who could not bow to the Gods of the Heathen no more then the true Christians now can bow to the corrupt wills of Ambitious and unreasonable men and though the Innocent suffer therefore for the present yet for their sakes will the Lord shorten the days of the Wicked as he did the days of that Persecuting Emperour The Seventh Persecution IN the year 253. did the Seventh Persecution arise under the Emperour Decius who with Excessive Cruelty did Persecute the Christians In this Persecution several of the Bishops were put to death and such as were the chief among the Christians did they torture with many Torments and the Houses of the Christians they Plundred and that which the Plunderers did not esteem that they burned In this Persecution many suffered Martyrdom some being Burned some Beheaded Women so well as Men some being whipt to death and some Souldiers for Incouraging these Martyrs in their Suffering were put to death In this Terrible Persecution several departed from the Faith for fear of the Torments yet afterwards came to be restored again the Suffering of the Christians was great under this Emperour but his days were also shortened for he had not Raigned two years but was caught in a Whag of Mire where he met with a check or Reproof for his cruelty Note Thus it appears that the Christians that lived Godly in Christ-Iesus suffered Persecution according to what the Apostle hath said 2 Tim. 3 12. And many now that live Godly and Righteously do suffer not only the Imprisonment of their Bodies but also the Spoyling of their Goods which have been Spoyled both by Priests and People who have sometime as it were Plundred their Houses for their dishonest gain and they have shewed themselves in their carriage and behaviour to be liker unto the Heathen then the suffering Christians who suffered their Houses to be Plundred but we do not Read that they then Plundred the Houses of any but with patience suffered the Plundring of their Goods and in this patience and long Suffering are the Christians that are so not in Name only but in Nature found in these Perillous times Again have not some Souldiers been turned out of their places yea and brought into suffering for countenancing and favouring the Sober Innocent true Christians among whom some for fear of Suffering may in some respect desert the Truth as some faithless ones among the ancient Christians did yet we know certainly there are a Remnant that cannot bow their knee to Baall but would chuse rather to die the death which many ancient Christians suffered then they will forsake the Lords Truth or Transgress his Righteous Law by breaking his commands The Eighth Persecution IN the year 259. did the eighth Persecution arise under the Emperour Valerianus who put forth a Proclamation against the Christians wherein he forbad their Meetings and when this Proclamation or Order was not observed then did there follow a great Persecution of the Christians in which there was very many put to death and some were Banished and they converted of the Heathen in the place to which they were Banished but the Emperour under whom the Christians thus suffered did not go unreproved for his cruelty for he was taken Prisoner by the King of Persia who made use of him for a Foot-stool when he got up upon his Horse c. Note Hath it not happned so in England that by the Kings Proclamation the Meetings of the true Christians have been forbidden And when that they observed the Kings Proclamation no more then the antient Christians observed the Emperours hath not a great Persecution followed have not many of the Prisons he silled with them partly because they could not Swear and partly because they continved their Meetings when they were forbidden by the Kings Proclamation as the Religion of the Christians was forbidden by the Laws of the Heathen and therefore did the Heathen with much rigour pronounce these words unto the Christians Your Religion is forbidden by the Laws c. And did not Anti-christians the like when they abused them in their Meetings and broke them up with much Violence did they not also pronounce these words with much Rigour Your Meetings are forbidden by the Kings Proclamation c. And forasmuch as the true Christians now have chused rather to suffer Bonds and Imprisonment yea the spoyling of their Goods and what not then they would renounce the Faith deny their Religion or forsak the Assembling of themselves together it doth therefore appear that the same mind is found in them now which was heretofore in the antient Christians who chused rather to suffer the loss of their Lives then to forsake him for whose cause they suffered yet we see their Persecutors did not always go unreproved Oh! that other Kings Princes and Magistrates would take warning from that which happened to these Persecuting Emperours The Ninth Persecution IN the year 273. did the ninth Persecution arise under the Emperour Aurelianus but this Persecution was not so great as the other because he was cut off by death soon after he had determined the same yet in this Persecution was Felix the Bishop of Rome put to Death with several others here and there in divers places Note Often doth the Lord frustate the purposes and Determinations of such as conspire Mischief against his People yea have we not seen sundry Powers overturned in England and Parliments broken up and Councels if not Committees also shattered to pieces when they have been determined to do Wickedly so that sometime they have not had power to bring that forth which they had Conceived and brought to the Birth so mightily hath the Lord confounded their Conspiracies and brought their devices to nought and this the true Christians have concluded to be the Lords doing which they have beheld and which thing hath been indeed marvelous in their Eyes The Tenth Persecution IN the year 302. begun the Tenth Persecution which was so great that it exceeded all that had been before it not only in cruelty but in continuance for it continued 12 Years Eusebius who lived at that time Writes of it at large in his Eclesiastical History saying it was occasioned through the freedom of the Christians who were come into great Reputation and were put in places of Office to Rule in Countrys and Cities but through their prosperity and voluptuousness Brotherly Love came to decrease Haughtyness and Pride got up and in stead of the worship of God an insolent authority begun to get up in the Church of the Christians And at that time the Emperour Diocletianus gave forth a Proclamation wherein he commanded that all the Christian Churches should be pulled down and the Holy Scriptures Burned and that the Christians should be turned out of their places with other such like things After that there came another Order that they should cause the chief of of the Church to offer unto Idols or else they were to be put to
but he received it not saying In so much that we have forsaken our own How can we receive other Mens The Second BOOK OF EUSEBIUS Tiberius approved of the Doctrine of Christ but so did not the Senate THE Emperour Tiberus would have had Christ Canonized in the Number of the Gods in whose time the Christian Name was spread abroad in the World and when this Doctrine was signified to him he communicated the same unto the Senate declaring withal that this Doctrine pleased him right well but the Senate rejected it because they had not allowed the same but he persevered in his Opinion threatning them Death that would accuse the Christians The Jews would not allow of carved Images The Jews formerly judged it an hainous Offence that any carved Image should be erected in the City yea so great was their Indignation against Pictures that upon a certain time when the Pictures of Caesar were conveyed by Night into Jerusalem they that were nearest unto them at the sight thereof when the Day appeared stamped them with their Feet as if they had been abrogated Laws i. e. Laws abolished or disannulled The Death of Pilate Pilate that was President in the time of Christ under Cajus fell into such misery that necessity constrained him to use Violence upon himself so that he became his own Murtherer Of the Martyrdom of James the Apostle When King Herod stretched forth his Hand to vex certain of the Church he slew James the Brother of John with the Sword and it is recorded that he which drew him before the Tribunal-Seat when he saw that he would willingly suffer Martyrdom was therewith moved and voluntarily confessed himself to be a Christian then were they both brought together but he in the way requested James the Apostle to pardon him which after he had paused a little upon the matter turning unto him answered Peace be unto thee and kissed him and so they were both beheaded together How Herod was smitten Upon a certain time King Herod put on a Silver Robe wonderfully wrought which yielded so gorgeous a Glistering to the Eye that the shining thereof seemed terrible and intollerable almost to the Beholders Flatterers forthwith one one thing and another another thing bolt out such Sentences as turned in the end to his Confusion and saluting him as God they added therewith all be gracious for though hitherto we have feared thee as Man yet henceforth we confess thee to be above all mortal Nature These things the King rebuked not neither repelled this impious flattery but after he was smote of an Angel and then he said I which seemed to you a God and was saluted Immortal am now constrained to end the race of this Life For we have lived not miserably but in that prosperous Estate which is termed blessed Of Theudas the Sorcorer There was a certain Sorcerer named Theudas of whom the Scripture makes mention Acts 5. who perswaded a great Multitude to follow him unto the River Jordan bringing with them their whole Substance for he reported himself to be a Prophet and that at his Commandment the Rivers should divide it self parting in the midst yielding unto them free Passage through and in so saying he seduced many who afterwards were suppressed and Theudas being taken was Beheaded and his Head was brought to Jerusalem Of Simon Magus Simon Magus was esteemed and accounted in the City of Rome for a God and honoured as a God with a Picture between two Bridges upon the River Tibris having this Roman Superscription Simoni Deo Sancto to Simon the holy God and in manner all the Samaritans and certain also of other Nations did worship him acknowledging him for the chief God he is said to have been the first Author of Heresie they that have followed his Heresie have much overflowed in Filthiness and Obscenity i. e. silthy Talk for it is said of them that whatsoever may be imagined more foul than any Filthiness the same hath their damnable Heresie surpassed and poor wretched Women they have deluded with a heap of all kind of Evils Of the Gospel written by S. Mark It is said that the Romans were not satisfied with hearing Peter once nor yet sufficed with the unwritten Doctrine that he had delivered and therefore did they injoyn S. Mark whose Gospel is now spread abroad that he would leave in writing unto them the Doctrine which they had received by Preaching neither ceased they until they had perswaded him and so given an occasion of the Gospel to be written which is now after Mark. What the Christians were called The Christians were called Worshippers either because like cunning Physitians they cured and heald such as came unto them of their malicious Passions or that religiously they Worshipped the Celestial God-head with pure and sincere worship it is said they renounced their Substance and that they which professed Philosophy abandoned that is forsook or cast of their own proper Goods and severed themselves from all the Cares of this Life And forsook the Cities and lived solitary in Fields and Gardens Further he saith they did contemplate that is behold in their Minds or think upon not only Divine things but they made grave Canticles or Songs and Hymns unto God c. Moreover saith he they placed Continency that is Chastity in the Mind as a certain Foundation next they built there upon other Vertues And among them there were divers elderly Virgins to be found who despised corporal Lust c. What Sedition was among the Priests about Tythes The aforesaid Eusebius relates something out of Josephus concerning a Dissention that was between the High-Priests and the Inferior-Priests and chief of the People at Jerusalem they skirmished among themselves saith he they vexed one another they slinged one at another yea so Impudent and past all Shame saith he were the High-Priests become that they stuck not to send and take away from the Barn-floors the Tythes due unto the Inferior-Priests so that in the end it fell out that the Priests were seen to perish for Poverty Of the Martyrdom of James who was called the Brother of Jesus James the Brother of Christ was termed a just and perfect Man it is said that he took in hand the Government of the Church after the Apostles and when many of the Princes were perswaded there arose a Tumult of the Jews Scribes and Pharisees saying it is very dangerous least the whole People look after this Jesus as though he were Christ. And being gathered together they said to James We pray thee stay this People for they err in Jesu as though he were the true Christ we pray thee perswade this People concerning Jesu for we all obey thee yea we and all the People testifie of thee that thou art just and respectest not the person of any Man stand therefore upon the â—…innacle of the Temple that thou mayest be seen aloft and
any should fall from the Faith daily there were apprehended such as were worthy to fulfil the number of the Faln Weaklings so that out of both these Churches as many as Ruled and bore the greatest sway were taken and Executed and also certain of the Ethnicks i. e. Heathens being our Servants were taken for the President had commanded publickly a General Inquisition to be made for us who being overcome by the subtil slights of Satan and terrified with the sights of the Torments which the Saints suffered through the perswasion of the Souldiers feigned against us and reported that we used the feastings of Thiestes and the Incest of Oedinus with divers other Crimes which may neither Godlyly be thought upon neither with modesty be uttered neither without Impiety be believed These things now being Bruited or reported abroad every body almost was moved and incensed against us insomuch that they which for familiarity sake used moderation before now were exceedingly moved and mad with us great then was the rage both of People President and Souldiers against the Martyrs And among the rest there was a woman called Blandina by whom Christ shewed that those things which in the sight of men appear vile base and Contemptible deserve great glory with God for the true Love they bear to him indeed without boasting in shew For when as we all Quaked for fear yea and her carnall Mistress which also was one of the persecuted Martyrs was very careful least that peradventure at the time of her Answer by reason of the frailty of the Flesh She would not persevere Constant Yet she was so replenished from above with Grace that the Executioners which Tormented her by turns from morning to night Fainted for weariness and ceased confessing themselves overcome and that they were no longer able to Plague her with any more Punishments c. For she like a noble wrestler was nenewed at her Confession for as it is reported of her as oft as she pronounced I am a Christian neither have we Committed any Evil She was recreated refreshed and felt not Pain of her Punishment Sanctus also bare nobly and valliantly yea above the Nature of man all such vexations as man could devise his Constancy was so great that he uttered neither his own Name neither his Kindred neither the Country whence he was nor whether he were Bond or Free but unto every Question he answered in the Roman tongue I am a Christian. This confessed he often instead of all other things of his Name and City and Kindred neither could the Gentiles get any other Language of him wherefore the President and the Tormentors were feircely set against him and when as now there remained scarce any Punishment unpractised at length they applyed unto the tenderest parts of his Body Plates of Brass Glowing Hot which â—…ryed Scared and Scoarched his Body yet he remained unmovable nothing amazed and constant in his confession being strengthened and moistened with the Dew which fell from the Celestial that is Heavenly Fountain of the Water of Life Over all his Body his Flesh was wounded his Members bescarred his Sinews shrunk so that the Natural shape and outward hew was quite changed And when as the wicked Tormentors a few days after had brought him to the place of Torment and well hoped that if they punished him now they should overcome him and prevail or if that he dyed in Torment they should terrifie the rest and so warn them to take heed None of all these things happned unto him but beyond all mens expectation in the latter Torments his Body was released of the pain recovered the former shape as it is recorded of him and the Members were restored to their former use so that the second Plague through the Grace of Christ was no grievous malady i. e. disease but present Medicine Again Satan going about Blasphemously to slander us procured Biblis a woman one of them which had fainted before to be brought forth supposing her frail and fearful mind now to be quite altered from the Christian Opinion consequently through her Blasphemous denial to be in danger of Damnation But she at the very hour of Torment returned unto her self and waking as it were out of a dead sleep by means of these Punishments Temporal considered of the pains of Eternal Fire and unlooked for cryed out unto the Tormentors and said How could they devour Infants which were not suffered to touch the Blood of Bruite Beasts Therefore when she confessed her self a Christian she was appointed to take her chance among the Martyrs Afterwards the Saints were Imprisoned in deep and dark Dungeons and were fettered in the Stocks and their Feet stretched unto the fifth boord chink with other Punishments which furious Ministers or Goaâ—…ers full of devilish rage are wont to put in ure i. e. use and practise upon poor Prisoners so that many were stifled and strangled in Prison And when many of the Saints were so weakned with grievous Torments that life seemed unto them unpossible they remaining shut up in close Prisons destitute of all mans aid yet even then were they Comforted of the Lord and confirmed in Body and mind so that they stirred up and Comsorted the rest several of the younger sort that were newly apprehended whose bodys had not before tasted of the lash of the whip loathed the closeness of the Prison and were choked up with stinch And Pothinus Bishop of Lyons being above four score and ten years old weak of Body scarce able to draw breath because of the Imbecillity i. e. Feebleness or Weakness of Nature he was carried of the Souldiers and laid before the Tribunal i. e. Iudgment seat accompanied with the Potentates i. e. Princes or great Rulers of the City and the whole multitude diversly shouting as if he had been Christ he hath given a good Testimony And being asked of the President who was the God of the Christians he answered If thou become worthy thou sholt understand After this answer he was cruelly handled and suffered many stripes for such as were nearest to him struck at him both with hand and foot and such as stood afar off look what each one had in his hand that was thrown at his head and such as ceased from pouring out their poisoned malice thought themselves to have grievously offended supposing by this means to avenge the ruine of their rotten Gods Afterwards he was cast into Prison where after two days he departed this life Moreover as many as fainted in the first persecution were all alike imprisoned and Partakers of the affliction neither did they prevail or the denial profit them it was thought sufficient Fault that they confessed to have been such but these as Murtherers and hainous Trespassers were twice more grievously plagued The joy of Martyrdom the hoped promises the love towards Christ and the fatherly Spirit comforted the one Company The other were vexed in Conscience so
concerning their Collections how they disposed of them and how their sufferings were prejudicial to the Comon wealth WHen the Christians saw themselves every day besieged and betrayed and when they were very often taken in their Assemblies and prest to sacrifice to the Gods then they cryed out and said We cannot hinder our lives from being in danger if we will be faithful to God pag. 31 and 116. It is well known unto many how that the Innocent and harmeless Christians have of late been often haled out of their Assemblies and prest to do things contrary to their consciences upon the refusal of which their Liberties and Estates have not only been in peril but their lives also so that the true Christians may well conclude as the Antient Christians did viz. That they cannot hinder their lives from being in peril if they will be faithful to God The Christians were accounted publick Enemies to the Emperours because the honours they rendred to them were neither vain flattering nor rash but mark what Tertullian saith to the Heathen concerning this particular Think you saith he these are such great testimonies of affections to kindle fires in the midst of the streets to set up Tables there to make feasts in the publik places to change the face of the City into that of a great Tavern c. Must a publick shame be the mark of a publick joy saith he must these things be accounted seemly on the solemn days of Princes which at no other time or on other days are fitting or decent pag. 126. In like manner have the true Christians been accounted Enemies to the King because they could not honour him with any vain flattering honour like unto that wherewith the Heathens honoured their Emperours who manifested their affections to him by kindling fires in the midst of the streets and by changing as it were the face of the City into that of a Tavern c. Now let our English Apostatized Christians come forth and parallel their Bonefires which they used to make in the midst of the streets their causing the Conduits to run with wine and their setting up Scaffolds with Shews c. which they did when the King was proclaimed when he came into the Realm and at his Coronation let them I say come forth and compare their practises then with the practises of the Heathen and they may see how they resemble one another to their great shame that profess Christianity and are yet manifesting their publick joy by glorying in their publick thame which is neither comly decent nor profitable either to the King the kingdom or to the Subjects nor yet in any wise becoming Christians therefore are they now to be testified against as they were heretofore when they were up held by the Heathen and were witnessed against by the Antient Christians The Antient Christians confessed they were commanded to love their Enemies and that they were to hate none and that they were forbid to revenge injury received though the sword and sire was imployed against them and they were often by people assaulted with stones yet they endeavoured in no wise to ressent the evil treating they had received though they wanted not an occasion if it had been permitted them to render evil for evil but God forbid said they we should do so pag 132. The same mind is now found in the true Christians whose principle leadeth them to suffer injurie done unto them rather then to revenge themselves on such as injure them and therefore is it manifest that they are of the same spirit which the Antient Christians were of who suffered violence to be done unto them but did not with violence resist nor defend themselves like as the Apostatized Christians do now who at times assault the true Christians with stones with pistols with swords c all which they suffer patiently without rendring evil to them that thus intreat them and therefore may we conclude that they are found in the practise and condition of the Antient Christians The Christians suffered themselves willingly to be killed saying In their Religion it was rather lawful to let themselves be killed then to kill others nevertheless they were declared to be the Romans Enemies though they did them no hurt and thus much they confassed It 's true said they we are Enemies yet not of men but of their errors pa. 133. 134. The true Christians now that are of the pure Religion say yet the same though Apostatized Christians be imprisoning banishing and killing their fellow creatures about their Religion but so did not the Antient Christians who kept the Faith and abode in the Truth in which the true Christians are now found though at this day they are accounted Enemies both to Priests and Professors yet they hurt none neither are they Enemies to their persons as men but to their error and deceit which lodgeth in their hearts where it ought not In the Church of God there was nothing done saith Tert. by allurement of gifts for in the Assemblies of the Antient Christians every one contributed a little sum at the end of the month or when he would but it was if he would and could for none were constrained to give And if they got any Almes it was of good will and riches gathered in this manner they accounted them pledges of Piety and imployed them in feeding the poor and burying them in comforting children that were destitute of Parents and goods in helping old men that had spent their best days in the service of the Faithful and in assisting them that served in Mines and were banished into Islands and shut up in prisons because they confessed the Religion of the true God that so during the time they suffered for the confession of his Name they might be nourished with the Stock of the Church and these actions caused the Heathens to wonder and to cry out saying see how they love one another and how they are ready to die for one another pag. 137 138. This is also the practise of the true Christians now whose faith worketh by love and not by the allurement of gifts and rewards which have blinded the eyes of Apostatized Antichristians who have lost the charity and are departed from that faith which worketh by love and therefore must they often times â—…orce and constrain one another by a secular power not only to contribute to the relief of the poor fatherless and widdows but also to their Priests who is allured to preach among them by gifts and who without gifts and rewards will not preach and also by Sumes of mony may be allured from one place to another and that more out of love to the gifts then the souls of the people But it is not thus with the true Ministers nor yet with the true Christians who give freely that which they have received freely and are ready to serve the Lord with
a true Testimony wishing that the Declaration of such things had been Printed in their Books which were done at the first Preaching of Christ. Iohn passeth over with silence the Genealogy i. e. of the Birth or Pedigree of our Saviour according unto the flesh being before amply laid down by Matthew and Luke and beginning with his Divinity reserved of the Holy Ghost for him as the Mightier The cause why Mark wrote his Gospel we have declared before And Luke in the beginning of his History sheweth the occasion of his writing signifying that divers now had already imployed their diligent care to the setting forth of such things as he was fully perswaded of necessarily delivering us from the doubtful opinion of others when by his Gospel he declareth unto us the sure and certain Narration of such things whereof he had received the Truth sufficiently Concerning the Books of the New Testament It shall also be Convenient saith Easebins if in this place we Collect briefly the Books of the New Testament In the first place must be set the fourfold writings of the Evangelists next the Acts of the Apostles then the Epistles of Paul are to be added after these the first of Iohn and that of Peter which are Authentick that is undeniable or approved of all Lastly if you please the Revelation of Iohn all these are received for undoubted The Books which are gainsaid though well known unto many are these the Epistle of Iames the Epistle of Iude the later of Peter the second and third of Iohn whether they were Iohn the Evangelists or some others of the same name Divers do number the Gospel to the Hebrews among them that were disallowed which was used especially of them which received Christ of the Hebrews Of Nicolas and his Sect. Concerning Nieolas of whom the Revelation of Iohn makes mention it is Written of him that he was one of the Dâ—…acons Ordained together with Stephen by the Apostles to Minister unto the Poor but thus it is Written of him This Nicolas having a Beautiful Woman to his Wife after the Ascention of our Saviour was accused of Jealousie and to clear himself of that Crime he brought forth his Wife and permitted him that listed to Marry her But his followers say that their doing is agreeable with that saying that is the Flesh is to be Bridled And so following that doing and saying without all discretion they Sin without all shame in filthy Fornication Concerning Iohn and Philip with his Daughters it was wrote thus by Policrates unto the Bishop of Rome for in Asia said he the great Founders of Christian Religion died who shall rise the last day at the coming of the Lord when he shall come from Heaven with Glory to gather all the Saints Philip one of the twelve Apostles was Buryed at Hierapolis and two of his Daughters which led their Lives in Virginity And Iohn who leaned on the Breast of our Saviour rested at Ephesus The Martyrdom of Simeon the Bishop Simeon the second Bishop of Ierusalem being accused for being a Christian was scourged several days and when he was a Hundred and Twenty years Old he suffered Martyrdom Anno Dom. 110. It is reported that unto those times the Church of God remained a Pure and Uncorrupted Virgin for such as endeavoured to corrupt the perfect Rule and the Sound Preaching of the Word if then there were any such hid themselves unto that time in some secret and obscure place but after that the sacred Company of the Apostles was worn out and come to an end and that Generation was wholly spent which by special Favour had heard with their Ears the Heavenly Wisdom of the Son of God then the Conspiracy of detestable Error through deceipt of such as delivered strange Doctrine took rooting And because that not one of the Apostles survived they Published boldly with all might possible the Doctrine of Falsehood and Impugned that is resisted or assaulted the open manifest known Truth How Plinius Secundus wrote to the Emperour in the Christians behalf Under Trajan the Emperour there was a grievous Persecution of the Christians and it seems that Plinius Secundus a notable president was stirred up to write unto the Emperour in the Christians behalf who wrote as followeth saying That he found nothing in them that was Impious or Wicked but that they refused the Worship ing of Images signifying this withal that the manner of the Christians was to rise before day to Celebrate Christ as God and to the end their Discipline might strictly be observed they forbid sheding of Blood Adultery Fraud Trayterous dealing and such like And for answer hereunto the Emperour wrote again That there should be no Inquisition for Christians but if they were met with they should be Punished Through which meanes the grievous Persecution was somewhat qualified yet nevertheless there was scope enough left for such as were willing to Afflict them Concerning Ignatius his Valour and Courage It is reported that one Ignatius Bishop of Antioch was sent from Syria to Rome for the Confession of his Faith to be Food for Wild Beasts who passing through Asia curiously Guarded with a great Troop of Keepers confirmed the Congregations throughout every City where he came with Preaching the Word of God and Wholsome Exhortations and specially giving charge to avoid the Heresies lately sprung and at that time overflowing c. And in his Journey he wrot unto several Churches saying I strive with beasts by Sea by Land nights and days fettered among ten I eopards that is a band of Souldiers And the more they receive the worse they become I thus exercised with their Injuryes am the more Instructed yet hereby am I not justified Now do I begin to be a Diciple I weigh neither visible nor Invisible things so that I gaine Christ let Fire Gallowes Violence of Beasts bruising of the Bones Racking of the Members stamping of the whole Body and all the Plagues invented by the mischief of Satan light upon me so that I win Christ-Jesus This he wrot from Syria to the Churches Concerning Mark the Evangelist Eusebius rehearseth one thing touching Mark the Evangelist as followeth The elder meaning Iohn said Mark the Interpreter of Peter look what he remembred that diligently he wrot not in that order in which the Lord spake and did them neither was he the hearer and follower of the Lord but of Peter who delivered his Doctrine not by way of Exposition but as necessity constrained so that Mark offended nothing in that he wrote as he had before committed to Memory Of this one thing was he fearful in omitting nothing of that he had heard and in delivering that was false Concerning Matthew it is thus written Matthew wrote his Book in the Hebrew Tongue which every one after his skili Interpreted by Allegations The Fourth BOOK OF EUSEBIUS When Heresie crept into the Church WHen Persecution
the Righteous yea before the coming of the Messiah of whom the Prophets that were slain testified and it is manifest that it was his persecuting Power and Spirit which appeare in Cain in Joseph's Brethren in the Sodomites in the Sons of Belial in the Egyptians in Saul in Jezabel and in the Jews And the same Enmity hath often appeared in the same persecuting Power and Spirit of this old Adversary against the True Christians since the coming of the Messiah which may more clearly appear from that which followeth WHen the Jews had crucified the Lord of Glory then did they raise a terrible Persecution against the Apostles and that under pretence of Religion yet they sought to conceal their Blood-thirstiness through their carrying on their wicked Design by the Romish Authority for they said expresly It was not lawful for them to put any Man to death yet in the mean time they could hale them before their Councils where the High-Priest was President and there did they Judge and Condemn the Christians as they had done Christ and afterwards they delivered them to the Earthly Powers to be punished according to their Sentence calling the Christians the Sect of the Nazarites and said they set the whole World in an uproar and sought to annihilate i. e. to bring to nothing the Law of Moses whereupon they presently got the help of the rude Multirude to persecute the Christians and that under Pretence of defending of Religion Note Are not the true Christians now called a Fanatick Sect And are they not accused for making uproars and tumults when they are as free from such things as the Christians were in the Days of the Apostles who were not only accused for making Uproars but also for setting the Law of Moses at nought even as true Christians now are falsly accused for making void the Scripture and of setting it as nought whereupon many now suffer about their Religion by such as pretend to defend and propagate it even as the ancient Christians did then under the Jews who resisted the Spirit of Truth and the holy Men that spoke as it gave them utterance and being filled with an evil Spirit of Malice and Enmity against the Lord and his Truth they whipped the Apostles and haled Stephen before their Council and procured false Witnesses against him And when Stephen in his Answer laid open their Wickedness they were pricked at the Heart and gnashed their Teeth at him and stopped their Ears and run forceably upon him and stoned him to death And after that a mighty Persecution of the Christians arose insomuch that they came to be scattered throughout the Land of Judah and Samaria After that the Jews did bring much suffering upon the Christians against whom their indignation was great and especially against Paul whose life they earnestly sought after and sometime did they stone him and sometime they did whip him and often were they moved with envy against him and the Brethren and upon a time took unto them certain lewd Fellows of baser sort and gathered a company and set all the City upon an uproar and assaulted the House of Jason and drew him out with others of the Brethren unto the Rulers of the City crying They that have turned the World upside down are come hither also and these all do contrary to the Decrees of Caesar. Note Hath it not been so of late in England that when the true Christians have come to one of their Friends Houses in a City some evil affected person or other hath gathered a company of Rude People and have haled the Innocent out of their Friends Houses when they have been edifying and building up one another in the most Holy Faith So that oftentimes the Anti-christians have behaved themselves like the Unbelieving Jews and through their Tumultuous Uproaring have they caused the peaceable and harmless to suffer when they who were Guilty have gone free Moreover the professing Jews manifested their envious Spirit against Paul when they stirred up the People and laid hands upon him crying out Men of Israel help this is the Man that teacheth all Men every where against the people and the Law and this place And all the City was moved and all the People ran together and they took Paul and drew him out of the Temple and had him before their Council and accused him to the Governor but when they could not prevail neither by Righteousness nor by Violence then did a Company of them bind themselves by an Oath neither to eat nor to drink until they had killed Paul Thus much concerning the Jews Note Since that the Gospel hath been preached again in the Power and Demonstration of the eternal Spirit some Cities in England have been as in Uproars where the true Christians have so preached the Gospel as before mentioned and at the same time they have been accused for teaching People against the Scripture and for incensing of them against Magistracy and Ministry yea against their Laws and Discipline and thereby have some Professing Antichristians stirred up the rude Rabble shamefully to intreat the good Christians who at this day are found in the footsteps of the ancient suffering Christians Object But some will say Who dost thou call the True and Good Christians whom thou dost at this time parallel with the Ancient Christians We know not whom thou meanest nor do we know whom thou callest the Anti-christians thou mightest do well to inform us a little Answ. I call them the True or Good Christians who walk in the Light of the Lamb who follow him through Honour and Dishonour through evil Report and good Report who bear his daily Cross without murmuring who do unto others as they would be done unto who renounce the vain Customs of the World and forsake the frivolous Traditions of Men tógether with the hidden things of Dishonesty who are truly contented in suffering when they are therein exercised and that for the exercise of their Conscience in matters pertaining unto Religion who for Conscience sake cannot Swear because their Master forbids them nor pay Tithes because their Lord is come who ends the first Priesthood that took Tithes and is become their Priest unto whom they could freely give Tithe Sacrifice Oblations c. But these that be external he wills not therefore do they freely offer that unto him which they are sure he will not reject nor despise to wit a clean contrite and broken Heart c. And they who live godlily and unreprovably as becometh right Christians such I do call Good and True Christians And foras much as I find the People who in contempt are called QUAKERS oftner than Christians in the Light of the Lamb in his Doctrine and in the Practices in which the antient Christians were exercised therefore it is meet that they now should be called The Good or True Christians And for the Anti-Christians i. e. Opposers of or Adversaries to true Christianity
such I call so as are found professing Christianity in words but deny it in works as some that professed in Words they knew God but in Works they denyed him so they that profess to be Christians and live in all manner of Unchastity they by their Works deny that which they profess in words and so are not worthy to be called Christians while they are found in that which is against or contrary to Christianity in which thousands of persecuting false Christians are found and therefore do I call such Antichristians How the Ancient Christians suffered by the Heathen and how true Christians now suffer by the same Spirit of Enmity and Persecution which is entered into the false Christians alias Antichristians The First Persecution WHen that the Jews were bereaved of their Power by the Heathen and that the time was expired wherein they had so cruelly used the People of God nevertheless the Christians were not therefore freed from suffering for they were therein exercised under the Heathens Power and Nero was said to be the first Tyrannical Emperour that persecuted the Christians it was called the first Persecution because it was under the Emperors Power and it began in the year 66 after the Birth of Christ and at that time was chiefly within the City of Rome About that time did People begin to accuse the Christians with all manner of Wickedness and to esteem them as Reprobates because they did not honour the Gods Note Have not the true Christians suffered in England under the sundry Powers that have been of late even as the Antient Christians suffered under the Iewes And it appears that when the Iewes were deprived of their Power then did the Heathens Persecute the Christians And did not both Protectors and Parliaments persecute the Innocent when they were in Authority but since they have been deprived of the power and turned out as the Iewes were when the Gentiles came to have the preheminence hath not the King himself become Guilty of their Sin in persecuting or suffering the Innocent to be persecuted within his Dominions And hath not all manner of Evil been spoken of them and they been accounted unfit to live in either Kingdom or Commonwealth and that chiefly because they could no more honour that Proud and Ambitious Spirit which is gotten up in the hearts of Men then the Antient Christians heretofore could honour the Gods of the Heathen The Second Persecution IN the Year of our Lord 93. did the second Persecution begin under the Emperour Domitianus under whom several were put to Death and about the same time was the Apostle Iohn Banished unto the Island Pathmos where he Wrote his Revelation In those days the Christians were so little esteemed that the People called them Cobler Weavers Combers of Wool Illiterate and exceeding Rustick or Clownish yea such as knew no good fashions Note Have not some of the true Christians been put to death of late in New England and have not many of them suffered the spoiling of their Goods and their Bodies to be cast into Prison to be Whipt and shamefully intreated by the Anti-Christians and that about their Religion And have not many of the true Christians been in derision called Coblers Taylers Weavers Plowmen c. So little esteem have the true Christians now among the Children of this World as the Antient Christians heretofore have had among the Children of Men. The Third Persecution IN the Year 102. did the third Persecution begin under the Emperour Trajanus who tho' he was called a good Emperour did nevertheless Persecute the Christians out of Humility to the Gods in which Persecution several Bishops were put to Death as the Bishop of Rome the Bishop of Ierusalem c. And at that time the Bishop of Antioch testified That Sufferings made us like unto Christ who had suffered for us himself preparing a way through suffering unto Eternal Life About the same time did a Governour Write unto the Emperour in the Christians behalf whereupon the Emperour wrot That they should seek no more of them but those they had in Prison should they put to Death Note Without Controversie the Bishop or Pope of Rome must needs be much degenerated from that State in which those Bishops then were forasmuch as he now by that Power through which they were put to death doth put others to Death about their Religion for which they then suffered Martyrdom From hence it may be observed that the Bishops now which persecute tender Consciences about Religion are found rather in the Footsteps of the Heathen then in the condition of those Bishops that suffered Martyrdom Moreover in these latter days the Lord hath stirred up some at times to speak a Word or to Write a few Lines in the behalf of the true Christians unto them in Authority whereby their hearts have been so far moved and reached that they have done something in order to the mitigating of the Sufferings of the Innocent who at this day share with their Brethren in the Fellowship of the Suffering of the Gospel The Fourth Persecution IN the year 164. was the fourth Persecution of the Christians which arose under the Emperour Marcus Aurelius and Lucias Verus in which Polycarpus Bishop of Smyrna was put to Death who had been a Disciple of John and had been many years in the service of the Lord as he himself acknowledged About the same time was Iulianus put to death at Rome in whose time the Christians were accused for having a Fleshly conversion one with another which he marked to be Lyes by their willingness to Die and thereby he coming to be Converted became an Eminent Teacher of the Christians At Lyons in France did there go forth a Proclamation That the Christians might not dwell in their Houses nor that they must not converse upon the Streets nor shew their Faces which being Impossible for them to perform their sufferings became exceeding great and in the mean time some of the Slaves gave out that the Christians lived in filthy Lasciviousness among themselves In this Persecution there was one Lucius put to Death for reproving the Judge for puting the Christians to crueller Deaths then any other Transgressors Note Though the true Christians now are Vilified and Falsly accused by Anti-Christians as the ancient Christians were in former Ages yet wise men can see their Innocency and therefore do they love them in their Hearts and some time some have been Convinced by beholding the Patience Long-suffering and Innecency of the Innocent in these latter days who now some time do suffer the loss of their Liberty and the spoyling of their Gods if not Banishment either by vertue of Proclamations or of Decrees or of corrupt Laws which true Christians now can no more observe and obey then the antient Christians observed the aforesaid Preclamation of the King and this hath been evident that sundry of the true Christiant in these later days
against which Pope Leo IX held two Synods in the year 1050 one at Rome and another at Vercle in which the opinion of these two were Condemned In the year 1126 did Peter de Brusius teach against Infants Babtizm Transubstantiation praying for the dead and such like things which he Preached near upon twenty years and finally because of this Doctrine was he Burned for then was the Pope begun to follow the Foot steps of the Arrians in Persecuting men to death for their Religion though it was not the practise of the Apostles In the year 1139 did Arnaldus teach against Infants Babtism Transubstantiation and other things but the Pope Innocentus the Second commanded him to be Silent fearing least he should spread this Doctrine much There was one Peter Abailardus of the same opinion And to this opinion many of the Clergy were brought insomuch that three Popes had enough to do one after another to reduce them to their Superstition Afterwards this Abailardus was apprehended and Burned to ashes in Rome Moreover there arose some who suffered themselves to be called Apostolical because they said they walked in the footsteps of the Apostles They rejected Infants Babtism the Purgatory praying for the dead and calling upon the Saines with other of the Romish Ceremonies they also rejected the priests that led a Sinful Life These were called Unlearned Blockish Clowns In the year 1176 There was a People raised up in the province of Albi in France whose opinion was as Baronius writes That Infants Babtism was not necessary to Salvation That an unworthy Sinful Priest could not administer the Sacrament that none should be Bishops except they were unreprovable that men should build no Churches to the Honour of God nor to the Honour of the Saints and that it was unlawful to Swear neither would they receive the Doctors Interpritations These people saith Baron were taken into the protection of some Princes and Rulers against whom the Pope made War because they would not Persecute them and expel them out of their Country In the year 1178. The King of France and the King of England observing how these People did daily increase They concluded together per force of Arms to expel them out of their Coasts But changing their mind they first laboured to convert them by the Clergy And to that end was there many Bishops and learned men sent to convert these whom they juged to be Heriticks by their Sermons but withal they sent several men with their Clergy that in case they with their Sermons reasons and Arguments could not overcome them that then the other should fall upon them and drive them out And when the Bishops with their Traine were come to the City Toulous where the aforesaid People were They ingaged the Citizens by an Oath to discover them they knew to be of this People And among the rest there was one Peter Moranus discovered and being examined he made a confession of his Faith freely and therefore was he presently condemned for a Heritick and all his goods were Confiseated with his sumpteous House in which he had holden Meetings and part of it was demolished But this Faithless Peter when he saw this Storm begun to fear and begun to be sorrowful seemingly and begged forgiveness And it was granted him with this condition that one Bishop with another man should whip him he going naked and barefoot towards the Church and that three years long he must go Pilgrimage to Ierusalem which then was become a fashion among the Apostazed Christians and when the three years were expired he was to have his Confiseated Goods again Now others of the aforesaid people observing this begun somewhat to fear and some seemed to recant but when there was an Oath required of them they refused to take it whereupon they were rejected as Heriticks and afterwards were Banished And it was commanded that all the Catholicks should shun them and that all Princes should expel them out of their Countrys In the year 1199 the the aforesaid people begun to be dispersed in many Citys and Countrys and their Doctrine begun to spread exceedingly yea through the most part of Europe That the Popes with the assistance of the Princes and secular powers had enough to do to root out the same First they endeavoured by disputing and afterwards by Banishment and lastly by all manner of Torturing Burning Hanging and cruell Bloodsheding so that the whole World seemed to be as in an uproar And this was all about Religion When that the Christians had gotten the power into their own Hands I mean the secular or earthly Power then did they by that power Persecute as they had been persecuted Compel as they had been complled and put men to Death about their Relegion as their Bretheren had been put to Death for their Religion And with this thing the Church of Rome hath not only corrupted her self but the most of the Sects that have come out of her when they got the carnal Sword in their Hands then did they endeavour to defend their Sect their Religion their Worship and their Discipline with that Sword which may kill the Body but connot slay nor destroy the Spiritual Wickedness in the Body which at this day abounds among Anti-Christians who are yet Persecuting about Worship Faith Religion and things of this Nature as their forefathers the Arrians did in whose steps most of the professors have been found who wrestle with flesh and blood And when that their Clargy could not prevail with their Original with their Philosophy with their quirks of Logick nor with their strong reasons and Arguments then were they to have the help of the Civil Magistrate unto whom they have cryed for help as the Jews did unto the men of Israel and often have they combined together for to kill and destroy that which God had made alive yea and to extinguish that which he had kindled as appears from what I have rehearsed And the same Spirit of enmity which hath been in the World since the beginning hath appeared often against the work of God and his Instruments as it now hath appeared against the true Christian-Quakers who are found in the footsteps of the suffering but not of the Persecuting Christians I might here add very much concerning the terrible and redious Persecution in Iermany and in the Low-Countrys which begun in the year 1524. And continued untill the year 1641. About the beginning of which the Emperour put forth a Proclamation wherein it was contained That all such as were found stained or polluted with the cursed Sect of Anabaptism for so he called it of what state or condition soever they were their adhaerents and compliences were to forfeit both their Lives and Estates and were to be brought to the utmost punishment without any delay especially those that continued constant and that had Baptized any likewise they that had the name of Prophets Apostles or Bishops
prayer A Counsel held at Caesar Augusta accursed such as received the Sacrament and eat it not in the Church A General Counsel was called at Constantinople which decreed that Mary should be called the mother of God Anno 583. The First and second Synods were called at Lyons for the removing of Schism i. e. divisions in matters of Religion raised in the Church Six Synods were held at Rome touching the Electon of a Bishop and the preservation of Church goods c. Malum Consilium Consultori pessimum THese things have I thought good here to recapitulate or briefly to rehearse to the end that the great Apostasie so often spoken of might be evidently manifest to all and the great fall and revolution of the Church from the Apostles Doctrin and Practise For when they assembled together it doth not appear that there was such discord and divisions such strife and aâ—…tipathy such brawling and contention in their general assemblies as there was in the Counsels before mentioned neither did they manifest such a bitter spirit of enmity and discord when they chused Mathias in the room of Judas nor yet when they chused the seven Disciples Acts 1. Chap. 6. Moreover when the Apostles and Elders and Brethren were assembled together to determin what was best to be done touching the doctrin sowed by certain that came from Judea which taught the Brethren saying That except they were circumcised after the manner of Moses they could not be saved after they had debated the Matter they decreed with one accord to send chosen men unto the Gentiles and to injoyn them to abstain from things offered to Idols and blood from that which was strangled and from fornication c. But it doth not appear that they out of spite condemned or excommunicated those of Iudea and held them forthwith for acursed because of their error like as the Apostatized Bishops and Clergy men have done one with another and one unto another as appeareth from what I have before rehearsed Again when Paul came to Ierusalem he went with the Brethren unto Iames where all the Elders were assembled and there they determined what they thought best to be done and decreed that Paul should purifie himself according unto the Law c. These Counsels or General Assemblies oâ—… the Apostles and Brethren the Scripture makes mention of yet it doth not appear from the Scripture that the Apostles and Brethren Decreed the Celebration of the Feast of Easter or that none should be made Priest till they were thirty years old neither doth it appear that they brawled about men and agreed upon nothing nor yet that they ordered Lessons to be read in the Church between certain Psalms neither doth it appear from the Scripture that they decreed that Lent should be righteously observed and that the Priests should not marry nor yet that Infants should be baptized Neither doth it appear that they decreed that the Clergy should wear a different Attire from other men or that such Divine service as the Metropolitan liked of should be retained I say it doth not appear that they to wit the Apostles and Brethren decreed these or such like things in their Counsells but that since the Apostles days they have been decreed by the Synods and Counsels which have been in the Apostasie and yet at this day many of them are taught for doctrins though they be but the traditions of fallible Synods and Counsels as I have shewn Inclinemus igitur aurum verbo Dei in corde non ex Conciliis contendentium Episcoporum non ex Disputationibus novitiis non ex forensibus manicipalibus gestis sed in nostris cordibus veritatem quaeramus The Iudgment of some notable men concerning SYNODS i. e. general or universal Assemblies â—…nd Counsels together with their Effects I. IN the days of Berardus the Church of Rome was polluted with many superstitions and Baudaert said that the Bishops were rather biters of sheep then true Shepheards And upon a time when he was in a Counsel of the Clergy and had seen how unchristianly they dealt he said Sometime I have admired that among the little number of the twelve Apostles there was a Traitor but now do I wonder much more that among this great number of so many Bishops and Prelats that one upright Disciple of Christ cannot be found Apop Chr. lib. 13. pag. 260. Daar geen Godvreesendheid bij en is Daar is 't hoe geleerder hoe verkeerder Where ther 's neither God's fear nor godliness Ther 's the more learn'dess the more perversness II Gregorius Theologus who lived about three hundred years after the birth of Christ said That he had promised and determined never to come at Synods forasmuch as he observed that always there came more evil then good out of them for the ambitiousness and contention of the Bishops is above measure said he Anno 300. III. The Reformed Protestants testified that Synods and Counsels which strove upon the earth might err and with the most voyces conclude Lies in this or the other point according to what experience in all ages hath taught Eub. ch 28 29 c. IV. D. Calvin testified that Prophets and Pastours the Church Counsels have erred And that God hath often discovered that in Counsels which was humane to the end that People should not rely or depend too much upon men Instit. 4. ix ch 3. V. Boudaert said in Gilterland's Synod Soffragia non ponderanda sed numeranda esie i. e. that voyces were not to be pondred but numbred but said he if the Church reign in this manner or deal with voyces shall not the most evil surprize the best which is the least for is it not so most commonly and when that the Shepheards come to be changed into wolves are not the innocent harmless sheep then in pittiful danger Espetially saith he when Rulers of Cities are stirred up by passionate Priests VI. D. Pareus said Often hath the Truth suffered wrong in Synods because all that were assembled agreed in one error so that the truth came often times to be abandoned and with silence passed by Iren. 57. p. VII It hath been said the Church judged of the Doctrine of the Church According to this saying shall the Papists Church judge of the the doctrine of Popery the Lutherans the Calvinists the Anabaptists and every one of them but what such a judgment is this otherwise then that which is daily practised by their one condemning another and every one maintaining his own Sect So saith Hilarius What unity or edification is there in such work and in so much following partial Counsels or conferences None at all said he VIII Beza declared expresly that the Church and Counsel might err and that they had often erred and that the Devil in some old Counsels had sitten as President in them IX The Professors of Leyden said We see that particulars have not only erred but General Counsels for shepheards may also be devoures
of boyling Oyl in which he had no harm Banished by Trajan the Emperor into the Isle of Patmos and there he wrote his Gospel being Releast in the Reign of Vertinax and in the 100 year of Christ as written by some return'd to Asia chiefly Residing at Ephesus his constant practise to his dying day being led to the Metting saying no more than Little Children Love one another he lived as some write to the Age of 120 years PHILIP Born at Bethsaida near the Sea of Tiberias Brought up in learning t is said he Preach'd Christ in Phrygia and the City Hierapolis many having reciev'd the Faith he was seized and carried to Prison was cruely Scourged and hanged by the Neck against a Pillar at which time as some write was a Terrible Earth-quake he was Buried at Hierapolis and his Daughters some say was Crucified at Paimimes BARTHOLOMEW Who some think to be Nathaniel of Cana in Galile Preach'd Christ unto the Indians Buried in Albania a City of Armenia the Great where he was Crucified with his head downward and slain alive and some wright that he was beheaded at the Commandment of Polemis King of India MATTHEW Otherwisé Levi Born at Nazareth a City of Zebulon the Son of Alpheus a Tax gartherer Preach'd Christ to the Ethiopians which is called Presbiter Iohn's Kingdom by Hurtychus's Command thrust through with a Sword he dyed at Hieropolis in Porthia and was Buried suppos'd to be 70 years of Age. THOMAS a Iew and Fisher-man as some write Preach'd Christ unto the Parthimans Medes and Persians and to the Caramans Hixcans Bartrians and Magicians he rested at Calamica a City in Iudea where the Heathen Priests as he was Praying a lone in a solitary place they coming upon him with a Dart called a Spear or Javelin Run him thorow SIMON ZELOTES Born at Cana in Galile Preach'd Christ throughout Mauritania and Africk the Less and Persia Egypt and Bretania where he was as some write Crucified and Buried JUDE And sometime called Thaddaus and Sebbaeus as some writ Brother of Iames Preach'd Christ in Iudaea Samarie throughout all Mesapotamia he was slain in the Time of Agbarus King of Edesse and buried MATTHIAS One of the 70 Disciples and Numbred among the 11 Apostles in Room of Iudas he Preach'd in Macedonia in Ethiopia about the Haven Hyssus and the River Phasis a Barbarous Nation and Ravonous of flesh he dyed at Sebastobilus nigh the Temple Stoned by the Iews at last beheaded with an Ax Anno 59 some say 64. MARK Of Iews Parents of the Tribe of Levi Preach'd Christ at Alexandria and all the Bordering Regions from Egypt unto Pentapolis in the Time of Tarmin he had a Cable Rope tyed about his Neck some write his Feet at Alexandria by which drawn from a place called Bucolus to the place called Angeles where he was Burned to ashes by the furious Idolaters in the month Pharmuthi with us call'd April on the 25th day LUKE The Evangelist Born at Antioch the chief City of Syria brought up in Learning Toyled with the Apostles Epiphanias writes that he Preach'd in Dalanatia Galatia and France and Italy and Macedonia Authours do not agree where he suffered Martyrdom but it is suppos'd at Ephesus he died and was Buried TIMOTHY Preach'd at Ephesus and Illyricum and throughout Hellas in Achaia where he died and was Buried Thus did these faithful Wittnesses finish their testimony and through their constancy and fidelity obtained not only a good Report but also a Crown immortal through faith in Christ Iesus to whom be glory and dominion for ever SOME PASSAGES OUT OF A LETTER WRIT TO A PERSON OF Quality Giving a True Relation in General Concerning the Heavenly Lives of the Primitive Christians SUCH was the Beginning and first Institution of the Christian Church that in it we find Men who voluntarily became little Children Children who in Wisdom exceeded Patriarchs Virgins who had the Prudence and Gravity of Matrons and Matrons endowed with Virgininal Modesty and Chastity Men of gray Hairs and old in Years but Children in Malice Pride and Ambition and it was hard to say which were the Old and which the Young Disciples for the younger sort strove to qual if not exceed the elder in Devotion Holiness was their Ornament and Men were counted Great as they arriv'd to high Degrees of Piety and the more Religious any Man was the greater Majesty and Respect he was thought worthy of The Light they came attended withall fill'd the World as the Sun doth the Universe which comes forth from its Eastern Conclave and presently diffuses and spreads its Light over all the surface of our Hemisphere So soon did the World feel the influence and operations of these new Stars and were focred to acknowledge their Divine Power and Virtue for they pressed through the Câ—…aos Mankind lay in as souls do pierce through Bodies and the Life Sense and Understanding they taught them was wholly new so different from what was in the World before that Men gaz'd at the Spectacle and lost themselves in Admiration What advantages the Soul can be supposed to give the Body the same did the first Christians afford to the benighted World and whatever inconveniences the Body puts the Soul to the same did the besotted World bring upon the first Christians for as the Soul tenders the Bodies welfare so did they the Worlds as the Soul directs the body to do things rational so did they the World as the Soul restrains the Body from doing mischief to it self so did they the World and as the Soul makes the Members of the Body Instruments of Righteousness so did they attempt to reform the deluded World into Holiness On the other side as the Body afflicteth the Soul so did the World persecute those first Christians as the Body makes the Soul live uneasie so did they incommode these excellent Men as the Body puts ill Constructions on the actions and admonitions of the Soul so the World did put the same on theirs and as the Body seems to long for nothing so much as the ruine of the Soul so the destruction of those Saints was the great thing the World then did aim at They were a Commonwealth made up of Great and Low of Rulers and Underlings of Governours and Subjects and yet nothing was more hard than to distinguish one from the other for what-ever the difference might be they esteemed one another epual and by their carriage one would have concluded that they had been all of the same degree and condition Their Pâ—…stors and chief Men were more known by their Munificence and Good Deeds than by their Coats of Arms or Splendour of their Offices They seemed to be all of the same Kindred for the Aged they honoured as Fathers and the Youths they tendred as their Children Those of the same Age call'd one another Brethren and these were the names they gave one another and in these Titles they gloried more than men