own murtherer l. 2. c. 7. Plinus secundus the Christians great friend l. 3. c. 30. Polycarpus's nobility and Constancy untill death l. 4. c. 15. Pothinus dyed in prison l. 5. c. 1. Polycrates of the death of John and Philip the Apostles l. 3. c. 28. A Proclamation against the Christians l. 6. c. 40. Priests sedition among themselves about Tythes l. 2. c. 20. R. ROman Empire prosperous whâ—…le the Christians injoyed their Liberty in it l. 8. c. 14. S. SAnctus's constancy and Martyrdom l. 5. c. 1 Concerning the Scriptures l. 5. c. 28. Sects among the Jews l. 4. 21. Simeon the Bishops Martyrdom l. 3. 29. Simon Magus the 〈◊〉 l. 2. c. 13. The Church of Sâ—…yrna's Epistle to other Churches l. 4. c. 15. A Synod summoned to Rome l. 10. c. 5. T. THaddaeus cured King Agbarus but would receive no money for his cure nor for his preaching l. 1. c. 14. Theodisia a virgins suffering l. 8. c. 25. Theudas the soycerer beheaded l. 2. c. 11. V. VAlerianus was at the first mild and gentle towards the Christians but afterwards he became exceeding cruell l. 7. c. 6. Urbanus a cauel persecutor fell into great misery l. 8. c. 25. Y. YOung and Old were injoynd to Sacrifice unto the Gods of the Heathens l. 8. c. 27. Hoc genus literarum non cum credendi necessitate sed cum judicandi libertate legendum est This kind of Writings is to be read not with a necessity of believing them but with a liberty to judge of them The First BOOK OF EUSEBIUS PAMPHILUS The Definition of a Christian. EUSEBIUS saith in his first Book of his Ecclesiastical History in the fifth Chapter That he that will express the Name of a Christian must be such a Man as excelleth through the Knowledge of Christ and his Doctrine in modesty and righteousness of Mind in continency i. e. chastity of Life in vertuous Fortitude i. e. Srength and in Confession of sincere Piety i. e. Godliness towards the one and the only universal God Of the Martyrdom of John Baptist and the Testimony of Josephus touching Christ. In the 12th Chap. of the aforesaid Book Euseb. speaking of Iohn Baptist Relates how that when divers flocked together for many greatly delighted in hearing of him Herod fearing least that so forcible a Power of persuading which was with him should lead the People into a certain Rebellion he supposed it far better to bereave him of his Life before any Novelty were by him put in use than that change with danger being come in place he should repent him and say Had I wist Thus Iohn because of Herod's suspicion was sent toward and there beheaded In the same Chapter he repeats what Iosephus wrote of Christ saying there was at that time one Jesus A wise Man if it be lawful to call him a Man a worker of Miracles a Teacher of them that received the Truth with gladness he drew after him many as well of the Jews as Gentiles This same was Christ and though Pilate by the Judgment of the chief Rulers amongst us delivered him to be Crucified yet there wanted not them which from the beginning loved him Of him the Christian People borrow their Name The Epistle of King Agbarus unto Iesus Christ. Agbarus Governour of Edessa unto Jesus the good Saviour shewing himself in Ierusalem sendeth greeting I have heard of thee and thy Cures which thou hast done without Medicines Herbes For as the Report goeth thou makest the Blind to see the Lame to go the Lepers thou cleansest foul Spirits and Devils thou castest out the long diseased thou restorest to Health and raisest the Dead to Life When that I heard these things of thee I imagined with my self one of these two things either that thou art God come from Heaven and dost these things or the Son of God that bringest such things to pass wherefore by these my Letters I beseech thee to take the pains to come unto me and that thou wilt cure this my grievous Malady i. e. Disease or Sickness wherewith I am sore vexed I have heard moreover that the Jews murmur against thee and go about to mischief thee I have here a little City and an Honest which will suffice us both The Epistle of Christ unto Agbarus Agbarus blest art thou because thou hast believed in me when thou sawest me not for it is written of me that they which see me shall not believe in me that they which see me not may believe and be saved Concerning that that thou wrotest unto me that I should come unto thee I let thee understand that all things touching my Message are here to be fulfilled and after the fulfilling thereof I am to return again unto him that sent me but after my Assumption i. e. taking up I will send one of my Disciples unto thee which shall cure thy Malady and restore Life to thee and them that be with thee Unto these Epistles there was a Narration added in the Syrian Tongue which sheweth how that after Jesus Ascention there was one of his Disciples sent to the City where Agbarus resided and when the King heard of him he sent for him and when Thaddaeus the Disciple and one of the 70 heard the Message he said I go for it is for his sake that I am sent thus mightily to work And when he was come to the King he asked him saying Art thou of Truth a Disciple of Jesus the Son of God which made me this Promise I will send unto thee one of my Disciples which shall cure thy Disease and shall shew Life unto thee and all thine To whom Thaddaeus made Answer because thou hast greatly believed in the Lord Jesus which sent me therefore am I sent unto thee but in case that thou believest in him as yet thy hearty Petitions according unto thy Faith thou shalt obtain To whom Agbarus said I have continued so believing in him that I could have found in my Heart mightily to destroy the Jews which Crucified him were not the Roman Empire a lett unto my purpose Thad said again our Lord and God Jesus Christ fulfilled the Will of his Father which being finished he is ascended unto him Agb. Answered and I have believed in him and in his Father To whom Thad replies therefore in the Name of the same Lord â—…esu I lay my Hand upon thee which when he had done he was forthwith cured of his Malady and delivered of the Pain that pressed him sore Agbarus marvelled at this that even as it was reported to him of Jesu so in Truth by his Disciple and Apostle Thad without Apothecary Stuff and vertue of Herbs he was cured with many more So afterwards Agb being desirous to know many things concerning Christ he Commanded his Citizens to be gathered together to hear the Sermon of Thaddaeus which being ended the King charged that Gold coined and uncoined should be given him
any should fall from the Faith daily there were apprehended such as were worthy to fulfil the number of the Faln Weaklings so that out of both these Churches as many as Ruled and bore the greatest sway were taken and Executed and also certain of the Ethnicks i. e. Heathens being our Servants were taken for the President had commanded publickly a General Inquisition to be made for us who being overcome by the subtil slights of Satan and terrified with the sights of the Torments which the Saints suffered through the perswasion of the Souldiers feigned against us and reported that we used the feastings of Thiestes and the Incest of Oedinus with divers other Crimes which may neither Godlyly be thought upon neither with modesty be uttered neither without Impiety be believed These things now being Bruited or reported abroad every body almost was moved and incensed against us insomuch that they which for familiarity sake used moderation before now were exceedingly moved and mad with us great then was the rage both of People President and Souldiers against the Martyrs And among the rest there was a woman called Blandina by whom Christ shewed that those things which in the sight of men appear vile base and Contemptible deserve great glory with God for the true Love they bear to him indeed without boasting in shew For when as we all Quaked for fear yea and her carnall Mistress which also was one of the persecuted Martyrs was very careful least that peradventure at the time of her Answer by reason of the frailty of the Flesh She would not persevere Constant Yet she was so replenished from above with Grace that the Executioners which Tormented her by turns from morning to night Fainted for weariness and ceased confessing themselves overcome and that they were no longer able to Plague her with any more Punishments c. For she like a noble wrestler was nenewed at her Confession for as it is reported of her as oft as she pronounced I am a Christian neither have we Committed any Evil She was recreated refreshed and felt not Pain of her Punishment Sanctus also bare nobly and valliantly yea above the Nature of man all such vexations as man could devise his Constancy was so great that he uttered neither his own Name neither his Kindred neither the Country whence he was nor whether he were Bond or Free but unto every Question he answered in the Roman tongue I am a Christian. This confessed he often instead of all other things of his Name and City and Kindred neither could the Gentiles get any other Language of him wherefore the President and the Tormentors were feircely set against him and when as now there remained scarce any Punishment unpractised at length they applyed unto the tenderest parts of his Body Plates of Brass Glowing Hot which â—…ryed Scared and Scoarched his Body yet he remained unmovable nothing amazed and constant in his confession being strengthened and moistened with the Dew which fell from the Celestial that is Heavenly Fountain of the Water of Life Over all his Body his Flesh was wounded his Members bescarred his Sinews shrunk so that the Natural shape and outward hew was quite changed And when as the wicked Tormentors a few days after had brought him to the place of Torment and well hoped that if they punished him now they should overcome him and prevail or if that he dyed in Torment they should terrifie the rest and so warn them to take heed None of all these things happned unto him but beyond all mens expectation in the latter Torments his Body was released of the pain recovered the former shape as it is recorded of him and the Members were restored to their former use so that the second Plague through the Grace of Christ was no grievous malady i. e. disease but present Medicine Again Satan going about Blasphemously to slander us procured Biblis a woman one of them which had fainted before to be brought forth supposing her frail and fearful mind now to be quite altered from the Christian Opinion consequently through her Blasphemous denial to be in danger of Damnation But she at the very hour of Torment returned unto her self and waking as it were out of a dead sleep by means of these Punishments Temporal considered of the pains of Eternal Fire and unlooked for cryed out unto the Tormentors and said How could they devour Infants which were not suffered to touch the Blood of Bruite Beasts Therefore when she confessed her self a Christian she was appointed to take her chance among the Martyrs Afterwards the Saints were Imprisoned in deep and dark Dungeons and were fettered in the Stocks and their Feet stretched unto the fifth boord chink with other Punishments which furious Ministers or Goaâ—…ers full of devilish rage are wont to put in ure i. e. use and practise upon poor Prisoners so that many were stifled and strangled in Prison And when many of the Saints were so weakned with grievous Torments that life seemed unto them unpossible they remaining shut up in close Prisons destitute of all mans aid yet even then were they Comforted of the Lord and confirmed in Body and mind so that they stirred up and Comsorted the rest several of the younger sort that were newly apprehended whose bodys had not before tasted of the lash of the whip loathed the closeness of the Prison and were choked up with stinch And Pothinus Bishop of Lyons being above four score and ten years old weak of Body scarce able to draw breath because of the Imbecillity i. e. Feebleness or Weakness of Nature he was carried of the Souldiers and laid before the Tribunal i. e. Iudgment seat accompanied with the Potentates i. e. Princes or great Rulers of the City and the whole multitude diversly shouting as if he had been Christ he hath given a good Testimony And being asked of the President who was the God of the Christians he answered If thou become worthy thou sholt understand After this answer he was cruelly handled and suffered many stripes for such as were nearest to him struck at him both with hand and foot and such as stood afar off look what each one had in his hand that was thrown at his head and such as ceased from pouring out their poisoned malice thought themselves to have grievously offended supposing by this means to avenge the ruine of their rotten Gods Afterwards he was cast into Prison where after two days he departed this life Moreover as many as fainted in the first persecution were all alike imprisoned and Partakers of the affliction neither did they prevail or the denial profit them it was thought sufficient Fault that they confessed to have been such but these as Murtherers and hainous Trespassers were twice more grievously plagued The joy of Martyrdom the hoped promises the love towards Christ and the fatherly Spirit comforted the one Company The other were vexed in Conscience so
will lead a Life agreeable to the Gospel I being of late at Ancira in Galatia found the Church through Pontus not with Prophets as they call them but rather as it shall be proproved with Falâ—…e Prophets where through the Lord as much as in me lay I disputed in the Chuhch the space of many Days against them and their several Objections so that the Church rejoiced and was thereby confirmed in the Truth but the contrary Part yet repined and the Gainsayers were very sorrowful It is written of Montanus that he was puffed up with an immoderate Desire of Primacy i. e. Chief Authority opened a Gap for the Adversary to enter into him and being mad and estranged suddenly and bereft of his Wits waxed furious and published strange Doctrine contrary to the Tradition and ancient Custom of ancient Succession now received under the Name of Prophecy they which then were Auditors of this unlawful Preaching some chastised and checked him for a Lunatick i. e. one possed with Lunacy who at certain times of the Moon is distracted in his Wits and one that was possessed with the Spirit of Errours and forbad him to Preach being mindful of the Forewarnings and Threatnings of our Saviour tending to this end that we should take diligent heed of False Prophets Others waxed insolent i. e. proud and boasted and bragged of him not a little as if he had been endued with the Holy Ghost and Gift of Prophecy so that through disobedient Persons he came to be more honoured than his Merit did require And two Women being possessed of a foul Spirit spoke fond foolish and fantastical things even as he had before and they gloried and rejoiced in that Spirit which pronounced them happy and puffed them up with infinite fair Promises yet sometimes by Signs and Tokens he rebuked them to their faces so that he seemed a chastising Spirit There were few of the Phrygians seduced notwithstanding that bold and blind Spirit instructed them to blaspheme and revile generally every Church under Heaven because they neither did Homage i. e. a servile Ceremony of some Tenants which by Duty they owe to their Lords neither courteously received among them that false Spirit of Prophecy Those things he wrote in his first Book and in his second Book he writeth thus of their Ends These say they are the Prophets which the Lord promised to send his People Let them answer me I charge them in the Name of the Living God O ye Good People Is there any of the Sect of Montanus and these Women which have been persecuted by the Jews or put to death by any Tyrant Not one of them bearing the Name was either apprehended or crucified neither was their any Woman of them in the Synagogues of the Jews either scourged or stoned at all but Montanus and Maximilla are said to die ' another kind of Death Moreover when the Bishops went about to rebuke the Spirit which spoke in Maximilla they were hindred by others that wrought by the same Spirit saying Let not the Spirit of Maximilla say I am chased as a Wolf from the Sheep I am no Wolf I am the Word the Spirit and Power but let him manifestly express the power by the Spirit and prevail Apollonius against the Montanists He wrote in this manner saying But what kind of New Doctrine this is his Works and Doctrine do declare This is he which taught the breaking of Wedlock i. e. Marriage this is he which prescribed Laws of Fasting This is he which called Pâ—…puza and Tymium pelting Parishes of Phrygia Jerusalem to the end he might entice all Men from every where to frequent thither This is he which first ordained Tollgatherers and Taxers of Money this is he which under pretence and colour of Oblations hath cunningly invented the Art of Bribing this is he who giveth great hire unto the Preachers of his Doctrine that by feeding of the Paunch his Prophecies may prevail Moreover he addeth saying Doth not the whole Scripture forbid that a Prophet should receive Rewards and Money When I see a Prophetess receive gold and silver and goodly Garments how can I chuse but detest her Again of another he saith And besides these Themison also inflamed with the burning Thirst of Covetousness tasted not of the tart Cognisance of Confession before the Tyrant but shuffled himself out of Fetters with much Money And whenas therefore he should have humbled himself yet he all in bragery as if he were a Martyr i. e. one that died for Righteousness sake after the example of the Apostle wrote a Catholick i. e. Universal or General Epistle very presumptuously to instruct them which believed better than himself and to exhort them to strive with him for this New Doctrine and to revile the Lord and his Apostles and his holy Church Again speaking of one of their highly esteemed Martyrs he writes in this sort And that we trouble not our selves with many let the Prophetess tell us touching Alexander who called himself a Martyr with whom she hath banqueted whom also many do adore i. e. worship whose Thefts and other heinous Crimes which he suffered for I will not presently rehearse for they are publickly known and registred Whose Sins hath he pardoned Whether doth a Prophet yield theft unto a Martyr or a Martyr an immoderate Desire of gathering unto a Prophet For as when Christ commanded You shall not possess Gold neither Silver neither two Goats these on the contrary seek after the Possession of unlawful Substance for they whom they call Prophets and Martyrs have extorted Money i. e. wrested it from people per force not only of the Rich but of the Poor the Fatherless and Widows But if they plead innocency let them stay and join with us in the issue in the matter upon this condition that if they be overthrown at leastwise from henceforth they will cease to commit the like Sin again The Fruits of the Prophets are to be tried the Tree is to be known by its Fruit. And that the case of Alexander may be known of such as desire it he was condemned at Ephesus by Aemilius Frontinus not for his Profession but for his presumptuous and bold enterprised Theft being a lewd Person And then with a false pretence of Christian Profession seducing the faithful of that place he was pardoned and set at liberty Again in another place he writeth of their Prophets thus If they deny their Prophets to have been Bribers let them affirm it conditionally that if it be proved they be no longer Prophets For all the Works of a Prophet are necessarily to be proved Tell me I beseech ye Is it seemly for a Prophet to painthimself in Colours Is it seemly for a Prophet to smooth himself with the white glittering Stibiâ—… i. e. A certain Stone which maketh the Skin look very fair when it is rubbed with it Is it seemly for a Prophet to pinch and gingerly to
me because of the Sorrow of my Heart Wo is me that my Soul is thus afflicted wo is me that I am compassed thus on every side and shut up in my Sin and that there is no Health in me Wo is me O Mother that ever thou broughtest me forth for a skilful Lawyer to be overthrown in his unrighteous Dealing for a religious Man to fall into extream Impiety i. e. Ungodliness Wo is me O Mother which broughtest me forth a righteous man to be conversant in unrighteousness an Heir of the Kingdom of God but now an Inheritor of the Kingdom of the Devil a perfect Man yet a Priest found wallowing in Impiety a Man beautified with Honour and Dignity yet in the end blemished with Shame and Ignominy i. e. Infamy a Man beset with many Evils and choaked with infamous Doings Wo is me O Mother which broughtest me forth as an high and lofty Turret i. e. Tower yet suddenly turned down to the Ground as a fruitful Tree yet quickly withered as a burning Light yet forthwith darkened as a running Fountain yet by and by dried up Wo is me that ever I was bedecked with all Gifts and Graces and now seem pitifully deprived of all But who will minister moisture unto the Temples of my Head and who will give streams of Tears unto my Eyes that I may bewail my self in this my sorrowful plight i. e. estate Alas O Priesthood how shall I bewail thee Alas O Ministry how shall I lament thee O all you my Friends tender you my case pity my Person in that I am dangerously wounded Pity me all ye my Friends in that I am now become an abject Person i. e. a Cast-away or one cast down in mind almost desperate Pity me O ye my Friends in that I have now trodden under-foot the Seal and Cognisance i. e. notable Token of my Profession and joined in League i. e. Peace Truce or Friendship with the Devil Pity me O ye my Friends in that I am rejected and cast away from the Face of God It is for my lewd Life that I am thus polluted and noted with open shame Bewail me whom the Angels have bewailed bewail me whom the Saints have bewailed bewail me O all ye Nations under Heaven in that I am fallen from my Glory The Lord hath made and engrafted me a fruitful Vine but instead of pleasant clustered Grapes I have brought forth pricking Thorns Bewail me also for that instead of Grapes I have brought forth Brambles Alas what have I felt and how am I fallen Alas how am I thus come to naught There is no Sorrow comparable unto my Sorrow there is no affliction that exceedeth my affliction there is no bitterness that passeth my bitterness there is no Lamentation more lamentable than mine neither is there any Sin greater than my Sin and there is no salve for me Alas that ever I was Doctor and now occupy not the room of a Disciplâ—… Thou knowest O Lord that I fell against my Will whenas I went about to enlighten others I darkened my self when I endeavoured to bring others from death to life I brought my self from life to death When I minded to present others before God I presented my self before the Devil when I desired to be found a Friend and a Favourer of Godliness I was found a Foe and a Furtherer of Iniquity When that I set my self against the Assemblies of the wicked and reproved their Doings there found I shame and the most pestilent Wound of the Devil When that I was ignorant and unskilful in the divers slights of strivers which commonly entrap men I allured and exhorted them to the knowledge of the Son of God wherefore after much sifting they promised me unhappy man crafty Conveyances to avoid the Subtilty of Satan But after that I departed from them the Devil in the same night transformed himself into an Angel of Light and reasoned with me saying When thou art up in the morning go on and perswade them and bring them to God if they demand ought of thee if in case they condescend and hearken unto thee do It and cease not staggering nothing at the matter to the end many may be saved And again the Devil going before to prepare the way whetted their Wits to devise mischief against me silly Wretch and sowed in their Minds Hypocrisie Dissimulation and Deceit But I O unhappy Creature skipping out of my Bed at the dawning of the day could not finish my wonted Devotion neither accomplish my usual Prayer but wishing that all men might be saved and come unto the knowledge of the Truth folded and wrapped my self in the snares of the Devil I got me unto the wicked I required of them to perform the Covenant made the night before O blinded Heart how didst thou not remember O foolish Mind how didst thou not bethink thy self O witless Brain how didst thou not understand O thou Sense of Understanding where didst thou sleep But it was the Devil which provoked thee to slumber and sleep and in the end slew thy unhappy and wretched Soul He bound my Power and Might and spoiled me of my Knowledge he bound my Power and Might and wounded me I answered but in word and became reproachfully defamed I spake without malice yet felt a spight The Devil raised an Assembly about me and pronounced against me that unjust Sentence ORIGEN hath Sacrificed O thou Devil what hast thou done unto me How hast thou wounded me I bewailed sometime the Fall of Sampson but now have I felt a far worse my self I bewailed heretofore the Fall of Solomon yet now am I fallen far worse my self I have bewailed heretofore the State of all Sinners yet now have I plunged in them all Sampson had the Hair of his Head clipped and cropped off but the Crown of Glory is fallen off from my Head Samson lost the carnal Eyes of his Body but my spiritual Eyes are digged out It was the Wiliness of a Womon that brought him to his Confession but it was my own Tongue that brought me to this sinful Fall And even as he wanted after that the loss of his earthly Possession so my Tongue having bolted out this wicked Saying deprived me of the spiritual Gifts which sometimes have flowed with Heavenly Riches And even as he being severed from the Israelites and cleaving unto Foreigners endured these things so I going about to save notorious Sinners brought my self Captive unto Captives and the Bond-slave of Sin Alas my Church liveth yet am I a Widdower alas my Sons be alive yet am I barren Alas every Creature rejoiceth and I alone am forsaken and sorrowful Alas O Church wherein I was gladsome Alas O Seat wherein I sate full merry Alas O Spirit which heretofore camest down upon me why hast thou forsaken me I am forsaken and become desolate because of the Corruption and Filth of mine Iniquity Bewail me that am deprived of all Godliness bewail me O ye blessed People
death then did they begin to Rack Torture and put to death such as resisted and some were constrained to offer This Persecution hegun as a little sparke but it spread over the whole Church and the Persecution was so hot and great that the Persecutors themselves were troubled if not wearyed In Syria there was so many of the Chritians in hold that their Prisons were filled with them and with joy they went unbound to their death Eusebius Writes how that many of the Christians had their Ears cut off and their Noses slit and other of their Members were cut off also but they who caused it to be thus done unto the Christians did not escape the Hand of the Lord For Diocletianus who had endeavoured to root out the Name of Christians did nevertheless see in his Old Age that the Christians flourished at which he was troubled and killed himself and Maximinianus another Persecutor was terribly perplexed with Pain in his Bowels and other Misery which came upon him the Hand of the Lord was heavy upon others who had Persecuted the Christians yea and some was made to confess that they had deserved the Iudgement from the Hand of the Lord. Note As the Christians were then much prejudiced by their external Prosperity and Preferment so have many Thousands been Since And it's like the most of the Sects that are yet in being among the Christians may experience somthing of this to wit that their great external liberty and Prosperity in the flesh with their Promotion and Preferment in the World hath been a great Snare unto them as it was unto the Antient Christians who afterwards felt the Chastizing hand of the Lord and if all wanton Persecuting Christians in Europe and all the World over felt the same it might I am perswaded be good for the humbling of them who have exalted themselves higher then ever the Lord exalted them and so are become Haughty and insolent the Brotherly Love being Extinguished and so have set up an Usurpation of Authority in matters of Religion concerning the Worship of God But Oh will not the Lord visit for these things will he not avenge his Soul of such Hypocritical Anti Christians who are now found Persecuting and shamefully intreating the Lambs of God with whom in those latter days Prisons have been filled and some of them have had their Ears cut off and the Lives of others have been taken away and that by professing but Persecuting Christians who have run on in their Blind Zeal in Persecuting the Innocent and Harmless Christians and sometime the remakeable hand of the Lord hath been upon their Persecutors though others have not laid it to Heart yet they that have felt it have Mourned under it and therefore true is that saying Qui ante non cavet post dolebit The Eleventh Persecution IN the year 316 did the Eleventh Persecution of the Christians arise under the Emperour Licinius who formerly had been inclining to the Christians and a favourer of them yet afterwards did he Imitate the Wickedness and Impiety of other Tyrants for he by his Injunctions gave Commandment that no Charrity should be extended to the Christians for they that shewed them favour were to be Punished like the rest In this Persecution the Bodies of some were cut in small pieces and thrown into the Sea for to feed the Fish And the flattering Presidents to gratify this Tyrant Tormented such as had done no Evil even as if they had been Murtherers but when the Emperour Constantine could bear his Wickedness no longer he made War with him and overcame him then did this Persecution cease by whose means also the Christians lived in External Peace and Tranquillity but after this Peace there ensued Wars and deadly hatred among the Christians themselves Note Many were the Tribulations of the Antient Christians during the time of these Persecutions whereof I writ howbeit it is very like that then true Brotherly Love abounded among them and that they had a perfect fellow feeling of one anothers Sufferings for their Hearts was bound up in the bond of Love while they were kept in the unity of the Faith and exercised together in the fellowship of the sufferings of the Gospel But when these profitable Chastizments ceased and that they who succeeded in the places of those Persecutors became the great Friends and Favourers of the Christians so that they thereby came to enjoy external Peace ease in the Flesh and liberty in the outward How soon then did they Entertain Prejudice and Evil surmizing one against another how then did they begin to rend and tear one another and that often about their Bishopricks an Benefects How then did they run into Sects heaps and Partys and how did they weary the Emperour their special Friend with their complaints one against another and with the perpetul strife and division that superabounded among them To demonstrate these things at large would require a greater Volum then I intend to make at this time and particularly to prescribe them would ask more time then at present I have to spend about this matter yet thus much I may avouch or boldly affirm that in those days many evils crept in among Christians which unto this day could not be totally excluded root and Branch And about that very time when the Church was thought to Flourish most of all did many hurtful Weeds and degenerat Plants took rooting which have much more thriven and grown among the Anti-Christians then the Seed of the Kingdom which Seed hath been so overgrown and overtopt that that little which yet thereof remains is as hard to be found now in the Children of Men as Faith wili be to be found upon the Earth at the coming of the Son of Man The Twelfth Persecution IN the year 362 did the Twelfth Persecution arise under the Emperour Julianus the Apostate i. e. one that revolted from true Religion who had been accounted a Christian but was an Hyprocritical dissembler and counterfeated a Monkish life who being sent into France by the Emperour to make War with the Barbarians and obtaining some notable Victories was afterwards Proclaimed Emperour by the Souldiers and then did he set wide open the Temples and Idoll groves and Sacrificed to Pictures and Intituled himself an High Priest Then the Pagans at Alexandria stomaked the Christians and that the more because they went about to disclose unto the World the Pagans Pictures to the end their fond Ceremonies might be derided of all Men Whereupon they Boyled within themselves for Anger and took what first came to their Hands set upon them and Slew of them every kind of way so that some were run through with Swords some others Brained with Clubs other some Stoned to Death some Strangled with Haltors about their Necks in the end as commonly it falleth out in such hurly-burlies they held not their Hands from their dearest Friends for one Brother sought the other Brothers Life
indicting himself for this Fact and pleading Guilty when the blood of thy Martyr Stephen was shed I also was standing by and consenting unto his death and kept the Raiment of them that Slew him Acts 22. 20. God chiefly inspects the Heart and if the Vote be passed there writes the man Guilty though he stur no farther in all moral Actions God values the will for the deed the storm thus increased apace and a violent persecution began to arise in which our Apostle was a prime Agent and Minister Raging about in all Parts with a mad and ungoverned Zeal searching for the Saints beating some imprisoning others and procuring them to be put to death indeed he was a kind of Inquisitor imployed to hunt and find out these upstart Hereticks accordingly took a Warrant and Commission to go down to Damascus in fury and a misguided Zeal whether many of those persecuted Christians had fled for shelter but God who had designed him for a work of another nature and separated him from his Mother's womb to the Preaching of the Gospel stopt him in his journey as Acts 22. 9. and he fell unto the ground and heard a voice saying Saul Saul why Persecutest thou me and he went to Damascus another man from a Persecutor he became one of the Persecuted from hence he Traveled to Arabia and spent three years in the Ministery there and then retunned to Damascus a great and populus City from hence he went to Ierusalem and converst with Peter and Iames it was at Antioch about the beginning of Claudious's Reign ten years after Christ's Ascension where the Desiples was first called Christians being usually stiled before Nazarens from Jerusalem he set Sail to Cyprus and planted Christianity there and now the Old Spirit of the Iews did begin to hunt and persue them who coming from Antioch and Iconium exasperated and stired up the multitude and they who just before accounted them as Gods used them not only worse then men but slaves for in a mighty Rage they fell upon Paul stoned him and as they thought Dead and then drag'd him out of the City where the Christians of that place coming probable to Inter him he suddenly Revived and Rose up among them and the next day went hence to Debe and so Traveled to several places to Confirm the new planted Church he was Imprisoned and Ill-used at Phylippi His Parents were Tent Makers by Trade Preaching Christ at Jerusalem Italy Spain Labouring much among the Gentiles suffered at Rome under Nero as he was leading to Execution it is said Three of the Soulders that Guarded him seeing his Courage become Christians and suffered Death he kneeled down and his head strucken off with a Sword as some write in the 68 year of his Age and was buried with Peter The description of his Person He was a Man said to be of Low and tittle Stature and somewhat stooping his Complection fair his Countenance grave his head small his Eyes carried a kind of beauty and sweetness in them that he was Low himself plainly intimates when he tells us they were wont to say of him that his bodily person was weak and his speech contemptable in which respect he is stiled by Chrysostom a Man Three Cubits or a little more than four Foot high and yet tall enough to reach Heaven The Life of Andrew HIstory which hath hitherto been very Large and Copius in describing the Acts of the two first Apostles is hence forward very sparing in its accounts giving us only now and then a few oblique and accidental Remarks concerning the Rest and some of them no farther mentioned than the meer recording of their Names for what Reason it pleased the divine Wisdom and Providence that no more of their Acts should be consigned to writing by the Pen Men of Old is to us unknown Andrew was Born at Bethsaida a City of Galile standing upon the bank of the Lake of Genesareth Son to John or Jonas a Fisher-man of that Town Brother he was to Simon Peter he had Scythia and the Neighbouring Country primary alloted him for his Provinces first then he Traveled through Cappadocia Galatia and Bithynia and Instructed them in the Faith of Christ. Passing all along the Euxine Seas formerly called Axenus from the Barbarous and Inhospitable temper of the People who were wont to sacrificed strangers and of their Skulls make Cups to drink in at their Feasts and Banquets he was brought before the Proconsul who perswaded him that he would not foolishly destroy himself but live and injoy with him the pleasures of this Life the Apostle after many more words replyed that now he saw it was in vain any longer to deal with him a person incapable of sober Counsel and hardened in his on blindness and folly he might now do his worst and if he had one Torment greater than another he might heap that upon him the greater constancy he shewed in his suffering for Christ the more acceptable he should be to his Lord and Master the Procounsul first Commanded him to be scourged seven lashes successively whipping his naked body and seeing his invincable patience and constancy Commanded him to be Crucified but not to be fastned to the Cross with Nails but Cords that so his death might be the more lingering and tedious as he was led to Execution to which he went with a chearful and composed mind the People Cried out that he was an innocent and good Man being come within sight of the Cross he saluted it with this kind adress that he had long desired and expected that happy hour thus having prayed and exhorted the People to constancy and perceverance in that Relgion he was fastned to the Cross whereon he hung two days teaching and instructing the People all the time and when great importunities in the mean while was used to the Proconsul to spare his Life he earnestly begs of the Lord that he might at this time depart and seal the Truth of his Religion with his blood God heard his prayers and he immediately expired in the 9th month though in what year no certain account can be Recorded his Body being taken down and Embalmed was decently and honourably Interred by Maximilla a Woman of great Quality and Estate JAMES The Son of Zebede a Fisher-man by Birth a Galilean suppos'd to be one of the Brethren that their Mother asked that one might sit at the right hand and the other at the left hand of Jesus in his Kingdom he Preach't Christ unto the 12 Tribes some write that he came to Spain and other Western parts and also Britain Ireland he was slain with a Sword by Herod the Tetrach of the Jews in Judaea where he was buried JOHN The Brother of James by Birth a Galilean Preach't Christ in Asia coming near Rome was accused to the Emperor as an Assertor of Athesim and Subvertor of the Religion of the Empire whereupon he was sent bound to Rome and put into a Coldron