but Maximus did maliciously make use of all that to ruine Gregory's Reputation and this perhaps emboldened him to go to Thessalonica to desire Theodosius to restore him by an Edict But he was so far from obtaining what he desired that the Emperor ordered him with Threatnings to give over his Pursuits Being enraged at his having missed his aim he went to Alexandria where having drawn some People to his Party he threatned Peter Bishop of that City to deprive him of his Place if he he did not help him to invade the Bishoprick of Constantinople The Governor of Alexandria having had notice of this Insolence and being afraid that the Cynick would cause some Disturbance banish'd him out of the City and History doth not tell us what became of him afterwards Gregory being thus got rid of Maximus was now exposed to the Arian Faction which endeavoured to cry him down by ridiculing his Countrey and Relations Besides they accused him of ill Humour Carelesness and other like Defects But because those Reproaches were either ill grounded or inconsiderable he easily justified himself as may be seen in his Twenty-fifth Oration That which did him the greatest Prejudice is that though he was great Orator according to the manner of the Age he lived in yet he was not really fit to do a thousand other things necessary to maintain himself against the Arians He should have made his Interest at Court and got the Favour of the Grandee's to promote the Interest of his Church But this he was not capable of having spent the greatest part of his Life in Study and Quiet Hence it is that that Priest who had favoured Maximus as I have said drew several Catholicks to himself who began to say that Gregory was not capable of well performing the Episcopal Duties which required no less Experience and Skill in Affairs than Eloquence and Learning Gregory was so weary of the Complaints and Crosses of those Men that one day * De Vita sua p. 17 18. he undertook to take his leave of his People But he had no sooner said that he would go than that the whole Assembly did so earnestly desire him not to leave them and not to suffer the Orthodox Doctrine to perish by the Arians Endeavours after his departure that at last he was persuaded to stay till the Eastern Bishops who were to meet shortly as 't was reported would chuse another to fill up the Episcopal See of Constantinople Such was the state of Affairs until the arrival of Theodosius at Constantinple the 22d of * Vid. Pagt ad hunc Ann. n. 7. November 380. That Emperor had been lately Baptized at Thessalonica by Acholius an Orthodox Bishop who had inspired him with the Design of restoring the Nicene Faith He had already ordered being at Thessalonica †C. Th. l. 16. T. 1. c. 2. by an Edict bearing date the 27th of February That all his Subjects should have such a Belief concerning the Holy Trinity as they had at Rome and Alexandria That those who would profess it should be called Catholicks and the others Hereticks That the Assemblies of the latter should not be called Churches and That they should be liable to Civil Punishments as well as to the Divine Vengeance Being at Constantinople and having observed the great multitude of Heterodox of which that City was full he published yet a more severe Edict ‖ Ibid. T. 5. l. 6. the 10th of January in the Year 381 whereby he annuls all those which might have allowed the Hereticks some liberty and takes from them all the Churches they had in the Towns ordering them to restore 'em to those who followed the Nicene Faith Afterwads he sent word * Soâ— at l. â— c. â— Soâ—â—â— 7. c. â— to Demophilus an Arian Bishop to subscribe to the Council of Nice or to resolve to leave the Churches of Constantinople Demophilus did the latter without any Hesitation and told the People that the next day they should meet out of the City Thus the Arians were deprived of the Publick Churches which they had kept Forty Years * De Vita sua p. 20 c. Notwithstanding Theodosius was accused of want of Zeal and they would would have him use Violence to reduce the Arians as Gregory says though he doth not approve the Heat of those who found fault with Theodosius's Conduct upon that account and declares himself against those who pretend to force the Conscience The Emperor having sent for Gregory received him very kindly and told him he was going to put him in possession of the Cathedral of Constantinople Lest the People the greatest part whereof followed the Opinions of Arius should rise up Theodosius sent some Soldiers to seize the Church of the Apostles and sent Gregory to it attended with some others through the midst of the People who cried on every side and were as much afflicted as if Constantinople had been taken which could not be a pleasant Spectacle to a wise and moderate Bishop Though the Sun was up it was so clouded that one would have thought it was Night but the Sun shone all of a sudden when Gregory came to Church That Circumstance should not deserve to be taken notice of were it not that our Bishop relates it as an extraordinary thing having said * Carm. de Vita sua p. 22. That though he is one of those who are most opposite to such Thoughts yet he believes 't is better to believe all things than to refuse to believe what is said As soon as they came to Church all the People that were in it cried out they would have Gregory to be their Bishop He silenced them getting a Priest to tell them that they ought not to cry but to give Thanks to God As for the rest he was threatned with no danger except that one Man only drew his Sword which he presently put up into its Scabboard But though the Arians had yielded their Churches yet they murmured about it among themselves and were angry because they had been turned out Gregory believed with great reason that the Heterodox might be wrought upon by Mildness which he more willingly used than the Emperor's Authority He complains That a Company of wretched Young men call'd Mildness Cowardice gave to Fury the name of Courage and would have the Arians to be exasperated and inflamed with Anger The Moderation of Gregory was not unpleasant to Theodosius who sometimes sent for him †Carm. 10. T. 2. p. 80. and made him eat at his Table Notwithstanding our Bishop went seldom to Court * Carm. de Vita sua p. 23. though the others were constantly there to be in the Emperor's or his Officers Favour and made use of Piety as a pretence to raise themselves and ruine their Enemies Forasmuch as he was Old and of a Weak Constitution he was often indisposed which his Enemies ascribed to too great a Delicacy As he was once in his Bed
receiv'd which the Council must have approv'd of seeing otherwise it would not have been admitted as it is He supposes on the contrary for the same Reasons that when the Fathers deny there are Three Hypostases they do not barely mean that there are not Three Essences of different Kinds but that they are not Three in Number But others will deny there is any place where the words Nature and Essence can be taken for what we at this day call Personality which is to say for a Modification and that it appears from the Passages which he cites that the Fathers held the Numerical Vnity And this was the Condition of the Christian Church when the Quarrels of Arius disturb'd it Whence may be seen that it was no hard matter for the two Parties to cite Authorities of the Antients whose Equivocal Expressions might be interpreted in divers sences The Obscurity of the Subject the vain Subtilty of Humane Understanding which would know every thing the Desire of appearing able and the Passion which mingles it self in all Disputes gave Birth to these Controversies which for a long time tore Christianity into pieces Arius being a Priest of Alexandria about the Year 318 undertook as it seems to explain more clearly the Doctrine of the Divinity of Jesus Christ which had been till that time taught in the Christian Church under the Veil of those Terms which we have recited He said that to beget in this subject was nothing else but to produce whence he concluded that the Divinity of Jesus Christ had been extracted out of nothing by the Father Here 's how he expresses himself in a Letter which he wrote to Eusebius Bishop of Nicomedia * Ap. Theod. l. 1. c. 5. We make profession to believe that the Son is not without Generation and that he is not a part of that which is unbegotten nor of any other Pre-existent Matter whatever but that by the Will and Council of God he has been perfect God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before all Time and Ages that he is his only Son and that he is not subject to change that before he was begotten or created he was not Arius was counted an able * Sozom. l. 1. c. 15. Logician and was in good esteem with his Bishop Alexander but speaking freely his mind he drew on him the harred of one †Epiphan in Haer. LXIX Melece Bishop in Thebais who had caus'd a Schism in Egypt although he did not much vary from the common Opinions only because he would not receive into Communion the Priests who had faln in the Dioclesian Persecution but after a long Penance and would have them for ever depriv'd of their Office One may see the History of this in St. Epiphanius who accuses him for having 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an affected Devotion and taking up a particular way of living to to make himself admired by the People Arius had moreover another Enemy named Alexander and Sirnamed Baucalas ‖ Philost l. 1. c. 4. who was also an Associate Priest with him He joined himself to Melece to complain to the Bishop of Alexandria that Arius sowed a new Doctrine touching the Divinity of our Saviour Christ He could the better spread his Opinions in that having a particular Church at Alexandria committed * Epiph. to his care he preach'd there what he thought fit He drew such a great number of People into his Opinions that there were Seven hundred Religious Votaries who had embraced them and consequently a greater number among the Ordinary People It 's said that he was a Man of large Shape of a severe Countenance yet of a very agreeable Conversation †Sozom. Alexander thought that in a Matter wherein one might easily equivocate it were best to let the two Parties explain themselves to the end it might appear that he had accorded them more by Persuasion than Force He brought the two Parties to a Conference in demanding of them the Explication of a Passage of Scripture in the Presence of the Clergy of his Church But neither one nor the other of these Parties would yield endeavouring only to vanquish Arius his Adversaries maintained that the Son is of the same Essence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Father and that he is Eternal as he is and Arius pretended that the Generation denoted a Beginning There was another Meeting call'd as fruitless as the first in respect of the Dispute but by which it seems Alexander who had before not any precise determined Sentiment on this Matter was induced to embrace the Opinion of Arius his Adversaries He afterwards commanded this Priest to believe the same thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to abandon the opposite Opinion But it being seldom known that Men yield Obedience to these kind of Injunctions Arius remained still in the same Opinion as well as several other Bishops and Ecclesiasticks who had approved of it Alexander angry at his not being obey'd Excommunicated him with all those of his Party and oblig'd him to depart out of Alexandria There were among others five Priests of this City and as many Deacons of the same Church besides some Bishops of Egypt as Secondas and Theonas To them were joined a great number of People some of which did in effect approve the Doctrine of Arius and others thought that he had been condemned with too high an hand without entring into the Discussion of the Controversie After this Severity the two Parties endeavoured to make their Opinions and Conduct be approved by Letters which they sent every where They exposed not only their Reasons but endeavoured to render odious the opposite Party by the Consequences they drew from their Opinions and in attributing to them strange Expressions Some Bishops as Eusebius of Nicomedia exhorted Alexander to reconcile himself with Arius and others approv'd his Conduct and advised him not to receive him into his Communion till he retracted The Letters of Alexander and Arius are too considerable to be here omitted Here 's then the summ of them Arius wrote to * Ap. Epiph in Hes LXIX Theoder l. 1. c. 5. Eusebius of Nicodemia to entreat his Protection against Alexander who had excommunicated him and driven him out of Alexandria because he could not grant him that the Father and the Son are Co-eternal that the Son co-exists with the Father without Generation having been always begotten and not begotten at the same time without letting it be imagined that the Father has existed so much as one Moment before the Son He added That Eusebius Bishop of Caesarea Theodotus of Laodicea Paulinus of Tyre Athanasius of Anazarba Gregory of Beryta and Aetius of Lydea condemning the Sentiments of Alexander had been likewise struck with an Anathema as well as all the Eastern People who were of the same Opinions except Philogonius Bishop of Antioch Hellanicus of Tripoly and Macarius of Jerusalem one of which said That the Son was an Eructation the other a
like her and had the Head turned backwards That it was still extant and though the Salt did melt and was often licked by the Cattle yet it did not lessen It seems that our Poet had this out of a Poem upon Sodom ascribed to Tertullian wherein 't is said moreover that 't was known every Month by a certain Mark that 't was a Woman's Statue I think I am able * The Author hath done it since in his Comment upon Genesis to shew that Moses says not that Lot's Wife was metamorphosed into a Statue of Salt but this is not a fit place to enlarge upon that Matter or shew that what is related concerning the Statue of Salt are meer Fables 3. At the end of this Poem Prudentius offers a Prayer to God which deserves to be observed He prays That when he is dead he may not see a Devil who carries his Soul into the Black Dens where he will be forced to pay whatever he owes to the last Farthing He doth not beg to be in the Place where the Blessed especially the Virgins dwell He says he 'll be content provided he sees no Devil and Hell devours not his Soul that since is is necessary because of the Corruption which his Soul had contracted in his Body he consents to be swallowed up by the sod Fire of Avernus provided however that it shall not be too hot Let others says he be gloriously crowned in an Immense Light and I but lightly burnt Esto cavernoso quia sic pro labe necesse est Corporea tristis me sorbeat ignis Averno Saltem mirificos incendia lenta vapores Exhalent aestuque calor lanquente tepescat Lux immensa alios tempora vineta coronis Glorificent me poena levis clementer adurat Prudentius adds not that he hoped to get out of that Place in the Day of the Resurrection so that one cannot affirm that he understands by it what was since called Purgatory as F. Chamillard thinks The Antients differed so much among themselves concerning those Matters that we cannot tell whether Prudentius had not a private Opinion of his own concerning this and believed not that a lesser degree of Heat though it should last for ever was a hind of Happiness In effect he ranks the Place wherein he wished to be among the several Habitations in the House of God which Christ speaks of John xix Multa in Thesauris Patris est habitatio Christe Disparibus Discreta locis V. The Psychomachy is an Allegorical Poem wherein Prudentius describes a Fight of Vertues against Vices and wherein there is nothing that 's remarkable VI. The two Books against Symmachus were composed a little while after the Defeat of Alarick by Stilichon in the Year 402. as it appears from the 695 Verse of the Second Book wherein Prudentius mentions that Defeat as having lately happened Symmachus a Pagan and Praefect of the City of Rome the most Eloquent Orator of his time had about eighteen Years before presented a Request to Valentinianus Theodosius and Arcadius to obtain from them the re-establishment of an Altar and Statue of Victory which was in the Place where the Senate met and which Gratianus took away We have still the Discourse of Symmachus and an Answer to it of St. Ambrose Bishop of Milan which he wrote when he had disappointed the Request of Symmachus by another which he presented upon the spot Prudentius did also exercise himself in writing an Answer in Verses to the Discourse of that famous Heathen He excuses himself for daring to write against so learned a Man * Lib. 1. ver 646. In effect the Verses of our Poet are not comparable with Symmachus's Prose as to what concerns the Expression though the Reasons of the latter being only the Reasons of a Declamator are very much beneath those of Prudentius Yet Prudentius says scarce any thing against the Pagan Religion but what other Christian Authors who wrote upon the same Matter said before him He spends his First Book in that and answers Symmachus's Reasons only in the Second 1. One may learn from two Places of the First Book that there was then but a small number of Heathens in Rome since * Ver. 579. Prudentius says to the Pagans That to know how few People pay Honour to the Altars of Jupiter one needs only observe of what Religion are those who live in the highest Stories of the Houses those who walk through the whole City those who are nourished with the Bread which the Emperors distributed to the People those who lived at the foot of the Vatican and those who go to the Church of Lateran to be Confirm'd there It appears from thence that the greatest part of the People were Christians And a little lower †Ver. 609. Prudentius teaches us that the greatest number of the Senators were Christians too Because they had thrown down the Images of the Gods by a Decree of the Senate made by the Majority of Votes He says That the Senators gave freely their Consent to the Proposal of the Emperor for it which was evident because that Prince did equally honour Merit in the Pagans and Christians 2. Simmachus had drawn an Argument for the Pagan Religion from its Antiquity which he expressed very elegantly Si longa aet as authoritatem religionibus faciat servanda est tot saeculis sides sequendi sunt nobis Parentes qui feliciter sequuti sunt suos If length of Time is of some weight in Religion we ought not to depart from the Belief of so many Centuries we ought to imitate our Fathers who did so well imitate theirs This is so well worded that the ablest Missionary cannot preach better against the Innovators Yet Prudentius answers chiefly two things against that Argument which are so judicious that the most learned Innovator cannot answer a Missionary better The First is That if the manner of Living of past Ages is always to be preferr'd before that of the time wherein one lives the Romans of that time should have renounced all the Conveniences of Life trodden under foot all Sciences recall'd the Inconveniences and Barbarity of the Age of Saturn and sacrificed Humane Victims to him The Second thing is That the Religion of the Romans was very much altered since Saturnus and even Romulus's time * Ver. 303. Roma Antiqua sibi non constat versa per aevum Et mutata sacris c. What was remarkable in the Religion of the Romans is that since Romulos the number of the Gods was infinitely encreased †Ver. 343. Sanguinis Hectorei populum probo tempore longo Non multos coluisse Deos rarisque sacellis Contentum paucas posuisse in collibus aras c. 3. Symmachus said also That as every Body hath a certain Soul so Cities have some Tutelar Gods which Fate gives ' em Prudentius having laught at those pretended Genius's ‖ Ver. 460. doth very much inveigh as all the Ancient
many Christians to leave the Places of their Abode wherein they were too well known to give way to the Violence of the Persecution This seems to have given Clemens occasion to prove that it was lawful to run away in time of Persecution * Strom. l. 4. p. 503 seq Having said that Martyrdom cleanses from all Sins and exhorted those who are called to it to suffer it he observes That we ought to shew as well by our Manners as our Words that we are persuaded of the Truth of the Christian Religion Afterwards he explains that place of the Gospel When they persecute you in this City flee ye unto another The Lord says he doth not command us to flie as if to be Persecuted was an * That Reasoning is grounded upon the Principles of the Stoicks who deni'd that Pain was an Evil. Evil and doth not bid us avoid Death by flying as if we ought to fear it He will not have us to engage or help any Body to do ill c. Those who do not obey are rash and expose themselves to no purpose to manifest Dangers If he who kills a Man of God sins he who presents himself before a Judge's Tribunal is also guilty of his own Death c. He helps as much as lies in him the Wickedness of him who persecutes him If he exasperates him he is really the cause of his own Death just as if he had exasperated a Wild Beast that devoured him A little while after the Apostles some had been seen to look for Martyrdom but some having challenged the Executioners and having scandalously faln short of Christianity at the sight of the Torments that Conduct †Vid. Dodwel Diss Cyp. XII § 49. was found dangerous and those who willingly offered themselves to Martyrdom were Condemned as it appears by many Passages of the Antients and that of Clemens which I have just now quoted As we ought not to avoid Martyrdom when it cannot be done without renouncing Christianity or a Good Conscience so we ought to preserve our Lives as long as we can whilst 't is likely that we do Christians greater service by prolonging it if we fly than by losing it for the sake of Truth by staying in those Places where the Persecution rages and which we may come out of without ceasing to profess the Truth Those who blame or make some difficulty to justifie some Protestant Ministers who came out of a Kingdom wherein they could not stay without imminent Danger if they continued to perform their Functions should before prove that such a Conduct would have been more advantagious to Christianity than their Retreat Methinks the Solution of that Question which hath been lately moved viz. Whether they did well to retire depends upon this Clemens seems about that time to have left Alexandria since we read that he made some stay at Jerusalem with Alexander who a little while after was Bishop of that City and to whom he dedicated his Book entituled The Ecclesiastical Rule against those who follow the Opinions of the Jews Whilst he staid there he was very useful to that Church as it appears by a Letter of Alexander to the Church of Antioch of which Clemens was the Bearer * Euseb l. 6. p. 11. wherein that Bishop says That he was a Man of great Vertue as the Church of Antioch knew and would know it again and that being at Jerusalem by an Effect of God's Providence he had confirm'd and encreased the Church of God there From Antioch Clemens returned to Alexandria where 't is not known how long he lived All that can be said is that he survived Pantoenus at least some Years and that he was not Old when he writ his Stromata since he himself * Strom. l. 1. p. 274. says That he made them to serve him as a Collection in his Old Age when his Memory should fail History is silent concerning his Death but we may believe that his Memory was Blessed at Alexandria if we consider those words of the Bishop of Jerusalem whom I have just now mentioned who in a Letter to Origen says †Euseb ib. c. 14. That they both acknowledged for Fathers those Blessed Men who went out of this Life before them and with whom they should be in a short time viz. the Blessed Pantoenus and Pious Clemens of whom he had received great Help Amongst the many Works which Clemens wrote there are but Three extant that are considerable The First is An Exhortation to the Heathens Wherein he confutes their Religion and endeavours to persuade them to embrace Christianity The Second is entitled Paedagogus In which he directs the Manners of Young Men and gives them some Rules to live like Christians wherein he mixes some Maxims extremely severe and very remote from our Customs The Third is his Stromata that is to say Hangings which he entitled so * Ibid. l. 1. p. 276. l. 4. p. 476. l. 7. p. 766. because of the Variety of Matters which he handles in it He shews what Conformity there is between several Opinions of the Heathen Philosophers and those of the Jews and Christians He Censures what was Bad as he thinks in the Heathen Philosophy Defends and Explains the Christian Religion Refutes the Hereticks and shews every where a great Erudition But he observes little or no Order as he himself says at the End of the Seventh Book He takes occasion from one thing to pass to another without framing any Plan of what he is to say and without having any other Design but to collect the most useful things he had learned by Study and Meditation His Style in this latter Work is more harsh than in the two foregoing ones wherein notwithstanding there is more Affectation than Elegancy and Neatness He pretends that he had some Reason for it But there are Two great Inconveniences in such a Method The First is That for want of Order not only the strength of the most solid Proofs is not perceived but also an Author confounds himself often repeats the same thing and heaps up an infinite number of Arguments which prove nothing The Second is That a Carelesness of Style often makes what one says unintelligible for 't is not only Elegancy but Clearness that is wanting in it Now an Affected Obscurity in Difficult Matters as those are which Clemens treats of is so much the more to blame because 't is no easie thing to be understood even in Matters that are clear of themselves if One does not express himself neatly As we are to speak only to be understood so there is nothing can excuse an Author for not speaking clearly but an absolute impossibility of expressing himself better And indeed we are apt to believe that those who have an Obscure Style have no clear Head and that they speak so because they do not apprehend things more clearly than they speak ' em 'T is true that the affected Ornaments
Ship which the Wind carried towards them afforded them some Provisions Gregory says that his greatest grief at that time was that he was not Baptized That Thought affected him so much that he moved the Seamen with Pity though they were already afflicted enough with the Peril they themselves were in He made a Vow to God that he would get himself Baptized and consecrate himself to God and the Storm ceased some time after It seems he was afraid of being damned if he should die without Baptism and it being the Opinion of that time 't is a wonder that his Father and Mother whose Piety he doth so much extoll should not take care that he should be Baptized from his very Childhood 'T is true Baptism might be put off lest they should fall off from Grace which they thought God gave to those who received it or for fear they should be Excommunicated if they should live after a manner unworthy of those who were Baptized But those Fears don't take away the Difficulty since Men are no less in danger of being damn'd if they live ill without having received Baptism than if they dishonour it after they have received it However Gregory says that his Parents were warned of the Danger he was in by a Dream which made 'em pray for him One of those who were in the same Ship saw also Nonna Gregory's Mother walking upon the Sea and drawing afterwards the Ship to the shore and then the Storm ceased They sailed towards Greece and having passed by Rhodus at last they arrived at the Isle of Egina from whence Gregory went to Athens He had not been there long before * Orat. 20. p. 326. Vid. Olympiad ap Photium Ced lxxx Basil came to it Then the Friendship which they had begun to contract at Caesarea did very much encrease Forasmuch as they applied themselves to the same Study and had the same Inclinations they grew so intimate Friends that Gregory says they were but One Soul in Two Bodies We shall see afterwards what altered that Friendship The Sophists or Masters of Rhetorick who lived at Athens had every one of them their Faction and endeavoured by all imaginable means to get Disciples In order to it they kept some of their Party in all the Avenues of the City of Athens and as soon as they saw some Young Men who came to study there those who happen'd to be the strongest seized them and then lodged them at their Friends Those who who were able to bring many Disciples to their Master paid nothing to him which made the poor Scholars watchful to observe the Strangers who came to Athens A Young Man being thus got into their hands some among the Scholars put some Questions to him and delighted to contradict him to know whether he had any Wit Afterwards they conducted him in a solemn manner to the Publick Baths and those who had taken him went before him two and two When he came to the Door they made as if they were not willing that he should go in and made a great noise to fright him yet they soon after let him go in and when he had washed himself they they put the Philosophical Cloak upon his Shoulders which before he was not allowed to wear Basil was exempted from that Ceremony because he had made much greater progresses than those who commonly came to Athens to study there but it doth not appear that Gregory who relates that had a like Privilege I have observed that Custom though not very considerable in it self because one may thereby apprehend how much in love they were then with the Sophistical Art or Rhetorick and how greedy the Masters were of getting Disciples One may also perceive thereby that the Academies of those times were not better regulated than those of our time and that in all likelyhood when the Students left 'em they were not more improved than they are now The two greatests Sophists that were then at Athens were Himerius and Proeresius who both were very much esteem'd by the Emperor Julian The latter being * Eunap Sard. in Vita Proaeres an Armenian by Birth had for that reason in his School all the Youth of Pontus Cappadocia Bithynia and the other Provinces in the neighbourhood of this Country Which makes one believe that Gregory studied at Athens under him The same Sophist was so much esteem'd that the Emperor Constans treated him at his own Table and sent him to Rome with a magnificent Train where they erected a Statue to him with this Inscription upon the Pedestal ROME THE QUEEN OF CITIES TO THE KING OF ELOQUENCE Basil having received an Honour at Athens * Nazianz. Orat. xx p. 328. which was seldom bestowed upon those who went thither contracted Envy thereby Some Young Men of Armenia who had put on the Philosophical Cloak and were admitted into those Schools †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where they only learned to Prattle before him thought themselves bound in Honour to humble that Fresh-Man They undertook to Dispute with him but finding him too strong for them they would have been forced to leave him the Field of Battle had not Gregory who seriously believed that the Glory of Athens was concerned in it come to their help and made the Combat even on both sides But he soon after perceived that the Armenians acted out of Envy which made him side with Basil who afterwards put his Adversaries to flight From that time their Friendship took deeper root and they lived very amicably together Had it not been for the lucky meeting of such a Friend as Gregory Basil would have been weary of Athens where he found not the Learning he hoped to find in it but Gregory comforted him with his Conversation and gave him to understand that it required some time to know throughly all the learned Men of a City and to be able to judge of them without rashness Both of them applied themselves to the wisest and most rational of those who studied at Athens not to those who made the greatest figure and disputed best Basil left that City first from whence he undertook some Travels and at last retired to Caesarea Gregory some time after returned to Cappadocia to assist and comfort his Father and Mother in their Old Age. He describes * De Vita sua p. 4. alibi in more than one place in a very tender manner a Separation which cost him many Tears whereby one may know that Gregory was very tender of and heartily loved his Friends Gregory had then spent thirty years either in learning or teaching Rhetorick as he himself says that is to say he left Athens towards the Year 354 or 355. It were almost incredible that having a Father and a Mother very old he should not have sooner thought to retire and live near them nor have undertaken to do the Christian Church greater service than to Study or Teach Rhetorick * Vid. Pagi
they sent a Man to kill him who moved with repentance confest to him at the feet of his Bed that they had incited him to commit that Crime the Pardon of which he presently obtained As for the Revenues of the Church Gregory says that having not been able to find any Account of them neither among the Papers of those who had been Bishops of Constantinople before him nor among those to whom the care of gathering them was committed he would not meddle with them and took nothing out of them to avoid giving an account of them Theodosius called at that time a Council at Constantinople either to condemn several Heresies or to settle Gregory Canonically in the Episcopal See of that City But before I relate what past with respect to Gregory it will not be amiss to say something of the Orations he made whilst he was at Constantinople and which are extant Basil Bishop of Caesarea * Vid. Pagi ad An. 378. n. 1. being dead on the First Day of the Year 380 Gregory made an †Orat. 20. Oration in his Praise some time after having not been able to pay that last Duty to his Friend as soon as he could have wished He praises Basil's Ancestors who were Persons of Quality and besides Christians for a long time He says that ‖ Pag. 319. during Maximin's Persecution some of Basil's Ancestors having retired into a Forest of Pontus without any Provision and without Arms to go a Hunting they prayed to God that he would send them some of the Fowls or a little of the Venison which they saw in that Wood and God presently sent 'em a great number of the fattest Stags who seemed to be grieved because they had not called them sooner Gregory delights in that Subject according to the Custom of the Pagan Orators who did the same with respect to the Fables of Paganism The worst of all is that it makes one suspect the other Relations of Gregory 2. Afterwards he gives a short Account of Basil's Life and insists upon every Particular according to his custom with a great deal of Exaggeration many Figures and Moral Observations Speaking of the manner after which he himself had spent his Life he says that he wishes * Pag. 333. his Affairs may better prosper hereafter by the Intercessions of Basil 3. The manner of getting * Pag. ib. Church-Preferments in his time was not more Canonical than the Means which are now-a-days made use of for the same end if we believe Gregory Having said that in other Professions Men raised themselves only by degrees and according to their Capacity he assures That the Chief Dignity was got as much by Crimes as by Vertue and that Episcopal Sees were not for those who deserved them best but for the most Powerful c. No body takes the Name of a Physician or a Painter before he hath studied the Nature of Diseases well mixed his Colours and made several Pictures but a Bishop may be easily found not after he hath been carefully formed but upon the spot as the Fable feigneth That the Giants were no sooner sowed but they sprung out of the Earth We make †The Bishops were then called Saints as now-a-days Lords SAINTS in one day and we exhort to Wisdom those who have not learn'd to be Wise and who have brought nothing to perform well the Episcopal Duties but the Desire of being Bishops 4. Gregory ascribes to Basil ‖ Pag. 340 358. some Monastical Laws and written Prayers We have the former still without any great alteration but the Liturgy which bears his Name hath been very much alter'd since 5. He not only praises his Friend but also makes his Apology against those who accused him of Pride of which notwithstanding he himself accuses him in several places * Pag. 364. and suspected he did not believe the Divinity of the Holy Spirit because he had not stiled him God in his Book Gregory says that Basil did so for fear of exasperating the Hereticks who could not abide that that Title should be bestowed upon the Holy Spirit because the Scripture doth not ascribe it to him but that he had said something equivalent to it which was the same thing since Words do not save us but Things 6. Lastly Having described Basil's Funeral he goes on thus †Pag. 372. He is now in Heaven where he offers as I think Sacrifices for us and prayeth for the People for when he left us he did not altogether forsake us c. He advises me still and chides me in Night-Visions when I depart in something from my Duty At the end of his Oration he addresses himself to him and asks his Help in energick terms as if he heard him though he seemed to doubt whether he was in Heaven that is in the Place of greatest Bliss into which the Antients believed no body went except Martyrs but after the Resurrection as we have already seen by another Passage of Gregory There is some likelyhood that he composed at Constantinople most of the other Orations which are extant which I have not mention'd yet especially those which he made against the Arians wherein he hath been thought to have so well defended the Doctrine of the Council of Nice as well as in his other Writings that for that reason they have given him the Title of Theologue One may read especially his Thirty third Oration and the Four following upon that Subject In order to give an Idaea of those Five Orations I shall observe that the Design of the First is to shew that it doth not belong to All to dispute about Religion and that it ought not to be done before every body neither at all times nor with too great a heat He censures the Hereticks as if they had no regard to any of those things and preaches some common places which all Parties have always equally made use of He complains * Orat. 33. p 535. That they make Saints the very same day they go about it That they chuse Divines as if they had inspired them with Learning and That they make a great many Assemblies of Ignoramus's and Babblers Forasmuch as he knew that some Men can't forbear Disputing he tells 'em to satisfie their Desire that he will give them a large Field in which they may exercise themselves without danger * Ib. p. 536. Philosophize says he about the World or Worlds the Soul Rational Creatures less or more Excellent about the Resurrection the Judgments the Rewards the Sufferings of Christ 'T is not an useless thing to succeed in those Matters as there is no great danger in being mistaken about them Christians have been since of a very different Opinion and 't is certain that one may fall into dangerous Errors and that there hath been real Mistakes about those Articles In the †Orat. 34. Second Oration he comes to the Matter in hand and doth chiefly enlarge to prove
a remarkable Instance of it in the two Verses of his * Ver. 12. Tenth Hymn wherein he describes Death thus Humus excipit arida Corpus Animae rapit Aura Liquorem The Earth receives the Body and the Wind carries away the Soul If we had nothing of him but those two Verses and if we knew not that he was a Christian we should maintain that he believed that the Soul dies together with the Body for the second of those two Verses doth naturally signifie so much and an Epicurean could not express himself better But besides that it cannot be doubted after the reading of Prudentius that he believed the Immortality of the Soul he explains himself in his second Book against Symmachus wherein he introduces †God speaking thus a Ver. ib. The Inward Man who lives in you shall not die he shall be punish'd with an Everlasting Punishment because he hath ill govern'd the Members that were subjected to him 'T is no difficult thing for me to surround a Liquid Substance with Flame though it flies as the Wind Nec mihi difficile est liquidam circumdare flammis Naturam quamvis perflabilis illa feratur More Noti He would have the Soul to be a very subtle Liquor which the Wind carries away but he pretended that it could not be dissipated The question is not whether he had a clear Idea of what he said and whether his Opinion is rational 't is enough to shew that he believed those two things lest he should be suspected of Epicureism F. Chamillard conjectures that he might believe that the Soul was of the same Nature with Heaven or of the Quint-Essence which Heaven is made of But Prudentius his Chimera's were not perhaps the same with those of the Peripateticks of our time II. The Work entitled De Coronis contains a Preface and Fourteen Hymns in Praise of several Martyrs especially of Spain which was our Poet 's Native Countrey 1. It doth clearly appear from several Places in those Hymns that they Prayed to Martyrs at that time and believed that they were appointed Patrons of some Places by God Some Protestant Writers who fancy that the Tradition of the Four or Five first Centuries of the Church ought to be joined with the Scripture have denied that the Saints were Prayed to in the Fourth Century but they should not have framed a Notional System before they were well instructed in Facts since they may be convinced of this by several places out of Prudentius Thus in the * Ver. 10. First Him which is in Praise of two Martyrs of Calahorra a City of Spain he says Exteri nec non Orbis c. Strangers come hither in Crowds because Fame hath publish'd through the whole World that the Patrons of the World Patroni Mundi are here whose Favour may be sought for by Prayers No Body did ever offer here pure Oraisons in vain Whosoever came to Pray to them perceiving that his just Requests had been granted him went away full of Joy having wept off his Tears Those Martyrs are so careful to intercede for us that they suffer not that they should be Prayed to in vain Whether it be done with a loud or a low Voice they hear it and report it to the Ears of the Eternal King Those who desire more Proofs of it need only read the Passages marked in the * Hymn II. ver 457. III. 311. IV. 175 196. V. 545. IX 97. X. 130. XIV 124. Margin It doth also appear from Vigilantius a Priest †Vid. Hieron T. 2. of Barcelona his upbraiding most of the Christians of his time upon that account that there were already great Abuses in the Honour which they paid to the Saints St. Jerom who answer'd him confirms the same by his manner of vindicating himself He feigneth so to understand the Objections of Vigilantius as if that learned Man had said that the Martyrs were Honoured as Gods whereas he only complained that they Prayed to them and Kissed their Relicks Hereupon his Antagonist denies that they Worshipped the Martyrs and believed they were Gods but he doth not deny that they Prayed to them One may see his violent Invective against Vigilantius in the Second Tome of his Works 2. Although Prudentius relates a great number of Circumstances of the Torments of the Martyrs whom he mentions yet he complains that Time and the Heathens have destroyed abundance of Acts from which one might have learned them O vetustatis silentis obsoleta oblivio Invidentur ista nobis fama ipsa extinguitur Chartulas blasphemus olim nam Satelles abstulit * Hymn I. ver 73. O Forgetfulness of Antiquity We are deprived of the knowledge of those Facts and the very Fame which would have mention'd them is extinguished for the Satellites of the Heathens have long since taken from us the Acts. The History of the Martyrs hath been the better adorned for it they are represented to us not as Men but as Persons that have no Feeling and at the same time are almost out of their Wits as it appears by the Hymns upon Lawrence and Agnes Hence it is also that Prudentius made but Two Persons of several Hippolytus's and Cyprian as F. Chamillard hath observed upon the Eleventh and Twelfth Hymns 3. They believed in our Poet's time that Rome was full of the Graves of Martyrs whereof the Number was not known †Hymn II. ver 541. as may be inferred from the following words Vix fama nota est abditis Quà m plena sanctis Roma sit Quà m dives urbanum solum Sacris sepulchris floreat 'T is scarce known how full Rome is of hidden Saints and how rich and adorned with holy Sepulchres the Soil of that City is The great Crowds of People about the Graves of the Martyrs brought then too great a Gain to the Ecclesiasticks in whose Parish they were found to believe them altogether upon their Word However they began then to set up the Catacombs of which here 's a Description taken out of the * Ver. 158. Eleventh Hymn Haud procul extremo culta ad pomoeria vallo Mersa latebrosis crypta patet foveris c. Not far from the Walls of the City is a Vault that lies open through dark Pits They go down into it by winding Stairs without seeing any thing at all for there is but a small Light that gets into it through the Door of the Stairs but when they go forward to the darkest Place after they have walked through the winding Bye-ways of that Den the Light comes in through a Gap that is above And although those Paths are very narrow and winding yet one sees often the Light through such like Gaps which are in the pierced Vault c. The Body of Hyppolitus says Prudentius was laid in that hidden Place 4. 'T is not only the Behaviour of the Christians towards the Martyrs after their Death which may be observed in the Works of