strictly taken for lifting up the hand in suffrage commonly used at Athens and some of the States of Greece in the designing and electing persons to be publick Magistrates But more particularly in use amongst the Jews and from them doubtless as many other of the Synagogue-rites transferred into the Christian Church and there constantly used both as to the lifting up and laying on the hands as the rite of conferring ordination upon the Ministers of Christ. Only it is here to be remembred that there was a double imposition of hands in setting apart Ecclesiastical Officers the one was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or by way of consecration and this was the proper way of ordaining the first rank of Officers Bishops Presbyters and Deacons the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by way of blessing hands being laid upon them only as in the absolution of Penitents by way of solemn benediction and thus the inferiour Officers Subdeacons Readers c. and Deaconesses were set apart All orders under Bishops were ordained by the Bishop the Bishop himself by all the Bishops of that Province who used to meet together for that purpose if nearness of place and other conveniencies would allow otherwise three and in cases of necessity two might do it the rest testifying their consent in writing and the person thus ordained was to be confirmed by the Metropolitan of that Province And whereas the Council of Antioch provides that no Bishop shall be ordained without the Metropolitan being present it is to be understood as Balsamon tells us of his leave and permission or his appointing it to be so For the ordination of the rest of the Clergy Priests Deacons c. the act and presence of one Bishop might suffice and as no more than one was required so one at least was necessary the power of conferring order being even by those who otherwise have had no mighty kindness for Episcopacy acknowledged an unquestionable right of the Episcopal Office Insomuch that in the case of Athanasius it was a just exception against Ischyras that he had been ordained by Colythus who was no higher than a Presbyter and consequently his ordination by the Council was adjudged null and void At all ordinations especially of superiour Officers the people of the place were always present and ratified the action with their approbation and consent And indeed it cannot be denied but that the people in some places especially were very much considered in this affair it being seldom or never done without their presence and suffrage To this end the Bishop was wont before every ordination to propound and publish the names of those who were to have holy Orders conferred upon them that so the people who best knew their lives and conversations might interpose if they had any thing material to object against it By which means the unworthy were discovered and rejected the deserving honoured and admitted the ordination became legitimate and satisfactory having past the common vote and suffrage without any exception made against it as Cyprian speaks Hence the Clergie of what order soever were said Praedicari to be propounded or published And this way seemed so fit and reasonable that Severus the Emperour a wise and prudent Prince in imitation of the Christians established it in the disposal of Civil Offices For when he had a mind to send out any Governours of Provinces or to appoint Receivers of his Revenues he propounded the names of those he intended desiring the people to except against the persons if they knew them guilty of any crimes which they were able to make good against them affirming it to be unfit says his own Historian that when the Christians and Jews did it in publishing those who were to be ordained their Priests and Ministers the same should not be observed in the election of Governours of Provinces who had the lives and fortunes of men committed to them When the case so hapned that the ordination was more remote or private they were then required to bring sufficient testimonials thus Cyprian when ordaining Saturus and Optatus to be Readers we examined says he whether the Testimonials agreed to them which they ought to have who are admitted into the Clergy And indeed they proceeded in this affair with all imaginable care and prudence they examined mens fitness for the place to which they were set apart enquired severely what had been the course and manner of their life how they had carried themselves in their youth and whether they had governed it by the strict rules of piety This ancient custom as S. Basil calls it was ratified by the Nicene Council declaring that none should be ordained Presbyter without previous examination especially a strict enquiry into his life and manners For the Apostolick Church says Joseph the Egyptian in his Arabick Paraphrase of that Canon admits none in this case but him that is of great innocency and an unspotted life free from those crimes and enormities which he there particularly reckons up They suffered not men in those days to leap into Ecclesiastical Orders but by the usual steps and staying the appointed times Cyprian commends Cornelius Bishop of Rome that he did not skip into the Chair but passed through all the Ecclesiastical Offices ascending through all the degrees of Religion till he came ad sacerdotii sublime fastigium to the top of the highest order A thing expresly provided for by the Synod of Sardis that no man though never so rich though furnished with never so good a knack of speech and oratory should yet be made Bishop before he had passed through the preceding Orders of Reader Subdeacon Deacon and Presbyter that having been found fit in each of these he might step by step ascend up to the Episcopal Chair and that he should spend some considerable time in each of these degrees that so his faith and the innocency and excellency of his life his constancy and moderation might be made known to all and his fitness for that sacred function being made apparent might procure him the greater honour and reverence from others Men were then forced to stay their full time before they could be promoted to any higher Order they did not commence Divines and Bishops in a day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Nazianzen elegantly calls them like some he complains of in his time who were not polished by time and study but fitted and made Bishops all at once whom therefore he wittily compares to the Dragons teeth which the Fable tells us Cadmus sowed at Thebes which immediately sprung up Giants out of the earth arm'd Cap-a-pe perfect men and perfect Warriours in one day and just such says he were some Prelates consecrated made wise and learned in one day who yet understood nothing before nor brought any thing to the Order but only a good will to be there For the Age of the persons that were to be ordained they usually
opposing the plain and simple way of the Orthodox Assemblies to the skulking and clancular Conventicles of the Hereticks who Serpent-like crept about in holes and corners says he the house of our Dove-like Religion is simple built on high and in open view and respects the light as the figure of the Holy Spirit and the East as the representation of Christ It cannot be thought that in the first Ages while the flames of persecution raged about their ears the Christian Churches should be very stately and magnificent but such as the condition of those times would bear their splendour encreasing according to the entertainment that Christianity met withal in the world till the Empire becoming Christian their Temples rose up into grandeur and gallantry as amongst others may appear by the particular description which Eusebius makes of the Church at Tyre mentioned before and that which Constantine built at Constantinople in honour of the Apostles both which were incomparably sumptuous and magnificent I shall not undertake to describe at large the exact form and the several parts and dimensions of their Churches which varied somewhat according to different times and Ages but briefly reflect upon such as were most common and remarkable at the entrance of their Churches especially after they began to arrive at more perfection was the Vestibulum called also Atrium and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Porch in greater Churches of somewhat larger capacity adorned many times with goodly Cloysters marble Columns Fountains and Cisterns of water and covered over for the conveniency of those that stood or walked there Here stood the lowest order of Penitents beging the prayers of the faithful as they went in For the Church it self it usually consisted of three parts the first was the Narthex which we have no proper word to render by it was that part of the Church that lay next to the great door by which they entred in in the first part of it stood the Catechumens or first learners of Christianity in the middle the Euergumeni or those who were possessed by Satan and in this part also stood the Font or place of baptismal initiation and towards the upper end was the place of the Hearers who were one of the ranks of Penitents The second part contained the middle or main body of the Church called by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Latins Navis from whence our term the Nave of the Church comes where the faithful assembled for the celebration of Divine Service where the men and the women had their distinct apartments lest at such times unchast and irregular appetites should be kindled by a promiscuous interfering with one another of which pious and excellent contrivance mention is made in an ancient Funeral Inscription found in the Vatican Coemetery at Rome such a one buried SINISTRA PARTE VIRORUM on that side of the Church where the men sat In this part of the Church next to the entring into it stood the Class of the Penitents who were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because at their going out they fell down upon their knees before the Bishop who laid his hands upon them Next to them was the Ambo the Pulpit or rather reading-desk whence the Scriptures were read and preached to the people Above that were the Faithful the highest rank and order of the people and who alone communicated at the Lords Table The third part was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 separated from the rest of the Church by neat Rails called Cancelli whence our English word Chancel to denote the part of the Church to this day into this part none might come but such as were in holy orders unless it were the Greek Emperours who were allowed to come up to the Table to make their Offerings and so back again within this division the most considerable thing was the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Altar as they metaphorically called it because there they offered the commemorative Sacrifice of Christs Body and Blood o◠the Communion-Table 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 't is frequently styled by the Greek Fathers behind which at the very upper end of the Chancel was the Chair or Throne of the Bishop for so was it almost constantly called on both sides whereof were the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Seats of the Presbyters for the Deacons might not here sit down the Bishops Throne was raised up somewhat higher from the ground and from hence I suppose it was that he usually delivered his Sermons to the people therefore Socrates seems to note it as a new thing in Chrysostoms that when he preached he went to sit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon the Pulpit he means that in the body of the Church for so Sozomon tells us that he sat in the Reading Desk in the middle of the Church that by reason of his low voice he might be better heard of the people Adjoining to the Chancel on the North-side probably was the Diaconicon mentioned both in the Laodicean Council though I know both Zonaras and Balsamon and after them the learned Leo Allatius will have another thing to be meant in that place as also in a Law of Arcadius and Honorius against Hereticks and probably so called either because peculiarly committed to the Deacon of the place or as the great Commentator upon that Law will have it because set apart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to some sacred services It was in the nature of our modern Vestries the Sacristy wherein the Plate Vessels and Vestments belonging to the Church and other things dedicated to holy uses were laid up and where in after times Reliques and such like Fopperies were treasured up with great care and diligence On the other side of the Chancel was the Prothesis or place where things were prepared in order to the Sacrament where the Offerings were laid and what remained of the Sacramental Elements till they were decently disposed of And this may serve for a short view of the Churches of those first times after they began to grow up into some beauty and perfection But though the Christians of those times spared no convenient cost in founding and adorning publick places for the Worship of God yet were they careful to keep a decent mean between a sordid slovenliness and a too curious and over nice superstition In the more early times even while the fury and fierceness of their Enemies kept them low and mean yet they beautified their Oratories and places of Worship especially if we may believe the Authour of the Dialogue in Lucian whom we mentioned before and who lived within the first Age who bringing in one Critias that was perswaded by the Christians to go to the place of their Assembly which by his description seems to have been an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Vpper-Room tells us that after they had gone up several stairs they came at last into an House or Room
the richest and most noble gifts and to diffuse the influences of his bounty over all parts of his Empire And his example herein it seems was followed by most of his Successors who used upon this Solemnity by their imperial Orders to release all Prisoners unless such as were in for more heavy and notorious crimes high Treason Murders Rapes Incest and the like And Chrysostom tells us of a Letter of Theodosius the Great sent at this time throughout the Empire wherein he did not only command that all Prisoners should be released and pardoned but wished he was able to recal those that were already executed and to restore them to life again And because by the negligence and remissness of messengers or any accident those Imperial Letters might sometimes happen to come too late therefore Valentinian the younger provided by a standing Law that whether order came or not the Judges should dispence the accustomed indulgence and upon Easter day in the morning cause all Prisons to be open the Chains to be knock'd off and the persons set at liberty The next Feast considerable in those primitive times was that of Whitsunday or Pentecost a Feast of great eminency amongst the Jews in memory of the Law delivered at Mount Sinai at that time and for the gathering and bringing in of their Harvest and of no less note amongst Christians for the Holy Ghosts descending upon the Apostles and other Christians in the visible appearance of fiery cloven tongues which hapned upon that day and those miraculous powers then conferred upon them It was observed with the same respect to Easter that the Jews did with respect to their Passover viz. as the word imports just fifty days after it reckoning from the second day of that Festival it seems to some to have commenced from the first rise of Christianity not only because the Apostles and the Church were assembled upon that day but because S. Paul made so much haste to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost which they understand of his great desire to keep it there as a Christian Feast But the argument seems to me no way conclusive for the Apostle might desire to be there at that time both because he was sure to meet with a great number of the Brethren and because he should have a fitter opportunity to preach the Gospel to the Jews who from all parts flock'd thither to the Feast as our Saviour himself for the same reason used to go up to Jerusalem at all their great and solemn Feasts But however this was 't is certain the observation of it is ancient 't was mentioned by Irenaeus in a Book which he wrote concerning Easter as the Author of the Questions and Responses in J. Martyr tells us by Tertullian and after him by Origen more than once This Feast is by us stiled Whitsunday partly because of those vast diffusions of light and knowledge which upon this day were shed upon the Apostles in order to the enlightning of the world but principally because this as also Easter being the stated time for Baptism in the ancient Church those who were baptized put on white Garments in token of that pure and innocent course of life they had now engaged in of which more in its proper place this white Garment they wore till the next Sunday after and then laid it aside whence the Octave or Sunday after Easter came to be stiled Dominica in Albis the Sunday in white it being then that the new-baptized put off their white Garments We may observe that in the Writers of those times the whole space of fifty days between Easter and Whitsunday goes often under the name of Pentecost and was in a manner accounted Festival as Tertullian informs us and the forty third Canon of the Illiberitan Council seems to intimate During this whole time Baptism was conferred all Fasts were suspended and counted unlawful they prayed standing as they did every Lords day and at this time read over the Acts of the Apostles wherein their sufferings and miracles are recorded as we learn from a Law of the younger Theodosius wherein this custom is mentioned and more plainly from S. Chrysostom who treats of it in an Homily on purpose where he gives this reason why that Book which contained those actions of the Apostles which were done after Pentecost should yet be read before it when as at all other times those parts of the Gospel were read which were proper to the season because the Apostles miracles being the grand confirmation of the truth of Christs Resurrection and those miracles recorded in that Book it was therefore most proper to be read next to the Feast of the Resurrection Epiphany succeeds this word was of old promiscuously used either for the Feast of Christs Nativity or for that which we now properly call by that name afterwards the Titles became distinct that of Christs Birth or as we now term it Christmas-day was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Nativity and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the appearance of God in the flesh two names importing the same thing as Nazianzen notes For the antiquity of it the first footsteps I find of it are in the second Century though I doubt not but it might be celebrated before mentioned by Theophilus Bishop of Caesaria about the time of the Emperour Commodus but if any credit might be given to the Decretal Epistles it was somewhat elder than that Pope Telesphorus who lived under Antoninus Pius ordaining Divine Service to be celebrated and an angelical Hymn to be sung the night before the Nativity of our Saviour However that it was kept before the times of Constantine we have this sad instance That when the persecution raged under Dioclesian who then kept his Court at Nicomedia amongst other acts of barbarous cruelty done there finding multitudes of Christians young and old met together in the Temple upon the day of Christs Nativity to celebrate that Festival he commanded the Church doors to be shut up and fire to be put to it which in a short time reduced them and the Church to ashes I shall not dispute whether it was always observed upon the same day that we keep it now the twenty fifth of December it seems probable that for a long time in the East it was kept in January under the name and at the general time of the Epiphania till receiving more light in the case from the Churches of the West they changed it to this day sure I am S. Chrysostom in an Homily on purpose about this very thing affirms that it was not above ten years since in that Church i. e. Antioch it began first to be observed upon that day and there offers several reasons to prove that to be the true day of Christs Nativity The Feast of Epiphany properly so called was kept on the sixth of January and had that name from a
observed the Apostolick Canon not to chuse a Novice but of an age competent to that Office that he was chosen to though it varied according to times and persons and the occasions of the Church For that of Bishops I find not any certain age positively set down Photius in his Nomo-Canon speaks of an Imperial constitution that requires a Bishop not to be under thirty five but the Apostolical Constitutions allow not a man to be made a Bishop under fifty years of age as having then passed all juvenile petulancies and disorders 'T is certain they were not generally some extraordinary instances alter not the case promoted to that Office till they were of a considerable age and thence frequently stiled majores natu in the Writings of the Church Presbyters were commonly made at thirty yea the Council of Neocaesarea decreed that no man though otherwise of never so unquestionable a conversation should be ordained Presbyter before that age the reason whereof they give because Christ himself was not baptized nor began to preach till the thirtieth year of his age The Council of Agde requires the same age but assigns another reason not before thirty years of age because then say they he comes to the age of a perfect man Deacons were made at twenty five and the like distance and proportion observed for the inferiour Officers under them I take no notice in this place of Monks Hermits c. partly because although they were under a kind of Ecclesiastical relation by reason of their more than ordinarily strict and severe profession of Religion yet were they not usually in holy Orders and partly because Monachism was of no very early standing in the Church begining probably about the times of the later persecutions and even then too Monks were quite another thing both in profession habit and way of life from what they are at this day as will abundantly appear to him that will take the pains to compare the account which S. Hierom Augustine Palladius Cassian and others give of those primitive Monks with the several Orders in the Church of Rome at this day I shall only add that out of the Monks persons were usually made choice of to be advanced into the Clergie as is evident not only from multitudes of instances in the Writers of the fourth and following Centuries but from an express Law of the Emperour Arcadius to that purpose the strictness of their lives and the purity of their manners more immediately qualifying them for those holy Offices insomuch that many times they were advanced unto the Episcopal Chair without going through the usual intermediate Orders of the Church several instances whereof Serapion Apollonius Agatho Aristo and some others Athanasius reckons up in his Epistle to Dracontius who being a Monk refused a Bishoprick to which he was chosen But because we meet in the ancient Writings of the Church with very frequent mention of persons of another Sex Deaconesses who were employed in many Offices of Religion it may not be amiss in this place to give some short account of them Their original was very early and of equal standing with the infancy of the Church such was Phebe in the Church of Cenchris mentioned by S. Paul such were those two Servant-maids spoken of by Pliny in his Letter to the Emperour whom he examined upon the Rack such was the famous Olympias in the Church of Constantinople not to mention any more particular instances They were either Widows and then not to be taken into the service of the Church under threescore years of age according to S. Paul's direction or else Virgins who having been educated in order to it and given testimony of a chast and sober conversation were set apart at forty what the proper place and ministry of these Deaconesses was in the ancient Church though Matthew Blastares seems to render a little doubtful yet certainly it principally consisted in such offices as these to attend upon the Women at times of Publick Worship especially in the administration of Baptism that when they were to be divested in order to their immersion they might overshadow them so as nothing of indecency and uncomeliness might appear sometimes they were employed in instructing the more rude and ignorant sort of women in the plain and easie principles of Christianity and in preparing them for Baptism otherwhiles in visiting and attending upon Women that were sick in conveying messages counsels consolations relief especially in times of persecution when it was dangerous for the Officers of the Church to the Martyrs and them that were in Prison and of these women no doubt it was that Libanius speaks of amongst the Christians who were so very ready to be employed in these offices of humanity But to return Persons being thus set apart for holy Offices the Christians of those days discovered no less piety in that mighty respect and reverence which they paid to them that the Ministers of Religion should be peculiarly honoured and regarded seems to have been accounted a piece of natural justice by the common sentiments of mankind the most barbarous and unpolished Nations that ever had a value for any thing of Religion have always had a proportionable regard to them to whom the care and administration of it did belong Julian the Emperour expresly pleads for it as the most reasonable thing in the world that Priests should be honoured yea in some respects above civil Magistrates as being the immediate attendants and domestick servants of God our intercessors with Heaven and the means of deriving down great blessings from God upon us But never was this clearlier demonstrated than in the practice of the primitive Christians who carried themselves towards their Bishops and Ministers with all that kindness and veneration which they were capable to express towards them S. Paul bears record to the Galatians that he was accounted so dear to them that if the plucking out their eyes would have done him any good they were ready to have done it for his sake and S. Clement testifies of the Corinthians that they walked in the Laws of God being subject to them that had the rule over them yielding also due honour to the seniors or elder persons that were amongst them That by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this place he should mean Civil Magistrates as some have told us I can hardly be perswaded both because 't is the same word that 's used by the Author to the Hebrews obey 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 them that have the rule over you and submit your selves and indeed both Eusebius and S. Hierom of old observed such a mighty affinity in the phrase between this and the Epistle to the Hebrews as certainly to conclude S. Clemens to have been if not the Author at least the Translator of that Epistle and also because the sole occasion of S. Clements writing this Epistle was a mutiny which they had
Worship of God we are next to see wherein their Worship it self did consist which we shall consider both as private and publick that which they performed at home and that which was done in their solemn and Church-Assemblies only let it be remembred that under the notion of Worship I here comprehend all those duties of piety that refer to God the duties of their private worship were of two sorts either such as were more solemn and stated and concerned the whole Family or such as persons discharged alone or at least did not tye up themselves to usual times For the first which are properly Family duties they were usually performed in this order at their first rising in the morning they were wont to meet together and to betake themselves to prayer as is plainly implied in Chrysostoms exhortation to praise God for the protection and refreshment of the night and to beg his grace and blessing for the following day this was done by the Master of the house unless some Minister of Religion were present 't is probable that at this time they recited the Creed or some confession of their Faith by which they professed themselves Christians and as 't were armed themselves against the assaults of dangers and temptations however I question not but that now they read some parts of Scripture which they were most ready to do at all times and therefore certainly would not omit it now That they had their set hours for prayer the third sixth and ninth hour is plain both from Cyprian Clem. Alexandrinus and others this they borrowed from the Jews who divided the day into four greater hours the first third sixth and ninth hour three last whereof were stated hours of prayer the first hour began at six in the morning and held till nine the third from nine till twelve and at this hour it was that the Apostles and Christians were met together when the Holy Ghost descended upon them the sixth hour was from twelve till three in the afternoon and at this time Peter went up to the house top to pray the ninth was from three till six at night and now it was that Peter and John went up to the Temple it being the ninth hour of prayer this division was observed by the Christians of succeeding times though whether punctually kept to in their Family devotions I am not able to affirm About noon before their going to dinner some portions of Scripture were read and the meat being set upon the Table a blessing was solemnly begged of God as the fountain of all blessings and so religious herein was the good Emperour Theodosius junior that he would never taste any meat no not so much as a Fig or any other Fruit before he had first given thanks to the great Soveraign Creator and both meat and drink set apart with the sign of the Cross a custom they used in the most common actions of life as is expresly affirmed both by Tertullian and Origen where he also gives a form of such prayers as they were wont to use before meals viz. that lifting up their eyes to Heaven they prayed thus Thou that givest food to all flesh grant that we may receive this food with thy blessing thou Lord hast said that if we drink any thing that is deadly if we call upon thy name it shall not hurt us thou therefore who art Lord of all power and glory turn away all evil and malignant quality from our food and what ever pernicious influence it may have upon us when they were at dinner they sung Hymns and Psalms a practice which Clem. Alexandrinus commends as very suitable to Christians as a modest and decent way of praising God while we are partaking of his Creatures Chrysostom greatly pleads for it that men should be careful to teach them their Wives and Children and which they should use even at their ordinary works but especially at meals such divine Songs being an excellent antidote against temptations for says he as the Devil is never more ready to ensnare us than at meals either by intemperance ease or immoderate mirth therefore both before and at meals we should fortifie our selves with Psalms nay and when we rise from the Table with our Wives and Children we should again sing Hymns to God They used also to have the Scriptures read and as I have elsewhere noted out of Nazianzen every time they took the Cup to drink made the sign of the Cross and called upon Christ Dinner being ended they concluded with prayer giving thanks to God for their present refreshment and begging his continued provision of those good things which he had promised to them So great a place had Religion in those days even in mens common and natural actions and so careful were they not to starve the soul while they were feeding of the body Much after the same rate they spent the rest of the day till the night approached when before their going to rest the Family was again called to prayer after which they went to bed about midnight they were generally wont to rise to pray and to sing hymns to God this custom was very ancient and doubtless took its original from the first times of persecution when not daring to meet together in the day they were forced to keep their religious Assemblies in the night and though this was afterwards antiquated as being found inconvenient for the generality of Christians yet did it still continue in the nocturnal hours of Monasteries and religious Orders But besides these stated and ordinary devotions performed by a joint concurrence of the Family the Christians of those days were careful to spend all the time they could even when alone in actions of peity and religion they were most frequent in prayer Eusebius reports of S. James the just that he was wont every day to go alone into the Church and there kneeling upon the pavement so long to pour out his prayers to God till his knees became as hard and brawny as a Camels the same which Nazianzen also tells us of his good Sister Gorgonia that by often praying her knees were become hard and did as 't were stick to the ground Constantine the Great though burdened with the cares of so vast an Empire did yet every day at his wonted hours withdraw from all the company of the Court retire into his Closet and upon his knees offer up his prayers to God and to let the world know how much he was devoted to this duty he caused his Image in all his Gold Coins in his Pictures and Statues to be represented in the posture of a person praying with his hands spread abroad and his eyes lift up to Heaven Their next care was diligently and seriously to read the Scripture to be mighty in the Divine Oracles as indeed they had an invaluable esteem of and reverence for the Word
long before others were called to do the same offices for them Their bodies they decently committed to the ground for they abhorred the custom so common amongst the Gentiles of burning the bodies of the dead which they did not as the Heathens objected because they thought that their bodies once burnt to ashes would be difficultly brought to a Resurrection a doctrine which they strenuously asserted and held fast as the main pillar of their comfort and confidence but because they looked upon it as inhumane and barbarous and contrary to the more ancient and better usage of mankind in this matter Tertullian calls this way of burial by inhumation a piece of piety and tells us they abstained from burning the Corps not as some did because they thought that some part of the soul remained in the body after death but because it savour'd of savageness and cruelty Therefore their enemies to do them the greater spite did not only put them to death but very often burn their dead bodies and sprinkle their ashes into the Sea partly to hinder them from a decent burial and partly as in that tumult at Alexandria under Julian that nothing might be left of them to be honour'd as the remains of Martyrs As Christianity got ground this more civil way of inhumation did not only take place but rooted out the contrary custome even amongst the Gentiles themselves For though the Emperour Theodosius the Great gives some intimation of it as remaining in his time yet not long after it wholly ceased as is expresly acknowledged by Macrobius who liv'd in the time of the younger Theodosius Nor did they ordinarily content themselves with a bare interrment but prepared the body for its funeral with costly Spices and rich odours and perfumes not sparing the best drugs and ointments which the Sabeans could afford as Tertullian plainly testifies They who while alive generally abstained from whatever was curious and costly when dead were embalm'd and entombed with great art and curiosity Whence Eunapius much such a friend to Christianity as Julian or Porphyry derides the Monks and Christians of Egypt for honouring the season'd and embalm'd bones and heads of Martyrs such says he as the Courts of Justice had condemned and put to death for their innumerable villanies This cost the Christians doubtless bestowed upon the bodies of their dead because they looked upon death as the entrance into a better life and laid up the body as the candidate and expectant of a joyful and happy resurrection Besides hereby they gave some encouragement to suffering when men saw how much care was taken to honour and secure the reliques of their mortality and that their bodies should not be persecuted after death This their enemies knew very well and therefore many times denied them the civility and humanity of burial to strike the greater dread into them Thus Maximus the President threatned Tharacus the Martyr that although he bore up his head so high upon the confidence that after his death his body should be wound up and embalm'd with ointments and odoriferous spices yet he would defeat his hopes by causing his body to be burnt and sprinkling his ashes before the wind Thus after they had put Polycarp to death they burnt his body out of spite to the Christians who had beg'd it of the Proconsul only to give it a solemn interrment whereupon gathering his bones which the mercy of the fire had spared they decently committed them to the earth and there used to meet to celebrate the memory of that pious and holy man During those times of persecution they were very careful to bury the bodies of the Martyrs some making it their particular business by stealth to interr those in the night who had suffered in the day this they did with great hazard and danger many of them as appears from the ancient Martyrologies suffering Martyrdom upon this very account Afterwards when the Church was setled there was a particular Order of men call'd Copiatae either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the pains they took or else 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because they committed the bodies of the dead to the grave the place of ease and rest appointed for this purpose about the time of Constantine or to be sure his Son Constantius in two of whose Laws they are expresly mentioned and in the latter said to be lately instituted Their office as Epiphanius tells was to wrap up and bury the bodies of the dead to prepare their graves and to interr them and because inhumation and giving burial to the dead was ever accounted in a more peculiar manner a work of piety and religion therefore these persons were reckoned if not strictly Clergy-men at least in a Clergy-relation being in both Laws of Constantius enumerated with and invested in the same immunities with the Clergy By the Authour in S. Hierom they are styled Fossarii grave-maker and by him plac'd in the first and lowest order of the Clerici and exhorted to be like good old Tobit in Faith Holiness Knowledge and Vertue In the great Church of Constantinople they were called Decani or Deans but quite distinct from the Palatin Deans spoken of in the Theodosian Code and freequently elsewhere who were a military order and chiefly belonged to the Emperours Palace they were one of the Collegia or Corporations of the City Their number was very great Constantine is said to have appointed no less than M. C. of them But by a Law of Honorius and Theodosius they were reduc'd to DCCCCL till afterwards Anastasius brought them back to their former number which was also ratified and confirmed by Justinian their particular duties and offices both as relating to the dead and all other things are largely described in two Novell Constitutions of his to that purpose Nor did they only take care that the body might be prepared for its funeral but to provide it of a decent and convenient Sepulchre wherein it might be honourably and securely laid up a thing which had been always practised by the more sober and civiliz'd part of mankind Their burying-places called Polyandria Cryptae Arenaria but most commonly Coemeteria or Dormitories because according to the notion which the Scripture gives us of the death of the Righteous Christians are not so properly said to dye as to sleep in the Lord and their bodies to rest in the grave in expectation of a joyful resurrection were generally in the fields or gardens it being prohibited by the Roman Laws and especially an ancient Law of the XII Tables to bury within the City walls This held for some Centuries after Christianity appeared in the world and longer it was before they buried within Churches within the out-parts whereof to be interred was a priviledge at first granted only to Princes and persons of the greatest rank and quality Chrysostome assures us that Constantius the Emperour reckoned he did his
of God appear in the world to establish the most excellent Religion that ever was communicated to Mankind but he met with the most fierce and vigorous opposition persecuted and devoted to death assoon as he was born followed all his life with fresh assaults of malice and cruelty his credit traduced and slandered his Doctrine despised and slighted and himself at last put to death with the most exquisite arts of torture disgrace And if they thus served the Master of the house how much more them of the houshold the disciple not being above his Master nor the servant above his Lord. Therefore when he gave commission to his Apostles to publish this Religion to the world he told them beforehand what hard and unkind reception they must look to meet with that he sent them forth as Sheep in the midst of Wolves that they should be delivered up to the Councils and scourged in the Synagogues and be brought before Kings and Governours and be hated of all men for his names sake nay so high should the quarrel arise upon the account of Religion that men should violate some of the nearest Laws of Nature betray their friends and kinsfolk the Brother delivering up the Brother to death and the Father the Child the Children rising up against their Parents and causing them to be put to death This he well foresaw and the event truly answered it would be the fate of its first appearing in the world and indeed considering the present state and circumstances of the world at that time it could not reasonably be expected that the Christian Religion should meet with a better entertainment for the genius and nature of its Doctrine was such as was almost impossible to escape the frowns and displeasure of men a Doctrine it was that call'd men off from lusts and pleasures and offered violence to their native inclinations that required the greatest strictness and severity of life obliged men to deny themselves to take up their Cross and to follow the steps of a poor crucified Saviour and that upon little other encouragement at present than the invisible rewards of another world It introduced new Rites and Ceremonies unknown to those of former Ages and such as did undermine the received and established principles of that Religion that for so many Generations had governed the world it revealed and brought to light such truths as were not only contrary to the principles of mens education but many of them above the reach of natural comprehension too deep for the line of humane reason to fathom or find out Upon these and such like accounts Christianity was sure to encounter with mighty prejudices and potent opposition and to it did for no sooner did it peep abroad in the world but it was every where spoken against Princes and Potentates and the greatest powers and policies of the world did for some Ages confederate and combine together to extirpate and banish it out of the world and certainly if Arms and Armies if strength and subtilty if malice and cruelty could have stifled it it had been smothered in its infancy and first delivery into the world But notwithstanding all these oppositions it still lifted up his head in triumph and outbrav'd the fiercest storms of persecution and as Tertullian told their Enemies by every exquisite act of cruelty they did but tempt others to come over to the party the oftner they were mowed down the faster they sprang up again the blood of Christians making the Churches soil more fat and fertile Hereupon the great enemy of mankind betook himself to other counsels and sought to undermine what he saw he could not carry by open assault and battery he studied to leaven the minds of men with false and unjust prejudices against Christianity and to burden it with whole loads of reproaches and defamations knowing no speedier way to hinder its reception than to blast its reputation For this purpose all the arts of spite and malice were mustred up and Christians confidently charged with all those crimes that could render them and their Religion vile and infamous Now the things that were charged upon the Christians were either such as respected their Religion or such as concern'd their outward state and condition or such as related to their moral carriage and behaviour with some things relating to the matter or manner of their Worship we shall consider them in order and how the Christians of those times vindicated themselves from these imputations The Christian Religion at its first coming abroad into the world was mainly charged with these two things Impiety and Novelty For the first 't was commonly cryed out against as a grand piece of Atheism and Impiety as an affront to their Religion and an undermining the very being and existence of their gods this is the sum of the charge as we find it in the ancient Apologists more particularly Caecilius the Heathen in Minucius Felix accuses the Christians for a desperate undone and unlawful faction who by way of contempt did snuff and spit at the mention of their gods deride their worship sooff at their Priests and despise their Temples as no better than Charnel-houses and heaps of bones and ashes of the dead for these and such like reasons the Christians were every where accounted a pack of Atheists and their Religion the Atheism and seldom it is that Julian the Emperor calls Christianity by any other name Thus Lucian bringing in Alexander the Impostor setting up for an Oracle-monger ranks the Christians with Atheists and Epicureans as those that were especially to be banished from his mysterious Rites In answer to this charge the Christians pleaded especially these three things First that the Gentiles were for the most part incompetent Judges of such cases as these as being almost wholly ignorant of the true state of the Christian Doctrine and therefore unfit to pronounce sentence against it Thus when Crescens the Philosopher had traduced the Christians as atheistical and irreligious Justin Martyr answers that he talked about things which he did not understand feigning things of his own head only to comply with the humour of his seduc'd disciples and followers that in reproaching the Doctrine of Christ when he did not understand it he discovered a most wicked and malignant temper and shewed himself far worse than the most simple and unlearned who are not wont rashly to bear witness and determine in things not sufficiently known to them Or if he did understand its greatness and excellency then he shewed himself much more base and dis-ingenuous in charging upon it what he knew to be false and concealing his inward sentiments and convictions for fear lest he should be suspected to be a Christian But Justin well knew that he was miserably unskilful in matters of Christianity having formerly had conferences and disputations with him about these things and therefore offer'd the Senate of Rome to whom he then presented his
doctrines of Weavers Taylors Fullers and the most rustick and illiterate persons surely no if at any time we refuse to produce our instructions and counsels before Masters of Families or the Doctors of Philosophy know that if they be studious of virtue enemies to vice and such as breath after the best things before such we are most willing and ready to instruct our youth being well assur'd we shall find them favourable Judges but if they be enemies to goodness and virtue and opposers of sound wholsom Doctrine then if we hold our peace no fault can justly be laid upon us for in such circumstances the Philosophers themselves would not discover the dictates and mysteries of their Philosophy This is the substance of the several answers which Origen pursues more at large through several pages which though very rational and satisfactory yet we find something pleaded more direct and positive to the charge viz. that although amongst the Christians as 't is in any Society of men the vulgar and more common sort might not be men of the sharpest understanding or vers'd in the more polite arts of learning yet wanted they not and those no small number great Scholars men of acute parts and raised abilities such as had run through the whole circle of the Sciences who daily came over to them So Arnobius urging the triumphant power and efficacy which the Christian Faith had over the minds of men who says he would not believe it when he sees in how short a time it has conquered so great a part of the world when men of so great wit and parts Orators Grammarians Rhetoricians Lawyers Physicians and Philosophers have thrown up those former sentimets of which but a little before they were so tenacious and have embraced the Doctrines of the Gospel So fast did the Christian Church fill with the most eminent professors of all parts of Learning that were then known to the world Nor were the Christians of those times more despised upon the account of their weakness and ignorance than they were for their meanness and poverty they were looked upon as de ultima faece as the scum and refuse of the people scarce a considerable man to be found amongst them See says the Heathen in Minucius Faelix the most and best of all your party are a poor beggerly hungerstarv'd generation that have neither riches nor reputation to bear them out This Charge however impertinent seeing the goodness of any Religion depends not upon the greatness of its professors was yet as untrue as 't was unreasonable the Christians having amongst them persons of the chiefest place and quality and after some years the Princes and Potentates of the world and even the Emperors themselves struck sail to the Scepter of Christ When Scapula the President of Carthage threatned the Christians with severe and cruel usage Tertullian bids him bethink himself what wilt thou do says he with so many thousands of men and women of every sex age and dignity as will freely offer themselves What fires what Swords wilt thou stand in need of What is Carthage it self like to suffer if decimated by thee when every one shall find there his near Kindred and Neighbours and shall see there Matrons and men perhaps of thy own rank and order and the most principal persons and either the Kindred or Friends of those who are thy own nearest friends Spare them therefore for your own sake if not for ours And if there were persons of such quality in Afric so remote and in a manner so barbarous a Province what may we suppose there were in Rome it self and other parts of the Roman Empire And in his Apologie speaking of the vast spreading of the party though says he we be men of quite another way yet have we fill'd all places among you your Cities Islands Castles Corporations Councils nay your Armies themselves your Tribes Companies yea the Palace the Senate and the Courts of Justice only your Temples we have left you free Sure I am Pliny in his Letter to the Emperor tells him that Christianity had not only over-run City and Country but that it had infected many of every sex age and order of men And indeed it were no hard matter out of the ancient Histories and Martyrologies of the Church nay from the Heathen Writers themselves to prove that persons of the highest rank and quality even in those times embraced Christianity and seal'd it with their blood Of which it may suffice to give an account only of some few Not to insist upon the Saints which S. Paul tells us were in Nero's Palace we find many considerable persons and some of them near a kin to the Emperour under the reign of Domitian that cruel Prince and persecutor of Christians entertaining the profession of the Gospel And first let us hear the account which Dion Cassius the famous Historian gives us He tells us that about the latter end of Domitian's Reign he condemned many some whereof were slain others stript of their estates and amongst the rest Flavius Clemens the Consul his own Cousin-german and his Wife Flavia Domitilla near akin also to the Emperour upon pretence of Atheism 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and for that they had embrac'd the Rites and Religion of the Jews His Nephew Clemens he put to death his Wife Domitilla he banished into the Island Pandateria Upon the same account also he put to death Acilius Glabrio who together with Trajan had been Consul the year before That the persons here describ'd were Christians is plain partly from the Charge of Atheism here fastned upon them the common and familiar accusation and the title given to Christianity by the Heathens as we observ'd before and partly because they are said to have passed over to the Rites and Customs of the Jews nothing being more ordinary in the Historians of those times than to mistake Christians for Jews and to call them so because both proceeding out of the same Country Christ himself and his Apostles being Jews born and his Religion first published and planted there And that which may give some more countenance to this is that Suetonius speaking of Domitian's condemning this Fl. Clemens represents him as a man contemtissimae inertiae as a most contemptibly dull and sluggish person which we know was generally charged upon the Christians that they were an useless and unactive people as we shall have occasion by and by more particularly to remark Besides this Fl. Domitilla the Wife of Clemens there was another of the same name his Neece by the Sister's side unless Dion Cassius mistook and put down Wife for Neece which there 's no reason to suppose seeing both may very well consist together who as Eusebius informs us was with many more banished by Domitian in the fifteenth year of his Reign into the Island Pontia and there put to death for the profession of Christianity whose persecutions and
the Emperours themselves to shew what veneration they have for this time commanding all Suits and Processes at Law to cease Tribunal-doors to be shut up and Prisoners to be set free imitating herein their great Lord and Master who by his death at this time delivered us from the prison and the chains of sin meaning herein those Laws of Theodosius Gratian and Valentinian which we lately mentioned We proceed now to enquire what other Festivals there were in those first Ages of the Church which I find to be chiefly these Easter Whitsuntide and Epiphany which comprehended two Christmass and Epiphany properly so called I reckon them not in their proper order but as I suppose them to have taken place in the Church Of these Easter challenges the precedence both for its antiquity and the great stir about it that in and from the very times of the Apostles besides the weekly returns of the Lords day there has been always observed an Anniversary Festival in memory of Christs Resurrection no man can doubt that has any insight into the affairs of the ancient Church all the dispute was about the particular time when it was to be kept which became a matter of as famous a Controversie as any that in those Ages exercised the Christian world The state of the case was briefly this the Churches of Asia the less kept their Easter upon the same day whereon the Jews celebrated their Passover viz. upon the 14. day of the first Month which always began with the appearance of the Moon mostly answering to our March and this they did upon what day of the week soever it fell and hence were stiled Quartodecimans because keeping Easter quarta decima Luna upon the 14. day after the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or appearance of the Moon The other Churches and especially those of the West did not follow this custom but kept Easter upon the Lords day following the day of the Jewish Passover partly the more to honour the day and partly to distinguish between Jews and Christians the Asiaticks pleaded for themselves the practice of the Apostles Polycarpus Bishop of Smyrna who had lived and conversed with them having kept it upon that day together with S. John and the rest of the Apostles as Irenaeus who himself knew Polycarpus and doubtless had it from his own mouth speaks in a Letter about this very thing though himself was of the other side And Polycrates in a Letter to the same purpose instances not only in S. John but S. Philip the Apostle who himself and his whole Family used so to keep it from whom it had been conveyed down in a constant and uninterrupted observance through all the Bishops of those places some whereof he there enumerates and tells us that seven Bishops of that place in a constant succession had been his Kinsmen and himself the eighth and that it had never been kept by them upon any other day this we are not so to understand as if S. John and the Apostles had instituted this Festival and commanded it to be observed upon that day but rather that they did it by way of condescension accommodating their practice in a matter indifferent to the humour of the Jewish Converts whose number in those parts was very great as they had done before in several other cases and particularly in observing the Sabbath or Saturday The other Churches also says Eusebius had for their patronage an Apostolical Tradition or at least pretended it and were the much more numerous party This difference was the spring of great bustles in the Church for the Bishops of Rome stickled hard to impose their custom upon the Eastern Churches whereupon Polycarpus comes over to Rome to confer with Anicetus who was then Bishop about it and though they could not agree the matter yet they parted fairly After this Pope Victor renewed the quarrel and was so fierce and peremptory in the case that he either actually did or as a learned man inclines rather to think probably to mollifie the odium of the Fact severely threatned to excommunicate those Eastern Churches for standing out against it this rash and bold attempt was ill resented by the sober and moderate men of his own party who writ to him about it and particularly Irenaeus a man as Eusebius notes truly answering his name both in his temper and his life quiet and peaceable who gravely reproved him for renting the peace of the Church and troubling so many famous Churches for observing the customs derived to them from their Ancestors with much more to the same purpose But the Asian Bishops little regarded what was either said or done at Rome and still went on in their old course though by the diligent practices of the other party they lost ground but yet still made shift to keep the cause on foot till the time of Constantine who finding this controversie amongst others much to disquiet the peace of the Church did for this and some other reasons summon the great Council of Nice by whom this question was solemnly determined Easter ordained to be kept upon one and the same day throughout the world not according to the custom of the Jews but upon the Lords day and this Decree ratified and published by the imperial Letters to all the Churches The Eve of Vigils or this Festival were wont to be celebrated with more than ordinary pomp with solemn watchings with multitudes of lighted Torches both in the Churches and their own private houses so as to turn the night it self into day and with the general resort and confluence of all ranks of men both Magistrates and people This custom of lights at that time was if not begun at least much augmented by Constantine who set up Lamps and Torches in all places as well within the Churches as without that through the whole City the night seemed to outvye the Sun at Noonday And this they did as Nazianzen intimates as a Prodromus or forerunner of that great light even the Sun of righteousness which the next day arose upon the world For the Feast it self the same Father calls it the holy and famous Passover a day which is the Queen of days the Festival of Festivals and which as far excels all other even of those which are instituted to the honour of Christ as the Sun goes beyond the other Stars A time it was famous for works of mercy and charity every one both of Clergy and Laity striving to contribute liberally to the poor a duty as one of the Ancients observes very congruous and sutable to that happy season for what more fit than that such as beg relief should be enabled to rejoice at that time when we remember the common fountain of our mercies Therefore no sooner did the morning of this day appear but Constantine used to arise and in imitation of the love and kindness of our blessed Saviour to bestow
his particular lot and portion comprehending the body of the people in general But afterwards this title was confin'd to narrower bounds and became appropriate to that Tribe which God had made choice of to stand before him to wait at his Altar and to minister in the services of his Worship And after the expiration of their Oeconomy was accordingly used to denote the ministry of the Gospel the persons peculiarly consecrated and devoted to the service of God in the Christian Church the Clergie being those qui divino cultui ministeria religionis impendunt as they are defin'd in a Law of the Emperour Constantine who are set apart for the ministeries of Religion in matters relating to the Divine Worship Now the whole 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 't is often called in the Apostles Canons the roll of the Clergie of the ancient Church taking it within the compass of its first four hundred years consisted of two sorts of persons the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who were peculiarly consecrated to the more proper and immediate acts of the Worship of God and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as were set apart only for the more mean and common services of the Church Of the first sort were these three Bishops Presbyters and Deacons The first and principal Officer of the Church was the President or Bishop usually chosen out of the Presbyters I shall not here concern my self in the disputes whether Episcopacy as a superior order to Presbytery was of divine institution a controversie sufficiently ventilated in the late times it being enough to my purpose what is acknowledged both by Blondel and Salmasius the most learned defenders of Presbytery that Bishops were distinct from and superior to Presbyters in the second Century or the next Age to the Apostles The main work and office of a Bishop was to teach and instruct the people to administer the Sacraments to absolve Penitents to eject and excommunicate obstinate and incorrigible offenders to preside in the Assemblies of the Clergy to ordain inferiour Officers in the Church to call them to account and to suspend or deal with them according to the nature of the offence to urge the observance of Ecclesiastical Laws and to appoint and institute such indifferent Rites as were for the decent and orderly administration of his Church In short according to the notation of his name he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Watchman and Sentinal and therefore oblig'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 diligently and carefully to inspect and observe to superintend and provide for those that were under his charge This Zonaras tells us was implied in the Bishops Throne being placed on high in the most eminent part of the Church to denote how much 't was his duty from thence to overlook and very diligently to observe the people that were under him These and many more were the unquestionable rights and duties of the Episcopal Office which because it was very difficult and troublesom for one man to discharge especially where the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Diocess as we now call it was any thing large therefore upon the multiplying of Country Churches it was thought fit to take in a subordinate sort of Bishops called Chorepiscopi Country or as amongst us they have been called suffragan Bishops whose business it was to superintend and inspect the Churches in the Country that lay more remote from the City where the Episcopal See was and which the Bishop could not always inspect and oversee in his own person These were the Vicarii Episcoporum as they are called in Isidores Version of the thirteenth Canon both of the Ancyran and Neocaesarean Council the Bishops Deputies chosen out of the fittest and gravest persons In the Canon of the last mentioned Council they are said to be chosen in imitation of the seventy not the seventy Elders which Moses took in to bear part of the Government as some have glossed the words of that Canon but of the seventy Disciples whom our Lord made choice of to send up and down the Countries to preach the Gospel as both Zonaras and Balsamon understand it and thereupon by reason of their great care and pains are commanded to be esteemed very honourable Their authority was much greater than that of Presbyters and yet much inferior to the Bishop Bishops really they were though their power confin'd within narrow limits they were not allowed to ordain either Presbyters or Deacons unless peculiarly licens'd to it by the Bishop of the Diocess though they might ordain sub-Deacons Readers and any inferiour Officers under them They were to be assistant to the Bishop might be present at Synods and Councils to many whereof we find their subscriptions and had power to give Letters of peace i. e. such Letters whereby the Bishop of one Diocess was wont to recommend any of his Clergy to the Bishop of another that so a fair understanding and correspondence might be maintained between them a priviledge expresly denied to any Presbyter whatsoever But lest this wandring employment of the Chorepiscopi should reflect any dishonour upon the Episcopal Office there were certain Presbyters appointed in their room called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Visiters often mentioned in the ancient Canons and Acts of Councils who being tied to no certain place were to go up and down the Country to observe and correct what was amiss And these doubtless were those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spoken of in the thirteenth Canon of the Neocaesarean Council those rural Presbyters who are there forbid to consecrate the Eucharist in the City Church in the presence of the Bishop or the Presbyters of the City As Christianity encreased and overspread all parts and especially the Cities of the Empire it was found necessary yet farther to enlarge the Episcopal Office and as there was commonly a Bishop in every great City so in the Metropolis as the Romans called it the Mother City of every Province wherein they had Courts of Civil Judicature there was an Archbishop or a Metropolitan who had Ecclesiastical jurisdiction over all the Churches within that Province He was superior to all the Bishops within those limits to him it belonged either to ordain or to ratifie the elections and ordinations of all the Bishops within his Province insomuch that without his confirmation they were looked upon as null and void Once at least every year he was to summon the Bishops under him to a Synod to enquire into and direct the Ecclesiastical affairs within that Province to inspect the lives and manners the opinions and principles of his Bishops to admonish reprove and suspend them that were disorderly and irregular if any controversies or contentions happened between any of them he was to have the hearing and determination of them and indeed no matter of moment was done within the whole Province without first consulting him in the case Besides this Metropolitan there was many times another in the same
elevation of their minds the lifting up their thoughts from low sordid objects to those spiritual and divine things they were then conversant about But what ever they did in other parts of the publick Service they constantly stood up at the reading of the Gospel a custom generally embraced in all parts of the Christian world Therefore Sozomen discoursing of the various rights observed in several Churches notes it as an unusual thing in the Bishop of Alexandria that he did not rise up when the Gospels were read a thing says he which I never saw nor heard of in any other place and Philostorgius tells us of Theophilus the Indian Bishop that amongst several irregularities which he corrected in those Churches he particularly reformed this that the people were wont to sit while the Lessons out of the Gospel were read to them Nor did the greatest personages think themselves too high to express this piece of reverence in their attendance upon the King of Kings 'T is very memorable what we read concerning the great Constantine that when upon occasion Eusebius was to make a Panegyrick concerning the Sepulchre of our Saviour though it was not in the Church but in the Palace yet he refused to sit all the time and when Eusebius beseeched him to sit down in his Throne that was hard by him he would not but attentively heard judged and approved those things that were spoken and when after a good while the Sermon having been prolix Eusebius out of compliance would have broken off and done he called to him to go on till he came to the full end of his discourse whereupon he was again sollicited to sit down but refused affirming it to be unfit to attend upon any discourse concerning God and much more at this time with ease and softness and that it was very consonant to piety and religion that discourses about divine things should be heard standing So great a reverence had that excellent Prince for the solemnities of divine Worship In the discharge of these holy Exercises as they carried themselves with all seriousness and gravity so they continued in them till they were compleatly finished there was then no such airiness and levity as now possesses the minds of men no snatching at some pieces of the Worship tanquam Canis ad Nilum and gone again no rude disorderly departing the Congregation till the whole Worship and Service of God was over And therefore when this warmth and vigour of the first Ages was a little abated the Council of Orleans thought good to re-establish the primitive devotion by this Canon That when the people came together for the celebration of divine Service they should not depart till the whole Solemnity was over and the Bishop or Presbyter had given the blessing CHAP. X. Of Baptism and the administration of it in the Primitive Church Four circumstances considered Baptism by whom administred By none usually without the leave of the Bishop The great controversie about re-baptizing those that had been baptized by Hereticks An account of it out of Cyprian Laymen how suffered to baptize The opinion of the absolute necessity of Baptism The case of Athanasius his baptizing when but a Child Women never permitted to baptize Persons to be baptized who Infants Sufficient evidence for Infant-baptism in the ancient Writers of the Church Some passages out of Cyprian noted The baptized most-what adult persons The stated times of Baptism Easter and Whitsuntide and why Especially upon Easter Eve and why In cases of necessity at any other time Clinici who Clinic-baptism accounted less perfect why Vsual to defer Baptism till a death-bed and the reason of it noted in Constantine and others Being baptized for the dead what probably The usual place of Baptism in or near the Church always before the Congregation The Baptisterium or Font where it stood and how large It s distinct apartments for men and women A curiosity in many in those times of being baptized in Jordan and why The manner of the Administration The person baptized looked towards the West and why Their answering as to the profession of their faith Their solemn abrenunciation made twice and the form of it Sureties in Baptism Persons baptized exorcised what meant by it Vnction upon what account used several reasons of it assigned by the Fathers The sign of the Cross made in Baptism evident out of the ancient Fathers Of immersion or putting the person under water what it shadowed out Generally in use in those Countries not absolutely necessary in others Trine immersion different reasons of it assigned by the Fathers It obtained not in Spain and why A second Vnction Persons after Baptism clothed in white garments and why These kept in the Church as a testimony of their solemn engagement a memorable instance out of Victor Uticensis A brief account of confirmation the neglect of it bewailed OUR Lord having instituted Baptism and the Lords Supper as the two great Sacraments of the Christian Law they have accordingly been ever accounted principal parts of publick Worship in the Christian Church we shall treat first of Baptism as being the door by which persons enter in the great and solemn rite of our initiation into the faith of Christ concerning which four circumstances are chiefly to be enquired into the persons by and upon whom the time when the place where the manner how this Sacrament was administred in the ancient Church For the persons by whom this Sacrament was administred they were the Ministers of the Gospel the Stewards of the mysteries of Christ baptizing and preaching the Gospel being joined together by our Saviour in the same Commission usually 't was done by the Bishop the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in J. Martyr the Antistes in Tertullian the President or chief Minister of the Congregation the summus sacerdos qui est Episcopus as he calls him without whose leave and authority neither Presbyters nor Deacons might take upon them to baptize as not only Ignatius but Tertullian expresly tells us and if they did it was only in case of necessity as is affirmed by an ancient Author who lived in or near the time of Cyprian the same S. Hierom assures us was the custom in his time though otherwhiles we find the Bishop to begin the action and the Presbyters to carry it on and finish it But as Christianity encreased this became a more familiar part of the Presbyters and the Deacons office and doubtless had been more or less executed by them from the beginning though out of reverence to the Bishop and to preserve the honour of the Church as Tertullian gives the reason they did it not without his leave and deputation and 't is certain that Philip baptized the Eunuch who yet was of no higher order than that of Deacon Nor was it accounted enough by some in those times that Baptism was conferred by a person called to the Ministry unless he was
necessary to be deferred so long and that it was their universal judgment and resolution that the mercy and grace of God was not to be denied to any though as soon as he was born concluding that it was the sentence of the Council that none ought to be forbidden baptism and the grace of God which as it was to be observed and reteined towards all men so much more towards Infants and new-born Children and that this sentence of theirs was no novel doctrine S. Augustine assures us where speaking concerning this Synodical determination he tells us that in this Cyprian did not make any new decree but kept the Faith of the Church most firm and sure I shall only taken notice of one place more out of Cyprian which methinks evidently makes for this purpose where describing the great wickedness and miserable condition of the lapsed such as to avoid persecution had done sacrifice to the Idols he urges this as one of the last and highest aggravations that by their apostasie their Infants and Children were exposed to ruine and had lost that which they had obtained at their first coming into the world which whether he means it of their right to Baptism or their having been actually baptized and losing the fruit and benefit of their Baptism is all one to my purpose and therefore he brings them in thus elegantly pleading against their Parents at the great day ' T was no fault of ours we did not of our selves forsake the Sacraments of our Lord and run over to join with prophane impieties the unfaithfulness of others has undone us we have found our Parents to be murderers they denied us God for our Father and the Church for our Mother for while we alas were little unable to take any care of our selves and ignorant of so great a wickedness we were ensnared by the treachery of others and by them betrayed into a partnership of their impieties This was the case of Infants but those who made up the main body of the baptized in those days were adult persons who flocking over daily in great numbers to the faith of Christ were received in at this door usually they were for some considerable time catechized and trained up in the principles of the Christian Faith till having given testimony of their proficiency in knowledge to the Bishop or Presbyter who were appointed to take their examination and to whom they were to give an account once a week of what they had learnt and of a sober and regular conversation they then became Candidates for Baptism and were accordingly taken in which brings me to the next circumstance considerable concerning The Time when Baptism was wont to be administred at first all times were alike and persons were baptized as opportunity and occasion served but the discipline of the Church being a little setled it began to be restrained to two solemn and stated times of the year viz. Easter and Whitsontide At Easter in memory of Christs death and resurrection correspondent unto which are the two parts of the Christian life represented and shadowed out in Baptism dying unto sin and rising again unto newness of life in order to which the parties to be baptized were to prepare themselves by a strict observation of Lent disposing and fitring themselves for Baptism by fasting and prayer In some places particularly the Churches of Thessaly Easter was the only time for Baptism as Socrates tells us which was the reason why many amongst them died unbaptized but this was an usage peculiar to them alone The ancient custom of the Church as Zonaras tells us was for persons to be baptized especially upon the Saturday before Easter-day the reason whereof was that this being the great or holy Sabbath and the mid-time between the day whereon Christ was buried and that whereon he rose again did fitliest correspond with the mystery of Baptism as it is the type and representation both of our Lords burial and resurrection At Whitsontide in memory of the Holy Ghosts being shed upon the Apostles the same being in some measure represented and conveyed in Baptism When I say that these were the two fixed times of Baptism I do not strictly mean it of the precise days of Easter and Whitsontide but also of the whole intermediate space of fifty days that is between them which was in a manner accounted Festival and Baptism administred during the whole time as I have formerly noted Besides these Nazianzen reckons the Feasts of Epiphany as an annual time of Baptism probably in memory either of the Birth or Baptism of our Saviour both which anciently went under that title this might be the custom in some places but I question whether it was universal besides that afterwards it was prohibited and laid aside But though persons in health and the space that was requisite for the instruction of the Catechumens might well enough comport with these annual returns yet if there was a necessity as in case of sickness and danger of death they might be baptized at any other time for finding themselves at any time surprized with a dangerous or a mortal sickness and not daring to pass into another world without this Badge of their initiation into Christ they presently signified their earnest desire to be baptized which was accordingly done as well as the circumstances of a sick Bed would permit These were called Clinici of whom there is frequent mention in the ancient Writers of the Church because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 baptized as they lay along in their beds This was accounted a less solemn and perfect kind of Baptism partly because 't was done not by immersion but by sprinkling partly because persons were supposed at such a time to desire it chiefly out of a fear of death and many times when not throughly Masters of their understandings For which reason persons so baptized if they recovered are by the Fathers of the Neocaesarean Council rendred ordinarily incapable of being admitted to the degree of Presbyters in the Church Indeed 't was very usual in those times notwithstanding that the Fathers did solemnly and smartly declaim against it for persons to defer their being baptized till they were near their death out of a kind of Novation principle that if they fell into sin after Baptism there would be no place for repentance mistaking that place of the Apostle where 't is said that if they who have been once enlightened 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Ancients generally understand of Baptism fall away 't is impossible to renew them again unto repentance For some such reason we may suppose it was that Constantine the Great deferred his Baptism till he lay a dying the same which Socrates relates of his Son Constantius baptized a little before his death and the like he reports of the Emperour Theodosius who apprehending himself to be arrested with a mortal sickness presently caused himself to be baptized
though he recovered afterwards To this custom of Clinic Baptism some not improbably think the Apostle has reference in that famous place where he speaks of those that are baptized for the dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which they expound with reference to the state of the dead and that 't is meant of such who in danger of death would be baptized that it might fare well with them after death This Epiphanius thinks the truest interpretation that it 's meant of Catechumens who being suddenly surprised with death would be baptized that so their sins being remitted in Baptism they might go hence under the hope of that eternal life which awaits good men after death and testifie their belief and expectation of their future happy resurrection Others think it may refer to the place of Baptism those who are baptized 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 over the Graves or Sepulchres of the dead it being an ancient and general custom to have their religious meetings and to perform their publick exercises at the Tombs of Martyrs there being numerous instances in the acts of the Martyrs of such as were baptized in the Coemeteria over the Monuments of the dead Which soever of these is most sutable yet certainly either of them is far more probable than that which many talk so much of as if the Apostle meant it of a custom common in those primitive times amongst the Cerinthians and other Hereticks where when any died without Baptism they used to place another under his Bed who was baptized for him in his stead whence Tertullian calls it a vicarious Baptism it being highly improbable that the great Apostle would fetch an argument to confirm so solemn and fundamental a principle of the Christian Faith as the doctrine of the Resurrection is from such an absurd and ridiculous rite used only by the worst of Hereticks But this only by the way For the Place where this solemn action was performed it was at first unlimited any place where there was water as Justin Martyr tells us in Ponds or Lakes at Springs or Rivers as Tertullian speaks but always as near as might be to the place of their publick Assemblies for it was seldom done without the presence of the Congregation and that for very good reason both as 't is a principal act of religious Worship and as 't is the initiating of persons into the Church which therefore ought to be as publick as it could that so the whole Congregation might be spectators and witnesses of that profession and engagement which the person baptized then took upon him and this they so zealously kept to that the Trullan Council allows not Baptism to be administred in a private Chappel but only in the publick Churches punishing the persons offending if Clergy with deposition if Laity with excommunication which yet as both Zonaras and Balsamon expound the Canon is to be understood unless it be done with the leave and approbation of the Bishop of the Diocess for this reason they had afterwards their Baptisteria or as we call them Fonts built at first near the Church then in the Church-Porch to represent Baptisms being the entrance into the mystical Church afterwards they were placed in the Church it self they were usually very large and capacious not only that they might comport with the general custom of those times of persons baptized being immersed or put under water but because the stated times of Baptism returning so seldom great multitudes were usually baptized at the same time In the middle of the Font there was a partition the one part for men the other for women that to avoid offence and scandal they might be baptized asunder Here it was that this great rite was commonly performed though in cases of necessity they dispensed with private Baptism as in the case of those that were sick or shut up in prison of which there were frequent instances in times of persecution Many there were in those days such especially as lived in the parts near to it whom nothing would serve unless they might be baptized in Jordan out of a reverence to that place where our Saviour himself had been baptized this Constantine tells us he had a long time resolved upon to be baptized in Jordan though God cut him short of his desire and Eusebius elsewhere relates that at Bethabara beyond Jordan where John baptized there was a place whither very many even in his time used to resort earnestly desiring to obtain their Baptism in that place This doubtless proceeded from a very devout and pious mind though otherwise one place can contribute nothing more than another nothing being truer than what Tertullian has observed in this case that it 's no matter whether we be haptized amongst those whom John baptized in Jordan or whom Peter baptized in Tyber The last circumstance I propounded concerns the manner of the celebration of this Sacrament and for this we may observe that in the Apostles Age Baptism was administred with great nakedness and simplicity probably without any more formality than a short prayer and repeating the words of institution and indeed it could not well be otherwise considering the vast numbers that many times were then baptized at once But after-ages added many rites differing very often according to time and place I shall not undertake to give an account of all but only of the most remarkable and such as did generally obtain in those times keeping as near as I can to the order which they observed in the administration which usually was thus Persons having past through the state of the Catechâ—mens and being now ripe for Baptism made it their request to the Bishop that they might be baptized whereupon at the solemn times they were brought to the entrance of the Baptistery or Font and standing with their faces towards the West which being directly opposite to the East the place of light did symbolically represent the Prince of darkness whom they were to renounce and defie were commanded to stretch out their hand as it were in defiance of him in this posture they were interrogated by the Bishop concerning their breaking of all their former leagues and commerce with sin and the powers of Hell the Bishop asking dost thou renounce the Devil and all his works powers and service to which the party answered I do renounce them dost thou renounce the world and all its pomps and pleasures Answer I do renounce them This renunciation was made twice once before the Congregation probably at their obtaining leave to be baptized and presently after at the Font or place of Baptism as Tertullian witnesses Next they made an open confession of their Faith the Bishop asking Dost thou believe in God the Father almighty c. in Jesus Christ his only Son who c. dost thou believe in the Holy Ghost the holy Catholick Church and in one Baptism of
endeavours to find out many mystical significations intended by it and seems to intimate as if he had been peculiarly warned of God to observe it according to that manner an argument which that good man often produces as his warrant to knock down a controversie when other arguments were too weak to do it But although it should be granted that our Saviour did so use it in the institution of the Supper the Wines of those Eastern Countries being very strong and generous and that our Saviour as all sober and temperate persons might probably abate its strength with water of which nevertheless the History of the Gospel is wholly silent yet this being a thing in it self indifferent and accidental and no way necessary to the Sacrament could not be obligatory to the Church but might either be done or let alone The posture wherein they received it was not always the same the Apostles at the institution of it by our Saviour received it according to the custom of the Jews at meals at that time lying along on their sides upon Beds round about the Table how long this way of receiving lasted I find not in the time of Dionysius Alexandrinus the custom was to stand at the Lords Table as he intimates in a Letter to Pope Xystus other gestures being taken in as the prudence and piety of the Governours of the Church judged most decent and comely for such a solemn action the Bread and Wine were delivered into the hands of those that communicated and not as the superstition of after-ages brought in injected or thrown into their mouths Cyrill tells us that in his time they used to stretch out their right hand putting their left hand under it either to prevent any of the sacramental Bread from falling down or as some would have it hereby to shadow out a kind of figure of a Cross During the time of administration which in populous Congregations was no little time they sung Hymns and Psalms the compiler of the Apostolical Constitutions particularly mentions the 33. Psalm which being done the whole action was solemnly concluded with prayer and thanksgiving the form whereof is likewise set down by the Author of the Apostolical Constitutions that God had thought them worthy to participate of such sacred mysteries and the people being blessed by the Bishop or the Minister of the Assembly and having again saluted each other with a Kiss of Peace as a testimony of their hearty love and kindness whence Tertullian calls this Kiss signaculum Orationis the Seal of Prayer the Assembly broke up and they returned to their own houses This for the main was the order wherein the first Christians celebrated this holy Sacrament for though I do not pretend to set down every thing in that precise and punctual order wherein they were always done and how should I when they often varied according to time and place yet I doubt not but who ever examines the usages of those times will find that 't is done as near as the nature of the thing would bear The end of the first Part. Primitive Christianity OR THE RELIGION OF THE Ancient Christians In the first Ages of the Gospel PART II. The Religion of the Primitive Christians as to those Vertues that respect themselves CHAP. I. Of their Humility This second branch of Religion comprehended under the notion of Sobriety and discovered in some great instances of it The proper tendency of the Christian Religion to beget humility This divine temper eminently visible in the first Christians made good out of their writings The great humility and self-denial of Cyprian What Nazianzen reports to this purpose of his own Father Their modest declining that just commendation that was due to them Many who suffered refus'd the honourable title of Martyrs Nazianzen's vindication of them against the suggestions of Julian the Apostate The singular meekness and condescension of Nebridius amidst all his honours and relations at Court Their stooping to the vilest Offices and for the meanest persons dressing and ministring to the sick washing the Saints feet kissing the Martyrs chains The remarkable humility of Placilla the Empress and the Lady Paula An excellent discourse of Nyssen's against Pride NExt to Piety towards God succeeds that part of Religion that immediately respects our selves expressed by the Apostle under the general name of Sobriety or the keeping our selves within those bounds and measures which God has set us Vertues for which the Primitive Christians were no less renowned than for the other Amongst them I shall take notice of their Humility their contempt of the World their temperance and sobriety their courage and constancy and their exemplary patience under sufferings To begin with the first Humility is a vertue that seems more proper to the Gospel for though Philosophers now and then spake a few good words concerning it yet it found no real entertainment in their lives being generally animalia gloriae creatures pufft up with wind and emptiness and that sacrific'd only to their own praise and honour whereas the doctrines of the Gospel immediately tend to level all proud and swelling apprehensions to plant the world with mildness and modesty and to cloath men with humility and the ornament of a meek and a quiet spirit By these we are taught to dwell at home and to converse more familiarly with our selves to be acquainted with our own deficiencies and imperfections and rather to admire others than to advance our selves for the proper notion of Humility lies in a low and mean estimation of our selves and an answerable carriage towards others not thinking of our selves more highly than we ought to think nor being unwilling that other men should value us at the same rate Now that this was the excellent spirit of Primitive Christianity will appear if we consider how earnestly they protested against all ambitious and vain-glorious designs how chearfully they condescended to the meanest Offices and Imployments how studiously they declin'd all advantages of applause and credit how ready they were rather to give praise to others than to take it to themselves in honour preferring one another S. Clemens highly commends his Corinthians that all of them were of an humble temper in nothing given to vain-glory subject unto others rather than subjecting others to themselves ready to give rather than receive Accordingly he exhorts them especially after they were fallen into a little faction and disorder still to be humble-minded to lay aside all haughtiness and pride foolishness and anger and not to glory in wisdom strength or riches but let him that glories glory in the Lord and to follow the example of our Lord the Scepter of the Majesty of God who came not in the vain-boasting of arrogancy and pride although able to do whatsoever he pleased but in great meekness and humility of mind appearing in the world without any form or comeliness or any beauty that he
Son of God they would not after all this which yet was not uncommon in those times either call themselves Martyrs or suffer others to call them so but if any of the brethren either by letter or discourse had saluted them by that title they would severely reprove and check them for it acknowledging themselves at best but vile and despicable Confessors and with tears begging of the Brethren to be instant with God by Prayer that they might perfect all by a reall Martyrdom Hence it was that when Julian the Apostate refus'd to proceed against the Christians by open persecution as his Predecessors had done because he envied them the honour of being Martyrs Nazianzen answers that he was greatly mistaken if he suppos'd they suffered all this rather out of a desire of Glory than a love of Truth such a foolish and vain-glorious humour might indeed be found amongst his Philosophers and the best of his party many of whom have put themselves upon strange attempts meerly to gain the honour of a name and the reputation of Divinity But for Christians they had rather dye in the Cause of Religion although no man should ever know of it than to live and flourish amongst others with the greatest Honour and Esteem it being our great sollicitude not to please Men but only to obtain honour from God Nay some of us says he arrive to that horoick pitch as to desire an intimate Vnion unto God meerly for himself and not for the honours and rewards that are laid up for us in the other world Memorable the humility of the great Constantine that when all mens mouths were filled with the honourable mention of his Vertues and one took upon him to praise him to his face telling him how happy he was whom God had thought worthy of so great an Empire in this world and for whom he reserv'd a much better Kingdom in the next he was highly offended with the address and advis'd the man that he should not presume to talk so any more but rather turn his praises of him into prayers to God for him that both here and hereafter he might be thought worthy to be numbred amongst the servants of God I cannot but take notice of what St. Hierome reports of Nebridius a young Roman Gentleman Cousin-german to the Empress by whom he was brought up in the Palace Play-fellow and Companion to the young Emperours to whom he was very dear train'd up with them in the same Studies and Arts of Education that notwithstanding all this and that he was then in the prime and vigour of his Youth yet he was neither debauched by intemperance amidst the delicacies and pleasures of the Court nor swell'd with pride reflecting upon others with a surly look but rendred himself amiable unto all the Princes he lov'd as brethren and rever'd as Lords their attendants and Ministers and all the Orders of the Palace he had so endear'd by kindness and condescension that they who were so much below him did in a manner think themselves equal to him I shall give but one instance more of the Humility of those times and that is their ready condescending to any Office or Imployment though never so mean about the poorest Christianâ— they thought it not below them to cook and provide victuals for them to visit the imprison'd to kiss their chains to dress their wounds to wash their feet And in this our Lord himself went before them when a little before his death he rose from table girt himself wash'd and wip'd his Disciples feet and then told them what influence this ought to have upon them That if their Lord and Master had wash'd their feet they ought also to wash one anothers feet for that he had given them an example that they should do as he had done to them and good reason the servant not being greater than his Lord neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him Accordingly we find this particular Act of Christian condescension frequently us'd in the Primitive Church St. Paul expresly requires it as a qualification in a widow that was to be taken in as a Deaconess into the Church that she be one that has us'd to lodge strangers and to wash the Saints feet Tertullian assures us 't was usually done by Christians in his time to go into the Prisons to kiss and embrace the Martyrs chains to harbour and provide for indigent brethren and to bring water to wash the Saints feet No office so low which they were not content to stoop to When Placilla the Empress was check'd by some of the Court for her mighty condescension in visiting the Hospitals and curing the lame and the sick with her own hands preparing and giving them their provisions as a thing too much below her State and Grandeur She answered That to distribute gold became the Emperour but for her part she thought her self oblig'd to do this for God who had advanc'd her to that Honour and Dignity Often instilling this pious Counsel into her Husband It becomes you Sir always to remember what you once were and what you now are by which means you will shew your self not to be ingrateful to your great Benefactor and will govern the Empire committed to you Justly and Lawfully and to the honour of him that gave it St. Hierom reckoning up the Vertues of Paula a Lady of the greatest Descent and Nobility in Rome but devoting her self afterwards to the solitudes of a Religious Life tells us of her that for humility the prime and chief Vertue of Christians she carried her self with so much lowliness that whoever had seen and not known her could not but have mistaken her for the meanest of the Maids that waited on her When ever she appeared in the midst of those devout and pious Virgins that dwelt with her she always seem'd both in cloaths and voice and garb and gate the least and most contemptible of all the rest So studious was the Piety of those dayes to keep the lustre of their own perfections from sparkling in their eyes and not fondly to admire the glimmerings of their own light being so far from falsly arrogating to themselves those excellencies which they had not that they industriously conceal'd those excellent perfections which they had I cannot better conclude this Chapter than with the excellent reasonings of St. Gregory of Nyssa against priding a mans self in any external ornaments or advantages where he thus entertains the proud man He that looks to himself and not to the things that are about him will see little reason to be proud for what is Man Say the best of him and that which may add the greatest honour and veneration to him that he 's born of Nobles and yet he that adorns his descent and speaks highliest of the splendour and nobility of his house does but derive his pedigree from the dirt and to enquire more narrowly into the
and confession and fulfilled the regular customs and orders of the Church The time of penance being ended they addressed themselves to the Governours of the Church for Absolution hereupon their repentance was taken into examination and being found to be sincere and real they were openly re-admitted into the Church by the imposition of the hands of the Clergy the party to be absolv'd kneeling down between the knees of the Bishop or in his absence of the Presbyter who laying his hand upon his head solemnly blessed and absolved him whence doubtless sprang that absurd and senceless calumny which the Heathens laid upon the Christians that they were wont Sacerdotis colere genitalia so forward were they to catch at any reproach which the most crooked and malicious invention could insinuate and suggest The penitent being absolved was received with the universal joy and acclamation of the people as one returned from the state of the dead for such 't is plain they accounted them while under a state of guilt especially the lapsed as Cyprian positively affirms them to be being embraced by his brethren who blessed God for his return and many times wept for the joy of his recovery who upon his absolution was now restored to a participation of the Lords Supper and to all other acts of Church-Communion which by his crimes he had forfeited and from which he had been suspended till he had given satisfactory evidence of his repentance and purpose to persevere under the exact discipline of Christianity This was the ordinary way wherein they treated criminals in the Primitive Church but in cases of necessity such as that of danger of death they did not rigidly exact the set time of penance but absolved the person that so he might dye in the peace and communion of the Church The story of Serapion at Alexandria we have formerly mentioned who being suddainly surpriz'd with death while he was under the state of penance and not being able to dye till he had received absolution sent for the Presbyter to testifie his repentance and absolve him but he being also at that time sick sent him a part of the Consecrated elements which he had by him upon the receiving whereof he breathed out his soul with great comfort and satisfaction that he now died in Communion with the Church The truth is the time of these Penitentiary humiliations often varied according to the circumstances of the case it being much in the power of the Bishops and Governours of the Church to shorten the time and sooner to absolve and take them into Communion the Medicinal vertue of repentance lying not in the duration but the manner of it as S. Basil speaks in this very case A learned man has observed to my hand four particular cases wherein they were wont to anticipate the usual time of absolution The first was what I observed but now when persons were in danger of death this was agreed to by Cyprian and the Martyrs and the Roman Clergy and the Letters as he tells us sent through the whole World to all the Churches this also was provided for by the great Council of Nice That as for those that were at the point of death the ancient and Canonical rule should be observed still that when any were at the point of death they should by no means be deprived of the last and necessary Viaticum i.e. the Holy Sacrament which was their great Symbol of Communion And here for the better understanding some passages it may not be unuseful once for all to add this note that whereas many of the ancient Canons of the Illiberine Council especially positively deny communion to some sorts of penitents even at the hour of death they are not to be understood as if the Church mercilesly denied all indulgence and absolution to any penitent at such a time but only that it was thought fit to deny them the use of the Eucharist which was the great pledge and testimony of their communion with the Church The second case was in time of eminent persecution conceiving it but fit at such times to dispense with the rigour of the discipline that so Penitents being received to the Grace of Christ and to the communion of the Church might be the better armed and enabled to contend earnestly for the Faith This was resolved and agreed upon by Cyprian and a whole Council of African Bishops whereof they give an account to Cornelius Bishop of Rome that in regard persecution was drawing on they held it convenient and necessary that communion and reconciliation should be granted to the lapsed not only to those that were a dying but even to the living that they might not be left naked and unarmed in the time of battel but be able to defend themselves with the shield of Christs body and blood For how say they shall we teach and perswade them to shed their blood in the Cause of Christ if we deny them the benefit of his blood How shall we make them fit to drink the cup of martyrdom unless we first admit them in the Church to a right of communication to drink of the cup of the blood of Christ A third case wherein they relaxed the severity of this discipline was when great multitudes were concerned or such persons as were likely to draw great numbers after them in this case they thought it prudent and reasonable to deal with persons by somewhat milder and gentler methods lest by holding them to terms of rigour and austerity they should provoke them to fly off either to Heathens or to Hereticks This course Cyprian tells us he took he complied with the necessity of the times and like a wise Physician yielded a little to the humour of the patient to provide for his health and to cure his wounds and quotes herein the example of Cornelius of Rome who dealt just so with Trophimus and his party and elsewhere that out of an earnest desire to regain and resettle the brethren he was ready to connive at many things and to forgive any thing and did not examine and exact the greatest crimes with that full power and severity that he might insomuch that he thought he did almost offend himself in an over-liberal remitting other mens offences Lastly in absolving penitents and mitigating the rigours of their repentance they used to have respect to the person of the penitent to his Dignity or Age or Infirmity or the course of his past life sometimes to the greatness of his Humility and the impression which his present condition made upon him Thus the Ancyran Council impowers Bishops to examine the manner of mens Conversion and Repentance and accordingly either to moderate or enlarge their time of penance but especially that regard be had to their Conversation both before and since their offence that so clemency and indulgence may be extended to them So for the case of persons of
that stood under this capacity a formal sentence was always denounced against him it being many times sufficient that the fact he had done was evident and notorious as in the case of the lapsed that had offered sacrifice for in this case the offender was look'd upon as ipso facto excommunicate and all religious commerce forborn towards him 'T is true that in some cases the Martyrs as we shall see more anon finding such lapsed persons truly penitent did receive them into private Communion so did those Martyrs Dionysius Alexandrinus speaks of in his Letter to Fabius Bishop of Antioch they took the penitents that had fallen into idolatry into their company and Communicated with them both at Prayers and Meals but to publick Communion they were never admitted till they had exactly fulfilled the discipline of the Church which principally consisted in many severe acts of repentance and mortification more or less according to the nature of the offence During this space of penance they appeared in all the formalities of sorrow and mourning in a sordid and squalid habit with a sad countenance and a head hung down with tears in their eyes standing without at the Church doors for they were not suffered to enter in falling down upon their knees to the Ministers as they went in and begging the prayers of all good Christians for themselves with all the expressions and demonstrations of a sorrowful and dejected mind reckoning the lower they lay in repentance the higher it would exalt them the more sordid they appeared the more they should be cleansed and purified the less they spared themselves the more God would spare them at these times also they made open confession of their faults this being accounted the very spring of repentance and without which they concluded it could not be real Out of confession says Tertullian is born repentance and by repentance God is pacified and therefore without this neither riches nor honour would procure any admission into the Church Thus Eusebius reports that when Philippus the Emperour would have gone in with the rest of the Christians upon Easter-eve to have partaked of the prayers of the Church the Bishop of the place would by no means suffer it unless he first made confession of his sins and passed through the order of the Penitents being guilty of very great and enormous sins which 't is said he very willingly submitted to testifying by his actions his real and religious fear of the Divine Majesty This story though as to the main of it it might be true yet as fastened upon Philip the Emperour I have formerly shewed it to be false and that it 's rather meant of one Philippus who was Governour in Egypt and professed himself a Christian but however this was 't is certain that a person as great as he Theodosius the Great for his bloody and barbarous slaughter of the Thessalonians was by S. Ambrose Bishop of Millain suspended brought to publick confession and forced to undergo a severe course of penance for eight months together when after great demonstrations of a hearty sorrow and sincere repentance not more rigidly imposed upon him than readily and willingly received by him after his usual prostrations in the Church as if unworthy either to stand or kneel crying out in the words of David My soul cleaveth unto the dust quicken thou me according to thy word after having oft torn his hair beat his forehead water'd his cheeks with tears and humbly beg'd peace and pardon he was absolved and restored to Communion with the Church of which passage they who would know more may find the story largely related by Theodoret. This severity was used towards offenders partly to make them more sensible of their sins partly to affright and deterr others but principally to give satisfaction both to God and his Church concerning the reality and sincerity of their repentance Hence it is that these Penances in the Writings of those times are so often called satisfactions for whenever those Fathers use the word 't is either with respect to men or God if to men then the meaning is that by these external acts of sorrow and mortification they satisfie the Church of their repentance and make reparation for those offences and scandals which they had given by their sins If to God then 't is taken for the acknowledgement of a mans fault and the begging of pardon and remission Thus Cyprian speaking of the state of impenitent sinners aggravates it by this that they do peccare nec satisfacere sin but make no satisfaction i.e. as in the very next words he explains it they do not peccata deflere confess and bewail their sins and before discoursing about Gods being the only object of tears and sorrow for sin which is to be addressed to God and not man he tells us 't is God that is to be appeased by satisfaction that he being greatly offended is to be intreated by a long and full repentance as being alone able to pardon those sins that are committed against him So that the satisfaction which they reckon'd they made to God consisted in seeking to avert his displeasure and to regain his forfeited favour by a deep contrition and sorrow for sin by a real acknowledgement and forsaking of their faults and by an humble giving to God the glory both of his mercy and his justice Thence confession is called by Tertullian the Counsel or Intendment of satisfaction And a little after he describes it thus Confession says he is that whereby we acknowledge our offence to God not as if he were ignorant of it but inasmuch as by confession satisfaction is forwarded by confession repentance is produced and by repentance God is appeased The same both he Cyprian and others frequently use in the same sence which I note the rather because of that absurd and impious doctrine so currant amongst the Papists and which they pretend to derive from these very Fathers that by works of penance compensation is made to God for the debt of punishment that was contracted whereby at least the temporal penalties due to sin are meritoriously expiated and done away But this besides that it is flatly repugnant to the doctrine of antiquity how much 't is derogatory to the honour of divine grace and the infinite satisfaction of the Son of God I shall not now stand to dispute To return therefore This term of penance was usually exacted with great rigour and seldom dispensed with no indulgence or admission being granted till the full time was compleated Therefore Cyprian smartly chides with some Presbyters who had taken upon them to absolve the lapsed before their time and that whereas in lesser offences men were obliged to the just time of penance and to observe the order of discipline they in a crime of so heinous a nature had hand over head admitted them to Communion before they had gone through their penance