the â—â—iâ—â—e â—râ—m thâ—nâ—â— proceeded th se great 〈…〉 Heâ—aclituâ— Dâ—mâ—crit â— Empeâ—â—cles Pâ—â—â—â—niâ—â—â— Anaâ—â—goras who a little 〈◊〉 the Pâ—lopâ—â—â—sian War discover'd the World tâ— be made by an Eternal Spiâ—â—â— Sâ—â—r t s in a short time after reduced Pâ—ilosoâ—hy to the study of good manners and was the Father of Moral Philosophy Plato his Disciple chief of the Academy Aristotle Plato's Disâ—iple and Master of Alâ—xander chief of the P ripatetick under the Successors of Alexander Zâ—nâ— sirnamed Citian from a Town in the Isle of Cyprus where he was born chief of the Stoicks and Epicurus the Athenian chief of those Philosophers that bear his name if likewise we may count those Philsophers who openly deny a Providence and who being ignorant what duty was defined Vertue by Pleasure We may also reckon among the greatest Philosophers Hippocrates the Father of Physick who was eminently famous amongst others in those happy times of Greece The Romans had at the same time another sort of Philosophy which did not consist in Disputes nor in Discourses but in Frugality in Poverty in the labours of a Countrey life and in those of War wherein they made their Glory to consist in that of their Countrey and of the Roman Name which made them at last the Masters both of Italy and Carthage IX Epocha Scipio or Carthage conquâ—â—ed In the Year 552. from the Foundation of Rome about 250 Years after the Foundation of the Persian Monarchy and 202 Years before Jesus Christ Carthage was made subject to the Romans Hannibal never Years be ∣ fore J. C. 202 ceased underhand to stir them up Enemies Years of Rome 552 wheresoever he could but he only ensnared all his old and new Friends in the ruine of their Countrey and his own too By the Victories of the Consul Flaminius Years be ∣ fore J. C. 198 Philip King of Macedonia an Ally of the Years of Rome 556 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 196 Carâ—haginians was overcome the Kings of Years of Rome 558 Macedonia brought to great straits and Greece freed from their Yoke The Romans attempted to destroy Hâ—â—â—nibal whom they found to be still feared notwithstanding his losses That Great Captain forced to Years be ∣ fore J. C. 15 save himself from his Countrey stirred up the East against them and brought their Years of Rome 559 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 193 Arms into Asia By his powerful Arguments Years of Rome 561 and Perswasions Antiochâ—s sirnamed the Great King of Syria became Jealous of their Forces and made War with them but in doing so he followed not the Counsels of Hannibal who had engaged him in it Beaten both by Sea and Land he receiv'd the Law which the Consul Lucius Scipio the Brother of Scipio Africanus imposed upon him and he was shut up in Mount Years be ∣ fore J. C. 182 Taurus Hannibal fled for refuge to Prusias Years of Rome 572 King of Bythinia escaped the Romans by Poyson They are feared by all People and will not suffer any other Power besides their own Kings were obliged to give them their Children as Hostages of their Faith Antiochus since called the Illustrious or Epiphanius the second Son of Antiochus the great King of Syria continued a long while at Rome in that Quality but about the Years be ∣ fore J. C. 176 end of the Reign of Seleucus Philopater Years of Rome 578 his elder Brother he was restored and the Romans would have in his Room Demetrius Years be ∣ fore J. C. 175 Soter the Kings Son then about ten years of Years of Rome 579 Age. In this time of Convulsion Seleâ—cus died and Antiochus usurped the Kingdom over his Nephew The Romans were taken up in the affairs of the Macedonians where Perseus was troubling his Neighbours and would no longer keep to those Conditions that were imposed upon King Philip his Father Then began the Persecutions of Gods People Antiochus the Mighty reigned Years be ∣ fore J. C. 173 like one inraged all his Fury was bent Years of Rome 581 against the Jews he endeavoured to destroy the Temple the Mosaick Law and indeed Years be ∣ fore J. C. 171 all the Nation The Roman Power kept Years of Rome 583 him from making himself Master of Aegypt They entred into a War with Perseus who Years be ∣ fore J. C. 168 being more ready to attempt than to execute Years of Rome 586 lost his Allies by his Covetousness and his Armies by his Baseness And being conquered by the Consul Paulus Aemilius he was forced to fling himself into his Arms. Gentius King of Illyria his Ally being utterly routed in thirty days by the Praetor Anicius had just then met with the same Fate The Kingdom of Macedonia which had continued for seven hundred years and for near two hundred of them had not only given Masters to Greece but also to all the East was now no more than a bare Roman Province The outragious Furies of Antiochus daily incrâ—ased against the Jews Then appeared the Resistance of Mattathias Years be ∣ fore J. C. 167 the High-Priest of the Race of Phineas Years of Rome 587 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 166 and an Imitator of his Zeal his dying Years of Rome 588 Orders for the Salvation of his People the Victories of Judas the Maccabee his Son notwithstanding the infinite number of his Enemies the Advance of the Family Years be ∣ fore J. C. 165 of the Asmonians or Maccabees the new Years of Rome 589 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 164 Dedication of the Temple which the Gentiles Years of Rome 590 had profaned the Prelacy of Judas and the Greatness of the Priesthood re-established the Death of Antiochus suitable to his Impiety and his Pride his pretended Coversion during his last Sickness and the fierceness of Divine Vengeance upon that I solent King His Son Antiochus Eupator tho' much under Age succeeded him under the Guardianship of Lysias his Governour During this his Minority Demetrius Soter who was under Hostage at Rome thought he might have been able to re-establish himself but he could not obtain of the Senate to be sent back into his own Kingdom The â—â—man Polity rather chose to have a young Infant Under this Antiochus Years be ∣ fore J. C. 163 Eupator the Persecution of the Jews and the Years of Rome 591 Victories of Judas the Maccaâ—ee continued Years be ∣ fore J. C. 162 A Division was set asoot in the Kingdom Years of Rome 592 of Syria Demetrius escapes from Rome is acknow edged by the People and the young Antiochus is slain with Lysias his Tutor But the Jews are nâ— better trâ—ated under Demerius than they were under his Predâ—cessors He takes the same Course his Generals are beaten by Judas the Maccabee and the Hand of the proud Nicanor whose Temple he had so often threatned is joyned with Years be ∣ fore J. C. 161 him But a little after Juâ—as overwhelmed Years of Rome 593 by the Multitude was killed as he was
another rising up betimes and sending them as he saith himself 2 Chron. 36.15 16. Jer. 25.15.29.19.35.15 to show his Paternal care and tenderness But being wearied with their Ingratitude he was moved against them and threatned to deal with them as he had done with their rebellious Brethren There is nothing more observable in the History of the People of God than this Ministry of the Prophets They beheld men separated from the rest of the People by a retired Life and by a particular Habit they had Habitations where they were seen to live in a kind of Community 1 Sam. 28.14 1 Kings 19.19 Isai 20.2 Zach. 13.5 under a Superiour whom God had given them Their poor and penitent life was the very figure of Mortification which was to be pronounced under the Gospel God communicated himself to them in a particular manner and made that wonderful Communication appear to all the People 1 Sam. 10.10.19.19 26. 1 Kings 18. 2 Kings 11.3 15 18 19.25 2 Kings 4.10.38.6.1 2. but it never was so conspicuous as in the times of that disorder wherein Idolatry had gone very near to abolish the Law of God During those unhappy times the Prophets proclaimed on all sides loudly both by Preaching and writings the threatnings of Almighty God and the Testimony they bore to his Truth The writings they composed were in the Hands of all the People and carefully kept in perpetual remembrance to future Ages Those People who continued faithful to God joined with them and we see also part in Israel where Idolatry so much prevailed Exod. 17.14 Isa 30.8.34.16 Jer. 22.30.26.2.12.36.15 2 Chron. 36.22 23. 1 Esd 1.1 Dan. 9.3 2 Kings 4.23.21.16 yet those that were faithful did with the Prophets celebrate the Sabbaths and the Feasts established by the Law of Moses 'T was those that encouraged the good People to continue firm in the Covenant Many of them suffered Death and we have seen that after their example in the worst of times that is to say in the very Reign of Manasseh a world of Believers to lay down their Lives for the Truth so that it hath never been one moment without a Testimony Thus the Society of the People of God subsisted always the Prophets continued in it a great number of the Faithful persisted boldly in the Law of God with them and with the Priests the Levites Ezekiel 54.15 the Sons of Zadoc who as Ezekiel says kept the Charge of God's Sanctuary when the Children of Israel went astray from him And yet notwithstanding the Prophets nor the faithful Priests nor the People joined with them in the observance of the Law that Idolatry which had destroyed Israel did oft-times lead away even in Judah it self both the Princes and the People Tho' the Kings had forgotten the God of their Fathers yet he a long time bore with their Iniquities for the sake of his Servant David who was always present to his Eyes When the Kings the Children of David followed the good Examples of their Father God wrought wondrous Miracles for them but when they degenerated they felt the invincible Strength of his Arm which was very heavy upon them The Kings of Egypt the Kings of Syria and especially the Kings of Assyria and Babylon served as the Instruments of his Vengeance Impiety grew more and more and God raised up in the East a King more proud and to be fear'd than all that ever had been heard of before 't was Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon the most terrible of all Conquerors Jerem. 25 c. Ezek. 26.7 8. c. 2 Kings 24.1,2 2 Chron. 36.6.7 He was shewn long before both to the People and to their Kings as the Avenger that was designed to punish them He approaches and fear and dread do march before him At once takes Jerusalem and transports part of its Inhabitants unto Babylon But neither those who remained in the City nor thâ—se who were carried away Captive tho' the one were forewarned by Jeremiah and the other by Ezekiel shewed any marks of Repentance They preferred to those Holy Prophets Jer. 14.14 the Prophets that prophâ—sied Lyes whom God never sent nor never commanded nor spakâ— to but they prophesied unto them a false vision and divination and a thing of nought and the Deceit of their Heart and flattered them in their Wickednesses The Revenger returned into Judea and the voke of Jerusalem was laid more heavy upon them but yet the People were not utterly destroyed At last their Iniquities being arriv'd to the full height 2 Kings 25.6.7 c. pride increased with their weakness and Nebuchadnezzar with the Captain of his Guard burns the Temple of the Lord and the King's Palace and turns all the City into Ashes God spared not his Sanctuary that beautiful Temple the Ornament of the World which would have been eternal if the Children of Israel had persevered in their Piety was consumed and lay with the common Rubbish of the rest of the City by the Fire of the Assyrians 'T was in vain the lying words which the Jews made use of Jer. 7.4.5 The Temple of the Lord The Temple of the Lord The Temple of the Lord is in the midst of us as if that Sacred Temple would of it self protect them God had resolved to let them see that he was not fixed to a building of Stone but he would have his habitation in the Hearts of Believers So he destroyed the Temple of Jerusalem and delivered the Treasure of it to the Spoil so that abundance of costly rich Vessels consecrated to holy Uses by the Piety of former Kings was now abandoned and given up to One that was Impious But the fall of God's People was to be for the Instruction of all the World We see in the person of that wicked King tho' he was victorious what we ought to expect from Conquerours and what they are For the most part they are but Instruments of the Divine Vengeance God executes his Judgments by them and afterwards he executes his Justice upon them Nebuchadnezzar iâ—vested with a Divine Power and by that Ministry become invincible punishes all the Enemies of the People of God He ravages the Idumeans the Ammonites and the Moabites he overthrows the Kings of Syria Egypt under whose Power Judea had oftentimes groaned was the Prey of that proud King and became Tributary to him his Power was no less fatal to Judea it self which would not turn unto the Lord tho' he gave them so long a space of Repentance Every thing fell every thing was destroyed by the Divine Justice and Nebuchadnezzar was made the Minister of it but we shall see him fall in his turn and God who made use of the hand of that Prince to chastise his Children and to vanquish his Enemies reserves him to fall by his own Almighty Arm. He hath not left his Children ignorant of the destiny of that King who punished them and of that Empire of the
t 11.8.2 Cont. Ap. They suffered a little under their first Successors Ptolomy the Son of Lagus surprized Jerusalem and brought from thence into Egypt a hundred thousand Captives But he soon left off his hatred to them He himself made them Citizens of Alexandria the Capital City of his Kingdom or rather he confirmed to them the right which Alexander had already invested them with and not finding any in all his Empire more faithful than the Jews he filled his Armies with them and conferred upon them the most important Places and Offices of Trust If the Lagides regarded them Id. ant 12.3.2 Cont. Ap. yet they were better treated by the Seleucides under whose Empire they lived Seleucus Nicanor chief of that Family established them in Antioch And Antiochus the God his Grandson having caused them to be received in all the Cities of the Lesser Asia we have seen them spread themselves over all Greece living there according to their Law and enjoying there the same Rights as the other Citizens as they did in Alexandria and Antioch In the mean while their Law was turned into Greek by the care of Ptolomeus Philadelphus King of Egypt Joseph Praef. ant lib. 12. 2. 2. Cont. Ap. The Jewish Religion was known among the Gentiles the Temple of Jerusalem was enriched by the Gifts of both Kings and People the Jews lived in Peace and in Liberty under the power of the Kings of Syria and they never had been sensible of such a Tranquillity under their own Kings It seemed as if it would have been eternal but that they themselves did break it by their own Dissentions For no less than three hundred years did they enjoy that Peace so much foretold by their Prophets when Ambition and the Jealousies which were spread amongst them were going to destroy them Some of the most powerful of them betrayed their People for a Complement and piece of Flattery to the Kings they would fain make themselves famous after the manner of the Grecians 1 Maccab. 1.12 13 c. 2 Maccab. 3 4.1 c. 14 15 16. c. and preferred that vain Pomp to the solid Glory which the observance of the Laws of their Ancestors would have given them among their Citizens They celebrated Places as the Gentiles did That Novelty dazled the Eyes of the People and Idolatry cloathed with that splendour and magnificence appeared very lovely to a great many Jews To these Changes were supeâ—added the Disputes for the Soveraign Priesthood which was the principal Dignity of the Nation Those that were ambitious stuck to the Interests of the Kings of Syria hoping by that means to obtain it and so that Sacred Dignity was the reward of the Flattery of those Court Minions Private Piques and Jealousies too did precipitately bring on as is very usual great Calamities upon all People Antiochus the illustrious King of Syria Dan. 7.8 11 24 25.8.9 10 11 12 13 14 23 24 25. Polyb. l. 26. 31. in excerp ap Ath. l. 10. was projecting how to cut off that distracted People and so to make himself Master of their Wealth That Prince appeared then with all the Characters which Daniel had described him in Ambitious Covetous full of intrigue cruel insolent wicked furious puffed up with his Victories and afterwards enraged at his losses He enters into Jerusalem in a posture of attempting all things the Factions of the Jews and not his own Forces harden him to it and Daniel had so foreseen it He exercises unheard of Cruelties his Pride transports him to the last and most violent Excesses and he vomits forth Blasphemies against the most High as the same Prophet had foretold In the executing of those Prophecies and because of the sins of the People power is given unto him against the perpetual Sacrifice He prophaned the Temple of God which had been reverenced by the Kings his Ancestors he pillaged it and by the Riches he found there 1 Macc. 1.43.46 57. c. 2 Macc. 6.1 2. he repaired his own decayed sunk Exchequer Under the pretext of bringing into conformity the Manners of his Subjects and effectually to satiate his Avarice in pillaging all Judea he commanded the Jews to worship the same Gods with the Greeks above all he would have them to pay adoration to Jupiter Olympius whose Idol he had set up in the very Temple and being far more wicked than Nebuchadnezzar he labours to destroy the Holy Feasts the Law of Moses the Sacrifices the Religion and indeed all the People But that Prince his Successes had their just Limits set out by the Prophecies Mattathias opposed his Violences and re-united the holy People Judas Maccabeus his Son with a handful of persons perform'd brave and unheard of Exploits and purified the Temple of God three years and a half after its Prophanation as Daniel had foretold Dan. 7.25.12.7 11. Joseph prol lib. de bell Jud. lib. 1.1.6.11 Isai 63. 1 Macc. 4.15.5.3.26 28 36 54. Dan. 8.14.26 1 Macc. 6.2.9 He pursued the Idumeans and all the other Gentiles who had joyned themselves to Antiochus and having taken their best Places from them he returned victorious and humble just as Isaiah had seen him singing forth the Praises of God who had delivered into his hands the Enemies of his People and his Garments were still red with their blood He continued his Victories notwithstanding the prodigious great Armies of the Captains of Antiochus Daniel had given that wicked King but six years to torment the People of God and behold just at the prefixed stated term he acquainted Ecbatane with the Heroick Deeds of Judas He fell into a profound Melancholy and dyed as the holy Prophet had foretold miserable but not by the hand of Man after he had acknowledged tho' it was too late the Power of the God of Israel I need not tell you in what manner his Successors pursued the War against Judea nor say any thing of the death of Judas its Deliverer nor of the Victories of his two Brethren Jonathan and Simon successively High-Priests whose Valour re-established the antient Glory of the People of God Those three great Men saw the Kings of Syria and all the neighbouring People conspired against them and what was most deplorable of all was that they saw at several times those of Judah it self armed against their own Country and against Jerusalem An unheard of thing till then but expresly taken notice of by the Prophets In the midst of so many Calamities the Confidence they had in God made them undaunted and invincible The People were always happy under their Conduct Zach. 14.4 1 Macc. 1.12.9.11.20 21 22.16 2 Macc. 4.22 23 c. and at last in Simon 's time being freed from the Yoke of the Gentiles they submitted themselves unto him and his Children by and with the Consent of the Kings of Syria But the Act by which the People of God transferred all the publick Power to Simon and granted
of the Ancient People all the Particularities of Time and every thing else concurring as much as possibly can be expected in so remote and distant an Antiquity II. Epocha Noah or the Deluge 2. Age of the World After the Flood is observable the shortning of Man's Life and a change and alteration of the way of Living and a New Nourishment substituted in stead of the Years be ∣ fore J. C. 2348 Fruits of the Earth some Precepts given Years of the World 1656 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 2347 to Noah only viva voce the Confusion of Years of the World 1657 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 2247 Tongues at the Tower of Babel the first Years of the World 1757 Monument and Mens Weakness the Division of Noah's three Sons and the first Distribution of Lands The Memory of the three first Authors of Nations and People is preserved among Men. Japhet who Peopled the greatest part of the West continues there in great veneration under the Name of Japhet Cham and his Son Canaan have been no less known among the Aegyptians and Phoenicians and the Remembrance of Shem has been always held Sacred among the Hebrews who came from him A little after this first Division of Mankind Nimrod a Wild Man became by his violent Humour the first of Conquerors and this was the Origine of all Conquests He established his Kingdom in Babylon Gen. x. 9 10 18. in the same Place where the Tower was begun and had been carried up to a strange height but yet it seems not up to that stature the Vanity of Man intended or desired it Round about it much-what at the same time Niniveh was built and some other ancient Kingdoms setled They were but small in those first and early Times and there was even in Aegypt it self Four Dynasties or Principalities that of Thebes that of Tine that of Memphis and that of Tanis which was the Chief of Lower Aegypt To much about this time may be referred the beginning of the Laws and Policies of the Aegyptians that of their Pyramids which remain to this day and that of the Astronomical Observations of as well those People Years be ∣ fore J. C. 2233 as of the Chaldeans We may likewise Years of the World 1771 bring up to about this time and no higher the Observations which the Chaldeans for they were without dispute the first Observers of the Stars gave in Babylon to Callisthenes for Aristotle Porphyr ap Simp. l. ii de Caelo Every thing begins There is no antient History wherein there appears not only in these first times but a long time after some manifest Vestigia of the newness of the World We see Laws were to be made and established Manners to be amended and Empires to be formed Mankind coming out by degrees from Ignorance Experience instructs them and Arts are either invented or perfected Accordingly as Men multiplyed the Land was populated and Inhabitants came to live nearer to one another Mountains and Precipices were passed over Rivers crost and at last the Seas and Men established new Habitations The Earth which in the Beginning was but a wild Forest now took another Form the grub'd-up Trees gave way to Fields Pasturages Hamlets Burroughs and at length to Cities They began then to have the Art and Cunning of taking some kind of Beasts of tarning others and bringing them up to Labour and Service At first they were used to ingage and fight with wild Beasts The first Heroes made themselves signal in these sort of Exercises Gen. x. 9. This gave occasion to the inventing of Arms which afterwards Men turned one against another Nimrod the first Warrior and first Conqueror is called in Scripture a mighty Hunter But Man's Skill lay not only in Beasts he knew also how to bring up Plants and ripen Fruits He likewise reduced Metals to his use and by degrees made them serviceable to all Mankind And as it was but natural that time should invent and find out a great many things so likewise time made several other things be forgot at least to most Men. Those first Arts which Noah had preserved and which are always kept up in some Countries where â—ver there is a first Establishment of Mankind that is to say in new Plantations are lost proportionably as they are distant from that Country For either they must be learned over again with time or else those who had preserved them must carry them over to those others Wherefore we see all things to come from Lands that have been always inhabited where the Grounds and Foundations of Arts remain in their Perfection and there also is to be learned every day things very considerable The Knowledge of God and the Remembrance of the Creation was preserved there but it did daily degenerate and grew weaker and weaker The Ancient Traditions were either quite forgot or at least obscure and dim The Fables and Stories that have succeeded them retain'd only the gross Ideas of them False Deities multiplied and became more numerous and that gave occasion to the calling of Abraham III. Epocha The Call of Abraham 3. Age of the World Four hundred twenty six Years after the Deluge as every Body walked after their own ways and never were mindful of that God that made them this great Creator to hinder the Progress of so abominable a Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1921 Wickedness in the midst of their Sins began Years of the World 2083 to set apart to himself a chosen People Abraham was elected to be the Father of the Faithful God called him in the Land of Canaan where he resolved to establish his Worship and to settle the Children of that blessed Patriarch whom he said he would multiply as the Stars of Heaven and as the Sand on the Sea-shore To the promise that he made of giving this Land to his posterity he joyn'd another far more great and illustrious and that was that mighty blessing which was to extend to all the people of the World in Jesus Christ coming forth from his off-spring Heb. vii 1. 2 3 c. This was that Jesus Christ whom Abraham honoured in the Person of the great High-Priest Melchisedeck unto whom he gave the tent of the Spoils which he had got returning from the slaughter of Kings and by whom he was blest In the midst of these vast Riches and of a Power commensurate to that of Kings Abraham still kept to his old ways and customs he ever led a plain simple and pastoral Life which yet had its due Magnificence and the Patriarch made it principally appear in his generous Hospitality to all People Heaven Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1856 at last was pleased to send him Guests Years of the World 2148 the Angels revealed to him the Counsels of God he believed them and appeared in all things full of Faith and Piety In his time Inachus the most antient of all Kings known by the Grecians founded
being come to an Agreement with Manahem he established him in the Throne that he went to Usurp by Violence and received by way of acknowledgment the Tribute of a thousand Talents Under his Son Sardanapalus and after Alcmaeon the last perpetual Archon of the Athenians that People whom his humour led insensibly to affect a popular Estate lessened the Power of their Magistrates and in ten years wholly overthrew the Archontick Administration The first of this way was Charops Romulus and Remus sprung from the antient Kings of Alba by their Mother Ilia re-established in the Kingdom of Alba their Grandfather Numitor of which his Brother Amilius had dispossest him and presently after they founded Rome whilst Jotham Reigned in Judah VII Epocha Romulus or Rome founded That City which was to be the Mistress of the World and in futurity the chief Seat of the Romish Religion was founded toward the end of the third year of the sixth Years be ∣ fore J. C. 754 Olympiad 430 years after the taking Years of the World 3250 of Troy from whence the Romans believed their Ancestors to be sprung and 753 years before Jesus Christ Romulus being bred up hardly with Shepherds and always Years of Rome 1 engaged in Warlike Exercises consecrated this City to the God of War who he Years be ∣ fore J. C. 748 said was his Father About the time of Years of Rome 6 Rome's Birth through the effeminate Luxury of Sardanapalus happened the Fall of the first Empire of the Assyrians The Medes a warlike People animated by the Discourses of Arbaces their Governour set an Example to all his Subjects of contemning and scorning him All were up in a general revolt against him and at length he perished in his chief City where he saw himself constrained to fling himself into the Fire with his Concubines his Eunuchs and his Riches Out of the Ruins of this Empire were seen to come three great Kingdoms Arbaces or Orbaces whom some call Pharnaces freed the Medes who after a very long Anarchy had three most puissant Kings Moreover presently after Sardanapalus there appeared a second Kingdom of the Assyrians Years be ∣ fore J. C. 747 of which Nineveh was the chief City Years of Rome 7 and a Kingdom of Babylon These two last Kingdoms are not unknown to prophane Authors and are much celebrated in the sacred History The second Kingdom of Nineveh is founded by Tilgath of Tiglath the Son of Phalaser called for this reason Tiglathphalesar to whom was also given the name of Ninus the younger Baladan whom the Greeks called Belasis established the Kingdom of Babylon which is known by the name of Nabonassar From thence the Aera of Nabonassar famous with Ptolomy and the antient Astronomers who reckoned their years by the Reign of that Prince It is fit to explain here the signification of this word Aera which is a number of Years began at a certain point of Time which some extraordinary Accident makes remarkable Wicked Years be ∣ fore J. C. 740 and Sinful Ahaz King of Judah oppressed Years of Rome 14 by Rezin King of Syria and by Pekah the Son of Remaliah King of Israel instead of having recourse to God who stirred him up those Enemies to punish him called Tiglathphalesar the first King of Assyria or Nineveh who brought the Kingdom of Israel to its last extremity and utterly destroyed that of Syria and at the same time he ravaged that of Judah which had desired his Assistance Thus the Kings of Assyria took Years be ∣ fore J. C. 721 the way to the Holy Land and resolved Years of Rome 33 upon the Conquest of it They began with the Kingdom of Israel which Salmanasser the Son and Successor of Tilgath Pilneser utterly destroyed Osee King of Israel relied upon the succour of Sabacon otherwise called Sua or Soü◠King of Aethiopia who had invaded Aegypt But that mighty Conqueror could not get it out of the hands of Salmanassar The ten Tribes with whom the Worship of God was quite worn off were transported to Nineveh and being dispersed among the Gentiles they so lost themselves there that no farther tracing of them can be discovered There remained some of them who were mixed among the Jews and made a small part of the Kingdom Years be ∣ fore J. C. 715 of Judah At this time happened the Years of Rome 39 Death of Romulus He was always fighting and always victorious but in the midst of his Wars he notwithstanding laid the Foundation of Religion and Laws A Years be ∣ fore J. C. 714 long Peace gave Numa his Successor a good opportunity to finish that Work He formed Years of Rome 40 Religion and qualified the wild and extravagant Manners of the Romans In his time the Colonies that came from Corinth and several other Towns of Greece founded Syracuse in Sicily Crotona Tarentum and perhaps some other Towns in that part of Italy to which the most antient Greek Colonies which were spread over all the Country had already given the name of Great Greece In the mean time Hezekiah the most Pious and the justest of all the Kings Years be ∣ fore J. C. 710 ever since David reigned in Judah Sennacherib the Son and Successor of Salmanassar Years of Rome 44 besieged him in Jerusalem with a vast and prodigious Army which was in one night destroyed by the Hand of an Angel which went out and smote in the Camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five Thousand Hezekiah being delivered in so wonderful a manner served God with all his People more faithfully than ever But Years be ∣ fore J. C. 698 after that Prince his Death under his Son Years of Rome 56 Manasseh the ungrateful forgat their God and so disorders and calamities were multiplied Years be ∣ fore J. C. 687 upon them A popular State or commonwealth Years of Rome 67 was then formed among the Athenians and they began to elect annual Archontes or Governours the first of whom was Creon Whilst wickedness increased in the Kingdom of Judah the Power of the Kings of Assyria which were to be their avengers grew daily stronger under Esarhaddon Years be ∣ fore J. C. 681 the Son of Sennacherib He re-united the Years of Rome 73 Kingdom of Babylon to that of Nineveh and equalled in Great Asia the Power of the Years be ∣ fore J. C. 677 first Assyrians 2 Kings xvii 24. 1 Esd iv 2. In his Reign the Cuthians Years of Rome 77 People of Assyria since called Samaritans were placed in the City of Samaria instead of the Children of Israel These joined to that of Idolatry the Worship of God and obtained of Esarhaddon an Israelitish Priest who taught them the manner of the God of the Land that is to observe the Law of Moses God resolving not to have his Name utterly abolished in a Land that he had given to his People he left there his Law as an earnest and testimony 2 Kings xvii 27
were caused sometimes by the express orders of the Emperors and by the particular hatred of the Magistrates sometimes by the Insurrections of the People and sometimes the Decrees authentically pronounced in the Senate upon the Rescripts of Princes or in their Presence Then the Persecution was most universal and bloody and so the hatred of the Infidels still resolute to destroy the Church still grew on from time to time to new furies and outrages And it was by these Renewals of their violences and cruelties that the Ecclesiastical Writers counted the ten Persecutions under the ten Emperors Yet under such long and tedious Sufferings did not the Christians ever make the least Sedition Among all the faithful the Bishops still had the most vigorous assaults Among all the Churches the Church of Rome was persecuted with the most of violence and Thirty Popes confirmed by their blood the Gospel which they taught to all the Earth Domitian is killed The Empire begins to respire and breath again under Nerva His great age did not permit Years of J. C. 96 him to re-settle and establish affairs but yet as much as in him lay to lengthen out and continue the Repose of the Public he elected Trajan for his Successor The Empire Years of J. C. 97 at quiet within and triumphing without did Years of J. C. 98 not fail to admire so good a Prince for this he held for a constant Maxim that he ought so to let his Citizens find him as he would have been willing to have found the Emperor if he had been a simple Citizen This Years of J. C. 102 Prince subdued the Dacii and Decebalus their Years of J. C. 106 King extended his Conquests into the East Years of J. C. 115 gave to the Parthians a King and made Years of J. C. 116 them stand in awful fear of the insuperable power of Rome Oh happy Man whom Drunkenness and his infamous Loves such deplorable vices in so great a Prince never Years of J. C. 117 made to attempt any thing against Justice To these advantageous times for the Common-weal succeeded those of Adrian equally compounded of good and bad This Prince kept up the Military Discipline lived himself a military Life and with abundance of frugality supported the Provinces made the Arts to flourish and Greece which was Years of J. C. 120 the Mother of them The Barbarians were Years of J. C. 123 kept in awe by his arms and his Authority Years of J. C. 127 He rebuilt Jerusalem to which he gave his Years of J. C. 126 Name and from thence it is that the Name Years of J. C. 130 of Aelia happened to it but he banished the Jews out of it who were always rebellious to the Empire and those being obstinate found him an unrelenting Avenger By his Years of J. C. 135 Cruelties and Monstrous Loves he dishonoured a Reign which otherwise would have been very glorious and his infamous Antinous Years of J. C. 131 of whom he made a God was a most reproachful blot to his whole Life The Emperor seemed to repair his defects and to re-establish that glory and renown which he had so much defaced by adopting Antoninus Years of J. C. 138 the Pious who adopted Marcus Aurelius Years of J. C. 136 the Sage and the Philosopher In these two Years of J. C. 161 Princes appeared two lovely and beautiful Characters The Father always in Peace yet is always ready upon occasion to ingage in War the Son is always Warring and yet always ready to give Peace both to his Enemies and to the Empire His Father Antoninus had taught him that the saving of one single Citizen was much to be preferr'd to the defeating and getting the victory over a Years of J. C. 162 thousand Enemies The Parthians and the Marcomanni felt the valour of Marcus Aurelius The latter were somewhat Germans whom this Emperor had just subdued a little before his death By the vertue of the Years of J. C. 180 two Antoninus's that name became the delight of the Romans And the Glory of so indear'd a Name was not effaced either by the softness and effeminacy of Iucius Verus Brother to Marcus Aurelius and his Collegue in the Empire or by the Brutalities of Commodus his Son and Successor This latter unworthy to be the Off-spring of such a Father forgot both the Instructions and Examples of him the Senate and the People abhorred him his most fawning and assiduous Years of J. C. 162 Minions and his Mistress were the Cause of Years of J. C. 193 his death His Successor Pertinax a vigorous Asserter of the Military Discipline saw him sacrificed to the fury of licentious Soldiers that but a little before had raised him whether he would or no to the Soveraign Power The Empire being put to an Outcry by the Army soon found a Purchaser The Lawyer Didius Julianus adventured upon that bold bargain though it cost him his Life Severus Africanus made him to be killed Years of J. C. 194 revenged Pertinax passed from East to Years of J. C. 195 West triumphed in Syria in Gaul and in Years of J. C. 198 Great Britain c. The hasty Conqueror equal'd Caesar by his Victories but he did not imitate Years of J. C. 207 him in Clemency He could not make Years of J. C. 209 Peace between his Children Bassian or Caracalla Years of J. C. 208 his eldest Son a mock Imitator of Alexander Years of J. C. 211 immediately after the death of 〈◊〉 Years of J. C. 212 Father kill'd his Brother Geta an En◠〈◊〉 as well as himself even in the bosom 〈◊〉 â—â—lia their common Mother spent his Lifâ— in Cruelty and Slaughters and at length drew upon himself a Tragical Death Severâ—s had got for him the heart of the Soldiers and Years of J. C. 218 People by giving him the Name of Antoninus but he knew not how to keep up that honour The Syrian Heliogabalus or rather Alagabalus his Son or at least reputed for such tho' the Name of Antoninus had at first procured him the hearts of the Soldiers and the victory over Macrinus soon after by his Infamies became the horror of Mankind and Years of J. C. 222 he was his own destroyer Alexander Severus the Son of Mameus his Kinsman and Successor lived too little a while for the happiness of the world He complained that he was more put to it to keep his Soldiers in good order than he was to conquer his Enemies Years of J. C. 235 His Mother who governed him was Years of J. C. 233 the cause of his Ruin as she had also been that of his glory and renown Under him Artaxerxes the Persian slew his Master Artabanus the last King of the Parthians and re-established the Empire of the Persians in the East About these times the Church as yet but in its Minority Tertull. adv Jud. 7. Apolog 37. run over the whole Earth and not only in the East where it took
and he filled all the World with the noise of his Holiness and his Miracles during his life and after his death Valentinian dyed after a most fierce and violent Harangue which he made to the Enemies of the Empire his passionate Impetuosity which made him so much feared by others proved fatal to himself His Successor Gratianus without any Invidiousness of the exaltation of his young Brother Valentinian II. who was made Emperour tho' he was but nine years of age His Mother Justina the Protectress of the Arrians had the Government during his Minority There Years of J. C. 377 happened in a few years very strange and Years of J. C. 378 wonderful Accidents the Revolt of the Goths against Valentius that Prince forsaking the Persians to repress the Rebels Gratianus running to him after he had got a signal Victory over the Germans Valentius resolving to conquer singly hastened the fight where he was killed near to Adrianople the Goths being victorious burn him in a Town whither he had retired Gratianus being oppressed with the weight of Affairs associated the Great Theodosius to the Empire and left the East to his Conduct The Goths are overcome Years of J. C. 379 all the Barbarians are kept in awe and that which Theodosius looked upon as no less the Macedonian Heretics who denyed the Divinity of the Holy Ghost were condemned Years of J. C. 881 at the Council of Constantinople And now there was only the Greek Church the consent of all the West and of Pope Damasus made him to call the Second General Council Whilst Theodosius governed with so much Power and Success Gratianus who Years of J. C. 383 was not inferior to him valour nor Piety abandoned by his Troops all made up of Strangers became a Sacrifice to the Tyrant Maximus The Church and the Empire bewailed Years of J. C. 386 387 the fate of that good Prince The Tyrant reigned over the Gauls and seemed to be satisfyed in that division The Empress Justina under her Son's Name set forth Proclamations in favour of Arrianism St. Ambrose Bishop of Milan opposed it with his holy Doctrin Prayers and Patience and knew that by such Arms he should not only preserve to the Church the * Basiliques Royal Palaces which the Heretics would fain have possessed but also that he should bring over the young Emperor to him In the mean while Maximus was in action and Justina found nothing more faithful than the Bishop whom she treated notwithstanding as a Rebel She sent him to the Tyrant whom his Discourses could not bend The young Valentinian is forced to betake himself to flight with his Mother Maximus is Master at Rome where he sets up again the Sacrifices unto false Gods in complaisance for the Senate as yet almost all Pagan After he had got possession of all Years of J. C. 388 the West and at that time when he thought himself most in Peace Theodosius aided by the Franks overcame him in Pannonia besieged him in Aquileia and suffered him to be killed by his Soldiers And now being absolute Master of both Empires he gave that of the West to Valentinian tho he did not enjoy it very long That young Prince raised and degraded Arbogastus too fast who was a Captain of the Franks valiant disinterested and one that by all manner of crimes was able Years of J. C. 392 to keep the Power he had acquired over the Troops He raised the Tyrant Eugenius who was only good at Discourse and killed Valentinian who would no longer have the proud Frank for his Master That detestable Fact was committed near Vienna in the Country of the Gauls St. Ambrose whom the young Emperor had sent for to receive Baptism from his hand lamented his loss and had very good hopes of his Salvation His death not long remain unpunished A very manifest Miracle gave to Theodosius the Years of J. C. 394 Victory over Eugenius and over the false Gods whose worship he had anew set up Eugenius was taken and must be sacrificed to the Public Vengeance that so the Rebellion might be quashed by his death The fierce and resolute Arbogastus became his own Murtherer rather than he would seek to the clemency of the Conqueror which all the other Rebels came to embrace Theodosius now sole Emperor was the joy and admiration of all the Universe He confirmed Religion put to silence Heretics abolished the corrupt and impure Sacrifice of the Heathen corrected vitious effeminacies and Years of J. C. 390 repressed all superfluous expences He humbly acknowledge his faults and repented of them he hearkened to St. Ambrose the famous Doctor of the Church who reproved him for his passion the only Vice of that great Prince Tho' always victorious yet he never made War but when forced to it by necessity He made the People happy Years of J. C. 395 and dyed in Peace more illustrious by Years of J. C. 386. 387. his Faith than by all his Conquests In his time St. Jerom the Priest being retired into the sacred solitary of Bethlehem put himself to vast labour and pains to explain the Scriptures read all the Interpreters of them searched into all Histories both Sacred and Profane which might give him any Light and out of the Original Hebrew composed that Version of the Bible which the Church in general hath received under the name of Vulgar The Empire which seemed to be invincible under Theodosius changed on the suddain under his two Sons Arcadius had the East and Honorius the West both of them governed by their Ministers they made their Power to serve their own particular Interests Eufinus and Eutropius successively favoured by Arcadius and each as wicked Years of J. C. 395 as the other were soon cut off and Affairs Years of J. C. 399 went no better under a weak Prince His Years of J. C. 403 Wife Eudoxa made him to persecute S. John Years of J. C. 404 Chrysostom the Patriarch of Constantinople and the Light of the East Pope S. Innocentius and all the West kept up that great Bishop against Theophilus the Patriarch of Alexandria and Minister of the Empress's cruelties The West was troubled with the Inundation of the Barbarians Radagasus a Years of J. C. 406 Goth and Heathen ravaged Italy c. The Vandals a Gothic and Arrian Nation seized on one part of Gallia and so spread themselves in Spain Alaricus King of the Visigoths an Arrian People forced Honorius to resign those great Provinces to him which were already possessed by the Vandals Stilicon â—mbarassed with so many Barbarians beat them managed them held secret Intelligences and broke with them sacrificed all to his Interest and notwithstanding kept the Empire which he was resolved to usurp In the mean Years of J. C. 408 time Arcadius dyed and thought the East so stript of good Subjects that he left his Son Theodosius of about eight years old to the Guardianship of Isdegerdus King of Persia But Pulcheria the
came in Person to acknowledg it was from the Roman Church that the Faith came into his Isle and after he had received Baptism by the Hands of the Pope he dyed even according as he himself had wished The House of Clovis was fallen into a most deplorable Weakness Frequent Minorities had degenerated the Princes into such softnesses as they could not get out of when they were come to age From thence proceeded a long Succession of droaning Kings that only knew how to be content with the Name of King and delegated all their Power to the great Ministers of the Crown Under this Title Pepin Heristel governed all Years of J. C. 693 and raised up his House to the most exalted Years of J. C. 695 Hopes By his Authority and after the Martyrdom of St. Vigibert the Faith was established in Frieseland which France had then just added to her Conquests St. Swibert St. Willebord and other Apostolick Men spread abroad the Gospel in the neighbouring Provinces In the mean while the Minority of Justinian was happily got over the Victories of Leontius had brought down the Saracens and re-established the Glory of the Empire in the East But that Years of J. C. 694 valiant Captain unjustly arrested and unfortunately Years of J. C. 696 released cut his Masters Nose and drive him out That Rebel suffered a like treatment from Tiberius named Absimarus who himself did not long continue Justinian re-established was ungrateful to his Friends and in taking Revenge of his Enemies he raised himself up those that were more to be feared for they killed him The Images of Philippicus his Successor were Years of J. C. 702. 711. not received in Rome because he was a Favourer of the Monothelites and a declared Enemy to the sixth general Council At Constantinople they chose Anastasius II. a Years of J. C. 713 Catholic Prince and they pulled out Philippicus his Eyes At that time the Debauches of King Rodericus or Rodrigue caused Spain to be delivered up to the Moors So they called the Saracens of Africa Count Julian to be revenged for his Daughter whom Rodrigue had abused called those Infidels They came with vast Troops That King was ruined Spain submitted and the Empire of the Goths was brought to an end by it The Church of Spain was then put upon a new Proof and Tryal But as it had preserved it self under the Arians the Mahometans could not prevail over it They left it at first with Liberty enough but in the following Ages it indured great Combats and Chastity had its Martyrs as well as Faith under the Tyranny of a Nation as brutal as it was infidel The Emperor Years of J. C. 715 Anastasius continued not long The Army forced Theodosius III. to take up the Purple He was put upon fighting the new Emperor got the day and poor Anastasius was clapt into a Monastery The Moors being Masters of Spain hoped e're long to enlarge themselves beyond the Pyrenees But Charles Martel destined to suppress them was raised in France and had succeeded tho' a Bastard to the Power of his Father Pepin Heristel who left Austrasia to his House as a piece of soveraign Principality and the Command in Neustria by the charge of Grand Minister of the Crown Charles reunited all by his valour The Affairs of the East were embroyled Years of J. C. 716 Leo Isaurien Prefect of the East did not own Theodosius who without Resistance quitted the Empire which he had not accepted of but as it had been forced upon him and retired to Ephesus he spent the rest of his time about things that were truly great The Saracens received several cruel Shocks during the Empire of Leo. They shamefully raised the Siege at Years of J. C. 718. 719. Constantinople Pelagius who was canton'd in the Mountains of Asturia with the remains of those that were resolute among the Goths after a signalized Victory set up a new Kingdom in opposition to those Infidels whereby one day they were to be driven out of Spain Notwithstanding all the Efforts and the vast Army of Alderames their General Charles Martel gained over them the famous Battle of Toures There were killed there an infinite number of those Years of J. C. 725 Infidels and Abderames himself abode there upon the place This Victory was attended with other Advantages by which Charles put a stop to the Moors and extended the Kingdom even to the Pyrenees Then the Gauls scarce enjoyed any thing which was not in Obedience to the French and all acknowledged Charles Martel Powerful in Peace and in War and absolute Master of the Kingdom he reigned under several Kings with whom he fought and whom he conquered at his Pleasure but yet he durst never take upon him that great Title The Jealousy of the French Lords would have been thus deceived The Religion was established in Germany The Priest St. Boniface Years of J. C. 723 converted those People and was made Bishop thereof by Pope Gregory II. who had sent him thither The Empire was at that time pretty quiet But Leo began a trouble in it which lasted long before it ended He attempted to pull down as Idols the Images Years of J. C. 726 of Jesus Christ and of his Saints But tho' he could not come up to the Sentiments of St. Germane Patriarch of Constantinople he acted with his Authority and after a Decree of the Senate they saw him presently breaking an Image of our Saviour which was set up on the great Porch of the Church of Constantinople This began the Violences of the Iconoclasts that is to say of the breakers of Images Other Images which the Emperors the Bishops and all the Faithful had erected since the Peace of the Church both in publick and in private places went likewise all to wrack This Spectacle set the People into Motion The Statues of the Emperor were broke down in several places He look'd upon himself as being affronted in his Person and he was reproached for committing the like Affront upon Jesus Christ his Saints and that by his own Confession the Injury done to the Image reflected upon the Original Italy still went further the Impiety of the Emperor was the occasion that the common Taxes and Assessments were refused Luitprand King of the Lombards made use of the same Pretence to take Ravenna the Residence of the Exarchs So they called the Governors whom the Emperors sent into Italy Pope Gregory II. opposed the pulling down of Images but at the same time he opposed the Enemies of the Empire and indeavoured to retain the People Years of J. C. 730 in their Obedience Peace was made with the Lombards and the Emperor executed his Decree against Images more fiercely than ever But the famous John of Damas declared to him that in matters of Religion he knew no Decrees but those of the Church and he suffered much The Emperor removed from his Seat the Patriarch St. Germane who died in Exile being ninety years
of Age. A little while after the Lombards Years of J. C. 739. 740. re-assumed their Arms and in the Calamities which they made the People of Rome to suffer they were only kept in by the Authority of Charles Martel whose Assistance Pope Gregory II. had implored The new Kingdom of Spain called at first the Kingdom of Oriedo grew greater by the Victories and the Conduct of Alphonsus Son-in-Law to Pelagius who following the Example of Recaredes from whom he was Years of J. C. 741 descended took upon him the Name of Catholic Leo died and left the Empire as well as the Church in a great Fermentation Artabaces Pretor of Armenia caused himself to be proclaimed Emperor instead of Constantine Copronimus the Son of Leo and set up Images again After the death of Charles Martel Luitprand threatned Rome anew The Exarch of Ravenna was in danger and Italy owed its Safety to the Prudence of Pope Zachary Constantine being Years of J. C. 742 embraced in the East thought only of setting Years of J. C. 743 up himself he beat Artabazus took Constantinople and filled it with instances of his Revenge The two Sons of Charles Martel Years of J. C. 747 Carlomane and Pepin had succeded to the Power of their Father but Carlomane disgusted with the Age in the midst of his Greatness and his Victories embraced a monastick Life By this means his Brother Pepin reunited all the Power into his own Person He knew how to keep it by a great desert and formed his Design to raise himself Years of J. C. 752 up to the Kingdom Childerick the most miserable of all Princes opened him the way to it and added to the quality of a lumpish Tool that of Madman The French being sick of their dull heavy Princes and accustomed so long to the House of Charles Martel ever abounding with great Men were only troubled at the Oath they had taken to Childerick Upon the Answer of Pope Zachary they thought themselves free and so much the more disengaged from the Oaths they had taken to their King as that he and his Predecessors seemed for these two Hundred Years to have renounced all Right to command over them in intailing as it were the whole Power of ruling to the office of the great Minister of the Palace So that Pepin was set up on the Throne and the Name of King was annexed to the Authority Years of J. C. 753 Pope Stephen III. found in the new King the same Zeal that Charles Martel had testified for the Holy See against the Lombards After he had in vain implored the Assistance of the Emperor he threw himself Years of J. C. 754 into the Arms of the French The King received him in France with respect and would be consecrated and crowned with his Hand At the same time he passed the Alps delivered Rome and the Exarchy of Ravenna and reduced Astolphus King of the Lombards to an equitable Peace In the mean while the Emperor made work with the Images Conc. Nic. 11. act 6. To strengthen himself with the Ecclesiastick Authority he assembled a numerous Council at Constantinople However there was not seen as was wont Ibid. defin Pseudosyn C. P. to appear either the Legates of the Holy See or the Bishops or the Legates of the other Patriarchal Sees In that Council they did not only condemn as Idolatrous all Honour paid to Images in remembrance of their Originals but also the very Sculptures and Pictures of them as of detestable Arts. It was the Opinion of the Saracens whose Councels it was said Leo had followed when he broke down the Images But yet there appeared nothing against Reliques The Council of Copronymus did not forbid Honour to be paid to them Ibid. Pseudosyn C. P. Can. 9. 11. he thundered out his Anathemaes against those who refused to have recourse to the Prayers of the Holy Virgin and of Saints The Catholics persecuted for the Honour they gave to Images answered the Emperor that they had rather indure all manner of Extremities than not honour Jesus Christ even in his Shadow In the mean time Pepin repassed the Alps and chastised the Infidel Astolphus for denying to execute the Treaty of Peace The Church of Rome never received a more noble Gift than that which the Pious Prince then made her He gave her the Towns Years of J. C. 755 recovered from the Lombards and laughed at Copronymus who re-demanded them he that could however never defend them Since that time the Emperors were very slenderly acknowledged in Rome they became there contemptible by their weakness and odious by their Errors Pepin was looked upon there as the Protector of the People and of the Church of Rome This Quality seemed as hereditary to his House and to the Kings of France Charlemain the Son of Pepin maintained it with a Courage Years of J. C. 772 equal to his Piety Pope Adrian had recourse to him against Didier King of the Lombards who had taken several Cities Years of J. C. 773. 774. and threatned all Italy Charlemain passed the Alps. Every thing bowed Dydier was delivered the Lombard Kings Enemies both of Rome and of Popes were destroyed Charlemain made himself to be crowned King of Italy and took upon him the Title of King of the French and of the Lombards At the same time he exercised in Rome the same soveraign Authority in the Quality of a Patricius and confirmed to the Holy See the Donations of the King his Father The Emperors with great Difficulty resisted the Bulgari and vainly supported the dispossessed Lombards against Charlemain The Quarrel of Images still was kept on Foot Leo IV. Son of Copronymus seemed at first to be pretty quiet but he renewed the Persecution Years of J. C. 780 so soon as ever he thought himself to be master He died quickly after His Son about ten Years old succeeded to him and reigned under the Tutelage of the Empress Years of J. C. 784 Irene his Mother Then things began to appear with a new Face Paul the Patriarch of Constantinople declared towards the latter end of his Life that he had opposed Images against his Conscience and retired into a Monastery where in the presence of the Empress he deplored the Mischief of the Church of Constantinople separated from the four Patriarchal Sees and proposed to her the Celebration of an universal Council as the only Remedy proper for the healing of so dangerous a Distemper Tarassus his Successor maintained that the Question had not been judged orderly because it began by a Decree of the Emperor and that a Council held against all due form had followed whereas in matters of Religion it belongs to the Council to begin and then the Emperors to strengthen the Judgment of the Church Grounded upon this Reason he accepted of the Patriarchate Conc. Nic. 2. Act. 7. but upon condition Years of J. C. 787 that an universal Council should be held It was begun at
whose Land and Spoils he was resolved to bestow on them were not yet full as he declared to Abraham Gen. 15.16 so as he knew they would be when he should deliver them to that hard and unpitiable vengeance which he would bring upon than by the hands of his chosen People There was time to be given for this People to multiply that so they might be able to fill the Land which was designed them and to possess it by force Ibid. in rooting out those Inhabitants who were accursed by God He was willing to have them undergo in Aegypt a hard and insupportable Captivity that so being delivered by unheard of Prodigies they might be in love with their Rescuer and eternally celebrate his Mercies This was the order of the Councils of God so as himself has revealed them to us to teach us to fear him to adore him to love him and to wait with Faith and Patience The time being come he hearkens to the cries of his People who were cruelly afflicted by the Aegyptians and he sends Moses to deliver his Children from thdr Tyranny He makes himself known to that great Man more than ever yet he had done to any Man living He appears to him in a manner equally magnificent and comforting he declares to him that He is that He is All that is before him is but a shadow I am Exod. 3.14 saith he that I am Being and Perfection belongs to me alone He takes up a new Name which designates Being and Life in him as in their Source and it is that great name of God Terrible Mysterious and Incommunicable by which he will for the time to come be served I will not in retail give you an account of the Plagues of Aegypt nor of the hardness of Pharaoh's heart nor of the passing over the red Sea not of the Smoke nor Lightnings the Trumpet sounding and the dreadful Thundering and Noise that the People heard on Mount Sinai God there engraved with his own hand upon two Tables of Stone the fundamental Precepts of Religion and Society He dictated the rest to Moses with a loud Voice To preserve this Law in its strength and vigour he was ordered to convene a venerable Assembly of seventy Elders Exod. 24.1 Numb 11.16 who were to be called the Senate of the People of God and the perpetual Council of the Nation God made his publick appearance and caused his Law to published in his presence with an astonishing demonstration of his Majesty and Power Till then God had given nothing by writing which might serve as a Rule for Mankind The Children of Abraham only had Circumcision and the Ceremonies that accompanied it for a Token of the Covenant which God hath contracted with that Elect Race They were separated by that sign from the other People who worshipped false Gods Now they kept themselves in the Covenant of God by the remembrance they had of the Promises made to their Fathers and they were known as a People who served the God of Abraham of Isaac and of Jacob. God was so strangely forgotten that it was necessary to make him discernable by the name of those who had been his worshippers and of whom he was also the declared Protector This great God was resolved no longer to leave to the hare memory of Mankind the Mystery of Religion and of his Covenant It was time to give stronger bars to Idolatry which overwhelmed the World and was even like to extinguish the remains of natural Light in Men. Ignorance and blindness was most prodigiously increased since Abraham's time In his time and a little after the knowledge of God extended it self into Palestine and Egypt Gen. 14.18 19. Melchisedeck King of Salem was the Priest of the most High God possessor of Heaven and Earth Abimelech King of Gerar and his Successor of the same name feared God swore in his Name and admired his Power The Threatnings of that great God were dreadful to Pharaoh King of Egypt Gen. 21.22 23.26.28 29. Gen. 12.17 18. Exod. 5.1.23.9.1 c Exod. 8.26 But in the time of Moses those Nations were perverted The true God was no longer known in Egypt as the God of all the People of the World but as The God of the Hebrews They then worshipped Beasts and even creeping things of the Earth Every thing was God excepting God himself and the World which God had made for the manifestation of his Power seemed now to be become a Temple of Idols Mankind stragled so far as to adore its very Vices and its Passions and there is nothing to be wondered at in all this There was no Power more Inevitable and Tyrannical than their own Man accustomed to believe every thing divine that was powerful as he felt himself dragged on to a vice by a force that was invincible he easily thought that that same force was somewhat out of himself and so presently made a God of it 'T was thence that unchast Love had so many Altars erected to it and some impurities which are horrible even to name Levit. 20.23 began to be mixed with their Sacrifices Cruelty got into them too at the same time Guilty Man who was troubled at the sense of his own wickedness and looked on God as his Enemy supposed he could no ways better appease and reconcile him than by extraordinary Sacrifices He must shed Man's Blood an mix it with that of Beasts a blind fear pushed on Fathers to immolate their own Children and to burn them to their Gods instead of Incense Those Sacrifices were common in the times of Moses and were but one part of those horrid Iniquities of the Amorites whose vengeance God doth commit to the Children of Israel But they were not only peculiar to those people 'T is known Herod l. 2. Caes de bel Gall. 6. Diod. l. 1.5 Plin. l. 30. Athen l. 13. Proph. de abst l. 2. Jorn de â—eb Get. c. that among all the people of the world not excepting one Men have sacrificed their own resemblances and there had been no place on the Earth where those sad and frightful Divinities were not worshipped whose implacable hatred to Mankind did not require of them such Sacrifices Amidst so great an Ignorance Man came to fall down and worship even the work of his own hands He believed himself able to shut up the Divine Spirit in his Statues and so miserably had he forgot 't was God that made him that he thought in his turn he was able to make a God Who could believe it if Experience did not shew us that so stupid and brutish an Error was not only the most universal but also the most riveted and incorrigible among men Thus it must be confessed to the confusion of Mankind that the first of Truths that which the world preaches that whose Impression is the most powerful was the most remote from men's â—ight The Tradition which preserved it in their minds tho' it
in his time had discovered to them the punctuality of the Declension set forth in the Prophecy they doubted not but that Christ was coming and they should see that new Kingdom in which all People were to be reunited One thing which they took notice of was that the power of life and death was taken from them Talm. Hierosol tr Sanhed Dan. 13. That was a great change since they had ever enjoyed that great priviledge till then to what Dominion soever they were subjected nay even in Babylon during their Captivity The History of Susanna plain enough shews that and it was a most certain Tradition among them The Kings of Persia who re-established them 1 Esdr 7.23 24 25 26. left them that power by an express Decree which has been already observed in its proper place and we have also seen that the first Seleucides had rather enlarged than straitned their Priviledges I need not here to repeat any thing of the Reign of the Maccabees where they were not only enfranchised but became mighty and formidable to their Enemies Pompey who weakened them as we have already likewise seen being content with the Tribute he had laid upon them and with putting them in such a condition that the People of Rome might dispose of them upon occasion left them their Prince with all his Jurisdiction It is sufficiently known that they received such usage from the Romans and that they never medled with their Government among themselves in those Countreys where they suffered them to have their Natural Kings In fine the Jews were resolved to lose that power they had of life and death but forty years before the Destruction of the second Temple and it is to be questioned whether this was not the first Herod that ever attempted to make this breach on their Liberty For since Joseph an t 14. 17. as well to be revenged of the Sanhedrim where he had himself been obliged to appear before he was made King as afterwards to gain over to himself the absolute Authority he had attacqued that Assembly which was as the Senate founded by Moses and the perpetual Council of the Nation that exercised the Supreme Jurisdiction by little and little that great Body lost its power and but very little of it did remain at the time when Christ came into the World Affâ—irs grew worse and worse under Herod's Sons when the Kingdom of Archelaus whereof Jerusalem was the Capital City being reduced into a Roman Province was governed by Presidents whom the Emperours sent thither In that wretched and pitiable estate the Jews had so small a share of the power of life and death that to get Jesus Christ to be put to death whom notwithstanding they were resolved to crucifie whatsoever it should cost them they were fain to have recourse to Pilate and that weak Governour having told them that they should judge him to Death by their own Law they presently answered him that it was not lawful for them to put any man to death John 18 31. Acts 12.1 2 3. And so likewise by the hands of Herod they caused St. James the Brother of St. John to be beheaded and clapt St. Peter into Prison When they had resolved on the death of St. Paul they delivered him into the hands of the Romans as they had already done Jesus Christ Acts 24. and the Sacrilegious Vow of their false Zelots who had sworn neither to eat or drink before they had killed that holy Apostle sufficiently discovered that they were sensible they had lost their power of taking away his life in a Judicial Course of Proceeding If they stoned indeed St. Stephen that was done tumultuously by the Rabble and by an effect of those Seditious Transports which the Romans could not always suppress in those who called themselves at that time the Devout Acts 7.57 58. This is held for certain then as well by those Histories as by the consent of the Jews and by the posture of their Affairs that towards the time of our Saviour and especially in that when he began the Exercise of his Ministry they absolutely lost their Temporal Authority They could not behold that their loss without remembring that ancient Oracle of Jacob which had foretold them that in the time of the Messiah there should be no longer among them either Power Authority or Magistracy One of their most ancient Authors takes notice of it and it is but reason in him to acknowledge that the Scepter was not then in Judah nor any Authority among the Heads of the People seeing that the publick Power was taken from them Tract voc magn Gen. seu com in Gen. and the Sanhedrim being degraded the Members of that great Body were no more looked on as Judges but as bare simple Doctors Therefore according to their own reckoning it was much about the time that Christ was to appear And as they saw then that certain Sign of this new King 's coming to be very near at hand whose Empire was to extend it self over all People they did effectually believe that he would appear The noise thereof spread it self round about and all the East were fully persuaded that it would not be long before they saw come out of Judah those who should Reign over all the Earth Tacitus and Suetonius report this Story as being established by a positive Opinion and by an ancient Oracle which was found in the Sacred Books of the Jews Suet. Vespas Tacit. l. 5. hist c. 13. Joseph de bell Jud. 7.12 Hegisip de Excid Jer. v. 44. Josephus relates that Prophecy in the same terms and says as they did that it was found in the holy Scriptures The Authority of those Books whose Predictions were seen so visibly accomplished in so many Instances was very great in all the Eastern Country and the Jews more attentive than any other in observing the several Conjunctures which were chiefly written for their Instruction acknowledged the time of the Messiah which Jacob had pointed out in their declension Thus the Reflections they made upon their Condition were very just and without being deceived about the time of Christ's Advent they confessed he was to come just in that very point of time he did But O the weakness of Humane Understanding and the Vanity which is the inevitable Source of Blindness the Humility of their Saviour concealed from those proud Souls the true Grandeurs which they were to look for in their Messiah They would have had him to have been a King like to the other Kings of this World which was the reason that the Flatterers of the first Herod dazled with the Greatness and Magnifâ—cence of that Prince who as much a Tyrant as he was yet forgot not to inrich Judea Epiph. lib. 1. haer 20. Herodian said that he himself was that King so much promised 'T was that also which gave way to the Sect of the Herodians by whom he was so much
his Predecessors it is not that he is fearful for his Throne for all lyes quiet at his Feet and his Arms are dreaded over all the Earth but it is because he loves his People and being sensible that he is advanced by the Hand of God to a Power that nothing can equal in the Universe he knoweth not what better use to make of it but to imploy it to the Healing of the Wounds of the Church May your Highness imitate so glorious an Example and leave it to your Descendant Posterity Recommend to them the Churches Care to be sure more than that Great Empire which your Ancestors have governed for so many Ages May your Illustrious House the first in Dignity to any in the World be the first in defending the Rights of God and in extending over all the World the Kingdom of Jesus Christ who makes it to reign with so much Glory The End of the second Part. THE THIRD PART OF THIS DISCOURSE THE Empires ALTHO there be nothing comparable to this uninterrupted Course of the true Church which I have represented to you I. That the Revolutions of Empires are regulated by Providence and serve to humble Princes yet the Succession of Empires which I am now going to set before you will not be of much less Advantage to such great Princes as your Highness is First Those Empires have for the most part a necessary Connexion to the History of the People of God God was served by the Assyrians and the Babylonians to chastise that People by the Persians to re-establish them by Alexander and his first Successors to protect them by Antiochus the Illustrious and his Successors to exercise them by the Romans to maintain their Liberty against the Kings of Syria who made it their whole business to destroy them The Jews continued unto Jesus Christ under the Power of those very Romans When they had ungratefully Crucified him those same Romans lent their hands without ever thinking that they did so to the divine Vengeance and rooted out that ungrateful People God who had resolved at thâ— same time to gather to himself a new People out of all Nations did first reunite both the Land and Sea under that same Empire The Commerce of so many different People otherwise Strangers one to the other and afterwards reunited under the Roman Dominion was one of the most powerful and effectual Means that Providâ—nâ—e made use of for the spreading of the Gospel If the same Roman Empire persecuted for two hundred Years this new People which rise up on all sides within its Walls that Persecution hath confirmed the Christian Church and hath made its Glory the more bright and conspicuous by its Faith and Patience At last the Roman Empire yielded and having found something more invincible than it it quietly received into its Bosom that Church against which it had made so long and so cruel a War of Resistance The Emperors have laid out all their Power to make the Church be obeyed and Rome hath been the Spiritual Empire that Jesus Christ would extend over all the Earth When the time was come that the Roman Power was to fall and that that great Empire had vainly promised an Eternity to it self was to undergo the Fate of all others Rome became the Prey of the Barbarians yet by its Religion kept up its antient Majesty The Nations that invaded the Roman Empire by little and little learnt their Christian Piety which tempered their Barbarisme and their Kings in placing themselves each in their Nation in the room of Emperors found not any of their Titles more glorious than that of being Protectors of the Church But here I must discover to you the secret Judgments of God upon the Roman Empire and even upon Rome herself A Mystery which the Holy Ghost revealed to St. John and which that great Man Apostle Evangelist and Prophet hath explained in the Revelations Rome that was grown old in the Worship of Idols found it extreamly difficult to get rid of it even under Christian Emperors and the Senate counted it an Honour to defend the Gods of Romulus to whom they attributed all the Victories of the old Common-Wealth The Emperors were wearied out with the Deputations of that great Body which required the Re-establishment of its Idols â—orym 4. Orat. Symm ap Amb. Tom. 5. l. 5. Ep. 30. Aug. de Civit. Dei l. 1. c. and which thought that to correct Rome of her old Superstitions was to do an Injury to the Roman Name Thus that Company which was made up of the chiefest Grandees the Empire had and an immense number of People in which were well near all the most famous and signalized Persons of Rome could not be drawn from their Errors neither by the preaching of the Gospel nor by so plain and visible an accomplishment of the antient Prophecies nor by the Conversion of almost all the rest of the Empire nor to conclude by that of the Princes all whose Decrees were in favor of Christianity On the contrary they continued most opprobriously to charge the Church of Jesus Christ which they accused also after the Example of their Fore-fathers of all the Mischiefs and Calamities of the Empire always ready to renew the antient Persecutions if they had not been suppressed by the Emperors Things were in this Condition at the fourth Age of the Church and a hundred Years after Constantine when God at last called again to mind the many bloody Decrees of the Senate against his faithful People and at the same time rememb'red the furious Outcries of all the People of Rome whose greediness after Christian Blood had so often made the Amphitheatres to resound He therefore delivered to the Barbarians that City Apocalyps 17.6 drunken with the Blood of the Saints and with the Blood of Jesus as St. John speaks God renewed upon her the terrible Chastisements he had exercised upon Babylon so that Rome it self was called by that Name That new Babylon the follower of the old as she was fleshed and swelled with her Victories triumphing in her Delicacies and her Riches polluted with her Idolatries and a persecutor of the People of God fell also as she did and her Fall was great Revelat. 17.18 as St. John sings her Ruine The Glory of her Conquests which she attributed to her Gods is taken away from her She is made a Prey to the Barbarians taken three or four times pillaged sack'd destroyed The Sword of the Barbarians only spares the Christians Another Rome entirely Christian arises out of the Ashes of that former and it was only after the Inundation of the Barbarians that the Victory of Jesus Christ was perfectly obtained over the Roman Gods which were seen then not only destroyed but quite forgotten Thus the Empires of the world have ministred to Religion and the Preservation of the People of God Wherefore this same God who hath caused his Prophets to foretel the several Estates
wise goes staggering reeling and as it were besotted because the Lord hath shed the Spirit of Dizziness and Confusion in all her Councils She no longer knows what she does she is lost to her self But that Men may not herein be deceived God repaireth when he seeth good the stragling Senses and he that insulted over the Blindness of others falls himself into more Egyptian Darkness and often times without any thing else to confound his Sence and Understanding than his too long Prosperities Thus it is that God Reigneth over all People Let us no longer talk of Chance or Fortune or speak of it only as a Name wherewith we conceal our Ignorance That which is Chance in respect of our uncertain Councils is a concerted Design in a higher Council that is to say in that eternal Council which circumscribes all Causes and all Effects in one and the same Order Thus all concurs to the same end and it is for want of understanding the all that we find of Chance or of Irregularity in particular Accidents and Emergencies By that is verified the Saying of the Apostle 1 Tim. 6.15 that God is the blessed and only Potentate the King of Kings and Lord of Lords Blessed whose Repose is unalterable who seeth every thing to change without changing himself and who makes all Changes by an Immutable Council who gives and who takes away Power who transfers it from one Man to another from one House to another from one People to another to shew that they have it only by way of Loan and that it is he alone in whom it naturally resides Wherefore all Governors find themselves the Subjects of a greater Power They aâ—t more or less than they think for and their Councils have ever more had unforeseen Effects They neither are Masters of the Dispositions which Ages past have made in their Affairs nor can they foresee what Coâ—rse the times to come will take so far are they from being able to force it He alone holds all things in his Hands who knows the Name of that which is and that which is not yet who presides at all times and anticipates all Councils Alexander little thought he laboured for his Captains nor that he ruined his House when he gained his Conquest When Brutus animated the Romans with such an excessive Love of Liberty he as little thought he was casting into their Minds the Principle of that unbridled and masterless Licence by which the Tyranny he designed to destroy was one day to be re-established with greater Severity than under the Tarquins When the Caesars flattered the Souldiers they had no designs of giving Masters to their Successors and to the Empire In a word there is no humane Power but what do what it can serves for other Designs than it aims at at present God alone knows how to bring about all things according to his own Will Wherefore every thing is surprising if we only look to particular Causes and yet nevertheless every thing goes on in an orderly manner This Discourse makes you see it clearly and not to speak of other Empires you see by how many unforeseen Councils but yet always connected in themselves the Fortune of Rome hath been carried on from Romulus down to Charlemain Your Highness might perhaps have thought I should have told you somewhat more of your own Country and of Charlemain who was the Founder of the new Empire But besides that his History makes a part of that of France which you your self have wrote and which you have already so far proceeded in I reserve to make you another Discourse of that wherein I shall be necessarily obliged to speak to you of France and of that great Conqueror who being equal in Valour to those which Antiquity hath the most boasted of doth yet exceed them in Piety in Wisdom and Justice That some Discourse shall discover to you the Causes of the prodigious Successes of Mahomet and this Successors That Empire which began two hundred Years before Charlemain may find its place in that Discourse but I though it would be much better to shew you in one continued Series its beginning and its declension So that I have no more to tell you in this first Part of my Universal History You will discover all the Secrets of it and you will have nothing to do but to observe in it all the Progress of Religion and that of the great Empires down to Charlemain Whilest you will see almost all fall of themselves and Religion only support it self by its own Strength you will easily then discern what is solid Grandeur and where a wise and considerate Man is to place all his Hopes A TABLE TO THE FIRST PART OF THIS DISCOURSE I. EPocha Adam or the Creation First Age of the World Pag. 1. II. Epocha Noah or the Deluge Second Age of the World Pag. 4. III. Epocha The Call of Abraham Third Age of the World Pag. 7. IV. Epocha Moses or the written Law Pag. 11. V. Epocha The taking of Troy Fourth Age of the World Pag. 15. VI. Epocha Solomon or the Temple finished Fifth Age of the World Pag. 17. VII Epocha Romulus or Rome founded Pag. 25. VIII Epocha Cyrus or the Jews re-established Sixth Age of the World Pag. 43. IX Epocha Scipio or Carthage Conquered Pag. 71. X. Epocha The Birth of Jesus Christ Seventh and last Age of the World Pag. 89. XI Epocha Constantine or the Peace of the Church Pag. 110. XII Epocha Charlemain or the re-establishment of the new Empire Pag. 149. A Table to the Second Part. THE Course of Religion Pag. 155. I. The Creation and the first Times ibid. II. Abraham and the Patriarchs Pag. 178. III. Moses the Law written and the bringing of the People into the promisid Land Pag. 189. IV. David the Kings and the Prophets Pag. 209. V. The times of the second Temple Pag. 247. VI. Jesus Christ and his Doctrine Pag. 267. VII The Descent of the Holy Ghost the Establishment of the Church the Judgments of God both on the Jews and on the Gentiles Pag. 298. VIII Particular Reflections upon the Punishment of the Jews and upon the Predictions of Jesus Christ who had taken Notice of it Pag. 316. IX Two memorable Predictions of our blessed Saviour are explained and their Accomplishment justified by History Pag. 330. X. The Progress of the Jewish Errors and the manner how they explain the Prophecies Pag. 345. XI Particular Reflections on the Conversion of the Gentiles The profound Councils of God which resolved to convert them by the Cross of Jesus Christ The Arguing of St. Paul upon this manner of their Conversion Pag. 366. XII Divers ways of Idolatry Sense Interest Ignorance a false respect of Antiquity Policy Philosophy and Heresies came to its Succor but the Church triumphs over all Pag. 376. XIII General Reflection on the Progress of Religion and the Relation there is between the Books of the Scriptures Pag. 401. A Table to the Third Part. THE Empires Pag. 437. I. That the Revolutions of Empires are regulated by Providence and serve to humble Princes Ibid. II. The Revolutions of Empires have particular Causes which Princes ought to study Pag. 445. III. The Scythians the Ethiopians and the Egyptians Pag. 447. IV. The Assyrians both antient and new the Medes and Cyrus Pag. 475. V. The Persians the Grecians and Alexander Pag. 48â— VI. The Roman Empire Pag. 505. VII The Successive Changes of Rome Explained Pag. 543. FINIS
to him all the Royal Prerogative 1 Macc. 14.41 is remarkable 'T is thus expressed That the Jews and the Priests were well pleased that Simon should be their Governor and High-Priest for ever until there should arise a faithful Prophet The People used from the beginning to a Theocracy or divine Government and knowing that since the time of David's being set upon the Throne by the order and appointment of God the Soveragain Power belonged to his House to whom it was to be at last surrend'red at the time of the Messiah puts expresly this Restriction to the Power which he had given to his High-Priests and continued to live under them in the hopes and expectation of that Christ which had been so often promised Thus did that Kingdom which was absolutely free make use of its Prerogative and provided for its Government The Posterity of Jacob by the Tribe of Judah and by the rest who were ranged under its Standards preserved themselves like a Body of a State and independently and quietly enjoyed the Land which had been assigned to them By virtue of the Peoples Decree which we now have been speaking of John Hyrcan the Son of Simon succeeded to his Father Under him the Jews grew very great by their considerable Conquests They subdued Samaria as Jeremiah and Ezekiel had foretold they conquered the Idumeans the Philistins Ezek. 16.55 56 58 61. Jer. 31.5 1 Macc. 10.30 Joseph an t 13.8 17 18. Zach. 9.1 2 c. the Ammonites who were their perpetual Enemies and those People embraced their Religion as Zachariah had observed At length in spight of all the Hatred and Jealousy of the People who were round about them under the Authority of their High-Priests who afterwards became their Kings they founded the new Kingdom of the Asmoneans or the Mascabees more large and extensive than ever excepting only thâ— times of David and Solomon Thus you see in what manner the People of God subsisted always amidst all this variety of Changes and that People who were sometimes chastised and again sometimes comforted under their Afflictions and Grievances by the different Treatments they received according as they deserved bears a sufficient publick Testimony to that Providence which governs the World But in what Condition soever they were they lived still in the expectation of the Messiah which was in the fullness of time to come wherein they looked for new Graces and much greater than any of those they had yet received and there are none but see that this Faith of the Messiah and of his Miracles which continues still to this day among the Jews is descended to them from their Patriarchs and their Prophets from the beginning of their Nation Joseph 1. cont Apion For in that long succession of Years where they themselves did confess that by a Council of Providence there was not any other Prophet risen up among them and that God made them no new Predictions nor new Promises this Faith of the Messiah which was to come was more sprightly active and vigorous than ever It was found so firmly established when the second Temple was built that there was no need of a Prophet to confirm the People in it They were supported by the Faith of the antient Prophecies which they had seen so exactly fullfilled before their Eyes in so many chief Points The â—est from that time never was in the least question'd by them and it was not at all difficult for them to believe that God who was so faithful in every thing should not also accomplish in its due time that which concern'd the Messiah that is to say the very main of all his Promises and the Ground and Foundation of all the rest In effect all their History all that daily happened to them was but as it were one perpetual opening Scene of those Oracles which the Holy Ghost had left with them Being so settled again in their Land after the Captivity they enjoyed for three hundred years a most profound Peace if their Temple was reverenced and their Religion honoured over all the East if at last their Peace was ruffled and shaken by their Dissentions if that proud King of Syria made unheard of attempts to destroy them if he sometime prevailed if he were a little after punished if the Jewish Religion and all the People of God were restored with a more marvellous glory than ever before and the Kingdom of Judah grew greater toward the end of the time by new Conquests you have seen all this was no more than what was found written in their Prophets Yes every thing was particularly taken notice of there even to the time that the Persecutions were to last even to the places where the Battels were to be fought and even to the Lands which were to be conquered I have in the gross related something to you of those Prophecies the Particulars would be matter of a longer Discourse I will here only give you the first Tincture of those important Truths which is so much the more acknowledged as we shall enter forward into the Particulars I shall only observe here that the Prophecies of the People of God have had during all those times Porph. de Abst lib. 4. Id. Porphyr Jul. apud Cyr. l. 5. 6. in Jul. so plain and manifest an accomplishment that since when the Heathen themselves when a Porphyrius when a Julian the Apostate otherwise Enemies of the Sacred Scriptures would at any time give Example of Prophetick Predictions they have been forced to seek them among the Jews And I may also tell you for a truth that if during five hundred years the People of God were without a Prophet all the estate of those times was prophetical The work of God went on and the ways were preparing insensibly for the full accomplishment of those ancient Oracles The Return from the Captivity of Babylon was only a shadow of the Liberty both more great and more necessary which the Messiah was to bring to men that were Captives unto sin The People dispersed in several places in Vpper Asia in Lesser Asia in Egypt and even in Greece began to make the Name and the Glory of the God of Israel shine forth more conspicuously among the Gentiles The Scriptures which were one day to be the Light of the World were put into the most known Language of the World their Antiquity is confessed Whilst the Temple was had in reverence and the Scriptures given to the Gentiles God shews some representation to their future Conversion and lays a great way off the foundations of it What also happened among the Grecians was a kind of preparation to the knowledge and understanding of the Truth Their Philosophers confessed that the World was governed by a God far different from those whom the common sort of People worshipped and whom they also served with the common People The Greek Histories believe that this excellent Philosophy came from the East and from those
many times overcome had nothing left to do but to make division among the Greeks and the condition in which they found themselves by their Victories made that an easie Enterprise As Fear kept them united so Victory and Confidence broke that Union Plat. de Leg. 3. Being used to fight and to conquer when they thought they had nothing more to fear from the power of the Persians they fell then one upon another But that State of the Greeks and the Secret of the Persian Polity wants a little further Explication Among all the Republicks of which Greece was made up Athens and Lacedemonia were incomparatively the Chief There could not be more Wit than was to be had at Athens nor more force and strength than what Lacedemonia afforded Athens was set upon Pleasure the Lacedemonian life was hard and laborious They both loved Glory and Liberty but at Athens Liberty naturally tended to Licentiousness and Lacedemonia being held in by her severe Laws the more she was suppressed within the more did she indeavour to enlarge her Dominion abroad Athens was desirous all of Rule but it was from another Principle Interest and Honour went together Her Citizens were excellent in the Art of Navigation and the Sea o're which she reigned had enriched her To make her self sole Mistress of all Commerce there was nothing she could not attempt to subject and her Riches which had filled her with that desire furnished her with ways and means how to satisfie it On the contrary the Lacedemonians had Money in Coâ—tempt As all her Laws tended to make her a Martial Republic the glory of Arms was the only Charm wherewith the Minds of her Citizens were possessed From thence naturally she was ambitious of Domination and the more she was above Interest the more she gave her self up to Ambition Lacedemonia by her regular Life was firm in her Maxims and Designs Athens was more quick and Spiritual and the People there were too much Masters Philosophy and the Laws indeed wrought very good Effects in such exquisete Natures but Reason by it self was not able to retain them Plat. de Leg. 3. A wise Athenian and one who admirably well understood the temper and Complexion of his Country informs us that Fear was absolutely necessary for Minds that were so sprightly and so free and that there was no longer any governing of them when the Victory of Salamine had secured them against the Persians Then two things destroyed them the glory of their famous Actions and the Security in which they thought they were The Magistrates were no longer obeyed and as Persia was afflicted through an excessive Subjection so Athens Plato says felt the Calamities of an excessive Liberty Those two great Commonwealths so contrary in their Tempers and Conduct yet embraced each other in the design they had to reduce all Greece so that they were always Enemies and they were more so from the contrariety of their Interests than from the incompatibility of their Humours The Cities of Greece desired no Domination over either of them for besides that every one wished to be able to preserve their own Liberty they found the Empire of those too Republicks too troublesome That of Lacedemonia was fierce There was in her People an I know not what of a wild Barbarity A Government too rigid and a Life too laborious Arist Pol. 8.4 made their Spirits too fierce too austere and too imperious add to this likewise that one must resolve never to be in Peace under the Empire of a City that being formed for War could not preserve it self Id. 7. 14. Xenoph. de rep Lac. Plat. de rep 8. but by an uninterrupted continuance of it Thus the Lacedemonians resolved to Command and all the World was afraid lest they should Command The Athenians were naturally more mild and agreeable There was nothing to be seen more delightful than their City where their Feasts and their Plays were perpetual where wit where liberty the Passions afforded every day new Spectacles But their unequal Conduct was displeasing to their Allies and was yet more insupportable to their Subjects It was therefore necessary to shake off the Fantastry of a flattered People that is to say according to Plato something more dangerous than that of a Prince corrupted by Flattery Those two Cities never suffered Greece to be at quiet You have seen the Peloponesian War and the others always caused or kept up by the Jealousies of Lacedemonia and Athens But those Jealousies which troubled Greece did also in some sort support it and prevented it from becoming a dependance on one of those two Republicks The Persians soon perceived this Estate of Greece Therefore all the Secret of their Politie was to keep up those Jealousies and to foment those Divisions Lacedemonia which was the most ambitious was the first to engage them in the Quarrels of the Greeks They espoused them with a design of making themselves Masters of all the Nation and being careful to weaken the Grecians the one by the other they only watched for the good Hour when to overthow them all together The Cities of Greece did already in their Wars Plat. de Leg. 3. look only on the King of Persia whom they called their great King or the King by way of Excellence as if they already accounted themselves his Subjects but it was impossible for the old Spirit and Genius of Greece not to awaken when they were upon the Brink of falling into Servitude and becoming a Prey to the Barbarians The Petty Kings of Greece attempted to oppose that great King and to ruine his Empire With a small Army but bred up in the Discipline we have already seen Agesilaus King of Lacedemonia Polyb. dib 3. c. 6. made the Persians in lesser Asia to tremble and shewed that it was possible to defeat them The Divisions of Greece were the only thing that put a stop to his Conquests But it happened at a time when young Cyrus the Brother of Artaxerxes revolted against him He had ten Thousand Grecians in his Troops which alone could not be broken in the Universal rout of his Army He was killed in the Battle and as it is reported by the hand of Artaxerxes Our Greeks were found without a Protector in the midst of the Persians and round about Babylon Yet victorious Artaxerxes could neither oblige them voluntarily to lay down their Arms nor force them to it They attempted the bold Design of going through all his Empire in an armed Body and so return into their own Country which they accordingly accomplished All Greece saw then more than ever that she trained up an invincible Militia to which every thing was to yield and that only her own Divisions could subject her to an Enemy who would yet be too weak to resist her when she was united Philip King of Macedon equall able and Valiant so well improved the advantages which were given him against so many
divided Cities and Commonwealths by a Kingdom little indeed of it self but united and where the Royal Power was absolute that at last partly by Stratagem and partly by force he made himself the most puissant of Greece and obliged all the Grecians to march under his Standards against the Common Enemy He was slain in those Conjunctures but Alexander his Son succeeded to his Kingdom and to his Designs He found the Macedonians not only trained up to Martial discipline but also triumphant and become by so many successes almost as much superiour to the other Grecians in Valour and Discipline as the other Grecians were above the Persians and such like sort of People Darius who reigned in Persia in his time was just valiant generous beloved of his People and wanted neither Wit nor Courage to execute his Designs But if you compare him with Alexander his Wit with that piercing and sublime Genius His Valour with that haughtiness and steadiness of that invincible Courage which was the more animated by the Obstacles that he met with with that unmeasurable Ambition of encreasing daily his Name which made him prefer the least advance of Honour to all manner of Dangers Labours and to a thousand Deaths In a word with that Confidence that made him think verily and from his Heart that all ought to submit to him as to one whom his Destiny rendred superiour to all others a Confidence which he inspired not only into his Chiefs but also into the least of his Soldiers whom he raised by that means above difficulties and even above themselves You will quickly judg to whom of them two the Victory belonged And if you add to these things the advantages which the Greeks and the Macedonians had above their Enemies you will confess that Persia being attacked by such an Hero and by such Arms could no longer hold out from changing Masters Thus will you discover at the same time what ruined the Persian Empire and what raised up that of Alexander To make his Victory the more easy it happened that Persia lost the only General that could oppose the Greeks it was Memnon the Rhodian Diod. 17. Sect. 1. When Alexander had vanquished so famous and renowned a Captain he might boast that he had overcome an Enemy that was worthy of him Instead of hazarding against the Greeks a general Battle Memnon would needs dispute all the passages with them would cut off all their Victuals would go and attack them among themselves and by a vigorous onset would force them to come and defend their Country Alexander had prepared for them and the Troops he had committed to Antipater were enough to keep Greece But his good Fortune did on the sudden deliver him from that Embarrass At the beginning of a Diversion which already disturbed all Greece Memnon dyed and Alexander brought all under his Feet That Prince made his Entrance into Babylon with so glorious a shew that surpassed all that ever yet the World had seen and after he had revenged Greece after he with an increâ—â—dible Expedition had brought under all the Lands of the Persian Domination to secure his new Empire on all sides or rather to gratify his Ambition and make his name more famous than that of Bacchus he went into India where he extended his Conquests farther than that renowned Conqueror But him that Desarts Rivers and Mountains were not able to stop was constrained to yield to his tyred Soldiers who desired thâ—n some repose Being forced to content himself with the proud Monuments he left upon the Borders of Araspes he brought back his Army by another way than that he had gone and subdued all the Countries which he found in his Passage He came back to Babylon feared and respected not as Conqueror but as a God But that formidable Empire he had conquered lasted no longer than his Life which was very short too When he was but three and thirty Years of Age in the midst of the vastest Designs that ever Man had conceived and with the justest hopes of a most happy Success he died before he had the opportunity solidly to settle his affairs leaving a weak Brother and Children very young behind him incapable of supporting so great a weight But what was most fatal both to his House and to his Empire was that he left behind him Captains whom he had taught to breath out nothing but Ambition and War He saw to what excesses they would rise when he should be taken out of the World He to retain them and for fear he should be contradicted durst neither name his Successor nor who should be the Tutor of his Children He only foretold them that his Friends would celebrate his Funerals with bloody Battles and so he expired in the flower of his Age full of sad Images and Ideas of the Confusion which would attend his Death In fine you have seen the partage of his Empire and the frightful ruin of his House Macedonia his antient Kingdom enjoyed by his Ancestors for so many Ages was invaded on all sides as a vacant Succession and after it had been long the Prey of the strongest it went at last to another Family Thus that great Conquerour the most renowned and most illustrious that ever was was likewise the last of his Race If he had continued peaceable and quiet in Macedonia the greatness of his Empire would not have been a temptation to his Captains and he might have left to his Children the Kingdom of his Fathers But because he had been so very powerful he was the cause of the loss of all his own and thus you see what was the glorious fruit of so many Conquests His Death was the only cause of that great revolution For this must be said to his eternal Honour that if ever Man was capable of maintaining so vast an Empire although newly conquered without doubt it was Alexander for the strength of his Mind was equal to his Courage It ow'd not therefore to his faults tho' he had very great ones the fall of his Family but only to Mortality unless we will say that a Man of his Humour and whose ambition engaged him still to new undertakings could never be at leisure to settle things well Be it how it will we learn by his Example that besides the Faults which Men might correct that is to say those they are guilty of thro' heat of Transport or thro' Ignorance there is an irrecoverable Weakness inseparably annexed to humane Designs and that is Mortality Every thing may fall in a Moment by that way That which forces us to confess that as the most inherent Vice if it may be allowed me to speak so and the most inseparable from humane things is their own Frailty He who knows how to preserve and strengthen a State hath found out a higher point of Wisdom than he that can conquer and gain Battles It is needless to tell you in particular what destroyed those Kingdoms that were formed