themselves says i l. 1. c. 3. vid. Tert. de praescript ad fin Theodoret. ubi supr sect Ophit Aug. ubi sup c. 17. Irenaeus who ador'd a Serpent which by the inchantments of the Priest was train'd out of his Den to ascend the Altar where he rowl'd himself round the Oblations and lickt them which were afterward distributed to the deluded multitude as the only true consecrated Elements of the Eucharist The followers of Marcus were the Tascodrungitae says k ubi supr sect Ascodrytae Iren. lib. 1. c. 18. Theodoret and they also poured oyl and water on the heads of their dead that they might be invisible and by that means rendred more excellent and better than the Spiritual and Angelick powers As l Theoddib 2. sect Elcesaitae the Disciples of Elcesai were also ensnared by Astrology and Magick by Charms and Invocations m Euscb l. 4. c. 10. Cerdon and Marcion were in the like manner ill addicted and n Socrat. kist l. 1. c. 22. Lat. 17. Manes's Tutor Buddas was carried by his familiar into the air whence falling headlong the wretch perisht and his o Theed ubi supr praef l. 1. sect Manes Pupil was a practiser of all unlawfull arts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Theodoret and such were all his followers and among the Marcionites of his time the same p Ibid. sect Marcion Father says he found a brass Serpent an Amulet doubtless laid up in a Chest among many other abominable mysteries as q De pâ—ae script c. 30. Tertullian justly impeacâ—es the Father of that Sect of too much curiosity and an unquiet head And by such an evil spirit were Montanus and his Prophetesses acted and among his Followers a Apollinar apud Euseb lib. 5. cap. 15. Theodotus was lifted into the Air by his Familiar from whence he fell down and perish'd And may we not say that many of the Miracles of the Romish Church owe their Original to this Author since many of their seemingly most devout and inspired Nuns have been at last convicted to have been Witches So true is that observation of the b Tert. de praescr p. 40. F. G. edit Rhen. African Father that the greatest acquaintances which the Hereticks made was with Sorcerers and Juglers with Astrologers and the lovers of curious Arts and that we may judge of the exellencies of their Faith by the Debaucheries of their Conversation Nor was it without reason that S. Paul 1 Tim. 4.1 calls the Gnostick Opinions the Doctrine of Devils V. And as these persecuted the Christian Church with their Tongues so those that employed their Authority by severe and cruel Edicts to extirpate the holy Faith were much inclined to these acquaintances The first declared Enemy of Jesus among the Emperours was Nero who on the head of all his other insufferable qualities that made him a burthen to the Earth and a heavy curse to mankind was a great c Plin. nat hist lib. 30. c. 2. practiser of Magick with which he was as much bewitcht as with his love of Musick being acted and led in his biggest and most weighty concerns by the Counsels of Tiridates a man famous in that way These next was Domitian a Monster that boggled at no Crime who d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zosim hist l. 1. p. 5. ed. Steph. out-doing his all Predecessors in Cruelty Luxury and Covetousness was the Author of the second Persecution and though the Historians tell us that he banisht the Philosophers and Mathematici from Rome yet e In Domit sect 14 15. Suetonius is my Author that he was studious of these devilish mysteries Trajan doubtless was a Prince of a very sweet temper and most excellent Virtues but a prostrate admirer of the Heathen superstitions though his persecution seems to have commenc'd against the Christians not so much on Religious as Politick grounds because their hetaeriae or meetings which look'd suspiciously by reason of their numbers and the place and time of their conventions before day and in their Coemeteria under ground seem'd to threaten the peace and quiet of the Common-wealth for which reasons he not only forbad such Conventions among the Christians but expresly declares his dislike of erecting any new Corporation among his Heathen Subjects the frequenters of which Hetaeriae without licence f Ulpian lib. 6. de Offic. Procons F. lib. 47. tit 22. l. 2. were adjudged by the Roman Laws to be guilty of High Treason equally with those who by force and arms seized a Temple or any other publick place The fourth Persecution broke out under Adrian a g Tert. Apol c. 6. excerpt Dionis apud Valesium p. 714. Prince infinitely addicted to the Pagan Rites coveting all occasions of being initiated into their mysteries a searcher into all sorts of curiosities and strangely in love with Magick M. Aurelius Antoninus begun the fifth persecution or rather the inraged Gentiles under him for that he himself by his express edicts begun a persecution both h Apol. c. 5. Tertullian and i Hist lib. 5. c. 1. Eusebius deny who though a most admirable and accomplisht Prince and one that profest himself an Infidel to prodigious stories done by charms and the assistance of Daemons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 init and therein perchance ubraids the Christians who in his time wrought miracles and dispossest Daemoniacks yet was early and in his Infancy initiated by his Patron Adrian a Capitolin in Marco being at eight years old made a member and afterward a Priest of the Salian Colledge of which at last he became President He carefs'd the Philosophers of that Age who most of them were studious of Magick though they would not own it having a particular dependance on that Impostor b Lucian To. 1. Pseudomant p. 493. Alexander in the expedition against the Marcomanni his Colleague Lucius Verus being a great cherisher of the Magic in his inroad into Parthia many of whom he brought with him from Babylon to Rome at his return nay so fond are the Heathen writers of this his acquaintance c Dio in M. Aurel. Claudian in 6. Honorii Consulat l. 1. vide Baron Tom. 2. an 176. p. 217 218. that they are content to falsifie the truth of the story of that Expedition to gratifie their own humor that they may Father the Famous attempt of the Legio Fulminatrix in that War some on the skill of Arnupthis a Magican of Aegypt who by invocating Mercury and other Daemons procur'd that Rain others on Julian another Magician of that Age. VI. Of Severus I must profess I can meet with no account that he either was addicted himself or cherisht others that lov'd these Arts but the d Spartian in Severo Historians tell us that he was crafty and subtle and withall very cruel and without doubt must have been acted by a very violent and extraordinary impetus or he could
〈◊〉 and so Ruffinus after S. Hierom Translates it the Passage containing a Vindication of the Catholick Doctrine against the Docetae the Followers of Simon Magus who held That our Saviour took only a fantastick body which reading the judicious c Exercit. adv Bar. 16. n. 126. Isaac Casaubon and the immortal d Comment in Mat. 18. Grotius follow III. And yet there is no impossibility in the Assertion nor is it in it self altogether improbable though e Ubi supr Casaubon doubts of it whose Dissertation on the Subject I wish that Learned Man had lived to finish were there any thing of greater Antiquity to countenance the Tradition than Anastasius Bibliothecarius For Ignatius was martyred but eight years after S. John's Death when he had sate Patriarch of Antioch thirty years says f Chronic. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â— p. 66. Eusebius thirty nine as S. Hierom reckons it forty says g P. 21. Mr. H. out of Baronius at least thirty years says our most Learned h Vindic. Epist Ignat part 2. cap. 1. p. 2. Pearson Now S. John was a Man and a Disciple when this Child was taken up into the Holy Arms of Jesus and Simeon Cleophae our Saviour's Kinsman mentioned also in the Gospel who was the Second Bishop of Jerusalem was Martyred but the year before Ignatius So that nothing could hinder but that this excellent man might have been blest with the sight of Jesus as i Of Episcopacy Sect. 34. Bishop Taylor affirms did not k T. 5. Hom. in S. Ignat. p. 503. edit Savil. S. Chrysostom contradict the Opinion expresly asserting that Ignatius never saw nor converst with Christ Of which Passage the most acute l Ubi supr c. 10. p. 120. Bishop of Chester gives his Judgment that he was ignorant on what grounds that Eloquent Father built his Assertion IV. But grant we the certainty of this Position that S. Ignatius lived in our Saviour's time and might see him yet to argue from thence that he must have been that Child that Christ set in the midst of his Disciples is a wild way of arguing there being no congruity between the passages m Id. ubi supr c. 12. p. 148. c. this latter story therefore rose from another original from a mistake of that name which was always used by Ignatius as an addition to his own viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which was changed into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so the birth of this story must be placed higher than Nicephorus who lived but a few Centuries since circ an 1300. for we find it in Simeon Metaphrastes who lived circ an 1000. and before him in Anastasius Bibliothecarius who I suppose first learnt it from the Greeks when he was a member of the eighth General Council where the great Quarrel was decided between the most accurate Critick Photius and another Ignatius whom they stiled the junior Theophorus and the Church of Rome Canoniz'd about the Patriarchate of Constantinople in which Council Photius was depos'd and this story I believe coyned to gain some greater honour to his Opponent and the accent translated from the second to the third syllable thereby quite altering the signification of the word the one signifying actively the other passively 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deum portans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à Deo portatus sic 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 matricida 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à matre occisus c. And this I the rather mention because Mr. H. though he calls the story a Fable yet always terms Ignatius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 against the use of the ancient Greeks and all Latine Translators who render it by Deifer or Deum vel crucifixum circumferens or qui Christum habet in pectore In which story what makes it most of all suspitious is that for this reason say they the Apostles made him a Bishop without laying on of hands because Christ had already laid his on him against the express testimony of S. Chrysostom Theodoret P. Foelix and other Fathers and against Reason too for had our Saviour laid his hands on him in the Rite of Confirmation as we might suppose was done Matth. 18. yet this hinders not the reiteration of the same Rite to another end and purpose in Ordination V. We are told p. 2. that Theodoret and to him might have been joined S. Chrysostom and others records that S. Peter ordained Ignatius his Successor whereas Eusebius and Dorotheus affirm that Euodius preceded him in that Chair and that it is true Ignatius was the third Bishop there if we reckon S. Peter for one but because he made a small stay there the Catalogue begins in Euodius and so ignatius is justly reckoned the second Bishop But this doth not salve the Objection how he could be ordain'd by S. Peter as his Successor and yet Euodius come between them who on all hands is acknowledged to have been Bishop of Antioch and to have dyed long before Ignatius his Name being inserted in that large interpolation of the a p. 97. ed. Uâ—â—er Epistle to the Philadelphians as also in the spâ—rious b p. 157. Epistle to the Church of Antioch which tells us of his Ordination to the Government of that See by the Apostles The first that I find bidding any thing toward a solution of this Question is c â—â—â—â—ent 〈…〉 lib. 7. c. â—6 Turrianus and out of him d Not. in Mâ—râ—yrel Feb. 1. p. 9â— 100. Baronius who inform us that on the dissention that happened at Antioch between the Jews and Gentiles hinted Galat. 2. each party had their own Bishop allotted them but on the re-union-of the Churches they were again setled under one Prelate and that during this breach Ignatius having been ordained by S. Peter and Euodius by S. Paul contrary to the e Lib. 7. c. 46. Apostolical Constitutions which say that Ignatius was S. Paul's Successor and Euodius S. Peter's on the re-union Ignatius modestly gave place to Euodius till his death and then succeeded him as Clemens being ordain'd at Rome by S. Peter did to Linus and Cletus and so was both the Second and Third Bishop of that See On this ground as I suppose the Learned f Dissert de Episcopat 4. c. 10. Dr. Hammond hath built the Opinion which I profess to embrace and which excellently solves the Question VI. Whereas in the dispersion of the Apostles the g Gal. 2.7 Gospel of the Circumcision i. the Conversion of the Jews was S. Peter's Province and that of the Uncircumcision or the Gentiles was S. Paul's accordingly they applyed themselves to the persons design'd for their peculiar Flock on which account S. Peter writes his first Catholick Epistle to the Jews disperst in the several parts of Asia whose Diocesan he properly was and not to the Gentiles and S. Paul writing to the Hebrews conceals his name lest he might be censur'd as a busie man in
Cognisance the knowledge and service of God and yet here they remain intangl'd and fetter'd as men that are ingag'd in the midst of a large Quagmire where it is impossible to go forward or retreat but the man must tarry till death deliver him or a man in a high thick and spacious Wood into which he entred with expectation of passing thorough but finds every path leading him into the thickest part of it wanders a while but not being able to extricate himself sits down and becomes an Inhabitant of the Forest or like one in a Labyrinth into which seeing but one way to enter fancies his return easie but when he hath past into the innermost part of it and a while admir'd the wonderful variety and wisdome of the Apparatus and the many pretty passages and is willing to return finds himself lost in those Mazes and his escape impossible but there is no Labyrinth so full of unintelligible windings nor Wood so thick nor Quagmire that so fastens a man as the perswasions of those Philosophers if once they take possession of the mind But lest that might befal me that fatally afflicts many he acquainted me not with one particular Systeme of Philosophy but led me through all the several Schools of those Dogmatists that I might be ignorant of none of their Opinions but he still went before me guided and led me and demonstrated to me what was Fallacy and Sophisme and meant to deceive like an expert Master in the Art to whom nothing happens unexpected who standing on the shore reaches out his hand to save those that are drowning Thus among the Assertions of every Philosopher he selected and communicated to me whatever was veracious and useful especially what related to Piety but condemned all false positions He advised me not to be curious and industrious in such small things though I might on that account be reputed the wisest of men but that my chiefest converse should be with God and his holy Prophets while he explained whatever was obscure and aenigmatical in their writings as many things are in the holy Scriptures whether it were God's pleasure so to talk with men that the naked and plain truth might not be committed to the breast of an unworthy Soul as many are or that though all the Divine Oracles are in their own nature most perspicuous and intelligible yet are become difficult and dark to us who have apostatiz'd from God and forgotten our duty I cannot tell But he being a most acute and intelligent Auditor of God illustrated all those obscure passages as if there were nothing naturally unintelligible in those writings to him who alone of all men that either I know or have heard of by his constant Meditations on those pure and illuminating Oracles is able to comprehend them in his own mind and instil them into others For that great Guardian and Governour of all men who inspired the Prophets whom God loved with their Predictions and mystical and divine discourses honour'd him so as to constitute him their peculiar Interpreter explaining by him what was revealed only in Parables to others who being most faithful and veracious either powerfully commanded or demonstrated those things bestowing on this man the gift of Invention and Explanation that if any person were of a rough and incredulous temper or else desirous to be informed being a Scâ—olar to him he might be compell'd to understand and believe and to follow God Nor could he so express himself had not the Spirit of God communicated it self to him for there is need of the same power and assistances for the Prophets and their Auditors nor can any man understand a Prophet unless the same Spirit that gave the Prophecy confer on him the gift of understanding it and so says the holy Scripture that he only that shuts can open and no man else Now when the Aenigmata of Scripture are expounded then what is shut is open'd this excellent gift hath Heaven bestowed on this great Man to be God's Interpreter to the Sons of Adam both to understand the Coelestial Oracles as they are spoken and to declare them to men that they may know them Therefore nothing was abstruse hidden or difficult to me but I was fitted to dive into all things and with all imaginable liberty to search and experiment all sorts of Learning of the Greeks or Barbarians Mystical or Politick Divine or Humane that I might satisfie my Soul with good things which whether you will call it an ancient Lesson of Truth or by any other name in him I did enjoy an admirable and full plenty of the most beautiful things And that I may comprehend all in a few words he was to me a Garden that emblem'd Paradise in which my employment was not to cultivate this inferior earth and to pamper my body but to embellish and adorn my nobler part with the truest sensuality and voluptuousness like so many beautiful trees either planted by my own industry or by the hand of God this was the Garden of true pleasure here did I indulge to my delights and genuine satisfactions with which for no small time I was ravish'd which yet will appear to be very short if this day when I must be gone from hence shall put a period to my fruitions For I know not whether my deserts or misfortune enforce me to this departure or expulsion I am unacquainted with fit expressions to describe my state in more than that I like another Adam am turn'd out of Paradise How happily did I live under the instructions of so good a Master and how ought I now to hold my peace I then learn'd in silence but is not this a prodigy that the Master should become a Pupil but why should I use these words my duty and my interest oblige me to persevere not to desert such studies And is not this my crime an imitation of that first transgression and do not the same punishments wait for me am I not refractory and rebellious against the commandments of God when I should continue in mine obedience but because I depart so shunning this happy life as the first man did the face of God returning to the earth out of which I was taken dust shall I eat all the days of my life and be sentenc'd to till that ground that will produce nothing but bryars and thorns that is cares and griefs and troubles and shame and to return to the earth whence I came to the house of my father and my worldly kindred deserting that country which I would not apprehend to be the true place of my nativity and those relations who were the greatest friends of my soul and my fathers house where the parent is reverenc'd and honor'd by all his genuine sons but I unworthily and dirtily turn my eyes backward and desert my felicity We read of a child Luk. 15.12 that having received his portion went into a far country and there intemperately spent and squandered