the richest and most noble gifts and to diffuse the influences of his bounty over all parts of his Empire And his example herein it seems was followed by most of his Successors who used upon this Solemnity by their imperial Orders to release all Prisoners unless such as were in for more heavy and notorious crimes high Treason Murders Rapes Incest and the like And Chrysostom tells us of a Letter of Theodosius the Great sent at this time throughout the Empire wherein he did not only command that all Prisoners should be released and pardoned but wished he was able to recal those that were already executed and to restore them to life again And because by the negligence and remissness of messengers or any accident those Imperial Letters might sometimes happen to come too late therefore Valentinian the younger provided by a standing Law that whether order came or not the Judges should dispence the accustomed indulgence and upon Easter day in the morning cause all Prisons to be open the Chains to be knock'd off and the persons set at liberty The next Feast considerable in those primitive times was that of Whitsunday or Pentecost a Feast of great eminency amongst the Jews in memory of the Law delivered at Mount Sinai at that time and for the gathering and bringing in of their Harvest and of no less note amongst Christians for the Holy Ghosts descending upon the Apostles and other Christians in the visible appearance of fiery cloven tongues which hapned upon that day and those miraculous powers then conferred upon them It was observed with the same respect to Easter that the Jews did with respect to their Passover viz. as the word imports just fifty days after it reckoning from the second day of that Festival it seems to some to have commenced from the first rise of Christianity not only because the Apostles and the Church were assembled upon that day but because S. Paul made so much haste to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost which they understand of his great desire to keep it there as a Christian Feast But the argument seems to me no way conclusive for the Apostle might desire to be there at that time both because he was sure to meet with a great number of the Brethren and because he should have a fitter opportunity to preach the Gospel to the Jews who from all parts flock'd thither to the Feast as our Saviour himself for the same reason used to go up to Jerusalem at all their great and solemn Feasts But however this was 't is certain the observation of it is ancient 't was mentioned by Irenaeus in a Book which he wrote concerning Easter as the Author of the Questions and Responses in J. Martyr tells us by Tertullian and after him by Origen more than once This Feast is by us stiled Whitsunday partly because of those vast diffusions of light and knowledge which upon this day were shed upon the Apostles in order to the enlightning of the world but principally because this as also Easter being the stated time for Baptism in the ancient Church those who were baptized put on white Garments in token of that pure and innocent course of life they had now engaged in of which more in its proper place this white Garment they wore till the next Sunday after and then laid it aside whence the Octave or Sunday after Easter came to be stiled Dominica in Albis the Sunday in white it being then that the new-baptized put off their white Garments We may observe that in the Writers of those times the whole space of fifty days between Easter and Whitsunday goes often under the name of Pentecost and was in a manner accounted Festival as Tertullian informs us and the forty third Canon of the Illiberitan Council seems to intimate During this whole time Baptism was conferred all Fasts were suspended and counted unlawful they prayed standing as they did every Lords day and at this time read over the Acts of the Apostles wherein their sufferings and miracles are recorded as we learn from a Law of the younger Theodosius wherein this custom is mentioned and more plainly from S. Chrysostom who treats of it in an Homily on purpose where he gives this reason why that Book which contained those actions of the Apostles which were done after Pentecost should yet be read before it when as at all other times those parts of the Gospel were read which were proper to the season because the Apostles miracles being the grand confirmation of the truth of Christs Resurrection and those miracles recorded in that Book it was therefore most proper to be read next to the Feast of the Resurrection Epiphany succeeds this word was of old promiscuously used either for the Feast of Christs Nativity or for that which we now properly call by that name afterwards the Titles became distinct that of Christs Birth or as we now term it Christmas-day was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Nativity and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the appearance of God in the flesh two names importing the same thing as Nazianzen notes For the antiquity of it the first footsteps I find of it are in the second Century though I doubt not but it might be celebrated before mentioned by Theophilus Bishop of Caesaria about the time of the Emperour Commodus but if any credit might be given to the Decretal Epistles it was somewhat elder than that Pope Telesphorus who lived under Antoninus Pius ordaining Divine Service to be celebrated and an angelical Hymn to be sung the night before the Nativity of our Saviour However that it was kept before the times of Constantine we have this sad instance That when the persecution raged under Dioclesian who then kept his Court at Nicomedia amongst other acts of barbarous cruelty done there finding multitudes of Christians young and old met together in the Temple upon the day of Christs Nativity to celebrate that Festival he commanded the Church doors to be shut up and fire to be put to it which in a short time reduced them and the Church to ashes I shall not dispute whether it was always observed upon the same day that we keep it now the twenty fifth of December it seems probable that for a long time in the East it was kept in January under the name and at the general time of the Epiphania till receiving more light in the case from the Churches of the West they changed it to this day sure I am S. Chrysostom in an Homily on purpose about this very thing affirms that it was not above ten years since in that Church i. e. Antioch it began first to be observed upon that day and there offers several reasons to prove that to be the true day of Christs Nativity The Feast of Epiphany properly so called was kept on the sixth of January and had that name from a
of the expiation of his crimes embraced Christianity being told that in the Christian Religion there was a promise of cleansing from all fin and that as soon as ever any closed with it pardon would be granted to the most profligate offenders As if Christianity had been nothing else but a Receptacle and Sanctuary for Rogues and Villains where the worst of men might be wicked under hopes of pardon But how false and groundless especially as urged and intended by them this impious charge was appears from the whole design and tenour of the Gospel and that more than ordinary vein of piety and strictness that was conspicuous in the lives of its first professors whereof we have in this Treatise given abundant evidence To this representation of their lives and manners I have added some account concerning the ancient Rites and Usages of the Church wherein if any one shall meet with something that does not jump with his own humour he will I doubt not have more discretion than to quarrel with me for setting down things as I found them But in this part I have said the less partly because this was not the thing I primarily designed partly because it has been done by others in just Discourses In some few instances I have remarked the corruption and degeneracy of the Church of Rome from the purity and simplicity of the ancient Church and more I could easily have added but that I studiously avoided controversies it being no part of my design to enquire what was the judgment of the Fathers in disputable cases especially the more abstruse and intricate speculations of Theology but what was their practice and by what rules and measures they did govern and conduct their lives The truth is their Creed in the first Ages was short and simple their Faith lying then as Erasmus observes not so much in nice and numerous Articles as in a good and an holy life At the end of the Book I have added a Chronological Index of the Authors according to the times wherein they are supposed to have lived with an account of the Editions of their Works made use of in this Treatise Which I did not that I had a mind to tell the world either what or how many Books I had a piece of vanity of which had I been guilty it had been no hard matter to have furnish'd out a much larger Catalogue But I did it partly to gratifie the request of the Bookseller partly because I conceived it might not be altogether unuseful to the Reader the Index to give some light to the quotations by knowing when the Author lived especially when he speaks of things done in or near his own time and which must otherwise have been done at every turn in the body of the Book And because there are some Writings frequently made use of in this Book the Authors whereof in this Index could be reduced to no certain date especially those called the Apostolical Canons and Constitutions it may not be amiss here briefly to take notice of them And first for the Canons as I am far from their opinion who ascribe them to the Apostles so I think their great Antagonist Mr. Daillé bends the stick as much too far the other way not allowing them a being in the world till the year 500 or a little before The truth doubtless lies between these two 'T is evident both from the Histories of the Church and many passages in Tertullian Cyprian and others that there were in the most early Ages of Christianity frequent Synods and Councils for setling the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church though their determinations under that notion be not extant at this day Part of these Synodical Decrees so many of them as concern'd the Rites and Discipline of the Church we may conceive some person of learning and judgment gathered together probably about the beginning of the third Century and put them especially the first Fifty for I look not upon the whole eighty five as of equal value and authority if not into the same into some such form and method wherein we now have them stiling them Ecclesiastical or Apostolical Canons not as if they had been composed by the Apostles but either because containing things consonant to the Doctrines and Rules delivered by the Apostles or because made up of usages and traditions supposed to be derived from them or lastly because made by ancient and Apostolic men That many if not all of these Canons were some considerable time extant before the first Nicene Council we have great reason to believe from two or three passages amongst many others S. Basil giving rules about Discipline appoint a Deacon guilty of Fornication to be deposed and thrust down into the rank of Laicks and that in that capacity he might receive the Communion there being says he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an ancient Canon that they that are deposed should only fall under this kind of punishment the ancients as I suppose following herein that command Thou shalt not punish twice for the same fault This Balsamon joins with the twenty fifth Canon of the Apostles which treats of the very same affair and indeed it cannot in probability be meant of any other partly because there was no ancient Canon that we know of in S. Basils time about this business but that partly because the same sentence is applied as the reason both in the Apostolical and S. Basils Canon Thou shalt not punish twice for the same fault which clearly shews whence Basil had it and what he understands by his ancient Canon Theodoret records a Letter of Alexander Bishop of Alexandria to another of the same name Bishop of Constantinople this Letter was written a little before the Council of Nice where speaking of some Bishops who had received the Arians whom he had excommunicated into Communion he tells him that herein they had done what the Apostolical Canon did not allow evidently referring to the twelfth and thirteenth Canon of the Apostles which state the case about one Bishops receiving those into Communion who had been excommunicated by another To this let me add that Constantine in a Letter to Eusebius commends him for refusing to leave his own Bishoprick to go over to that of Antioch to which he was chosen especially because herein he had exactly observed the rule of Ecclesiastical Discipline and had kept the commands of God and the Apostolical and Ecclesiastical Canon meaning doubtless the fourteenth Apostolick Canon which treats about such removes Nay learned men both formerly and of late have observed divers passages in the Nicene Canons themselves which plainly respect these Canons as might be made appear notwithstanding what Daillé has excepted against it were this a proper place to discourse of it This for the Canons For the Constitutions they are said to have been composed by S. Clemens at the instance and by the direction of the Apostles And this wild and extravagant
but to look after a woman with wanton and unchaste desires our Lord says Justin Martyr has told us that whosoever looks after a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart and that if our right eye offend us we must pluck it out as therefore humane Laws condemn two Wives so by the Laws of our Master they are sinners who look upon a woman with unfit desires after her for not only he that really commits adultery is rejected by him but even he that has a mind to it not only our actions but our very thoughts being open unto God So Athenagoras So far are we from any promiscuous embraces that we are not permitted the freedom of an unchaste look for whoever says our Lord looks after a woman to desire her has play'd the adulterer with her in his heart we are not therefore allowed to use our eyes to any other purposes than those for which God created them viz. to be lights to the body to abuse them to wantonness is to be guilty of adultery for as much as they know they were made for other ends and cannot but be conscious to themselves of their own thoughts and how is it possible for men under such limitations to be otherwise than chaste and sober for we have not to deal with humane Laws under which a man may be wicked and yet escape but our discipline was delivered by God himself we have a Law which makes our selves the rule and measure of righteousness towards others according therefore to the difference of age we account some as Sons and Daughters others as Brethren and Sisters the more aged we honour in the place of Parents those therefore whom we account as Sisters or as allied to us in any other relation we reckon it a matter of great concernment that they should be chaste and incorrupt Fourthly They pleaded that this objection would easily vanish if they would but consider what a strange change and alteration was in this very case wrought upon persons at their first conversion to Christianity immediately becoming quite of another spirit and temper from what they were before We who before time says Justin Martyr speaking of the converting power of the Christian doctrine did please our selves in fornications and uncleanness do now solely embrace temperance and chastity what an innumerable company could I name of those who have left their luxury and intemperance and come over to this kind of life for Christ came not to call the chaste and righteous they needed it not but the wicked the incontinent and the unrighteous to repentance And in his other Apology he gives an instance of a woman who having together with her husband lived a very vicious and debauched course of life after her conversion to Christianity became strictly chaste and sober and not content with this she urged her husband also to do the like laying before him the doctrines of Christianity and perswading him both by the rewards and punishments of another World but he obstinately refusing it begot a quarrel between them which still ripen'd into a wider breach till it became matter of publick cognizance and was an occasion for Justin Martyr to write that excellent Apology for the Christians Upon this account Tertullian justly condemns the madness of the Heathens and their unreasonable prejudice against Christianity that they would hate their nearest relations meerly for being Christians though they saw how much they were every ways bettered by it in their lives and manners the Father dis-inheriting his Son of whom now he had no cause left to complain but that he was a Christian the Master imprisoning his servant though now he had found him useful and necessary to him But what 's more especially to the purpose he tells us of some husbands he knew who though before so infinitely jealous of their wives and possibly not without reason that a Mouse could not stir in the room but it must be a Gallant creeping to their bed yet when upon their turning Christians they became so eminently reserved chaste and modest that there was not the least foundation for suspicion their jealousy was converted into hatred and they vow'd they had rather their wives should be Strumpets than Christians So obstinately sayes he do men stand in their own light and contend against those advantages which they might reap by Christianity This Argument from the powerful and successful influence of the Christian Faith Origen frequently makes use of They must needs says he confess the excellency and divinity of Christs doctrine who-ever do but look into the lives of those that adhere to it comparing their former course of life with that which they now lead and considering in what impurities lusts and wickednesses every one of them wallowed before they embraced this doctrine but since that they entertained it how much more grave moderate and constant are they become insomuch that some of them out of a desire of a more transcendent purity and that they may worship God with a chaster mind deny themselves even the pleasures of a lawful bed The same he affirms elsewhere that those whom the Gentiles scorn'd as the most rude and sottish persons being once initiated into the faith and discipline of the holy Jesus were so far from lasciviousness filthiness and all manner of uncleanness that like Priests wholly devoted to God they altogether abstain even from allowed embraces that there was no need for them as some of the best among the Gentiles have done to use arts and medicines to keep them chaste nor Guardians set over them to preserve their Virginity the word of God being sufficient to expel and drive out all irregular appetites and desires This also Tertullian observes as the incomparable excellency of the Christian Doctrine above that of the best Philosophers that whenas Democritus was forc'd to put out his eys because not able to defend himself from the charms of beauty a Christian could look upon a woman with chaste unseduced eyes being at the same time inwardly blind as to any temptation from his lust with such a mighty force did the Gospel come and captivate mens hearts into the obedience of the truth Thence Lactantius makes this triumphant challenge where discoursing of the prevalency which the commands of God had upon the minds of men as daily experience did demonstrate Give me says he a man that 's angry furious and passionate and with a few words from God I 'le render him as meek and quiet as a Lamb Give me one that 's lustful filthy and vicious and you shall see him sober chaste and continent the same he instances in most other Vices So great says he is the power of the divine wisdom that being infused into the breast of a man it will soon expel that folly which is the grand parent of all vice and wickedness The innocency of Christians standing thus clear from
of the excellency of their Religion and the goodness of their cause above that of the best Philosophers Aristoteles flying for fear of suffering for his Opinions The cowardly silence of Iamblichus his Scholars This resolution of theirs confessed by Heathens Apollo's Oracle in the case of Porphyrie's wife Galen The constancy of Christians to their Religion proverbial WHen our blessed Saviour sent out his Disciples to preach the Gospel he acquainted them with the difficulties that were like to attend their message but withall bad them arm themselves with Constancy and Resolution and not to regard the scoffs and reproaches the miseries and sufferings that might fall upon them not to fear them that could only kill the body but to make a free and bold Confession of his Name before the world and chearfully to take up their Cross and follow him and S. Paul though himself then in chains at Rome exhorts the Christians to stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together for the Faith of the Gospel being in nothing terrified by their adversaries it being given them on the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake which made it very necessary for them to have their feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace And certainly if ever true courage and greatness of mind appear'd in any persons in the world it was in the Christians of those times who with such a generous and unterrified mind defied dangers and torments own'd and gloried in the profession of Christianity against all the threats reproaches and persecutions which the worst of their adversaries could make against them We shall first see what account their Apologists give of it even before their enemies and then how they made it good in their lives and actions Justin Martyr speaking of the successful propagation of the Gospel immediately upon Christs resurrection and ascâ—nsion into Heaven The Apostles of Christ says he going forth from Jerusalem preach'd the powerful Word in every place although it were Capital either to preach or to profess the Name of Christ which yet we do every-where embrace and teach which if you as enemies still go on to obstruct the worst you can do is but to kill us whereby you will do us no great harm but will purchase to your selves and to all those that unjustly persecute us and persist impenitent in their proceedings the vengeance of eternal flames And when Trypho the Jew had charg'd Christianity for an idle story and the Christians for no better than fools to quit all the conveniences of this life upon the account of it the Martyr answers that this proceeded from his ignorance and an implicit assent to the absurd and malicious insinuations of their Rabbins who understood very little of the Scriptures that would he but admit the true reasons of Christianity he would quickly understand how far they were from being in an errour and how little reason they had to quit their profession although men did sufficiently scorn and reproach them for it and the powers of the world endeavour to force them to renounce and forsake it notwithstanding all which they chose rather to dye and chearfully underwent it being fully assur'd that what God had promised through Christ he would infallibly make good to them And discoursing afterwards of the same matter As for us says he that have entertain'd the Religion of the Holy Jesus your selves know very well that there 's none throughout the world that 's able to subdue or affright us out of our profession nothing being plainer than that though our heads be exposed to Swords and Axes our bodies fastned to the Cross though thrown to wild beasts harrassed out with chains fire and all other instruments of torment yet do we not start from our profession nay the more these things happen to us the faster others flock over to the Name of Jesus and become pious and devout followers of Christ it being with us in this case as with a Vine which being prun'd and trim'd and its luxurious excrescences par'd off brings forth more fruitful and flourishing branches How little he valued any danger in competition with the truth he tells his adversary he might know by this that he would not stifle and conceal it although they should immediately tear him in pieces for it and therefore when he saw his Countrymen the Samaritans seduc'd by the Impostures of Simon Magus whom they held to be a God above all Principality and Power he could not but by an address make his complaint to Caesar not regarding the hazards and troubles that might ensue upon it Tertullian giving the Heathens an account of that Christ whom they worship'd tells them they might well believe it to be true for that no man might lye for his Religion to dissemble in this case being to deny a thing which could not be charg'd upon the Christians who own'd and stood to it with their last drop of blood We speak it says he and we speak it openly areâ—earing â—earing our flesh and shedding our blood we cry aloud that we worship God through Christ So fully were they satisfied in the truth of their Religion as to be ready rather a thousand times to dye than to deny it Nor were these meerly big words with which the Christians vapour'd in the sight of their enemies we shall find that they made them good by acting suitable to these professions and protestations They did not then think it enough to espouse the faith of Christ unless they publickly testified it to the world whereof this instance amongst others Victorinus a Rhetorician of Rome a man of so great note and fame that he had obtain'd the honour of a publick Statue but a zealous defender of Paganism and Idolatry had read the Holy Scriptures by which being convinc'd he came to Simplician and privately told him that he was a Christian which the other refus'd to believe unless he saw him testifie it in the publick Church to which Victorinus return'd with a little scorn What are they then the walls that make a Christian This answer he as oft return'd as the other urg'd a publick confession for he was not willing to disoblige his great friends who he knew would fall foul upon him till by reading and meditation he gathered courage and fearing that Christ would deny him before the Holy Angels if he should refuse to confess him before men he became sensible of his fault and was asham'd of his vanity and folly and calling to Simplician Let us go said he into the Church I will now become a Christian which when he had done and had been thorowly instructed in the Faith of Christ he offer'd himself to baptism and being to make the accustomed confession of his Faith the Ministers of the Church offer'd him the liberty of doing it in a more private way as they were wont to do for those who
of a second wickedness like to that which they committed against Socrates and lest they again offend against the Majesty of Philosophy it being alas not kindness to the Athenians but cowardise and fear of punishment made him so hastily pack up and be gon and leave his opinions behind him to shift for themselves as well as they could Nay Eunapius himself confesses that in the time of Constantine when Paganism began to go down the wind and Christianity to be advanced and honoured their best Philosophers the great Scholars of Iamblichus took sanctuary at a mysterious secrecy and wisely kept their dogmata and opinions to themselves sealed up under a profound and religious silence No they were the Christians only the very meanest of whom durst stand by and defend naked truth in the face of danger and death it self this being as Eusebius notes one of the most wonderful things in Christian Religion that they who embrace it are not only ready to profess it in words but entertain it with such a mighty affection and sincerity of soul as willingly to prefer the bearing testimony to it even before life it self And indeed this piece of right is done them by Pliny himself where speaking of some who having been accused for Christians to shew how far they were from it readily blasphemed Christ and sacrificed to the gods he adds none of which it 's said that they who are truly Christians can by any means be compelled to do Nay thus much is confessed by the Oracle it self for when Porphyry the great Philosopher and acute enemy of the Christians enquired of Apollo's Oracle what god he should make his address to for the recovery of his wife back from Christianity the Oracle returned him this Answer as himself reported it in his Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 't is corruptly in S. Augustin a Book frequently cited both by Eusebius and Theodoret where by the way in the Latin Version of Theodoret 't is by a strange mistake rendred de Electorum Philosophia as if it had been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this Book concerning the Philosophy draw from Oracles he tells us he received this answer that he might as well and to better purpose attempt to write upon the surface of the water or to fly like a bird in the air than to reduce his wife from those wicked sentiments she had taken in And this was so common and notorious that it became in a manner proverbial whence that of Galen when he would express how pertinaciously the Philosophers adhered to those sentiments they had once drunk in and how very hard and almost impossible it was to convince them Sooner says he may a man undeceive a Jew or a Christian and make them renounce the doctrines of Moses or of Christ than Philosophers and Physicians that are once addicted to their several Sects CHAP. VII Of their Exemplary Patience under Sufferings Christianity likely to engage its followers in suffering and why Continual Edicts put forth against Christians The form of those Imperial orders exemplified out of the Acts of the Martyrs The fierce opposition of the Roman Emperours and their probable hopes of having destroyed Christianity evidenced from several Inscriptions to that purpose found in Spain The greatness of the torments Christians endured some of the ordinary kinds of them describ'd The Cross the pain and ignominy of it Persons crucified with their heads downwards The Rack what Catasta ad Pulpitum post Catastam Ungulae one of these kept and ador'd as a Relique at Rome The Wheel Burning Throwing to wild beasts Being condemned to Mines their treatment there and the case of such persons Some of the extraordinary ways of punishment used towards Christians Torn asunder by branches of trees burnt in pitch'd coats boyl'd in pots of oyl or lead c. Their carriage under these sufferings sedate and calm meek and patient Their refusing to make use of opportunities to avoid suffering Whether they might fly and withdraw in times of persecution Allow'd and practis'd in some cases two instanc'd in Where persons were of more than ordinary use and eminency Where they were weak for the present and not like to hold out Prov'd by particular instances Their chearful offering themselves to the rage and fury of their enemies confessed by the relation of their Judges and bitterest Adversaries Tiberianus Arrius Antoninus Lucian The earnest desire of Martyrdom in Ignatius Laurentius Origen and others When unjustly condemned their Judges thanked for condemning them Their glorying in suffering and being crucified Babylas the Martyr's chains buried with him No signs of an impatient mind under their bitterest torments An account of their chearful suffering out of Cyprian Their patience wondred at by their enemies Their grand support under suffering the hopes and assurance of a reward in Heaven The case of the forty Martyrs in S. Basil Psalms sung at the Funeral of Christians and Lights carried before the Corps and why Christianity vastly increased by the patience and constancy of Christians Martyr's account of his conversion by this means Julian generally refused to put Christians to death and why The testimonies of several Heathens corcerning the Christians conrage and patience under sufferings THat the Christian Religion at its first appearing in the World was likely to engage its followers in miseries and sufferings could not be unknown to any that considered the nature of its doctrine and the tendency of its design The severity of its precepts so directly opposite to the corrupt and vicious inclinations of men the purity of its worship so flatly contrary to the loose and obscene rites and solemnities of the Heathens its absolute inconsistency with those Religions which had obtained for so many Ages which then had such firm possessions of the minds of men and all the powers and policies of the world to secure and back them could not prophesie to it any kind or welcome entertainment This Sect for so they call'd it was every where not only spoken but fought against for since men have a natural veneration for Antiquity and especially in matters of Religion they thought themselves concerned to defend that way that had been convey'd to them from their Ancestours and to set themselves with might and main against whatever might oppose it especially the great ones of those times and the Roman Emperours made it their master-design to oppress and stifle this infant Religion and to banish it out of the World Hence those Imperial orders that were dayly sent abroad into all parts of the Empire to command and impower their Governours to ruine and destroy the Christians of which that we may the better apprehend the form of them it may not be amiss to set down one or two of them out of the acts of the Martyrs This following was agreed upon both by the Emperours and the whole Senate of Rome Decius and Valerian Emperours Triumphers
question and that they had much rather be put to death for their Religion than to have their lives spared to them by which means they became conquerours chosing rather to part with their lives than to do what you impose upon them Let me advise you says he who are ready to despond with every earth-quake that happens to you to compare your selves with them they in all their dangers are securely confident in their God while you at such a time neglect the gods and have little or no regard either to other rites or to the worship of that immortal deity but banish the Christians that worship him and persecute them unto death So forcibly did the Majesty of Truth extort a confession from its greatest enemies The End of the Second Part. Primitive Christianity OR THE RELIGION OF THE Ancient Christians In the first Ages of the Gospel PART III. Of their Religion as respecting other men CHAP. I. Of their Justice and Honesty Christian Religion admirably provides for moral righteousness Do as you would be done by the great Law of Christ This rule highly priz'd by Severus the Emperour The first Christians accounted honesty and an upright carriage a main part of their Religion Their candor and simplicity in their words Abhorring lies and mental reservations though it might save their lives Their veracity such as no need to be put to thir oaths Some few of the Fathers against all swearing Allowed by the greatest part in weighty Cases That they took oaths proved from Athanasius and their taking the Sacramentum militare The form of the oath out of Vegetius The same expresly affirmed of the more antient Christians by Tertullian Why refusing to swear by the Emperours genius Oaths wont to be taken at the holy Sacrament upon the Communion Table or the holy Gospels Some against all oaths only to prevent a possibility of perjury Bearing false witness condemned and strictly punished by the antient Church A famous Instance of divine vengeance pursuing three false accusers Christians careful in the conduct of their actions Their integrity in matters of distributive Justice In commutative Justice avoiding all fraud and over-reaching S. Augustin's instance Nicostratus forced to fly to avoid the punishment of cheating and sacriledge The Christians unjustly accused of Sacriledge by the Heathens The occasion of it Pliny's testimony of the Honesty of Christians Theft and rapine severely condemned Christians for doing all the good they could Their care to right and relieve the oppressed The Gentiles charged Christians with murder and eating mans-flesh A brief representation of the several answers returned to it by the Christian Apologists The true rise of the charge found to spring from the barbarous and inhumane practices of the Gnosticks mentioned by Irenaeus and Epiphanius HAving given some account of the Religion of the antient Christians both as it respected their piety towards God and their sober and vertuous carriage towards themselves we come in the last place to consider it in reference to their carriage towards others which the Apostle describes under the title of righteousness under which he comprehends all that duty and respect wherein we stand obliged to others whereof we shall consider these following instances their justice and integrity in matters of commerce and traffick their mutual love and charity to one another their unity and peaceableness and their submission and subjection to civil Government I begin with the first their just and upright carriage in their outward dealings one great design of the Christian Law is to establish and ratifie that great principle which is one of the prime and fundamental Laws of nature to hurt no man and to render to every one his due to teach us to carry our selves as becomes us in our relations towards men Next to our duty towards God the Gospel obliges us to be righteous to men sincere and upright in all our dealings not going beyond nor defrauding one another in any matter to put away lying and to speak truth to each other as fellow-members of the same Christian brother-hood and society It settles that golden rule as the fundamental Law of all just and equitable commerce that all things whatsoever we would that men should do to us we should even do so to them this being the sum of the Law and the Prophets than which as no rule could have been more equitable in it self so none could possibly have been contrived more short and plain and more accommodate to the common cases of humane life Upon the account of these and such like excellent precepts Alexander Severus the Roman Emperour had so great an honour for our Saviour that he was resolved to build a Temple to him and to receive him into the number of their gods and though he was over-rul'd in this by some who having consulted the Oracle told him that if it were done all men would become Christians and the Temples of the gods would be left naked and empty yet in his most private Chappel he had the Image of Christ amongst those of many Noble Heroes and deified persons to whom he pay'd religious adoration every Morning and particularly for this precept that what we would not have done to our selves we should not do to others which his own Historian confesses he learnt either from the Jews or Christians but most certainly from the Christians in whose mouths it so often was and in whose Gospel it was so plainly written he so highly valued it that in all publick punishments he caused it to be proclaim'd by a common Crier nay was so hugely fond on 't that he caused it to be written upon the walls of his Palace and upon all his publick Buildings that if possible every room in his Court and every place in the City might be a silent Chancery and Court of Equity So vast a reverence had the very enemies of Christianity for the Gospel upon this account that it so admirably provides for the advance of civil righteousness and justice amongst men which however it has been sleighted by some even amongst Christians under the notion of moral Principles yet without it all other Religion is but vain it being a strange piece of folly for any to dream of being godly without being honest or to think of being a disciple of the first while a man is an enemy to the second Table Sure I am the Christians of old look'd upon honesty and an upright carriage as a considerable part of their Religion and that to speak truth to keep their words to perform oaths and promises to act sincerely in all their dealings was as sacred and as dear to them as their lives and beings Speech being the great instrument of mutual commerce and traffick shall be the first instance of their integrity They ever used the greatest candor and simplicity in expressing their mind to one another not pretending what was false nor concealing what was true yea yea and nay nay was the usual
measure of their transactions a lie they abhorr'd as bad in all as monstrous in a Christian as directly opposite to that truth to which they had consigned and delivered up themselves in baptism and therefore would not tell one though it were to save their lives When the Heathens charged them with folly and madness that they would so resolutely suffer when a parcel of fair words might make way for them to escape telling them 't was but doing or saying as they were bid and that they might secure their consciences by mental reservations Tertullian lets them know that they rejected the motion with the highest scorn as the plain artifice and invention of the devil When we are most severely examined says Justin Martyr we never deny our selves counting it impious in any thing to dissemble or deny the truth as we know the contrary is acceptable unto God and though we could as they told the Emperours when questioned evade or deny it yet we scorn to live upon any terms by which we must be forced to maintain our lives by lies and falshood This honest and ingenuous simplicity they practised to that exactness and accuracy that for a Christian to be put to his oath was accounted a disparagement to his fidelity and truth So Clemens Alexandrinus tells us he that approves himself and is tried says he in this i.e. the Christian way of piety and Religion is far from being forward either to lie or swear For an oath is a determinative assertion with a calling God to witness for the truth of it But how shall any one that is faithful so far render himself unfaithful or unworthy of belief as to need an oath and not rather make the course of his life a testimony to him as firm and positive as an oath and demonstrate the truth of his assertion by the constant and immutable tenor of his words and actions It 's enough therefore as he presently after adds for every good man either by way of affirmation or denyal to give this assurance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I speak truly to satisfie any that apprehend not the certainty of what he says for towards those that are without he ought to have such a conversation as is most worthy of belief so as no oath should be required of him and towards himself and those of his party to preserve such an even and equitable temper of mind as is a piece of voluntary Justice This and much more he discourses to the same purpose For this and some other reasons but especially from some mis-taken places of Scripture where 't is said swear not at all some of the Antient Fathers held all taking of an oath unlawful but besides that those few that did were not herein constant to themselves the far greatest part were of another mind and understood the prohibition either of swearing by creatures which was the case of the Jews and which our Saviour and S. James principally aim at or of light rash and false swearing For otherwise that the Primitive Christians did not think it unlawful to take an oath in serious and necessary cases is most evident Athanasius speaking of his accusers whom he desired might be put to their oath tells us that the best way to attest the truth of what is spoken is to call God to witness and this says he is the form of swearing which we Christians are wont to use And indeed though we had no other argument it would be plain enough from hence that they served in the Wars and frequently bore arms even under the Heathen Emperours which 't is evident they could not do without first taking a military oath to be true to their General and to die rather than desert their station And this Vegetius an Heathen Authour though living in the time of the younger Valentinian expresly reports of them that when their names were entred upon the Muster-roll they were wont to take an oath the particular form whereof he there sets down viz. That they swore by God Christ and the Holy Spirit and the Majesty of the Emperour which next to God is to be lov'd and honour'd by mankind This agrees very well with that account which Tertullian had long before given of the Christians when being accus'd by their enemies of high Treason amongst other reasons because they refused to swear by their Emperours he answers that though they would not swear by the Emperours genius their genii or tutelar deities being nothing else but devils yet they did swear by the Emperours safety a thing more august and venerable than all the genii in the World In the Emperours they own God's Institution and Authority would therefore have that to be safe which he had appointed and accordingly accounted it the matter of a lawful oath but for the daemons or genii says he we use adjurare to adjure them so as to cast them out of men non dejerare not to swear by them and thereby confer the honour of Divinity upon them For the same reason they denied to swear by the fortune of the Emperour because amongst the Heathens she was accounted a deity and honour'd with religious worship Thus we see that they refused not to ensure and ratifie their faith by the formality of an oath to which that they might add the greater reverence and solemnity they were wont many times to take it at the receiving of the holy Sacrament as we find in the case of Novatus and his followers for taking their hands wherein they held the Sacramental Elements within his own he caused them to swear by the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ that they would not desert him But because this may be thought to have been only the artifice of an Heretick to bind his followers the faster to his party S. Chrysostom though himself no good friend to taking oaths sufficiently assures us 't was customary to come into the Church and to swear upon the Communion Table taking the Book of the Holy Gospels into their hands The same appears from the case proposed to Gregory Nazianzen by Theodore Bishop of Tyana and by the instance of Evagrius Nazianzen's Arch-deacon at Constantinople who had it reveal'd to him in a Vision that some persons lay in wait for him and that therefore he must presently be gone the person that revealed it assuring him he would knock off those fetters that were upon him if he would swear to him upon the Holy Gospels that he would immediately depart which was accordingly done And as their caution was great in taking of an oath so their care was no less in making of it good they knew that in this solemn transaction they did in a more peculiar manner call in God as a witness of what they said and a revenger in case of falshood and the violation of it this made them greatly afraid of perjury which they looked upon as a
they knew the seller did not understand the true price and value and that if he did he would not part with it at such a price To this purpose S. Augustine tells us he knew a man probably he means himself though out of modesty he conceals it who having a Book offered him to be sold by one that understood not the price of it at a very small under-rate took the Book but gave him the full price according to its just rate and value which was a great deal more than the seller asked for it And the truth is in such cases advantage cannot honestly be taken of mens weakness or mistake because no man if he understood the true worth and value of his commodity can be supposed willing to part with it at a too-under rate And if they were thus far from craftily over-reaching much more from secretly or openly invading of what was anothers right and property no cheating or couzenage no acts of dishonesty and deceit were allowed or practised amongst them or if any such were discovered they were immediately protested against by the whole Society of Christians Cornelius Bishop of Rome giving Cyprian an account of Novatus the Heretick and his companions tells him of one Nicostratus that not only cheated his Lady and Patroness whose estate and revenues he managed but carried away a great part of the treasures of the Church whereof he was Chief Deacon the portion and maintenance of poor Widows and Orphans a crime says he reserved for perpetual punishment i.e. for the judgement of God in the other world being too great for any in this whereupon he was forced to fly from Rome into Africk to avoid the shame and prosecution of his rapine and sacriledge though when he came there they did not only refuse to admit him into communion but openly exposed the wickedness of him and his confederates to the abhorrency of all men By which may appear the falsity of that charge of Sacriledge which the Gentiles brought against the Christians to which though certainly it primarily respected their declared enmity against the Idolatrous Temples and worship of the Heathens yet Tertullian answers You look upon us says he as Sacrilegious persons and yet never found any of us guilty of wrong or injury of any rapine and violence much less of sacriledge and impiety No they are your own party that swear by and worship your gods and yet rob their temples that are no Christians and yet are found to be sacrilegious And afterwards he adds this further vindication of them As for us says he we deny not any pledge that 's left with us we adulterate no mans marriage-bed we piously educate and train up Orphans and relieve the necessities of the indigent and render no man evil for evil If there be any that dissemble our Religion let them look to 't we disown them for being of our party why should we be worse thought of for others faults or why should a Christian answer for any thing but what concerns his own Religion which no man in so long a time has prov'd to be cruel or incestuous Nay when we are burnt and most severely dealt with 't is for the greatest Innocency Honesty Justice Modesty for our Truth and Faithfulness and our Piety to the Living God And that these were not a parcel of good words which the Christians spoke in their own behalf will appear if we consider the testimony which Pliny who was far from being partial to them gives of them for being commanded by the Emperour Trajan to give him an account of the Christians he tells him that after the strictest examination which he could make even of those that had renounc'd Christianity he found this to be the greatest fault that they were guilty of that they used harmlesly to meet to worship Christ and at those meetings to bind themselves by a Sacrament or an oath that they would not do any wickedness that thy might be firmlier obliged not to commit thefts robberies adulteries not to falsify their words or to deny any thing wherewith they were intrusted when 't was required of them Gregory Bishop of Neocaesarea in a Canonical Epistle which he wrote to rectifie several disorders and irregularities which had happened amongst the Christians of those parts by reason of the inroads and devastations which the Goths and other barbarous nations had made amongst them does amongst other things especially take notice how uncomely in it self how unsuitable to Christians it is to covet and to grasp what is another mans how inhumane to spoyle the oppressed and to enrich our selves by the blood and ruines of our miserable brethren And whereas some might be apt to plead they did not steal but only take up what they found He tells them this excuse would not serve the turn that whatever they had found of their Neighbours nay though it were their enemies they were bound to restore it much more to their brethren who were fellow-sufferers with them in the same condition Others thought it warrant enough to keep what they found though belonging to others having been such deep losers themselves but this he tells them is to justifie one wickedness with another and because the Goths had been enemies to them they would become Goths and Barbarians unto others Nor did they only keep themselves from doing injuries to others they were ready to do them all the right all the kindness that lay in their power especially to vindicate the poor and helpless from the power and violence of those that were too mighty for them Therefore when the Fathers of the Synod of Sardis took notice that some Bishops used to go to Court upon by-errands and private designs of their own they ordain'd that no Bishop should go to Court unless either immediately summoned by the Emperours letters or that their assistance was required to help the oppressed to right Widows and Orphans and to rescue them from the unjust grasps of potent and merciless oppressors and that in these cases they should be ready either by themselves or some deputed by them to present their petitions to plead their cause and to lend them all the assistance they were able to afford I should not in this place have taken any notice how far the ancient Christians were from murder and offering violence to any mans life but that it was a common charge brought against them by the Gentiles that they used to kill and devour an Infant at their Christian meetings especially when any was first to be initiated into their assemblies the story is thus dressed up by the acute Heathen in M. Foelix An Infant being covered all over with meal the better to deceive the unwary is set before him that is to be initiated and taken in he ignorant of what it really is is appointed to cut it up which he effectually does by many secret and mortal wounds whereupon they greedily lick
great peace and friendship the difference of the observotion not at all hindering the agreement and harmony of the Churches it being agreed amongst them by common consent says Sozomen speaking of this passage that in keeping this festival they should each follow their own custom but by no means break the peace and communion that was between them for they reckoned it says he a very foolish and unreasonable thing that they should fall out for a few rites and customs who agreed in the main Principles of Religion The Christians of those times had too deeply imbibed that precept of our Saviour love one another as I have loved you to fall out about every nice and trifling circumstance no when highliest provoked and affronted they could forbear and forgive their enemies much more their brethren and were not like the waspish Philosophers amongst the Heathens who were ready to fall foul upon one another for every petty and inconsiderable difference of opinion that was amongst them So Origen tells Celsus Both amongst your Philosophers and Physicians say he there are Sects that have perpetual feuds and quarrels with each other whereas we who have entertained the Laws of the blessed Jesus and have learnt both to speak and to do accordding to his doctrine bless them that revile us being persecuted we suffer it being defamed we entreat nor do we speak dire and dreadful things against those that differ from us in opinion and do not presently embrace those things which we have entertain'd But as much as in us lies we leave nothing unattempted that may perswade them to change for the better and to give up themselves only to the service of the great Creatour and to do all things as those that must give an account of their actions In short Christians were careful not to offend either God or men but to keep and maintain peace with both thence that excellent saying of Ephraem Syrus the famous Deacon of Edessae when he came to die In my whole life said he I never reproached my Lord and Master nor suffered any foolish talk to come out of my lips nor did I ever curse or revile any man or maintain the least difference or controversie with any Christian in all my life CHAP. IV. Of their Obedience and Subjection to Civil Government Magistracy the great hand of publick peace This highly secured by Christianity The Laws of Christ that way express and positive Made good in his own practice and the practice of his Apostles The same spirit in succeeding Ages manifested out of Justin Martyr Polycarp Tertullian and Origen Praying for Rulers and Emperours a solemn part of their publick worship Their ready payment of all Customs and Tributes and their faithfulness in doing it Christians such even under the heaviest oppressions and persecutions and that when they had power to have righted and reveng'd themselves An excellent passage in Tertullian to that purpose The temper of the Christian Souldiers in Julian's Army The famous Story of Mauricius and the Thebaean Legion under Maximinianus reported at large out of Eucherius Lugdunensis The injustice of the charge brought against them by the Heathens of being enemies to Civil Government Accused of Treason Of their refusing to swear by the Emperours genius Their denying to sacrifice for the Emperours safety and why they did so Their refusing to own the Emperours for gods and why Their not observing the solemn Festivals of the Emperours and the reasons of it Accused of Sedition and holding unlawful Combinations An account of the Collegia and Societies in the Roman Empire Christianity forbidden upon that account The Christian Assemblies no unlawful Conventions A vast difference between them and the unlawful factions forbidden by the Roman Laws Their confident challenging their enemies to make good one charge of disturbance or rebellion against them Their Laws and principles quite contrary The Heathens them selves guilty of rebellions and factions not the Christians The Testimony given them by Julian the Emperour A reflection upon the Church of Rome for corrupting the doctrine and practice of Christianity in this affair Their principles and policies in this matter Bellarmin's position that 't is lawful to depose infidel and heretical Princes and that the Primitive Christians did it not to Nero Dioclesian c. only because they wanted power censured and refuted This contrary to the avow'd principles of honest Heathens HOw much Christian Religion transcribed into the lives of its professors contributes to the happiness of men not only in their single and private capacities but as to the publick welfare of humane societies and to the common interests and conveniences of mankind we have already discovered in several instances now because Magistracy and Civil Government is the great support and instrument of external peace and happiness we shall in the last place consider how eminent the first Christians were for their Submission and Subjection to Civil Government And certainly there 's scarce any particular instance wherein Primitive Christianity did more triumph in the world than in their exemplary obedience to the Powers and Magistrates under which they lived honouring their persons revering their power paying their tribute obeying their Laws where they were not evidently contrary to the Laws of Christ and where they were submitting to the most cruel penalties they laid upon them with the greatest calmness and serenity of soul The truth is one great design of the Christian Law is to secure the interests of civil Authority our Saviour has expresly taught us that we are to give unto Caesar the things that are Caesars as well as unto God the things that are Gods And his Apostles spoke as plainly as words could speak it Let every soul be subject to the higher powers for there is no power but of God the powers that be are ordain'd of God Whosoever therefore resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation Wherefore you must needs be subject not only for wrath but also for conscience sake for for this cause pay you tribute also for they are Gods Ministers attending continually upon this very thing Render therefore to all their dues tribute to whom tribute is due custom to whom custom fear to whom fear honour to whom honour Where we may take notice both of the strictness and universality of the charge and what is mainly material to observe this charge given the Romans at that time when Nero was their Emperour who was not only an Heathen Magistrate but the first persecutor of Christians a man so prodigiously brutish and tyrannical that the world scarce ever brought forth such another monster 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Orator truly stiles him a beast in the shape of a man The same Apostle amongst other directions given to Titus for the discharge of his office bids him put the people in mind to be subject to principalities and powers and to obey Magistrates