who holding all things in the hollow of his Hand was able by himself alone both to begin and carry on a design wherein all Ages are comprehended We need therefore no longer wonder as we commonly do why God proposes to us to believe so many things so worthy of him and yet at the same time so impenetrable to Humane Understanding But we should rather wonder that he having established the Faith upon so firm and manifest an Authority there should yet be any in the World blind and incredulous Our disorderly Passions our being bewitched to our Senses and our incurable Pride are the cause of it We choose rather to venture all than to put a constraint upon our selves we choose rather to continue in our Ignorance than to confess it and are pleased rather with a vain Curiosity and indulging our unruly Spirits in the liberty of thinking whatsoever delights 'em than to yield to the yoke of Divine Authority From thence it is that there are so many Unbelievers and God suffers it to be so for the instruction of his Children Unless we had the Blind the Savage and the Infidel and that in the very Bosom too of Christianity we should not be sensible enough of the Corruption of our Nature nor of that Abyss of Misery from whence Jesus Christ hath delivered us If his holy Truth was not contradicted we should not see the Miracle which hath constantly carried it through so many Contradictions and we should forget at last that we are saved by Grace Now the Incredulity of the one does humble the rest and those Rebels that oppose God's Decrees make that Power conspicuous by which indepently from all things else he accomplishes the Promises he hath made to his Church What therefore is it that we look for now to make us humble and submiss do we look that God should still work new Miracles that he should make them useless by his continuing of them that he should accustom our eyes to them as he does to the Course of the Sun and to all the other Marvels of Nature or else do we ever expect that the wicked and the opinionative man should be silent that good and vertuous men and dissolute Libertines should bear an equal Testimony to the Truth that all the World by one common consent should prefer it to their Passions and that false Knowledge which only the Novelty of it causes to be admired should cease its usual way of surprising men Is it not enough that we see it is impossible for men to combate with Religion but they must at the same time shew by prodigious wandrings that their Senses are perverted and that they only defend themselves either by Presumption or ignorance Cannot the Church which hath been victorious both over Ages and Errours I say cannot that overcome in our Minds those weak and miserable Reasonings which are opposed to her and cannot the Divine Promises which we see every day are accomplishing elevate and raise us above our Senses Now let us not say that these Promises are still kept in suspence and as they are to hold out to the end of the World so it will not be until the end of the World that we can boast we have seen the accomplishment of them For on the contrary that which is already past assures us of the future so many ancient Predictions so visibly fulfilled make us satisfied that there will be nothing but what shall be accomplished and that the Church against which according as the Son of God hath promised us even the Gates of Hell shall never prevail will be always subsisting until the consummation of all things for that Jesus Christ who is true in all hath prescribed no other bounds to its duration The same Promises do likewise assure us of a future Life God who hath shewn himself so faithful in accomplishing what respects the present Age will be no less faithful in accomplishing that which respects the Future of which all that we see is but a preparation and the Church will be always unshaken and invincible on the Earth until that her Children being gathered together she be entirely conveyed to her which is her only true Mansion As for those who shall be excluded from that heavenly City an eternal Vengeance is reserved for them and after they have lost by their Sin and Folly a blessed Eternity there will be left for them no other place but a Hell of Eternal woe and misery Thus the Decrees of God are to terminate by an immutable state his Promises and his Threatnings are equally certain and what he executes in time assures us of what he hath commanded us either to expect or fear in Eternity You now see what may be learned from the continual progress of Religion as it is in short presented to your Eyes By time it conducts you to Eternity You see a constant order in all God's Decrees and a visible Mark of his Power in the perpetual duration of his People You cannot but confess that the Church hath a Branch always subsisting which cannot be separated from it without destroying it and that those who being united to this Root do perform such Works as are worthy of their Faith and secure to themselves eternal Life Your Highness is therefore to study but to study with attention this uninterrupted Course of the Church which so clearly assures to you all the Promises of God Whatsoever breaks this Chain whatsoever goes out of this Course whatsoever advances it self and does not come by virtue of the Promises made to the Church from the beginning of the World you are to have in horrour Imploy all your power to recall into this Unity whatsoever is stragled out of the way of it and to make it hearken to the Church by which the Holy Spirit of God pronounces its Oracles The Glory of your Ancestors is not only that they never forsook it but that they always supported it and thereby deserved to be called the Eldest Sons which is certainly the most glorious of all their Titles 'T is needless for me to mention to you Clovis Charlemaine or St. Louis Consider only the time you live in and from what Father God hath given you your Birth A King so great in every thing yet is more to be distinguished by his Faith than by all his other admirable Qualities He protects Religion not only within but out of his Kingdom and even to the last Extremities of the World His Laws are one of the firmest Rampiers of the Church His Authority revered as much by the Merit of his Person as by the Majesty of his Scepter never supports it self so well as when it defends the Cause of God We hear no more Blasphemies Impiety trembles before him this is the King taken notice of by Solomon Prov. 20.26 that in his Wisdom scattereth the Wicked and bringeth the Wheel over them If he attacks Heresie by such means and that more too than ever did any of
from being pillaged But it was quickly after exposed by the Debauches of its Emperor Valentinian Maximus Years of J. C. 454. 455. whose Wife he had violated found a way to destroy him by dissembling his Griefs and thereby insinuating himself into his good Affections By his deceitful Councels the blinded Emperour caused Aëtius the only Bullwark of the Empire to be put to death Maximus the Author of this Murder stirs up Aëtius his Friends to revenge it and so the Emperor came to be killed By these Steps he got to the Throne and forces the Empress Eudoxia the Daughter of Theodosius the Younger to marry him To deliver herself out of his Hands she was not afraid to run into those of Genseric Rome now became a Prey to Barbary It was only S. Leo that prevented all there from being put to Fire and Sword The People tore Maximus to pieces and only received that sad Consolation in all their Miseries All is out of Order in the West several Emperors are set up there and pull'd down again almost at one and the same time Years of J. C. 456. 457. Majorianus made himself the most Considerable Avitus very scurvily preserved his Reputation and saved himself by a Bishoprick The Gaules were no longer to be defended against Merovius nor against Childerick his Son But the latter had like Years of J. C. 458 to have dyed through his Debaucheries If Years of J. C. 462 his Subjects banished him one faithful Friend in reserve made him be recalled His Valour gave a Dread and Terror to his Enemies and his Conquests reached very far into the Country of the Gaules The Eastern Years of J. C. 475 Empire was at Peace under Leo the Thracian Years of J. C. 476 Marcian 's Successor and under Zeno Leo's Son-in-Law and Successor The Revolt of Basiliscus which was soon quasht gave but a short disturbance to this Empire But the Western Empire went to decay irrecoverably Augustus who was called Augustulus the Son of Orestes was the last Emperor owned at Rome and immediately after he was deposed by Odoacres King of the Heruleans These were People come from the Euxine Sea whose Government was but of a short duration In the East the Emperor Zeno attempted to signalize himself in an unheard of manner He was the first of all the Emperors who concern'd himself in regulating the Questions of Faith Whilst the Demi-Eutychians opposed the Council of Years of J. C. 482 Chalcedon he published against the Council his Henotick that is to say his Decree of Union detested by the Catholics and condemned by Pope Felix the III. The Heruleans Years of J. C. 483 were quickly driven from Rome by Years of J. C. 490 Theodorick King of the Ostrogoths that is to Years of J. C. 491 say the Eastern Goths who founded the Kingdom of Italy and left though an Arian a pretty free Exercise to the Catholic Religion The Emperor Anastasius was some trouble to it in the East He followed the Years of J. C. 492 Steps of Zeno his Predecessor and heartened Years of J. C. 493 the Heretics By which means he lost the Peoples Affections which could never be retrieved no not by casing them of heavy and oppressive Taxes Italy was all obedient to Theodorick Odoacres pressed into Ravenna indeavoured to save himself by a Treaty which Theodorick did not at all regard and the Heruleans were forced to resign up all Theodorick besides Italy did likewise keep Provence In his time St. Bennet being in Italy retired into a Desart Years of J. C. 494 began from his most early years to put in Practice those Holy Maximes of which he afterwards composed that excellent Rule which all the Western Monks received with the same respect and deference which those of the East do pay to that of St. Basil The Romans compleated the Ruin of the Gauls by the Victories of Clovis the Son of Chilperick Years of J. C. 495 He gained also over the Germans the Battle of Tolbiac by the Vow he made of embracing the Christian Religion to which his Wife Clotilda never ceased her Persuasions She was of the House of the Kings of Buâ—gundy and a most Catholic Zelot tho' her Family and Nation were Arrian Clovis instructed by St. Vaast was baptized at Reims with his Franks by St. Remy Bishop of that antient Metropolis Of all the Princes of the Years of J. C. 506 World he alone maintained the Catholic Years of J. C. 507 Faith and deserved the Title of most Christian to be derived to all his Successors By the Battle in which with his own Hand he killed Alarick King of the Visigoths Tholoâ—se and Aquitain were joined to his Kingdome But the Victory of the Ostrogoths Years of J. C. 508 kept him from pretending to it all even up to the Pyrenees and the end of his Reign defaced somewhat the Glory of his great beginnings His four Sons divided the Kingdom Years of J. C. 510 and yet were continually making Inroads one upon another Anastasius dyed Years of J. C. 518 by the stroke of a Thunderbolt Justin of mean Extract but a Man of parts and a great Catholic was made Emperor by the Senate He and all his People submitted to the Decrees of Pope St. Hormisdas and so put an end to the Troubles of the Eastern Churches In his time Bâ—ëtius a Man famous for his Learning as well as his Birth Years of J. C. 526 and Symmachus his Father-in-Law both advanced to the highest Offices of Government were sacrificed to the Jealousy of Theodorick who groundlessly suspected them for conspiring against the State The King being afterwards troubled in his mind for this bloudy Fact he had done thought he saw the Head of Symmachus in a Dish which was brought up to his Table and soon after dyed Amalasonta his Daughter Mother of Alâ—ricus who succeeded to the Kingdom by the death of his Grandfather was hindered by the Goths from bringing up this young Prince in the Instructions which his Birth both challenged and deserved and being forced to abandon him to Persons of his own Age she foresaw his Ruin without being able to do any thing to prevent it The Year after Years of J. C. 527 Justin dyed after he had associated to the Empire his Nephew Justinian whose long Reign is celebrated by the Labours of Tribonianus the compiler of the Roman Law and by the Exploits of Belisarius and Years of J. C. 529 of the Eunuch Narses Those two famous Years of J. C. 530 c. Captains subdued the Persians defeated the Years of J. C. 533 Ostrogoths and the Vandals and rendered to Years of J. C. 534 their Master Africk Italy and Rome but Years of J. C. 552 the Emperor jealous of their Glory without Years of J. C. 553 ever being desirous to share with them Years of J. C. 532 their Labours every day studied how to embarass and intangle them more than ever he afforded them Assistance The Kingdom of France increased
came in Person to acknowledg it was from the Roman Church that the Faith came into his Isle and after he had received Baptism by the Hands of the Pope he dyed even according as he himself had wished The House of Clovis was fallen into a most deplorable Weakness Frequent Minorities had degenerated the Princes into such softnesses as they could not get out of when they were come to age From thence proceeded a long Succession of droaning Kings that only knew how to be content with the Name of King and delegated all their Power to the great Ministers of the Crown Under this Title Pepin Heristel governed all Years of J. C. 693 and raised up his House to the most exalted Years of J. C. 695 Hopes By his Authority and after the Martyrdom of St. Vigibert the Faith was established in Frieseland which France had then just added to her Conquests St. Swibert St. Willebord and other Apostolick Men spread abroad the Gospel in the neighbouring Provinces In the mean while the Minority of Justinian was happily got over the Victories of Leontius had brought down the Saracens and re-established the Glory of the Empire in the East But that Years of J. C. 694 valiant Captain unjustly arrested and unfortunately Years of J. C. 696 released cut his Masters Nose and drive him out That Rebel suffered a like treatment from Tiberius named Absimarus who himself did not long continue Justinian re-established was ungrateful to his Friends and in taking Revenge of his Enemies he raised himself up those that were more to be feared for they killed him The Images of Philippicus his Successor were Years of J. C. 702. 711. not received in Rome because he was a Favourer of the Monothelites and a declared Enemy to the sixth general Council At Constantinople they chose Anastasius II. a Years of J. C. 713 Catholic Prince and they pulled out Philippicus his Eyes At that time the Debauches of King Rodericus or Rodrigue caused Spain to be delivered up to the Moors So they called the Saracens of Africa Count Julian to be revenged for his Daughter whom Rodrigue had abused called those Infidels They came with vast Troops That King was ruined Spain submitted and the Empire of the Goths was brought to an end by it The Church of Spain was then put upon a new Proof and Tryal But as it had preserved it self under the Arians the Mahometans could not prevail over it They left it at first with Liberty enough but in the following Ages it indured great Combats and Chastity had its Martyrs as well as Faith under the Tyranny of a Nation as brutal as it was infidel The Emperor Years of J. C. 715 Anastasius continued not long The Army forced Theodosius III. to take up the Purple He was put upon fighting the new Emperor got the day and poor Anastasius was clapt into a Monastery The Moors being Masters of Spain hoped e're long to enlarge themselves beyond the Pyrenees But Charles Martel destined to suppress them was raised in France and had succeeded tho' a Bastard to the Power of his Father Pepin Heristel who left Austrasia to his House as a piece of soveraign Principality and the Command in Neustria by the charge of Grand Minister of the Crown Charles reunited all by his valour The Affairs of the East were embroyled Years of J. C. 716 Leo Isaurien Prefect of the East did not own Theodosius who without Resistance quitted the Empire which he had not accepted of but as it had been forced upon him and retired to Ephesus he spent the rest of his time about things that were truly great The Saracens received several cruel Shocks during the Empire of Leo. They shamefully raised the Siege at Years of J. C. 718. 719. Constantinople Pelagius who was canton'd in the Mountains of Asturia with the remains of those that were resolute among the Goths after a signalized Victory set up a new Kingdom in opposition to those Infidels whereby one day they were to be driven out of Spain Notwithstanding all the Efforts and the vast Army of Alderames their General Charles Martel gained over them the famous Battle of Toures There were killed there an infinite number of those Years of J. C. 725 Infidels and Abderames himself abode there upon the place This Victory was attended with other Advantages by which Charles put a stop to the Moors and extended the Kingdom even to the Pyrenees Then the Gauls scarce enjoyed any thing which was not in Obedience to the French and all acknowledged Charles Martel Powerful in Peace and in War and absolute Master of the Kingdom he reigned under several Kings with whom he fought and whom he conquered at his Pleasure but yet he durst never take upon him that great Title The Jealousy of the French Lords would have been thus deceived The Religion was established in Germany The Priest St. Boniface Years of J. C. 723 converted those People and was made Bishop thereof by Pope Gregory II. who had sent him thither The Empire was at that time pretty quiet But Leo began a trouble in it which lasted long before it ended He attempted to pull down as Idols the Images Years of J. C. 726 of Jesus Christ and of his Saints But tho' he could not come up to the Sentiments of St. Germane Patriarch of Constantinople he acted with his Authority and after a Decree of the Senate they saw him presently breaking an Image of our Saviour which was set up on the great Porch of the Church of Constantinople This began the Violences of the Iconoclasts that is to say of the breakers of Images Other Images which the Emperors the Bishops and all the Faithful had erected since the Peace of the Church both in publick and in private places went likewise all to wrack This Spectacle set the People into Motion The Statues of the Emperor were broke down in several places He look'd upon himself as being affronted in his Person and he was reproached for committing the like Affront upon Jesus Christ his Saints and that by his own Confession the Injury done to the Image reflected upon the Original Italy still went further the Impiety of the Emperor was the occasion that the common Taxes and Assessments were refused Luitprand King of the Lombards made use of the same Pretence to take Ravenna the Residence of the Exarchs So they called the Governors whom the Emperors sent into Italy Pope Gregory II. opposed the pulling down of Images but at the same time he opposed the Enemies of the Empire and indeavoured to retain the People Years of J. C. 730 in their Obedience Peace was made with the Lombards and the Emperor executed his Decree against Images more fiercely than ever But the famous John of Damas declared to him that in matters of Religion he knew no Decrees but those of the Church and he suffered much The Emperor removed from his Seat the Patriarch St. Germane who died in Exile being ninety years
likewise their Conduct was meek and gentle tho' very regular and they lived among themselves in an extream Union The Rewards and Punishments of a future Life which they zealously asserted brought them very great honour At last Ambition got in amongst them They had a mind to govern Id. lib. 2. de Bell. Jud. 7. and indeed they ascribed to themselves an absolute Power over the People they made themselves the Arbiters of Learning and Religion which they insensibly turned to superstitious Practices advantagious for their Interest and the Dominion they would fain have set up over mens Consciences and the true life and spirit of the Law was almost lost To these Evils anâ—ther was added much greater to wit Pride and Presumption but such a Presumption as indeavoured to attribute to themselves the Gift of God The Jews accustomed to his Benefits and having been so many Ages since illuminated with his knowledge forgat that his bounty alone had separated them from all other People and so looked on his Grace as a Debt A chosen Race and always blessed for two thousand years they judged themselves only to be worthy to know God and believed themselves to be of a different Species from other Men whom they saw deprived of his knowledge Upon this ground they looked on the Gentiles with a disdain that was insupportable To be come from Abraham according to the Flesh seemed to them such a Distinction as raised them naturally above all others and being puffed up with so fine an Original they reckoned themselves Saints by Nature and not by Grace An Errour which continues still among them These were the Pharisees who seeking to glorifie themselves by their own Light and by the exact observance of the Ceremonies of the Law brought in this Opinion towards the latter end of the times As they only thought of distinguishing themselves from other men they multiplyed outward Ceremonies and Practices without any measure and they gave out all their fanciful Notions how contrary soever they were to the Law of God as Authentick Traditions Although those Sentiments had not by any Publick Decree passed into the Dogma's of the Synagogue yet they insensibly instilled them into the People which made them unquiet turbulent and seditions At last the Divisions which were to be according to their Prophets the beginning of their ruine and downfal broke out upon occasion of the Disorders that happened in the House of the Asmoneans There were scarce sixty years unto Jesus Christ Zach. 11.6 7 8. c. when Hyrcan and Aristoâ—ulus the Sons of Alexander Janneus fell out about the Priesthood to which the Royalty was annexed Here was the fatal Moment which the History takes notice of as the first cause of the Destruction of the Jews Joseph an t 14.8.20.8.1 Bell. Jud. 4.5 Appian bell Syr. Mithrid Liv. lib. 5. Zach. 11.8 Pompey whom the two Brothers called to regulate them subjected them both at the same time when he dispossessed Antiochus Sirnamed the Asiatick the last King of Syria Those three Princes degraded together and as it were at one effort were the Signal of the Destruction so exactly described by the Prophet Zachariah 'T is certain by the History that that change of the Affairs of Syria and Judea was made at the same time by Pompey when after he had ended the War with Mithridates ready to return to Rome he adjusted the Affairs of the East The Prophet only observed what made towards the Ruine of the Jews who of the two Brothers whom they had seen Kings saw the one a Prisoner serving at Pompey's Triumph and the other the weak Hyrcan from whom the same Pompey took together with the Diadem a great part of his Dominion keeping only a vain Title of Authority which likewise he lost quickly after 'T was then that the Jews were made the Tributaries of the Romans and the Ruine of Syria brought on theirs because that great Kingdom reduced into a Province in their Neighbourhood augmented so much the Roman Power there that there was Safety but only in obeying them The Governours of Syria made continual Attempts on Judea The Romans made themselves absolute Masters of them and weakened their Government in several things By them at last the Kingdom of Juda. passed out of the Hands of the Asmoneans to whom it had been subject into those of Herod a stranger and an Idumean The cruel and ambitious Politie of that King who only in shew professed the Jewish Religion changed soon the Maxims of the antient Government The Jews were no longer Masters of their Fate under the vast Empire of the Persians and the first Seleucides where they lived only in an undisturbed Peace Herod who holds them in almost an absolute Slavery to his Power embroils all things confounds aâ—ter his own Humor the Succession of the High-Priests weakens the Pontificate whiâ—h he makes Arbitrary enervates the Authority of the Council of the Nation whiâ—h can no longer do any thing All the publick Power goes through the Hands of Herod and of the Romans whose Slave he is and he shakes the Foundations of the Jewish Commonwealth The Pharisees and the People who only hearkened to their Opinions bore this Condition very impatiently The more they thought themselves oppressed with the Yoke of the Gentiles the greater Hatred and Disdain they had for them They would no longer have a Messiah who should not be a Warrior and dreadful to the Powers that captivated them Thus forgetting so many Prophecies which so plainly and expresly spoke of their being humbled they had no long Eyes nor Ears but for those which proclaimed Triumphs to them though very different from such as they wished In the declension of the Religion VI. Jesus Christ and his Doctrine and the Affairs of the Jews at the end of King Herod's Reign and then when the Pharisees were bringing in so many Abuses Jesus Christ was sent upon the Earth to re-establish the Kingdom in the House of David after a more exalted manner than ever the carnal Jews understood it and to preach that Doctrine and good Tydings of Salvation which God was resolved all the World should be acquainted with This wonderful Son whom Isaiah calls the mighty God Isai 9.6 the everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace was born of a Virgin at Bethlehem and there he came to own the first Original of his Race Conceived by the Holy Ghost holy by his Birth being alone worthy to repair the wickedness of ours he was called Jesus Matth. 1.21 because he was to save us from our Sins Immediately after his Birth a new Star a Type of that Light he was to bring to the Gentiles was seen in the East and brought to our Saviour thus an Infant the First-fruits of the converted Gentiles A little after that Lord so much desired came to his holy Temple where Simeon sees him not only the Glory of the Poeple Israel Luke 2.32 but also as
Figure of Future Time the Ark wherein God discovered himself to be present by his Oracles and in which the Tables of the Law were kept the Advancement of Aaron the Brother of Moses the High-Priest the Ceremonies of their Consecration and the Form of their mysterious Habits the Priests Functions the Sons of Aaron those of the Levites with the other Observances of Religion and that which is most beautiful and decent the Rules of good Manners the Policy and Government of his chosen People of whom he would be himself the Legislator This is what is observable in the Epocha of the Written Law Afterwards we see the Journey continued in the Wilderness the Revolts the Idolatries the Punishments and Consolations of the People of God whom this Almighty Legislator reduced by these means by degrees the Anointing of Eleazor Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1452 the High-Priest and the Death of his Years of the World 2552 Father Aaron the Zeal of Phineas the Son of Eleazor and the Priesthood secured to his Posterity by a particular Promise During this time the Aegyptians continued the Establishment of their Colonies in divers Places chiefly in Greece where Danaus the Aâ—gyptian was made King of Argos and dispossess'd the Ancient Kings that came Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1451 from Inachus Towards the end of the Israelites Years of the World 2553 Journying in the Wilderness we see the Beginnings of Wars which are rendred successful through the Prayers of Moses But he dies and leaves to the Israelites their whole History which he had carefully digested from the beginning of the World even to the time of his Death This History is continued by the command of Josuah and his Successors This afterwards was divided into several Books and hence it is that we have the Book of Josuah the Book of Judges and the Four Books of Kings The History which Moses wrote and in which all the Law was included was also divided into Five Books which are called the Pentateuch and which are the Ground of Religion After the Death of that Man of God we read of the Wars of Josuah Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1445 the Conquest and Division of the Holy Land Years of the World 2559 and the Rebellions of the People punished and re-established at divers times There Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1405 are likewise the Victories of Othoniel the Son Years of the World 2599 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1325 of Kenaz the Brother of Caleb who delivered Years of the World 2679 him from the Tyranny of Chausan-Rishathaim King of Mesopotamia and Eighty years after That of Ehud the Son of Gera Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1322 over Eglon King of Moab About this Years of the World 3682 time Pelops the Phrygian the Son of Tantalus reigned in Peloponnesus and called that famous Country by his Name Bel the King of the Chaldeans received from those People Divine Honours The ungrateful Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1305 murmuring Israelites fall again into Servitude Years of the World 1699 Jabin King of Chanaan subjecteth Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1285 them but Deborah the Prophetess who Years of the World 2719 judged the People and Baruc the Son of Ahinoam overcame Sisera the General of Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1245 that Kings Army Thirty years after this Years of the World 2759 Gideon that mighty Man of Valour even without fighting pursues and overcomes the Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1236 Medianites Abimelech his Son usurped the Years of the World 2768 Authority by the Murther of his Brethren exercised it after a Tyrannical manner and Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1187 at last loseth it and his Life together Jephtha Years of the World 2817 makes his Victory bloody by a Sacrifice that was not to be excused but by a secret Order and Dispensation from Heaven concerning which it hath not pleased him to reveal any thing to us In this Age there hapned very remarkable things among the Gentiles Herod l. 1. c. 26. For according to Herodotus his Account which seems to be the most exact Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1267 we are to reckon for that time 514. years Years of the World 2737 before Rome Gen. x. 11. and from the time of Deborah Ninus the Son of Bel and the Foundation of the first Empire of the Assyrians The Court was established at Nineveh an Ancient City and then pretty Famous but it was made more Splendid and Glorious by Ninus Those who ascribe 1300 years to the first Assyrians have their Foundation from the Ancientness of the City and Herodotus who allows them but 500 speaks only of the Empires Duration since its beginning under Ninus the Son of Bel to extend it self into the Upper Asia A little after and in that Conqueror's Reign Jos xix 20. Joseph Antiq 8.2 we are to fix the Foundation or the Renewal of the ancient City of Tyre whose Navigation and whose Colonies rendred it so Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1252 considerable At last a little after Abimelech's Years of the World 2752 time we meet with the memorable Combates of Hercules the Son of Amphitryon and those of Theseus King of Athens who made but one great City of the twelve Towns of Cecrops and instituted a better Form of Government among the Atheninians During Jephtha's time whilst Semiramis who came from Ninus and was the Governess of Ninyas inlarged the Assyrian Empire by her Victories The Famous City of Troy already taken once by the Greeks under Laomedon its third King was Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1184 utterly reduced again by the Greeks under Years of the World 2820 Priam the Son of Laomedon after a Siege of ten years V. Epocha The Taking of Troy The fourth Age of the World This Epocha of the Ruin of Troy which hapned about the year 308. after the Departure out of Aegypt and 1164 years after the Deluge is very considerable as well because of the Importance of so great an Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1184 Event celebrated by two of the greatest Years of the World 2820 Poets of Greece and Italy as because that every thing may be brought to this Date which was most remarkable in those called the Fabulous or Hâ—roick Times the Fabulous by reason of the Fables in which the Histories of those Times are wrapt and Heroick by reason of those whom the Poets have called the Sons of the Gods and Heroes Their Lives were not far from this Overthrow For in the time of Laomedon the Father of Priam were all the Heroes of the Golden Fleece Jason Hercules Orpheus Castor and Pollux and all the others that are known to you and in the time of Priam likewise during the last Siege of Troy there were Achilles Agamemnon Menelaus Vlysses Hector Sarâ—edon the Son of Jupiter Aeneas the Son of Venus whom the Romans acknowledged for their Founder and several others from whom the most Illustrious Families and even
whole Nations boast that they descend This Epocha therefore is proper to recollect whatsoever the Fabulous Times had that was most certain and most eminent But what is seen in the Sacred History is in all Points most remarkable Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1177 the prodigious Strength of Samson Years of the World 2887 and likewise his marvellous Weakness Eli Years of the World 1176 the High-Priest Venerable by his Piety Years of the World 2888 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1095 and unhappy by the Guilt of his Sons Samuel Years of the World 2909 an irreproachable Judge and a Prophet chosen by God to anoint Kings Saul the first King of Gods People his Victories his presumption to Sacrifice without the Priests his Disobedience pitifully excused under the pretence of Religion his Reprobation his fatal Fall About this time Codrus King of Athens gave up himself to death for the safety of his People and by his Death they got the Victory His Sons Medon and Nileus dispute for the Kingdom Upon this occasion the Athenians abolish all Regality and declare that Jupiter was their only King They created Governours or perpetual Presidents but they were subject to render an account of their Administration These Magistrates were called Archontes Medon the Son of Codrus was the first who exercised this Magistracy and it continued a long while in his Family The Athenians extended their Colonies into that part of Lesser Asia which was called Ionia The Aeolick Colonies were set up much-what about the same time and all the Lesser Asia was filled with Greek Towns Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1055 After Saul came David that admirable Years of the World 2949 Shepherd the Conqueror of the fierce Goliah and of all the Enemies of the People of God a great King a great Conqueror and a great Prophet worthy to sing out the Praises and wonderful Works of his great Creator in a word a Man after God's Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1034 own Heart as he himself stiles him and Years of the World 2970 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1014 who by his Repentance did even turn his Years of the World 2990 Offences to the Glory of his Maker To this Pious Warriour succeded his Son Solomon Wise Just Peaceful whose Hands Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1012 undefiled with Blood were accounted worthy Years of the World 2992 to build the Temple of God VI. Epocha Solomon or the Temple finished 5. Age of the World This was about the year 3000. of the World the year 488. since the Departure out of Aegypt and to adjust the Times of Sacred History with those of the Profane 180 years after the taking of Troy 250 years before the Founding of Rome and 1000 years before Jesus Christ when Solomon Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1004 finished that stupendious Edifice He Years of the World 3000 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 1003 celebrated the Dedication of it with an extraordinary Years of the World 3001 Piety and Magnificence And this famous Action was followed with several other Wonders of the Reign of Solomon which ended in shameful Weaknesses He gave up himself to the Love of Women which debased his Mind made his Heart grow wavering so that at last his Piety degenerated into Idolatry God tho' justly provoked yet spares him for the sake of David his Servant however he would not suffer his Ingratitude utterly to go unpunished he divides his Kingdom after his death under his Son Rehoboam The Brutish Pride of that young Prince causes Ten of his Years be ∣ fore J. C. 975 Tribes to be cut off from him which Jeroboam Years of the World 3029 separated from their God and from their King For fear lest they should return to the Kings of Judah he forbids them going to Sacrifice at the Temple of Jerusalem and he sets up his Golden Calves to which he ascribes the Name of the God of Israel that so the Innovation might appear less strange The same Reason made him retain the Law of Moses which he interpreted according to his own Will and Pleasure but almost all the Politie of it he caused to be observed as well the Civil as Religious so that the Pentateuch remained still in veneration among the separated Tribes Thus was the Kingdom of Israel set up against the Kingdom of Judah In that of Israel Impiety and Idolatry reigned and triumphed But Religion tho' it was several times clouded in that of Judah yet it was always preserved there About this Years be ∣ fore J. C. 971 time the Kings of Aegypt were very powerful Years of the World 3033 The Four Kingdoms had been re-united under that of Thebes It is believed that Sesostris that famous Conqueror of the Aegyptians is that Sesac King of Aegypt whom God made use of to chastise the Impiety of Rehoboam In the Reign of Abijah the Son of Rehoboam is observable that great and mighty Victory which the Piety of that Prince gained him over the Schismatical Tribes Hâ—s Son Asa whose Piety is commended Years be ∣ fore J. C. 917 in Scripture is taken notice of there Years of the World 3087 to be a Man who in his Sicknesses relied more upon the Humane Help of Medicines than of the Goodness and Power of God Years be ∣ fore J. C. 924 In his time Amri King of Israel built Samaria Years of the World 3080 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 914 where he established the Seat of his Years of the World 3090 Kingdom This Time is followed with the admirable Reign of Jehosaphat wherein flourished Piety Justice Navigation and the Military Art Whilst he appeared in the Kingdom of Judah another David Ahab and his Wife Jezabel who then reigned in Israel joyned to Jeroboam's Idolatry all the Impieties Years be ∣ fore J. C. 899 of the Gentiles They perished both of Years of the World 3105 them miserably God who had bore with their Idolatries was resolved to revenge upon them the Blood of Naboth whom they had caused to be slain because he had refused as the Law of Moses required to sell them the Fee of his Paternal Inheritance Their Sentence was pronounced by the Mouth of the Prophet Elijah Ahab was killeâ— some time after notwithstanding all Years be ∣ fore J. C. 987 his â—ircumspection to save himself About Years of the World 3107 this time we are to râ—ckon the Foundation of Carthage which Dido wâ—o was come from Tyre built in a Place after the Example of Tyre which was very convenient for Traffick as it was likewise for becoming Mistress of the Sea It is somewhat hard to assign the Time when it formed it self into a Republick but the mixing of the Tyrians and Africans made it become equally Warlike and Trafficking The ancient Hâ—sâ—orians who place its Origine before the Ruine of Troy seem to fancy that Dido rather enlarged and fortified it than that ever Years be ∣ fore J. C. 888 she laid the Foundations of it Affairs began
his Brother Jaddus would fain have obliged him he embraced the Schism of the Samaritans And several of the Jews to shun the like Censures joined themselves to him He was resolv'd at that time to build a Temple near Samaria upon Mount Gerizim which the Samaritans believed was blest and so to make himself the High-Priest of it His Father-in-Law a most intimate Friend of Darius assured him of this Prince's Protection and the effect and Consequence was so much the more favourable to him for Years be ∣ fore J. C. 332 Alexander raised himself Sanballat deserted Years of Rome 422 his Master and brought his Troops over to the Victorious at the Siege of Tyre Thus he obtained whatsoever he desired the Temple of Gerizim was built and the Ambition of Manasses was satisfied The Jews in the mean time being ever faithful to the Persians refused to give Alexander the succour he demanded of them He went to Jerusalem full of Resolution to take his Revenge but his Mind was alter'd when he beheld the High-Priest coming out to meet him with the other Priests that offered Sacrifices all cloathed with their proper Vestments for Ceremony and in Procession before the People in White They shewed to him the Prophecies that foretold his Victories out of Daniel So that he granted to the Jews all their Requests and they kept with him the same Fidelity as they had always done before to the Kings of Persia In the midst of these his Conquest Rome Years of Rome 428 was engaged with her Neighbours the Samnites Years of Rome 429 and were extremely put to 't to reduce Years of Rome 430 them notwithstanding the Valour and Conduct of Papyrius Cursor the most famous of her Generals After the Death of Alexander his Empire was divided Perdiccas Ptolomee the Son of Lagus Antigonus Sileuâ—us Lysimachus Antipater and his Son Years be ∣ fore J. C. 324 Cassanâ—eâ— in a word all his Captains that Years of Rome 430 were bred up in War under so great and mighty a Conqueror designed to make themselves Masters of it by their Arms They sacrificed to their Ambition all the Family of Alexander his Brother Years of Rome 430 Years of Rome 436 Years of Rome 438 Years of Rome 443 Years of Rome 445 his Mother his Wives his Children and even his Sisters so that there was nothing to be seen but Fields of Blood and dreadful Revolutions In the midst of so many disorders several of the People of lesser Asia and thereabouts freed themselves and formed the Kingdoms of Pontus Bithynia and Pergamus The Goodness of the Country made them afterwards Rich and Powerful Armenia likewise at the same time shook off the Macedonian Yoak and became a very great Kingdom The two Mithridates's Father and Son founded that of Cappadocia Years be ∣ fore J. C. 323 But the two most puissant Monarchies Years of Rome 431 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 312 that were then raised were that of Egypt Years of Rome 442 founded by Ptolomee the Son of Lagus from whence came the Lagides and that of Asia or Syria founded by Seleucus from whence proceeded the Seleucides This latter comprised besides Syria those vast and rich Provinces of higher Asia which made up the Persian Empire so all the East owned Greece and learned the Language of it Nay even Greece it self fell under oppression by the Captains of Alexander And Macedonia his antient Kingdom which gave Laws as well as Masters to the East was left a Prey to the first Comer Cassander's Children drive each the other out of that Kingdom Pyrrhus King of Epirus who had possessed one part of it was driven out Years be ∣ fore J. C. 296 by Demetrius Poliorcetes the Son of Antigonus Years of Rome 458 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 294 whom also he expelled in his turn Years of Rome 460 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 289 This is he who was likewise once forced out Years of Rome 465 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 286 by Lysimachus and Lysimachus by Seleucus Years of Rome 468 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 281 whom Ptolomee Ceraunus driven out of Egypt Years of Rome 468 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 280 by his Father Ptolomee the first killed like Years of Rome 473 a Traytor notwithstanding all his Kindnesses Years of Rome 474 That perfidious Man had no sooner invaded Macedonia but he was attacqued Years be ∣ fore J. C. 279 by the Gauls and was slain in a Fight he had with them During these troubles in Years of Rome 475 the East They came into lesser Asia led on by their King Brennus and setled themselves Gallo-Greece or Galatia called so from their own Name from whence they went to Macedonia which they ravaged and so made all Greece to tremble But their Army was destroyed in the Sacrilegious attempts on the Temple of Delphos This Nation was active and yet in every thing Years be ∣ fore J. C. 278 unfortunate some years before the business Years of Rome 476 Years be ∣ fore J. C. 283 of Delphos the Gauls of Italy whose continual Years of Rome 471 Wars Polyb. l. 2. 20. and frequent Victories had made them the dread and terrour of the Romans were animated against them by the Samnites the Brutians and Etrurians At first they returned back with a new Victory but the Glory of it was quickly sullied by slaying the Ambassadors The Romans being inraged marched against them defeated them entred into their Territories Years be ∣ fore J. C. 282 where they founded a Colony beat them also Years of Rome 472 a second time by subjecting one part of them and forcing the other to demand Peace After that the Gauls of the East had been driven out of Greece Antigonus Gonatas Years be ∣ fore J. C. 277 the Son of Demetrius Poliorceters who Years of Rome 477 reigned about twelve years before in Greece but very unquietly without any difficulty invaded Years be ∣ fore J. C. 280 Macedonia Pyrrhus was otherwise engaged Years of Rome 474 for being forced out of that Kingdom he was in good hopes to satisfie his Ambition with the Conquest of Italy whither he was called by the Tarentines The Battle which the Romans came to get over them and the Samnites afforded them only this Ressource Years be ∣ fore J. C. 279 that he carried away from the Romans those Years of Rome 475 Victories which would be his ruin Pyâ—rhus his Elephants affrighted them but the Years be ∣ fore J. C. 278 Consul Fabricius made the Romans soon see that Pyrrhus was not unconquerable The Years of Rome 476 King and the Consul seemed to dispute between the glory of Generosity rather than that of Arms Pyrrhus rendred to the Consul all his Prisoners without a Ransom saying It became him to make War with the Sword and not with Money and Fabricius sent back to the King his treacherous Physician who had offered to poison his Master for him About these times Religion and the Jewish Nation
its first Rise that is to say Palestine Syria Aegypt lesser Asia and Greece but also in the West besides Italy the several Nations of the Gaules all the Spanish Provinces Africa Germany Great Britain in those Places that were impenetrable to the Roman Arms and also out of the Empire Armenia Persia the Indies the greatest Barbarians the Sarmatians the Dacians the Scythians the Moores the Getulians and even to the most unknown Islands The Blood of the Martyrs rendered it fruitful Under Trajan Saint Ignatius the Bishop Years of J. C. 107 of Antiochus was exposed to wild Beasts Marcus Aurelius unhappily prepossessed with the Calumnies wherewith Christianity was charged caused to be put to Death Saint Years of J. C. 163 Justin the Philosopher and the Apologist Years of J. C. 167 for the Christian Religion St. Polycarpus Bishop of Smyrna St. John's Disciple about fourscore Years of Age was condemned to the Flames under the same Prince The holy Martyrs of Lyon and Vienna suffered unheard of Punishments following the Example of St. Photin their Bishop of ninety Years of J. C. 177 Years of Age. The Gallican Churâ—h fill'd all the World with its Fame and Glory Years of J. C. 202 St. Ireneus the Disciple of St. Polycarpus and St. Photin's Successor imitated his Predeccessor and dyed a Martyr under Severus with a great Number of the Fideles Faithful of his Church sometimes the Years of J. C. 174 Persecution a little slackened At a time when there was an extream want of Water which Marcus Aurelius suffered in Germany there was a Christian Legion obtained such a Showre as was enough to quench the Thirst of all his Army and it was so followed with Thunder that it frightned all his Enemies The name of Thunderstriking was given or rather confirmed to that Legion by this Miracle The Emperor was so concern'd at it that he writ to the Senate in Favour of the Christians At last the Southsayers Persuasions were to attribute to their Gods and to their Prayers a Miracle which the Heathens never thought so much as to desire Other Causes suspended or slackened the Persecution for a little while but Superstition a Vice which Marcus Aurelius had not the Power to resist the common Hatred and the Calumnies that were cast upon the Christians quickly prevailed again The Fury and Rage of the Heathens was re-kindled and the whole Empire did as it were swim in the Blood of Martyrs Still their Doctrine went on and attended their Sufferings In Severus his time and some while after Tertullian Priest of Carthage illuminated the Church by his Writings defended it by a most admirable Apologism and left it at last being blinded by an haughty Severity and seduced by the Visions of the false Prophet Montanus Some time but not long after Clemens Alexandrinus indeavoured to pull up the Antiquities of Heathenism by the Roots that so he might utterly put an end to them Origen the Son of the Holy Martyr Leonidas made himself famous throughout all the Church even from his most tender Years and taught great Truths though they were mixt with several Errors The Philosopher Ammonius joined the Platonick Philosophy to Religion and gained to himself the Respect of the Heathens In the mean while the Valentinians the Gnosticks and the other impious Sects set up their false Traditions against the Gospel Iren. lib. iii. 1. 2 3. De prasc adv Har. c. 36. St. Ireneus opposed the Tradition and the Authority of the Apostolick Churches to theirs especially that of Rome founded upon the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul Tertullian did the same The Church is not shaken neither by Heresies nor by Schisms nor by the Fall of our most eminent Doctors The Holiness of her Conduct is so clear and perspicuous that she forces even her Enemies to break forth into Praises of her The Affairs of the Empire are imbroyled Years of J. C. 235 in a terrible manner After the Death of Alexander the Tyrant Maximinus that had killed him made himself Master though he was of Gothick Race The Senate set up four Emperors against him who died all within less than two Years Among them Years of J. C. 236 were the two Gordians the Father and Son Years of J. C. 237 the Darlings of the Roman People The Years of J. C. 238 young Gordian their Son although he was extreamly young yet shewed the Wisdom of a gained Experience and defended with great Difficulty against the Persians the Empire weakned by those manifold Divisions He had regained from them several very important Places But Philip Arabius killed Years of J. C. 242 this good Prince and for fear lest he Years of J. C. 244 should be utterly undone by the two Emperors Years of J. C. 245 whom the Senate chose one after the other he clapt up a dishonourable Peace with Sapor King of Persia He was the first of the Romans that had by Treaty parted with any Lands of the Empire 'T is said He embraced the Christian Religion and at such a time when on the sudden he had got the better and indeed he was favourable to the Christians In hatred to this Emperor Euseb l. 6. c. 39. Decius who slew him renewed the Persecution with more of Violence than ever The Church increased on all sides principally among Years of J. C. 249 the Gaules and the Empire soon lost Decius Greg. Tur. l. 1. Hist. franc 28. who with gret Resolution and Vigour Years of J. C. 251 defended it Gallus and Volusian went Years of J. C. 254 quickly after and Emilius was but just seen as it were The Soveraign Power was given to Valerianus and that Venerable old Man ascended to it through all the Dignities He was only Cruel to the Christians Under Years of J. C. 257 him Pope St. Stephen and St. Cyprian Years of J. C. 258 Bishop of Carthage notwithstanding all their Disputes which yet broke not off their Correspondence received both of them the same Crown St. Cyprian's Error which rejected Baptism given by the Hereticks neither hurt him nor the Church The Tradition of the Holy See supported it self by its own Force against the specious Arguments and against the Authority of so great a Man although there were other very great Men that defended the same Doctrine Another Dispute did more Mischief Sabellius Years of J. C. 257 confounded together the three Persons in the Divinity and acknowledged in God but one single Person under three Names This Novelty astonished the Church Euseb Hist. Eccl. l. 7. c. 6. and St. Denys Bishop of Alexandria discovered to Pope Sixtus II. the Errors of this arch-Heretick This Pope Years of J. C. 259 quickly followed the Martyr St. Stephen his Predecessor He was beheaded and left a very great Contest to be maintained by his Deacon St. Laurence Then was it that the Years of J. C. 258. 259. Iâ—undation of the Barbarians began to appear Years of J. C. 260 The Burguignions and the
desolate without a Governor The King of Persia Chosroes II. under pretence of revenging Mauritius had attempted to destroy Phocas He push'd on his Conquests under Heraclius There was seen the Emperor beaten and the true Cross carryed away Years of J. C. 620 621. by the Infidels after by admirable return Years of J. C. 622 623 H raclius five times a Conqueror Persia over-run Years of J. C. 625 626. by the Romans Chosroes killed by his Son and the Holy Cross re-taken Whilst the Power of the Persians was so sharply repressed a worse mischief rose up both against the Empire and indeed against all Christianity Mahomet set himself up for a Prophet among the Saracens He was driven out from Mecha by his own People with his Flight commenced that memorable Hegyra from whence Years of J. C. 622 the Mahometans compute their Years This false Prophet gave his Conquests for all the sign of his mission In nine years he brought all Arabia under Subjection either on their own accord or by force and laid the Foundations of the Empire of the Caliphi To these Years of J. C. 629 Afflictions was superadded the Heresie of the Monothelites who through an almost inconceivable Blindness in owning two Natures in our Lord and Saviour would own that there was but one Will in him Man according to their Doctrine had nothing of Will in him and there was nothing in Jesus Christ but the sole Will of the Word These Hereticks concealed their Venom under ambiguous terms A false Love of Peace made them propose that there should be no speaking either of one or of two Wills By these Artifices they imposed upon Pope Years of J. C. 633 Honorius the First who entered with them into a very dangerous Menage and consented to that Silence whereby the Lye and the Truth were both equally suppressed And for the complement of all Afflictions some time after the Emperor Heraclius undertook Years of J. C. 639 to decide the Question by his Authority and proposed his Ecthesis or favourable Explication to the Monothelites but the Artifices of the Hereticks were at length discovered Pope John IV. condemned the Ecthesis Constance the Grandchild of Heraclius Years of J. C. 640 maintained the Edict of his Grandfather by his own called the Type The Years of J. C. 648 Holy See and Pope Theodoret opposed that Years of J. C. 649 attempt Pope St. Martyn I. assembled the Council of Lateran where he sentenced the Type and the Chiefs of the Monothelites to the Anathema St. Maximus celebrated over all the East for his Piety and his Learning leaves the Court which was infected with this new Heresie openly reproves the Emperors who had dared so to pronounce upon the Questions of Faith and suffers a world of Afflictions for the Catholic Years of J. C. 650. 654. Faith The Pope dragged from one Exile to another and always rudely treated by the Emperor at length dyes in the midst of his Sufferings without complaining nor remitting any thing he owed to the Function of his Ministery In the mean while the new English Church strengthened by the industrious Cares of the Popes Boniface V. and Honorius grew very famous over all the World Miracles abounded there with the Vertues as in the times of the Apostles and nothing was more splendid than the Years of J. C. 627 Sanctity of its Kings Edwin with all his Years of J. C. 634 Subjects embraced the Faith which had given him the Victory over his Enemies and converted his Neighbours Oswald served as an Interpreter to the Preachers of the Gospel and renowned by his Conquests he preferred the Glory of being a Christian to Years of J. C. 655 them all The Mercians were converted by the King of Northumberland Oswin Their Neighbours and their Successors followed their Steps and their good Works were infinite Every thing went to wrack in the East whilst the Emperors were destroying each other in Disputes about Religion and Years of J. C. 634 in inventing of Heresies the Saracens run Years of J. C. 635 through the Empire possessed themselves of Years of J. C. 636 Syria and Palestine the Holy City was subjected Years of J. C. 637 to them and Persia lay open to their Power by its Divisions so that they took that great Kingdom without any Resistance They entered into Africa in a posture of Years of J. C. 647 making it in a very little time one of their Years of J. C. 648 Provinces the Isle of Cyprus paid them Obedience and in less than thirty years they joyned all these Conquests to those of Mahomet Italy always unfortunate and forsaken groan'd under the Arms of the Lombards Constance despairing of his ever driving them out was resolved to ravage what he could no longer defend and was more cruel than the Lombards themselves He came not to Years of J. C. 663 Rome but to pillage the Treasures of it the Churches escaped not free from him He ruined Sardinia and Sicily and made himself odious to all the World and at last fell by the Hands of his own Servants Under Years of J. C. 668 his Son Constantine Pogonat that is to say Years of J. C. 671 the Bearded the Saracens possessed themselves Years of J. C. 672 of Cilicia and Lycia Constantinople Years of J. C. 678 was besieged and was saved even by a Miracle The Bulgari People that came from the mouth of Volga joyned with all those potent Enemies wherewith the Empire was infested and got themselves Masters of that part of Thrace called since Bulgaria which was the Antient Mysia The English Church was the Mother that brought forth new Churches and St. Wilfrid Bishop of York being expelled from his See converted Frieseland The whole Church received a new Light by the sixth general Council of * Alsted Chron. Years of J. C. 696 Constantinople where Pope St. Agatho presided by his Legats and explained the Years of J. C. 680 Catholic Faith by a most admirable Letter That Council anathematized one Bishop famous for his Learning one Patriarch of Alexandria four Patriarchs of Constantinople that is to say all the Authors of the Sect of the Monothelites without sparing Pope Honorius himself who had abetted and countenanced them After the Death of Agatho which happened during that Council Pope St. Leo II. confirmed their Decisions and received all their Anathema's Constantine Pogonat an imitator of the great Constantine and of Marcian entered into the Council after their Example and as he paid them the same Submissions they honoured him with the same Titles of Orthodox Religious and peaceful Emperor and the Restorer of Religion His Son Years of J. C. 585 Justinian II. succeeded to him then an Infant From his time the Faith increased and spread it self gloriously towards the North. Years of J. C. 586 St. Kylian sent by Pope Conon preached the Years of J. C. 589 Gospel in Franconia In the time of Pope Sergius Ceadwalla one of the Kings of England
those two great Men had given to the World so lively and fair an Image of the voluntary Oblation of Jesus Christ and in their Souls had tasted if the bitternesses of his Cross they were esteemed truly worthy of being his Ancestors Gen. 22.28 Abraham's faithfulness made God confirm to him all his promises and blessed anew not only his Family but also in his Family all the Nations of the World In effect he continued his protection to Isaac his Son and to Jacob his Grand-child They were his imitators and adhered as he did to the Antient Faith to the Antient manner of living which was the Pastoral to the Antient Government of Mankind where every Father of a Family was a Prince in his own House Thus in the Changes and Revolutions continually made among Men the Holy Antiquity revived in the Religion and in the conduct of Abraham and of his Children God did also repeat to Isaac and to Jacob the same Promises which he had made to Abraham Gen. 25.11.26.4.28.14 and as he called himself the God Abraham so he took upon him the name of the God of Isaac and of the God of Jacob. Under his protection those three great Men began to dwell in the Land of Caanan but as strangers and without possessing there a foot of ground until the Famine brought Jacob into Aegypt where his Children being multiplied became soon after a great People Acts 7.5 as God had promised him But tho' this People whom God made to be born in his Covenant were to be enlarged by Generation and that the Blessing was to follow the Blood yet this great God failed not mark out to them the Election of his Grace For after he had chosen Abraham from among the Nations out of the Children of Abraham he chose Isaac and from the two Twins of Isaac he chose Jacob to whom afterwards he gave the name of Israel Jacob had twelve Sons who were the twelve Patriarchs heads of the twelve Tribes All were entred into the Covenant but Judah was chosen from amidst all his Brethren to be the Father of the Kings of Israel and the Father of the Messiah so much promised to his Ancestors The time was come that the ten Tribes being cut off from the People of God for their Infidelity the Posterity of Abrahâ—m lost its Antient Blessing that is to say the Religion the Land of Canaan and the hopes of the Messiah but only in the Tribe of Judah which was to give the name to the rest of the Israelites who were called Jews and to all the Country which was called Judea Thus the Divine Election appeared still even in that carnal people which was to be preserved by ordinary propagation Gen. 49.10 Jacob in his Spirit saw the Mystery of this Election just before he dyed when his Sons stood round about his Bed to receive the blessing of so good a Father God discovered to him the Estate of the twelve Tribes when they should be come to the promised Land he reveals it to them in a few words and those few words include innumerable Meysteries Though all that he spoke of Judah's Brethren be expressed with an extraordinary magnificence and shews the man transported out of himself by the Spirit of God when he comes to Judah he is carried out yet higher Judah saith he thou art He whom thy Brethren shall praise Gen. 49.8 9 10. thine hand shall be on the neck of thine Enemies thy Fathers Children shall bow down before Thee Judah is a Lyons Whelp From the prey my Son thou art gone up He stooped down he couched as a Lyon and as an old Lyon who shall rouse him up The Scepter that is to say the Authority shall not depart from Judah nor a Lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come and unto him shall the gathering of the people be The rest of the Prophecy is about the Countrey which the Tribe of Judah shall posses in the Holy Land But the last words as we have seen them howsoever we take them signifies nothing but him who was to be the Ambassador of God the Minister and Interpreter of his Will the Accomplishment of his Promises and the King of the new People that is to say the Messiah or the Anointed of the Lord. Jacob speaks expresly to none but to Judah from whom that Messiah was to come In the destiny of Judah alone he comprehends the destiny of all the Nation which after its dispersion was to see the rest of the other Tribes re-united under the Standards of Judah All the Terms of the Prophecy are clear there is only the word Scepter which the common use of out Tongue might make us take for the only Royalty whereas in the Sacred Language it signifies in general Power Authourity and Magistracy That use of the word Scepter runs through all the pages of the Scripture It plainly appears also in the Prophecy of Jacob and the Patriarch means that in the days of the Messiah all Authority shall be put to an end in the House of Judah which imports the total ruine of a State Thus the times of the Messiah are noted out to us here by a double change By the former the Kingdom of Judah and of the Jews is threatned with its last ruine By the latter there was a new Kingdom to be set up not of one single People but of all People over whom the Messiah was to be the head and hope In the Style of Holy Writ the Jews are called in the singular number and by way of eminence Isa 65. c. Rom. 10.21 Isa 2.2 3.49.6.18.51.4 5. The People or the people of God And when we find it used the plural those who are versed in the Scriptures understand the other people who we see also are promised to the Messiah in the Prophecy of Jacob. This great Prophecy comprehends in a few words all the History of the Jewish People and of Christ our Saviour who was promised to them It points out to us all the course of the people of God and it effectually continues to this day Therefore I pretend not to make a Commentary of it to You there is no need for You to have one since by barely observing their course You will easily see the sence of the Oracle unvailed of it self and that the very events themselves will be their own Interpreters After Jacob's death III. Moses the written Law and the bringing of the People into the promised Land the People of God abode in Aegypt unto the time of the Mission of Moses that is to say about two hundred years So that it was four hundred and thirty years before God gave his people the Land which he had promised them He was resolved to accustom his Elect to rely upon his Promise being assured that it should be fulfilled either sooner or later and always at the exact time appointed by his Eternal Providence The Iniquities of the Amorites both
the World it was that Man so much below Moses in all things and superiour only to him by his name it was He I say who was to bring the People of God into the holy Land By the Victories of that great Man before whom Jordan was driven back the Walls of Jericho fell down of themselves and the Sun stood still in the midst of Heaven God established his Children in the Land of Canaan out of which by the same means he drove the abominable People By the hatred which his faithful ones had against them he inspired them with an extreme indignation of their wickedness and impiety and the punishment which was inflicted by their Ministry filled them themselves with fear of the Divine Justice of which they executed the Decrees One part of those People whom Joshua drove out ot their Land Procop. lib. 2. de bel Vand. went and planted themselves in Africa where was found a long time after in an ancient Inscription the Monument of their Flight and the Victories of Joshua After those miraculous Victories had put the Israelites in the possession of the greatest part of the Land which was promised to their Fathers Joshua and Eleazar the High Priest Jos 13 14. seq Numb 26.53.34.17 Jos 14 15. with the Heads of the twelve Tribes divided it among them according to the Law of Moses and assigned to the Tribe Judah time the first and the greatest Lot From the time of Moses it was set above the others in Number in Courage and in Dignity Joshua dyed and the People continued the Conquest of the Holy Land God would have the Tribe of Judah to march at the Head Numb 2.3.9.7.12.10.14 1 Chron. 5.2 Judg 1.1 2.4.8 and declared that he had delivered the Countrey into their hands In fine it overcame die Canaanites and took Jerusalem which was to be the holy City and the capital City of the People of God it was the ancient Salem where Melchisedek had reigned in Abraham's time Melchisedek that King of Righteousness Heb. 7.2 for that is the meaning of his Name and at the same time too King of Peace for that is King of Salem whom Abraham had owned for the greatest High-Priest in the World as if Jerusalem had then been destined for a holy City and the head of Religion That City was at first given to the Children of Benjamin who being weak and few in number could not drive out the Jebusites the ancient Inhabitants of Jerusalem but they dwelt among them Judg. 1.21 Under the Judges the People of God were variously treated according as they did well or ill After the death of the old men who had seen Miracles from the hand of God the remembrance of those mighty Works decayed and the universal inclination and bent of Mankind warp'd the People to Idolatry As often as they fell into it they were punish'd and as often as they repented they were delivered The Faith of Providence and the Truth of the Promise and the Threatnings of Moses was confirmed more and more in the hearts of the true Believers But God prepared also greater Examples of them The People demanded a King and God gave them Saul quickly reproved for his sins he at last resolved to establish a Royal Family from which e Messiah should come and he chose it in Judah David 1 Sam. 16.11.12 c. a young Shepherd sprung out of that Tribe the youngest of the Sons of Jesse whose merit neither his Father nor his Family knew but yet whom God found to be after his own heart was anointed by Samuel in Bethlehem which was his own Country Here the People of God IV. David the Kings and the Prophets to take up a Form more August and Magnificent the Kingdom was setled in the House of David That House began by two Kings of different Characters but both were admirable David a warlike and conquering Prince subdued the Enemies of the People of God whose Arms were dreaded over all the East and Solomon famous for his Wisdom both at home and abroad made that People happy by a profound Peace But the Progress of Religion does here require some particular Remarks upon the Lives of those two great Kingâ— David reigned at first over Judah mighty and victorious and afterwards he was owned over all Israel 2 Sam. 5.6 7 8 9. 1 Chron. 11.6 7 8. 1 Chron 2.16 He took from the Jebâ—sites the strong Hold of Zion which was the Citadel of Jerusalem Being Master of that Fortress he established there by the order of God the Sea of the Kingdom and that of Religâ—on and there he lived He built round about it and called it The City of David Joab his Sister 's built the rest of the City and Jerusalem took up a new form Those of Judah possessed all the Country and Benjamin being few in number dwelt together with them The Ark of the Covenant built by Moses where God dwelleth between the Cherubims and where the two Tables of the Decalogue were kept had then no fixed place David brought it in Triumph 2 Sam. 6.2 16 17. c. with shouting and with the sound of the Trumpet into Zion which he had conquered by the Almighty help of God that so God might reign in Zion and that he might be acknowledged there as the Protectors of David 1 Chro. 16.39.21.29 of Jerusalem and of all the Kingdom But the Tabernacle wherein the People had worshipped God in the Wilderness was yet at Gibeon and there it was where they offered their Sacrifices upon the Altar which Moses had built It was but in expectation that there would be a Temple where the Altar should be re-united with the Ark and where should be performed all the Service When David had conquered all his Enemies and had extended his Victories even to Euphrates being at quiet and a mighty Conquerour he at all his thought upon the establishing of the Divine Worship and on the same Mountain where Abraham went to Sacrifice his only Son 2 Sam. 8.11 1 Chron. 18. 2 Sam. 24.25 1 Chron. 21.22 seq Jos an t 7.10 and was stopped by the hand of an Angel he designed by the appointment of God the place of the Temple He said down all his Designs he amassed mighty noâ— and precious Materials for it he dedicated all the Spoils of his conquered Kings and People to it But that Temple which was so designed by the Conquerour was not to be built but by his Son and Successor the peaceable Solomon He built it after the Model of the Tabernacle The Altar of the Holocausts 1 Kings 6,7 8. 2 Chron. 3 4 5 6 7. the Altar of Incense the golden Candlestick the Tables of Shew Bread and all the other consecrated Moveables of the Temple were taken from the like Pieces which Moses had caused to be made in the Wilderness Solomon only added magnificence and grandeur to them The Ark which the Man of God
t 11.8.2 Cont. Ap. They suffered a little under their first Successors Ptolomy the Son of Lagus surprized Jerusalem and brought from thence into Egypt a hundred thousand Captives But he soon left off his hatred to them He himself made them Citizens of Alexandria the Capital City of his Kingdom or rather he confirmed to them the right which Alexander had already invested them with and not finding any in all his Empire more faithful than the Jews he filled his Armies with them and conferred upon them the most important Places and Offices of Trust If the Lagides regarded them Id. ant 12.3.2 Cont. Ap. yet they were better treated by the Seleucides under whose Empire they lived Seleucus Nicanor chief of that Family established them in Antioch And Antiochus the God his Grandson having caused them to be received in all the Cities of the Lesser Asia we have seen them spread themselves over all Greece living there according to their Law and enjoying there the same Rights as the other Citizens as they did in Alexandria and Antioch In the mean while their Law was turned into Greek by the care of Ptolomeus Philadelphus King of Egypt Joseph Praef. ant lib. 12. 2. 2. Cont. Ap. The Jewish Religion was known among the Gentiles the Temple of Jerusalem was enriched by the Gifts of both Kings and People the Jews lived in Peace and in Liberty under the power of the Kings of Syria and they never had been sensible of such a Tranquillity under their own Kings It seemed as if it would have been eternal but that they themselves did break it by their own Dissentions For no less than three hundred years did they enjoy that Peace so much foretold by their Prophets when Ambition and the Jealousies which were spread amongst them were going to destroy them Some of the most powerful of them betrayed their People for a Complement and piece of Flattery to the Kings they would fain make themselves famous after the manner of the Grecians 1 Maccab. 1.12 13 c. 2 Maccab. 3 4.1 c. 14 15 16. c. and preferred that vain Pomp to the solid Glory which the observance of the Laws of their Ancestors would have given them among their Citizens They celebrated Places as the Gentiles did That Novelty dazled the Eyes of the People and Idolatry cloathed with that splendour and magnificence appeared very lovely to a great many Jews To these Changes were supeâ—added the Disputes for the Soveraign Priesthood which was the principal Dignity of the Nation Those that were ambitious stuck to the Interests of the Kings of Syria hoping by that means to obtain it and so that Sacred Dignity was the reward of the Flattery of those Court Minions Private Piques and Jealousies too did precipitately bring on as is very usual great Calamities upon all People Antiochus the illustrious King of Syria Dan. 7.8 11 24 25.8.9 10 11 12 13 14 23 24 25. Polyb. l. 26. 31. in excerp ap Ath. l. 10. was projecting how to cut off that distracted People and so to make himself Master of their Wealth That Prince appeared then with all the Characters which Daniel had described him in Ambitious Covetous full of intrigue cruel insolent wicked furious puffed up with his Victories and afterwards enraged at his losses He enters into Jerusalem in a posture of attempting all things the Factions of the Jews and not his own Forces harden him to it and Daniel had so foreseen it He exercises unheard of Cruelties his Pride transports him to the last and most violent Excesses and he vomits forth Blasphemies against the most High as the same Prophet had foretold In the executing of those Prophecies and because of the sins of the People power is given unto him against the perpetual Sacrifice He prophaned the Temple of God which had been reverenced by the Kings his Ancestors he pillaged it and by the Riches he found there 1 Macc. 1.43.46 57. c. 2 Macc. 6.1 2. he repaired his own decayed sunk Exchequer Under the pretext of bringing into conformity the Manners of his Subjects and effectually to satiate his Avarice in pillaging all Judea he commanded the Jews to worship the same Gods with the Greeks above all he would have them to pay adoration to Jupiter Olympius whose Idol he had set up in the very Temple and being far more wicked than Nebuchadnezzar he labours to destroy the Holy Feasts the Law of Moses the Sacrifices the Religion and indeed all the People But that Prince his Successes had their just Limits set out by the Prophecies Mattathias opposed his Violences and re-united the holy People Judas Maccabeus his Son with a handful of persons perform'd brave and unheard of Exploits and purified the Temple of God three years and a half after its Prophanation as Daniel had foretold Dan. 7.25.12.7 11. Joseph prol lib. de bell Jud. lib. 1.1.6.11 Isai 63. 1 Macc. 4.15.5.3.26 28 36 54. Dan. 8.14.26 1 Macc. 6.2.9 He pursued the Idumeans and all the other Gentiles who had joyned themselves to Antiochus and having taken their best Places from them he returned victorious and humble just as Isaiah had seen him singing forth the Praises of God who had delivered into his hands the Enemies of his People and his Garments were still red with their blood He continued his Victories notwithstanding the prodigious great Armies of the Captains of Antiochus Daniel had given that wicked King but six years to torment the People of God and behold just at the prefixed stated term he acquainted Ecbatane with the Heroick Deeds of Judas He fell into a profound Melancholy and dyed as the holy Prophet had foretold miserable but not by the hand of Man after he had acknowledged tho' it was too late the Power of the God of Israel I need not tell you in what manner his Successors pursued the War against Judea nor say any thing of the death of Judas its Deliverer nor of the Victories of his two Brethren Jonathan and Simon successively High-Priests whose Valour re-established the antient Glory of the People of God Those three great Men saw the Kings of Syria and all the neighbouring People conspired against them and what was most deplorable of all was that they saw at several times those of Judah it self armed against their own Country and against Jerusalem An unheard of thing till then but expresly taken notice of by the Prophets In the midst of so many Calamities the Confidence they had in God made them undaunted and invincible The People were always happy under their Conduct Zach. 14.4 1 Macc. 1.12.9.11.20 21 22.16 2 Macc. 4.22 23 c. and at last in Simon 's time being freed from the Yoke of the Gentiles they submitted themselves unto him and his Children by and with the Consent of the Kings of Syria But the Act by which the People of God transferred all the publick Power to Simon and granted
to him all the Royal Prerogative 1 Macc. 14.41 is remarkable 'T is thus expressed That the Jews and the Priests were well pleased that Simon should be their Governor and High-Priest for ever until there should arise a faithful Prophet The People used from the beginning to a Theocracy or divine Government and knowing that since the time of David's being set upon the Throne by the order and appointment of God the Soveragain Power belonged to his House to whom it was to be at last surrend'red at the time of the Messiah puts expresly this Restriction to the Power which he had given to his High-Priests and continued to live under them in the hopes and expectation of that Christ which had been so often promised Thus did that Kingdom which was absolutely free make use of its Prerogative and provided for its Government The Posterity of Jacob by the Tribe of Judah and by the rest who were ranged under its Standards preserved themselves like a Body of a State and independently and quietly enjoyed the Land which had been assigned to them By virtue of the Peoples Decree which we now have been speaking of John Hyrcan the Son of Simon succeeded to his Father Under him the Jews grew very great by their considerable Conquests They subdued Samaria as Jeremiah and Ezekiel had foretold they conquered the Idumeans the Philistins Ezek. 16.55 56 58 61. Jer. 31.5 1 Macc. 10.30 Joseph an t 13.8 17 18. Zach. 9.1 2 c. the Ammonites who were their perpetual Enemies and those People embraced their Religion as Zachariah had observed At length in spight of all the Hatred and Jealousy of the People who were round about them under the Authority of their High-Priests who afterwards became their Kings they founded the new Kingdom of the Asmoneans or the Mascabees more large and extensive than ever excepting only thâ— times of David and Solomon Thus you see in what manner the People of God subsisted always amidst all this variety of Changes and that People who were sometimes chastised and again sometimes comforted under their Afflictions and Grievances by the different Treatments they received according as they deserved bears a sufficient publick Testimony to that Providence which governs the World But in what Condition soever they were they lived still in the expectation of the Messiah which was in the fullness of time to come wherein they looked for new Graces and much greater than any of those they had yet received and there are none but see that this Faith of the Messiah and of his Miracles which continues still to this day among the Jews is descended to them from their Patriarchs and their Prophets from the beginning of their Nation Joseph 1. cont Apion For in that long succession of Years where they themselves did confess that by a Council of Providence there was not any other Prophet risen up among them and that God made them no new Predictions nor new Promises this Faith of the Messiah which was to come was more sprightly active and vigorous than ever It was found so firmly established when the second Temple was built that there was no need of a Prophet to confirm the People in it They were supported by the Faith of the antient Prophecies which they had seen so exactly fullfilled before their Eyes in so many chief Points The â—est from that time never was in the least question'd by them and it was not at all difficult for them to believe that God who was so faithful in every thing should not also accomplish in its due time that which concern'd the Messiah that is to say the very main of all his Promises and the Ground and Foundation of all the rest In effect all their History all that daily happened to them was but as it were one perpetual opening Scene of those Oracles which the Holy Ghost had left with them Being so settled again in their Land after the Captivity they enjoyed for three hundred years a most profound Peace if their Temple was reverenced and their Religion honoured over all the East if at last their Peace was ruffled and shaken by their Dissentions if that proud King of Syria made unheard of attempts to destroy them if he sometime prevailed if he were a little after punished if the Jewish Religion and all the People of God were restored with a more marvellous glory than ever before and the Kingdom of Judah grew greater toward the end of the time by new Conquests you have seen all this was no more than what was found written in their Prophets Yes every thing was particularly taken notice of there even to the time that the Persecutions were to last even to the places where the Battels were to be fought and even to the Lands which were to be conquered I have in the gross related something to you of those Prophecies the Particulars would be matter of a longer Discourse I will here only give you the first Tincture of those important Truths which is so much the more acknowledged as we shall enter forward into the Particulars I shall only observe here that the Prophecies of the People of God have had during all those times Porph. de Abst lib. 4. Id. Porphyr Jul. apud Cyr. l. 5. 6. in Jul. so plain and manifest an accomplishment that since when the Heathen themselves when a Porphyrius when a Julian the Apostate otherwise Enemies of the Sacred Scriptures would at any time give Example of Prophetick Predictions they have been forced to seek them among the Jews And I may also tell you for a truth that if during five hundred years the People of God were without a Prophet all the estate of those times was prophetical The work of God went on and the ways were preparing insensibly for the full accomplishment of those ancient Oracles The Return from the Captivity of Babylon was only a shadow of the Liberty both more great and more necessary which the Messiah was to bring to men that were Captives unto sin The People dispersed in several places in Vpper Asia in Lesser Asia in Egypt and even in Greece began to make the Name and the Glory of the God of Israel shine forth more conspicuously among the Gentiles The Scriptures which were one day to be the Light of the World were put into the most known Language of the World their Antiquity is confessed Whilst the Temple was had in reverence and the Scriptures given to the Gentiles God shews some representation to their future Conversion and lays a great way off the foundations of it What also happened among the Grecians was a kind of preparation to the knowledge and understanding of the Truth Their Philosophers confessed that the World was governed by a God far different from those whom the common sort of People worshipped and whom they also served with the common People The Greek Histories believe that this excellent Philosophy came from the East and from those
paid to him Porphyry said so expresly and what is that else but to abolish all Religion and to leave him wholly without Worship whom however we acknowledge to be the God of Gods But what then were those Sacrifices which the Gentiles offered in all the Temples Porphyry had found out the secret of them There were Porphyr 2. de abstin Lab. aapud Aug. 8. de Civ 13. says he impure Spirits Deceivers Evil doers who through an extravagant Pride would needs be accounted as Gods and would make themselves be worshipped by men It was convenient to gratifie them for fear they should do us any hurt Some more gay and jolly were wroâ—ght upon by Speâ—tacles and Plays the more melancholy and reserved Humours of others were pleased with fat Odours and delighted in bloody Sacrifices What does it signifie to refuse these Absurdities there was so much that the Christians gained their cause This was certain that all the Gods to whom the Gentiles offered up Sacrifices were Evil Spirits whose Pride attributed the Godhead to themselves so that Idolatry to look upon it in it self seemed only to be the effect of a brutish Ignorance but to come up to the Source and Original of it it was a work brought from far driven on to the last Excesses by malicious Spirits 'T was what the Christians had always pretended what the Gospel had taught and what the Psalâ—ist so truly sang in these words Psal 96.5 for all the Gods of the Nations are Idols but the Lord made in Heavens And behâ—ld here the strange blindness of Mankind Idolatry tho' it was reduced to extremity and confounded by it self yet it was kept up in the World It was only to cloath it with some probability and explain it in words which carried a sound with them that charmed the ear and was enough to captivate the mind Porphyry was admired Jamblicus his follower was esteemed as a man divine because he had the art of wrapping up the Sentiments of his Master in terms that were seemingly very mysterious tho' in truth they were of no weight at all Julian the Apostate as cunning as he was was taken by those appearances which the Heathens themselves relate Enchantments whether true or false which the Philosophers boasted of their ill-understood Austerity their ridiculous Abstinence which even made it a crime to eat living Creatures Ennap Maxim Oribas Chrysanth Ep. Jul. ad Jamb Am. Marcell l. 21 23 25. their superstitious Purifications in a word their Contemplation which evaporated it self in vain thoughts and Chimâ—ra's and their words as little weighty as they seemed pompous and swelling put the cheat upon the World But yet I do not speak the bottom of all The holiness of the Christians behaviour the contempt of the Pleasures that it commanded and what is yet more than all the Humility which made up as it were the whole of the Christian Life these things offended Mankind and if we can comprehend it Pride Sensuality and Libertinism were the only Guards and Defences of Idolatry The Church was every day pulling it up by the Roots by her Doctrine but yet more by her Patience Yet those wicked Spirits who were never weary of deceiving men and who had plunged them into Idolatry were not now forgetful of their Malice They started up those Heresies in the Church which you have heard of The curious and inquisitive men and by that means vain and fickle and lovers of novelty would fain get to themselves a name among the faithful and could not be contented with that sober and temperate Wisdom which the Apostle had so much recommended to the Christians They launched too deep into those Mysteries which they pretended to measure out to our weak conceptions New Philosophers that mingled Humane Reasonings with Faith and undertook to lessen the difficulties of Christianity being able to digest all that folly which the World found in the Gospel Thus successively and with a kind of Method were all the Articles of our Faith assaulted the Creation the Law of Moses a necessary Foundation of ours the Divinity of Jesus Christ his Incarnation his Grace his Sacraments in short every thing occasioned matters for those scandalous Divisions Orig. lib. 5. cont Cels Celsus and others reproached us for them Idolatry seemed to ride in triumph It looked on Christianity as a new Sect of Philosophy which had the fate of all others and like them dwindled away of it self into several other Sects The Church seemed to them but a Humane Work that was ready to fall of it self And they concluded that it was not necessary in matters of Religion to refine more than our Ancestors nor to attempt to change the World In this Confusion of Sects which boasted themselves to be Christians God wanted not his Church He knew how to preserve to it a Character of Authority which Heresies were not able to master It was Catholick and Universal it continued throughout all times and extended it self on all sides Jer. 3.1 2 3 4. Tertul. de Carn Ch. 2. de praescrip 20 21 32. 36. It was Apostolick the Progress Succession the Chair of Unity and Primitive Authority belonged to it All those who had forsaken it first had acknowledged it and could not efface the Character of their Novelty nor that of their Rebellion The Heathens themselves looked on it as that which was the Stem the whole from whence all the parcels were detached the ever-living Trunk which the loâ—â— off Branches however left entire Celsus who reproached the Christians for their divisions into so many Schismatical Churches which he saw rise up yet observed one Church distinct from all the rest and always stronger which he also called for that reason the great Church There are some Orig. lib. 1. says he among the Christians who do not acknowledge the Creator nor the Traditions of the Jews meaning the Marcionites but goes he on the great Church receives them In the trouble which Paul of Samosata stirred up the Emperour Aurelian easily knew which was the true Christian Church to which belonged the House of the Church Euseb Hist Eccl. l. 7. c. 30. either because it was the place of Prayer or else the House of the Bishop He adjudged it to those who were in Communion with the Bishops of Italy and that of Rome because he always saw the Gross of Christians in that Communion When the Emperour Constance embroyled all in the Church the Confusion he made in it by protecting the Arrians could not keep Ammianus Marcellinus as much a Heathen as he was from confessing that that Emperour strayed out of the right way of the Christian Religion Am. Marcel l. 21. simple and particular by it self both in his Dogmata and Conduct And it was because the true Church had a Majesty and a Right which the Heresies could neither imitate nor obscure but on the contrary they bore testimony to the Catholick Church tho' at the same time
his Predecessors it is not that he is fearful for his Throne for all lyes quiet at his Feet and his Arms are dreaded over all the Earth but it is because he loves his People and being sensible that he is advanced by the Hand of God to a Power that nothing can equal in the Universe he knoweth not what better use to make of it but to imploy it to the Healing of the Wounds of the Church May your Highness imitate so glorious an Example and leave it to your Descendant Posterity Recommend to them the Churches Care to be sure more than that Great Empire which your Ancestors have governed for so many Ages May your Illustrious House the first in Dignity to any in the World be the first in defending the Rights of God and in extending over all the World the Kingdom of Jesus Christ who makes it to reign with so much Glory The End of the second Part. THE THIRD PART OF THIS DISCOURSE THE Empires ALTHO there be nothing comparable to this uninterrupted Course of the true Church which I have represented to you I. That the Revolutions of Empires are regulated by Providence and serve to humble Princes yet the Succession of Empires which I am now going to set before you will not be of much less Advantage to such great Princes as your Highness is First Those Empires have for the most part a necessary Connexion to the History of the People of God God was served by the Assyrians and the Babylonians to chastise that People by the Persians to re-establish them by Alexander and his first Successors to protect them by Antiochus the Illustrious and his Successors to exercise them by the Romans to maintain their Liberty against the Kings of Syria who made it their whole business to destroy them The Jews continued unto Jesus Christ under the Power of those very Romans When they had ungratefully Crucified him those same Romans lent their hands without ever thinking that they did so to the divine Vengeance and rooted out that ungrateful People God who had resolved at thâ— same time to gather to himself a new People out of all Nations did first reunite both the Land and Sea under that same Empire The Commerce of so many different People otherwise Strangers one to the other and afterwards reunited under the Roman Dominion was one of the most powerful and effectual Means that Providâ—nâ—e made use of for the spreading of the Gospel If the same Roman Empire persecuted for two hundred Years this new People which rise up on all sides within its Walls that Persecution hath confirmed the Christian Church and hath made its Glory the more bright and conspicuous by its Faith and Patience At last the Roman Empire yielded and having found something more invincible than it it quietly received into its Bosom that Church against which it had made so long and so cruel a War of Resistance The Emperors have laid out all their Power to make the Church be obeyed and Rome hath been the Spiritual Empire that Jesus Christ would extend over all the Earth When the time was come that the Roman Power was to fall and that that great Empire had vainly promised an Eternity to it self was to undergo the Fate of all others Rome became the Prey of the Barbarians yet by its Religion kept up its antient Majesty The Nations that invaded the Roman Empire by little and little learnt their Christian Piety which tempered their Barbarisme and their Kings in placing themselves each in their Nation in the room of Emperors found not any of their Titles more glorious than that of being Protectors of the Church But here I must discover to you the secret Judgments of God upon the Roman Empire and even upon Rome herself A Mystery which the Holy Ghost revealed to St. John and which that great Man Apostle Evangelist and Prophet hath explained in the Revelations Rome that was grown old in the Worship of Idols found it extreamly difficult to get rid of it even under Christian Emperors and the Senate counted it an Honour to defend the Gods of Romulus to whom they attributed all the Victories of the old Common-Wealth The Emperors were wearied out with the Deputations of that great Body which required the Re-establishment of its Idols â—orym 4. Orat. Symm ap Amb. Tom. 5. l. 5. Ep. 30. Aug. de Civit. Dei l. 1. c. and which thought that to correct Rome of her old Superstitions was to do an Injury to the Roman Name Thus that Company which was made up of the chiefest Grandees the Empire had and an immense number of People in which were well near all the most famous and signalized Persons of Rome could not be drawn from their Errors neither by the preaching of the Gospel nor by so plain and visible an accomplishment of the antient Prophecies nor by the Conversion of almost all the rest of the Empire nor to conclude by that of the Princes all whose Decrees were in favor of Christianity On the contrary they continued most opprobriously to charge the Church of Jesus Christ which they accused also after the Example of their Fore-fathers of all the Mischiefs and Calamities of the Empire always ready to renew the antient Persecutions if they had not been suppressed by the Emperors Things were in this Condition at the fourth Age of the Church and a hundred Years after Constantine when God at last called again to mind the many bloody Decrees of the Senate against his faithful People and at the same time rememb'red the furious Outcries of all the People of Rome whose greediness after Christian Blood had so often made the Amphitheatres to resound He therefore delivered to the Barbarians that City Apocalyps 17.6 drunken with the Blood of the Saints and with the Blood of Jesus as St. John speaks God renewed upon her the terrible Chastisements he had exercised upon Babylon so that Rome it self was called by that Name That new Babylon the follower of the old as she was fleshed and swelled with her Victories triumphing in her Delicacies and her Riches polluted with her Idolatries and a persecutor of the People of God fell also as she did and her Fall was great Revelat. 17.18 as St. John sings her Ruine The Glory of her Conquests which she attributed to her Gods is taken away from her She is made a Prey to the Barbarians taken three or four times pillaged sack'd destroyed The Sword of the Barbarians only spares the Christians Another Rome entirely Christian arises out of the Ashes of that former and it was only after the Inundation of the Barbarians that the Victory of Jesus Christ was perfectly obtained over the Roman Gods which were seen then not only destroyed but quite forgotten Thus the Empires of the world have ministred to Religion and the Preservation of the People of God Wherefore this same God who hath caused his Prophets to foretel the several Estates
Extremities a People otherwise so grave and wise could find â—o Medium The private Interests which made both Parties proceed a great deal farther than they ought in whatever they began for the publick good suffered neither of them to be conducted by moderate Counsells The Ambitions and turbulent Spirits were still stirring up Jealousies to make their own advantages by them and those Jealousies sometimes more concealed and otherwhile more declared according to the times but always strong and violent at the Root was at last the cause of that great Change that happened in the time of Caesar and the others that succeded IT will be very easy to shew to your Highness all the causes of it VII The Successive Changes of Rome explained if after you have throughly understood the humour of the Romans and the Constitution of their Republick you take care to observe some certain principal accidents which although they happened at several distant times yet have a manifest chain of Connexion in them I will give you a collected Series of them for your greater Ease Romulus bred up in War and reputed the Son of Mars built Rome which he populated with an amassed Company of Shepherds Slaves Robbers who came to seek for freedom and impunity in the Isle he had laid open for all Comers and some also came that were better qualified and more Civilized He bred up that People wild in their Nature to undertake all things by force and by that means they got themselves Wives whom they Married By Degrees he established order Dion Hal. 2. and restrained luxurious Minds by most sacred Laws he began by Religion which he looked on as the Foundation of all States He made it as serious as grave and as modest as the Darknesses of Idolatry could then permit him Strange Religions and Sacrifices which were not established by the Roman Customs were forbidden Afterwards that Law was dispensed but the intention of Romulus was that it should be kept and something of it was always retained He chose out of all that number of People the better sort to form the publick Council which he called the Senate He made it to consist of two hundred Senators whose number was likewise afterwards augmented and from them came the noble Families that were called the Patricii The Senate was to examine and propose all matters some of them it regulated Soveraignly with the King but the most general were referred to the People who decided them Româ—lus in an assembly which he had called of all the People upon the Plain at the Marsh Capreae where upon a sudden there arose a great Tempest was cut to pieces by the Senators who judged him too imperious and the desire of Independance began then to appear in that Order To appease the People who loved their Prince and to give a great Idea of the Founder of that City the Senators proclaimed that the Gods had snatched him up to Heaven and caused Altars to be erected to him Numa Pompilius the second King in a long and profound Peace compleated the formation of their Manners and the regulating of Religion upon the same foundations which Romulus had laid Tullus Hostilius by severe Rules Established the Military Discipline and the orders of War which his Successor Anâ—us Martius accompanied with sacred Ceremonies thereby to render the Militia Holy and Religious After him Tarquin the Antient to make Creatures to himself encreased the number of the Senators to three Hundred where they stuck fixed for some Ages and began the great Works which were to conduce to the Publick weal. Servius Tullius projected the setting up a Republick under the command of two annual Magistrates which should be chosen by the People In hatred to Tarquin the proud the Royalty was abolished with horrible Execrations against all those who should go about to re-establish it and Brutus made the People to swear to keep themselves eternally in their Liberty The Memoires of Servius Tullius were followed in that Change The Consuls chosen by the People among the Patricii were equalled to Kings excepting that they were two who had between them a regular turn of Commanding and they changed every Year Collatinus being named Consul which Brutus as having been with him the Author of their Liberty tho' he was the Husband of Lucretia whose Death had been the cause of the Change and he being interessed more than all others to revenge the outrage which she received because he was of the Royal Family became suspected and was expelled Valerius substituted in his place at his return from an Expedition where he had delivered his Country from the Veientes and the Etrurians was suspected by the People to affect Tyranny by reason of a House he had caused to be built on an Eminence He not onâ—y ceased from Building but he became wholly popular altho' a Patrician and made the Law which permitted Appeals to the People and attributed in some Cases to them Judgment of the last Ressort By that new Law the Consular Power was weakened in its Origine and the People enlarged their Rights By reason of the Violences executed for Debt by the Rich upon the Poor the People that rise up against the Power of the Consuls and Senate made that famous Retreat at the Mount Aventinus There was nothing but Liberty spoke of in those Assemblies and the People of Rome did not believe themselves to be free Dion Hal. 2. if they had not lawful Ways of resisting the Senate They were forced to allow them particular Magistrates called the Tribunes of the People which might assemble them and help them against the Authority of the Consuls either by Opposition or Appeal Those Magistrates to keep up their own Authority were continually buzzing of Jealousies and creating Divisions between those two Orders and always were flattering the People by proposing that the Lands of the Conquered Countries or the Price that would be the product of their Sale should be divided among the Citizens The Senate with great Zeal and Earnestness perpetually opposed those Laws that would be so ruinous to the State and would have the Price of those Lands adjudged to be put into the publick Treasury The People suffered themselves to be conducted by their seditious Magistrates and yet had notwithstanding so much Reason and Equity as to admire the Vertue of the great Men that resisted them Against those domestick Dissensions the Senate found no better Remedy than to be continually raising Occasions for foreign Wars They prevented those Divisions from being pushed on to Extremity and reunited those Orders in the Defence of their Country Whilest Wars succeeded and Conquests increased Jealousies were still kept awake The two Parties wearied by the many Divisions which threatned the Ruine of the State agreed to the making of such Laws as might be for the quiet of them both and to establish the Equality which ought to be in a free City Each of the Orders pretended that the establishment