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A36721 An historical dissertation upon the Thebean Legion plainly proving it to be fabulous / by John Dubourdieu ...; Dissertation historique et critique sur le martyre de la légion thébéenne. English Dubourdieu, Jean, 1652-1720. 1696 (1696) Wing D2409; ESTC R17246 111,591 210

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of Six Thousand Foot and Three Hundred Horse the others Ex veteri Instituto according to the Ancient custom being formed only of Five Thousand Foot and two Hundred Horse This great Author in all probability was better informed in the Roman Customs than the Author of the Passion of the Thebean Souldiers For the Legions having been raised to Five Thousand Men in the Roman Wars against Carthage Polybius observes that to his time they still retained the same number of Five Thousand Foot and Three Hundred Horse It cannot be deny'd but the number of the Legionary Souldiers increased under the Emperours since at the time of the Emperour Tacitus the Legions were of Six Thousand One Hundred and Twenty Foot and of Seven Hundred and Sixteen Horse which is a Remark of Modestus in the Treatise he addresses to him of the Terms used in the Military Art Vegetius who Dedicated his Book to the Emperour Valentinian tells us likewise that in his time the Legions were of the same number So that it would be an obligation to the Publick to prove by good Authors that at the time of Dioclesian and Maximian in which it is supposed that the Thebean Legion suffered Martyrdom the Legions were of 6666 or 6600 Men as 't is said in the Copies both of Surius and Chifflet CHAP. X. That in the Editions both of Surius and Chifflet a Miracle is related which hath all the appearance of a feigned Story IN the Acts of the Agaunian Martyrs there is a Miracle set down that deserves our consideration This Miracle hapned on the occasion of a man who in Surius's Original was a Gold-smith by Trade and in that of Chifflet a Black-smith or a Carpenter 'T is said in these Acts that all the Christians of Agaunum being Assembled at Church upon a Sunday this Man who was a Pagan stayed alone in the new Church which was then a Building to the Honour of the Thebean Souldiers Whereupon the Saints appearing to him in a bright and glorious Apparel dragg'd him from the place where he was stretched him as it were upon a rack and having banged him soundly reproached him with his absenting himself from the Church on the Lords-day and that he being a Pagan had been so bold as to work upon a Church which was Erecting to them It is incredible that a grave Author as St. Eucherius was should have made the Blessed Martyrs to speak such Nonsense For it is an easie thing to infer from their discourse that the Pagans themselves were obliged even as Pagans to observe the keeping of the Lords-day and this is a Tenet which one can't by any means admit For if the Fourth Commandment had obliged the Heathens as well as the Jews as the other Commandments of the Decalogue did 't would be a certain proof that the Duty enjoyned by the fourth Precept concerning the sabbath-Sabbath-day is a Duty Essentially Moral of a Natural and inviolable Rectitude and it would be a very intricate difficulty to justifie the Apostolick Church about the translation of the Sabbath to the Day of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ When we dispute against the Sabbatarians one of the strong Reasons we bring against them is that the distinctive Character of the Laws Essentially Moral is their extension and universality that is that they bind all sorts of Persons at all times in all places and under both Covenants So that we conclude that the observance of the Seventh Day is not a Moral Duty since the fourth Commandment did not oblige the Gentiles and I do not know if the same thing may not be said of our Sunday which hath suceeded to the Rights of the Sabbath 'T is true that after Nature hath taught Men the existence of a God it may teach them further the reasonableness of Consecrating a setled time to his Service But it can lead them no further and will leave the choice of that time to their Liberty Let it be the Fourth the Sixth or the Seventh Day 't is all one in the main And to render the Pagans guilty in not keeping the Sabbath either according to the Jewish or Christian Institution the Sabbath ought to be one of those Duties that are as well known to us as the first Principles inbred in our very Nature at our coming into the World and ingraved by the Hand of God in the Hearts of all Men. The Agaunian Saints were much in the wrong to use a Pagan so scurvily under pretence of his not observing the Sunday They ought first to have instructed him to have set before him the excellency and Holiness of the Christian Religion and shewed him how just and reasonable it is to Consecrate the Sunday to the glory of Jesus Christ the Mediator and High-Priest of this new Law And after this had he been stubborn and Rebellious to their Charitable instructions and admonitions then in Gods Name let him fall under the Censure But to knock him down out of hand this is a way of Conversion only known and practised in our Days in France and which cannot be attributed to Saints without a great offence to their Charity It was an ordinary thing indeed at that time to see the Pagans drag the Christians by force to their profane Sacrifices but not one Example of those times can be produced of any Christians in places where they had the power to do to it tormenting the Pagans and compelling them to come and joyn with them in their Worship Nay it seems that in those former times they made some scruple of admitting Infidels into the places where their Holy Mysteries were Celebrated For otherwise to what purpose should the fourth Council of Carthage have Ordered the Bishops to suffer the Pagans the Jews and other Hereticks to enter their Churches and hear the Word of God 'T is true that it is added in that Canon that they shall not be suffered to stay but to the Mass for the Catechumens so that after the Sermon and Prayer for the Catechumens the Infidels were obliged to withdraw before the Celebration of the Holy Sacraments Another circumstance against the credibility of it is that the Agaunian Saints do reproach this Pagan for his boldness in working upon the Church which was a Building for them Is it possible than an Author so wise and knowing as Sr. Eucherius was should have put in the Mouth of his Saints such unbecoming reproaches Saints are not certainly so nice as this comes to I am sure God himself is not For when Solomon was Building him a Temple it does not appear that he found fault with him for sending for Wood and Stones from Heathenish Countries And according to St. Austin he would not have taken it ill though all the Timber of his Temple had been cut down in the Groves Consecrated to Idols ex lucis alienorum Deorum When we reflect on the the prodigious number of Workmen who were employed in the Building of the
they had been actually alive But however the Veneration they had then for them came nothing near to the Worship which the Romish Church pays to them now adays Gregory the First who died in the Seventh Century began in his time to innovate in the publick Worship of the Church by inserting in the Litanies the Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary those of the Saints having not been introduced till a long time after And we defy the Doctors of the Church of Rome to shew us that the Worship which they render to Saints is mentioned in any of the Ecclesiastical Writers who lived before the Year of our Lord 350. Martin Perez Hiala Bishop of Cadiz confesses that they cannot justify by ancient authority the Invocation and Intercession of Saints before the time of Cornelius who lived towards the end of the Third Century And this good Prelate would have descended yet a Hundred Years lower had he seen the Reasons which Blondel alledges to prove that that which is cited of Cornelius is meerly spurious Had the Invocation of Saints been in use in the times of St. Athanasius and St. Hilary we must confess that the Arrians had but very little wit when it being objected as it was by these Fathers to them that they were down-right Idolaters in praying as they did to Christ whom they thought to be but a Creature they did not reply that this Accusation ought to rebound on their Adversaries also since notwithstanding they did not believe their Saints to be Gods yet they made Prayers and Supplications to them But how is it possible to believe that in those first Ages of Christianity the Christians made their Addresses to the deceased Saints seeing they were of Opinion that the Souls of the Faithful did not enjoy the Beatifick Vision before the general Resurrection of the Dead If we ask Cardinal Bellarmine why the Saints were not invoked under the Old Testament he answers Because the Souls of the Just were then in Limbo and did not yet behold the Face of God For which very Reason we may likewise conclude that the Christians of the first Ages did not pray to Saints since they believed that their Souls were not to be admitted into the presence of God till the General Resurrection Which Opinion of theirs hath forced Cardinal Richlieu to make this Confession That several Fathers in the First Ages held for certain that the Souls of the Faithful deceased in the Grace of God those of Martyrs only excepted should not enjoy the Beatifick Vision till after the Resurrection of the Dead and therefore ' its no wonder that they spoke in those times of the Veneration and Invocation of Saints with more caution and wariness than it hath been done since it hath been commonly believed that the Souls of the Faithful who have departed this Life in the fear of God did not wait till the Resurrection for the enjoyment of the Beatifick Vision In the Church of the first Ages they observed another Practice inconsistent with that Worship which the present Church of Rome renders to the Saints For now a days the Living Pray to the Dead whereas formerly the Living pray'd for them Cardinal Richelieu as you have seen in the place above quoted hath excepted the Martyrs from the general Rule but in this case there was no exception made of any for according to the Liturgy ascrib'd to St. Mark the Christians us'd to say Remember O Lord Our Ancestors the Patriarcks the Prophets the Martyrs and all the Spirits who are perfect in the Faith of Jesus Christ and grant that their Souls may rest in the Sanctuary of thy Saints This practice of praying for all the Saints was yet in use in Hinkmar's time And in the Rubrick upon the Decretals at the Title of the Celebration of Masses ch 6. sect Oratio quae dicitur c. we find this curious Remark in the Gloss on the Margent It was formerly said Grant O Lord that this Prayer may be profitable to the Soul of thy Servant Leo But now it is said Grant that this Prayer may be profitable to us by the Intercession of thy Servant Leo. So little distinction was made in those times between the Martyrs and the Saints of the first Order That they used to pray even for the Blessed Mother of God For in the Liturgy attributed to St. Chrysostom we find these Words Let us pray to the Lord for all those who have heretofore administred and fulfilled the Duties of Priesthood for the eternal remission of their Sins and for the memory of all those who are deceased in hope of the Resurrection Forgive them O Merciful Lord. And we offer also this reasonable Service unto thee for our Ancestors who rest in the Faith the Fathers the Patriar●s the Prophets the Apostles the Martyrs and especially for the most Blessed and Immaculate Mary After this do ye think it well done of the Romanists to accuse us of condemning the Primitive Church and all the Ancient Fathers because we condemn the Worship which they pay in our days to the Saints Certain it is that in this we don 't condemn Origen who wrote thus against Celsus We ought not to pray to Creatures who have as much need to make Prayers and Supplications for themselves and do therefore rather by their calling upon him admonish us to make our addresses to God only and not to debase our selves before them by dividing between God and them the honour of Prayer God forbid that we should follow Celsus's advice who would have us to pray to Angels We ought to pray to none but God who is the Paramount Lord of a●l things We do not condemn St. Austin who saith That were St. Paul and the other Apostles our Mediators we should have many of them but then this Apostle had not been in the right who saith that there is but one God and one Mediator between God and Man who is Jesus Christ. And he declares in another place That in offering the Sacrifice mention was made of the Martyrs as of Men of God who by the Confession of his Name had triumphed over the World but that they were not invocated We don't condemn Ignatius a Disciple of the Apostles who recommended this to the Christians to have none before their Eyes when they pray but Christ Jesus and his Father We do not condemn St. Irenaeus that Holy Bishop of Lions who had framed himself both upon the Lessons and Examples of Polycarp and who saith That the Church does not mix in her Service either the Invocation of Angels or any other criminal Curiosity but does direct her Prayers meerly purely and openly to God the maker of all things by calling upon the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ We do not condemn Tertullian who giving an Account of the Faith and Hope of the Christians before the Roman Emperors saith That they do Invocate none but the true