There were many of them quickly erected in all great Cities It was ordinarily some Priest that had the Overseeing of them As at Alexandria St. Isâ—dorus under the Patriarch Theophilus At Constantinople St. Baron ad 31. Dec. 27. Jun. Zoticus and after him St. Sampson There were also some private Persons who erected Hospitals at their own Expences as St. Pammachius at Porto and St. Gallicanus at Ostia This St. Gallicanus was a Patrician Martyr 25 Jun. and had been Consul and 't was a sight that drew Spectators from all parts to see a Person of his Rank and Quality one that had worn the Triumphal Ornaments and could have boasted of his Friendship with the Emperor Constantine to see I say such a Person washing the Feet and the Hands of the Poor waiting upon them at Table and giving the Sick all sort of assistance The holy Bishops thought no expences too great that were bestowed upon so good purposes Besides they took great care about the Burial of their Poor and the Redemption of Captives who had been taken by the Barbarians as it often happened in the Declension of the Roman Empire For these two last sorts of Charity they sold even the communion Plate notwithstanding the Priviledge of Appropriation The instance of St. Exuperius Bishop Hiron ad Rustic 〈◊〉 Sept. of Tholose is very remarkable who reduced himself upon this score to such a degree of Poverty that he carried the Body of our Saviour in a little Basket and his Blood in a Calice of Glass And St. Paulinus Bishop of Nola having sold all Gregor iii. Dialog c. i. ii made himself a Slave to ransom the Son of a certain Widow so that those vast Treasures of the Churches the Gold and Silver with which they were Ornamented were deposited in the nature of a Trust till pressing Occasions as a publick Calamity a Petilence a Famine or the like should require it every thing gave place to the providing for the living Temples Jo. Diac. vita S. Greg. lib. iv cap. xliii of the Holy Ghost They redeemed also such as lived in Slavery at home or within the Empire especially such as were Christian Slaves to Pagan or Jewish Masters IN the last place it was after the XLI Monasteries Church had gained its Liberty that they began to found Monasteries Under the Persecutions many Christians had retired into the Deserts Principally those adjoyning to Aegypt and some passed the remainder Hier. vita S. Pauli of their Lives in them as St. Paul who is reckoned the first Hermit St. Anthony having for some time lead the Ascetique life near the place of his Nativity withdrew himself afterward into the Desert that he might with greater freedom and security pursue his religious Exercises upon being removed out of the Reach of all Temptations which might be occasioned by Society He was the first that gathered Disciples together in the Wilderness and there obliged them to live in common They were now no longer called simply Asceticks though in effect they led the same Life but went by the name of Monks that is to say Solitaries or Hermits to wit those that inhabit the Wilderness Those who lived together were termed Caenobites and those who having lived a long time in common and there learn't to conquer their Passions and afterwards retired to a more absolute Solitude they called Anchoretes And yet the Caenobites themselves lived very Solitary seeing no Soul but their own Fraternity being at the distance of many Days Journy from all inhabited Places in sandy Deserts whither they were forced to carry all necessaries even their very Water Nor did they so much as see one another save only in the evening and in the Night at their stated hours of Prayer spending all the Day at work in their Cells either alone or two and two together and always in profound Silence Besides as in those vast Solitudes they were not streightned for want of Room so their Cells stood at a considerable distance one from another St. Anthony St. Hilarian St. Pacomus and the others that followed their Examples did not pretend to introduce Novelties or outdoe all that ever went before them Their design was only to keep up the exact practise of the Christian Religion which they saw every Day more and more declining They always proposed the Asceticks that went before them for their Examples As in Aegypt those Disciples of St. Mark who as Cassian relates lived in the Suburbs of Cass ii Jnst v. 18 Coll. v. Alexandria close shut up in their Houses Spending all their time in Praying and Meditating upon the Holy Scriptures labouring with their Hands all Day and never eating but at Night They proposed for their imitation the Primitive Church of Jerusalem the Apostles themselves and the Prophets T was not an Hier. ad Paulin. item ad Rustic Affectation to make themselves admired for the extraordinariness of their Methods but an honest intention of leading the lives of good Christians This one may see through the whole Rule of St. Basil which is indeed no more than an Abridgement of the Duties of a Christian who would lead his Life according to the Precepts of the Gospel and which he lays down in general to all sorts of Persons He saith S. Basil reg fas n. xxii for example as to Habits that a Christian ought to content himself with such Cloathing as is sufficient for Decency and to defend the Body against Cold and the other injuries of the Air but to be as little incumbred as possible And therefore to be content with one Garment both for Day and Night a thing in the Country where he lived not impracticable There is very little in his Rule which is perculiar to Monks separate from the rest of the World That which was singular in the Monks was their Renouncing of Marriage and Chrysost ad fidel patr the Possession of Temporal goods and their Separating themselves from conver sation with the rest of the World either of the Faithful themselves or their nearest Relations As to the rest they acted but the part of good Laicks living by their Cass Instit v. c. 12. 16. c. 6. c. 7. Labours in silence and exercising themselves in getting the Mastery over their Passions by degrees So that having as 1. Cor. ix 25. 2 Tim. ii 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. v. viii St. Paul expresses it like resolute Combatants Striven for the Mastery and Striven Lawfully they might arrive to that Purity of Heart which might render them fit to see God Upon these Principles were all their Methods and Practises founded St. Chrysostom gives us a Memorable History of a Young Man whose Mother Ad fidel patr was desirous that he should become a good Christian and prevailed with a Vertuous Monk to take him into his Tuition This Holy Man to Instruct him more perfectly in the Duties of Religion causes
of it both by affixing some kind of Penalties Tac. An. iii. v tit cod de infirm paen coelib v. Baron an 57. n. 44 c. upon those who continued unmarried after such a Term of Years and rewards to those who in lawful Matrimony encreased the number of the People The Christians knew but two states that of Marriage or Continence They preferred the latter as knowing its Excellencies and they often found the means Tertul. ad uxor c. vi de Resur car c. 8. of Reconciling them both in one for there were many Married Persons who yet lived in Continence But all Christians in general abstained from the use of the Bed on the Feasts and Fasts of the Cypr. de sing Cle. Church as well as at other times when according to the Apostles Rule they were disposed more Freely to give Cor. vii themselves to Prayer Second Marriages were looked upon as a weakness insomuch as in some Churches they enjoined Hier. ad Salvin in fi the Persons so remarrying Penance But how highly soever they esteemed Continence they had an esteem for Marriage as being a great Sacrament They had honourable Thoughts of it considering it as an Emblem of that Union which is between Christ and his Church and that Blessing Pronounced by God upon Mankind at the first Creation which Orat. in Bened. Spons neither Original Sin nor the Deluge hath taken away that is of encreasing and multiplying They knew that the relation of Father and Mother was an high Clem. Alex. ii Paedag. c. x. and honourable Character as being the Images of God in a more peculiar manner and Co-operating with him in the Production of Men. 'T is certain by the Gospel that St. Peter was a Married Man and Tradition as St. Clemens Alexandrinus relates it tells the same of Clem. iii. strom the Apostle St. Philip that they had both of them Children and particularly of Euseb iii. Hist. 30. St. Philip 't is observed that he gave his Daughters in Marriage Among other Directions for the Education Const Ap. iv c. x. of Children this is one That they should to secure their Vertue timely dispose of them in Marriage and they who had Charity enough to take upon them the charge of breeding up Orphans were advised to Match them as soon as Ibid. c i. they came of Age and rather to their own Children than to Strangers a Proof how little the Christians of those days Ignat. Ep. ad Polycar regarded Worldly Interest in the matter of Marriage They advised with their Bishop about Marriages as indeed they did about all Affairs of greater Importance that so saith Ignatius they might be made according to God and not according to Concupiscence When the Parties were agreed the Marriage was publickly and solemnly performed in the Church and Tertul. ii ad ux in fi there Consecrated by the Benediction of the Pastor and Confirmed by the Oblation of the holy Sacrifice The Bridegroom gave his Hand to the Bride and the Bride received from her Husband a Ring engraved with the Sign of the Cross or at least having on it some Symbolical Figure representing some Christian Vertue as a Dove an Anchor or a Fish for of such Clem. Alex. iii. Paedag. c. xi Figures did the Christians make their Seals and among the Antients their Rings were also their Seals or Signets HITHERTO have we considered XII The Union of Christians Christians in their Private Capacities let us now take a view of them as United into a Body and making a Church The name of Ecclesia i. e. Church signifies no more than an Assembly and was taken in the Cities of Greece for a meeting of the People who commonly came together in the Theatre for the dispatch of Publick Affairs We have in the Acts of the Apostles an Example of this profane Acts xix 32 Ecclesia or Assembly in the City of Ephesus and therefore the Christians by way of distinction from these profane Ecclesias where called the Ecclesia or Church of God Origen in his Dispute against Celsus compares these two sorts of Assemblies together and lays it down as a thing certain and manifest that the less Zeal of the Christians who were but few in comparison of the rest did somuch excel other Men That the Christian Assemblies appeared in the World like Stars in the Firmament The Christians therefore of every City made up but one Body and this was one principal pretence of Persecuting them Their Assemblies were represented as Illegal Meetings not being Authorized by the Laws of the State Their Unity and Love passed fot a Crime and was Objected against them as a dangerous Confederacy And indeed all the Christians living in the same Place were well known to each other as it could not be otherwise considering how often they joined in Prayer and other exercises of Religion upon which occasions they met together almost every Day They all maintained a Friendly Correspondence among themselves often met and conferred together and even in indifferent matters conformed to one another Their Joys and their Griefs were in common If any one had received of God any particular Blessing they all shared the satisfaction If any one were under Pennance they all Interceeded on his behalf and begged that Mercy might be shewn him They lived together as kindred of the same Family calling one another by the Name of Father or Child Brother or Sister according to the difference of Age or Sex This Unity was maintained by that Authority which every Master of a Family had over those of his own House and by the Submission that all of them paid to the Priests and their Bishops a Duty so earnestly recommended to Christians in the Epistles of the holy Martyr St. Ignatius But above all the Bishops were most closely United among themselves They all knew one another at least by their Names and Characters and held a constant Epistolary Correspondence which was easy to be done at that time by reason of the vast extent of the Roman Empire Bardesan apud Euseb vi Praepar c. 8. which God in his Providence seems to have so ordered as it were on purpose for the Propagation of the Gospel But as the Church was extended far wider than the Empire reaching to all the Nations round about it that uniformity of Faith and Manners which was found among all the Christians was still the more wonderful considering the Diversity of Nations among whom they were scattered And herein appeared the Power of true Religion Correcting in all that embraced it all those Barbarous and unreasonable Euseb i. Praep. c. iv Customs in which they had been educated In short the universal Church was in reality but one Body all the Members whereof were United to each other not only by the same Faith but also by the same most Comprehensive Charity EVERY Particular Church met together XIII
these Orders For how could they have found amonst the Jews and Heathens that were Dayly Converted to Christianity any considerable number of Persons that had preserved an absolute Continence to their advanced Years It was much to find those that had confined 1 Tim. iii. 2. themselves only to one Wife in that liberty which the Jews and other Eastern People took of having many Wives at once and the custom of Divorce Universally admitted which put them often upon changing their Wives But when a Marryed Person was made a Bishop he began from that time forward to look upon his Wife only as his Sister And to the same Rule hath the Ep. Dccret Siricij ad Himer c. vii Can. Apos vi Latin Church all ways kept her Priests and Deacons Yet they were still obliged to provide for their Wives and not to cast them off as Strangers And the Women out of Regard to the Dignity of their Husbands were somtimes called Presbyterae by the Name of Priestesses In Greece and the East this strict Rule of Continence Episcopae came in Course of time to be less and less regarded But in no place whatsoever Can. Neocaeâ— i. did the Catholick Church ever allow a Priest to Marry after his Ordination If he did he was for his Incontinence Degraded of his Order and reduced to the State of a simple Laick As for the Inferior Clerks as Readers and Door-keepers they were commonly Marryed Persons and Cohabited with their Wives So that a great part of them passed their whole Lives in these lower Orders at least they continued in them for many Years till they either lost their Wives or else by mutual Consent they agreed to Separate from each other in order to the leading a more perfect Life Yet was Marriage always spoken of by Christians as an Honourable State And that the rather because there were some Hereticks who professed an Abhorrence of it and others who Absolutely condemned all second Marriages as Unlawful All the Clergy even to the Bishops themselves Lived after a Poor at least a Plain and Ordinary manner having no thing as to outward appearance to Distinguish them from the common People In the Persecutions as they were the Persons the most sought after they had no mind to make themselves known by their Habit or any other marke of their Profession If in any thing they Differed from the common People t was in appearing more like the Philosophers Many of them had parted with all their Temporal Possessions to the Poor before their being advanced to Holy Orders and many of them again after their Ordination still continued like St. Paul to Live by the Labour of their Hands Not that they were obliged so to do The Church always took care of her Clergy supplying them with all Necessaries out S. Cypr. Ep. xxxiv of her common Treasure And accordingly every Clerk received either Weekly or Monthly a certain Distribution either in Money or of Provisions in Specie answerable to the Exigencies of their Condition or the Quality of their Office For the Clerks of an higher Station and consequently charged with greater Labours received according to the precept of St. Paul more liberal Allowances 1 Tim. v. 17. Some there were also that kept their own temporal Estate together with their Spiritual Dignity St. Cyprian at the Pont. Diac. Hortos time of his Martyrdom had still left him a little Country-Farm the only Reserve he made to himself out of the vast Possessions he had quitted The Pastors and Clerks rendred themselves no less amiable by their Charity and their Application to the Services of Religion than they were Venerable for other Excellencies The Bishop dispenced not with himself from performing the Dutyes of his Place in Person presiding always at the publick Prayers Expounding the Holy Scriptures and Offering the Sacrifice on all Sundays and Stationary Days He and his Priests found themselves always fully Employed and never wanted Work to Instruct the Catechumens Comfort the Sick Exhort the Penitents and Reconcile such as were at Variance For to them it belonged to make up all Differences They would Const Apost ii c. xlv 46 c. 1 Cor. vi by no means allow what St. Paul had expresly Forbidden that Christians should bring their Causes before the Heathen Courts and they that would not Submit V. Patres apud Baron an lvii n. 37. 38 c. Tertul. Apol c. xxxix to the Arbitration of the Bishops were Excommunicated for Impenitent and Incorrigible But such Disputes could not often happen among Christians so Disinteressed so Humble and Patient as they were Munday was ordinarily the Day which the Bishop took to determine Differences so that if the Parties should not readily Acquiesse in the Sentence they might yet have time before them to Moderate matters and bring them to a Right understanding before the Sunday following when they were all to meet again in the Church and Pray and Communicate together On the Day of Hearing the Bishop seated in his Chair the Priests sitting down by him and the Deacons attending the Parties Presented themselves before him respectfully standing on their Legs in the midst of the place of Audience After having heard the Cause he first did all that was possible to Reconcile them each other and to perswade them to make up the Difference in a Friendly manner between themselves before he pronounced Sentence At the same time also they heard Complaints and received Informations against Persons accused of not leading their Lives like Christians The Bishop was fully entrusted with Const Apost ii c. xxiv 25. the Churches Treasure all which lay absolutely at his Disposal Nor were they under the least Apprehension of its being Misapplyed Had they had the least suspicion of his Integrity and Uprightness they would never have committed to his Care the Government of Souls a concern of Infinitely greater Moment than Const Apost xli all Earthly Treasure T was to him therefore that all who stood in need of Relief were to apply themselves He was the Father of the Poor and the Refuge for all in Misery and Distress After all this what Wonder is it that their Prelates should be so beloved and Respected by the Faithful as they were 'T is observed of St. Polycarp that he had not for many Years together pulled off his own Shoes the Faithful that were Epist. Eccles Smyrn near him always offering themselves and Ambitiously Courting the Honour of that humble Office So that he had not of a long time before done it with his own Hands till at his Martyrdom as he undrest himself and prepared for the Stake Acta S. S. Hippolyti c. Apud Baron an 259. n. viii Acta S. Sus. an 294. n. viii 10. 12. Their usual way of Approaching their Priest was to Prostrate themselves before them Kiss their Feet and in that Supplicating Posture crave their Blessing And the