a quiet people and indeed what-ever they can wish for either as men or Emperours They that think says he that we are not sollicitous about the safety of Princes let them look into the commands of God recorded in our Scriptures which we freely expose to the view of all there they 'l find that we are enjoyn'd to pray for the happiness of our very enemies and persecutors and who are so much such as they And yet we are plainly and particularly commanded to pray for Kings for Princes and all that are in authority that the state of things may be quiet and peaceable a Christian being an enemy to no man is much less so to his Prince Thus when Celsus seemed to object as if the Christians refused to help the Emperours in their wars Origen answers that they did really assist and help him and that rather with divine than humane weapons according to the command of the Apostle I exhort that first of all supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men for Kings and all that are in authority And he tells him that the more eminent any man is for piety and Religion he will be able to afford greater assistance to his Prince than a great many armed Souldiers that stand ready to fight for him and to destroy his enemies For all customs and tributes none ever paid them more freely than they For your taxes and tributes says Justin Martyr to the Emperours we are above all other men every where ready to bring them in to your Collectors and Officers being taught so to do by our great Master who bad those that asked the question whether they might pay tribute unto Caesar To give unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and unto God the things that are Gods For which reason we worship none but God and as for you in all other things we chearfully serve you acknowledging you to be Emperours and Governours of men and praying that together with your Imperial Power you may have a wise and discerning judgement and understanding If the Emperour command me to pay tribute says another of their Apologists I am ready to do it if my Lord command me to serve and obey him I confess my obligation to it Man is to be serv'd with that respect that is due to man but God only who is invisible and incomprehensible is to be religiously fear'd and honour'd if commanded to deny him I must dis-obey and die rather than be found perfidions and ingrateful to him So Tertullian tells them that although they refused to pay the taxes rated upon them for maintenance of the Heathen-temples yet for all other tributes they had cause to give the Christians thanks for so faithfully paying what was due it being their principle to abstain from defrauding of others insomuch that should they examine their accounts how much of the assessments was lost by the fraud and couzenage of them of their own party they would easily find that the Christians denial to pay that one tax was abundantly compensated and made up in their honest payment of all the rest The truth is they were admirably exact and conscientious as in all their actions so especially in those that related to the publick and concern'd their duty and obedience to their rulers and governours Nor were they thus only in Prosperous times but under the heaviest persecutions as indeed the rod was seldome off their backs The last mentioned Apologist bids their Judges go on to butcher them and tells them they did but force those Souls out of their Bodies which were praying to God for the Emperours happiness even while their Officers were doing of it And Cyprian tells the
that stood under this capacity a formal sentence was always denounced against him it being many times sufficient that the fact he had done was evident and notorious as in the case of the lapsed that had offered sacrifice for in this case the offender was look'd upon as ipso facto excommunicate and all religious commerce forborn towards him 'T is true that in some cases the Martyrs as we shall see more anon finding such lapsed persons truly penitent did receive them into private Communion so did those Martyrs Dionysius Alexandrinus speaks of in his Letter to Fabius Bishop of Antioch they took the penitents that had fallen into idolatry into their company and Communicated with them both at Prayers and Meals but to publick Communion they were never admitted till they had exactly fulfilled the discipline of the Church which principally consisted in many severe acts of repentance and mortification more or less according to the nature of the offence During this space of penance they appeared in all the formalities of sorrow and mourning in a sordid and squalid habit with a sad countenance and a head hung down with tears in their eyes standing without at the Church doors for they were not suffered to enter in falling down upon their knees to the Ministers as they went in and begging the prayers of all good Christians for themselves with all the expressions and demonstrations of a sorrowful and dejected mind reckoning the lower they lay in repentance the higher it would exalt them the more sordid they appeared the more they should be cleansed and purified the less they spared themselves the more God would spare them at these times also they made open confession of their faults this being accounted the very spring of repentance and without which they concluded it could not be real Out of confession says Tertullian is born repentance and by repentance God is pacified and therefore without this neither riches nor honour would procure any admission into the Church Thus Eusebius reports that when Philippus the Emperour would have gone in with the rest of the Christians upon Easter-eve to have partaked of the prayers of the Church the Bishop of the place would by no means suffer it unless he first made confession of his sins and passed through the order of the Penitents being guilty of very great and enormous sins which 't is said he very willingly submitted to testifying by his actions his real and religious fear of the Divine Majesty This story though as to the main of it it might be true yet as fastened upon Philip the Emperour I have formerly shewed it to be false and that it 's rather meant of one Philippus who was Governour in Egypt and professed himself a Christian but however this was 't is certain that a person as great as he Theodosius the Great for his bloody and barbarous slaughter of the Thessalonians was by S. Ambrose Bishop of Millain suspended brought to publick confession and forced to undergo a severe course of penance for eight months together when after great demonstrations of a hearty sorrow and sincere repentance not more rigidly imposed upon him than readily and willingly received by him after his usual prostrations in the Church as if unworthy either to stand or kneel crying out in the words of David My soul cleaveth unto the dust quicken thou me according to thy word after having oft torn his hair beat his forehead water'd his cheeks with tears and humbly beg'd peace and pardon he was absolved and restored to Communion with the Church of which passage they who would know more may find the story largely related by Theodoret. This severity was used towards offenders partly to make them more sensible of their sins partly to affright and deterr others but principally to give satisfaction both to God and his Church concerning the reality and sincerity of their repentance Hence it is that these Penances in the Writings of those times are so often called satisfactions for whenever those Fathers use the word 't is either with respect to men or God if to men then the meaning is that by these external acts of sorrow and mortification they satisfie the Church of their repentance and make reparation for those offences and scandals which they had given by their sins If to God then 't is taken for the acknowledgement of a mans fault and the begging of pardon and remission Thus Cyprian speaking of the state of impenitent sinners aggravates it by this that they do peccare nec satisfacere sin but make no satisfaction i.e. as in the very next words he explains it they do not peccata deflere confess and bewail their sins and before discoursing about Gods being the only object of tears and sorrow for sin which is to be addressed to God and not man he tells us 't is God that is to be appeased by satisfaction that he being greatly offended is to be intreated by a long and full repentance as being alone able to pardon those sins that are committed against him So that the satisfaction which they reckon'd they made to God consisted in seeking to avert his displeasure and to regain his forfeited favour by a deep contrition and sorrow for sin by a real acknowledgement and forsaking of their faults and by an humble giving to God the glory both of his mercy and his justice Thence confession is called by Tertullian the Counsel or Intendment of satisfaction And a little after he describes it thus Confession says he is that whereby we acknowledge our offence to God not as if he were ignorant of it but inasmuch as by confession satisfaction is forwarded by confession repentance is produced and by repentance God is appeased The same both he Cyprian and others frequently use in the same sence which I note the rather because of that absurd and impious doctrine so currant amongst the Papists and which they pretend to derive from these very Fathers that by works of penance compensation is made to God for the debt of punishment that was contracted whereby at least the temporal penalties due to sin are meritoriously expiated and done away But this besides that it is flatly repugnant to the doctrine of antiquity how much 't is derogatory to the honour of divine grace and the infinite satisfaction of the Son of God I shall not now stand to dispute To return therefore This term of penance was usually exacted with great rigour and seldom dispensed with no indulgence or admission being granted till the full time was compleated Therefore Cyprian smartly chides with some Presbyters who had taken upon them to absolve the lapsed before their time and that whereas in lesser offences men were obliged to the just time of penance and to observe the order of discipline they in a crime of so heinous a nature had hand over head admitted them to Communion before they had gone through their penance