Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

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mercy_n	beg_v	gracious_a	great_a	64	3	2.0994	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A27390	Constantius the Apostate being a short account of his life and the sense of the primitive Christians about his succession and their behaviour toward him : wherein is shown the unlawfulness of excluding the next heir upon the account of religion, and the necessity of passive obedience, as well to the unlawfull oppressour, as the legal persecutour : being a full answer to a late pamphlet intituled Julian the Apostate, &c.	Bennet, John, d. 1686.	1683 (1683)	Wing B1884; ESTC R24199	39,779	97

prevail with them to attempt it 'T would be easie here to answer all the pretended Arguments and Authorities Mr. Iohnson brings to prove the contrary actions of the Primitive Christians toward Iulian but I suppose the Reader remembers what has been already said of them particularly in the Preface so that I shall not need to trouble him or my self with a repetition But I shall hasten to give an Account of their Behaviour toward Constantius and leave the world to judge whether it be not more agreeable to the Gospel than that which Mr. Iohnson falsely scandalizes the Christians under Iulian with and consequently fittest for our imitation CHAP. III. Their Behaviour towards Him in Words 'T IS a strange account Mr. Iohnson gives us of the Christians behaviour towards their Emperour though a Persecutour and an Apostate for railing is certainly so far from being Evangelical that it is contrary to the Principles of common breeding But perhaps these were some of those unhappy people the Emperour had interdicted the benefit of going to School to and now he deservedly found the effect of his cruelty But then he ought to have told us so and not to have laid it down in such general terms as if it were the approv'd practice of the whole Church This is the strangest injustice to that famous age imaginable and onely exposing those examples one would think by the end of his book he designs we should imitate for from the scope of his Book I can conclude nothing but this viz. That he intends to give us an account how the Christians in former ages behav'd themselves toward an Apostate to inform us what we may doe on the like occasion I must confess he has done most of his own party a considerable kindness for they hitherto have rail'd without president as well as without cause And I suppose Greek e'er long will be much in fashion with them as a Language that will extremely accomplish them for that Christian liberty But as for us we shall rather fetch the methods of our Conduct from the graver Writings of the Fathers of those times and not imitate him who like our late travelling Sparks onely observes and treasures up the vices and follies of the places he visits and exposes them when he comes home for rarities and accomplishments None certainly but the scum and rabble of that age could be guilty of those indignities to their Emperour but Mr. Iohnson tells us no less a man than Theodoret commends them for their Nick-names and Reproaches and quotes his 3 d Book and c. 22. for what he says I have look't with both eyes and cannot find any thing like it He commends indeed the Antiochians for their Zeal but not their rudeness As to the Example of Maris which he brings as the second and last argument to justifie ill language given to an Emperour if an Apostate is of very little force for without all doubt it was an indiscreet Action and nothing but his great Zeal for Religion could make any colourable excuse for it For who unless he had a mind to be a Martyr would affront an Emperour in the height of his devotion and upbraid his gods when he was paying his adorations to them Origen I am sure would have counted such an Action down-right madness for he tells us when we doe nothing contrary to the law and word of God we are not so mad or furious as to stir up against our selves the wrath of the King or of the Magistrate which would bring upon us blows torments and divers kinds of death And I have some reason to assert this from the quite different Conduct of all the Fathers that liv'd under Constantius that were so far from doing any thing of this nature unprovok't that all the Cruelties that Apostate Emperour could inflict did not extort the least mis-becoming expression from them Athanasius tells the Emperour in his Apology I am not mad O King neither have I forgot the voice of God that saith Curse not the King no not in thy heart And again I did not oppose the Command of your Majesty God forbid I am not such a man as would oppose the very Treasurer of the City much less so great an Emperour I was not so mad as to contradict such a Command as yours I neither did oppose the Command of your Majesty nor will now attempt to enter into Alexandria untill you of your Goodness will please I shall And in another place of the same Apology he tells Constantius If I had been accus'd before others I had appeal'd unto your Majesty as the Apostle appeal'd unto Caesar But seeing they have taken the boldness to calumniate me before Thee to whom shall I appeal from Thee but to the Father of him who said I am truth that he may incline thy heart to mercy St. Hilary tells him and in the time of Persecution too your mild nature blessed Lord agreeth with your gracious disposition and because of your great mercy we don't doubt of easily obtaining what we desire of you we beg of you not onely with words but tears that the Catholick Church be no longer persecuted by our brethren Hilar. ad Const. l. 2. And 20 Bishops of the West in the conclusion of a Letter from a Synod at Ariminum We beseech you that you cause us not to stay from our Charges but that the Bishops together with their own People may with peace employ themselves in prayers and the service of God making supplication for your Kingdoms safety and peace in which the divine Majesty long preserve you Atha Epist. de Syn. Ari. c. Hosius likewise a man of an extraordinary Zeal and Courage though provok't by the severest Persecutions imaginable can't think it lawfull for him to speak so much as dis-respectfully of the Emperour but tells him Since he had receiv'd his Imperial Power from God whosoever did detract any thing from that should be look't upon as an opposer of the Ordinance of God It would be easie to seem very learned upon this point that is to stuff my Margin with quotations but that 's a vanity I am not over-desirous to be thought guilty of I hope the authorities I have already cited will be sufficient to prove what I design'd viz. That it was the judgment of the Primitive Christians that no ill usage from their Emperour though a Heathen or Apostate could authorize them to affront him and that difference of Religion doth not by any means cancell our Obedience to him Now that the face of things should be so soon chang'd as that it should be damnation to speak ill of the Emperour under Constantius and under Iulian his immediate Successour not onely permitted but meritorious to curse him as Mr. Iohnson acquaints us is very strange I am confident if they did those Actions he lays to their charge they had no president for them in former ages and the doctrine they govern'd themselves by was

perfectly new and their own For 't is well known all the first Christians acted quite contrary they continually night and day pray'd for the safety of the Emperour Cypr. ad Demet It would be easie out of the Martyrologies of the first times to give instances of the Christians submission as strange as the cruelty of their Persecutours But this will be unnecessary since their sufferings and patience are so well known that Mr. Iohnson himself is forc't to own it but tells us withall 't was their duty to suffer patiently because they were persecuted according to law This answer is of very little force for there was no other law but the will of their Emperours against them or their Edicts which were onely their will manifested both which were as much Laws in Iulian's time as N●ro's Therefore why the Christians should think it their duty patiently to submit to all the inhumane cruelties of that first Persecutour and those under Iulian rebell or at least murmur at those lighter pressures of their Emperour I am not able to resolve I am inclin'd to think that Mr. Iohnson's Christians were not so good as they should be for those that will onely submit quietly to Persecution upon some conditions for he tells u● though they resisted Iulian they would patiently have bore the cruelty of a Heathen persecutour are govern'd rather by humour than Religion for the Gospel I am sure makes no distinction and 't is a receiv'd maxim Ubi lex non distinguit nemo distinguere debet Where the Law makes no distinction no man ought to doe it But besides it has been sufficiently prov'd that Constantius's proceedings were altogether as illegal and arbitrary as those of Iulian could possibly be they were both Apostates and though indeed the latter was less to be excus'd it being something a worse defection to Paganism than Arianism yet in respect of the quiet and security of the Church they were both equally dangerous And yet we see from the Examples of so many Bishops the prayers of all the people that they were so far from cursing him or giving him to the Devil for his due that they seem to be fond of his life and make the establishment and welfare of the Empire to be the first business of their prayers For hence it is that we give respect to a Heathen if put in Authority for though he be most unworthy of it himself who holding God's place gives the Devil thanks for it but the honour we give him his place challengeth Q. 35. exerc Nov. Test. Tom 4. op Av. CHAP. IV. ●h●ir Actions BEfore I give an Account of the Christi●● 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their Actions toward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ●●ll be necessary to make 〈◊〉 R●m●●ks upon those two Actions of a Souldier and a ●ishop under Iulian which Mr. Iohnson saith m●y manifest how the Primitive Christians despis'd him besides that it i● very foul pl●y to infer the general sense of the Church from that of but two members of it I cannot grant that the Primitive Christians would by any means allow of these Actions As to the first that of Valentinian I must needs own 't was far more excusable than what old Gregory did for his Character and the meanness of the person that suffer'd by him may plead something in his behalf striking in a Souldier being more pardonable than in a Bishop and bea●ing a Priest more tolerable than kicking an Emperour but this will not justifie the violence for it was undoubtedly a fault though the praises the Historian gives it would seem to prove the contrary For to this I answer That the Action deserv'd to be prais'd not for its own sake but because it shew'd an extraordinary Zeal for Christianity it was the Motive and not the Fact that was to be commended and that this is not purely a 〈◊〉 but the real truth of the matter we may i●fe● from this plain instance In the Primitive Church many kill'd themselves when they could by no other means avoid sacrificing to Idols and they stand now upon Record for Martyrs This Action of theirs was certainly self-mur●her and consequently criminal and Dr. Hammond aff●rms that it was a fault in them too but the love of God and the fear they should be polluted by Idols was the cause of it And so though it might as a frailty be pardon'd by God's mercy in Christ yet sure this killing themselves was not that which made them Martyrs but that great love of God and resolving against Idolatrous worship which testified it self in their killing themselves for that Cause This it was that made them pass for Martyrs and that other incident fault of theirs was not in that case thought so great as to divest them or rob them of that Honour Dr. Ham. Pr. C● and 〈◊〉 highly probable that this was Valentinian's Case 't was not his striking the Priest but his Confession that gave him a title to two Kingdoms that of the Empire and Heaven But I need not have said so much of this for Mr. Iohnson himself allows it to be an unaccountable Action p. 44. As to the extravagant Action of old Gregory Nazianzen for I can't justly give it a milder Epithet certainly nothing but the partiality of a Son can excuse it and 't is a fault even in him to commend it for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord's anointed sure the Foot is not excepted and be guiltless 1 Sam. 26. 9. St. Chrysostom's forbidding the Empress Eudoxia to come within the Church was not half so insolent as this Act of Gregory's yet he severely repented of it and tells us in the cooler hours of his life he did more than he could justifie If I were to specifie the particular Actions of the Primitive Christians under Constantius in opposition to those under Iulian I should be as prolix and tedious as Mr. Iohnson is in his comparison of Popery and Paganism I shall add in general terms and I defie any one to disprove me out of the Writings of the Fathers the Histories and the Martyrologies of that age that the Souldiers though of a contrary opinion fought for him The Fathers though banish'd pray'd for him as likewise did the Martyrs under persecution till the Ex●cutioner put an end at once both to their devotion and their lives CHAP. V. Of their Devotion their Psalms and Prayers I Don't think there is so much difference between Prayers and Psalms as to treat of them severally in two distinct Chapters But shall speak of them here together I hope without any great absurdity I must confess there seems some weight in the instance Mr. Iohnson urges of the young Martyr Theodorus who curs'd the Emperour out of the Psalms and when he suffer'd for it by an extraordinary assistance from Heaven not onely surviv'd but enjoy'd the torture But like all the rest he writes 't is onely gloss and onely fit to be swallow'd by those whose use he designs his book for the