Will commanded them to worship God adjuring them by the bloud of Abel their usual and solemn oath that they should not descend from the holy Mount to hold any correspondence or commerce with Cain or his wicked faction And then breathed his last A command say my Authors which they observed for seven generations and then came in the promiscuous mixtures 13. TO Seth succeeded his Son Enos who kept up the glory and purity of Religion and the honour of the holy Line Of his time it is particularly recorded then began men to call upon the name of the Lord. The ambiguity of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying sometimes to prophane sometimes to begin hath begotten various apprehensions among learned men concerning this place and led them not only into different but quite contrary sences The words are by some rendred thus Then men prophaned in calling upon the name of the Lord which they thus explain that at that time when Enos was born the true worship and service of God began to sink and fail corruption and idolatry mightily prevailing by reason of Cains wicked and apostate Family and that as a sad memorial of this corrupt and degenerate Age holy Seth called his son's name Enosh which not only simply signifies a man but a poor calamitous miserable man And this way go many of the Jews and some Christian writers of great name and note Nay Maimonides one of the wisest and soberest of all the Jewish writers begins his Tract about Idolatry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the times of Enosh referring to this very passage he tells us that men did then grievously erre and that the minds of the wise men of those days were grown gross and stupid yea that Enos himself was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among those that erred and that their Idolatry consisted in this That they worshipped the Stars and the Host of Heaven Others there are who expresly assert that Enosh was the first that invented Images to excite the Spirit of the Creatures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that by their mediation men might invocate and call upon God But how infirm a foundation this Text is to build all this upon is evident For besides what some have observed that the Hebrew phrase is not tolerably reconcileable with such a sence if it were yet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as one of the Rabbins has well noted that there wants a foundation for any such exposition no mention being made in Moses his story of any such false Gods as were then worshipped no footsteps of Idolatry appearing in the World till after the Floud Nor indeed is it reasonable to suppose that the Creation of the World being yet fresh in memory and Divine Traditions so lately received from Adam and God frequently communicating himself to men that the case being thus men could in so short a time be fallen under so great an apostasie as wholly to forget and renounce the true God and give Divine honours to senseless and inanimate creatures I can hardly think that the Cainites themselves should be guilty of this much less Enosh and his Children The meaning of the words then is plainly this That in Enosh his time the holy Line being greatly multiplied they applied themselves to the worship of God in a more publick and remarkable manner either by framing themselves into more distinct societies for the exercise of publick worship or by meeting at more fixed and stated times or by invocating God under more solemn and peculiar rites than they had done before And this probably they did the rather to obviate that torrent of prophaneness and impiety which by means of the sons of Cain they saw flowing in upon the World This will be further confirmed if we take the words as by some they are rendred then men began to be called by the name of the Lord that is the difference and separation that was between the children of Seth and Cain every day ripening into a wider distance the posterity of Seth began to take to themselves a distinctive title that the World might the better distinguish between those who kept to the service of God and those who threw off Religion and let loose the reins to disorder and impiety And hereof we meet with clear intimation in the story of those times when we read of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sons of God who doubtless were the pious and devout posterity of Seth calling themselves after the name of the Lord whom they constantly and sincerely worshipped notwithstanding the fancy of Josephus and the Fathers that they were Angels or that of the Jewish Paraphrasts that they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sons of great men and Princes in opposition to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sons of men the impure and debauched posterity of Cain who made light of Religion and were wholly governed by earthly and sensual inclinations And the matching of these sons of God with the daughters of men that is those of the Family of Cain and the fatal consequences of those unhappy marriages was that which provoked God to destroy the World I have no more to add concerning Enosh than that we are told that dying he gave the same commands to his Children which he had received of his Father that they should make Religion their great care and business and keep themselves pure from society and converse with the Line of Cain 14. AFTER Enosh was his son Kenan who as the Arabian Historian informs us ruled the people committed to him by a wise and excellent government and gave the same charge at his death that had been given to him Next Kenan comes Mahaleleel who carries devotion and piety in his very name signifying one that praises God of whom they say that he trained up the people in ways of justice and piety blessed his Children at his death and having charged them to separate from the Cainites appointed his son Jared to be his successor whose name denotes a descent probably either because of the notable decrease and declension of piety in his time or because in his days some of the Sethites descended from the holy Mountain to mix with the posterity of Cain For so the Oriental writers inform us that a great noise and shout coming up from the Valley an hundred of the holy Mountaineers agreed to go down to the sons of Cain whom Jared endeavoured to hinder by all the arts of counsel and perswasion But what can stop a mind bent upon an evil course down they went and being ravished with the beauty of the Cainité-women promiscuously committed folly and lewdness with them from whence sprang a race of Giants men of vast and robust bodies but of more vicious and ungovernable tempers who made their Will their Law and Might the standard and rule of Equity Attempting to return back to the holy Mount Heaven had shut up their way the stones of the
Coenantibus eis accepit Iesus panem et benedixit at fregit deditque discipulis suis et ait accipite et comedite hoc â—… And as they did eate Iesus tooke the bread and when he had blessed he broke it and gaue it to the Disciples and sayd eate this is my body Matth. 26. Place this before the 〈◊〉 Page Antiquitates Apostolicae OR THE HISTORY OF THE LIVES ACTS and MARTYRDOMS OF THE HOLY APOSTLES OF OUR SAVIOUR And the Two EVANGELISTS SS MARK and LVKE To which is added An Introductory Discourse concerning the Three great Dispensations of the Church Patriarchal Mosaical and Evangelical Being a Continuation of ANTIQUITATES CHRISTIANAE OR The Life and Death of the Holy JESVS By WILLIAM CAVE D. D. Chaplain in Ordinary to His MAJESTY Orig. contr Gelf lib. 1. in Prooem p. 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LONDON Printed by R. Norton for R. Royston Bookseller to his most Sacred Majesty at the Angel in Amen-Corner MDCLXXVI TO THE Right Honourable and Right Reverend Father in God NATHANAEL Lord BISHOP of DURHAM And Clerk of the Closet to His MAJESTY MY LORD NOTHING but a great experience of Your Lordships Candor could warrant the laying what concernment I have in these Papers at Your Lordships feet Not but that the subject is in it self Great and Venerable and a considerable part of it built upon that Authority that needs no Patronage to defend it But to prefix Your Lordships Name to a subject so thinly and meanly manag'd may perhaps deserve a bigger Apologie than I can make I have only brought some few scattered handfuls of Primitive Story contenting my self to Glean where I could not Reap And I am well assur'd that Your Lordships wisdom and love to Truth would neither allow me to make my Materials nor to trade in Legends and Fabulous reports And yet alas how little solid Foundation is left to Build upon in these matters So fatally mischievous was the carelesness of those who ought to have been the Guardians of Books and Learning in their several Ages in suffering the Records of the Ancient Church to perish Vnfaithful Trustees to look no better after such Divine and inestimable Treasures committed to them Not to mention those infinite Devastations that in all Ages have been made by Wars and Flames which certainly have prov'd the most severe and merciless Plagues and Enemies to Books By such unhappy accidents as these we have been robb'd of the Treasures of the wiser and better Ages of the World and especially the Records of the first times of Christianity whereof scarce any footsteps do remain So that in this Enquiry I have been forc'd to traverse remote and desert paths ways that afford little fruit to the weary Passenger but the consideration that it was Primitive and Apostolical sweetned my journey and rendred it pleasant and delightful Our inbred thirst after knowledge naturally obliges us to pursue the notices of former times which are recommended to us with this peculiar advantage that the Stream must needs be purer and clearer the nearer it comes to the Fountain for the Ancients as Plato speaks were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 better than we and dwelt nearer to the Gods And though 't is true the state of those times is very obscure and dark and truth oft covered over with heaps of idle and improbable Traditions yet may it be worth our labour to seek for a few Jewels though under a whole heap of Rubbish Is not the Gleaning of the Ancients say the Jews better than the Vintage of later times The very fragments of Antiquity are Venerable and at once instruct our minds and gratifie our curiosity Besides I was somewhat the more inclinable to retire again into these studies that I might get as far as I could from the crowd and the noise of a quarrelsome and contentious Age. MY LORD We live in times wherein Religion is almost wholly disputed into talk and clamour men wrangle eternally about useless and insignificant Notions and which have no tendency to make a man either wiser or better And in these quarrels the Laws of Charity are violated and men persecute one another with hard names and characters of reproach and after all consecrate their fierceness with the honourable title of Zeal for Truth And what is yet a much sorer evil the Peace and Order of an excellent Church incomparably the best that ever was since the first Ages of the Gospel is broken down her holy Offices derided her solemn Assemblies deserted her Laws and Constitutions slighted the Guides and Ministers of Religion despised and reduc'd to their Primitive Character The Scum and Off-scouring of the World How much these evils have contributed to the Atheism and Impiety of the present Age I shall not take upon me to determine Sure I am the thing it self is too sadly visible men are not content to be modest and retired Atheists and with the Fool to say only in their hearts there is no God but Impiety appears with an open forehead and disputes its place in every company and without any regard to the Voice of Nature the Dictates of Conscience and the common sence of Mankind men peremptorily determine against a Supreme Being account it a pleasant divertisement to Droll upon Religion and a piece of Wit to plead for Atheism To avoid the Press and troublesome importunity of such uncomfortable Reflections I find no better way than to retire into those Primitive and better times those first and purest Ages of the Gospel when men really were what they pretended to be when a solid Piety and Devotion a strict Temperance and Sobriety a Catholick and unbounded Charity an exemplary Honesty and Integrity a great reverence for every thing that was Divine and Sacred rendred Christianity Venerable to the World and led not only the Rude and the Barbarous but the Learned and Politer part of Mankind in triumph after it But My Lord I must remember that the Minutes of great Men are Sacred and not to be invaded by every tedious impertinent address I have done when I have begg'd leave to acquaint Your Lordship that had it not been more through other mens fault than my own these Papers had many Months since waited upon You in the number of those Publick Congratulations which gave You joy of that great Place which You worthily sustain in the Church Which that You may long and prosperously enjoy happily adorn and successfully discharge to the honour of God the benefit of the Church and the endearing Your Lordships Memory to Posterity is the hearty Prayer of My Lord Your Lordships faithfully devoted Servant WILLIAM CAVE TO THE READER THE design of the following APPARATUS is only to present the Reader with a short Scheme of the state of things in the preceding periods of the Church to let him see by what degrees and measures the Evangelical state was introduc'd and what Methods God in all Ages made use of to conduct Mankind
vindicate the Apostles from all suspicion of forgery and imposture in the thoughts of sober and unbyassed persons to see their Doctrine readily entertained by men of the most discerning and inquisitive minds Had they dealt only with the rude and the simple the idiot and the unlearned there might have been some pretence to suspect that they lay in wait to deceive and designed to impose upon the World by crafty and insinuative arts and methods But alas they had other persons to deal with men of the acutest wits and most profound abilities the wisest Philosophers and most subtil disputants able to weigh an argument with the greatest accuracy and to decline the force of the strongest reasonings and who had their parts edg'd with the keenest prejudices of education and a mighty veneration for the Religion of their Country a Religion that for so many Ages had governed the World and taken firm possession of the minds of men And yet notwithstanding all these disadvantages these plain men conquered the wise and the learned and brought them over to that Doctrine that was despised and scorned opposed and persecuted and that had nothing but its own native excellency to recommend it A clear evidence that there was something in it beyond the craft and power of men Is not this says an elegant Apologist making his address to the Heathens enough to make you believe and entertain it to consider that in so short a time it has diffused it self over the whole World civilized the most barbarous Nations softned the roughest and most intractable tempers that the greatest Wits and Scholars Orators Grammarians Rhetoricians Lawyers Physicians and Philosophers have quitted their formerly dear and beloved sentiments and heartily embraced the Precepts and Doctrines of the Gospel Upon this account Theodoret does with no less truth than elegancy insult and triumph over the Heathens He tells them that whoever would be at the pains to compare the best Law-makers either amongst the Greeks or Romans with our Fishermen and Publicans would soon perceive what a Divine vertue and efficacy there was in them above all others whereby they did not only conquer their neighbours not only the Greeks and Romans but brought over the most barbarous Nations to a compliance with the Laws of the Gospel and that not by force of Arms not by numerous bands of Souldiers not by methods of torture and cruelty but by meek perswasives and a convincing the World of the excellency and usefulness of those Laws which they propounded to them A thing which the wisest and best men of the Heathen-world could never do to make their dogmata and institutions universally obtain nay that Plato himself could never by all his plausible and insinuative arts make his Laws to be entertained by his own dear Athenians He farther shews them that the Laws published by our Fishermen and Tent-makers could never be abolished like those made by the best amongst them by the policies of Caius the power of Claudius the cruelties of Nero or any of the succeeding Emperors but still they went on conquering and to conquer and made Millions both of Men and Women willing to embrace flames and to encounter Death in its most horrid shapes rather than disown and forsake them whereof he calls to witness those many Churches and Monuments every where erected to the memory of Christian Martyrs no less to the honour than advantage of those Cities and Countries and in some sence to all Mankind 7. THE summ of the Discourse is in the Apostles words that God chose the foolish things of the world to confound the wise the weak to confound those that are mighty the base things of the world things most vilified and despised yea and things which are not to bring to nought things that are These were the things these the Persons whom God sent upon this errand to silence the Wise the Scribe and the Disputer of this World and to make foolish the wisdom of this World For though the Jews required a sign and the Greeks sought after wisdom though the preaching a crucified Saviour was a scandal to the Jews and foolishness to the learned Graecians yet by this foolishness of preaching God was pleased to save them that believed and in the event made it appear that the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God stronger than men That so the honour of all might intirely redound to himself so the Apostle concludes that no Flesh should glory in his presence but that he that glorieth should glory in the Lord. SECT II. Of S. Peter from his first coming to Christ till his being call'd to be a Disciple Peter before his coming to Christ a Disciple probably of John the Baptist His first approaches to Christ. Our Lord's communication with him His return to his Trade Christ ' s entring into Peter ' s Ship and preaching to the people at the Sea of Galilee The miraculous draught of Fishes Peter ' s great astonishment at this evidence of our Lord's Divinity His call to be a Disciple Christ 's return to Capernaum and healing Peter 's Mother-in-Law THOUGH we find not whether Peter before his coming to Christ was engag'd in any of the particular Sects at this time in the Jewish Church yet is it greatly probable that he was one of the Disciples of John the Baptist. For first 't is certain that his brother Andrew was so and we can hardly think these two brothers should draw contrary ways or that he who was so ready to bring his brother the early tidings of the Messiah that the Sun of righteousness was already risen in those parts should not be as solicitous to bring him under the discipline and influences of John the Baptist the Day-star that went before him Secondly Peter's forwardness and curiosity at the first news of Christ's appearing to come to him and converse with him shew that his expectations had been awakened and some light in this matter conveyed to him by the preaching and ministry of John who was the voice of one crying in the wilderness Prepare ye the way of the Lord make his paths straight shewing them who it was that was coming after him 2. HIS first acquaintance with Christ commenced in this manner The Blessed Jesus having for thirty years passed through the solitudes of a private life had lately been baptized in Jordan and there publickly owned to be the Son of God by the most solemn attestations that Heaven could give him whereupon he was immediately hurried into the wilderness to a personal contest with the Devil for forty days together So natural is it to the enemy of mankind to malign our happiness and to seek to blast our joys when we are under the highest instances of the Divine grace and favour His enemy being conquered in three set battels and fled he returned hence and came down to Bethabar a beyond Jordan where John was baptizing his
away rejoycing But what the carriage of Christians was in this matter in the first and best ages of the Gospel we have in another place sufficiently discovered to the World We may not withhold our obedience till the Magistrate invades God's Throne and countermands his authority and may then appeal to the sence of Mankind whether it be not most reasonable that God's authority should first take place as the Apostles here appealed to their very Judges themselves Nor do we find that the Sanhedrim did except against the Plea At least whatever they thought yet not daring to punish them for fear of the People they only threatned them and let them go who thereupon presently return'd to the rest of the Apostles and Believers 8. The Church exceedingly multiplied by these means And that so great a Company most whereof were poor might be maintained they generally sold their Estates and brought the Money to the Apostles to be by them deposited in one common Treasury and thence distributed according to the several exigences of the Church which gave occasion to this dreadful Instance Ananias and his Wife Saphira having taken upon them the profession of the Gospel according to the free and generous spirit of those times had consecrated and devoted their Estate to the honour of God and the necessities of the Church And accordingly sold their Possessions and turned them into Money But as they were willing to gain the reputation of charitable Persons so were they loth wholly to cast themselves upon the Divine Providence by letting go all at once and therefore privately withheld part of what they had devoted and bringing the rest laid it at the Apostles feet hoping herein they might deceive the Apostles though immediately guided by the Spirit of God But Peter at his first coming in treated Ananias with these sharp enquiries Why he would suffer Satan to fill his heart with so big a wickedness as by keeping back part of his estate to think to deceive the Holy Ghost That before it was sold it was wholly at his own disposure and after it was perfectly in his own power fully to have performed his vow So that it was capable of no other interpretation than that herein he had not only abused and injured men but mocked God and what in him lay lyed to and cheated the Holy Ghost who he knew was privy to the most secret thoughts and purposes of his heart This was no sooner said but suddenly to the great terror and amazement of all that were present Ananias was arrested with a stroke from Heaven and fell down dead to the ground Not long after his Wise came in whom Peter entertained with the same severe reproofs wherewith he had done her Husband adding that the like sad fate and doom should immediately seize upon her who thereupon dropt down dead As she had been Copartner with him in the Sin becoming sharer with him in the punishment An instance of great severity filling all that heard of it with fear and terror and became a seasonable prevention of that hypocrisie and dissimulation wherewith many might possibly think to have imposed upon the Church 9. THIS severe Case being extraordinary the Apostles usually exerted their power in such Miracles as were more useful and beneficial to the World Curing all manner of Diseases and dispossessing Devils In so much that they brought the Sick into the Streets and laid them upon Beds and Couches that at least Peter's shadow as he passed by might come upon them These astonishing Miracles could not but mightily contribute to the propagation of the Gospel and convince the World that the Apostles were more considerable Persons than they took them for poverty and meanness being no bar to true worth and greatness And methinks Erasmus his reflection here is not unseasonable that no honour or soveraignty no power or dignity was comparable to this glory of the Apostle that the things of Christ though in another way were more noble and excellent than any thing that this World could afford And therefore he tells us that when he beheld the state and magnificence wherewith Pope Julius the Second appeared first at Bononia and then at Rome equalling the triumphs of a Pompey or a Caesar he could not but think how much all this was below the greatness and majesty of S. Peter who converted the World not by Power or Armies not by Engines or artifices of pomp and grandeur but by Faith in the power of Christ and drew it to the admiration of himself and the same state says he would no doubt attend the Apostles Successors were they Men of the same temper and holiness of life The Jewish Rulers alarm'd with this News and awakened with the growing numbers of the Church sent to apprehend the Apostles and cast them into Prison But God who is never wanting to his own cause sent that Night an Angel from Heaven to open the Prison doors commanding them to repair to the Temple and to the exercise of their Ministery Which they did early in the Morning and there taught the People How unsuccessful are the projects of the wisest Statesmen when God frowns upon them how little do any counsels against Heaven prosper In vain is it to shut the doors where God is resolved to open them the firmest Bars the strongest Chains cannot hold where once God has designed and decreed our liberty The Officers returning the next Morning found the Prison shut and guarded but the Prisoners gone Wherewith they acquainted the Council who much wondred at it but being told where the Apostles were they sent to bring them without any noise or violence before the Sanhedrim where the High-Priest asked them how they durst go on to propagate that Doctrine which they had so strictly commanded them not to preach Peter in the name of the rest told them That they must in this case obey God rather than men That though they had so barbarously and contumeliously treated the Lord Jesus yet that God had raised him up and exalted him to be a Prince and a Saviour to give both repentance and remission of sins That they were witnesses of these things and so were those Miraculous Powers which the Holy Ghost conferred upon all true Christians Vexed was the Council with this Answer and began to consider how to cut them off But Gamaliel a grave and learned Senator having commanded the Apostles to withdraw bad the Council take heed what they did to them putting them in mind that several persons had heretofore raised parties and factions and drawn vast Numbers after them but that they had miscarried and they and their designs come to nought that therefore they should do well to let these men alone that if their doctrines and designs were merely humane they would in time of themselves fall to the ground but if they were of God it was not all their power and policies would be able to defeat and overturn them and that
former and indeed was greatly abominable to the Jews being so expresly forbidden in their Law But it was not more offensive to the Jews than acceptable to the Gentiles who were wont with great art and care to strangle living Creatures that they might stew or dress them with their bloud in them as a point of curious and exquisite delicacy This and the foregoing prohibition abstinence from bloud died not with the Apostles nor were buried with other Jewish rites but were inviolably observed for several Ages in the Christian Church as we have elsewhere observed from the Writers of those times Lastly From Fornication This was a thing commonly practised in the Heathen World who generally beheld simple Fornication as no sin and that it was lawful for persons not engaged in wedlock to make use of women that exposed themselves A custom justly offensive to the Jews and therefore to cure two evils at once the Apostles here solemnly declare against it Not that they thought it a thing indifferent as the rest of the prohibited rites were for it is forbidded by the natural Law as contrary to that chastness and modesty that order and comeliness which God has planted in the minds of men but they joyned it in the same Class with them because the Gentiles looked upon it as a thing lawful and indifferent It had been expresly forbidden by the Mosaick Law There shall be no Whore of the daughters of Israel and because the Heathens had generally thrown down this fence and bar set by the Law of nature it was here again repaired by the first planters of Christianity as by S. Paul elsewhere Ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus for this is the will of God even your Sanctification that you should abstain from fornication That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour not in the lust of concupiscence even as the Gentiles which know not God Though after all I must confess my self inclinable to embrace Heinsius his ingenious conjecture that by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fornication we are here to understand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the harlots hire or the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the offering which those persons were wont to make For among the Gentiles nothing was more usual than for the common women that prostituted themselves to lewd embraces those especially that attended at the Temples of Venus to dedicate some part of their gain and present it to the Gods Athanasius has a passage very express to this purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The women of old were wont to fit in the Idol-Temples of Phoenicia and to dedicate the gain which they got by the prostitution of their bodies as a kind of first-fruits to the Deities of the place supposing that by fornication they should pacifie their Goddess and by this means render her favourable and propitious to them Where 't is plain he uses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or fornication in this very sence for that gain or reward of it which they consecrated to their Gods Some such thing Solomon had in his eye when he brings in the Harlot thus courting the young man I have peace-offerings with me this day have I paid my Vows These presents were either made in specie the very money thus unrighteously gotten or in Sacrifices bought with it and offered at the Temple the remainders whereof were taken and sold among the ordinary sacrificial portions This as it holds the nearest correspondence with the rest of the rites here forbidden so could it not chuse but be a mighty scandal to the Jews it being so particularly prohibited in their Law Thou shalt not bring the hire of an Whore into the house of the Lord thy God for any Vow for it is an abomination to the Lord. 6. THESE prohibitions here laid upon the Gentiles were by the Apostles intended only for a temporary compliance with the Jewish Converts till they could by degrees be brought off from their stiffness and obstinacy and then the reason of the thing ceasing the obligation to it must needs cease and fail Nay we may observe that even while the Apostolical decree lasted in its greatest force and power in those places where there were few or no Jewish Converts the Apostle did not stick to give leave that except in case of scandal any kind of meats even the portions of the Idol-sacrifices might be indifferently bought and taken by Christians as well as Heathens These were all which in order to the satisfaction of the Jews and for the present peace of the Church the Apostles thought necessary to require of the Converted Gentiles but that for all the rest they were perfectly free from legal observances obliged only to the commands of Christianity So that the Apostolical decision that was made of this matter was this That besides the temporary observation of those few indifferent rites before mentioned the belief and practice of the Christian Religion was perfectly sufficient to Salvation without Circumcision and the observation of the Mosaick Law This Synodical determination allayed the controversie for a while being joyfully received by the Gentile-Christians But alas the Jewish zeal began again to ferment and spread it self they could not with any patience endure to see their beloved Moses deserted and those venerable Institutions trodden down and therefore laboured to keep up their credit and still to assert them as necessary to Salvation Than which nothing created S. Paul greater trouble at every turn being forced to contend against these Judaizing teachers almost in every Church where he came as appears by that great part that they bear in all his Epistles especially that to the Romans and Galatians where this leaven had most diffused it self whom the better to undeceive he discourses at large of the nature and institution the end and design the antiquating and abolishing of that Mosaick Covenant which these men laid so much stress and weight upon 7. HENCE then we pass to the third thing considerable for the clearing of this matter which is to shew that the main passages in Paul's Epistles concerning Justification and Salvation have an immediate reference to this controversie But before we enter upon that something must necessarily be premised for the explicating some terms and phrases frequently used by our Apostle in this question these two especially what he means by Law and what by Faith By Law then 't is plain he usually understands the Jewish Law which was a complex body of Laws containing Moral Ceremonial and Judicial precepts each of which had its use and office as a great instrument of duty The Judicial Laws being peculiar Statutes accommodated to the state of the Jew's Commonwealth as all civil constitutions restrained men from the external acts of sin The Ceremonial Laws came somewhat nearer and besides their Typical relation to the Evangelical state by external and symbolical representments signified
speculation of it it was enough to recommend them to the favour of God and to serve all the purposes of Justification and Salvation however they shaped and steered their lives Against these men 't is beyond all question plain that S. James levels his Epistle to batter down the growing doctrines of Libertinism and Prophaneness to shew the insufficiency of a naked Faith and an empty profession of Religion that 't is not enough to recommend us to the Divine acceptance and to justifie us in the sight of Heaven barely to believe the Gospel unless we really obey and practise it that a Faith destitute of this Evangelical obedience is fruitless and unprofitable to Salvation that 't is by these works that Faith must appear to be vital and sincere that not only Rahab but Abraham the Father of the faithful was justified not by a bare belief of God's promise but an hearty obedience to God's command in the ready offer of his Son whereby it appears that his Faith and Obedience did co-operate and conspire together to render him capable of God's favour and approbation and that herein the Scripture was fulfilled which saith That Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for righteousness whence by the way nothing can be clearer than that both these Apostles intend the same thing by Faith in the case of Abraham's Justification and its being imputed to him for righteousness viz. a practical belief and obedience to the commands of God that it follows hence that Faith is not of it self sufficient to justifie and make us acceptable to God unless a proportionable Obedience be joyned with it without which Faith serves no more to these ends and purposes than a Body destitute of the Soul to animate and enliven it is capable to exercise the functions and offices of the natural life His meaning in short being nothing else than that good works or Evangelical obedience is according to the Divine appointment the condition of the Gospel-Covenant without which 't is in vain for any to hope for that pardon which Christ hath purchased and the favour of God which is necessary to Eternal Life The End of S. Paul 's Life THE LIFE OF S. ANDREW St. ANDREW He was fastened to a Cross since distinguished by his name by the Proconsul at Patrae a City of Achaia from which he preached severall dayes to the Spectators S. Hierom. Baron Nov 29. St. Andrew's Crucifixion Matth. 23.34 Behold I send unto you prophets and wise men and scribes some of them ye shall kill and crucifie some of them shall ye scurge in your synagogues and persecute them from Cyty to City The Sacred History sparing in the Acts of the succeeding Apostles and why S. Andrew 's Birth-place Kindred and way of Life John the Baptist 's Ministry and Discipline S. Andrew educated under his Institution His coming to Christ and Call to be a Disciple His Election to the Apostolate The Province assigned for his Ministry In what places he chiefly preached His barbarous usage at Sinope His planting Christianity at Byzantium and ordaining Stachys Bishop there His travels in Greece and preaching at Patrae in Achaia His Arraignment before the Proconsul and resolute defence of the Christian Religion The Proconsul 's displeasure against him whence An account of his Martyrdom His preparatory Sufferings and Crucifixion On what kind of Cross he suffered The Miracles reported to be done by his Body It s translation to Constantinople The great Encomium given of him by one of the Ancients 1. THE Sacred Story which has hitherto been very large and copious in describing the Acts of the two first Apostles is henceforward very sparing in its accounts giving us only now and then a few oblique and accidental remarks concerning the rest and some of them no further mentioned than the mere recording of their Names For what reasons it pleased the Divine wisdom and providence that no more of their Acts should be consigned to Writing by the Pen-men of the Holy story is to us unknown Probably it might be thought convenient that no more account should be given of the first plantations of Christianity in the World than what concerned Judaea and the Neighbour-countries at least the most eminent places of the Roman Empire that so the truth of the Prophetical Predictions might appear which had foretold that the Law of the Messiah should come forth from Sion and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem Besides that a particular relation of the Acts of so many Apostles done in so many several Countries might have swell'd the Holy Volumes into too great a bulk and rendred them less serviceable and accommodate to the ordinary use of Christians Among the Apostles that succeed we first take notice of S. Andrew He was born at Bethsaida a City of Galilee standing upon the banks of the Lake of Gennesareth Son to John or Jonas a Fisherman of that Town Brother he was to Simon Peter but whether Elder or Younger the Ancients do not clearly decide though the major part intimate him to have been the younger Brother there being only the single authority of Epiphanius on the other side as we have formerly noted He was brought up to his Father's Trade whereat he laboured till our Lord called him from catching Fish to be a Fisher of men for which he was fitted by some preparatory Institutions even before his coming unto Christ. 2. JOHN the Baptist was lately risen in the Jewish Church a Person whom for the efficacy and impartiality of his Doctrine and the extraordinary strictness and austerities of his Life the Jews generally had in great veneration He trained up his Proselytes under the Discipline of Repentance and by urging upon them a severe change and reformation of life prepared them to entertain the Doctrine of the Messiah whose approach he told them was now near at hand representing to them the greatness of his Person and the importance of the design that he was come upon Beside the multitudes that promiscuously flock'd to the Baptists discourses he had according to the manner of the Jewish Masters some peculiar and select Disciples who more constantly attended upon his Lectures and for the most part waited upon his Person In the number of these was our Apostle who was then with him about Jordan when our Saviour who some time since had been baptized came that way upon whose appraoch the Baptist told them that this was the Messiah the great Person whom he had so often spoken of to usher in whose appearing his whole Ministry was but subservient that this was the Lamb of God the true Sacrifice that was to expiate the sins of Mankind Upon this testimony Andrew and another Disciple probably S. John follow our Saviour to the place of his abode Upon which account he is generally by the Fathers and ancient Writers stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the first called Disciple though in a strict sence he was not
the Jews 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among their secret Archives and Records in their Treasury at Tiberias where a Copy of it was found by one Joseph a Jew afterwards converted and whom Constantine the Great advanced to the honour of a Count of the Empire who breaking open the Treasury though he missed of money found 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Books beyond all Treasure S. Matthew and John's Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles in Hebrew the reading whereof greatly contributed towards his Conversion 16. BESIDES these our Apostle wrote three Epistles the first whereof is Catholick calculated for all times and places containing most excellent rules for the conduct of the Christian life pressing to holiness and purity of manners and not to rest in a naked and empty profession of Religion not to be led away with the crafty insinuations of Seducers antidoting Men against the poyson of the Gnostick-principles and practices to whom it is not to be doubted but that the Apostle had a more particular respect in this Epistle According to his wonted modesty he conceals his name it being of more concernment with wise Men what it is that is said than who it is that says it And this Epistle Eusebius tells us was universally received and never questioned by any anciently as appears by S. Augustin inscribed to the Parthians though for what reason I am yet to learn unless as we hinted before it was because he himself had heretofore Preached in those Parts of the World The other two Epistles are but short and directed to particular Persons the one a Lady of honourable Quality the other the charitable and hospitable Gaius so kind a friend so courteous an entertainer of all indigent Christians These Epistles indeed were not of old admitted into the Canon nor are owned by the Church in Syria at this Day ascribed by many to the younger John Disciple to our Apostle But there is no just cause to question who was their Father seeing both the Doctrine phrase and design of them do sufficiently challenge our Apostle for their Author These are all the Books wherein it pleased the Holy Spirit to make use of S. John for its Pen-man and Secretary in the composure whereof though his stile and character be not florid and elegant yet is it grave and simple short and perspicuous Dionysius of Alexandria tells us that in his Gospel and first Epistle his phrase is more neat and elegant there being an accuracy in the contexture both of words and matter that runs through all the reasonings of his discourses but that in the Apocalypse the stile is nothing so pure and clear being frequently mixed with more barbarous and improper phrases Indeed his Greek generally abounds with Syriasms his discourses many times abrupt set off with frequent antitheses connected with copulatives passages often repeated things at first more obscurely propounded and which he is forced to enlighten with subsequent explications words peculiar to himself and phrases used in an uncommon sence All which concur to render his way of Writing less grateful possibly to the Masters of eloquence and an elaborate curiosity S. Hierom observes that in citing places out of the Old Testament he more immediately translates from the Hebrew Original studying to render things word for word for being an Hebrew of the Hebrews admirably skill'd in the Language of his Countrey it probably made him less exact in his Greek composures wherein he had very little advantage besides what was immediately communicated from above But whatever was wanting in the politeness of his stile was abundantly made up in the zeal of his temper and the excellency and sublimity of his matter he truly answered his Name Boanerges spake and writ like a Son of Thunder Whence it is that his Writings but especially his Gospel have such great and honourable things spoken of them by the Ancients The Evangelical writings says S. Basil transcend the other parts of the Holy Volumes in other parts God speaks to us by Servants the Prophets but in the Gospels our Lord himself speaks to us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but among all the Evangelical Preachers none like S. John the Son of Thunder for the sublimeness of his speech and the heighth of his discourses beyond any Man's capacity duly to reach and comprehend S. John as a true Son of Thunder says Epiphanius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by a certain greatness of speech peculiar to himself does as it were out of the Clouds and the dark recesses of wisdome acquaint us with Divine Doctrines concerning the Son of God To which let me add what S. Cyril of Alexandria among other things says concerning him that whoever looks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the sublimity of his incomprehensible notions the acumen and sharpness of his reason and the quick inferences of his discourses constantly succeeding and following upon one another must needs confess that his Gospel perfectly exceeds all admiration The End of S. John 's Life THE LIFE OF S. PHILIP St Philip After he had converted all Scythia he was at Hierapolis a City of Asia first crucified and then stoned to death Baron May. 10. St. Philip's Martyrdom Act. 5.30 Whom ye slew hanged on a tree Matth. 10.24 25. The disciple is not above his master nor the servant above his Lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master and the servant as his Lord. Galilee generally despised by the Jews and why The honour which our Lord put upon it S. Andrew 's birth-place His being first called to be a Disciple and the manner of it An account of his ready obedience to Christ 's call What the Evangelists relate concerning him considered The discourse between our Lord and him concerning the knowledge of the Father His preaching the Gospel in the Upper Asia and the happy effects of his Ministry His coming to Hierapolis in Phrygia and successful confutation of their Idolatries The rage and fury of the Magistrates against him His Martyrdom Crucifixion and Burial His married condition The confounding him with Philip the Deacon The Gospel forged by the Gnosticks under his Name 1. OF all parts of Palestine Galilee seems to have passed under the greatest character of ignominy and reproach The Country it self because bordering upon the Idolatrous uncircumcised Nations called Galilee of the Gentiles the people generally beheld as more rude and boisterous more unpolished and barbarous than the rest not remarkable either for Civility or Religion The Galileans received him having seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem at the Feast for they also went up unto the Feast as if it had been a wonder and a matter of very strange remark to see so much devotion in them as to attend the solemnity of the Passeover Indeed both Jew and Gentile conspired in this that they thought they could not fix a greater title of reproach upon our Saviour and his followers than
and respect of the People towards him His Death an inlet to the destruction of the Jewish Nation His Epistle when written What the design and purpose of it The Proto-evangelium ascribed to him 1. BEFORE we can enter upon the Life of this Apostle some difficulty must be cleared relating to his Person Doubted it has been by some whether this was the same with that S. James that was Bishop of Jerusalem three of this Name being presented to us S. James the Great this S. James the Less both Apostles and a third sirnamed the Just distinct say they from the former and Bishop of Jerusalem But this however pretending to some little countenance from antiquity is a very great mistake and built upon a sandy bottom For besides that the Scripture mentions no more than two of this Name and both Apostles nothing can be plainer than that that S. James the Apostle whom S. Paul calls our Lord's Brother and reckons with Peter and John one of the Pillars of the Church was the same that presided among the Apostles no doubt by vertue of his place it being his Episcopal Chair and determined in the Synod at Jerusalem Nor do either Clemens Alexandrinus or Eusebius out of him mention any more than two S. James put to death by Herod and S. James the Just Bishop of Jerusalem whom they expresly affirm to be the same with him whom S. Paul calls the Brother of our Lord. Once indeed Eusebius makes our S. James one of the Seventy though elsewhere quoting a place of Clemens of Alexandria he numbers him with the Chief of the Apostles and expresly distinguishes him from the Seventy Disciples Nay S. Hierom though when representing the Opinion of others he stiles him the Thirteenth Apostle yet elsewhere when speaking his own sence sufficiently proves that there were but two James the Son of Zebedee and the other the Son of Alphaeus the one sirnamed the Greater the other the Less Besides that the main support of the other Opinion is built upon the authority of Clemens his Recognitions a Book in doubtful cases of no esteem and value 2. THIS doubt being removed we proceed to the History of his Life He was the Son as we may probably conjecture of Joseph afterwards Husband to the Blessed Virgin and his first Wife whom S. Hierom from Tradition stiles Escha Hippolytus Bishop of Porto calls Salome and further adds that she was the Daughter of Aggi Brother to Zacharias Father to John the Baptist. Hence reputed our Lord's Brother in the same sence that he was reputed the Son of Joseph Indeed we find several spoken of in the History of the Gospel who were Christ's Brethren but in what sence was controverted of old S. Hierom Chrysostom and some others will have them so called because the Sons of Mary Cousin-german or according to the custome of the Hebrew Language Sister to the Virgin Mary But Eusebius Epiphanius and the far greater part of the Ancients from whom especially in matters of fact we are not rashly to depart make them the Children of Joseph by a former Wife And this seems most genuine and natural the Evangelists seeming very express and accurate in the account which they give of them Is not this the Carpenter's Son Is not his Mother called Mary and his Brethren James and Joses and Simon and Jude and his Sisters whose Names says the foresaid Hippolytus were Esther and Thamar are they not all with us whence then hath this man these things By which it is plain that the Jews understood these Persons not to be Christ's Kinsmen only but his Brothers the same Carpenter's Sons having the same relation to him that Christ himself had though indeed they had more Christ being but his reputed they his natural Sons Upon this account the Blessed Virgin is sometimes called the Mother of James and Joses for so amongst the Women that attended at our Lord's Crucifixion we find three eminently taken notice of Mary Magdalen Mary the Mother of James and Joses and the Mother of Zebedees Children Where by Mary the Mother of James and Joses no other can be meant than the Virgin Mary it not being reasonable to suppose that the Evangelists should omit the Blessed Virgin who was certainly there and therefore S. John reckoning up the same Persons expresly stiles her the Mother of Jesus And though it is true she was but S. James his Mother-in-law yet the Evangelists might chuse so to stile her because commonly so called after Joseph's death and probably as Gregory of Nyssa thinks known by that Name all along chusing that Title that the Son of God whom as a Virgin she had brought forth might be better concealed and less exposed to the malice of the envious Jews nor is it any more wonder that she should be esteemed and called the Mother of James than that Joseph should be stiled and accounted the Father of Jesus To which add that Josephus eminently skilful in matters of Genealogy and descent expresly says that our S. James was the Brother of Jesus Christ. One thing there is that may seem to lye against it that he is called the Son of Alphaeus But this may probably mean no more than either that Joseph was so called by another Name it being frequent yea almost constant among the Jews for the same Person to have two Names Quis unquam prohibuerit duobus vel tribus nominibus hominem unum vocari as S. Augustin speaks in a parallel case or as a learned Man conjectures it may relate to his being a Disciple of some particular Sect or Synagogue among the Jews called Alphaeans from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 denoting a Family or Society of devout and learned Men of some-what more eminency than the rest there being as he tells us many such at this time among the Jews and in this probably S. James had entred himself the great reputation of his Piety and strictness his Wisdom Parts and Learning rendring the conjecture above the censure of being trifling and contemptible 3. OF the place of his Birth the Sacred story makes no mention The Jewes in their Talmud for doubtless they intend the same Person stile him more than once 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man of the Town of Sechania though where that was I am not able to conjecture What was his particular way and course of life before his being called to the Discipleship and Apostolate we find no intimations of in the History of the Gospel nor any distinct account concerning him during our Saviour's life After the Resurrection he was honoured with a particular Appearance of our Lord to him which though silently passed over by the Evangelists is recorded by S. Paul next to the manifesting himself to the Five Hundred Brethren at once he was seen of James which is by all understood of our Apostle S. Hierom out of the Hebrew Gospel
was the success of his Ministry that he converted Multitudes both of Men and Women not only to the embracing of the Christian Religion but to a more than ordinarily strict profession of it insomuch that Philo wrote a Book of their peculiar Rites and way of Life the only reason why S. Hierom reckons him among the Writers of the Church Indeed Philo the Jew wrote a Book 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 extant at this day wherein he speaks of a sort of Persons called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who in many parts of the World but especially in a pleasant place near the Meraeotick Lake in Egypt had formed themselves into Religious Societies and gives a large account of their Rites and Customs their strict philosophical and contemplative course of life He tells us of them that when they first enter upon this way they renounce all secular interests and employments and leaving their Estates to their Relations retire into Groves and Gardens and Places devoted to solitude and contemplation that they had their Houses or Colleges not contiguous that so being free from noise and tumult they might the better minister to the designs of a contemplative life nor yet removed at too great a distance that they might maintain mutual society and be conveniently capable of helping and assisting one another In each of these Houses there was an Oratory call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherein they discharged the more secret and solemn Rites of their Religion divided in the middle with a Partition-wall three or four Cubits high the one apartment being for the Men and the other for the Women Here they publickly met every Seventh day where being set according to their seniority and having composed themselves with great decency and reverence the most aged Person among them and best skilled in the Dogmata and Principles of their Institution came forth into the midst gravely and soberly discoursing what might make the deepest impression upon their minds the rest attending with a profound silence and only testifying their assent with the motion of their Eyes or Head Their discourses were usually mystical and allegorical seeking hidden sences under plain words and of such an allegorical Philosophy consisted the Books of their Religion left them by their Ancestors The Law they compared to an Animal the Letter of it resembling the Body while the Soul of it lay in those abstruse and recondite notions which the external veil and surface of the words concealed from vulgar understandings He tells us also that they took very little care of the Body perfecting their minds by Precepts of Wisdom and Religion the day they intirely spent in Pious and Divine Meditations in reading and expounding the Law and the Prophets and the Holy Volumes of the ancient Founders of their Sect and in singing Hymns to the honour of their Maker absolutely temperate and abstemious neither eating nor drinking till Night the only time they thought fit to refresh and regard the Body some of them out of an insatiable desire of growing in knowledge and vertue fasting many days together What Diet they had was very plain and simple sufficient only to provide against hunger and thirst a little Bread Salt and Water being their constant bill of fare their clothes were as mean as their food designed only as a present security against cold and nakedness And this not only the case of men but of pious and devout Women that lived though separately among them that they religiously observed every Seventh Day and especially the preparatory Week to the great solemnity which they kept with all expressions of a more severe abstinence and devotion This and much more he has in that Tract concerning them 3. THESE excellent Persons Eusebius peremptorily affirms to have been Christians converted and brought under these admirable Rules and Institutions of Life by S. Mark at his coming hither accommodating all passages to the Manners and Discipline of Christians followed herein by Epiphanius Hierom and others of old as by Baronius and some others of later time and this so far taken for granted that many have hence fetched the rise of Monasteries and Religious Orders among Christians But whoever seriously and impartially considers Philo's account will plainly find that he intends it of Jews and Professors of the Mosaick Religion though whether Essenes or of some other particular Sect among them I stand not to determine That they were not Christians is evident besides that Philo gives not the least intimation of it partly because it is improbable that Philo being a Jew should give so great a character and commendation of Christians so hateful to the Jews at that time in all places of the World partly in that Philo speaks of them as an Institution of some considerable standing whereas Christians had but lately appeared in the World and were later come into Egypt partly because many parts of Philo's account does no way suit with the state and manners of Christians at that time as that they withdrew themselves from publick converse and all affairs of civil life which Christians never did but when forced by violent Persecutions for ordinarily as Justin Martyr and Tertullian tell us they promiscuously dwelt in Towns and Cities plowed their Lands and followed their Trades ate and drank and were clothed and habited like other men So when he says that besides the Books of Moses and the Prophets they had the Writings of the Ancient Authors of their Sect and Institution this cannot be meant of Christians for though Eusebius would understand it of the Writings of the Evangelists and Apostles yet besides that there were few of them published when Philo wrote this discourse they were however of too late an Edition to come under the character of ancient Authors Not to say that some of their Rites and Customs were such as the Christians of those days were mere strangers to not taken up by the Christian Church till many Years and some of them not till some Ages after Nay some of them never used by any of the Primitive Christians such were their religious dances which they had at their Festival Solemnities especially that great one which they held at the end of every Seven Weeks when their entertainment being ended they all rose up the Men in one Company and the Women in another dancing with various measures and motions each Company singing Divine Hymns and Songs and having a Precentor going before them now one singing and anon another till in the conclusion they joyned in one common Chorus in imitation of the triumphant Song sung by Moses and the Israelites after their deliverance at the Red Sea To all which let me add what a Learned Man has observed that the Essenes if Philo means them were great Physicians thence probably called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Healers though Philo who is apt to turn all things into Allegory refers it only to their
III. Cletus or Anacletus or Anencletus supposed by many to be the same person though others who reckon Anacletus a Greek born at Athens make them distinct whom yet we have left out not being mentioned by Eusebius a Roman the son of Aemilianus sat 9 though others say but 2. years IV. Clemens a Roman born in Mount Caelius the son of Faustinus near akin say some to the Emperor He was condemned to dig in the Marble-Quarries near the Euxin Sea and by the command of Trajan with an Anchor about his Neck thrown into the Sea He was Bishop of Rome 9. years and 4. months V. Euarestus by birth a Greek but his Father a Jew of Bethlehem He is said to have been crowned with Martyrdom the last year of Trajan in the ninth of his Bishoprick or as others the thirteenth VI. Alexander a Roman though young in years was grave in his manners and conversation He sat 10. years and 7. months and died a Martyr VII Xystus or Sixtus a Roman he was Martyred in the tenth year of his Bishoprick and buried in the Vatican VIII Telesphorus a Greek succeeded Justin the Martyr flourished in his time He died a Martyr having sat 11. Years and 3. months 10. years 8. months say others and lies buried near S. Peter in the Vatican IX Hyginus the son of an Athenian Philosopher was advanced to the Chair under Antoninus Pius He sat 4. years Eusebius says 8. X. Pius an Italian born at Aquileia he died having been Bishop 11. years and 4. months according to Eusebius 15. years XI Anicetus born in Syria He is said after 9 or as others 11. years to have suffered Martyrdom and was buried in the Via Appia in the Cemetery of Callistus In his time Polycarp came to Rome XII Soter or as Nicephorus calls him Soterichus was a Campanian the son of Concordius There was an intercourse of Letters between him and Dionysius Bishop of Corinth He died after he had sat 9. years or as Eusebius reckons 7. XIII Eleutherius born at Nicopolis in Greece To him Lucius King of Britain sent a Letter and an Embassy He sat 15. years died Ann. Chr. 186. and lies buried in the Vatican XIV Victor an African the son of Felix a man of a furious and intemperate spirit as appeared in his passionate proceedings in the controversie about the observation of Easter He was Bishop 10. years Onuphrius assigns him 12. years and one month XV. Zephyrinus a Roman succeeded and possessed the chair 8 but as others 18. years 20. says Onuphrius A pious and learned man but a little warping towards the Errors of Montanus XVI Callistus or Calixtus the son of Domitius a Roman a prudent and modest man He suffered much in the Persecution under Alexander Severus under whom he became a Martyr being thrown into a Well by the procurement of Ulpian the great Lawyer but severe enemy of Christians He sat 6. years or 5. as others and one moneth and though he made a Cemetery called after his own name yet was he buried in that of Calepodius in the Appian way XVII Urbanus the son of Pontianus a Roman after 4 or as some 6. years he suffered Martyrdom for the Faith Eusebius has 5 S. Hierom in his translation 9. He was buried in Pretextatus his Cemetery in the Appian way XVIII Pontianus the son of Calphurnius a Roman for his bold reproving the Roman Idolatry he was banished into the Island Sardinia where he died he was Bishop about 3 or 4 or as Eusebius 5. years XIX Anteros a Greek the son of Romulus He died by that he had kept his place one month though others without reason make him to have lived in it many years and was buried in the Cemetery of Callistus XX. Fabianus a Roman he was unexpectedly chosen Bishop while several others being in competition a Pigeon suddenly descended and sat upon his head the great emblem of the Holy Spirit He died a Martyr after 14. years buried in the same place with his predecessor XXI Cornelius a Roman he opposed and condemned Novatian frequent Letters passed between him and Cyprian After somewhat more than two years he was first cruelly whipp'd and then beheaded buried in a Vault within the Grange of Lucina near the Appian way XXII Lueius a Roman sat 2 or as others 3. years He suffered martyrdom by the command of Valerian and was buried in Callistus his Cemetery XXIII Stephanus a Roman the son of Julius Great contests were between him and Cyprian about rebaptizing those who had been baptized by Hereticks He was beheaded after he had sat about 2. or 3. years though others say 7 and buried with his predecessor XXIV Xystus a Greek formerly a Philosopher of Athens After 1 or as others compute 2. years and 10. moneths he suffered Martyrdom Eusebius reckons it 8. years XXV Dionysius of a Monk made Bishop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the judgment of Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria a truly learned and admirable person The time of his Presidency is uncertainly assign'd 6 9 10 11. Eusebius extends it to 12. years XXVI Felix a Roman In his time arose the Manichaean Heresie He suffered about the fourth or fifth year of his Episcopacy and lies buried in the Aurelian way in a Cemetery of his own two miles from Rome XXVII Eutychianus a Tuscan a man exceedingly careful of the burial of martyrs after one years space was himself crowned with martyrdom Eusebius allows him but 8. months Onuphrius 8. years and 6. months XXVIII Caius or as Eusebius calls him Gaianus a Dalmatian kinsman to the Emperor Dioclesian and in the Persecution under him became a martyr He sat 11. years some say longer Eusebius 15. years He was beheaded and buried in Callistus his Cemetery XXIX Marcellinus a Roman Through fear of torment he did sacrifice to the gods but recovering himself died a martyr after he had sat 8 or 9. years He was beheaded and buried in the Cemetery of Priscilla in the Salarian way To him succeeded XXX Marcellus a Roman he was condemned by Maxentius the Tyrant to keep Beasts in a Stable which yet he performed with his prayers and exercises of devotion He died after five Years and six months and was buried in the Cemetery of Priscilla XXXI Eusebius a Greek the son of a Physician He suffered much under the Tyranny of Maxentius He sat 6. years say some 4. say others though Eusebius allows him but 7. months Onuphrius 1. year and 7. months he was buried in the Appian way near Callistus his Cemetery XXXII Miltiades an African He might be a Confessor under Maxentius but could not be a martyr under Maximinus as some report him He sat 3. or 4 though others assign him but 2. years and was buried in the Cemetery of Callistus XXXIII Silvester a Roman He was elected into the place Ann. Chr. CCCXIV fetch'd from the mountain Soracte whither he had fled for fear of Persecution He was highly in favour with Constantine
the Great He sat 23 Nicephorus says 28. years JERUSALEM THE Church of Jerusalem may in some sence be said to have been founded by our Lord himself as it was for some time cultivated and improved by the Ministery of the whole Colledge of Apostles The Bishops of it were as followeth I. S. James the Less the Brother of our Lord by him say some immediately constituted Bishop but as others more probably by the Apostles He was thrown off the Temple and knock'd on the head with a Fullers Club. II. Symeon the son of Cleopas brother to Joseph our Lord 's reputed Father He sat in this Chair 23. years and suffered martyrdom in the reign of Trajan in the one hundred and twentieth year of his Age. III. Justus succeeded in his room and sat 6. years IV. Zachaeus or as Nicephorus the Patriarch calls him Zacharias 4. V. Tobias to him after 4. years succeeded VI. Benjamin who sat 2. years VII John who continued the same space VIII Matthias or Matthaeus 2. years IX Philippus one Year next came X. Seneca who sat 4. years XI Justus 4. XII Levi or Lebes 2. XIII Ephrem or Ephres or as Epiphanius stiles him Vaphres 2. XIV Joseph 2. XV. Judas 2. Most of these Bishops we may observe to have sat but a short time following one another with a very quick succession Which doubtless was in a great measure owing to the turbulent unquiet humour of the Jewish Nation frequently rebelling against the Roman powers whereby they provoked them to fall heavy upon them and cut off all that came in their way making no distinction between Jews and Christians as indeed they were all Jews though differing in the Rites of their Religion For hitherto the Bishops of Jerusalem had successively been of the Circumcision the Church there having been intirely made up of Jewish converts But Jerusalem being now utterly laid waste and the Jews dispersed into all other Countries the Gentiles were admitted not onely into the body of that Church but even into the Episcopal chair The first whereof was XVI Marcus who sat 8. years XVII Cassianus 8. XVIII Publius 5. XIX Maximus 4. XX. Julianus 2. XXI Caianus 3. XXII Symmachus 2. XXIII Caius 3. XXIV Julianus 4. XXV Elias 2. I find not this Bishop mentioned by Eusebius but he is recorded by Nicephorus of Constantinople XXVI Capito 4. XXVII Maximus 4. XXVIII Antoninus 5. XXIX Valens 3. XXX Dulichianus 2. XXXI Narcissus 4. He was a man of eminent piety famous for the great miracles which he wrought but not being able to bear the aspersions which some unjustly cast upon him though God signally and miraculously vindicated his innocency he left his Church and retired into desarts and solitudes In his absence was chosen XXXII Dius who sat 8. years After him XXXIII Germanio 4. XXXIV Gordius 5. In his time Narcissus as one from the dead returned from his solitudes and was importuned by the People again to take the government of the Church upon him being highly reverenced by them both for his strict and Philosophical course of life and the signal vengeance which God took of his accusers And in this second administration he continued 10. years suffering martyrdom when he was near 120. years old To relieve the infirmities of his great Age they took in to be his Colleague XXXV Alexander formerly Bishop in Cappadocia who at that time had out of devotion taken a pilgrimage to Jerusalem the choice being extraordinarily designed by a particular revelation from Heaven He was an eminent Confessor and after having sat 15. Years died in Prison under the Decian Persecution By him Origen was ordained Presbyter He was a great Patron of Learning as well as Religion a studious preserver of the Records of the Church He erected a Library at Jerusalem which he especially furnished with the Writings and Epistles of Ecclesiastical Persons And out of this treasury it was that Eusebius borrowed a great part of his materials for the composing of his History XXXVI Mazabanes 9. years XXXVII Hymenaeus 23. XXXVIII Zabdas 10. XXXIX Hermon 9. He was as Eusebius tells us the last Bishop of this See before that fatal Persecution that rag'd even in his time XL. Macarius ordain'd Ann. Christ. CCCXV. He was present in the great Nicene Council He sat says Nicephorus of Constantinople 20. years but S. Hierom allows him a much longer time BYZANTIUM afterwards called CONSTANTINOPLE THAT this Church was first founded by S. Andrew we have shewed in his Life The succession of its Bishops was as followeth I. S. Andrew the Apostle He was crucified at Patrae in Achaia II. Stachys whom S. Paul calls his beloved Stachys ordained Bishop by S. Andrew he sat 16. years III. Onesimus 14. IV. Polycarpus 17. V. Plutarchus 16. VI. Sedecio 9. VII Diogenes 15. Of the last three no mention is made in Nicephorus of Constantinople but they are delivered by Nicephorus Callistus lib. 8. c. 6. p. 540. VIII Eleutherius 7. IX Felix 5. X. Polycarpus 17. XI Athenodorus 4. He erected a Church called Elea afterwards much beautified and enlarged by Constantine the Great XII Euzoius 16. Though Nicephorus Callistus allow but 6. XIII Laurentius 11. Years and 6. months XIV Alypius 13. XV. Pertinax a man of Consular dignity he built another Church near the Sea-side which he called Peace He sat 19. years which Nicephorus Callistus reduces to 9. XVI Olympianus 11. XVII Marcus 13. XVIII Cyriacus or Cyrillianus 16. XIX Constantinus 7. In the first year of his Bishoprick he built a Church in the North part of the City which he dedicated to the honour of Euphemia the Martyr who had suffered in that Place In this Oratory he spent the remainder of his life quitting his Episcopal Chair to XX. Titus who sat 35. years and 6. months though Nicephorus Callistus makes it 37. years After him came XXI Dometius Brother as they tell us to the Emperor Probus he was Bishop 21. years 6. months XXII Probus succeeded his Father Dometius and sat 12. Years As after him XXIII Metrophanes his brother who governed that Church 10. Years And in his time it was that Constantine translated the Imperial Court hither enlarged and adorned it called it after his own name and made it the seat of the Empire XXIV Alexander succeeded a man of great piety and integrity zealous and constant in maintaining the truth against the blasphemies of Arius He sat 23. years ALEXANDRIA THE foundations of this Church were laid and a great part of its superstructure rais'd by S. Mark who though not strictly and properly an Apostle yet being an Apostle at large and immediately commissionated by S. Peter it justly obtained the honour of an Apostolical Church Its Bishops and Governours are thus recorded I. S. Mark the Evangelist of whose Travels and Martyrdom we have spoken in his Life Nicephorus of Constantinople makes him to sit two years II. Anianus charactered by Eusebius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man beloved of God and