we are here we must worship God with respect to our present state and consequently of necessity have some definite and particular time to do it in Now that man might not be left to a floating uncertainty in a matter of so great importance in all Ages and Nations men have been guided by the very dictates of Nature to pitch upon some certain seasons wherein to assemble and meet together to perform the publick offices of Religion What and how many were the publick Festivals instituted and observed either amongst Jews or Gentiles I am not concerned to take notice of For the ancient Christians they ever had their peculiar seasons their solemn and stated times of meeting together to perform the common duties of Divine Worship of which because the Lords-Day challenges the precedency of all the rest we shall begin first with that And being unconcern'd in all the controversies which in the late times were raised about it I shall only note some instances of the piety of Christians in reference to this day which I have observed in passing through the Writers of those times For the name of this day of Publick Worship it is sometimes especially by Justin Martyr and Tertullian called Sunday because it hapned upon that day of the week which by the Heathens was dedicated to the Sun and therefore as being best known to them the Fathers commonly made use of it in their Apologies to the Heathen Governours This title continued after the world became Christian and seldom it is that it passes under any other name in the Imperial Edicts of the first Christian Emperours But the more proper and prevailing name was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Dies Dominica the Lords-day as 't is called by S. John himself as being that day of the Week whereon our Lord made his triumphant return from the dead this Justin Martyr assures us was the true original of the title upon Sunday says he we all assemble and meet together as being the first day wherein God parting the darkness from the rude chaos created the world and the same day whereon Jesus Christ our Saviour rose again from the dead for he was crucified the day before Saturday and the day after which is Sunday he appeared to his Apostles and Disciples by this means observing a kind of analogy and proportion with the Jewish Sabbath which had been instituted by God himself For as that day was kept as a commemoration of Gods Sabbath or resting from the work of Creation so was this set apart to religious uses as the solemn memorial of Christs resting from the work of our redemption in this world compleated upon the day of his resurrection Which brings into my mind that custom of theirs so universally common in those days that whereas at other times they kneeled at prayers on the Lords day they always prayed standing as is expresly affirmed both by Justin Martyr and Tertullian the reason of which we find in the Authour of the Questions and Answers in J. Martyr it is says he that by this means we may be put in mind both of our fall by sin our resurrection or restitution by the grace of Christ that for six days we pray upon our knees is in token of our fall by sin but that on the Lords day we do not bow the knee does symbolically represent our resurrection by which through the grace of Christ we are delivered from our sins and the powers of death this he there tells us was a custom deriv'd from the very times of the Apostles for which he cites Irenaeus in his Book concerning Easter And this custom was maintained with so much vigour that when some began to neglect it the great Council of Nice took notice of it and ordained that there should be a constant uniformity in this case and that on the Lords day and at such other times as were usual men should stand when they made their prayers to God So fit and reasonable did they think it to do all possible honour to that day on which Christ rose from the dead Therefore we may observe all along in the sacred story that after Christs resurrection the Apostles and primitive Christians did especially assemble upon the first day of the week and whatever they might do at other times yet there are many passages that intimate that the first day of the week was their more solemn time of meeting on this day it was that they were met together when our Saviour first appeared to them and so again the next week after on this day they were assembled when the Holy Ghost so visibly came down upon them when Peter preached that excellent Sermon converted and baptized three thousand souls Thus when S. Paul was taking his leave at Troas upon the first day of the week when the Disciples came together to break Bread i.e. as almost all agree to celebrate the holy Sacrament he preached to them sufficiently intimating that upon that day 't was their usual custom to meet in that manner and elsewhere giving directions to the Church of Corinth as he had done in the like case to other Churches concerning their contributions to the poor suffering Brethren he bids them lay it aside upon the first day of the week which seems plainly to respect their religious assemblies upon that day for then it was that every one according to his ability deposited something for the relief of the poor and the uses of the Church After the Apostles the Christians constantly observed this day meeting together for prayer expounding and hearing of the Scriptures celebration of the Sacraments and other publick duties of Religion Vpon the day called Sunday says J. Martyr all of us that live either in City or Country meet together in one place and what they then did he there describes of which afterwards This doubtless Pliny meant when giving Trajan an account of the Christians he tells him that they were wont to meet together to worship Christ stato die upon a set certain day by which he can be reasonably understood to design no other but the Lords day for though they probably met at other times yet he takes notice of this only either because the Christians whom he had examin'd had not told him of their meeting at other times or because this was their most publick and solemn convention and which in a manner swallowed up the rest By the violent persecutions of those times the Christians were forced to meet together before day so Pliny in the same place tells the Emperour that they assembled before day-light to sing their morning hymns to Christ Whence it is that Tertullian so often mentions their nocturnal convocations for putting the case that his Wife after his decease should marry with a Gentile-Husband amongst other inconveniencies he asks her whether she thought he would be willing to let her rise from his Bed to go to their night-meetings
according to the faith and trust that we have in him To the same purpose Athenagoras in his return to this charge Diagoras indeed was guilty of the deepest atheism and impiety but we who separate God from all material being and affirm him to be eternal and unbegotten but all matter to be made and corruptible how unjustly are we branded with impiety It 's true did we side with Diagoras in denying a Divinity when there are so many and such powerful arguments from the creation and government of the world to convince us of the existence of God and Religion then both the guilt and punishment of Atheism might deservedly be put upon us But when our Religion acknowledges one God the maker of the Universe who being uncreate himself created all things by his word we are manifestly wrong'd both in word and deed both in being charged with it and in being punished for it We are accused says Arnobius for introducing prophane Rites and an impious Religion but tell me O ye men of reason how dare you make so rash a charge To adore the mighty God the Soveraign of the whole Creation the Governour of the highest powers to pray to him with the most obsequious reverence under an afflicted state to lay hold of him with all our powers to love him and look up to him is this a dismal and detestable Religion a Religion full of sacriledge and impiety destroying and defiling all ancient Rites is this that bold and prodigious crime for which your Gods are so angry with us and for which you your selves do so rage against us confiscating our Estates banishing our persons burning tearing and racking us to death with such exquisite tortures We Christians are nothing else but the worshippers of the supream King and Governour of the world according as we are taught by Christ our Master search and you 'll find nothing else in our Religion this is the sum of the whole affair this the end and design of our divine Offices before him it is that we are wont to prostrate and bow our selves him we worship with common and conjoin'd devotions from him we beg those things which are just and honest and such as are not unworthy of him to hear and grant So little reason had the Enemies of Christianity to brand it with the note of Atheism and Irreligion CHAP. II. Of the Novelty that was charged upon Christianity Christianity excepted and cried out against as a late novel Doctrine This a common charge continued when Christianity had been some hundreds of years in the world Christianity greatly prejudiced by this charge Men loth to forsake the Religion of their Ancestors What the Christians answered to it Christian Religion the same in substance and effect with that of the ancient Jews in that respect by far the oldest Religion in the World prov'd and urg'd by Tertullian Cl. Alexander Eusebius c. It s lateness and novelty no real prejudice to rational and unbiass'd men The folly and vanity of adhering to absurd and unreasouable Customs and Principles because ancient and of refusing to change opinions for the better An objection if Christ and Christianity were so great blessings to mankind why was it so long before God revealed them answered out of Arnobius THis Artifice proving weak and ineffectual the next charge was its lateness and novelty that it was an upstart Sect and but of yesterdays standing not known in the world many years before whereas the Religion of the Gentiles had uncontroulably and almost universally obtained from Ages and Generations a Doctrine newly sprung up and come as 't were from a far Country 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 't is in Theophilus Antiochenus a divorce or rending themselves from the institutions of their Ancestors as Tertullian has it This charge begun betimes when S. Paul preached at Athens we find this the first thing charged upon him that he was a setter forth of strange gods because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection and it was followed with a loud cry in succeeding times you are wont to object to us says Arnobius that our Religion is novel start up not many days ago and that you ought not to desert your ancient way and the Religion of your Country to espouse barbarous and foreign Rites And Eusebius tells us the Heathens were wont to reason thus what strange profession of Religion is this what new way of life wherein we can neither discern the Rites amongst us us'd in Greece nor amongst any Sect of the Barbarians who can deny them to be impious who have forsaken the Customs of their Fathers observed before in all Cities and Countries revolting from a way of Worship which had been universally received from all Ages both by Greeks and Barbarians entertained both in Cities and Villages countenanced and approved by the common vote and consent of all Kings Law-makers Philosophers and the greatest persons whatsoever Nay we may observe that after Christianity had been setled for some hundreds of years in the world and was become the prevailing Religion and had in a manner banished all others out of doors and driven them into corners yet this charge still continued thus Julian the Emperour writing to the people of Alexandria concerning the Galilaeans so he was wont in scorn to call the Christians that he wondered that any of them durst dwell amongst them or that they would suffer these despisers of the Religion of their Country to be in any place amongst them calls Christianity the new Doctrine that had been preached to the world the very same title which Lucian had also long since bestowed upon it where speaking of our Saviour he calls him the great man that was crucified in Palestine who introduced that new Religion into the world So Symmachus some years after Julian a man no less eminent for his parts and eloquence than for his power and authority being Chief Priest and Prefect of Rome confidently owns to the Emperours themselves though they were Christians that he did endeavour to defend the institutions of their Ancestors the setled Rights and Laws of the Country he means them of Religion that he design'd to settle that state of Religion which for so many Ages had been profitable to the Common-wealth and therefore begs of them that what they had received when they were Children now they were old they might leave to their Posterity that they were to be true to the trust that had from so many Ages been devolved upon them and were to follow their Parents as they had happily done their Ancestors that had gone before them So he pleading the cause of Paganism from its antiquity◠and prescription obliquely reflecting upon the novellism of Christianity for more he durst not speak the Emperours to whom he made his address being themselves Christians This indeed must needs be a mighty prejudice against the Christian Religion at its
the Empire with which it began and had grown up than that since the Reign of Augustus no misfortune but on the contrary according to all mens wishes every thing had hapned to be magnificent and prosperous Hence Eusebius notes once and again that the affairs of the Empire commonly flourished while Christianity was protected but when that was persecuted things began to go to rack and their ancient peace and prosperity could not be retrieved till peace and tranquillity was restored to the Christians therefore Cyprian tells the Proconsul that their cruelty to the Christians was one of those crying sins that had provoked God to inflict so many heavy miseries upon them not only refusing to worship God themselves but unjustly persecuting those innocent persons that did with all the methods of rage and fierceness So little hand had the Christians in entailing vengeance upon the world that their Enemies rather wilfully pull'd it down upon their own heads CHAP. IV. The Charges brought against them respecting their life and manners The Primitive Christians accused of the grossest sins Sacriledge Sedition Treason Incest Murder c. The particular consideration of these referred to their proper places What they offered in the general for their vindication considered They openly asserted their innocency and appealed to the known piety of their lives None accounted Christians however eminent in profession unless their lives answerable Their abstaining from appearance of evil or doing any thing that symbolized with the idolatrous Rites of the Heathens Their being willing to be brought to the strictest tryal and to be severely punished if found guilty of those crimes Their complaints of being generally condemned meerly for bearing the name of Christians They greatly gloried in that title This name prohibited by Julian and Christians commanded in scorn to be called Galilaeans The Christians appealed for their vindication to the Consciences of their impartial Enemies and by them acquitted The testimonies of Pliny Ser. Grannianus Antoninus Pius M. Antoninus Trypho the Jew and Apollo's Oracle to this purpose The excellency of Christians if compared with the best of Heathens All such disowned for Christians as did not exactly conform to the rule and discipline of Christianity ALL the attempts that had been hitherto made against the honour and reputation of Christians seemed but like the first skirmishings of an Army in respect of the main Battalia that was yet behind the Charge that was made against their moral carriage and behaviour and here they were accused at every turn of no less than Sacriledge Sedition and High-Treason of incest and promiscuous mixtures of murder and eating the flesh of Infants at their sacramental Feasts These were sad and horrid crimes and had they been true would justly have made Christianity stink in the nostrils of all sober and considering men but they were as false as they were black and hellish the particular Answers to these Charges together with some things relating to matters of Worship shall be considered hereafter according as they fall in in their more proper places I shall only at present take notice of the general vindication which the Christians made of themselves from these Indictments that were brought in against them and the sum of what they pleaded lyes especially in these three things First They did openly assert and maintain their innocency and shew by their lives as well as their Apologies that they were men of quite another make and temper than their Enemies did generally represent them their Religion and way of life was admired by all who says S. Clement to the Corinthians did ever dwell amongst you that did not approve of your excellent and unshaken Faith that did not wonder at your sober and moderate piety in Christ you were forward to every good work adorned with a most virtuous and venerable conversation doing all things in the fear of God and having his Laws and Commands written upon the tables of your hearts They placed Religion then not in talking finely but in living well Amongst us says Athenagoras the meanest and most mechanick persons and old women although not able to discourse and dispute for the usefulness of their profession do yet demonstrate it in their lives and actions they don't indeed critically weigh their words and recite elegant Orations but they manifest honest and virtuous actions while being buffeted they strike not again nor sue them at Law that spoil and plunder them Liberally give to them that ask and love their neighbours as themselves And this we do because we are assured that there is a God that superintends humane affairs who made both us and the whole world and because we must give to him an account of all the transactions of our lives therefore we chuse the most moderate humane and benign and to many the most contemptible course of life for we reckon that no evil in this life can be so great though we should be called to lay down our lives which ought not to be esteemed little and of no value in comparison of that happiness which we hereafter look for from the great Judge of the world promised to those who are of an humble benign and moderate conversation Clemens of Alexandria gives us this short account of them as the fairest possession we give up our selves to God entirely loving him and reckoning this the great business of our lives no man is with us a Christian or accounted truly rich temperate and generous but he that is pious and religious nor does any farther bear the image of God than he speaks and believes what is just and holy so that this in short is the state of us who follow God such as are our desires such are our discourses such as are our discourses such are our actions such as are our actions such is our life so universally good is the whole life of Christians Certainly none were ever greater Enemies to a naked profession and the covering a bad life under the title of Christianity Do any live otherwise than Christ hath commanded 't is a most certain argument they are no Christians though with their tongues they never so smoothly profess the Christian Doctrine for 't is not meer Professors but those who live according to their profession that shall be saved as Justin Martyr declares before the Emperours Let no man says Basil impose upon himself with inconsiderate words saying though I be a sinner yet I am a Christian and I hope that title will be my shelter but hearken sinner all wicked men shall be bundled up together and in the great day of the divine vengeance shall be indifferently thrown into those merciless and devouring Flames Nay so careful were they to avoid all sin that they stood at a wide distance from any thing that though lawful in it self yet seemed to carry an ill colour with it this Origen tells Celsus was the reason why they refused to do any honour
to an Image lest thereby they should give occasion to others to think that they ascribed divinity to them for this reason they shunn'd all community with the Rites and Customs of the Heathens abstaining from things strangled or that had been offered to Idols from frequenting the publick Bathes or going to the Sights and Shows because they seemed to owe their original to idolatry and were the occasion of many gross enormities they refused to wear Crowns of Laurel lest they should seem to patronize the Custom of the Gentiles who were wont to do so in their sacred and solemn Rites as appeared eminently in the Solemnities of the Emperours Severus and Caracalla when the Tribune delivering the donative to the Souldiers and all came to receive it with Crowns upon their heads one of them brought his in his hand and being demanded the reason answered that he was a Christian and could not do it which was the occasion of Tertullian's Book de Corona Militis wherein he sets himself to defend it Secondly They were willing to put themselves upon the strictest trial and to undergo the severest penalties if found guilty of those Crimes that were charged upon them So their Apologist bespeaks the Emperours we beseech you says he that those things that are charged upon the Christians may be enquired into and if they be found to be so let them have their deserved punishment nay let them be more severely punished than other men but if not guilty then 't is not reasonable that innocent persons should suffer meerly upon report and clamour And speaking of those that only took sanctuary at the name of Christians he adds that those who lived not according to the Laws of Christ and were only called by his name they begg'd of them that such might be punished To the same purpose Athenagoras in his Embassy taking notice how their Enemies laid wait for their lives and fortunes loaded them with heaps of reproaches charging them with things that never so much as entred into their minds and of which their accusers themselves were most guilty he makes this offer let but any of us be convict of any crime either small or great and we refuse not to be punished nay are ready to undergo the most cruel and heavy penalty but if we be only accused for our name and to this day all our accusations are but the sigments of obscure and uncertain fame no Christian having ever been convict of any fault then we hope it will become such wise gracious and mighty Princes as you are to make such Laws as may secure us from those wrongs and injuries But alas so clear was their innocency that their bitterest adversaries durst not suffer them to come to a fair open tryal if you be so certain that we are guilty says Tertullian to the Heathens why then are we not treated in the same nature with all malefactors who have leave both by themselves and their advocates to defend their innocency to answer and put in pleas it being unlawful to condemn any before they be heard and have liberty to defend themselves whereas Christians only are not permitted to speak any thing that might clear their cause maintain the truth and make the Judge able to pronounce righteous sentence 't is enough to justifie the publick odium if we do but confess our selves Christians without ever examining of the crime contrary to the manner of procedure against all other Delinquents whom 't is not enough barely to charge to be murderers sacrilegious or incestuous or enemies to the Publick the titles you are pleased to bestow upon us unless they also take the quality of the fact the place manner time partners and accessories under examination But no such favour is shewn to us but we are condemned without any inquisition passed upon us And good reason there was that they should take this course seeing they could really find nothing to condemn them for but for being Christians This one would think strange especially amongst a people so renowned for justice and equity as the Romans were and yet in these times nothing more ordinary therefore when Vrbicius the Prefect of Rome had condemned Ptolomeus meerly upon his confessing himself a Christian one Lucius that stood by cryed out What strange course is this what infamous misdemeanour is this man guilty of that when he 's no adulterer fornicator no murtherer no thief or robber thou shouldst punish him only because he calls himself a Christian certainly Urbicius such justice as this does not become the piety of the Emperour or the Philosophy of Caesar his Son or the sacred and venerable Senate And Tertullian tells us 't was the common accusation they had in their mouths such or such a one is a goodman only he is a Christian or I wonder at such a one a wise man but lately turned Christian So Cyprian I remember reduces his adversary to this unavoidable dilemma chuse one of these two things to be a Christian either is a fault or 't is not if it be a fault why dost thou not kill every one that confesses it if it be not why dost thou persecute them that are innocent Hence we find nothing more common in the old Apologists than complaints concerning the unreasonableness of being accused condemned and punished meerly for their name this being the first and great cause of all that hatred and cruelty that was exercised towards them 't was the innocent name that was hated in them all the quarrel was about this title and when a Christian was guilty of nothing else 't was this made him guilty as Tertullian complains at every turn The truth is they mightily gloried in this title and were ambitious to own it in the face of the greatest danger therefore when Attalus the famous French Martyr was led about the Amphitheatre that he might be exposed to the hatred and derision of the people he triumphed in this that a tablet was carried before him with this Inscription THIS IS ATTALUS THE CHRISTIAN And Sanctus another of them being oft asked by the President what his name was what his City and Country and whether he was a Free-man or a Servant answered nothing more to any of them than that he was a Christian professing this name to be Country Kindred and all things to him Nay so great was the honour and value which they had for this name that Julian the Emperour whom we commonly call the Apostate endeavoured by all ways to suppress it that when he could not drive the thing he might at least banish the name out of the world and therefore did not only himself constantly call Christians Galilaeans but made a Law that they should be called only by that name But to return the sum is this the Christians were so buoy'd up with the conscience of their innocency that they cared not who saw them were willing and
whole Religion is to live without spot or blemish from whence they might easily gather had they any understanding that piety is on our side and that they themselves are vile and impious And Eusebius tells us that in his time the Christian Faith had by gravity sincerity modesty and holiness of life so conquered all opposition that none durst bespatter it or charge it with any of those calumnies which the ancient Enemies of our Religion used to fasten upon it What Religion says Arnobius can be truer more useful powerful just than this which as he elsewhere notes renders men meek speakers of truth modest chaste charitable kind and helpful to all as if most nearly related to us and indeed this is the genuine and natural tendency of the Christian Doctrine and which it cannot but effect where-ever 't is kindly embraced and entertained So true is that which Athenagoras told the Emperours that no Christian could be a bad man unless he were an hypocrite and Tertullian openly declares that when men depart from the discipline of the Gospel they so far cease amongst us to be accounted Christians and therefore when the Heathens objected that some that went under that name were guilty of great enormities and enquired how comes such a one to be a cheat if the Christians be so righteous how so cruel if they be merciful he answers that by this very thing they bore witness that they who were real Christians were not such that there 's a vast difference between the crime and the name the opinion and the truth that they are not presently Christians that are called so but cheat others by the pretence of a name that they shunn'd the company of such and did not meet or partake with them in the offices of Religion that they did not admit those whom meer force and cruelty had driven to deny Christianity much less such as voluntarily transgressed the Christian Discipline and that therefore the Heathens did very ill to call them Christians whom the Christians themselves did disown who yet were not wont to deny their own party CHAP. V. Of the positive parts of their Religion and first of their piety towards God The Religion of the ancient Christians considered with respect to God themselves and other men Their piety seen in two things their detestation of Idolatry and great care about the matters of divine Worship What notion they had of Idolatry their abhorrency of it Their refusing to give divine honour to Angels and created Spirits this condemned by the Laodicean Council Their denying any thing of divine honour to Martyrs and departed Saints The famous instance of the Church of Smyrna concerning S. Polycarp S. Augustine's testimonies to this purpose Their mighty abhorrence of the Heathen Idolatry The very making an Idol accounted unlawful Hatred of Idolatry one of the first principles instilled into new Converts Their affectionate bewailing any that lapsed into this sin Several severe penalties imposed by the ancient Council of Illiberis upon persons guilty of Idolatry They were willing to hazard any thing rather than sacrifice to the Gods Constantius his plot to try the integrity of his Courtiers A double instance of the Christian Souldiers in Julian's Army Their active zeal in breaking the Images of the Heathen gods and assaulting persons while doing sacrifice to them this whether justifiable Notwithstanding all this the Christians accused by the Heathens of Idolatry of worshipping the Sun whence that charge arose Of adoring a Cross Of worshipping an Asses head Christians called Asinarii The absurd and monstrous Picture of Christ mentioned by Tertullian The occasion of this ridiculous fiction whence HAving thus seen with how much clearness the ancient Christians vindicated themselves from those unjust aspersions which their spightful and malicious adversaries had cast upon them we come now to take a more direct and positive view of their Religion which according to S. Pauls division we shall consider as to their piety towards God those virtues which more immediately concern'd themselves and those which respected their behaviour and carriage towards others Their piety towards God appeared in those two main instances of it a serious and hearty detestation of Idolatry and a religious care about the concerns of Divine Worship Idolatry in those times was the prevailing sin of the world the principal crime of mankind the great guilt of the Age and the almost sole cause of mens being brought into judgment as what in a manner contains all sins under it as Tertullian begins his Book upon that subject a crime of the first rank and one of the highest sorts of wickedness as 't is called by the most ancient Council in Spain They looked upon it as a sin that undermined the very being of the Deity and ravished the honour of his Crown Before we proceed any further we shall first enquire what was the notion they generally had of Idolatry and they then accounted that a man was guilty of Idolatry when he gave divine adoration to any thing that was not God not only when he worshipped a material Idol but when he vested any creature with that religious respect and veneration that was only due to God Idolatry says Tertullian robs God denying him those honours that are due to him and conferring them upon others so that at the same time it does both defraud him and reproach him and a little after he expresly affirms that whatever is exalted above the Standard of civil Worship in imitation of the divine excellency is directly made an Idol thus S. Gregory for his solid and excellent learning call'd the Divine a title never given to any besides him but to St. John the Apostle defines Idolatry which says he is the greatest evil in the world to be the translation of that worship that is due to the Creator upon the Creature Accordingly we find them infinitely zealous to assert divine adoration as the proper and incommunicable prerogative of God alone and absolutely refusing to impart religious Worship to any though the best of Creatures surely if any one would think Angels the first rank of created beings creatures of such sublime excellencies and perfections might have challenged it at their hands but hear what Origen says to this we adore says he our Lord God and serve him alone following the example of Christ who when tempted by the Devil to fall down and worship him answered thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve which is the reason why we refuse to give honours to those spirits that preside over humane affairs because we cannot serve two Masters to wit God and Mammon as for these Daemons we know that they have no administration of the conveniencies of mans life yea though we know that they are not Daemons but Angels that have the Government of fruits and seasons and the productions of Animals committed to them we indeed speak well
threefold apparition or manifestation commemorated upon that day which all hapned though not in the same year yet upon the same day of the year The first was the appearance of the Star which guided the wise men to Christ The second was the famous appearance at the baptism of Christ when all the persons in the holy Trinity did sensibly manifest themselves the Father in the voice from Heaven the Son in the River Jordan and the Holy Ghost in the visible shape of a Dove This was ever accounted a famous Festival and as S. Chrysostom tells us was properly called Epiphany because he came in a manner into the world incognito but at his baptism openly appeared to be the Son of God and was so declared before the world At this time it was that by his going into the River Jordan he did sanctifie water to the mystical washing away of sin as our Church expresses it in memory whereof Chrysostom tells us they used in this Solemnity at midnight to draw water which they looked upon as consecrated this day and carrying it home to lay it up where it would remain pure and uncorrupt for a whole year sometimes two or three years together the truth whereof must rest upon the credit of that good man The third manifestation commemorated at this time was that of Christs divinity which appeared in the first miracle that he wrought in turning water into Wine therefore 't was called Bethphania because it was done in the house at that famous Marriage in Cana of Galilee which our Saviour honoured with his own presence All these three appearances contributed to the Solemnity of this Festival But beside these there was another sort of Festivals in the primitive Church kept in commemoration of Martyrs for the understanding of which we are to know that in those sad and bloody times when the Christian Religion triumphed over persecution and gained upon the world by nothing more than the constant and resolute sufferings of its professors whom no threatnings or torments could baffle out of it the people generally had a vast reverence for those who suffered thus deep in the cause of Christianity and laid down their lives for the confirmation of it They looked upon Confessors and Martyrs as the great Champions of their Religion who resisted unto blood and dyed upon the spot to make good its ground and to maintain its honour and reputation and therefore thought it very reasonable to do all possible honour to their memories partly that others might be encouraged to the like patience and fortitude and partly that virtue even in this world might not lose its reward Hence they were wont once a year to meet at the Graves of Martyrs there solemnly to recite their sufferings and their triumphs to praise their virtues and to bless God for their pious examples for their holy lives and their happy deaths for their Palms and Crowns These anniversary Solemnities were called memoriae martyrum the memories of the Martyrs a title mentioned by Cyprian but certainly much older than his time and indeed when they were first taken up in the Church is I think not so exactly known the first that I remember to have met with is that of Polycarp whose martyrdom is placed by Eusebius anno 168. under the third Persecution concerning whose death and sufferings the Church of Smyrna of which he was Bishop giving an account to the Church of Philomelium and especially of the place where they had honourably entomb'd his bones they do profess that so far as the malice of their Enemies would permit them and they prayed God nothing might hinder it they would assemble in that place and celebrate the Birth-day of his Martyrdom with joy and gladness where we may especially observe that this Solemnity is stiled his Birth-day and indeed so the primitive Christians used to call the days of their death and passion quite contrary to the manner of the Gentiles who kept the Natalitials of their famous men looking upon these as the true days of their nativity wherein they were freed from this Valley of tears these regions of death and born again unto the joys and happiness of an endless life The same account Origen gives if that Book be his a very ancient Authour however we keep says he the memories of the Saints of our Ancestors and friends that dye in the faith both rejoycing in that rest which they have obtained and begging for our selves a pious consummation in the faith and we celebrate not the day of their nativity as being the inlet to sorrow and temptation but of their death as the period of their miseries and that which sets them beyond the reach of temptations And this we do both Clergie and People meeting together inviting the poor and needy and refreshing the Widows and the Orphans that so our Festival may be both in respect of them whom we commemorate the memorial of that happy rest which their departed souls do enjoy and in respect of us the odour of a sweet smell in the sight of God Under Constantine these days were commanded to be observed with great care and strictness enjoining all his Lieutenants and Governours of Provinces to see the memorials of the Martyrs duly honoured and so sacred were they accounted in those days that it was thought a piece of prophaneness to be absent from them therefore S. Basil thought he could not use a more solemn argument to perswade a certain Bishop to come over to him upon this occasion than to adjure him by the respect he bore to the memories of the Martyrs that if he would not do it for his yet he should for their sakes towards whom it was unfit he should shew the least disregard Hence it is that Libanius sometimes takes notice of the Christians under no other character than this Enemies to the gods 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that haunt and frequent Tombs and Sepulchers For the time of these assemblies it was commonly once a year viz. upon the day of their martyrdom for which end they took particular care to keep Registers of the days of the Martyrs passions So Cyprian expresly charges his Clergie to note down the days of their decease that there might be a commemoration of them amongst the memories of the Martyrs Theodoret tells us that in his time they did not thus assemble once or twice or five times in a year but kept frequent memorials oftentimes every day celebrating the memorials of Martyrs with hymns and praises unto God But I suppose he means it of days appointed to the memory of particular Martyrs which being then very numerous their memorials were distinctly fixed upon their proper days the Festival of S. Peter or S. Paul Thomas Sergius Marcellus c. as he there enumerates them For the places these Solemnities were kept at first at the Tombs where the Martyrs had been buried which usually were in the
Province who enjoyed nothing but that name and title his Episcopal See being by the Emperours Pragmatic erected into the dignity of a Metropolis He was only an Honorary Metropolitan without any real power and jurisdiction and had no other priviledge but that he took place above other ordinary Bishops in all things else equally subject with them to the Metropolitan of the Province as the Council of Chalcedon determines in this case When this Office of Metropolitan first began I find not only this we are sure of that the Council of Nice setling the just rights and priviledges of Metropolitan Bishops speaks of them as a thing of ancient date ushering in the Canon with an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let ancient customs still take place The original of the institution seems to have been partly to comply with peoples occasions who oft resorted to the Metropolis for dispatch of their affairs and so might fitly discharge their Civil and Ecclesiastical concerns both at once and partly because of the great confluence of people to that City that the Bishop of it might have preheminence above the rest and the honour of the Church bear some proportion to that of the State After this sprang up another branch of the Episcopal Office as much superiour to that of Metropolitans as theirs was to ordinary Bishops these were called Primates and Patriarchs and had jurisdiction over many Provinces For the understanding of this it 's necessary to know that when Christianity came to be fully setled in the world they contrived to model the external Government of the Church as near as might be to the Civil Government of the Roman Empire the parallel most exactly drawn by an ingenious person of our own Nation the sum of it is this The whole Empire of Rome was divided into Thirteen Dioceces so they called those divisions these contained about one hundred and twenty Provinses and every Province several Cities Now as in every City there was a temporal Magistrate for the executing of justice and keeping peace both for that City and the Towns round about it so was there also a Bishop for spiritual order and Government whose jurisdiction was of like extent and latitude In every Province there was a Proconsul or President whose seat was usually at the Metropolis or chief City of the Province and hither all inferiour Cities came for judgment in matters of importance And in proportion to this there was in the same City an Archbishop or Metropolitan for matters of Ecclesiastical concernment Lastly in every Diocess the Emperours had their Vicarii or Lieutenants who dwelt in the principal City of the Diocess where all imperial Edicts were published and from whence they were sent abroad into the several Provinces and where was the chief Tribunal where all Causes not determinable elsewhere were decided And to answer this there was in the same City a Primate to whom the last determination of all appeals from all the Provinces in differences of the Clergie and the Soveraign care of all the Diocess for sundry points of spiritual Government did belong This in short is the sum of the account which that learned man gives of this matter So that the Patriarch as superiour to Metropolitans was to have under his jurisdiction not any one single Province but a whole Diocess in the old Roman notion of that word consisting of many Provinces To him belonged the ordination of all the Metropolitans that were under him as also the summoning them to Councils the correcting and reforming the misdemeanours they were guilty of and from his judgment and sentence in things properly within his cognizance there lay no appeal To this I shall only add what Salmasius has noted that as the Diocess that was governed by the Vicarius had many Provinces under it so the Praefectus Praetorio had several Diocesses under him and in proportion to this probably it was that Patriarchs were first brought in who if not superiour to Primates in jurisdiction and power were yet in honour by reason of the dignity of those Cities where their Sees were fixed as at Rome Constantinople Alexandria Antioch and Jerusalem a title and dignity which they retain to this day The next Office to Bishops was that of Presbyters to whom it belonged to preach to the people to administer Baptism consecrate the Eucharist and to be assistent to the Bishop both in publick ministrations and in dispatching the affairs of the Church The truth is the Presbyters of every great City were a kind of Ecclesiastical Senate under the care and presidency of the Bishop whose counsel and assistance he made use of in ruling those Societies of Christians that were under his charge and government and were accordingly reckoned next in place and power to him thus described by S. Gregory in his Iambics 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The venerable Senate of Presbyters that preside over the people and possess the second Throne i. e. the place next to the Bishop they are called Clerici superioris loci and otherwhiles unless we understand it of the Chorepiscopi Antistites in secundo ordine and accordingly in Churches had seats of eminency placed for them next to the Bishops Throne Whereby was implied says Zonaras that they ought to use a proportionable care and providence towards the people to inform and teach them to direct and guide them being appointed as Fellow-labourers with and Assistants to the Bishop But though Presbyters by their ordination had a power conferred upon them to administer holy things yet after that the Church was setled upon foundations of order and regularity they did not usually exercise this power within any Diocess without leave and authority from the Bishop much less take upon them to preach in his presence This custom however it might be otherwise in the Eastern Church we are sure was constantly observed in the Churches of Afric till the time of Valerius S. Augustine's Predecessor in the See of Hippo. Who being a Greek and by reason of his little skill in the Latine tongue unable to preach to the edification of the people admitted S. Augustine whom he had lately ordained Presbyter to preach before him Which though at first 't was ill resented by some Bishops in those parts yet quickly became a president for other Churches to follow after After these came Deacons What the duty of their place was appears from their primitive election the Apostles setting them apart to serve or minister to the Tables i.e. to attend upon and take charge of those daily provisions that were made for poor indigent Christians but certainly it implies also their being destinated to a peculiar attendance at the service of the Lords Table And both these may be very well meant in that place it being the custom of Christians then to meet every day at the
before the celebration of the Eucharist which was never administred till the wole Church met together That therefore which the Apostle reproves and corrects is their indecency and intemperance commanding both rich and poor to wait for one another and to eat this common meal together that they might the more orderly and unanimously pass to the celebration of the Lords Supper In after Ages this Feast was not till the Communion was over when the Congregation feasted together and so departed and so Chrysostom expresly tells us 't was in his days besides nothing is more obvious than that it was customary in those times for persons to fast till they had received the Communion I know a very learned man is of opinion that these Love-feasts were not kept at the same time with the celebration of the Eucharist but besides that his Arguments are not conclusive the whole stream of learned Writers runs full against him These Feasts continued for some Ages till great inconveniences being found in them they were prohibited to be kept in Churches by the Laodicean Synod and after that by the Council of Carthage which though but Provincial or National Councils yet the Decrees were afterwards ratified by the sixth Trullan Council and the custom in a short time dwindled into nothing These things being premised the sacramental elements prepared and all things ready they proceeded to the action it self which following for the main the account that is given us by S. Cyril of Jerusalem and taking in what we find in others was usually managed after this manner First the Deacon brought water to the Bishop and the Presbyters that stood round about the Table to wash their hands signifying the purity that ought to be in those that draw nigh to God according to that of the Psalmist I will wash my hands in innocency and so will I compass thine Altar O Lord then the Deacon cryed out aloud mutually embrace and kiss one another this holy kiss was very ancient commonly used in the Apostles times and in the succeeding Ages of the Church but especially at the Sacrament as a sign of the unfeigned reconciliation of their minds and that all injuries and offences were blotted out according to our Lords command When thou bringest thy gift to the Altar and remembrest that thy Brother hath ought against thee leave thy gift before the Altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy Brother and then come and offer thy gift this being done they fell to prayer the whole Congregation praying together with the Minister which therefore Justin Martyr calls the Common Prayer the form whereof in the Apostolical Constitutions is described at large for the universal peace and welfare of the Church for the tranquillity and quietness of the world for the prosperity of the age for wholesom weather and fruitful seasons for all sorts of persons for Kings and Emperours and all in authority for Souldiers and Armies for believers and unbelievers for friends and companions for the sick and distressed and in short for all that stood in need of help This general prayer is frequently mentioned by the ancient Fathers as that which was at the beginning of the Communion Service though S. Cyrill place it a little later as doubtless it was in his time After this followed the mutual salutation of the minister and people the Minister saying the Lord be with you to whom the People answered and with thy spirit the Minister cryed lift up your hearts nothing being more sutable says S. Cyrill at this time than that we should shake off all worldly cares and exalt our hearts to God in heaven the people truly assenting and yielding to it answered we lift them up unto the Lord the Minister proceeded let us give thanks unto the Lord for what more fit than thankfulness to God and a high resentment of such favours and blessings to this the people returned it is meet and just so to do Whereupon the Minister proceeded to the prayer of Consecration the form whereof we have in the Apostolical Constitutions wherein he express'd huge thankfulness to God for the death resurrection and ascension of his Son for the shedding of his blood for us and the celebration of it in this Sacrament for condescending to admit them to such mighty benefits and praying for a closer unity to one another in the same mystical body concluding usually with the Lords Prayer and the hearty and universal acclamation of Amen by all that were present this done the Minister cryed out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 holy things belong to holy persons the people answering there is one holy one Lord Jesus Christ then he exhorted them to a due participation of the holy mysteries which Cyrill tells us was done by way of a divine Hymn singing come taste and see that the Lord is good After this the Bishop or Presbyter took the sacramental elements sanctified then by a solemn benediction the form of consecration we have in S. Ambrose Lord make this oblation now prepared for us to become a reasonable and acceptable sacrifice this which is the figure of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ who the day before he suffered took the bread in his sacred hands looked up to heaven giving thanks to thee O holy Father almighty and everlasting God blessed it and having broken it gave it to his Apostles and Disciples saying Take eat all of it for this is my body which is broken for many likewise also after Supper he took the Cup that very day before he suffered looked up to heaven giving thanks to thee holy Father almighty and everlasting God and having blessed it gave it to his Apostles and Disciples saying Take and drink ye all of it for this is my blood After this he first brake the bread and delivering it to the Deacon he distributed it to the Communicants and after that the Cup which was likewise delivered to them for the custom of communicating under one kind only as is used in the Church of Rome was then unknown to the world nay and for above a thousand years after Christ. In some cases 't is true they dipt the Bread in the Wine as in the case of baptized infants to whom they administred the Eucharist in those primitive times and to very weak dying persons who would not otherwise have swallowed the bread and that by this means they might keep the Sacrament at home against all emergent occasions and this probably might in time make the way easier for introducing the Sacrament under the kind of Bread only Their sacramental Wine was generally diluted and mixed with water as is evident from Justin Martyr Irenaeus Cyprian and others Cyprian in a long Epistle expresly pleads for it as the only true and warrantable tradition derived from Christ and his Apostles and
Thaddaeus one of the Seventy Disciples great summs of Gold and Silver for the pains he had taken and the great things he had done amongst them he refused them with this answer To what purpose should we receive good things from others who have freely forsaken and renounced our own As indeed in those times friends and relations houses and lands were chearfully parted with when they stood in competition with Christ they could content themselves with the most naked poverty so it might but consist with the profession of the Gospel When Quintianus the President under Decius the Emperour asked Agatha the Virgin-Martyr why being descended of such Rich and Illustrious Parents she would stoop to such low and mean Offices as she took upon her She presently answered him Our Glory and Nobility lies in this that we are the Servants of Christ To the same purpose was the answer of Quintinus the Martyr under the Dioâ—lesian Persecution when the President asked him how it came about that he being a Roman Citizen and the Son of a Senator would truckle under such a Superstition and worship him for a God whom the Jews had Crucified the Martyr told him That it was the highest Honour and Nobility to know and serve God that the Christian Religion which he call'd Superstition ought not to be traduc'd with so base a name seeing it immediately guided its followers to the highest degrees of happiness for herein in it is that the Omnipotent God is revealed the great Creator of Heaven and Earth and his Son Jesus Christ our Lord by whom all things were made and who is in all things equal to his Father The simplicity of Christians then kept them from aspiring after honour and greatness and if at any time advanced to it their great care was to keep themselves unspotted from the world as Nazianzen reports of his brother Caesarius chief Physician to the Emperour Constantius that though he was very dear to him as he was to the whole Court and advanced by him every day to greater honours and dignities yet this says he was the chief of all that he suffered not the Nobility of his soul to be corrupted by that Glory and those delights that were round about him but accounted this his chiefest honour that he was a Christian in comparison of which all things else were to him but as a sport and Pageantry he looked upon other things but as Comick Scenes soon up and as soon over but upon Piety as the most safe and permanent good and which we can properly call our own regarding that Piety especially which is most inward and unseen to the world The like he relates of his Sister Gorgonia as the perfection of her excellent temper that she did not more seem to be good than she did really strive to be so peculiarly conversant in those secret acts of piety which are visible only to him who sees what is hidden and secret to the Prince of this world she left nothing transferring all into those safe and coelestial treasuries that are above she left nothing to the earth but her body changing all things for the hopes of a better life bequeathing no other riches to her children but an excellent pattern and a desire to follow her example The truth is as to estate they were not concern'd for more than what would supply the necessities of nature or the wants of others not solicitous to get or possess such revenues as might make them the objects either of mens envy or their fear as may appear amongst others by this instance Domiâ—ian the Emperour being inform'd that there were yet remaining some of Christs Kindred according to the flesh the Nephews of Judas the Brother of our Lord of the Race and Posterity of David which the Emperour sought utterly to extirpate he sent for them enquired of them whether they were of the Line of David they answered they were he ask'd what possessions and estate they had they told him they had between them thirty nine acres of land to the value of about nine thousand pence out of the fruits whereof they both paid him Tribute and maintained themselves with their own hard labour whereto the hardness and callousness of their hands which they then shew'd him bore witness He then ask'd them concerning Christ and the state of his Kingdome to which they answered that his Empire was not of this world but Heavenly and Angelical and which should finally take place in the end of the world when he should come with glory to judge both the quick and the dead and to reward men according to their works which when he heard despising the men upon the account of their meanness he let them go without any severity against them Of Origen we read that he was so great a despiser of the world that when he might have liv'd upon the maintenance of others he would not but parted with his Library of Books to one that was to allow him only four oboli a day the day he spent in laborious tasks and exercises and the greatest part of the night in study he always remembred that precept of our Saviour Not to have two coats not to wear shooes not anxiously to take care for to morrow nor would he accept the kindness of others when they would freely have given him some part of their estate to live on Not that the Christians of those times thought it unlawful to possess estates or to use the blessings of Divine Providence for though in those times of persecution they were often forc'd to quit their estates and habitations yet did they preserve their Proprieties intire and industriously mind the necessary conveniencies of this life so far as was consistent with their care of a better There were indeed a sort of Christians call'd Apostolici who in a fond imitation of the Apostles left all they had and gave up themselves to a voluntary poverty holding it not lawful to possess any thing hence they were also call'd Apotactici or renouncers because they quitted and renounc'd whatsoever they had but they were ever accounted infamous Hereticks They were as Epiphanius tells us the descendants of Tatian part of the old Cathari and Encratitae together with whom they are put in a Law of the Emperour Theodosius and reckon'd amongst the vilest of the Manichaean Hereticks mentioned also by Julian the Apostate as a branch of the Galilaeans as he calls the Christians by him compar'd to the Cynic Philosophers amongst the Heathens for the neglecting of their Countrey the abandoning of their estates and goods and their loose and rambling course of life only herein different that they did not as those Galilaean Apotactistae run up and down under a pretence of poverty to beg alms The truth is by the account which both he and Epiphanius give of them they seem to have been the very Patriarchs and primitive founders of those Mendicant Orders
they compleated their Martyrdom Nor was the shame of this way of suffering less than the pain of it crucifixion being the peculiar punishment of Slaves Traytors and the vilest Malefactors insomuch that for a Freemen to dye thus was accounted the highest accent of ignominy and reproach therefore the Roman Historian calls it servile supplicium a punishment proper to slaves Sometimes they were crucified with their heads downwards thus S. Peter is said to have been crucified thus those Egyptian Martyrs who hung in this posture till they were starv'd out of the world But this punishment of the Cross soon after the world was become Christian Constantine took away out of reverence to our Saviour not being willing that that should be the punishment of the vilest malefactors which had been the Instrument whereupon the Son of God had purchased Salvation for mankind II. The Rack called in Latin Equuleus either from the scituation of the offenders body upon the Engin resembling a man on horseback or rather from the horsing or holding of him up to it by ropes and screws The first design of it was to torment the guilty or the suspected person to make him confess the truth what the particular form of it was is not agreed amongst learned men but this we may probably conceive that it was an Engine fram'd of several pieces of timber joyned together upon the top whereof upon a long board the suffering person being laid along upon his back and fastned to it by his hands and feet the Engine was so contriv'd with screws and pullies that all his members were distended with the utmost violence even to a luxation of all the parts and this more or less according to the tormentors pleasures Sometimes they were hung by the hands and feet under the top-board of the Engine and tormented in that posture This Rack was a punishment which the Christians were very frequently put to Much of the same nature was that which they call'd the Catasta being a piece of wood raised up like a little scaffold upon which Christians were set that their torments might be more conspicuous thence that proverb in Cyprian ad Pulpitum post Catastam venire speaking of Aurelius a Confessor who having been publickly tormented upon this Engine was after ordain'd a Reader in the Church and promoted to read the Scriptures out of the Pulpit as he had lately confessed Christ upon the Scaffold In this as in that of the Rack there were certain additional torments made by instruments called Vngulae which were a kind of iron pinsers made with sharp teeth with which the flesh was by piece-meal pull'd and torn off their backs In the time of Pope Paul the third one of these Vngulae as the authour of the Roma Subterranea tells us was amongst other things found in the Vatican Coemetery amongst the monuments of the Martyrs and laid up amongst the other Reliques of that Church as an inestimable treasure and a worthy object of Religious worship being there kept to be seen and ador'd by all Christian people And another of their writers being about to describe it tells us that though altogether unworthy of such a favour yet he was blessed with the sight of it and that as became him he kissed and embrac'd it with great veneration Which by the way seems to me a little strange that it should be accounted an honour and a kindness done to the Martyrs to adore that which was the instrument of their torment Might they not by the same reason as well worship their executioners and pay a religious respect to the ashes of those who drag'd them to the stake tore off their flesh and put them to death with all imaginable pain and torture III. The Wheel This was a round Engine to which the body of the condemned person being bound was not only extreamly distended but whirl'd about with the most violent distortion the pain whereof was unconceivable especially as used towards the Primitive Christians the Wheel to which they were bound naked being sometimes full of iron pricks sometimes a board full of sharp-pointed iron pricks being plac'd under it so that every time the body of the Martyr came to it they rak'd off the flesh with inexpressible torment Thus were serv'd those three Martyrs Foelix the Presbyter Fortunatus and Achilleus the Deacons at Valentia in France and hundreds more in other places IV. Burning This was done sometimes by staking them down to a pile of wood and setting it on fire thus suffered Julianus and others in the Persecution at Alexandria sometimes by laying them to rost at a slow gentle fire that they might dye with the greater torment otherwhiles they were hung up either by the neck hands or feet and a fire made under them either to burn or choak them or burning torches held to several parts of their naked bodies sometimes they were placed in an iron chair or laid upon an iron grate which was either made red hot or had a fire continually burning under it of all which ways of execution and some other near akin to them were it not too tedious I could easily give abundant instances This was accounted one of the prince ways of capital punishments and none were adjudged to it but the greatest Villains the meanest and vilest persons V. Throwing to wild Beasts This was a punishment very common amongst the Romans to condemn a man to fight for his life with the most savage beasts Bears Leopards Lions c. and was usually the portion of the vilest and most despicable offenders under which notion the Gentiles looking upon the Christians did most commonly condemn them to this kind of death a thing so familiar that it became in a manner proverbal Christianos ad Leones away with the Christians to the Lions and that they might be devoured with the more ease they were many times tied down to a stake sometimes cloath'd in beasts-skins the more eagerly to provoke the rage and fury of the wild beasts against them VI. Condemning to the Mines To this the Romans adjudg'd their slaves and the most infamous malefactors and to this too the Christians were often sent what their treatment was in those places besides their continual toyle and drudgery Cyprian lets us know in a letter to Nemesian and the rest that labour'd in the Mines viz. that they were cruelly beaten with clubs bound with chains forc'd to lye upon the hard cold damp ground conflicted with hunger nakedness the deformity of their heads half shaved after the manner of slaves and forc'd to live in the midst of filth and nastiness besides which they were wont to be mark'd and branded in the face to have their right eye pull'd out and their left foot disabled by cutting the nerves and sinews of it not to say that being once under this condemnation all their estate was forfeit to