Flatter Sense but to assist it This will better appear in describing the whole Form and Manner of their Outward Worship THEY offered the Sacrifice every Sunday XXX Their Liturgy and outward Form of Worship V. S. Epiph. haeres in fi Bona i. Liturg c. xviii on all the Feasts of the Martyrs on all Fast Days or oftner as the Custom of every Church in particular required They had also both upon Publick and Private occasions their Votive Masses Sometimes they had many Masses 〈◊〉 the same Day as when the Office of a Saint fell upon some other Festival or when there was a Burial It was always â—â—her the Bishop himself or one and the 〈◊〉 Priest that performed them all as it is still observed by us on christmas-Christmas-Day On Sundays and the other Festivals Mass was said about nine or ten of the Clock in the Morning on Fast Days later for V. Cod. Sacram edit Rom. 1680. they were not to eat on those Days till after Evening Service past three of the Clock in the Afternoon The Hour being come the People met together at the principal Church to attend the Bishop with all his Clergy to the place where the Station for that Day was appointed And after this manner the Bishop took his V. Ord. Ro. round and visited all his Churches one by one every one in its Course And that this Progress might be orderly made and in a full Body Processions were Instituted As they were entring the Church and taking their places the Choir sung a Psalm with its Anthem which from thence took its name of the Introit The Const Ap. ii c. lvii Deacons and their assistants the Subdeacons and Door keepers gave every one his place in order as they came so that all was done without any thing of Confusion being all seated there they prayed for some time in Silence every Man to himself then the Bishop Saluted the People and put an end to their private Prayers Pronouncing with a lowd Voice his publick Prayer which from thence took its name of the Collect. Then the Bishop seated himself on his Throne that stood at the very end of the Church and terminated the prospect of the whole Congregation Thus every Bishop was as it were the visible Image of 1 Cor. xi 1. 1 Tim. iv 12. Tit. ii 7. God in his Church placed there eminently as St. Paul expresses it to be the patern to his own Flock as Jesus Christ was to him The Priests were seated on each side about him some on the right hand and others on the left in the Semicircle of the Absis and next to them stood the Deacons Thus the Church seemed to resemble that Image of Paradise given us Apoc. iv by St. John in the Apocalypse The Bishop on his Throne with a Book in his Hand as the Fathers are commonly painted represented that Figure of a Man under which God appeared the Priests were that August Senate designed by the four and twenty Elders the Deacons and other Officers were the Angels standing always in a readiness to receive Ordo Rom. Apoc. viii iii. and execute the Orders of God Before the Bishops Throne stood seven Candlesticks and the Altar on which they offered the Incence that Symbol of Prayer Apoc. v. where they were afterward tho' under a borrowed form to offer the unspotted Lamb of God Under the same Altar were the Bodies of the Martyrs as under that St. John saw were the Souls of those to whom it was said That they should rest Apoc. vi ix Baron ad Martyr vi Jul. yet for a little Season And lastly the number of the Faithful which filled the other part of the Church represented the innumerable Multitude of the Blessed who being Clothed in white Robes and Apoc. vii 9. with Palms in their Hands sung with a loud Voice the Praises of their Marker Such was the Face then of their Church-Assemblies The whole Congregation being seated the Reader went up to the Desk and read a Lesson first out of the Old-Testament and after that another out of the new that is out of the Acts or Epistles of the Apostles for the reading of the Gospel was reserved to some Priest or Deacon To render these Lessons the more agreeable and to give the People leisure to meditate upon them and the Readers some respite there were intermingled with them Psalms Anthems and the singing of Allelujas which were afterwards placed before the Gospel All these Lessons of the Scripture were read in the vulgar Language that is in the Language spoken by the better sort of People in every Country For though in Africa the Punick Language was vulgarly spoken among the inferior sort of People in the time of St. Austin yet we do not find that it was used in the Church But in Thebais the Scriptures must needs have been read in the Aegyptian Language since St. Antony Vi. S. Ant. c. i. who understood no other was converted by his having heard the Gospel read in the Church In the upper Syria the greatest part of the Bishops understood nothing of Greek nor of any other Language but the Syriack as it appears by the Councils where they were forced to make use of Concil eph Concil Cal. ced Act. x. Interpreters AFTER the Lessons the Sermon begun XXXI Their Sermon the Bishop Expounded the Gospel or some other part of Scripture and often continued a course of Expositions upon some entire Book of the Bible from the beginning to the end or else passing over some part of it he made choice of the most important Subjects Of these continued Expositions we have Examples in many of St. Chrysostom's Homilies in St. Austin upon the Psalms upon St. John and upon the Epistles of St. Paul In St. Ambrose we have a selected Argument which begins with the six Days work in imitation of St. Basil then the Exposition proceeds to the History of Noah Abraham and the other more Illustrious Saints of the Old Testament but still observing the Order of the Holy Bible The greatest part of those Tracts and Commentaries of the Fathers upon the Scriptures are nothing else but Sermons preached to their People which they afterward reduced into Form or were taken down in Writing as they spake them by the Art of short Hand before mentioned These holy Preachers were none of your idle Haranguers like the Sophists of the Profane Schools who filled the World with endless disputes only out of a vain Emulation of Contradicting and refining upon each others Notions or like those who laboured in their Closet to shew their Learning and fine Parts These Prelates v. Aug. de oper Monach c. 29. Epis ad Diosc v. Synes Ep. 55. were laborious Pastors who had always their Hands full of business and were too intent upon the works of Charity to spend all their time in their Studies and they were principally employed upon that necessary
in our Plein Chant or Church Musick brought in by St. Gregory For what we now call Musick is certainly a clearly Different thing and altogether Modern As for the Chanting of the Prayers and Lessons that we see consists but of very few Notes only to help to keep up the Voice and mark the distinction of the Periods I think I have said enough to shew how well the Bishops of these first times understood to manage the objects of Sense so as to make them subservient to the end of Religion and by their help to make Impressions of Piety even upon the most heavy and Illiterate For Instance let us suppose the solemn manner of their Celebrating the Vigil of Easter at Rome under the Pope St. Leo. The Faithful V. Euseb vi Hist c. ix on that Holy Night with their reverend Bishop at the Head of them Assembled together in a Body in the Lateran Church In the first place immediately upon the Benediction of the new Fire an incredible number of Lights made the Holy Night look as glorious as a fine Day We may imagin what a charming Sight it must needs have been to see this August Magnificent Church filled with such a Numerous Assembly and yet in so vast a Multitude of People nothing of Noise Tumult or Confusion but every one Regularly disposed and Ranged according to the Quality of their Age and Sex and the station they held in the Church And especially distinguish'd from the rest were those who were to receive Baptism that very Night together with those who had accomplished their Pennance and had been but two Days before Readmitted into the Church Their Eyes were entertained on every side with the Marbles and Paintings the glittering of the Gold Silver and Precious Stones that Sparkled upon the Consecrated Plate and especially near the Holy Altar The silence of the Night admitted of no other Interruption but the Lessons out of the Prophets Pronounced with a clear distinct and intelligible Voice and intermixt with the Singing of the Versicles that so this Variety might make both of them more agreeable So many grand and delightful Objects presenting themselves at one and the same time could not but awaken the Soul and inspire her with Vigour both to attend to those Holy Lessons and profit by them especially being prepared for them before hand by continual exercises in the Word of God What must the Gravity and Modesty of the Deacons and other sacred Ministers have needs been who were made choice of and bred by such a Prelate and serv'd in his presence or rather in the presence of God whom their own thoughts represented to them always before their Eyes But above all How Majestick must the Pope himself appear so venerable for his Learning his Elocution his Zeal his Courage and all his other Vertues With what an awefull Reverence with how Affectionate a Piety must he have pronounced over the Sacred Fonts those Prayers which he himself first Composed and which his successors have found so Pious that they have still preserved the same for us the space of twelve hundred Years I can no longer Wonder that on these occasions and under such helps of Devotion the Christians of those Days should quite forget their Body and having Fasted all the Day before should pass this Holy Night of the Resurrection also in Watching and Prayer without eating a bitt till the Day following BUT this great Day being come and XXXV The Solemnity of Feasts of the Church Pilgrimages the time of their Fasts expired the greatest Saints did not only allow but also enjoyn the refreshing of the Body How profitable soever Fasting might be to raise up the Soul to God and Facilitate the Duty of Prayer for which exercise of Devotion the Feasts of the Church were chiefly designed yet it was forbidden to fast on Sundays or on the Festival Days or throughout the whole Quinquagesima So they called it not as we do now the fifty Days before Easter but the fifty Days between Easter and Whitsunday 'T is true the Monks of Egypt used great precautions Cass Collat xxi de remiss quinq least they should by this little Relaxation lose the fruit of their past Abstinence But at last they observed the Church Distinction St. Pacomus according Vie de saint Pacome c. viii to the direction of St. Palemon his Master on Easter-day Eat a Sallet of Herbs and Oil instead of dry Bread only which was their usual Dyet at other times A certain Holy Priest as God had put it into S. Greg. ii Dial. c. i. his mind on an Easter Day carryed to St. Benet a present of Provisions for him to make better Cheer at that time than ordinary and to express a more sensible rejoycing on the same Occasion St Anthony was wont on Easter and Whitsunday to put on his Coat of Palmtree-leaves which was left him by St. Paul the first Hermite and St. Athanasius at the same time appeared clad in the Cloak St. Anthony had left to him And from that time S. Leo. Serm. iii. de Quadrages forward it was an established custom among Christians to apparel themselves on the Festivals in their Richest Habits and to make better Fare than ordinary on those Days The Feasts of the Martyrs had proportionable honours paid to them and were Celebrated with a great Concourse of People On Sundays and other Feasts common to the whole Church every one was content to stay at home with his own Bishop But on these special Feasts they ran from all parts to celebrate the Memory of the Saints so that upon these occasions many of the Bishops themselves often met together at their Tombs By one example we may judge of the rest St. Paulinus reckons up more then twenty Natali 3. names as well of Cities as Provinces in Italy whose Inhabitants did every Year assemble together in vast Troops with their Wives and Children to Celebrate the Feast of St. Felix notwithstanding the Rigor of the Season it being kept on the fourteenth of January And all this only for one single confessor in that single City of Nola. What then must have been done throughout the. whole Christian World What at Rome upon Prud. Peristeph ii 11 12. Martyr Jun. xxix de S. Cassio the Feast of St. Hippolytus of St. Laurence of the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul They flocked to Rome from the most distant places and at all times And that was the Rise of Pilgrimages In the time of the Persecution under the Emperor Claudius the second St. Marius together with St. Martha his Wife and Children Martyrol xix Janu. took a jorney to Rome on purpose to perform their Devotions there and upon that occasion they there suffered Martyrdome The same hapned not long after to St. Maurus who came out of Affrica to visit Ibid. xxii Novem. the Sepulchers of the Apostles And before St. Alexander was chosen Bishop of Jerusalem
An Historical ACCOUNT OF THE Manners and Behaviour OF THE CHRISTIANS And the Practices of CHRISTIANITY Throughout the SEVERAL AGES OF THE CHURCH Written originally in French by Msr. Cl. Fleury Praeceptor to Monseigneur de Vermandois and to the Dukes of Burgundy and Anjou LONDON Printed for Thomas Leigh at the Peacock against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet-street 1698. THE PREFACE THE Learned Author of this Book gives several Instances of his Ingenuity and Candor He recommends some Primitive Practices that justifie our Reformation Particularly the continual reading and studying of the Holy Scriptures Speaking of the Ancient Christians he says that they studied the Word of God in private Meditating upon it Day and Night They read over in their Houses what they heard at the Church Masters of Families took care to repeat those Expositions of Scripture they had Learnt from their Pastors Many Lay-Christians could say the Holy Scripture by heart They generally carried a Bible about with them and many Saints have been found Buried with the Gospel lying on their Breasts Women no less than Men read the Holy Scripture and in the Persecution regretted nothing so much as the loss of their Bibles Parents took such care to Instruct their Families that in all Antiquity we find no Catechism for little Children nor any publick provision made for the Instruction of those that were Baptized before they came to Years of Discretion Every private House was then as a Church He observes that St. John was the Chief in our Saviour's Affection Jesus Christ had a particular Kindness for his Disciples and for his Apostles and among them for St. Peter and the two Sons of Zebedee and for St John above all the rest He does not found the Preference of the Blessed Virgin upon Blood and natural Relation but upon the Endowments and Qualifications of her Mind Notwithstanding the most tender Affection which JESVS CHRIST had for his Mother He seems sometimes to have expressed himself harshly towards her and reproved the Woman that Blessed her barely upon the account of her being his Mother and declared that he owned no other for his Mother and Kindred but they that did the will of his Father He knew what that great Person was able to bear and was willing to let the World see that Flesh and Blood had no share in his affections Mr. Fleury well observes that the Church of Jerusalem which JESUS CHRIST with his own Hands began to Build upon the Foundaion of the Synagogue was the Root and original of all other Churches He seems in nothing more to censure the Reformation than in what he writes of the Celibacy of Priests altho' Platina a Contemporary with Aeneas Sylvius tels us that that Learned Pope Pius II. used to say ' There was great reason for Prohibiting Priests to Marry but greater for allowing it again And Mr. Fleury writes thus of the Primitve Christians they knew but two States Marriage or Continence They generally made chocie of the Married State having no good opinion of the Celibacy of the Heathen tho' they preferred the State of Continence as knowing its Excellency and often found a way of Reconciling both these States into One for there were many Married Persons who yet Lived in Continence They considered Marriage as an Emblem of that Union which is between Christ and his Church They knew that the Relation of Father and Mother was an High and Honourable Character as being the Images of God in a more peculiar manner and co-operating with him in the Production of Men. It is Certain by the Gospel that St. Peter was a Married Man Tradition tells us the same of St. Philip the Apostle and that both of them had Children and it is particularly observed that St. Philip gave his Daughters in Marriage Among the Rules they give for the Education of Children this is one that to secure their Virtue they should timely dispose of them in Marriage And they advised those that out of Charity Bred up Orphans to match them as soon as they came to Age and that to their own Children rather than to Strangers so little did they regard Interest What He says of their Communicating in both Kinds publickly Reading the Holy Scripture always in the Vulgar Tongue The Custom of Sitting in their Churches the Length of their Sunday-Service is also Remarkable When they reserved part of the Sacrament as a Viaticum for Dying Persons that which they carried Abroad was only the Bread tho' in their publick Assemblies all in general Communicated under both Kinds excepting little Children to whom they gave only the Wine All the Lessons of the Scripture were Read in the Vulgar Tongue i. e. in the Language Spoken by the better sort of People in every Country During the time of the Lessons and Sermon the Audience was regularly Seated the Men on one side of the Church and the Women on the other When all the Seats were filled the younger sort of People continued Standing In Africa St. Augustin takes notice that the People stood all Sermon-time but he better approved the Custom of the Transmarine Churches as he calls them where they heard Sitting Their Litnrgy must needs have been very long Indeed Christians did not then think that they had any thing else to do on Sundays but to serve God St. Gregory to shew how much his Strength was decayed says that he was scarce able to keep himself standing for those Three Hours while he performed the Office of the Church and yet his Sermons that are left us are very short What Mr. Fleury says of the Compassion the Church had for Hereticks must not be omitted because nothing seems more to have encreased the scandalous Divisions of Christendom than severity The Church Interceeded in behalf of her own Enemies We have many Epistles of St. Augustin where he Begs the favour of the Magistrate in the behalf of the Donatists convicted of horrid violencies and even Murders committed on the Catholicks He pleaded that it would be a dishonour to the Sufferings of the Murdered to put to Death the Authors of them and that if they could find no other penalties for them but Death they would thereby bring themselves to that pass that the Church who delighted not in the Blood of her Adversaries would not dare to demand Justice against them This was a general Rule that the Church should never seek the Death of any Man They were content that Christian Magistrates should Correct or over-aw Hereticks by Banishment or Pecuniary penalties but they would have their Lives Spared And the whole Church declared against the proceeding of the Bishop Ithacius who Prosecuted the Arch Heretick Priscillian to Death Yet the Bishops could not always obtain the Pardon they desired for these sort of Offenders no more than they could for others Princes to preserve the publick Peace Enacted the penalty of Death against Hereticks and their Laws were sometimes put in Execution If in these latter Ages the
be left no Meum and Tuum no room for private and separate Interests But they could onely make use of Penalties to constrain or Arguments to perswade Men to accept of their Regulations and therefore all their labour was in vain 'T was only the Grace of Jesus Christ that could change the Hearts of Men and cure the corruption of their Natures Thus this Communication of Goods among these Christians of Jerusalem was the pure effect of that singular Charity with which the Gospel had inspired them which made them all Brethren to each other and as it were of one and the same Family where out of one and the same Estate the Father provides for all his Children and loving them all equally suffers none of them to want They had always before their Eyes the Commandment of Jesus Christ of loving one another so often repeated by him and particularly the night before he suffered making this the distinguishing Character by which all men were to know that they were his Disciples But that which obliged them to sell their Possessions and reduce all into ready Mony Joh. 13 35. was our Saviour's Command of forsaking all that they had which they practised not only in the inward disposition of the Heart in which terminates the obligation of this Precept but in reality of Fact according to that Counsel of our Saviour If thou wilt be perfect go and sell all that Ma. 12. 21. thou hast and come and follow me For a Aug. de Catech. Rud. C. 23. man more effectually secures himself from being incumbred with the things of this Life if he really parts with them than he can be while he keeps them in his Hands Besides they considered that our Saviour had foretold the Destruction of Jerusalem Ma. 24. 34. and that he had limited the time of it to be before that Generation should pass away which made them willingly clear themselves of all the concerns they had either in that accursed City it self or in the Country belonging to it devoted to Destruction So that the Believers living in common was a practice peculiar to the first Church of Jerusalem and suitable to the condition of those times and Persons For it would have been an hard matter at least Humanly speaking for so numerous a Church to have long Subsisted without the support of some fixed Fund and Revenues that were certain and by the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles of St. Paul we see that during the short time of its continuance Act. 24. 17. it stood in need of Relief from other Churches and that out of all the 1 Cor. 16. 3. Provinces there were remitted considerable summs for the use of the Saints at Jerusalem And yet St. Chrysostom so Hom. 11. in Act. long time after sticks not to propose this Example of Believers living in Common as a thing still Practicable and as a means of converting all the Infidels 'T is to be supposed that these Saints of Jerusalem Laboured with their own Hands since in so doing they did but follow the most perfect examples of Jesus Christ and his Apostles nor can we suppose any thing too perfect of them And this was also a considerable means of supplying their want of fixed Revenues 'T is said that they continued stedfast in the Doctrine of the Apostles and they are commonly called by the Name of Disciples from their applying themselves to the Learning of the Doctrine of Salvation both by hearing the Apostles who made frequent Discourses to them and diligently Instructed them both in Publick and Private delivering to them the same saving Truths they themselves had received from the Lord And likewise in reading the Holy Scriptures and conferring upon them among themselves 'T is added that they continued in Prayer and that they went Dayly to the Temple assembling themselves in Solomon's Porch and there with Act. 3. 1. one accord joyning in Prayer The Example of St. Peter and St. John going up together into the Temple at the hour of Prayer being the Ninth hour makes it probable that they then observed the same hours of Prayers which the Church hath Baron an 34. 12. 250. always since kept to As to their outward way of living they conformed themselves to the rest of the Jews observing all the Ceremonies of the Law even to the Offering of Sacrifices which they continued to do as long as the Temple was standing And this is what the Father 's called Giving the Synagogue an honourable Interment Aug. ep 19. After Prayer the Scripture takes notice of the breaking of Bread by which there as in several other Places of the New-Testament is signifyed the Eucharist They Celebrated this Mystery not in the Temple where they could not be at liberty enough to do it and where the Christians were intermixed with the Jews but in private Houses with onely the Faithful amongst themselves It was attended as the Peace-Offerings under the Law with a Repast the use of which continued for a long time amongst Christians under the Name of Agapae which Word signifies Love as much as to say Love-Feasts It is said that these Feasts were accompanyed with Gladness and singleness of Heart And indeed all the Faithful by their Humility Simplicity and Purity of Heart were as so many little Children Innocent and Inoffensive And by their renouncing the vain hopes and Enjoyments of this Life they cut off all occasions of Vexatious and Disquieting Passions as leaving no matter for them to work upon and having their Thoughts wholly taken up with the hopes of Heaven and the expectation of the Kingdom of Christ which they looked upon as very near at hand And if we cannot without wonder so much as Read that little which the Scripture hath left to us in Writing concerning the first Church we may easily imagine how much they must have been beloved and admired by those who were the Spectators of their Vertues This first Church Subsisted at Jerusalem for near the space of forty Years under the Direction of the Apostles and particularly of St. James their Bishop till the Christians seeing according to the Predictions of our Saviour the Judgments denounced against that unhappy City near approaching Seperated themselves from the Unbelieving Jews and retired to the little City of Pella where they enjoyed a safe retreat during the Siege of Jerusalem II. PART IN the mean time there were formed several other Churches in divers parts of the World Composed both of Jews and Gentiles which though they came not up The time of the Persecutions The state of the Gentiles before their Conversion to this height of Perfection yet were great Examples of Vertue and Holiness especially if we consider the state of the Gentiles before their Conversion They who are unacquainted with the History of past Ages are apt to imagine that the Men who lived in the World sixteen hundred Years ago were more simple more innocent and
VI. The Study of the holy Scriptures made up of the Psalms which being Pronounced with a Grave and distinct Voice were highly Instructive as containing in them a kind of summary or Abridgment of what lyes more dispers'd in the other sacred Books and supplying a collection of those thoughts and reflexions which a Man should make in every condition Athanas. Epist ad Maroellin of Life and upon every Emergency With the Psalms they always joyned the reading of some other parts of Scripture and from thence came in the little Chapters of the Hours As the Night Prayers were always the Longest so they had more Lessons belonging to them And as the Mass is the most solemn part of all the Office so it is that which had more of the Instructive part mixed with the Devotional Nothing was read in the Church as Scripture and of Divine Inspiration but what was received into the Canon that is to say such as the Constant Tradition of the Churches had Authorised Those other Writings which some Private Persons would have introduced where called Apocryphal that is hidden or obscure To secure the Ecclesiastical Books from all change and that neither the Boldness nor carelessness of the Transcribers might make any Alterations in them there was sometimes Joyned to them a Protestation Conjuring in the name of God whosoever should Transcribe the Writing to do it Faithfully Such an one did St. Irenaeus add to the end of his Epistle to Florinus and of the Euseb Hist v. xx the like nature is that Menacing Clause affixed to the Apocalyps Apoc. xxii 18. The Church therefore was not only the House of Prayer but the School of Salvation The Bishops expounded to the People the Gospel and the other sacred Books with the diligence of a publick Professor but with far greater Authority And therefore in the Stile of the Ancients the Title of Doctor that is Teacher is scarce given to any but Bishops They Instructed their Flock both Publickly in the Congregation of the Faithful and Privately going as was St. Pauls own Act. xx 20. Practise from House to House And as the same Apostle directs in his Epistles to Titus and Timothy they variously applyed their Instructions to the several conditions Ignat. Ep. ad Polycarp of Men. They professed that they Spake nothing of themselves that they Tertull. Presâ—r c. viii kept to what was revealed not pretending to make new discoveries after the Gospel but Faithfully to Deliver to others what they themselves had received from St iren ad Florin ap Eus. v. Hist 20. St. Clem. Al. Strom. init their Fathers that is from the most Ancient Priests and Bishops living within the memory of Man and they in like manner from others before them and so backward by an uninterrupted Tradition ascending up to the Apostles themselves They Imprinted in the minds of the Faithful an Abhorrence for all kind of Novelties Pap. apud Eus. Hist iii. c. 38. more Especially in the Doctrinals of Religion So that if any private Persons heard any thing contrary to the Faith they never amused themselves about contradicting or confuting it that care they left to their Pastors They only stopped their Ears against it and would have nothing to do with it And this is the reason why so many Heresies Ignat. ep ad Trall et al. which started up in the first Ages were silenced and came to nothing without the Interposing of Councils or any formal proceedings of the Church against them The Catholick Pastors unanimously consented in the same Traditions and the People inviolably adhered to the Doctrine of their Pastors The Faithful studyed the Word of God in private every one by him self meditating upon it both Day and Night They used to read over again in their Houses what they had heard read at the Church to fix in their Memories the expositions of the Pastors and to discourse them over among themselves Above Const Apost iv c. 10. all the Fathers of Families took care to make these Repetitions to their Domesticks For every Master of a Family was within the Walls of his own House as it were a private Pastor keeping up therein a regular Course of Praying and Reading instructing his Wife Children and Servants and in a plain and familiar way Administring proper Exhortations to them and thus preserving all that belonged to him in the Unity of the Church by the entire Submission he himself paid to his Pastor What I have said of Fathers is also to be understood of Mothers who took the same Religious care of their Children St. Basil and his Brother Basil Epist Lxiv Lxxv. Lxxix Greg. Vita Macr. â—un St. Gregory Nyssene Glory in their having kept the Faith which they received from their Grand-Mother Macrina and she from St. Gregory Thaumaturgus And it seems to be upon this account that St. Paul gives so particular a Character of the Faith of the Mother and Grand-Mother of St. Timothy One proof of the 2 Tim. i. 5. special care that Parents took in the well instructing their Families is that we do not find in all Antiquity any such thing as a Catechism for little Children nor any publick provision made for the Instruction of those that were Baptised before they came to Years of Discretion Chrys Hom. xxxvi in Ep. ad Cor. Every private House was then saith St. Chrysostom as a Church to it self There were even many Lay Christians that had the Holy Scripture by heart so constant were they in the Reading of it They generally carryed a Bible about them making it their Companion where ever they went and many Saints have been found Buryed with the Gospel lying on their Breasts St. Chrysostom tells In Mat. Hom. Lxxii us that in his time many Women wore it hanging at their Necks That they washed their Hands when they received those Holy Books That every one expressed his inward Regard for them by the tokens of external Reverence at the In Jo. Hom. Liii Mor. Reading and Hearing of them the Men uncovering their Heads and the Women such was their way of expressing Reverence covering theirs For Women read the Scriptures no less then Men. We find some of those Holy Female Acta SS Agapes c ap Bar. an 304. n. 46. Martyrs who in the Diocletian Persecution having been forced to quit all they had and hide themselves in Caves Regretted nothing else but the loss of their Bibles and their being thereby deprived of those Blessed Consolations which they before enjoyed in exercising themselves Day and Night in those sacred Writings Besides the Scriptures themselves the Christians had also for their reading the Writings of their Bishops and other Ecclesiastical Authors plenty of whom and those of great Note these first Ages produced Eusebius gives us an account Euseb iv et v. Hist of about forty by name besides those whose Works came forth without the name of the
that is lost too So that we have but few of them now remaining Yet the Names of the most eminent Martyrs are preserved in the Menologies and Martyrologies which set down for every Day the Martyrs of the Day and the Place where their Feasts are Colebrated to which were afterwards added the other Saints During these Interrogatories they were Pressed to Discover their Complices that is the other Christians and Particularly the Bishops and Priests who Instructed them in their Religion and the Deacons who assisted them as also to Deliver up the Holy Scriptures T was in the Diocletian Persecution that the Heathens were more particularly bent upon destroying the Books of the Christians looking upon that as the most Effectual means of destroying their Religion it self They sought after them with the utmost Diligence and burned all they could Seize Acta C. tens an 303. They searched the Churches for them the Lodgings of the Readers and all private Houses Upon all these Queries the Acta Mar. Alutin apud Bar. An. 303. n. 35 c. Christians kept their secrets as Inviolable as they did their Mysteries They never Acta S S. Agapes c apud Bar. an 304. n. 40 c. named any Man's Person they answered that they were Taught of God they were assisted of God they carryed the Holy Scriptures engraven on their Hearts They who were so Cowardly to Deliver up their Bibles or Discover their Brethren or their Priests were Branded with the Odious name of Traitors If the Martyrs under their Torments uttered any Words at all they seldom were upon any other Subject than that of Glorifying the goodness of God and Imploring his Mercy and Assistance AFTER this cruel Examination they XVII Prisons who still persisted in the profession of Christianity were dilivered over to Punishment but they were often remanded to Prison to be kept yet longer upon trial of their Patience and reserved for fresh Torments and indeed the Prisons themselves were but another sort of Torment These Confessors of Jesus Christ were thrown into the Darkest and most Infectious Dungeons their Hands and Feet loaded with Irons heavy clogs of Wood hanging upon their Necks or Fetters with cross Bolts contrived so as either to keep them standing or their legs distended if they lay Sometimes they strewed the Dungeon with little pieces of Pot-sherds or broken Glass and there Prudent PaeriSteph 4 de S. Vin. al. they forced them to lye Naked all full of Cuts and Wounds Sometimes they left their Wounds to fester and putrify upon Mart. xvi April de S Encratide them and in that condition suffered them to dye with Hunger and Thirst Sometimes they carefully fed and tended them but only to keep them in Heart for fresh Torments They were generally denied the liberty of speaking one Word to any Person living it having been found by experience That under that Condition they had Converted many of the Infidels even to the very Goalers and Soldiers themselves that guarded them Sometimes they ordered to be brought unto them Act. SS Perpet Felic such Persons as they thought most likely to shake their Constancy as their Fathers their Mothers their Wives their Children whose Tears and melting Discourses were another sort of Temptation and many times of more dangerous Consequence than their Torments If a Martyr Martyr 31. Aug. were with Child they deferred her Execution till she was Delivered for so the Law required Thus the famous Martyr St. Mamas was born in Prison of his Mother Martyr St. Rufina In the mean time the Church took a Const Ap. v. c. ii Cyp. Ep. xi Martyr xxiii Dec. particular care of these Holy Prisoners The Deacons often visited them to do them all the Service they could to go on de Diacono S. Anthimii their Errands and to supply them with Necessaries Their Brethren also frequently waited upon them to support and encourage them to Suffer They Congratulated their Torments and wished to have a share in them they kissed their Martyr iii. Jun. de S. Zena Tertul. ii ad uxor c. iv Tertul. de jejun c. xii Martyr xi Dec. de S. Thrason Chains looked after their Wounded and supplied them with all Conveniencies as Beds Cloaths Diet and other refreshments insomuch that Tertullian complained that they fared but too well in the Prisons the Faithful spared no costs upon these Occasions If they were denied entrance they freely gave large Bribes to the Keepers and Soldiers to gain Access nor would they be repulsed by their rudeness They submitted to Blows and Contumelies put up all Affronts and Injuries patiently waited at the Prison Doors whole Nights together in hopes of gaining the favourable Minute of satisfying their Charity Whenever they could gain admittance they looked upon the Prison as v Cypr. Ep. v. and vi a Church Consecrated by the presence of the Saints there they made their Prayers and thither the Priests resorted to Celebrate the Sacrifice and afford the Confessors the blessed Consolation of not going out of the World without the Protection of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ But if it were a Bishop or Priest that was in Prison the Faithful there Assembled themselves together that they might not lose the Opportunity of receiving the Eucharist and carrying it home with them to their Houses and in such Cases as these they made use of any means they could Sometimes the Priests for want of Altars made the Consecration upon the hands of the Deacons and that Illustrious Martyr St. Lucian of Antioch being so staked down that he could not stir Acta apud Bar. anno 311. made the Consecration on his own Breast One may well imagin with what force of Exhortation these Administrations were attended All the Church look'd upon these holy Prisoners as it were already Crowned in Heaven They had a great influence upon the Prelates to obtain favour on the behalf of those whose weakness had betrayed them into Idolatry insomuch that it was found necessary to prescribe some Cautions and Limitations Cypr. de Laps ep x. xi xii c. against the indiscreet Recommendations of some of the Confessors WHITHERSOEVER the Persecutors XVIII Their eare of Reliques carried the Martyrs the rest of the Faithful followed them whether it were to the Rack or to the Execution For the places of Execution were generally without the Walls of the City and there the greatest part of the Martyrs having either by the strength of Nature or by Miracle out lived their Torments were beheaded thither did the faithful in vast numbers follow them crowding the Streets as they passed along and standing by them to the last both to admire their Constancy and by their Examples to fortify themselves against the like Trials They carefully observed the last Words that came from their Mouths which generally were Prayers as that of St. Polycarp recorded in the Epistle of the Church of
press and intrude upon the Bishop himself both out of respect to his Person and for fear of being troublesom So that the Deacons led a very busy Active Life It was necessary for them to walk much about the Town and sometimes they were obliged to take longer Journies and Travail abroad and for that reason they had neither Cloaks nor any Const. Apost ii c. lvii of the larger sort of Garments worn by the Priests but only Tuniques and Dalmaticks to be always more at liberty for Action and Motion HOSPITALITY was commonly XXIII Their Hospitality used even amongst the Heathens themselves Among the Greeks and Romans their Inns and Publick-Houses of Entertainments were rarely frequented by Persons of any Fashion or Quality In every Town where their Concerns might lead Vide Thomassin de Tesser Hospital them they took care to make themselves some particular Friend in whose Family they might be entertained during their Abode in that Place repaying their Friend who entertained them the like Kindness at their own Houses if his occasions ever brought him that way This usage grew to Prescription in Families It was the principal cement of Friendship and Correspondence between the Cities of Greece and Italy and afterward spread over the whole Roman Empire Nay so sacred was this Priviledge of Entertainment that they made it a part of their Religion Jupiter said they Presided over the Affair both the Persons entertained and the Table at which they Eate were counted Sacred 'T is no wonder then that the Christians should be so forward in Exercising Hospitality who lookd upon themselves as Friends and Brothers to one another and who knew that Jesus Christ had recommended Hospitality as one of the Mat. xxv 35. most Meritorious Performances If a Sranger discovered to them that he made Profession of the Orthodox Faith and lived in the Communion of the Church they received him with open Arms. He that should have shut his Doors against such an One would have been thought to have shut out Jesus Christ himself But first they Expected that he should make himself fully known To that purpose those that Travailed took with them Letters from their Bishop And V. Baron An. 142. n. 7. V. Prior. de Lit. Canon these Letters had certain Marks known only to Christians among themselves These Letters gave an account of the Quality and Condition of the Bearer whether he was a Catholick whether after having been an Heretick or Excommunicate he was again Reconciled whether a Catechumen or a Penitent whether in Holy Orders and in what Degree of Orders For the Clergy never Travailed without Dimissory Letters from their Bishops They had also their Recommendatory Letters to Distinguish Persons of Merit as Confessors or Doctors or those who stood in need of any particular Assistance The first Act of Hospitality was to wash the Feet of their Guests Instances of which we meet with often in Scripture And this was but a necessary Manners of the Israelites in English Pag. 77. 1 Tim. v. 10. Refreshment considering what sort of Shoes they anciently Wore And therefore St. Paul joyns the Lodging of Strangers and the washing of their Feet together If the Guest was in full Communion with the Church they joyned in Prayer and gave him all the respect of the House As to Pray before them to sit uppermost at Table to Instruct the Family They counted themselves Happy in having his Company and looked upon their Meat as in some sort Sanctifyed by his taking part with them The Clergy were every where Honoured proportionably to the Station they held in the Church If a Bishop Traveled he was in all places where he passed invited to perform the Office and to Preach among Const Ap. ii c. 58. them shewing thereby the Unity of the Priest-hood and of the Church There have been some Saints to whom their Hospitality in entertaining the Clergy or such others as came to preach the Gospel proved the occasion of their Martyrdom as Martyr xxii Jun. id 11. Decem. the Famous St. Alban in England and St. Gentian at Amiens The Christians were Hospitable even toward the Infidels themselves Thus they Executed with a great Forwardness of Affection the orders of their Prince obliging them to Lodge his Soldiers Officers or others Travailing upon the Service of the State and to furnish them Vie de St. Pacomre c. iv with Provisions St. Pacomus having Listed himself very Young into the Roman Army he and the Party to which he belonged were Embarqued on Ship board and Landed at a certain little City were he was amazed to see with what Civilities the Inhabitants received them Treating them not like Soldiers but as if they had been their Old Friends and Acquaintance And upon inquiry who they were he was told they were a People of a particular Religion called Christians From that time he informed himself of their Doctrine and this was the Occasion of his Conversion THE Christians took great care to visit XXIV Their Care of the Sick and Burial of the Dead Mat. xxv 36. Dionys. Alex ap Euseb 7. Hist c. 22. the Sick an Office of Charity so much Recommended in the Gospel The City of Alexandria being afflicted with a great Mortality under the Emperor Valerian The Christians readily took that opportunity of shewing their Charity even towards their Persecutors They so freely offered themselves to assist the Sick under their Extremities that many both of the Clergy and Laicks Dyed themselves of the common Distemper and were honoured as Martyrs The Priests visited such Christians as were Sick to Comfort them to Pray by them and Administer to them the Sacraments In such Cases the Viaticum was given only under the Species of Bread and in case of Necessity might be carryed to them by a Laick as appears by the History of Old Serapion Besides the unction of the Consecrated Euseb vi Hist. xliv Jam. 5. 14. Oil administred by the authority of St. James Sick Persons were often recovered by the Application of another Oil called the Oleum Benedictum or Blessed Oil which was Indifferently applyed either to the Faithful or Infidels either by V. Baron an lxiii n. 16. Priests or Laicks according as they had received the gift of Miracles some times they made use of the Oil of the Lamps for this purpose which were kept Burning before the Tombs of the Martyrs The Heathen having no hopes after this Life ended looked upon Death either purely as an Evil which deprived them of the Enjoyments of this World or as Adeone me delirare censes ut ista credam Cic. Tus. Quest. l. i. n. vi Nec Pueri credunt Juven an Aunihilation that Delivere them from all the Sufferings of it There were scarce any among them that gave any Credit to the Fabulous Tales of the Poets concerning the Punishments and Rewards of another Life So that as for Dying Persons their Business
their distinct Belief of the Resurrection wore out that Aversion among the Christians which the ancients even the Israelites themselves had for dead Bodies and Graves TO finish the Character of these first XXV Their Bishops Priests Clerks Times I must necessarily add a Word or two concerning the Pastors and Ministers of the Church Origen making the Comparison before mentioned of the profane Contr. Cels iii. p. 130. Ecclesias with the Christian Churches openly Avers it as a thing undeniable That those who preside over the Christian Churches had in reality that Eminency of worth and Vertue above others which the Magistrates of Cities had only in Name and shew and this he speaks in his Book against Celsus where he had ridiculously exposed himself to the Heathens had not the thing been manifestly So. 'T is indeed plain Matter of Fact The one and thirty Popes who filled up the three first Ages were all but two of them Martyrs and during the six Ages following to the ninth Century there are not above three or four of them whom the Church hath not acknowledged for Saints Most of the Bishops mentioned in History for the three first Ages stand upon Record for singular Examples of Vertue and Piety so that the Emperor Alexander Severus Lamprid in Alex. proposes the Christians Method of chusing their Clergy as an Example of the Care which ought to be taken of enquiring into the Manners and Qualifications of all Persons to be admitted into publick Employments They chose therefore Tertul. Ap. c xxxix v. Orig. Contr. Cels lib. 8. in fi Cypr. Ep. 33 34 35. to put into the sacred Functions those Christians whose Sanctity was more Eminently remarkable and whose Vertue was the most approved This honour was ordinarily the recompence of such Confessors whose Faith had been sufficiently proved by Torments such were Aurelius and Celerinus whom St. Cyprian made Readers the last of whom had his Body deeply marked with many Scarrs for the Testimony of his Constancy besides that his Grandmother and his two Unckles were glorious Martyrs Such was Numidicus the Priest who exhorted and perswaded many others to suffer Martyrdom and his own Wise among the rest was himself led with them to the place of Execution and there left for Dead Cypr. Ep. xxxiii The Bishop often chose his Clerks at the instance of the People at least not without their Knowledge and always with the advice of his Clergy But whether the Persons themselves to be Ordained were desirous of it or not that they little regarded They did not only not wait till they should offer themselves to Ordination but many times partly by force partly by Artifice constrained them to take holy Orders upon them even against their own Will so that some Persons so ordained could never prevail with themselves to exercise their Functions Cypr. ep 68. The Bishop was chosen in the presence of the People by the Bishops of the Province Assembled together in the vacant Con. Ap. viii â— 4 c. Church at least to the number of two or three of them for it was not easy in those times to hold great Synods unless in the Intervals of the Persecution and therefore sometimes the Sees of the ancient Greg. Tur. x. hist c. 31. Churches have continued vacant a long time together The Ordinations were always preceeded Act. xiii 2 3. v. Bar. an xliv n. 74. by a Fast and accompanied with Prayers These Prayers were generally continued from the Saturday-Eve to the Sunday following all that Night they passed in Watching and Praying and the next Day came on the Ordination the principal Ceremony whereof hath always been the Imposition of Hands The Ordination was followed by the Sacrifice The Bishop ordained no more Priests Deacons or other Clerks then just so many as were necessary for the Service of his Church that is to say for all his Diocess This number was not great since in the time of the Pope St. Cornelius Euseb vi Hist. c. 43. Anno Christi 250 the Church of Rome had but forty six Priests and but one hundred fity four Clergy of all sorts though the People belonging to it were vastly numerous The Bishops were Lib. Pontifical much more numerous in Proportion every City that had any considerable number of Christians in it had also its Bishop Hence it is that in the Lives of the first Popes we find more Bishops ordained by them than Priests They ordained Priests only for their own Diocess but made Bishops for the greatest part of Italy The Clergy depended entirely upon the Bishop living under his direction in the nature of Disciples and 't was his business to instruct and Discipline them to advance them from one Degree to another and allot to every one their different Functions according to the different Talents he found in them The young Martyrs that suffered with St. Babylas Martyr xxiv Jan. iii. Feb. xxx Apr. de S. Laurent xi Mai. de S. Valente St. Blaesus and with some other Saints were manifestly some of those which were breeding up for holy Orders The Clergy ordained by one Bishop could not without his permission quit him to go serve under another and one Bishops so receiving another Bishops Clergy would have been condemned as a kind of Can. Apost xiv Theft Yet this Authority of the Bishops over their Clergy was no Arbritrary and Despotick 1 Pet. v. 3. Power but a Government mixed with Love The Ecclesiasticks shared some part of the Authority with the Bishop since he did nothing of Importance without their Advice The Priests especially were consulted with who made as it were the Churche's Senate The Priests were so Venerable and the Bishops so Humble that to common appearance there was but little difference between them Nay the Clergy had some kind of Authority over the Bishop himself being the continual Inspectors both of his Life and Doctrine They attended on Const Apos ii c. 28. him in all his Publick Functions as Officers do on the Magistrate or rather as Disciples on their Master For the Clerks were to the Bishops as the Apostles to Jesus Christ his constant Attendants If therefore any Bishop should have presumed either to Teach or Practise any thing contrary to Apostolical Tradition the more elderly of the Priests and Deacons would presently have Remonstrated against it They would first in a Friendly manner have Advertised him of his Error if that took no effect they would have made their complaints against him to the other Bishops or at last have accused him before a Council The greatest part of the Clergy led the Ascetique Life feeding onely on Pulse or dry Dyets Fasting often and practising other such like Austerities as far as the great Labours of their Callings would admit of Above all Continence was in a more especial manner required of Bishops Priests and Deacons Not but that Marryed Persons were often advanced to
East end was the Altar and behind that the Presbytery or Sanctuary where the Priests sat in time of Divine Service with their Bishop in the Middle of them whose Chair was at the very end of the Basilique and terminated the prospect of them that came in at the principal Door There was before the Altar a Partition enclosed within Balasters which we may call the Choir or Chancel Cancelli and in the Middle of the Entrance into it stood the Pulpit or Ambo for the Reading the publick lessons which was a kind of Tribunal Seat Erected on high above the rest of the Congregation and had a pair of By-Staires on each side Sometimes they made two of these Pulpits Deser S. Mar. Mai. over against one another with a little void Space between them so as to leave the Middle open that the Altar might not be out of Sight On the right Hand of the Bishop and the left of the People stood the Desk for the Gospel and on the other side that for the Epistle Behind the Pulpit up to the Altar was the place for the Singing Men who were Clerks also but Ordained only to this Office The Altar was a rich Table of Gold or Silver Ornamented with precious Stones It was at worst of Marble or Porphyry for they thought they could never employ matter good enough for the bearing of the Holy of Holies and the Ceremonies they used in the Consecration of Altars sufficiently declare in what Veneration they held them The Holy Table was always kept uncovered but at the time of the Sacrifice It stood upon four Feet or little Pillars as rich in proportion as the Table its self and it was Placed if possible over the Grave of some Martyr For as they had been formerly accustomed to meet at their Tombs so now they built their Churches there or else Translated their Bodies to the Places where they built them And thence it came to be a stated Rule never to Consecrate an Altar without putting Reliques under it And these Tombs of the Saints they called Memoriae or Confessions They were layd under Ground and there was a way Baron in Martyr 6. Jul. down to them opening before the Altar which stood directly over them There was nothing standing inmediately upon the Altar it self but it was surrounded with four Pillars at the four corners of it Supporting a kind of Tabernacle that covered the whole Compass of the Altar and was called the Cupelo from its resemling in figure a Cup revers't Behind the Altar as I said before was the place for the Priests And here the roof was built lower than the rest of the Church and was called the Concha as being in the form of a Scallop-shell or the Absis from the Arch with which the Front of it was Terminated This end of the Church was also called the Tribunal because in the Heathen Palaces it was the place where the Magistrate with his Officers about him sat in Judicature This part of the Church was raised somewhat higher than the rest so that the Bishop came down some Ordo Rom. steps from thence to the Altar All this was set off with Magnificent Ornaments The Cupelo and the Pillars that susteined it were often all of Silver some of them weighed three Anast. in Silvest in Leone iii. c. Id. in Steph. iv thousand Marks Between these Pillars hung Curtains of the Richest Stuffe drawn on all sides to keep the Altar from being seen The Cupelo was adorned with several Images and other pieces of Art wrought in Gold or Silver and the top of it was made in Resemblance of the Cross There were hanging also over the Altar Gold or Silver Doves to Conc. Constantin an 536. Act. v. Represent the Holy Ghost Here some times they laid up the Eucharist for the Sick and sometimes kept it in plain Boxes like our Pixes Sometimes the whole Absis was all overlaid with Silver or at least faced with Marble as was also the Concha The Pillars that Supported the Church were of Marble with Capitals of Brass guilt with Gold It was Paved with Marble and many times the inside of the Walls was Rough cast with polished Stones They most affected in their Churches especially in the following Ages the Mosaick-work Opus Musivum which is a kind of inlaying with little peices of Glass painted with divers Colours and thus they could make all sorts of Figures that would never fade or decay Not but that their Churches had other sorts of Paintings besides this v. Roma Subterr lib. iv cap. 6. 7. c. Their Walls were all covered with them There were to be seen on them divers Histories of the old Testament and more especially such as were Types of the Mysteries of the New As Noah's Ark Abraham's Sacrifice the passage thorough the red Sea Jonas cast into the Sea Daniel among the Lions Our Saviours Picture was in several places of the Church and the representation of some of his Miracles as the Multiplication of the Loaves the Resurrection of Lazarus Eusebius assures us Euseb vii Hist c. 18. That from the very first times there were some who had the Pictures of St. Peter St. Paul and our Saviour himself drawn in Colours The way of Honouring Benefactors by preserving their Pictures having been as he observes a custome of a long standing in the World besides this every Church had in particular painted upon its Walls the History of the Martyr whose Reliques were thereunder deposited of which Prudentius gives Prud. Peristeph ix de S. Cass ibid xi de S. Hippoli us two lively Representations in the Examples of St. Cassian and St. Hyppolytus These Paintings were designed chiefly for the use of the more Ignorant to whom they served instead of Books as Pope Gregory the second Argues on their behalf Greg. ii ep i. in Conc. Nic. ii in his Epistle to the Emperor Leo. The Author of the opinion of the Iconoclasts Men and Women saith he holding in their Arms their New Baptized Children point out to them those Painted Histories shew them to other young People or to the Gentile Strangers and thus they Instruct and edify them and raise up their Thoughts and Hearts to God The Doors of the Church were adorned with Ivory Silver or Gold and were always furnished with Curtains At the Principal Gates were Hieron ad Demetr Paul Natal iii. and vi Anast in Leon. iii. Baron ad marty xviii Nov. placed some Reliques And that 's the Reason why the faithful always expressed some particular marks of respect upon their entering in at the Doors of the Church The Diaconicum or Sacristy was a considerable building adjoining to the Church It was the Repository for the Consecrated Vessels the Books the Habits of the Priests and the other choicest Furniture of the Church The Oblations of the faithful were also kept there and sometime the Eucharist There it was that
Understanding in those things they are bred to but they are incapable of receiving new Impressions They can form to themselves no notion of one God the Creator of the Universe and Governour over all Nations They cannot apprehend the reason why there should be but one only Religion in the whole World they cannot be affected with the hopes of a life to come nor comprehend what we mean when we tell them of an happiness purely Spiritual and much less do they understand us when we declare to them the more sublime Mysteries of Religion They will patiently hear what he have to say without contradicting us but when we have said all we can one may plainly perceive they are nothing moved at it If we put them upon Baptism 't is an ordinary thing with them to desire it if they find it will be for their Interest or if they can but get some little Toy by it but as soon as they have gained their ends they think no more of their Vows they return to their own People follow their old trade of eating the Flesh of Men again and torturing their Enemies to Death There are other Barbarians absolutely stupid as the Negroes and Cafres in whom we find no Sentiments of any Religion at all such dull heavy Souls that nothing but what is sensible and Palpable can enter into their understanding all these poor Creatures must first be made Men before they can be made Christians I will not say that the Franks and other People who Conquered the Romans were Barbarous to this degree but it is certain that they had nothing of Learning among them nor any use of Letters that they apply'd themselves never to Arts nor Agriculture that they lived by Blood and Plunder and were so fierce and Savage in their Natures that the Romans were even scared at the very sight of such horrid Figures We see a great deal of Inconstancy and Inequality in their Conduct which seems to be the proper Character of Barbarians For the principal effect of reason is Constancy and Consistency in a Man's Designs and Actions 't is not to act like Men to be given up to diversity of Passions as objects shall present themselves It must be owned there appears much Irregularity and Self-contradiction viz french in the Lives of Our first Christian Kings Clovis and his Sons after him discover on the one side much respect and Zeal for Religion but on the other they fell into many notorious Acts of Injustice and Cruelty The good King Gontram Mar. Rom. 28 Mart. whom the Church hath placed in the number of her Saints amongst many works of Piety was guilty of gross Faults and Dagobert that famous Founder of Monasteries led a very vicious Life not but that there were even in those Days Bishops of an Apostolick Sanctity and Vigour but they chose the lesser evil and shew'd a better inclination for Christian Princes though weak and imperfect than for Pagans and Persecutors of the Church One sign that they did not easily confide in the Barbarian Converts is That for the space Two hundred Years we scarce meet with any Clergy that were not of the Romans as appears by their Names We find at Conc. Tolet. iii. an 589. cap. xi V. Gregor Pastor iii. admon 31. Isidor sent 16. the same time great complaints against the too great easiness of some Priests in admitting People to Penance more than once which seems to have taken its beginning from the Levity and Inconstancy of the Barbarians THESE two Nations the Romans I XLVI The mixture of the Romans and the Barbarians mean and the Barbarians incorporated by degrees but as in the mixture of two different Colours each one loses its property and there ariseth a third which rubs out the former so the Barbarians were softned and Cultivated by their Commerce with the Romans but the Romans themselves became more gross and ignorant by Conversing with the Barbarians so that in the sixth Age we may sensibly perceive a vast change in the Manners of the West The Historians Poets and other profane Authors were now but little regarded by them that they might have more leifure to apply themselves only to Religion which yet may receive great service from these Foreign Studies by supplying us with Critical Learning and the knowledge of Antiquity 'T was for want of these helps that they were too ready to receive such Supposititious Writings as were imposed upon the World under the specious Names of ancient Ecclesiastical Authors as also that they became too credulous in the beleiving Miracles It was a thing so certain that the Apostles and their Disciples had wrought many Miracles and that many true ones were daily performed too at the Tombs of the Martyrs that they were not now so curious in enquiring into them as to distinguish the true from the false The more surprizing Relations of this nature any History contained the more taking it was Their Ignorance in Philosophy and the little knowledge they had of Nature made them take all strange Appearances for Prodigies and interpret them as the supernatural Sings of God's Wrath. They believed vita Lud. Pii there was something in Astrology and dreaded Eclipses and Comets as dismal Presages But what they wanted in knowledge and fineness of Parts was largely made V. Thomass Discp ii l. i c. 16. p. iii. l. i. c. 20. amends for by their Piety and solid Vertues All the Discipline which I have before described in the Third Part continued to the Tenth Age. Christians even to the Princes and Kings themselves were never more constant in the Psalmody and all other exercises of Religion than in those times I am now speaking of never more regular in observing the Fasts and Solemnising the Festivals of the Church Nothing is more famous in History than the Chappel of Charlemain as he was for the most part travailing he caused to he carried along with him Reliques sacred Ornaments and all other things necessary for the performance of the divine Offices with a numerous train of Clergy made up of selected Persons In his Travailling Chappel the service was performed with as much magnificence as in any Cathedral Church His example was followed by the Princes that succeeded him and herein as in every thing else these Princes were imitated by the several great Lords who built their Fortunes upon the Ruin of this Family During all these times there were Prelates of a very exemplary Life constant in Prayer and Zealous for the Conversion of Souls witness those that planted the Faith in Gallia Belgica Germany and the other remote Climates of the North. The Bishops increased daily in their Authority Besides the dignity of their Office and the Sanctity of their Lives their capacity for business and their tender Affection for the People doubly recommended them during the incursion of the Barbarians they often interposed and put a stop to the fury of the Conquerors to save
were always doubted and disputed even by the Philosophers themselves 'T is true these principles were but ill practiced and though none called the truth of them into Question yet few pursued them to their necessary Consequences so as to lead their Lives in conformity to them But the Morals of Christianity failed not to produce some good effect even upon those that were no good Christians It prevented a world of mischief it softned the most Barbarious People and V. Euseb i. Prae. Evan. c. iii c. made them more tractable and Humane If they did not avoid all Crimes yet many of them repented at least and did Penance or if they did not do that yet in their own Consciences they condemned and disapproved of them In a Word Christianity in all places where it prevailed gave a general Tincture of Humanity Modesly and Decency of Behaviour not to be met with any where else In these times of which I am now speaking when the Face of the Church appeared so disfigured in general yet there were great Doctors and great Saints of all Conditions in all parts of the West in France the Monastick discipline began to raise up its head by the Foundation of the famous Monastery of Cluny whose first Abbots St. Odon and St. Majolus are renowned both for their Life and Doctrine In Italy St. Romualdus founded the Monastery of Camaldoli with many others and had many eminent Disciples We see in the same times many holy Bishops of an extraordinary Zeal for Religion a St. Dunstan in England a St. Vdalric in Germany a St. Adelbert in Bohemia the Apostle of the Sclavi and a Martyr We see St. Boniface also a Martyr in Russia St. Bruno in Prussia St. Gerard a noble Venetian Bishop and Martyr in Hungary and many others who by their Preachings their Holiness and their Miracles continued down the Tradition of sound Doctrine and Ecclesiastical discipline In the same Age we have amongst the Laity many Saints even of the greatest Lords as St. Gerald Count of Aurillac St. Stephen King of Hungary and St. Emeric his Son the Emperor St. Henry King Robert In these Saints particularly those of the Nations newly Converted as St. Henry and St. Stephen we may see what dispositions towards Vertue were found in those Nations whom the Romans called Barbarians They were naturally great observers of common Equity generously Plain and Open-hearted Chast Despisers of Pleasure and sensual satisfaction lovers of Justice Hospitality and Alms-giving When these Serious Sincere and Couragious People had once made trial of the Christian Religion they Embraced it heartily They never sought after Niceties in the Interpretation of it nor were they staggered at any of the difficulties it contained 'T is true their Conduct was not always so consistent and uniform as that of the ancient Greeks and Romans but then they were greater Strangers to Hypocrisy 'T was by the special Care and Authority of these Holy Persons that the Publick Peace began to be re-established by making all the Lords swear to the Truce Glab li. v. c. i. an 1041. of God so they called the Cessation of all acts of Hostility from Wednesday Night to Munday Morning in every Week and all that time the Clergy Monks Pilgrims and Labourers in Husbandry were to be unmolested This Truce was established Cap. i. extr de trev pa. in many Councils under the pain of Excommunication such force had Religion upon the Minds of Men when the very Foundations of civil Society were almost overthrown In these times also we meet with frequent mention of Excommunication against those who should strike a Clergy-man this was a thing never thought of in the First Ages Their own Dignity was then thought a sufficient Protection to them but they were now every Day exposed to the utmost Violences THE Normans had destroyed a great L. The restablishment of Piety and discipline number of Churches and others were suffered to run to Ruin upon the false Opinion they had That the end of the World would be precisely in the Thousandth Year of our Lord but when they Glab lib. saw that the World still stood after that fatal Year they began every where to build Churches again and that after the most magnificent manner they were capable of in that Age always more stately than any dwelling Houses not only of private Persons but of the chiefest Nobility They annexed to them large Endowments though for the most part they were no more than the Restitution of Tythes and the other Gods usurp'd in the late disorders Great care was every where used for the recovery of Relicks and great cost was spent in adorning them with the most precious Jewels that could be got as we may still see in the Treasuries of the most ancient Churches They applyed themselves also at the same time to the restoring of the use of singing in Churches and the other Solemnities of divine Service 'T was in the Eleventh Century that Guido Monk of Arezzo in Tuscany invented the Notes and introduced that Method which is the Foundation of all modern Musick The Religious Princes I have before mentioned both by their Liberalities and by their Examples favoured all these good designs Part of the Responses which are now sung were composed by King Robert and he Helgand vit Rob. thought it an honour to perform the Office of a Chanter publickly in the Church I find no Age in which the long Psalmody was more in Vogue as one may see by the Rule of the Carthusians and the other Orders Baron ad Martyrol ii Nov. of those times The Monks of Cluny brought into common use the Office for the Dead and soon after commenced the little Office of the Virgin Many had devotion enough to repeat over every Day the Petr. Dam. li. 6. ep 32. whole Book of Psalms As the number of their Offices increased so did also their Masses and Altars Domestick Chappels were exceeding numerous every Lord would have one to himself within the Walls of his own Castle that so he might not in the War-time be without the Mass and other Services of the Church but there was a mixture of Vanity in the Case they loved to have Chaplians in their Family and disdained the publick Churches where they were undistinguished from the common People In the mean time it was impossible that this multitude of Offices Celebrated in so many different places should appear with the same advantage as it would have done had there been but one Form or Office performed and directed by the Bishop assisted by all his Clergy as it was the manner of the Ages foregoing Besides the Reason of a great many of the Ceremonies was now forgotten and yet the Forms were still kept up by Tradition and the notion of the ancient Politeness was quite lost so that from these times we see not the same care taken as was formerly to erect their Churches at a convenient
Church but examples of this kind were always to be found in it After what manner soever the Church was governed whether immediately by Bishops or by Priests either Commissionated by them or sent abroad by the Popes whether by Seculars or Regulars by ordinary Pastors or Foreign Missionaries it hath always had the same Religion and the same Body of Doctrine The true Faith has always been preserved in purity and the grand principles of Morality have always stood firm It hath been always a thing certain and granted that we ought to observe the Law of God explained according to Tradition and the Authority of the ancients and that we ought to form our Lives after the examples of those holy Persons whom the Church hath publickly Honoured for Saints And such living Models there have always been every Age hath had its Apostles Serm. de S. Andr. vit S. Mala. that went to Preach the Faith to Infidels every Age hath had its Martyrs Virgins and true Penitents have always been in great numbers It was as St. Bernard observes the sincere desire of Penitence that after the Eleventh Age introduced somany new Orders of Monks God hath always from time to time raised up extraordinary Persons to maintain his holy Doctrine and revive decaying Piety What is there comparable to St. Bernard Hath he not shewn in his own Person the Zeal of the Prophets the Learning and Eloquence of the greatest Doctors of the Church and the Mortification of the most perfect Recluses We are certainly much endebted to Innocent the Third and the other great and learned Popes of those times to the Master of the Sentences and St. Thomas and the rest of them who have reduced Divinity into a Method St. Francis hath given us an eminent Example of the Christian Life practiced according to the Letter of an Humility and Mortification worthy of the Apostolick Time Thus from Age to Age from Generation to Generation God hath preserved in his Church the succession of true Doctrine and Holy Life It is certain then That Jesus Christ is Heb. xiii 8. to Day as well as Yesterday and will be the same to all Ages In vain therefore do bad Christians now adays vilify the Veneration we justly have for Antiquity and for the Examples of the Saints by supposing that in the First Ages of Christianity Men were clear of another Nature then what we are now their Bodies robust and better able to bare those Fastings and other such-like Severities their Spirits more Docile and pliable and therefore all the practices of Vertue more easy to them If we tell them that St. Peter and St. Paul lived in Poverty and Labour V. Chrysost de compunct they Answer They were Apostles St. Anthony and St. Martin underwent great Mortifications They were Saints St. Austin made his Clergy live in Common and he himself tho' a great Bishop lived but very Ordinarily This might be in those Days Do you think therefore that these Words Saintship Antiquity and the Primitive Church are allowable exceptions That the exercises of Penance the being continually occupied in the word of God the renouncing the Pleasures and Vanities of this wicked World the Clergies keeping themselves disengaged from Secular Affairs and leading lives singularly Exemplary That all these things were the extraordinary attainments of the Primitive Church whose excellencies we must not pretend to Rivalâ— That to exempt our selves from the obligation of following so glorious Presidents 't is but to distinguish the Times and the Work 's done The Church say they was strong and vigorous in her Youth and produced then Heroick Vertues She is now in her Old Age and Declension she hath had her Spring and her Summer and now she is in her Winter But what mean these Metaphors Do they pretend that the duration of the Church doth in reality resemble the Changes of the Year or the course of the Life of Man will any one dare to say that she was imperfect in her beginnings wanted time to give her full Maturity and must feel her decays as other transitory things or like the Productions of Men. But I desire to know in what this change has happened since the Publication of the Gospel Is it in humane Nature Experience and the Faith of all History assures us the contrary Is it in the Law of God or is it in his Grace Herein there is still the same Power the same Goodness that ever there was Jesus Christ hath never told us that his Church must be governed by different Rules according to the changes of Times The Abolition of the ancient Law and the Abrogation of Ceremonies was expresly foretold but as to the Gospel it must be Preached both to the utmost parts of the Earth and to the end of the World Let us not therefore deceive our selves with frivolous excuses nor charge the present corruption of our Manners upon any other fault then that of our Ignorance and Negligence Apolog. decretor It is as dangerous saith Pope Gregory the Seventh to undermine the Manners and Discipline of the ancient Church as to attack its Faith since both the one and the other are derived to us from the same Tradition IT is true the Church hath sometimes borh with some Abuses which had taken LV. Some abuses to lerated in the Church and how they came to be so too deep rooting waiting a favourable Conjuncture to Reform them and hath sometimes indulged her Children for the hardness of their Hearts in the Relaxation of the ancient Discipline The Rule of Communicating four times a Year stood in force in the Ninth Age but in the following it was only ill observed Petrus Blesensis informs us that in his times in the Petr. Bles Serm. 16. Twelfth Age the greatest part of Christians Communicated but once a Year The Church complied with this usage and put it in the Canons of the Lateran Council It was forbidden formerly to say Can. omn. utriusque 1215. Conc. Rav. iv 1317. rubr 12. ii ii 9. 147. a. vii the private Masses during the time of solemn Mass to avoid disturbing that Service yet Custom carried it In the time of St. Thomas that is a bout Four hundred Years ago they kept their Fasts till three of the Clock in the Afternoon and we find no mention but of one eating afterwards it came to Noon and a Collation was allowed Amongst these Mitigations I reckon Penance left to the discretion of the Confessor and the frequent granting of Indulgencies as likewise the dispensing with the Rigor of many of the Rules of the Monasticks They thought that the Religious though falling short of the utmost Perfection that their Rule required would yet even under some abatements arrive to an higher Perfection than if they continued in the World and that it was better somewhat to soften and qualify the Fast of Lent than to let it run wholly into disuse but we are not from those Condescensions
to imagine that the way to Heaven is become more easy to Us than it was to them of Old that we are more happy than our Fore-fathers or that the Bishops and Popes of these last Ages thought themselves wiser than their Predecessors We need only read the Constitutions and Canons which have Authorised the several Relaxations to see that the Church never did it without Regret Many Deviations came in only by common usage In the mean time the Church hath taken special care in such cases to retain certain Observances in remembrance of the true Practice of Antiquity Thus the Office for the Noon or Evening Service said on Fast-days before Dinner All the Formularies of Ordinations and other publick Acts are as it were so many repeated Protestations to salve the authority of the ancient Rules and bar the pretence of Prescription against them There are other Abuses which the Church hath always condemned as those absurd Shows which they had the boldness to bring even into the Churches themselves and which were forbidden in the Council of Basil And as the profane Conc. Basil Sess xii c. xi V. Syn. Vigorn an 1240. c. iv Jollity on the Feasts of the Saints the remains of which wee see in that of St. Martin's Day of the Kings and on those of their Patron Saints in the Villages or Country Wakes And as the Debauches of the Carnival which had no other beginning than the Reluctance People had about the keeping of Lent resolving to take their Fill of Pleasure before they began their Fast Little did the Apostles and their Disciples imagine that this Holy Preparation for the Passover should one Day have proved an occasion of Dissolution and Licentiousness The Saints and all true Christians have always openly declared against these Abuses We know with what Vigour St. Charles Borromeus suppressed them and how Zealously he Laboured to bring back again into the Church the Spirit of Antiquity even to the lesser matters of Religion The Council of Trent and those who were employed to see it put into Execution in the Provinces aimed at no other end than This. And so many Reformations that have been made in the Religious Orders since the last Age were only in order to reduce them to their Primitive Constitution St. Teresa could Vi. S. Terâ— c. 27. fin not endure that under the pretence of Discretion and for the avoiding of Scandal there should be Restraints lay'd upon the fervour of those who affected to imitate the Saints of the first Age. She complains that these Discretions have spoiled the World and maintains that in her Age which is very near ours the Vertues of the Primitive Church were not Impracticable Lessons 'T was upon this occasion she wrote the Life of St. Peter of Alcantaâ—a she herself being an eye Witness to it Proceeding upon so good Authorities LVI The use of this Work I thought I might do some service to the World in Representing the Manners of the Ancients which ought to be the Patterns now of all good Christians I have said nothing but what is well known to Persons of Learning and taken out of Books with which they are familiarly acquainted And they will see that much more might have been added to the same Purpose There are many things here not commonly known to every good Christian and such things too as are fit for their Edification They will see that the Religion of a Christian consists not altogether as too many imagine in some formal performances To say over every Morning and Night some short Prayers to assist on Sundays at the Publick Service to distinguish the Holy Time of Lent only by abstaining from some certain sort of Dyets and to dispence with it upon trivial Occasions to approach the Sacraments so Seldom and with so small affection that they turn Solemn Festivals into Melancholy Days And as to the common Course of their Lives to be as much addicted to the Interests and Pleasures of this World as Pagans themselves could be These are not the Christians I have been Describing I hope also that the Description I have here given of the Holy Manners of those that were really Christians may make some Impressions upon such Persons who have no more sense of things than to confound the true Religion with those false ones which the Error of Ignorant or Craft of disigning Men have introduced Let a Man but consider that vast change of Manners which the Gospel hath wrought in all Nations and the Distinguishing Characters there have always been between true Christians and Infidels and he will see that the Christian Religion stands upon a surer Bottom then he thought for He will be forced to believe that it was at first established by the Power of Miracles for there can be nothing more Incredible than that such a Change should be wrought without Miracles These Miracles made so strong an Impression that it was not till very late any one did so much as think of calling them into Question To speak no more than what we know 't is scarce above Two hundred Years since this Libertinism was introduced by some Italians who tho' Men of Wit were very Ignorant of Religion and disgusted with these Abuses then they were charmed with the Beauty of the Ancient Greek and Latin Authors with the Government of these People and their way of Living And so much the more because the maxims of those Heathens better agreed with the Corruption of human Nature and the general Practices of Mankind In short these Modern Italians relished nothing else This mischief was farther encreased by the new Heresies that were broached in these last Ages The Disputes upon the very Fundamental Principles of Religion shock't the Faith of many who yet upon divers Temporal Motives continued in the outward profession of the Catholick Religion And amongst the Hereticks themselves were great numbers who being no longer restrained by Authority have driven the Consequences of their ill principles to extremity and are come to that pass as to look upon Religion it self as no more than a piece of State-Policy This unhappy notion got ground and easily spread it self Young Persons hearing their Parents perhaps or those whom they looked upon as Men of Wit making some lewd Jests upon Religion or it may be venturing to say in plain terms that there was nothing in it at the bottom presently took up with that and finding these notions agreeable to their Passions and Desires never troubled their thoughts any farther about inquiring into the Merit of the matter Vanity also came in for its share They thought by this means to distinguish themselves from the ignorant Vulgar and appear more discerning than the honest well meaning People of former Ages besides sloth was another Motive to make them either take matters upon trust or determine at all Adventures rather than to be at the trouble of examining the Truth but let Men say what they will the matters I have