and circumstances of it as will easily appear if we consider what care they had about the place time persons and both the matter and manner of that Worship that they performed to God under each of which we shall take notice of what is most considerable and does most properly relate to it so far as the Records of those times give us an account of it Place is an inseparable circumstance of Religious Worship for every body by the natural necessity of its being requires some determinate place either for rest or motion now the Worship of God being in a great part an external action especially when performed by the joint concurrence of several persons does not only necessarily require a place but a place conveniently capacious of all that join together in the same publick actions of Religion This reason put all Nations even by the light of Nature upon erecting publick places for the honour of their gods and for their own conveniency in meeting together to pay their religious services and devotions But my present enquiry reaches no farther than the Primitive Christians not whether they met together for the discharge of their common duties which I suppose none can doubt of but whether they had Churches fixed and appropriate places for the joint performance of their publick offices And that they had even in those early times will I think be beyond all dispute if we take but a short survey of those first Ages of Christianity in the sacred Story we find some more than probable footsteps of some determinate places for their solemn conventions and peculiar only to that use Of this nature was that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Vpper Room into which the Apostles and Disciples after their return from the ascension of our Saviour went up as into a place commonly known and separate to that use there by fasting and prayer to make choice of a new Apostle and this supposed by a very ancient tradition to have been the same room wherein our Saviour the night before his death celebrated the Passover with his Disciples and instituted the Lords Supper Such a one if not which I rather think the same was that one place wherein they were all assembled with one accord upon the day of Pentecost when the Holy Ghost visibly came down upon them and this the rather because the multitude and they too strangers of every Nation under heaven came so readily to the place upon the first rumour of so strange an accident which could hardly have been had it not been commonly known to be the place where the Christians used to meet together and this very learned men take to be the meaning of that Act. 2. 46. they continued daily with one accord in the Temple and breaking bread 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not as we render it from house to house but at home as 't is in the margin or in the house they ate their meat with gladness and singleness of heart i.e. when they had performed their daily devotions at the Temple at the accustomed hours of prayer they used to return home to this Vpper Room there to celebrate the holy Eucharist and then go to their ordinary meals this seems to be a clear and unforc'd interpretation and to me the more probable because it immediately follows upon their assembling together in that one place at the day of Pentecost which Room is also called by the same name of house at the second Verse of that Chapter and 't is no ways unlikely as M. Mede conjectures but that when the first Believers sold their Houses and Lands and laid the money at the Apostles feet to supply the necessities of the Church some of them might give their houses at least some eminent Room in them for the Church to meet and perform their sacred duties which also may be the reason why the Apostles writing to particular Christians speaks so often of the Church that was in their house which seems clearly to intimate not so much the particular persons of any private Family living together under the same band of Christian discipline as that in such or such a house and more especially in this or that room of it there was the constant and solemn convention of the Christians of that place for their joynt celebration of divine Worship And this will be farther cleared by that famous passage of S. Paul where taxing the Corinthians for their irreverence and abuse of the Lords Supper one greedily eating before another and some of them to great excess What says he have you not houses to eat and to drink in or despise ye the Church of God Where that by Church is not meant the Assembly meeting but the place in which they used to assemble is evident partly from what went before for their coming together in the Church verse 18. is expounded by their coming together into one place verse 20. plainly arguing that the Apostle meant not the persons but the place partly from the opposition which he makes between the Church and their own private houses if they must have such irregular Banquets they had houses of their own where 't was much fitter to do it and to have their ordinary repast than in that place which was set apart for the common exercises of Religion and therefore ought not to be dishonoured by such extravagant and intemperate feastings for which cause he enjoins them in the close of that Chapter that if any man hunger he should eat at home And that this place was always thus understood by the Fathers of old were no hard matter to make out as also by most learned men of later times of which it shall suffice to intimate two of our own men of great name and learning who have done it to great satisfaction Thus stood the case during the Apostles times for the Ages after them we find that the Christians had their fixed and definite places of Worship especially in the second Century as had we no other evidence might be made good from the testimony of the Authour of that Dialogue in Lucian if not Lucian himself of which I see no great cause to doubt who lived under the Reign of Trajan and who expresly mentions that House or Room wherein the Christians were wont to assemble together And Clemens in his famous Epistle to the Corinthians assures us that Christ did not only appoint the times when the persons by whom but the places where he would be solemnly served and worshipped And Justin Martyr expresly affirms that upon Sunday all Christians whether in Town or Country used to assemble together in one place which could hardly be done had not that place been fixed and setled the same we find afterwards in several places of Tertullian who speaks of their coming into the Church and the House of God which he elsewhere calls the House of our Dove i.e. our innocent and Dove-like Religion and
and in the case of persecution he tells Fabius that if they could not celebrate Dominica solennia their Lords-Day Solemnities in the day time they had the night sufficiently clear with the light of Christ This gave occasion to their spightful Adversaries to calumniate and asperse them the Heathen in Minucius charges them with their night-Congregations upon which account they are there scornfully called latebrosa lucifugax natio an obscure and skulking Generation and the very first thing that Celsus objects is that the Christians had private and clancular Assemblies or Combinations to which Origen answers that if it were so they might thank them for it who would not suffer them to exercise it more openly that the Christian Doctrine was sufficiently evident and obvious and better known through the world than the opinion and sentiments of their best Philosophers and that if there were some mysteries in the Christian Religion which were not communicated to every one 't was no other thing than what was common in the several Sects of their own Philosophy But to return They looked upon the Lords-Day as a time to be celebrated with great expressions of joy as being the happy memory of Christs resurrection and accordingly restrained whatever might savour of sorrow and sadness fasting on that day they prohibited with the greatest severity accounting it utterly unlawful as Tertullian informs us It was a very bitter censure that of Ignatius or whoseever that Epistle was for certainly it was not his that who ever fasts on a Lords-Day is a murderer of Christ however 't is certain that they never fasted on those days no not in the time of Lent it self nay the Montanists though otherwise great pretenders to fasting and mortification did yet abstain from it on the Lords-day And as they accounted it a joyful and good day so they did what ever they thought might contribute to the honour of it No sooner was Constantine come over to the Church but his principal care was about the Lords-day he commanded it to be solemnly observed and that by all persons whatsoever he made it to all a day of rest that men might have nothing to do but to worship God and be better instructed in the Christian Faith and spend their whole time without any thing to hinder them in prayer and devotion according to the custom and discipline of the Church and for those in his Army who yet remained in their Paganism and infidelity he commanded them upon Lords-days to go out into the Fields and there pour out their souls in hearty prayers to God and that none might pretend their own inability to the duty he himself composed and gave them a short form of prayer which he enjoin'd them to make use of every Lords-Day so careful was he that this day should not be dishonoured or mis-imployed even by those who were yet strangers and enemies to Christianity He moreover ordained that there should be no Courts of Judicature open upon this day no Suits or Tryals at Law but that for any works of mercy such as the emancipating and setting free of Slaves or Servants this might be done That there should be no Suits nor demanding debts upon this day was confirmed by several Laws of succeeding Emperours and that no Arbitrators who had the Umpirage of any business lying before them should at that time have power to determine or take up litigious causes penalties being entail'd upon any that transgressed herein Theodosius the Great anno 386. by a second Law ratified one which he had passed long before wherein he expresly prohibited all publick Shews upon the Lords-Day that the worship of God might not be confounded with those prophane Solemnities This Law the younger Theodosius some few years after confirmed and enlarged enacting that on the Lords day and some other Festivals there mentioned not only Christians but even Jews and Heathens should be restrained from the pleasure of all Sights and Spectacles and the Theatres be shut up in every place and whereas it might so happen that the Birth-day or inauguration of the Emperour might fall upon that day therefore to let the people know how infinitely he preferred the honour of God before the concerns of his own majesty and greatness he commanded that if it should so happen that then the imperial Solemnity should be put off and deferred till another day I shall take notice but of one instance more of their great observance of this day and that was their constant attendance upon the Solemnities of publick Worship they did not think it enough to read and pray and praise God at home but made conscience of appearing in the publick Assemblies from which nothing but sickness and absolute necessity did detain them and if sick or in prison or under banishment nothing troubled them more than that they could not come to Church and join their devotions to the common Services If persecution at any time forced them to keep a little close yet no sooner was there the least mitigation but they presently returned to their open duty and publickly met all together No trivial pretences no light excuses were then admitted for any ones absence from the Congregation but according to the merit of the cause severe censures were passed upon them The Synod of Illiberis provided that if any man dwelling in a City where usually Churches were nearest hand should for three Lords Days absent himself from the Church he should for some time be suspended the Communion that he might appear to be corrected for his fault They allowed no separate Assemblies no Congregations but what met in the publick Church if any man took upon him to make a breach and to draw people into corners he was presently condemned and a sutable penalty put upon him When Eustathius Bishop of Sebastia a man petending to great strictness and austerity of life began to cast off the Discipline of the Church and to introduce many odd observations of his own amongst others to contemn Priests that were married to fast on the Lords day and to keep meetings in private houses drawing away many but especially women as the Historian observes who leaving their Husbands were led away with errour and from that into great filthiness and impurity No sooner did the Bishops of those parts discover it but meeting in Council at Gangra the Metropolis of Paphlagonia about the year 340. they condemned and cast them out of the Church passing these two Canons among the rest If any one shall teach that the House of God is to be despised and the assemblies that are held in it let him be accursed If any shall take upon him out of the Church privately to preach at home and making light of the Church shall do those things that belong only to the Church without the presence of the Priest and the leave and allowance of the Bishop let him be accursed
advice in the cause that to do as he did When I come to Rome said he I fast on the Saturday as they do at Rome when I am here I do not fast So likewise you to whatsoever Church you come observe the custom of that place if you mean not either to give or take offence With this answer he satisfied his Mother and ever after when he thought of it looked upon it as an Oracle sent from Heaven So that even in Italy the Saturday Fast was not universally observed Nay a very learned man and a Bishop of the Roman Church thinks it highly probable that for the first Ages especially Saturday was no more kept as a Fast at Rome than in the Churches of the East though the great argument whereby he would establish it viz. because some Latine Churches who must needs follow the pattern of the Church of Rome did not keep it so is very infirm and weak and needs no more than that very instance of the Church of Millain to refute it which though under the Popes nose did not yet keep that day as a Fast although this was many years after it had been so established and observed at Rome And now that I am got into this business I shall once for all dispatch the matter about their Fasts before I proceed to their other Festivals 'T is certain the ancient Christians had two sorts of solemn Fasts weekly and annual Their weekly Fasts called Jejunia quartae sextae seriae were kept upon Wednesdays and Fridays appointed so as we are told for this reason because on Wednesday our Lord was betrayed by Judas on Friday he was crucified by the Jews This custom Epiphanius how truly I know not refers to the Apostles and elsewhere tells us that those days were observed as Fasts through the whole world These Fasts they called their Stations not because they stood all the while but by an allusion to the military Stations and keeping their Guards as Tertullian observes they kept close at it and they usually lasted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Epiphanius informs us till the ninth hour i. e. till three of the Clock in the Afternoon at which time having ended their Fast devotions they received the Eucharist and then broke up the Station and went home whence it is that Tertullian calls them stationum semijejunia the half Fasts of Stations and he seems to censure the practice of some who having privately resolved upon an entire Fast of the whole day refused to receive the Eucharist at the publick stationary Fasts because they thought that by eating and drinking the sacramental Elements they put a period to their fasting for it was usual in those times with many after the stationary Fasts were ended to continue and hold on the Fast until the evening The Historian tells us that it had been a very ancient custom in the Church of Alexandria upon these days to have the Scriptures read and expounded and all other parts of Divine Service except the celebration of the Sacrament and that it was chiefly in those days that Origen was wont to teach the people whether the omitting of the Sacrament then might be a peculiar custom to that Church I know not certain I am 't was upon those days administred in other places So S. Basil enumerating the times how oft they received it every week expresly puts Wednesday and Friday into the number The remains of these primitive Stations are yet observed in our Church at this day which by her 15. Canon has ordained That though Wednesdays and Fridays be not holy days yet that weekly upon those times Minister and People shall resort to Church at the accustomed hours of prayer Their Annual Fast was that of Lent by way of preparation to the Feast of our Saviours Resurrection this though not in the modern use of it was very ancient though far from being an◠Apostolical Canon as a learned Prelate of our Church has fully proved From the very first Age of the Christian Church 't was customary to fast before Easter but for how long it was variously observed according to different times and places some fasting so many days others so many weeks and some so many days on each week and 't is most probably thought that it was at first stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Quadragesima not because 't was a Fast of forty days but of forty hours begun about twelve on Friday the time of our Saviours falling under the power of death and continued till Sunday morning the time of his rising from the dead Afterwards it was enlarged to a longer time drawn out into more days and then weeks till it came to three and at last to six or seven weeks But concerning the different observations of it in several places let them who desire to know more consult Socrates and Sozomen who both speak enough about it This Quadragesimal Fast was kept in those times with great piety and Religion people generally applying themselves with all seriousness to acts of penance and mortification whence Chrysostom calls Lent the remedy and Physick of our souls and to the end that the observation of it might be more grave and solemn Theodosins M. and his Colleague Emperours passed two Laws that during the time of Lent all Process and enquiry into criminal actions should be suspended and no corporal punishments inflicted upon any it being unfit as the second of those Laws expresses it that in the holy time of Lent the body should suffer punishment while the soul is expecting absolution But with what care soever they kept the preceeding parts 't is certain they kept the close of it with a mighty strictness and austerity I mean the last week of it that which immediately preceded the Feast of Easter this they consecrated to more peculiar acts of prayer abstinence and devotion and whereas in the other parts of Lent they ended their fast in the evening in this they extended it to the Cock-crowing or first glimpse of the morning to be sure they ended it not before midnight for to break up the Fast before that time was accounted a piece of great prophaneness and intemperance as Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria determines in a Letter to Basilides wherein he largely and learnedly states the case This was the Hebdomada Magna the great or holy week so called says Chrysostom not that it has either more hours or days in it than other weeks but because this is the week in which truly great and ineffable good things were purchased for us within this time death was conquered the curse destroyed the Devils tyranny dissolved his instruments broken Heaven opened Angels rejoyced the partition-wall broken down and God and man reconciled For this cause we call it the great week for this cause men fast and watch and do Alms to do the greater honour to it
the richest and most noble gifts and to diffuse the influences of his bounty over all parts of his Empire And his example herein it seems was followed by most of his Successors who used upon this Solemnity by their imperial Orders to release all Prisoners unless such as were in for more heavy and notorious crimes high Treason Murders Rapes Incest and the like And Chrysostom tells us of a Letter of Theodosius the Great sent at this time throughout the Empire wherein he did not only command that all Prisoners should be released and pardoned but wished he was able to recal those that were already executed and to restore them to life again And because by the negligence and remissness of messengers or any accident those Imperial Letters might sometimes happen to come too late therefore Valentinian the younger provided by a standing Law that whether order came or not the Judges should dispence the accustomed indulgence and upon Easter day in the morning cause all Prisons to be open the Chains to be knock'd off and the persons set at liberty The next Feast considerable in those primitive times was that of Whitsunday or Pentecost a Feast of great eminency amongst the Jews in memory of the Law delivered at Mount Sinai at that time and for the gathering and bringing in of their Harvest and of no less note amongst Christians for the Holy Ghosts descending upon the Apostles and other Christians in the visible appearance of fiery cloven tongues which hapned upon that day and those miraculous powers then conferred upon them It was observed with the same respect to Easter that the Jews did with respect to their Passover viz. as the word imports just fifty days after it reckoning from the second day of that Festival it seems to some to have commenced from the first rise of Christianity not only because the Apostles and the Church were assembled upon that day but because S. Paul made so much haste to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost which they understand of his great desire to keep it there as a Christian Feast But the argument seems to me no way conclusive for the Apostle might desire to be there at that time both because he was sure to meet with a great number of the Brethren and because he should have a fitter opportunity to preach the Gospel to the Jews who from all parts flock'd thither to the Feast as our Saviour himself for the same reason used to go up to Jerusalem at all their great and solemn Feasts But however this was 't is certain the observation of it is ancient 't was mentioned by Irenaeus in a Book which he wrote concerning Easter as the Author of the Questions and Responses in J. Martyr tells us by Tertullian and after him by Origen more than once This Feast is by us stiled Whitsunday partly because of those vast diffusions of light and knowledge which upon this day were shed upon the Apostles in order to the enlightning of the world but principally because this as also Easter being the stated time for Baptism in the ancient Church those who were baptized put on white Garments in token of that pure and innocent course of life they had now engaged in of which more in its proper place this white Garment they wore till the next Sunday after and then laid it aside whence the Octave or Sunday after Easter came to be stiled Dominica in Albis the Sunday in white it being then that the new-baptized put off their white Garments We may observe that in the Writers of those times the whole space of fifty days between Easter and Whitsunday goes often under the name of Pentecost and was in a manner accounted Festival as Tertullian informs us and the forty third Canon of the Illiberitan Council seems to intimate During this whole time Baptism was conferred all Fasts were suspended and counted unlawful they prayed standing as they did every Lords day and at this time read over the Acts of the Apostles wherein their sufferings and miracles are recorded as we learn from a Law of the younger Theodosius wherein this custom is mentioned and more plainly from S. Chrysostom who treats of it in an Homily on purpose where he gives this reason why that Book which contained those actions of the Apostles which were done after Pentecost should yet be read before it when as at all other times those parts of the Gospel were read which were proper to the season because the Apostles miracles being the grand confirmation of the truth of Christs Resurrection and those miracles recorded in that Book it was therefore most proper to be read next to the Feast of the Resurrection Epiphany succeeds this word was of old promiscuously used either for the Feast of Christs Nativity or for that which we now properly call by that name afterwards the Titles became distinct that of Christs Birth or as we now term it Christmas-day was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Nativity and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the appearance of God in the flesh two names importing the same thing as Nazianzen notes For the antiquity of it the first footsteps I find of it are in the second Century though I doubt not but it might be celebrated before mentioned by Theophilus Bishop of Caesaria about the time of the Emperour Commodus but if any credit might be given to the Decretal Epistles it was somewhat elder than that Pope Telesphorus who lived under Antoninus Pius ordaining Divine Service to be celebrated and an angelical Hymn to be sung the night before the Nativity of our Saviour However that it was kept before the times of Constantine we have this sad instance That when the persecution raged under Dioclesian who then kept his Court at Nicomedia amongst other acts of barbarous cruelty done there finding multitudes of Christians young and old met together in the Temple upon the day of Christs Nativity to celebrate that Festival he commanded the Church doors to be shut up and fire to be put to it which in a short time reduced them and the Church to ashes I shall not dispute whether it was always observed upon the same day that we keep it now the twenty fifth of December it seems probable that for a long time in the East it was kept in January under the name and at the general time of the Epiphania till receiving more light in the case from the Churches of the West they changed it to this day sure I am S. Chrysostom in an Homily on purpose about this very thing affirms that it was not above ten years since in that Church i. e. Antioch it began first to be observed upon that day and there offers several reasons to prove that to be the true day of Christs Nativity The Feast of Epiphany properly so called was kept on the sixth of January and had that name from a
also orthodox in the Faith This became matter of great bustle in the Church hence sprang that famous controversie between Cyprian and Stephen Bishop of Rome concerning the re-baptizing those that had been baptized by Hereticks of which there is so much in Cyprians Writings Cyprian asserting that they ought to be re-baptized the other as stifly maintaining it to be both against the doctrine and practice of the Church This begot great heats and feuds between those good men and engaged a great part of the whole Christian Church in the quarrel Cyprian endeavouring to strengthen his cause not only by arguments from Scripture but by calling a Council at Carthage of eighty seven African Bishops who all concluded for his opinion How truly Cyprian maintained this I am not concerned to enquire only I take notice of two things which he and his Followers pleaded by way of abatement to the rigour of their opinion First that hereby they did not assert re-baptization to be lawful this they expresly deny to receive any patronage from their practice for they looked upon that baptism that had been conferred by Hereticks as null and invalid seeing Hereticks being out of the Church could not give what they had not and therefore when any returned to the union of the Church they could not properly be said to be re-baptized seeing they did but receive what lawfully they had not before Secondly that they did not promiscuously baptize all that came over from heretical Churches for where any had been lawfully baptized by Orthodox Ministers before their going over to them these they received at their return without any other Ceremony than imposition of hands baptizing those only who never had any other baptism than that which Hereticks had conferred upon them Cyprian being thus severe against baptism dispensed by heretical Ministers we may wonder what he thought of that which was administred by meer lay-unordained persons which yet was not uncommon in those times for that Lay-men provided they were Christians and baptized themselves might and did baptize others in cases of necessity is so positively asserted by Tertullian Hierom and others that no man can doubt of it A custom ratified by the Fathers of the Illiberine Council with this proviso that if the persons so baptized lived they should receive confirmation from the Bishop This without question arose from an opinion they had of the absolute and indispensable necessity of Baptism without which they scarce thought a mans future condition could be safe and that therefore 't was better it should be had from any than to depart this life without it for excepting the case of Martyrs whom they thought sufficiently qualified for heaven by being baptized in their own blood insisting upon a twofold Baptism one of water in time of peace another of blood in the time of persecution answerable to the water and blood that flowed out of our Saviours side excepting these they reckoned no man could be saved without being baptized and cared not much in cases of necessity so they had it how they came by it As for that act of Athanasius mentioned by the Author of his life in Photius and more largely related by Sozomen when a Boy playing with the rest of his Companions they formed themselves into a kind of Church-society Athanasius was chosen Bishop and others personated the Catechumens ready to be baptized and were accordingly with all the usual formalities baptized by Athanasius This juvenile Ceremony being ended they were brought before Alexander the then Bishop of Alexandria who had himself beheld the whole scene who enquiring into the reasons and circumstances of the action and having consulted with his Clergy that were about him concluded that those Children ought not to be rebaptized and therefore only added his confirmation to them But this being only a particular case and the like not mentioned that I remember by any Writer of those times I only relate it as I find it But though this power in cases of necessity was allowed to men who were capable of having the ministerial office conferred upon them yet was it ever denied to women whom the Apostle has so expresly forbidden to exercise any ministry in the Church of God and accordingly censured in the Apostolical Constitutions to be not only dangerous but unlawful and impious Indeed in the Churches of the Hereticks women even in those times took upon them to baptize but it was universally condemned and cried out against by the Orthodox and constantly affixed as a note of dishonour and reproach upon the heretical parties of those times as abundantly appears from Tertullian Epiphanius and others who records the heretical doctrines and practices of those first Ages of the Church however afterwards it crept in in some places and is allowed and practised in the Church of Rome at this day where in cases of necessity they give leave that it may be administred by any and in any language whether the person administring be a Clergie or a Lay-man yea though under excommunication whether he be a Believer or an Infidel a Catholick or an Heretick a man or a woman only taking care that if it may be a Priest be preferred before a Deacon a Deacon before a Subdeacon a Clergie man before a Laic and a man before a woman together with some other cases which are there wisely provided for From the persons ministring we proceed to the persons upon whom it was conferred and they were of two sorts Infants and adult persons how far the baptizing of Infants is included in our Saviours institution is not my work to dispute but certainly if in controverted cases the constant practice of the Church and those who immediately succeeded the Apostles be as no man can deny it is the best interpreter of the Laws of Christ the dispute one would think should be at an end for that it always was the custom to receive the Children of Christian Parents into the Church by Baptism we have sufficient evidence from the greatest part of the most early Writers Irenaeus Tertullian Origen Cyprian c. whose testimonies I do not produce because I find them collected by others and the argument thence so forcible and conclusive that the most zealous opposers of Infant Baptism know not how to evade it the testimonies being so clear and not the least shadow that I know of in those times of any thing to make against it There was indeed in Cyprians time a controversie about the baptizing of Infants not whether they ought to be baptized for of that there was no doubt but concerning the time when it was to be administred whether on the second or third or whether as Circumcision of old to be deferred till the eighth day for the determining of which Cyprian sitting in Council with sixty six Bishops writes a Synodical Epistle to Fidus to let him know that it was not
in the Ages either before or since the Divine Providence doubtless permitting it to be so that by this means there might be a fairer occasion of commending Christianity to the world and there is nothing which we more commonly meet with in the Writings of the ancient Fathers than testimonies concerning their triumphant power over evil spirits Justin Martyr discoursing of the end of Christ's coming into the world for the salvation of men and the subversion of Devils tells the Senate that these things are so you may know by what is done before your eyes for many that were possessed by Devils throughout the whole world and even in this City of yours whom all your Inchanters Sorcerers and Conjurers were not able to cure many of us Christians adjuring them by the name of Jesus Christ who was crucified under Pontius Pilate have perfectly cured and do still cure disarming and driving out of men those Daemons that had seized upon them and the same he affirms more than once and again in his discourse with Trypho the Jew Ironaeus arguing against the Hereticks tells us that the true Disciples of Christ did in his name many strange things for the good of others according as every one had received his gift some so signally expelling Devils that those out of whom they were cast came over to the Faith others foretelling future events others curing men of the most grievous distempers by putting their hands upon them and restoring them to their former health many that have been raised from the dead and afterwards lived many years amongst us and indeed innumerable says he are the gifts which God has every where bestowed upon his Church whereby in the name of the crucified Jesus many and great miracles are daily done to the great advantage of the world Tertullian appeals to the Heathens as a thing commonly known amongst them that they daily restrained the power of Devils and cast them out of men and he tells Scapula the President that he might be satisfied of this from his own Records and those very advocates who had themselves reaped this benefit from Christians as for instance a certain Notary and the Kinsman and Child of another besides divers other persons of note and quality not to speak of the meaner sort who had been recovered either from Devils or from desperate Diseases nay Severus the Father of Antoninus having been cured by being anointed with Oyl by Proculus a Christian he kept him in his Palace till his death whom Antoninus knew well having been himself nursed by a Christian and in his Apologie he challenges the Heathens to produce any possessed person before the publick Tribunals and the evil spirit being commanded by any Christian shall then as truly confess himself to be a Devil as at other times he falsely boasts himself to be a god And elsewhere putting the case that the Christians should agree to retire out of the Roman Empire he asks them what protection they would then have left against the secret and invisible attempts of Devils who made such havock both of their souls and bodies whom the Christians so freely expelled and drove out that it would be a sufficient piece of revenge that hereby they should leave them open to the uncontrouled possession of those evil spirits 'T were endless to produce all the testimonies of this nature that might be fetch'd from Origen Minucius Faelix Cyprian Arnobius Lactantius Eusebius and all the old Apologists for the Christian Religion some whereof I have briefly noted in the Margin who constantly pleaded this as a mighty and uncontroulable argument of the truth and divinity of their Religion and of their great usefulness to mankind nay this miraculous power continued in the Church some considerable time after Constantine and the world was become Christian as appears from S. Basil Nazianzen and others and though I do not give heed to all the miracles which are reported by S. Hierom in the lives of Hilarion Paulus and some others or by Palladius in his Historia Lausiaca yet doubtless many of them were very true and real God withdrawing this extraordinary power as Christianity gained faster footing in the world and leaving the Church to those standing methods by which it was to be managed and governed to the end of the world And yet notwithstanding the case was thus plain and evident how much the world was beholden to Christians yet were they looked upon as the pests of humane society counted and called the common enemies of mankind as Tertullian complains that they were the causes of all publick calamities and that for their sakes it was that vengeance did so often remarkably haunt the Roman Empire This was the common out-cry if the City be besieged says Tertullian if any thing happen ill in the Fields in the Garrisons in the Islands presently they cry out ' t is because of the Christians they conspire the ruine of good men and thirst after the blood of the innocent patronizing their hatred with this vain pretence that the Christians are the cause of all publick misfortunes and calamities if Tiber overflow the walls if the Nile do not as 't is wont overflow the fields if the Heaven do not keep its accustomed course if an Earthquake happen if a Famine or a Plague presently the cry is away with the Christians to the Lions Thus Demetrian the Proconsul of Afric objected to S. Cyprian that they might thank the Christians that wars did oftener arise that Plagues and Famines did rage so much and that immoderate and excessive rains hindred the kindly seasons of the year The same Arnobius tells us the Heathens were wont to object at every turn and to conclude it as sure as if it had been dictated by an Oracle that since the Christians appeared in the world the world had been well-nigh undone mankind has been over-run with infinite kinds of evil and the very gods themselves had withdrawn that solemn care and providence wherewith they were wont to superintend humane affairs Nay so hot and common was this Charge amongst the Pagans that when the Goths and Vandals broke in upon the Roman Empire S. Augustine was forced to write those excellent Books De Civit. Dei purposely to stop the mouth of this objection as upon the same account and at his request Orosius wrote his seven Books of History against the Pagans Omitting some of the answers given by the Fathers as being probably less solid and not so proper in this case such as that 't was no wonder if miseries happened and things grew worse in this old age of time the world daily growing more feeble and decrepit and that these things had been foretold by God and therefore must necessarily come to pass two arguments largely and strongly pleaded by S. Cyprian that those evils were properly resolvable into natural causes and that every thing is
the Emperours themselves to shew what veneration they have for this time commanding all Suits and Processes at Law to cease Tribunal-doors to be shut up and Prisoners to be set free imitating herein their great Lord and Master who by his death at this time delivered us from the prison and the chains of sin meaning herein those Laws of Theodosius Gratian and Valentinian which we lately mentioned We proceed now to enquire what other Festivals there were in those first Ages of the Church which I find to be chiefly these Easter Whitsuntide and Epiphany which comprehended two Christmass and Epiphany properly so called I reckon them not in their proper order but as I suppose them to have taken place in the Church Of these Easter challenges the precedence both for its antiquity and the great stir about it that in and from the very times of the Apostles besides the weekly returns of the Lords day there has been always observed an Anniversary Festival in memory of Christs Resurrection no man can doubt that has any insight into the affairs of the ancient Church all the dispute was about the particular time when it was to be kept which became a matter of as famous a Controversie as any that in those Ages exercised the Christian world The state of the case was briefly this the Churches of Asia the less kept their Easter upon the same day whereon the Jews celebrated their Passover viz. upon the 14. day of the first Month which always began with the appearance of the Moon mostly answering to our March and this they did upon what day of the week soever it fell and hence were stiled Quartodecimans because keeping Easter quarta decima Luna upon the 14. day after the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or appearance of the Moon The other Churches and especially those of the West did not follow this custom but kept Easter upon the Lords day following the day of the Jewish Passover partly the more to honour the day and partly to distinguish between Jews and Christians the Asiaticks pleaded for themselves the practice of the Apostles Polycarpus Bishop of Smyrna who had lived and conversed with them having kept it upon that day together with S. John and the rest of the Apostles as Irenaeus who himself knew Polycarpus and doubtless had it from his own mouth speaks in a Letter about this very thing though himself was of the other side And Polycrates in a Letter to the same purpose instances not only in S. John but S. Philip the Apostle who himself and his whole Family used so to keep it from whom it had been conveyed down in a constant and uninterrupted observance through all the Bishops of those places some whereof he there enumerates and tells us that seven Bishops of that place in a constant succession had been his Kinsmen and himself the eighth and that it had never been kept by them upon any other day this we are not so to understand as if S. John and the Apostles had instituted this Festival and commanded it to be observed upon that day but rather that they did it by way of condescension accommodating their practice in a matter indifferent to the humour of the Jewish Converts whose number in those parts was very great as they had done before in several other cases and particularly in observing the Sabbath or Saturday The other Churches also says Eusebius had for their patronage an Apostolical Tradition or at least pretended it and were the much more numerous party This difference was the spring of great bustles in the Church for the Bishops of Rome stickled hard to impose their custom upon the Eastern Churches whereupon Polycarpus comes over to Rome to confer with Anicetus who was then Bishop about it and though they could not agree the matter yet they parted fairly After this Pope Victor renewed the quarrel and was so fierce and peremptory in the case that he either actually did or as a learned man inclines rather to think probably to mollifie the odium of the Fact severely threatned to excommunicate those Eastern Churches for standing out against it this rash and bold attempt was ill resented by the sober and moderate men of his own party who writ to him about it and particularly Irenaeus a man as Eusebius notes truly answering his name both in his temper and his life quiet and peaceable who gravely reproved him for renting the peace of the Church and troubling so many famous Churches for observing the customs derived to them from their Ancestors with much more to the same purpose But the Asian Bishops little regarded what was either said or done at Rome and still went on in their old course though by the diligent practices of the other party they lost ground but yet still made shift to keep the cause on foot till the time of Constantine who finding this controversie amongst others much to disquiet the peace of the Church did for this and some other reasons summon the great Council of Nice by whom this question was solemnly determined Easter ordained to be kept upon one and the same day throughout the world not according to the custom of the Jews but upon the Lords day and this Decree ratified and published by the imperial Letters to all the Churches The Eve of Vigils or this Festival were wont to be celebrated with more than ordinary pomp with solemn watchings with multitudes of lighted Torches both in the Churches and their own private houses so as to turn the night it self into day and with the general resort and confluence of all ranks of men both Magistrates and people This custom of lights at that time was if not begun at least much augmented by Constantine who set up Lamps and Torches in all places as well within the Churches as without that through the whole City the night seemed to outvye the Sun at Noonday And this they did as Nazianzen intimates as a Prodromus or forerunner of that great light even the Sun of righteousness which the next day arose upon the world For the Feast it self the same Father calls it the holy and famous Passover a day which is the Queen of days the Festival of Festivals and which as far excels all other even of those which are instituted to the honour of Christ as the Sun goes beyond the other Stars A time it was famous for works of mercy and charity every one both of Clergy and Laity striving to contribute liberally to the poor a duty as one of the Ancients observes very congruous and sutable to that happy season for what more fit than that such as beg relief should be enabled to rejoice at that time when we remember the common fountain of our mercies Therefore no sooner did the morning of this day appear but Constantine used to arise and in imitation of the love and kindness of our blessed Saviour to bestow
Father who was Bishop of but a little Diocess lay very sick and all other remedies proved unsuccessful the people generally flocked to Church and though it was then the joyful time of Easter broke out into mournful and passionate complaints and with the most earnest prayers and tears besought God for his life And of Basil Bishop of Caesarea he tell us that when he lay a dying the whole City came about him not able to bear his departure from them praying as if they would have laid hands upon his soul and by force detained it in his body they were says he even distracted with the thoughts of so great a loss nor was there any who would not have been willing to have been deprived of part of his own life might it have added unto his His Funeral was solemnized with all possible testimonies of love and honourable attendance and with the abundant tears not only of Christians but of Jews and Heathens the confluence so vast that many were pressed to death in the crowd and sent to bear him company to his long home And that we may see that their respect did not lye meerly in a few kind words or external protestations they made it good in more real and evident demonstrations by providing liberal maintenance for them parting at first with their own estates to supply the uses of the Church and after that making no less large than frequent contributions which could not but amount to very considerable sums the piety of Christians daily adding to their liberality of which we may make some estimate by what the Heathen Historian with a little kind of envy relates only of the Church of Rome and doubtless it was so in some proportion in other places that the profits of the Clergie arising from oblations chiefly was so great as to enable them to live in a Prince-like state and plenty And not long after it became the object not only of admiration but envy insomuch that Chrysostom was forced to make one whole Sermon against those that envied the wealth of the Clergie It was also the great care of those times to free them from what might be either scandalous or burthensom to their calling Constantine decreed that the Orthodox Clergy should be exempt from all Civil Offices or whatever might hinder their attendance upon the services of the Church his Son Constantius that Bishops in many cases should not be chargeable in the secular Courts but be tryed in an Assembly of Bishops which privilege was extended by Honorius to all the Clergie that they should be tryed before their Bishops before whom also he ordained that all causes properly belonging to Religion should be brought and be determined by them and by another constitution that for the veneration that is due to the Church all Ecclesiastical causes should be decided with all possible speed And to name no more that the persons of Ministers might be secured from foreign attempts he and his Colleague Arcadius made a Law that whosoever did offer any violence to them should upon conviction or confession of the fact be punished with death and that the ministers of Civil justice should not stay till the Bishop complained of the injury that was done it being probable that he would rather incline to mercy and forgiveness but that every one in this case should be admitted and encouraged to prefer and prosecute the charge and in case the rude multitude should by arms or otherwise obstruct execution and that the powers of that place could not see it done that then they should call in the assistance of the Governour of the Province to see Justice put into execution And because next to his person nothing is so dear to a Clergie-man as his credit and reputation therefore the Emperour Honorius took care by a Law that whosoever be he a person of the highest rank should charge any Clergie-man with Crimes which he was not able to make good he himself should be publickly accounted vile and infamous it being but just and equal says the Law that as guilt should be punished and offenders reckoned as spots and blemishes to the Church so that injured innocency should be righted and maintained How infinitely tender the first general Council of Constantinople was in this case to secure the honour and good name of Bishops and Clergie-men against the malicious insinuations and charges of false accusers may appear by the large provision which they make about it in the sixth Canon of that Council and because it sometimes so happens that a mans enemies are those of his own house therefore the Apostolical Canons ordain that if any Clergy-man reproach and defame a Bishop he shall be deposed from his Ministry for thou mayest not says the Canon speak evil of the Ruler of thy people but if it be a Presbyter or Deacon whom he thus reproaches he shall be suspended from the execution of his Office So sacred and venerable did they then account the persons and concernments of those who ministred in the affairs of Divine Worship CHAP. IX Of their usual Worship both private and publick The Christians worship of God in their Families discovered Their usual times of prayer Praying before and after meals Singing of Psalms and reading the Scriptures at the same time Frequency in prayer noted in divers instances Their great reverence for the holy Scriptures in reading expounding committing them to memory Several instances of it Their care in instructing their Families in divine things Singing of Psalms mixed with their usual labours An account of their publick Worship The order of the Service in their Assemblies Prayer Reading the Scriptures Two Lessons out of each Testament Clemens his Epistle and the Writings of other pious men read in the Church Singing a part of the publick Service How ancient What those Hymns were The Sermon or discourse upon what subject usually Such discourses called Tractatus and why More Sermons than one at the same time Sermons preached in the afternoon as well as in the morning The mighty concourse and confluence of people to these publick Solemnities The departure of the Catechumens Penitents c. The Missa Catechumenorum what The Missa Fidelium The word missa or masse whence and how used in the Writers of those times The singular reverence they shewed in these Duties Great modesty and humility Praying with hands lift up in the form of a Cross why They prayed either kneeling or standing Sitting in prayer noted as a posture of great irreverence Praying towards the East The universality of this Custom The reasons of it enquired into Their reverence in hearing Gods Word The people generally stood Standing up at the Gospels The remarkable piety and devotion of Constantine the Great No departing the Congregation till the blessing was given THus far we have discovered the piety of those ancient times as to those necessary circumstances that relate to the
and Judge of the world thus speaking to such a person This is none of my workman-ship nor is this our image and likeness thou hast defil'd thy skin with false compositions chang'd thy hair into an adulterous colour thy face counterfeit thy shape corrupt thy countenance quite another thing thou canst not behold God thine eyes not being the same which God created but which the Evil Spirit has infected thou hast imitated the fiery sparkling and glittering eyes of the Serpent of thine enemy hast thou learnt to be over-trim and neat and with him like to receive thy portion And are not these says he things fit to be thought of by the servants of God and to be the daily objects of their care and fear I cannot but in this place set down a passage which Theodoret reports of his own Mother that in her younger years having a distemper in one of her eyes which had baffled all the Arts of Physick she was at length perswaded to make her address to one Peter famous for the gift of Miracles who liv'd near Antioch a very severe and ascetick course of life and to render her self as she thought the more considerable in his eye she put on all her bravery her richest robes her pendants and chains of pearl and whatever could render her fine and splendid No sooner was she come to him but the severe and uncomplemental man at first sight bluntly entertained her with this discourse Tell me Daughter suppose an excellent Artist having drawn a picture according to all the laws and rules of Art should expose and hang it forth to view and another rude and unskilful bungler coming by should find fault with this excellent piece and attempt to amend it draw the eye-brows to a greater length make the complexion whiter or add more colour to the cheeks would not the true Author be justly angry that his Art was disparaged and undervalued and needless additions made to the piece by an unskilful hand And so 't is here can we think that the great Artificer of the world the Maker and Former of our Nature is not and that justly angry when you accuse his incomprehensible Wisdom and Perfection of Unskilfulness and want of Knowledge for you would not add your reds whites or blacks did you not think your bodies needed these additions and while you think so you condemn your Creator for weakness and ignorance But know that he has Power answerable to his Will and as the Psalmist tells us the Lord has done all things as he pleased and he that takes care of what is good for all would not give what is evil and hurtful unto any Corrupt not therefore the Image of God nor attempt to add what he in his infinite wisdom thought not fit to give study not to invent this adulterate beauty which even to chast persons oft proves a cause of ruine by becoming a snare to them that look upon it The Holy Man said no more and the Young Lady presently found her self wounded with the force of his Reasonings but would not leave him till she had obtained the end of her errand which he granted not without great importunity and an humble and modest referring all to the Grace of God and so sent her home with a double cure her body cured of its distemper and her mind of its pride and vanity and she ever after led a most humble sober and pious life But it were to transcribe whole Books to tell you what the Fathers these three that I have so oft mention'd especially have said in this case the cause being not more copiously than elegantly managed by them and thither I refer the capable Reader who has any further curiosity for these things The true beauty of a Christian in those dayes lay not in external and adventitious ornaments but in the goodness and purity of the mind The beauty of the body says Clemens of Alexandria consists in a good complexion and in apt symmetry and proportion of its parts but the greatest beauty in the world is that of the Soul when t is adorn'd with the Holy Spirit and the excellent Graces of it Justice Prudence Fortitude Temperance the love of Goodness and Modesty which is the brightest and most lovely ornament that the eye of man can behold It is not sayes he the exteriour aspect of the man that is to be regarded but the mind that is to be furnished and adorned with goodness and vertue and therefore he wittily compares those women that curiously trick and trim up the body but neglect how 't is with the soul within to the Egyptian Temples look upon their out-side and they are most splendid and magnificent encompassed with delicate Groves built with large entries and stately Portico's surrounded with several rowes of Pillars the walls both within and without set off with stones of several Countries curiously wrought and carv'd the Temples themselves garnish'd with Gold Silver Amber and all the glittering and precious stones that India or Ethiopia can afford but enter within them and enquire for the Deity that is there worshipped and you shall be gravely shewed behind a curtain a Cat or a Crocodile or a Serpent of that Country or some such ill-favoured beast which is the residentiary or tutelar deity of that place And just such sayes he do those women seem to me who trim themselves with Gold and are taken up in curling their hair painting their faces blacking their eyes colouring their locks and other undue Arts of softness and luxury beautifying the outward rayle and fence but if a man look within the veil and covering of the Temple what is under all this gayness and finery he shall be so far from meeting with what is truly beautiful that it will excite his horrour and aversation for he shall not find the Image of God dwelling there as might reasonably be expected but instead thereof some filthy and treacherous beast that possesses the most inward recesses of the Soul a lustful Ape or that crafty Serpent that devours the understanding of a man and turns his Soul into a nest or den full of most deadly venom and the poyson of his errour and deceit I conclude this with the account which S. Gregory gives of his Sister Gorgonia that she used no Gold to make her fine no yellow hair ordered into knots and curles nor any other tricks to make her head a Scene and Pageantry no loose and transparent garments no lustre of stones and jewels enlightning the air round about and reflecting splendour upon them that wear them no devices and arts of painting no affectation of beauty that may be easily bought no counter-working Gods Creation dishonouring reproaching covering his workman-ship with false and deceitful colours suffering a spurious supposititious beauty to steal away that natural Image which ought to be kept intire to God and the future state all this was far from her and though she very well understood
times were so far from breaking in upon any Vnchast embraces that they frequently abstained even from lawful pleasures and kept themselves even from the honourable and undefiled bed never marrying all their life We are says Octavius chast in our speech and chaster in our bodies and very many of us though we do not boast on 't do inviolably preserve a perpetual Virginity and are so far from any extravagant desires after Incestuous mixtures that many stand at a distance from the most chast and modest embraces Thus Justin Martyr tells the Emperours that amongst the Christians there were a great many of either Sex who had from their child-hood been educated in the Christian discipline who for sixty or seventy years had kept themselves single and uncorrupt and he wished the like could be shewn in all other sorts of men To the same purpose another Apologist 't is very easie says he to find many amongst us both men and women who remain unmarried even in old age conceiving that in this state they shall have fitter opportunities of drawing near to God Not that they who persever'd in this course of Celibate did combine themselves into distinct Societies and bind themselves under an oath of perpetual Virginity as the humour was in after ages for of this not the least shadow appears in any of the writings of those times they lived promiscuosly till towards the end of the third Century applyed themselves to the business of their place and station and only lived single that in those troublesome and hazardous times of persecution they might be less ensnared with the entanglements of the world and be more free for the exercises of Religion Secondly When they did marry they generally profess'd they did it only to comply with the great end of the institution viz. the propagation of mankind not to gratifie wanton and brutish desires but to answer the great end of nature that humane society might not fail either say they we marry not at all but keep our selves always continent or if we do marry it is for no other end but the bringing forth and the bringing up of children who ever amongst us takes a Wife according to the Laws prescribed us he reckons he does it only for the begetting of children within this his desires are bounded and limited as the Husbandman concerns himself no further in tilling his ground and sowing of his corn than to bring forth the crop at Harvest Hence it was that they seldom married more than once We willingly contain our selves as he speaks in M. Foelix within the bound of single marriage and either know but one woman and that meerly out of a desire of children or none The first knot being loosed by death they very rarely tied a second which gained great honour and reputation both to them and to their Religion with the Gentiles amongst whom they lived Chrysostom tells us that a discourse hapning on a time between him and his Master who was a Gentile concerning his Mother being told that she was a Widow and after enquiry concerning her age being answered that she was forty years old and that she had liv'd twenty years of the time a Widow the man was surpris'd with a strange admiration and cried out before all the company behold saith he what brave women there are amongst the Christians The truth is such was the heavenly zeal and temper of the first Ages of Christianity that they would have no more to do with the World than they needs must but industriously shun'd all its burdens and encumbrances amongst which they especially reckoned marriage a state not rashly to be engag'd in for once it was allowable but for a second time inexcusable And indeed it cannot be denied but that many of the Ancient Fathers Tertullian Cyprian Hierom and others did inveigh against sâ—cond marriages with too much bitterness and severity violently pressing many passages in Scripture to serve the cause straining the string many times till it crack'd again and not sticking to censure and condemn second marriages as little better than adultery Hear what one of the Apologists says to it Amongst us every man either remains as he was born or engages himself in one only marriage for as for second marriages they are but a more plausible and decorous kind of adultery our Lord assuring us that who-ever puts away his wife and takes another commits adultery which place as also another of like importance how perversly he interprets and impertinently applies to his purpose I am not willing to remember Clemens Alexandrinus speaks in the case with much more modesty and moderation As for those to whom God has given the gift of absolute continence we think them happy we admire the gravity and stayedness of those that content themselves with a single marriage but yet say withall that compassion ought to be had of others and that we should bear one anothers burdens lest he who seems to stand fair do fall himself and as for second marriages that of the Apostle is to take place if they cannot contain they should marry for it is better to marry than to burn However 't is certain the Fathers of old generally did what they could to discourage second marriages The Antient Canons as Zonaras tells us suspended such persons from the Communion for a whole year and the Council of Laodicea though it determine not the time yet it requires that they should spend some small time at least in penance in fasting and prayer before they be received to the Communion By the Canons that are call'd Apostolical who ever after Baptism has engag'd in a second marriage is rendred incapable of any degree in the Ministry accordingly Epiphanius reports of one Joseph who he knew a converted Jew and advanced to the dignity of a Count by Constantine the Great that when the Arrians would have laid hands upon him to have made him Bishop he got off by this wile by pretending himself to have been twice married But though the Fathers and Antient Councils were thus severe in this case yet the rigour of their censure will be much abated if what some tell us be true that many of their passages are not levell'd against successive marriages but against having two wives at the same time for as a learned man has observed there were three sorts of digamy the first a mans having two wives at once this was condemn'd by the Roman Laws the second when the former wife being dead the man married a second time a third when for any slight cause a man put away his wife by a bill of divorce and married another which though then frequently practis'd and conniv'd at if not allow'd by the Laws of those Times was yet prohibited by the decrees of the Church and of this last sort says he many of the Antient Canons are to be understood Thirdly They were infinitely
that the Governour will be there to day and kill all whom he finds there I know it well answered the woman and therefore make so much hast lest I come too late and be depriv'd of the Crown of Martyrdom And being asked why she carried her little Son along with her she answered That he also may partake of the common sufferings and share in the same rewards The Governour admiring the courage of the woman turn'd back to the Palace and disswaded the Emperour from his cruel resolution as what was neither honourable in it self nor would conduce to his purposes and designs Thirdly When they were condemned though it was by a most unjust sentence and to a most horrid death they were so far from raging or repining that instead of bitter and tart reflections they gave thanks to their enemies for condemning them A Christian being condemn'd says Tertullian thanks his Judges he takes it for a favour to dye for so good a cause That they persecute us says Clemens of Alexandria it is not because they find us to be wicked but because they think we wrong the world by being Christians and by teaching and perswading others to be so as for us they do us no harm death does but the sooner send us to God if therefore we be wise we shall thank them that are the occasion of our more speedy passage thither And elsewhere he tells us of S. Peter that seeing his Wife going towards Martyrdom he exceedingly rejoyced that she was called to so great an honour and that she was now returning home encouraging and exhorting of her and calling her by her name bad her to be mindful of our Lord Such says he was the wedlock of that blessed couple and their perfect disposition and agreement in those things that were dearest to them When Lucius one of the Primitive Martyrs was charged by Vrbicius the Roman Prefect for being a Christian only because he offer'd to speak in behalf of one that had very hard measure he immediately confess'd it and being forthwith condemned he heartily thanked his Judge for it that by this means he should be deliver'd from such unrighteous Governours and be sooner sent home to his Heavenly Father No joyfuller message could be told them than that they must dye for the sake of Christ Though we contend with all your rage and cruelty as Tertullian tells the President Scapula yet we freely offer our selves and rejoyce more when we are condemned than when we are absolved and released by you In despite of all the malice of their enemies they accounted the instruments of their torment the ensigns of their honour and their happiness When the Heathens reproached them for dying such an infamous death as that of the Cross and in derision styled them Sarmenticil and Semaxii for being burnt upon a little stake to which they were bound with twigs Tertullian answers for them This is the habit of our victory this the embroidered garment of our conquest this the triumphant chariot wherein we ride to Heaven When in prison they looked upon their Chains as their Ornaments as adding a beauty and a lustre to them with which they were adorn'd against the time of their sufferings as the bride is with fringes of gold and variegated ornaments against the day of her espousals For this reason Babylas the Martyr commanded that the Chains which he had worn in prison should be buried with him to shew that those things which seem most ignominious are for the sake of Christ most splendid and honourable imitating therein the great Apostle who was so far from being ashamed of that he took pleasure in Bonds Chains Reproaches Persecutions Distresses for Christs sake professing to Glory in nothing but the Cross of Christ. Fourthly When ever they were actually under the bitterest torments they never discovered the least sign of a furious or impatient mind but bore up with a quietness and composure which no sufferings could overcome Cyprian exhorting the Martyrs to courage and constancy tells them this of those that had gone before them that in the hottest conflict they never stirred but maintained their ground with a free confession an unshaken mind a divine courage destitute indeed of external weapons but armed with the shield of Faith in torments they stood stronger than their tormentors their bruised and mangled limbs proved too hard for the instruments wherewith their flesh was rack'd and pull'd from them the blows though never so oft repeated could not conquer their impregnable Faith although they did not only slice and teare off the flesh but rake into their very bowels and let out blood enough to extinguish the flames of persecution and to allay the heats of the everlasting fire And in another place speaking of the persecution under Decius at Rome he tells us that the Adversary did with an horrible violence break in upon the Camp of Christ but was repulsed with a strength as great as that wherewith he came upon them that then he craftily attempted the more rude and weak and subtilly endeavoured to set upon them singly hoping the easilier to circumvent them but that he found them like a well-compacted army sober and vigilant and prepared for battel that they could dye but could not be overcome yea therefore unconquerable because not afraid to dye that they did not resist those that rose up against them being ready not to kill them that assaulted them but to lay down their own lives and to lose their blood that they might make the more haste to get out of a cruel and malicious world Indeed so admirable was their patience and readiness to dye that their very enemies stood amaz'd at it When Simeon the second Bishop of Jerusalem and of our Saviours kindred according to the flesh had by the command of Atticus the Governour of Syria been tortur'd with all the arts of cruelty for many days together he bore it with such courage that the Proconsul himself and all that were present greatly wondred that a man of an hundred and twenty years of age should be able to undergo so many miseries and torments Of the Martyrs that suffered together with S. Polycarp the Church of Smyrna gives this account That all that were present were astonished when they saw them whipp'd till the cords made way to the inmost veins and arteries till the bowels and the most hidden parts of the body appeared They were rak'd with shells of fishes laid all along upon sharp-pointed stakes driven into the ground exercised with all sorts of torments and at last thrown to be devoured of wild beasts all which they bore with a mighty patience and constancy Nay as we find it in the first part of that Epistle contracted by Eusebius but published at large by Bishop Vsher so great was their patience and magnanimity that in all these sufferings not any of them gave a sigh or a groan The holy