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

well one only Nature he directs his Discourse to the Sabellians but narrow and straitned and which hath not the Propriety of being the Principle of great things as not being capable thereof or not having a will for it It must needs be either by Envy or by Fear that you do not establish any thing which should equal it or that should oppose it But in as much as God is more excellent than Creatures so much is he most worthy of the first cause of being the Principle of a Divinity than of Creatures and of not descending to these latter but by a Divinity which is betwixt two As if the Divinity existed according to the Arians because of Creatures as it seemeth to those who are so very subtle If in confessing the Dignity of the Son and Holy Ghost we made them without a Principle or if we related them to a Principle of another Nature then we should dishonor Divinity or introduce Gods opposed one to another A little lower Gregory saith That the Unity moved it self by reason of its Bounty and that the number of two hath been surpassed because Divinity is beyond Matter and Form which are the two Principles whereof Bodies are composed that Trinity is limited by reason of its Perfection and surpasseth the Conjunction of two so that Divinity is neither too strait nor doth extend it self to Infinity The first addeth he hath something in it very derogatory and the second would cause Confusion The first is altogether Jewish and the second Heathenish The word to move it self in this occasion is a Platonick term which these Philosophers use when they speak of the Productions of Divinity and Gregory meaneth that Divine Nature hath been multiplied to three Hypostases or three Individuals which is opposed to Judaism which holds but one Supreme Nature and to Paganism which establisheth too great a number of Gods The Platonicks disputed amongst one another upon this the one maintain'd that Supreme Divinity hath not been multiplied but to their Gods and that all which is above that is not of a like nature and the others understood it in a greater number of Divinities Plato and Porphyrius were of the first Sentiment and Plotinus of the second Iulian having ascended the Throne in the Year CCLXI sought all manner of ways to ruin the Christians and perceiving they made great use of Pagan Authors whether to form themselves to Eloquence or to draw from thence Reasons fit for maintaining the Christian Religion and to attack Paganism he undertook to hinder the Christians from applying themselves to the Study of Literature Some Ancients say that he prohibited them not only to keep Schools themselves but also to frequent the Schools of Grammarians and Orators amongst the Pagans others seem only to say that Christians were prohibited to keep Schools Iulian himself saith formally in one of his Letters That the Children of Christians should not be hindred to go to the Schools of Pagans because those who offend not but for want of Wit ought to be taught and not punished Gregory of Nazianzen speaks of this Prohibition of Iulian in his third Speech but according to the Judicious Observation of a Modern speaking more like an Orator than an Historian it is hard to penetrate into his thoughts 'T is a bad effect of the continual Rhetorick of the Ancients They are so Eloquent that they are not understood 'T is likely that Iulian prohibited not the Children of Christians to go to the Schools of Pagan Doctors either because he saith it or because it was a good means to seduce them Hence some Learned Men amongst Christians as the two Apollinaries and Gregory put Scripture and Religion in Greek Verses or in fine Prose These Writings would supply the Reading of those of Ancient Pagans and Youth had no need of Grammarians for to understand them Parents could easily serve their Children in room of a Tutor to expound unto them these Christian Verses after having read Scripture Yet this Prohibition extreamly vexed the Christians which would not suffer their Grammarians their Rhetoricians and their Philosophers in the Churches of the Galileans these are the terms of Iulian to expound their Matthew and Luke If he never had done any other thing they would not have introduced so many new words nor so much subtiliz'd upon the Tenets then in Dispute and the Platonick Philosophy had not had so much share in their Decisions It was about this time that Cesar Brother to Gregory who returned as we have said to Constantinople was because of his Knowledge received first Physician to Iulian and placed amongst the number of the Friends of this Emperor who loved learned Men. Gregory writ him thereupon a Letter extreamly sharp wherein he told him that he had covered his Family with Confusion through his Conduct that every one thought it strange that the Son of a Bishop should follow the Court and should seek for Honors and get Riches amongst Pagans that he made his Fathers Life bitter who could not reprehend others of what his Son did commit that they were forced to hide this Conduct from his Mother fearing it should make her dye for very Grief that he had Means enough to live Honestly without exposing himself to so great a Danger that in fine if he continued in this manner of Life he must be ranked amongst such Christians as are least worthy of bearing this name If this Letter obliged not Cesar to return to his Parents there is a likelihood it strengthened him against the Endeavors of Iulian of making him abandon Christianism whereof his Brother speaks in one of his Speeches He saith That Cesar having answered to all his Reasons protested to him he was a Christian and would be so all his Life and that Iulian cried out before several Persons of the Court when he thought on the Bishop of Nazianze and his two Sons O Happy Father O Happy Children Cesar either wearied by the Solicitations of Iulian or touched with the Advertisements of his Brother returned to Nazianze in the time that Iulian departed to go against the Persians It appears to be about the same time that Iulian sent a Captain with Archers to Nazianze to seize on the Church of the Christians but far from being able to do what he desired for if he had not escaped immediately by advice of the Bishop or of some other Person he would have returned with his Legs broken so great was the Anger and Zeal of the Priest of Gregory the Father for this Temple These are the own words of his Son which shews that these good Folks did not always Preach Passive Obedience In the Year CCCLXIII Iulian was kill'd in his retreat from before the Army of the Persians the effect if we believe herein the Charitable Gregory of the Prayers of the same Bishop and the same People who were for breaking the Legs of the Captain of the Archers of whom

of certain things which have no relation of themselves with Vertue 4. Gregory who had beg'd of God the Punishment of Iulian as soon as he saw him Dead look'd on the Pagans with Pity and exhorted the Christians to treat them with Mildness though he was overjoy'd that the Christian Churches should be no more polluted that the Altars would be no more Profaned that things consecrated to God should be no more carried away from his Temples that Ecclesiasticks should no more be abused that the Relicks of Martyrs would be no more burned c. After that he Insults over the False Divinities and admonisheth Christians not to abuse their Prosperity and to take heed they did not do what they reproached the Pagans with In beginning this Exhortation he speaks of himself in these terms to draw unto him the Readers attention Hearken to the Discourse of a Man who hath not acquired an indifferent Knowledge of these things either by the Experience of what happeneth every day or the reading of ancient Books or ancient Histories 5. The greatest Satisfaction notwithstanding which the Christians had after the Death of Iulian according to Gregory was that those who had persecuted the Christians were laugh'd at on the Theater in publick places and in the Assemblies That which is most surprising adds he is that those who persecuted us with the rest threw down with great Shouts the Statues of the Gods by which they had been so long misled Those which adored them yesterday draggeth them to day along with Indignity But those who remained in Paganism were without doubt extreamly affronted at the manner wherewith the Statues of their Gods were treated and could not look on Christians as moderate Men. For in fine these Statues were as dear to them as what the Christians regard as most Sacred Moreover those that changed their Religion as their Emperor did and became so suddenly Enemies to God which they had adored all their Life ought to have been very much suspected 6. Finally Gregory having laughed at the Speeches and Writings of Iulian which are not so contemptible tells him That he Boasts in vain of never having contracted any Crudity for having eaten too much since the Hurt he had done to the Christians was infinitely greater than the good that would accrue to the State from Sobriety When a Man saith he is troubled with an Indigestion and that he feels the Inconvenience thereof what harm doth it to the Common-wealth But in raising so violent a Persecution and causing so great Troubles it is impossible but the whole Empire should suffer In effect to want Royal Vertues is a Defect greater in a Prince than to be destitute of those that a private Man is obliged to have To pursue the Thread of our Discourse Gregory having been against his Will ordained Priest as we have already observ'd took the Resolution of retiring into the So●●udes of Pontus without the Permission o●●is Father His Brother Cesairio being then come from Court to live with his Parents gave him an occasion Notwithstanding his Father being very Old and not being able alone to bear the Burthen of the Episcopacy engaged him to come back to help him Basil himself used his Endeavours to make him give this Satisfaction to his Father He was consecrated Bishop to be his Coadjutor and perform'd the Functions of Episcopacy which his Father was not able to do In that time it was that he made the Speech which is the Fifth in order wherein he directs his Discourse to his Father and to Basil and tells them he took at their Solicitation The long Gown and the Miter It is hard to know if he spoke this in Complement or only was satisfied with the writing it but he rehearsed before the People the Forty first of his Speeches which is upon the same Subject A little time after he made the long Apology for his Flight which is at the Head of his Works He proposeth more at large the Difficulties which are found in the Exercise of Episcopacy and saith That notwithstanding he was resolved to come to satisfie both the Church of Nazianze and his Parents who equally wished for his Return Amongst the Reasons which had given him a Distaste of the Episcopacy and Priesthood he puts the Shameful manner whereby many strove to attain them how unworthy soever they were of his Employment and the Multitude of Competitors They look saith he upon this Dignity not as a Post where they ought to be a Model of Vertue but as a means to maintain themselves not as a Ministry whereof they must give an account but as a Magistracy which is subject to no Examination They are almost in a greater number than those which they govern c. And I believe saith he the Evil will so increase with time we shall have no body to govern but that all will be Doctors and that even Saul will be seen amongst the Prophets He saith that into the Sees were introduced Ignorant People and Children that the Ecclesiasticks were not better than the Scribes and Pharisees that they had no Charity but Eagerness and Passion only that their Piety consisted in condemning the Impiety of others whose Conduct they observed not to bring them back to the Truth but to Defame them that they blamed or praised Persons not for their good or bad Life but according to the Parties they had embraced that they admired amongst themselves what they reprehended in another Party with Eagerness that amongst them were seen Disputes like to the Nocturnal Combats wherein neither Friends nor Foes are discerned that they were Litigious upon Trifles under the fine Pretence of Defending Faith that finally they were a Horror to the Pagans and the Contempt of Honest Men amongst the Christians This is a true Picture of the Manners of the Ecclesiasticks of his Age as it is but too apparent by the History of those times By ill Fortune those of our time do so much resemble them that if it had not been said whence these Complaints were drawn it would seem to be a Picture of our Modern Divines Another Difficulty which was found in the Exercise of Episcopacy is that of speaking well of the Mysteries of Christianity and principally of the Blessed Trinity where according to Gregory we must hold a Medium between the Jews who acknowledge but one God and Pagans who adore several a Medium the Sabellians could not hold in making the same God considered in divers respects Father Son and Holy Ghost nor Arius in maintaining that they have divers Natures As for himself he believed as we have already observed and he himself saith again here in many other places he held this desired Medium in establishing three Principles equal in Perfection although the Father is the Origine of the Son and the Holy Ghost It was not a very long time that Gregory was Coadjutor to his Father before his Brother

further see in the Expressions of our Bishop a remarkable Effect of the Dispute It is when we fear that our Adversaries should draw some Advantage from certain ways of speaking we avoid with care the use thereof lest we should give them some Prize although these Expressions are otherwise most proper to express the Doctrin we maintain It is visible that to make himself be understood Gregory ought to have answered to the Arians Yet it 's true we adore three Gods seeing we acknowledge three Eternal Spirits whose Essences are distinct but these Gods are perfectly equal and as perfectly united as distinct Beings can be having the same Thoughts and the same Will which makes us say commonly That we acknowledge but one God But if he had spoken thus the Arians who boasted to study and follow Scripture would have replied That all the Scripture represents the Unity of the Supream God as a Numerical Unity and not as an Unity of Species and Consent They would have said as they did before but with much more appearance of Truth That the Homoousians introduced a new Paganism in establishing three Collateral Gods Thus they were obliged that they might keep themselves from these Reproaches to maintain strongly that there is but one God according to the Sentiment of Nice The Platonicks who had a like Thought but were not restrained in their Expressions fortified themselves thereupon and said That the Principle of all things were three Gods I cannot but relate on this Subject these remarkable words of St. Augustine which admirably confirms what I have said Liberis verbis loquuntur Philosophi nec in rebus ad intelligendum difficilimis offensionem Religiosarum aurium pertimescunt Nobis autem ad certam regulam loqui fas est ne verborum licentia Etiam in rebus quae in his Significantur impiam gignat opinionem Nos autem non dicimus duo vel tria principia cum de Deo loquimur sicuti nec duos Deos vel tres nobis licitum est dicere quamvis de unoquoque loquentes vel de Filio vel de Spiritu Sancto etiam singulum quemque Deum esse fateamur Philosophers freely use what words soever they will and fear not to offend Pious Ears in Subjects most hard to be understood For our part it is not lawful for us to speak but according to a certain Rule lest words imployed with too much Liberty should beget an Impious Opinion to understand them according to what they signifie When we speak of God we do not say two nor three Principles as it is not permitted us no more than that there are two or three Gods though in speaking of each one or of the Son or of the Holy Ghost we grant that each of them is God This Custom hath made Men insensibly swerve from the Ancient Idea's because the word Unity was taken in the ordinary Sense that it used to be taken in without supposing that the Ancients understood it in a particular Sense This is what happened in divers other Doctrins as it hath been observed in the History of Iansenism It 's now time to return to the History of our Bishop after having brought so many proofs of his Sentiments upon those Tenets that then divided Christians The Council whereof we have already spoken assembled at Constantinople in May CCCLXXXI There were at it an Hundred and fifty Orthodox Bishops and Thirty six Macedonians who it was hoped would be brought to the Orthodox Faith Besides some Canons that were made there concerning Discipline whereof we shall not speak the Affair of Gregory and Maximus was treated on they also made a Symbol The Ordination of Maximus and all those that he could ever have were judged void after which Gregory was declared Bishop of Constantinople though he endeavoured to discharge himself from it They obtained of him that he would stay there because he was perswaded that he could the more easily in this ●ost reconcile the different Parties which then rent Christianity It was brought against the Promotion of Gregory that being Bishop of Sasime and Nazianze he could not be transferred to Constantinople without violating the Canon of the Council of Nice which is express thereupon But Melece Bishop of Antioch replied to that that the design of this Canon was to bridle Pride and Ambition which had no share in this business Moreover it seemeth that this Canon was not observed in the East since Gregory saith That they opposed to him Laws that were repealed long before besides that he had perform'd no part of the Episcopal Function at Sasime and as for Nazianzen he was but Coadjutor to his Father This Affair being cleared they entred on the principal Subject for which they were assembled which was the Sentiment of Macedonius who had been Bishop of Constantinople and believed that the Holy Ghost was but a Creature though all the Disciples of this Bishop were not of the same mind upon the nature of this Divine Person as appears by a passage of Gregory which hath been related Immediately in the Council was confirmed the Nicene Creed and they thought it convenient to augment it particularly with what respected the Holy Ghost This addition is in these terms We believe in the Holy Ghost the Lord of Life and he that giveth it who proceeds from the Father who with the Father and the Son is glorified and who spoke by the Prophets The Council also anathematized the Sentiments of Sabellius Marcellus Ph●tinus Eunomius Apollinarius and Macedonius but we shall not stand to relate these Errors because they have no Connexion with the Life of Gregory the same reason makes us omit what concerneth Discipline All passed with Tranquility enough in regard to Gregory until a Tempest arose that made him lose the Episcopal See of Constantinople when he least expected it It was the Spirit of Revenge in a Party which he opposed that caused this Difference from which Gregory who was not so Couragious as to maintain the Brunt against his Adversaries could not free himself but by flying There was some time after a sad Schism in the Church of Antioch where two Orthodox Bishops were at the same time Melece being dead at Constantinople before the Council was separated they spoke of giving him a Successor Gregory thereupon proposed an Expedient to end this Schism which was that Paulinus who was the other Orthodox Bishop and who had been ordained by Lucifer de Cagliari alone governed the Church of Antioch during the rest of his Life and that after those of the Party of Melece being reunited with those of Paulinus's would choose a Bishop by common Votes For fear it should be thought that he had some Interest to favour Paulinus and that he would form a Party he offered the Council to quit the Episcopal Throne of Constantinople in which he had been established But the Ambitious and Incendiaries as Gregory calls them who had begun to give

the nature of our Souls every one must be forc'd to confess that disorder cou'd never be reduced to such an Order by a blind motion of Atoms or any thing else but an Intelligible Directer We are content you call it by what name you please as God Nature the Eternal Mind the Soul of the World c. Provided the Idea which you represent in such terms be not unworthy the Idea that ought to had be of the Great Authors Nature as that he is Eternal Wise Iust and Good the Author of all Created Beings who as he has made all things for his own Glory so he has given to all his Creatures particular Laws of Nature especially Man the greatness of whose Soul finds no proper Object but its Origin and is therefore both capable of the highest ends here as also after-retributions We cannot but conclude thus by meer natural Instinct if we consider that to suppose a God and not to suppose him Just besides his other Attributes is to suppose a Contradiction for a God that is not able to punish such as offend him or reward such as please him cou'd not be able to make the World but this he has done therefore he can do the other and by consequence he must be Iust or in other terms he must be God to know and converse with whom is the highest and noblest Study and therefore preferable to all others and is not only to be learn'd in the Book of the Creature or by natural Instinct but also by his Written Word which we are thus assured to be his and we are able to prove it not only from the common Arguments that are brought which cou'd never yet be answered as the fulfilling of Prephecies the Testimony of Contemporary Authors c. But also from the very principles of the most Acute and Subtile Atheists that now do or ever have deny'd it For if we shou'd ask these Persons why they do any common action of their Lives as Talk Confer Eat Sleep c. they will answer for the gratification of their Opinions senses c. And if we ask 'em why they seek such Gratification they will answer to be happy So that in short we find Happiness at the bottom of all designes and that Humanity how different soever in their sentiments or actions agrees in this they wou'd be happy Now since all Mankind are Originally the same are all partakers of the same Essential Principles viz. perception Ratiocination c. And that they all tend to one end to wit Happiness it follows then that the best way to this end is originally the most natural and agreeable to all that do partake of this Humane Nature What this best way is we must examine by the same methods that we do all other things viz. by the Means and by the end 1. By the Means That must be the best apparently which promises best for the best Judgment we make of things is from their appearance but if we examine Nature anatomize the Law Written upon our hearts if we peruse the Volumes of the ancient Philosophers which we have been long acquainted with or of those we have lately discovered amongst the Brachmanes or Chinese if we make a strict enquiry into all their Rules and Lessons of Morality we have a Compendium an Abstract of all together in the sacred Writ For abstruseness of Notions the 1. Gen. outvies the Aegyptian dark Philosophy for Elegancy of Style the Prophecy of Isaiah and the Epistle to the Hebrews far exceeding the Eloquent Orations of a Cicero or Demosthenes in short there 's nothing here either promised or threatend commanded or forbidden but what is God-like and worthy its Divine Original nor can its opposers find any thing in 't but what 's the necessary effect of the Goodness Justice and Supremacy of its inspirer so that very ordinary capacities have an easy and plain method to greater Sense and Reason ●●an any of the Ancient Philosophers whom the rude and barbarous World once look'd upon as Oracles II. The end of human actions which being Happiness it comes under the distinction of this and the other World all opposers of Scripture can only promise themselves an Interest in the present and even there their pretensions are infinitely below ours as much as the pleasure of sense is excell'd by that of the Mind nor are we debar'd from a moderate use of the first which gives the highest Gust that can be had but as to another Life our Atheist lays no claim So that that comes in ex abundanti and is rather our whole than any thing added to this and we have as certain demonstration of a future retribution and an after State as the Atheist has of a present one this is but a dark and rude prospect of what the Sacred Writ describes at large from whence it appears that the Contents of it are of far greater concern than the pretensions of any thing that was ever spoke or Writ by its opposers 'T is a good argument that 's that Truth which has Happiness annext to it that the injunctions of Scripture are such is evident from the Atheists own principles and therefore to be embrac'd by 'em whether of Divine Institution or not But we thus prove it of Divine Institution It is deliver'd unto us and since it is deliver'd it must be either by God Good spirits or bad ones good Men or bad Men or by Persons distracted which properly come under neither denomination if by God 't is true if by good Spirits they being not prejudic'd by Passion Interest Ignorance c. and acting dependantly it must also be true ill Spirits could not give it for Satan can't be divided against Satan or act against his own interest with destroying his Kingdom but why speak we of Spirits since their very essence is deny'd which also secures that point to us for what has not a Being cannot impose upon the World that neither good nor bad Men could deliver it of their own minds is plain since nothing can act beyond its power but 't is beyond the light of Nature or acquir'd Reason to Prophesie and deliver such mysterious Truths as humane reason an 't prey into as the Incarnation of God the Trinity in Vnity c. nor could it be the issue of any distracted brain or accidental fortuitous discovery spoken without thinking since the effects of all promises and threatnings are so regular and pertinent and as certainly come to pass for as far as any one ever yet try'd whereas had they been of humane inventions they wou'd like Fortune-telling or the Rules of Astrology sometimes hit and sometimes miss Besides had Men been the Author they wou'd have had the fate of other Writings been lost or barbarous antiquated or refin'd in the succession of so long a tract of time and in going through so many hands Friends and Enemies Fools and Wise in short should all Mankind joyn their different sentiments and every

Tenets of the Gospel or what had been reprehended by Jesus Christ and his Apostles Thus all the Greek Philosophers until those who maintain'd Fatality believed that Men were Free by Nature and might abstain from doing evil as likewise that they could apply themselves to Virtue without having any knowledge of the way by which Jesus Christ and his Apostles undertook to rectifie their Opinions by any express Discourse Clement openly maintains that Man hath the liberty of doing Evil or abstaining from it Neither Praises saith he nor Censures nor Recompences nor Punishments are Iust if the Soul hath not power to be vitious or to refrain from Vice and if Vice is involuntary It was not known amongst the Heathens what is since called Original Sin and Clement not observing that the Sacred Writers Reproach the Pagans with this Ignorance and teach them that even Children newly born deserve the Flames of Hell denies that Children are corrupted in any manner whatsoever The Hereticks whom we have spoken of that condemned Marriage amongst others gave this Reason against it that thereby nothing has been acted but the bringing polluted Children into the World seeing David said himself That he was conceived in Sin and brought forth in Iniquity Psal. 51. and that Iob maintains That there is no body free from Pollution though he had lived but one day ch 14.4 5. Clement opposes them and says Let them tell us how a Child newly born hath Sinned or how he who hath yet done nothing as fallen under the Curse of Adam Afterwards he Expounds the passage of David as if the Prophet meant only that he was descended from Eve who was a Sinner It must also be observed that a Man whose Judgment was thus disposed wanted but little of believing that the Philosophers were of the same Sentiments with the Apostles as soon as he could find any relation in their terms So Plato having spoken of three Supream Divinities whom he acknowledged as appears elsewhere in terms like to those which the Primitive Christians made use of in speaking of the Father Son and Holy Ghost Clement believed that of this Philosopher's was the same as that of the Christians I conceive saith he that Plato understood nothing thereby but the blessed Trinity and that the third Being whereof he speaks is the holy-Holy-Ghost as the second is the Son by whom all things were made according to the Will of the Father And speaking of the Divinity of Iesus Christ he described it no otherwise than the Platonicks did Reason The Nature of the Son saith he is the most Perfect and Holy that which hath the greatest share in Empire and Government and the most like unto him who only is Almighty It is this excellent Nature which presides over all things according to the Will of the Father who best governs the Universe who by an unexhaustible Power and without Wariness effects all that he makes use of to act in Nature and who seeth the most Secret Thoughts The Son of God never leaveth the Place whence he sees all he is neither Divided nor Shared nor does he Transport himself from one Place to another but is every where and is Incircumscriptible All Paternal Light a● Eye he seeth all things he hears every thing he knoweth every thing and penetrates by his might into all Powers To this natural Reason which hath received this holy Administration is subjected the whole Army of Angels and of Gods because of him who hath subjected them to it Clement had another Opinion concerning the Human Nature of Iesus Christ into which perhaps he fell for fear of rendring the Body of Iesus Christ inferior to that of the Gods of Homer The Gods of this Poet eat no Bread nor drank Wine And our Saviour according to Clement needed no Milk in coming into the World and was not nourished by the Meats which he took only through condescention and which passed not into his Body by the same Organs as they pass into our Bodies It is also what made Origen his Disciple to believe that Iesus Christ had no Blood But a Liquor like that which Homer attributed to his Gods which he calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato said in divers Places that God In●licts Pains upon Men only for their good And Clement observes it after such a manner to make us believe that he approves on 't Plato also said that Souls are Purged in the other World by Fire and that after their Purgation they return to their first State Clement believed that the Apostles thought the same thing when they spoke to us of a Fire which is to Consume the World and his Disciple Origen hath concluded from these Principles that the Devils and the Damned will be one day delivered from their Sufferings The Apostles describe the Place where the Wicked shall he Tormented under the Idea of a Lake of burning Brimstone They made use of the same word that the Heathens did to denote the State of Souls after Death to wit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They say that Men descend thereinto and that Iesus Christ descended there also This was sufficient to draw this Exclamation from Clement What did not Plato know the floods of Fire and the profundity of the Earth which the Barbarians called Gehenna and which he Prophetically named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tartarus He has made mention of Cocytus of Acheron of Pyriphlegeton and such like Places where the Wicked are punished for their amendment Clement also believed with most of the Ancients that Iesus Christ really descended into Hell and Preached there to the Damned Souls of which he saved those who were willing to believe in him We might also bring many other Examples by which it would be plain that Clement expounded the Doctrins of the Christians by opinion the most resembling 'em which he found amongst Philosophers But the Examples we have shewed may suffice for those who have neither time nor opportunity to read this Author as well as for those who will consult the Original because they will find enough of themselves One thing may be apprehended by it which most of those who apply themselves to the reading of the Fathers do not much observe and without which it is almost impossible to understand them well in abundance of Places Which is that before we begin this Study seriously we must read with care the Heathen Philosophers and particularly Plato without which we could not well apprehend upon what grounds they reason or examin with success the force of their Arguments nor devise how they fell into so many Opinions so distant from those which are this day received in our Schools But now to return to the Life of St. Clement the Ancients with a general consent say he was Successor to Pantenus in the Office of Catechist He acquitted himself of this Employment with Success and several great Men came out of his School as Origen and Alexander Bishop of Ierusalem His method of instructing the

Opinions of the Apostles and makes this Reflexion upon it taken from St. Augustin It is evident that nothing is of so dangerous a Consequence in Matters of Religion as slightly to give credit to every one and eagerly to embrace whatsoever bears the appearance of Piety without considering whether it be really so or no. Non sit Religio nostra in Phantasmatibus nostris Meliùs est enim qualecunque verum qùam omne quidquid pro arbitrio fingi potest melior est vera stipula quàm lux inani cogitatione pro suspicantis voluntate formata De ver Rel. c. 55. There remains nothing of Quadratus Aristides Agrippa nor of Hegisippus but some Fragments that Eusebius and St. Ierom relates For 't is a false Hegisippus an Author of the Fourth Age that made the History of the Iewish Wars and of the taking of Ierusalem divided into five Books which has been often published and is no more than an Abridgment of Iosephus He acknowledges for the Works of St. Iustin only his two Apologies and his Dialogue with Tryphon There are also two Discourses to the Gentiles which are at the beginning of his Works and that may be attributed to him without injuring him as well as the Epistle to Diognetus He observes also the particular Opinions of this Father and that of his not despairing of the Salvation of the Gentils For in his 2d Apology p. 83. he says That those who lived conformably to Reason like to Socrates Heraclitus c. may be call'd Christians and he seems to suppose they might be saved in following the Law of Nature Mr. Du Pin explains many Passages of Iustin Tatian and Theophilus of Antioch concerning the Generation of the Word and its visibility which appears not agreeable to the Common Opinion He remarks that this Theophilus was the first that used the word Trinity to note the three Divine Persons and that he calls the third the Wisdom That Athenagoras said that the Devils lost themselves by the love they bare to Women that he admits Free-will in its utmost extent praises Virginity and condemns second Weddings calling them an honest Adultery But Denis of Corinth in a Fragment that Eusebius has preserved of him l. 4. c. 23. advertises Pinytus Bishop of the Gnossians not to charge the Christians with the heavy burden of an Obligation to Virginity but to have respect to the weakness which the generality of Mankind lay under This same Author complains that they had falsified some of his Letters and says That we need not wonder that some Men dare to corrupt the Sacred Books since they do it in Books of much less Authority St. Irenaeus as well as St. Iustin seems to have believed that Souls are immortal only by Grace and that those of the wicked shall cease to be after having suffer'd torment for a long time He has also some peculiar Opinions for example that Iesus Christ lived above 50 Years upon the Earth That the Saints shall in the other Life learn by degrees whatsoever they are ignorant of c. We must pardon the Antients adds the Author these sort of Opinions it being not singular to any one for many had the like Eusebius hath preserv'd us a Fragment of an Author nam'd Rodon who mentions that in a dispute he had with one Apelles a Heretick who having been convinc'd of many Frailties said That he was not to examine what he believed and that all those who hoped in Jesus Christ Crucified should be saved That the Question about the Nature of God was very obscure that he believed there was but one Principle but he was not certain and that the Prophesies were contrary one to the other Mr. Du Pin wonders that the Books of the Pedagogue of Clement of Alexandria are not Translated into the Vulgar Tongue But says he if any one would undertake this Translation he must leave out some places which ought not to be read by all the VVorld and others he must accommodate to the Customs and Manners of our time We doubt very much whether this way of acting will denote a sufficient respect for Antiquity and are apt to believe that our Author in making his Extracts has not followed the Counsel he gives to others The same St. Clement has made other Celebrated Books under the Name of Stromates that he calls so because they contain many thoughts collected from different places and crowded together which makes a variety something resembling what we see in Tapestries Wherefore this Father himself compares his Work to a Meadow or a Garden where we find all sorts of Herbs Flowers and Fruits and we may gather such as please our selves but not to such Gardens where the Trees and Plants are placed in order on purpose to divert the sight But rather to a shady and thick Mountain where the Cyprus Linden-tree Lawrel Ivy Apple-tree Olive Fig-tree and other Fruitful Trees are mingled with Barren ones In the Third Book of the Stromates Clement affirms that St. Peter and St. Philip were Marryed and that they had Children that Saint Philip had Marryed his Daughters and that St. Paul had also a Wife In which he is deceived says the Author This Father has spoken something that seems to Favour Arianism which is That the Nature of the Son is most Excellent and most Perfect and that it comes nearest to God Almighty He excuses him saying that the Ancients had not an exact distinction between the Terms Nature and Person but often took one for the other Yet confesses that he speaks after such a manner to perswade us that he believ'd not or at least made no reflections upon Original sin How do we say says he that a Child prevaricates as soon as he is born or how can it having done nothing fall under Adams Curse There 's a Contestation amongst the Learned upon the Marriage of St. Tertullian whether he was Married before or after his Conversion and when he was a Priest for in the Books which he Dedicated to his Wife one may find that he lived with her when he wrote them The Author of the Life of Tertullian and of Origen was obliged to say that he also compos'd 'em after his Conversion But Mr. Du Pin affirms that 't is more probable that he was Marryed after his Baptism and that he writ his Books to his Wife when he was very Aged and fell into the Error of the Montanists He Examins the Reasons of his change and believes with St. Ierom that the Envy he bore to the Roman Clergy and the outragious manner wherewith they treated him enraged him against the Church and made him separate from it He afterwards gives a Catalogue of Tertullians Works and with care distinguishes those he made whilst a Catholick from those that he composed after he was engaged in the Heresy of Montanus placing amongst these last his Book of Prescriptions Amongst the