then suffered and against such as might still befall them He told them of signes which should preceed the day of Judgement as first a general Apostacy that is the abandoning of the true worship of God Secondly the appearance of Antichrist whom he calls the man of sinne because he shall be the greatest of all sinners and shall draw almost all men to sin and to the greatest sin which can be committed If Heretick who say that the Pope is Antichrist would seriously consider the portrature of him as the Apostle sets him forth in this Epistle they would finde it very little Cohaerent with him and would be ashamed to believe so ridiculous a dream which the wisest and most learned amongst them with reason doe make but a jest Thus did Saint Paul labour for the glory of Jesus Christ both with his tongue and pen at the same time and did not let slip one minute of time whilest he was at Corinth which he imployed not in the Functions of his Ministry He departed thence having staied there eighteen moneths with Aquila and Priscilla his hosts but before he left Corinth he shaved his head for some reason which Saint Luke does not mention no more then he does the vow which he made to let his hair grow For the better understanding this place in the Acts of the Apostles I will tell you as it were in passing by that in the ancient Law there were two sorts of Nazareans that is to say men separated and consecrated to God The one of them were perpetual and the other but for a certain time according as their devotion invited them to make this vow both the one and the other were obliged to abstain from Wine and from any other Liquour that might cause drunkenness and to let their hair grow The time allotted for the vow of these latter being expired they were to present themselves at the door of the Tabernacle where they offered the sacrifice which was ordained for it They were shaved and their hair was burnt in the fire of the Sacrifice of Pacifical Oblations with many ceremonies which are set down in the Book of Numbers Now in the time of their Consecration if they happened to contract any pollution contrary to the law either by the touch of some dead body or that by change any died suddainly in their presence they were bound at the same instant to begin to shave their hair to finish it the seventh day and on the eighth day to offer the sacrifice ordained for their purification I therefore easily believe that Saint Paul having made this vow of the Nazareans to comply in some occasions with the weakness of the Jewes as he had circumcised Timothy to the end he might not scandalize them or for some other reason which St. Luke does not mention might by chance have met some dead Corps or touched some dead body and this having happened in the company of some Jews who were converted and observed the Ceremonies of the Law he shaved his hair at that instant remitting his offering sacrifice till he came to Hierusalem as in effect he did by the Counsel of Saint James and the Priests of that Church which we shall see in the Sequel of this History It is true some Authors say that Aquila made this vow and not the Apostle But Saint Hierome and Saint Augustine Bede and almost all Interpreters maintain that it ought to be understood of Saint Paul and I have in this followed the common opinion The Sea favouring Saint Paul he arrived safe at Ephesus and immediately went into the Synagogue of the Jews to declare the Gospell unto them They earnestly desired him to stay some time with them but he told them he could not desiring to celebrate the Feast of Pentecost at Hierusalem but if it pleased God he would return to see them He went a Ship-board and the weather being favourable landed at Cesarea in Palestine from whence according as some interpret the Book of the Acts he went up to Hierusalem He onely saluted the Church of this City and so went to Antioch of Syria There he made his aboad some time and having there given order in that which he thought necessary he went to visit the Churches of Galatia and Phrygia where he confirmed the faithful in their faith by admirable discourses and by new miracles At the end of this Voyage which lasted at the least a yeare he came back to Ephesus This City was very famous by reason of Diana's Temple which was accounted in the number of the seven Wonders of the World Asia built it in two Ages by a general contribution and it was a place cautionary for the Kings Princes and people of the East but Nero who seemed to be borne for the ruine of all noble things plundered all the riches of it and under the Empire of Galienus the Goths entirely ruined it The Idol of Diana was made of the wood of Vines and the Priests making use of the peoples simplicity brought them easily to beleeve that it was descended from Heaven The like thing was beleeved at Rome of a Buckler which for that cause was kept with great care The Apostle found at Ephesus twelve Disciples who were onely baptised with the Baptisme of John and had never heard the Holy Ghost once spoken of Some Authors beleeve that they had been instructed by this Apollo who came a little before to Ephesus and of whom Saint Luke speaking sayes He was an eloquent man and very well versed in the holy Scriptures that he knew the Doctrine of our Saviour and preached Jesus Christ with great fervour of spirit but that he knew no other Baptisme then that of John which is to say in my opinion that as yet he had onely received that Baptism Aquila and Priscilla finding him so well disposed taught him more particularly the verities of the Gospel which he presently declared to those of Corinth where he confounded the Jewes by the force of his discourse and by the authority of holy Scriptures which he officaciously alledged to shew them that Jesus Christ was the Messias For my part I believe that he and the others also of whom we speak received their baptisme at the hands of Saint John himselfe in Judea For it is certain that onely the Precursor did baptise and after him this baptisme was not practised as a thing necessary for those who believed in Jesus Christ However it was Saint Paul teaches his Disciples that he found in Ephesus John to have baptised the people with a baptisme of pennance ordeining them to believe in him who was to come after him and to whose faith he prepared them by this exterior Ceremony intended to mind them of their uncleanness and what necessity there was of an interiour parification which could not be done but by that Lamb which takes away the sinnes of the World in fine he tells them that the baptisme of Jesus Christ is a renovation of the soul by
Angel descended from Heaven into the prison where he was and found him betwixt two Souldiers of his guard oppressed with sleep The Dungeon was instantly filled with a great light and awaking him by a touch on the side at his command to follow him the chains fell from his hands He obeyed and passing the first and second watch came to the iron gate that led to the street which of it self also opened After he had gone some few steps this Messenger of Heaven vanished and the prisoner who till then thought he was in a dream found indeed that he was delivered out of the hands of Herod and from the fury of the Jewes He came and knockt at the door of Mary the Mother of John sirnamed Mark where many faithfull were gathered together praying for his delivery A young Maid named Rhodes knew him by his voice and presently went up to tell the Assembly some told her she was mad but she affirming that it was certainly he they replyed t is his Angel meaning him whom we call our Angel Guardian and who is given to every one of us When the door was opened and that they saw him they could yet scarce beleive their own eyes He recounted to them what had happened in the prison And giving order to make known this good newes to James the Brother of our Lord who was Bishop of Hierusalem and to the rest of the Faithfull he departed towards the Coast of Palestine there to preach the Gospel From thence he went to Rome where he began to make war against Idolatry and to establish the Seat of his Successors which might be through all Ages of the Church the Center of Ecclesiastical Unity Herod advertised of his delivery grew inraged astainst the Souldiers to whose custody he was committed He caused diligent search to be made after him but in vain and the Divine Vengeance not long after failed not to punish Herod himself For he being at Cesarea the Inhabitants of Tyre and Sydon with whom he was angry the cause is not mentioned in the History of the Acts sent Deputies to him to make their peace He gave them publick audience and to render this action more solemn would appear adorn'd in all the Royal ornaments of Majesty At his Entry the flattering people clapt their hands and when he spake they cryed T is a God that speakes and not a man This unfortunate Prince took pleasure in this Sacrilegious Adulation and with joy received the honour which is onely due to the King of Kings But at the same time the Angel of our Lord strook him with a horrible disease that from his Throne he was carried to his Bed where the worms eating his flesh made it appear that it was the flesh of a mortall man and that God is more elevated above Sovereigns then Sovereigns are above their subjects that by the least of creatures he knowes how to abate the pride of the most formidable Tyrants and that piety and justice are the most solid Bases of an Empire The persecution of this wicked man gave occasion to the Apostles to leave Judaea and divide themselves into all parts of the world for till then they had resided in Jerusalem Before they separated themselves they composed a Summary of Christian Doctrine which is called the Apostles Creed whether it were that every one made an Article or because it was the mark or as it were the watch-word whereby Christians might know one another as being souldiers of one Band. Saint Matthew wrote also before this separation the Gospel which bears his name and of which St. Hierome sayes he saw the Original in Hebrew in the Library of Pamphilius the Martyr Saint Bartholomew going into the Indies transcribed it with his own hand and it was found in the time of Zeno the Emperor with the body of Saint Barnaby In the mean time the Apostle returned to Antioch with Barnaby and another companion called John sirnamed Mark. Their return caused great joy to that Church but she enjoyed not long their presence for the Prophets and Doctors of which that Church was composed amongst whom was Simon sirnamed the Black Lucius the Cyrenian and Manahem Foster-Brother to Herod the Greek word signifies brought up with him Whilest they fasted and were busied in the Ministery of our Lord they received command from the Holy Ghost to separate from amongst all the rest Saul and Barnabas Saint Luke places them in the rank of Doctors for the work unto which he had designed them They presently obeying imposed hands upon them after fasting and prayer There is a great diversity of opinions amongst Interpreters in Explicating what the Imposition of hands signifies in this passage of the Acts and what was the Ministery in which those here named were imployed The word of the Liturgy according to some signifies the celebrating of the Sacrifice of the Mass Saint Chrysostom Explicates it of Preaching Others of any kinde of Ecclesiastical Function By imposition of hands divers modern Interpreters understand Ordination to Episcopacy Their ground is upon this circumstance of the Liturgy because the Church of Antioch did always accompany this action with fasting and prayer But although the Church doe at this day celebrate Ordinations with these Ceremonies it is not therefore to be said they were practised from the beginning nor that every time they were practised it was for Ordination They add also that there is no other passage in the New Testament which shewes St. Paul and St. Barnabas to be consecrated either Priests or Bishops One might answer that the Apostleship containes these two Orders by that power which is called per Excellentiam for the Apostles were to found particular Churches which composed the Universal Now those could not be founded without Bishops the Church being defined to be a people joyned to their Bishop They ought therefore to have that Character which is necessary for the Ordination of Bishops Certainly it connot be shewed in the Gospel that the other Apostles sent by Jesus Christ were first made Bishops and afterwards Apostles nor is there any likelyhood that the Apostleship of Saint Paul who as St. Ambrose and St. Austin say was not called by Jesus Christ mortal but by Jesus Christ totally God that is to say living by a divine life after his Resurrection did not comprise the excellency which the others had and was less extraordinary Saint Chrysostom whose authority is of great weight in what concernes the Doctor of Nations sayes that he was ordained Apostle in the time we speak of This opinion may be grounded upon this that Saint Luke in this passage ranks him amongst the other Doctors of the Church of Antioch Whence 't is probable if he had been considered as an Apostle and an Apostle of the Gentiles by eminency or if he had exercised that Function he would not have given him a Title much inferiour to the Apostleship For Saint Paul speaking of the Orders of Ministers of the Church
sayes that God has established first the Apostles secondly the Prophets and in the third place the Doctors And truly before this time Saint Luke relates no other Function of his then those of a Doctor and Preacher But to this may be objected that S. Paul says cleerly he is no Apostle of men nor by men but Apostle of Jesus Christ by Jesus Christ How then can his Apostleship be immediatly from our Lord if the Prophets and Doctors of the Church of Antioch ordained him Apostle He is so far from having any advantage over the other Apostles by his Vocation that it is much inferiour to theirs they having been sent immediately by Jesus Christ and he having received his Mission 't is true of Jesus Christ but by way of Inspiration and by the Ministery of those who themselves were neither Bishops nor Apostles but simply Prophets and Doctors Certainly to me this objection seems unanswerable unless we allow that by Ordination to the Apostleship and imposition of hands Saint Chrysostom means that Saint Paul was elevated to the Apostleship of Jesus Christ from the very moment of his conversion but did not exercise the Functions of it towards the Gentiles for whom he had particularly received it until the Holy Ghost made it known unto him by the Prophets and Doctors of the Church of Antioch and that it was then time to begin the exercise of his Function so that the imposition of hands upon him was but a simple invocation of the Divine assistance for him accompanied with the divine sacrifice with prayer and with fasting to the end God would daign to bestow upon him all benedictions necessary for the imployment to which he was ordained Although we might draw from this passage a strong Argument for the Ordination of Bishops yet I chuse rather to pass it over then ground the proof of an undoubted verity upon a passage that admits dispute as if we had no other arms to defend our selves and sought more to heap together then select Arguments My designe is to write a History clear and plain and not a Treatise controversie Hence I offer mine and others opinions leaving afterwards unto Readers the liberty of making their own choice At this same time the Apostle was elevated unto the third Heaven where he learnt secrets which are neither possible nor fit to unfold to man in this life I know Interpreters agree not in this but since it is a difficulty onely in Chronology and not of much importance I embrace that opinion as most conformable to truth which corresponds with the date assigned by the Apostle himself in his second Epistle to the Corinthians where he sayes he knew a man that was rapt into the third Heaven fourteen years since Besides I have Authors very famous and very considerable for my opinion and certainly if in these questions of fact reason may be admitted this Revelation could not be given to him in a more necessary time then that which we designe For then he was to make war with all his force against Idolatry It was then that Jesus Christ imbarqued him upon that great Sea of Nations to blazon amongst them the sound of the Gospel and to work wonders by means of his singular Apostleship conferred upon him Now to announce those sublime verities it was necessary he should first taste them at the Spring-head and be himself replenished ere he communicated them to others But there is yet a notable dispute betwixt both modern and ancient Interpreters about this rapture and this vision Some will have it that he saw in this extasie the distinction of the Orders of Angels whereof he speaks in his Epistle nor finde we any other Canonical Writer to distinguish them as he has done Others say that he did there know particularly the profund Mystery of the Incarnation and the vocation of Gentils to faith for in his Epistle to the Ephesians he sayes That to him who is the least amongst the faithfull charge was given to make known to the Gentils the inestimable riches of Jesus Christ and to illuminate all men teaching them the dispensation of the Mistery hidden in God from all Ages to the end that the Principalities and coelestial powers should learn of the Church the different wisdome of God In effect the proper Ministery of Saint Paul was this vocation of the Gentils and their incorporation with Jesus Christ That was his charge in this he was distinguished from the rest of the Apostles all his Epistle amply treat of this vocation which surprised and offended the Jewes This makes Saint Chrysostom say That the Apostle illuminated the Arch-Angels the Principalities the Powers and the Angels But I cannot beleeve that this sole mystery was the bounds of the Revelation of Saint Paul unless it may be said it comprehends in it all the other mysteries of Christian Religion Some Doctors amongst whom St. Thomas have held that he saw the Divine Essence with a momentary glance and as it were in passing and doe they think to evade that maxime of scripture That no man shall see God and live however I cannot be of that opinion and it seems to me not to be maintained I will give place to none in my respect and affection towards him whose life I write but yet me thinks respect and affection to Saints ought to be squared by the verity which is manifested to us and not by the subtilty of our conceit or by certain congruities more ingenious then solid The Apostle would not unfold to us the manner of his Extasie whether it was a separation of the soul from the body or a suspension of the vital functions of the soul within the body during which he saw those divine verities whether this sight was imaginary or intellectual and how long it lasted It suffices him to tell us that he heard secret words which are not lawful for man to repeat that is to say he saw ineffable Mysteries which cannot be explicated by humane words nor were it to purpose to make them known since men are not capable of them besides it would not at all conduce to the salvation of those unto whom he was to preach This reservedness of St. Paul shewes his humility and that he spake not of his Extasies unless in a manner compelled which we shall explicate in another place of this History It may also repress the curiosity of Readers and of those who bear most honour and affection to him and hinder them from penetrating into that Abyss which his modesty would hide T is now time to return to the course of our Narration Paul and Barnabas departed from Antioch of Syria immediatly after they had received that imposition of hands which has occasioned this digression The first place they came unto was Seleucia which was not above fourteen miles distant From thence they went into the Isle of Cyprus famous amongst the Pagans for the birth of Venus who was the Goddess of pleasure and the
be surprised to see that happen which has been foretold so long since But rather let us bless God in that his goodness has accomplished his promises in favour of the Gentils and not through an indiscreet rigour contrary to the liberty of the Gospel distaste them in the Faith which they have embraced In this occasion to observe some moderation and neither offend the Jewes in abrogating all the Legal Ceremonies nor yet discourage the Gentils with obliging them unto observances too rigorous my advice is it will suffice to write unto them that they abstain from meats offered to Idols from strangled meats from the bloud of beasts and fornication For the Jewes who are converted they are sufficiently instructed in abstaining from those things by the Law of Moses whose Books are read every Sabbath in our Assemblies as well as in the Synagogue By this we take away all occasion of complaint that we despise his Ordinances This opinion being universally received it was thought good by the Apostles by the Priests and by the rest of the Faithful to send to Antioch Paul and Barnaby together with Judas sirnamed Barsabas and Silas men most esteemed amongst them for their piety who should carry the resolution of the Councel which they committed to writing as it is in this following Epistle The Apostles Bishops and Priests assembled at Jerusalem doe wish to the faithful of Antioch Syria and Cilicia who amongst the Gentiles have received the Faith health having understood that certain persons comming from this City have troubled you with discourses which we never gave them in charge to make unto you we thought good to assemble our selves as well to examine those difficulties controverted as to apply a remedy to the evill already spread too far And at last we have resolved to send you two Deputies our dear Brothers Paul and Barnaby together with Barsabas and Silas men who have a thousand times exposed their lives in defence of the name of our Lord Jesus Christ They are witnesses of what has passed here and we desire you will give credit to them It has seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us not to impose upon you any other yoak then that of abstaining from meats offered to Idols from strangled meats from bloud and fornication which things you shall doe well to observe So fare ye well In these decrees we may behold the Evangelical prudence of those that made them for all those things which they forbad except Fornication were indifferent in their own nature and the liberty of the Gospel permitted the use of them to the Faithful freeing them in that point from the yoak of Moses Law which forbad them to the Jewes But the Church being composed of Jewes and Gentiles newly converted it was necessary to finde some way to unite two sorts of people that were so different in their humours customes and inclinations The Jewes were bent even upon a scrupulous observation of all their Ceremonies and could not endure that any should violate them so that it was absolutely necessary to accommodate things to their weakness and on the other side they were to find out such an accommodation that might not disgust the Gentiles whose number was much more considerable and who principally were to form the Church Behold wherefore the Apostles in the Councel made choice of two or three Legal observations unto which they oblige all Christians without distinction forbidding the use of meats strangled offered to Idols and bloud For as in the ancient Law those who participated of the flesh of Sacrifices which were offered by that action entred in some sort into a society with God to whom that Sacrifice was presened and made a publique profession of the Religion where that worship was practised So the Iewes were of opinion that those who did eat of the meats offered to Idols although they were Christians did acknowledge their Divinity and did enter into a certain communion with those false Gods of which they had a strange horrour it appearing unto them an impiety altogether insupportable We see in the first Epistle to the Corinthians which was writ a long time after this Councel that the Apostle treating of this Subject gives it for a rule to the faithful in no sort to use those meats lest their Brethren should be scandalized in that every one was to follow the judgement of his own conscience it being a sin to act contrary to our own secret perswasion and belief In the Apocalips the Angel reprehended the Bishop of Thyatira that he would endure a false Prophettess to corrupt his servants by teaching them to eat of meats offered to Idols which in a word derived from the Greek are called Idolothites The Apostles therefore to hinder this division forbad the use of these meats which continued a long time in the Church as well as that prohibition of the bloud of beasts in the time of Noah a little after the deluge Some Ecclesiastical Authors and the most ancient were of opinion that by the word bloud the Apostles meant to forbid homicide but nature and civil Laws rigorously forbid that both to Iewes and Gentiles Therefore this prohibition we now mention is to be understood of the bloud of beasts and we see it renewed in the Councels of Gangren Orleans and Wormes The Pagans reproached the Christians that in their Night-Assemblies they used to kill an Infant and eat the flesh of it all bloudy But Tertullian answers them excellently That the Christians are so far from doing such an execrable homicide that t is not permitted to them to eat the bloud of beasts and therefore Executioners were wont to present it to them so to try their fidelity in the observation of the precepts of their Religion The Emperour Leo renewed this Decree with penalties against those who should violate it But a little after when the Church feared no more division and scandal being almost wholly composed of Pagans converted this Apostolical Decree against suffocated flesh was no longer observed and there are certain Fathers who alledging this passage of the Acts make no mention at all of it Nevertheless t is certain the Apostles expressed it to content the Iewes who were not permitted to eat of any suffocated creature nor of any other before they had drawn out the bloud Concerning Fornication which is the last thing contained in the Decree of the Councel the Apostles made no new precept as if till then it were not forbidden and had been an indifferent action For there is no doubt but that it is against the law of nature which in the conjunction of man and woman tends to generation of children and their education and civil societies Now Fornication is contrary to this end for those who defile themselves in that manner think of nothing but voluptuousness and those women ordinarily render themselves uncapable of conceiving by their intemperance and if they doe conceive having no certain Father their education is neglected and
himself with their Wool But all that was permitted seemed not to him expedient to do he would take away from the enemies of the Gospell all manner of pretexts that they should not accuse him of seeking his own interest or making a Commerce of his preaching He would preserve this glory to have announced the Gospell gratis to them by that means might speak with more liberty Many spiritual directours ought to consider this great example of disingagement if they imitate it with prudence and courage their conduct would be more honourable to them more profitable to those whom they govern and more advantagious to the honour of the Church The Apostle esteemed not this corporal exercise to be any reproach to his condition since it did not any way hinder him from his times of prayer or from the Function of his Ministry Every Sabboth day he preached in the Synagogue of the Jewes and made it appear to them as well as to the Greekes that Jesus Christ was the true Messias and true God Silas and Timothy being come from Thesalonica he found himself more then usually moved by the Spirit of God to speak his zeal was enkindled a new and he preached with more efficacy to those of his Nation the Divinity of his Master But when he perceived that instead of profiting by his words they remained more obstinate and uttered more horrible blasphemies against Jesus Christ he shaked his garments and told them Your blood be upon your own heads I have my hands clean and I will goe from this Country and carry to the Gentiles this light which you refuse This familiar fashion of speech to the Hebrewes was as much as to say that he had done all that lay in him to bring them to the knowledge of the truth and they would not believe him therefore he should not be responsable for their perdition which was infallible At the same instant he changed his lodging and retired himself to lodge with an honest man called Titus Justus one who feared God whose house was neer to the place where the Jewes used to assemble Crispus who was Prince of the Synagogue imbraced the Gospell and all his family and many more of the City were also baptized This good success gave incouragement to the Apostle and to augment it our Saviour appeared to him in a vision saying Fear nothing speak boldly take heed you hold not your peace for I am with you and none shall be able to hurt you I have many people in this Town The event made him know the truth of this revelation He remained eighteen moneths in Corinth and in that time the Church was exceedingly increased by the conversion of divers persons of all sorts He preached continually and in the first Epistle which he wrote afterwards to them he shews that in declaring the Gospel to them He made no use of the flowers of humane eloquence nor arguments of Philosophy for fear they might extinguish the vertue of the Cross which wants not the art of words to perswade the belief of it He puts them in minde that he exercised his Ministry amongst them with fear and with humility and that he pretended to know no other thing but Jesus Christ crucified that he did not feed them with solid meat but with milke because they were not capable of other nourishment We know not the particular things which he did at Corinth nor what he endured there for the name of Jesus Christ He onely sayes that the marks of his Apostleship amongst the Corinthians were many paines which he suffered with a long patience and that many miracles were wrought in confirmation of his Doctrine The Jews who were never weary of persecuting him found notinâ— Gallion the Proconsul of Achaya and Brother of Seneca the Philosopher a Spirit that would easily imbrace the injustice of their passions to him they presented the Apostle and accused him of teaching a religious worship contrary to their Law But no sooner the accused offered to open his mouth in his own defence when Gallion told them that if they would complain of any evil action he had committed he would hear and do them justice but if it onely concerned some controversies of their Religion he would not meddle in it but leave the Judgement of it to themselves With this answer he dismissed them And they in a fury fell upon Sosthenes Prince of the Synagogue who was a Christian nor did the Consul hinder them from the prosecution of that insolent cruelty Saint Paul makes mention of this Sosihenes in the salutation of his first Epistle to the Corinthians and speaks of him as of his Companion which shewes he was considerable both to the Apostle and to that Church which he had care to instruct it may be also from him that Saint Paul understood of their disorders which obliged him to write unto them Some Authors make him Bishop of Colophone The Apostle applied not himself so much to the salvation of the Inhabitants of Corinth that he forgat the other Churches and when he understood the necessities of the Church of Thessalonica he wrote two Epistles to them in a short time one after another His designe in the first Epistle was to confirm the faithful in the profession of the Gospel and to instruct them in the mystery of the Resurrection to the end they might take courage in their present and future persecutions He commended them for having made so great a progress in faith the report whereof was spread every where and that they served for an example to other Churches Afterwards he puts them in minde of his manner of preaching how free it was from any self-interest never consenting to be any burthen to them He expresses to them a great desire to see them again and assures them that he continually remembers them in his Prayers He exhorts them not to be sad for the death of their Parents or Friends as the Gentiles are who doe not believe the happiness of a future life nor have any hope to be rejoyned unto them again That the death of Christians is but as it were a sleep that Jesus Christ who is their head being risen again they who are his members shall also rise at the last day at the voice of the Arch-Angel and at the-sound of a Trumpet they shall be lifted up in the Aire and goe before our Lord who shall come in his glory to pronounce the last sentence of eternall happiness or eternall misery to men that his Elect shall follow him into Heaven where they shall live eternally with him in an unspeakable felicity Many not comprehending well that which he sayed of this last Judgement conceived strange fears which were increased by the imprudence or malice of some false Doctors who preached that this last day was neer at hand This caused him to write unto them a second Epistle to dissipate those fears which troubled them to fortifie them against those persecutions which they
there in the world any thing comparable to the glory of her Temple All Nations acknowledge this and these things being without dispute you need not fear any can attempt against the honour of that Divinity which you serve therefore take heed you undertake nothing rashly It is certaine these men whom you have brought hither to destroy are not guilty of any blasphemy against your Goddess Wherefore if Demetrius and those of his trade which follow him have any dispute with them why should you for their particular interest make this a generall cause Are there not persons ordained to decide causes and Magistrates who have power and ought to determine such differences But if there be question of any other thing you must remit the clearing of it to a lawfull Assemby and not treat of it in this which seemes to be altogether seditious Consider therefore well that we are responsable for the evill which may happen upon this and we run the hazard to be accused of sedition since we can give no good account of this dayes tumult This discourse appeased the people and happily saved the disciples of the Apostle who took resolution to leave this City that he might execute his former design of visiting the Churches of Achaia Macedonia and goe to Hierusalem from whence he proposed to himselfe to goe to Rome but without doubt in another manner then we shall see him conducted thither He left his dearly beloved Timothy to governe the Church of Ephesus whom Eusebius will have to be the first Bishop of that place He remained with them near three years and during that time Apollo of whom we have spoken came to Corinth to preach the Gospel the which he performed with so much eloquence as many taken therewith and judging of things only by apparance beâ—an to despise the Apostle who had taught them the same verities but in a more plain way accommâ—dated to their weakness Those who loved the memory of their first Master and remembred his holy waâ—… of struction defended him with a little too much heat insomuch as their Church began to be in some danger of Schisme the sequel whereof might have proved very dangerous Besides this disorder there was a man amongst them who had abused the wife of his Father They differed also much in opinions about the use of meates offered to Idols and there was some abuse in the banquets which they call Agapes that is to say Charitable where they took irreverently the Holy Eucharist There was moreover a great division amongst them by reason of Sutes of Law pleaded before Judges that were Gentiles these brought a scandal upon the Doctrine of the Gospel which recommends to the Professors nothing more then charity and the contempt of worldly goods These disorders obliged Saint Paul to write his first Epistle to the Corinthians There he fulminates excommunication against incestuous persons even to the terrour of the most confident and to let them know what they were to expect for it was neither out of the heat of zeale nor interest or compliance but to vindicate the honour of the Church and to save him whom for a time it was necessary to put into the hands of the Devil to the end he might not for ever remain so He rebukes the Corinthians who by their bitterness in Law-Sutes dishonoured the name of Jesus Christ And told them It was very ill done to plead one against another but much worse and more considerrable to doe it before Judges who were Idolaters That they ought rather to choose the meanest persons of the Church to accord their differences who would be capable enough to judge of such temporall things the Faithfull being onely to judge the World and the Devils He put them in minde that before Baptisme they were soyled with abominable ordures but by their spiritual regeneration they were become the Temples of God and the members of Jesus Christ therefore this glorious quality obliged them to be pure and that their bodies were not given to serve fornication it being not their part to dispose of them but our Lord and that God would raise them again He instructs married people also to use marriage as a holy thing and permits them to separate themselves that they may be vacant in prayer which he means should be done but for a term of time and then to return to their conjugall society as an innocent remedy against incontinence Notwithstanding he protests that he permits it them by indulgence because the severity of Christian Lawes in marriage allow the use of it onely for the generation of children but mans infirmity requires it that he might resist temptations so that as Saint Augustine hath since said the sanctity of Nuptials render pardonable that which properly appertains not to marriages From this Subject he passes to treat of Virginity which he councels by his example and by reason in that it does perfectly withdraw one from the tye of creatures and cares of the World Those who are of opinion that S. Paul was married should doe well to blot out the words he sets down in this Epistle if they will defend so new and ill grounded an opinion Notwithstanding he leaves this Angelical rather then humane forme of life under the bare terms of Counsel and protests there is no precept of our Lord for it that he onely counsels it as believing it better and of more advantage to the Corinthians He exhorts Widows to continue in their widowhood and if they cannot keep the purity of that state to espouse themselves to our Lord that is to say with a Christian intention and with such as believe in Jesus Christ and not for sensuality Concerning meats offered to Idols he teaches them that the use is indifferent in it self but yet they ought to abstain from them lest the simple people who conceive them forbidden should be scandalized to see them eaten and they themselves may thereby take occasion to eat them after a superstitious manner To confirme this Document he represents unto them That in delivering them the Gespel he would not suffer them to furnish him with necessaries for his subsistence although he had right to receive nay indeed to require it That he seemed to be a Jew amongst the Jewes and not to observe the Law amongst those that knew not the Law In fine that he made himselfe all things to all to gaine all men to God But there is nothing he reproves with so much fervour as the irreverence which they committed before their approach to the Holy Table He shewes the institution of the Eucharist and sayes That as often as we eat it we announce the death of our Lord untill his comming again that is to say this Sacrament is the lively commemoration of the death of Jesus Christ and so a participation of his body and blood offered upon the Cross He concludes That he who drinks and eats this unworthily is guilty of the body and bloud of our Lord
which is to say he defiles the most holy thing under Heaven and upon Earth He participates in the offence of those Executioners that fastened him to the Cross He crucifies him after a more outragious manner prophaning a Mystery wherein he is to be adored and placing him in a heart corrupted with sin as if he were at the mercy of his enemies and still carried about him the likeness of sin he who lives by the life of God and resides in the bosome of his Father Hence he commands them diligently to examine themselves before they eat of this heavenly bread and drink of this holy cup lest being not well prepared they drink and eat their judgement that is to say receive Jesus Christ as a Judge whom they intend to receive as a Physitian and make it the food of death which ought to be a nourishment of life Certainly if those who goe so slightly to the holy Communion and who seem to fear a too exact discussion would attentively consider the words and threats which the Apopostle fulminates in this behalfe they would be more wary They would be seized with a beneficial apprehension and easily confess that our dispositions to a worthy receiving cannot be too pure and consequently those who communicate cannot be too exact that severity in this affair is less dangerous then any compliance or remisness It were to be wished that Christians would communicate every day as they did in the Infancy of the Church but then their lives should be also answerable to those Faithful of the Primitive times It is very good often to participate thereof but then we must make our profit by that participation for the Table of our Lord cannot be joyned with that of Devils that is to say the use of the body of the Son of God cannot consist with the love of vanity greatness and pleasures of the world which are enemies to the Sonne of God These irreverences of the Corinthians which Saint Paul mentions were but slight it was onely some excess of drinking and eating in the Assemblies where they communicated What wonld he have said if he had found them full of impurity envy vanity and ambition In his Epistle after he had regulated those things of most importance he sets down also how they should employ their free-graces as the gift of speaking al sorts of tongues of interpreting holy Scriptures of foretelling things to come and such like That he would have the rule of their actions to be the the glory of God and the good of their Neighbour and to the end they might love that Charity which he teaches them he makes an admirable discription of it whence it appears his heart did perfectly possesse that which he set forth with so much grace and efficacy Towards the end of the Epistle he treats of the great mystery of the Resurrection of the condition of a new life after the end of the world of the new raign of God over Jesus Christ and over the Elect of his ineffable residing in them by the which he shall be all things to them He explicates to the ignorant the Resurrection by comparison of a grain of Corne which rests in the earth where it is sowed and afterwards springs up and produces many ears of Corne nay ears of another kinde then the grain from whence they come the Corne being sowed without those coverings of straw and the ears comming together with the straw the which he applies to the difference of the state of a body before and after Resurrection He explicates this mystery which so much care that he might correct the errors of Cerinthus and Basilides the one of them teaching that Jesus Christ was not seen againe and the other that men should not rise again after death This explication of the Doctrin of the first Epistle to the Corinthians in my opinion will not be unprofitable to the Reader But now let us return to the course of our narration and follow Saint Paul into Macedonia which he traversed all over and carefully left not any Church unvisited to confirme there the faithful in the Evangelical Doctrine After that he took the way to Greece by Sea and in the course of his Voyage established Titus his beloved Disciple Bishop of the Isle of Creet now called Candia The customes there observed were so infamous luxury and other vices abounded there with so much impudency as a Doctor no lesse vigilant and couragious then he was necessary to abolish them and establish their contrary vertues The Apostle before his departure gave him profitable Documents and soon after wrote unto him excellent instructions how to discharge well the duties of his Episcopacy From Nicopolis where he passed the winter he sent a second Epistle to the Corinthians in which he takes off the Excommunication he had thundered out in his first against incestuous persons who had so much scandalized the Church He treats principally of the dignity of the Ministers of the New Testament and of the patience which they ought to have in their tribulations Hee seems to praise himselfe much in the eleventh Chapter where he speaks of himself of his pains and of his patience in termes contrary to the humility of an Apostle It is true according to the ordinary rules of humane wisdom t is odious to praise ones selfe and they are accused commonly of impudence that do it not blushing to speak those things of themselves which they would blush to heare another speak It is a kinde of usurpation by which we take away from those who are witnesses of our actions the liberty of judgeing of them and giving testimony of the esteem which they deserve For this reason the wise man in the Proverbs advertiseth the Prince whom he formes and all other men not to fall into this error Let a stranger saith he praise thee and not thine own Mouth Notwithstanding it is certain there are occasions when according to the rules of Divine and Humane wisdom it is not onely permitted but necessary for one to praise himself without offending modesty or giving any cause of reprehension more then in telling other truths To praise ones selfe to be praised is a shameful ambition To praise ones selfe to rob others of praise is an envy full of baseness But if one praise himself either in a just defence of his carriage against calumny or for the good of such as we are obliged to answer for before God or to discredit those who make ill use of their reputation or for the glory of the Ministery which is imposed upon us In such occasions I say when one praises himself he sinnes neither against wisedome nor modesty but does that which is just The great men of former Ages have used it in this manner and to alledge no examples but sacred Doc we not see that Job in his Book makes as well a Panegyrick of his patience as a Story of his miseries David in many of the Psalmes does he
that is his Church and consequently deprived of the food which he has prepared to nourish his Spouse during her Pilgrimage and if they eat it they shall eat their judgement the body of Jesus Christ shall enter into their breasts and there engrave in characters undeleble the arrest of their death and whilest they think to receive a pledge of their salvation it shall prove the assurance of their damnation For they will be not onely guilty persons but persons already condemned and adjudged to death and the separation of them from the Elect shall be justly grounded upon the litle distinction they made of the body and bloud of the Sonne of God taking ordinary meat with more care and circumspection Alas there are but too many who are guilty of this Sacriledge Men know them not but they cannot lye hid from God who reads their most secret thoughts and sees clearly the evil dispositions of their carnal soules We see young men perish in the flower of their age we behold strong and lusty men fall into languishing diseases of which we know not the cause Suddain death dayly takes away divers persons who in respect of their age and health might have promised themselves a long life These accidents are ordinarily attributed to natural causes but beleeve it 't is a secret punishment for the profanation of the body of Jesus Christ Therefore judge your selves to the end you be not judged Yet be not seized with so great a fear as to hinder you from approaching to him who is as wel bread to strengthen the weak and fraile as to nourish the strong and is a medicine as well as food Eat dayly of this bread but then let your life correspond with your food and as the one is heavenly let not the other savour of the corruption of the Earth As you eat of the same bread and drink of the same cup at the Table of your Father so let there be a perfect union in your desires and in your thoughts as to be one thing This bread which is made of many graines of corn and the wine which is drawne from many grapes teach you to unite your hearts by charity You must be to one another as one bread by an amorous communication of your gifts either spiritual or temporal that all shadow of division even of singularity may be banished from the Church Goe on then my dear Brethren in such a manner as may answer the Sanctity of your name and vocation You are called Christians and this name shewes your Royal Unction and Priesthood together You are of that Kingly Stock doe not then make your selves slaves of sinne which is the most infamous and cruel Master you can choose You are Priests therefore cloath your selves with justice Offer your selves to God as a holy Host immaculate by Jesus Christ our Lord who is the Eternal Priest by whom and in whom our oblations are made acceptable to the heavenly Father I behold here persons of all conditions and therefore I will briefly set down some rules how to performe the duty of Christians Husbands and Wives I would have you know that marriage which has joyned you together is a great Sacrament in Jesus Christ and his Church It represents the adorable union of the heavenly Espouse and this Chaste Bride whom he has purified from all uncleanness by the word of life so that she who before was black and soyled in the time of her disorders now appears more white then Lilies without any spot or wrinckle to dishonour her He has not onely expressed his love to her by these favours but also given his life for her and made his bloud the Seale of his love Therefore love your Wives after this model and consider their bodies as a thing that is yours and consequently ought to be the subject of your care But as the love which Jesus Christ beares to his Church is pure so let the love which you bear to the companions of your bed be likewise pure As Jesus Christ beares with the frailties of his Church so you must bear the infirmites of those whose Sex being more fraile is more excusable and may better claim to be supported when you love them you love your selves for marriage makes that you are two in one flesh Wives be you subject to your husbands as to those who hold the place of our Lord over you they are your heads as Jesus Christ is head of the Church The head conducts the rest of the body take them therefore for the guides of your life and repose more trust in their conduct then in that of your own reason As the Church is subject to the will of Jesus Christ be you obedient to the wills of your husbands never give them any cause of anger nor occasion to distrust you Think not of pleasing any but them to that end adorn your selves modestly as Sarah did and those holy women in times past who were so carefull of gaining the hearts of their husbands as they called them their Lords and were much more carefull in the adorning of their souls then bodies Curled hair with affectation your costly Jewels garments of gold and silver and other dressings of vanity by which you desire to draw the eies of others upon you are unworthy of a Christian wife and indeed in stead of setting her forth renders her deformed Fathers and Mothers breed your Children in the fear of our Lord Suffer them not in your presence to offend him unto whom they appertain more then to your selves and for whose service you ought to bring them up Be carefull rather to make them good then rich and breed them rather for heaven then the earth Never provoke them to anger nor make them despair by holding too vigorous a hand over them but rather use indulgence towards them to reduce them to reason if they fly out Children obey your Fathers and Mothers the observance of this command for your encouragement is recompenced with the promise of a long life The honour which you give them returns to God who is the fountain of all Paternity both in heaven and earth Bear with their froward humors shun all occasions of displeasing them and assuredly believe you can never acquit your selves of the obligations you owe in duty to them You that are servants respect your Masters with a sincere and upright heart and believe that in serving them as you ought you serve Jesus Christ Do not render them service only when they look upon you for hope of reward or fear of punishment but do it in conformity to the faith and religion you profess Consider your selves as Servants of our Lord for the love of whom you serve men whose providence you ought to adore that has put you in that condition Think not of freeing your selves of that bondage but to use it well and to make it voluntary Expect from him the rewards due to your service your fidelity and diligence with love and
this unknown voyage he spent eight yeares during which time the Church lost many of her Masters and Children or rather sent them to heaven by a glorious martyrdom The death of S. James who was called the brother of our Lord according to the testimony of Jesephus himselfe drew upon the city of Hierusalem the horrid calamities of that famous siege which ruined it intirely Hee had governed that Church twenty nine yeares with so great a reputation of sanctity that the people when hee walked in the streets thought themselves very happy if they could but touch the hemm of his garment Eusebius and before him Hegesippus sayes that he was sanctified in his mothers womb that he ever abstained from all sort of liquours which might cause drunkenness and from flesh that a rasor never toucht his head that hee was never in the bathes and that by his long continuance in prayer there was a scale like to the skin of a Camel grown over his knees The Scribes Pharisees alwaies the same could not support the credit reputation of this man who converted sinners by his example as well as words Wherefore in a great assembly of the people they endeavoured to perswade him publickly to profess Judaism which hee refusing was forthwith precipitated from the top of the Temple where at the foot a dyer with a Lever killed him out-right We have a Canonical Epistle of his in which hee labours principally to prove the necessity of good works to refute the error of Simon the Magician who said faith alone was sufficient to salvation After him Simon the son of Cleophas also called the brother of Jesus Christ because he was his cozen was chosen Bishop of Hierusalem S. Barnaby the faithfull companion of the Apostle in his peregrinations at the same time time received also the crown of martyrdom in the Isle of Cyprus On the other side Mark the disciple of S. Peter and one of the Evangelists after he had governed the Church of Alexandria with great sanctity was taken on a Sunday by the Gentiles who put a rope about his neck and so dragged him for two dayes together about the streets and in rough and uneven places where in the end he finished his life The Christians that were under his conduct led a marvelous holy life Philo the Jew composed a book expresly in their praise called The Contemplative Life wherein hee gives them the name of Essens taking them for Jewes because in that time they retained many legal Ceremonies I know there are great disputes among learned men upon this passage but since I write not for them it were to little purpose to go about to cleare tha difficulty more curious then profitable wee shall doe better to return to Rome where the Church was agitated with a horrible persecution Nero in the tenth of his Empire increasing in wickedness as he grew up in years gave fire himself to the Citie of Rome The streets were too narrow for him and he had a mind to rebuild it that it might bear his name The fire began in that part of the Cirque which joyned to the Mounts Palatine and Caelius and from thence meeting with Magazines filled with combustible matter and being carried with the winde which began to rise it spread it selfe with such violence that remedies were too late to resist its fury The air ecchoed with the lamentable cryes of Women and children who in that apprehension of fear knew not whither to go for safety and hindered those that would have helpt them for whilest some either expected or would secure others they so troubled one another that they found themselves encompassed with flames In the narrow streets where there were many turnings the throng was so great there was no passing When men were gotten so far as they thought the fire could not reach them then they were suddenly surprised by it as it seemed rather to flie then to creep along Many to save their wives perisht themselves and others would not out-live them although they might easily have been saved Fathers lost their lives staying by their children in fine never was seen so horrible a spectacle such as would have brought water or pulled down houses before the fire were hindered with Officers who at the corners of streets throwing about fiery balls cryed out that what they did was by order meaning by the command of the Emperour who as is commonly reported during this sad calamity was singing on the stage the Burning of Troy Notwithstanding he sought to suppress this opinion causing many hutts to be built in his gardens for those who had lost their houses by the fire Of fourteen quarters which composed the city there were but four left intire The houses of three of them were intirely levelled with the ground and in the other seven there remained onely the tops of buildings half burnt and ruined Thus all the riches heaped together since the foundation of the Common-wealth of so many Statues so many Pictures and other other rarities transported from all the Nations of the world of so many Temples built with such magnificence and by the Superstition of the people rendered so famous and renowned there remained onely a little heap of Ashes a sad example of the vanity of all humane things But to see that great City all in flames was not so dreadfull as afterwards to behold a great number of Christians tormented by Nero as authors of the fire without distinction either of age or quality and adding derision to his cruelty hee commanded some to be covered with the skins of wilde beasts to the end they might be worried to death by fierce dogs Others he nailed upon Crosses and caused their bodies to be rubbed over with pitch and other things apt to take fire that in the night time they served for torches to light those who passed by whilest they consumed like living holocausts for the defence of the name of J. Christ His gardens were the theatre of this abominable execution Although the Christians were odious to the Romanes who distinguished them not from the Jewes Hereticks of that time whose abominations indeed by right deserved their publick hatred yet they had compassion of these for every one saw they perished not for their own crimes but to satisfie the unsatiable cruelty of the Emperor who would justifie himself at their costs This was the first persecution in which God would try his Church amongst the Gentiles It was a while interrupted by a conspiracy discovered against this Tyrant in which Seneca being accused to have a hand was forced to make satisfaction with his life let out by his veins a greater resolution could not be desired then what he shewed in his death but me thinks 't is yet to be deplored since this constancy was only Philosophical not Christian Plautus Lateranus whose Palace was afterwards changed into a Church which yet bears the name of Lateran many other persons of quality perished for
the same cause Poppea followed not long after for Nero loving her like a Tyrant slew her in a fury with a spurn of his foot To these Massacres he added afterwards the unjust deaths of many Senators Thrasius Paetus and Bareâ—s Soranus But that of S. Paul was the completion of his sacrileges and it is now time after eight years absence that we return again with him to Rome He was imprisoned not long after his arrival If we will believe S. Chrysostom the conversion of the Emperours Mistress was the cause It is likely also the death of Simon the Magician contributed towards it This impostor had promised Nero to fly in his sight up to heaven and on the day appointed for this famous enterprise he was elevated in the aire by the devils all the people beholding him But at the prayers of S. Peter and S. Paul for S. Cyril of Hierusalem joynes them both in this action hee was precipitated in an instant to the earth where hee long survived not this shamefull fall Hereupon the Emperour who loved him would revenge his death upon those whom he believed to be the authors S. Peter after he had lain nine moneths in prison was condemned to be crucified and S. Paul to have his head struck off as being a Citizen of Rome Before the execution they were both whipped with rods for the crime of impiety whereof they were accused which supposed crime rendred S. Paul uncapable of the priviledge of a free Denison In the Church of S. Mary beyond the bridge over Tyber are yet to be seen the Pillars whereunto 't is said they were fastned The Prince of the Apostles would dye with his head downwards to make in that shamefull death a distinction betwixt the Master and the Servant S. Paul on the way to his execution converted three Souldiers who conducted him During his imprisonment he and his noble Companion converted forty seven of their guard besides Processas and Martinian their Goalers for whose baptisme God miraculously made a fountain to issue forth in the prison The Apostle prayed for his Executioner offered his head with more joy then if had been to receive a Diademe three times the head gave a leap and at every bound produced a fountain A Tradition approved by many antient Fathers of the Church adds that milk instead of blood ranne out of his wound which caused no less astonishment to the Gentiles then consolation to the Faithfull I know it is very hard to marke out the precise time of Martyrdom both of the one and other but it is certain they suffered with a courage sutable to the transcendency of their Apostleship and it is the opinion of the Church that having been so strictly linked together in their lives God would have them likewise so in their deaths by suffering for one and the same cause on the same day and in the Capitall City of the world where they had assaulted Idolatry even in the throne preaching the Gospel laid the foundation of an Empire against which hell it selfe shall never be able to prevail Thus S. Paul ended his life in the sixty eighth year of his age and the thirty fifth of his Conversion Nature had not bestowed upon him a presence to his advantage as hee himselfe confesses but shee recompenced it in a vast wit and a courage which even dangers fortified To the science of humane Learning acquired at Tharsus he added a perfect knowledge of the Law of Moyses which he learnt at the feet of Gamaliel a most eminent Doctor both for his doctrine and piety His zeal for this Law transported him into those extremities of fury which became the subject of repentance in the whole sequel of his life Hee thought to be a faithfull disciple to Moyses He must needs be an irreconciliable enemy to Jesus Christ and unto all those who believed in him The name alone of being his disciple seemed to him a just ground for his hatred hee thought he could not better testifie a zeal for his religion then by forgetting all obligatiâ—ns of friendship and stifling in his heart all sense feeling of nature though S. Stephen was his near kinsman yet nevertheless he was an assistant and complice in his death His rage was was not content with this spectacle esteeming it an honour to be employed as executioner in the cruel commands of the Priests and gloried much when either by force or cunning he had drawn any one to deny the Faith of Jesus Christ The fury of his blinde and impoisoned zeal could not be kept within the limits of Hierusalem He would also make it remarkable in the City of Damasco to this end hee obtained express orders that he might seize on all the faithfull and bring them prisoners to the Capital City of Judea to make their deaths more ignominious by making it more publick But in his most violent excess of hatred against the Saviour of the world he found the effects of his extraordinary goodness For a light more radiant then the Sun although it was at mid day dazled his eies and a divine illustration cleared his understanding J. Christ reproved him for his persecution and the persecuter presently acknowledged him for his Master The grace of J. C. manifested in this change it s most miraculous effects shews men who flatter themselves with an opinion of their own merits that it is not conferred upon them because they are Saints but rather to make them Saints It appears there needs not time to soften the most rebellious hearts and that the most obstinate must yeeld to the amorous violence of its impulses by a happy liberty which places them in the holy and pleasant servitude of Justice Pelagius a long time after lest hee should make a slave of mans will made it a divinity but his error was sufficiently condemned by this Conversion Sinners may here learn to hope for the effect of some mercy which purifies when it pleases the greatest stains mollifies the most obdurate hearts Never any one has better known both the old new man in which consists all Christian religion then S. Paul He has taught the world what miseries the first hath brought upon it the unhappy effects of his poison on those who descended from him Hee hath shewed the proud man who flatters himself in his own excellency that he was the son of an offender the slave of sin the heir of death He has represented to him all his deformities discovered all his ulcers convinced him in this that he is frail and miserable He has made the wisest amongst the Gentiles to observe that their wisedom was indeed true folly that they were lost in their imaginations and that their vertues had but a false appearance of goodness Hee so drew to the life the corruption of manners which attends Idolatry as a just punishment of its blindness that those who were not wholly stupified and obdurate became at lest ashamed if not