which being collected for the advancement of the interests of Religion was by this evil man made an instrument to promote impiety A great instance of this prevalence was that Council which was first assembled at Seleucia famous for the Church of the holy Virgin Thecla and afterward sat in this great City which Cities having been eminent for the brave things that had been done there were now as memorable for this infamous Conventicle whether you will call it the Tower of Babel where God divided the Tongues of the Builders as I wish he had divided these or the Sanhedrim of Caiaphas in which Christ is condemned or by what other name we may call the Meeting which overturned and confounded all things abrogating the holy and primitive Dogma that confesseth the Trinity using all its art and force power and stratagems to stifle the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or consubstantial and opening a door to all sort of impiety by the ambiguity of the terms of their Confession out of a seeming respect to holy Writ and a pretence to use no terms but what are there allowed but in truth substituting Arianism that contradicted Scripture For this sentence that the Son of God was like the Father according to the Scriptures was only a bait to the weaker sort of Christians covering the Hook of Heresie a Picture that lookt on all that past by it a Shoe that would fit either foot a Vanne turned with every wind a new invented Engine to the supplanting of the truth acted and set on motion by Authority For they were wise to do evil but to do good had no knowledge hence proceeded their cunning condemnation of Hereticks whom in their words they proscrib'd the Church that their designs might look more plausibly but by their actions introduc'd reproving them not for any heterodoxy in opinion but immoderate passion and love of contention Hence Lay-men became Judges of those in holy Orders and a new mixture happen'd the most mysterious Doctrines of Religion disputed before the multitude and an unlawful enquiry into Affairs Sycophants hired and sentence on the premises denounc'd Thus many Prelates were unjustly dethron'd others substitated but on no other terms but that they should subscribe to the Arian impiety as they ought to all things else necessarily previous to their Instalment the Pen and Ink was at hand and an Accuser at their back this betrayed many of the Orthodox men otherwise of invincible constancy who erred in their subscriptions though their Opinions were Catholick and gave their consent to the proceedings of those men who on both accounts were wicked and though they kept themselves from falling into the fire could not escape being sullied with the smoak this I have often lamented when I observed how Heresie diffus'd it self and the Orthodox Doctrine was persecuted by the great Patrons of Christ's Divinity verily the Pastors have done foolishly as it is written and have destroyed my Vineyard and dishonoured the pleasant portion that is the Church of God consecrated with much sweat and many martyred ones both before and after Christ and by the great sufferings of God for us For except a few persons who for their meanness were contemptible or their courage lookt on as Enemies who it was necessary should be left as a root and seed to Israel that by the influences of the Spirit that might flourish a-new and recover all others complyed with the time only with this difference that some were sooner some later trepan'd some were Leaders and Heads of Parties in this Faction others of an inferiour rank who either were betrayed by their fear or captivated by covetousness or allured by pleasures or imposed on by ignorance which was the most modest plea. If that may seem to be sufficient to apologize for such men who take on them the Instruction and Government of the people For as the motions of Lions and other Beasts of men and women of old and young men are not the same but there is no small difference in Ages and Sexes so neither are the inclinations the same of Rulers and their Subjects for the vulgus that so complyed are to be pardoned who are indispos'd to curiosity but how shall we concede such failures to their Teachers who unless they usurp that name ought to correct and illuminate the ignorance of their Followers For if not the most illiterate and rustick person can safely be ignorant of the Roman Laws nor is there any excuse allowed for them that transgress through want of knowledge is it not an absurd thing that the Teachers of the Laws of Heaven should be ignorant of the Principles of Salvation although in other things they may be allowed to have less skill and insight But grant it that they shall be pardoned that erre for want of knowledge what shall we say of others who laying claim to wit and acumen yet for the causes formerly mentioned have submitted to those Hereticks that had usurpt a power and whereas for a while they were the Mask of Piety as soon as there appeared any thing of reprehension easily laid it aside I hear the Scripture affirm that heaven and earth shall yet once be shaken as if they had suffered those tremblings before intimating some notable change and alteration of things and we must believe S. Paul that the last and final earthquake shall be no other but the second coming of Christ the mutation of the universe and translation of it into that which defies change and motion But I suppose the Earthquake that in this age broke forth was not less furious than any of the former by reason of which all the lovers of God and Religion and those who before this time had their conversation wholly in heaven were shaken who although in every other thing they are mild and peaceable now could not endure to be moderate and to betray the cause of God by their silence but in this case are egregious combatants and lovers of contention for such is the heat of Zeal and ready rather to over-do some things than leave any thing material undone by the same violence no small part of the people were distracted as in a flock of birds taking their flight with those in the front and not yet ceasing to employ their wings ' Such a comfort was Athanasius to us as long as that Pillar of the Church continued among us and so great a cause of sorrow when the Contrivances of vile men forc'd him hence For as those that design to storm a strong Castle when they find the place otherwise unapproachable and hard to be taken make use of cunning where strength fails alluring the Governour with Money or some other piece of subtilty and so with ease master the Cittadel or if you will as they that did lye in wait for Sampson first cut off his Hair in which his strength lay and then took Prisoner that Judge of the Israelites sporting with him as they pleased in requital of
Tertullians Opinion as several others of the Fathers as they are quoted by g To. 1. contr 3. l. 3. c. 6. Cardinal Bellarmine XVIII For his Doctrine that the Souls of the best men are not received into Heaven properly so called till the day of Judgment but that they are kept in some certain Receptacles where God only knows which place of happiness is sometimes called Paradise at other times Abraham's Bosom where those that reside are sustinentes resurrectionem in our barbarous translation in expectation of the Resurrection or aeternitatis candidati as Tertullian stiles them Candidaâ—es of Immortality was the general belief of the Primitive Ages of the Church for besides Irenaeus I find it the Opinion of Tertullian Clemens Romanus Justin Martyr Origen Hâ—â—â—ry Austin Chrysostome Ambrose Theodoret Victorinus Prudentius Aretas Anastâ—sius Sinaita Theophylact Oecumenius Euthymius and S. Bernard and h Vide Spalatens l. 5. c. 8. n. 97 98. and Ushers Answ to the Jes Sect. of prayer to Saints p. 43â…” Gennad de dogmat Eccles c. 78. in truth among the Fathers of whom not and who is there among the sober Protestants that asserts that the happiness of the Saints is the same at their death that it shall be after their Resurrection Were it so our Church hath done very ill in her Office at Burials to pray That we together with all the departed in the Faith and sear of God may have our perfect consummation and bliss in that Eternal Kingdom Irenaeus calls this Station an invisible place because it is unknown to us the departed being in Gods hand in some estate of happiness but neither in misery nor perfect glory and that this is the Opinion of Calvin and Peter Martyr i Annotat. in Act. 3.31 Sir Norton Kâ—atchbul hath made good telling us that the contrary assertion hath no foundation either in the Scriptures the Fathers or Reason XIX And having thus vindicated this Reverend Antient from the Objections made against these five Books Adversus Haereses which k Cod. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 162. Photius as I understand him clears from any Heterodox Assertions since it is not of them but of his other Volumes and Epistles that that acute Critick says the exact truth of the Opinions of the Church is debasâ—d by spurious reasonings let us commit this Honourable Servant of God to his rest who now wears that white Robe which was washt in his own blood Omnium doctrinarum curiosissimâ—s explanator Tert. adv Valentin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theodoret 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 1. Sect. de Menandro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. praefat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. l. 1. in Carpocrate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. in Florino 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. l. 2. in Nazar non longè à temporibus Apostolorum Aug. contr Julian l. 1. c. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Photii cod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 161. Vide testim Eccles Lugdun apud Euseb l. 5. c. 4. Hier. in Catal. c. and it is my sorrow that none of the Antients have given him his due Character that I might have entertain'd my Reader with some of their raptures concerning him who is only here and there in the writings of the Fathers mention'd with respect and a short Character but what falls abundantly below his Merit He was beheaded for the Cause of Christ An. 20â— says Baronius or as Doctor Cave thinks seven years after at the expedition of Severus into Britain a larger account of which Martyrdom I was incourag'd to expect when l Not. in Martyrol Rom. Jun. 28. Baronius told me it was extant in the Vatican Library till m Annal. To. 2. An. 205. p. 330. himself whether being mistaken in his first Assertion or forgetting it affirms that the Acts of his Passion are quite lost his Festival in the Latin Church being celebrated on the 28th of June in the Greek on the 23. of Aug. THE LIFE OF S. Clemens OF ALEXANDRIA I. THe name of St. Clemens from all the lovers of Learning sacred or prophane commands reverence and a submissive veneration who hath deserv'd to be stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the learned Montague somewhere stiles him The most accomplisht Historian and the acutest Scholar which the early ages of the Church could boast of in whom the genius of Pantaenus discover'd it self under whom he was bred at Alexandria where after a while he became a Catechist in that famous School and a Successor to his Master who was not the first who after the Apostles exercis'd that office there as Mr. H. Sect. 1. p. 80. affirms out of B. Rhenanus for therein that acute Scholar was mistaken but rather had many predecessors a Hist lib. 5. c. 10. Eusebius declaring that Pantaenus in the First year of the Emperor Commodus undertook this employ at Alexandria in which place by a very ancient custom there was a School open'd to teach the sacred Learning in i. e. the Creed the Decalogue and Lords Prayer were there explain'd says b Chronol lib. 3. an 196. Genebrard and which was continued to his time and managed by many an excellent person skill'd in all polite literature and eloquence and in the knowledge of the Scriptures which usage c Catal. v. Pantaen St. Hierome makes to commence from the first foundation of a Church there under St. Mark and that Mr. H. p. 81. confesses which how it can be reconciled with his former assertion I know not and it is probable that it was one of the Schools of the Philosophers that resided in that famous City or perchance a Jewish Synagogue whose owners being made Christians the School also was converted to this holy use for that â—t was a distinct place from the Church is evident from d vide Vales not in Euseb l. 6. c. 19 20. Lat. Eusebius as in truth it was sometimes undertook by those who not being of the Clergy Origens youth incapacitating him for Holy Orders were prohibited to do any Holy Offices in the Church So that Pantaenus doubtless had predecessors in this Office unless we take on us to contradict all antiquity or can think those words of e Cod. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 160. Photius capable to solve it who asserts that Pantaenus not only converst with those who heard the Apostles but was himself an Auditor of some of them for if so not certainly of St. Mark who died an 63. 'T is true f De Orig. templ l. 3. c. 5. p. 92. Hospinian says that some affirm the first erection of this School to have been an 150. But that Epocha also is thirty years before the time in which Eusebius makes Pantaenus the Catechist there II. However we may affirm that when so accomplisht a person read his Lectures there his Auditory was fuller his School better frequented and its fame farther spread than before so that its general reputation may be said to
〈◊〉 7. p. 537. that if the Neighbour of an Elect person sin the good man himself is the offender for if the holy man had demean'd himself as the word or right reason directed his evil Neighbour would have stood in so much awe of his pious and well-governed life that he durst not offend XXXII Sect. 5. p. 94. Mr. H. reckons that passage of the Paedagogus as an excellent sentence that this is to drink the blood of Christ to be made partaker of the incorruption of the Lord which h De fundam S. Caenae p. 109. Chemnitius but I remember that he was a Lutheran calls a Novel Opinion and never heard of and in good truth if it be allowable to make Allegorical interpretations of the plain words of the Sacraments what evils may not thence ensue so in i Lib. 2. c. 2. the same Book S. Clem. thus expounds our Saviours words This is my blood i. the blood of the Vine which is shed for the remission of sins for as Wine refresheth the heart and maketh merry so the remission of sins is the glad tidings of the Gospel which Position the same learned Lutheran terms but too severely a prophane as well as a Novel Assertion And having thus mentioned his Censure I leave the Reader to judge XXXIII And so must I beg him to determine between me and Mr. H. in another question of moment relating to the Government of the Primitive Church by Bishops of which I find him tacitly endeavouring to supplant the belief and insinuating as if in those early days there was no difference between a Bishop and a Presbyter while here p. 99. he quotes Clemens that there were in his time only three Orders Bishops Elders and Deacons as if that mixt and amphibious Animal call'd a Lay-Elder had been in those Primitive days a Church-officer who was never heard of till yesterday and as if Bishops were no more than Parish-Ministers and Deacons their Church-wardens and so he explains himself commonly Bishop or Pastor p. 2.17.21 c. and p. 6. Pastor Overseer or Bishop and p. 38. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Pastor or Chief President which word a Resp ad Sacar cap. 25. annot in Phil. 1 1. in 1 Tim. 1.19 in Apocal. 2.1 Beza is willing to acknowledge that it did antiently signifie a Bishop in the sense of the Church of England and which b Tom. 5. p. 499. S. Chrysostom twice in one page uses to denote the Eminency of S. Ignatius's Archiepiscopal and Patriarchal Dignity and had Mr. H. Englisht the Fathers as they explain'd themselves in those early days he might better have rendred it in some places Bishop or Elder c Hier. ad Ocean To. 2. p. 325. the one being a name of their Age the other of their Authority Nor can I but admire the prejudices of some men who in this case appeal to Antiquity as Salmasius Blondel and others have done forcing it to speak the sense of the Vestry Tribunal by the most unreasonable deductions I will only instance in that of d Praefat. ad Apolog. p. 59. Blondel who has found out a new Heresie of Aerius unknown to all former Ages till this infallible Dictator in Divinity appear'd not that he affirm'd that Bishops and Presbyters were the same Order for that says he was the Opinion of S. Hierome and all the Antients but that from these premises he argued a necessity of separation and that no man could safely communicate with any of the other Opinion a device not worth the confutation which having to shadow of Antiquity to countenance it hath yet grown into practice at Geneva if we may believe Danaeus a Professor there who as Beza calls the Episcopal Government under the Papacy a devillish tyranny e Danae Isag part 2. lib. 2. c. 22. so affirms that it was their custome to re-ordain by their Presbytery any that came over to them and had been ordain'd by a Popish Prelate before as if every irregularity in the Ordainer blotted out the Character and their ill Government if nothing else were enough to countenance a Schism XXXIV I had therefore once thoughts to have deduc'd the Episcopal Pre-eminence through the three first Centuries from the works of those ten Fathers of whom Mr. H. writes the Lives but on maturer thoughts I conceived it to be unnecessary only I will mind my Reader that f De praescript adv haer p. 39. F. Edit Rhen. Tertullian reckons it as a mark of a Heretick that he is a man that pays no reverence to his Prelate and close the Paragraph with the counsel of a Tom. 1. p. 955. Ed. Paris 1627. S. Athanasius to Dracontius who refused this holy Office If the Institutions of the Church displease thee and thou imagine that there is no reward annext to the just discharge of this duty thou despisest that Saviour who gave being to this Jurisdiction Such thoughts are unworthy a sober and wise man for those things which our great Master hath ordain'd by his Apostles cannot but be good and practicable and notwithstanding any opposition shall continue firm I shall end this Section when I have mention'd that Mr. H. b P. 45. alibi in his Book of Confirmation hath rob'd the Bishops of their power in Confirmation that he might confer it on every Presbyter and ranking the Papist and Prelatical party together hath called their ways of proof blasphemous Arguments not considering that the concurrent suffrage of Antiquity makes the c Bishop Taylor of Confir sect 4. Bishop the only Minister of this Rite and that herein the Jesuite and Presbyterian are united more genuinely than the Romanist and Prelatical For when Smith Bishop of Chalcedon was sent into England by Vrban 8. as an Ordinary here the Jesuites would never submit to him and at last wrought him out of the Kingdom and presently publisht two Books in English against Episcopal Government and Confirmation disputing both into contempt d Mystery of Jesuitism let 3. p. 150 151. which Books having been sent by the English Clergy to the Sorbon there were thirty two Propositions in them censured and condemn'd by that Colledge Febr. 15. 1631. XXXV The design of S. Clemens in his Stromata is to instruct his Gnostick i. his accomplisht Disciple a man extraordinarily acquainted with the Principles of Christianity in which sense e Apud Socrat hist Eccles lib. 4. c. 18. Evagrius entitles one of his Books which he writ of the Monastick Institution Gnosticus wherein he calls the Society of more eminent and contemplative Monks the Sect of the Gnosticks for much after that rate that Plato does instruct his wise man does this Alexandrian Presbyter instruct his Gnostick whom he presumes to be a man elevated above the common pitch and fit to be intrusted with the Mysteries of Scripture such as he and his Scholar Origen were pleas'd in their Allegorizing way to make describing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
the hand of Heaven appear'd signally in it if we may believe a Ibid. c. 13. Socrates who tells us that it was reported that at the parting of these two famous Prelates at Constantinople Epiphanius told S. Chrysostome that he hop'd he should never die a Bishop to which the Patriarch retorts that he as firmly hop'd that Epiphanius should never return home in safety and both fell out true Epiphanius dying on Ship-board before he reach'd Cyprus and S. Chrysostome a little while after in banishment But this was a very irregular method of finding out and countenancing Orthodoxy and wherein they might have followed a better pattern of two men as famous as any in that Century in a similar question viz. S. Athanasius and S. Basil who differ'd about the writings of Dionysius of Alexandria the first asserting them to be Orthodox the last that there was something of Arianisme couched in them yet neither denounc'd the other Heretick but amidst their different sentiments maintain'd an amicable correspondence XV. Such was the harsh fate of this admirable man who was not only forc'd to experiment the envy of the world while alive but was hindred taking refuge in the grave which is the sanctuary of the miserable excommunicate while alive and as if that were not enough excommunicate after his death too and that not by the hot and irrational zeal of a few private persons but by the mouth of a b Com. C. P. general 5. anathem 11. General Council and rank'd in the same Classe with Arius Macedonius Nestorius and Eutyches and other most infamous Hereticks The custome I cannot dislike but heartily wish that this learned and pious man lay not under such severe censures For though it seems uncouth to punish any man when he is gone out of the World and hath answered God for his Opinions yet there was great reason that the Church should so proceed in the case for how else in truth could the antient Hereticks have been expos'd who liv'd before the age of General Councils and when few or no Provincial ones could be had and how should the Church curse a Heretick till she knew him to be so when as many times the wretch kept himself within the Catholick Communion under the Masque of his Hypocrisie and the Vizard was never taken off till after his death when by a severer scrutiny into his assertions and writings the Impostor was detected See Crackenthorp's Vigilius dormitans c. 6. Thus Domnus Patriarch of Antioch was punisht by the Council of Chalcedon Theodorus Bishop of Mopsuestia c. by the 5th General Council Honorius by the 6th and the 2d Nicene thus the Synod of Sardica condemn'd the revolters to Arianisme and the African Synod every Bishop who made a Heretick or Pagan his Executor and the Synod at Rome under Pope Martin the first execrated the memory of Sergius and Pyrrhus the Patriarchs of Constantinople and Dioscorus being chosen Pope Simonically was many years after his death for that contract excommunicate And according to the prescriptions of the Councils did particular Fathers act a Ep. 50. ad Bonifac. Comit. S. Austin declaring his resolutions to curse Cecilianus formerly the Arch-bishop of Carthage could he but be sure that the accusations laid to his charge by the Donatists were true b Id. l. 3. contr Crescon c. 35. And professing also his intentions to do so to whatever persons had in the time of Persecution deliver'd their Bibles to be burnt though dying in the Church-communion XVI Nor were the Fathers of the Church without a president and encouragement in the Imperial Laws c Cod. l. 2. Tit. 5. de haeret Manich leg 4. The Emperor Theodosius decreeing That after death an action might be lawfully commenc'd against a Manichee or a Donatist to render the memory of the Heretick infamous for if traytors though in their graves are yet branded in their posterity who are depriv'd of estate and honor though their Father dy'd unimpeach'd how much more reasonable is it that the same course should be held in matters of Religion says that august and glorious Prince And there is something of this nature retain'd in the Greek Church unto this day who give absolution to the dead that have been buried in the state of excommunication and this supposes they may be anathematiz'd too that you may bind as well as loose the dead for they are d Malanus Peloponnes in Histor Patriarch C. P. apud Crusii Turco-Graec l. 2. Sect. 32. passim perswaded that the body of a man who dies out of the Ecclesiastical communion cannot turn to ashes as long as it lies under the Churches curse but continues hard and swoln and of a dismal black and affrighting colour but if many years after the Bishop or any by his authority go to the grave open it and solemnly pronounce the prayer of absolution in a small space the body returns to its Primitive dust And the action it self abating the circumstances hath its warrant in the Council of Chalcedon which absolv'd and Canoniz'd a Martyr Flavianus Patriarch of Constantinople who had been Excommunicate and murdered by the Faction of Dioscorus in the Pseudo-Ephesine Synod Such was the Power and Practice of the Primitive Church and such doubtless is the Jurisdiction of the present but as I could wish it had been antiently superseded in the case of Origen so I would have the weapon drawn and us'd very sparingly at all times for if from broken sentences and the ill interpretation of an honest and well-meant but mistaken and ill-worded discourse a man must after his dissolution when he cannot answer for himself be censur'd and damn'd few or none of the most Eminent and stout Defenders of the Church shall be out of the reach of this lash XVII Nevertheless the greatest lovers of the name of Origen cannot but acknowledge that he had his defects his great converse with the discourses of the Philosophers leaving a certain tincture in his mind which became visible in his writings there being a near relation between the Opinions of the Academy and the School of Christ a Baren Tom. 2. an 234. p. 4â—3 Platonism being the ready way to the belief of the Name of Jesus and I could wish we had that Copy of his works which was once b Apud eund an 256. p. 553. Cassiodores in which that wise man had mark'd all the dangerous passages that the Reader might with caution proceed it being a prudent course to allay the extravagancy of that esteem and love which some men had for his name ingaging them to chuse c Vinc-Lirinens common c. 23. rather to err with Origen than imbrace the truth with others the most material of his Errours d L. 2. Apolog adv Ruffin p. 220. Ed. Erasm S. Hierome hath summ'd up in these words That the Son of God is a Creature the Holy Ghost a Servant that there are innumerable Worlds that
Cognisance the knowledge and service of God and yet here they remain intangl'd and fetter'd as men that are ingag'd in the midst of a large Quagmire where it is impossible to go forward or retreat but the man must tarry till death deliver him or a man in a high thick and spacious Wood into which he entred with expectation of passing thorough but finds every path leading him into the thickest part of it wanders a while but not being able to extricate himself sits down and becomes an Inhabitant of the Forest or like one in a Labyrinth into which seeing but one way to enter fancies his return easie but when he hath past into the innermost part of it and a while admir'd the wonderful variety and wisdome of the Apparatus and the many pretty passages and is willing to return finds himself lost in those Mazes and his escape impossible but there is no Labyrinth so full of unintelligible windings nor Wood so thick nor Quagmire that so fastens a man as the perswasions of those Philosophers if once they take possession of the mind But lest that might befal me that fatally afflicts many he acquainted me not with one particular Systeme of Philosophy but led me through all the several Schools of those Dogmatists that I might be ignorant of none of their Opinions but he still went before me guided and led me and demonstrated to me what was Fallacy and Sophisme and meant to deceive like an expert Master in the Art to whom nothing happens unexpected who standing on the shore reaches out his hand to save those that are drowning Thus among the Assertions of every Philosopher he selected and communicated to me whatever was veracious and useful especially what related to Piety but condemned all false positions He advised me not to be curious and industrious in such small things though I might on that account be reputed the wisest of men but that my chiefest converse should be with God and his holy Prophets while he explained whatever was obscure and aenigmatical in their writings as many things are in the holy Scriptures whether it were God's pleasure so to talk with men that the naked and plain truth might not be committed to the breast of an unworthy Soul as many are or that though all the Divine Oracles are in their own nature most perspicuous and intelligible yet are become difficult and dark to us who have apostatiz'd from God and forgotten our duty I cannot tell But he being a most acute and intelligent Auditor of God illustrated all those obscure passages as if there were nothing naturally unintelligible in those writings to him who alone of all men that either I know or have heard of by his constant Meditations on those pure and illuminating Oracles is able to comprehend them in his own mind and instil them into others For that great Guardian and Governour of all men who inspired the Prophets whom God loved with their Predictions and mystical and divine discourses honour'd him so as to constitute him their peculiar Interpreter explaining by him what was revealed only in Parables to others who being most faithful and veracious either powerfully commanded or demonstrated those things bestowing on this man the gift of Invention and Explanation that if any person were of a rough and incredulous temper or else desirous to be informed being a Scâ—olar to him he might be compell'd to understand and believe and to follow God Nor could he so express himself had not the Spirit of God communicated it self to him for there is need of the same power and assistances for the Prophets and their Auditors nor can any man understand a Prophet unless the same Spirit that gave the Prophecy confer on him the gift of understanding it and so says the holy Scripture that he only that shuts can open and no man else Now when the Aenigmata of Scripture are expounded then what is shut is open'd this excellent gift hath Heaven bestowed on this great Man to be God's Interpreter to the Sons of Adam both to understand the Coelestial Oracles as they are spoken and to declare them to men that they may know them Therefore nothing was abstruse hidden or difficult to me but I was fitted to dive into all things and with all imaginable liberty to search and experiment all sorts of Learning of the Greeks or Barbarians Mystical or Politick Divine or Humane that I might satisfie my Soul with good things which whether you will call it an ancient Lesson of Truth or by any other name in him I did enjoy an admirable and full plenty of the most beautiful things And that I may comprehend all in a few words he was to me a Garden that emblem'd Paradise in which my employment was not to cultivate this inferior earth and to pamper my body but to embellish and adorn my nobler part with the truest sensuality and voluptuousness like so many beautiful trees either planted by my own industry or by the hand of God this was the Garden of true pleasure here did I indulge to my delights and genuine satisfactions with which for no small time I was ravish'd which yet will appear to be very short if this day when I must be gone from hence shall put a period to my fruitions For I know not whether my deserts or misfortune enforce me to this departure or expulsion I am unacquainted with fit expressions to describe my state in more than that I like another Adam am turn'd out of Paradise How happily did I live under the instructions of so good a Master and how ought I now to hold my peace I then learn'd in silence but is not this a prodigy that the Master should become a Pupil but why should I use these words my duty and my interest oblige me to persevere not to desert such studies And is not this my crime an imitation of that first transgression and do not the same punishments wait for me am I not refractory and rebellious against the commandments of God when I should continue in mine obedience but because I depart so shunning this happy life as the first man did the face of God returning to the earth out of which I was taken dust shall I eat all the days of my life and be sentenc'd to till that ground that will produce nothing but bryars and thorns that is cares and griefs and troubles and shame and to return to the earth whence I came to the house of my father and my worldly kindred deserting that country which I would not apprehend to be the true place of my nativity and those relations who were the greatest friends of my soul and my fathers house where the parent is reverenc'd and honor'd by all his genuine sons but I unworthily and dirtily turn my eyes backward and desert my felicity We read of a child Luk. 15.12 that having received his portion went into a far country and there intemperately spent and squandered
excellent man Enoch and Noe Abraham Isaac Jacob and the twelve Patriarchs Moses and Aaron Joshua and the Judges Samuel David and Solomon for a while Elias and Elisha and the Prophets both before the Captivity and after it and those last in order but first in eminency who lived about the time of Christ's Incarnation that Torch that preceeded the true light that Voice that usher'd in the Word that Harbinger to the great Mediator of the Old and New Covenant the Blessed John Baptist and the Disciples of Christ they lastly that after the Ascension of Jesus were Governours in the Church or were conspicuous by their Doctrine or famous by Miracles or perfected by Martyrdom among these Athanasius challenges a place some of whom he equalled to others gave the precedence and a third sort if my words be not too confident he exceeded imitating the Eloquence of one the Actions of a second the Meekness of a third and a fourth's Zeal the Combats of another many things in some in others all and in a third sort some particular Virtue As he that would limn an exquisite Picture first draws the several Features in his mind and then transcribes them into the Table which he designs a master-piece of Art so did he take Transcripts of the Virtues of others carrying away the palm from the greatest Orators by his perswasive Actions and triumphing over the most active men in his Discourses or if you would so have it excelling the most eloquent in his Harangues and the most expert men in the Charms of Conversation out-doing all that were but ordinarily furnish'd with either of these qualities in the transcendency of each peculiar accomplishment and getting the start of those that were famous for one of these Embellishments in that he was equally adorn'd with every Grace and if it were a brave and generous charity in those that preceeded him to leave such accurate patterns of Virtue is not he as admirable for his design in affording posterity so reverend an Exemplar and perhaps to run through all the particulars of his life will exceed the limits of my time and look rather like an History than an Encomium which out of compassion to Posterity I could wish were done as he hath written the Life of the divine Antonius instructing the world in the Laws of a Monastick life in the account he gives of that Saint's demeanour and when I shall have reckoned a few of the more signal of his excellencies which my memory will supply that I may gratifie my own inclinations and comport with the design of the Festival I will leave the rest to those that are better acquainted with his miraculous Atchievements For it is neither just nor safe to honour the lives of wicked men with Monuments and to bury in Oblivion the memories of the just especially in that City which more than a few virtuous Examples can hardly rescue from ruine a City which makes all sacred and divine Offices as ridiculous as the entertainments of Horse-Races or the Theatre ' His early studies were employed in Divinity and holy knowledge after some little acquaintance with humane and liberal learning lest he might be altogether an ignaro in those things which he resolved to despise for he could never endure to prostitute and debase his exalted and generous mind to impertinent trifles and spend his time like an imprudent combatant who buffets the air instead of his antagonist and so loses his crown he was conversant above all men with the Old and New Testament adorning himself with sublime notions and a beautiful conversation fastning the links till they became one gold chain a task too hard for some persons making his actions a guide to his contemplation and his contemplation a seal to his actions For the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom it swaddles and suckles infant prudence and prudence when it hath out-gone the limits of fear and attained to a genuine love makes us the friends of God and sons instead of servants Such was his education and tutorage as became one design'd a Bishop and Guide to the mystical body of Christ according to the great Counsel and foreknowledge of God which long before lays the foundations of great designs and at length is admitted to the Priesthood and made a member of the College which make their approaches before God that condescends to meet and converse with holy men and is dignifyed with sacred orders and after he had past thorow all the inferior offices of the Ecclesiastick Ministration that I may omit minuter circumstances is made Patriarch of Alexandria which is the same as if I had call'd him the Universal or Oecumenical Bishop Nor can I determine whether he took the Episcopal Office on him as a reward of his virtue or as a charitable act to confer life on the Church For there was as urgent a necessity of refreshing that Church which was ready to perish by spiritual thirst the desire of truth as of the Angels bringing water to despairing Ishmael or of Elijah's being cheared by the streams of the brook Cherith and reviving that expiring Prophet that a holy seed might be left in Israel that we might not be left as Sodom and Gomorrha whose crimes are notorious but their punishment more famous being destroyed by fire and brimstone for this reason is a horn of salvation raised for us that were ruined and a corner stone that unites us both to himself and each other is opportunely laid or a fire is introduc'd that purges all evil and putrified matter or the husbandman's Vanne whereby the chaffe of empty opinions is winnowed from the weighty and substantial truths or the pruning Knife which cuts off the roots of iniquity thus in him the eternal word met with a defender and assistant and the holy spirit a servant that breaths nothing but truth and piety and on the consideration of these endowments by the joynt consent of the whole people not according to the evil custome that afterwards crept into the Church neither by murder and violence but after the Apostolical way and prescriptions of the holy Ghost is he exalted to the throne of S. Mark who was as much his successor in merit as dignity in time very remote from him but in virtue which is properly to be called Succession he came very near him For they that profess the same faith sit in the same throne but he that is heterodox hath no right to that holy seat the one is a successor in name only the other in reality for he hath not the right of succession that intrudes himself but he that is compelled to take on him the Episcopal robes not he that tramples on all laws but he that attains the Dignity by a legal election not he that is a Heretick but the Orthodox professor of the Catholick faith unless we call such a man a successor as we say a disease succeeds health and night the brightness of the day or
and render it to the eyes of all men exquisitely accomplish'd but this was one of the meanest of his admirable Atchievements for if he exposed himself to actual dangers for the sake of the truth what wonder was it that he should vindicate it in his writings But I will add one thing to my former Relation which I above all things revere in him and which I cannot without injuring you pass by at this time especially which is a time of Schisms and Contentions for this action of his ought to be an instruction to us that now are alive if we seriously weigh it for as when one thrusts his hand into the water he not only separates between the water that is left but between what he grasps in his hands and runs between his fingers So we divide not only from all impiety but from the eminently godly not in small and impertinent and contemptible opinions for this were more tolerable but in words that tend to one and the same sense for whereas we piously assert one essence and three hypostases the one describing the nature of the Godhead the other the properties of the Trinity as also do the Italians only by reason of the barrenness of their language not able to distinguish the hypostasis from the essence lest they might seem to admit three substances they substitute in the name of three hypostases three persons what happened something very ridiculous or rather lamentable This little difference in words made a noise as if there had been difference in opinion hence the Heresie of Sabellius took its rise because of the distinction of the three persons and Arianisme because of the three hypostases both being the rude off-spring of a pertinacious love of contention And what succeeded this small distinction being establish'd and grating on some mens minds and what made it distasteful was a love of quarelling the ends of the earth were in danger to be ruin'd by a few syllables which when this bless'd Saint this true man of God and great guide of souls both saw and heard he could not endure to slight and neglect so absurd and unreasonable a distinction but applyed a remedy to the distemper and how did he make his application having convened both parties with all meekness and humility and accurately weighed the intention of the words after he found them agreeing in the things themselves and not in the least differing in matters of doctrine allowing them the variety of names he tyed them to unity of sentiments this was a more advantagious act of charity to the Church than all his other daily labours and discourses which all men celebrate in which there may be intermixt some love of applause and for that reason some innovation made in the Faith This was more honorable than all his watchings and humicubations the benefits of which are confined to the particular practisers of those virtues nay it is nothing inferior to his applauded flights and exiles for after his sufferings he pursued those things for which he chose to undertake such calamities and this also was his design on others praising some moderately correcting others useing the spur to some dull tempers and the reins to other hot spirits infinitely careful that the offenders might repent and those that were innocent might be kept from falling in his conversation master of the greatest simplicity in his government of the greatest variety of skill wise in his discourses but much wiser in his intellect to the mean capacities he stoop'd himself to the more acute his notions and words were more sublime * * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A lover of strangers and advocate for the oppressed and a defender from danger he was in truth all those things which the Heathens parcel out among their Gods I will call him * * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. the Patron of Marriage and the Friend of Virgins the Peace-maker and Reconciler and the guide to those who are going out of this life How many brave characters and qualities does the virtue of this Man afford me should I describe all when he had so lived was so instructed and so carefully had disciplined others that his life and demeanor was an exact pattern how a Bishop should have his conversation and his opinions the rule of Orthodoxy what reward did he reap of this piety for neither is this negligently to be past by he dies in a good old age and is gathered to his Fathers the Patriarchs and Prophets and Martyrs that combated for the truth and that I may give him a short Epitaph his Exit out of the World was more honorable and decorous than his return into his City from Banishment his Death was attended with an Universal Mourning and the thoughts that all men entertain'd themselves with of his worth out-went all that may be seen But thou O beloved and happy Man who among thy many other virtues didst exquisitely understand the seasons and measures of Speech and Silence do thou here put a period to my Oration which though it fall short of the truth and thy worth is yet proportionable to my weak abilities and look down propitiously on us from above and guide this people that are perfect adorers of the perfect Trinity which is contemplated and worship'd in the Father Son and holy Spirit protect me and help feed my Flock if peaceable and serene days attend me but if War and confusion reduce and assume me to a station with thy self and those that are like thee though it be no ordinary thing that I beg for the sake of Christ our Lord to whom be all glory honor and dominion for ever Amen THE LIFE OF S. Hilary OF POICTIERS I. IT is Mr. H.'s usual unhappiness in this his View to contradict himself while with more diligence than judgment he hath collected whatever scattered Memoires had relation to his subject without that severe examination that became an Historian whether all the particulars were reconcileable to the laws of time and truth Of this we have a pregnant instance in § 1. p. 396. where out of a Chronic. part 2 c. 3. p. 54. Antoninus we are entertain'd with a pleasant story of an Imaginary Council at Rome under a Pope Leo that never was which he that list may read at large in that Historian Who having recited the particulars out of Vincentius his Speculum and Jacobus de Voragine acknowledges them to be dubious and are indeed no way reconcileable to truth unless we create an Antipope at that time called Leo or assert that Pope Liberius had two names whereof one was Leo both which are equally improbable for there is not a word to this purpose in the antient Church-Historians who are so copious in their accounts of the Arian Synods no not in Philostorgius their own Historian who not caring to falsifie the Records of the Catholick Church would certainly never have stifled so remarkable a transaction had there been but the least