Apostles were ignorant of any Truth profitable to Salvation or that the Invention of Tertul. Praescript C. 22. after Ages hath found out any new Rule of Living more perfect or more Sublime than what Jesus Christ taught his Disciples But this Heavenly Doctrine did not always produce the like effects but had its different Operations according to the different Dispositions of those that received it or the different measures of Grace with which God was pleased to Accompany it The true Israelites who had by the Tradition of their Fathers and the use of the Holy Scriptures been bred up in the knowlege of the true God and from their Infancy inured to the observation of his Laws the Gospel found them well prepared for that higher Perfection it required when that perfection should be discovered unto them and they should be made to understand what kind of Salvation that was which their Messiah was to bring them and what kind of Kingdom his Kingdom was to be But as for the Gentiles who had hitherto Eph. 2. 12 lived without God and without Law trained up according to the custom of the then Deluded World in the most horrid 1 Cor. 12. 2 Superstitions Worshiping with as little understanding as the Beasts of their Sacrifice dumb Idols plunged in sensuality and habituated to all sorts of Impieties and Impurities it was far more difficult for them to Rise to the same Perfection So that 't is among the Christians of this first Church of Jerusalem we must look for an Example of a Life the most perfectly Christian and consequently the most perfectly happy that Mortality is capable of We must begin with the Life of Jesus Christ himself who is both the Original and the Model of all perfection He Jo. 13. 15. hath given us an Example that as he hath done so should we do And this is one of the grand Advantages we receive by the Incarnation that thereby the Word became sensible and by conversing with Man as Man rendred himself the Object not only of our Admiration and Adoration but of our Imitation also having in his Life set us that perfect Exemplar in conformity to which we are to Regulate ours I know very well that a Life so Divine cannot he worthily described but by those who have seen with their Eyes and heard with 1 Jo. 1. 1. their Ears and whose hands have handled the Word of Life and who were themselves acted by his Spirit Yet may every Man according to the measure of his Capacity employ his thoughts and meditations upon it and point out some of the particulars which he Judges more proper for our Imitation leaving it to others more advanced in the exercises of Devotion and the practice of Christian Vertues to make still farther Discoveries in so Inexhaustible a Subject In the Life of Jesus Christ we cannot go too far back He was an Example from the Cradle and in his first Years set us a Copy of the first Vertues we are capable of Learning that is the Vertues of Childhood He shewed himself in that Age Docile Tractable and Submissive towards his Parents and of such a sweetness of Temper and Behaviour that rendred him amiable in the sight of all that beheld him For thus saith the Scripture As he Increased Luk. 2. 40. 52. in Stature so he increased in Wisdom and in favour with God and Man As for all the rest of his Youth till he came to be thirty Years of Age we have no other Account of it but that he abode in the little City of Nazareth passing there Matt. 3. 5â— for the Son of a Carpenter and was a Carpenter himself This Silence of History Mar. 6. 3. expresses better than any Words could have done the State of Privacy in which as yet he lived Jesus Christ himself He who came to be the light of the World passed the greatest part of his Days upon earth in obscurity He spent thirty years in the condition of a private Life and only three or four in Preaching and the publick exercise of his Ministry to shew that 't is the duty of the generality of men to keep themselves within a private Station and labour in silence and that 't is only for some few persons to put themselves upon publick Functions and that only so far forth as they shall be by the Designation of God or by Charity toward their Neighbour obliged thereunto The Occupation which he chose to follow is also worthy our Reflexion To live by the labour of ones Hands is a state of Life more Poor than to have Lands to Till or Cattle to Feed Whether his Trade of a Carpenter was to build Houses or as ancient Tradition reports to make Justin in Tryph. Plows and other Instruments of Husbandry 't is certain 't was a mean and laborious employment but at the same time a very useful and necessary one to Society and such without which there would scarce be any living in the World and therefore a more laudable way of getting a lively-hood than any of those that Minister only to Pleasure and Vanity Thus he passed his younger days in the Family of his Father and place of his Education leading a life not slavish or reproachful nor trifling and insignificant but serious employed and laborious submitting to the Penalty imposed upon the Posterity of Adam of earning their Bread with the sweat of their Brows and shewing himself an Example of those two Virtues he so much recommended to others Ma. 11. 27 Meekness and Humility Before he ent'red upon the execution of his Mission he prepared himself for it by Baptism Prayer and Fasting not that Luk. 3. 21. he had any need of these Preparatories but that he might as he himself expresses it fulfil all Righteousness and give us an Example Mat. 3. 15. His Fast of forty Days and forty Nights and subsisting so long without Food is ordinarily look'd upon as a Miracle as well as the like in Moses and Elias But I know not whether we do in this matter sufficiently understand the strength of Nature it self St. Simeon Stylites did more than once pass Theodor. Hist Relig. P. an whole Lent together without Eating having by degrees brought himself to so prodigious an Abstinence And at this Day there are Idolaters in India who can pass twenty days or more without tasting a bit all that while During this Fast and all his long abode in the hideous solitude of the Wilderness in what can we imagine he employ'd his Time but in Prayer But who dares pretend to describe the Praying of Jesus Christ Let us humbly Meditate upon what the Scripture hath left to us concerning it and more especially upon that Heavenly Prayer recorded by St. John Joh. 17. Nay let not the Manner after which he prayed nor the Circumstances of it escape our Observation He prayed in the darkness of the Night and sometimes whole Nights together
of St. Justin and St. Clemens Alexandrinus and in the same writings we also find a vast reach of Learning joined with the finest Politeness The Humility of a Christian having qualified the haughty Air of the Romans and the scornful Pride of the Philosophers made of them true Sages Faith having once discovered to them the true end upon which they ought to fix from that time forward they minded nothing else These Persons even in their Gentile state so improved and refin'd being now by the grace of the Gospel further cleansed from all their Impurities and having learnt to be sincere became also Gentle Meek and Peaceable without Artifice and Disguise Thus the Christian Religion established its self in the midst of the Roman Empire and in Rome its self when it was in its most flourishing Condition in the most enlightened Age that ever was and at the same time the most corrupt Nor could the Divinity of the Gospel more gloriously have displayed its Power than in triumphing over those two dispositions in Man that are most opposite to it that is Vanity of Knowledge and Corruption of Manners so victoriously carrying on its Progresse in the World while on the one hand Science an exalted Understanding resisted the simplicity of its Doctrine and the Humility of Faith on the other Depravity of Heart and corruption of Manners opposed the purity of its Morals and the severity of its practices This was necessary to be the more particularly insisted on that none may imagine as if the Apostles had to do with only a Gross heavy sort of People that might easily be made to believe any thing that was told them And this Consideration hath Tertullian long since urged against the Heathens 'T was not says he with Jesus Apolo c. 21. Christ as with Numa He had a rough unhewn sort of People to deal with stupid and easy be to imposed on and therefore to tame and break them into some kind of Discipline invented a Religion suited to their gross Capacities and proper to serve his ends embarressed them with a multitude of Deities and prescribing a number of Ceremonies by which he assured them of their Favour But Jesus Christ coming into the World when Learning was at its height when Men were blinded with too much Wisdom and Knowledge was their Diseaes even then opened their Eyes to the discerning of the Truth and made Faith to Triumph over Philosophy THE Method they used in Preaching IV. Preaching teaching and Baptism the Gospel was different according to the different Dispositions of the Persons they had to deal with The Jews they pressed with the Prophecies and other proofs taken Ambros in Luc 9. 21. lib. 6. c. ult from the Scripture and with their own Traditions The Gentiles they managed by Arguments and Ratiocinations and those sometimes more plain and simple sometimes more subtil and elaborate variously Accommodating themselves to their Capacities and therefore frequently urging against them the Authorities of their own admired Poets and Philosophers Miracles raised the attention and had equal force upon both Jews Act. ii xiv iii. xii xiii xvi xiv xiv xvii xxii and Gentiles The Acts of the Apostles furnished us with Examples of all these different kinds of Preaching They spoke of the things of God only to those that Cle. Recog I. Just in Tryph. heard them with seriousness and attention As soon as they perceived the Infidels to grow weary of their Discourses or as it often happened begin to laugh at them the Christians presently broke off and said no more least they should profane Holy things and give occasion to the Heathen to Blaspheme In time they began to publish some Writings to shew the Heathens upon what weak Foundations the Pagan Worship stood and disengage them from their Prejudices such are St. Justin Martyr's Admonition to the Gentiles and that of St. Clemens Alexandrinus But that by which they most prevailed was Miracles yet frequently in the Church the holy Lives of Christians and their constancy in suffering Martyrdom When any one desired to become a Christian they lead him to the Bishop or to some Priest who in the first place took him into Examination to see whether his Profession was sincere and well grounded Acta S. S. Hippol. Eus ap baron an n. xii For sometimes they were imposed upon by Impostors who pretended themselves Converts only to ensnare the Christians and betray them to their Persecutors Besides they were afraid of charging themselves with weak and unstable Souls who might by their falling away upon the first Tryal of Persecution dishonour Orig. Contr Cels 8. the Church After all these precautions they carefully instructed the Catechumen in all the Principles of Religion but chiefly in the Practices of it that he might know before Hand how he was to govern himself after his Baptism To teach these Rules of good Living is the subject of the Paedagogues of St. Clemens who succeeded St. Pantenus the Philosopher in the School of Alexandria that is in the Office of Instructing those who were disposed to turn Christians St. Clemens was succeeded in the same charge by Origen who to ease himself of part of Euseb 6. Hist 15. the burden took to his assistance St. Heraclas committing to his care the new comers to be initiated in the first Rudiments of Religion When the Bishop judged the Catechumens sufficiently instructed and approved he admitted them to Baptism this was done if they could chuse the time on Easter or Whitsunday Eve But if there were any pressing Occasions as when the Persecution was on foot they Acta S. Cornelii P. ap Bar. an 255. n. 60. Acta SS Hippoly Eus sup n. x xi Baptised at any time yet they had then also their Baptisteries Consecrated to this use and took care to prepare the Catechumen obliging him to fast the whole Day before he was Baptized Interrogating him and making him give an account of his Faith After Baptism the Bishop Acta S. Steph. P. P. ap Bar. an 259. n. 2. immediately Confirmed him and at the same time offered the holy Sacrifice and gave him the Communion and caused Acta S. Sus an 194 9. 12. Tertuliin Marcion c. xiv him to eat of the Blessed Milk and Hony in token of his Spiritual Infancy and entrance into the true Land of Promise that is the Church They Baptised the Children of Believers whensoever their Parents presented them tho' under S. Cypr. the years of Discretion and even before the eighth Day and generally chose to give them the Names of the Apostles or of other Dionys Al. ap Eus lib. 7. c. 20. Persons that had been remarkable for their Piety But as for Persons Adult it doth not appear that they changed their names since we meet with so many Saints whose names came from the false Gods as Dionysius Martinus Bacchus Demetrius The new Baptised were afterwards assisted by
appear as occasion might require either Terrible or Pleasant and to hearken with Patience to the matter before him He was a perfect Master of his Passion obliging humane and tender to a Degree of Compassion Such was Theodosius the younger tho' born into an Empire in the Luxurious East and in a very corrupt Age. The Emperor Marcian who after his great services and long experience succeeded him in the Throne discovered the same Piety and the same zeal for Religion but joined with greater Force and Capacity There needs no other proof of his Worth than the choice St. Pulcheria made of him who Married him only to let him into a Partnership with her in the Empire but upon Condition of keeping her Vow of Virginity WHILE the Princes lived at this rate XXXVIII The Manners of the Clergy one may easily imagin how eminently holy the Lives of the Bishops and their Clergy were Yet in the outward Manner of their living the Liberty of the Church produced V. Thom. Disc p. ii l. i. c. 20 c. some change which may deserve our Consideration 'T was now they began to wear some Exteriour Badges of their profession Though to speak the Truth the difference of Habit was scarce perceivable till after the Reign of the Barbarous Princes under whom the Clergy still kept to the Habit of the Romans as they did to their Laws and Language Many embraced the way of Living in common as being the more perfect Life and taken from the first Church of Jerusalem These as far as possibly they could contrive it Lodged all in the same House and eat in the same Hall At least they held nothing in Propriety subsisting only on what the Church supplied them with so that they made one large Family of which the Bishop was the Father Such were the Clergy under St. Eusebius Vercellensis under St. Martin and St. Austin and these were called Canonical Clerks or Canons V. Thom. Disc p. i. l. i. c. 56. p. ii l. i. c. 46. p. iii. l. c. 28. 51. by way of distinction from those who did not live up so strictly to the Letter of the Canons whose service the Church nevertheless accepted of They who were not thus embodied lived at least two or three of them together The Priests who were confin'd to Churches in the Country had with them some young Clerks whom they directed in their Studies whose Manners they formed and whom they kept always by them as Witnesses of their own Conversation Such were those young Readers who suffered Martyrdom in Africa by the Martyrol Jul. iii. Vandals The Bishop had also some Priest or Deacon who never stired from him but lay always in the same Chamber with him And this was he whom the Greeks called the Syncellus which afterwards became an high Dignity The Pope St. Gregory had none but Clerks or Monks in his Palace and this Custom is still observ'd in the Court of Rome where the Domestick Officers of the Pope are all in Holy Orders But whether the Ecclesiasticks lived in Common or separate they were not allow'd to have Women lodging in the same Houses with them Among the Accusations against Paulus Samosatenus this was Conc. Antioch ii an 270. Euseb vii Hist c. 10. one that he kept in the House with him two young handsome Women whom he carried about with him where ever he went And that he also permitted his Priests and Deacons to entertain that sort of Women whom they called Subintroductae Subintroductae Agae pttae This was an abuse grown common when the Church was unpersecuted against which there are extant many Treatises of the Fathers and Regulations of the Councils It was first Introduced upon the pretence of Charity For these Persons who lived in this manner with the Clerks were Virgins Consecrated to God or such others that made a particular profession of Devotion to whom the Clergy pretended to be instead of Fathers or Brothers managing their Affairs and doing for them those services which they could not decently do themselves especially in places where Women rarely appeared in Publick And these devout Women on their side performed for their Brothers all those Domestick Offices which were consistent with the Honour of their Profession For notwithstanding their Inhabiting together they pretended nevertheless to In eos qui tenent subintr keep their Vow of Continence and St. Chrysostom encountring this abuse supposes that they effectually did so He accuses them only of being pleased in seeing and discoursing with each other That the Pleasure of Conversation was more affecting between Persons of different Sex that by this means they were carried on to Scandal and Indecency and rashly exposed themselves to the danger of a Crime To rectify this disorder the unmarried V. Thom. p. i. l. i. c. 49. n. ix V. Mend. in Conc. Elib c. 27. Conc. Nic. cap. iii. Sev. Sulp. in vita S. Martin Hier. on ep ad Nepot Clerks were absolutely forbidden all habitation with Women that were Strangers that is to say all that were not very nearly Related to them which the Council of Nice restrained to Sisters Mothers and Aunts And besides the point of Cohabitation it was not thought convenient that Ecclesiasticks should have much Conversation with Women though under the pretence of Piety or that they should receive from them their little presents of Habits Ornaments Fruits or other such like Refreshments serving rather for Delight than use which had any appearance of Voluptuousness and Decency But upon the main the Sanctity of the Ecclesiasticks was as yet very great and though there were always among them Persons who had their weakness and their Passions the generality of them led Lives extreamly Virtuous and Exemplary The World likewise did them Justice and they were much respected Though the Bishops made no great figure in the World as to Temporal Authority and though they lived in a plain way as private Persons without any thing of Worldly Pomp or outside shew of Grandeur yet they were highly honoured not only by the People but also by the Magistrates and even by the Princes themselves I have before taken notice of the Honours which Constantine paid to the Fathers Assembled in Council at Nice The Emperor Maximus made St. Martin with one of his Priests eat at the same Table with him and the Empress his Wife served them with her own Hands As the Custom of the Romans then was to give to all Persons in place different Titles as of * Illustrious Glorious Renowned most Eminent Illustris Gloriosus spectabilis V. Panâ—ir in Not. Imp. Clarissimus which were stated Appellations according to the Rank and Dignity of the Persons to whom they were apply'd so they gave to the Bishops that of Holy or blessed to which they added that of Pious Religious belov'd of God and such like These Titles were so Appropriated to Bishops that they were not omitted even in the
Vows of Celibacy and Poverty have been inconvenient and but ill kept this might have been prevented by the Omission of of them for as this Author observes We see no Solemn Vows in these first times St. Chrysostom speaks of a Monks returning to the World as of a thing altogether free Again He tells us that the Monks in imitation of the Primitive Christians spent much of their time in Reading the Holy Scriptures The Rule of St. Benedict prescribes the same to his Monks and more particularly that all the time of Lent and on Sundays they should apply themselves only to this Exercise He Judiciously remarks how Forged Books and pretended Miracles gained Credit For want of critical Learning and the knowledg of Antiquity they were ready to receive such Suppositious Writings as were Imposed upon the World under the specious Names of Ecclesiastical Authors and also became too Credulous in believing Miracles So certain it was that the Apostles and their Disciples had wrought Miracles and that many true one 's were Daily performed at the Tombs of the Martyrs that they were not now over-curious in examining so as to distinguish the true from the false The most surprising Relations of this kind in History were the best received Ignorance in Philosophy and the little knowledg they had of Nature made them take all strange Appearances for Prodigies and interpret them as the Supernatural signs of God's wrath They believed there was something extraordinary in Astrology and dreaded Ecclipses and Comets as dismal Presages To give but one Example more Religion says Mr. Fleury can't subsist without Study and Preaching to preserve the Soundness of its Doctrine and the Purity of its morals It must necessarily fall into Decay unless the Holy Scripture be diligently Read taught and expounded to the People unless the Apostolical Traditions be preserved in their Purity and Purged from time to time of those Spurious Additions which the Inventions of Men without any just Authority have made to them Would but the Church of Rome take away these and all other Additions that are contrary to and Inconsistent with the Doctrine and Practice of the Church of Christ in the first and purest Ages of Christianity and forbid all Disputation c. as Innocent XI by his Decree of the 19. of Feb. 1678. entirely abolished the Office of the Immaculate Conception c. Approved by Paul V. They might happily put an end to the great Division that has so long made the Enemies of Christianity to rejoyce or be able to maintain the charge of Schism against those that should then refuse their Communion What Passages or Expressions occur in this Treatise which may be judg'd contrary to and Inconsistent with the Doctrine Worship and Government of the Church of England as by Law Establish'd the Author and Editor of this Book are not answerable for nor pretend to justify considering that 't is only a Translation of an Historical Tract written in French and often Printed by a Learned Author of the Roman Communion whose Name is mention'd in the Title-Page of this Book What he hath said in favour of several of the Doctrines of the Reformation and the admirable Moral Reflections which frequently occur throughout his History and especially the former part together with other pious Relations of it are enough to shew that excellent use may be made of this Treatise and hence to justify the Publication of it in our own Language And the more exceptionable passages that are in it I must Entreat the Reader to consiâ—â—◠〈◊〉 the meer effects of our Author 's 〈…〉 the Communion wherein he 〈◊〉 and to admire rather that he 〈◊〉 said so much on our side than that 〈◊〉 has said no more ERRATA PAge 8. Lines 16. read to establish p. 13. l. 13. r. in mind of p. 27. l. 22. dele and. p. 35. l. 22. r. Orchard p. 37. Ibid. l. 22. r. disease p. 41. l. 11. r. furnish Ibid. 18. r. Christians p. 42. l. 24. r. Paedagogus p. 45. l. 8. r. Sanctify p. 47. l. 29. r. giveing p. 54. l. 32. r. itself p. 56. l. 27. r. used p. 77. l. 18. for where r. were Ibid. l. 24. r. Zealous p. 86. l. 26. r. occasion p. 87. l. 13. r. Gnosticks p. 99. l. 15. r. Tutelar p. 103. l. 18. r. Equueus p. 104. l. 28. r. lewd way p. 105. l. 5. for of r. off Ibid. l. 6. r. Spit it p. 106. l. 17. r. Martyrs p. 107. l. 23. dele the. p. 110. l. 25. r. reduced p. 119. l. 25. r. Slaves Ibid. r. State p. 124. l. 22. r. such cases p. 129. l. 9. for Bells r. Belles p. 136. l. 7. for thy r. they Ibid. r. delivered p. 148. l. 12. r. Wife p. 149. l. 25 r. Fifty p. 156. l. 1. r. to each other p. 157. l. 2. r. Priests p. 158. l. 17. for them r. him p. 165. l. 20. for this r his p. 182. l. 24. r. Martyrium p. 204. l. 30 dele or the least sign p. 205. l. 15. r. hath retem'd p. 240 l. 22. r. Sylvester p. 241. l. 5. r. ornamented Ibid. l. 30. r. Candlesticks p. 242. l. 15. dele with p. 251. l. 8. r. Pestilence p. 259. l. 15 r. soever p. 266. l. 17. r. many p. 272. l. 1. for for r. the p. 289. l. 24. r. thereupon p. 305. l. 30. r. Conversions Ibid. l. 32. for was r. were p. 306. l. 1. r. Religion Ibid. l. 17. r. Hungarian p. 307. l. 13. r. could p. 310. l. 2. r. Canons Ibid. l. 31. r. how miserably p. 313. l. 30. r. Barbarous p. 314. l. 2. r. do that Ibid. l. 6. r. Modesty p. 318. l. 10. r. Chaplains p. 322. l. 6. r. our way of Liveing p. 326. l. 20. r. Journeys Ibid. l. 26. r. Travells p. 327. l. 32. r. upon them p. 328. l. 15. r. beare p. 330. l. 28. r. assistance p. 332. l. 31. r. multitude THE BEHAVIOUR AND MANNERS OF THE Christians Part the First I Shall divide my Work into four Parts The first will represent the Manners I. of the Christians of Jerusalem to the The division of the whole Destruction of that City under Vespasian This first state of Christianity though but of a short continuance was so supereminent in its Perfection that it will deserves a separate Consideration The second will take in all the Time of the Persecution that is the entire space of three Centuries In the third I shall describe the State of the Church in its Liberty which Commenced in the fourth Age. And In the last consider the Changes it afterwards underwent and endeavour to discover the Causes of them The Christian Religion as it was not the Invention of Man but the Work of II. God so like the Universe it had its full The first part the Church of Jerulem Perfection in its first Birth and was most Glorious in its earliest Productions It is not to be imagined saith Tertullian that the