Baptism This also was the Opinion of Origen S. Basil Orig. hom 5. in Josh to 1. fol. 154. L. ed. Merlin Basil exhort ad Baptis init Naz. tom 1. Orat. 40. p. 658. Athan. tom 2. quaest 38. ad Antioch p. 345. Gregory Nazianzen and others as well as of Athanasius So that I cannot but wonder at this extravagant Censure but all this stir about this dangerous Opinion arises at last such is Mr. H's unhappiness from a mistake of Scultetus out of whom this whole discourse of this Father's failings is transcribed for e Synthes doct Athanas c. 17. p. 157. he makes this to be our Patriarch's Errour not that the Sacraments of the old Testament were Types of the Sacraments of the new but that Circumcision and the Sabbath c. did only typifie but not confer grace contrary to that of the Apostle Rom. 4.11 who calls Circumcision a Seal of the Righteousness of Abraham's Faith XLII That Virginity is an Example of Angelical Purity is plain from that of S. Matthew 22.30 that the Saints shall be like the Angels and that explain'd by they shall neither marry nor be given in Marriage nor was it amiss to say that they are marryed to Christ who disengage themselves from the World the more readily to follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes and such admirable chastity cannot fail of getting it self veneration and respect every where and this may serve to apologize for the excessive praises of Virginity to which the Ancients every where give an extraordinary Eulogy XLIII The death of this great man happened not an Chr. 371. as Mr. H. wrongly quotes Baronius but an 372. Maii. 2. p. 297. annal to 4. an 372. pag. 33½ as the Cardinal both in his Martyrology and Annals doth fix it and his Festival was celebrated in both Churches on the second of May but in the Oriental Churches he had two Holy-days the last on the 18th of January a Festival dedicated to him and his Successor S. Cyril it being the day as Baronius conjectures of his Consecration to the Patriarchate of Alexandria and in the same celebrated Historian you may find that his Body was afterward brought into Europe and deposited at Venice he is styled in the Coptick Kalendar publish'd by a De Spâ—â—drio l. 3. c. 25. p. 398. Mr. Selden Athanasius the Apostle by b Chruâ—â—p 314. cais Scalig. Nicephorus the Patriarch of Constantinople Athanasius the Martyr and to this day by all the Greeks Athanasius the great XLIV Of this name were many famous men Prelates of the Church c Basâ—â— 53. 67. Soâ—on l. 6. c. 12. Philostorg l. 5. tem 1. one a Bishop of Ancyra a Contemporary with our Patriarch the d Phâ—â—esiorg l. 3. tom 15. p. 50. second an Arian of the same Age Bishop of Anazarbum in Cilicia a e Menolog Cr. Aâ—g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 third Bishop of Tarsus a Martyr under the Emperour Valerian a f Evâ—gr hist lib. 3. c. 23. fourth this eminent Confessor's Successor in his own See circ an 490. whose immediate Predecessor was Peter Mongus but he was a Heretick and a great Patron of the Acephali There were also many others of the name whom I purposely omit And having thus tyred my Reader I leave him to refresh himself with the Panegyrick of the most Eloquent S. Gregory of Nazianzum On the great Athanasius Arch-Bishop of Alexandria Greg. Naz. Tom. 1. Orat. 21. p. 373. c. 'TO praise Athanasius is to make a Panegyrick on Virtue for when I name that admirable man it is the same as if I celebrated Virtue while a Constellation of those best qualities did shine in him or to speak more truly do still exert their Lustre for all they that have lived according to the Laws of God do still live to God although they have left this evil World For which reason God is called the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob not the God of the dead but of the living and when I write an Encomium of Virtue I shall magnifie God whose Donative to the Sons of men Virtue is that by that congenial light men may be led to the knowledge and embracing of himself For whereas the largesses of Heaven are many and eminent and beyond description the greatest and most merciful of his Favours are the Inclinations which he works in us towards himself and the Familiarity he blesseth us with For what the Sun is to sensible Beings that is God to rational Creatures the one sheds his Rays on the visible the other illustrates the invisible world the one illuminates the eyes of the body that it may see Heaven the other the Opticks of the mind that it may contemplate God And as the Sun whereas it confers on the eyes and all things visible powers that the one may see the other be seen while it self is the most beautiful and accomplish'd of visible Objects so God as he gives power to understand and a possibility of being comprehended is himself still the chiefest and most perfect of Intellectual Beings in whom all our desires terminate and above whom they cannot soare for neither can the most Philosophick aspiring and curious Intellect aim at any thing more sublime than God for he is the choicest of admirable Beings whom when men enjoy their Speculations are at their height for that man that breaks through his earthly Prison by the assistance of reason and contemplation and dispelling all carnal Clouds and Mists can converse with God and be united to the most illustrious light as much as humane frailty is capable of that man is happy both in that he can ascend to that glorious place and also there enjoy that Union with the Divine Nature which true Philosophy procures and a mind exalted above this inferiour world to the contemplation of the Unity of the Trinity But he whose Soul is debas'd by its Society with the Body and is yet immers'd in Clay so that it cannot look upon the Beauties of Truth nor exalt it self above earthly things though its Original were from Heaven and its Native tendencies thither that man is in my esteem blind and miserable though blest with the affluence of Worldly Felicities and so much the more wretched in that he is mock'd by his prosperity and deluded into the Opinion that there can be any thing good besides the chiefest and truest good gathering evil Fruit of an evil Sentiment to be confined to darkness to feel him as a consuming Fire whom he would not entertain as a comfortable light This was the study only of a few of the former Ages and the present saeculum for there are few Servants of God though all are his Creatures this wisdom being courted by a small company of Law-givers and Captains Priests Doctors and the rest of the Society of Spiritual persons and among them by this venerable Patriarch whom we now applaud And who were those brave Souls that
cut off the Bishops and that in strange Countreys to which he hurryed them that he might prostitute their Fortitude and bring down their Resolutions taking them unprovided of Necessaries and worn out with the length of their Journeys that he might render their Sufferings more severe and acute that they might dye there unknown and unpityed not as Martyrs for Religion but as great Malefactors The people of Antioch had Ignatius dyed at home would have been ravish'd with Admiration of his Bravery and with Love to his Piety when they should see that Bishop who had preach'd the Gospel so long among them now dye for it and seal that truth with his Blood which he had so often profess'd in his Discourses and God also so ordered it to enhance the worth of our Martyr's Crown that the Churches through which he journeyed might be confirm'd by his Sermons Letters and Example that by his Blood he might help to propitiate the Favours of Heaven which had been demerited by the many Idolatrous Enormities of that wicked City as also that in that publick place he might preach Piety to the World and give a Testimony of the Truth of the Resurrection of Jesus and the hopes of the Christian World that they also shall rise again to a better Life these Reasons after this Paragraph was written I found urged by the Learned e Life of Ign. Sect. 5. p. 103 104. vide Halleix Apol. pro script Ignat. c. 6. Dr. Cave to which he also adds that this was done to deterre others that all that saw him in his Travels might observe how odious this Religion was in the Eyes of so brave and accomplish'd a Prince as Trajan who was the Darling of the Empire XXXVIII This Journey to Rome was b Baron Tom. 2. an 109. p. 31. undertaken in the latter end of Summer for in August he was at Smyrna whence he writ his Epistle to the Romans and on the first of February in the ensuing year say the Latines but say the Greeks on Decemb. the 20th of the same year was Martyred of the manner and circumstances of whose departure Ado c Apud eund Tom. 2. an 110. p. 51. Martyrol â—ebr 1. Viennensis mentions many things which the Ancients are silent in as that his Shoulders were bruised with Leaden Bullets his sides torn with Hooks and sharp Stones his hands filled with fire and his sides burnt with Paper dipt in Oyle and that he was commanded to stand on hot burning Coals and his sides again torn with Hooks and sharp Shells of the truth of which Story the Cardinal much doubts but I think that ancient Martyrologist is only mistook in the place putting Rome for Antioch where probably he was so tortured as he is also out in the names of the Consuls for that year And agreeable hereunto is the Relation of the Greek d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Menaeon that this was done to subdue the invincible Courage of the Martyr before his Condemnation but when this would not produce the desired Effect that then the Emperour denounc'd the fatal Sentence against him Nor was this only the Opinion of Ado but before him of venerable Bede and before both of the Collectors of the Acts of this Saint in the Greek and Latine Manuscripts of the Bodley and Cotton Libraries as says the venerable e Ep. ad Lect. anteâ— Martyr Ignatri Primate and since them of many others XXXIX But as soon as the Martyr had begun this his tedious Journey the Persecution at Antioch ceas'd and only there as I am inclined to believe by the a Pag. 7. Acts of S. Ignatius's Martyrdom for he being at Rome takes notice of the continuation of the Persecution there which he prays God to put an end to the Emperour thinking it sufficient in such a populous City to cut off their Leader Providence so ordering it that at the same time there came Letters from Tiberianus the President of Palestine and Pliny the Proconsul of Bithynia both which the Lord b Pâ— 9. 10 Primate hath annext to the Martyrdom of our Saint which suddenly alter'd the Scene of Affairs and freed the Eastern Church of a hot Persecution only the favour could not reach Ignatius because his life was forfeited to the Law he being condemn'd before this Cessation though the Execution were respited till he came to Rome but the Blood of this holy man brought down speedy Vengeance on that City for the next year after as c To. 2. an 111. p. 55. Baronius proves not till seven years after says Johannes Malela and the most Learned d Not. in Martyr Ignat p. 5¾ Vsher a terrible Earthquake almost buryed it in its own ruines as it is elegantly described by the Historian e L. 68. in Trajano Dio. It was preceeded by horrible Thundrings and prodigious Winds and at last the Earth-quake threw down Houses buryed many in the Rubbish maimed more rooted up Trees and dryed up Rivers and on it new Springs appeared the Mountain Casius was so shaken that its top leaned as if every moment it would fall on the remainders of that wretched City Here Pedo the Consul was so bruised that the Contusion prov'd mortal and the Emperour himself had shared in the same Fate had he not been drawn out of a Window by an extraordinary piece of Providence nor would he ever afterwards reside in the City but in his Tents in the open Air. And how could Antioch but totter and become a heap of Ruines that was on the death of this good man robb'd of what propt and secur'd it that place is next door to destruction whose Angel-Guardian is forc'd to a desertion XL. In this manner did this excellent Bishop leave the World and f Act. Martyr Ignar p. 8. his bigger bones which the wild beasts had not devoured were by his Followers Philo Gaius and Agathopus that writ the Acts of his Martyrdom collected and brought to Antioch and received with much solemnity in every City which they past through and were buryed in the Coemetery a Hier. Catalâ—v Ign. before the Gate that leads to Daphne one of the Suburbs of Antioch but afterward under b Evagr. Hist l. 1. c. 16. Theodosius junior were brought in a Chariot with much pomp into the City which c Lib. 14. c. 44. Nicephorus mistook when he says they were then first brought from Rome and interr'd in a Church dedicated to his memory which before was the Temple of Fortune whence they were again transported to Rome under the Emperour Justinian as d Not. in Martyrol Decem. 17. p. 844. Baronius thinks when Antioch was sack'd and burnt by Chosroes King of Persia or rather as the reverend e Not. in Martyrol Ign. p. 50. Vsher proves circ an 640. when that City fell into the hands of the Saracens And to his memory was an eminent Festival devoted which Gregory Patriarch of that See made more
usage testifies that Christ who is the Lamb without spot and was slain by those Jews is a Saviour to all who have imprinted the mark of his Blood i. of his Cross which shed his Blood on their Foreheads Hence it is called by g Contr. Mâ—rcion l. 3. c. 22. de spectac c. 4. Tertullian signaculum frontium who tells us that it was retained even by the Marcionite Hereticks by h Apud Euseb Hist l. 3. c. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clemens as the most perfect Amulet by i Tom. 1. Orat. 40. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greg. Nazianzen a Seal and Preservative and Mark of Christ's Dominion over us by k Auth. sub nom Hier. in c. 4. Eph. signaculum spiritus sancti S. Hierom the Seal of the Spirit of God by l Paulin. Ep. 2. ad Delphin p. 202. maceria signaculi salutaris Paulinus the Hedge and Fence of that Sign that confers Salvation m Basil Tom. 1. Hom. 13. p. 480. For unless the mark of the Lord be upon thee and the Angel can see the Character how shall he fight for thee and defend thee from all thy Enemies n Theodoret. in Cant. 1.2 Remember therefore that sacred Office wherein after your renouncing the Infernal Tyrant and owning Jesus for your King you that were initiated have received as it were a certain Royal Signature the Signature of Christ o I Eack 9. S. Hierom calls it without which no man can he saved So when God punish'd Vzziah with Leprosie his angry Master says a De Unitat Eccles p. 153. S. Cyprian branded him in that part of his Body where those that serve him faithfully are signed and b Id. Epist 56. p. 7â— all good Christians must take care that the mark that is there plac'd be not alter'd or defac'd But of this enough though more may be seen in c De resurrect carn Tertullian d Hist lib. 6. cap. 4. Eusebius e Hom. 76. in Matth. Chrysostom f De spiritu S. c. 27. Basil g In 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Prudentius and others h Annot. in Cypr. Ep. ad Demet. c. 19. Goulart at Geneva confessing That the Old Christians retained this Ceremony without any Superstition because the Doctrine of the merits of Christ preserved them from the errours which afterward crept in and i Lib. 1. p. 170. T. C. himself that they did it to testifie that they were not ashamed of Christ that was crucified and that they might preserve among them an open profession of him for among the Primitive Christians says k Adv. Baron exercit 13. Sect. 23. p. 218. Ed. Francof Isaac Casaubon it was a Badge of their confidence in Christ and his Cross and Passion and therefore the holy and wise Reformers of Religion in England prudently suffered the Crosses in the High-ways to stand and retained it also in some of their Sacred Offices as in Baptism and in the Rite of Confirmation too in the Liturgy of Edward the Sixth but in a different manner in Baptism from the Popish Custom l Dr. Hammond of Idolatry Sect. 70. For in the first Liturgy of King Edward which agreed with the Roman Order the use was to cross the Child at the Church-Door when brought to Baptism but this of ours a mark of reception into Christs Flock immediately after Baptism and a kind of Tessera or Military sign that the person thus consign'd into Christs militia shall for ever hereafter think himself oblig'd manfully to fight under his Banner c. XIII Blessed Cross says m Tom. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 2 Tim. p. 334. Tom. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 565. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 878. S. Chrysostom that art the great contrivance of God the Father the glory of his only begotten Son the joy of the holy spirit the Ornament of Angels the Safeguard of holy Church the boasting of S. Paul than which neither the Creation of the World out of nothing nor the erecting the Fabrick of the Heavens and Earth can be greater Testimonies of the Condescension and Mercy of God this Cross is the Wall of the Saints and the Beauty of the whole World this introduces light and makes alive by this the Daemons are put to flight and Diseases cured The truth and validity of which Conquests because Mr. H. p. 335. derides it I will evince beginning with that place of n L. 4. c. 27. Lactantius which our Aristarchus reckons among his Errours and Superstitious Observances He that would know how terrible this fign is to the Kingdom of darkness let him observe how the Daemons fly from the Bodies of the possest when they are adjured by the name of Christ for as he when he blessed the World with his presence expel'd those evil Spirits by his word and restor'd the distracted minds of the Sons of men to the right use of their reasons so now his Followers dispossest the same polluted Guests by the name of their Master and the sign of his Passion and of this the proof is most easie for when our Adversaries are most intent on their Sacrifices if a Christian whose Forehead is charactered with this holy sign stand by the slain Beasts are never propitious nor can the Priests read the Sacrificer's Fate in the Eatrails and this hath been done too frequently by the men of our Religion to be disown'd And here I cannot avoid the subjoining of a famous Example of a Greg. Nys Tom. 2. vit Greg. Thaumat p. 980 981. Gregorius Neocaesariensis that great worker of Miracles who that he might decline the Burthen of the Episcopal Charge had retir'd himself from Neocaesaria to a Wilderness but at last was by a strange impulse from Heaven made willing to serve in so honourable an Employ and having received in a Vision a certain Creed or Summary of Faith to preserve him from Heresie as he return'd from his solitude with his Companions being overtaken with night and a violent shower diverted himself in a famous Temple where the Daemon used to appear visibly to the Priest and deliver his Oracles But as soon as S. Gregory entered and invocated the name of Jesus the Daemons were terrified and having made the sign of the Cross to purge the air of those steams and fumes that polluted it spent the night in Prayers and holy Praises and early in the morning left his Lodging Crucis signum contra Daemonas esse praesidium videsis apud spalat l. 7. c. 12. Sect. 88. p. 308. Montagues appel c. 2 6 7. as soon as the holy man was gone the Daemons told the young Priest that they could not enter any more into the Temple because of his late guest and made it good by disobeying all his Charms and slighting his Lustrations and Sacrifices on this the Priest in hast pursues S. Gregory and overtaking him threatens to bring him before a
the hand of Heaven appear'd signally in it if we may believe a Ibid. c. 13. Socrates who tells us that it was reported that at the parting of these two famous Prelates at Constantinople Epiphanius told S. Chrysostome that he hop'd he should never die a Bishop to which the Patriarch retorts that he as firmly hop'd that Epiphanius should never return home in safety and both fell out true Epiphanius dying on Ship-board before he reach'd Cyprus and S. Chrysostome a little while after in banishment But this was a very irregular method of finding out and countenancing Orthodoxy and wherein they might have followed a better pattern of two men as famous as any in that Century in a similar question viz. S. Athanasius and S. Basil who differ'd about the writings of Dionysius of Alexandria the first asserting them to be Orthodox the last that there was something of Arianisme couched in them yet neither denounc'd the other Heretick but amidst their different sentiments maintain'd an amicable correspondence XV. Such was the harsh fate of this admirable man who was not only forc'd to experiment the envy of the world while alive but was hindred taking refuge in the grave which is the sanctuary of the miserable excommunicate while alive and as if that were not enough excommunicate after his death too and that not by the hot and irrational zeal of a few private persons but by the mouth of a b Com. C. P. general 5. anathem 11. General Council and rank'd in the same Classe with Arius Macedonius Nestorius and Eutyches and other most infamous Hereticks The custome I cannot dislike but heartily wish that this learned and pious man lay not under such severe censures For though it seems uncouth to punish any man when he is gone out of the World and hath answered God for his Opinions yet there was great reason that the Church should so proceed in the case for how else in truth could the antient Hereticks have been expos'd who liv'd before the age of General Councils and when few or no Provincial ones could be had and how should the Church curse a Heretick till she knew him to be so when as many times the wretch kept himself within the Catholick Communion under the Masque of his Hypocrisie and the Vizard was never taken off till after his death when by a severer scrutiny into his assertions and writings the Impostor was detected See Crackenthorp's Vigilius dormitans c. 6. Thus Domnus Patriarch of Antioch was punisht by the Council of Chalcedon Theodorus Bishop of Mopsuestia c. by the 5th General Council Honorius by the 6th and the 2d Nicene thus the Synod of Sardica condemn'd the revolters to Arianisme and the African Synod every Bishop who made a Heretick or Pagan his Executor and the Synod at Rome under Pope Martin the first execrated the memory of Sergius and Pyrrhus the Patriarchs of Constantinople and Dioscorus being chosen Pope Simonically was many years after his death for that contract excommunicate And according to the prescriptions of the Councils did particular Fathers act a Ep. 50. ad Bonifac. Comit. S. Austin declaring his resolutions to curse Cecilianus formerly the Arch-bishop of Carthage could he but be sure that the accusations laid to his charge by the Donatists were true b Id. l. 3. contr Crescon c. 35. And professing also his intentions to do so to whatever persons had in the time of Persecution deliver'd their Bibles to be burnt though dying in the Church-communion XVI Nor were the Fathers of the Church without a president and encouragement in the Imperial Laws c Cod. l. 2. Tit. 5. de haeret Manich leg 4. The Emperor Theodosius decreeing That after death an action might be lawfully commenc'd against a Manichee or a Donatist to render the memory of the Heretick infamous for if traytors though in their graves are yet branded in their posterity who are depriv'd of estate and honor though their Father dy'd unimpeach'd how much more reasonable is it that the same course should be held in matters of Religion says that august and glorious Prince And there is something of this nature retain'd in the Greek Church unto this day who give absolution to the dead that have been buried in the state of excommunication and this supposes they may be anathematiz'd too that you may bind as well as loose the dead for they are d Malanus Peloponnes in Histor Patriarch C. P. apud Crusii Turco-Graec l. 2. Sect. 32. passim perswaded that the body of a man who dies out of the Ecclesiastical communion cannot turn to ashes as long as it lies under the Churches curse but continues hard and swoln and of a dismal black and affrighting colour but if many years after the Bishop or any by his authority go to the grave open it and solemnly pronounce the prayer of absolution in a small space the body returns to its Primitive dust And the action it self abating the circumstances hath its warrant in the Council of Chalcedon which absolv'd and Canoniz'd a Martyr Flavianus Patriarch of Constantinople who had been Excommunicate and murdered by the Faction of Dioscorus in the Pseudo-Ephesine Synod Such was the Power and Practice of the Primitive Church and such doubtless is the Jurisdiction of the present but as I could wish it had been antiently superseded in the case of Origen so I would have the weapon drawn and us'd very sparingly at all times for if from broken sentences and the ill interpretation of an honest and well-meant but mistaken and ill-worded discourse a man must after his dissolution when he cannot answer for himself be censur'd and damn'd few or none of the most Eminent and stout Defenders of the Church shall be out of the reach of this lash XVII Nevertheless the greatest lovers of the name of Origen cannot but acknowledge that he had his defects his great converse with the discourses of the Philosophers leaving a certain tincture in his mind which became visible in his writings there being a near relation between the Opinions of the Academy and the School of Christ a Baren Tom. 2. an 234. p. 4â—3 Platonism being the ready way to the belief of the Name of Jesus and I could wish we had that Copy of his works which was once b Apud eund an 256. p. 553. Cassiodores in which that wise man had mark'd all the dangerous passages that the Reader might with caution proceed it being a prudent course to allay the extravagancy of that esteem and love which some men had for his name ingaging them to chuse c Vinc-Lirinens common c. 23. rather to err with Origen than imbrace the truth with others the most material of his Errours d L. 2. Apolog adv Ruffin p. 220. Ed. Erasm S. Hierome hath summ'd up in these words That the Son of God is a Creature the Holy Ghost a Servant that there are innumerable Worlds that
that does the injury is insolent with so debonaire and meek carriage did he demean himself towards the great fomenters of his sorrows that his restoration was not unacceptable even to them He purges the Temple by driving out all Sacrilegious Abusers of Religion that prostituted the name of God and Christ to their profit that in this also he might imitate his Saviour only he omitted the whip of Cords and substituted in the place thereof Perswasives and Demonstrations He cements all breaches among those that were at enmity with him or among themselves needing no other assistances but his own he delivers the afflicted from Tyranny making no distinction between them of his own and the adverse party He lifts out of the dust and restores to its honour the truth that had been trampled on and now the Doctrine of the Trinity is boldly asserted and the light is set on a Candlestick that by the bright rays of the Unity of the Godhead it might illuminate all mens Souls now he again makes Laws for the World and enclines all mens minds to himself writing to some calling others and instructing a third sort that were never sent for obliging no man to any other restraint but to be willing for this one thing was sufficient to direct them to the Paths of Virtue In short he imitated the qualities of two famous stones to those that abused him he was an Adamant to the contentious and quarrelsome a Loadstone which by a miraculous quality draws Iron the hardest of things to its self but it was impossible that envy should endure this or suffer tamely the restitution of the Church to her pristine beauty and health the dissenting Members thereof being reunited as the Wounds of a Body that hath been mangled are closed up again To this end the Father of malice incensed against him the Emperour who was the Fiend's Fellow Apostate who though his junior in time was his equal in mischief the first of all Christian Princes that was inraged against Christ suddenly introducing that wicked Cockatrice which long before had been brought forth and cherish'd by him as soon as a fit opportunity offered and he was invested with the Empire became ungrateful to that Soveraign that intrusted him with the Regalia and abundantly more rebellious against God his Saviour and begins a persecution more fatal than all that had preceeded it intermixing perswasives with his threats for he envyed the Martyrs the honour of their sufferings called in question the Trophies of their courage using all sort of Sophistry and little arts in his Discourses and allowing them to superintend his manners or to speak a plainer truth being inclined by his own perverse habit of mind to such Villanies imitating the cunning and artifice of that Demon that possest him he accounted it but a poor Conquest to triumph over the whole Family of Christ but look'd on the subduing Athanasius and stifling his undertakings in the behalf of the truth as a great Victory for he saw that none of his Designs against the Christians were crowned with success as long as Athanasius opposed him for the places of as many as deserted Religion were supplyed by his prudence with new Gentile Proselytes which was very miraculous Which when that crafty Impostor and Persecutor understood he no longer keeps on his Masque of servile dissimulation but making publick his rancor openly expels this great man the City for it became this generous Combatant to be thrice Victorious that his rewards might be perfect a small time after the Divine Justice hurryed this sacrilegious person into Persia and there punish'd him and having permitted him to go forth a Prince eagerly ambitious of renown return'd him dead without the least sign of pity or sorrow and as I have heard without the honour of Sepulture his body being toss'd up and down by the fury of an Earthquake that then happened as a punishment for his Crimes the Prologue as I suppose to his future Tragedy but another Emperour succeeds him of a modest Countenance and a stranger to the Apostates Impudence one that never opprest Israel by his own or his Followers evil Actions but was incomparably pious and mild who that he might settle his Empire on the best Foundation and begin his Raign with the establishing excellent Laws recalls all the banish'd Prelates and above all him that out-shone them in Virtue and undoubtedly was a Sufferer for Godliness he enquires after the true and Orthodox Faith that had been by many torn in pieces and mangled and distracted into many novel Opinions that if it were possible the whole World might be united in the same harmonious profession by the cooperation of the holy spirit if not he might joyn himself to the Catholick Party and reciprocally give it assistance and receive help from it entertaining himself with high and exceeding venerable thoughts of such Mysteries And here did this Sage-man give a Specimen of his purity and constancy in the Faith of Christ for whereas other Professors were divided into three several Factions many being Unorthodox in their Sentiments of the Son of God and more in their Opinions of the holy Ghost where to be a puny Transgressor was accounted a mark of Piety and only a few were in every thing sound Catholicks he chiefly and alone or with a few Followers openly and in the Face of the World is a confident Assertor of the truth confessing in his Writings the Divinity and Essence of the three persons and in that God head which in times past was by the many Fathers adjusted to the Son was the holy spirit reinvested by this inspired Patriarch who tendred a truly royal and magnificent present to the Emperour an Orthodox Creed in opposition to the Heretical Novelties that had no basis in Scripture that one Emperour might countermine another one Doctrine invalidate another one Writing supersede another to this Confession of Faith both the Eastern and Western Catholicks seem to me to pay a submissive deference and veneration for some men if we may believe their Affirmations are Orthodox only in their minds but they imprison their Sentiments and conceal them from the view of the World as a dead Child that hath lost its life in the Womb others in a small measure manifest their belief like the blaze of a Spark that they may humour the time and please the warmer and devouter sort of Christians others are publick Assertors of the truth and not ashamed of their profession of which Party I am willing to be for I dare not boast of any thing higher than this not so much as intending to skreen my fearfulness behind the weakness of those that have been more timerous for we have been evil Stewards of Heavens Mysteries not only not gaining some additional increase to our Talents but prodigally melting down our first stock which is the Character of a careless Servant but to introduce this my off-spring into the light to mature its growth with speed