says he honour the Lords day who despiseth the Saturday And d Homil. an liceat dimittere ux p. 56 57 Edit Raynandi Asterius Amisenus styles them the Nurses of devotion and the Parents of Church assemblies which summon the holy Priest to instruct his Congregation and command his Congregation to frequent the house of God and both to have a due care of their Souls Which observances had their confirmation not only in the Canons father'd on the e Can. 66. Can. 16 49 51. Apostles and the Provincial Council of f Laodicea but in the g Can. 55. sixth general Council at Constantinople which from all the parts of the Catholick Church commands an uniform submission to the Sanction which the Latines refusing this among other things help'd to widen the breach between them X. And to this day the h Smyth p. 29. Greek Church i Gaguin dereb Muscovit the Muscovites the k Abudac hist Jacebit c. 7. p. 10. Jacobites in Aegypt the Melchites in Syria and the l Breerwood's Enquir c. 16. c. 23. Abassynes keep this Festival not in conformity to the Jews which they expresly deny and which the same m Lacdic c. 29. Council that commands its Christian observation does expresly condemn as S. Basil does censure Apollinaris for the same Crime in his seventy sourth Epistle but in honour of the blest Jesus who is the Lord of the Sabbath And the Aethiopian Christians plead for it the Authority of the Apostles in their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Claudius the King of that Country expresly declares in his n Apud Hottinger topogr Eccles orient c. 3. p. 47. vid. ejusd primit Heidelb p. 306. Confession by which he questionless means the Apostles Constitutions which in more than one place injoyn it as a preparation to the great day of the remembrance of our Saviours Resurrection the Christian Sabbath the Abassynes call it as they do call the other the Jewish Now the Apostles successors forbad fasting on this day say some because the primitive Hereticks Menander Saturnitus Cerinthus Basilides and others believing that the world because corruptible was not made by God but by the Devil fasted on that day when the Creation was consummated Others that it was done out of complyance with the Jews who were very numerous in the Eastern part of the World and very tenacious of the Mosaical Ceremonies so Circumcision was for a while retained to bury the Synagogue with honor others to testifie Christs resting in the grave that day and perhaps it proceeded from an unwillingness suddenly to cancel and abrogate that Festival which had by God himself been set apart for religious Exercises and which not only the bless'd Jesus the Lord of the Sabbath kept while here on earth but his Apostles for a very considerable time after his ascension and so much for that usage XI The Questions ad Antiochum are undoubtedly the off-spring of some other father and in this I assent to Mr. H. p. 370. But that therefore all the opinions therein mention'd must not be Orthodox I cannot imagine for as to the nine Orders of Angels the belief thereof is as antient as the genuine Athanasius for presently after him I find them distinctly reckoned by a Apolard◠Ruff◠l. 2. p. 220. vid. ej com in Is 63. S. Hierome for the Western Churches under the title of Cherubim and Seraphim throni principatus dominationes virtutes potestates Archangeli angeli and by b Orat. 39. p. 207. Ed. Paris 1622. S. Basii of Seleucia for the Churches of the East I will says he run through the Orders of Angels and leave the Princes thereof i. e. the Arch-angels behind me I shall be carried above the most pleasing company of the thrones above the height of powers and the eminence of principalities and the force of virtues above the most pure and perspicacious Cherubim and the quick Seraphim adorned with six wings And if we may confide in the conjectures of those learned men that place the Epocha of the Pseudo-Dionysius in the beginning of the fourth Century and make him coevous with Eusebius the Church-Historian then the Opinion will justly claim more Antiquity nor was the notion unknown to the Platonists of that age c De Myster Aegypt Segm. 2. c. 3. Jamblichus who was Pophyry's Scholar and flourisht under Julian the Apostate naming the several Orders of the Heavenly Hierarchy and Scutellius his Translator in the Margin reckons them XII And in truth I am perswaded that the Opinion is as old as Origen not only because S. Hierome where he enumerates these nine Orders of Spirits treats of Origen's errors but because I find the father himself numbring them under the names d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 1. c. 6. of Angels Virtues Principalities Powers Thrones and Dominions e Hom. 3. 4. in S. Luc. Seraphim and Arch-angels and these he there stiles divers Orders nay Clemens of Alexandria in his Excerpta out of the Oriental doctrine of Theodotus gives an account of the different Offices and Dignities of Angels and f Ep ad Smyrn S. Ignatius before him discourses of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the divers ranks and Orders of Angels as not only Baronius but our most learned Pearson understand him And why this notion should be so strange when holy Writ defends it I know not in that we have an account of Angels frequently of Arch-angels 1 Thes 4.16 of Cherubim Gen. 3.24 of Seraphim Is 6.2 of Principalities Powers Virtues and Dominions Eph. 1.21 of Thrones Col. 1.16 Nor can I fancy that these are divers names of the same thing for a To. 2. adv Jovin l. 2. p. 90. sinè causa diversitas nominum est ubi non est diversitas meritorum says S. Hierome in this very case it is in vain to use different names where the things are not distinguish'd XIII That the Saints departed know all things we leave as a novel assertion to its Patrons the Romanists in the mean time believing that the Saints pray for us for the whole Church in general which no sober man denies and sometimes and on some occasions for some persons in particular of which the History of Potamiaena in b Hist Eccl. l. 6. c. 4. Eusebius is a sufficient evidence So S. Ignatius promises the Church at c Ep. ad Tralli p. 20. Trallis that he would pray for them not only while he was alive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but also when he came to Heaven And when the Fathers tell us that S. Paul's Conversion was owing to S. Stephen's Prayers may it not relate not only to the Lord lay not this sin to their charge but to his Supplications for him in Heaven thus did d Hom. 3. in Cant. Origen believe and e Ep. 57. p. 78. vid. eund de disc hab virg p. 139. de mortalit p. 177. S. Cyprian writing to
as it must have been if introduc'd by Flavianus S. Basil's Cotemporary i Tom. 2. a◠152. p. 136. Baronius informs us That the Angelick Hymn Gloria in excelsis c. was enjoyn'd by Pope Telesphorus circ an 152. to be sung at the Consecration of the Eucharist and I am apt to think it was done alternately if not I am sure k Lib. 10. Epist 97. Pliny who lived with Ignatius impeaches the Christians of that Age of no other Crime save that they were wont to meet at a set time before day and to sing among themselves invicem alternately a Song to Christ whom they account a God which is a plain description of the practice of that Age. And a Hist Eccl. lib. 2. c. 16. Eusebius out of Philo makes the observance coaevous with the Church of Alexandria under S. Mark affirming that among the Primitive Christians when one began to sing the rest quietly hearkned to him and then sung together the remainder of the Hymn probably bably in imitation of Moses and Miriam Exod. 15.1 21. So that it is likely that the usage may be ancienter in some Churches than our Martyr but not improbable that his Vision might be the occasion of bringing in the Custom into the Church of Antioch and as the Custom prevailed so early in the East and in Aegypt so also in the Southern parts of Africk and at Carthage for b Lib. 2. ad uxor cap. 6. Tertullian mentions this mutual singing wherein they provok'd one another to Emulation who should Sing best And c Dc Orat. dominic p. 160. Cyprian quotes the Hymn at the Celebration of the Eucharist begun by the Priest with sursum corda and answered to by the People with habemus ad dominum and the practice carries its own Vindication with it for I remember somewhere Greg. Naz. calls Man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Creature made answerable to the Angels and that d Tom. 2. Homil. 55. in Matth. p. 355. S. Chrysostom relates and vindicates the Hymns of the Monks those Angels of the Desart as he calls them wherein they intermix'd the Doxology and then went to the Hymn again herein following the Laws of the Apostles beginning with the Doxology and ending with it and beginning with it again So that it seems by him to have been an Apostolical Tradition XXIV Here was also a fair Occasion offer'd to have instructed the World not only that Episcopacy was then a venerable Order in the Church but that the Bishop had Power to impose a Liturgy from that famous place of the e P. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Epistle to the Magnesians nor can I think that it was a Novel Usurpation of the Prelates in those early days but that set Forms of Prayer are of Apostolical Institution who herein followed the Example of their infallible Master who as he made the Jewish Baptism a Christian Sacrament and took the Symbols of the Eucharist from their Custom of Blessing the Bread and the Cup at their Passeover so was not ashamed to collect the Petitions of his most incomparable Prayer out of the several set Forms of Petition in use among that people 'T is true they had in that happy saeculum the miraculous Spirit or Gift of Prayer which enabled the Apostolical Priest without praemeditation to compose Prayers according to the perpetual or emergent occasions of the Christian Congregation whereof he was the Guide where we may observe what the Apostle means when he mentions Prayers by the Spirit and that this was given to cross the design of our Modern Pretenders to it that every man might not take what Liberty himself pleased to pour out his own Effusions yet this extraordinary Charisma and Afflatus soon ceas'd and as it abated was succeeded by some of those very Forms which the holy Spirit had so prodigiously dictated collected either by the Apostles themselves or their immediate Successors The Greek Church have an undisputed Tradition among them that whereas the Apostles spent whole Days and Nights in their holy Offices the length of those Devotions gave occasion to S. James to omit those Prayers that were used only on extraordinary and emergent occasions and yet even in those the Apostles did not disdain to follow ancient Precepts for the Prayer Act. 4. from v. 24. to 31. is nothing but an Abstract of Psalm the second and the glorifyed Saints Apocal. 15.3 4. were not ashamed to sing an Eucharistical Hymn composed of the Songs of Moses David and Jeremy and to chuse and cull out the most pertinent of those Prayers for the dayly use of the Church which is since called his Liturgy and was afterward again shortned by S. Basil and S. Chrysostom and if any man should dispute the Authenticalness of his or S. Mark 's or S. Peter's Liturgies in that Church they would first admire and then deride him though it cannot be denyed but that there are many Additions and Interpolations in them as now extant which are not of equal Authority with those Collects which are truly Primitive but that also is an Argument that there were anciently such Liturgies left to the Church as they came out of the Apostles hands till they fell into the hands of evil men And for this notion of the Spirit of Prayer we are obliged to a Tom. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 8. Rom. 26. p. 120. S. Chrysostom who plainly affirms That to them that were newly Baptiz'd God was pleas'd to give many miraculous Donatives which were called Spirits for he saith Let the Spirit of the Prophets be subject to the Prophets for one had the Spirit of Prophesie and he foretold Futurities another of Wisdom and he instructed the World in the Laws of Piety a third of Healing and he cured the Sick a fourth of Miracles and he did raise the Dead another of Tongues and he spake divers Languages and among all these there was also the Cift of Prayer which also is called the Spirit of Prayer and he that was so endowed prayed for the whole Congregation for whereas we are ignorant of many things that are necessary for us and apt to ask what is unnecessary therefore fell this Spirit of supplication on one certain person and he stood up and made known the common necessities of the Church and instructed others to pray and this he did with much compunction and many groans Of which usage the Embleme is yet retain'd in the Deacons bidding of Prayers a Selden not in Eutych p. 41 42. So when the Spirit of Prophesie ceas'd in the Jewish Church Ezra and the great Consistory instituted certain Forms of Devotion of dayly use from which no man might dare to recede XXV Among these setled and establish'd Forms of the Apostles we may suppose none were so likely to be retain'd as those at the Celebration of the Eucharist which then the good men receiv'd every day For in all the ancient Liturgies
Montacut vid. Chrys 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To. 6. p. 449. de S. Timothee the Divine expostulate with Julian Dost thou not reverence those that were sacrific'd for Christ Dost thou not fear those great Champions S. John S. Peter and S. Paul and those that both before and after them were in jeopardy for the truth by whom the Daemons are dispossest and Diseases cured who appear in Visions and foretell futurities whose bodies when reverently toucht do the same things which holy Souls do dost thou not venerate but dishonour those And after this manner speak the other Sages of the Church S. a Tom. 1. Hom. in S. Julit p. 370. Basil and S. b Cat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 18. Cyril of Jerusalem and to omit S. Ambrose and S. Hierom c I. C. D. l. 25. c. 18. S. Austin gives several instances of these stupendious productions but I will content my self with that excellent passage of d L. 1. Ep. 55. Magna in exiguo sanctorum pulvere virtus Paulin. natal 9. S. Faelic p. 665. Isidore the Pelusiot 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. If any man be offended that we honour the Dust of the Bodies of the Martyrs for their great love to God and admirable constancy in the Faith let him ask those that have been cured thereby and understand to how many Diseases it hath brought remedy so shalt thou not only not deride what we do but be encouraged to imitate us And it is very observable that generally the Fathers in this case instance in that particular of Elisha 2 Reg. 13.21 into whose Grave the dead man being thrown revived So do the * Ubi supr Apostolick Constitutions * Ubi supr S. Basil and * Ubi supr S. Chrysostom but particularly e Catech. 18. S. Cyril of Jerusalem The dead man who was thrown into the Tomb of Elisha when he touch'd the dead body of the Prophet revived and the dead Body of the Prophet did the Office of a living Soul and that which had no life gave life to him that was departed it self yet continuing among the dead And why so lest if Elisha should have risen it might have been attributed only to his Soul and to demonstrate that in the absence of the Soul there is great Virtue in the Bodies of the Saints because of those Souls that so long inhabited and actuated those Bodies Nor let us fondly distrust the truth as if this could not be done for if handkerchiefs and Aprons being without the Body when toucht by the Sick freed them from their Infirmities how much more should the Reliques of the Prophet raise the dead XLIII Of these miraculous Efforts at the Tombs of the Martyrs the case of S. Babylas is a famous instance and I mention it the rather because he was Patriarch of this very See of Antioch and was buryed in the same place with S. Ignatius in the Daphnaean Suburb and that the miracle fell out in that Age of the Church when the Truth could not want Historians it being recorded by f Hist Lib. 10. cap. 35. Ruffinus g Lib. 3. cap. 9. 10. Theodoret h Lib. 5. cap. 18 19. Sozomen i Lib. 3. cap. 16. Socrates and k Lib. 1. cap. 16. Evagrius and as to the substance of the Story by the Heathens m Orat. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. p. 185. Libanius n Histor lib. 22. Marcellinus and o In Misopogon pag. 96. Julian himself but above all by p Orat. 1. 2. in S. Babylam Tom. 5. p. 438 c. Tom. 8. Orat. 8. de Laudib S. Pauli p. 44. S. Chrysostom who was born at Antioch and at this same time bred a Scholar under Libanius and but twenty years after the Fact was done relates this story in a set Oration and calls all persons to witness whether he spake truth or not and in his second Oration in praise of this Martyr enervates all the material Passages of his Masters Oration on this subject Nay Julian's own Historian giving the world an account of the very day that it happened viz. the 22th of October An. Chr. 362. the Story is thus a Baron Tom. 4. an 362. p. 4â…˜ Not. ad Martyrol Jun. 24. The Bones of S. Babylas the Martyr were by the order of Gallus who was by Constantius created Caesar buryed at Daphne near the famous Oracle of Apollo which Oracle Julian before his fatal expedition into Persia consulting as he did almost all the Tripods of the World was told that Apollo could not give him any Answer because some persons were buryed near that Temple which when Julian heard he commanded the Christians to remove the Bodies of S. Babylas and his Martyred Companions which they did with great Pomp and Ceremony transport into the City singing the Psalms of David before the Chariot and interposing this Versicle between every Verse Confounded be all those that worship Graven Images Neither did the Oracle after this prove vocal having only foretold its own Funerals but in a small time the Temple was burnt by Fire from Heaven and the famous Image of Apollo reduc'd to Ashes only says S. Chrysostom a few Pillars and other Ruines were left standing as Trophies of the Victory of the Martyr and though the burning the Temple was fathered by Julian on the Christians yet the Priests that kept it when put on the Rack would on all sides confess nothing but that the Fire fell from Heaven Thus is the story attested on all hands only I cannot assent to b â—ol suprâ— Evagrius that not the Servants of Christ but Julian himself was compelled honourably to Translate the Body from that place and to erect a Church to his memory before the Gates of the City which remained to his time the Apostate designing by this act of Counterfeit Piety that the silenc'd and baffled Daemon might be set at liberty while the Divine Providence so ordered it that the Martyrs Reliques might find a becoming Receptacle Nor were these wonderful Operations transacted in a Corner but in the publick view of Mankind which Miracles whether wrought immediately by God or by the Ministry of the Glorified Souls of the Martyrs or the help of Angels neither durst c De 〈◊〉 Dei lib. 22. cap. 9. S. Austin nor dare I pretend to determine XLIV Wonderful was the Zeal of those early days in meeting and caressing these sacred remains of their slain Brethren with so much joy and satisfaction as this story and S. Chrysostom's Panegyrick tell us but above all d Tom. 2. adv Vigil p. 123. S. Hierom who condemns Vigilantius for being grieved that the Dust of the Martyrs was covered with a fine Vail and not wrapt up in Hair-cloth or thrown on a Dung-hill and adds was the August Constantine guilty of Sacriledge when he translated the holy Reliques of S. Andrew S. Luke and S. Timothy to Constantinople Or is
not so suddenly have been alter'd from being a great favourer to become a vigorous persecutor of Religion e Herod l. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pompon Mela lib. 2. sect Thracia Viros benignius alit Thracia non ad speciem tamen nam illis asper atque indecens corporis habitus est Maximinus was a robust and brutish person a man of unsatisfied cruelty and barbarous manners a perfect Thracian as rude and unpolisht as his Country which was never fitted to produce any thing polite and acceptable but cherisheth inhabitants like it self rough-hewn and ugly He begun the seventh persecution not out of any respect to the Rites of Gentilism for he had no Religion in him but out of f Euseb l. 6. c. 21. hatred to his Predecessor Alexander Severus who had cherisht the Christians But g Hist sacr l. 2. Sulpitius Severus denies this to have been one of the ten persecutions The Decian persecution begun first at Alexandria h Dionys Alex Ep. Fabio Antioch apud Euseb l. 6. c. 34. where the multitude were enraged to mischief the Christians by the perswasions of an Aegyptian Magician and probably the infection thence spread it self to Carthage and so over the rest of the Empire till it was confirm'd by a solemn Edict The same Villain being afterward the boutefeau that inflamed as i Tom. 2. an 252. p. 444. an 257. p. 556. Baronius Valerian probably conjectures and by whose instruction k Id. an 234. p. 416. Plotinus was acquainted with those dark and unlawful mysteries for the Palace of that Prince was a kind of Church it was so throng'd with Christians till that l Dion Ep. Hermam apud Eus l. 7. c. 10. Archmagician practised him to prosecute the holy men as the greatest Monsters on Earth men of profligate vices and insufferable opinions The ninth persecution a De C. D. lib. 18. c. 52. S. Austin who omits that under Adrian places under Aurelian who was a great admirer of Apollonius Tyanaeus that noted Conjurer to whom b Vopisc in Aurelian vide Fulv. Visin illustr Imag. not in Vopisc p. 516. he erected Statues and promist to build a Temple and whose image he caus'd to be stampt on his Coyn. VII And when all these contrivances would not succeed but the death of the Martyrs increased the number of Confessors Dioclesian and his immediate Successors made the last Essay in behalf of dying Paganism c Vit. Constant l. 2. c. 49 50. Constantine himself relating that what gave an occasion to that most furious persecution was the Oracle of Delphos that accused the just men of the Earth of hindring its giving answers which good men when one of the Priests had told him were the Christians he presently set out his Edicts to root them out of the Earth and the same courses were taken by his followers d Euseb Hist l. 8. c. 27. Maximinus was a great cherisher of the Magicians and other Impostors being naturally fierce and superstitious not daring to undertake the least action without consulting an Oracle So also was e Vit. Gonstant lib. 1. c. 10. Maxentius and f Eus Hist l. 9. c. 8. Vit. Constant l. 1. c. 4. Licinius And when Julian in vain strove to deceive mankind by restoring the Heathen Sacrifices presently on his assuming the Empire his Court swarm'd with these infects himself not being unacquainted with this sort of Learning g Tom. 5. Orat. 6. in S. Babyl p. 459. S. Chrysostom expresly calling him a Magician and the h Gedren compend in Juliano Mich. Glye Annal. part 4. apud Baron Tom. 4. p. 129. later Greek Historians tell us that he kept a Familiar whom he used to send on messages and more particularly in his last expedition into Persia And as soon as he had publish'd his Rescripts for the reparation of the Idol Temples the erection of the ruined Altars and retriving the disused Ceremonies i Chrys ubi supr his palace was of a sudden filled with Inchanters Augures and men of that Classe such were Maximus his Tutor Priscus and Chrysanthius his darlings that followed him to the Wars of Persia and in truth Apuleius Plotinus Porphyry and Jamblichus and the rest of that Tribe in imitation of their Master k Philostr Vit. Apollon apud Phot. Cod. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 540. Pythagoras can never clear themselves from this imputation S. l de vera relig c. 4. Augustine positively averring that all the Platonists that did not turn Christians did turn Magicians It was not therefore without reason that m Adv. Hermogen Tertullian called the Philosophers the Patriarchs of the Hereticks for from them was it that Valentinus suck'd his poyson from them that Marcus his Follower took his hints whom I have reserv'd till the last that we might see some Instances of his skill VIII That venerable and Divine Man whose name n L. 1. c. 12. Irenaeus conceals smartly chastises him in his Poem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. calling him a maker of Idols and hunter after Miracles a great Astrologer and notorious Magician who to deceive the World did strange things by the help of Satan and was the Fore-runner of Antichrist and S. Irenaeus's whole ninth Chapter is spent on this subject in which we find that by a long form of Invocation he would cause the Wine of the Eucharist to appear of the colour of a deep red that he had an Assistant Daemon that did enable him to prophesie and to communicate that Spirit of madness and folly to as many as he did breath on that he engaged that his Followers should know more than the A postles and should not be defiled by any thing they did teaching them charms how to escape invisibly from the hands of the Judge when apprehended allowing even the Women to consecrate the Eucharist and making them Prophetesses among which easie and perswasible Sex most Hereticks have pitch'd their Tents Vide Hieron adv Pelag. ad Ctesiphont Tom. 2. p. 256. So Simon Magus had his Helena Carpocrates his Marcellina Ptolomaeus his Flora Apelles his Philumena Marcion his Female Harbingers to prepare his reception at Rome Montanus his Prisca and Maximillae Elcsai his Marthus and Marthana Paulus of Samosata his Mistress Donatus his Lucilia Priscillian his Galla the Arians had their greatest numbers among the Court-Ladies the Nicolaitans and the Disciples of Eustathius of Sebastia were most Women and the opinion of the Collyridians was a Epiphanhaer 79. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Female Heresie IX Sect. 3. p. 60. the Marginal Note 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should be set not where it is as if the Tractate of the Apostles preaching ad Marcianum were the same with that de scientia but higher for the Volume adversus gentes and that de scientia were the same says b Hist lib. 5. cap. 25. Lâ—t Eusebius a very short
and Primate of Spain was deposed by his Fellow-Bishops for setting out some pieces of his own under the name of his Predecessor Isidorus Hispalensis in the Arabick Version of his works not to wish them the fate of e Gallon respons ad monac Benedict p. 32 Cicarellus who was hang'd at Rome and afterwards his body burnt for the like Forgery XIV And here I think it convenient to repeat what others have observed before me that the Devil in destroying the Church hath followed the Method of the Creed in the first 300 years he instigated the Followers of Simon Magus Menander Basilides Marcion and others to deny and oppose the first Article concerning God the Father In the next three Centuries by the Followers of Sabellius Photinus and Arius to contradict the Divinity of Christ After the year 400 he combated the Doctrine of the Incarnation Passion and Resurrection by Nestorius Entyches Dioscorus and others After the year 800 the Procession of the holy Ghost was disputed in the Greek Church since that the nature of the Catholick Church and the power of Remission of sins by the Papists and Anabaptists c. the Resurrection of the Body by the Socinians and the life everlasting by the modern Sadducees XV. Among the memorable sayings of this Father Mr. H. p. 69. reckons his denying an uninterrupted succession of Bishops to be a mark of the true Church Of which there is not a word in the place of Irenaeus that Mr. H. quotes the Assertion it self aff onting the Judgment of the ancient Catholick Church who makes a continuance of Episcopal Government to be necessary to the Integrity of a Church and so does a Lib. 3. c. 3. l. 4. c. 43. Irenaeus himself advising all good Christians only to obey such Apostolical men but to shun those that cannot deduce themselves from this regular succession as Hereticks and Schismaticks the mistake only lyes in this that a Church without this continued series of Prelates may be a true Church in Essence and Nature but cannot be entituled to Integrity and Perfection Salvation may be had in that Assembly though they want that Government which is of Divine Institution the retention of which sacred Order among us hath extorted this confession from the mouth of a b Cudsemius de desperata Calvini caus c. 11. Jesuit that the Church of England is not heretical because it maintains a succession of Prelates XVI Irenaeus's Opinion of Christs ignorance of the day of Judgment is well vindicated by c p. â—74 Gallasius in his Nores on that place others of the erroâ—â—ouâ— Opimons of the Father we have apologizâ—d for in our Memoâ—â—s of S. Justin the Martyr and for his peculiar opinion concerning the age of Christ D. d Life of Iren. Sect. 10. p. 170. Cave and e Part. 2. l. 2. c. 4. p. 191. Scrivener agaâ—â—st Daillée have satisfied all modâ—st Inquirers â—n those words of his lib. 3 c. â—1 that seem to imply as if the two Natâ—res in Christ were mixt and confused which was afterward the Heresie of Aâ—ollinaris and Eutyches against whom Theodoret expresly writ his second Dialogue the holy man without doubt means no more but the Union of the two Natures for so lib. 4. c. 37. he explains himself joyning commixtio communio Dei hominis together and lib. 5. c. 2. blaming the Ebionite Hereticks for denying this truth his next error that Satan never blasphem'd God till the Incarnation of Christ for which he quotes Justin Martyr is meant of his doing it not openly but under a Masque as under the form of a Serpent he trepan'd Adam not by himself but by his Instruments that profess Religion and yet abuse the Author of it such as were the Marcionites and Valentinians whom he mentions who called themselves Christians yea the purer sort of Christians Gnosticks and yet blasphemed God Nor do we find among the Jews who before the Incarnation of Christ were the peculiar people of God any Heresie which opposed that Article that the Creator of the World who Commission'd the Prophets should also send his Son which Opinion Irenaeus lays at the door of Valentinus and his Tribe who distinguisht between God the Father and the Demiurgus or the Creator of the World nor is his reason altogether indefensible quippe nondum sciens suam damnationem because the Devil did not as yet expresly know his sentence the Father seeming to allude to that opinion of a Ad. Ephâ—â— p. 45. Ed. Usher S. Ignatius which was afterward generally imbrac'd that the Incarnation and Crucifixion of our Saviour and Virginity of his Mother were hid from the cognizance of Satan so that he might believe that the general promises of a Redeemer given to the Old World might as well reach to him as to the Sons of Adam till the Incarnation of Jesus made it appear to the contrary and that then seeing his estate remediless he fell into a like rage with those who are condemn'd by the Law who says b Ubi supâ— Irenaeus blame not themselves but the severity of the Judge and the rigour of his proceedings XVII His discourse of Enoch l. 3. c. 30. that he was Gods true servant without the badge of Circumcision or observation of the Sabbath no man I hope questions and for what is added that being yet in the flesh Dei legatione ad Angelos fungebatur he was sent on an Embassie to the Angels had we any thing to countenance the conjecture beside the respect we bear to this great man I would say it was a mistake of the Translator and that the words in Irenaeus's Greek might be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which will bear the old Version but to me will be thus rendred better And having been Gods Ambassadour i. a Preacher of Righteousness to the old World he went to the Angels and was translated where he is kept as a witness of Gods Judgment on those fallen Spirits which words may be supposed to â—elate to that common Opinion among the Fathers that Enoch with Elias are translated into Paradise in their mortal bodies and that in the end of the world they shall both come again to preach Repentance to mankind and reduce them from the service of Antichrist to the worship of the true God and shall be martyred at Jerusalem and after three days rise again and then ascend into Heaven which Opinion I take not upon me to defend but only to give a bare Narration of this is expresly averr'd by c De anima c. 28. de resurrect p. 31 I. Edit Rhen. Tertullian and the d P. 290. Author of the Book de montibus Sinai and Sion under the name of Cyprian but says Pamelius of some other African Author of that Age e To. 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 149. Saint Chrysostome it 's true professes his ignorance herein but S. f De genes ad liter l. 9. c. 6. Austin is of
better Account of his last Actions whom we find buryed in silence by the Antients Only what Mr. H. p. 109 110. affirms That he out-lived his Master Pantaenus many years and yet dyed an 195. cannot be reconciled For Pantaenus flourished under Caracalla says St. Hierome the first year of whose Empire did not Commence till an 211. So that we cannot imagine St. Clemens to dye till circ an 220. at the least when probably he went into his Grave in Peace the Martyrologies of either Church allowing him no place though unjustly they having honored many persons that worse deserv'd that solemn Commemoration and more than a few that never swam to Heaven in their own Blood But it was their neglect and our unhappiness that we cannot Celebrate this brave person in an Encomium tantamount to his Worth THE LIFE OF Tertullian I. TErtullian was a man eminent for his Birth being of the Tribe Septimia of which there had been several Kings admirable for his great Endowments being well seen in all Learning and as the most antient so without controversie the best read of all the Latine Fathers and as famous for his fall his deserting the Catholick Church and suffering himself to be wheadled by the Disciples of Montanus but notwithstanding his Original was illustrious I cannot believe him to have been the Son of a Pro-Consul as Mr. H. p. 111. mistaking St. Hierome makes him for St. a Catal. v. Tertul. vid. Dr. Cave 's Life of Tert. p. 202. Hierome says his Father was Centurio Pro-Consularis i. a Centurion at Carthage under the Pro-Consul of Africk for I think we shall never find in the Roman History an ordinary Centurion intrusted with a Pro-Consular dignity II. Under his Father without doubt he had a liberal and ingenuous Education which furnisht him with those sublime parts that in his Writings exert themselves manifesting him a great Historian and excellent Orator in his African way and an acute Lawyer though that he pleaded at the Bar as Mr. H. p. 112. and others suggest is not so clear b Dr. Cave ibid. p. 203. the Argument from that passage in his Book De Pallio serving as well to prove him to have been a Soldier or a Courtier which Book was not Writ by Tertullian at his first Conversion as Mr. H. p. 113. out of Pamelius supposes c Baron Salmas apud eund p. 205. Prim. Christian part 2. cap. 3. but nine or ten years after when he entred into Holy Orders and so was obliged to change his Gown his ordinary habit for the Cloak Sacerdos Suggestus the Sacerdotal Habit as he calls it a Garb that denoted more Mortification and Contempt of the World and love of the best sort of Philosophy and continued till the time of d Socr. l. 7. c. 36. Sylvanus Bishop of Troas who refused to wear it and e Can. 12. the Council of Gangra condemn'd the wearing when it was presum'd there was much Holiness inherent in the Habit. And f Dr. Cave's Life of S. Justin p. 144. Ferri hoc non posse cùm ipsi capita supercilia sua radant si quando Isidis suscipiunt sacra si forte Christianus vir attentior sacrosanctae religioni vestes mutaverit indignum facinus appellant Ambr. l. 6. Ep. 36. ad Sabin in truth the sordid and mean black Coats of the Christian Monks were by Libanius Eunapius and others laid to their charge till it became Proverbial There goes a Greek Impostor because the Pallium was a Greek Habit as the Toga was a Roman III. In this I cannot but subscribe to that Learned Man whose name I reverence but must take leave to profess my dissent from him in another piece of Chronology when he fixes the Epocha of Tertullian's turning Montanist at the third or fourth year of the Emperor Caracalla and yet affirms that his Book De Corona was Writ the 7th year of Severus at the Creating his eldest Son Antoninus his Co-partner in the Empire and his youngest Geta Caesar for then we must grant Tertullian's fall to have been very early it being very plain to me that he was of that fond belief when he writ the Tractate De Corona Militis from these words a De Coron c. 1. with which he girds the Catholick Soldiers who wore their Garlands on their heads and thought it lawful to fly in time of Persecution which Montanus condemn'd They may be well allowed to fly from Martyrdome who have rejected the Prophecies of the Holy Spirit Where he can mean no other person but Montanus nor does he forbear on this account to rally the very Bishops of Rome in the succeeding words I have known their Prelates Lyons in peace but more timorous than Stags in times of difficulty And in the b Cap. 11. same Book he makes it unlawful for a Christian to be a Soldier contrary to his former judgment in his Apologetick where he tells the Emperor That his Army was full of the Disciples of Jesus and recites the famous undertaking of the Legio fulminatrix without blaming them But the former passage of the Paraclete is so clear that all that Pamelius can do in his Annotations will not wash the Aethiop IV. I therefore think that the Book was Written neither at the 7th nor the 16th year of Severus as Learned Men diversly opine not in the 7th year for Tertullian's Apologetick could not be Writ till that time there being no appearance of a persecution before that year of Severus nor I think at least till three or four years after for c Apologet. cap. 35. in it he not only mentions the overthrow of Cassius Niger and Albinus but of Plautianus as I suppose he means him in that Description Post vindemiam parricidarum racematio superstes calling him the Gleanings after the full Vintage of the Traytors whom he Characters as a Man entring into the Palace Arm'd to the ruine of the Emperor that he affected the assuming the Regalia in his Habit and Houses being most princely and was not negligent in the consultation of Magicians concerning the Fate of the Empire which are an exact Description of that Traiterous and proud African if we consult d Lib. 3. p. 76 77. Herodian and e Spartian in Sept. Severo Spartianus now the Treason of Plautianus did not break out till the 10th or 11th year of Severus Nor do I think it writ in the 16th year of that Prince because f Cap. 1. Tertullian introduces that scrupulous and over-nice man's Fellow-Soldiers complaining of him as if that fact of his would incense the Emperor and give occasion to the raising of a Persecution that would put an end to their serene days and enjoyments So that if it relate to the reign of Septimius it must necessarily be referred to the beginning of it when g Id. ad Scapul c. 4. p. 71. having been cured of a desperate Distemper by Proculus a Christian
the disturbances of the Church Tert. adv Valentin c. 4. p. 139. solent amini pro prioratu exciti praesumptione ultionis accendi Id. de baptism p. 273. Ed. Rhen. aemulatio enim schismatum mater est the baffled pretender out of revenge venting his malice against the Church that slighted him So b Hegesip apud Euseb lib. 4. c. 21. when S. Simeon Cleophae was admitted to the Episcopal Chair at Jerusalem in the room of S. James the Just Thebuthis began to corrupt the Church by introducing Heresie because he was not made S. James's Successor So c Tert. adv Valent. c. 4. p. 251. Edit Paris 1664. Valentinus broach'd his new Hypothesis and the d Apollinaris apud Euseb l. 1. c. 15. Theodoret 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lib. 3. sect Montanus ambition of Montanus first occasioned his deserting the Church e Cornel. apud Euseb hist lib. 6. c. 35. Novatus turn'd Schismatick being denied the Popedome f Theodoret. ubi supr lib. 4. sect Arius Arius became the Father of that most pernicious Heresie of his because Alexander was preferred to the Patriarchate of Alexandria and himself slighted and g Socrat. Eccles hist lib. 1. cap. 24. Asterius became his follower because on the account of his sacrificing in the days of persecution he was denied a Bishoprick which he greedily gap't after h Theodor. Eccl. hist l. 5. c. 4. Apollinaris also expos'd his Darling Dogma failing of the Bishoprick of Laâ—dicea i August de haeres cap. 69. Donatus his for missing the See of Carthage and k Epiphan haeres 75. Aërius on the same score turn'd Leveller and because being only a Presbyter he could not be a Bishop was resolved if he could have done it that no Bishop should have been greater than a Priest as Marcion forbad honest Marriage when himself had been cast out of the Church for prostituting the Chastity of a Virgin and I have it from a very worthy person that Hugh Broughton the Patriarch of the Puritans his own Brother should aver that he first went over to the discontented party having been denied some valuable preferment which he desired in the Church and l Doctrin fid lib. 2. cap. 6. Waldensis quotes the Bishop of Salisbury affirming in a full Assembly of the Clergy of the Province of Canterbury that Wickliff aim'd at the Mitre of Worcester and being deceived of his expectations grew discontent nay even the very Conventicles of the Hereticks were subdivided by this spirit of ambition for m Sâ—crat lib. 7. c. â— Sabbatius made a new Schism among the Schismatical Novatians being strongly possest with this Daemon and the desires of a Crosier VIII But this thought I cannot be perswaded to entertain of Tertullian so great a lover of Mortification and Abstinence and one that so little valued external grandeur and the pompous shadows of honour I am therefore inclin'd to believe that it was a passionate and ungovern'd zeal which sway'd him and that his intentions were very just and honourable but misguided that his aim was though he took a wrong course to keep up the reputation of the Primitive Severities and holy Discipline of which he was an eager Assertor for we cannot find him charg'd with any erroneous sentiments in matters of Faith but a scrupulous studiousness to maintain the antient practices a Rigalt not in Tertull adv Prax. p. 501. quae Tertulliani dicuntur haereses c. his greatest Heresies were no other than a stronger love of Martyrdome than ordinary greater frequency in fastings and stricter holiness an injunction of continuing in the estate of Coelibate or at most a contentedness with one Marriage And if these were his Vices good God what can we call his Virtues for it is probable that he held the Opinions of Montanus as that Impostor first propos'd them to the World in a taking dress and such as was very agreeable to the severer sort of Christians not as they were afterward adulterated by his followers the Phrygians acu Phrygiâ interpolatum as Mons Rigaud elegantly terms it whose additional dotages occasion'd his separation from them and setting up his own Congregation of Tertullianists and yet these Phrygians if we may take b Lib. 4. c. 23. Socrates's testimony were the most regular in their lives of all the Asiaticks men very temperate and chaste never heard to swear or seen to be angry or delighted with the toys and pleasures of the world and this I suppose inclin'd them so easily to become Novatians which Schism renewed the discipline of Montanus but was not so fully agreed among themselves in some particulars for the c Apud eund lib. 5. c. 21. Novatians in Phrygia did condemn second Marriages those at Constantinople did neither allow nor disallow them but the Occidental Disciples of that Sect publickly approv'd them IX Nor did Tertullian in this case want enough to plead in his own behalf he being the Champion of the Apostolical Institution but the Church on the principles of Christian prudence remitting her former strictnesses allowing second Marriages dispensing with extraordinary fastings and receiving Penitents before the times of extremity for it appears to have been the Opinion and Practice of the most Venerable Antiquity that gross sinners as Apostates Murtherers Adulterers and such like should be wholly excluded from Penance And this makes d de pudicit p. 555. Ed. Paris Tertullian object to Pope Zepherinus the corruption of the antient discipline and e Ep. 52. p. 59. S. Cyprian confesses that many of his Predecessors did deny communion to such Offenders and the judicious f Of the right of a Church in a Christ Sâ—ate ch 1. pag. 19 c. Thorndike says That if we compare the writings of the Apostles with the Original practice of the Church it will appear that those rigours were brought in by them and that these were the sins unto death which might not be pray'd for abating by little and little till that Discipline was lost but that the Reformation of the Church consists in the retaining it And this he there proves largely and so saves me the labour X. And for the noted Dogma which Mr. H. p. 118. adventures to say made him a Heretick g De Monogam p. 533 Tertullian's argument to prove the unlawfulness of second Marriages is taken from that of the Apostle that a Bishop must be the Husband of one Wife i. as the Fathers generally understood it only once married not the Husband of two Wives either together or successively but says Tert. all the Lords people are his Priests a Royal Priesthood and therefore must so abstain Nay among all the Fathers Monogamy was lookt on as one of the excellent Counsels of Scripture if not as an obligatory Precept and had Tertullian only recommended but not enjoyn'd it I know no man could have blam'd him and in truth in Tertullian's sense the Opinion was countenanc'd
them to have been two distinct persons for as to the fancy of a Not. in Naz. Orat. 18. tom 2. p. 687. Billius that there were two Cyprians both born at Carthage and both Bishops there and that the latter of them spending much time at Antioch and there growing famous was thence called Antiochenus as Pomponius though born at Rome was called Atticus for a like reason it savours of more love to the Fathers credit which he is willing to vindicate than to reason or the truth of History But this hath been sufficiently cleared by a Martyâ—olog Sept. 14. Sept. 26. Baronius b Vit. Cypr. ante opera Pamelius c Life of S. Cypr. sect 1. p. 252 253. Dr. Cave and others and before them all by the most accurate Critick d Cod. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 215 216 Photius who gives us an account of the life of the Martyr of Antioch out of the Empress Eudoxia's three Oratitions on him not intermixing the smallest memoire relating to our Primate of Carthage though I must dissent from him in his making him Arch-bishop of Antioch for his acts in Latine make him no more than a Deacon nor is there any such name to be found among the Patriarchs of that See in the Catalogue of Nicephorus nor yet of Anthimus his predecessor nor does the Church History mention any other Bishop of that name under Dioclesian but e Euseb lib. 8. cap. 6. Anthimus Bishop of Nicomedia who was then beheaded while that cruel persecutor resided in the City of his Episcopal charge and when probably the junior Cyprian also was adorn'd with the same Crown II. The visible instrument of the conversion of this great man was Caecilius a Presbyter of Carthage the same as I conjecture with him of that name who bears a part in the Dialogue of Minutius Foelix his name and employ his Country and Religion conspiring to make good the conjecture for that he was no Roman is plain by the narration which he gives of himself f Pag. 3. Ed. Oxon. 1627. that he left his Country and Relations to see Minutius at Rome and g Pag. 6. for that purpose took a voyage which by the strongest probability must have been from Africk for Octavius not only calls Serapis and Osiris his Deities h Pag. 64. tui Serapidis sive Osiridis i.e. peculiar to that part of the World where he was born but Fronto by the name of i Pag. 100. tuus Fronto whom Caecilius himself stiles k Pag. 26. Cirtensis noster whereas it is well known that Cirta was a City of Numidia on the Mediterranean the Metropolis of the Country and the seat Royal of Massinissa Colonia Cirta Sitianorum cognomine as all the old Historians and Cosmographers stile it which say some is Constantina the Metropolis of Bugia others Teddeles the Metropolis of the Kingdom of Telensin They were therefore both of them Africans and both Christians for Caecilius in the end of that dialogue was a Convert both Marryed a Minut. p. 3. Caecilius leaving his Wife and infant-children behind him when he came to Rome and b Pont. vit Cypr. S. Cyprian on the death of his Converter being made a Guardian for his Family both of the same profession Rhetorick and it is probable that S. Cyprian succeeded him in his School at Carthage as says c Tom. 2. an 250. p. 440. Baronius who also would have him to be the same Caecilius who was made a Tutor to Diadumenus son to the Emperor Macrinus This was the good man whom providence thought fit to commission for the conquest of Cyprian he was the Jonah who preach'd repentance to him and enclined him to embrace the Laws of Jesus by the same methods as the Prophet made Proselytes among the Ninivites not that when Cyprian heard him Caecilius was preaching on that Prophecy as Mr. H. p. 250. avers which S. Hieroms words without some straining will not bear but that an extraordinary influence such as the Sermon of Jonah at Ninive is requisite to the conversion of the great and wise men of the World since the Apostle says not many wise not many mighty are called III. At his advancement to the See of Carthage of which he was the most famous d Conc. C. P. in Trull can 2. Arch-bishop I suppose Mr. H. need not as he does p. 251. doubt whether he succeeded Donatus Agrippinus or some other For e Epist 55. S. Cyprian himself mentions Donatus as his immediate Predecessor as Fabianus preceded Cornelius And whereas f De bapt contra Donat lib 2. cap. 7 8 9 S. Austin frequently calls Agrippinus his Predecessor he intends it only of one who sate in that Episcopal throne before him without relation to him who sate last there And if Agrippinus were the first in the African Churches who asserted the Doctrine of re-baptization as both S. Austin and S. Cyprian intimate then he must have been antienter than Tertullian especially if that story be true that that most learned Father was sowr'd into Montanisme by missing the Bishoprick of Carthage on the death of Agrippinus g Ep. 73. p. 105. S. Cyprian glorying that many years were past since the Prelates under Agrippinus determined this point which would hardly amount to so long a space if S. Cyprian immediately succeeded him IV. Who the Libellatici were in the Primitive Church hath been a disputable question Baronius and after him Mr. H. p. 255. appropriating the term to such as privately denying the name of Christ were by virtue of a Libel of security exempted from publick sacrificing and the rage of persecution but will by no means allow the title to be applicable to those that did neither sacrifice nor anathematize their Saviour but only paid a great sum to be exempted from the penalty of the Law whereas a Ep. 52. p. 58. de laps p. 145. S. Cyprian peculiarly calls these the Libellati but this mistake proceeds from not distinguishing the b Vid. Dr. Cave's Prim. Chr. part 3. c. 5. several sorts of Libellatici the last sort of which were those who in nothing complyed with the Heathen rites only paid a great sum to the greedy Magistrate and by that means smooth'd the ruggedness of his temper and took off the edge of his fury the man being Non tam crimine quà m errore deceptus says this Father not so much guilty of a crime as a mistake V. These in some Churches were injoyned penance as in the Church of Carthage in Cyprian's time but at other times in the same and other Churches were not only allowed but advised to such a purchase of their freedom and security c Epist Canonic Can. 12. p. 25. Ed. Paris 1622. S. Peter the Patriarch of Alexandria and a Martyr under Dioclesian in his discourse of penance freeing the act from irregularity That it was no sin to sacrifice their money to the
ill to affirm that he was banish'd by both Synods which was impossible or if he meant otherwise the rules of Grammar would have obliged him to have set the Synod of Arles before that of Besieres in order of writing as in that of time VI. This excellent man is seldom mentioned by the Church-Historians who writ in Greek or by the Greek Fathers whom I have met with Only I find Theodoret styling him the holy Hilary Bishop and Confessor But the Latine Fathers are more frequent in his due Encomia Vide Socrat. Eccles hist lib. 3. c. 8. Sozom. l. 3. c. 13. lib. 4. c. 8. l. 5. c. 12. Theodor. dial 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aug. contr Julian l. 1. c. 2. Ecclesiae Catholicae adversùs haereticos acerrimum defensorem venerandum quis ignorat Hilarium Episcopum Gallam virum tantâ in Episcopis Catholicis laude praeclarum tantâ notitiâ famâque conspicuum vid. cund de nat grat c. 61. c. Hieron in Isai c. 60. Cyprianus nostri temporis Confessor Hilarius â—nne tibi videntur excelsae quondam in saeculo arbores aedificâsse Ecclesiam Dei Id. Apolog. adv Ruff. l. 2. virum eloquentissimum contra Arianos Latini sermonis tubam c. he is called by S. Austin the holy blessed and venerable Hilary a man famous in the judgment of all the Christian world the most Reverend and acute Defender of the Catholick Church against the Hereticks by S. Hierome a most eminent and eloquent man whose Books with those of Athanasius he highly commends in his 7th Epistle to the reading of that good woman Laeta some of which himself had transcribed with his own hand at Triers And Ruffinus who in other places is not so just to him yet in his a Lib. 1. cap. 30. History commends him for his excellent morals his meekness and sedate temper and for his learning and eloquence adding of him and Eusebius Vercellensis That they were the illustrious lights of the world and with their rays did illuminate all Illyricum Italy and France to omit Sulpitius Severus Venantius Fortunatus and others VII § 3. p. 399. We are told that the Tractate De numero septenario is S. Hilary's because it is dedicated unto Fortunatus but that is not an argument strong enough to deprive S. Cyprian for there were more than one Clergy-man of that name in the time of that African Primate for instance there was Fortunatus à Tuccabori who subscribed in the Synod of Carthage and probably was the same to whom S. Cyprian writ his 53d Epistle and his Exhortation to Martyrdome Nor could there be that actual friendship between Venantius Fortunatus and S. Hilary which Mr. H. mentions for S. Hilary is p. 414. affirm'd to die An. 366. But Venantius Fortunatus flourish'd not till circ An. 570. nor was he a French-man by Birth but an Italian Born in Marchia Tarvisana and bred at Ravenna who being oppress'd with sore eyes travel'd to the shrine of S. Martin famous for such Miracles where finding his cure for a testimony of his gratitude he writ the life of that famous man and intending a further visit to his reliques he came to Tours and thence to Poictiers where making a halt he was first made a Priest and then Bishop of that See VIII His Book of Hymns is acknowledged to be lost unless as b Epist dedic ante opera Hilarii Erasmus conjectures those Hymns Crux fidelis and that on S. John Baptist Vt queant laxis c. be some of them But that this great man was the first among the Catholicks that set forth Hymns and Verses as is said p. 400 I cannot grant For the world is not ignorant that Tertullian writ against Marcion in Verse and other Poems are father'd on him on Cyprian and Lactantius and if he means it only of Hymns how can he reconcile his position with that of c Hist Eccles lib. 5. cap. ult Eusebius from a much Antienter Author who living circ an 200. and writing against the heresie of Artemon uses this as an argument to disprove that disturber of the Church that many faithful Brethren from the very infancy of Christianity had writ Psalms and Hymns to the praise of Christ the Son of God in which they attributed Divinity to him IX His Books concerning the Trinity are said by d Ubi supr Erasmus to be his Master-piece as Tully's Books de Oratore or S. Austin's de Civitate dei or S. Hierom's Comments on the Prophets are theirs But withal he wishes that that great wit had undertook a subject that would better have comported with his sublime and transcendent Eloquence and Acumen But I cannot believe that he was the first among the Latines who writ on that subject as is affirmed p. 401. for Mr. H. himself p. 143. acknowledges a Discourse of Tertullian's in defence of the Trinity which the whole Greek Church says Baronius ascribe to that Father others to S. Cyprian a third sort to Novatian the Roman Schismatical Presbyter Cyprian's Cotemporary and Antagonist who as a Catal. v. Novatian S. Hierome informs writ a great Volume of the Trinity an Epitome of what Tertullian had before-hand said on that subject the youngest of which lived some years before this French Prelate and whereas he may explain himself that he means it of defending the Doctrine of the holy Trinity against the Arians we know that that Alexandrian Incendiary did only revive and polish the decryed and condemned Opinions of Artemon Photinus Paulus Samosatenus and others though I think it were not impossible to prove that b Id. ibid. v. Lucif Lucifer Bishop of Calaris in Sardinia undertook this Controversie against the Arian Faction before Saint Hilary X. As I cannot subscribe to Cardinal Bellarmine and Possevine that the Epistle that is extant in the name of S. Hilary to his Daughter Abra is undoubtedly his so neither can I think that so indulgent so good a Father could be forgetful of his Family during his banishment but that he writ both to his Wife and Daughter which Epistles being lost this was foisted in for one as writ on that famous occasion of Abra's consulting him about her Marriage which Story is elegantly rendred into English by the Seraphick Prelate c Holy dying ch 3. sect 7. p. 102. Bishop Taylor and to him I remit the Reader XI The Epistles to S. Austin and the Poem called Genesis have been adjusted to their true owners already and as to the Fragment concerning the Transactions of the Council at Ariminum p. 405. I would not have had Mr. H. so tamely to have subscribed to Baronius whose interest it was to decry that piece and who is herein followed by his Epitomator d An. 352. sect 4. an 357. sect 9. Spondanus and the learned e Resp ad Reg. Jacob lib. 1. cap. 27. Perron The passages in that fragment being too severe and peremptory to be