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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A79937	Clement, the blessed Paul's fellow-labourer in the Gospel, his first epistle to the Corinthians: being an effectuall suasory to peace, and brotherly condescension, after an unhappy schism and separation in that Church. From whence the understanding reader may receive satisfaction concerning the businesse of episcopacy, or presbytery, as it stood in the age of the Apostles, and some time after. The ancient'st writing the Church hath, and the onely extant to that purpose, next to the divinely-inspired Scriptures. And being made good use of, may prove a remedy against the breaches and sad divisions of these distracted churches and times.; First epistle of Clement to the Corinthians	Clement I, Pope.; Burton, William, 1609-1657.	1647 (1647)	Wing C4629; Thomason E396_24; Thomason E396_25; ESTC R201660	59,432	63

moreover that of all the Ministers of the Gospel Luke onely was with him And was not Peter's errand whithersoever worthy the giving Timothy notice of Or if they whom he names were all who had departed from him what becomes of Peter then when Luke alone is found remaining Where now shall we find Peter in the time of Nero or where hath he bestowed himself k Menander in Hypobolimaeo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I like not these stragling gods said the Comedian of old A Bishop never resident never at home in his own Diocess but alwayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * 1 Pet. 4.15 quite contrary to his own rule and precept An il president sure and example to the Bishops of after ages and too much the whole world is witness imitated and observed But though we cannot find him alive and exercising his Jurisdiction in this great City the publique l 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Marcian Heracleot Junior 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Star of the whole Earth shall we find him dead there Neither doth that sufficiently appeare Certainly a most strange fate that the manner of his suffring Joh. 21.18 should have clearer testimony given of it then the place where The understanding Reader by this time cannot be ignorant why we have so vehement a suspicion of the truth of that common relation concerning Peter and his martyrdome at Rome What is to be done then To forsake slight and as is manifest forged authorities and in stead of them to fly to conjectures will afford us but small help for the finding out of the truth And yet me thinks Peter's writing of his Epistle from Babylon seems to me to confirme that most probable one of Scaliger m Scal. d. l. who thinks he rather suffred under some Provinciall Magistrate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Asiae where he preached to the Jewes scattered far and wide in Pontus 1 Pet. 1.1 Galatia Cappadocia Asia and Bithynia However his argument out of Tacitus is not good to prove that he was not crucified at Rome under Nero because saies he in that onely Persecution under him the Christians were burnt in publique wrapt up in sear-cloth with pitch and other combustible stuff being tyed upright by the necks to a stake and all this to give light to his night pastimes and sports when as Tacitus indeed as well confesseth that some were crucified and also wurried to death in beasts skins by dogs n Tacit. Annal. lib. XV. Pereuntibus saith he addita ludibria ut ferarum tergis contecti laniatu canum interirent aut crucibus affixi aut flammandi atque ubi defecisset dies in usum nocturni luminis urerentur To say no more the resolution of Calvin speaking of this same business is very grave and moderate o Instit c. VIII § 102. Res illius temporis ita sunt opinionum varietate implicitae ut non temere adhibenda sit fides ubi aliquid scriptum legimus Et tamen propter hunc scriptorum consensum non pugno quin illic mortuus fuerit sed Episcopum fuisse praesertim longo tempore persuaderi nequeo And the truth is that the Christians of the more antient Ages perceiving a great flaw or defect in the History of Church affaires from the end of the Acts of the Apostles to Trajan's time took upon them perhaps with no bad intent to make up with supplement of their own pure invention that Chasm or breach in the Story Herein as none of the worst parcels I mean as it hapned out not of the least advantage to after times was Peter's coming to Rome his Episcopacy there with his Martyrdome and Successors They had read perhaps in p d. l. Tacitus or Suetonius of the persecution of Christians under Nero which was indeed the first q In Ner. c. 16. Id. in Claud. c. 25. Claudius onely banishing them the City as is aforesaid Hence they strait made a conjecture that Peter and Paul might then suffer though truly they kept no exact observation of the time But that this indeed could not be so if it hath not already been sufficiently proved let us hear what Eutychius the Patriarch of the Orthodox Christians at Alexandria telleth us a writer who for his Age and Authority may very well be heard and in whose late published b Arabicè edit à Clariss Seldeno Antiquities of his own Church you may read Occisus est Petrus sub annum XXII post Dominum nostrum Christum which falling in with the beginning of Nero how could Peter suffer in the Persecution begun by Nero so long after as he is said in the common account Notwithstanding he retaines the commonly received tradition of Peter's being at Rome and that there forsooth he writ Evangelium Marci cum Marco lingua ⸫ i. Graecâ ita Arabib dicta v. Selden Romana Yet he acknowledgeth him not to have been ever Bishop of Rome but saies plainly that Linus erat primus Patriarcha Romanus That Paul also suffred under some Provinciall Magistrate and not at Rome by the command of Nero I could suffer my self easily to be brought to beleeve by reason of these words of Clement 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under the Governours whether Presidiall or Proconsular I know no more then I am determined to strive against the violent current of all antiquity For I know how impatiently the ulcers of inveterate errors suffer themselvs to be handled and searched into XI And made his way to the utmost bounds of the West Doth he heer mean his going into Spain his resolution for which journey himself hath set down in the Epistle to the Romans in these words Whensoever I take my journey into Spain I will come to you Rō XV. 24.28 for I trust to see you in my journey and to be brought on my way thitherward by you and a little after When therefore I have performed this and have sealed to them this fruit I will come by you into Spain Which whether he ever performed hath hitherto been disputed This place of Clement seems much to confirm that he did Some very learned Papists would utterly deny it as a Ep. ad Decentiū dist 11. cap. Quis nesciat Innocent III. P. b In Rom. c. 15. ex Gelasio apud Grat. dist 22. q. 2. cap. Beatus Thomas Aquinas c In Rom. c. 15. ad l. Dominicus Soto c. But Baronius d Ad An. LXI § 2.3 c. inclines to beleeve it in whom you may finde the testimonies for it collected out of the Gr. and Lat. Fathers among whom Theodoret tells us though this place be omitted by the Cardinal e In Ep. ad Rom. cap. 15. ad l. spiritu prophetico eam profectionem praedictam idcirco necessariò implendam fuisse Nay he goes farther and saies f In Psal 116. In Hispanias pervenit insulis quae in mari jacent utilitatem attulit in which

who raised up Jesus from the dead the b 1 Cor. 15.20 first fruits of them that sleep was no better then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The unknown God as appeares by that Epigraphe c Act. 17.23 Adisis Scriptores in hunc locum I sid insuper Pelus epist 69. lib. 4. vitam S. Martialis Lemovicens which Paul took notice of in the same City and who by the Romans themselves having the eyes of their minde veyled with the same thick mist of ignorance and unbelief was termed but d Pompeius apud Lucanum Cappodoces mea signa timent dedita sacris Incerti Judaea Dei mollisque Sophone lib. 2. Incertus Deus and e Trebell Pollio in M. Val. Claud. Imp. ubi de MOSE ei sermo Numen incertum And yet for all this I may very well observe in this place that there were even among the Heathen themselves some of better Souls who by the meer light of Nature for I doe not beleeve that God did reveal unto them the riches of his bounty herein any otherwise then in an ordinary way had a shrewd gesse or rather some good ken though at a distance of the Resurrection Not to urge that verse of Phocylides * And strait we hope to come out of the earth unto the li●ht But he is thought a Christian by some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nor those of Virgil for you 'l say they were both Poëts f Aeneïd lib. 6. O Pater anne aliquas ad coelum hinc ire putandum est Sublimes animas iterumque ad tarda reverti Corpora Quae lucis miseris tam dira cupido And a little after Rursus incipiant in corpora velle reverti I will name two others of better credit First Democritus a Grecian who though he were born Vervecum in patriâ crassoque sub a●re y Juvenal sat 10. yet through the glimmering and foggy light thereof he could make a shift both to discern and promise to himself and others also a time reviviscendi when as this life should be iterated or renewed by death Thus much a Natur. Hist l. 7. c. 55. iterari vitam morte c. Pliny of him who indeed seems to have had a more redundant and petulant spleen then Democritus himself in that he laughs at him for maintaining of that which he cannot confute I am sure doth not any otherwise then those scoffing Philosophers before mentioned in the Acts Some mocked c. a thing unbeseeming the gravity of a Roman and the wisdome and authority of so great a man The other is a Roman the very Sireno-phenix of better Philosophy Marcus the Emperour whose words are these b M. Antonin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib. XII § 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. How comes it to passe saith he that the Gods having ordered all things in a fair and loving respect to mankind they have overseen this one thing that whereas many very good men and such as have given evidence of their service of God and have become very familiar with him by their religious exercises and performances after they are once dead return no more but are extinguisht for ever Now if indeed it be so know for a certain that they would have ordered it otherwise if it had been fitting to have been otherwise c. This he speaks in a kind of condescension to the common received errour among the Heathen in opposition to the Resurrection But by this clause or Parenthesis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is if indeed it be so that they restore not good men to life again and by another that followes in the same discourse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is if it be not so indeed that good men return again to life it seemes to me most apparent that this most divine man for his own part had a deep conceit and a strong apprehension of the Resurrection of the body after death Such excellent illuminations had these gallant spirited men beyond what the Stoa or Peripatus ever dreamt of As for this passage of the Phenix the Emblem of the Resurrection heer in Clement we find no bodies exception against it either before or after Photius the Patriarch of CP he indeed expresses his dislike 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c Biblioth Num. 126. that the Author should use this instance as an example of absolute truth But if he had as he was a true learned Critique so also considered when it is that the Antient writers of the Church do speak 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is doctrinally and seriously and when 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as their own expression is that is as subservient to their purpose and by way of Rhetoricall ornament perhaps he would have spared his censure Yet he doth not therefore abdicate this Ep. from Clement as some do who think he would never in so serious a discourse make use of the flying talk of his own Age and a questionable report that had no eye-witness for the Author of it a meer Pageant brought but the other day upon the stage not remembring perhaps that the tale of the Phenix is of far longer standing mentioned by d In Euterpe Herodotus and others many ages before either Paullus Fabius and L. Vitellius were Consuls or Clement himself born So that I needed not so much as to have named Ovid e Metamorph. 15. Geo. Sandys Interprete had not his description so neerly agreed with Clement's or been indeed the very same I will add it heer therefore to close up this discourse and the rather because the whole businesse being accounted Poëtry which is but plain fiction it will shew a great deal more hansom in verse especially being translated almost aswell to the envy as admiration of the Reader This is it One onely fowle there is in all the Earth Call'd by th' Assyrians Phenix who in th' wain Of age repaires and sowes her self again Nor feeds on grain nor hearbs but on the gumme Of Frankincense and juycy Amomum Now when her life five ages hath fulfill'd A nest her horned beak and talons build Upon the crownet of a trembling Palm This strew'd with Cassia Spiknard precious Balm Bruiz'd Cinamon and Myrrh thereon she bends Her body and her age in odors ends This breedings Corps a little Phenix beares Which is it selfe to live as many yeares Grown strong that load now able to transfer Her Cradle and her Parents Sepulcher Devoutly carries to Hyperion's town And on his flamy Altar layes it down XXIII For nothing is impossible for God to doe except it be to lye Clement doth heer no doubt allude to two severall places of Scripture Tit. 1.2 where it is said God cannot lye and Ebr. 6.18 where we likewise read that it was impossible for God to lye 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the learned a De Jure Bel. Pacis lib. 2. cap. 13. § 3. Grotius rather renders fallere then mentiri

as Beza We and generally all Interpreters do But some of the Fathers b Tho. Aquin. part 1. qu. 25. art 3. 4. and the Schoolemen specially affecting such manner of expressions as these whereby the Power of God may in some sort seem to be restrained to bounds and limits in respect of certain particular actions not onely forgot the reverent awe and esteem they ought to have had concerning the extent and Almightiness thereof for how little a portion b Job 26.14 saith Job have we heard of it the thunder of his power who can understand But even the Hethen man's rule c Cicero Homini de potestate Deorum pauca timidè sunt dicenda And but good reason whenas to Kings but mortall Gods and concerning their power which is indeed in respect had to the Divine not so much as a poor punctum to the immense Vnivers one of the wisest of nature's d Solon Plutarcho X●nophanes Hesychio Illustrio Aristot aliis Sons advised to speak 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or short or sweet For how much more is the Lawyers language to be approved of then Jerom's that great Divine yet both expressing the same thing His words are in one of his hot fits of his immoderate dotage upon Virginity e Epist 22. ad Eustoch de custod virgin Audenter loquar Cùm omnia possit Deus suscitare virginem non potest post ruinam The others far more moderate and mannerly though saying as much f C. de rap virg l. Unic Virginitas corrupta restitui non potest I will not so much as name the Hethen Poëts who enslaved their Gods to the observance of conditions from a fatall necessity of the Destinies which to alter they would have not more unlawfull for them then impossible And the Philo●ophers the most I mean were little better if not worse So that Jupiter in g In Timone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Lucian hearing the blasphemies and the unreverent Speeches of Timon concerning the divine Providence and Power of God made no question of ground enough from thence to conclude him a Philosopher though truly he was no such man Yet some more generall expressions of theirs that way may be excused if withall we understand God's Will by his Power as that of Plutarch h Alluding I think to A●atho's verses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is impossible for God to render that undone which hath been done Because neither doth he will it should be so For i Psal 135.6 Psal 115.3 he hath done whatsoever he will both in heaven and earth And indeed Plato tels us that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God cannot will to alter himself By which perhaps Attic Moses for so Antiquity call'd him meant nothing else but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 k Ebr. 6.17 in Paul's Language the immutability of the Counsell of God For having in his Common-wealth l De Rep. l. III. given leave not onely to Physicians but unto Magistrates also upon occasion to tell a lye yet will he by no meanes permit it unto God as being a note or signe of infirmity and weakness he by so much the more thereby asserting and vindicating the divine and unlimited power of God And heer before we have done let us observe that Clement making it a thing not possible in God to lye doth in the foregoing words assigne the reason thereof to be his own Will God saith he that hath commanded others not to lye much less will he himself lye following therein St Paul who layes as one of the grounds of the same impossibility the immutability of Gods Counsell or Will as appeares by the forenamed places And so the Stoics also the very best of Philosophers do set the Will of God as it were a limit or bound to his power and alwaies joyn them together Hence are those expressions out of their School m Sen. de Irâ lib. 2. c. 27. Dii immortales nec volunt abesse nec possunt And Erras si quis putat eos nocere velle non possunt nec accipere injuriam queunt nec facere And n Id. ep 92. again Sua illis in legem aeterna voluntas est statuerunt quae non mutarent o Id. de Benef. l. 6. ca. 23. Itaque non possunt videri facturi aliquid quasi ut nolint quia quicquid detinere non possunt perseverare voluerunt nec unquam primi consilii deos poenitet and what follows in that divine and high discourse Read Pliny l. II. cap. 7. ad finem XXIV Who shall say unto him What hast thou don c. A very learned Gentleman Dr HA. and my good friend among some other doubts concerning the antiquity and Author of this Epistle maketh his quoting this place out of the p Wisd 12.12 and 11.21 Wisdome of Salomon to be one for thither is the Reader referr'd in the Margin of Mr Yong's Graeco-latin edition p. 37. and thus he reasons if we mistake him not Philo the Jew by the learned in Antiquities in former ages is generally thought to have written that book now he being cotemporary with Clement or not much antienter it is not very probable that Clement should make use of his authority as not needing to prove so undeniable a Truth to descend to so inferiour and late a testimony as his that Book being not urged by the antient Christians ad auctoritatem Ecclesiasticorum dogmatum confirmandam as Jerom tels us For indeed Non tali auxilio nec defensoribus istis Caussa eget Therefore this Epistle may seem not to be of such antiquity as to have Clement for the Author thereof For answer whereunto not to be troublesome in telling you that the Jews had another Book under this Title Secretiori linguâ compositum c. for it is nothing to our purpose and we should therein but rely upon the credit of q Jo. Picus in Comment super Genesin one who doth not say himself ever saw it We may in the first place question it very wel whether Philo were the Author of this we have for there is neither vola nor vestigium in his own works to prove it to be so or indeed in any ones else antienter then Jerom that I can now tell of And we know full well how his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fail'd him in this point to instance in no more then r So that he puts Seneca among his Eccles Scriptores Seneca's Epistles to Paul and his back again to Seneca so much approved of by him to be genuine Now whereas he cites others authority for it he should have named them but therein too he varies from himself for one while he tels us the Jewes ſ Prolog in li. Sap. affirm it another while that some of the antient Writers And for that piece of Criticism of his Graecam eloquentiam redolet t Praefat.