Authority But then as Du Pin well observes it is certain that the Ancients knew nothing of it nor are the Acts we now have quoted by any before the time of Etherius before-mentioned And yet how they could have escaped the Search of the Primitive Fathers had they been extant in their days it is hard to imagin 34. BUT much less is the Credit that ought to be given to the pretended Works of Dionysius the Areopagite Which as Alexander confesses two very great Criticks of his own Communion to have deny'd to have been written by that Holy Man so has a third very lately given such Reasons to shew that the Writings now extant under his Name could not have been composed by him as ought to satisfie every considering Man of their Imposture For not to say any thing of what occurs every where in those Discourses utterly disagreeable to the State of the Church in the time that that Dionysius lived Can it be imagin'd that had such considerable Books as these been written by him none of the Ancients of the first IV Centuries should have heard any thing of them Or shall we say that they did know of them as well as the Fathers that lived after and yet made no mention of them tho' they had so often occasion to have done it as Eusebius and St. Jerome not to name any Others had 35. IN short one of the first times that we hear of them is in the Dispute between the Severians and Catholicks about the Year D. XXX.II When the Former produced them in favour of their Errours and the Latter rejected them as Books utterly unknown to all Antiquity and therefore not worthy to be received by them 36. IT is therefore much to be wondered that after so many Arguments as have been brought to prove how little Right these Treatises have to such a Primitive Antiquity nevertheless not only Natalis Alexander but a Man of much better Judgment I mean Emanuel Schelstrat the late Learned Keeper of the Vatican Library should still undertake the Defence of them When they were written or by what Author is very uncertain But as Bishop Pearson supposes them to have been first set forth about the latter end of Eusebius's Life so Dr. Cave conjectures that the Elder Apollinarius may very probably have been the Author of them Others there are who place them yet later and suspect Pope Gregory the Great to have had a hand in the Forgery And indeed the Arguments which our very Learned Mr. Dodwell brings to prove that they were originally written by one of the Roman Church are not without their just Weight But whatever becomes of this thus much is certain that these Books were not written before the middle of the IV th Century and therefore are without the Compass of the present Undertaking 37. AND now having taken such a View as was necessary for the present Design of all those other Pieces which have been obtruded upon the World for Apostolical Writings besides what is either here collected or has been before publish'd in the Sacred Books of the New Testament I suppose I may with good Grounds conclude that the little I have now put together is all that can with any Certainty be depended upon of the most Primitive Fathers And therefore that from these next to the Holy Scriptures we must be content to draw the best Account we can of the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church for the first Hundred Years after the Death of Christ. CHAP. X. Of the Authority of the following Treatises and the Deference that ought to be paid to them upon the account of it This is shewn from the following Considerations 1st That the Authors of them were Contemporary with the Apostles and instructed by them 2dly They were Men of an eminent Character in the Church and therefore to be sure such as could not be ignorant of what was taught in it 3dly They were very careful to preserve the Doctrine of Christ in its Purity and to oppose such as went about to corrupt it 4thly They were Men not only of a perfect Piety but of great Courage and Constancy and therefore such as cannot be suspected to have had any Design to prevaricate in this Matter 5thly They were endued with a large Portion of the Holy Spirit and as such could hardly err in what they deliver'd as the Gospel of Christ. And 6thly Their Writings were approved by the Church in those days which could not be mistaken in its Approbation of them BUT Secondly and to proceed yet farther The following Collection pretends to a just Esteem not only upon the account of its Perfection as it is an Entire Collection of what remains to us of the Apostolical Fathers but yet much more from the Respect that is due to the Authors themselves whose Writings are here put together 2. IF First we consider them as the Contemporaries of the Holy Apostles Some of them bred up under our Saviour Christ himself and the rest instructed by those Great Men whom he commissioned to go forth and preach to all the World and endued with an extraordinary Assistance of his Blessed Spirit for the doing of it We cannot doubt but that what they deliver to us must be without Controversie the pure Doctrine of the Gospel What Christ and his Apostles taught and what they had themselves received from their own Mouths This is the least Deference we can pay to them to look upon them as faithful Deliverers of the Doctrine and Practice of the Church in those most early Times When Heresies were not as yet so openly broke out in it Nor the true Faith so dangerously corrupted with the Mixture of those erroneous Opinions which afterwards more fatally infected the Minds of Men and divided the Church into so many Parties and Factions So that here then we may read with Security and let me add with Respect too And not doubt but what these Holy Men deliver to us is as certainly the true Doctrine of Christ as if we had received it like them from our Saviour and his Apostles 3. BUT Secondly The Authors of the following Pieces had not only the Advantage of living in the Apostolical Times and of hearing the Holy Apostles and conversing with them but they were of a very Eminent Character in the Church too Men raised up to the highest pitch of Honour and Authority in some of the most famous Churches of the World Chosen by the Apostles to preside in their own proper Sees at Rome at Antioch at Smyrna One of them set apart by the express Command of the Holy Ghost to be the Companion of the Great St. Paul in his Work of the Ministry and the rest for the most part commended for their rare Endowments in the inspired Writings of the Holy Scriptures delivered to us And therefore we may be sure that such Men as these must needs have been very carefully instructed in the Mystery of the Gospel and have had
his Name written in the Book of Life could so properly belong as to him and whom therefore the generality of Learned Men both of the ancient and present times without scruple conclude to have been referr'd to in that Passage 5. I SHALL not say any thing of what is reported by Some concerning his Noble Birth and Family of his Studies at Athens and of the occasion and manner of his Conversion to Christianity which they tell us was wrought by S. Peter whom he met with Barnabas at Caesarea And who there first declared to him the Doctrine of Christ and inclined him to a good Opinion of it All which is very uncertain and justly doubted of by many I shall chuse rather to observe that whatever his Condition was before he became a Christian he was held in no small Reputation after But merited such a Character from the Ancient Fathers as is hardly given to any besides the Apostles Nay some of them doubt not in plain terms to call him an Apostle and tho S. Hierome durst not go so far as that yet he gives him another Title but little short of it he tells us that he was an Apostolical Man and as Ruffinus adds almost an Apostle 6. TO declare more particularly how he spent the first part of his Life after his Conversion is neither necessary to the Design I have now in hand nor can any certain Account be given of it Only as we are told in the general that he was S. Peter's Disciple so it may not be improbable that for some time he attended his Motions and was subject to his direction 7. BUT whatever he was or where-ever he laboured before in this I think Antiquity is absolutely agreed that he at last came to be Bishop of Rome and was placed in that See by the express direction of one or both the Apostles S. Peter and S. Paul Tho' whom he succeeded or at what time to fix his entrance on that great Charge is a Point that I suppose will never be agreed upon among Learned Men. If any could have settled this matter beyond Dispute it had without question been done by those of our own Nation who as they have the latest searched with all possible Diligence into it so never were there any better qualified for the determination of it But as their mutual Disagreement after all their Endeavours to fix this Point shews that one of them must have been mistaken so I doubt not but it will sufficiently satisfie all such as shall consider the high Character they have so justly obtain'd both by their Learning and Judgment in these kind of Disquisitions that they are Points not to be determined and that he who shall do the best upon them may only be said to have made a good Guess in a Subject too hard for any at this distance to decide 8. NOR is there any less Controversie among Learned Men concerning the Death of S. Clement than there has been about the Order and Time of his Succession to his Bishoprick That he lived in expectation of Martyrdom and was ready to have undergone it should it have pleased God to have called him to it the Epistle we are now speaking of sufficiently shews us But that he did glorifie God by those particular Sufferings which some have pretended is I confess to me a matter of some doubt For first It must be acknowledged that Ruffinus is one of the first Authors we have that speaks of him as a Martyr Neither Eusebius who is usually very exact in his Observation of such things nor any of the Fathers yet nearer his time as Irenaeus Clemens Alexandrinus Tertullian c. take any notice of it And for the Account which some others have yet more lately given us of the manner of his Death besides that in some parts of it it is altogether fabulous it is not improbable but that as our Learned Mr. Dodwell has observed the first rise of it may have been owing to their confounding Flavius Clemens the Roman Consul with Clement Bishop of Rome Who did indeed suffer Martyrdom for the Faith about the Time of which they speak and some other parts of whose Character such as his Relation to the Emperour and Banishment into Pontus they manifestly ascribe to him 9. HOWEVER seeing Eusebius refers his Death to the third Year of Trajan famous for the Persecution of the Church and may thereby seem to insinuate that Clement also then suffered among the rest and that Simeon Metaphrastes has given a long and particular Account of his Condemnation to the Mines first and then of his Death following thereupon As I shall not determine any thing against it so they who are desirous to know what is usually said concerning the Passion of this Holy Man may abundantly satisfie their Curiosity in this particular from the accurate Collection of Dr. Cave in the Life of this Saint and which is too long to be transcribed into the present Discourse 10. AND this may suffice to have been observed in short concerning S. Clement himself As for the Epistle we are now speaking of to the Corinthians I have already taken notice how great a Value was put upon it in the most Primitive Ages of the Church and what a mighty Commendation has been left us of it by the Writers of those Times Nor indeed does it at all come short of the highest Praises which they have given to it being a Piece composed with such an admirable Spirit of Love and Charity Of Zeal towards God and of Concern for the Church of Christ Of the most excellent Exhortations deliver'd with the greatest Plainness and Simplicity of Speech and yet pressed many times with such moving Eloquence too that I cannot imagine what could have been desired in such an Epistle more proper for the End for which it was composed What could have been written more becoming an Apostolical Age and the Pen of one of the most eminent Bishops of it 11. BUT that it may be the better understood by those who shall now think fit to peruse it there are a few things which it will be necessary for me in this place to observe concerning it 12. AND the first is the Occasion that was given for the writing of this Epistle For however we have no particular Account what it was yet may we from the Subject of it give a very probable Guess at it When St. Paul wrote his First Epistle to the Corinthians the two great things that seem'd to have especially called for it were the Divisions of that Church upon the account of their Teachers and of their vain Conceit of their own Spiritual Gifts and the great Mistake that was getting in among them concerning the Nature of the future Resurrection But tho' the Apostle therefore by his Writing and Authority did for the present put a stop to the One and set them right as to the Other yet it seems after his Death they began again to fall not only
our Blessed Saviour and his Apostles But now Fifthly and to advance yet higher These Writers were not only thus qualified by these Ordinary means to deliver the Gospel of Christ to us but in all probability were endued with the Extraordinary Assistance of the Holy Spirit too So that what they teach us it not to be look'd upon as a mere traditionary Relation of what had been deliver'd to them but rather as an Authoritative Declaration of the Gospel of Christ to us tho' indeed as much inferior to that of the Apostles and Evangelists as their Gifts and Assistances were less than theirs 12. FOR 1 st That the Extraordinary Gifts of the Holy Spirit with which the Apostles were endued and which the Holy Scriptures themselves tell us were in those days distributed to Other Believers as well as unto Them continu'd still in the Church after their departure we have the express assurance of Justin Martyr one of the most ancient Writers after those I have here subjoyn'd to assure us They were communicated not only to Men but Women And that we may be sure he spake nothing in this matter but what he could undeniably have made out we find him boasting of it against Trypho the Jew and urging it as an unanswerable Argument in the Behalf of Christianity and against the Jews from whom these Gifts had a long time been departed And even in the Fathers whose Writings are here put together there appear sufficient Indications of the Continuance of these Extraordinary Powers 13. THIS St. Clement manifestly declares in his First Epistle to the Corinthians He tells us that some in that Church not only had such Gifts but were even proud and conceited upon the account of them Let a Man says he have Faith i. e. such a Faith by which he is able to work Miracles Let him be powerful to utter Mystical Knowledg for to that his Expression manifestly refers Let him be wise in discerning of Speeches Another Gift common in those Times But still says he by how much the more he seems to excel Others viz. upon the account of these extraordinary Endowments by so much the more will it behove him to be humble-minded and to seek what is profitable to all Men and not to his own Advantage And St. Ignatius not only supposes that such Gifts might be in Others but plainly intimates that he himself was endued with a large Portion of them 14. WHICH being so we cannot doubt 2 dly but that as it was most reasonable both the Apostles were careful to set those in the chiefest Places of Honour and Authority in their several Churches who were the most eminent for their Gifts And that God was also pleased to grant to such Persons a more than ordinary Portion of the Holy Spirit for the better discharge of those eminent Places to which they were called 15. CONCERNING the former of these we are told by St. Paul Acts vi that when the Apostles thought it necessary to establish a new Order of Ministers in the Church that might take care of those things which they who were of a higher Rank could not find Leisure to attend to tho' their Ministry were of the lowest Nature and which required much lesser Capacities in those who were to discharge it than theirs whose Business it was to Govern and Instruct the Church of Christ yet they particularly laid it down to the Brethren as one of the Qualifications that was to be required in Those whom they chose for that purpose that they should be Men well approved of full of the Holy Spirit and of Wisdom Vers. 3. And of One of them viz. St. Stephen it is particularly observed Vers. 8. That he was full of Faith and Power and did Signs and great Wonders among the People And when the Jews disputed against him we read Vers. 10. That they were not able to stand against the Wisdom and Spirit by which he spake 16. NOW if such were the Care which they took in the Choice of those who were to be admitted into the lowest Ministry of the Church We cannot doubt but that they were certainly much more careful not to admit any into the highest Rank of Honour and Authority in it but what were in a yet more eminent manner endued with the same Gifts Hence St. Clement tells us that The Apostles did prove by the Spirit the first Fruits of their Conversions and out of them set Bishops and Pastors over such as should believe And by which we must understand One of these Two things and very probably they were both meant by it Either that the Apostles made use of their own extraordinary Gift of the Spirit One Use of which was to discern and try the Spirits of Others in chusing Persons fitly qualified for the Work of the Ministry Or else that by the extraordinary Gifts of those whom they pitch'd upon they perceiv'd that they were worthy of such an Employ and therefore chose them out for it And the Other Clement yet more plainly speaks the same thing That St. John being returned from his Banishment in Patmos went about the Country near unto Ephesus both to form and settle Churches where he saw occasion and to admit into the Order of the Clergy such as were mark'd out to him by the Spirit 17. AND then for the Other thing observed It is clear that the very Imposition of Hands did in those days confer the Holy Spirit in an extraordinary manner upon Those who were ordain'd to the Ministry of the Gospel This St. Paul intimates in his First Epistle to Timothy Ch. iv 14 where he exhorts him to stir up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Gift i. e. the extraordinary Power of the Holy Spirit which says he is in thee by the Imposition of my hands 2 Tim. i. 6 And would you know how this Ceremony of setting him apart for such a Service came to endue him with such an extraordinary Power the same Apostle will tell you 1 Tim. iv 14 That it was given unto him by Prophecy with or through the Imposition of Hands upon him That is to say God who by his Prophets had before design'd and mark'd him out for that great Office 1 Tim. i. 18 upon the actual admission of him into it by the outward Rite of Laying on of Hands and upon the solemn Prayers that were then withal made for him did bestow the Gifts of his Blessed Spirit in an extraordinary manner upon him 18. NOW this as will it afford us just cause to conclude that those Holy Men whose Writings we have here collected were doubtless endued with a very large Portion of the extraordinary Gifts of the Holy Ghost Whether we consider the Frequency of those Endowments in the Age in which they lived Or the extraordinary Strictness and Piety of their Lives Or the Greatness of those Stations to which they were called in the Church Or lastly the Judgment which the Apostles who called them to those high
Offices were by the Spirit enabled to make of them So 3 dly If we look to those Accounts which still remain to us of them they will plainly shew us that they were endued and that in a very singular manner with this Power and Gift of the Blessed Spirit 19. OF Barnabas the Holy Scripture it self bears Witness that He was a good Man full of the Holy Ghost and of Faith Acts xi 24 Hermas is another of whom St. Paul himself makes mention Rom. xvi 14 as an early Convert to Christianity And what extraordinary Revelations he had and how he foretold the Troubles that were to come upon the Church his following Visions sufficiently declare 20 CLEMENT is not only spoken of by the same Apostle but with this advantageous Character too that he was the Fellow-Labourer of that great Man and had his Name written in the Book of Life Phil. iv 3 And when we shall consider to how much lesser and worser Men these Gifts were usually communicated at that time we can hardly think that so excellent a Man and the Companion of so great an Apostle employed first in the planting of the Gospel with him and then set to govern one of the most considerable Churches in the World should have been destitute of it 21. AS for St. Ignatius I have before observed that he had this Gift and by the help of it warned the Philadelphians against falling into those Divisions which he fore-saw were about to rise up amonst them 22. POLYCARP not only Prophecy'd of his own Death but spake often times of things that were to come And has this Witness from the whole Church of Smyrna that nothing of all that he foretold ever failed of coming to pass according to his Prediction 23. IT remains then that the Holy Men whose Writings are here subjoyn'd were not only instructed by such as were Inspir'd but were themselves Inspir'd too And therefore we must conclude that they have not only not mistaken the Mind of the Apostles in what they deliver to us as the Gospel of Christ but were not capable of doing of it By consequence that we ought to look upon their Writings tho' not of equal Authority with those which we call in a singular manner The Holy Scriptures because neither were the Authors of them called in so extraordinary a way to the writing of them nor endued with so eminent a Portion of the Gifts of the Blessed Spirit for the doing of it Nor have their Writings been judg'd by the common Consent of the Church in those inspir'd Ages of it when they were so much better qualified than we are now to judge of the Divine Authority of those kind of Writings to be of equal Dignity with those of the Apostles and Evangelists yet worthy of a much greater Respect than any Composures that have been made since however Men may seem to have afterwards written with more Art and to have shewn a much greater Stock of humane Learning than what is to be found not only in the following Pieces but even in the Sacred Books of the New Testament it self 24. I SHALL add but One Consideration more the better to shew the true Deference that ought to be paid to the Treatises here collected and that is Sixthly That they were not only written by such Men as I have said instructed by the Apostles and judg'd worthy by them both for their Knowledg and their Integrity to govern some of the most eminent Churches in the World and lastly endued with the extraordinary Gift of the Holy Ghost and upon all these Accounts to be much respected by us But were moreover received by the Church in those First Ages as Pieces of a very great value which could not be mistaken in its Judgment of them 25. THE Epistle of St. Clement was a long time read publickly with the Other Scriptures in the Congregations of the Faithful made a part of their Bible and was numbred among the Sacred Writings however finally separated from them And not only the Apostolical Canons but our most ancient Alexandrian Manuscript gives the same place to the Second that it do's to the First of them And Epiphanius after both tells us that they were both of them wont to be read in the Church in his Time 26. THE Epistle of St. Polycarp with that of the Church of Smyrna were not only very highly approved of by particular Persons but like those of St. Clement were read publickly too in the Assemblies of the Faithful And for those of Ignatius besides that we find a mighty Value put upon them by the Christians of those Times they are sealed to us by this Character of St. Polycarp That they are such Epistles by which we may be greatly profited For says he They treat of Faith and Patience and of all things that pertain to Edification in the LORD 27. THE Epistle of Barnabas is not only quoted with great Honour by those of the next Age to him but as I have before shewn is expresly called Catholick and Canonical And in the ancient Stichometry of Cotelerius we find it placed the very next to the Epistle of St. Jude and no difference put between the Authority of the One and of the Other 28. AND for the Book of Hermas both Eusebius and St. Jerome tell us that it was also used to be read in the Churches In the same Stichometry I before mentioned it is placed in the very next Rank to the Acts of the Holy Apostles And in some of the most ancient Manuscripts of the New Testament we find it written in the same Volume with the Books of the Apostles and Evangelists as if it had been esteem'd of the same Value and Authority with them 29. SO that now then we must either say that the Church in those days was so little careful of what was taught in it as to allow such Books to be publickly read in its Congregations the Doctrine whereof it did not approve Or we must confess that the following Pieces are deliver'd to us not only by the Learned Men of the First Ages of the Church but by the whole Body of the Faithful as containing the pure Doctrine of Christ and must be look'd upon to have nothing in them but what was then thought worthy of all Acceptation 30. NOW how much this adds to the Authority of these Discourses may easily be concluded from what I have before observed For since it is certain that in those Times the Extraordinary Gifts of the Holy Ghost were bestowed not only upon the Bishops and Pastors of the Church tho' upon them in a more eminent degree but also upon a great many of the common Christians too Since One particular Design of these Gifts was for the Discerning of Prophecies to judg of what was proposed by any to the Church or written for the Use and Benefit of it We cannot doubt but what was universally approved of and allow'd not by a few Learned Men but by
the whole Church in those days what was permitted to be publickly read to the Faithful for their Comfort and Instruction must by this means have received a more than Humane Approbation and ought to be look'd upon by us tho' not of Equal Authority with those Books which they have deliver'd to us as strictly Canonical yet as standing in the first Rank of Ecclesiastical Writings and as containing the true and pure Faith of Christ without the least Error intermix'd with it CHAP. XI Of the Subject of the following Discourses and of the Use that is to be made of Them That in the following Treatises there is deliver'd to us a good account both of the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church in the Apostolical Times This shewn in several particulars What they taught concerning God the Father our Saviour Christ and the Holy Ghost Of Angels and Spirits Of the rest of the Articles of the Apostles Creed Concerning the two Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper Of the Holy Scriptures and the Divine Authority of them What we meet with in these Treatises concerning the Government of the Church Of the Necessity of Communicating with the Bishops and Pastors of it Of Schismaticks Hereticks and Apostates Of their publick Assembling for the Service of God and what was done by them in those Meetings Of several other Instances of their Discipline particularly of their Fasting and Confession of Sins Of the Care which their Bishops had of the whole Church Of the Respect that was paid to them Of their Martyrs and the Veneration which they thought due to them Of their Practical Instructions and how severe their Morality was shewn in several particulars That upon the whole we may here see what the State of Christianity then was and still ought to be 1. AND now having shewn in the foregoing Chapter what Deference we ought to pay to the Authority of those Holy Men whose Writings I have here collected it may not be amiss in the Third place to enquire What it is which they deliver to us what account we find in them of the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church in those Times in which they lived 2. IT would be endless for me to go about to make a just Catalogue of all the Particulars of this kind that occur in the following Pieces and I have already in a great measure perform'd it in the Index which I have for that purpose subjoyn'd to them I shall therefore here consider only a few particulars in such Points as may seem most worthy to be remarked and by them as by a short Specimen shew How the Judicious Reader may himself improve it into a more particular History of the Faith and Practice of the Church in the best and most ancient State of it 3. AND 1 st for what concerns the Doctrines of those Times there is hardly any Point that is necessary to be believed or known by us that is not very plainly delivered in Some or Other of the following Pieces 4. HERE we may read what we are to believe concerning the first Article of all of our Creed God the Father That he is One Almighty Invisible the Creator and Maker of all things That he is Omniscient Immense Neither to be comprehended within any Bounds nor so much as to be perfectly conceived by us That his Providence is over all things And that we can none of us flee from him or escape his Knowledg That we are to believe in him to fear him to love him And fearing him to abstain from all Evil. 5. IF from thence we go on to the next Person of the Blessed Trinity Our Saviour Jesus Christ here we shall find all that either our Creed teaches us to profess concerning him or that any Christian need to believe That he Existed not only before he came into the World but from all Eternity That he is not only the Son of God but is himself also God That in the fulness of Time he took upon him our Nature and became Man Was born of the Virgin Mary was crucified under Pontius Pilate That he suffer'd for our Salvation and was raised again from the dead not only by the Power of the Father but by his Own also That he is our High-Priest and Protectour now and shall come again at the End of the World to judge the whole Race of Mankind That there is no coming unto God but by him Insomuch that even the Ancient Fathers who died before his Appearing are yet saved by the same means that we are now 6. AS for what concerns the Holy Spirit the Third Person in the Glorious Godhead he is here set out to us not only as a Person but as distinct from the Father and the Son And to shew what kind of Spirit he is We may here see him joyn'd together in the same Worship with the Father and our Saviour Jesus Christ. 7. AND now I am mentioning the Holy Spirit let me add that we may here see what is needful to be known concerning all the Other Spirits of an inferiour Nature How the Holy Angels minister unto us but especially then when we have most need of them at the time of our Death And that tho' the Devil may attacque us and use all his Arts to draw us away from our Duty yet it must be our own Faults if we are overcome by him and therefore that we ought not to be afraid of him 8. BUT to return to our Creed and the Articles of it Here we may farther see both what a great Obligation there lies upon us to keep up a Communion of Saints in the Unity of the Church on Earth and what is that true Fellowship that we ought to have with those who are gone before us to Heaven That it consists not in the Worship of any tho' never so gloriously exalted by God but in Love and Remembrance in Thanksgiving to God for their Excellencies and in our Prayers to him joyn'd with hearty Endeavours of our own to imitate their Perfections 9. AND whilst we do this we are here assured of the Forgiveness of our Sins too through the Merits and Satisfaction of Jesus Christ. And that not only of those which we committed before our Baptism but of all such as we shall chance to fall into after if we truly repent of them 10. AS for the next Point the Resurrection of the Body it is not only asserted but at large proved too in the following Discourses There we may see not only that there shall be a future Resurrection but that we shall be raised in the very same Bodies in which we go down into the Grave And that being raised we shall be judged by Christ according to our Works and be either unspeakably rewarded or exceedingly punished and that to all Eternity 11. IF from the Articles of our Creed we go on to the Sacraments of the Church Here we have set out to us the great Benefit of our Baptism and
belong to us continue in Sin least we also become Partakers of their evil Doings 31. HERE we are taught not only to have a care of our Words and Actions but of our very Thoughts and Desires Which must not only not be indulged in any Instances of Sin but not be suffer'd if it be possible to wander on any thing that is in the least measure wanton or irregular 32. IF we will hearken to these Holy Men we must learn not only to do the Will of God but if it be his Pleasure to endure patiently whatever he shall send upon us We must consider that Troubles and Afflictions are not only sent upon us to punish us for our Sins but as Monitors too to draw us off from them 33. TO convince us the more effectually of this We are here shewn the mighty Danger of Riches especially where Mens Hearts are in any degree set upon them and how very hardly such Persons shall be saved We are taught what Use we should make of our Abundance that so it may not prove a Snare to us But especially we are shewn the great Advantage of Alms-giving to this End and what mighty Engagements there lie upon us to the Practice of it 34. AND then as for our Lives We are here told that a Christian must not only be Good but Exemplary He must shew the Truth of his Profession by a suitable Conversation and be known by his Actions rather than by his Words 35. HE must pray for all Men even for his very Enemies nay for the very Enemies of the Church for Hereticks and Schismaticks for those of whom there is but little Hope that they will ever come to Repentance or that God will give them Grace so to do 36. HE must be kind and charitable to all Men free from Envy and Contention He must neither raise any Differences among his Brethren nor follow any in the doing of it To this End he must carefully observe those Duties which relate to his Neighbour as well as those he is to pay to God He must obey Magistrates must respect the Aged must have a due Regard to all Men. Is he a Husband a Parent or a Child He must then be sure to exercise himself in the several Duties becoming those several Relations In short In the following Writings we may see in all the Parts of our Duty towards God our Neighbour and our Selves what we are to do and what to avoid And are assured that God both sees all our Actions now and will reward or punish us for them hereafter to all Eternity 37. AND thus have I given a short Prospect of what is more largely contain'd in the following Collection I need not say either how useful a Variety of Matter it is or how worthy to be known by all of us But sure I am whosoever shall take the pains impartially to compare what is here found with the Sacred Writings of the New Testament may be able both with Clearness and Certainty to understand whatever is requisite to his Eternal Salvation And that with much more Satisfaction and Security too than from many Volumes of our later Writers who for the most part spend a great deal of Time and take much Pains to Obscure rather than Explain the most easie and intelligible Points of our Religion CHAP. XII Of the Manner after which these Discourses are written And the Simplicity of Stile used in them That the Writers of those Times used no Affectation of Humane Eloquence but deliver'd themselves with the greatest Plainness that they were able This manner of Writing the best and most proper for Instruction A short Account of the Occasion of the present Collection and the Translation that is here made of the following Treatises 1. THERE is yet one thing to be observed by me with Reference to the Discourses here subjoyn'd and that is Fourthly concerning the Manner after which they are written and that true primitive Simplicity which appears in all the parts of them 2. IT is one Property of Truth that as it do's not need any Disguises so neither does it seek any vain Ornaments of Humane Eloquence to recommend it self to the Approbation of those to whom it is tender'd When the Apostles preach'd the Gospel to the World they did it not with Excellency of Speech nor with enticing Words of Mans Wisdom but in the demonstration of Spirit and of Power They gave such convincing Proofs of their Divine Mission as forced all indifferent Persons to acknowledg their Authority And they thought it after that too mean a thing to endeavour to catch Mens Ears when without any such Arts they had before captivated their Reason and forced them to confess the Truth of what they deliver'd 3. AND the same was the Method of those Holy Fathers who succeeded them They knew the Excellency of their Doctrine and the mighty Influence which the Revelations it made of the Future State would be sure to have upon the Minds of all considering Men And therefore they contented themselves to lay these things before them in a plain and simple manner and with such an affected Sincerity as is beyond all the highest Rhetorick in the World 4. LET not then the Reader be surprised if in the following Discourses he meets with none of those Ornaments that are wont to recommend the Writings of Others to his perusal But rather let him consider that he has here to do with Men who were above such a Care Their business was to instruct not to please to speak to Mens Hearts and Consciences not to their Fancies And they knew that this is evermore best done by a plain and unaffected Discourse by solid Rules and substantial Motives not by vain Words which if they satisfie a Man at the present yet seldom leave any lasting Impression behind them 5. BUT of the Authors of the following Treatises and of the Discourses themselves I have said enough perhaps too much Tho' yet I think no more than what was necessary to prepare the English Reader for whom I am now chiefly concern'd to a useful perusal of them As for the present Collection I shall only say thus much that it is the first of this kind that was ever set forth in our own Language nor were the greatest part of the following Pieces ever that I know of before translated into it 6. I CONFESS when I consider the great Usefulness of such a Work and the high Esteem which not only the Ancient Fathers but the most Learned of all Ages have had of the Treatises here collected together I have sometimes wondered that among so many things as have of late been brought into the English Tongue none has yet hitherto undertaken such a Task as this But when I came to the Tryal I soon found out what may perhaps have been one reason of it Since could I have foreseen the Difficulty of the Work I much question whether I should ever have been persuaded to go about
all that he is in great Honour and Renown with God and is a Prince of great Authority and Powerful in his Office To him only is the Power of Repentance committed throughout the whole World Do's he not seem to thee to be of great Authority But ye despise his Goodness and the Modesty which he shews towards you II. I SAID unto him Sir Ask him since the time that he came into my House whether I have done any thing disorderly or have offended him in any thing I know said he that thou hast done nothing disorderly neither wilt thou hereafter do any thing and therefore I speak these things with thee that thou mayst persevere for he has given me a good Account concerning thee But thou shalt speak these things to others that they who either have repented or shall repent may be of the same opinion with thee and he may give me as good an Account of them also and I may do the same unto the LORD I answer'd Sir I declare to all Men the wonderful Works of God And I hope that all who love them and have before sinned when they shall hear these things will willingly repent and so recover Life Continue therefore said he in this Ministry and perfect it And whosoever shall fulfil the Commands of this Shepherd shall live and shall have great Honour both here and with the LORD But they that shall not keep his Commands flee from their Life and are Adversaries unto it And they that follow not his Commands shall deliver themselves unto Death and every one shall be guilty of his own Bloud But I say unto thee keep these Commandments and thou shalt find a Cure for all thy Sins III. MOREOVER I have sent these Virgins to dwell with thee for I have seen that they are very kind to thee Thou shalt therefore have them for thy Helpers that thou mayst the better keep the Commands which have been given thee for these Commands cannot be kept without these Virgins And thou seest how they are willing to be with thee and I will also command them that they shall not at all depart from thy House Only do thou purifie thy House for they will readily dwell in a clean House For they are Clean and Chast and Industrious and all of them have Grace with the LORD If therefore thou shalt have thy House pure they will abide with thee But if it shall be never so little polluted they will immediately depart from thy House for these Virgins cannot endure any manner of Pollution I said unto him Sir I hope that I shall so please them that they shall always delight to dwell in my House And as he to whom you have committed me makes no Complaint of me so neither shall they complain Then he said to that Shepherd I see that the Servant of God will live and keep these Commandments and place these Virgins in a pure Habitation When he had said this he delivered me again to that Shepherd and called the Virgins and said unto them Forasmuch as I see that ye will readily dwell in this Mans House I commend him and his House to you that ye may not at all depart from his House And they willingly heard these Words IV. THEN he said unto me Go on Manfully in thy Ministry Declare to all Men the great things of God and thou shalt find Grace in this Ministry And whosoever shall walk in these Commands shall live and be happy in his Life But he that shall neglect them shall not live and shall be unhappy in his Life Say unto all that whosoever can do what is right cease not to exercise themselves in good Works For I would that all Men should be delivered from the Inconveniences they lie under For he that wants and suffers Inconveniences in his daily Life is in great Torment and Necessity Whosoever therefore delivers such a Soul from Necessity gets great Joy unto himself For he that is grieved with such Inconveniences is equally tormented as if he were in Chains And many upon the Account of such Calamities being not able to bear them have chosen even to destroy themselves He therefore that knows the Calamity of such a Man and do's not free him from it commits a great Sin and is guilty of his Bloud Wherefore exercise your selves in Good Works as many as have received Ability from the LORD least whilst ye delay to do them the Building of the Tower be finish'd because for your sakes the Building is stopp'd Except therefore ye shall make haste to do well the Tower shall be finish'd and ye shall have no place in it And after he had thus spoken with me he rose up from the Bed and departed taking the Shepherd and Virgins with him Howbeit he said unto me that he would send back the Shepherd and Virgins unto my House Amen The Second EPISTLE OF St. CLEMENT TO THE Corinthians THE CONTENTS Chap. I. THAT we ought to entertain a Worthy Opinion of our Salvation And to do the utmost of what in us lies to express the Value we put upon it by a sincere Obedience to our Saviour Christ and his Gospel II. That God had before prophecy'd by Isaiah that the Gentiles should be saved III IV. That this ought to engage such especially to be very careful to live well without which they will still miscarry V. That whilst we secure to our selves the Favour of God and the Reward of the other World we need not fear what can befal us in this VI. That we cannot serve God and Mammon Nor if we follow the Interests of this present World is it possible for us to escape the Punishment of the Other VII The Consideration of which ought to bring us to Repentance and Holiness VIII And that presently knowing that now whilst we are in this World is the only time for Repentance IX We shall rise and be Judged in those Bodies in which we now are therefore we must live well in them X. That we ought as we value our own Interests to live well however few seem to mind what really is for their Advantage XI And not deceive our selves with any vain Imaginations as if no Punishment should remain for us if we do Evil or Good happen to us hereafter if we behave our selves as we ought to do Seeing God will certainly judge us and render to all of us according to our Works and how soon this may be we can none of us tell The Second EPISTLE OF St. CLEMENT TO THE Corinthians I. BRETRHEN we ought so to think of Jesus Christ as of GOD as of the Judge of the Living and the Dead Nor should we think any less of our Salvation For if we think meanly of it we shall hope only to receive some small Benefit by it And if we shall do so we shall sin not considering from whence we have been called and by whom and to what place and how