of his suffering The place and manner of his burial His body first discovered when and how The story of its translation to Constantinople The miracles said to be done by his Reliques and at his Memoriae Several reported by S. Augustin What credit to be given to them Miracles how long and why continued in the Church The vain pretences of the Church of Rome Pag. 1. The Life of S. PHILIP the Deacon and Evangelist His Birth-place The confounding him with S. Philip the Apostle His election to the Office of a Deacon The dispersion of the Church at Jerusalem Philip's preaching at Samaria Inveterate prejudices between the Samaritans and the Jews The great success of S. Philip's Ministry The Impostures of Simon Magus and his embracing Christianity The Christians at Samaria confirmed by Peter and John Philip sent to Gaza His meeting with the Aethiopian Eunuch What Aethiopia here meant Candace who The Custom of retaining Eunuchs in the Courts of the Eastern Princes This Eunuch who His Office His Religion and great Piety His Conversion and Baptism by S. Philip. The place where he was baptized The Eunuchs return and propagating Christianity in his own Countrey Philip's journey to Caesarea and fixing his abode there His four daughters Virgin-Prophetesses His death Pag. 23. The Life of S. BARNABAS the Apostle His Sirname Joses The title of Barnabas whence added to him His Countrey and Parents His Education and Conversion to Christianity His generous Charity S. Pauls address to him after his Conversion His Commission to confirm the Church of Antioch His taking S. Paul into his assistance Their being sent with contributions to the Church at Jerusalem Their peculiar separation for the Ministry of the Gentiles Imposition of hands the usual Rite of Ordination Their travels through several Countries Their success in Cyprus Barnabas at Lystra taken for Jupiter and why Their return to Antioch Their Embassy to Jerusalem about the controversie concerning the legal Rites Barnabas seduced by Peters dissimulation at Antioch The dissension between him and S. Paul Barnabas his journey to Cyprus His voyage to Rome and preaching the Christian Faith there His Martyrdom by the Jews in Cyprus His Burial His body when first discovered S. Matthews Hebrew Gospel found with it The great priviledges hereupon conferred upon the See of Salamis A description of his person and temper The Epistle anciently published under his name The design of it The practical part of it excellently managed under the two ways of Light and Darkness Pag. 33. The Life of S. TIMOTHY the Apostle and Evangelist S. Timothies Countrey and Kindred His religious education The great advantages of an early Piety Converted to Christianity by S. Paul and made choice of to be his companion Circumcised by S. Paul and why This no contradicting S. Pauls doctrine concerning Circumcision His Travels with S. Paul for the propagation of the Faith His return from Thessalonica and S. Pauls two Epistles to that Church S. Timothy consecrated Bishop of Ephesus The consent of Antiquity herein Ordination in those times usually done by Prophetic Designation and the reason of it Timothies age enquired into The importance of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let no man despise thy youth the words shewed to be used by the best Writers for a considerable age S. Pauls first and second Epistle to him and the importance of them The manners of the Ephesians noted Their Festival called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Timothies martyrdom The time of his death place of his burial and translation of his body His weak and infirm constitution His great abstinence and admirable zeal S. Pauls singular affection for him Different from Timotheus in S. Denys the Areopagite Another Timothy S. Pauls Disciple martyred under Antoninus Pag. 45. The Life of S. TITUS Bishop of Crete His Country enquired into The report of his noble extract His education and conversion to Christianity His acquaintance with and accompanying S. Paul to the Synod at Jerusalem S. Pauls refusing to circumcise him and why His attending S. Paul in his travels Their arrival in Crete Titus constituted by him Bishop of that Island The testimonies of the Ancients to that purpose The intimations of it in S. Pauls Epistle to him S. Pauls censure of the People of Crete justified by the account which Gentile Writers give of their evil manners A short view of the Epistle it self The directions concerning Ecclesiastic persons His charge to exhort and convince Gain-sayers Crete abounding with Heretical Teachers Jewish Fables and Genealogies what and whence derived The Aeones and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the ancient Gnostics borrowed from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Heathen Poets This shewn by particular instances Titus commanded to attend S. Paul at Nicopolis His coming to him into Macedonia His following S. Paul to Rome and departure into Dalmatia The Story of Pliny the Younger's being converted by him in Crete censured His age and death The Church erected to his memory Pag. 55. The Life of S. DIONYSIUS the Areopagite Dionysius born at Athens The quality of his Parents His domestic Studies His foreign Travels Egypt frequented as the staple place of all recondite Learning His residence at Heliopolis The strange and miraculous Eclipse at our Saviours Passion Dionysius his remarques upon it His return to Athens and being made one of the Judges of the Areopagus The nature of this Court the number and quality of its Judges S. Paul arraigned before it his Discourse and its success Dionysius his conversion His further instruction by Hierotheus Hierotheus who Dionysius constituted Bishop of Athens A brief account of his Story according to those that confound him with Dionysius Bishop of Paris These shewn to be distinct The original and procedure of the Mistake enquired into A probable account given of it Dionysius his Martyrdom at Athens and the time of it A fabulous miracle reported of his Scull The description of his person and the hyperbolical commendations which the Greeks give of him The Books ascribed to him These none of his Apollinaris probably shewed to be the Author of them Several passages of the Ancients noted to that purpose Books why oft published under other mens names These Books the Fountain of Enthusiasm and mystical Theology A passage in them instanced in to that purpose Pag. 65. The Life of S. CLEMENS Bishop of Rome His Birth-place His Parents Kindred Education and Conversion to Christianity noted out of the Books extant under his name His relation to the Imperial Family shewed to be a mistake His being made Bishop of Rome The great confusion about the first Bishops of that See A probable account endeavoured concerning the order of S. Clemens his succession and the reconciling it with the times of the other Bishops What account given of him in the ancient Epistle to S. James Clemens his appointing Notaries to write the Acts of the Martyrs and dispatching Messengers to propagate the
finibus from the farthest corners of the World The Countrey is sometimes stiled Cusch probably from a mixture of the Arabians who inhabiting on the other side of the Red Sea might send over Colonies hither who setling in these parts communicated the names of Cush and Sabaea to them The manners of the People were very rude and barbarous and the People themselves especially to the Jews contemptible even to a Proverb Amos 9.7 Are ye not as the children of the Aethiopians unto me O children of Israel saith the Lord nay the very meeting an Aethiopian was accounted an ill omen and an unlucky prognostication But no Country is a Bar to Heaven the grace of God that brings salvation plucks up the enclosures and appears to all so that in every Nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted with him VIII BUT we cannot reasonably suppose that it should be meant of Aethiopia at large especially as parallel at this day with the Abyssine Empire but rather of that part of the Countrey whose Metropolis was called Meroe and Saba as 't is called both by b Antiq. Jud. l. 2. c. 5. p. 58. Josephus and the Abyssines themselves at this day situate in a large Island encompassed by the Nile and the Rivers of Astapus and Astoborra as Josephus informs us for about these parts it was as c Hist Nat. l. 6. c. 29. p. 105. Pliny tells us that Queens had a long time governed under the title of Candace a custom as we find in Strabo first commencing in the time of Augustus when a Queen of that name having for her incomparable Vertues been dear to the People her successors in honour of her took the title of Candace in the same sense that Ptolomy was the common name of the Kings of Egypt Artaxerxes of the Kings of Persia and Caesar of the Roman Emperours Indeed Oecumenius was of opinion that Candace was onely the common name of the Queen-mothers of Aethiopia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oecumen Comment in Act. VIII p. 82. that Nation not giving the name of Fathers to their Kings as acknowledging the Sun onely for their Common Father and their Princes the Sons of that common Parent But in this I think he stands alone and contradicts the general Vote and Suffrage of the Ancients which affirms this Nation to have been subject to Women sure I am d H. Eccl. l. 2. c. 1. p. 40. Eusebius expresly says 't was the custom of this Countrey to be governed by Queens even in his time The name of the present Queen they say was Lacasa daughter of King Baazena and that she outlived the death of our Saviour four Years IX Among the great Officers of her Court she had one if not more Eunuch probably to avoid suspicion it being the fashion of those Eastern Countries as it still is at this day to imploy Eunuchs in places of great trust and honour and especially of near access to and attendance upon Queens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Herod lib. 8. Auctor Sinnaces insigni familia ac perinde opibus proxime hale Abdus ademptae virilitatis non despectum id apud barbaros ultroque potentiam habet Tacit. Ann. l. 6. c. 31. p. 182. For however among us the very name sounds vile and contemptible yet in those Countries 't is otherwise among the Barbarians says Herodotus that is the Eastern People Eunuchs are persons of the greatest esteem and value Our Eunuchs name as we find it in the Confession made by e Extat ad Bzov. Annal. Eccl. ad Ann. 1524. â— XXXII p. 543. Zaga Zabo Embassador from the Aethiopian Emperour was Indich 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a potent Courtier an Officer of State of prime Note and Quality being no less then High-Treasurer to the Queen nor do we find that Philip either at his Conversion or Baptism found fault with him for his place or greatness Certainly Magistracy is no ways inconsistent with Christianity the Church and the State may well agree and Moses and Aaron go hand in hand Peter baptized Cornelius and S. Paul Sergius the Proconsul of Cyprus into the Christian Faith and yet neither of them found any more fault with them for their places of Authority and Power then Philip did here with the Lord Treasurer of the Aethiopian Queen For his Religion he was if not a Proselyte of Justice as some think circumcised and under an obligation to observe the Rites and Precepts of the Law of Moses at least a Proselyte of the Gate in which respect it is that one of the Ancients calls him a Jew a Pont. Diac. in vit Cypr. p. 11. entered already into the knowledge of the true God and was now come to Jerusalem probably at the solemnity of the Passover or the Feast of Pentecost to give publick and solemn evidences of his devotion Though an Aethiopian and many thousand miles distant from it though a great Statesman and necessarily swallowed up in a croud of business yet he came to Jerusalem for to worship No way so long so rugged and difficult no charge or interest so dear and great as to hinder a good man from minding the concernments of Religion No slender and trifling pretences no little and ordinary occasions should excuse our attendance upon places of public Worship behold here a man that thought not much to take a journey of above four thousand miles that he might appear before God in the solemn place of divine adoration the place which God had chosen above all other parts of the World to place his name there X. HAVING performed his homage and worship at the Temple he was now upon his return for his own Countrey nor had he left his Religion at Church behind him or thought it enough that he had been there but improved himself while travelling by the way even while he sate in his Chariot as b Homil. 19. in Act. p. 585. Tantus amator Legis divinaeque scientiae fuit at etiam in vâ—hiculo sacras literas legeret Hier. Epist ad Paulin. T. 3. p. 7 Chrysostom observes he read the Scriptures a good man is not willing to lose even common minutes but to redeem what time is possible for holy uses whether sitting or walking or journying our thoughts should be at work and our affections travelling towards Heaven While the Eunuch was thus imployed a Messenger is sent to him from God the best way to meet with divine communications is to be conversant in our duty By a voice from Heaven or some immediate inspiration Philip is commanded to go near the Chariot and address himself to him He did so and found him reading a Section or Paragraph of the Prophet Isaiah concerning the death and sufferings of the Messia his meek and innocent carriage under the bloody and barbarous violences of his enemies who dealt with him with all cruelty and injustice This the Eunuch not well understanding nor knowing certainly whether
e Hieron Episâ— ad Magn. Orat. p. 327. Tom. 2. Brachmans the Sages and Philosophers of those Countries whose Principles and way of life seemed more immediately to dispose them for the entertainment of Christianity De Brachman morib instit vid. inter alios A. exand Polyh de reb Indie ap Clem. Alex. Strimat l. 3. p. 451. Strab. Geogr. l. 15 p. 712. Bardesar Syr. l. de fat ap Euseb Praep. Evang. l. 6. c. 10. p 275. Plutarch de vit Alexand. p. 701. Porphyr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 4. § 17 18. p. 167. c. Pallad de Bragman p. 8 9 15 16 17. Tract de Orig. Mâ—rib Brachman inter Ambrosii oper ad Câ—lc Tom 5. Suid. in voc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 578. Their children as soon as born they committed to Nurses and then to Guardians according to their different ages who instructed them in principles according to their capacities and improvements they were educated with all imaginable severity of Discipline not suffered so much as to speak or spit or cough while their Masters were discoursing to them and this till they were seven and thirty years of Age. They were infinitely strict and abstemious in their diet eat no flesh drunk no wine or strong drink feeding onely upon wild Acorns and such Roots as nature furnished them withall and quenching their thirst at the next Spring or River and as sparing of all other lawful pleasures and delights They adored no Images but sincerely worshiped God to whom they continually prayed and in stead of the custom of those Eastern Nations of turning to the East they devoutly lift up their eyes to Heaven and while they drew near to God took a peculiar care to keep themselves from being defiled with any vice or wickedness spending a great part both of night and day in Hymns and Prayers to God They accounted themselves the most free and victorious people having hardned their bodies against all external accidents and subdued in their minds all irregular passions and desires Gold and Silver they despised as that which could neither quench their thirst nor allay their hunger nor heal their wounds nor cure their distempers nor serve any real and necessary ends of nature but onely minister to Vice and Luxury to trouble and inquietude and set the mind upon Racks and Tenters They looked upon none of the little accidents of this World to be either good or evil frequently discoursed concerning Death which they maintained to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a being born into a real and happy life and in order whereunto they made use of the present time onely as a state of preparation for a better life In short they seemed in most things to conspire and agree with the Stoics whom therefore of all other Sects they esteemed to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Pallad de Brachman p. 52. the most excellent Philosophers and upon that account could not but be somewhat the more acceptable to Pantaenus who had so thoroughly imbibed all the wise and rational principles of that Institution VII WHAT success he had in these parts we are not particularly told Certainly his preaching could not want some considerable effect especially where persons were by the rules of their order and the course of their life so well qualified to receive it and that too where Christianity had been heretofore planted though now overgrown with Weeds and Rubbish for want of due care and culture For he met with several b Easeb l. 5. c. 10. p. 175. Hier. de Script in Pantaen that retained the knowledge of Christ preached here long since by S. Bartholomew the Apostle as we have elsewhere shewed in his life whereof not the least evidence was his finding S. Matthews Gospel written in Hebrew which S. Bartholomew had left at his being there and which Pantaenus as S. Hierom informs us though I question whether it be any more then his own conjecture brought back with him to Alexandria and there no doubt laid it up as an inestimable treasure And as our Philosopher succeeded in the labours of S. Bartholomew in these Indian Plantations so another afterwards succeeded in his an account whereof to make the story more intire the Reader I presume will not think it impertinent if I here insert c Socrat. H. Eccl. l. 1. c. 19. p. 50. Sozom. lib. 2. c. 24. p. 477. Theod. H. Eccl. l. 1. c. 23. p. 54. Aedesius and Frumentius two Youths of Tyre accompanied Meropius the Philosopher into India where being taken by the Natives they were presented to the King of the Countrey who pleased with their persons and their parts made one of them his Butler the other Frumentius the Keeper of his Records or as Sozomen will have it his Treasurer and Major-domo committing to his care the Government of his house For their great diligence and fidelity the King at his death gave them their liberty who thereupon determined to return to their own Countrey but were prevailed with by the Queen to stay and superintend affairs during the Minority of her Son Which they did the main of the Government being in the hands of Frumentius who assisted by some Christian Merchants that traffiqued there built an Oratory where they assembled to worship God according to the Rites of Christianity and instructed several of the Natives who joined themselves to their Assembly The young King now of age Frumentius resigned his trust and begged leave to return which being with some difficulty obtained they presently departed Aedesius going for Tyre while Frumentius went to Alexandria where he gave Athanasius then Bishop of that place an account of the whole affair shewing him what hopes there were that the Indians would come over to the Faith of Christ withall begging of him to send a Bishop and some Clergy-men among them and not to neglect so fair an opportunity of advancing their salvation Athanasius having advised with his Clergy persuaded Frumentius to accept the office assuring him he had none fitter for it then himself Which was done accordingly and Frumentius being made Bishop returned back into India where he preached the Christian Faith erected many Churches and being assisted by the Divine Grace wrought innumerable miracles healing both the souls and bodies of many at the same time An account of all which Rufinus professes to have received from Aedesius his own mouth then Presbyter of the Church of Tyre But it 's time to look back to Pantaenus VIII BEING returned to Alexandria he resumed his Catechetic office which I gather partly from a Ubi supra Eusebius who again mentions it just after his Indian expedition and adds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that after all or when he drew near to his latter end he governed the School of Alexandria partly from S. Hierom b Loc. citat who says expresly that he taught in the reigns of Severus and Caracalla his first regency being under Commodus He died in the time
satisfactory Philosophy The great influence which the patience and fortitude of the Christians had upon his conversion The force of that argument to persuade men His vindication of himself from the charges of the Gentiles His continuance in his Philosophic habit The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what and by whom worn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His coming to Rome and opposing Heretics Marcion who and what his Principles Justin's first Apology to the Emperours and the design of it Antoninus his Letter to the Common-Council of Asia in favour of the Christians This shewed not to be the Edict of Marcus Antoninus Justin's journey into the East and conference with Trypho the Jew Trypho who The malice of the Jews against the Christians Justin's return to Rome His contests with Crescens the Philosopher Crescens his temper and principles Justin's second Apology To whom presented The occasion of it M. Antoninus his temper Justin fore-tells his own fate The Acts of his Martyrdom His arraignment before Rusticus Praefect of Rome Rusticus who the great honours done him by the Emperour Justin's discourse with the Praefect His freedom and courage His sentence and execution The time of his death His great Piety Charity Impartiality c. His natural parts and excellent learning His unskilfulness in the Hebrew Language noted A late Author censured His Writings The Epistle to Diognetus Diognetus who His stile and character The unwarrantable opinions he is charged with His indulgence to Heathens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in what sense used by the ancient Fathers How applied to Christ how to Reason His opinion concerning Chiliasm The concurrence of the Ancients with him herein This by whom first started by whom corrupted Concerning the state of the Soul after this life The doctrine of the Ancients in this matter His assertion concerning Angels maintained by most of the first Fathers The original of it Their opinion concerning Free-will shewed not to be opposed by them to the Grace of God What influence Justin's Philosophic education had upon his opinions His Writings enumerated Pag. 139. The Life of S. IRENAEUS Bishop of Lyons His Countrey enquired into His Philosophical Studies His institution by Papias Papias who His education under S. Polycarp His coming into France and being made Presbyter of Lyons Pothinus who how and by whom sent into France The grievous Persecution there under M. Aurelius The Letters of the Martyrs to the Bishop of Rome Pope Eleutherius guilty of Montanism Irenaeus sent to Rome His writing against Florinus and Blastus The martyrdom of Pothinus Bishop of Lyons and the cruelty exercised towards him Irenaeus succeeds His great diligence in his charge His oppostion of Heretics The Synods said to have been held under him to that purpose The Gnostic Heresies spread in France Their monstrous Villanies His confutation of them by word and writing Variety of Sects and Divisions objected by the Heathens against Christianity This largely answered by Clemens of Alexandria Pope Victor's reviving the controversie about Easter The contests between him and the Asiatics Several Synods to determine this matter Irenaeus his moderate interposal His Synodical Epistle to Victor The Persecution under Severus It s rage about Lyons Irenaeus his Martyrdom and place of Burial His Vertues His industrious and elaborate confutation of the Gnostics His stile and phrase Photius his censure of his Works His errour concerning Christs age Miraculous gifts and powers common in his time His Writings Pag. 161. The Life of S. THEOPHILUS Bishop of Antioch The great obscurity of his Originals His learned and ingenuous Education and natural parts An account of his conversion to Christianity and the reasons inducing him thereunto collected out of his own Writings His scrupling the Doctrine of the Resurrection The great difficulty of entertaining that Principle Synesius his case Theophilus his conquering this objection His great satisfaction in the Christian Religion His election to the Bishoprick of Antioch His desire to convert Autolycus Autolycus who His mighty prejudice against Christianity Theophilus his undertaking him and his free and impartial debating the case with him His excellent menage of the controversie His vigorous opposing the Heresies of those times His Books against Marcion and Hermogenes His death and the time of it S. Hierom's Character of his Works His Writings Pag. 173. The Life of S. MELITO Bishop of Sardis His Countrey and Birth-place His excellent Parts and Learning His being made Bishop of Sardis His coelibaâ—y His Prophetic gifts The Persecution under Marcus Aurelius Melito his Apology for the Christians A fragment of it cited out of Eusebius The great advantages of Christianity to the Empire His endeavour to compose the Paschal Controversie His Book concerning that Subject His journey to Jerusalem to search what Books of the Old Testament were received by that Church The Copy of his Letter to his Brother Onesimus concerning the Canon of the Old Testament What Books admitted by the ancient Church Solomons Proverbs stiled by the Ancients the Book of Wisdom His death and burial The great variety of his Works Vnjustly suspected of dangerous notions An account given of the titles of two of his Books most liable to suspicion His Writings enumerated Pag. 179. The Life of S. PANTAENUS Catechist of Alexandria The various conjectures concerning his Original The probabilities of his Jewish descent what Whether born in Sicily or at Alexandria His first institution The famous Platonic School erected by Ammonius at Alexandria The renown of that place for other parts of Learning Pantaenus addicted to the Sect of the Stoics The Principles of that Sect shewed to agree best with the dictates of Christianity His great emprovements in the Christian Doctrine The Catechetic School at Alexandria with its antiquity Pantaenus made Regent of it When he first entered upon this Office An Embassie from India to the Bishop of Alexandria for some to preach the Christian Faith Pantaenus sent upon this errand This Countrey where situate His arrival in India and converse with the Brachmans Their temper principles and way of life Their agreement with the Stoics Foot-steps of Christianity formerly planted there S. Matthews Hebrew Gospel found among them and brought by Pantaenus to Alexandria How far and by whom Christianity was propagated in India afterwards Pantaenus his return to Alexandria and resuming his Catechetic Office His Death His great Piety and Learning Pag. 185. The Life of S. CLEMENS of Alexandria His Countrey The progress of his Studies His instruction in the Christian doctrin His several Masters His impartial enquiry after truth The elective Sect what It s excellent genius Clemens of this Sect. His succeeding Pantaenus in the Catechetic School He is made Presbyter of Alexandria His Stromata published when Lawfulness of flying in time of Persecution His journey into the East What Tracts he wrote there His going from Jerusalem to Antioch and return to Alexandria His death The Elogia given of him by the Ancients His admirable
as whom they judged the best of all their Princes He conversed freely and innocently with all men being desirous rather to be beloved than than either fear'd or honour'd by the people The glory of all which is exceedingly stain'd in the Records of the Church by his severe proceedings against the Christians He looked upon the Religion of the Empire as daily undermin'd by this new way of Worship that the numbers of Christians grew formidable and might possibly endanger the peace and tranquillity of the Roman State and that there was no better way to secure to himself the favour of the gods especially in his Wars than to vindicate their cause against the Christians Accordingly therefore he issued out orders to proceed against them as illegal Societies crected and acting contrary to the Laws in which number all Colleges and Corporations were accounted that were not a L. 1. 3. ss de Colleg. corp Lib. 47. tit 22. settled either by the Emperors constitution or the Decree of the Senate and the persons b Ulplan de off procons l. 6. ib. l. 2. frequenting them adjudged guilty of High Treason Indeed the Emperors as we have elsewhere observed were infinitely suspicious of such meetings as which might easily conspire into Faction and Treason and therefore when Pliny c Lib. 10. Epist 42 43. interceded with Trajan in behalf of the City of Nicomedia that being so subject to fires he would constitute a corporation of Smiths though but a small number which might be easily kept in order and which he promised to keep a particular eye upon The Emperor answered By no means for we ought to remember says he that that Province and especially those Cities are greatly disturbed by such kind of Factions and whatever the title or the occasion be if they meet together they will be Heteriae though less numerous than the rest That they look'd upon the Christian Assemblies as in the number of these unlawful Corporations and that under this pretence Trajan endeavoured to suppress them will appear from Pliny's Letter to him In the mean time he commanded them either to offer sacrifice to the gods or to be punished as contemners of them The people also in several places by popular tumults falling foul upon them The chief of those who obtained the Crown of Martyrdom under him were S. Clemens Bishop of Rome S. Simeon Bishop of Jerusalem and S. Ignatius Bishop of Antioch whom Trajan himself condemned and sent to Rome there to be thrown to wild Beasts XXI THE Persecution rag'd as in the other parts of the Empire so especially in the Provinces of Pontus and Bithynia where Pliny the younger who had some time since been Consul then governed as Pro-Praetor with Consular power and dignity Who seeing vast multitudes of Christians indicted by others and pressing on of themselves to execution and that to proceed severely against all that came would be in a manner to lay waste those Provinces he thought good to write to the Emperor about this matter to know his pleasure in the case His Letter because acquainting us so exactly with the state of the Christians and the manner of proceeding against them and giving so eminent a testimony to their innocency and integrity we shall here insert C. PLINIUS to the Emperor TRAJAN IT is my custom Sir in all affairs wherein I doubt to have recourse to you For who can better either sway my irresolution or instruct my ignorance I have never been heretofore present at the examination and trial of Christians and therefore know not what the crime is and how far it is wont to be punished or how to proceed in these enquiries Nor was I a little at a loss whether regard be to be had to difference of age whether the young and the weak be to be distinguished from the more strong and aged whether place may be allowed to repentance and it may be of any advantage to him who once was a Christian to cease to be so Whether the name alone without other offences or the offences that go along with the name ought to be punished In the mean time towards those who as Christians have been brought before me I have taken this course I asked them whether they were Christians if they confessed it I asked them once and again threatning punishment if they persisted I commanded them to be executed For I did not at all doubt but that whatever their confession was their stubbornness and inflexible obstinacy ought to be punished Others there were guilty of the like madness whom because they were Roman Citizens I adjudged to be transmitted to Rome While things thus proceeded the error as is usual spreading farther more cases did ensue A nameless Libel was presented containing the names of many who denied themselves to to be or to have been Christians These when after my example they invocated the gods and offered Wine and Incense to your Statue which for that purpose I had commanded to be brought together with the images of the gods and had moreover blasphemed Christ which its said none that are true Christians can be compelled to do I dismiss'd others mentioned in the Libel confessed themselves Christians but presently denied it that they had indeed been such but had renounced it some by the space of three years others many years since and one five and twenty years ago All which paid their reverence and veneration to your Statue and the images of the gods and blasphemed Christ They affirmed that the whole sum of that Sect or error lay in this that they were wont upon a set solemn day to meet together before Sun-rise and to sing among themselves a Hymn to Christ as the God whom they worshipped and oblige themselves by an Oath not to commit any wickedness but to abstain from Theft Robbery Adultery to keep Faith and when required to restore any pledge intrusted with them Which done then to depart for that time and to meet again at a common meal to partake of a promiscuous and harmless food which yet they laid aside after I had published an Edict forbidding according to your order the Heteriae or unlawful Assemblies to be kept To satisfie my self in the truth hereof I commanded two Maidens called Deaconesses to be examined upon the Wrack But I perceived nothing but a lewd and immoderate Superstition and therefore surceasing any farther process I have sent to pray your advice For the case seemed to me very worthy to be consulted about especially considering the great numbers that are in danger for very many of all ages and ranks both men and women are and will be called in question the contagion of this Superstition having over-spreâ—d not only Cities but Towns and Country Villages which yet seems possible to be stopt and cur'd It 's very evident that the Temples which were almost quite forsaken begin to be frequented that the holy Rites and Solemnities of a long time neglected are set
whereof Possidius who wrote S. Augustins Life was Bishop was by the same means cured of the Stone which he had a long time been afflicted with and afterwards recovered of another distemper when he had been given over for dead Martialis an ancient Gentleman in that place of great note and rank but a Pagan and highly prejudiced against the Christian Faith had been often in vain sollicited by his Daughter and her Husband both Christians to turn Christian especially in his sickness but still resented the motion with indignation His Son-in-law went to the place dedicated to S. Stephens Martyrdom and there with prayers and tears passionately begged of God his Conversion Departing he took some Flowers thence with him which at night he put under his Fathers head who slept well and in the morning called for the Bishop in whose absence for he was at that time with S. Augustin at Hippo the Presbyters were sent for at whose coming he acknowledged himself a Christian and to the joy and and admiration of all was immediately baptized As long as he lived he often had these words in his mouth and they were the last words that he spake for he died not long after O Christ receive my spirit though utterly ignorant that it was the Protomartyrs dying speech XXIX MANY passages of like nature he relates done at his own See at Hippo and this among the rest Ten children of eminency at Caesarea in Cappadocia all the children of one man had for some notorious misdemeanour after their Fathers death been cursed by their Mother whereupon they were all seized with a continual trembling and shaking in all parts of their body Two of these Paulus and Palladia came over into Afric and dwelt at Hippo notoriously known to the whole City They arrived fifteen days before Easter where they frequented the Church especially the place dedicated to the Martyrdom of S. Stephen every day praying that God would forgive them and restore them to their health Upon Easter-day the Young man praying as he was wont at the accustomed place suddenly dropt down and lay like one asleep but without any trembling and awaking found himself perfectly restored to health who was thereupon with the joyful acclamations of the People brought to S. Augustin who kindly received him and after the public devotions were over treated him at Dinner where he had the whole account of the misery that befel him The day after when the narrative of his Cure was to be recited to the People his sister also was healed in the same manner and at the same place the particular circumstances of both which S. Augustin relates more at large XXX WHAT the judicious and unprejudiced Reader will think of these and more the like instances there reported by this good Father I know not or whether he will not think it reasonable to believe that God might suffer these strange and miraculous cures to be wrought in a place where multitudes yet persisted in their Gentilism and infidelity Vid. Aug. loc cit initio cap. and who made this one great objection against the Christian Faith that whatever miracles might be heretofore pretended for the confirmation of Christian Religion yet that now they were ceased when yet they were still necessary to induce the World to the belief of Christianity Certain it is that nothing was done herein but what did very well consist with the wisdom and the goodness of God who as he is never wont to be prodigal in multiplying the effects of his omnipotent power beyond a just necessity so is never wanting to afford all necessary evidences and methods of conviction That therefore the unbelieving World who made this the great refuge of their infidelity might see that his arm was not grown effoete and weak that he had not left the Christian Religion wholly destitute of immediate and miraculous attestations he was pleased to exert these extraordinary powers that he might baffle their unbelief and silence their objections against the divinity of the Christian Faith And for this reason God never totally withdrew the power of working Miracles from the Church till the World was in a manner wholly subdued to the faith of Christ And then he left it to be conducted by more humane and regular ways and to preserve its Authority over the minds of men by those standing and innate characters of Divinity which he has impressed upon it 'T is true that the Church of Rome still pretends to this power which it endeavours to justifie by appealing to these and such like instances But in vain and to no purpose the pretended miracles of that Church being generally trifling and ludicrous far beneath that gravity and seriousness that should work upon a wise and considering mind the manner of their operation obscure and ambiguous their numbers excessive and immoderate the occasions of them light and frivolous and after all the things themselves for the most part false and the reports very often so monstrous and extravagant as would choke any sober and rational belief so that a man must himself become the greatest miracle that believes them I shall observe no more then that in all these cases related by S. Augustin we never find that they invocated or prayed to the Martyr nor begged to be healed by his merits or intercession but immediately directed their addresses to God himself THE LIFE OF S. PHILIP THE DEACON and EVANGELIST Mic. Burghers sulpsit Sect. 8.38 He comanded the Charet to stand still and they went downe both into the water both PHILLIP and the EVNVCH and he baptized him His Birth-place The confounding him with S. Philip the Apostle His election to the Office of a Deacon The dispersion of the Church at Jerusalem Philips preaching at Samaria Inveterate prejudices between the Samaritans and the Jews The great success of S. Philips Ministry The Impostures of Simon Magus and his embracing Christianity The Christians at Samaria confirmed by Peter and John Philip sent to Gaza His meeting with the Aethiopian Eunuch What Aethiopia here meant Candace who The Custom of retaining Eunuchs in the Courts of the Eastern Princes This Eunuch who His Office His Religion and great piety His Conversion and Baptism by S. Philip. The place where he was baptized The Eunuchs return and propagating Christianity in his own Country Philips journey to Caesarea and fixing his abode there His four daughters Virgin-Prophetesses His death I. Epist l. 1. Ep. 449. ad Annoch p. 95. S PHILLIP was born as Isidore the Peleusiot plainly intimates at Caesarea a famous Port-Town between Joppa and Ptolemais in the Province of Samaria but whether he had any other warraâ—◠〈◊〉 it then his own conjecture I know 〈…〉 being some circumstances however that 〈…〉 probable He has been by some both 〈◊〉 and of later times for want of a due regard to things and persons carelesly confounded with S. Philip the Aposile A mistake of very ancient date and which seems to have
as the Messia or the Son of God among the Samaritans giving out himself to be the Father as a Lib. 1. c. 20. p. 115. Irenaeus assures us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as his Countryman b Apol. II. p. 69. vid. Tert. de praeser Haeret. c. 46. p. 219. Justin Martyr tells us the People worshipped him as the first and chiefest Deity as afterwards among the Gentiles he stiled himself the Holy Ghost And what wonder if by this train of Artifices the People were tempted and seduced to admire and adore him And in this case things stood at S. Philips arrival whose greater and more unquestionable miracles quickly turned the Scale Imposture cannot bear the too near approach of Truth but flies before it as darkness vanishes at the presence of the Sun The People sensible of their errour universally flocked to S. Philips Sermons and convinced by the efficacy of his Doctrine and the power of his Miracles gave up themselves his Converts and were by Baptism initiated into the Christian Faith Yea the Magician himself astonished at those mighty things which he saw done by Philip professed himself his Proselyte and Disciple and was baptized by him being either really persuaded by the convictive evidence of Truth or else for some sinister designs craftily dissembling his Belief and Profession of Christianity A piece of Artifice which c H. Eccl. lib. 2. c. 1. p. 39. Eusebius tells us his Disciples and Followers still observed in his time who in imitation of their Father like a Pest or a Leprosie were wont to creep in among the Christian Societies that so they might with the more advantage poison and infect the rest many of whom having been discovered had with shame been ejected and cast out of the Church V. THE fame of S. Philips success at Samaria quickly flew to Jerusalem where the Apostles immediately took care to dispatch some of their own number to confirm these new Converts in the Faith Peter and John were sent upon this errand who being come prayed for them and laid their hands upon them ordaining probably some to be Governors of the Church and Ministers of Religion which was no sooner done but the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost fell upon them A plain evidence of the Apostolic Power Philip had converted and baptised them but being onely a Deacon as d Eplph. Haeres XXI p. 29. Epiphanius and e Christ Horâ—â— 18. in 〈◊〉 p. â—â— Chrysostom truely observe could not conser the Holy Ghost this being a faculty bestowed onely upon the Apostles Simon the Magician observing this that a power of working miracles was conveyed by the imposition of the Apostles hands hoped by obtaining it to recover his credit and reputation with the people to which end he sought by such methods as were most apt to prevail upon himself to corrupt the Apostles by a sum of money to confer this power upon him Peter resented the motion with that sharpness and severity that became him told the Wretch of the iniquity of his offer and the evil state and condition he was in advised him by repentance to make his Peace with Heaven that if possible he might prevent the miserable fate that otherwise did attend him But what passed between Peter and this Magician both here and in their memorable encounter at Rome so much spoken of by the Ancients we have related more at large in another place a Antiquit. App. Life of S. Pâ—t Sect. 8. v. 1 Sect. 9. 〈◊〉 4. VI. WHETHER S. Philip returned with the Apostles to Jerusalem or as b Hâ—â—il 19. in Act. App p. 585. Chrysostom thinks staid at Samaria and the parts thereabouts we have no intimations left upon Record 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost ibid. p. 586. But where-ever he was an Angel was sent to him with a message from God to go and instruct a Stranger in the Faith The Angel one would have thought had been most likely himself to have managed this business with success But the wise God keeps Method and Order and will not suffer an Angel to take that Work which he has put into the hands of his Ministers The sum of his Commission was to go toward the South unto the way that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza which is desart A circumstance which whether it relate to the way or the City is not easie to decide it being probably true of both Gaza was a City anciently famous for the strange efforts of Sampsons strength for his captivity his death and the burial of himself and his enemies in the same Ruine It was afterwards sacked and laid wast by Alexander the Great and as c Geograph l. 16. p. 759. Zach. 2.4 Jer. 47.5 Strabo notes remained wast and desart in his time the Prophetical curse being truly accomplished in it Gaza shall be forsaken a Fate which the Prophet Jeremy had foretold to be as certain as if he had seen it already done baldness is come upon Gaza So certainly do the divine threatnings arrest and take hold of a proud and impenitent People so easily do they set open the Gates for ruine to enter into the strongest and best fortified Cities where Sin has once undermined and stript them naked of the divine protection VII NO sooner had S. Philip received his Orders though he knew not as yet the intent of his journey but he addressed himself to it he arose and went he did not reason with himself whether he might not be mistaken and that be a false and deluding Vision that sent him upon such an unaccountable errand and into a Desart and a Wilderness where he was more likely to meet with Trees and Rocks and wild Beasts then Men to preach to but went however well knowing God never sends any upon a vain or a foolish errand An excellent instance of obedience as 't is also recorded to Abrahams eternal honour and commendation that when God sent his Warrant he obeyed and went out not knowing whither he went As he was on his journey he espied coming towards him a man of Aethiopia an Eunuch of great authority under Candace Queen of the Aethiopians who had the charge of all her treasure and had come to Jerusalem to worship though in what part of the World the Countrey here spoken of was situate the word being variously used in Scripture has been some dispute a Doroâ—h Synops p. 148. Dorotheus and b Sopiâ— ap Hier. de Strip Eccl. in Crescent Sophronius of old and some later Writers place it in Arabia the Happy not far from the Persian Gulf but it 's most generally conceived to be meant of the African Aethiopia lying under or near the torrid Zone the People whereof are described by Homer to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the remotest part of mankind and accordingly a Hier. ad Paul Tom. 3. p. 7. S. Hierom says of this Eunuch that he came from Aethiopia that is ab extremis mundi
the Prophet meant it of himself or another desired S. Philip to explain it who being courteously taken up into his Chariot shewed him that all this was meant of and had been accomplished in the Holy Jesus taking occasion thence to discourse to him of his Nativity his Actions and Miracles his Sufferings and Resurrection from the dead and his Ascension into Heaven declaring to him the whole system of the Christian Faith His discourse wanted not its desired effect the Eunuch was fully satisfied in the Messiaship and Divine Authority of our Saviour and wanted nothing but the solemn Rite of Initiation to make him a Christian Proselyte Being come to a place where there was conveniency of Water he desired that he might be baptized and having professed his Faith in the Son of God and his hearty embracing the Christian Religion they both went down into the Water where Philip baptized him and washed this Aethiopian white XI The place where this Eunuch was baptized a Annot. in Act. 8.36 Beza by a very wide mistake makes to be the River Eleutherus which ran near the Foot of Mount Lebanon in the most Northern Borders of Palestine quite at the other end of the Countrey b Descript Terr Sanct. p. m. 330. Brocard places it near Nehel Escol or the Torrent of the Grape the place whence the Spies fetched the bunch of Grapes on the left side of which Valley about half a League runs a Brook not far from Sicelech in which this Eunuch was baptized But c Euseh de loc Hebr. in voc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 66. Eusebius and d Hieron de loc Hebr. in voc Besur S. Hierom followed herein by e Ad. Martyr VIII Idus Jun. Ado the Martyrologist more probably place it near Bethsoron where we are told f Cotovic Itin. l. 2. c. 9. p. 247. it is still to be seen at this day a Village 20 miles distant from Jerusalem in the way between it and Hebron near to which there was a Spring bubling up at the foot of a Hill S. Hierom adds that it was again swallowed up in the same ground that produced it and that here it was that Philip baptized the Ethiopian Which was no sooner done but Heaven set an extraordinary seal to his Conversion and Admission into the Christian Faith especially if it be true what some very ancient Manuscripts add to the passage V. 39. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—od Alexand. in Bibl. Reg. Angl. aliique plures Codd MSs. that being baptized the Holy Ghost fell upon him furnishing him with miraculous gifts and powers and that Philip was immediately snatched away from him XII Though the Eunuch had lost his Tutor yet he rejoiced that he had found so great a treasure the knowledge of Christ and of the true way to Heaven and he went on his journey with infinite Peace and Tranquillity of mind satisfied with the happiness that had befallen him Being returned into his Country he preached and propagated the Christian Faith and spread abroad the glad tidings of a Saviour in which respect g Com. in Esai 53. T. 5. p. 195. S. Hierom stiles him the Apostle of the Ethiopians and the h Euseb H. Eccl. l. 2. c. p. 40 Cyril Catech. XVII p. 457. Psal 68.31 Ancients generally make that prediction of David fulfilled in him Ethiopia shall stretch out her hands unto God and hence the Ethiopians are wont to glory as appears by the i Apud Brov. ubi supr vid. Godigâ— de rebus Acyssin 1. c. 18 p. 113. Confession made by the Ahyssin Embassador that by means of this Eunuch they received Baptism almost the first of any Christians in the World Indeed they have a constant tradition that for many Ages they had the knowledge of the true God of Israel from the time of the Queen of Sheba and Seba being the name of this Countrey as we noted before makes it probable she might govern here her name they tell us was Maqueda who having learnt from Solomon the knowledge of the Jewish Law and received the Books of their Religion taught them her Subjects and sent her Son Meilech to Solomon to be instructed and educated by him the Story whereof may be read in that Confession more at large I add no more concerning the Eunuch then what k Synops ubi supr vid. etiam Sophr. ap Hier. in Cresâ— Dorotheus and others relate that he is reported to have suffered Martyrdom and to have been honourably buried and that diseases were cured and other miracles done at his Tomb even in his time The Traditions of the Countrey more particularly tell us that the Eunuch being returned home first converted his Mistress Candace to the l Ap. Godign loc â—itat p. 117. Christian Faith and afterwards by her leave propagated it throughout Aethiopia till meeting with S. Matthew the Apostle by their joint-endeavours they expelled Idolatry out of all those parts Which done he crossed the Red Sea and preached the Christian Religion in Arabia Persia India and many other of those Eastern Nations till at length in the Island Taprobana since called Ceilon he sealed his Doctrine with his blood XIII GOD who always affords what is sufficient is not wont to multiply means farther then is necessary Philip having done the errand upon which he was sent was immediately caught and carried away no doubt by the ministry of an Angel and landed at Azotus anciently Ashdod a Philistin City in the borders of the Tribe of Dan famous of old for the Temple and residence in it of the Idol Dagon and the captivity of the Ark kept for some time in this place and now enlightned with S. Philips preaching who went up and down publishing the Gospel in all the parts hereabouts till he arrived at Caesarea This City was heretofore called Turris Stratonis and afterwards rebuilt and enlarged by Herod the Great and in honour of Augustus Caesar to whom he was greatly obliged by him called Caesarea for whose sake also he erected in it a stately palace of Marble called Herods Judgment Hall wherein his Nephew ambitious of greater honours and acclamations then became him had that fatal execution served upon him It was a place remarkable for many devout and pious men here dwelt Cornelius who together with his Family being baptized by Peter was in that respect the first fruits of the Gentile World hither came Agabus the Prophet who foretold S. Paul his imprisonment and martyrdom here S. Paul himself was kept prisoner and made those brave and generous Apologies for himself first before Felix as afterwards before Fesius and Agrippa Here also our S. Philip had his House and Family to which probably he now retired and where he spent the remainder of his life for here many years after we find S. Paul and his company Act. 21 8 9. coming from Ptolemais in their journey to Jerusalem entering into the house of Philip the Evangelist
had commanded that Christians should not be needlesly and unjustly vexed but that their cause should be traversed and determined in open Judicatures annexing to his Apology a Copy of the Rescript which Adrian had sent to Minucius Fundanus to that purpose IX HIS address wanted not it seems its desired success * Oros Hist l. 7. c. 14. fol. 305. For the Emperour in his own nature of a merciful and generous disposition being moved partly by this Apology partly by the notices he had received from other parts of the Empire gave order that Christians henceforward should be treated in more gentle and regular ways as appears among others by his a Ap. J. Mart. ad Ca lt Apol. II. p 100. ap Euseb l. 4. c. 13. p 126. Chron. Alex. Ann. 2. Olâ—rp CCXXXVII Iad VII p. 608. Letter to the Commonalty of Asia yet extant which I shall here insert EMPEROUR Caesar Titus Aelius Adrian Antoninus Augustus Pius High-priest the XV. time Tribune thrice Consul Father of the Countrey to the Common Assembly of Asia Greeting I am very well assured that the Gods themselves will take care that this kind of men shall not escape it being much more their concern then it can be yours to punish those that refuse to worship them whom you do but the stronglier confirm in their own sentiments and opinions while you vex and oppress them accuse them for Atheists and charge other things upon them which you are not able to make good nor can a more acceptable kindness be done them then that being accused they may seem to chuse to die rather then live for the sake of that God whom they worship By which means they get the better being ready to lay down their lives rather then be perswaded to comply with your commands As for the Earth-quakes that have been or that do yet happen it may not be amiss to advertise you whose minds are ready to despond under any such accidents to compare your case with theirs They at such a time are much more secure and confident in their God whereas you seeming to disown God all the while neglect both the Rites of other Gods and the Religion of that immortal deity nay banish and persecute to death the Christians that worship him Concerning these men several Governours of Provinces have heretofore written to my Father of sacred memory to whom he returned this answer That they should be no way molested unless it appeared that they attempted something against the state of the Roman Empire Yea and I my self have received many notices of this nature to which I answered according to the tenor of my Fathers constitution After all which if any shall still go on to create them trouble meerly because they are Christians let him that is indicted be discharged although it appear that he be a Christian and let the Informer himself undergo the punishment Published at Ephesus in the place of the Common Assembly of Asia X. THIS Letter was sent as appears from the year of his Consulship Ann. Chr. CXL Antonini III. If it be objected that this seems not consistent with the year of his being Tribune said here to be the XV. I answer that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Tribunitian Power did not always commence with the beginning of their reign but was sometimes granted and that more then once to persons in a private capacity especially those who were Candidates for the Empire Thus as appears from the Fasti Consulares b Videsis Fast Conâ—â—â— Ã Sigon Edit ad Ann. V.C. DCCXLI DCCLXVI M. Agrippa had the Tribunitia potestas seven as after his death Tiberius had it fifteen times during the life of Augustus So that Antoninus his fifteenth Tribuneship might well enough consist with the third year of his Empire Though I confess I am apt to suspect an errour in the number and the rather because c Annot. in Justin M.p. 10. c. 2. Sylburgius tells us that these XV. years were not in the Edict as it is in Justin Martyr but were supplied out of Eusebius his Copy which I have some reason to think to be corrupted in other parts of this Epistle I am not ignorant that some learned men would have this Imperial Edict to be the decree of Marcus Aurelius son of Antoninus Indeed in the inscription of it as it is extant in Eusebius it is Marcus Aurelius Antoninus but then nothing can be more evident then that that part of it is corrupted as is plain both because Eusebius himself a few lines before expresly ascribes it to Antoninus Pius and because in the original inscription in Justins own Apology from whence Eusebius transcribed his it is Titus AElius Antoninus Pius And besides that nothing else of moment is offered to make good the conjecture the whole consent of Antiquity and the tenor of the Epistle it self clearly adjudge it to the elder Antoninus and a Ap. Euseb l. 4. c. 26. p. 148. vid. c. 13. p. 127 Melito Bishop of Sardis who presented an Apology to his Son and Successor tells him of the Letters which his Father at the time when he was his Partner in the Empire wrote to the Cities that they should not raise any new troubles against the Christians XI NOT long after his first Apology Justin seems to have revisited the Eastern parts for besides what he says in the Acts of his Martyrdom that he was twice at Rome b Lib. 4. c. 17. p. 140. Eusebius expresly affirms that he was at Ephesus where he had his discourse with Tryphon which 't is c Vid. Dialog cum Tryph. p. 349. plain was after the presenting his first Apology to the Emperour And 't is no ways improbable but that he went to Ephesus in company with those who carried the Emperours Edict to the Common-Council of Asia then assembled in that City where he fell into acquaintance with Tryphon the Jew This Tryphon was probably that Rabbi Tarphon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they commonly call him the wealthy Priest the Master or associate of R. Aquiba of whom mention is often made in the Jewish Writings A man of great note and eminency who had fled his Countrey d Dialog cum Tryph. p. 217. in the late War wherein Barchochab had excited and headed the Jews to a Rebellion against the Romans since which time he had lived in Greece and especially at Corinth and had mightily improved himself by converse with the Philosophers of those Countries With him Justin enters the lists in a two-days dispute the account whereof he has given us in his Dialogue with that subtle man wherein he so admirably defends and makes good the truth of the Christian Religion cuts the very sinews of the Jewish cause dissolves all their pleas and pretences against Christianity and discovers their implacable spight and malice who not barely content to reject Christianity sent peculiar persons e Ibid. pag. 335. ap Euseb
day it self some thinking that they were to fast but one day probably he means of the great or solemn week others two others more and some measuring the time by a continued fast of forty hours whether in memory of Christs lying so long in the Grave or in imitation of his forty days Fast in the Wilderness I know not and that this variety was of long standing and had crept into several places while the Governours of the Church took less care about these different Customs who yet maintained a sincere and mutual love and peace towards one another a thing practised by all his own pious Predecessors putting him in mind of Anicetus and Polycarp who though they could not so far convince each other as to lay aside their different usages did yet mutually embrace orderly receive the Communion together and peaceably part from one another And Letters to the same effect he wrote to several other Bishops for allaying the difference thus unhappily started in the Church VIII THE calm and quiet days which the Church had for some years of late enjoyed now expired and the wind changed into a more stormy quarter Severus the Emperour hitherto favourable began a bitter and bloody Persecution against the Christians prosecuted with great severity in all parts of the Empire Himself had heretofore governed g Ael Spartian in vit Sever. c. 3. p. 335. this very Province of Lyons and probably had taken peculiar notice of Irenaeus and the flourishing state of the Church in that City and might therefore give more particular Orders for the proceeding against them in this place The Persecution that in other parts picked out some few to make them exemplary here served all alike and went through with the Work For so a Hist Franc. l. 1. c. 29. Gregory of Tours and the ancient b Martyr Rom. ad Jan. XXVIII Adon Martyr IV. Kalend. Jul. Martyrologies inform us that Irenaeus having been prepared by several torments was at length put to death beheaded say the Greeks c Men. Grâ—â—c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 likely enough and together with him almost all the Christians of that vast populous City whose numbers could not be reckoned up so that the Streets of the City flowed with the bloud of Christians His Body was taken up by Zacharias his Presbyter and buried in a Vault laid between Epipodius and Alexander who had suffered in the Persecution under Antoninus It is not easie to assign the certain date of his Martyrdom which may with almost equal probability be referred to a double period either to the time of that bloudy Edict which Severus published against the Christians about the tenth year of his reign Ann. Chr. CCII. or to his expedition into Britain Ann. Chr. CCVIII when he took Lyons in his way and might see execution done with his own eyes And indeed the vast numbers that are there said to have suffered agree well enough with the temper of that fierce and cruel Prince who had conceived before a particular displeasure against the Citizens of Lyons and a worse against the Christians there IX HE was a true lover of God and of the souls of men for the promoting whose happiness he thought no dangers or difficulties to be great he scrupled not to leave his own Countrey to take so troublesom and tedious a journey and in stead of the smooth and polite manners of the Eastern Nations to fix his dwelling among a People of a wild and savage temper and whom he must convert to civility before he gained them to Religion Nor was it the least part of his trouble as himself e Praef. ad l. 2. p. 4. plainly intimates that he was forced to learn the Language of the Countrey a rugged and as he calls it barbarous Dialect before he could do any good upon them All which and a great deal more he chearfully underwent that he might be serviceable to the great interests of men And because he knew that nothing usually more hinders the progress of Piety then to have mens minds vitiated and depraved with false and corrupt Notions and Principles and that nothing could more expose the Christian Religion to the scorn and contempt of wise and discerning men then the wild Schemes of those absurd and ridiculous opinions that were then set on foot therefore he set himself with all imaginable industry to oppose them reading over all their Writings considering and unravelling all their principles with incomparable patience as well as diligence whence he is deservedly stiled by f Adv. Valent. c. 5. p. 252. Tertullian Omnium doctrinarum curiosissimus explorator the most curious searcher into all kinds of Doctrines In the successful managery whereof he was greatly advantaged by the natural acumen and subtlety of his parts and those Studies of Philosophy and Humane Literature of which he had made himself Master in his younger days sufficient foot-steps whereof appear in the Writings which he left behind him For besides his Epistles he wrote many Volums though he g Volaterr Comment urban l. 16. col 590. that tells us that he composed an Ecclesiastical History which Eusebius made use of reckons up one more then ever he wrote and doubtless mistook it for his Work Adversus Haereses which are all lost except his five Books against Heresies intituled anciently 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Confutation and Subversion of Knowledge falsly so called i.e. of Gnosticism those abstruse and mystical Heretics pretending that all sublime and excellent knowledge dwelt with them What his proper stile and phrase was in these Books is not easily guessed the far greatest part of the Original Greek being wanting the conjecture of those who will have them originally penned in Latine is not worth the mentioning probably it was simple and unaffected vulgar and ordinary embased it is like and he seems to confess as much Loc. titat with the natural Language of the Countrey where he lived nor had he studied the Arts of Rhetoric the ornaments of Speech or had any skill in the elaborate methods and artifices of persuasion as he modestly a Praefat. ut supr apologizes for himself However his Discourses are grave and well digested and as far as the Argument he manages would admit clear and perspicuous in all which he betrays a mighty zeal and a spirit prepared for Martyrdom For the Martyrs as b Praef. in Iraen Erasmus truly notes have a certain serious strenuous and masculine way of writing beyond other men X. AS for his Works themselves c Cod CXX col 301. Photius thus censures them that in some of them the accuracy of truth in Ecclesiastic Doctrines is sophisticated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with false and spurious reasonings which ought to be taken notice of In the Books yet extant there are some assertions that will not bear a strict rigorous examination the principal whereof are such as we have already remarked in the life of
ea qâ—ae cum Sophiae ratlone sermone disposuerat intrase ipsum primum protulit sermonem Haec est nativitas perfecta sermonis dum ex deo procedit conditus ab eo primum ad cogitatum in nomin Sophiae Dominus condidit me initium viarâ—m Tertul adv Prax. c. 5 6 â— p. 503. ubi plura Fathers used the word for any manner of production and usually understand that place of Solomon of the ineffable Generation of the Son of God His Writings None whereof are now extant De Paschate Libri II. De recta vivendi ratione de Prophetis liber unus De Ecclesia De die Dominica De Natura Hominis De Creatione De obedientia sensuum fidei De Anima corpore mente De Lavacro De Veritate De fide Creatione Generatione Christi De Prophetia De Hospitalitate Liber Clavis dictus De Diabolo De Joannis Apocalypsi De Incarnatione Dei Apologia ad Imp. Antoninum Excerptorum ex libris Veteris Testamenti Libri VI. The End of S. MELITO 's Life THE LIFE OF S. PANTAENUS CATECHIST OF ALEXANDRIA Michael Burghers Delineavit et sculpsit S. PANTAENUS The various conjectures concerning his Original The probabilities of his Jewish descent what Whether born in Sicily or at Alexandria His first institution The famous Platonic School erected by Ammonius at Alexandria The renown of that place for other parts of Learning Pantaenus addicted to the Sect of the Stoics The Principles of that Sect shewed to agree best with the dictates of Christianity His great improvements in the Christian Doctrine The Catechetic School at Alexandria with its antiquity Pantaenus made Regent of it When he first entered upon this Office An Embassy from India to the Bishop of Alexandria for some to preach the Christian Faith Pantaenus sent upon this errand This Countrey where situate His arrival in India and converse with the Brachmans Their temper principles and way of life Their agreement with the Stoics Foot-steps of Christianity formerly planted there S. Matthews Hebrew Gospel found among them and brought by Pantaenus to Alexandria How far and by whom Christianity was propagated in India afterwards Pantaenus his return to Alexandria and resuming his Catechetic Office His Death His great Piety and Learning I. THE silence of Antiquity as to the Countrey and Kindred of this excellent person has administred to variety of conjectures concerning his original Some conceive him to have been born of Jewish Parents and they of note and quality For a Stromat l. 1. p. 274. Clemens Alexandrinus reckoning up his Tutors tells us that one whom he names last was of Palestine an Hebrew of very long descent and then adds that having found the last meaning say some the last of those whom he had reckoned up though he justly deserved to be placed first after he had with infinite diligence and curiosity hunted him out in Egypt where he lay obscure he sate down under his Discipline and Institution This person b H. Eccl. l. 5. c. 11. p. 175 176. Eusebius plainly supposes to have been our Pantaenus and that he intended him in the latter clause there is no cause to doubt the former onely is ambiguous it not being clear whether the latter sentence be necessarily connected and joined to the former or that he designed any more then to intimate the last Master he addressed to as distinct from those he had named before And this I am the rather inclined to think because whoever considerately weighs Clemens his period will find that by his Hebrew or Palestine Master he means one of the two whom he heard in the East whereas Pantaenus was his Master in Egypt whom he both found and heard there c Vales Annot. in Euseb p. 96. Others make him born in Sicily because Clemens in the following words stiles him a truly Sicilian Bee but whether there may not be something proverbial in that expression even as it relates to Sicily I shall not now enquire However it is certain that the Inhabitants of that Island were generally Greeks that many eminent Philosophers were born or resided there and particularly the famous Porphyry who had retired hither for some years and here wrote his virulent Books against the Christians Let this then stand for his Countrey till something more probable offer it self unless we will say that being descended of Sicilian ancestors he was born at Alexandria the place of his education II. HIS younger years were seasoned with all learned and philosophical studies under the best Masters which Alexandria for there I presume to place his education afforded at that time a noted staple place of Learning As Egypt had in all Ages been famous for the choicest parts of literature and the more uncommon speculations of Theology so more especially Alexandria where there were Professors in all Arts and Sciences and public Schools of institution not a little advantaged by that noble Library placed here by Ptolomy Philadelphus and so much celebrated by the Ancients In after-times here was a fixed and setled succession of Philosophers in the Platonic School begun by Ammonius Saccas and carried on by Photinus and Origen and their successors for several Ages a Lib. 22. non longe à sin p. 1638. Ammianus Marcellinus tells us that in his time though not so famous as formerly yet in some good degree it still maintained its reputation and that all ingenuous Arts and Methods of recondite Learning and celebrated Professors of all sorts flourished here and that it was enough to recommend a Physician to public notice if he had studied at Alexandria Nay many Ages after him Benjamin the Jew * Itiner p. 121. at his being there found near twenty several Schools of Aristotelians the onely men that then ruled the Chair whither men flocked from all parts of the World to learn the Peripatetic Philosophy III. AMONG all the Sects of Philosophy he principally applied himself b Euseb l. 5. c. 10. p. 175. to the Stoics with whose notions and rules of life he was most enamoured and no wonder c Com. in Esa c. 11. p. 49. Tom. 5. seeing as S. Hierom observes their dogmata in many things come nearest to the doctrines of Christianity As indeed they do especially as to the moral and practic part of their Principles They held that nothing was good but what was just and pious nothing evil but what was vicious and dishonest that a bad man could never be happy nor a good man miserable who was always free generous and dear to Heaven that the deity was perpetually concerned for humane affairs and that there was a wise and powerful providence that particularly superintended the happiness of mankind and was ready to assist men in all lawful and vertuous undertakings that therefore this God was above all things to be admired adored and worshipped prayed to acknowledged obeyed praised and that it is the most comely and reasonable thing in the
World that we should universally submit to his will and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 chearfully embrace with all our souls all the issues and determinations of his providence that we ought not to think it enough to be happy alone but that 't is our duty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to love men from the very heart to relieve and help them advise and assist them and contribute what is in our power to their welfare and safety and this not once or twice but throughout the whole life and that unbiassedly without any little designs of applause or advantage to our selves that nothing should be equally dear to a man as honesty and vertue and that this is the first thing he should look at whether the thing he is going about be good or bad and the part of a good or a wicked man and if excellent and vertuous that he ought not to let any loss or damage torment or death it self deter him from it And whoever runs over the Writings of Seneca Antoninus Epictetus Arrian c. will find these and a great many more claiming a very near kindred with the main rules of life prescribed in the Christian Faith And what wonder if Pantaenus was in love with such generous and manly principles which he liked so well that as he always retained the title of the Stoic Philosopher so for the main he owned the profession of that Sect even after his being admitted to eminent Offices and Imployments in the Christian Church IV. BY whom he was instructed in the Principles of the Christian Religion I find not a Cod. CXVIII col 297. Photius tells us that he was Scholar to those who had seen the Apostles though I cannot allow of what he adds that he had been an Auditor of some of the Apostles themselves his great distance from their times rendring it next door to impossible But whoever were his Tutors he made such vast proficiences in his Learning that his singular eminency quickly recommended him to a place of great trust and honour in the Church to be Master of the Catechetic School at Alexandria For there were not onely Academies and Schools of Humane Literature but an Ecclesiastical School for the training persons up in divine knowledge and the first principles of Christianity and this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says b Loc. supr citat Eusebius of very ancient custom from the very times of S. Mark says c Descript in Pantaen S. Hierom the first Planter of Christianity and Bishop of that place From whose time there had been a constant succession of Catechists in that School which Eusebius tells us continued in his time and was managed by men famous for eloquence and the study of divine things The fame and glory of Pantaenus did above all others at that time design him for this place in which he accordingly succeeded and that as d Cap. 9 10. ut supr Eusebius intimates about the beginning of Commodus his reign when Julian entered upon the See of Alexandria for about that time says he he became Governour of the School of the Faithful there And whereas others before him had discharged the place in a more private way he made the School more open and public freely teaching all that addressed themselves to him In this imployment he continued without intermission the whole time of Julian who sate ten years till under his Successor he was dispatched upon a long and dangerous journey whereof this the occasion V. ALEXANDRIA was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Orator e Dion Chrysost Orat. XXXII p. 375. vid. p. 373. stiles it one of the most populous and frequented Cities in the World whither there was a constant resort not onely of neighbour Nations but of the most remote and distant Countries Aethiopians Arabians Bactrians Scythians Persians and even Indians themselves It happened that some Indian Embassadors whether sent for this particular purpose is not certain intreated f Hieron de Script ubi supr Demetrius then Bishop of Alexandria to send some worthy and excellent person along with them to preach the Faith in those Countries None appeared qualified for this errand like Pantaenus a grave man and a great Philosopher incomparably furnished both with divine and secular Learning Him Demetrius persuades to undertake the Embassy and though he could not but be sufficiently apprehensive that he quitted a pleasant and delightful Country a place where he was beloved and honoured by all with a just esteem and reverence and that he ventured upon a journey where he must expect to encounter with dangers and hardships and the greatest difficulties and oppositions yet were all these easily conquered by his insatiable desire to propagate the Christian Religion even to the remotest corners of the World For there were many Evangelical Preachers even at that time as g Loc. citat Eusebius adds upon this occasion who inflamed with a divine and holy zeal in imitation of the Apostles were willing to travel up and down the World for enlarging the bounds of Christianity and building men up on the most holy Faith What India this was to which Pantaenus and after him Frumentius for that they both went to the same Countrey is highly probable was dispatched is not easie to determine There are and they men of no inconsiderable note that conceive it was not the Oriental but African India conterminous to Aethiopia or rather a part of it These Indians were a Colony and Plantation derived at first out of the East For so a Chron. ad An. Abrah CCCCIV Eusebius tells us that in the more early Ages the Aethiopians quitting the parts about the River Indus sate down near Egypt Whence b Vit. Apolion l. 6. c. 8. p. 287. Philostratus expresly stiles the Aethiopians a Colony of Indians as c Ibid. l. 3. c. 6. p. 125. elsewhere he calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Indian generation The Metropolis of this Countrey was Axumis of which Frumentius is afterwards said to be ordained Bishop by Athanasius An opinion which I confess my self very inclinable to embrace and should without any scruple comply with did not d Hist Eccl. ubi supr Eusebius expresly say that Pantaenus preached the Gospel to the Eastern Nations and came as far as to India it self A passage which how it can suit with the African India and the Countries that lie so directly South of Egypt I am not able to imagine For which reason we have elsewhere fixed it in the East Nor is there any need to send them as far as India intra Gangem there are places in Asia nearer hand and particularly some parts of Arabia that anciently passed under that name whence the Persian Gulf is sometimes called the Indian Sea But let the judicious Reader determine as he please in this matter VI. BEING arrived in India he set himself to plant the Christian Faith in those parts especially conversing with the
foregoing Story tells us that being mightily importuned to preach he stood up in the Congregation and having pronounced those words of penitent David But unto the wicked God saith what hast thou to do to declare my statutes and that thou shouldst take my covenant in thy mouth he could go on no further but shut the Book and laid it down and sitting down burst out into sighs and tears the whole Congregation bearing part with him in that mournful Scene And to carry on the humour and make the Story more compleat after-Ages present us with a d Extat Inter Oper. Orig. Tom. 1. p. 752. Eait◠Erasm Discourse under his name called Origen's Complaint wherein he passionately resents and laments his fall as a desperate wound to himself a grief to good men and an unconceivable dishonour to God and to Religion And pitty it is if the Story be true that this Lamentation were not genuine but as it is the best ground it has to support it self is that it is calculated to gratifie a pious fansie and a melting passion there being nothing in it otherwise worthy of this great man and I fear was first designed by him that made it as a reflection upon him and to give countenance to the report that was raised concerning him From Jerusalem he not long after returned back to Caesarea where as before he had done at Alexandria he set up a a Id. ibid. c. 30. p. 229. School both for divine and humane learning and his great name quickly procured him Scholars from all parts not onely of the Country thereabouts but from the remotest Provinces Among which of most remarque were Gregory called afterwards Thaumaturgus and his Brother Athenodorus who leaving the study of the Law as being more delighted with Philosophy and humane Arts committed themselves to his conduct and tutorage who first instructed them in Philosophy and then trained them up to a more accurate knowledge of the Christian Faith Five years they remained under his Discipline when being sufficiently enriched with the knowledge of Religion they returned into Pontus their own Countrey where they both became Bishops and proved eminent Lights and Governours of the Church During his residence at Caesarea there was a firm intimacy and league b Ibid. c. 27. p. 228. of friendship contracted between Origen and Firmilian Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia who had so great a kindness for him that sometimes he would prevail with him to come over into that Province for the edification of the Churches in those parts sometimes he himself would go into Judaea to visit him and stay a considerable while with him to perfect himself by his society and converse This Firmilian was a Gentleman of Cappadocia afterwards made Bishop of Caesarea in that Countrey A person of great name and note and who held correspondence with most of the eminent men of those times Few considerable affairs of the Church wherein he was not concerned either by his presence or advice Great contests were between him and Stephen Bishop of Rome concerning the Baptism of heretical persons wherein he took part with Cyprian He was twice at Antioch to examine the case of Paul of Samosata Bishop of that Church and coming a third time to a Synod convened there for that purpose died at Tarsus by the way Nor was Origen admired and courted onely by foreigners and young men who had been his Scholars but by the grave and the wise at home both Alexander and Theoctistus though ancient Bishops did not disdain in a manner to become his Disciples committing to his single care the power of interpreting the holy Scriptures and whatever concerned the Ecclesiastical Doctrin XVII IT was now about the year CCXXXV when Maximinus the Thracian succeeded in the Empire a man fierce and ill-natured and according to his education brutish and cruel He hated whatever had relation to his Predecessor and because the c Id. ibid. c. 28. Christians had found some favourable entertainment in his Family he bega◠first with them and especially the Bishops as the chief Pillars and promoters of their Religion whom he every where commanded to be put to death To contribute toward the consolation of Christians in this evil time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orig. Exhort ad Martyr pag. 200. Origen wrote his Book concerning Martyrdom which he jointly dedicated to his dear Ambrosius and to Protoctetus Presbyter of Caesarea as who had undergone a joint share of imprisonment and sufferings under the present Persecution and had made a glorious and illustrious confession of the Christian Faith As for Origen himself he is said to have taken sanctuary in the house of Juliana a wealthy and charitable Lady who courteously entertained him and furnished him with Books useful for him particularly with Symmachus a Euseb ib. c. 17. p. 218. his Version of the Old Testament and his Commentaries in defence of the Ebionites particularly levelled against S. Matthews Gospel Books which Juliana enjoyed as by right of inheritance devolved upon her XVIII WHILE he enjoyed the happy opportunity of this retirement he more directly applied himself to what he had long since designed the collecting and collating the several Editions and Versions of the Old Testament with the Original Text which he finished by three several parts b Id. ibid. c. 16. p. 217. Epiph. loc supr citat de ponder mensur p. m. 534 539. Hier. de Script in Orig. Suid. in voc Orig. the Tetrapla the Hexapla and the Octapla In the first which considered as a distinct part was made last were four Translations set one over against another that of Aquila Symmachus the Septuagint and Theodotion these made up the Tetrapla In the second were these four Versions disposed in the same order and two other columns set before them thus first the Hebrew Text in its own Letters then in a column next adjoining the same Hebrew Text in Greek characters that they who were strangers to the one might be able to read the other next followed the several Versions of Aquila Symmachus the Septuagint and Theodotion And these constituted the Hexapla Where the Septuagint being placed after that of Aquila and Symmachus gave some ignorant undiscerning persons occasion to think that it had been made after the two former whereas it was placed in the middle as Epiphanius c Ibid. p. 539. informs us onely as a Standard by which the goodness and sincerity of the rest were to be tried and judged In the third which made the Octapla were all that were in the former and in the same manner and two more Versions added at the end of them one called the Fifth Edition found by a Student at Jerusalem in a Hogshead at Jericho in the time of the Emperour Caracalla and another stiled the Sixth Edition found by one of Origen's Scholars at Nicopolis near Actium in the reign of Alexander Severus All which in the Octapla were disposed in
in longo fas est obrepere somnum In a long Work each slip the Censors Rod Does not deserve Homer does sometimes nod Let us not imitate his Faults whose Vertues we cannot reach Others both Greeks and Latines have erred in the faith as well as he whom it 's not necessary to name lest we might seem to defend him not by his own merit but by the mistakes of other men To all that has been hitherto said I may add this that suppose him guilty of as pestilent and dangerous errours as the worst of his enemies lay to his charge yet he afterwards repented of what he had rashly and unadvisedly written as appears by his Epistle to Fabian a Ap. Hier. ubi supr p. 193. vid. Ruff. Invect I. in Hieron inter oper Hier. T. 4. p. 219. Primus faelicitatis gradus est non delinquere Secundus delicta cognoscere Illic currit innocentia integra illibata quae servet hîc succedit medela quae sanet Cypr. ad Cornel. Epist 55. p. 83. Bishop of Rome And is it not intolerable reudeness and incivility at least perpetually to upbraid and reproach a man with the faults of his past life and which he himself has disowned Sorrow for what is past in some measure repairs the breach and Repentance must be allowed next door to Innocence His Writings mentioned by the Ancients and which of them extant at this day Homiliarum mysticarum in Genes Lib. II. Commentar in Genes Lib. XIII Extant Latine Homiliae XVII Commentar Tomi in Exodum Ext. Latine Homiliae XII Scholia in Leviticum Ext. Homiliae XVI In Numeros extant Lat. Homiliae XXVIII In Deuteronomium Homiliae In Libr. Jesu Nave ext Homil. XXVI Lat. In Libr. Judicum ext Hom. IX Lat. In I. Lib. Regum Homil. IV. In Lib. II. extat Homilia una In Lib. Paralipom Homil. I. In duos Esdrae Libros Homiliae In Libr. Job Tractatus In Psalmos Commentarii In Psalmos Homiliae In Psalmos Scholia Ext. Lat. in Psalm 36. Hom. V. in Psal 37. Hom. II. in Psal 38. Hom. II. In Proverbia Salom. Commentar Explicatio Ecclesiastis In Canticum Cantic Commentarii Ext. Lat. Homiliae II. In Esaiam Commentar Libri XXX In Esaiam Homiliae XXV In Esaiam Scholia Ext. Lat. Homiliae IX In Jeremiam Homiliae XLV Extant Gr. Lat. Homil. XVII In Threnos Tomi IX In Ezechielem Tomi XXV Ext. Lat. Homil. XIV In Danielem Expositio In XII Prophetas Tomi XXV In Matthaeum Comment Lib. XXV In Matthaeum Homiliae XXV In Matthaeum Scholia Ext. Gr. Lat. Tomi VII In Lucam Commentar Tomi V. Ext. Lat. Homiliae XXXIX In Joannem Commentar Tom. XXXII Ext. Gr. Lat. Tom. IX In Acta Apostolorum Homil. aliquot In Epistolam ad Romanos Explanationum Lib. XX. Ext. Lat. Libri X. In I. ad Corinthios Commentarii In Epist ad Galatas Commentarii In Epist ad Galatas Homiliae In Epist ad Galatas Scholia In Epist ad Ephes Comment Lib. III. In Epist ad Coloss Commentarii In I. ad Thess Vol. ut minimum III. In Epist ad Titum In Epist ad Hebraeos Commentarii In Epist ad Hebraeos Homiliae Tetrapla Hexapla Octapla Commentarii in Veteres Philosophos De Resurrectione Libri II. De Resurrectione Dialogi Stromaτεων Libri X. Disputationes cum Beryllo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seu de Principiis Lib. IV. Ext. Lat. Contra Celsum Lib. VIII Ext. Gr. L. De Martyrio Ext. Gr. L. Homil. de Engastrimytho Ext. Gr. L. De Oratione Ext. Gr. Ms. Philocalia de aliquot praecipuis Theologiae locis quaestionibus ex Origenis scriptis à S. Basilio Gregor Naz. excerptis cap. XXVII ext Gr. L. Epistolae fere infinitae ex his hodie ext Epistola ad Jul. Africanum de Histor Susannae Gr. L. Epistola ad Gregorium Thaumaturgum Ext. Gr. L. in Philocalia Doubtful Dialogus contra Marcionitas de recta in Deum fide Ext. Gr. L. Supposititious In Libri Job Tract III. Comment in eundem Commentarius in Evangel S. Marci Homiliae in diversos De Philosophorum Sectis dogmatibus Lamentum Origenis Scholia in Orationem Dominicam in Cantica B. Virginis Zachariae Simeonis The End of ORIGEN 's Life THE LIFE OF S. BABYLAS BISHOP OF ANTIOCH Micha Burgh sculp S. BABYLAS ANTIOCHENUS His Originals obscure His education and accomplishments enquired into Made Bishop of Antioch when Antioch taken by the King of Persia Recovered by the Roman Emperour Babylas his fidelity in his charge The Decian Persecution and the grounds of it severely urged by the Emperours Edicts Decius his coming to Antioch His attempt to break into the Christian Congregation Babylas his bold resistance This applied to Numerianus and the ground of the mistake The like reported of Philip the Emperour Decius his bloudy act related by S. Chrysostom His rage against Babylas and his examination of him The Martyrs resolute answer His imprisonment and hard usage The different accounts concerning his death Three Youths his fellow-sufferers in vain attempted by the Emperour Their Martyrdom first and why Babylas beheaded His command that his chains should be buried with him The translation of his body under Constantius The great sweetness and pleasantness of the Daphne Apollo's Temple there S. Babylas his bones translated thither by Gallus Caesar The Oracle immediately rendered dumb In vain consulted by Julian The confession of the Daemon Julian 's command for removing Babylas his bones The Martyrs Remains triumphantly carried into the City The credit of this Story sufficiently attested The thing owned by Libanius and Julian Why such honour suffered to be done to the Martyr Julian afraid of an immediate vengeance His Persecution against the Christians at Antioch The sufferings of Theodorus The Temple of Apollo fired from Heaven I. SO great and general is the silence of Church-Antiquity in the Acts of this holy Martyr especially the former part of his life that I should wholly pass him over did not his latter times furnish us with some few memorable passages concerning him His Countrey Parents Education and way of life are all unknown as also whether he was born and bred a Gentile or a Christian No doubt he was trained up under the advantages of a liberal and ingenuous education living in places that opportunely ministred unto it and in times when none but men of known parts and eminency both for Learning and Piety were advanced to the Government of the Church and when great measures of Arts and Learning were not onely commendable but necessary both to feed and preserve the Flock of God to resist and convince gainsayers and to defend Christianity against the attempts both of secret and open Enemies For as the Christian Church never wanted professed Adversaries from without who endeavoured both by Sword and Pen to stifle and suppress its growth nor pretended Friends from within who by Schisms and Heresies disturbed its Peace and tore out its very Bowels so never were
making such grimaces such mimic and antique gestures that all mens eyes were upon them When behold on a sudden before any one laid hand upon them they came into open Court and unanimously professed themselves to be Christians An accident wherewith the Governors and the Assessors upon the Bench were strangely surprized and troubled The condemned were chearful and couragious and most ready to undergo their torments while the Judges themselves were amazed and trembled Sentence being passed upon them they went out of Court in a kind of pomp and state rejoicing in the testimony they were to give to the Faith and that God would so gloriously triumph in their execution IV. S. DIONYSIVS bore a part in the common Tragoedy though God was pleased to preserve him from the last and severest act as a person eminently useful to his Church No sooner had c Epist Dion ad German ibid. c. 40 p. 235. Sabinus the Praefect received the Imperial Orders but he immediately dispatched a Frumentarius or military Officer whose place it was to seize Delinquents and enquire out seditious reports and practices against the State and therefore particularly belonged to Judges and Governours of Provinces to apprehend him The Serjeant went all about and narrowly ransacked every corner searching all ways and places where he thought he might hide himself but in the mean time never searched his own house concluding he would not dare to abide at home and yet there he staid four days together expecting the Officers coming thither At length being warned of God he left his house with his servants and some of the Brethren that attended him but not long after fell into the hands of the Souldiers and having received his sentence was conducted by a Guard under the command and conduct of a Centurion and some other Officers to Taposiris a little Town between Alexandria and Canopus there probably to be beheaded with less noise and clamour It happened in the mean while that Timotheus one of his friends knowing nothing of his apprehension came to the house where he had been and finding it empty and a Guard at the door fled after him in a great amazement and distraction whom a Country man meeting upon the Road enquired of him the cause why he made so much hast He probably supposing to have heard some news of them gave him a broken and imperfect relation of the matter The man was going to a Wedding feast which there they were wont to keep all night and entering the house told his company what he had heard They heated with Wine and elevated with mirth rose all up and ran out of doors and with a mighty clamour came towards the place where he was The Guard hearing such a noise and confusion at that time of night left their Prisoner and ran away whom the rabble coming in found in bed The good man supposing them to be Thieves was reaching his cloaths that lay by him to give them but they commanded him to rise presently and go along with them whereat he besought them understanding now the errand upon which they came to dismiss him and depart at least to be so kind to him as to take the Souldiers Office upon them and themselves behead him While he was thus passionately importuning them they forced him to rise and when he had thrown himself upon the ground they began to drag him out by the hands and feet but quitted him not long after and returned it's like to their drunken sports This Trage-comic Scene thus over Caius and Faustus Peter and Paul Presbyters and his fellow-prisoners took him up and leaving the Town set him upon an Ass and conveyed him away a Vid. Epist ejus ad Domit. ib. l. 7. c. 11. p. 260. into a desolate and uncomfortable part of the Desarts of Lybia where he together with Peter and Caius lay concealed till the storm was over-past V. THE Persecution being in a great measure blown over by the death of Decius Dionysius came out of his Solitudes and returned to Alexandria where he found the affairs of his Church infinitely entangled and out of order especially by reason of those great numbers that had denied the Faith and lapsed into Idolatry in the late Persecution among which were many of the wealthy and the honourable and who had places of authority and power some freely renouncing others so far degenerating from the Gallantry of a Christian spirit that when cited to appear and sacrifice to the gods as he tells us b Ib. l. 6. c. 4â— p. 238. they trembled and looked as pale and gastly as if they had come not to offer but to be made a sacrifice insomuch that the very Gentiles derided and despised them Most of these after his return sued to be readmitted to the Communion of the Church which the Ecclesiastic Discipline of those Times did not easily allow of especially after the Novatian principles began to prevail which denied all communion to the lapsed though expressing their sorrow by never so long and great a penance Upon what occasion Novatus and his partner Novatian first started this rigorous and severe opinion how eagerly Cyprian and the African Bishops stickled against it how far it was condemned both there and at Rome in what cases and by what measures of Penance the lapsed Penitents were to be taken in we have already noted in Cyprian's Life S. Dionysius was of the moderate Party wherein he had the concurrence of most of the Eastern Bishops and as he * Epist ad Fab. ibid. c. 42. p. 241 pleads the general judgment and practice of the holy Martyrs many of whom had before their death received the lapsed upon their repentance again into the Church and had themselves freely communicated with them Whose judgment he thought it not reasonable should be despised nor their practice controlled nor the accustomed order overturned Indeed he himself had ever observed this course and therefore at the beginning of the Persecution had given a Ibid. c. 44. p. 246. order to the Presbyters of the Church to restore peace and give the Eucharist to Penitents especially in danger of death and where they had before earnestly desired it Which was done accordingly as appears from the memorable instance of Serapion an aged person mentioned by him who having lapsed in the time of Persecution had often desired reconciliation but in that confused time could not obtain it but being suddenly surprized by a summons of death and having laid three days speechless on the fourth had onely so much use of his tongue restored him as to bid his Nephew a Boy that attended him go for one of the Presbyters to give him absolution without which he could not die The Presbyter was at that time sick but pitying the mans case gave the Boy a little part of the consecrated Eucharist which he kept by him bidding him moisten it and put it into his mouth Which was no sooner done but he breathed
of them by the plain confession of Heathen Writers and the enemies of Christianity a Annal. l. 15. c. 44. p. 319. Tacitus tells us That the Author of this Religion was Christ who under the reign of Tiberius was put to death by Pontius Pilat the Procurator of Judaea whereby though this detestable Superstition was suppressed for the present yet did it break out again spreading it self not onely through Judaea the fountain of the mischief but in the very City of Rome it self where whatever is wicked and shameful meets together and is greedily advanced into reputation b H. Eccl. l. 2. c. 2. p. 40. vid. Oros adv Pag. l. 7. c. 4. fol. 293. Eusebius assures us that after our Lords Ascension Pilat according to custom sent an account of him to the Emperour which Tiberius brought before the Senate but they rejected it under pretence that cognizance had been taken of it before it came to them it being a fundamental Law of the Roman State that no new god could be taken in without the Decree of the Senate but that however Tiberius continued his good thoughts of Christ and kindness to the Christians For this he cites the testimony of Tertullian who in his c Apolog. c. 5. p. 6. c. 21. p. 20. Apology presented to the Roman Powers affirms that Tiberius in whose time the Christian Religion entered into the World having received an account from Pilat out of Palestin in Syria concerning the truth of that Divinity that was there brought it to the Senate with the Prerogative of his own vote but that the Senate because they had not before approved of it would not admit it however the Emperour continued of the same mind and threatned punishment to them that accused the Christians And before Tertullian Justin Martyr d Apolog. II. p. 76. speaking concerning the death and sufferings of our Saviour tells the Emperours that they might satisfie themselves in the truth of these things from the Acts written under Pontius Pilat It being customary not only at Rome to keep the Acts of the Senate and the People but for the Governors of Provinces to keep account of what memorable things happened in their Government the Acts whereof they transmitted to the Emperour And thus did Pilat during the Procuratorship of his Province How long these Acts remained in being I know not but in the controversie about Easter we find the Quartodecimans e Ap. Epiph. Haeres L. p. 182. justifying the day on which they observed it from the Acts of Pilat wherein they gloried that they had found the truth Whether these were the Acts of Pilat to which Justin appealed or rather those Acts of Pilat drawn up and published by the command of f Eâ—seb H. Eccl. l. 9. c. 5. p. 350. Maximinus Dioclesians successor in disparagement of our Lord and his Religion is uncertain but the latter of the two far more probable However Pilats Letter to Tiberius or as he is there called Claudis at this day extant in the Anacephalaeosis g Ad calcem â— de Excid uâ—b Hicros p. 683. of the younger Egesippus is of no great credit though that Author challenges greater antiquity then some allow him being probably contemporary with S. Ambrose and by many from the great conformity of stile and phrase thought to be S. Ambrose himself who with some few additions compiled it out of Josephus But then it is to be considered whether that Anacephalaeosis be done by the same or which is most probable by a much later hand Some other particular passages concerning our Saviour are taken notice of by Gentile Writers the appearance of the Star by Calcidius the murder of the Infants by Macrobius the Eclips at our Saviours Passion by Phlegon Trallianus not to speak of his miracles frequently acknowledged by Celsus Julian and Porphyry which I shall not insist upon VI. IMMEDIATELY after our Lords Ascension from whence we date the next period of the Church the Apostles began to execute the Powers intrusted with them They presently filled up Judas his vacancy by the election of a new Apostle the lot falling upon Matthias and he was numbred with the eleven Apostles Being next endued with power from on high as our Lord had promised them furnished with the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost they set themselves to preach in places of the greatest concourse and to the faces of their greatest enemies They who but a while before fled at the first approach of danger now boldly plead the cause of their crucified Master with the immediate hazard of their lives And that nothing might interrupt them in this imployment they instituted the Office of Deacons who might attend the inferiour Services of the Church while they devoted themselves to what was more immediately necessary to the good of souls By which prudent course Religion got ground apace and innumerable Converts were daily added to the Faith till a Persecution arising upon S. Stephen's Martyrdom banished the Church out of Jerusalem though this also proved its advantage in the event and issue Christianity being by this means the sooner spread up and down the neighbour Countries The Apostles notwithstanding the rage of the Persecution remained still at Jerusalem onely now and then dispatching some few of their number to confirm and setle the Plantations and to propagate the Faith as the necessities of the Church required And thus they continued for near twelve years together our Lord himself having commanded them not to depart Jerusalem and the parts thereabouts till twelve years after his Ascension as the ancient Tradition mentioned both by a Ap. Euseb H. Eccl. l. 5. c. 18. p. 186. Apollonius and b Stromat l. 6. p. 636. vid. Life of S. Peter Sect. 11. num 5. Clemens Alexandrinus informs us And now they thought it high time to apply themselves to the full execution of that Commission which Christ had given them to go teach and baptize all Nations Accordingly having setled the general affairs and concernments of the Church they betook themselves to the several Provinces of the Gentile World preaching the Gospel to every Nation under Heaven so that even in a literal sense their sound went into all the earth and their words unto the ends of the World Infinite multitudes of people in all Cities and Countries says c Lib. 2. c. 3. p. 4â— Eusebius like Corn into a well-filled Granary being brought in by that grace of God that brings salvation And they whose minds were heretofore distempered and over-run with the errour and idolatry of their Ancestors were cured by the Sermons and Miracles of our Lords Disciples and shaking off those chains of Darkness and Slavery which the merciless Daemons had put upon them freely embraced and entertained the knowledge and service of the onely true God the great Creator of the World whom they worshiped according to the holy Rites and Rules of that divine and wisely contrived
Religion which our Saviour had introduced into the World But concerning the Apostles travels the success of their Ministry the Places and Countries to which they went the Churches they planted their Acts and Martyrdoms for the Faith we have given an account in a Work peculiar to that Subject so far as the Records of those times have conveyed any material notices of things to us It may suffice to observe that God was pleased to continue S. John to a very great age beyond any of the rest that he might superintend and cultivate confirm and establish what they had planted and be as a standing and lively Oracle to which they might from all parts have recourse in any considerable doubts and exigences of the Church and that he might seal and attest the truth of those things which men of corrupt and perverse minds even then began to call in question VII HENCE then we pass on to survey the state of the Church from the Apostolic Age till the times of Constantine for the space of at least two hundred years And under this period we shall principally remarque two things What progress the Christian Religion made in the World Secondly What it was that contributed to so vast a growth and increase of it That Christianity from the nature of its precepts the sublimeness of its principles its contrariety to the established Rites and Religions of the World was likely to find bad entertainment and the fiercest opposition could not but be obvious to every impartial considerer of things which accordingly came to pass For it met with all the discouragement the secret undermining and open assaults which malice and prejudice wit and parts learning and power were able to make upon it Notwithstanding all which it lift up its head and prospered under the greatest oppositions And the triumph of the Christian Faith will appear the more considerable whether we regard the number and quality of its Converts or the vast circumference to which it did extend and diffuse it self Though it appeared under all manner of disadvantages to recommend it self yet no sooner did it set up its Standard but persons from all parts and of all kind of principles and educations began to flock to it so admirably affecting very many both of the Greeks and Barbarians as Origen a Contr. Cels l. 1. p. 21 22. tells Celsus and they both wise and unwise that they contended for the truth of their Religion even to the laying down their lives a thing not known in any other Profession in the World And b Ibid. l. 3. p. 124. elsewhere he challenges him to shew such an unspeakable multitude of Greeks and Barbarians reposing such a confidence in Aesculapius as he could of those that had embraced the Faith of the holy Jesus And when c Ib. l. 1. p. 7. Celsus objected that Christianity was a clandestin Religion that sculked and crept up and down in corners Origen answers That the Religion of the Christians was better known throughout the whole World then the dictates of their best Philosophers Nor were they onely mean and ignorant persons that thus came over but as d Adv. Gent. l. 2. p. 21. Arnobius observes men of the acutest parts and learning Orators Grammarians Rhetoricians Lawyers Physicians Philosophers despising their formerlybeloved sentiments sate down here e Apol. c. 37. p. 30. Tertullian addressing himself to the Roman Governours in behalf of the Christians assures them that although they were of no long standing yet that they had filled all places of their Dominions their Cities Islands Castles Corporations Councils Armies Tribes Companies the Palace Senate and Courts of Judicature that if they had a mind to revenge themselves they need not betake themselves to clancular and sculking Arts their numbers were great enough to appear in open Arms having a Party not in this or that Province but in all quarters of the World nay that naked as they were they could be sufficiently revenged upon them for should they but all agree to retire out of the Roman Empire the World would stand amazed at that solitude and desolation that would ensue upon it and they would have more Enemies then Friends or Citizens left among them And he f Ad Sâ—apâ—â— c. 4. p. 71. bids the President Scapula consider that if he went on with the Persecution what he would do with those many thousands both of men and women of all ranks and ages that would readily offer themselves what Fires and Swords he must have to dispatch them Nor is this any more then what a Ad Traj lib. 10. Epist 97. Pliny himself confesses to the Emperour that the case of the Christians was a matter worthy of deliberation especially by reason of the multitudes that were concerned for that many of each Sex of every age and quality were and must be called in question this Superstition having infected and over-run not the City onely but Towns and Countries the Temples and Sacrifices being generally desolate and forsaken VIII NOR was it thus onely in some Parts and Provinces of the Roman Empire but in most Nations and Countries b Dial. cum Tâ—yph p. 345. Justin Martyr tells the Jew that whatever they might boast of the universality of their Religion there were many places of the World whither neither they nor it ever came whereas there was no part of mankind whether Greeks or Barbarians or by what name soever they were called even the most rude and unpolished Nations where Prayers and Thanksgivings were not made to the great Creator of the World through the name of the crucified Jesus The same Bardesanes c Lib. de Fat. ap Euseb praep Evang. l. 6. c. 10. p. 279. the Syrian Justins contemporary affirms that the followers of the Christian Institution though living in different parts of the World and being very numerous in every Climat and Countrey were yet all called by the name of Christians So d De Justit l. 5. c. 13. p. 494. Lactantius the Christian Law says he is entertained from the rising of the Sun to the going down thereof where every Sex and Age and Nation and Countrey does with one heart and soul worship God If from generals we descend to particular Places and Countries e Adv. Haeres l. 1. c. 3. p. 52. Irenaeus who entered upon the See of Lyons Ann. Chr. CLXXIX affirms that though there were different languages in the World yet that the force of Tradition or that Doctrin that had been delivered to the Church was but one and the same that there were Churches setled in Germany Spain France in the East in Egypt and Lybia as well as in the middle of the World f Adv. Judaeos c. â— â— 189. Tertullian who probably wrote not above twenty years after Irenaeus gives us in a larger account Their sound says he went through all the Earth and their words to the ends of the World For in whom but