he tells that one of the three returned soon after repenting it seems next morning and so he receiv'd him again into the Church unto the Laick Communion But for the other two he had sent Successors into their places And yet after all this ado and the whetting of Constantine contrary to his own Nature and his own Declarations against the Novatians I cannot find their Heresie to have been others than that they were the Puritans of those times and a sort of Non-conformists that could have subscribed to the Six and thirty Articles but differed only in those of Discipline and upon some enormities therein separated and which will always be sufficient to qualifie an Heretick they instituted Bishops of their own in most places And yet afterwards in the times of the best Homoousian Emperors a sober and strictly Religious People did so constantly adhere to them that the Bishops of the Church too found meet to give them fair quarter for as much as they differ'd not in Fundamentals and therefore were of use to them against Hereticks that were more dangerous and diametrically opposite to the Religion Nay in so much that even the Bishop of Constantinople yea of Rome notwithstanding that most tender point and interest of Episcopacy suffered the Novaian Bishops to walk cheek by joul with them in their own Diocess until that as Socr. l. 7. c. 11. the Roman Episcopacy having as it were passed the bounds of Priesthood slip'd into a Secular Principality and thenceforward the Roman ishops would not suffer their Meetings with Security but though they commended them for their Consent in the same Faith with them yet took away all their Estates But at Constantinople they continued to fare better the Bishops of that Church embracing the Novatians and giving them free liberty to keep their Conventicles in their Churches What and to have their Bishops too Altar against Altar A Condescension which as our Non-conformists seem not to desire or think of so the Wisdom of these times would I suppose judge to be very unreasonable but rather that it were fit to take the other course and that whatsoever advantage the Religion might probably receive from their Doctrine and party 't is better to suppress them and make havock both of their Estates and Persons But however the Hereticks in Constantine's time had the less reason to complain of ill measure seeing it was that the Bishops mâ—ted by among themselves I pass over that Controversie betwixt Cecilianus the Bishop of Carthage and his adherents with another set of Bishops there in Africk upon which Constantine ordered ten of each party to appear before Miltiades the Bishop of Rome and others to have it decided Yet after they had given Sentence Constantine found it necessary to have a Council for a review of the business as in his Letter to Chrestus the Bishop of Syracuse Euseb. l. 10. c. 6. Whereas â—everal have formerly separated from the Catholick Heresie for that word was not yet so ill natured but that it might sometimes be used in its proper and good Sense and then relates his Commission to the Bishop of Rome and others But forasmuch as some having been careless of their own salvation and forgetting the reverence due to that most holy Heresie again will not yet lay down their enmity nor admit the sentence that hath been given obstinately affirming that they were but a few that pronounced the Sentence and that they did it very precipitately before they had duly enquired of the matter and from thence it hath happened that both they who ought to have kept a brotherly and unanimous agreement together do abominably and flagitiously deissâ—t from one another and such whose minds are alienated from the most hâ—ly Religion do make a mockery both of it and them Therefore I c. have commanded very many Bishops out of innumerable places to meet at Arles that what ought to have been quieted upon the former Sentence pronounced may now at least be determined c. and you to be one of them and therefore I have ordered the Prefect of Sicily to furnish you with one of the publick Stage-Coaches and so many Servants c. Such was the use then of Stage-Coaches Post-Horsâ—s and Councils to the great disappointment and grievance of the many both Men and Horses and Leather being hackney-jaded and worn out upon the errand of some contentious and obstinate Bishop So went the Affairs hitherto and thus well disposed and prepared were the Bishops to receive the Holy Ghost a second time at the great and first general Council of Nice which is so much Celebrated The occasions of calling it were two The first a most important question in which the Wit and Piety of their Predecessors and now theirs successively had been much exercised and taken up that was upon what day they ought to keep Easter which though it were no point of Faith that it should be kept at all yet the very calendary of it was controverted with the same zeal and made as heavy ado in the Church as if both parties had been Hereticks And it is reckoned by the Church Historians as one of the chief felicities of Constanstines Empire to have quieted in that Council this main controversie The second cause of the assembling them here was indeed grown as the Bishops had order'd it a matter of the greatest weight and consequence to the Christian Religion one Arrius having as is related to the disturbance of the Church started a most pernicious opinion in the point of the Trinity Therefore from all parts of the Empire they met together at the City of Nice two hundred and fifty Bishops and better saith Eusebius a goodly company three hundred and eighteen say others and the Animadverter too with that pithy remark pa. 23. Equal almost to the number of Servants bred up in the House of Abraham The Emperour had accommodated them every where with the publick Posts or laid Horses all along for the convenience of their journey thithers and all the time they were there supplied them abundantly with all sorts of provision at his own charges And when they were all first assembled in Council in the great Hall of the Imperial Palace he came in having put on his best Clothes to make his Guests welcome and saluted them with that profound humility as if they all had been Emperors nor would sit down in his Throne no it was a very little and low stool till they had all beckoned and made signs to him to sit down No wonder if the first Council of Nice run in their heads ever after and the ambitious Clergy like those who have beeâ— long a thirst took so much of Constantines kindness that they are scarce come to themselves again after so many Ages The first thing was that he acquainted them with the causes of his summoning them thither and in a grave and most Christian discourse exhorted them to keep the peace or to a good
Asia commands him that If any accuse the Christians and can prove it that they commit any thing against the State that then he punish them according to the crime but if any man accuse them meerly for calumny and vexation as Christians then i' faith let him suffer for 't and take you care that he feel the smart of it Antoninus Pius writ his Edict very remarkable if there were place to recite it to the States of Asia Assembled at Ephesus wherein he takes notice of his Fathers command that unless the Christians wâ—re were found to act any thing against the Roman Empire they should not be molested and then commands that if any man thereafter shall continue to trouble them tanquam tales as Christians for their Worship in that case he that is the Informer should be exposed to punishment but the Accused should be free and discharged I could not but observe that among other things in this Edict where he is speaking It is desirable to them that they may appear being accused more willing to die for their God than to live He adds It would not be amiss to admonish you concerning the Earth quakes which have and do now happen that when you are afflicted at them you would compare our affairs with theirs They are thereby so much the more incouraged to a confidence and reliance upon God but you all the while go on in your ignorance and neglect both other gods and the Religion towards the immortal and banish and persecute them unto death Which words of that Emperors fall in so naturally with what it seems was a common observation about Earth-quakes that I cannot but to that purpose take further notice how also Gregory Nazianzen in Or. 2. contra Gentiles tells besides the breakings in of the Sea in several places and many fires that happened of the Earth-quakes in particular which he reckons as Symptoms of Iulian's Persecution And to this I may add Socr. l. 3. c. 10 who in the Reign of Valens that notorious Christian Persecutor saith at the same time there was an Earth-quake in Bithynia which turned the City of Nice that same in which the general Council was held under Constantine and a little after there was another But although these so happened the minds of Valens and of Eudoxius the Bishop of the Arrians were not at all stirred up unto Piety and a right opinion of Religion For nevertheless they â—â—â—sed not made no end of perscuting those who in their Creed dissented from them Those Earth-quakes seemed to be certain indications of tumult in the Church All which put together could not but make me reflect upon the late Earth-quakes great by how much more unusual here in England thorow so many Counties two years since at the same time when the Clergy some of them were so busie in their Cabals to promote this I would give it a modester name then Persecution which is now no foot against the Dissenters at so unseasonable a time and upon no occasion administred by them that those who comprehend the reasons yet cannot but wonder at the wisdom of it Yet I am not neither one of the most credulous nickers or appliers of natural events to human transactions But neither am I so secure as the Learned Dr. Spencer nor can walk along the world without having some eye to the conjunctures of God's admirable Providence Neither was Marcus Aurelius that I may return to my matter negligent as to the particular But he observing as Antoninus had the Earth-quakes that in an expedition against the Germans and Sarmatians his Army being in despair almost for want of water the Melitine afterward from the event called the Thundring Legion which consisted of Christians kneel'd down in the very heat of their thirst and fight praying for rain which posture the Enemies wondring at immediately there brake out such a thundring and lightning as together with the Christian valour routed the adverse Army but so much rain fell therewith as refreshed Aurelius his Forces that were at the last gasp for thirst He thâ—nce forward commanded by his Letters That upon pain of death none should inform against the Christians as Tertullian in his Apology for the Christians witnesses But who would have beliâ—ved that even Commodus so great a Tyrant otherwise should have been so favourable as to make a Law That the Informers against Christians should be punished with death Yet he did and the Informer against Apollonius was by it executed Much less could a man have thought that that prodigy of cruelty Maximine and who â—xercised it so severely upon the Christians should as he did being struck with God's hand publish when it was too late Edict after Edict in great favour of the Christians But above all nothing could have been less expected than that after those Heathen Emperors the first Christian Constantine should have been seduced by the Bishops to be after them the first occasion of Persecution so contrary to his own excellent inclination 'T was then that he spake his own mind when he said Eus. de vitâ Const. 69. You ought to retain within the bounds of your private thoughts those things which you cunningly and subtly seek out concerning most frivolous questions And then much plainer c. 67. where he saith so wisely You are not ignorant that the Philosophers all of them do agree in the profession of the same Discipline but do oftentimes differ in some part of the Opinions that they dogmatize in But yet although they do dissent about the Discipline that each several Sect observeth they nevertheless reconcile themselves again for the sake of that common Profession to which they have concurred But against compulsion in Religious matters so much every where that it is needless to insert one passage And he being of this disposition and universally famous for his care and countenance of the Christian Religion Eusebius saith these words While the People of God did glory and heighten it self in the doing of good things and all fear from without was taken away and the Church was fortifiâ—d as I may say on all sides by a peaceable and illustiâ—us tranquility then Envy lying in wait against our prosperity craftily crept in and began first to dance in the midst of the company of Bishops so goes on telling the History of Alexander and Aâ—rius I have been before large â—nough in that relation wherein it appeared that contrary to that great Emperours pious intention whereas Envy began to dance among the Bishops first the good Constantine brought them the Fiddles But it appear'd likewise how soon he was weary of the Ball and toward his latter end as Princes often do upon too late experience would have redressed all and returned to his natural temper Of the other Christian Emperours I likewise discoursed omitting that I might insert it in this place how the great Heathen Philosopher Themistius in his Consolar Oration celebrated Iovianus for having given that toleration in
which not the Persecution of the Heathen Emperor Iulian nor the Genâ—leness of Iovianus the Christian could allay or mitigate by their Afflictions or Prosperity The Divine Nemesis executed Justice upon them by one anothers hand And so hainou a Crime as for a Christian a Bishop to Persecute stood yet in need as the only equal and exemplary Punishment of being revenged with a Persecution by Christians by Bishops And whosoever shall seriously consider all along the Sucâ—essions of the Emperors can never have taken that Satisfaction in the most judicious Representations of the Scene which he may in this worthy Speculation of the great Order and admirable conduct of Wise Providence through the whole contexture of these Exterior seeming Accidents relating to the Ecclesiasticals of Christianity For to Iovianus succeeded Valentinian who in a short time took his Brother Valens to be his Companion in the Empire These two Brothers did as the Historian observes Socr. l 4. c. 1. alike and equally take care at the beginning for the Advantage and Government of the State but very much disagreed though both Christians in matters of Religion Valetinianus the Elder being an Orthodox but Valens an Arrian and they used a different Method toward the Christians For Valentinian who chose the Western part of the Empire and left the East to his Brother as he imbraced those of his own Creed so yet he did not in the least molest the Arrians But Valens not only labor'd to increase the number of the Arrians but Afflicted those of the contrary Opinion with grievous Punishments And both of 'm especially Valens had Bishops for their purpose The particulars of that heavy Persecution under Valens any one may further satisfie himself of in the Writers of those Times And yet it is observable that within a little space while he pursued the Orthodox Bishops he gave Liberty to the Novatians who were of the same Creed but separated from them aâ— I have said upon Discipline c. and caused their Churches which for a while were shut up to be opened again at Constantinople To be short Valens who out-lived his Brother that died of a natural Death himself in a Battel against the Goths could not escape neither the fate of a Christian Persecutor For the Goths having made Application to him be saith Socrates not well fore-seeing the Consequence admitted them to Inhabit in certain places of Thracia pleasing himself that he should by that means always have an Army ready at hand against whatsoever Enemies and that those Foraign Guards would strike them with a greater Terror more by far than the Militia of his Subjects And so slighting the ancient Veterane Militia which used to consist of Bodies of Men raised proportionably in every Province and were stout Fellows that would Fight Manfully instead of them he levied Money rating the Country at so much for every Souldier But these new Inmates of the Emperors soon grew Troublesom as is customary and not only inâ—ested the Natives in Thracia but Plunder'd even the Suburbs of Constantinople there being no Armed Force to repress them Hereupon the whole People of the City cried out at a publick Spectacle where Valens was prosent neglecting this matter Give us Arms and we will manage this War our selves This extreamly provok'd him so that he forthwith made an Expedition against the Goths But Threatned the Citizens if he return'd in safety to be Reveng'd on them both for those Conâ—umelies and for what under the Tyrant Procopius they had committed against the Empire and that he would Raze to the Ground and Plow up the City Yet before his departure out of the fear of the Foraign Enemy be totally ceas'd from persecuting the Orthodox in Constantinople But he was kill'd in the Fight or Flying into a Village that the Goths had set on fire he was burns to ashes to the great grief of his Bishops who had he been Victorious might have revived the Persecution Such was the end of his Impetuous Reign and rash Counsels both as to his Government of State in matters of Peace and War and his Manage of the Church by Persecution His death brings me to the Succession of Theodosiâ—s the Great then whom no Christian Emperor did more make it his business to Nurse up the Church and to Lull the Bishops to keep the House in quiet But neither was it in his power to still their Bawling and Scratching one another as far as their Nails which were yet more tender but afterwards grew like Tallons would give them leave I shall not further vex the History or the Reader in recounting the particulars taking no delight neither may self in so uncomfortable Relations or to reflect beyond what is necessary upon the Wolfishness of those which then seemed and ought to have been the Christian Pastors but went on scattâ—ring their Flocks if not devouring and the Shepherds smiting one another In his Reign the second General Council was called that of constantinople and the Creed was there made which took its name from the place The rest of their business any one that is further curious may observe in the Writers But I shall close this with a short touch concerning Gregory Nazianzen then living than whom also the Christian Church had not in those times and I question whether in any succeeding a Bishop that was more a Christian more a Gentleman better appointed in all sorts of Learning requisite seasoned under Iulian's Persecution and exemplary to the highest pitch of true Religion and Practical Piety The eminence of these Vertues and in special of his Humility the lowliest but the highest of all Christian Qualifications raised him under Theodosius from the Parish-like Bishoprick of Nazianzum to that of Constantinople where he fill'd his place in that Council But having taken notice in what manner things were carried in that as they had been in former Councils and that some of the Bishops muttered at his promotion he of his own mind resigned that great Bishoprick which was never of his desire or seeking and though so highly seated in the Emperors Reverence and Favor so acceptable to the People and generally to the Clergy whose unequal Abilities could not pretend or justifie an envy against him retired back far more content to a Solitary Life to his little Nazianzum And from thence he writes that Letter to his Friend Procopius wherein p. 418. upon his most recollected and serious reflexion on what had faln within his observation he useth these remarkable words I have resolved with my self if I may tell you the Naked Truth never more to come into any Assembly of Bishops for I never saw a good and happy end of any Council but which rather increased than remedied the mischiefs For their obstinate Contentions and Ambition are unexpressible It would require too great a Volume to deduce from the death of Theodoâ—â—s the particulars that happened in the succeeding Reigns about this matter But the Reader may
A SHORT HISTORICAL ESSAY TOUCHING GENERAL COVNCILS CREEDS and IMPOSITIONS in Matters of Religion Very Seasonable for Allaying the Heats of the CHURCH Written by that Ingenious and Worthy Gentleman Mr. ANDREW MARVELL Who died a Member of Parliament LONDON Printed in the Year MDCLXXX A SHORT HISTORICAL ESSAY TOUCHING General Councils Creeds and Impositions in Religion THE Christian Religion as first Instituted by our Blessed Saviour was the greatest security to Magistrates by the Obedience which it taught and was fitted to enjoy no less security under them by a Practice conformable to that Doctrine For our Saviour himself not pretending to an Earthly Kingdom took such care therefore to instruct his followers in the due Subjection to Governours that while they observed his Precepts they could neither fall under any Jealousie of State as an ambitious and dangerous Party nor as Malefactors upon any other account deserve to suffer under the Publick Severity So that in this only it could seem pernicious to Government that Christianity if rightly exercised upon its own Principles would render all Magistracy useless But although he who was Lord of all and to whom all Power was given both in Heaven and in Earth was nevertheless contented to come in the form of a Servant and to let the Emperors and Princes of the World alone with the use of their Dominions he thought it good reason to retain his Religion under his own cognizance and exempt its Authority from their jurisdiction In this alone he was imperious and did not only practise it himself agaâ—nst the Laws and Customs then received and in the face of the Magistrate but continually seasoned and hardened his Disciples in the same confidence and obstinacy He tells them They shall be brought before Kings and Governours for his name but â—ear them not he will be with them bear them out and justifie it against all Opposition Not that he allowed them hereby to violate their duty to the Publick by any resistance in defiance of the Magistracy but he instructed and animated them in their duty to God in despight of Suffering In this manner Christianity did at first set out and accordingly found reception For although ouâ— Blessed Saviour having fulfilled all Rigteousness and the time of his Ministry being compleated did by his Death set the Seal to his Doctrine and shew the way toward Life and Immortality to such Believing imitate his Example yet did not the Heathen Magistrate take the Government to be concerned in point of Religion or upon that account consent to his Execution Pontius Pilate then Governour of Iudâ—a though he were a man unjust and cruel by Nature and served Tiberius the most tender jeâ—lous and severâ— in point of Sâ—ate 〈◊〉 Prerogative of all the Roman Emperors though hâ— underâ—tood 〈◊〉 â— multitudes followed him and â—â—at he was grown the Head of a new Sâ—ct that was never before heard of in the Nation yet did not he intermeddle But they were the men of Religion the Chief Priests Scribes and Elders and the High Priest Caiaphas And yet although they accused him fâ—â—sly That he taught that tribute was not to be given to Caesar that he was a Fifth Monarch and made himself a King and as it is usual for some of the Clergy to terrifie the inferiour Magistrates out of their duty to Justice out of pretence of Loyalty to the Prince threatned Pilate that if he let that man go he was not Caesars friend he understanding that they did it out of Envy and that the Justice and Innocence of our Saviour was what they could not bear with would have adventured all their Inâ—orming at Court and first have freed him and then have exchanged him for Barrabas saying that he found no fault in him but he was overborn at last by humane weakness and poorly imagined that by washing his own hands he had expiated himself and wiped off the guilt upon those alone who were the occasion But as for Tiberius himself the growth of Christianity did never increase his cares of Empire at Rome nor trouble his sleep at Capreae but he both approved of the Doctrine and threatned the Informers with Death nor would have staid there but attempted according to the way of their Superstition upon the intelligence from Pilate to have received Christ into the number of their Deities The Persecution of the Apostles after his Death and the Martyrdom of Stephen happened not by the interposing of Civil Magistrate in the matter of Religion or any disturbance occasioned by their Doctrines but arose from the High-Priest and his Emissaries by suborned Witnesses stirring up the rabble in a brutish and riotous manner to execute their cruelty How would the modern Clergy have taken and represented it had they lived in the time of S. Iohn Baptist and seen Ierusalem Iudaea and all the Region round about Jordan go out to be baptized by him Yet that Herod for any thing we read in Scripture though he wanted not his instillers apprehended no Commotion and had not Caligula banished him and his Herodias together might in all appearance have lived without any change of Government 'T was she that caused Iohn's Imprisonment for the conveniency of her Incest Herod indeed feared him but rather reverenced him as a just man and an holy observed him and when he heard him he did many things and heard him gladly Nor could all her subtilty have taken off his Head but that Herod thought himself under the obligation of a Dance and an Oath and knew not in that Case they ought both to be dispenced with But he was exceeding sorry at his death which few Princes are if men lived to their jealousie or dangâ—r The Killing of Iames and Imprisonment of Peter by that Herod was because he saw he pleased the people when the â—riests had once set them on madding a Complaisaâ—ce to which the most innocent may be exposed but which partakes more of guile than Civility or Wisdom But to find out what the disinteressed and prudent men of those days took to be the wisest and only justifiable way for the Magistrate to proceed in upon matters of Religion I cannot see any thing more pregnant than the concurrent Judgment of three Persons of so different Characters and that lived so far asunder that there can be no danger of their having corâ—upted one anothers Understanding in favour to Christianity Gamaliel the Deputy of Achaia and the Town-Clerk of Ephesus The first a Jewish Doctor by Sect a Pharisee one of the Council and of great Authority with the People who when the Chief-Priest had cast the Apostles in Prison and charged them for Preaching against the Command he had before laid upon them yet gave this advice confirming it with several fresh precedents Acts 5. That they should take heed to themselves what they intended to do with those mens and let them alone for if this counsel saith he or this work be of men it will come to â—ought but
Priests could not but observe a great decay in their Parishes a neglect of their Sacrifices and diminution of their Profits by the daily and visible increase of that Religion And God in his wise Providence had so ordered that as the Iews already so the Heathens now having filled up their measure with iniquity Sprinkling the Blood of his Saints among their Sacrifices and the Christians having in a severe Appreutiship of so many Ages learned the Trade of Suffering they should at last be their own Masters and admitted to their Freedom Neither yet even in those times when they lay exposed to Persecution were they without some Intervals and catching seasons of Tranquillity wherein the Churches had leisure to reap considerable advantage and the Clergy too might have been inured as they had been Exemplary under Affliction so to bear themselves like Christians when they should arrive at a full prosperity For as oft as there came a just Heathen Emperor and a lover of mankind that either himself observed or understood by the Governours of his Provinces the innocence of their Religion and Practices their readiness to pay Tribute their Prayers for his Government and Person their faithful Service in his Wars but their Christian valour and contumacy to Death under the most exquisite Torments for their holy Profession he forthwith relented he rebated the Sword of the Executioner and could not find in his heart or in his power to exercise it against the exercise of that Religion It being demonstrable that a Religion instituted upon Justice betwixt man and man Love to one another yea even their Enemies Obedience to the Magistrate in all Humane and Moral Matters and in Divine Worship upon a constant exercise thereof and as constant Suffering in that Cause without any pretence or latitude for resistance cannot so long as it is true to it self in these things fall within the Magistrates Jurisdiction But as it first was planted without the Magistrates hand and the more they plucked at it so much the more still it flourished so it will be to the end of the world and whensoever Governours have a mind to try for it it will by the same means and method sooner or later â—oil them but if they have a mind to pull up that Mandrake it were advisable for them not to do it themselves but to chuse out a Dog for the Imployment I confess whensoever a Christian transgresses these bounds once he is impoundable or like a wafe and stray whom Christ knows not he falls to the Lord of the Mannor But otherwise he cannot suffer he is invulnerable by the sword of Justice only a man may swear and damn himself to kill the first honest man he meets which hath been and is the case of all true Christians worshipping God under the power and violence of their Persecutors But the Truth is that even in those times which some men now as oft as it is for their advantage do consecrate under the name of Primitive the Christians were become guilty of their own punishment and had it not been as is most usual that the more Sincere Professors suffered promiscuously for the Sins and Crimes of those that were Carnal and Hypocrites their Persecutors may be looked upon as having been the due Administrators of God's Justice For not to go deeper if we consider but that which is reckoned the Tenth Persecution under Dioclesian so incorrigible were they after nine preceding what other could be expected when as Eusebius l. 3. c. 1. sadly laments having related how before that the Christians lived in great trust and reputation in Court the Bishops of each Church were beloved esteemed and reverenced by all mankind and by the Presidents of the Provinces the Meetings in all the Cities were so many and numerous that it was necessary and allowed them to erect in every one spacious and goodly Churches all things went on prosperously with them and to such an height that no envious Man could disturb them no Devil could hurt them as long as walking yet worthy of those mercies they were under the Almighty's care and protection after that our affairs by that too much Liberty degenerated into Luxury and Laziness and some prosecuted others with Hatred and Contumely and almost all of us wounded our selves with the weapons of the Tongue in ill language when Bishops set upon Bishops and the people that belonged to one of them stirred Sedition against the people of another then horrible Hypocrisie and Dissimulation sprung up to the utmost extremity of Malice and the Iudgment of God while yet there was liberty to meet in Congregations did sensibly and by steps begin to visit us the Persecution at first discharging it self upon our Brethren that were in the Army But we having no feeling of the hand of God not indeavouring to make our peace with him and living as if we believed that God did neither take notice of our Transgressions nor would visit us for them we heaped us Iniquity upon Iniquity And those which seemed to be our Pastors kicking underfoot the rules of Piety were inflamed among themselves with mutual Contention and while they minded nothing else but to exaggerate their Quarrels Threats Emulation Hatred and Enmities and earnestly each of them puâ—sued his particular Ambition in a Tyrannical manner then indeed the Lord then I say according to the voice of the Prophet Jeremy be covered the Daughter of Sion with a cloud in his anger and cast down from Heaven unto earth the beauty of Israel and remembred not his footstool in the day of his anger And so the pious Historian pathetically goes on and deplores the Calamities that insued to the loss of all that stock of Reputation Advantage Liberty and Safety which Christian people had by true Piety and adhering strictly to the Rules of their Profession formerly acquired and injoyed but had now forfeited and smartly deservedly suffered under Dioclesian's persecution And it was a severe one the longest too that ever happened ten years from his beginning of it and continued by others by which time one might have thought the Church would have been sufficiently winnowed and nothing left but the pure Wheat whereas it proved quite contrary and the holiest and most constant of the Christians being blown away by Martyrdom it seem'd by the succeeding times as if nothing but the Chaâ—â— and the Tares had remained But there was yet such a Seed left and not withstanding the defection of many so internal a vertue in the Religion it self that Dioclesian could no longer stand against it and tired out in two years time was glad to betake himself from rooting out Christianity to gardening and to sow Pot-herbs at Salona And he with his Partner Maximianus resigned the Empire to Galerius and Constantius the excellent Father of a more glorious and Christian Son Constantine the Great who in due season succeeded him and by a chain of God's extraordinary providence seemed to have been let
that set up of the same Profession that they could fearce live by one another Socr. l. 2. c. 32. Therefore uses these words But now that I have tandem aliquando run through this Labyrinth of so many Creeds I will gather up their number And so reckons Nine Creeds more besides that of Nice before the death of Constantine a blessed Number And I believe I could for a need make them up a dozen if Men have a mind to buy them so And hence it was that Hilary then Bishop of Poictiers represents that state of the Church pleasantly yet sadly Since the Nicene Synod saith he we do nothing but write Creeds That while we fight about words whilst we raise Questions about Novelties while we Quarrel about things doubtful and about Authors while we contend in Parties while there is difficulty in Consent while we Anatâ—ematize one another there is none now almost that is Christ's What a Change there is in the last years Creed The first Decree commands that Homoousion should not be mentioned The next does again Decree and Publish Homoousios The third does by Indulgence excuse the Word Ousia as used by the Fathers in their simplicity The fourth does not Excuse but Condemn it It is come to that at last that nothing among us or those before us can remain Sacred or inviolable We Decree every year of the Lord a new Creed concerning God Nay every Change of the Moon our Faith is alter'd We repent of our Decrees we defend those that repent of them we Anathematize those that we defended and while we either condemn other Mens Opinions in our own or our own Opinions in those of other Men and bite at one another we are now all of us torn in picees This Bishop sure was the Author of the Naked Truth and 't was he that implicitâ—ly condemn'd the whole Catholick â—hurch both East and West for being too presumptuous in her Definitions It is not strange to me that Iulian being but a Reader in the Christian Church should turn Pagan Especially when I consider that he succeeded Emperor after Constantius For it seems rather unavoidable that a Man of great Wit as he was and not having the Grace of God to direct it and show him the Beauty of Religion through the Deformity of its Governours and Teachers but that he must conceive a Loathing and Aversion for it Nor could he think that he did them any Injustice when he observed that beside all their Unchristian Immorality too they Practised thus against the Institutive Law of their Galilean the Persecution among themselves for Religion And well might he add to his other Severities that sharpness of his Wit both Exposing and Animadverting upon them at another rate than any of the Modern Pactitioners with all their Study and Inclination can ever arrive at For nothing is more punishable Contemptible and truly Ridiculous than a Christian that walks contrary to his Profession And by how much any Man stands with more advantage in the Church for Eminency but disobeys the Laws of Christ by that priviledge he is thereby and deserves to be the more Exposed But Iulian the last Heathen Emperor by whose Cruelty it seemed that God would sensibly Admonish once again the Christian Clergy and show them by their own smart and an Heathen-hand the nature and odiousness of Persecution soon died as is usual for Men of that Imployment not without a remarkable stroke of Gods Judgment Yet they as they were only sorry that they had lost so much time upon his death strove as eagerly to redeem it and forthwith fell in very naturally into their former Animosities For Iovianus being chosen Emperor in Persia and returning homeward Socr. l. 3. c. 20. the Bishops of each Party in hopes that their's should be the Imperial Creed strait to Horse and rode away with Switch and Spur as if it had been for the Plate to meet him and he that had best Heels made himself cockâ—sure of winning the Religion The Macedonians who dividing from the Arrians had set up for a new Heresie concerning the Holy Ghost and they were a Squadron of Bishops Petition'd him that those who held Filium Patri dissimilem might be turn'd out and themselves put in their places Which was very honestly done and above-board The Acacianâ— that were the refined Arrians but as the Author saith Had a notable faculty of addressing themselves to the Inclination of whatsoever Emperor and having good Intelligence that he balanced rather to the Consubstantials presentend him with a very fair Insinuating Subscription of a considerable number of Bishops to the Council of Nice But in the next Emperor's time they will be found to yield little Reverence to their own Subscription For in matter of a Creed a Note of their Hand without expressing the Penalty could not it seems bind one of their Order But all that Iovianus said to the Macedonians was I hate Contention but I lovingly imbrace and reverence those who are inclined to Peace and Concord To the Acacians who had wisely given these the precedence of Application to try the truth of their Intelligence he said no more having resolv'd by sweetness and persuasions to quiet all their Controversies but That he would not molest any Man whatsoever Creed be follow'd but those above others he would Cherish and Honour who should show themselves most forward in bringing the Church to a good Agreement He likewise call'd back all those Bishops who had been Banished by Constantius and Iulian restoring them to their Sees And he writ a Letter in particular to Athanasius who upon Iulianâ—s death had enter'd again upon that of Alexandria to bid him be of good courage And thâ—se things coming to the Ears of all others did wonderfully assuage the Fierceuess of those who were Inflamed with Faction and Contention So that the Court having declared it self of this Mind the Church was in a short time in all outward appearance peaceably disposed the Emperor by this Means having wholly repressed all their Violence Verily concludes the Historian the Roman Empire had been prosperous and happy and both the State and the Church â—he puts them too in that Order under so good a Prince must have exceedingly flourâ—shed had not an Immature death taken him away from managing the Government For after seven Months being seized with a mortal Obstruction he departed this Life Did not this Historian â—row you deserve to be handled and is it not now the Mischief is done to undo the Charm become a Duty to Expose both him and Ioviâ—nus By their ill chosen Principles what would have become of the Prime and most necessary Article of Faith Might not the old Dormant Heresies all of them safely have Revived But that Mortal Obstruction of the Bishops was not by his death not is it by their own to be removed They were glad he was so soon got out of their way and God would yet further manifest their intractable Spirit