with them was not to Instruct or Exhort but to Divert them and as for themselves their only care was to prolong as far as was possible the Pleasures of Life The only Rule they had to goe by was as St. Paul after the Prophet Isaia Expresses it Let Is xxii 13. 1 Cor. xv 31. us Eat and Drink for to Morrow we Dye And this is the Point in which Horace Terminates all his Morals And the Death of Petronius under Nero is one of Tacit. Annal xvi the fullest Instances I have met with of these Principles reduced into Practice Those that were more Grave and Serious endeavoured to Support themselvs by the Maxims of Philosophy seeking thereby to Banish out of their Minds the Terrors of Death and to learn the Art of being willing to Dye The Christians proceeding upon other Principles looked upon Death only as an Entrance upon Eternity So that leading good Lives as most of them did they saw cause rather to wish for Death than to Dread it and the present loss of their Friends or Relations was the less afflicting for the hopes of their Happiness and the expectation of seeing them in Heaven made their Satisfacton excel their Grief They looked upon Death to be only in the Language of the Scripture a 1. King ii 10. 11. xliii 14. 20 c. Sleep and thence comes the Name which they gave their Places of Buryal a Cemitery which in Greek signifies a Dormitory In farther Testimony of their Belief of the Resurrection of the Flesh they took great care about the Sepulchres of the Dead and according to their several Abilities were at great Expences upon them They did not burn the Bodies of their Dead as the Greeks and Romans and as little did they approve of the Curiosity of the Aegyptians who Embalmed the Bodies of their Dead and kept them by them in their Houses lying upon Beds exposed to open View St. Antony Vigorously Vie S. Ant. c. xxxi opposed this Custome which continued in use to his time The Christians buryed their Dead after V. Baron an xxxiv n. 310. c. the manner of the Jews They first washed then Embalmed them Employing saith Tertullian more Perfumes and Aromatick Gums in this use than the Apol c. xlii Heathens did in their Sacrifices They Wrapped them up in fine Linnen or Silk and some times put them on rich Habits They laid them forth for the space of three Days during which time they constantly attended the Dead Body and passed those Days in Watching and Praying by it Then they carryed it to the Grave accompanying the Corps with Torches Const Apos vi c. ult viii c. xli 42. c. Prud. Hym. in Exeq. and Flambeaus with singing of Psalms and Hymns to the Praise of God and in Testimony of their Hope of the Resurrection They made Prayers also on their behalf offered the Sacrifice and made their Agape or Love-Feast for the Poor distributing likewise other Alms Tertul. de Cor Mil. c. iii. Orig. in Job Hem. iii. Cypr. ep lxvi among them At the end of the Year they made a fresh Commemoration for them and so from Year to Year besides the standing Commemoration for the dead always joined with the Sacrifice The Church had Officers appointed on purpose for the Burying of their Dead Fossores laborantes vid. Bar. an xiv n. 288. who were called Grave-makers or Labourers and who are sometimes reckoned among the Clergy The Priests and Bishops themselves looked upon the Employment as an Honour and St. Eutychian the Pope who was himself a Martyr vjii Dec. Martyr is reported to have Interred with his own Hands the Bodies of three hundred and forty two Martyrs There were often together with the Body put into the Sepulchre several other things either as marks of honour to the deceased or to preserve his Memory as the Badges of his Dignity the Instruments of his Martyrdom Vials or Spunges filled with his Blood the Acts of his Martyrdom an Epitaph on him or at least his Name Medals Leaves of Laurel or of some other Ever-green some Crosses and the Gospel They used to lay the Body on its Back the Face turned to the Fast The Heathens to preserve the Memory V. Tim isa Disc p. ii liv iii. c. xiii xiv of their Dead Built stately Sepulchres over them either by the sides of the great Roads or in the open Fields The Christans on the contrary removed their Dead out of Sight either after the common way of Interment or laying them in Vaults under Ground such as were the Tombs or Catacombs near Rome These Catacombs were places under Ground cut out of Quarries of soft and brittle Stone or hollowed out of the Beds of Sand thus contrived by the Christians for their Burying Places There are winding Staires leading down to them and long Walks or Streets which have on each side of them cut into the Earth two or three rows of deep Nitches in which the Bodies were placed at first for now the greatest part of them are taken away At certain distances from each other are spacious Chambers vaulted over and Solid as the rest having also Nitches cut in them like those of the Walks The greatest part of these Chambers are painted with divers Histories of the old and new Testament as their Churches also were wont to be And in some of these Caemiteries there are Subterranean Churches In many of them there have been found Marble Coffins adorned with Figures of Bass Relief representing the same Histories as the Paintings do These were the Sepulchres of the most considerable Persons every one of these Caemiteries is like a City under Ground and some of them two or three Stories deep In them the Christians found a place of retreat during the Persecutions there they kept the Reliques of the Martyrs there they met and Celebrated the holy Offices nay and there some of them constantly resided as is written of many of the Popes The Book called Roma Subterranea is a description of these ancient Caemiteries They remained the greatest part of them for a long time unknown the entrance into them having been stopped up and 't was but about the end of the last Century that they were discovered These Caemiteries Baron ad Martyr iii. Jan. xxiii Jun. iii. Sep. Arena Sand. are sometimes called the Councils of the Martyrs their Bodies being there Assembled together or Arenarea from the Sandy Soil where they were generally placed In Africa they were also called Areae They had of old a Religious ambition Thomass Disc p. i. liv i. c. lv n. ii c. Const Apost vi c. ult of being buried near to the Bodies of the Martyrs and this is that which at last brought so many Graves and Tombs into the Churches For it was of a long time observed not to bury the Dead but without the Walls of Cities The Veneration they had for Reliques and
Idolaters knew not what to make of They demanded of the Christians to tell them the name of their God and called them down-right Atheists because they Worshiped none of the Gods that stood in their Temples had no burning Altars nor Bloody Sacrifices The Sacrificing Priests the Augurs the Aruspices the Diviners of all sorts in a Word all those whose Employment and dependance was upon the Idolatrous worship spared not to foment and blow up the Rage of the People against them To that purpose they made use of pretended Prodigies accusing the Christians as the Causes of all the Publick Calamities that befel them when they were plagued with Famine Pestilence War or the like all was charged upon the score of the Christians by means of whom said they the Wrath of Tertul. Ap. xl Arnob. init the Gods is drawn down upon places where they are suffered to live These violent Prejudices against the Christians made them fly in the Face of their very Vertues and turn them to their reproach The Love they bore to one another was scandalously Interpreted the common Appellation used Tertul. Ap. c. xxxix Petro. amongst themselves of Brother and Sister were wrested to an ill sence as indeed the Heathens had abused those Names in their infamous Amours The large Alms they distributed were Censured to be done with an evil Design to seduce the Poorer sort Acta S S. Hippolyti c. apud Baron an 259. n. xiii of People and strengthen their Faction or as a contrivance of the covetous Bishops to draw into their Churches vast heaps of Treasure to lye at their disposal As for Miracles they said they were only pieces of Sorcery and Magical Impostures And Prud. hymn S. Laurent indeed the World was then over run with cheating Quacks Jugglers and Fortune Tellers who had their several ways of Divination by which they pretended to foretell things to come and by Vertue of their Spells and Charms by the Power of some Barbarous and unintelligible Words and Fantastick Figures and Characters to be able to cure Diseases And whether it were all done by trick or whether they were really assisted by some evil Spirit they imposed upon the Eye sight and did actually perform many strange Feats to the Amazement of the Beholders so that 't was no new thing to hear talk of Miracles nay nor to see them They confounded the true with the false and equally despised all pretenders to them And the Country out of which the Apostles and first Christians came encreased this contempt of them For the greatest part of these kind of Imposters came out of the East The Persecutions themselves were a sufficient Ground of hatred against the Christians People supposed them Criminals because they were every where treated as such and judged of the greatness of their Crime by the severity of their Punishment Thus they were looked upon as an accursed Race of Mortals Tertul. Ap. c. l. Baron an cxxxviii an v. devoted to destruction and marked out for Flames and Gibbets And to add contumely to Injustice they branded them with ill Names And these are those mighty things which rendered the Christians so odious to the ignorant and unthinking Multitude Upon these wild and general Notions Suetonius and Tacitus following common Fame found all they say concerning the Christians The Emperor Claudius saith Suetonius Judaeos impulsore Chresto assiduè tumultuantes Româ expulit banished the Jews from Rome who at the Instigation of Chrestus were always making disturbances as if Jesus Christ had been then living and the Head of a party among the Jews The same Author reckons Suet. Ner. n. 16. Affecti suppliciis Christiani genus Hominum Superstitionn novae maleficae among the good Actions of Nero his having caused the Christians to be brought to Punishment A Sect saith he of a new and dangerous Superstition Tacitus speaking of Nero's having fired Rome only to divert himself with the sight saith that he charged it upon those who were commonly Tac. xv annal quos per stagitia invisos vulgus Christianos appellabet called Christians a sort of People who were generally hated for their Practices After which he adds They took their Name from a certain Person called Christ who in the reign of Tiberius Caesar was put to Death by Pontius Pilate But this Pernicious Superstition Repressaque in praesens exitiabilis Superstitio c. after having suffered some little check brake forth a new and spread it self not only throughout all Judea where it took Birth but also to Rome its self the place where every thing that is black and infamous Quo omnia undique atrociā pudenda confluun◠celebranturque seems to Center and Rendesvouse First there were some seized who confessed and upon their discovery vast numbers were Condemned not so much upon the account of the Fire as being a Sacrifice to the common Odium He treats them afterward as a Mischievous sort of People and such as well deserved the most Exemplary Punishments Even the Men of Learning and Ingenuity among them that would Vouchsafe to enter into any examination of the matter were not without their aversions against the Christians Those persons of Learning were either Greeks or Romans who used to dispise other Nations under the notion of Barbarians and above all People the Jews a Nation that had for a long time made but a Despicable Appearance in the World and stood particularly Branded for a People of a ridiculous Superstition and sottish Credulity This may a Jew believe not I saith Horace Credat Judaeus Apella non ego Hor. i. Sat v. speaking of a Prodigy When therefore they were told that there were some Jews who adored as the Son of God a Person that had been publickly put to Death upon the Cross and that the grand Controversy between them and the other Jews was whether this Person was Act. xxv 19. yet Living after his Death and whether he were the true King of the Jews one may readily imagin how Ridiculous these Disputes would appear to the Heathens They saw that those of this new Act. xxviii 22. Sect were hated and Persecuted by all the other Jews so that it often proved an occasion of great Commotions among them and therefore they concluded that these were a worse sort of Jews than all the rest They further Objected that those of this new Religion used neither arguments nor Eloquence to convince Mens Understanding but barely bad them Believe what was told them without disputing it pretending Miracles for all they said That the Greatest part of them were poor ignorant Souls that never looked into any Books but the Writings of the Jews That they set up for Teachers and Instructers but 't was only of People Simple and Ignorant Orig. Com. Cels. like themselves as Women and little People finding them more forward to receive their Doctrine then Persons of Sence and
Learning And indeed this was a thing altogether new to them For there was no Provision made by the Aug. de vera Rel init Heathens for the Instruction of the common People in matters of Religion They had only the Lectures of their Philosophers who Read to them the precepts of Orig Contr. Cels. Morality but never meddled with the proper Offices of Religion Besides as all the Hereticks passed under the name of Christians they ascribed to the whole Body of Christians all the Wild Fancies of the Velentinians and the other such like Visionaries encountred by Irenaeus The Heathens confounded all these Extravagancies with the Catholick Faith so that the Religion of the Christians appeared V. Baron an cl xxix n. 17. and 28. to them a meer mess of Infatuations vented by a parcel of Ignorant Crack-Brain'd Fools For what reason said they can you Euseb Praepar i. cap. ii give us why we should quit the established Religions Pleading so long a Prescription of Time recommended with such a pomp of Ceremonies confirmed by the Authority of so many Kings and Legislators and received by the Consent of all People both Greeks and Barbarians and that to embrace a Novel Invention of we know not who and run our selves a ground upon the Jewish Fables Or if you have a mind to turn Jews why are you not Jews thorow out But your Extravagancy is unaccountable in Worshiping the God of the Jews whether they will or no and in Worshipping him in such a manner as the Jews themselves Condemn as much as we and in pretending to their Law with which you have nothing to do 'T is true the Morals of Christians were very Exact and their Practises answered their Principles But all the World was then full of Philosophers who pretended no less than the Christians both to the teaching of Vertue and to the Practising of it There were among them also many who in the first Ages of the Church perhaps in Imitation of the Christians ran about the World from Place to Place pretending to make it their business to reform Mankind and thereupon submitting themselves to many Hardships and undergoing a kind of Persecution by the ill Treatment they sometimes met with as Apollonius Tyanaeus Musonius V. Baron an l xxv n. 6. Damis Epictetus and some others The Philosophers had for many Ages before been in great Reputation 'T was taken Orig. Con. Cels. for granted that nothing more could be added to what had already been said by some of them They could not imagin that Barbarians should have any thing better to offer than Pythagoras Socrates Plato or Zeno. They concluded that if these new Pretenders had any thing that was good in them 't was but somewhat which they had borrowed from those Old Sages Besides the Philosophers were a more Agreeable sort of Professors and their Principles better Accommodated to the inclinations of Mankind than those of the Christians The greatest part of them did not condemn Pleasure nay some of them made Pleasure the Sovereign good They left every one to enjoy his own Opinion and take his own way of Living If they could not perswade Men their method was to rally and dispise them and that was all the trouble they gave them But above all they took care not to pick Quarrels with the established Religions Some believed them and gave Mystical Explications of the most Ridiculous Fables Others troubled their Heads no farther about matters of Religion then to Acknowledge some first being the Author of Nature leaving the publick Superstitions to those whom they believed incapable of higher attainments Even the Epicureans who of all others discovered themselves the most Openly against the popular opinions concerning the Gods Assisto Divinis Horat yet freely Assisted at the Sacrifices and in what part of the World So ever they were joyned with the rest in the outward Forms of Religious Worship there Practised In this all their Wise Men agreed not to oppose the Customes established either by the Laws of the Countrey or Prescription of Time Their Belief of a Plurality of Gods went so far that they imagined every Nation every City every Family had Gods of its own who took a more peculiar care of them and whom therefore they were to Worship after a more peculiar Manner So that they counted all Religions good in such Places where they had been of a long time Received But the Superstitious Women among them and other Weak and Ignorant People were always hunting after new Religions imagining that the more Gods and Goddesses they worshipped and the greater number and varietie of Ceremonies they observed the more Devout and Religious they were The Wise Men among Liv. xxix them and their Politicians did what they could to Restrain this restless Humour and keep it within some Bounds and therefore were against all Innovations in matters of this Nature Above all they Forbad all strange and Forreign Religions and this the Romans made a Fundamental Principle of their Politicks To perswade their People to believe that 't was to the Beneficence of their Titlar Deitys that Rome was beholding for all its Glorious Successes and the Grandeur of its Empire That their Gods must needs have been more Puissant Deitys than any of the rest since they had brought under their Subjection all the Nations of the World Thus when the Christian Religion was entirely established the Pagans failed not to Impute to this Change of Religion the Fall of the Empire which Succeeded soon upon it And to answer these False Suggestions was St. Augustin obliged to compose his large Treatise entituled De Civitate Dei The Contempt the Christians had of Death was not by the Heathens looked upon as any great matter They saw every Day their voluntier Gladiators who for some inconsiderable Reward or perhaps for just nothing at all but to shew their own Bravery fearlessly exposed themselves to the Swords of their Antagonists and ventured having their Throats Cut in the open Amphitheatre They had Dayly examples before them of Persons and those of the best sort who upon any little Disgust would fairly Dispatch themselves out of the World Some of Vel jactatione ut quidam Philosophi l. vi §. vii F. de injusto rump ire their Philosophers as the Lawyers report of them did the like purely out of Vanity of which Lucian's Peregrinus is a famous Instance And therefore seeing the Christians Prosessing a Renunciation of the Enjoyments of this Life and placing all their happiness in that to come they rather wondered that they did not kill themselves They tell us Saith St. Justin Justin Ap. ◠init Go then kill your selves without any more ado get you gone to your God and let us hear no more of you And Antoninus Pro-Consul of Asia seeing the Christians Crowding the Court and offering themselves to Martyrdom cryed out to them Ah! Tertul. ad Scap. c. ult Wretched Creatures
Smirna as also the Hymn of St. Athenogenes an old Divine of the same Ap. Euseb 4. Hist. 15. Martyrol xviii Januar Age which he sung with a Joyful Heart just as he was entring into the Flames and left a Copy of it to his Disciples Many times also the standers by encouraged Euseb vi Hist. 3. the Martyrs Origen often hazarded his Life upon such Occasions and there are many Examples of those who suffered Martyrdom themselves for having exhorted others to it as those mentioned Ap. Euseb iv Hist. 34. in the Epistle of St. Dionysius of Alexandria and in the famous Epistle of Ap. Eus v. Hist i. the Church of Vienna The Faithful undauntedly stood by their Martyrs while they were under their Torments to receive in Spunges or pieces of Linnen the Blood that streamed from Martyrrol Rom. iii. Fib idem iii. Jun. de S. Paula their Wounds and to preserve it in Vials and put it in the Sepulchres with their Bodies Seven Women were put to Death for having thus gathered up the drops of the Blood of St. Blaesus And when St. Pont. Diac. Cyprian was Beheaded the Faithful spread pieces of Linnen Cloth all about V Acta SS Thara c. an 290. St. Bonif. an 505. Martyr Rom. xxi Aug. de S. Paterno him to receive his Blood They were no less careful to carry off the Bodies of the Martyrs or gather up the remainders of them for there was often nothing left of them but Bones or Ashes as when they were burnt to Death or devoured by wild Beasts And thence came the name of Reliques They spared no expences to redeem them out of the Hands of the Executioner and give them an honourable Interment And this very thing cost many of them their own Lives There are many Examples of those who Martyr Rom. xvii Feb. de S. Juliano vii Dec. de S. Agathone v. Mart. de S. Nicandro xxi Aug. de S. Paterno iii. Mart. de S. Aâ—â—erio xvii Dec. xxvi Aug. de S. Irenaeo Abundio suffered Martyrdom themselves for having kissed the dead Bodies of the Martyrs or for having hindered others from insulting them after their Death or for having searched for their Corps to give them Christian Burial Some have been thrown into the Common Shoars for having drawn out of them the Bodies of the Saints St. Asterius the Senator gained to himself the Crown of Martyrdom by his having been seen to carry on his Shoulders the Dead Body of a Martyr The Disciples of St. Ignatius carried his Reliques as far as from Rome to Antioch This care which the Christians shewed Roma Subterran l. i. c. ii iii. Epist Eccles vien apud Eus v. c. i. to preserve the Reliques of the Saints made their Persecutors on the other side as careful to mangle and tear asunder the Bodies of the Martyrs after their Death and scatter abroad every part and particle of them And thus they thought they should lessen their Hopes of a future Resurrection You do but abuse your selves said they with false hopes in imagining that your Bodies shall be preserved to that Day you expect to receive them again you think to have them embalmed and wrapt up in the rich dresses those Women infatuated with your idle Fancies designed to bestow upon them but leave that care to us we 'll see your Bodies fairly disposed of They cast them to be devoured by wild Beasts they threw their Corps among those of the Gladiators Acta S. Tharaci c. Prudent de S. Vinc. or other Malefactors they tied great Stones to their Bodies and so cast them into deep Rivers they burnt them and scattered their Ashes in the Air. But for all these Precautions the greatest part of their Reliques were preserved either by the extraordinary Zeal of the Faithful or by the Miracles which God himself often wrought upon these Occasions As soon as they had laid the Bones of the Martyrs in their Tombs they paid great Honours to the Tombs themselves Ap. Bar. in Martyr ix Aug. where they lay After they had put S. Laurence in the Grave saith the Acts They Martyr xvii Janu de S. S. Diodoro c. xii Aug. de S. Hilaria xiv Febr. de S. S. Proculo c. xxiii Janu. de S. Emerent Tertull. de Coronâ c. iii. Cypr. Ep. xxxiv Fasted and watched there three Nights together with a vast concourse of Christians The Priest St. Justin offered the Sacrifice and they all Communicated Many Saints have suffered Martyrdom for being taken Watching or Praying at the Sepulchres of the Martyrs or Celebrating their Feasts which was Annually done as appaers by the Testimonies of Tertullian and Cyprian THEY whose Lives they spared were either Banished at large or else obliged to XIX The Confessors suffer that which the Roman's called Deportation which was a more Rigorous sort of Banishment and accounted a Civil Death These Exiles were sent either into the less Inhabited Islands or into Barbarous Countries upon the Frontiers of the Empire Banishment at large was for Persons of the best Quallities Deportation for those of a lower Condition but the meanest of all were commonly condemned to labour in the publick V. Serm. Cypr. ad Martyr Works especially in the Mines They were made Slave to the states and therefore generally had a mark Branded on Inscripti their Forehead with a Red-Hot-Iron by which they might be known if they made their escape They had always Iron on their Leggs were poorly Fed pitifully Clad often Beaten and wretchedly abused in short their Condition was at least as miserable as is now that of Gally-Slaves Const Apost v. c. i. 3. Their Fellow Christians took great care to Relieve them and as much as was possible to make the hardships put upon them more Tolerable All those that Dyed in this condition for the Faith were Martyr xi Dec. de S. Thrasone counted in the number of Martyrs And they who ever returned out of their Exile or Slavery were placed in the Rank of Confessors For this was a Name given in Common to all those who had undergon any Suffering for the Faith and generally to all those who had made a publick Confession of their Faith before the Judges They had great Honours paid them all the rest of their Lives and were often Advanced to Holy Orders for their Constancy BUT as for such who had been Overcome XX. Excommunication and Pennance by Persecution So as to have Renounced their Faith though it were Purely out of Weakness and under the Violence of Torments yet unless they Submitted to do publick Pennance they were Excommunicated Excommunication deprived them not onely of the use of the Sacraments but also debarred them Const Apost v. c. ii from entring the Church or holding any correspondence with the Faithful No Man would Eat with them or so much as speak to them every one shunned them as one
would do Persons infected with the Plague And so St. Paul commands 1 Cor. v. 9. 10. that wicked Christians should be more shun'd than even the Heathens themselves for from the Heathens they could not absolutely Separate without going out of the World Nor were the Apostates to Idolatry the onely Persons thus used The same Discipline passed upon Hereticks Schismaticks and all notorious Offenders For there were some bad Christians even in the best Times of the Church St. Paul writing to the Corinthians complains 2. Cor. xii 21. that there were among them many Persons guilty of Gross Uncleaness who had not done Pennance for their Sins And to the Philippians that there were many among them whom he calls Enemies to the Cross of Christ Such as Phil. iii. 18. these were cut off from the Congregation of the Faithful There were scarce Epist Cleri Rom ad Cypr xxxi any but Bishops or Priests that might Converse with them and they onely in order to bring them to Repentance so long as there was any hopes of it Besides they did not cease to Pray for them And thus they treated those who did not offer themselves to Pennance As for those that did they were received with a great Compassion but tempered with Discretion They were made to understand that this was a favour not over hastily to be granted and therefore they commonly took some time to try whether their Return was hearty and sincere Pennance was Imposed publickly in the Church where the Offender Clothed in Sackcloth and covered with Ashes threw himself down in the midst of the Congregation embraced the Knees Tertull. de Poenitent c. xi de Pudic. c. xiii of the Faithful and kissed their Feet to move their Compassion and obtain their Prayers to which the Bishop also Exhorted them in a discourse particularly made upon that occasion The Penitent was still kept upon Tryal and enjoyned many Laborious Exercises They obliged him to Fast either constantly or at least very often and live only on Bread and Water or some such hard Fare proportioning his Abstinence according to the strength of his Nature the grievousness of his Sin and the fervour of his Repentance They caused him to continue in Prayer for a long time together either kneeling upon his Knees or lying flat upon the Ground To watch to lye upon the bare Ground to give Alms according to his Abillity During the time of his Pennance he was to abstaine not only from all Recreations but also from ordinary Conversation to keep no Company meddle with no Business nor have any communication somuch as with the Faithful themselves except in Cases of great Necessity He went to the Church but t was only to hear the Sermon and Prayers and was not admitted to the Sacrament In the mean time the Bishop either in Const. Apost lib. 2. c. 61. 7 c. his own Person Visited the Penitents or sent some Priest to Examin and deal with them according to the Dispositions he found in them upon which he was very exact in making his Observations Some he awakened with Terrors and to others Ibid. xli he administred Consolations variously Chrysost ii Sacerd. init accommodating his Applications to the quality of the Patient and the symptoms of the Distemper For the Prelats looked upon the discipline of Pennance as a sort of Spiritual Phisick and concluded that Ambros. in Psalm 37. 3. Epist xix the Cure of a Diseased Soul required at least as much Skill and Management and Patience and Attendance as that of the Body For they knew that vicious Habits are not to be removed but by a long Course of time and a most exact Regimen Thus in time Pennance came Epist Can. S. Greg. Thaum Epist Can. Petr. Alex. to be distinguished into its different Degrees and to have the term of its Continuance Stated But all that depended much upon the Descreton of the Bishops As they were careful not to discourage Cypr. Ep. 52. ad Antonian their Penitents by too excessive a Severity which might make them become Desperate and prove a Temptation to them to Relinquish the Faith and to Revolt to Paganism So on the other hand they found it necessary to check their Impatience Cler. Rom. ep 31 as knowing that nothing could be more Hurtful to them than too early an Absolution Aperfect Reconciliation was never granted till they saw it sought Cypr. Ep. Iv. ad Corn. for with Tears and Merited by an Effectual Reformation of their Manners There was nothing to be got by Importunities much less by Menaces Those Bishops who outbraved the Persecutions of the Heathens were not to be frightned with Words from their own Children The time of Pennance was always long at least unless there were some special Reason for the shortning of it as the Extraordinary fervour of the Penitent a mortal Distemper or present Persecution V. S. Cypr. Ep. li. Epist 3. apud Cypr c. For in such a Cases they were careful not to let them Dye without the Sacraments This Dispensation which shorten'd the Regular Pennance was called Indulgence and was often granted upon the request of Confessors in Prison or Exile If the Penitent during the time of his Pennance committed any new Crime he was obliged to begin his Pennance again If they saw his Punishment did no good upon him nor produced any change in his Life they let him continue in that State not admitting him to the Sacraments and if after having received Absolution he relapsed into any hanious Sin there were no more Sacraments for him S. August Epist. liv ad Maced c. vii For publick Pennance was never granted for more than one time All they could now do was to pray for him and to Exhort him to Repentance and newness of Life and to bid him have hope in the Mercies of God which are boundless There were some Sins for which the Pennance how sincerely and fully soever performed was to continue one's whole Life time after the Commission of which the Communion was never to be given but upon the point of Death Apostates Cypr ep liii ad Anton. Conc. Arel i. c. xxii who never prayed Pennance till they saw themselves in danger of Death were not then admitted to it And though it was granted in that Extremity to other sorts of Sinners yet they did but little depend upon that Repentance which look'd as if it had been forced upon Men only by the present dread of Punishment They who had been once placed among the Penitents though Absolved and Reconciled yet could never after that be capable of receiving holy Orders or of being advanced to any Ecclesiastical Ministry And if a Priest or any Clerk had committed a Sin deserving publick Pennance he only lost his station in the Church that is he was for ever after Interdicted the Exercise of his Function and reduced to the state of a simple Laick
Paganism and to that end underpropped it with the Allegorical explications of some Philosophers Fables These were the Platonicks of those times far from the good Sense and Solidity of Plato and the ancient Academicks his Disciples These fanciful Wits picking up what was most weak in the Doctrin of Plato and mixing it with that of Pythagoras and with the Mysteries of the Aegyptians patch't up a kind of Religion which at the bottom was founded upon Magick and which under the pretence of Worshiping good or bad Spirits authorized all sorts of Superstitions Such was the Religion of Julian the Apostate and we see somewhat of it in the Maxims of Apuleius in Porphyry and Jamblichus But there were few that penetrated into these subtilties and Paganism sunk every day more and more into Contempt Among so great a multitude of new Christians it was impossible that some should not pass in the Crowd drawn in only by Temporal Considerations upon the hopes of making their Fortunes under Christian Princes Complaisance to their Friends and Relations the fear of displeasing their Masters and in a word upon August in Jo. vi 26. tract ii all those Motives which now a Days make Hypocrites and false Zealots But these for the most part contented themselves with the bare Character of Catechumens and being loath to submit themselves to that strictness of Life which Christianity requires they were for deferring their Baptism as long as they could and often to the point of Death that so they might to the last continue the unhappy liberty of committing Sin without Subjecting themselves to the Discipline of Pennance Others proceeded even to Baptism and were V. Aug. de Catechiz c. xvii Cyr. Hier. Procatech not in their Hearts true Converts Some light inquisitive People were drawn in purely out of a curiosity to know the Mysteries which were revealed to none but the Faithful Their Superstition made them greedy after Religion and ambitious of being initiated into all sorts of Ceremonies and to participate in every thing which bore the name of Sacred without distinguishing the true God or the true Religion Among so many pretenders to Christianity what caution soever the Prelates could use They were but Men and it was impossible they should not sometimes be mistaken Many even of those that were Christians in good earnest grew every Day more and more remiss The fear of Martyrdome Leo. Serm. 6. in Epiph c. iii. Cypr. de Lapsis Dionys. Alex apud Euseb vi Hist 34. Euseb viii Hist c. ii was removed and Death did not now appear to them so near at hand Their security from outward danger betrayed them into that great hazard of Laying aside their Watchfulness Even in the state of persecution during the Intervals of their Troubles there was perceived a sensible abatement of Christian fervour Of this the Fathers very much complain ascribing the hottest Persecutions to this remisness of Zeal when ever they enjoyed the least Respite from their Enemies How must it then have been with them in a sure and settled Peace when t was not only not dangerous to be a Christian but also Honourable and advantageous The Princes and Magistrates being Converted to the Faith still maintained their Secular Grandeur and were never the less good Christians for looking after their temporal concerns and exercising their Charges So the common sort of Believers seeing Religion and Worldly greatness so fairly reconciled in these examples began to think there was no such great danger in Honours Riches and other enjoyments of this Life Thus the Love of pleasure Covetousness and Ambition revived in them The World was now become Christian yet still the World was the same They began now to Distinguish between Christians and Saints and Religious We find St. John Chrysostom frequently complayning of it that Chrysost ad fidel patr Idem Hom. i. in Matth. â—or in fi his Hearers to excuse their Earthly mindedness and too great Solicitude about the affairs of this World were wont to tell him We are no Monks we have Wives and Children to provide for and Families to look after As if the Christians of Rome or of Corinth whom St. Paul calls Saints and to whom he ascribes so high a Perfection were not Marryed Persons and led in the concerns of this World the same common life with other Men. To this add the Corruption of Nature that turns Food into Poyson The Church had in her publick Offices some kind of Observances more agreeable to outward Sense These were easily abused to the Flesh and applyed to wrong Ends contrary to the Iustitution of them The Sunday Rejoycings and those of the other Grand Solemnyties exceeded sometimes the Bounds of Sobriety and Basil Orat. de Ebriet Christian Moderation So that in the fourth Age they were obliged as I have Aug. ep xxix nov before observed to abolish the custome of making Entertainments at the Feasts of the Martyrs and the Clergy were also Prohibited from being present at those of Marryages Origen hath well observed Orig. cont Cels. how difficult a thing it is to reconcile sensible Pleasure with Spiritual joy The Body is a Slave which if too much Humour'd and Pamper'd with Food Sleep or other such like Indulgences will presently become Insolent and grow upon us Usurp upon the better part take off the mind from applying it self to Spiritual things and weaken its power of bearing up against Temptation Nor can the Spirit maintain its dominion over the Flesh but by a severe Conduct and continual Application I speak here of the same times I have just now described in the third part and do rip up in them also the least Faults that so I may the better trace out the very first beginnings of the Declension of Christian Piety without designing in the least to invalidate what I there said of the Manners of the Church in general or of its Discipline which was still preserved in its full vigor And above all the Sanctity of their Clergy was extraordinary However it must be granted there were some Prelates too sensible of the great Honours that were paid them And some also were accused of having misemployed the great Estates of which they had the Disposal One may see what Complaints were preferred to the Council of Chalcedon against Dioscorus and Ibas upon this account I believe Conc. Chalc. Act. iii. x. there can scarce be found any of the Orthodox Bishops of those times justly charged with the same Reproach But as the Arrians and other Hereticks had also their Bishops and Priests Their Passionate Conduct lessened in the eyes of the World the Honour of the order it self 'T was a great scandal to the Pagans and weak Christians to see Persons that had such Venerable Titles Masters of so little Temper and disputing with such heat against the other Bishops and Priests outraging them with Injuries and aspersions both in their Discourses and Writings Coming to the
An Historical ACCOUNT OF THE Manners and Behaviour OF THE CHRISTIANS And the Practices of CHRISTIANITY Throughout the SEVERAL AGES OF THE CHURCH Written originally in French by Msr. Cl. Fleury Praeceptor to Monseigneur de Vermandois and to the Dukes of Burgundy and Anjou LONDON Printed for Thomas Leigh at the Peacock against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet-street 1698. THE PREFACE THE Learned Author of this Book gives several Instances of his Ingenuity and Candor He recommends some Primitive Practices that justifie our Reformation Particularly the continual reading and studying of the Holy Scriptures Speaking of the Ancient Christians he says that they studied the Word of God in private Meditating upon it Day and Night They read over in their Houses what they heard at the Church Masters of Families took care to repeat those Expositions of Scripture they had Learnt from their Pastors Many Lay-Christians could say the Holy Scripture by heart They generally carried a Bible about with them and many Saints have been found Buried with the Gospel lying on their Breasts Women no less than Men read the Holy Scripture and in the Persecution regretted nothing so much as the loss of their Bibles Parents took such care to Instruct their Families that in all Antiquity we find no Catechism for little Children nor any publick provision made for the Instruction of those that were Baptized before they came to Years of Discretion Every private House was then as a Church He observes that St. John was the Chief in our Saviour's Affection Jesus Christ had a particular Kindness for his Disciples and for his Apostles and among them for St. Peter and the two Sons of Zebedee and for St John above all the rest He does not found the Preference of the Blessed Virgin upon Blood and natural Relation but upon the Endowments and Qualifications of her Mind Notwithstanding the most tender Affection which JESVS CHRIST had for his Mother He seems sometimes to have expressed himself harshly towards her and reproved the Woman that Blessed her barely upon the account of her being his Mother and declared that he owned no other for his Mother and Kindred but they that did the will of his Father He knew what that great Person was able to bear and was willing to let the World see that Flesh and Blood had no share in his affections Mr. Fleury well observes that the Church of Jerusalem which JESUS CHRIST with his own Hands began to Build upon the Foundaion of the Synagogue was the Root and original of all other Churches He seems in nothing more to censure the Reformation than in what he writes of the Celibacy of Priests altho' Platina a Contemporary with Aeneas Sylvius tels us that that Learned Pope Pius II. used to say ' There was great reason for Prohibiting Priests to Marry but greater for allowing it again And Mr. Fleury writes thus of the Primitve Christians they knew but two States Marriage or Continence They generally made chocie of the Married State having no good opinion of the Celibacy of the Heathen tho' they preferred the State of Continence as knowing its Excellency and often found a way of Reconciling both these States into One for there were many Married Persons who yet Lived in Continence They considered Marriage as an Emblem of that Union which is between Christ and his Church They knew that the Relation of Father and Mother was an High and Honourable Character as being the Images of God in a more peculiar manner and co-operating with him in the Production of Men. It is Certain by the Gospel that St. Peter was a Married Man Tradition tells us the same of St. Philip the Apostle and that both of them had Children and it is particularly observed that St. Philip gave his Daughters in Marriage Among the Rules they give for the Education of Children this is one that to secure their Virtue they should timely dispose of them in Marriage And they advised those that out of Charity Bred up Orphans to match them as soon as they came to Age and that to their own Children rather than to Strangers so little did they regard Interest What He says of their Communicating in both Kinds publickly Reading the Holy Scripture always in the Vulgar Tongue The Custom of Sitting in their Churches the Length of their Sunday-Service is also Remarkable When they reserved part of the Sacrament as a Viaticum for Dying Persons that which they carried Abroad was only the Bread tho' in their publick Assemblies all in general Communicated under both Kinds excepting little Children to whom they gave only the Wine All the Lessons of the Scripture were Read in the Vulgar Tongue i. e. in the Language Spoken by the better sort of People in every Country During the time of the Lessons and Sermon the Audience was regularly Seated the Men on one side of the Church and the Women on the other When all the Seats were filled the younger sort of People continued Standing In Africa St. Augustin takes notice that the People stood all Sermon-time but he better approved the Custom of the Transmarine Churches as he calls them where they heard Sitting Their Litnrgy must needs have been very long Indeed Christians did not then think that they had any thing else to do on Sundays but to serve God St. Gregory to shew how much his Strength was decayed says that he was scarce able to keep himself standing for those Three Hours while he performed the Office of the Church and yet his Sermons that are left us are very short What Mr. Fleury says of the Compassion the Church had for Hereticks must not be omitted because nothing seems more to have encreased the scandalous Divisions of Christendom than severity The Church Interceeded in behalf of her own Enemies We have many Epistles of St. Augustin where he Begs the favour of the Magistrate in the behalf of the Donatists convicted of horrid violencies and even Murders committed on the Catholicks He pleaded that it would be a dishonour to the Sufferings of the Murdered to put to Death the Authors of them and that if they could find no other penalties for them but Death they would thereby bring themselves to that pass that the Church who delighted not in the Blood of her Adversaries would not dare to demand Justice against them This was a general Rule that the Church should never seek the Death of any Man They were content that Christian Magistrates should Correct or over-aw Hereticks by Banishment or Pecuniary penalties but they would have their Lives Spared And the whole Church declared against the proceeding of the Bishop Ithacius who Prosecuted the Arch Heretick Priscillian to Death Yet the Bishops could not always obtain the Pardon they desired for these sort of Offenders no more than they could for others Princes to preserve the publick Peace Enacted the penalty of Death against Hereticks and their Laws were sometimes put in Execution If in these latter Ages the
Vows of Celibacy and Poverty have been inconvenient and but ill kept this might have been prevented by the Omission of of them for as this Author observes We see no Solemn Vows in these first times St. Chrysostom speaks of a Monks returning to the World as of a thing altogether free Again He tells us that the Monks in imitation of the Primitive Christians spent much of their time in Reading the Holy Scriptures The Rule of St. Benedict prescribes the same to his Monks and more particularly that all the time of Lent and on Sundays they should apply themselves only to this Exercise He Judiciously remarks how Forged Books and pretended Miracles gained Credit For want of critical Learning and the knowledg of Antiquity they were ready to receive such Suppositious Writings as were Imposed upon the World under the specious Names of Ecclesiastical Authors and also became too Credulous in believing Miracles So certain it was that the Apostles and their Disciples had wrought Miracles and that many true one 's were Daily performed at the Tombs of the Martyrs that they were not now over-curious in examining so as to distinguish the true from the false The most surprising Relations of this kind in History were the best received Ignorance in Philosophy and the little knowledg they had of Nature made them take all strange Appearances for Prodigies and interpret them as the Supernatural signs of God's wrath They believed there was something extraordinary in Astrology and dreaded Ecclipses and Comets as dismal Presages To give but one Example more Religion says Mr. Fleury can't subsist without Study and Preaching to preserve the Soundness of its Doctrine and the Purity of its morals It must necessarily fall into Decay unless the Holy Scripture be diligently Read taught and expounded to the People unless the Apostolical Traditions be preserved in their Purity and Purged from time to time of those Spurious Additions which the Inventions of Men without any just Authority have made to them Would but the Church of Rome take away these and all other Additions that are contrary to and Inconsistent with the Doctrine and Practice of the Church of Christ in the first and purest Ages of Christianity and forbid all Disputation c. as Innocent XI by his Decree of the 19. of Feb. 1678. entirely abolished the Office of the Immaculate Conception c. Approved by Paul V. They might happily put an end to the great Division that has so long made the Enemies of Christianity to rejoyce or be able to maintain the charge of Schism against those that should then refuse their Communion What Passages or Expressions occur in this Treatise which may be judg'd contrary to and Inconsistent with the Doctrine Worship and Government of the Church of England as by Law Establish'd the Author and Editor of this Book are not answerable for nor pretend to justify considering that 't is only a Translation of an Historical Tract written in French and often Printed by a Learned Author of the Roman Communion whose Name is mention'd in the Title-Page of this Book What he hath said in favour of several of the Doctrines of the Reformation and the admirable Moral Reflections which frequently occur throughout his History and especially the former part together with other pious Relations of it are enough to shew that excellent use may be made of this Treatise and hence to justify the Publication of it in our own Language And the more exceptionable passages that are in it I must Entreat the Reader to consiâ—â—◠〈◊〉 the meer effects of our Author 's 〈…〉 the Communion wherein he 〈◊〉 and to admire rather that he 〈◊〉 said so much on our side than that 〈◊〉 has said no more ERRATA PAge 8. Lines 16. read to establish p. 13. l. 13. r. in mind of p. 27. l. 22. dele and. p. 35. l. 22. r. Orchard p. 37. Ibid. l. 22. r. disease p. 41. l. 11. r. furnish Ibid. 18. r. Christians p. 42. l. 24. r. Paedagogus p. 45. l. 8. r. Sanctify p. 47. l. 29. r. giveing p. 54. l. 32. r. itself p. 56. l. 27. r. used p. 77. l. 18. for where r. were Ibid. l. 24. r. Zealous p. 86. l. 26. r. occasion p. 87. l. 13. r. Gnosticks p. 99. l. 15. r. Tutelar p. 103. l. 18. r. Equueus p. 104. l. 28. r. lewd way p. 105. l. 5. for of r. off Ibid. l. 6. r. Spit it p. 106. l. 17. r. Martyrs p. 107. l. 23. dele the. p. 110. l. 25. r. reduced p. 119. l. 25. r. Slaves Ibid. r. State p. 124. l. 22. r. such cases p. 129. l. 9. for Bells r. Belles p. 136. l. 7. for thy r. they Ibid. r. delivered p. 148. l. 12. r. Wife p. 149. l. 25 r. Fifty p. 156. l. 1. r. to each other p. 157. l. 2. r. Priests p. 158. l. 17. for them r. him p. 165. l. 20. for this r his p. 182. l. 24. r. Martyrium p. 204. l. 30 dele or the least sign p. 205. l. 15. r. hath retem'd p. 240 l. 22. r. Sylvester p. 241. l. 5. r. ornamented Ibid. l. 30. r. Candlesticks p. 242. l. 15. dele with p. 251. l. 8. r. Pestilence p. 259. l. 15 r. soever p. 266. l. 17. r. many p. 272. l. 1. for for r. the p. 289. l. 24. r. thereupon p. 305. l. 30. r. Conversions Ibid. l. 32. for was r. were p. 306. l. 1. r. Religion Ibid. l. 17. r. Hungarian p. 307. l. 13. r. could p. 310. l. 2. r. Canons Ibid. l. 31. r. how miserably p. 313. l. 30. r. Barbarous p. 314. l. 2. r. do that Ibid. l. 6. r. Modesty p. 318. l. 10. r. Chaplains p. 322. l. 6. r. our way of Liveing p. 326. l. 20. r. Journeys Ibid. l. 26. r. Travells p. 327. l. 32. r. upon them p. 328. l. 15. r. beare p. 330. l. 28. r. assistance p. 332. l. 31. r. multitude THE BEHAVIOUR AND MANNERS OF THE Christians Part the First I Shall divide my Work into four Parts The first will represent the Manners I. of the Christians of Jerusalem to the The division of the whole Destruction of that City under Vespasian This first state of Christianity though but of a short continuance was so supereminent in its Perfection that it will deserves a separate Consideration The second will take in all the Time of the Persecution that is the entire space of three Centuries In the third I shall describe the State of the Church in its Liberty which Commenced in the fourth Age. And In the last consider the Changes it afterwards underwent and endeavour to discover the Causes of them The Christian Religion as it was not the Invention of Man but the Work of II. God so like the Universe it had its full The first part the Church of Jerulem Perfection in its first Birth and was most Glorious in its earliest Productions It is not to be imagined saith Tertullian that the