usage testifies that Christ who is the Lamb without spot and was slain by those Jews is a Saviour to all who have imprinted the mark of his Blood i. of his Cross which shed his Blood on their Foreheads Hence it is called by g Contr. Mâ—rcion l. 3. c. 22. de spectac c. 4. Tertullian signaculum frontium who tells us that it was retained even by the Marcionite Hereticks by h Apud Euseb Hist l. 3. c. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clemens as the most perfect Amulet by i Tom. 1. Orat. 40. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greg. Nazianzen a Seal and Preservative and Mark of Christ's Dominion over us by k Auth. sub nom Hier. in c. 4. Eph. signaculum spiritus sancti S. Hierom the Seal of the Spirit of God by l Paulin. Ep. 2. ad Delphin p. 202. maceria signaculi salutaris Paulinus the Hedge and Fence of that Sign that confers Salvation m Basil Tom. 1. Hom. 13. p. 480. For unless the mark of the Lord be upon thee and the Angel can see the Character how shall he fight for thee and defend thee from all thy Enemies n Theodoret. in Cant. 1.2 Remember therefore that sacred Office wherein after your renouncing the Infernal Tyrant and owning Jesus for your King you that were initiated have received as it were a certain Royal Signature the Signature of Christ o I Eack 9. S. Hierom calls it without which no man can he saved So when God punish'd Vzziah with Leprosie his angry Master says a De Unitat Eccles p. 153. S. Cyprian branded him in that part of his Body where those that serve him faithfully are signed and b Id. Epist 56. p. 7â— all good Christians must take care that the mark that is there plac'd be not alter'd or defac'd But of this enough though more may be seen in c De resurrect carn Tertullian d Hist lib. 6. cap. 4. Eusebius e Hom. 76. in Matth. Chrysostom f De spiritu S. c. 27. Basil g In 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Prudentius and others h Annot. in Cypr. Ep. ad Demet. c. 19. Goulart at Geneva confessing That the Old Christians retained this Ceremony without any Superstition because the Doctrine of the merits of Christ preserved them from the errours which afterward crept in and i Lib. 1. p. 170. T. C. himself that they did it to testifie that they were not ashamed of Christ that was crucified and that they might preserve among them an open profession of him for among the Primitive Christians says k Adv. Baron exercit 13. Sect. 23. p. 218. Ed. Francof Isaac Casaubon it was a Badge of their confidence in Christ and his Cross and Passion and therefore the holy and wise Reformers of Religion in England prudently suffered the Crosses in the High-ways to stand and retained it also in some of their Sacred Offices as in Baptism and in the Rite of Confirmation too in the Liturgy of Edward the Sixth but in a different manner in Baptism from the Popish Custom l Dr. Hammond of Idolatry Sect. 70. For in the first Liturgy of King Edward which agreed with the Roman Order the use was to cross the Child at the Church-Door when brought to Baptism but this of ours a mark of reception into Christs Flock immediately after Baptism and a kind of Tessera or Military sign that the person thus consign'd into Christs militia shall for ever hereafter think himself oblig'd manfully to fight under his Banner c. XIII Blessed Cross says m Tom. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 2 Tim. p. 334. Tom. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 565. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 878. S. Chrysostom that art the great contrivance of God the Father the glory of his only begotten Son the joy of the holy spirit the Ornament of Angels the Safeguard of holy Church the boasting of S. Paul than which neither the Creation of the World out of nothing nor the erecting the Fabrick of the Heavens and Earth can be greater Testimonies of the Condescension and Mercy of God this Cross is the Wall of the Saints and the Beauty of the whole World this introduces light and makes alive by this the Daemons are put to flight and Diseases cured The truth and validity of which Conquests because Mr. H. p. 335. derides it I will evince beginning with that place of n L. 4. c. 27. Lactantius which our Aristarchus reckons among his Errours and Superstitious Observances He that would know how terrible this fign is to the Kingdom of darkness let him observe how the Daemons fly from the Bodies of the possest when they are adjured by the name of Christ for as he when he blessed the World with his presence expel'd those evil Spirits by his word and restor'd the distracted minds of the Sons of men to the right use of their reasons so now his Followers dispossest the same polluted Guests by the name of their Master and the sign of his Passion and of this the proof is most easie for when our Adversaries are most intent on their Sacrifices if a Christian whose Forehead is charactered with this holy sign stand by the slain Beasts are never propitious nor can the Priests read the Sacrificer's Fate in the Eatrails and this hath been done too frequently by the men of our Religion to be disown'd And here I cannot avoid the subjoining of a famous Example of a Greg. Nys Tom. 2. vit Greg. Thaumat p. 980 981. Gregorius Neocaesariensis that great worker of Miracles who that he might decline the Burthen of the Episcopal Charge had retir'd himself from Neocaesaria to a Wilderness but at last was by a strange impulse from Heaven made willing to serve in so honourable an Employ and having received in a Vision a certain Creed or Summary of Faith to preserve him from Heresie as he return'd from his solitude with his Companions being overtaken with night and a violent shower diverted himself in a famous Temple where the Daemon used to appear visibly to the Priest and deliver his Oracles But as soon as S. Gregory entered and invocated the name of Jesus the Daemons were terrified and having made the sign of the Cross to purge the air of those steams and fumes that polluted it spent the night in Prayers and holy Praises and early in the morning left his Lodging Crucis signum contra Daemonas esse praesidium videsis apud spalat l. 7. c. 12. Sect. 88. p. 308. Montagues appel c. 2 6 7. as soon as the holy man was gone the Daemons told the young Priest that they could not enter any more into the Temple because of his late guest and made it good by disobeying all his Charms and slighting his Lustrations and Sacrifices on this the Priest in hast pursues S. Gregory and overtaking him threatens to bring him before a
sent into the World and so he came both from the Father and the Son according to that of a Tom. 2. hom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Johan p. 876. S. Chrysostome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And this twofold procession perchance might give an occasion to that mistake of b Poetic lib. 6. cap. 4. p. 780. Julius Scaliger that the Greeks did believe there were two holy Ghosts Now the Controversie between the Eastern and Western Churches is concerning the Eternal procession which the Greeks make to be from the Father by the Son And notwithstanding the learned c Tom. 1. contr 2. l. 2. c. 24 25. Cardinal 's large muster of the Fathers both Greek and Latine in two whole Chapters to the contrary I shall undertake to evince that this was the belief of all the Fathers of the four first Centuries till the days of S. Ambrose for the Tractate de adventu spiritus S. father'd on S. Cyprian is by Pamelius acknowledged to be of a much younger Author XXV The Opinion anciently was so generally believed and so publickly known that a Tom. 2. p. 1121. Lucian or whoever was the Author of the Philopatris introduces Triephon advising Critias To leave off his Heathen Oaths and to swear by the high and eternal God by his Son and the Spirit who proceeds from the Father the Trinity in Vnity and Vnity in Trinity which contains an excellent Summary of the Christian Faith though scoffingly there quoted but we will omit such Foreign and summon Domestick Testimonies b Legat. pro Christ p 30. Ed. Steph. Athenagoras informs us That the Son is the mind the wisdom and word of the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Holy Ghost an Emanation from him as light is from the Fire i. from the same Father says his Translator Gesner and so also I understand him So c Adv. Pra xeam c 1. Tertullian affirms the Original of the Spirit to be from the Father by the Son and d Oper. p 1. Ed. Vâ—ssâ—i Gregory Thaumaturgus in that Creed which was given him by Revelation by the hands of the blessed Virgin and S. John Baptist thus declares his Belief 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. the holy Spirit as to his eternal proceeding came from the Father but as to his Mission in time unto men Christ sent him and this I believe to be the Fathers meaning notwithstanding what the infallibility e Vossâ— Not. in loc p. 104. of Pope Gregory the ninth would draw from these words to the Confutation of the Greek Heresie and after him the Cardinal This Creed is quoted by S. Gregory Nyssen in the life of this miraculous Father and the Doctrine uncensur'd and therefore we may conclude it his belief also especially if it be true what f Lib. 12. c. 13. Nicephorus and others say that in the Constantinopolitan Council the Creed which we vulgarly call the Nicene was penn'd by S. Greg. Nyssen we need no other specimen of his Opinion in this case Nor was his Brother S. Basil's Opinion different nor his dear friend's S. Gregory the Divine with whom not only Epiphanius Basilâ—â—o 1. in Ps 32. p. 203. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vid. l. 5. contr Euâ—m c. 12. Greg. Naz. tom 1. or 29. p. 493. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. Or. 35. p. 5â—3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epiph. in Anchor cap. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hier. tom 5. com in Is c. 57. Spiritus S. qui de patre egreditur propter societatem naturae à filio mittitur and having quoted Jo. 15.26 he adds nè scandalizet quempiam si spiritus egrediatur ex patre See the Creeds ad Damasum Cyrillum tom 4. p. 127 224. Hilar. tom 1. de trinit l. 12. p. 261. ut patrem sc te nostrum filium tuum unà tecum adorem sanctum spiritum tuum qui ex te per unigenitum tuum est promerear And again lib. 8. p. 139. à patre enim procedit spiritus veritatis sed à filio mittitur à patre S. Chrysost tom 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 730. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but his Scholar S. Hierom agree though generally computed among the Latine Fathers of the other Opinion for the passages quoted by Bellarmine and others relate to the temâ—oral Mission of the Spirit from the Son which we deny not with whom also S. Hilary of Poictou and S. Chrysostom joyn consort XXVI And for this Opinion Theodoret is so stout a Champion that the men of the other perswasion make him the Author of it and censure him for it as speaking too rashly and agreeing with the Greek Heresie as they word it in a Rome 1547. their Preface to the Edition which I use and with him also agrees b Lib. 12. in Joh. c. 56. S. Cyril of Alexandria and in after ages Maximus and John Damascene as I find them quoted by c Sguropuli hist Conc. Florent sect 8. c. 15. p. 239. Marcus Ephesius in the Council of Florence and after them d In Johan 3. p. 604. Theophylact most expresly the Latines says he make the Spirit to proceed from the Son but we say that it is one thing to be of another and another thing to proceed from another that we may not therefore make two causes of the holy spirits production believe thou that the Spirit proceeds from the Father but is confer'd on the Creatures by the Son and let this be the rule of Orthodoxy to thee and e Vit. Greg. M. l. 4. c. 75. Paulus Diaconus assures us that when the Greeks translated the Dialogues of Gregory the great into their own language they scrap'd out the word filioque out of his discourse of the procession of the Holy Ghost XXVII And it was one of the Articles against Cyrillus Lucaris the late Patriarch of Constantinople which promoted his deposition in the Synod held there under Parthenius an 1642. That in his Confession he had held the eternal and essential procession of the holy Ghost from the Father and the Son against the determination of the Catholick Church But herein they belyed the good man for in f Interpraestant ac erud viror Epp. Eccles Theolog. p. 403. his Epistle to Vytenbogard when he was only Patriarch of Alexandria he professes his Belief in this Article consonant to the Doctrine of the Greek Church which denyes the holy Ghost to have proceeded from the Son essentialiter internè quoad esse lest they should make two principles of his existence which is Heretical And in the first Chapter of his Confession of the Christian Faith the Book which occasioned his deposition and Martyrdom he acknowledges that the holy Spirit doth proceed from the Father by the Son which is the true sentiment of the Oriental Churches in which the g Confess Claudii regis apud Hotting topogr Eccl or c. 3. p. 76. Aethiopian
Christians h Field of the Ch. l. 3. c. 1. p. 70 74. the Coptites and h Field of the Ch. l. 3. c. 1. p. 70 74. the Maronites concentre the last of which admit it into their Creed And the whole Greek Church confess as is affirm'd by the learned i Ubi supr p. 127. Mr. Smyth who liv'd a considerable time among them that the third person in the Trinity is consubstantial with the Father and the Son and coequal that he is the Spirit of the Son that he is sent given poured out infused inspired by the Son and if you understand the word proceeding of his sending in time neither do they refuse to use that term also they allowing him to be the Spirit of the Son as he is called Gal. 4.6 and the Spirit of Christ as Rom. 8.9 Phil. 1.19 XXVIII To which we may subjoin that whereas the Apostolical and Nicene Creeds are silent in this point the Constantinopolitan which was the next hath asserted the procâ—ssion of the holy Ghost from the Father exclusivè to which Creed in the last Canon save one of the Ephesine Council it is expresly forbidden to make any Additions which Caution was again inserted in the Council of Chalcedon and when notwithstanding this care the Addition had been made the eighth General Council as the Greeks style it order'd the words to be expung'd as is affirm'd by Marcus Bishop of Ephesus in the Council of Florence This Creed was publickly read in the Eastern Churches as a part of their Liturgy and from that laudable custom was introduc'd into the West in a Can. 2. the third Toletane Council the Occidental Churches till then using only the Apostles Creed as b Tom. 4. an 381. p. 431. Baronius acknowledges but no Addition heard of till the seventh General Council and the eighth at Toledo for that it should be made by Pope Damasus as is affirm'd by Joseph Bishop of Modon in that Tract which is falsely father'd on him in the Florentine Council and by Manuel Caldecas or by the Doctors of the Catholick Church presently after the Council of Nice as others aver I suppose few men are at leasure to credit XXIX The Spaniards therefore first inserted the addition filioque and after them the French Vide P. Lombard lib. 1. dist 11. B. but both were in this case opposed by Pope Leo the third and the whole Roman Church Leo causing two silver Tables to be made and in them the Symbol to be writ in Latine and Greek according to the primitive Copy and the Tables to be plac'd behind the Altar of S. Peter there to be kept as a Testimony to posterity The Doctrine also was vindicated by Pope John the 8th to the learned Photius nor did it ever prevail at Rome till Ann. 883. under Pope Nicholas the first and that without a general Council So that we may hence judge that the Romanists gave occasion to the Schisme c Archb. Laud against Pisher sect 9. n. 2. it being hard measure to add and anathematize too XXX I have kept S. Athanasius for my last Testimony and will only instance in the quotation of the great Cardinal which he uses to prop the contrary opinion but it quite ruines it It is an impossibility says our d Redarg hypocris Meletii circ fin Patriarch to give the holy Spirit a place in the Glory of the blessed Trinity if he had not proceeded from the Father by the Son Nor is the addition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be found in the Manuscript Copies of his Creed in Greek nor in the Printed Copies at Paris 1597 or by Commelinus 1600. although the Latine Translation hath it And therefore Meletius the Patriarch of Constantinople in his Epistle to Janus Douza says it hath been adulterated by an Appendix made to it by the Popes and withal adds that it is not his whatever Mr. H. p. 377. is pleas'd to say to the contrary Nor have the Latines escapt the impeachment of being guilty of corrupting the Fathers the Writer of the a Sect. 9. c. 3. p. 253. History of the Council of Florence in the name of his Brethren instancing in the works of S. Chrysostome And if sayes he they are not afraid to do so in his Homilies which they from their youth to their old age were always conversant in how much more must they expect they had done so in the Latine Fathers XXXI So that in this case we see the Greeks keep themselves to express words of Scripture Joh. 15.26 Heylin's Theol. vet l. 3. c. 1. p. 379. the Latines depend on some Logical inferences from thence and so have the worst end of the cause in as much as Logical inferences to men of ordinary capacities are not so evident as plain texts of Scripture They have also on their side the writings of the Fathers the Acts of the ancient Synods and the Ecclesiastical Records and a pregnant Testimony in Rome it self in the two Tables hung up by the command of Pope Leo the third And yet so little is our Charity that besides their many other sufferings for the name of Christ we must add this one grievance more to accuse them of no less than Schism and Heresie And therefore I thought my self bound to vindicate them from that unjust aspersion XXXII That S. Athanasius writ the life of S. Anthony is more than once affirm'd by S. Hierome Greg. Naz. Socrates and others and notwithstanding some ridiculous passages I cannot proscribe the Book since he that looks into Cassianus shall find much wilder and more childish transactions and yet no man denies those Collations to have been his And however some men affirm S. Anthony to have been a Lawyer and very learned S. Hierome entitles him only to seven Epistles to certain Monasteries of his founding writ in an Apostolical i. e. a plain stile first in the language of the Country and then translated into Greek For so b Ep. ante Did. de Spiritu S. S. Hierome speaks of Didymus that you might easily know him to be an Apostolical person by the simplicity and plainness of his styleâ— but in what style these Epistles were writ themselves will make appear being not long since translated out of Arabick into Latine and set forth by Abraham Ecchellensis the Maronite And yet perhaps this as well as some other of our Patriarchs writings hath not escapt the foul hands c Baron tom 3. an 343. n. 6. of the followers of Apollinaris Nor is it but too Magisterially spoken p. 373. that the exhortation ad Monachos is forged only on the authority of Mr. Perkins whose judgment I suppose the Church of England will decline as in many matters of controversie so in as many of Church-History and Christian Philology XXXIII In the same page the Epistles between Pope Marcus and Athanasius are condemned as spurious and consequently the seventy additional Canons to the Nicene Council and
a Vindication of it His works What extant and what lost His Octapla his Style and the causes of his condemnation The quarrel between S. Chrysostom and Epiphanius thereupon The Church was accustomed to Excommunicate Hereticks after their death Origen's Errors and whence imbibed An Apology for him The Platonick Opinion concerning the Resurrection His character and Encomia from all sorts of Writers Christian Jewish and Heathen Some peculiar remarks in his Life The Title of Martyr was usually given to the confessors of Old but themselves modestly resus'd it The time of his death Life of Saint Cyprian He is inconsiderately confounded with Cyprian the Magician the Servant of Justina The junior Cyprian was never Arch-Bishop of Antioch The Carthaginian Primate was made a Convert by his Country-man Caecilius who was the same person that bears a part in the Dialogue of Minutius Foelix Donatus was Cyprian's immediate Predecessor in that See Who the Libellatici properly were the different customs of the Churches of that Age in allowing or condemning the purchase of such Libels of security from the Heathen Magistrate Saint Cyprian's exemplary humility and charity The Adulteration of his works by the Romanists The Primacy of Saint Peter what His genuine Writings and style The power of the people in electing their Prelates discust They had a priviledge conceded them to except against the manners of the Candidate for holy Orders and in some places to nominate but that power on their tumultuous and disorderly proceedings soon taken from them A Vindication of his reputed erroneous Opinions That Charity purges away Sins That a man may tender satisfaction to God as well as to the Church To communicate Infants a Catholick custom Authority and Reason for it Mixing Water with Wine in the Eucharist A Discourse of the duration of Miracles in the Christian Church especially of Prophecy the cure of Daemoniacs and raising the Dead Miracles no mark of a true Church The vain and empty boastings of the Romanists in this case The time of Cyprian's Martyrdom Two Temples erected to his memory and a Festival His honourable character Saint Austin's Homily in his commendation Life of Lactantius His Country Italy The design of his Institutions to stifle the Objections of two virulent Adversaries of Christian Religion Of whom Hierocles was one but Porphyry not the other Lactantius his Errors The Fathers were not very wary in asserting the Divinity of the Son and Holy Ghost till the appearance of Arius and Macedonius The praeexistence of the soul Merit The excellency of Charity That sins of ignorance damn not Whether the wicked shall arise at the day of Judgment and how His great learning and extream poverty Life of Saint Athanasius His Baptizing his play-fellows vindicated Baptism by Laicks in case of instant necessity connived at in the Primitive Church The Schismatical Ordinations of Coluthus condemn'd and Ischyras degraded who after was made a Bishop by the Arian faction Arsenius his appearing at Tyre to the vindication of Athanasius An account of the death of Arius Gregory and George the Cappadocian usurp the See of Alexandria The last of them cruelly slain What books of this Father are genuine The Saturday was observ'd as a Fast at Rome and Alexandria and the reasons of it but as a Festival in the rest of the Christian world and the reasons of that custome it is yet so retained in all the Churches of the East and South Nine Orders of Angels anciently asserted agreeable to Scripture That the glorified Saints pray for some persons in particular The retention of Images The distinction of sins into venial and mortal Divers Orders of Monks Penance Prayers for the dead Anti-Christ who the holy Table frequently called Altar The Eucharist a sacrifice how an unbloody sacrifice The Doctrine of the Procession of the Father by the Son was the ancient belief An Historical account of the addition filioque and of the just grounds of the Greek Church to keep to the ancient Creeds The life of S. Antony writ by Athanasius The genuineness of the Epistles between Pope Marc and Athanasius controverted That Christ descended locally into Hell The Father 's not in complete bliss till his Resurrection Circumcision was a sign of Baptism Athanasius's Death and character The famous men of his name S. Greg. Nazianzen's Panegyrick on him The Life of Saint Hilary of Poictiers The legend of his Condemnation at Rome under Pope Leo. The ancient division of France rectyfied by Augustus What Countryman Saint Hilary was the great confusion in Historians when men of the same name are cotemporaries When Saint Hilary was banish'd and by whom His honourable mention in the Writings of the Ancients The Tractate de numero septenario is not his Venantius Fortunatus who and how he came to be Bishop of Poictiers Saint Hilary's Poems His Books de Trinitate are his master-piece The Epistle to his Daughter Abra. His Fragment of the Council at Ariminum His Style The Interpolation of his works That he did believe the Divinity of the holy Ghost His Errors candidly considered and apologiz'd His Opinion of the holy Spirit Of our Saviours being without passions Of our being the Sons of God by Nature How all things were created at once His Opinion of Free-will his Death and Character ERRATA Besides mis-pointings and Words printed in an improper Châ—racter the Reader is desired to Correct as follows In the Book P. 4. l. 9. for by r. to p. 10. l. 13. r. Epistle p. 16. l. 9. r. pag. ¾ p. 18. l. 23. r. whence p. 28. l. ult r. rite p. 32. l. 2. r. ancient forms p. 34. l. 17. r. there p. 36. l. 26. and 32. r. thee p. 39. l. 4. r. 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and Martyrdom Eusebius is silent but c Tom. 2. an 165. p. 159 160. Baronius out of the Acts of his Martyrdom gives us an exact account both of his Examination his being first scourged and then beheaded d Apolog. 1. p. 46. though himself seems to expect to be crucified saying That he look'd that some of his Enemies would accuse him and that he should dye his Master's death And he there particularly mentions Crescens that vile and profligate that debauch'd and ignorant Cynick who was the cause of his Martyrdom at what time whatever e Haeres 46. Epiphanius mistakes or rather his Transcriber he must needs be above 30 years of Age. So dyed this generous Apologist for the Laws and Religion of Jesus an 165. says Baronius but Dr. Cave in his Chronology makes it to have fallen out a year if not two sooner and the Church hath dedicated a Festival to his memory on the first of June in the Greek Church but in the Western on the 13th of April and may his name be had in everlasting remembrance THE LIFE OF S. Irenaeus BISHOP OF LYONS I. IN the Memoirs of this grave and learned Prelate I cannot find much that may justly be reprehended unless the Reader may be as I have been inclined to wish that Mr H. had spoken more fully to some passages of his life but withal I acknowledge my longings genuinely satisfied by the Reverend Dr. Cave who among other things accurately related acquaints us with Irenaeus's mission from the Churches of Lyons and Vien to Eleutherius and the Asian Churches not to the Asian Churches only in which journey he occasionally took Rome in his way as Mr. H. p. 53. avers out of a Vit. Irenaeiâ—nte opera Feuardentius nor to Rome only without any Letters at all to the Asian Churches as b Tom. 2. an 179. p. 246 247. Baronius would have it but to both to the Eastern Churches to compose the differences there rais'd by the followers of Montanus and to Pope Eleutherius not because it was the duty of that Oecumenical Pastor to decide all Controversies as the Cardinal would have it for himself was infected with the same heresie says c adv Praxeam c. I. Tertullian but to ratifie his authority with the Letters of that Patriarch and perhaps that he might without disturbance imploy his time and pains in the confutation of Florinus and Blastus two Presbyters of that Church but excommunicate whose falling into the heresie of Valentinus so grieved the good man that it occasion'd him to d Theod. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib. 1. seci Florinus Blastus write his books against that heresie which we now have And that he went this Journey I am perswaded by e apud Dr. Caves life of Iren. p. 165. Eusebius and St. Hierome whatever the acut Valesius says to the contrary II. At his return from the East he was chosen successor to Pothinus who had been Martyred in his absence in a dangerous time that needed a man of spirit and courage of learning and piety the persecution raging violently without and the Church being as furiously assaulted within by Marcus one of the Scholars of Valentinus of whom whereas f Not. in Euseb p. 200. Scaliger wonders that neither Eusebius nor Hierome make any mention yet not only g lib. 1. cap. 8 9. Irenaeus himself and h Praescript adv haeres cap. 29. Tertullian names him with Heracleon and Colarbasus the upholders of the School of the Gnosticks but also i lib. 4. c. 10. Vide Theodoret. ubi supr in Marco Eusebius gives his Character and St. k Ep. 29. to 1 p. 198. comment in Isa 64. f. 112. D. Hierome avers that he was a Scholar of Valentinus and first brought that heresie into France into those parts of the Country through which the Rhoan and the Garonne run and thence passing the Pyrenée Mountains he went into Spain and that his chief employment was by Magick and other lustful privacies to creep into the houses of great men and debauch their Wives Women who are led about with divers desires always learning but never coming to the knowledge of the truth III. And here it may not be amiss to observe that the greatest enemies to Christianity have been Satans privadoes and admitted to some more familiar intimacies than ordinary with the Prince of Darkness and this will visibly appear if we inspect the Catalogues of the Primitive Hereticks or the lives of the Emperors who were the most active persecutors of the interests of Jesus whom we shall find acted by a more than humane impulse to uphold the reputation and grandeur of that tottering and ruinous Kingdom The first disturbers of the Churches peace and introducer of damnable Dogmata was Simon Magus whose name bespeaks what acquaintance he had with the Devil nor were his followers any more averse from his practices than his principles a Theodor. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib. 1. sect Simonis haeresis their chief imployment lying in Charms Philtres Amulets and such magical and unlawful Mysteries his most active and acute Disciple was Menander a b Id ubi suprà Aug. de haeres c. 6. Tertull. praescript ad fin Euseb lib. 3. c. 20. Iren. l. 1. c. 21. Master also in this infernal Art after whom were Saturninus and Basilides his Scholars the first the more open villain and a plain asserter of his Masters heresies but the other a more close and busie Proctor for Satan being a great pretender to abstruse and undiscovered Mysteries but c Euseb l. 4. cap. 7. Theodoret. ubi supr sect Basil both equally enslaved by the Devil to become his Vassals Basilides especially being a great trader in Amulets which he gave his deluded Proselytes the form of which you may see in Baronius append ad To. 2. an 120. In these steps did d Gaius apud Euseh lib. 3. c. 22. Cerinthus walk and e Id. l. 4. c. 7. Iren. l. 1. c. 24. Carpocrates who blasted Religion with his venomous breath had an assistant Daemon and gloried that he kept those spirits in subjection whose son f Theod. ubi supr sect Carpocrat Epiphanes and the rest of his followers grew dextrous in those instances of their skill IV. Thus the first family of the Gnosticks grew up and became strong and formidable till it was supplanted or rather engrossed by the Valentinians g Theod lib. 1. sect Valentinus Valentinus deriving his heresie from Simon Magus and Menander and of whom we may judge what his course of life was whose instructors were Magicians and Scholars of the same trade such as were Marcus of whom hereafter and Heracleon who taught his Disciples Charms wrapt up in Hebrew and other obsolete words h Aug. de haeresib c. 16. and how to anoint their dead with oyl balsom and water and a set form of invocation From this Valentinus the Ophitae deriv'd
it over with her Silver Wings S. Philip's Daughters were thus acted says c Hist lib. 3. c. 25. Eusebius and it lasted till the days of d Dialog cum Tryphon p. 308. S. Justin the Martyr about which time e Eus ubi supra lib. 5. c. 16. Quadratus Bishop of Athens was eminent for this gift and after him f Polycrat apud Eus l. 5. c. 23. Hier. Catal. v. Melito Melito Bishop of Sardis and g Apud Euseb lib. 5. c. 3. Irenaeus mentions a Revelation made to Attalus concerning Alcibiades But when Montanus pretended to engross this Donative and appropriate it to his Conventicle it became more rare and was bestowed only on a few persons of extraordinary qualifications men h Orig. contra Gels l. 7. that had attained to a high degree of self-denyal and mortification among whom we may reckon i Greg. Nyssen tom 2. p. 976. Phaedimus Bishop of Amasea who deputed S. Gregory the man of Miracles to his Bishoprick and S. Cyprian to whom the time and manner of his death was revealed in a Vision the miraculous influences of the holy spirit superintending the actions of those admirable men XXIV But I suppose that notwithstanding what the elder k Apud Euseb lib. 5. c. 16. Apollinaris avers that this Blessing was to last for ever in the Church and that S. l Ubi supr cap. 17. Austin says that it continued to his time that at farthest on the alteration of the state of Religion from a troubled and disturb'd to a serene and pacate scene of Affairs under Constantine this inspiration was seldom if ever conferred on any man for as to that Prophecy of S. Athanasius concerning Julian Nebecula est pertransibit that the Cloud would suddenly blow over and many others of antient and later times they are only the sage conjectures of an observing and prudent Experimenter who having read how the world hath been heretofore managed and in his own time remarked the revolutions of Affairs draws Conclusions strongly probable what will succeed from the same or the like premisses And it is observable that in such predictions as in the old Oracles what hath fallen out right hath had the good luck to be Chronicled when a thousand other such Essays that have not answer'd expectation have been buried in Oblivion So that Tully in his Epistles ad Atticum fore-telling the Miseries of the Civil War may on the same grounds be styled a Prophet and if such productions of a discreet and well-practis'd observer must presently commence Oracle this were giving up the Cause to the Church of Rome who to this day plead a right to this dispensation and in truth to every bold Enthusiast and pretender to Revelation but the Church of Rome may not boast of her Prophecies since their authoriz'd Saints contradict each other in the account of their Visions S. Bridget pretending a particular Revelation that the Virgin Mary was conceived in Original sin S. Katherine of Siena pleading Revelation to the contrary but were Prophecy yet continued to the Church it is no unquestionable Authority to broach new Doctrines a Vide Theodoret in loc Deut. 13.1 2. and S. b Contr. Faust Manichae lib. 4. c. 2. Austin's Character of the Patriarchs is the best way of judging concerning this excellent endowment That a life according to the Laws of the Prophets is preferrable to a Tongue tip'd with such Seraphick Discourses Illorum hominum non tantum lingua sed vita prophetica fuit c Chrys To. 2. hom 24. in Matth. p. 172. For Pharaoh had his Dreams Nebuchadnezzar his Visions and Balaam his Spirit of Prophecy while these Communications from Heaven were so far from alleviating that they aggravated both their Crimes and Torments XXV To dispossess Satan was the design of the Son of God and when he had conquered the main Body he left the subduing the dispers'd and routed Troops to his Followers who got signal Victories over the baffled and affronted powers of the Kingdom of Darkness and erected their Trophies over Satan not only in the days of d Apol. 1. Dial. cum Tryph. p. 247. Justin Martyr and e Lib. 2. c. 56 57. Irenaeus of f Apol. c. 23. c. 37. ad Scapul c. 3. Tertullian and g Octav. p. 90 92. Minut. Foelix but in the days of h Contr. Cels l. 2. Origen i Nyss to 2. p. 998 999. Gregory Thaumaturgus k Ep. 2. p. 6. S. Cyprian and l Lib. 2. cap. 16. Lactantius those unclean guests being driven out of their Habitations by the Prayers of the devout Exorcist and though the Gentiles dreaded being possest their Daemons equally dreaded the Christians with whose words they being tormented as a Malefactor is with a Whip did not only confess themselves to be evil Spirits but gave an account of their names and for such Cures were the Servants of Jesus sought unto even by their Enemies and Persecutors So M. Aurelius Antoninus courted Abercius the Bishop of Hierapolis to dispossess his Daughter Lucilla who had been betroathed to Lucius Verus his Collegue in the Empire and the holy man undertook and accomplish'd it And though the truth of that story be by some doubted yet it seems to me to carry with it its own credentials and a To. 2. an 163. p. 15 0 1. Baronius hath fully evinc'd it XXVI But I suppose that as soon as the great Enemy of Christianitie's Interests so sensibly decayed as they did under Constantine when his Oracles ceas'd and his Temples were defac'd when he was no longer fed with the steams of slain Beasts and the fumes of Incense then also this power ceas'd in the Church of God though b De Civit. D. l. 22. c. 8. S. Austin avers that it continued till his time 'T is true the term Exorcist continued and had a place in after Ages among the names of the Church-Officers but then it was only aequivalent to Catecheist the ancient Exorcists both instructing the Catechumens and superintending the Daemoniacs which being an employment that the Church could not want succeeded to the whole title on the expiring of that miraculous power for to believe that the present charms of the Romanists succeed to the practices of the Ancients I must first be induced to credit their Legends and believe that an Amulet shall keep me shot-free or cure a Fever But such Tricks find a livelihood for their wandring and irregular Priests and that gives them some credit but neither is this such a great mark of God's favour or a true Church if it were yet continued for c Chrys ubi supr p. 171. Judas had power given him to cast out Devils and yet himself was one XXVII That the anointing the desperately sick with Oyle was also a speciaâ— influence of the holy Spirit is uncontroleably asserted in that story of the Emperour d Tert. ad