says he honour the Lords day who despiseth the Saturday And d Homil. an liceat dimittere ux p. 56 57 Edit Raynandi Asterius Amisenus styles them the Nurses of devotion and the Parents of Church assemblies which summon the holy Priest to instruct his Congregation and command his Congregation to frequent the house of God and both to have a due care of their Souls Which observances had their confirmation not only in the Canons father'd on the e Can. 66. Can. 16 49 51. Apostles and the Provincial Council of f Laodicea but in the g Can. 55. sixth general Council at Constantinople which from all the parts of the Catholick Church commands an uniform submission to the Sanction which the Latines refusing this among other things help'd to widen the breach between them X. And to this day the h Smyth p. 29. Greek Church i Gaguin dereb Muscovit the Muscovites the k Abudac hist Jacebit c. 7. p. 10. Jacobites in Aegypt the Melchites in Syria and the l Breerwood's Enquir c. 16. c. 23. Abassynes keep this Festival not in conformity to the Jews which they expresly deny and which the same m Lacdic c. 29. Council that commands its Christian observation does expresly condemn as S. Basil does censure Apollinaris for the same Crime in his seventy sourth Epistle but in honour of the blest Jesus who is the Lord of the Sabbath And the Aethiopian Christians plead for it the Authority of the Apostles in their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Claudius the King of that Country expresly declares in his n Apud Hottinger topogr Eccles orient c. 3. p. 47. vid. ejusd primit Heidelb p. 306. Confession by which he questionless means the Apostles Constitutions which in more than one place injoyn it as a preparation to the great day of the remembrance of our Saviours Resurrection the Christian Sabbath the Abassynes call it as they do call the other the Jewish Now the Apostles successors forbad fasting on this day say some because the primitive Hereticks Menander Saturnitus Cerinthus Basilides and others believing that the world because corruptible was not made by God but by the Devil fasted on that day when the Creation was consummated Others that it was done out of complyance with the Jews who were very numerous in the Eastern part of the World and very tenacious of the Mosaical Ceremonies so Circumcision was for a while retained to bury the Synagogue with honor others to testifie Christs resting in the grave that day and perhaps it proceeded from an unwillingness suddenly to cancel and abrogate that Festival which had by God himself been set apart for religious Exercises and which not only the bless'd Jesus the Lord of the Sabbath kept while here on earth but his Apostles for a very considerable time after his ascension and so much for that usage XI The Questions ad Antiochum are undoubtedly the off-spring of some other father and in this I assent to Mr. H. p. 370. But that therefore all the opinions therein mention'd must not be Orthodox I cannot imagine for as to the nine Orders of Angels the belief thereof is as antient as the genuine Athanasius for presently after him I find them distinctly reckoned by a Apolard◠Ruff◠l. 2. p. 220. vid. ej com in Is 63. S. Hierome for the Western Churches under the title of Cherubim and Seraphim throni principatus dominationes virtutes potestates Archangeli angeli and by b Orat. 39. p. 207. Ed. Paris 1622. S. Basii of Seleucia for the Churches of the East I will says he run through the Orders of Angels and leave the Princes thereof i. e. the Arch-angels behind me I shall be carried above the most pleasing company of the thrones above the height of powers and the eminence of principalities and the force of virtues above the most pure and perspicacious Cherubim and the quick Seraphim adorned with six wings And if we may confide in the conjectures of those learned men that place the Epocha of the Pseudo-Dionysius in the beginning of the fourth Century and make him coevous with Eusebius the Church-Historian then the Opinion will justly claim more Antiquity nor was the notion unknown to the Platonists of that age c De Myster Aegypt Segm. 2. c. 3. Jamblichus who was Pophyry's Scholar and flourisht under Julian the Apostate naming the several Orders of the Heavenly Hierarchy and Scutellius his Translator in the Margin reckons them XII And in truth I am perswaded that the Opinion is as old as Origen not only because S. Hierome where he enumerates these nine Orders of Spirits treats of Origen's errors but because I find the father himself numbring them under the names d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 1. c. 6. of Angels Virtues Principalities Powers Thrones and Dominions e Hom. 3. 4. in S. Luc. Seraphim and Arch-angels and these he there stiles divers Orders nay Clemens of Alexandria in his Excerpta out of the Oriental doctrine of Theodotus gives an account of the different Offices and Dignities of Angels and f Ep ad Smyrn S. Ignatius before him discourses of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the divers ranks and Orders of Angels as not only Baronius but our most learned Pearson understand him And why this notion should be so strange when holy Writ defends it I know not in that we have an account of Angels frequently of Arch-angels 1 Thes 4.16 of Cherubim Gen. 3.24 of Seraphim Is 6.2 of Principalities Powers Virtues and Dominions Eph. 1.21 of Thrones Col. 1.16 Nor can I fancy that these are divers names of the same thing for a To. 2. adv Jovin l. 2. p. 90. sinè causa diversitas nominum est ubi non est diversitas meritorum says S. Hierome in this very case it is in vain to use different names where the things are not distinguish'd XIII That the Saints departed know all things we leave as a novel assertion to its Patrons the Romanists in the mean time believing that the Saints pray for us for the whole Church in general which no sober man denies and sometimes and on some occasions for some persons in particular of which the History of Potamiaena in b Hist Eccl. l. 6. c. 4. Eusebius is a sufficient evidence So S. Ignatius promises the Church at c Ep. ad Tralli p. 20. Trallis that he would pray for them not only while he was alive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but also when he came to Heaven And when the Fathers tell us that S. Paul's Conversion was owing to S. Stephen's Prayers may it not relate not only to the Lord lay not this sin to their charge but to his Supplications for him in Heaven thus did d Hom. 3. in Cant. Origen believe and e Ep. 57. p. 78. vid. eund de disc hab virg p. 139. de mortalit p. 177. S. Cyprian writing to
to that memorable and worthy passage in c Tom. 2. Apolog. adv Ruffin lib. 2. p. 223. Ed. Eras S. Hierome If I am ignorant of the reason why the Fathers erred I do not presently call them Hereticks for perchance they erred with very simple and honest intentions or had the ill luck to express themselves unhappily and in words that might be misconstrued or their Writings have been wronged in transcribing or they spake not so cautiously as they would had they lived after some Heresies sprung up in the Church as some of the Fathers did of our Saviour before the rise of that Southern Devil or Daemon that walks at noon-day at Alexandria IV. The reason of our Masters retiring into Galilee after his resurrection was probably on the account of his Disciples who were of that Country and were commanded thither to retire when the feast should be over that being a place more remote from Jerusalem and consequently more secure for them But that our Saviour would not appear any more publickly among the Jews might be a just judgment on them who had resisted the holy spirit and continued unconverted under so many methods of Grace God resolving to fulfill his prediction that the day should come when they should in vain say Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord. And this I believe to be Lactantius his meaning And for his silence of Christ's Priestly Office and dying for our sins it is not so palpable as the Centurists and Mr. H. make it witness that one place a Lib. 4. c. 20. vid. lib. â—jus c. 18. c. 19. Novum Testamentum veteris adimpletio est in utroque idem testator est Christus qui pro nobis morte susceptâ nos haeredes regni aeterni fecit V. Where the Father affirms that the power of the earth was given to Satan from the beginning certainly he means not from the beginning of the creation but from the fall of man when by Adam's transgression his posterity by nature be came frvants unto Satan The Angels falling in love with the daughters of men hath been spoken to before but if we may be allowed to deduce an opinion from a broken sentence his great error about the Angels seems to be that he makes them co-eternal with God for when the Objection is made What company God had before the creation b Lib. 1. c. 7. he answers that the Angels were with him habet ministros quos vocamus nuntios which is no solution unless they were with him from eternity although this he presently after contradicts out of Seneca when he says Genuisse regni sui Ministros Deum that God created the Angels to be his servants and that also unhappily express'd by genuisse for creâsse VI. The preexistence of the Soul is an opinion generally entertain'd by the old Philosophers of the School of Plato and Pythagoras who had it from the Chaldee and Aegyptian Sages Nor does it but look very plausibly when we consider that it is the clearest if not the only way of solving that dilemma If the Soul of man be ex traduce and result out of matter where is its natural immortality and how can all mankind have more than one soul and how can that Soul be divisible and if it be created in the instant of generation and then infused how stands it with Gods justice to force it into a body and there to infect it with original sin whereas if we allow Souls a time of probation above before they descend on earth they shall be immortal because God made them so and confined to a body because in their purer state they sinned and deserved this punishment but this I propose only problematically without asserting any thing VII Lactantius is and worthily ready to encourage the practice of piety and doing good works but that he speaks nothing of the righteousness of faith as Mr. H. p. 334. objects I cannot believe for in his c Epit. divin Instit cap. 8. Epitome he thus expresses himself Fides quoque magna justitiae pars est quae maximè à nobis qui nomen fidei gerimus conservanda est praecipuè in religione quia deus prior potentior est quà m homo and again d Instit divin lib. 5. cap. 13. semper multò firmior fides est quam reponit poenitentia and by these two do men make satisfaction to God and are justified And again a Lib. 4. c. 19. Nulla igitur alia spes est consequendae immortalitatis nisi crediderint in eum that no man can be saved without faith in Christ The word merit signifies in the writings of the Fathers any good work which is acceptable to God and b De grat lib. arb l. 1. c. 14. Bellarmine himself confesses it And Mereri in Classick Authors signifies no more than Consequi to incur procure or attain as Agricola is said by Tacitus on the account of his excellent Virtues iram c Vit. Agric p. 656. Ed. 1619. Caii Caesaris meritus to incur the anger of Caesar and d Contr. Liter Petil lib. 3. c. 6. S. Austin says of himself that instead of thanks from the Donatists for his kindness to them flammas meruimus odiorum He procured their hatred But this the most reverend e Answ to Jes sect of merit p. 553. Primate hath told Mr. H. long since And here I must again beg leave to admire our Authors want of consideration in assigning this Father's ninth Errour in words so wholly different from his meaning who throughout the whole twelfth Chapter of the sixth Book of his Institutions having passionately recommended the acts of Mercy and shutting up his discourse thus That Gods way of hearing prayers is If thou shalt hearken to the Petition of thy poor begging Brother I also will hear thee if thou shalt compassionate him I also will have pity on thee but if thou shuttest up thy Bowels of Mercy and neither regardest nor helpest him I will deal with and judge thee according to thy own Methods begins his thirteenth Chapter with these words Quoties igitur rogaris tentari te à Deo crede an sis dignus exaudiri which Mr. H. against all rules of Grammar thus renders As often as a man asks he is to believe that he is tempted of God whether he be worthy to be heard Which is so far from being an erroneous Assertion that it wants sense which will be perspicuous genuine and coherent if we English it as we ought thus As often as thou art petitioned i. by thy poor Brother believe that God tryeth thee whether thou be worthy to be heard by him when thou prayest it being the divine custom as he said before to hear only those that hearken to and compassionate the indigent IX For his next Assertion that God pardons his Servants who sin ignorantly I look upon it to be very Orthodox and agreeable to S. Paul who
illustrious by much additional Magnificence and Ceremony and was constantly celebrated till the days of f Ubi supr Evagrius But perhaps Mr. H. would not mention these things being loth to acknowledge that in those early days the Reliques of Martyrs were reverenced and the Anniversaries of their Death 's celebrated with Sermons and other Christian Offices to both which I 'll speak a few things that it may serve for a view of the ancient usages in that kind and vindication of S. Chrysostom whose Panegyrick I subjoin in which we find him copious on this subject XLI The Primitive Church did call the days of their Martyrdoms their birth days Natalitia hereby testifying that whereas they were born in sin but at their dissolution went into Abraham's bosom that they believed that the day of a mans departure is better than the day of his birth Eccles 7.1 and though they seem'd to be lost to all hopes in the eye of the world Ps 116.15 yet that the death of the righteous is precious in the sight of the Lord. So the Church of Smyrna in their g P. 28. Edit Usser apud Euseb lib. 4. c. 15. Gr. 14. Lat. Epistle concerning S. Polycarp's death to the rest of the Christian Churches We say they plac'd his bones in a fit Repository where we meeting together God will give us ability to solemnize the birth-day of this Martyr with exultations and rejoycings that we may both celebrate the memories of former Martyrs and prepare and incourage others for the future to the same undertakings So h Scorpiac p. 279. E. Edit Rhenan Tertullian says of S. Paul that he was born at Rome because there martyred and after him the name occurs frequently in a Comment in Job lib. 3. Origen b Epist 37. Cyprian and c Tom. 3. Homil. 70. S. Ambrose but above all in d Homil. 129. in S. Cyprian p. 117. Edit Raynaud Peter Chrysologus who gives the reason of the name Natalem ergo Sanctorum cum auditis c. The birth-day of a Martyr hath its denomination because the good man is born not a child of this world but a son of Heaven rescued from labour and temptations and introduc'd into the region of rest and quiet from a state of misery and torments to the delicacies of the superiour Palace which do not for a while please the senses and then disappear but are firm and everlasting And in this was the care of the Church in those dangerous times exerted in ordaining Notaries to record the acts of their Martyrs and this was all the Ecclesiastical History till Hegesippus which they enjoyed And I am not a little glad that I find this acknowledged by the learned and modest e De Re dempt lib. 1. cap. 13. Thes 1. p. 304. Eait Neostad 1597. Hierome Zanchy that the primitive Votaries used to meet at the Tombs of the Martyrs on the Anniversaries of their Sufferings where God wrought many miracles to testifie that those his Servants were in Heaven and to engage others to the like resolution and the Christians paid a veneration to their Reliques Which reverence f De Idol Rom. lib. 1. cap. 9. sect 1. Dr. Reynolds doth also acknowledge and allow and of which I shall more particularly treat viz. of the honour done to their dead bodies by God and men by Miracles wrought at their Sepulchres and veneration paid to their Remains although I heartily profess my detestation of the superstitious usages of the Romanists in this point and their many wheadling impositions on the deluded Laity being only willing to adjust a due respect to those Remains of the Primitive Martyrs but from my soul abhorring their adoration XLII Of Ignatius g To. 5. p. 504. S. Chrysostom is a sufficient Testimony how joyfully his bones were received in every City and how reverently entertained The h Epist ubi supr p. 28. Church of Smyrna collected the Bones of S. Polycarp of more value than precious stones and purer than Gold and laid them in a place convenient So the i â—aâ— 6. cap. 29. vide Concil Gangrens can 20. Apostolical Constitutions affirm that the Reliques of those who dwell with God are not without their due honour it was customary in the days of k Praepar Evang. lib. 13 cap. 7. Hist lib. 2. c. 25. Eusebius to meet at the Monuments where the sacred Tabernacles of the Apostles and other good men were fixt there to make their prayers to God and to honour those blest Souls Heretofore says a Tom. 1. Hom. in Ps 115. p 319. S. Basil the Priests and Nazarites were enjoined not to desile themselves by a dead body which if any did he should be unclean and must wash his cloaths but now he that toucheth the bones of a Martyr receives some holy influences from that grace that is in the body and b Ibid. p. 318. for this cause the Reliques of the Saints are honourable For c Ambr. To. 3. Scr. 92. de Nazar Celso p. 323. Edit Costert why should not the faithful pay respect to that body which even the Devils reverence which they punisht in its tortures but admire in its Sepulchre I honour therefore that body which Christ honoured when it was under the Sword and which shall reign with him in Heaven d Hom. in Theodor. Mart. Gregory Nyssen e Adv. Vigdant Epist 53. Hierom f Epist 10â— Augustine g De S. Laurent Prudentius and others are full to this purpose but I omit them being content to mention that h Vit. Aeâ—â—â— p. 65. Eunapius derides the Christians for honouring the salita capita the embalmed heads of those men who were as he spightfully and falsly objects put to death for their execrable Villanies meaning the Martyrs and it was one of the methods of cruelty in the i Theodoret. lib. 3. cap. 6. â—â—â—lostorg lib. 7. cap. 4. Nicepl 10. c. 3 Apostates time to prostitute the Reliques of the Martyrs But I will shut up my Quotations on the subject with the opinion of the Church of the fifth Century out of k C. 7. Gennadius de dogmatibus Ecclesiae We believe that the Bodies of the Saints but especially the Reliques of the holy Martyrs are to be sincerely honour'd as the Members of Christ and that the Churches called by their Names are to be approached with piety and devotion as places dedicated to the Worship of God and whoso thinks otherwise is no Christian but a follower of Eunomius and Vigilantius For why should we stick to honour what God hath honoured by Miracles So the l Quaest 28. Author of the Questions under the name of Justin Martyr The Bodies of the sacred Martyrs are preservatives against the snares of Satan and cure Distempers that have baffled Physick And thus does m Greg. Naz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Julian p. 36. Edit
504. Chrys 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To. 5. p. 515. To. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Genes p. 64. To. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Act. App. p. 856. Phot. cod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 200. Gregory Nyssens Homilies on the Canticles imply that he preacht on that Book of the inspired Solomon every day and this appears also by more than a few passages in St. Chrysostom's Homilies in as much as it was expresly commanded all Bishops g Can. 19. by the sixth General Council that every Prelate on every day of the Week 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but especially on the Lords days should instruct both his Clergy and People by which we may judge of the Acumen of those Franciscan Fryers at Basil among the Switzers who affirmed it h Mâ—â—ch Adain Vit. Pellican p. â—92 to be a Lutheran trick to preach on any other but holy-days But this Law was not so indispensibly binding but that many days in the year wanted their Sermons only this we may aver that unless in case of great necessity the Christians had their Homilies constantly on Sundays on Festivals and their Eves throughout the whole Lent and the twelve days the Octaves of Easter and Whitsuntide and the Rogation-Week on Wednesdays and Frydays in most places and at other times frequently according to the discretion of the Prelate or the fulness of the Congregation XXIII But above all they had their Lectures of Discipline every day throughout the Lenten Fast and that not only in S h Tom. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 381. ubi supr Chrysostomes time but even in the Infancy of the Aegyptian Churches this practice was introduc'd among those Convert Jews whom i Hist lib. 2. cap. 16. Eusebius out of Philo describes who through the whole seven Weeks of Lent were imployed in Fastings Watchings and among other duties in hearing the Word of God which Custom it were to be wisht that the Protestant Churches had retain'd as well as the Romanists who have their preachings every day in that holy time the same person being obliged to continue the exercise as long as his strength shall permit him Nor had the Ancients their Sermons only for one part of the day only or but one at once but it was usual very early in some places for the †Constitute Apost lib. 2. cap. 57. Presbyters with the Bishops leave to preach each one in his turn or as many as were thought fit and then the Bishop himself closed up all with a sober and grave exhortation and sometimes if a b Gaudent Brixiens tract 14. Nyssen Tom. 1. p. 872. forreign Prelate came occasionally to a Church he was desired to preach and sometimes the same Person preacht c Aug. in Psal 86. reficite vires refecti à cibis c. nunc ad reliqua Psalmi de quo in matutino locuti sumus animum intendite Chrys 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tom. 6. p. 525. tit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. T. 5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in S. Laz. p. 229. twice a day for which sometimes that most admirable and desired Preacher S. Chrysostom was forc'd to make his Apology and free himself from the imputation of introducing a novel Custom XXIV And as the Governours of the Church took on them to appoint set times for hearing the Word of God explain'd so also they took care that every man might not be left to his own choice but that fit places might be appropriated to this duty for in those days none but the Hereticks had their separate meetings the Apostles at first preacht from * Act. 2.46 â—â— 5.42 house to house for as long as they had extraordinary assistances and no ordinary charge the whole world was every Apostles Diocess but afterward when they were fixt on setled and ordinary charges the Bishop being attended with his Deacons was the only person that preacht and for some time the converted Christians had not above one Sermon in a Diocess which the Prelate preacht in his Cathedral in the Principal place of his charge and therefore to ordain throughout every City Tit. 1.5 is the same with to ordain throughout every Church Act. 14.23 thither all the scattered Christians of the Neighbourhood resorted and when the Offices were over each man went home and instructed his Family as God enabled him as in truth all the Ordinances of the Church were celebrated in the Mother-Church only and none but the Bishop officiated therein or some other by leave from him but when the number of the Brethren encreast and a third Order of Ecclesiastical persons were instituted a Colledge of Presbyters to attend the Bishop as his Council and Assistants I suppose that not long after the date of their erection the Churches of the Mother-Cities encreasing in number the Presbyters had their several Titles confer'd on them by the Bishop that every one might know his several part of that flock which he was to instruct Hence in the Pontifical it is said that Pope Euarestus was the first that at Rome divided the Churches and Cemeteries among the Presbyters it was also very antiently practised at a Epiphan haeres 69. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. apud Sozom. hist l. 1. c. 5. Alexandria And thus it continued in the Cities some years before the Country were so well provided for the first Country Presbyter that I meet with being to be found in b Epist 28. p. 34. St. Cyprian who mentions Gajus the Presbyter or Curate of Didda and c Haeres 66. vide Ep. Episc ad Dionys c. apud Euseb lib. 7. cap. 24. Socrat. lib. 1. cap. 27. Conc. Ancyran Neo-Caes Epiphanius takes notice of Trypho the Presbyter of Diodoris a Village under Archelaus Bishop of Caschara in Mesopotamia who with his Ordinary were great Opponents of the Heretick Manes when he fled out of Persia into Romania and after this the name commonly occurs in the Councils but this excellent Custom came later into some other parts of the World than into the East and South for it was after the year 630. before this Kingdom of our Nativity was divided into Parishes and * Vid. Concil Valens Can. 4. probably after the year 400 that it was so ordered in France XXV Every person or every Clergy-man was not at first thought fit to take the cure of Souls on him none but the immediate Successors of the Apostles the Prelates of the Church who in truth discharg'd this and all other parts of the Ministerial Function till his burthen increasing the Bishop permitted some Presbyters to discharge that duty but neither durst they preach without their Ordinaries leave as we find the Apostles cautiously expecting a License from the President of the Jewish Assembly Act. 13.15 and seldom in his presence but supplyed his room when he was necessarily absent at a Synod or in time of persecution or
Commodianus Quintus Junius Hilarion and the Junior Apellinaris of Laodicea and after them Tychonius Afer the Donatist and for some time d De C. D. lib 20. c 7. S. Austin himself and till the end of the fourth Century the opinion was plausible and well entertain'd but then says e Tom. 2 an 118 p. 62. Tem. â— an 37â— p. 353. Baronius Apollinaris Laodicenus taking on him to write against Dionysius of Alexandria that had opposed the assertion of the Millennium and answered the Books of Nepos it became formal Heresie and was so condemn'd in the Roman Synod under Pope Damasus and after that was never heard of The Acts of this Synod the Cardinal confesses are lost and I find it the opinion of a very f Dr. Covel's Des of Hocker Pres p. 12. learned man that it was the malice of Apollinaris his adversaries the Arians Eunomians and others against whom he had writ with much reason and vehemence that forged these Calumnies to decry those books they could not otherwise answer and I should willingly believe it did not the Authority of g Epist 74. S. Basil h Haeres 75. Epiphanius and i In Ezek. c. 36. S. Hierome oppose it but especially k Tom. 1. Oâ—at 51. p. 741. S. Gregory the Divine in his first Epistle to Cledonius assuring us that Apollinaris held the opinion in the grossest sense introducing the necessity of Circumcision and legal Sacrifices and in his l Id. Orat. 52. p. 747. second Epistle he impeaches him of Judaism Chiliasm and the dream of sensualities in Paradise and in truth the belief of the Jews was much like this who expected a Messiah to come with outward Pomp and Grandeur and to restore the Kingdom to Israel And perchance Cerinthus having been first a Jew from them drew his opinion And that the joys of this Monarchy should consist in the Restoration of the Temple at Jerusalem and the legal Sacrifices the Sabbath and Circumcision that in that Estate they should marry and get Children and enjoy such other sensualities much like a Mahometan Paradise XXXV But this was far from the mind of S. Justin and the followers of Papias unless we shall except m Instit l. 7. c. 24. Lactantius who tells of Rocks that shall sweat Hony and Rivers running with Wine and Marriages whose Issue shall be a holy Generation which I take to be spoken Allegorically and in a Poetical way as that Father was not over-wary in describing matters of Faith for we are told n Just M. Dial. cum Tryph. Judaeo p. 233. that they lookt not for material Altars or bloody Sacrifices but that their Oblations should be Eucharistical Hymns and Spiritual praises offered to God so that certainly S. Hierome does those venerable men a great deal of wrong in making their opinion the same with that of the Jews and Cerinthus against whom Irenaeus and Tertullian and Justin Martyr too writ which certainly they would never have done had they been of the same perswasion a Lib. 5. c. 26. Irenaeus expresly charging that Heretick with the denial of the Resurrection of the dead and Danaeus tells us that the Chiliasts who followed Cerinthus lookt for their eternal life in this World to be enjoyed in the City of Jerusalem and spent in carnal Voluptuousness and to last a thousand years and uses this as an argument against them Si post mille annos finitur haec vita non est aeterna that cannot be Eternal which shall last but a thousand years And therefore whereas of this Dogma in the sense of Cerinthus b Lib. 4. in cap. 19. Jerem. S. Hierome in his dispassionate mood tells us that he durst not condemn it because so many famous men and Martyrs have held it we must affirm that here that learned Antient was mistaken for it was a spiritual Kingdom abstracted from the observances of the Mosaick Oeconomy that they asserted and this in the judgment of c Ubi su pr. S. Austin makes the opinion very tolerable and it is observable that in the same place the same Father fastens the name of Chiliasm to the notion of the Mahometan Paradise Nay d Ubi supr p. 253. vide p. 306. c. S. Justin affirms confidently that all the disciples of the Orthodox and pure doctrine all thorow-pac'd Christians believed as he did but they that denyed it were only Christians in Name but in reality Atheists and Hereticks men that disowned the Resurrection such as were the Cerinthians Carpocratians Basilidians Marcionites c. against the last of which Hereticks e Contr. Marc. lib. 3. cap. 24. Tertullian uses this Topick to prove the Resurrection as Irenaeus does against the Cerinthians XXXVI But this argument hath been learnedly and ex professo fully handled by f Comment de mille annis Apocalypt Mr. Mede who gives us a good reason of the general entertainment which the belief every where found viz. to bring over and Convert the Jews by telling them that they expected no other Messiah but him whom themselves lookt for even Jesus of Nazareth who should establish such a Kingdom as the Prophets had foretold Thus stood the Judgment of the most Primitive Antiquity and in this and the last age it hath been asserted not only by Mr. Mede but by Coelius Secundus Curio Cunaeus and others in this Spiritual sense that the Church of Christ shall for a thousand years flourish in greater purity and power for faith and manners in greater lustre and external glory than hitherto it hath done in all former ages And for my part says g Theolog. Vet. lib. 3. c. 7. p. 513. Dr. Heylin I see no danger in assenting to it and if this will please the Millenaries they shall have me with them And I have been inform'd by a very Reverend and learned Person that in the late Siege of Oxon in our unhappy Civil War Dr. Rawleigh the then Dean of Wells taking up this opinion I suppose only for disputation sake was attempted by the Primate of Armagh who one day returning from him was askt by Dr. Stewart that met him what had heated his Lordship he freely told that he had been discoursing with Dr. Rawleigh who was become a Millenary to whom Dr. Stewart replyed One such old Error my Lord is worth a thousand of your new ones XXXVII Nor doth the Church of England any where expresly condemn the tenet but rather discountenances its being reckon'd among the Heresies for whereas in the Articles of Religion publish'd under King Edward the sixth this is one a Art 41. p. 52. Ed. Garthw They that go about to renew the Fable of the Hereticks called Millenarii be repugnant to holy Scripture and cast themselves headlong into Jewish dotage The Articles under Queen Elizabeth have quite left it out as if the Opinion were credible and safe All this I have said to testifie the great credit which
Cornelius and the Confessors mentions a solemn agreement made between those good men that whoever went first of them into another World should testifie his love to his friends on earth by his prayers for them at the throne of Grace so f Confess l. 9. c. 3. S. Austin believ'd that his dear friend Nebridius dealt with him and g Epist 1. To. 1. p. 2. S. Hierome promises himself the same kindnesses from Heliodorus to omit other instances and does not S. Peter promise to do so for the Jews to whom he writes 2 Pet. 1.15 That he will endeavour that after his decease they might have those things in remembrance I am sure so h In Loc. To. 2. p. 534. Oecumenius understands it and his reason is because the Saints after their departure carry their remembrances of things on earth with them and become Advocates for those that are left alive and before him i To. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 994. S. Chrysostome affirms the same Nor is the intercession of the holy Jesus hereby imposed on for if the prayers of the Saints on earth do no way prejudice the honour of our Mediator and Advocate and S. Paul begs those prayers frequently Ephes 6.19 Colos 4.3 c. why should the prayers of the Saints in Heaven be an usurpation on his priviledges That the glorified Saints pray for us the Scripture avers Jer. 15.1 Ezck. 14.14 Rev. 5.8 and ch 8.3 and that God does give many blessings to his Servants on earth for the sake of those that are in bliss is also plain from Gen. 26.4 5 24. Exod. 32.13 1 Reg. 11.33 c. And if so what should make the tenet unorthodox I cannot imagine which hath the Scripture Fathers and Catholick consent to confirm it XIV The adoration of images we execrate as idolatrous but the retention of them if not adored the whole body of the Lutheran Churches will defend nor does the Church of England disown it and I think there is no more danger in seeing a picture than in reading a History if imitation be the end of both The distinction of sins into venial and mortal will find few opponents if rightly understood not as if some enormities deserv'd the torments of Hell others only temporal punishments for the wages of every sin is death but that some crimes either in respect of the matter wherein the offence is committed or the intention of the offender who transgresses either through ignorance or weakness are not so inconsistent with a salvable condition No sin in its self being venial says a Moral Tract 3. c. 20. apud Heyl. Theolog Vet. l. 3. c. 5. Jacobus Almain out of Gerson but according to the condition and state of the subject that sins Some transgressions necessarily implying an exclusion of Grace others ex genere imperfectione actûs may be said to be venial negativè per non ablationem principii remissionis and so b Enchirid. c. 70. S. Austin is to be understood that the saying that Petition Forgive us our trespasses does propitiate Gods mercy for such sins XV. The divers Orders of Monks were frequent in S. Athanasius's time and in his Province of Aegypt above all other places There S. Anthony became the first Angel of the desart whose life Athanasius writ and there for a while lived Hilarion one of his Scholars in that country Pachomius retired to Tabennesus and Ammon to Mount Nitria and the Desart of Scetis in as much as The bais and Aegypt were covered with their multitudes and to this Classis of men does our Patriarch write his Epistle Ad solitariam vitam agentes XVI The necessity of Baptisms hath been already considered and the Sacrament of penance must be left at the Popes door though take penance to include all the offices of repentance and Sacrament in its largest signification so c Ep. 180. ad Honorat S. Austin calls Baptisme and penance Sacraments and so does d Div. dogmat Epit. cap. de paenitentia Theodoret subjoyning that the washings and sacrifices of old were only types of these Sacred Mysteries And if we may take Cardinal e Tom. 2. contr 4. l. 1. c. 9. Bellarmines word for it Luther Melancthon and the Apology of the Confession of Auspurgh make Baptisme the Eucharist and Absolution i. Penance properly and truly Sacraments and such as were instituted by Christ But there I must desert them XVII Of what sort the prayers for the dead were in the primitive Saecula and that till Athanasius's time and long after they had no relation to Purgatory since in their Liturgies they prayed for Patriarchs and Prophets for Apostles and Martyrs and the Virgin Mary her self the reverend Vsher in his f Pag. 197 198. answer to the Jesuite will give him full satisfaction nor does the Church of England do less in her Collect at Funerals where we pray for the hastening the kingdom of Christ that we together with all those that are departed in the faith and fear of Gods holy name may have our perfect consummation and bliss both in body and Soul in his Eternal and Everlasting glory Or as it is in a P. 10. the form of bidding prayer prescribed in the injunctions of King Edward 6th Anno 1547. Ye shall pray for them that be departed out of the world in the faith of Christ that we with them and they with us may rest at the day of judgment both body and soul with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdome of heaven And did I think says an b Lord Câ—arendon's Answ to Cressy p. 167. honourable person that my prayers or any thing else I could do could purchase the least ease to the Souls of my friends or enemies I would pour them out with all my heart nor should I fear reprehension from the Church of England who says nothing in it unless comprehended in the Article of Purgatory and there only calls it a fond thing XVIII Why Anti-Christ should not be a particular person but a Society or Kingdom opposite to the Kingdom of Christ I profess my ignorance Vide Montag Appel cap. 5. or that the Pope rather than the Grand Signior should be the man since Constantinople is built on seven hills and the Church of Saint Sophia is made a Mosque I know what the Fathers say of Anti-Christ what the Romanists and what the Protestant Churches affirm Powel in his e Christ Lectori Epistle before his book de Antichristo tells the world that he is as sure that the Pope is the great Anti-Christ and the Roman Church his Synagogue as that God is in heaven or Christ our Saviour And the French Synod at Gap decreed it for an Article of Faith An. 1603. On the other hand d De Apost Eccles de homine peccati p. 24. Kit Angelo pretends a vision that the Grand Signior is he and the late Bishop of Ossory Doctor Griffith Williams in
and render it to the eyes of all men exquisitely accomplish'd but this was one of the meanest of his admirable Atchievements for if he exposed himself to actual dangers for the sake of the truth what wonder was it that he should vindicate it in his writings But I will add one thing to my former Relation which I above all things revere in him and which I cannot without injuring you pass by at this time especially which is a time of Schisms and Contentions for this action of his ought to be an instruction to us that now are alive if we seriously weigh it for as when one thrusts his hand into the water he not only separates between the water that is left but between what he grasps in his hands and runs between his fingers So we divide not only from all impiety but from the eminently godly not in small and impertinent and contemptible opinions for this were more tolerable but in words that tend to one and the same sense for whereas we piously assert one essence and three hypostases the one describing the nature of the Godhead the other the properties of the Trinity as also do the Italians only by reason of the barrenness of their language not able to distinguish the hypostasis from the essence lest they might seem to admit three substances they substitute in the name of three hypostases three persons what happened something very ridiculous or rather lamentable This little difference in words made a noise as if there had been difference in opinion hence the Heresie of Sabellius took its rise because of the distinction of the three persons and Arianisme because of the three hypostases both being the rude off-spring of a pertinacious love of contention And what succeeded this small distinction being establish'd and grating on some mens minds and what made it distasteful was a love of quarelling the ends of the earth were in danger to be ruin'd by a few syllables which when this bless'd Saint this true man of God and great guide of souls both saw and heard he could not endure to slight and neglect so absurd and unreasonable a distinction but applyed a remedy to the distemper and how did he make his application having convened both parties with all meekness and humility and accurately weighed the intention of the words after he found them agreeing in the things themselves and not in the least differing in matters of doctrine allowing them the variety of names he tyed them to unity of sentiments this was a more advantagious act of charity to the Church than all his other daily labours and discourses which all men celebrate in which there may be intermixt some love of applause and for that reason some innovation made in the Faith This was more honorable than all his watchings and humicubations the benefits of which are confined to the particular practisers of those virtues nay it is nothing inferior to his applauded flights and exiles for after his sufferings he pursued those things for which he chose to undertake such calamities and this also was his design on others praising some moderately correcting others useing the spur to some dull tempers and the reins to other hot spirits infinitely careful that the offenders might repent and those that were innocent might be kept from falling in his conversation master of the greatest simplicity in his government of the greatest variety of skill wise in his discourses but much wiser in his intellect to the mean capacities he stoop'd himself to the more acute his notions and words were more sublime * * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A lover of strangers and advocate for the oppressed and a defender from danger he was in truth all those things which the Heathens parcel out among their Gods I will call him * * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. the Patron of Marriage and the Friend of Virgins the Peace-maker and Reconciler and the guide to those who are going out of this life How many brave characters and qualities does the virtue of this Man afford me should I describe all when he had so lived was so instructed and so carefully had disciplined others that his life and demeanor was an exact pattern how a Bishop should have his conversation and his opinions the rule of Orthodoxy what reward did he reap of this piety for neither is this negligently to be past by he dies in a good old age and is gathered to his Fathers the Patriarchs and Prophets and Martyrs that combated for the truth and that I may give him a short Epitaph his Exit out of the World was more honorable and decorous than his return into his City from Banishment his Death was attended with an Universal Mourning and the thoughts that all men entertain'd themselves with of his worth out-went all that may be seen But thou O beloved and happy Man who among thy many other virtues didst exquisitely understand the seasons and measures of Speech and Silence do thou here put a period to my Oration which though it fall short of the truth and thy worth is yet proportionable to my weak abilities and look down propitiously on us from above and guide this people that are perfect adorers of the perfect Trinity which is contemplated and worship'd in the Father Son and holy Spirit protect me and help feed my Flock if peaceable and serene days attend me but if War and confusion reduce and assume me to a station with thy self and those that are like thee though it be no ordinary thing that I beg for the sake of Christ our Lord to whom be all glory honor and dominion for ever Amen THE LIFE OF S. Hilary OF POICTIERS I. IT is Mr. H.'s usual unhappiness in this his View to contradict himself while with more diligence than judgment he hath collected whatever scattered Memoires had relation to his subject without that severe examination that became an Historian whether all the particulars were reconcileable to the laws of time and truth Of this we have a pregnant instance in § 1. p. 396. where out of a Chronic. part 2 c. 3. p. 54. Antoninus we are entertain'd with a pleasant story of an Imaginary Council at Rome under a Pope Leo that never was which he that list may read at large in that Historian Who having recited the particulars out of Vincentius his Speculum and Jacobus de Voragine acknowledges them to be dubious and are indeed no way reconcileable to truth unless we create an Antipope at that time called Leo or assert that Pope Liberius had two names whereof one was Leo both which are equally improbable for there is not a word to this purpose in the antient Church-Historians who are so copious in their accounts of the Arian Synods no not in Philostorgius their own Historian who not caring to falsifie the Records of the Catholick Church would certainly never have stifled so remarkable a transaction had there been but the least
and prayed for many nights together omitting no form of Devotion that might be suitable to that occasion but that the most pertinent Collect was this Grant O my God that if the Opinion of Arius must be accounted Orthodox my Soul may be taken out of the World before the day of disputation but if what I believe be the true Faith let him suffer the punishments which his Impiety merits Which acts of Mortification and Devotion were no question doubled the Eve before that fatal day when God appeared to the vindication of the eternal verity and that great disturber of Christendom by an exemplary stroak of the divine Vengeance near the publick Market which was call'd by the name of the August Emperour Constantine yielded up the Ghost the very place becoming infamous on his death no man approaching it for the ease of nature but all that past by pointed at it as the Stage whereon that Villain acted his last till a long time after a wealthy and potent Disciple of that Sect bought the place of the Republick and built a house there that the memorable accident might be buryed in the ruines of the Stage whereon it was acted but Blasphemy and an ungodly life give the Wretch a miserable immortality VI. On the introducing of a Epiph. haer 69. Socrat. l. 2. c. 6.7.8 Sozom. l. 3. c. 5 6. Phot. cod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 773. cod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 784. Gregory into the Throne of S. Athanasius when Eusebius Emesenus had refused the honour being offered him by the Synod of Antioch the people of Alexandria were so incens'd that they burnt the Temple of Dionysius down to the ground him his Patrons the Arians finding slow and negligent in propagating their Heresie and hated by the people six years after his instalment deposed in the Synod of Sardica and ordain'd George the Cappadocian in his room who and not the first Gregory as Theodoret asserts was afterwards cruelly slain at Alexandria Naz. crat 21. p. 389. Epipâ— haer 76. Socr. l. 3. c. 2. â—â—â—om l. 5. c. 7. script vit Athanas apud Phot. cod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 788. Philostorg l. 7. tom 2. p. 86. Julian Imp. Ep. 10. Am. Marcellind 22. Baron Tom. 4. an 362. p. 70 71. the particulars of which famous Attempt besides the account which we have from the Ancients may be read at large in Baronius and briefly in Billius his notes on the 21st Oration of S. Greg. Naz. VII The Argument of Scultetus mustered p. 361. to the discarding that Tract of Athanasius which contains Testimonies out of the sacred Scriptures of the Communion of the Divine Essence between the three persons in the Trinity because many passages here and in the Questions ad Antiochum are the same and therefore these stoln thence seems to me to evince the contrary that that counterfeit Author took those passages out of this genuine Treatise of Athanasius that so he might be the more readily entertain'd as the true Patriarch and though Mr. Perkins denys that the Epistle to Marcellinus concerning the Interpretation of the Psalms and the Sermon of Virginity be his yet S. Hierom's Authority weighs more with me who entitles Athanasius to two Books one de Psalmorum titulis another de Virginitate Nor is it but the most unconcluding of Arguments that the Homily de semente must be spurious because found only in an English Book Manuscripts are common enough now in this Kingdom and one Copy makes not a Book spurious for then the Oration of Athenagoras de resurrectione must not be his because a Ep. ante Athen. Nannius tells us that his Copy was the only one in Europe and the Lexicon of Hesychius must be rejected because there was never another Copy of it found but what b Manut. Epist ante Lex Hesych Bardellonus sent to Aldus Manutius but there lyes a more material and weighty Argument against the Homily de semente than what Mr. Perkins uses and that is because the Author of it whom I suppose some Eastern Prelate of the same Age mentions the Celebration of the holy duties on Saturday as well as on the Sunday Now the c Socrat. l. 5. c. 21. Sozom. l. 7. c. 19. Church-Historians inform us that Saturday was anciently a Fasting-day at Alexandria as well as at Rome this practice therefore does not suit with the usages of that Church where Athanasius was Patriarch VIII Nor is it any wonder that two so distant Churches as Rome and Alexandria should agree in those Rituals wherein they differ'd from almost all other Churches when we consider that the first planter of holy Religion in Aegypt S. Mark was S. Peter's Disciple and Amanuensis and so would be easily inclined to write after his Masters Copy The success of the Fast which was observ'd at Rome before S. Peter's Encounter with Simon Magus so fully answering expectation in the ruine of that Impostor gave an occasion to that Church to make it a perpetual sanction and of constant use which at first look'd no farther than the present exigence of the Servants of God or rather it had its Original from a cause of more general consideration that whereas the holy Jesus was crucified on Fryday and the next day the Apostles were overwhelm'd with grief for their Masters loss and fear of the Jews therefore out of a becoming sympathy and to keep the transactions of those gloomy days fresh in memory was this Fast appointed IX But the observance prevailed but in a few Churches for even in Italy it self S. Ambrose conform'd to the Oriental usages and he that fasted every day else d Paulin. in vit S. Ambr. dined constantly on the Sabbath and Lords-day and the Festivals e Illiberit Conc. can 26. nor would the old Custom be superseded in Spain by a less Authority than that of a Council And though at Alexandria they followed S. Mark 's steps yet in all f Socrat. Eccles hist l. 5. c. 21. other parts of Aegypt in the Country near that Metropolis and through all Thebais they made the Saturday a Festival and on it had their Sermons and celebrated the Eucharist And whereas in the days of a Ep. 86. ad Casul S. Austin there was no steady Rule by which those Churches acted for in one and the same Church says that Father some fasted and others dined on the last day of the Week yet it was otherwise there anciently for b Adv. Psychic c. 15. Tertullian avers that herein the Montanists those great admirers and practisers of abstinence conform'd to the Catholick Rites not to fast on any Saturday in the year but on Easter-Eve the great Sabbath day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Epistle of the Church of Smyrna more than once calls it and the Custom so prevailed over all the East c Tom. 2. p. 744. that S. Gregory Nyssen calls the two days Twin-Sisters nor can any man