patternes could move those Heathens for Valerianus and Galienus Emperours The Proconsull Aspatius Paternus seeing of what great authority Saint Cyprian was in Carthage nor yet daring to lay hands on him commanded him to depart the City Wel Saint Cyprian obeyed his Injunction and went to Curubis for one yeere till the Proconsull died whom Galienus Maximus succeeded and then this Father returned and if the persecution had not hindred hee had sold all his Gardens and distributed the mony to the poore He told his friends the time of his Martyrdome But this Proconsul hearing where Saint Cyprian lived and how the people flocked to him commanded him to bee apprehended and carefully to bee watched in his owne house hither came a world of people supposing to have seene the Martyrdome of this Reverend Father but he knowing this purpose of the Proconsul did prevent him for he departed to Vtica and writ an Epistle to the Christians shewing the cause well though he suffered not Martyrdome in the Citie of Carthage but at Sextum six miles distant so called because the sixt great stone from Carthage was here erected as also it was called Saint Cyprians Table not for his banqueting there but because he was offered up there yet there was such an infinite multitude of people there as if it had beene in the middle of Carthage it selfe Nay this Father at the very time of suffering was so carefull to doe good as though death had not beene so neere to him witnesse his comforts that hee gave to Virgins at the same time Hee suffered under Galienus Maximus who when it was told him that the Emperour had commanded him to death answered joyfully doe fully what belongs to your office and one telling him he must lose his head Saint Cyprian answered God be thanked for delivering mee from the bonds of the flesh the people that accompanied him desired also to suffer with him When hee came to the place of Martyrdome hee put off his Bishops attire and gave them to his Deacons onely reserved one to die in and wisht them to give to his Executioner 25 pieces of Gold in testimony of his love to him All the Clergie and his friends wondrously deplored his death so that they laid their owne garments under his body because none of his bloud should fall to the ground hee covered his owne eyes and so kneeling down tooke the blow of the Executioner quietly and with all signes of joy All the Christians had a great care to see his body honourably interred not fearing all the threats of the Officers nor Heathens Hee was the first of all the Bishops of Carthage that suffered Martyrdome afterward there were two great Churches builded to his honour one was â—uilâ— in the plâ—ce of his Martyrdome the other where he was buried So many of the Fathers doe praise him that wee cannot comprehend all Saint Hierome calls him an holy and most eloquent man St. Augustine reckons him amongst the rarest and learnedst men a most sweet Doctour a most glorious Martyr an unconquered Martyr and such like glorious titles He suffered under Valerianus and Galiâ—nus on the eighteenth of the Calends of October His Sentences are these De Sanctorum passione The Psalmist tels us That preâ—ious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints Whereupon saith Cyprian that though they were vexed in small things they should be required with great maâ—tâ—rs and what though they were in the 〈◊〉 yet they should come forth with the more lusâ—re and glory we know that the Prophets and Apostles are our patterns in these bonds and we know That if wee doe suffer with him here wee shall be sure to reigne with him hereafter And as hee did encourage those that were in â—onds so hee advised those that were free to cherish those that were in misery Cyprian Epist. 2. de disciplina habitu Virginis Discipline is the preserver of hope the reins of Faith the guide of salvation the encouragement of a good disposition the mistresse of vertue making us cleave to Christ and live to God and to obtaine heavenly promises and divine rewards Cyprian in Epist. An open enemy is not so much to be feared as a secret enemy that creeps on secretly as the Serpent who is so called from his secret creepâ—ng on Cyprian de 12 abusionibus The justice of the King is the peace of the people the defence of the Countrey the freedome of the people the joy of mankind the â—almnesse of the Sea the fruitfulnesse of the â—arth the comfort of the poore the inheritance of children and the hope of future happinesse Cyprian de habitu Virginis Those that are clothed in silke and purple cannot be sincerely clothed with Christ and those that are so curiously dressed want the oâ—naments of the soule Cyprian de laud. poen O Repentance thou dost lose that which is bound open that which is shut mitigate adversitie heale after contrition enlighten confusion and enliven desperation Cyprian Ep. 5. de Oratione dominica Thy will be done Christ did practice and preach the will of God humility in conversation stability in faith modesty in words justice in deeds mercy in works discipline in manners innocencie in doing wrong patience in suffering wrongs to maintaine concord with our brethren to love God with all our heart to love him as a Father to feare him as a Lord to preferre nothing before Christs love as hee preferred nothing before our love His Workes follow as they are reckoned up by worthy Writers Foure Books of Epistles in number 83. 1 Of the habit of Virgins 2 One Treatise 3 Of such as are falne one booke 4 Of the simplicity of Prelats and the Churches unitie one book 5 Vpon the Lords Prayer one book 6 Against Demetrianus one book 7 Of the vanitie of Idols one book 8 Of mortalitie one book 9 Of Almsdeeds one book 10 Of the God of patience one book 11 Of Zeale and envy one book 12 Of exhortation to Martyrdâ—m one book 13 To Quirinus against the Jews three books 14 To Jubajanus of baptizing Hereticks one booke 15 To Pompeius against the Epistle of Stephanus the Pope one book Pamelius reckons these two amongst the Epistles 16 Sentences out of the Councel of Carthage concerning the baptizing of Hereticks There are some others which are doubtfull and supposititious 17 Of Syna and Sion one Tract 2 An Exposition of the Creed 3 Of the single life of Clergie men 4 Of the Workes of Christ twelve Sermons 5 Of the prayse of Martyrdome 6 Of Discipline 7 To Novatianus 8 Of a twofold Martyrdome 9 Of players at dice. 10 Of the disposing the Lords Supper 11 Of Playes and publike Shews 12 Verses on Genesis Sodome on the Paschall Lambe 13 A prayer for the Martyrs which begins Agios 14 Another prayer which begins Domine â—ancte pater But there cannot be any certainty of the truth of these and therefore I leave it to the Readers
children doe they might please God better in obeying his Commandement and their Parents who lege talionis deserve more respect then their children can give them Many Bishops by the Emperours command being assembled at Selâ—ucia to give their opinions concerning the Arrian Heresie Saint Hâ—lary comming on a Sunday into a Chappell belonging to a Castle Florentia a Heathen Maid cry'd cut with a loud voice That a servant of God was come thither and falling downe at his feet shee earnestly desired his benediction and afterward leaving her parents shee followed him even to Poicters saying That though hee were not the father of her generation yet he was the Father of her regeneration Thus it is an easie thing with God of the stones to raise up Children unto Abraham to mollifie stony hearts and make them fructifie and beyond all mans beliefe by small or no meanes to bring great things to passe no lesse then an Heathens Conversion at the sight and approach of a man of God Such is the freenesse of Gods grace which is agens liberrimum The Winde bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but knowest noâ— whence it commeth nor whither it goeth even so is every one that is borne of the Spirit Hee got much credit and approbation in the Arrian Synod and by persecution of his enemies Valens and Vrsatius was sent back againe into France where Saint Martin met him seeking his acquaintance and adoring him as an earthly Deity Afterward Saint Hilary being come home and finding his Daughter to whom he had written a former Epistle constant in desiring to be married to the Bridegroome which her Father had provided shee returned unto Christ the Bridegroome of her soule whose body her Father with his owne hands buried O glorious Funerall better than life being translated from Earth to Heaven and that in the flowre of her age and spring of her youth Thus despising naturall affection hee shewed loves perfection in seeking her eternall felicity and glorification An History which sets forth to the life the reward of obedient Children She that obeyed her earthly father is rewarded by God her heavenly Father And whereas she did expect for a recompence of her patience an earthly Bridegroome she was espoused to the Bridegroome of her soule fairer than the sons of Men richer than the greatest Potentates whose are all the Beasts of the Mountaines and the Cattell on a thousand Hills sweeter than all sweetnesse and better than all goodnesse Within few yeeres after Saint Hilary departed this present life in the Reigne of the Emperours Valens and Valentian Earth deploring Heaven rejoycing and also our Saviour Jesus Christ admitting him into felicitie to whose glory he had lived and died Thus a blessed Life was seconded by a blessed Death and he that had seene the various changes in the revolutions of times did at last exchange 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 drosse for gold misery for happinesse and in peace was gathered to his Fathers But what eloquence can expresse his facundiousnesse he being in discretion provident in handling matters profound in learning eloquent for vertue admirable in composition various in resolution subtle and wise as our Saviour saith as a Serpent yet gracious as the simple Dove He was the Salt of Wit the Fountain of Eloquence the Treasury of Knowledge the Light of Learning a Defender of the Church and an Enemy to the opposers thereof whose words read seemed not words but thunder He that would know the character of his minde let him remember his constancie reade his Volumes and weigh his Sayings some whereof are here inserted Whose excellency may appeare to any indifferent Reader who shall weigh them in the ballance of mature judgement and they deserve no lesse approbation or title than sometimes did the sayings of Pythagoras among the ancients which were intitled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the golden words of Pythagoras for according to that of the Wise man A word spoken in due season is like unto Apples of Gold in pictures of silver Such were these following viz. Of Custome Custome is a strong obligation and therefore he is a better Christian who not only by remission of sinne but by ignorance in sinne is blamelesse and innocent Whence it was that the Prophet denounceth a woe against such as draw iniquity together with cords of vanity Such are the cords of long continued custome which habituate a man in an evill way making him irrecoverably wicked Can a Blackamoore change his skin saith the Prophet or the Leopard his spots no more can yee that are accustomed to evill learne to doe good So that the truth of the ancient Proverbe is manifest that Custome is a second Nature for as slips of trees that are ingrafted and inoculated into another stocke partake of the nature of the stocke whereinto they are ingrafted so whatsoever vice a man accustometh himselfe unto to the same are his affections glued as it were and inseparably joyned and the corruption thereof concentraâ—ed and made coessentiall unto it Of Gods Works God hath performed many things whose naturall causes being hid yet their effects are knowne And Faith is religious though joyned with naturall ignorance A fit Register of Gods various wisedome yea the treasure house thereof is the whole Universe wherein all his workes are done in number weight and measure all which by their operations and impressions they make are easily to be discerned to bee nothing else but the foot-steps of his Majesty Now as Moses could not see GODS face but his hinder parts he saw so can we not many times discerne Gods workes in themselves à priori but à posteriori wee may by necessary collections Proportionably Faith which is the gift of God in it selfe is a glorious grace but because of our ignorance naturall and affected wee doe not attaine to that height and depth of that divine mystery which they that shall doe must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must have an Eagles eye not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having their understandings darkned being strangers from the covenant of grace Of hidden treasure By the similitude of hidden treasure the riches of our hopes are shewed because God was found in man for obtayning of whom all is to be sold that wading through all wants we may attaine the riches of Heaven That man can want nothing which hath him which is All in all And as sometime the Philosopher said Omnia mea mecum porto Whatsoever is mine I beare about mee so may a Christian rich in grace say Deus meus omnia since I enjoy God I enjoy all without whom enjoying all I enjoy nothing other things utor non fruor I enjoy for their use but have no true contentment in enjoying them Of the Church Those that are out of the Church cannot be capable of understanding divine mysteries for the ship wherein Christ preached the Word of Life was a Type of the Church those without being like the sands were
of honest life 7 The Monks Looking Glasse 8 Divers sermons 9 A description of his Monastery 10 The lamentation of the blessed Virgin 11 The doctrine of St. Bernard 12 Homilies on them that went to Emaus 13 Of Gods love 14 Of the nature and dignitie of divine love 15 On the Lords Passion 16 A Tract of the Passion 17 St. Bernards Rhetorick 18 Of the manner of living well to his sister 19 Of Conscience 20 Sermons on divers Arguments 15. 21 Vpon that Salve Regina 22 An Epistle to one to shew what God doth require of us 23 Of Burtheâ—s Cardinall Bellarmines judgement of these is this some of these are known manifestly not to be Saint Bernards yet are full of weight and profit Some of them have their Authours names noted some are so slight and not any wayes relishing Saint Bernards stile nor spirit and some are so like his Works that it is hard to make distinction of them those that either for curiosity or satisfaction desire to know may see the Cardinals observation upon each Tract in his booke of Ecclesiasticall Writers pag. 142. 143. An. Christi 1145. Peter Lombard PETER LOMBARD HEaven hath been pleased to send many famous Divines into the world who like Embassadours comming from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ have expounded the Gospell of Salvation and defended it from the schismaticall interpretation of Hereticks As therefore Solomon saith memoria justi cum laudibus the memory of the just is pretious and praise-worthy it must needs follow that the praises of these deceased holy Fathers will encourage others to give God thanks for raising up such worthy instruments in his Church and also in their lives and conversations to follow their example Amongst the other renouned Fathers famous for Learning soundnesse of Doctrine Piety and integrity of life Peter Lombard deserves a prime place For as it is a Divine gift above the nature of man to instruct men concerning God and Religion and to move and incline their minde to piety and sanctimony of manners so it is necessary that Divines should bee furnished with Ecclesiasticke Eloquence and sentences to bring about this great work which famous men even from the first infancy of the Church have endeavoured and laboured to effect And from hence proceeded so many Greek and Latin Commentaries Meditations Homilies Precepts and Ecclesiasticall instructions written by the holy Fathers who that they might by their laborious writings illuminate the Church in mysteries of salvation were all brought up to scholasticke learning that some by Commentaries some by Sermons and some by Sentences might all helpe to edifie and build up the Church of God And this Father the most renowned Peter Lombard of Novaria Bishop of Paris was as Sixtus Senensis and others have written by all Schoole Divines for a certaine singular excellence of Veneration called the Master of the Sentences upon whose compendium of Divinity and Volumes of innumerable disputations the most learned Divines of the most famous Universities in the whole Christian World have elaborately written He was contemporary with Gratian and as hee gathered Canons and was the Master of the Canons so he collected out of the sentences of Ambrose Hillary Augustine Cassiodorus and Remigius suppressing their names most learned sententious Commentaries on all Davids Psalmes and on all Saint Pauls Epistles inserting some things of accompt of his owne The Commentaries on the Psalmes begin Cum omnes Prophetas Sancti spiritus revelatione constat esse locutos The Commentaries on Saint Paul begin Principia rerum sunt inquirenda So that this Peter Lombard being endowed with all naturall qualities improved by education and learning in the schools and being also painfull and industrious to advance Religion to increase spirituall knowledge and to furnish Students in Divinity with most exquisite and mellifluous sentences so sweet so admirable and patheticall hee I say to this end collected the Sayings and Sentences of the Fathers which may be thence gathered and cited to various and divers purposes either to confirme any Doctrine to amplifie matters or to delight the audience Sentences being the Creame of wit the abstract and epitome of words for instruction necessary easie to be retained in memory as briefe rules of Life and Religion How ought then posterity to be thankful to this famous Father Peter Lombard who out of so many learned Divines painfully collected so many Sentences out of their Gardens gathering Divine flowers which are all bound together in his Workes And therefore although Laus est or atio bona alicujus enumerans praise is but the repetition of particular vertues and goodnesse Yet the life of this worthy Father would deserve a whole volume of praises fild with Encomiums and sententious Eulogyes but because they cannot reach his desert both for Piety Religion and Sanctity it will bee his best commendation to read some of his sweet Sayings collected out of his owne Workes Peter Lombard his Sayings Of Sinne. Every sinne that is not speedily by Repentance discovered becomes a new Sinne and the punishment of former sinne Of the Will There can no good dwell in us that cannot will good nor can we perfect good that cannot desire good Of the Law Death is not by the Law but by the fault of man but sinne is the procurer and efficient cause of Death because it turneth that which is good into evill For so Physicke is not the cause of Death though it discovers deadly poysons nor the Law discovering the poyson of sinne in reprobate men There are in us evill concupiscences and desires which are the Devills weapons whereby when God for sakes us he overthrowes us and gives our soules a deadly wound Of Predestination God condemneth none before he sinneth he crowneth none before hee over-commeth but he hath a definitive prescience of every ones will whereby hee shall bee condemned or crowned If God be for us by predestinating us before our being by our vocation when we were enemies by justifying us when we were sinners by glorifying us when we were mortall nothing can hurt us but all things worke for our good Of Gods Love If nothing can separate us from Gods love what more certaine and greater good can there be For he that loveth God cannot dye but it is death not to love God or to preferre any thing before the love of God therfore the love of God is a right affection of the minde which joyneth us to God and God sheweth his love to us in Christ whom for us hee delivered to death Of gifts Let none glory in the gifts of Preachers or men in that they edifie more by them for they are not authors of grace but ministers Of Love The reall vertue of Piety is the love of a pure heart a good conscience and faith unfeigned This is vertue which nothing overcommeth no fire or windes of persecution no flames of temptations can extinguish of this vertue it is said Love is as strong as
sets forth the prayses of the Christians He was sent Embassador by the Iews his Countrimen to Rome to plead for his whole Nation and to qualifie Caius the Emperours anger who was possessed against the Iews for divers crimes and enormities which they had committed hoping by his endevour and wisdome to set them right againe in the Emperours good opinion so testifies Photius and Saint Ierome and Suidas and Eusebius hee flourished in the fiftieth yeere after Christs Incarnation in the Reigne of Nero the Emperour the occasion that he was sent to Rome was thus whereas betweene the Iews and Graecians inhabiting Alexandria there fell a great sedition three choice men of either side was set apart to plead their matters and grievances before Caius Appian then being the chief for the Graecians objected many and enormous crimes against the Iews amongst others that they would not neither did give that due honour and obedience to the Roman Emperour which they ought for whereas through all the Roman Provinces there were Temples and Altars built to Caius that hee as well as other Gods might be worshipped these Iews onely of all others denied to performe any such respect neither would they sweare by the Name of Caesar Hereupon this Philo the brother of Alexander Alabarchus being an excellent and wise philosopher and an excellent man for all sorts of Learning and knew well how to guide his passion that nothing could move him to wroth in despight of Appion and all those that strove to exasperate Caius against him and the Iews fitted himselfe to cleere his Nation of those foule aspersions but Caesar would not heare him but commanded him in a great fury to depart his presence whereupon Philo turning himselfe to his Countrimen that came along with him from their Nation as Associates spake thus to them Now let us be of good courage and undaunted hearts for though the Emperour be against us yet God that rules him is for us This Iosephus testifies of him in his eighth Booke and tenth Chapter of his Antiquities of the Iews And thus saith a learned man of him That the noble and couragious heart hath still this property to be alwayes doing things honest and vertuous not onely for his own particular but for his Countries good though it be with losse of credit or exile and with the frowne of princes for true worth indeed dependeth of Vertue and all other things are of Fortune For that man that is truly magnanimous and of a great spirit as was this Philo doth continually carry himselfe upright under any burden be it never so weighty and nothing doth happen amisse or displeasing unto him be it never so difficult and hard to be borne for a Wise man knoweth his owne forces and with his vertue he vanquisheth all sudden accidents This Philo was eloquent of speech rich in sentences deep and profound in the explication of the sacred Scriptures hee was excellent aswell in the Pythagorean Platonicke as in the philosophy of Aristotle insomuch that he was counted one that excell'd others So also was he renowmed for his skill in the Greeke that he was held the chiefe of his time Hence the proverbe came Aut Plato Philonizat aut Philo Platonizat Either Plato imitates Philo or Philo Plato because of their congruity in writing The Romans in Claudius Reigne did so admire his Works that they esteemed them worthy to be kept safe in a publike Library as Monuments of his famous Learning hee was admirable for his threefold explanation of Scripture by the Literall Morall and Allegoricall sence so that most of the Ancient Doctours of the Church have imitated him and have cald him the Inventor as Sixtus Senensis doth relate Possevi As hee was also famous for his Learning so for his parentage being of great descent and executed Offices of the chiefest esteeme with credit and fidelity and it is reported of all that Caius the Emperour because in the Iewish Temples hee was not worshipped by these Titles JOVI ILLUSTRI NOVO CAIO and being incensed by Appion against the Iewes but specially against this Philo that hee intended to have slain him but failing in that hee did with extreme violence persecute and afflict the Iewes every where but chiefly those that lived in Alexandria This Philo notwithstanding being of an admirable courage and vivacitie did publikely deny that ever such prophanenesse and grosse Idolatry should be practised among the Servants of God especially themselves who had fled thither for the Truth And that you may fully see what a rare Instrument this Philo was for al sorts of Learning either Philosophicall or Theologicall Let his Mysticall Expositions of Moses Writings expresse it Hee did throughly saith one Search the Entrails and Bowels of them by which leaving the literall sence hee directed men to a higher end 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 even to gaine eternall life and the perfection of all Vertue Nay saith Iosephus Philo was so excellent in his studies for copiousnesse of Invention for gravity of Expressions for giving light to dark words that all the Ancients gave him credit for Wit and Learning so that many did follow his foot-steps as Clemens Gregory Nazianzen and among the Latine Fathers Saint Ambrose who confesseth that he exchanged nay borrowed many excellent things of Philo. There are some Fathers that have blamed him a little for his too too inquisitive braine and doe conclude that Hee and Origen were in some things fabulous and ridiculous but all wise men know that the greatest Lights of the Church have had some blemishes Bernardus non videt omnia Therefore as a Wiseman saith Let no man upbraid another man with his misery for weaknesse and infirmities is common to all mortall men and no man knows how soone hee may be over-taken and have his failings for it is an injury to laugh at anothers infirmities when the best of men are incident to the like imperfections But this Philo was also well skild in Histories wherein hee showes not onely a rare commendation of Vertues but declares himselfe a sharp hater of Vices so that even they which spake against him for some of his Allegories give him a joint praise for his Historicall parts and knowledege the time and place wherein hee lived was full of Learning hee did live in the Reignes of Tiberius Caius and Claudius And so having done so much hee departed this humane life about the 50 yeere after Christ. His usuall saying was That there is nothing better for a man then to be borne nor anything better for him than to die soone and quickly For Death is the medicine of all evils incident to man Haec legere potes in praef Ioseph His Works 1 Of the life of a Wise man 2 Of ordering our Life 3 Of the Confusion of Languages 4 Of the nature of foure footed Beasts three Books 5 Of things subject to sense 6 Of Learning 7 Of the Possessours of Divine Things 8 Of the Division of unequall things
Iohn and Bishop of Smyrna when Anicetus governed the Roman Church in the Reigne of M. Antoninus and Lucius Aurelius Commodus being Proconsul This Polycarpe came to Rome and had great conference with Anicetus about the Celebration of Easter as Irenaeus doth testifie and in his third Book against Heresies he speaks largely in his prayse and commendation This Polycarpe was instituted by the Apostles themselves and had great familiarity with them which had seene the Lord Jesus in the flesh hee was sent into Asia and there was made Bishop and lived a long while to a very ripe age so that the Almond-tree did flourish in his gray haires Hee was wonderfull in esteeme and repute for his reverend gravity and chiefly because hee taught nothing but what hee learned of the Apostles themselves and what the Catholike Church delivered and such points onely as were really true and orthodox And this all the Churches of Asia manifest and all the Bishops which succeeded him in that great dignitie Hee was not as Valentinus or Marcion but testis fidelis veritatis constansque a faithfull and a constant witnesse to the truth nay by his powerfull wisdome and singular piety he recall'd and did reduce many from Heresie and Errour It is reported for certain that Iohn the Lords Disciple and he going to a Bath at Ephesus and espying Cerinthus an Heretick in it that he said fugiamus ocyus c. Let us depart for feare lest the Bath wherein the Lords Adversary is doe suddenly dispatch us which indeed he had just cause to feare forasmuch as the places where wicked men are in a manner seeme to detest their wickednesse so that one of the Fathers made hast out of the house of a wicked man and soon after it fell to the ground Thus this holy man Polycarpus shewed a great zeale vigor of spirit for the defence of the truth And indeed those Primitive Fathers were very circumspect and cautious how they kept company with those whom they thought not to be sound in the faith imitating that rule of Saint Paul An Heretick after the first and second admonition shunne knowing that such an one is fallen away being condemned in his own conscience It is to be wondred to thinke how constant and couragious these Primitive Fathers were in their sufferings For they were not disheartned when their bowels were ript up when they rubd with shels and rough stones when their very heart-strings were crackt in the fire when there were beasts appointed to teare them nay per quodcunque supplieiorum genus whatsoever punishment was laid upon them they did rejoyce in the middest of them and so did this Polycarpus and Germanicus and Ignatius This blessed Martyr when the Heathens did cry out quaeratur Polycarpus kept his countenance and resolution so firme that it bred amazement in his Friends who would have had him gone out of the City into some place to avoid the fury of his Adversaries but hee continued in devout prayers night and day for the Church of God and for its peace hee did foretell to his Friend that hee should die in the flames for the Lord Jesus when as they that came to apprehend were entred something neere the place where hee was his Friends advised him to depart which hee easily might have done but would not and said Domine fiat voluntas tua Lord let thy will be done And so came to them whose countenance when they beheld they were abashed much but he commanded meat to be set before them and intreated them to eat heartily and desired them to give him respite but for one houre onely in which he prayed most fervently for the pardon of all his sinnes and for the Catholike Church and so was upon a solemne day brought into the Citie Herod being Prefect disswaded him not to suffer that death but to recant and to enjoy life and liberty he constantly after a little pause told him plaine hee would not yield to his suggestions which when they saw they drove him in a Chariot with violence to the place of Martyrdome and broke his leg in the journey but comming before the Proconsul he did aske him whether he was Polycarpus or not to whom he answered resolutely that hee was then hee bad him deny Christ and sweare by the Emperour to whâ—m Polycarpe replyed Octoginta sex annos illi jam inservivi c. I have served him these eighty six yeares and all this time hee never did mee any hurt how can I then speake ill of my King who hath kept me â—afe so long a time and cleerly did professe himselfe to be a Christian â—hen the Proconsull told that hee had beasts in readinesse to devoure him and Polycarpus answered Bring them for I am ready then the Proconsull said to him that he would tame him in the flames but Polycarpus told him that they were but momentany and that he neither feared beasts nor fire nor any other punishment Sâ— when they did see that hee would not be frighted they all with fury cryed out Iste Asiae Doctor Christianorum pater deorum nostrorum eversor This is the Doctor of Asia this is the Father of Christians this is hee that speaks against our gods and will not worship them So the fire being made hee was cast into it but it was a strange thing that the fire would not burne him but hee gave a smell as if of sweete Odours and Confections till at last they ranne him through the bowels with a sword and there issued our so great a quantity of bloud that it amazed them all and extinguished the flame Such was his holy detestation of Hereticks and Enemies to the Religion of Christ that when Marcion an Arch-heretick but one of his acquaintance met him in the street at Rome and wondring that he took no notice of him said unto him Dost thou not know mee Polycarpus yea said he I know thee well thou art the eldest sonne unto the Devill When the Proconsul had urged Polycarpus as much as in him lay to deny Christ Hee made this answer to him as before I have served him eighty six yeeres and hee hath not once hurt mee and shall I now deny him And when hee was come to the place of his Martyrdome the stake being fastned in the ground and the wood ready to be kindled they began to tie him to the stake with iron chains and he required to stand untied saying Let mee alone I pray you for hee that gave mee strength to come to this fire will also give mee patience to abide in the same without your tying Indeed that man which is accustomed to patience will never quit or forsake any place for any pain or trouble whatsoever for the paines and perplexities that good and vertuous men doe endure and suffer doe as it were prick them forwards to have a more earnest desire to loath and to leave this wretched and sinfull World whose sweetest pleasures as the wise man
his reigne but the ancient Martyrologies affirme that Saint Denis suffered martyrdome under Hadrianus as Cardinall Baronius hath well and judiciously obserued it And so secondly we may conclude safely that Denis lived one hundred and ten yeers His writings are extant yet not without some scruple or doubting howbeit those of the best judgment give good reason why they are his I will not rehearse any of those great Miracles which the papists doe ascribe to him however I must not neglect to recite unto you his works being so loftie and divine and relishing of a Spirit which was ruled by the Dictate of the Holy Ghost And indeed I could bee large if I should but recite the Testimonies of all Ecclesiasticall Writers who have commended this godly martyr Bellarmine saith that hee used often that saying of Ignatius of Christ Amor meus crufixus est that is to say My love and delight is crucified His Sentences follow And his Works as Cardinall Bellarmine hath registred them He used to say that hee desired of God but two things first to know the truth himselfe Secondly to preach it as he should to others No lesse observable was his speech to Timothy Hadst thou seene the Saints agonies at that time as I did speaking of their cruell persecutions of him thou couldst not but weep considering the sentence denounced against them that Peter was crucified and Paul beheaded that multitudes of the common Rabble smiting them did spit in their faces and it is worthy the remembring that at their parting after they had received the sentence of death from the Magisâ—rate Paul said to Peter Peace beâ— with thee thou Foundation of the Church and Shepherd of Christs Lambs and Sheep And Peter to Paul Go in peace thou Preacher of good things thou Mediator and Captain of our Salvation and chiefest Labourer in the Lords Harvest But at their departure saith he did follow my Master Paul And in the same Epistle Observe a Miracle my brother Timothy not to be slightly passed over I who was present at their parting after their death saw them hand in hand entring into the gates of the Citie clothed with a garment of light and wearing on their heads glorious Crowns 1 Of the Celestiall Hierarchie 1 Book 2 Of the Ecclesiasticall Hierarchie 1 Book 3 Of Divine Names 1. 4 Of Mysticall Divinity 1. 5 Epistles to Caius 4. 6 To Dorotheus 1. 7 To Sosipater 1. 8 To Polycarpus 1. 9 To Demophilus 1. 10 To Titus 1. 11 To Apollophanes 1 12 To John the Apostle 1. To confirme that these Works were his it is sufficient that they were allowed of Saint Gregory the Great in his 33 Homily on the Gospels and not only of him but of divers others who have writ of him as St. Maximus and others An. Christi 150. Iustinus Martyr IVSTINVS MARTER LOoke upon this effigies and you behold an acute Philosopher a Judicious Divine a constant Martyr a stout shield of the Christian Faith an Elegant ancient and eloquent Writer in the defence of the Truth Whom many of the Fathers have highly esteemed and deepely praised as Photius in his Book entituled the Library and Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History S. Ierom likewise reckons him none of the meanest amongst those famous Champions of the Church so Epiphanius terms him Vir sanctus Dei a man an holy man and a lover of God Anastasius Paulus Orosius in his seventh Book and fifth Chapter and Plinius secundus in his Epistles in the tenth booke But Photius doth amongst the rest give and afford him a large Eulogie it begins in these words Est autem vir ille ad Philosophiae tum nostrae tum potissimum prophanae summum evectus fastigium c. which is That this man came to a great height not onely of our philosophy but also of that which is counted prophane flowing in the copiousnesse and abundance of all sorts of learning and histories and knew very well how to beautifie and adorn his words with Rhetoricall expressions Hence was it that hee was so able to deliver his mind in apt termes and significant phrases so that those things that came from him were wonderfull emphaticall patheticall and significant and work'd much upon the souls of his Auditors Hee was sonne to Prisâ—us Bacchius hee was borne in a certain little Towne in the province of Palestine called Naples But hee tooke great delight in Rome and therefore hee chose that to be the seat of his residence where both in speech life and habit he professed himselfe a Philosopher but he made his philosophy subservient to his sacred studie of divinity and would say He kept it for use and that in his studies he found great profit by it Tritenhemius the famous Abbat of Spanheim in his collections of the ancient fathers doth give this Iustin Martyr a very good report for he cals him Christi amatorem cultorem insignem a great lover and worshipper of Christ Jesus Cardinall Bellarmine and Baronius doe both highly prayse and exâ—oll him for his Learning in their Writings especially Baronius in his Annals doth commend him because Hee was the first Champion that set himself against the dangerous Heretick Marcion His words are these Caeterum non defuerunt qui statim adversus Marcionis venena pararent antidotum praestilit id quidem omnium primus Iustinus Martyr that is There wanted not those that presently prepared antidotes against the poyson and venome of â—arcion but the first that undertooke the cause was Iustin Martyr Nay hee not onely prayses him for that according to his due merit but also for his valour and prudence in discovering the Heresie of the Valentinians he cites Tertullian adversus Valent cap. 4. 5. to utter these words Viri sanctitate praestantia Insignes Haeresiarcharum contemporales instructissimis voluminibus prodiderunt retardarunt ut Iustinus Martyr There were men famous for sanctity worth and excellencie who by their dexterous Writings supprest the Heresie of Valentinus as Iustin Martyr so that it easily doth appeare that he did not onely suffer much for his Saviours cause but also did much study and accustome himself to defend it against all oppositions in his time For custome is a second nature and when the soule takes delight in any vertue it is gain'd upon by an usuall and customary iteration He began to flourish in the Reigne of Antoninus Pius and in the time of Telesphorus as doth appeare by his Apologie which hee dedicates to the same Emperour wherein hee grievously complains against the Prâ—consul in Asia because he did with such extream crueltie persecute the poore Christians with the sword as was thought against the minde of that good Emperour who was calme and gentle towards them and would not suffer them to read any Books of the Prophets which spoke of Christ upon pain of death But this Iustin Martyr lays him open to the Emperour and saith
so copiously adorned and beautified with such solid Reasons that they are able to drive any one to his opinions Some do stile him harsh and crabbed which is supposed came to him by his daily reading Greeke Authors Hee was not so harsh but hee was as beneficiall for his Matter and this wit hee shewed even in his youth thus and more copiously doth he set him forth and under the correction of better judgement set but his too severe faults and imperfections aside look not too rigidly upon his fall For those subjects which hee wrote of I dare say it none performed them more solidly or devoutly and it is thought by candide Divines it was his too much addicting himself to the strictnesse of life his too deep austerity that caused his fall how ever the most eminent Lights of the Church have had their imperfections it is so by the Divine permission and Satans malice and what if to this end That Men may know themselves so and to render all glory to God and my conclusion concerning his fall it shall be vaild with the Mantle of Charity and let mee say thus much of it and seriously professe When I read him I admire him His Discipline may be too rigid for these more licentious times But if it was as Saint Paul sayes Contundere corpus to beat downe his proud flesh that always rebels against the spirit who can justly blame him his method and practice may be harsh and difficult his intention and aime cannot but be commendable though he a little mistook the method yet if he attaind the end may wee not conclude him an happy Conquerour For his Heresie of which he stands guilty have not all Ages shunn'd that Rock and yet entertaine Tertullian For certaine his errour was grosse but why may not that famous Tract of his de Poenitentia make amends for it Hee is gold though not altogether refined so nor to to be refused Wheat he is who not throughly clensed yet may be placed in the Garner perfectly good he is not yet not to be despised for then who should not And what pen is that in Writing never made blot but I doe not here intend a discovery of his faults but rather of his excellencies and so I say to all Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed least he fall Hee liv'd to his Clymactericall yeere and as Saint Ierome and Nicephorus relate it hee in the middle of his Age made this declension but this Pamelius whom I follow for the description of his life sayes that hee fell into it in the 53 yeere of his age and why might it not please God to give him a recovery before the revolution of ten yeeres when it may by his Divine providence be effected in ten minutes And how usuall it is with God to bring light of darknes and to make crooked things straight hee that knowes it not is not acquainted with Gods mercifull dealing towards penitent and relenting Sinners In the yeere then of our Lord 194. It seems that this Tertullian was unconverted from Heathenisme for such an one hee was by his owne confession When he writes of the Resurrection from Death the last judgement the joys of Heaven and punishments of Hell he saith Haecnos aliquando risimus cum de vobis fuimus â—iunt non nascuntur Christiani I laughed and thought scorne of such points when I was of you meaning Heathens but now I see wee are not borne but made Christians But for that time which hee passed before his conversion to the Faith it will not be so much materiall for our purpose Though he was ingenuous and powerfull in pleading Causes at the Barre Yet will we not insist upon him as following that course of life but take him in his time wherein he saith Cancellos non adorior Subsellia non contundo Iura non conturbo Causas non elatro plus Togaelaesere Rempublicam quà ni Loricae that is I follow not the Laws plead not at the Barres beat not the Desks disturbe not the Laws doe not baule out any Causes The Lawyers Gownes have hurt the Common-wealth as much as the Souldiers Helmets The means as Nicephorus and Eusebius guesse by which this Tertullian was converted was thus The Iews being by Adrian forbidden to returne home againe after their Warres they wandred saith Tertullian up and downe having neither home nor friend without any man to comfort them and without God their King So that at the beginning of Severus Reigne Bono statures nostrae fuere Our affairs went well and the Christian Faith daily tooke a larger augmentation by the famous Writings and Preachings of excellent Ecclesiasticall Writers and Preachers And it was not promoted in obscure and little Villages but in the most eminent and renowmed Cities to wit Alexandria Antioch Aelia through all Palestine as also in Ephesus Caesarea and towards the Westerne Parts At Thessalonica Athens Corinth in Gaule or France and Rome For whole Families nay great multitudes came and embraced the faith being ready to doe or suffer any thing for the defence of it At the same time there were worthy Writers and diligent Preachers as Eusebius reports to some of which this Tertullian was bound for ever to give God thanks for his conversion as he witnesseth himselfe as at Alexandria Demetrius the twelfth Bishop and Panthenus and his Scholer Clemens Alexandrinus Aâ— Antioch Serapio the ninth Bishop at Ierusalem Gordius the fourth Theophilus at Caesarea Palaestina Polycrates at Ephesus Ponticus Palmas Berillus and Bacchilus at Corinth Agrippinus at Carthage Saint Irenaeus at Lions in France and Victor Bishop at Rome and in this time hee set out his Booke called his Apologie his conversion he declares to be by meanes of one of their Idoll gods whom they worshipped being by a Christian adjured to declare it said plainly that he was a Devill and not onely by that but by his reading the holy Scriptures Which the Devils said he confessed to be the Word of God Moreover hee saith that they are surpassing all others for Antiquitie for omnes Substantias omnes Materias Origines Ordines c. They include all Substances Matter Originals Orders beginnings c. And also because he found that what was written in them was Majesticall and Truth it selfe for quicquid agitur praenunciabatur nothing is done but it was in them fore-told and hee confesseth that the Writings of many worthy men brought him in he names many as Melito Theophilus Antiochenus Apollinarius Clemens Alexandrinus Iustinus Martyr and Irenaeus whom hee calls omnium doctrinarum curiosissimus Explorator he was taunted because hee went à toga ad pallium from the study of Law to that of Divinity but he justifies his Act most learnedly in an Oration made at Carthage and wrote a Booke called Liber de Pallio wherein he shews the Antiquitie Simplicitie Libertie Gravitie and Holinesse of it and says plainly vitio sibi dari non debere c. Hee
Haymo lib. 7. c. 8. Nâ—ceph lib. 9. Beda Ruffinus Suidas speaks of him also Factus Episcopus signis c. that is Being made Bishop he exceld for signes and wonders above humane power He was full of holinesse Phedinus Bishop of the Amassensians ordained him a Bishop Hee flourisht under Aurelianus and he reigning this Gregory died At his death he thanked God that hee left as many faithfull Christians in that City as hee found Infidels at his comming The Roman Breviary stiles him Sanctitate doctrinaque illustris c. famous for sanctitie and doctrine and much more for miracles At this death hee asked how many Infidels there were in Neocesarea it was answered but seventeene thanks be to God said he for at my comming there were just seventeen Orthodoxe Christians in this place Bellarmine and Baronius declare his worthy parts and say that he was famous for Learning and Miracles and that hee flourisht in the Reigne of Alexander Severus and Baronius testifies in his second Tome that hee was made Bishop in the tenth of Severus hee suffered so much for the Truth that in the Greek Churches he is reputed a Martyr S. Gregorius Thaumaturgus in Ecclesiast cap. 12. It will be worth thy labour whilst thou art in the prime of thy youth to be affected with the feare of God before thou give up thy selfe unto sinne and wickednesse and so that great and terrible day of the Lord steal upon thee at unawares when thou art unprovided for it Ibid. Cap. 11. If thou feed the hungry and cloath the naked what though others thinke all 's lost that goes that way and no better then bread â—ast upon the waters yet let mee tell thee that in processe of time thou shalt have it returned ten-fold into thy bosome againe Idem Cap. 10. Listen to the voice of the King and of those that are set in authority over thee doe them no harme nor be thou too free in thy speeches against them for assuredly know that whatsoever thou doest or sayest against them though never so secretly it will appeare against thee when thou shalt least think of it Idem Cap. 10. This World 's at no certainty now it is all warre anon all peace this yeere comes famine the next brings plenty nay such is the inconstancie of things sublunary that hee which we knew one day abounding in prosperity the next day we saw dejected by adversitie His Works extant are these according to Bellarmine 1 A Metaphrase on Ecclesiastes 2 A Panegyricke of Origen 3 A briefe Confession of Faith which hee learned of St. Johns Revelation 4 An exposition of Faith against Elianus 5 A Canonicall Epistle To these Vossius hath put twelve Sentences Greeke and Latine with Anathematismes 6 Three Sermons of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin 7 Of the Baptisme of Christ. Of the Epiphany 8 A dispute of the soule against Tatianus Hee was borne of Gentile parents but had good education at Alexandria he cast out a Devill from a woman which would have tempted him and did accuse him of lust to the wonder of all So after great paines endured for the Truths sake he died peaceably Read more of him in Baronius Annals Tome 2. I cannot omit to speake some things of him in briefe 1 His patience when a Strumpet reviled him 2 Divine revelation and receiving the Articles of the Faith so effectually 3 His erecting of a Church his flight in the persecution by Decius 4 He cured divers of the Plague and so also converted them to the Faith 5 He frees himselfe from the calumnies of Sabellius 6 Hee was at the former Councell at Antioch and opposed Paulus Samosatenus 7 Before his death he visits the Churches 8 Gave away all his possessions and yielded quietly his spirit to God An. Christi 250. Sanctus Cyprianus S. CIPRIANVS IT hath always beene the providence and goodnesse of God to raise up and finde men of parts and gracious endowments to mayntaine the cause of his Church amongst which this Saint Cyprian merits a place whom so many of the ancient Fathers of the Church doe highly commend as Gregory Nazianzen Hillarius Ambrose Prudentius Saint Augustine Fulgentius Maximus Isidore Petrus Chrysologus Beda and Râ—banus Maurus as also Eusebius Zonaras Nicephorus and Divine Saint Ierome who bestowes this Encomium of him Quam purissiâ—i fontis instar dulcis incedat placidus ingenio sit facili copioso suavi quae sermonis maxima est virtus aperto ut discerni nequeat ut rumne ornatior in eloquendo an facilior in explicando an potentior in persuadendo fuerit When as this Father runs like a Fountain sweetly and calmly of an apprehensive copious delicious note and that which adds grace to him of an holy wit so that it is hard to distinguish whether he was more rich in eloquence or facile in his explication or more powerfull in perswasion Pontius his Deacon writing of him stiles him thus Cyprianus religiosus Antistes Testis Dei gloriosus Saint Cyprian that Religious Prelate that Glorious Witnesse and Martyr to passe by therefore the part of his life as he was a Rhetorician wee will onely describe him as a Christian. At this first ingresse to Christianitie he chiefly studied to keepe his body continent and cleane from lusts and occasions provoking saying Tunc enim posse fieri pectus idoneum sensum ad plenam veri capacitatem pervenire si conâ—â—piscentiam â—arnis robusto atque integro sanctimoniae vigore rigore calcaret That then his heart would be truly fit and his spirits to come to the full capacitie of the truth if that once he could with a strong and entire vigour and rigor of Holinesse trample down his concupiscence of flesh And not onely eminent for his austeritie but also in the reading of the Scriptures hee chiefly aimed how hee might improve his labours to Gods glory Hee at his initiation to Christianity gave and distributed all his estate to the poore ut ambitionem saeculi spernerâ—t that hee might avoid worldly ambition and performe an act of mercy well pleasing to Gâ—d A strange thing and not to be paralleld by any of the Fathers Upon this hee entred into the Priesthood Where how worthily hee did behave himselfe is manifest hee was not daunted with any oppositions nor frighted with any persecutions so that as Pontius saith well Non illum penuria non dolor fregit It was not want or sorrow that startled his noble heart not his Wifes disswasions not the worlds frownes not the malice of his adversaries could affright him He stood firme unshaken in all estates and conditions keeping his faith and devotion and blessed God in his deepest sufferings His house was free to all commers he never turn'd widow empty away from him he was the blinde mans eye and the lame mans legs and the naked mans garment Haec debent facere dicebat qui Deo placerent These things
feared not any Tormentors but resolv'd both in life and death to keepe his stedfast faith in the merits and mercies of Jesus Christ. Behold in this Lactantius a true patterne of a true follower of Jesus who despaired not in the depth of his penury and poverty nor yet was daunted or struck off from Heaven by the rage of persecution these two I dare boldly say have made many to deny their Lord that so dearly bought them with the price of his most precious bloud To bee poore by nature is no shame unto a man for we brought nothing into this world with us nor must we carry any thing out of it but to be made poore by any evill or unhappy occasion of our own that we ought to be ashamed of and hate And there is one thing only for which poverty ought to be beloved because that maketh triall and shew of whom thou art beloved for who was poorer on earth then Christ which died for us for he had no where to repose or lay his head But this furious Thunderclap removed not this stout Lactantius but as his name so his nature was firme and fixed his education under such a stout Master was a great motive to him to stand fast for Arnobius whose Disciple this Lactantius was did to testifie to the World his constancie in Religion even in the Reigne of Dioclesian set forth seven Books against the Heathens as Bellarmine avers by which and his Masters example Lactantius learn'd to imitate so noble a vertue It is none of the least testimonies of a pious mind to be spurred on to follow good examples And it is a thing very unfit and inconvenient for any man to carry goodnes in his mouth and have none at his heart I cannot omit to mention likewise thus much of him that when as with much profit and commendation Hee had learn'd of Arnobius that being sheltered by some friends to the Gospell of Christ during the time of persecution as I am perswaded not without the singular providence of God ordering it for the preservation of this man that hee was in his old age as I have said before upon severall proofs called to instruct Crispus the sonne of Constantinus as Saint Ierome Ruffinâ—s and Socrates doe witnesse any man of judgement I suppose will conclude that such a wise religious potent and munificent Emperour as Constantine would never have taken such speciall notice and knowledge of a decrepit old man had he not certainly been informed of or really knowne the worthy parts and pious endowments of this Reverend Lactantius neither could hee have beene admitted into the Emperours favour had hee not beene formerly well approved by the Fathers of the Church and had of them Letters Testimoniall and Commendatory for his integritie and learning nay unlesse he had been well furnished with learning and gravity holinesse of life Constantine would not have committed the Education of his sonne unto him Good Education being the manifest pillar of Nobility and Greatnesse and indeed good and able Tutors are necessarily requisite about the persons of Princes Education indeed alters the whole course of Nature Hence it is said that an ill man by due ordering and good governance is made good as a piece of ground which is full of weeds may by a skilfull and diligent hand be cleere and fruitfull to bring forth fruit So a minde that is full of vices and corruption may by good discipline be made honest and vertuous Education saith one is compared to a Sickle and a Hand and being demanded the reason made this answer that if there was any vice in the soule it would weed it out and if there was no vertue as yet in the soule it would plant some in These things aforesaid seriously considered doe not a little set forth the lustre and glory of our Lactantius and to adde this one thing to what hath been said all the Historians do not mention any thing of his removeall from his great charge but by all probabilitie he continued his place with repute and a generall approbation as well of the Emperour as of his sonne For his carriage in the place or how long hee continued it nor Saint Ierome nor Eusebius Ruffinus nor Nicephorus nor Bellarmine or Baronius do once mention and therefore we may safely suppose that Lactantius was upright and vertuous If we may give credit to Saint Ierome this Father also was an industrious man for his Writings of which there were many penned that are not now extant And wee may believe that though the Author did escape the great persecution yet many of his works perished in the flames when as the enemies of the Church did not spare to burne the Word of God and of those that are extant Cardinall Bellarmine hath censured some of them to be none of Lactantius Especially the Verses and those of the Phaenix his words are these Et quidem opera omnia quae extant exceptis carminibus sine controversiâ Lactantii sunt carmen de Phaenice Ethniei hominis videtur esse and carmen de Resurrectione Paschate de Passione ambiguum est an Lactantii sint that is and truly all the Bookes that are extant except the Verses without controversie are of this Lactantius making the Verses of the Phaenix seeme to be an Heathens as also the Verses of the Resurrection of the Passeover and Passion are doubtfull whether they be his or not neither do I certainly finde the time of his death nor yet the manner but all agree that he lived till he was very aged an argument that God saw him necessary for the benefit of his Church His Sayings I have added some of the famous Sentences of this Lactantius that you may by them perceive what a learned man he was in his Treatise of false Religion against the Gentiles in his third Chapter of the Governance of the World to prove one God hee saith Deus ergo quia perfectus est non potest esse nisi â—nus ut in eo sint omnia that is God being a perfect substance must needes bee one that all things may bee in one All vices are temporary nor can alwayes be and therefore the followers of them are vain in the prosecution De divino praemio lib. 7. cap. 10. The followers of righteousnesse are contemned here but their reward is great hereafter Godlinesse alwayes enriches the possessour Lib. 7. de divinâ— praemio cap. 11. No righteousnesse no wisdome no knowledge of God no way to curbe our unruly affections and to suppresse sin without Religion Lib. de ira Dâ—i cap. 12. Every man is mortall because corporeall for every body is soluble and corruptible they are but unwise therefore who trust upon long life when at any time they may be dissolved Lib. de opific. Dei cap. 4. There is no conquest but there is also a battaile nor no vertue but hath its enemy God would have our graces proved and known not
the Macedonians by these three the Churches were miserably vexed But foure yeeres after the Councell of Sardis even to the death of Constantius some ten yeeres space this Athanasius was again banished into the Desarts of Libya but the Emperour was sorely vexed at him but Liberius then Bishop of Rome pleaded hard for him in so much that Constantius banished him for it well in the absence of Athanasius Constantius caused councels to be held in severall places that was chiefe against Photinus the Heretike who dispraised both the Orthodoxe and Arrians Against this Photinus both the Orthodoxe Christians and Arrians agreed well But in what troubles was the Church under the Reigne of Constantius who gouerned 24 yeers in which space there were so many Councels and nine contrary Confessions of Faith to that of the Nicene Councell the two first were proposed at Antioch the third by Constantius his Embassadours to Constans the fourth was sent by Eudoxius to the Westerne Bishops the fifth sixth and seventh was at Sirmium the eighth at Seleucia by the Acacians the ninth was at Constantinople to which Vlphilas the Bishop of the Gothes subscribed upon all these hath Athanasius divinely spoken Witnesse his Creed every syllable whereof beares matter of importance answerable to the judgment of so divine an Author whose doctrine in other things was no lesse judicious though not altogether so profitable as in this his compendious abridgment and abbreviation of the Christian faith briefly comprehended in a short Epitome yet not so briefely as plainly dilucidated and expounded to the general benefit and edification of the Church Concerning which it may be said maximum in minimo that the greatest thing is in the least the most matter in fewest words And albeit in the Apostles Creed there are not many words yet the words might appeare unto some not sufficient for restrayning Heretikes from their opinions and hence this Father advisedly undertooke the penning of this his Creed for explication of those articles which others wrested and perverted to their own and others destruction which had it bin sooner written in all probability those their errors had bin nipped in the bud never germinated to the scandal and annoyance of the Church of God So that as it is said of the good woman by the Son of Syrach Many daughters have done vertuously but thou excellest them all so may we say of this learned and reverend man many have written Creeds of the Christian faith but thine the Apostles onely excepted is inferiour unto none yea superiour being compared with others Upon these occurrences Constantius died sorrowing for three reasons The first that hee had furthered his Kindreds death the second because hee had nominated Iulian the Apostate Emperour the third that he had too much approved those new and Hereticall Arrian points But now the case of the Church under Iulian was deplorable who strive to put downe all Christianity But for all this Athanasius receives his charge at Alexandria where while he staid he called the Bishops together and they strengthened the Nicene Confession and they condemned the Arrians Eunomians Macedonians and the Audaeans and Apollinarians with the Sabellians but now the Church increasing at Alexandria by Athanasius presence the great Philosophers Magicians Wisards and South-sayers cry out that they can do nothing unlesse this Athanasius be removed So Letters were granted not onely to take him but to kill him upon this Athanasius leaves Alexandria and intends to go by ship to Thebais his friends grieving at his departure he told them Nubecula est â—ito transitura It was a cloud that would soone be over and so it came to passe for the yeere after Iulian died fearfully but how ever he sent after Athanasius to apprehend him but they were deceived that sought him for hee came presently back to Alexandria and kept close till Iulian was dead Then Iovianus succeeding in the Empire recall'd the banished Orthodox Bishops and embrac'd them highly Athanasius writ an Epistle to this ' Emperour of the Nicene Faith but this good Iovianus after seven moneths raigne died at Bythinia so Valentinianus and Valens succeeded him different these were for Valentinian was Orthodoxe but Valens was an Arrian and did persecute the Easterne Churches so that Athanasius was forced to hide himselfe in his Fathers Monument the space of foure moneths yet for all this stir this Emperour was in a manner forc't to give leave to Athanasius to reside in Alexandria so long as this Athanasius liv'd the Church of Alexandria was quiet but this good Father died in the seventh yeere of Valens his Raigne peaceably and in his old age having been Bishop 46 yeeres of Alexandria This Father is commended of all Ecclesiasticall Writers Gregory Nazianzen stiles him Tubam ingentem columnam Ecclesiae The great Trumpet of the Church and the Churches Pillar and further he calls him Oâ—ulum Orbis Doctorem Certaminum vocem magnam fidei sustentaculum secundum Christi praecursorem Lampadem Epiphanius calls him patrem rectae fidei Theodoret stiles him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Bulwarke of Truth Saint Basil praises this Father highly so doth Iulius the Roman Bishop in his Epistle to the Alexandrians So doth Constantine the younger in his Letters to the said Citizens So doth Saint Hierome Ruffinus lib. c. 14. So doth Cassianus lib. 7. de Incarnat cap. ult and Vincentius Lirinensis and Cyrillus of Alexandria and divers others and so this Father having finisht his course and kept the faith expects the second comming of the Lord Jesus Athanasius his Sayings Of Faith The religious forme of godlinesse is above every forme and is knowne only by Faith For it is the light of the soule the doore of life the foundation of eternall salvation for without it no man can come neere the number of the sons of God and without it all the endevoâ—â— of man is of none effect So the Apostle Paul declares himselfe saying ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus Againe his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertaine to life and Godlinesse 2 Pet. 1. 3. To believe rightly in God and also of the whole Trinity is to direct all our hope unto God and with sure trust to depend only upon his truth and goodnesse These are the works of faith saith he namely a quiet and good conscience the love of God and the blessed Trinitie and the hope of things to come a boldnesse to come to the Throne of grace prayer true worship confession of the truth obedience perseverance in yielding up of the spirit and to goe immediatly to God Saint Athanas. de meditatione Let the Sun when it riseth in the Firmament see the Psalter or thy Prayer book in thy hands that so the Sonne of righteousnesse may shine into thy heart by faith in thy heart Saint Athanas. de meditatione Be instant at prayers with God and worship him that hung upon the Crosse
stirre up their Spirits to Innocency of Life and Constancy in the Christian Faith For said He GOD would call him from this labour here and settle him in glory in Heaven and so after fervent prayers he embraced them sweetly much like as St. Paul did the Ephesians and uttered these words Salvi estote filii Epiphanius enim non vos amplius videbit in hâc vitâ that is God blesse you my Children for Epiphanius shall see your faces no more in this life and so it came to passe for hee did depart this Life shortly after being aged an hundred and fifteene yeeres and three moneths for a little before he went into the Ship Arcadius asking him of his age he answered Sexagesimo aetatis anno ad Episcopatum promoâ—um esse in eo autem per quinquaginta quinque annos tres menses vixisse that is that hee was promoted to the Bishopricke when he was sixty yeares old and he lived in it fifty five yeares and three Moneths The Ship that he dyed in arriving at Salamine and it being told abroad of the Bishops death all good men lamented his losse and so hee was buried with great lamentation and abundance of teares Manifold are the commendations that the Fathers have afforded to this Epiphanius St. Hierome saith Epiphanius Cypri Salaminae Episcopus scripsit adversus omnes haereses libros c. in extrema senectute varia cudit opera that is Epiphanius Bishop of Salamine in Cyprus Writ Bookes against all Heresies and in his extreme old age set forth many workes the same Father saith non tibi sufficit contra omnes detractio nisi specialiter contra beatum insignem Ecclesiae Sacerdotem styli tui Lanceam Dirigas that is Can it not suffice thee to have slandred all men but thou must needs direct thy Lance against that blessed and ever famous Father of the Church Epiphanius Saint Augustine speakes of him Epiphanius inter-Graecos magnos habitus et à multis in Catholicae fidei sanitate laudatus that is Epiphanius was accounted amongst those great Greek Fathers and is praised of many that are of the Orthodox Faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is about this time Eâ—iphanius flourished not onely famous for his Life but also for his singular parts of Learning So Photius speakes of him likewise in confuting all Heresies he excel'd so that hee stiles him for this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is the most Copious and Commodious So ex Menologio Graecorum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That great and admirable Epiphanius See you may what a worthy Man this was by that Epistle which Acacius and Pauâ—us writ to him in the times of Valentinian Valens and Gratianus It begins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To our most Honoured Lord and in all things to our most religious Father Epiphaniâ—s Bishop Epiphanius his saying This Epiphanius used to say that he never let his adversary sleepe By which he meant not that he tooke any delight in disturbing of him when he was a sleepe but that without agreeing with his adversary as the Scripture speakes Agree with thy adversary and let not the Sunne goe downe upon thy wrath for without forgiving of him he would never let him goe to bed Wrath and revenge saith a Philosopher is a vice most ugly and furthest from all humanity for who beholding a man by fury changed into a horrible figure his face enforced with rancour his mouth foule and embossed his eyes wide staring and sparkling like fire not speaking but as a wilde Bull roring and braying out despightfull and venomous words forgetting his estate and condition if he be learned yea and forgetting all reason who I say will not have such a passion in extreame detestation For wrath and revenge taketh from man the mercy of God and destroyeth and quencheth the grace that God hath given him And he that is inclined to his owne passion and will more than to forgive and shew mercy is neare unto the wrath of God I have here annexed the Works of this great light of the Church 1 His Panacion against all Heresies being in number at that time fourescore 2 A Book intituled his Anchorite 3 The summe of his Books against Heresies 4 Of Measures and Weights 5 Of the life of the Prophets a short History 6 An Epistle to John Bishop of Hierusalem 7 An answer to Acacius and Paulus Epistle Of all these there is no doubt to bee made this Epiphanius is said to have written the life of Hilarion but it is not extant In the Epistle to the Bishop of Hierusalem there seemes something to be added who desires to know this let him read Bellarmines Controversies li. 2. de Sanctis cap. 9. These though they seeme to bee but few yet considering their worth and nature they are of all men of learning and judgement held to bee rare and admirable for use in all ages Hee flourished in the reignes of Valens Gratianus and Theodosius as St. Hierome witnesseth untill the fourteenth of the said Emperours reigne An. Christi 374. Sanctus Ambrosius S. AMBROSIVS PAulinus at the request of Saint Augustine did write the life and passages of Saint Ambrose in his prologue or entrance into it he useth these words Hortaris venerabilis pater Augustine c. that is you desire most Reverend Father Saint Augustine that as Athanasius and Saint Hierome did write the lives of Paulus and Antonius driven into the Wildernes so that likewise I would describe in my style and phrase the life of this most blessed Father Saint Ambrose Bishop of Millain but I am unable fully and compleatly to expresse the merits of these eminent men who were Ecclesiarum muri Eloquentiae fontes that is the Walles and Bulwarkes of the Churches and the fountaines and springs of Eloquence but I have collected this Life from Paulinus rather then from any other because hee was a present Witnesse of most and had instructions from Marcellina sister to Saint Ambrose His Father was made Prefect to administer the affaires of France when his sonne was born there appeared a swarme of Bees as hee lay in his Cradle who sate upon his mouth and covered his face all over and at last flew so high into the aire that they could not bee seene which wondrous thing his Father with his Mother and Daughter beheld commanded the Nurse not to drive them away and presently spoke these words Si vixerit infantuliâ—s iste aliquid magni erit that is if this infant live he will be some great man Which thing was truly fulfilled in his mellifluous Writings afterwards he came to Rome his Father being dead being accompanied with his Mother and his sister and another Virgin who had a sister called Candida where this yong man gained wonderfull knowledge in the liberall Arts and was not which is a thing too common with young beautifull personages infected with the sinnes of that populous
and repenting his intent he was by prayers restored to the use of his hands This Saint Ambrose freed a boy possessed with a Devill which left him as soone as he came neere Millain the Conjurers demanding of the Devil why he left him he replyed se timuisse Ambrosium that he feared Ambrose he was sent by Probus the Pretor Maximus being dead and Theodosius residing at Millaine Saint Ambrose being plac'd at Aquileia it so fell out that there was a Synagogue of the Iewes and a Grove of the Valentinians burnt by the Christians in so much that both these began to insult over the Orthodox Christians these Valentinian Heretikes worshipt thirty gods whereupon the Governour of the place sent word to the Emperour what was done and the Emperour commanded the Synagogue to be rebuilded by the Catholick Bishop of that place and revenge to be executed on the Agents which when Saint Ambrose heard hee presently sent an Epistle to perswade the Emperour to revoke his act and sent word that hee was ready to die rather then fulfill it So when hee came to Millaine the Emperour being at Church he treated of this in the presence of all the people and spoke to the Emperour divinely and couragiously in these words Ego te ex ultimo Imperatorem feci c. that is I have at last made you an Emperour I have delivered your enemies into your hands I have subdued those that rose against you I have confirmed you in the Empire and have made you triumph without your helpe or power and now will you triumph against God who hath done all this for you To whom when Sermon was done the Emperour replyed Oh Bishop you have this day spoken against us but this Ambrose did answer I have oh Emperour spoken for you and he did perswade him so divinely that the Emperour did revoke his former Decree nay the Bishop was so carefull to maintaine Gods honour that hee would not goe to the Altar untill the Emperour gave him his faith for it A worthy Champion and fit for such a place This you may see in his Letter to his sister Marcellina nay that miserable destruction and slaughter made in Thessalonica by the Emperours consent Saint Ambrose hearing denied him entrance into the Church untill he had done publicke acknowledgment to whom the Emperour said David the King did commit murther and adulterie to whom the Bishop Quem secutus es errantem sequere corrigentem that is as you have followed him in his fall so follow him in his repentance to which the milde Emperour did agree and submit The fame of Saint Ambrose his wisdome was spread farre and neere so that two mighty and wise men of Persia hearing his fame addrest themselves for Millaine and furnished themselves with many questions to aske him to try his wisdome so they came and staid disputing with him by an Interpreter from the first houre of the day untill three of the clocke at night and wondring at his wit and wisdome departed and taking their leave of the Emperour went to Rome to see Probus and so went home But now Theodosius leaving Italy and going for Constantinople and Valentinian being appointed Augustus for all Gaule there was a direct order under the name of the Senate by one Symmachus for the restoring of the Altar of victory and for the charges of the Ceremonies but St. Ambrose finding the plot writ to the Emperour and so wrought that Symmachus was not able to effect his desires but when Valentinianus was dead at Vienna then Eugenius undertooke the Empire and Flavianus the Prefect with Argobastes desired to have the said Altar restored which when Eugenius granted Ambrose hearing this departed from Millaine came to Bononia and so to Faventia where staying a while The Florentines entreated him to go to Thuscia which he yielded not desiring to see the face of that sacrilegious person and presently sent him a Divine Letter as you may read in his Works while he stayed in Florence there was one Decens in whose house St. Ambrose abode who had a son cald Pansophius who was possest with an ill spirit but by the prayers of S. Ambrose and the imposition of his hands he was restored He built there a great Church and therein laid the relikes of Vitalis and Agricola whose Corps were found in the Citie Bononia for they were promiscuously buried amongst the Iews Argobastes the Commander at the same time prepared for Warre and having raised a mayne Army overthrew the Adversaries being in banquet with the Kings of that people they asked him whether hee knew Saint Ambrose to whom Argobastes replyed hee knew him very well and loved him deerly to whom they replyed Ideo vincis quia ab Ambrosio diligeris qui dicit soli sta stat Therefore thou overcommest because thou art beloved of Ambrose who saith to the Sun stand and it standeth Saint Ambrose leaving Tuscia returned to Millaine when as Eugenius went to war against Theodosius Flavianus and Argobastes going likewise said That when they returned conquerors they would make the great Church in Millaine a stable for their Horses and try the Priests by force of armes but they fail'd for Eugenius fell by his owne souldiers and Theodosius got the victory which when Ambrose heard hee rejoyced and sent his Deacon with Letters to the Emperour to pardon those that were Agents and involv'd in that warre and then sent Iohn a Tribune afterwards Praetor to perswade the Emperour to spare those that had fled to Churches nay hee himselfe came to Aquileia and prayed for them whose petition the mild Emperour easily granted and falling at his feet confest he was preserved by his praiers afterwards went to Church and gave his three sons into the Bishops hands and died not long after About which time the corps of Nazarius the Martyr was found in a Garden not corrupted nor his haire on his head falne but the corps was redolent and so were buried in the great Church at Millaine by Saint Ambrose his care This Bishop was very abstinent full of watching and prayers diligent in writing never dining but on Sundays or at the Celebration of the Birth-days of the Martyrs Hee weakened his body with writing he had an especiall care for all the Churches wondrous couragious for Gods Truth mercifull he was also to the poore and captives at at time when hee was ordained Bishop hee gave all his money to the Church and to the poore all his Lands onely some reserved for the mayntenance of his sister hee bestowed on the Church hee rejoyced with those that rejoyced and wept with those that wept hee would weep when hee heard any Religious Priest to be dead because the Church wanted such men hee foretold his death Hee grieved deeply to see the covetousnesse of men who oppressed the poore A little before hee lay down sick hee reading the 43 Psalme in the sight of Paulinus there
the Scriptures speake in these words ab initio Geneseos adultimum librum Regum insigne opus c. that is Questions from the beginning of Genesis to the end of the second of Kings a most famous worke in which saith he by way of Question and Answer Theodoret doth briefely and clearly explaine all the hard places of Scripture with admirable industry what pen can sufficiently blazon thy worth for his Commentaries on the Psalter doth not the same Senesis stile them Nobiles Commentarii that is Heroicke Commentaries and upon his Commentaries on St. Pauls Epistles doth he spare to commend him For saith he not Feruntur Commentarii in omnes Pauli Epistolas in quibus quantum fieri â—otest c. that is there are likewise extant Theodorets Commentaries on all St. Pauls Epistles in which as much as can be the genuine sence of St. Paul is succinctly elegantly orderly and piously exprest and which in Saint Pauls writings seemes to be most difficult sentences are joyned with sentences with wonderfull skill and Art to the great profit of the Reader And if I should enlarge my selfe which of the Fathers either doe not use his Authority with great approbation and commendation and all of them doe hold him an able judicious eloquent man he dyed being not very old but rather spent with labour and studies than with age and dyed in the reigne of Theodosius the yonger Emperour and was buried in the same Sepulchre in which that holy man Iacobus Nizibenus before mentioned was intombed His sayings of the government of the soule The delights of the soule are to know the Maker to consider the Workes of Heaven and to know her owne estate and being The soule knoweth all things wherefore he that knoweth his soule knoweth all things and hee that knoweth not his soule knoweth nothing The soule when it dyeth carryeth nothing with it but her vertue and learning and it seeks none other helpe wherefore all such as for the multitude of their sinnes and transgressions are hopelesse as murtherers blasphemers with such like wickednesse the justice of God and their owne deserts condemnes them unto everlasting death from which they shall never bee delivered But such saith he as have lived godly and carefully shall be by death delivered from the prison of the body and shall ascend up into a purer life and dwell in heaven for ever If the soule of man through sinne be once dead it is never againe revived but by the onely meere grace and mercy of the most gracious and ever-living God whose vengeance by his justice still waiteth the destruction of wicked and wilfull sinners therefore say the learned and doe conclude that blessed is the soule that is not infected with filthinesse of this World I have set his Workes as they are registred in two Tomes Printed at Collen 1617. Tome 1. 1 Vpon all the hard questions in Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuâ—eronomy Joshua Judges Ruth and upon the Kings 2 Exposition of all the Psalmes 3 Vpon the Canticles 4 Vpon Jeremiahs prophesie 5 Vpon Baruch 6 Vpon Jeremiahs Lamentation 7 Vpon Ezekiel 8 Vpon Daniel Hosea 9 Joel Amos Abdiah 10 Micha Nahum 11 Habakkuk Zephaniah 12 Aggee Zâ—â—hary 13 Malachy to which are now added these 14 Vpon Moses Song Exod. 15. Vpon his Song in Deuteronomy Vpon Anna her Song Vpon Abakkucks Song Vpon Esaies Prayer Vpon Jonas Prayer Vpon Ezechiah's prayer Vpon the prayer of the 3 Children An Hymne of these 3. Virgin Maries Song Zachariah's prayer Symeons prayer Tome 2. 1 Vpon all St. Pauls Epistles from the Romans to Philemon 2 Ecclesiasticall History 5 Books 3 Three Dialogues against certaine Heretiques 4 The fables of Hereticks 5. 5 An Epitome of divine decrees 6 A religious History 7 Of Evangelical truth drawne out of the knowledge of Philosophy 8 Of Divine providence and of the soul of man An. Christi 390. Sanctus Hieronymus Stridonensis S. HIERONYMVS THis great and eminent Father of the Church must bee ranked according to his deserts In writing whose life I follow the directions of Erasmus of Roterdam To begin therefore the time of his Birth was under the Reigne of Constantine the Great in the yeare of Christ 331 in a Towne called Stridon which was ovethrown by the Gothes then wasting and spoyling severall places Upon the borders of Dalmatia and Pannonia as he himselfe testifies some as Blondus will have it to be that which now is called Sdrigna a little Town of Histria in Italie some hold that to this day there is to be seene Saint Hieroms Monument He had a yonger brother called Paulinianus his mothers name was Castorina His Fathers name was Eusebius but we will not insist upon his parents but will declare his owne worth he had sufficient meanes as may appeare by his education which was at Rome then counted the onely Nursery of Letters as hee doth testifie for though learning was at the same time in France Spaine and Affricke yet no where was it so free from pollution and corruption as at Rome His Master for the Grammar was Donatus and Victorinus for the Rhetorique Some have made question whether this Donatus were the same that made such eloquent Commentaries on Terence and Virgil Well making faire hopes of a large progresse in Learning and being well furnished in these he proceeds to read Porphyrius Isagoge or Introduction to Logique and read the Philosophy of Plato and the Stoicks but not staying here he lookes now into Cosmography History and Antiquities and intends to study Divinity and to set it forth with all the lustre that might be His fellow students were Pammachius Bonosus both these were highly born Heliodorus who for his eminency of parts was made a Bishop This Hierome received his baptisme also at Rome as he proves and now being sufficiently seasoned with these Arts he soares higher and followes the foot-steps of learned men as Pythagoras Plato Apollonius and so he addresseth himselfe to travaile he surveyed all France aud gained acquaintance and love of the chiefest Scholars hee testifies that he was at Triers where hee described that Booke of St. Hilaries de Synodis with his owne hands and Bonosus travailed with him as may be seen in his Epistle to Florentius so having taken a view of most of the Libraries and having conferred with the learnedest in those places whither he came he visited the place of his Birth and the place of his new Birth having like a wise Merchant stored himselfe with abundance of Goods hee resolves upon a course of life and a fit place to settle downe in hee likes not Rome as savouring somewhat of Paganisme and was too full of pleasures which are dangerous Baits for young men to bee insnared with Neither doth he like his owne Country being corrupted with Barbarous delights as he testifies himselfe in his Epistles saying In my Country they make their belly their god and he is counted the holiest which is the
Churches of Affrick to condemne them as Heretiques and that pious Emperour Honorius confirmed their Religious proceedings and adjudged them Heretiques so many of them returned to the bosome of the Church againe and dyed in the Faith Alwayes great was the care of St. Augustine for the good of Religion not onely in Hippo but in other parts of Affricke and not onely against Heretiques but also in winning Pagans to imbrace the Truth He was just in all his Counsels especially hee would determine according to the Truth Hee was not onely learned but also ready to instruct and to take off differences he would not spare likewise to reprove wisely and seasonably the sinners admonishing them to obedience and Christian Devotion so that as Possidonius reports it He may worthily be called a Watchman to the house of Israel to the Church of God preaching the Word in season out of season exhorting instructing rebuking with all long suffering Hee was excellent for deciding temporall causes and very circumspect to relieve the party wronged how divinely did he write to Macedonius a Priest of Affricke and granted his desire As hee had liberty hee would be present at the meetings of the holy Priests celebrated through diverse Provinces not seeking those things which were his but doing all for the glory of God doing as Saint Paul writes to the Corinthians not seeking yours but you taking care that the faith of the holy Catholicke Church should remaine unviolated and that unworthy men should be punished in ordaining Priests he would alwayes follow the custome of the Church and the generall consent of Orthodox Christians For his apparell it was neither too sumptuous nor sordid keeping a faire mediocrity saying that many were puft up with pride by the riches of their Garments and so did fall into sinne Hee kept a spare dyet and frugall being Broth and Roots sometimes for his guests he would have flesh or for the weake and sicke folkes He alwaies kept Wine alledging that of the Apostle Every creature of God is good and not to bee rejected being sanctified by the word and prayer And as hee speaks in his Confessions Hee did not so much feare the uncleannesse of his meate as the uncleannesse of his desires and useth many fine examples out of Gods Word to prove it his Utensils in which his meat was brought to table were either earthen or wood or Marble His Table was rather for disputation and discâ—urse than for any rich Banquetting or drinking and it had this Distich ingraven on it Quisquis amat dictis absentum rodere vitam Hanc mensam indignam noverit esse sibi That is Who shal their absent friends with words disgrace Are guests unworthy of this roome or place And therefore he would tell them that were faulty this way that either those Verses were to be blotted out or else he to depart Hee was ever mindfull of the poore and would either out of the revenues of the Church or out of the offerings of the faithfull distribute to their necessities His House was a Church Hee never bought land Possidonius speakes that there was an Honourable man of Hippo living at Carthage would give his possession to the Church an act used in those Primitive times now it is out of use and caused it to bee past under Seale and sent it to Saint Augustine but a few yeares after hee changed his minde and sent his Son to desire the deeds to be reversed and in liew of it his Father had sent to the poore an hundred shillings St. Augustine was sorry that the man should so suddenly bee weary of well-doing but withall restored to his Son the Acts and withall did rebuke him sharply and bad him take heed that God did not punish his proceedings He did not regard wealth but counted it combersome and therefore did as Mary did chuse the better part Upon a time he wanted monies to release some prisoners and Captives and caused the holy Vessells to be melted and given for their freedome Saint Ambrose saith that in such cases it may bee permitted He alwayes kept Divines in his house whom he fed and cloathed hee was wondrous severe against Oathes so that hee abated their portion and allowance that did commit it He never did admit women in his house no not those of his kindred Hee never entertained discourse alone with any but had some still with him In his Visitations hee kept the rule of the Apostle he relieved the Fatherlesse and Widowes in their distresse if they entreated him to pray to God for them and lay his hands on them hee would presently doe it He praised one who when hee was sicke said to those that stood about I have not lived so that I am ashamed to live with you nor doe I feare to dye having so good a Lord to goe to This Father before his death recounted strictly all his Books and those which he writ when he was not experienced in the affaires of the Church which would not agree with the Church hee himselfe corrected and reproved and hee writ two Volumes which carry this Title De recensione Librorum which are his Bookes of Retractations hee complained that some of his Books were taken away before they were well mended some he left imperfect being prevented by death Hee writ a Booke called the Speculum in which any one that reades it may find either his obedience or disobedience towards God Hee lived in the time of that barbarous invasion of the Goths and Vandals out of Spain into Africk and Mauritania in which were Cities Churches Monasteries laid wast Virgins defloured Matrons abused the Altars puld down the Priests slain the faithfull hiding themselves in Holes Dennes and Caves Hee saw almost innumerable Churches destroyed onely three escapt their out-rage Carthage Hippo and Cirtis yet after his death Hippo was burn'd it was besieged fourteen moneths Saint Augustine and all the faithfull did pray God either to free the Citie or give them patience to endure or to take him out of this life which last came to passe for in the third month of the siege he fell sicke of a Fever and died hee healed one possessed of a Devill and by prayer dispossest him Hee healed one readie to die by laying his hands upon him whereupon they said if any was sicke Vade ad AUGUSTINUM That is Goe to Saint AUGUSTINE and you will recover hee writ an Epistle to Honoratus his fellow Bishop who desired to know whether they might not fly in those dangerous times or not It is extant among those 180 Epistles wherein he declares largely his mind in this point Hee lived to the age of 76 yeeres hee continued Priest and Bishop almost forty yeeres hee dyed wondrous penitent and had Davids penitentiall psalmes before him which hee constantly read and would weepe hee suffered none to come to him but at such times as the Physitians came with refections for him ten days before
his death and all that while hee prayed fervently at the time of his death his sight and hearing were good and divers priests being present and praying with him he departed this life in fulnesse of days and gave order to them for his buriall and so offered himself as a sacrifice to God hee made no Will at all but gave order that his Library and all his Bookes should be safely reserved to posterity for the Church he left an able Clergy after him his Epitaph was this Distich Vivere post obitum vatem vis nosse Viator Quod legis ecce loquor vox tua nempe mea est This doth sufficiently shew what a jewell this Saint Augustine was in the Church of God Sentences out of Saint Augustine What availes it to keepe the flesh entire if the minde be corrupted holy marriage is more excellent then proud virginity a solid hope a firm faith a sincere Charity is the virginity of the mind Of servitude Doest thou desire to have thy flesh serve the spirit let thy spirit then serve God that must be ruled that the other may rule Of Prayer If it be pure and holy it pierceth the Heaven it returnes not empty thy prayer is thy speech to God when thou readest God speaks to thee when thou prayest thou speakest to God More of Prayer It is the shelter and safeguard to the soule a sacrifice to God the scourge of the Devill Of Death There is nothing doth more abate sin then a frequent meditation of death hee cannot dy ill who lived well nor seldome doth hee die well that liv'd ill Of Riches If men want wealth it is not to bee unjustly gotten if they have wealth they are by Good works to lay it up in heaven a Christian must not be proud in their aboundance nor despaire for their absence Non verborum flores sedsequere Mores If thou wilt be perfectly purged from all vices strive to kindle in thy self the fire of divine love For if thou hast perfectly tasted the sweetnesse of divine love thou wilt not care for any temporall sweetnesse The reasonable soule made to the likenesse of God may find in this world much careful distraction but no ful satisfaction for it being capable of God cannot bee satisfied with any thing but God The covetous man like Hel devoures all and desires that there were no man else in the world that he might possesse all the World The blessednesse of this life doth consist in the heavenly wisedome quietnesse of conscience and sublimity of vertue For not to be without affliction but to overcome affliction is blessednesse Love is as strong as death for as death kils the body so the love of eternal life doth kil al worldly desires and affections for heavenly love grown to perfection grows insensible of earthly affection and he that will mortify his body must first mortify his mind Hee is a Christian that at home and in his own house thinks himselfe to be a stranger our countrey is aboue and there wee shall not bee strangers None can separate Christ from thee unlesse thou separate thy selfe from Christ. Our Redeemer was born like a child died like a Lambe rose from death like a Lion and ascended into heaven like an Eagle If Adam for one sin was cast out of Paradise O Lord what shall a poore sinner be become that hath a world of sins St. Augustine saith he that gave his son for his enemies surely hee will give his Sonne to his friends Reject not ô Lord the worke of thine own hand but be favourable and shew mercy upon me who hath been a sonne of perdition and a child of rebellion And though ô Lord I cannot weare out my tongue with praying nor my hands with lifting up to Heaven for my sins I may weare out my eyes with weeping for them And be thou ô my God more gratious to heare then the Devill is ready to be malicious to hinder Of Ingratitude Saint Augustine calls Ingratitude the Devils sponge wherewith he wipes out all the favours of the Almighty Saint Augustine was so great a lover and admirer of the seven Penitentiall Psalmes as wee call them those Psalmes that expresse the Prophet Davids sorrow for this grievous sin that hee commanded them to be written in a great letter and hung about the curtains of his death-bed within next unto him that so hee might give up the Ghost in the contemplation and meditation of them Saint Augustine speaking of the conversation of the wicked amongst the godly used to say For my part I am a man and live among men how dare I promise to my selfe that my house shall be better than Noahs Arke for there were in it both clean beasts and unclean good and bad Saint Augustine saith ô let ô let the Scriptures be my pure delight let mee not be deceived in them neither let me deceive by them Of Prayer Saint Augustine saith Lord give first what thou requirest and then require of mee what thou wilt And again saith Saint Augustine hee that prayes well cannot chuse but live well and prayers is a private expression of the soule to God for by prayer Gods eare is tied to the tongue of man we speak to God by prayers and he speaks to us by preaching I have here also set the Catalogue of his Works which are many and rare so that they may be called a little Library Tome I. 1 Retractations two books 2 Confessions thirteen books 3 Of Grammar one book 4 Of Logicke one book 5 Of the predicaments one book 6 Principles of Rhetorick one book 7 Of Musique sixe books 8 Against Academick three books 9 Of order one book 10 Of a blessed life one book 11 Soliloquies two books 12 Of a Master one book 13 Of the immortalitie the soule one book 14 Of the quantitie of the soule one book 15 Of Free Will three books 16 Of true Religion one book 17 Of the manners of the Church 18 Of the manners of Monks 19 Against the Manichees two books Tome 2. 1 Epistles of St. Augustine with rescriptions being 222. 2 Epistles to Deo gratias 49. 3 Two to Januarius 4 To Honoratus 120 5 To Paulinus 112. 6 To Boniface 150. 7 To Dardanus 57. Tome 3. 1 Of Christian Doctrine foure books 2 Speeches of holy Scripture 7 books 3 Of Faith one book 4 An Enchyridion 1 book 5 Of the Trinitie 15 books 6 Of Genesis twelve books 7 Of the wonderfull things of the Scripture three books 8 Of a Christian fight one book 9 Of the worke of Monks one book 10 Of the spirit and letter one book 11 Of Divination one book 12 Of Ecclesiasticall tenets one book 13 Of the spirit and soule one book 14 Of faith to Peter one book 15 His looking-glasse one book 16 Questions of the Trinitie one book 17 Of the Patriarchs blessings one book 18 Sentences one book