of those inhabiting both the City and Country where are read as time will permit the Writings of the Prophets and Apostles the Reader having ended the Pastor or President makes an exhortation instructing and stirring them up to imitation of things that are honest Afterward we all rise up together and offer up Prayers which concluded there is brought forth Bread and Wine and Water then the Pastor according to his ability offers up Prayers and Thanksgivings the people saying Amen Then being consecrated they are distributed unto every one and sent to such as are absent by the Deacon The wealthier sort if they please contribute somewhat as they will and what is gathered is deposited with the Pastor who therewith relieves Orphans Widdows and such as through sickness or any other necessity are in want as also such as are in bonds and strangers briefly he takes care of all that are poor And therefore do we meet upon Sunday because upon it God dispelling the darkness and informing the first matter created the World and also because upon that day Jesus Christ our Saviour rose again from the dead And a little before he thus speaks of the same Matter After Baptism we bring him that believes and is added to us to the place where the Brethren as they are called are congregated making their joynt Prayers for themselves or he that is Illuminated or Baptized and for all others every where with all their might Prayers being ended we mutually salute one another with a kiss then is there offered unto the Pastor or President Bread and a Cup of Water and Wine he receiving them returns or sends up Praise and Glory unto the Father of all things through the name of the Son and holy Spirit and largely gives thanks for that he accounted us worthy of these gifts when he hath finished the Prayers and Thanksgiving all the people that are present follow him with their well-wishing acclamations saying Amen And Amen in the Hebrew Tongue signifies be it so Then after that the President hath ended the Thanksgiving and all the people have given their acclamations and approbations they that with us are called Deacons distribute to every one of those that are present that each may partake of that Bread Wine and Water that hath been blessed and carry it unto those that are absent And this nourishment or food among us is called the Eucharist Whereof it is not lawful for any to partake but only such a one as believes our Doctrine to be true and hath been washed in the laver for remission of sins and unto regeneration and lives so as Christ hath delivered or taught In this plain and simple manner were the Ordinances according to Christs institution then administred without all those pompous Observations Ceremonies and superstitious Additions which in after times by degrees were brought in practised and prevailed to the great dishonour of God detriment of Souls disturbance of the Church and despoiling of the Ordinances themselves of much of their beauty and lustre which then shines forth most when they are preserved in their native purity and kept most free from all debasing mixtures of mens devices and adventitious supposed Ornament which rather deform than deck and adorn them 2. Oâ— the sufferings of the Christians their joy in them with 〈◊〉 ground thereof and the 〈…〉 thus speaks 〈…〉 we are slain we rejoyce having this perswasion that God will raise us up by his Christ. There is none that can terrifie or bring us into bondage who by believing have given up our names to Jesus this is manifested through all the earth For when we are slain with the sword crucified and punished with bonds fire and all kind of torments it is sufficiently known that we forsake not our profession and the more we are tormented the more is the number of Believers and such as embrace the true Religion through the name of Jesus increased For as by pruning the Vine spreads and becomes more fruitful so fares it with us for his people are a Vine or Vineyard planted by God and our Saviour 3. He shews that the gift of casting out Devils of Prophesie and other extraordinary gifts of the holy Ghost continued unto this time Whereof he thus speaks We call Jesus Christ our Helper and Redeemer the virtue of whose Name the Devils tremble at and fear and even at this day being adjured by the Name of Jesus Christ who was crucified under Pontius Pilate the Governour of Iudea they obey us that thence also it may appear unto all that the Father hath given him so great power that even the Devils are subject to his Name and to the Oecomony or dispensation of his Passion Now if the Oeconomy of his Passion be shewn to have obtained and to obtain so great power how great will it be at his glorious appearing Concerning this we have another passage to the same purpose in his first as it s ordinarily accounted Apology as also no less than twice more doth he make report thereof in his Dialogue with Tryphon In the last of which places which I therefore set down as his Creed because it contains the sum of the Articles of the Apostles Creed that respect Jesus Christ he thus saith By the Name of this very Son of God and first born of every Creature born of the Virgin and made a Man subject to sufferings crucified under Pontiâ—â— Pilate by your Nation who died and rose again from the dead and ascended into Heaven every Devil adjured is overcome and brought into subjection But if ye should adjure them by any name of the Kings or just Men or Prophets or Patriarchs that have been among you not one of them should yield obedience Again mentioning that Prophesie I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh and upon my Servants and upon mine Handmaids and they shall prophesie Among us saith he you may see both women and men having gifts from the Spirit of God Lastly among us even unto this day there are prophetical gifts from whence you ought to understand that those gifts which of old time were in your Nation are now translated unto us Of such places of Scripture as do seem to contradict one another he declares what he himself doth and others should think of them I shall never dare to think or say that the Scriptures are contrary one unto another but if any Scripture be propounded which seems to be such and to have a shew of being contrary to some other I being throughly perswaded that no one Scripture is contrary unto another will rather confess that I do not understand the things that are spoken and will endeavour that those who suspect the Scriptures to be contrary would rather be of the same mind with me So great was the reverence and respect that he bare unto the sacred Scriptures 5. Unto what persons and in what manner Baptism
by immersion This saith he was our sentence in the Council that none ought by us to be kept back from baptism and the grace of God who is merciful unto all Now seeing this ought to be retained and observed toward all then we think it is much more to be observed about even Infants and such as are newly born Neither ought it to move any one that the sick are sprinkled or have water poured on them seeing they obtain grace of the Lord. it appears therefore that sprinkling also obtains even as the Salutary Laver and when these things are done in the Church where the faith both of the giver and receiver is sound all things may stand be consummated and perfected with or by the Majesty of the Lord and truth of Faith Concerning which opinion of his Augustine thus speaks Beatus Cyprianus non aliquod decretum condens novum sed Ecclesiae fidem firmisâ—imam servans ad corrigendum eos qui putabant ante octavum diem nativitatis non esse parvulum baptizandum non carnem fed â—â—imam dixit non esse perdendam mox natum â—itè baptizari posse cum suis quibusdam coëpiscopis censuit 7. That Devils were cast out in his time Be ashamed saith he unto Demetrian to worship those Gods whom thou thy self must defend Oh that thou wouldst but hear and see them when they are adjured by us and tortured with Spiritual scourges and by the torments of words are cast out of possessed bodies when wailing and groaning with humane voice and by Divine Power feeling whips and stripes they confess the judgment to come Come and know the things we say to be true thou shalt see us to be intreated by them whom thou intreatest to be feared by those whom thou adorest thou shalt see them stand bound under our hand and being captives to tremble whom thou dost honor and reverence as Lords Certainly even thus maist thou be confounded in these thine errors when thou shalt behold and hear thy gods at our demand forthwith to bewray what they are and although you be present not to be able to conceal their sleights and fallacies 8. The various operations of the three persons in the Trinity are thus elegantly described in the book of the Cardinal works of Christ. In this School of Divine Mastership it is the Father that doth teach and instruct the Son that doth reveal and open the hidden things of God the holy Spirit that doth replenish and endue us From the Father we receive Power from the Son Wisdom from the holy Spirit Innocence By the Father is given us eternity by the Son conformity unto his image by the holy Spirit integrity and liberty In the Father we are in the Son we live in the holy Spirit we move and go forward 9. Of inadvertency in Prayer what slothfulness is it saith he to be alienated and drawn away with foolish and profane thoughts when thou art praying unto the Lord as if there were some other things that thou oughtest to think on then that thou art speaking with God How dost thou desire to be heard of God when thou hearest not thy self wilt thou have the Lord to be mindful of thee when thou prayest seeing thou art not mindful of thy self this is not wholly to beware of the enemy this is when thou prayest unto God to offend with the negligence of prayer the Majesty of God this is to watch with the eyes and sleep with the heart whereas a Christian ought even when he sleeps with his eyes to have his heart waking 10. He doth most Rhetorically upbraid the slothfulness and sterility of the Lords people by bringing in Sathan with his sons of perdition thus speaking I for those O Christ whom thou seest with me have neither received blows nor sustained stripes nor born the cross nor redeemed my family with the price of my passion and death neither do I promise them the Kingdom of heaven nor restoring unto them immortality do I call them back again to Paradise And yet they prepare me gifts very precious great and gotten with too much and long labor c. Shew me O Christ any of thine admonished by thy precepts and that shall receive for earthly heavenly things who bring thee such gifts By these My terrene and fading gifts he means the Ethnick Spectacles no man is fed none clothed none sustained by the comfort of any meat or drink all perish in the prodigal and foolish vanity of deceiving pleasures between the madness of him that sets them forth and the error of the beholders thou promisest eternal life to those that work and yet unto mine that perish thine are scarce equal who are honored by thee with Divine and Celestial rewards Oh my dear brethren what shall we answer â—nto these things 11. Of Admission into the Church thus We saith he that must render an account unto the Lord do anxiously weigh and sollicitously examine those who are to be received and admitted into the Church For some there are whose crimes do so stand in the way or whom the brethren do so stiffly and firmly oppose that they cannot at all be received without the scandal and danger of many For neither are some rotten shells so to be gathered as that those who are whole and sound should be wounded nor is he a profitable and advised Pastor who so mingles diseased and infected sheep with the flock as to contaminate the whole flock by the afflictation afflictatione of evil cohering Oh if you could dear brother be present here with us when these crooked and perverse ones return from schism you should see what ado I have to perswade our brethren to patience that laying asleep or suppressing the grief of their mind they would consent unto the receiving and curing of those evil ones For as they rejoyce and are glad when such as are tolerable and less culpable do return so on the other side they murmur and strive as often as such as are incorrigible and froward and defiled either with adulteries or sacrifices and after these things yet over and above proved do so return unto the Church that they corrupt good dispositions within I scarce perswade yet extort from the common sort to suffer such to be admitted and the grief of the fraternity is made the more just because that one or other of those who though the people did withstand and contradict yet were through my facility received became worse then they were before nor could keep the promise of repentance because they came not with true repentance 12. That the people had at that time a voice in the election of their Bishop or Pastor even in Rome it self plainly appears in the case of Cornelius so chosen yea that it was the use every where is evident by these words of his That saith he is to be held and observed diligently from Divine Tradition and Apostolical observation which is held
what their life and doctrine is and why they contemn death As not the two first so neither are these two last mentioned by Eusebius or Ierom yet are all these seven conceived to be the proper works of Iustine Besides these there are other extant under his name which yet are either question'd or conceived to be none of his but supposititious falsly ascribed to him They may be discerned from those that are genuine either by the diversity of the Stile or some other evident Notes distinguished the one from the other And they are these that follow 1. His Book de Monarchia the Stile whereof is not unlike that of Iustine yet is it doubtful whether he were the Author of it 1. Because the Title differs from that mentioned by Eusebius Ierom Photius and Suidas who intitle the Book written by him de Monarchia Dei whereas this is only de Monarchia 2. In that he tells that he fetcheth Testimonies not only from our own Authors i. e. the sacred Scriptures but also Writings of the Heathens whereas in this now extant the later sort of Testimonies only are to be found Gelenius also in his Latin Edition of the Works of Iustin which he saith comprehended all those then extant leaves this out altogether Perionius therefore concludes that either this that we now have is not perfect but wants many pages or else for certain Iustin wrote another Book upon this Subject Miraeus is of this judgement that half of the other Book de Monarchia remains and that half of one Book de Monarchia Dei is lost The sum of it is to exhort the Greeks to leave their idolatry and to worship the true God whom their Poets did acknowledge to be the only Creator and Governour of all things but made no reckoning at all of their feigned gods 2. An exposition of the true Faith or of a right Confession of the holy and coessential Trinity Which by divers Arguments may evidently be proved to be none of his especially 1. By the Stile which seems to differ from that of Iustin being more curt and neat than his 2. Because he speaks much more apertly and distinctly of the Mysteries of the Trinity and Incarnation than the Writers of that age are wont to do 3. None of the Ancients make mention of it 4. The words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. were not then so usual in the Church nor are they any where to be found in the Writings of Iustin when as yet he sometimes professedly handles the Doctrine of the Trinity Bellarmine himself therefore is doubtful of it Ambigo saith he â—n ejus sit and well he might there being so much cause But whoever were the Author of it it is an excellent and profitable discourse and worthy of such an Author as Iustin. Herein he shews that there is indeed but one God who is known in the Father Son and holy Spirit and that these three have but one and the same Essence as also discourseth of the Incarnation of the Word who is Mediator according to both Natures the manner of the Union whereof in Christ is ineffable 3. A confutation of certain Opinions of Aristotle which saith Possevine Iustin did not write neither will Baronius undertake to determine whether it be his or no. Eusebins Ierom and Suidas mention it not for which cause it is justly rejected as not written by Iustin though Photius speak of it as his and it have no evident note of falshood in the judgement of Bellarmine Therefore saith he I have nothing to say one way or other 4. Certain Questions propounded by the Christians to the Gentiles and their Answers to them together with a confutation of those Answers Which piece as the Stile bewrays it to be none of Iustins so may it easily be discerned also from the often mention of the Manichees in the confutation of the answer to the first question who arose above an hundred years after Iustin. 5. Certain questions propounded by the Greeks or Gentiles with the answers of the Christians unto them Which are ranked with the former by the Centurists 6. This answers to 146 questions unto the Orthodoxes it seem not to Iustins saith Possevine the same thinks Bellarmine yea that this is certain many things contained in them do plainly evince As 1. Some words which were not in use in the Church till a long time after Iustin. e. g. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 2. In them is cited Irenaeus Quest. 115. whom he stiles a Martyr yet did Iustin die some fourty years before viz. An. 165. where Irenaeus suffered Martyrdom an 205. according to the account of Baronius Also Origen is quoted Quest. 82. 86. who yet was long after Iustin. 3. Divers passages are here to be found which are cross to what is contained in the genuine Writings of Iustin. e. g. That the Witch of Endor did but delude the eye that they seemed to see Samuel when 't was not he Quest. 52. whereas Iustin asserteth that 't was the true Samuel that was raised Also Quest. 112. the Angel that spake with Iacob and Moses and other of the Patriarchs is said to be a created Angel and that for his office committed to him he was honoured with the name of God Whereas Iustin earnestly contends and affirms that that Angel was Christ the Son of God Add hereto that the stile shews them to be counterfeit which seems saith Sixtus Senensis not unlike unto that of Theodoret in his questions upon the Octoteuch and it is conceived that they were written by some one who lived about that time Besides all this there are among them so many questions and answers unworthy of the Piety Candour and Learning of Iustin that if they be compared with his true Writings they will be found to differ no less than Gold and Lead the one from the other Upon how frail a foundation then are those unsound Doctrines of the Papists built for the proof whereof these spurious Writings are often alledged viz. the lawful use of the Cross the Virgin Mary without sin keeping and worshipping of Reliques religious Vows Baptism necessary unto Salvation the use of Chrism Ceremonies of the Mass Free-will and that Confirmation is a Sacrament § 4. The stile that Iustin used was vehement and worthy of one that handled serious matters but it came nearer to that of the Philosopher than to that of the Orator which is the reason why he is sometimes obscure § 2. Many things of special Note and very observable are to be met withal in this ancient Author among the rest are such as these 1. He acquaints us with the manner of the Christians performance of the duties of worship in their publick Assemblies which was thus Upon the day which is called Sunday saith he or the first day of the Week are the Meetings or publick Assemblies
was then administred he acquaints us saying As many as are perswaded and do believe those things that are taught and spoken by us to be true and promise to live accordingly they are taught to pray fasting and to beg of God the pardon of their former sins we praying and fasting together with them Then are they brought by us unto the place where the water is and are regenerated after the same manner of Regeneration wherewith we were regenerated For in the name of the Father and Lord God of all and of our Saviour Jesus Christ and of the Holy Spirit they are then washed in Water And through the Water we obtain remission of those sins which we had before committed And this washing is called illumination because the minds of those that learn these things are enlightned 6. We make account that we cannot suffer any harm from any one unless we be convicted to be evil-doers or discovered to be wicked persons You may indeed put us to death but you cannot hurt us 7. Such was the innocency and tenderness of Christians that whereas saith he before we believed we did murther one another now we not only do not oppugn or War against our enemies but that we may not lie nor deceive the Inquisitors confessing Christ we die willingly 8. So great was the courage and resolution of Christians that although saith he it were decreed to be a capital crime for any to teach or even to profess the name of Christ we notwithstanding both embrace and teach it 9. Concerning the Translation of the Septuagint he gives this account That Ptolemy King of Egypt erecting a Library at Alexandria and understanding that the Jews had ancient Books which they diligently kept he sent for seventy wise men from Ierusalem who were skill'd both in the Greek and Hebrew Tongues and committed unto them the care of translating those Books And that being free from all disturbance they might make the quicker dispatch of the translation he commanded a like number of Cells or little Rooms to be made not in the City it self but about seven furlongs from it where the Pharos was built that each one should finish his interpretation by himself alone requiring the servants attending them to be in every regard serviceable to them only to hinder them from conversing together to the end that the exact truth of the Interpretation might be known by their consent And coming to know that these seventy men used not only the same sense but also the same words in the translation and that they differ'd no not so much as in one word one from another but had written in the same words of the same things being hereat astonished and believing the Interpretation to be accomplished by divine assistance he judged the men worthy of all honour as loving and beloved of God and with many gifts commanded them to return again into their own Country And having the books in admiration as there was cause and consecrating them unto God he laid them up there in the Library These things we relate unto you O ye Greeks not as fables and feigned stories but as those who have been at Alexandria and have seen the footsteps of those Cells yet remaining in Pharos This we report as having heard it from the Inhabitants who have received the memorable things of their Countrey by tradition from their Ancestors Which also you may understand from others and chiefly from those wise and approved Men who have recorded these things namely Philo and Iosephus 10. Concerning the Sibyls thus O ye Greeks If you have not greater regard unto the fond or false imagination of them that are no gods then unto your own salvation give credit unto the most ancient Sibyls whose Books happen to be preserved in the whole World teaching you from a certain powerful Inspiration by Oracles concerning those who are called but are not gods and plainly and manifestly foretelling the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and of all things that were to be done by him For the knowledge of these things will be a necessary Praeludium or preparation unto the Prophecies or to the reading of the Prophecies of holy Men. § 6. Though his excellencies were great yet were they accompanied with many imperfections viz. his slips and errours that he had which we shall briefly point at and give notice of and they were such as these 1. He was an express Chiliast or Millenary and a most earnest maintainer of that opinion as were many of the Ancients beside him viz. Irenaeus Apollinarius Bishop of Hierapolis Nepos an Egyptian Bishop Tertullian Lactaâ—tius Victorinus c. The first broacher of this errour was Papias the Auditor or Disciple of Iohn not the Apostle but he who was called Presbyter or Senior and whose the two latter Epistles of Iohn are by some conceived to be This man was passing eloquent but of a weak and slender judgement as by his Books appears yet did he occasion very many Ecclesiastical Men to fall into this errour who had respect unto his Antiquity and among the rest Iustin as appears in divers places of his Books particularly in his Dialogue with Tryphon the Jew who pressing him after this manner Tell me truly saith he do you acknowledge that the City Ierusalem shall be built again and that your people shall be there gathered together and live in pleasures with Christ c. To whom I thus replyed saith he I am not such a wretch O Tryphon as to speak otherwise then I think I have confessed unto thee before that my self and many others are of the same mind as ye fully know it shall be even so but withal I have signified unto thee that some Christians of a pure and pious judgement do not acknowledge this But as for me and those Christians who are of a right judgement in all things we do know that there shall be a Resurrection of the Flesh and a thousand years in Ierusalem re-built beautified and enlarged as the Prophets Ezekiel Esay and others have published And afterward that there shall be an Universal and Everlasting Resurrection of all together and a Judgement as a certain Man of our own whose name was Iohn one of the Twelve Apostles of Christ in that Revelation which he had hath foretold 2. He entertained a gross Judaical conceit concerning some of the Angels of whom he hath these words That God having made the World and put the Earth in subjection unto Man He committed the care of Men themselves and of the things under the Heavens unto certain Angels whom he had appointed hereunto but the Angels transgressing the Ordinance of God were overcome with the company of Women on whom they begat those Children which are called Daemons and moreover they brought the rest of mankind into servitude unto themselves and sowed Murthers Adulteries Wars and all kind of wickedness among Men This errour took its rise
it is that most Mens stiles do differ as well as their faces suus cuique stilus est inquit Erasmus quisque suum quendam habet gustum peculiarem every one hath somewhat peculiar to him in this particâ—lar Accordingly our Author being a Man â—cris vehementis Ingenii of a rough sharp and vehement spirit makes use of a stile answerable viz. quick and crabbed and consequently harsh and obscure which he did of purpose affecting it as most agreeable to his Genius so that his expressions are such even in things that are plain and easie This Rhenanus renders as the reason why his writings had so many faults or Errataes in them viz. â—eglectus autâ—ris quo multis annis non est lectotum manibus tritus ipsâ—m dicendi gâ—nus affectatum Africanum affectati stili durities molestiam addit quod etiam magis effecit ut minùs legâ—retur quà m quidvis aliud Which betided the Poet Persius qui consulâ—ò est obscurus suisque scriptis caliginem tenebras exindustriâ objecit for being by one taken in hand and perceived to be so dark and cloudy he was fairly laid aside with such like words as these Si nolâ—t intelligi non legetur 4. His converse in the Greek Authors whom he diligently read being very skilful in that Tongue idenim temporis nihil extabaâ— inquit Rhenanus apud Latinos in sacris praeter testamentum utrumque tantum Victor Apollonius scripserant opuscula hence it is that transcribing much from them he retains their phrases though he quote not his Authors which was the manner of the first ages viz. to cite none by name but the sacred Scriptures only especially if they had drawn the Water out of the Wells of the Greeks and imitates their manner of speaking By his assiduous perusal of their Books saith Pamelius adeò Graecas loquendi formulas imbiberit ut etiam Latinè seribens illarum oblivisci nequiret he so drank in their forms of speech that when he comes to write in Latin he cannot forget them and both himself and Rhenanus have taken notice of many phrases in him which he borrows from the Greeks and wherein he conforms unto them Most of these I find observed by that Learned French-man Mr. Iohn Daille in his choice Treatise concerning the right use of the Fathers What shall I say saith he of Tertullian who besides his natural harshness and roughness which you meet with in him throughout and that Carthagmian spirit and genius which is common to him with the rest of the African writers hath yet shadowed and over-cast his conceptions with so much learning and with so many new terms and passages out of the Law and with such variety of all visions subtilties and nice points as that the greatest stock both of learning and attention that you can bring with you will be all little enough to fit you for a perfect understanding of him § 5. This father is full fraught with and abounds in grave and excellent sentences some few whereof I shall here insert which may serve a little to acquaint us with the state of those times in reference unto both the Doctrine and Discipline then professed and practised in the Chuches of Christ. 1. Take a view of his Symbol or Creed containing a summary of the faith which was generally received and maintained in his time Altogether one the only immoveable and irreformable rule as he stiles it which is this To believe that there is but one God nor he any other beside the Creator of the world who made all things of nought by his word first of all sent forth Colos. 1. 16 17. That word to be call'd his Son in the name of God variously seen by the Patriarchs always heard by the Prophets last of all brought down by the Spirit of God the Father and Power into the Virgin Mary made flesh in her womb and of her born a man and that he is Jesus Christ moreover that he preached a new law and a new promise of the Kingdom of Heaven that he wrought or did wonders was fastned to the Cross arose the third day that being taken up into heaven he sate down on the right of the Father sent the power of the Ghost in his stead that he might guide or act believers that he shall come in glory to take the Saints into the fruition of eternal life and heavenly promises and to adjudge the wicked unto perpetual fire a resurrection of each part being made with the restitution of the flesh This rule instituted by Christ as shall be proved hath no question made of it among us but which Heresies bring in and which makes Hereticks A compend or brief hereof is to be seen in the beginning of his book of the veiling of Virgins as also in that against Praxeas the Heretick unto which he subjoyns these words This Law of Faith remaining other things that concern discipline and conversation do admit of a newness of Correction the grace of God working and making a proficiency unto the end So that where there is a consent in the fundamental and substantial truths of the Gospel differences in things of less moment may be born with nor should they cause divisions among Christians That rule holding here that Opinionum varietas opinantium unitas non sunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He adds that this rule hath ran down from the beginning of the Gospel even before any heresie sprung up insomuch as from hence this appears to be a firm Truth id esse verum quodcunque primum id esse adulterum quodcunque posterius Again The Church acknowledgeth one God Creatour of the universe and Jesus Christ of the Virgine Mary the Son of God the Creator and the resurrection of the flesh it mingleth the Law and the Prophets with the Evangelical and Apostolical writings and from thence drinks in that faith It signs with water clotheth with the holy Ghost which Pamelius understands of confirmation feeds with the Eucharist exhorteth with Martyrdom and so receives none against this institution 2. He prescribes and lays down this for a sure rule by which the truth may be known viz. If the Lord Jesus Christ did send out the Apostles to Preach other Preachers are not to be received then those whom Christ did institute because neither doth any other know the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son hath revealed him neither doth the Son seem to have revealed him unto any others save to the Apostles whom he sent to Preach Now what they have preached i.e. what Christ revealed to them ought no other way to be proved then by the same Churches which the Apostles themselves founded preaching unto them as well by a lively voice as they say as afterward by Epistles If these things be so it is then evident that
by the most faithful Mediator between God and Men Jesus Christ who shall restore both God to Man and Man to God the Spirit to the Flesh and the Flesh to the Spirit For that which thou supposest to be the destruction thereof know 't is but a departure Not only the soul is separated or laid aside the Flesh also in the interim hath its receptacles in the Waters Fires Fowls Beasts When it seems to be dissolved into these it is as it were poured into Vessels if also the Vessels themselves shall fail when it flits out of them it is as it were by certain windings swallowed up again into its Mother Earth 14. If thou wouldest spend the time of thy life in pleasures why art thou so ungrateful as not to acknowledge and account sufficient so many and such pleasures as art afforded thee of God For what is more than reconciliation with God the Father than the Revelation of the Truth than â— calling to remembrance of our Errour than the pardon of so many sins past What greater pleasure than the loathing of pleasure it self than the contempt of the whole World than true Liberty than a sound or good Conscience than a sufficient Life then no fear of death that thou tramplest upon the Gods of the Nations that thou castest out Devils that thou dost Cures that thou coverest Revelations that thou livest unto God 15. How shall I be able to declare the happiness of that Marriage which the Church knits together the oblation confirms the Angels reports it sealed the Father ratifies For neither on Earth do Children rightly marry without the consent of their Parents What a match is that of two Believers of one hope one vow one discipline the same service Both Brethren both Fellow-servants no difference of Spirit or Flesh but truly two in one Flesh where the Flesh is one and the Spirit one they pray together they are humbled and fast together leading and exhorting one another in distresses and refreshments neither concealeth avoideth or is grievous unto the other the sick is freely visited the poor sustained alms are without torment sacrifices without scruple i.e. offerings for Ministers and the Poor signing viz. with the cross is not by stealth greeting not with trembling nor benediction mute Psalms and Hymns sound forth from two and they mutally provoke one another who shall sing best unto their God Christ rejoyceth to behold and hear such things Which words saith Rhenanus are worthy to be written in Letters of Gold 16. He would have these to be the Ornaments of Christian Women They should saith he take whiteness from simplicity redness from modesty their eyes should be painted with bashfulness their spirits with silence hanging in their ears the Word of God tying about their necks the Yoke of Christ. Submit unto your Husbands saith he and you shall be sufficiently adorned imploy your hands in wooll let your feet keep at home and you shall more please than if deck'd with Gold Cloth you with the Silk and Purple of Virtue Holiness and Chastity being thus beautified you shall have God for your Lover 17. A woman going unto the Theatre returned from thence possessed of the Devil wherefore in the Exorcism being pressed how he durst adventure upon a Believer he constantly replyed I do it most justly In meo eam inveni For I found her upon mine own ground 18. As touching the carriage and course of Hereticks he thus describes it First of all it is uncertain who among them is a Catechumen and who a Believer they congregate together and hear together pray together if even heathens come in among them they give that which is holy unto dogs and cast pearls though not true ones before swine they will have simplicity to be the prostration of Discipline the care whereof among us they call an inticement they also make peace every where with all For it matters not with them though they hold different opinions so that they agree together for the overthrow of the Truth they are all puffed up they all promise knowledge even heretical women how malepeâ—t who dare teach contend exâ—rcise promise cures and perhaps baptize too Their ordinations are rash light and inconstant sometimes they place in novices sometimes such as are addicted unto the World sometimes our Apostates that they may oblige them by Glory or Preferment whom they cannot by Truth Proficiency is no where more facile than in the Camps of Rebels where even to be a desertor is a stept to promotion therefore one is a Bishop to day to morrow another to day he is a Presbyter who to morrow is a Lay-man he is to day a Deacon who to morrow is a Reader For even unto Laicks do they commit Pastoral Charges or the Priestly Office What should I speak of the Administration of the Word Seeing their business is not to convert the Heathens but to subvert ours This glory they rather covet if they may ruine those that stand than raise up those that are fallen Because their work proceeds not of their own proper building but of the destruction of the Truth Besides they know not to respect or reverence those that are over them and hence it is that there are scarce any Schisms amongst Hereticks for when there be they obey not Finally if we look narrowly into Heresies we shall find them all in many things differing from their Authors many of them have no Churches they wander up and down without a Mother without a seat destitute of the faith like banished ones it is also observed that Hereticks have much acquaintance with Magicians Juglers Astrologers Philosophers being given to curiosity every where minding that Seek and ye shall find So that the quality of their Faith may be estimated from their manner of conversation Doctrine is the Index of Discipline They deny that God is to be feared therefore all things are free and loose among them c. §6 Though these and many such like excellent passages are to be found in his works throughout yet is there a great deal of caution and judgement to be made use of in the perusal of them For 1. He hath many inconvenient and dangerous expressions which without a favourable interpretation are not to be allowed of for although in some of them he haply thought more commodiously than he wrote yet his absurd phrases are no way to be approved of nor can some of them by any means well be excused As where he saith that God is corporeal and hath a body though not fashioned or figured who saith he can deny that God hath a body although God be a Spirit which expression of his is very inconvenient and unsuitable unto the most simple Nature of God Yet hath the great Augustine herein pleaded his excuse He might perhaps saith he by a body mean the very Divine
of Mercury over against Sicily distant from Carthage about fifty miles In this place of a pleasant situation was he fitted with a convenient lodging and visited by many of the brethren Continuing here the most part of a year he was not idle as his Letters not a few written from hence do testifie wherein he ceased not to exhort those unto whom he wrote to constancy in suffering even unto the laying down of their lives for Christ in which imployment let us a while leave him till we shall come to speak of his Matyrdom § 2. He was a man of excellent natural parts the elaborate piece of Nature saith Nazianzen the Flower of Youth and these to the utmost improved by Education and industry so that he attained unto a great height of secular Learning in all kinds before his conversion For besides his exactness in the art of Rhetorick whereof he was publick Professor in the famous City of Carthage and he so far excelled that he went beyond other men in Eloquence as much as we exceed the brute Creatures he was accurately skill'd in all other Arts One saith Nazianzen that had gotten unto the top of Learning not only of Philosophy but other Sciences in every kind take him where you will so that in variety of knowledge and in absolute insight into the Arts yea in every regard he excelled all others To which was added his through knowledge in the Tongues viz. the Greek and Latin the two learned Languages wherein he was most skilful The most Eloquent Preacher Danieâ— Tossanus did perswade both my self saith Keckerman and other candidates of the Ministery that among all the Fathers we would in the next place after the holy Scriptures and most diligently read Cyprian and certainly I know not what spirit of Eloquence breaths upon us when we have read this Author These things did afterward prove of great advantage unto him as did unto the Jews the Gold and Silver whereof they spoiled the Egyptians 'T is Augustine's allusion whose words for their weight and worth do deserve perusal which I shall here insert As the Egyptians saith he had Gold and Silver and Rayment which the people of Israel departing out of Egypt did clancularly challenge for a better use not by their own Authority but by the command of God the Egyptians ignorantly lending them those things which they used not well So the Doctrines of the Gentiles do contain the Liberal Arts very useful to the Truth and some most profitable moral precepts as also some Truths concerning the worship of that one God Which Gold and Silver as it were of theirs that they themselves instituted not but did dig out certain Mines of the Divine Providence extending it self every where and which they perversly and injuriously abused to the worshipping of Devils 〈◊〉 Christian when he departs from them and in heart separates himself from their miserable society ought to take or bring away for the just use of preaching the Gospel and what else did many of our good and faithful men Do we not see with how great a burden of Gold Silver and Rayment the Most sweet Doctor and blessed Matyr Cyprian departed out of Egypt So also did Victorinus Optatus Hilarius and innumerable of the Greeks c. thus he And not much unlike is that passage of Ierom 〈◊〉 alluding unto those words of Moses Deut 21. 10 c who being demanded by Magnus a Roman Orator Cur in opusculis suis saecularium literarum interdum poneret exempla caudorem Ecclesiae ethnicorum sordibus pollueret responsum inquit breviter habeto Quis nesciat in Moyse in Prophetarum voluminibus quaedam assumpta de gentilium libris Sed Paulus Apostolus Pâ—etarum Epimenidis Menandri Arati versiculis abusus est Quid ergò mirum si ego sapientiam saecularem propter eloquii venustatem membrorum pulchritudinem de aneillâ captivâ Israelitidem facere cupio si quicquid in eâ mortuum est idololatriae voluptatis erroris libidinum vel praecido vel rado mixtos purissimo corpori vernaculo ex eâ genero Domino Sabaoth labor meus in familiam Christi profecit But the most splendid Jewels that were his principal Ornaments Christianity only furnished him withal which made him exceeding amiable in the eyes both of God and Men so that nothing was more illustrious or famous in the whole world saith Billiâ—s quoting the words of Ierom accounted by the Church as a Star of the greatest Manitude Non solùm malos Catholicos inquit Augustinus nullo modo comparamus sed nec bonos facilè coaequamus beato Cypriano quem inter râ—ros paucos excellentissimae gratiae viros numerâ—â— pia mater Ecclesia He was saith Nazianzen sometime viz. before his conversion the singular honour of Carthage but now viz. since his becoming a Christian of the whole world His natural disposition was very sweet and lovely but being polished by Religion it became much more so in whom was to be found such an equal composition of gravity and chearfulness severity and mildness that it might be doubtful whether he deserved to be more feared or loved but that indeed he equally deserved both His knowledge in the Mysteries of the Gospel was such that for it he was renowned every where his writings that were dispersed fâ—r and near did spread his fame and made him of great note not only in the African and Western but also in the Churches of the East In comparison of whom the great Augustin doth so far undervalue himself that saith he I am very much yea incomparably inferiour unto the desert of Cyprian And he was not only a shining but also a burning light so exemplary in his conversation that the Rays of Grace and Holiness streaming forth therein did even confound the minds of the beholders Talis ubique Sermonis habitus et inquit Erasmus ut loqui sentias verè Christianum Episcopum ac Martyrio destinatum Pectus ardet Evangelicâ pietate pectori respondet oratio loquitur diserta sed magis fortia quà m diserta neque tam loquitur fortia quà m vivit Insomuch that in the sentence pronounced upon him he is stiled the Standard-bearer of his Sect and enemy of the gods qui futurus esset ipse documento cujus saâ—guine inciperet Disciplina sanciri Among the rest those graces whose lustre and brightness the place he held the employments he managed and the condition of the times that he lived in did more especially discover were such as these 1. His humility that sweet grace peculiar to Christianity this added a beauty unto all the rest tanto erat excelientior quanto humilior inquit Augustinus who was so much the higher in the account of others by how much the lower he was in his own Being to deliberate
de Sacramento calicis infudit Tunc sequitur singulâ—â—â— vomitus In corpore ore violato Eucharistia permanere non potuit Sanctificatus in domini sanguine potus de polutis visceribus erupit tanta est potestas Domini tanta Majestâ—s The necessity of this and the other Sacrament he seems to conclude from Iohn 3. 5. Except a man be â—orn of water and the spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God And Iâ—hn 6. 53. Except ye eat the flesh of the Son if man and drink his blood ye have no life in you 6. But the greatest errour to be noted in him which yet oh how small in comparison of some in many other of the ancients was that about rebaptization by Chemnitius too harshly called a fundamental errour Ha 〈◊〉 inquit errorem in fundamento His judgment was this that those who having been baptized by Hereticks did forsake their Heresies and return unto the Church were to be received by Baptism In this opinion many Bishops not of Africa only but of Asia also consented with him about which there having been three Councils convened at Carthage in the third wherein Cyprian was President it was agreed in the affirmative upon this ground chiefly because they thought the Baptism of Hereticks to be a nullity Great was the contest between the African and Western Churches about this controversie these latter holding with the Bishop of Rome that Hereticks returning unto the Church were to be received only by prayer and imposition of hands wherein they are to be conceived no less erroneous than the former for that they allowed the Baptism of all sorts of Hereticks without making any distinction between them whereas not long after in the Council of Nice if any one flie unto the Catholick Church from the Paulianists meaning the Samosatenians called by either name from the Author Paulus Samosatenus and Cataphrygians it is ordained or decreed that they ought altogether to be rebaptized The reason was because these Hereticks holding Christ to be none other than a meer man they baptized not in the name of Christ and so the substance and true form of Baptism not being retained by them it was adjudged to be no Baptism And indeed whoever is baptized by such an Heretick as openly denies the Holy Trinity ought to be rebaptized so that it was the errour of Stephen and those who joyned with him that they excepted not such Hereticks as these as Cyprian erred in excepting none But Stephen though he were little less erroneous than Cyprian herein yet did he differ much in his disposition and carriage for according unto his hot and cholerick temper he declared publickly against Firmilian Bishop of Cesarea in Cappadocia of Cyprian's opinion and excommunicated all those that dissented from himself Contrariwise Cyprian discovering herein the mildness of his spirit thus bespeaks his colleagues in the Council of Carthage Ierom in commendation of him cites two passages of his to the same purpose the one ex Epistolâ ad Stephanum Episcopum Romanum the other ex Epistolâ ad Iubaianum In the former his words are these Quâ in re inquit nec nos vim cuiquam facimus aut legem damus cum habeat in Ecclesiae administratione voluntatis suae liberum arbitrium unusquisque praepositus rationem actus sui Domino redditurus It remains saith he that we produce what each of us thinks concerning this thing judging no man or removing any of another judgment from the right of Communion for none of us makes himself a Bishop of Bishops or with tyrannical terrour drives his collegues to a necessity of obeying seeing every Bishop hath a proper judgment according unto his own liberty and power as who cannot be judged by another seeing that he himself cannot judge another But we all expect the judgment of our Lord Jesus Christ who only and alone hath power of preferring us in the Government of his Church and of judging our actions Oh how much is Augustin taken and delighted with the peaceableness charity and moderation of Cyprian herein for which he greatly admires and commends him And saith he the Lord therefore did not discover this truth unto him that his pious humility and charity in wholsomly keeping the peace of the Church might be the more open and manifest and taken notice of as a remedy not only by the Christians of that time but also by posterity c. Moreover let me add as making much to his praise that he was not obstinate in his errour for as he was learned and skilful to teach othâ—rs so was he also docil and patâ—ent to learn of others which I doubt not saith Augustin he would have demonstrated had he discussed this question with holy and learned men Yea saith he perhaps he did correct his errour but we know it not for neither could all things which at that time were done among the Bishops be committed to memory and writing nor do we know all things that were so committed Again we do not find saith he that he corrected his errour yet may we imagine not incongruously of such a man that he did correct it and that it was perhaps suppressed by those who were too much delighted with this errour and were unwilling to want so great a patronage And this hath been by some so far charitably believed that they have plainly affirmed so much that he did being convinced by the Orthodox renounce his errour herein so Bede quoted by Pamelius Supplement Bergomens Platina in vitâ Lucii Scaliger in Elench Trihaeresâ—i Nicolai Serari cap. 31. And Baronius who tells us that none can justly doubt of it seeing both the Eastern and Western Churches have always used to celebrate the Birth Day of the Martyr Cyprian Briefly either he was not saith Augustin of the opinion that you the Donatists report him to have been of or he afterward corrected it by the rule of truth or else he covered this quasi naevum spot as it were of his white Breast with the pap or veil of charity while he most copiously defended the unity of the Church increasing through the whole world and most perseveringly detain'd the bond of peace § 7. As touching his Martyrdom it is recorded that upon his first entrance into Cuâ—ubis the place of his banishment it was revealed unto him in a Vision whereof he had divers and attributed much unto them that upon that same day in the year following he should be consummate and crowned which accordingly fell out For being by Galerius Maximus who succeeded Paternus in the Proconsulship recalled from his banishment he according unto the Imperial Edict abode a while in his own Garden from whence being certified that certain Officers were sent to bring him unto Vtica a famous Town not far from Carthage he withdrew for certain days by the perswasion of his
indivisible and the operation thereof one For the Father by the Word in the holy Spirit doth all things and so the unity of the Trinity is kept or preserved and so one God in the Church is preached who is above all and through all and in all viz. above all as the Father as the beginning and fountain but through all by the Word moreover in all in or by the holy Spirit But the Trinity is not in name only or an empty form of speech but in truth and reason of subsisting the Trinity For as the Father is that very thing that he is so also the Word God over all is that very thing that he is so also the Holy Ghost is not any inessential thing but truly existeth and subsisteth 10. According to the Ecclesiastical Canons saith he as the Apostle commanded the people being gathered together with the Holy Ghost who constitute a Bishop publickly and in the presence of the Clergy craving a Bishop inquisition ought to be made and so all things canonically performed 11. Concerning the lawfulness of flight in time of persecution he thus speaks I betook me to flight not for fear of death lest any should accuse me of timidity but that I might obey the precept of our Saviour whose command it is that we should make use of flight against persecutors of hiding places against those that search for us lest if we should offer our selves unto open danger we should more sharply provoke the fury of our persecutors Verily it is all one both for a man to kill himself and to proffer himself unto the enemies to be slain but he that flees as the Lord commands knows the Articles of the time and truly provides for his persecutors lest being carried out even to the shedding of blood they should become guilty of that precept that forbids murther Again concerning the same thing 12. That law saith he is propounded unto all in general to flee when they are pursued in time of persecution and to hide themselves when they are sought for neither should they be precipitate and rash in tempting the Lord but must wait until the time appointed of dying do come or that the Judge do determine something concerning them as shall seem good unto him But yet would he have us always ready when either the time calls for it or we are apprehended to contend for the Church even unto death These things did the blessed Martyrs observe who while they lay hid did harden themselves but being found out they did undergo Martyrdom Now if some of them did render themselves unto their persecutors they were not thorough rashness moved so to do but every where professed unto all men that this promptness and offering of themselves did proceed from the Holy Ghost 13. He giveth this character of an heretick Heresie saâ—th he or an heretick may thus be known and evinced that whosoever is dear unto them and a companion with them in the same impiety although he be guilty of sundry crimes infinite vices they have arguments against him of his hainous acts yet is he approved and had in great esteem among them yea and is forthwith made the Emperour's friend c. But those that reprove their wickedness and sincerely teach the things which are of Christ though pure in all things upon any feigned Crime laid to their charge they are prefently hurried into Banishment § 6. The defects and blemishes of this eminent Father and Champion of Jesus Christ were neither so many nor so gross as are to be found in most of the Ancients that were before him yet was he not altogether free but liable to error as well as others as appears from somewhat of this kind that dropt from his pen which were especially such passages as these in his genuine works for as for the apparently supposititious I shall forbear to meddle with them having in them so much hay and stubble as we cannot imagine should pass thorow the hands of so skilful a Master-builder 1. He affirms the local descent of Christ into Hell He accomplished saith he the condemnation of sin in the earth the abolition of the curse upon the Cross the redemption from corruption in the Grave the condemnation of death in Hell Going through all places that he might every where perfect the salvation of the whole man shewing himself in the form of our image which he took upon him Again The body descended not beyond the grave the Soul pierced into Hell places severed by a vast distance the Grave receiving that which was corporeal because the body was there but Hell that which was incorporeal Hence it came to pass that though the Lord were present there incorporeally yet was he by death acknowledged to be a man that his Soul not liable unto the bands of death but yet made as it were liable might break asunder the bands of those Souls which Hell detained c. 2. Concerning the state of the Fathers before Christ that they were in Hell he thus speaks The Soul of Adam detained in or under the condemnation of death did perpetually cry unto the Lord and the rest who by the law of nature pleased God were detain'd together with Adam and were and did cry with him in grief In which passage we have also a third error of his viz. 3. That men by the law of nature may please God contrary unto what we find in Heb. 11. 6. 4. He maketh circumcision a note or sign of Baptism Abraham saith he when he had believed God received circumcision for a note or sign of that regeneration which is obtained by Baptism wherefore when the thing was come which was signified by the figure the sign and figure it self perished and ceased For circumcision was a sign but the laver of regeneration the very thing that was signified Besides these there are in him some other passages not so aptly nor warily delivered as they ought to have been viz. 1. Concerning the freedom of mans will he thus speaks The mind saith he is free and at it's own dispose for it can as incline it self unto that which is good so also turn from it which beholding its free right and power over it self it perceives that it can use the members of the Body either way both unto the things that are i.e. good things and also unto the things that are not i.e. evil 2. He is too excessive and hyperbolical in the praise of Virginity The Son of God saith he our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ among other his gifts bestowed upon us in virginity an example of angelical holiness Certainly Virgins endowed with that virtue the Catholick Church is wont to call the Spouses of Christ whom being beheld by them the very heathen do prosecute with admiration as the Temple of Christ. There is a large encomium hereof in the end of the treatise of Virginity which being but a vain