LIBRARY OF T. V. MOORE. No. In. Vol. INSTITUTES or ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, ANCIENT AND MODERN, IN FOUR BOOKS, MUCH CORRECTED, ENLARGED, AND IMPROVED FROM THE ' PRIMARY AUTHORITIES. BY JOHN LAWRENCE VON MOSHEIM, D.D., CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF GOTTINGEN. A NEW AND LITERAL TRANSLATION, FROM THE ORIGINAL LATIN, WITH COPIOUS ADDITIONAL NOTES, ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. BY JAMES MURDOCH. D. D. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. SECOND EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED. NEW-YORK: HARPER & BROTHERS, 82 CLIFF-STREET. 1839. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1839, by JAMES MURDOCH, in the Clerk's office of the District Court of Connecticut District. IMS TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. To produce a general history of the Christian church, adapted es- pecially to the wants of the younger clergy, but suitable for intelligent readers of all classes, a history so comprehensive as to touch on all the more important facts, briefly indeed, but distinctly, with suitable enlargement on the points of peculiar interest, and a constant reference to authorities and to the writers who give more full information, so that the work, while itself affording a good general knowledge of the whole subject, might serve as a guide to more thorough investigations ; such was the design of Dr. Mosheim in the following work, and such has been the aim of the present translator. The great need of such a work at the present day, when every other branch of theology is much cultivated, is so generally felt, that it is unnecessary to say anything to evince its importance or to excite an interest on the subject. The only things, therefore, which here claim attention, are the character and history of Dr. Mosheim, the reasons for giving a new translation of his work, and the additions made to it by way of notes. John Lawrence von Mosheim was nobly born at Lubec, October 9, 1694. His education was completed at the university of Kiel, where, at an early age, he became professor of philosophy. In his youth he cultivated a taste for poetry ; and he actually published criticisms on that subject. But pulpit eloquence, biblical and historical theology, and practical religion, were his favourite pursuits. He published seven volumes of sermons, and left a valuable treatise on preaching, which was printed after his death. The English and French preachers, par- ticularly Tillotson and Watts, Saurin, Massillon, and Flechier, were his models. The Germans admit that he contributed much to improve the style and manner of preaching in their country. While a professor at Kiel, he gained such reputation that the King of Denmark invited him to a professorship at Copenhagen. But the Duke of Brunswick soon after, in the year 1725, called him to the divinity chair at Helm- stadt, which he filled with great applause for twenty-two years. In 1747, when George II. king of England, the founder of the university of Gottingen, wished to place over that institution men of the highest rank in the literary world, Dr. Mosheim was deemed worthy to be its chancellor, and the head of the department of theology. In this hon- ourable station he remained eight years, or till his death, September 9, 1755. His works were very numerous ; consisting of translations into Latin or German of various foreign works, Italian, French, Eng- iv TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. lish, and Greek, with learned notes ; an immense number of disqui- sitions relating to historical, dogmatic, and moral subjects ; besides orations, sermons, letters, &c. On church history, in which he most distinguished himself, he published, among other works, two volumes of essays on detached subjects ; and a compendious church history, in two volumes, 12mo ; a full church history of the first century, 4to ; Commentary on the affairs of Christians till the times of Constantine, 4to ; and he had just published the revision and enlargement of his compendious church history, under the new title of Institutes of Ec- clesiastical History, ancient and modern, in one volume, 4to, when he was removed by death, at the age of 61. The character of Dr. Mosheim is thus given by his disciple and translator, /. R. Schlegel. " We may have had, perhaps, biblical in- terpreters, who, like Ernesti and Michaelis, expounded the Scriptures with more philosophical and critical learning ; perhaps, also, theolo- gians and moralists who have treated dogmatic and practical theology with more metaphysical precision ; we may likewise have had, arid perhaps still have, pulpit orators, who, among the many unsuccessful imitators of Mosheim's method, have even rivalled him, and perhaps come nearer to that ideal perfection which he wished to see realized. But in ecclesiastical history, the merits of Mosheim are so decisive and peculiar, that I will not venture to compare him with any who preceded or followed him in this department of learning. He is, as Schroeckh says, our first real historian in church history."* Dr. Maclaine informs us that, after he had commenced his translation, he received a letter from Bishop Warburton, saying, " Mosheim's com- pendium is excellent, the method admirable ; in short, the only one deserving the name of an ecclesiastical history. It deserves and needs frequent notes" Mosheim's Institutes, as well as most of his other historical works, being written in Latin, were accessible to learned foreigners. And Dr. Archibald Maclaine, the son of a dissenting minister in the north of Ireland, and himself an assistant minister to an English congrega- tion at the Hague, published an English translation of these Institutes so early as the year 1764, only nine years after the appearance of the original. Dutch and French translations were also made ; but I know not by whom or at what time. In 1769, J. A. C. von Einem, a pious but not profound German minister,, commenced his German translation of the Institutes. His design was to bring down the work to the capacities of the unlearned, and to render it an edifying book for common Christians. Accordingly, he omitted nearly all the marginal references and discussions, and introduced much religious biography and historical detail. His translation fills six vols. 8vo, and the continuation of the history three additional volumes. In the year 1770, John R. Schlegel, rector of the gymnasium of Heilbronn, a learned and judicious man, commenced another German translation, which is very literal and close, free from all interpolations, and ac- * Schlcgel'3 Mosheim, vol. i., Preface. TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. v companied with learned notes. This translation, in four large volumes 8vo, was completed in 1780; and a continuation of the history, in two volumes, appeared in 1784 and 1788. The lectures and the printed works of Mosheim on ecclesiastical history kindled up such ardour for this science in Germany, that, in the course of fifty years, Baumgarten, Sender, Schroeckh, Henke, and Schmidt, severally, produced large and valuable church histories. Of these, the most full and complete is that of Schroeckh, a pupil of Mo- sheim, continued by Tzschirner, in forty-five vols. 8vo. And next, that of Henke, continued by Vater, in nine vols. 8vo. Nor has the ardour for this branch of theology yet subsided in Germany ; for Pro- fessor Neander, of Berlin, is now publishing a profound and philosoph- ical church history, which, if completed on the plan commenced, will probably fill twenty-five or thirty volumes 8vo. The limits assigned to this preface will not allow a discussion of the merits of these sev- eral successors of Mosheim. Suffice it to say, that a careful exami- nation of them all has resulted in the decided conviction that Mo- sheim's history, in a form similar to that given to it by Schlegel, is the best adapted to the wants of this country, and the most likely to meet general approbation among the American clergy. The necessity for a new English version of the Institutes arises principally from the unauthorized liberties taken by the former trans- lator, under the mistaken idea of improving the work and rendering it more acceptable to the public. He says in his preface : " The style of the original is by no means a model to imitate in a work de- signed for general use. Dr. Mosheim affected brevity, and laboured to crowd many things into few words : thus his diction, though pure and correct, became sententious and harsh, without that harmony which pleases the ear, and those transitions which make a narration flow with ease. This being the case, I have sometimes taken con- siderable liberties with my author, and followed the spirit of his nar- rative without adhering strictly to the letter : and have often added a few sentences to render an observation more striking, a fact more clear, a portrait more finished." Thus Dr. Maclaine frankly owns, that his chief design was to render the work interesting to those superficial readers who delight in that harmony which pleases the ear, and in those transitions which make a narration flow with ease ; and that he often added a few sentences of his own, to give more vivacity and point to the sentiments of his author, or more splendour to their dress. And whoever will be at the pains of comparing his translation with the original, may see that he has essentially changed the style, and greatly coloured and altered in many places the sentiments of his author ; in short, that he has paraphrased rather than translated a large part of the work. The book is thus rendered heavy and te- dious to the reader by its superfluity of words, and likewise obscure and indefinite, and sometimes self-contradictory, by the looseness of its unguarded statements. Its credibility also as a history of facts is impaired, and it fails of carrying full conviction to the mind, because vi TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. it is stripped of its native simplicity, precision, and candour. For no wise man will confide in a writer who appears intent on fabricating sonorous and flowing periods, who multiplies splendid epithets, and habitually deals in loose and unqualified assertions. Nor is this all, for the old translation has actually exposed Dr. Mosheim to severe and unmerited censure from different quarters : and Dr. Maclaine has long stood accused before the public as a translator " who has inter- woven his own sentiments in such a manner with those of the original author, both in the notes and in the text, that it is impossible for a mere English reader to distinguish them ; and in diverse instances he has entirely contradicted him. This (add the accusers) will be evident to all, if a literal translation of Mosheim shall ever be pub- lished."* It is not strange, therefore, that so large a portion of the community have been dissatisfied with Dr. Maclaine's Mosheim, and have desired a more faithful and literal version of this valuable author. If the translation here offered to the public, is what it was intended to be, it is a close, literal version, containing neither more nor less than the original, and presenting the exact thoughts of the author in the same direct, artless, and lucid manner, with as much similarity in the phraseology and modes of expression as the idioms of the two languages would admit. That all the elegances of the Latin style and diction of the author have been retained, is not pretended. The translator can only say he has aimed to give Mosheim, as far as he was able, the same port and mien in English as he has in Latin. But writing out an entirely new and independent translation of the Institutes has not been half the labour bestowed on the work. Every- where the statements of Mosheim have been compared with the sources from which they were drawn, and with the representations of other standard writers of different communities, so far as the means of doing this were at hand. The reasonings also of Mosheim have been weighed with care. And nothing has been suffered to go before the public, without first passing an examination by the best criteria within the reach of the translator. Often days and weeks have been consumed in such examinations, when the results were, that Mosheim's statements needed no correction, or at least that no palpable errors were discovered in them, and it was therefore thought advisable to allow him to express his own views without note or comment. But, in many instances, the translator supposed that he discovered such mistakes or defects in his author as called for animadversion. In these cases he has given, in the form of notes, such statements and criticisms as he deemed necessary. Numerous other instances occurred in which Mosheim was found to differ from other standard writers, or to have simply omitted what the translator or others deemed worth inserting; and in such cases the opinions or statements of other writers have been given, that the reader might be able to compare them, and the omitted matter has been supplied. In the history of the primitive church, for two or three centuries, the translator deemed almost every- * See the New- York edition of Maclaine's Mosheim, in 1824, vol. iv., p. 284. TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. vii thing interesting which can be learned with any degree of certainty. Accordingly, his notes and animadversions here are more frequent and minute than in the subsequent parts of the work. In regard to what are called the fathers, especially those of the four first centuries, and likewise the leading men in the church in all ages, he has deemed it proper greatly to enlarge the account given by Mosheim ; not so much by minutely tracing the history of their private lives, as by more fully stating their public characters and acts, and mentioning such of their works as have come down to us. In no one respect has the history been more enlarged than in this. Through all the ages down to the reformation, the eminent men, whom Mosheim thought proper to name particularly, have each a distinct note assigned them, containing all of much importance which can be said of them ; and in each century, at the close of Mosheim's list of eminent men, nearly a complete catalogue of all those omitted by him is subjoined, with brief notices of the most material things known concerning them. On the controversies and disputes among Christians, especially such as related to religious doctrines, much and critical attention has been bestowed. So also the reputed heresies, and the different sects of professed Christians, which Mosheim had treated with great fulness and ability, have been carefully re-examined and subjected to critical remarks. Here great use has been made of the writers who suc- ceeded Mosheim, and particularly of the younger Walch. The prop- agation of Christianity, especially among the nations of Europe in the middle ages, and among the Asiatics by the Nestorians, has been the subject of frequent and sometimes long notes. The origin and history of the reformation, particularly in countries not of the Augs- burg confession; also the contests between the Lutherans and the Reformed, and the history of the English and Scotch churches, and of the English dissenters, have received particular attention ; and the occasional mistakes of Mosheim have been carefully pointed out. Yet the enlargements of the history since the times of Luther, and partic- ularly during the seventeenth century, have been the less considerable, because there was danger of swelling the third volume to a dispro- portionate size, and because another opportunity is anticipated for supplying these omissions. These remarks may give some idea of the extensive additions to the original by way of notes. All additions to the work are carefully distinguished from the original by being enclosed in brackets. They are also accompanied by a notice of the persons responsible for their truth and correctness. What the translator gives as his own, he sub- scribes with a Tr. When he borrows from others, which he has done very largely, he either explicitly states what is borrowed, and from whom, or subjoins the name of the author. Thus several notes are bor- rowed directly from Maclaine; and these are not only marked as quo- tations, but they have the signature Mad. annexed. A few others are translated from Von Sinew's Mosheim ; and these have the signature Von Ein. affixed. But the learned and judicious Schlegel has been viii TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. taxed for the greatest amount of contributions. Throughout the work his notes occur, translated from the German, and with the signature Schl. annexed. The work is now divided, perhaps for the first time, into three volumes of nearly equal size, each embracing a grand and distinct period of church history, strongly marked with its own peculiar char- acteristics ; and, being furnished with a separate index, each volume is a complete and independent work of itself. A continuation of the history to the present time is deemed so .im- portant, that the translator intends, if his life and health are spared, to attempt a compilation of this sort as soon as the printing of these volumes shall be completed. New-Haven, February 22, 1832. ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SECOND EDITION. THE first edition of this work, consisting of fifteen hundred copies, was published i)y A. H. Maltby, a worthy bookseller of New-Haven, towards the close of the year 1832. At the same time, two stereotype editions of Dr. Maclaine's Mosheim were thrown before the public, at very reduced prices ; and no pains were spared by the interested booksellers to give them currency. But notwithstanding this stren- uous competition, and the supervening commercial embarrassments of the country, with no special efforts to give it circulation, and no patronage but what was voluntarily afforded by the friends of theo- logical science and by a discerning and candid public, the new Mo- sheim had a regular and constant sale, at its original price, till the whole edition was exhausted; and the work is now received with fa- vour in all parts of the country, and is adopted as a text-book in near- ly every Protestant theological seminary on this side the Atlantic. For this very kind reception of his work, the author feels himself under great obligations to the enlightened public who have passed so favourable a judgment upon it : and he would now offer them the best return he can make, a new edition of the work, carefully revised, and somewhat enlarged, and, as he hopes, more worthy of approbation, and better suited to the wants of students in this branch of theology. The translation has been again compared with the original, through- out, sentence by sentence, and subjected to a rigid criticism. In a very few instances, it was discovered, that a word or clause of the original had been overlooked in the translation ; and that in several instances, the import of the original had been inadequately or ob- scurely expressed. Yet no very important departure from the sense of the original author, has been discovered. Nearly all the numerous alterations and changes, therefore, relate to the phraseology, or to the choice of words and the structure of the sentences. The difficulty of combining a neat and perspicuous anglicism with a close adhe- rence to the sense and to the very form of thought in the original, throughout so large a work, must be obvious to all who have had ex- perience in the business of translating; and they will not need to be told, that numberless corrections and improvements will always occur to a translator, who revises his work after a lapse of several years. In this manner, the diction and the style of this edition, it is believed, have been considerably improved, without any sacrifice of fidelity in VOL. I. B X ADVERTISEMENT. the translation. If it be nob so, more than half a year's labour has been expended unsuccessfully. The references, to a considerable extent, and where the means were at hand, have been verified ; and a considerable number of er- rors, some occasioned by the transcription, but more by the mistakes of the printers, have been corrected. Many new references to au- thorities and to modern authors, have also been added, in various parts of the work ; and these, it is hoped, will add considerably to the value of the present edition. Several topics have likewise been subjected to further investiga- tion : and some new notes, of no inconsiderable length, have been added, especially in the first vol. of the work. See, for example the notes on the Meletian controversy, p. 269, &c. ; on the origin o: the Christian festivals, and particularly that of Christmas, p. 279, &c. ; on the life and labours of St. Patrick, the apostle of Ireland, p. 316, &c. ; and on the character and life of Mohammed, the progress of his religion, and the sects among his followers ; both in ths text and in the notes, p. 427-434. The new matter in this edition amounts, probably, to fifteen or twenty pages in the three volumes. At the same time, by enlarging the pages a little, by greater economy in regard to blank spaces, and by giving the text in a type a trifle smaller, the number of pages in each of the volumes is less than in the former edition. The notes are also printed in double columns, which is not only favourable to economy in the printing, but will render the perusal of the longer notes less laborious to the eye. Lastly, the exclusive publication of the work during ten years, having been assigned to one of the most distinguished publishing houses in America, and that house having undertaken to stereotype the work ; great pains have been taken, both by the publishers and the author, to secure more accuracy in the printing of this edition, than was attained in the former edition^ New-Haven, 1839. THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE. MY Institutes of Christian History (\) having been long out of print, the worthy person at whose expense they were published has often requested me to give a new edition of them, somewhat improved and enlarged. This request I for many years resisted ; for I was re- luctant to suspend other works then on my hands, which were deemed more important; besides, I must acknowledge that I shrunk from the irksome task of correcting and enlarging a book which needed so much amendment. The importunities of the publisher, however, and of other friends who joined with him, at length overcame my tardi- ness ; and now, after the leisure hours of two years have been spent on the work, it is brought to a close ; and these Institutes of Eccle- siastical History now make their appearance, not only in a new form and dress, but so materially changed as to be almost entirely a new work. The distribution of the materials under certain heads, which I once deemed the best form for the learner, is still retained ; for, notwith- standing weighty reasons have occurred to my mind for preferring a continuous and unbroken narration, I have chosen to follow the judg- ment of those excellent men whom experience has led to prefer the former method. And, indeed, a little reflection must convince us, that whoever would embrace in a single book all the facts and obser- vations necessary to a full acquaintance with the state of the church in every age of it, must, of course, adopt some classification and dis- tribution of those facts ; and as such was the design of the following work, I have left its primitive form unchanged, and have directed my attention solely to the correction, improvement, and enlargement of the work, so as to render it a more useful book. My principal care has been to impart fidelity and authority to the narration. For this purpose I have gone to the primary sources of information, such as the best writers of all ages who lived in or near the times they describe ; and I have consulted them with attention, and have transcribed from them, whenever they were sufficiently con- cise, and, at the same time, clear and nervous. It is often the case, that those who write summaries of history only abridge the more voluminous historians ; and this method I myself before pursued to a considerable degree. But such a procedure, though sometimes (1) [A work in 2 vols. 12mo, rirst pub- by J. P. Miller, in 1 vol. 12mo. Hamb., lished in 1737-41 ; and afterward abridged 1752. Tr.} xii THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE. justifiable and not to be wholly condemned, is attended with this evil, that it perpetuates the mistakes which are apt to abound in very large and voluminous works, by causing them to pass from a single book into numerous others. I had long been apprized of this danger; but I felt it, with no little mortification, when I brought the testimony of the best authorities to pour their light on the pages of my own work. I now perceived, that writers pre-eminent for their diligence arid fidel- ity are not always to be trusted ; and I found, that I had abundant oc- casion for adding, expunging, changing, and correcting in every part of my book. In performing this task, I know that I have riot been want- ing in patience and industry, or in watchfulness and care ; but whether these have secured me against all mistakes, which is confessedly of no easy accomplishment, I leave them to judge who are best informed in ecclesiastical affairs. To aid persons disposed to institute such inquiries, I have, in general, made distinct reference to my authori- ties ; and if I have perverted their testimony, either by misstatement or misapplication, I confess myself to be less excusable than other transgressors in this way, because I had before me all the authors whom I quote, and I turned them over, and read, and compared them with each other, being resolved to follow solely their guidance. This effort to render my history faithful and true, that is, exactly coincident with the statements of the most credible witnesses, has caused many and various changes and additions throughout the work; but in no part of it are the alterations greater or more noticeable than in the Third Book, which contains the history of the church, and especially of the Latin or Western Church, from the time of Charle- magne to the reformation by Luther. This period of ecclesiastical history, though it embraces great events, and is very important on account of the light it casts on the origin and causes of the present civil and religious state of Europe, thereby enabling us correctly to estimate and judge of many things that occur in our own times, has not hitherto been treated with the same clearness, solidity, and ele- gance, as the other parts of church history. Here the number of original writers is great ; yet few of them are in common Vise, or of easy acquisition, and they all frighten us either with their bulk, the barbarity of their style, or their excessive price ; not a few of them, too, either knowingly or ignorantly, corrupt the truth, or at least ob- scure it by their ignorance and unskilfulness ; and some of them have not yet been published. It is not strange, therefore, that many things in this part of ecclesiastical history should have been either silently passed over or less happily stated and explained, even by the most laborious and learned authors. Among these, the ecclesiastical annal- ists and the historians of the monastic sects, so famous in the Roman church, as Baronius, Raynald, Bzovius, Manriquez, Wadding, and others, though richly supplied with ancient manuscripts and records, have often committed more faults and fallen into greater mistakes, than writers far inferior to them in learning, reputation, and means of information. Having therefore bestowed much attention during many THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE. xiii years on the history of the church from the eighth century onward, and believing that I had obtained, from works published or still in manuscript, a better and more correct knowledge of many events than is given in the common accounts of those times, I conceived that I might do service to the cause of ecclesiastical history by exhibiting to the world some of the results of my investigations ; and that, by throwing some light on the obscure period of the Middle Ages, I might excite men of talents and industry to pursue the same object, and thus to perfect the history of the Latin Church. I persuade my- self that I have brought forward some things which are new, or before little known ; that other things, which had been stated incorrectly or obscurely, I have here exhibited with clearness, and traced back to the proper authorities ; and, claiming the indulgence allowed an old man to boast a little, that some things, which were accredited fables, I have now exploded. Whether I deceive myself in all this, or not, the dis- cerning reader may ascertain by examining, and comparing with the common accounts, what I have here said respecting Constantino's do- nation, the Cathari and Albigenses, the Beghards and Beguines, the Brethren and Sisters of the Free Spirit (that pest to many parts of Europe during four centuries), and of the Fratricelli [or Little Breth- ren], the controversies between the Franciscans and the Roman pon- tiffs, the history of Berengarius and of the Lollards, and several other subjects. If, in these enlargements of ecclesiastical history, and while giving views either partially or wholly new, I had used the same brevity as on the subjects well stated and explained by many before me, I should neither have satisfied the inquisitive reader nor have done justice to myself. For I should have appeared to many, as a writer of fables ; and their apprehensions on these subjects would have been indistinct, useless, and fallacious. Therefore, when I have departed widely from the common statements, or advanced apparent novelties, I have not only aimed to be very explicit, but, in order to give credi- bility to my narration, have gone into more ample disquisitions and citations of authorities, because full statements and demonstrations, though out of place in an epitome of history, were here indispensable. In addition to these causes for changing- materially the character, and swelling the size, of my book, another occurred soon after I com- menced its revision. I had before designed my work especially for lecturers on church history, who need a compendious text for the basis of their instructions ; and had therefore only touched upon many things which I supposed would be dilated and explained more fully by the lecturer. But when I began to revise and correct the work for a new edition, it occurred to me that it would be more satisfactory to many, and better subserve the cause of sacred learning, if the book were adapted not merely to the convenience of lecturers, but also to the wants of those who attempt without a teacher to gain a general knowledge of ecclesiastical history. As soon as this thought occurred, my views were changed ; and I began at once to supply omissions, xiv THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE. to explain more fully what was obscure, and to give greater precision and distinctness to the whole narration. And hence it is that, in de- scribing the calamities in which the Christians of the first ages were involved, more pains are taken than is commonly done to state pre- cisely the truth ; and in tracing the origin and progress of the sects which disturbed the church, greater accuracy is attempted ; so, like- wise, the new forms of religion, devised by those who love new things, are calmly and candidly described, and with all possible fideli- ty ; and religious contests and disputes are more clearly stated, and their importance more carefully determined ; and the history of the Roman pontiffs after the times of Charlemagne, their conflicts and their enterprises, have received more careful attention. I mention these as specimens only of what has been attempted, for the advantage of those who cannot pursue a regular course of church history from their want of books or leisure, and who yet wish to obtain a clear and cor- rect view of the principal facts and transactions. The book, for the most part, may be safely trusted by such readers ; and it will afford them as much knowledge as will satisfy one that reads only for prac- tical purposes ; and, besides, it will direct to the authors from whom more full information may be obtained. It would be folly, and would betray ignorance of human imperfec- tion, if I should suppose that no errors could be detected, and that nothing needed correction in all the details of so large a history ; yet, conscious of my own integrity and good faith, and of the pains I have taken to avoid mistakes, I cannot but hope, that I have rarely so failed that serious evils will result from my errors. I could add some other prefatory remarks, which would, perhaps, not be useless ; but nothing more need be added to enable those to judge correctly of the present work, who will be candid and ingenu- ous, and who are competent judges in such matters. I therefore conclude by offering the just tribute of my gratitude to Almighty God, who has given me strength, amid the infirmities of age and the pres- sure of other labours and cares, to surmount the difficulties and bear the fatigue of completing the work now given to the public. Gottingen, March 23, 1755. I N T R O D U C T.I O N. <j 1. Ecclesiastical History defined. 2. Its Divisions. 3. The External History of the Church, 4. which treats of the prosperous 5. and the adverse Events. $ 6. The Internal History, f) 7. which treats of (I.) Ministers. 8, 9. (II.) Doctrines. 10. (III.) Worship. 11. (IV.) Heresies. 12. Events must be traced to their Causes. 13. Means of discovering these Causes, general 14. and particular; in the external 15. and internal History. 16. The Sources of Ecclesiastical History. () 17. Qualities of the Historian. $ 18. He must be free from all Prejudices. 19. Faults of Historians. <) 20. Uses of Ecclesiastical History, general 21. and special. 22, 23. Method in Ecclesiastical History. Division into Periods <) 24. Distribution under Heads. 1. The Ecclesiastical History of the New Dispensation is a clear and faithful narrative of the external condition, and of the internal state and transactions, of that body of men who have borne the name of Christians ; and in which events are so traced to their causes, that the providence of God may be seen in the establishment and preservation of the church, and the reader's piety, no less than his intelligence, be advanced by the perusal. 2. The best form of such a history seems to be that, which considers the whole body of Christians as constituting a society or community, sub- jected to lawful authority, and governed by certain laws and institutions. To such a community many external events must happen, which will be favourable to its interests or adverse to them : and, since nothing human is stable and uniform, many things will occur in the bosom of such com- munity tending to change its character. Hence its history may very suit- ably be divided into its external and its internal history. In this manner the history of the Christian community, in order to its embracing all the details and promoting the greatest usefulness, should be divided. 3. The external history of Christians, or of the Christian community, is properly called a history of the church : and it embraces all the occur- rences and changes which have visibly befallen this sacred society. And as all communities are sometimes prosperous and sometimes meet with adversity, such also has been the lot of Christians. Hence this part of ecclesiastical history is fitly divided into an account of the prosperous and of the calamitous events which Christians have experienced. 4. The prosperous events, or those tending to the advancement and progress of the Christian interest, proceeded either from the heads and leaders, or from the subordinate members of this community. Its heads and leaders were either public characters, such as kings, magistrates, and sovereign pontiffs ; or private individuals, the doctors, the learned and in- fluential men. Both classes have contributed much, in all ages, to the in- crease of the church. Men in power, by their authority, laws, benefi- cence, and even by their arms, have contributed to establish and enlarge the church. And the doctors, and men of learning, of genius, and emi- nent piety, by their vigorous and noble efforts, their travels, their writings, and their munificence, have successfully recommended the religion of xvi INTRODUCTION. Christ to those ignorant of it. And common Christians, by their faith, their constancy, their piety, their love to God and men, have induced many to become Christians. 5. The calamitous events which have befallen the church, arose either from the fault of Christians, or from the malice and stratagems of their ad- versaries. There is abundant evidence that Christians themselves, and especially those who presided in the church, have brought much evil upon the body by their negligence, their unholy lives, and their strifes and con- tentions. The enemies of Christ's kingdom were also either public or private men. Public enemies, namely, kings and magistrates, by their laws and penalties, obstructed the progress of Christianity. Private men, the philosophers, the idol-worshippers, and the despisers of all religion, assailed the church with false accusations, stratagems, and hostile writings. 6. The internal history of the Christian church, treats of the changes to which the church in every age has been exposed, in regard to its dis- tinguishing characteristics as a religious society. It may not unsuitably be called the history of the Christian religion. The causes of these inter- nal changes are found, for the most part, in the rulers of the church. These often explained the principles and precepts of Christianity to suit their own fancy or convenience. And as some acquiesced and were sub- missive, while others frequently resisted, divisions and contentions were the consequence. To all these subjects the intelligent ecclesiastical his- torian must direct his attention. 7. The first subject in the internal history of the church, is the history of its rulers and of its government. Originally, the teachers and the peo- ple conjointly administered the affairs of the church. But, in process of time, these teachers assumed a loftier spirit, and, trampling on the rights of the people, they claimed sovereign power, both in sacred and secular affairs. At last, things gradually came to this, that one person held su- preme power over the whole church, or, at least, affected to hold it. Among these prefects and guides of the church, some obtained by their writings pre-eminent fame and influence ; and as they were by after ages regarded as oracles, and blindly followed, they ought to rank among the governors of the church, whether they held offices in it or not. 8. The history of the laws by which this religious society was gov- erned, naturally follows the history of its ministers. The laws peculiar to the Christian community are of two kinds. Some are divine, proceed- ing from God himself ; and these are found written in those books which Christians very properly believe to be divinely inspired. Others are hu- man, or are enactments of the rulers of the community. The former are usually called doctrines, and are divided into two species, namely, doc- trines of faith, which are addressed to the understanding, and moral doc- trines, which address the heart or will. 9. In the history of these laws or doctrines, it should be our first in- quiry, In what estimation was the sacred volume held from age to age, and how was it interpreted 1 For in every period, the state of religion among Christians has depended on the reverence paid to the sacred volume, and on the manner of expounding it. We should next inquire how these di- vine instructions and laws were treated ; in what manner they were incul- cated and explained, defended against gainsayers, or debased and corrupted. The last inquiry is, how far Christians were obedient to these divine laws, INTRODUCTION. xvii or how they lived, and what measures were taken by the rulers of the church to restrain the licentiousness of transgressors. 10. The human laws of which we speak, are prescriptions relating to the external worship of God, or religious rites, whether derived from cus- tom or from positive enactment. Rites either directly appertain to religion, or indirectly refer to it. The former embrace the whole exterior of re- ligious worship, both public and private. The latter include everything, except direct worship, that is accounted religious and proper. This part of religious history is very extensive, on account of the variety and the fre- quent changes in ceremonies. A concise history, therefore, can only touch upon the subject, without descending into details. 11. As in civil republics wars and insurrections sometimes break out, so, in the Christian republic, serious commotions have often arisen on ac- count of both doctrines and rites. The leaders and authors of these sedi- tions are called heretics ; and the opinions for which they separated from other Christians are called heresies. The history of these commotions or heresies should be written with much care. The labour, if expended wisely and with impartiality, will well repay the toil : but it is arduous and difficult. For the leaders of these parties have been treated with much injustice, and their doctrines are misrepresented ; nor is it easy to come at the truth in the midst of so much darkness, since most of the writings of those called heretics are now lost. Those, therefore, who approach this part of church history, should exclude everything invidious from the name of heretic, and should consider it as used in its more general sense, to de- note those who were the occasion, whether by their own or others' fault, of divisions and contests among Christians. 12. In treating of both the external and the internal history of the church, the writer who would be useful, must trace events to their causes ; that is, he must tell us not only what happened, but likewise how and why. He who narrates the naked facts, only enriches our memory and amuses us ; but he who at the same time states the operative causes of events, profits us, for he both strengthens our judgment and increases our wisdom. Yet it must be confessed that caution is here necessary, lest we should fabri- cate causes, and palm our own waking dreams upon the men long since dead. 13. In exploring the causes of events, besides access to ancient tes- timony and the history of the times, a good knowledge of human nature is requisite. The historian who understands the human character, the pro- pensities and powers, the passions and weaknesses of man, will readily discover the causes of many things attempted or done in former times. No less important is it, to be acquainted with the education and the opinions of the persons we treat of; for men commonly regard as praiseworthy and correct, whatever accords with the views and practices of their ancestors and their own sect. 14. To explore causes in the external history, a historian should con- sider the civil state of the countries in which the Christian religion was either approved or rejected ; and also their religious state, that is, the opin- ions of the mass of the people concerning the Deity and divine worship. For, it will not be difficult to determine why the church was now prosper- ous and now in trouble, if we know what was the form of government, what the character of the rulers, and what the prevailing religion at the time. 15. To dispel obscurities in the internal history, nothing is more con- VOL. I. C xviii INTRODUCTION. ducive than a knowledge of the history of learning, and especially of phi- losophy. For, most unfortunately, human learning or philosophy has in every age been allowed more influence in regard to revealed religion than was fit and proper, considering the nature of the two things. Moreover, a good knowledge of the civil government and of the ancient superstitions of different countries, is useful to the same end. For through the prudence, or, rather, the indiscretion of the presiding authorities, many parts of the discipline and worship of the church have been shaped after the pattern of the ancient religions, and no little deference has been paid to the pleas- ure of sovereigns and to human laws in regulating the church of God. 16. From what sources all this knowledge must be drawn, is quite obvious ; namely, from the writers of every age who have treated of Chris- tian affairs, and especially from those contemporary with the events ; for testimony or authority is the basis of all true history. Yet we ought not to disregard those who, from these sources, have compiled histories and annals. For to refuse proffered assistance, and despise the labours of those who before us have attempted to throw light on obscure subjects, is mere folly.(l) 17. From all this, it will be easy to determine the essential qualifica- tions of a good ecclesiastical historian. He must have no moderate ac- quaintance with human affairs in general ; his learning must be extensive, his mind sagacious and accustomed to reason, his memory faithful, and his judgment sound and matured by long exercise. In his disposition and temperament, he must be patient of labour, persevering, inflexible in his love of truth and justice, and free from every prejudice. $ 18. Persons who attempt this species of writing are liable to preju- dice, especially from three sources ; namely, times, persons, and opinions. First, the times in which we live often have such ascendency over us, that we measure past ages by our own ; we conclude that what does occur, or can not occur, in our day, in like manner did occur, or could not occur, in for- mer ages. Secondly, the persons with whose testimony we are concerned, especially if for ages they have been highly revered for their holiness and their virtues, acquire such an authority with us, as to lead us blindfold. And, thirdly, our attachment to the opinions and doctrines we espouse, often so paralyzes our judgment that, unconsciously, we misapprehend facts. ]\ow from this triple bondage the mind must, as far as possible, be set free. 19. But from this rule, and from others equally obvious and important, how widely ecclesiastical historians of all ages have departed, is too well known. For, not to mention the many who think themselves great historians if they have a good memory, and to pass by those who are governed more by their private interests than by the love of truth, few are the writers, whom neither the sect to which they belong, nor the venerated names (t) To acquaint us with all the writers on (in German), vol. ii., and by J. A. Nosselt ecclesiastical history was the professed ob- and C. F. L. Simon, Guide to a knowledge ject of Sen. Walth. Sluterus, in his Propy- of the best works in every branch of theolo- laeum Historic Christians, Luneb., 1696, gy, (in German), 2 vols. 8vo, 2d ed., Leipz., 4to ; and of Gasp. Sagittarius, Introduc- 1800-13. Valuable notices of the principal tio ad Historiam Eccles., singulasque ejus writers are to be found in J. G. Watch,, Bib- Sartes ; especially vol. i. [2 vols. 4to, liotheca theol. selecta, tomo 3tio, and in his ena, 1694, 1718. A good account of the* Historia Eccles. Novi Test. ; also in the most important writers is given by G. J. (German) Church History of J. M. Schrockh, Planck, Introduction to theological science, vol. i., Introd. pt. iii. TV.] INTRODUCTION. xix of some ancient authors, nor the influence of the age in which they live, can disarm and divert from the truth. In the present age especially, the spirit of the times and the prejudice of opinions, have incredible influence with many. Hence the following arguments so often occurring in the writings of learned men : These are true sentiments ; therefore we must suppose the ancient Christians embraced them. This is correct practice ac- cording to Christ's precepts ; therefore, doubtless, the earlier Christians so lived. This does not now take place ; therefore it did not in ancient times. 20. Ecclesiastical history, if written by persons free from these and other faults, cannot fail to be greatly beneficial to mankind at large, but es- pecially to the teachers and guides of the church. Whoever shall con- sider attentively the numerous, the varied, and threatening dangers which the Christian religion has happily surmounted, will doubtless find himself more established in the belief of this religion, and better prepared to with- stand the assaults, the cavils, and insidious attacks of the irreligious and profane. The many illustrious examples of virtue with which this history abounds, are admirably suited to awaken pious emotions, and to instil the love of God into lukewarm minds. Those wonderful revolutions and changes which have occurred in every age of the church, originating often from small beginnings, proclaim aloud the providence of God, and the in- stability and vanity of all human things. Nor is it of small advantage, to know the origin of the numerous and absurd opinions, superstitions, and errors, which still prevail in many parts of the Christian world. For such knowledge will enable us to discover the truth more clearly, to prize it more, and to defend it better. Of the entertainment afforded by this and other parts of church history, I shall say nothing. 21. But public teachers especially, and the ministers of religion, may from this study derive great assistance, in acquiring that practical wisdom which they so much need. Here, the numerous mistakes of even great men, warn them what to shun if they would not embroil the Christian church ; there, many illustrious examples of noble and successful effort, are patterns for their imitation. And for combating errors, both those in- veterate by age and those of more recent growth, nothing, except the holy Scriptures and sound reason, can be compared with this kind of history. I pass over other advantages which will be found by experience to result from this study ; nor will I mention its subserviency to other branches of knowledge, particularly to that of jurisprudence. 22. The two parts of church history, the external and the internal, require a method or arrangement of the work suited to both. The external history, being a long and continued narrative, extending through many cen- turies, requires a distribution into certain intervals of time, for the benefit of the understanding and memory of the reader, and for the preservation of order. Various divisions of time may be adopted. I have preferred the customary one into centuries, because it is the most approved, though it is not free from objections. 23. No small part of these objections, however, will be removed if we superadd a more general division of time, or one into longer periods, bounded by certain great revolutions and changes in the state of the church. Accordingly, the whole of the following history is divided into four books. The first contains the history of the church of Christ from its commence- ment to the time of Constantine the Great. The second extends it from XX INTRODUCTION. Constantine to Charlemagne. The third continues it to the time when Luther began the reformation in Germany. The fourth and last brings it down to our own times [or, rather, to the year 1700 ; with a sketch merely of the first part of the 18th century. TV.]. 24. Moreover, ecclesiastical history treats, as we have already seen, of various distinct but kindred subjects ; which may properly be arranged under separate heads. Historians have adopted different classifications, such as their fancies or their designs in writing pointed out. The distri- bution which we prefer has been already indicated [in 4-11, of this In- troduction], and need not be here repeated. INSTITUTES ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, UNDER THE NEW TESTAMENT. BOOK I. CONTAINING THE HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH FROM THE BIRTH OF CHRIST TO CONSTANTINE THE GREAT. CENTURY FIRST. PART I. THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. CHAPTER I. i THE CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS STATE OP THE WORLD AT THE BIRTH OF OUR SAVIOUR. $ 1. State of the Roman Empire. 2. Its Evils. $ 3. Its Advantages. $4. Then in Peace. 5. Other Nations. 6. All were Idolaters. $ 7. They worshipped different Gods. 8. They were Tolerant. 9. Most of their Gods were deceased Heroes. $ 10. Pagan Worship. $ 11. It was confined to Times and Places. 12. The Mys- teries <) 13. Paganism not the Parent of Virtue. <J 14. Its Votaries sunk in Vice. (f 15. How supported by the Priests. $ 16. The Roman and Grecian Religions. $ 17. The mixed Religions of the Provinces. 18. Religions beyond the Roman Empire classed. 19. Philosophers unable to Reform the World. $ 20. The Oriental and the Grecian Philosophy. $ 21. Some Philosophers subverted all Religion. $ 22. Others debased it; e.g., Aristotelians. 23. Stoics. 24. Platonics. '$ 25. The Eclectics. $ 26. Use of this Chapter. 1. AT the time when God became incarnate, a great part of the world was subject to the Romans. Their remoter provinces they either ruled by means of temporary governors and presidents sent from Rome, or suffered to live under their own kings and laws, subject to the sovereign control of the Roman republic. The Senate and people of Rome, though they hud not lost all appearance of liberty, were really under the authority of one man, Augustus ; who was clothed with the titles of emperor, sovereign pontiff, censor, tribune of the people, proconsul ; in a word, with every office which conferred general power and pre-eminence in the common wealth.(l) 2. The Roman government, if we regard only its form and laws, was sufficiently mild and equitable. (2) But the injustice and avarice of the nobles and provincial governors, the Roman lust of conquest and dominion, and the rapacity of the publicans who farmed the revenues of the state, (3) brought incalculable evils on the people. The magistrates and publicans, on the one hand, fleeced the people of their property ; and, on the other, this lust of dominion required numerous armies to be raised in the provin- (1) See Aug. Campianus de officio et po- posth. works, vol. i., p. 1-48. Lend., testate magistratuum Romanor. et jurisdic- 1726, 8vo. Scip. Maffei Verona illustrata, tione, lib. i., cap. 1, $ 2, p. 3, &c. Gene- lib. ii, p 65. [Pelro Giannone, Istoria civ- va, 1725, 4to. [Memoirs of the court of ile del regno di Napoli, lib. i., princip. Augustus, by Thn. Blackwcll, vol. i, ii., TV.] 4to. Edinb", 1753 .Schl.~\ (3) [See P. Burmann, de Vectigalibus (2) See Sir W. Moyle's Essay on the con- populi Romani, cap. ix., p. 123, &c. .ScA/.] stitution of the Rom. government, in his 24 BOOK I. CENTURY I. PART I CHAP. I. ces, which was oppressive to them, and was the occasion of almost per- petual wars and insurrections. 3. Still, this widely-extended dominion of one people, or, rather, of one man, was attended with several advantages. First, it brought into union a multitude of nations differing in customs and language. Secondly, it gave freer access to the remotest nations. (4) Thirdly, it gradually civilized the barbarous nations, by introducing among them the Roman laws and customs. Fourthly, it spread literature, the arts, and philosophy in coun- tries where they were not before cultivated. All these greatly aided the ambassadors of our Lord in fulfilling their sacred commission. (5) 4. At the birth of Christ the Roman empire was much freer from com- motions than it had been for many years. For though I cannot agree with them who think, with Orosius, that the temple of Janus was then shut, and the whole world in profound peace,(6) yet there can be no doubt that the period when our Saviour descended on earth, if compared with the prece- ding times, was peculiarly peaceful. And, according to St. Paul, (7) this peace was very necessary for those whom Christ commissioned to preach the Gospel. 5. Of the state of those nations which lay without the Roman empire, historic records will not allow us to give so full an account. Nor is it very necessary to our purpose. It is sufficient to know, that the Oriental nations were pressed down by a stern despotism, which their effeminacy of mind and body, and even their religion, led them to bear with patience ; while the northern nations enjoyed much greater liberty, which was pro- tected by the rigour of their climate and the consequent energy of their constitutions, aided by their mode of life and their religion. (8) 6. All these nations were plunged in the grossest superstition. For though the idea of one supreme God was not wholly extinct, (9) yet most nations, or, rather, all except the Jews, supposed that each country and province was subjected to a set of very powerful beings, whom they called gods, and whom the people, in order to live happily, must propitiate with various rites and ceremonies. These deities were supposed to differ ma- terially from each other in sex, power, nature, and offices. Some nations, indeed, went beyond others in impiety and absurdity of worship, but all stood chargeable with irrationality and gross stupidity in matters of religion. 7. Thus every nation had a class of deities peculiar to itself, among which one was supposed to be pre-eminent over the rest, and was their king, though subject himself to the laws of fate or to an eternal destiny. (4) See Nic. Bergier, Histoire des grands que imperia penes eos fuere populos, qui ehemins de 1'empire Remain, 2d ed., Brus- mitiore ccelo utuntur: in frigora septentri- eels, 1728, 4to> and Everard Otto, de Tutela onemque vergentibus, immansueta ingenia viarum publicarum, pt. ii., p. 314. sunt, ut ait pceta, suoqne simillima ccelo. (5) Origen, among others, acknowledges (9) [See Christopher Meiners 1 Historia this : lib. ii., adv. Celsum, p. 79, ed. Can- doctrinae de vero Deo, omnium rerum auo tabr. [See also Heilmann, Comment, de tore atque rectore, 2 parts, Lemgo., 1780, florente litterarum statu et habitu ad relig. p. 548, 12mo, where, from a critical inves- Christi initia. Schl.] tigation, proof is adduced that the ancient (6) See Joh. Massoni Templum Jani, pagan nations were universally ignorant of Christo nascente, reseratum. Roter., 1706, the Creator and Governor of the world, till 8vo. Aitaxagoras, about 450 years before Christ, (7) See 1 Tim. ii., 2, &c. and afterward other philosophers, conceived (8) Seneca, de Ira, lib. ii., cap. 16. Opp. that the world must have had an intelligent torn, i., p. 36, ed. Gronovii : Fere ita- architect. TV.] STATE OF THE WORLD. 25 For the Oriental nations had not the same gods as the Gauls, the Germans, and the other northern nations ; and the Grecian deities were essentially different from those of the Egyptians, who worshipped brute animals, plants, and various productions of nature and art.(10) Each nation like- wise had its own method of worshipping and propitiating its gods, differing widely from the rites of other nations. But, from their ignorance or from other causes, the Greeks and Romans maintained that their gods were uni- versally worshipped ; and they therefore gave the names of their own gods to the foreign deities, which has caused immense confusion and obscurity in the history of the ancient religions, and produced numberless errors in the works of very learned men.(ll) 8. But this variety of gods and religions in the pagan nations, pro- duced no wars or feuds among them, unless, perhaps, the Egyptians are an exception. (12) Yet the Egyptian wars, waged to avenge their gods, cannot properly be called religious wars, [not being undertaken either to propagate or to suppress any one form of religion]. Each nation, without concern, allowed its neighbours to enjoy their own views of religion, and to worship their own gods in their own way. Nor need this tolerance greatly surprise us. (13) For they who regard the world as being divided, like a great country, into numerous provinces, each subject to a distinct order of deities, cannot despise the gods of other nations, nor think of compelling all others to pay worship to their national gods. The Romans in particular, though they would not allow the public religions to b? changed or multiplied, yet gave the citizens full liberty to observe foreign religions in private, and to hold meetings and feasts, and to erect temples and groves to those foreign deities in whose worship there was nothing inconsistent with the public safety and the existing laws.(14) 9. The greater part of the gods of all nations were ancient heroes, famous for their achievements and their worthy deeds ; such as kings, generals, and founders of cities ; and likewise females who were highly distinguished for their deeds and discoveries, whom a grateful posterity had deified. To these some added the more splendid and useful objects (10) This was long since remarked by Roman deities and Brahma, Vishnoo, Siva, Athanasius, Oratio contra gentes, Opp., torn, and the other gods of Hindostan. And as i., p. 25. [See Le Clerc, Ars critica, pt. the classic writers give very imperfect de- ii., sect, i., c. 13, $11, and Bibliotheque scriptions of foreign deities, and leave us to Choisie, torn vii., p. 84. W. Warbur(on's infer most of their characteristics from the Divine legation of Moses demonstrated, names assigned them, it is evident that Dr. torn, ii., p. 233, &c. And, respecting the Mosheim's remark is perfectly just. TV.] Egyptian gods, see P. E. Jablonsky, Pan- (12) See what Laur. Pignorius has col- theon ^Egyptiorum, Francf. ad Viadr., 1750, lected on this subject, in his Expositio men- 8vo. F. S. von Schmidt, Opuscula, quibus s Isiaeae, p. 41, &c. res antiquae, prsecipue JCgyptiaca explanan- (13) [Though extolled by Shaftsbury tur. 1765, 8vo. Schl.} among others, Characteristics, vol. ii., p. (11) [Dr. Madaine here subjoins a long 166, and vol. iii., p. 60, 86, 87, 154, &c. note, asserting that the gods worshipped in Schl.] different pagan countries were so similar, that (14) See Corn, a Bynckershoeckh, Dis- they might properly be called by the name sert. de cultu peregrins religionis apud Re- names. He therefore thinks, that Dr. Mo- inanos, in his Opuscula, L. Bat., 1719, 4to. sheim has overrated the mischief done to the [ Warburton's Divine legation of Moses, vol. history of idolatry by the Greek and Roman i., p. 307. Compare Livy, Hist. Rom., lib. writers. But there was certainly little resem- xxv., 1, and xxxix., 18, and Valer. Max., i., blance between Woden and Mercury, Thor 3. Schl. See also N. Lardner, Credib. of and Jupiter, Friga and Venus; or between the Gospel Hist., pt. i., b. i., c. 8, $ 3-6. Tr.] 26 BOOK I. CENTURY I. PART I. CHAP. I. in the natural world, among which the sun, moon, and stars, being pre- eminent, received worship from nearly all ; and some were not ashamed to pay divine honours to mountains, rivers, trees, the earth, the ocean, the winds, and even to diseases, to virtues and vices, and to almost every con- ceivable object, or, at least, to the deities supposed to preside over these objects. (15) 10. The worship of these deities consisted in numerous ceremonies, with sacrifices, offerings, and prayers. The ceremonies were, for the most part, absurd and ridiculous, and throughout debasing, obscene, and cruel. The sacrifices and offerings varied, according to the nature and offices of the different gods. (16) Most nations sacrificed animals, and, shocking to relate, not a few of them likewise immolated human victims. (17) Their prayers were quite insipid, and void of piety, both in their form and matter. (18) Presiding over this whole worship, were pontiffs, priests, and servants of the gods, divided into many classes, whose business it was to see that the rites were duly performed. These persons were supposed to enjoy the friendship and familiar converse of the gods, and they basely abused their authority to impose on the people. 11. The religious worship of most nations was confined to certain places or temples,(19) and to certain times or stated days. In the temples [and groves] the statues and images of their gods were located, and these images were supposed to be animated in an inexplicable manner by the gods themselves. For, senseless as the worshippers of imaginary gods truly were, they did not wish to be accounted worshippers of lifeless sub- stances, brass, stone, and wood, but of a deity which they maintained to be present in the image, provided it was consecrated in due form. (20) 12. Besides this common worship to which all had free access, there were, among both Orientals and Greeks, certain recondite and concealed rites called mysteries, to which very few were admitted. Candidates for initiation had first to give satisfactory proof to the hierophants of their good faith and patience, by various most troublesome ceremonies. When initiated they could not divulge any thing they had seen, without exposing their lives to imminent danger.(21) Hence the interior of these hidden rites, is at this day little known. Yet we know that, in some of the myste- ries, many things were done which were repugnant to modesty and decen- cy, and in all of them, the discerning might see that the deities there wor- shipped were more distinguished for their vices than for their virtues.(22) (15) See the learned work of G. J. Vos- 1711, 8vo. [and Sauberlus, ubi supra, p. sius, de Idololatria, lib. i.-iii. [and La my- 343, &c. Schl.] thologie et les fables expliquees par 1'histoire, (19) ["Some nations were without tern- par 1'Abbe Banter, Paris, 1738-40, 8 vols. pies, such as the Persians, Gauls, Germans, 12mo, and Fr. Creulztrs 1 Symbolik u. My- and Britons, who performed their religious thologie der alten Vb'lker, besonders der worship in the open air, or in the shady re- Griechen. Leipz. u. Darmst., 1810-12, 4 treats of consecrated groves." Mad.] vols. 8vo. Tr.] (20) Arnobius, adv. Gentes, lib. vi., p. (16) See J. Saubertus, de Sacrifices vete- 254, ed. Heraldi Augustine, de Civitate rum; republished by T. Crenius, L. Bat., Dei, lib. vii., c. 33, Opp., torn, vii., p. 161, 1699, 8vo. ed. Benedict. Julian, Misopogon., p. 361, (17) See H. Columna, ad Fragmenta En- ed. Spanheim. nii, p. 29, and J. Saubertus, de Sacrifices (21) See Jo. Meursius, de Mysteriis Vet., cap. xxi., p. 455. Elensyniis ; and David Clarkson, Discourse (18) See Matt. Browerius a Niedeck, de on Liturgies, iv. Adoratkmibus veterum populorum. Traj., (22) Cicero, Disput. Tusculan., lib. i., STATE OF THE WORLD. 27 13. The whole pagan system had not the least efficacy to excite and cherish virtuous emotions in the soul. For, in ihejtrst place, the gods and goddesses to whom the public homage was paid, instead of being pat- terns of virtue, were patterns rather of enormous vices and crimes. (23) They were considered, indeed, as superior to mortals in power, and as exempt from death, but in all things else as on a level with us. In the next, place, the ministers of this religion, neither by precept nor by ex- ample, exhorted the people to lead honest and virtuous lives, but gave them to understand, that all the homage required of them by the gods was com- prised in the observance of the traditional rites and ceremonies.(24) And, lastly, the doctrines inculcated respecting the rewards of the righteous and the punishments of the wicked in the future world, were some of them du- bious and uncertain, and others more adapted to promote vice than vir- tue. (25) Hence the wiser pagans themselves, about the time of the Sav- iour's birth, contemned and ridiculed the whole system. cap. 13 ; [and de Leg., cap. 24. Varro, cited by Augustine, de Civitate Dei, lib. iv., cap. 31. Eusebius, Praepar. Evangel., lib. ii., c. 3. Schl. See also Warlurtori's Divine legal., vol. i., lib. ii., sec. 4 ; who is confronted by J. Leland, Advantages and necessity of the Christian Rev., vol. i., ch. 8, 9, p. 151-190. C. Meiners, iiber die Mysterien der Alien ; in his Miscel. phil- os. works, vol. iii., Leipz., 1776. The Baron de Sainte Croix, Memoires pour ser- vir a 1'histoire de la religion secrete des an- ciens peuples, &c., Paris, 1784, 8vo ; and (P. J. Vogel's) Briefe uber die Myslerien, which are ihe 2d collodion of Lellers on Freemasonry, Nuremb., 1784, 12mo. Il has been maintained, lhal ihe design of at leasl some of these mysleries was to incul- cate the grand principles of natural religion, such as the unity of God, the immortality of the soul, the importance of virtue, &c., and to explain the vulgar polytheism as symbol- ical of these greal truths. Bui ihis certainly needs better proof. It is more probable lhal the later pagan philosophers, who lived after the light of Christianity had exposed Ihe abominations of polytheism, were ihe princi- pal aulhors of Ibis moral inlerprelation of the vulgar religion, which they falsely pre- tended was laughl in the mysteries, while, in reality, Ihose mysleries were probably mere supplemenls lo Ihe vulgar mylhology and worship, and of the same general char- acter and spirit. See an elaborale essay in the Quarterly Chrislian Speclalor, vol. ix., No. III., for Sept, 1837, p. 478-520, where one of the most profound Greek schol- ars of our country ably mainlains ihe fol- lowing proposilion : " thai, so far as any- thing can be known of them, ihey [the mys- teries] were nol essenlially different from the public worship of heathenism ; that their importance did nol consist in teaching exalted doctrines concerning God and the soul ; that, in truth, no secret doctrines properly per- tained to ihem ; and that, whatever high truths may have been suggested to any of the initiated, those truths were of ' private inlerprelalion,' or were sewed on lo the mysteries after ihe rise of philosophy." 2>.] (23) Ovid, de Tiistibus, lib. iL, v. 287, &c. Quis locus esl lemplis auguslior 1 haec quo- que vitet, In culpam si qua esl ingeniosa suam. Cum steterit Jovis aede : Jovis succurret in aede, Quam multas matres feceril ille Deus. Proxima adoranli Junonia lempla subibit, Pellicibus mullis hanc doluisse Deam. Pallade conspecta, nalum de crimine virgo Sustuleril quare, quaerel. Erichlhonium. [Compare Plato, de Leg., lib. i., p. 776, and de Republ., lib. ii., p. 430, &c., ed. Ficini ; Isocrates, Encom. Busiridis, Oratl., p. 462 ; and Seneca, de Vila beala, cap. 26. Sc.] (24) See J. Barbeyrac, Preface to his French translation of Puffendorf's Law of nature and nalions, vi. [Yet Ihere were some inielligenl pagans who had belter views, such as Socrates and ihe younger Pliny. The laller, in his Panegyric on Trajan, cap. 3, n. 5, says : Anima<lverto, etiam Deos ipsos, non tarn accuratis adoranlium precibus, quam innocenlia el sanclitate Ixtari ; gratioremque cxistimari, qui delubris eorum puram cas- tamque mentem, quam qui medilalum car- men intulerit. Schl.] (25) [Whal Ihe Greeks and Romans said of ihe Elysian Fields, was nol only fabulous in its very aspect, but it held out the pros- pect of voluptuous pleasures, opposed to true virtue. The more northern nations 28 BOOK I. CENTURY I. PART I. CHAP. I. 14. And hence a universal corruption of morals prevailed; and crimes, which at this day cannot be named with decency, were then practised with entire impunity. (26) Those who would see proof of this, may read Ju- venal and Perseus among the Latins, and Lucian among the Greeks ; or, if this seems too painful, let them reflect on the gladiatorial shows, the sodomy and unnatural lusts, the facility of divorce, both among Greeks and Romans, the custom of exposing infants and procuring abortions, and the stews con- secrated to the gods ; against all which the laws raised no obstructions. (27) 15. Men of but common discernment, could see the deformity of these religions ; but they were met by the crafty priests with two spurious argu- ments. First, the miracles and prodigies which were affirmed to have taken place, and still to be daily witnessed, in the temples and before the shrines of the gods ; and, secondly, the divination and oracles, by which these gods were said to have foretold future events. In regard to both, the common people were miserably imposed upon by the artifices of the priests, and the discerning saw it. (28) But the latter had to laugh with caution in order to be safe. For the priests stood ready to accuse of trea- son against the gods, before a raging and superstitious multitude, all such as exposed their religious frauds. 16. At the time chosen by the Son of God for his birth among men, the Roman religion, as well as arms, pervaded a large part of the world. To be acquainted with this religion, is nearly the same as to be acquainted with the Grecian superstition. (29) Yet there is some difference between them ; for, besides the institutions of Numa and others, invented for polit- ical ends, the Romans superadded to the Grecian fables some Italic and Tuscan fictions, and also gave the Egyptian gods a place among their deities.(30) promised a happy immortality, only to those work, The advantage and necessity of the who distinguished themselves by a martial Christian Revelation, shown from the state spirit and the slaughter of numerous foes ; of religion in the ancient heathen world ; by that is, to the enemies of mankind. And J. Leland, D.D., 2d ed. Dublin, 1765, 2 the eternal bliss which they promised to vols. 8vo. Tr ] these warriors, was only a continued indul- (28) [Schlegel here introduces a long note, gence in vile lusts. How could such hopes showing that Dr. Mosheim, till towards the excite to virtue 1 Moreover, the doctrine close of his life, did not utterly reject that of even these rewards and punishments, was common opinion of the ancients, that evil not an article of faith among the Greeks and spirits sometimes aided the pagan priests, Romans, but every one believed what he particularly in regard to their oracles. But pleased concerning it ; and, at the time of Dr. Mosheim did, we are told by his pu- Christ's birth, the followers of Epicurus pil, come at last into the opinion now gen- were numerous ; and while many denied, erally admitted, namely, that the pagan ora- most others doubted, the reality of future cles were all mere cheats, proceeding from retributions. Polybius, Hist., lib. vi., c. the craft of the priests. See Van Dale, de 54. Sallust, Bell. Catil. Schl.] Oraculis ethnicorum ; among his Diss. Am- (26) Cyprian, Epiet. i., p. 2, ed. Baluz., stel., 1696, 4to ; and Bern. Fontendle, His- describes at large the debased morals of the toire des oracles, 1687 ; with the Jesuit, J. pagans. See also Cornelii Adami Exercit. F. Baltus, Reponse a 1'histoire des oracles, de malis Romanorum ante prsedicationem &c., Strasb., 1707, 8vo ; and Suite de la Evangelii moribus, in his Exercitt. Exeget. Reponse, &c., 1708, 8vo. Tr.] Exercit. V. Grb'ning., 1712, 4to ; [and, (29) See Dumys. Halicar., Antiquitatt. what is still better authority, St. Paul to the Romanor., lib. vii., cap. 72, torn, i., p. 460, Romans, chap, i., passim. Tr.] ed. Hudson. (27) [On the subject of this and several (30) See Sam. Petitus, ad Leges Atticas, preceding sections, the reader may find sat- lib. i., tit. i., p. 71. [Lactantius, Divin*- iifactory proof in that elaborate and candid rum lustitutt., lib. i., cap. 20. Schl.'] STATE OF THE WORLD. 29 17. In the Roman provinces, new forms of paganism were gradually produced, compounded of the ancient religions of the inhabitants and that of their Roman conquerors. For these nations, who, before their subjuga- tion, had their peculiar gods and religious rites, were persuaded by de- grees to adopt many of the Roman usages. This was good policy in the Romans, whose interests were promoted by the extinction of the inhuman rites of the barbarous nations ; at the same time, the levity of those na- tions, and their desire to please their masters, favoured the object.(31) 18. The most prominent religions beyond the bounds of the Roman, empire, may be divided into two classes, the civil and the military. To the first class belong the religions of most of the Oriental nations, espe- cially of the Persians, the Egyptians, and the Indians. For whoever care- fully inspects their religions, will see that they are adapted merely to an- swer political objects ; to protect the dignity and authority of kings, to preserve the public tranquillity, and to promote the civil virtues. To the second class must be referred the religions of the northern nations. For all that was inculcated among the Germans, Britains, Celts, Goths, &c., respecting the gods and the worship due to them, was evidently suited to awaken and to cherish the military virtues, fortitude, bravery, and contempt of death. A careful examination of these religions will evince the truth of these statements. 19. No nation was so rude and barbarous, as not to contain some per- sons capable of discerning the absurdity of the popular religions. But among these men some lacked the power and authority, others the dispo- sition, and all the wisdom, necessary to produce a reformation. This could not well be better exemplified, than it actually is, by the attempts of the Greek and Roman philosophers to reform the vulgar superstitions. They advanced many tolerably correct ideas respecting the divine nature and moral duties, and they exposed, with some success, the errors of the prevailing religion ; but all was so intermixed with wild and baseless speculations, as clearly to show that it belongs to God only, and not to men, to teach the truth undebased and free from errors. 20. Among the more civilized nations at the time the Son of God ap- peared, two species of philosophy prevailed ; namely, the Grecian, which was also adopted by the Romans, and the Oriental, which had many fol- lowers in Persia, Syria, Chaldea, Egypt, and among the Jews. The for- mer was appropriately called philosophy; the latter, by such as spoke Greek, was called yvwcr^, that is, knowledge (ss. 0e) of God ; because its followers pretended to restore the lost knowledge of the supreme God. (32) The advocates of both kinds of philosophy, were split into numerous con- tending sects ; yet with this difference, that all the sects of Oriental phi- losophy set out with one and the same fundamental principle, and there- fore, were agreed in regard to many points of doctrine ; but the Greeks were not agreed about the first principles of human wisdom. Of the Ori- ental philosophy we shall give account hereafter ; of the Grecian philoso- phy and its sects notice will be taken here. (31) [Strabo, Geograph., lib. iv., p. 189, in regard to the existence and prevalence of &c. Schl.] an Oriental philosophy, going under the name (32) St. Paul mentions and disapproves of yvucrif, so early as the days of Christ and both kinds of philosophy ; namely, the Gre- his apostles. On this subject more will be cian, Colos. ii., 8, and the Oriental, or said hereafter. See cent, i., pt. ii., ch. i., yvuatf, 1 Tim. vi., 20. [Dr. Mosheim has n. 7. TV.] been censured for his confident assertions 30 BOOK I. CENTURY I. PART I. CHAP. I. 21. Some of the Grecian sects declared open war against all religion ; others admitted, indeed, the existence of God and of religion, but they ob- scured the truth rather than threw light upon it. Of the former class were the Epicureans and the Academics. The Epicureans maintained, that the world arose from chance ; that the gods (whose existence they did not dare to deny) neither did nor could extend their providential care to hu- man affairs ; that the soul was mortal ; that pleasure(33) was to be sought as man's ultimate end ; and that virtue was to be prized only for its sub- serviency to this end. The Academics denied the possibility of arriving at truth and certainty, and therefore held it uncertain whether the gods ex- isted or not ; whether the soul is mortal or survives the body ; whether virtue is preferable to vice, or the contrary.(34) At the birth of Jesus Christ, these two sects were very numerous and influential, being favoured by the men of rank and by nearly all the opulent. (35) (33) [" The ambiguity of the word pleas- ure has produced many disputes in the ex- plication of the Epicurean system. If by pleasure be understood only sensual gratifi- cations, the tenet here advanced is indispu- tably monstrous. But if it be taken in a larger sense, and be extended to intellectual and moral objects, in what does the scheme of Epicurus, with respect to virtue, differ from the opinions of those Christian philoso- phers who maintain that self-love is the only spring of all human affections and actions 1" Macl. Epicurus distinguished between corporeal pleasure and mental. But he ac- counted both sensitive, because he held the soul to be material. His conceptions of pleasure did not extend beyond natural pleas- ures ; the chief of which he supposed to be a calm and tranquil state of mind, undis- turbed by any fear of God or by any solici- tude about the future, and attended with freedom from bodily pain. His system, therefore, denied the very idea of moral or religious pleasures, and it required atheism as its foundation. See Staudliri's Geschich. d. Moralphilos., p. 236, &c. Hanov., 1822, 8vo. TV.] (34) [The Academics or Platonists be- came indeed skeptical, especially those of the Middle Academy. Some real Pyrrhon- ists likewise assumed the name of Academ- ics. Still it is probable the great body of Academics, like Cicero, who is accounted one of them, merely held that all human knowledge is imperfect, that is, falls short of certainty ; that, of course, we are obliged in all cases to act upon probabilities, of which there are different degrees. 7V.] (35) The Epicureans were the most nu- merous of the two. See Cicero, de Finibus honor, et malor., lib. i., cap. 7, lib. ii., cap. 14, and Disput. Tuscul., lib. v., cap. 10. Hence Juvenal, Satyr, xiii., v. 86, &c., thus complains of the many atheists at Rome : Sunt in fortunae qui casibus omuia ponant, Et nullo credant mundum rectore moveri, Natura volvente vices et lucis et anni : Atque ideo intrepidi quaecunque altaria tan- gunt. [Dr. Mosheim, in these sections, is giving the dark side of pagan philosophy. Like his other translators, therefore, I would aim so to soften his pictures, that the less in- formed reader may not be misled. This, I am persuaded, Dr. Mosheim would himself approve, as may be inferred from the follow- ing long note, inserted apparently for such a purpose in the parallel passage of his Comment, de Reb. Christ, ante Constant., p. 17, 18. "I cannot agree with those who maintain, that every one of the philosophers of those times, even such as discoursed well on religious subjects, was hostile to all re- ligion. I think those learned moderns have gone too far, who have endeavoured to prove that every sect of the philosophers, either openly or covertly, aimed to rip up the foun- dations of all religion. Are we to believe that not one of the many great and worthy men of those times, however free from ill intentions, was so fortunate as to make a proper use of his reason 1 Must all those who professed theism, and spoke sublimely of the divine perfections, be regarded as impostors, who said one thing and meant another 1 Yet the celebrated and acute W. Warburton, to mention no others, lately ex- pended much ingenuity and learning to bring' us to such conclusions. See his very elab- orate and noted work, entitled The divine Legation, &c., vol. i., p. 332, &c., and p. 419, &c. He would have us think, that all the philosophers who taught the immortality of the soul, secretly denied it ; that they held Nature to be the only Deity, and human souls to be particles severed from the soul of the world, to which they return at the death of the body. But not to mention that he cites only Grecian philosophers, while other nations had their philosophers also dif- STATE OF THE WORLD. 31 22. To the second class belong the Aristotelians, the Stoics, and the Pla- tonics: none of whom spoke of God, religion, and moral duties, in a man- ner to be of much service to mankind. The god of Aristotle, is like the principle of motion in a machine. He is a being regardless of human af- fairs, and happy in his own contemplations. Such a god, differing but lit- tle from the god of Epicurus, we have no reason either to love or to fear. Whether this philosopher held the soul to be mortal or immortal, is at least doubtful. (36) Now what solid and sound precepts of virtue and piety can that man give, who denies the providence of God, and not obscurely inti- mates that the soul is mortal ? 23. The god of the Stoics has a little more of majesty ; nor does he sit musing supinely, above the heavens and the stars. Yet he is described as a corporeal being, united to matter by a necessary connexion ; and, moreover, as subject to fate : so that he can bestow neither rewards nor punishments. (37) That this sect held to the extinction of the soul, at death, is allowed by all the learned. Now such doctrines take away the strongest motives to virtue. And accordingly, the moral system of the Stoics is a body that is fair and beautiful, but without sinews and active limbs. (38) 24. Plato seems to have exceeded all the other philosophers in wisdom. For he held the world to be governed by an independent, powerful, and in- telligent God ; and he taught men, what to fear and what to hope for, after death. Yet his doctrines not only rest on very slender foundations, and are exceedingly obscure, but they represent the supreme Creator as des- titute of several perfections,(39) and as limited to a certain place. His fering widely from the Grecian, the renowned plan all wise and perfect, and from which, of author depends not on plain and explicit tes- consequence, the supreme Being, morally timony, which seems necessary to justify so speaking, can never depart. So that when heavy a charge, but merely on conjectures, Jupiter is said by the Stoics to be subject on single examples, and on inferences from to immutable fate, this means no more than the doctrines held by certain philosophers, that he is subject to the wisdom of hia own If this kind of proof be allowed, if single in- counsels, and acts ever in conformity with stances and inferences are sufficient to con- his supreme perfections. The following re- vict men of duplicity when no shadow of markable passage of Seneca, drawn from the suspicion appears in their language, who fifth chapter of his book de Providentia, is will be found innocent 1 Though but an sufficient to confirm the explication we have ordinary man, and far inferior to Warburton, here given of the Stoical fate. Ille ipse yet I could prove that all the theologians in omnium conditor et rector, scripsit quidem Christendom disbelieve utterly what they fata, sed sequitur. Semper paret, semel teach in public ; and that they covertly aim jussit." Mad. This fine apology will not to instil the poison of impiety into men's bear a strict scrutiny. The Stoics them- minds ; if I might be allowed to assail them selves differed in opinion, and they generally in the manner this learned writer assails the had indistinct notions. But most of them philosophers." TV.] held fate to be rather a physical than a moral (36) See the notes on my Latin transla- necessity ; though some of them, at times, tion of R. CvdicorlK's Intellectual System, confounded it with Jove, nature, or a pan- torn i., p. 66, 500 ; torn, ii., p. 1171 ; and theistic god, as Seneca does in the passage Mich. Mourgues, Plan theologiquc du Fyth- quoted. 7V.] agorismc, torn, i., p. 75, &c. (38) These remarks receive some illus- (37) [" Thus is the Stoical doctrine of tration from my note on Cudworth's Intel. fate generally represented, but not more gen- Syst., torn, i., p. 517. erally than unjustly. Their fatum, when (39) [He ascribed to God neither omnip- carefully and attentively examined, seems to otence, nor omnipresence, nor omniscience, have signified no more, in the intention of the Schl. But Dr. Maclaine here enters his wisest of that sect, than the plan of govern- dissent. He says, " All the divine pt-rfrc- ment formed originally in the divine mind, a tions are frequently acknowledged In that 32 BOOK I. CENTURY I. PART I. CHAP. I. doctrine concerning demons and the human soul, is singularly adapted to produce and encourage superstition. (40) Nor will his system of morals command very high estimation, if we examine it in all its parts, and in- quire into its first principles. (41) 25. As all these sects held many things inconsistent with sound rea- son, and were addicted to never-ending contentions and debates, some moderate and well-disposed men concluded to follow none of them impli- citly, but to glean from all whatever was good and consonant to reason, and reject the rest. Hence originated in Egypt, and particularly at Alexandria, a new mode of philosophizing called the eclectic. One Potamon, of Alex- andria, has been represented as its author; but the subject has its difficul- ties. (42) That this sect flourished at Alexandria in the age of our Saviour, is manifest from the Jewish Philo, who philosophized according to its prin- ciples. (43) These Eclectics held Plato in the highest estimation ; but they unscrupulously modified his doctrines by incorporating what they pleased from the other philosophers. (44) 26. It will be easy to see, what inference should be drawn from this account of the lamentable state of the world at the time of Christ's birth. It may serve to teach us, that the human race was then wholly corrupt, and that a divine teacher was needed to instruct mankind in the true prin- ciples of religion and morality, and to recall the wanderers into the paths philosopher." I wish he had given proof of this assertion, if he was able to make it good. TV.] (40) [He believed, that God employs good and evil demons in the government of the world, and that men can have commerce with these demons. A person believing this, may easily be led to regard idolatry as not very irrational. Schl.] (41) The defects of the Platonic philoso- phy are copiously, but not very accurately, depicted by Fran. Baltus, in a French work, Defense des peres accuses de Platonisme ; Paris, 1711, 4to. [Plato has, moreover, been accused of Spinozism. For Bayle (Continuation des pensees diverses sur la Comete, &c., cap. 25) and Gundling (in Otiis, fasc. 2, and in Gundlingianis, th. 43 and 44) tax him with confounding God with matter. But Zimrnermann (Opusc., torn, i., p. 762, &c.) and the elder Schelhorn ( Amoe- nitatt. literar., torn, ix., xii., and xiii.) have defended the character of Plato. ScA/.] (42) [J. Brucker, Historia crit. philos., torn, ii., p. 193, has shown, that in regard to the controversies maintained by Heumann, Hasaeus and others, respecting this nearly unknown Potamon, the probability is, that he lived about the close of the second century ; that his speculations had little effect ; and that Ammonius is to be regarded as the founder of the Eclectic sect. Yet this will not forbid our believing, what Brucker him- self admits, that there were some Grecian philosophers as early as the times of Christ, who speculated very much as the Eclectics afterward did, though the few followers they had did not merit the title of a sect. Schl.~] (43) [For he philosophized in the manner of Clemens Alex., Ongen, and the other Christian doctors, who were certainly Eclec- tics. For 'the most part he follows Plato, and hence many account him a pure Platon- ist. But he often commends the Stoics, Pythagoreans, and others, and adopts their opinions. ScA/.] (44) See Godfr. Olearius, de Philosophia Eclectica, James Brucker, and others. [On the philosophy, as well as the vulgar poly- theism of the ancient pagans, the best work for the mere English reader, seems to be that already mentioned, J. Ldand's Advan- tage and necessity of the Christian revela- tion, shown from the state of religion in the ancient heathen world, second ed , 1765, 2 vols. 8vo. The history of philosophy among the ancients has not been critically and ably written in English, nor by Englishmen. Stanley's lives, &c., 1655, 4to, is full of mistakes ; and Enficld's abridgment of Brucker, is quite superficial. The best gen- eral works are J. Brvcker's Historia critica philosophise, Lips., 1741-67, 6 vols. 4to, and the more recent German works by Tiede- mann (6 vols. 8vo, 1791-97), Buhle (7 vols. 8vo, 1796-1804), Tennemann (12 vols. 8vo, 1798-1820), and Rimier, 3 vols. 8vo, 1822. The history of moral philoso- phy or ethics, is well treated by Cp. Meinen (krit. Geschichte, 2 vols. 8vo, 1800-1) and C. F. Staudlin, Gesch. der Moralphiloso- phie, 1822, p. 1055, 8vo. Tr.] STATE OF THE JEWS. 33 of virtue and piety. And it may teach those who before were ignorant of it, how great advantages and supports, in all the circumstances of life, the human family have derived from the advent of Christ, and from the religion which he taught. Many despise and ridicule the Christian religion, not knowing that to it they are indebted for all the blessings they enjoy. CHAPTER II. THE CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS STATE OF THE JEWS AT THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. $ I. Herod the Great then reigned. 2. State of the Jews after his Death. 3. Their Troubles and Calamities, 4. which were increased by their leading Men. 5. Their Religion greatly corrupted, both among the Common People 6. and among their Teachers, who were divided into three Sects. 6 7. Their Dissensions. 8. Their Toleration of each other. 9. The Essenes. 10. The Therapeutae. 11. Moral Doctrines of these Sects. 12. Low State of Religion among the People. $ 13. The Kabbala, a Source of Error. 1} 14. Their Form of Worship, debased by Pagan Rites. 9 15. Causes of the Corruption of the Nation. 16. Yet Religion not wholly ex- tinct. 17. The Samaritans. 18. State of the Jews out of Palestine. 1. THE state of the Jewish people, among whom the Saviour chose to be born, was little better than that of other nations. Herod, whose crimes procured him the title of the Great, then governed, or, rather, op- pressed the nation, being a tributary king under the Romans. He drew on himself universal hatred by his cruelties, jealousies, and wars ; and he ex- hausted the wealth of the unhappy nation by his mad luxury, his excessive magnificence, and his immoderate largesses. Under his administration Roman luxury and great licentiousness spread over Palestine.(l) In re- ligion he was professedly a Jew, but he copied the manners of those who despise all religion. 2. On the death of this tyrant, the Romans allowed Archelaus, his son, with the title of Exarch, to reign over half of Palestine [viz., Judea, Samaria, and Idumea] ; the other half was divided between two other sons of Herod, Antipas and Philip. Archelaus copied after the vices of his father ; and therefore, in the tenth year of his reign, he was publicly accused before Augustus and deprived of his crown. (2) The countries he had governed were now reduced to the form of a Roman province, and were annexed to Syria. This change in the form of government, brought heavy troubles and calamities upon the Jews, and at last destroyed the nation. 3. The Romans did not, indeed, wholly prohibit the Jews from retain- ing their national laws, and the religion established by Moses. Their re- ligious affairs were still conducted by a high priest, with priests and Le- (1) See Christ. Noldii, Historia Idumaea, larius, Historia Herodum, inhisDiss. Acad., in Havercamp's edit, of Josephus, torn, ii., p. part, i., and especially the Jewish histori- 333, &c. Ja. Basnage, Histoire des Juifs, an, Flavins Josephus, in his Wars of the torn, i., part i., p. 27, &c. H. Noris, Cosn- Jews. otaph. Pisan., ii., 6. H. Prideaux, Con- (2) [Josephus, Antiq. Jud., lib. rvii., cap. nexions, &c., part, ii., lib. viii. Chr. Cel- 13, and de Bello Jud., lib. ii., cap. 6. Schl.] VOL. I. E 34 BOOK I. CENTURY I. PART L CHAP. II. vites under him, and by their national senate or Sanhedrim. The exte- rior of their worship, with a few exceptions, remained unaltered. But the amount of evil brought upon this miserable people, by the presence of the Romans among them, whom they viewed as polluted and detestable, by the cruelty and avarice of the governors, and by the frauds and rapacity of the publicans, is almost incalculable. Unquestionably, those Jews lived more comfortably who were subject to the other two sons of Herod. 4. But the measure of liberty and comfort allowed to the Jews by the Romans, was wholly dissipated by the profligacy and crimes of those who pretended to be patriots and guardians of the nation. Their principal men, their high priests, as we learn from Josephus, were abandoned wretches, who had purchased their places by bribes or by deeds of in- iquity, and who maintained their ill-acquired authority by every species of flagitious acts. The other priests, and all who held any considerable of- fice, were not much better. The^ multitude, excited by such examples, ran headlong into every sort of iniquity, and by their unceasing robberies and seditions they armed against themselves both the justice of God and the vengeance of men. (3) 5. Two religions then flourished in Palestine, viz., the Jewish and the Samaritan; between the followers of which a deadly hatred pre- vailed. The nature of the former is set forth in the Old Testament. But in the age of the Saviour, it had lost much of its primitive form and char- acter. The people universally were infected with certain prevalent and pernicious errors, and the more learned were at variance on points of the greatest moment. All looked for a deliverer ; not, however, such a one as God had promised, but a powerful warrior and a vindicator of their national liberties. (4) All placed the sum of religion in an observance of the Mo- saic ritual, and in certain external duties towards their own countrymen. All excluded the rest of mankind from the hope of salvation, and, of course, whenever they dared, treated them with hatred and inhumanity. (5) To these fruitful sources of vice, must be added various absurd and supersti- tious opinions concerning the Divine nature, genii, magic, &c., which they had partly brought with them from the Babylonian captivity, and partly imbibed from the neighbouring Egyptians, Syrians, and Arabians. (6) 6. The learned, who pretended to a superior knowledge of the law and of theology, were divided into various sects and parties,(7) among (3) [See Josephus, de Bello Jud., lib. v., (6) [See Th. Gale, Observv. ad Jambli- cap. 13, 6, and Basnage, Histoire des chum, de Myster. Aegypt., p. 206, and G. Juifs, torn, i., cap. 16. Schl.'] Sale, Preface to his Eng. transl. of the Ko- (4) [This is proved by J. Basnage, Hist, ran, p. 72. Even Josephus, Antiq. Jud., drs.luifs, torn, v., cap. 10. That not only the lib. iii., c. 7, 2, admits that the Jewish Pharisees, but all Jews of whatever sect, religion was corrupted among the Babyloni- both in and out of Palestine, were expecting ans. Schl.} a Messiah, is shown by Dr. Mosheim, in his (7) Besides these three more noted sects, Commentt. de Reb. Christ., &c., p. 40, there were, undoubtedly, others among the from the following texts, John i., 20-25 ; x., Jews in the time of Christ. The Herodians 24, &c. ; xii., 34. Matt, ii., 4-6 ; xxi., 9 ; are mentioned in the sacred volume, the xxvi., 63, &c. Schl.~\ G'aulonites by Josephus, and other sects by (5) [Hence other nations, not without rea- Epiphanius, and by Hegesippus in Eusebi- son, regarded the Jews as enemies of man- us ; all of which cannot be supposed to be kind. See the examples collected by J. mere fictions. [Dr. Mosheim's additional Eisner, Observatt. Sacr. in N. T., torn, ii., remarks on this subject, in his Commentt. p. 274. Schl.] de Reb. Chr. ante C. M., p. 43-45, well de- STATE OF THE JEWS. 35 which three were most numerous and influential ; namely, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes. The two first are often mentioned in the Scriptures : but for a knowledge of the Essenes we are indebted to Josephus, serve insertion here. They are as follows. " To vindicate my assertion, that Epiphani- ' account of the Jewish sects, in the begin- ning of his book de Haresibus, is not, prob- ably, altogether untrue, I will offer a con- jecture, which, the more I consider it, the more important it appears. I propose it for the consideration of the learned. It may, perhaps, serve to remove some obscurities from ancient ecclesiastical history. Epipha- nius states, that there was among the Jews a sect of Hemerobaptists, who had this pecu- liarity, that they washed themselves daily. The same sect is mentioned by an ancient writer, Hegesippus, quoted by Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., lib. iv., cap. 22, and by Jus- tin Martyr, Dial, cum Tryph., p. 245, ed. Jebb., though the latter abridges the name, calling them Baptists. Nor is this sect omitted in the Index of Heresies falsely as- cribed to Jerome. The author of the Clem- entina, homil. ii., c. 23, says, the founder of the sect was named John, and had twelve apostles and thirty chief men to aid him. The same account occurs in the Epitome gestorum Petri, 26, which is subjoined to the Clementina. Either no credit is due to any ancient history, or these numerous and very ancient witnesses, who cannot be sus- pected of fraud or ignorance, must be be- lieved when they assert that there was a sect among the Jews called Hemerobaptists. Epiphamus' whole story, therefore, is not to be accounted fabulous. " The descendants of these Hemerobap- tists, I suspect, are still existing. The learn- ed well know, that there is in Persia and In- dia, a numerous and widespread community, who call themselves Mendai Ijahi, Disci- ples of John. The Europeans call them Christians of St. John, because they have some slight knowledge of Christ. By the Oriental writers they are called Sabbi or Sabbiin. Concerning them, Ignatius a Jesu, a Carmelite monk who lived long among them, has written a book, entitled Narratio originis, rituum et errorum Christianorum S. Johannis, &c. Rome, 1652, 8vo. It is no contemptible performance, and contains many things deserving attention, though it is ill digested and unpolished in its style. Besides this Ignatius, Bart. Herbdot (in Biblioth. Orient, voce Sabi), Asseman (Bib- lioth. Orient. Clement. Vat.), Thcvenot and Tavernier (in their Travels), Engelb. Kaemp- fer (Amcenitatt. e.xot., fasc. ii., cap. 11), and very recently, Fourmont (Hist, of Paris. Acad. of Inscriptions), aud others, havo written largely concerning this people. Tk. Sig. Bayer proposed writing a book respect- ing them, which, perhaps, was unfinished at his death. The origin and true character of this sect are still unsettled. That they can- not be classed among Christians, is now clear. For what they know of Christ they have learned from the Chaldean Christians, among whom many of them live ; nor do they worship or honour Christ. Most of the moderns incline to regard them as de- scended from those Sabians, who are so often mentioned in the Koran of Mohammed, and by Maimonides. But their customs and their doctrines are wholly different from those attributed to the Sabians ; and from their being called Sabians by the Mohammedans, nothing can be inferred, because it is well known that the Arabians apply this name to all who 'reject their religion. " I am inclined to look upon these Chris- tians of St. John, as descendants of those Hemerobaptists who were a Jewish sect about the time of Christ. For this opinion I offer the following arguments : First, they profess to be Jews ; and say, their ancestors lived on the banks of the Jordan, whence they were driven by the Mohammedans. This argument I consider as overthrowing the hypothesis which makes them to be Sa- bians. Secondly, they place their depend- ance for pardon and salvation on their fre- quent bodily ablutions ; which was also the distinguishing error of the Hemerobaptists. At this day the Disciples of John, as they call themselves, are solemnly baptized by their priests but once a year ; whereas the Hemerobaptists daily purified themselves with water. But it is a fixed principle with them all to this day, that, the oftener they baptize, the holier and more happy they are ; and they therefore would all receive baptism every month, nay, every day, if they could. The avarice of their priests, who will not baptize them without a fee, has rendered the repetition of the nte less frequent. Thirdly, the founder of this sect, like that of the He- mcrobaplists, was named John ; and he has left a book, which is preserved with rever- ence as being divine. It is commonly sup- posed, that this John was John the Baptist, Christ's forerunner mentioned in the Scrip- tures. Hence many conclude, that the Sa- bians are descended from the disciples of John the Baptist. So thought Ignatius a Jesu ; Narratio de Chr. St. Johan, &c., cap. ii., p. 13, &c. But what this sect relate of their John, as stated by Ignatius himself, 36 BOOK I. CENTURY I. PART I. CHAP. II. Philo, and others. These principal sects agreed, indeed, respecting the fundamental principles of the Jewish religion ; and yet, respecting ques- tions of the highest importance, and such as relate to the salvation of the soul, they were engaged in endless contentions. The pernicious effects of these dissensions of the learned on the common people may be easily conceived. 7. They disagreed, first respecting the law itself, or the rule which God had given them. The Pharisees superadded to the written law an oral or unwritten law, handed down by tradition, which both the Sadducees and the Essenes rejected, adhering only to the written law. They differed also respecting the import of the law. For the Pharisees held to a double sense of the Scriptures, the one obvious and literal, the other recondite and figurative, while the Sadducees held only to the literal sense of the Bible. Many of the Essenes, dissenting from both, maintained that the words of the law are of no authority, but that the things expressed by them are im- agery, indicative of sacred and divine things. To these contests concern- ing the law, were added others on subjects of the highest moment, and par- ticularly respecting the punishments and rewards announced in the law. The Pharisees supposed them to affect both the body and the soul, and to extend beyond the present life, while the Sadducees held to no future ret- ributions. The Essenes took a middle course, admitting future rewards and punishments, but confining them to the soul. The body they held to be a malignant substance, and the temporary prison of the soul. (8) 8. Notwithstanding these sects contended about points of such vast moment, it does not appear that they resorted to religious persecution of each other. Yet this forbearance and moderation, no one acquainted with clearly show him to be diverse from the Bap- ciet. reg. scient, Getting., 1780. The most list. For they deny, that their John suffered probable conclusion is, that these people are death under Herod ; they say, he died a nat- not to be classed among either Jews, Chris- ural death in a town of Persia, called Scius- tians, or Mohammedans ; but are of uncer- ter, and was buried in the adjacent fields of tain origin, and have a religion of their own, that town. They state also, that he had a compounded of Judaism, Christianity, Par- wife and four children. Only a few of the sism, and Islamism. For a list of the wri- things they relate of their John, accord with ters who treat of them, see Nossell's An- what our Scriptures relate of John the Bap- weisung, &c., 474, and Stdudlin's kirchl. tist ; and these few things, like what they Geographie, vol. ii.. p. 705. See also A. also say of Christ, they doubtless learned Neander, Kirchengesch., b. i., abt. ii., 646, from those Christians with whom they asso- note 2 ; and Gieseler's Text-book of Eccl. ciated to avoid the oppressions of the Mo- Hist., translated by Cunningham, Boston, hammedans; and finding these things not 1836, vol. i., p. 40, note 4; and the Art. inconsistent with their faith, and being un- Safer, in the Conversations-Lexicon. Tr.} able, from their extreme ignorance, to refute (8) [For an account of the three Jewish them, they embraced and still retain them, sects, see Ja. Tngland, Syntagma Trium "What degree of weight this supposition of Scriptorum illustrium (viz., Jo. Scahgcr, mine deserves, will better appear when the Joh. Drusius, and Nicol. Serarius), de Ju- sacred books of this people, and especially the deorum Sectis. Delft, 1702, 2 vols. 4to. book said to be written by their founder John, After these, Ja. Basnage and Hum. Pri' shall be published. These were, a few years dcdux (in their Jewish histories), the authors since, introduced into the king's library at of Introductions to the books of the N. Test. Paris ; so that we may hope the learned will (and of works on Jewish Antiquities), and sooner or later have access to them." These many others, have described these sects, sacred books of the Sabians of Hedshar in some more and some less successfully. Mo- Persia, have been examined with consider- shcim, de Reb. Christianor. ante C. M., p. able care ; see, among others, M. Norberg, 46. See also Jost's Algem. Gesch. p. Is- de religione et ling. Sabaeorum, in Com. So- rael. Volkes, vol. i., p. 517, &c; Tr.} STATE OF THE JEWS. 37 the history of those times will ascribe to noble and generous principles. The Sadducees were supported by the leading men of the nation, and the Pharisees by the common people, and, of course, neither sect could rise up in hostility against the other without the most imminent hazard. Be- sides, on the least appearance of tumult or sedition, the Romans would doubtless have punished the ringleaders with severity. We may add that the Sadducees were of accommodating, gentlemanly manners, and, from the principles of their sect, were averse from all broils and altercations.(9) 9. The Essenes could more easily avoid contention with the other sects, because they lived, for the most part, in retired places, and remote from intercourse with mankind. They were scattered over Syria, Egypt, and the neighbouring countries ; and, holding religion to consist in silence and meditation, they endeavoured, by a strict mode of life, and by various observances, borrowed probably from the Egyptians, (10) to raise themselves to higher degrees of virtue. They were not all, however, of the same sen- timents. Some lived in celibacy, and made it their care to instruct and educate the children of others. Others married wives ; not to gratify their natural propensities, but solely to propagate the human race.(ll) Those living in Syria held that God may be propitiated by sacrifices, yet they believed that they must be offered in a manner very different from the common mode among the Jews : hence it appears that they did not reject the literal sense of the Mosaic law. But those who inhabited the deserts of Egypt maintained that no sacrifice should be presented to God, except that of a composed mind, absorbed in the contemplation of divine things ; which shows that they put an allegorical sense upon the whole Jewish law. (12) 10. The Therapeutas, of whom Philo wrote a whole book, (13) are commonly reckoned a branch of the Essene family ; whence the well- known distinction of practical and theoretical Essenes. But whether this classification is correct, may be doubted. For nothing is discoverable in the customs or institutions of the Therapeutae which evinces abso- lutely that they were a branch of the Essenes ; nor has Philo so repre- sented them. Who can deny, that other fanatical Jews besides Essenes may have united together and formed a society ? But I agree entirely with those who regard the Therapeutae as being Jews who claimed to be true disciples of Moses, and as being neither Christians nor Egyptians. In reality, they were wild and melancholy enthusiasts, who led a life in- congruous alike with the law of Moses and with sober reason. (14) (9) [See Commentt. de Reb. Chr. ante C. Essay, de Vera notione coenae Domini, p. 4, M., p. 48, where Dr. M. proves from Jose- subjoined to his Intellectual System.] phus (Antiq. Jud., 1. xviii., c. 1, and 1. xiii., (13) Philo, de Vita contemplativa, in his c. 10) that the Sadducees were all men of works, p. 889. wealth ; and (from his Bell. Jud.. 1. ii., c. 8) (14) The principal writers concerning the that they had little sympathy for others. Dr. Therapeutae are mentioned by J. A. Fabri- M. thinks he finds the picture of a Sadducee cius, Lux Salutar. Evang. toti orbi esor, in the rich man described in Luke xvi., 19. cap. iv., p. 55. [The more ample account of ScAJ.] the Therapeutae, given by Dr. Mosheim in (10) See Lu. Holstenius, Notes on For- his Commentt. deKeb. Chr., &c., p. 55, &c., phyry, de Vita Pythagoras, p. 1 1, ed. Kuster. is thus abridged by Schlegel. " The Thera- (11) [See Josephus, de Bello Jud., lib. ii., peutas wished to pass for disciples of Moses, c. 8, $ 13. Schl.] notwithstanding their wide departure from (12) [See Mosheim's note on CudwortK's him. They gave up all their property, and 38 BOOK I. CENTURY I. PART I. CHAP. II. 11. It was not possible that any one of these sects should inculcate and diffuse the true principles of virtue and piety. The Pharisees, as our Saviour often laid to their charge, disregarded internal purity ; and by a vain ostentation and an austere life, sought for popular applause ; and also ascribed more authority to their vain traditions, than to the holy com- mandments of God, Matt, xxiii., 13, &c. The Sadducees gave a stimu- lus to iniquity, and to every lust, by discarding all future rewards and punishments. The Essenes, a fanatic and superstitious tribe, made piety to consist in a holy indolence and a dislike of mankind ; and thus they sundered the ties of society. 12. When those who assumed the name and the prerogatives of the wise were involved in such darkness and such altercations, who can doubt that the religion and piety of the common people were in a low and debased state ? They were sunk in deplorable ignorance of divine things, and they supposed that they rendered themselves acceptable to God by their attention to sacrifices, ablutions, and the other ceremonies prescribed by Moses. From this twofold source [the ignorance of the people and the blindness of their leaders] flowed those polluted morals and that profligate life which characterized the greater part of the Jews while Christ was among them. (15) Hence our Saviour compared the people to wandering sheep, who had no shepherd, Matt, x., 6 ; xv., 24 ; and their teachers to blind men, who attempt to show others the way when they cannot see it themselves, Matt, xv., 14 ; John ix., 39. betook themselves to retired situations, where they lived in solitary huts, without sacrifices, without any external worship, and without labour ; mortifying l&eir bodies by fasting and their souls by unceasing contem- plation, in order to bring their heaven-born spirits, now imprisoned in bodies, into light and liberty, and fit them better for the celes- tial mansions after death. They assembled together every seventh day of the week, when, after hearing a discourse and offering prayers, they ate together, feeding on salt, and bread, and water. This meal was fol- lowed by a sacred dance, which they pro- tracted through the night and till the dawn of day. At first the men and women danced apart ; afterward, guided by inspiration, they danced together, and laboured by violent movements, outcries, songs, and voices, to express the love of God then working in their souls. Into such follies can human reason fall when it has mistaken notions of God and of human nature. It is still debated whether these Therapeutae were Christians, or Jews, or heathen philosophers. Eusebius (Hist. Eccles., 1. ii., c. 17) regarded them as Christian monks, established in Egypt by St. Mark ; and many R.omish writers, to support the high antiquity of monkery, zealously de- fend this opinion. The whole of this con- troversy may be seen in the Lettres pour et centre la fameuse question, si les solitaires appelles Therapeutes, dont a parle Philon le Juif, etoient Chretiens. Paris, 1712, 12mo. The chief advocates of this opinion are B. de Montfaucon, in the Notes to his Fr. trans- lation of Philo, and M. le Quien, Christianus Oriens, torn, ii., p. 332. On the other hand, Scaligcr, Ckamier, Lightfoot, Daille, the two Basnages, Prideaux, Ittig, Buddeus, Mosheim, Baumgarten, and recently J. A. Orsi (His. Eccles., vol. i., p. 77) and Mangey (Preface to Philo's Works) have maintained that they were Jews, and of the sect of Es- senes. J. J. Lange, in a Dissert., published in 1721, maintained, upon very slender grounds, that they were Oriental philoso- phers, of melancholy temperament, who had imbibed some Jewish notions. And Ja- blonsky, in an Essay on the subject, makes them to be Egyptian priests, addicted to as- trology and other sacred sciences of the Egyptians." Dr. Mosheim pertinently ob- serves (Com. de Reb., &c., p. 50), " The Christian monks, who evidently originated in Egypt, borrowed their peculiarities from the practical Essenes ; for nothing can be more similar than the rules and regulations of the ancient monks and those of the Es- senes, as described by Joscphus. On the other hand, the Christian solitaries, called Eremites, copied after the theoretical Es- senes, or Thcrapeuta." TV.] (15) [A striking passage relative to the vicious lives of the Jews, in our Saviour's time, occurs in Josephus, Bell. Jud., lib. v., c. 13, $ 6. Schl.] STATE OF THE JEWS. 39 13. To all these stains on the character of the Jews in the time of Christ's advent, must be added the attachment of many to the Oriental philosophy, in regard to the origin of the world, and to the indubitable offspring of that philosophy, the Kabbala. That many Jews were infected with this sys- tem is placed beyond all doubt, both by the sacred books of the New Tes- tament and by the early history of the Christian church.(16) It is certain that the founders of several of the Gnostic sects were Jews. And the followers of such systems of philosophy must have differed widely from the other Jews, in their views of the God of the Old Testament, and in their views of Moses, of the creation, and of the Messiah. For they held the world's creator to be a different being from the supreme God, and that his domination over the human race was to be destroyed by the Messiah. From such opinions would originate a monstrous system, widely different from the genuine religion of the Jews. 14. The outward forms of worship established by Moses were less corrupted than the other parts of religion. Yet men of the greatest learn- ing have observed that various rites were introduced into the temple itself, which we search for in vain in the divine ritual. It appears that the Jews, on becoming acquainted with the sacred rites of the neighbouring nations, and with those of the Greeks and Romans, were so captivated with a number of the ceremonies practised in idol worship, that they did not hes- itate to adopt them, and to superadd them as ornamental to the rites of God's appointment.(17.) 15. For this great corruption of a nation, which God had selected for his peculiar people, various causes may be assigned. In the first place, their fathers had brought back with them from Chaldea and the adjacent countries, and had introduced into Palestine, many foolish and vain opin- ions wholly unknown to the founders of the nation. (18) And from the time of the conquest of Asia by Alexander the Great the customs and dogmas of the Greeks were disseminated among the Persians, the Syrians, the Arabians, and likewise among the Jews, who before were rude in let- ters and philosophy. (19) The excursions, also, which many Jews were accustomed to make into the neighbouring countries, especially into Egypt and Phoenicia, in pursuit of wealth, caused various errors and fancies of the pagan nations to spread among the Hebrews. And lastly, Herod the Great and his sons, and likewise the Roman procurators and soldiers, undoubt- edly planted in the country many foreign institutions and pollutions. Oth- er causes will readily occur to those acquainted with the Jewish history after the times of the Maccabees. 16. But, notwithstanding their numerous faults, the people generally manifested the strongest attachment to the law of Moses, and were very careful of its honour and authority. Hence they erected throughout the country houses of worship, with the Greek appellation of Synagogues ; in which the people assembled for prayer, and to listen to the public ex- pounders of the law. Schools also were established in the principal (16) See J. C. Wolf, Biblioth. Ebraica, (18) See Tho. Gale, on Jambhchits de vol. ii., 1. vii., c. i., 9, p. 206. mysteriis Aegyptiorum, p. 206. Nor docs (17) See John Spencer, de Legibus ritual. Josephus conceal this fact, Antiq. Jud.. 1. veter. Ebrfflorum, torn, ii., lib. iv., where iii., c. 7, 2. he treats particularly of Jewish rites bor- (19) [Le Clerc, Epist. crit. ix., p. 250. rowed from the Gentiles and not to be found Schl.] in the law of God. 40 BOOK I. CENTURY I. PART I. CHAP. II. towns, where literary men instructed the youth in both divine and human knowledge. (20) That these institutions had considerable influence to preserve the law inviolate, and to check in some degree the progress of wickedness, no one can hesitate to believe. 17. The Samaritans, who worshipped on Mount Gerizim, and who lived in virulent hostility with their neighbours the Jews, were equally op- pressed, and were, in an equal degree, the authors of their own calamities. It appears, from the history of those times, that the Samaritans suffered as much as the Jews from the machinations of factious and unprincipled men ; although they had, perhaps, not so many religious sects. That their re- ligion was less pure than the Jewish, Christ himself has testified, John iv., 22. And yet they seem to have had more correct views of the offices of the Messiah than the mass of the Jews had, John iv., 25. Though we are not to believe all that the Jews have said respecting their opinions, yet it is undeniable, that the Samaritans adulterated the pure doctrines of the Old Testament with profane mixtures of pagan errors. (21) 18. The narrow limits of Palestine could not contain the very numer- ous nation of the Jews. Hence, when our Saviour was born, there was almost no considerable province which did not contain a large number of Jews, who employed themselves in traffic and the mechanic arts. These Jews, in the countries beyond Palestine, were protected against the vio- lence and abuse of the inhabitants by the public laws, and by the injunctions of the magistrates. (22) Yet they were in most places exceedingly odious to the mass of people, on account of their singularity as to religion and customs. The special providence of God is undoubtedly to be recognised in the dispersion of this people (who were the depositaries of the true re- ligion, that which inculcates the worship of the one God) over nearly the whole world, so that their example might put superstition to shame, and in some measure prepare the way for the Christian religion. (20) See Camp. Vitringa, de Synagoga ten, Geschichte der Religionspart., p. 274, Vetere, 1. iii., c. v., and 1. i., c. v., vii. &c. Schl.'] [Prideaux, Connexions, &c., pt. i., b. vi., (22) See Ja. Gronovius, Decreta Romana anno 445. TV.] et Asiatica pro Judasis, ad cultum divinum (21) The principal writers concerning the perAsiae Minoris urbes secure obeundum. Samaritans are enumerated by J. G. Carp- Lugd. Bat., 1712, 8vo. [For a candid and zov, Critica Sacra Vet. Test., pt. ii., cap. vi., faithful account of the state of the Jews, both p. 595. [The most valuable are Chr. Cel- in Palestine and out of it, the English reader larius, Hist, gentis Samarit., in his Diss. is referred to Lardner's Credibility of the Acad., p. 109, &c. John Morin, Antiq. ec- Gospel History, pt. i., vol. i., ch. ii.-vi. See cles. orient. Ja. Basnage, Histoire des Ju- also J. M. JosCs Algem. Gesch. des Isra- ifs, torn, ii., lib. ii., c. 1-13. H. Reland, elit. Volke., b. viii., vol. ii., p. 1, &c., Ber- de Samaritanis, in his Diss. Miscell., pt. ii., lin, 1832. TV.] (H. Prideaux, Connexions), and Baumgar- LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST. 41 CHAPTER III. THE LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST. $ 1. The Birth of Christ. $ 2. His Childhood and Youth. $ 3. His Precursor, John B. $ 4. His subsequent Life. 5. He appoints twelve Apostles, and seventy Disciples. 6. Reason of this Number. 7. Fame of Christ out of Judea. 8. Success of his Ministry. $ 9. His Death. t) 10. His Resurrection and Ascension to Heaven. 1. So many and so virulent diseases of the human race demanded the aid of a divine physician. Therefore the Son of God himself descended from heaven upon Palestine, in the close of the reign of Herod the Great ; and joining himself to human nature, he showed himself to mortals, a teacher that cannot err, and at once their sponsor at the court of Heaven and their king. In what year this salutary light rose upon the world, the most per- severing efforts of the learned have not been able fully to ascertain. Nor will this surprise us, if we consider that the earliest Christians knew not the day of their Saviour's birth, and judged differently on the subject.(l) But of what consequence is it that we know not the year or day when this light (1) Most of the opinions of the learned, concerning the year of Christ's birth, are collected by J. A. Fabricius, Bibliographia Antiquar., cap. vii., ix., p. 187. [Respecting the year of Christ's birth, the inquisitive reader is remitted to the elaborate chronologists, Scaliger, Petavius, Usher, &c., and to the more voluminous eccles. historians, Natalis Alexander, Pagi, &c. But, not to leave the common reader wholly uninformed on the subject, a few general observations will here be made. The birth of Christ was first made an era, from which to reckon dates, by Dionysius Exiguus, about A.D. 532. He supposed Christ to have been born on the 25th December, in the year of Rome 753, Lentulus and Piso consuls. And this computation has been followed, in practice, to this day ; notwith- standing the learned are well agreed that it must be incorrect. To ascertain the true time of Christ's birth, there are two principal data afforded by the evangelists. I. It is clear, from Matth. ii., 1, &c., that Christ was born before the death of Herod the Great, who died about Easter, in the year of Rome 749 or 750. (Lar drier, Credibil., pt. i., vol. ii., appendix.) Now, if Christ was born in the December next before Herod's death, it must have been in the year of Rome 748 or 749 ; and, of course, four, if not five, years anterior to the Dionysian or vulgar era. II. It is probable, from Lu. iii., 1, 2, 23, that Jesus was about thirty years of age in the VOL. I. F fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Casar. Now the reign of Tiberius may be consid- ered as commencing at the time he became sole emperor, in August of the year of Rome 767 ; or (as there is some reason to suppose that Augustus made him partner in the gov- ernment two years before he died) we may begin his reign in the year of Rome 765. The 15th year of Tiberius will therefore be either the year of Rome 781 or 779. From which deduct 30, and we have the year of Rome 751 or 749 for the year of Christ's birth ; the former two, and the latter four years earlier than the Dionysian computa- tion. Comparing these results with those obtained from the death of Herod, it is gen- erally supposed the true time of Christ's birth was the year of Rome 749, or four years before the vulgar era. But the con- clusion is not certain, because there is un- certainty in the data. (1) It is not certain that we ought to reckon Tiberius's reign as beginning two years before the death of Au- gustus. (2) Luke says " about thirty years of age." This is indefinite, and may be un- derstood of twenty-nine, thirty, or thirty-one years. (3) It is not certain in which of the two years mentioned Herod died ; nor how long before that event the Saviour was born. Respecting the month and day of Christ's birth, we are left almost wholly to conjecture. The disagreement of the early fathers, is evi- dence that the day was not celebrated as a festival in the apostolic times. TV.] 42 BOOK I. CENTURY I. PART I. CHAP. III. first shone, since we fully know that it has appeared, and that there is no obstacle to our enjoying its splendour and its warmth ? 2. An account of the birth, lineage, family, and parents of Christ, is left us by the four inspired writers who give the history of his life. But they say very little respecting his childhood and youth. When a young child he was rescued from the cruelty of Herod by the flight of the family into Egypt, Matthew ii., 13. When twelve years of age he disputed pub- licly in the temple with the most learned Jewish doctors upon religious subjects. Afterward, till he was thirty years of age, he lived with his pa- rents as a dutiful and affectionate son, Luke ii., 51, 52. Divine wisdom has not seen fit to give us more particulars ; nor is it certain, though many think it so, that Christ worked at the trade of his foster-father, Joseph, who was a carpenter. Yet there were certain vain and deceitful persons in for- mer times, who ventured to fill up this obscure part of our Saviour's life with extravagant and ridiculous fables. (2) 3. In the thirtieth year of his age he entered on the offices for which he came into the world. To render his ministry more useful to the Jews, John, the son of a Jewish priest, a man grave and venerable in his whole manner of life, was commissioned of God to proclaim the advent of the Messiah who had been promised to the fathers. He called himself the precursor of the Messiah ; and being full of holy zeal, he exhorted the Jews to amend their lives and purify their hearts, and thus prepare themselves for the coming, or, rather, for the actual presence of the Son of God ; and those who professed repentance and reformation, he initiated in the ap- proaching kingdom of the Saviour, by immersion in the Jordan, Matthew iii., 2, &c. ; John i., 22, &c. Jesus himself, before commencing his pub- lic ministry, chose to receive a solemn lustration in the waters of Jordan at the hands of John ; in order, as he tells us, that he might not appear to neglect any part of the Jewish law and religion. (3) 4. It is not necessary to enter here into a particular detail of the life and actions of Jesus Christ. All Christians know that for more than three years, amid great trials and afflictions, and surrounded by snares and perils, he instructed the Jewish people in the counsels and purposes of the Most High ; that he omitted nothing that could allure both the ignorant multi- tude and the well informed ; that he led a life so spotless and holy, that no suspicion whatever could attach to him ; and that, by stupendous miracles of a salutary and beneficial character, and such as accorded with the na- ture of his mission, he placed the truth of the religion he taught beyond all controversy. 5. As this religion was to be propagated throughout the world, it was necessary for him to select some persons to be his constant companions and intimates ; who should be able to state and testify to posterity and to the re- (2) See a collection of these fables by J. A. (3) [See, concerning John the Baptist, Fabricius, Cod. Apoc. N. T., torn. i. [The Ckr. Cellaring, two Diss. de Vita, carcere works here referred to, are the Gospel of the et supplicio Jo. Bapt. in his Diss. Acad., pt. nativity of Mary ; the Previous Gospel, ascri- i., p. 169, and pt. ii., p. 373. Tho. Ittig, bed to James ike Just ; the Gospel of the in- Historiae eccles. Imi. Saeculi Selects Capita, fancy of Christ, ascribed to Thomas; theGos- cap. 8, sect. 4, and Witsius, Miscell. Sacra, pel of the Infancy, &c., translated from the torn, ii., p. 464, &c. Schl. Also G. B. Arabic ; all of which are stuffed with marvel- Winer, Biblisches Realworterbuch, Article bus tales of miracles and prodigies, fit only to Johannes. 2Y. J amuse the ignorant and superstitious. TV.] LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST. 43 molest nations, with the greatest assurance and authority, the events of his life, his miracles, and his whole system of doctrine. Therefore, from the Jews about him, he chose twelve messengers whom he distinguished from others by the title of Apostles. They were plebeians, poor, and illiterate ; for he would not employ the rich, the eloquent, and the learned, lest the success of their mission should be ascribed to natural causes and to hu- man means, 1 Corinthians i., 21. These he once sent forth among the Jews during his lifetime, Matthew x., 7 ; but afterward he retained them constantly near him, that they might witness all that he said or did. (4) But, that the people might not lack religious instruction, he commissioned seventy other disciples to travel at large through Judea, Luke x., 1. 6. The learned have inquired, why the Saviour appointed just twelve, neither more nor less, to be apostles, and just seventy to be disciples ; and various conjectures are offered on the subject. But it being manifest from the words of Christ himself, Matthew xix., 28; Luke xxii., 30, that the number of the apostles had reference to the number of the tribes of Israel, there can scarcely be a doubt that he wished to indicate to the Jews that he was the supreme Lord and Pontiff over the whole Hebrew race, which was divided into twelve tribes. The seventy disciples were just equal in number to the senators composing the Sanhedrim or the grand council of the nation ; and this justifies the conjecture that Christ intended by the choice of the seventy, to admonish the Jews that the authority of their Sanhedrim was now at an end, and that all power in religious matters was vested in him alone.(5) 7. Jesus himself gave instruction to none but Jews ; nor did he allow his disciples to travel among other nations as teachers while he continued on earth, Matthew x., 5, 6 ; xv., 24. Yet the extraordinary deeds he per- formed leave us no room to doubt, that his fame very early extended to other nations. There are respectable writers who state that Abgarus, king of Edessa, being dangerously sick, sent a letter to Christ imploring (4) [Dr. Mosheim has a long note in the an. ad Haeres., xxx. P. Wesseling, de Ar- parallel passage of his Comment, de Rebus chontibus Jud., p. 91. Walch (of Gottin- Chr. ante C. M., p. 49, the substance of gen), Hist. Patriarch. Jud., and Suicer, The- which is this: The title Apostles was giv- saur. Eccles., torn, i., p. 477. TV.] en to those principal men whom the high (5) [There are two factitious lists of the priests retained as their private counsel- seventy disciples now extant, which are lors, and whom they occasionally sent as falsely ascribed to Hippolytus and to Dorithe- their legates to the foreign Jews, either to us. They may be seen in various works ; e. collect the yearly tax for the temple or to ex- g., J. A. Fabricius, Lux. Evang., &c., p. ccute other commissions. We have not, in- 115-118, and annexed to the books de Vita deed, a .direct testimony at hand, proving et morte Mosis, ed. Fabricius ; and in T. that the title of apostles was given to such Ittig, Hist, eccles. Imi Saecul., p. 472. That legates of the high priests in the days of no sort of credit is due to them, is shown by Christ. Yet there is intimation of this in Jtliff, ubi supra ; by D. Blondell, de Episcopis Gal. i., 1, and Jerome so understood the et Presbyt., p. 93, and by others. Eusebius, passage. See his Comment!., &c., Opp., Hist. Eccles., i., 12, expressly declares that torn, ix., p. 124. And that after the de- no catalogue of the seventy disciples was to struction of Jerusalem, the legates of the be found any where in his day. The two lists Jewish patriarchs (who stood in the place nearly agree ; and they are evidently made of high priests) were called apostles, is fully up by collecting together, without the least proved. See Jerome, ubi supra, and Euse- judgment, nearly all the names of Chris- bius on Isa., ch. xviii., 2. See also Ja. tians mentioned in the N. Testament, and Gothofred on Cod. Theodos., torn, vi., p. particularly those in the salutations of Paul. 251, ed. Kitter. Dion. Pctavius, on Epiph- TV.] 44 BOOK I. CENTURY I. PART I. CHAP. III. his assistance, and that Christ not only wrote an answer to the king, but also sent him his picture. (6) It is the prevailing opinion that not only the let- ters of Christ and Abgarus, but likewise the whole story, are a fabrica- tion^?) And I would by no means take upon me to support the credit of the letters ; yet I see no very weighty reason for rejecting altogether the whole story. 8. The numerous proofs of the divine authority of Christ, induced very many of the Jews to revere him as the Son of God : but the leading men, especially the Pharisees and the chief priests, whose vices and crimes he freely reproved, plotted against his life ; because they were fearful of losing their honours and privileges, if Christ should continue publicly to teach. For a long time the machinations of these ungodly men were in- effectual. But at last, his ungrateful disciple, Judas, disclosing the place of his master's nocturnal retirement, he was seized by soldiers at the com- mand of the Sanhedrim, and ordered to be tried for his life. 9. He was first arraigned before the Jewish high priest and senate, where he was accused of having violated the law, and blasphemed the majesty of God. Thence he was dragged to the tribunal of Pilate, the Roman procurator ; and there accused of sedition, and of treason against Caesar. Neither of these accusations could have satisfied fair and upright judges. But the clamours of the people, which were instigated by the ir- religious priests, compelled Pilate, though reluctantly, to pass sentence of death upon him. As he had come into our world to make expiation for the sins of men, and as he knew that all the objects of his abode among men were accomplished, he voluntarily submitted to be nailed to a cross, on which he yielded up his spotless soul to God. 10. On the third day after his burial he reassumed that life which he had voluntarily laid down ; and by showing himself alive, he made it man- ifest that man is no longer insolvent to divine justice. He now continued forty days with his disciples, employing the time very much in giving them instruction. To his enemies he would not show himself visibly ; among other reasons, because he knew that those unprincipled men, who had be- fore accused him of sorcery, would impudently affirm that it was only a spectre that appeared, bearing his likeness, and produced by the power of the devil. At length he ascended up to heaven in the full view of his disciples, after commissioning them to preach the Gospel to all nations. (6) Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., 1. i., c. 13. Historia Edessena et Osroena, 1. Hi., p. 104. [Here is the earliest notice of these Letters. J. S. Asseman, Biblioth. orient. Clem. Vat., For the earliest history of the picture, see torn i., p. 554. ["As to the picture, which Evaffrius, Hist. Eccles, 1. iv., c. 27. See is still preserved, and shown at Rome, Is. the Letters themselves, with notes, in] J. Beausobre has fully exposed the fable, in his A. Fabricius, Codex Apocryphus N. Test., Dis. des Images de main divine ; in the torn, i., p. 317. Biblioth. Germanique, torn, xviii., p. 10," (7) See Ja. Basnage, Histoire des Juifs, &c. Mosheim, de Rebus Christ., &c., p. torn, i., c. 18, p. 500. Theoph. Sigf. Bayer, 73.] PROSPEROUS EVENTS. 45 CHAPTER IV. THE PROSPEROUS EVENTS OF THE CHURCH. 1 . Effusion of the H. Spirit on the Apostles. 2. They preach to Jews and Samari- tans. $ 3. Election of a new Apostle. $ 4. Paul's Conversion. 5. Attention to the Poor, and a Community of Goods, in the Church. $ 6. Many Churches planted by the Apostles. 7. Respect for Christ among the Pagans. $ 8. Causes of the rapid Progress of Christianity. $ 9. Extraordinary Gifts of the early Christians. 10. Fictitious Causes assigned for the Progress of Christianity. 1. WHEN Jesus was seated at the right hand of the Eternal Father, the first proof he gave of his majesty and power was on the fiftieth day(l) after his death, by the effusion of the Holy Spirit upon his disciples and friends on earth, Acts ii., 1, &c. On receiving this celestial gift and teacher, they were freed from all their former ignorance and blindness of mind, and endued with astonishing alacrity and power to fulfil the duties of their office. With these mental endowments was joined the knowledge of various foreign languages, which was indispensable to them in giving instruction to different nations ; and also a firm reliance on the promise of Christ, that God would aid them as often as should be necessary by mira- cles.^) 2. Relying on these divine aids, the disciples, in accordance with the Saviour's injunctions (Luke xxiv., 47 ; Acts i., 8 ; xiii., 46), first laboured to bring the Jews to subject themselves to Christ. Nor was this labour with- out effect, for many thousands of them soon became Christians, Acts ii., 41 ; iv., 4. Next they proceeded to the Samaritans, which also accorded with their instructions, Acts i., 8. And here, too, they gathered a Christian church, Acts viii., 14. Lastly, after spending many years at Jerusalem, and regulating and confirming the churches of Christ in Palestine and the neighbouring regions, they travelled abroad among various nations, and their labours were everywhere attended with the greatest success. (3) 3. The first care of the apostles after the Saviour's ascension, was to complete the number of twelve apostles established by Christ, by electing (1) [From the terms here used by Dr. (3) [It appears from the book of Acts, Mosheim, it would seem that he supposed that the apostles, or, at least, most of them, the effusion of the Holy Spirit on the day of remained in and near Jerusalem for several Pentecost, took place on the Jewish Sabbath, years after the ascension ; but how long they or Saturday, and not on Sunday, as many continued together is uncertain. There was have supposed. Tr.] anciently a tradition, which Eusebius states (2) [In his Comment, de Rebus Christ. 1 (Hist. Eccles., v. 18) on the authority of ante C. M., p. 76, Dr. Mosheim states, that Apollonius, a writer of the second century, he does not account the power of working as does Clemens Alex, (Strom, vi., c. 5) miracles among the supernatural gifts, be- from a spurious work, Prcedtcatio Pelri, that cause such power neither was, nor could be, the Saviour enjoined upon his apostles not to conferred on men, Omnipotence alone being leave Jerusalem till twelve years after his as- able to work miracles ; so that /at/A to pray cension. About so long they probably con- for them, and to expect them, at the hands tinued there ; and their being divinely guided of God, was all that the H. Ghost actually in most of their movements might give rise imparted to the Apostles. Tr.] to the tradition. Tr.] 46 BOOK I. CENTURY I. PART I. CHAP. IV. a more worthy person to the place of Judas, who had laid violent hands on himself. Therefore, the little company of Christ's servants at Jerusalem being assembled, two men, the most noted for their piety and faith in Christ, Barsabas and Matthias, were proposed as the most worthy of that office. One of these, Matthias, being designated by lot as it is commonly supposed, or elected by the major vote of all the persons present, was con- stituted the twelfth apostle, Acts i., 15, &c.(4) 4. As these twelve ambassadors of Christ were all of them plain, il- literate men, and as the Christian community, now in its infancy, needed a man who could attack and vanquish the Jewish doctors and the pagan philosophers with their own weapons, Jesus Christ himself, by a voice from heaven, soon after appointed a thirteenth apostle ; namely, Saul, who afterward assumed the name of Paul, a man who had been a most virulent enemy of the Christians, but who was well skilled in the Jewish learning, and not ignorant of the Grecian, Acts ix., 1, &c. To this truly admirable man, whether we consider his courage, his force of mind, or his patience and perseverance in trials and labours how much the Christian world is indebted, is manifest from the Acts of the Apostles and from his own Epistles. 5. The first of all the Christian churches founded by the apostles, was that of Jerusalem ; and after the form and model of this, all the others of that age were constituted. That church, however, was governed im- mediately by the apostles ; to whom the presbyters and the deacons or overseers of the poor were subject. Though the people had not with- drawn themselves from the Jewish worship, yet they held their own sep- arate meetings ; in which they were instructed by the apostles and pres- byters, offered up their united prayers, celebrated in the sacred supper the memorial of Jesus Christ, of his death, and the salvation he procured, and afterward manifested their mutual love, partly by their liberality to the poor, and partly by those temperate repasts, which from their design were called love-feasts, Acts ii., 42.(5) Among the virtues for which this primitive church of Christ was distinguished, the care of the poor and needy is most conspicuous. For the rich liberally supplied the wants of all the brotherhood, and with such promptitude and tenderness that, Luke says, they had all things common, Acts ii., 44 ; iv., 32. But it is manifest from the expressions used by Peter in Acts v., 4, as well as from other considerations, that the declaration of Luke should not be understood, as it generally has been, of their possessing in common, but only of their using in common.(6) (4) [Dr. Mosheim has a long note in the C. Mag., 113-116. If Mosheim's interpre- parallel place in his Comment, de Rebus tation of that text is erroneous, as most in- Christ., &c., p. 78-80, in which he aims to terpreters think it is, this account of the prove that ISuKav K?^povg avruv, in Acts i., mode of worship in the apostolic church 26, signifies they gave their voles ; and not, rests on a slender basis. 7V.] as it is commonly understood, they cast their (6) ["It is an ancient opinion, though lots. But his interpretation is very general- not older than the fourth century, that in the ly rejected. TV.] church of Jerusalem there was such a com- (5) [Dr. Mosheim understood Acts ii., munity of goods, as existed among the an- 42, as descriptive of the several parts of cient Essenes, and afterward among the the ordinary public worship of these primi- monks. But this opinion is destitute of any tive Christians, rather than of their Chris- solid foundation, resting solely on the decla- tian character and conduct in general. See ration of Luke, that they had all things com- his Comment, de Rebus Christianorum ante mon. See my Diss. de Vera natura com- PROSPEROUS EVENTS. 47 6. The ambassadors of Christ on leaving Jerusalem travelled over a great part of the world, and in a short time collected numerous religious societies in various countries. Of the churches they founded, not a small number is mentioned in the sacred books, especially in the Acts of the Apos- tles^?) Besides these, there can be no doubt they collected many others, both by their own efforts and by the efforts of their followers. But how far they travelled, what nations they visited, or when and where they died, is exceedingly dubious and uncertain.(8) The stories often told respecting their travels among the Gauls, the Britons, the Spaniards, the Germans, the Americans, the Chinese, the Indians, and the Russians, are too recent and fantastic to be received by an inquisitive lover of the truth. (9) A great munionis bonorum in Ecclesia Hierosolym., which is the first in the second volume of rny Dissertt. ad Historiam Eccl. pertinen- tes." Mosheim, de Reb. Christ., &c., p. 118.] (7) [The names of these churches are col- lected by P. J, Harlmann, de Rebus gestis Christianor. sub Apostolis, cap. vii., p.107; and by J. A. Fabricius, Lux Evangelii toti orbi exoriens, cap. v., p. 83, &c.] (8) [" It is a very ancient and current re- port, confirmed by many witnesses, that all the apostles suffered public martyrdom ; with the exception of St. John, who died a nat- ural death at Ephesus. And this opinion is so firmly believed, by many who would not be thought credulous, that to call it in question, is to run some hazard of being charged with slandering those holy men. Such as please, may believe the account ; but let them not be offended if I declare the martyrdom of most of the apostles to be less certain than they suppose. That Peter, Paul, and James died violent deaths, I be- lieve, on the testimony of the numerous an- cient authors ; but that the other apostles did so, I cannot feel so certain. As my first ground of doubt, a very ancient wri- ter of the second century, Heracleon, a Val- entinian indeed, but no contemptible man, cited by Clemens. Alex., Strom., 1. iv., c. 9, denies that Matthew, Philip, Thomas, Levi, and others confessed Christ before magis- trates, and were put to death for so doing. He is urging that the public confession of himself required by the Saviour, Matt, x., 32, may be made by a holy and Christian life, as well as by a public avowal before a per- secuting magistrate ; and he states as proof, 'Ot> yap TTuvrtf 61 ou^o/ievai TTJV OLU T;;C (jiuvTJf ufio^oyiav, KOL 'E uv Mardutoc, *t/.tff7rof, Acvtf, /cat U.7.7MI noJ./.vt., for not all that were saved, made that confession in words (before ma- gistrates) and so died. Of this number was Matthew, Philip, Thomas, Levi, and many others. Clement, though he disapproves several things in the passage he quotes, leaves this statement to stand as it is ; which is proof that he had nothing to allege against it. Philip is expressly declared not to have suffered martyrdom, but to have died and been buried at Hierapolis ; so says Poly- crates, in his Epistle to Victor, in Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., v. 24. Baronius indeed, (An- nals, A.D. 35, 141), and after him many others maintain, that this was not Philip the apostle, but Philip one of the seven deacons of Jerusalem. But Poly crates says express- ly, that he was one of the twelve apostles. A still stronger argument is, that all the wri- ters of the three first centuries, and among them, such as contended for the high digni- ty of the martyrs in opposition to the Valen- tinians, viz., Tertullian, Clemens Alex., and Origen, never mention but three of the apos- tles as being martyrs ; namely, Peter, Paul, and James the elder. See Tertullian, Scor- piace, cap. xv. I am therefore led to be- lieve, that the common reports respecting the sufferings of Christ's ambassadors were fabricated after the days of Constantine. And two causes might lead to such reports. (1) The extravagant estimation in which martyrdom was held, made it seem neces- sary to rank the apostles among the martyrs. (2) The ambiguity of the word /wiprvp, martyr, which properly signifies a witness, in which sense Christ himself called his apos- tles [tuprvpts (Acts i., 8, see also Acts ii., 32), might lead the more ignorant to believe and to amplify these fables." Mosheim, de Rebus Christ, ante C. M.,p. 81-84, abridg- ed considerably. TV.] (9) ["There is not one of the European nations that does not glory, in either an apos- tle or some one of the seventy disciples, or at least in some early saint commissioned by an apostle, as having come among them and collected a Christian church. The Span- iards say, that the apostles Paul and James the elder, with many of the seventy disciples and other assistants of the apostles, intro- duced the light of the gospel into their coun- try. And a Spaniard would bring himself into trouble, if he should confront this opin- 48 BOOK I. CENTURY I. PART I. CHAP. IV. part of these fabulous stories were got up after the days of Charlemagne ; when most of the Christian churches contended as vehemently about the antiquity of their origin, as ever did the Arcadians, the Egyptians, or the Greeks. ion. The French contend that Crescens, a disciple and companion of Paul, Dionysius the Athenian Areopagite, Lazarus, Mary Magdalene, &c., first brought their country- men to profess Christ. Among the Italians there is scarcely a city which does not pro- fess to have received the gospel and their first minister from Paul or Peter. See P. Giannone, Histoire civile du royaume de Naples, torn, i., p. 74, 75. And at this day, a man could not escape the charge of heresy, who should raise a question on this subject. See J. Lamy, Deliciae eruditorum, torn, viii., Pref, and torn, xi., Preface. The Germans assert that Maternus, Valerianus, and many others were sent among them by the apostles ; and that these legates of St. Peter and of the other apostles baptized a large number of persons. The British think that St. Paul (as they infer from Clemens Rom. first Epistle to the Corinthi- ans), Simon Zelotes, Aristobulus, and espe- cially Joseph of Arimathea, were the found- ers of their church. The Russians, Poles, and Prussians, honour St. Andrew as the founder of their churches. All this and much more passed for sober truth, so long as sacred and human learning lay buried in shades and darkness. But at this day the most learned and wise admit, that most of these stories were fabricated after the age of Charlemagne, by men who were ignorant or crafty, and eager to secure distinction to their churches. See Aug. Calmefs His- toire de Lorraine, torn, i., p. xxvi. Le Beuf, Diss. sur 1'histoire de France, torn, i., p. 192, <fec. Jo. Launoi, Diss. qua locus Sulpitii Sever! de primis Galliae martyribus defendi- tur, Opp., torn, ii., pt. i., p. 184. I commend these writers, yet cannot agree with them in dating the commencement of this foolish zeal for the antiquity of their churches, after the days of Charlemagne. It began much earlier. See Gregory Turon. de Gloria martyrum, cap. xii., p. 735." Mosheim, de Reb. Christ., &c., p. 84-86. It must not be inferred, from what Dr. Mosheim says of the foolish pretensions of the modern Euro- pean nations to a high Christian antiquity, that we are to reject all that the ancient fa- thers relate concerning the labours of the apostles after Christ's ascension. Dr. Mo- theim was too judicious to do this. He says, ubi supra, p. 80, 81 : "As to what we are told respecting the transactions of the apos- tles, their travels, miracles, and deaths, if we except what is gathered from the New Test, and a few other ancient monuments, a large part is dubious and uncertain. Some things, however, have more credibility and verisimilitude than others. I would not re- ject all that is clearly attested by Origen, Eusebius, Gregory Nazianzen, Paulinus, Jerome, Socrates, and some other ancient writers quoted by Eusebius ; but what is at- tested only by authors subsequent to these, or unknown, I would not readily believe, unless facts offer themselves to corroborate the testi- mony." Following these judicious rules of Mosheim, we may believe that Peter, after preaching long in Judea, and other parts of Syria, probably visited Babylon, Asia Minor, and finally Rome, where he was crucified. PauVs history is given in the Acts to about A.D. 64. He was probably released from captivity, visited Judea, Asia Minor, and Greece, and returning to Rome, was there beheaded about A.D. 67 or 68. John re- mained many years in Judea, and afterward removed to Ephesus, where he lived to la very advanced age, dying about A.D. 100. He was banished to Patmos about A.D. 95, and was greatly revered. James the elder, (brother of John) was put to death by Herod Agrippa, about A.D. 44, (Acts xii., 1). James the younger, the son of Alphaeus, spent his life in Judea, long presided over the church of Jerusalem, and there suffered martyrdom, a little before the destruction of Jerusalem. Andrew probably laboured on the shores of the Black Sea, near the mod- ern Constantinople, and perhaps in Greece. Philip, either the apostle or the evangelist, is reported to have ended his days at Hierapolis, in Phrygia. Thomas seems to have travelled eastward, to Parthia, Media, Persia, and In- dia. Bartholomew took perhaps a more southern course, and preached in Arabia. Matthew is also reported to have travelled east, in the modern Persia. Of Simon the Canaanite, nothing to be relied on can be said. Thaddeus, Lebbeus, or Jude the brother of James, the author of an epistle, is reported to have preached at Edessa, in the north of Syria. Of the companions of the apostles, Timothy, after accompanying Paul many years, is said to have been sta- tioned at Ephesus, where he suffered mar- tyrdom under Domitian or Nerva. Titus, another companion of Paul, is reported to have been stationed in Crete, where he died. Mark, or John surnamed Mark, attended Paul, and afterward Peter, and probably preached the gospel in Egypt. Of Luke, PROSPEROUS EVENTS. 49 7. That many persons who were unwilling to adopt entirely the reli- gion of Christ, were yet induced, by the fame of his deeds and the sublime purity of his doctrines, to rank him among men of the highest excellence, and even among the gods, is evinced by numerous documents. With great veneration many preserved pictures of Christ in their houses, and also the pictures of his apostles. (10) It is said that even a Roman em- peror, viz., Tiberius, proposed to have Christ enrolled among the gods of the empire ; but that the Senate rejected the proposal. Though many at the present day think this to be quite improbable, yet there are distin- guished men who are led by weighty reasons to a different opinion.(ll) 8. The causes must have been divine which could enable men des- titute of all human aid, poor and friendless, neither eloquent nor learned, fishermen and publicans, and they too Jews, that is, persons odious to all other nations, in so short a time to persuade a great part of mankind to abandon the religions of their fathers, and to embrace a new religion which is opposed to the natural dispositions of men. In the words they uttered there must have been an amazing and a divine power controlling the minds of men. To which may be added, miracles, prophecies, the detection of men's secret designs, magnanimity in the midst of perils, contempt for all little can be said, except that he accompanied Paul, and wrote his history, viz., the book of Acts, and a Gospel. Of Barnabas, no- thing can be said worth relating, except what is learned from the N. Testament. See J. A. Fabricius, Lux Evangelii, &c., ch. v., p. 95-1 15. From this account, im- perfect as it is, we may conclude that the apostles and their companions scarcely ex- tended their labours beyond the boundaries of the present Turkish empire. Tr.~\ (10) Eusebius, Historia eccles., 1. vii., c. 18. Ireruzus, Haeres., lib. i., c. 25, p. 105, edit. Massuet. (11) [" Of the favourable disposition of the Roman emperors towards Christianity, there is a noticeable testimony in the apology of Melito Sardicensis, addressed to Marcus An- toninus, which is preserved by Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., iv., 26. Melito here informs the emperor that his predecessors not only tolera- ted Christianity among the other religions, but also honoured it : r)v KOI ki irpbyovol crnv irpdf raif aJifaiif tipr/aKciaif tripr/aav, which sect if your progenitors honoured icith the other religions. He adds, that Nero and Domitian were the only emperors who allowed the counsels of certain adversaries, to influence them to make Christianity a criminal thing. If what Melito here says of Nero be true, namely, that he was influenced by the counsels of malevolent persons to persecute the Christians, then there may be some foundation for what John of Antioch says, in Excerptis Valesianis, p. 808, &c., that Nero was favourable to the Christians and to Christ, in the beginning of his reign. Tertullian, Apologet., cap. v., p. 57, ed. VOL. I. G Havercamp, speaks of Tiberius' desire to have Christ enrolled among the gods as of a thing universally known. Eusebius (Hist. Eccles., ii., 2), Orosius (Chron. Pascal., vii., 4), and others afterwards, repeat the story, re- lying chiefly on the authority of Tertullian. See Fr. Baldwin, Comment, ad. edicta Ve- terum Principum Romanorum de Christia- nis, p. 22, 23, and J. A. Fabricius, Lux Evangelii, &c., p. 221. But very learned men in this age have deemed this wholly in- credible, and not at all compatible with the character of Tiberius and with the state of the empire at that time. In what manner men equally learned and ingenuous have repelled their arguments, may be seen in the Essay of Theod. Hasaus, de decreto Tiberii, quo Christum referre voluit in numerum deorurn, Erfurt, 1715, 4to, and in the French letter of J. C. Iselius on this subject, in the Bib- liotheque Germanique, torn, xxxii., p. 147, and torn, xxxiii., p. 12." Mosheim, de Reb. Christ., &c., p. 91, &c. See also Allmann, Disquisitio historico-critica, de Epistola Pi- lati ad Tiberium, &c., Bern, 1755, 8vo. In this essay Professor Altmann maintains, (1) That Pilate was actually informed of the resurrection of Christ by the guard. (2) That he did really send to Tiberius an ac- count of the death and resurrection of Jesus, though not such an account as the one now extant. (3) That Tiberius actually proposed in the senate that Jesus should be honoured as a god. This subject is also examined by Dr. Lardner, Collection of Jewish and Heathen testimonies, vol. iii., p. 599, etc., ed Lond.,1815, 4to. Tr.] 50 BOOK I. CENTURY I. PART I. CHAP. IV. the objects of ordinary ambition, a patient and cheerful endurance of suf- ferings worse than death, as well as of death itself, and, finally, lives of the purest and most unblemished character. That the ambassadors of Jesus Christ were in fact thus furnished for their work, is a truth perfectly clear and obvious. And if we suppose them not to have been so furnished, no probable reason can be assigned for so rapid a propagation of Christianity by this small and feeble band. 9. To these their personal endowments, must be added the ability pos- sessed by these divine ambassadors of transferring the power of working miracles to their disciples. Many persons, as soon as they were baptized according to Christ's directions, and consecrated to God by prayer and the imposition of hands, were able forthwith to express their thoughts in for- eign languages which they had never learned, to foretel future events, to heal the sick by pronouncing the name of Jesus, to call the dead to life, and to perform other deeds above the power of man. (12) What must have been thought of the men who had ability to confer such wonderful powers on others ! 10. Those who fabricate other causes for this surprising revolution in the religious state of the world, offer to us mere dreams, which can never satisfy an attentive observer of human affairs. Some tell us that the kind- ness of Christians towards the poor, induced a multitude of idle and vicious persons to embrace Christianity. They do not consider that those who em- braced Christianity put their lives in jeopardy ; nor do they recollect that idle, profligate, lazy persons were not tolerated among the early Chris- tians [2 Thess. iii., 6-12]. Equally groundless is the representation of others, that the flagitious and profligate lives of the pagan priests caused many to turn Christians. But the vile character of these priests, though it might bring the ancient systems of religion into contempt, could not pro- duce attachment to Christianity, which exposed its votaries to the loss of character, property, and life. The man must be beside himself who could reason thus : " The priests of the religion in which I was educated lead profligate lives ; I will therefore connect myself with persons contemptible and condemned by the public laws, and will thus put my life and fortune to the most imminent hazard."(13) (12) See, among others, Tab. Pfanner, quires men to forsake the institutions and de Charismatis sive donis miraculosis anti- sentiments of their ancestors, and to abandon quse ecclesiaa, Francf., 1683, 12mo. their chosen enjoyments. This is confirmed (13) ["Others have supposed that the by the example of those 'very apostles who virtues of the apostles and their early follow- are said to have converted the world by tho ers, their sobriety, their contempt of wealth, purity of their characters ; nay, by the ex- their fortitude, their patience, &c., induced ample of the Lord of those apostles, who multitudes to put themselves under their re- was the most perfect pattern of virtue. I ligious guidance. Integrity and virtue cer- can believe, that the blameless lives of the tainly have influence on the mind of the be- apostles induced individuals among all na- holder ; nor would I deny that the holy lives lions not to lay violent hands on them, nor of the apostles produced some effect. But to show them any abuse ; but to believe, that we know, if we are acquainted with our- merely by their strict morals and their disre- selves and with human nature, that purity gard for the common objects of human attach- of morals and integrity of life, though they ment, they induced many thousands to recog- create respect and reverence, rarely produce nise as the Saviour of the world, a person imitation, and never do, if manifest disgrace whom the Jews had caused to be crucified, and danger will follow that imitation. We and persuaded them to follow their example, know that virtue, and even the most perfect and to suffer death rather than renounce these virtue, awakens entire disgust, when it re- principles ; this, I say, no one can persuade ADVERSE EVENTS. 51 CHAPTER V. THE ADVERSE EVENTS OF THE CHURCH. $ I. Persecutions of Christians by the Jews in Palestine. $ 2. By Jews out of Palestine. 3. Divine Judgments on the Jews. 4. Ten Persecutions by the Pagans. 5. Laws against the Christians. t) 6. Causes of Hostility to them. Charged with Hatred to Mankind. 7. Other Causes of Persecution. $ 8. Slanders against Christians. <) 9. Modes of Trial and Punishment. $ 10. The Martyrs and Confessors. 11. Num- ber of them. 12. Acts of the Martyrs. 13. Persecution by Nero. 14. Its Ex- tent. 15. Persecution under Domitian. 1. THOUGH the disciples of Christ were distinguished for the excel- lence of their doctrines arid the purity of their lives, yet the Jewish priests and rulers not only treated them with extreme contumely and abuse, but put to death as many of them as they could. This appears from the mar- tyrdom of Stephen, Acts vii., 55, of James the son of Zebedee, Acts xii., 1, 2, and of James the Just, who presided over the church at Jerusalem. Jo- sephus, Antiq. Jud., 1. xx., c. 8, and Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., 1. ii., c. 23. The true cause of this hostility of the Jewish priests and doctors, undoubt- edly, was their envy, and their fear of losing their personal advantages and their consequence, if Christianity prevailed. me to believe. And, not to protract these remarks, whence, and by what means, did the apostles themselves acquire that admira- ble virtue and sanctity, which alone was able to produce in others an invincible determi- nation to fly to Christ, and to cleave to him as the only anchor of their salvation 1" " Others, following the example of Celsus, Julian, Porphyry, and other ancient ene- mies of Christianity, bid us consider, that the churches gathered by the apostles were composed of plebeian characters, servants, labourers in the fields and workshops, and women ; that is, of persons deficient in in- telligence, rank, and wealth, who might easi- ly be persuaded to believe almost any thing by persons of but moderate talents. But this, which is here so confidently asserted, was, in the first place, not altogether true. For the Scriptures inform us, that among those converted to Christianity by the apos- tles, many were affluent, well-informed, and of respectable rank. That there were per- sons of wealth, see 1 Tim. ii., 9, and 1 Pe- ter iii., 3. That there were men of teaming and knowledge of philosophy, see 1 Tim. vi., 20 ; Col. ii., 8. And that there were some, though not many, noble, see 1 Cor. i., 26. The names of illustrious persons who embraced Christ in the earliest ages of the church, are collected by D. Blondell, de Episcopis et presbyteris, p. 235, and by J. R. Wetstein, Praefatio ad Originis Dial, con- tra Marcion., p. 13. Secondly, those who are not ignorant of the world, know that per- sons in the lower walks of life not only value themselves, their lives, and their enjoyments, as much as others do, but they much more ardently embrace and cling to the customs, opinions, and religion of their ancestors, than men of genius and influence, the opulent, and persons of rank. Ignorance and timid- ity produce and nourish superstition. Hence the more ignorant and timid a person is, a stronger hold has superstition of his mind. So that it is an easier thing to eradicate su- perstition from the minds of ten men, than of one woman, from a hundred well-informed and ingenuous minds, than from ten igno- rant, stupid ones. Villany nowhere reigns more than in servants and persons of abject condition. It would be easier, therefore, to purge from iniquity a multitude of the in- genuous and well-born, than even a small number of slaves. Hence, those who make the churches gathered by the apostles of Christ to have been composed of persons of no respectability or rank, of slaves, women, and the illiterate, in my judgment, increase, rather than diminish, the glory achieved by those inspired men." Mosheim, de Reb. Christ., p. 90-92.] 52 BOOK I. CENTURY I. PART I. CHAP. V. 2. No less cruelty was shown to the innocent disciples of Christ, by those Jews who lived out of Palestine, in the Roman provinces. It appears from the Acts of the Apostles and from other credible records, that they spared no pains to instigate the magistrates and the populace to destroy the Christians. To this madness they were excited by the high priest and the elders of the Jews living in Palestine ; who, as we are informed, sent messengers to the foreign Jews, exhorting them to avoid all connexion with the Christians, and to persecute them as far as was in their power.(l) To give their base designs a specious exterior, they gave out that the Christians had treasonable designs against the Roman government ; as ap- peared by their acknowledging as their king one Jesus, a malefactor, whom Pilate had most justly punished with death. This rage against the Christians was propagated from father to son, through successive genera- tions ; so that the church in after ages had no more bitter enemies than the Jews. (2) 3. But God himself visited this perfidious nation with the sorest judgments, on account of their cruelties to the Saviour and his friends. For he suffered Jerusalem, the capital of Palestine, together with the tem- ple, to be razed to their foundations by the Roman emperor Vespasian and his son Titus, about forty years after Christ's ascension, and an innumer- able multitude of the people to perish by the sword, and most of the survi- vers to be sold into slavery. A more distressing scene than this which is described at large by Josephus,(3) himself a Jew is perhaps nowhere to be found in the records of history. And from this time onward, the Jews have been everywhere, even more than before, objects of hatred and abhorrence to all nations. 4. The gentiles, who were polytheists, brought upon the Christian church far greater calamities than the Jews, whose power was not equal to their malice. The persecutions of the Christians by the Romans, have for many ages been accounted ten in number.(4) But the ancient history of the church does not support precisely this number : for if we reckon only the general and more severe persecutions, they were fewer than ten ; but if we include the provincial and more limited persecutions, the num- ber will be much greater than ten. Some Christians of the fifth century were led by certain passages of the Scripture, especially by one in the Apocalypse, ch. xvii., 12-14, to believe that it was decreed, the Christian church must pass through ten grievous persecutions ; and to this opinion, they afterward endeavoured to accommodate in different ways the dissent- ing language of history.(5) (1) See Justin Martyr, Dial, cum Try- (5) See Sulpitius Severus, Historia sacra, phone, p. 51-53, 109, 138, 318, ed. Jebbs. lib. ii., c. 33, p. 387, ed. Horn. Augusti- (2) [Passages from early Christian writers, nus, de Civit. Dei, 1. xviii., c. 52. [In the who complain of the Jewish persecutions, fourth century the number of the persecu- are collected by J. A. Fabricius, Lux. Evang. tions had not been denned. Lactantius, de toli orbi exoriens, ch. vi., $ 1, p. 121. See Mortibus persecutorum, reckons up only six. also the Epist. of the church of Smyrna, de Eusebius, Hist. Er.dcs., does not state their Martyrio Polycarpi, xii., xiii. Schl.] number; yet we might make out nine from (3) [In his history of the Jewish War. this writer. This is the number given by See also Basnage, Histoire des Juifs, torn, i., Sulpitius Severus, in the fifth century. But cap. 17. Schl.] in his times originated the opinion of just ten (4) The writers on these persecutions are persecutions ; and Sulpittus, to make out enumerated by J. A. Fabricius. Lux. Evang. that number, includes the persecution of An- toti orbi exoriens, cap. vii., p. 133, &c. tichrist in the end of the world. See Mo- ADVERSE EVENTS. 53 5. Nero first enacted laws for the extermination of Christians. Do- mitian next did the same ; and afterward Marcus Antoninus, the philoso- pher, then Severus, and the other emperors who were hostile to the Chris- tians. Yet these decrees were not all equally severe, nor all founded on the same causes. A celebrated lawyer of the name of Domitius, anciently collected all the imperial laws against the Christians, in his treatise de Ojficio Proconsulis ;(6) which, if it were now extant, would doubtless throw much light on the history of the church under the pagan emperors. Now very much is left wholly to conjecture. 6. As the Romans were not accustomed to trouble any people on ac- count of their religion, and as they suffered the Jews in particular to live according to their own laws, it is not improperly asked, what could have induced them to heap so many evils on the heads of Christians, whose re- ligion was so holy and so friendly both to public and private happiness ! The first cause of this cruelty I conceive to be, that the Christians con- temned and abhorred the public religion of the state, which was so closely connected with the form and administration of the government. For the Romans, though they tolerated all the religions from which the common- wealth had nothing to fear, yet would not suffer the ancient religion of their nation, as established by the laws, to be derided, and the people to be withdrawn from it. Yet both these the Christians dared to do. Nor did they assail the Roman religion only, but likewise the religions of all other nations. Hence the Romans concluded, that the Christian sect was not only arrogant beyond all measure, but likewise unfriendly to the public peace and tranquillity, and calculated to excite civil wars. This, if I do not mistake, is that odium generis humani, with which Tacitus taxes the Christians ; and is the true ground of his denominating Christianity a de- structive superstition, as well as of the epithet malignant (malefica), ap- plied to it by Suetonius. C!} 7. Another cause of the Roman hostility to Christianity, was, that the Christian worship had none of the things that were common to all other religions. For the Christians offered no sacrifices, and had no temples, no statues, no oracles, no order of priesthood ; and the inconsiderate mul- titude deemed those who were without these, to be destitute of all religion, or to be atheists : and by the Roman laws, atheists were regarded as the pests of human society. Besides, the worship of so many pagan deities afforded support to a countless throng of priests, augurs, soothsayers, mer- chants, and artists ; all of whom were in danger of coming to want, if Christianity should prevail ; and therefore, with united strength, they rose up against it, and wished to exterminate its followers. (8) sheim, de Rebus Christ, ante Con. Mag., p. ligion of the Romans, nor those of all the 98, &c. Schl.] world, seemed to be the foes of mankind, (6) Sec Lactantius, Instil. Divinar., lib. and to indulge hatred towards all nations, v., c. 11. What remain of these laws, are (8) See the account of Demetrius the sil- illustrated by Fran. Baldwin, Comment, ad versmith, Acts xix., 24. Pliny, Epistt., lib. edicta veter. princip. Romanor. de Chris- x., ep. 97. " The temples, which were al- tianis ; republished by N. H. Gundling, most deserted, begin to be frequented again ; with Baldwin's Constant. Magnus, Halle, and the sacred rites, which had been long 1727* 8vo. neglected, are again performed. The vic- (7) See Tacitus, Annals, lib. xv., c. 34. tims which hitherto had found almost no Suetonius, Nero, cap. 16. Because such as purchasers, begin to come again to the mar- could not endure the sacred rites and the re- ket," &c. 54 BOOK I. CENTURY I. PART I. CHAP. V. 8. Those who were interested to arrest the progress of Christianity, in order to effect their object the sooner, disseminated among the vulgar the basest calumnies against the Christians and their religion. These slanderous stories were too easily credited by the people, who were fickle and credulous. What the stories were, may be learned from the writers of apologies for Christianity in the early ages. (9) The same persons cun- ningly persuaded the multitude, that all the calamities, wars, tempests, and diseases that afflicted mankind, were sent upon them by the angry gods, because the Christians, who contemned their authority, were everywhere tolerated. (10) Other and less weighty causes are here omitted. 9. The various kinds of punishment, both capital and corrective, which were inflicted on those that venerated Christ, are described by learned men in works professedly on that subject.(ll) The manner of proceeding before the tribunals, may be seen in the Acts of the Martyrs, in the letters which passed between Pliny and Trajan, and in other an- cient documents. (12) But it is clear, that the mode of proceeding in the courts, was not always the same. For the laws and the rescripts of the emperors, by which the magistrates were to be guided, were different at different periods. Thus, at one period, the Christians were carefully sought after ; at another, the judges waited till some one came forward to accuse them. Sometimes the confessing or convicted Christian was hurried forth- with to execution, if he did not renounce his religion ; at other times the magistrates laboured, by various species of torture and cruelty, to induce them to apostatize. 10. Those who fell in these perilous days of the church, being put to death in different ways, were called Martyrs ; a term borrowed from the sacred writings, and denoting that they were witnesses for Christ. Those who were bold to profess Christ before the magistrates, and for his sake incurred the loss of health, or goods, or honours, were denominated confessors. Both obtained immense veneration and influence among the Christians ; and they enjoyed prerogatives and honours which were alto- gether peculiar and extraordinary, and such as would furnish matter for a volume that would be useful in various respects. These prerogatives were undoubtedly conferred on the martyrs and confessors, to induce others more readily to encounter all evils for Christ's sake. (13) But as honours and prerogatives among men, from the defects of human nature, often be- (9) This subject is nearly exhausted by Protest., torn, iv., lib. v., Decretal., tit. i., Chr. Kortholt, Paganus Obtrectator, seu de 32. Calumniis gentilium in Christianos, in three (13) [This seems quite too philosophical books, Kilon., 1698, 4to. To which add J. an account of this matter. The early Ghris- J. Huldrich, de Calumniis gentilium in tians did not thus coldly calculate distant Christianos, Tiguri, 1744, 8vo. consequences and effects, in order to de- (10) See Arnobius, adversus Gentes. termine what place in their affections, and [and Tertullian, Apologet., c. 40. ScA/.] what rank in the church, they should give to (11) Anton. Gallonius, and Casp. Sagit- their brethren and pastors who suffered death tarius, de Cruciatibus Martyrum ; the latter for their religion. Nature, religion, and all printed at Jena, 1673, 4to ; the best edition the ties which united them to Christ, to the of the former is, Antw , 1668, 12mo. [Both church, and to one another, combined to ren- contain mixtures of the doubtful with the der these holy men and consistent Christians true : for the Acta Martyrum, now extant, venerable and lovely in their eyes ; and of cannot be relied on. Mosheim, de Reb. course to procure them a rank and privileges Chr., &c.] in the church altogether peculiar. Who- (12) See J. H. Bcehmer, Jus. Eccles. ever reads the most authentic accounts of ADVERSE EVENTS. 55 come sources of evil, so also these were frequently misapplied, and af- forded encouragement to superstition and to other evils. 11. That a great number of persons, of both sexes and of every class and rank, suffered death for the cause of Christ during the first three or four centuries, no impartial person who is acquainted with the history of those times can hesitate to believe. But since H. DodweWs attempt to invalidate this ancient opinion, (14) many have agreed with him; and have maintained that only a few actually suffered death on account of the Chris- tian religion. They have, however, met with strenuous opposers, who re- gard this opinion as derogatory to the divine power which sustained the martyrs in their conflicts. Those who take the middle path between the two,extremes, will probably come nearest to the truth. The martyrs were not so numerous as they were anciently supposed to be, and as some still account them ; but they were more numerous than Dodwell and his friends suppose them. And I apprehend, those persons will readily come into this opinion, who shall learn from the ancient writers that even in the most calamitous times of the church, not all Christians everywhere were perse- cuted and arraigned for trial. Persons in the humbler conditions of life were generally more safe ; while greater danger impended over the rich (whose wealth had charms for the judges), and over the learned, the doc- tors and heads of churches, and over the eloquent and influential. (15) 12. The words and actions of the martyrs, from the time of their ar- rest till their last moments, were carefully committed to writing, in order to be read over on certain days for the edification of their successors in the church. But a few only of these Act a Martyrum have reached us ;(16) much the greater part of them having been committed to the flames, during the ten years' war of Diocletian against the Christians ; for, at that time, the emperor required all the books and papers of Christians to be collect- ed and burned. From the eighth century onward, both the Greeks and the Latins took great pains to compile lives of the ancient martyrs ; but the more discerning, even in the Romish church, now admit, that the greater part of these accounts are mere fables dressed up in a style of affected oratory. Nor is more credit due to those catalogues of saints, called Mar- tyrologies, which were either compiled by ignorant and incompetent men, or have since been much falsified. Hence, this part of ecclesiastical his- tory enjoys very little light.* 13. Nero was the first emperor that persecuted the Christians; and his cruelty was extreme. He accused those innocent people of a crime which he himself had committed, namely, that of setting fire to the city of Rome. And to make the punishment correspond with the crime, he caused the streets of the city to be illuminated, through the night, by the the ancient martyrs, of Polycarp for instance, xiv., p. 10 and 23, ed. Benedict., and many will see abundant evidence of the operation others. Mosheim, de Reb. Christ, ante C. of these causes ; but nothing of that calcu- M., p. 106.] lating policy, of which Dr. Mosheim speaks. (16) Such of them as were not wholly TV.] unworthy of credit, were collected in a mod- (14) In his noted Dissertation, de Pauci- erate sized folio, by Theod. Ruinart, Selects tate martyrum, which is the eleventh among et sincera Martyrum Acta, Amstelod., 1713. his Dissent. Cyprianicae. * [See Adrian Baillet, Discours sur (15) [See Martyrium Polycarpi, 12. 1'histoire de la vie des saints; prefixed to Acta Fructuosi, in RuinarPs Acta Martyr, his Vies des Saints, Paris, 1704, 4 tomes, sincera, p. 219. Cyprian, Epiett. v. and fol. TV.] 56 BOOK I. CENTURY I. PART I. CHAP. V. burning bodies of many of them, [whom he had sewed up alive in garments covered with pitch.] Others were put to death in a different manner. This persecution began in the middle of November, A.D. 64.(17) In the course of it, the ancients tell us, Paul and Peter suffered death at Rome : but many cannot believe the fact, because of its repugnance to chronolo- gy. (18) This persecution terminated at the death of Nero; who is well known to have been his own executioner, A.D. 68. During about four years, therefore, the Christians suffered every species of cruelty at his hands. 14. Ho w/ar the persecution under Nero extended, is not agreed among the learned. For while the greater number suppose it spread over the whole Roman empire, there are those who think it was confined to the city of Rome. The former opinion, which is the more ancient,(19) appears to us the best (17) See the two French dissertations of Alph. de Vignoles, on the Cause and the Commencement of Nero's persecution ; in Phil. Masson's Histoire critique de la Re- publique des Letters, torn, viii., p. 74-117, and torn, ix., p. 172-186. See also Toinard on Lactantius de mortibus persecutorum, p. 398. (18) Sebast. Tillemont, Histoire des Em- pereurs, torn, i., p. 564, &c., and Baratier, de Successione Romanor. Pontiff, cap. v.,p. 60. [All agree that both these apostles, Paul and Peter, were put to death in the reign of Nero: but in respect to the year and the place, there is controversy. Many question whether both suffered at the same time. They believe, according to the testimony of Prudentius, (Peristephan. de passione bea- tor. Apostolor. Petri et Pauli, v. 5, 6) that Peter suffered one year earlier than Paul; but on the same day. As to the day on which Paul suffered, some make it the 29th of June ; and others, the 23d of February. The year is, by some, determined to A.D. 64 ; so von Henschen, Acta Sanctor. April., torn. i. D. Papebroch, Propylaeum ad Acta S. May ; by others, A.D. 65 ; so Anton. Pa- gi, Critica. in Annal. Baron., torn, i., p. 51, 52 ; and again by others A.D. 67 ; so Baum- garien ; and lastly by others A.D. 68 ; so John Pearson, Annales Paulini, p. 25, which is the most probable opinion. The day, when both apostles suffered, was probably the 22d of February. That Paul was beheaded du- ring Nero's persecution, is supported by the testimony of Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., 1. ii., c. 25, and of Lactantius, de Morte Persecuto- rum, cap. ii., p. 1375, ed. Biinemann. As to the place, an obscure writer, Ulr. Velenus, in a book, Quo Petrus Romam non venisse demonstratur, 1660, 4to, p. 40, denies that either apostle suffered at Rome ; and en- deavours to prove that their martyrdom waa at Jerusalem : which also Bale maintains in regard to Peter, Centur. Scriptor. Britan., p. 16. This opinion is confuted by various writers, who are mentioned in Watch's Bib- lioth. theol. Selecta, torn, iii., p. 458. On this whole subject, consult W. Cave, Life of Paul, c. vii., $ 9, p. 424 of his Antiq. Apostol. Tillemont, Mem. pour servir a Thistoire de 1'Eglise, torn, i., pt. ii., note 42, p. 768, and Fabricius, Codex Apocryph. N. T., pt. i., p. 450. On the fabulous circum- stances related of Paul's martyrdom, see J. G. Watch's Hist. Eccles. N. T., p. 277. Schl. On the chronology of Paul's life and labours, see Witsii Meletemata Leidensia, 1703, 4to. Pearson, Annales Paul., the In- troductions to the N. T. by Eichhorn, Ber- tholt, Horne, &c., and other works referred to in Winer's Biblischesrealw, art. Paul. Tr.] (19) The first who rejected the common, opinion, so far as I know, was Fran. Bald- win, [an eminent civilian of Paris, who died A.D. 1573,] in his Comment, ad edicta Im- perator. in Christianos, p. 27, 28. After him, Jo. Launoi, in Diss. qua Sulpitii Severi locus de prima martyrum Gallise epocha vin- dicatur, $ 1, p. 139, 140, torn, ii., pt. i. of his works. Still more learned, and on the same side, was Henry Dodwell, Diss. xi., in his Dissertt. Cyprianicae, $ xiii., p. 59, whom many others have followed ; [among whom are Jo. le Clerc, Histor. Eccles. N. Test., century i., p. 428. Joach. Lange, Hist. Eccles., p. 360. Nicol. Gurtler, Syst. the- ol. prophet., p. 491. Baumgarlen, Auszug der Kirchengesch., vol. i., p. 376 (who sup- poses the persecution extended only so far as the jurisdiction of the praetorian prefect) ; D. Sender, Sel. Capita. Hist. Eccles., torn, i., p. 24. (Also J. E. C. Schmidt, Hand- buch der christl. Kirchengesch., vol. i., p. 120; and A. Neander, Algem. Gesch. d. christl. Kirche, vol. i., pt. i., p. 137. Tr.) The arguments for both opinions are stated in /. G. Walch, Hist. Eccles., p. 548, who thinks the question to be altogether doubtful. Jablontky was of the same sentiment, Insti- ADVERSE EVENTS. 57 supported. We do not hesitate to join with those who think, that public laws were then enacted against the whole body of Christians, and were sent abroad into the provinces. To this opinion we are led, among other rea- sons, by the authority of Tertullian, who clearly intimates that Nero, as well as Domitian, enacted laws against the Christians, which laws Trajan in part repealed or annulled. (20) The noted Spanish or Portuguese in- scription, in which Nero is commended for having purged the province of the new superstition, is suspected by the Spaniards themselves ; and I place no reliance on it. (21) The Christians moreover were condemned, not so much for their religion, as on the charge of having set fire to Rome.(22) But who can suppose that a religious sect, which the emperor himself charged with so great a crime, would be quietly tolerated by him beyond the limits of Rome ?(23) tutt. Historite Christ, antiq., p. 40. Schl. But see note (23) below. TV.] (20) Tertullian, Apologet., cap. iv., p. 46, edit. Havercamp. (21) This inscription may be seen in J. Gruterus, Inscriptionum, torn, i., p. 238, n. 9. [It is this : " Neroni, ob provinciam la- tronibus et his, qui novam generi humano su- perslitionem inculcabant, purgatam." TV.] But the best Spanish writers do not venture to defend the authority of this inscription ; because it has not been seen by any one ; and Cyriac of Ancona, who first produced it, is acknowledged by all to be unworthy of credit. I will subjoin the decision of that excellent and judicious historian of Spain, Jo. de Fer- reras, Histoire generale d'Espagne, torn, i., p. 192. " I cannot refrain from remarking that Cyriac of Ancona was the first that published this inscription, and that from him all others have derived it. But as the cred- ibility of this writer is suspected, in the judg- ment of all the learned, and as not a vestige nor any recollection of this inscription re- mains, in the places where it is said to have been found, and no one knows now where to find it ; every one may form such opinion of it as he pleases." (22) See Theod. Ruinart, Praef. ad Acta Martyrum sincera et selecta, p. 31, &c. (23) [Nearly all the facts relating to this persecution, except the martyrdom of Peter and Paul, we owe to Tacitus, the Roman historian. Annals, lib. xv., c. 44. After describing the conflagration, which utterly consumed three of the fourteen wards, and spread ruin in seven others ; and likewise the efforts of Nero to sooth the indignant and miserable citizens ; he says, " But no human aid, no munificence of the prince, nor expiations of the gods, removed from him the infamy of having ordered the conflagra- tion. Therefore, to stop the clamour, Nero falsely accused and subjected to the most exquisite punishments a people hated for VOL. 1. H their crimes, called Christians. The found- er of the sect, Christ, was executed in the reign of Tiberius, by the procurator Pontius Pilate. The pernicious superstition, re- pressed for a time, burst forth again ; not only through Judea, the birthplace of the evil, but at Rome also, where every thing atrocious and base centres and is in repute. Those first seized, confessed ; then a vast multitude, detected by their means, were con- victed, not so much of the crime of burning the city, as of hatred to mankind. And in- sult was added to their torments ; for being clad in skins of wild beasts, they were torn to pieces by dogs ; or affixed to crosses to be burned, were used as lights, to dispel the darkness of night, when the day was gone. Nero devoted his gardens to the show, and held Circensian games, mixing with the rab- ble, or mounting a chariot, clad like a coach- man. Hence, though the guilty and those meriting the severest punishment, suffered ; yet compassion was excited, because they were destroyed, not for the public good, but to satisfy the cruelty of an individual." It appears from this account, that a rasl multi- tude (multitude ingens) suffered at Rome, and suffered in a most inhuman manner; that they were falsely accused, and by Nero's instigation ; not because he had any thing against them, but because they were a de- spised people, and he hoped to avert the pub- lic odium from himself. But the case was too plain ; their innocence was known, and Nero's fiendlike merriment only raised com- passion towards them, and increased the odium against him. It is clear, from this account, that the Christians, in the opinion of Tacitus, deserved to be exterminated for their religion ; yet that Nero did not proceed on this ground, but on the false charge of their having kindled the fires of Rome. Lac- tantius, then, (de Morte persecutorum, cap. ii.) erred in attributing other designs to Nero, namely, the extermination of the Christian 58 BOOK L CENTURY I. PART I. CHAP. V. 15. Nero being dead, the fury of this first war against the Christians ceased. But in the year 93 or 94, (24) a new assault was made upon, them by Domitian, an emperor little inferior to Nero in baseness of char- acter and conduct.(25) The cause of the persecution, if we give credit to Hegesippus, was the fear of losing his empire ; for the emperor had learned in some way that a person would arise from among the relatives of Christ, who would attempt a revolution, and would produce commotion in the em- pire. (26) This persecution undoubtedly was severe : but it was of short continuance, as the emperor was soon after murdered.(27) The principal religion. The commencement of this perse- supposes it began A.D. 93. Toinard, (ubi cution is determined, by the time of the con- flagration, which Tacitus says, (Annals xv., 33, 41), began the 18th of July, A.D. 65, (orxiv. Kalend. Sextiles, C. Lecanio, and M. Licinio Coss.), and lasted six days. Some time after, but in the same year, the perse- cution broke out. But how long it contin- ued is uncertain. If Paul and Peter suffer- ed in the very last year of Nero's reign, as the fathers state, (Eusebius, Chronicon ; and Jerome, de Viris illustr., c. i. and v.), the per- secution doubtless ceased, only on Nero's death. But if they suffered earlier, then we have no proof of the continuance of the per- secution so long. As to the extent of the persecution, it is wholly in the dark. If we consider simply the description of it, or the causes from which it originated, and the feel- ings of Nero towards the Christians, we have , no reason to suppose it extended beyond the city of Rome and its neighbourhood. Yet the general impression in former ages, and the belief of many in this age, make the per- secution a general one. The only argument of much plausibility for this opinion, is de- rived from a passage in Tertullian, (Apolo- get., cap. iv., p. 46, ed. Havercamp.) where he speaks of the persecuting laws of the em- pire, as being enacted by the very vilest and most odious among the emperors, and men- tions Nero as the first that " drew the sword" against the Christians ; and Domitian as the second who did so. Whence it is inferred, that Nero, as well as Domitian, must have enacted public laws against the Christians ; and, of course, that the persecution in Nero's reign must have been general, or throughout the empire. But considering the fervid, rhetorical style of Tertullian, this seems to be a slender foundation, on which to ground a conclusion that has no support from well attested facts. TV.] (24) [The precise year in which the per- secution by Domitian began, is not certain. Toinard has discussed the point, in his holes on Lactantius, de Morte Persecutorum, chap, iii. That it raged in the year 95, is stated by Eusebuis, Hist. Eccles., iii., 18, but how long before this it commenced, is not clear. Pagi (Grit, annal. Baron., torn, i., p. 85, 87), supra), A.D. 94 ; and Dodwell, (Diss. Cy- prian, xi., p. 71), A.D. 95. Mosheim, (de Reb. Christ, ante C. M.), says, A.D. 94 or 95. Tr.] (25) See Theod. Ruinart, Praef. ad Acta Martyrum, p. 32. [Thorn. Itlig, Selecta Hist. Eccles. capita, saecul. i., cap. 6, 11, p. 531. Schl.] (26) Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., 1. iii., c. 19, 20. [In this simple, unvarnished story, there is nothing difficult to be believed. It is therefore credible, that some enemy of both Jews and Christians, suggested to the em- peror that the Jews were expecting a king of David's line, who would give laws to the world ; and that the Christians likewise be- lieved that Christ would reappear and set up a splendid kingdom ; that from both these classes of people, insurrections and trouble were to be feared ; and that the tyrant, en- raged by the suggestions of the insidious foe, ordered all the posterity of David to be sought out and to be put to death ; and to prevent the Christians from making disturb- ance, he commanded them to be put under restraints, or to be punished with severity. Mosheim, de Reb. Christ., &c., p. 111.] (27) [The termination of this persecution is stated differently by the ancients. Some say that Domittan himself put an end to it be- fore his death. Hegesippus, (in Eusebius, Ecc. Hist., 1. iii., c. 20), states that Domitian having learned that there were Christians of the lineage of David, and kinsmen of Christ, still living in Palestine, had them brought to Rome, and interrogated them closely re- specting their pedigree, their wealth, and the future kingdom of Christ. And from their answers and their whole appearance, he concluded he had nothing to fear from them, and dismissed them ; and thereupon he pub- lished a decree, terminating the persecution. So likewise Tertullian, (Apologet, cap. v., p. 60), says of Domitian : " He receded from his attempt, and recalled those he had banished." But Lactantius, (de Morte per- secutorum, cap. 3), represents his acts and edicts as repealed, after his death, and that then it was the church recovered its former state. And Xiphilin, on Nerva, (Dion Cas- LEARNING AND PHILOSOPHY. 59 martyrs named, are Flavins Clemens, a consul, and his niece or wife, Fla- via Domitilla.(28) In the midst of this persecution, John the apostle, was banished to the isle of Patmos ; but whether he was first cast into a cal- dron of boiling oil by order of the emperor, and came out alive and unhurt, though asserted by Tertullian and others, has appeared to many to be un- certain.^) PART II. THE INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. CHAPTER I. THE STATE OF LEARNING AJfD PHILOSOPHY. 1) 1. The State of Philosophy in the East, little known. 2. Philosophy of the Persians, Chaldeans, and Arabians. <J 3. Jewish and Egyptian Wisdom. 4. The proper Orien- tal Philosophy. 5. Its first Principles. 6. Its Patrons not agreed in their Opinions. 7. Its Precepts concerning God. 8. Concerning the Origin of the "World. $9. Concerning Human Souls. $ 10. The Jewish Philosophy. 5 11. Grecian Learn- ing. 12. Roman Learning and Philosophy. <J 13. Attention to Science in other Nations. 1. IF it were known what opinions were advanced and maintained by the men of most intelligence among the Oriental nations, at the time when the Christian religion began to enlighten mankind, many things in the early history of the church might be more fully and more accurately explained. But, only a few fragments of Oriental philosophy, as all know, have come down to us ; and those which have reached us, still need the labours of a learned man to collect them all together, to arrange them properly and ex- pound them wisely.(l) 2. The prevailing system in Persia, as is well known, was that of the Magi, who held to two principles or deities, governing the universe, the sius, 1. Ixviii., c. 1, abridged by Xiphilin), the Rev. Mr. Heumann and myself, in my says, that " Nerva recalled those banished Syntagma Diss. ad Historiam eccles. perti- for impiety," i. e., the Christians. Perhaps nentium, torn, i., p. 497-546. [The whole Domitian published an edict favourable to controversy seems to rest on a passage in the Christians a little before his death, the Tertullian, de Prescript, adv. haeret., c. 36, benefits of which they began to enjoy, first, as the only original authority for the story, after his decease. S'cA/.] which is in itself improbable. All the more (28) [See Euscbius, Hist. Eccl., 1. iii., c. discerning, of late, either doubt or deny the 18, and Chronicon, ann. 95. Some have sup- truth of the story. TV.] posed, that the wife and the niece of Clem- (1) There is extant an English work of ens both had the same name ; and that the Thomas Stanley, on the history of Oriental first was banished to the island Pandataria, philosophy, which J. le Clerc translated into near Italy ; and the second, to another island Latin. But that learned man has left the called Pontia. Si-c Tillemont, Mem. pour field of Oriental philosophy not to be gleaned servir al'histoire dc Peglise, torn, ii., p. 124, or.ly, but to be reaped by others. He is &c., and Flcury, History of the church, lib. much inferior both in genius and erudition ii., 52. SchL] to Ja. Brucker ; whose history of philosophy (29) See the amicable discussion between should by all means be consulted. 60 BOOK I. CENTURY I. PART II. CHAP I. one good, the other evil. The followers of this system however were not agreed, in respect to the precise nature of these first principles.(2) Nev- ertheless this doctrine spread over no small portion of Asia and Africa, and particularly over Chaldea, Assyria, Syria, and Egypt, though under differ- ent modifications ; nor did it leave the Jews untinctured with its princi- ples. (3) The Arabians of that and the subsequent ages, were more remarka- ble for strength and courage than for intellectual culture ; for they attained to no celebrity for learning, before the times of Mohammed, This their own writers do not deny. (4) 3. The Indians, from the earliest times, were much famed for their love of profound knowledge. Of their philosophical tenets, we could per- haps form an opinion at the present day, if their very ancient sacred book which they denominate Veda or the law, were brought to light, and trans- lated into some language better known. The accounts given by travellers among the Indians concerning this book, are so contradictory and fluctua- ting, that we must wait for further information. (5) The Egyptians were (2) See Tho. Hyde, Historia religionis veterum Persarum, Oxon., 1700, 4to, a very learned work, but ill digested, and full of improbable conjectures. (3) See Jo. Christoph. Wolf, Manichzis- mus ante Manichaeos, Hamb., 1707, 8vo, also Mosheim, Notes on CudwortKs Intel- lectual System, p. 328, 423, &c. (4) See Abulpharajus, de Moribus Ara- bum, p. 6, published by Pocock. (5) I have recently learned, that this most desirable book has been obtained by some French Jesuits residing in India ; and that it has been, or will be, deposited in the king of France's library. See Lettre du P. Cal- mette a M. de Cartigny, dans les Lettres edifiantes et Curieuses des Miss. Etrangeres, xxi., Recueil, p. 455, &c., and xxiii., Rec., p. 161. [The Hindoo literature and theol- ogy were little known, when Dr. Mosheim wrote. Since that time, and especially since the establishment of the Asiatic Soci- ety at Calcutta, by Sir Wm. Jones, in 1793, this field of knowledge has been explored with equal industry and success. See the Asiatic Researches, 13 vols. 4to ; Sir Wm. Jones's Works, 6 vols. 4to ; Rev. Wm. Ward's View of the Hist., &c., of the Hin- doos, 3 vols. 8vo, and numerous other works. But it is not true, that the Vedas have been brought to Europe, as Dr. Mo- sheim had been informed. On the contrary, Mr. Holbrooke, in the 8th vol. of the Asiatic Res., describes them as not worth transla- ting. He says : " They are too voluminous for a complete translation of the whole ; and what they contain would hardly reward the labour of the reader, much less that of the translator." The Vedas are four in number, called Rig Veda, Yajush Veda, Saman Veda, and Alharvan Veda. The first consists of 5 sections, in 10,000 verses ; the second is di- vided into 80 sections, in 9000 verses ; the third consists of 1000 sections, and 3000 verses ; the fourth, of nine sections, with subdivisions, and 6000 verses. Besides the four Vedas, the Hindoos have 14 other sa- cred books of later date and inferior author- ity ; viz., four Upavedas, six Angas, and four Upangas. All these were supposed to be the productions of divine persons, and to contain all true knowledge, secular as well as sacred. The commentaries on these books, the compilations from them, and di- gests of their principles, are almost innu- merable, and constitute the whole encyclo- paedia of the Hindoos. Several of these have been translated into European lan- guages ; namely, L'Ezour- Vcdam, or ancien commentaire du Vedam, &c., a Yverdon, 1778, 2 vols. 12mo. The Shaguat-Geeta, or Dialogues of Kreeshna and Arjoon, in eighteen lectures, with notes by Cha. Wil- kins, Lond., 1785, 4to. Bagavadam, ou doctrine divine, ouvrage Indien canonique sur PEtre supreme, les dieux, les geans, les hommes, les diverses parties de 1'univers, (by Foucher d' Obsonville), a Paris, 1788, 8vo. Oupnekhut, h. e. Decretum legen- dum, opus ipsa in India rarissimum, conti- nens antiquam et arcanam, seu theolog. et philosoph doctrinam, e quatuor sacris In- dorum libris excerptam e Persico idio- mate in Latinum versum studio et opera, Anquetil du Perron, 1801-2, 2 vols. 4to. Institutes of Hindoo Law, or the ordinances of Menu, translated by Sir Wm. Jones, Lond., 1796, 8vo. The last is supposed to follow next after the Vedas in age. Sir Wm. Jones thinks it was, most probably, compiled about 880 years before Christ, and the Vedas about 300 years earlier. The other sacred books of the Hindoos are much later ; yet all are now ancient. From the LEARNING AND PHILOSOPHY. 61 unquestionably divided into various sects, disagreeing in opinion ;(6) so that it is a vain attempt which some have made, to reduce the philosophy of this people to one system. $ 4. But of all the different systems of philosophy that were received in Asia and in a part of Africa in the age of our Saviour, none was so detri- mental to the Christian church, as that which was styled yvtiois or science ; i. e., the way to the knowledge of the true God ; and which we have above called the Oriental philosophy, in order to distinguish it from the Grecian. For from this school issued the leaders and founders of those sects, which during the three first centuries disturbed and troubled the Christian church. They endeavoured to accommodate the simple and pure doctrines of Chris- tianity to the tenets of their philosophy ; and in doing so, they produced various fantastic and strange notions, and obtruded upon their followers systems of doctrine which were in part ludicrous, and in part marvellously obscure and intricate. The ancient Greek and Latin fathers, who contend- ed against these sects, supposed indeed that their sentiments were derived from P~la t to ; but those good men, being acquainted with no philosophy but the Grecian, and ignorant of everything oriental, were deceived by the resemblance between some of the doctrines of Plato and those embraced by these sects. Whoever compares the Platonic philosophy carefully with the Gnostic, will readily see that they are widely different.(7) (6) [See Dr. Mosheim's notes on Cud- worth's Intellectual System, torn. i.,p. 415.] (7) [Dr. Mosheim in this and the four fol- lowing sections describes an Oriental philos- ophy, the supposed parent of the Gnostic systems, as if its existence was universally admitted, and its character well understood. Yet the system here described is of his own formation ; being such a system as must have existed, according to his judgment, in order to account for the Gnosticism of the early ages. In his Comment, de Rebus Christ., &c., p. 19-21, and in his Diss. de Causis suppositorum librorum inter Chris- tianos Saeculi pritni et secundi, $ 3-6, (inter Dissertt. ad Hist. Eccles. pertinentes, vol. i., p. 223-232), he confesses, that he has lit- tle evidence, except the necessity of the supposition, for the existence of this philos- ophy. He also admits, that the fathers knew nothing of it ; and he might have added, that they testify that Gnosticism had no exist- ence till the days of Adrian, in the second century. Since Dr. Mosheim wrote, some have believed with him ; others have re- jected his hypothesis altogether ; and oth- ers again have taken a middle course, which is probably the nearest to the truth. These last suppose, that the Jews and the Greeks of Asia and Egypt, imbibed some- thing of the spirit common to most, of the Asiatic wise men, and which shows itself in the Braminic, the Zoroastrian, and the Sufi or Persian speculations ; namely, a disposi- tion to indulge the imagination, and to de- pend on contemplation rather than ratiocina- similarity of views between the Hindoo philosophers and those of Greece, it has been thought, that they must have had some intercourse, or that one borrowed from the other. The ideas of the fathers in the Christian church, and of some moderns, would make the Greeks indebted to the Orientals but Christoph. Meiners, (Histo- ria doctrinae de uno Deo), and others, would reverse the stream of philosophic knowledge, by supposing it followed the march of Alex- ander's army from Greece to India. This intercourse between the Indians and the Greeks seems not to have been of long con- tinuance. If it commenced with Alexan- der's Indian expedition, it can scarcely have lasted 80 years ; for the conquest of Media, Persia, and Babylonia, by the Parthians about 250 years before Christ, and the es- tablishment of their empire in those coun- tries, formed a strong barrier to all further intercourse ; and the subversion of the king- dom of the Seleucidae by the Romans, B.C. 65, must be suppdsed to be the utmost lim- its to which it could extend. If we consider the nourishing state of the Grecian philoso- phy before the Asiatic conquests of Alexan- der, and the silence of the western philoso- phers respecting their intercourse with India during the period supposed, it would seem more probable, that the Indian philosophy was derived from the Grecian, than the latter from the former. It is to be hoped, this sub- ject will receive more light from the investi- gations which are going forward with such success in the present age. Tr.] 62 BOOK I. CENTURY I. PART II. CHAP. I. 5. The first principles of this philosophy seem to have been dictated by reason itself. For its author undoubtedly thus reasoned: There is much evil in the world ; and men are hurried on as by the instinct of na- ture, to what reason condemns. Yet that eternal Mind, from whom all other spirits emanated, is doubtless perfectly free from evil, or is infinitely good and beneficent. Hence the source of the evils with which the world abounds, must be something external to the Deity. But there is nothing external to him, except what is material : and therefore matter is to be re- garded as the source and origin of all evil and all vice. From these prin- ciples the conclusion was, that matter existed eternally, and independently of God ; and that it received its present form and organization, not from the will or fiat of God, but from the operations of some being of a nature inferior to God ; in other words, that the world and the human race came from the forming hand, not of the Supreme Deity, but of one of inferior ca- pacity and perfections. For who can believe that the supreme God, who is infinitely removed from all evil, would mould and fashion matter which is in its nature evil and corrupt, and would impart to it any portion of his rich gifts ? But attempting to go farther, and to explain how, or by what ac- cident or operator, that rude and malignant substance, called matter, be- came so skilfully arranged and organized ; and especially, how souls of celestial origin became joined with bodies composed of it, both reason and common sense forsook them. They therefore resorted to their imagina- tive faculty, or to mere fables, in order to explain the origin of the world and of mankind. 6. But as those, who undertake to explain what is obscure and diffi- cult of solution by means of mere conjecture, can very seldom agree ; so those who attempted to solve this difficulty, split into various sects. Some conceived there must be two eternal first principles, the one presiding over tion, as the means of arriving at truth. Something of this spirit appears also in the Platonic philosophy, especially in the later or Eclectic Platonism. Besides, the Asiat- ics in all ages, like the early Grecian philos- ophers, were much inclined to limit their philosophical speculations to cosmogony ; and likewise to adopt, as the supposed first or grand operative cause, a physical rather than an intelligent principle ; or, in other words, to attribute the origin of all things to generation, vegetation, emanation, attrac- tion, or some such natural operation, rather than to the contrivance and the fiat of an almighty and intelligent Spirit. Hence the Jews and some early Christian sects, with- out embracing the peculiar tenets of the Magi or of any other philosophers, oriental or occidental, yet imbibing the Asiatic spir- it of searching after wisdom by means of contemplation rather than ratiocination, and at the same time leaning towards the su- premacy of physical causes, were led to frame systems of philosophical divinity alto- gether peculiar. Such was, probably, the or- igin of the Jewish Kabbalistic system ; and also of those multifarious systems which bore the common name of Gnosticism. Elaborate attempts have been made to trace these systems back to some species of pa- gan philosophy as their legitimate source ; but with very little success. They seem to have originated in the speculations of Jews and Christians, who indulged their own fan- cies, and explained the principles of revealed religion in a manner peculiar to themselves. That Gnosticism, as such, had no existence in the first century, and that it is in vain sought for in the N. Testament, appears to be satisfactorily proved by C. C. Tittmann, Tractatus de vestigiis Gnosticorum in N. T. frustra quaesitis, Lips., 1773, p. 253, 12mo. That, notwithstanding many points of re- semblance can be traced, it is materially dif- ferent from any system of either Grecian or Oriental philosophy, it is the object of F. Ant. Lewald to show, Comment, ad histo- riam, &c., de doctrina Gnostica, Heidelb., 1818, p. 157, 12mo. For very ingenious and profound speculations on the subject generally, see Aug. Neandcr, Allgem. Gesch. der christl. Religion und Kirche, vol. i., pt. ii., p. 627-670. TV.] LEARNING AND PHILOSOPHY. 63 light, the other over matter ; and by the contests between these principles, they accounted for the mixture of good and evil in our world. Others as- signed to matter, not an eternal lord, but an architect merely ; and they supposed, that some one of those immortal beings whom God produced from himself, was induced by some casual event to attempt the reduction of matter, which lay remote from the residence of God, into some kind of order, and moreover to fabricate men. Others again, imagined a sort of Triumvirate ; for they distinguished the Supreme Deity from the prince of matter and the author of all evil on the one hand, and from the architect and builder of the world on the other. When these three systems came to be dilated and explained, new controversies unavoidably arose, and numerous divisions followed ; as might be expected from the nature of the case, and as the history of those Christian sects which followed this phi- losophy, expressly declares. ty 7. Yet, as all these sects set out upon one and the same first prin- ciple, their disagreements did not prevent their holding certain doctrines and opinions in common, respecting God, the world, mankind, and some other points. They all, therefore, maintained the existence from eternity of a Being, full of goodness, wisdom, and the other virtues, of whom no mortal can form a complete idea; a Being, who is the purest light, and is diffused through that boundless space to which they gave the Greek appellation of Plerbma ; that this eternal and most perfect Being, after existing alone and in absolute repose during an infinite period, produced out of himself two spirits, of different sexes, and both perfect resemblances of their parent ; that from the marriage of these two spirits, others of a similar nature ori- ginated ; that successive generations ensued ; and thus, in process of time, a celestial family was formed in the Plerdma. This divine progeny, being im- mortal and unchangeable in their nature, these philosophers were disposed to call 'Aitiveg , Aeons ; a term which signifies eternal, or beyond the in- fluence of time and its vicissitudes. (8) But how numerous these Aeons were, was a subject of controversy among them. $ 8. Beyond the region of light where God and his family dwell, exists a rude and unformed mass of matter, heaving itself continually in wild commotion. This mass, one of the celestial family, either acci- dentally wandering beyond the Pleroma at a certain time, or sent out by the Deity, first reduced to order and beauty, and then peopled it with human beings and with animals of different species, and finally endowed (8) The word aiuv properly signifies an of the day; like an hour I must exist, and infinite, or at least indefinite duration, and then pass away. It was therefore not a is opposed to a finite or a temporary duration, novel application of the term aiuv by the But by metonomy, it was used to designate Gnostics, to use it as the designation of a immutable beings who exist for ever. It celestial and immortal being. And even the was so used, even by the Greek philosophers, fathers of the ancient church apply the term about the commencement of the Christian to angels, both good and bad. That all who era ; as appears from a passage in Arrian, were addicted to the Oriental philosophy, Diss. Epictet., lib. ii., 5, where aiuv is whether Greeks or not, used the term in this opposed to uvdpuirof or to a frail, changea- sense, appears from a passage in Manes, the ble being. 'On yap hfu aiuv dW wv&pu- Persian, who, as Avgustine testifies, called TTOf, ftepof ruv TTUVTUV, uf upa tyucpflf, kv- the celestial beings uiuvef, or, as Augustine arf/vai fie iel of TTJV upav, KCU Trapeh-d-elv translates it, scecula. Some have supposed cif upav. I am not an Aeon, (an eternal it so used even in the New Test., e. g., and unchangeable being), but a man; and Ephes. ii., 2, and Heb. i., 2. Moshcim, de a part of the universe, as an hour is a part Reb. Christ, ante C. M., p. 30.] 64 BOOK I. CENTURY I. PART II. CHAP. I. and enriched it with some portions of the celestial light or substance. This builder of the world, who was distinct from the supreme God, they called the Demiurge, He is a being, who, though possessed of many shining qualities, is arrogant in his nature, and much inclined to domina- tion. He therefore claims absolute authority over -the new world he has built, as being properly his right, to the exclusion altogether of the supreme God ; and he requires of mankind, to pay divine honours exclusively to him, and to his associates. 9. Man is composed of a terrestrial, and therefore a vicious body ; and of a celestial soul, which is in some sense a particle of the Deity himself. The nobler part, the soul, is miserably oppressed by the body, which is the seat of base lusts ; for it is not only drawn away by it from the knowledge and worship of the true God, and induced to give homage and reverence to the Demiurge and his associates, but it is likewise filled and polluted with the love of terrestrial objects and of sensual pleasures. From this wretched bondage, God labours to rescue his offspring, in vari- ous ways ; and especially by the messengers whom he often sends to them. But the Demiurge and his associates, eager to retain their power, resist in all possible ways the divine purpose of recalling souls back to himself, and labour with great pains to obscure and efface all knowledge of the supreme Deity. In this state of conflict, such souls as renounce the framers and rulers of the* world, and, aspiring after God their parent, sup- press the emotions excited by depraved matter, will when freed from the body ascend immediately to the Pleroma : while those which continue in the bondage of superstition and of corrupt matter, must pass into other bodies, till they shall awake from this sinful lethargy. Yet God will ulti- mately prevail ; and having restored to liberty most of the souls now im- prisoned in bodies, he will dissolve the fabric of the world ; and then the primitive tranquillity will return, and God will reign with the happy spirits in undisturbed felicity to all eternity. 10. The state of learning and especially of philosophy among the Jews, is manifest from what ha,s already been said respecting the condition of that nation. It appears from the books of the New Testament, that the recondite science which they called Kabbala, was even then taught and inculcated by not a few among them. This science was in many respects, very similar to that philosophy which we have called Oriental; or rather, it is this philosophy itself, accommodated to the Jewish religion, and tem- pered with some mixture of truth. Nor were the Jews, at that time, wholly ignorant of the doctrines of the Grecian sages ; for from the days of Alexander the Great, they had incorporated some of them into their re- ligion. Of the opinions which they had adopted from the Chaldeans, the Egyptians, and the Syrians, I shall say nothing. (9) $ 11. The Greeks are regarded by most writers, as continuing to hold the first rank in learning and philosophy. There were among them at that time, and especially at Athens, acute and eloquent men, who taught the precepts of philosophy, as held by the ancient sects founded by Plato, Aristotle, Zeno, and Epicurus ; and who also instructed youth in the prin- (9) See J. F. Buddeus, Introductio in ca, torn, iii., [but especially, Brucker's Hist, historian* philos. Hebraeorum ; and the wri- crit. philos., torn, ii., period ii., pt. i., 1. ii., ters named by Wolfius, Bibliotheca Hebrai- c. i., p. 652. Schl.] LEARNING AND PHILOSOPHY. 65 ciples of eloquence, and in the liberal arts. Hence those who were eager for learning, resorted to Greece from all quarters. At Alexandria in Egypt, likewise, Grecian philosophers and rhetoricians were no less numerous ; so that thither also, there was a general resort of scholars, as to a literary market. ^12. Among the Romans of this age, every branch of learning and science was cultivated. The children of good families were, from their earliest years, instructed carefully in Grecian literature and eloquence; they next applied themselves to philosophy and the civil law ; and at last repaired to Greece, to complete their education. (10) Among the sects of philosophers, none were more acceptable to the Romans than the Epicu- reans and Academics, whom the leading men followed in great numbers, in order to indulge themselves in a life of pleasure without fear or remorse. So long as Augustus reigned, the cultivation of the fine arts was held in high honour. But after his death, the succeeding emperors being more intent on the arts of war than those of peace, these studies gradually sunk into neglect. $ 13. The other nations, as the Germans, Celtes, and Britains, were certainly not destitute of men distinguished for their genius and acumen. In Gaul, the inhabitants of Marseilles had long been much famed for their attention to learning :( 1 1) and they had, doubtless, diffused some knowledge among the neighbouring tribes. Among the Celtes, the Druids who were priests, philosophers, and legislators, were renowned for their wisdom ; but the accounts of them now extant, are not sufficient to acquaint us with the nature of their philosophy. (12) The Romans moreover introduced literature and philosophy into all the countries which they brought under their subjection, for the purpose of softening their savage tempers, and promoting their civilization.(13) (10) See Paganini Gaudentii, liber de Germains par Sim. Pelloutier, augmente Philosophiae apud Romanes initio et pro- par M. de Chiniac, Paris, 1771, 8 vols. gressu, in the 3d vol. of the Nova variorum 12ino, and 2 vols. 4to ; also Freret, Obss. sur scriptorum collectio, Halle, 1747, 8vo, 2d la nature et les dogmes de la relig. Gau- edition. loise ; in the Histoire de 1'Acad. des In- (11) See the Histoire litteraire de la scrip., tome xviii. ; and his Obss. sur la relig. France, par des Religieux Benedictins, Diss. des Gaulois, &c., in the Memoires de Litte- prelim., p. 42, &c. rature, tires des registres de 1'Acad. des In- (12) Ja. Martini, Rolipion des Gaulois, script., tome xxiv., Paris, 1756. Also the liv. i., cap. 21, p. 175, and various others, Introductory part of Alsatia lilustrata au- who have written concerning the Druids, tore J. Dan. Schocpflino, torn, i., $ 96, [This work of Martin is said to be far info- Colmar, 1751, fol. TV.] rior to the following; viz., Histoire des (13) Juvenal, Satyra xv., 110-113. Celtes et particulierement des Gaulois et des VOL. I. I GO BOOK I. CENTURY I. PART II. CHAP. II. CHAPTER II. HISTORY OF THE TEACHERS, AND OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH, $ 1. Necessity of Teachers in the Church. 2. Extraordinary Teachers. $3. Author- ity of the Apostles. 4. The seventy Disciples. 5. Christ nowhere determined the Form of his Church. Constitution of the Church of Jerusalem. 6. Rights of the People. Contributions for the Public Expense. 7. Equality of the Members. Rites of Initiation. Catechumens and the Faithful. 8. Order of Rulers. Presbyters. $ 9. Prophets. 10. Deacons of the Church at Jerusalem. Deaconesses. 11, Bishops. 12. Character of Episcopacy in this Century. $ 13. Origin of Dioceses,, and rural Bishops. 14. Whether there were Councils and Metropolitans in the first Century. 15. The principal Writers ; the Apostles. 16. Time of Completion of the Canon. 1) 17. Apocryphal Writings and Pseudepigrapha. <J 18. Clemens Roma- mis. 19. Writings falsely ascribed to him. 20. Ignatius of Antioch. 21. Pol- ycarp, Barnabas, Hernias. 22. Character of the Apostolic Fathers. 1. As it was the design of our Saviour, to gather a church from among all nations, and one which should continue through all ages, the nature of the case required him first to appoint extraordinary teachers, who should be his ambassadors to mankind, and everywhere collect societies of Chris- tians ; and then, that he should cause to be placed in these societies ordi- nary teachers, and interpreters of his will, who should repeat and enforce the doctrines taught by the extraordinary teachers, and keep the people steadfast in their faith and practice. For any religion will gradually be corrupted, and become extinct, unless there are persons continually at hand, who shall explain and inculcate it. 2. The extraordinary teachers, whom Christ employed in setting up his kingdom, were those intimate friends of his whom the Scriptures de- nominate apostles ; and those seventy disciples of whom mention was made above. To these, I apprehend, must be added those who are called evan- gelists ; that is, as I suppose, those who were either sent forth to instruct the people by the apostles, or who of their own accord, forsaking other employments, assumed the office of promulgating the truths which Christ taught. (1) And to these, we must further add those, to whom in the in- fancy of the church, God imparted ability to speak in foreign languages which they had never learned. For he on whom the divine goodness con- ferred the gift of tongues, ought in my judgment, to infer from this gift, that God designed to employ his ministry in propagating the Christian re- ligion.^) 3. Many have undertaken to write the history of the apostles, a his- tory full of fables, doubts, and difficulties, if we pursue it farther than the books of the N. Test., and the most ancient ecclesiastical writers are our guide. (3) An apostle was a man who was divinely instructed; and who (1) Ephes. iv., 11. See Eusebius, Hist, troductio ad Historiam eccles., cap. i., p. 2, eccles., lib. iii., c. 37. and by J. Fr. Buddeus, de Ecclesia Apos- (2) 1 Corinth, xiv., 22, &c. tolica, p. 673, &c. [Some notices of their (3) Writers of the lives of the apostles, lives are given above, in notes (8) and (9), are enumerated by Casp. Sagittarius, In- p. 47. TV.] CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 67 was invested with the power of making laws, of punishing the guilty and wicked when there was occasion, and of working miracles when they were necessary ; and who was sent by Christ himself, to make known to man- kind the divine pleasure and the way of salvation, to separate those who obeyed the divine commands from all others, and to unite them in the bonds of a religious society. (4) 4. Our knowledge of the seventy disciples of Christ, is still more im- perfect than that of the apostles ; for they are but once mentioned in the N. Test., Luke x., 1. Catalogues of them, indeed, are extant ; but these being fabricated by the Greeks in the middle ages, have little or no au- thority or credibility. Their mission was, as appears from the words used by Luke, solely to the Jewish nation. Yet it is very probable, that after the Saviour's ascension to heaven, they performed the duties of evangelists ; and that they taught in various countries, the way of salvation which they had learned from Christ. (5) 5. As to the external form of the church, and the mode of governing it, neither Christ himself nor his apostles gave any express precepts. We are therefore to understand, that this matter is left chiefly to be regulated as circumstances from time to time may require, and as the discretion of civil and ecclesiastical rulers shall judge expedient. (6) If however what (4) See Fred. Spanhcim, de Apostolis et Apostolatu, torn, ii., Opp., p. 289, &c. In ascribiii r powers to the apostles, I have proceeded considerately, and as I think, on good grounds. I am aware that eminent men at this day, deny them this power ; but perhaps they differ from me, more in words than in reality. [Dr. Mo- shcim founded his opinion on Matt, x., 20 ; John xiii., 20 ; Luke x., 16 ; 1 Tim. iii., 1 ; 1 Cor. xi., 34; xiv., 34; and Titus i., 5. See his Instil, hist. Christ, majores, p. 158, &c. Schl.] (5) Catalogues of the seventy disciples are extant, subjoined to the libri iii. de vita et morte Mosis, elucidated by Gilbert Gaul- min; and again published by J. A. Fabri- cius, Bibliotheca Grseca, p. 474. [See an account of these'catalogues in note (5), p. 43, above. Tr.] (6) [" Those who imagine that Christ himself, or the apostles by his direction and authority, appointed a certain fixed form of church government, are not agreed what that form was. The principal opinions that have been adopted upon this head, may be reduced to the four following. The first is, that of the Roman Catholics, who maintain that Christ's intention and appointment was, that his followers should be collected into one sacral empire, subjected to the government of St. Peter and his successors, and divided, like the kingdoms of this world, into several provinces ; that, in consequence thereof, Peter fixed the seat of ecclesiastical domin- ion at Route, but afterward, to alleviate the burden of his office, divided the church into three greater provinces, according to the di- vision of the world at that time, and ap- pointed a person to preside in each, who was dignified with the title of patriarch; that the European patriarch resided at Rome, the Asiatic at Antioch, and the African at Alex- andria ; that the bishops of each province, among whom there were various ranks, were to reverence the authority of their respect- ive patriarchs, and that both bishops and pa- triarchs were to be passively subject to the supreme dominion of the Roman pontiff. See Leo Allatius, de perpetua consensu Eccles. Orient, et Occidentalis, lib. i., cap. ii., and Morin, Exercitat. ecclesiast., lib. i., exerc. i. This romantic account scarcely deserves a serious refutation. The second opinion concerning the government of the church, makes no mention of a supreme head, or of patriarchs constituted by divine authority ; but it supposes that the apostles divided the Roman empire into as many ec- clesiastical provinces as there were secular or civil ones ; that the metropolitan bishop, i. e., the prelate who resided in the capital city of each province, presided over the clergy of that province, and that the other bishops were subject to his authority. This opinion has been adopted by some of the most learned of the Romish church ; (Petrus de Marca, De concord, sacerd. et imperil, lib. vi., cap. i. Morm, Exerc. Eccles., lib. i., exerc. xviii., and Pagi, Cntica in Annal Baronii, ad. ann. 37, torn, i., p. 29), and ha* also been favoured by some of the most em- inent British divines ; (Hammond, Diss. de Episcop. Beverege, Cod. Canon, vet. EC- 68 BOOK I. CENTURY I. PART II. CHAP. II. no Christian can doubt, the apostles of Jesus Christ acted by a divine com- mand and guidance, then that form of the primitive churches which they derived from the church of Jerusalem, erected and organized by the apos- tles themselves, must be accounted divine: but still it will not follow that this form of the church was to be perpetual, and unalterable. In those primitive times, each Christian church was composed of the people, the pre- siding officers, and the assistants or deacons.(7) These must be the com- ponent parts of every society. The principal voice was that of the people, or of the whole body of Christians ; for even the apostles themselves incul- cated by their example, that nothing of any moment was to be done or de- termined on, but with the knowledge and consent of the brotherhood, Acts i., 15 ; vi., 3 ; xv., 4 ; xxi., 22. And this mode of proceeding, both prudence and necessity required, in those early times. 6. The assembled people, therefore, elected their own rulers and teachers, or by their free consent received such as were nominated to them. They also by their suffrages rejected or confirmed the laws, that were proposed by their rulers, in their assemblies ; they excluded profligate and lapsed brethren, and restored them ; they decided the controversies and disputes that arose ; they heard and determined the causes of presbyters and deacons ; in a word, the people did everything that is proper for those in whom the supreme power of the community is vested. In return for all these rights, the people supplied the funds necessary for the support of the teachers, the deacons and the poor, for the public exigencies and for un- foreseen emergencies. These funds consisted of voluntary contributions in every species of goods, made by individuals according to their ability, at their public meetings ; and hence they were called oblations. 7. Among all members of the church of whatever class or condition, there was the most perfect equality ; which they manifested by their love- eles vindic., lib. ii., cap. v., torn. ii. Patr. all enjoy the same rank and authority, with- Apostol., and Usher, de origine Episcop. et out any sort of pre-eminence or subordina- Metropol., p. 20). Some Protestant writers tion, or distinction of rights and privileges, of note have endeavoured to prove, that it is The reader will find an ample account of not supported by sufficient evidence ; (Bos- these four different opinions with respect to nage, Hist, de PEglise, torn, i., livr. i., cap. church government, in Dr. Mosheim's larger 8. Boehmer, Annot. ad Petrum de Marca history of the first century." de concordia sacerd. et imperii, p. 143). " The truth of the matter is, that Christ, The third opinion is that of those who ac- by leaving this matter undetermined, has, of knowledge, that when the Christians began consequence, left Christian societies a dis- to multiply exceedingly, metropolitans, pa- cretionary power of modelling the govern- triarchs, and archbishops were indeed crea- ment of the church in such a manner as the ted, but only by human appointment and au- circumstantial reasons of times, places, &c. thority ; though they confess, at the same may require ; and, therefore, the wisest gov- time, that it is consonant to the orders and ernment of the church is the best and the intentions of Christ and his apostles, that most divine ; and every Christian society there should be, in every Christian church, has a right to make laws for itself ; provided one person invested with the highest authori- that these laws are consistent with charity ty, and clothed with certain rights and privile- and peace, and with the fundamental doc- ges, above the other doctors of that assembly, trines and principles of Christianity." This opinion has been embraced by many Macl.] English divines of the first rank in the learn- (7) [Eusebius, (Demonstratio Evang., 1. ed world ; and also by many in other coun- vii., c. 2), omits the deacons, unless he in- tries and communions. The f mirth and eludes them among the rulers ; for he di- last opinion, is that of the Presbyterians, vides a church into ijyafj.Eva^, TUOTOVC, and who affirm that Christ's intention was, that Ka.Tt}xov/j.fvovc, the rulers, the faithful, and the Christian doctors and ministers should catechumens. Schl.] CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 69 feasts, by their use of the appellatives brethren and sisters, and in other ways. Nor in this first age of the church, was there any distinction be- tween the initiated and the candidates for initiation. For whoever pro- fessed to regard Jesus Christ as the Saviour of the world, and to depend on him alone for salvation, was immediately baptized and admitted into the church. But in process of time, as the churches became enlarged, it was deemed advisable and necessary, to distribute the people into two classes, the faithful and the catechumens. The former were, such as had been solemnly admitted into the church by baptism ; and who might be present at all the parts of religious worship, and enjoy the right of voting in the meetings of the church. The latter, not having yet received bap- tism, were not admitted to the common prayers, nor to the sacred supper, nor to the meetings of the church. 8. The rulers of the church were denominated, sometimes presbyters or elders, a designation borrowed from the Jews, and indicative rather of the wisdom than the age of the persons ; and sometimes, also, bishops ; for it is most manifest, that both terms are promiscuously used in the N. Tes- tament of one and the same class of persons, Acts xx., 17, 28; Phil, i., 1 ; Tit. i., 5, 7; 1 Tim. iii., 1. These were men of gravity, and distin- guished for their reputation, influence, and sanctity, 1 Tim. iii., 1, &c. ; Tit. i., 5, &c. From the words of St. Paul, 1 Tim. v., 17, it has been in- ferred, that some elders instructed the people, while others served the church in other ways. But this distinction between teaching and ruling elders, if it ever existed, (which I will neither affirm nor deny), was certainly not of long continuance ; for St. Paul makes it a requisite qualification of all presbyters or bishops, that they be able to teach and instruct others, 1 Tim. iii., 2, &c.(8) 9. As there were but few among the first professors of Christianity, who were learned men and competent to instruct the rude and uninformed in divine things, it became necessary that God should raise up in various churches extraordinary teachers, who could discourse to the people on re- ligious subjects in their public assemblies, and address them in the name of God. Such were the persons, who in the New Testament are called prophets, Rom. xii., 6 ; 1 Cor. xii., 28 ; xiv., 3, 29 ; Ephes. iv., 11. The functions of these men are limited too much, by those who make it to have been their sole business to expound the Old Testament scriptures, and especially the prophetic books. (9) Whoever professed to be such a herald of God, was allowed publicly to address the people ; but there were present among the hearers divinely constituted judges, who could by in- fallible criteria, discriminate between true and false prophets. The order of prophets ceased, when the necessity for them was past. $ 10. That the church had its public servants or deacons, from its first foundation, there can be no doubt; since no association can exist without (8) See concerning the word presbyter, (9) [See Moshcim's Diss. de illis, qui Camp. Vttringa, de S\ naro<ra vetere, lib. iii., prophetae vocantur in N. T., in the 2d vol. p. i., cap. i., p. 609, and J. 'Bcncd. C/irpzov, of his Diss. ad Hist. Eccl. pertinentes, p. Exercit. in cpist. ad Hebraeos ex Philone, 125, &c. ; also Wilsius, Miscell. Sacra, p. 499. On the thing itself, or rather the torn. i. ; Koppe, Excurs. iii. in Epistolam ad persont designated by this title, see J. Fr. Ephes. ; Schleusner, Lexicon in N. Test., Buddcus, Ecclesia Apostol., cap. vi., p. 719, art. Trpo^r^f, no. 10, and Neandcr's Gesch. and Chnstoph. Matt. Pfaf, de Onginibus der PHantzung, tier christl. Kirche durch die Juris eccles., p. 49. Apostol., p. 32, 116. 2V. J 70 BOOK I. CENTURY I. PART II. CHAP. II. its servants ; and least of all, can such associations as the first Christian churches, be without them. Those young men, who carried out the corpses of Ananias and his wife, were undoubtedly the deacons of the church at Jerusalem, who were attending on the apostles and executing their com- mands, Acts v., 6. lO.(ll) These first deacons of that church were cho- sen from among the Jewish Christians born in Palestine ; and as they ap- peared to act with partiality in the distribution of alms among the native and foreign Jewish Christians, seven other deacons were chosen by order of the apostles, out of that part of the church at Jerusalem which was composed of strangers, or Jews of foreign birth, Acts vi., 1, &c. Six of these new deacons were foreign Jews, as appears from their names ; the other one was from among the proselytes ; for there was a number of pros- elytes among the first Christians of Jerusalem, and it was suitable that they should be attended to as well as the foreign Jews. The example of the church of Jerusalem, was followed by all the other churches, in obedience to the injunctions of the apostles ; and of course, they likewise appointed deacons, 1 Tim. iii., 8, 9. There were also, in many churches, and es- pecially in those of Asia, female public servants, or deaconesses ; who were respectable matrons or widows, appointed to take care of the poor, and to perform several other offices. (12) (11) Those who may be surprised, that. T should consider the young men who interred the bodies of Ananias and Sapphira, to be the deacons of the church at Jerusalem, are desired to consider, that the words veurepoi and veavianoi, young men, are not always indicative of age ; but often, both among the Greeks and Latins, indicate a function or office. For the same change is made in these words as in the word presbyter ; which every one knows is sometimes indicative of age, and sometimes merely of office. As, therefore, the word presbyter often denotes the rulers or head men of a society or associa- tion, without any regard to their age ; so also the terms young men and the younger, not unfrequently denote the servants or those that stand in waiting; because ordinarily men in the vigour of life perform this office. Nor is this use of the word foreign from the N. Testament. The Saviour himself seems to use the word vsurepoc. in this sense, Luke xxii., 26, 6 fj.eiuv kv V/J.LV, yevea'&a uc, 6 veu- repof. The word [teifav, he himself explains by qyov/nevoc., so that it is equivalent to ruler or presbyter : and instead of veurepoc, he in the next clause uses 6 diaKOvuv, which places our interpretation beyond all controversy. So that fiei^uv and veurepof are not, here, in- dicative of certain ages, but of certain offi- ces ; and the precept of Christ amounts to this : " Let not him that performs the office of a presbyter or elder among you, think himself superior to the public servants or deacons." Still more evident is the pas- sage, 1 Peter v., 5, upoiuc. veurepoi viroTa- irpeopvTEpoif. It is manifest from what goes before, that presbyter here is in- dicative of rank or office, denoting teacher or ruler in the church ; therefore its coun- terpart, veurspoc, has the same import ; and does not denote persons young in years, but the servants or deacons of the church. Pe- ter, after solemnly exhorting the presbyters not to abuse the power committed to them, turns to the deacons, and says : " And like- wise ye younger, i. e., ye deacons, despise not the orders of the presbyters, but perform cheerfully whatever they require of you." In this same sense the term is used by Luke, Acts v., 6, 10, where veurepoi or veaviaKOi are the deacons of the church at Jerusalem, the very persons whom, a little after, the Hellenists accused before the apostles of not distributing properly the contributions for the poor. I might confirm this sense of the term young men, by numerous citations from Greek and Latin writers, both sacred and profane ; but this is not the place for such demonstrations. (12) For an account of the deacons and deaconesses of the ancient churches, see Casp. Ziegler, de diaconis et diacoriissis, Wittemb., 1678, 4to. Sam,. Basnage, An- nales polit. eccles. ad ann. 35, torn, i., p. 450. Jo*. Bingham, Origincs Ecclesiast., book ii., ch. 20, [and Mosheim, de Rebus Christ, ante Constan. M., p. 118, &c., where he defends, at great length, his somewhat pe- culiar views respecting the seven deacons of the church at Jerusalem. See, concerning deacons and deaconesses, Neander's Gesch. der Pflantzung, p. 26, 27, 29, &c., 131. TV.] CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 71 $ 11. In this manner, Christians managed ecclesiastical affairs so long as their congregations were small, or not very numerous. Three or four presbyters, men of gravity and holiness, placed over those little societies, could easily proceed with harmony, and needed no head or president. But when the churches became larger, and the number of presbyters and dea- cons, as well as the amount of duties to be performed, was increased, it became necessary, that the council of presbyters should have a president, a man of distinguished gravity and prudence, who should distribute among his colleagues their several tasks, and be as it were the central point of the whole society. He was, at first, denominated the angel ; (Apocal. ii. arid iii.) (13) but afterward the bishop ; a title of Grecian derivation, and indic- ative of his principal business. It would seem that the church of Jerusa- lem, when grown very numerous, after the dispersion of the apostles among foreign nations, was the first to elect such a president ; and that other churches, in process of time, followed the example. (14) 12. But whoever supposes that the bishops of this first and golden age of the church, corresponded with the bishops of the following centuries, must blend and confound characters that are very different. For in this century and the next, a bishop had charge of a single church, which might ordinarily be contained in a private house ; nor was he its lord, but was in reality its minister or servant ; he instructed the people, conducted all parts of public worship, and attended on the sick and necessitous, in person ; and what he was unable thus to perform, he committed to the care of the pres- byters ; but without power to ordain or determine any thing, except with the concurrence of the presbyters and the brotherhood. (15) The emoluments of this singularly laborious and perilous office, were very small. For the churches had no revenues, except the voluntary contributions of the peo- ple, or the oblations ; which, moderate as they doubtless were, were divi- ded among the bishop, the presbyters, the deacons, and the poor of the church. $ 13. It was not long, however, before the extent of episcopal jurisdic- tion and power was enlarged. For the bishops who lived in the cities, either by their own labours or by those of their presbyters, gathered new churches in the neighbouring villages and hamlets ; and these churches continuing under the protection and care of the bishops by whose ministry or procurement they had received Christianity, ecclesiastical provinces were gradually formed, which the Greeks afterward denominated dioceses. The persons to whom the city bishops committed the government and in- struction of these village and rural churches, were called rural bishops, or chorepiscopi, [TT/C #wpac STTIGKOTTOI, episcopi rurales,se\i villani], i. e.,bish- (13) [The title of angel occurs only in the Jerusalem than in any other church during Apocalypse, a highly poetic book. It was the first ages, that the church of Jerusalem not, probably, the common title of the pre- must be supposed to have had bishops car- siding presbyter ; and, certainly, was not an Her than any other. Such reasoning is by dldi-r title than that of bishop, which is so no means conclusive. 7V.] often used by St. Paul in his epistles, which (15) [All that is here stated, may be were written long before the Apocalypse, clearly proved from the records of the first See Schickel' H note here. 7V.] centuries; and has been proved by Jos. (14) [Dr. Mtmhfim, de Reb. Christ, ante Jiin-Juun, Ontrines Ecclesiast. H C. M., p. 134, has a long note in which he regc, Codex Canon, primit. ecclcsiae, and argues from the traditional accounts of a others. Mutt/tcim, de Reb. Chr., &c., p. longer catalogue of bishops in the church of 136. TV.] 72 BOOK I. CENTURY I. PART II. CHAP. II. ops of the suburbs and fields. They were an intermediate class, between the bishops and the presbyters ; being inferior to the former, [because sub- ject to them], and superior to the latter, [because intrusted with discretion- ary and permanent power, and performing nearly all the functions of bish- ops].(16) 14. All the churches, in those primitive times, were independent bod- ies ; or none of them subject to the jurisdiction of any other. For though the churches which were founded by the apostles themselves, frequently had the honour shown them to be consulted in difficult and doubtful cases ; yet they had no judicial authority, no control, no power of giving laws. On the contrary, it is clear as the noonday, that all Christian churches had equal rights, and were in all respects on a footing of equality. Nor does there appear in this first century, any vestige of that consociation of the churches of the same province, which gave rise to ecclesiastical councils, and to metropolitans. But rather, as is manifest, it was not till the second century, that the custom of holding ecclesiastical councils first began in Greece, and thence extended into other provinces.(17) 15. Among the Christian doctors and ecclesiastical writers, the first rank is most clearly due to the apostles themselves, and to certain disciples of the apostles, whom God moved to write histories of the transactions of Christ and his apostles. The writings of these men are collected into one volume, and are in the hands of all who profess to be Christians. In regard to the history of these sacred books,(18) and the arguments by which their divine authority and their genuineness are evinced,(19) those authors are to be consulted who have written professedly on these subjects. 16. As to the time when and the persons by whom the books of the New Testament were collected into one body or volume, there are various opinions or rather conjectures of the learned : for the subject is attended with great and almost inexplicable difficulties, to us of these latter times. (20) It must suffice us to know, that before the middle of the second century (16) [Learned men, who have written tive times. An ecclesiastical council is a largely on the subject, have debated whether meeting of delegates from a number of con- the chorepiscopi ranked with bishops or with federate churches. presbyters. See J. Morin, de Sacris ec- (18) See, on this subject, J. A. Fabricius, cles. ordinatt., pt. i., exerc. iv. D. Blondcl, Bibliotheca Graeca, 1. iv., c. v., p. 122-227, de Episc. et Presbyt., sec. iii. W. Beve- [and Jer. Jones, Method of settling the ca- rege, Pandect. Canon., torn, ii., p. 176. C. nonical authority of the N. T., 3 vols. 8vo ; Zicglcr, de Episcopis, 1. i., c. 13, p. 105, &c. and the modern Introductions to the books Peter de Marca, de Concordia sacerd. et im- of the N. T., in English, by G. Home, and perii, 1. ii., cap. 13, 14. Bahmcr, Adnott. J. D. Michaels, ed. Marsh; and in Ger- ad Petrum de Marca, p. 62, 63. L. Tho- man, by Hacnlin, Krug, Bertholdt, Eich- massin, Disciplina eccles. vet. et nova,pt. i., horn, &c. TV.] 1. ii., c. 1, p. 215. But they did not belong (19) The [early] writers in defence of the entirely to either of those orders. Mosheim, divine authority of the N. T. are enumerated de Reb. Christ, ante Const. M., p. 137.] by J. A. Fabricius, Delectus argumentorum (17) It is commonly said, that the meeting et Syllabus Scriptor. pro verit. relig. Chris- of the church in Jerusalem, which is described tianae, cap. 26, p. 502. [On the subject it- Acts xv., was the first Christian council, self, the modern writers are numerous, and But this is a perversion of the import of the generally known. Lardncr and Palcy still term council. For that meeting was a con- hold the first rank among the English. Tr.] ference of only a single church, called to- (20) See Jo. Ens, Biblioth. Sacra, seu gether for deliberation ; and, if such meet- diatriba de Libror. N. T. canone, Amstel., ings may be called ecclesiastical councils, a. 1710, 8vo ; and Jo. Mills, Prolegom. ad multitude of them were held in those primi- N. T., sec. i., p. 23, &c. CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 73 had passed, most of the books composing the New Testament were in every Christian church throughout the known world ; and they were read, and were regarded as the divine rule of faith and practice. And hence it may be concluded, that it was while some of the apostles were still living, and certainly while their disciples and immediate successors were every- where to be met with, that these books were separated and distinguished from all human compositions. (21) That the four Gospels were combined, during the lifetime of the apostle John, and that the three first Gospels received the approbation of this inspired man, we learn expressly from the testimony of Eusebius.('22) And why may we not suppose, that the other books of the New Testament were collected into one body at the same time ? 17. There certainly were various causes, requiring this to be done at an early period ; and particularly this, that not long after the Saviour's ascen- sion, various histories of his life and doctrines, full of impositions and fables, were composed, by persons of no bad intentions perhaps, but who were superstitious, simple, and piously fraudulent ; and afterwards, various other spurious writings were palmed upon the world, falsely inscribed with the names of the holy apostles. (23) These worthless productions (21) See Jo. Frick, de Cura veteris ec- clesiw circa canon., cap. iii., p. 86, &c. (22) Eitseb., Hist. Eccles., lib. iii., cap. 24. (23) Such as remain of these spurious works, have been carefully collected by J. A. Fabricius, Codex Apocryphus N. Test., 2 vols. 12mo, p. 2006, Hamb., 2d ed., 1719. Many learned remarks on them oc- cur in Is. de Bcausobrc, Histoire critique des dogines de Manichee, liv. ii., p. 337, &c. [For the information of those who have not access to these spurious books, the following remarks are introduced. No one of all the books contained in the Codex Apocryphus N. T. of Fabricius, speaks disrespectfully of Christ, of his religion, his apostles and followers, or of the canonical books of the N. T. They were evidently composed with a design to subserve the cause of Christianity. They aim to supply deficiencies in the true Gospels and Acts, or to extend the history by means of oral tradi- tions and supplementary accounts, profess- edly composed by apostles or by apostolic men. At least, this is true of those books which bear the title of Gospels, Acts, and Epistles. These were all designed, either, first, to gratify the laudable curiosity of Christians, and to subserve the cause of piety ; or, secondly, to put to silence the enemies of Christianity, whether Jews or pagans, by demonstrating from alleged facts and testimony, that Jesus was the Messiah, his doctrines divine, his apostles inspired, &c. ; or, lastly, to display the ingenuity of the writer, and to gratify the fancy by a harmless fiction. The only parts of this col- lection which do not seem to me to fall un- VOL. I. K der one or other of these classes, are such as by mistake, have been ascribed to the apostles and evangelists ; such are the Lit- urgies, the Creed, and the Canons, which go under their names. Of those which are lost, no judgment can be formed but by tes- timony. Perhaps some of them were com- posed with hostile views towards the ca- nonical scriptures. The following account of the contents of the Codex Apocryphus N. T. may not be unacceptable or useless to many. On opening the first volume, we meet with (1) "The Gospel of the Nativity of Mary," Latin, in 10 sections, p. 19-38. (2) " The Previous Gospel, (Protevange- lium), ascribed to James the Just, the broth- er of our Lord," Gr. and Lat., in 25 sect., p. 66-125. (3) "The Gospel of the Infan- cy of Christ, ascribed to Thomas the apos- tle," Gr. and Lat., in 7 sect., p. 156-167. (4) " The Gospel of the Infancy, transla- ted from the Arabic, by Henry Sikes," Latin, in 55 sect., p. 168-211. It is the aim of all these to supply deficiencies in the beginning of the true Gospels, by acquaint- ing us more fully with the history of the Virgin Mary, Joseph, Eltzabc/h, &c., and with the birth, infancy, and childhood of Christ. Next follow (5) " The Gospel of 1 ; IKS," or, as it is sometimes called, " The Acts of Pilate," relating to the cruci- fixion and resurrection of Christ, Latin, in 27 sect., p. 238-298. (6) Three " Epistles of Pilate to Tiberius the emperor," giving account of the condemnation, death, and resurrection of Christ, Latin, about 2 pages. (7) " The Epistle of Lcntutus to the Ro- man senate," describing the person and manners of Christ, Latin, one page. The 74 BOOK I. CENTURY I. PART II. CHAP. II. would have worked great confusion, and would have rendered both the history and the religion of Christ uncertain, had not the rulers of churches seasonably interposed, and caused the books which were truly divine and which came from apostolic hands, to be speedily separated from that mass of trash, and collected into a volume by themselves. $ 18. Next after the apostles, Clement, the bishop of Rome, obtained very high reputation as one of the writers of this century. The accounts we have at this day of his life, actions, and death, are, for the most part, uncertain.(24) There are still extant, two epistles to the Corinthians three last, (No. 5, 6, 7), were intended to be valuable appendages to the true Gospels, and to contain irrefragable proofs, that Jesus was the Messiah, and clothed with divine authority. Then follow, the writings as- cribed to Christ himself; viz., his corre- spondence with Abgarus, king of Edessa ; which is to be found in Eusebius, Hist. Ec- cles., 1. i., c. 13, and in various modern works. These letters seem to have higher claims to authenticity, than any other pieces in this collection ; and yet few, if any, of the judicious, will now admit them to be genu- ine. Fabricius next gives a catalogue of about forty apocryphal Gospels, or of all the spurious Gospels, of which the slightest no- tice can be found in antiquity. These are all, of course, now lost, or buried in the rub- bish of old libraries, except the few which are contained in the previous list. Vol. i., pt. ii., begins with " The apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, or the history cf their con- flicts ; ascribed to Abdias, the first bishop of Babylonia," libri x, Latin, p. 402-742. This history summarily recounts what the canonical books relate of each of the 12 apos- tles, and then follows them severally through their various travels and labours, till their death or martyrdom. It was probably com- piled in the middle ages, (it is first men- tioned by James, a bishop of Geneva, in the 13th century), and by a monk, who was well acquainted with the ancient legendary tales, and who had good intentions ; but who never- theless was incompetent to distinguish what was true from what was false. Then fol- lows a catalogue of all the ancient biogra- phies of individual apostles and apostolic men, which Fabricius could hear of; in all, 36 in number. Many of these were profess- edly compiled several centuries after the apostles were dead, and all of them that still remain are mere legends, of little or no value. Most of those that have been published, are to be met with in the Martyrologies and in the Acta Sanctorum. Fabricius next gives us apocryphal Epistles, ascribed to the Vir- gin Mary, to Paul, and to Peter. Mary's letters are but three, and those very short. One is addressed to St. Ignatius, in 9 lines ; another, to the people of Marseilles, in 11 lines ; and the third, to the people of Flor- ence, in 4 lines. To St. Paul is attributed a short Epistle to the Laodiceans, Gr. and Lat. It is a tolerable compilation from his genuine epistles. Then follows a gentle- manly but vapid correspondence, in Latin ; said to have passed between St. Paul and Seneca, the Roman philosopher. It com- prises 14 short letters, full of compliments and of very little else. Paul's third Epistle to the Corinthians has not had the honour to be published. There is one epistle of the apostle Peter, addressed to the apostle James, still extant in the Clementina, or spurious works of Clemens Romanus. Of spurious Revelations, Fabricius enumerates twelve ; most of which are either lost, or have not been judged worth publishing. The Shepherd of Hennas and the ivth book of Esdras, are the two best known, and the most valuable. The 2d vol. of the Codex opens with the ancient Liturgies, going un- der the names of the apostles and evangelists. They are six; viz., those which bear the names of St. James, St. Peter, St. John, St. Matthew, and St. Luke ; together with a short prayer, ascribed to St. John. These Liturgies, doubtless, are quite ancient. We may believe them to have been actually used by different churches, which supposed they were in accordance with the instructions of their favourite apostles. To these Liturgies are subjoined nine Canons or ecclesiastical laws, said to have been adopted in a council of the apostles, held at Antioch ; and finally, the Apostles' Creed, which many of the an- cients supposed, was formed by the apostles themselves. The Appendix to the Codex gleans up some fragments and additional no- tices of the pieces before mentioned, and then closes with the Shepherd of Hernias, accompanied with notes. TV.] (24) Subsequent to Tillcmont, [Memoires pour servir a 1'histoire de 1'Eglise. torn, ii., pt. i., p. 279], Cotelier, [Patres Apostol.j, and Grabe, [Spicileg. patrum, saec. i.,p. 264. &c.], Philip Hiiniliniitns has collected all that is known of this great man, in the first of his two books, de S. Clemente, papa et CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 75 bearing his name, written in Greek ; of these, it is generally supposed that the first is genuine, and that the second is falsely palmed upon the holy man by some deceiver. (25) Yet even the first epistle seems to have been corrupted by some indiscreet person, who was sorry to see no more marks of erudition and genius in a production of so great a man. (26) .19 The other works which bear the name of Clement, namely, the apostolic Canons, the apostolic Constitutions, the Recognitions of Clement, and the Clementina ; were fraudulently ascribed to this eminent father, by some deceiver, for the purpose of procuring them greater authority. This, all now concede. (27) The apostolic Canons are LXXXV ecclesiastical Laws ; and they exhibit the principles of discipline received in the Greek and Oriental churches, in the second and third centuries. The VIII Books of apostolical Constitutions, are the work of some austere and melancholy author, who designed to reform the worship and discipline of the church, which he thought were fallen from their original purity and sanctity, and who ventured to prefix the names of the apostles to his pre- cepts and regulations, in order to give them currency. (28) The Recog- martyre, ejusque Basilica in urbe Roma, Lond., 1753, and Herm. Venema followed, in three printed letters, 1754. Wetstein re- plied to the former ; but dying in March, 1754, he left the controversy with the latter to Andrew Galand. who prosecuted it in his Bibliotheca vet. Patrum, dissert, ii., cap. ii. j also in Sprenger's Thesaurus rei Patrist., torn, i., p. 60, &c. These epistles are not mentioned by any writer till near the end of the fourth century. They were probably composed in the Oriental church, at the close of the second century, or in the third ; and for the double purpose of recommending celibacy, and reprehending the abuses of such Rome, 1706, 4to. [See also .Sewers' Lives of the Popes, vol. i., p. 14-20, ed. 2d. Clemens was, perhaps, the person mention- ed by Paul, Philip, iv., 3. He was one of the most distinguished Roman Christians, became bishop of Rome towards the close of the century, and is said to have lived till the third year of Trajan's reign, or about A.D. 100. 7V.] (25) The editions of ClemenCs epistles to the Corinthians are mentioned by J. A. Fa- bricius, Biblioth. Graeca, lib. iv., c. 5, p. 175, &c., to which must be added the edition of Hen. Wotton, Cantab., 1718. 8vo, which is preferable to the preceding editions, in many respects. [The English reader may find them both, together with some account of this author, in Abp. Wake's genuine epistles of the Apostolical Fathers, translated, &c. An ample account of them is given by N. Lardner, Credibility of the Gospel History, pt. ii., vol. i., p. 283, ed. Lond., 1815. TV.] (26) See J. B. Cotclicr, Patres Apostolici, torn, i., p. 133, 134, and Edw. Bcrnhard, Adnotatiunculae ad Clementem, in the last edition of the Patres Apostol., by J. le Clerc. These annotations H. Wotton has in vain attempted to confute in his notes on the epistle of Clement. [Besides the two epis- a life. See A. Nca.nder's Kirchengeschichte, vol. i., pt. iii., p. 1103, &c. TV.] (27) For the history and various editions of these works, see Thorn. Ittig, Diss. de Patribus Apostol., prefixed to his Bibliothe- ca Patrum Apostol., and his Diss. de Pseud- epigraphis Apostol., annexed to his Appendix ad Librum de Haeresiarchis aevi Apostol. ; also J. A. Fabricius, Biblioth. Graeca, 1. v., cap. i., p. 31, &c. ; and 1. vi.,cap. i.,p. 4, &c. [The best edition is that of Cotelicr, repub- lished by Le Clerc, 2 vols. fol., Amstel., 1724. Tr.\ (28) The various opinions of the learned respecting the apostolic canons and constitu- tions, are collected by J. F. Buddcus, Isag- tlcs to the Corinthians, there are extant, in oge in Theologiam, pt. ii., cap. v., p 746. Syriac, two other epistles ascribed to Clem- ent, entitled de Virginitate, seu ad Virgines. They were first brought to Europe by Sir James Porter, British ambassador at Con- stantinople ; and were published, with a Lat- in translation accompanying the Syriac text, by J. J. Wetstein, at the end of the 2d vol. of his very learned Gr. N. Testament, Lugd. Bat., 1752. Dr. N. Lardner assailed their genuineness iu a Diss. of 60 pages, 8vd, [Sir Up. Beoeregc, Notes on these Canons, and his Codex Canonum eccles. prim, vin- dic. et illustratus, Lond., 1678, 4to. The canons themselves make a part of the Cor- pus Juris Canonici, and are also inserted in Binnis' and other large histories of the coun- cils. They are valuable documents respect- ing the order and discipline of the church, about the third century. The apostolic con- stitutions seem to have undergone changes 76 BOOK I. CENTURY I. PART II.CHAP. II. nitions of Clement, which differ but little from the Clementina, are ingeni- ous and pretty fables ; composed by some Alexandrine Jewish Christian and philosopher, of the third century, to meet the attacks of the Jews, Gnostics, and philosophers upon the Christian religion, in a new manner. A careful perusal of them, will assist a person much, in gaining a knowl- edge of the state of the ancient Christian church. (29) $ 20. The Apostolic Fathers as they are called, are those Christian writers who were conversant either with the apostles themselves, or with their immediate disciples. Among these, the next after Clement was Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, a disciple and companion of the apostles. He suffered martyrdom under Trajan ; being exposed to wild beasts, in the theatre at Rome. (30) There are extant several epistles bearing his name ; and concerning which the learned have had long and sharp con- tests. The seven, written while he was on his way to Rome, as published A.D. 1646, by J. Vossius, from a Florentine MS., are by most writers accounted genuine ; but the others are generally rejected as forgeries. To this opinion I cheerfully accede ; and yet I must acknowledge, that the genuineness of the epistle to Polycarp, on account of its difference in style, appears to me very dubious ; and indeed the whole subject of the Ig- natian epistles in general, is involved in much obscurity and perplexity. (31) since their first formation, and probably by Arian hands in the fourth century. They are voluminous and minute regulations, re- specting ecclesiastical discipline and wor- ship. They are of considerable use in de- termining various points of practice in the church, during the third, fourth, and fifth centuries. Tr.] (29) See Mosheim's Diss. de turbata per recentiores Platonicos ecclesia, in the first vol. of his Dissertt. ad Historiam Eccl. pertinentes, 34, p. 174, &c. [The Apos- tolic Canons and Constitutions were ascribed to Clement as the collector and publisher only. The Recognitions, Clementina, &c., are ascribed to him as the author. The writings belonging to this latter class, are three different works on the same subject, and written after the same general plan. They all, doubtless, had one and the same author, who rewrote his own work, for the sake of giving it a better form. The sub- stance of them all, is, Clement's history of his own dissatisfaction with paganism ; his first and slight knowledge of Christianity, which induced him to journey from Rome to Palestine ; there he met with Peter, and for some time resided and travelled with him, heard his public discourses, and wit- nessed his combats, particularly with Simon Magus; and in private conversations with the apostles, everything pertaining not only to Christianity, but to cosmogony, physics, pneumatology, &c., was fully explained to him. The three works often relate precisely the same things, and in the same words ; but they not unfrequently differ in the fulness of the details, and in many of the minor points both of doctrine and of fact. The first is en- titled Sti dementis Romani Recognitiones. The original is lost ; so that we have only the Latin translation of Rufinus. It is di- vided into 10 books, and fills 111 large folio pages. The second is the Clementina, (ra Khr/pevTiva), first published Gr. and Lat. by Cotclier, in 146 folio pages. It commences with an epistle of Peter, and another of Clement, addressed to the apostle James. The body of the work, instead of being di- vided into books and chapters like the Rec- ognitions, is thrown into 19 discourses or homilies, (6fj.Mai), as delivered by Peter, but committed to writing by Clement. The third is the Clementine Epitome, or abridged account of the acts, travels, and discourses of Peter, together with the epistle of Clement to James, Gr. and Lat., 52 p. fol. This is, as its title implies, a mere abridgment of the two preceding works. Tr.] (30) See Seb. de Tillemont, Memoires pour servir a 1'histoire de 1'Eglise, torn, ii., pt. ii., p. 42-80. (31) In regard to these epistles, consult J. A. Fabricius, Biblioth. Graeca, lib. v, cap. i., p. 38-47. [Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., iii., 36, makes very honourable mention of Ignatius and his epistles ; and describes his conduct while on his way to Rome the place of his martyrdom. The account of his mar- tyrdom, which is printed along with his epis- tles, gives a still fuller account of this emi- nent father. It is clear that he suffered death in the reign of Trajan ; but whether A.D. 107 or 116 is uncertain. Rome was CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 77 21. Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, suffered martyrdom at an extreme age, in the middle of the second century. The epistle addressed to the Philippians, which is ascribed to him, is by some accounted genuine, and by others spurious : which of these are in the right, it is difficult to deter- mine. (32) The Epistle of Barnabas as it is called, was, in my judgment, the production of some Jewish Christian who lived in this century, [or the next], who had no bad intentions, but possessed little genius and was in- fected with the fabulous opinions of the Jews. He was clearly a dif- ferent person from Barnabas, the companion of St. Paw/. (33) The book entitled the Shepherd of Hermas, (so called, because an angel, in the form and habit of a shepherd, is the leading character in the drama), was com- posed in the second century by Hermas, the brother of Pius the Roman bishop. (34) The writer, if he was indeed sane, deemed it proper to forge the place of his martyrdom, and wild beasts minibus circumferuntur, Genevae, 1666, 4to. his executioners. On his way from Antioch, he was enraptured with his prospect of dying a martyr, and wrote, probably, all his epistles. Eusebius says : " He confirmed the churches in every city through which he passed, by discourses and exhortations ; warning them most especially, to take heed of the heresies, which then first sprung up and increased." From Smyrna, (according to Eusebius), he wrote four of his epistles ; viz., to the churches of Ephesus, Magnesia, Trallis, and Rome. The last of these was, to entreat the Roman Christians not to interpose and pre- vent his martyrdom. From Troas he wrote three other epistles; viz., to the churches of Philadelphia and of Smyrna, and to his friend Polycarp. Of these seven epistles, there are duplicate copies still extant ; that is, copies of a larger and of a smaller size. The latter are those which many suppose to be genuine. Besides these, there are extant five other Greek epistles, and as many more in Latin ; which are now universally re- jected : viz., ad Mariam Cassibolitam, ad Tar senses, ad Antiochenos, ad Hcroncm Antiochenum Diaconem, ad Phillipcnses ; also, in Latin, one from the Virgin Mary to But each of these is supported by a host of able polemics. The truth is, that the exter- nal evidence, or that from ancient testimony, makes much for the genuineness of these epistles, though equally for the larger as for the smaller. The internal evidence is di- vided ; and, of course, affords ground for arguments on both sides. Moderate men of various sects, and especially Lutherans, are disposed to admit the genuineness of the epistles in their shorter form ; but to regard them as interpolated and altered. An Eng- lish translation of them and of the martyr- dom of Ignatius, may be seen in Archbishop Wake's genuine Epistles of the Apostolic Fathers. TV.] (32) Concerning Polycarp and his epistle, see Tillemont, Memoires pour servir a 1'His- toire de 1'Eglise, torn, ii., pt. ii., p. 287, and J. A. Fabricius, Biblioth. Gr., lib. v., cap. i., p. 47. [Also W. Cave, Life of Polycarp, in his Apostolici, or, Lives of the Primitive Fathers, Lond., 1677, fol. The epistle of Polycarp, (the genuineness of which, if not certain, is highly probable), and the epistle of the church of Smyrna, concerning- the martyrdom of Polycarp, (which few if any Ignatius, and his reply ; two from Ignatius now call in question), are given in English, to St. John ; and one of Maria Cassibolita in Arch. Wake's Genuine epistles, &c. See to Ignatius. It is the singular fortune of J. E. C. Schmidt, Handbuch der Kircheng. the seven first epistles of Ignatius to have Giessen, 1824, vol. i., p. 128, 424. TV.] become the subject of sectarian controversy (33) Concerning Barnabas, see Tillemont, among Protestants. In these epistles, the Memoires, <kc., tome i., pt. iii., p. 1043. dignity and authority of bishops are exalted Thorn. Ittig, Selecta historiae eccles. capita, higher than in any other writings of this age. sec. i., cap. i., <J 14, p. 20, and J. A. Fabri- Hence, the strenuous advocates for the apos- ciu-s, Biblioth. Gr., lib. iv., cap. v., $ 14, p. tolic origjn of episcopacy, prize and defend 173, and lib. v.,jcap. i., $ 4, p. 3, and va- these epistles with no ordinary interest ; while the reformed divines, and especially those of Holland, France, and Switzerland, assail them with equal ardour. The most prominent champions are Bishop Pearson, in his Vindicia epistolarum Ignatii, Cantabr, rious others. [This ancient monument of the Christian church, is likewise translated by Archbishop Wake, Genuine Epistles. &c. Its possible genuineness is maintained by J. E. C. Schmidt, ubi sup., vol. i., p. 416, &c. but is confuted by A. Ncnnder, Kirehen- 1672, 4to, and John Dailli, de Scriptis quae gesch., vol. i., pt. iii., p. 1100, &c. TV.] sub Dionysii Areop. et Ignatii Antioch. no- (34) This is now manifest from the very 78 BOOK I. CENTURY I. PART II. CHAP. III. dialogues held with God and angels, in order to insinuate what he re- garded as salutary truths, more effectually into the minds of his readers. But his celestial spirits talk more insipidly, than our scavengers and por- ters.(35) 22. All these writers of this first and infantile age of the church, pos- sessed little learning, genius, or eloquence ; but in their simple and un- polished manner they express elevated piety. (36) And this is honourable rather than reproachful to the Christian cause. For, that a large part of the human race should have been converted to Christ by illiterate and im- becile men, shows that the propagation of Christianity must be ascribed, not to human abilities and eloquence, but to a divine power. CHAPTER III. "HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINES AND RELIGION. $ 1. The Nature and the Standard of the Christian Religion. $ 2. Interpretation of the Scriptures. 3. Mode of teaching Christianity. $ 4. The Apostles' Creed. $ 5. Distinction between Catechumens and the Faithful. 6. Mode of instructing Cate- chumens. - 7. Instruction of Children ; Schools and Academies. t) 8. Secret Doc- trine. f) 9. Lives and Characters of Christians. t) 10. Excommunication. t) 11. Controversies among Christians. 12. Contest about the Terms of Salvation. <j 13. Judaizing Christians. 1. THE whole of the Christian religion is comprehended in two parts ; the one of which teaches what we are to believe, in regard to religious sub- jects ; and the other, how we ought to live. The former is, by the apos- tles, denominated the mystery (juv^r/piov), or the truth (akrf&eia) ; and the ancient Fragment of a Treatise on the Can- (36) The writers above named are denom- on of the Holy Scriptures, published a few inated the Apostolic Fathers ; and they are years ago by Lud. Antony Muratori, (from often published together. The best editions an ancient MS. found at Milan), in his an- are by J. Bapt. Cotelicr, Paris, 1672, re- tiq. Italicar. medii. aevi, torn. iii.,Diss xliii., edited by J. le Clerc, Antw., 1698, and p. 853, &c. [But the genuineness and au- again at Amsterd., 1724, 2 vols. fol., with thority of this treatise itself, are now very numerous notes by both the editors and by much questioned by the learned ; so that the others. [This last and best edition, Gr. and true author of the Shepherd of Hermas is Lat., contahis all that has been ascribed to still \mknown. IV.] the Apostolic Fathers, whether truly or false- (35) For the best edition of Hermas we ly. The portions which Archbishop Wake are indebted to /. A. Fabricius, who sub- regarded as genuine, he translated and pub- joined it to the third vol. of his Codex Apoc- lished with a preliminary discourse of 136 ryph. N. T. He also treats of this writer in pages, 2d ed. Lond., 1710, 8vo The value his Biblioth. Graeca, 1. v., cap. ix., $ 9, p. of the genuine works of these fathers, is to 7. See also Tho. Ittig, de Patribus Apos- learned theology very small ; but as affording tolicis, () 55, p. 184, &c. [and in his Selecta us acquaintance with the true spirit and sen- historiae eccles. capita, $ 1, p. 65, and 155- timents and reasonings of Christians in the 179. The Shepherd of Hermas is translated very first ages after the apostles, they are of by Archbish. Wake, Genuine Epistles, &c., inestimable value. If any one wishes to and though wild and fanciful, yet, from the know what was the simplicity and godly pious spirit which it breathes, and the insight sincerity of that first and infantile age of the it gives us into the speculations of the early church, let him read the Apostolic Fathers. Christians, it is not a useless book. TV.] Tr.] THEOLOGY AND RELIGION. 79 latter godliness or piety (evoe6eta); 1 Timothy iii., 9; vi., 3; Titus i., 1. The rule and standard of both, are those books which God dictated to cer- tain individuals, either before or after the birth of Christ. These books it has long been the custom to denominate the Old and the New Testaments. 2. Provision therefore was early made, both by the apostles and their disciples, that these books should be in the hands of all Christians ; that they should be publicly read in their assemblies ; and be applied both to enlighten their minds with truth, and to advance them in piety. Those who expounded the Scriptures, studied simplicity and plainness. Yet it is not to be denied, that even in this century the perverse Jewish custom of obscuring the plain language of Scripture by forced and frigid allegories, and of diverting words from their natural and proper meaning in order to extort from them some recondite sense, found some admirers and imitators among Christians. Besides others, Barnabas, whose epistle is still extant, is proof of this. 3. The manner of teaching religious truths was perfectly simple, and remote from all the rules of the philosophers, and all the precepts of human art. This is manifest, not only from the epistles of the apostles, but from all the monuments of this century which have come down to us. Nor did any apostle or any one of their immediate disciples, collect and arrange the principal doctrines of Christianity in a scientific or regular system. The circumstances of the times did not require this ; and the followers of Christ were more solicitous to exhibit the religion they had embraced, by their tempers and their conduct, than to explain its principles scientifically, and arrange them according to the precepts of art. 4. There is indeed extant, a brief summary of Christian doctrines, which is called the Apostles 1 Creed; and which, from the fourth century onward, was attributed to Christ's ambassadors themselves. But at this day, all who have any knowledge of antiquity, confess unanimously that this opinion is a mistake, and has no foundation.(l) Those judge far more wisely and rationally, who think that this creed arose from small begin- nings, and was gradually enlarged as occasions required in order to ex- clude new errors from the church.(2) (1) See J. Fr. Bitddcus, Isagoge ad The- rial change ; as appears from comparing the ologiam, 1. ii., c. ii., 2, p. 441, and J. G. formulas of faith given by Irentens, A.D. . Introduct. in libros symbolicos, 1. i., 175, (adv. Ha?r. i., 10, and iii., 4), and by cap. ii., p. 87, &c. Terlullian, A.D. 192, (de Virgin, veland., (2) This is shown, with no less learning cap. i. contra Praxeam, cap. ii. Pres- than ingenuity, by Peter King, History of criptt. adv. Haeret., cap. xiii.), with the forms the Apostles' Creed ; which G. Olearius of the Creed in all subsequent writers down translated into Latin, and published, Lips., to the present time. See these forms col- 1704, 8vo. But those who read this book lectedby C. G. F. Walch, in his Bibliotheca should be apprized, that the noble author symbolica vetus, Lemgo, 1770, 8vo. Yet often gives us conjectures instead of argu- there were some variations in its form, as ments ; and that his conjectures do not al- used by different churches ; and additions ways deserve to be implicitly received. [A I- were made to it from time to time. Besides though the Apostles' Creed was not compo- serving as the general test of Christian ortho- sed in a council of apostles, as was supposed doxy, the principal use of this creed, in the in the days of Rufamx (Ruf. de Symbola; third and following centuries, was to guide subjoined to Cypriani Opera), yet it appears catechists in training and instructing the to have been the general Creed of the Chris~ catechumens in the principles of Christian- a/arc Chuirh, from, at least, the close of the ity. See Cyril of Jerusalem, (Catechesis, second century down to the reformation, passim), Ri< fonts, (de Symbola), and. lupus- Nor did it undergo any very great or mate- tine, (Sermo i., ad Catechum., Opp., torn. 80 BOOK L CENTURY I. PART II. CHAP. III. 5. At the first promulgation of the gospel, all who professed firmly to believe that Jesus was the only redeemer of mankind, and who promised to lead a holy life conformable to the religion he taught, were received immediately among the disciples of Christ : nor did a more full instruction in the principles of Christianity precede their baptism, but followed after it. But afterwards, when churches were everywhere established and organized, for very just reasons this custom was changed ; and none were admitted to the sacred font unless previously well instructed in the primary truths of religion, and affording indubitable evidence of a sincere and holy char- acter. And hence arose the distinction between catechumens, or such as were in a course of instruction and discipline under the care of certain persons, and the faithful, who were admitted to all the mysteries, having been initiated and consecrated by baptism. (3) 6. The instruction given to the catechumens was different, according to their genius and capacity. For those of feeble minds were instructed only in the more general and fundamental principles of religion ; while those who appeared capable of grasping and comprehending all Christian knowledge, were instructed in every thing that could render a Christian sta- ble and perfect according to the views of that age. The business of in- vi., p. 399-405, ed. Benedict). It is a most valuable monument of the church ; because it shows what in the early ages were consid- ered as the great, the peculiar, and the es- sential doctrines of the gospel ; viz., those all important facts which are summarily re- counted in this creed. The common form of it in the fourth century, as used in most churches in Europe, Asia, and Africa, ex- cept some slight verbal discrepances, was the following. In Greek. Tit^evu etf deov (iraTcpa) ffavTOKpaTOpa. nai e.iq %pi?ov lijattv, viov avra TOV [iovoyevq (fj.ovo-ysvvr]TOv), TOV KV- piov 7/uuv, rov yevvrj&evTa EK Trvciy/arof dyia K.O.I Moptaf TTI$ irapdevts, TOV e?u liov- rta HihaTit faupotfevra, (nai) ra^cvra, (/cat) ri) rpiry rjfiepa ava^avra EK. (TUV) VEK- puv, avaGavra eif TUf upavtic., (/cat) na&ri/uE- vov ev Se^ty. TU irarpof, 6$ev spheral Kpcvat (Kpiveiv) Cwvraf /cat vt/cpsc. /cat etf (TO) dy- tov TTVEV/J.U, dyiav EKKhr/aiav, a<j>eaiv dfiap- TIUV, aapKO? ava?aaiv. In Latin. Credo in Deum Patrem om- nipotentem. Et in Christum Jesum, uni- cum filium ejus, Dominum nostrum : qui natus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria vir- gine ; crucifixus sub Pontio Pilato, et sepul- tus. Tertia die resurrexit a mortuis ; as- cendit in ccelos, sedet ad dextram Patris ; inde venturus est judicare vivos et mortuos. Et in Spiritum Sanctum : sanctam ecclesi- am ; remissionem peccatorum, carnis resur- rectionem. In English. I believe in God, the Fa- ther, almighty ; and in Jesus Christ, his only begotten son, our Lord, who was born of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Ghost, was crucified vmder Pontius Pilate, buried, arose from the dead on the third day, ascended to the heavens, and sits at the right hand of the Father ; whence he will come, to judge the living and the dead ; and in the Holy Spirit ; the holy church ; the remission of sins ; and the resurrection of the body. A few centuries later, it attained in the Romish church its ampler form, in which it has since been adopted by most Protestant churches : as follows. " I believe in God, the Father, almighty, maker of heaven and earth : and in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord ; who was conceived by the Holy- Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried, he descended into hell, the third day he arose again from the dead, ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God, the Father, almighty ; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy cath- olic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen." Besides those mentioned by Mosheim, the principal writers on this Creed, are Cyril, Rufinus, and Augustine, as above ; and G. J. Vossius, (de Tribus Symbolis, Opp., torn, vi., p. 507, &c.) Archbishop Usher ; (de Rom. Eccles. aliisque Fidei Symbolis) ; Bishop Pearson, (on the Creed) ; C. Sui- cer, (Thesaur. Eccles. voce Sv/ifio/lov), and J. Bingham, Antiq. Eccl., lib. x. TV.] (3) [See /. Bingham, Orig. Eccles., lib. iii., cap. iv.. and Tab. P fanner, de Catc- chumiuis veterum, Viuariae, 1688, 12mo. 2V.] THEOLOGY AND RELIGION. 81 structing those of superior capacity and genius, was committed to men of gravity and erudition in the larger churches. Hence the ancient doctors generally divide their flocks into two classes of persons, the one compri- sing such as received solid and thorough instruction, the other embracing the more ignorant. Nor do they conceal the fact, that different modes of teaching were adopted in reference to these two classes. (4) 7. There can be no doubt, but that the children of Christians were carefully trained up from their infancy, and were early put to reading the sacred books and learning the principles of religion. For this purpose, schools were erected everywhere from the beginning. From these schools for children, we must distinguish those seminaries of the early Christians, erected extensively in the larger cities, at which adults and especially such as aspired to be public teachers, were instructed and educated in all branch- es of learning both human and divine. Such seminaries, in which young men devoted to the sacred office were taught whatever was necessary to qualify them properly for it, the apostles of Christ undoubtedly both set up themselves and directed others to set up ; 2 Timothy ii., 2. St. John. at Ephesus, and Polycarp at Smyrna, established such schools.(5) Among these seminaries, in subsequent times, none was more celebrated than, that at Alexandria ; which is commonly called a catechetic school, and was said to be erected by St. Mark.(6) 8. What many tell us, that the ancient Christians had their popular and their secret doctrines, and did not communicate to all classes the same instructions ; may be admitted as true if it be rightly explained. For, those whom they would induce to embrace Christ, were not introduced at once to the high mysteries of religion which exceed the grasp of the hu- (4) [See Origen, adv. Celsum, lib. iii., p. of any sort, in the early church, Justin 143. The apostles themselves seem to have Martyr, a converted philosopher in the mid- been the authors of this practice, of which die of the second century, being the first we have vestiges, 1 Cor. iii., 2 ; Heb. v., learned writer after the apostles ; it seems 12. Schl.] most probable, that till past the middle of (5) Irentzus, adv. Hser., 1. ii., c. 22, p. the second century, the means of education 148, ed. Massuet. Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., among Christians were very slender; and lib. v., c. 20. [The proofs referred to here by no means so general and so ample as Dr. .nd in the text, are quite insufficient to Mosheim supposes. Tr.] ivince, that in theirs/ century, or even in the (6) See J. A. Schmidt, Diss. de schola former part of the second, Christians estab- catechet. Alexandr., prefixed to^the tract of lished regular schools for their children, and A. Hyperius, de Catechesi ; also Dom. Au- academics for their young men. Paul's di- lisius, delle Scuole sacre, lib. ii., c. i., ii., p. rection to Timothy, (2 Epis., ii., 2), "The 5-17, and c. xxi., p. 92, &c. Concerning things thou hast heard of me, the same the larger schools of Christians in the East, commit thou to faithful men, who shall be at Edessa, Nisibis, Seleucia, and concerning able to teach others also ;" seems to have the ancient Christian schools in general, no distinct reference to a regular public see J. S. Asseman, Biblioth. orient. Clem. school, either for boys or young men. And Vat., torn, iii., p. ii., p. 914919. [The an- the passages in Irentzus and Eusebius re- cient tradition, preserved by Jerome, (de ferred to, speak only of the general instruc- Scriptor. Illustr., cap. 36), that St. Mark (ion and advantages, which the neighbouring was the founder of the catechetic school at clergy and others derived from the apostle Alexandria, deserves but little credit ; since John; and of the interesting conversations all antiquity is silent respecting a Christian of Polycarp. If we consider the poverty and school there, or any teacher, or student, in embarrassments of the first Christians, we it, till the days of Pantaenus and his pupil can hardly suppose, they could have erected Clemens Alex., near the close of the second such schools and academies. And from the century. See Schroeckh, Kirchengesch., great penury of writers, and of learned men vol. iii., p. 188, &c. Tr.] VOL. I. L 82 BOOK I. CENTURY I. PART II. CHAP. III. man mind, but were first instructed in the doctrines which reason can com- prehend, till they were able to bear the more sublime and difficult truths. And afterward, those who ranked among believers, were not all instructed in the same manner ; but one was directed to study and treasure up in his mind more or fewer things than another. Whoever would understand more than this by the secret doctrine of the first century, should beware lest he confound the faults of subsequent ages with the excellences of this.(7) 9. Most authors represent the lives and morals of Christians in this age, as patterns of purity and holiness, worthy of the imitation of all sub- sequent ages. This representation, if it be understood of the greater part of the professed Christians, and not of all, is undoubtedly true. But who- ever supposes the primitive churches were perfectly free from all vices and sins, and estimates the lives of all the Christians by the conduct of some of them, and by the precepts and exhortations of their teachers, as most of those writers have done whose books and tracts concerning the innocence and holiness of the early Christians are extant; may be con- futed by the clearest evidence of both testimony and facts. (8) 10. The visible purity of the churches was much promoted, by that law which deprived of ordinances and excluded from the community per- sons of vile character, or who were known to be vicious ; provided they would not reform on being admonished. Such a law, we know was es- tablished by the apostles, soon after churches began to be formed. (0) In the application and enforcement of this law, the teachers and rulers gen- erally pointed out the persons who seemed to merit exclusion from the church, and the people sanctioned or rejected the proposal at their discre- tion. Excluded sinners, although they had committed the highest offences, if they gave satisfactory evidence of penitence for their faults, and of their leading better lives in future, were allowed to return to the church, at least in most places ; yet but once only. For those who were restored, if they returned to their former bad practices, and were again excluded from the brotherhood, had no more a prospect of forgiveness. (10) (7) Concerning this secret doctrine, much of religion in the seven churches of Asia is collected by Chr. Matt. Pfaff, Diss. pos- about A.D. 96. Judging from these repre*^ terior de Praejudiciis Theolog., 13, p. 149, sentations, it would seem that the characters^ &c., in his Primitia Tubingensia. of the Christians of that age, presented a sin- (8) [For a knowledge of the state of piety gular combination of excellences and de- and morals among the Christians of the first, fects ; that, in some respects, they were iiv century, we are dependant nearly altogether deed patterns for all after ages ; but, in other on the Holy Scriptures : for all the apostolic respects, and especially certain churches, a* fathers, except Clement, lived and wrote in Corinth, Galatia, Sardis, and Laodicea, by the second century. Besides, their writings no means deserved imitation. TV.] state very few facts, and acquaint us with (9) [See 1 Cor. v.) For the discussions almost nothing, except what relates to the that have taken place respecting this law, views and feelings of the writers themselves, see Chr. Matt. Pfaff, de Originibus Juris Clement wrote upon occasion of a broil in Ecclesias,t., p. 10, 13, 71, 98. the church of Corinth; and he aims to set (10) See Jo. Morin, Commentar. de home Paul's exhortations to them on former disciplina poenitentiae, lib. ix., cap. 19, p. occasions. From the N. T., and especially 670, and others. [Natal. Alexander, Hist, from Paul's epistles, we learn many things Eccles. N. T., saec. iii., diss. vii. ; and J. respecting the state of morals and piety Aug. Orsi, Dis. qua ostenditur, cathol. ec- ainong Christians, from the first planting of clesiam tribus prior, saeculis capital, crim. the churches till about A.D. 68. And from reis pacem et absolut. neutiquam denegasse, the Apocalyptical epistles, we learn the state Milan, 1730, 4to. But all these writers THEOLOGY AND RELIGION. . 83 11. As the Christian churches were composed of both Jews and Gen- tiles, between whom there had been an inveterate aversion, and as those re- cent Christians retained many erroneous impressions, received and cher- ished from their infancy, it could not be but that various disagreements and contests would early arise among them. The first of these contests re- lated to the necessity of observing the law of Moses. It broke out in the church of Antioch ; and its issue is stated by Luke, Acts xv. This con- troversy was followed by many others ; partly with Jewish Christians, too much attached to their national religion ; partly with persons captivated with a species of fanatical philosophy ; and partly with some who abused the Christian doctrines, which they ill understood, to the gratification of their appetites and lusts.(ll) St. Paul and the other apostles, o^pn men- tion these controversies ; but so cursorily and concisely, that we can hardly ascertain the exact points controverted. 12. Of all these contests, the greatest and most important seems to have been, that relating to the way of attaining to justification and salva- tion, which Jewish teachers excited at Rome and in other Christian church- es. For while the apostles everywhere inculcated, that all hopes of jus- tification and salvation should be placed solely on Jesus Christ and his merits, these Jewish teachers ascribed to the law and to the works which Christ enjoined, the chief influence in procuring everlasting happiness. This error not only led on to many others, which were prejudicial to the religion of Christ, but was connected with the highest dishonour to the Saviour. For they who maintained that a life regulated according to the law, would give a title to eternal rewards, could not hold Christ to be the Son of God, and the Saviour of mankind ; but merely a prophet, or a di- vine messenger among men. It cannot therefore appear at all strange, that St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Romans and elsewhere, took so much pains to extirpate this capital error. 13. The controversy respecting the necessity of the Mosaic rites in order to salvation, was wisely decided by the apostles, Acts xv. But great as the apostolic influence was, that deep-rooted love of the Mosaic law which was handed down from their fathers, could not be wholly erad- icated from the minds of the Jewish Christians, and especially of those living in Palestine. It diminished a little, after the destruction of Jerusa- lem and the prostration of the temple by the Romans ; yet it did not wholly subside. Hence it was, as we shall see hereafter, that a part of the Jew- ish Christians separated from the other brethren, and formed a distinct sect attached to the law of Moses. describe rather the practice of the second and xi. ( p. 952. [J. F. Buddcus, Ecclcsia third centuries, than that of the first. TV.] Apostolica ; and, still better, Ch. W. Fr. (11) Conducive to the illustration of these Walch, Volstandige Historic der Ketzcreien, controversies, are the investigations of Herm. Spaltungen, u. s. f.,vol. i,, p. 68, &c. ; and Witmus, Miscellanea Sacra, torn. ii., exerc. A. Ncandcr, Geschichte dcr Pflantzung nnd xx., xxi., xxii., p. 668, &c. Camp. Vi- Leitung dcr christl. Kirche durch die Apos- tringa, Observatt. sacra., lib. iv., c. ix., x., tel, Hamb., 1832. Tr.] 84 BOOK I. CENTURY I. PART II. CHAP. IV. CHAPTER IV. HISTORY OF RITES AND CEREMONIES. 1. Baptism and the Lord's Supper appointed by Christ. $ 2. Rites instituted by the Apostles. 3. The Jewish Rites retained. 4. Public Assemblies of Christians, and Times for Meeting. 5. Places of Meeting. 6. Mode of Worship. $ 7. Lord's Supper and Agapae. 8. Baptism. 9. Anointing the Sick. $ 10. Fasting 1. AL LTHOUGH the Christian religion has the greatest simplicity, and requires nothing but faith and love ; yet it could not wholly dispense with external rites and institutions. Jesus himself established but two rites, which it is not lawful either to change or to abrogate ; viz., baptism and the Lord's supper. Yet these are not to be considered as mere ceremonies, or as having only a symbolical import ; but as having also a sanctifying influence on the mind. That he chose to establish no more rites, ought to convince us, that ceremonies are not essential to the religion of Christ ; and that the whole business of them, is left by him to the discretion and free choice of Christians. 2. Many considerations leave us no reason to doubt, that the friends and apostles of the Saviour, sanctioned in various places the use of other rites ; which they either tolerated from necessity, or recommended for good and solid reasons. Yet we are not to suppose that they have any- where inculcated and established any permanent system of clerical rights and prerogatives ; nor that they prescribed the same rites and forms in all churches. On the contrary, various things go to show, that Christian worship was from the beginning regulated and conducted differently, in different places ; and this, no doubt, with the approbation of the apostles and their coadjutors and disciples ; and that in this whole matter, much regard was shown to the former opinions, customs and laws of different nations. (1) (1) [It appears that even so late as the very probable that John, for certain reasons, third and fourth centuries, there was consid- did ordain in Asia, that the feast of Easter erable difference in the mode of conducting should be kept at the time the Jews kept it ; religious worship among Christians. See and that Peter and Pawl ordered otherwise Iren&us, quoted by Eascbius, Hist. Eccles , at Rome. Further, the Greek and Latin 1. v., cap. 24. Sozomen, Hist. Eccles., 1. churches had a contest on the question, vii., cap. 19. Socrates, Hist. Eccles., 1. v., whether leavened or unleavened bread should cap. 22. Augustine, Epist. 54, Opp., torn, be used in the sacred supper. And both ii., p. 93. A part of this difference in rites churches claimed to have their customs and ceremonies, appears to have come down handed down to them from the apostles ; from the apostolic times. For when a con- and, for the reasons before mentioned, both test arose in the second century, between were probably in the right. Even the Cath- the Oriental and the Occidental Christians, olics often admit this diversity of ceremonies respecting the day on which Easter should be in the apostolic church; e. g, Jo. Bana, observed ; we are informed by Euscbius, Rerum Liturg., 1. i., c. 7, 2, Opp., p. 208, (Hist. Eccl., 1. v., cap. 23, 24), that the and the Jesuit Jo. Harduin, makes no scru- former maintained, that John was the author pie to assert that Paul enjoined on the of their custom ; and the latter, that Peter Greeks one form for the consecration of and Paul were the authors of theirs. Both priests ; and Peter on the Romans another. churches were probably correct ; for it is His book is entitled : La Dissertation du P. RITES AND CEREMONIES. 85 3. I am therefore induced to dissent from those, who think that the Jewish rites and forms were everywhere transferred by the apostles and their disciples to the Christian assemblies. In those churches, indeed, which were composed either wholly or principally of Jews, I can easily believe, the Jewish rites were so far retained as the different characters of the two religions would permit. And this may be evinced by a good many examples. But that the same took place in other churches, in which either no Jews or only a few were found, is not merely uncertain, but in- credible. Because it was proper that the rituals of those early times should be variously modelled, according to the peculiarities of genius and charac- ter in different nations. 4. As there was diversity in the practice of Christians, it will be very difficult to make statements relative to their mode of worship and other customs and regulations, which will be equally applicable to all the coun- tries in which Christianity flourished. Yet there are a few regulations which may be considered as common to all Christians ; and of these, we shall give a brief account. The Christians of this century, assembled for the worship "of God and for their advancement in piety, on the first day of ike week, the day on which Christ reassumed his life ; for that this day was set apart for religious worship by the apostles themselves, and that, after; the example of the church of Jerusalem, it was generally observed, we have unexceptionable testimony .(2) Moreover, those congregations which either lived intermingled with Jews, or wore composed in great measure of Jews, were accustomed also to observe the seventh day of the week, as a sacred day :3) for doing which the other Christians taxed them with no wrong. As to annual religious days, they appear to have observed two ; the one, in memory of Christ's resurrection ; the other, in commemoration of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles. (4) To these may be added, those days on which holy men met death for Christ's sake ; which, it is most probable, were sacred and solemn days, from the very commence- ment of the Christian church.(5) le Couraycr sur la succession des Evesques devoted but one slated day to their public Anglois et sur la validite de leur ordination, worship ; and, beyond all controversy, that refutee, torn, ii., p. 13, Paris, 1725, 8vo, was what we call the Lord's day, or the first [add A. Krazer, de Apostolicis, nee non day of the week. antiquis eccl. Occident. Liturgiis, sect, i., (4) Although some have doubted whether cap. i , 2, p. 3, ed. Augusts Vind., 1786.] the day called Pentecost (Whitsunday) was See Moshcim's Institut. majores hist. Christ, a sacred day so early as the first century, p. 375. Schl.] (see J. Bingham, Origines Eccles., lib. xx., (2) Ph. J. Hartmann, de Rebus gestis cap. 6) yet I am induced, by very weighty Christianor. sub Apostolis, cap. xv., p. 387. reasons, to believe that, from the beginning, J. //' //. Bokmer, Diss. i., Juris eccles. anti- it was held equally sacred with the Passover qui de stato die Christianor., p. 20, &c. (or Easter day). Perhaps, also, ( Good Fn- [See, also, Acts xx., 7 ; ii., 1 ; 1 Cor. xvi., day), the Friday on which our Saviour died, 1, 2; Apoc. i., 10. Pliny, Epist., lib. x., was, from the earliest times, regarded with ep. 97, n. 7. Schl ] more respect than other days of the week. (3) Stcph. Curcellaeus, Diatriba de esu See J. (intlmfrcil, in Codicem Theodos., sanguinis ; Opp. Theol., p. 958. Gabr. torn, i., p. 138. Asscman, Biblioth. orient. Albaspmaeus, Observatt. Eccles., lib. i., Vatican., torn, i., p. 217, 237. Martene, obs. xiii.,p. 53. In vain some learned men Thesaur. Anecdotor., torn, v., p. 66. labour to persuade us, that in all the early (5) [These were called nnlalitia marly- churches both days, or the first and last rum (the martyrs' birthdays). See Casp. days of the week, were held sacred. The Sagittarius, de Natalitiis martyrnm, repub- churches of Bithynia, mentioned by Pliny, lished by Crcnius, syntagma i., djss. philol., 86 BOOK I. CENTURY I. PART II. CHAP. IV. 5. The places of assembling were, undoubtedly, the private dwelling- houses of Christians. But as necessity required that when a congregation was formed and duly regulated, some fixed uniform place for its meetings should be designated ; and as some furniture was requisite for their accom- modation, such as books, tables, and benches, which could not conveniently be transported from place to place, especially in those perilous times ; it was undoubtedly the case, that the place of their assemblies soon became, instead of a private room, a sort of public one. (6) These few remarks, I conceive, are sufficient to determine that long controversy, whether the ear- ly Christians had temples or not ?(7) If the word temple may denote a dwelling-house, or even a part of one, which is devoted to the public exer- cises of religion, yet without any idea of holiness attached to it, and which is not separated from all profane or secular uses ; then I can readily admit, that the earliest Christians had temples. 6. In these public assemblies of Christians, the holy scriptures were read ; which, for that purpose, were divided into portions or lessons. Then followed an exhortation to the people, neither eloquent nor long, but full of warmth and love. If any signified that they were moved by a divine af- flatus, they were allowed successively to state what the Lord commanded ; the other prophets who were present judging how much authority was due to them, 1 Cor. xiv., 16. Afterwards, the prayers which constituted no inconsiderable part of public worship, were recited after the bishop.(S) To these succeeded hymns ; which were sung, not by the whole assembly, but by certain persons, during the celebration of the sacred supper and the feasts of charity. The precise order and manner of performing all these parts of religious worship, in the various Christian churches, cannot be fully ascertained ; yet it is most probable, that no one of these exercises was wholly omitted in any church. (9) 7. The prayers of Christians were followed by oblations of bread, wine, and other things, for the support of the ministers of the church and the poor. For every Christian who had any thing to spare, brought his gift and of- fered it in a sense to the Lord. (10) From these gifts, so much bread and wine as were requisite for the Lord's supper, were set apart, and conse- crated by prayers offered solely by the bishop, to which the people respond- ed amen.(ll) The distributers of the sacred supper were the deacons. 1699. In the second century these natalitia 39. Jos. Bingliam, Origines Eccles., lib. were everywhere observed ; and they are viii., ch. i., and others. often mentioned by Tertullian and Cypri- (8) See Justin Martyr, Apologia secun- an. And in the epistle of the church of da, p. 98, &c. Smyrna to Philomelius, in Eusebius, Hist. (9) This must be understood of the church- Eccles., lib. iv., c. 15, the observance of the es that were fully established and regulated. day of Polycarp's martyrdom is mentioned. For in the nascent churches, which had not Schl.] become duly regulated, I can believe one or (6) See Camp. Vitringa, de Synagoga other of these exercises might be omitted, vetere, 1. i., pt. iii., cap. i.," p. 432. [It may (10) See Christ. Matt. Pfaff, Dissertt. be inferred from Acts xix., 8 ; 1 Cor. xi., de oblatione et consecratione Eucharistica ; 22 ; xiv., 35, and Ja. ii., 2, that Christians in his Syntagma Dissertt. Theolog., Stut- then had certain determinate places for hold- gard, 1720, 8vo. ing public worship. Schl.~\ (11) Jusiyn Martyr, Apologia. Secunda, (7) See Dav. Blondell, de Episcopis et p. 98, &c. The writers on the ceremonies Presbyt., sect, iii., p. 216,243, 246. Just, of the sacred supper, are mentioned by Jo. Hen. Bohmer, Diss. ii., Juris eccles. antiq. de Alb. Fabricius, Bibliograph. antiquaria, cap. Antelucanis Christianorum coetibus, iv., p. xi., p. 395, &c. RITES AND CEREMONIES. 87 This most holy ordinance was followed by sober repasts, which, from their design, were denominated agapae, feasts of charity. (12) The various dif- ficulties which occur in the accounts respecting these feasts, will, undoubt- edly, be solved with ease, by admitting that the earliest Christians were governed by different rules, and did not everywhere celebrate either this or other institutions in the same manner. 8. In this century baptism was administered in convenient places, without the public assemblies ; and by immersing the candidates wholly in water. (13) At first, all who were engaged in propagating Christianity, ad- ministered this rite: nor can it be called in question, that whoever per- suaded any person to embrace Christianity, could baptize his own disciple. But when the churches became more regulated, and were provided with rules of order, the bishop alone exercised the right of baptizing all the new converts to Christianity ; though in process of time, as the limits of his church were enlarged, he imparted this right to the presbyters and chor- episcopi ; reserving however the confirmation of those baptisms which were administered by presbyters. ( 14) As to the ceremonies, which in this early period were superadded to baptism for the sake of order and decency, we are not able to say any thing with certainty ; nor do we think it safe to es- timate the rules of that age, by the customs of subsequent times. $ 9. The Grecian Christians, when dangerously sick, sent for the elders of the church, agreeably to Ja. v., 14 ; and after the sick man had confess- ed his sins, the elders commended him to God in devout supplication, and anointed him with oil. Many things in regard to this rite, may be, and have actually been, subjects of controversy. But the silence of the ancient writers, prevents our coming to any certain conclusions. For though there is no reason to doubt that this rite prevailed extensively among Christians, yet it is rarely mentioned in the writings of the ancients. (15) 10. No law was enacted by Christ and his apostles concerning fasts ; but the custom obtained, that most Christians occasionally and privately joined abstinence from their food with their prayers ; and especially when engaged in undertakings of great importance, 1 Cor. vii., 5. How much time a man should spend in this exercise, was left to the private judgment of each individual ; nor did a person expose his character at all, if he thought it sufficient for him to observe only the rules of strict temperance. (16) Of (12) The writers concerning the agapac, ccrning this custom, are collected by Jo. arc mentioned by Tho. Ittig, Selecta Histor. Launoi, de Sacramento unctionis infirmo- Eccles. capita, saecul. ii., cap iii., p. 180, rum, cap. i., p. 444, Opp., torn. i. Among &c., and Christ. Matt. Pfaff, de Originibus these passages, very few are to be found in Juris Eccles., p. 68. the writers of the first centuries ; yet there (13) See Gcr. Jo. Vossius, de Baptismo, is here and there one, which has escaped disp. i., thcs. vi., p. 31, &c., and the authors the notice of this very learned man. [The recommended by J. A. Fabricius, Bibliogr. principal writers on this subject, are men- Antiquar., cap. xi., <J xxv., p. 389, &c. tioned by J. C. Wolf, Curae Philol. et Crit., (14) These remarks, I conceive, go to torn, iv., on Ja. v., 14. Tr.] elucidate and determine the questions so (16) Shepherd of Hernias, lib. iii., Simi- strenuously debated among the learned, con- lit. v., p. 931, 935. ed. Fabricii, at the close cerning the right of administering Imp/ism. of vol. iii. of his Codex Apocryph. N. T. See Just. H< n. tfodbMT, Diss. xi.. Juris [The best writer on this subject, is John cedes, antiqui, p. 500, &c. Jo. Ic Clerc, Daille, de Jejuniis et Quadragesimo, Da- Biblioth. uruverselle et historique, tome iv., vent., 1654, 8vo, against whom, however, p. 93, &c. Ben rt'jr brings some objections, in Codex (15) Most of the ancient testimonies con- Canon, vind. SchL] . 88 BOOK I. CENTURY I. PART II. CHAP. V. any solemn public fasts, except only on the anniversary day of the cruci- fixion of Christ, there is no mention in the most ancient times. Gradually, however, days of fasting were introduced ; first by custom, and afterwards by legal sanction. Whether any thing of this nature occurred in the first century, and what days were devoted to fasting, we have not the means of deciding. And yet I would not deny, that very specious arguments are adduced by those who think, that while the apostles were still living, or soon after their decease, the Christians in most places abstained from food, either wholly or partially, on the fourth and on the sixth days of the week.(17) CHAPTER V. HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS SEPARATIONS OR HERESIES. $ 1. Sects sprung up in the very Times of the Apostles. 2. They gradually increased. $ 3. Sect of the Gnostics. 4. It originated from the Oriental Philosophy. $ 5. They occasioned various Errors in regard to the Holy Scriptures and other Subjects. $ 6. Gnostic Opinions concerning Christ. $ 7. Their Moral Doctrines. $ 8. How they supported their Doctrines. 9. Causes of Disagreement among themselves. 10. Dositheus. $ 11. Simon Magus was not a Heretic. 12. His History. 13. His Doctrines. 14. Menander. 15. Whether there was a Sect of Nicolaitans. 16. Cerinthus, and the Cerinthians. 17. Nazareans and Ebionites, properly belong to the Second Century. 1. CHRISTIAN churches had scarcely been gathered and organized, when here and there men rose up, who, not being contented with the simplicity and purity of that religion which the apostles taught, sought out new inventions, and fashioned religion according to their own liking. This appears, from various passages in the epistles left us by the apostles, and particularly from Paul's epistles. For in these, there is frequent mention of persons, who either endeavoured to mould the Christian doc- trines into conformity with that philosophy or yv)Gig,(l) to which they were addicted ; or who were disposed to combine with Christianity Jewish opinions, customs, and institutions. Several of these corrupters of religion are likewise expressly named ; as Hymenaeus and Alexander, Philetus, Hermogenes, Phygellus, Demas, and Diotrephes.(2) If, however, from this list, Alexander, Hymenaeus, and Philetus be excepted, the others appear to be, rather apostates from the practice of religion, than corrupters of its principles. (3) (17) See Wil. Beverege, Codex Canon, viii., p. 84. J. Fr. Buddcus, de Ecclesia vindic., torn, ii., Pair. Apostol., p. 166. Apostolica, cap. v., p. 292, &c. [As to (1)1 Tim. vi., 20, and ch. i., 3, 4 ; Tit. iii., Hymenaeus and Philetus, we are informed 9 ; Coloss. ii., 8. by St. Paul, 2 Tim. ii., 17, 18, comp., 1 (2) [Concerning Diotrephes, there is a Tim. i., 19, 20, not only in general, that particular tract by Stemler, 1758. Schl.~\ they had swerved from sound doctrine; but (3) 2 Tim. ii., 18, and elsewhere. See their particular error is pointed out. They also the elaborate discussions concerning taught that a resurrection of the dead was no these men, by Camp. Vitringa, Observ. Sa- longer to be anticipated, it being already crae, lib. iv., cap. ix.,p. 952. Thomas Ittig, passed; and they laboured to make prose- de Haeresiarchis aevi Apostol., sect, i., cap. lytes to this opinion. See J. G. Watch, SCHISMS AND HERESIES. 89 2. So long as the greater part of the apostles were alive, to watch over the churches, these innovators were not very successful, and seem to have had no great number of followers. But gradually, they acquired more influence ; and before the decease of all those whom Christ had himself instructed, they laid the foundations of those sects, which after- wards exceedingly disturbed the Christian community and gave rise to so many contests. The history of these sects is very obscure ; indeed, the most obscure part of ecclesiastical history. This obscurity arises, partly from the deficiency of ancient records ; partly, from the tenets of these sects, which for the most part were singularly caliginous and remote from common apprehension; and partly, from the ignorance and hostility of those who have written concerning them. This however is perfectly clear, that no one who loves the truths which the Bible inculcates, can find any thing to commend in the peculiarities of these sects. (4) 3. At the head of all the sects which disturbed the peace of the church, stand the Gnostics ; who claimed ability to restore to mankind the lost knowledge (yv&oif;) of the true and supreme God ; and who an- nounced the overthrow of that empire, which the creator of the world and his associates had set up. It is, indeed, the common opinion, and sup- ported by the testimony of Clemens Alexandrinus, (Stromat., 1. vii., c. 17., p. 898, 899,) that the Gnostic sects first arose after the decease of the apos- tles, in the reign of Adrian ; and that previously, no discords had produced separations from the church. But the sacred scriptures themselves to say nothing of other ancient documents put it beyond controversy, that even in the first century, in various places, men infected with the Gnostic leprosy began to erect societies distinct from the other Christians ; 1 John Exercitat. de Hymenaeo et Phileto ; in his written ; by Thorn. Ittig, de Haeresiarchis Misccll. Sacra., lib. i., p. 81, &c. As to aevi Apostolici et Apostolico proximi, Lips., Alexander, it is still contested whether the 1690, 4to, and an Appendix, Lips., 1696, Alexander in 1 Tim. i., 20, and 2 Tim. iv., 4to ; by Rcnatus Massuetus, Dissertt. Ire- 14, and in Acts ix., 33, be one and the same naeo praemissae ; and by Sebast. le Xain de person. The greater part believe the affirm- Tillemont, Me'moires pour servir a 1'histoire ative. But Neumann, (Expos, of the New de 1'Eglise. But all these, and others whom Test., vol. vi., p. 363), and Dr. Moshcim, 1 pass over, have rather collected materials (Comment, de Rebus Christ, ante C. M., p. for a history of these sects, than written the 178), support the negative ; being inclined history itself. Among the Lutherans Abr. to believe that there were two persons of this Hinckclmann, Ja. Thomasius, Jo. Hen. Hor- name. The younger Walch, (Entwurf der Uus, and among the Reformed Ja. Bas- Ketzereyen, p. 127), prefers abiding by the nage and Henry Dodwell have either prom- common opinion. Hermogcnes and Phygcl- ised the world such a history or attempted lus are accused by Paul, 2 Tim. i., 15, of to write it ; but have done no more. We only having forsaken him when he was im- must therefore still wait for some person of prisoned at Rome, which was inconstancy, adequate sagacity, fairness, and skill in an- but not heresy. As to Demos, Paul tells cient philosophy and literature to accom- us, 2 Tim. iv., 10, that, from love to the plish this difficult undertaking. [This has world, he had forsaken him. But this gives been since attempted by C. W. F. Walch, no ground for charging him with being a her- Entwurf einer vollstandigen Historic der etic. Diotrephcs, mentioned in the 3d Ep. Ketzereyen, &c., 11 vols. 8vo, 1762-85. of John, is accused of a twofold fault ; viz., JV. Lardner, Hist, of the Heretics, Lond., refusing to receive those whom the apostle 1780, 4to. F. A. Lcwald, de Doctrina recommended to his kind offices ; and set- Gnostica, Heidelb., 1818, 8vo. A. Ncan- ting himself in opposition to the apostle, der, Genetische Entwickelung d. vornehm- But neither of these offences is sufficient to sten gnost. Systeme, Berlin, 1818, 8vo, and constitute him a heretic. Schl.] still better, in his Algem. Gesch. der Chr. (4) Professed histories of the sects which Relig. u Kirche, vol. i., pt. ii., p. 602 859. arose in this and the next century have been TV.] VOL. I. M 90 BOOK I. CENTURY I. PART II. CHAP. V. ii., 18; 1 Tim. vi., 20; Col. ii., 8. (5) Yet these stray flocks did not become distinguished for their numbers, or for their fame and notoriety, till the times of Adrian. Under the appellation of Gnostics, are included all those in the first ages of the church, who modified the religion of Christ, by joining with it the Oriental philosophy, in regard to the source of evil, and the origin of this material universe. The leading principles of this philosophy, have already been stated. 4. All those eastern philosophers, believing that rational souls be- came connected with matter and the inhabitants of bodies, contrary to the will and pleasure of the supreme God, where in expectation of a mighty legate from the Deity, possessed of consummate wisdom and power ; who would imbue, with a knowledge of the true God, the spirits now oppressed with the load of their bodies, and rescue them from their bondage to the lords of this material world. When therefore some of them perceived, that Jesus and his friends wrought miracles of a salutary character, they were ready to believe that Jesus was that mighty legate of God, come to deliver men from the power of the Genii who governed this lower world, and to rescue souls from their unhappy connexion with material bodies. This supposition being admitted into minds polluted with gross errors, they interpreted or rather perverted whatever Christ and his disciples taught, so as to make it harmonize with their other opinions. 5. Hence there necessarily arose among them a multitude of opin- ions, which were extremely foreign from the precepts of Christ. Their belief, that the world was not created by the supreme God in whom is all perfection, but by one or more inferior deities of a bad or at least of an imperfect character, would not allow them to admit the divine authority of the O. T. scriptures ; and it led some of them to venerate and extol the serpent, the prime author of sin among men, and likewise several of the vilest persons mentioned in the Jewish scriptures. The same belief in- duced them to contemn Moses, and the religion he taught ; and to represent him as instigated to impose such hard and unsuitable laws on the Jews, by the world's Creator, who had no regard for human happiness, but only for his own glory and authority.' Their belief that matter is eternal and the source of all evil, prevented them from putting a due estimate upon the human body ; and from favouring marriage, whereby bodies are produced ; and also from admitting the doctrine of the future resurrection of the body. Their belief, that malevolent genii ruled over the world, and that from them originated all the diseases, wars, and calamities of men, led them, almost universally, to addict themselves to magic, or the art of weakening and paralyzing the power of those genii. I omit many other points, as not compatible with so summary a history as this. 6. Their principles required, that while they admitted Christ to be the Son of the supreme God, and a messenger sent from the Plerdma or upper world where God and his family dwell, for the benefit of miserable souls, they should yet hold most unworthy sentiments concerning his per- (5) [The reader will recollect that Dr. who laboured to pervert the truth, and not Mosheim's opinions concerning a matured of any associations of professed Christians Oriental philosophy existing so early as the which they had already organized into church- Apostolic age, have been much questioned, es upon their principles, and which consti- (See note (7), p. 61.) Moreover, the texts tuted regular heretical bodies. 7Y.J he quotes, speak only of certain false teachers SCHISMS AND HERESIES. 91 son and offices. They could not admit him to be truly God, nor truly man. Not truly God, because they held him, though begotten of God, to be yet much inferior to the Father : nor truly man, because everything concrete and corporeal, they believed to be intrinsically and essentially evil. So that most of them divested Christ of a material body, and denied him to have suffered for our sakes, what he is recorded to have endured. The cause of Christ's coming among men, they said, was simply to strip the tyrants of this world, those impotent genii, of their power over the virtu- ous and heaven-born souls of men ; and to teach men, how to withdraw their divine minds from these impure bodies, and fit them for a union with God. 7. Their systems of morals, we are informed, were widely different. For most of them recommended abstinence and austerity, and prescribed the most severe bodily mortifications ; in order that the soul, whose ill fate it was to be associated with a body, might enjoy greater liberty, and be able the better to contemplate heavenly things. For, the more this depraved and grovelling habitation of the soul is weakened and attenuated, the less will it be able to withdraw the mind from the contemplation of divine ob- jects. But some of them maintained, on the contrary, that we may safely indulge all our libidinous desires ; and that there is no moral difference in human actions. (6) This contrariety of opinions need not surprise us : be- cause one and the same principle naturally produced both systems. For persons who believed that their bodies were the very essence of evil, and calculated only to hold their souls in bondage, might, according as they were of a voluptuous or of a morose and austere disposition, either fall into the conclusion, that the acts of the body have no connexion with the* soul when it has once attained to communion with God ; or, on the contrary, believe that the body must be strenuously resisted and opposed, as being the enemy of the soul. 8. As these extraordinary opinions required proof, which it was not easy to find in the writings of the apostles, recourse was had to falsehoods and impositions. Therefore when asked, where they had learned what they so confidently taught ; some produced fictitious books, under the names of Abraham, Zoroaster, and Christ, or his apostles ; some pretended to have derived their principles from a concealed and secret doctrine taught by Christ ; some affirmed that they had arrived at this high degree of wis- dom, by an innate energy which existed in their own minds ; and some pretended that one Theudas, a disciple of St. Paul, or Matthias, one of Christ's disciples, had been their teacher. Those of them, who did not wholly reject the books of the New Testament, either interpreted them very absurdly, neglecting the true import of words, or corrupted them most basely, by retrenching what they disliked and adding what they pleased. 9. It is easy to see, how these persons, after assuming the name of Christians, became divided into numerous sects. In the first place, it ap- pears from what has been already stated, that they held very different opinions before they attended to Christianity. Hence, as each one en- deavoured to accommodate his own philosophical opinions to the Christian religion, it was the necessary consequence, that various systems of reli- gion were produced. Moreover, some of them were born Jews, as Cerin- (6) See Clemens Alex., Stromat.,lib. iii., cap. v., p. 529, ed. Potter. 92 BOOK L CENTURY I. PART II. CHAP. V. thus and others, and did not wish to appear contemners of Moses ; while others were wholly estranged from the Jewish religion, and could indulge themselves in liberties, which the former could not. And lastly, this whole system of philosophy and religion was destitute of any fixed and solid ba- sis, being the creature of their own fancy ; and who does not know, that systems and projects which are the productions of the imagination, never have uniformity. $ 10. The heads and leaders of the philosophical sects which troubled the church in the first century, next come to be considered. The first place among them is, by many, given to Dositheus, a Samaritan. And it is sufficiently proved, that there was a man of this name among the Sa- maritans, about the times of our Saviour ; and that he left a sect behind him. But all the accounts we have of him, clearly show that, he is to be ranked, not among those called heretics, but among the enemies of the Christian name ; or, if it be thought more correct, among the delirious and insane. For he wished to be thought to be himself the Messiah, or that Prophet whom God had promised to the Jews ; and he therefore could not have held Jesus Christ to be a divine ambassador, or have merely cor- rupted his doctrines. (7) 11. What I have said of Dositheus, I would likewise say of Simon Magus. This impious man is not to be ranked among those who corrupted Christianity by an intermixture of errors, or among the heretics ; but is to be classed among those who declared open war against Christianity ; and this notwithstanding nearly all the ancient and modern writers make him to ha.ve been the head, the father, and the ringleader of the whole heret- ical camp. For it is manifest from all the records we have of him, that after his defection from the Christians, he ascribed to Christ no honour at all; but set himself in opposition to Christ, and claimed to be himself the supreme power of God. (8) 12. What the ancients relate of the life and opinions of Simon, are so different and inconsistent, that some very learned men have concluded they could not all relate to one person ; and thus they would make out two Si- mons ; the one Simon Magus, who abandoned the Christian religion ; and the other a Gnostic philosopher. On this point men will judge as they (7) Ja. Basnage, Histoire des Juifs, 1. ii., cient accounts simply mention him among cap. xiii., p. 307. Rich. Simon, Critique de the founders of sects ; as Hegesippus, in la Bibliotheque des Auteurs Eccles., par M. Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., 1. iv., c. 22. It is du Pin, torn, iii., cap. xiii., p. 304. [Mo- said, his followers accounted him the Mes- skeim, Inst. hist. Chr. major., p. 376. C. siah ; (Photius, Biblioth. cxxx.), and that he, W. F. Walch, Ketzerhistorie, i., p. 182. at first, claimed to be so ; but afterwards All the accounts make Dositheus to have retracted, in presence of his pupil Simon lived among the Samaritans ; one writer rep- Magus; (Clemens, Recogn., 1. ii., 8, &c.) resents him, as an apostate Jew. Accord- Eulogius, bp. of Alexandria in the sev- ing to Origen, (Philocal. i.), he was a rigor- enth century, wrote against the Dositheans, ous observer of the law of Moses ; and par- (according to Photius, Biblioth. cxxx.), and ticularly, allowed no one to move from the besides his pretended messiaship, he attrib- spot where the Sabbath overtook him. Ac- utes to Dositheus various errors ; all of cording to Epiphanius, (Haeres., lib. i., pt. i., which coincided with either Sadducean or hser. 13, previous to the Christian heresies), Samaritan opinions. See J. E. C. Schmidt, he was an apostate Jew, whose ambition be- Handb. d. christl. Kirchengeschichte, vol. i., ing disappointed, he retired among the Sa- 50, p. 214, &c. TV.] maritans, lived in a cave, and fasted so rig- (8) See Origen, adv. Celsum, lib. v., p. orou.sly as to occasion his death. Other an- 272, ed. Spencer. SCHISMS AND HERESIES. 93 please ; bxit to us it appears neither safe nor necessary to reject the testi- mony of the ancients that there was only one Simon. (9) He was by birth either a Samaritan or a Jew ; and after studying philosophy at Alexan- dria^ 10) he professed to be a magician, as was common in that age ; and by his fictitious miracles, persuaded the Samaritans among others that ho had received from God the power of controlling those evil spirits which afflict mankind; Acts viii., 9, 10. On seeing the miracles which Philip performed by divine power, Simon joined himself to Philip, professed to be a Christian, and hoped to learn from the Christians the art of working miracles. When cut off from this hope by the pointed reproof of Peter, Acts viii., 9, 10, he not only returned to his old course of sorcery, but wherever he went, he laboured to obstruct the progress of Christianity. The accounts of his tragical death, and of a statue decreed him at Rome, are rejected with great unanimity by the learned at the present day. They are at least uncertain and improbable. (11) 13. Simon undoubtedly belonged to that class of philosophers who admitted as co-existent with the supreme and all-perfect God, not only eternal matter, but an evil deity who presides over it.. And if I mistake not, he was one of those in this class who believed matter to have been eternally animated, and at a certain period to have brought forth, by its in- herent energies, that depraved being who now rules over it, surrounded by numerous attendants. From this opinion of Simon, the other gross errors ascribed to him by the ancients concerning fate, the indifference of human actions, the impurity of the human body, the power of magic, &c., would very naturally follow.(12) The most shocking of all his abominations was, his (9) See the Dissertation by G. C. Voel- gratiate himself with Nero, he attempted to ger, revised and published by Moshcim, fly, being assisted by evil spirits ; but that Diss. ad Histor. Eccles. Pertinentes, vol. by the prayers of St. Peter, the evil spirit* ii., p. 55, dec., de uno Simone Mago. [The were compelled to let him fall, which either idea of two Simons, the one a Samaritan killed him outright, or broke his bones and mentioned in Acts viii., the other a Jewish so mortified him, that he killed himself; is philosopher in the reign of Domitian and the too improbable, and has too much the as- father of all the Gnostic sects; was first pect of fiction, to gain credit in this enlight- thrown out as a conjecture, by Camp. Vi- ened age. And the mistake of Justin Mar- tringa, Observ. sacrar., 1. v., c. 12, 9, p. tyr, Apol. i., c. 34, who says he saw a pub- 159, and afterwards defended by C. A. Heu- lie statue, inscribed to Simon, on an island mann, Acta erudit., Lips., for April, A.D. in the Tiber at Rome ; has been satisfacto- 1717, p. 179, and J. de Beausobre, Diss. rily accounted for, since the discover)' in the sur les Adamites, pt. ii., subjoined to UEn- year 1574, of a stone in the Tiber at Rome, /ant's Histoire de la guerre des Hussites, bearing this inscription : Semoni Sanco, Deo $ 1, p. 350, &c. But this hypothesis is Fidio. For this inscription, which Justin, now generally given up. TV.] being an Asiatic, might easily misunder- (10) Clementina, homil. ii., in Patr. stand, was undoubtedly intended for an an- Apostol., torn, ii., p. 533. cient pagan god. TV.] (11) See /*. de Beausobre, Histoire de (12) The dissertation of Jo. Hen. Horbius, Manichee, p. 203, 395. Anth. van Dale, de Simone Mago, though a juvenile produc- Diss. de Statua Simonis ; annexed to his tion and needing correction in style, I pre- book de Oraculis, p. 579. Sal. Deyling, fer to all others on this subject. It will be Observatt. sacrar., 1. i., observ. xxxvi., p. found republished by Jo. Voiglius, in the 140. Scb. Tillcnumt, Memoires pour servir Biblioth Haeresiologica, torn, i., pt. iii., p. a 1'histoire de 1'Eglisc, torn, i., p. 340, and 511. Horbius treads closely in the steps of numerous others. [What Arnobms, adv. his preceptor, Ja. Thomas lit s ; who very Gentes, 1. ii., p. 64, ed. Herald, and after clearly saw the source of those numerous er- hiin many others relate, with some variety, rors'by which the Gnostics, and especially Si- concerning Simon's death ; viz., that while mon, were infected. The other writers who practising magic at Rome, in order to in- have treated of Sunon, are enumerated by 94 BOOK I. CENTURY I. PART II. CHAP. V. pretence that the greatest and most powerful of the divine Aeons of the male sex, resided in himself; and likewise, that another Aeon of the fe- male sex, the mother of all human souls, resided in his mistress Helena ; and his proclaiming that the supreme God had despatched him down to this world, to break up the empire of the world's creator, and to deliver Helena out of that tyrant's hands.(13) 14. From Simon Magus it is said, Menander, who was also a Samar- itan, learned his doctrine ; which is no more true than what the ancients relate, that all the heretical sects derived their origin from this Simon. Menander is to be stricken from the list of proper heretics, and to be classed among the lunatics and madmen, who foolishly arrogated to themselves the character of saviours of mankind. For it appears from the testimony of Iren&us, Justin Martyr, and Tertullian, (\4c) that he wished to be thought one of the Aeons sent from the upper world, or the Pleroma, to succour the souls that were here suffering miserably in material bodies ; and to af- ford them aid against the machinations and the violence of the demons who govern our world. As he erected his religious system on nearly the same fundamental principles as Simon did his, the ancients supposed that he must have been a disciple of Simon. 15. If those now mentioned are excluded from the number of the her- etics of the first century, the first place among the Christian sects, and also among those denominated Gnostics, seems to belong to the Nicolaitans ; of whom Jesus Christ himself expressed his detestation, Apoc. ii., 6, 14, 15. It is true the Saviour does not tax them with errors in matters of faith, but only with licentious conduct, and a disregard of the injunction of the apostles to abstain from meats offered to idols, and from fornication, Acts xv., 29. But the writers of the second and the following centuries, Ire- nasus, Tertullian, Clemens Alex., (15) and others, declare that they taught the same doctrines with the Gnostics, concerning tuio principles of all things, and concerning the Aeons, and the origin of the present world. Whether this testimony is to be admitted, or whether we are to suppose that .the ancients confounded two different sects which bore the same name ; the one the Apocalyptical Nicolaitans, and the other a Gnostic sect of the second century, founded by a man named Nicolaus ; is a question which ad- mits of doubt.(16) Voigtius, ubi supra, p. 567. [See C. W. F. (16) [See Demonstratio Sectae Nicolaita- Walch, Historic der Ketzer., vol. i., p. 152, rum, adv. doctiss. ejus oppugnatores, cum &c. The English reader will find a full, Supplemento, in Mosheim's Diss. ad His- but not very accurate account of Simon in tor. Eccles. pertinent., vol. i., p. 389-495. Calmet's Dictionary of the Bible. Tr.~\ Also Mosheim's Institut. Hist. Christ, ma- (13) Some very learned men, I am aware, jor, p. 46 ; and Comment, de Reb. Christ. have supposed that the ancient accounts of ante Constant. M., p. 195 ; and especially Simon's Helena should be interpreted alle- C. W. F. WaJch, Entwf d. Gesch. d. Ket- gorically ; and that Simon intended, by the zereyen, vol. i., p. 167. All the ancients, name of Helena, to indicate matter, or the except John Cassianus, (Collatio xviii., c. soul, or something, I know not what. But 16), supposed that Nicolaus of Antioch, the for such an allegorical interpretation, it would deacon, (Acts vi., 5), was either the founder be easy to show, there is little foundation. or the accidental cause of this sect. Irenezus (14) [Ireruzus,lib. i.,c. 23. Justin Mar- makes him to have been the founder of it. tyr, Apol. ii., p. 69. Tertullian, de Anima, But Clemens Alex, states that an incautious cap. 50, and de Resurrect., c. 5. Tr.] speech or act of his gave occasion only to (15) [Irerueut, lib. iii., c. 2, and 1. ii., c. this sect. For he being one day accused 37. Tertull., de Prescript., c. 46. Clem, of too much attention to his wife, when he Alex., Strom., 1. iii., c. 4. Tr.} came to defend himself he publicly divorced SCHISMS AND HERESIES. 95 16. With greater propriety we may reckon among the Gnostics, Ce- rinthus, a Jew by birth, (1 7) but educated and taught philosophy at Alexan- dria. (18) Though some of the learned have chosen to assign him rather to the second century than to the first, (19) yet it appears that it was while St. John was still living, that he endeavoured to form a new sect and to inculcate a singular system of religion, compounded of the doctrines and principles of Jesus Christ, and those of the Gnostics and Jews. From the Gnostics he borrowed the notions of a Plerdma, Aeons, a Demiurge, <fcc., but these he so modified that they appeared not wholly inconsistent with the opinions of the Jews. Therefore, to the creator of this world, whom also he acknowledged to be the sovereign and the lawgiver of the Jewish nation, he ascribed a nature possessed of the highest virtues and derived from the true God ; but which, he affirmed, had gradually receded from its primitive excellence and deteriorated. Hence God had determined to subvert his power, by means of one of the blessed Aeons whose name was Christ. This Christ had entered into a certain Jew named Jesus, (a very righteous and holy man, the son of Joseph and Mary by ordinary genera- tion), by descending upon him in the form of a dove, at the time when he was baptized by John in the river Jordan. After his union with Christ, this Jesus vigorously assailed the God of the Jews, the world's creator ; and by his instigation Jesus was seized by the rulers of the Jewish nation forms of worship, than is common for the Gnostic heretics. Watch's Entw. der His- torie der Ketz., vol. i., p. 250. Schl.'] (18) Thcodorct, Fabul. Haeret., lib. ii., cap. 3, Opp., torn, iii., p. 219. (19) See Sam. Basnage, Annal. polit. eccles., torn, ii., p. 6. Peter Faydit, Eclaircisements sur 1'histoire eccles. de deux premiers siecles, cap. v., p. 64 ; and others. With these, Jo. Fr. Buddeus con- tends, de Ecclesia Apostol., cap. v., p. 412 ; [and Tillemont, Me"moires pour servira 1'his- toire de I'Eglisc, tome ii., p. 436 : and Mo- sheim, Institut. Hist, eccles. major., sec. i., p. 439, &c. They who place Cerinthus in the second century, rely chiefly on two argu- ments. The first is, that the ancient writers who treat of the heretics, set down Cerinthus after Marcion, [rather after Carpocrates. Tr.] The other rests on a spurious letter of Pius, bishop of Rome, [in the middle of the second century. Tr.], to Justus, bishop of Vienne ; in which Pius laments that Cerin- thus was at that time making many prose- lytes. The epistle may be found in Con- stant. Epistol. Pontific., Append., torn, i., p. 19, [and in Binius, Concil. Gen., torn, i., p. 124. Tr.] But the first argument proves nothing, because the historians of the here- sies pay no regard to chronological order ; and the second falls, because the epistle is not genuine. Schl.] But, see on this sub- ject, Fr. Ad. Lampe, Commentar. in Johan. Proleg., lib. ii., c. 3, $ 13, &c., p. 181, &c. -Tr.] her, using the expression, on &ai TT) aapul Ah, it is proper to abuse the flesh ; i. e., to subdue its corrupt propensi- ties. This speech was afterward perversely applied by a Gnostic association to justify their abominations. To this account, agree Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., 1. iii.,c. 29. Ttieod- oret, Hceret. Fab., 1. iii., c. 1, torn, iv., Opp., p. 226 ; and Augustine, de Hares., cap. 5. Now the question arises, whether there ac- tually was in the time of St. John, a hereti- cal party holding different fundamental prin- ciples from the orthodox, and distinguish- ed by the name of Nicolaitans. Some say there was ; others say there was not. Dr. Mosheim takes the affirmative, on account of the historical credibility of the fathers, and the literal import of the words used in the Apocalypse. The next question is, Who was the founder of this sect 1 Here, some follow Irenarus ; others follow Cle- mens Alex. ; and some, among whom is Dr. Mushcim, think it probable there were two persons of the name of Nicolaus. If this supposition be admitted, it will be easy to account for the fact, that the Nicolaitans of the fathers are accused of Gnosticism, while there is no mention of it in the Apocalypse. Baumgartcn's Auszug der Kirchenges- chichte, th. i., p. 458. Schl.] (1.7) [For Efriphanius states, Hares. xxviii., t) 3, that he was circumcised; and Johannes Dainasccnus, de Hares., cap. 8, that his followers were Jews. His doctrines, also, show a higher respect for the Jewish 96 BOOK I. CENTURY I. PART II. CHAP. V. and nailed to the cross. But when Jesus was apprehended, Christ flew away to heaven ; so that only the man Jesus was put to death. Cerinthus required his followers to worship the supreme God, the father of Christ, together with Christ himself; but to abandon the Jewish Lawgiver, whom he accounted the creator of this world ; and while they retained some parts of the Mosaic law, to regulate their lives chiefly by the precepts of Christ. He promised them a resurrection of their bodies ; which would be suc- ceeded by exquisite delights in the millenary reign of Christ ; and then would follow a happy and never-ending life in the celestial world. For Cerinthus supposed that Christ would hereafter return, and would unite himself again with the man Jesus, in whom he had before dwelt, and would reign with his followers during a thousand years in Palestine. (20) 17. Those who maintained the necessity of the Mosaic law and cer- emonies in order to eternal salvation, had not proceeded so far in this century, as to have no communion with those who thought differently. They were of course accounted brethren, though weaker ones. But after the second destruction of Jerusalem in the reign of Adrian, when they withdrew from the other Christians and set up separate congregations, they were regarded as sectarians, who had deviated from the true doctrines of Christ. Hence arose the names, Nazareans(2l) and Ebionites ;(22) by which those Christians, whose errors originated from an attachment to the Mosaic law, were discriminated from the other Christians, who held that the Mosaic ceremonial law was abrogated by Christ. These Nazareans or Ebionites, though commonly set down among the sects of the apostolic age, in reality belong to the second century, in which they first became a distinct sect. (20) [The doctrines of Cerinthus are gion of Christ. Of these Nazareans, Mo- stated in full, by C. W. F. Walch, Entwurf shcim treats largely, Institut. Hist. Christ. der Gesch. d. Ketzereyen, vol. i., p. 260, major., p. 465, and Comment, de Rebus &c., and by Mosheim, Institut. Hist. Christ. Christ, ante Const. M., p. 328 ; as also C. major., p. 445, and Comment, de Reb. W. F. Walch. Entw. d. Gesch. d. Ketzer- Christianor. ante Constant. M., p. 196 It eyen, vol. i., p. 101, &c. SchL] may be remarked, that Ircnaus, adv. Hae- (22) [The origin of this name is still a res., 1. iii., c. 3, says he had heard from va- subject of controversy. Some derive it from rious persons, that Polycarp told them that a founder of this sect, who was called Ebion. the apostle John once met Cerinthus in a Others think the name Ebionites, to be equiv- public bath at Ephesus, and instantly fled alent to the Hebrew word Q^JV^X poor out, saving he was afraid the bath would fall on that enemy of the truth and kill him. P e P k : but . ^ a not a ? r * ed % thls This story may be true; notwithstandmg name was given to the sect. Others again, Irenaus had it from third hand testimony [ e 8 ard lh f e whole sub J cct a f a historical prob- But the addition to it, that Cenntlms was lem ' that ca r n never be f lv f ed wlth absolu ' e actually k.lled by the fall of the building, " rta ' nt -^ /' " ***** , f W* ^ G ' as soon as John was gone out, was first an- W - F Wdc ^. Entw ^ der , G f ch ,/, Ket ' ncxed in modern times by the Dominican f re .y en > }~ '". P- J, 1 , ; and b y Moshcim Bernhard of Luxemburg, in his Catalogus Ins , tltu ''. "istonae Christ, major., p. 477, Haereticorum ; and it deserves no credit, and mhisDiss. qua ostenditur, certohod.eet See Walch, ubi supra, p. 255. Schl.] explorate constitui non posse, utrum Ehon (21) [This name the Jews first gave by qlam novae Sectae auc tor ex Went ohm way of reproach, to the disciples of Christ; mter Christianos, nee ne ? in his Dissertt. ad because he was a citizen of Nazareth. Acts J 18t - , Ecc ' e L s P??" 1 !?*'' V L '" P 547> &c ' xxiv., 5. Afterwards the name was applied ? ee also Chr ' Alb ' Doe derlcm, Commentar. especially to a Christian sect, which endeav- de Eblonaeis e n "!!!l ro Q hostlu ^ ^, h n nstl oured to unite the Mosaic law with the reli- mendls > Buzow > 1770 > 8vo CENTURY SECOND. PART I. THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. CHAPTER I. THE PROSPEROUS EVENTS OF THE CHURCH. $ 1. Character of the Roman Emperors. 2. Propagation of Christianity in the Roman Empire. 3. Countries enlightened by Christianity. (/ 4. Conversion of the Germans. 6 5. The Gauls converted. 6. Translation of the N. T. 7. Apologies and other Writings of Christians. 8. Miracles and Extraordinary Gifts. $ 9. Miracle of the Thundering Legion. 10. It is uncertain. 11. Sedition and Slaughter of the Jews. $ 12. Philosophers become Christians. 1. MOST of the Roman emperors of this century were of a mild and equitable character. Trajan, [A.D. 98-1 17 j, though too eager for glory, and not always sufficiently considerate and provident, was humane and equitable. Adrian [A.D. 117-138] was more severe, yet not absolutely bad and tyrannical ; his character was a compound of virtues and vices. The Antonines [Pius A.D. 138-161, Marcus Aurelius the P/iilos. A.D 161-180, with Verus A.D. 161-169, and Commodus A.D. 169-192] were models of excellence and benignity. Even Severus, [A.D. 193-211], who afterwards assumed another character, was at first oppressive to no one, and to the Christians mild and equitable. 2. Through this lenity of the emperors, Christians living in the Ro- man empire suffered far less, than they would have done if they had been under severer lords. The laws enacted against them were indeed suffi- ciently hard ; and the magistrates, excited by the priests and the populace, often made considerable havoc among them, and frequently went much be- yond what the laws required. Yet for these evils some relief was commonly attainable. Trajan would not have the Christians to be sought after ; and he forbid any complaints being received against them, without the names of the accusers tuuuxed.ll.) And Antoninus Pius even decreed, that their ac- cusers should be punished.(2) Some in one way, and others in another, (1) See Pliny' 1 s Epistles, lib. x., ep. 98. itself. For we know from history, that the (2) Etiscbiits, Hist. Eccles., lib. iv., cap. earthquakes mentioned in the edict, happen- 13, [where the law of Antoninus is given at ed under Pius. Sec Cap'lnlums, Life of length, from the Apology of Mclito. Some Antoninus Pius, cap. 9. Besides, if Afore** indeed, have supposed that it. was Marcus himself had published this edict, Mclito could Antoninus, and not Antoninus Pius, who. have had no occasion, by this Apology, to im- issued this decree. (So Valesius in loc.) plore the grace of this emperor in favour of But this is contrary to the express testimony the Christians. See Moshcun, de Rebus* of Eimcliiiis, and to the contents of the edict Christ, ante Constant. M., p. 210. Schl.) VOL. I. N 98 BOOK I. CENTURY II. PART I. CHAP. I. protected them against the evil designs of the populace and the priests. Hence the Christian community increased, and became vastly numerous in this century. Of this fact we have the clearest testimony of the ancients, which some have in vain attempted to call in question. (3) $ 3. On what particular countries, both within the Roman empire and beyond it, the light of heavenly truth first shone in this century, the defects in the ancient records will not allow us to state with precision. There are unexceptionable witnesses who declare, that in nearly all the East, and among the Germans, the Spaniards, the Celts, the Britons, and other na- tions, Christ was now worshipped as God.(4) But if any inquire, which of these nations received Christianity in this century, and which in the preceding, it is not in my power to answer. Pantacnus, master of the school at Alexandria, is said to have instructed the Indians in Christian- ity. (5) But these Indians appear to have been certain Jews, living in (3) See Walt. Moyle, de Legione fulmi- natrice ; a Latin translation of which, with notes, I have annexed to my Syntagma Diss. ad sanctiores disciplinas pertinent., p. 652 661. See also an additional passage in Jus- tin Martyr, Dial, cum Tryphone, p. 341. (4) Irenaus, adv. Hceres., 1. i., c. 10. Ter- tullian, adv. Judseos, cap. 7. [The testi- mony of the former is this : " Neither do those churches, which are established among the Germans, believe or teach otherwise ; nor do those among the Hiberii, or among the Celts ; nor those in the East ; nor those in Egypt ; nor those in Libya ; nor those established in the central parts of the world." The language of Tertullian is rhetorical ; and the statement, undoubtedly, somewhat too strong. He says : " In whom, but the Christ now come, have all nations believed 1 For, in whom do all other nations (but yours, the Jews) confide ; Parthians, Medes. Elam- ites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, Ar- menia, Phrygia, Cappadocia, and inhabitants of Pontus and Asia, and Pamphylia ; the dwellers in Egypt, and inhabitants of the re- gion beyond Gyrene 1 Romans and stran- gers ; and in Jerusalem both Jews and pros- elytes ; so that the various tribes of the Ge- tuli, and the numerous hordes of the Mauri ; all the Spanish clans, and the different na- tions of Gauls, and the regions of the Brit- ons inaccessible to the Romans but subject to Christ, and of the Sarmatians and Daci- ans, and Germans, and Scythians, and many unexplored nations, and countries, and isl- ands unknown to us, and which we cannot enumerate : in all which places, the name of the Christ who has already come, now reigns." Tr.] (5) Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., 1. v., c. 10. Jerome, de Scriptoribus Illustr., c. 36. [Ac- cording to Euselnus, the zeal of Pantanus prompted him to undertake a voluntary mis- sion among the Indians. But according to Jerome, (de Scriptor. illustr., c. 36, and Epist. 83, Opp., torn, iv., pt. ii., p. 656, ed. Bened.), he was sent out by Demetrius, bp. of Alexandria, in consequence of a request made by the Indians for a Christian teacher. Perhaps Pantanus first spontaneously trav- elled among the nearer Arabians ; and, upon the request of the people here called Indians for a teacher, Demetrius directed him to visit that people. As it is well known, that the Greek and Latin writers give the name of Indians to the Persians, Parthians, Medes, Arabians, Ethiopians, Libyans, and many other nations, to them little known ; the learned have inquired, who were the Indians visited by Pantcmus 1 Many think, they were those we call the East Indians, inhab- iting the country about the river Indus. Jerome so thought ; for he represents him as sent to instruct the Brachmans. Hen. Valesius and Lu. Holstenius and others suppose, they were the Abyssinians or Ethi- opians ; who are often called Indians, who were near and always had intercourse with the Egyptians. See S. Basnage, Annal. po- lit. eccles., torn, ii., p. 207. Valesius, Ad- notat. ad Socratis Hist. Eccles., p. 13. Oth- ers incline to believe them Jews, resident in Yemen or Arabia Felix, a country often called India. That they were not strangers to Chris- tianity, is evident from their having Mat- thew's Gospel among them, and from their desiring some one to expound it to them. Their applying to the bp. of Alexandria, shows that Egypt was to them the most ac- cessible Christian country ; and their having the Gospel written in Hebrew, as Jerome testifies, is good proof that they were Jews ; because no other people understood that lan- guage. Besides, Bartholomew had formerly been among them ; the field of whose la- bours has been supposed to be Arabia Felix. See Tillcmonfs life of Bartholomew, in his Memoires pour servir a 1'histoire de 1'Eglise, PROSPEROUS EVENTS. 99 Arabia Felix ; among whom the apostle Bartholomew had previously intro- duced the Christian religion. For Pantaenus found among them, according to the testimony of Jerome, the Gospel of St. Matthew, which they had re- ceived from their first teacher Bartholomew. 4. From Gaul, it would seem, the Christian religion must have spread into Germany on the left of the Rhine, which was subject to the Romans, and also into Britain over against Gaul. (6) Yet certain churches in Ger- many have been accustomed to deduce their origin from the companions and disciples of St. Peter and other apostles ;(7) and the Britons, follow- ing the account given by Beda, would fain believe, that their king Lucius sought and obtained Christian teachers from Eleutherus the Roman pontiff, in this second century, and during the reign of Marcus Antoninus. (8) But torn, i., p. 1160, 1161. See Mosheim, de Reb. Christ, ante C. M., p. 206, 207. Tr.] (6) On the origin of the German church- es, mentioned by Tertullian and Irenaus as existing in this century, Jo. Hen. Ursinus, Bcbclius, and others have written ; and still better, Gabriel Liron, Singularitez histori- ques et littcraires, torn, iv., Paris, 1740, 8vo. The common and popular accounts of the first preachers of the Gospel in Germany, are learnedly impugned by Aug. Calmet, Histoire de Lorraine, torn. i. Diss. sur les Eveques de Treves, p. 3, 4. Holland, Acta sanctorum, January, torn, ii., p. 922. Jo. Nic. de Hontheim, Diss. de aera episcopal. Trevirensis ; in Histories Trevirensis torn. i. (7) [It is said, St. Peter sent Eucherius, Valerius, and Maternus into Belgic Gaul ; and that they planted the churches of Co- logne, Treves, Tongres, Liege, and some others, and presided over them till their death. See C/iristo. Browcr, Annales Tre- virenses, 1. ii., p. 143, &c., and Acta Sane- tor. Antwerpiensia, 29th of January, p. 918. But Calmet, Bolland, and Hontheim, (ubi supra), have proved satisfactorily, that these pretended founders of the German churches, did not live earlier than the third or fourth century ; and that they were first repre- sented as being legates of the apostles, in the middle ages. See Mosheim, de Reb. Christ., &c., p. 212. Tr.] (8) See Ja. Usher, Antiquitates Eccle- siar. Bntannicar., cap. i., p. 7. Francis (inilirin, de Conversione Britann., cap. i., p. 7. Rapm de Thoyras, History of England, vol. i. [ Wil. Burton, Adnotat. ad Clem- entix Rum. Epist. ad Corinth., in Patribus Apostol., torn, ii., p. 470. Edw. Stilliiiir. fieet, de Antiquitate Ecclesiar. Britann., cap. i. Fred. Spanhcim, Historia Eccles. major, saecul ii., p. 603, 604. The first publication of the Gospel in Britain, has been attributed to James the ton of Zebedec, whom Herod put to death, (Acts xii., 1), to Simon Zclctes, another apostle, to Aristo- bulus, (mentioned Rom. xvi., 10), to St. Peter, &c., by some few legendary writers, who are cited by Usher, Ecclesiar. Britann. Primordia, cap. i. But rejecting these ac- counts, William of Malmcsbury, and after him, many other monks maintained that Joseph of Arimathea with twelve others, were sent from Gaul, by St. Philip, into Britain A.D. 63 ; that they were successful in planting Christianity ; spent their lives in England ; had twelve hides of land assigned them by the king at Glastonbury, where they first built a church of hurdles, and afterward established a monastery. By maintaining the truth of this story, the English clergy obtained the precedence of some others, in several councils of the 15th century, and particularly that of Basil A.D. 1434, (Ush- er'' s Primordia, ch. ii., p. 12-30). Since the reformation, this story has been given up by most of the English clergy. But, as Eusc/iius, (Demonstrat. Evang., 1. iii., c. 5), and Theodorct, (Graecar. Curatio Affectio- num. 1 ix.), name the Britons among others, to whom the Apostles themselves preached the Gospel, some have maintained, that St. Paul must have visited that country ; and they urge that Clemens. Rom says, that this apostle travelled eiri TO rippa rf/f dvatut; to the utmost bounds of the west. They also urge, that among the many thousand Romans who passed over into Britain in the reign of Claudius and his successors, there were doubtless some Christians, who would spread the knowledge of Christ there. But the principal reliance has been on the reported application of king Lucius to pope Eleuthe- rus for Christian teachers, about A.D. 150, or rather 176. (Usher, Primordia, ch. iv., p. 44, &c.). On all these traditions Dr. Mtixh>'hn passes the following judgment. "Whether any apostle, or any comg^nion of an apostle, ever visited Britain, cannot be determined ; yet the balance of probability rather inclines towards the affirmative. The story -of Joseph of Arimathea, might arise from the arrival of some Christian teacher from Gaul, in the second century, whose too BOOK I. CENTURY II. PART I. CHAP. I. these ancient accounts are exposed to much doubt, and are rejected by the best informed persons. . Transalpine Gaul, which is now called France, perhaps received some knowledge of the Gospel before this century, either from the apos- tles or from their friends and disciples. But unequivocal proofs of the ex- istence of churches in this part of Europe, first occur in the present cen- tury. For in it Pothinus, a man of distinguished piety and devotedness to Christ, in company with Irenteus and other holy men, proceeded from Asia to Gaul, and there instructed the people with such success, that he gath- ered churches of Christians at Lyons and Vienne, of which Pothinus him- self was the first bishop. (9) name was Joseph. As the Gauls, from Di- onysius, bp. of Paris in the second century, made Dionysius the Areopagite to be their apostle ; and as the Germans made Mater- nus, Eucherius, and Valerius, who lived in the third and fourth centuries, to be preach- ers of the first century, and attendants on St. Peter ; so the British monks, I have no doubt, made a certain Joseph, from Gaul, in the second century, to be Joseph of Arima- thea. As to Lucius, I agree with the best British writers, in supposing him to be the restorer and second father of the English churches, and not their original founder. That he was a king, is not probable ; be- cause Britain was then a Roman province. He might be a nobleman, and governor of a district. His name is Roman. His appli- cation, I can never believe was made to the bp. of Rome. It is much more probable, that he sent to Gau) for Christian teachers. The independence of the ancient British churches on the see of Rome, and their ob- serving the same rights with the Gallic churches, which were planted by Asiatics, and particularly in regard to the time of East- er ; show that they received the Gospel from Gaul, and not from Rome. See Mosheim, de Reb. Christ., &c., p. 213, &c. Tr.] (9) Peter de Marco,, Epistola de Evan- gelii in Gallia initiis ; published among his Dissertations, and also by Valesius, subjoin- ed to Eusebii Historia Eccles. Jo. Launoi, Opuscula, in his Opp., torn. ii. Histoire Litteraire de la France, torn, i., p. 223. Gabr. Liron, Singularitez historiques et lit- teraires ; the whole fourth volume, Paris, 1740, 8vo, and others. [The most eminent French writers have disputed about the ori- gin of their churches. Three different opin- ions have been advanced. The first is that of Jo. JSbunoi, (ubi supra), whom many writers of eminence at this day follow. It is, that, if we except the Asiatic colonists of Lyons and Viennc, among whom there were Christian churches formed about A. D. 150 ; the first propagation of Christianity among the Transalpine Gauls was by missionaries from Rome, about A.D. 250. This hypothe- sis is founded chiefly on the testimony of three ancient writers ; viz., Sulpicius Seve- rus, Historia Sacra, lib. ii., c. 32, where, speaking of the persecution at Lyons and Vienne, under Marcus Antoninus, (A.D. 177), he says; Ac tune primum inter Gal- lias martyria visa ; serins trans Alpes Dei religione suscepta : these were the first mar- tyrs among the Gauls ; for the divine reli- gion was not received till late beyond the Alps. The next testimony is that of the author of the Acts of Saturninus, bishop of Toulouse, who suffered under Decius. The author is supposed to have written in the beginning of the fourth century. He says : Raras tertio saeculo in aliquibus Galliap civita- tibus ecclesias paucorum Christianorum de- votione consurrexisse : scattering churches of a few Christians arose in some cities of Gaul in the third century. See T. Ruinart, Acta Martyr, sincera. p. 130. The third testimony is that of Gregory of Tours, the father of French history, (in the Historia Francor., lib. i., cap. 27, and de Gloria Con- fessorum, cap. 30, ed. Ruinart, p. 399.) He says : sub Decio septem viros ad prasdican- dum Roma in Galliam missos esse : under Decius, (A.D. 248-251), seven missionaries were sent from Rome to preach in Gaul. Now these seven missionaries are the very persons, who are said to have been sent thith- er by St. Paul, and St. Peter; viz., Tro- phimus bishop of Aries, Stremonius bishop of Clermont, Martial bishop of Limoges, Paul bi.shopof Narbonne, Saturninus bishop of Toulouse, Gratian bishop of Tours, and Dionysius bishop of Paris. The second opinion is, that of the strenuous advocates for the apostolic origin of the Gallic churches, Peter de Marca, (ubi supra), Natalis Alexan- der, (Histor. Eccles., saecul. i., diss. 16, 17, vol. iii., p. 356-420, ed. Paris, 1741, 4to), and others. They consider St. Paul and St. Peter as the fathers of their church. Paul, they think, travelled over nearly all France, in his supposed journey to Spain ; and also sent St. Luke and Crescens into PROSPEROUS EVENTS. 101 6. This rapid propagation of Christianity, is ascribed by the writers of the second century almost exclusively to the efficient will of God, to the ener- gy of divine truth, and to the miracles wrought by Christians. Yet human counsels and pious efforts ought not to be wholly overlooked. Much was undoubtedly effected by the activity of pious men, who recommended and communicated to the people around them the writings of Christ's ambassa- dors ; which were already collected into one volume. All people, indeed, were not acquainted with the language in which these divine books were composed ; but this obstacle was early removed by the labours of translators. As the language of the Romans was extensively used, many Latin transla- tions were made at an early period, as we are informed by Augustine. (10) that country. For the last they allege, 2 Tim. iv., 10, " Crescens to Galatia," or rather to Gaul, according to Epiphanius and others, who, for Tahariav, would read Fa/U-tav. St. Peter, they suppose, sent Trophimus his disciple into Gaul. St. Philip, also, they suppose, laboured in Gaul. And the seven bishops above mentioned, they say, were sent by the apostles from Rome. Very few at this day embrace this opinion entire. It rests principally on very suspicious testimony, or on conjectures and vulgar traditions. The third opinion takes a middle course be- tween the first and the second, and is that which is maintained by Gabr. Liron, Diss. sur 1'etablissement de la religion Chretienne dans les Gauls, in the fourth volume of his Singularitez historique, &c., Paris, 1740, 8vo. It admits what Launoi, Sirmond, and Tillemont have fully proved, that Dionysius the first bishop of Paris, was not Dionysius the Areopagite, mentioned A cts xvii. , 34, but a man who lived in the third century. It also gives up the story of St. Philip, and of most of the pretended apostolic missionaries to Gaul. But it maintains the probability of Paul's travelling over Gaul on his way to Spain ; and of his sending Luke and Cres- cens to that country ; and affirms that in the second, century, there were many flourishing churches in Gaul, besides those of Lyons and Vienne. Dr. Mosheim, (De Rebus Christ, ante C. M., p. 208, &.c.), thinks neither of these opinions is fully confirmed in all its parts. The second, he gives up wholly. The third-, be conceives, lacks evidence. Particularly, Paul's journey to Spain, is itself questiona- ble ; and, if admitted, there is no proof that he passed through Gaul. For St. Luke's mission to Gaul, there is no evidence but the declaration of Epiphanius, (Haeres., 1. i., t) 11), who, to say the least, is not the best au- thority ; and, besides, might possibly mean Cisalpine Gaul, lying between Dalmatia and Italy. The mission of Crescens to Gaul, mentioned by Epiphanius in the same con- nexion, depends entirely on the contested reading of TaWiav for T afar iav, 2 Tim. iv., 10, and which, if admitted, might be under- stood of Cisalpine Gaul. If there were many flourishing churches in Gaul, before Pothinus went there, (which perhaps was the case), this will not prove them to have been planted by the apostles and their companions, which is the point contended for. As to the first opinion, namely, that Pothinus and his com- panions first preached the Gospel in Gaul, it is not fully substantiated. Sulpicius Sev- erus only affirms that it was late, before the Gospel was preached there ; and not, that it never was preached there till the times of Po- thinus. The testimony of the Acts of Sa- turninus only shows, that the progress of the Gospel in Gaul was so slow, that there were but few churches there in the third centu- ry ; which might be true, even if the apostles had there erected one or two churches. The testimony of Gregory Turonensis, fully dis- proves the apostolic age of the seven Gallic missionaries ; and shows that the Christians in Gaul were few in number, before the reign of Deems : but it does not show when the Gospel was first preached in that country. On the whole, Dr. Mosheim thinks it prob- able, the Gospel was preached in Gaul before the second century, and possibly by Luke or Crescens, or even by some apostle. But he thinks Christianity, for a long time, made very little progress in that country, and that probably the churches there had become al- most extinct when Pothinus and his com- panions from Asia planted themselves at Lyons and Vienne, about A.D. 150. Nearly the same opinion was embraced by Tillemont, Memoires pour servira 1'histoire de 1'Eglise, tome iv., p. 983. Tr.J (10) Augustine, de Doctrina Christiana, lib. ii., cap. 11, and cap. 15. [Qui Scrip- turas ex Hebraea lingua in Graecam verterunt, numerari possunt, Latini autem interpretea nullo modo. Ut enim cuique, primis fidei temporibus, in manus venit codex Graecus, et aliquantulum facultatis sibi utriusque lin- guae habere videbatur, ausus est interpretari. In ipsis autem interpretatiombus, Itala 102 BOOK I. CENTURY II. PART I. CHAP. I. Of these, that which is called the Italic Version,(ll) was preferred to all others. The Latin version was followed by a Syriac, an Egyptian, an Ethiopic, and some others. But the precise dates of these several trans- lations cannot be ascertained.(12) 7. Those who wrote apologies for the Christians, and thus met the calumnies and slanders by which they were unjustly assailed, removed some obstacles to the progress of Christ's religion, and in this way contrib- uted not a little to the enlargement of the church. For very many were prevented from embracing Christianity, solely by those detestable calum- nies with which ungodly men aspersed it.(13) Another support to the Christian cause, was furnished by the writers against the heretics. For the doctrines of these sects were so absurd, or so abominable, and the morals of some of them so disgraceful and impious, as to induce many to stand aloof from Christianity. But when they learned from the books against the heretics, that the true followers of Christ held these perverse men in abhorrence, their feelings towards them were changed. 8. It is easier to conceive than to express, how much the miraculous powers and the extraordinary divine gifts which the Christians exercised on various occasions, contributed to extend the limits of the church. The gift of foreign tongues appears to have gradually ceased, as soon as many nations became enlightened with the truth, and numerous churches of Chris- tians were everywhere established ; for it became less necessary than it was at first. But the other gifts with which God favoured the rising church of Christ, were, as we learn from numerous testimonies of the ancients, still conferred on particular persons here and there.(14) caeteris prseferatur ; nam est verborum tena- [The principal testimonies of the second and cior cum perspicuitate sententiae.] third centuries, are Justin Martyr, Apol. (11) See J. G. Carpzov, Critica Sacra V. ii., c. 6, Dial. cum. Tryph., c. 39 and 82. T., p. 663, [and the Introductions to the Irenaus, \. ii.,c. 31, and 1. v., c. 6; and in N. Test, by Michaelis, Home, and others. Euseb. H. E., 1. v., c. 7. Tertull., Apol- TV.] og.,c. 23,27, 32, 37; ad Scap., c. 2. Or- (12) See Ja. Basnage, Hist, de 1'Eglise, igen contra Gels., 1. i., p. 7, and 1. vii., p. liv. ix., cap. 1, tome i., p. 450. 334, ed. Spencer. Dionys. Alex., in Euseb. (13) ["Nothing more injurious can be H. E., lib. vi., c. 40. Minucius Felix, Oc- conceived than the terms of contempt, indig- tav., p. 361, ed. Paris, 1605. Cyprian, de nation, and reproach, which the heathens em- Idol, vanit., p. 14, ad Demetrian., p. 191, ployed in expressing their hatred against the ed. Brem. That what are called the mirac- Christians, who were called by them atheists, ulous gifts of the Holy Spirit, were liberally because they derided the heathen polythe- conferred, not only in this but also in the ism , magicians, because they wrought mir- following century, especially on those en- acles ; self-murderers, because they suffered gaged in propagating the Gospel ; all who martyrdom cheerfully for the truth ; haters are called Christians, believe, on the unani- of the light, because, to avoid the fury of mous and concordant testimony of the an- the persecutions raised against them, they cient writers. Nor do we, in my opinion, were forced at first to hold their religious hereby incur any just charge of departing assemblies in the night ; with a multitude of from sound reason. For, as these witness- other ignominious epithets employed against es are all grave men, fair and honest, some them by Tacitus, Suetonius, Celsus, dec. of them philosophers, men who lived in dif- See Bingham, Antiquities of the Christian ferent countries, and relate not what they church, book i., ch. ii.,p. 5." Mad. ] heard, but what they saw, call God to wit- ( 14) Collections of these testimonies have ness the truth of their declarations, (see Or- been made, by Tab. Pfanntr, de donis mi- igen contra Celsum, 1. i., p. 35, ed. Spen- raculosis ; and by W. Spencer, Notes on cer), and do not claim for themselves, but at- Origen against Celsus, p. 5, 6 ; but the most tribute to others, these miraculous powers ; copious is by Mammachius, Origines et An- what reason can there be, for refusing to be- tiquitates Christianas, torn, i., p. 363, &c. lieve them] Yet a few years since, there PROSPEROUS EVENTS. 103 9. I wish we were fully authorized to place among the miracles, what many ancient writers have recorded concerning a certain legion of Chris- tian soldiers in the army of Marcus Antoninus, in his war against the Mar- appeared among the Britons, a man of no ordinary genius and learning, Conyers Mid- dleton, who published a considerable volume, accusing the whole Christian world of cre- dulity, in this matter ; and boldly pronoun- cing all that was said or written by the nu- merous ancients, concerning these extraor- dinary gifts of the Holy Spirit, to be false. See A free Inquiry into the miraculous powers, &.C., London, 1749, 4to. The his- tory of this famous book, and of the sharp contests it produced in England, may be learned from the British, French, and Ger- man Literary Journals, and from the Ger- man translation and refutation of the work, which has been recently published. I shall here offer only a few observations on this, in many respects most important subject. The apostolic age, the learned Middlcton himself acknowledges, to have been fruitful in mir- acles and extraordinary gifts. But he de- nies their continuance after the decease of the apostles ; and concludes that whatever accounts exist of miracles in the second and third centuries, are the invention of crafty impostors, or the dreams of weak and delu- ded men. And he attributes great import- ance to this opinion ; because the pretended miracles of the Romish saints, rest on the same supports and arguments, as these mir- acles of the early ages ; so that the former can never be disproved, if the latter be ad- mitted. This looks honest and worthy of a sound Christian man ; for the divine origin of the Christian religion does not depend on the truth of the miracles reported to have been wrought in the second and third centu- ries, but is sufficiently proved, if it can be made evident that Christ and his apostles had power to suspend the laws of nature. But the discerning reader of the book will perceive, that the author has assailed the miracles of Christ and the apostles, by his attack on those of subsequent date ; and that he intended to weaken our confidence in all events, which exceed the powers of nature. For, the objections he raises against the miracles of the second and third centuries, are of such a nature as to be read- ily applied to those of the first. The sub- stance of his eloquent and learned argu- mentation, is this. All the writers of the three first centuries, whose works are ex- tant, were ignorant of criticism, and not suf- ficiently guarded and cautious, but some- times too credulous. Therefore all that they state, concerning the miracles of their ovtn times, and even of miracles which they saw with their own eyes, ought to be regarded as a fable. As if it were a conceded point, that no man, unless he is a good critic, can distinguish a true miracle from a false one ; and, that he must always mistake and err, who sometimes yields his assent sooner than he ought. If this great man had only said, that some of the supernatural events which are reported to have happened in the early ages, are very questionable, the position might be admitted : but to aim, by one such general argument, which is liable to innu- merable exceptions, and destitute of a ne- cessary and evident conclusiveness, to over- throw the united testimony of so many pious men, and men sufficiently cautious in other things ; indicates, if I do not greatly mis- take, a mind of high daring, and covertly plotting against religion itself. It is fortu- nate that this distinguished man, a little be- fore his death, (for he died the last year [A.D. 1750,]) appears to have learned, from the arguments of his opposers, the weakness of his opinions. For in his last reply, pub- lished after his death, namely, A Vindica* tion of the free Inquiry, &c., Lond., 1751, 4to, though he is here more contentious and contumelious than was proper, he plainly acknowledges himself vanquished, and sur- renders the palm to his antagonists. For he says, he did not mean to affirm, that no miracles were wrought in the ancient Chris- tian church, after the death of the apostles ; on the contrary, he concedes, he says, that God did confirm the truth of Christianity, as occasion required, by repeated manifesta- tions of his infinite power : all that he aimed to show, was, that the power of working miracles constantly and perpetually was not exercised in the church, after the apostolic age ; and therefore, that credit is not to be given to the statements of those ancient de- fenders of Christianity, who arrogate such a perpetual power ; that is, if I can un- derstand him, among the doctors of the second and third centuries, there was not one that could work miracles, whenever he pleased. But this is wholly changing the question. The learned author might have spared himself the labour of writing and de- fending his book, if this was all he intended when he commenced writing. For, so far as I know, it never came into the head of any Christian, to maintain that there were men among the Christians of the second, third, and fourth centuries, to whom God gave power to work miracles, as often as they pleased, and of what kind they pleased, 104 BOOK I. CENTURY II. PART I. CHAP. I. comanni, [A.D. 174], which by its supplications procured a shower of rain when the Roman troops were ready to perish with thirst. But the re- ality of this miracle is a subject of controversy among the learned ; and those who think that the Christian soldiers misjudged, in regarding that sudden and unexpected shower by which the Roman army was saved, as a miraculous, divine interposition, are supported not only by very respectable authorities, but by arguments of no little weight.(lo) 10. It is certain, that the Roman army when reduced to the greatest straits was relieved by a sudden shower ; and that this shower was regard- ed both by the pagans and the Christians as extraordinary and miraculous ; the latter ascribed the unexpected favour to Christ's being moved by the prayers of his friends, while the former attributed it to Jupiter, or Mercury, or to the power of magic. It is equally certain, I think, that many Chris- tians were then serving in the Roman army. And who can doubt that these, on such an occasion, implored the compassion of their God and Saviour ? Further, as the Christians of those times looked upon all extraordinary events as miracles, and ascribed every unusual and peculiar advantage en- joyed by the Romans to the prayers of Christians, it is not strange, that the salvation of the Roman emperor and his army, should be placed among the miracles which God wrought in answer to the prayers of Christians. But, as all wise men are now agreed that no event is to be accounted a miracle if it can be adequately accounted for on natural principles, or in the com- mon and ordinary course of divine providence ; and as this rain may be easily thus accounted for ; it is obvious what judgment ought to be formed respecting it. 11. The Jews, first under Trajan, [A.D. 116], and afterwards under Adrian, [A.D. 132], led on by Bar Chochebas who pretended to be the Mes- siah, made insurrection against the Romans ; and again suffered the great- est calamities. A vast number of them were put to death ; and a new city, called Aelia Capitolina, was erected on the site of Jerusalem, which not an individual of the miserable race was allowed to enter.(16) This over- throw of the Jews confirmed in some measure, the external tranquillity of at all times, and in all places. Bella geri tium. See also P. E. Jablonski, Spicile- placuit, nulla hahitura triumphos. Thus gium de legione fulminatrice ; in the Mis- Mosheim, de Reb. Christ., &c., p. 221, &c. cellan. Lipsiens., torn, viii., p. 417, where Very candid remarks on this subject, may in particular, the reasons are investigated, also be found in Schrocckh, Kirchengesch., which led the Christians improperly to class vol. iv., p. 380, &c. ; and in Jortin's Re- this rain among the miracles. [See also marks on Eccl. Hist., vol. i., passim. Jr.] Mosheim, de Reb. Christ., &c., p. 249, &c. (15) The arguments on the two sides of The most important among the ancient the question may be seen in Herm. Witsius, accounts of this matter are, on the side of Diss. de Legione fulminatrice, subjoined to the pagans, Dion Cassius, Historia Roma- bis Aegyptiaca; he defends the reality of na, lib. Ixxi., c. 8. Julius Capitolinus, Life the miracle : and Dan. Laroque, Diss. de of Marcus Antonin., cap. 24. Aclius Lam- Legione fulminat., subjoined to the Adver- prid., Life of Heliogabalus, cap. 9. Clau- saria Sacra, of his father Matth. Laroque ; diem, Consulat. vi., Honorii v. and on the who opposes the idea of a miracle: but side of the Christians, Tertullian, Apologet., best of all in the controversy concerning the cap. 5, ad Scapulam, cap. 4. Eusebius, miracle of the thundering legion, between Hist. Eccles., 1. v., cap. 5, and Chronicon, Peter King [rather the Rev. Richard King, p. 82, 215. Xiphilinus, on Dion Cassius, of Topsham TV.] and Walter Moyle lib. Ixxi., cap. 9, 10. Tr.] which I have translated into Latin, and pub- (16) Justin Martyr, Dial, cum Tryph., p. lished, with notes, in my Syntagma Disser- 49, 278. [Dion Cassius, Hist. Rom., 1. 69, tationum ad disciplinas sanctiores pertinen- cap. 12-14. Tr.} ADVERSE EVENTS. 105 the Christian community. For that turbulent nation had previously been everywhere the accusers of the Christians before the Roman judges ; and in Palestine and the neighbouring regions, they had themselves inflicted great injuries upon them, because they refused to aid them in their opposi- tion to the Romans. (17) But this new calamity rendered it not so easy for the Jews, as formerly, to do either of these things. $ 12. The philosophers and learned men, who came over to the Chris- tians in this century, were no inconsiderable protection and ornament to this holy religion by their discussions, their writings, and their talents. But if any are disposed to question whether the Christian cause received more benefit than injury from these men, I must confess myself unable to decide the point. For the noble simplicity and the majestic dignity of the Christian religion were lost, or, at least, impaired when these philosophers presumed to associate their dogmas with it, and to bring faith and piety under the dominion of human reason. CHAPTER II. THE ADVERSE EVENTS OF THE CHURCH. $ 1, 2. The Persecution of Trajan. 3. That of Adrian. 4. That of Antoninus Pius. $ 5. That of Antoninus Philosophus. 6. Its Calamities. 7. The Reigns of Commodus and Severus. $ 8. Calumnies against Christians. $ 1. IN the beginning of this century there were no laws in force against the Christians ; for those of Nero had been repealed by the senate, and those of Domitian by his successor Nerva. But it had become a common custom to persecute the Christians, and even to put them to death, as often as the pagan priests, or the populace tinder the instigation of the priests, demanded their destruction. Hence, under the reign of Trajan, otherwise a good prince, popular tumults were frequently raised in the cities against the Christians, which were fatal to many of them.(l) When therefore such tumults were made in Bithynia, under the propraetor Pliny the younger, he thought proper to apply to the emperor for instructions how to treat the Christians. The emperor wrote back that the Christians were not to be sought after, but if they were regularly accused and convicted, and yet re- fused to return to the religion of their fathers, they were to be put to death as being bad citizens. (2) 2. This edict of Trajan, being registered among the public laws of the Roman empire, set bounds indeed to the fury of the enemies of the Chris- tians, but still it caused the destruction of many of them, even under the best of the emperors. For whenever any one had courage to assume the odious office of an accuser, and the accused did not deny the charge [of (17) [Justin Martyr, Apolog. i., p. 72. which epistles many learned men have illus- Schl.] tratcd by their comments, and especially (1) Eutebius, Historia Eccles., lib. iii.f Vossius, Bochmer, Baldwin, and Hevmann. cap. 32. [See Mitncr's Hist, of the church of Christ, (2) Pliny, Epistol. lib. x., epist. 97, 98 ; century ii., ch. i. 7V.] VOL. I. O 106 BOOK I. CENTURY II. PART L CHAP. II. being a Christian], he might be delivered over to the executioner, unless he apostatized from Christianity. Thus by Trajan's law, perseverance in the Christian religion was a capital ofTence. Under this law, Simeon the son of Cleophas and bishop of Jerusalem, a venerable old man, being ac- cused by the Jews, suffered crucifixion. (3) According to the same law, Trajan himself ordered the great Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, to be thrown to wild beasts. (4) For the kind of death was left by the law to the pleas- ure of the judge. $ 3. Yet this law of Trajan was a great restraint to the priests, who wished to oppress the Christians ; because few persons were willing to assume the dangerous office of accusers. Under the reign of Adrian, there- fore, who succeeded Trajan A.D. 117, they evaded it by an artifice. For they excited the populace, at the seasons of the public shows and games, to demand with united voice of the presidents and magistrates, the destruc- tion of the Christians ; and these public clamours could not be disregarded, without danger of an insurrection.(5) But Serenus Granianus the proconsul of Asia, made representation to the emperor, that it was inhuman and un- just to immolate men convicted of no crime, at the pleasure of a furious mob. Adrian therefore addressed an edict to the presidents of the prov- inces, forbidding the Christians to be put to death, unless accused in due form, and convicted of offence against the laws ; i. e., as I apprehend, he re- instated the law of Trajan.(Q] Perhaps also the Apologies for the Chris- tians, presented by Quadratus and Aristides, had an influence on the mind of the emperor.(7) In this reign, Bar Chochebas a pretended king of the Jews, before he was vanquished by Adrian, committed great outrages on the Christians, because they would not join his standard. (8) 4. In the reign of Antoninus Pius, the enemies of the Christians as- sailed them in a new manner ; for as the Christians, by the laws of Adrian, were to be convicted of some crime, and some of the presidents would not admit their religion to be a crime, they were accused of impiety or atheism. This calumny was met by Justin Martyr, in an Apology presented to the (3) Eusclius, Hist. Eccl., lib. iii., cap. 32. munity ; as we are expressly taught by Eu- (4) See the Acta martyrii Ignatiani ; pub- sebius, Hist. Eccl., 1. iv., cap. 7. See Mo- lished by Ruinart, and in the Patres Apos- sheim, de Rebus Christ., &c., p. 236. Tr.] tolici, and elsewhere. [See above, p. 92, (6) See Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., 1. iv., c. 9, note (31), and Milner's Hist, of the Chh., and Fr. Baldwin, ad Edicta Principum in cent, ii., ch. i., p. 138. TV.] Christianos, p. 73, &c. [This edict is also (5) [It was an ancient custom or law of given by Justin Martyr, Apolog. i., 68, the Romans, of which many examples occur 69. It was addressed, not only to Minutius in their history, that the people when assem- Fundanus the successor of Serenus, but to bled at the public games, whether at Rome the other governors of provinces ; as we or in the provinces, might demand what they learn from Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., 1. iv., c. pleased of the emperor or magistrates ; which 26. Schl.~\ demands could not be rejected. This right, (7) [These Apologies are mentioned by indeed, properly belonged only to Roman Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., 1. iv., c. 3, and Je- citizens. but it was gradually assumed and rome, Epist. ad Magnum, Opp., torn, iv., p. exercised by others, especially in the larger 656, ed. Benedict, and de Viris Illustr., c. cities. Hence, when assembled at the pub- 19, 20. From this indulgence of the em- lie games, the populace could demand the peror towards the Christians, arose the sus- destruction of all Christians, or of any indi- picion that he himself inclined to their reli- viduals of them whom they pleased ; and gion. Lampridius, Vita Alexandri Severi, the magistrates dared not utterly refuse these cap. 43. Schl.] demands. Moreover, the abominable lives (8) Justin Martyr, Apolog., ii., p. 72, ed. and doctrines of certain heretics of this age, Colon. [Jerome, de Viris Illustr., cap. 21. brought odium on the whole Christian com- TV.] ADVERSE EVENTS. 107 emperor. And the emperor afterwards decreed that the Christians should be treated according to the law of Adrian. (9) A little after, Asia Minor was visited with earthquakes ; and the people regarding the Christians as the cause of their calamities, rushed upon them with every species of vio- lence and outrage. When informed of this, the emperor addressed an edict to the Common Council of Asia, denouncing capital punishment against ac- cusers of the Christians, if they could not convict them of some crime.(lO) 5. Marcus Antoninus the philosopher, whom most writers extol immod- erately for his wisdom and virtue, did not indeed repeal this decree of his father, or the other laws of the preceding emperors ; but he listened too much to the enemies of the Christians, and especially to the philosophers, who accused them of the most horrid crimes, and particularly of impiety, of feasting on the flesh of murdered children, (Thyestearum epularum), and of incest, (Oedipodei incestus). Hence no emperor, after the reign of Nero, caused greater evils and calamities to light on Christians than this emi- nently wise Marcus Antoninus ; nor was there any emperor, under whom more Apologies for the Christians were drawn up, of which those by Justin Martyr, Athenagoras and Tatian, are still extant. (11) 6. In the first place, this emperor issued unjust edicts against the Chris- tians, whom he regarded as vain, obstinate, deficient in understanding, and strangers to virtue ;(12) yet the precise import of these edicts is not now known. In the next place, he allowed the judges, when Christians were accused of the crimes already specified, by servants and by the vilest of persons, to put their prisoners to torture ; and notwithstanding their most constant denial of the charges alleged against them, to inflict on them cap- ital punishments. For, as the laws would not allow the Christians to be executed without a crime, the judges who wished to condemn them, had to resort to some method of making them appear to be guilty. Hence un- der this emperor, not only were several very excellent men most unjustly put to death, (among whom were Polycarp, the pious bishop of Smyrna, and the celebrated philosopher Justin, surnamed Martyr),(\3) but also sev- (9) Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., 1. iv., c. 26, p. 151, &c., and J. C. I. Gieseler's Text- {where Mdito tells Marcus Aurelius, that Book of Eccles. Hist, by Cunningham, his father (Anton. Pius) wrote to the Laris- Philad., 1836, vol. i., p. 79, note 4. TV.] scans, the Thessalonians, the Athenians, (11) [Dr. Mosheim, de Rebus Christ., and to all the Greeks, not to molest the &c., p. 244, characterizes Marcus Antoni- Christians. Schl.] nus as a well-disposed, but superstitious (10) Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., 1. iv., c. 13, man ; a great scholar, but an indifferent em- f where the edict is given at length. It may peror. His persecutions of the Christians also be seen in Milner, Hist of the Chh., arose from his negligence of business, his cent, ii., ch. ii, vol. i., p 158, &c., ed. ignorance of the character of Christians and Boston, 1822, where several pious reflec- of Christianity, and from his easy credulity tions are subjoined. It has been questioned and acquiescence in the wishes of others. whether this edict was issued by Marcus His character is also given by Milner, Hist. Anri-liiis, or by his father, Antonnnix Pins, of the Church, cent, ii., ch. 4, and very Y<ili:iins (on Euseb., H. Eccl., 1 iv., c. 13), elaborately, by A. Neander, Kirchengesch., decides for the former; and Mosheim (de vol. i., pt. i., p. 154, &c. TV.] Reb. Christ., &c., p. 240, &c.) is as deci- (12) See Mdito, as quoted by Eusebius, sive for the latter. Others have little doubt, Hist. Eccl., 1. iv., c. 26. that the whole edict is a forgery of some (13) The Acta Martyrii of both Polycarp early Christian. For this opinion they urge, and Justin Martyr are published by Kuin- that its language is not such as the pagan art, in his Acta martyr, sincera. [The for- emperors uniformly use, but is plainly that mer also, in the Patres Apostol. The life of an eulogist of the Christians. See A. and martyrdom of Polycarp, are the subject Ncandcrs Kirchengeschichte, vol. i., pt. i., of the 5th chapter of Milnefs Hist, of the 108 BOOK I. CENTURY II. PART I. CHAP. II. eral Christian churches, and especially those of Lyons and Vienne in France, A.D. 177, were by his order nearly destroyed and obliterated, by various species of executions. (14) 7. Under the reign of Commodus, his son, [A.D. 180-192], if we ex- cept a few instances of suffering for the renunciation of paganism, no great calamity befel the Christians (15) But when Severus was placed on the throne, near the close of the century, much Christian blood was shed in Africa, Egypt, and other provinces. This is certain from the testimonies of Tertullian,(l6) Clemens Alexandrinus,(l7) and others; and those must mistake the fact, who say that the Christians enjoyed peace under Severus, up to the time when he enacted laws that exposed them to the loss of life and property, which was in the beginning of the next century. For, as the laws of the [former] emperors were not abrogated, and among these, the edicts of Trajan and Marcus Antoninus were very unjust; it was in the power of the presidents to persecute the Christians with impunity whenever they pleased. These calamities of the Christians near the end of this century, were what induced Tertullian [A.D. 198] to compose his Apologeticum, and some other works. (18) 8. It will appear less unaccountable, that so holy a people as the Christians should suffer so much persecution, if it be considered that the patrons of the ancient superstition continually assailed them with their rail- ings, calumnies, and libels. Their reproaches and calumnies, of which we have before spoken, are recounted by the, writers of the Apologies. The Christians were attacked, in a book written expressly against them by Cel- sus ; the philosopher whom Origen, in his confutation of him, represents as an Epicurean, but whom we for substantial reasons believe to be a Pla- tonist of the sect of Ammonius.(lQ) This miserable sophist deals in slan- der, as Origeri's answer to him shows ; nor does he so much attack the Christians, as play off his wit ; which is not distinguished for elegance and refinement. Fronto, the rhetorician, also made some attempts against the Christians ; but these have perished, with the exception of a bare mention Chh., century ii., vol. L, p. 176, &c., ed. martyrs of Scillita in Africa, A.D. 200, in Boston, 1822, as those of Justin Martyr, Ruinarfs Acta Martyr. Baronius Ann., are of ch. iii. of the same vol., p. 161, &c. A.D. 200, and Milner, Hist, of the Chh., Tr.] vol. i., p. 236. 7V.] (14) See the Letter of the Christians at (18) I have expressly treated of this sub- Lyons giving account of this persecution, ject in my diss. de vera aetate Apologetici in Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., lib. v., cap. 2, Tertulliani et initio persecutionis Severi ; [also in Fox, Book of Martyrs, and in Mil- which is the first essay in my Syntagma ner's History of the Church, cent, ii., ch. Diss. ad hist, eccles. pertinentium. vi., vol. i., p. 185, &c., ed. Boston, 1822. (19) [See Mosheim's preface to the Ger- Tr.~\ man translation of Origen's work. Tr. (15) Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., lib. v., cap. " The learned Dr. Lardner does not think 24, and 16, 18, 19. it possible, that Cclsus could have been of (16) [Tertullian, ad Scapulam, cap. 4, the sect of Ammonius ; since the former and Apologet., cap 5., which show that See- lived and wrote in the second century, where- erus himself was, at first, favourable to the as the latter did not flourish before the third. Christians. But the same Apologeticum, And indeed, we have from Origen himself, cap. 35, 49, and 7, 12, 30, 37, shows that that he knew of two only of the name of Cel- Christians suffered before the enactment of sus, one who lived in the time of Nero, and the laws. SchL] the other in the reign of Adrian, and after- (17) [Clemens Alex., Stromat, 1. ii., p. wards. The latter was the philosopher, who 4-94. ScM. See also the account of the wrote against Christianity." Macl.~\ LEARNING AND PHILOSOPHY. 109 of them by Minutius Felix.(2Q) To these may be added Crescens, a Cynic philosopher, who, though he seems to have written nothing against the Christians, yet was very eager to do them harm, and in particular did not cease to persecute Justin Martyr, till he compassed his death. (21) PART II. THE INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. CHAPTER I. THE STATE OF LEARNING AND PHILOSOPHY. 1. State of Learning in general. (j 2, 3. Learned Men. 4. Rise of the New Pla- tonics. 5. Eclectics at Alexandria. 6. Approved by the Christians. () 7. Ammo- nins Saccas. 8. His fundamental Principles. $ 9. His principal Doctrines. 10. His austere System of Moral Discipline. 11. His Opinions concerning God and Christ. 12. Ill Effects of this Philosophy on Christianity. 13. The State of Learn- ing among Christians. 1. ALTHOUGH literature seemed in some measure to recover its for- mer dignity and lustre, during the reign of Trajan,(l) yet it could not long retain its influence under the subsequent emperors, who were indisposed to patronise it. The most learned among these Roman sovereigns, Marcus Antoninus, showed favour only to the philosophers, and especially to the Stoics ; the other arts and sciences, he, like the Stoics, held in contempt. (2) (20) Minutius Felix, Octavius, p. 266, cd. addicted to it; the pagan philosophers per- Herald. [Minutius mentions this calum- ceiving their reputations and their interests niator in two passages, -namely, chap. 10, p. to be at stake, now joined the populace and 99, and chap. 31, p. 322; in the former of the priests in persecuting the Christians in which, he calls him Cirtensis noster ; im- general ; and they especially assailed the plying, that he was of Cirta, in Africa ; in Christian philosophers with their calumnies the latter passage, he speaks of him as an and accusations. Their chief motive was, orator, indicating what profession he follow- not the love of truth, but their own reputa- ed. It has been supposed by the learned, tion, influence, glory, worldly interest, and and not without reason, that this Pronto was advantage ; just the same causes as had be- Cornclius Pronto the rhetorician, who in- fore moved the pagan priests. This war of structed Marcus Antoninus in eloquence, the philosophers commenced in the reign of (and whose works were first published A.D. Marcus Antoninus, who was himself addict- 1816, by Aug. Maius, Frankf. on Mayn, in ed to philosophy. And it is easy to See, 2 parts). So. long as the Christian commu- what induced him to listen to his brother nity was made up of unlearned persons, the philosophers, and at their instigation to al- philosophers despised them. But when, in low the Christians to be persecuted. See the second century, some eminent philoso- Mosheim, de Reb. Christ., &c., p. 256, &c. phers became Christians, as Justin, Athe- Tr.J naporas, Pantacnus, and others, who retain- (21) Justin Martyr, Apologia ii., p. 21, ed the name, garb, and mode of living of phi- ed. Oxon. Tatian, Oral, contra Graecos, losophers, and who became teachers of youth, p. 72, ed. Worthii. and while they gave a philosophical aspect to (1) Pliny, Epistles, lib. iii., ep. 18, p. 134, Christianity, exposed the vanity of the pagan 135, ed. Cortii et Longolii. philosophy, and the shameless lives of those (2) Marcus Antoninus, Meditations, or, 110 BOOK I. CENTURY II. PART II. CHAP. I. Hence the literary productions of this age among the Romans, are far infe- rior to those of the preceding century, in elegance, brilliance, and good taste. ^ 2. Yet there were men of excellent genius, among both Greeks and Romans, who wrote well on almost every branch of learning then cultiva- ted. Among the Greeks, Plutarch was particularly eminent. He was a man of various, but ill-digested learning ; and besides was tainted with the principles of the academics. Rhetoricians, sophists, and grammarians had schools in all the more considerable towns of the Roman empire ; in which they pretended to train up youth for public life, by various exercises and dec- lamations. But those educated in these schools, were vain, loquacious, and formed for display ; rather than truly eloquent, wise, and competent to transact business. Hence the sober and considerate looked with contempt, on the education acquired in the schools of these teachers. There were two public academies, one at Rome founded by Adrian, in which all the sciences were taught, but especially jurisprudence ; the other at Berytus in Phenicia, in which jurists were principally educated. (3) 3. Many philosophers of all the different sects, flourished at this time ; but to enumerate them belongs rather to other works than tothis.(4) The Stoic sect had the honour of embracing two great men, Marcus Antoninus, the emperor, and Epictetus.(5) But each of them had more admirers than, disciples and followers ; nor were the Stoics, according to history, held in the highest estimation in this age. There were larger numbers in the schools of the Platonists ; among other reasons, because they were less austere, and because their doctrines were more in accordance with the common notions respecting the gods. But no sect appears to have numbered more adherents than the Epicureans ; whose precepts led to an indulgent, secure and voluptuous life. (6) 4. Near the close of this century, a new philosophical sect suddenly started up, which in a short time prevailed over a large part of the Roman empire, and not only nearly swallowed up the other sects, but likewise did immense injury to Christianity. (7) Egypt was its birthplace, and partic- ularly Alexandria, which for a long time had been the seat of literature and every science. Its followers chose to be called Platonics. Yet they did not follow Plato implicitly, but collected from all systems whatever seemed to coincide with their own views. And the ground of their preference for the name of Platonics, was, that they conceived Plato had explained more correctly than all others, that most important branch of philosophy which treats of God and supersensible things. 5. That controversial spirit in philosophy, which obliges every one to ad se ipsum, lib. i., 7, p. 3, 4, $ 17, p. 17, &c., treats of M. Antoninus ; and ibid., p, ed. Lips. 260, &c., of Epictetus. TV.] (3) M. Antoninus, Meditations, or, ad se (6) Lucian, Pseudomantis ; Opp., torn, i., ipsum, lib. i., $ 7, 10, 17, p. 4, 7, 16, ed. p. 763. Lips. [See Giannone, Istoria Civile di Na- (7) [See Dr. Mosheim's Cornmentat. de poli, lib. i., c. 10. TV.] turbata per recentiores Platonicos ecclesia, (4) Justin Martyr, Dial, cum Trypho., in his syntagma Diss. ad Hist. Eccles. per- Opp., p. 218, &c. Many of the philoso- tinent., vol. i., p. 85, &c. ; and Brucker's phers of this age are mentioned by M. An- Hist. cnt. Philos., torn, ii., p. 162, &c. toninus, Meditat., or, ad se ipsum, lib. i. Schl. And, on the contrary, C. A. T. Keil, (5) [Concerning Marcus Antoninus, see Exercitatt. xviii. de Doctoribus veteris ec- Brucker's Hist. crit. Philos., torn, ii., p. 578, cles. culpa corrupts per Platonicas senten- and for Epictetus, ibid., p. 568. Schl. tias theologiae, liberandis, Lips., 1793-1807, Staeudlin, Gesch. der Moralphilos., p. 265, 4to. TV.] LEARNING AND PHILOSOPHY. Ill swear allegiance to the dogmas of his master, was disapproved by the more wise. Hence among the lovers of truth, and the men of moderation, a new class of philosophers had grown up in Egypt, who avoided altercation and a sectarian spirit, and who professed simply to follow truth, gathering up what- ever was accordant with it in all the philosophic schools. They assumed therefore the name of Eclectics. But notwithstanding these philosophers were really the partisans of no sect, yet it appears from a variety of testi- monies, that they much preferred Plato, and embraced most of his dogmas concerning God, the human soul, and the universe. (8) 6. This philosophy was adopted by such of the learned at Alexandria, as wished to be accounted Christians, and yet to retain the name, the garb, and the rank of philosophers. In particular, all those who in this century presided in the schools of the Christians at Alexandria, (Athenagoras, Pan- taenus, and Clemens Alexandrinus,) are said to have approved of it. (9) These men were persuaded that true philosophy, the great and most salu- tary gift of God, lay in scattered fragments among all the sects of philoso- phers ; and therefore that it was the duty of every wise man, and especial- ly of a Christian teacher, to collect, those fragments from all quarters, and to use them for the defence of religion and the confutation of impiety. Yet this selection of opinions did not prevent their regarding Plato as wiser than all others, and as having advanced sentiments concerning God, the soul, and supersensible things, more accordant with the principles of Chris- tianity than any other.(lO) 7. This [eclectic] mode of philosophizing was changed near the close of the century, when Ammonius Saccas with great applause, opened a school at Alexandria, and laid the foundation of that sect which is called the New Platonic. This man was born and educated a Christian, and per- haps made pretensions to Christianity all his life.(ll) Being possessed (8) [See Brucker's Hist. crit. Philos., who were attached to the ancient simple torn, ii., p. 189, &c. Schl.] faith, as taught by Christ and his apostles; (9) The title and dignity of philosopher so for they feared what afterward actually hap- much delighted those good men, that, when pened, that the purity and excellence of di- made presbyters, they would not abandon the vine truth would suffer by it. Hence the philosopher's cloak and dress. See Origan's Christians were divided into two parties, the letter to Euscbius, Opp., torn, i., p. 2, ed. friends of philosophy and human learning, de la Rue. [Justin Martyr, Dial, cum Try- and the opposers of them. The issue of the pho. initium. For proof that Pantanus long contest between them, was, that the studied philosophy, see Origen, in Euscbius, advocates of philosophy prevailed. Traces Hist. Eccles., 1. vi., c. 19. Jerome, de of this controversy may be seen in Eusebius, Scriptoribus Illustr., cap. 20. The prori- Hist. Eccles., 1. v., c. 28 ; and in Clemens ciency of Athcnagoras in philosophy, ap- Alex., Stromat., lib. i., cap. 1-5. See Mo- pears from his Apology, and his Essay on shcim, de Rebus Christ, ante Constant. M., the Resurrection. That Clemens Alex, was p. 276, &c. TV.] much addicted to philosophy, is very evi- (11) [The history of the philosopher Am- dent ; see his Stromata, passim. Concern- moitius is involved in great obscurity. All ing the Alexandrian Christian school, see that could be gathered from antiquity re- Hcrm, Conrmgiut, Antiquitates Academi- specting him, is given by Bruckcr, Historia cae, p. 29. J. A. Schmidt, Diss. prefixed crit. philos., torn, ii., p. 205. See also J. to A. Hyperii Libellum de Catechesi. Do- A. Fabricius, Biblioth. Graeca, lib. iv., c. min. Aulisius, delle Scuole sacre, libr. ii., 26. "Whether Ammonius continued a pro- cap. 1, 2, 21. Geo. Langemacfc, Historia fessed Christian, or apostatized, has been Catechiemorum, pt. i., p. 86. See Moshctm, much debated. Porphyry, who studied un- de Reb. Christ., &c., p. 273, &c. Tr.] der Plotinus, a disciple of Ammonius, (as (10) [This cultivation of philosophy by quoted by Eusefnus, Hist. Eccles., 1. vi., c. Christian teachers, greatly displeased those 19), says, he was born of Christian parents, 112 BOOK I. CENTURY II. PART II. CHAP. I. of great fecundity of genius as well as eloquence, he undertook to bring all systems of philosophy and religion into harmony ; or, in other words, to teach a philosophy, by which all philosophers, and the men of all religions, the Christian not excepted, might unite together and have fellowship. And here especially, lies the difference between this new sect, and the eclectic philosophy which had before flourished in Egypt. For the Eclectics held that there was a mixture of good and bad, true and false, in all the systems ; and therefore they selected out of all, what appeared to them consonant with reason, and rejected the rest. But Ammonius held that all sects pro- fessed one and the same system of truth, with only some difference in the mode of stating it, and some minute difference in their conceptions ; so that by means of suitable explanations, they might with little difficulty be brought into one body. (12) He moreover held this new and singular principle, that the popular religions, and likewise the Christian, must be understood and explained according to this common philosophy of all the sects ; and that the fables of the vulgar pagans and their priests, and so too the inter- pretations of the disciples of Christ, ought to be separated from their re- spective religions. 8. The grand object of Ammonius, to bring all sects and religions into harmony, required him to do much violence to the sentiments and opinions of all parties, philosophers, priests, and Christians ; and particularly, by means of allegorical interpretations, to remove very many impediments out of his way. The manner in which he prosecuted his object, appears in the writings of his disciples and adherents ; which have come down to us in great abundance. To make the arduous work more easy, he assumed that philosophy was first produced and nurtured among the people of the East ; that it was inculcated among the Egyptians by Hermes,(13) and but when he came to mature years, embraced openly renounce Christianity, but endeavour- the religion of the laws, i. e., the pagan re- ed to accommodate himself to the feelings of ligion. Eusebius taxes Porphyry with false- all parties ; and therefore he was claimed by hood in this ; and says, that Ammonius con- both pagans and Christians. Hence, if he tinued a Christian till his death, as appears was a Christian, he was a very inconsistent from his books, one of which was on the ac- one, and did much injury to its cause. See cordance of Moses with Jesus Christ. Je- Mosheim, de Rebus Christ., &c., p. 281. rome, de Scriptoribus Illustr., cap. 55, says Tr.] nearly the same. Valesius, Bayle, Bus- (12) [The views of this sect are very nage, and Dr. Mosheim, (when he wrote his clearly expressed by Julian, who was a essay de ecclesia turbata per recentiores Pla- great devotee of this philosophy, Oral, vi., tonicos), agreed with Eusebius and Jerome, contra Cynicos, Opp., p. 184. Schl. In But when he wrote his Commentarii de Reb. accordance with the prevalent views of the Christ., Dr. Mosheim fell in with the opin- oriental Platonists, " these philosophers, like ion of Fabricius, Brucker, and others, (and the Christian Gnostics, supposed all essen- which is now the general opinion), that Eu- tial truth to be derived, not from a process sebius and Jerome confounded Ammonius of thought, but from direct inward percep- the philosopher, with another Ammonius, the tion. " Gieseler's Text-book, translated by reputed author of a harmony of the Gospels, Cunningham, vol. i. , p. 112. See also and other works ; because it can hardly be Tennemanri's Grundriss der Gesch. der supposed, that this enthusiastic admirer of Philos., ed. Leipz., 1829, 200-202. TV.] philosophy, would have found time or incli- (13) [This appears from the writings of nation for composing such books. Besides, all his followers, Plotinus, Proclus, Porphy- it is said, Ammonius the philosopher pub- ry, Damascius, Simplicius, and others, lished no books. Still the question remains, And the learned, not without reason, con- what were the religious character and creed jecture that all the works of Hermes and of this philosopher, in his maturer years T Zoroaster, which we now have, originated in Dr. Mosheim thinks it probable, he did not the schools of these New Platonics. Schl.} LEARNING AND PHILOSOPHY. 113 thence passed to the Greeks ; that it was a little obscured and deformed by the disputatious Greeks ; but still by Plato, the best interpreter of the principles of Hermes and of the ancient oriental sages, it was preserved for the most part entire and unsullied ;(14) that the religions received by the various nations of the world were not inconsistent with this most ancient philosophy ; yet that it had most unfortunately happened, that what the an- cients taught by symbols and fictitious stories in the manner of the Orien- tals, had been understood literally by the people and the priests ; and thus, the ministers of divine providence, (those demons whom the supreme Lord of all had placed over the various parts of our world), had erroneously been converted into gods, and had been worshipped with many vain ceremonies ; that therefore the public religions of all nations should be corrected by this ancient philosophy : and that it was the sole object of Christ to set bounds to the reigning superstition, and correct the errors which had crept into religion, but not to abolish altogether the ancient religions. 9. To these assumptions he added the common doctrines of the Egyp- tians, (among whom he was born and educated), concerning the universe and the deity, as constituting one great whole, [Pantheism ;](15) concern- ing the eternity of the world, the nature of the soul, providence, the gov- ernment of this world by demons, and other received doctrines, all of which he considered as true and not to be called in question. For it is most ev- ident that the ancient philosophy of the Egyptians, which they pretended to have learned from Hermes, was the basis of the New Platonic or Am- monian ; and the book of Jamblichus, de Mysteriis Aegyptiorum, is sufficient evidence of the fact. In the next place, with these Egyptian notions he united the philosophy of Plato ; which he accomplished with little diffi- culty, by distorting some of the principles of Plato, and by putting a false construction on his language. (16) Finally, the dogmas of the other sects he construed, as far as was possible, by means of art, ingenuity, and the aid of allegories, into apparent coincidence with these Egyptian and Pla- tonic principles. 10. To this Egyptiaco-Platonic philosophy, the ingenious and fanati- cal man joined a system of moral discipline apparently of high sanctity and austerity. He permitted the common people, indeed, to live accord- ing to the laws of their country and the dictates of nature ; but he directed the wise to elevate, by contemplation, their souls, which were the off- spring of God, above all earthly things ; and to weaken and emaciate their bodies, which were hostile to the liberty of their souls, by means of hun- ger, thirst, labour, and other austerities ;(17) so that they might in the pres- (14) [Jamblichus, de Mysteriis Aegyptio- Pror.lus, Simplicius, Jamblichus, and all the rum, 1. i., c. 1, 2. Sclil.] New Platonics. See, for example, Porphyry, (15) [On this principle the whole philos- in his life of Plotinus, cap ii., p. 94. SchL] ophy of the ancient Egyptians was founded ; (16) [The principle of the Ammonian and and on it Ammonius erected his system. Egyptian philosophy, that God and the The book which goes under the title of Her- world constitute one indivisible whole, it metis TrisiHCgisli Sermo de Natura Deo- cost him much labour to reduce to harmony rum, ad Asclepium, which is extant in Latin with the system of Plato ; who, as we learn among the works of Apulcius, the supposed from his Timanis, taught the eternal exist- translator, is evidence of this fact. See also ence of matter, as a substance distinct from Euscfiins, Pracparatio evangel., lib. iii., c. 9, God. SceProclus on the Tmiacus of Plato, and the note on Cudworth's Intell. System, Schl.] torn, i., p. 404, &.c. And the same funda- (17) [See Porphyry, de Abstinentia, lib. mental principle is assumed by Plottmts, i., c. 27, &c., p. 22-34. SM-] VOL. I. P 114 BOOK I. CENTURY II. PART II. CHAP. I. ent life, attain to communion with the Supreme Being, and might ascend after death, active and unencumbered, to the universal parent, and be for ever united with him. And, being born and educated among Christians, Ammonius was accustomed to give elegance and dignity to these precepts by using forms of expression borrowed from the sacred scriptures ; and hence these forms of expression occur abundantly in the writings of his followers.(18) To this austere discipline, he superadded the art of so pur- ging and improving the imaginative faculty, as to make it capable of seeing the demons, and of performing many wonderful things by their assistance. His followers called this art Theurgy. (19) Yet it was not cultivated by all the philosophers of Ammonius' school, but only by the more eminent.(20) 11. That the prevailing religions, and particularly the Christian, might not appear irreconcilable with his system, Ammonius first turned the whole history of the pagan gods into allegory,(21) and maintained that those whom the vulgar and the priests honoured with the title of Gods, were only the ministers of God, to whom some homage might and should be paid, yet such as would not derogate from the superior homage due to the Supreme God ;(22) and in the next place he admitted that Christ was an extraordi- nary man, the friend of God, and an admirable Theurge.(23) He denied that Christ aimed wholly to suppress the worship of the demons, those ministers of divine providence ; that, on the contrary, he only sought to wipe away the stains, contracted by the ancient religions ;(24) and that his dis- ciples had corrupted and vitiated the system of their master.(25) (18) [See examples in Hicrocles, on the golden verses of Pythagoras ; and in Sim- plicius and Jamblichus. See also Mosheim's Diss. de studio Ethnicorum Christianos imitandi, in vol. i. of his Diss. ad Hist. Ec- cles. pertinent, p. 321. Schl.] (19) (This worthless science is very sim- ilar to what has been called allowable magic, and which is distinguished from necromancy, or unlawful magic. It was undoubtedly of Egyptian origin. As the Egyptians ima- gined the whole world to be full of good and evil spirits, they might easily be led to sup- pose there must be some way to secure the favour of these demons. See Augustine, de Civil. Dei, 1. x., c. 9, Opp., torn, vii., p. 187. Schl. " Theurgy is the science con- cerning the gods and the various classes of superior spirits, their appearing to men and their operations ; and the art, by means of certain acts, habits, words, and symbols, of moving the gods to impart to men secrets which surpass the powers of reason, to lay open to them the future, and to become vis- ible to them. This theurgy, which goes farther and rises higher than philosophy, was first imparted and revealed to men in ancient times, by the gods themselves, and was afterwards preserved among the priests. So it is described in the book which bears the name of Jamblichus, de Mysteriis Aegyptio- rum, lib. i., c. 26-29." Staeudlin, Ges- chicbte der Moralphilosophie, p. 462. TV.] (20) [See concerning the moral system of the new Platonics, in all its material parts, Staeudlin, Geschichte der Moralphilosophie, p. 435, &c.Tr.] (21) [See, for example, Porphyry, de Antro Nymphar. apud Homerum de styge, &c. Schl.] (22) [Paul Orosius, Historia, lib. vi., cap. 1, p. 364, 365. Schl.} (23) [It cannot be denied that the sect of Ammonius embraced some, who were ene- mies of Christ and of the Christians. The emperor Julian, and some others, are proof of this. But Ammonius himself honoured Christ. And Augustine contended against some philosophers of his time, who, as fol- lowers of Ammonius, honoured Christ, yet maintained that the Christians had corrupted his doctrine ; de Consensu Evangelistarum, Opp., torn, iii., pt. ii., lib. 1, c. 6, 11, p. 5, and c. 8, $ 14, p. 6, and c. 15, p. 8. Schl.] (24) [Augustine, de Consensu Evangel., lib. i., c. 16, p. 8, and c. 24, p. 18. Yet they admitted that Christ abolished the worship of certain demons of an inferior order, and enjoined upon men to pray to the celestial gods, and especially to the Su- preme God. This is evident from a passage of Porphyry, quoted by Augustine, de Civ- itate Dei, lib. xix., c. 23, 4, Opp., torn. vii., p. 430. Schl.] (25) What we have stated in these sec- LEARNING AND PHILOSOPHY. 115 t 12. This new species of philosophy, imprudently adopted by Origen ana other Christians, did immense harm to Christianity. For it led the teashers of it to involve in philosophic obscurity many parts of our religion, wuch were in themselves plain and easy to be understood ; and to add t< the precepts of the Saviour not a few things, of which not a word can be f)und in the Holy Scriptures. It also produced that gloomy set of men, tailed mystics ; whose system, if divested of its Platonic notions respect- iig the origin and nature of the soul, will be a lifeless and senseless corpse. It laid a foundation, too, for that indolent mode of life, which was after- vards adopted by many, and particularly by numerous tribes of monks; .nd it recommended to Christians various foolish and useless rites, suited mly to nourish superstition, no small part of which we see religiously ob- served by many even to the present day. And finally, it alienated the minds *f many in the following centuries, from Christianity itself, and produced a heterogeneous species of religion, consisting of Christian and Platonic priiciples combined. And who is able to enumerate all the evils and inju- rious effects, which arose from this new philosophy ; or, if you please, iron [this Syncretismus] this attempt to reconcile true and false religions with each other ? ' 3. The number of learned men among the Christians, which was small ; n the preceding century, was larger in this. And yet we scarcely find anong them, rhetoricians, sophists, and orators. Most of those who obtained some reputation among them by their learning, were philosophers : and they as before stated, followed the principles of the Eclectics, and gave Plcf.o preference before others. But all Christians were not agreed as to the Jtility of learning and philosophy. Those who were themselves initiated ii the mysteries of philosophy, wished that many, and especially such as aspired to the office of pastors and teachers, might apply them- selves to U.e study of human wisdom, so that they might confute the ene- mies of truth with more effect, and teach and instruct others with more success. Biit a great majority thought otherwise ; they wished to banish all reasoning ind philosophy out of the confines of the church ; for they feared that suchlearning would injure piety. At this time, therefore, broke out the war between faith and reason, religion and philosophy, piety and in- telligence ; which \ias been protracted, through all succeeding centuries, down to our own tines, and which we by all our efforts cannot easily bring to an end. By degrees, those obtained the ascendency, who thought that philosophy and erudi;ion were profitable, rather than hurtful to religion and piety ; and rules were at length established, that no person entirely illiter- ate or unlearned, should be admitted to the office of teacher in the church. Yet the vices of the philosophers and learned men, among other causes, tions respecting the doctrines of Ammonius, New Platonics constantly affirm to have we have collected from the books and dis- been the author of their philosophy. [Dr. cussions of his followers, who are called Mos)ic.im, in his Commentarii de Rebus New Platonics. Ammonius himself left no Christ, ante Constantin. M., 27-32, p. writings; and he forbid his followers ever 280-298, has given a more full account of publishing his doctrines, but they did not Ammonius and his doctrines, and has cited, obey him. See Pwjihi/ry, Vita Plotim, cap. particularly, his chi^f authorities ; but the 3, p. 97, ed. Fnf>ricii, lib. iv . Uihlijt.h. substance of his statements is contained in Graeca. Yet there can be no doubt, that the preceding sections, and his most impor- all we have stated was invented by Ammo- tant authorities are referred to in the notes of tints himself, whom the whole family of the Scklcgel, which are all here preserved. 7V.J 116 BOOK I. CENTURY II. PART II. CHAP. II. prevented the opposite party from ever being destitute of patrons and ^d- vocates. Ample proof of this will be found in the history of the following centuries. ? CHAPTER II. HISTORY OF THE TEACHERS AND OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCft-, ^ 4 1. The form of Church Government. 2. Union of Churches in a Province. Origin, of Councils. 3. Their too great Authority gave rise to Metropolitans and Patriarchs. 4. Parallel between the Jewish and Christian Priesthood. 5. The principal^ Writers. ft *t 1. THE form of church government which began to exist in the p*te- ceding century, was in this century more industriously established and cf-in- firmed, in all its parts. One president, or bishop, presided over each church. He was created by the common suffrage of the whole people. With Uie presbyters for his council, whose number was not fixed, it was his business to watch over the interests of the whole church, and to assign to each pres- byter his station. Subject to the bishop and also to the presbyters. 1 , were the servants or deacons, who were divided into certain classes, bec'ause all the duties which the interests of the church required, could not Veil be at- tended to by them all. S, 2. During a great part of this century, all the churches continued to be, as at first, independent of each other, or were connected by n/o consoci- ations or confederations^ 1 ) Each church was a kind of small in dependent republic, governing itself by its own laws, enacted or at least /sanctioned by the people. But in process of time, it became customary, for all the Christian churches within the same province, to unite and fo cm a sort of larger society or commonwealth ; and in the manner of confederated repub- lics, to hold their conventions at stated times, and there deliberate for the common advantage of the whole confederation. This cv.stom first arose among the Greeks, with whom a [political] confederation of cities, and the consequent conventions of their several delegates, had been long known ; but afterwards the utility of the thing being seen, the custom extended through all countries where there were Christian churches. (2) Such (1) [Yet by ancient custom, peculiar re- Christiani magna veneratione celebratur. spect was paid to the churches founded and From this passage of Tertullian, which was governed by the apostles themselves j and written near the beginning of the third cen- such churches were appealed to in contro- tury, Dr. Mo.<!icim(A& Rebus Christ., &c., versies on points of doctrine, as most likely p. 266, &c-), infers, 1, that provincial coun- to know what the apostles had taught. See cils had not then been held in Africa, nor IreruEit-s, adv. Haeres., lib. iii., c. 3, and anywhere except among the Greeks : 2, that Tertullian, de Praescript. adv. Haeres., c. councils v/ere considered as human institu- 36. Thus Moshcim, de Reb. Christ., &c., tions, and as acting only by human authority; p. 258. TV.] 3, that \he provincial councils were held al- (2) Terlidlian, de Jejuniis, cap. 13, p. 711, ways in the same places ccrtis in locis ; [where we have this very important state- 4, that they did not interfere with the private ment : Aguntur praete.rea per Graecias, ilia concerns of individual churches, which were certis in locis Concilia ex universis ecclesiis, left to their own management ; but conferred per quae et altiora quaeque in commune trac- only on greater matters, or such as were tantur, et ipsa repreeentatio totius nominis of common interest altiora tractantur ; 5, CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 117 conventions of delegates from several churches assembled for deliberation, were called by .the Greeks Synods, and by the Latins Councils ; and the laws agreed upon in them, were called canons, that is, rules. 3. These councils, of which no vestige appears before the middle of this century, changed nearly the whole form of the church. For by them, in the first place, the ancient rights and privileges of the people were very much abridged ; and, on the other hand, the influence and au- thority of the bishops were not a little augmented. At first, the bishops did not deny, that they were merely the representatives of their churches, and that they acted in the name of the people ; but by little and little, they made higher pretensions, and maintained that power was given them by Christ himself, to dictate rules of faith and conduct to the people. In the next place, the perfect equality and parity of all bishops, which existed in the early times, these councils gradually subverted. For it was neces- sary that one of the confederated bishops of a province should in those conventions be intrusted with some authority and power over the others; and hence originated the prerogatives of Metropolitans. And lastly, when the custom of holding these councils had extended over the Christian world, and the universal church had acquired the form of a vast republic com- posed of many lesser ones, certain head men were to be placed over it in different parts of the world, as central points in their respective countries. Hence came the Patriarchs ; and ultimately a Prince of Patriarchs, the Roman pontiff. 4. To the whole order of men who conducted the affairs of the church, no small honour and profit accrued, from the time they succeeded in persuading the people to regard them as successors of the Jewish priests. This took place not long after the reign of Adrian, when, upon the second destruction of Jerusalem, the Jews lost all hope of seeing their common- wealth restored. The bishops now wished to be thought to correspond with the high priests of the Jews ; the presbyters were said to come in place of the priests ; and the deacons were made parallel with the Levites. Those who first drew this parallel between offices so totally different, proba- bly made the misrepresentation, not so much from design as from ignorance. that the attending bishops acted as represent- called, as occasion required. Originally atives of their churches, and not as men these councils had no jurisdiction ; but were -clothed with authority from heaven, by vir- mere conventions of delegates, met to con- tue of their office rcprcsenlatio totius no- sider and agree upon matters of common minis Chrisliani. From Greece, the cus- concernment. But they soon began to claim torn of meeting in councils extended into power ; to enact and enforce laws, and to Syria and Palestine. Euscb., Hist. Eccl., 1. hear and decide controversies. And the v., c. 23. We have no certain accounts of lishopn, instead of appearing as the represent- any councils till after the middle of the sec- atives of their churches, claimed authority mul century. The earliest of which we from Christ, to bind and control the church- have authentic notice, were those which de- es. See W. C. Zeigler, on the Origin of liberated concerning the Montanists, about Synods, in Menken's Neuen Magazin, band A.D. 170 or 173, (Euscb., H. E., v. 16), i., st. i. G. J. Planck's Geschichte der and the next were those assembled to con- christl. kirchl. Gesellschafts-Verfassung, pe- sider the proper time for Easter. (Euscb., riod ii., chap, v., vol. i., p. 90, &c. C. W. H. E.,v. 23.) All these councils are placed F. Walch, Historic der Kirchenversamml., by Euscbius, under the reign of Commodus, Introd., 3, 4, and b. i., ch. i., sect, ii., p. or A.D. 180-192. In the third century, 82, &c., ch. ii., p. 118, &c. Jos. Bmgham, councils became frequent. Provincial coun- Origines Eccles., vol. vii., p. 45, &c., and cils were now held, perhaps throughout the Sir P. King, Constitution, &c., of the Prim. Christian world ; and special councils were Church, ch. 8. TV.] 118 BOOK I. CENTURY II. PART II. CHAP. II. But this idea being once introduced and approved, drew after it other er- rors, among which I will mention only this, that it established a wider dif- ference between teachers and learners than accords with the nature of the Christian religion,(3) 5. Among the doctors of this century, whose writings rendered them particularly famous in after ages, was Justin Martyr ; a converted phi- losopher, who had dipped into nearly every sect in philosophy. He was pious, and possessed considerable learning, but he was sometimes an in- cautious disputant, and was ignorant of ancient history. We have among other works of his, two Apologies for the Christians, which are justly held in great estimation.(4) Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons in France, whose only (3) [This comparison of Christian teach- ers with the Jewish priesthood, among other consequences, led the former to lay claim to tithes and first fruits ; of which we find mention, before the times of Constantine. Perhaps a desire to increase their revenues, which were both small and precarious, led some of the bishops to apply Jewish law to the Christian church. That they claimed first fruits, as of divine right, in this centu- ry, is clear from Ireneeus, contra Haeres., 1. iv., c. 17 and 34. That tithes were not yet claimed, at least in the Latin church, appears from the latter of these passages in Ireneau. Yet in the Greek and Oriental churches, tithes began to be claimed earlier than among the Latins ; and probably in this second cen- tury, for the Greek writers of the third cen- tury, and the apostolic constitutions, (which seem to contain the ecclesiastical laws of the Greek church), mention tithes as a thing then well known. See Moshcim, de Rebus Christianor., &c., p. 271. Tr.] (4) [Justin Martyr, was the son of Pris- cus and grandson of Bacchius, pagan Gre- cians, settled at Flavia Neapolis, (Naplous), the ancient Sichem in Samaria. See Apol- og. L, c. i. He had successive masters in philosophy, Stoic, Peripatetic, Pythagorean, and lastly Platonic. He travelled much, and was very eager in the pursuit of knowledge, and especially respecting the Divine Being. When about 23 years old, as is conjectured, and about A.D. 137, he was converted to Christianity, in consequence of being direct- ed by an aged Christian, to go to the Bible, as the source of true philosophy. He after- wards spent most of his time at Rome ; where he lived as a Christian philosopher, and devoted all his talents to the furtherance of the gospel. At last, about A.D. 168, he suffered jnartyrdom, one Cresccns, a pagan philoso- pher, being his accuser, and on the simple charge of his being a Christian. His wri- tings are numerous, erudite, all of them theo- logical, and all of a polemic character. His style is harsh and inelegant, his temper is ar- dent and decisive, and his arguments and opinions not always satisfactory. Yet being the first of the learned divines, and a very zeal- ous and active Christian, he merits our par- ticular attention. His life and writings are described by Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., 1. iv., c. 11, 12, 16-18. Jerome, de Scriptor. Illustr., c. 23. Photius, Biblioth., ccxxxii., and oth- ers among the ancients ; and by Cave, Du Pin, Longerue, Maran, Milncr, (Hist, of the Chh., vol. i.,p. 161, &c.,ed. Boston, 1822.) J. Kaye, (account of the writings and opin- ions of Justin Martyr, Lond., 1829, 8vo), a writer in the Christian Examiner, for Nov., Cambridge, 1829 ; and others among the moderns. About A.D. 140, or as some think, much later in life, he composed two learned treatises against the pagans, as we learn from Eusebius, (Hist. Eccl., iv., 18), and Jerome, (ubi sup.), which are generally supposed to be the Cohortatio ad Graecos, and Oratio ad Graecos, still found in his printed works. The substance of the for- mer, which is the largest, is this : " The Greeks have no sources of certain and sat- isfactory knowledge of religion. What their poets state concerning the gods is ridiculous and absurd. Jupiter, for example, accord- ing to Homer, would have been incarcerated by the other gods, if they had not feared Briareus. And Jupiter himself betrayed his weakness by his amours. Mars and Ve- nus were wounded by Diomede, &c. Tha- Ics derived all things from water ; Anaxi- menes, from air ; Heraclitus, from fire, &c. But it is not possible for the human mind to search out divine things ; it needs aid from above ; it must be moved by the divine Spir- it, as the lyre must by the plectrum. This was the fact with the Hebrew prophets ; who besides, were much older than the Grecian poets, lawgivers, and philosophers. Even the heathen writers admit the high anti- quity of the Jewish legislation, e. g., Polemon, Appion, Ptolemy Mendesius, Hellanicus, &c., and Philo, Josephus, and Diodorus Sic- ulus confirms it. An Egyptian king, Ptolemy (Philadelphus), therefore, caused the ancient Hebrew books to be translated into Greek, CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 119 remaining writings are his five Books against the Heretics ; which, though preserved only in a Latin translation from the original Greek, are a splen- the sick in a wonderful manner ; Christians assert the same of Christ, &c. The ground of this correspondence lies in this, that the demons, who are the authors of the pagan religions, and to whom the pagan worship'is paid, copied beforehand the history of Christ, in order to prejudice the truth. Yet they omitted to copy the cross, which is the ap- propriate sign of the power of Christ ; (and therefore it is found indispensable in nature, e. g., in the yards of a ship.) Also, by the ascent of Simon Magus to heaven, they sought to imitate the ascension of Christ ; and since the Romans themselves have erect- ed a statue to this Simon as a god ; they should more readily do the same to Christ. Christianity is true. This is demonstrable from the prophecies of the Old Testament. (Here again, the antiquity of the Old Tffsta- ment is asserted ; and the principle main- tained, that the Greeks borrowed from the Hebrews.) Also, the prophecies of Christ, concerning his ascension to heaven, and the destruction of Jerusalem, which have been fulfilled, prove the truth of Christianity. Christ is the Logos, (the reason or intel- ligence) of which all men participate ; so that every one who has ever lived according to Logos, (reason), was a Christian. The de- mons, whose worship is prostrated by Chris- tianity, are the authors of the persecutions against Christians." Some points in this Apology are here omitted, because contain- ed in the other summaries. The shorter Apology commences with an account of some persecutions ; which are ascribed to the malice of the demons. It then gives reasons why Christians do not shun martyrdom ; and also, why God per- mits persecution. " God intrusted the gov- ernment of the world to angels : these af- terwards apostatized from God, and taking human wives, begat the demons ; and by them and their offspring, the human race is now oppressed and ruined. God would be- fore this have destroyed the world, had he not spared it for the sake of the Christians. Yet it is to be destroyed hereafter, and by fire. Jesus Christ is superior to Socrates ; for no one ever died for the doctrine of the latter. The constancy of Christians under persecution is evidence of their innocence." These summaries of Justin's Apologies are specimens of the ground taken by all the ancient Apologists, whose works have come down to us. Besides the four works now mentioned, Justin wrote a book, de Monar- chia Dei, proving the divine unity in oppo- sition to polytheism, by testimonies from the by 70 men, who were enclosed in as many separate cells ; when they had finished their translations, they were found perfectly agree- ing, not only in the sense but in the words. Justin himself had seen the vestiges of these cells. The Greeks derived their best thoughts from the Hebrews. Thus Orpheus, Homer, Solon, Pythagoras, and Plato, are known to have acquired their best knowl- edge in Egypt. Hence, Orpheus, the Sib- yls, Homer, Sophocles, &c., were enabled to write about the unity of God, the judg- ment after death, &c. When Plato, for in- stance, says : Virtue must be given to men by the Deity ; he borrowed the idea from the prophets ; and to conceal the fact, he substituted virtue in place of the Holy Spirit. When he says : Time began with heaven ; it is clear that he borrowed from Moses' wri- tings, &c. Since therefore, the Grecian philosophers themselves confess their igno- rance, and the Sibyls direct to the coming of Christ, men should go to the prophets, as to the source of all truth." The shorter work, entitled Oratio ad Graecos, is similar in its contents. Indeed, this may serve as a fair specimen of the ground taken by the Chris- tian fathers generally, in their controversies with learned pagans. About A.D. 150, or as some think, 10 or 12 years earlier, Justin presented his earliest or long Apology for the Christians to the emperor Antoninus Pi- us : and a little before his death, or after A.D. 160, his other Apology, an imperfect copy of which is improperly called his first Apology. The substance of the larger Apol- ogy, which is written with little method, is this : " Why are Christians condemned merely for their name, without inquiry wheth- er they are malefactors 1 Let this be inves- tigated ; then punish the guilty, and let the innocent go free. The Christians are ac- cused of atheism; but unjustly. They wor- ship God the Father, the Son, and the pro- phetic or divine Spirit. They offer indeed no sacrifices ; but they believe God requires none. Christians are ridiculed for expect- ing a kingdom of Christ ; but unjustly. The kingdom which they expect, is not an earthly kingdom ; if it were, how could they so cheerfully meet death 1 Christianity is not so totally unlike everything believed by the pagans. The pagans expect a judgment af- ter death ; so do the Christians. The for- mer make Rhadamanthus the judge ; the lat- ter, Jesus Christ. The pagans believe, that many men were sons of Jupiter ; Christians believe, that Jesus was the Son of God. The pagans assert, that jEsculapius healed 120 BOOK I. CENTURY II. PART II. CHAP. II. did monument of antiquity. (5) Athenagoras was no contemptible phi- losopher ; and his Apology for the Christians, and his treatise on the resur- rection of the body, display both learning and genius. (6) Theophylus, Old Testament and likewise from pagan writers, (Eusebius, H. E., iv. 18). The latter part of the book probably is preserved. Against the Jews he composed, in the latter part of his life, his Dialogus cum Try- phone JudEEo. He defends Christianity against the Jews, chiefly by arguments from the ancient prophecies and types of Christ in the Old Testament. He also wrote a book against Marcion, and another against all the heresies ; both of which are unfortu- nately lost. So are his book concerning the soul, (in which he collected the opinions of the philosophers on that subject), and his book entitled, Psaltes. There are several other works now extant under his name, which are either doubted or denied to be his : namely, an Epistle to Diognetus ; and another to Zenas and Serenus ; 146 Ques- tions and their solutions, to the Orthodox ; Exposition of the true Faith (on the Trin- ity) ; Metaphysical Questions (Questiones Graecanicae) and answers ; Questions to the Greeks, and their answers refuted ; a con- futation of some Aristotelian doctrines, &c. Justin's works make a considerable folio volume. They were well edited, Paris, 1636, reprinted Cologne, 1636 : but still better in the Benedictine ed., by Prudent. Maran, Paris, 1742. Thirl by* s ed. of the dialogue, Lond., 1722, fol., is good. The two Apologies, with those of Tertullian and Minutius Felix, are given in English by W. Reeve, Lond., 1707, 2 vols. 8vo. TV.] (5) [Irenmis, who was active during the last half of this century, was bom and edu- cated in Asia Minor, under Poly carp and Papias. About A.D. 150, Pothinus and others went from Asia Minor to Lyons and Vienne in France ; and Iren&us, then a young man, is supposed to have been one of those missionaries. He remained a pres- byter till the death of Pothinus, A.D. 177, when he succeeded him in the episcopal chair at Lyons, which he filled till about A.D. 202, the time of his martyrdom. While a presbyter he was sent to Rome by his church, concerning the affair of Monta- nus. He is supposed to have composed the letter written in the name of the church- es of Lyons and Vienne, giving the graphic account of their persecution in A.D. 177. He likewise took an active part in the con- troversy respecting Easter, A.D. 196 ; and wrote to Victor, bishop of Rome, on the ' subject ; and also to the presbyter Blastus, who was deposed at Rome during that con- test. Eusebius has also preserved part of a letter of his to Florinus, an apostate to Gnosticism, with whom Ircnceus had been intimate in his youth. Some other small works of his are mentioned by the ancients. See Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., 1. v., c. 15, 20, 24, 26. Jerome, de Scriptor. illustr., cap. 35. But the great work of Iren&us is his Examination and Confutation of the misnamed (yvtiaif ) knowledge, in v. Books, commonly called Libri contra Hsereses. The work is altogether polemic ; and is di- rected particularly against Valcntinus ; yet so as to be a confutation of all the Gnostics, and a defence of the catholic faith against most of the heretics of that age. The book contains much information, respecting the early heretics, their origin, sentiments, and characters ; also respecting the state of the- ological science in that age, the doctrines generally received and taught, and the man- ner of stating and defending them. But un- fortunately, the original Greek is lost, ex- cept the extracts preserved by Eusebius, Epiphanius, and others ; and the Latin translation, which is very ancient, is ex- tremely barbarous, and sometimes scarcely intelligible. Irenaus was an ardent and sincere Christian, and a discreet and amiable man. He possessed considerable learning and influence ; but his mind does not ap- pear to have been one of the highest order. As an interpreter of Scripture, like all the early fathers, he was too fond of tracing al- legories ; and as a theologian, few of the moderns will account him entirely correct in principle, or perfectly conclusive in his rea- sonings. See, concerning his life and wri- tings, Cave, Du Pin, Massuet, (works of Irenaeus), the Acta Sanctor., torn. v.. June, p. 335. Histoire litteraire de la France, torn, ii., p. 51 ; and Milner, Hist, of the Chh., century iii., ch. i., vol. i., p. 215, ed. Boston, 1822. The best editions of his works, are, by Grabc, Lond., 1702, fol. ; and the Benedictine, by Massuet, Paris, 1710, and Venice, 1734, 2 tomi, fol. TV.] (6) [Athenagoras, one of the most elegant and able writers the church has produced, is scarcely mentioned by any of the fathers. Methodius, about A.D. 285, quoted from him ; (See Epiph. Haeres., 65), Philip Si- detes, about A.D. 400, gives some account of him ; (in DodwcWs Diss. on Irenaeus, p. 408), and Photius, (Bibliotheca), in the ninth century, speaks of him. This is all the fa- thers tell us. It appears from the title of his apology, that he was a Christian philosopher CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 121 bishop of Antioch, has left us three Books, addressed to one Autolycus, in defence of Christianity, which are erudite but not well digested. (7) Clem- ens Alexandrinus, a presbyter and head of the catechetic school at Alex- andria, was a man of extensive reading, and especially in the works of ancient authors. This is manifest from the works of his that remain, namely, his Stromata, his Paedagogus, and ad Graecos Exhortatio. But he was infected with very great errors, into which he was betrayed by his excessive love of philosophy : nor are his works to be recommended, as exhibiting good arrangement and perspicuity of style. (8) In the Latin of Athens ; and that he wrote his Apology in the reign of the emperors Marcus and Commodus. Philip Sidctes, who is a wri- ter of little credit, says, he presided in the school at Alexandria, before Pantaenus ; which is contradicted by Euxcliiits ; and that he was converted to Christianity, by reading the Scriptures with a design to confute them ; which may be true. Dr. Moshcim, in his Diss. de vera aetate Apologetici Athenag. (Dissertt. ad Hist. Eccles., vol. i., p. 269, &c.), has proved, that the Apology was written A.D. 177, the very year of the per- secutions at Lyons and Vicnne. Athcnag- oras descants on the same topics as Justin Martyr, and employs the same arguments ; but his composition is immensely superior as to style and method. His other work, de Resurrectione, is written with equal ele- gance, and contains the arguments used in that age, to support the doctrine of the res- urrection of the body against the objections of philosophers. His works, besides being printed separately by Edw. Dcchair, Oxford, 1706, 8vo, are commonly subjoined to those of Justin Martyr ; and the best editions are those of Grabe, Lond., 1802, and Massuct, Paris, 1710. Tr.] (7) [Theophylus was made bishop of Anti- och in Syria, A.D. 168, and died about A.D. 182 or 183. The best accounts of him by the ancients, are those of Eusebius, Hist. Ec- cles, 1. iv., c. 20, 23, and Jerome, de Scriptor. Illustr, c. 25. He appears to have been a converted pagan, a man of reading, a decided and active Christian pastor, sound in faith, and zealous for the truth. He is not meta- physical, but still is rather a dry and argu- mentative writer. He composed a book against Hermorreiirs ; and another against Marcion ; and a Commentary on the four Gospels ; all of which are lost. His great work, and the only one which has reached us, is his three Books, addressed to his pagan friend Aittoh/nm, in vindication of Christian- ity. Here he takes much the same ground with Justin Martyr and the other Apolo- gists ; but he descends more into detail, in his proofs from Scripture and from history. He is fond of allegorical and fanciful interpreta- VOL. I. Q tions, and on them rests a large part of his arguments. For example : about the middle of the second book, he makes (kv upxy) in the beginning, Gen. i., 1, to mean, by Christ. The constitution by which vegetables spring up from seeds and roots, was designed to teach the resurrection of our bodies. The dry lands surrounded by seas, denote the church surrounded by enemies. The sun is a type of God ; as the moon is of man, that frail, changeable creature. The three days preceding the creation of the sun and moon, (rviroi elaiv rpiudof ra 6e), are typical of the Trinity of God and his Word and his Wisdom. (This is said to be the earliest occurrence of the word Trinity, in the writings of the fathers. ) The fixed stars, among which the sun moves, indicate righ- teous and holy men who serve God ; and the planets denote heretics and apostates, &c., &c. Yet the work is not all of this charac- ter. It contains much that is instructive and solid ; and is written in a plain, familiar style. Tr.] (8) [Titus Flavins Clemens, whether bom at Athens or Alexandria, was a pagan in early life, and devoted himself to philosophy. He travelled in Greece, in south Italy, in Coelo- Syria, in Palestine, and lastly in Egypt, where he was a pupil of Pantaenus the mas- ter of the Christian school at Alexandria. Becoming a Christian, he was made a pres- byter of the Alexandrian church, and suc- ceeded his preceptor Pantaenus, as master of the catechetic or divinity school. He taught with great applause during the reign of Sevcrus, (A.D. 193-21 1 ), and had Ongen and other eminent men of the third century, for pupils. About A.D. 202, he retired into Palestine and Syria, for a short time, to avoid persecution. He is supposed to have died about A.D. 220. Clement had vast learning, a lively imagination, great fluency, considerable discrimination, and was a bold and independent speculator. That he had true piety, and held the essential truths of the Gospel, is admitted by all ; but no one of the fathers, except Origen, has been more censured in modern times, for an excessive attachment to philosophy or metaphysical 122 BOOK I. CENTURY II. PART II. CHAP. II. language, scarcely any writer of this century elucidated or defended the . Christian religion, except Tertullian. He was at first a jurisconsult, then a presbyter at Carthage, and at last a follower of Montanus. We have va- rious short works of his, which aim either to explain and defend the truth, or to excite piety. Which were the greatest, his excellences or his de- fects, it is difficult to say. He possessed great genius ; but it was wild and unchastened. His piety was active and fervent ; but likewise gloomy and austere. He had much learning and knowledge ; but lacked discre- tion and judgment : he was more acute than solid. (9) theology. He was a true Eclectic, which he also professed to be ; that is, he followed no master implicitly, but examined and judged for himself. Yet his education and the at- mosphere in which he lived, led him to lean towards Platonism and Stoicism. His great error was, that he overrated the value of phi- losophy or human reason, as a guide in mat- ters of religion. He also indulged his ima- gination, as all the learned of his age did, to excess ; and construed the Bible allegori- cally, and fancifully. His three principal works, which have reached us, constitute one whole. His Exhortatio ad Graces was intended to convince and convert pagans. It exposes the nakedness of polytheism, and demonstrates the truth and excellence of Christianity. His Paedagogus, in iii. Books, was intended to instruct a young convert in the practice of Christianity. It is an indif- ferent performance, dwells much on trivial rules of conduct, and does not go to the bottom even of external morality. His Stromata, in viii. Books, (the last of which is not the genuine 8th Book), are written without method, or in a most discursive manner. In them Clement attempts to give the world his most profound thoughts and speculations on theology, and on the kindred sciences. He has also left us a practical treatise, entitled Quis dives ille sit, qui sal- vetur ; in which his object is to show to what temptations and dangers the rich are exposed. There are ascribed to him, and printed with his works, Extracts from the writings of Theodotus and the Oriental philos- ophy, (the contents of some one's note-book, respecting the Gnostics) ; and Selections from the Prophets, (of no great value), which may have been taken from the loose papers of Clement, yet are dubious. Eusebius and Jerome mention works of his, which are now lost. Of these the principal, are libri viii. Hypotyposeon, a compendious exposition of the 0. and N. Testament. The others were tracts ; de Paschate, de Jejunio, de Obtrec- tatione, Exhortatio ad Patientiam, and Can- on Ecclesiasticus, or de Canonibus Eccle- $iasticis. The character and writings of Clement, have been elaborately investigated by various persons, among whom are -ZV. le Nourry (Apparat. ad Biblioth. Pair) ; J. G. Walch (Miscellanea Sacra) ; J. Brucker, (Hist. crit. philos.) ; and A. Neander, Kir- chengesch., vol. i. The best edition of his works, is that of Potter, Oxon., 1715, fol. -TV.] (9) Those who wish further information concerning these writers, their defects, and their works, are directed, and the direction is given once for all, to consult those au- thors, who treat professedly of the Ecclesi- astical Writers ; namely, J. A. Fabricius, Bibliotheca Graeca, and Biblioth. Latina. W. Cave, Historia Litteraria Scriptor. Ec- cles. L. Ellies du Pin and Remigius Cel- lier, in their Bibliothecas of Eccles. Writers in French ; and others. [ Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus was the son of a pagan centurion of procon- sular rank, and born at Carthage about A. D. 160. He was bred to the law ; but becom- ing a Christian, was made a presbyter in the church of Carthage, where he appears to have spent his whole life. About A.D. 200, he embraced the sentiments of the Montan- ists ; which he afterwards defended with his usual ardour. He is said to have lived to a reat age ; and yet he is supposed to have ied about A.D. 220. Jerome, de Scriptor. Illustr., c. 53. Eiisebius, Chronicon. ann. 16 Severi, and others, give him a high char- acter. Jerome tells us, that Cyprian, bp. of Carthage, was, accustomed to read some por- tions of his works daily ; and in calling for this author, used to say : Da magistrum, bring my master. He wrote with great force, and displayed much both of erudition and acuteness ; but his style is concise, harsh, and extremely difficult for modern readers. His diction and his spirit too, it has been supposed, were extensively propagated in the Latin church. His works consist of about 30 short treatises, and are nearly all of a polemic cast, argumentative, vitupera- tive, and severe. They may be divided into three classes ; namely, apologetic, or in con- troversy with pagans and Jews ; doctrinal, or confutations of heretics ; and moral, in defence or confutation of certain practices CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 123 or rules of conduct. Of the first class are his Apologcticum, and ad Nationes Lihri ii. These are only different editions of the same work ; and were composed about A.D. 198 : de Tcstimonio animce. ; the testimony of conscience or common sense to the truths maintained by Christians : ad Scapulam, a pagan magistrate ; an expostulation with him, (A.D. 211) : adversus Judaeos ; pro- ving from the O. T. that Jesus was the Messiah, and Christianity true. In all these, he takes the same ground with Justin Mar- tyr and the other apologists of that age. Of the second or doctrinal class, are : de Baptismo ; against one Qumtilla, who re- jected baptism altogether : de Prascription- ibvs hcercticorum ; a confutation of all her- esies collectively, on general principles : Ltbri v. adv. Marcionem, (A.D. 207), and single books against the Valcntinians, Prax- eas and Hermogencs : Scorpiace, or Scor- piacum, adv. Gnoslicos, or de bono martyrii ; that is, an Antidote against the Scorpions, i. e., the Gnostics, who have no martyrs among them : de Came Chnsti ; that Christ truly died on the cross ; maintained against the Docetae : de Resurrectione ; of the same tenour with the last : de Anima ; against the philosophers ; their notions of the soul confuted. In attacking the heretics, he takes much the same ground with Ircnams. Most of his works of the third class, were written after he became a Montanist, and are in defence of the rigid principles of that sect, or in opposition to the opinions and practice of Christians in general. The two first, however, were written in his early life, and are of a different character : viz., de Oratwne ; on prayer in general, and the Lord's prayer in particular : Liber ad Mar- tyres ; designed to comfort and animate them in their dying moments : de Spectacu- lis, and de Idololatria ; warnings to Chris- tians against attending theatres, and other idolatrous rites : Libn ii. ad uxorem ; warn- ing her against a second marriage, if she should become a widow ; and especially against marrying a pagan : de Pvenitentia ; on penance and humiliation for sin : de Pa- tientia. All the preceding of this class, were probably written before he became an avowed Montanist : de corona militis ; jus- tifying and commending a soldier who re- fused a military crown, and was punished for it : de velandis virginibus ; against the custom of the young ladies appearing abroad unveiled : de habitu muliebri ; reprehension of the ladies for their attention to dress : de Cultu faminarum ; much the same ; on their adorning their persons : de Fiiga in persecutione ; that no one should retire for afety in time of persecution : Eihortatio Castitatis, and de Monogamia; two tracts on the same subject ; namely, the criminality of second marriages : de Jejuniis adv. Psy- chicos ; against the orthodox, in defence of the Montanist principles about fasting : de Pudicitia ; that offenders, especially by un- chastity, should never be restored to com- munion in the church : de Pallio ; against wearing the Roman toga, and recommend- ing in place of it, the Grecian pallium or cloak. These are all the works of Tertul- lian, which have reached us. Among his lost works, were seven Books in defence of the Montanists ; one on the Believer's hope ; one on Paradise, and one on Aaron's gar- ments. The best editions of his works, are, by Rigaltius, Paris, 1634, and 1641, fol. ; and by Semler, Halle, 1769-73, 5 vols. 8vo, with a 6th vol. by Windorf, containing in- dices and a glossary, 1776. Besides the writers above mentioned, whose works have been preserved, there were many others in this century, of whose works we have only extracts preserved by the fathers. Of these, a catalogue embra- cing such as are mentioned by Eusebius in his Eccles. History, and by Jerome, de Scrip- toribus Illustribus, is here subjoined. Papias, bp. of Hierapolis in Phrygia, con- temporary with Ignatius, in the beginning of the century. He wrote five Books, contain- ing traditional accounts of Christ, his apos- tles, and others of the primitive times. He is said to have advocated the doctrine of the Millennium. Euseb., iii. 39. Jerome, c. 18. Quadratus, bp. of Athens. He wrote an Apology for the Christians, presented to the Emperor Adrian, A.D. 123 or 131. Euseb., iv., 3. Jerome, c. 19. Aristides, an eloquent Christian philoso- pher of Athens, at the same time presented an Apology. Euseb., iv., 3. Jerome, c. 20. Agrippa Castor, contemporary with the two last. He was " a very learned man ;" and wrote a confutation of the 24 Books of Basilidcs the heretic. Euseb., iv., 7. Je- rome, c. 21. Hegesippus, a converted Jew, who resided at Corinth and at Rome. He wrote about A.D. 160, five Books of Eccles. Memoires, from the crucifixion of Christ to his own times. Euseb., iv., 8, 22, and iii., 19, 20, 32. Jerome, c. 22. Melito, bp. of Sardis. He wrote an Apol- ogy, besides various short works ; namely, de Pascha (the time of Easter) ; de Vita Prophetarum ; de Ecclesia ; de Die Domin- ica ; de Sensibus ; de Fide ; de Plasmate ; de Anima et Corpore ; de Baptismate ; de Veritate ; de Generatione Christi ; de Pro- phetia ; de Philoxenia ; a book entitled Cla- vis ; de Diabolo, de Apocalypse Joannis, da 124 BOOK I. CENTURY II. PART II. CHAP. II. Corporali Deo. Euseb., iv., 26. Jerome, c. 24. Apollinaris, bp. of Hierapolis in Phrygia, A.D. 170. He wrote an Apology ; five books against the pagans ; de Veritate, libri ii. ; adv. Cataphrygas ; adv. Judaeos, libri ii. Euseb., iv., 27. Jerome, c. 16. Dionysius, bp. of Corinth, from about A.D. 170. He was an active and influen- tial man, and wrote valuable epistles to sev- eral churches and their bishops ; namely, to the churches of Sparta, Athens, Nicomedia, Gortyna and others in Crete, Amastris and others in Pontus ; and to Pinitus, a Cretan bp., and Victor, bp. of Rome. Euseb., iv., 23. Jerome, c. 27. Talian, a rhetorician, and disciple of Jus- tin Martyr. After the death of Justin, he swerved from the common path, and-became founder of a rigorous sect called Encratites. He flourished about A.D. 170, and wrote an Apology, under the title of Oratio contra Graecos, which is still extant and usually printed with the works of Justin Martyr. He is said to have composed many other works ; among which a Diatessaron, or Har- mony of the four Gospels, and a treatise on Perfection after the pattern of Christ, are particularly mentioned. Eusebius, iv., 29. Jerome, c. 29. Clem. Alex., Strom, iii., 12. Musanus, of the same age, wrote against the Encratites. Jerome, c. 31. Eusebius, iv., 23. Modestus, of the same age, wrote a book against Marcion, which Eusebius says ex- ceeded all other confutations of that heretic. Eusebius, iv., 25. Jerome, c. 32. Bardesanes, a Syrian of Edessa, of the same age, an eloquent and acute reasoner. He was first a Valentinian ; but afterwards, wrote against that and other sects. His works were numerous, which his admirers translated from Syriac into Greek. His dialogues against Marcion, and his treatise on Fate, are particularly commended. Eu- sebius, iv., 30. Jerome, c. 33. Victor, bp. of Rome, A.D. 194-203. His zeal respecting the right day for Easter, led him to write several epistles on that subject. Eusebius, v., 24. Jerome, c. 34. Nothing of his remains ; though two spurious epistles with his name, are still extant. Panta;nus, a Christian philosopher of Al- exandria, and head of the Catechetic school there, before Clement. He was a learned and active Christian ; and wrote much, par- ticularly in explanation of the Scriptures ; but none of his works remain. He visited India, or Arabia Felix, as a missionary, and had vast influence in the church. Euseb., v., 10. Jerome, c. 36. Rhodon, an Asiatic Greek, but educated at Rome under Tatian. He wrote much ; and in particular, on the Hexaemeron, (the six days of creation) ; a treatise against Mar- cion ; and another against the Phrygians or Cataphrygians, the disciples of Montanus. Euseb., v., 13. Jerome, c. 37. Miltiadcs, who flourished in the reign of Commodus, A.D. 180-192. He wrote an Apology ; a work against the Cataphrygians ; two books against the pagans ; and two oth- ers against the Jews. Euseb., v., 17. Je- rome, c. 39. Apollonius, an eloquent Greek writer, au- thor of a long and much valued confutation of the Cataphrygians. Euseb., v., 18. Je- rome, c. 40. Serapion, ordained bp. of Antioch A.D. 191. He wrote an epistle concerning the Montanists or Cataphrygians ; another to Domninus, an apostate to Judaism ; and a tract concerning the spurious Gospel ascri- bed to Peter. Eusebius, vi., 12. Jerome, c. 41. Apollonius, a Roman senator and martyr under Commodus. His eloquent defence at his trial, was committed to writing. Euse- bius, v., 21. Jerome, c. 42. Under the reigns of Commodus and Seve- rus, or A.D. 180-211, lived several writers, mentioned summarily by Eusebius, v., 27, and by Jerome, c. 46-51 : namely, Heracli- tus, author of a Commentary on Paul's Epis- tles ; Maximus, who wrote on the Origin of Evil and the Creation of Matter ; Candidus and Appion, who wrote on the Hexae'meron, (Gen., ch. i.) ; Scxtus wrote on the resur- rection ; and Arabianus composed some docrinal tracts. All the preceding wrote in Greek, except Bardesanes, who composed in Syriac, and Victor and Apollonius the martyr, who wrote in Latin. TV.] THEOLOGY AND RELIGION. 125 CHAPTER III. HISTORY OF RELIGION AND THEOLOGY. 1. Religion yet Simple. 2. Was gradually Changed. 3. This proved by an Exam- ple. 4. Attention to the Scriptures. . 5 Faults of Interpreters. 6. State of Dog- matic Theology. $ 7. Polemics of this Age. 8. Excellences and Defects of the Con- troversialists. t) 9. Writers on Practical Religion. t) 10. Merits of the Fathers in re- gard to Practical Religion. 11. Twofold System of Practical Religion. 12. Hence the Ascetics. 13. Causes of their Rise. 14. Their Progress. 15. Origin of pious Frauds. 16. Lives of Christians, and the Discipline of Offenders. 17. Pub- lic Penitence modelled according to the Rules of the Pagan Mysteries. 1. THE whole Christian system was still comprised in a few precepts and propositions ; nor did the teachers publicly advance any doctrines be- sides those contained in what is called the Apostles' creed. In their man- ner of handling these doctrines, there was nothing subtile, profound, or dis- tant from common apprehension. This will not appear strange, if we re- flect that no controversy had yet been moved, respecting those important points of religion about which contests afterwards arose, and that the bish- ops were generally plain, unlearned men, more distinguished for their piety than for their genius and eloquence. 2. Yet from this venerable simplicity, insensibly, there was a consid- erable departure ; many points were more critically investigated, and more artificially stated ; many principles also were imprudently adopted, which were derived from philosophy, and that too not of the most solid character. This change arose from two principal causes. The first lay in the dispo- sition of certain teachers, who wished to make Christianity appear in har- mony with the decisions of philosophy, and who thought it elegant to state Christian precepts in the language of philosophers, jurists, and rabbis. The other cause is found in the discussions with the opposers and corrupt- ers of the truth. To meet these, the Christian doctors were sometimes under a necessity to state with precision what was before undefined, and to exhibit their views with more discrimination. 3. Whoever wishes for an example, need only consider what began to be taught in this age respecting the state of souls when separated from the body. Jesus and his apostles simply taught, that the spirits of holy men on leaving the body were received to heaven ; and that those of the wicked went to hell. And this satisfied the first disciples of Christ, in whom there was more piety than curiosity. But this plain doctrine was materially injured, when Christians were induced to agree with the Platon- ics and others, that only the souls of heroes and men of distinguished abilities were raised to heaven ; while those of others, being weighed down by their sensual propensities, sunk to the infernal regions, and could never attain to the world of light till cleansed from their pollutions.(l) From the time that this opinion began to prevail, the martyrs only were repre- (1)1 have treated largely of these senti- Platonics, in my notes on R. Cud-worth' t jnents of the ancients, and especially of the Intellectual System, torn, ii., p. 1036. 126 BOOK I. CENTURY II. PART II. CHAP. III. sented and believed to be happy immediately after death ; and others were assigned to some obscure region, in which they were detained till the second coming of Christ, or at least, till their impurities which disqualified them for heaven should be removed from them. From this source, how numerous and how vast the errors ? what vain ceremonies ? what mon- strous superstitions took their rise ? 4. But they all revered the holy scriptures, as the rule of faith and the standard of truth ; and therefore they wished them to be in the hands of all. Of the translations of the scriptures into other languages, we have already spoken. We shall here speak only of the expositors. The first Christian who composed explanations of the sacred volume, if I mistake not, was Pantanus, the master of the Alexandrine school. But divine providence has so ordered, that none of his writings have reached us. The Hypotyposes also, of Clemens Alexandrinus, in which he is said to have expounded detached passages from all the sacred books, have been lost ; and likewise his Commentaries on the canonical Epistles. Tatian composed a Harmony of the Gospels, which has [not] escaped the ravages of time. (2) Justin Martyr explained the Apocalypse ; Theophilos of An- tioch elucidated the four Gospels ; and [several] others expounded the Mosaic account of the creation. All these works are now lost. 5. But this loss is the less to be regretted, since it is certain that no one of these expositors could be pronounced a good interpreter. They all believed the language of scripture to contain two meanings, the one ob- vious and corresponding with the direct import of the words, the other re- condite and concealed under the words, like a nut by the shell ; and neg- lecting the former, as being of little value, they bestowed their chief at- tention on the latter ; that is, they were more intent on throwing obscurity over the sacred writings by the fictions of their own imaginations, than on searching out their true meaning. Some also, and this is stated especial- ly of Clement, attempted to make the divine oracles teach and support the precepts of philosophy. The excessive and almost divine authority ascri- bed to the Alexandrine version of the Old Testament, called the Septua- gint, was a great obstacle to any valuable and suitable interpretation of that part of the Bible. 6. A system of Christian theology, so far as we can learn, was com- posed by no one in this age. The tracts of Arabianus, (de dogmate Christiano), having been all lost, we cannot tell what they were. The five Books of Papias, (de Dictis Christi et Apostolorum, or, Explanatio oraculorum dominicorum), so far as can be learned from Eusebius,(3) must be regarded rather as a historical than a doctrinal work. Melito of Sardis is said to have written, de Fide, de Creatione, de Ecclesia, and de Veritate : but it does not appear from these titles, whether they were po- lemic or doctrinal treatises. Some points in theology were stated and de- fended, by those who engaged in religious controversies. But the doc- (2) [I cannot but think there must be a cap. xii., 5, 6, prefixed to his edition of great typographical error in the original of Justin Martyr, &c., and republished by this sentence. For it is not easy to believe, Sprenger, Thesaurus Rei Patristicae, torn, that Dr. Mosheim held to the long exploded ii. TV.] notion, that either of those Harmonies of the (3) [Euscbius, Hist. Eccles., lib. iii., c. four Gospels, which we have in the Biblio- 29. See also Irenaus, adv. Haeres., 1. v., theca Patrum, could be the genuine work of c. 33. Jerome, de Scriptoribus Illustr., cap. Tatian. See Prudentius Maran, Diss. xiii., 18. Tr.] THEOLOGY AND RELIGION. 127 trines which were not brought into controversy, were for the most part not so distinctly treated by the writers of that age, as to enable us fully to un- derstand what their views were. It is therefore not strange, that all sects of Christians can find in what are called the Fathers, something to favour their own opinions and systems. 7. The controversial writers who distinguished themselves in this century, encountered either the Jews, or the worshippers of idol gods, or the corrupters of the Christian doctrine and the founders of new sects, that is, the heretics. With the Jews, contended in particular Justin Martyr, in his dialogue with Trypho ; and likewise Tertullian ; but neither of them, in the best manner ; because they were not acquainted with the language and history of the Hebrews, and did not duly consider the subject. The^a- gans were assailed by those especially, who wrote Apologies for the Christians ; as Athenagoras, Melito, Quadratus, Miltiades, Aristides, Ta- tian, and Justin Martyr ; or who composed Addresses to the pagans ; as Justin, Tertullian, Clement, and Theophilus of Antioch. All these vanquish- ed paganism, and answered the calumnies cast upon the Christians, solid- ly and dexterously ; but they were less able and successful in explain- ing the nature of the Christian religion, and in demonstrating its truth and divine origin. At least, we perceive that much is wanting in the explana- tions they give of Christian doctrines, and in the arguments they use in confirmation of religious truth. Those who chastised the heretics, make a numerous body ; but we have few of their writings left. The whole host of heretics were attacked by Iren&us in a work expressly against them ; by Clement in his Stromata ; and by Tertullian, de Praescriptionibus adversus htereticos ; not to mention Justin Martyr, whose confutation of them has been lost. Those who wrote against particular sects of heretics, it would be tedious to enumerate ; besides, the works of most of them are not preserved. $ 8. In these disputants there was something more of ingenuousness and good faith, than in those who undertook the support of truth in the follow- ing centuries. For the convenient wiles of sophistry and the dishonourable artifices of debate, had not yet gained admittance among Christians. Yet a man of sound judgment who has due regard for truth, cannot extol them highly. Most of them lacked discernment, knowledge, application, good arrangement, and force. They often advance very flimsy arguments, and such as are suited rather to embarrass the mind than to convince the un- derstanding. One, laying aside the divine scriptures, from which all the weapons of religious controversy should be drawn, bids us consult the bishops of those churches which were founded by apostles. Another, as if contending about the title or the boundaries of lands in a court of law, with an ill grace pleads prescription against his adversaries. A third imi- tates the silly disputants among the Jews, who offered as arguments the mystic powers of numbers and words. (4) Nor are those wholly in error, who think that the vicious mode of disputing which afterwards obtained the name of economical, was sometimes used even in this century. (5) (4) Examples may be seen in Ja. Bus- 21. [To do, or to say anything, /car* OIKO- nagc, Histoire des Juifs, tome Hi., p, 660, vofiiav, or ouovoftucuf, is to use deception 694. or good policy, rather than fair honest deal- (5) R. Simon, Histoire critique des prin- ing ; yet with good intentions, or for a good cipaux Commentateurs dn N. T., cap. ii.,p. end. See Suicer, Thesaur. Ecclesiast.,tom. 12S BOOK I. CENTURY II. PART II. CHAP. III. 9. The principal parts of practical religion or morality, are treated of by Justin Martyr, or whoever it was that composed the Epistle to Zenas and Serenus, found among the works of Justin. Others took up particular duties in set treatises. Thus Clemens Alexandrinus composed tracts on Calumny, Patience, Continence, and other virtues ; which have not escaped the ravages of time. But the tracts of Tertullian on practical duties, namely, on Chastity, on Flight from Persecution, on Fasting, on Theatri- cal Exhibitions, on the Dress of Females, on Prayer, &c., have come safely to our hands ; and would be perused with greater profit, were it not for the gloomy and morose spirit which they everywhere breathe, and the excessively artificial and difficult style in which they are written. 10. In what estimation these and other ancient writers on Christian morals ought to be held, the learned are not agreed. Some hold them to be the very best guides to true piety and a holy life ; others, on the con- trary, think their precepts were the worst possible, and that the cause of practical religion could not be committed to worse hands. (6) Competent judges will decide the question for themselves. To us it appears that their writings contain many things excellent, well considered, and well calculated to enkindle pious emotions ; but also many things unduly rigor- ous, and derived from the Stoic and Academic philosophy ; many things vague and indeterminate ; and many things positively false, and inconsis- tent with the precepts of Christ. If one deserves the title of a bad master in morals, who has no just ideas of the proper boundaries and limitations of Christian duties, nor clear and distinct conceptions of the different virtues and vices, nor a perception of those general principles to which recur- rence should be had in all discussions respecting Christian virtue, and therefore very often talks at random, and blunders in expounding the di- vine laws ; though he may say many excellent things, and excite in us considerable emotion ; then I can readily admit that in strict truth, this title belongs to many of the Fathers. 11. In this century there was admitted, with good intentions no doubt, yet most inconsiderately, a great error in regard to morals, and pernicious to Christianity ; an error, which through all succeeding ages to our times, has produced an infinity of mistakes and evils of various kinds. Jesus our Saviour, prescribed one and the same rule of life or duty to all his disci- ii., p. 459. See also note 11, cent, iii., pt. Librum Jo. Barbeyraci, Libnrni, 1767, 4to. ii., ch. iii. TV.] Fassonius excuses the fathers for the fol- (6) On this subject in our day, the learned lowing opinions, charged upon them as er- and ingenious Jo. Barbeyrac held a con- rors by Barbeyrac ; namely, that they con- troversy with Remigius Cellier, a Benedic- demned taking interest for money loaned ; tine monk. A history of the controversy, placed too high a value on virginity, and ac- with his own opinion of it, is given by J. F. counted celibacy a more holy state than mat- Buddeus, Isagoge ad Theologian, lib. ii., rimony ; forbid husbands sleeping with their cap. iv., $ iv., p. 553, &c. Afterwards wives while pregnant ; deemed it unsuitable Barbeyrac published a more full defence of for clergymen to marry, and excluded from the severe judgment he had passed upon the the ministry such as married a second time ; fathers, under the title of Traitfi de la Morale commended a monastic life; made two des Pe'res, Amsterdam, 1723, 4to, which is systems of duty, one for the more perfect, well worth reading by those who wish to in- and another for common Christians ; and vestigate the subject ; yet T think, he charges held it lawful to persecute heretics with fire the fathers with some faults, which may easily and sword Most of the other faults charged be excused. [Liberatus Fassonius, a Cath- on the fathers by Barbeyrac, Fassonius olic, published an answer to Barbeyrac, in a maintains, should be charged solely on the Latin work, de inorali Patrum doctrina, adv. heretics. Tr.] THEOLOGY AND RELIGION. 129 pies. But the Christian doctors, either by too great a desire of imitating the nations among whom they lived, or from a natural propensity to aus- terity and gloom, (a disease that many labour under in Syria, Egypt, and other provinces of the East), were induced to maintain that Christ had prescribed a twofold rule of holiness and virtue ; the one ordinary, the other extraordinary ; the one lower, the other higher ; the one for men of busi- ness, the other for persons of leisure, and such as desired higher glory in the future world. They therefore early divided all that had been taught them either in books or by tradition, respecting a Christian life and morals, into Precepts and Counsels. They gave the name of Precepts to those laws which were universally obligatory, or were enacted for all men of all descriptions ; but the Counsels pertained solely to those who aspire after superior holiness and a closer union with God. 12. There soon arose therefore a class of persons, who professed to strive after that extraordinary and more eminent holiness, and who of course resolved to obey the Counsels of Christ, that they might have in- timate communion with God in this life, and might, on leaving the body, rise without impediment or difficulty to the celestial world. They sup- posed many things were forbidden to them, which were allowed to oth- er Christians ; such as wine, flesh, matrimony, and worldly business.(7) They thought they must emaciate their bodies with watching, fasting, toil, and hunger. They considered it a blessed thing to retire to desert places, and by severe meditation to abstract their minds from all external objects and whatever delights the senses. Both men and women imposed these severe restraints on themselves, with good intentions, I suppose, but set- ting a bad example, and greatly to the injury of the cause of Christianity. They were of course denominated Ascetics, ^.-nsdaloc, r E/cAfKTOi, and also philosophers ; and they were distinguished from other Christians, not only by a different appellation, but by peculiarities of dress and demeanour.(S) Those who in this century embraced this austere mode of life, lived in- deed only for themselves, but they did not withdraw themselves altogether from the society and converse of men. But in process of time, persons of this description at first retired into deserts, and afterwards formed them- selves into associations, after the manner of the Essenes and Therapeutae. 13. The causes of this institution are at hand. First, the Christians did not like to appear inferior to the Greeks, the Romans, and the other people ; among whom there were many philosophers and sages, who were distinguished from the vulgar by their dress and their whole mode of life, and who were held in high honour. Now among these philosophers, (as is well known), none better pleased the Christians than the Platonists and Pythagoreans ; who are known to have recommended two modes of living, the one for philosophers who wished to excel others in virtue, and the other for people engaged in the common affairs of life. (9) The Plato- nists prescribed the following rule for philosophers : The mind of a wise (7) A/hrnfifforas, Apologia pro Christian- (9) They made a distinction between liv- is, cap. 28, p. 129, ed. Oxon., and others. ing according to nature, C#v Kara <j>voiv, and (8) See C. Siilnumiiis, Comment, in Ter- living above nature, Criv inrep <j>vaiv. See tullian. de Pallio, p. 7, 8, [S f!a:aru.f. in Theophrasto, p. 29, ed. Exercit. de Ascetis Vet. in Observ. Sacr., Barthii. The former was the rule for all 1. iii., and Jos. Bingham, Antiq. Eccles., men; the latter, only for philosophers who vol. iii., p. 3, &c. Schi] aimed at perfect virtue. VOL. I. R 130 BOOK I. CENTURY II. PART IL CHAP. III. man must be withdrawn, as far as possible, from the contagious influ- ence of the body. And as the oppressive load of the body and social in- tercourse are most adverse to this design, therefore all sensual gratifica- tions are to be avoided ; the body is to be sustained, or rather mortified, with coarse and slender fare ; solitude is to be sought for ; and the mind is to be self-collected, and absorbed in contemplation, so as to be detach- ed as much as possible from the body. (10) Whoever lives in this manner, shall in the present life have converse with God ; and, when freed from the load of the body, shall ascend without delay to the celestial mansions, and shall not need, like the souls of other men* to undergo a purgation. The grounds of this system lay in the peculiar sentiments entertained by this sect of philosophers and by their friends, respecting the soul, demons, matter, and the universe. And as these sentiments were embraced by the Christian philosophers, the necessary consequences of them were of course to be adopted also. 14. What is here stated will excite less surprise, if it be remember- ed, that Egypt was the land where this mode of life had its origin. For that country, from some law of nature, has always produced a greater number of gloomy and hypochondriac or melancholy persons than any other ;(11) and it still does so. Here it was that long before the Saviour's birth, not only the Esscnes and Therapeutae, those Jewish sects, com- posed of persons affected with a morbid melancholy, or rather partially deranged, had their chief residence ; but many others also, that they might better please the gods, withdrew themselves as by the instinct of nature from commerce with men and from all the pleasures of life. (12) From Egypt, this mode of life passed into Syria and the neighbouring coun- tries, which in like manner always abounded with unsociable and austere individuals :( 13) and from the East it was at last introduced among the nations of Europe. Hence the numerous maladies which still deform the Christian world ; hence the celibacy of the clergy ; hence the numerous herds of monks ; hence the two species of life, the theoretical and mystical; hence the many other things of a like nature, which we shall have occa- sion to mention in the progress of our work. 15. To this great error of the Christians may be added another, not indeed of equal extent, but a pernicious one and productive of many evils. The Platonists and Pythagoreans deemed it not only lawful but commend- able to deceive and to lie, for the sake of truth and piety.(14) The Jews living in Egypt, learned from them this sentiment before the Christian era, as appears from many proofs. And from both, this vice early spread among the Christians. Of this no one will doubt, who calls to mind the numerous forgeries of books under the names of eminent men, the Sibylline verses, ( 15) (10) Consult here, by all means, that most Exhortatione castitatis, cap. 13. Athanasi- distinguished Platonist, Porphyry, irepl ano- us, Vita Antonii, Opp., torn, ii., p. 453. Xijf, or, on Abstinence from flesh, lib. i., $ (13) Jo. Chardin, Voyages in Perse, 27 and 41, p. 22, 34, where he formally lays tome iv., p. 197, ed. Amsterd., 1735, 4to. down rules for these duties of a philosopher. (14) [Moshcim, on this subject, in his (11) See Bcned. Maillet, Description de Comment, de Reb. Christ., &c., p. 231, re- 1'Egypte, tome ii., p. 57, &c., Paris, 1735, fers us to his Diss. de turbata per recentiores 4to. Platonicas ecclesia, $ 41, &c. Tr.~\ (12) Herodotus, Historiar., 1. ii., p. 104, (15) [Concerning the Sibylline verses, ed. Gronov. Epiphanins, Expos, fidei, $ which were composed about "A.D. 138, /. 13, Opp., torn, ii., p. 1092. Tertullian, de A. Fabricius has treated largely, Biblioth. THEOLOGY AND RELIGION. 131 and other similar trash,(16) a large mass of which appeared in this and the following centuries. I would not say that the orthodox Christians forged all the books of this character ; on the contrary, it is probable that the greater part of them originated from the founders of the Gnostic sects. Yet that the Christians who were free from heterodox views were not wholly free from this fault, is too clear to be denied. 16. The more the boundaries of the church were enlarged, the great- er the number of vicious and bad men who thrust themselves into it ; as may be proved by the many complaints and censures of the writers of this age. The well-known custom of excluding transgressors from the commu- nion, was a barrier against the more flagrant and notorious crimes. Of all sins, those accounted the most heinous and the greatest, were these three, murder, idolatry, and adultery ; which terms, however, must here be under- stood in the broadest sense. Those guilty of these crimes, were in many churches cut off for ever from communion ; in other churches, they were received back after a long, severe, and painful probation. (17) 17. It is worthy of particular notice, that this custom of excluding bad characters from the society of Christians, and of not receiving them back except upon full proof of reformation, was at first a simple process, or at- tended with very little formality ; but by degrees, the regulations for it .were greatly amplified and deformed by many rites borrowed especially from the discipline of the pagan mysteries. (18) That it was proper for the Christian bishops to increase the restraints upon the licentiousness of transgression, will be readily granted by all who consider the circumstances of those times. But whether it was for the advantage of Christianity, to borrow rules for this salutary ordinance from the enemies of the truth, and thus to consecrate, as it were, a part of the pagan superstition, many per- Graeca; torn. i. The latest editor of the Hist. Eccles. See Mosheim, do Rebus verses, is Servat. Gallaeus, who has cor- Christ., &c., p. 230. See also the refer- rected the text, and added copious notes, ences in Gicsder's Text-book, by Cunning- Amsterd., 1689, 4to. He has subjoined the ham, vol. i., p. 99, note 4. TV.] Magic Oracles ascribed to Zoroaster and (16) [That the books now circulated under others ; in which are many things of Chris- the name of Hermes, and particularly the tian origin. That the Sibylline verses were one called Pcemander, were a Christian for- fabrioated by some Christian, in order to gery, was first shown by 7*. Casaubon, Ex- bring idolaters to believe in the truth of ercit. 1, in Baronium. 18, p. 54, and after- Christianity, has been well shown by Dav. wards by H. Conringius, Beautobre, Cud- Blondell, among others ; and with a very worth, Warburton, and many others. Some few exceptions, there is no learned man at however, suppose the books were originally the present day, who thinks otherwise, composed by Platonists ; and afterwards in- BlondelVs work which is in French, was terpolated and corrupted by some Christian. first published under the title : Des Sibylles See Mosheim, de Reb. Christ., p. 230. TV.] celebrees tant par 1'Antiquite payenne, que (17) In this manner I think, we may rcc- par les saints Peres, Charenton, 1649, 4to. oncile the different opinions of learned men Two years after, the title was changed ; on this subject. See Jo. Morin, de Disci- doubtless to allure purchasers ; Traite, dela plina pcenitentiae, lib. ix., cap 19, p. 670, Creance des Peres touchant 1'Etat des ames &c. Ja. Sirmond, Historia poenitentiae pub- apres cette vie, &c., a 1'occasion de 1'Ecrit licse, cap. i., Opp., torn, iv., p. 323, and the attribue aux Sibelles, Charenton, 1651, 4to. recent Dissertation of Jo. Aug. Orsi, de That the pagans were indignant at this Criminum capitalium per tria priora saecula forgery, which they attributed to the Chris- absolutione, Mediolani, 1730, 4to. tians, appears from Origen, contra Celsum, (18) See Jo. Alb. Fabricius, Bibliogra- lib. v., p. 272, ed Spencer ; Lactantius, In- phias Antiquariae, p. 397. Jo. Monn, de stit. Divinor., 1. iv., c. 14 ; and Constantinc Poenitentia, lib. i., cap. 15, 16, &c. the Great, Oratio ad Sanctos, in Euscb., 132 BOOK L CENTURY II PART IL CHAP. IV. sons very justly call in question. The more candid will appreciate the good intention of those who introduced this sort of rules and ceremonies ; all beyond this they will ascribe to human weakness. x CHAPTER IV. HISTORY OF CEREMONIES. $ 1. Ceremonies much Increased. $2. Reasons; I. Desire to enlarge the Church. 3. II. Hope that they would silence Calumnies. f) 4. III. Abuse of Jewish Terms. 5. IV. Imitation of the Pagan Mysteries. 6. V. Mode of Instructing by Symbols. 7. VI. Habits of the Converts. $ 8. The Assemblies for Worship. $ 9. Con- tests about the Time for Easter. 10. Their Importance. 11. The Asiatics and the Romans, the principal Parties. 12. Celebration of the Lord's Supper. $ 13. Baptism. 1. IT is certain that to religious worship, both public and private, many rites were added, without necessity and to the great offence of sober and good men.(l) The principal cause of this, I readily look for in the per- versenes.s of mankind, who are more delighted with the pomp and splen- dour of external forms and pageantry, than with the true devotion of the heart, and who despise whatever does not gratify their eyes and ears. (2) But other and additional causes may be mentioned, which, though they suppose no bad design, yet clearly betray indiscretion. 2. First, there is good reason to suppose that the Christian bishops purposely multiplied sacred rites for the sake of rendering the Jews and the pagans more friendly to them. For both these classes had been ac- customed to numerous and splendid ceremonies from their infancy, and had made no question of their constituting an essential part of religion. And hence, when they saw the new religion to be destitute of such ceremonies, they thought it too simple, and therefore despised it. To obviate this ob- jection, the rulers of the Christian churches deemed it proper for them to be more formal and splendid in their public worship.(3) (1) Tertullian, Liber de creatione, -Opp., ritum vulgus in simulacrorum cultus errors p. 792, &c. permaneret permisit eis, ut in memoriam (2) [To illustrate the influence of splendid ac recordationem sanctorum martyrum sese ceremonies on mankind, Dr. Maclaine here oblectarent et in letitiam effunderentur, quod states ; that, " The late Lord Bolingbroke, successu temporis aliquando futurum esset, being present at the elevation of the host in ut sua sponte ad honestiorem et accuratio- the Cathedral at Paris, expressed to a noble- rem vitae rationem transirent. When Greg- man who stood near him, his surprise that ory perceived, that the ignorant and simple the king of France should commit the pur- multitude persisted in their idolatry, on ac- formance of such an august and striking cer- count of the sensitive pleasures and delights emony to any subject." 7V.] it afforded he allowed them in celebrating (3) It will not be unsuitable to transcribe the memory of the holy martyrs, to indulge here, a very apposite passage, which I acci- themselves, and give a loose to pleasure, (i. dentally met with, in Gregory NysserCs life e., as the thing itself, and both what pre- of Gregory Thaumaturgus, in the Works of cedes and what follows, place beyond all Thaumaturgus, as published by Vossius, p. controversy, he allowed them at the sepul- 312, who gives the Latin only: Cum ani- chres of the martyrs on their feast days, to madvertisset, (Greporius), quod ob corporeas dance, to use sports, to indulge conviviality, delectationes et voluptates simplex et impe- and to do all things that the worshippers of RITES AND CEREMONIES. 133 3. Secondly, the simplicity of the worship which Christians offered to the Deity, had given occasion to certain calumnies, maintained both by the Jews and the pagan priests. The Christians were pronounced Athe- ists, because they were destitute of temples, altars, victims, priests, and all that pomp, in which the vulgar suppose the essence of religion to con- sist. For unenlightened persons are prone to estimate religion by what meets their eyes. To silence this accusation, the Christian doctors thought they must introduce some external rites, which would strike the senses of people ; so that they could maintain that they really had all those things of which Christians were charged with being destitute, though under dif- ferent forms. 4. Thirdly, it is well known, that in the books of the New Testa- ment, various parts of the Christian religion are expressed in terms bor- rowed from the Jewish laws, or are represented as in some measure par- allel with the Mosaic rites. This language, the Christian doctors and wri- ters not only imitated, but extended still farther ; and in this there was lit- tle to censure. But in process of time, either from inconsideration or from ignorance, or from motives of policy, the majority decided that such phra- seology was not figurative, but accordant with the nature of the things, and to be understood in its proper sense. The bishops were at tirst innocent- ly called high priests, and the presbyters, priests, and the deacons, Levites. But in a little time, those to whom these titles were given abused them ; and maintained that they had the same rank and dignity, and possessed the same rights and privileges with those who bore these titles under the Mo- saic dispensation. Hence the origin of Jirst fruits, and next of tithes; hence the splendid garments, and many other things. In like manner, the comparison of the Christian oblations with the Jewish victims and sacri- fices, produced many unnecessary rites ; and in time corrupted essentially the doctrine of the Lord's supper, which, ere they were aware of it, was converted into a sacrifice. 5. Fourthly, among the Greeks and the people of the East nothing was held more sacred than what were called the Mysteries. This circumstance led the Christians, in order to impart dignity to their religion, to say, that they also had similar mysteries, or certain holy rites concealed from the vulgar ; and they not only applied the terms used in the pagan mysteries to the Christian institutions, particularly baptism and the Lord's supper ; but they gradually introduced also the rites which were designated by those terms. (4) This practice originated in the eastern provinces ; and thence, after the times of Adrian, (who first introduced the Grecian mysteries among the Latins), (5) it spread among the Christians of the West. A idols were accustomed to do in their temples, ed. Obrechti. [ Spartian speaks only of the on their festival days), hoping, that in pro- /m'mare Mysteries, into which Adrian was cess of time, they would spontaneously initiated at Athens. These, it may be, that come over to a more becoming and more Adrian first introduced among the Latins ; correct manner of life. yet he was not the first Roman initiated in (4) Examples are given by Is. Casaubon, them. That some Mysteries had before this Exercit. xvi., in Annales Baronii, p. 388. time, been introduced into the Roman wor- Ja. Tollius, Insignibus itineris Italici, notes ship, appears from the Epislles of Cicero to p. 151, 163. Ez. Spanheim, Notes to his Atticus, 1. v., 21, end; lib. vi., 1, end; 1. French translation of Julian's Caesars, p. xv., 25. Gronovius indeed understands 133, 134. Dav. Clarkson, Discourse on these (mysteria Romana) to be the worship Liturgies, p. 36, 42, 43, and others. of the goddess Bona Dea. See his (Jbsei v , (5) Spartianus, Hadrian, c. 13, p. 15, 1. iv., c. 9. But on this worship, no male 134 BOOK I. CENTURY II. PART II. CHAP. IV. large part therefore of the Christian observances and institutions, even in this century, had the aspect of the pagan mysteries. 6. Fifthly, many ceremonies took their rise from the custom of the Egyptians and of almost all the eastern nations, of conveying instruction by images, actions, and sensible signs and emblems. The Christian doc- tors, therefore, thought it would be advantageous to the cause of Christian- ity to place the truths which are necessary to be known in order to salva- tion, as it were before the eyes of the unreflecting multitude, who with dif- ficulty contemplate abstract truths. The new converts were to be taught, that those are born again, who are initiated by baptism into the Christian worship, and that they ought to exhibit in their conduct the innocence of little infants ; and therefore milk and honey, the common food of infants, was administered to them. Those who obtained admission to the king- dom of Christ, from being the servants of the devil, became the Lord's freed men ; and, like newly enlisted soldiers, swore to obey their com- mander. And to signify this, certain rites were borrowed from military usages, and from the forms of manumission. (6) 7. Lastly, not to be tedious ; whoever considers that the Christians were collected from among the Jews and from the pagan nations who were accustomed from their earliest years to various ceremonies and su- perstitious rites, and that the habits of early life are very hard to be laid aside ; will perceive, that it would have been little short of a miracle, if nothing corrupt and debasing had found its way into the Christian church. For example ; nearly all the people of the East, before the Christian era, were accustomed to worship with their faces directed towards the sun rising. For they all believed that God whom they supposed to resem- ble light, or rather to be light, and whom they limited as to place, had his residence in that part of the heavens where the sun rises. When they became Christians they rejected indeed the erroneous belief; but the cus- tom that originated from it, and which was very ancient and universally prevalent, they retained. Nor to this hour, has it been wholly laid aside. From the same cause originated many Jewish rites, which are still reli- giously maintained by many Christians, and especially by those who live in eastern countries.(7) 8. The rites themselves, I shall state only summarily ; for this ex- tensive subject deserves to be considered by itself, and can not be fully discussed in the narrow limits of our work. The Christians assembled for the worship of God in private dwelling-houses, in caves, and in the places where the dead were buried. They met on the first day of the week ; and here and there, also on the seventh day, which was the Jewish Sab- bath. Most of them likewise held sacred the fourth and sixth, the former being the day on which our Saviour was betrayed, and the latter that on which he was crucified. The hours of the day allotted to these meetings, person might attend ; and I see not why Ci- ad S. Baptismum translatis, Altdorf, 1738, cero should inquire so particularly of his and J. G. Zentgrav's Diss. at Jena, under friend, (as he does), about the time of these Dr. Wa!ch, 1749, de Ritibus Baptismalibus mysteries, if they were nothing but the wor- saeculi secundi. Schl.] ship of a deity, in which none but females (7) See Jo. Spencer, de Legibus ritualibus ever bore any part. Sf.hl.] Ebraeor. Prolegom., p. 9, ed. Cantab., and (6) See Edm. Merill, Observations, lib. all those who have explained the rites and iii., cap. iii. [C. G. Schwartz, Diss. de rit- usages of the Oriental Christians, ibus quibusdam formulisque a manumissione RITES AND CEREMONIES. 135 varied according to times and circumstances ; very many of them could assemble only in the evening, or in the morning before the dawn of day. When the Christians were assembled, prayers were recited ; (the purport of which, Tertullian gives us) ;(8) the holy scriptures were read ;(9) short discourses on Christian duties were addressed to the people ; hymns were sung ; and at last, the Lord's supper and the love-feasts were celebrated, the oblations of the people affording them the materials. (10) 9. The Christians of this century consecrated anniversary festivals, in memory of the Saviour's death and resurrection, and of the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles. The day in remembrance of Christ's dying and expiating the sins of men, was called the Passover or Easter, (Pascha), because they supposed that Christ was crucified on the same day in which the Jews kept their Passover. But in observing this festi- val, the Christians of Asia Minor differed from other Christians, and espe- cially from those of Rome. Both fasted on what was called the great week, that on which Christ died ;* and in remembrance of the last supper of our Saviour, they held a sacred feast or ate the paschal lamb, just as the Jews did ; which feast, as well as the time of Christ's death, they denom- inated the Passover or Easter. Now the Asiatic Christians held their pas- chal feasts on the fourteenth day, or full moon, of the first Jewish month, which was the very time on which the Jews ate their Passover ; and on the third day after this supper they kept the memorial of Christ's triumph (8) Tertullian, Apologeticum, cap. 39. (9) [That other religious books, besides the canonical scriptures, were read in several churches, appears from Eusebius, Hist. Ec- cles., lib. iv., 23, and iii., 3, who informs us, that the first Epistle of Clement, and that of Soter, bishops of Rome, were publicly read in the church of Corinth ; as was the Shepherd of Hermas, in very many churches. TV.] (10) [Pliny, (Epistolar., 1. x., ep. 97), gives some account of the public worship of the Christians, in the beginning of this cen- tury : and Justin Martyr, near the close of that Apology which he presented to Antoni- nus Pius, A.D. 150, gives the following more full and authentic account : " On the day which is called Sunday, all, whether dwelling in the towns or in the villages, hold meet- ings ; and the Memoires (cnrouvvfiOveiiuaTa) of the apostles, and the writings of the prophets, are read, as much as the time will permit ; then, the reader closing, the Presi- dent in a speech, exhorts and excites to an imitation of those excellent examples ; then we all rise, and pour forth united prayers ; and when we close our prayer, as was before said, bread is brought forward, and wine, and water ; and the President utters prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, (OCTT; tvvu.fj.if dvrw), and the people respond, by saying amen ; and a distribution and parti- cipation of the things blessed, takes place to each one present, and to those absent, it is sent by the Deacons. And those who are prosperous and willing, give what they choose, each according to his own pleasure ; and what is collected, is deposited with the President ; and he carefully relieves the or- phans and widows, and those who from sick- ness or other causes are needy, and also those in _prison, and the strangers that are residing with us, and in short, all that have need of help. We all commonly hold our assemblies on Sunday, because it is the first day on which God converted the darkness and mat- ter, and framed the world ; and Jesus Christ our Saviour, on the same day, arose from the dead." Justin makes no mention here of sinhi!T, as a part of the public worship of Christians. But Pliny in his Epistle assures us ; " Quod essent soliti stato die ante lucem convenire ; carmcnyue Christo, quasi Deo, dicere sccum invicem:'' and both the N. Testament, and all antiquity, recognise sing- ing as a part of Christian worship. TV.] * [Dr. Mosheim seems to say, that all Christians agreed in observing the entire week preceding Easter Sunday as a fast. But there was in fact great diversity among them. For Ircnteus, in his Epistle to Victor, bp. of Rome, (quoted by Eusebius, H. E., v. 24), says expressly : " There is dispute not only respecting the day, but also respect- ing the form (t<5c) of the feast. For some think they ought to fast one day, others tiro days, others still more, and some limit their fast to twenty-four hours diurnal and noctur- nal." See Valetius, notes in locum. TV.] 136 BOOK I. CENTURY II. PART II. CHAP. IV. over death, or of his resurrection. This custom, they said they had re- ceived from the apostles John and Philip ; and they moreover supported it by the example of Christ himself, who celebrated his paschal feast, at the same time with the Jews. But the other Christians put off their Passover, that is, their paschal feast, until the evening preceding the festal day sacred to Christ's resurrection, [or Saturday evening], and thus con- nected the memorial of Christ's death, with that, of his resurrection. And they cited Peter and Paul as authors of their custom. 10. The Asiatic custom of celebrating Easter, had two great incon- veniences, which appeared intolerable to the other Christians, and espe- cially to the Romans. First, by holding their sacred feasts on the very day, on which they supposed Christ ate the paschal lamb with his disci- ples, they interrupted the fast of the great week ; which appeared to the other Christians to fall little short of a crime. Again, as they always kept the memorial of Christ's rising from the dead, on the third day after their paschal supper, it unavoidably happened, that they more commonly kept, on some other day of the week than the first or Sunday, called the Lord's day, the festival of Christ's resurrection, which in after times was called and is now called the Passover or Easter. Now the greater part of the Christians deemed it wrong to consecrate any other day than the Lord's day, in remembrance of Christ's resurrection. Hence great con- tention frequently arose from this difference between the Asiatic and the other Christians. In the reign of Antoninus Pius, about the middle of this century, A.nicetus bishop of Rome, and Polycarp bishop of Smyrna, investigated this subject with great care at Rome. But the Asiatics could not be induced by any considerations, to give up their custom, which they believed to be handed down to them from St. John.(ll) 11. Near the close of the century, Victor bishop of Rome, was of opinion that the Asiatic Christians ought to be compelled by laws and de- crees, to follow the rule adopted by the greater part of the Christian world. Accordingly, after ascertaining the opinions of foreign bishops, he sent an imperious letter to the Asiatic bishops admonishing them to follow the example of other Christians in observing Easter. They replied with spirit, by Polycrates bishop of Ephesus, that they would not depart from the holy institution of their ancestors. Irritated by this decision, Victor excluded them from his communion, and from that of his church, (not from that of the universal church, which he had not power to do), that is, he pronounced them unworthy to be called his brethren. The progress of this schism was checked by IrencBus bishop of Lyons, in letters wisely composed, which he directed to Victor and others, and by the Asiatic bish- ops, who wrote a long letter in their own justification. And thus both par- ties retained their respective customs, until the council of Nice, in the fourth century, abrogated the Asiatic usages. (12) (11) Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., lib. iv., c. he treats of the controversy indeed, but he 14, and 1. v., c. 24. misunderstood the precise subject of it. (12) What is here stated briefly, is more The venerable Heumann's tract on this con- fully explained in my Comment, de Rebus troversy, is republished in the Sylloge of his ' Christianor. ante Constantinum M., p. 435, minor works. [Dr. Moshcim thinks the true &.c. I there said, p. 439, that Peter Faydit statement of this controversy is that which saw the mistake in the common accounts of he has given ; and that many writers have this controversy. But my memory failed mistaken the points at issue, from not dis- me. On consulting the book, I find, that tinguishing between the ancient and the RITES AND CEREMONIES. 137 12. When the Christians celebrated the Lord's supper, which they were accustomed to do chiefly on Sundays, they consecrated a part of the bread and wine of the oblations, by certain prayers pronounced by the president, the bishop of the congregation. The wine was mixed with water, and the bread was divided into small pieces. Portions of the con- secrated bread and wine were commonly sent to the absent and the sick, in testimony of fraternal affection towards them. (13) There is much evi- dence that this most holy rite was regarded as very necessary to the attain- ment of salvation : and 1 therefore dare not accuse of error, those who be- lieve that the sacred supper was, in this century, given to infants. (14) Of the love-feasts, the notice before given, may be sufficient. 13. Twice a year, namely, at Easter and Whtteuntide,(l5) (Pascha- tis et Pentecostis diebus), baptism was publicly administered by the bishop, or by the presbyters acting by his command and authority. The candidates for it were immersed wholly in water, with invocation of the sacred Trin- ity, according to the Saviour's precept, after they had repeated what they called the Creed, (Symboluni}, and had renounced all their sins and trans- gressions, and especially the devil and his pomp. The baptized were signed with the cross, anointed, commended to God by prayer and impo- sition of hands, and finally directed to taste some milk and honey. (1 6) The reasons for these ceremonies, must be sought in what has already been said respecting the causes of the ceremonies. Adults were to pre- pare their minds expressly, by prayers, fasting, and other devotional exer- cises. Sponsors or godfathers were, as I apprehend, first employed for adults, and afterwards for children likewise.(17) more modem application of the term Pass- over or Easter. See Eusclnus, H. E., v., c. 23, 24. Socrates, H. E., v., c. 22. A. Neander. Kirchengesch., pt. ii., p. 517, &c. H. Pridcaux, Connexions, pt. ii., b. v., ann. 162. Adr. Baillet, Histoire des Festes, p. 9, &.c. Tr.-\ ( 13) See Henry Rixner, de Ritibus vete- rum Christianor. circa Eucharistiam, p. 155, &c., [and the quotation from Justin Martyr, in note 10 of this chapter. Jr.] (14) See Jo. Fr. Mayer, Diss. de eucha- ristia infantum ; and Peter Zornius, Histo- ria eucharistise infantum, Berol., 1736, 8vo. (15) See W. Wall, History of infant Baptism, vol., i., p. 277, 279, of the Latin edition by Schlosscr: Jos. Vicecomes, de Riti- bus baptism!, Paris, 1618, 8vo. (16) See especially, Tertnliian, de Bap- tismo, [and respecting the honey and milk, Tertullian, de Corona, c. 3 ; and Clemens Alex., Paedaa., 1. i., c. 6. Schl.] (17) See Ger. van Mustncht, de Suscep- toribus infantium ex baptismo, edit. 2d, Frankf., 1727, 4to. He thinks sponsors were used for children, and not for adults ; p. 15. See also W. H'//, Hist, of infant Baptism, vol. i., p. 69, 474, &c. [The manner of receiving new converts into the churches, about the year 150, is thus minutely de- Bcribed by Justin Martyr, in his (so called) VOL. L S second Apology, towards the conclusion. " In what manner we dedicate ourselves to God, after being renewed by Christ, we will now explain ; lest by omitting this, we should seem to dissemble in our statement. Those who believe and are persuaded, that the things we teach and inculcate are true, and who profess ability thus to live, are directed to pray, with fasting, and to ask of God the forgiveness of their former sins ; we also fasting and praying with them. Then we conduct them to a place where there is water ; and they are regenerated [baptized], in the manner in which we have been re- generated [baptized] ; for they receive a washing with water, in the name of the Father of all, the Lord God, and of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit. For Christ said ; Except ye be re- generated, ye shall not enter into the king- dom of heaven." " This washing is likewise called illumination ; because the minds of those who have learned these things, are en- lightened. And whoever is enlightened, is washed in the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate ; and in the name of the Holy Spirit, who by the prophets foretold all that relates to Christ." " And after thus washing the convinced and consenting person, we conduct him to where the brethren as we call them are as- 138 BOOK I. CENTURY II. PART II. CHAP. V. CHAPTER V. HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS SEPARATIONS OR HERESIES. $ 1. Discord among the Jewish Christians. $ 2. Hence the Nazareans and Ebionites. 3. Their Impiety. 4. The Sects originating from the Oriental Philosophy. () 5. Elxai and Elcesaites. $ 6. Saturninus ; his Extravagances. 7. Cerdo and Marcion. $ 8. Bardesanes. 9. Tatian and the Encratites. <J 10. Peculiar Sentiments of the Egyptian Gnostics. 11. Basilides. <J 12. His Enormities. () 13. His Moral Princi- ples. $ 14. Carpocrates. 15. Valentinus. 16. His Extravagances. 17. Vari- ous Sects of Valentinians. () 18. The minor Sects of Valentinians. f) 19. The Ophites. 20. Monarchians and Patripassians. 21. Theodotus, Artemon. I) 22. Hermoge- nes. 23. The illiterate Sects. Montanus. 24. The Success of Montanus, and his Doctrine. 1. AMONG the Christian sects that arose in this century, the first place is due to those Jewish Christians, whose zeal for the Mosaic law severed them from the other believers in Christ. (I) The rise of this sect took place in the reign of Adrian. For, when this emperor had wholly destroyed Jerusalem a second time, and had enacted severe laws against the Jews, the greater part of the Christians living in Palestine, that they might not be confounded with Jews as they had been, laid aside the Mosaic ceremonies, and chose one Mark, who was a foreigner and not a Jew, for their bishop. This procedure was very offensive to those among them, whose attach- ment to the Mosaic rites was too strong to be eradicated. They therefore separated from their brethren, and formed a distinct society in Peraea, a part of Palestine, and in the neighbouring regions ; and among them, the Mosaic law retained all its dignity unimpaired. (2) sembled ; and there offer our united suppli- partake of the bread and the wine and water, cations, with earnestness, both for ourselves over which thanks were given : and to those and for the enlightened person, and for all not present, the Deacons carry it. And this others every where ; that we may conduct food is called by us the Eucharist ; which it ourselves as becomes those who have re- is unlawful for any one to partake of, unless ceived the truth, and by our deeds prove ' he believes the things taught by us to be ourselves good citizens, and observers of true, and has been washed with the washing what is commanded us ; so that we may be for the remission of sins in regeneration, and saved with an eternal salvation. And on lives according to what Christ has taught." ending our prayers, we salute each other TV.] with a kiss. Then, there is placed before (1) [The origin, names, and diversity of the President of the brethren, bread, and a opinion, of this class of sects, are well stated cup of water and wine ; which he taking, by A. Neartder, Kirchengesch., vol. i., part offers praise and glory to the Father of all, ii., p. 603-626. TV.] through the name of the Son and of the (2) See Sulpitius Scverus, Historia sacra, Holy Spirit, and gives thanks at great length, 1. ii , c. 31, p. 245, &c., [p. 381, ed. Hornii, that such blessings are vouchsafed us ; and 1647. He says : " Adrian stationed a re- when he ends the prayers and the thanks- giment of soldiers as a constant guard, to giving, all the people present respond, amen, prevent all Jews from entering Jerusalem ; Now the word amen, in the Hebrew tongue, which was advantageous to the Christian signifies so be it. And after the President faith ; because, at that time, nearly all [the has given thanks, and all the people have ut- Jewish Christians] believed in Christ as tered the response, those whom we call God, yet with an observance of the Law." Deacons, distribute to every one present, to Tr. ] SCHISMS AND HERESIES. 139 2. This body of people who would unite Moses and Christ, was again divided into two classes, differing widely in their opinions and customs, the Nazareans and the Ebionites. The former are not reckoned, by the an- cient Christians, among heretics ;(3) but the latter are placed among those sects which subverted the foundations of religion. Both sects used a his- tory of Christ or a Gospel, which was different from our Gospels.(4) The word Nazarean was not the name of a sect, but was equivalent to the word Christian. For those who bore the title of Christians among the Greeks, were among the Jews called Nazareans ; and they did not esteem it a name of disgrace. Those who after their separation from their brethren, retained this original name imposed on the disciples of Christ by the Jews, believed Christ to be born of a virgin, and to be in some way united with the divine nature. And although they would not discard the ceremo- nies prescribed by Moses, yet they would not obtrude them upon the Gen- tile Christians. They moreover rejected the additions to the Mosaic ritual, made by the doctors of the law and by the Pharisees. (5) It is therefore easy to see, why the other Christians in general judged more favourably of them. 3. Whether the Ebionites derived their name from a man [called Ebiori\, or were so denominated on account of their poverty either in re- gard to property or sentiment, is uncertain. (6) But they were much worse than the Nazareans. For though they supposed Christ to be an ambas- sador of God and endowed with divine power, yet they conceived him to be a man, born in the ordinary course of nature, the son of Joseph and Mary. They maintained that the ceremonial law of Mows must be ob- served, not by the Jews only, but by all who wished to obtain salvation ; and therefore, St. Paul, that strenuous opposer of the law, they viewed with abhorrence. Nor were they satisfied with the mere rites which Moses appointed, but observed with equal veneration the superstitious rites of their ancestors, and the customs of the Pharisees which were ad- ded to the law. (7) (3) The first that ranked the Nazareans (6) See Falricius, ad Philastr. de haeresi- among the heretics, was Epiphanius, a bus, p. 81. Thorn. Ittig, de hseresibus aevi writer of the fourth century, of no great Apostolici, [also note (22) on cent, i., part fidelity, or accuracy of judgment. [.4. Ne- ii., ch. v., p. 96, and A. Ncandcr, Kirchen- ander, Kirchengesch., vol. i., part ii., p. 619, gesch., vol. i., part ii., p. 612, &c. Tr.] 620, thinks the Nazareans, described by (7) Irenaus, contra Haereses, lib. i., cap. Epiphanius, were descendants of the Ebi- 26. Epiphanius treats largely of the Ebi- onites, who had now imbibed some Gnostic onites, in his Panarium, haeres. xxx. But principles. The names Ebionites and A'a:- he is worthy of no credit ; for he acknowl- areans are often confounded, both by an- edges, ($ 3, p. 127, and 14, p. 141), that cients and moderns. Tr.] he has joined the Sampsacans and the El- (4) See J. A. Falririus, Codex Apoc- ccsaites with the Ebionites, and thai the first ryph. N. T., torn, i., p. 355, &c., and Mo- Ebionites did not hold the errors which he sheim, Vindicine, contra Tolandi Nazarenurn, attributes to the sects. [The correctness of p. 112, &c. [Jones, on the Canon of the Epiphanius, as a historian, is often called in New Test., vol. i., and the authors of Intro- question ; and perhaps justly. But if the ductions to the New Test. 2V.] term Elrionites designated a variety of minor (5) See Mich, le Quien, Adnotatt. ad Da- sects, all of them Jewish Christians ; and if mascenum, torn, i., p. 82, 83, and his Diss. some of these sects had, in the 4th century, de Nazarenis et eorum fide ; which is the imbibed Gnostic sentiments, unknown to the 7th of his dissertations subjoined to his edi- original Ebionites ; then Epiphanius may tion of the Works of Damascenus. [ C. W. here be entirely correct ; which others sup- F. Walch, Historie der Ketzereyen, vol. i., pose to be the fact. See Ncander, as cited p. 101, &c. ScU.1 above, note (3). TV.] 140 BOOK I. CENTURY II. PART II. CHAP. V. 4. These little and obscure sects were not very detrimental "to the Christian cause. Much greater disturbance was produced by those, whose founders explained the doctrines of Christianity agreeably to the precepts of the Oriental philosophy in regard to the origin of evil. These lat- ter sects, concealed and unnoticed previously to this century, came forth from their obscurity during the reign of Adrian, (8) and gathered churches of considerable magnitude in various countries. A long catalogue of these semi-Christian sects, might be gathered out of the writings of the ancients : but of the greater part of them, we know no more than their names ; and perhaps some of them differed only in name, from each oiher. Those which acquired notoriety beyond others, may be divided into two classes. The first class originated in Asia, and maintained the philosophy of the East in regard to the origin of the universe, (if I may so say), pure and uncorrupt; the other class, founded among the Egyptians, and by Egyp- tians, mingled with that philosophy many monstrous opinions and princi- ples current in Egypt. The systems of the former were more simple and intelligible ; those of the latter were much more complicated, and more difficult of explication. 5. In the Asiatic class, the first place seems to belong to Elxai, a Jew, who is said to have founded the sect of the Elcesaites in the reign of Tra- jan. Though he was a Jew, and both worshipped one God and revered Moses ; yet he corrupted the religion of his fathers by many false notions derived from the philosophy and superstition of the Orientals, and, after the example of the Essenes, expounded the Mosaic law according to rea- son, or in other words, made it an allegory. But Epiphanius, who had read one of Elxafs books, acknowledges himself in doubt whether the El- cesaites should be reckoned among the Christian sects, or among the Jew- ish. Elxai mentions Christ in his book, and speaks honourably of him ; but he does not add enough to make it manifest, whether Jesus of Naza- reth was the Christ of whom he speaks. (9) 6. If Elxai be not reckoned, Saturninus of Antioch will justly stand at the head of this class ; at least he lived earlier than all the other Gnos- tic heresiarchs, [having taught his doctrine in the reign of Adrian. TV.] He supposed two first causes of all things, the good God, and matter ; the latter, evil in its nature, and subject to a Lord. The world and the first men were created by seven angels that is, by the rulers of the seven plan- ets, without the knowledge of God, and against the will of the lord of mat- ter. But God approved of the work when it was completed, imparted ra- tional souls to the men who before had only animal life, and divided the entire world into seven parts, which he subjected to the seven creators, of whom the God of the Jews was one, reserving however the supreme pow- er to himself. To these good men that is, men possessed of wise and good souls, the Lord of matter opposed another sort of men, to whom he imparted a malignant soul. And hence the great difference between good and bad men. After the creators of the world had revolted from the supreme God, (8) Clemens Alex., Stromat, 1. vii., c. [Of these Elcesaites, who were also called 17, p. 898. Cyprian, epist. Ixxv., p. 144, Sampsaeans, every thing afforded by antiqui- and others. ty, that is important, has been collected by (9) Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., 1. vi., c. 38. C. W. F. Watch, Historie der Ketzereyen, Epiphanius, Haeres. xix., 3, p. 41. The- vol. i., p. 587, dec. He justly accounts odoret, Fabul. haeret., lib. ii., c. 7, p. 221. them enthusiasts. Schl.] SCHISMS AND HERESIES. 141 he sent down Christ from heaven, clothed, not with a real body, but with the shadow of one, that in our world he might destroy the kingdom of the Lord of matter, and point out to the good souls the way of returning back to God. But this way is a hard and difficult one. For the souls that would ascend to God after the dissolution of the body, must abstain from flesh, wine, marriage, and from all things which either exhilarate the body or de- light the senses. Saturninus taught in Syria, which was his native coun- try, and especially at Antioch ; and he drew many after him, by his great show of virtue.(lO) fy 7. In the same class of Asiatic Gnostics, must be placed Cerdo, a Syrian, and Marcion, the son of a bishop of Pontus. The history of these men is obscure and uncertain. It appears, however, that they first began to found their sect at Rome ; that Cerdo taught his principles there before the arrival of Marcion ; that Marcion, failing to obtain some office in the church at Rome in consequence of some misconduct, went over to the party of Cerdo, and with great success they propagated their tenets over the world. In the manner of the Orientals, Marcion taught that there are two first causes of all things, the one perfectly good, the other perfectly evil. Intermediate between these two deities, ranks the Architect of this lower world, whom men worship, and who was the God and the Lawgiver of the Jews : for he is neither perfectly good nor perfectly evil, but of a mixed nature, or, as Marcion expressed it, he is just ; and therefore he can dis- pense punishments, as well as rewards. The evil Deity and the Creator of the world are perpetually at war. Each wishes to be worshipped as God, end to subject the inhabitants of the whole world to himself. The Jews are the subjects of the Creator of the world, who is a very powerful spirit or demon ; the other nations, which worship many gods, are subjects of the evil deity. Each is an oppressor of rational souls, and holds them in bondage. In order therefore to put an end to this war, and to give free- dom to human souls which are of divine origin, the Supreme God sent among the Jews Jesus Christ, who is very similar to himself in nature, or his Son, clothed with the appearance or shadow of a body, which would render him visible ; with commission to destroy both the kingdom of the world's Creator and that of the evil deity, and to invite souls back to God. He was assailed both by the prince of darkness [the evil deity], and by the God of the Jews, or the world's Creator ; but they were unable to hurt him, because he had only the appearance of a body. Whoever will ab- stract their minds from all sensible objects, according to his prescriptions, and, renouncing as well the laws of the God of the Jews as those of the prince of darkness, will turn wholly to the supreme God, and at the same time subdue and mortify their bodies by fasting and other means, shall, after death, ascend to the celestial mansions. The moral discipline which Mar- don prescribed to his followers was, as the nature of the system required, very austere and rigorous. For he condemned marriages, wine, flesh, and whatever is grateful and pleasant to the body. Marcion had numerous fol- (10) Ircnaus, 1. i., c. 24. Euscb., Hist. Historie der Ketzereyen,vol. i., p. 274, &c. Eccl., 1. iv., c. 7. Epiphan., Haeres. xxiii. lit iff, de Haeresiarch. saecul. ii., c. 1. Theodoret, Fabul. haeret., 1. i., c. 2, and the Tillcmont, Memoires pour servir a I'histoire other writers on the heresies. [Among the de 1'Eglise, torn, ii., p. 215, and A. Nran- modern writers, see Mosheim, de Reb. dcr, Kirchengesch., vol. i.,pt. ii., p. 759, <kc. Christ., &c., p. 336, &c. C. W. F. Walch, Tr.} 142 BOOK I. CENTURY II. PART II. CHAP. V. lowers ; among whom Lucan, or Lucian, Severus, Blastes, and others, but especially Appelles, are said to have deviated in some respects from the opinions of iheir master, and to have established new sects.(ll) 8. Bardesanes and Tatian are commonly supposed to have been of the school of Valentinus the Egyptian, but erroneously ; for their sys- tems differ in many respects from that of the Valentinians, and come nearer to the Oriental principle of two first causes of all things. Barde- sanes was a Syrian of Edessa, a man of great acumen, and distinguished for his many learned productions. Seduced by his attachment to the Ori- ental philosophy, he placed in opposition to the supreme God who is ab- solute goodness, a prince of darkness who is the author of all evil. The supreme God created the world free from all evil, and formed men possess- ed of celestial souls and of subtile, ethereal bodies. But when the prince of darkness had induced those first men to sin, God permitted the author of all evil to invest men with gross bodies formed out of sinful matter, and also to corrupt the world, in order that men might suffer for the iniquity they had committed. Hence the struggle between reason and concupis- cence in man. Jesus therefore descended from the celestial regions, clothed not with a real but with a celestial and ethereal body, and taught men to subdue their depraved bodies, and to free themselves from the bondage of vicious matter, by means of abstinence, meditation, and fast- ing ; and whoever will do so, shall on the dissolution of the body ascend to the mansions of the blessed, clothed in their ethereal vehicles or their celestial bodies. Bardesanes himself afterwards returned to sounder sen- timents ; but his sect long survived in Syria. (12) 9. Tatian, by birth an Assyrian, a distinguished and learned man, and disciple of Justin Martyr, was more noted among the ancients for his austere moral principles, which were rigid beyond measure, than for the speculative errors or dogmas which he proposed as articles of faith to his followers. Yet it appears from credible witnesses, that he held mat' ter to be the source of all evil, and therefore recommended the abhorrence and the mortification of the body ; that he supposed the Creator of the world and the true God were not one and the same being ; that he denied to our Saviour a real body ; and corrupted Christianity with other doc- trines of the Oriental philosophers. His followers, who were numerous, were sometimes called from him, Tatiani or Tatianists ; but. more fre- quently they were designated by names indicative of their austere morals. For, as they discarded all the external comforts and conveniences of life, and held wine in such abhorrence as to use mere water in the Lord's sup- per, fasted rigorously, and lived in celibacy ; they were denominated (11) Besides the common writers on the ander, Kirchengeschichte, vol. i., pt. ii., p. heresies, as Irerueus, Epiphanius, Theodo- 779-807. Tr.J ret, &c., see Tertulliari's five Books against (12) Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., 1. iv., c. 30, Marcion ; and the Poem against Marcion, and the writers on the ancient heresies. Or- also in five Books, which is ascribed to igen, Dial, contra Marcionitas, 1) 3, p. 70, ed. Tertullian; and the Dialogue against the Wetstein. Fred. Strunzius, Historia Bar- Marcionites, which is ascribed to Origen. desanis et Bardesanistar. Wittemb., 1722, Among the modern writers, see Massuet, the 4to. Beausobre, Hist, du Manicheisme, vol. editor of Irenaeus ; Tillemont ; Is. de Beau- ii., p. 128, dec. [Moshcim, de Reb. Christ., sobre, Histoire du Manicheisme, torn, ii., p. &c., p. 394, &c. C. W. F. WaJch, His- 69, &c. [C. W. F. Walch, Historie der torie der Ketzereyen, vol. i., p. 407-424. A. Ketzereyen, vol. i., p. 484-537. Mosheim, Neander, Kirchengesch., vol. i., pt. ii., p. de Reb. Christ., &c., p. 401-410. A. Ne- 743, &c. TV.] SCHISMS AND HERESIES. 143 Encratitae or abstainers, Hydroparastatae or Water-drinkers, and Apotac- titae or Renouncers.(l3) 10. The Gnostics of the Egyptian class, differed from those of the Asiatic, by combining the Oriental with Egyptian philosophy, and more especially in the following particulars. (I.) Although they supposed mat- ter to be eternal, and also animated ; yet they did not recognise an eter- nal prince of darkness and of matter, or the malignant deity of the Per- sians. (II.) They generally considered Christ, our Saviour, as consisting of two persons, the man Jesus, and the Son of God, or Christ : and the latter, the divine person, they supposed entered into Jesus the man, when he was baptized in Jordan by John, and parted from him, when he was made a prisoner by the Jews. (III.) They attributed to Christ a real, and not an imaginary body ; though they were not all of one sentiment on this point. (IV.) They prescribed to their followers a much milder system of moral discipline ; nay, seemed to give precepts which favoured the cor- rupt propensities of men. 11. Among the Egyptian Gnostics, the first place is commonly as- signed to Basilides of Alexandria. He maintained, that the supreme and all perfect God produced, from himself, seven most excellent beings or Aeons. Two of these Aeons, namely Dynamis and Sophia, (Power and Wisdom), procreated the angels of the highest order. Those angels built for themselves a residence or heaven, and produced other angels of a na- ture a little inferior. Other generations of angels succeeded, and other heavens were built, until there were three hundred and sixty-five heavens, and as many orders of angels ; that is, just as many as there are days in a year. Over all these heavens and angelic orders, there is a Prince or Lord, whom Basilides called Abraxas ; a word which was doubtless in use among the Egyptians before Basilides, and which, when written in Greek, contains letters that together make up the number 365, i. e., the number of the heavens. (14) The inhabitants of the lowest heaven, contiguous to (13) The only work of Tatian that has Graecse, 1. ii., c. 8, p. 177, &c., and others, reached us, is his Oratio ad Graecos. His Learned men almost universally, think those opinions are spoken of by Clemens Alex., gems originated from Basilides; and hence Strom., 1. iii., p. 460. Epiphanius, Haeres., they are called gemms Basilidianae. But xlvi., c. 1, p. 391. Origen, de Oratione, c. very many of them exhibit marks of the most 13, p. 77, ed. Oxon., and by others of the degrading superstition, such as cannot be at- ancients : but no one of them has attempted tributed even to a semi-Christian ; and like- to delineate his system. [Of the moderns, wise very manifest insignia of the Egyptian see C. W. F. Walch, Historic der Ketzer- religion. They cannot all therefore be at- eyen, vol. i., p. 445-447, and A. Neander, tributed to Basilidcs, who, though he held Kirchengesch., vol. i., pt. ii., p. 762-766. many errors, yet worshipped Christ. Those It should be remembered, that the names only must refer to him, which bear some Encratites, Apotactites, (E'y/cpar?rai, 'ATTO- marks of Christianity. The word Abraxas, TOKTOI), were applied to all the austere was unquestionably used by the ancient sects ; so that, though all Tatianists were Egyptians, and appropriated to the Lord of Encratites, yet all Encratites were not To.- the heavens ; so that Basilides retained it tiantsts. Tr.] from the philosophy and religion of his coun- (14) A great number of gems still exist, try. See Is. de Bcausobre, Histoire duMan- and quantities of them are daily brought to icheisme, vol. ii., p. 51. Jo. Bapt. Passeri, us from Egypt, on which, besides other fig- Diss. de Gemmis Basilidianis ; in his splen- ures of Egyptian device, the word Abraxas did work de Gemmis stelliferis, torn, ii., p. is engraved. See Jo. Macarius, Abraxas 221, &c , ed. Florent., 1750, /bl. P. E. seu de gemmis Basilidianis disquisitio ; en- Jabhnski, de Nominis Abraxas significa- larged by Jo. Chiftet, ed. Antwerp. 1657, tione ; in the Miscellan. Lipsiens. novis, 4to. Bern, de Mantfaucon, Palaeograph. torn. vii. Passeri contends that none of 144 BOOK I.-CENTURY II. PART II. CHAP. V. eternal matter which is an animated and malignant substance, formed a design of constructing a world out of that disorderly mass, and of fabri- cating men. God approved the work when it was finished ; and imparted rational souls to the men whom the angels had formed, whereas, before they had only sensitive souls : he also gave to the angels, dominion over men. The Prince of these angels chose the Jewish nation for his sub- jects ; and he gave them a law by Moses. The other angels presided over other nations. 12. The angels who created and governed the world, gradually be- came corrupt ; and they not only laboured to obliterate the knowledge of the supreme God, in order that they might themselves be worshipped as gods, but they waged war with each other, for the enlargement of their respective territories. The most arrogant and restless of them all, was he who governed the Jewish nation. Therefore the supreme God, in compassion to the souls endowed with reason, sent down from heaven his Son, or the prince of the Aeons, whose name is Nus, \yovq, mind], and Christ; that he, joining himself to the man Jesus, might restore the lost knowledge of his Father, and overturn the empire of the angels who gov- erned the world, and especially of the insolent Lord of the Jews. The God of the Jews perceiving this, ordered his subjects to seize the man Jesus, and put him to death: but against Christ, he had no power.(15) The souls that obey the precepts of the Son of God, will ascend to God when their bodies die : the rest will pass into other bodies. All bodies return back to vicious matter, whence they originated. 13. The moral system of Basilides, if we believe most of the an- cients, favoured concupiscence, and allowed every species of iniquity. But from much surer testimony it appears, that he recommended purity of life and the practice of piety, and condemned even an inclination to sin. Still there were some things in his moral precepts which greatly offended other Christians. For he held it lawful to conceal our religion, to deny Christ when our life is in danger, to participate in the pagan feasts which followed their sacrifices ; and he detracted much from the estimation and honour in which the martyrs were held, and maintained that they were greater sinners than other men, and were visited by divine justice for their iniquities. For it was a principle with him, that none but sinners suffer any evil in this life. And hence arose the suspicions entertained respect- ing his system of morals, suspicions which seemed to be confirmed by the flagitious lives of some of his disciples. (16) these gems have reference to Basilides : he our Saviour had not a real body ; and that makes them all refer to the magicians, or Simon the Cyrenian was crucified in place the soothsayers, sorcerers, conjurers, and of him. But that this is erroneous, and that fortune-tellers. But this learned man, it ap- Basilides supposed the man Jesus and pears to me, goes too far ; for he himself Christ, united, to constitute the Saviour, is acknowledges, (p. 225), that he sometimes demonstrated in the Comment, de Rebus found on them some vestiges of the Basi- Christianor., &c., p. 354, &c. It may be, lidian errors. These celebrated gems still that here and there a follower of Basilides need an erudite, but cautious and judicious held otherwise. interpreter. [See the references in Giese- (16) Besides the ancient writers on the ler's Text-book, by Cunningham, vol. i., p. heresies, Basilides is particularly treated of, 84, note 1. TV.] by Ben. Massuet, Dissert, in Irenaeum ; and (15) Many of the ancients tell us, on the /*. de Beausobre, Histoire du Manicheisme, authority of Irenceus, [adv. Hsereses, i., c. vol. ii., p. 8, &c. [C. W. F. Walch, His- 23], that, according to Basilides' opinion, torie der Ketzereyen, vol. i., p. 281-309; SCHISMS AND HERESIES. 145 14. But much viler than he, and said to be the worst of all the Gnos- tics, was Carpocrates, also of Alexandria, [who lived in the reign of Adrian]. His philosophy did not differ in its general principles, from that of the oth- er Egyptian Gnostics. For he held to one supreme God, Aeons the off- spring of God, eternal and malignant matter, the creation of the world from evil matter by angels, divine souls unfortunately enclosed in bodies, and the like. But he maintained that Jesus was born of Joseph and Mary in the ordinary course of nature, and that he was superior to other men in no- thing but fortitude and greatness of soul. He also not only gave his disci- ples license to sin, but imposed on them the necessity of sinning, by teach- ing that the way to eternal salvation was open to those souls only, which committed all kinds of enormity and wickedness. But it exceeds all cred- ibility, that any man who believes there is a God, that Christ is the Saviour of mankind, and who inculcates any sort of religion, should hold such sen- timents. Besides, there are grounds to believe that Carpocrates, like the other Gnostics, held the Saviour to be composed of the man Jesus and a certain Aeon called Christ ; and that he imposed some laws of conduct on his disciples. Yet undoubtedly, there was something in his opinions and precepts that rendered his piety very suspicious. For he held that concu- piscence was implanted in the soul by the Deity, and is therefore perfectly innocent ; that all actions are in themselves indifferent, and become good or evil only according to the opinions and laws of men ; that in the purpose of God, all things are common property, even the women, but that such as will use their rights are by human laws accounted thieves and adulter- ers. Now if he did not add some corrective to the enormity of these prin- ciples, it must be acknowledged, that he wholly swept away the foundations of all virtue, and gave full license to all iniquity. (17) 15. Valentinus, also an Egyptian, exceeded all his fellow-heresiarchs both in fame and in the multitude of his followers. His sect had its birth at Rome, grew to maturity in the island of Cyprus, and with wonderful celerity traversed Asia, Africa, and Europe. Valentinus held the general principles common with his brother Gnostics, and he assumed the title of a (inostic ; yet he held several principles peculiar to himself. In the Pleroma, (which is the Gnostic name for the habitation of God), he sup- posed thirty Aeons, fifteen males, and as many females. Besides these, there were four unmarried ; namely, Horus, \opoq], the guardian of the con- fines of the Pleroma, Christ, the Holy Spirit, and Jes*s. The youngest of the Aeons, Sophia, (Wisdom], fired with vast desire of comprehending the nature of the supreme Deity, in her agitation, brought forth a daughter Moshrim, dc Rebus Christ., &c., p. 342- wrote a book, from which the world have 361 ; and A. Ncandcr, Kirchengesch., vol. had to learn what they could of the tenets i., pt. ii., p. 679-704. Sec also Gieselers ot Carporrdtes. It is doubtful whether he. Text-book, by Cunningham, vol. i., p. 84, ought to be called a Christian. He was an &c. 7V.] Egyptian philosopher, who had perhaps bor- (17) See Ircnteus, contra Haores., 1. i , rowed some notions from the Christians, c. 25. Clemens Alex., Stromat., 1. iii., p- but still his philosophy was his cynosure. 511, and the others. [Moshcim, de Rebus Two inscriptions, in the true spirit of this Christ., &c., p. 361-371. C. W. F. Watch, philosopher, recently discovered in Cyrene Historic dcr Krt?rr., vol. i., p. 309-327. in Africa, have given rise to a conjecture', nder, Kirchent'csch , vol i., part ii., that his sect continued till the sixth century. p. 767-773. Carpoerates left a young son, See the inscriptions, with comments, in the Eprpkanes, to propagate his system ; and Christmas Prograrnm of Dr. W. Gcscnius, this son, though he died at the age of 17, A.D. 1825. TV.] VOL. I. T 146 BOOK I. CENTURY II. PART II. CHAP. V. called Achamoth [niDJn, the sciences or philosophy], who being excluded from the Pleroma, descended to the rude and shapeless mass of matter, reduced it to some degree of order, and by the aid of Jesus brought forth Demiurgus, [A^juwpyo^, Artificer], the builder and lord of all things. This Demiurgus separated the more subtile or animal matter, from the grosser or material ; and out of the former he framed the world above us, or the visible heavens, and out of the latter, the lower world, or this earth. Men he compounded of both kinds of matter ; and his mother, Achamoth, added to them a third substance which was celestial and spiritual. This is a brief outline of the complicated and tedious fable of Valentinus. It appears that he explained the origin of the world, and of the human race, in a more subtle manner than the other Gnostics ; yet that he did not differ from them in reality. And the same is true of the other parts of his system. 16. The Architect of the world, gradually became so inflated, that he either thought himself to be, or at least wished men to regard him as the only God ; and by his prophets whom he sent among the Jews, he arroga- ted to himself the honours of the supreme God. And herein the other an- gels, who presided over parts of the created universe, imitated his exam- ple. To repress this insolence of Demiurgus, and to imbue souls with a knowledge of the true God, Christ descended, being composed of an animal and spiritual substance, and moreover clothed with an ethereal body. He passed through the body of Mary, just as water through a canal ; and to him Jesus, one of the highest Aeons, joined himself, when he was baptized in Jordan by John. The Architect of the world, who perceived that his dominion would be shaken by this divine man, caused him to be seized and crucified. But before Christ came to execution, not only Jesus the Son of God, but also the rational soul of Christ, forsook him ; so that only his sentient soul and his ethereal body were suspended on the cross. Those who renounce, as Christ directs, not only the worship of the pagan deities, but also that of the Jewish God, and surrender their sentient and concupiscent soul to reason, to be chastened and reformed, shall with both their souls, the rational and the sentient, be admitted to the mansions of the blessed near the Pleroma. And when all particles of the divine nature, or all souls, shall be separated from matter and purified, then a raging fire shall spread through this material universe, and destroy the whole fabric of nature. For the whole Oriental philosophy and the system of the Gnos- tics, may be reduced to this epitome : This world is composed of both good and evil. Whatever of good there is in it, was derived from the supreme God, the parent of light, and will return to him again ; and when this takes place, this world will be destroyed.(18) (18) Of the Valentinian system, we have cate and absurd system of Valentinus. See a full account in Irenaus, contra Haeres., Souvcrain, Platonisme devoile, cap. viii., p. lib. i., c. 1-7. Tcrtullian, Liber contra 63. Camp. Vilrmga, Observatt. Sacrae, Valentinianos ; Clemens Alex., passim ; and lib. i., c. ii., p. 131. Beausobre, Histoire in all the ancient writers on the heresies, du Manicheisme, p. 548, &c. Ja. Basnage, Among the moderns, see Jo. Fr. Buddeus, Hist, des Juifs, tome iii., p. 729, &c. Peter Diss. de Haeresi Valentiniana ; subjoined Fayd.it, Eclairciss. sur 1'Hist. Eccles. des ii. to his Introductio in Historiam philosoph. premiers siecles, p. 12, who also contempla- Ebraeorum ; which Diss. has occasioned ted writing an Apology for Valentinus. I much discussion respecting the origin of this pass by Godfrey Arnold, the patron of all heresy. Some of the moderns have attempt- the heretics. B ut how vain all such attempts ed to give a rational explanation of the intri- must be, is proved by this, that Valentinus SCHISMS AND HERESIES. 147 17. The ancients represent the school of Valentinus as divided into many branches. Among these were the Ptolomaitic sect, whose author Ptolomy differed from his master respecting the number and nature of the Aeons ; the Sccundian sect, established by Secundus, one of the principal followers of Valentinus, who seems to have kept more closely to the Orien- tal philosophy, and to have held to two first causes of all things, light and darkness, or a prince of good, and a prince of evil ; the sect of Heracleon, from whose books Clement and Origen quote much ; the sect of Marcus and Calarbasus, called Marcosians, who, according to Irenasus, added much that was senseless and absurd, to the fictions of Valentinus, though it is certain, that they did not maintain all that is attributed to them. 1 pass by other sects, which appear to have originated from the Valentinian system. But whether all the sects which are called Valentinian, actually originated from disciples and followers of Valentinus, appears very doubtful, to such as consider how great mistakes the ancients have made in stating the or- igin of the heretics. (19) 18. Of the smaller and more obscure Gnostic sects, of which the an- cients tell us little more than the names and perhaps one or two detached sentiments, it is unnecessary to say anything. Such were the Adamites, who are said to have wished to imitate the state of innocence :(20) the Cainites, who are represented as paying respect to the memory of Cain, Corah, Dathan, the inhabitants of Sodom, and Judas the traitor :(21) the Abelites, whom the ancients represent as marrying wives, but rais- ing up no children :(22) the Sethitcs, who regarded Seth as the Messi- himself professed that his religion differed fundamentally from that of the other Chris- tians. [Besides the authors above referred to, see Mosheim, de Rebus Christ., &c., p. 371-389 ; C. W. F. Walch, Hist, der Ket- zereyen, vol. i., p. 335-386 ; and Aug. Ncander, Kircheng., vol. i., pt. ii., p. 704- 731 ; also Gieseler's Text-book, by Cun- ningham, vol. i., p. 85, &c. Tr.] (19) Besides Irenaus, and the other an- cient writers ; see, concerning these sects, Jo. Ern. Grabe, Spicilegium Patrum et hae- reticorum, saecul. ii., p. 69, 82, &c. On the Marcosians, Ireneeus is copious, lib. i., cap. 14. That Marcus was out of his senses, is unquestionable ; for he must have been deranged, if he could hold even the greater part of the strange fancies, which are said to belong to his system. [Among the moderns who have treated of these sects, see C. W. F. .Walch, Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. i., p. 387-401 ; and A. Neandcr, Kirchenges- chichte. vol. i. pt. ii., p. 731-746. TV.] (20) [See, for an account of them, Clemens Alex., Stromat, lib. i., p. 357, lib. iii., p. 525, lib. vii., p. 854 : Tertullian, Scorpiacum, in Opp., p. 633, and contra Prax., cap. 3: Epiphanhis, Macros. Iii , Opp., torn, i., p. 459 : Thcodoret, Haeret. Fabul., lib. i., c. 6 : Augustine, de Haeres., c. 31 : John Dam- ascfn, Opp., torn, i., p. 88 ; and among the moderns, C. W. F. Walch, Hist, der Ket- zereyen, vol. i., p. 327-335. P. Bayle, Dic- tionnaire historique, art. Adamites and Pro- dicus .- Tillemont, Memoires, &c., torn, ii., p. 256 : Bcausobre, Diss. sur les Adamites ; subjoined to Lenfanfs Histoire des Hus- sites. The accounts of the ancients are con- tradictory ; and several of the moderns doubt, whether there ever was a sect who perform- ed their worship in a state of nudity. 7V.] (21) [All the ancient writers mentioned in the preceding note, except John Damas- ccn, speak of the Cainites ; but what they state is very brief, and contradictory. The correctness of their accounts, is justly doubt- ed by Bayle, (Dictionnaire Historique, art. Cainites), and by others. Origen, (contra Celsum, lib. iii., p. 1 19), did not regard them as Christians. Yet they might be a sect of Gnostics, who holding the God of the Jews for a revolter from the true God, regarded Cain, Dathan, Corah, and others who resist- ed him, as being very praiseworthy. Tr.] (22) [The Abeltles are mentioned only by Augustine, de Haeres., cap. 87 ; and by the author of the book, Praedestinatus, cap. 87. It is represented, that every man married a female child, and every woman a little boy, with whom they lived, and whom they made their heirs ; hoping in this way to fulfil liter- ally, what Paul says, 1 Cor. vii., 29, that " They that have wives, be as though they had none." The sect is treated of by C. 148 BOOK I. CENTURY II. PART II. CHAP. V. ah :(23) the Florinians, who originated at Rome, under Florinus and Blast- us ;(24) and many others. Perhaps the ancient Christian doctors divided one sect into several, deceived by the fact of its having several names ; they may also have had incorrect information respecting some of them. 19. Among the Gnostics of the Egyptian class, no inconsiderable place must be assigned to the Ophites or Serpentians ; a senseless sect, ot which one Euphrates is said to be the father. The sect originated among the Jews, and before the Christian era. A part of them became professed Christians ; the rest retained their former superstition. Hence there were two sects of Ophites, a Christian sect, and an anti-Christian. The Chris- tian Ophites held nearly the same notions, with the other Egyptian Gnos- tics, concerning Aeons, the eternity of matter, the creation of the world without the knowledge or consent of the Deity, the rulers of the seven planets who presided over the world, the tyranny of Demiurgus, the de- scent of Christ joined to the man Jesus into our world to overthrow the kingdom of Demiurgus, &c. But they held this peculiarity, that they supposed the serpent which deceived our first parents, was either Christ himself, or Sophia, concealed under the form of a serpent : and this opin- ion, is said to have induced them to keep some sacred serpents, and to pay them a species of honour. Into such absurdities men might easily fall, if they believed the Creator of the world to be a different being from the su- preme God, and regarded as divine whatever was opposed to the pleasure of Demiurgus. (25) W. F. Watch, Hist, der Ketzer., vol. i., p. 607 ; who doubts whether it were not alto- gether an imaginary sect. TV.] (23) [The Sethites are mentioned by the author of Praedestinatus, cap. 19, and Phi- lastrius,de Haeres., cap. 3. But Rhenferd, (Diss. de Sethianis, in his Opp. philolog., p. 165); and Zorn, (Opuscul. sacra, torn, i., p. 614), consider this to be an imaginary sect. See C. W. F. Walch, loc. cit., p. 609, &c., and A. Ncander, Kirchengesch., vol. i., pt. ii., p. 758, &c.- TV.] (24) [Florinus and Blastus were by the ancients, reckoned among the Valentinians. Both were presbyters of Rome, intimate friends, and excommunicated by the Roman bishop Eleutherius. (Euseb., H. E., v. 15.) As Florinus in early life enjoyed the instruc- tion of Polycarp at Smyrna, and as Irenceus wrote a letter to Blastus, concerning the schism at Rome about Easter day ; C. W. F. Walch, (loc. cit., p. 404), supposes they both, and particularly Blastus, were opposed to the views of the Romish church respecting Easter. He also considers it most probable, that Florinus was inclined towards Gnos- ticism ; for Ircnaus wrote a book against him, concerning the eight Aeons ; and he actually had some followers. Schl. That Florinus was a Gnostic, is clear from Euse- bius, Hist. Eccles., lib. v., c. 20. That Blastus was so, is not so certain. TV.] (25) The "history and doctrines of this sect, so far as they are known, I have stated in a German work, printed at Helmstadt, 1746, 4to, [bearing the title : Erster Versucb einer unpartheyischen und griindlichen Ket- zergeschichte. Afterwards, J. H. Schuma- cher published an Explanation of the obscure and difficult Doctrinal Table of the ancient Ophites ; Wolfenbiittel, 1756, 4to. Schu- macher maintained, that the doctrine of the Ophites embraced neither metaphysics nor theology, but merely the history of the Jew- ish nation couched in hieroglyphics. C. W. F. Walch, Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. i., p. 447-481, has epitomized both works; and we here give his leading thoughts, in further illustration of this sect. These peo- ple, called in Gr. Ophites, in Latin Serpent- ians, were by the Asiatics called Nahassians or Naasians. Iren&us, (1. ii., c. 34) ; the author of the supplement to Tertullian's book, de Praescript. haeret., (c. 47) ; Epi- phanius, (Haer. xxxvii.) ; Theodoret, (Hae- rct. Fabul., 1. i., c. 14) ; and Augustine, (do Haeres., c. 17) ; account them Christian heretics. But Origen, (contra Celsum, 1. vii., $ 28), holds them to be not Christians. Yet he speaks of them as pretended Chris- tians, in his Comment, on Matth , torn, iii., p. 851, &c. Philastrius makes them more an- cient than Christianity. It is most probable, they were Jewish Gnostics, and that some of them embraced Christianity ; so that the sect became divided into Jewish and Christian SCHISMS AND HERESIES. 149 20. The numerous evils and discords, which arose from combining the Oriental and Egyptian philosophy with the Christian religion, began to be increased about the middle of this century, by those who brought the Grecian philosophy with them into the Christian church. As the doctrines held by the Christians respecting the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and respecting the twofold nature of the Saviour, were least of all at agree- ment with the precepts of this philosophy, they first endeavoured so to ex- plain these doctrines, that they could be comprehended by reason. This was attempted by one Praxeas, a very distinguished man and a confessor, at Rome. Discarding all real distinction between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, he taught that the whole Father of all things joined himself to the human nature of Christ. Hence the followers were called Monar- chians and Patripassians. Nor was the latter an unsuitable name for them, if Tertullian correctly understood their sentiments. For they de- nominated the man Christ, the Son of God ; and held that to this Son, the Father of the universe or God so joined himself, as to be crucified and endure pangs along with the Son. Yet Praxeas does not appear to have erected a distinct church.(26) 21. Nearly allied to this opinion, was that which was advanced about the same time at Rome, by Theodotus, a tanner, yet a man of learning Ophites. There are two sources of inform- ation on this part of ecclesiastical history. The first is, the accounts of Irenceus, Epi- phanius, and others. The second is, what Ongen tells us (contra Celsum, lib. vi., 33, &c.) concerning the Diagram of the Ophites. This Diagram was a tablet, on which the Ophites depicted their doctrines, in all sorts of figures with words annexed. It probably contained the doctrines of the Jewish Ophites ; and is dark and unintelli- gible, unless we may suppose this symboli- cal representation contained that system, the principal doctrines of which are stated by the ancients. The theological system both of the Jewish and the Christian Ophites, cannot be epitomized, and must be sought for in Walch, p. 461. Their serpent-worship con- sisted in this ; they kept a living serpent, which they let out upon the dish, when cel- ebrating the Lord's supper, to crawl around and over the bread. The priest to whom the serpent belonged, now came near, brake the bread, and distributed it to those present. When each had eaten his morsel, he kissed the serpent, which was afterwards confined. When this solemn act, which the Ophites called their perfect sacrifice, was ended, the meeting closed with a hymn of praise to the supreme God, whom the serpent in para- dise had made known to men. But all the Ophites did not observe these rites, which were peculiar to the Christian Ophites, and confined to a small number among them. This worship must have been symbolic. The Ophites had also Talismans. Schl. See a lucid account of the Ophites, in A. Neandcr's Kirchengesch., vol. i., pt. ii., p. 746-756. TV.] (20) See Tertullian, Liber contra Prax- eam ; and compare Peter Wesseling, Proba- bilia, cap. 26, p. 223, &c. [" Tertullian (to whom we are indebted for all certain knowl- edge of the views of Praxeas), was not only an obscure writer, but also a prejudiced one in regard to Praxeas. He not only rejected his doctrine, but hated him ; because Prax- eas had alienated the Roman bishop Victor from Montanus, whose partisan Tertullian was. Hence Tertullian, in his censures on Praxeas, is often extravagant and insulting. The opposition of Praxeas to Montanus, doubtless led the former into his error. Montanus had treated of the doctrine of three persons in the divine essence, and had insisted on a real distinction between the Father, Son, and Hdly Spirit. (Tertullian contra Praxeam, c. 13, p. 644.) Praxeas, who was hostile to Montanus, published his own doctrine in opposition to Montanus. From Tertullian, moreover, it appears clear- ly, that Praxeas discarded the distinction of persons in the divine essence ; and, as Ter- tulhan expresses it, contended for the mon- archy of God. But how he explained what the Scriptures teach, concerning the Son and the Holy Spirit, is not so clear. Of the va- rious conceptions we might gather from Tcr- tullidii, Moshcim gives a full investigation, in his Comment, de Rebus Christ., &c., p. 426. See also C. W. F. Walch, Hist, der Ketzereyen, vol. i., p. 537-546." Schl. See also A. Neandcr, Kirchengesch., vol. i., pt. iii., p. 994, &c. TV.] 150 BOOK I. CENTURY II. PART II. CHAP. V. and a philosopher ; and by one Artemas or Artemon, from whom originated the Artemonites. For, so far as can be gathered from not very distinct accounts of these men left us by the ancients, they supposed, that when the man Christ was born, a certain divine energy or some portion of the divine nature (and net the person of the Father, as Praxeas imagined) united itself to him. Which of these men preceded the other in time ; and whether they both taught the same doctrine, or differed from each other ; cannot at this day be decided, so few and obscure are the ancient accounts we have of them. But this is unquestionable, the disciples of both applied philosophy and geometry to the explication of the Christian doctrine. (27) 22. The same attachment to philosophy induced Hermogenes, a painter, to depart from the sentiments of Christians, respecting the origin of the world and the nature of the soul, and to cause disturbance in a part of the Christian community. Regarding matter as the source of all evil, he could not believe, that God had brought it into existence by his omnipotent voli- tion. He therefore held, that the world and whatever is in the world, and also souls and spirits, were formed by the Deity out of eternal and vicious matter. There is much in this doctrine very difficult to be explained, and not in accordance with the common opinions of Christians. But neither Tertullian who wrote against him, nor others of the ancients, inform us how he explained those Christian doctrines which are repugnant to his opinions.(23) (27) Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., lib. v., c. 28. Epiphanius, Haeres. liv., p. 464. P. Wesseling, Probabilia, c. 21, p. 172, &c. [Several persons occur in the history of the heretics, bearing the name of Theodotus. ( 1 ) Theodotus of Byzantium, a tanner ; of whom above. (2) Theodotus the younger, disciple of the former, and founder of the sect of Melchizedekians. This sect derived its name from its holding, agreeably to the doctrine of the elder Theodotus, that Mel- chizedek was the power of God, and supe- rior to Christ ; and that he sustained the of- fice of an Intercessor for the angels in heav- en, as Christ did for us men on earth. (3) Theodotus, the Valentinian. (4) Theodotus, the Montanist. Our Theodotus had saved his life, during a persecution at Byzantium, by a'denial of Christ; and thus had incur- red general contempt. To escape from dis- grace, he went to Rome. But there his of- fence became known. To extenuate his fault, he gave out that he regarded Jesus Christ as a mere man, and that it could be no great crime to deny a mere man. He was therefore excluded from the church, by Victor the bishop. Thus Theodotus came near to the system of the Sociuians, and held Christ fora mere man, though a virtuous and upright one. Whether he held the birth of Christ to have been natural or supernatural, the ancient accounts are not agreed. He rejected the Gospel of John ; and held his own doctrine to be apostolical, and that of the eternal divinity of Christ to be a novel doctrine. See C. W. F. Watch, loc. cit., p. 546-557. Artemon has, in modern times, become more famous than Theodotus ; since Samuel Crell assumed the name of an Ar- temonite, in order to distinguish himself from the odious Socinians, whose doctrines he did not fully approve. (See his book, with the title : L. M. Artemonii Initium Evangelii Jo- hannis ex antiquitate restitutum ; and his other writings. ) The history of this Artemon is very obscure. The time when he lived cannot be definitely ascertained ; and the history of his doctrine is not without diffi- culties. It is not doubted that he denied the divinity of Jesus Christ, as held by or- thodox Christians. But whether he swerved towards the system of the modern Socinians, or to that of Praxeas, is another question. Dr. Mosheim believed the latter ; de Rebus Christ., &c., 491. But, as this rests on the too recent testimony of Gennadius of Mar- seilles, (de Dogm. Eccles., c. 3), Dr. Walch (p. 564) calls it in question. See also Jo. Erh. Happen, Diss. de hist. Artemonis et Artemonitarum, Lips., 1737. Schl. See also A. Neander, Kirchengesch., vol. i., part iii., p. 996-1000. TV.] (28) There is extant a tract of Tertullian, Liber contra Hermogenem, in which he as- sails the doctrine of Hermogenes concerning matter and the origin of the world. But an- other tract of his, de Censu animae, in which he confuted the opinion of Hermogenes con- SCHISMS AND HERESIES. 151 & 23. In addition to these sects which may be called the daughters of philosophy, there arose in the reign of Marcus Antoninus, an illiterate sect, opposed to all learning and philosophy. An obscure man of weak judgment, named Montanus, who lived in a poor village of Phrygia called Pepuza, had the folly to suppose himself the Comforter promised by Christ to his disciples, and to pretend to utter prophecies under divine inspira- tion. (29) He indeed attempted no change in the doctrines of religion ; but he professed to be divinely commissioned to perfect and give efficiency to the moral discipline taught by Christ and his apostles : for he supposed that Christ and his apostles had yielded uptaany points to the weakness of the people of their age, and thus had given only an incomplete and im- perfect rule of life. He therefore would have fasts multiplied and extend- ed, forbid second marriages as illicit, did not allow churches to grant ab- solution to such as had fallen into the greater sins, condemned all decora- tion of the body and all female ornaments, required polite learning and philosophy to be banished from the church, ordered virgins to be veiled, and maintained that Christians sin most grievously, by rescuing their lives by flight or redeeming them with money in time of persecution. I pass by some other of his austere and rigid precepts. 24. A man who professed to be a holier moralist than Christ himself, and who would obtrude his severe precepts upon Christians for divine com- mands and oracles, could not be endured in the Christian church. Be- sides, his dismal predictions of the speedy downfall of the Roman repub- lic, &c., might bring the Christian community into imminent danger. He was therefore, first by the decisions of some councils and afterwards by that of the whole church, excluded from all connexion with that body. But the severity of his discipline itself led many persons of no mean con- dition, to put confidence in him. Pre-eminent among these, were two cerning the soul, is lost. [Tertullian is ex- them ; and held, that under the name of the ceedingly severe upon Hcrmogenes, who Paraclete, Christ indicated a divine teacher, was probably his contemporary, and fellow who would supply certain parts of the,reli- African. Yet he allows that he was an in- gious system which were omitted by the Sav- genious and eloquent man, and sound in the iour, and explain more clearly certain other principal doctrines of Christianity. Itseems, parts which for wise reasons had been less the morals of Hermogenes gave most offence perfectly taught. Nor was Montanus alone to Tertullian. He had married repeatedly, in making this distinction. For other Chris- and he painted for all customers what they tian doctors supposed the Paraclete, whose wished. To a Montanist these things were coming Christ had promised, was a divine exceedingly criminal. There is no evidence messenger to men, and different from the Ho- that Hermogenes founded a sect. See Mo- ly Spirit given to the apostles. In the third sheim, de Rebus Christ., &c., p. 432, &c. century, Manes interpreted the promise of C. W. F. Walch, Hist, der Ketzer., vol. i., Christ concerning the Paraclete in the same p. 476, &c., and ^4. Neander, Kirchengesch., manner; and boasted that he himself was vol. i., part iii., p. 976, &c. Tr.] that Paraclete. And who does not know, (29) They doubtless err, who tell us that that Mohammed had the same views, and Montanus claimed to be the Holy Spirit, applied the words of Christ respecting the He was not so foolish. Nor do those cor- Paraclete to himself! Montanus, therefore, rectly understand his views, whom I have washed to be regarded as the Paraclete of heretofore followed, and who represent him Christ, and not as the Holy Spirit. The as asserting, that there was divinely impart- more carefully and attentively we read Ter- ed to him, that very Holy Spirit or Comfort- tullian, the greatest of all Montanus' disci- er, who once inspired and animated the pies, and the best acquainted with his sys- apostles. Montanus distinguished the Par- tern, the more clearly will it appear that such achtt promised by Christ to the apostles, were his views, from the Holy Spirit that was poured upon 152 BOOK I. CENTURY II. PART II. CHAP. V. opulent ladies, Priscilla and Maximilla ; who themselves, with others, ut- tered prophecies, after the example of their master, whom they denomi- nated the Paraclete, or Comforter. Hence it was easy for Montanus to found a new church, which was first established at Pepuza, a little town of Phrygia, but which spread in process of time through Asia, Africa, and a part of Europe. Of all his followers, the most. learned and distinguish- ed was Tertullian, a man of genius, but austere and gloomy by nature ; who defended the cause of his preceptor, by many energetic and severe publications. (30) (30) See Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., 1. v., cap. 16, and especially Tertullian, in his numerous books ; and then all the writers, both ancient and modern, who have treated professedly of the sects of the early ages. Quite recently, and with attention and great erudition, the history of the Montanists has been illustrated by Theoph. Wernsdorf, in has Commentatio de Montanislis saeculi se- cundi vulgo creditis haereticis, Dantzik, 1751, 4to. [The Montanists were also called Phrygians, or Cataphrygians, from the country where they resided and origi- nated ; also Pepuzians, from the town where Montanus had his habitation, and which he pretended was the New Jerusa- lem spoken of in the Revelation of St. John. It appears likewise, that, from Priscilla they were called Priscillianists ; though this name, on account of its ambiguity, has in modern times been disused. Tertullian de- nominated those of his faith, the Spiritual, (Spirituales) ; and its opposers, the Carnal, (Psychikoi); because the former admitted Montanus'' inspirations of the Holy Spirit, which the latter rejected. The time when Montanus began to disturb the church, is much debated. Those who follow Eusebi- us, who is most to be relied upon, place this movement in the year 171, or 172. Wernsdorf's conjecture, that Montanus was the Bishop of Pepuza, is not improbable. He and Priscilla and Maximilla pretended to have divine revelations, which the Com- forter imparted to them, in order to supply by them what further instruction the Chris- tian church needed. The instruction, said they, which the Holy Spirit gives to men, is progressive. In the Old Testament, instruc- tion was in its infancy. Christ and his apostles advanced it to its youthful stature. By Montanus and his coadjutors, it is brought to its perfect manhood. In the Old Testament God conceded much to the hard- ness of the people's hearts, and Christ was indulgent to the weakness of the flesh, but the Comforter is unsparing to both, and presents the virtues of Christians in their full splendour. Their revelations related to no new doctrines of faith, but only to rules of practice. Some of them also were his- torical. But all these revelations seem to have been the effect of their melancholy temperament, and of an excessively active imagination. See, concerning Tertullian, Hamberger's account of the principal wri- ters, vol. ii., p. 492, and J. G. Walch, Hist. Eccles. N. Test., p. 648, &c., and concern- ing the Montanists, C. W. F. Walch, His- toric der Ketzereyen, vol. i., p. 611, &c. Schl. Also A. Neander, Kirchengesch., vol. i., pt. iii., p. 870-893. TV.] CENTURY THIRD. PART I. THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. CHAPTER I. THE PROSPEROUS EVENTS OF THE CHURCH. 1. Rights and Immunities of Christians enlarged. $ 2. Under various Emperors. Good- will of Alexander towards Christ. 3. Other Emperors favourable to the Christians. The Religion of the Emperor Philip. 4. The Number of Christians augmented : from Causes, partly Divine, 5. and, partly human. 6. Countries added to the Kingdom of Christ. $ 7. State of the Church in France, Germany. 1. THAT Christians suffered very great evils in this century, and were in perfect security during no part of it, admits of no controversy. For, not to mention the popular tumults raised against them by the pagan priests, the governors and magistrates could persecute them, without violating the existing imperial laws, as often as either superstition or avarice or cruelty prompted. Yet it is no less certain, that the rights and liberties of the Christians were increased, more than many have supposed. In the army, in the court, and among all ranks, there were many Christians whom no one molested at all ; and under most of the Roman emperors who reigned in this century, Christianity presented no obstacle to the attainment of pub- lic stations and honours. In many places also, with the full knowledge of the emperors and magistrates, they had certain houses in which they regu- larly assembled for the worship of God. Yet it is probable, or rather is more than probable, that the Christians commonly purchased this security and these liberties with money ; notwithstanding some of the emperors had very kind feelings towards them, and were not greatly opposed to their religion. 2. Antoninus, surnamed Caracalla, the son of Severus, came to the throne in the year 211 ; and during the six years of his reign, he neither oppressed the Christians himself, nor suffered others to oppress them.(l) Antoninus Heliogabalus, [A.D. 218-222], though of a most abandoned moral character, had no hostility towards the Christians. (2) His succes- (1) [From a passage in Tertullian, (ad that he was half a Christian, and on thatac- Scapul., cap. 4), asserting that Caracalla had count was indulgent to the followers of a Christian nurse : lacte Christiano educatum Christ. But it is much more probable, that fuisse ; and from one in Spartinns, (life of they purchased his indulgence with their Caracalla, in Scriptor. Histor. Aug., vol. L, gold. See Mosheim,de Rebus Christ., &c., p. 707, cap. 1), asserting that he was much p. 460. TV.] attached to a Jewish playfellow, when he (2) Lampndius, vita Heliogabali, cap. 3, was seven years old ; it baa been inferred p. 796. [Dicebat praeterea (Imperator) Ju- VOL. I. U 154 BOOK I. CENTURY III. PART I. CHAP. I. sor, Alexander Severus, [A.D. 222-235], an excellent prince, did not in- deed repeal the laws which had been enacted against the Christians, so that instances occur of Christians' suffering death in his reign ; yet from the influence of his mother, Julia Mammaea, to whom he was greatly at- tached, he showed kind feelings towards them in various ways, whenever occasion was offered, and even paid some worship and honour to our Sa- viour. (3) For Julia entertained the most favourable sentiments of the Christian religion ; and at one time invited to the court, Origen, the cele- brated Christian doctor, that she might hear him discourse. But those who conclude that Julia and Alexander actually embraced Christianity, have not testimony to adduce, which is unexceptionable. Yet it is cer- tain, that Alexander thought the Christian religion deserved toleration, be- yond others ; and regarded its author as worthy to be ranked among the extraordinary men who were divinely moved. (4) 3. Under Gordian [A.D. 238-244], the Christians lived unmolested and tranquil. His successors, the Philips, father and son, [A.D. 244-249], showed themselves so friendly to the Christians, that by many, they were supposed to be Christians. And there are some arguments which might render it probable, that these emperors did, though secretly and covertly, embrace Christianity. But as these arguments are balanced by others equally strong and imposing, the question respecting the religion of Philip the Arabian, and his son, which has exercised the sagacity of so many learned men, must be left undecided. (5) At least, neither party has ad- duced any evidence, either from testimony or from facts, which was too strong to be invalidated. Among the subsequent emperors of this century, Gallienus, [A.D. 260-268], and some others likewise, if they did not di- rectly favour the Christian cause, they at least did not retard it. 4. This friendship of great men, and especially of emperors, was un- doubtedly not the least among the human causes, which contributed to en- large the boundaries of the church. But other causes, and some of them daeorum et Samaritanorum religiones et to hear him discourse on religion. But nei- Christianam devotionem illuc(Romam) trans- ther of them intimates, that she obeyed his ferandam, ut omnium cultarum secretum precepts and adopted the Christian faith. Heliogabali sacerdotium teneret : which Dr. And in the life of Julia, there are clear in- Mosheim, (deReb. Christ , &c., p. 460), un- dications of superstition, and of reverence derstands to mean, that Heliogabalus wished for the pagan gods. Scld. from Mosheim, the Jewish, Samaritan, and Christian reli- deReb. Christ., &c., p. 46].] gions to be freely tolerated at Rome, so that (4) See Fred. Spanheim, Diss. de Lucii the priests of his order might understand all Britonum regis, Juliae Mammaeae, et Philip- the arcana of them, having them daily before porom conversionibus, Opp., torn, ii., p. 400. their eyes. Tr.] P. E. Jablonski, Diss. de Alexandro Severo (3) See Lampridius, de Vita Severi, c. sacris Christianis per Gnosticos initiato, in 29, p. 930, and Car. Hen. Zeibich, Diss. de Miscellan. Lips, nov., torn, iv., p. 56, &c. Christo ab Alexandro in larario culto ; which (5) See Spanheim, de Christianismo Phil- is found in the Miscell. Lips, novae, torn, iii., ipporum, Opp., torn, ii., p. 400. (P. de la p. 42, &c. [Most of the modern writers Faye), Entretiens historiques sur la Chris- make Julia Mammaea to have been a Chris- tianisme de 1'Empereur Philippe, Utrecht, tian. See J. R. Wetstein's preface to Ori- 1692, 12mo. Mammachius, Origines et An- gen's Dial, contra Marcionitas. But the an- tiq. Christianae, torn, ii., p. 252, &c. See cient writers, Eusebius, (H. E., vi., 21), and J. A. Fabriaus, Lux Evangelii toti orbi ex- Jerome, (de Scriptor. Illustr., c. 54), express oriens, p. 252, &c., [and Masheim, de Re- themselves dubiously. The former calls her bus Christ., &c., p. 471. The most impor- &Off/3aTUTrjv, and the latter rdigiosam, tant ancient testimonies, are Euseb., H. E., (devout) ; and both state that she invited Or- vi., 34, and Chronicon, ann. 246. Jerome, igen to her court, then at Antioch, in order de Script. Illust., c. 54. Tr.] PROSPEROUS EVENTS. 155 divine, must be added. Among the divine causes, besides the inherent en- ergy of heavenly truth and the piety and constancy of the Christian teach- ers, conspicuous is that extraordinary providence of God, which, as we are informed, by means of dreams and visions, excited many persons who be- fore were either thoughtless or alienated from Christianity, to come out at once and enrol their names among the followers of Christ. (6) To this must be added, the curing of diseases and other miracles which very many Christians still performed, by invoking the name of the Saviour.(7) Yet the number of miracles was less in this age than in the preceding ; which may be ascribed not only to the wisdom of God, but also to his justice, which would not suffer men to make gain by the powers divinely given them. (8) 5. Among the human causes which aided the progress of Christianity, may doubtless be reckoned the translation of the Scriptures into various languages, the labours of Origen in disseminating copies of them, and the various books composed by wise men. No less efficacy is to be ascribed to the beneficence of Christians, even towards those whose religion they abhorred. The idolaters must have had hearts of stone, not to have been softened and brought to have more friendly feelings towards the people, whose great sympathy for the poor, kindness to enemies, care of the sick, readiness to redeem captives, and numerous other kind offices, proved them to be deserving of the love and gratitude of mankind. If, what I would not pertinaciously deny, pious frauds and impositions deserve a place among the causes of the extension of Christianity, they doubtless hold the lowest place, and were employed only by a few. 6. That the boundaries of the church were extended, in this century, no one calls in question ; but in what manner, by whom, and in what countries, is not equally manifest. Origen taught the religion he professed to a tribe of Arabs : I suppose, they were some of the wandering Arabs, who live in tents. (9) The Goths, a ferocious and warlike people, that in- habited Moesia and Thrace, and made perpetual incursions into the neigh- bouring provinces ; received a knowledge of Christ from certain Christian priests whom they carried away from Asia. As those priests, by the sanc- tity of their lives, and their miracles, acquired respectability and great in- fluence among these marauders, who were entirely illiterate ; such a change was produced among them, that a great part of the nation professed Christianity, and in some measure laid aside their savage manners. (10) (6) See Origen, adv. Celsum, lib. i., p. (10) Sosomen, Hist. Eccles., lib. ii., c. 6. 35. Homil. in Lucae vii. Opp., torn, ii., p. Paul Diaconus, Hist. Miscellan., 1. ii., c. 14. 216, ed. Basil. Tcrtullian, de Anima, cap. Philostorgius, Hist. Eccles., lib. ii., c. 5. 14, p. 348, ed. Rigaltii. Eusebius, Hist. [Ptiloftorgnu says, that Ulphilas, who in Eccles., lib. vi., c. 5, and others. [See also, the fourth century translated the Christian note (14) on cent, ii., pt. i., ch. i., p. 102, Scriptures into the Gothic language, was a &c., of this work. TV.] descendant of the captives carried off by the (7) Ongen, adv. Celsum, 1. i., p. 5, 7. Goths from Cappadocia, in the reign of Gal- Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., 1. v., c. 7. Cyprian, lienus ; which is not improbable. By the Ep. i. ad Donatum, p. 3, and the note of S. influence of their Christian captives, the Rahizc, there, p. 376. Goths were induced to invite Christian teach- (8) W. Spencer, Notes on Origen adv. ers among them ; and numerous churches Celsum, p. 6, 7. were collected. A Gothic bishop, named (9) Eusebins, Hist. Eccles., lib. vi., cap. Thcophtlus, subscribed the Acts of the coun- 19. [But Sender, Hist. Eccl. selecta cap., cilof Nice, (Socrates, Hist. Eccl , ii.. c.41). vol. i. , p 59, supposes they were not wander- Yet there is indubitable evidence, that a large ing Arabs. TV.] part of the nation remained pagans, long after 156 BOOK I. CENTURY III. PART I. CHAP. II. 7. To the few and small Christian churches in France, erected by certain Asiatic teachers in the second centjury, more and larger ones were added in this century, from the times of Decius, [A.D. 249]. For it was in the reign of this emperor, those seven devout men, Dionysius, Gratian, Trophimus, Paul, Saturninus, Martial, and Stremonius, migrated to this country ; and amid various perils founded the churches of Paris, Tours, Aries, [Narbonne, Toulouse, Limoges, Clermont], and other places. And their disciples gradually spread the Christian doctrine throughout Gaul.(l 1) To this age, likewise, must be referred the origin of the German churches, of Cologne, Treves, Metz, [Tongres, Liege], and others; the fathers of which were Eucharius, Valerius, Maternus, Clement, and others. (12) The Scotch also say, that their country was enlightened with the light of Christianity in this century ; which does not appear improbable in it- self, but cannot be put beyond controversy by any certain testimony. (13) CHAPTER II. THE ADVERSE EVENTS OF THE CHURCH. $ 1. The Persecution of Severus. $ 2. Of Maximinus, the Thracian. 3. The Cruelty of Decius led many Christians to deny Christ. f) 4. Controversies in the Church on this Subject, Libelli Pacis. 5. Persecutions of Gallus and Volusian. f) 6. Of Valerian. t) 7. State of the Church under Gallienus, Claudius, and Aurelian. 8. Attempts of the Philosophers against the Christians. 9. Comparisons of some Philosophers with Christ. 10. Injury thence arising. 11. Attempts of the Jews against the Chris- tians. 1. IN the commencement of this century, the Christians were variously afflicted in many of the Roman provinces ; but their calamity was in- creased in the year 203, when the emperor Severus, who was otherwise not hostile to them, enacted a law that no person should abandon the re- ligion of his fathers, for that of the Christians, or even for that of the Jews.(l) Although this law did not condemn the [existing] Christians, but merely restrained the propagation of their religion, yet it afforded to rapacious and unjust governors and judges great opportunity for troubling the Christians, and for putting many of the poor to death, in order to in- duce the rich to avert their danger by donations. Hence, after the pass- ing of this law, very many Christians in Egypt, and in other parts of both Asia and Africa, were cruelly slain ; and among them were Leonidas, the father of Origen ; the two celebrated African ladies, Perpetua and Felici- this period. See Mosheim, de Rebus Christ., tome i., Diss. i., p. 7, &c. Jo. Nicol. de &c., p. 449. TV.] Hontheim, Historia Trevirensis. [See also (11) Gregory Turonens., Historia Fran- notes (6) and (7) on cent, ii., part i., ch. i., cor., lib. i., c, 28, p. 23. Theod. Ruinart, p. 99 of this work. TV.] Acta Martyrum sincera, p. 109, &c. [See (13) See Usher and Stillingflcet, on the note (9), on cent, ii., part i., ch. i., p. 100 Origin and Antiquities of the British church- of this work ; where the origin of the Gallic es ; and Geo. Mackenzie, de Regali Sco- or French churches, is considered, at some torum prosapia, cap. viii., p; 119, &c. length. Tr.] (1) Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., lib. vi., c. i. (12) Aug. Calmet, Histoire de Lorraine, Spartianus, Vita Severi, cap. 16, 17. ADVERSE EVENTS. 157 tas, whose Acts [martyrdom] have come down to us ;(2) also Polamiena, a virgin ; Marcella, and others of both sexes, whose names were held in high honour in the subsequent ages. 2. From the death of' [Septimus] Severus, till the reign of Maximin, called Thrax, from the country which gave him birth, [or, from A.D. 211 to A.D. 235], the condition of Christians was everywhere tolerable, and in some places prosperous. But Maximin, who had slain Alexander Sev- erus, an emperor peculiarly friendly to the Christians, fearing lest the Christians should avenge the death of their patron, ordered their bishops, and particularly those that he knew had been the friends and intimates of Alexander, to be seized and put to death.(3) During his reign, therefore, many and atrocious injuries were brought upon the Christians. For al- though the edict of the tyrant related only to the bishops and the ministers of religion, yet its influence reached farther, and incited the pagan priests, the populace, and the magistrates to assail Christians of all orders. (4) 3. This storm was followed by many years of peace and tranquillity. [From A.D. 237-249.] But when Decius Trajan came to the imperial throne, A.D. 249, war in all its horrors, again burst upon the Christians. For this emperor, excited either by fear of the Christians, or by attach- ment to the ancient superstition, published terrible edicts, by which the governors were commanded, on pain of forfeiting their own lives, either to exterminate all Christians utterly, or bring them back by pains and tor- tures to the religion of their fathers. During the two succeeding years, a great multitude of Christians, in all the Roman provinces, were cut oif by various species of punishment and suffering. (5) This persecution was more cruel and terrific than any that preceded it ; and immense numbers, dismayed, not so much by the fear of death, as by the dread of the long- continued tortures by which the magistrates endeavoured to overcome the constancy of Christians, professed to renounce Christ; and procured for themselves safety, either by sacrificing, i. e., offering incense before the idols, or by certificates purchased with money. And hence arose the op- probrious names of Sacrifaers, Licensers, and the Certificated, (Sacrifica- tores, Thurijicatores, and Libellatici), names by which the lapsed were designated.(G) (2) Thcod. Ruinart, Ada martyrum sin- might have prompted him. The persecuting cera, p. 90, &c. [See an affecting account Edict is not now extant ; that which was of the sufferings of these and other martyrs, published by Mcdon, Toulouse, 1664, 4to, in the reign of Severus, in Mil-tier's Hist, of is probably unauthentic. See Moshcim, de the Church, cent, iii., ch. v., p. 231, &c., Reb. Christ., &c., p. 476, &c. TV.] ed. Boston, 1822. Tr.] (6) See Prudentms Maran, Life of Cy- (3) Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., lib. vi., c. prian, prefixed to Cypriani Opp., $ vi., p. 28. Orosms, Histor. lib. vii.,c. 19, p. 509. 54, &c. [For an interesting account of the (4) Origen, torn, xxviii. in Matth., Opp., sufferings of Christians in this persecution, torn, i., p. 137. Firmilian, in Opp. Cypri- the English reader is referred to Milncr's ani, ep. 75, p. 140, &c. Hist, of the Church, cent. iii.,ch. 8, p. 257, (5) Eusctrius, Hist. Eccles., lib. vi., c. and ch. 11, p. 293, ed. Boston, 1822, vol. i. 39-41. Gregory Nyssen, Vita Thauma- This persecution was more terrible than turgi, Opp , torn, iii., p. 568, &c. Cyprian, any preceding one, because it extended de Lapsis, in Opp., p. 182, &c. [Euscbms over the whole empire, and because its ob- attributes the persecution by Dccuts, to his ject was to worry the Christians into apos- hatred of Philip, his predecessor, whom he tacy by extreme and persevering torture. had murdered, and who was friendly to the The Certificated, or Libellatici, are supposed Christians. Gregory attributes it to the to be, such as purchased certificates from the emperor's zeal for idolatry. Both causes corrupt magistrates, in which it was declared, 158 BOOK I. CENTURY III. PART L CHAP. II. 4. From the multitude of Christians chargeable with defection in the reign of Decius, great commotions and sharp contests arose in different parts of the church. For the lapsed wished to be restored to Christian fellowship, without submitting to that severe penitence which the laws of the church prescribed ; and some of the bishops favoured their wishes, while others opposed them. (7) In Egypt and Africa, many persons, to obtain more ready pardon of their offences, resorted to the intercession of the martyrs, and obtained from them letters of recommendation, (libellos pacts), that is, papers in which the dying martyrs declared, that they con- sidered the persons worthy of their communion, and wished them to be received and treated as brethren. Some bishops and presbyters were too ready to admit offenders, who produced such letters. But Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, a decided and strenuous man, though he was not disposed to derogate at all from the honour of the martyrs, was nevertheless opposed to this excessive lenity, and wished to limit the effects of these letters of recommendation. Hence there arose a sharp contest between him and the martyrs, confessors, presbyters, the lapsed, and the people, which ended in his gaining the victory.(S) 5. The successors of Decius, namely, Gallus and his son Volusian, [A.D. 251-253], renewed the persecution against the Christians, which seemed to be subsiding :(9) and, as their edicts were accompanied by public calamities, particularly by a pestilential disease which spread through many provinces, the Christians had again to undergo much suf- fering in divers countries. (10) For the pagan priests persuaded the pop- ulace, that the gods visited the people with so many calamities, on account that they were pagans, and had complied with such letters was unquestioned, and their in- the demands of the law, when neither of these fluence very great. Yet the abuses of them was fact. To purchase such a certificate were felt by the more discerning. Dr. Mo- was not only to be partaker in the fraudulent sheim, (de Rebus Christ., &c., p. 490-497), transaction, but it was to prevaricate before has collected the following facts, respecting the public in regard to Christianity, and was their misuse. (1) They were given, with inconsistent with that open confession of little or no discrimination, to all applicants. Christ before men, which he himself requires. Cyprian, ep. 14, p. 24; ep. 10, p. 20. (2) On the purport of these letters, see Mosheim, They often did not express definitely the de Rebus Christ., &c., p. 482-489. Tr.J names of the persons recommended, but (7) Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., lib. vi., c. said : " Receive A. B. (cum suis) and his 44. Cyprian, Epistolae, passim. friends." Ibid., ep. 10, p. 20, 21. (3) (8) Gab. AlbaspincBUS, Observat. Eccles., Sometimes a martyr, before his death, corn- lib, i., obs. xx., p. 94. Jo. Dallaus, de po- missioned some friend, to give letters in his enis et satisfactionibus humanis, 1. vii., c. name, to all applicants. Ibid., ep. 21, p. 16, p. 706. The whole history of this con- 30 ; ep. 22, p. 31. (4) Some presbyters troversy must be gathered from the Epistles obeyed these letters, without consulting the of Cyprian. [ Tertullian, de Pudicitia, cap. bishop, and thus subverted ecclesiastical 22, and, ad Martyres, cap. 1, makes the ear- order. Ibid., ep. 27, p. 38 ; ep. 10, p. 20 ; liest mention of these letters : whence it is ep. 40, p. 52 ; ep. 22, p. 31, 32. It is easy conjectured, that they first began to be used to see what effects would follow, when the about the middle of the second century. almost deified martyrs, of every age and sex By martyrs here, must be understood, per- and condition, felt themselves to possess sons already under sentence of death for authority almost divine, and were besieged their religion, or at least, such as had en- by a host of persons writhing under the rig- dured some suffering, and were still in prison ours of the ancient discipline. Tr.] and uncertain what would befall them. In (9) Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., lib. vii., c. that age, when martyrs were almost idolized, 1. Cyprian, ep. Ivii., Iviii. and the doctrines of repentance towards (10) See Cyprian, Liber ad Demetrianum. God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, [Milner's Hist.. of the Church, cent, iii., ch. imperfectly understood; the propriety of 12, p. 308. TV.] ADVERSE EVENTS. 159 of the Christians. The next emperor, Valerian, stilled the commotion, A.D. 254, and restored tranquillity to the church. 6. Till the fifth year of his reign, Valerian was very kind to the Chris- tians ; but suddenly, in the year 257, by the persuasion of Macrianus, a most bigoted pagan who was his prime minister, he prohibited the Chris, tians from holding meetings, and ordered the bishops and other teachers into exile. The next year he published a far more severe edict ; so that no small number of Christians, in all the provinces of the Roman empire, were put to death, and often exposed to punishments worse than death. Eminent among the martyrs in this tempest, were Cyprian, bishop of Car- thage, Stilus, bishop of Rome, Laurentius, a deacon at Rome, who was roasted before a slow fire, and others. But Valerian being taken captive iu a war against the Persians, his son Gallienus, in the year 260, restored peace to the church. (11) 7. Under Gallienus, .therefore, who reigned with his brother eight years, [A.D. 260-268], and under his successor Claudius, who reigned two years, [A.D. 268-270], the condition of the Christians was tolerable, yet not altogether tranquil and happy. Nor did Aurelian, who came to the throne A.D. 270, undertake to disquiet them, during four years. But in the fifth year of his reign, prompted either by his own superstition or by that of others, he prepared for war against them. But before his edicts had been published over the whole empire, he was assassinated in Thrace, A.D. 275. (12) Hence, few Christians were cut off under him. The re- mainder of this century, if we except some few instances of injustice, ava- rice, or superstition in the governors,(13) passed away, without any great troubles or injuries done to Christians living among Romans. 8. While the emperors and provincial governors were assailing Chris- tians with the sword and with edicts, the Platonic philosophers, before de- scribed, fought them with disputations, books, and stratagems. And the more was to be feared from them, because they approved and adopted many doctrines and institutions of the Christians, and, following the exam- ple of Ammonius their master, attempted to amalgamate the old religion and the new. At the head of them in this century, was Porphyry, a Syr- ian, or Tyrian ; who composed a long work against the Christians, which was afterwards destroyed, in obedience to the imperial laws. (14) He was undoubtedly an acute, ingenious, and learned man, as his works which are extant evince ; but he was not a formidable enemy to the Christians. For he had more imagination and superstition, than sound argument and judg- (11) Eusebius, Hist. Ecclcs., 1. vii., cap. (14) See Lu. Holstcin, de Vita Porphyrii, 10, 11. Ada Cypriani, in Hainan's Acta cap. 11. J. A. Fabricius, Lux. Evang. toti martyrum sincera, p. 216. Cyprian, epist. orbi exoriens, p. 154. J. F. Buddaus, Isa- Ixxvii., p. 17S ; epist. Ixxxii., p. 165, ed. goge in Theologiam, lib. ii., p. 877, &c., Baluz. [Milncr's Hist, of the Chh., cent, [and Ja. Brucker's Hist. crit. Philos., torn, iii., ch. xvi, vol. i., p. 347. TV.] ii., p. 236, <fcc. His fifteen books against (12) Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., 1. vii., c. the Christians were condemned to be burned, 30. Lactantius, de Mortibus persequutor. by Theodosius II. and Valentinian HI., cap. 6. A.D. 449, (see the Codex Justin, de Sum- (13) One example is, the iniquity of the ma Tnnitate, 1. i., tit. i., cap. 3.) The work Caesar, Galerius Maximian, near the end was answered by Methodius, Eusebius, of the century, who persecuted the soldiers Apollinaris, and Philostvrgius ; but the and servants of his palace that professed answers are lost. Of the work of Porphyry, Christianity. See Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., extracts are preserved by Eusebius, Jerome, lib. viii., cap. 1 and 4. and others. Tr.] 160 BOOK I. CENTURY III. PART I. CHAP. II. ment ; as his books that remain and the history of his life will show, without recurrence to the fragments of his work against the Christians, which are preserved and which are unworthy of a wise and upright man. 9. Among the wiles and stratagems, by which this sect endeavoured to subvert the authority of the Christian religion, this deserves to be par- ticularly mentioned, that they drew comparisons between the life, mira- cles, and transactions of our Saviour, and the history of the ancient phi- losophers ; and endeavoured to persuade the unlearned and women, that these philosophers were in no respect inferior to Christ. With such views, Archytas of Tarentum, Pytliagoras, and ApoUonius Tyanaeus, a Pythagorean philosopher, were brought again upon the stage, and exhib- ited to the public dressed very much like Christ himself. The life of Pythagoras was written by Porphyry.(15) The life of ApoUonius, whose travels and prodigies were talked of by the vulgar, and who was a crafty mountebank, and the ape of Pythagoras, was composed by Philostratus, the first rhetorician of the age, in a style which is not inelegant. The reader of the work will readily perceive, that the philosopher is compared with our Saviour ; and yet he will wonder, that any man of sound sense could have been deceived by the base falsehoods and fictions of the wri- ter.(16) 10. But as nothing is so irrational as not to find some patrons among the weak and ignorant who regard words more than arguments, there were not a few who were ensnared by these silly attempts of the philoso- phers. Some were induced by these stratagems to abandon the Christian religion, which they had before embraced. Others, being told that there was little difference between the ancient religion, rightly explained and restored to its purity, and the religion which Christ really taught, not that corrupted form of it which his disciples professed ; concluded it was best to remain among those who worshipped the [old] gods. Some were led by those comparisons of Christ with the ancient heroes and philosophers, to frame for themselves a kind of mixed or compound religion. Witness, among others, [the emperor] Alexander Severus ; who esteemed Christ, and Orpheus, ApoUonius, and the like, to be all worthy of equal honours. 11. The Jews were reduced so low, that they could not, as formerly, excite in the magistrates any great hatred against the Christians. Yet they were not wholly inactive, as appears from the books written by Ter- tullian and Cyprian against them. There occur also in the Christian fa- thers several complaints of the hatred and the machinations of the Jews. (17) During the persecutions of Severus, one Domninus abandoned Christianity for Judaism ; undoubtedly, to avoid the punishments that were decreed against the Christians. Serapion endeavoured to recall him to his duty, (15) [And in the next century, by Jam- 42, &c. N. Lardncr^s Works, vol. viii., p. blichus. That both biographers had the 256-292. ApoUonius was born about the same object, is shown by Lud. Kuster, Ad- beginning, and died near the close of the first not. ad Jamblich., cap. 2, p. 7, and cap. 19, century. He travelled over all the countries p. 78. Schl.] from Spain to India ; and drew much atten- (16) See Godfr. Olearius, Praefat. ad tion by his sagacious remarks, and by his Philostrati vitam Apollonii ; and Mosheim, pretensions to superhuman knowledge and Notes on CudworMs Intellectual System, powers. He was a man of genius, but vain- p. 304, 309, 311, 834, [also J. Brucker's glorious and a great impostor. Tr.} Historia crit. philos., torn, ii., 98, &c., and (17) Hippolytus, Sermo in Susann. et EnfieWs Abridgment of Brucker, vol. ii., p. Daniel., Opp., torn, i., p. 274, 276. STATE OF LEARNING. 161 by some epistles.(lS) This example shows, that while the Christians were in trouble, the Jews were in safety : and therefore, though greatly depressed, they had not lost all power of doing injury to the Christians. PART II. THE INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. CHAPTER I. STATE OF LEARNING AND SCIENCE. $ 1. Decay of Learning. $ 2. State of Philosophy, especially the Platonic. Plotinus. $ 3. This Philosophy prevails everywhere. $ 4. Different Sects of it. $ 5. State of Learning among Christians. 1. LITERATURE, which had suffered much in the preceding century, lost in this nearly all its glory. Among the Greeks, with the exception of Dionysius Longinus, an excellent rhetorician, Dion Cassius, a fine his- torian, and a few others, scarcely any writers appeared who can be recom- mended for their genius or their erudition. In the western provinces, still smaller was the number of men truly learned and eloquent, notwithstand- ing schools continued here and there devoted to the cultivation of genius. For very few of the emperors favoured learning ; civil wars kept the em- pire almost constantly in commotion ; and the perpetual incursions of the barbarous nations into the most cultivated provinces, extinguished with the public tranquillity even the thirst for knowledge. (1) 2. As for the philosophers, about every sect of Grecian philosophy had some adherents that were not contemptible, and who are in part men- tioned by Longinus.(2) But the school of Ammonius, the origin and dog- mas of which have been already stated, gradually cast ^a\\ others into the back ground. From Egypt it spread in a short time over nearly the whole Roman empire ; and drew after it almost all persons inclined to at- tend to metaphysical studies. This prosperity of the sect was owing espe- cially to Plotinus, the most distinguished disciple of Ammonius, a man of intellectual acumen, and formed by nature for abstruse investigation. For lie i;mght, first in Persia and afterwards at Rome and in Campania, to vast concourses of youth ; and imbodied his precepts in various books, the greater part of which have come down to us. (3) 3. It is almost incredible, what a number of pupils in a short time issued from the school of this man. But among them, no one is more cel- (19) Euscbius, Historia Eccles., lib. vi., (3) See Porphyrii VitaPlotini, republish- cap. 12. ed by J. A. Fabricius, in Biblioth. Graeca, (1) See Histoire Littcraire de la France, vol. iv., p. 91. Peter Bayle, Dictionnaire, par les Moines Benedictins, torn, i., part ii., torn, iii., art. Plotin, p. 757 ; and the learn- p. 317, &c. ed Ja. Brucker, Historia crit. philos., torn. (2) In Porphyry's life of Plotinus, cap. ii., p. 217, &c. 20, p. 128, ed. Fabricii. VOL. I. X 162 BOOK I. CENTURY III. PART II. CHAP. L ebrated than Porphyry, a Syrian ; who spread over Sicily and many other countries, the system of his master, enlarged with new discoveries and sedulously polished. (4) At Alexandria, almost no other philosophy was publicly taught, from the times of Ammcnius down to the sixth century. It was introduced into Greece by one Plutarch, who was educated at Al- exandria, and who re-established the Academy at Athens, which subse- quently embraced many very renowned philosophers who will hereafter be mentioned. (5) 4. The character of this philosophy has already been explained, as far as was compatible with the brevity of this work. It is here proper to add, that all who were addicted to it, did not hold the same opinions, but differed from each other on several points. This diversity naturally arose from that principle, which the whole sect kept in sight ; namely, that truth was to be pursued without restraint, and to be gleaned out of all systems. Hence the Alexandrian philosophers would sometimes receive, what those of Athens would reject. Yet there were certain leading doctrines, which were fundamental to the system, and which no one that claimed the name of a Platonist, dared to call in question. Such were the doctrines of one God, the source of all things, of the eternity of the world, of the depend- ence of matter on God, of the nature of the soul, of the plurality of Gods, of the method of explaining the popular superstitions, and some others. 5. The estimation in which human learning should be held, was a question on which the Christians were about equally divided. For while jnany thought that the literature and writings of the Greeks ought to re- ceive attention ; there were others who contended, that true piety and re- ligion were endangered by such studies. But gradually the friends of philosophy and literature acquired the ascendency. To this issue Origen contributed very much ; for having early imbibed the principles of the new Platonism, he inauspiciously applied them to theology, and earnestly recommended them to the numerous youth who attended on his instruc- tions. And the greater the influence of this man, which quickly spread over the whole Christian world, the more readily was his method of ex- plaining the sacred doctrines propagated. Some also of the disciples of Plotinus, connected themselves with the Christians, yet retained the leading sentiments of their master :(6) and these undoubtedly laboured to dissem- inate their principles around them, and to instil them into the minds of the uninformed. (4) Lu. Holstenius, Vita Porphyrii, repub- of this philosopher, that he attached himself lished by Fabricius, in Biblioth. Gr. ["For- entirely to him. See Plotin., Vit., p. 3. phyry was first the disciple of Longinus, au- Eunap., c. 2, p. 17." Mad.] thor of the justly celebrated Treatise on the (5) Marinus, Vita Procli, cap. 11, 12, p. Sublime. But having passed from Greece 25, dee. to Rome, where he heard Plotinus, he was (6) Augustine, Epistola Ivi., adDioscor., so charmed with the genius and penetration Opp., torn, ii., p. 260. CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 163 CHAPTER II. HISTORY OF THE TEACHEES AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CHUBCH* 1. Form of Church Government. 2. What Rank the Bishop of Rome held in this Century. $ 3. Gradual Progress towards a Hierarchy. 4. The Vices of the Clergy. $ 5. Hence the Inferior Orders of the Clergy. 6. Marriage of the Clergy. Their Concubines. $ 7. The principal Writers ; Grecian and Oriental. 8. Latin Writers. 1. THE form of the ecclesiastical constitution and government which had been introduced, was more and more confirmed and strengthened, both as it related to individual churches and in regard to the whole reli- gious community. He must be ignorant of the history and the monuments of this age, who can deny that a person bearing the title of bishop presided over each church in the larger cities, and that he managed its public con- cerns with some degree of authority ; yet having the presbyters for his council, and taking the voice of the whole people on subjects of consider- able moment.(l) It is equally certain, that one bishop in each province was pre-eminent over the rest in rank and in certain prerogatives. This was necessary for maintaining that consociation of churches, which had been introduced in the preceding century, and for the more convenient celebration of the councils. Yet it must be added, that the prerogatives of these principal bishops were not everywhere accurately ascertained ; nor did the bishop of the chief city in a province, always hold the rank of first bishop. This also is beyond controversy, that the bishops of Rome, Antioch, and Alexandria, as presiding over the primitive and apostolic churches in the greater divisions of the empire, had precedence of all oth- ers, and were not only often consulted on weighty affairs, but likewise en- joyed certain prerogatives peculiar to themselves. 2. As to the bishop of Rome in particular, he was regarded by Cfyp- rian,(2) and doubtless by others likewise, as holding something of primacy in the church. But the fathers who with Cyprian ascribed this primacy to the Roman bishop, strenuously contended for the equality of all bishops, in respect to dignity and authority ; and disregarding the judgment of the (1) Authorities are cited by David Elan- ep. v., p. 11 ; ep. xiii., p. 23; ep. xxviii., dell, Apologia pro sententia Hieronimi de p. 39 ; ep. xxiv., p. 33 ; ep. xxvii., p. 37, episcopis et presbyteris, p. 136, &c. [and 38. To the objection, that Cyprian did still more amply, by James Boileau, under himself ordain some presbyters and lectors, the fictitious name of Claudius Fonteius, in without the consent of his council and the his book de antique jure presbyterorum in laity, it is answered, that the persons so ad- regimine ecclesiastico, Turin, 1676, 12mo. vanced were confessors, who, according to The most valuable of these testimonies, are usage, were entitled to ordination without from the epistles of Cyprian, bishop of Car- any previous election. Cyprian, ep. xxxiv., thage, who was a warm advocate for episco- p. 46, 47 ; ep. xxxv., p. 48, 49. Tcrtullian, pal pre-eminence, yet did not presume to de- de Anima, c. 55, p. 353. &c. See Moskeim, termine any question of moment by his own Commentt. de Reb. Christ., &c., p. 575- authority, or without the advice and consent 579. 7V.J of his presbyters, and was accustomed to (2) Cyprian, ep. Ixxiii., p. 131 ; ep. lv., take the sense of the whole church on sub- p. 86 ; de Unitatc ecclesise, p. 195, ed. Ba- jects of peculiar interest. See Cyprian, luze. 164 BOOK I. CENTURY III. PART II. CHAP. II. bishop of Rome, whenever it appeared to them incorrect, had no hesitation in following their own judgment. Of this Cyprian himself gave a striking example, in his famous controversy with Stephen, bishop of Rome, con- cerning the baptism of heretics. Whoever duly considers and compares all their declarations, will readily perceive that this primacy was not a pri- macy of power and authority, but only of precedence among associated brethren. That is, the primacy of the Romish bishop in regard to the whole church, was the same as that of Cyprian in the African church, which did not impair at all the equality of the African bishops, or curtail their liberties and rights, but merely conferred the right of convoking councils, of presiding in them, and admonishing his brethren fraternally, and the like. (3) 3. Yet while the ancient mode of church government seemed in gen- eral to remain unaltered, there was a gradual deflection from its rules, and an approximation towards the form of a monarchy. For the bishops claimed much higher authority and power than before, and encroached more and more upon the rights not only of the brotherhood, but also of the presbyters. And to give plausibility to these usurpations, they advanced new doctrines concerning the church and the episcopal office ; which how- ever were so obscure for the most part, that it would seem they did not themselves understand them. The principal author of these innovations was Cyprian, the most bold and strenuous defender of episcopal power that had then arisen in the church. Yet he was not uniform and consistent, for in times of difficulty, when urged by necessity, he could give up his pretensions, and submit everything to the judgment and authority of the church. (4) (3) See Stephen Baluze, Annott. ad Cyp- bernatione, et de actu nostro judicandi. riani Epistt., p. 387, 389, 400, &c. And The passages referred to in the preceding especially Cyprian himself, who contends note, in which Cyprian not very intelligibly strenuously for the perfect equality of all speaks of a unity in the church and of a cer- bishops. Ep. lxxi.,p. 127. [Nam nee Pe- tain primacy of the Roman pontiff, must be trus vindicavit sibi aliquid insolenter, aut so understood as not to contradict these very arroganter assumpsit se primatum tenere, et explicit assertions of the absolute equality of obtemporari a novellis et posteris sibi opor- all bishops. See Mosheim, de Reb. Christ., tere.] Ep. Ixxiii., p. 137. [Unusquisque &c., p. 579-587. Tr.] Episcoporum quod putat facial, habens ar- (4) [No man can speak in higher terms bitrii sui liberam potestatem.] Ep. lv., ad of the power of bishops, than the arrogant Cornelium Rom., p. 86. [Cum statutum Cyprian that very Cyprian, who, when not et equum sit pariter ac justum, ut uniuscu- fired by any passion, is so condescending to- jusque causa illic audiatur, ubi est crimen wards presbyters, deacons, and the common admissum, et singulis pastoribus portio gre- people. He inculcates, on all occasions, gis sit adscripta, quam regat unusquisque et that bishops derive their office, not so much gubernet, rationem sui actus Domino reditu- from their election by the clergy and people, rus. Cyprian's address at the opening of as from the attestation and decree of God. the council of Carthage, A.D. 255, in his See ep. lii., p. 68, 69 ; ep. xlv., p. 59 ; ep. Works, p. 329, ed. Baluze. Neque enim lv.,p. 82; ep. lxv.,p. 113 ; ep. Ixix ,p. 121. quisquam nostrum Episcopum se esse Epis- He regards bishops as the successors of the coporum constituit, aut tyrannico terrore ad apostles, ep. xlii., p. 57. So that bishops obsequendi necessitatem collegas suos adigit, are amenable to none, but to God only ; quando habeat omnis Episcopus pro licentia while presbyters are amenable to the reli- libertatis et potestatis suae arbitrium pro- gious society, ep. xi., p. 19. Deacons were prium, tamque judicari ab alio non possit, created by the bishop ; and therefore they quam nee ipse potest alterum judicare. Sed can be punished by him alone, without the expectemus universi judicium Domini nostri voice of the society, ep Ixv., p. 114. Bish- Jesu Christi, qui unus et solus habet potesta- ops have the same rights with apostles, whose tern et praeponendi nos in ecclesiae suae gu- successors they are. And hence, none but CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 165 4. This change in the form of ecclesiastical government was followed by a corrupt state of the clergy. For although examples of primitive piety and virtue were not wanting, yet many were addicted to dissipation, arrogance, voluptuousness, contention, and other vices. This appears dis- tinctly from the frequent lamentations of the most credible persons of those times. (5) Many bishops now affected the state of princes, and especially those who had charge of the more populous and wealthy congregations ; for they sat on thrones, surrounded by their ministers, and other ensigns of their ghostly power, and perhaps also dazzled the eyes and the minds of the populace with their splendid attire. The presbyters imitated the example of their superiors, and neglecting the duties of their office, lived in indolence and pleasure. And this imboldened the deacons to make en- croachments upon the office and the prerogatives of the presbyters. 5. And hence, in my opinion, originated those minor orders of the clergy, which in this century were everywhere added to the bishops, pres- byters, and deacons. The words suhdeacons, acofythi, ostiarii, lectors, ex- orcists, and copiatae, designate officers, which I think the church would have never had, if the rulers of it had possessed more piety or true reli- gion. But when the honours and prerogatives of the bishops and pres- byters were augmented, the deacons also became more inflated, and refused to perform those meaner offices to which they once cheerfully submitted. The offices designated by these new titles, are in great measure explained by the words themselves. The exorcists owed their origin to the doctrine of the new Platonists, adopted by the Christians, that evil spirits have a strong desire after the human body, and that vicious men are not so much impelled to sin by their natural depravity and by the influence of bad ex- amples, as by the suggestions of some evil spirit lodging within them. (6) The copiatae were employed in the burial of the dead. God can take cognizance of their actions, apostles. But some of the most learned wri- op. Ixix., p. 121. The whole church is ters of the Romish communion, and the Prot- fonndod on the bishop ; and no one is a true estants generally, maintain that they were member of the church, who is not submissive first instituted in the third century. See to his bishop, ep. Ixix., p. 123. Bishops rep- Cardinal Bona, Rerum Liturgicar., 1. i., c. resent Christ himself, and govern and judge 25, 16, 17. Morin, de Ordinatione, pt. hi., in his name, ep. lv., ad Cornel., p. 81, 82. Exerc. 14, c. 1, and Bingham's Orig. Ec- Hence all bishops, in the following ages, cles., vol. i. G. J. Plane!;, Gesch. der styled themselves Vicars of Christ. See /. christl. kirchl. Gesellschafts-Verfanung., vol. Binpharri's Orig. Eccles., vol. i., p. 81, &c. i., p. 143-149. Not one of these orders is In the ninth century, a bishop of Paris is so even named by any writer who lived before styled in a letter of Servaius Luput, ep. Terticllian ; nor are all of them named by xcix , p. 149, ed. Baluze. After the ninth him. Cyprian, in the middle of the third century, the bishops of Rome assumed the century, mentions hypodiaconi, acolythi, and exclusive right to this as well as other hon- lectores. See his Epp., 14, 24, 36, 42, 49, orary episcopal titks. Schl. from Moshetm, 79, ed. Baluz. And Cornelius, bp. of Rome, de Rebus Christianor., p. 588, &c.] contemporary with Cyprian, in an epistle (5) Ongen, Comment, in Matthoeum, pt. which is preserved by Eusebius, H. E., vi., i., Opp., p. 420, 441, 442. Eusebius, His- c. 43, represents his church as embracing toria Eccles., lib. viii., cap. 1, p. 291. and 46 presbyters, (^peodvrip^) 7 deacons, others. [Cyprian, in many of his epistles. (<5zK<*rttf); 7subdeacons. (t'To&a/coi'Sf) ; 42 Tr."\ acolythi, (KoA$fcf) ; and exorcists, (ffop**- (6) See J. Godofredus, ad Codicem The- fQf ), readers, (uvayvofOf), with doorkeepers, odosianum, torn, vi., p. 48. [Several of the (irv/iupolf), together 52 The particular Catholic writers, as u. p., Baroniits, Bcllar- functions of these inferior orders are but im- min, and Schelstrate, believed these minor perfectly defined by the writers of the third orders of the clergy were instituted by the century. From the epistles of Cyprian above 166 BOOK I. CENTURY III. PART II. CHAP. II. 6. Marriage was allowed to all the clergy, from the highest rank to the lowest. Yet those were accounted more holy and excellent, who lived in celibacy. For it was the general persuasion, that those who lived in wedlock were much more exposed to the assaults of evil spirits than oth- ers :(7) and it was of immense importance to the Christian cause that no impure or malignant spirit should assail the mind or the body of one who was to instruct and govern others. Such persons therefore wished, if pos- sible, to have nothing to do with conjugal life. And this many of the clergy, especially in Africa, endeavoured to accomplish with the least vio- lence to their inclinations ; for they received into their house, and even to their beds, some one of those holy females who had vowed perpetual chas- tity, affirming however, most religiously, that they had no disgraceful in- tercourse with these holy sisters. (8) These concubines were by the Greeks called ovveiadiCTOi, and by the Latins mulieres subintroduciae. Many of the bishops indeed sternly opposed this shameful practice ; but it was a long time before it was wholly abolished. 7. Of the writers of this century the most distinguished for the celeb- rity of his name and for the extent of his writings, was Origen, a presbyter and catechist of Alexandria, a man truly great, and a luminary to the Christian world. Had his discernment and the soundness of his judgment been equal to his genius, his piety, his industry, his erudition, and his other accomplishments, he would deserve almost unbounded commendation. As he is, all should revere his virtues and his merits. (9) The second was cited, it appears that subdeacons and acoly- thi, singly or together, were frequently the bearers of public letters to and from bishops ; and that readers were employed to read the scriptural lessons in time of public worship. The writers and councils of the fourth centu- ry describe more fully the duties of all these petty officers. TV.] (7) Porphyrius, mpt UTTO;^, lib. iv., p. 417. (8) See H. Dodwell, Diss. tertia Cyprian- ica ; and Lud. Ant. Muratorius, Diss. de Synisactis et Agapetis, in his Anecdota Grae- ca, p. 218 ; Steph. Baluze, ad Cypriarii Epistol., p. 5, 12, and others. [This shame- ful practice commenced anterior to this cen- tury. Slight allusions to it are found in the Shepherd of Hcrmas and in Tertullian ; but the first distinct mention of it is in Cyprian, who inveighs severely against it in some of his epistles. It is to be remembered, that none but virgin sisters in the church, and they under a vow of perpetual chastity, be- came avveiauKTOi. With these some of the single clergy attempted to live, in the manner in which certain married people then lived, dwelling and even sleeping together, but with a mutual agreement to have no conjugal intercourse. Such connexions they consid- ered as a marriage of souls, without the mar- riage of bodies. See Mosheim, de Rebus Christianor., &c., p. 599, &c. Tr.] (9) See P. D, Huet, Origeniana, a learn- ed and valuable work ; Lud. Doucin, Histoire d'Origene et des movemens arrivees dans 1'egliseau sujet de sa doctrine, Paris, 1700, 8vo ; and Boyle, Dictionnaire, torn, iii., art. Origene ; and many others. [Origen, sur- named Adamcmtius, was an Alexandrian Greek, born of Christian parents A.D. 185. His father Lconidas was a man of letters, a devout Christian, and took great pains with the education of his son, especially in the holy scriptures, some portion of which he required him daily to commit to memory. His education, begun under his father, was completed under Clemens Alexandrinus, and the philosopher Ammonius Saccas. Ori- gen was distinguished for precocity of ge- nius, early piety, and indefatigable industry. When his father suffered martyrdom A.D. 202, Origen, then 17 years old, was eager to suffer with him, but was prevented by his mother. He wrote to his father in prison, exhorting him to steadfastness in the faith, and to be unsolicitous about his family. The whole property of the family was confiscated, and Origen, with his widowed mother and six younger sons, were left in poverty. But the persecution having exterminated or driv- en away all the Christian schoolmasters, Or- igen found no difficulty in procuring a school, for which his talents so well qualified him. The next year, A.D. 203, Demetrius, bp. of Alexandria, advanced him to the mastership of the catechetic school, though he was then CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 167 Julius Africanus, a very learned man, most of whose labours and works but 18 years old. His talents as an instruct- Demetrius assembled two councils against er, his eminent piety, and his assiduous at- him, the first of which banished Origen from tention to those who suffered in the persecu- _Alexandria, and the second deprived him of tion, procured him high reputation and nu- his clerical office. Demetrius also wrote inerous friends among the Christians ; but letters to Rome and elsewhere, to excite odi- his great success in making converts to um against this unoffending man. Heraclas Christianity and forming his pupils to be in- now succeeded him in the school at Alexan- telligent and devoted Christians, rendered him odious to the pagans, who watched about his house and hunted him through the city, in order to assassinate him. The austerity of his life was great. He fed on the coars- est fare, went barefoot, and slept on the ground. He spent the whole day in teaching and in active duties, and devoted most of the night to his private studies and to devotion, dria, and Origen retired, A.D. 231, to Caes- area in Palestine. Here he resumed his office of instructor, and continued to write expositions of the Bible. But in the year 235, a persecution in Palestine obliged him to flee to Caesarea in Cappadocia, where he lived concealed for two years. After his return to Palestine, he visited Athens ; and about the year 244, was called to attend a About this time he sold his large and valua- council at Bostra in Arabia, against Beryllus ble collection of pagan authors, for a perpet- bp. of that place, who was heretical in re- spect to the personal existence of Christ previous to his incarnation. Origen con- ual income of four oboli (about seven cents) per diem, which he regarded as a competent support. Construing the passage in Matth. verted him to the orthodox faith. Dcmetri- xix., 12, literally, he emasculated himself, in us his persecutor died A.D. 232, and was order to avoid temptation in his intercourse succeeded by Heraclas, a disciple of Origen, with his female pupils. About the year 212, after whom Dionysius the Great filled the he made a short visit to Rome. On his re- see of Alexandria from A.D. 248 to 265. turn he took his former pupil Heraclas to be The persecution of Origen died with his per- his assistant in the school, so that he might sonal enemy Demetrius ; and he was greatly devote more time to theology and the expo- beloved and honoured by all around hum till sition of the Scriptures. Many learned per- the day of his death. His residence was now sons, pagans and heretics, were converted by fixed at Csesarea in Palestine ; but he occa- him ; and among them, Ambrose, a Valenti- sionally visited other places. His time was nian and a man of wealth, who became a occupied in an extensive correspondence, in liberal patron of Origen, and at last died a preaching, and in composing books explana- martyr. In the year 215, the persecution tory of the Bible, and in defence of Christi- under Caracalla obliged Origen to flee from anity. Against the more learned pagans Alexandria. He retired to Caesarea in Pal- and the heretics of those times, he was a estine, where he was received with high re- champion that had no equal ; he was also spect ; and though not even a deacon at that considered as a devout and exemplary Chris- time, the bishops of Caesarea and Jerusalem tian, and was, beyond question, the first bib- allowed him to expound the Scriptures pub- licly in their presence. The next year, De- nfiriu-s called him back to Alexandria and to his mastership of the catechetic school. About this time an Arabian prince invi- ted him to his court, to impart to him Chris- tian instruction. Afterwards, Mammaea the lical scholar of the age. He was master of the literature and the science of that age, which he valued only as subservient to the cause of Christ ; but he was more skilful in employing them against pagans and here- tics, than in the explanation and confirma- tion of the truths of revelation. In the latter mother of the emperor Alexander Severns, part of his life, during the Decian persecu- sent for him to Antioch, in order to hear him tion A.D. 250, he was imprisoned for a con- siderable time, and came near to martyrdom, which he showed himself willing to meet. He was however released, but his sufferings preach. In the year 228, he was publicly called to Achaia, to withstand the heretics who disturbed the churches there. On his return through Palestine, Thcoctistus bp. of in prison, added to his intense literary la- Caesarca, and Alexander bp. of Jerusalem, who had before treated him with marked at- bours, had broken down his constitution, and he died A.D. 254, at Tyre, in the 69th tention, ordained him a presbyter, to the great year of his age. His winning eloquence, offence of Demetrius, who was envious of his great learning, his amiable temper, and the growing reputation of his catechist. De- his reputation for sincere and ardent piety, metrins had little to object against Origen, gave him immense influence, especially except that he was a eunuch, and that foreign among the well-informed and the higher bishops had no right to ordain his layman, classes in society. No man, since the apos- Controversy ensued, and in the year 230, ties, had been more indefatigable, and no 168 BOOK I. CENTURY III. PART II. CHAP. II. The name of Hippolytus ranks very high among both the intended especially for the learned. A col- lection of Origen's Scholia, and scattered remarks on Scripture, compiled by Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen, is extant, bearing the title of ^fn/lo/ca/Ua. A large part of his Homilies and Commentaries are whol- ly lost, and some of the others have come to us only in the Latin translation of Rufinus. are lost. (10) one had done more to diffuse knowledge and make the Christian community intelligent, united, and respectable in the view of man- kind. He was in general orthodox, accord- ing to the standard of that age ; but, unfet- tered in his speculations and unguarded in his communications, he threw out some crude opinions, which the next age gathered up and blazoned abroad, and for which he The earlier editions of Origen's works are was accounted by some a heretic,. The principal errors ascribed to him, are derived from his four Books nepl apx&v, (de princip- iis, on the first principles of human knowl- edge), and are ( I) the pre-existence of hu- man souls, and their incarceration in mate- rial bodies, for offences committed in a for- mer state of being : (2) the pre-existence of Christ's human soul, and its union with the chiefly in Latin, and of little value. P. D. Huet, a Benedictine monk, first published, A.D. 1668, in 2 vols. fol., the expository works of Origen, Greek and Latin, with notes, and a valuable introduction entitled Origeniana. Bern, de Montfaucon, another Benedictine, collected and published what remains of his Hexapla and Tetrapla, Paris, 1714, 2 vols. fol. But the best edition of divine nature anterior to the incarnation of all his works, except the Hexapla, is that of Christ : (3) the transformation of our ma- the Benedictines Charles and Charles Vin- terial bodies into ethereal ones, at the res- cent, de la Rue, Paris, 1733-59, 4 vols. fol. urrection : (4) the final recovery of all men The text of this edition, Gr. and Lat., with- and even devils, through the mediation of out the notes and dissertations, was repub- Christ. Origen could number among his lished by OierMiir, Wiirtzburg, 1780-93, 15 pupils many eminent martyrs and divines, vols. 8vo. The principal modern writers among whom Firmilianus of Cappadocia, concerning Origen, besides Huet and the de Gregory Thaumaturgus, and Dionysius the la Rues, are Tillemont, Mem. a 1'Hist. de Great, bp. of Alexandria, are best known 1'Eglise, torn, iii., p. 216-264. Bayle, Diet., at the present day. His life and history art. Origene ; Cave, Hist. Lit., vol. i., p. are best related by Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., lib. vi., passim ; and by Jerome, de Viris Illustr., cap. 55, and ep. 41 or 65. The united work of Pamphilus and Eusebius in defence of Origen, in six Books, is un- 112, &c. Lardncr, Credibility, pt. ii., vol. ii., p. 161, &c. Haloix, Defence of Origen ; Doucin, Histoire d'Origene, Paris, 1700, 8vo. Mosheim, de Reb. Christ., p. 605- 680 ; Schroeckh, Kirchengesch., vol. iv., p. fortunately lost, except the first book, of 29-145. Neander, Kirchengesch., vol. i., which we have a translation by Rufinus. Epiphanius, Haeres. 64, gives a philippic upon Origen and his followers. Photius, Biblioth. cxviii., affords us some knowledge of his lost works. Origen was a most volu- minous writer. Eusebius says he collected 100 Epistles of Origen ; and that when 60 years old, Origen permitted stenographers to write down his extempore discourses. Be- sides these he composed eight Books against Celsus, in defence of Christianity, which are still extant ; four Books Trepl apjuv, extant in a Latin translation by Rufinus ; ten Books entitled Stromata, which are lost : his Hex- apla and Tetrapla, of which little remains ; and tracts on prayer, martyrdom, and the resurrection. But his principal works are ex- positions of the scriptures. It is said he wrote on every book in the Bible, except the Apocalypse. His allegorical mode of inter- part iii., p. 1172-1214. Milner's account of Origen, Eccl. Hist., cent, iii., ch. 5, 6, 15, is not impartial. Tr.] (10) [Julius Afncanus, for erudition, and as an interpreter of scripture, is ranked with Clemens Alex, and Origen; by Socrates, Hist. Eccles., 1. ii., c. 35. The best ac- count of this distinguished man, is derived from Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., vi., c. 31, and Jerome, de Viris Illustr., c. 63. He was probably of Nicopolis, once called Emmaus, in Judea, and is supposed to have died, when a man in years, about A.D. 232. Of his life little is known, except that he once vis- ited Alexandria, to confer with Heraclas, head of the catechetic school after Origen ; and that, the city of Nicopolis having been burned about A.D. 221, Africanus was sent as envoy to the emperor, with a peti- tion that it might be rebuilt. His principal preting scripture is described by Mosheim, work was Annals of the world, from the cre in the next chapter. Origen's expositions ation down to A.D. 221, in five Books, are of three kinds ; (1) Homilies, or popu- lar lectures ; (2) Commentaries, divided into Books, which are full, elaborate, and learn- ed expositions ; (3) Scholia, or short notes, This work, of which only fragments now remain, was highly esteemed by the ancients, and was the basis of many similar works, namely, the Chronicons of Eusebius, Syn- CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 169 writers and the martyrs ; but his history is involved in much obscuri. ty.(ll) The writings now extant bearing the name of this great man, are not without reason regarded by many as being either spurious or at least corrupted. Gregory, bishop of New Caesarea [in Pontus], was sur- named Thaumaturgus, on account of the numerous and distinguished mir- acles which he is said to have wrought. But few of.his writings are now extant; his miracles are questioned by many at the present day.(12) I haps he spent part of his life in the East, and part in the West. That he was a martyr, is generally conceded : though the poem of Prit/lentius on the martyrdom of Hippo/ytus, refers to another person, who was a Roman presbyter. Eusebius, 1. c., gives this ac- count of his writings : " Besides many other works, he wrote a treatise concerning Eas- ter, in which he describes the succession of events, and proposes a paschal cycle of 16 years ; the work terminates with the first year of the emperor Alexander," (Severus, A.D. 222). " His other writings which have reached me, are these : on the Hexae- meron" (Gen., ch. i.) ; "on what follows the Hexaemeron ; against Marcwn; on the Canticles; on parts of Ezekiel ; concerning Easter ; against all the heresies." Besides these, Jcrume mentions his Commentaries on Exodus, Zechariah, the Psalms, Isaiah, Dan- iel, the Apocalypse, Proverbs, and Ecclesi- astes ; and tracts concerning Saul and the witch, Antichrist, the resurrection ; and his discourse in praise of our Lord and Saviour. Some other works of Hippoly/us are enu- merated in an inscription on the base of his statue, dug up near Rome in the year 1551 ; also by Photius, Biblioth., No. 121 and 122 ; and Ebedjesus, in Assemani, Biblioth. Ori- ent., torn, iii., pt. i. His Paschal Cycle is his only work that has come down to us en- tire. The dialogue concerning Christ and Antichrist, still extant, if really his, does him little credit as a theologian. The con- cluding part of his work against all the her- esies, still remains, and gives us the best ac- count we have, though a lame one, of the heresy of Noitus. All that remains of him, genuine and adulterated, and all that is as- cribed to him, are well edited by Fubricius, in two thin volumes fol., Hamb., 1716-18. For a more full account of him and his writings, besides the Histoire Litt. de la France, and Fabriaus, ad Hippol. Opera, see Tillemont, Memoires a 1'Hist. Eccles., torn, in., p. 104 and 309, &c. Care, Hist. Lit., vol. i., p. 102, &c. Lardner, Crcdib., pt. ii., vol. ii., p. 69, &c. Schroeckh, Kir- chengesch., vol. iv., p. 154, &c. Neander, Kircheng., vol. i., pt. iii., p. 11-17, &c. TV.) (12) See Anton, van Dale, Preface to his book de Oraculis, p. 6. [Schroeckh, Kir- chengesch., vol. ii., p. 351, &c., and p. 330 cellits, Malala, Theopkanes, Cedrenus, and others. He was author of a letter to Aris- tides, reconciling the two genealogies of our Saviour. Of this work we have a long ex- tract in Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., i., 7, and a fragment in Routes Reliquiae Sacrae, vol. ii., p. 115. Africanus supposed Matthew to give the true descent of Joseph from Da- vid by Solomon, and Luke to give his legal descent from the same by Nathan, accord- ing to the law for raising up seed to a de- ceased brother. Jacob and Heli, the two reputed fathers of Joseph, he supposed, were half -brothers, having the same mother, but different fathers ; and Heli dying childless, Jacob married his widow and begat Joseph, whom the law accounted as the son of the deceased Heli. Another letter of Africa- mis, addressed to Ongen, is still extant in the works of Origen, vol. i., p. 10-12, ed. de la Rue. The object of this letter is, to prove the history of Susannah spurious, and the work of some person much younger than Daniel. His chief argument is, that the writer makes Daniel play upon the Greek words axlvof and Trpii'Of, in verses 54, 55, 68, 59, while examining the witnesses against Susannah. Eusebius and others as- cribe to Africanus another and larger work, entitled Kearoi. It is a miscellany, and un- worthy of a Christian divine. Valcsius thinks Eusebius mistook, attributing the work of some pagan bearing the same name, to this Christian father. Others suppose it might have been written by Africanus, in his youth, or before his conversion. Many fragments of it have been collected by The- venot, and published in his Collection of the writings of the ancient Greek mathemati- cians, Paris, 1693, fol. TV.] (11) The Benedictine monks have, with great labour and erudition, endeavoured to dispel this darkness. See Histoire Litter. de la France, torn, i., p. 361, &c., Paris, 1733, 4to. [Both Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., vi., c. 20, 22. and Jerome, de Viris Illustr., c. 61, make him to have flourished in the reign of Sererus, A.D. 222, &c., and to have been a bishop, but of what city they could not learn. Subsequent writers \\ < re divided, some representing him as an Arabian bishop, and others as bishop of Ostia near Rome, whence he is snruamcd Poriue?isis. Per- VOL. I. Y 170 BOOK I. CENTURY III. PART II. CHAP. II. could wish that many writings of Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, were now extant ; for the few fragments which have reached us, show that he was a man of distinguished wisdom and mildness of disposition, and prove that the ancients used no flattery when they styled him Dionysius the Great.(13) Methodius was a man of piety, and had some weight of char- 392, and Lardner, Credibility, pt. ii., vol. moderns who give us his history, and enu- ii., p. 450, <fec. Gregory of New Caesarea merate his works, see Tillemont, Memoires in Pontus, whose original name was Theo- a 1'Hist. Eccl , torn, iv., p. 131, &c., and dorus, was born of heathen parents at New Notes sur St. Greg. Thaum., p. 47. Du Caesarea near the beginning of this century. His family was wealthy and respectable. family After the death of his father, which was when he was fourteen years old, his mother and the children became nominally Chris- tians. But Gregory was a stranger to the Bible, and ambitious to make a figure in the world. About the year 231, he left Pontus, intending to study law in the famous law school at Berytus, but meeting with Origen at Caesarea, he was induced to change his purpose. He applied himself to the study of the' Bible, was baptized, assumed the name of Gregory, and continued under the instruction of Origen eight years, except that he fled to Alexandria for a short time to avoid persecution. He was now a devoted Christian, and a man of great promise. On leaving Origen, he composed and read in a public assembly an eulogy on his instructor, in which he gives account of his own past life and of the manner in which Origen had al- lured him to the study of the scriptures, and changed all his views. Taking an affection- ate leave of his master, he returned to Pon- tus, and became bishop of his native city, New Caesarea, where he spent the remain- der of his life. He was a laborious and successful pastor, and highly respected for his talents and piety, as well as for numer- ous miracles which he is said to have wrought. When created bishop, he found but seven- teen Christians in his very populous diocese. When he died, there was only about the same number of pagans in it. He and his flock endured persecution in the year 250. He attended the first council of Antioch, against Paul of Samosata in the year 264 or 265, and died soon after. Some account of him is given by Euscbius, Hist. Eccles., vi., 30, and vii., 14, 28. Jerome, de Viris Illustr., c. 65, and Ep. ad Magnum. But his great eulogists among the ancients, were the two brothers Basil the Great, and Greg- ory Nyssen, whose grandmother sat under the ministry of Greg. Thaum., and furnished her grandchildren with an account of him. Basil speaks of him in his book on the Holy Spirit, and in his Epistles, No. 28, 110, 204, 207, or 62, 64, 75, 63 ; and Nyssen, in his life of Gregory Thaum., inter Opp. Greg. Nys., torn, iii., p. 536, &c. Among the Pin, Nov. Biblioth. des Aut. Eccles., torn, i., p. 184, &c. Fabricius, Biblioth. Gr., vol. v., p. 247, &c. Cave, Hist. Lit., vol. i. A. Neandcr, Kirchengesch., vol. i., p. 1224, &c. Schroeckh, ubi supra, Lard., ubi su- pra, and Milner, Eccles. Hist., cent, iii., ch. 18. The only genuine works of Gregory, that are extant, are his Eulogy on Origen, which has been mentioned ; a Paraphrase on Ecclesiastes ; a short Confession of faith, (the last part of which some have ques- tioned) ; and a Letter, containing counsel for the treatment of the lapsed. The spuri- ous works attributed to him, are, Capita xii. de Fide, with anathemas ; in Annuntia- tionem Sanctissimae Mariae Sermones tres ; in Sancta Theophania, sive de appari- tione Dei, et Christi Baptismo, Sermo ; de Anima disputatio ad Tatianum ; Expositio Fidei, (fj Kara fiipo^ mfif), relating only to the Trinity. All these were collected and published, with learned notes, by Gerard Vossius, Mayence, 1604, 4to, and Paris, 1622, fol., with the works of Macarius, Ba- sil of Seleucia, and a tract of Zonaras, sub- joined. TV.] (13) The history of Dionysius is carefully written by Ja. Basnage, Histoire de 1'Eglise, tome i., livr. ii., cap. 5, p. 68. [He was probably born of heathen parents, but early converted to the Christian faith by Origen, under whom he had his education at Alex- andria. He became a presbyter there ; and succeeded Hcradas, as head of the cate- chetic school, about the year 232, and on the death of Heraclas, A.D. 248, he again succeeded him in the episcopal chair, which he filled till his death in the year 265. We know little of his history while a catechist, except that he then read carefully all the works of heretics and pagans, and made him- self master of the controversies of the day. (Euseb.,H. E.,lib. vii.,c. 7). As a bishop he was uncommonly laborious and faithful. He lived in stormy times, was called to almost continual contests with errorists, and had little rest from persecution, in which he and his flock suffered exceedingly. These suf- ferings are described in the copious extracts from his writings, preserved by Euscbius, in his Eccles. History, book vi. and vii. In the year 249, the pagans of Alexandria made CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 171 acter ; but the few works of his yet remaining, prove him not to have been a man of an accurate and discriminating mind. (14) insurrection against the Christians, murdered personality to his divine nature. Dionysius several, assaulted, and plundered, and drove distinguished two persons, as well as two into hiding-places most of the rest. The next year the general persecution under natures in Christ ; and affirmed that the ac- tions and sufferings of the human nature Decius commenced, and Dionysius was could not be predicated of the divine nature. under arrest, and suffered much, with his flock, for a year and a half. Soon after his release, the pestilence began to' lay waste Natalis Alexander has a dissertation (Hist. Eccles., saecul. iii., Diss xix.), in vindication of the orthodoxy, though not of all the phra- the church and the city, and did not entirely seology of Dionysius. For a knowledge of cease till the end of twelve years. About the same time, Nepos an Egyptian bishop, embraced and disseminated millenarian prin- ciples; but was at length reclaimed by Dio- nysius. The warm contest respecting the rebaptism of converted heretics, about the year 256, was submitted by both parties to him, and drew forth several able productions from his pen. Not long after, he had to withstand the Sabellians, in a long and ar- duous controversy. In the year 257, the persecution under Valerian commenced ; and for about two years, Dionysius was in banishment, transported from place to place, the life and writings of Dionysius, the chief original sources are Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., 1. vi., c. 29, 35, 40-42, 44-46 ; 1. vii., c. 1, 4-11, 20-28. Praepar. Evang., 1. xiv., c. 23-27. Jerome, de Viris Illustr., c. 69, and Prefatio ad Lib. 18, Comment, in Esaiam ; Athanasius, de Sententia Dionysii ; and de Synodi Nicasnse Decretis ; Basil, de Spiritu Sancto, c. 29. Epist. ad Amphiloeh., and Epist. ad Maximum. Of his works, only two short compositions have come to us en- tire ; namely, his very sensible letter to No- vatian, (apud Eusebii Hist. Eccles., vi., 45), and his Epistola Canonica ad Basili- and subjected to great sufferings. After his dem, in which he gives his opinion respecting return, in the year 260, there was insurrec- tion among the pagans, and civil war and famine raged at Alexandria. Scarcely was quiet restored, when this aged and faithful servant of God was solicited to aid in the controversy against Paul of Samosata. His infirmities prevented his attending the coun- the proper hour for terminating the fast be- fore Easter, and the obligation of Christians to observe certain Jewish laws respecting personal uncleannesses. But we have val- uable extracts from many of his letters and books. Euselnus gives portions of the fol- lowing ; namely, his epistle to Gcrmanus, cil of Antioch in 265, where Paul was con- giving account of his flight and sufferings demned ; but he wrote his judgment of the controversy, sent it to the council, and died soon after, in the close of that year. In his controversy with the Sabellians, he was to say the least unfortunate. For in his zeal to maintain a -personal tiistinetion between the Father and the Son, he let drop expres- sions which seemed to imply, that the latter was of another and an inferior nature to the in the Decian persecution. (H. E., vi., 40, and vii., 11.) Ep. to Fabius bishop of An- tioch, describing the sufferings of his flock in the same persecution. (H. E., vi., 40- 42, 44.) Ep. to Hermammon, on the char- acters of the emperors Decius and Valerian. (H. E., vii., 1, 10, 23.) Ep. to Stephen bishop of Rome, on the peace after the per- secution of Callus. (H. E., vii., 4, 5.) Ep. former. This led the Sahellians to accuse to Domitius and Didymus, describing the him" of heresy ; and a council assembled at Decian persecution at Alexandria, (H. E., Rome, called on him to explain his views, vii , 11.) Ep. to Hicrax, describing the se- He replied in several books or letters, ad- dition at Alexandria, (H. E., vii., 21.) Ep. dressed to Dionysius bishop of Rome, which to Sixtits bishop of Rome, on rebaptism of pretty well satisfied his contemporaries. Afterwards, when the Arians claimed him, Athanasius came forth in vindication of his orthodoxy. Dr. Mosheim, (de Rebus Chris- tianor., p. 696, &c.), supposes that Dio- heretics,. and on the Sabellians, (H. E., vii., 5, 6.) Another ep. to the same, on rebap- tism, &c., (H. E., vii., 9.) Ep. to Phile- mon, a Roman presbyter, on the same sub- ject, (H. E., vii., 7.) Ep. to Dtonysius, nysius differed from the orthodox on the one then a presbyter at Rome, on the same sub- hand, and from Sabelliuson the other, in the ject, and concerning Novatian, (H. E., vii., following manner. They all agreed, that in 7, 8.) Two Books against Nepos and the Jesus Christ, two natures, the human and Millenarians, on the promises to the saints the divine, were united. The orthodox in the Apocalypse, the nature of that book, maintained, that both natures constituted and its author, (H. E., vii., 24, 25 )Ep. to but one perxcm, and denied personality to his own flock, after the plague, consolatory, the human nature. Sabcllius admitted the (H. E., vii., 22.) Libri iv. de Nature, .union of two natures in Christ, but denied against Epicurean doctrines, dedicated to 172 BOOK I. CENTURY III. PART II. CHAP. II. 8. Of the Latin writers of this century, Cyprian bishop of Carthage, deservedly stands first. The epistles and tracts of this distinguished and eloquent man, breathe such a spirit of ardent piety, that almost no one can read them without feeling his soul stirred within him. Yet Cyprian would doubtless have been a better writer, if he had been less studious of rhetorical ornaments, and a better bishop, if he had been more capable of controlling his temper and of discriminating between truth and error. (15) his son, (Euseb., Praep. Evang., xiv., 23- 27.) Athanasius also gives extracts from various of his works. Eusebius mentions seyeral works of Dionysius, from which he gives no extracts, (H. E., vi., 46, and vii., 26) ; namely, Epistles to the brethren in Egypt, de Pcenitentia to Cornelius bishop of Rome, de Pcenitentia to his own church, a monitory epistle to Origen, on Martyr- dom to the brethren of Laodicea to the brethren in Armenia to Cornelius bishop of Rome, concerning Novatian to the brethren at Rome, three epistles concerning the office of a deacon, concerning peace, and de Pcenitentia to the confessors at Rome, who favoured Novatian to the same, after they returned to the church, two letters to Sixtus and the church at Rome, on rebaptism, &c. to Dionysius of Rome, concerning Lu- cian and various Paschal Epistles, (a spe- cies of pastoral letters), addressed to Fla- vins to Domitius and Didymus to his own presbyters to his flock, after the persecution of Valerian to the brethren in Egypt, &c.] (14) [Methodius, Patarensis, Eubulius, was bp. of Olympus, or of Patara, in Lycia, and afterwards of Tyre. He lived during the last half of the third century ; and died a martyr, at Chalcis in Greece, probably A.D. 311, during the Diocletian persecution. Je- rome, (de Viris Illustr., c. 83), ranks him among the popular writers, and commends him especially for the neatness of his style ; but Socrates, (in his Hist. Eccles., 1. vi., c. 13), represents him as one of those low and contemptible scribblers, who endeavour to bring themselves into notice by assailing the characters of their superiors. His works, as enumerated by Jerome, are (1) Two Books against Porphyry, (a large work, now lost) (2) Feast of the Ten Virgins, (a dialogue of pious females, in praise of celibacy. It is still extant, though perhaps corrupted ; but it does its author little credit) (3) On the resurrection of the body, against Origen, opus egregium. (It is but an indifferent work ; much of it is preserved by Epipha- nius, Haeres. Ixiv. Phofius, Bibl. ccxxxiv., &c.) (4) On the Witch of Endor, against Origen ; (not extant) (5) On free will (and the origin of evil ; not from matter, but from abuse of human liberty. Extracts from it remain) (6) Commentaries on Genesis and Canticles, (almost wholly lost) (7) Many other popular works, (not described by Je- rome). The works of Methodius, so far as they remain, were edited with those of Am- philochius and Andreas Cretcnsis, by Fran- cis Cambefis, Paris, 1644, fol. But the Feast of Virgins first appeared in the original Greek, in Combejis, Auctar. noviss. Biblioth. Pair. Grsec., part i. Several discourses of the younger Methodius, patriarch of Constan- tinople in the 9th century, have been ascribed to the senior Methodius. 7Y.J (15) [Thascius Cacilius Cyprianus was born of heathen parents, and probably about the year 200, at Carthage in Africa. He was rather dissipated, but was a man of ge- nius, and a teacher of rhetoric. In the year 244 or 245 he was converted to Christianity, by Ccecilius a presbyter of Carthage, whose name he assumed. An account of his con- version, we have in his tract, de Gratia Dei, ad Donatum. As soon as he became a Christian, he distributed all his property in charity to the poor, devoted himself much to the study of the Bible and of his favourite author Tcrtullian, and showed a zeal and earnestness in religion seldom equalled. He was made a presbyter a few months after his conversion, and was advanced to the episco- pal chair in the year 248. As a bishop he was indefatigable and efficient. Few men ever accomplished so much in a long life, as Cyprian did in the ten years of his episco- pacy. In the year 250 the Decian persecu- tion obliged him to leave Carthage, and live in concealment for more than a year. Du- ring his exile he wrote 39 epistles, which are extant, addressed to his church, to its officers collectively or individually, to other bishops, and to various individuals. On his return to Carthage A.D. 251, he had much to do to collect and regulate his flock : a controversy arose respecting the reception of the lapsed to Christian fellowship ; and Cy- prian had personal contests with some of his presbyters, who were opposed to hirn. He was also drawn into the Novatian contro- versy. The persecution was soon after re- newed by the emperor Callus ; and pesti- lence and famine spread wide ; and incur- sions of barbarians from the desert laid waste the back country. Cyprian wrote and preached incessantly ; and in the year 253, CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 173 The Dialogue of Minucius Felix, which he entitled Octavius, answers the arguments by which the Christians were commonly attacked by their ad- versarics, in a manner so spirited and so handsome, that it cannot be dis. regarded except by those who are willing to be ignorant of the state of the church in this century.(16) The seven Books of Arnobius, the Afri. can, against the Gentiles, are more full and copious, and though obscure in several places, will not be read without both pleasure and profit. Yet this rhetorician, who was superficial in his knowledge of Christian doc- called a council and roused up the African churches to great efforts for redeeming Christian captives. For several years he was most laboriously employed in preach- ing, composing tracts, and directing the ec- clesiastical affairs, not only of Carthage and Africa, but of other countries. In the year 257, the persecution under Valerian broke out, and Cyprian was banished to Curubis. The persecution was severe in Africa : many were imprisoned, condemned to the mines, or put to death. Cyprian gave what aid he could to his suffering brethren. The next year, A.D. 258, he was recalled from ban- ishment, summoned before the ne'.v gov- ernor, Maximum, and condemned to be be- headed. Cyprian lived but 12 years after he embraced Christianity, and during 10 of these he was incessantly engaged in active duties. It was impossible therefore, that he should become a very learned theologian. Though a man of genius, he was not a meta- physician or philosopher, and seems not formed for abstruse speculations. He was an orator and a man of business, rather than a profound scholar. The practical part of Christianity, and the order and discipline of the church, most engaged his attention. Nat- urally ardent, and poring daily over the wri- tings of Tcrtullian, he imbibed very much the spirit and the principles of that gloomy Montanist : and having high ideas of episco- pal power, and great intrepidity of character, he was an energetic prelate, and a severe disciplinarian. The best original sources for the history of this distinguished man, are his own numerous letters and tracts, and the Passio S. Cypriani, or account of his mar- tyrdom, written by Pontius, one of his dea- cons. He is very honourably mentioned by many of the fathers ; and Gregory Naz. wrote a professed eulogy of him. The moderns also, especially the Catholics and the English Episcopalians, have written elaborately con- cerning his history, his works, and his opin- ions. See bp. Pearson's Annales Cyprian- ici, and H. DodweWs Dissertationes Cypri- anicae, in the Oxford edition of Cyprian's works, 1682; Tillcmont,Memoiies a 1'His- toire Eccles., torn, iv., p. 19, &c , and Notes BUT St. Cyprien, p. 10, &c. ; Prud. Maran, Vita S. Cypriani, prefixed to Opp. Cypr., ed. Paris, 1726, p. 38-134; and J. Milner's Church Hist., cent, iii., ch. 7-15. His works consist of 81 Epistles, and 14 Trea- tises, which are accounted genuine. They are nearly all practical, hortatory, contro- versial, and official or friendly letters. His style is neither perspicuous nor chaste, but ardent and animated. He and Laclantius, it has been said, were the fathers of eccle- siastical Latinity. The earlier editions of his works by Erasmus and others, arranged his letters in Books, without regard to their dates or subjects. Tlie edition of Pamclius, 1556, rcpublished by Rigaltius, 1664, at- tempted to arrange them in chronological order. The Oxford edition by bp. Fell, 1682, fol., perfected this arrangement. The edi- tion prepared by Bc.luze, and published by Prudentius Maran, Paris, 1726, fol., retains the order of Pamelius. The two last are the best editions. Tr.] (16) [Minucius Felix was a respectable Christian barrister at Rome, and is supposed to have been contemporary with Tertullian, and to have flourished about the year 220. He is mentioned by Jerome, de Viris Illustr., c. 58, and by Lactantius, Institut. Divinar., 1. i., c. 11, and 1. v., c. 1. Little is known of his history. His elegant Dialogue, be- tween Ctecilius a pagan and Octanus a Christian, recounts the principal arguments urged for and against Christianity at that time, in a clear, concise, and forcible man- ner. The Latinity is pure and elegant. Je- rome informs us that another tract, de Fato vel contra Mathematicos, was ascribed to him ; but from its style, it was probably not his. This tract is now lost. In the middle ages, the Octavius of Minucius was mistaken, for the 8th Book (Liber Octavus) of Arnobi- us ; and it was so published in the earlier editions. It has been often republished. The best editions, cum notis variorum, arc those of Gronovius, Ley den, 1709, 8vo ; and of Davis, Cambridge, 1707 and 1711, 8vo. The Germans are fond of the edition of Cel- lar ins, 1698, 8vo, republished by Lindcr, 1760, and by Ernest:, 1773, 8vo. It has been translated into French, Dutch, and English ; the last, by Reeves, among his Apologies in defence of the Christian reli- gion, vol. h'., Lond., 1709, 8vo. Tr.] 174 BOOK I. CENTURY III. PART II. CHAP. II. trines, has intermixed great errors and great truths, and has set forth a, strange philosophical kind of religion, very different from that ordinarily received. (17) The writers of less eminence, I leave to be learned from those who have professedly enumerated the learned men among Chris- tians.(18) (17) [Arnobius, senior, was a teacher of rhetoric at Sicca in Africa, during the reign of Diocletian. See Jerome, de Viris Illustr., c. 79. He was at first an open adversary of the Christian religion, but at length being fully convinced of its truth, he undertook to defend it in a learned and elaborate work. But, either his knowledge of Christianity was then very limited, or he had studied the Scriptures only in private, and without seek- ing instruction from the Christian teachers, for he entertained many singular opinions. Jerome reports, (Chron. ad. ann. xx. Con- stantini), that when Arnobius applied to the bishop for baptism, the latter refused him, from doubts of the sincerity of his conver- sion ; and that Arnobius wrote his book to satisfy the mind of the bishop. This account is called in question by some. See Lardner, Credibility, &c , pt. ii., vol. iv., p. 7, and Neandcr, Kirchengesch., vol. i., p. 1161, &c. He probably wrote in the beginning of the 4th century, and died perhaps about A.D. 326. The best early editions of his work, are those printed at Ley den, 1651 and 1657, 4to. The latest edition is that of Ore//, Lips., 1816, 8vo, in 2 parts, with an Appendix, 1817, 8vo. TV.] (18) [The following notices of other lead- ing men in this century, may be interesting to the literary reader. Caius, a learned ecclesiastic of Rome, in the beginning of this century, is mentioned by Jerome, de Viris Illustr., c. 59, and is quoted repeatedly by Eusebius. In his work against Proculus the Montanist, he assailed the Chiliasts, and ascribed but 13 epistles to St. Paul. Euseb,, H. E., ii., 25, iii., 28, and vi., 20. He has been supposed by some to be the author of the book against Artemon, quoted by Euseb., H. E., v., 28. Just before A.D. 200, Theophilus bp. of Antioch, Bacchylus bp. of Ccesarea in Pal- estine, and Polycrales bp. of Ephesus, called councils on the controversy respecting East- er day, and composed synodic epistles. See Jerome, de Viris Illustr., c. 43-45, and Eu- seb., H. E., v., 23 and 25. From the epistle of Folycratcs, valuable extracts are made by Jerome, I. c., and Euseb., H. E., iii., 31, and v., 24. At the commencement of this century, lived Hcraclitus, Maximus, Candidus, Ap- pion, Sextus, and Arabianus, who were dis- tinguished as writers, according to Jerome, de Viris Illustr., c. 46-51, and Euscb., H. E., v., 27. Hcraclitus commented on Paul's Epistles ; Maximus wrote concerning the origin of evil, (irepl TTJS v^t/f, from which we have a considerable extract, in Euseb. , Prae- par. Evang., vi., 22) ; Candidus and Appion explained the Hexaemeron, or six days' work, Gen., ch. i. ; Sextus wrote on the res- urrection ; and Arabianus composed some doctrinal tracts. Judas, of the same age, undertook a com- putation of the 70 weeks of Daniel ; and brought down his history of events to A.D. 203. See Jerome, de Viris Illustr., c. 52, and Euseb., H. E., vi., 7. Ammonius was probably an Egyptian Christian, nearly contemporary with Origen ; and not the apostate philosopher Ammonius Saccas under whom Origen studied, though confounded with him by Euseb., H. E., vi., 19, and by Jerome, de Viris Illustr., c. 55. See Fabricius, Biblioth. Gr., iv., p. 161 and 172, and Mosheim, de Reb. Christianor., p. 281, &c. He wrote a book on the agree- ment of Moses with Jesus, which is lost, and a Harmony of the four Gospels, which is supposed to be one of those still extant in the Biblioth. Max. Patrum. But whether the larger Harmony, in torn, ii., pt. ii., or the smaller, in torn, iii., is the genuine work, has been doubted. See Lardner, Credibility, &c., pt. h , vol. ii., p. 106, &c. Tryphon, a disciple of Origen, is said by Jerome (de Viris Illustr., c. 57) to have been very learned in the scriptures, and to have written many epistles and tracts, and particularly a treatise concerning the red heifer, in the book of Num., ch. xix. ; and another, on the dividing of the birds, in Abra- ham's sacrifice, Gen. xv., 10. Nothing of his is extant. Symmachus, originally a Samaritan, then a Jew, and at last an Ebionite Christian, gave a free translation of the 0. T. into Greek ; and also defended the principles of the Ebionites, in a Commentary on Mat- thew's Gospel. See Euseb., H. E., vi., 17. Narcissus was made bp. of Jerusalem A.D. 196. After four years of faithful ser- vice, he was falsely accused of immoral con- duct ; and, though generally accounted in- nocent, he voluntarily abdicated his office, and lived in retirement till A.D. 216, when he resumed his office and continued in it till his martyrdom, A.D. 237. It is stated, that he was then 116 years old. See Euseb., H. E., vi., c. 9, 10, 11. CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 175 Alexander succeeded Narcissus, A.D. 237, and held the chair 14 years. This em- inent man was bishop of a church in Cappa- docia, when called to the see of Jerusalem. He was a great patron of Origen ; and wrote several epistles, from which extracts are preserved. After important services to the church, he died a martyr, A.D. 251. See Jerome, do Viris Illustr., c. 62, and Euseb., H. E., vi., 11, 14, 19, 26, 39, and 46. Firmilian, bp. of Caesarea in Cappado- cia, was a disciple and a great admirer of Origcn. He was a man of high eminence in the church, and died at Tarsus, on his way to the second council of Antioch against Paul of Samosata, about A.D. 266. A long and able epistle of his to Cyprian, on the rebaptism of Heretics, is preserved in a Latin translation, among the works of Cyp- rian, Ep. 75. See Euseb., H. E., vi., 26, 27, 46, and vii., 5, 29. Pontius, a deacon of Carthage, attended Cyprian at his death, and wrote an account of his martyrdom, which has reached us, though perhaps interpolated. It is prefixed to Cyprian's works, and is found in Ruinart, Acta Selecta Martyrum. See Jerome, de Viris Illustr., c. 68. Pontius himself, it is said, suffered martyrdom shortly after ; of which an account is extant, professedly writ- ten by his fellow- deacon Valerius ; apud Ba- luzii Miscell., torn, ii., p. 124. Cornelius, bp. of Rome, was elected June 2, A.D. 251, in opposition to Novatian ; and after 15 months, died in banishment at Cen- tumcellae, (Civita-Vecchia), Sept. 14, A.D. 252. In the works of Cyprian, there are extant two epistles of Cornelius to Cyprian, and ten ep. of Cyprian to Cornelius. Cyp- rian describes him (Ep. 52, ed. Baluz.) as an unimpeachable character, a pious, sensi- ble, modest man, well qualified to be a bish- op. Jerome, (de Viris Illustr., c.'66), men- tions four epistles of Cornelius to Fabius bp. of Antioch; and Euseb. gives us a long and valuable extract from one of them, H. E., vi., 43. See Bower's Lives of the Popes, vol. i. Novatian, first a presbyter, and then the schismatical bp. of Rome, wrote, (according to Jerome, de Viris Illustr., c. 70), de Pas- cha ; de Sabbatho ; de Circumcisione ; de Sacerdote ; de Oratione ; de Cibis Judaicis, (extant, inter Opp. TertuSuma) ; de Instan- tia ; de Attalo ; de Trinitate, (a large book, being an abridgment of a work of Ten extant, inter Opp. Tertul. ), and many other works. An epistle written by him to Cyp- rian, in the name of the Roman clergy, A.D. 250, is likewise extant, (inter Opp. Cypri- ani, ep. 31, ed. Baluz.), and shows that he was a man of talents, and a good writer. His rival, Cornelius, describes him as a very bad man ; see Euseb., H. E., vii., 43. Stephen, bp. of Rome, A.D. 253-257, is chiefly famous for his presumptuous attempt to excommunicate Cyprian and many other bishops of Africa and the East, for rebapti- zing converted heretics. See Euseb., Hist. Eccl., vii., 2-5, 7. Cyprian, Ep. 70-75. Bower's Lives of the Popes, vol. i. Sixtus II., bp. of Rome A.D. 257, 258, and a martyr, was more conciliatory than his predecessor. Euseb., vii., 5, 9 ; Bower's Lives of the Popes, vol. i. Various suppos- ititious writings are extant under his name. The most noted is a series of 460 moral Ap- othegms, translated by Rufinus. Jerome, (on Ezek., c. 18, and elsewhere), and Augustine, (Retract., 1. ii., c. 42), pronounce them the work of Sixtus, a pagan philosopher ; which they probably are, notwithstanding U. G. Sieber, their editor, (Lips., 1725, 4to), has laboured hard to fix them on this Roman bishop. Dionysius, bp. of Rome A.D. 259-269, was a learned man, and a good bishop. See Basil, ep. 220, and de Sp. Sancto, c. 29. Euseb., H. E., vii., 7. He wrote an ep. against the Sabellians, of which Athanasius (de Synodi Nicaenae Decretis) has preserved an extract ; also an ep. to Dionysius of Alex- andria, acquainting him with the dissatisfac- tion of a council of bishops at Rome, with some expressions concerning the Trinity used by that patriarch, and requesting of him an explanation ; which was given in four Letters or Books. Athanasius, pro senten- tia Dionys. Alex., and Euseb., H. E., vii., 26. See Bower's Lives of the Popes, vol. i. Malchion, a presbyter and a teacher of phi- losophy at Antioch. He greatly distinguish- ed himself in the third council against Paul of Samosata, A.D. 269. Two previous councils had been unable to convict the crafty heretic ; but in this, Malchion en- countered him in presence of the council, while stenographers took down their dia- logue. Paul was now convicted ; and the Dialogue was published. Eusebius, H. E., vii., 29. Jerome, de Viris Illustr., c. 71. Commodianus, a Christian poet, was prob- ably an African and contemporary, or nearly so, with Cyprian. See Dodwell's Diss. de aetate Commodiani. He had a smattering of Greek and Latin learning ; but was a weak, though well-meaning man. His book comprises eighty paragraphs, called Instruc- tions. It is written acrostically, and in a loose kind of hexameter. The style is rude, and the matter trite. The first half of the book is directed against the pagans ; next h* assails the unbelieving Jews ; and then at, 176 BOOK I. CENTURY III. PART II. CHAP. II. tempts to instruct all classes of Christians, and all ranks of ecclesiastical functionaries. It was first published by Rigaltius, subjoin- ed to Cyprian's works, AD. 1650; and again in 1666. The editions with notes, by Schurtzflcisch, 1710, and of Dam's, subjoined to his Minutius Felix, Cambr., 1711, 8vo, are the best. Anatolius, a very scientific ecclesiastic of Alexandria, who, by his address, once deliv- ered his townsmen from a siege. He was made bishop of Laodicea in Syria, about A.D. 270, and published canons for ascer- taining Easter, from which Eusebius, (H. E., vii., 32), has preserved an extract ; and Institutes of Arithmetic, in ten books, of which some fragments still remain. Euse- lius (1. c.) gives a long account of him. See also Jerome, de Viris Illustr., c. 73. What remains of his works, has been pub- lished, Gr. and Lat., by Bucherius, in his Doctrina Temporum, Antw., 1634, fol. Archelaus, bishop of Carrha in Mesopo- tamia, flourished about A.D. 278. He wrote in Syriac his disputation with Manes the heretic ; which was early translated into Greek, and thence into Latin. See Jerome, de Viris Illustr., c. 72. A large part of the Latin copy, was first published by Valcsius, subjoined to Socrates, Historia Eccles., af- terwards, together with what remains of the Greek, by Zaccagnius, in his Collection of rare works of the Greek and Latin church, Rome, 1698, 4to, p. 1-102: and lastly, by Fabricius, ad finem Opp. S. Hippolyti, 2 Tols. fol. Pierius, a presbyter, and perhaps, cate- chist of Alexandria. He was of Origcn's school, very learned in the Scriptures, and wrote many discourses and expositions in a neat and simple style. He was called Origen Junior. His long discourse on the prophet Hosea, is particularly noticed by Jerome, Pholms (Biblioth. cxix.) mentions twelve books of his expositions. He was of an as- cetic turn, lived considerably into the fourth century, and spent his latter years at Rome. Nothing of his remains. See Jerome, de Viris Illustr., c. 76, and Eusebius, H. E., vii., 32. Thcognostus, of Alexandria, a friend of Origen, and perhaps successor to Pierius in the catechetic school. He wrote seven books of Hypotyposes ; of which Photius (Biblioth. cvi.) has preserved an abstract. Photius deemed him heretical, in regard to the Trinity : but Alhanasius makes quota- tions from him, in confutation of the Arians. See Fabricius, Biblioth. Gr., vol. ix., p. 408. Lucian, a learned presbyter of Antioch. He adhered for some time to Paul of Samos- ata. To him most of the churches from Syria to Constantinople, were indebted for corrected copies of the Septuagint. Jerome mentions him as the author of several theo- logical tracts and letters ; and a confession rff faith, drawn up by him, is still extant, in Socrates, Hist. Eccles., 1. ii., c. 10, and in Walch's Biblioth. Simbol. Vetus, p. 29, &c. He was a very pious man, and suffered mar- tyrdom at Nicomedia, A.D. 311. See Eu- sebius, H. E., viii., 13, and ix., 6, and Je- rome, de Viris Illustr., c. 77. Hesychius, an Egyptian bishop and mar- tyr, was famous at the same period for set- ting forth correct copies of the Septuagint in Egypt. Whether he was that Hesychius, who compiled a useful Greek Lexicon, still extant, is uncertain. He died a martyr, A.D. 311. SeeEuseb.,H. E., viii., 13, and Fabricius, Biblioth. Gr., vol. iv., p. 554, &c. Pamphylus the martyr, was a native of Berytus, but a presbyter of Cassarea in Pal- estine, where he established a school, and collected a theological library, which has been of immense service to the Christian world. This library afforded to Eusebius, Jerome, and many others, the means of be- coming learned divines, and of benefiting the world by their writings. To this estab- lishment, ecclesiastical history and biblical learning, are peculiarly indebted. Pamphy- lus was a pupil of Pierius, an admirer of Origen, and the great friend and patron of Eusebius. He transcribed most of the works of Origen, with his own hand ; and he com- posed a biography and vindication of Origen, in "five books, to which Eusebius added a sixth book. Only the first book is now ex- tant ; and that in a Latin translation of Ru- finus, printed inter Opp. Originis. Pam- phylus took great pains to multiply and spread abroad correct copies of the Holy Scriptures. His life was written by Eusebius, in three books, which are lost. He suffered martyr- dom, A.D. 309, at Cssarea in Palestine. See Euscbms, de martyribus Palasstinae, c. 10 and 7, and H. E., vi., 32, vii., 32, and viii., 13. Jerome, de Viris Illustr., c. 75. Victorinus, bishop of Petavio in Upper Pannonia, (Petau in Steyermark,) wrote Commentaries on Gen., Exod., Levit., Isa., Ezek., Habak., Eccles., Can tic., and the Apocalypse ; also a book against all the Her- esies. He died a martyr, A.D. 303. Je- rome says, he understood Greek better than Latin ; and therefore his thoughts are good, but his style bad. Dr. Cave (Histor. Lit., vol. i.) published a fragment of his Com- mentary on Genesis. Whether the Com- mentary on the Apocalypse, now extant un- der his name, be his, has been much doubt- ed ; because this comment is opposed to Chiliasm, whereas Jerome (de Viris Illustr., HISTORY OF THEOLOGY. 1/7 CHAPTER III. HISTORY OF THEOLOGY. 1. State of Christian Theology. 2. Sources of the Mystical Theology. 3. Thence the Monks and Eremites. 4. Attention to the Holy Scriptures. t) 5. Origen's Prin- ciples of Interpretation. 6. Other Interpreters. 7. State of Dogmatic Theology. $ 8. Moral or Practical Theology. 9. Polemic Divines. 10. Faults of the Dis- putants. 11. Spurious Books. 12. The Chiliastic Controversy. 13. Contro- versy respecting the Baptism of Reclaimed Heretics. 14. Disputes concerning Origen, 1. To the common people, the principal truths of Christianity were explained in their purity and simplicity, and all subtilties were avoided ; nor were weak and tender minds overloaded with a multitude of precepts. (1) But in their schools, and in their books, the doctors who cultivated litera- ture and philosophy and especially those of Egypt, deemed it elegant and exquisite, to subject divine wisdom to the scrutiny of reason, or rather to bring under the precepts of their philosophy, and to examine metaphysi- cally, the nature of the doctrines taught by Christ. At the head of this class of divines was Origen, who being fascinated with the Platonic phi- losophy, ventured to apply its laws to every part of religion, and persuaded himself that the philosophy which he admired, could assign the causes and grounds of every doctrine, and determine its precise form and nature. (2) c. 18) says, that Victorinus favoured the sen- timents of Ncpos and the Chiliasts. See Jerome, de Viris Illustr., c. 74. TV.] (1) See Origen, in Proef. libror. de Prin- cipiis, torn, i., Opp., p. 49, and lib. i., de Princip., cap. vii., p. 69, ed de la Rue ; also (Irr.rron/ Neocjesar. Expositio Fidei, p. 11, Opp., ed. G. Vossii. (2) In his Stromata, which are lost, and in his work d<~ I' fipiit, which is pn in the Latin tranM.ition of Rn_finus [See a long note of Dr. Mosneim, on the philosophy and the theology of Ongcn, in his Comment. de Rebus Christianor., p. 604, &c. It does not appear that Oriyrn rp^arded reason or philosophy as of higher authority than reve- lation. He believed indeed that there is a true philosophy as well as a false, and that the die' farmer are to be received and confided in. But he also believed that the scriptures contain a divine revelation, which is to be received and followed with implicit confidence ; and that no philosophy is true which contradicts the plain declara- tions of the scriptures. At the same time he believed, that the scriptures for the most part only state the simple truths and facts of religion, without explaining the grounds and reasons of them ; and that they state these truths and facts in a plain and popular man- VOL. I. Z ner, without acquainting us with the meta- physical nature of the subjects. In his opin- ion, it was the proper business of reason or philosophy to investigate more fully the causes and grounds of these religious truths and facts, and to examine and determine their metaphysical nature. Such, it ap- pears, were Origen's fundamental principles. And how few are they, who in this or in any age, have adopted more consistent views ? Yet he erred ; and erred, just as theologians have ever been prone to do, by relying too confidently on the correctness and certainty of what he regarded as the conclusions of true philosophy. For an illustration of the nature and extent of Origen's errors, let it be observed, that in the beginning of his book de Principiis, f) 3, p. 47, he gives the following list of fundamental truths, which he considers as plainly taught in the scrip- tures, and of course as never to be called in question; viz. (1) There is one God, the creator and father of all. (2) He, in these last days, sent Christ to call first the Jews and then also other people. (3) Jesus Christ was begotten of the Father before all creatures, and he aided (was the instrument of) the Father in the whole work of creation. (4) The same Christ becoming man, was incarnate, though he was God ; and having 173 BOOK I. CENTURY III. PART II. CHAP. III. He must be acknowledged, indeed, to have proceeded in this matter, for the most part, with timidity and modesty ; but his example sanctioned this faulty mode of treating theology, and led his disciples to burst the barriers he established, and to become very licentious in explaining divine truths according to the dictates of philosophy. To these divines as the parents, that species of theology which is called philosophic or scholastic, owes its birth ; but it afterwards assumed various forms', according to the capacity and erudition of the men who delighted in it. 2. It is a singular circumstance, that another species of theology which has been denominated mystic, and which has a natural tendency to destroy the former, originated from the same sources, and nearly at the same time. Its authors are unknown ; but its causes and the process of its formation are manifest. Its originators assumed that well-known doctrine of the Platonic school, which was approved also by Origen and his followers, that a portion of the divine nature was diffused through all human souls ; or to express the same thing in other words, that reason in us is an emanation from God himself, and comprehends the elements or first principles of all truths human and divine. Yet they denied that men, by their own efforts and care, can excite this divine spark within them ; and therefore they disap- proved of the endeavours of men to gain clear perceptions of latent truths by means of definitions, discrimination, and reflection. On the contrary they maintained, that silence, inaction, solitude, repose, the avoidance of all active scenes, and the mortification and subjugation of the body, tended to excite this internal word [Aoyof or reason] to put forth its hidden ener- gies, and thus to instruct men in divine things. For the men who neglect all human affairs, and withdraw their senses and their eyes from the con- tagious influence of material objects, do spiritually, or with the mind, re- turn back to God ; and being united with God, they not only enjoy vast pleasure, but they see in its native purity and undisguised that truth, which appears to others only in a vitiated and deformed state. (3) become man, he remained God, as he was tion for a moment. Yet, as before obser- before ; he assumed a body like to ours, and ved, their metaphysical nature and the differing only in this, that it was born of the grounds and reasons of them, he supposed virgin and of the Holy Spirit ; he really and it the proper business of reason or philosophy truly suffered, died, and rose again. (5) to investigate. And his errors were nearly The Holy Spirit, in honour and dignity, is all in relation to religious philosophy, or on- joined with the Father and the Son. (6) All tology and metaphysics. He reasoned, and rational minds possess entire freedom of believed, according to the reigning philoso- choice and volition, and when separated from phy of the age and country in which he lived, the body will be punished or rewarded ac- He therefore believed in the pre-existence cording to their merits. (7) Our bodies will of human souls, and their incarceration in be raised in a far more perfect state. (8) bodies, for offences previously committed ; The devil and his angels are realities, and that the senses are polluting to the soul, arid they seek to involve men in sin. (9) This must be all mortified ; that all rational be- world will be dissolved. (10) The scrip- ings are left of God to follow their own tures were dictated by the Spirit of God ; choice, and are restrained only by motives, and they contain a double sense, the one the most powerful of which is punishment ; manifest, the other latent. (11) There are and that ultimately God will thus bring all holy angels and powers, who minister to the his creatures to be wise and holy and happy, salvation of men. These Origen gives as TV.] specimens only ; for he says : Hae sunt spe- (3) [In hi? Comment, de Rebus Christia- cies (sorts or specimen*) eorum, quae per nor., p. 658-667, Dr. Mosheim endeavours praedicationem Apostolicam manifeste tra- to show, that Origen, by his religious phi- duntur. Now euch general truths as these, losophy, laid the foundations of mystic the- Origen did not permit to be called in que*- ology in the Christian church. But the ei- HISTORY OF THEOLOGY. l?d 3. By such reasoning many in this age were induced to retire into deserts, and to emaciate their bodies by fasting and hardships. And by such motives, rather than by fear of the Decian persecution, I suppose Paul the hermit was led to roam in the deserts of Thebais, and to lead a life more proper for an irrational animal than for a human being.(4) This Paul is said to be the author of the institution of Eremites. But this mode of life prevailed among Christians long before Paul the hermit ; in fact it was practised long before the Christian era, in Egypt, Syria, India, and Mes- opotamia, and it still exists among the Mohammedans, no less than among the Christians, in those arid and burning climates. (5) For the heated at- mosphere which overspreads those countries naturally disposes the inhab- itants to repose and indolence, and to court solitude and melancholy. 4. Among those who laudably employed themselves on the sacred volume, the first place is due to those who took earnest care, that copies of the Bible might everywhere be found accurately written and at a mod- erate price ; that it might be translated into other languages, and that amended and faultless editions might become common. Many opulent Christians of those times are known to have expended no small portion of their estates in furtherance of these objects. In correcting the copies of the Septuagint version, Pierius and Hesychias in Egypt, and Lucian at Antioch, employed themselves with laudable industry. Nor should the nearly similar efforts of Pamphylus the martyr, be passed without notice. But Origen surpassed all others in diligence and patient labour in this way. His Hexapla, though [nearly] destroyed by the ravages of time, will re- main an eternal monument of the incredible application, with which that great man laboured to subserve the interests of the church. (6) dence he adduces is by no means conclusive. (6) The fragments of this Herculean work TV.] which are preserved, have been collected (4) His life was written by Jerome. [See and published by that ornament of the once also the Acta Sanctorum, Antwerp, torn, i., learned Benedictines, Bernh. de Montfau- January 10, p. 602. Schl.] con, Paris, 1713, 2 vols. fol. See also J. (5) See the Travels of Paul Lucas, A.D. F. Buddcus, Isagoge in Theologiam, torn. 1714, vol. ii., p. 363. [The reader will rec- ii., p. 1376, &c., and J. G. Carpzov, Crittca olloct the Drrvises and Fakirs, who roam Sacra Vet. Test., p. 574. [Origen pub- over the whole country from the shores of lished both a Tctrapla and a Hcxapla, that the Mediterranean to the Ganges. Jerome is, a fourfold and a sixfold Bible. The reports, in the preface to his life of Paul of former contained, in parallel columns (1) Thebais, on the questionable authority of Aquila's Gr. version ; (2) that of Symma- Amalhas and Miu-tirins, two disciples of St. chus ; (3) the Septuagint version; (4) the Anthony, that Paul the hermit of Thebais, Gr. version of Theodolion. The Hcxapla. was the first who practised this mode of life, contained, throughout, six columns, gener- But high ideas of the sanctity of renouncing ally eight, and occasionally nine; thus ar- social and civilized life and dwelling in des- ranged, (1) The Hebrew text in the Hebrew erts among beasts, were prevalent, before character ; (2) the Hebrew text in Greek the middle of this century, when Paul turned characters ; (3) Aquild's version ; (4) that hermit. Thus Narcissus, bishop of Jerusa- of Symmachus ; (5) the Septiiagint ; (6) that lem, obtained great reputation in the close of Theodotion ; (7) and (8) two other Greek of the second century, by secreting himself versions, whose authors were unknown ; (9) many years in the desert. Eusebius, H. E., another Greek version. The three last, be- lib. vi., c. 9, 10. The origin of religious ing anonymous versions, are denominated eremitism may perhaps be traced back to the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Greek ver- the i-arly pagan philosophers ; for Porphyry sions. The most useful parts of Montfau- (irtpl (nrc\fic, <J 35) assures us, that the an- con's Hexapla, with additions, corrections, cicnt Pythagoreans were distinguished for and notes, have been published in two vols. their attachment to this mode of life. 8vo, by C. F. Bahrdt, Lips., 1769-70. TV.] TV.] 180 BOOK I.-CENTURY III.-PART II. CHAP. III. & 5. The same Origen, unquestionably, stands at the head of the inter, preters of the Bible in this century. But with pain it must be added, he was first among those who have found in the scriptures a secure retreat for all errors and idle fancies. As this most ingenious man could see no feasible method of vindicating all that is said in the Scriptures, against the cavils of the heretics and the enemies of Christianity, provided he inter- preted the language of the Bible literally, he concluded that he must ex- pound the sacred volume in the way in which the Platonists were accus- tomed to explain the history of their gods. He therefore taught, that the words, in many parts of the Bible, convey no meaning at all ; and in some places, where he acknowledged there was some meaning in the words, he maintained that under the things there expressed, there was contained a hidden and concealed sense, which was much to be preferred to the literal meaning of the words. (7) And this hidden sense it is, that he searches (7) Here may be consulted the Preface of Charles de la Rue to the second volume of Origen' s works, ed. Paris, 1733, fol. With greater fulness and precision I have stated and explained Origen's system of biblical interpretation, in my Comment, de Rebus Christianor., &c., p. 629, &c., where also his philosophy, his theology, and his contest with Bishop Demetrius, are formally taken Tip and discussed. [With this may be com- pared the observations of that distinguished philologist, Professor Ernesti, in his Disser- tatio de Origene, interpretationis librorum S. S. grammaticae auctore, written A.D. 1756. Ernesti shows that the merits of this Christian father, in regard to the criticism and exposition of the O. and N. Testaments, were by no means small. The leading thoughts of Dr. Mosheim, as stated in his Commentaries de Rebus, &c., are the fol- lowing. Origen was not the inventor of the allegorical mode of expounding the Scrip- tures. It was in use among the Jews, before the Christian era. (Ernesti goes farther, and seeks its origin in the schools of the prophets). Philo was a great allegorist, and Pantaenus and Clemens Alex, were the first Christian allegorists. Origen took greater liberties in this mode of interpretation ; and it was not simply his resorting to allegories, but his excesses in them, that drew upon him enemies. Before his day, all interpret- ers explained the narrations and the laws contained in the Bible, according to their lit- eral meaning. But Origen perversely turned a large part of biblical history into moral fa- bles, and many of the laws into allegories. Probably he learned this in the school of Am- monius, which expounded Hesiod, Homer, and the whole fabulous history of the Greeks allegorically. The predecessors of Origen, who searched after a mystical sense of scrip- ture, still set a high value on the grammati- cal or literal sense ; but he often expresses himself, as if he attached no value to it. Before him, allegories were resorted to, only to discover predictions of future events, and rules for moral conduct : but he betook him- self to allegories, in order to establish the principles of his philosophy on a scriptural basis. All this must have been offensive to many Christians. His propensity to allego- ries must be ascribed to the fertility of his invention, the prevailing custom of the Egyp- tians, his education, the instructions he re- ceived from his teachers, and the example both of the philosophers, of whom he was an admirer, and of the Jews, especially Philo, To these may be added other causes. He hoped, by means of his allegories, more easily to convince the Jews, to confute the Gnos- tics, and to silence the objections of both. This he himself tells us, de Principiis, 1. viii., c. 8, p. 164, &c. But we must not forget his attachment to that system of philosophy which he embraced. This philosophy could not be reconciled with the Scriptures, except by a resort to allegories ; and therefore the Scriptures must be interpreted allegorically, that they might not contradict his philoso- phy. The Platonic idea of a twofold world, a visible and an invisible, the one emble- matic of the other, led him to search for a figurative description of the invisible world, in the biblical history o f the nations of the earth. He also believed that it was doing honour to the Holy Scriptures, to consider them as diverse from all human compositions, and as containing hidden mysteries. See his Homil. xv., on Genesis, Opp., torn, ii., p. 99, and Homil. on Exod., Opp., torn, ii., p. 129. And finally, he thought many of the objections of the enemies of religion, could not be fully answered, without recur- rence to allegories. His general principles for the interpretation cf the sacred volume, resolve themselves into the following posi* tions. (1) The Scriptures resemble man. HISTORY OF THEOLOGY. 181 after in his commentaries, ingeniously indeed, but perversely, and generally to the entire neglect and contempt of the literal meaning. (8) This remote sense he moreover divides into the moral, and the mystical or spiritual ; the former containing instruction relative to the internal state of the soul and As a man consists of three parts, a rational mind, a sensitive soul, and a visible body ; so the Scriptures have a threefold sense, a literal sense, corresponding with the body, a moral sense, analogous to the soul, and a mystical or spiritual sense, analogous to the rational mind. Homil. v., on Levit, $ 5, Opp., torn, ii., p. 209. (2) As the body is the baser part of man, so the literal is the K\s* worthy sense of Scripture. And as the body often betrays good men into sin, so the literal sense often leads us into error. Stro- mata, 1. x., quoted by Jerome, b. iii. Com- ment, on Galat., ch. iii., Opp., torn, i., p. 41. (3) Yet the literal sense is not wholly use- less. De Principiis, 1. iv., 12, p. 169, and 14, p. 173. (4) They who would see farther into the Scriptures than the common people, mcst search out the moral sense. (5) And the perfect, or those who have at- tained to the highest degree of blessedness, must also investigate the spiritual sense. De Principiis, 1. ir., $ 2, p. 168. (6) The moral sense of Scripture instructs us relative to the changes in the mind of man, and gives rules for regulating the heart and life. (7) The spiritual sense acquaints us with the nature and state and history of the spiritual world. For, besides this material world, there is a spiritual world, composed of two parts, the heavenly and the earthly. The earthly mystical or spiritual world, is the Christian church on earth. The heavenly mystical world is above, and corresponds in all its parts with the lower world, which was formed after its model. (8) As the Scripture contains the history of this twofold mystic world, so there is a twofold mystic sense of Scripture, an allegorical and an an- agogical. (9) The mystic sense is diffused throughout the Holy Scriptures. (10) Yet we do not always meet with loth the alle- gorical sense and the anagogical, in every passage. (11) The moral sense likewise pervades the whole Bible. (12) But the literal sense docs not occur everywhere : for many passages have no literal meaning. (13) Some passages have only two senses, namely, a moral and a mystical, [the mys- tical being either allegorical or anna rarely both], other passages have three senses, [the moral, the mystical, and the literal.} (14) The literal sense is perceived by every attentive reader. The moral sense is somewhat more difficult to be discovered. (15) But the mystic sense none can discover, with certainty, unless they are wise men, and also taught of God. (16) Neithercan even such men hope to fathom all the mysteries of the sacred volume. (17) In searching for the anagogical sense, especially, a person must proceed with peculiar care and caution. Schl. Dr. Mosheim states the following as Origen's general rule for determining when a passage of scripture may be taken literally, and when not ; viz., Whenever the words, if understood literally, will afford a valuable meaning, one that is worthy of God, useful to men, and accordant with truth and correct reason, then the literal meaning is to be retained : but whenever the words, if un- derstood literally, will express what is absurd, or false, or contrary to correct reason, or use- less, or unworthy of God, then the literal sense is to be discarded, and the moral and mystical alone to be regarded. This rule he applies to every part both of the Old Test. and the New. And he assigns two reasons why fables and literal absurdities are admit- ted into the sacred volume. The first is, that if the literal meaning were always ra- tional and good, the reader would be apt to rest in it, and not look after the moral and mystical sense. The second is, that fabu- lous and incongruous representations often afford moral and mystical instruction, which could not so well be conveyed by sober facts and representations. De Principiis, 1. iv., $ 15, 16 ; torn, x., Comment, in Job. TV.] (8) Origcn, in his Stromata, 1. x., cited by Ch. de la Rue, Opp., torn, i., p. 41, says: Multorum malorum occasio est, si quis in came Scripture maneat. Qute qui fecerint, regnum Dei non consequentur. Quamobrem spiritum ScriptursB/rwc/M-syKc qusramus, qui non dicuntur manifesti. He had said a little before : Non valde cos juvat Scripture, qui earn intelligunt, ut scriptum est. Who would suppose such declarations could fall from the lips of a wise and considerate person 1 But this excellent man suffered himself to be misled by the causes mention- ed, and by his love of philosophy. He could not discover in the sacred books all that he considered true, so long as he adhered to the literal sense ; but allow him to abandon the literal sense, and to search for recondite meanings, and those books would contain Plti/n. Aristotle, Zcno, and the whole tribe of philosophers. And thus, nearly all those who would model Christianity according to their own fancy or their favourite system of philosophy, have run into this mode of inter- preting Scripture. 182 BOOK I. CENTURY III. PART II. CHAP. III. our external actions, and the latter acquainting us with the nature, the history, and laws of the spiritual or mystical world. He fancied that this mystical world was also twofold, partly superior or celestial, and -partly in- ferior and terrestrial, that is, the church ; and hence he divided the mysti- cal sense of scripture into the terrene or allegorical, and the celestial or anagogical. This mode of interpreting scripture, which was sanctioned by Jewish practice, was current among Christians before the times of Ori- gen. But as he gave determinate rules for it, and brought it into a sys- tematic form, be is commonly regarded as its originator. 6. Innumerable expositors in this and the following centuries, pur- sued the method of Origen, though with some diversity ; nor could the few who pursued a better method, make much head against them. The commentaries of Hippolytus, which have reached us, show that this holy man went wholly into Origen's method. And no better, probably, were the expositions of some books of the Old and New Testaments, composed by Victorinus, but which are now lost. But the Paraphrase on the book of Ecclesiastes, by Gregory Thaumaturgus, which is still extant, is not liable to the same objection, although its author was a great admirer of Origen. Methodius explained the book of Genesis, and the Canticles ; but his labours have not reached us. Ammonius composed a Harmony of the gospels. 7. Origen, in his lost work entitled Stromata, and in his four Books de Principiis, explained most of the doctrines of Christianity, or, to speak more correctly, deformed them with philosophical speculations. And these his Books de Principiis were the first compendium of scholastic or, if you please philosophic theology. Something similar was at- tempted by Theognostus, in his seven Books of Hypotyposes ; for a knowl- edge of which we are indebted to Photius,(9) who says, they were the work of a man infected with the opinions of Origen. Gregory Thauma- turgus, in his Expositio Fidei, gave a brief summary of Christian doc- trines. Certain points of the Christian faith were taken up by various in- dividuals, in reply to the enemies or the corrupters'of Christianity. Tracts on the Deity, the resurrection, antichrist, and the end of the world, were composed by Hippolytus. Methodius wrote on free will ; and Lucian on the creed. But as most of these treatises are no longer extant, their char- acter is little known. 8. Among the writers on moral subjects, (or practical theology), passing by Tertullian, who was mentioned under the preceding century, the first place belongs perhaps to Cyprian. From the pen of this extra- ordinary man, we have treatises on the advantages of patience, on mor- tality, on alms and good works, and an exhortation to martyrdom. In these works there are many excellent thoughts, but they are not arranged neatly and happily, nor sustained by solid arguments. (10) Origen wrote, among other works of a practical nature, an exhortation to martyrdom ; a topic discussed by many in that age, with different degrees of eloquence and per- spicacity. Methodius treated of chastity, but in a confused manner, in his (9) [Photius, Biblioth., cod. cvi., p. 279. him, Fabricius, Biblioth. Gr., 1. v., c. 1, vol. Photius represents him as erring, with On- v., p. 276, and 1. v., c. 38, vol. ix., p. 408. gen, in regard to the character of the Son Schl.] of God. But G. Bull defends him against (10) See J. Barlcyrac, de la Morale des this charge, in his Defensio Fidei Nicaenae, Peres, c. viii., p. 104, &c, sec. 2, c. 10, 7, p, 135. See concerning HISTORY OF THEOLOGY. 18S Feast of Virgins. Dionysius of Alexandria wrote on penance and on temp, iatvms. To mention other writers in this department would be needless. 9. Of polemic writers, a host might be mentioned. The idolaters were assailed by Minucius Felix, in his dialogue entitled Octavius ; by Origen, in his eight Books against Celsus ; by Arnobius, in his seven Books against the Gentiles ; and by Cyprian, in his tract on the Vanity of Idols. The Chronicon of Hippolytus, written against the Gentiles, and the work of Methodius in opposition to Porphyry, who attacked Christianity, are lost. We may also place among polemic writers, both those who wrote against the philosophers, as Hipjidytus, who wrote against Plato ; and those who treated of fate, of free will, and of the Origin of Evil, as Hippolytus, Me- thodius, and others. Against the Jews, Hippo/ytus attempted something, which has not reached us ; but the Testimonies [from scripture] against the Jews by Cyprian, are still extant. Against all the sectarians and here- tics, assaults were made by Origen, Victorinus, and Hippolytus ; but no- thing of these works has come down to us. It would be superfluous here to enumerate those who wrote against individual heretics. 10. But it must by no means pass unnoticed, that the discussions in- stituted against the opposers of Christianity in this age, departed far from the primitive simplicity, and the correct method of controversy. For the Christian doctors, who were in part educated in the schools of rhetori- cians and sophists, inconsiderately transferred the arts of these teachers to the cause of Christianity ; and therefore considered it of no importance, whether an antagonist were confounded by base artifices, or by solid ar- guments. Thus that mode of disputing, which the ancients called econom- ical,(ll) and which had victory rather than truth for its object, was almost universally approved. And the Platonists contributed to the currency of the practice, by asserting that it was no sin for a person to employ false- hood and fallacies for the support of truth, when it was in danger of being borne down. A person ignorant of these facts will be but a poor judge of the arguments of Origen, in his book against Celsus, and of the others who wrote against the worshippers of idols. Terlullian's method of con- futing heretics, namely, by prescription, was not perhaps altogether un- suitable in that age. But they who think it always proper to reason in this manner, must have little knowledge of the difference which time and change of circumstances produce. (12) (11) Souvcrain, Platonisme devoile, p. heretics, or Presumptions against them. 244. J. Daille, de vero usu Patrum, 1. i., The author attempts to confute alt the her- p. 160. J. C. Wolfo, Casauboniana, p. 100. etics at once, and by means of an historical On the phrase, to do a thing /car' otKOvopiav, argument. He maintains that the orthodox Tho. Gataker has treated largely, in his churches were founded by the apostles and Notes on M. Antoninus, 1. xi., p. 330, &c. their approved assistants, who ordained the [It signifies to do a thing artfully and dex- first pastors of these churches, and establish- terously, or with cunning and sagacity, as a ed in them all, one and the same faith, which shrewd manager of a household (biKovo/jtof) must of course be genuine Christianity ; and controls those under him. See note 4, p. that this faith, having been handed down 126. Tr.~\ pure and uncorrupted, is now contained in (12) See Fred. Spanheim, Diss. de Prae- the creeds and inculcated in the assemblies scriptione in rebus Fidei ; Opp., torn, iii., p. of these churches. But that not one of these 1079. [Tertullian's book was entitled de things can be said of the heretical churches, Praescriptione haereticorum, or Praescripti- which had not such an origin, and embrace onibus adversus haereticos ; which might be various differing creeds, and creeds derived translated, on the Presumption in regard to from other sources. Being bred an advo- 184 BOOK I. CENTURY III. PART II. CHAP. III. 11. This vicious inclination to circumvent and confound an adversa- ry, rather than confute him with sound argument, produced also a multi- tude of books falsely bearing on their front the names of certain distin- guished men. For the greater part of mankind, being influenced more by the authority of names, than by arguments and scripture testimony, the writers conceived they must prefix names of the greatest weight to their books, in order to oppose successfully their adversaries. Hence those canons which were falsely ascribed to the apostles :(13) hence those Apostolic Consti- tutions, which Clemens Romanuswas reputed to have collected :(14) hence too, the Recognitions of Clement,(15) as they are called, and the Clem- entina,(l6) and other works of the like character, which a too credulous world long held in high estimation. By the same artifice, the Mystics, as they are called, sought to advance their cause. Having no answer to give to those who demanded, who was the first author of this new sort of wisdom, they alleged that they received it from Dionysius, the Areopagite of Athens, a contemporary with the apostles ; and to give plausibility to the falsehood, they palmed upon this great man, books void of sense and rationality. (17) Thus they who wished to surpass all others in piety, deemed it a pious act to employ deception and fraud in support of piety. cate, and familiar with the proceedings of courts, he gives a forensic form to his argu- ment, not only by using the law term Prae- scriptio, but by maintaining that the orthodox were, and had always been, in right and law- ful possession of that invaluable treasure, true Christianity ; and that of course, the heretics, who were never in possession of it, in vain attempt now to oust them of what they thus hold by legal prescription. Tr.] (13) [The Apostolic Co/nans are eighty- five ecclesiastical laws or rules, professedly enacted by the apostles, and collected and preserved by Clemens Romanus. The mat- ter of them is ancient ; for they describe the customs and institutions of Christians, par- ticularly of the Greek and Oriental churches, in the second, and third, centuries. But the phraseology indicates a compiler living in the third century. See W. Beveridge's notes on these canons, and his Codex canonum eccles. primitivae vindicatus et illustrat., London, 1678, 4to. Schl.] (14) [The Apostolic Constitutions fill eight books. They prescribe the constitu- tion, organization, discipline, and worship of the church, with great particularity ; and avowedly are the work of the apostles them- selves. But they are supposed to have been compiled in the eastern or Greek church, in the latter part of the third or beginning of the fourth century. Some place them in the fourth or fifth century. They bear marks of an Arian hand. As describing the form, discipline, and ceremonies of the church about the year 300, they are of considerable value. These constitutions may be seen in Cotelerii Patres Apostohci, torn, ii., and ia Wm. Whiston's Primitive Christianity Re- vived, Lond., 1711, 4 vols. 8vo, where much learned labour is wasted in the vain attempt to prove them to be " the most sacred of the canonical books of the New Test." Tr.] (15) [The Recognitions, of which we have only the Latin translation of Rufinus, com- pose ten books, and describe the travels of the apostle Peter, and his contests with Si- mon Magus. The work is a pleasant one to read, and helps us to understand the doc- trines of the Gnostics. Dr. Mosheim, (Diss. de turbata per recentiores Platonicos eccle- sia., 34), conjectures, with much probabil- ity, that it was composed by an Alexandrian Jew, who was opposed to the Gnostics, but himself full of errors, under the forged name of Clemens Romanus. Schl.] (16) [The Clementina are nineteen Hom- ilies, first published, Gr. and Lat., by Cote- Her, in his Patres Apostol., torn, i., p. 603, &c. They are supposed to have been the work of some Ebionite. Schl. The Clem- entina and the Recognitions are works of a similar character. Both profess to give us the history of St. Peter's contests with Si- mon Magus, and his private instructions to his particular friend.s, respecting the myste- ries of nature and the deep things of theolo- gy. They are downright romance ; yet not uninteresting, as specimens of the specula- tions of semi-Christians of a philosophic turn, who lived about A.D. 200. Tr.] (17) [The spurious works ascribed to Dionysius the Areopagite, (who is men- tioned Acts xvii., 34), are the following : de Coelesti Hierarchia, lib. i. ; de Ecclesiastica Hierarchia, 1. i. ; de Divinis Nominibus, 1. i. ; HISTORY OF THEOLOGY. 185 12. Among the controversies which divided Christians in this cen- tury, the most considerable were, concerning the millennium, the baptism of heretics, and concerning Origen. That the Saviour is to reign a thou- sand years among men, before the end of the world, had been believed by many in the preceding century, without offence to any : all, however, had not explained the doctrine in the same manner, nor indulged hopes of the same kind of pleasures during that reign. (18) In this century the mil- lenarian doctrine fell into disrepute, through the influence especially of Origen, who strenuously opposed it, because it contravened some of his opiuions.(19) But Nepos, an Egyptian bishop, attempted to revive its au- de Mystica Theologia, 1. i., together with four epistles to Cams, one to Dorothcus, one to Sosipatcr, one to Polycarp, one to Demophylus, one to Titus, one to Apolloph- anes, and two to St. John the apostle. They all relate to mystic theology, and breathe a devout spirit, but are exceedingly obscure and difficult of comprehension. It is suppo- sed they were written in the fouth or fit'lh century, as they bear marks of that period, and are not mentioned by any writer prior to the sixth century. During the middle ages they were held in high estimation, and their genuineness scarcely if at all questioned. The more devout Catholics and most of the early Protestants, received them and relied upon them as genuine. In the 17th century, their spuriousness was abundantly demon- strated, and they are now universally re- garded as supposititious. The best edition of these works, Gr. and Lat., with copious notes, is that of Balthazar Cordcrius, Ant- werp, 1634, 2 vols. fol., embracing the Gr. echolia of St. Maximus the martyr, (A.D. 659), and the paraphrase of George Pachym- eras, (A.D. 1280.) The MS. copies of these works are found in most of the great libraries of Europe. TV.] (18) [" vSee the learned Treatise concern- ing the true millennium, which Dr. \Vlii tin/ has subjoined to the second volume of his Commentary upon the New Testament. See also, for an account of the doctrine of the an- cient Millenanans, the fourth, fifth, seventh, and ninth volumes of Lardncr's Credibility, &c.'' Mad. Also H. Corodi's kritische Geschichte des Chiliasmus, 2d ed., 1794, 3 vols. 8vo. Tr.] (19) See Origen, de Principiis, lib. ii.,c. 11, Opp.,tom i.,p. 104, [and Prolog. Com- ment, in Cantic. Canticor., torn, iii., p. 28. The Cerinthians, Marciunites, Monta- nists, and Meletians, among the heretical sects, and among the orthodox fathers Pa- pias, Justin Martyr, and Ircna-u.t, held to a .millennial reign of Christ, and Irr.ti, derstood it in a very gross sense. Dr. Mo- sheim, in his Comment, de Rebus Christia- nor.,&c., p. 721, believed the doctrine had VOL. I. A A a Jewish origin ; and he supposed the Christian doctors received, or at least tol- erated it, because they hoped by it to make the Jews more willing to embrace Christian- ity. But Dr. Walch, in his Entwurf einer vollstandigen Hist, der Ketzereyen, vol. ii., p. 143, is more discriminating, and main- tains that the question, whether a millennial reign of Christ is to be expected, had a bib- lical origin, the earlier Chiliasts relying on the testimony of the Apocalypse : but the explanation of the doctrine, he admits, was derived from the Jewish opinions. There were two kinds of Chiliasts, the gross and the refined. The latter placed the chief dif- ference between the millennial reign of Christ and his present reign, in the higher enjoyment of spiritual advantages and pleas- ures, yet without wholly excluding the pleas- ures of sense. But the former expected, in the millennium, all kinds of sensual delights, and the free indulgence of all, even the most exorbitant lusts. And these gross Chiliasts are to be found not merely among the here- tics ; they may be found also among the or- thodox, as the example of Irenceus proves. According to the account of Gennadms of Marseilles, de Dogmatt ecclesiast., c. 55, p. 3ii. the Chiliasts may be divided into /our classes. The first class were the most mod- erate. They are called Meletians ; and they expected a fulfilment of the divine promises here on the earth, without attempting to de- fine the nature of the bliss to be enjoyed during the millennium. The second class expected not only to enjoy the indispensable gratifications of the senses, but also marriage pleasures, and every species of sensual in- dulgence. The third class promised them- selves indeed sensitive delights, and these too as rewards for foregoing them now, and as a compensation for the outward sufferings of saints ; but they excluded from them the carnal pleasure of sexual intercourse. The fourth was composed of Nepos and his fol- lowers. The millennial doctrine did not pre- vail everywhere, and uncontradicted. Yet the believers and the rejecters of the doctrine treated each other with affection, and a per- 186 BOOK I. CENTURY III. PART II. CHAP. III. thority, in a work written against the allegorists, as he contemptuously styled the opposers of the millennium. The book and its arguments were approved by many in the province of Arsinoe, and particularly by Co- radon, a presbyter of some respectability and influence. But Dionysius of Alexandria, a disciple of Origen, allayed the rising storm, by his oral discussions and his two Books on the divine promises. (20) 13. As no law had determined in what manner those, who came over from heretical churches to the Catholic Christians, were to be received, dif- ferent customs prevailed in different churches. Many of the Oriental and African Christians classed reclaimed heretics among the catechumens, and admitted them to the Christian ordinances by baptism. But most of the European Christians regarded the baptism administered by errorists as valid ; and therefore received reclaimed heretics, simply with imposition of hands and prayer. This diversity long prevailed, without giving rise to contention. But in this century the Asiatic Christians determined in several councils, what before had been left at discretion, that all heretics coming over to the true church, must be rebaptized.(21) This com- ing to the knowledge of Stephen, bishop of Rome, he with little humanity or prudence, excluded those Asiatics from his fellowship and from that of his church. Notwithstanding this rashness of Stephen, Cyprian with other Africans, in a council called on the subject, embraced the opinion of the Asiatics, and gave notice of it to Stephen. Upon this, Stephen was very indignant ; but Cyprian replied with energy, and in a new council held at Carthage, again pronounced the baptism administered by heretics to be wholly invalid. The rage of Stephen now waxed hotter, and he most unjustly excluded the Africans from the rights of brotherhood. But the discord was healed, partly by the moderation with which the Africans conducted themselves, and partly by the death of Stephen. (22) son might believe or discard it, without bring- Christ, must be understood literally, and as ing his orthodoxy under suspicion. The first promising corporeal and sensitive pleasures. open opposer of Chiliasm, that we meet with, But he does not appear to have defined was Cains, a teacher in the church of Rome, clearly what these pleasures were to be, towards the end of the second century, though he excluded eating, and drinking, On this ground, he denied that the Apoca- and marriage, as Dr. Mosheim supposes, 1. lypse was written by John, and ascribed c., p. 726. The very obscure and defective it rather to Cerinthus. But he effected history of Ncpos, and the controversy with very little. Origen was a more powerful him, is explained, as far as it can be. by Dr. opposer of the doctrine. He did not, like Wcdch, \. c., p. 152-167. Schl. See also Caius, deny the canonical authority of the W. Muenscher's Handbuch der Dogmeng., Apocalypse, but explained the passages in it vol. ii., p. 408-434, and A. Neander's Kirch- which describe the millennial reign of Christ, eng., vol. i., pt. iii., p. 1088-1096. TV.] allciforically, as referring to spiritual delights, (21) Eusebius, Hist. Eccles , vii., c. 5 suited to the nature of spirits raised to per- and 7. Firmilian, Epist. ad Cyprianum, fection, and these to be enjoyed, not on the inter Epp. Cypriani, 75. [The councils earth, but in the world to come. See Mo- which decided this point, before Stephen's sheim. Comment, de Rebus Christianor., p. rash procedure, were (1) the council of Car- 720, &c., and Dr. WaLch, Historic der Ket- thage, about A.D. 215. See Epp. Cypr. zereyen, vol. ii.. p. 136-151. Schl.] 71 and 73 (2) that of Iconium in Phrygia, (20) See Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. vii., A.D. 235, Epp. Cypr. 75. Eusebius, H. 24, and Gennadius Massiliensis, de Dog- E., vii., 4 (3) that of Synada, and (4) matibus ecclesiasticis, cap. 55, p. 32, ed. some others, which are barely mentioned in Elmenhorst. [Ncpos held the Apocalypse Epp. Cypr. 75, and Eusebius, uhi supra, to be an inspired book ; and he maintained, See Wnlch, Historic der Kirchenversamml., in opposition to the allegorists, that the pas- > p. 91, 94, and 96. Tr.J sages which speak of a millennial reign of ' (22) Cyprian, Epp. 70 and 73, and sev- HISTORY OF THEOLOGY. 187 14. The contests concerning Origen were moved by Demetrius bishop of Alexandria ; who is reported by the friends of Origen, to have been in- fluenced by envy and hatred ; which however is very doubtful. In the pro- ceedings of Demetrius against Origen, one may discover marks of a mind exasperated, impassioned, arrogant, and unreasonable, but none scarcely of envy. (2.3) In the year 228, Origen took a journey to Achaia, and on his way suffered himself to be ordained a presbyter by the bishops of Csesarea and Jerusalem. At this, Demetrius was greatly offended ; because he deemed Origen unfit for such an office, on account of his having emascu- lated himself; and because, being master of a school under him, he had been ordained without his knowledge and consent. The matter however was compromised, and Origen returned to Alexandria. But not long after, from some unknown cause, new dissension, arose between him and Demetrius, which became so great, that Origen left Alexandria and the school in the year 231, and removed to Csesarea [in Palestine]. Deme- trius accused him in his absence, before an assembled council, and de- prived him of his office without a hearing ; and afterwards, in a second council, divested him of his ministerial character. It is probable that De- metrius accused Origen before the council, particularly the last one, of erroneous sentiments in matters of religion ; which it was easy for him to do, as Origen's book de Principiis, which was full of dangerous sentiments, had been published not long before. The decision of the council at Al- exandria was approved by the majority of the Christian bishops, though rejected by those of Achaia, Palestine, Phenicia, and Arabia.(24) eral others, ed. Baluze. Augustine, de Bap- ginal sources, especially from EuseUus, H. tismo contra Donatistas, 1. vi. and vii., Opp., Eccles., vi., 23. P/iolius, Bibliolh., cod. torn, ix., where he gives the Acts of the cxviii. Jerome, de Viris Illustr., and Ori- council of Carthage, A.D. 256. Prudent, gen himself. It differs in some respects Maran, vita Cypriani, p. 107, and all the from that given by the common writers, Dow- writers of the life of Cyprian. [The whole cm, Huet, and others. [That Demetrius ac- history of this controversy is discussed at cused Origen of erroneous sentiments, is a large by Dr. Mosheim, Comment, de Rebus, conjecture of Dr. Mosheim. and others, which &c., p. 540-547, and still more fully by Dr. however is expressly denied by Jerome, (Ep. Walch, Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. ii., p. 29, ad Paulam, Opp., vol. iv., t. ii., p. 68 328-384. Schl.] and 480, ed Martianay), Damnatur a Deme- (23) [Dr. Moaheim is singular in this opin- trio episcopo ; exceptis Palx>stinse et Arabia ion ; which he defends at great length, in et Phosnices atque Achaiae sacerdotibus, in his Comment, de Rebus, &c., p. 671, &c., damnationem ejus (leg. orbis) consentit : in opposition to the express testimony of urbs Roma ipsa contra hunc cogit senatum, Eusebins, H. E., vi., 8, and Jerome, Epist. non propter dogmafum novitatem, non prop- 29, Opp., torn, iv., part ii., p. 68. If Dcmc- tcr hctresiit, ut nunc rabidi canes simulant, trius was not envious of the growing repu- sed quia gloriam eloquentia? ejus et scientise tation of Origen, or otherwise affected by ferre nonpoterant, et illo dicente omnes muti personal antipathy, it seems impossible to putabantur. Neither is it certain, that De- account for the rancour he manifested. metrius assembled two councils in the case Tr.] of Origen. See C. W. F. Walch, Historie (24) This account is derived from the ori- der Kirchenversamml., p. 92, &c. Tr.] 188 BOOK I. CENTURY III. PART II. CHAP. IV. CHAPTER IV. HISTOKY OF RELIGIOUS RITES. $ 1. Rites multiplied. 2. Public Worship. 3. Administration of the Sacred Sup- per. 4. Baptism. 5. Various other Rites. 1. ALL the monuments of this century which have come down to us, show that there was a great increase of ceremonies. To the causes here- tofore mentioned, may be added the passion for Platonic philosophy, or rather, the popular superstition of the Oriental nations respecting demons, which was adopted by the Platonists, and received from them by the Chris- tian doctors. For from these opinions concerning the nature and the pro- pensities of evil spirits, many of these rites evidently took their rise. Hence arose the public exorcisms, the multiplication of fasts, and the aver- sion to matrimony. Hence the caution not to have intercourse with those who were either not yet baptized, or had been excluded from the commu. nion of the church, because such were considered as under the power of some evil spirit. And to pass over other things, hence the painful auster- ities and penances which were enjoined upon oifenders.(l) 2. That the Christians now had in most provinces certain edifices in which they assembled for religious worship, will be denied by no candid and impartial person. Nor would I contend strenuously, against those who think these edifices were frequently adorned with images and other ornaments.(2) As to the forms of public worship, and the times(3) set apart for it, it is unnecessary here to be particular, as little alteration was made in this century. Yet two things deserve notice. First, the public discourses to the people underwent a change. For not to mention Origen, who was the first so far as we know that made long discourses in public, and in his discourses expounded the sacred volume, there were certain bishops, who being educated in the schools of the rhetoricians, framed their addresses and exhortations according to the rules of Grecian elo- quence, and their example met the most ready approbation. Secondly ; the use of incense was now introduced, at least into many churches. Very learned men have denied this fact ; but they do it in the face of testimony which is altogether unexceptionable. (4) 3. To the celebration of the Lord's supper, those who conducted re- (1) Whoever desires to look farther into (4) Wm. Beveridge, ad Canon, iii. Apos- this subject, may consult Porphyry, on Ab- tol., p. 461, and his Codex Canon, vindica- stinence from flesh, and various passages in tus, p. 78. [The Christians originally ab- Eusebius, Prseparat. Evang., and Theodoret ; horred the use of incense in public worship, and compare them with the Christian insti- as being a part of the worship of idols. See tutions. Tcrtullian, Apolog., c. 42, and de Corona (2) [Yet there is most ground for the neg- militis, c. 10. Yet they permitted its use ative. Von Ein.] at funerals, against offensive smells. After- (3) [The regular seasons for public wor- wards it was used at the induction of magis- ship were all Sundays, Good Friday, Easter, trates and bishops, and also in public worship, and Whitsunday. See Origr.n,ag. Celsus.b. to temper the bad air of crowded assemblies viii., p. 833. The anniversaries of the local in hot countries, and at last it degenerated martyrdoms were also observed. Von Bin.] into a superstitious rite. SchL] RITES AND CEREMONIES. 189 ligious worship annexed longer prayers and more of ceremony ; and this, I suppose, with no bad intentions. Neither those doing penance, nor those not yet baptized, were allowed to be present at the celebration of this or- dinance ; which practice, it is well known, was derived from the pagan mysteries. (5) That golden and silver vessels were used in the ordinance, is testified among others by Prudentius ;(6) and I see no reason to doubt the fact in respect to the more opulent Christian churches. The time of its administration was different, according to the state and circumstances of the churches. Some deemed the morning, some the afternoon, and some the evening, to be the most suitable time for its celebration. (7) Neither were all agreed, how often this most sacred ordinance should be repeated. (8) But all believed it absolutely necessary to the attainment of salvation ; and therefore they universally wished infants to partake of it. (9) In some places the sacred feasts preceded, and in others followed the Lord's supper. (10) 4. Baptism was publicly administered twice a year, to such candi- dates as had gone through a long preparation and trial ;(11) and none were present as spectators, but such as had been themselves baptized. The effect of baptism was supposed to be the remission of sins : and it was believed that the bishop, by the imposition of hands and by prayer, confer, red those gifts of the Holy Spirit which were necessary for living a holy life. (12) Of the principal ceremonies attending baptism, we have before spoken ; [Century II., Part II., Ch. IV., 13, p. 137]. A few things how. ever must here be added. None were admitted to the sacred font, until the exorcist, by a solemn menacing formula, had declared them free from bondage to the prince of darkness and now servants of God. For when the opinion had become prevalent among Christians, ihat rational souls originated from God himself, and were therefore in themselves holy, pure, and possessed of free will, either the evil propensities in man must b^ con- sidered as arising from the body and from matter, or some evil spirit must be supposed to possess the souls of men, and impel them to sin. The (5) [See Christ. Matth. Pfaff, Diss. 2 de Antiquitates Eccles., b. xv., ch. 4, $ 7. praejudic. theolog., 13, p. 149, &c., and Schl.] Jos. Btngham, Antiquitates Eccles., 1. x., (10) [Ckrysostom, Homil. 22, oportet c. 5. Schl.] haereses esse, Opp., torn, v. Schl.] (6) Tlcpl fetiav. Hymn, ii., p. 60, ed. (11) [In the Apostolic Constitutions, b. Hei.isii, [and Optatu-* Mi'evit. de schismate viii., ch. 32, a three years' preparation was Doridti-t., c. 12, p. 17. Sr.hl.] enjoined; yet with allowance of some ex- (7) [See Cyp~ian,ep. 63, p. 104. Schl.] ceptions. SchL] (8) [It was commonly administered every (12) This may be placed beyond all con- Sunday, as well as on other festival days ; troversy by many passages from the fathers and in times of persecution, daily. See Cyp- of this century. And as it will conduce rian, de Oralione Domin., p. 209 ; ep. 56, much to an unders;and ; ng of the thcolog-/ of p. 90 ; cp. 54, p. 78 ; ed. Baluze. Schl.] the ancieiits, which diffeied in many respect* (9) [They believed that this ordinance from ours, I will adduce a single passage rendered persons immortal ; and that dueh from Cyprian. It is in his Epist. 73, p. as never partook of it, had no hopes of a res- 131 Manifestum est autem, ubi et per urrection. Hence Dionysius Alex., (cited quos rcmissa peccatorum dari poss : t, quae in by Euxcb., H. E., vii., 11), calls it aiatiijrriv baptismo scilicet datur. Qui vero praepos- fitTu. r Kvpi* <rn>^yvyf;v. That children itis ecclesiae orTeruntur, per noslram oratio- a!so pa-took of it, is testified by Cyprian, de ncm et rnar.us impositionem Spiritnm Snnc- Lapsis, p. 184 and 189 ed. Baluze See turn ccmsequuntur. See also a passage from 1'. Ztrrfs Historia Eucharist, infartum, c. Dionyfiu* Alex. iaEusebius, Hist. Lccles., 4, $ 1, &.c., and c. 6, $ 3 ; also J. Bingham, 1. vii., c. 8. 190 BOOK I. CENTURY III. PART II. CHAP. IV. Gnostics all embraced the first supposition ; but the Catholics could in no wise embrace it, because they held that matter was created by God and was not eternal. They had therefore to embrace the second supposition, and to imagine some evil demon, the author of sin and of all evil, to be resident in all vicious persons. (13) The persons baptized returned home, decorated with a crown and a white robe ; the first being indicative of their victory over the world and their lusts, the latter of their acquired in- nocence.(14) 5. To fasting greater sanctity and necessity were now attributed, than heretofore ; because it was the general belief that demons laid fewer snares for the abstemious and those who fared hard, than for the full fed or such as lived generously. (15) The Latins were singular in keeping every seventh day of the week as a fast ;(16) and as the Greek and Ori- ental Christians would not imitate them in this, it afforded abundant matter for altercation between them. Ordinarily Christians prayed three times a day, at the third, sixth, and ninth hours, [9 A.M., 12 Noon, and 3 P.M.] as was the custom of the Jews. Besides these regular hours of prayer, they prayed much and often ; for they considered it the highest duty of a religious man to hold converse with God. (17) On joyful and festive oc- casions, while giving thanks to God, they thought it suitable to pray stand- ing, thus expressing their joy and confidence by the posture of their bod- ies. But on sorrowful occasions and seasons of fasting and humiliation, they were accustomed to make their supplications on their bended knees or prostrate, to indicate self-abasement. (18) That certain forms of prayer were everywhere used, both in public and in private, I have no doubt ;(19) but I am likewise confident, that many persons poured out the feelings of their hearts before God in free and unpremeditated effusions. In the sign of the cross, they supposed there was great efficacy against all sorts of (13) That exorcism was not annexed to (19) [In the earliest times, exclusive of baptism, till some time in the third century, the short introductory salutation : Pax vo- and after the admission of the Platonic phi- biscum, &c., no established forms of prayer losophy into the church, may almost be were used in public worship, but the bishop demonstrated. The ceremonies used at or presbyter poured forth extempore prayers, baptism in the second century, are described See Justin Martyr, Apology ii. The Lord's by Jus/in Martyr, in his second apology, and prayer was used, not only as a pattern, but by Tertullian, in his book de Corona militis. also as a formula of prayer. Yet only the But neither makes any mention of exorcism, baptized, and not the catechumens, might T'.is is a cogent argument, to prove that it utter it. Tertullian, de Oratione, c. 1, 9. was admitted by Christians, after the times Cyprian, de Oratione Domin. Constilutt. of these fathers, and of course in the third Apostol., 1. vii., c. 44. Afterwards various century. Egypt perhaps first received it. forms were gradually introduced, and partic- (14) [Perhaps also of their freedom. See ularly short prayers, derived from passages C. G. Sckwarz, Diss. de ceremoniis et for- of scripture. When greater uniformity in mulis a veterum manumissione ad Baptis- the churcb.es as to ceremonies was intro- mum translatis. Cyprian refers to the white duced, the smaller churches had to regulate garments ; de I.apsis, p. 181. SchL] their forms of prayer conform ib!y to those (15) Clementina, Homil. ix., $ 9, p f>88, of the larger churches, and of course to adopt &c. Porphyry, de Abstine.itia, lib. iv., p. the formulas of the metropolitan churches. 417, &c., and others. Origen, contra Celsnin, 1. vi., and Homilia (16) [See Concilium Eliberitanum, Can- xi. in Jerem. EuseUus, de Vita Constan- on 26. Schl.] tini Mag., 1. iv., c. 19, 20, 17. Hist. EC- (17) [See Cyprian, de Oratione, p. 214. cles., !. ii., c. 17. Lauantius. de Morte Schl.] persecutor., c. 46, 47. See Baumgarteri's (19) [See Cyprian, de Oratione, p 214, Erliiuterung der christlichen Alterthiimer, p. and Constitute Apostol., 1. ii., c. 59. ScU.] 432. Schl.] HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 101 evils, and particularly against the machinations of evil spirits ; and there- fore no one undertook anything of much moment, without first crossing himself. (20) Other ceremonies I pass without notice. CHAPTER V. HISTORY OF DIVISIONS OR HERESIES IN THE CHURCH. $ 1. Remains of the Ancient Sects. $ 2. Manes and the Manichaeans. $ 3. His Prin- ciples. 4. His Doctrine concerning\Man. $ 5. Concerning the Nature of Christ and of the Holy Spirit. $ 6. Concerning the Offices of Christ and the Comforter. $ 7. Concerning the Purification and Future Condition of Souls. $ 8. Concerning the State of Souls not Purified. $ 9. His Opinion of the Old and New Testaments 10. The Seventy of his Moral Principles, and the Classification of his Followers. $ 1 1 . The Sect of the Hieracites. <J 12. The Noetian Controversy. 13. gabellius. $ 14. Be- ryllus. 15. Paul of Samosata. 16. Disturbances in Arabia. $ 17. Novatian Con- troversy. 18. Severities of the Novatians towards the Lapsed. 1. MOST of the sects which disquieted the church in the preceding centuries, caused it various troubles also in this. For the energies of the Montanists, Valentinians, Marcionites, and other Gnostics, were not wholly subdued by the numerous discussions of their tenets. Adelphius and Aqui- linus of the Gnostic tribe, but very little known, endeavoured to insinuate themselves and their doctrines into the esteem of the public at Rome and in Italy.(l) But these and others of the same clan, were resisted by Plo- linus himself, the coryphaeus of the Platonists of this age, and by his disci- pies, with no less boldness and energy than the orthodox Christians w^re accustomed to manifest. For the philosophical opinions of this faction, con- cerning God, the origin of the world, the nature of evil, and other subjects, could not possibly meet the approbation of the Platonists. These united forces of the Christians and the philosophers, were doubtless competent to bring the Gnostics, gradually, to lose all credit and influence among the well informed.(2) (20) [The Christians at first used the sign and Lactantiiis, Institut., 1. iv., c. 27, 28. of the cross, to bring to remembrance the Schl.] atoning death of Christ on all occasions. (1) Porphyry, Vita Plotini, c. 16, p. 118, Hence Tcrtullian, de Corona militis, c. 3, &c. p. 121, says: ad omnem progressum atque (2) The book of Plotinus against the Gnos- promotum, ad omnem aditum et exitum, ad tics, is still extant among his works. En- vestit'jrn, ad calciatum. ad lavacra, ad men- nead ii., lib. ix., p 213, &c. [Dr. Semler, s"s, ad lumina, ad cubilia, ad scdilia, quae- in his Historiae Eccies. Selecta Capita, vol. cunque nos conversatio exercct, fro-.item cru- i., p. 81, conjectures, and not without reason, cis sigraculo terimus. Compare alsq his that the Gnostics, and all the assailants of work, ad Uxorem, lib. ii. So Icte as the t!<e Gu' Tes'a.i.cnt, lost their power, after second ccnt-iry. the Ohristiars attached no Ori^en introduced the allegorical and tropo- partinidr virtue to the sign of the n .roas, and logica. m^dc o r PT- oundiug Scripture, and they paid it. no adoration. See Tertuiliar, extended it in soiiie measure to the history Apologet., c. 16, and ad Naticnes, c. 12. of Chri.-t. And as he further supposes, the But afterwards, powerful ffficacy began to labours of Dionysius Alex, and other !eam- be ascribed to it. See Cyprian, Testimo- ed fathers, e. g. Dorothcus, a presbyter of nia adv. Judaeos, 1. ii., c. 21, 22, p. 294, Aniioch. (who understood the Hebrew ; z?tf 192 BOOK I. CENTURY III. PART II. CHAP. V. 2. While the Christians were struggling with these corrupters of the truth, and were on the point of gaining the victory, [a little past the mid- dle of the century], a new enemy, more fierce and dangerous than those, suddenly appeared in the field. .Manes,(3) whom his disciples also called Manictuzus,(ty a Persian,(5) educated among the Magi, and himself one of the Magi before he became a Christian, was instructed in all the sci- ences and arts that were in repute among the Persians and the adjacent nations, and was an astronomer, (though a rude one), a physician, a paint- er, and a philosopher ; but he had an exuberant imagination, and, as ap- pears very probable, was delirious and fanatical. This man adventured to combine the principles of the Magi with Christianity, or rather to ex- plain the latter by the former. To facilitate the accomplishment of this object, he gave out that Christ had left the way of salvation imperfectly explained, and that he himself was the Paraclete whom the Saviour prom- ised to send to his disciples when he left the world. Many were seduced by his eloquence, his grave aspect, and the simplicity and innocence of his life ; and in a short time he established a sect. But at last, he was put to death by Varanes I., king of the Persians. The cause, time, and manner of his execution are variously stated by the ancients. (6) sebius, H. E., vii., 32), may have contributed much to diminish the Gnostic party, as they carried investigation farther, and more lucid- ly confuted the Jesvish notions, and at the same time approximated a little towards the Gnostic doctrines concerning the Son of God. Hence it is, we hear no more about the Gnostics in this century ; and the few who still remained, united themselves with the Manichaeans. Schl.] (3) [The Oriental writers call him Mani ; (Hyde, de Relig. vet. Persarum, c. 21, and de Herbelot, Bibliotheque Oriertale, art. Ma- ni) ; but the Greeks and Latins call him Ma- vris, Mavftf, and Manes. See Dr. Walch, Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. i., p. 691. SM.] (4) [See the Acta Archelai, c. 5, 49. Augustine, de Haeresib., c. 46, and contra Faustum, lib. xix., c. 22. SchL] (5) [Notwithstanding the Greek and Ori- ental writers represent Manes as being a Persian, Dr. Walch, (Historic der Ketzer- eyen, vol. i ,p. 71)8), and Beausobre, (Histoire critique de Maniche, tome i., p 66), think it more probable that he was a Chaldean ; because Ephraim Syrus expressly so states, Opp. Syro- Latin-, torn, ii., p 468, and be- cause Arr.hdaus, in his Acta cum Manete, c. 36, charges Manes with understanding no language but that of the Chaldees. Schl.] (6) All that is extant concerning the life, the deeds, and the doctrines of this very singular genius, has been carefully collect- ed, and reviewed ingeni 'jsly though often with more ingenuity and copiousness than weie necessary by James dc Beausobre, in his Histoire critique de Maoichee et du Ma- nicheisme, published at Amsterdam, 1734- 39, 2 vols. 4to. [Whoever would gain the best acquaintance with the history of Manes and the Manic fueans, may consult, besides Beausobre, ubi supra, the long essay of Dr. Mosheim, in his Comment, de Rebus, &c., p. 728-903 ; Jo. Christ. Wolf, Maui- chaeismus ante Manichaeos, &c., Hamb., 1707, 8vo ; Nath. Lardner's Credibility of the Gospel History, part ii., vol. iii., p. 364 753; and Dr. C.'W. F. WalcWs Entwurf einer vollstandigen Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. i., p. 685-814. These principal writers being consulted, all the rest may be neglect- ed. The last of these works has the great advantage, that it concentrates, arranges properly, criticises acutely and solidly, and expresses in a lucid and agreenbli stj le, all that has been said on the subject by the useful Wolf, the agreeable and learned but prolix Beausobre, the acute Mosheim, and the solid and critical Lardner. Von Ein. More recent writers may be consulted, viz., A.Neander, Kirchengesc!)., bd. i., abth. ii., s. 813-856, and K. A. Frcih. v. Keichlinn Meldcgg, die Theclogie des Magiers Manes und ihr Ursprung, Frankfort a. M., 1825, 8vo Tr. The original sources for the history of Manes and his sect according to Mosheim, Comment, de Rebus, &c.,p. 729, &c., are, besides the ancient historical writers, Epi- phanius, Augustine, Euscbius, Theodoret, Darnascenus, and Philastrius, (I.) what re- mains of the writings of Manes himself and his followers ; viz.. (a) Manctis Epistola Fundamenti, in Augustine, contra Ep. Fun- damenti ; (b) a fragment of his Sermo de HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 103 3. The religious system of Manes is a compound of Christianity and Fide, in Epiphanius, Hacrcs. Ixvi., 14 ; (c) his Epistola ad Marcellum, in the Acta Ar- chclai cum Manete, p. 6, ed. Zaccag. ; (d) some fragments of his Epistola, ad Menoch. in Augustine, adv. Julianum Pelagian. ; (e) several extracts from his Epistles, in J. A. Fabricius, Biblioth. Gr., vol. v., p. 284 ; (f ) Acta disputationis Archclai, Eptsc. Mcso- pot. cum Manete, inter Collectanea monu- mentor. veteris Eccles. Graecae et Latinae, published by L.A. Zaccagnius, Rome, 1698, 4to ; also, inter Opp. Hippolyti, vol. ii , ed. Fabricii. (The genuineness of these Acta is questioned by Beausobre ; but without good reason); (g) many quotations from Faus- tus the Manichaean, in Augustine's thirty- three Books contra Faustum Manichaeum ; (h) various statements of his antagonists, contained in Augustine's two Books, de Ac- tis cum Felice Manichaeo ; and in his book contra Fortunatum Manichaeum. (II.) the writings of the fathers, who attempted to confute Manes and his followers ; viz. (a) divine impulse. The king of Persia threw him into prison ; but for what cause is un- known. The Greek writers, (especially Ar- chclaus, in his Acta cum Manete, who fur- nished the other Greek and Latin writers with nearly all the historical facts they state), represent that he was imprisoned, because, having promised to cure the king's son, he failed, and caused the death of the young prince. A different account is given by the Oriental writers, (Persian, Syrian, and Ara- bian, cited by De Herbelot, Bibliotheque Ori- ent., art. Mani ; Tho. Hyde, Historia relig. veter. Persarum, c. 21. Euscb. Rcnaudot, Historia Patriarch. Alexandrinor., p. 42. Edw. Pocock, Specimen Hist. Arabum, p. 149, &c.) They state that Manes, coming to the court of King Sapor, was received kindly ; and that his doctrines were em- braced by the monarch. Hereupon Manes became so bold as publicly to attack the Per- sian religion. This drew on him persecu- tion, and so endangered his life that he was ^.vuauiiv .i'*U'/ti*o otiu ma twHwwyAV , *J>. V / nv/u, ai*u o^ ^iiuaii'(iv\j 1110 u*v t-uafc lie, n 09 Augustine, de Haeresibus, and in the works obliged to flee into Turkistan. Here he col- above mentioned, (I. a, g, and h.) (b) Tilus of Dostra, libri iii., contra Manichaeos, Gr. and Lat., inter Lectiones Antiquas, ed. Ca- nisii; et denuo. J. Basnagii, torn, i., p. 156, &c. ; (c) Didymus Alexandrinus, Liber con- tra Manichaeos, Gr. and Lat., in the same Lectiones Antiq., torn, i., p. 197 ; (d) Al- exander Lycopolitanus, the philosopher, Li- ber contra Mamchaei opiniones, Gr. and Lat., in the Auctarium noviss. Biblioth. Patr., ed. Combejis, torn, ii., p. 260. Tr. In regard to the history of Manes, there is much disagreement between the Oriental and Grecian writers. Yet in the particulars sta- ted in the text, there is no disagreement. We will extract from Moshciin's Comment- aries, p. 734, &c., so much as is necessary to give a full history of this extraordinary man. Manes, on meeting with the books of the Christians, found that the religion they contained, coincided with his philosophy in some respects, and contradicted it in others. He determined to unite the two together, to enlarge and improve the one by the other, and thus to give the world a new religion. He began by giving out that he was the Paraclete, (6 irapu.K?.i]Toc, John xvi , 7, 13, &c.), and perhaps he really supposed he was so. But he was not so deranged and carried away by his imagination, as to be unable to frame a consistent system, and to discover what would tend to confirm it, and what to weaken it. He therefore rejected or altered snch books of the Christians as con- travened his opinions, and substituted others in their place, particularly those which he pretended were written by himself under a VOL. I. B B lected many followers, and spent a whole year in a cave, where he composed his book entitled Erteng or Arzeug, i. e., the Gospel, and which is adorned with splendid paintings. This book he represented to be a gift of God. In the mean time Sapor died, and was suc- ceeded by his son Hormisdas ; who was so favourable to Manes, as to embrace his reli- gion, and to allow him to build a castle in which he might be safe from all plots. Per- haps Hormisdas was a favourer of Manes, in the lifetime of his father. And Dr. Mo- sheim conjectures. (Comment., &c., p. 739), that the Grecian story of his fatal attempt to cure the king's son, was an Oriental allego- ry, which the Greeks construed literally ; that the disease was ignorance, the medicine instruction, the physician the teacher, and the death of the patient his apostacy from the religion of his progenitors : [all of which is very improbable, and indeed inconsistent ; for the king, having himself embraced the doctrine of Manes, would not have impris- oned him, for converting his son to the same religion.] After the death of Hormisdas, Veranes I. succeeded to the throne. He was at first well disposed towards Manes, but soon turned against him and determined on his destruction. For this purpose he al- lured him from his safe retreat, under pre- tence of a disputation with the Magi, and caused him to be put to death as a perverter of the true religion. This took place in the year 278 ; or, according to Dr. Walch, (Hist, der Ketzereyen, vol. i. p. 724), in the year 277. The shocking fate of Manes, rather animated than terrified his follower*. 1&4 BOOK I. CENTURY HI. PART II. CHAP. V. the ancient philosophy of the Persians, which he had imbibed in early life. What the Persians relate concerning their Mithras, Manes applied to Christ. According to his views and those of the Persians, there are two first princi- ples of all things, a subtile and very pure substance or light, and a gross and corrupt substance or darkness. Over each of these a Lord has reigned from all eternity. The Lord of light, is denominated God ; the regent of the world of darkness, is called Hyle [yXr], matter}, or dcemon [the devil.] These two lords are of opposite natures and dispositions. The Lord of light, as he is himself happy, so he is beneficent ; the Lord of darkness, being himself miserable, is malignant, and wishes others also to be miser- able. Each has produced a numerous progeny of his own peculiar char- acter, and distributed them over his empire. 4. For a long period of time, the Prince of darkness was ignorant of the existence of light, and of the world of light. But on occasion of a war that arose in his kingdom, he gained some knowledge of the light ; and on discovering it, he was eager to get possession of it. The Lord of light opposed him with an army ; but the general of the celestial army, whose name was The first Man, was rather unsuccessful ; and the troops of dark- ness succeeded in getting possession of a considerable portion of the ce- lestial elements, and of light itself, which is an animate substance ; and these they mixed with depraved matter. The next general on the side of the world of light, called The living Spirit, conducted the war more suc- cessfully ; yet he was unable to liberate the celestial substance that was now in combination with the vicious elements. The vanquished Prince of dark- ness produced the parents of the human race. The men who are born of this stock, consist of a body formed from the depraved matter of the world of darkness, and of two souls, the one sensitive and concupiscent which they derived from the Prince of darkness, the other rational and immortal, it being a particle of that divine light which was plundered by the army of darkness and immersed in matter. 5. Men being thus formed by the Prince of darkness, and minds, which were the daughters of eternal light, being enclosed in their bodies, God now, by the living Spirit who had before vanquished the Prince of darkness, formed this our earth out of vicious matter, that it might be- come the residence of the human race, and might afford God advantages for gradually delivering souls from their bodies, and separating the good matter from the bad. Afterwards God produced from himself two majestic beings, who should afford succour to the souls immured in bodies ; name- ly, Christ and the Holy Spirit. Christ is the being, whom the Persians call Mithras : he is a most splendid substance, consisting of the purest light of God, self-existant, animate, excelling in wisdom, and having his resi- dence in the sun. The Holy Spirit likewise is an animate and lucid sub- stance, which is diffused through the whole atmosphere that encompasses our earth, warms and enlightens the souls of men, fecundates the earth, eli- cits gradually from it the latent particles of divine fire, and wafts them up- ward, that they may return to their native world. The most able and eloquent of them roamed lytes. And notwithstanding all the persecu- through Syria, Persia, Egypt, Africa, and tions that have befallen them, their descend- over most parts of the world ; and by the ants exist to this day, in the mountains be- severity of their morals and the simplicity of tween Persia and India. Schl.] their religion, they everywhere made prose- HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 195 6. After God had, for a long time, admonished the captive souls im- mured in bodies, by the ministry of angels and by men instructed by him- self; he at length, in order to accelerate their return to the heavenly coun- try, directed Christ his son to descend from the sun to this our world. He being clad in the form and shadow of a human body, but not joined to a real body, appeared among the Jews, pointed out the way in which souls may extricate themselves from the body, and proved his divinity(7) by his mir- acles. But the Prince of darkness instigated the Jews to crucify him. This punishment however he did not actually endure, because he had not a body ; but the people supposed he was crucified. Having accomplished his embassy, Christ returned to the sun, his former residence ; and left in charge to his apostles to propagate the religion he had taught them, through- out the world. Moreover, when about to depart, he promised to send, at some time, a greater and more perfect apostle whom he called the Para- clete, who should add many things to the precepts he had delivered, and dispel all errors in regard to religious subjects. This Paraclete promised by Christ, was Manes the Persian, who by command of God explained the whole doctrine of salvation, perfectly, and without any ambiguity or con- cealment. 7. The souls which believe Jesus Christ to be the Son of God, cease from worshipping the God of the Jews, (who is no other than the Prince of darkness), obey the laws which were given by Christ and enlarged and explained by Manes the Paraclete, and perseveringly resist the lusts of the evil soul, these shall gradually become purified from the contaminations of base matter. Yet the entire purgation of the soul cannot be effected in the present life. Therefore souls, when freed from the body, must un- dergo a twofold purification after death, before they are admitted into the world of light ; the first purification is by sacred water, and the second by sacred fire. They first go to the moon, which consists of sacred water, and are there purified during fifteen days ; thence they proceed to the sun, whose \\o\yjire entirely removes all their remaining pollution. The bod- ies which they left behind, being formed of base matter, revert back to their original mass. 8. But the souls which have neglected the means for their purgation, will, after death, pass into other bodies, either of animals or of other be- ings, until they become cleansed. Some also being peculiarly depraved, will be delivered over to the evil demons inhabiting our atmosphere, to be tormented for a season. When the greater part of the souls shall be lib- erated and be restored to the world of light, then, at the command of God, infernal fire will burst from the caverns in which it is contained, and will burn up and destroy the fabric of this world. After these events, the Prince and powers of darkness will be compelled to retire to their wretch- ed country, where they must remain for ever. For to prevent their again waging war against the world of light, God will encompass the world of darkness with an invincible guard. That is to say, the souls whose sal- (7) [Not his Divinity : for this, in the true p. 69. They believed that the light of the and proper sense of the word, the Manichae- Son might be obscured by intervening mat- ans could not predicate of Christ, nor of the ter, but that the light of the Father could Holy Ghost. They held neither of them to not. See Moshcim, Comment, de Rebus, be more ancient than the world. See For- <tc,, p. 775, &c. SchL] tunatus, in his dispute with Augustine I., 196 BOOK I. CENTURY III. PART II. CHAP. V. vation has become desperate, will keep watch like soldiers about the world of darkness, so that its miserable inhabitants can no more go out. 9. To give some plausibility to these monstrous opinions, Manes re- jected nearly all the sacred books, in which the Christians believed their religion was contained. The Old Testament especially, he pronounced to be the work, not of God, but of the Prince of darkness, whom he represent- ed the Jews as worshipping in place of the true God. The four histories of Christ which we call Gospels, he either denied to have been composed by the apostles, or he maintained that if they were so, they had been cor- rupted, interpolated, and stuffed with Jewish fables by crafty and deceitful men. In place of them he substituted another Gospel, which he denom- inated Erteng, and which he affirmed had been dictated to him by God him- self. The Acts of the Apostles he wholly rejected. The Epistles which are ascribed to St. Paul, he admitted to have been written by him, but maintained that they were adulterated. What he thought of the other books of the New Testament, we are not informed. 10. The rules of life which Manes prescribed for his followers, were peculiarly rigorous and severe. For he directed them to mortify and ma- cerate the body, which he regarded as the very essence of evil, and the work of the Prince of darkness ; to deprive it of every convenience and gratification, to extirpate every sensual appetite, and to divest themselves of all the propensities and instincts of nature. But as he foresaw that he could expect few to embrace his system, if he imposed upon all without discrimination such severe rules of life, he divided his followers into two classes, the elect and the hearers, that is, the perfect Christians and the imper- fect.(8) The former, or the elect, were to abstain from flesh, eggs, milk, fish, wine, and every inebriating drink, from marriage, and from every indul- gence of sexual passions, to live in the most abject poverty, to sustain their emaciated bodies with bread, herbs, pulse and melons, to abstain from all active life, and to be devoid both of love and hatred. A milder rule was pre- scribed for the hearers. They might possess houses, lands, and goods, eat flesh, though sparingly, and marry wives : yet even these indulgences had their limitations. The whole body of Manichaeans were subjected to one president, who represented Jesus Christ ; with him were connected twelve masters, or rulers, who represented the twelve apostles ; next to these, there were seventy-two bishops, corresponding with the seventy-two disciples of Christ ; and under each bishop, there were presbyters and deacons. All these officers were from the class of the elect.(9) (8) [The elect were also called t\& faithful, der Ketzereyen, vol. i., p. 685-814. From or believers; and the hearers were called cat- both, we extract the following notices, re- echumens. The former were either baptized, specting the worship of this sect. They rev- or unbaptized. If baptized, they could not erenced the sun and the moon, though they change their condition ; if unbaptized, they did not account them deities. Their worship might return to the class of hearers, if they was so simple, that they claimed to be farther found themselves unable to endure the rig- removed from paganism, than all other Chris- orous discipline of the perfect. See Mo- tians. They had no temples, no altars, no- sheim, Comment, de Rebus Christianor., images, no oblations, and no burning of in- &c., p. 896, &c. Schl.] cense. They observed Sundays, which they (9) All these particulars are more fully kept as fasts. But they observed none of stated, and supported by citations from anti- the Christian festivals, which relate to the quity, in my Comment, de Rebus Christia- incarnation and baptism of Christ. They nor., &c., [pa. 728-903 with which, the celebrated the memorial of Christ's death, reader should compare Dr. Walch's Historie but with little of devotion. Whether they HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 197 11. The sect of the Hieracites was formed in Egypt, near the close of this century, by Hierax of Leontopolis, who was a bookmaker by trade, a man of learning and venerable for the visible sanctity of his de- portment. Many have supposed that this sect was a branch of the Man- ichaean family, but erroneously ; for though Hierax held some notions in common with Manes, yet he differed from him in many respects. He be- lieved it was the great business of Christ to promulge a new law, more perfect and more strict than that of Moses. And hence he concluded that Christ had prohibited to his followers, marriage, flesh, wine, and whatever was grateful to the senses or the body : which things had been allowed of by Moses, but were abrogated by Christ. Yet if we duly consider all ac- counts, we shall conclude that Hierax, as well as Manes, did not suppose these severe injunctions were imposed by Christ on all his followers, but only on those who aspired after the highest attainments in virtue. To this radical error, he added others either growing out of it, or originating from other sources. For example, he excluded infants, who died before they came to the use of reason, from the kingdom of heaven ; because di- vine rewards could be due to none but such as had actually passed through regular conflicts with the body and its lusts. He also maintained, that Melchisedek, the king of Salem who blessed Abraham, was the Holy Spirit. The resurrection of the body, he denied ; and the whole sacred volume, especially its historical parts, he obscured with allegorical interpreta- tions.^) 12. The controversies respecting the divine Trinity, which commenced in the preceding century, from the time when Grecian philosophy got into the church, had a wider spread in this century, and produced various meth. ods of explaining that doctrine. First, [in the early part of the century], Noetus, a man of whom little is known, a native of Smyrna, maintained that God himself, whom he denominated the Father, and held to be abso- lutely one and indivisible ; united himself with the man Christ, whom he called the Son ; and, in him, was born and suffered. From this dogma of Noetus, his adherents were called Patripassians ; i. e., persons who held that the great Parent of the universe himself, and not merely some one per- son of the Godhead, had made expiation for the sins of men. Nor were they unfitly denominated so, if the ancients correctly understood their views.(ll) observed Easter, is uncertain. But they ob- exception, all they state. [See Moshcim, de served the anniversary of Manes' death, Rebus Christianor., &c., p. 903-910. Dr. which they called Bama, (/3^a), with great Walck, Historie der Ketzereyen, vol. i., p. devotion. Fasting was one of their most 815-823. Tillemont, Mem. pour servir a important religious exercises. They kept 1'Hist. Eccles., torn, iv., p. 411, and Lardr- sacred Sundays and Mondays. They made ner^s Credibility of the Gospel Hist., pt. ii., use of baptism; but did not baptize either vol. vi , p. 76, &c. Schl. Also A. Nean- children, or grown persons who were only der, Kirchengesch., b. i., abth. iii., s. 1218- hearers ; and even to the elect, it was left 1223. Tr.] optional, whether they would be baptized (11) See Hippolytus, Sermo contra Hae- or not. The elect observed likewise the resin Noeti, in his Opp., torn, ii., p. 5, ed. Lord's Supper ; though it is not known what Fabricii; Epiphanius, Haeres. Ivii., Opp., they used in place of wine, which was with torn, i., p. 479; Theodoret, haeret. Fabul., them altogether prohibited. ScW.] 1. iii., c. 3, Opp., torn, iv., p. 227. [Noe- (10) Eptphanius, Haeres Ixvii., [and An- tus so held the unity of God, as to discard gvstine, de Haeresib., c. 47], from whom the orthodox opinion of a plurality of persons nearly all others have borrowed, with little in the Godhead. In fact he acknowledged 198 BOOK I. CENTURY III. PART II. CHAP. V. 13. After the middle of the century appeared Sabellius, an African presbyter or bishop, at Ptolemais, the principal city in Pentapolis, a province of Libya Cyrenaica. He explained what the scriptures teach concerning the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in a manner somewhat different from Noetus ; and notwithstanding he was confuted by Dionysius of Alexandria, he gathered a number of followers. Noetus had supposed that God the Father, personally, assumed the human nature of Christ ; but Sabellius held that only a certain energy, put forth by the supreme Parent, or a certain portion of the divine nature, being separated from it, became united with the Son or the man Christ. And the Holy Spirit he considered as being a similar portion or part of the eternal Father. (12) Hence it appears, but one person; who is designated in the Scriptures by the title of the Father. Noe- tus therefore was a Unitarian, as respects the doctrine of three persons ; but in regard to the character of Christ, he held better views than the Socinians. So far as relates to two natures united in one person, in Christ, he agreed with the orthodox ; but the divine person, which was united with the human nature, according to Noetus'' views, was no other than the person of the Father, because there was no other person in the Godhead. See Mosheim, de Rebus Christianor., p. 681-687 ; and Dr. Walch, Historic der Ket- zereyen, vol. ii., p. 1-13. Schl.] (12) Most of the ancients who wrote against the heretics, speak of Sabellius ; [es- pecially Epiphanius, Haeres. Ixii., and The- odorct, haer. Fabul., 1. ii., c. 9. Tr.] To these, add Eusebius, Hist. Eccl , 1. vi., c. 6. Athanasius, de sententia Dionysii ; [and Basil the Great, Ep. 210 and 235. Tr.] Nearly all that is written by the ancients, has been collected by Christopher Wormius, in his HistoriaSabelliana, Francf. and Lips., 1696, 8vo, a learned work, only a small part of which relates to Sabellius. [See Mo- tkeim, Comment, de Rebus Christianor., <kc.. p. 688-699. (J. Beausobre, Histoire de Manichee, &c., tome i., p. 533, &c. N. Lardner, Credibility of the Gosp. Hist., pt. ii., vol. , p. 553, fec.), and Dr. Walch, His- torie der Ketzereyen, vol. ii., p. 1449. The last of these differs some from Dr. Mosheim, in his description of the Sabellian doctrine. We would place the two accounts side by side, without attempting to decide so difficult a question. The most common opinion respecting the Sabellian doctrine, was this : Sabellius admitted but one person in the divine essence ; or he denied that the Father was one person, the Son another per- son, and the Holy Spirit a third ; of course he discarded the inherent distinction of three persons. He admitted a difference only of names, and of some external relations to creatures, in regard to the government of the world aud of the church ; and he ascribed to the Son, those works which we regard aa the personal acts of the Father; and on the other hand, he ascribed to the Father, the acts and the sufferings of the Son. Now Dr. Mosheim concedes, that Sabellius taught there was but one divine person ; but he maintains also, that Sabellius admitted a Trinity, and a real difference between the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ; though this difference was neither an essential, nor a per- sonal one ; the divine three were not three distinct persons, but three portions of the di- vine nature, all depending on God, and at the same lime differing from God, and from each other. That portion, by which God made the world, is the Father ; and is also the father of Christ, inasmuch as it formed him in the womb of Mary. That portion, which united itself with the man Christ, in order to redeem men, is the Son ; inasmuch as it dwelt m the Son of God, (a designa- tion, which refers to his miraculous concep- tion), and by him gave instruction, wrought miracles, and, in a sense, made one person with him. The third portion of the divine nature, which imparts life to all living beings, enlightens men, regenerates them, and prompts them to what is good, is the Holy Ghost. These three are, in one view, sep- arate from God ; but in another, they are united with him. After a critical examina- tion of the correctness of this scheme, Dr. Walch cannot fully accord with the views of chancellor Mosheim. He therefore states the doctrine of Sabellius thus : the ancients, one and all, say that the Sabellian system marred the true doctrine concerning God, and concerning all the three persons. And so it appears to be proved, by the ancients, that Sabellianism was one of two directly opposite errors, of which Arianism was the other ; and that the true doctrine occupied the middle ground between them : indeed Arius, by pushing his opposition to Sabel- lius too far, was led into his error. It hence follows, that Subellius, who did not deny the existence of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, made too little distinction between HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 199 that the Salettians must have been denominated Patripasgfuns by the ancients, in a different sense of the word from that in which the Noetians \\cn- so called. Yet the appellation was not wholly improper. 14. Nearly at the same time, [about A.D. 244], Beryllus, bishop of Bo.stra in Arabia, a pious and learned man, taught that Christ, before his birth of the Virgin, had no distinct divinity, but only had the divinity of the Father. This proposition, if we duly consider what is reported concern, ing him by the ancients, contained the following sentiment ; that Christ had no existence before he was born of Mary ; that at his birth, a soul originating from God himself, and of course superior to all human souls, being a particle of the divine nature, entered into and was united with the them; while Arius made the distinction too wide. It is clear, that Sabctlius acknowl- edged but one person, and considered the Son of God as not being a distinct person : so that he could not have taught a personal distinction m the Trinity. By the Word (Aoyof), Sabellius understood an energy, by which the man Christ performed his works. So long as Christ remained on earth, this divine energy was in him ; but afterwards it ceased. It was therefore like a sunbeam, which operates on bodies and produces the effects of the sun, without be- ing itself a person. So also is it with the Holy Ghost, by which we are to understand the operations of God in men, tending to further their knowledge of the truth and their advancement in virtue. The manner of God's putting forth his energy, by which the Son was produced, and by which the Holy Ghost is still produced and continued, the ancients expressed by the words, to spread out, or extend (^Mruvca^ai, proten- dere, extendere), to send forth (TTf/iTreen^at), and to transform, or change one's form and appearance (ueTa.uopQetT&ai, /j.ETaa^rj/j.aTi- &iv). From what has now been stated, it may be perceived, how Sabellms could have taught the existence of three forms or as- pects (rpia TrpoauTTa) in the divine essence, without admitting the reality of three differ- ent persons ; and how his opposers could infer, that he admitted but one distinction under three different names. The greatest difficulty is in this, that according to some representations, Sabellius taught there was a difference or separation (diaipsaiv) between the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ; but ac- cording to other accounts, he maintained such a unity, as was inconsistent with it. This difficulty is the most easily surmount- ed, by supposing the former to refer to an imagined or conceived distinction, and not any real one. Such are Dr. Watch's views of the Sabellian system ; [and very similar are those of Dr. Neander, Kirchengesch., vol. i.. pt. in , p. 1018-1025. TV.] Dr. Walch thinks, that Salellius ought not to be called a Patripassian : for these held Christ to be one person, in whom two natures were personally united ; and believed that, not the divine nature of the Son, as a person, but the divine nature of the Father who was the only person, was united with the human na- ture in Christ. Now as Sabellius held the Son to be no real part of the Father, and held still less to a personal union of two na- tures in Christ ; he cannot truly be called a Patripassian. According to Sabellius 1 opin- ion, Christ was a mere man, in whom re- sided a divine power, that produced those effects which we regard as the acts of the divine nature united to the human. Among the opposers of Sabellius, Dionysius of Al- exandria attracted the most notice. Yet the opposition made by this bishop, was not sat- isfactory to all. Offensive passages were found in his epistles against the Sabellians. As he there brought forward the doctrine of Christ's incarnation, and from that deduced his proof of the real distinction between the Father and the Son ; he was understood as holding, that the Son, in so far as he was a divine being, was a created one, or as deny- ing, that the Father and the Son were of the same essence. Dionysius defended him- self, and showed that he had been misunder- stood. Notwithstanding this, the Anans, after his death, claimed him as on their side ; which obliged Athanasius to vindicate the reputation of Dionysius against them. Still there continued to be some, to whom this defence appeared insufficient ; Basil the Great is an example. There can be no doubt that Dionysius thought with Athana- sius, in regard to the Trinity, but he used the language of Arius. In regard to the person of Christ, he expressed himself in the manner of Nettorius ; for he carried the distinction between the divine and the hu- man natures of Christ, so far, as wholly to exclude the former from a participation in those changes in the latter which were the result of the personal union of the two na- Dr. Walch, Historic der Ket- zcrcyi-n, vol. li ., p. 50-63. Schl.] 200 BOOK I. CENTURY III. PART II. CHAP. V. man. Beryllus was so lucidly and energetically confuted by Origen, in a council assembled at Bostra, [A.D. 244], that he gave up the cause, and returned into the bosom of the church.(13) & 15. Very different from him both in morals and in sentiment was Paul of Samosata, a bishop of Antioch [in Syria], and at the same time clothed with the civil office of a ducenarius.(\) He was an ostentatious man, opulent and arrogant ;(15) and he greatly disquieted the eastern church, soon after the middle of this century, by his novel explanations of the doctrine concerning the divine nature and concerning Christ. The sect which embraced his opinions, were called Paulians or Paulianists. So far as can be judged from the accounts that have reached us, he sup. posed the Son and the Holy Spirit to exist in God, just as reason and ac- tive power do in a man ; that Christ was born a mere man, but that the wisdom or reason (A,<5yoc) of the Father descended into him, and enabled him to teach and to work miracles ; that on account of this union of the divine Word (Adyoo) with the man Christ, we might say Christ was God, though not in the proper sense of the word. He so concealed his real sen- timents under ambiguous forms of speech, that repeated ecclesiastical coun- cils were wholly unable to convict him ; but at last, in the council assem- (13) Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., lib. vi., c. 20 and 33. Jerome, de Viris Illustr., c. 60. Socrates, Hist. Eccles., lib. iii., c. 7. Among the moderns, see Jo. le Clerc, Ars Critica, vol. i., pt. ii., sec. i., c. 14. Chaufepied, Nouveau Dictionnaire histoire crit., tome i., p. 268, &c. [See Mosheim, Comment, de Rebus Christianor., &c., p. 699, &c., and Dr. Walch, Historic der Ket- zereyen, vol. ii., p. 126-136. Dr. Walch indeed does not place Beryllus among the heretics, because he is not chargeable with obstinacy in his errors, nor with establishing a sect or party ; both of which are necessary to constitute a heretic. Concerning his sen- timents, little is known, except that he main- tained that Christ, before his incarnation, did not exist as a divine person ; but that after his incarnation, he was a man in whom God, namely the Father, dwelt. Dr. Mo- sheim's assertion, that Beryllus represented Christ as possessing a soul derived from the divine essence, is a mere conjecture that can not be supported by proof. Schl. Dr. Ne- ander, Kirchengesch., vol. i., pt. iii., p. 1014, &.C., places Beryllus among that class of Patripassians, who considered the person- ality of the Son of God as originating from a radiation or emanation, from the essence of God, into a human body. He therefore places Beryllus and Sabellius in the same class. Tr.] (14) [The duccnarii were a species of procurators for the etnperor in the provinces, whose salary was two hundred sestertia, [dur.ena sestertia, equal to $7193,60], from which sum, these officers derived their title. See Dion Cassius, lib. 53. Suetonius, Claudian, c. 24, and Salmasius, Notes on Capitolinus, Pertinax, p. 125. From Sel- ler's Antiquities of Palmyra, Lond., 1696, 8vo, p. 166, &c., it appears, that this office was much used in the province of Syria : and Dr. Mosheim conjectures, (Comment, de Rebus, &c., p. 705), that Paul obtained it by means of Zenobia, who had a high es- teem of him. Schl.} (15) Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., 1. vii., c. 30. [Eusebius here gives copious extracts from the circular letter of the council, which con- demned Paul and ordained Domnus, his successor. The council characterize Paul, as having risen from poverty to opulence by extortion and bribery ; as proud, and inso- lent, and ostentatious ; as choosing to be addressed by his civil title, and appearing in public attended by guards and all the splen- dour of worldly rank ; as affecting splendour and power, and abusing authority as an offi- cer in the church ; as intolerably vain, and coveting the adulations of the multitude ; as decrying the fathers of the church, exalting himself, and abolishing the hymns in com- mon use, and appointing women to sing psalms in praise of himself; as sending out bishops and presbyters to sound his praise, and to extol him as an angel from heaven ; as keeping several young and handsome women near his person, whom he enriched with presents, and as living in luxury with them. How much of colouring there may be in this picture, we have not the means of determining. But there can be little doubt, that the character of Paul was such as did not become a bishop. Tr.] HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 201 bled A.D. 269, Makhion, a rhetorician, drew him from his concealment; and he was convicted and divested of his episcopal office. (16) 16. In a very different way some little philosophers in Arabia, the disciples of a man unknown, marred a part of the Christian system. They denied the soul to be immortal ; maintaining that it died with the body, and that it would be resuscitated with it by the power of God.(17) The be- lievers in this doctrine were called Arabians, from the country in which they lived. Origen being sent from Egypt, disputed against them with such success in a full council, that they renounced their error. 17. Among the sects which arose in this century, that of the Nova, tians is placed last. They did not indeed corrupt the doctrines of Christi- anity ; but by the severity of the discipline to which they adhered, they pro- duced a lamentable schism. Novatian,(l8) a presbyter in the church of Rome, a man of learning and eloquence, but of a stern and austere char- acter, maintained, that such as had fallen into the more heinous sins, and especially such as had denied Christ during the Decian persecution, ought never to be admitted again to the church. Most of the other presbyters, as well as Cornelius, whose influence was very great, were of a different opinion. Hence, in the year 250, when a new bishop was to be chosen (16) See Epistolam Concilii Antiocheni ad Paulum, in the Bibliotheca Patrum, torn, xi., p. 302, ed. Paris, 1644, fol., and Dio- nysii Alexandrini Ep. ad Paulum, ibid., p. 273, and Decem Pauli Samosateni Quaes- tiones, ibid., p. 278. [See also Dr. Mo- sheim, Comment, de Rebus Christianor., etc., p. 701-718, and Dr. Watch, Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. ii., p. 64-125. From the hst writer, we extract the following, to give a more full and correct view of the Samosatenian doctrines. 1. Paul of Sa- mosata taught, that there is but one God, who in the Scriptures is denominated the Father. 2. He did not deny, that the Scriptures speak of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 3. What he understood by the Holy Ghost, we do not know ; and Dr. Mosheim has attempted to supply this defect, by a mere conjecture. 4. Concern- ing the Word and the Wisdom of God, he has spoken largely : but whether he distin- guished between the Word in God, (Aoyof evdiu&erof), and the Word produced from God, (Aoyof wpo0op6f), is doubtful. 5. This Word or Wisdom in God, is not a sub- stance or a person. 6. But it is in the di- vine mind, as reason is in men. 7. Christ was a mere man. 8. He first began to ex- ist, when he was born of Mary. 9. Yet in this man, dwelt the divine Word or Wit- dom ; and it was operative in him. 10. The union commenced, when Christ was con- ceived in the womb of Mary. 11. By means of this Wisdom of God in him, Christ gradually acquired his knowledge and his practical virtues. By it, he became at once God and the Son of God ; yet both, in an VOL. I. C c improper sense of the terms. 12. This di- vine wisdom withdrew from him when he suffered. From this account it appears, that Photian, in the next age, came very near to Paul of Samosata, not indeed in his statements and expressions, but rather in his grand error, namely, that Christ was a mere man, and superior to other men only on account of his pre-eminent gifts. Schl. See also A. Neandcr, Kirchengesch., bd. i., abth. iii., p. 1007-1014 Tr.] (17) Eiisebius, Hist. Eccles., 1. vi., c. 37. [See Mosheim, Comment, de Rebus Chris- tianor., &c., p. 718, and Dr. Walch, Histo- ric der Ketzereyen, vol. ii., p. 167-171. As Euscbius, who is the only witness we have in regard to this sect, gives a very brief account of them, the learned in modern times have entertained two opinions con- cerning their system. Some suppose they held that the soul, though immaterial, sleep* while the body is m the grave : which how- ever, the words of Eusebius seem to contra- dict, for they describe the soul as dying, and being dissolved with the body, avvairo'&v^a- neiv rotf ouuaai KOI ovvdia(f>-&cipEodai. Others suppose more correctly, that they were Christian materialists, who regarded the soul as being a part of the body. And Dr. Mosheim conjectures, that their error originated from their combining the Epi- curean philosophy with Christianity. Schl.] (18) [The Greeks always write his name Novatus or Navatus ; but the Latins gener- ally write it Novafianus, perhaps to distin- guish him from Novatus of Carthage, the names being really the same. Tr.] 202 BOOK I. CENTURY III. PART II. CHAP. V. at Rome in place of Fabian, Novatian strenuously opposed the election of Cornelius. Yet Cornelius was chosen, and Novatian withdrew from com- muuion with him. On the other hand, Cornelius, in a council held at Rome A.D. 251, excommunicated Novatian and his adherents. Novatian there- fore founded a new sect, in which he was the first bishop. This sect had many adherents who were pleased with the severity of its discipline ; and it continued to flourish in many parts of Christendom, until thejifth century. The principal coadjutor of Novatian in this schism, was Novatus, a pres- byter of Carthage, who fled to Rome during the hsat of this controversy, in order to escape the wrath and the condemnation of Cyprian his bishop, with whom he was in a violent quarrel. (19) (19) [Dr. Walch, Historie der Ketzerey- en, vol. ii., p. 220, &c., after surveying the original accounts, gives the following con- nected view of these events. A great num- ber of those who in the Decian persecution had fallen from their steadfastness, having afterwards repented of their fall, arid sought to be admitted again to the communion of the church, gave rise to the question of conscience, how they ought to be treated. The episcopal chair at Rome was at that time vacant, in consequence of the death of Fabian ; and the clergy were divided in re- gard to this question, some advocating mild, and others more rigorous measures. Among the latter was Novatian, among the former Cornelius, both of them elders in the church of Rome. On the side of Novatian were several confessors ; that is, persons who had endured various corporeal punishments du- ring the persecution, without denying the faith ; and these were haughty and overbear- ing towards their fallen brethren. While this subject was in agitation at Rome, news came from Carthage, that the lapsed there would be received again, but only after en- during a long penance ; though, if in immi- nent danger of death, and they desired it, they might be restored without delay And these principles were approved at Rome, in an epistle composed by Novatian, (inter Epistolas Cypr., ep. 31). Now came on the election of a bishop of Rome ; and here the two parties were divided. Novatian sol- emnly declared, that he did not desire the office ; and Cornelius was chosen by a ma- jority of the votes. But as Cornelius was one of the milder party, not only Novatian but also the confessors and several of the elders, were dissatisfied with his election ; and, it would seem, separated themselves from him. About this time Novatus arrived from Car- thage. He had fallen out with Cyprian, his bishop ; and perhaps knew, that Cyprian was a friend of Cornelius ; but the former did not commit himself. Cornelius ac- quainted Cyprian with his election. Infor- mation had already reached Carthage, that Cornelius was not approved by all at Rome ; and Cyprian did not venture at once to de- clare in his favour, but sent two African bish- ops, Caldonius and Fortunatus, to Rome, with a letter addressed not to Cornelius as bishop, but to the clergy there, and to the neighbouring bishops who were present at the election. The Cornelian party again stated, that his election was regular; and the African envoys, with two envoys from Rome who accompanied them home, affirmed the same thing. Hereupon Cornelius was recognised at Carthage, as being the bishop of Rome. But at Rome the business was not so easily settled. The dissatisfied party urged on a new election ; and Novatus and Evaristus were the most suitable persons to persuade Novatian to consent to receive or- dination. As at least three bishops must impose hands on a bishop- elect, three such clergymen were drawn from some small towns in Italy, and by deception induced to perform this act. The ordination was also performed at an unusual hour. Novatian appears to have reluctantly consented to it ; but he afterwards endeavoured to support himself in office. He sent letters every- where, and twice despatched envoys to Af- rica. These could get no hearing from Cyp- rian and his adherents ; yet their mission was not without effect. In other countries likewise, he found persons, who considered his dissatisfaction with Cornelius and with his conduct towards the lapsed, as being well founded. In the mean time Cornelius held a council at Rome, which approved of the milder principles of discipline. Novatian was present, and resisted those principles before the council ; but he was excommuni- cated by it, together with his adherents. This caused his party to diminish, many of his friends choosing rather to be on the strongest side : and hence he may have been induced, when administering the sacrament of the supper to his follower.", to make them promise not to forsake him. Schl. As the dissensions at Carthage about the same time, had some connexion with those at Rome, HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 203 18. Respecting the fundamental articles of the Christian faith, there was no disagreement between the Novatians and other Christians. Their peculiarity was, that they would not receive into the church persons, who after being baptized fell into the greater sins. They did not however exclude them from all hopes of eternal salvation. They considered the Christian church, therefore, as a society of innocent persons, who from their entrance into it had defiled themselves with no sin of any considerable magnitude ; and hence it followed, that all associations of Christians, which opened the door for the return of gross offenders, were in their view unworthy of the name of true churches of Christ. And hence they assumed the appellation of Catliari, that is, the pure ; and what was still more, they rebaptized such as came over to them from the Catholics. For such influence had the error they embraced upon their own minds, that they believed the baptism of those churches which readmitted the lapsed, could not impart to the sub- jects of it remission of sins. (20) and also tend to show the state of the church in the middle of this century ; the following account of them is extracted from Mosheim's Comment, de Rebus, &c., xiii , p. 497, &c., and xiv., p. 50:), &c. Novatus, a presbyter at Carthage, even before the De- cian persecution, had disagreed with Cyp- rian his bishop, and formed a party who were dissatisfied with him, and who would not yield to all his wishes. According to the representations of his adversaries, Novatus was not only arrogant, factious, vain, and rash, but chargeable with many offences and crimes. Cyprian therefore resolved to bring him to a trial, and to excommunicate him. The day for trial was appointed ; but the imperial edict [for the persecution] unexpect- edly intervened ; and as Cyprian was obli- ged to retire into concealment, Novatus con- tinued safe in his office. This was the first act in the long tragedy. While Cyprian was in retirement, and the African magis- trates fiercely persecuting the Christians, these contests were suspended. . But when the violence of the storm from without was past, and Cyprian was preparing to return to his church, Novatus fearing, r.o doubt, that the bishop would renew the prosecution against him, which was commenced before his retirement, deemed it necessary to raise a party against the bishop, which should pre- vent his reluming to his church, and thus de- prive him of the power of doing him harm. fey means of Fdicissimus, therefore, whom he had made his deacon, contrary to the will of the bishop, Nmatus alienated a part of the church from Cyprian. Fdicissimus, aided by one Augcndus, prevented the exe- cution of the plans of the bishop in regard to the poor. Many of the people came over to his party ; and also five presbyters, who had long been at variance with Cyprian. This turbulent party were able to retard a little, but not to prevent the return of Cyprian. After some delay, which prudence dictated, the bishop returned to Carthage ; and having assembled a council on the subject especially of the lapsed, he punished the temerity of his adversaries, and excommunicated Feli- cissimus, the author of the revolt, together with the five presbyters his associates. No- Tatus was not of the number, as he was ab- sent, having fled to Rome as soon as he found Cyprian would come to Carthage. The excommunicated persons, despising the censure passed on them, instituted a new church at Carthage, in opposition to that of Cyprian, and established as the bishop of it, Fortunatus, one of the presbyters whom Cyprian had condemned. But the party had more resolution than ability, and the schism was probably extinguished not long after its birth ; for no mention is made of its progress by any of the fathers. TV.] (20) Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., 1. vi., c. 43. Cyprian, in various of his Epistles, as Ep. 49, 52, &c. Gabr. Albaspinaeus, Observat. Eccles., lib. ii., c. 20, 21. Jo*. Aug. Orsi, de criminum capital, inter veteres Christ. Absolutione, p. 254, &c. Steph. Kenckel, de haeresi Novatiana, Argentor., 1651, 4to ; [also, Moshcim, Comment, de Rebus Chris- tianor., &c , p. 512-537, and Dr. Walck, Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. ii , p. 185 288. Schl. And A. Neatidrr, Kirchen- gesch., bd. i., abth. i., s. 387-407. TV.] INSTITUTES ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, UNDER THE NEW TESTAMENT. BOOK II. EMBRACING EVENTS FROM CONSTANTINE THE GREAT TO CHARLEMAGNE. CENTURY FOURTH. PART I. THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHTTRCH : EXHIBITING BOTH THE PROSPER- OUS AND THE ADVERSE EVENTS OF IT. $ 1. Peaceful State of Christians at the beginning of the Century. 2. Persecution of Diocletian. $ 3. The Causes and the Severity of it. () 4. The Christian Cause re- duced to great Extremities. 5. Tranquillity restored on the Accession of Constan- tino to Supreme Power. 6. Defeat of Maxentius 7, 8. Different Opinions con- cerning the Faith of Constantine. 9. The Cross seen by him in the Heavens. 10. Persecution of Licinius. <J 11. State of the Church under the Sons of Con- stantine the Great. 12. Julian persecutes the Christians. 13. His Character. <) 14. The Jews attempt to rebuild their Temple in vain. $ 15. State of the Church after the Death of Julian. 16. Remains of the Pagans. $ 17. Efforts of the Philosophers against Christianity. 18. Injuries it received from them. 19. Propagation of Christianity among the Armenians. 20. The Abyssinians and Georgians. 21. The Goths. $ 22. The Gauls. 23. The Causes of so many Revolutions. 24. Slight Persecutions in Persia. 1. THAT I might not separate too much those facts which are inti- mately connected with each other, I have determined here to exhibit the prosperous and the adverse events, not as heretofore in distinct chapters, but combined in one series, following as much as possible the order of time. In the beginning of this century, the Roman empire had four sover- eigns ; of whom two were superior to the others, and bore the title of Augustus, namely, [ Valerius] Diocletian, and [Marcus Aurelius Valerius] Maximianus Herculius : the two inferior sovereigns, who bore the title of Caesars, were Constantius Chlorus, and Galerius Maximianus [Armentarius]. Under these four [associated] emperors, the state of the church was peace- ful and happy.(l) Diocletian, though superstitious, indulged no hatred to- wards the Christians. (2) Constantius Chlorus, following only the dictates of reason in matters of religion, was averse from the popular idolatry, and friendly to the Christians. (3) The pagan priests therefore, from well- (1) Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., lib. viii., c. 1. sembled without fear : and they had nothing [Eusebius here describes th? prosperous to wish for, unless it were that one or more state of the Christians, and their consequent of the emperors might embrace their reli- security and vices. The imperial palaces gion. Schl.~\ were full of Christians, and no one hindered (2) [He had Christians in his court, who them from openly professing Christianity, understood how to lead him, and who would From among them, men were chosen to the probably have brought him to renounce idola- offices of imperial counsellors, provincial try, had not the suggestions of their enemies governors, magistrates and generals. The prevailed with him. His wife Prisca was, bishops and other clergy were held in honour, in reality, a concealed Christian ; and also even by those who adhered to the old religion his daughter Valeria, the wife of Galcnus of the state. And the number of Christians Murimianus. See Lactantius^ de Mortibus was seen to be increasing daily. Hence in Persequutorum, c. 15. Schl.~\ all the cities, spacious buildings were erected (3) [Some go still farther, and make him for public worship, in which the people as- to have been actually a Christian. But from 208 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART I. grounded fears lest Christianity to their great and lasting injury should spread far and wide its triumphs, endeavoured to excite Diocletian, whom they knew to be both timid and credulous, by means of feigned oracles and other impositions to engage in persecuting the Christians. (4) 2. These artifices not succeeding very well, they made use of the other emperor, Galerius Maximianus, who was son-in-law to Diocle- tian, in order to effect their purpose. This emperor, who was of a fe- rocious character and ill-informed in everything except the military art, continued to work upon his father-in-law, being urged on partly by his own inclination, partly by the instigation of his mother, a most super- stitious woman, and partly by that of the pagan priests, till at last, when Diocletian was at Nicomedia in the year 303, he obtained from him an edict, by which the temples of the Christians were to be demolished, their sacred books committed to the flames, and themselves deprived of all their civil rights and honours. (5) This first edict spared the lives of the Christians ; for Diocletian was averse from slaughter and bloodshed. Yet it caused many Christians to be put to death, particu- larly those who refused to deliver, up their sacred books to the magis- the representations of Eusebius, Hist. Ec- cles., lib. viii., c. 13, no more can be inferred than that he was disposed to look favourably upon the Christian religion. Sold.] (4) Eusebius, de Vita Constantini, lib. ii., c. 50. Lactantius, Institut. Divinar., lib. iv., c. 27, and de Mortibus Persequulor., c. 10. [According to Eusebius, \. c., it was reported to the emperor, that the oracle of Apollo had declared, that he was prevented from giving true responses by the righteous men on the earth ; and this the pagan priests interpreted when questioned by the emperor, the Platonic philosophers had some influence in exciting the emperor's hostility ; for they represented the many sects among the Christians in a most odious light, and taxed them with having apostatized from the reli- gion of the early Christians. Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., viii., c. 17. But political considerations may likewise have influenced him. Galerius contemplated getting rid of his colleagues, and making himself sole em- peror. The Christians, who were attached to Constantius Chlorus and his son, seemed to him to stand in the way of his designs ; and with reference to the Christians. According he wished to weaken their power, or rather to Lactantius, ubi supra, while Diocletian was at Antioch, in the year 302, the priests who inspected the entrails of the consecrated victims, declared that they were interrupted in their prognostications by the sign of the cross made by several of the emperor's ser- vants. SchL] (5) Lactantius, de Mortib. Persequutor., c. 1 1 . Eusebius, Hist Eccles., 1. viii., c. 2. [This persecution should, properly, be named to annihilate it as far as practicable. But Diocletian was not disposed to further his cruel project. He was willing to exclude Christians from the palace and the army, and to compel all who served him at court or in the armies, to offer sacrifices to the gods ; but not to suspend over them penal laws and executions. Galerius would have them all brought to the stake. A council was called, composed of learned civilians that of Galerius Maximianus, and not that of and officers in the army, which declared Diocletian. For Diocletian had much the against the Christians. To this decision, least hand in it, and he resigned his authority Hierocles, the governor of Bithynia, the man before the persecution had continued quite who afterwards wrote against the Christians, moreover Maximianus, in his two years ; edict for putting an end to the persecution, a little before his death, acknowledges that he himself was the author of it. See Euse- bius, Hist. Eccles., viii., 17, and Lactantius, de Mortib. Persequutor., c. 34. Romufia, the mother of Galerius, who was a very su- perstitious and haughty woman, and who was offended that the Christians would not allow her to be present when they celebrated the Lord's supper, contributed to inflame the contributed not a little. But Diocletian would not yet give up entirely. He would consult the oracle of Apollo at Miletus ; which likewise directed to the extirpation of the Christians. But even Apollo could not move the superstitious emperor to the ex- treme of cruelty. He decreed indeed a per- secution ; but it was to cost no blood. It commenced with the demolition of the Christian temple at Nicomedia, and the burn- ing of the books found in it. See Mo.ihcim, rage of her son against them. Perhaps ^also Com. de Reb., &c., p. 916-922. SchL] PROSPEROUS AND ADVERSE EVENTS. 209 trates.(6) Seeing this operation of the law, many Christians, and several even of the bishops and clergy, in order to save their lives, voluntarily surrendered the sacred books in their possession. But they were re- garded by their more resolute brethren as guilty of sacrilege, and were branded with the name of Traditors.(l) 3. Not long after the publication of this first edict, there were two conflagrations in the palace of Nicomedia ; and the enemies of the Chris- tians persuaded Diocletian to believe, that Christian hands had kindled them. He therefore ordered many Christians of Nicomedia to be put to the torture, and to undergo the penalties due to incendiaries.(8) Nearly at, the same time, there were insurrections in Armenia and in Syria ; and as their enemies charged the blame of these also upon the Christians, the emperor by a new edict ordered all bishops and ministers of Christ to be thrown into prison ; and by a third edict, soon after, he ordered that all these prisoners should be compelled by tortures and punishments to offer sacrifice to the gods :(9) for he hoped, if the bishops and teachers were once brought to submission, the Christian churches would follow their ex- ample. A great multitude therefore, of excellent men, in every part of the Roman empire, Gaul only excepted, which was subject to Constantius Chlorus,(W) were either punished capitally, or condemned to the mines. 4. In the second year of the persecution, A.D. 304, Diocletian pub- lished a. fourth edict, at the instigation of his son-in-law and the other ene- mies of the Christians. By this edict the magistrates were directed, to compel all Christians to offer sacrifices to the gods, and to use tortures for that purpose. (11) And as the governors yielded strict obedience to (6) Augustine, Breviculum collat. cum Donatistis, c. 15, 17, in his Opp., torn, ix., p. 387, 390, and Baluse, Miscellan., torn. ii., p. 77, 92. (7) Optatus Milevit. de Schismate Dona- tist., 1. i., 13, p. 13, ed. Du Pin. (8) Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., 1. viii., c. 6. Lactantius, de Mortib. Persequutor., c. 14. Constantine the Gr. Oratio ad Sanctorum coetum, c. 25. [After the second confla- gration, Gcderius left Nicomedia, pretending to be afraid of being burned up by the Chris- tians. Diocletian also compelled his wife and daughter to sacrifice to the gods, in proof that they were not Christians ; and caused many Christians of his household and court to be cut off, and Lonthimus the bishop of Nicomedia, with many of the clergy and common Christians, to undergo cruel deaths, because they refused to offer sacrifices to the gods. Schl.] (9) Ensebius, Hist. Eccles., 1. viii., c. 6, and de Marty nbus Palaestinae, [Introduc- tion.] [Some degree of probability could be attached to the charge against the Chris- tians of causing the insurrections, from the fact that their inconsiderate zeal sometimes led them to deeds which had an aspect of rebellion. At the commencement of this persecution, for example, a very respectable Christian tore down the imperial edict against VOL. I. D D the Christians, which was set up in a public place. See Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., 1. viii., c. 5 Schl.] (10) Lactantius, de Mortib. Persequuto- rum, c. 15. Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., 1. viii., c. 13, IS. [Constantius Chlorus presided over Spain and Britain, as well as Gaul. In Spain there were some martyrs, because Constantius not being present there in per- son, he could not prevent the rigorous exe- cution of the decree of the senior emperor. But in Gaul, where he was personally pres- ent, he favoured the Christians as much as sound policy would permit. He suffered some of the churches to be demolished, and most of them to be shut up. And when the last edict of Gcderius against the Christians was promulgated, he enjoined upon all his Christian servants, to relinquish either their mode of worship or their offices ; and when they had made their election, he deprived all those of their offices who resolved to adhere to Christian worship, and retained the others in his service. Schl.] (11) Eusebius, de Martyr. Palaestinae, c. 3. [Diocletian was not yet willing the Christians should be put to death outright ; his orders to the governors were couched in general terms, that they should compel the Christians, by all kinds of corporeal suffer- ings, to give honour to the heathen gods. 210 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART I. these orders, the Christian church was reduced to the last extremity. (12) Galerius Maximianus therefore no longer hesitated to disclose the secret designs he had long entertained. [A.D. 305.] He required his father. in-la\v, [Diocletian], together with his colleague, [Valerius] Maximianus Herculius, to divest themselves of their power, and constituted himself emperor of the East ; leaving the West to Constantius Chlorus, whose health he knew to be very infirm. He also associated with him in the government, two assistants, of his own choosing; namely, [C. Galerius] Maximinus, his sister's son, and [Flavins'] Severus ; excluding altogether Constantine, afterwards styled the Great, the son of Constantius Chlorus. (13) This revolution in the Roman government restored peace to Christians in the western provinces, which were under Constantius :(14) but in the east- ern provinces, the persecution raged with greater severity than before. (15) See Eusebius, de Vita Constantini, 1. ii., c. consisted of weak, poor, and timorous per- 51 ; compare Lactantius, Instit. Divinar., 1. v., c. 11. Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., 1. ix., c. 9, and 1. viii , c. 12. Hence, according with the disposition of the several governors, was their execution of the imperial edict. Some only sent the Christians into banishment, when the attempt to make them offer sacri- fices failed. Others deprived them of an eye, or lamed one of their feet by burning it : and others exposed them to wild beasts ; or lacerated their bodies with iron hooks or with the scourge ; and afterwards sprinkled vinegar and salt on the wounds, or dropped melted lead into them. In Phrygia, a whole city with all its inhabitants was burned to ashes, because not an individual in it would offer sacrifice. Lactantius, Instit. Divinar., lib. v., c. 11. Some Christians also brought death upon themselves, by holding religious meetings contrary to the emperor's prohibi- tion, or by voluntarily presenting themselves before the governors and requesting to be martyred. Sulpitius Severus, Hist. Sacra, lib. ii., c. 32, and Eusebius, de Martyr. Pal- aestinae, c. 3. Schl.] (12) Lactantius, Instit. Divinar., lib. v., c. 11. [With the exception of Gaul, streams of Christian blood flowed in all the provinces of the Roman empire. Everywhere the Christian temples lay in ruins, and all as- semblies for worship were suspended. The major part had forsaken the provinces, and taken refuge among the barbarians. Such as were unable or unwilling to do this, kept themselves concealed, and were afraid for their lives if they appeared in public. The ministers of Christ were either slain, or mu- tilated and sent to the mines, or banished the country. The avaricious magistrates and judges had seized upon nearly all their church property and their private possessions. Many, through dread of undergoing torture, had made away with their own lives, and many had apostatized from the faith ; and what remained of the Christian community, sons. Schl.] (13) Lactantius, de Mortib. Persequutor., c. 18, 20. [Galerius Maximianus was in more fear of the young prince Constantine, than of his father Constantius ; the latter being a mild and sickly sovereign, while Constantine was of an ardent temperament, and at the same time greatly beloved by the people and the soldiers. Yet Galerius had this prince in his power ; for he detained him at his court in Nicomedia, and if he found occasion, might have put him out of his way by assassination or some other means. Indeed Galerius attempted this, es- pecially in the year 306. Lactantius, de Mortib. Persequutor., c. 24. But Constan- tine saved himself by flight, and repaired to his father in Britain. This sagacity of the prince overset the whole plan of the empe- ror, and was the means of rescuing the Christian religion from its jeopardy. See Mosheim, Comment, de Reb., &c., p. 942, &c. Schl.} (14) Eusebius, de Martyr. Palaestinae, c. 13. [Eusebius says expressly that Italy, Sicily, Gaul, Spain, Mauritania and Africa, enjoyed peace, after the two first years of the persecution. Nor was this strange ; for Constantivs Chlorus, who governed Britain, Spain, and Gaul, was a friend to the Chris- tians ; and Scrterus, who in the character of a Caesar, held the other western provinces, was obliged to show deference to Constan- tino as the emperor of the West. Neither was the debauched Severus, of himself, in- clined to cruelty. Yet the Christians en- joyed less freedom under him, than under Constantius. See Optatus Milevilanus, de Schismate Donatist., 1. i., c. 14, comp. c. 16. Schl.] (15) Lactantius, de Mortib. Persequutor., c. 21. [Lactanlius here states, that Gait- nun Maximianus gave orders, that such Christians as could not by tortures be in- duced to sacrifice, should be roasted over a PROSPEROUS AND ADVERSE EVENTS. 211 5. But divine providence frustrated the whole plan of Galerius Max. imianus. For Constantius Chlorus dying in Britain the year 306, the sol- diery by acclamation made his son Constantine, who afterwards by his achievements obtained the title of the Great, Augustus or emperor : and the tyrant Galerius was obliged to submit, and even to approve this ad- verse event. Soon after, a civil war broke out. For, Maxentius [the son of the ex-emperor, Valerius Maximianus Herculius, and] the son-in-law of Galerius Maximianus, being indignant that Galerius should prefer Sev- erus before him, and invest him with imperial power, himself assumed the purple ; and took his father, Valer. Maxim. Herculius for his colleague 'in the empire. In the midst of these commotions, Constantine, beyond all expectation, made his way to the imperial throne. The western Chris- tians, those of Italy and Africa excepted, enjoyed a good degree of tran- quillity and liberty, during these civil wars. (16) But the Oriental church- es experienced various fortune, adverse, or tolerable, according to the po- litical changes from year to year. (17) At length Galerius Maximianus, who had been the author of their heaviest calamities, being brought low by a terrific and protracted disease, and finding himself ready to die, in the year 311 issued a decree which restored peace to them, after they had endured almost unbounded sufferings. (18) slow fire. Maximin, who governed Syria and Egypt, at first showed himself quite mild towards the Christians. Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., 1. ix., c. 9. But afterwards, he seemed to wish to surpass all other en- emies of the Christians, in cruelty towards them. See Mosheim, Comment, de Reb., &c., p. 945, &c. Schl.~\ (16) [Constantine, as soon as he came into power, gave the Christians full liberty to profess and to practise their religion. Lactantius, de Mortib. Persequutor., c. 24, and Institut. Divinar., 1. i., c. 1. This he did, not from a sense of justice or from mag- nanimity, and still less from any attachment to the Christian religion, but from principles of worldly prudence. He wished to attach the Christians to his party, that they might protect him against the power and the mach- inations of Galerius Maximian. His broth- er-in-law, Maxentius, imitated his example, and with similar views ; and therefore the Christians under him in Africa and Italy, en- joyed entire religious liberty. See Optatus Milevitanus, de Schismate Donatist., 1. i., c. 16, and Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., 1. viii., c. 14. See Mosheim, Comment, de Reb. Christianor., p. 952, &c. Schl.] (17) [In the eastern provinces, which were under the government of Galerius Maximi- anus and C. Galerius Maximinus, Chris- tians were the most cruelly persecuted ; as is manifest from various passages in Euse- bius. Yet C. G. Maximin did not at all times treat them with equal severity. Ac- cording to Eusfb., (de Martyr. Palaestinae, c. 9), in the year 308, the persecution seem- ed to be at an end in Syria and Palestine : but it soon after recommenced, with in- creased severity. The cause of these vicis- situdes is to be sought in the political state of things. In this year, C. G. Maximin assumed the title of Casar in Syria, against the will of Galerius Maximianus ; and the latter appeared about to declare war against the former ; who therefore was indulgent to- wards the Christians, in order to secure their friendship. But as Galerius Maximianus was appeased, C. G. Maximin became more severe against the Christians, in order to in- gratiate himself more effectually with the emperor. After a while, however, he abated his severity ; and towards the end of the year 309 and in the beginning of 310, the Christians enjoyed great freedom : (Euseb., de Martyr. Palaestinae, c. 13), for Galerius Maximianus was now in declining health, and in such circumstances, C. G. Maximin wished not to alienate the Christians from himself. Yet when the governor of the province informed him, in the year 310, that the Christians abused their freedom, Maxi- min renewed the persecution. But soon after Galenus Maximianus was seized with his last and fatal sickness, and C. G. Maxi- min being apprehensive that the imperial power could be secured only by a success- ful appeal to arms, policy required him again to desist from persecuting the Christians. Ettsebius, Hist. Eccles., 1. viii., c. 16. See Mosheim, Comment, de Reb. Christianor., p. 955, &c. Schl.] (18) Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., 1. viii., c. 16. Lactantius, de Mortib. Persequutor., 212 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART I. 6. After the death of Galerius Maximianus, [A.D. 311], C. Gale- rius Maximinus and C. Vol. Licinius, [who was created Augustus by Ga- lerius Maximianus, after the death of Flavins Severus, A.D. 307], divided between themselves the provinces which had been governed by Galerius. At the same time Maxentius, who held Africa and Italy, determined to make war upon Constantine who governed in Spain and Gaul ; in order to bring all the West under his authority. Constantine, anticipating his designs, marched his army into Italy in the year 312, and in a battle fought at the Milvian bridge near Rome, routed the army of Maxentius. In the flight, the bridge broke down, and Maxentius fell into the Tiber, and was drowned. After this victory, Constantine with his colleague C. Vol. Li- cinius, immediately gave full liberty to the Christians of living according to their own institutions and laws ; and this liberty was more clearly de- fined the following year, A.D. 313, in a new edict drawn up at Milan. (19) C. Gal. Maximin indeed, who reigned in the East, was projecting new ca- lamities for the Christians,(20) and menacing the emperors of the West with war ; but being vanquished by Licinius, he put an end to his own life by swallowing poison, at Tarsus, in the year 313. c. 33. [The decree is given us, in Greek, in their city ; and then granted them their by Euseb., Hist. Eccles., 1. viii., c. 17, and petition. Other cities followed this exam- in Latin, by Lactantius, de Mortib. Perse- pie, and thus a new persecution was set on quutor., c. 34. Schl.] foot. Perhaps Lactantius and Eusebius (19) Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., 1. x., c. 5. Lactantius, de Mortib. Persequutor., c. 48. [It is the second edict, or that of Milan, which is found in the passages here referred to : Eusebius gives it in Greek, Lactantius in Latin. The first edict is wholly lost ; yet from the second, we may learn what was ob- scure or indefinite in the first. The first edict gave religious freedom, not only to the Christians, but to all other sects ; yet it for- bid any person's abandoning the religion in which he had been born and brought up. erred, in representing Maximin as the origi- nal cause of these applications to himself. Such petitions were in fact presented ; and as the emperor was about engaging in war with Constantine, he used every means to secure the fidelity of cities in the East to himself ; and as the persecution of the Chris- tians was one of the means to be used, therefore he gratified their wishes. Subse- quently, when the first edict of Constantine and Licinius was brought to him, in the year 312, he would not suffer it to be pub- This prohibition operated disadvantageous- lishcd in his provinces ; probably from pride, ly to the Christian cause ; and occasioned many, who had recently embraced Christiani- ty, to return to their former religion, in obedi- ence to the imperial edict. This prohibition therefore, with all other restraints, was re- moved in the second edict. See Mosheim, Comment, de Rebus Christianor., p. 959. Schl ] (20) [C. Gal. Maximin did not at first venture to contravene the edict of Gal. Max- imianus, (giving full toleration to the Chris- tians), yet he did not publish it in his prov- inces ; but afterwards, by underhanded eva- sions he violated it. For if we may believe Lactantius, (de Mortib. Persequutor , c. 36), he deeming it unsuitable, for him to be the publisher of edicts given out by persons whom he regarded as his inferiors in rank. Yet, according to Eusebius, (Hist. Eccles., 1. ix., c. 9), he sent a letter to his governors of provinces, which was very favourable to the Christians, and in which he requested his subjects to treat them kindly and tender- ly. The Christians however, put no confi- dence in this letter, and were still afraid openly to profess their religion. But. after he had been vanquished by Licinius, in the year 313, he published a new edict in favour of the Chiistians ; (Euseb., Hist. Eccles., 1. ix., c. 10), in which he laments that the he slyly so managed, that what some cities judges and magistrates had misinterpreted petitioned for, namely, that the Christians might be prevented from erecting temples within their walls, was effected. Eusebius relates, (Hist. Eccles., 1. ix., c. 2), that through the medium of one Theotecnus, he induced the Antiochians to petition to him, the former law ; and he now expressly gives the Christians liberty to rebuild their tem- ples, and commands that the property taken from them should be restored. Soon after this, he died ; and the ten years' persecution ended. See Mosheim, Comment, de Rebus that no Christian might be allowed to reside Christianor., p. 961, &c. Schl.] PROSPEROUS AND ADVERSE EVENTS. 213 7. About this time Constantine the Great, who was previously a man of no religion, is said to have embraced Christianity, being induced there- to, principally, by the miracle of a cross appearing to him in the heavens. But this story is liable to much doubt. For his first edict in favour of the Christians, and many other things, sufficiently evince indeed that he was at that time well disposed towards the Christians and their worship, but by no means that he regarded Christianity as the only true and saving re- ligion ; on the contrary, it appears that he regarded other religions, and among them the old Roman religion, as likewise true and useful to man- kind ; and he therefore wished all religions to be freely practised through- out the Roman empire. (21) But as he advanced in life, Constantine made progress in religious knowledge, and gradually came to regard Christianity as the only true and saving religion, and to consider all others as false and impious. Having learned this, he now began to exhort his subjects to em. brace Christianity ; and at length he proclaimed war against the ancient superstitions. At what time this change in the views of the emperor took place, and he began to look upon all religions but the Christian as false, cannot be determined. This however is certain, that the change in his views was first made manifest by his laws and edicts, in the year 324, after the death of Licinius, when Constantine became sole emperor.(22) His purpose however, of abolishing the ancient religion of the Romans and of tolerating only the Christian religion, he did not disclose till a little be- fore his death, when he published his edicts for pulling down the pagan temples and abolishing the sacrifices. (23) 21) [This is evident from Eusebius, de Vita Constantini, 1. i., c. 27. In the com- mencement of the war with Maxcntius, he was still at a loss to what God he should trust himself and his affairs. He at length determined to honour that one God only, whom his father had worshipped, and to show no reverence to the ancient Roman deities. The grounds on which he came to this deci- sion, were feeble ; namely, the good fortune of his father who adhered to this worship ; and the ill fortune and lamentable end of Diocletian, Galerins Maximian, and other emperors, who had worshipped the pagan deities. And according to Eusebius (de Vita Constantini, 1. i., c. 28), he knew so little of the God of his father, that he prayed he might be able to know him. He was a deist of the lowest class, who considered the God of his father as a limited being, though more benevolent and powerful than any of the Greek and Roman deities. This is manifest from his regulations in favour of the Christians, and from his laws tolerating the pagan haruspices. Codex Theodos., 1. is., tit. 16, leg. 1, 2, and 1. xvi., tit. 10, leg. i. Compare Zosimus, lib. ii., p. 10, ed. Oxford, 1679, 8vo. See Mosheim, Comment, de Rebus Christianor., p. 971, &c Schl.] (22) Eusebius, de Vita Constantini, 1. ii., c. 20 and 44. [In this year, 324, all those who for their adherence to Christianity du- ring the preceding persecution had become exiles, or been sent to the mines, or been robbed of their property, were restored to their country, their liberty, and their posses- sions ; and the Christian temples were or- dered to be rebuilt and enlarged. Schl.] (23) See Ja. Gothofrcd, ad Codicem The- odos., torn, vi., pt. i., p. 290, &c. [The statement of Zosimus (lib. ii., p. 104) is not to be wholly rejected. He says that af- ter the death of Licinius, a certain Egyp- tian came to Rome from Spain, and convin- ced the emperor of the truth of the Chris- tian religion. No reason can be assigned, why Zosimus should have fabricated such a story. This Egyptian was probably Hos-ius, the bishop of Corduba ; who was a native Egyptian, and was then at the court of Con- stantine very probably soliciting the res- toration of the church goods which had been confiscated. At least, it is expressly stated that the money destined for Africa, was paid in consequence of his efforts. This conjecture is favoured by Baumgarten, Aus7.ug der Kirchengesch., vol. ii., p. 691. The later Greeks ascribe the emperor's con- version to a courtier named Euphrates ; of whom however, the ancients make no mention. Theodoret, (Hist. Eccles., 1. i., c. 17), ascribes it to the influence of Helena hit mother; but she was brought to em- 214 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART I. & 8. That the emperor was sincere and not a dissembler in regard to his conversion to Christianity, no person can doubt, who believes that men's actions are an index of their real feelings. It is indeed true, that Constan- tine's life was not such as the precepts of Christianity required ;(24) and it is also true that he remained a catechumen all his life, and was received to full membership in the church by baptism at Nicomedia only a few days before his death. (25) But neither of these is adequate proof, that the em- peror had not a general conviction of the truth of the Christian religion, or that he only feigned himself a Christian. For in that age many persons deferred baptism till near the close of life, that they might pass into the other world altogether pure and undefiled with sin ;(26) and it is but too notorious, that many persons who look upon the Christian religion as in- dubitably true and of divine origin, yet do not conform their lives to all its holy precepts. It is another question, whether worldly motives might not have contributed in some degree, to induce Constantine to prefer the Chris- tian religion to the ancient Roman, and to all other religions, and to rec- ommend the observance of it to his subjects. Indeed it is no improbable brace Christianity by her son, according Christianae. torn, ii., p. 232, &c. [Valesi- to Eusebius, de Vita Constantini, 1. hi., c. us, in his notes on Eusebius, de Vita Con- 47. Zosimus relates that Constantine stantini, 1. iv., c. 61, where Eusebius relates, asked the pagan priests to absolve him from that Constantine first received imposition of the euilt of destroying Licinius, Fausta, hands, previous to his baptism, a little before his death ; infers, that the emperor then first became a catechumen, because he then first received imposition of hands. But the bish- ops laid hands on the catechumens, at vari- ous times, and for various purposes : and the connexion here shows, that Eusebius refers to that imposition of hands, which immedi- ately preceded, and was connected with bap- tism. See Tertullian, de Baptismo, c. 20. It will not follow, therefore, that Constan- tine had never before received imposition of hands, for other purposes. But suppose he had not, still we do not know that the only mode of constituting a catechumen, in that age, was by imposition of hands : and if it and Crispus ; and when they told him this was impossible, the Egyptian before men- tioned, undertook to show that the Chris- tian religion offered the means of cleansing away his guilt ; and this it was, induced the emperor to embrace Christianity. There is perhaps some degree of truth in this story ; perhaps Constantine did, in fact, after the death of Licinius first learn, either from this Egyptian or from some others, that the blood of Christ was expiatory for believers therein. It is at least certain, that in the first years after his victory over Max- entius, he had very incorrect ideas of Christ and of the Christian religion ; as is manifest from his Rescript to Anulmus, in Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., 1. x., c. 7. See Mosheim, Comment, de Rebus Christianor., p. 976, &c. Schl.] (24) [He put to death his own son Cm- pus, and his wife Fausta, on a groundless suspicion ; and cut off his brother-in-law Licinius, and his unoffending son, contrary to his plighted word ; and was much addict- ed to pride and voluptuousness. Schl.] (25) Eusebius, de Vita Constantini, lib. iv., c. 61, 62. -Those who, in reliance on more recent and dubious authorities, main- tain that Constantine received Christian bap- tism at Rome, in the year 324, and from the hands of Sylvester, then the bishop of Rome, do not at this day gain the assent of intelli- gent men, even in the Roman Catholic church. See Henry Noris, Historia Dona- tist., in his Opp., torn, iv., p. 650. Tho. Maria Mamachius, Origines et Antiqq. was, so great an emperor might be excused from the ceremony, which could plead no divine authority. That Constantine long before this time, declared himself a Chris- tian, and was acknowledged as such by the churches, is certain. It is also true that he had for a long time performed the religious acts of an unbaptized Christian, that is, of a catechumen ; for he attended public worship, fasted, prayed, observed the Christian Sab- bath and the anniversaries of the martyrs, and watched on the vigils of Easter, &c., &c. Now these facts show that he had, in fact, long been a catechumen ; and that he did not first become so, at the time hands were laid on him in order to his baptism. See Mosheim, Comment, de Rebus Christi- anor., p. 965, &c. Tr.] (26) [See Ant. Fred. Busching's Disput. de Procrastinatione Baptismi apud veteres, ejusque Causis. Schl.] PROSPEROUS AND ADVERSE EVENTS. 215 conjecture, that the emperor had discernment to see that Christianity pos- sessed great efficacy, and idolatry none at all, to strengthen public author, ity and to bind citizens to their duty.(27) 9. The sign of the cross, which Constantine most solemnly affirmed he saw in the heavens in broad daylight, is a subject involved in the greatest obscurities and difficulties. It is however an easy thing to refute those who regard this prodigy as a cunning fiction of the emperor, or who rank it among fables :(28) and also those who refer the phenomenon to natural causes, ingeniously conjecturing that the form of a cross appeared in a so- lar halo, or in the moon :(29) and likewise those who ascribe the transac- (27) See Eusebius, de Vita Constantini, 1. i., c. 27. [The Romans had then lost nearly all their former virtue, fidelity, good sense and valour ; and in their place, tyran- ny, profligacy, and shameful vices and crimes succeeded and became prevalent, especially, during the persecution of the Christians. Among the more intelligent, very little of the ancient superstitious spirit remained ; so ef- fectually had the Christian and pagan phi- losophers exposed the turpitude of the old re- ligion. But among the Christians, who were spread far and wide in the Roman empire, and here and there had brought over some of the neighbouring nations to their religion, great firmness and stability of mind was manifest, together with good faith and hon- esty. Hence Constantine the Great might readily see, that the Christian religion would contribute much more to the tranquillity of the empire, and to the establishment of his dominion, than the old religion could do. Schl.] (28) Joh. Hornbeck, Comment, ad Bui- lam Urbani viii., de Imaginum cultu, p. 182, &c. Ja. Oiselius, Thesaurus Numismat. antiquor., p. 463. Ja. Tollius, Preface to his French translation of Longinus ; and in his notes on Lactantius, de Mortib. Perse- quutor., c. 44. Christ. Tkomasius, Obser- vat. Hallens., torn, i., p. 380 ; and others. [There is difference of opinion as to the time when, and the place where the emperor saw this cross. Some follow Eusebius, (de Vita Constantini. 1. i., c. 28), and believe that he saw it while in Gaul, and when ma- king preparations for the war with Maxen- tius. Others rely on the testimony of Lac- tantius, (de Morlib. Persequut., c. 44), and believe that he saw the cross on the 26th day of October, A.D. 312, [the day before the battle, in which Maxentius was van- quished near Rome.] So thought Stephen Bduze ; (see his notes on this passage in Lactantius) ; whom Pagi, Fabncius, and .others have followed. The point is a diffi- cult one to decide ; and the brothers Balle- rini, (Observ. ad Norisii Hist. Donatist., Opp., torn, iv., p. 662), would compromise it, by supposing there were two appearances of the cross, both in dreams, the first in Gaul and the last in Italy : which is a miserable shift. Among those who regard the whole story as a fabrication, some suppose it was a pious fraud, and others that it was a trick of state. The first supposition is most im- probable. For at the time the cross is said to have appeared to him, Constantine thought nothing about spreading the Christian re- ligion, but only about vanquishing Maxen- tius. Besides he was not then a Christian, and did not use the event for the advance- ment of Christianity, but for the animation of his troops. The other supposition has more probability ; indeed, Licmius once re- sorted to something like this, according to Lactantius, de Mortib. Persequut., c. 46. But Constantine solemnly averred the real- ity of this prodigy ; and if he had been in- clined to use artifice in order to enkindle courage in his soldiers, he would far more probably, as his army was made up chiefly of barbarians and such as were not Chris- tians, (see Zosimus, 1. ii., p. 86), have rep- resented Mars or some other of the vulgar deities as appearing to him. See Mosheim, Comment, de Rebus Christianor., p. 978, &c. Schl.] (29) See Joh. Andr. Schmidt, Diss. do Luna in Cruce visa, Jena, 1681, 4to, and Joh. Albert. Fabncius, Diss. de Cruce a Con- stantino visa, in his Biblioth. Gr., vol. vi. f cap. i.,p. 8, &.c. [This opinion also has its difficulties. Fabricius himself admits, that on his hypothesis the appearance of visible words in the air cannot be explained. And he resorts to a new exposition of the lan- guage of Eusebius for relief, and believes that the words by this conqueror, (v raru vim?., hoc vince), were not actually seen, but that the sense of them was emblemati- cally depicted, in a crown of victory that ap- peared in the heavens. But (1) if the em- peror intended to say this, he expressed him- self very obscurely. (2) It is certain, that Constantine did not intend to be so under- stood ; for he caused the very words men- tioned to be affixed to the standards (Labara) 216 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART I. tion to the power of God, who intended by a miracle to confirm the wa. vering faith of the emperor.(30) And these suppositions being rejected, of the legions, and to the medals and other monuments of the event ; which he would not have done, had he not designed it should be understood that these words were actually seen in the heavens. (3) All the ancient writers so understood the account given by Eusebius. (4) Such a halo about the sun, as that described by the emperor, has never been seen by man. For he did not see the sign or form of a real cross, but the Greek letter X. intersected perpendicularly by the letter P; thus, ;. [Euseb., de Vita Con- stant., 1. i., c. 31. ] See Mosheim, Comment. de Rebus Christ., p. 985. Schl.~\ (30) [Eusebius alone, (de Vita Constanti- ni, 1. i., c. 28-31), among the writers of that age, gives us any account of the vision of the cross ; though Lactantius, (de Mortib. Persequutor., c. 44), and others speak of the " dream," in which Constantine was direct- ed to use the sign of the cross. Eusebius 1 account is as follows : " He conceived that he ought to worship only the God of his fa- ther. He therefore called upon this God in prayer, entreating and beseeching him, to manifest to him, who he was, and to extend his right arm on the present occasion. While he was thus praying with earnest entreaty, a most singular divine manifesta- tion (tieoffrjuia Ttf Trapado^oruT^) appeared : which, perhaps, had another declared it, would not easily be credited ; but the victo- rious emperor himself having related it to us who write this, when we had a long time af- terwards the privilege of knowing and con- versing with him, and having confirmed it with an oath ; who can hesitate to believe the account 1 and especially, as the subse- quent time [or the events which followed] affords evidence of its truth 1 He said that, about the middle hours of the day, as the sun began to verge towards its setting, he saw in the heavens, with his own eyes, the sun surmounted with the trophy of the cross, (inrepKeiuevov rS TjMufavpa rponaiov), which was composed of light, and had a legend (ypa- <j)v) annexed, saying, by this conquer. And amazement seized him, and the whole army, at the sight, (km ru deupari), and the be- holders wondered as they accompanied him in the march. And he said, he was at a loss what to make of this spectre, (rt Trore iiri TO (ftdafia), and as he pondered and re- flected upon it long, night came upon him by surprise. After this, as he slept, (v-nvuvn &VT$), the Christ of God appeared to him, together with the sign before seen in the heavens, and bid him make a representation of the sign that appeared in the heavens, and to use that as a protection ( Xprjo&cii) against the onsets of his enemies. As soon as it was day, he arose, related the wonder (rb aTroppr/Tov) to his friends ; and then assembling the workers in gold and precious stones, he seated himself in the midst of them, and describing the appearance of the sign, (r a^fieia), he bid them imitate it in gold and precious stones. This we were once so fortunate as to set our eyes upon." Eusebius then goes into a long de- scription of this sacred standard, which was called the Labarum. Its shaft was a very long spear, overlaid with gold. On its top, was a crown composed of gold and precious stones, and containing the sacred symbol, namely, the Greek letter X, intersected with the letter P. Just under this crown, was a likeness of the emperor, in gold ; and below that, a crosspiece of wood, from which hung a square flag, of purple cloth embroidered and covered with precious stones. Now if this narrative is all true, and if two connect- ed miracles were actually wrought, as here stated ; how happens it that no writer of that age, except Eusebius, says one word about the luminous cross in the heavens 1 How came it, that Eusebius himself said nothing about it in his Eccles. History, which was written twelve years after the event, and about the same length of time before his Life of Constantine 1 Why does he rely solely on the testimony of the emperor, and not even intimate that he ever heard of it from others ; whereas, if true, many thousands must have been eyewitnesses of the fact ? What mean his suggestions, that some may question the truth of the story ; and his cau- tion not to state anything as a matter of public notoriety, but to confine himself sim- ply to the emperor's private representation to himself! Again, if the miracle of the lu- minous cross was a reality, has not God himself sanctioned the use of the cross as the appointed symbol of our religion ! so that there is no superstition in the use of it, but the Catholics are correct and the Protestants in an error on this subject 1 If God intend- ed to enlighten Constantine's dark mind and show him the truth of Christianity, would he probably use for the purpose the enigma of a luminous cross, in preference to his inspired word or a direct and special revelation ] Was there no tendency to encourage a su- perstitious veneration for the sign of the cross, in such a miracle 1 And can it be believed, that Jesus Christ actually appeared to the emperor in a vision, directing him to make an artificial cross, and to rely upon that PROSPEROUS AND ADVERSE EVENTS. 217 the only conclusion that remains is, that Constantine saw, in a dream while asleep, the appearance of a cross, with the inscription, by this conquer.(3l) Nor is this opinion unsupported by competent authorities of good credit.(32) 10. The happiness anticipated by the Christians from the edicts of Constantine and Licinius, was a little afterwards interrupted by Licinius, who waged war against his kinsman Constantine. Being vanquished in the year 314, he was quiet for about nine years. But in the year 324, this restless man again attacked Constantine, being urged on both by his own inclination and by the instigation of the pagan priests. That he might se- cure to himself a victory, he attached the pagans to his cause by severely oppressing the Christians, and by putting not a few of their bishops to death.(33) But all his plans failed. For after several unsuccessful bat- tles, he was obliged to throw himself upon the mercy of the victor ; who nevertheless ordered him to be strangled in the year 325. After his vic- tory over Licinius, Constantine reigned sole emperor till his death ; and by his plans, his enactments, his regulations, and his munificence, he en- deavoured as much as possible to obliterate gradually the ancient super- stitions, and to establish Christian worship throughout the Roman em- pire. (34) He had undoubtedly learned from the wars and the machina- as his defence in the day of battle 1 But how came the whole story of the luminous cross to be unknown to the Christian world, for more than twenty-five years, and then to transpire only through a private conversation between Eusefnus and Conslantine 1 Is it not supposable, that Eusebius may have mis- understood the account the emperor gave him, of a singular halo about the sun which he saw, and of an affecting dream which he had the night after, and which induced him to make the Labarum, and use it as his stand- ard 1 Such are the arguments against this hypothesis. 7V.] (3 1 ) [Lactantius mentions only the dream ; and the same is true of Sozomen, lib. i., c. 3, and Rvfinus, in his translation of the Ec- cles. History of Eusebius ; and likewise, of the author of the Chronicon Orientale, p. 57. Indeed the appeal of Eusebius to the solemn attestation of the emperor, (de Vita Constan- tini, 1. i , c 29), and the statement of Gela- sius Cyzicenits, (Acta Concilii Nicaeni, lib. i., c. 4, in Harduin's Concilia, torn, i., p. 351), that the whole story was accounted fabulous by the pagans, confirm the suppo- sition that it was a mere dream. For the appeal of Eusebius would have been unne- cessary, and the denial of its reality by the pagans would have been impossible, if the whole army of Constantine had been eyewit- nesses of the event. Schl.] (32) The writers who treat of Conxtantine the Great, are carefully enumerated by Joh. Alb. Fabncius, Lux salutaris Evangelii toti orbi eroriens, c. 12, p. 260, &c. [The la- test and by far the best, (says Hceren, An- cient Hist., p. 475, ed. Bancroft, 1828), is, VOL. I. E E Leben Constantin des Grossen, von J. C. F. Manso, Bresl , 1817.] Fabricius more- over, (ibid, c. 13, p. 273, &c.), describes the laws of Constantine relating to religious matters, under four heads The same laws are treated of by Jac. Golhofred, Adnot. ad Codicem Theodosianum ; and in a partic- ular treatise, by Francis Baldwin, in his Constantinus Magn. seu de Legibus Con- stantini Ecclesiast. et civilibus, librii ii., ed. 2d, by B. Gundling, Halle, 1727, 8vo. (33) Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., 1. x., c. 8, and de Vita Constantini, I. i., c. 49. Even Julian, than whtfm no one was more preju- diced against Constantine, could not but pronounce Licinius an infamous tyrant who was sunk in vices.and crimes. See Julian's Caesares, p. 222, ed. Spanheim. I would here observe, what appears to have been overlooked hitherto, that Aurelius Victor mentions this persecution of Licinius, in his Book de Caesaribus, c. 41, p. 435, ed. Arnt- zenii, where he says : Licinio ne insontium quidem ac nobillium philosophorum servili more cruciatus adhibiti modum fecere. The Philosophers, whom Licinius is here said to have tortured, were doubtless Christians ; whom many, from their slight acquaintance with our religion, have mistaken for a sect of philosophers. The commentators on Au- rclius have left this passage untouched ; which is apt to be the case with those, who are intent only on the enlargement of gram- matical knowledge derived from ancient writers. (34) [Constantine doubtless committed errors, which in their consequences were in- jurious to the cause of Christianity. He 218 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART I. tions of Licinius, that neither himself nor the Roman empire could remain secure while the ancient superstition continued prevalent, and therefore from this time onward, he openly opposed the pagan deities and their wor- ship, as being prejudicial to the interests of the state. 11. After the death of Constantine, which happened in the year 337, his three surviving sons, Constantine II., Constantius, and Constans, agree- ably to his pleasure, assumed the empire, and were all proclaimed Augusti and emperors by the Roman senate. There were still living two brothers of Constantine the Great, namely, Constantius Dalmatius and Julius Con- stans, and they had several sons. But nearly all these were slain by the soldiers at the command of Constantine's sons, who feared lest their thirst for power might lead them to make insurrections and disturb the common- wealth. (35) Only Gallus and Julian, sons of Julius Constans, escaped the massacre ;(36) and the latter of these afterwards became emperor. Constantine II. held Britain, Gaul, and Spain ; but lost his life A.D. 340, in a war with his brother Constantius. Constans at first governed only Illyricum, Italy, and Africa ; but after the fall of his brother Constantine II. he annexed his provinces to his empire, and thus became emperor of all the West, until he lost his life A.D. 350, in the war with Maxentius a usurper. After the death of Constans, Maxentius being subdued, the third brother Constantius, who had before governed Asia, Syria and Egypt, in the year 353 became sole emperor, and governed the whole empire till the year 361, when he died. Neither of these brothers possessed the disposi- tion or the discernment of their father ; yet they all pursued their father's purpose, of abolishing the ancient superstitions of the Romans and other pagans, and of propagating the Christian religion throughout the Roman empire. The thing itself was commendable and excellent ; but in the means employed, there was much that was censurable. (37) 12. The cause of Christianity which had been thus flourishing and gave to the clergy the former privileges of livelong; and Julian, being but eight years the pagan priests ; and allowed legacies to old, created no fear. Some years after, they be left to the churches, which were every- were sent to a remote place in Cappadocia, where erected and enlarged. He was grat- where they were instructed in languages, the ified with seeing the bishops assume great sciences, and gymnastics, being in a sense state ; for he thought, the more respect the kept prisoners ; and were at last designed bishops commanded, the more inclined the for the clerical office, having been made lee- pagans would be to embrace Christianity : tors or readers. Am.mia.nus MarcelL, 1. and thus he introduced the love of pomp and xxii., c. 9. ScW.] display among the clergy. SchL] (37) [Coercive measures were adopted, (35) [" It is more probable, that the prin- which only made nominal Christians. A cipal design of this massacre was to recover law was enacted, in the year 342, that all the provinces of Thrace, Macedon, and the heathen temples should be shut up, and Achaia, which in the division of the empire, that no person should be allowed to go near Constantine the Great had given to young them. All sacrifices, and all consultations Dalmatius, son of his brother of the same of the oracles and the soothsayers, were pro- name, and Pontus and Cappadocia, which he hibited on pain of death and confiscation of had granted to Annibalianus, the brother of property : and the provincial magistrates young Dalmatius. Be that as it will, Dr. were threatened with the same penalties, if Mosheim has attributed this massacre equal- they were dilatory in punishing transgressors ly to the three sons of Constantine ; whereas of the law. This was to compel the con- almost all authors agree, that neither young science, and not to convince it. The his- Constantine, nor Constans, had any hand in tory of these emperors may be found in the it at all." Mac!.] Universal History, and in Le Beau's History (36) [Because they were despised: Gallus of the Eastern Empire. <ScA/.] being sickly, it was supposed he would not PROSPEROUS AND ADVERSE EVENTS. 219 prosperous, received immense injury and seemed on the brink of ruin, when Julian, the son of Julius Constans, brother of Constantine the Great, now the only surviving branch of the Constantinian family,(38) after a sue- cessful campaign in Gaul A.D. 360, was hailed emperor by his soldiers, and on the death of Constantius, A.D. 361, obtained possession of the whole empire. For Julian, though educated in the Christian religion, yet influ- enced partly by hatred of the Constantinian family, which had murdered his father, brother, and all his relatives, and partly by the artifices of the Platonic philosophers, who deceived this credulous and vainglorious prince with fictitious miracles and prophecies, apostatized from Christianity to paganism, and laboured to restore idolatry now ready to become extinct, to its former splendour. Julian seemed to abhor all violent measures, and to wish to give full liberty to the citizens of choosing their religion, and of worshipping God in the manner they pleased ; but at the same time he artfully and dexterously cut the sinews of the Christian cause, by abroga- ting the privileges granted to this religion and to its ministers, by shutting up the Christian schools in which philosophy and the liberal arts were taught, by not only tolerating but even encouraging and animating all sectarians, by writing books against the Christians, &c. He likewise had many projects in contemplation ; and would, doubtless, have done immense harm to Christianity, if he had returned victorious from the Persian war, which he undertook directly after he came to the throne. But in this war, which was both undertaken and carried on with little discretion, he fell by a wound received in battle, A.D. 363, when just entered the thirty-second year of his age, and after reigning sole emperor only twenty months from the death of Constantius. (39) 13. Those who rank Julian among the greatest heroes the world has produced, nay, place him the first of all who ever filled a throne which many at this day do, and among them are persons of learning and discern. incut (40) must either be so blinded by prejudice, as not to see the truth ; or (38) [For, Gallus, who had been created the history of his life. He was born A.D. Caesar, was previously slain by order of Con- 331 ; and lost his mother Basilina, the same stantius, because of his cruelty, and being year ; and his father, Julius Constantius, a charged with aspiring after the supreme pow- few years after. Mardonius, a eunuch, and er. Ammian. MarcclL, 1. xiv.,c. 11. Schl.] Eusebius, bishop of Nicomedia, were his (39) See, besides Tillcmont ; [the Uni- first instructers. When Gallus was made a versal History ; Le Beau, Histoire du bas Caesar, Julian obtained permission to come Empire, torn, iii., livr. xii-xiv.J ; and other to Constantinople, where he attended the common writers ; the accurately written public schools ; afterwards he went to Bi- work of Bletterie, Vie de Julien, Paris, thynia, and everywhere attached himself to 1734, and Amsterd., 1735, 8vo ; the Life the most noted teachers. He read and imi- and Character of Julian the Apostate, il- tated the orations of Libanius, a pagan lustrated in vii. Dissertations, by Des Voeux, sophist, whom he was strictly forbidden to Dublin, 1746, 8vo; Ez. Spanhcim, Preface hear. At Pergamus he became acquainted and Notes to the Works of Julian, Lips., with Acdc.iiits, an aged Platonic philosopher; 1696, fol., and Joh. Alb. Fabricius, Lux and heard his scholars, Eusebius and Chry- salutaris Evangelii toti orbi exoriens, cap. santhes, as also Maximus of Ephesus ; which xiv., p. 294, &c. [Add Aug. Neander, last initiated him in theurgia, brought him to iiber Kayser Julianus und sein Zietalter, apostatize from Christianity, and presaged Hamb., 1812, 8vo TV.] his elevation to the throne. This change in (40) Montesquieu, Esprit des I^oix, livr. his religion, he was obliged to conceal from xiiv., c. 10, says: II n'y a point eu apres Constantius and Gallus. Julian therefore lui de Prince plus digne de gotiverner des devoted himself to a monastic life, assumed hommes. [To form a correct judgment of the tonsure, and became a public reader in Julian, it is necessary cursorily to survey the church at Nicomedia. In the year 354, 220 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART I. they must have never read attentively Julian's writings which still remain ; after the death of Gallus, he was deprived of his liberty, and carried to Milan. After being in custody there seven months, by the intercession of the empress Eusebia, he ob- tained a release, and liberty to travel into Greece, where he applied himself at Athens to the sciences and to eloquence, and be- came acquainted with Basil and Gregory of Nazianzen. In the year 355, he was proclaimed Csesar, and had Gaul, Spain, and Britain intrusted to him. But Constantius greatly limited his power, and nominated not only the military commanders there, but also the officers of Julian's court, who were to keep strict watch over him. To this his elevation, Eusebia contributed much, she being anxious about the succession to the throne, on account of her continued barren- ness : and the rebellion of Sylvanus, which took place in the beginning of this year, as also the continual incursions of the bordering nations which required a general in Gaul, favoured the measure. Julian performed some successful campaigns in Gaul, which procured him the affections not only of the soldiery, but of all the Gallic subjects. This awakened the jealousy of Constantius, who, under pretext of the Persian war, recalled a great part of the troops from Gaul. In the spring of 360, the soldiers proclaimed Julian Augustus, and compelled him to assume that dignity. A reconciliation was attempted in vain. Constantius insisted upon it, that Julian should resign. Julian prosecuted the German war successfully, and strength- ened and fortified the frontiers ; and after vanquishing the Germans, whom Constan- tius had excited against him, and subduing Illyria and Italy, he marched unencumbered against Constantius ; who came forward to meet him, but was taken sick on the way, and died in Cilicia. Julian now took quiet possession of the whole Roman empire ; caused Constantius to be honourably bu- ried ; but called his principal officers to ac- count before a special court, as the authors of numerous acts of violence. He likewise attempted great reforms in the court, in which prodigality and pomp had risen to a great height. He also dismissed many use- less officers : and filled his court with phi- losophers and soothsayers, to whom he showed particular respect. During the II- lyrian campaign, in the year 36 1, he publicly sacrificed to the gods ; and after the death of Constantius, he let it be distinctly known, that it was his purpose to reinstate idolatrous worship. But as he was aware of the ill consequences which formerly resulted from direct persecution, and wished to avoid the repetition of them, and coveted the reputa- tion of being magnanimous and benevolent, and as, in prospect of his Persian campaign, he stood in fear of the numerous body of Christians ; he endeavoured to assail and to undermine them, by artifice. For this purpose, he adopted the following measures. First, he endeavoured to reform the pagan idolatry, and to introduce improvements in it derived from the Christian worship. With this view, he attended to his official duties as Pontifex Maximus, with more earnestness than any of his predecessors, and even treated them as of more consequence than the gov- ernment of the empire. He offered sacrifices daily, in his palace and garden ; attended the public sacrifices on all the pagan festivals, and officiated personally in them, without the least regard to decorum, even as to the meanest service. He re-established the public sacrifices of the cities and provinces. Where there were no temples, or where the destroyers of the ancient temples could not be found or were his own predecessors, there he erected temples at his own cost, and gave to the idolatrous priests high rank and large revenues. As he had been converted to paganism by philosophers, who were of the new Platonic School, and who held much to theurgia, magic, divination, and apparitions, and were willing to borrow from Christian- ity ; hence originated many burdensome pu- rifications, and prolix ceremonies of worship, together with a considerable aping of Chris- tian institutions. He was strenuous for the virtuous behaviour, the morality and benefi- cence of the priests ; and he forbid their going to theatres, or having much intercourse with those in civil authority. He wished to place the reading of useful books, giving public exhortations, and taking care of the poor, the sick, and funerals, on the same footing as they were among the Christians ; and he required, that the priests in many places should annually be supplied with corn, and wine, and money, which they were to distribute to the poor. Secondly, he supported and extended wider the inter- nal divisions among the Christians. For he restored all silenced and ejected teachers, and required that such parties as had been laid under ecclesiastical censures, should be reinstated in their privileges. He wrote let- ters to the most noted and most restless here- tics, and encouraged them to disseminate their doctrines. He allowed the leading members of the different parties to come to him, and under colour of attempting to recon- cile their differences, he inflamed them more against each other. Thirdly, he deprived PROSPEROUS AND ADVERSE EVENTS. 221 or lastly, they do not know what constitutes true greatness and excellence. If we set aside genius which however, as his writings show, in him was not above mediocrity military courage, love of learning, acquaintance with that fanatical and vain philosophy called modern Platonism, and lastly patience of labour ; all that remains in Julian was certainly little and un- worthy of commendation. His excellences were counterbalanced by very great defects ; first, a monstrous and almost anile superstition the surest indication of a little mind then, a puerile pursuit of applause and vulgar popularity, extreme credulity and instability, a disposition to use dissimu- lation and underhanded means, and finally, ignorance of solid and sound philosophy. I will grant, that in some respects, he was superior to the sons of Constantine the Great ; but in many respects, he was inferior to Constantine himself, whom he censures so immoderately. 14. As Julian affected to appear unwilling to trouble any of his sub- jects on account of their religion, and opposed to no sect whatever, he showed so much indulgence to the Jews, as to give them liberty to rebuild the temple of Jerusalem. The Jews commenced the work, but were obliged to desist before even the foundations were laid. For balls of fire issued from the ground, accompanied with a great explosion and a tremen- dous earthquake, which dispersed both the materials that were collected and the workmen. The fact itself is abundantly attested ;(41) though the year 363, and in part during his Persian campaign, is lost. Indeed the Marquis d j Ar 'gen's, in the Defense du paganisme, par 1'Empereur Julien, en Grec et Fran9ois, avec des Dissertations et Notes, Berlin, 1764, 8vo, has endeavoured to recover this work, by means of the Confutation of it by Cyril. But the recovery is very incomplete. Yet these remains of it show, that the book was more likely to injure Christianity by the style in which it was written, and by the perversion of scripture, than by either the strength or the originality of its arguments and objections. Ninth, and lastly, the em- peror showed much partiality to the Jews, and allowed them to rebuild the temple of Jerusalem, in order to confute by facts the prediction of Christ. Immediately after, the clergy of the franchises and permanent incomes, which they had enjoyed under the former emperors ; especially, of their ex- emption from burdensome civil duties, and of the distribution of corn to the churches from the emperor's storehouses ; and he compelled the monks and the ministers of religion by force, to perform military duty. Fourthly, he excluded the Christians from all promotions, and in terms of bitter sarcasm, forbid their access to the public schools, their studying the Greek authors and sciences, and their practising physic. Fifthly, he commanded the idolatrous tem- ples, images, and altars, to be rebuilt, at the cost of those who had pulled them down. Sixthly, acts of violence done by pagans to Christians, he either did not punish at all, or punished very slightly, only requiring them to make restitution. On the contrary, every tumult among Christians was punished most severely ; and commonly, the bishops and the churches were made accountable for them. Seventhly, he connected idolatry with all solemn transactions, and with the manifestations of respect due to himself, and made a participation in it unavoidable. The soldiers for instance, when extraordinary gratuities were presented to them, must strew incense upon an altar ; and to all the publicly exhibited pictures of the emperor, idolatrous deities were attached. Eighthly, he ridiculed the Christians and their wor- ship, scornfully ; and wrote books in confu- tation of their doctrines. His work against there were banishments, tortures, and execu- tions of Christians, under pretence that they had showed themselves refractory against the commands of the emperor ; and there were many, especially in the eastern provin- ces, who became apostates. Yet there were not wanting resolute confessors of the Chris- tian religion. See Baumgar ten's Auszug der Kirchengesch.,vol. ii., p. 763, 780, 792, &c. Sr.hL] (41) See Joh. Alb. Fabricius, Lux salu tar. Evangelii toti orbi exoriens, p. 124, where the testimonies are collected. See also the acute English knight, Walter Moyle, Posthumous works, p. 101, &c. [The prin- cipal authorities cited by Fabrieius are, Chrysostom, Homil. v. adv. Judaeos, et ali- Christianity, which was composed in the bi, saepius ; Ammianus Marccll., lib. uiu., 222 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART I. Christians as often happens in such cases, appear to have inconsiderately amplified it with some additional miracles. As to the causes which pro- duced the event, there is room for debate, and there is debate. All how. ever who weigh the subject with an impartial mind, will easily perceive, that they must join with those who ascribe the phenomenon to the omnip- otent will of God ; and that they who choose to ascribe it to natural causes or to artifice and fraud, offer no objections which are insurmountable. (42) 15. The soldiers elected Jovian to succeed Julian. He died in the year 364, after reigning seven months ; and therefore accomplished but little. (43) The other emperors of this century, who reigned after Jovian, were Flav. Valentinian I. [in the West, from A.D. 364-375, with] Flav, Valens [in the East, from A.D. 364-378], then Flav. Gratian [in the West, A.D. 375-383, with] Flav. Valentinian II. [also in the West, A.D. 375-392, and Theodosius the Great, in the East, A.D. 379-395], Hono- rius, [in the West, A.D. 395-423, with Arcadius, in the East, A.D. 395 408]. All these were Christians, and did much to advance the religion they professed. They all endeavoured, though not with equal zeal, to ex- tirpate wholly the pagan religions. In this particular, Theodosius the Great, the last emperor of this century [in the East, except Arcadius], ex- c. i. ; Gregory Naz., orat. iv. ; Ambrose, Ep. 40, (al. 29, written A.D. 388) ; Socra- tes, H. E., lib. iii., c. 20 ; Sozomen, H. E., lib. v., c. 21 ; Thcodoret, H. E., lib. iii., c. 20 ; Riifinus, H. E., lib. i., c. 37 ; Philostor- gius, H. E., lib. vii., c. 9, 14 ; Hist. Eccles. Tripartite, 1. vi., c. 43 ; Nicephorus, 1. x., c. 32 ; Zonaras, 1. xiii., c. 12 ; Rabbi David Gantz, Zemach David, pt. ii., p. 36; Rab- bi Gedaliah, Schalschelct Hakkabala, p. 109. Dr. Lardncr, (Collection of Jewish and heathen Testimonies, vol. iv., p. 57- 71, ed. Lond., 1767), maintains the whole story to be false. His chief arguments are that Julian only purposed to rebuild the temple, after his Persian expedition ; that he needed all his resources for that expedi- tion ; the silence of some of the fathers, living near the time ; and the decoration of the story by others of them. But these ar- guments seem wholly insufficient, against the explicit testimony of so many credible witnesses, Christians and pagans, and several of them contemporary with the event TV.] (42) Ja. Basnage, in his Histoire des Juifs, torn, iv., p. 1257, &c., contests the reality of this miracle. Against him appear- ed Gisb. Caperus, in his Epistolae, p. 400, edited by Bayer. Recently, Wm. Warbur- ton has maintained the reality of the mira- cle, sometimes with an excess of ingenuity, in an appropriate treatise, entitled : Julian, or a Discourse concerning the earthquake and fiery eruption, which defeated that emperor's attempt to rebuild the temple at Jerusalem ; London, 1750, 8vo. (43) See Blettcrie, Vie de Jovien, 2 vols. 8vo, Paris, 1748, in which work he com- pletes the history of Julian, and gives a French translation of some of Julian's wri- tings. [The following notices are worth in- serting. Both during the lifetime of Julian, and after his death when the soldiers made him emperor, Jovian openly declared him- self on the side of Christianity. For when Julian gave orders to all the military officers who were Christians, to either quit the ar- my, or renounce their religion ; Jovian chose to relinquish his office. But Julian would not release him, but gave him promotion du- ring the Persian war. When chosen empe- ror, Jovian would not accept the office, until the army had declared themselves in favour of Christianity. When he arrived at Antioch, he repealed all the laws of Julian, adverse to Christianity : (Rufinus, lib. xi., c. 1, and Sozomen, 1. vi., c. 3), and wrote to all the provincial governors, commanding them to take diligent care that the Chris- tians should not be disturbed in their public assemblies. He restored to the churches, to the clergy, and to widows, all the fran- chises and privileges, which had been grant- ed them by Constantine and his sons, but which Julian had taken from them. He like- wise restored the use of the Labarum, or the standard with a cross : and he compelled one Magnus to rebuild the church of Bervtus, at his own cost, he having commanded it to be demolished. (Theodoret, lib. iv., c. 19.) In regard to the religious controversies of that day, he joined with the orthodox against the Arians ; and he treated Athanasius with peculiar respect. See Baumgartcri 1 s Aus- zug der Kirchenhistorie, vol. ii., p. 805, and the Universal History. SchL] PROSPEROUS AND ADVERSE EVENTS. 233 ceeded all the rest. He came to the throne A.D. 389 and died A.D. 395. And during his whole life, he did all he could to extirpate idolatry through all the provinces of the empire, and enacted severe laws against the adherents to it. The same design was prosecuted by his sons Arcadi- us and Honorius ; so that in the close of this century, the ancient super- stitions were ready to expire, and had lost all their respectability.(44) 16. Yet this severity of the government could not prevent the exist- ence of some pagan fanes and ceremonies, especially in the remoter prov- inces. Indeed, these rigorous laws against the worshippers of the pagan deities, seem to have been aimed rather against the common people, than against persons of rank and distinction. For it appears, that during the reign of Theodosius, as well as after his death, individuals filled the highest offices, and continued in them till old age, who are known to have been averse from Christianity and attached to paganism. Of this Libanius is an example, who was very hostile to the Christians, and yet was made prefect of the praetorian guards by Theodosius himself. Perhaps greater indulgence was shown to philosophers, rhetoricians, and military com- manders, than to other people, on account of their supposed usefulness to the commonwealth. 17. Yet these very rhetoricians and philosophers, whose schools were supposed to be so profitable to the community, exhausted all their ingenu- ity, both before the days of Constantine the Great, and afterwards, to ar- rest the progress of Christianity. In the beginning of this century, Hiero- cles, the great ornament of the Platonic school, composed two books against the Christians; in which he had the audacity to compare our Saviour witli Apollonius Tyanaeus, and for which he was chastised by Eusebius [Csesa- riensis] in a tract written expressly against him. (45) Lactantius speaks (44) See the laws of these emperors, in disciples, as disseminators of falsehood ; and favour of the Christian religion, and against he accuses them of being rude and illiterate the professors and friends of the ancient re- persons, because some of them had lived by ligion, in the Codex Theodosianus, torn, vi., fishing." " He affirms, that Christ was out- and Peter and Jerome Ballcrini, Diss. i. in lawed by the Jews ; and that he afterwards Zenonem Veronensem, p. 45, &c., Veronae, collected a company of 900 banditti, and 1739, fol. became a robber." " Also, wishing to over- (45) [Hicrocles, who flourished about A.D. throw his miracles, (which he does not pre- 303, was governor of Bithynia, and after- tend to deny), he attempts to show, that wards prsefect of Egypt. He was a zealous Apollonius had performed as great, and even persecutor of the Christians, and wielded greater." " I do not say, (he adds), that the both the sword and the pen against them, reason why Apollonius was never account- His character and his two Books addressed cd a God, was, that he chose not to be so to the Christians, are thus described by Lac- regarded : but I say, that we are wiser, in tantius, Institut. Divinar., 1. v., c. 2, 3. not attaching at once the idea of divinity to " He was one of the judges, and was the the working of miracles, than you are, who principal author of the persecution [under believe a person a God, merely on account Diocletian]. But not content with this of a few wonderful acts." " Having poured crime, he also attacked with his pen the peo- out such crudities of his ignorance, and hav- ple he persecuted : for he composed two ing laboured utterly to extirpate the truth, Books, not against the Christians, lest he he has the temerity to entitle his nefarious should seem to address them as an enemy, Books, which are hostile to God, (fytiaXr)- but to the Christians, that he might appear $f), devoted to the truth." Eusebius, Li- friendly to them and anxious for their good, her contra Hieroclem, Gr. and Lat., is sub- In these books he endeavours to prove the joined to his Demonstratio Evangelica, ed. falsehood of the scriptures, by making them Paris, 1628. See Lardner's Works, vol. appear full of contradictions." " He partic- viii., and Bayle, Dictionnaire Histor. et ularly assailed Fe/erand Paul and the other Crit., art. Hierocles (2d). TV.] 224 BOOK IL CENTURY IV. PART I. of another philosopher who endeavoured to convince the Christians they were in error ; but his name is not mentioned. (46) After the reign of Constantine the Great, Julian wrote a large volume against the Christians, and Himerius(<n) and Libanius(48) in their public declamations, and Eu- napius in his lives of the philosophers, zealously decried the Christian re- ligion. (49) Yet no one of these persons was punished at all, for the li- centiousness of his tongue or of his pen. 18. How much harm these sophists or philosophers, who were full of the pride of imaginary knowledge, and of hatred to the Christian name, did to the cause of Christianity in this century, appears from many exam- ples, and especially from the apostacy of Julian, who was seduced by men of this stamp. Among those who wished to appear wise, and to take mod- erate ground, many were induced by the arguments and explanations of these men, to devise a kind of reconciling religion, intermediate between the old superstition and Christianity ; and to imagine that Christ had en- joined the very same things, which had long been represented by the pagan priests under the envelope of their ceremonies and fables. Of these views were Ammianus Marcellinus, a very prudent and discreet man,(50) Chal- (46) Lactantius, Institut. Divinar., lib. v., c. 2. (47) See Photius, Biblioth. Cod. clxv., p. 355. [The works of Himerius are lost. -TV] (48) [Libanius, the sophist, was born at Antioch about A.D. 314, and lived proba- bly till about the end of the century. He taught rhetoric and declamation at Nice, Ni- comedia, Constantinople, Athens, and An- tioch. His schools were large, sometimes amounting to more than 80 pupils ; and rival sophists envied him. The emperor Julian, when young, was forbidden to attend the school of Libanius ; but he obtained and read his writings, and made them his model as to style. When Julian came to the throne he offered Libanius a public office, which the sophist proudly refused. Yet the emperor and he were very good friends. Libanius was an inflated, pedantic man, full of himself, yet independent in his feelings, and free in the expression of his opinions. He was an avowed pagan, yet a strenuous advocate for religious toleration. His nu- merous writings still remain, consisting of a prolix Life of himself, a large number of eu- logies and declamations, and more than a thousand letters. They seldom contain ei- ther profound or original thought, or display research ; and the style is concise, affected, and pedantic. Yet they are of some use, to throw light on the times in which he lived. They were published, Gr. and Lat., vol. i., Paris, 1606, and vol. ii., by Morell, 1627, fol. The most complete edition of his epis- tles, is by Wolf, Amsterdam, 1738, fol. A volume containing 17 of his Declamations, was published at Venice, 1755. See his Life, written by himself, in his Works, vol. ii., p. 1-84. Eunapius, Vitae Philos. et Sophistarum, p. 130, &c., and among the moderns, Tillemont, Histoire des Empe- reurs, torn, iv., p. 571, dec. Fabricius, Biblioth. Gr., torn, vii., p. 376-414. Lard- ner, Heathen Testimonies, vol. iv., p. 127 163, and Gibbon, Decline and Fall of Rom. Emp., ch. xxiv. TV.] (49) [See Eunapius, Lives of Aedesius, Maximus, &c. Eunapius also wrote a chronicle, to which he frequently refers in his Lives of the Sophists ; the first edition of which is full of reproaches against the Christians and Constantine the Great ; the second edition is more temperate. Both edi- tions were extant in the times of Photius : see his Biblioth. Codex Ixxvii. Schl.] (50) [Ammianus Marcellinus, a celebrated Latin historian of Grecian extract, was a sol- dier for at least twenty years, from A.D. 350 onward, and served in the honourable corps called Protectores Domestici. On retiring from military life, he fixed his residence at Rome, where he lived perhaps till the end of the century. There it was he composed his faithful and valuable history. The work originally consisted of thirty-one books, and gave the Roman history from the accession of Neroa, (where Suetonius ends), to the death of Valens. The first 13 books, which must have been very concise, are lost. The last 18, which are more full, include the pe- riod from A.D. 353-378. The style is harsh and unpolished, and sometimes difficult ; but the fidelity and accuracy of the narration render the work highly valuable. Marcclli- nus was probably a real pagan ; but he was not a bigot, and he was willing to give every PROSPEROUS AND ADVERSE EVENTS. 225 cidius, a philosopher,(51) Themistius, a very celebrated orator,(52) and others who conceived that both religions were in unison, as to all the more important points, if they were rightly understood; and therefore held, that Christ was neither to be contemned, nor to be honoured to the exclusion of the pagan deities. (53) 19. As Constantine the Great, and his sons and successors, took much pains to enlarge the Christian church, it is not strange that many nations, before barbarous and uncivilized, became subject to Christ. (54) Many circumstances make it probable, that the light of Christianity cast some of its rays into both Armenias, the greater and the less, soon after the estab- lishment of the Christian church. (55) But the Armenian church first re- ceived due organization and firm establishment, in this century, near the beginning of which, Gregory the son of Anax, commonly called the Illumi- nator, [</>&>c7/pa], because he dispelled the mists of superstition which be- clouded the minds of the Armenians ; first persuaded some private individ- uals, and afterwards Tiridates the king of the Armenians, as well as his nobles, to embrace and observe the Christian religion. He was therefore or- dained the first bishop of Armenia, by Leontius bishop of Cappadocia ; and gradually diffused the principles of Christianity throughout that country. (56) 20. In the middle of this century, one Frumenlius proceeded from one his due, according to his best judgment. The best editions of his work, are, that of v.rcpublishcd by Granovius, Leyden, 1693, fol. and 4to, and that of Erncsti, Lips., 1775, 8vo. See Bayle, Dictionnaire histor. et critique, art. Marcellin. TV.] (51) [Chalcidius, a philosopher of the 4th century, was author of a Latin translation of the Timaeus of Plato, and of a Commentary on it, which were published by J. Mcnrxn/x, Ludg. Bat., 1617, 4to. Dr. Mnsheim's opin- ion of his religious faith is farther developed in his Diss. de turbata per recentiores Pla- tonicos Ecclesia, (f 31, and in his notes on rtfi's Intellectual System, vol. i., p. 732, <Scc. J. A. Fabricius, (in his notes on Chalcidius, passim, and in his Biblioth. Lat- ina, 1. hi., c. 7, p. 557, &c.), and some oth- ers, hold that Chalcidins was a pagan. Brucker (Hist. crit. Philos., torn, iii,, p. 472, &c.) makes him a Christian, though infected with the new Platonism of his age. 3V.] (52) [Themistius, a Greek philosopher of Paphlagonia, called Euphrades, (the fine speaker), from his eloquent and command- ing delivery, was made a Roman senator, and enjoyed the favour of Constantius, Ju- lian, and the succeeding emperors, down to Theodosius the Great, who made him prae- fect of Constantinople, and appointed him tutor to his son Arradivs. He wrote, when young, some commentaries on Aristotle, fragments of which are still extant, and 33 of his Orations. His works arc best edited by Harduin, Paris, 1684, fol. He was a strenuous advocate for the free toleration of VOL. I. F F all religions, as being all good, and tending to the same result by different ways. Con- cerning him and his religious views, see Brucker's Historia crit. philos., tome ii., p. 484, &c. Tr.] (53) [This favourite opinion of Dr. Mo- shcim, he defends more at length in his Dis. de turbata per recenliores Platonicos eccle- sia, () 30, 31, 32 ; among his Dissert, ad Hist. Eccles. pertinentes, vol. i., p. 85-216, Al- tonae, 1733. But it seems not necessary to adopt this hypothesis, which has but slender support from argument ; because the Eclec- tic or new Platonic philosophy, might easily lead its votaries to speak in terms of moder- ation, and even of commendation, of the Christian religion, especially in an age when it prevailed almost universally, and was the religion of the state and of the imperial court. 7V] (54) Gaudenth/s, Vita Philastrii, $ iii. Philastrius, de Haeres., Praef., p. 5, ed. Fabricii. Socrate.s, Hist. Eccles., 1. i.,c. 19. Gconrius Ccdrenus, Chronograph., p. 234, ed. Paris : and others. (55) [For Eusebius, (Hist. Eccles., 1. vi., c. 46), informs us that Dionysius of Alex- andria, about the year 260, " wrote concern- ing penance, to the Brethren of Armenia, over whom Mcruzanes was bishop:" and, according to the Acta Martyrum, some Ar- menians suffered martyrdom in the persecu- tions under Decius, (A.D. 250), and Diocle- tian. (A.D. 304). Schl.] (56) See Narratio de Rebus Armenise, in Fr Combcfis, Auctarium Biblioth. Pair. Graecor., torn, ii., p. 287, &c. Mich, le 226 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART I. Eoypt into the neighbouring country of Abyssinia or Ethiopia, the inhab- itants of which were called Auxumita, from their capital city Auxuma, and baptized both the king of the country, and very many of the nobles. Af- terwards returning to Egypt, he was consecrated by St. Athanasius, first bishop of the Auxumitae. From this circumstance, the Ethiopic church, even to this day, is dependant on that of Alexandria, and receives its bishop from it. (57) In Iberia, a province of Asia, which is now called Georgia, a Christian woman who had been carried captive into that coun- try, partly by the sanctity of her life, and partly by miracles, induced the king and his queen to renounce idolatry and embrace Christ, and also to send for priests from Constantinople, from whom they and their people might gain a more accurate and full knowledge of the Christian religion. (58) 21. A part of the Goths inhabiting Thrace, Mcesia, and Dacia, [now the northeast part of Rumelia, with Bulgaria and Walachia, on the Dan- ube], had embraced Christianity before the commencement of this centu- ry ;(59) and Theophilus their bishop was present at the Nicene council.(GO) Constantine the Great, after having vanquished them and the Sarmatians, engaged great numbers of them to become Christians. (61) But still a large part of the nation remained estranged from Christ, until the times of the emperor Valens ; who permitted them to pass the river Ister, [or Dan- ube], and to inhabit Dacia, Mcesia, and Thrace, on condition that they would be subject to the Roman laws, and would embrace Christianity ; to which condition their king Fritigern consented. (62) The bishop of the Goths inhabiting Moesia, in this century, was the much celebrated Ulphilas ; who, among other laudable deeds, gave his countrymen an alphabet of his own invention, and translated the Bible for them into the Gothic lan- guage.(63) Quien, Oriens Christianus, torn, i., p. 419 (61) Socrates, Hist. Eccles., 1. i., c. 18. and 1356. J. J. Schroderi, Thesaur. Lin- (62) Socrates, Hist. Eccles., 1. iv., c. 33. Siae Armenicae, p. 149, &c. [Sozomen, Le Quien, Oriens Christ., torn, i., p. 1240. ist. Eccles., ii., 8. Moses Choronensis, Eric Benzel, Praef. ad iv. Evangelia Gcth- Historia Armenica, lib. iii., ed. Whistoni, ica, (ascribed to Ulphilas), c. \., p. zviii., Lond., 1736, 4to, p. 256, &c. Memoires &c., ed. Oxon., 1750, 4to. hist, et geogr. sur 1'Armenie, par M. I. St. (63) Joh. Jac. Mascovii, Historia Ger- Martin, Paris, 1818, 8vo. Tr.] manor., torn, i., p. 317, torn, ii., note, p. (57) Athanasius, Apologia ad Constan- 49. Acta Sanctor., March, vol. iii., p. 619. tium, Opp., torn, i., pt. ii., p. 315, ed. Bene- Eric Benzel, loc. cit, cap. viii., p. xxx. [J. diet. Socrates, Hist. Eccles., lib. i., c. 19. C. Zahn, Eirileitung in Ulfilas Bibeliiber- Sozomen, Hist. Eccles. , lib. ii.,c. 24. The- setzung, p. 4, &c., ed. Weissenfels, 1805, odoret, Hist. Eccles., I i., c. 23. Job Lu- 4to, where is condensed, all that is stated dolf, Comment, ad Histor. Aethiopic., p. of Upkilas, and his translation, by the an- 281. Jerome Lobo, Voyage d'Abissinie, cients, viz., Philostorgins, H. Eccl., 1. ii., tome ii., p. 13, &c. Justus Fontaninus, c. 5. Socrates, H. Eccl., 1. ii., c. 41, and Historia litterar. Aquileiae, p. 174. [J. 1. iv., c. 33. Snzomen, H. Eccl., 1. iv., c. Bruce, Travels in Abyssinia, ed. 2d, Edinb., 24, 1. vi., c. 37. Theodoret, H. Eccl., I. 1804, vol. v., p. 4, &c., and vol. vii., p. iv., c. 37, and others. Ulphi/as,(or UljUa, 73, &c. Tr.] Urphilas, Gilfulas, &c., but should, accord- (58) Rufinus, Hist. Eccles., 1. i., c. 10. ing to JornaWes.be written Wuljtta, i.e., Sozomen, Hist. Eccles., 1. ii., c. 7. Le Wolftein, diminutive of Wulf or Wolf, a Quien, Oriens Christianus, toni. i , p. 1333, wolf), is said by Fkilosstorpius, to have de- &c. [Theodoret, H. E., i., c. 24. Tr.] scended from Christian Greeks of Sadagol- (59) [Philostorgius, Hist. Eccles., 1. ii., tina in Cappadocia, who were carried into c. 5. SchL] captivity by the Goths in the year 266. (60) f Joh. Harduin, Conciliorum tomus Others suppose, from his name, that he was i., p. 319. Schl.] of Gothic extract. Philostorgius also makes PROSPEROUS AND ADVERSE EVENTS. 227 22. In the European provinces of the Roman empire, there still re- mained a vast number of idolaters ; and though the Christian bishops en- deavoured to convert them to Christ, the business went on but slowly. In Gaul, the great Martin, bishop of Tours, was not unsuccessful in this work ; for travelling through the provinces of Gaul, he by his discourses, and by his miracles (if we may believe Sulpitius Severus), everywhere persuaded many to renounce their idols and embrace Christ ; and he destroyed their temples, and threw down their statues. (64) He therefore merited the title of the Apostle of the Gauls. 23. It is very evident that the victories of Constantine the Great, and both the fear of punishment and the desire of pleasing the Roman emper- ors, were cogent reasons, in the view of whole nations as well as of individ- uals, for embracing the Christian religion. Yet no person well informed in the history of this period, will ascribe the extension of Christianity whol- ly to these causes. For it is manifest, that the untiring zeal of the bish- ops and other holy men, the pure and devout lives which many of the Chris- tians exhibited, the translations of the sacred volume, and the excellence of the Christian religion, were as efficient motives with many persons, as the arguments from worldly advantage and disadvantage were with some others. As for miracles, I cheerfully unite with those who look with con- tempt on the wonders ascribed to Paul, Antony, and Martin.(65) I also him first bishop of the Goths ; and says, he was ordained by the Arian, Euscbius of Ni- comedia, in the reign of Constantine the Great. Others make him to have succeeded Theophilus, and to have flourished from the year 360 to 380. He was a man of talents and learning, an Arian, (at least in the lat- ter part of his life), and possessed vast and salutary influence, among the Goths in Da- cia, Moesia, and Thrace. He was at the Arian Synod of Constantinople, in the year 359 ; and was twice sent on embassies by the nation to the imperial court. His last embassy was in the reign of Valens, A.D. 376, to obtain permission for the Goths to pass the Danube and settle in Moesia. He was successful ; and 200,000 Goths were admitted into the Roman empire, on condi- tions of obeying the Roman laws and join- ing the Arian interest. It is not known when he died ; but some time in the reign of Thcodosins the Great, (A.D. 379-395), he was succeeded in his episcopal office by Theotimus, or, as some report, by Selinns. He was author of a translation of the whole Bible, except the books of Kings, from Greek into the language of the Goths of Mcesia. The books of Kings were omitted by him, lest their history of wars and bat- tles should inflame the already too great thirst of the Goths for war and carnage. The alphabet he used, was of his own de- vising, and formed chiefly from the Greek and Latin. Nothing remains of this trans- lation, except a single copy, somewhat mu- tilated, of the iv. Gospels, called the Codex Argenteus, because written in letters of sil- ver, now at Upsal in Sweden ; and a few fragments of the Epistle to the Romans, re- covered from an erasure of a MS. of the eighth or ninth century. Ulphila's Gospels were first published by Fr. Junius, Dort, 1665, 2 vols. 4to ; afterwards at Stockholm, 1671, 4to ; and very learnedly, Oxford, 1750, fol., and lastly, in a very convenient Ger- man edition, by J. C. Zahn, Weissenfels, 1805, 4to, with a complete Apparatus in the German language. TV.] (64) See Sulpitius Sevcrus, Dial, i., de Vita Martini, c. 13, 15, 17. Dial, ii., p. 106, &c., ed. Hier. a Prato, Verona, 1741, fol. [This Martin was born in Sabaria in Pannonia, and brought up at Pavia in Italy. He embraced Christianity, contrary to the will of his parents ; and served in the army, following the occupation of his father. He afterwards left the military life, and commit- ted himself to the instruction of Hilary of Poictiers. From the Arians he suffered much persecution ; and he was principally instrumental in the introductven of monasti- cism among the Gauls. [He was ordained bishop of Tours, A.D. 374, and died in the year 397, aged 81.] For other particulars of his life, see his biographer, Sulpitius Sev- erus ; also Tillemont, Memoires pour ser- vir a 1'Histoire de 1'Eglise, tome x. ; and the Histoire Litteraire de la France, torn, i., pt. ii., p. 413. SM. The English read- er may consult Miner's church history, cent, iv., ch. 14. TV.] . (65) Hieran. a Prato, in his preface to Sul- 229 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART I. grant, that many events were inconsiderately regarded as miracles, which were according to the laws of nature ; not to mention likewise pious frauds. Still I cannot join with such as believe, that in this age, God did never manifest his power by any extraordinary signs among Christians.(66) 24. Although the Christian church within the Roman empire was in- volved in no severe calamities, from the times of Constantine the Great on- ward, except during the commotion of Licinius and the short reign of Ju- lian, yet slight tempests sometimes beat upon them in certain places. Athanaric, for instance, a king of the Goths, fiercely assailed for a time that portion of the Gothic nation which had embraced Christianity. (67) In the more remote provinces also, the adherents to idolatry often defend, ed their hereditary superstitions with the sword, and murdered the Chris- tians, who in propagating their religion were not always as gentle or as prudent as they ought to have been. (68) Beyond the limits of the Roman empire, Sapor II. surnamed Longavus, the king of Persia, waged three bloody wars against the Christians in his dominions. The first was in the eighteenth year of his reign, [A.D. 317] ; the second was in the thirtieth year ; and the third, which was the most cruel, and destroyed an immense number of Christians, commenced in his thirty-first year, A.D. 330, and last- ed forty years, or till A.D. 370. Yet religion was not the ostensible cause of this dreadful persecution, but a suspicion of treasonable practices among the Christians : for the Magi and the Jews persuaded the king to believe, that all Christians were in the interests of the Roman empire, and that Symeon, the archbishop of Seleucia and Ctesiphon, sent to Constantinople intelligence of all that passed in Persia. (69) pitius Scverus, p. xiii., &c., contends zeal- 8vo, and Church's Vindication of the mirac- ously for the miracles of Martin and the ulous powers, in answer to Middleton, 1750, others in this century. [An account of the 8vo ; likewise Dr. J. Jortin's Remarks on miracles of St. Martin, may be found in Eccles. History, vol. i., ed. Lond., 1805. Sidpit. Sever., Vita Martini ; and Epistles TV.] I. III., and Dialogues II., III. The mira- (67) See Theod. Ruinart, Acta Martyrum cles of some contemporary monks of Egypt sincera ; and among these, the Acta St i. Sa- and the East, are the subject of Dialogue I. bae, p. 598, &c. For the history of Paul, see Jerome, de Vita (68) See Ambrose, de Officiis, lib. i., c. Sti. Pauli Eremitae, in his Opp., torn, i., and xlii., 17 ; where is a noticeable statement, for that of Antony, see Athanasius, de Vita (69) See Sozomen, Hist. Eccles., lib. ii., Sti. Antonii Eremitae, in his Opp., torn, ii., c. 1-13, [where is a full account.] These ed. Paris, 1627. TV.] Persian persecutions are expressly treated (66) See Eusebius, Liber contra Hiero- of in the Biblioth. Oriental. Clement. Vati- clem, c. iv., p. 431, ed. Olearii ; Henr. can., torn, i., p. 6, 16, 181, and torn, iii., Doddwcll, Diss. ii. in Irenaeum, Iv., p. 195, p. 52, &c., with which however, should be [also Dr. Conyers Middleton's Free Inquiry compared Steph. Euod. Asseman, Praef. ad into the miraculous Powers, which are said Acta Martyrum Oriental, et Occidental., to have subsisted in the Christian Church, splendidly edited, Rome, 1748, 2 vols. fol., &c , Lond , 1747, 4to : and in defence of p. Ixxi., &c. He has published the Marty' miracles, Dr. Wm. DoddweWs Answer to rologium Persicum, in Syriac, with a Latin Dr. Middleton's Free Inquiry, &c., 1751, translation, and excellent Notes. STATE OF LEARNING. i PART II. THE INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. CHAPTER I. HISTORY OF LITERATURE AND SCIENCE. 1. State of Literature. $ 2. Progress of the Platonic Philosophy. 3. Its Fate. $ 4. State of Learning among Christians. $ 5. Many illiterate Christians. 1 . THE Greeks and Romans of this century, who wished to pass for the literati of the age, devoted themselves particularly to eloquence, poetry, and history, among the fine arts. And not a few of both nations might be named, who acquired some reputation in these arts. Yet they all fell very far short of the highest excellence. The best of these poets, as Ausoni- *,(!) if compared with those of the Augustan age, are harsh and inele- gant. The rhetoricians, abandoning wholly the noble simplicity and ma- jesty of the ancients, taught the youth how to speak ostentatiously and de- ceptively on all subjects. And most of the historians were less attentive to method, perspicuity, and fidelity, than to empty and insipid ornaments. 2. Nearly all who attempted philosophy in this century, were of the sect called Modern Platonists. It is not strange therefore, that some Pla- tonic notions are to be met with in the works of the Christians, as well as others. Yet there were fewer of these philosophers in the West, than in the East. In Syria, Jamblichus of Chalcis expounded Plato, or rather palmed his own conceptions upon that philosopher. (2) His writings show, that he was superstitious, cloudy, credulous, and of ordinary intellectual powers. He was succeeded by Aedesius,(3) Maximus,() and others ; of (1) [Decius (or Decimus) Magnus Auso- by Dr. Mosheim. He was a pagan, an en- nius, was a Latin poet, well born and edu- thusiast, and a great pretender to superior cated at Bourdeaux, who flourished in the talents and learning. Of his works, there last half of this century. He was probably remain a Life of Pythagoras, published Gr. a nominal Christian, was a man of poetic and Lat.,with Notes, by Kuster, Amstelod., genius, and much caressed and advanced to 1707, 4to ; Exhortation to the study of high honours by those in authority. His Philosophy ; Three Books on mathematical poems were chiefly short pieces, Eulogies, learning ; Commentary on Nicomachus ; In- Epigrams, &c., and not devoid of merit, stitutes of Arithmetic : and a Treatise on Yet the style attests the declining age of the Mysteries of the Egyptians and Chalde- Roman literature. Some of the pieces are ans of Assyria; published Gr. and Lat., with also very obscene. Edited by Tollitis, Notes, by Tho. Gait, Oxon., 1678, fol. See Lugd. Bat., 1671, 4to: and Lat. and Fr. Bruckcr, Hist. crit. Philos., torn, ii., p. 260- by Joubert, Paris, 1769, 4 vols. 12mo. 270. Fabricius, Biblioth. Gr , vol. iv., p. TV.] 282, &c., and Lardner's Works, vol. viii. (2) [Jamblichus. There were three of this TV.] name; the first lived early in the second (3) [Aedesiusof Cappadocia, a disciple of century ; his works are now lost : the second Jambhchus, and like his master, a devotee probably died about the year 333, and wrote of theurgia. See Bruckcr, Hist. crit. Phi- largely ; the third was contemporary with los., torn, ii., p. 270. &c. TV.] Julian, and wrote the life of Alypius the (4) [Maximus of Ephesus, called the Cyn- musician. The second is the one intended ic, another pretender to superhuman knowl- 230 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART II. CHAP. I. whose follies Eunapius gives us an account. In Egypt, Hypatia,(5) a dis- thifuished lady, Isidorus,(6) Olympiodorus,(7) Synesius a semi-Christian,(8) and others of less fame, propagated this kind of wisdom, or rather, folly. & 3. As the emperor Julian was a passionate admirer of this philoso- phy, (as his writings clearly show), very many were induced by his influ- ence to vie with each other in their endeavours to set it forth in the most alluring dress. (9) But when Julian died, a dreadful storm burst upon the Platonists, during the reign of Valentinian ; and several of them were ar- raigned and tried for their lives, on the charge of practising magic, and other crimes. In these commotions, Maximus the preceptor of Julian, among others, suffered death. (10) But it was rather the intimacy of these men with Julian, whose counsellors they had been, than the philosophy they embraced, which proved their ruin. Hence the rest of the sect, which had not been connected with the court, were exposed to very little danger or loss, in this persecution of the philosophers. 4. The Christians, from the times of Constantine the Great, devoted much more attention to the study of philosophy and the liberal arts, than they had done before. And the emperors omitted no means which might awaken and cherish a thirst for learning. Schools were established in many of the towns ; libraries were formed, and literary men were encour- aged by stipends, by privileges, and by honours.(ll) All this was requi- site to the accomplishment of their object of gradually abolishing pagan idolatry ; for the old religion of the pagans derived its chief support from the learning of its advocates : and moreover, if the Christian youth could find no instructers of their own religion, there was danger of their apply- edge. He is said to have persuaded Julian er, Hist. crit. Philos., torn, ii., p. 490. to apostatize ; and he certainly had great in- Tr.] fluence over that emperor. He was put to (8) [Synesius, of Gyrene in Africa, studied death, for practising magic, in the reign of under Hypatia ; resided at Constantinople Valens. See Brucker, Hist. crit. Philos., from A.D. 397-400, as deputy from his na- tom. ii., 281, &c. Eunapius, (de Vitis live city; was made bishop of Ptolemais, Sophistarum), gives account of Jamblichus, A.D. 410. He wrote well for that age; Aedesius, and Maximus. Tr.] though he was too much infected with the (5) [Hypatia of Alexandria, a lady who reigning philosophy. His works, as edited was thought to excel all the philosophers of by Petavius, Gr. and Lat., Paris, 1612 and her age, and who publicly taught philosophy 1631, fol., are de Regno, ad Arcadium Im- with great applause, flourished in the close peratorem ; Dio, vel de ipsius vitae insti- of this century, and the first part of the next, tuto ; Calvitii encomium ; Aegyptius, sive She was murdered in a tumult, A.D. 415. de Providentia ; de Insomniis ; Epistolae See Socrates, Hist. Eccles., 1. vii., c. 15. civ.; and several Discourses and Hymns. Suidas, Art. 'Tirana, torn, iii., p. 533. TV.] Tillemont, Memoires, &c., a 1'Histoire EC- (9) See Ez. Spanheim, Praefatio ad Opp. cles., torn, xiv., p. 274. Menage, Hist. Juliani, et ad versionem Gallicam Ccesarum mulier. philosoph., $ 49, &c., p. 494, &c., Juliani, p. iii., et Adnotat., p. 234. Blet- and Brucker, Hist. crit. Philos., torn, ii., p. terie, Vie de 1'Empereur Julien, livr. i., p. 351. Tr.] 26, &c. (6) [This Isidoru* was surnamed Gazae- (10) Ammianus Marcellin., Histor., lib. us, from Gaza in Palestine the place of xxix.,c. 1, p. 556, ed, Valesii ; and BirMerie, his birth. Concerning him, see Brucker, Vie de Julien, p. 30, &c., 155, 159, &c. ; Hist. crit. Philos., torn, ii., p. 341, &c. and Vie de Jovien, tome i., p. 194. Sett.] (11) See Ja. Gothofred, on the Codex (7) [Olympiodorus, author of a Commen- Theodos. Titles, de Professoribus et Arti- tary upon Plato, still preserved in MS. at bus liberalibus ; Fran. Balduin, Constanti- Paris ; and of a Life of Plato, of which a Lat- nus Magn., p. 122, &c. Herm. Conringius, in version has been published. There were Diss. de studiis Romae et Constantinop., several persons of this name. See Bruck- subjoined to his Antiquitatt. Academicae, CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 231 ing to the pagan teachers of philosophy and rhetoric, to the injury of the true religion. 5. Yet it must not be supposed, that the Christian church was full of literary, wise, and scientific men. For there was no law as yet, to pre- vent the ignorant and illiterate from entering the sacred office ; and it ap- pears from explicit testimony, that very many of both the bishops and presby- ters were entirely destitute of all science and learning. Besides, the party was both numerous and powerful, who considered all learning, and especially philosophical learning, as injurious and even destructive to true piety and godliness. All the ascetics, monks, and eremites, were inclined towards this party ; which was also highly favoured, not only by women, but by all those who estimate piety by the sanctity of the countenance, the sor- didness of the dress, and the love of solitude that is, by the many. CHAPTER II. HISTORY OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH, AND OF ITS TEACHERS. 1, 2. Form of the Christian Church. 3. Conformed to the Civil Establishment. $ 4. Administration, Internal and External, of the Church. t) 5. Rank of the Bishop of Rome. $ 6. Limits of his Jurisdiction. 7. The Bishop of Constantinople. 8. Vices of the Clergy. $ 9. Distinguished Writers in the Greek Church. f) 10. Prin- cipal Writers in the Latin Church. 1. CONSTANTINE the Great let the form or organization of the church remain, substantially, as it had been ; yet he attempted in some respects to improve and extend it. While therefore, he suffered the church to continue to be, as before, a sort of republic within yet distinct from the political body, he assumed to himself the supreme power over this sacred republic, and the right of modelling and controlling it in such a manner as would best sub- serve the public good. Nor did any bishop call in question this power of the emperor. The people therefore, in the same manner as before, con- tinued to elect their own bishops and tcaclu-rs; and the bishops severally in their respective districts or cities, directed and regulated all eccl< tical affairs, using their presbyters as their council, and calling on the peo- ple for their assent. The bishops also met together in conventions or councils, to deliberate on the subjects in which the churches of a whole province were interested, on points of religious controversy, on the forms and rites of worship, and others of like import. To these minor councils of one or more provinces, there were now added, by authority of the em- peror, assemblies or grand councils of the whole church, called oecumeni- cal or general councils, the emperor having first summoned one of this character at Nice. For he deemed it .suitable, (very probably at the sug- gestion of the bishops), that causes of great moment, and affecting either the church universally, or the general principles of Christianity, should be examined and decided in conventions of the whole church. There were never, indeed, any councils held, which could strictly and properly be called universal; those however, whose decrees and enactments were received and approved by the whole church, or by the greatest part of it, have been commonly called oecumenical or general councils. 232 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART II. CHAP. II. 2. Most of these rights and privileges, however, were gradually di- minished very much, from the time when various disturbances and quar- rels and threatening contests arose here and there, respecting ecclesiasti- cal affairs, religious doctrines, or the elections of bishops. For as the weaker parties generally appealed to the court, this afforded to the emper- ors the best opportunity of restricting the power of the bishops and the liberties of the people, and of variously changing the ancient customs of the church. The bishops likewise, whose wealth and influence were not a little augmented from the times of Constantine, gradually subverted and changed the ancient principles of church government. For they first exclu- ded the people altogether from having a voice in ecclesiastical affairs, and then deprived the presbyters of their former authority, so that they might con- trol everything at their discretion, and in particular appropriate the eccle- siastical property to themselves, or distribute it as they pleased. Hence, at the close of this century, only the shadow of the ancient form of church government remained ; and the former rights of the presbyters and the people were engrossed chiefly by the bishops ; while those of the whole church passed into the hands of the emperors or their provincial govern- ors and magistrates. 3. Constantine, to render his throne secure and prevent civil wars, not only changed the system of Roman jurisprudence, but likewise altered in many respects the constitution of the empire.(l) And as he wished, for various reasons, to adapt the ecclesiastical administration to that of the commonwealth, it became necessary that new grades of honour and pre- eminence should be introduced among the bishops. The princes among the bishops, were those who had before held a pre-eminent rank, namely, the bishops of Rome, Antioch, and Alexandria; with whom the bishop of Constantinople was joined, after the imperial residence was transferred to that city. These four prelates answered to the four prcetorian prefects created by Constantine, and perhaps even in this century bore the Jewish title of Patriarchs. Next to these were the exarchs, corresponding with the civil exarchs, and presiding each over several provinces. The metro- politans came next, who governed only single provinces. After them ranked* the archbishops, who had the inspection only of certain districts of country. The bishops brought up the rear ; whose territories were not in all countries of the same extent, being in some countries more exten- sive, and in others confined to narrower limits. To these several orders of bishops, I should add that of the chorepiscopi or rural bishops, the su- perintendents of the country or suburbial churches, were it not that the bishops, in order to extend their own power, had caused this order to be suppressed in most places. (2) (1) See Bos, Hist, de la Monarchic Fran- following account of the civil distribution Soise, torn, i., p. 64. Giannone, Hist, de copied from an ancient Notitia Imperii, said Naples, torn, i., p. 94, 152. to have been written before the reign of Ar- (2) This is shown by Lutlm. Thomassi- cadius and Honorius, or before A.D. 395. nus, Disciplina ecclesias. vet. et nova cir- See Pagi, Critica in Barronii Annal. ad. ca beneficia, torn, i., various passages. Ann. 37, torn, i., p. 29, &c. [Though the ecclesiastical divisions of the I. Praefectus Practorio Orientis : et sub Roman empire, did not coincide exactly eo Dioeceses quinque, ss. with the civil divisions, yet a knowledge of 1. Dioecesis orientis, in qua Provinciae the latter will help us to form a better idea xv. nempe, Palaestina, Phoenice, Syria, Ci- of the former. Accordingly, we annex the licia, Cyprus, Arabia, Isauria, Palaestina Sal- CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 233 4. The administration of ecclesiastical affairs, was divided by Con. utaris, Palaestina ii., Phoenice Libani, Eu- phratensis, Syria Salutaris, Osrhoena, Mes- opotamia, et Cilicia ii. 2. Dioecesis Aegypti, in qua Provinciae vi. ncmpe, Libya superior, Libya inferior, Thebais, Aegyptus, Arcadia, et Augustan- ica. 3. Dioecesis Asiae, in qua Provinciae x. nempe, Pamphylia, Hellespontus, Lydia, Pi- sidia, Lycaonia, Phrygia Pacatiana, Phrygia Salutaris, Lycia, Caria, et Insulae. 4. Dioecesis Ponti, in qua Provinciae x. nempe, Galatia, Bithynia, Honorias, Cappa- docia i., Paphlagonia, Pontus Polemoniacus, Helenopontus, Armenia i., Armenia ii., et Galatia Salutaris. 5. Dioecesis Thraciae, in qua Provinciae vi. nempe, Europa, Thracia, Hemiomontis, Rhodope, Moesia ii., et Scythia. II. Praefectus Praetorio Ely rid : et sub eo Dioeceses duae, ss. 1. Dioecesis Macedonia^ in qua Provin- ciae vi. nempe, Achaia, Macedonia, Greta, Thessalia, Epirus vetus, et Epirus nova. 2. Dioecesis Daciae. in qua Provinciae v. nempe, Dacia Mediterranea, Dacia Ripensis, Moesia prima, Dardania Praevalitiana, et Pars Macedoniae Salutaris. III. Praefectus Praetorio Italiae : et sub eo Dioeceses tres, ss. 1. Dioecesis Italiae, in qua Provinciae xvii. nempe, Venetiae, Aemilia, Liguria, Flaminia et Picenum Annonarium, Tuscia et Umbria, Picenum Suburbicarium, Campania, Sicilia, Apulia et Calabria, Lucania et Brutii, Alpes Cottiarum, Rhaetia prima, Rhaetia se- cunda, Samnium, Valeria, Sardinia, et Cor- sica. 2. Dioecesis Ulijrici, in qua Provinciae vi. nempe, Pannonia secunda, Savia, Dalma- tia, Pannonia secunda, Noricum Mediterra- neum, et Noricum Ripense. 3. Dioecesis Africae, in qua Provinciae vi. nempe, Byzacium, Numidia, Mauritania Sitifensis, Mauritania Caesariensis, Tripolis, et Africa Proconsularis. IV. Praefectus Praetorio Galliarum : et sub eo Dioeceses tres, ss. 1. Dioecesis Hi.ipaniae, in qua Provin- ciae vii. nempe, Boetica, Lusitania, Gallae- cia, Tarraconensis, Carthaginensis, Tingi- tania, ct Baleares. 2. Dioecesis Galliarum, in qua Provin- ciae xvii. nempe, Viennensis, Lugdunensis i., Germaniai., Germania ii., Belgicai., Bel- S'ca ii., Alpes Maritimae, Alpes Penninaeet raiae, Maxima Seijuanorum, Aquilania i., Aquitania ii., Novempopuli, Narbonensis i., Narbonensis ii., Lugdunensis ii., Lugdunen- sis iii., et Lugdunensis Senonia. VOL. L G G 3. Dioecesis Britanniarum, in qua Pro- vinciae v. nempe, Maxima Caesariensis, Va- lentia, Britannia i., Britannia ii., et Flavia Caesariensis. Thus the civil division of the Roman em- pire was, in this century, into iv. prefec- tures containing 13 dioceses, which em- braced lift provinces. The ecclesiastical division of the empire, though founded upon the civil division, was by no means so com- plete and so regular. The civil provinces were generally ecclesiastical provinces, and under the inspection severally of the metro- politans or archbishops of those provinces. Yet there were many bishops, who were ex- empt from the inspection or jurisdiction of the metropolitans, and were therefore called avTOKE^a^OL independent. They also bore the title of archbishops and of metropolitans ; although they had no suffragans cr bishops depending on them. Above the rtnk of me- tropolitans, there were properly none other than the patriarchs. For the exarchs of Asia, Cappadocia, and Pontus, were only the first metropolitans of those civil dioceses, while they belonged to no patriarchate. And the primates of certain countries, in after ages, were only the metropolitans that rank- ed first, or had precedence, among the me- tropolitans of their respective countries. Hence there were not properly fiee orders of bishops, above the rank of chorepiscopi, as Dr. Mosheim represents ; but only three, namely, patriarchs, metropolitans or arch- bishops, and simple bishops. Before the times of Constantnie, provincial councils were common ; and these gave rise to the order of metropolitans. Among the metro- politans, those of Rome, Antioch, and Alex- andria stood pre-eminent in honour and influ- ence. During the reign of Constantine the Great, the powers of these three metropoli- tan* were enlarged ; but whether they bore the title, or possessed the authority, of patri- archs, at that time, is not certain. They however became patriarchs, both in name and in power, before a century had elapsed. And these were the three original patriarchs. Towards the close of this century, the bish- ops of Constantinople obtained rank next to those of Rome, and extended their authority over several dioceses not subject to the other patriarchs. In the next century, the bishops of Jerusalem became independent of the pa- triarchs of Antioch ; and thus there were five patriarchates formed. Their respective limits were as follows. The patriarchal au- thority of the bishops of Rome, did not at first extend beyond Italy, perhaps not over the whole of that. For the bishops of Alii- 234 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART II. CHAP. II. stantine into the external and the internal. (3) The latter, he relinquished to the bishops and to councils. It embraced whatever was purely reli- gious, religious controversies, forms of worship, functions of the priests, the irregularities of their lives, &c. The external administration he took upon himself. It included whatever relates to the external condition of the church, or to its discipline, and also all contests and causes of the ministers of the church, both of the higher and of the lower orders, which did not respect religion and sacred functions, but property, worldly hon- ours, and privileges, and offences against the laws, and the like. (4) Hs therefore and his successors, assembled councils, presided in them, as- signed judges for religious disputes, decided contests between bishops and their people, determined the limits of the episcopal sees, and by the ordi- nary judges heard and. adjudged the civil causes and common offences among the ministers of the church ; but the ecclesiastical causes he left to the cognizance of the councils and bishops. Yet this famous partition of the ecclesiastical government into the external and the internal adminis- trations, was never clearly explained and accurately defined. Hence, both ca, Spain. Gaul, Britain, and Illyricum, ac- knowledged no ecclesiastical head or ruler, except their own metropolitans. But after the dissolution of the western empire, the bishop of Rome found means to bring all the bishops and metropolitans of the West under his authority. This he justified, partly by claiming to be patriarch of all the West, and partly by virtue of his assumed supremacy over the whole church. The patriarchs of Constantinople claimed dominion over the civil dioceses of Asia, Pontus, and Thrace, which belonged to the prefecture of the East, and also over the two dioceses composing the prefecture of Illyricum. No one of these dioceses had before belonged to any patri- archate ; the three former having been gov- erned by provincial councils, in which the metropolitans of Ephesus, Csesarea in Cap- padocia, and Heraclea i Thrace, had the precedence of all other metropolitans. The two other dioceses, those of Macedonia and Dacia, had been governed in a similar man- ner ; and being afterwards claimed by the bishops of Rome, were the cause of long and violent contests between those ambitious prelates. But the patriarchs of Constanti- nople retained them, and thereby extended their dominions northward over the Russian empire. The patriarchate of Anlioch em- braced, originally, the whole diocese of the East, and likewise extended over the church- es beyond the limits of the Roman empire in Asia, quite to India. But in the year 451, the patriarchate of Jerusalem was created out of it, embracing the whole of Palaestina i , ii., and iii., or Salutaris, and thence to Mount Sinai and the borders of Egypt. The patriarchate of Alexandria embraced the civil diocese of Egypt ; and thence extended into Abyssinia. Such were the territorial limits of the five patriarchates, from the 5th centu- ry onward to the reformation. In the llth century, Nilus Doxopatriiis, of Constantino- ple, gives them substantially the same bound- aries. From him we learn, that the patriarch of Constantinople then presided over 52 me- tropolitans, who had under them 649 suffra- gan bishops ; and over 13 titular metropoli- tans, i. e., bishops who were called metro- politans and uvTOKE<t>a2,oi, but had no suffra- gans ; and likewise 34 titular archbishops. The patriarch of Antioch presided over 13 metropolitans, with 139 suffragans, besides 8 titular metropolitans, and 13 titular arch- bishops. The patriarch of Jerusalem presi- ded over 4 metropolitans with suffragans, and 25 titular archbishops. And the patri- arch of Alexandria presided over 7 metro- politans with suffragans, and 5 titular me- tropolitans and archbishops. The number of suffragans in the two last patriarchates is not given. The civil distribution of the empire is given by Pictro Giannone, Istoria civile di Napoli, lib. ii., cap. i., and the ec- clesiastical distrib., ibid., lib. ii., cap. viii. See also Bingham's Origines Ecclesiast., I. ix., c. i., $ 5, 6. Tr.] (3) Eusebms, de Vita Constantini Magn., lib. iv., c. 24. (4) See the imperial laws, in both the Jus- tinian and Theodosian Codices ; and, among others, Ja. Gothofrcd, ad Codicem Theodos., torn, vi., p. 55, 58, 333, &c. [This whole system resulted, in part, from the office of Pontifex Maxtmus, which was retained by Constantine and all his successors till into the fifth century ; and, in part from the con- ception of Constantine, that the church was a society existing independently of the state. See Bos, Diss. de Pontificatu maximo Ira- perator. Christianor. Schl.] CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 235 in this and in the following centuries, we see many transactions which do not accord with it, but contravene it. For the emperors, not unfrequent- ly, determined matters relating to the interior of the church ; and on the other hand, councils and bishops often enacted laws respecting things which seem to belong to the external form and affairs of the church. 5. The first among the bishops, in respect to rank and dignity, was the bishop of Rome. And this pre-eminence was not founded solely on popular feeling and prejudice of long standing, to which various causes had given rise, but also on those grounds, which commonly give priority and greatness in the estimation of mortals. For he exceeded all other bishops, in the amplitude and splendour of the church over which he pre- sided, in the magnitude of his revenues and possessions, in the number of his assistants or ministers of various descriptions, in the weight of his in- fluence with the people at large, and in the sumptuousness and magnif- icence of his style of living.(5) These indications of power and worldly greatness were so fascinating to the minds of Christians, even in this age, that often most obstinate and bloody contests took place at Rome, when a new pontiff was to be created, by the suffrages of the priests and people. A shocking example of this is afforded by the disturbance at Rome in the year 366, after the death of Liberius. When they came to the choice of a new bishop, one party was for placing Damasus, and another for ap- pointing Ursicmus, a deacon, over the widowed church : and the conten- tion issued in a bloody warfare, in which there was fighting, burning of buildings, and many lost their lives. Damasus came off victorious in the contest ; but whether his claims were better, or his cause more righteous, than those of Ursicinus, does not appear. (6) I dare not pronounce either of them a good man. G. It is however abundantly attested, that the bishops of Rome did not, in this age, possess supreme power and jurisdiction in the church. They were citizens of the commonwealth ; and though higher in honour, they obeyed the laws and the mandates of the emperors, just like other cit- izens. The more weighty religious causes were determined, either by judges appointed by the emperor, or in ecclesiastical councils ; minor causes were decided by individual bishops. The laws relating to religion, were enacted either by the emperors or by councils. No one of the bish- ops acknowledged, that his authority was derived from the plenary power of the Roman bishop, or that he was constituted a bishop by the favour of the apostolic see. On the contrary, they all maintained, that they were the ambassadors and ministers of Jesus Christ, and that their authority was derived from above. (7) Yet it is undeniable, that even in this age, (5) Ammianus Marcellinus, Hist., 1. Peter de Marca, de Concordia Sacerdotii et xxvii., c. 3. Imperil; L. E. du Pin, de antiqua ecrlesiie (6) See the writers of Lives of the Popes, Disciplina ; and especially, Dav. Bloridell, among whom Arch. Bower has stated this de la Primaute dans 1'Eglise, a very learned matter ingenuously and impartially, in his work : [also Fred. Spanherm, Diss. de Pri- Hist. of the Popes, vol. i , p. 180, &c., ed. matu Paps, et Canone vi. Nicaeno. Schl. 2, Lond., 1749. [Ammianus Marccllin., The sixth canon of the council of Nice, Hist., 1. xxvii., c. 3, says, that 137 corpses A.D. 325, gave to the bishops of Alexan- of the slain, were found in one day, in the dria, Rome, and Antioch, severally, the same church of Sicminus. Tr.] pre-eminence over their respective surround- (7) All these points are discussed at large, ing bishops. Melctius had encroached upon by many writers, among whom I will name the prerogatives of his metropolitan of Alex- 236 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART II. CHAP. II. several of those steps were laid, by which the Roman pontiffs afterwards mounted to the summit of ecclesiastical dominion ; and this, partly by the imprudence of the emperors, partly by the sagacity of the pontiffs them- selves, and partly by the hasty decisions of certain bishops. Among these steps however, I would assign either no place, or only the very last, to the fourth canon of the council of Sardica, in the year 347, to which the friends of the Roman pontiff assign the first and the most important place. For, not to mention that the authority and regularity of this council are very du- bious, and that not without reason the enactments of this council are re- garded by some as coming to us corrupted, and by others as forged ;(8) it can never be made to appear from that canon, that the bishops assembled at Sardica decided, that in all cases an appeal might be made to the Ro- man pontiff, as the supreme and final judge. But suppose they had so de- cided which yet can never be proved how weak must that right be, which is founded only on the decision of a single obscure council. (9) 7. Constantine the Great, by transferring the imperial residence to Byzantium and there founding the new city of Constantinople, undesign- edly raised up against the rising power of the Roman pontiff a powerful competitor, in the bishop of the new metropolis. For as the emperor wished his Constantinople to be a new Rome, and had endowed it with all the privileges and honours and elegances of old Rome ; the bishop of so great a city, which was the imperial residence, also wished to be thought every way equal to the bishop of old Rome in rank, and to have precedence of all other bishops. Nor did the emperors disapprove of this ambition, because they considered their own dignity as involved in that of the bish- op of their metropolis. Therefore in the council of Constantinople, as- andrfa : and therefore the council ordain, were not confirmed by several subsequent (according to the translation of Dionysius councils, nor received by the whole church. Exiguus), Antiqua consuetude serveter per See De Marca, de Concordia Sacerdotii, ^Egyptum, Libyam, et Pentapolim, ita ut &c., lib. vii., c. 4, 5, 11, 12, 15. By the Alexandrinus Episcopus horum omnium ha- 3d canon in the Greek or the 4th in the beat potestatem ; quia et Romse Episcopo Latin translation by Isidorus, it was or- parilis mos est. Similiter autem et apud dered. that if any bishop shall think himself Antiochiam, caeterasque provincias, suis unjustly condemned, and wish for a new privilegia serventur ecclesiis. To recon- trial, his judges shall acquaint the bishop of cile this canon with the papal claims of uni- Rome therewith, who may either confirm the versal empire, the Romanists tell us, it re- first judgment, or order a new trial before lates merely to the patriarchal or metropoliti- such of the neighbouring bishops as he may cal power of the bishop of Rome, and not to choose to name. The 4th canon, according his power as pope : a distinction, which to the Greek, adds that in such case the see does not appear to have occurred to the Ni- of the deposed bishop shall remain vacant, cene fathers. See Nat.alis Alexander, Hist, till the determination of the bishop of Rome Eccles.. cent, iv., Dissert, xx. Tr.] is known. By the 5th canon, according to (8) See Mich. Geddes, Diss. de Canoni- the Greek, and the 7th of Isidorus, it is or- bus Sardicensibus ; among his Miscellaneous dered, that if a condemned bishop apply to Tracts, vol. ii.. p. 415; [and Arch. Bower, Rome for relief, the bishop of Rome may, Lives of the Popes, Pope Julius, vol. i., if he see fit, not only order a new trial, but p. 120, &c., ed. 2, Lond., 1749, 4to. TV.] if the aggrieved bishop desire it, he may send (9) [This council was got up by Julius, one of his presbyters to sit and have a voice bishop of Rome ; and was designed to be a in the second trial See De Marca, loc. cit., general council, and was therefore held at cap. 3 Thus these canons do not give the Sardica in Illyricum, as accommodating both bishop of Rome even an appellate jurisdic- the East and the West ; but as most of the tion, but only the power to decide whether an eastern bishops withdrew from it, it was injured bishop shall have a new trial. rather a council of the West. Its decrees Tr.] CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 237 sembled in the year 381 by authority of the emperor Theodosius the Great, the bishop of Alexandria not being present, and the bishop of Rome being opposed to it, the bishop of Constantinople, by the third canon, was placed in the first rank after the bishop of Rome ; the bishops of Alexandria and Antioch, of course, to take rank after him. The bishop who had this honour conferred on him, was Nectarius. His successor, John Chrysostom, went farther, and subjected all Thrace, Asia, [the Diocese of the western part of Asia Minor], and Pontus to his jurisdiction. (10) The subsequent bishops of Constantinople gradually advanced their claims still farther. But this revolution in the ecclesiastical government, and the sudden ele- vation of the Byzantine bishop to high rank, to the injury of others, in the first place fired the Alexandrine prelates with resentment against those of Constantinople ; and in the next place, it gave rise to those unhappy con- tests between the pontiffs of old and new Rome, which, after being pro- tracted through several centuries with various success, finally produced a separation between the Latin and the Greek churches. 8. The vices and the faults of the clergy, especially of those who of- ficiated in large and opulent cities, were augmented in proportion to the increase of their wealth, honours, and advantages, derived from the em- perors and from various other sources : and that this increase was very great, after the times of Constantinej is acknowledged by all. The bish- ops had shameful quarrels among themselves, respecting the boundaries of their sees and the extent of their jurisdiction ; and, while they trampled on the rights of the people and of the inferior clergy, they vied with the civil governors of provinces, in luxury, arrogance, and voluptuousness. (11) The presbyters, in many places, arrogated to themselves a dignity and au- thority equal to bishops. Of the pride and effeminacy of the deacons, we often meet with various complaints. Those especially who ranked first among the presbyters and deacons, were unwilling to be considered as be- longing to the same order with the others ; and therefore, they not only assumed the titles of archpresbyters and archdeacons, but they thought themselves authorized to assume far greater liberties, than were allowed to the others. 9. Among the eminent writers of this century who were an ornament to the eastern provinces and to Greece, the most distinguished were those whose names here follow. Eusebius Pamphili, bishop of Cacsarea in Pal- estine, a man of vast reading and erudition, and one who has acquired im- mortal fame by his labours in ecclesiastical history, and in other branches of theological learning. Yet he was not free from errors and defects ; and he leaned towards the side of those who think there is subordination among the three persons in the Godhead. Some rank him among the (10) See Peter de Marca, Diss. de Con- post Romanum Episcopum, proptcrca quod stantin. Patriarchatus institutione ; annexed ait nova Roma." TV.] to his work, de Concordia sacerdotii et im- (11) See Sulpitius Severus, Historia Sa- perii, vol. iv., p. 163, &c., ed. Bamb., 1789. era, lib. i., c. 23, lib. ii., c. 32, 51, Dialog, i., Mich. Ic Quien, Oriens Christianus, torn, i., c. 21. Add to this the account given by p. 15, &c. Sam. Porter, An account of the Dao. Clarkson, in his Discourse on Litur- Government of the Christian Church for the gies, p. 228, (of the French edition), of the first six hundred years, p. 245, Lond., 1683, extremely corrupt state of morals among the 8vo. [The canon of the council was thus clergy ; and in particular of the eagerness of expressed: " Constant inopolitanae civitatis the bishops to extend the boundaries of their Episcopum habere oportet primatus honorem authority, p. 150, &c. 238 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART II. CHAP. II. Arians ; but they certainly err in so doing, if they intend by an Arian, one who embraces the opinions taught by Arius, the presbyter of Alex- andria.(12) Peter, bishop of Alexandria, who is highly extolled by Eu- (12) No one has with more zeal and learn- ing accused Eusebius of Arianism, than Joh. le Clerc, in his Epistolae Ecclesiast. annexed to his Ars Critica, ep. ii., p. 30, &c. To him, add Natalis Alexander, Hist. Eccles. N. Test., Saec. iv., Diss. xvii. All how- ever that these and others labour to prove is, that Eusebius thought there was some dis- parity and a subordination among the per- sons of the Godhead. And suppose this to have been his opinion, it will not follow that he was an Arian, unless the term be taken in a very extensive and improper sense. It is to be lamented that so many abuse this term, and apply it to persons who, though in error, are very far from holding the opinions of Arius. [Eusebivs Pamphili (ss. amicus, <J>itof) was born, probably, about the year 270, and at Caesarea, where he spent nearly all his life. Till about forty years of age, he lived in great intimacy with the martyr Pam- phylus, a learned and devout man of Caesa- rea, and founder of an extensive library there, from which Eusebius derived his vast stores of learning. Pamphylus was two years in Erison, during which Eusebius was constant- / with him. After the martyrdom of his friend, in the year 309, Eusebius fled first to Tyre, and thence to Egypt, where he lived till the persecution subsided. After his return to Caesarea, about the year 314, he was made bishop of his own city. In the year 325, he attended the council of Nice, was appointed todeliver the address to the em- peror on his entering the council, and then to be seated at his right hand. The first draught of the Nicene creed was made by him ; to which however, the term ououaiov and the anathemas were added by the council, and not without some scruples on the part of Eu- sebius. Afterwards Eusebius appeared to belong to a moderate party, who could not go all lengths with either side. About the year 330, he was offered the patriarchal chair of Antioch; which he refused, because the ancient customs forbid the removal of bish- ops from one see to another. He died about the year 340. The opinion advanced by Dr. Mosheim, respecting the Arianism of Eusebius, is supported at length, by Socra- tes among the ancients, Hist. Eccles., 1. ii , c. 21, and by W. Cave, in his Diss. de Eu- sebii Caesarien. Arianismo, adv. Joh. Cler- icum ; and in his Epistola apologet. ad eun- dem ; both are annexed to his Historia lite- rar. Scriptor. Ecclesiast. Of the numerous works of Eusebius, the following have been preserved. 1. Chronicon: originally in two parts; the first, a brief history of the origin and rev- olutions of all nations ; and the second, a full chronological table of the same events. Lit- tle of the original Greek remains ; but we have the Latin translation of the second part, by Jerome ; which, with what could be glean- ed of the Greek, and considerable additions from other ancient chroniclers, was published by Jos. Scaliger, 1606, fol., and a 2d ed. by Morus, 1658. The entire Chronicon has been preserved in an Armenian translation ; and was published, Armen. and Lat., with notes, Venice, 1817, 2 torn. fol. 2. Prceparatio Evangelica, in 15 books; intended to prepare the minds of pagans to embrace Christianity, by showing that the pagan religions are absurd, and far less wor- thy to be received than the Christian. It is a learned and valuable work ; published, Gr. and Lat., by F. Vigerus, Paris, 1628, fol., and again, Cologne (Leipsic), 1688. 3. Demonstratio Evangelica, in 20 books, of which the last 10 are lost. This is an at- tempt to demonstrate the truth of the Chris- tian religion, by arguments drawn from the Old Test., and was therefore intended espe- cially for the Jews. It is far less valuable than the former : ed. Paris, 1628, and Co- logne, 16S8, fol. 4. Contra Hieroclem Liber ; in defence of Christianity, against the attack of that pagan philosopher. See the article Hie.ro- cles, supra, p. 223, note (45). It is pub- lished Gr. and Lat., annexed to the Demon- stratio Evang., and by Go/if. Otcarius, with the works of the two Philostratus, Lips., 1709, fol. 5. Historia Ecclesiastica, in 10 books, from the birth of Christ, to the death of Li- cinius in 324. A most valuable treasure ; though less full and complete, than could be wished. Eusebius was an impartial histo- rian, and had access to the best helps for composing a correct history which his age afforded. See Ch. Aug. Kestncr, Com- mentatio de Eusebii Historiae Eccles. con- ditoris Auctoritate et Fide diplomatica, sive de ejus Fontibus et Ratione, qua eis usus est ; Gotting., 1816, 4to. This work, with the three following, was best edited, Gr. and Lat., by Valesius, Paris, 1659 and 1671 ; Amsterd., 1695, and with improvements by W. Reading, Cambridge, 1720, 3 vols. fol. including the other Gr. Ecclesiastical his- torians ; namely, Socrates, Sozomen, The- odoret, Evagrius, Theodorus Lector, and Philostorgius. Those of Euseb., Socrat., CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 239 sebius.(l3) Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, famous, among other writings and acts, for his very strenuous opposition to the Arians.(14) Basil, sur- Sozom., and Evag., with the three following works, were translated into English, Cambr, 1683, 1 vol. fol. 6. De Martyribus Palaestinae Liber : usu- ally appended to the eighth Book of his Hist. Eccles. It gives account of the sufferers in the East and in Egypt, during the persecu- tion of Diocletian, or A.D. 303-313. 7. De Vita Constantini Magni, libri iv. ; a panegyric, rather than a biography. 8. Oratio de Laudibus Constantini ; de- livered on the emperor's vicennalia, A.D. 335. 9. Contra Marcellum. libri ii. ; composed by order of the council of Constantinople, A.D. 336, by which Marcellns was con- demned as a Sabellian : annexed, Gr. and Lat., to the Paris edition of the Praep. Evang., 1628. 10. De Ecdcsiastica Theologia, libri iii. This also is in confutation of Marcellus' opinions ; and is printed with the former, Gr. and Lat., subjoined to the Praep. Evang. 11. De Lncis Hehraicis ; a kind of Bib- lical Gazetteer of Palestine : edited with the Latin translation of Jerome, by Bonfrerius, Pans, 1631. 12. Expositio in Canlica Canticorum ; ed. by Meursivs, Leyden, 1617, 4to. 13. Vitae Prophetarum, ascribed to Eu- seb., Gr. and Lat., Paris, 1580, fol., with the Comment of Procopius in Isaiam. 14. Canones sacrorum Evangeliorum : ta- bles showing what portions of the Gospel History are narrated by one, by two, by three, or by four Evangelists. The Latin translation of Jerome was published in the Orthodoxographia, in the Works of Jerome, and in Biblioth. Patrum. 15. Apologiae pro Origene liber primus ; (the other live Books are wholly lost) ; the Latin translation of this, by Rufinus, is pub- lished among the works of Jerome. 16. Cvmmcntarii in Psalmos cl. (but all beyond ps. 119 is lost), published, Gr. and Lat., by Montfaucon, Collect. Nov. Gr. Pa- trum, torn, i., Paris, 1706, fol. 17. Comment arii in Isaiam ; ed., Gr. and Lat., by Montfaucon, ubi supra, torn. ii. 18. Fourteen Latin Essays or Discourses against Sabellianism, &c., were published by Sirmond, Paris, 1643, 8vo, under the du- bious title of Eusebii Caesariensis Opuscu- la, xiv. 19. Eclogarum propheticarum de Christo, libri iv., (a collection and explanation of the O. T. prophecies concerning Chrtsi), is said to exist in MS. in the Bibliotheca Viennensis. 20. Epistola ad Cacsancnsct ; a letter to his own church, concerning the Nicene creed; extant, Gr. and Lat., in Socrates, Hist. Ec- cles., 1. i., c. 8. Theodoret, Hist. Eccles., 1. i., c. 12, et inter Opera Athanasii, torn, i., p. 238, ed. Paris. Eusebivs wrote many other works which have not reached us : namely, de Praepara^- tione Ecclesiastica libri aliquot ; de Demon- stratione Ecclesiast. contra Porphyrium, libri xxv. ; de Evangeliorum dissonantia ; irepl QfoQaveiac, libri v. ; Comment, in i. Epist. ad Corinth. irepi TOTTIKUV OVO/J.UTUV, liber primus, (the first part of No. 11) ; de vita PamphUi, libri iii. ; Confutationis et Apologias, libri ii., (probably, a defence of himself against the charge of Arianism) ; Antiquorum Martyriorurn Collectio, (said to be in eleven Books) ; Acta Martyrii Sti. Lu- ciani ; Descriptio Basilicae Hierosolym. Do Festo Paschale Liber ; Epistola ad Constan- tiam de imagine Christi ; Epistola ad Alex- andrum Ep. Alex, de Ario ; Epistola adEu- phrationem, (extracts from these 3 Epistles are found in the Acta Concilii Niceui ii. Actione 6ta). Tr.J (13) Eusebivs, Hist. Eccles., lib. ix., c. 6. [Peter succeeded Thomas in the chair of Alexandria, in the year 300 ; was impris- oned in the year 303, and whether released or not, before his martyrdom in 311, is un- certain. He is represented as a very learn- ed, pious, and active bishop. Of his wri- tings, nothing remains but some rules re- specting penance, and other points of eccle- siastical discipline, to be found in the col- lections of the ancient canons and decrees of councils. TV.] (14) The accounts given of Alhanasius by the oriental writers, are collected by Euseb. Renaudot, in his Historia Patriarch. Alexandrinorum, p. 83. All the works of Athanaxius were splendidly published in three volumes folio, by the Benedictine monk, Bernh. de Monifaucon. [Alhanasius was born at Alexandria about the year 298. He had a good education, and early dis- played great strength of mind, and uncom- mon sagacity as a disputant and a man of bu- siness. He was ordained a deacon in 319, and became the confidant and chief coun- sellor of his bishop Alexander, whom he ac- companied to the council of Nice in 325. In that council he was very active, and ac- quired great reputation. In the year 326, Alexa.ni.tr died ; and from his recommenda- tion, Alhanasius succeeded to the see of Alexandria, when only 27 or 28 years old. For half a century, he was the head of the orthodox party in the Arian controversy. 240 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART II. CHAP. II. named the Great, bishop of Csesarea [in Cappadocia], who was inferior to few of this century in felicity of genius, skill in debate, and eloquence.(15) Cy. This rendered him extremely odious to the Arians, and involved him in controversy and sufferings nearly all his life. False accusa- tions were raised against him ; and a coun- cil was held at Ca?sarea A.D. 334, before which he was summoned, but would not ap- pear. The next year, by peremptory com- mand of the emperor Constantine, he ap- peared before the council of Tyre, and an- swered to the charges of murder, unchastity, necromancy, encouraging sedition, oppres- sive exactions of money, and misuse of church property. Though his defence was good, he could not obtain justice ; and he therefore fled to Constantinople, imploring the protection of the emperor. Here a coun- cil was assembled in 336, and a new charge falsely preferred against him, namely, that he prevented the shipments of corn from Alex- andria to Constantinople. He was unjustly condemned, and banished to Treves in Bel- gium. Arius died that year, and Constan- tine the Great the year following. In the year 338, the sons of Constantine allowed Athanasius to return to Alexandria. He immediately began to displace Arians, and to recall the churches to the faith. Dis- turbances ensued ; Athanasius was again ac- cused ; and he made application to the bp. of Rome for aid. In 341, the council of Antioch decreed, that no bishop who had been deposed by a council, ought ever to return to his see ; and on this ground, the see of Alexandria was declared vacant, and one Gregory of Cappadocia appointed to it. Gregory took forcible possession of it, and Athanasius fled to Rome for protection. A provincial council held there, acquitted him on all the charges of his adversa- ries ; and three years after, A.D. 344, a much larger council held at Sardica, did the same. In 347, after an exile of 7 or 8 years, Athanasius was permitted by the Arian emperor Constant.ius, to return to his see. But in 350, on the death of Constans, he was again accused and persecuted. Con- stantius caused him to be condemned in a council at Aries in 354, and at the council of Milan in 355. Athanasius concealed himself at Alexandria two years, and then retired among the hermits of Egypt, till the death of Constantius in 361. In this retire- ment, he wrote most of his best works. On the accession of Julian, in 361, he returned to his flock. But the next year, the pagans joining the Arians, induced Julian to banish him again. But Julian died the same year, and Athanasius returned immediately to his see. In the year 367, the Arian emperor Valens made some attempts to remove him, but without success. He died A.D. 373, aged about 75, having been a bishop 46 years. He was truly a great man, a good bishop, and a most able, persevering, and successful de- fender of the orthodox faith, in respect to the Trinity. His works are chiefly contro- versial, and in relation to that one doctrine. They consist of numerous letters and tracts, together with some brief expositions of the Scriptures, and a Life of St. Anthony. His four Orations, or Discourses, against the Arians, and his Discourse against the pagans, which are his largest works, were translated into English by Sam. Parker, and printed at Oxford, 1713, 2 vols. 8vo. His works, Gr. and Lai., two volumes in 3 parts, were best published by Montfaucon, Paris, 1698 ; and Padua, 1777, fol. But a great number of letters, tracts, comments, and narratives, the production of subsequent ages, are falsely ascribed to him, and printed with his works. Among these, beyond all question, is the creed, quicungue vult, falsely called the Athanasian Creed. See Cave, Historia Lit- terar., i., p. 189. Oudin, de Scriptor. Ec- cles., torn, i., p. 312. Fabricius, Biblioth. Gr., vol. v., p. 297. Montfaucon, Praef. ad Opp. Athanasii ; and Schroecfch, Kirchen- gesch., vol. xii., p. 93-252. Also Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Rom. Empire, ch. xxi., vol. ii , p. 258-275, ch. xxiii., p. 355, &c., ch. xxiv., p. 406, &c., ed. 1826, in 6 vols. 8vo. Tr.] (15) His works are published by the Benedictine monk, Julian Gamier, Paris, [1721-1730], 3 vols. fol. [Basil \\as born at Cassarea in Cappadocia, about A.D. 329, and died archbishop of that church, A.D. 379, act. 50. His first instruction in reli- gion was from his grandmother Maerina, a hearer and admirer of Gregory Thaumatur- gus. His father, whose name was Basil, instructed him in the liberal arts. Thence he went to Constantinople or to Caesarea in Palestine, and studied under Libanius, the philosopher and rhetorician. Next he stu- died at Athens, under Himerius and Proac- resius, having Gregory Naz. and Julian the apostate, for fellow-students in language, el- oquence, poetry, history, and philosophy. In the year 355, he returned to Cappadocia, taught rhetoric a short time, and then re- tired for 13 years to a monastery in Pontus. From this time he became a most rigid as- cetic, and a very zealous monk. He found- ed several monasteries, and composed rules and regulations for monks. In 363 he was called to Caesarea, and ordained a presbyter ; CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 241 rillus, bishop of Jerusalem, has left us some catechetical discourses, which he delivered at Jerusalem ; but many suspect him of intimacy with the Semi- arians.(16) John, for his eloquence surnamed Chrysostom, a man of ge- nius, who presided over the church of Antioch and that of Constantinople, and has left us various specimens of his erudition, among which his pub- lie discourses which he delivered with vast applause, stand conspicuous. (17) the next year, falling out with his bishop, Euscbius, he retired to his monastery, but was soon recalled by the bishop. He was now a very popular and efficient preacher. On the death of archbishop Euscbius, in the year 370, Basil was raised to the archiepis- copal chair. He still dressed and lived like a monk, but was a most active and effi- cient bishop. He reformed the morals of the clergy, established rigid discipline in the churches, promoted orthodoxy and harmony in that jarring age, established almshouses for the sick and indigent ; and died triumph- antly, on the first of January, 379. Eulogies of him were composed by Gregory Nai., Gregory Nyssen, (who was his brother), Ephracm Syrus, and Amphylochius. He was a fine belles lettres scholar, an elegant writer, and a good reasoner. His works that remain are numerous, consisting of near a hundred discourses, sermons, and homilies, 365 epistles, various ascetic tracts, contro- versial pieces, a liturgy, &c. One of his best pieces is, his treatise on the person and offices of the Holy Spirit. He is un- equal in his performances, and comes much short of Chrysostom as an orator. Yet his enthusiasm, his flexibility of style, and his clear and cogent reasoning, notwithstanding the gloomy austerity of his monastic char- acter, entitle him to that high rank among the ancient clergy, which has ever been as- signed him. See Godf. Hcrmant, Vie de S. Basile le Grand, Archeveque de Cesaree en Cappadoce, et celle de S. Gregoire de Na- zianze, Archev. de Constantinople, Paris, 1679, 2 vols. 4to. Ftibricius. Biblioth. Gr., vol. viii., p. 60, &c. Jul. Gamier, Vita Sti. Basilii, prefixed to the 3d vol. of his Opp. Basilii, Paris, 1730 ; and Schrocckh, Kir- chen., vol. xiii., p. 1-214. Milner's Church History, cent, iv., ch. 23. For his charac- ter as a pulpit orator, see Bernh. Eschen- berg, Gesch. der Religionsvortrag, p. 150 -162, Jena, 1785, 8vo. and J. W. Schmidt, Anleitung zum popularen Kanzelvortrag, pt. iii., p. 87-90, ed. 2. Jena, 1800, 8vo. "TV.] (16) The later editions of his works, are, in England, by Tho. Mtllcs, [Oxford, 1703, fol.] and in France, by the Benedictine Au- gust. Touttcc, [Paris, 1720, fol. Cyril is supposed to have been born at Jerusalem about the year 315 He was made dea- con in the church of Jerusalem about A.D. VOL. I. H H 335, and presbyter, perhaps 3 years after. On the death of Maximus the bishop, Cyr- il was raised to the episcopal chair. But the Arian controversy, and his contest with Acacius of Caesarea respecting the priori- ty of their episcopal sees, caused him to be twice deposed, (A.D. 357 or 358, and 360), and to be expelled from his see by the emperor Valens in 367. But he re- turned after short intervals to his charge ; and from 378, sat peaceably in his chair, till his death A.D. 386. He appears to have been truly orthodox, though not disposed to fo to extremes. (Thcodoret, Hist. Eccles., ii., c. 26, and 1. v., c. 9.) Of his works, we have 23 Lectures to Catechumens ; the first 18, on the creed of his church, (which was very nearly the same with what we call the Apostles' Creed), and the other 5, to the newly baptized, on the ordinances, bap- tism, chrism (or confirmation), and the Lord's Supper. These lectures, though written when Cyril was a young man, and only a presbyter, about the year 348 or 349, are an invaluable treasure to us ; as they are the most complete system of theology, and most circumstantial account of the rites of the church, which have reached us from so early an age. They are plain, didactic treatises, well adapted to the object for which they were written. See Tzschirncr, de Claris Vet. Eccl. Oratoribus, Commenta- tio vii., Lips., 1821, 4(o. Besides these lec- tures, a letter of his to the emperor Con- stantius, giving account of a marvellous ap- pearance of a luminous cross in the heav- ens, A.D. 351 ; and a discourse he deliver- ed at Tyre ; are preserved. See Cave, Histor. Litterar. Tmtitcc, preface to Cyr- r/'s Works ; and Sckroeckh, Kirchengesch., vol. xii., p. 343-444. TV.] (17) For the best edition of the entire works of this most elegant and gifted man, in 11 [13] large folio volumes, we are in- debted to the industry of Bernh. de Mont- faucon, [Paris, 1718-38. John Chrysostom was the son of a respectable military gentle- man of Antioch in Syria, named Secundui. He was born in the year 354, and lost his father in his childhood. Early displaying marks of uncommon genius, his mother An- thusa, a pious and excellent woman, pro- cured for him the best instructers in all branches of learning. After spending three 242 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART II. CHAP. II. Epiphanius, bishop of Salamina in Cyprus, has described the various sects of Christians, as far down as his own times, in a large volume ; which however contains many defects and misrepresentations, arising from the credulity and ignorance of the author. (18) Gregory of Nazianzus, and years in the family, and under the religious exile. " When driven from the city, I cared instruction of Meletius the bishop of Anti- och, he attended the schools of Libanius, in rhetoric, of Andragathias, in philosophy, and of Carterius and Diodorus, (afterwards bishop of Tyre), in sacred literature, who taught him to construe the scriptures literal- ly. Distinguished as a scholar, he was also early pious ; and about the age of twenty, embracing a monastic life, he retired to the mountains and spent four years in the soci- ety of an aged hermit, and two years more in a solitary cave. Nearly worn out by his austerities, he was obliged to return to An- tioch, where he was made a deacon in 381, and commenced author at the age of 26. Five years after he was ordained a presby- ter, and began to preach. During twelve years he wrote and delivered an immense number of sermons, orations, and homilies. In A.D. 398, he was made patriarch of Con- stantinople, and in that station laboured and preached incessantly. But his life was too austere, his preaching too pungent, and his discipline too strict, for that corrupt metrop- olis. The empress, the lax clergy, and many courtiers combined against him. In the year 403, he was summoned before an irregular council, to answer to 46 frivolous or false charges ; and refusing to appear, he was condemned, deposed, and banished, for contumacy. But his people were so tumul- tuous, that his enemies were compelled to recall him. The next year, however, A.D. 404, he was forcibly removed to Cucusus in Armenia, to the unspeakable grief of all good men. Here he suffered extremely, his health failed, and being removed to Pi- tyus in Colchis, he died on the road thither, the 14th of September, 407, aged 52 years and 8 months. For overpowering popular eloquence, Chrysostom had no equal among the fathers. His discourses show an inex- haustible richness of thought and illustration, of vivid conception, and striking imagery. His style is elevated, yet natural and clear. He transfuses his own glowing thoughts and emotions into all his hearers, seemingly without effort, and without the power of re- sistance. Yet he is sometimes too florid, he uses some false ornaments, he accumu- lates metaphors and illustrations, and carries both his views and his figures too far. The spirit of the man, and some idea of his style, may be learned from the following literal translation of a paragraph in one of his pri- vate letters to a friend, written during his nothing for it. But I said to myself, if the empress wishes to banish me, let her banish me : the earth is the Lord's, and the ful- ness thereof. If she would saw me in sun- der, let her saw me in sunder : I have Isa- iah for a pattern. If she would plunge me in the sea: I. remember Jonah. If she would thrust me into the fiery furnace : I see the three children enduring that. If she would cast me to wild beasts : I call to mind Daniel in the den of lions. If she would stone me, let her stone me : I have before me, Stephen the protomartyr. If she would take my head from me, let her take it : I have John the Baptist. If she would deprive me of my worldly goods, let her do it-: naked came I from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. An apostle has told me, ' God respecteth not man's per- son ;' and ' if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.' And David clothes me with armour, saying, ' I will speak of thy testimonies before kings, and will not be ashamed.' " The works of Chrysostom, (including some falsely ascribed to him), consist of about 350 sermons and orations, on a great variety of subjects and occasions ; about 620 homilies, or exegetical discourses, on different books of the Old and New Tes- taments ; and about 250 letters ; together with several tracts on monasticism, and a treatise on the Priesthood, in six Books. There is also a Liturgy which bears his name, being that used at Constantinople, and which perhaps received some alterations from his hand. For an account of his life and writings, see Cave, Histor. Litteraria ; Tillemont, Memoires a THist. Eccles., torn, xi., p. 1-405, 547-626. Schrocckh, Kirchengesch., vol. x., p. 245-490. Mont- faucon, Opp. Chrysost, torn, xiii., p. 1-177. For the sentiments, character and influence of the man, see A. Neander's Johannes Chrysostom. und die Kirche in dessen Zeit- alter, Berlin, 1821-22, 2 vols. 8vo. Tr.~\ (18) His works, with a Latin translation and notes, were published by the Jesuit, Di- onys. Petavius, [Paris, 1622, 2 vols. fol., and Cologne (Lips.), 1682]. His life is given in a good sized volume, by Ja. Gerva- sius, Paris, 1738, 4to. [Epiphanius, of Jewish extract, was born at Bezanduca, a village near Eleutheropolis, some twenty miles from Jerusalem, about the year 310. He became a monk in early life, visited Egypt, fell into the toils of the Gnostics, CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 243 Gregory of Nyssa, obtained much renown among the theologians and dis- putants of that age ; and their works show, that they were not unworthy to be held in estimation. (19) But after ages would have prized them higher, escaped, was intimate with St. Antony ; and returning to Palestine in his 20th year, about 330, became a disciple of Hilanon, established a monastery near his native vil- lage, called Ancient Ad, where he lived more than thirty years. He read much, and was ordained a presbyter over his monastery. In the year 367, he was made archbishop of Constantia (formerly Salamu) in Cyprus, but still lived by monastic rules. He en- gaged in all the controversies of the times, was an active and popular bishop, for 36 years, and regarded as a great saint, and worker of miracles. In 376, he was at An- tioch, on the Apollinarian heresy ; and in 382, at Rome, on the Meletian controversy. He had a long and fierce contest with John bishop of Jerusalem, respecting Origcmsm, which he regarded with strong abhorrence. His friend Theophilus, bishop of Alexandria, having expelled some monks from Egypt, on the charge of Origenism, in the year 401, Epiphamus held a provincial council of Cy- prus, against that error ; and as the expelled monks fled to Constantinople, Epiphamus followed them in 402, intending to coerce Chrysostom into a condemnation of those monks and of Origenism. But his enter- prise wholly failed, and he died on his way home, A.D. 403, aged above 90 years. He became an author when turned of 60. His first work, Anchoratus, (The Anchor), was written A.D. 374 ; to teach the world gen- uine Christianity, in opposition to the prevail- ing and especially the Arian heresies. Soon after he composed his great work contra oc- toaginta Haereses, in 3 Books, divided into 7 parts or tomi. He also made an Epitome of -this work ; and wrote a treatise on (scrip- ture) Weights and Measures ; a Letter to John bishop of Jerusalem ; another to Je- rome ; and some other works of little value. It is said, he understood five languages, He- brew, Syriac, Egyptian, Greek, and Latin. His learning was great, his judgment rash, and his credulity and mistakes very abun- dant. See Cave, Histor. Litterar., p. 231- 234 ; and Schroeckh, Kirchengesch., vol. x., p. 1-100. Tr.] (19) Tolerable editions of the writings of both these men, were published in France, duriiiL r the 17th century; but better editions are anticipated from the Benedictines. [Af- ter long delay, the first vol. of the e.\| Benedictine edition of Gregory Na:i<in:>n'x works appeared at Paris in 1778, edited by Clemencet, large fol. Of the old editions, the best is that of Billius, Gr. and Lat., Paris, 1609, 1630, and Cologne (Lips.), 1690, 2 vols. fol. His works, as here pub- lished, consist of about 50 Orations, or Ser- mons ; near 250 Epistles ; and about 140 poems. Besides these, Muratori has pub- lished 228 Epigrams and short poems of his ; in his AnecdotaGr.,p. 1-117, Petav., 1709, 4to. Some of the orations are violent at- tacks upon Arians and others ; many others are eulogies on his friends and on monks ; and a few are discourses on practical sub- jects. Of the poems, one of the longest is an account of his own life. Most of them were written after he retired from public life, and are of a religious character, but of no great merit as specimens of genius. As an orator Gregory Naz. is considered supe- rior to Basil, for strength and grandeur. He also possessed a fertile imagination. But he has little method, and he abounds in false ornament. He was born about the year 325. His father, who was also named Gregory, was bishop of Nazianzus in Cappadocia for about 45 years, from A.D. 329 to 374. His mother Nonna, like the mother of Samuel, devoted her son to the Lord before he was born. His education was begun at Caesarea in Cappadocia, continued at Caesarea in Pal- estine and at Alexandria, and completed at Athens, at the age of 30, A.D. 355. He was at Athens about five years ; and there commenced that intimacy with Basil the Great, which lasted through life. On his return to Nazianzus, m 356, he was baptized, and betook himself to a retired and studious life, for which he always manifested a sirong predilection. In 361, his father compelled him to receive ordination as a presbyter ; and the next year he preached his first ser- mon. On the death of Julian, who had been his fellow-student at Athens, he composed two invectives against him. His friend, archbishop Basil, in the year 372, offered him the bishopric of Sasima. which he re- fused with indignation, on account of his aversion to public life. Yet he afterwards consented to be ordained as assistant to his aged father, on condition of not being obliged to succeed him. Soon after the death of his father, in 374, he retired to Seleucia, and spent three years in obscurity. In 379, be- ing pressed beyond the power of resistance, he went to Constantinople to preach to the remnant of the orthodox there. His success in converting Arians was here very great : and he was so popular, that the general coun- cil of Constantinople, and the emperor The- odosius, constrained him to accept the patri- 244 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART II. CHAP. II. if they had been less attached to Origenism, and more free from the false eloquence of the sophists. Among the Syrians, Ephraim has given im- mortality to his name by the sanctity of his life, and by a great number of writings, in which he confutes heretics, explains the scriptures, and treats on religious duties.(20) Among those of whom but few works have reach- ed us, are, Pamphylus, the martyr and intimate friend of Eusebius ;(21) archal chair of that metropolis. But before the council rose, it being objected to him, that it was irregular for a bishop to be trans- ferred from one see to another, he gladly re- signed. Returning to Nazianzus, he dis- charged the episcopal functions there for a short time. But in 383, he retired altogeth- er from public life, and after about seven years spent chiefly in writing religious poetry, he closed life, about A.D. 390. See Cave, Histor. Litteraria ; and Schroeckh, Kirchen- gesch., vol. xiii., p. 268-458. Gregory, bishop of Nyssa in Cappadocia, and younger brother of Basil the Great, was probably born about 331, at Caesarea in Cap- padocia. Of his early education little is known. He was no monk, and at first averse from the ministry. He was made bishop of Nyssa in Cappadocia, about the year 372. But soon after he was driven from his see, by the persecution of the Ari- ans, and for several years, travelled from place to place. In 378 he returned to his see. Afterwards, he was much employed on councils, and was greatly esteemed by the orthodox. The council of Antioch, 379, appointed him to visit the churches in Ara- bia, and restore order there. On his way he visited Jerusalem, and was disgusted with the profligate morals there. In the year 381, he wrote his great work, against Euno- mius the Arian, in xiii. Books, which pro- cured him great reputation. At the gen- eral council of Antioch, in the same year, he is reported to have made the new draught of the Nicene creed, which was afterwards universally adopted by the, orthodox. He was also at the council of Constantinople in 394, and probably died not long after. He was a man of considerable acumen, a zeal- ous polemic, and an extravagant orator. His works consist of polemic discourses and treatises, orations, eulogies, letters and hom- ilies ; and were published, Gr. and Lat., by Pronto le Due, Paris, 1615, 2 vols. fol., to which Gretser added a third voi, Paris, 1618. The 3 vols. were reprinted, but less correctly, Paris, 1G38, fol. A better edition has long been desired. See Cave, Histor. Litter., and Schroeckh, Kirchengesch., vol. xiv., p. 3-147. TV.] (20) An elaborate account is given of him, by Jos. Simon Asseman, in his Biblioth. Oriental. Vaticana, torn, i., p. 24, &c. The English published several of his works, in Greek, at Oxford [by Edw.Thwa.ites, 1709, fol.] The same were published in a Latin translation by Gerh. Vossius, [Rome, 1589- 97, 3 vols. fol.] His works were published in Syriac, a few years since, at Rome, by Stcph. Euod. Asseman. [Six volumes in all ; vol. i., ii., iii., Gr. and Lat., 1732-43- 46 ; vol. iv., v., vi., Syriac and Lat., 1737- 40-43, fol. Ephraim Syrus, a monk and deacon of the church at Nisibis in northern Syria, was born and spent his whole life in and near that city. When elected bishop there, he feigned himself deranged and ab- sconded, to avoid promotion. He was a most ardent devotee of monkery, a man of genius, and a prolific writer. His works consist of essays and sermons, chiefly on the monastic and moral virtues, commentaries* on nearly the whole Bible, and hymns and prayers. A few of his essays are polemic. All his works were written in Syriac, and were so popular in Syria as to be read in public after the Scriptures, and being early translated into Greek, were held in high es- timation in that age. It is said, his hymns and prayers are still used in the Syriac churches. He died A.D. 378. See Je- rome, de Scriptor. Illustr, c. 115. Sozo- men, Hist. Eccles., 1. iii., c. 16. Theodo- ret, Hist. Eccles., ii., c. 30, and iv., 29. Schroeckh, Kirchengesch., vol. viii., 255, &c., and xv., 527, &c. Milner's Church History, cent, iv., ch. 21. TV.] (21) [Pamphylus, a presbyter of Csesarea in Palestine, was born at Berytus, studied under Picrius of Alexandria, and spent his life at Csesarea. He was a learned, benevo- lent, and devout man, and a great promoter of theological learning. He procured an ex- tensive theological library, which he gave to the church of Caesarea. Most of the works of Origen, he transcribed with his own hand, and particularly the corrected copy of the Septuagint in Origen's Hexapla. One of these transcripts, P. D. Huet states, is still in possession of the Jesuits of Clermont. He wrote a vindication and biography of Origen, in 5 Books, to which Eusebius added a sixth Book. The whole are lost, except a Latin translation of Book first, made by Rufinus. During the persecution he was imprisoned two years, and then put to death. Eusebius, his great admirer, wrote his life CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 245 Diodorus of Tarsus ;(22) Hosius of Corduba ;(23) Eustathius of Anti- och ;(24) Didymus of Alexandria ;(25) Amphilochius of Iconium ;(26) Pal- in iii. Books, which are lost. See Jerome, de Scriptor. Illustr., c. 77. Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., 1. vi., c. 32. Cave, Historia Litte- rar. Tr.] (22) [Diodorus, or Theodoras, bishop of Tarsus, was head of a monastic school and a presbyter at Antioch, where he had Chry- sostom for a pupil. He became bishop of Tarsus in 378, sat in the general council at Constantinople 381, and was succeeded at Tarsus by Phalcrius A.D. 394. He was a learned man, and a voluminous, though not an elegant, writer. His works were chief- ly scientific and controversial, in opposition to errorists and unbelievers, and explanato- ry of the Scriptures, which he construed lit- erally. None of his works remain entire ; but abstracts and numerous extracts are preserved by Photius and others. See Sui- das, voce AtoJu/joc. Socrates, H. E., vi., 3. Sozomen, H. E., 'viii., 2. Thcodo- ret, H. E., iv., 25. Jerome, de Scriptor. Illustr., c. 119. Cave, Histor. Litterar. Fabricius. Biblioth. Gr , vol. viii., p. 358, &c. Tt/lemont, Memoires a 1'Hist. Ec- clcs., tome viii., p. 558, &c., 802, &c. Schroeckh, Kirchengesch., vol. x., p. 247- 251. Tr.} (23) [Hosius, bishop of Corduba in Spain, was born about the middle of the preceding century, became a bishop before the end of it, and sat in the council of Illiberis, A.D. 305. He was chief counsellor, in ecclesias- tical affairs, to Constantine the Great ; who summoned him to the council of Aries in 314, and sent him to Egypt, to settle the religious disputes of that country in 324. He stood at the head of the council of Nice in 325 ; and presided in that of Sardica in 347. By the Arian Council of Sirmium 356, he was banished, when near a hundred years old ; and unable to resist, he now signed an artfully-drawn Arian creed ; and died A.D. 361, having lived more than 100 years, and been a bishop during about 70. Nothing written by him remains, except an epistle to the emperor Constantius, preserved by Athana&ius, in his Historia Arianor. ad Monachos. See Cave, Histor. Litterar. Tillcmont, Memoires a I'Hist. Eccles., tome vii., p. 300-321, and Fabricius, Bib- lioth. Gr.. vol. viii., p. 399. Tr.] (24) [Eustathius, a native of Side in Pam- phylia, was bishop of Beaea (now Aleppo) in Syria, and promoted to the patriarchate of Antioch by the council of Nice, A.D. 325. He had previously distinguished him- self as an opposer of Arianism ; and in that council, he acted a conspicuous part. This, together with his libri viii. contra Arianos, rendered him extremely obnoxious to the abettors of Arianism, who procured his con- demnation in one of their councils, about the year 330. Eustathius appealed in vain to the emperor, Constantine the Great : he was banished to Trajanopolis in Thrace, where he died about the year 360. His only entire works now extant, are his treatise on the Witch of Endor, in opposition to Ori- gen, and a short address to the emperor, de- livered at the council of Nice. These, to- gether with a treatise on the Hexaemeron, which is ascribed to him, were published by Leo. Allatius, Lyons, 1629, 4to. What re- mains of his viii. Books against the Arians, was published by Fabricius, Biblioth. Gr., vol. viii., p. 170, &c. He was highly es- teemed by the orthodox of his times. See Jerome, de Siriptor. Illustr., c. 85. Chry- sostom, Laudatio Eustathii, Opp. Chrysost., torn, ii., p. 603. Athanasius, Epist. ad Sol- itaries. Cave, Histor. Litterar. Du Pin, Biblioth. des Auteurs Eccles., vol. iii. Fabricius, ubi supra, p. 166, &c., and Schroeckh, Kirchengesch., vol. v., p. 275, &c. Tr.] (25) [Didymus, a learned monk of Alex- andria, and head of the catechetic school there, was the preceptor of Jerome and Ru- finus. He lost his eyesight when young, yet became very conspicuous as a scholar and a theologian. He was born before the year 311, and was alive A.D. 392, then more than 83 years old. Of his numerous works, only three have reached us ; namely, de Spiritu Sancto Liber, preserved in a Latin translation of Jerome, (inter Opp. Hieronymi, torn, iv., pt. i., p. 493, &c.), Scholia on the canonical Epistles, also in a Latin translation. Both these are given in the Biblioth. Patr., torn, v., p. 320, 338. Liber adversus Man- ichaeos ; Gr. and Lat., in Combefis, Aucta- rium noviss. Biblioth. Patr., pt. ii., p. 21, &c. Besides these, he wrote commentaries on the greater part of the Bible ; and, de Trinitate lib. iii. ; contra Arianos libri ii. ; and a comment on the four Books of Origen de Principiis, in defence of Origen's senti- ments. See Jerome, de Scriptor. Illustr., c. 109; and Care, Historia Liueraria. Tr.] (26) [Amphilochius, after being a civil magistrate, and living a while with Basil and Gregory Naz. in their monastery, was made bishop of Iconium in Lycaoma, about the year 370 or 375. He sat in the second gen. council at Constantinople, A.D. 381 ; and in the same year, was appointed by the emperor Theodosius, inspector of the clergy 246 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART II. CHAP. II. ladius, author of the Lausiac History ; (27) Macarius, senior and junior ;(28) in the diocese of Asia. Two years after, wishing to persuade the emperor to enact severer laws against the Arians, he appeared in his presence, without showing respect to his son, the young Arcadius. At this the emperor was indignant. The bishop replied : " Sire, are you offended because indignity is offered to your son 1 Then, be assured, God must abhor those who treat his Son with disrespect." The argument was irresistible ; and the emperor granted his request. He probably died A.D. 395. Ten short pieces, chiefly orations, and various fragments, were published as his works, (though most of them are of dubious origin), by Combejis, Gr. and Lat., Paris, 1644, fol., including the works of Methodius Patarens. and Andreas Creten- sis. A few other tracts are extant under his name ; and a considerable number mentioned by the ancients, cannot now be found. See Fabricivs, Biblioth. Gr., vol. vii., p. 500- 507. Oudin, Commentar. de Scriptor. Ec- clesiast., torn, ii., p. 216, &c. Cave, His- tor. Litterar., and Schroeckh, Kirchengesch., vol. xii., p. 67-70. TV.] (27) [Palladius of Galatia, born A.D. 368, at the age of 20 went to Egypt, to get a practical knowledge of monkery. After residing among the monks of Egypt several years, his health failed, and he returned to Palestine, still leading a monastic life. In the year 400, going to. Bithynia, Chrysostom ordained him bp. of Hellenopolis, which he afterwards exchanged for Aspona in Galatia. After the fall of Chrysostom in 404, Palladi- us was banished, and died in exile about A.D. 431. His great work was composed about the year 420, and contains the history of the principal monks of his own times, with many of whom he was personally acquainted. Be- ing written at the request of Lausus, the em- peror's lord of the bedchamber, it was called Historia Lausiaca. It is the honest state- ment of a credulous monk, who almost adored the heroes of his story. Several Latin edi- tions have been published. In Greek it ap- peared, Lugd. Bat., 1616, 4to ; and Gr. and Lat. in the Auctar. Biblioth. Patr., Paris, 1624, torn, ii., p. 893-1053, fol., and in Bib- lioth. Patr., Paris, 1624, torn, xiii. The oth- er works ascribed to him are, Dialogi de Vita S. Joh. Chrysostorrd, inter Palladium Ep. Hellenopolitanum et Theodorum eccle- Biae Romanae diaconum, (extat inter Opp. Chrysost.), and de gentibus Indiae et Brach- manibus Liber. See Fabricius, Biblioth. Gr., vol. ix., p. 2, &c. Du Pin, Biblioth. des Auteurs, &c. Cave, Historia Litterar. Tilllemont, M6moires a 1'Hist. Eccles., vol. i., p. 500, &c. Tr.] (28) [Macarius senior, or the Great, called the Egyptian Macarius, a native of The- bais, was born A.D. 302, early addicted him- self to a monastic life, at the age of thirty retired to the wilderness of Scetis and the mountains, Nitria, where he lived a hermit for 60 years. He became a presbyter at the age of 40, and died at the age of 90, A.D. 391. Much is related of his austerities, his virtues, his wisdom, and his miracles. To him are ascribed, and it is probable correctly, seven opuscula and fifty homilies or dis- courses ; all upon practical and experimen- tal religion ; edited, last, by J. G. Pritius, Gr. and Lat., Lips., 1714, 2 vols. in one, 12mo, p. 285 and 566. Macarius junior, called the Alexandrian Macarius, because he was born and spent the first part of his life at Alexandria, was contemporary with Macarius senior, with whom he is often con- founded. He was born about A.D. 304, pursued traffic some years, became a monk, retired to the wilderness of Scetis, was bap- tized at 40, became a presbyter, headed a numerous band of monks in the mountains of Nitria, and died about A.D. 404, aged 100 years. He was no less distinguished for his virtues and his miracles, than the other Ma- carius. Both copied after St. Antonius, both were hermits, inhabited the same region of country, and lived at the same time. But the senior Macarius was unsocial, especially with strangers ; whereas the younger was very affable, and often visited the city Alex- andria ; whence he was called TroAm/coo, the citizen. The younger wrote nothing, but a single letter to his disciples. The code of 30 monastic rules, ascribed to him, was probably the production of a later age. Both are mentioned by most of the contemporary writers, as Jerome, Rufinus, Socrates, So- zomcn, and especially Palladius, (Lausiac History, c. 19, 20), who was a disciple of the younger Ma.carius. But their history is lit- tle more than an account of their rules of life, their conversations, their miraculous deeds, the admiration in which they were held, and the crowds of visitors and disciples which attended them. See Socrates, Hist. Eccl., 1. iv., c. 23. Palladius, Hist. Lausiaca, c. 19, 20. Rufinus, Vitae Patrum, c. 28. Cas- sianus de Coenobior. Institut., 1. v., c. 41, and Collat., v., c. 12, xv., c. 3, xxiv., c. 13. Sozomen, Hist. Eccles., 1. iii., c. 14, 1. vi., c. 29. Theodorct, Hist. Eccles., 1. iv., c. 21. Tillemont, Memoires a 1'Hist. Ec- cles., torn, viii., p. 243, 264, 357. Fabri- cius, Biblioth. Gr., vol. vii., p. 491, &c. Cane, Histor. Litterar. Tr.] CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 247 ApolHnaris, senior ;(29) and a few others,(30) are most frequently men- tioned on account of their learning and their achievements. (29) [ApolHnaris, or Apollinarius, senior, was born at Alexandria, taught grammar at Berytus, and at Laodicea in Syria, where he became a presbyter. He associated with Epipkanius the sophist, a pagan, and attend- ed his lectures ; for which, both he and his son, the younger ApolHnaris, were excom- municated. But repenting, they were re- stored. In the year 362, when the emperor Julian prohibited the Christians from read- ing the classic poets and orators, ApolHnaris and his son undertook to compose some sa- cred classics, to take the place of the pagan. The father took up the Old Testament, and transferred the Pentateuch into heroic verse, in imitation of Homer ; and also, according to Sozomen, he formed the rest of the Old T. history into Comedies, Tragedies, Lyrics, &c., in imitation of Mcnandcr, Euripides, and Pindar. The son laboured on the New Test., and transferred the Gospels and the canonical Epistles into Dialogues, in imita- tion of those of Plato. Nearly all, if not the whole, of these sacred classics, are lost. Yet there is extant a poetic Gr. version of the Psalms, bearing the name of ApolHnaris. The Tragedy of Christ suffering, published among the works of Gregory Naz., is also by some ascribed to the elder ApolHnaris. The younger Apollinaris, wrote likewise, adversus Porphyrium Libri 30 ; de Veritate, adv. Julianutn et philosophos ; contra Euno- mii apologiam Liber; Commentarii breves in Isaiam ; Hymni et Cantica sacra ; de In- carnatione Libellus ; de Fide Libellus ; and several Epistles, of which two perhaps are extant. Of all the rest of his works, only fragments remain. The younger Apollina- ris believed, that the divine nature in Christ did the office of a rational human soul ; so that God the Word, with a sensitive soul (ij>vxr/) and a body, constituted the person of the Saviour. For this, he was accounted a heretic, and condemned by public councils. He died between A.D. 380 and 392. Both were learned and excellent men, and strenu- ous opposers of the Arian creed. Jerome, de Viris Illustr., c. 104. Socrates, Hist. Eccl., ii., 46, and iii., 16. Sozomen, H. E., v., 18, and vi., 25. Philost&rg., H. E., viii., 11-15. Fabncius, Biblioth. Gr., vol. vii., p. 659, &c., viii., p. 332. Tillemont, Me- moires a 1'Hist. Eccles., vol. vii. Cave, Histor. Litteraria. Tr.] (30) [Less distinguished than the forego- ing, were, in the eastern or Greek church, the pseudo-.D0ro//iet, a fabled bishop of Tyre, who was a confessor in the Diocletian persecution, and a martyr under Julian, aged more than 100 years. To him is attributed the Epitome of the Lives of the Prophets, Apostles, and the 70 Disciples of Christ ; ex- tant in the Biblioth. Patr., torn, iii., p. 421. See Cave, Historia Litterar. Alexander, bishop of Alexandria, A.D. 312-325, famous as beginning the controver- sy with Arius, who was his presbyter. Of more than 70 epistles, written by him on the Arian controversy, only two are extant ; pre- served, one by Theodoret, Hist. Eccles., 1. i., c. 4, and the other by Socrates, Hist. Eccles., 1. i., c 6. Constantine the Great, emperor A.D. 306 -337. He wrote many epistles and some orations, which his secretaries translated into Greek. Of these, 24 epistles and two ora- tions are preserved, by Eusebius and others, and among the Acts of councils. Many of his edicts are also preserved in the Codex Theodosianus. Eusebius, bishop of Nicomcdia, and after- wards court bishop of Constantinople, and the stanch patron of Arius. He was condemned in the council of Nice, and banished by the emperor ; retracted and was restored ; be- came the great supporter of Arianism ; and died A.D. 342. A single epistle of his, has been preserved by Theodoret, Hist. Eccles., 1. i., c. 6. James, bishop of Nisibis in Syria ; a con- fessor in the Diocletian persecution, an as- sessor in the Nicene council, and died in the reign of Constantius. He probably wrote wholly in Syriac ; but his works were first published, Armenian and Latin, by N. An- tonelli, Rome, 1756, fol., containing 19 es- says and discourses, chiefly on moral and practical subjects. St. Antonius, a renowned Egyptian monk, who flourished about A.D. 330. His life, written by Athanasius, is still extant ; like- wise, his monastic rules, his remarks on ca- ses of conscience, and about 20 Discourses. These opuscula were published, in a Latin translation from Arabic, Rome, 1646, 8vo. Asterius of Cappadocia. a fickle and am- bitious man, in the period next following the Nicene council, and a zealous Arian. He was never admitted to the clerical office, possessed some talent, and wrote comments on the Scriptures, and tracts in favour of Arianism ; of which, only fragments remain. Marcelhu, bishop of Ancyra in Galatia. He held a council at Ancyra in 315, and was conspicuous in the orthodox ranks at the council of Nice. Afterwards his zeal against Arianism, carried him into Sabellianism. He was condemned and deposed in 335, acquit- 248 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART II. CHAP. II. 10. Among the Latin writers, the following are most worthy of no. tice. Hilary, bishop of Poictiers, famous for his twelve Books on the ted in 347, but still regarded with suspicion. He died A.D. 370. Many wrote against him ; and he wrote much, but nothing but what time has consumed. Theodorus, bishop of Heraclea in Thrace A.D. 334-344, a Semiarian, and a zealous opposer of Athanasius. He died about the year 358. His commentaries on various parts of the Bible, are highly commended by Jerome and others, for their style and erudi- tion. All are lost, except his commentary on the Psalms, which is prefixed to the Ca- tenae Veterum Patrum in Psalmos, ed. An- twerp, 1643, 3 vols. fol. Acacius, bishop of Casarea in Palestine A.D. 340-366, successor to Eusebius, whose secretary he had been ; a man of learning and eloquence, but unstable, and fluctuating between Arianism and orthodoxy. He wrote much, particularly in explanation of the Scrip- tures ; but nothing that has been preserved. Triphilus of Ledris in Cyprus, flourished A.D. 340. He was bred to the bar, and was considered one of the most elegant writers of his age. He wrote on the Canticles, and the life of Spiridon, his bishop ; but nothing of his remains. Eusebius, bishop of Emessa in Phenicia, was born at Edessa, studied there, and at Alexandria in Egypt, and Antioch in Syria. As early as 312, he was distinguished for scholarship and for unassuming modesty. He refused the bishopric of Alexandria in 341 ; but soon after accepted that of Emes- sa, and died about A.D. 360. He leaned towards Semiarianism ; wrote much and el- egantly, on the scriptures, and against the Jews. What has been published as his, has been much questioned. George, bishop of Laodicea, a stanch Ari- an, and active in all their measures, from A.D. 335 to 360. He wrote against the Manichaeans ; the life of Eusebius Emesse- nus ; and several epistles, one of which is preserved by Soznmen, H. Eccl , 1. iv., c. 13. Pachomius, (died 350), Theodorus, his successor, and Oresiesis. were distinguished contemporary monks of Tabbennesis in The- bais, Egypt. They flourished from A.D. 340-350. Monastic rules, some epistles, and several discourses, are extant under the names of one or more of them. Serapion, a monk of Thebais, distinguish- ed for his learning and eloquence, was the friend of Athanasiu.t, who made him bishop of Thmuis. He died about A.D. 358. Of his once popular writings, only his Liber contra Manichaeos is extant ; Latin, in the Biblioth. Patr., torn, iv., p. 160. Basil, bishop of Ancyra, from 336 to 360, was a Semiarian, highly esteemed by Con- s/antius, and very active against the ortho- dox. Contention between him and Aca- cius, preceded his deposition and banishment to Illyricum in the year 360. He wrote much, and in particular, against Marcellus his predecessor ; but none of his works are extant. Leontius, the Arian bishop of Antioch, A.D. 348-358, a crafty and deceptive man, who was active in the contentions of his times. Of his writings, only a fragment of one discourse remains. Marcus, an Egyptian bishop, and a friend of Athanasius, banished in 356 by George bishop of Alexandria. He wrote an oration against the Arians, which is published with Origen's tract on the Lord's prayer, by Wetstein, Amsterd., 1695, 4to. Aetius of Syria, a goldsmith, physician, deacon at Antioch, bishop somewhere, and finally a heretic. He held Christ to be a mere creature. He died about the year 366. His book de Fide, in 47 chapters, is trans- cribed and refuted, in Epiphamus, Haer. 76. Eudoxius, bishop of Germanicia on the Euphrates, and (356) of Antioch, and (360) of Constantinople ; died A.D. 370. He was successively an Arian, a Semiarian, and an Aetian ; a learned, but a verbose and obscure writer. Large fragments of his discourse de Incarnittione Dei Verbi, are extant. Eunomius, the secretary and disciple of Aetius, but more famous than his master. He was made bishop of Cyzicum A.D. 360, banished soon after, wandered much, and died about A.D. 394. He wrote on the epistle to the Romans ; many letters ; his own creed, and an Apology for it. Only the two last are extant. He held Christ to be a created being, and of a nature unlike to that of God. Meletius, bishop of Sebaste in Armenia, and (360) of Antioch. He was banished A.D. 361, returned under Julian ; was ban- ished again under Valens, and restored by Gratian, and died while attending the gen- eral council of Constantinople A.D. 381, at an advanced age. There is extant, (in Epi- phanius, Haeres. 73, c. 29-34), an able discourse, which he delivered at Antioch in 361, when, holding up three fingers, and then closing two of them, he said : " We conceive there are three persons, but we ad- dress them as one." Titus, bishop of Bostra in Arabia, xvas driven from his see, under Julian, A.D. 362 ; returned under Valentmian; and died about CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 249 Trinity, and for other writings. He possessed a considerable degree of perspicacity and ingenuity ; but he was often disposed to borrow from Tertullian and Origen, whom he greatly admired, rather than to tax his own genius. (31) Lactantius, the most eloquent of the Latin Christians in the year 371. He wrote contra Manichaeos ilies. The homilies are printed among the libn iii., which are extant in a Latin transla- tion, in Biblioth. Patr., torn. iv. A discourse likewise, on the branches of palm, Gr. and Lat., and a commentary on Luke, in Latin, have been published under his name, but are questioned. Paphnutius, a celebrated Egyptian monk, who flourished A.D. 370. He wrote the life of St. Onyphnus, and of several other monks ; still extant. Caesarius, younger brother of Gregory Nazianzenus, was a learned physician of Constantinople, and was elevated to civil office. He is said to have written several works, and particularly a treatise against the pagans. There are extant under his name, iv. Dialogues, Gr. and Lat., on 195 ques- tions in theology ; in Pronto le Due's Auc- tanum Biblioth. Pair., 1624, torn. i. But they are supposed not to be his, as they show the hand of a well-read theologian. Evagnus, archdeacon of Constantinople in 381, and after 385, an Egyptian monk. He was a pious and learned man, and a con- siderable writer. Several of his devotional and practical works are extant, in the differ- ent collections of the works of the fathers. Nemcsius, bishop of Emessu, after being a Christian philosopher. He flourished A.D. 380, and with Origen, held to the pre exist- ence of human souls ; as appears from his book, de Na/vra Hoimnis, extant in the Auc- tarium Biblioth. Pair., 1624, torn, ii., also printed Gr. and Lat., Oxford, 1671, 8vo. N'C/nnus, bishop of Constantinople A.D. 381-398, orthodox and pious. One of his discousses is extant, inter Opp. Chrysostomi, who was his successor. Flavianus, a monk, and bishop of Antioch A.D. 381-403. He first divided the choir, and taught them to sing the Psalms of Uuvid responsively. He was strenuous against the Arians ; but fragments only of his discourses and letters remain. Theop/nlus, bishop of Alexandria A.D. 385-412, was famous for his contention with the Nitric monks, and for his opposition to Origenism. Of his works only a few epis- tles, and considerable extracts from his other writings, are extant. John, bishop of Jerusalem A.D. 386-416, famous for his contests with Ejjijiharnus and svith Jerome, respecting Origen s char- acter. Numerous works, perhaps without foundation, are published as his. They con- works of Chrysostom : and the whole are published as his works, Brussels, 1643, 2 vols. fol. Hieronymus of Dalmatia, a presbyter, and monk, who flourished A.D. 386. He is au- thor of Lives of the Egyptian monks ; the original Greek, though preserved, has not been published ; because the Lausiac His- tory of 1'alladius is nearly a literal translation of it. Sophronius, the friend of Jerome, and translator into Greek of some of his works, particularly of his book, de Viris Illuslnbus. He flourished about A.D. 390 ; and was, as Jerome says, apprime eruditus ; yet he is little noticed bv oilier contemporary writers. -2V.] (31) Concerning Hilary, the Benedictine monks have given an accurate account, in their Histoire Litteraire de la France, tome ii., [lome i., partie ii.J p. 139-193, [a Paris, 1733, 4to.] The best edition of his works, is that of the French Benedictines, [by Cou- tant, Paris, 1693, fol., revised and improved by Sap. Ma/ei, Verona, 1730, 2 vols. fol. Hilary of Pmcticrs in France, was a na- tive of Gaul, of respectable parentage, and well educated. He was a pagan, till he had attained to manhood. His consecration to the episcopal office, was about the year 350. For 20 years he stood pre-eminent among the Gallic bishops, and did much to arrest the progress of Arianism in the West. In the council of Bessieres, A.D. 356, he han- dled the Arian bishops, (Saturninus, Ursa- cms, Valens, and others), so roughly, that they applied to the emperor Constantius, and had him banished to Phrygia. During the four years he was an exile in Asia, he wrote most of his works, and was so active in opposing Arianism there, that the hereti- cal clergy, to get rid of him, procured his release from banishment. He returned to his church, a more able and more successful antagonist to the Gallic Arians than he was before. He was the principal means of roll- ing back the Arian current, which was sweeping over the West. His great work is his de Tnmtale Libri xii. He also wrote three different tracts addressed to the emper- or ; an account of the synods held in the ;,iinst the Arians ; concerning the councils of Arimini and Selciicia, and the events that followed to the year 366 ; Com- mentaries on Matthew, and on the Psalms. sist of commentaries on scripture and horn- Besides these, he wrote several works which VOL. I.-Ii 250 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART II. CHAP. II. this century, assailed the superstition of the pagans, in his pure and ele- gantly written Divine Institutions ; and likewise wrote on other subjects. But he is more successful in confuting the errors of others, than in correct- ing his own. (32) Ambrose, first a governor, and then bishop of Milan, is not rude in diction or conception, nor is he destitute of valuable thoughts ; yet he is chargeable with the faults of the age, a deficiency in solidity, accu- racy, and good arrangement.(33) Hieronymus, a monk of Palestine, has formance, extant as the work of a fabled Symposium. The Carmen de Phoenice, is perhaps his. His lost works are, Grammat- icus ; odoiiropmbv, a poetic account of his voyage to Nicomedia ; ad Asclepiadem libri ii. ; ad Probum Epistolarum libri iv. ; ad Severum Epistolarum libri ii. ; ad Demetria- num Epistolarum libri ii. See Jerome, de Viris Illustr., c. 80. Cave, Historia Lit- terar. Lardner, Credibility, &c., vol. vii. Schroeckh, Kirchengesch., vol. v., p. 220- 262. Tr.] (33) The Benedictine monks of France, published his works in 2 large folio volumes, [1686-1690. Ambrose was the son of a praetorian prefect of the same name, who was governor general of Gaul, Britain, and Spain. After a good education for civil life, he became an advocate, counsellor to Prolrus his father's successor, and at last governor of Liguria and Aemylia, resident at Milan. In the year 374, Auxentius, bp. of Milan, died ; and the Arians and orthodox became tumultuous in the church, when met to elect a successor. Ambrose entered the church to quell the riot, and a little child happening to say "Ambrose, bishop," the mob presently cried out, " let him be the bishop." He was constrained to submit ; gave up all his prop- erty, and his wordly honours, was baptized, and became a laborious and self-denying bishop. An irruption of barbarians in 377, obliged him to flee ; and he went to Illyri- cum, and thence to Rome. In the year 381, he presided in the council of Aquileia. In 383, the emperor Valentinian sent him as ambassador to Maximus the usurper in Gaul. Next came his contest with Symmachus, prefect of Rome, respecting the rebuilding the pagan altar of Victory in that city. In 386, he had much contention with the Arians of Milan. Afterwards he was sent on a second embassy to Maximus. Three years after, he debarred the emperor Theodosius the Great from Christian ordinances, and required him to do penance, for the slaughter of the citizens of Thessalonica by his order. In 392, civil war obliged him to leave Milan for a time. He soon returned, but died A.D. 397, aged 64 years. He was devout, ener- getic, orthodox, and a very useful bishop. His knowledge of theology was not great ; but he was able to read the Greek fathers, and are lost, such as commentaries, hymns, epis- tles, &c. See Jerome, de Viris Illuslr., c. 100. Fortunatus, de Vita Hilarii, Libri ii. (prefixed to the Opp. Hilarii ed. Bened.) Coutant, Life of Hilary, prefixed to the Ben- edictine edition of his works. Tillemont, Memoires a 1'Hist. Eccles., tome vii., p. 442, &c., 745, &c., and Schroeckh, Kirch- engesch., vol. xii., p. 253-342. Hilary was learned, but his style is exceedingly swollen and obscure. 7V.] (32) Of Lactantius also the Benedictines have given an account, in their Histoire Lit- teraire de la France, torn, ii., p. 65, &c. His works have been through numerous edi- tions ; the latest and best are by the cele- brated Bunemann, [Lips., 1739, 8vo], the venerable Neumann, [Getting., 1736, 8vo], and Lenglet du Frenoy, [Paris, 1748, 2 vols. 4to, and Zweyb., 1786, 2 vols. 8vo. Lucius Cczcilius Lactantius Firmilianus was prob- ably a native of Italy ; studied under Arno- bius in Africa ; removed to Nicomedia in the reign of Diocletian, and opened a school for rhetoric, in which he had but few pupils. He was made private tutor or governor to Crispus, the oldest son of Constantine the Great, when an old man ; and probably died a little before A.D. 330. He was learned, though not a profound theologian, and the most elegant of all the Latin fathers. Some think him the best writer of Latin, after the days of Cicero. His works still extant, are, Divinarum Institutionum libri vii., written about the year 320. This is his great work. It may be called a Guide to true Religion ; being designed to enlighten the pagans, and convert them to Christianity. Institutionum Epitome ; or an abridgment of the prece- ding. It is imperfect, extending over the three last books only. De Ira Dei ; and de Opificio Dei, or on the works of creation, particularly on the physical structure and powers of man. These two works are, properly, a continuation of the first ; being written in furtherance of the same designs. De Mortibus Persecutorum ; an account of persecutors and persecutions, from Nero to Maxentius, A.D. 312. Some have ques- tioned its genuineness. An English trans- lation of this valuable treatise, with a long preface, was published by Gilb. Burnet, 1637, 18mo. Symposium; a juvenile per- CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 251 undoubtedly merited the esteem of the Christian world, by various of his productions ; but at the same time, his bitterness towards those who dif- fered from him, his eagerness after fame, his choleric and ungovernable temper, his unjust aspersions on good and innocent persons, his extrava- gant commendation of superstition and false piety, and other defects of character, have disgraced him not a little, in the view of those who are neither uncandid nor incompetent judges. Among his various writings, those which interpret the holy scriptures, and his epistles, are the most valuable. (34) Augustine, bishop of Hippo in Africa, is one whose fame he knew the world. His writings were nu- Rufinus. In 373 he left Aquileia, and em- On the Scriptures he wrote much, barked for Syria, in company with several friends, and carrying his own large collection of books. Landing in Thrace, he passed the Bosphorus, and travelled over land to Antioch. Here his friend Innoccntius died, and he himself was dangerously sick. After recovering, he was induced by a dream to renounce for ever the reading of the pagan classics. From Apollinans the younger, he obtained farther instruction in biblical inter- pretation. In 374, he retired into the wil- derness eastward of Antioch ; and supported by his friends, he there spent about four years in the character of a learned hermit and author, yet held correspondence with the world, and took part in the passing religious controversies. In 378 or 379, he returned to Antinch, and was ordained a presbyter. The next year he visited Constantinople, to enjoy the instructions of Gregory Nazianzen. Here he continued two or three years, formed a better acquaintance with the Greek fathers, and translated some of their works, in par- ticular, Eusclius' Chronicon, which he con- tinued down to A.D. 378, and Origen's Homilies on Jeremiah. In 382, he accom- panied Paulinus and Epiphanius to Rome, respecting the contests in the church of An- tioch. Damasus, bishop of Rome, was much pleased with him, employed him occasionally as a private secretary, and prompted him to write on several biblical , subjects, and at length, to undertake a correction of the vul- gar Latin Bible. Jerome likewise did much to promote monkery in Italy. But the ar- dour he kindled up, on this subject, among the Roman ladies, created him enemies among the other sex. He also gave offence to the clergy of Rome, and thought it best to leave Italy in 385, and return to the East, with Paula and Eustocknu* her daughter, wealthy Roman ladies, whom he had ren- dered enthusiastic in regard to monastic in- stitutions. He first went to Antioch, and thence \.o Jerusalem, where he and his ladies performed a winter's pilgrimage. In the spring of 386, they went to Alexandria, and thence to visit the Nitric monks. Return- ing the same year to Palestine, they took up their permanent residence at Bethlehem. merous. but nothing that is valuable. He wrote sev- eral treatises and discourses on monkery ; de Officiis, libri iii. ; de Mysteriis Liber; de Sacramentis, libri v., which are greatly corrupted, if not altogether supposititious; de Pcenitentia, libri ii., also de Fide, or de Trinitate, libri v. ; and de Spiritu Sancto, libri iii. ; the two last were in great meas- ure compilations from Greek fathers, and were addressed to the emperor Gratian. Several discourses and eulogies, and about 90 epistles of his production are extant ; be- sides a great number of short sermons, scholia on the canonical epistles, and tracts of dif- ferent kinds, which are falsely ascribed to him. His life, written by Paulinus his private secretary, is stuffed with accounts of miracles and wonders, performed by him. See Opp. Ambrosii, torn, ii., Appendix, ed. Benedict. Cave, Historia Litterar. Tille- mont, Memoires a 1'Hist Eccles., torn, x., p. 78-306, 729. &c. G. Hcrmant, Vie de S. Ambroise, a Paris, 1678, 4to. Schroeckh, Kirchengesch., vol. xiv., p. 148-332, and Jos. Milner, Church History, cent, iv., ch. 12-16, 18. Tr.] (34) The defects of Jerome, are learnedly exposed by Jo. le Clerc, in his Quaestiones Hieronymianz, Amstelod., 1700, 12mo. His works have been published by the Benedic- tines, ed. Martianay, [Paris, 1693-1706], in five volumes folio. This edition was repub- lished, with considerable additions [and im- provements in the arrangement, the prefaces, and the explanatory notes], by Vallarsius, Verona, [1734-43, xi. vols. fol. Hierony- mns Stridonensis, or Jerome of Stridon in Dalmatia, was born of Christian parents, about the year 331. His father, Eusebius, gave him the best advantages for education. He was early sent to Rome, where he studied many years, and under the best masters. About the year 363, he was baptized, and left Rome to travel for improvement in knowl- edge. He journeyed through Gaul, and re- sided a few years at Trcrcs, where he be- came a monk, and devoured many books. On his return he spent some time at Aqmlcia, where he formed a close friendship with 252 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART II. CHAP. II. is spread throughout the Christian world. And he certainly possessed many and great excellences, a superior genius, a constant love and pur- suit of truth, admirable patience of labour, unquestionable piety, and acute- ness and discrimination by no means contemptible. But his power of judg- ing was not equally great ; and often the natural ardour of his mind car- ried this excellent man farther, than his reason and distinct comprehen- sion could go. He has therefore afforded to many, much ground for con- troversy respecting his real sentiments, and to others, occasion to tax him with inconsistency, and with hastily throwing upon paper thoughts, which he had not himself duly considered. (35) Optatus of Milevi, an African, has Here Paula erected four monasteries, three for nuns, and one for monks. In this last, Jerome passed the remainder of his days, in reading, composing books, and contending with all who presumed to differ from him, on any subject in which he took interest. He is said to have died on the 30th of Septem- ber, A. D. 420, aged 90 years. Jerome was the best informed of all the Latin fathers, in sacred literature. The Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages, were all familiar to him ; and he had a very extensive acquaintance with the best writers of both the Latin and the Greek churches. He likewise possessed genius, industry, and literary enterprise, in no ordinary degree. He was also acute and discriminating ; but his vivid imagination, and his choleric temper which scorned all restraint, rendered him one of the most caustic and abusive controversial writers that ever pretended to be a Christian. When he has no antagonist, and sees no enemy, he is a charming writer ; yet enthusiastic, and often hasty and injudicious. The greater part of his works, and particularly his trans- lations and commentaries on the Bible, were written while he resided at Bethlehem. As given to us in the Benedictine edition, in five volumes ; vol. i. contains his transla- tions of the whole Bible ; namely, the ca- nonical books of the 0. T. from the He- brew ; also, Job, Psalms, Tobit, and Esther, translated from the Greek ; and the whole N. T., with copious notes, from the Greek. Vol. ii. contains some glossaries, and nu- merous tracts arid letters on a variety of subjects in sacred literature. Vol. iii. con- tains his commentaries on all the prophets. Vol. iv. contains his commentary on Mat- thew, and on the Epp. to the Gal., Ephes., Titus and Philemon ; and about 120 letters and essays, narrative, polemic, apologetic, &c. The vth. vol. contains only works falsely ascribed to Jerome. See Cave. Histo- ria Litterar. Tillemont, ^femoires al'Hist. Eccles., torn, xii., p. 1-356. Martianay, Vie de St. Jerome, Paris, 1 706, 4to. J. Stilling, Acta Sanctor. Septembris, torn, viii., p. 418- 688, Antw., 1762, fol. Schroeckh, Kirchen- gesch., vol. xi., p. 3-239. J. Milner, Church Hist., cent, iv., ch. 10. Tr.~\ (35) After the edition by the theologians of Louvaine, [Antwerp, 1577, x. vols. fol.], the Benedictine monks gave a neat and ac- curate edition of Augustine's work ; [Paris, 1679-1700, xi. vols. fol.] This was reprint- ed with enlargements, in Holland, or, as the title says, at Antwerp, under the eye of Jo. le Clerc, with the assumed name of Jo. Phc- reponus, [1700-1703, xii. vols. fol., printed at Amsterdam. It was also reprinted at Venice, 1729-1735.] But the Jesuits cen- sure many things in the Benedictine edition. [They think the editors leaned too much to- wards the Jansenists, between whom and the Jesuits there was a long and violent con- troversy respecting the sentiments of Au- gustine. Aurelius Augustinus was born Nov. 13, A.D. 354, at Tagaste, an obscure village in Numidia. His father Patricius, was a pagan till near the close of life. His mother, Mania, was eminently pious. He had a good school education in grammar and rhetoric ; but he would not study Greek. At 15, he came home, and lived idle and vi- cious. At 17, he was sent to Carthage, where he shone as the first scholar in the rhetorical school. But he was dissipated, and became a Manichaean. He kept a mis- tress, who bore him a son when he was but 18. This son, named Adeodatus, was well educated, became pious, was baptized at the same time with his father, at the age of 15, and died soon after. While a student at Carthage, Augustine lost his father. By reading Cicero's Hortensius, he became en- amoured with philosophy ; and began to read the Bible, in search of it ; but he could not there find that sublime system of which Ci- cero had given him an ideal, and he threw aside the sacred volume. At the age of 20 he had read and mastered nearly all the lib- eral sciences, as they were then taught. He now returned to Tagaste, and there opened a school for rhetoric. About the year 380, he again settled at Carthage, where he taught rhetoric about three years. During this period, his attachment to Manichaeism CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 253 obtained considerable reputation, by his handsomely written work on the Schism of the Donatists. (36) Paulinus of Nola, has left us some epistles and poems, which are neither very bad nor very good (37) Rufmus, a presbyter diminished. He was restless, debauched, and unprincipled ; yet was a fine scholar, and quite popular. In 383 he went to Rome, and the next year to Milan, in the character of a teacher of rhetoric. The eloquence of Am- brose drew him to attend public worship ; and under the discourses of that able and faithful preacher, Augua tint's rnind was gradually enlightened, and his conscience awakened. He had sharp and painful con- victions, arid became altogether a new man. He was baptized A.D. 337, set out for Af- rica the same year, buried his mother, stop- ped at Rome, and did not reach Africa till A.D. 388. He sold his estate, and devoted the avails to charitable purposes ; and for three years, lived as a recluse, with a few devout young men ; and spent much time on scientific and metaphysical subjects. In the year 391, he went to Hippo rcgius, (now Bono, in Algiers), where he was made a presbyter, and preached and laboured with great success. Four years after, Valerius his aged bishop, who was a native Greek, and who felt the need of such an assistant as the now renowned presbyter of Hippo, caused him to be ordained his colleague bish- op. From A.D. 395 to A.D. 430, Augus- tine, as bishop of Hippo, was indefatigable in preaching, writing, combating error and vice, and infusing h'fe and spirituality into the churches and clergy far and near. He died on the 28th of August, A.D. 430, aged 76 years. See Cave, Histor. Litterar. Til- lemont, Memoires a THist. Eccles., vol. xiii., ed. Paris, (it is omitted in the Brus- sels ed.) J. Stilling, Acta Sanctor. Augus- ti, torn, vi., p. 213-460. Scfiroeckh, Kirch- enges,vol. xv., p. 219-530. Jos. Mil tier's Church Hist., century v., ch. 2-9 ; and es- pecially, Aiifrustini Confessionum libri xiii. ; written about A.D. 400, Opp., torn, i., ed. Benedict. The works of Augustine are so numerous, that even their titles cannot be here enumerated. Volume first, of the Ben- edictine edition, contains his Retractions, or corrections of his own works, in 2 books, written A.D. 426 ; his Confessions, in 13 books ; and 13 works composed before he was a presbyter, on scientific, moral, and polemic subjects. Vol. second contains 270 epistles. Vol. third contains 16 treatises on biblical questions and subjects. Vol. fourth contains his exposition of the Psalms. Vol. fifth contains 394 of his popular ser- mons ; and 317 falsely ascribed to him. Vol. sixth contains 31 tracts on moral, mo- nastic, and practical subjects. Vol. seventh is occupied by his 22 books de Civitate Dei, or history of the visible kingdom of God, from the creation, to the author's own times ; a most learned work. Vols. eighth, ninth, and tenth, contain his polemic works ; viz. vol. 8th, against the Manichees, theArians, the Antitrinitarians, the Origenists, and the Jeu'S ; vol. 9th, against the Donatists ; and vol. 10th, against the Pelagians. The elev- enth vol. contains his life, indices, 6tc. 2V.] (36) After the edition of Gab. Albaspini- us, [Paris, 1631 and 1679, fol.], Lud. Ell. du Pin, doctor of the Sorbonne, published the works of Optatus, with judicious illus- trations, [Paris, 1700, fol. Of Optatus, about all that is known, is stated by Jerome, de Viris Illustr., c. 110, namely ; "that he was an African and bishop of Milcvi, who was on the side of the Catholics ; and that he wrote, during the reign of Valentinian and Valens, (A.D. 364-375), six books against the slander of the Donatists ; in which he maintains that the wrong doing of the Dona- tists is erroneously charged on us." His work is entitled, Contra Parmcnianum sec- tae Donatisticae apud Carthaginem episco- pum, de Schismate Donatistarum, libri vii. It is a polemic work, in answer to a book published by Parmenianus ; and contains much of the history of that schism, as well as of the arguments by which each party maintained its own principles, and defended its own conduct. Tr.] (37) The best edition of Paulinus, is that published by Jo. Bapt. le Brun, Paris, 1685, 4to, [in 2 volumes : which L. A. Muratori republished, with some additions, Verona, 1736, fol. Meropius Pontius Anicius Pau- linus, a Roman of patrician rank, was bom at Bourdeaux in France, A.D. 353. He first studied under the poet Decius Ausvni- us ; then went to Rome, became a popular advocate, and was made consul about the year 375. About 379, he commenced his travels or wanderings in Italy, Gaul, and Spain, accompanied by his pious wife The- resia. During this period he formed ac- quaintance with St. Ambrose, St. Martin, and many other eminent saints. He was baptized at Bourdeaux A.D 391 ; and grad- ually parting with most of his large, estate, which he bestowed in charity, he retired to Barcelona in Spain, where he lived some years as a recluse or monk. In 393 he was ordained a presbyter at Barcelona. The next year he removed to Nola in Campania, where he had a small estate, near to the 254 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART II. CHAP. II. of Aquileia, acquired fame by translating, into Latin various works of the Greeks, particularly of Origen ; by his bitter contests with Jerome ; and by some expositions of the holy scriptures. He would have held no contempt- ible rank among the Latin writers of this century, had it not been his mis- fortune to have the powerful and foul-mouthed Jerome for his adversary.(38) grave and the church of St. Felix ; at which numerous miracles were supposed to take place, and which of course was a great re- sort of the admirers of sacred relics and won- ders. Here Paulinus in the year 402, erect- ed an additional church, which he adorned with emblems of the Trinity and other reli- gious devices. In 409 he became bishop of ]N T ola, and remained in that office till his death in 431. He was esteemed one of the greatest saints ; and was undoubtedly very religious, though his piety was of a super- stitious cast. His writings consist of about 50 letters to his friends, written with a pleas- ing simplicity of style, and exhibiting a true picture of his devout mind, yet containing little that is of much importance ; also 32 poetic effusions, of a similar character with his letters, 15 of which are in praise of St. Felix. He was highly esteemed by his con- temporaries, and by the pious in after ages. For an account of him and his works, see Gennadius, de Viris Illustribus, c. 48, with the Notes of Fahricius in his Biblioth. Pa- tristica ; Le Brun, Vita Paulini, in his Opp. Paulini ; Cave, Hist. Litterar. ; Schroeckh, Kirchengeschichte, vol. vii., p. 123-132 ; Jos. Milner, Church Hist., century v., ch. 13. Tr.] (38) Richard Simon, Critique de la Bib- liotheque des Auteurs Ecclesiast., par M. du Pin, tome i., p. 124, &c. A particular and full account is given of him, and his reputa- tion is defended, by Justus Fontaninus, His- toria Litteraria Aquileiensis, lib. v., p. 149. [See also P. Th. Cacciari, Dissertatio His- torica de Vita, Fide, &c. Rufini, subjoined to his edition of Rufinus' Hist. Eccl. ; and De Rubeis, Dissertt. de Tyrannic Rufino Presbytero, &c., Venice, 1754, 4to. Gen- nadius, de Viris Illustr., c. 17. Schroeckh, Kirchengesch., vol. x., p. 112-133. Cave, Histor. Litter. Rujlnus Toranus, or Ty- rannius, was probably born at Concordia, near Aquileia, about A.D. 330. After liv- ing several years in a monastery at Aquileia, and forming acquaintance with Jerome, he was baptized there in 371. Soon after, the fame of the Oriental monks led him to visit them. Landing at Alexandria, he became acquainted with a rich Roman lady, named Melania, who was as great an admirer of monkery as himself. She became his pa- Iron, supported him, and travelled with him, through the remainder of his life. During his six years' residence in Egypt, he spent some time among the monks in the Nitric wilderness, and also heard lectures from the famous Didymus of Alexandria. About the year 378, he and Melania removed to Jerusalem, where they spent many years. Melania occupied a nunnery, in which she supported a considerable number of devout sisters. Rufinus resided with other monks, in cells about the Mount of Olives ; was much respected, often visited by pilgrims, and lived in the greatest intimacy with Je- rome, who then resided at Bethlehem. About the year 390, he was ordained a presbyter, by John bishop of Jerusalem ; and soon after, the quarrel between him and Jerome, re- specting Origen's orthodoxy, commenced. In the year 397, that controversy seemed to subside ; and shortly after, Rufinus and Me- lania removed to Rome. Here his publica- tions concerning Origen, rekindled the quar- rel with Jerome ; and both Origen and Ru- finus were pronounced in the wrong by Anas- tasius the Roman pontiff. In the year 399, Rufinus removed to Aquileia; where he spent several years in translating works of Origen, and writing apologies for him and for himself. At length, after Alaric and his Goths began to lay waste all Italy, Rufinus and Melania set out for Palestine, and got as far as Sicily, where Rufinus closed his life A.D. 410. Rufinus was a man of re- spectable talents, of considerable learning, a handsome writer, and a very diligent scholar. His orthodoxy and his piety ought never to have been called in question. The abusive treatment he received from Jerome, will ac- count for the irritation of his feelings at times, without supposing him destitute of grace. His work which is most frequently quoted in modern times, is his ecclesiastical history. The first nine Books are a free translation of the ten Books of Euscbius, with considerable omissions in the latter part, and some additions in the first seven Books. The two last Books, (the 10th and llth), are a continuation by Rufinus. This work has been very severely censured ; but of late, it is held to be of some value. The first good edition of it was, by P. Th. Cacciari, Rome, 1740, 2 vols. 4to. Besides this, Ru- finus wrote Vitae Patrum, or a history of the eastern monks ; often published, and of about the same value as the other works of the kind ; also an exposition of the Creed ; CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 255 For an account of Philastrius,(39) Damasus,(W) Juvencus,(^l] and other writers of less note, the reader is referred to those who professedly treat of all the Christian writers. I will, however, just mention Sulpitius Severus, a Gaul, the best historian of that age ;(42) and Prudentitis, a Spaniard, and a poet of considerable merit. (43) the best that has reached us, from so early an age : two Apologies for Origen, and a translation of Pamphylus 1 Apology for him : two defences of himself against Jerome ; one of which is lost : Commentaries on 75 of the Psalms, and on Hosea, Joel, and Amos, if they are genuine. He translated the works of Josephus ; the Recognitions of Clement ; various Commentaries of Origen, and his iv. Books de Principiis ; several works of Basil the Great, of Gregory Nazi- anzen, Anatolius and Evagrius. An im- perfect collection of his works was published by DC la Barre, Paris, 1580, fol. A much better edition in 2 vols. fol., was commenced at Verona, by Domin. Vallarsi, of which the first vol. appeared in 1745. TV.] (39) [Pkilas trius, or Philastcr, bishop of Brescia in the north of Italy, A.D. 379-387. While a presbyter, he is said to have trav- elled nearly all over the Roman empire, combating and endeavouring to convert er- rorists of every sort, and especially Arians. At Milan he was severely handled by Aux- entius the Arian bishop. Ambrose, the suc- cessor of Auxentius, showed him kindness, and ordained him bishop of Brescia. His praises are told by Gaudcjitius, his immedi- ate successor in the see of Brescia. His only work is, de Haercsibus Liber, in 150 chapters. It enumerates more heresies than any of the other ancient works ; but no one considers it an accurate and able work. Philastrius was doubtless a pious and a well-meaning man ; but he was incompetent to the task he undertook. See Cave, His- toria Litterar., and Schroeckh, Kirchen- gesch., vol. ix., p. 362-384. The work is extant in the Biblioth. Pair., torn, iv., p. 701, and ed. Helmstadt, 1611, 4to, and by J. A. us, Harnb., 1721, 8vo, and among the collected Works of the early bishops of Brescia. Brixiae, 1738, fol. TV.] (40) [Damasus, bishop of Rome A.D. 366-384, is said to have been of Spanish extract, but his father was a presbyter of Rome, and he was probably born there about the year 305. On the death of Felix, A.D. 366, there was great competition for the episcopal chair ; and two bishops were cho- sen and ordained, namely, Damasiir and Ursinus or Ursirinus. Much confusion and even bloodshed followed. But the party of Damasus finally triumphed. Damasus was active in putting down Arianism in the West ; and being requested, he aided the eastern churches in healing their divisions. For these purposes he held several councils, and wrote several letters, some of which are extant. Two synodic epistles and a con- fession of faith are preserved by Theodoret, Hist. Eccles., 1. ii., c. 22, and 1. v., c. 10, 11. An epistle to Paulinus bishop of An- tioch, and about 40 epitaphs, inscriptions, epigrams, &c., are also extant. His book de Virginitate is lost. Several spurious epistles, as well as the Liber Pontificalis, or Brief History of the Popes, are falsely as- cribed to him. The best edition of his works is that by A. M. Merenda, Rome, 1754, fol. See Jerome, de Viris Illustr., c. 103. Cave, Histor. Litterar. Bower, Lives of the Popes, vol. i., p. 179-233, ed. 2d, Lond., 1749. Merenda, in his ed. of the works of Damasus, and Schroeckh, Kirchen- gesch , vol. viii., p. 107-122. TV.] (41) [Cams Vettius Aquilinus Juvencus. Nearly all that is known of the man, is told by Jerome, de Viris Illustr., c. 84. He says : " Juvencus, of noble extract, a Spaniard, and a presbyter, composed four books, in which the four Gospels are put into hexameter verse, almost verbatim ; also some poems in the same measure, relating to the order of the sacraments. He flourished under the emperor Constantine." The four books of Evangelical History are of the nature of an imperfect Harmony of the Gospels, on the basis of Matthew. Juvcncus possessed con- siderable poetic genius, and understood ver- sification very well. His lines are flowing and easy ; but he was more solicitous to give the history, truly, and as nearly as pos- sible in the language of the Bible, than to decorate the narrative by flights of fancy and poetic imagery. The best edition is that of Erh. Rcusch, Francf. and Leips., 1710, 8vo. The other poems mentioned by Jerome, are lost. But in the Nova Collectio vett. Mon- umentorum, torn, ix., p. 15, &c., by Edw. Martcnf, Paris, 1724-33, there is a poetic version of the book of Genesis, which bears the name of Juvcncus. See Cave, Historia Litterar., and Schroeckh, Kirchengesch., vol. v., p. 262-265. TV.] (42) [Siil pi tins Severus was born in Aqui- tain Gaul, of noble extract, and brought up under Phabadius bishop of Agen in Guienne. In his youth he studied eloquence, and after- wards became an advocate, and married a 256 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART II. CHAP. II. lady of consular rank. Subsequently he be- came a monk under St. Martin, and a pres- byter at Primulum, a village between Nar- bbnne and Toulouse. He was intimate with St. Martin of Tours, Paulinus of Nola, and Jerome. In his old age, Gennadius tells us, he was entangled by the metaphysics of the Pelagians ; but recovering himself, he ever after kept silence. He is supposed to have died about A.D. 420, far advanced in life. His style is chaste and neat, much beyond the age in which he lived : whence he has been called tlie Christian Sallust. His best work is a Church History, (Historia Sacra), in two books, from the creation to A.D. 400. It is a condensed narrative, in a very classic style, and composed with some ability and fidelity. Besides this, he wrote the Life of St. Martin ; three epistles concerning him ; and three dialogues on the miracles of the Oriental monks, and on those of St. Martin. Several epistles of his are lost. To him Paulinus of Nola addressed 14 epistles, which are still extant. His works have been often printed. The last edition, perhaps, is that of G. Hornius, Lugd. Bat., 1647, 4to ; often reprinted, 8vo. See Gennadius, de Viris Illustr., c. 19. Cave, Historia Litte- raria. Tr.] (43) [Aurelius Prudcntius Clemens, of Spain, was born A.D. 348 ; but whether at Tarragona, Callahorra, or Saragossa, is not settled. In his youth he studied eloquence, and afterwards managed causes and filled civil offices, as an unprincipled man. He was openly vicious, and he served some time in the army. At length, when turned of 50, he became thoughtful, his whole character was changed, and he devoted himself to wri- ting moral and religious poetry. In the year 405, he wrote Katiripepivuv, or 12 Latin hymns, adapted to our daily devotions. His other poems are, "ttfljo/HJ^ta, or the conflict between virtuous and vicious passions ; Tepi f(f>tlvuv, or fourteen elegies on various mar- tyrs ; axodeuaif, or on the divine nature, in opposition to pagans and heretics ; dfiapriye- veia, or the origin of sin ; two Books against Symmachus, and the worship of idols ; and, (if it be genuine). oVrro^atov, or a dessert, taken from the Old and New Testaments ; some write it foVri^ov, the Diptyc or list of saints in the Old and New Testaments. His commentary on the Hexaemeron is lost. Prudentius was something of a poet ; but has been greatly overrated by many. His diction is not pure, nor his versification cor- rect, and his thoughts are often flat prose, and drag along to excessive length. A good critic has observed, that he was a better Christian than poet. Yet he has many agreeable passages, and some that are really fine. He also serves to illustrate the history and the religious views of the age in which he lived. His collected works were pub- lished, by Weitzen, Hanov., 1613, 8vo ; with notes by Heinsius, Amstelod., 1667, 12mo; and in usumDelphini, Paris, 1687, 4to. See Gennadius, de Viris Illustr., c. 13. Cave, Hist. Litterar. Schroeckh, Kirchengesch., vol. vii., p. 100-123. The Latin writers of inferior note, omitted by Dr. Mosheim, are the following. Anastasia, a noble Roman lady, the wife of Publius, and a martyr in the Diocletian persecution A.D. 303. Two letters address- ed from her prison to Chrysogmus, a con- fessor, are extant under her name. See Sui- das, in voce xpvaoyovos. Theonas, a bishop, but where is not known. An excellent letter of his, addressed to Lu- cian the emperor's chamberlain, is extant in Dacherii Addit. ad Spicileg., torn, xi., or the new ed., torn, iii., p. 297. It is supposed to have been written about A.D. 305. But whether the present Latin is the original, or only a translation, is uncertain. See Cave, Histor. Litterar., vol. i., p. 172, 173. Rlieticius, bishop of Autun in France. He was in high esteem during the reign of Constantine ; and wrote a commentary on the Canticles, and a great volume against the Novatians ; both of which are lost. Je- rome, de Viris Illustr., c. 82. Donatus, an African bishop, from whom the Donatisf. faction took its name. Accord- ing to Jerome, (de Viris Illustr., c. 93), he wrote many tracts in support of his sect ; and likewise a book on the Holy Spirit, which accorded with Arian views. None of his works are extant. He was expelled from Carthage A D. 356. Julius, bishop of Rome, A.D. 337-352, a strenuous opposer of the Arians, and a pa- tron of Athanasius. Two of his epistles are extant, one addressed to the Oriental bishops, and the other to the Alexandrians, in favour of Athanasius. Both are preserved in the works of Athanasius, and the latter also by Socrates, Hist. Eccl., lib. ii., c. 22. See Cave, Histor. Litterar., and Bcnccr, Lives of the Popes. Julius Firmicus Maternus, probably was first a pagan, and then a Christian. He wrote a book on the falsehood of the pagan religions, addressed to the emperors Con- stantius and Constans, which has been often printed. There are extant, likewise, eight books on astronomies or mathematics, which bear his name. Fortunatianus, born in Africa, and for many years bishop of Aquileia in Italy. Af- ter contending long and strenuously against the Arians, he joined with them in 354, and CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 257 became as active against the orthodox. He wrote commentaries on the Gospels : but nothing of his remains. Vitellius, an African Donatist, who flour- ished about A.D. 344. He wrote on the world's hatred to the servants of God ; against the pagans ; against the Catholics as traditors ; and some other tracts. See Gennadius, de Viris Illustr., c. 4. Nothing of his remains. Macrobius of Africa. As a Catholic pres- byter, he wrote a book addressed to confes- sors and virgins ; afterwards, as a Donatist bishop resident at Rome, he composed the martyrdom of Maximianus and Isaac, two Donatists. A large fragment of the last, is extant in Mabillon, Analect., torn. iv. He flourished A.D. 344. Liberius, bishop of Rome, A.D. 352-366. He had a warm discussion with the emperor Constantino, in the year 355, at Milan, re- specting the persecution of the orthodox by the Anans ; for his opposition to whom, he was banished. During his exile, he relapsed, signed an Arian creed ; and was restored, A.D. 358. His dialogue with the emperor at Milan, is extant, in Theodoret, Hist. Eccl., 1. ii., c. 16 ; and 16 of his epistles are collect- ed in the Acta Concilior., torn, ii., col. 743. Euscbtus Vercellensis, was a native of Sardinia, and first a lector at Rome, then bishop of Vercelli in the north of Italy, and flourished A.D. 354. For his vigorous op- position to the Arian cause, he was banished in 355, first to Scythopolis in Syria, thence to Cappadocia, and afterwards to Thebais in Egypt. Under Julian he regained his liberty, travelled extensively in the eastern provinces, was at several councils, and re- turning to Italy, died A.D. 371. He trans- lated the commentary on the Psalms by Eu- scbiux Csesariensis, into Latin ; but it is lost ; and wrote four letters which are still extant. A manuscript of the four evangelists, accord- ing to the old Italic version, written with his own hand, is preserved in the archives of the church of Vercelli, and was published by J. A. Inci, Milan, 1748. Lucifer Caralitanus, a bishop in Sardi- nia, contemporary with Eusebius Vercellen- sis, and his companion in exile. He was founder of the sect called Luciferians, who held no communion with Arians, or even with such as had been Arians. Lucifer was a man of violent passions, and bold even to rashness. He addressed two indecorously written books to the emperor Constantius ; and wrote likewise, On apostate Princes ; On having no intercourse tcith heretics ; On showing no indulgence to offenders against God ; That life is tn be sacrificed for the Son of God ; and a short Epistle to Florcn- VOL. I. K K this. These were published, Paris, 1568, 8vo, and in the Biblioth. Patr., torn, iv., p. 181 ; but the best ed. is by Joh. Dominic and J*. Coleti, Venice, 1778, fol. Hilarivs, a native of Sardinia, deacon at Rome, and associated with Eusebius Ver- ccll. and Lucifer Caralit. in an embassy to Constantius, and by him sent with them into exile. He became a Luciferian. To him are attributed though without sufficient proof the Questions on the Old and New Testaments, printed among the works of Augustine, vol. iv., and the Commentaries on the Epistles of Paul, published among the works of Ambrose. Phoebadius, bishop of Agen in the south of France, from at least 359-392. He was famous, in connexion with the three pre- ceding, in the Arian contests in the West. His book against the Arians, is still extant in the Biblioth. Patr., torn, iv., p. 300, ed. Paris, 1589 ; and by Casp. Barth, Francf., 1623, 8vo. Zeno, bishop of Verona, who flourished about A.D. 390. To him are ascribed 90 sermons on various texts and subjects, which were compiled from Basil, Hilary, and oth- ers. They are in the Biblioth. Patr., torn, iii., p. 359. Fabius Marius Victorinus, of African birth, was a distinguished pagan rhetorician at Rome, who became a convert to Christi- anity about the middle of this century, and died about A.D. 370. While a pagan he wrote or translated several treatises on phi- losophy, grammar, and rhetoric ; most of which are lost. After his conversion, he wrote, on the holy Trinity ; against the Ari- ans, iv. books ; to Justin the Manichaean ; (against the Manichaean principle of two first causes) ; on the commencement of the day ; (whether it be at evening, or in the mom- ing) ; on the generation of the divine Word ; against Candidus the Arian ; three hymns ; (on embracing the homoousian faith) ; a Poem on the seven Maccabees ; and Com- mentaries on some of Paul's epistles ; which were never published. His style is intricate, obscure, and inelegant. Most of what he wrote after his conversion, is extant in the Biblioth. Patrum, torn, iv , p. 293. See Je- rome, de Viris Illustr., c. 101, with the Notes of J. A. Fabricius. Candidus, an Arian, who flourished about A.D. 364. He composed a book on the di- vine generation, addressed to F. M. Victo- rinus, which, with the answer of Victorinus, was published by Andr. Rivinus, Gothae, 1656. Pacianus, bishop of Barcelona in Spain, who flourished about the year 370, and died before A.D. 390. He w'rote a book called 2S8 II. CENTURY IV. PART II, CHAR II. 9 f which is lost ; also three epistles against the Novatians ; an Exhortation to penitence ; and a tract on Baptism, address- ed to catechumens : all of which were pub- lished, Paris, 1533, 4to, Rome, 1564, fol., Biblioth. Patrum, torn, iv., and still better, in Aguirrc, Collectio Max. Concil. Hispan., torn, ii., p. 79, &c. Anicia Falconia Proba, a noYle lady of Home, distinguished for her rank, hes piety, and her beneficence. She flourished about A. IX 370. After the d-eath of her husband, she lost most of her property by the incursion ef the Goths, and fell into the hands of Ata~ ric, who carried her to Africa, where she died in the first part of the fifth century. Her Cento Virgilianus de rebus divinis, is extant in the Bib. Pair., torn. v.,p. 1218, and Cologne, 1601, 8vo, and Halle, 1719, 8vo. Faustinas, a presbyter among the Luci- fcrians at Rome, flourished A.D. 384. He wrote a petition to the emperors Valentiniun, Tlieodosius, and Arcadius ; to which is pre- fixed a confession of faith ; and subjoined is, he Rescript of Theodosius. He also wrote a book on the Trinity, against the Arians. His works are in the Bib. Patrum, torn, v., j>. 673, and were printed, Oxford, 1678, 8vo. Siricius, bishop of Rome A.D. 385-398, is the earliest Roman pontiff whoss Decretal Epistles are allowed to be genuine- Five of his Epistles are in the Acta Concilior., torn. ii., but the 4th, which is addressed to the bishops of Africa, is dcmonstrably spurious. See Schroeckh, Kirchengesch., vol. viii., p. 122-129 ; and Bower, Lives of the Popes, vol. i., p. 233-277. Idacius Clarus was a Spanish bishop, per- haps of Merida, and flourished A.D. 385. He was conspicuous as an opposer of the Priscillianists ; suffered banishment ; and wrote an Apologeticum, which is lost ; a book against Vinmundus, an Arian deacon ; Explanation of some difficult passages of scripture ; and other tracts against heresies : all of which are extant in the Biblioth. Pa- trum, torn, v., p. 726. Gaudcnlius, bishop of Brescia in northers Italy, (a different person from Gaud.cnt.ius, a contemporary Donatist bishop of Tamuga- da in Africa), was travelling in the Asiatic provinces, when he was elected successor to Pfiilastnus bishop of Brescia, and was com- pelled to return and accept the office. He brought with him from the East, relics of about 40 saints ; and served the church till A.D. 410, or, as some say, till 427. He wrote 15 discourses o tracts on various sub- jects- ; also. On the unjust steward ; On the text, My Father is greater than I ; and the Life f Philas&ius : all published, Petav,, 1720, 4to. AurelmSf bishop of Carthage A.D. 390- 426, was a ina>n cf much influence, and wrote, A.D. 419, a circular Epistle on the condemnation of Pclagius and Cocleslius ; whielv with the letter of the emperor Hoiio- rius to- him, on the same subject, is in Ba- ronms, Annals, A.D. 419, t. v., p. 455, and in the Concilior. Collect., torn, ii., col. 1609. Tichonius, or Tychonius, flourished A.D. 390. He was a learned, moderate Dona- tist ; and wrote vii. Rules for interpreting scripture, (extant in the Biblioth. Patrum^ torn, vi., p. 49) ; iii. Books on intestine war ; Explanation of divers causes ; and a Com- mentary on the Apocalypse. Some have supposed, the 18 Lectures on the Apocas lypse, printed among the works of Angastine^ to be this Commentary of Tuhonrtes.. See Gcnnadius, de Viris IUustr. y c. 18'. Augus- tine, de Doctrina Christiana, }. iii., c. 30 ; and Schroeckh, Kircheagesch., vol. xi., p. 374-382. Pelilianus, a leading Donatist bishop in Numidia, flourished A.D. 399. He wrote, de uno Baptismo ; and a circular Epistle to his party : to both which Augustine wrote formal answers. His works are lost. Faustus, a Manichaean bishop in Africa, flourished A.D 400. He wrote a book against the orthodox faith ; which Augustins quotes entire, and refutes at large, in 33 Books. Tr.] OF THKOLOUY. CHAPTER III. HISTORY OF THEOLOGY. 1 . State of Theological Learning. 2. Increase of Superstition. i 3. Hence innft- nicrable Pious Frauds. <J 4. Interpreters of the Sacred Volume. 5. Mode of ex- plaining the Christian Doctrines. t) 6. Doctrinal Writers. 7. State of Controver- sial Theology. $ 8. Disingenuous Methods of Disputing. $ 9. The principal Dispu- tants. <J 10. Practical Theology. $ 11. Faults of the Moral Writers. () 12. The Number of Mystics increased, and their Doctrines established. $ 13, 14. Monkish So- cieties. <J 15. Different Orders of Monks. $ 16. Two pernicious Moral Doctrine6. $ 17. Lives and Morals of Christians. $ 18. Controversy with Meletians. 19. The Eustathian Troubles. $ 20. The Luciferians. $ 21. The A erian Controversy. 22. Jovinianus. $ 23. Controversies relating to Origen. 24. Their Extension "-'$ 25. Controversy respecting his Writings. $ 1. THAT the elementary principles of the Christian religion were preserved entire and inviolate, in most churches, is certain : but it is equally certain, that they were very often unskilfully and confusedly ex- plained and defended. This is manifest from the discussions concerning the three persons in the Godhead, among those who approved the decis- ions of the council of Nice. There is so little clearness and discrimina- tion in these discussions, that they seem to rend the one God into three Gods. Moreover those idle fictions, which a regard for the Platonic phi-- losophy and for the prevailing opinions of the day had induced most theo- logians to -embrace even before the times of Constantine, were now in va* rious ways confirmed, extended, and embellished. Hence it is that we see, on every side, evident traces of excessive veneration for departed saints, of a purifying fire for souls when separated from the body, of the celibacy of the clergy, of the worship of images and relics, and of many other opinions, which in process of time almost banished the true religion> or at least very much obscured and corrupted it. 3. Genuine piety was supplanted by a long train of superstitious ob scrvances, which originated partly from opinions inconsiderately em* braced, partly from a preposterous disposition to adopt profane rites and combine them with Christian worship, and partly from the natural predi* lection of mankind in general for a splendid and ostentatious religion. At first, frequent pilgrimages were undertaken to Palestine, and to the tombs of the martyrs ; as if, thence men could bear away the radical principles of holiness, and certain hopes of salvation.(l) Next, from Palestine and (1) See Gregory Nyssen, Oratio ad cos signal for these religious journeys. Atleast, qui Hierosolymam adeunt, Opp., torn, iii., it is stated by Socrates, Hist. Eccl , I. i., c. p. 568. Hiertmymug, Ep. xiii., ad Pauli- 17, and by Theodore/, H> E., lib. i., c. 18, num, de institut. Monachi, Opp., torn, i., p. that she was instructed by a dream to go to 66. Ja. Gothofred, ad Codicem Theodos., Jerusalem, and that she wished to find the torn, vi ., p. 65, &.c. Peter Wesseling, Diss. grave of Chrigt ; that she actually did find decaussis peregrinat. Hierosolymit., prefixed three crosses, with a superscription ; that to the Itincrarium Burdigalense ; among the one of them instantly cured a dying woman, Vetcra Rornanor. Itincraria, p. 537. [Hel- and was therefore concluded to be the cross a, the mother of Constantine the Great, of Christ. She gave a part of it to the city Kcetna to have been the tint who gave the of Jerusalem ; and scut the other part to lh 260 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART II. CHAP. III. from places venerated for their sanctity, portions of dust or of earth were brought ; as if they were the most powerful protection against the assaults of evil spirits ; and these were bought and sold everywhere at great prices. (2) Further, the public supplications by which the pagans were accustomed to appease their gods, were borrowed from them, and were celebrated in many places with great pomp. To the temples, to water consecrated in due form, and to the images of holy men, the same efficacy was ascribed and the same privileges assigned as had been attributed to the pagan temples, statues and lustrations before the advent of Christ. Images indeed were as yet but rare, and statues did not exist. And shameful as it may appear, it is beyond all doubt, that the worship of the martyrs, with no bad intentions indeed, yet to the great injury of the Christian cause, was modelled by degrees into conformity with the wor- ship which the pagans had in former times paid to their gods. (3) From these specimens the intelligent reader will be able to conceive, how much injury resulted to Christianity from the peace and repose procured by Constantine and from an indiscreet eagerness to allure the pagans to em- brace this religion. But the plan of this work will not admit of long de- tails respecting such enormities. 3. This unenlightened piety of the common people opened a wide door to the endless frauds of persons who were base enough to take ad. vantage of the ignorance and errors of others disingenuously to advance their own interests. Rumours were artfully disseminated of prodigies and wonders to be seen in certain edifices and places, (a trick before this time practised by the pagan priests), whereby the infatuated populace were drawn together, and the stupidity and ignorance of those who looked upon everything new and unusual as a miracle, were often wretchedly imposed upon. (4) Graves of saints and martyrs were supposed to be where they were not ;(5) the list of saints was enriched with fictitious names ; and even robbers were converted into martyrs. (6) Some buried blood-stained bones in retired places, and then gave out that they had been informed in a dream, that the corpse of some friend of God was there in- terred.^) Many, especially of the monks, travelled through the different provinces, and not only shamelessly carried on a traffic in fictitious relics, but also deceived the eyes of the multitude with ludicrous combats with evil spirits. (8) It would require a volume to detail the various imposi- tions which were, for the most part successfully, practised by artful knaves, after genuine piety and true religion were compelled to resign their do- minion in great measure to superstition. emperor, who encased it in his own statue, naenm, $ 56, p. 196, &c. Jo. le Clerc, in and regarded it as the Palladium of his new his Append. Augustiniana, p. 492, 550, 575. city ; and that the people used to assemble (5) Concilium Carthagin. v. Canon I4 r around this statue with wax candles. See torn. i. Conciliorum, p. 988, ed. Harduin. J. Andr. Schmidt, Problem, de crucis Do- (6) Sulpitius Sevcrus,de Vita S. Martini, minicae per Helenam Constantini Imp. ma- cap. 8. trern inventione, Helmst., 1724. ScA/.] (7) Augustine, SermoSIS, $ 1, Opp.,tomv (2) Augustine, de Civitate Dei, 1. ixii., v., p. 886, ed. Antwerp. c. 8, $ 6, and many others. (8) See Ja. Gothofred, ad Codicem The- (3) This is shown at length, by It. de odos., torn, iii., p. 172. Augustine, de Beausobre, Histoire du Manicheisme, torn, opere Monachorum, cap. 28, $ 36, Opp., ii., p. 642, &c. torn, vi., p. 364. Jerome, Epistola ad Ru- (4) Henry DodweWs Dissertat. ii., in Ire- ticum, Opp. r torn, i., p. 45. HISTORY OF THEOLOGY. 261 4. Many laboured earnestly, few successfully, on the sacred volume. Jerome, a man of great industry and not unskilful in the languages, made a new Latin translation of all the sacred books ; which was more lucid, and considerably better than any of the numerous old Latin versions. (9) He also took much pains to set forth a more correct edition of the Greek version by the Seventy : and the same thing, we are told, was undertaken by Eusebius, Aihanasius, and Eulhatius.(lti) The expositors of scrip- ture form a long list ; among whom the most distinguished are Jerome, Hilary, Eusebius, Diodorus of Tarsus, Rujinus, Ephraim Syrus, Theodo. rus of Heraclea, Chrysostom, Athanasius, and Didymus. Yet few of these have correctly discharged the duty of interpreters. Rujinus, indeed, The- odorus of Heraclea, Diodorus, and a few others, followed the literal sense of scripture :(11) the rest, after the example of Origen their guide, search for recondite meanings ; and accommodate, or rather constrain the half- understood language of the Bible, to speak of sacred mysteries and a Chris- tian life. (12) Augustine and Tychonius, wished to establish rules for in- terpretation ; but neither of them had ability to do it. (13) 5. The doctors, who were distinguished for their learning, explained the sacred doctrines after the manner of Origen, (on whom they all fixed their eye), in accordance with the principles of that philosophy which they learned in their youth at school, namely, the Platonic philosophy as corrected by Origen. Those who wish to get a full insight into this sub- ject, may examine Gregory Nazianzen among the Greeks, and Augustine (9) See Jo.. Fran. Buddcus, Isagoge ad Theologiam, torn, ii., p. 1332, &c. [That there were many Latin versions extant in the fourth century, is very clearly stated by Au- gustine, de Doctrina Christiana, 1. ii., c. 11. Of these, (as Augustine tells us, loc. cit.), one was called (Itala) the Italic. But it has become usual to apply this designation to every ancient Latin version, which was not amended by Jerome; and this has given oc- casion to many mistakes. See Mosheim, de Reb. Christianor. ante Const. M., p. 225- 229. Jerome mentions a version, which he calls (VuJgata) the vulgar, and which coun- sellor Michaclis takes to be that used at Rome in the days of Jerome. These trans- lations, in respect to their diction, were nei- ther classical nor tolerable ; yet they may be of use to those who wish to become ac- quainted with the Latin language in its full- est extent. They contain an immense num- ber of Hebraisms, or rather Syriasms ; which leads to the conjecture, that their authors were in great measure Jews. These ver- sions fell into great disorder, in which no two copies were alike ; because different translations were in fact blended together, the expressions of one evangelist were trans- ferred into the narrative of another, and many glosses were incorporated into the text. This induced the Roman bishop Damasus to com- mit the improving of these ancient versions to Jerome, who undertook the business in the year 384. He erased the false and incor- rect readings, and improved the translations, which came into his hands very faulty, uni- formly guiding himself by the original text This improved version of Jerome is, a few alterations excepted. that Vulgate which is held in so high estimation by the Catholic church. The really new translation of the Bible by Jerome, was published from manu- scripts, by the Benedictine monks Jo. Mar- tianay and Ant. Pou<rct, Paris, 1693, under the title: Sancti Eusebii Hieronymi divina Bibliotheca, hac tenus inedita. Their Pro- legomena are worth reading. See Rich. Simon, Histoire critique des Versions du nouveau Test., cap. 7-12, and Michaelis, Introduction to the N. T. Schl.] (10) Jo. Fric/c, de Canone Novi Testm- menti. p. 180. (11) Rich. Simon, Critique de la Biblio- theque des Auteurs Ecclesiast., par M. da Pin, torn. i.. p. 51, 90, 129, and torn, iv., p. 335, &c., and Histoire critique des princi- paux Commentateurs du N. T., cap. vi., &c., p. 88, &c. (12) See Gregory Nazianzen, Carmen dc se ipso ; in Ja. Tollii, Insignib. Itineris Italici, p. 27, 57. He very much commends this method. (13) Augustine, in hisvi. Books de Doc- trina Christiana ; Tychonius, in his vii. Rules of Interpretation ; which are extant in the Biblioth. Patrum maxima, torn, vi., p. 48. 269 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART II.-CHAP. 111. among the Latins ; who were regarded in the subsequent ages as the only patterns worthy of imitation, and may be fitly styled, next to Origen, the parents and supporters of philosophic or scholastic theology. They were both admirers of Plato, and held as certain all his decisions which were not absolutely repugnant to the truths of Christianity ; and proceeding upon these as their first principles, they drew from them many and very subtile conclusions. Yet there was another class of theologians, which daily increased in number ; namely, that of men who supposed the knowl- edge of divine things was to be acquired, not by reasoning about them, but by contemplation, and by recalling the mind from its converse with ex- ternal objects to a concentration on itself. These are commonly called mystics. That these abounded, appears from several considerations, and particularly from the numerous herds of monks who were spread nearly all over the Christian world , and from the works of Diouysius, (that Co- ryphaeus of the mystics), which were produced, it seems, in this age, and by some one of this class. 6. Among the writings of this age, in which the doctrines of Chris- tianity are stated and explained, the first place is justly due to the cate- chetical Discourses of Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem. For those who would persuade us, that these Discourses were the production of a subsequent age, are so blinded by zeal for a party, as, not to discern the truth. (14) Many would also here place the Divine Institutions of Lactantius ; but im- properly, because these Institutes were designed rather to confute those who still adhered to polytheism, than to unfold the truths taught by inspi- ration. The System of Doctrine addressed to the clergy and laity, which is ascribed to AtJMnazius, appears to have been the production of a later age. (15) There are however, in the works of Athanasius, Chrysostom, the Gregories, and others, as now extant, many passages from which we may learn how the best informed men of this age handled the leading topics of the Christian religion. On the Trinity in particular, we have the twelve Books of Hilary of Poictiers. The Ancoratus of Epiphanius explains the doctrine concerning Christ and the Holy Spirit. On baptism, we have the work of Pacianus, addressed to catechumens ; and a work of Chrysos. torn, on the same subject, in two Books. The w y orks of Jerome, Augus- tine, and others, which were designed to impart correct views on reli- gious subjects, and to confute the opposers of the truth, are here omitted. 7. From the disputes with those who were regarded as opposed to, divine truth, the ancient simplicity had nearly taken its flight : and in place of it, dialectical subtilties and quibbles, invectives, and other disin- genuous artifices had succeeded, more becoming the patrons, than the op- posers of error. Censures of this habit, by men of eminence, are still ex- tant^ 16) I pass in silence those rhetorical figures and flourishes, by which many endeavoured to parry the weapons of their adversaries, and to involve in obscurity the question under discussion ; likewise the incli- nation to excite odium against their antagonists, so common to many ; and the disregard of proper arrangement and of perspicuity, and other (14) See Jo. Fecht, Comment, de originc (16) Methodius, cited by Epiphanius, Missarum in honorem Sanctorum, p. 404, <fec. Ha?resis 64, Opp., tome i.. page 563 ; (15) [It is not so much a treatise on dog- Gregory Nazianzen, in many places: aud, matics, as one on morals, containing rules of others, life, especially for monks, S<M.] 5IISTORY OF THEOLOGY. <X53 "habits which wore no better in their discussions. Yet so far were some writers of this century from disguising these faults, that they rather claimed praise for them. It must be owned, however, that their antagonists made use of tin- same weapons. 8. With the ancient form of discussion, new sources of argument were in this age combined. For the truth of doctrines was proved by the number of martyrs who had believed so, by prodigies, and by the confes- sions of devils, that is, of persons in whose bodies some demon was sup. posed to reside. The discerning cannot but see, that all proofs drawn from such .sources are very fallacious, and very conveniejit for dishoiicsJ men who would practise imposition. And I greatly fear, that most of those who at this lime resorted to such proofs, notwithstanding they were grave and eminent men, may be ju.-st.Jy charged with the dangerous pro- pensity to use deception. Ambrose, in -controversy u'ith the Arians, brings forward persons possessed with devils, who, when the relics of Gerxasius and Protasius arc produced, are constrained to cry out, that die doctrine of the Nicene council concerning three persons in the Godhead, is true and divine, and the doctrine of the Arians false and pernicious. This testimony of the prince of darkness, Ambrose regards as proof altogether unexceptionable. But the Arians openly ridiculed the prodigy and main- tained, that Ambrose had bribed these infernals to bear testimony in his favour.(17) And many, I am aware, will be more inclined to believe the Arians, than to give credit to Ambrose notwithstanding he is enrolled among saints, and they araong heretics. (18) 9. Besides Apollinaris, Gregory Nazianzen, Cyril of Alexandria, and others, who confuted the emperor Julian ; the adherents to idolatry were vigorously and successfully encountered by Lactantius, by Atlianasius, br Jii/iu>t Firmiciis j\lcitrrnns, by the younger Apollhiaris, whose books a,gainst Porphyry are unhappily lost, by Augustne, in his twenty-two Books oil the City of God, and in bis three lost Books against the pagans, and above all, by Eusebhis of Ciesarea. in his Evangelical Preparation, and in his book against Hierocks. Attempts to convert the Jews were made by Eu- scliins of Em/.:ssa, by Dwdorus of Tarsus, and by Chrysostom, in his six Books *'Ji!l oxtant. Against all the heresies, Ephraim Syrus,(19) James of Nisihls, Didymue, and And en Hits took up the pen. So did EpiphafttUg, in his extensive work on the heresies, which he denominated Panarium: and Gregory Na-Kianzen, more -concisely, in his Oration on the Faith. The short works of Augustine and Philastrius, rather enumerate the here- >ies. than confute them. 10. The state of moral or practical theology would have been very flourishing, if the progress of any branch of knowledge could be meas- ured by the number of the writers on it; for very many laboured to per- fect and inculcate practical religion. Among the Orientals, the eflorte of James of jV/.y/'/i/.v, or as some say, of Sanigaj(W) and Ephritim Syrus, (17) Amfirosc, Epist. xiii., p. 878, &c. {19) See Jos. -Sim. Assema.n, Biblioth. J'dnlimix, tie Vita Ambrosii, p. 81. Orient. Clement. Vaticana, torn, i., p. 118, (18) See Jo. If. C'lrrc, Ap|>cndix Angus- 125. &c. From his extracts, it appears that tiniana, p. 375. More examples of this kind Ephraim, though a pious man, was not a might he mentioned. See -Gregory Nysscn, dexterous polemic. <le Vita Grejjorii Nro-Ca^aricnsis. Opp .torn. (20) Jos. Stm. Assertion, in his Biblioth. ii., p. 977, 978. Sulpilius Seccrus, Histo- Orient.. &c.. torn. i.. p. 17, thinks, that the cia JSarra, 1. iL, <:- 38, j>. 201. waitings ascribed to James of Xifihix, sbouU 264 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART II. CHAP. III. were very considerable in this department. What we meet with respect- ing the life and duties of a Christian, in the writings of Basil the Great, Gregory Nyssen, Chrysostom, Ambrose, Augustine, and others, can neither be altogether approved, nor wholly condemned. Many give the prefer- ence to the three Books of Ambrose, on the duties of ministers of the church, which are written after the manner of Cicero : and they certainly deserve commendation, so far as the intentions of the writer and the ele- gance of his thoughts are concerned ; but they contain many things, which may be justly censured. Perhaps, before all others who wrote on practi- cal piety, the preference is due to Macarius, the Egyptian monk ;(21) from whom, after deducting some superstitious notions, and what savours too much of Origenism, we may collect a beautiful picture of real piety. 11. About all the writers in this department, are defective in the fol- lowing respects. First, they pay no regard to method and a just arrange- ment of their thoughts on the subject they attempt to explain. They rare- ly define, and never divide their subject, but pour out promiscuously what- ever comes up in their pious but not very clear and correct minds. In the next place, they either neglect to trace the duties of men back to their sources and to their first principles, or they derive them from precepts and doctrines which are either manifestly false or not well ascertained. Lastly, when they come to the proof of their positions, most of them do not resort to the law of God for arguments to enforce duty and put down vice, but to airy fancies, to frigid allegories, and fine spun subtilties, better suited to tickle the imagination than to awaken and overpower the con- science. 12. But still their works are far more tolerable, than that combina- tion of the precepts of Christ with the precepts of Plato, (or rather with those of the Alexandrine philosophers the followers of Ammonius Saccas), and that twofold kind of piety, the one more perfect and complete, and the other less so, which almost all now embraced. How very much these views of religion had gained ground, may appear from the fact, that those who had long cried up a sort of recondite and mysterious knowledge of divine things, wholly different from the common knowledge of the vulgar, ventured in this century to carry out their views and reduce them to a regular system. For it is most probable, that it was among the Greeks of this century, (though some think it was earlier, and some that it was later), lived that fanatic, who assumed the name and the character of Dionysius the Areopagite, the disciple of St. Paul ; and who under the cover of this shield gave laws and instructions to those that wished to become separated from the world and to bring back the soul that sundered particle of the divine nature to its pristine state by contemplation. (22) As soon as the rather be ascribed to a person of Saruga. Judicium de scriptis Dionysii, Opp., torn. But in his addenda, p. 558, he modifies his ii.,pt i , p. 562. Matur. Veissdela Croze, opinion in some measure. in his Histoire du Christianisme d'Ethiopie, (21) See the Acta Sanctorum, Januarii, p. 10, &c., endeavours to prove that Syne- torn, i., p. 1005. [See the brief account sius, a celebrated philosopher and bishop in of him and his writings, in note (28), p. 246, Egypt, of the fifth century, was the author of supra. Tr.] the Dionysian writings ; and that he designed (22) Those who have written concerning by them to support the doctrine of but one this deceiver, are enumerated by Jo. Fran, nature in Christ. But he uses feeble argu- Buddeus, Isagoge ad Theologian, 1. ii., c. ments. Nor are those more substantial, by iv., $ 8, p. 602, &c. See also Jo. Launoi, which Jo. Phil. Baratier (in his Diss. sub- HISTORY OF THEOLOGY. 265 writings of this man spread among the Greeks and Syrians, and especially among the solitaries and monks, it is not easy to describe, how much dark- ness came over the minds of many, and what an accession of numbers was made to those who maintained that converse with God is to be had by mor- tifying the senses, withdrawing the thoughts from all external objects, sub- duing the body with hunger and hardships, and fixing the attention on God and eternal things, in a kind of holy indolence. 13. The truth of these remarks is evinced, by that vast multitude of monks and sacred virgins who, as soon as peace was given to the Chris- tians, spread themselves with astonishing rapidity over the whole Chris- tian world. Many persons of this description had long been known among the Christians, living as solitaries, in the deserts of Egypt. But Antony was the first who, in the year 305, collected them into an associated com- munity in Egypt, and regulated their mode of living by fixed rules. (23) His disciple Hilarion, the next year, undertook the same thing in Pales- tine and Syria. About the same time, Aones or Eugenius, with his asso- ciates Gaddana and Azyzo, introduced this mode of life into Mesopotamia and the neighbouring countries. (24) These were imitated by many others, with so much success, that in a short time all the East swarmed with per- sons who, abandoning the occupations and conveniences of life and all in- tercourse with society, pined away amid various hardships, hunger and sufferings, in order to attain to a more close communion with God and the angels. The Christian church would have remained free from these nu- merous tortures of the mind and body, had not that great and fascinating doctrine of the ancient philosophy gained credence among Christians, that to attain to happiness and communion with God, the soul must be freed from the influence of the body, and for this purpose, the body must be sub- dued. 14. This austere discipline passed from the East into the West, and first into Italy and the adjacent islands, though it is uncertain who conveyed it thither.(25) Afterwards, St. Martin, the celebrated bishop of Tours, joined to his book de successione Romanor. eleven epistles. These, with the comment- Episcop., p. 286), endeavours to prove, that aries of some of the later Greek theologians, Dicmysius of Alexandria was the true author and notes by the moderns, were printed of those writings. [The real author of these Gr. and I,at., Antwerp, 1634, and Paris, works is wholly unknown. That he was 1644, 2 vols. fol. See Cave, Historia Lit- not Dionysius the Arcopagite, mentioned terar. Daillf, de Scriptis Dionysii Areopa- Acts xvii., 34, as he pretends to be, and was gitae. Genevae, 1666, 4to. Bp Pearson, generally believed to be, from the sixth cen- Vindiciae Ignatianae, p. i., c. 10. TV. ] tury on to the fifteenth, is certain. That he (23) Antony and his regulations are treat- was a Greek who lived some time in the ed of in the Acta Sanctor. ad diem 17, Jan- fourth century, is generally admitted; though uarii, torn. ii.. p. 107. some place him a century later. That he (24) See Jos. Sim. Asseman, Biblioth. was Apollinaris senior, or junior, of Laodi- Orient. Clement. Vaticana, torn, iii., pt. ii., cea, several have laboured to evince; but p. 48, &c. without much success. He was orthodox, (25) The majority follow Barmiivs, main- pious, and certainly not destitute of talent, taining that it was St. Atftanasius who, about His works consist of single Books, on the the year 340, transplanted the monastic in- Ccelestial Hierarchy, or the invisible world, stitution from Egypt into Italy, and erected the church above ; on the Ecclesiastical Hi- the first monastery at Rome. See Makillon, erarchy, or the visible church of God on the Praefatio ad Acta Sanctor. Ord. Benedict., earth, its order, worship, and ordinances; torn, i., p. ix., &c. But Lud. An/. Mnritian on the Divine Names, or the designations opposes this opinion, and contends that the of God in the Scriptures ; on Mystical The- 'first European monastery was built at Milan. ology, or on the perfections of God ; and Antiq. Italicar. wedii aevi, torn, v., p. 364. VOL. I L L 260 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART H. CHAP. III. erected some monasteries in Gaul ; and his example and his discourses pro- duced such eagerness to embrace a monastic life, that two thousand monks are said to have assembled together at his funeral. (26) From thence this mode of life gradually extended over the other countries of Europe. Those studious of such matters however, must know, that there has always been a wide difference between the monks of the West and those of the East ; and that the former could never be brought to bear the severe rules, to which the latter voluntarily submitted. For our part of the world is not so filled with persons who are by nature austere, morose, delirious, and fanatical, as those Oriental regions are ; nor will our bodies endure that abstemiousness in regard to nourishment, which those will which were born under a dry and burning atmosphere. It was therefore rather the name and the shadow of that solitary life which Antony and others institu- ted in the East, than the thing itself, which was brought into the countries of Europe.(27) 15. These monks(28) were not all of the same kind ; for first, they were divided into Coenobites and Eremites. The former lived and ate to- gether in the same house, and were associated under a leader and head, whom they called Father, or in the Egyptian tongue, Abbot.(29) The lat- Again, Just. Fontinanus, in his Historia edacity, and goes on to say : " I perceive Litterar. Aquileiens., p. 155, &c., maintains that he refers rather to the Oriental monks, that the first society of monks was collected than to the occidental ; for edacity in the at Aquileia. None of these writers adduces Greeks [and Orientals] is gluttony; in the unexceptionable proof. The first convent of Gauls it is nature." Immediately, there- nuns was erected at Verona, near the close fore, on the introduction of the monastic in- of this century, and by Ze.no the bishop of stitution into Europe, the occidental monks Verona ; if we may give credit to the broth- ers Ballcrini, in their Diss. ii. ad Zenonem Veronens., p. 115, &c. (20) See Sulpilius Severus, de Vita Mar- tini, cap. x., p. 17, ed. Veron., where the differed widely from the Oriental in their customs and mode of living, and were taxed by them with voraciousness and gluttony. (28) [The word monk, (fiovaxoc, from /w- vufetv, to live alone), first occurs in the fourth mode of life "adopted by these Martinian century; and has some similarity with as- monks is particularly described. See also crttc [<WWFW, from UOKEU, to practise, to ex- ercise.] At least, the monks were also call- the Histoire litteraire de la France, torn, i., pt. ii., p. 42, and others. (27) This difference between the Oriental and the occidental monks, as to their mode of living, and the cause of it, are pleasantly noticed by Sulpitt.us Scverus, Dial. i. de Vita Martini, c. 2, p. 65, ed. Verona. Sul- pitrus, one of the interlocutors, having de- scribed the dry and sparing diet of the Egyp- tian monks, turned to his Gallic friend, and said : herbs and half a loaf, as a dinner for five men 7" The Gaul, reddening a little on be- ing so rallied, replied : " You are at your ed ascetics ; though all ascetics were not monks : for the name ascetic denotes a Christian who devotes himself to severe re- ligious exercises, and particularly to absti- ways existed among Christians ; but these were not always monks. The word ascetic is a generic term ; the word monk denotes a species under that genus. This is con- , ceded by the Catholics, Valesius (notes on How would vou like a bunch of -& , J r,- ,. T? , , ,4 Luseb., Hist. Jbccles., 1. XL, c. 17, and de Martyr. Palaest., c. 11), and by Pa<?i, Crit- ica in Annal. Baronii, ad ami. 62, $ 4, torn, p. 48 The males among the monks .*f i ... / i . i., it. -*u 1 nc UIOIGB auiwu" uic mviiivn old practice, bulmtms, lor you neglect no n i ;v i u r i T . V, .* 6 rr , ,,. were called A onm, and the females Nonnac. op[)ortunuy that occurs, to tax us [Gallic monks] with voracity. But it is cruel in you, to require us Gauls to live in the man- ner of angels. But let that Cyrenian [monk] content himself with such a dinner, since it is his necessity or nature to go hungry. We, as I have often told you, are Gauls." See Jerome, Ep. 18, ad Eustoch., Opp., torn, iv., pt. ii., p. 34, ed. Martianay. Erasmus derives the term nonnus from the Egyptian language : Gcrh. Jo. Vossius derives it from the Hebrew p^, a son; de Vitiis Sermo- nis. 1. i., c. 6, p. 9, 1. ii., c. 13, de Orig. In the same diatomic, cap. 4, p. 69, 70, he Idolol., 1. i., c. 24. SchL] taxes Jerome with accusing the monks of (29) [The cocnoliles derived their name HISTORY OF THEOLOGY. 267 tcr, the Eremites, led a cheerless, solitary life, in certain parts of the coun. try, dwelling in hovels among the wild be;ists.(30) Still more austere than the Eremites, were those who were called Anchorites. These lived in desert places, with no kind of shelter ; fed on roots and plants ; and had no fixed residence, but lodged wherever night overtook them, so that visit- ers might not know where to find them. (31) The last class of monks were the Vagrants, called by the Egyptians Sarabaitae, who roamed about the provinces, and from city to city, and got their living without labour, by pretended miracles, by trafficking in relics, and by other impositions. (32) Among the Coenobites, many were vicious and profligate ; but not so many as among the Sarabailes, most of whom were knaves and villains. Of the Eremites, the greater part were delirious fanatics, who were not in their right mind. (33) All these monks were hitherto laymen, or separate from the clerical order, and under the care and protection of the bishops. But many of them were now admitted into the rank of clergymen, even by the command of the emperors ; and so great was their reputation for sanctity, that bishops were often chosen from among them.(34) 16. To these defects in the moral system of the age, must be added two principal errors now wcllnigh publicly adopted, and from which af- terwards immense evils resulted. The first was, that to deceive and lie, is a virtue, when religion can be promoted by it. The other was, that er- rors in religion, when maintained and adhered to after proper admonition, ought to be visited with penalties and punishments. The first of these from [KoivoCiiov] cocnobium, (K0tv6f ftiof), a habitation in which several monks lived to- gether. The ancients discriminated between a cocnobium and a monastery. The latter was the residence of proper and solitary monks ; the former, of associated monks, who lived together in a society. The hab- itation of a single, solitary monk, might be called a monastery, but not a cocnobium. Sec Cassianus, Collat. xviii., c. 10, Opp., p. 525, and compare Jerome, Ep. 95, ad Kusticum monachum, Opp., torn., iv., pt. ii., p. 775, and Gregory Na?.., Orat. xxi., Opp., torn i., p. 384. The nuns also had their presidents, who were called Mothers. See Jerome. Ep. 20. Opp., torn, iv., pt. ii., p. 51. See also Hinhnm. Origines Eccle- siast.. vol. iii., p W.Schl ] (30) [From a passage in the beginning of the Historia Lansiaca of Palladins, it may be inferred, that in the most ancient times, the eremites and the anchorites were the same ; for he speaks of the dvo^upi^ruv TIJV IT r/i !'!';/tt;>. I3nt subsequently, a distinc- tion was made between them. Srlil. The terms monks, ercmi/cs, and anchorites or an- achorilcs, were at first, all used as synony- mous ; and were applied indiscriminately to those Egyptian ascetics, who urax'-ipnaar re- tired from the world, and lived solitary fio- vaxoi (from ftovof, alone) in the \ftldernttl tv ry fpfifiM, for the sake of practising (tia- Kttv) their religious exercises without inter- ruption. The words ascetic and monk con- tinued to be generic ; and were applied to all, who devoted themselves to a religious life, and subjected themselves to strict rules of living. The other terms acquired more appropriate significations, when the monks became distributed into various classes or sorts. TV.] (31) See Sulpi/ius Srrr.rus, Dial. i. de Vitn Martini, c. ix , p. 80, &c., ed. Verona. [When several anchorites lived in the same wilderness, only a little separated from each other, they were collectively called a J^aura. See Eva/rrius, Historia Ecclcs.. 1. i., c. 21, and Valerius, note on the passage. See also Walch's Hist. Eccles. N. T ., p. 1670. Sckl.] (32) [Concerning the Sarabai/ca, see Jo. Ciissianus, Collat. xviii., c. 7, Opp., p. 731, &c., and the notes of Gazaeits, there. TV.] (33) On the vices of the monks of this century, sec Snl/>ilins Nrrcrtis, Dial. i. de Vita Martini, cap iv., p. 69, 70. cap. xiv., p. 8. where he chastises in particular, the pride of those who coveted the honours of clergymen. Dial, ii., c. viii., p. 112; Dial, iii., c. xv., p. 144, 145 ; also the Consultatio Apollonii et Zachaei, published by Lu, Duchrry, in Spicileg., torn, i., 1. iii., c. 3, p. 35, &c. (34) See Ja. Gotkofrcd, on the Codex Tbcodos., torn, vi., pt. i., p. 76, 106, ed. Hitter. 268 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART II. CHAP. III. principles had been approved in the preceding centuries ; and it is almost incredible, what a mass of the most insipid fables, and what a host of pious falsehoods have, through all the centuries, grown out of it, to the great detriment of true religion. If some inquisitive person were to examine the conduct and the writings of the greatest and most pious teachers of this cen- tury, I fear, he would find about all of them infected with this leprosy. I cannot except Ambrose, nor Hilary, nor Augustine, nor Gregory Naz., nor Jerome. And perhaps it was this same fault that led Sulpitius Severus, who was in other respects no incompetent historian, to ascribe so many miracles to St. Martin. The other principle, from the very time when Constantine gave peace and security to the Christians, was approved by many ; and in the conflicts with the Priscillianists and Donatists, it was corroborated by examples, and unequivocally sanctioned by the authority of Augustine, and transmitted down to succeeding ages. 17. If we look at the lives and morals of Christians, we shall find, as heretofore, that good men were commingled with bad ; yet the number of the bad began gradually to increase, so that the truly pious and godly appeared more rare. When there was no more to fear from enemies without, when the character of most bishops was tarnished with arro- gance, luxury, effeminacy, animosity, resentments, and other defects ; when the lower clergy neglected their proper duties, and were more attentive to idle controversies, than to the promotion of piety and the instruction of the people ; when vast numbers were induced, not by a rational conviction, but by the fear of punishment and the hope of worldly advantage to enrol themselves as Christians ; how can it surprise us, that on all sides. the vi- cious appeared a host, and the pious, a little band almost overpowered by them ? Against the flagitious and those guilty of heinous offences, the same rules for penance were prescribed, as before the reign of Constan- tine. But as the times continually waxed worse and worse, the more hon- ourable and powerful could sin with impunity, and only the poor and the unfortunate felt the severity of the laws. 18. This century was fruitful in controversies among Christians ; for as is common with mankind, external peace made room for internal dis- cords and contentions. We shall here mention the more considerable ones, which did not give rise to obstinate heresies. In Egypt, soon after the century began or about the year 306, commenced the long-continued schism, which from the author of it was called the Meletian controversy. Peter, the bishop of Alexandria, deposed Melctius the bishop of Lycopolis in Thebais. The cause is involved in uncertainty. The friends of Peter represent Meletius as one who had sacrificed to the gods, and had com- mitted other crimes. (35) Others say, he was guilty of no offence, but that of excessive severity against the lapsed.(36) Meletius disregarded the sentence of Peter, and not only continued to exercise the functions of his office, but assumed to himself the power of consecrating presbyters ; a right which, according to established usage in Egypt, belonged exclusively to the bishop of Alexandria. The partisans of this energetic and elo- quent man were numerous, and at length not a few of the monks espoused (35) Athanasius, Apologia secunda, Opp., note on Epiphan., torn, ii., p. 274 ; and Sam. torn i., p. 777, &c. Basnage, Exercitatio de Rebus sacris contra (36) Epiphanius, Haeres. Ixviii., Opp., Baronium, p. 305, &c. torn, i., p. 716, &c. See Dion. Petavius, HISTORY OF THEOLOGY. 260 his cause. The Nicene council attempted in vain to heal this breach. The Mcleiians on the contrary, whose chief aim was to oppose the au- thority claimed by the bishop of Alexandria, afterwards joined themselves to his great enemies, namely the Arians. Thus a contest which at first related only to the limits of the Alexandrine bishop's powers, became, through the influence of heated passions, a controversy respecting an ar- ticle of faith. The Meletian party was still existing in the fifth cen- tury.(37) (37) [Two widely different accounts of the origin and cause of the Meletian schism have reached us. The one is from the pen of Aihanasius, their avowed foe ; the other is from Epiphanius, the historian of the early heresies. The Romish writers prefer the statement of Athanasius ; but the most learn- ed Protestant writers of late, generally follow Epiphanius. (See Walch. Historic der Ket- zereyen, vol. iv., p. 355-410. Henke, Kir- chengesch., vol. i., p. 196, &c. Rchroeckh, KJrchengesch., vol. v., p. 265-273. Nean- der, Kirchengesch.,vol.ii.,pt. i.,p. 463-471, and Gieseler'g Text- book, translated by Cun- ningham, vol. i., p. 166.) The statement of Athanasius, (Apolog. ad Imperat. Constanti- num, Opp., torn, i., p. 777, ed. Colon., 1686), is as follows : Peter, a bishop among us before the persecution, and an acknmcledged martyr in it, deposed in a common council of bish- ops an Egyptian bishop called Meletius, who stood convicted of many crimes, and especially of sacrificing to idols. Meletius did not ap- peal to another council, nor endeavour to purge himself before Peter's successors, but created a schism, and his followers, instead of being called Christians, are called Mcle- tians to this day. He at once began to utter reproaches against the bishops, and first he calumniated Peter, then his successor Achil- les, and after him Alexander ; and he did this irith craftiness after the example of Absalom, that by calumniating the innocent he might hide the shame of his own deposition. Such is the invective of their avowed adversary. On the contrary Epiphanius, who spent sev- eral years in Egypt, some of them probably in the lifetime of Meletius, and certainly while the schism excited great attention, and who passed the rest of his life in the neighbour- hood of Egypt, and had constant communica- tion with it, gives us a full and apparently very candid history of the schism, which is too long to be transcribed, but which is sub- stantially as follows. (Hser. 68, Opp., torn, i., p. 716, seq., ed. Petav. Colon.) During the persecution under Diocletian and Maxim- ian, Peter the archbp. of Alexandria, and Me- letius an eminent bp. in Thcbais, (who rank- ed next to Peter in the archiepiscopate, and under him managed ecclesiastical affairs), and many others, were imprisoned by the gov ernors of the country. When they had been long in custody, and several had suffered martyrdom, while others had yielded to their fears and saved themselves by sacrificing to idols, these principal bishops were continued in prison, being reserved for the last victims. The lapsed, some of whom were soldiers and others clergymen of different orders, became anxious for reconciliation to the church ; and they besought the confessors who were still in prison to interpose their authority. Disa- greement and warm debate arose among these confessors. Meletius and others held, that the lapsed ought to be excluded from the church till the end of the persecution, and afterwards if they appeared worthy, to be admitted to penances proportionate to their offences. But Peter maintained that it was not advisable to wait for the end of the persecution, and that the repentant should at once be admitted to suitable penances and so be restored. Both parties showed them- selves to be influenced by laudable motives ; the one by love of the truth and religious zeal, the other by compassion and sympathy. At length, Peter finding his compassionate measures balked by the excessive zeal of Meletius and the others, hung out his man- tle in the midst of the prison for a standard, and made proclamation, that such as agreed with him should assemble around it, and that such as agreed with Meletius should repair to him. Hereupon the mass of the bishops, monks, and presbyters gathered around Me- letius, and only a very few repaired to the standard of Peter. From this time the two parties worshipped separately, and the schism became complete in the prison. (This waa in the year 306, according to Baronius, A fi- nales, ann. 306, n. 44 ; or in the year 301, according to I'agi, Critica Baron., ann. 306, n. 29.) Peter afterwards suffered martyr- dom ; but Meletius and others were trans- ported from place to place, sometimes shut up in the mines, and sometimes banished to distant regions ; and everywhere Meletiu* spread his principles, ordained bishops, pres- byters, and deacons, and erected separate churches, his followers having no communion with the others. Peter's successors retained the ancient churches, which were called the churches of the Catholics, while the new 870 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART IL CHAP. III. 1&. Not long after Melctius, one Eustathius excited great commo- tions in Armenia, Pontus, and the neighbouring countries, and was there- churches erected by the Meletians bore the title of the martyrs' churches. According to this account of the origin of the schism, the only crime of Mclctius was, that he erected separate churches, and ordained bish- ops and curates over them, not subject to the abp. of Alexandria and not holding commun- ion with the Catholics. Nor is any other crime alleged against him by the council of Nice which censured him, nor by the four bishops and martyrs (Hesychius, Pachomius, Theodoras, and Phileas), who remonstrated with him for his conduct. (See their letter in Maffei Osservazioni Letterarie, torn, iii., Verona, 1738; comp. Euseb., H. E., lib, viii., c. 13.) What therefore Athanasnis charges upon him as his greatest offence, and that for which especially Peter deposed him, namely, that he offered sacrifices to idols, is not only inconsistent with the explicit state- ment of Epiphanius, that Meletius was a con fessor in bonds at the time the schism com* menced, and for a long time both before and after ; but is also highly improbable, not to say impossible, from the fact that the Mele- tian party owed its existence to its peculiar rigour against the lapsed ; for such a party cannot be supposed to have been formed and guided from its commencement by the most notorious of all the lapsed, and one already deposed for this very crime. While they separated from the Catholic church as being impure, because it tolerated lapsed Chris- tians, could they have a lapsed bishop for their founder and leader, and so admire and honour him as to call themselves after his name 1 or would such a bishop wish to get up a sect to bear testimony against his own sin and shame 1 It is incredible. And as this is the only crime which Athanasius spe- cifies, we may suppose that the many crimes besides this, which he does not specify, were no other than the numerous ordinations and establishment of churches above stated. That Melctius was entirely sound in the faith, or was never at any time chargeable with any heresy, is stated repeatedly and explicitly by Epiphanius. As this schism withdrew a large number of bishops and churches from the jurisdiction of the Egyptian primate, and greatly curtailed his power, Peter and his successors regarded it as a sore evil ; and the pious generally must have been pained to see such divisions and strife among Chris- tians. The subject was therefore brought before the council of Nice in 325. And that assembly decreed that the abp. of Alexandria should have jurisdiction, as formerly, over all the churches and clergy in Egypt, Libya, and Pentapolis ; that Meletius should retain the rank and honours of a bishop, but with- out the power of ordaining, and that he should perform no episcopal functions what- ever out of his own diocese ; and that those whom he had ordained should take rank after such as had been ordained by the archbishop, and might succeed them only on being duly elected and confirmed by the primate. (See the letter of the council to the African clergy, in Socrates, H. E., lib. i., c. 9.) On the return of abp. Alexander from the council, he demanded of Meletius a list of all the bishops he had ordained anywhere, and also of the presbyters and deacons whom he had ordained in Alexandria and its suburbs. The object of the abp. was, to be able to detect any future ordinations by Meletius. Such a list was readily given ; and it embraced the names of 28 bishops with their places of residence, and 4 presbyters and 5 deacons at Alexandria. (Athanasius^ Apolog. ad Imp. Constantinum, Opp., t. i., p. 788-9.) From this we may form some idea of the extent of the Meletian schism ; for Athanasius says, (ibid., p. 788), that there were in Egypt, Libya, and Pentapolis, nearly 100 bishops in his communion. And if Meletius and 23 others were schismatics, they must have con- stituted almost one fourth part of all the bishops. But after the council of Nice, sev- eral submitted to the archbishop, so that tho number probably diminished Meletius did not long survive his censure ; and after his death, Alexander resorted to coercive meas- ures in order to bring the Meletians to sub- mission. This induced them to despatch Paphnutius, a celebrated anchorite and saint, John, their chief bishop, a very venerable man, Callmicus, a bishop in Pelusium, with some others of their number, as venvoys to the emperor Constantino to supplicate the protection of the government. But the offi- cers of the palace, who knew nothing of the Meletian sect, refused the envoys all access to the emperor. After waiting some time, they applied to Eusebius bp. of Nicomedia, who promised to assist them, provided they would associate freely with Anus, who had just given a specious statement of his faith. They consented ; and by the assistance of Eusebius they obtained from the emperor the privileges of a tolerated sect whom none were to molest. But the Meletians were thus brought into an alliance with the Arians, and. of course became involved in their contests, and shared in their odium. It happened to them, says Epiphanius, according to the proverb ; In flying from the smoke, they fell HISTORY OF THEOLOGY. 271 fare Condemned in the council of Gangra, which was held not long aftef the Nicenc council. Whether this man was Ewtatkhu, the bishop of Se- baste in Armenia, who was the coryphuuus of the'Semiarians, or whether the ancients confounded two persons of the same name, is debated with about equal weight of argument on both sides. (38) The founder of the Eustathian sect is charged, not so much with unsoundness in the faith, as with unreasonable practical notions. For he is said to have prohibited mar- riage, the: use of flesh and wine, love-feasts, &c., and to have recommend- <:d immediate divorce to all married persons, and to have granted to chil- dren and servants the liberty of violating commands of their parents and masters, under pretext of religion. (39) 20. Lucifer, bishop of Cagliari in Sardinia, a man of decision, stern- ness, and vigour, who was driven into exile by the. emperor ConsUmline for defending the Niccne doctrine of three persons in one God, first sep- arated from Eusebius of Vercelli, in the year 363, because the latter was displeased that the former had consecrated Paulinus bishop of the church of Antioch ; and he afterwards separated himself from the communion of the whole church, because it had decreed that absolution might be granted to- into the fire. And from that time onward, by associating with the Arians, many of them embraced the sentiments of Arius. (See Epiplianius, Haeres. 68, and Sozomen, H. E., lib. ii., c. 21.) On the death of abp Alexander, (A.D. 326) the Meletians elected One Tkeonas to succeed him. But Theonas died three months after, and Athanasius took quiet possession of the chair. During half a. century he was in open war with the Ari- nns and Meletians, who combined against him, and were a chief cause of his frequent and long banishments, and of all the vexa- tions he endured. (Epiphanius, Haeres. 68. Sozomen, Hist. Eccles., lib. ii., c. 22, 23.) -Tr.] (38) See Sam. Basnage, Annales Politi- co- Ecclcsiast., torn, ii., p. 840, &c. (39) Socrates, Hist. Eccles., 1. ii., c. 43. Sozomcn, Hist. Eccles., 1. iii , c. 14, 1. iv., c. 24. Epiphannts, Haeres. Ixvi., p. 910. Philottargnu, Hist. Eccles., 1. iii., c. 16. Wolfg. Gundlinir, Notae ad Concilium Gan- grense, p. 9, &c. [The younger Walch, in his Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. iii., p. 536- 577, has treated circumstantially and solidly concerning the Eustathians. See also his Historic der Kirchenversammlungen, p. 216, &c. The chief sources for a history of the Eustathians, are the documents of the coun- cil of Gangra, consisting of a synodical epis- tle and 20 canons. From these sources both Socrates and Sozomcn derived their informa- tion. The author of the Life of St. Hasil, which is prefixed to the third vol. of the works of Basil, maintains, (ch. 5, 4, &c.), that the founder of this party was not Eusta- thius, but rather Acrius ; and that of course the persons \vith whom the council of Gan- gra had to do, should not be called Eusta- thians, but Aerians. But his arguments are not so powerful as to compel a reflecting reader to abandon the common opinion. Whether the bishop of Scbaxtc in Armenia, who is so famous in the history of the Ariaii heresy, and who had some connexion with Aerius, or another Eustathius, was the au- thor of this controversy, cannot be deter- mined with certainty. Yet the argument?) for the first supposition seem to preponder- ate. This 'Euslatkiits was a pupil of A r.nus, and a lover of monkery. Many different councils passed their judgment on him, some putting him down, and others regard- ing him as a valuable man. He has been accused of instability in his belief; but he seems properly to have been a Semiarian, His character is described to us by some impartial writers, as being very commenda- ble. The synodical epistle of the council of Gangra is addressed to the bishops of Arme- nia, and censures various faults, which for the most part relate to monkish usages : and the canons enjoin the opposite of the new regulations. The Eustathians so abhorred matrimony as to maintain that a married lady/ though pious, conld not be saved if she con- tinued to cohabit with her husband. They forbid eating flesh, or receiving the holy supper from a married priest, on pain of forfeiting salvation. They contemned tho buildings erected for public worship, and held their meetings in private. They al- lowed a woman to forsake her husband, pa- rents their children, and children their j- rents, on pretence of devoting themselves to a stricter mode of life, &c. Sthl.} 272 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART II. CHAP. III. those bishops who under Constantius had deserted to the Arians.(40) At (40) Rufinus, Hist. Eccles., lib. i., c. 30. Socrates, Hist. Eccles., lib. iii., c. 9. See also Tillemont, Memoires pour servira 1'His- toire de PEglise, tome vii., p. 521, ed. Paris : [and, above all others. Watch, Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. iii., p. 338-377. From him, we shall enlarge the account given by Dr. Mosheim. When the orthodox party, under Co7istantius, and after the to them adverse result of the council of Aries, found themselves in great danger, and were de- liberating about requesting the emperor to summon a new council, Lucifer proceeded to Rome, and being constituted envoy of the Romish bishop Liberius, he thence repaired to the imperial court in Gaul, and obtained of the emperor the council of Milan ; by which however the emperor intended to further his own purposes. And as Lucifer was one of those who in that council zeal- ously espoused the cause of the orthodox, he fell under the emperor's displeasure, and was sent among others into banishment. When the death of the emperor left him at liberty to return from exile, he became involved in the Meletian controversy at Antioch, and this occasioned his falling out with Eusebius bishop of Vercelli. For he brought forward and consecrated the aged Paulimis as bp. of Antioch ; which Euscbius greatly disap- proved, because, according to the decrees of the council held at Alexandria by Athana- sius, he with Lucifer were commissioned to heal the divisions at Antioch, which were now widened still farther by the unwise step of Lucifer. The same council had also de- creed that the Arian bishops, and still more those who had only held communion with such bishops, might, after acceding to the Nicene creed, be received into the church and remain in their offices. The refusal of Eusebius to approve of his proceedings at Antioch, and the mild regulations of the Alexandrian council respecting those whom Lucifer accounted apostate bishops, which he could by no means approve, induced him to break off all church communion with such as approved those regulations ; and thence arose the schism which bears his name. After this separation he continued to exer- cise his functions at Cagliari for nine years, and at last died at an advanced age. Schl. See, for account of his writings, note, p. 257. The following more full account of the Meletiar. controversy at Antioch, is given by Schlegel from Dr. Watch's Hist, der Ketzer- eyen. After the council of Nice, Eusta- thius bishop of Antioch very strenuously op- posed the progress of Arian doctrines, and was therefore deprived of his office, and another was elected in his place who was more favourable to the Arians, and after him succeeded others, all holding Arian senti- ments. The last of these was Eudoxius, who was removed to Constantinople on the deposition of Maccdonius bp. of that city, (A.D. 360). Meletius of Syria, was now chosen bishop of Antioch by a council. He had before been bishop of Sebaste. and the heads of the Arian party supposed him to hold the Arian sentiments. He at least held communion with Arians, and had by his vir- tuous life obtained a high reputation. At first Meletius concealed his sentiments, and in his public discourses treated only on practical subjects. But as one part of his hearers were orthodox, and the other part Arians, he did not long leave them in uncer- tainty, but acknowledged to them his con- viction of the correctness of the Nicene faith. This acknowledgment was the source of much suffering to Meletius. The Arians resented it very highly, that he should disap- point their expectations ; and as he would not retract, they deprived him of his office A.D. 362, by the aid of the emperor Con- stantius, and banished him from the country. Meletius now left Antioch and went to his native city Melitene. In his place, Euzoius one of the oldest friends of Arius, was ap- pointed. But the orthodox, who would not acknowledge him as a bishop, now wholly ceased to worship with the Arians, which they had done up to this time. Thus there were now three parties at Antioch. The Arians who acknowledged Euzoius for their bishop ; the Eustathians, who, ever since the deposition of Eustatluus (A.D. 327), whom they regarded as the legitimate bishop of Antioch, had ceased to worship with the Arians, and held their separate meetings without making disturbance ; and the Mele- tians, who were the majority, and who ac- knowledged Meletius for the legitimate bish- op. The Meletians were willing to unite with the Eustathians, on condition that they would look upon Meletius as themselves did. But the Eustathians refused to do so, and would not acknowledge the Meletians for brethren, because they considered both them and their bishop as not pure enough from the Arian infection. Athanasius, Eusebius of Vercelli, and Lucifer attempted to reconcile these divisions. Lucifer afterwards (A.D. 362) consecrated a new bishop of Antioch ; whom however the Eustathians only would receive. Meletius now came back to Anti- och ; and thus there were two orthodox bish- ops of Antioch, Paulinus (the Eustathian bishop), and Meletius; and the difficulties HISTORY OF THEOLOGY. 273 least this is certain, that the little company of his followers, or the Lucife* rians, would have no intercourse with the bishops who joined themselves to the Arian sect, nor with those who had absolved these bishops after con. fessing their fault ; and thus they renounced the whole church. (41) They are likewise reported to have held erroneous sentiments respecting the hu- man soul, viewing it as generated from the bodies of the parents, or as transfused by the parents into their children. (42) 21. About the same time, or not much after, Aerius, a presbyter, monk, and Seniiarian, rent Armenia, Pontus, and Cappadocia, by opinions wide of those commonly received, and thus founded a sect. First he main- tained that (jure divino), by divine appointment, there was no difference between bishops and presbyters. Yet it is not very clear, how far he carried this sentiment, though it is certain that it was very pleasing to many, who were disgusted with the pride and arrogance of the bishops of that age. In the next place, Aerius disapproved of prayers for the dead, the stated fasts, the celebration of Easter, and other things which most persons regarded as the very soul of religion.(43) He seems to have aimed to re- were increased rather than settled by the stored. Flavianus was acknowledged by procedure of Lucifer. The foreign bishops the foreign bishops as the bishop of Antioch. took part in this controversy. Athanasius Yet there remained a little handful of Eu- looked on Paxlinu-s as the most orthodox, ttathiatis, who did not unite with the general and therefore he and the greater part of the church till Flavianus was succeeded by other West, with the Island of Cyprus, took the .bishops. See Walch, Ketzerhistorie, vol. side of Paulinits. The eastern bishops were on the side of Meletius ; who was exiled by iv., p. 410-502. Sc A/.] (41) See the petition addressed lo Theo- the emperor Valens, but returned after that dosius by Marcdlinus and Faustinus, two emperor's death, arid suddenly died, (A.D. Luciferians ; in the Works of Is. Sirmond, 381). The Greek and the Latin churches enrolled him among the saints, after his torn, ii., p. 229, &c. (42) See Augustine, de Haeres., c. 81 ; death. As respects the Latin church, this and on that passage, Lamb. Danaeu-s, p. 346. was a very extraordinary transaction. Me- [This account is very uncertain ; and Au- letuis died entirely out of communion with gustinc himself does not state it as a matter the Romish see; and yet he is numbered of certainty. See Walch, 1. c., p. 368. Schl.] among their saints ! Either the pope then must be not infallible, or the Romish church (43) Epiphanius, Haeres. Ixxv., p. 905, worships as saints, persons who, according &c. Augustine, de Haeres., c. 63, and to her own principles, arc unworthy of wor- some others. [The last is not a witness of ship. The death of Mdctius did not restore much weight. He had no acquaintance with peace at Antioch. The Mclctians, instead the Aerians, but took one part of his state- of acknowledging Paulmus for a legitimate ment from Epiphanius, (ubi supra), and the bishop, elected Flavianus, an orthodox and other from Ptiilastrius, de Haeres., c. 72, p. irreproachable character, for a successor to 140. Epiphanius had it in his power to get, Mdfinm. This Flaviaitus was supported and did get, better information respecting by the bishops of Syria, Palestine, Phceni- the Oriental controversies than Philastrius cia, Cappadocia, Galatia, the lesser Asia, could. The latter speaks of Aerius, as of and Thrace ; on the side of Paulinus were one unknown to him ; the former, as of one the bishops of Rome and Italy, and of Egypt whose history he well knew, and who was and Arabia, who wished for the deposition of then alive. Epiphanius knew the Encra- Flavianus. Paulinas died (in 389) ; but tiles very well, and he distinguishes them instead of giving peace to the church, in- from the A erians ; but Philastrius confounds fluonced probably by a fanatical obstinacy, them. A'irivs was a native of Pontus, or he before his death consecrated over his lit- of the lesser Armenia, an eloquent man, and tie party one Eragrius as his successor, a friend of the well-known Seniiarian Eutta- Soon after, (A.D. 393), Eeagrius died : but thius, afterwards bishop of Sebaste, with the disunion still continued. Finally, through whom he lived at the same time among the pru'.lence and the pacific temper of the monks. The elevation of Eustalhiu* to Chrysostom, peace and ecclesiastical com- the see of Sebaste, first awakened envy in munion between 'he two parties were re- Airiut, he having himself aspired after that VOL. I. M M 274 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART II. CHAP. III. duce religion to its primitive simplicity, a design which in itself considered was laudable, though in the motives and the mode of proceeding there were perhaps some things censurable. 22. There were various persons of this sort in the fourth century, who were disgusted with the progress of superstition and of errors respect- ing the true nature of religion, and who opposed the general current ; but the only fruit of their labour, was, that they were branded with infamy. Eminent among them was Jovinian, an Italian monk, who taught first at Rome and then at Milan, near the close of the century, and persuaded many, that all persons whatsoever, if they keep the vows they make to Christ in baptism and live godly lives, have an equal title to the rewards of heaven ; and consequently, that those who spend their lives in celibacy or macerate their bodies by fasting, are no more acceptable to God, than those who live in wedlock, and nourish their bodies with moderation and sobriety. These sentiments were first condemned by the church of Rome, and then by Ambrose in a council held at Milan in the year 390. (44) The emperor Honorius enacted penal laws against persons holding such senti- ments, and Jovinian he banished to the island Boa. (45) Jovinian pub- promotion. To allay that feeling, Eustathi- us made his friend a presbyter, and commit- ted to his care the superintendence of a house for the reception of strangers. But the good understanding between them was of short continuance. Aerius could be re- strained by nothing from his restless conduct towards his bishop, whom he accused of av- arice and misappropriation of the funds for the poor. At last they came to a breach. Aerius abandoned his office and his hospi- tal, and acquired many adherents ; who how- ever nowhere found indulgence, as the dispo- sition to persecute was then almost universal among the clergy. Aerius maintained, that in the times of the apostles, there was no difference between a bishop and a presbyter ; and this he solidly proved from passages in Paul. He was not disposed to abolish the human rights of bishops, but only to rescue the presbyters from episcopal oppression in the exercise of their legitimate functions. He held the prayers and the alms of the liv- ing for the dead, to be useless and danger- ous ; and discarded the regular, prescribed Christian fasts on certain days. The festival of Easter he did not wholly discard, as it is commonly supposed, but only the ceremony of slaying a lamb at Easter, which according to ancient custom was practised by some Christians. This appears from the argument by which he supported his opinion. For he says : " Christians should keep no Passover, because Paul declares Christ, slain for us, to be our Paschal Lamb." This reasoning would be insipid, if Aerius proposed by it blameable. See the younger Walch, His- torie der Ketzereyen, vol. iii., p. 321-338. Schl.] (44) Hieronymus, in Jovinianum, Opp., torn. ii. Augustine, de Haeres., c. 82. Am- brose, Ep. vi., &c. [Jovinian lived at Rome, when he advanced the doctrines which were so strenuously opposed. Yet it is uncertain, whether Rome or Milan was his native place. He was not unlearned, and he lived a single life. To the preceding doccrines of Jovin- ian, the following may be added. That Mary ceased to be a virgin by bringing forth Christ, which some denied : that the de- grees of future blessedness do not depend on the meritoriousness of our good works ; and that a truly converted Christian, so long as he is such, can not sin wilfully, but will so resist the temptations of the devil as not to be overcome by him. For these doctrines, Jovinian was accused by some Christians at Rome before Siricius the Roman bishop. A council was assembled by Siricius, by which Jovinian was condemned and excom- municated. He then retired with his friends to Milan. There they were condemned by a council which Ami/rose assembled. By such persecution, the party was soon crush- ed. See Walck, Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. iii., p. G35-682. Schl.} (45) Codex Theodosianus, torn, iii., p. 218, torn, vi., p. 193. [This law is dated in the year 412. But according to the rep- resentation of Jerome, Jovinian must, in the year 406, have been dead some considerable time. The law therefore must either have to put down altogether the whole festival of been aimed against altogether a different Easter. Aerius was therefore in the right, and his opposers in the wrong. Only his obstinacy in pushing matters to a schism, is person and there appear in it no traces of the complaints brought against Jovinian or the date of it must be erroneous, as was con- HISTORY OF THEOLOGY. 875 lished his opinions in a book, against which Jerome in the following cen- tury wrote a most bitter and abusive treatise, which is still extant. 23. Of all the religious controversies [among the orthodox], those concerning Origen made the greatest noise and continued the longest. Though Origen had long been accused of many errors, yet hitherto most Christians had regarded his name with veneration. But now the Arians, cunningly looking on every side for support, maintained that this great man had been of their party. Some believed them, and therefore indulged the same hatred towards Origen, as towards the Arians. Yet some of the most eminent and best informed men resisted the charge, and strove to vindicate the reputation of their master against these aspersions. Among these Eusebius, bishop of Csesarea, stood pre-eminent, in consequence of his written Apology for Origen. And I believe, this storm raised against the honour of a man to whom the whole Christian world paid respect, would have soon subsided, if new commotions had not arisen, which pro- ceeded from another source. 24. All the monks, and especially those of Egypt, were enthusiastic admirers of Origen ; and they spared no pains to disseminate everywhere the opinions which they imbibed from him. Yet they could not persuade all to believe that those opinions were sound and correct. Hence first ap- peared a kind of smothered disagreement respecting the character of Ori- gen's doctrines, which advanced gradually till it became an open flame. Among many others, John the bishop of Jerusalem was in favour of Ori- gen ; and as Epiplianius and Jerome were from other causes hostile to John, they endeavoured to excite odium against him on this ground. He defended himself in such a way, as to protect the reputation of Origen, and at the same time to have the whole swarm of monks and innumerable oth- ers on his side. From this beginning, arose those vehement contests re- specting the doctrines of Origen, which pervaded both the East and the West. In the West they were fomented especially by Rujinus, a presby- ter of Aquileia, who translated some of Origen's books into Latin, and who showed not obscurely that he was pleased with the sentiments those books contained. (46) He therefore now incurred the implacable wrath of Je- rome. But at length, Rujinus being dead, and men of high reputation in the West opposing the progress of Origenism both by their influence and their writings, these commotions seemed to subside in the West. 25. In the East, far greater troubles came upon the church on ac- count of Origenism. Theophilus bishop of Alexandria, who was for vari- ous reasons hostile to some of the monks of Scetys and Nitria, taxed them with their Origenism, and ordered them to throw away the books of Ori- gen. The monks resisted his command, alleging sometimes that the objec- jectured by Tillemont, tome x., p. 229, 753. About the year 404, Vigilantius, a presby- See WaJch, Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. ter of Barcelona, appeared a still more fa- iii., p. 664, &c. Schl. Jminian was con- mous reformer. See below, cent, v., pt. ii., demned at Rome and Milan, about the year ch. iii., 14, p. 348, and Gieselcr's Text- 388, and with him these eight persons, Aux- book, tr. by Cunningham, vol. i., p. 310. entnts, Gcnmlis, Gcrminator, Fflix, Proti- Tr.] *-., Mnrtiamis, Januarius, and Jngcninxus. (46) See especially, Just. Fontaninus, About the vear 396, Sarmatio and Barbati- Historia litteraria Aquilciens., lib. iv., c. 3, anus, two monks of Milan, advanced similar &c., p. 177, &c., where he gives an elabo- doctrines at Vercellae, (Ambrose, Ep. 63, rate history of Rujinus. [al. 82, al. 25], ad Vercellensem ecclesiam). 276 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART II. CHAP. IV. tionable passages in the writings of that holy man were interpolations of the heretics, and sometimes that it was improper to condemn the whole together on account of a few censurable passages. Theophilus therefore, after condemning the Origenists in a council assembled at Alexandria, in the year 399, employed military force to drive the monks from the mount- ains of Nitria. They fled first to Jerusalem, and thence removed to Scy- thopolis ; but finding themselves insecure there likewise, they set sail for Constantinople, intending to lay their cause before the imperial court.(47) The remainder of their history belongs to the next century. But it is proper to remark, that those who are denominated Origenists in the wri- tings of this age, were not all of one character. For this ambiguous term sometimes denotes merely a person who was friendly to Origen, one who looked upon his books as corrupted, and did not defend the errors of which he was accused ; but at other times it designates persons, who admitted that Origen taught all that he was charged with teaching, and who reso- lutely defended his opinions. Of this latter class were many of the monks. CHAPTER IV. HISTORY OF CEREMONIES AND RITES. 4 1, 2. Ceremonies multiplied. $ 3. Form of Public Worship. $ 4. Some Parts of it changed. $ 5. Festal Days. 6. Fasts. 7. Administration of Baptism, 8. and of the Lord's Supper. 1. WHILE the fostering care of the emperors sought to advance the Christian religion, the indiscreet piety of the bishops obscured its true na- ture and depressed its energies, by the multiplication of rites and ceremo- nies. The observation of Augustine is well known, That the yoke once laid upon the Jews was more supportable, than that laid on many Christians- in his age.(l) For the Christian bishops introduced, with but slight al- terations, into the Christian worship, those rites and institutions by which formerly the Greeks, Romans, and other nations had manifested their piety and reverence towards their imaginary deities ; supposing that the people would more readily embrace Christianity, if they saw that the rites handed down to them from their fathers still existed unchanged among the Chris- tians, and perceived that Christ and the martyrs were worshipped in the same manner, as formerly their gods were. There was, of course, little difference, in these times, between the public worship of the Christians and that of the Greeks and Romans. In both alike there were splendid (47) See Peter Dan. Huet, Origeniana, troversy is given by the senior Walch, Hi*- lib. ii., cap. 4, p. 196, &c. Ludov. Doucin, toria Eccles. N .T., p. 1042, &c.Schl. Histoire de 1'Origenistne, liv. hi., p. 95, The history itself, but without naming au- &.c. Hieron. a Prato, Diss. vi., in Sulpi- thorities, is given by A. Neander, in his tium Severum de Monachis ob Originis Chrysostomus und dessen Zeitalter, liter nomen ex Nitria totaque Aegypto pulsis, p. Band, s. 163, &c. TV.] 273, Veron., 1741, fol. These writers cite (1) Augustine, Epist. 119, ad Januariunv the ancient authorities ; but they make some according to the ancient division, mistakes. [The literary history of this con- RITES AND CEREMONIES. 277 robes, mitres, tiaras, wax tapers. crosiers,(2) processions, lustrations, images, golden and silver vases, and numberless other things. 2. No sooner had Constantine renounced the religion of his ancestors, than magnificent temples were everywhere erected, which were adorned with pictures and images, and which both in their external and their in- ternal form were very similar to the fanes and the temples of the gods. (3) These temples were of two kinds. Some were erected at the graves of the martyrs, and were called Martyria : the people assembled in these only at stated times. Others were intended for the ordinary and common meetings for religious worship ; and were afterwards called by the Lat- ins Tit.uli.(4:) Both were consecrated with great pomp, and with rites borrowed in great measure from the ancient pontifical code of the Ro- mans. And what is more strange, a great part of religion was supposed to consist in the multitude of churches ; and the right of patronage, as it is called, was introduced among Christians, for no other reason than to in- duce opulent persons to build churches. (5) Thus, in this particular the true religion evidently copied after superstition. For the ancient nations sup- posed, that a country or province would be the more prosperous and secure, the more temples, fanes, and chapels were there erected to the gods and heroes ; because those gods would be ashamed not to show themselves pa- trons and defenders of the people who worshipped and honoured them with so much zeal. The same sentiment prevailed among the Christians. They supposed, the more temples there were dedicated to Christ, to his servants and his friends, the more certain they might be of assistance from Christ and his friends. For they supposed God, Christ, and the inhabi- tants of heaven, equally with us wretched mortals, to be delighted and cap- tivated with external signs and expressions of respect. 3. The Christian worship consisted in hymns, prayers, reading the holy scriptures, a discourse to the people, and then closed with the cele- bration of the Lord's Supper. But these exercises were accompanied with various ceremonies, which were better calculated to please the eye than (2) [The crosier or bishop's staff, was ex- the division into the holy of holies, the holy actly of the form of the lituus, the chief en- place, and the court ; from which came the sign of the ancient augurs. See Cicero, de chancel, the nave, and the porch. (/J/y/ia, Divinatione, 1. i., c. 17. Tr.] vadf, and vupdr/g.) Schl.] (2) See Ezek. Spanheim, Preuves sur les (4) Joh. Mabillon, Museum Italic., torn. Cesars de Julien. p. 47; but especially, ii., in Comment, ad ordin. Roman., p. xvi., Peter le Brun, Explication litterale et histor. &c. [The Tituli, of the middle ages, were des ceremonies de la Messe, tome ii., p. 101, properly the parish churches, under the care &c. For a description of such a temple, of presbyters, who derived their titles from see Eusebius, de Vita Constantini Magni, their respective churches. See Du Gange, 1. iii., c. 35, &c. Plates representing their Glossarium mediae et infimae Latinitatis, interior form, are given by Wm. Bcveridffe, voce Titulus. TV.] Adnotatt. ad Pandectas Canonum, torn, ii., (5) Just. Hcnn. Boehmer, Jus Eccles. p. 70, and by Fred. Spanheim, Institutt. Protestant., torn, iii., p. 466, &c. Biblio- Hist. Eccles., in his Opp., torn, i., p. 860. theque Italique, tome v., p. 166, &c. [Who- Some parts of the Christian temples were ever erected to any god either a larger or a after the pattern of the Jewish temple. See smaller temple, had the right of designating Camp. Vitringa, de Synagoga veteri, lib, iii., the priests and attendants on the altar who p. 46G. [Some of these temples were new should officiate there. And whoever erected buildings erected by the emperors; others a Christian temple, possessed the same right were pagan temples transmuted to Christian in regard to those who should minister there, churches. See Codex Theodos., lib. ix., This induced many persons to build churches, tit. xvii., leg. 2, and Jerome, Chronicon, Schl.] ann. 332. From the Jews was borrowed, 278 BOOK II. CENTURY IV.PART II. CHAP. IV. to excite true devotion. (6) But all congregations did not, by any means, follow one and the same rule or form. Each individual bishop according to his own views, and as the circumstances of times, places, and persons suggested, prescribed to his own flock such a form of public worship as he judged best. Hence that variety of liturgies, which were in use be- fore the Roman pontiff arrogated to himself supreme power in religious matters, and persuaded people that they ought to copy after the principal church, the common mother of them all, as well in doctrine as in their modes of worship. 4. It would be tedious to go over all the parts of public worship ; I will therefore content myself with a few observations. The prayers lost much of their primitive simplicity and dignity, and became turgid and bombastic. Among the public hymns, the Psalms of David were now re- ceived.^) The public discourses, among the Greeks especially, were formed according to the rules for civil eloquence, and were better adapted to call forth the admiration of the rude multitude who love display, than to amend the heart. And that no folly and no senseless custom might be omit- ted in their public assemblies, the people were allowed to applaud their ora- tors, as had been practised in the forums and theatres ; nay they were in- structed both to applaud and to clap the preachers.(S) Who would suppose, that men professing to despise vainglory, and who were appointed to show to others the emptiness of all human things, would become so senseless ? 5. The first day of the week, (on which Christians were accustomed to meet for the worship of God,) Constantine required by a special law, to be observed more sacredly than before. (9) In most congregations of Chris- tians, five annual festivals were observed ; namely, in remembrance of the Saviour's birth, of his sufferings and death for the sins of men, of his resur- rection, of his ascension to heaven, and of the descent of the Holy Ghost upon his ministers. Of these festivals, that of the fourteen days sacred to the memory of Christ's return to life, was observed with much more ceremony (6) The form of public worship, or the Theodos., torn, i., p. 135. [See Eustlius, liturgy of this age, may be very well learned de Vita Constantini, lib., iv., c. 18, 19, 20, in general from Cyril of Jerusalem, Catcche- 23. Sozomen, Hist. Eccles., 1. i., c. 8. sis xxii. ; and from the Apostolic Constitu- The principal laws of Constantine and his tions, which are falsely ascribed to Clemens successors, in regard to the Lord's day and Roman. These writers are explained and the other festivals, are collected in the Co- interpreted by Peter le Brun, Explication dex Justinianus, lib. iii., tit. xii., leg. 1-11. litterale et historique de la Messe, torn, ii., The Lord's day and the other festivals were p. 53, &c., which is a very learned work, placed on the same level. On them all, the [See also Dr. Ernesti's Antimurator., p. 13, courts of justice and the public offices were &c. Schl ] to be closed, except in certain urgent cases. (7) Beausobre, Histoire du Manicheisme, Constantine, in the year 321, required the torn, ii., p. 614, &c. [They were sung in inhabitants of cities and all mechanics to course, or in their order. Joh. Cassiamis, suspend their business on the Lord's day ; Institut., lib. ii., c. 2, 4, lib. iii., c. 3. Yet but he allowed such as resided in the coun- for the public worship on certain occasions, try, full liberty to pursue their agriculture, particular Psalms were appointed , (Aufrus- because it was supposed necessary for them tine on Ps. xxi.) ; and it lay with the bishop to sow their fields and prop their vines when to designate what Psalms he would have the weather and the season best suited. The sung. Athanasius, Apolog. ii. Augustine emperor Leo, however, in the year 469, on Ps. cxxxviii. Schi.] thought agriculture required no exception ; (8) Fran. Bernh. Ferrarius, de veterum and therefore he included farmers under the acclamationibus et plausu, p. 66. same prohibition with mechanics. See Imp. (9) Ja. Gothofred, Notes to the Codex Leonis Novellae Constitut. 54. TV.] RITES AND CEREMONIES. 279 than the rest. (10) The Oriental Christians kept the memorial of the Sa- viour's birth and of his baptism, on one and the same day, namely the sixth day of January; and this day they called Epiphany. (11) But the occi- dental Christians seem always to have consecrated the 25th of December to the memory of the Saviour's birth. For what is reported of the Ro- man pontiff Julian I. that he transferred the memorial of Christ's birth from the 6th of January to the 25th of December,(12) appears to me very (10) Gothofred, Notes on the Codex The- odos., torn, i., p. 143. (11) See Beausobre, Histoire du Maniche- isme, torn, ii., p. 693, &c. (12) See Jos. Sim. Asseman, Biblioth. Orient. Clement. Vaticana, torn, ii., p. 164. Alph. du Vtgnoles, Dissert, in the Biblioth. German., torn, ii., p. 29. [Additional re- marks on the origin of the festivals. The first Christians, being chiefly Jews who were accustomed to assemble at Jerusalem on the great festivals, found it advantageous after their conversion to continue to meet in that city on the two great feasts of the Passover and Pentecost. While thus assembled at Jerusalem, they would naturally recognise with thrilling emotions the recurring anni- versaries of their Lord's crucifixion, resur- rection from the dead, ascension to heaven, and sending down the H. Spirit upon them on the day of Pentecost. All these days occurred during the Jewish feasts of the Passover and Pentecost, or in the interval between them ; and they answer to the fes- tivals of Good Friday, Easter Sunday, As- cension Day, and Whitsuntide. These four days having been observed from the earliest times with peculiar interest, were at length considered as Christian festivals which apos- tolic usage had introduced, and they were accordingly sanctioned by the authority of general councils. And St. Augustine (Ep. 54, al. 118, c. i.) mentions them as the only festivals which were regarded, in his times, as having such an origin and such a sanction. He admits, indeed, that the Christians of his age observed also Christmas or the day of Christ's nativity as a festival, but he consid- ers it as of later origin, and less sacred than the four above mentioned. (Augustine, Ep. 55, al. 119, c. i.) As Augustine represents Christmas as neither derived from apostolic usage nor sanctioned by any general council, Adr. Battlet very candidly says, (Vies des Saints, t. iii., p. 298), there can be no rea- sonable doubt, that it had its rise after the council i>f Nice. Such a conclusion is the more probable from the omission of the An- tenicene fathers to speak of any such festival in the church, and from their great indiffer- ence about ascertaining the day of the Sa- viour's birth. The following passage from Clemens Alex., (Stromata, 1. i., p. 340, al. 249), is almost the only genuine passage of an Anteniccne writer, which can be suppo- sed to allude at all to such a festival ; and as it states the different conjectures in that age respecting the day of Christ's birth, and manifests the indifference with which even the learned treated the subject, the passage is worth repeating entire. Clement had just given a list of all the Roman emperors till the death of Commodus, A.D. 192, and had stated in what years of certain emperors the Saviour was either born, or baptized, or cru- cified. He then says : " There are some who over curiously (irepiepyorepov) assign not only the year, but also the day of our Saviour's nativity, which they say was in the 28th year of Augustus, on the (25th of Pa- chon) 20/A of May. And the followers of Basilides observe also the day of his baptism as a festival, spending the whole previous night in reading ; and they say, it was in the 15th year of Tiberius Cssar, on the (15th of Tybi) I Oth of January ; but some say it was on the (llth) 6th of that month. Among those who nicely calculate the time of his passion, some say it was in the 16th year of Tiberius Caesar, the (25th of Phamenoth) 22d of March; others say, the (25th of Pharmuthi) 21st of April ; and others, that it was on the (19th of Pharmuthi) 15th of April, that the Saviour suffered. Nay, some of them say that he was born in (Pharmuthi) April, the (24th or 25th) 20/A or 2lst day." -After the establishment of Christianity by Constantine, and among the new institutions which were intended for the benefit of the church, we seem authorized to place the commemoration of Christ's advent. This the Oriental Christians generally assigned to the 6th of January, on which day they supposed both the birth and the baptism of Christ oc- curred, and in reference to both they called it Epiphany. But the western Christians observed the 25th of December as their festi- val of the nativity. According to an epistle of John, abp. of Nice, (in the Auctar. Bibl. Pair., ed. Combefis, t. ii., p. 297), and an anonymous writer cited by Cotelerius, (ad Constitut. Apostol., v., 13), it was Julian I. (bp. of Rome A.D. 337-352) who first as- certained this to be the right day : and though this authority is not the best, yet it is generally admitted that the designation of 280 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART II. CHAP. IV. questionable. The unlucky success of the age in finding the dead bodies of certain holy men. increased immensely the commemoration of martyrs. Devout men would have readily consented to the multiplication of festivals, if the time that Christians consumed in them had been employed to ad- vance them in true holiness. But the majority spent the time rather in idleness, and dissipation, and other vices, than in the worship of God. It is well known, among other things, what opportunities of sinning were of- fered to the licentious by the Vigils, as they were called, of Easter and Whitsuntide, [or the nocturnal meetings, held on the nights preceding the Paschal and Pentecostal festivals.] 6. It was believed that nothing scarcely was more effectual, to repel the assaults of evil spirits and to placate the Deity, than fasting. Hence it is easy to discover, why the rulers of the church ordained fasts by ex- press laws, and commanded as a necessary duty, what was before leil at discretion. The Quadragesimal [or Lent] fast, as it was called, was con- sidered more sacred than all the rest ; though it was not as yet fixed to a determinate number of days. (13) But it should be remembered, that the the 25th of December for the festival, was of the follies and censurable practices which first made about the middle of the fourth century. Afterwards the Oriental churches gradually came into the Roman custom, and most of them before the end of the century. And on the other hand, the western church- es adopted the Oriental Epiphany, on the 6th of January, as the proper festival of Christ's baptism. The motives which led the western churches to place the festival of the nativity on the 25th of December, are not clearly ascertained. Some among the Catholics, (e. g., John Harduin), and many among the Protestants, (e g., Hospinian, Ja- blonski, Eisenschmid, Gieseler, &c.), think that day was chosen, because it was the day on which the Romans celebrated their festi- val of natalis soils invicti, or of the sun's passing the southern solstice and beginning to return northward a fit emblem of the ap- proach of the Sun of Righteousness to mor- tals ; (see the orations of Augustine and Chrysostom on the nativity of Christ) : and because the establishment of a Christian fes- tival of several days, at that season of the year, might supplant the Saturnalia and oth- er corrupting festivals of the pagans. But other reasons may be stated. As the true day of the nativity was then unknown, and as divers hypothetical arguments were ad- vanced which led to different conclusions, there were doubtless many persons in that age, as there are in this, who believed that the 25th of December was the most probable day. And all might have felt it desirable, to have a Christian festival at some other sea- son of the year, than the 50 or 60 days next after the vernal equinox, into which all the older festivals were clustered. From the first institution of this festival, the western nations seem to have transferred to it many prevailed in the pagan festivals of the same season, such as adorning the churches fan- tastically, mingling puppet-shows and dramas with worship, universal feasting and merri- making, Christmas visits and salutations, Christmas presents and jocularity, and Christmas revelry and drunkenness. For from the days of Augustine and Chrysostom down to our own times, we find many de- vout persons deprecating the heathenish manner in which the festival was kept, and labouring to give it a more Christian charac- ter. The Christmas holydays, which by a law of Theodosius the Gr., (emperor A.D. 383-395), were to comprise 14 days, or the seven days before Christmas and the seven days after, (Codex Justinian., lib. iii., tit. xii., leg 2), have borne so close a resemblance, wherever they have been observed, to the Roman Saturnalia, Sigillaria, &c., and to the Juel feast of the ancient Goths, as to af- ford strong presumption of an unhappy alli- ance between them from the first. (See Air. Ba.il/et, Vies des Saints, Dec. 25, torn, iii., p. 295, &c. G. B. Eisenschmid, Ges- chichte der Sonn-und Festage, Lips., 1793, p. 99, &c. R. Hospinian, de Orig. Festor. Christ., ed. 1684, p. 168, &c. A. Neander, Kirchengesch., vol. i.. pt. ii., p. 527, &c., and his Chrysostomus und dessen Zeitalter, vol. i., p. 236, &c , 259, &c., 288, &c. M. Schroeckh, Kirchengesch., vol. x., p. 349, &c. J. Bingham, Origines Ecclesiast., book xx., ch. iv.) Tr.] (13) Joh. Daille, de Jejuniis et Quadra- gesima, lib. iv. [The Quadragesimal fast was at first of only 40 hours ; afterwards, it was extended to several days, and even weeks ; and at last settled at 36 days. In the Oriental churches, Lent commenced with RITES AND CEREMONIES. 281 fasts of this age differed much from those observed by Christians in preceding ages. Anciently, those who undertook to observe a fast, ab- stained altogether from food and drink ; in this age, many deemed it suf- ficient merely to omit the use of flesh and wine :(14) and this sentiment afterwards became universal among the Latins. 7. For the more convenient administration of baptism, sacred fonts or baptisteria(l5) were erected in the porches of the temples. This sa- cred rite was always administered, except in cases of necessity when the rule was dispensed with, on the vigils of Easter and Whitsuntide, accom- panied with lighted wax candles, and by the bishop, or by the presbyters whom the bp. commissioned for that purpose. In some places, salt, a symbol of purity and wisdom, was put into the mouth of the baptized ; and everywhere, a double anointing was used, the first before and the other after the baptism. After being baptized, the persons appeared clad in white gowns during seven days. The other rites, which were either of temporary duration, or confined to certain countries, are here omitted. 8. The instruction and discipline of the catechumens were the same in this century as the preceding. That the Lord's Supper was adminis- tered twice or three times a week, (though in some places only on Sunday), to all who assembled for the worship of God, appears from innumerable testimonies. It was also administered at the sepulchres of the martyrs, and at funerals ; whence arose, afterwards, the masses in honour of the saints, and for the dead. The bread and wine were now everywhere ele- vated, before distribution, so that they might be seen by the people, and be viewed with reverence ; and hence arose, not long after, the adoration of the symbols. Neither catechumens, nor penitents, nor those who were sup- posed to be under the power of evil spirits, were allowed to be present at this sacred ordinance ; nor did the sacred orators, in their public discour- ses, venture to speak openly and plainly concerning the true nature of it. The origin of this custom was not very honourable, as has been stated be- fore ; yet many offer an honourable excuse for it, by saying, that this con- cealment might awaken eagerness in the catechumens to penetrate early into these mysteries the seventh week before Easter, because (14) See Joh. Barbeyrac, de la Morale two days in each week they suspended the des Peres, p. 250, &c. fast; but in the western churches, it com- (15) [The Baptisteries were properly menced with the sixth week, because they buildings adjacent to the churches, in which fasted on the Sundays. Finally, Gregory the the catechumens were instructed, and where Great, in the sixth century, or as others say, were a sort of cisterns, into which water was Gregory II. in the eighth century, added let at the time of baptism, and in which the four days more to this fast, so as to make it candidates were baptized by immersion. See full 40 days. In the fourth century, however, Banmparten's Erlauterung der christlichen the Lent fast was in a degree optional ; and Alterthiimer, p 388. Schl. See also Rob. the people were exhorted with entreaties to Robertson's History of Baptism, ch. 12, p. its observance. See Rauntpartcn's Erlaut. 67-73, ed. Benedict, 1817. Tr.} der christ. Alterthiimer, p. 329, &c. Schl.] VOL. I. N N 282 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART II. CHAP. V. CHAPTER V. HISTORY OF THE HERESIES. $ 1. Remains of the former Sects. 2, 3. Origin of the Donatist Controversy. $ 4. History of the Donatists. 5, 6. Origin of the Circumcelliones. 7. State of the Donatists under the Emperors Julian and Gratian. 8. Their principal Crime. 9. The Doctrine of this Age concerning the sacred Trinity. $ 10. The Rise of Arianism. $ 11. Its Progress. $ 12. The Nicene Council. $ 13. History of Arianism after that Council, $ 14. under the Sons of Constantine, $ 15. under Julian, Jovian, &c. $ 16. Sects among the Arians. 17. Heresy of Apollinaris. $ 18. Marcelius of Ancyra. $ 19. Heresy of Photinus. $ 20. That of Macedonius. The Council of Con- stantinople. $ 21, 22. The Prise ill ianists. 23. The minor Sects. Audaeus. 24, 25. Messalians, or Euchites. 1. THE seeds and remains of those sects which were conspicuous in the preceding centuries, continued in this, especially in the East ; nor did they cease to make some proselytes, notwithstanding the absurdity of their opinions. The Manichaean sect beyond others, and by its very turpitude, ensnared many ; and often, persons of good talents also, as appears by the example of Augustine. This wide-spreading pestilence, the most respect- able doctors of the age, and among them Augustine when recovered from his infatuation, made efforts to arrest ; some indeed with more learning and discrimination, and others with less, but none of them without some success. But the disease could not be wholly extirpated, either by books or by severe laws,(l) but after remaining latent for a time, and when most people supposed it extinct, it would break out again with greater violence. For the Manichaeans, to avoid the severity of the laws, assumed successively various names, as Encratitcs, Apotactics, Saccophori, Hydroparastites, Sol- iiaries, &c., and under these names, they often lay concealed for a time ; but not long, for the vigilance of their enemies would find them out. (2) 2. But the state had little to fear from these people, whose energies were gradually impaired and oppressed in the Roman empire by penal laws and persecutions. A much more threatening storm arose in Africa, which though small in its commencement, kept both the church and the state in commotion for more than a century. Mensurius the bishop of Carthage in Africa dying in the year 311, the majority of the people and of the clergy elected Ccecilian the archdeacon to the vacant chair ; and he was (1) See in the Codex Thcodosianus, torn, merated by Dr. Walr.h, in his Historie der vi., pt. i., ed. Ritter, various and peculiarly Ketzereyen, vol. i., p. 808, &c. SrM.] severe laws of the emperors against the Ma- (2) See the law of Theodosius, in the Co- nichaeans. In the year 372, Valentinian dex Theodos., torn, vi., p. 134, 136-138. senior forbid their holding meetings, and laid [The popular names assumed by the Mani- their preachers under heavy penalties, p. 126. chaeans, were, kyKparlTat, Continents, from In the year 381, Theodosius the Great pro- their condemning marriage ; UTTOTUKTIKOI, set nounced them infamous, and deprived them apart or consecrated to God ; aaicKoQopoi, of all the rights of citizens, p. 133. See wearers of sackcloth ; v6poTrapa.fu.Tai, pre- other laws even more severe than these, p. senters of water, from their using water only 137, 138, 170, &c. [The writers who con- in the eucharist ; and Solilarii, Solitaries or futed the Manichaeans, are very fully enu- monks. Tr.] HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 283 consecrated immediately, without waiting for the bishops of Numidia, by the bishops of Africa [Proper, or the province of which Carthage was the capi- tal]. The Numidian bishops, who according to custom should have been present at the consecration, were highly offended at being excluded from the ceremony ; and therefore, having assembled at Carthage, they summoned Cacilian to appear before them. The feelings of these excited bishops were still more inflamed, by the efforts of certain presbyters of Carthage, especially of Botrus and Celesius the competitors of Ccecilian ; and by an opulent lady named Lucf/la, who was unfriendly to Cacilian (by whom she had been reproved for her superstition) and who distributed large sums of money among those Numidians that they might vigorously oppose the new bishop. When therefore Cacilum refused to appear before the tribunal of these bishops, they, seventy in number, and headed by Secundus bishop of Tigi. sis, with the approbation of a considerable part of the clergy and people of Carthage, pronounced Ca>ci.Uan unworthy of his office, and created Majo- rinus his deacon bishop of Carthage. Hence the Carthaginian church was divided into two factions, headed by the two bishops Ccecilian and Majo- rinus. 3. The Numidians stated two grounds of their sentence against Cat. cilian. (I.) That the principal bishop concerned in his consecration, Fe- lix of Aptunga, was a traditor ; that is, that during the persecution of Di- ocletian he had delivered up the sacred books to the magistrates to be burned, and therefore that he was an apostate from Christ, and of course could not impart the Holy Ghost to the new-made bishop. (II.) That CcRciUan himself when a deacon had been hard-hearted and cruel to the witnesses for Christ, or the martyrs, during the Diocletian persecution, and had forbidden food to be carried to them in prison. To these two causes they added the contumacy of Ccecilian, who being summoned to a trial be- fore them refused to appear. Among these Numidian bishops, no one was more ardent and violent than Donatus the bishop of Casae Nigrae, whence, as most writers suppose, the whole party opposed to C&cilian were from him called Donatists ; though there are those who think the name was de- rived from another Donatus, whom the Donatists called the Great. (3) In a very short lime this controversy was diffused over the whole not only of Numidia but even of Africa, and most of the cities had two bishops, one ta- king sides with Caecilian and the other with Majorinus. 4. The Donatists having brought this controversy before Constantinc the Great in the year 313, the emperor committed the examination of it to Melchiades the Roman bishop, with whom as assessors he joined three (3) In the Donatist contests, two persons ceived several names. In the commence- of the name of Donatus distinguished them- ment of the schism, they were called (pars selves ; the one was a Numidian. and bishop Majorini) the Party of Mojnrinus. After- of Casae Niprae ; the other was the second wards they were called Donattan and Do- leader of the Donatists, succeeded Majnrinut natistt ; though they would not allow of this as bishop of Carthage, and on account of his name, which was given them by the orthodox, learning and virtues was honoured by his Finally they were called (Montenses) Mount- partisans with the title of the (irftit. The aineert, (a name which they bore only it learned have raised the question, from which Rome, and either because they held their of these men did the Donatists derive their meetings in a mountain or because they re- name 1 Arguments of about equal strength sembled the Mrmtanistt), also Camjntae, may be adduced on both side? of this unim- and Rtipitac [or Kupilani, because they t- portant question. I should think the name sembled on the plaint and among the clefts was derived from both. [The Donatists re- of the >oc**.] Schl.] 284 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART II. CHAP. V. bishops from Gaul. In this court Cacilian was acquitted of the charges alleged against him ; but the allegations against Felix of Aptunga who had consecrated him, were not examined. The emperor therefore, in the year 314, committed the cause of Felix to the separate examination of Aelian his proconsul for Africa, by whom Felix was pronounced innocent. But the Donatists raised many exceptions against the decisions of Melchiades and Aelian, and especially they objected to the small number of bishops who were joined with Melchiades as judges. They said, a formal decision of seventy venerable bishops of Numidia, ought undoubtedly to have far more weight than a decree of nineteen bishops the number present at Rome(4) and they but partially acquainted with African affairs. To quiet these murmurs the emperor, in the year 314, appointed a much larger tribunal to meet at Aries, composed of bishops from the provinces of Italy, Gaul, Germany, and Spain. Here again the Donatists lost their cause, and appealed to a trial before the emperor himself. He did not re- ject the appeal, but in the year 316 examined the cause at Milan, the par- ties being present before him. His decision also was against the Dona- tists ;(5) and this contumacious party now cast reproaches on the emperor himself; and complained that Hosius the bishop of Corduba, who was the friend both of the emperor and of Ccecilian, had corrupted the mind of the former to give an unrighteous decision. This moved the emperor's indig- nation ; and he now (in the year 316) ordered their temples to be taken from them in Africa, and the seditious bishops to be banished, and some of them also perhaps for the licentiousness of their tongues and pens to be put to death. Hence arose violent commotions and tumults in Africa, for the Donatist party was very numerous and powerful ; and the emperor in vain strove to allay these tumults by his envoys. 5. It was unquestionably amid these terrible commotions, that those called Circumcelliones(6) first originated ; a furious, headlong, sanguinary (4) [" The emperor, in his letters to Mel- peace the bishop of Rome did nothing, and chiades, named no more than three prelates, the emperor everything. In the numerous yiz., Maternus, Rketicius, and Marinus, transactions the bishop Melchiades appears bishops of Cologne, Autun, and Aries, to sit only once, and then not as supreme head of with him as judges of this controversy ; but the church, but merely as the emperor's corn- afterwards he ordered seven more to be added missioner charged with the execution of his to the number, and as many as could soon commands. No papal ordinance, no appeal and conveniently assemble ; so that they to the court of Rome, no dernier decision is were at last nineteen in all." Mncl.~\ conceivable here. Of course the ecclesias- (5) No proofs could be more clear than tical law of Africa in that age had no article those afforded by this whole controversy, of respecting the authority of the pope. On the emperor's supreme power in matters of the contrary, from the commencement till religion. Indeed, no person in those times the final subjugation of the Donatists, we thought of a single supreme judge over the everywhere meet with the emperor, imperial whole church appointed by Chn.it himself, trials, imperial commissioners, imperial laws, The conventions at Rome and Aries arc com- imperial punishments, imperial executive of- monly called councils; but whoever views ficers, all in full operation " Schl.] them impartially will perceive that they were (6) [They were called Cirr.umceltiones (va- not properly councils, but rather courts held grants), or by contraction Circellrones, from by special judges appointed by the emperor, the (cel/ae) cottages of the peasants around or to speak in the language of modern times, which they hovered, without having any fixed High Commissions. [To this opinion Dr. residence. They styled themselves Agonis- Walch subscribes, in his Historic der Ket- lid (combatants), pretending that they were zereyen, vol. iv., p. 343, &c., where he says : combating and vanquishing the devil. Dr. " The whole history speaks out plainly, that Walch, loc. cit., p. 157, thinks it cannot be in settling this controversy and restoring proved that the Circumcclliones appeared on HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 285 set, composed of the peasantry and rustic populace, who espousing the cause of the Donatists defended it by the force of arms, and roaming through the province of Africa filled it with slaughter, rapine and burn- ings, and committed the most atrocious crimes against the adverse party. This mad throng, which disregarded death and every evil, nay, faced death when there was occasion with the greatest alacrity, brought extreme odium upon the Donatists : and yet it does not appear from any unexceptionable documents, that the Donatist bishops, and especially those possessed of any measure of good sense and religion, approved or instigated their pro- ceedings. The storm continuing to increase and seeming to threaten a civil war, Constantine after attempting a reconciliation without effect, at the suggestion of the prefects of Africa, repealed the laws against the Donatists, [A.D. 321], and gave the African people full liberty to follow either of the contending parties at their own option. [The Donatists soon became very numerous throughout Africa. In sOme places they out- numbered the Catholics. In the year 330, one of their councils consisted of no less than 270 bishops. See Augustine, Ep. 93.] 6. After the death of Constantine the Great, his son Constans, to whom the African provinces were assigned, in the year 348, sent into Africa Macarius and Paulus as his lieutenants, to heal this deplorable schism, and to persuade the Donatists to a reconciliation with the orthodox. But the chief Donatist bishop Donatus, whom his sect denominated the Great, strenuously opposed a reconciliation ; and the other bishops fol- lowed his example. The Circumcelliones still contended furiously, with slaughter and war, in support of the party whose interest they espoused. After Macarius had vanquished these in battle at Bagnia [or Bagaja], he no longer recommended, but commanded peace and reconciliation. A few Donatists obeyed ; the majority either fled or were sent into banishment, and among them Donatus the Great ; but many suffered the severest pun- ishments. In this persecution of the Donatists, which lasted thirteen years, many things were done, as the Catholics themselves concede,(7) which no upright, impartial, and humane person can easily say were righteous and just. And hence the numerous complaints made by the Donatists of the cruelty of their adversaries. (8) 7. Julian on his accession to the government of the empire in the year 362, permitted the Donatists to return to their country and to enjoy their former liberty. After their return, they in a short time drew the greater part of Africa into their communion. (9) Grratian enacted indeed the stage before the time of Constans. all of it cannot by any means be approved Schl.] or justified. (7) I will here give a quotation from Op- (8) See the Collatio Carthagin. diei ter- talus of Melevi, whom none will refuse as a tiae, $ 2n8, at the end of Optaius, p. 315. witness in this case, (de Schismate Dona- (9) [When the Donatists returned by the tistor., lib. iii., () 1, p. 51, ed. Du Pin), permission of Julian, they demanded of the " AbOpcrariisunitatis" (the imperial legates orthodox the restoration of their churches. Macarius and Paulus) " multa quidem as- And as the latter were not willing to giver pere gesta sunt. Fugerur.t omnes Episcopi them up, and as little could be expected from cum clericis suis, ahqui sunt mortui : qui the civil authorities, the Donatists felt justi- forfiorcs fuerunt, capti et longe relegati fied n relying upon their own resource*, sunt." Through this whole book, Optatus The most unhappy proceedings ensued, is at much pains to apologize for this severi- which have brought lasting disgrace upon the ty, the blame of which he casts upon the Donatists. Bloodshed, merciless denial of Donatists. Yet he docs not dissemble, that the necessaries of life, violatiou f females, 286 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART II. CHAP. V, some laws against them, and especially in 377 commanded all their temples to be taken from them, and all their assemblies even in the fields and private houses to be broken up. (10) But the fury of the Circumcel- liones who were the soldiery of the Donatists, and the fear of producing intestine war, undoubtedly prevented the vigorous execution of these laws : for it appears that in the conclusion of this century the Donatist commu- nity was so extensive in Africa as to have more than 400 bishops. As the century drew to a close however, two things impaired not a little the energies of this very flourishing community. The one was a great schism in it, occasioned by one Maximinus ;(11) which afforded the Catholics great advantage in opposing the Donatists. The other was the zeal of Augustine, who was first a presbyter and then bishop of Hippo. For he assailed them most vigorously in sermons, in conferences, by his advice, by his admoni- tions, and his activity in conventions ; and being very ardent and en- ergetic, he roused against them not only Africa but all Christendom, as well as the imperial court. (12) 8. That the Donatists were sound in doctrine, their adversaries ad- mit ; nor were their lives censurable, if we except the enormities of the Circumcelliones which were detested by the greatest part of the Donatists. Their fault was, that they regarded the African church as having fallen from the rank and the privileges of a true church, and as being destitute of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, in consequence of its adherence to Ccecilian, notwithstanding his offences and those of his consecrator, Felix of Ap- tunga ; and all other churches also which united and communed with that of Africa, they looked upon as defiled and polluted ; and believed that themselves alone, on account of the sanctity of their bishops, merited the name of the true, pure, and holy church ; and in consequence of these opinions, they avoided all communion with other churches in order to escape defilement. This error led them to maintain, that the sacred rites and administrations of the Christians who disagreed with them were des- titute of all efficacy, and not only to rebaptize those who came over to them from other societies, but either to exclude from the sacred office or to reordain those ministers of religion who joined their community. This schismatic pestilence scarcely extended beyond Africa ; for the few small in a word, the worst excesses of an oppressed (12) [A full catalogue of the writings of party, which after long-continued sufferings Augustine against the Donatists, is given by felt itself authorized to take unsparing re- Dr. Walch, Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. iv., venge, attended the restoration of the Dona- p. 254, &c., and of his other efforts against lists ; and by craft and violence their con- them, an account is given, ibid., p. 181, &c. gregations were enlarged. The orthodox We will make here the single remark, that made resistance, and would not tamely suffer it was during these contests Augustine first abuse. And hence arose those tumultuous exhibited in his writings that horrid princi- scenes, which the magistrates reported to pie, that heretics are to be punished with the court ; and very probably, had Julian temporal punishments and death ; a prin- lived a little longer, persecuting laws would ciple wholly inconsistent with Christianity, have been issued by the government. See and one which in after ages served as an Dr. Walch, Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. excuse il>r inhuman cruelties. Only read iv., p. 175. Schl.] Augustine's 48th Epistle, ad Vincent., and (10) [Codex Theodos., 1. ii., ne sanct. his 50th, ad Bonifac., and several others; Bapt. iteretur. Schl.] and you will there meet with all the plausi- (11) [On this schism among the Dona- ble arguments, which the spirit of persecu- tists, and others of less magnitude, see Dr. tion in after ages so dressed up to the dis- Walch, Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. iv., p. grace of Christianity as to blind the eyes 258-267. Schl.} of kings. Schl.] HERESIES AND SCHISMS. . 287 congregations which they formed in Spain and Italy had no permanence, and were soon broken up.(13) 9, Not long after the commencement of the Donatist controversy, or in the year 317, another storm of greater consequence and more perni- cious, arose in Egypt, and spread its ravages over the whole Christian world. The ground of this contest was, the doctrine of three persons in the Godhead ; a doctrine which, during the three preceding centuries, had not been in all respects defined. It had indeed often been decided, in op- position to the Sabellians and others, that there is a real difference between the Father and the Son, and also between them and the Holy Spirit, or as we commonly express it, that there are three distinct persons in the God- head. But the mutual relations of these persons, and the nature of the difference between them, had not been a subject of dispute, and therefore nothing had been decreed by the church on these points. Much less was there any prescribed phraseology, which it was necessary to use when speaking on this mystery. The doctors therefore explained this subject in different ways, or gave various representations of the difference between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, without offence being taken. The ma- jority in Egypt and the neighbouring countries, had on this subject as well as others, followed the opinions of Origen, who taught that the Son is in God, what reason is in man, and that the Holy Spirit is nothing else but the divine energy or power of acting and working ; which opinion, if it be not cautiously stated, may lead among other difficulties to the subversion of any real distinction between the divine persons, or in other words to Sabellianism. 10. Alexander the bishop of Alexandria, it is uncertain on what oc- casion, expressed himself very freely on this subject in a meeting of his presbyters ; and maintained among other things, that the Son possesses not only the same dignity as the Father, but also the same essence. (14) But Arius, one of the presbyters, a man of acuteness and fluency, influ- enced perhaps and actuated by ill-will towards his bishop, (15) at first de- (13) A more full account of the Donatists (14) See Socrates, Hist. Eccles., 1. i., is given by Hen. Valesiu.i, Diss. de schis- c. 5. Theodoret, Hist. Ecdes., 1. i., c. 2. mate Donatistarum, which is subjoined to (15) [A historian should be cautious of his edition of Eusebius' Historia Ecclesias- judging of the motives of human actions ; tica : by Tho. Ittig, Historia Donatismi, in for there are cases, in which a man's mo- an appendix to his book de Hsresibus aevi tives are discernible only to the eye of Om- Apostolici, p. 241, by Hr.rm. Wttsins, niscience. The present is such a case. Miscellaneor. sacror. torn, i., lib. iv., p. 742, Here we can express only a dubious ''per- by Hen. Noris, Historia Donatiana, a haps," when we impartially survey the posthumous work, which the brothers Bal- sources of the history of Arius We com- lerini enlarged and published, Opp., torn, iv., monly read, it is true, that ambition led p. xlv., &c., and by Tho Long, History Arius to contradict his bishop, having been of the Donatists, Lond., 1677, 8vo. The his rival when the see was vacant. But narrative we have given above, is derived this cannot be proved by credible testimony : from the original sources ; and if our life is and his opposers, Alexander and Alhanagitu, spared, it will in due time be corroborated who would surely have used this fact to his by a statement of the requisite testimonies, disadvantage if it had been known to them, [What chancellor Mosheim was prevented observe a profound silence on the subject. from fulfilling by his death, his successor in On the contrary, Philostorgius relates, the professorial chair of church history, Dr. (Hist. Eccles., \. i , c. 3), that Ariujt, Walch, has now accomplished, to the satis- when the votes of the electors were very faction of all the friends of this branch of favourable to himself, modestly directed the knowledge, in the fourth volume of his His- choice on Alexander. Philostorgms, it must tone der Ketzereyen, p. 1-354. Schl.] be owned, was an Anan in sentiment, and 288 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART II. CHAP. V. nied the truth of Alexander's positions, on the ground that they were al- lied to the Sabellian errors which were condemned by the church, and then going to the opposite extreme, he maintained that the Son is totally and essentially distinct from the Father ; that he was only the first and noblest of those created beings whom God the Father formed out of nothing, and the instrument which the Father used in creating this material universe, and therefore, that he was inferior to the Father both in nature and in dig- nity. (16) What were his views of the Holy Spirit, is not equally mani- his testimony is of no great weight. But the direct contrary to what he states, is not capable of proof. The motives therefore, which actuated Arius in opposing his bishop, must be regarded as dubious. Probably something of human infirmity was found on both sides. The conduct of Arius in the contest itself, betrays pride, a conceit of learning, and a contentious disposition. On the other hand, the Arians complain that Alexander was actuated by envy and per- sonal hatred of Arius, because the great popularity of Arius had excited his jealousy. See Dr. Walch, Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. ii., p. 395, &c. Schl.] (16) [Both Alexander and Arius have left us statements, each of his own doctrinal views, and also of what he understood to be the sentiments of his antagonist. The state- ments are in their private letters, written after long and public discussions at Alexan- dria, and when Arius and his friend? were castoutof the church. The letter of Alexan- der is addressed to his namesake, Alexander of Byzantium, since Constantinople ; and that of Arius is to his friend Eusebius of Nicomedia. Both are preserved by Thcod- oret, Hist. Eccles., I. i., c. 4, 5. It may gratify the reader who has not access to the original, to peruse the following extracts, containing the grand points as originally contested in the great Arian controversy and in the language of the first combatants. Alexander states that Arius and his ad- herents, denying the divinity of cur Sav- iour, pronounced him rolr nuaiv laov etvai on a level with all other creatures. He says that they held, there was a time when the Son of God was not ; and he who once hail no existence, afterwards did exist ; and from that time was, what every man naturally is : for (say they) God made all things of no- thing, including the Son of God in this cre- ation of all things both rational and irra- tional : and of course, pronouncing him to be of a changeable nature, and capable of virtue and of sin. The doctrine just risen up in opposition to the piety of th-e church, is thai of Ebion and Arlcmas, and is an im- itation of that of Paul of Samosata. Alex- ander then gives his own views, as fellows : We believe, as t'te Apostolic church docs, in the only unbcgotten Father, who derived his existence from no one, and is immutable and unalterable, always the same and uniform, unsusceptible of increase or diminution ; the giver of the law and the prophets and the gospels ; Lord of the patriarchs and apostles and of all saints : and in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, not begotten from nothing, but from the living Father ; and not after the manner of ma- terial bodies, by separations and effluxes of parts, as Sabcllius and VaJ.entinian suppo- sed ; but in an inexplicable and indescribable manner, agreeably to the declaration before quoted : Who shall declare his generation 1 For his existence (imo^aaif) is inscrutable to all mortal beings, just as the Father is inscrutable; because created intelligences are incapable of understanding this divine generation from the Father. No one know- eth what the Father is, but the Son ; and no one knowcth what the Son is, but the Father. He is unchangeable, as much as the Fa- ther ; lacks nothing ; is the perfect Son, and the absolute likeness of the Father, save only that he is not unbcgotten. Therefore to the unbcgotten Father, his proper dignity (OIKSLOV u^iuua) must be preserved. And to the Son also suitable honour must be given, by as- cribing to him an eternal generation (dvap%ov ysvvnaiv) from the Father. Such is the statement of Alexander. The letter of Arius is as follows : To his very dear lord, that man of God, the faithful, orthodox Eusebius ; Arius, who is unjustly persecuted by the bp. Alexander, on account of that all-conquering truth which thou also dcfendcst, greeting in the Lord. As my father Ammonius is going to Nicomedia, it seemed proper for me to ad- dress you by him, and to acquaint the native love and- affection which you exercise towards the brethren for God and his Christ's sake, that the bishop greatly oppresses and perse- cutes us, putting everything -in motion against us ; and so as to drive us out of the city, as if we were atheists ; because we do not agree with him, publicly asserting that God always was, and the Son always was ; that he was always the Father, always the Son; that the Son was OF God himself; and. that because your brother Eusebius of Casarca, and Thcodotus, and Paulinus, and HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 289 fest. That his views of the Son of God were combined with some other opinions differing from the common sentiments of Christians, cannot be doubted :(17) but no one of the ancients has left us a connected and sys- tematic account of the religion professed by Arius and his associates. (18) 11. The opinions of Arius were no sooner divulged, than they found very many abettors, and among them men of distinguished talents and rank, both in Egypt and the neighbouring provinces. Alexander on the other hand accused Arius of blasphemy, before two councils assembled at Alex- andria, and cast him out of the church. (19) He was not discouraged by Atlianasius, and Gregory, and Aetius, and and the way in which sinners are saved, that all they of the East, say that God was be- fore the Son, and without beginning, they are accursed ; except only Phtlogonius, and Hellanicus, and Macarius, unlearned and heretical men, who say of the Son, one of them, that he is an eructation ; another, that he is an emission; and another, that he is equally unbegotten ; which impieties we could not even hear, though the heretics should threaten us with a thousand deaths. As to what we say and believe, we have taught, and still teach, that the Son is not unbegotten, nor a portion of the unbegotten, in any man- ner : nor was he formed out of any subja- cent matter, but that in will and purpose, he existed before all times and before all worlds, perfect God (ir^prif $eof ) the only-begotten, unchangeable ; and that before he was be- gotten, or created, or purposed, or established, he was not ; for he was never unbegotten. We are persecuted, because we say, the Son had a beginning, but God was without begin- ning. We arc also persecuted, because we say, that he is from nothing (ef OVTUV t?iv) ; and this we say, in as much as he is not a portion of God, nor formed from any subjacent matter. Therefore we are persecu- ted. The rest you knmr. I bid you adieu in the Lord. According to these statements, both the Arians and the orthodox considered the Son of God and Saviour of the world, as a derived existence, and as generated by the Father. But they differed on two points. I. The orthodox believed his generation was from eternity, so that he was coeval with the Father. But the Arians believed, there was a time when the Son was not. II. The orthodox believed the Son to be derived of and from the Father ; so that he was ououoioc. of the same essence with the father. But the Arians believed, that he was formed out of nothing r? /c OVTUV hvat, by the creative power of God. Both, however, agreed in calling him God, and in ascribing to him di- vine perfections. As to his offices, or his being the Saviour of sinful men, it does not appear that they differed materially in their views. (See page 290, note 21.) Indeed so imperfect and fluctuating were the views of that age respecting the offices of Christ VOL. I. O o he was, for aught they could see, an equally competent Saviour, whether he were a finite creature, or the infinite and all-perfect God. Hence both the Arians and the orthodox then embraced the same system of theology in substance ; and the chief importance, in a theological view, of their controversy re- specting the Sonship of Christ, related to the assigning him that rank in the universe which properly belonged to him. TV.] (17) [This conjecture of Dr. Mosheim, (which his former translator has swelled into a strong affirmation), appears to be gratui- tous. See the preceding note. Tr.] (18) The history of the Arian contests is to be drawn from Eusebius, de Vita Con- stantini Magni ; from various tracts of Atha- nasius, Opp., torn. i. ; from the Eccles. Histories of Socrates, Sozomen, and Theod- orct ; from Epiphanius, Hseres. Ixix. ; and from other writers of this and the following century. But among all these, there is not one whom we may justly pronounce free from partiality. And the Arian history still needs a writer of integrity, and void alike of hatred and love. There were faults on both sides ; but those who hitherto have described this controversy, could discover the faults of only one of the parties. [This has now ceased to be absolutely true ; since Dr. Walch, in the 2d vol. of his Hist, der Ketzer- eyen, p. 385-700, has so treated the history of Arius and his followers, that a man must himself be in the highest degree partial, if he can deny the honour of impartiality to Dr. Walch. Schl.] It is a common opinion, that Arius was too much attached to the sentiments of Plato and Origen. See Dion. Petavius, Dogmat. Theol., torn, ii., 1. i., c. 8, p. 38. But those who think so, are cer- tainly in an error. For Origrn and Plato differ widely from Arius ; on the contrary, it cannot well be doubted, that Alexander, the opposer of Arius, in his explanation of the doctrine of three persons in one God, close- ly followed the footsteps of Origen. See Ralph Cudworth's Intellectual System, vol. i., p. 676, &c. (19) [Alexander first employed milder measures ; for he sent a letter, which was 290 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART II. CHAP. V. this disgrace, but retiring to Palestine he wrote various letters to men of distinction, in which he laboured to demonstrate the truth of his doc- trines, and with so much success that he drew over immense numbers to his side, and in particular Eusebius bishop of Nicomedia, who was a man of vast influence. (20) The emperor Constantine, who considered the dis- cussion as relating to a matter of little importance and remote from the fundamentals of religion, at first addressed the disputants by letter, admon- ishing them to desist from contention.(21) But when he found that no- subscribed by the clergy of Alexandria, to Arius and the other clergymen united with him, warning them to abandon their error. (Athanasius, Opp., torn, i., pt. i.. p. 396.) When this measure failed, he brought the subject before the bishops of his party. He first held a council at Alexandria (A. D. 321), composed of Egyptian and Libyan bishops ; and then another assembly, composed only of the presbyters and deacons of the city of Alexandria and the province of Mareotis. The first was properly a council ; the other was not. And hence it is, that some histo- rians speak of but one council of Alexandria. See Dr. Walctis Historic der Kirchenver- sammlungen, p. 140, and his Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. ii., p. 424, &c. Schl.'] (20) [These bishops held a council in Bi- thynia, probably at Nicomedia. in which 250 bishops are reported to have been present. Of their acts and decisions we know nothing more, than that they sent letters to all the bishops of Christendom, entreating them not to exclude the friends of Arius from their communion, and requesting them to inter- cede with Alexander that he would not do so. " This first Arian council is either wholly overlooked by modern writers, or is confounded with that of Antioch in the year 330. Sozomen gives account of it, Hist. Eccles., 1. i., c. 15. See Nicetas, in Bibli- oth. Max. Pair., torn, xxv., p. 151, and Ceiller's Histoire des Auteurs, tome in., p. 566." Thus C. W. F. Walch, Historic der Kirchenversamml., p. 142. But Dr. Walch mistakes in saying that this council is over- looked by modern writers. It is mentioned by Maimbourg, Le Clerc, Du Pin, Fleury, Cave, Whitby, and Tillemont. TV.] (2 1 ) [ Constantine not only wrote a letter in the year 324, but he sent with it as his envoy, the famous Hosius bishop of Cordu- ba. What part the envoy acted, is unknown ; but the letter is extant, fully, in Eusebius, de Vita Constantini M., lib. ii., c. 64-72, and with some curtailment, in Socrates, Hist. Eccles., 1. i., c. 7. The most important part of this singular document, which however shows the feelings of one more solicitous for the great cause of our common Christianity, than for absolute perfection in speculative theology, is as follows. " I learn then, that the origin of the pres- ent controversy was thus. Whereas you, Alexander, inquired of the presbyters, what each believed on one of the subjects con- tained in the law, or rather on a point of a vain controversy ; and whereas you, Arius, inconsiderately advanced what ought not to have entered your mind, or if it did, should have been smothered in silence ; hereupon dissension arose between you, communion has heen denied, and the most holy people being split into two parties, the harmony of the whole body is destroyed. Wherefore, mutually forgiving one another, follow ye the counsel here fitly offered you by your fellow- worshipper [of the true God.] And what is it 1 It is, that it was unsuitable, at first, to put a question on such subjects ; and when it was put, it was unsuitable to answer it. For such questions, being required by no law, but prompted by the contentiousness of unprofita- ble leisure, though they may be proposed for the exercise of our natural powers, ought to be kept to ourselves, and not rashly to be brought before public meetings, nor be inconsiderately trusted to the ears of the people. For, how few are there that can accurately comprehend and suitably explain the nature of so great and so exceedingly difficult subjects 1 Yet if any one thinks he could easily do this, how large a part of the people will he persuade to think so 1 or who can urge the critical examination of such questions, without hazarding a fall 1 Wherefore prating on such subjects is to be restrained ; lest, either from the imbecility of our natures we should be unable to explain the subject proposed, or from the dulness of apprehension in our hearers they should not be able to comprehend exactly what is spoken ; and lest, from one or the other of these causes, the people should incur the dan- ger either of blasphemy or schism. There- fore let an unwise question in the one, and an inconsiderate answer in the other of you, mutually pardon each other. For the con- troversy between yon, is not about the chief of the precepts of our law (the holy scrip- ture) ; nor have you introduced any new heresy relating to practical religion ; but you both have one and the same views, so that you may easily come together in the bonds HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 291 thing was effected by this measure, and that greater commotion was daily rising throughout the empire, he in the year 325 summoned that famous council of the whole church, which met at Nice in Bithynia, to put an end to this controversy. In this council, after various altercations and con- flicts of the bishops, the doctrine of Arius was condemned, Christ was pro- nounced to be (6/zo(Toc) of the same essence with the Father, Arius was sent into exile in Illyricum, and his followers were compelled to assent to a creed or confession of faith, composed by the council. (22) of fellowship. While you thus contend consent on this very unwise and undefinable question. For the high privileges of com- munion may be preserved to you unimpaired, and the same fellowship may be kept up among you all, though there may be among you partial disagreement about some trivial point. For we do not all choose alike, nor is there one and the same disposition and judg- ment in us all. Therefore concerning the di- vine providence, let there be one faiih, one understanding, and one covenant with God. But as for those trivial questions, which ye so elaborately discuss, though you should not think exactly alike, it is fit that the fact remain within your own cogitations, and be kept as a secret in your own breast. Let the privileges of mutual friendship, and the belief of the truth, and the precious worship you about little and exceedingly unimportant points (inrep fiinpuv KUI faav fXajjfwv), it is not suitable for so numerous a body of God's people to be under your guidance, on account of your dissension ; indeed, it is not only unsuitable, but it is believed to be ab- solutely unlawful. That I may admonish your sagacity, by a smaller instance, I will say ; all those philosophers who profess one system of doctrine, you know, very often differ on some part of their positions. But though they disagree in the perfection of their knowledge, yet on account of their union as to the system of their doctrine, they come together again harmoniously. Now if they do so, how much more reasonable is it for you, the appointed ministers of the great _________________ , ________ , ________ ______ r God, to be of one heart in the profession of of God, and the observance of his law, re- the same religion. Let us look more atlen- main unimpaired among you. Return again lively and closely into what is now advanced. 7s it right, on account of the little vain dis- putes about words among you, for brethren to array themselves against brethren, and the precious assembly to be rent asunder by the ungodly strife of you who thus contend about trifles of no consequence 1 (inrep ju- Kpuv KTU /cat [tr/da/ius dvaynaiuv ; ) This is vulgar and despicable : it is more befitting the folly of children, than the discretion of priests and wise men. Let us spontaneously depart from the temptations of the devil. Our great God, the common preserver of us all, hath extended to all the common light ; and allow me his servant, under his provi- dence, to bring my efforts to a successful issue, that by my admonitions, diligence, and earnest exhortations, I may bring his people to have fellowship in their meeting togeth- er. For since, as I said, ye both have one faith (jiia rif tfiv Vfj.iv irifif), and one and the same understanding of our religion (/ecu filav T7/f nod" T)HU$ uipeaeuf avveaiv) ; and since the requirement of the law, in its va- rious parts, binds all to one consent and pur- pose of mind ; and as this thing, which has produced a little strife among you, does not extend to the power and efficacy of the whole gospel, (fii) irpof rrrv r iravrof dovapiv avt'jKci), let it not at all produce separations and commotions among you. And these things I say, not to compel you to a perfect to mutual friendship and charity ; give to all the people their proper embraces ; and, having purified as it were your ewn minds, do ye again recognise each other : for friend- ship, when it returns to a reconciliation, after ill-will is laid aside, often becomes more sweet than before. And restore to me also serene days, and nights void of care ; so that there may be in reserve for me the enjoyment of the pure light, and the pleas- ures of a quiet life. If this fail, I must un- avoidably sigh and be bathed in tears, and spend the residue of my days unquietly. For while the people of God, my fellow-wor- shippers, are so rent asunder by unreasonable and hurtful contentions, how can my mind be at ease and my thoughts at rest!" Tr.] (22) This creed is illustrated from ancient records, in a learned work on the subject, by Joh. Christ. Suicer, Utrecht, 1718, 4to. [The creed used in the Catholic, Lutheran, and English churches, and called the Nicene creed, is in reality the creed set forth by the council of Constantinople in the year 381. It is considerably more full than the original Nicene creed ; which is here subjoined, to- gether with a translation. T\.i?i-voptv kif Iva &EOV irarepa travTOKpdropa, irdvruv 6pUT(JV T Kdl aOpUTUV TTOUJT^V. Kttt tlf h>a iciipiov '\na6v Xpifbv, rov iitov TU deu, ra irarpof (lovoytvfi, rttriftv, ifftof T* Trarpdf, tisov tit dti, fuf 293 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART II. CHAP. V. 12. No part of church history perhaps, has acquired more celebrity, than this assembly of bishops at Nice to settle the affairs of the church ; and yet, strange as it may appear, scarcely any part of ecclesiastical history has been investigated and explained more negligently.(23) The ancient writers are not agreed as to the time and year, nor the place, nor the num. ber of the judges, nor the president of this council, nor as to many other particulars. (24) No written journal of the proceedings of this venerable on most of these points. There is scarcely a dissenting voice as to the year, which was A.D. 325 ; though there is a disagreement as to the month when the council first met, namely, whether it was the 13th of the Kalends of June or July, that is, the 20th of May or the 19th of June. All agree that the council closed on the emperors Vicen- nalia, in July of that year. As to the place, there is overwhelming proof that it was the central hall or building in the imperial palace at Nice in Bithynia ; which the emperor caused to be fitted up especially for the pur- pose. Some moderns however maintain, that this hall must have been a church ; be- cause they cannot believe, so holy a body would assemble any where except in a church duly consecrated. As to the num- ber of members of which the council was composed, Eusebius indeed, (de Vita Con- stantini, iii.,c. 8), says "they exceeded 250 bishops." But the MS. here is believed to be corrupted ; for Socrates, (Hist. Ec- cles., i., c. 8), expressly quoting this pas- sage of Eusebius, says " they exceeded three hundred bishops." There is satisfac- tory proof that there were 318 members of the council, besides a vast number of clergy- men and others who attended from curiosity or for their own improvement in knowledge. The ancient writers make no mention what- ever of any president or scribe of the coun- cil. They represent the council as assem- bling, and the emperor as entering, advan- cing to the upper end of the hall, and upon a signal from the bishops, taking his seat, which was a golden chair ; after which the whole council was seated, several of the principal bishops on the right and left of the emperor, and the main body of them arranged on the two sides of the hall. Before this formal opening of the council, there were several rencounters of the bishops of differ- ent parties, and also of members of the council with the philosophers and others who were assembled in the city. Of these private contests, pompous accounts are left us by Gelasius and others. But when the council assembled in form, they did no busi- ness but remained silent, till the emperor carne in. He was then addressed either by Eustathius of Antioch, or by Eusebius of Csesarea, or by both, in short complimentary ivra rroirj'&EVTa, buo&oiov TU Trarpl, 6i' 6 TU Ttdvra EJEVETO, TU, re ev TU apavy Kai ra ev r?/ yy, rbv dC TJUU^ rf dvi?p(jTT8f teal 6ia TTJV j]jj,ETpav vuTTjpiav /care/l$6vra Kai oapKudevTa, kvavdpuirrjaavTa, ira&ovTa xal avafdvTa r-y rpirri tj/j.epa, uveTi.'&ovTa eif sf Kai pxbfj.vov Kplvat fuvraf Kai Kai f TO ayiov miEv/ia. Tf <3e c, on f/v TTOTE ore TJV, Kai irplv ai K Jjv, Kai on et; /c OVTUV rj e irspaf VTro^dcnof fj saiac, ^xiffKOVTEf hvai, rj KTI^OV TpenTov tj aAAoi- UTOV rbv vibv TU $es, ava&EuaTi&i ff KaduhiKri EKK^naia. See Walch, Biblioth. Symbol. Vetus, p. 75, 76. Translation : We believe in one God, the Father, al- mighty, the maker of all things visible and invisible : and in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, only-begotten, (that is), of the substance of the Father ; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God ; begotten not made ; of the same substance with the Father ; by whom all things were made, that are in heaven and that are in earth : who for us men, and for our salvation, descended, and was incarnate, and became man ; suffered, and rose again the third day, ascended into the heavens ; and will come to judge the living and the dead : and in the Holy Spirit. But those who say, that there was a time when he was not, and that he was not, be- fore he was begotten, and that he was made out of nothing, or affirm that he is of any other substance or essence, or that the Son of God is created, and mutable or changea- ble, the Catholic church doth pronounce ac- cursed. Tr.] (23) See Tho. Ittig, Historia Concilii Niceni, published after his death, [Lips., 1712, 4to.] Jo. h Clerc, Bibliotheque his- torique et universelle, tome x., p. 421, and tome xxii., p. 291. Is. de Beausobre, His- toire de Manichee et de Manicheisme, tome i., p. 520, &c. The accounts left us by the Orientals of this council, are contained in Euscb. Rcnaudot, Historia Patriarchar. Alexandrinor., p. 69, &c. [To the prece- ding works, may be added Chr. W. Fr. WalMs Historic der Kirchenversammlun- gen, p. 144-158. Sckl.] (24) [Yet there is not great disagreement HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 293 tribunal was kept ; at least none has reached us. (25) How many and what canons or ecclesiastical laws, were enacted, is not agreed on by the Oriental and the occidental Christians. The latter tell us they were only twenty in number ; but the Orientals make them far more numerous. (26) speeches; after which, he himself harangued the general approbation of the council, was the council ; and having thrown into the fire, unread, all the private petitions and com- plaints which had been previously handed him, he bid them proceed to business. A free discussion now ensued ; but it would seem, without the formalities observed in modern deliberative assemblies. Individuals of dif- ferent sentiments offered their opinions ; and the emperor heard, remarked, commended, or disapproved, and so influenced the whole proceedings as to bring about a good degree of unanimity. Yet he did not act the dictator or judge, but left the bishops to decide all committed to writing, and confirmed by the subscription of each member." Whence Valesius infers, that nothing was committed to writing by the council, except the results to which they came, and which they individ- ually subscribed, namely, the creed, the can- ons, and the synodic epistle, which was ad- dressed to the church of Alexandria and the brethren in Egypt, Libya, and Pentapolis. He therefore supposes, the council kept no Journal or had no written Ada, Concilii, in the technical sense of the phrase. And in- deed, we have no intimation that they kept the questions respecting faith and discipline, any journal of their proceedings, or had any uncontrolled : for he regarded them as the r\mnor ^,-iVio nf />,, >i/-;i iX/v.of oro /><aii<Ji divinely constituted judges of such matters. He only wished them to come to some agree- ment ; which as soon as they had done, he regarded their decision as final, and as obli- gatory on himself as well as all others. How many sessions were held, we are not told. But after all the business was finished, on the 24th of July, when the emperor entered on the 20th year of his reign, he celebrated his Vicennalia with the council, in a splendid banquet in his own palace. On that occa- sion, Euscbius of Cassarea delivered an ora- tion in praise of Constantine, which is lost. After the feast, the bishops were dismissed with presents and exhortations to peace and love. They returned, as they came, by the public conveyances, having been supported by the emperor from the time they left their homes. See Eusebius, de Vita Constantini, 1. iii., c. 6-22. Socrates, Hist. Eccles., i., 8-11. Sozomcn, H. E., i., 17-25. The- odoret, H. E., i., 7, 9, 10, 12. Rufinus, H. E., lib. i. Gelasius Cyzicenus, Com- ment, de Synodo Nicseno, libri iii., in Har- duin's Concilia, torn i., p. 345, &c. Acta Concilii Nicaeni, in Combejis' Auctarium Bibliolh. Patr., torn, ii , p. 573. Renaudot, Historia Patriarch. Alexandria, p. 69, &c. ; various Treatises in the first volume of the works of Athanasius, especially his Epistola di- N'icasnis Decretis ; and several detached passages in Epiphanius, contra Hareses, lib. iii. These are the only authentic sources for the history of this council. TV.] (25) See Henry Valesius, Note on Eu- aeb., de Vita Constantini M., lib. iii., c. 14. Maruthas, a Syrian, wrote a history of this council ; but it is lost. See Jos. Sim. As- teman, Biblioth. Oriental. Clement. Vatic., torn, i., p. 195, &c. [Eusebius, in the pas- sage just referred to, says : " What met proper scribe of council. What are called the Acta Concilii, as given us by Gelasiut and others, are an account of various discus- sions between individual members of the council and certain philosophers or sophists, together with the creed, the canons, the syn- odic letter, several epistles of the emperor, one of Eusebius to his church of Caesarea, and various extracts from ancient authors. 7V.] (26) Thorn. Ittig, Supplem. Opp. Cle- mentis Alex., p. 191. Jos. Sim. Asseman, Biblioth. Orient. Clement. Vatic., torn, i., p. 22, 195, &.c. Euseb. Renaudot, Histo- ria Patriarchar. Alexandrinor, p. 71, and many others. [The 20 Nicene canons, and those only, were received by the ancient church. Some attempts indeed were made by the bishops of Rome, in the fifth century, to make certain canons of the council of Sar- dica pass for canons of the council of Nice. On that occasion the African bishops resist- ed, and sent to the patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch, and Constantinople, for complete copies of all the Nicene canons which they knew of. The returns showed that these 20 canons, and these only, were then recognised in the Greek church. See the acts of the 6th council of Carthage, A.D. 419. Theod- oret also, (H. E., i., 8), and Gelasius Cyzic- enus, (lib. ii., c. 31), expressly affirm, that the number of the Nicene canons was 20. But in the 16th century, an Arabic copy of 80 canons, including these 20, was brought from Alexandria to Rome, and soon after- wards translated and published. At first there was some doubt ; but in a short time all the learned were fully satisfied, that the additional CO canons were not of Nicene ori- gin, though now regarded as such by most of the eastern sects. See Natahs Alexander, Hist. Eccles., cent, iv., dissert, xvui., vol. 294 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART II. CHAP. V. From the canons universally received and from the other monuments of the council, it appears, not only that Arius was condemned by this coun- cil, but that other things were decreed, with a view to settle the affairs of the church. In particular, the controversy respecting the time of celebra- ting Easter, which had long perplexed Christians, was terminated ; the Novatian disturbance, respecting the readmission of the lapsed to commu- nion, was composed ; the Meletian schism, with its causes, was censured ; the jurisdiction of the greater bishops was defined ; and several other mat- ters of a like nature determined.(27) But while the prelates were eager vii., p. 501-511, ed. Paris, 1742, 4to. These 20 canons, (or 22, as some divide them), are extant in Beveridge's Pandect. Canon., torn, i., p. 58, &c., and in all the lar- ger collections of councils. The substance of them is as follows : The 1st canon for- bids the admission of voluntary or self-made eunuchs to the sacred ministry. The 2d for- bids the hasty ordination of new converts to Christianity ; agreeably to 1 Tim. iii., 6, Not a novice, &c. The 3d forbids clergy- men of all ranks, from having subinduced females or housekeepers ; except only their nearest blood relations. The 4//i directs that ordinations be generally performed by all the bishops of a province ; and never by less than three "bishops ; and requires the con- firmation of the metropolitan, in all cases. The 5th requires that an excommunication either of a clergyman or a layman by the sentence of a single bishop, shall be valid every where, till it is examined and judged of by a provincial council ; and requires such a council to be held, for this and other ob- jects of general interest, twice a year, once in the autumn and once a little before Eas- ter. The 6th secures to the patriarch of Al- exandria all the rights which he claimed by ancient usage, over the bishops and churches of Egypt, Libya, and Pentapolis ; also to the patriarchs of Rome and Antioch, their prerogatives ; and gives to metropolitans, generally, a negative on all elections to the episcopal office within their respective prov- inces. The 7th gives to the bishop of Aelia (or Jerusalem) the rank of a metropolitan ; but without depriving Caesarea, the ancient metropolis, of its dignity. The Btk permits Novatian bishops and clergymen to return to the church and retain their rank and offi- ces, on their assenting to the rules of the church respecting second marriages and communion with the lapsed. The 9th and 10th require that presbyters, who before their ordination had lapsed or had committed any other offence which was a canonical disqual- ification for the sacred office, be deprived of their office as soon as the disqualification is ascertained. The 11/A requires the lapsed during the late persecution under Licinius, first, to do penance three years without the doors of the church ; secondly, six years in the porch among the catechumens ; and thirdly, to be allowed to witness but not join in the celebration of the eucharist for two years more. The 12th requires flagrant apostates to go through the same course ; but they must spend ten years in the second stage. Yet the bishops are to exercise dis- cretionary power in regard to the length of time. The 13th allows the sacrament to be given to any penitent who seems to be dying ; but if he recovers, he is to rank only with the penitents in the third stage. By the 14/A, lapsed catechumens are to spend three years in the first stage, or among those who worship without the doors of the church. By the 15^ h, the translation of bishops, pres- byters, and deacons from one church to an- other, is forbidden. By the 16th, presbyters or deacons, forsaking their own church and going over to others, are to be denied com- munion and be sent back : bishops also are forbidden to ordain the subjects of other bishops, without their consent. The 17th requires the deposition of all clergymen who loan money or goods on interest. By the 18^, deacons are forbidden to present the bread and wine to the presbyters or to par- take themselves, before the bishop ; or to sit among the presbyters. By the 19lh, the fol- lowers of Paul of Samosata, on returning to the church are to be rebaptized ; and to be reordained before they can officiate as cler- gymen. The 20<A disapproves of kneeling at prayers on the Lord's day, and from Eas- ter to Pentecost. Tr.] (27) [The synodic epistle, which is pre- served by Socrates, H. E., i., 9, and by The- odoret, H. E., i., 9, acquaints us with the principal transactions of the council ; and also shows the spirit of that venerable body. It is as follows : " To the great and holy, by the grace of God, the church of the Alexandrians, and to the beloved brethren of Egypt, Libya, and Pentapolis, the bish- ops assembled at Nice, and composing the great and holy synod, send greeting in the Lord. " Forasmuch as, by the grace of God, the most pious emperor Constantine having call- ed us together from various cities and prov- HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 295 to correct the faults of others, they narrowly escaped falling into a great one themselves. For they were on the point of imposing celibacy on the clergy by an express law ; but they were prevented by Paphnutius, who had himself lived all his days in celibacy. (28) inces, a great and holy synod is assembled at Nice ; it seemed altogether necessary that an epistle be sent to you, in the name of the sacred synod ; that you may have means of knowing what things have been moved, and examined, and what have been sanctioned. First of all then, an inquiry was made in the presence of the most pious emperor Constan- tine, into the impiety and iniquity of Arius and his associates ; and it was determined by the voice of all, that his impious doctrine is to be anathematized, as also the blasphe- mous words and terms he used ; he having blasphemously said, that the Son of God was from nothing, and that there was a time when he was not, and saying that the Son of God, by the arbitrament of his will, is capa- ble of either virtue or vice ; and pronouncing him a creaJure and a work : all which the holy synod hath anathematized, not enduring so much as to hear this impious doctrine or rather madness, and these blasphemous words. What was the issue of the pro- ceedings against him, ye have heard already, or will hear ; lest we should seem to insult over a man who has received the deserved recompense of his wickedness. But his im- piety prevailed so far as to involve in de- struction with him Theonas of Marmarica, and Secundus of Ptolemais ; for they receiv- ed the same sentence. After the grace of God had delivered us from that evil doctrine and impiety and blasphemy, and from the persons who dared to raise discord and di- vision among a once peaceable people, there yet remained the rashness of Mcletius and of those ordained by him. And what the synod decreed on this subject, beloved breth- ren, we now inform you. It was determined that Mcletius (whom the synod treated with more lenity, for according to the strictness of law he deserved no indulgence) should remain in his own city ; but should have no authority either to ordain, to nominate for office, nor be seen in any other city or place on such business, but should only possess the naked title of honour. As for those raised to office by him, after being confirmed by a more solemn consecration, fellowship is to be given them ; yet on the condition, that they so hold their office and ministry, as always to take rank after all in every par- ish or church who were examined and or- dained previously by our dearest colleague Alexander ; and moreover thet they have no authority to elect or to nominate such per- sons as they like, or indeed to do any thing, without the consent of some bishop of the Catholic church who is Alexander's suffra- gan. But those who, by the grace of God and by your prayers, have never been found in any schism but have remained blameless in the Catholic church, shall have power to nominate and elect such as are worthy of the sacred office, and in general, -to do every thing that accords with law and ecclesiasti- cal usage. And if it happen that any of those now [bishops] in the church should be removed by death, then let those lately ad- mitted be advanced to the honours of the de- ceased ; provided always, that they appear deserving, and the people choose them, and that the bishop of Alexandria concur in the election and confirm it. A nd this privilege is conceded to all others ; but not so in regard to Mcletius personally, to whom, on account of his former irregularity and his headlong rashness of temper, it is judged, no power or authority should be given, he being capable of again exciting the same disorders. And these are the things which relate particularly and especially to Egypt, and to the most holy church of Alexandria. But if any other canon or decree shall be made, as our lord and most precious fellow minister and broth- er is present with us, when he shall arrive he will give you a more exact account, for he will have been an actor and co-operator in the things done. We also .announce to you the harmony there is in regard to the most holy paschal feast ; that this matter is happily settled, through the assistance of your prayers, so that all the brethren in the East, who before kept the festival with the Jews, will hereafter keep it in harmony with the Romans, with us, and with all those who from ancient times have kept it with us. Therefore, rejoicing in the happy issue of affairs and the peaceful harmony that exists, and that all heresy is extirpated, do ye re- ceive, with greater honour and more ardent love, our fellow minister and your bishop, Alexander, who has gladdened us with his presence, encountering so great labour in his advanced age, that peace 'might be re- stored among you. And pray for us all, that whatever has been well determined upon, may remain steadfast, through our Lord Jesus Christ, being done, as we trust, according to the good pleasure of God the Father, in the Holy Spirit : to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." TV.] (28) Socrates, Hist. Eccles., lib. i., c. 1 1 . Compare Fran. Baldwin's Constantmua 296 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART II. CHAP. V. 13. But the passions of men were more efficient, than either the de- crees of the Nicene council, or the authority of the emperor. For there were those who, though they did not fall in with the doctrine of Arius, yet were dissatisfied with some things in the decrees and the creed of the coun- cil ;(29) and the Arians left no means untried, to free themselves from the evils inflicted on them by those decrees. And the issue was agreeable to their wishes. For in a few years after the Nicene council, an Arian pres- byter, whom Constantia the emperor's sister at her death had recommend- ed to the care of her brother, succeeded in persuading Constantine the Great that Arius had been unjustly oppressed by his enemies. Accord- ingly, in the year 330, the emperor recalled Arius from exile, rescind- ed the decrees passed against his associates and friends, and permitted Eusebius of Nicomedia, the principal supporter of Arius, and his powerful faction now thirsting for revenge, to persecute the defenders of the Nicene council.(30) They assailed no one more fiercely than Allianasius, the Magnus, p. 76, and Gear. Calixtus, de con- jugio Cleric., p. 170, &c. (29) [The word 6//o<nof (of the same es- sence) was in particular, not agreeable to all. At first seventeen bishops hesitated to sub- scribe the creed and the condemnation of Arius, because they wished to shun the ap- pearance of favouring the Sabellian error ; and they objected, that the word o/zoscuof had been disapproved of in the time of Paul of Samosata. (Socrates, H. E., i., c. 8, 23, &c. Basil, Ep. 360.) And in fact, Paul of Samosata had misused the' word 6/j.ouaioc., so as to controvert any other distinction be- tween the Son or. Word and the Father, ex- cept the difference of names, and of external relations in reference to the divine manifes- tation. And though it is not fully proved that this term, in the Samosatian sense of it, was rejected by a council at Antioch in the year 269, (which decision at Antioch is pro- nounced fabulous, by Dr. Feuerlein, in his Dissert, on the question : Dei filium patri esse ofjuouaiov antiqui ecclesiae doctores in concilio Antiocheno utrum negaverintl Got- ting., 1755) yet it is certain, that the Arians had before alleged this Antiochian decree, and no one had charged them with mistake in so doing. Nevertheless those who were not pleased with the creed, were generally brought to acquiesce in it ; partly by the threats of the emperor to banish all who would not subscribe, and partly by the ad- vice of the princess Constantia. Only Ari- us, with the bishops Thconas and Secun- dus, persevered in a refusal. Yet some, [namely, Eusebius of Nicomedia, and The- ognis, bishop of Nice], subscribed only the creed itself, and not also the anathema. (30) [So sudden a change was not to be ex- pected. The council of Nice had taken ev- ery precaution to prevent the further spread of Arianism ; and its decrees had been approved by other councils in distant provinces, and thus had obtained the authority of decrees of the whole church. The emperor had superad- ded to the sentence of the bishops civil pen- alties, appointing exile to recusants ; and had condemned the writings of Arius to the flames, and commanded them to be delivered up on pain of death. [See the emperor's letter to the bishops and people, in Socrates, H. E., i., 9.] Thus the Arian party seemed to be wholly suppressed. But it only seem- ed to be so. Four years after, the atmo- sphere about the court of Constantine at once became clear and serene to the Arians ; and the causes of so great a change are not well known, for the history of Constantine here has a chasm of three years. The princess Constantia seems actually to have had a band in this great revolution. The bishops who were favourably disposed towards Ai- us, had recommended themselves to her, by yielding in the Nicene council, and subscri- bing the creed, very much in compliance with her recommendation. (Pfiilostorgius, H. E., i., c. 9.) This attention shown her, would naturally open a way for them to the confidence of the princess. And therefore the statement of Socrates (1. i., c. 25), and Sozomen (1. iii., c. 19) is not improbable; namely, that it was by her. and by an Arian priest whom she at her death recommended to him, that Constantine was brought to en- tertain more favourable views of the Arians. At the instigation of this priest, the emperor despatched a gracious letter to Arius, bid- ding him come to the court. Arms hasten- ed to Constantinople with his friend Euzoi- us, and was graciously heard by the emperor, whom he satisfied as to his orthodoxy. At the requisition of the emperor, they both presented a confession of their faith, which was so artfully drawn up as to conceal their HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 297 bishop of Alexandria. When he could in no way be brought to restore Arius to his former honours and ecclesiastical standing, Athanasius was first deprived of his office, in a council held at Tyre A.D. 335, and then banished to Gaul ; while in the same year, by a numerous council held at Jerusalem, Arius and his friends were solemnly admitted to the communion of the church. But by none of these proceedings could the Alexandrians be induced to receive Arius among their presbyters. Accordingly the emperor called him to Constantinople in the year 336, and ordered Alex- ander the bishop of that city, to open the doors of his church to him. But before that could take place, Arius died at Constantinople in a tragical man- ner.(31) And the emperor himself closed life shortly after. real sentiments under orthodox phraseology. In this way Arius obtained permission to return to Alexandria. Antecedently to this, Eusebius bishop of Nicomedia, and Tkeog- MS bishop of Nice, had obtained complete reinstatement in their offices ; and the for- mer now commenced persecuting the ortho- dox party, and especially Athanasivs. The deposition of Athanasius was decreed by the council of Tyre ; but his banishment was by order of the emperor, before whom he was accused of threatening to prevent the expor- tation of grain from Egypt to Constantinople. As Arms met with more opposition at Alex- andria than he expected, and as his presence there caused commotions which seemed al- most to amount to an insurrection, he was called back to Constantinople. Here he had another hearing before the emperor, and swore to a formula of faith presented by him- self, which sounded very orthodox. The emperor was so well satisfied by this exhi- bition of Anus, that he sent for Alexander the bishop of Constantinople, and earnestly enjoined upon him to admit Arius the next Sunday to his communion. The terrified bishop retired to the church of St. Irene, and there prayed that the calamity might be avert- ed. On the day appointed, Anus, accom- panied by Eusebius of Nicomedia and others of his adherents, proceeded through the prin- cipal streets of the city, in order to enter the chuvh in triumph, and entertained his friends with playful discourse. But as he passed along, the calls of nature obliged him to step aside. He entered one of the public offices erected for such purposes, and left his ser- vants waiting at the door ; and here he died with a violent colic. See Dr. Walch's His- torie der Ketzereyen, vol. ii., p. 486, &c. Sehl.] (31) Some of the moderns are disposed to call in question this account of Arttuf death ; but without good reason, since it is attested by such unexceptionable witnesses as Socrates, Sosomen, Athanasius, and oth- ers. Yet the cause of his sudden and ex- traordinary death for the miserable man is VOL. I. P P said to have discharged his own bowels is a subject of much controversy. The an- cients, who tell us that God being moved by the prayers of holy men miraculously avenged the wickedness of the man, will hardly find credit at this day among candid persons well acquainted with Arian affairs. When I consider all the circumstances of the case, I confess that to me it appears most probable, the unhappy man lost his life by the machinations of his enemies, being destroyed by poison. An indiscreet and blind zeal in religion has, in every age, led on to many crimes worse than this. [' The preceding account of Arius' death and of the circumstances attending it, is given by Atha- nasius, (Ep. ad Serapion de morte Arii, p, 522, &c., Opp., torn, ii., ed. Commelin), by Socrates, (Hist. Eccles., 1. i., c. 37, 38), Sosomen, (Hist. Eccles., 1. ii., c. 29, 30), by The.odorct, (Hist. Eccles., 1. i., c. 15), and by several other writers of the fourth century. The first in this list, and with him most of the others, draw a frightful picture of the manner of Arius 1 death, making him to have died by the falling out of all his bowels. Most of them regard it as a mira- cle, by which God punished him for his per- jury, or hearkened to the prayers of bishop Alexander, who with others returned thanks to God for this deliverance. It is not strange that some moderns have moved the question, whether this whole narration, the chief source of which is found in the wri- tings of the most strenuous opposer of Arius, and which respects a man then very much hated, may not be a fabrication. Yet the story is told with such uniformity as to the principal facts, by those who differ in the minor circumstances of it, and the spot where he died was so generally pointed out even in the fifth century, according to Socrates, that we are not authorized to doubt the truth of the general statement. Yet it can by no means be proved, nor indeed be made to ap- pear probable, that the sudden death of Ariu was miraculous, or a punishment inflicted by God. Sozomen himself tells us, that 298 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART II. CHAP. V. 14. After the death of Constantine the Great, one of his sons, Constan- tius the emperor of the East, with his wife and his court, was very partial to the Arian cause ; but Constantine and Constans, in the western parts where they governed, supported the decisions of the Nicene council. Hence there were no bounds and no end to the broils, the tumults, the conspira- cies, and the wrongs ; and councils were arrayed against councils by both the contending parties. Constans died in the year 350 ; and two years after, a great part of the West, particularly Italy and Rome, came under the dominion of his brother Constantius; and this change was most disas- trous for the friends of the Nicene council. For this emperor, being de- voted to the Arians, involved them in numerous evils and calamities, and by threats and punishments, compelled many of them, (and among others, as is well attested, the Roman pontiff Liberius, A.D. 357), to apostatize to that sect to which he was himself attached. (32) The Nicene party made no hesitation to return the same treatment, as soon as time, place, and op- portunity were afforded them. And the history of Christianity under Con- stantius, presents the picture of a most stormy period, and of a war among brethren, which was carried on without either religion, or justice, or hu- manity.(33) 15. On the death of Constantius, in the year 362, the prosperous days of the Arians were at an end. Julian had no partiality for either, and some at the time regarded it as the conse- quence of a disease, which directly affected the heart ; others believed, that his sudden joy at finding his affairs issuing so happily, brought on him this speedy death. Very and others, that Liberius boldly resisted the Arians, and was therefore banished to Be- roea in Thrace ; that, at the end of two years, his eagerness to return to his bishop- ric led him to consent to the condemnation much is requisite to justify the ascription of of Athanasius, and to subscribe the Arian an event, which may be explained by natural causes, to a supernatural cause, or to the hand of God inflicting a divine punishment. But under such circumstances, Christians have in all ages been too ready to make up creed set forth by the third council of Sir- mium. This weakness in a Roman bishop has furnished the Protestants with an argu- ment against the Romish doctrine of papal infallibility, which they have not failed to such inconsiderate judgments. Besides, the urge successfully, and to the great annoy- death of Arms is painted as being as extra- ance of the Catholics. See, among others, ordinary as possible ; and it is not obscurely compared, by Athanasius in particular, with that of Judas the traitor ; and on the other hand, the strange prayer of bishop Alexander against him, is not only passed without cen- sure, but is represented as being a holy prayer which Heaven answered. The ad- herents of Arius maintained, that his ene- mies compassed his death by magical arts ; and in very recent times, discerning writers have conjectured that he was poisoned. This however is merely a conjecture, and one which is often made on occasion of the sudden and unexpected death of persons who had many or powerful enemies. Nothing more, therefore, can be regarded as certain, than that Anus died a sudden death, but the cause of it is unknown." Translated from Schroeckh, Kirchengeschichte, vol. v., p. 386, 387. TV.] Bower's Lives of the Popes, vol. i., p. 136, &c. TV.] (33) [The orthodox and the Arians were constantly in the field, and they often came to bloodshed. The imperial brothers fre- quently patched up an external peace with each other ; but the Christians, who from the principles of their holy religion shfluld have been united in the closest bonds of brotherhood and in unbroken peace, were engaged in unceasing war, during the reign of these emperors. The victorious party bore down upon the vanquished with false accusations, banishments, deprivations of office, anathemas of councils, artifice and violence. For proof, the reader is referred to Athanasius, Apolog. ad. Constant., p. 307, &c., and Historia Arianor. ad Monach., p. 373, &c., p. 393, &c. Sozomen, H. E., lib. iv., c. 9, 19. Socrates, H. E., lib. ii., (32) [It appears from the Letters of Li- c. 37, and the dark picture of the state of the berius, which are still extant, and from the church, by Vincentius Lerinensis, in his testimony of Hilary of Poictiers, Jerome, Commonit., c. 6. Schl.] HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 299 therefore patronised neither the Arians nor the orthodox. (34) Jovian [A.D. 363-364] espoused the orthodox sentiments ; and therefore all the West, with no small part of the East, rejected Arian views, and reverted to the doctrines of the Nicene council. (35) But the scene was changed under the two brothers, Valentinian [in the West] and Valens [in the East], who were advanced to the government of the empire in the year 364. Valen- tinian adhered to the decisions at Nice ; and therefore, in the West, the Arian sect, a few churches exceptcd, was wholly extirpated. Valens on the contrary, took sides with the Arians ; and hence, in the eastern prov- inces, many calamities befell the orthodox. (36) But when this emperor had fallen in a war with the Goths, A.D. 378, Gratian [who succeeded Val- entinian in the West in the year 376, and became master of the whole em- pire in 378], restored peace to the orthodox.(37) After him Theodosius the Gr., [A.D. 383-395], by depriving the Arians of all their churches, and enacting severe laws against them,(38) caused the decisions of the Nicene council to be everywhere triumphant ; and none could any longer publicly profess Arian doctrines, except among the barbarous nations, the Goths,(39) (34) [Julian, who wished to make him- self popular, and to ruin the Christian church by its internal contests, not only gave all sects of Christians entire liberty of con- science, but recalled all the banished. And this was greatly for the advantage of the or- thodox, especially in the West, where the churches again recovered their bishops, and such of them as had renounced orthodoxy through fear, returned again to the profes- sion of it. SchL] (35) [The Arians in the East, took great pains to draw Jovian over to their side ; but as these attempts proved fruitless, various individuals of them, and in particular Aca- cius, were induced to yield assent to the Ni- cene creed. The Arians of Alexandria also, in vain laboured to bring Atltanasius into disgrace ; but he was in high favour, till the emperor's death. SchL] (36) [The persecution of Valens extend- ed not only to the orthodox, but also to the Semiarians and other minor parties ; and the Semiarians, after much negotiation, re- sorted to the unexpected measure of sending messengers to Rome, and by subscribing to the Nicene creed, attempted to form a coali- tion with the occidental Christians. But this coalition was frustrated, partly by the repugnance of some of the Semiarians to the word 6fioaaiof. and partly by the exertions of the powerful Arians at court, and a new persecution ensued. The orthodox ventured to make a representation to the emperor Va- lens, and for this purpose sent a delegation composed of 80 clergymen to the court at Nicornedia. The emperor cruelly ordered Mudesius the praetorian prefect, to put them all to death, but without noise ; which he accomplished by putting them on board a vessel, and when at sea, causing the vessel and all the unhappy men to be burnt. Such cruelty, perhaps, is without a parallel among the persecutions by the pagans. See Soc- rates, H. E., iv., c. 15. Sozomen, H. E., vi., c. 13. Theodorct, H. E., iv., c. 21, and Dr. Walch, Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. ii., p. 543, &c. SchL] (37) [ Gratian granted religious freedom to all his subjects, in the commencement of his reign, and excluded only the Manichae- ans, the Photinians, and the Eunomians from the liberty of holding assemblies for worship. He also recalled all the bishops whom Va- lens had banished. Some of the Semiarians now again held their own synods, and re- newed their confession of faith, that the Son is of Like essence [oftotuotoc] w ' ln tne Father, in a council held at Antioch in Caria. On the other hand, the orthodox again set up public worship at Constantinople, and ob- tained the zealous Gregory Nazianzen for their bishop. Gratian, at length, forbid the assemblies of the heretics, without distinc- tion. Codex Theodos., 1. v., de Haeret., and the Notes of Gothofred, torn, vi., p. 12S. Walch, Hist, der Ketzer., vol. ii., p. 547, &c. Schl.] (38) See Codex Theodos., torn, vi., p. 5, 10, 130, 146, and Gothofred, Notes on these laws. [See also Dr. Walch, Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. ii., p. 549, &c. SchL] (39) [The Goths were entangled in the Arian heresy on the following occasion. Being driven by the Huns from their former residence on the Tanais, they sent an em- bassy to the emperor Valens, and obtained liberty to plant themselves on the banks of the Danube ; promising not only to serve the Romans in their wars, but to embrace 300 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART II. CHAP. V. the Vandals,(40) and the Burgundians.(41) That there were great faults on both sides, in this long and violent contest, no candid person can deny ; but which party was guilty of the greatest wrong, it is difficult to say. (42) 16. The Arians would have done much more harm to the church, if they had not become divided among themselves after the Nicene council, and split into sects which could not endure each other. The ancients enumerate as Arian sects, the Semiarians, the Euselians,(k$) the Aetians, the Christian religion, as soon as teachers should be sent among them. Ulphilas was one of their ambassadors, who was himself an Arian, and Valens also gave him only Arian teachers for his assistants. It was not strange, therefore, that the Arian doc- trine obtained so great currency among this people. The subsequent history of Arian- ism among them, is related by Dr. Walch, Historie der Ketzereyen, vol. ii., p. 553. SchL] (40) [Neither the time nor the circum- stances, in which this people embraced Chris- tianity, can be ascertained. Only thus much is certain, that they were in great measure believers in Christianity before they came into France ; (Salvianus, de Gubernatione Dei, lib. vii., p. 845 and 228). And from a passage in Jornandes, (de Rebus Geticis, c. 25), it is probable, that they got their first knowledge of Christianity from their neigh- bours the Goths, and according to the Arian principles. They were persecutors of the orthodox ; which can not be said of the Goths. See Walch, Historie der Ketzere- yen, vol. ii., p. 559, &c. Sr.hL] (41) [These first settled permanently in Gaul, during the next century, and there they first embraced the Christian religion, and ac- cording to the orthodox system. (Orosius, lib. viii., c. 32. Socrates, H. E., vii., 30, and the history of the fifth century, infra, pt. i., chap, i., 4.) But their intercourse with the neighbouring Arians, the West Goths, infected them with the leaven of Arianism. Yet under the successors of their king Gun- debold, the orthodox doctrine again got the upper hand ; and under the domination of the Franks, the adherents to Arian princi- ples were wholly rooted out. See Walch, Historie der Ketzereyen, vol. ii., p. 564, &c. (42) [The judgment pronounced by Dr. Walch, in the 2d vol. of his Historie der Ketzereyen, p. 698, is so sound and im- partial, that I cannot refrain from inserting it here without alteration. " The modern Arians in England blacken the character of Athanasius too much, in order to discredit bis doctrine : other writers, too much pre- possessed with the idea that a kalendar saint must be an angel, represent this man and his adherents as absolutely faultless. If we would judge impartially, both parties were chargeable with the dreadful consequences of this contest. There was a total want of moderation throughout ; every where the mistaken notion reigned, that it is right to exercise control over the consciences of oth- ers ; every where private matters were treat- ed as public affairs of the church ; every where the authority of ecclesiastical councils was misused ; and still more, that of civil magistrates ; every where therefore, a per- secuting spirit was cherished and maintain- ed. In particular, we believe that these faults commenced on the side of the ortho- dox ; that other bishops too hastily became linked in with [the Constantinopolitan] Al- exander ; and that in the council of Sardica, too little respect was paid to the wishes of the Oriental bishops in respect to Athanasi- us, which were that he might not sit and vote in the council, because he was the ac- cused person. But the Arians were guilty of still greater offences. Arius was in fault for so zealously endeavouring to create a party ; but Eusebius of Nicomedia was, in our opinion, the real firebrand, which set the whole in a flame ; and the suspicion, that pride and love of distinction led him to de- fend Arius, and produced that obstinacy in supporting the side he took, appears to us well founded. In short this history very forcibly inculcates the necessity of uniting true benevolence towards men, with our zeal for the truth, and the avoiding of all person- al animosities, by presenting to us so many lamentable occurrences and so very unhap- py consequences, arising from the neglect of these Christian duties." Walch, ubi supra. Schl.J (43) [These derived their name from two bishops named Eusebius, the one of Caasa- rea, and the father of church history, the other of Nicomedia, and afterwards of Con- stantinople, an intimate with Constantine the Great. These belonged to the class of Semiarians, called at this day Subordination- ists, because they maintained a subordina- tion among the persons of the Godhead. Yet this name was applied to all who op- posed the Nicene doctrine, and who disap- proved either of the word 6fj.o6ai.of only, or also the idea it was used for. Schl.} HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 301 the Eunomians, the Acacians,(44) the Psaihyrians,(b) and others. But they may all be reduced to three classes. The first class embraces the old and genuine Arians ; who, rejecting all new terms and modes of ex- pression, taught explicitly, that the Son was not begotten by the Father, but was created or formed out of nothing. (46) From these, on the one side, de- viated the Semiarians ; and on the other, the Eunomians or Anomoeans, that is, the disciples of the acute Eunomius, and of A'etius. The former class maintained, that the Son of God was 6/wisatov, i. e., of like essence with the Father ; yet not by nature, but only by grace. The leaders of this par- ty were George of Laodiceh, and Basil of Ancyra.(47) The latter, who were also called pure Arians, Aetians(4:8) and Exucontians,(4:9) contended, (44) [These bore the name of Acacius, a bishop of Caesarea and successor of Eusebius Pamptnli. He allowed that the Son was like the Father ; but only in respect to his will. Sc/it.] (45) [This word imports pastry-cooks ; because a person of this occupation, a Syr- ian named Thcoktistus, was particularly zeal- ous in defending one of the minor parties of Arians in Constantinople, which maintained that God the Father existed before the Son had a being. SM.] (46) [Arms maintained that there were three substances in God, namely, the Fa- ther, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The first is the only eternal God. There is, ab- solutely, none like him ; and his essence is incomprehensible. He is called the Father, in a sense corresponding with that in which the Son is called the Son ; and as the latter was not always the Son, so the former was not always the Father. The second sub- stance is the person, who in the scriptures is denominated the Son, the Word, and the Wisdom of God. He is absolutely a crea- ture of God ; and one whom God created, as he did the other creatures, immediately from nothing. This creation of the Son, the scriptures denominate a generation ; and this creature is called the Son of God, in a figurative sense of the word, because God has adopted him. The terms Word and Wisdom of God, are ambiguous ; for they sometimes denote certain powers or attri- butes of God, and sometimes a person, namely, the Son. In the former accepta- tion, they are inherent in God naturally, and necessarily, but not so in the latter accepta- tion. God, of his voluntary choice, pro- duced this person, to be an instrument in his hand in the creation of the world. The Son therefore is, in his essence, totally dif- ferent from the Father. As a rational crea- ture, he possesses free will, is changeable, and so might become either vicious or vir- tuous ; though by his diligence and his long practice, he has acquired permanent habits of virtue. And God has chosen for his Son, this most virtuous of all the created spirits. Thus the Son, according to Anus 1 views, is not truly God, not eternal, not omnisciqpt. Somethings are mysteries to his understand- ing ; and he does not comprehend clearly the essence of the Father, nor his own na- ture. Yet God has graciously imparted to him pre-eminent gifts. Thereby he has be- come the Son of God ; nay, obtained for himself the name of God ; though not in the proper sense of the word. Such is Dr. Watch's representation of the doctrine of Arius, in his Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. ii., p. 589, &c.Schl.] (47) See Prud. Maran, Dissert, sur lea Semiarians ; which has been reprinted by Joh. Voigt, in Biblioth. Haeresiolog., torn. ii., p. 119, &c. [The Semiarians were also called moderate Arians ; and likewise Eu- sebians, because the Eusebiuscs, especially the one of Caesarea, supported this party ; and Homoeousians, from the word 6/j.oi8aiof, which was, as it were, their symbol. George of Laodicea, was a native, of Alexandria, and a very learned man. He had personal diffi- culties with bishop Alexander, and obtained the bishopric of Laodicea, through the Eu- sebian party, to which he devoted himself. Basil, bishop of Ancyra, had the reputatio- of an upright and learned man, and was in great favour with the emperor Constantius. He can be taxed with no other fault, than that of not tolerating the word opouaiof. He drew on himself much persecution by his zealous opposition to Photinus, and to the genuine Arians ; and was deprived of his office by the Acacians. Schl.] (48) [They had this name from their chief person, A'etius of Antioch. This man ap- plied himself to the sciences at Alexandria, and acquainted himself with the medical art, as well as with theology. As all his instruct ors were of Arian sentiments, he also ap- plied his talents and his dexterity in debate to the vindication of the Arian doctrines. He was made a deacon at Antioch ; but as the Semiarians and the orthodox hated him, he was deposed and banished, in the reign of 302 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART II. CHAP. V. that Christ was irepouotov or avopoiov, i. e., dissimilar, both in essence and in other respects, to the Father.(50) Under each of these classes, there were other subordinate sects, whose subtilties and refinements have been but obscurely developed by the ancient writers. This discord among the Arians was as injurious to their cause, as the confutations and the zeal of the or- thodox. 17. Unhappily the Arian contests, as was very natural, produced some new sects. Some persons, while eager to avoid and to confute the opin- ions of Arius, fell into opinions equally dangerous. Others, after treading in the footsteps of Arius, ventured on far beyond him, and became still greater errorists. The human mind, weak, powerless, and subject to the control of the senses and the imagination, seldom exerts all its energies to comprehend divine subjects, in such a manner as to be duly guarded against extremes. To the former class, I would reckon Apollinaris the younger, bishop of Laodicea, though otherwise a man of great merit, and one who in various ways rendered important service to the church. (51) He man- fully asserted the divinity of Christ, against the Arians ; but by philoso- phizing too freely and too eagerly, he almost set aside the human nature of the Saviour. He maintained, that Christ assumed only a human body, endowed with a sentient soul, but not possessed of intellect ; and that the divine nature in Christ did the office of a rational soul or mind ;(52) whence it seemed to follow, that the divine nature became mingled with the hu- man,(53) and with the human nature suffered pain and death. This great Constantius. Julian recalled him, and gave him a bishopric. He had the surname of the Atheist. Socrates, H. E., i., c. 35. Sozo- men, H E., iii., c. 15, &c., and iv., c. 23. Schl.] (49) [This name is derived from the Greek words ef a/c bvruv. They said, that the Son of God might indeed be called God, and the Word of God ; but only in a sense con- sistent with his having been brought forth ef a/c OVTUV [from nonexistences] ; that is, that he was one of those things, which once had no existence ; and of course, that he was properly a creature, and was once a nonent- ity. SchL] (50) See Ja. Basnage, Diss. de Eunomio, in Henr. Cunisius, Lectiones Antiquae, torn. i., p. 172, &c., where are extant the creed and an apology of Eunomius. See also Jo. Alb. Fabricius, Bibliotheca Gr., vol. viii., p. 100-148, and Codex Theodos., torn, vi., p. 147, 155, 157, 167, 200, &c. [Euno- mius, a Cappadocian, was a scholar of Aeti- us, and was made bishop of Cyzicurn by his partisans. But he was soon displaced, and his whole life was full of unpleasant occur- rences. He was peculiarly lucid in his style, and his writings are, on that account, the most valuable documents for the history of Arianism. Schl. See note, p. 248. TV.] (51 ) [See a sketch of his life and writings, above, p. 247, note (29). Tr.J (52) [Apollinaris believed that Christ had no need of a rational soul, because the divine nature was competent to all the ra- tional and free acts which the Saviour per- formed ; and he could see no good reason why Christ must have had two intelligent natures and two free wills. He supposed further, that a rational human soul, as being the seat of sinful acts, must be liable to moral changes ; and therefore that Christ, if he had possessed a rational human soul, could not have had an unchangeable, that is, a sin- less human nature. And he supported his opinion by the many passages of scripture which speak of Christ's becoming man, in which only the word cap!- (flesh) is used for the human nature ; e. g., Joh. i , 14. These arguments needed an answer ; but his opposers replied to them very imperfect- ly. They showed indeed, from the Bible, that Christ had a rational human soul. But their proof was defective in this, that they did not show, that by the word ^v^rf in the Scriptures must necessarily be understood a rational soul. And what they brought forward besides this, were either the bad consequences that would follow, or occasions for logomachy, which rather retarded than furthered the discovery of truth See Walch, Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. iii., p. 186, &c. Schl.] (53) [This consequence, however, Apolli- naris did not admit. He was indeed ac- cused of denying the actual distinction of HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 303 man was led astray, not merely by the ardour of debate, but likewise by his immoderate attachment to the Platonic doctrine concerning a twofold soul ; from which if the divines of that age had been free, they would have formed more wise and more correct judgments on many points. Some among the ancients attribute other errors besides this, to Apollinaris ; but how much credit is due them is doubtful. (54) The doctrine of Apol- linaris met the approbation of many, in nearly all the eastern provinces ; and being explained in different ways, it became the source of new sects. But as it was assailed by the laws of the emperors, the decrees of coun- cils, and the writings of learned men, it gradually sunk under these united assaults. 18. To the same class must be reckoned Marcellus, bishop of Ancy- ra in Galatia ;(55) if confidence may be placed in Eusebius of Cassarea, and in his other adversaries, who tell us that he so explained the mystery of the holy Trinity, as to fall into the Sabellian and Samosatenian errors. Yet there are many who think, that both Eusebius of Nicodemia, and Eu- sebius of Csesarea, unfairly represent his sentiments, because he gave of- the two natures, and of holding to such a con- tions taken by the Arians in their councils ; fusion of them, as Eulyches afterwards main- and this drew on him a severe persecution, tained. But he rejected the term mixture ; In the year 336, the Arian bishops assembled and expressly taught, that he did not subvert at Constantinople deposed him, as one con- the doctrine of two distinct natures in Christ, victed of the Sabellian or Samosatenian her- but that the divinity remained divine, and esy, and elected Basil in his place. After the flesh remained flesh. See Dr. Walch, the death of Constantius, he recovered his Historie der Ketzereyen, vol. iii., p. 193, &c. see ; but lost it again almost immediately, SM.] as the Eusebians again got the ascendancy. (54) See Ja. Basnage, Historia haere- He now fled to Rome, and exhibited a con- sis Apollinaris ; which is republished with fession of his faith to the bishop Julius, by learned additions, by Jo. Voigt, Biblioth. Haeresiologica, torn, i., fascic. i., p. 1-96. See also ibid., torn, i., fascic. iii., p. 607. The laws against the Apollinarians, are ex- whom, with the other bishops of the Atha- nasian party assembled at Rome, he was recognised as orthodox, and as a sufferer for the truth. On the other hand, the eastern tant in the Codex Theodos., torn. vi. , p. bishops persevered in their criminations of him. In the year 347, the western bishops at the council of Sardica, again pronounced him innocent. But when Phottnus, a pupil 144, &c. See likewise (Chanfepic), Nou- veau Dictionnaire hist, et crit., torn, i., p. 304, &c. [" See an account of Apollinaris, and his heresy, in the English edition of of Marcellus, commenced his disturbance, Bayle's Dictionary, at the article Apollina- Athanasius now first threw out some suspi- re." Mad. Concerning this sect, Dr. cions, that his doctrine was not pure ; but Walch has treated most solidly, and with he soon dropped them. Basil the Great, the application of impartial criticism, in his however, was more decided in his opposition Historie der Ketzereyen, vol. iii., p. 119- to Marcellus, and held him to be actually a 229. Schl.] (55) [This Marcellus was a person of heretic. Yet he afterwards acknowledged himself in the wron. Maraellus and his weight in the Nicene council ; and he there friends took pains to procure testimony, opposed the Arians with a zeal and energy from influential men and from whole church- wriich procured him praise from his own es, to their orthodoxy ; and they were not party, and hatred and obloquy from the oppo- unsuccessful. Marcellus was in reality not site side. (See Epiphamus, Haeres. Ixxii., without considerable learning ; buthisjudg- c. 2. Athanasius, Apolog. contra Arian., ment was weak, and he had the habit of talk- torn, i., pt. ii , p. 143, 150, and Constan- ing at random, and was at the same time tine, Epistt. Pontiff., p. 379, 383.) Asteri- very bitter against his antagonists. It is us, a defender of the Arian doctrine, at- therefore, not only possible, but also very tacked him in writing, and accused him of probable, that he often let drop faulty ex- Sabellianism. Marcellus in reply wrote a pressions, which in the view of his enemies book to defend the true doctrine respecting contained dangerous errors. See Walch, the subordination of Jesus Christ to the Fa- Historie der Ketzereyen, vol. iii., p. 232, ther. He likewise discarded all the posi- &c. Schi] 304 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART II. CHAP. V. fence by the severity of his attacks upon the Arians and upon the bishops who favoured them. But admitting that his accusers were influenced in some respects by their hatred of the man, yet it is certain, that their ac- cusations were not altogether groundless. For it appears from a careful examination of the whole subject, that Marcellus considered the Son and the Holy Spirit as two emanations from the divine nature, which, after per- forming their respective offices, were to return back into the substance of the Father : and whoever believed so, could not, without self-contradiction, hold the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to differ from each other in the man- ner of distinct persons. (56) Marcellus increased the odium and suspicions against him, by refusing, in the last years of his life, to comdemn Photinus his disciple. (57) 19. At the head of those whom the contests with Arius led into still greater errors, may undoubtedly be placed Photinus, bishop of Sirmium,(58) who in the year 343, advanced opinions concerning God, equally remote from those of the orthodox and those of the Arians. On well considering what the ancients have stated without much perspicuity or uniformity, it appears, that he supposed Jesus Christ was born of the virgin Mary, by the Holy Spirit ; that with this extraordinary man, a certain divine emana- tion which he called the Word became united ; that, on account of this union of the Word with the man Jesus, he was called the Son of God, and also God, and that the Holy Spirit was a virtue or energy proceeding from God, and not a person.(59) The temerity of the man was chastised not (56) [It is nevertheless uncertain, wheth- er Marcellus really denied the personal dis- tinctions in the Trinity. The accusations of his opposers are not credible evidence in this case. Marcellus and his friends con- stantly denied that they were Sabellians. He denied indeed, that there were three turofacreif, affirming that there was but one inrofaoic,. But this word had then so inde- terminate a meaning, that nothing certain can be inferred from it. For it denoted, sometimes what we should call substance, and at other times was equivalent to person. Dr. Walch (ubi supra, p. 290) thinks it probable, as Marcellus always strenuously contended, and with justice, that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are udiaipeTus and u^wpi'f"? (inseparably) united, he must have regarded the word VTtofdaic, as equivalent to the phrase, imofuaif fiisftiaa, a different substance. Yet clearly he often used un- suitable descriptions and comparisons, re- specting the eternal generation of the Son, and the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son ; and such as seem to show, that he understood by these persons only certain attributes and acts of God. But perhaps these were only unfortunate expres- sions, or errors of the moment, from which he would give back when the heat of contest subsided. Schl.] (57) See Bernh. de Montfaucon, Diatribe de caussa Marcelli ; in the Nova Collectio Patrum Grsscor., torn, ii., p. li., &c. [re- published, with some notes, by Voigt, Bib- lioth. Haeresiologica, vol. i., fascic. ii., p. 297. SM.], and Ja. Gcrvaise, Vie de S. Epiphane, p. 42, &c. [Add also, Walch, Hist, der Ketzereyen, vol. iii., p. 229-299, and Chr. Hen. VogeVs Disputation at Got- tingen, 1757, de Marcello Ancyrae Episco- po. Schl.~\ (58) [Yet Photinus was not a native of Sirmium, as some have supposed, being mis- led by a faulty Latin version of a passage in Epiphanius, de Hseres. Ixxi., <J 1. fie was rather a Galatian, (Jerome, de Viris II- lustr., c. 107, and Socrates, H. E., ii., c. 18), and most probably of Ancyra. He was an author ; but his writings are lost. And he was eloquent, and had an excellent faculty of securing the affections and making prose- lytes among his hearers. See Dr. Walch, Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. iii., p. 9, &c. Schl.] (59) [To give a more distinct view of the opinions of Photinus, we will here state them, as they are arranged by Dr. Walch, loc. cit., p. 34. Photinus had (I.) errone- ous views of the Trinity. On this subject, he taught thus : The Holy Scriptures speak indeed of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit ; but we are to understand by them, only one person, who in Scripture is called the Father. What the Scriptures call the Word, of God, is by no means a substance HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 303 only by the orthodox, in their councils of Antioch A.D. 345, of Milan A.D. 347, and of Sirmium,(60) but also by the Arians, in a council held at Sirmium A.D. 351. He was deprived of his office, and died in exile in the 372.(61) 20. After him, Macedonius bishop of Constantinople, a distinguished Semiarian teacher, being deprived of his office through the influence of the Eunomians, by the council of Constantinople in the year 360,(62) in or a person. Still less is it a person begot- ten by the Father, and therefore called the Son. For with God there can be no gener- ation ; and of course he can have no Son. Neither is the Word the person who made the world ; but the Word is properly the understanding of God ; which comprehends the designs of God, in all his external opera- tions, and is therefore called God. The Holy Spirit also is not a person, but an at- tribute of God. Hence followed (II.) erro- neous ideas of the person of Christ. He maintained, that Jesus Christ was a mere man ; that before his birth, he had no exist- ence, except in the divine foreknowledge ; and that he began to be, when he was born of Mary by the Holy Spirit. Yet he receiv- ed the special influences of divine power, whereby he wrought miracles. This is the indwelling of the Word. On account of these excellent gifts, and his perfect virtue, God took this man into the place of a son ; and therefore he is called the Son of God, and also God. Therefore it must be said, that the Son of God had a beginning. Schl.] (60) [Concerning the time and succession of these councils, there has been much de- bate between Pctavius, Sirmond, La Roque, and others ; of which an account is given by Walch, Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. hi., p. 5, &c. We will only add, in correction of Dr. Moshcim's statements, 1st, that the earliest of these councils was held in the year 343 ; as appears from three documents first brought to light by Maffci ; and Zdly, that it was held by the Semiarians. So that the first orthodox council against Photi- nus, was that of Milan. In that of Sirmi- um the eastern bishops were assembled ; and they pronounced Pfiotinus a heretic. Photinus, when adjudged to be deprived of his office and sent into exile, made applica- tion to the emperor, and obtained leave pub- licly to defend his doctrine. Basil, bishop of Ancyra, was appointed to dispute with him, and a formal discussion took place. Both parties became angry. But the vic- tory was adjudged to Basil ; and the former decision was affirmed. See Walch, loc. cit., p. 51, &c. Schl.] (61) Matth. dc la Roque, de Photino ejus- que multiplici damnatione, Geneva, 1670, VOL. I. QQ 8vo. Tko. Ittig, Historia Photini ; in his Hcptas Dissertationum. subjoined to his Diss. de Haeresiarchis aevi Apostolici. [We may add, Petaxius, Diss. de Photino haeret- ico, ejusque damnatione ; in his Rationari- um Temporum, 3d edit., and among the Opuscula of Peter de Marca, [vol. v., p. 183, &c., ed. Bamberg, 1789 ; where it is accompanied with the two Diatribae of Sir- mond, respecting the councils of Sirmium] ; and Dr. Walch, Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. iii., p. 1-70. SchL] (62) [There were several persons of the name of Macedonius, who should not be confounded with this man. The most noted of them were, Macedonius of Mopsueste, a contemporary with our Macedonius, and also involved in the Arian contests : (Socrates, Hist. Eccles., 1. ii., c. 19) : and Macedonius, likewise bishop of Constantinople in the reign of the emperor Anastasius, [A.D. 491- 518], by whom he was banished for his zeal against the Eutycheans. The election of our Mactdonius was attended with disorders which merit notice. This metropolis had had one Paul for its bishop, who was de- posed by the emperor Constantius, and Eu- sebius of Nicomedia was chosen in his place. After the death of Eusebius, the orthodox replaced Paul in his office ; but the Euse- bian bishops appointed Macedonius. The emperor Constantius was displeased with the movement of the orthodox, and ordered his general Herm.oge.nes to drive Paul from the city. And as his adherents made op- position, and the general had to use force, there was a general insurrection, which cost both sides much blood. The orthodox pop- ulace set fire to the general's house, and dragged him about the streets, with a rope around his neck, and finally killed him. The emperor now came himself to Constantino- ple, drove Paul from the city, and punished the people. And he also refused to estab- lish Macedonius in the office, because he had given occasion to the bloodshed : but he allowed him to remain in the city, and to hold worship in one of the churches which was assigned him. (Socrates, H. E., ii., c. 13, and Sozomen, H. E., iii., c. 8.) Paul returned again to Constantinople, and was again chased away by the soldiery ; and on the other hand, Macedonius was in the year 306 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART II. CHAP. V. his exile founded the seel of the Pneumatomachi. For he now openly pro. fessed, what he had before concealed, that the Holy Spirit is a divine ener- gy diffused throughout the universe, and not a person distinct from the Father and the Son. (63) This doctrine was embraced by many in the Asiatic provinces. But the council of Constantinople, assembled by The- odosius the Great in the year 381, and which is commonly considered as the second oecumenical council, early dissipated by its authority this young and immature sect. One hundred and fifty bishops present in this coun- cil, defined fully and perfectly the doctrine of three persons in one God, as it is still professed by the great body of Christians, which the Nicene coun- cil had only in part performed. They also anathematized all the heresies then known ; assigned to the bishop of Constantinople, on account of the grandeur of the city over which he presided, a rank next after the bishop 342 reinstated by an imperial general ; which occasioned another massacre, in which more than 3000 persons lost their lives. But as Constantius was compelled by his brother Constans, to reinstate the orthodox bishops, Paul shared in this good fortune, and Ma.ce,- donius with his adherents had to content themselves with a single church to worship in. After the death of Constans, Paul was again displaced, and Macedonius once more seated in the episcopal chair. Here, confi- ding in the protection of the emperor, he stirred up a general persecution against the adherents to the Nicene creed, which ex- tended to the provinces adjacent to Constan- tinople. (Socrates, H. E., ii., c. 26, 27, 38, and Sozomen, H. E., iv., c. 20, 26.) In the year 356, that church at Constantinople in which was placed the coffin of Constan- tine the Great, seemed ready to fall down ; and Macedonius therefore would" remove the coffin. Some, among whom were the or- thodox, maintained that this removal was improper and irregular ; being influenced partly by respect for the deceased emperor, and partly by hatred against Macedonius. But as Macedonius notwithstanding pro- ceeded to the removal, and had brought the coffin into another church, the two parties came to blows in the latter church, and such a slaughter was there made, that the porch was filled with dead bodies. This unfortu- nate step drew upon Macedonius the em- peror's displeasure. (Socrates, H. E., ii., c. 38. Sozomen, H. E., iv.,c. 21.) About this time, the disagreement among the op- posers of the Nicene faith, came to an open rupture ; and Basil of Ancyra, the leader of the Semiarians, drew Macedonius over to his party. (Philostorgitts, Hist. Eccles., iv., c. 9.) From this time onward, Mace- donius held a high rank among the Semiari- ans, and supported their cause in the coun- cil of Seleucia. But he thus drew on him- self such hatred from the whole Arian party, that they, in the year 360, with Acacius and Eudoxius at their head, deprived him of his office at Constantinople. Macedonius was very restless under this, and laboured to es- tablish the Semiarians by defending their opinions ; and this gave occasion for the Semiarians to be sometimes called Mace- donians. He died soon afterwards. See Walch, Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. iii.,p. 74, &c. Schl.1 (63) Socrates, Hist. Eccles., 1. iv., c. 4. [For a more full exhibition of the Macedo- nian doctrines, we will subjoin the statement of Dr. Walch, loc. cit., p. 96. As to their doctrine concerning the Son of God, some Macedonians agreed with the adherents to the Nicene fathers ; but others, and among them Macedonius himself, coincided with the mildest form of the Semiarian creed. In regard to the Holy Spirit, they departed wholly from the opinions of the orthodox. Some indeed did not declare themselves, in regard to the divinity of the Holy Spirit. They did not expressly deny that he was God ; and yet they hesitated to affirm it. And this was no unusual thing. Even Ba- sil the Great, would not recommend to have the name of God used of the Holy Spirit in public, nor condemn those who refused thus to use it. Nor would Gregory disapprove this. See Petavius, Dogma. Theolog., lib. i., de Trinitate, c. 10, torn, ii., p. 45, 64, and Semlcr, Einleitung zum 3ten Theil der Baumgarteri's Polemik, p. 173, 183. Others who did declare themselves, affirmed that the Holy Spirit was not a person in the Godhead ; that he was not, what the Father and the Son are ; and therefore no divine honours were due to him. Some held the Holy Spirit to be a creature ; and therefore did not deny his personality. Others denied his personality, and regarded him as a mere attribute of God. SchL] HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 307 of Rome ; and made such other regulations as the general interests of the church seemed to require. (64) 21. The phrensy of the ancient Gnostics, which had been so often confuted, revived again in Spain. In the beginning of this century, one Murk, a native of Memphis, introduced it from Egypt, and communicated it first to a few individuals. It had proceeded considerable lengths, and had infected some persons in reputation for their learning and piety, when Priscillian, a man of birth, fortune, and eloquence, and afterwards bishop of Avila, imbibed it. Being accused by some bishops before the emperor Gratian, Priscillian and his followers were banished from Spain : but he returned soon after. Accused again in the year 384, before Maxanus, (the usurper in Gaul, after the assassination of Gralian), he was condemned, with several of his associates, and executed at Treves in the year 385. The instigators of this capital execution for heresy were, however, re- garded with abhorrence by the bishops of Gaul and Italy : for it was not yet considered among Christians as a pious and righteous act, to deliver heretics over to the civil power to be punished. (65) Priscillian being (64) Socrates, Hist. Eccles., 1. v., c. 8. Sozomen, Hist. Eccles., 1. vii., c. 7. [The Macedonians led an externally good and strict life ; and by promoting monkery, they obtained such reputation for piety, agreeably to the taste of that age, as contributed much to their popularity in Constantinople and its vicinity. After their separation from the Arians, and after their attempt to unite them- selves with the orthodox had failed, they spread themselves considerably, especially in Thrace, along the Hellespont, and in Phry- gia. In the western provinces they were not found. At Constantinople, they had their own churches and bishops. Among the attempts to reclaim the Macedonians from their errors, the most noticeable was that of the second general council at Constantinople. The emperor Thcudoxius hoped they might be won over more readily than the Arians, because they differed less from the orthodox. He therefore called Macedonian bishops to the council. There were 36 of them pres- ent ; and much pains was taken to persuade them to embrace the Nicene decisions. .But all efforts were vain ; they declared that they would sooner embrace the Arian than the Nicene faith. And hence their doctrine was opposed in this synod, by an addition made to the Nicene creed, and by expressed forms of condemnation. With these ecclesiastical weapons against the Macedonians, worldly ones were combined. In the statutes of the elder Theodosms, (Codex Thcodos. de Hae- reticis, leg. 11, 12, 13), they are mentioned by name ; and in those of the younger The- adiisiitx, which are inserted in the Codex Theodosianus, (leg. 59, 60, 65), it will be seen, that they still existed, but could hold worship only in the principal cities. These civil regulations gave the ill-disposed bish- ops too much liberty to manifest their per- secuting spirit towards the Macedonians, and enabled them wholly to exterminate them, it would seem, under these emperors. See Walch, Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. iii., p. 70-1 18 ; and, respecting the council of Con- stantinople, his Historic der Kirchenver- sammlungen, p. 224, &c. The decrees of this council are given in Bfveridge's Pan- decta Canonum, torn, i., p. 85. Sclil. The first decree respects the creed, and anathe- mas ; the second, confines bishops to their provinces ; the third, gives the bishop of Constantinople the rank of second patriarch. The four remaining decrees are of less im- portance. TV.] (65) See Sulpitius Severus, Hist. Sacra, 1. ii., c. 46, 51, and Dialog, iii. de Vita Mar- tini, c. 15. [Priscillian had ability to pre- sent his doctrine with so much dexterity and eloquence, that he gained many friends both among the high and the low ; and his senti- ments were soon spread through all Spain. Among his adherents there were some bish- ops, particularly Insiantius and Salcianus, and many ladies of respectability. Hyginus bishop of Corduba, who afterwards went over to the Pmcillianists, was the first to oppose his doctrine ; and for this purpose made a representation of it to Idacius the bishop of Merida, who by his rash violence against bishop Instantius. blew the fire of the Pnscillianist war into a great flame. After many and long contests, a council was held at Sara^ossa in 380, at which the Priscillian- ist doctrine was condemned, and the bishops In.itiintius and Salt-ui>ius, with the i Elpiiiius and I'risnllinn, were excommuni- cated. This measure rendered the sect more resolute and determined ; and Prtt- ciilian, that he might be more safe, was 303 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART II. CHAP. V. slain, his opinions were not at once suppressed, but spread far and wide in Spain and Gaul : and even in the sixth century, the Priscillianists caused much trouble to the bishops of those provinces. 22. No one of the ancients has accurately described the doctrines of the Priscillianists ; on the contrary, some of them have perplexed and ob- scured the subject. It appears however from authentic records, that the Priscillianists came very near in their views to the Manichaeans. For they denied the reality of Christ's birth and incarnation ; maintained that the visible universe was not the production of God, but of some demon or evil principle ; preached the existence of Aeons or emanations from God ; declared human bodies to be prisons for celestial minds, fabricated by the author of evil ; condemned marriages ; denied the resurrection of the body, &c. Their rules of life were very severe : for what many state con- cerning their flagitious and libidinous practices, rests on no credible testi- mony. That the Priscillianists used dissimulation, and eluded their ene- mies by deceiving them, is true ; but that they regarded all kinds of lying and perjury as lawful, as is commonly reported of them, has not even the appearance of truth. (66) raised by the party from a layman to a bishop of Avila. The civil power was put in mo- tion against the sect ; and Idacius obtained from the emperor Gratian a decree, by which this sect, as well as others, was ban- ished the country. This decree dispersed them for a time. The leaders of the party took their course towards Rome ; and while passing through France, they seduced many, especially in Aquitain Gaul. Although they got no hearing at Rome, yet they found means to obtain a rescript from Gratian, by which the former decree was repealed, and these bishops were restored again to their offices. When Maximus had seized the government, he issued, at the instigation of Idacius, a command to the Priscillianist teachers, to appear before the ecclesiastical council of Bourdeaux. Here Instantius, who readily and frankly answered the interroga- tories of the council, was deposed : but Priscillian appealed to the emperor. Bish- op Martin of Tours, saw with concern a civil judge about to pass sentence in an ec- clesiastical affair, and made representations on the subject to the emperor, who assured him that no blood should be shed. Yet the emperor was finally persuaded by some bish- ops, to commit the investigation of the sub- ject to his minister of state Evodius, a stern judge. He in the year 385, at Treves, put Priscillian to the rack, and extorted from him a confession that he had uttered impure principles, and held nscturnal meetings with base females, and prayed naked ; and after the facts had been reported to the emperor, Priscillian and some of his adherents were put to death, and others were punished with banishment. This is the first instance of a criminal prosecution for heresy. The Pris- cillianists regarded these executions as a martyrdom ; while their opposers sought in this bloody way to exterminate them ; and the emperor had it in contemplation to send military officers into Spain, with full power to search out the heretics, and deprive them of life and property. But here again bishop Martin showed himself in an amiable light. He repaired to Treves, and there made such representations as prevented the execution of the emperor's designs. Yet the people shed the blood of heretics in many places ; and some bishops had such unchristian views as to approve of it. Yet others, on the con- trary, disapproved of it, and had great dis- sension with the former in regard to it. The Priscillianists, however, still continued to be numerous in Spain, especially in Gallicia ; and in the fifth century, when the irruption of the barbarians into Spain threw the ec- clesiastical affairs into great disorder, it af- forded this sect opportunity again to spread itself very much. And in the sixth century, Aguirre has inserted in the Concil. Hispan., torn, ii., p. 269, &c., a letter of Montanus bishop of Toledo in the year 527, from which it appears, that many persons of this sect then lived in Valencia ; and in the year 561, a council was held against them at Braga. From this time onward, no more is heard of them ; and they must either have gradu- ally wasted away, or have sunk at once on the irruption of the Saracens. See Dr. Walch, Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. iii., p. 387-430. ScA/.] (66) See Simon de Vries, Diss. critics de Priscillianistis, Trajecti, 1745, 4to, in which the principal fault is, that he follows too HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 309 23. To these larger sects, certain minor ones may be added. One Audaeus, an honest man, and ejected from the church in Syria for too freely reproving the corrupt lives of the clergy, collected a congregation and became its bishop. Being banished by the emperor into Scythia, he went among the Goths and there propagated his sect with- good success. As to the time when this sect arose, the ancients are not agreed. In some of their practices they deviated from other Christians, among which, this is especially noticed by the ancients, that contrary to the decree of the Nicene council, they celebrated the feast of Easter on the same day with the Jewish Passover. It is also said, that they attributed to the Deity a human form ; and held some other opinions which were erro- neous.(67) the stars. They denied the personal dis- tinction of the three persons in the Godhead. It is very probable, that they controverted the human nature of Christ ; and it is still more probable, that they denied him a real body, than that they denied him a human soul. From these principles it would follow, that they did not believe in a resurrection of the body. The same principles led them to disapprove of marriage, and of the procrea- tion of children ; and to forbid the eating of flesh. Their moral principles were in gen- eral, strict, and tended to produce an ascetic life. And on this account, the accusation of shameless debauchery, brought against them by their adversaries, is very improba- ble. Whether they all held prevarication, lying, and perjury, to be allowable, even in cases where one's religion is to be avowed, is uncertain. Yet it is very certain that some of them held this dangerous principle ; as for instance, Dictinnius, from whose book Augustine quotes the arguments used to jus- tify lying, which he also confutes in his book de Mendacio ad Consent. Yet that Pris- cillian and his first set of followers did not think so, appears from their suffering mar- tyrdom. Schl.~\ (67) Epiphanius, Hacres. Ixx., p. 811. Augtuttne, de Haeres., cap 1. Thcodorct, Fabul. Haeret., lib. iv., c. 9, [H. E., iv., 10]. Jo. Joach. Schroder, Diss. de Audaeanis ; which is in Joh. Voigfs Biblioth. Hist. Hae- resial., torn, i., part iii., p. 578, [and Dr. Walch, Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. iii., p. 300-321. The founder of this sect, is called both Audius and Audaeus ; and his followers are likewise called both Audiani and Audacani ; and not unfrcquently An- thropomorphifcs, because they were taxed with attributing to God a human form. Audar.us was of Mesopotamia, and stood in high estimation among the Syrians, on ac- count of his holy life, and his great zeal for the honour of God. The last was so great that he publicly punished his own brother ; and he would not flatter the avaricious and closely Beausobre's History of the Mni- chees, taking every thing there asserted to be true. Fran. Girvesii Historia Priscil- lianistarum chronologica, Romae, 1750, 8vo. In Angeli Calogerae Opusculi scientifici, torn, xxvii., p. 61, &c., occurs; Bachiarrus illustratus, seu de Priscilliana haeresi Diss., which however is less occupied in illustra- ting the affairs of the Priscillianists, than [the work of] Bachiarius, [a learned Span- iard, who composed a short treatise de Fide, first published by Muratori, (Anecdota Lat- inorum, torn, ii.), and which some consider as a polemic tract against the Priscillianists. To these must be added Walch, loc. cit., p. 378-481. To ascertain the real doctrines of the Priscillianists, is very difficult, and perhaps impossible. The quotation from an epistle of Priscillian, which Orosius has preserved, (in his Commonitorium, inter Opp. Augustim, torn, viii., p. 431), is so obscure, that it would be very natural to suppose, his contemporaries did not correctly understand him. Hence we cannot rely en- tirely on the testimony of the ancients, even if they appear to have been impartial writers. Still it appears unquestionable, that Priscil- lian embraced Gno.tlic and Manichacan er- rors ; that he misconstrued the Scriptures, and perverted them by allegorical interpre- tations ; that he relied on apocryphal books, as of divine authority ; that he believed in the eternity of matter, and held that the evil angels were not creatures of God ; that he also believed the world was not the work of God, and that all changes in the material universe originated from the evil spirits. Concerning the soul, he taught that it is a particle of the divine nature, separated from the substance of God. The human body, as all other flesh, according to the Priscilliamstic doctrine, came from the devil. And even the production of man, by the union of a soul with a body, was the work of evil spir- its. They believed in an unconditional ne- cessity for the changes a man undergoes, and which they ascribed to the influence of 310 BOOK II. CENTURY IV. PART II. CHAP. V. 24. To this century also, the Greeks and Orientals refer the origin of the sect called Messalians and Euchites ; and indeed clear traces of them first appear in the latter part of this century, though their princi- ples were much more ancient, and were known before the Christian era, in Syria, Egypt, and other countries of the East. These persons, who lived secluded from intercourse with the world in the manner of monks, derived their name from their praying. For they believed, that an evil demon naturally dwells in the mind of every man, which can be expelled no other- wise than by continual praying and singing : and that this demon being once expelled, the soul will return to God pure, and be again united to the divine essence, of which it is a fraction. To this leading principle, as may readily be supposed, they added many other strange notions, closely allied to the sentiments of the Minichaeans, and derived from the same source from which the Manichaeans derived their doctrines, namely, the Oriental philosophy. (68) In short, the Euchites were a sort of mystics luxurious bishops, for which he endured per- secution, hatred, and reproach. But he was undismayed, and bore it all with patience. Yet when at last the hatred of his enemies went so far as often to beat him and his friends, he separated himself from the church, (though, previously, some had refused him communion), formed a party and got himself ordained its bishop. This step made the separation complete ; for it was contrary to all ecclesiastical law, which required at least three bishops to solemnize an ordination, and also forbid the ordination of any schismatical bishop. The orthodox bishops entered a complaint against him before the emperor, who banished him at an advanced age into Scythia. This occasioned his going among the Goths, and converting many of that na- tion to Christianity. He erected monaster- ies among them, recommended the monas- tic life, ordained bishops ; and died before the general persecution by Alhanarick. Au- daeus held a few errors. He believed that God possessed, not a perfect human body but a human shape, and of course the form of hu- man limbs ; and that the fashion of the human body was copied from the divine shape, to which the Scriptural term image of God is to be referred. In respect to worship his followers were strict separatists, and would not worship at all with those Christians who were of an irreligious life, or who held church communion with the irreligious. Nay, they discarded the name of Christians, for that of Audaeans ; because many of them had abused the name of Christians, jn order to secure their safety. In regard to the feast of Easter, they were Quartodecimanians ; that is, they kept this festival at the time the Jews did ; and they defended the practice, by appealing to the Apostolical Constitutions. They held apocryphal books, and had their own system of church discipline. In gen- eral it may be said, they were rather fanatics than proper heretics. Their errors were proof rather of a weak head than of a per- verse heart ; and their defence of their er- rors and contempt for other Christians were the effects of their [religious or] fanatical pride. Schl.] (68) Epiphanius, Haeres. Ixxx., p. 1067. Theodoret, Haeret. Fabul., lib. iv., c. 10, [and H. E., iv., 11]. Trmothcus Presbyter, de Receptione Haereticor. in Joh. Bapt. Cotdier^s Monumenta Ecclcs. Graecae, torn, iii., p. 403, &c. Ja. Tollius, Insignia Itin- eris Italici, p. 110, &c. Asseman, Bibli- oth. Oriental. Vaticana, torn, i., p. 128, torn, iii., part ii., p. 172, &c., and others : [in particular, Dr. Walch, Historic der Ket- zereyen, vol. iii., p. 481-536. The names Messalians and Euchites signify prayers or praying brethren. The first is Syriac [or Aramaic, from the root iO2, oravit, whence the participle y?!?'?, prccantes, Ezra, vi., 10. TV.], and the latter is Greek, ['Ev%i~ rai or 'Efj^TOt, from fvxq, oratio. See Sui- cer, Thesaur. Eccles., torn, i., p. 1285, &c., and Theodoret, Hist. Eccles., iv.,c. ii. 7V.] They were so called, because they believed the essence of religion to consist in prayer ; that is, in that tranquil state of mind, in which a person neither thinks nor has voli- tions. They were also called Enthusiasts, because they pretended to be inspired and to hold converse with the Holy Spirit ; Cho- rcutae (%opVTui, dancers), from the motion of their bodies which they commonly used ; the spiritual (nvevfiariKoi.), which was the name they gave to themselves ; also Lam- pctians, Adclphians, and Marciaiusts, from certain of their leaders. There were both pagan and Christian Messalians. The for- mer acknowledged indeed a plurality of Gods, yet they worshipped but one whom HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 311 who, according to the Oriental notion, imagined that two souls resided in man, the one good and the other evil ; and who laboured to expedite the return of the former to God, by contemplation and prayer. This sect drew over many to its ranks by its outward show of piety, and the Greeks waged war with it, through all the subsequent centuries. Yet it should be remembered, that the names Messalians and Euchites were used with great latitude among the Greeks and the Orientals, and were applied to all who endeavoured to raise the soul to God by recalling it from all in- fluence of the senses, though these persons often differed very materially in their religious opinions. 25. Towards the close of this century, Arabia and the adjacent coun- tries were disturbed by two opposite sects, the Antidico-Marianites and the CoUyridians. The former contended, that the virgin Mary did not remain always a virgin ; but that she had intercourse with her husband Joseph, after the birth of our Saviour. The latter, whom the ladies es- pecially favoured, went to the opposite extreme : they worshipped St. Mary as a goddess, and thought she ought to be honoured and appeased with libations, sacrifices, and offerings of cakes [/coAAvp/def, in Latin collyri- dae.](Q9) The more obscure and unimportant sects, I pass without notice. they called 6 iravroKparup the Almighty. These were more ancient than the Chris- tians, built houses for worship similar to the Christian churches, and assembled morning and evening with many torches and candles, and employed their time in praising God ; whence they were called Euphcmites. The Christian Messalians were so named from the coincidence of their practice with that of the pagans : they seem to be the offspring of monkish enthusiasm, and to have first ap- peared in Mesopotamia, and thence to have spread into Syria ; but their origin cannot be traced with more particularity. They seem not to have been a party who had de- terminate, fixed principles of faith peculiar to themselves. Their number also appears never to have been great. They were all ascetics, though they were not all monks in the proper sense of the word. Their reli- gious theory was founded on an impure mys- tii'./xm, like to what is common to nearly all fanatical persons and communities, and which originated, like the system of Manes, from the principles of the Oriental philosophy. Yet the Messalians, like all enthusiasts, ap- pear to have relied more upon spirits, appa- ritions, and revelations, than upon the Ori- ental system of metaphysics. Their princi- ples did not necessarily lead to vicious con- duct ; yet they might afford occasion for practising vice. And in fact there were among them many vicious persons, whom idleness and spiritual pride led into gross of- fences. And there were not wanting among them real villains, who abused the mystical stupidity of others, to subserve their own wicked purposes. Heretics in the strict sense, they were not ; although led astray by their pernicious mysticisms, they em- braced wrong fundamental principles in re- gard to practical and experimental religion ; and actuated by these, they at least in part fell into heretical opinions. Schl.~\ (69) See Epiphanius, Haeres. Ixxviii., Ixxix., p. 1033 and 1057. [Among the moderns, Dr. Walch, Historic der Ketzer- eyen, vol. iii., page 577, &c. Dr. Walch makes mention, (loc. cit., p. 598), of one Bonosus ; concerning whom he also publish- ed a dissertation at Gottingen, 1754, de Bo- noso haeretico. This Bonosus was proba- bly bp. of Sardica in Illyricum, near the end of this century. He was accused of main- taining, that Mary did not always remain a virgin, but bore several children. And this charge seems not to have been a false one. [See Siricii, Ep. 9, ad Anys., &c., inter Epist. Ambrosii, ep. 79, (s. 5). Tr.j But whether Bonosus denied also the divinity of Christ, and taught that he was the Son of God only by adoption, is very dubious. Yet so much is certain, that in the fifth and sixth centuries, there were opposers of the doc- trine of the Trinity and of the divinity of Christ, who in France and Spain were known by the name of Bonosians. But still, it is uncertain whether they derived the name from this or from some other Bonosus. The reader may consult Ittig's Supplementum operum Clementis Alexandrini; where, in the annexed Fascic. Observat. miscellan. ad Hist. Eccles., p. 242, there is an Essay, de Haeresi Bonosi. The Collyridianac (for CENTURY FIFTH. PART I. THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. CHAPTER I. THE PROSPEROUS EVENTS OF THE CHURCH. $ 1. State of the Roman Empire. 2. Farther Decline of Idolatry. 3. Nations con- verted to Christianity. 4. Conversion of the German Nations. $ 5. The Franks. 6. The Irish. 7. Causes of these Conversions. 1. To understand the causes which affected the condition of Chris. tians in this century, it is necessary to keep in view some part of the civil history of the period. We shall therefore first observe concisely, that the Roman empire at the commencement of this century was di- vided into two parts, one of which embraced the eastern, and the other the western provinces. Arcadius, the emperor of the East, resided at Constantinople. Honorius, who governed the West, lived at Ravenna in Italy. The latter, distinguished by nothing but the mildness of his disposition, was negligent of the affairs of the empire. Hence first the Goths repeatedly laid waste Italy, and plundered Rome in a distressing manner. And this first defeat of the Romans was followed by others still more grievous, under the succeeding emperors. For the ferocious and warlike people of Germany overran those fairest provinces of Eu- rope, Italy, Gaul, and Spain, and set up new kingdoms in them. At last the Heruli in the year 476, under Odoacer their chief, having vanquished Rom- ulus Augustus, who is commonly called Augustulus, overturned the empire of the West, and brought Italy under their subjection. Sixteen years after, Theodoric king of the Ostrogoths settled in Illyricum, invaded these un- Epiphanius makes them all females) were from paganism. While they were mere pa- women, who carried their respect for the gans, they were accustomed to bake and pre- mother of Jesus so high, that they were just- sent to the goddess Venus, or Astarte (the ly charged by the orthodox fathers with su- Moon), certain cakes which were called col- perstition and idolatry. They came from lyrii.es. And when they became Christians, Thrace and the yet more distant regions of they thought this honour might now be best Scythia into Arabia. It was their practice shown to Mary. The doctor had in his eye to dress out a car, or a square throne (/cept- perhaps, a passage in Jeremiah (viii., 18), Kot>), spread over it a linen cloth, and on a where the prophet speaks of such a sort of clear day, once a year, place on it during the worship : and in general, it is well known day a loaf of bread, or a cake (o/U,i>p{f), that the offering of cakes in the pagan wor- which they offered to the virgin Mary. Dr. ship was a customary thing. See Dr. Moshcim (in his Lectures) considered them Walch, loc. cit , p. 625, &c., and Tillemont, as a set of simple persons, who had consid- Memoires pour servir a 1'Histoire Eccles., erable heathenism about them ; and he sup- tome xii., p. 83. ScldJ posed this offering of a cake was derived PROSPEROUS EVENTS. 313 welcome intruders, by the authority of the Greek emperor, and vanquished them ; in consequence of which, the kingdom of the Ostrogoths was es- tablished in Italy, in the year 493, and continued with various fortune till the year 552.(1) These new kings of the West professed to respect the authority of the emperors resident at Constantinople, whom they acknowl- edged as sovereigns over them ; but in reality they were quite independ- ent, especially Theodoric in Italy, a man of distinguished abilities, and they left nothing to the emperors but the shadow of supremacy. (2) 2. Amid these wars and the dreadful calamities they produced, the cause of Christianity suffered much. Yet the Christian emperors, espe- cially those of the East, continued their efforts to extirpate what remained of the ancient idolatry. In particular, Theodosius the younger [A. D. 408 450] has left us striking proofs of his zeal in this matter ; for we have still extant various laws of his, requiring the idolatrous temples to be ut- terly destroyed, or to be dedicated to Christ and the saints, abrogating the pagan ceremonies and rites, and excluding the adherents to paganism from all public offices. (3) Yet in the western parts, the efforts of this kind were somewhat less ; and we therefore find the Saturnalia, the Lupercalia, the gladiatorial shows, and other idolatrous customs observed with impu- nity both at Rome and in the provinces, and men of the highest rank and authority publicly professing the religion of their ancestors. (4) But by de- grees this liberty was confined to narrower limits, and those spectacles which were most inconsistent with the sanctity of the Christian religion Were every where suppressed. (5) 3. The limits of the Christian church were extended, both in the East and in the West, among the tribes addicted to idolatry. In the East, the in- habitants of the two mountains Libanus and Antilibanus, being extremely an- noyed by wild beasts, sought aid against them from the famous Simeon Styli- tes, of whom we shall have occasion to speak hereafter. Simeon told them, that their only remedy was to forsake their ancient superstitions and em- brace Christianity. These mountaineers obeyed the counsel of the holy (1) For a fuller account, see the Abbe de found in Latin, in the Opp. Chrysostomi, Bos, Histoire Critique de la Monarchic torn, xi., and in French, in the Memoires de Francois, torn, i., p. 558, &c., and Jos. Jo. 1'Acad des Inscript. et des Belles Lettres, Mascov's History of the Germans, written torn. xx. , p. 197, &c. [The pagans traced in German. [Also Edw. Gibbon's History the calamities of the empire to the prevalence of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Em- of Christianity. Therefore in the year 408, pire, chap. 29-31, 33-36. TV.] at the instigation of the Tuscan soothsayers, (2) Car. du Fresne, Diss. xxiii. ad. His- idolatrous sacrifices were again established tor. Ludovici S., p. 260. Muralori, Antiq. at Rome, in order to procure success against Ital., torn, ii., p. 578, 832, and Annal. Ital- Alaric ; and the existing bishop, Innocen- iae : Giannone, Histoire de Naples, torn, i., tius, who was apprized of the measure, al- p. 207. Joh. Cockiaci, Vita Theodorici lowed it to take place, if we may believe Ostrogothorum regis, with the observations Zosimus, on condition that the sacrifices of Joh. Perini>skiold, Stockholm, 1699, 4to. should be offered without noise. See Zosi- (3) See Codex Theodos., torn, vi., p. 327, mus, lib. v., cap. 41. To confute this ac- 331, &c. cusation of the populace against Christianity, (4) See Macrobius, Saturnalia ; in par- was the design of Augustine's twenty-two ticular, lib. ii., p. 190, ed. Gronovii : Scipw Books de Civitate Dei, addressed to Mar- Ma/ei, delli Anfiteatri, lib. i., p. 56, 57. cellinus. Schl.] Pierre le Brun, Histoire critique des pra- (5) Near the close of the century, Anat- tiques siiperstitieuses, torn, i., p. 237, and tastus in the East, prohibited the combats others ; but especially Bernh. de Monlfau- with wild beasts, and the other shows. See con, Diss. de monbus tempore Theodosii Jo*. Simon Asseman, Biblioth. Oriental. M. ct. Arcadii ex Chrysostomo ; which id Clement. Vaticana, torn, i., p. 268, 272. VOL. I. R R 314 BOOK II. CENTURY V. PART I. CHAP. I. man ; and having become Christians, they saw the wild beasts flee from the country if writers tell us the truth. The same Simeon, by his in- fluence, (for I doubt the existence of any miracle), caused a part of the Arabians to adopt the Christian worship. (6) In the island of Crete, a con- siderable number of Jews, finding that they had been basely imposed upon by one Moses of Crete, who pretended to be the Messiah, voluntarily em- braced Christianity.(7) 4. The German nations who rent in pieces the western Roman em- pire, were either Christians before that event, as the Goths and others, or they embraced Christianity after establishing their kingdoms, in order to reign more securely among the Christians. But at what time, and by whose instrumentality, the Vandals, the Suevi, the Alans, and some others became Christians, is still uncertain, and is likely to remain so. As to the Burgundians, who dwelt along the Rhine and thence passed into Gaul, it appears from Socrates,(S) that they voluntarily became Christians, near the commencement of the century. Their motive to this step was the hope that Christ, or the God of the Romans, who they were informed was immensely powerful, would protect them from the incursions and the rava- ges of the Huns. They afterwards [about A.D. 450] joined the Arian par- ty ; to which also the Vandals, Suevi, and Goths were addicted. All these warlike nations measured the excellence of a religion by the military suc- cesses of its adherents, and esteemed that as the best religion, the profess- ors of which were most victorious over their enemies. While therefore they saw the Romans possessing a greater empire than other nations, they viewed Christ, the God of the Romans, as the most worthy of their homage. (6) Jos. Sim. Asscman, Biblioth. Orient, ed by Fleury, Histoire de 1'Eglise, liv. xxiv. Clement. Vaticana, torn, i., p. 246, &c. Yet it is certain, that the Jews even in that (7) Socrat.es, Hist. Eccles., 1. vii., c. 38, age often imposed on the Christians, by pre- 11 where the account is, in brief, that in the tending to have favourable views of Christi- time of Theodosius the younger, an impostor anity. This appears from the Codex Theo- arose, called Moses Cretensis. He pre- dos., lib. xvi., tit. 8, leg. 23. And Socrates, tended to be a second Moses, sent to deliv- (Hist. Eccles., 1. viii., c. 17), mentions a er the Jews who dwelt in Crete, and prom- Jew, who received baptism with a consider- ised to divide the sea, and give them a safe able sum of money, successively, from the passage through it. They assembled to- orthodox, from the Arians, and from the gether, with their wives and children, and Macedonians, and finally applying to the followed him to a promontory. He there Novatians for baptism, was detected by the commanded them to cast themselves into miracle of the disappearance of the water the sea. Many of them obeyed and perished from the font. Although this miracle may in the waters, and many were taken up be doubted, and the impostor may have been and saved by fishermen. Upon this, the de- detected by an artifice of the Novatian bish- luded Jews would have torn the impostor op, yet it appears from the story, that what to pieces ; but he escaped them, and was is practised by many Jews at the present seen no more. Likewise in the island of day is no new thing. Schl.~\ Minorca, many persons abandoned Judaism. (8) Hist. Eccles., lib. vii., c. 30. [They Yet their conversion does no great honour sent for a bishop from Gaul, who directed to the Christians ; for it was in consequence them to fast seven days, and baptized them of great violence done to the Jews, of level- on the eighth Dr. Semler (in his Hist, ling their synagogue with the ground, and Eccles. Selecta Capita, torn, i., p. 203) taking away their sacred books. See the supposes this event took place about the account of their conversion, by the bishop of year 415. And in this year it was, accord- the Balearean Islands: Snoerus, Epist en- ing to the Chronicon of Prosper, that the cycl. de Judaeorum inhac insulaconversione Burgundians took possession of a part of et demiraculis ibidem factis ; published from Gaul on the Rhine, with the consent of the a MS. in the Vatican library, by Baronius, Romans and their confederates, having prom- in his Annales Eccles. A.D. 418, and abridg- ised to embrace Christianity. Schl.] PROSPEROUS EVENTS. 315 5. It was this motive which produced the conversion of Clovis, [Chlo- dovaeus, Hludovicus, Ludovicus], or Lewis, king of the Salii, (a tribe of the Franks), who conquered a large part of Gaul, and there founded the kingdom of the Franks, which he endeavoured to extend over all the Gal- lie provinces ; a valiant prince, but cruel, barbarous, selfish, and proud. For in the year 496, in a battle with the Allemanni at Tolbiacum,(9) when his situation was almost desperate, he implored the aid of Christ, whom his wife ClotiZdis, a Christian and daughter of the king of the Burgundians, had long recommended to him in vain ; and he made a vow, that he would worship Christ as his God, provided he obtained the victory. Having be- come victorious, he stood to his promise, and in the close of that year was baptized at Rheims.(lO) Some thousands of Franks followed tne exam- ple of their king. It has been supposed that, besides the exhortations of his wife, the expectation of an extension of his dominions, contributed to in- duce him to renounce idolatry for Christianity ; and it is certain, that his professing Christianity was very subservient to the establishment and en- largement of his kingdom. The miracles reported on this occasion are unworthy of credit ; in particular, that greatest of them, the descent of a dove with a vial full of oil, at the baptism of Clovis, is either a fiction, or, as I think more probable, a deception craftily contrived for the occasion.(ll) For such pious frauds were much resorted to in that age, both in Gaul and Spain, in order to captivate more readily the minds of the barbarous na- tions. It is said, that the conversion of Clovis gave rise to the custom of addressing the French monarchs with the titles of most Christian Majesty, and Eldest Son of the Church :(12) for the kings of the other barbarous na- tions which occupied the Roman provinces, were still addicted to idolatry, or involved in the errors of Arianism. (9) [" Tolbiacum is thought to be the confirm the wavering mind of the barbarous present Zulpick, which is about 12 miles and savage king, artfully contrived to have a from Cologne." Mac/.] dove let down from the roof of the church (10) See Gregory of Tours, Historia bearing a vial of oil, at the time of the king's Francor., 1. ii., c. 30, 31. Henry Count de baptism. Similar miracles occur in the Bunau, Historia imperil Romano-Germanici, monuments of this age. [The possibility of torn. i.,p. 588, &c. Alibi de Bos, Histoire the event is made conceivable in this way. critique de la monarchic Franchise, torn, ii., Yet there still remain weighty historical ob- p. 340, &c., [and J. G. Watch. Dissert, de jections to the reality of the fact. The story Clodovaeo M. ex rationibus politicis Christi- rests solely on the authority of Hincmar, a ano, Jena, 1751. Schl. Clovis, once hear- writer who lived 300 years after the time, ing a pathetic discourse on the sufferings Avitvs, Anastasius, and even Gregory of of Christ, exclaimed: Si ego ibidem cum Tours, and Fredegativs are wholly silent on Francis meis fuissem, injurias ejus vindicas- the subject. Besides, Hincmar's narrative sem : Had I been there icilh my Franks, contains the improbable circumstance, that / would have avenged his wrongs. See the clergy who should have brought the oil arius, Epitom.,c. 21. Aimoin,\. i., that was wanting, could not get near the c. 16, and Chronicon St. Dionysii, 1. i., c. font, on account of the pressure of the crowd; 20. TV.] but as anointing with oil was then practised (11) Against this miracle of the vial, Joh. at every person's baptism, it is improbable Jac. Chiflct composed his book, de Ampulla that on so solemn an occasion as this, due Rhemensi, Antw., 1651, fol. The reality of preparation for this part of the service would the miracle is defended, among many others, have been neglected. Schl.] by the Abbf. Verio/. Memoires de I'Acadomie (12) See Gabr. Daniel's and the Abbe de des Inscript. et des Belles Lettres, torn, iv., p. Camp's Diss. de titulo Regis Christianissi- 350, &.c. After considering all the circum- mi; in the Journal des S^avans, for the year stances, I dare not call the fact in question. 1720, p. 243, 404448, 536. Memoires de 13ut I suppose, St. Kcmigius, in order to 1'Acad. des Inscript., tome ii., p. 466, &c. 316 BOOK II. CENTURY V. PART I. CHAP. I. 6. Ccelestine the bishop of Rome, first sent into Ireland to spread Chris, tianity among the barbarians of that island, Palladius, whose labours were not crowned with much success. After his death, in the year 432, Cce- lestine sent Succathus a Scotchman, whose name he changed to Patricius [Patrick], a man of vigour and, as appears from the event, not unfit for such an undertaking. He was far more successful in his attacks upon idol- atry ; and having converted many of the Irish to Christianity, he in the year 472 established at Armagh the see of an archbishop of Ireland.(13) (13) See the Acta Sanctorum, torn. ii. erre, he was appointed to succeed Palladius Martii, p. 517, torn, iii., Februar., p. 01Y, torn. 111., rebruar., p. 131, 179, &c. Joe. Waracus, Hibernia Sacra, p. 1, &c., Dublin, 1717, folio. The same Ware published the Opuscula Sti. Patricii, with notes, London, 1656, 8vo. The syn- ods held by St. Patrick, are given by Dav. Wilkins, Concilia magnae Brit, et Hiberniae, torn, i., p. 2, &c., [and thence republished in Harduin's Collection, torn, i., p. 1790, &c.] Concerning the famous cave, called the purgatory of St. Patrick, see Peter le Brun, Histoire critique des pratiques super- stitieuses, tome iv., p. 34, &c. [A minute account of St. Patrick and his labours in Ireland, is given by archbishop Usher, Ec- clesiar. Britannicar. Primordia, cap. xvii., p. 815, &c., and a more neat and succinct account by Adr. Baillet, Vies des Saints, torn, i., March 17, p. 215, &c. According to the latter, St. Patrick was born near Dun- briton in Scotland, about A.D. 377. At the age of 1 6 he was seized by some Irish ma- rauders and sold as a slave in Ireland. After five or six years' captivity, he escaped and returned to Scotland. His thoughts were at that time turned towards efforts for the con- version of the pagan Irish. After a few months, he set out with his parents for Bre- tagne in France. On the way, his father and mother both perished ; and he himself was twice made a prisoner, first by the Picts, and then by pirates who carried him to Bour- deaux and sold him. Being set free, he re- paired to the monastery of Marmoutier, be- came a monk, and after three years' study determined to return to Scotland and become a missionary. But meeting obstructions on his way, he returned to France, and from there went to Italy, where he spent nearly seven years in different monasteries and holy places, was ordained a priest, and resided three years with the bp. of Pisa. Still thirst- ing for the conversion of the Irish, he repair- ed to Ireland and began to preach to those pagans. But meeting with no success, he was led to question his call to such a work ; and he returned to France to consult his friends. He remained at Auxerre six years, and then passed nine years in the monastery at Lerins. At length in the year 432, by the recommendation of St. Germain bp. of Aux- in the Irish mission, ordained by Clement I., and sent forth by Sixtus III., with a com- petent number of assistants. He passed through Auxerre, and after making some converts in Wales and Cornwall, landed on the coast of Ireland the same year. He commenced his missionary labours in Lage- nia, a province in the north of Ireland ; and his preaching being accompanied by appa- rent miracles, his success was very great. In 434, leaving that province to the care of his assistants, he passed into the province of Ultonia, where he was equally successful, founded a monastery near the city of Down, built many churches, and ordained many bishops and priests. Wherever he went new converts flocked to him, casting away their idols and demolishing their temples. But his old master Milcon he could not convert ; and judgment overtook the wretch for his hardness, for his house took fire, and he with his whole family were burned up in it. In 436, Patrick left Ultonia, and proceeded to Media (Meath) and Connacia (Connaught); and for several years he travelled on foot from place to place, slept on the ground, and toiled incessantly to spread the gospel in all parts of the island. In the year 444, he made a journey to Rome, to confer with the pope and obtain more assistants. On his return the next year, he spent some time in the west of England, and, as some say, es- tablished there several monasteries. Re-en- tering Ireland with a large re-enforcement of priests, whom he distributed in the provinces of Lagenia, Media, and Connacia, he took his station in Ultonia, and there erected the church of Armagh about the year 450. To obtain more labourers, he passed over to Britain, and while there reclaimed many Pelagians and Arians. A great number of priests accompanied his return, whom he distributed in Ireland and the adjacent isl- ands. He himself, it is said, spent some years in the province of Momonia, in which Cashel was a chief town. In 455 he again visited Rome, and was constituted abp. of Armagh and primate of all Ireland. In 456 he held the first Irish council, at which Aux- ile and Wernin appeared prominent among the bishops. From this time onward, being PROSPEROUS EVENTS. 317 Hence St. Patrick, although there were some Christians in Ireland before his day, has been justly called the Apostle of Ireland and the father of the Irish church, and is held in high veneration to this day. 7. The causes which induced all these pagan nations to abandon the religion of their ancestors and profess Christianity, may be gathered from what has been already said. The man must lack discernment, who can deny that the labours, the perils, and the zeal of great and excellent men, dispelled the clouds of darkness from the minds of many ; and on the other hand, he must be short-sighted and not well versed in the history of this age, who is unable to see, that the fear of the vengeance of man, the hope of temporal advantages and honours, and the desire of obtaining aid from Christians against their enemies, were prevalent motives with many to abandon their gods. How much influence miracles may have had, it is difficult to say. For I can easily believe, that God was sometimes pres- ent with those pious and good men, who endeavoured to instil the princi- ples of true religion into the minds of barbarous nations :(14) and yet it is certain, that the greatest part of the prodigies of this age are very sus- picious. The greater the simplicity and credulity of the multitude, the more audacious would be the crafty in playing off their tricks :(15) nor could the more discerning expose their cunning artifices, with safety to their own lives and worldly comfort. (16) It is commonly the case, that when great danger attends the avowal of the truth, then the prudent keep silence, the multitude believe without reason, and the architects of imposi- tion triumph. infirm from age and excessive toil, St. Pat- his tomb. Such is the account of the Ro- rick led a more stationary life at Armagh mish writers. See Neander, Kirchengesch., and at his favourite monastery of Sabhull vol. ii., pt. i., p. 259-267. Tr.] near Down. Yet he preached daily, supy- (14) There is a remarkable passage con- intended the affairs of all the churches, held cerning the miracles of this century, in the a council annually, laboured to civilize the Tkeophratus, seu de Immortalitate animae, nation, imparted to them letters, and per- of the acute jEneas Gazaeus, p. 78, ed. formed every duty of a good shepherd, till, Barthii. Some of these miracles, he tells worn out with age and toil, he died about us, he himself had witnessed, p. 80, 81. A.D. 460, at the age of 83. Some how- (15) The Benedictine monks speak out ever, by placing his birth earlier and his freely on this subject, in the Histoire Litte- death later, make his mission to continue 60 raire de la France, torn, ii., p. 33. It is a years, and his whole life 120, and some even fine saying of Livy, Histor., lib. xxiv., c. 10, 132 years. He is said to have erected 365 $ 6 : Prodigia multa nuntiata sunt, quae churches, consecrated almost as many bish- quo magis credebant simplices ac religiosi ops, and to have ordained nearly 3000 priests, homines, eo plura nuntiabantur. He was buried in his monastery near Down ; (16) Sulpitius Severus, Dial, i., p. 438, and miracles are said to have occurred at Ep. i., p. 457. Dial, iii., cap. ii., p. 487. 318 BOOK II. CENTURY V. PART I. CHAP. II. CHAPTER II. THE CALAMITIES OF THE CHURCH. 1. The Evils suffered by the Christians in the Roman Empire. $ 2. Attempts of the Pagans against them. $ 3. Their Persecutions. $ 4. In Persia. 5. Individual En- emies of Christianity. 1. IT has been already observed that the Goths, the Heruli, the Franks, the Huns, the Vandals, and other fierce and warlike nations, who were for the most part pagans, had invaded and miserably rent asunder the Roman empire. During these commotions, the Christians at first suffered extreme- ly. These nations were, it is true, more anxious after plunder and do- minion, than for the propagation of the false religions of their ancestors, and therefore did not form any set purpose to exterminate Christianity ; yet the worshippers of idols, who still existed everywhere scattered over the empire, neglected no means to inflame the barbarians with hatred against the Christians, hoping by their means to regain their former liber- ty. Their expectations were disappointed, for the greatest part of the barbarians soon became Christians themselves ; yet the followers of Christ had everywhere first to undergo great calamities. 2. The friends of the old religion, in order to excite in the people the more hatred against the Christians, while the public calamities were daily increasing, renewed the obsolete complaint of their ancestors ; that all things went well before Christ came, but since he had been everywhere embraced, the neglected and despised gods had let in evils of every kind upon the world. This weak attack was repulsed by Augustine, in his Books on the city of God ; a copious work and full of erudition. He also prompted Oro- sius to write his Books of History, in order to show that the same and even greater calamities and plagues afflicted mankind before the Christian religion was published to the world. In Gaul the calamities of the times drove many to such madness, that they wholly excluded God from the government of the world, and denied his providence over human affairs. These were vigorously assailed by Salman, in his Books on the government of God. 3. But the persecutions of the Christians deserve to be more partic- ulaily noticed. In Gaul and the neighbouring provinces, the Goths and Vandals, who at first trampled upon all rights human and divine, are re- ported to have laid violent hands on innumerable Christians. In Britain, after the fall of the Roman power in that country, the inhabitants were miserably harassed by the neighbouring Picts and Scots who were bar- barians. Having therefore suffered various calamities, they in the year 445 chose Vortigern for their king ; and he finding his forces inadequate to repel the assaults of the enemy, in the year 449 called the Anglo-Sax- ons from Germany to his aid. But they landing with their troops in Brit- ain, produced far greater evils to the inhabitants than they endured before ; for these Saxons endeavoured to subdue the people whom they came to as- sist, and to bring the whole country into subjection to themselves. This ADVERSE EVENTS. 319 produced an obstinate and bloody war between the Britons and the Saxons, which continued with various fortune during 130 years, till the Britons were compelled to yield to the Anglo-Saxons, and take refuge in Batavia and Cambria [the modern Holland and Wales], During these conflicts, the condition of the British church was deplorable ; for the Anglo-Saxons, who worshipped exclusively the gods of their ancestors, almost wholly prostrated it, and put a multitude of Christians to a cruel death. (1) 4. In Persia the Christians suffered grievously, in consequence of the rash zeal of Abdas bishop of Suza, who demolished the Pyraum, a temple dedicated to fire. For being commanded by the king Isdegerdes to re- build it, he refused to comply ; for which he was put to death, in the year 414, and the churches of the Christians were levelled to the ground. Yet this conflict seems to have been of short duration. Afterwards Vararanes the son of Isdegerdes, attacked the Christians with greater cruelty, in the year 421, being urged to it partly by the instigation of the Magi, and part- ly by his hatred of the Romans, with whom he was engaged in war. For as often as the Persians and the Romans waged war with each other, the Christians resident in Persia were exposed to the rage of their monarchs ; because they were suspected, and perhaps not without reason, to be favour- ably disposed towards the Romans, and to betray their country to them. (2) A vast number of Christians perished under various exquisite tortures du- ring this persecution. (3) But their tranquillity was restored when peace returned between Vararanes and the Romans, in the year 427. (4) The Jews likewise, who were opulent and in good credit in various parts of the East, harassed and oppressed the Christians in every way they could. (5) None of them was more troublesome and overbearing than Gamaliel their patriarch, who possessed vast power among the Jews ; and whom there- fore Theodosius junior restrained by a special edict, in the year 41 5. (6) 5. So far as can be learned at this day, no one ventured to write books against Christianity and its adherents during the fifth century ; unless per- haps, the Histories of Olympiodorus(l) and of Zosimus,(8) are to be con- (1) See Beda and Gildas, among the an- (3) Jos. Sim. Asseman, Biblioth. Ori- cients ; and among the moderns, Ja. Usher, ental. Vaticana, torn, i., p. 182, 248. [See Britannicarum Ecclesiar. Antiquitates, cap. also Theodoret, as above. The most distin- xii., p. 415, &c., and Rapin Thoiras, His- guished sufferers in this persecution, were tory of England, vol. i., b. if., p. , &c. Abdas the bishop of Suza ; Hormisdas, a [The Saxons were not directly persecutors Persian nobleman and son of a provincial of the Christians, but only involved them in governor ; Benjamin, a deacon ; James, the common calamities of their slaughtered who apostatized, but repented ; and Sevencs, and oppressed countrymen. Tr.] who possessed 1000 slaves. 2V.] (2) Theodoret, Hist. Eccles., 1. v., c. 39, (4) Socrales, Hist. Eccles., 1. vii., c. 20. [where is a full account of the conduct of (5), Socrates, Hist. Eccles., 1. vii., c. 13 Abdas, and of the sufferings of the Christians and 16; and Codex Theodos., torn, vi., p. during the persecution. Tr.] Bayle, Die- 265, &c. tionnaire historique, article Abdas, vol. i., p. (6) In the Codex Theodos., torn, vi., p. 10. Barbeyrac, de ia Morale des Peres, p. 262, &c. 320. [An account of the manner in which (7) Photius, Biblioth., cod. Ixxx., p. 178. Christianity obtained free toleration and an [Olympiodorus was a native of Thebes ia extensive spread in Persia, at the commence- Egypt, a poet, historian, and an ambassa- ment of this century, through the influence dor to the king of the Huns. He flourished of Maruthas, a bishop of Mesopotamia who about the year 425 ; and wrote Historinrum was twice an ambassador to the court of Ltbrix.su., addressed to Theodosius junior, Persia, is given by Socrates, Hist. Eccles., and containing the Roman History, particu- 1. vii., c. 8. Tr.} larly of the West, from A.D. 407 to 425. 320 BOOK II. CENTURY V. PART II. CHAP. I. sidered of this character, the latter of whom is frequently sarcastic and unjustly severe upon the Christians. Yet no one can entertain a doubt that the philosophers and rhetoricians, who still kept up their schools in Greece, Syria, and Egypt, secretly endeavoured to corrupt the minds of the youth, and laboured to instil into them at least some of the principles of the proscribed superstition. (9) The history of those times, and the writings of several of the fathers, exhibit many traces of such clandestine machinations. PART II. THE INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. CHAPTER I. THE HISTORY OF LITERATURE AND SCIENCE. 1. State of Learning among Christians. 2. In the West. 3. State of Philosophy in the West. 4. In the East. 5. The Younger Platonists. 6. Aristotelian Phi- losphy revived. 1. ALTHOUGH the illiterate had access to every office both civil and ecclesiastical, yet most of the persons of much consideration were persua- ded that the liberal arts and sciences were of great use to mankind. Hence public schools(l) were kept up in the larger cities, as Constantinople, Rome, Marseilles, Edessa, Nisibis,(2) Carthage, Lyons, and Treves ; and masters competent to teach youth were maintained at the expense of the emperors. Some of the bishops and monks also of this century, here and there imparted to young men what learning they possessed. (3) Yet the infelicity of the times, the incursions of barbarous nations, and the penury of great ge- niuses, prevented either the church or the state from reaping such advan- tages from the efforts to promote learning, as were desired by those en- gaged in them. 2. In the western provinces, especially in Gaul, there were some men of learning, who might have served as patterns for others to follow. Such among others were Macrobius, Salman, Vincentius of Lerins, Ennodius, Sz- The work is lost, except the copious extracts (1) [The history and progress of schools preserved by Photius, ubi supra. TV.] among Christians, are the subject of an ap- (8) [Zosimus was a public officer in the propriate work, by George Gottl. Revfel, reign of Thr.odosius junior, and wrote His- Helmst., 1743, 8vo. ScW.] toriarum Libri vi. in a neat Greek style. (2) [The schools at Edessa and Nisilis, The first book gives a concise history of Ro- are noticed by Valesius, on Thcodori Lr.c- man affairs from Augustus to Diocletian; toris Hist. Eccl., 1. ii., p. 164, b. Schl.] the following books are a full Roman histo- (3) [On the episcopal and cloister schools, ry, down to A.D. 410. The best editions in Africa, Spain, Italy, and Gaul, remarks are by Cellaring, Jena, 1728, 8vo, and by are made by Ludov. Thomasinus, de Disci- Reitemier, Lips., 1784, 8vo. TV.] plina Ecclesiae, torn, i., part ii., lib. ii., p. (9) Zacharias Mitylen. de Opificio Dei, 27, &c. Schl.] p. 165, 200, ed. Barthii. LITERATURE AND SCIENCE. 321 donius Apollinaris, Claudianus Mamertus, and Draconlius ; who as writers were not indeed equal to the ancient Latin authors, yet neither altogether destitute of elegance, and who devoted themselves to the study of antiqui- ties and other branches of learning. But the barbarians who laid waste or took possession of the Roman provinces, choked these surviving plants of a better age. For all these nations considered arms and military cour- age as the only source of all glory and virtue ; and therefore they despised learning and the arts. Hence wherever they planted themselves, there barbarism insensibly sprung up and flourished, and the pursuit of learning was abandoned exclusively to the priests and monks. And these, surround- ed by bad examples and living in the midst of wars and perils, gradually lost all relish for solid learning and renown, and substituted in place of it a sickly spectre and an empty shadow of erudition. In their schools, the boys and youth were taught the seven liberal arts ;(4) which being com- prised in a few precepts, and those very dry and jejune, as appears from the treatises of Augustine upon them, were rather calculated to burden the memory than to strengthen the judgment and improve the intellectual pow- ers. In the close of this century therefore, learning was almost extinct, and only a faint shadow of it remained. 3. Those who thought it expedient to study philosophy and there were but few who thought so did not in this age commit themselves to the guidance of Aristotle. He was regarded as too austere a master, and one who carried men along a thorny path.(5) Perhaps more would have relished him, had they been able to read and understand him. But the system of Plato had for several ages been better known ; and it was supposed, not only to be less difficult of comprehension, but to accord bet- ter with the principles of religion. Besides, the principal works of Plato were then extant in the Latin translations of Victorinus.(6) Therefore such among the Latins as had a taste for philosophical inquiries, contented themselves with the decisions of Plato ; as will appear to any one who shall only read Sidonius Apollinaris. (7) 4. The state of learning among the Greeks and the people of the East, both as respects elegant literature and the severer sciences, was a lit- tle better ; so that among them may be found a larger number of writers, who exhibit some marks of genius and erudition. Those who prosecuted the science of jurisprudence, resorted much to Berytus in Phenicia, where was a celebrated law-school,(8) and to Alexandria.(9) The students of medicine and chymistry resorted also to Alexandria. The teachers of eloquence, (4) [These comprised, I., the Trivium, (9) Zacharins Mitylen. de Opificio Dei, namely, Grammar, Rhetoric, and Logic ; p. 179. [Among the moderns may be con- an-1 II., the Quadrivium. or Arithmetic, Mu- suited J. Andr. Schmidt's Preface to Andr. sic, Geometry, and Astronomy. See below, Hypcrius de Schola Alexandrina catecheti- century xi., part ii., ch. i., 5. TV.] ca, Helmst., 1704, 8vo. Hen. Dodicdl, ad (5) Passages from ancient writers in proof, fragmentum Philippi Sidetae ; at the end of ere collected by Joh. Launoi, de varia Aris- his Dissertations on Irenaeus. Lud. Tho- totehs fortuna in Academia Parisiensi masinus, de Discipl. Eccles., torn, i., part i.. (6) See Augustine, Confessionum lib. i., I. ii., c 10, p. 210, &c. Joh. Geo. Michtz- C. 2, <) 1, Opp., torn, i., p. 105, 106. Us, Exercit. de Scholae Alexandrinae sic (7) See his Epistles, lib. iv., Ep. iii., xi., dictae Catecheticae origine. progressu, et and lib. ix., Ep. ix., and others. praecipuis doctoribus ; in torn, i., Symbolar. (8) See Ja. Hcxaeus, liber de Academia litter. Bremens., p. 195, &c., zndJos. Ring- Jureconsultorum Berytensi ; and Zachanas ham, Antiq. Eccles., lib. iii., c. 10, $ 5. > Mitylen. de Opificio Dei, p. 164. Schl.} VOL. I. S s 322 BOOK II. CENTURY V. PART II. CHAP. I. poetry, philosophy, and the other arts, opened schools almost everywhere; and yet the teachers at Alexandria, Constantinople, and Edessa, were sup- posed to excel the others in learning and in the art of instructing. (10), 5. The sect of the younger Platonists sustained itself and its philoso- phy, at Athens, at Alexandria, and in Syria, with no small share of its an- cient dignity and reputation. Olympiodorus,(ll) Hero,(I2) and other men of high reputation, adorned the school of Alexandria. At Athens, Plu- tarch,(13) and his successor Syrianus,(\) with Theophrastus, procured for themselves fame and distinction. From them Proclus received in- struction, became the prince of the Platonists of this century, and acquired for himself and for the species of wisdom which he professed so much ce- lebrity among the Greeks, that he seems almost the second father of the system. (15) His disciples, Marinus of Neapolis, Ammonius the son of Hermias, Isidorus, Damascius, and others, followed eagerly in the foot- steps of their instructor, and left many followers who copied their exam- ple. Yet the laws of the emperors, and the continual advances of Chris- tianity, gradually diminished very much the fame and the influence of these philosophers. (16) And as th'ere was a sufficient number now among the Christians, who cultivated and were able to teach this species of wisdom so much confided in at that day, it naturally followed that fewer persons than formerly frequented the schools of these heathen sages. 6. But though the philosophy of Plato appeared to most persons more favourable to religion and better founded than that of Aristotle, yet the lat- ter gradually emerged from its obscurity, and found its way into the hands of Christians. The Platonists themselves expounded some of the books of Aristotle in their schools, and particularly his Dialectics, which they recommended to such of their pupils as were fond of disputation. The Christians did the same, in the schools in which they taught philosophy. This was the first step made by the Stagyrite towards that universal em- pire which he afterwards obtained. Another and a more active cause was found in the Origenian, Arian, Eutychian, Nestorian, and Pelagian contests, which produced so much evil in the church during this century. Origen, it was well known, was a Platonist. When therefore he fell under public censure, many, that they might not be accounted his adherents, ap- plied themselves to the study of Aristotle, between whom and Origen there had been little or no connexion. In the Nestorian, Arian, and Eutychian controversies, both sides had recourse to the most subtile distinctions, di- (10) JEneas Gazttus, in his Theophras- Marinus, de Vita Procli, c. 12, p. 27, and tus, p. 6, 7, 16, &c., passim. Zacharias Suidas, article Plutarch Nestorii, p. 133. Mitylen. loc. cit., p. 164, 179, 217, &c., Schl.~\ and others. (14) [Concerning Syrianus, see Brucker, (11) [See note (7), supra, p. 319. Tr.] Historia crit. Philos., torn, ii., p. 315. (12) Marinus, de Vita Procli, c. 9, p. 19, Schi.] ed. Fabricii. [Hero was a preceptor of Pro- (15) His life was written by Marinus, and dus, and is the second of the three of his was published with learned notes, by Jo. name mentioned by Brucker in his Historia Alb. Fabricius, Hamb., 1700, 4to. [See crit. Philos., torn, ii., p. 323. Schi.] also Bruckcr, Historia crit. Philos., torn, ii., (13) [This Plutarch, in distinction from p. 318, &c. Schi] the elder Plutarch, who was more of a his- (16) See JEneas Gazaus, in his Theo- torian than a philosopher, is denominated phrastus, p. 6, 7, 8, 13, ed. Barthii. [Among Plutarchus Nestorii, or Plutarch the son of the moderns, Brucker (Historia crit. Philos- Nestorius. See concerning him Brucker, ophiae, torn, ii., p. 337) has treated of all Historia crit. Philos., torn, ii., p. 312, &c. these disciples of Proclus. Schi] CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 323 visions, and ratiocinations ; and with these they were supplied by the philos- ophy of Aristotle, and not at all by that -of Plato, who never trained men to disputation. The Pelagian doctrines had great affinity with the opinions of Plato concerning God and the human soul. Many therefore ceased to be Platonists, as soon as they perceived this fact, and they suffered their names to be enrolled among the Peripatetics. CHAPTER II. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH, AND ITS TEACHERS. $ 1, 2. The outward Form of Church Government somewhat Changed. $ 3. The Prerog- atives of Patriarchs. $ 4. Evils arising from their Authority. $ 5. Contests between them. 1) 6. The Power of the Roman Pontiff. $ 7. Vices of the Clergy. $ 8. Causes thereof. The Saints. $ 9. Monks. 10. Teachers in the Greek Church. $11. In the Latin Church. $ 1. FROM the operation of several causes, the outward form of govern, ment in the church experienced some change. The power of the bishops, particularly of the higher orders, was sometimes augmented and some- times diminished, according as times and circumstances altered ; yet the caprice of the court and political considerations had more influence in this matter, than any principles of ecclesiastical law. These changes, however, were of minor importance. Of much more consequence was the vast in- crease of honour and power acquired by the bishops of New Rome, or Con- stantinople, in opposition to the most strenuous efforts of the bishop of an- cient Rome. In the preceding century, the council of Constantinople [A.D. 381] had conferred on the bishop of New Rome the second rank among the highest bishops of the world, on account of the dignity and pre- rogatives of the city where he presided. The Constantinopolitan bishops (with the consent no doubt of the court) had likewise extended their juris- diction over the provinces of [proconsular] Asia, Thrace, and Pontus. In this century, with the consent of the emperors, they not only acquired the additional province of eastern Illyricum, but likewise a great amplification of their honours and prerogatives. For in the year 451, the council of Chalcedon, by their twenty-eighth canon, decreed that the bishop of New Rome ought to enjoy the same honours and prerogatives with the pontiff of ancient Rome, on account of the equal dignity and rank of the two cit- ies ;(1) and by a formal act they confirmed his jurisdiction over the prov- inces which he claimed. Leo the Great, bishop of ancient Rome, and some other bishops, strenuously resisted this decree ; but in vain, for the Greek emperors supported the cause of their bishops. (2) After the period of this (1) [Yet it appears, from the words of the (2) Mich, le Quien, Oriens Christianus, canon, that the bishop of Constantinople, torn, i., p. 30, &c. [See also C. W. F. though made equal in power and authority Walck, Historic der Kirchenversammlunprn, with the bishop of Rome, was to yield to p. 310 ; and Historic der Papste, p. 106. him a precedence in rank ur honour ; be- Schl. ; and Arch. Bower, Lives of the cause New Rome took rank after her older Popes, vol. ii., p. 64-84, ed. Lend., 1750, aister, dwrepav /*er' tueivijv inrapxttv. 4to. TV.] 2V.] 324 BOOK II. CENTURY V. PART II. CHAP. II. council, the Constantinopolitan bishops began to contend fiercely for su- premacy with the Roman bishops, and encroached on the privileges and dignity of the bishops of Alexandria and Antioch. In particular, A cacius of Constantinople is said to have exceeded all bounds in his ambitious pro- jects.^) 2. It was nearly at the same time, that Juvenal bishop of Jerusalem, or rather of Aelia, attempted to withdraw himself and his church from the jurisdiction of the bishop of Caesarea, and affected to rank among the first prelates of the Christian world. His designs were rendered practicable by the high veneration entertained for the church of Jerusalem, as being not only founded and governed by apostles, but as a continuation of the primitive church of Jerusalem, and in a sense the mother of all other Chris- tian churches. Therefore Juvenal, the emperor Theodosius junior favour- ing his designs, not only assumed the rank of an independent bishop over the three Palestines, or that of a patriarch, but likewise wrested Phenicia and Arabia from the patriarchate of Antioch. And as this produced a controversy between him and Maximus bishop of Antioch, the council of Chalcedon settled the dispute, by restoring Arabia and Phenicia to the see of Antioch, and leaving Juvenal in possession of the three Palestines,(4) with the title and rank which he had assumed. (5) In this manner there were five principal bishops over the Christian world, created in this cen- tury, and distinguished from others by the title of patriarchs. (6) The Oriental writers mention a sixth, namely, the bishop of Seleucia and Ctesi- phon; to whom, they say, the bishop of Antioch voluntarily ceded a part of his jurisdiction. (7) But they can bring no proof, except the Arabic de- crees of the Nicene council, which are well known to have no authority. 3. Thene patriarchs had great prerogatives. To them belonged the consecration of the bishops of their respective provinces. They annually convoked councils of their districts, to regulate and settle ecclesiastical af- fairs. If any great or difficult controversy arose, it was carried before the patriarch. The bishops, accused of any offences, were obliged to abide by his decision. And finally, to provide for the peace and good order of the remoter provinces of their patriarchates, they were allowed to place over them their own legates or vicars.(8) Other prerogatives of less moment are omitted. It was the fact, however, that some episcopal sees were not subject to the patriarchs ; for both in the East and in the West, certain bisliiQps were exempt from partriarchal jurisdiction, or were independent. (9) (3) Nouveau Dictionnaire hist, crit., tome (7) Asseman, Biblioth. Oriental. Vaticana, i., article Acacius, p. 75, &c. [Dr. Mo- torn, i., p. 9, 13, &c. sheim here speaks cautiously ; for in fact (8) David Blondell, de la Primaute de Acacius, when all circumstances are consid- 1'Eglise, cap. xxv., p. 332, &c. Theod. ered, was to be justified. See below, ch. v., Ruinart, de pallio Archi-Episcopali, p. 445 ; $ 21. Schl.] torn. ii. of the Opp. posthuma of Joh. Mabil- (4) Concerning the three Paleslines, see Ion. Carolus a S. Paulo, Geographia sacra, p. (9) Edw. Brercwood. de veteris ecclesiae 307, &c. gubernatione patriarchale, a tract which is (5) Mich, le Quien, Oriens Christianus, subjoined to Jn. Usher's Opuscula de Epis- tom. iii., p. 110, &c. copor. et Metropolitanorum origine, Lond., (6) See the writers who have treated of 1687, and Bremen, 1701, 8vo, p. 56-85. the patriarchs, as enumerated by Jo. Alb. [The metropolitans and bishops who were Fabricius, Bibliograph. Antiquar., cap. xiii., subject to no patriarch, were by the Greeks p. 453, &c. [See also note (2) p. 233, &c. called UVTOKK^O^OL Of this description of this volume. Tr.\ were the metropolitans of Bulgaria, Cy- CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 325 Moreover the emperors, who reserved to themselves the supreme power over the church, listened readily to the complaints of those who thought themselves injured ; and the councils also, in which the majesty and the legislative power of the church resided, presented various obstacles to the arbitrary exercise of patriarchal power. 4. The constitution of ecclesiastical government was so far from con- tributing to the peace and prosperity of the Christian church, that it was rather the source of very great evils, and produced boundless dissensions and animosities. In the first place, the patriarchs, who had power either to do much good or to cause much evil, encroached without reserve upon the rights and privileges of their bishops, and thus introduced gradually a kind of spiritual bondage ; and that they might do this with more freedom, they made no resistance to the encroachments of the bishops on the an- cicnt rights of the people. For the more the prerogatives and the honours of the bishops who were under their control were increased, the more was their own power enlarged. In the next place, they designedly excited dissen- sions and fomented controversies of bishops with one another and with oth- er ministers of religion, and also of the people with the clergy ; so that they might have frequent occasions to exercise their authority, be much appealed to, and have a multitude of clients around them. Moreover, that the bishops might not be without intestine foes, nor themselves destitute of strenuous de- fenders of their authority, they drew over to their side the numerous tribes of monks, who were gradually acquiring wealth, and attached them to their interests by the most ample concessions. And these monks contributed much perhaps more than any other cause to subvert the ancient disci- pline of the church, to diminish the authority of the bishops, and to increase beyond all bounds the power of their patrons. 5. To these evils must be added the rivalship and ambition of the pa- triarchs themselves ; which gave birth to abominable crimes and the most destructive wars. The patriarch of Constantinople in particular, elated with the favour and the proximity of the imperial court, on the one hand subjected the patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch to a subordination to himself, as if they were prelates of a secondary rank, and on the other prus, Iberia, Armenia, and also of Britain ly to him ; and the Romish patriarch had in before the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons almost all his countries, (e. g , in Germany, by the Romish monk Augustine. For the at Bamberg and Fulda), bishops who were Britons had their archbishop of Caerleon, subject to no archbishop or primate, but (Episcopus Caerlegionis super Osca), who dependant immediately on himself. There had seven bishops under him, but acknowl- were also certain bishops, who were subject edged no superintendence from the patriarch neither to any archbishop nor to a patriarch ; of Rome, and for a long time made opposition as was the case with the bishop of Toinis in to him ; and in Wales as well as in Scot- Scythia, according to Snzomen, Hist. Eccl., land and Ireland, this independence contin- 1. vi., c. 21. The churches in countries ly- ued for many centuries. The church of Car- ing without the Roman Empire, at first had thane also was properly subject to no other no bishops dependant on the bishops within church; as appears from Lcydeckcr^s His- the empire ; as e. g., the churches in Persia, toria Eccles. Africanae, and from the wri- Parthia, and among the Goths ; and these tings of Capell and others, de appellationi- did not come under the power of Romish bus ex Africa ad sedem Romanam. Some patriarchs, until they fell under the civil pow- common bishops likewise, were subject to er of the Romans. Most of the conversions no metropolitan, but were under the imme- of pagans by missionaries from Rome, were diate inspection of their patriarch. Thus the in the western provinces of the empire. Sec patriarch of Constantinople had 39 bishops Buumparterfs Erlautenmg der christl. Al- m his diocese, who were subject immediate- terlhums, p. 158, &c. Schl.] 326 BOOK II. CENTURY V. PART II. CHAP. II. hand he boldly attacked the Roman pontiff, and despoiled him of some of his provinces. The two former, from their lack of power and from other causes, made indeed but feeble resistance, though they sometimes produced violent tumults and commotions ; but the Roman pontiff, possessing much greater power and resources, fought with more obstinacy, and in his turn inflicted deadly wounds on the Byzantine prelate. Those who shall care- fully examine the history of events among Christians from this period on- ward, will find that, from these quarrels about precedence and the bounda- ries of their power, among those who pretended to be the fathers and guar- dians of the church, chiefly originated those direful dissensions which first split the eastern church into various sects, and then severed it altogether from the church of the West. 6. No one of these ambitious prelates was more successful than the Romish patriarch. Notwithstanding the opposition of the Constantino- politan bishop, various causes enabled him to augment his power in no small degree ; although he had not yet laid claim to the dignity of supreme lawgiver and judge of the whole Christian church. In the East, the Al- exandrine and Antiochian patriarchs, finding themselves unequal to con- tend with the patriarch of Constantinople, often applied to the Roman pontiff for aid against him;(10) and the same measures were adopted by the ordinary bishops, whenever they found the patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch invading their rights. To all these the pontiff so extended his protection, as thereby to advance the supremacy of the Roman see. In the West, the indolence and the diminished power of the emperors, left the bishop of the metropolis at full liberty to attempt whatever he pleased. And the conquests of the barbarians were so far from setting bounds to his domination, that they rather advanced it. For these kings, caring for nothing but the establishment of their thrones, when they saw that the peo- ple obeyed implicitly the bishops, and that these were dependant almost wholly on the Roman pontiff, deemed it good policy to secure his favour by bestowing on him privileges and honours. Among all those who gov- erned the see of Rome in this century, no one strove more vigorously and successfully to advance its authority, than Leo who is commonly surnarned the Great. But neither he, nor the others, could overcome all obstacles to their ambition. This is evident, among other examples, from that of the Africans, whom no promises or threats could induce to allow their causes and controversies to be carried by appeal before the Roman tribunal.(ll) (10) [This is illustrated, among other ex- vol. iv., p. 558, &c., as cited by Von Einem, amples, by the case of John Talaia, patriarch in a note on this page of Mosheim. They of Alexandria, who being deposed, (A.D. were appointed by the emperors to decide 482), applied to the Roman bishop Simpli- causes in the western churches ; they en- cius for protection. See Liberatus Diaco- couraged appeals to themselves ; they as- TIUS, Breviarium, c. 18 Schl. ; and Bower, sumed the care of all the churches, as if it Lives of the Popes, vol. ii., p. 189, &c., were a part of their official duty ; they ap- 194, ed. Lond., 1750. TV.] pointed vicars in churches, over which they (11) Lud. Ell. du Pin, de antiqua Eccles. had no claims to jurisdiction; where they Disciplina, Diss. ii., p. 166, &c. Mctch. should have been only mediators, they as- Leydecker, Historia Eccles. Africanae, torn, sumed to be judges ; they required accounts ii.. diss. ii., p. 505, &c. [A concise view to be sent them of the affairs of foreign of the steps by which the bishops of Rome churches ; they endeavoured to impose the mounted to the summit of their grandeur, is rites and usages of their own church upon thus given by/. Andr. Cramer, in his German all others, as being of apostolic origin ; they translation of Bossuefj Universal History, traced their own elevation from the pre-em- CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 327 7. Of the vices of the whole clerical order, their luxury, their arro- gance, their avarice, their voluptuous lives, we have as many witnesses, as we have writers of integrity and gravity in this age whose works have come down to us. The bishops, especially such as were distinguished for their rank and honours, employed various administrators to manage their affairs, and formed around themselves a kind of sacred court. The dig- nity of a presbyter was supposed to be so great, that Martin of Tours did not hesitate to say at a public entertainment, that the emperor himself was inferior to one of that order. (12) The deacons were taxed with their pride and their vices, in many decrees of the councils. (13) These stains on the character of the clergy, would have been deemed insufferable, had not most of the people been sunk in superstition and ignorance, and had not all estimated the rights and privileges of Christian ministers, by those of the ancient priests both among the Hebrews and among the Greeks and Romans. The fierce and warlike tribes of Germans, who vanquished the Romans and divided up the empire of the West among themselves, after they had embraced Christianity could bear with the dominion and the vices of the bishops and the clergy, because they had before been subject to the domination of priests ; and they supposed the Christian priests and minis- ters of religion possessed the same rights with their former idolatrous priests. (14) 8. This corruption among an order of men whose duty it was to incul- cate holiness both by precept and example, will afford us less surprise, inence of St. Peter; they maintained that their fancied prerogatives belonged to (.hern by a divine right ; they threatened with ex- communication from the church, those who would not submit to their decrees ; they set up and deposed metropolitans, in provinces over which they never legally had jurisdic- tion ; and each successive pope was careful, at least not to lose anything of the illegal usurpations of his predecessors, if he did not add to them. The truth of this representa- tion is abundantly confirmed with the evi- dence of historical facts, by various Protest- ant writers ; and, among others, by Arch. Bower, in his Lives of the Popes, 7 vols. 4to, London, 1749, &c. TV.] (12) Sulpititis Scverus, de vita Martini, cap. xx., p. 339, and dial, ii., cap. vi., p. 457. (13) See Dav. Blondell, Apologia pro sen- tentia Hieronymi de Episcopis et Presbyte- ris, p. 140. (14) [That these pagan nations had been accustomed to treat their idolatrous priests with extraordinary reverence, is a fact well known. When they became Christians, they supposed they must show the same re- spect to the Christian priests. Of course they honoured their bishops and clergy, as they had before honoured their Druids ; and this reverence disposed them to bear patiently with their vices. Every Druid was accounted a very great character, and was feared by every one ; but the Chief Druid was actually worshipped. When these people became Christians, they sup- posed that the bishop of Rome was such a Chief Druid ; and that he must be honoured accordingly. And this was one cause, why the Roman pontiff obtained in process of time, such an ascendancy in the western countries. The patriarch of Constantinople rose indeed to a great elevation ; but he never attained the high rank and authority of the Roman patriarch. The reason was, that the people of the East had not the same ideas of the dignity of a Chief Priest as the peo- ple of the West had. The eastern clergy also practised excommunication as a punish- ment of transgressors ; but it never had such an influence in the East as it had in the West ; and for this reason, that the ef- fects of a pagan exclusion from religious privileges, never were so great in the East as in the West. The effects in the latter are described by Julius Casar, de Bello Gallico, 1. vi., c. 13, n. 6, dec. Si quis aut pnvatus aut populus eorum decreto non stetit, sacrifices interdicunt. Haec poena apud eos est gravissima. Quibus ita est in- terdictum, ii nurnero impiorum ac scelera- torum habentur ; ab iis omnes decedunt, adi- tum eorum sermonemque defugiunt, ne quid ex contagione incommodi accipiant : neque iis pctentibus jus reddilur, neque honos oliuj communicatur. Schl. ] 328 BOOK II. CENTURY V. PART II. CHAP. II. when we consider that a great multitude of persons were everywhere ad- mitted, indiscriminately-- and without examination, among the clergy ; the greater part of whom had no other object than to live in idleness. And among these, very many were connected with no particular church or place, and had no regular employment, but roamed about at large, procu- ring a subsistence by imposing upon the credulity of others, and sometimes by dishonourable artifices. Whence then, some may ask, those numerous saints of this century, who are reported to us by both the eastern and the western writers ? 1 answer, they were canonized by the ignorance of the age. Whoever possessed some excellence of talents and ingenuity, if they excelled considerably as writers or speakers, if they possessed dex- terity in managing affairs of importance, or were distinguished for their self-government and the control of their passions ; these persons, in an age of ignorance, appeared to those around them to be not men, but gods ; or to speak more correctly, were considered as men divinely inspired and full of the Deity. 9. The monks, who had formerly lived only for themselves, and who had not sought to rank among the clergy, gradually became a class dis- tinct from the common laity, and acquired such opulence and such high privileges, that they could claim an honourable rank among the chief sup- ports and pillars of the church. (15) The reputation of this class of per- sons for piety and. sanctity was so great, that very often when a bishop or a presbyter was to be elected he was chosen from among them ;( 16) and the erection of edifices in which monks and nuns might conveniently serve God, was carried beyond all bounds. (17) They did not, however, all observe one and the same system of rules ; but some followed the rules of Augustine, others those of Basil, and others those of Antony, or Atha- nasius, or Pachomius, &c.(18) Yet it must have been the fact that they (15) Epiphanius, Exposit. Fidei, Opp., Tabennesis into a kind of society ; and torn, i., p. 1094. Joh. Mabillon, Reponse henceforth most monks became associated aux Chanoines reguliers, Opp. posthum., hermits, having separate cells, but living un- tom. ii., p. 115. der chiefs called abbots. Basil the Great (16) Sulpitius Severus, de vita Martini, improved on the plan of Pachomius, by erect- c. x., p. 320. Add, Dial, i., c. xxi., p. 426. ing houses in different parts of the country, (17) Sulpitius Severus, Dial, i., p. 419. in which monks might live together in a Henr. Noris, Historia Pelagiana, lib. ii., c. kind of family state. He also made his mon- 3, in Opp., torn, i., p. 273. Histoire litte- asteries schools for the cultivation of sacred raire de la France, torn, ii., p. 35. learning. Si. A'hanasius, according to some, (18) [A monk was one who professed (see note 26, p 265, above), while resident wholly to renounce this world, with all its in Italy, taught the people of that country cares and pleasures, and to make religion how to form and regulate these associations his sole business. The particular manner in of monks. And St. Augustine first estab- which he proposed to employ himself, was lished a kind of monastery in his native called his rule. The early monks, of the town in Africa ; and afterwards, when bish- third century, were called Eremites or her- op of Hippo, he and some of his clergy formed mils ; that is, they retired from all human an association for religious purposes, which society, and lived in solitude in the des- gave rise to the regular Canons, a species of erts and mountains. Such in particular clergy whose private life was that of monks. were the Egyptian monks. In the fourth During the fifth century, the passion for mo- century they became so numerous in Egypt, nastic life was very great, and monks and as to turn their favourite desert into a pop- nuns became extremely numerous in the ulous country ; and St. Antony, a leading West as well- as the East. Yet, hitherto man among them, induced great numbers to there had not been required of monks any adopt his particular rule. St. Pachomius vows of perpetual, celibacy, poverty, and obe- about the same time organized the monks of dience, nor of adherence for ever to any one CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 329 were all very remiss and negligent in the observance of their rules, since the licentiousness of monks had even in this century become proverbial ;(19) and these armies of lazy men, we are told, excited in various places dread, ful seditions. From the enactments of the councils of this century, it clearly appears, that all monks of every sort were under the protection of the bishops in whose dioceses they lived ; nor did the patriarchs, as yet, arrogate to themselves any jurisdiction over them. (20) 10. Among the Greek and Oriental writers of this century, the most distinguished was Cyril, bishop of Alexandria, very famous for his differ- ent controversies and writings. No impartial person will divest him of all praise ; yet no good man will excuse his quarrelsome temper, his rest. less spirit, and his very great transgressions. (21) Next to him must be rule of life ; but every one was free to con- (20) See Joh. Launoi, Inquisitio in char- tinue a monk or not, and to pass from one tarn immunitatis B. Germani, in his Opp., society or class of monks to another, at his torn, iii., pt. ii., p. 3, &c., 38, &c. In the option. Different monasteries had different ancient records posterior to this century, the rules, according to the will of their founders or governors ; but in all, the written rules, if they had any, were few and simple, the ab- bots possessing despotic power over their little kingdoms. The diversity which then prevailed among the monasteries as to their rules, is thus described by father Mabillon, (Annales Benedictini, lib. i., $ 13, torn, i., p. 6, &c.), " As well in the East as in the West, there were almost as many different forms and rules, as there were different cells and monasteries, says Cassianus, Institut., 1. ii., c. 1. In some, the pleasure of the ab- bot was the only rule ; in others, the mode of life was regulated by custom and former usage ; in most however, there were written rules. And, because all monastic rules, whether written or not, aimed at one and the same object, viz., to withdraw men from all worldly concerns, and from all worldly thoughts, so that they might be wholly de- voted to God and religion ; the monasteries were not in general so confined to any one rule but that they could adopter superinduce another, at the discretion of the abbot ; and this, without changing their profession, and without harm. Hence in the same monas- tery, diverse written rules were observed at the same time, with such modifications as were necessary to adapt them to particular times and places. And yet, amid this great diversity of rules, there was the greatest har- mony among all the monks, who constituted in reality but one society and one body, and were distinguished from each other by no pe- culiarities of dress. Removal also from one monastery to another, and mutual abode with each other, were easy and free ; and not only where both monasteries were of Latins, but also where one was of Latins and the other of Greeks." TV.] (19) Sulpitius Severus, Dial, i., cap. viii., p. 399, &c. VOL. 1. T T monks are often called (clenci) clergymen. See Joh. Mabillon, Praefatio ad Saecul. ii. Actor. Sanctor. Ord. Benedicti, p. xiv. And this is evidence, that they then began to be ranked among the clergy, or ministers of the church. (21) The works of Cyril were published by Joh. Aubertus, at Paris. 1638, 6. vols., [in vii. parts], folio. [St. Cynllus was nephew to Theuphilus, and his successor in the chair of Alexandria from A.D. 412 to 444. Soon after his election, he persecuted the Novatians ; assumed the direction of po- litical affairs ; quarrelled with Orestes, the governor of Egypt ; and is said to have oc- casioned several insurrections and much bloodshed at Alexandria ; to have instigated the murder of Hypatia, an eminent female philosopher ; and to have pulled down the Jews' synagogue, plundered it, and chased the Jews from the city. See Socrates, Hist. Eccles., 1. vii., c. 7, 13, 14, 15, and Dama- sius, in Suidas, Lex. voce t><ma. From the year 429, he was the most zealous and efficient opposer of Nestorius and his doc- trines ; wrote against him ; condemned his doctrines in a synod at Alexandria, in his noted xii. chapters ; presided in the council of Ephesus, where Nestorius was condemn- ed and deposed A.D. 431. His zeal against Nestorius drew on himself deposition, by some Oriental bishops ; but he was soon re- stored. With the bishop of Rome, he wa always on the most friendly terms. He was certainly a man of talents, and his volumi- nous writings display much acuteness and learning, though the style is unpolished and not very clear. More than half of them are expositions of the scriptures; viz., of the Pentateuch, Isaiah, the Minor Prophets, and the Gospel of John. The others are po- lemic treatises, against Arians, Nestorians, and others, who erred in respect to the Trin- 330 BOOK II. CENTURY V. PART II. CHAP. II. placed Theodoret, bishop of Cyrus, an eloquent, copious, and learned wri- ter, whose merits in every branch of theological learning are by no means contemptible, notwithstanding he is said to have imbibed some part of the Nestorian doctrine. (22) Isidorus Pelusiota has left us [numerous, short] Epistles, which display more piety, ingenuity, erudition, and judgment, than the large volumes of some others. (23) Theophilus, bishop of Alexandria, ing to his diocese, he devolved most of his episcopal duties on Hypatius, and devoted himself to writing books, till the year 457, when he died, aged about 71. He was frank, open-hearted, ingenuous, had elevated views and feelings, was resolute and unbend- ing, yet generous, sympathetic, and ardently pious. His learning was great, his genius good, and his productions among the best of that age. The first and second volumes of his works embrace his Commentaries on the greater part of the Old Testament. Volume third contains Comments on all the Epistles of Paul ; Hist. Ecclesiastica, in five books ; (a continuation of Eusebius, from A.D. 320 to A.D. 427, written in a style elevated, clear, and well adapted to history) ; Philo- theus, or Historia Religiosa; (eulogies of 30 distinguished monks) : and 146 epistles. Volume fourth contains four books or dia- logues, entitled Eranistes, or Polymorphus ; (polemic, on the person of Christ) ; Hsereti- carum Tabular, lib. v (an account of the ancient Heresies) ; de Providentia Orationes x. adversus Gentes, or Graecarum affectio- num curatio, (an apology for Christianity), in 12 books ; and some other small pieces. The fifth volume contains some other exposi- tory pieces, several sermons, 34 epistles, and seven dialogues against the Arians, Macedo- nians, and Apollinarists. All his works, Gr. and Lat., with Notes, were republished by J. L. Schulze, Halle, 1768-74, in five volumes, in nine, 8vo. See his life, in Schroeckh, Kirchengesch., vol. xviii., p. 355432. Tr.] (23) The best edition of these letters, is that of the Jesuit, Andr. Schott, Paris, 1638, fol. [Isidorus was probably a native of Al- exandria, but he spent his life in a monas- tery near Pelimium, now Damietta, on one of the mouths of the Nile ; and hence his surname of Pelusiota. He flourished about A.D. 412 ; but was active and conspicuous from the year 388 to 431. As a monk he was very austere in his mode of living ; and retiring from the noise and bustle of the world, he devoted himself to reading and ex- pounding the Scriptures, and to the practice and the promotion of piety and virtue. He chose the epistolary form of writing ; and has left us 2013 short letters, which are di- vided into five books. In most of them a question is proposed, and answered by the ex- position of a text of Scripture. The object ity and the person of Christ. ; 10 Books against Julian ; about 50 Sermons ; and near 60 Letters. See his life, in Schroeckh., Kirchengesch., vol. xviii., p. 313-354. 2>.] (22) For a fine edition of the whole works of Theodoret, we are indebted to the Jesuit Jac. Sirmond, who edited them at Paris, 1642, in 4 vols., folio. The Jesuit Jo. Gar- trier, afterwards added a fifth volume, Paris, 1685, folio. [Thcodorel or Theodorit, was born at Antioch about the year 386, of weal- thy and pious parents. He was their only child, and like Samuel, the son of their vows ; and therefore named Theodoretus, given of God. When not quite seven years old, he was placed in a neighbouring monastery for education, where he had for associates Nes- torius and John, who became the patriarchs of Constantinople and Antioch ; and for in- structers, Theodorus bishop of Mopsuestia, and Chrysoslom, from whom he learned elo- quence and sacred literature. He became early pious, was first made lector, and then deacon, in the church of Antioch ; and in the year 420, was ordained bishop of Cyrus, a considerable city in Syria, near the Eu- phrates, where he is said to have had the charge of 800 churches. The country was overrun with antitrinitarian sectarians and with Marcionites, of whom he nearly purged his diocese, having, as he says, baptized no less than 10,000 Marcionites. In the year 429, his early friend Nestorius broached his errors respecting the person of Christ, and was condemned by Cyril of Alexandria. Theodoret espoused the cause of his friend ; which involved him in a quarrel with Cyril as long as they lived. He was one of those, who in the year 431 deposed Cyril at Ephe- sus ; for which he was sent home in dis- grace by the emperor Thcodosius junior. Cyril died in 444 ; and Theodoret expressed his joy at the event, which so enraged the emperor, that he confined him to his house. In 449, he was deposed in the second synod of Ephesus, and applied to the bishop of Rome, who now espoused his cause. The- odosius died in 450, and his successor re- stored Theodoret to his see ; and afterwards summoned him to be a member of the coun- cil of Chalcedon in 451, where he professed his orthodoxy, and was reluctantly brought to condemn Nestorius. After this, return- CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 331 has left us very little in writing ; but he has perpetuated his name, by his opposition to Origen and his followers. (24) Palladius,on account of his Lausiac History, and his Life of Chrysostom, deserves a place among the respectable and useful writers. (25) Notwithstanding Theodoras of Mop- sucstia was accused after his death of the grossest errors, yet every one who has examined the extracts from his writings by Photius, will regret that his works are either entirely lost, or exist only in Syriac among the Nestorians.(26) Nilus composed many works calculated to excite reli. is to expound the Scriptures, and to incul- cate the doctrines and duties of religion. He was an admirer of Chrysostom ; and of course had difficulty with Theophilus and Cyril, the patriarchs of Alexandria. But he feared no man, whenever he thought duty called him to defend truth or to censure vice. -TV.] (24) See Euscb. Renaudot, Historia Pa- triarchar. Alexandrinor., p. 103. [Theophi- lus, bishop of Alexandria from the year 385 to the year 412, was a man of a strong, ac- tive, courageous mind ; but crafty, unscru- pulous, selfish, and ambitious. He proba- who opposed the Anthropomorphites, drove them from Egypt, and followed them with persecution, and also all who befriended them, and in particular Chrysostom, whom he deposed in the year 403. See Socrates, H. E., vi., 7-17. So:omcn,\iii., 11-19. His works are not numerous, and have never been collected and published by themselves. They consist of three Paschal Letters, or Episcopal Charges ; several Letters ; and considerable extracts from different polemic treatises. 7V.] (25) [Palladium was born in Galatia, in the year 368. In his 20th year, he went to bly spent some of his early years among the Egypt, and spent several years among differ- monks of Nitria. Afterwards he became ent tribes of monks. The failure of his a presbyter of Alexandria, wrote a Paschal Cycle in 380, and was made bishop in 385. In the year 388, when Theodosius senior waged war in Italy upon Maximus the usurp- er, Theophilus sent his legate Itidonu to Rome, with letters and presents to both em- perors ; but with instructions to await the issue of the battle, and then to present only the letter and presents directed to the victor. (Suzumcn, Hist. Eccl., 1. viii.,c. 2.) In the health obliged him to return from the wil- derness to Alexandria, and thence to Pales- tine. In the year 400, Chrysostom made him bishop of Helenopolis in Bithynia ; which he exchanged some years after, for Aspona in Galatia. The time of his death is unknown ; but it is supposed to have been before A.D. 431. Palladium was a man of moderate talents and erudition, but pious, a devoted monk, and a perspicuous, unassuming writer. His works are, (I.) Historia Lausi- year391, he solicited and obtained of the emperor leave to persecute the pagans of aca, sen dc SS. Putnun vilis, ad Luusum Alexandria, and proceeded to demolish their cubiculi Prafcctum ; (Biography of 30 of temples and seize whatever was valuable in them. Insurrections and bloodshed, and the flight of the philosophers from Egypt, were the consequence. (Socrates, Hist. Ec- cles., 1. v., c. 16.) The major part of the ignorant monks of Nitria had such gross ideas of the Supreme Being, as to suppose he literally had eyes and feet and hands, and were therefore called AnthropomorpkUct. But the better informed monks held, that these expressions were to be taken mela- the most famous monks) ; written about the year 421 ; edited, Gr. and I>at., by Fronto 'le Due, in his Auctarium Biblioth. Patr., torn, ii., p. 893-1053, Paris, 1624, fol. Some editions were afterwards published by Cotelicr, Monument. Eccl. Gr., torn. iii. Several Latin translations are extant, often published. (II ) Dialog-its dc Vita S. Jo- han. Chrysostomi, inter Palladium Ejii.tc. Hellcnopolitannm et Theodorum, (Life or Eulogy of John Chri/sostom), first publish- phorically, as Ongen had always interpret- ed, Gr. and Lat., by Emer. Bipot, Paris, ed them. And thus this controversy resolv- ed itself into a contest respecting O correctness as a theologian. At first, The- ophilus favoured the Origenists ; but the Anthropomorphites came upon him tumult- uously, about the year 399, and compelled him to change sides. From this time, he was a zealous persecutor of all Origenists. .(notwithstanding he continued to read and admire Ins works), and he actually made 1680, and again 1738, 4lo ; with some other works. Whether the Palladius who wrote this, was the same as the author of the Lau- siac History, has been questioned (III.) '.tins Indue, ct Rrachmannis Liber, is extant under his name : but it is not sup- posed to be genuine. TV.] (26) See Jo*. Sim. Asscman, Biblioth. Oriental. Clement. Vaticana, torn, iii., pt. ii.. p. 227. [and ibid., pt. i , p 3-362, where bloody crusade against those Nitric monks we have Ehrd Jisit's catalogue of his works. 332 BOOK II. CENTURY V. PART II. CHAP. II. gious emotions, but more commendable for the pious intentions of the wri- ter, than for his accurate and laboured thoughts. (27) Our designed brev- ity obliges us to pass over what might be worthy of notice in Basil of Se- leucia,(28) Theodotus of Ancyra,(29) Gelasius of Cyzicum,(30) and oth- ers.(31) Thcodorus was born and educated at An- tioch, where he was some time a presbyter, and where he and Chrysostom instructed youth in a monastery, and had for pupils Theodorct, the famous Ncstorius patriarch of Constantinople, and John patriarch of An- tioch. In the year 392, he was made bish- op of Mopsuestia in Cilicia, where he spent 36 years, with great reputation as a preacher, a bishop, and especially as an author. Af- ter his death, which happened in the year 428, he was accused of Nestorian and like- wise of Pelagian sentiments ; and was con- demned as a heretic, in the fifth general coun- cil, at Constantinople A.D. 553. His wri- tings were very numerous, embracing literal expositions of nearly the whole Bible, elab- orate polemic works, against the Anans, Eu- nomians, Apollinarists, &c., with many ser- mons and epistles, and a liturgy. A Latin translation of the last, is in Renaudot, Lit- urgiar. Oriental. Collectio, torn, ii., p. 616- 625. His Expositio Fidei entire, and co- pious extracts from many of his other works, are extant in the Acts of the fifth general council, apud Harduin, torn, in., in the works of Marius Mercator, and of other fa- thers, and in the Catenae Patrum, especially the Catena in Octateuchum, Lips., 1772, 2 vols. fol., and in Miinter's Fragmenta Patr. Gr., fascic. i., p. 79, &c., Copenhag., 1788, 8vo. See Schroeckh, Kirchengesch., vol. xv. ( p. 176-218, and Lardner, Credibility, &c., vol. ix., p. 389, &c. TV.] (27) [Nilus was born of a noble family, at Constantinople, where he became prefect of the city. Under the preaching of Chry- sostom, he became pious, renounced the world, separated from his wife, and, taking one of his two sons with him, retired among the monks of Egypt, where he spent the re- mainder of his days. By robbers he lost all his property, and had his son captured ; but he recovered his eon. He was made a pres- byter, and probably lived till near the middle of this century. His numerous writings have been read with pleasure by the lovers of mo- nastic piety. His 355 epistles were publish- ed, Gr. and Lat., by Leo Allatius, Rome, 1668, fol. ; and his Opuscula, (21 treatises on moral and ascetic subjects), Gr. and Lat., by Jos. Maria Suares, Rome, 1673, folio. -TV.] (28) [Basil was bishop of Seleucia in Isauria before the year 448, and continued so till after the year 458. He possessed some talents ; but he was an unstable man. In the council of Constantinople A.D. 448, he voted with the orthodox, and condemned Eutyches. The next year, in the council of Ephesus, he openly sided with the Eutychi- ans, and anathematized the orthodox. And two years after, in the council of Chalcedon, he appeared again on the orthodox side, and said he had been compelled to act with the Eutychians ; but he had much difficulty to persuade the orthodox of his sincerity, and to allow him his episcopal office. His works were published, Gr. and Lat., sub- joined to those of Gregory Thaumaturgus and Macarius the monk, Paris, 1622, fol. They consist of 43 orations ; of which 17 are on the Old Testament, and 26 on the New ; written in a lofty style, and tolerably perspicuous, but excessively flowery. The Demonstration that Christ has come, against the Jews, founded on the 70 weeks of Dan- iel, and the two books on the Life of St. Thecla, the virgin and martyr, though print- ed among his works, are supposed by many to be not genuine. TV.] (29) [Theodotus, bishop of Ancyra in Ga- latia, flourished about the year 430. Little is known of him, except that he acted a con- spicuous part in the council of Ephesus, which condemned Ncstorius in the year 431. Three Orations, which he then delivered at Ephesus, (two on Christmas day, and one against Nestorius), are extant, Gr. and Lat., among the Acts of that council, torn, iii., p. 988, 1008, 1024. Another of his orations was published with the works of Amphi/ochi- us, Paris, 1644. His Exposition of the Ni- cene creed, or Confutation of Nestorius, was published, Gr. and Lat., by Combejis, Paris, 1675, 12mo. 7'hcodotus, in the close of the last-mentioned work, refers to his three Books on the Holy Spirit, which are lost ; as are his seven Books against Nestorius, addressed to Lausus. He has been ac- counted a good polemic writer. Tr.] (30) [Gelasius Cyzicenus was a native of Cyzicus, an island in the Propontis, where his father was a presbyter. He flourished about A.D. 476. and was bishop of Caesarea in Palestine. He is known chiefly by his History of the Nicene Council, or as the Gr. MSS. style it, his Ecclesiastical History, in iii. Books. Theirs/ Book contains the af- fairs of Constantine, till the death of Lici- 7iius in 324. The second contains subse- quent events, the calling of the council, and CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 333 the transactions in it and during it, especially the disputes of the philosophers and Arians with the Nicene fathers. The third Book, which is now lost, contained the subsequent life and deeds of Constantine. As for the sources from which he drew his information, he tells us, that when a boy at Cyzicus he met with an old MS. history of the Nicene council, written by one Dalmatius a former bishop of Cyzicus ; that he then made large extracts from it ; and many years after, com- posed his history from these extracts, and from the writings of Eusebivs, Rufinus, &c. This work of Gelasius, once in high repute, is now little esteemed ; in particular, the ac- count of the disputes of the philosophers and Arians, which constitute the greater part of the second book, are considered very ques- tionable. The two surviving books were published, Gr. and Lat., by R. Balf. Scot, Paris, 1599, 8vo ; and in the Collections of Councils, by Hardmn, torn, i., p. . TV.] (31) [The Greek and Oriental writers, passed by in silence by Dr. Mosheim, are very numerous. As some knowledge of them is useful, and indeed necessary for a theologian, a tolerably complete catalogue of them, extracted from Cave's Historia Lit- teraria, is here subjoined. Asterius, bishop of Amasea in Pontus ; flourished about A.D. 401 ; an eloquent and popular preacher. More than twenty of his Homilies are published, by Combefis and Co- telier. Marcus, a monk of Nitria, Egypt ; flour- ished A.D. 4-01. Seven tracts on practical piety, written with great simplicity, are ex- tant in Fronlo Ducaeus, Auctuar. Biblioth. Pair., torn. i. Victor of Antioch, a contemporary of Chrysostom ; wrote a Commentary on Mark s Gospel ; extant, Lat., in the Biblioth. Patr., torn, iv., p. 370. Severianus, bishop of Gabala in Syria ; flourished A.D. 401 ; a turgid writer, but a popular preacher. Twelve of his orations are extant, among the works of Chrysostom. Heraclides, a monk of Constantinople ; flourished A.D. 402. Rewrote Paradisus, or Lives of the monks ; much of which is copied into the Lausiac History of Pallatli- us, and the remainder was published by Co- telier, Monument. Ecl. Gr., torn. iii. Atticus, bishop of Constantinople, A.D. 406-427 ; an enemy of Chrysostom, but famed for learning, address, and piety. Two of his letters, and some fragments, are extant. Polychronius, bishop of Apamea ; flour- ished A.D. 410-427 ; was brother to Theo- dorus of Mopsuestia. His exposition of the Canticles, and fragments of his Commentary on Ezckiel and Daniel, are extant. Nonnus, a converted pagan poet, of Egypt ; flourished A.D. 410. His Dionys- iaca, in 48 Books, written before his con- version, have been often published ; e. g., Hanover, 1605, 8vo. His poetic version of John's Gospel, was published, Gr. and Lat., by Heinsius, 1627, 8vo, and his Collectio et Expticatio Historiarum, by R. Montague, Eton, 1610, 4to. He was a scholar, but a turgid writer. Synesius, a philosopher, statesman, poet, and after A.D. 410, bishop of Ptolemais, in Gyrene, Africa ; a man of fine talents, and a devoted bishop ; but more of a philosopher than theologian. Besides several treatises, philosophical, political, and historical, he has left us 155 Epistles, 10 Hymns, and some sermons ; all published, Gr. and Lat., by Pe- tavius, Paris, 1612 and 1633, fol. Philip of Side in Pamphylia, a friend of Chrysostom, and candidate for the see of Constantinople in 427. He wrote a reli- gious History, from the creation to his own times, in 36 Books ; a prolix and tedious work, of which only extracts remain. Eudocia, a learned Athenian lady, born A.D. 401, converted to Christianity at 20, and soon after married to the emperor Thc- odosius II. ; proclaimed empress in 432 ; divorced, for a slight cause, in 445 ; then retired to Jerusalem, and spent her life in works of charity and beneficence ; and in composing Centones Homend, poetic para- phrases of the Bible, and other religious poems. She died A.D. 459, aged 58. Philostorgius, born in Cappadocia A.D. 368, well educated at Constantinople, a Eunomian or Semiarian in principle. He composed, about the year 425, an Ecclesi- astical History in xii. Books, extending from the first rise of Arianism, to A.D. 425. The work itself is lost ; but an epitome of it by Photius, was edited by Valesitts, among the Greek Ecclesiastical Historians. His work was partial to the Arians, and is therefore censured by Photius and others. Sabvnus, bishop of Heraclea in Thrace - r flourished A.D. 425. He was of the sect of Maccdonius ; and published a Collection of the acts of the councils, from A.D. 325 to 425. The work is lost, except some ex- tracts, preserved by Socrates and others. John, bishop of Antioch, A.D. 427-441. He at first supported his early friend Nestori- us ; but afterwards abandoned him and his sect. Six of his Epistles are extant, Gr. and Lat., in Collect. Concilior., torn, iii.; and fifteen more, Latin, in Lupus* Collection of Ephesine Epistles. Nestorius, presbyter at Antioch, and bish- op of Constantinople, A.D. 428-431. A a bishop, he was very zealou* to suppress ail 334 BOOK II. CENTURY V. PART II. CHAP. II. the prevailing heresies ; but he soon incurred the charge of heresy himself, by maintaining that in the person of Christ, the two natures were not so united as to form but one per- son ; and that it was improper to call Mary tfeoroKOf, (he mother of God; though she might be called ^piforo/coc, the mother of Christ. For this opinion, he was condemn- ed and deposed, in a council at Ephesus, A.D. 431. Afterwards, the emperor con- fined him to a monastery near Antioch ; and then banished him to the deserts of Egypt, where he wandered several years, suffered much, and at last died. He was a popular preacher, and an active bishop, but, accord- ing to Socrates, (H. E., viii., 32), not a very profound man. Besides numerous extracts from various of his works, several entire Epistles and some Sermons are extant, in the Collections of councils, in Lupus' Ephe- sine Epistles, and in the works of Chrysos- tom, Mcrcator, &c. Mdetius, bishop of Mopsuestia, A.D. 428 and onward ; a stanch Nestorian, deposed and banished for this heresy. Eleven of his Epistles are in the Ephesine Collection. Isaac, a converted Jew, flourished A.D. 430, author of a treatise on the Trinity, and the incarnation of Christ, in bad Greek ; extant among the Opuscula Veterum dog- matica ; published by Sirmond, Paris, 1630, 8vo. Acacius, a monk, and bishop of Beraea, from about 378 to 436. He was a man in high repute, and has left us three epistles. Acacius, bishop of Melitene in Arme- nia ; a stanch opposer of Nestorius in the council of Ephesus A.D. 431. A homily he delivered there, and an Epistle, are ex- tant ; in the Concil., torn, iii., and in Lupus' Collection of Ephesine Epistles. Dorotheus, bishop of Martianopolis in Moesia ; a bold defender of Nfstorius at Ephesus A.D. 431, and therefore deposed, and at last banished, four of his Epistles are in the Ephesine Collection. Alexander, bishop of Hierapolis in Syria; a defender of Nestorius at Ephesus A. D. 43 1 , and therefore deposed and banished. He has 23 Epistles in the Ephesine Collection. Maximinus, bishop of Anazarbum in Ci- licia ; a defender of Nestorius at Ephesus A.D. 431 ; but afterwards renounced him. He has three Epistles in the Ephesine Col- lection. Helladius, for sixty years abbot of a mon- astery near Antioch, and then bishop of Tarsus. While a bishop, he defended Nes- torius in the council of Ephesus, and for some time after; I Jt at length renounced him. Six of his Epistles are in the Ephe- sine Collection. Euthcnus, archbishop of Tyanea ; de- fended Nestorius in the council of Ephesus, though not a Nestorian in sentiment. He was deposed and banished. Five of hia Epistles are extant in the Ephesine Collec- tion ; and seventeen of his Sermons, against various heresies, Gr. and Lat., among the works of Athanasius. Paul, bishop of Emesa ; a defender of Nes- torius in the Ephesine council ; but he after- wards retracted. He has left us a confession of his faith, two Homilies, and an Epistle. Andreas, bishop of Samosata ; a defendei of Nestorius from the year 429 to 436, when he renounced him. He has eight Epistlea in the Ephesine Collection. Proclus, amanuensis to Chrysostom, and to Atticus ; and the bishop of Constantino- ple, A.D. 432-446. He was a very pious man, a good scholar, and a popular preacher. His works, consisting of twenty Sermons, and six Epistles, were published, Gr. and Lat., by Ricardi, Rome, 1630, 4to. Ibas, from about A.D. 436, bishop of Edessa. He was accused of Nestorianism, and acquitted in 448 ; but was accused again and condemned in 449 ; and restored in 451. The greater part of a valuable let- ter of his, containing a history of the Nesto- rian contests, is extant, Gr. and Lat., in the Concilior., torn, iv , p. 661. Socrates, Scholasticus, a barrister at Con- stantinople ; flourished A.D. 440. He com- posed a faithful Ecclesiastical History, from the accession of Constantme the Great, to A.D. 439, in vii. Books ; which is edited by Valesius, among the Greek Eccl. Historians. Hernias Sozomenus, also a Constantino- politan barrister, and an author of an Eccle- siastical History, from A.D. 324 to A.D. 439, in ix. Books. He is a more vivacious writer than Socrates, but is deemed less ju- dicious. Yet writing after Socrates, he has supplied some of his deficiencies. The work was edited by Valesius, among the Greek Ecclesiastical Historians. Irenaeus, Count of the empire, and the emperor's commissioner at the council of Ephesus in 431. He favoured the Nesto- rians in that council ; and defended their cause all his life ; and therefore, was ex- cluded the court in 435, became bishop of Tyre in 444, was deposed by the emperor in 448 : and then commenced writing a co- pious Memoir of the Ephebine council, and of ecclesiastical p.ft'airs in the East for about twenty years. The work is lost, except the old Latin translation of certain parts of it, which was published by Christian Lupus, Louvain, 1682, 4to, under the title of Va- riorum Patrum Epistolae ad Concilium Ephcsinum pertinentes. CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 335 11. Among 'the Latin writers, tlie first place is due to the Roman pontiff Leo I., surnamed the Great ; a man of eloquence and genius, but immoderately devoted to the extension of the limits of his power. (32) Flavianus, bishop of Constantinople, A.D. 447-449. He has left us two Epistles, and a Creed ; extant in Baluze, Nov. Collect. Concilior. Eutyckes, the heretic, a presbyter of Con- stantinople. He so opposed Nestorianism, as to confound the two natures, as well as the two persons of Christ. This error he broached in the year 448. He was con- demned the same year ; appealed to a gen- eral council, and was again condemned in 451. A Confession of his faith, with a few of his Letters, is extant. Euscbius, first a civilian at Constantino- ple, and then bishop of Dorylaeum in Phry- gia. He was the public accuser of Nesto- nus, of Euiychcs, and of Dioscorus ; from the year 430 to 451. His Libels, and some other of his documents, are extant. Diadochus, bishop of Photice in Epirus ; flourished A.D. 450. He has left us some treatises on practical religion ; ed. Gr., at Florence, 1578 ; and Lat., in Bilioth. Pa- trum, torn. v. Eulhalius, a deacon in Egypt ; flourished perhaps A.D. 458. He wrote an analytical Introduction to the books of the New Testa- ment, published, Gr. and Lat., by Zacag- nius, Rome, 1698, 4to. Acacius, bishop of Constantinople, A.D. 471-488 ; very ambitious and active for the aggrandizement of his see. He has left us only two Epistles. Nestorianus, a Greek chronographer, who flourished about the year 474. He wrote Lives of the Rontqn emperors, to A.D. 474. The work was highly commended by John Malnla. ; but it is lost. Johannes JEgeaies, a Nestorian ; flour- ished A.D. 483, or later ; and wrote an Ec- clesiastical History, in 10 Books ; of which, (says Pholius), thence first Books reached from A.D. 428 to 479. Only some extracts of it remain. Sabas, a Syrian monk and abbot, born in 439, died 531. He wrote a Typicum, or the order of prayer for the whole year ; which was adopted in all the monasteries about Jerusalem, and is still extant. Justin, a bishop in Sicily, A.D 484 ; au- thor of some epistles, and, (as Dodwell sup- poses), of the Qu&stiones ad Orthodozos, published among the works of Justin Mar- tyr. JEneas Gazaeut, a sophist and a Plato- nisl, and then a Christian ; flourished about A.D. 488. He was the author of a noted dialogue entitled Tficophrastus, or on the immortality of souls and the resurrection of the body ; ed., Gr. and Lat., by Barth, Lips., 1658, 4to. Athanasius junior, or Cclctes, bishop of Alexandria A.D. 490-497; a fine biblical scholar, an active and good bishop, and a devout man. He is supposed to be the au- thor of several of the works ascribed to Athanasius the Great, and published as such: namely, (1) Sacrae Scripturae Sy- nopsis ; (2) Quaestiones et Responsiones ad Antiochum ; (3) the two tracts, de Incarna- tione Verbi Dei ; (4) Syntagma doctrinae, ad Clericos et Laicos ; (5) de Virginitate, sive Ascesi. Zacharias, a rhetorician, flourished A.D. 491. He wrote an Ecclesiastical History, from A.D. 450-491, which is often quoted as well as censured for partiality, by Eva~ grius, in his Historia Ecclesiastica. Eustathius, of Syria, flourished A.D. 496. He wrote Chronicorum Compendium, from ^Eneas to Anastasius, or A.D. 496, in ix. books, which are lost. Malchus, a Byzantine sophist, flourished A.D. 496. He composed a Roman History, from Constantine the Great to the emperor Anastasius. Two large extracts only are extant. Basil of Cilicia, first a presbyter at Anti- och, and then bishop of Irenopolis in Cilicia ; flourished A.D. 497. He wrote an Ecclesi- astical History in iii. books, extending from A.D. 450 to A.D. 527 ; also, contra Johan- nem Scythopolitanum, Libri xvi., accusing him of Mamchaeism. Neither work is ex- tant. Candidus, a scrivener to the governors of the province of (sauna, flourished A.D. 496. He wrote Historiarum Lihri iii., extending from A.D. 457 to A.D. 491. Some extracts, by Photius, are all that remain. Andreas, bishop of Caesarea in Cappado- cia, flourished about A.D 500. He wrote a Commentary on the Apocalypse, which is extant, Gr. and Lat , inter Opp. Chrysosto- m,, toin. viii., ed Morcll; a\so Thcrapeutica Spiritualis, of which only some fragments remain. 7Y.] (32) The entire works of Lfo I., [com- prising 100 sermons and 141 epistles], were ' dited with great care bv the celebrated pres- byter of the Oratory, Pasrh. Qucsnctl, Ly- ons, 1700, 2 vols. fol [This edition be- ing proscribed by the pope, because the edi- tor defended the cause of Hilary of Aries, and the liberties of the Gallican church against Leo ; a new edition was published 336 BOOK II. CENTURY V. PART II. CHAP. II. [Paul] Orosius acquired fame by his History, written with a view to con- fute the cavils of the pagans, and by his books against the Pelagians and Priscillianists.(33) [John] Cassianus, an unlearned and superstitious man, by his oral communications, his writings, and his institutions, acquainted the Gauls with the mode of living pursued by the monks of Syria and Egypt ; and was a leading teacher among those denominated Semipela- gians.(34) The Homilies of Maximus of Turin, which are still extant, are short, but generally neat and pious. (35) Eucherius of Lyons, ranks not empire under the reign of paganism, as un- der that of Christianity. (2) Apologeticus by Cacciari and the brothers Ballerini. Leo was a man of extraordinary talents, a good writer, an indefatigable bishop, and contra Pelagianos de arbitrii libertate. These very successful in promoting the glory of ' the see of Rome. It has been said, that he possessed every virtue that was compatible with an unbounded ambition. He was bish- op of Rome from A. D. 440 to A.D. 461. In the beginning of his reign, he persecuted the sectarians of Africa, who took refuge in Italy on the conquest of Africa by the Vandals. In 445 commenced his controversy with Hi- lary archbishop of Aries, whom he divested of his rights as a metropolitan, in violation of the liberties of the Gallican church. He also obtained from Valentinian III. a de- cree confirming his usurpations over the Gallic church. In 451 he showed the vio- lence of his passions and the excess of his two works are in the edition of Haverr.amp. (3) His written statement to Augustine, in the year 413, which is published among the works of Augustine, and is entitled, Com- monitorium sive consultatio ad S. Augusti- num, de errore Priscillianistarum et Ongen- istarum. Tr.] (34) Histoire litteraire de la France, tome ii., p. 215, &c. Rich. Simon, Critique de la Bibliotheque Ecclesiast., par M. du Pin, tome i., p. 156. The works of Cassian, with a prolix Commentary, were published by Alar A. Gazacus, latest edition Francf., 1722, fol. [John Cassianus, of Scythian extract, was born at Athens A.D. 351. He early devoted himself to a monastic life ; ambition, by his opposition to that decree of which he pursued, first at Bethlehem, then the council of Chalcedon, which raised the bishop of Constantinople to the rank of a patriarch, and very much extended his juris- diction. In the year 455, he was a protec- tion to the city of Rome, when it was pillaged by Genseric, king of the Vandals. See M. Schrocckh, Kirchengesch., vol. xvii., p. 90-169; and A. Bower, Lives of the Popes, vol. ii., p. 7-140. Tr.] (33) Peter Bayle, Dictionnaire, tome iii., voce Orose. The works of Orosius have at length been published, with some medals, by Sigb. Havercamp, Leyden, 1738, 4to. [Paul Orosius was a presbyter of Tarragona in Spain. In the year 413, he was sent into Africa to consult Augustine respecting the rising sect of the Pnscillianists. Augustine then put him upon writing his history, which he completed four years afterwards. In the year 415, Augustine sent him to Palestine to visit Jerome and learn his opinion respect- ing the origin of souls. He was present at some councils in Palestine, and there op- posed the errors of Pelagius. On his return to Africa, he brought with him the relics of St. Stephen, which were highly valued. He afterwards returned to Spain. The time of his death is unknown. His works, written in good Latin, comprise (1) Historiarum adversus Paganos Libri vii. ; in which he endeavours to show from the Roman history, that as great calamities had happened in the at Nitria in Egypt, next at Constantinople, where Chrysostom made him deacon of a church. On the banishment of Chrysostom A.D. 404, the clergy of Constantinople sent Cassianus to Italy to solicit aid to their cause from the Roman pontiff. At Rome, Cassianus was ordained a presbyter, and there he remained till A.D. 410, when, on the capture of Rome by the Goths, he retired to Marseilles in France. Here he erected two monasteries, one for males and one for females ; and thenceforth devoted himself to the furtherance of monkery in Gaul. He commenced author in 424, and died A.D. 448, aged 97 years. He was not a great man, but he was active, pious, and sincere. He was a leading man among the Semipela- gians, and held, perhaps, nearly the same sentiments respecting original sin, and grace, and human ability, with the Remonstrants or Arminians of Holland in the 17th century. His works are, (1) de Institutis Ccenobiorum Libri xii., of which the iv. first books de- scribe the form and regulations of a monas- tery ; aiid the viii. following treat of as many principal sins. (2) xxiv. Collationes Patrum ; discourses or rather Colloquies, chiefly on monastic virtues (3) de Christi incarna- tione adversus Nestorium Libri vii. Tr.] ('35) [Maximut was bishop of Turin in Piedmont, from A.D. 422 to A.D. 465. Little is known of his life. His works con- CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 337 last among the Latins of this century who treated moral subjects eloquent, lyand well. (36) Pontius [Paulinus] of Nola, highly esteemed by the an- cients for his piety, has recommended himself to posterity by his poems, and by some other things. (37) Peter, bishop of Ravenna, acquired the surname of Chrysologus on account of his eloquence ; and his discourses are not entirely destitute of genius. (38) Salvianus was an eloquent but a gloomy and austere writer, who in the vehemence of his declamation against the vices of the times, unwarily discloses the weaknesses and de- fects of his own character. (39) Prosper of Aquitain,(40) and Marius sist of 85 short homilies or sermons. Of these 32 were published among the works of Ambrose, and 8 among the discourses of Augustine. Theoph. Raynaud collected and published 73 of them under the name of the real author, in a volume containing the works of Leo I. and of Peter Chrysologus ; Lyons, 1652, and Paris, 1671, fol. After- wards, Mabillon collected 12 more, which he published in his Musaenm Italicum, torn, i., pt. ii., p. 1, &c. And Bruno Bruni pub- lished the whole together, Rome, 1784, fol. 2V.] (36) Concerning Euchcrius, the Benedic- tine monks treat largely, in Histoire litteraire de la France, tome ii., p. 275. [He was of an honourable family in Gaul, fond of monk- ery in his youth, and resided some time in a monastery in the island of Lerins. But he afterwards married, and had two sons, Salo- nius and Veranius, who became bishops. He was bishop of Lyons from A.D. 434 to A.D. 454. His most admired work is his Epistle to Valerianus, on contempt of the world and secular philosophy. Besides this, he wrote in praise of monkery, instructions for his sons, and several homilies. Several works are falsely ascribed to him. The whole were published, Basil, 1531, and Rome, 1564, 4to, and in the Biblioth. Pair., torn. vi. ZV.] (37) See the Histoire litteraire de la France, tome ii., p. 179. The works of Paulinus were published by J. Bapt. le Brun, Paris, 1685, 2 vols. 4to. [See note (37), p. 253, on the preceding century, where he is particularly desciibed. TV.] (38) See Agnelli, Liber Pontificalis ec- clesiae Ravennatensis, torn, i., p. 321, ed. Bachinii. [Peter Chrysologus was an Ital- ian, of a noble family. He was bom at Imo- la, and educated under the bishop of that see. In the year 433, he was made bishop of Ravenna, where he died about A.D. 450. He has left us 147 short Homilies or Ser- mons ; and one Epistle, addressed to Euty- ches the heretic, in the year 449. His works have been often published ; the latest edi- tion is, perhaps, that of Venice, 1742, fol. TV.] VOL. I. U u (39) See Histoire litteraire de la France, tome ii., p. 517. [" The authors of the his- tory, here referred to, give a different ac- count of Salvian's character. They ac- knowledge, that his declamation against the vices of the age in his Treatise against Av- arice, and his Discourse concerning Provi- dence, are warm and vehement : but they represent him notwithstanding as one of the most humane and benevolent men of his time." Macl. Sahian was a native of Gaul, probably of Cologne ; lived long at Treves, and married a pagan lady, who how- ever became a Christian after marriage ; had one child, a daughter. At length he remo- ved to the south of France, and became a presbyter at Marseilles, where he lived to a great age. He flourished as early as 440 ; but was alive, though an old man, in the year 495. See Gennadius, (who was a con- temporary presbyter of Marseilles), de Scrip- toribus Ecclesiasticis, cap. 67. The works of Salman, now extant, are, ( 1 ) On the Prov- idence and Government of God, and his righteous temporal judgments, viii. books. (2) Nine Epistles. (3) Against Avarice, es- pecially in clergymen and bishops, iv. books. His style is barbarous, yet vivid and ener- getic. His conceptions are clear, his rea- soning pungent, and his sentiments for the most part correct. Yet his descriptions are coarse, and often too high coloured, and his positions sometimes untenable. The works of Salvian have been often published. The best edition is that of Steph. Baluze, Paris, 1669, 8vo. TV.] (40) For a good account of Prosper, see the Histoire litteraire de la France, torn, ii., p. 369. [Tiro Prosper, a layman, but a learned theologian, of Aquitain in Gaul, flour- ished A.D. 444. He was a great admirer and an able defender of the doctrines of Au- gustine, respecting original sin, predestina- tion, and free grace. In the year 426, he addressed a letter to Augustine, acquainting him with the incipient progress of Pelagian errors in Gaul, and soliciting him to write against them. In 431, he visited Italy, to procure the aid of the Roman pontiff against these errors ; and retunied strengthened by 338 BOOK II. CENTURY V. PART IL CHAP. II. Mercator,(4:l) are names familiar to every one who has paid much atteii- tion to the Pelagian and other controversies of this century. Vincentius of Lerins has continued his name to posterity, by a short but elegant tract against the sects, which he entitled Commonitorium.(42) I designedly pass over Sidonius Apollinaris, a tumid writer, though not destitute of el- oquence ;(43) Vigilius of Tapsus ;(44) Arnolius junior, who commented a doctrinal letter addressed to the bishops of Gaul. In 433, he wrote his strictures on the 13th Collatio of John Cassianus, which is an able performance. In 443, Leo I. called him to Rome, and made him his pri- vate secretary, and employed him in the Pe- lagian contests of Italy. He was alive in 455 ; but the time of his death is unknown. He was a man of strong reasoning powers, soundly orthodox, and a good model in con- troversial writing. Most of his works are in defence of the doctrines of original sin, pre- destination, and free grace ; and especially his two books, (if indeed they are his), de Vocatione Gentium, (on the offer of salvation to all men), will be read with interest by the modem theologian. He also composed a Chronicon, continuing that of Euscbius down to A.D. 455 ; a Commentary on the last 50 Psalms; several letters; and some poems. His works were published, Paris, 1711, fol., and by Salina, Rome, 1732, 8vo. Tr.] (41) [Manus Mercator was probably an African, yet may have lived some time in It- aly. He was undoubtedly a layman, a friend and admirer of Augustine, and an active de- fender of his doctrines, from A.D. 418 to the year 451. His works are almost wholly translations from the Greek fathers, particu- larly Nestorius, Theodoras of Mopsuestia, Cyril of Alexandria, Produs, Theodoret, &c., accompanied with prefaces and notes or strictures by the translator. They are all designed to confute either the Nesforian or the Pelagian errors : and were edited with copious notes, by Joh. Gamier, Paris, 1673, fol., and still better by Steph. Baluze, Paris, 1684, 8vo. TV.] (42) A good account of Vincentius of Lerins, is found in the Histoire litteraire de la France, torn, ii., p. 305. [He was born of a noble family, at Toul in the French Netherlands ; became a soldier, and after- wards a monk at Lerins, where he was made a presbyter. He flourished A.D. 434, and died before the year 450. He was probably a Semipelagian ; as may be in- ferred from his Objections against the wri- tings and doctrines of Augustine, which (though lost) are confuted by Prosper of Aquitain. His only surviving work is his Commonitorium adversus Haereticos. This he re-wrote, but lost the copy, and therefore added notes to the first draught. It is an attempt to confute all heresies at once, by showing what are the marks of the true church, as distinguished from all errorists. It has been often published ; e. g , by Ba- luze, subjoined to Salman's works, Paris, 1669, 8vo, and Cambridge, 1687, 12mo. TV.] (43) [C. Sollius Apollinaris Sidonius was born of a noble family at Lyons in France, A.D. 431. His father and grand- father both bore the name of Apollinans, and both were praetorian prefects of the Gallias. After an expensive education, he became a soldier, married the daughter of Avitus, who was afterwards emperor, had three children ; was captured at the siege of Lyons, A.D. 457 ; yet was advanced to honour by the new emperor Majorianus, whom he eulo- gized in 458 ; had a statue erected to him, and was advanced to the dignity of count. In the year 467, he went to Rome as legate from the city of Clermont ; pronounced a eulogy on the emperor Anthemius ; was made prefect of Rome, and performed his duties so faithfully that he had another statue decreed him, was made a patrician and a senator of Rome. In the year 472, he was almost compelled to accept the office of bish- op of Clermont in France. He now laid aside all his civil honours, gave up his prop- erty to his son, and devoted himself to sa- cred studies and to his episcopal functions. His influence among the clergy and the churches was very great. When the Goths attacked Clermont, he put himself at the head of the citizens, as their military com- mander ; and when the city was captured in 480, he retired in safety, was restored to his see, and died in the year 482 He has left us numerous Epistles, which he himself di- gested into nine books ; in which form they are published, with one Sermon and 24 po- etic effusions interspersed. Several of his works in prose and verse, are lost. His works were published by Jac. Sirmond, Paris, 1614, 8vo, and with additional notes, Paris, 1652, 8vo. His Epistles are useful, as throwing light on the history of his times. -TV.] (44) [ Vigilius bishop of Tapsus in Africa, flourished A.D. 484, at which time he was summoned to appear at Carthage before Hun- neric, the Arian king of the Vandals, and give an account of his faith. He boldly pro- CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 339 on the Psalms of David ;(45) Draconlius ;(46) and others ;(47) who were of a secondary rank. fessed orthodoxy ; but the persecution which followed, obliged him to quit Africa, and he retired to Constantinople, and after somo years removed to Italy, where he composed several, perhaps the greater part, of his works. To conceal himself from his perse- cuting enemies, he composed much under borrowed names, and especially that of Ath- anasius. During the middle ages, he was confounded with Vigilius of Trent, who flourished at the beginning of this century. His works are, five Books against Nestorius and Eutyches ; two Dialogues, between Athanasuis and Anus, supposed to have been held at the council of Nice ; three Di- alogues between the same ; twelve Books on the Trinity ; a Dialogue on the Trinity, between Augustine and Felicianus, an Ari- an ; on the Trinity, against Varimadus ; one Book against Palladium, an Arian ; Answers to Arian objections ; Dialogue between Au- gustine and Pascentius, an Arian. He is likewise supposed to be the author of that Confession of Faith, which is commonly called the Athanasian Creed. His works were first published as his by P. F. Chijjlet, Dijon, 1664, 4to. TV.] (45) An account of Arnobius junior, is given in the Histoire litteraire de la France, torn, ii., p. 342. [He is called junior, to distinguish him from the African Arnobius, who lived at the beginning of the preceding century. This Arnobius junior, is supposed to have lived in Gaul. He flourished about A.D. 461, and wrote a Commentary on the Psalms ; Notes on some passages in the Gospels ; and a Dispute with Serapion of Egypt, respecting the Trinity, the person of Christ, and the consistency of grace with free will. He was a Semipelagian. His works are in the Biblioth. Patr., torn, viii., p. 203, &c. TV.] (46) [Dracontius was a presbyter and a poet, probably of Spain, who flourished A.D. 440, and was alive in 450. He has left us a Heroic Poem on the Creation, or the Hex- aemeron ; and an Elegy on Theodosius II. : both published by J. Sirmand, Paris, 1619, 8vo ; and in the Biblioth. Pair., torn, ix., p. 724, 729. Tr.] (47) [Catalogue of Latin writers omitted by Dr. Mosheim, extracted chiefly from the Historia Litteraria of Dr. Cave. Chromatius bishop of Aquileia, a friend of Rufinus, and a defender of Chrysostom ; flourished A.D. 401, and died 410. He has left us some Homilies on the beatitudes, Matt, v., and a few Epistles. Innocent I. bishop of Rome A.D. 402- 417, a firm friend of Chrysostom, and stren- uous against the Ncstonans and Pelagians. Of 34 epistles published as his, the genuine- ness of nearly all is questioned. Zosimus, of Greek extract, bishop of Rome A.D. 417-418; famous for his at- tempt to subject the African churches to his see. He has left us 13 epistles. Boniface bishop of Rome A.D. 418-423, prosecuted the attempt of Zosimus. We have three of his epistles. Severus bishop of Minorca, flourished A.D. 418. His epistle, describing the con- version of the Jews of Minorca, was pub- lished by Baronius, Annals, ad. ann. 418. Julian, an Italian bishop, born before A.D. 386, and died about the year 440 or 450. He studied under Pdagius ; became a dea- con, lector, husband, and bishop of a small town among the Hirpini. In the year 417, he came out an open defender of Pelagian- ism ; in 420 he was condemned ; went- to Constantinople, and thence to Cilicia, where he lived long with Theodorus of Mopsuestia, and devoted himself to writing in defence of his sentiments. In 423, he was con- demned by a synod of Cilician bishops ; re- turned to Italy in 424, hoping to recover his see ; failed, and went again to Constantino- ple, to beg the interference of the emperor ; but here Mcrcator^s Commonitorium to The- odosius II. met him, and blasted his pros- pects. Being driven from Constantinople, and condemned in a council at Rome A.D. 431, he pretended to renounce his errors, and applied to the Roman pontiff in 439 to restore him to his see ; but in vain. He was a man of superior talents, well acquaint- ed with the Scriptures, and so eloquent that he was styled the Roman Demosthenes. He was likewise famed for his piety and his be- nevolence to the poor. But he was accused of dissembling as to his sentiments, and of using bitter language towards his adversa- ries. Large extracts are preserved from his Epistles, his Commentary on the Canticles, and his twelve books against the first and second books of Augustine on marriage. Priscus Fastidius, a British bishop, flour- ished A.D. 420. He has left us a tract on a Christian life and widowhood, addressed to a pious widow ; extant among the works of Augustine, torn. ix. Evodius, bishop of Uzala in Africa, an in- timate friend of Augustine, flourished A.D. 420. Four of his Epistles to Augustine, and one Book de Fide contra Manichaeos, are extant, among the works of Augustine. Isidorus, bishop of Cordova in Spain, 340 BOOK II. CENTURY V. PART II. CHAP. II. flourished A.D. 420, and died A.D. 430. He was probably the author of four books of allegories, or commentaries on all the Books of Kings, extant among the works of Isido- rus Hispalensis. Calestine, bishop of Rome A.D. 423-432, and active in the Nestorian contests. He has left us 14 epistles. Lupus, bishop of Troyes in France, flour- ished A.D. 427. He was sent by the Gal- lic bishops to Britain in 429, to root out Pe- lagianism ; was successful, and returned in 430 ; and died A.D. 479. He has been pronounced one of the greatest men of his age. Two of his epistles are extant. Pisidius or Possidonius, bishop of Cala- ma, near Hippo in Africa ; flourished A.D. 430. He was an intimate friend of Augus- tine ; and wrote his life, and a catalogue of his works, still extant among the works of Augustine. Hilary, bishop of Aries, born A.D. 401, became a monk of Lerins, and was made bishop in 430, and died in 449. As metro- politan of Aries, he deposed Cdidonius bish- op of Vienne ; who appealed to Rome, and was supported by Leo. I. ; which involved Hilary in war with Leo all their lives. He wrote the Life of St. Honoratus, his prede- cessor ; Heroic Poems on Genesis ; one Epistle to Euchcrius of Lyons ; two others to Augustine ; and an account of the mira- cles of St. Genesius : all which were pub- lished by the Benedictines, Paris, 1693, fol., and by Joh. Salina, Rome, 1731, 8vo. Capreolus, bishop of Carthage, flourish- ed A.D. 431. His Epistle to the council of Ephesus, and another to the Spanish bish- ops, against Nestorius, are extant in Baro- nius, and in other collections. Sixtus III., bishop of Rome A.D. 432- 440, has left us several epistles. The three books on riches, chastity, false teachers, cj-c., are erroneously ascribed to him. Adrian, who lived perhaps about A.D. 450, wrote an Isagoge (Introduction) in S. Scripturam, which is extant in the Critic! Londinenses, torn. viii. Maximus, a Gallic monk, abbot of Lerins in 426, and bishop of Riez in France A.D. 433, lived till 451 or longer, and wrote sev- eral Homilies, which are extant among those of Eusebius of Emesa, and Eucherius of Lyons. Claudius Marius Victor, or Victorinus, a rhetorician and poet of Marseilles ; flour- ished A.D. 434, and died before A.D. 450. He wrote a poetic commentary on Genesis, to the death of Abraham ; a poetic epistle to the abbot Solomon, on the corrupt morals of the age; both extant, Paris, 1560, 8vo, and in the Bibh'oth. Patr., torn, viii., p. 580. Ceslius Sedulius, a Scotchman and poet, who flourished A.D. 434. He studied in It- aly, became a presbyter, and perhaps a bish- op. His works were collected, by Tur. Ruf. Asterius, towards the close of the century ; comprising Carmen Paschale, (on the mira- cles of Christ), in five books ; Veteris et Novi Test. Collatio, an Elegiac poem ; P<z- an Alphabeticus de Christo, in Iambic meas- ure, (on the Life of Christ) ; and Paschalis Opcris Libri v., in prose. An Exposition of all the Ep. of Paul, is falsely ascribed to him. The works of Sedulius have been published repeatedly, and are to be found in the Biblioth. Patr., torn. vi. Valerianus, a bishop in the Maritime Alps ; flourished A.D. 439, and was alive in 455. His 20 Homilies and an Epistle, were pub- lished by Ja. Sirmond, Paris, 1612, 8vo, also in the Bibliotheca Patrum, torn. viii. Eustathius, flourished A.D. 440, the neat Latin translator of St. Basil 1 s nine Homilies on the Hexaemeron ; extant among the works of Basil the Great. Philippus, a presbyter, and disciple of Je- rome ; flourished A.D. 440, and died A.D. 455. He wrote a Commentary on Job, in three books ; published, Basil, 1527, 4to and fol. It has been ascribed both to Beda and to Jerome. Idatius or Hydatius, a Spanish bishop, who flourished A.D. 445, and died A.D. 468. He wrote a Chronicon, from A.D. 379 to A.D. 428, and afterwards continued it to A.D. 467 ; first published entire, by Ja. Sirmond, Paris, 1619, 8vo ; and since, in the works of Sirmond, Paris, 1696, and Venice, 1729. It is barbarous in style, and frequently inaccurate as to facts ; yet affords valuable aid in tracing the movements of the Goths and Suevi. Zachaeus, the reputed author of iii. Books of discussion, between Zachaeus a Christian, and Apollonius a pagan, in regard to Chris- tianity. The book was probably written about A.D. 450, and is published in L. Da- cherii Spicilegium, torn. x. Salonius, son of Euchcrius bishop of Lyons, and himself a Gallic bishop, flour- ished A.D. 453. He wrote an Exposition of the Parables of Solomon ; and a mystical Paraphrase on Ecclcsiastes ; both extant in the Orthodoxographia, and in Biblioth. Patr., torn. viii. Victories or Victorinus, a Gallic mathe- matician, flourished A.D. 457 ; author of a Paschal Canon, in two parts ; the first part exhibits the principles and the method of calculating Easter ; the second is a table of Easter days, from A.D. 28 to A.D. 457. This Canon was recommended by the coun- cil of Orleans A.D. 541, and was first pub- CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 341 lished by Aegid. Buchcrius, Antwerp, 1634, folio. Hilary, bishop of Rome A.D. 461-467. He was the bishop of Rome's legate to the council of Ephesus in 449. Twelve of his Epistles are extant Paulinus Petricordius, or Vesuntius, (i. e., of Besan<jon), a Gallic poet, who flourished A.D. 461, and is often confounded with Paulinus of Nola. He wrote, de Vita Sti. Martini Libri vi., an uninteresting poem ; extant in the Biblioth. Pair., torn, vi., and published by Daunius, with notes, Lips., 1686, 8vo. Claudius Mamertus, a Gallic poet, a pres- byter, and assistant to the bishop of Vienne ; flourished A.D. 462. He wrote de Statu Animi Libri iii. ; two Epistles ; a Poem against various errors ; and a Hymn on the Crucifixion ; all extant in the Biblioth. Patr., torn. vii. Simplicius, bishop of Rome A.D. 467- 483. He was much engaged in contests with the eastern patriarchs, and has left us 19 Epistles ; extant in Concilior., torn. iv. Ruricius senior, bishop of Limoges, in France, flourished A.D. 470, but was alive in 506. He has left us ii. Books of Epistles ; published by H. Canisius, Antiq. Lectiones, torn. v. (or torn. i. of new ed.), and in the Biblioth. Patr., torn. viii. Remigius, bishop of Rheims A.D. 471- 533. He baptized Clovis, king of the Franks, with many of his lords ; was a man of note ; and has left us five Epistles, toge- ther with his will. The Exposition of Paul's Epistles, attributed to him, is not his. Faustus, abbot of Lerins, and then bishop of Ries in France, A.D. 472-480 or 485 ; a Semipelagian. His works are, de Gratia Dei et libero Arbitrio, Libri ii., with several Sermons, Epistles, and Tracts ; collected in Biblioth. Patr., torn. viii. Falix, bishop of Rome A.D. 483-492 ; was much in controversy with the eastern patriarchs. Fifteen of his Epistles are extant. Victor Vitensis, an orthodox African bish- op, who fled to Constantinople A.D. 487 ; and there composed a History of the perse- cutions in Africa under Genseric and Hun- ncric, kings of the Vandals. It was pub- lished, with Optatus Milevitanus, Paris, 1569, 8vo ; with Vigilius Tapscnsis, Dijon, 1664, 4to ; and in the Biblioth. Patr., torn. viii. Alcimus Ecdicius Avitus, bishop of Cler- mont A.D. 490-523. He has left us five poetic Books, on the creation and fall of man, the flood, and the passage of the Red Sea ; a poem in praise of Virginity ; 87 Epistles ; and some Sermons ; published by Ja. Sir- mond, Paris, 1643 ; and in the Biblioth. Pa- trum, torn. ix. Gelasius, bishop of Rome A.D. 492-496. Sixteen of his Epistles, and fragments of va- rious other works, are extant. The famous decree of a Roman council, A.D. 494, de Libris Canonicis, Ecclesiasticis, ct Apocry- phis, ascribed to Gelasius, is of dubious authenticity. Genjiadius, a presbyter of Marseilles, flourished A.D. 495, and wrote de Scriptor- ibus ecclesiasticis, or a catalogue of authors, continuing Jerome's Catalogue, from the year 393 to A.D. 495. His book de Fide, and his Life of Jerome, are also extant. But his eight Books against all the heresies, his six Books against Nestorius, his three Books against Pelagius, his Tract on the Millenni- um, and his translations from the Greek fa- thers, arc lost. Rusticus Elpidius, physician to Thcodoric king of the Goths, flourished about A.D. 498, and has left 24 Epigrams on scriptural facts, and a Poem on the Benefits of Christ. Julianus Pomerius, of Mauritania ; a teacher of rhetoric at Aries, and a presbyter there ; flourished A.D. 498. His viii. Books de Anima, and several smaller works, arc lost. But his iii. Books, de vita Contem- plativa, are extant, among the works of Prosper ; to whom they have been wrongly ascribed. Symmachus, bishop of Rome A.D. 498- 514, famous for his excommunication of the emperor Anastusius, has left us 12 Epistles. -TV.] 342 BOOK II. CENTURY V. PART II. CHAP. III. CHAPTER III. HISTORY OF THEOLOGY. $ 1. Many Points in Theology better ascertained. 2. Increase of Superstition. 3. Interpretation of the Scriptures. $ 4. Most of the Interpreters incompetent. $ 5. Some were more able. 6. State of Dogmatic Theology. 7. Theological Disputants. 8. Their Faults. $ 9. Hence, supposititious Books. $ 10. Moral Writers. 11. Mystics. 12. Superstition of the Stylites. 13. Further Defects of the Moralists. 14. Jerome's Controversy with Vigilantius. 15. Controversies respecting Origen. 1. IN the controversies which in this century agitated nearly all Chris, tendom, many points of theology were more fully explained and more ac- curately stated and denned, than they had been before. Thus it was with the doctrine concerning Christ, his person and natures ; and those of the innate depravity of the human soul, the natural ability of men to live and act as the law of God requires, the necessity of divine grace in order to salvation, human liberty, and the like. For that devout and reverential simplicity of the first ages of the church, which taught men to believe when God speaks, and to obey when God commands, appeared to most of the doc- tors of this age to be unphilosophical and becoming only in the vulgar. Many of those however who attempted to explain and illustrate these doc- trines, opened the way rather for disputation than for a rational faith and a holy life ; for they did not so much explain, as involve in greater obscurity and darken with ambiguous terms and incomprehensible distinctions, the deep mysteries of revealed religion. And hence arose abundant matter for difficulties, contentions, and animosities, which flowed down to succeed, ing ages, and which can scarcely be removed by the efforts of human pow- er. It hardly need be remarked, that some, while pressing their adversa- ries, incautiously fell into errors of an opposite character which were no less dangerous. 2. The superstitious notions and human devices, by which religion was before much clogged, were very considerably augmented. The aid of departed saints was implored with supplications by vast multitudes, and no one censured this absurd devotion. Nor did the question which after- wards occasioned much debate, namely, in what way the prayers of mor- tals could reach the ears of residents in heaven, present any difficulties to the Christians of those times. For they did not suppose the souls of de- parted saints to be so confined to the celestial mansions, as not to have liberty of paying visits to mortals, and of travelling over various regions at their pleasure. These unimbodied spirits were supposed very frequently to visit and to be much attached to the places where their bodies were buried. And this opinion, derived to Christians from the Greeks and Romans, drew a great conflux of supplicants to the sepulchres of the saints.(l) The im- (1) Lactantius, Divinar. Instil., lib. i., p. 512. JEntas Gazaeus. Theophrastns, p. 164. Hesiod, Opp. et Dier., v., 122. With 65. Macarius, in Jo.. ToUii Insignia itine- which compare Sulpitius Severus, Epist. ii., ris Italici, p. 197, and other writers of that p. 371, Dial, ii., c. 13, p. 474, Dial, iii., p. age. HISTORY OF THEOLOGY. 343 ages of those who were in reputation for sanctity while alive, were now honoured with extraordinary devotion in several places ; and there were those who believed, what the pagan priests had maintained respecting the statues of Jupiter and Mercury,(2) namely, that those inhabitants of heaven kindly afforded their presence in these their images. The bones of mar- tyrs and the sign of the cross, were supposed to be the most sovereign rem- edy against the assaults of demons and all other calamities, and to have power not only to heal diseases of the body but likewise those of the mind. (3) Of the public processions, the holy pilgrimages,(4) the super, stitious services paid by the living to the souls of the dead, the multiplica- tion and extravagant veneration of temples, chapels, and altars, and innu- merable other proofs of degenerate piety, I forbear to speak particularly. As no one in those times objected to Christians' retaining the opinions of their pagan ancestors respecting the soul, heroes, demons, temples, and the like, and their transferring them into their devotions ; and as no one proposed utterly to abolish the ancient pagan institutions, but only to alter them somewhat and purify them ; it was unavoidable, that the religion and the worship of Christians should in this way become corrupted. This also I will add, that the doctrine of the purification of souls after death by means of some sort of fire, which afterwards became so great a source of wealth to the clergy, acquired in this age more development and a more imposing aspect.(5) 3. The number of those who devoted their talents to the explanation of the Scriptures, was not so great as in the preceding century when there was less of controversy among Christians ; and yet the number was not small. I pass over those who expounded but one or only a few books of scripture ; Victor of Antioch, Polychronius, Philo of Carpathus, Isidore of Cordova, Salonius, and Andreas of Ca2sarea. The two most distinguished interpreters of this century, who explained a great part of the sacred vol- ume and not altogether without success, were Theodoret bishop of Cyrus, and Thcodorus of Mopsuestia. Both possessed genius and learning, and neither would follow in the footsteps of preceding expositors without some reason. The expositions of the former are before the public ;(6) those of the latter lie concealed in the East among the Nestorians, and for various reasons are worthy to see the light.(7) Cyril of Alexandria deserves a (2) Clementina, Homil. x. in Pair. Apos- (5) On this subject, Augustine deserves tol., torn, i., p. 697. Arnobius, adv. Gentes, especially to be consulted, de octo quaestion- lib. vi., p. 254, &c. Casp. Barthius, ad ibus ad Dulcitium Liber, c. xiii., Opp., torn. Rutilium Numantian., p. 250. vi., p. 128 ; de fide et operibus, c. xvi., p. (3) Prudcntius, Hymn. xi. de Coronis, 182; de fide, spe et caritate, 118, p. 222. p. 150, 151. Sulpitius Severus, Epist. i., Exposition of Psalm xxxv., <j iii., &c. p. 364. jEneas Gazaeus, Theophrastus, p. (6) See Rich. Simon, Histoire critique 173, ed. Earth. des principaux Commentateurs du N. Test., (4) [These pilgrimages were then so com- cap. xiii., p. 314, and Critique de la Bib- mon.that some Christians fell into absurdities liotheque Ecclesiast., par M. du Pin, tome truly ridiculous. They journeyed quite to i., p. 180, [and note (22), p. 330, above. Arabia, in order to see the dunghill on which TV.] the diseased Job sat, and to kiss the ground (7) Jos. Sim. Asseman, Biblioth. Ori- which had absorbed his precious blood ; as ental. Clement. Vaticana, torn, iii., ii.. p. Chrysostom informs us, (Homily v. to the 227. Rick. Simon, Critique de la Bibli- Antiochians), where he says, in his rhetorical oth. Ecclesiast., par M. du Pin, tome i., p. way, that the dunghill of Job was more ven- 108, 677. [See also note (26), p. 331, erable than the throne of a king. Schl.] above. TV.] 344 BOOK II. CENTURY V. PART II. CHAP. III. place among the interpreters ; but a far more honourable one is due to Isidore of Pelusium, whose Epistles contain much that tends to elucidate and explain the Holy Scriptures. (8) 4. Most of these interpreters, whether Greeks or Latins, every where copy after Origen ; and despising the genuine and obvious meaning of the scriptures, search after abstruse senses or what the Latins of that age called mysteries, in the plainest passages and sentences of the Bible. Some of the Greeks indeed, and in particular Theodoret, laboured not unsuccessfully in explaining the pages of the New Testament : which we may ascribe to their skill in the Greek language, with which they had been familiar from their infancy. But upon the Hebrew Scriptures, neither the Greeks nor the Latins cast much light. Nearly all who attempted to explain them, making no use of their judgment, applied the whole either to Christ and his benefits, or to Anti-Christ and his wars and desolations, and to the kin- dred subjects. 5. Here and there one, however, more wise and sagacious than the rest, ventured to point out a safer path. This is evident from the Epistles of Isidore Pelusiota, who in various places, censures in a pertinent man- ner those who disregarding the historic sense referred all the narrative and prophetic parts of the Old Testament to Christ : and yet he himself was by no means entirely free from the fault of his age, the love and pursuit of allegories. No one went farther in censuring the imitators of Origen, than Theodorus of Mopsuestia. He not only wrote a book concerning Al- legory and History, against Origen ;(9) but also in his own Commentaries on the Prophets of the Old Testament, ventured to explain most of their predictions with reference to events in ancient history. (10) And this his method of explaining the Old Testament, raised as much ill-will against him, perhaps, as those other sentiments which brought on him the charge of heresy. The example of this excellent man was followed especially by the Nestorians ;(11) nor have they yet ceased to follow it, for to this day they preserve his books with care, and venerate the man as a saint of the highest order. 6. It is very evident, that the doctrines of religion were not propound- ed by most persons with due simplicity and purity, but were sometimes ex- panded beyond what is revealed, were anatomized with too great art and subtilty, and were supported not so much by scriptural evidence as by the authority and reasonings of the ancient doctors. I know of no one who gave a complete system of Christian doctrines in a single work, unless Nicce- as of Romacia did so, in the six books of instruction for Neophytes which he is (8) Concerning both, see Rich. Simon, tury, who is known to have been a Nestori- Histoire des principaux Commentateurs du an. For he says, in his Topographia, lib. N. Test., c. xxi., p. 300, &c. [For some v., (p. 224, 225, of the Collectio nova Pa- account of Cyril, see note (21), p. 329, and trum Graecor. published by Bernh. Montfau- concerning Isidore, note (23), p. 330, above, con) : " Among all the Psalms of David, TV.] only four refer to Christ:'" and to confirm (9) Facundus Hermianensis, de tribus this sentiment, he does not hesitate to de- capitulis, lib. iii., c. 6. Liberates, Brevia- clare, (p. 227), " That the writers of the New rium, c. xxiv. Testament, when they apply the prophecies (10) Acta Concilii Constantinop. ii., seu of the Old Testament to Jesus Christ, follow Oecumenici v., in torn, iii., p. 58. Concil- the words rather than the sense." [See also ior., ed. Harduin. C. W. F. Walch, Historic der Ketzereyen, (11) One witness, among others, is Cos- vol. v., p. 880. TV.] mas Indicopleustes, a writer of the 6th cen- HISTORY OF THEOLOGY. 345 said to have composed. (12) But it has been already observed, that vari- ous doctrines of religion were laboriously explained, especially in the con. troversial works against the Nestorians, Eutychians, Pelagians, and Arians. 7. Of controversial writers, a great number can be mentioned : and indeed many such were required, by the great number of controversies. The worshippers of the pagan gods and images, were vigorously assailed by Thcodoret, in his book De curandis Gr&corum ajfectionibus, which dis- plays much genius and erudition ; by Orientius, in his Commonitorium ; and by Evagrius, in his Disputation between Zachaeus and Apollonius.(13) To these may be added Philip of Side, and Philostorgius ; of whom the former wrote against Julian, and the latter against Porphyry. (14) The Jews were confuted by Basil, of Seleucia ;(15) by Gregentius, in his Dispu- tation with Herbanus ; and by Evagrius, in his Dialogue between Theophi- lus and a Jew. Against all the heretics, something was attempted by Vo- conius, an African ; by Syagrius, in his tract de Fide ; by Gennadius of Marseilles ; and, best of all, by Theodoret,(I6) in his work de Fabulis H<z~ reticorum. Those who attacked only individual sects are here omitted. 8. Those who contended against the Christian sectaries, followed the rules of the ancient sophists, and strangely, also the practice of the Ro- man courts, rather than the examples and instructions of Christ and his apostles. In the Roman courts, very difficult and doubtful points were decided according to the opinions of certain ancient jurists. If these happened to disagree, that opinion was preferred which was maintained by the greatest number, or by the jurists of most learning and reputa- tion.(17) It was very prejudicial to the interests of truth, that this usage of the Roman courts was adopted as a rule in the controversies of Chris- tians on subjects of religion, and followed in the deliberations of the coun- cils of this century. For by it, that was sanctioned and regarded as con- firmed, which had been judged true and certain by the majority or by the most learned and distinguished of the doctors of former times. This ap- pears from nearly all the Acts of Councils now extant. The other faults of the theological disputants, may be easily inferred from what has now been stated. 9. This imitation of the Roman courts in religious discussions, stim- ulated very much the base audacity of those, who did not blush to palm (12) Gennadius Massiliens. de Scriptori- and a disciple of St. Martin. His Alter- bus Ecclesiast., cap. 22, p. 14, ed. Fabric, catio Simonis Judaei el Theophili Christi- f The work is lost ; but from the account of am, is found in Martene's Anecdota ; and Gennadius, it was no System of Theology, his Consultaliones, sen Deliberationes Za- Tr.] chad Christiani et Apollonii Philosophi, is (13) For an account of Orientius and in the Spicilegium of D' 'Archery, torn. x. Evagrius, see the Histoire litteraire de la Schl.] France, torn, ii., p. 121 and 252. [Ori- (14) [Neither of the works here mentioned entius, called also Orontius and Oresius, is extant. Tr.] was bishop of Aux in France, perhaps also (15) [For some account of this Basil, and of Tarragona, in Spain. His Commonitori- of his writings, see note (28), p. 332, above. um, which is written in heroic verse, was Tr.] published, Book I., by Martin Delrio, Ant- (16) [An account of Thcodoret, and of his werp, 1600, and Book II., by Edm. Mar- writings, is given in note (22), p. 330, above. tene, in his Nova Collectio operum ecclesi- Tr.] ast. Vet., Paris, 1700. This Evagrius is (17) See Codex Theodosianus, lib. i., tit. not the noted Evagrius Scholasticus of iv., de respousis prudentum, p. 32, ed. Rit- the sixth century, but was a French priest, tcr. VOL. I. Xx 346 BOOK II. CENTURY V. PART II. CHAP. III. their own spurious productions on the great men of former times, and even on Christ himself, and his apostles ; so that they might be able, in the councils and in their books, to oppose names against names and authori- ties against authorities. The whole Christian church in this century wag overwhelmed with these disgraceful fictions. And this, it is said, occa- sioned the Roman pontiff Gelasius, to assemble at Rome a convention of bishops from the whole western empire, and after examining the books which were professedly the works of persons of the highest authority, to draw up that famous decree, by which so many apocryphal books are stripped of their false reputation. That something of this kind was ac- tually done, cannot well be denied ; but men of superior learning main- tain, that this pretended Decree of Gelasius is of no better authority than those books which it condemns ; that is, they believe that it was not the production of Gelasius, but of some one who abused his name. (18) 10. Among those who treated on the subject of morals, Eucherius, Salvian, and Nilus stand conspicuous. The epistle of Eucherius espe- cially, on Contempt of the World and Secular Philosophy, will recommend itself to every good man, both by its style and its matter. The short pieces of Mark the hermit, breathe a spirit of piety ; but do not give pleas- ure by either the selectness of the matter, the justness of the arrangement, or the solidity of the reasoning. Fastidius composed various tracts con- cerning moral duties and virtues, which are all lost, [except his tract on a Christian Life and Widowhood, addressed to a pious widow ; which is pre- served among the works of Augustine, torn. ix. Tr.] The productions of Diadochus, Prosper, and Severianus in this department, are interesting, with a few exceptions, for the truth and terseness of the thoughts ; but they will afford little satisfaction to one fond of solid argumentation and well-digested composition. Indeed, it was a fault common to nearly all the moral writers of those times, that they had no idea of a regular dis- tribution of their subject into parts, nor of a recurrence to first principles. 11. But the candid might put up with this fault, and ascribe it to the infelicity of the times, did they not see other injuries done to the cause of piety by inconsiderate men. In the first place, the Mystics as they are called, who pretended to be more perfect than other Christians, drew many every where among the weak and thoughtless, and especially in the east- ern provinces, who were allured by the appearance of their extraordinary and self-denying piety, to become of their party. And it is incredible, what rigorous and severe laws they imposed on themselves, in order to appease God and deliver the celestial spirit from the bondage of this mortal body. To live among wild beasts, nay, in the manner of these beasts ; to roam about like madmen, in desert places, and without garments ; to feed their emaciated bodies with hay and grass ; to shun the converse and even the sight of men ; to stand motionless in certain places, for many (18) Jo. Pearson, Vindiciae Ignatianae, some books, which were not in being, in the pt. i., c. iv., p. 189, &c. Wm. Cave, His- age of Gelasius. And it contains some sen- toria Litter. Scriptor. Ecclesiast., p. 260. timents and arguments which savour of a la- Urb. Godofr. Siberus, Praef. ad Enchiridion ter age. It may be found in perhaps all the Sexti, p. 79, and others. [This decree is -larger Collections of Councils ; in Binnius, ascribed, by most of the MSS. to Gelasius vol. ii., in Labbi, vol. iv., in Harduin, vol. I., but by some to Damasus, and by others ii., in Mansi, Supplem., vol. i., also in the to Hormisdas. It is not quoted by any Corpus Juris Canonici, Decret. Gratian. pt. writer before the 9th century. It mentions i., distinct, xv., cap. hi. Tr.] HISTORY OF THEOLOGY. 347 years, exposed to the weather ; to shut themselves up in confined cabins, till life ended ; this was accounted piety ; this, the true method of elicit, ing the [spark of] Deity from the secret recesses of the soul. (19) The greater part of these people were influenced, not so much by arguments and assignable reasons, as by either a natural propensity to melancholy and austerity, or by the example and opinions of others. For there are diseases of the mind as well as of the body, which can spread like a pes- tilence. Yet there were some who gave systematic precepts for this austere mode of living ; for instance, among the Latins, Julianus Pome- rius, in his three Books de vita contemplative^ ; and among the Syrians, many ; whose names it would be needless to mention. 12. Among these examples of religious fatuity, none acquired greater veneration and applause, than those who were called Pillar-Saints (Sancti Columnares), or in Greek, Stylitae ; persons of a singular spirit and genius who stood motionless on the tops of lofty columns during many years, and to the end of life, to the great astonishment of the ignorant multitude. The author of this institution in the present century, was Simeon of Sisan, a Syrian ; who was first a shepherd, and then a monk ; and who, in order to be nearer heaven, spent thirty-seven years in the most uncomfortable manner, on the tops of five different pillars, of six, twelve, twenty-two, thirty-six, and forty cubits elevation ; and in this way, procured for him- self immense fame and veneration. (20) His example was afterwards fol- (19) See Moschus, Pratum spirituale ; Palladius, Hist. Lausiaca ; Sulpilius Sev- erus, Dial, i., and others. (20) See the Acta Sanctor. for the month of January, torn, i., p. 261, &c., where (p. 277) the very reason I have mentioned for his living in this manner is expressly stated. Thcodoret also indicates the same, by saying that Simeon desired gradually to increase the altitude of his pillar, that he might get nearer to heaven. Tillemont, Memoires pour servir a 1'Histoirede 1'Eglise, torn, xv., p. 347, ed. Paris. The Acta S. Simr.onis Sti/h/ac, are most fully related, in Steph. Euod. Assemari's Acta Martyrum Oriental. et Occidental., vol. ii., p. 227, Rome, 1748, fol. [This Simeon, we are told, was born at Sisan in Syria, about A.D. 390. At the age of 13, while tending his father's sheep, he heard a public exposition of Luke vi., 21, 25, (" Blessed are ye that weep now, <fa. But wo unto you tliat laugh now, <fc."), which determined him to become a monk. Having therefore passed a novitiate of two years, ne removed to a monastery near An- tioch, where he lived 10 years. Here his abstinence and his voluntary mortifications were so excessive, as to draw on him cen- sure from the other monks. He once swath- ed himself from his loins to his neck, with a rigid well-rope of palm, during 10 days ; which caused his whole body to fester and discharge blood. Being expelled the mon- astery for such austerities, he retired to the adjacent mountain, and let himself down into a dry cave. After five days, the repenting monks sought him out, drew him forth from the cavern, and restored him to their fellow- ship. But not long after, he retired to a lit- tle cell, at tl\p foot of a mountain near An- tioch, and there immured himself three years. During this period, having caused his den to be stopped up with earth, he remained buried for 40 days, without eating or drinking ; and when disinterred was found nearly dead. So pleased was he with this experiment, that he afterwards kept such a fast annually, as long as he lived. He next removed to the top of the mountain, where he chained him- self to a rock for several years. His fame had now become very great ; and crowds of admiring visiters of all ranks and characters thronged around him. He instructed them, healed their diseases, and converted heretics, pagans, and Jews, in great numbers. In- commoded by the pressure of the crowd, he erected a pillar on which he might stand ; elevated, at first, six cubits ; then, 12, 22, 36, and at last 40 cubits. The top of the pillar was three feet in diameter, and sur- rounded with a balustrade. Here he stood, day and night, and in all weathers. Through the night, and till 9 A.M., he was constantly in prayer, often spreading forth his hands, and bowing so low that his forehead touched his toes A by-stander once attempted to count the number of these successive pros- trations ; and he counted till they amounted to 1244. At 9 o'clock A.M. he began to address the admiring crowd below, to hear 348 BOOK II. CENTURY V. PART II. CHAP. III. lowed, though not fully equalled, by many persons in Syria and Palestine, who were led to it either by their ignorance of true religion or by their love of fame ; and this stupid form of religion continued in the East, quite down to the 12th century, when at length it was entirely abolished. (21) The Latins had wisdom enough not to copy after the Syrians and Orient, als in this matter. And when one Wulfilaicus built himself such a pillar in the German territory of Treves, and wished to live upon it in the man- ner of Simeon, the neighbouring bishops pulled down the pillar, and forbid the man from pursuing his object. (22) 13. Those who undertook to give religious instruction to the less advanced Christians, were at more pains to inculcate and recommend the external signs of religion and exercises of the body, than to promote that real holiness which has its seat in the soul. And in this, many went so far, that they enjoined an extreme of austere virtue little short of the senseless piety of the Mystics. According to the sentiments of Salman and others, no one can become truly and perfectly holy, unless he aban- dons altogether his property and honours, contemns matrimony, banishes all hilarity from his mind, and subjects his body to a variety of mortifica- tions and painful sensations. As there were few who could bear the se- verity of these rules, veneration for the senseless or fanatical persons, the pious fools, to whose temperament these rules were adapted, advanced as- tonishingly, and saints sprung up like mushrooms. 14. Some few dared to strike at the root of the growing superstition, and to recall men from vain and fictitious piety to that which is genuine. But these were soon bidden to hold their peace, by others who were more numerous, in higher reputation, and possessed of greater influence. (23) An example we have in Vigilantius, a presbyter of Gallic extract but resident in Spain, a learned and eloquent man. After a journey to Pales- tine and Egypt, returning home near the beginning of this century, he issued several tracts, in which he taught and inculcated many things con- trary to the opinions of the age. Among other things, he denied that the and answer their questions, to send messa- ally enclosed with chapels and monasteries ges and write letters, &c., for he took con- for some ages. Simeon was so averse from cern in the welfare of all the churches, and women, that he never allowed one to come corresponded with bishops and even with within the sacred precincts of his pillar, emperors. Towards evening he suspended Even his own mother was debarred this priv- his intercourse with this world, and betook ilege till after her death, when her corpse himself again to converse with God, till the was brought to him ; and he now restored following day. He generally ate but once her to life, for a short time, that she might a week ; never slept ; wore a long sheepskin see him and converse with him a little be- robe, and a cap of the same. His beard was fore she ascended to heaven. Such is the very long ; and his frame extremely emaci- story, gravely told us by the greatest writers ated. In this manner, he is reported to have of that age ; and as gravely repeated, in spent 37 years ; and at last, in his 69th year, modern times, by the Catholic historians. to have expired unobserved, in a praying at- TV.] titude, in which no one ventured to disturb (21) See Url. Godofr. Siber, Diss. de him till after three days ; when Antony, his Sanctis Columnaribus, Lips., 4to, and Car- disciple and biographer, mounting the pillar, ol. Majell, Diss. de Stylitis ; in Asseman's found that his spirit was departed, and his Acta Martyr. Orient, et Occident., torn, ii., holy body was emitting a delightful odour, p. 246, where there is a copperplate of Sim- His remains were borne, in great pomp, to eon's pillar. Antioch, in order to be the safeguard of (22) Gregory Turonensis, Historia Fran- that unwalled town : and innumerable mir- cor., lib. viii., c. xv., p. 387, &c. aclee were performed at his shrine. Hispil- (23) Augustine himself complains of this, lar also was so venerated, that it was liter- in his noted epistle cxix. ad Januarium. HISTORY OF THEOLOGY. 349 tombs and the bones of the martyrs were worthy of any religious wor- ship, and therefore censured pilgrimages to places accounted sacred : he ridiculed the miracles reported as occurring in the temples consecrated to martyrs, and condemned the practice of keeping vigils in these temples : he said, that the custom of burning wax candles in the daytime at the sepulchres of the martyrs, was unwisely borrowed by Christians from the ancient superstition of the pagans : he maintained, that prayers addressed to departed saints, were fruitless : he treated with contempt the [prevail- ing] fasts, the celibacy of the clergy, and the monastic life : and he main- tained, that neither those who distributed all their goods among the poor and lived in voluntary poverty, nor those who sent portions of their prop- erty to Jerusalem, performed an act pleasing and acceptable to God. To some of the Gallic and Spanish bishops these sentiments were not offen- sive. But Jerome, the most renowned monk of that age, attacked this bold religious reformer with so much acrimony, that he readily saw he must be silent, if he would have his life and safety. This effort therefore to check the reigning superstition, was crushed in its commencement. (24) The good man's name still remains in the catalogues of heretics, admitted by such as follow the decisions of antiquity rather than their own judg- ment or the decisions of the holy scriptures. 15. The contests, moved in Egypt near the close of the preceding century respecting Origen, were in this century prosecuted at the court of Constantinople with little of either prudence or decency. Some monks of Nitria, being banished from Egypt on account of Origen, took refuge at Constantinople ; and were treated by John Chrysostom, the bishop of that city, with candour and kindness. As soon as this was known by Theophilus of Alexandria, he began to plot against Chrysostom ; and send- ing the renowned Epiphanius with several other bishops to Constantino- ple, he endeavoured to deprive that most eloquent prelate of his office. The time was a favourable one for his purpose ; for Chrysostom, by the strictness of his discipline and by the severity with which he lashed the vices of the times, and particularly those of some ladies of the court, had incurred the most violent resentment of many, and especially of Eu- doxia, the wife of Arcadius the emperor. Eudoxia therefore, being en- raged, invited Theophilus and the Egyptian bishops to come to Constanti- nople, to assemble a council, and inquire into the religious sentiments, the morals, and the official conduct of Chrysostom. This council, which was held in the suburbs of Chalcedon in the year 403, and had Theophilus for its president, declared Chrysostom unworthy of the episcopal office, and decreed his banishment, assigning, among other causes, his too great partiality for Origen and the followers of Origen. The people of Con- stantinople, who were exceedingly attached to their bishop, became tu- multuous, and impeded the execution of this unjust sentence. But the tumult subsiding, the same judges the next year, A.D. 404, in order to (24) Peter Baylc, Dictionnairc historique, ought to be erased from the list of heretics, Article Visrilantius. Jean Barbcyraf, de la appears highly probable, from a candid ex- Morale cles Pores, p. 252. Gcrh. Joh.Vos- animation of the whole subject. See C. W. sius, Theses Historico-Thcologicre, p. 170. F. Wii/i-h, Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. iii., Histoire littcraire de la France, tome ii., p. p. 673-704, and VogcVs Disputation before 57, &c. [That Vigilantms was an honest Dr. Walch, Gottingen, 1756, de Vigilantio and correct theologian, and that his name haeretico orthodoxo. 7Y.J 350 BOOK II. CENTURY V. PART II. CHAP. IV. gratify their own enmity and that of Eudoxia, renewed their sentence under another pretext ; and Clirysostom, surrendering himself to his ene- mies, went into banishment at Cucusus, a city of Cilicia ; where he died three years after. (25) His departure was followed by a great insurrec- tion of the Johannists, (for so his partisans were called), which the edicts of Honorius with difficulty suppressed.(26) That the proceedings against Chrysostom were most unjust, no one doubts ; yet it was a fault in him, that he determined to avail himself of the elevation decreed to the bishops of his see by the council of Constantinople, and to assume the preroga- tives of a judge in the contest between Theophilus and the monks ; which greatly exasperated the Alexandrine prelate. The monks of Nitria, hav- ing lost their patron, sought a reconciliation with Theophilus : but the Origenist party still continued to flourish in Egypt, Syria, and the neigh- bouring countries, and Jerusalem became the centre and rendezvous of the sect. (27) CHAPTER IV. HISTORY OF CEREMONIES AND EITES. $ 1. Rites greatly augmented. 2. General Description of them. $ 3. Love-feasts. Penitence. 1. To recount all the regulations made in this century respecting the mode of worship and religious rites and institutions, would require a vol- ume of considerable size. The curious in these matters are referred to the Acts of the Councils, and to the works of the principal writers of those times. There were some however among these writers, who were not so corrupted by the bad examples of their age, but that they could ingenuous- ly acknowledge true piety to be oppressed by such an enormous mass of ceremonies. This evil originated in part from the degeneracy and in- dolence of the teachers, in part from the calamities of the times which were unfavourable to mental cultivation, and in part from the innate de- pravity of man, which disposes him more readily to offer to God the ser- vice of his limbs and his eyes, than of his heart. 2. Public worship everywhere assumed a form more calculated for show and for the gratification of the eye. Various ornaments were added to the sacerdotal garments, in order to increase the veneration of the peo- ple for the clerical order. The new forms of hymns, prayers, and public fasts, are not easily enumerated. In Gaul particularly, were instituted (25) See the authors mentioned in the (26) See his three Laws, with the notes preceding century ; to whom add the writers of Gothofred, in the Codex Theodosianus, on the Life of Chrysostom, viz., Tillemont, torn, v., p. 83, 113, &c. Hermant, and others : and Nouveau Die- (27) See Cyrilli Vita Sabae, in Cotelier, tionnaire historique et crit., tome i., 79, 80. Monumenta Eccles. Gnecse, torn. ii.,p. 274. [See also note (17), p. 241, above; and Jos. Sim. Asscman, Biblioth. Oriental. Vat- Socrates, Hist. Eccles., 1. vi., c. 9-19. So- icana, torn, ii., p. 31, &c. zomen, H. E., lib. viii., c. 13-22. Tr.] RITES AND CEREMONIES. 351 the Rogations, or public fasts and supplications, which precede the festal day of Christ's ascensional ) In some places it was appointed, that the praises of God should be sung perpetually, day and night, the singers sue- ceeding each other without interruption ;(2) as if the Supreme Being took pleasure in clamour and noise, and in the flatteries of men. The magnif- icence of the temples had no bounds. (3) Splendid images were placed in them ; and among these, after the Nestorian contests, the image of the virgin Mary holding her infant in her arms, occupied the most conspicu- ous place. Altars and repositories for relics, made of solid silver if possi- ble, were procured in various places ; from which may easily be conjec- tured, what must have been the splendour and the expense of the other sacred utensils. 3. On the contrary, the Agapae or Love-feasts were abolished ; be- cause, as piety diminished gradually and continually, these feasts gave to many persons occasions for sin. (4) Among the Latins, grievous offend- ers, who before had to confess their sins in public, were relieved from this unpleasant duty ; for Leo the Great gave them liberty to confess their crimes privately to a priest selected for that purpose. In this way the ancient discipline, the sole barrier against shameful and indecent conduct, was removed ; and the actions of men were subjected to the scrutiny of the clergy, which was greatly for their interest. (5) (1) See Sidonius Apollinaris, Epist., lib. v., epist. 16, and lib. vi., epist. ]. Martene, Thesaurus Anecdotor., torn, v., p. 47. [The three days immediately preceding Ascension Day, that is, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednes- day, it is said, were first observed as days of public fasting, with solemn processions and supplications, by order of Claudius Ma.mc.r- tus, bp. of Viennu, in the year 469, upon occasion of a succession of temporal calam- ities befalling that city. From that diocese, the custom of keeping annually this three days' fast spread over Gaul. The Spanish churches adopted it in the following century ; but they selected for it the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday next after Whitsunday. In Italy, it was not adopted till the close of the eighth or beginning of the ninth century, when Leo III. ordained its universal observ- ance, as the appropriate means for securing the blessing of heaven on sinful men. The three days are called Rogation Days, and the week Rogation Week, and the Sunday preceding Rogation Sunday, from the Roga- tions or Litanies chanted in the processions on these days. See Adr. Baillet, Vies des Saints et PHistoire des Festes, torn, iv., p. 92, &c. Tr.] (2) Gervais, Histoire de Suger, tome i., p. 23. [This custom probably originated in the East. There, in the beginning of the fifth century, one Alexander, under the au- spices of Gcnnadius, the patriarch of Con- stantinople, established the Order of Acoe- metae (aKoifi^rot) or the Sleepless, who so regulated their worship that it was never in- terrupted, by day or by night, one class of the brethren succeeding another continually. This order obtained afterwards the name of Studites, from a rich Roman counsellor of the name of Studius, who went to Constan- tinople, and erected a cloister appropriately for this order. Schl.] (3) See an example, in Zacharias of Mity- lene, de Opificio Mundi, p. 165, 166. (4) [The abolition of the Love-feasts was in part effected in the fourth century. The council of Laodicea (Canon 28), first ordain- ed, that they should no longer be held in the churches. A similar decree was passed in the year 397, by the third council of Car- thage, Canon 20, [30]. Yet the custom was too firmly established, to be at once rooted out. Hence we find that in the times of Augustine, Love-feasts were still kept in the churches. (Augustine, contra Faus- tum, 1. xx., c. 20, 21. Confess., 1. vi., c. 2, and Epist. Ixiv.) Yet he there informs us, that all kinds of feasting had been excluded from the church of Ambrose. In the Gallic churches, Love-feasts were prohibited by the council of Orleans, A.D. 541 ; and, as here and there some relics of them appear in the 7th century, the council tn Trullo [A.D. 692, Can. 74] was induced to confirm the canon of the Laodicean council, by annexing the penalty of excommunication. Schl.] (5) [That the strictness of the ancient dis- cipline was greatly relaxed, admits no ques- tion. But that all public testimony against particular offenders, all public penances, and public censures, were commuted for private 352 BOOK II. CENTURY V. PART II. CHAP. V. CHAPTER V. HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS SCHISMS AND HERESIES. $ 1, 2, 3. Old Heresies remaining. The Donatists. 4. State of the Arians. $ 5. Ori- gin of the Nestorian Sect. 6, 7. The Occasion of it. 8. The Council of Ephesus. 9. Opinion respecting this Controversy. $ 10. Progress of Nestorianism after this Council. $ 11, 12. Its Propagator, Barsumas. 13. Eutychian Sect. 14. The Council called Conventus Latronum. 15. Council of Chalcedon. 16. Subsequent Contests. 17. In Syria and Armenia. 18. Troubles occasioned by Peter the Fuller. Theopaschites. 19. The Henoticon of Zeno 20. produces new Contests among the Eutychians, <J 21. and among the Defenders of the Council of Chalcedon. 22. The Doctrines of Eutyches and the Monophysites. 23. The Pelagian Controversy. 24. Its Progress. 25. The Predestinarians. 26. The Semipelagians. 27. Various Controversies concerning Grace. 1. SOME of the earlier sects, acquiring new vigour, dared to disquiet the church. I will pass in silence those inauspicious names of former days, the Novatians, the Marcionites, and Manichaeans, notwithstanding a numerous progeny of them appeared here and there ; and will confine my remarks to those two pests of the preceding century, the Donatists and the Arians. The Donatists had hitherto been prosperous. But near the commence- ment of this century, the Catholic bishops of Africa, led on principally by St. Augustine of Hippo, put forth all their energies to crush and destroy confession before priests, and for private penances, (as Dr. Mosheim seems to inti- mate), is contrary to the voice of history. All public offenders, and all such as were proved guilty of gross crimes, were still lia- ble to public censures. But the ancient practice of voluntary confession before the church, of private offences and secret sins, had for some time gone into desuetude. In- stead of such confessions before the church, in most places both of the East and the West, these voluntary confessions were made only to a priest, in private ; and he directed the persons to such a course as he deemed proper. In some churches however in Campania and the vicinity, the practice was, for the priests to write down these vol- untary disclosures, and if the persons were directed to do penance, their confessions were also read in public. It was to correct this public disclosure of voluntary confes- sions, that Leo I., in the year 460, wrote the Epistle to the bishops of Campania, Pice- num, and Samnium, to which Dr. Mosheim refers. See his works, Epist. 130, or in some editions, Ep. 80. It is cited also in Baronius, Annales, Ann. 459, sub. finem. The following is a literal translation : " We also decide, that it is every way proper to rescind the practice so contrary to the apos- tolic rule, which I learn has been lately fol- lowed by some. Let not written statements concerning the nature of the particular sins, be any longer rehearsed in public ; since it is sufficient to disclose the accusations of the conscience to the priests, by a private confession. For although that abundance of faith may seem commendable, which, from reverence of God, does not hesitate to take shame before men ; yet as the sins of all are not of such a nature that the penitents have no fear to publish them, let this cen- surable practice be abolished ; lest many should be kept back from doing penance, because they are either ashamed or afraid to disclose their deeds before their enemies, by whom they may be troubled with processes of law. For that confession is sufficient, which is made first to God, and then also to the priest, whose business it is to pray over the sins of the penitent. For then, more persons can be induced to do penance, if the [private] consciousness of the confessing person is not published in the ears of the people." See also Bower's Lives of the Popes, Leo I., vol. ii., p, 124, &c., ed. Lond , 1750. TV. J HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 353 this sect ; which was not only very troublesome to the church, but through the Circujnccllion.es who were its soldiers, pernicious also to the common, wealth. Accordingly, in the year 404, the council of Carthage sent dep- uties to the emperor Honorius, petitioning that the imperial laws against heretics might be extended to embrace explicitly the Donatists, who de- nied that they were heretics ; and also that the fury of the Circumcelliones might be restrained.(l) The emperor therefore, first imposed a fine upon all Donatists who should refuse to return to the church, and ordered their bishops and teachers to be banished. (2) The following year, additional and more severe laws were enacted against the Donatists ; which were usually called (edicta unitatis) Acts of Uniformity.^} And as the magis- trates were perhaps somewhat remiss in executing these laws, the council of Carthage in the year 407 sent a new deputation to the emperor, by which they requested and obtained the appointment of special executors of these Acts of Uniformity. (4) 2. The weakened party recovered some strength and courage in the year 408, when Stilicho was put to death by order of Honorius ;(5) and still more in the year 409, when Honorius issued a law that no one should be compelled in matters of religion.(G) But the council of Carthage in the year 410 again sent a deputation to the emperor, and obtained a re- peal of this law,(7) and likewise the appointment of Marcellinus, a tribune and notary [or imperial secretary], to visit Africa in the year 411, with full power to bring this long and pernicious controversy to a conclusion. Accordingly Marcellinus, about the feast of Easter A.D. 411, in that sol- emn trial which is called a conference, formally examined the cause, and after a three days' hearing of the parties, gave sentence in favour of the Catholics.(S) Before this court, two hundred and eighty-six Catholic bish- (1) [The documents of this transaction and Tillemont suppose the before-mention- may be found in Mansi, Collectio Concilior. ed laws, (1. 38, de haeret., and 1. 3, ne ampliss., torn, iii., p. 1157, and in Harduirfs Bapt. iterand.), were included among them. Collection, torn, i., in Cod. eccles. African., Schl.] Can. 92, &c., p. 915, &.C., and in Du Pin, (4) [The documents are found in Du Pin ; Monument, vet. ad Donatist. histor. perti- and the laws in the Codex Theodos., 1. 41 nent., p. 216. Compare also Augustine, and 43, de haeret. Schl.] Ep. 93, arid among the moderns, Dr. Walch, (5) [See Augustine, Ep. 97, $ 2, <kc., Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. iv., p. 192, Ep. 100, $2, Ep. 105, $ 6. Schl-] &c.Schl.] (6) [This law is in the Codex Theodos., (2) [Even before the arrival of the depu- I. 50, de haeret., and in DM Pin, Monument., ties from the council, the emperor had de- p. 224. Schl.] termined vigorously to persecute the Dona- (7) [See Noris, Historia Donatistor., p. lists, and to compel them to a union with 533. Schl.] their opposers ; and had issued a law, by (8) See Fran. Baldwin, (who was a law- which the refractory bishops and clergy yer), Historia CollationisCarthag., subjoined were to be banished, and the laity to be to Optatus Milcvitanus, ed. Du Pin, p. 337. fined. The character of this law may be This meeting called by Marccllinut, is im- learned from Augustine, Epist. 185, 25, properly denominated a conference or a free &c., and Epist. 88, 6 7. The law itself is discussion ; for the Donatists and Catholics probably lost. The edict which was issued did not enter intoa discussion, and each party after the petition of the council, is in the endeavour to vanquish the other by argu- Codex Theodos. de haeret., 1. 38. Schl.] ments. It was truly and properly a legal (3) [These Edicts of Uniformity are men- trial; in which Marcellinus, as the judge of tioned in the Codex Theodos., 1. 2, de re- this ecclesiastical cause appointed by the ligione ; and in the Decree of the council of emperor, after a three days' hearing of the Carthage A.D. 407, in Cod. eccles. African., parties, pronounced sentence authoritatively. Can. 99, and by Du Pin, p. 220. Gothofred It appears therefore, that no one at that time VOL. I. Y y 354 BOOK II. CENTURY V. PART II. CHAP. V. ops and two hundred and seventy-nine Donatist bishops were assembled. The vanquished Donatists appealed indeed to the emperor ; but it was in vain. The principal actor in all these scenes was the celebrated Angus, tine ; who by his writings, his counsels, and his admonitions, controlled nearly the whole African church and the leading men of the country. (9) 3. By the Conference at Carthage, the Donatist party lost a large part of its strength ; nor could it ever recover from the shock, notwith- standing the revolutions in the country. Through fear of punishment, very many submitted to the will of the emperor, and returned to the church. On the contumacious the severest penalties were inflicted, such as fines, banishment, confiscation of goods, and even death upon the more obstinate and seditious. (10) Some escaped these penalties by flight, others by con- cealing themselves, and some by a voluntary death ; for the Donatists were much inclined to practise self-immolation. The Circumcelliones es- caped by violence and arms, travelling up and down the province, and every where venting their rage. To the Donatists their former liberties and re- pose were indeed restored by the Vandals, who under Genseric their king invaded Africa in the year 427, and wrested this province from the Ro- mans. But the edicts of the emperors had inflicted such a wound on the sect, that though it revived and grew a little under the Vandals, it could never recover the amplitude and strength it formerly possessed.(ll) 4. The Arians, oppressed and persecuted by the imperial edicts, took refuge among those barbarous nations who gradually overturned the Ro- man empire in the West, and found among the Goths, Heruli, Suevi, Van- dals, and Burgundians, a fixed residence and a quiet retreat. Being now safe, they treated the Catholics with the same violence, which the Catho- lics had employed against them and other heretics, and had no hesitation once thought of any supreme judge in the the side of those who would pursue mild church appointed by Christ. And the bish- measures ; for he himself made representa- ops of Africa in this case made their appli- tions to the imperial court against punishing cation solely to the emperor. [For an ac- the Donatists with death. Yet these repre- count of this Conference, the reader may sentations are founded, not on correct views consult with advantage Dr. Walch's Histo- respecting toleration, but on the current rie der Ketzereyen, vol. iv., p. 198, &c. principle that it is unseemly for Christians As to the sources of knowledge concerning to bear a part in the execution of criminals, it, see the Gesta Collationis Carthagine ha- Schl.] bitae, published in Du Pin's Monument, vet. (10) [By virtue of the law, (Codex Theo- ad hist. Donatist., p. 225, &c., and in Har- dos. de haereticis, 1. 52), all Donatists with- duiri's Collectio Concil., torn, i., p. 1043, out distinction, and even their wives, if they &c. ; also Augustine. Brevicul. Collationis would not unite with the orthodox, were to cum Donatistis, in his Opp., torn, ix., p. 371, be fined, according to the wealth of each in- &c. Schl.] dividual. Such as would not be reclaimed (9) [His writings against the Donatists fill by this means, were to forfeit all their goods; the whole ninth volume of his works, ac- and such as protected them, were liable to cording to the Amsterdam impression of the the same penalties. Servants and country Benedictine edition. His recommendations tenants were to undergo corporeal punish- in the Donatist contest were not always the ments by their masters and lords, or on the best In his Epistles to Vincentius and to other hand suffer the same pecuniary mulcts. Boniface, he speaks in such a manner about The bishops and all the clergy were to be punishing heretics, that he must be regarded banished to different places, yet always be- as the man whose writings afforded most yond the province of Africa ; and all Dona- support to that spirit of persecution, which list churches were transferred to the oppo- laid waste the church in after ages more than site party. Schl.~] in his times. In the contest with the Do- (11) [See Witsius, Histor. Donatist., c. natists, he seemed often to show himself on viii., $ 9. Schl.] HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 355 about persecuting the adherents of the Nicene doctrines in a variety of ways. The Vandals, who had established their kingdom in Africa, sur- passed all the rest in cruelty and injustice. At first Genseric their king, and then Hunneric his son, demolished the temples of such Christians as maintained the divinity of the Saviour, sent their bishops into exile, muti- lated many of the more firm and decided, and tortured them in various ways.(12) And they expressly stated, that they were authorized to do so by the example of the emperors, who had enacted similar laws against the Donatists in Africa, the Arians, and others who dissented from them in religion. (13) During this African persecution, God himself is said to have confuted the Arians by a great miracle, causing by his Almighty power the persons whose tongues had been cut out by order of the tyrants, to speak distinctly notwithstanding, and to proclaim the glory and the praises of Christ. The fact itself no one can well deny, for it rests on power- ful testimony ; but whether there was anything supernatural in it, may be questioned. (14) (12) See Victor Vitensis, de Persecutions Vandalica, libri iii. ; published by Theod. Ruinart, in connexion with his-own Historia Persecutionis Vandal., Paris, 1694, 8vo, [and reprinted, Venice, 1732.] (13) See the edict of King Hunneric, in Victor Vitc?isis, lib. iv., c. ii., p. 64, where much is said on this subject. (14) See Ruinart, Historia Persecut. Vandal., pt. ii., c. 7, p. 482, &c. , and the recent and acute discussions of some Eng- lishmen respecting this miracle. Biblio- theque Britannique, tome iii., pt. ii., p. 339, &c., torn, v., pt. i., p. 171, &c. [Dr. Mac- laine has here a long note, in review of the discussions respecting this alleged miracle, by Abbadie, Berriman, Chapman, and Dod- icell, who defend the miracle ; and by an anonymous writer, Middleton, and Toll, who controvert it. The discussion turned on four points, (1) the credibility of the testi- mony ; (2) the degree in which the men were mutilated ; (3) the possibility of speak- _ ing with imperfect, and even with no tongues ; and (4) the probability that God would work a miracle to decide such a theological dispute. Schlegefs note is more historical, and though long, may be worth inserting entire. Hunnenc (he says) in the beginning of his reign was very indulgent to the orthodox, and at the request of the emperor Zcno, al- lowed them to choose a bishop of Carthage, on condition that the Arian churches in the Koman empire should be allowed the same privilege. The orthodox did actually choose Eugemus for their bishop. (Victor Viten- sis, de Persecut. Vandal., lib. ii.,- cap. 7.) But by the instigation of the Arian bishops, Hunnenr. afterwards changed his course. He forbid any person, in a Vandal dress, attend- ing the orthodox worship; and disn euch of the orthodox as were in his service, and condemned them to labour in the fields. In the year 483, he banished to the deserts a great number of their, teachers, together with their adherents, on pretence of a viola- tion of the royal statutes. In the year 484, in February, a formal conference of both parties was appointed ; when the orthodox handed in a long confession of their faith, but without gaining a hearing from the Van- dal patriarch Cyrila. After this, Hunneric forbid by a severe law all public worship among the orthodox ; ordered their books to be burned ; caused the 466 bishops who had been called to Carthage, to be arrested and banished to different countries ; and endeav- oured to compel all his subjects to become Arians. Many confessors then endured the most distressing sufferings, and a great num- ber of them were cruelly put to death. At Typasus in Mauritania, most of the inhabi- tants fled to Spain, because Cyiila determin- ed to force upon them an Arian bishop. Such as stayed behind refused to accept the bish- op, and kept up their own separate worship. Hunneric therefore caused their tongues to be cut out by the roots, and their right hands to. be chopped off. They were able, notwithstanding, to speak distinctly. Victor expresses himself with so much assurance on this subject, that he says, whoever doubts the fact, need only go to Constantinople, where he will now meet with a subdeacon named Reparatus, who, although his tongue was cut out, nevertheless speaks without any effort, clearly, and distinctly, and is on that account in high esteem in the court of the emperor Zeno, and especially with the empress. JEneas of Gaza, a Platonic phi- losopher who then lived at Constantinople, and was an eyewitness, (in his Dialogue on the Resurrection, entitled Theophrastux, p. 81), says he had himself seen these people, 356 BOOK II. CENTURY V. PART II. CHAP. V. 5. A new sect, which was the source of lamentable evils to the church, was produced by Nestorius, a Syrian by birth, and bishop of Constantino- ple. He was a pupil of the celebrated Theodorus of Mopsuestia, a man of eloquence, and not without learning, but arrogant and indiscreet. That Christ was truly God, and at the same time truly man, had been placed beyond all controversy by the decrees of former councils ; but as to the mode and the effects of the union of these two natures in Christ, hitherto there had been no discussion among Christians, and nothing had been de- cided by the councils. The Christian doctors were therefore accustomed to express themselves differently respecting this mystery. Some used ex- pressions, which seemed to separate the Son of God from the Son of man too much, and to make out two persons in Christ. Others seemed to con- found the Son of God with the Son of man, and to make both natures in Christ coalesce and constitute one compound nature. The Syrian and Oriental doctors differed from those of Alexandria and Egypt, from the time of the rise of the sect of Apollinaris, who taught that the man Christ was without a proper human soul, and that the divine nature in Christ supplied the place of a rational soul ; whence it followed that the two na- tures were commixed. The Syrians therefore, in order to oppose the fol- lowers of Apollinaris, carefully distinguished the man from the God in Christ, and used phraseology which might lead to the supposition, that they divided the person of Christ into two persons. On the contrary, the Alexandrians and the Egyptians were accustomed to adopt modes of ex- pression, which might be charged with favouring Apollinarism, and which seemed to imply a confusion of the two natures. Nestorius being bred in the Syrian schools, and extremely anxious for the extermination of all the sects and especially that of the Apollinarists, discoursed of the two^iatures in Christ after the manner of his instructors, and directed his hearers to make a distinction between the Son of God and the Son of man, and care- fully to discriminate the actions and sensations of the one from those of the other. (15) and had heard them, to his amazement, de officio praefecti praetorio Africae), says : speak distinctly ; that he would not trust " We have seen venerable men, with their his ears, but ascertained the fact by ocular tongues cut out from the roots, lamentably proof ; that he made them open their mouths, describing their sufferings." One must and then found that their tongues were cut therefore carry historical skepticism quite out at the roots. Prncopius testifies, that too far, if he would question the reality of many of those whose tongues had been cut the fact. But whether it be not possible, out, were living at Constantinople in his that a man should speak distinctly without times, and that they spoke very distinctly, a tongue, and also whether that which took The count Marcel/inns, who was chancellor place in Africa during this persecution was to Justinian, and compiled his Chronicle a real miracle, or not, are more properly from the records of the judicial courts, says : physical than historical questions. 7V.] Se vidisse mutum quondam, ita natum, post (15) A History of Nesforianism was abscissam linguam statim locutum, refutasse written in French, by the Jesuit, Lewis Dou- Arianorum haeresin et de fide Christiana tin, Paris, 1716, 4to. But it is such a one veras voces emisisse. Isidorus, in his as might be expected from a person who Chronicle, testifies also to the fact ; as does was obliged to rank Cyril among the saints, Evagrws, in his Hist. Eccles , lib. iv., c. 4. and Ncsiorius among the heretics. [A bet- See Valesius on these passages ; and So.- ter account is given by C. W. F. Watch, gitlarins, de Crucial. Martyr., p. 296. and in his Historic der Ketzereyen. vol. v., p. Juh. And. Schmidt, Diss. de elinguatis mys- 289, &c., to the end of the volume.] The terium Trinitatis praedicantibus ; in his De- ancient writers on both sides are mentioned cas Dissert, hist, theol., No. 7. Even Jus- by J. F. Buddeus, Isagoge in Theologiam, tinian himself, (Codex Justin., lib. i., tit. 27, torn, ii., p. 1084, &c. In what manner the HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 357 6. The occasion for this controversy was given by Anastasius, a presbyter and th* intimate friend of Neslorius. In a public discourse de- livered A.D. 428, Anastasius opposed the use of the word tfeord/eoc, or mother of God, which was now more frequently applied to the mother of Christ in discussions with the Arians than formerly, and to which the Apollinarists were exceedingly attached ; alleging that the Holy Virgin could only be called ^ptcoroKoc, mother of Christ, because God could nei- ther be born nor die, so that only the Son of man was born of Mary. Nestorius approved this discourse of his friend, and in several addresses explained and defended it. (16) Some monks at Constantinople made op. position, maintaining that the son of Mary was God incarnate, and they excited the populace against Nestorius. But most persons were pleased ;vith his discourses ; and when they were carried to the monks of Egypt, these were so moved by his arguments that they embraced his opinions and ceased to denominate Mary the mother of God.(ll) 7. Cyril, a man of a most restless and arrogant spirit, was then bishop of Alexandria, and of course jealous of the increasing power and authority of the Constantinopolitan prelate. On hearing of this contro- versy, he first reprimanded both the monks and Nestorius. But as the ktter would not retract, after advising with Ccelestine the bishop of Rome, Cyril resolved on war ; and calling a council at Alexandria A.D. 430, he hurled twelve anathemas at the head of Nestorius, who finding himself accused of blasphemy against Christ, returned as many anathemas against Cyril, accusing him of the same crime, and of Apollinarianism, and of con- founding the two natures of Christ. (18) This contest between two bish- Oriental writers relate the matter, is stated p. 5, &c., accompanied with the observations by En.<scb. Renaudot, Historia Patriaichar. of Joh. Gamier. [See also Socrates, Hist. Alexandrinor., p. 108, and by Jos. Sim. Eccles., 1. vii., c. 32. Tr.] Asseman, Bibliotheca Oriental. Vaticana, (17) [Cyril, against Nestorius, lib. i , and torn, iii., pt. ii., p. Ixvii., &c. [For the in his Epistles to the monks, to Nestorius, sources of knowledge, and a list of the wri- and to Cadestine. Schl.] ters on this controversy, see Watch, loc. (18) See Joh. Harduin, Concilia, torn. i. t cit., p. 304, &c. See also Schroeckh, Kir- p. 2199. Other anathemas against Nestori- chengesch., vol. xviii., p. 183, &c. Muns- us, different from the published ones, are set cher, Dogmengesch., vol. iv., p. 53-78. forth by Jos. Sim. Asscnian, Biblioth Orient. Gieseler's Text-book, by Cunningham, vol. Vatican., torn, iii., part ii., p. 199, &c. i., p. 228-237. For testimony to the per- [A more circumstantial account of the events securing spirit of Neslonus, see Socrates, touched on in this section, drawn from Dr. Hist. Eccles., 1. vii., c. 29, &c., where we Walch, is contained in the following note of are told, that on the very day of his instal- Von Einem. The Epistle of Cyril to the lation, he thus publicly addressed the empe- Egyptian monks was brought to Constanti- ror : " Give me a country purged of heretics, nople, and it justly gave offence to Nestori- and I will recompense you with heaven ; aid us and his friends ; for Cyril might at least me to conquer the heretics, and I will aid have sought a friendly correspondence with you to conquer the Persians." And five Nestorius. The epistle was refuted by Nes- days after, he commenced his work, by de- torius. Cyril then wrote to Nestorius; who molishing the Arian. house of worship, and answered him shortly, and gave him to un- proceeded to persecute the Novatians, the derstand, that he had as little inclination for Quartodfdmani, and the Macedonians. He a controversy, as to have Cyril for a judge was undoubtedly a rash zealot ; yet a person in this matter. Dorothcut bishop of Mar- of some talents, sincere, and by no means cianople, was so indiscreet as to anathema- inclined to be a heresiarch. See a general tize publicly in the church the doctrine that account of him, in note (31), p. 333, &c., Mary was the mother of God; and this in- above. Tr.] flamed Cynl the more, as he supposed that (16) See these discourses of Neslorivs, the opposite party meant to anathematize in the works of Marias Mercator, torn, ii., him. In the mean time, some Alexandrians 358 BOOK II. CENTURY V. PART II. CHAP. V. ops of the highest order, and originating rather from the depraved pas- sions of the mind than from a sincere love of truth, ws the parent and the cause of immense evils. 8. The feelings of the parties being so exasperated by their recipro- cal excommunications and letters that there was no prospect of an amica- ble termination of the controversy, the emperor Theodosius II. assembled a council at Ephesus in the year 431, which is accounted the third general council. Cyril, the adversary of Nestorius, presided ; and he wished to , have the cause examined and decided, before John the bishop of Antioch and the other bishops of the East should arrive. Nestorius maintained, that both circumstances were contrary to equity ; and therefore, when summoned to trial, he refused to appear. But Cyril, pressing the business forward, without a hearing of the cause, and a great part of the bishops being absent, Nestorius, whom the council compare with Judas the be- trayer of the Saviour, was condemned as guilty of blasphemy, deprived of his office, and sent into banishment, where he closed his days. (19) That at Constantinople accused Cyril of various offences, the nature and grounds of which are not known. Cyril therefore became suspicious of Nestorius ; and conducted to- wards him in an offensive manner. Both prelates now wrote to each other, using se- vere language. Cyril also sent prolix state- ments to the emperor, and to the princesses Pulchcria, Arcadia, and Marinia: which thing however was not relished by the em- peror, who supposed Cyril aimed to produce disagreement in the emperor's family. The contest now reached Ccdestine, bishop of Rome. Nestorius wrote to him first, and although on another matter, yet he gave him incidentally an account of the disturbances at Constantinople, but without even men- tioning Cyril. He also sent his discourses. But as Cadestine did not understand Greek, (a poor commendation of a bishop of Rome ! ) the discourses were laid by unread, and the letter was not answered. Nestorius repeat- ed his letters, but without mentioning Cyril, or attempting to prejudice Cozlestine against him. Cyril however, fearing such a thing, sent Possidonius to Romte, with the writings of Nestorius, and his correspondence with him translated into Latin ; and invited Cce- lestine to join him against Nestorius. Ca- lestine acknowledges, that his first acquaint- ance with the heresy of Nestorius was de- rived from the statement of Cyril. He held a council at Rome, and made a decree that Nestorius should be deposed, unless he re- canted within ten days after receiving his letter. Besides the letters to Nestorius and Cyril, (to the latter of whom he committed the execution of his decree), he sent a let- ter to the clergy and people of Constantino- ple, and a circular letter to the other patri- archs and bishops. Cyril forwarded the cir- cular, accompanying it with additional let- ters ; but the letter to the chief men of Con- stantinople be kept back. John bishop of Antioch, sent the letter he received from Cyril to Nestorius ; and accompanied it with such observations as were an honour to him, and which made such an impression on Nestorius that he explained himself well in public discourses, merely rejecting the er- roneous meaning of the phrase, mother of God. Whether Cyril was made acquainted with this change in the circumstances of the case, is not knowji. He now called a coun- cil at Alexandria, in which a letter was drawn up addressed to Nestorius, and also twelve condemnatory propositions for him to subscribe as the formula of his retractation. A letter was also directed to the officers and members of the church at Constantinople, exhorting them to rise against their patriarch. A third letter was addressed to the monks. Four bishops were appointed to deliver to Nestorius the letter of the council, and also the still retained letter of Ccelcstrne to him. Nestorius did not speak with these delega- ted bishops, nor comply with the demands of the letters ; but his public discourses be- came more imbittered. The retaliatory an- athemas which he now published, were un- doubtedly designed to bring Cyril under sus- picion as holding erroneous opinions con- cerning the person of Christ. John of An- tioch, and many Oriental bishops with him, actually judged the propositions of Cyril to be erroneous. Nestonus, on the contrary, was declared by John to have explained himself in an orthodox manner. In the mean time Nestorius was proceeding with zeal, and excommunicated many persons. See Dr. Walch's Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. v., p. 700, &c. Von Em.] (19) Concerning this council, the principal work to be consulted is the Variorum Pa- HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 359 base artifices and dispositions were very operative in this council, and that Cyril was influenced more by his passions than by justice and piety, no trum Epistols ad concilium Ephesinum per- tinentes, which Chr. Lupus published from MSS. at Cassino and in the Vatican, Lou- vain, 1682, 4to. Ncstorius was first trans- ported to Pctra in Arabia, then to Oasis, a desert place in Egypt, where he probably died in the year 435, [or rather, after A.D. 439.] The accounts of his lamentable death, given by Evagrius, Hist. Eccles., 1. i., c. 7, and by Thcodorus Lector, Hist. Ec- cles., 1. ii., p. 565, are undoubtedly fables deserving no credit. [On the council of Ephegus, see Dr. Walch, Historic der Kir- chenversamml., p. 275, &c., and Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. v., p. 452, &c. ; from which the following account is taken. The emperor called the council ; Nestorius was one of the first that arrived. With him came two imperial ministers of state, one of whom was accompanied by soldiers to protect the council, and was commanded by the empe- ror to remain with the council. Cynl of Alexandria appeared also, attended by a number of Egyptian bishops, who, with Mem- non bishop of Ephesus, were of his party. From the western provinces appeared only three deputies from the see of Rome, and one deacon deputed by the bishop of Car- thage. Cyril presided, though a party. Nestorius with the imperial commissioners, made the reasonable request that the open- ing of the council might be deferred till the arrival of John of Antioch and the other eastern bishops, and also of the Italian and Sicilian members. But neither prayers nor tears, nor commands in the name of the em- peror, could move the fiery Cyril to delay ; although it was affirmed that John and the other eastern bishops were within five days' travel of Ephesus. The council was open- ed June 22. The imperial commissioner gave his public protest against the proceed- ing, and then retired. Ncstorius was cited three times to appear ; but he refused to stand before a court thus illegally sitting, and from which he had so little reason to ex- pect justice. He was therefore on the same day, pronounced a heretic by an irregular outcry. The condemnation was not found- ed on the Holy Scriptures, but on the wri- tings of the fathers. The next day, the de- cision was communicated to Nestorius ; and an account of it was sent to Constantinople, with a letter recommending the immediate choice of a new bishop. Candidianus the imperial commissioner, and Ncstorius trans- mitted an account of the whole procedure to the emperor ; and the former endeavoured, though in vain, to arrest the irregular pro- ceedings at Ephesus. The arrival of John and the eastern bishops on the 27th of June, made the state of things 'worse rather than better. They were offended with the coun- cil for not waiting for their arrival ; and they united themselves with a considerable part of the council, who opposed the violent measures against Nestorius, and who ac- cused Cyril of many errors. Whether the two parties had afterwards any communica- tion with each other is uncertain. John pre- sided over the dissenting party, who met in the house where he lodged, and who in their precipitancy declared Cynl and Mcmnon to be deposed, and to be banished. From this time there were two councils sitting at Ephe- sus, the one under Cyril and the other under John, as the presidents. The latter was supported by the imperial commissioner. But both committed such extravagances, as show that the spirit of meekness did not rest upon these fathers. These intemperate pro- ceedings threatened to kindle a flame in the church, and even to disturb the public peace. The emperor therefore thought it necessary to bring the matter before his court, and to proceed rather upon principles of good policy than of strict justice. He confirmed the decisions of both parties against each other, in regard to Nestorius, Cyril, and Memnon ; and sent another of his ministers to Ephe- sus, to expel these three bishops from the city, and to admonish the others to unite and act together. In the mean time the bishops of CyriVs party had held no less than six sessions ; in the three first of which, the ar- rival and formal accession of the delegates from Rome to all the proceedings of Cyril against Nestorius, and the making out an account of these proceedings to be sent to the emperor, were the principal transactions. The three subsequent sessions tended far- ther to widen the breach, as the eastern bish- ops were publicly excommunicated by the party of Cyril, and a new confession of faith was framed by them. The imperial minis- ter now arrived, and put Cyril and Memnon under arrest ; but he laboured in vain to unite the fiercely contending parties. Both concluded to send their respective deputies to the court, which was then at Chalcedon. Historians tell us, that the court people were friendly to Ncstorius. If so, it will be dif- ficult to assign the cause of the unexpected revocation by the emperor of his former de- cree which deprived Cyril and Memnon of their offices, while he still condemned Nes- torius to banishment. The party of Cyril, indeed, when they found things not proceed- SCO BOOK II. CENTURY V. PART II. CHAP. V. wise and good man will readily deny ; but the doctrine established by the council, that Christ consists of one divine person, yet of two natures most closely united, but not mixed and confounded, has been approved and ac- knowledged by the great body of Christians. 9. To pass by the minor errors which were attributed to Nestorius, he is said to have divided Christ into two persons, and to have held that the divine nature joined itself to the full formed man, and only aided him during his life. But Nestorius himself, as long as he lived, professed him- self utterly opposed to such sentiments.(20) Nor were such sentiments ever directly stated by him, but only inferred by his adversaries from his rejection of the epithet mother of God, and from some incautious and ambiguous terms which he used. Hence, very many both among the ancients and the moderns think, that he held the same sentiments that the Ephesine fa- thers did, though he expressed himself in a different manner ; and they cast the whole blame of this most destructive contest upon the restless spirit of Cyril, and his malignant disposition towards Nestorius. (21) Al- ihg according to their wishes at Ephesus, be alleged against Ncsloriits, is carefully col- made every effort to meet the investigation lected by Jo*. Sim. Asseman, Biblioth. Ori- of the case before the imperial court. And their movements were not unsuccessful. The outcry of the more worthless clergy and the monks against Nestorius, may have made ental. Clement. Vatican., torn, iii., pt. ii., p. 210, &c. [C. W. F. Walch, (Historie der Ketzereyen, vol. v., p. 778, &c.), after a careful investigation, states the sentiments considerable impression, producing fear of of Nestorius in the following propositions, an insurrection if Cyril were punished. Be- ( 1 ) The doctrine of three persons in the one sides, Nestorius fell under the displeasure of divine essence, as stated in the Nicene Pvlcheria, the emperor's sister, who had vast influence over him. And Cyril co-operated by means, always very efficacious in courts, the bribery of the ministers. It is strange, that the subsequent ages should have regard- Creed, is true and certain. (2) In particu- lar, the second Person the divine Word, is true God, eternally begotten of the Father, and of the same essence with him. (3) Yet Christ is not only true God, but likewise a ed the Ephesine assembly as ranking among complete man ; that is, he had a body and a councils of the highest order ; since in re- rational soul, just as we have. (4) His gard to the principal points, it decided nothing body he derived from the virgin Mary, and happily, and what was done was in reality in her womb. (5) Nothing therefore is more done by the emperor. SchlegeVs abridg- certain than, that Christ possessed two na- ment of Walch, corrected by the original. tures, a divine and a human. (6) Yet there TV.] are not, on this account, two persons, two (20) See Marius Mercalor, Opp., torn. Sons, two Christs, two Lords ; but he is erne ii., p. 286, ed. Gamier : and Fragments of person, one Christ, one Son, one Lord. (7) the Epistles of Nestorius, written a little be- There was therefore a union between the fore his death ; in Jos. Sim. Asseman, Bib- lioth. Oriental. Vatican., torn, ii., p. 40, 41. perfect God the Word, and the perfect man ; and this union may be expressed by various (21) Among the moderns, Luther first terms, among which cwu<j>eia [connexion] held such sentiments, and inveighed bitterly against Cyril : de Conciliis, in his Opp., torn, vii., ed. Altenb., p. 265, 266, 273, &c. He was followed by innumerable others ; as Pe- ter Bayle, Dictionnaire, torn, iii., [and iv.,] artic. Nestorius and Rodon : Christ. Aug. Salig, de Entychianismo ante Eutychem, p. 200 : Otto Fred. Sckutz, de Vita Chytraei, lib. ii., $ 29, p. 190, 191 : Jo. Voipt, Bibli- oth. Historiae Haeresial., torn, i., pt. iii., p. 457 : Paul. Fran. Jablonshy, Exercitat. de Nestorianismo, Berlin, 1720, 8vo: Thesau- rus Epistolicus Crozianus, torn, i., p. 184, &c., torn, iii., p. 175 : Jordan, Vie de Mr. la Croze, p. 231, and many others. What may is the best, but IVUGIS [union] is not to be rejected. (8) To the question, What was united 1 Nestorius answered, God and man, the divinity and humanity, the two na- tures, or two substances and hypostasies ; but not two persons. (9) This union did not consist in this, that the natures ceased to possess their peculiar properties ; for the essential difference of the two natures re- mained, without the least change or com- mixion. (10) Yet the union was insepara- ble, so that the Word was never afterwards without the assumed man, nor the man without the Word. (11) The union of the two natures commenced with the existence HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 361 lowing these to judge correctly, still Neslorius must be pronounced guilty of two faults : first, that he was disposed rashly, and with offence to many, term mother of God, nor indeed the other expressions, utterly and perseveringly, ex- cept under the limitation of, being so and so understood ; otherwise he acknowledged and professed the correctness and harmlessness of them. (22) The next expression is, the sufferings, the death, and burial of Christ. Ncstorius did not deny that it was God, or man in union with God, i. e., one Christ, that was crucified, suffered, died, and was buried. But he did deny that Christ, in so far as he was God, was the subject of these changes ; because he was, in his divine na- ture, unchangeable, and incapable of suffer- ing and dying. (23) The third expression is resurrection. On this, his views were the same as on the preceding. As he had borrowed the word temple from John ii., 19, &c., he insisted that Christ there distinguish- es the temple from him who raises it up. v Yet this distinction he would understand to imply, not a division of persons, but only a difference of natures. (24) To the second class belong such as relate to the doctrine of a communication of the properties of the di- vine nature to the human. And here Nes- torius did not deny that the man Christ pos- sessed divine properties ; but only that he possessed them of himself, or not by virtue of the union. (25) He conceded, that lo Christ as to his human nature, the divine names and titles were pertinent ; bnt with the limitation again, not of himself, but on account of the union. (26) He admitted, that to the man Chnxt divine worship be- longed ; but again, not for his own sake, but on account of the union. (27) The species of communication of attributes, which our theologians call apotrles matte, (attributing the mediatorial acts of the Redeemer in his official capacity, cither to the complex person, or to either of his natures indiscriminately), Ncstorius fully recognised : and it is not true, that he regarded the work of redemp- tion as the work solely of the human nature. (28) Hence it follows, that Nestorius un- derstood well, and expressed distinctly, the unity of the person of Christ, and also the diversity and union of the two natures, with its consequences ; yet that he was always anxious for excluding the use of such ex- pressions, as obscured and rendered undis- cernible the distinction of the two natures. Hence, when he spoke of Christ, he prefer- red using a name expressive of his complex person. Thus he would rather say xP l f OTO ~ KOf, mother of Christ, than say deoroKOf, mother of God ; or if the latter could not be avoided, he would add something to qualify of the human nature, when he was conceived in the womb of his mother. (12) It is there- fore correctly said, the Word became man and was made flesh. (13) It is also cor- icctly said, the Son of God took upon him Kan. (14) It is easy to state what kind of union Nestorius did not admit ; but it can- not be proved, that he distinctly believed as bishop John states. (15) To explain the connexion of the two natures of Christ as suited in one person, Nestorius said : The Son of God dwells in the man ; and the flesh is the temple of God. Yet he explained himself by saying, that he did not under- stand such an indwelling; as the indwelling of God in the faithful and in the prophets. (16) Nestorius called the human nature an mslrument, by which the Son of God work- ed ; and a garment, with which he was clad ; and said, God carried and bare the man. (17) He also admitted a communion or intercourse of the two natures. (18) And at the same time, held to the so called personal proper- ties. (19) In respect to the communication of attributes, Nestorius held that in the scriptures, names are used in reference to our Saviour, which indicate the union of the two natures, but not one nature as distinct from the other ; names, with which we must connect the idea of the entire Christ ; e. g., Jmmanud, Christ, Jesus, Son, Only Begot- ten, Lord. (20) Nestorius admitted that the scriptures attribute to Christ both divine and human attributes and acts. And he states this rule for interpreting them : Every attribute and act which the scriptures ascribe to Chris/, must be understood indeed of the one person, yet not of both his natures ; but the sublime and God-befitting must be re- ferred to the divine nature, and the inferior to the human nature. (21) In the writings of Nestorius, noticeable passages occur re- lating to the expressions which denote the participation or communication of attributes, and which are indicative of his real senti- ments on the subject. They may be divided into two classes. To the first class belong the expressions, by which the properties and changes of the human nature are referred to Christ in his divine nature, or (according to the customary phraseology of those times) to the Word that was God. The first expression is that of being born. It is undeniable that Nestorius (though not likewise his friends, a few only excepted) rejected the use of the term mother of God ; as also the expres- sion. Mary bore the Deity, or what was born of Mary, was God. Yet it is equally unde- niable, that Nestonus did not reject the VOL. I Z z 363 BOOK II. CENTURY V. PART II. CHAP. V. to abolish the use of a harmless term(22) which had been long current ; and secondly, that he presumed to express and explain by unsuitable phrases and comparisons a mystery which exceeds all human comprehension. If to these faults be added the excessive vanity and impetuosity of the man, it will be difficult to determine which was the principal cause of this great contest, Cyril or Nestorius. 10. The council of Ephesus was so far from putting an end to these con- tentions, that it rather extinguished all hope of the restoration of harmony. John bishop of Antioch, and the other eastern prelates, whose arrival Cyril would not wait for, assembled at Ephesus ; and they issued as severe a sentence against Cyril, and his friend Memnon bishop of Ephesus, as they had issued against Nestorius. Hence a violent and troublesome contro- versy arose between Cyril and the Oriental bishops who had John of An- tioch for their leader. It was indeed partially adjusted in the year 433,, when Cyril acceded to a formula of faith prescribed by John, and rejected the use of certain suspicious phrases. Yet the commotions it produced continued long in the East. (23) And no means could prevent the friends and disciples of Nestorius from spreading his doctrines through various provinces of the East, and every where gathering churches which rejected the Ephesine decrees. (24) The Persians in particular were averse from any reconciliation with Cyril, and persevered in maintaining, that Nestorius was rashly condemned at Ephesus, and that Cyril subverted the distinction between the two natures of Christ. The propagation of the Nestorian doctrines was still more successful, after the introduction of those doctrines into the celebrated Persian school which had for some time flourished at Edessa. For the teachers in this school not only taught Nestorian prin- ciples to their pupils, but likewise translated from Greek into Syriac the writings of Nestorius and his master Theodoras of Mopsuestia, as well as of Diodorus of Tarsus, and spread them throughout Assyria and Persia. (25) 11. To no one of all its patrons is the Nestorian doctrine more in. debted than to Barsumas. Ejected from the school of Edessa with his as- sociates, and in the year 435 created bishop of Nisibis, he laboured from the year 440 to the year 485 with incredible assiduity and dexterity, to procure for Nestorianism a permanent establishment in Persia. Maanes, bishop of Ardaschir, was his principal coadjutor. His measures were so it, as mother of the God-Man. Dr. Walch (23) See Christ. Aug. Salig, de Euty- ia*one who thinks the whole controversy be- chianismo ante Eutychen, p. 243, &c., [and tween Nestorius and his accusers was a Dr. Watch's Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. mere dispute about words and phrases. But v., p. 619, &c. SchL] Dr. Hofmann, in a dispute at Wittemberg, (24) [The Roman provinces, in which A.D. 1725, maintained, that the Nestorian Nestorianism most prevailed, were the two controversy was not a mere logomachy. Syrias, the two Cilicias, Bithynia, Moesia, Schl ] Thessaly, Isauria, and the second Cappado- (22) [" The title mother of God, applied cia. TV.] to the virgin Mary, is not perhaps so inno- (25) See Jos. Sim. Asseman, Biblioth. cent as Dr. Mosheim takes it to be. To the Oriental. Clement. Vatican., torn, i., p. 351, judicious and learned it can present no idea &c.. torn, iii., pt. ii., p. 69. From which, at all, and to the ignorant and unwary it may with other passages, we should correct the present the most absurd and monstrous no- account of the early history of Nestorianism, tions. The invention and use of such mys- given by Eus. Renaudot, (Liturgiarum Ori- terious terms as have no place in scripture, ental., torn, ii., p. 99, &c.), and by others. are undoubtedly pernicious to true religion." See also Theodorus Lector, Hist. Eccles., Mad.] lib. ii., p. 558. HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 363 successful, that all the Nestorians in Chaldea, Persia, Assyria, and the neighbouring countries, deservedly venerate him only to this day as their parent and founder. He persuaded the Persian monarch Pherozes, to expel the Christians who adhered to the opinions of the Greek fathers, and not only to admit Nestorians in their place, but to allow them to make the first cities in Persia, Seleucia and Ctesiphon, their primary seat ; which their patriarch or Catholic has occupied quite to our times. He also erected the famous school at Nisibis, from which issued those who in this and the following century carried the Nestorian doctrines into Egypt, Syria, Arabia, India, Tartary, and even to China. (26) 12. Before this sect became fully formed and established, there was some difference of opinion in it. Some said, that the manner in which the two natures in Christ were combined, was wholly unknown ; and some denied any other connexion than that of will, operation, and dignity. (27) But this disagreement wholly disappeared, from the time that the Nestorian (26) All these transactions are well illus- trated, by the before-mentioned Jos. Sim. Asseman, Biblioth. Orient. Clement. Vati- can., torn, iii., pt. ii., p. 77, &c. [The Nes- torwns are not called by this name in the East, for they regard their doctrines as apos- tolic, and they never had any connexion with the person of Nestorius ; but are generally called Chaldaic Christians, because their principal or head church is in the ancient Chaldea ; and in some part of the East In- dies, St. Thomas Christians, because they suppose they received Christianity from the apostle Thomas. They constitute a large Christian community, which has no con- nexion with others ; have their own forms of worship, their own bishops, and their own ecclesiastical councils. Their church extends through all Asia, and exists partly in the Persian, partly in the Turkish, and partly in the Mogul empires. The patri- arch resides in a monastery not far from Mosul, and has a great many bishops under him. The enmity of the Persians, and af- terwards of the Mohammedans and Sara- cens against the Romans, contributed much to further the spread of this sect ; for they received all refugees from the Roman em- pire, and extended full protection to such Christians as were not tolerated in the Ro- man provinces, and whom of course they could not suspect of any understanding with the Romans Jbas bishop of Edessa, was one of the greatest defenders of Nestorius among the Orientals ; and on that account, his epistle to Marin the Persian bishop of Ardaschir, was rejected by some councils. But the chief persons among them were Barsumas and his assistant Maartcs. After the- death of Barsumas, the archbishop of Seleucia, Babacus, became the head of the party ; and from this time onward, the pa- triarchs (catholici or Jacchck) resided at Se- leucia, until, under the califs, Bagdat and Mosul were selected for that purpose. This Babacus held a council in the year 499, in which not only the whole Persian church professed itself to belong to the Nestorian community, but regulations were also made that all bishops and priests must be married, and second marriages of the clergy were not merely permitted but declared to be neces- sary. (See Asseman, Biblioth. Orient., torn, iii., pt. ii., p. 177.) The Nestorians differ from other Christians in the following par- ticulars : that they will not call Mary the mother of God ; and wholly reject the ex- pressions, God was crucified and died ; that they admit no natural and personal, but only a friendly union of the Word that was God (for so they speak) with the man Jesus; that they teach, there are in Christ two na- tures and two substances, each of which has its own personality : that they reject the council of Ephesus ; execrate Cyril, as be- ing a wicked wretch ; and venerate Nesto- rius and Theodorus of Mopsuestia, as being saints : that they worship no images ; and perform their worship, which is very simple, in the Syriac language. Together with bap- tism, which they generally administer on the 40th day after the birth, and the Lord's sup- per, in which they use leavened bread, they make the consecration of priests to be a sac- rament. They also practise anointing with oil, as a ceremony of worship, and likewise in slight diseases, and even in commencing journeys, as a sort of consecration. See Baumgartcn's Geschichte der Religionspar- theyen, p. 586. Sr.hl.] (27) Leontius Byzanlinus, adv. Nestoria- nos et Eutychianos ; in Hni Cinnsii Lec- tiones Antiquar, torn, i., 537, and Jo. Bas- nage, Prolegom. ad Canisium, lorn, i., cap. ii., p. 19, &c. 364 BOOK II. CENTURY V. PART II. CHAP. V. community became duly consolidated. For it was decreed by synods as- sembled at Seleucia, that there were in the Saviour of mankind two per- sons or vTiOgdoeig, namely a divine that of the Word, and a human that of Jesus ; yet that both persons constituted but one Aspect, or as they (fol- lowing Nestorius) expressed it, one Barsopa, that is, -npoounov : that this union of the Son of God with the Son of man, took place at the moment of conception, and would never end : but that it was not a union of natures or persons, but only of will and affection ; Christ therefore, must be care- fully distinguished from God, who (in the language of Nestorius) dwelt in Christ as in his temple ; and that Mary should never be called the mother of God, but only the mother of Christ. They reverence Nestorius as a holy man, and worthy of everlasting remembrance ; but they maintain that his doctrine was much more ancient than he, being derived from the ear- liest ages of the church ; and therefore they wish not to be called Nesto- rians. And it appears in fact, that Barsumas and his associates did not inculcate on their followers precisely the doctrines taught by Nestorius ; but they in some measure polished his imperfect system, enlarged it, and connected with it other doctrines which Nestorius never embraced. 13. While avoiding the fault of Nestorius, many ran into the opposite extreme. The most noted of these was Eutyches, abbot of a certain con- vent of monks at Constantinople ; from whom originated another sect, di- rectly opposite to that of Nestorius, but equally troublesome and mischiev- ous to the interests of Christianity, and which like that spread with great rapidity throughout the East, and acquired such strength in its progress that it gave immense trouble both to the Nestorians and to the Greeks, and became a great and powerful community. In the year 448, Eutyches, now far advanced in years, in order more effectually to put down Nesto- rius to whom he was a violent foe, explained the doctrine concerning the person of Christ in the phraseology of the Egyptians, maintaining that there was only one nature in Christ, namely, that of the Word who became incarnate. (28) Hence he was supposed to deny the humanity of Jesus (28) That Cyril had so expressed himself, Sckroeckh has treated the subject well in his and had appealed to the authority of Atha- Kirchengeschichte, vol. xviii., p. 433-636, nasius to justify the phraseology, is beyond Lips., 1793, 8 vo. See also Muenscher, Dog- controversy. But whether Athanasius ac- mengesch., vol. iv., p. 79-122; Gicseler's tually used such language, is doubtful; for Text-book, by Cunningham, vol. i , p. 237, many think the book in which it occurs was &c., 315, &c. The points in controversy not a production of Athanasius. See Mich, between Eutyches and his friends on the le Quien, Diss. ii. in Damascenum, p. 31, one part, and their antagonists on the other, &c., and Christ. Aug. Salig, de Eutychi- during the first period of the contest or till anismo ante Eutychem, p. 112, &c. That the council of Chalcedon in 451, according the Syrians used the same phraseology, be- to Dr. Walch, (loc. cit., vol. vi., p. 611- fore Eutyches' times, and without offence, 619), were in amount, as follows. Both is shown by Jos. Sim. Asseman, Biblioth. held alike, (1) the perfect correctness of the Orient. Vatican., torn, i., p. 219. We are Nicene Creed. And of course, (2) both yet in want of a solid and accurate history held the doctrine of a trinity of persons in of the Eutychian troubles ; which howev- the Godhead ; (3) that God the Word was er, Christ. Aug. Salig left in manuscript, made flesh ; (4) that Christ was truly God [This has not yet been published ; but Dr. and truly man united ; and (5) that, after Ch W. Fr. Walch has given a very elabo- the union of the two natures he was one rate and full history of the Eutychian and person. .But Eutyches maintained, (6) that Monophysite sects, filling the whole 6th, 7th, the two natures of Christ after the union, and 8th volumes of his Historic der Ket- did not remain two distinct natures, but con- zereyen, Lips., 1773, 76-78, 8vo, and AT. stituted one nature ; and therefore, (7) that HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 365 Christ ; and was accused by Eusebius of Doryleum, before a council called by Flavianus, perhaps in this very year, at Constantinople. And as u- tyches refused to give up his opinions at the bidding of this council, he was cast out of the church and deprived of his office ; and he not acquiescing in this decree, appealed to a general council of the whole church.(29) 14. The emperor Theodosius therefore, in the year 449, convoked at Ephesus such a council as Eutyches had requested, and placed at the head of it Dioscorus bishop of Alexandria, a man as ambitious and restless as Cyril, and as hostile to the bishop of Constantinople. In this council the business was conducted with the same kind of fairness and justness, as by Cyril in the council of Ephesus against Nestorius. For Dioscorus, in whose church nearly the same things were taught as Eutyches had ad- vanced, so artfully managed and controlled the whole of the proceedings, that the doctrine of one nature incarnate was triumphant, and Eutyches was acquitted of all error. On the contrary, Flavianus was severely scourged, and banished to Epipa, a city of Lydia, where he soon after died. (30) The Greeks call this Ephesine council, avvodov ^T]gpiKf]v, an Assembly of Robbers, to signify that everything was carried in it by fraud and violence. Yet this name would be equally applicable to many councils of this and the subsequent times. 15. But the scene changed soon after. Flavianus and his adherents engaged Leo the Great, the Roman pontiff, on their side, a course which was commonly taken in that age, by those who were foiled by their ene- it was correct to say, Christ was constitu- ted of or from two natures ; but not that he existed in two natures. For (8) the union of the two natures was such that, although neither of them was lost or was essentially changed, yet together they constituted one nature ; of which compound nature, and not of either of the original natures alone, must thenceforth be predicated each and every property of both natures. He accordingly denied, (9) that it is correct to say of Christ, that as to his human nature he was 6//o<rtof (of the same nature) with us. It is to be remembered, that Eutyches was solicitous chiefly to confute Nestorius, (who kept the two natures almost entirely distinct, and seemed to deny any other union than that of purpose and co-operation, and who in par- ticular disliked all phrases which predicated the acts and sufferings of the human nature, of the divine nature) ; and to enable him to overturn this error, Eutyches so blended the two natures, that they could not afterwards be distinguished. TV.] (29) [This was an occasional council, as- sembled for other purposes, before which Eusclnus appeared and accused Eutyches. The council peremptorily required him to give up his opinions ; and on his refusal, proceeded at once to excommunicate him. See the Acts of this council, in Hur/hnn's Coll., torn, ii., p. 70, &c. See also Wakh, Hist, der Ketz., vol. vi., p. 108-158. TV.] (30) See Jo. Harduin, Concilia, torn, i., p. 82, &c. Liberatus, Breviarium, c. xii., p. 76. Leo Magnus, Epist. xciii., p. 625. Niccphorus, Hist. Eccles., lib. xiv., c. 47, p. 550, &c. [ Walch, Historic der Kirchcn- versammlungen, p. 301, &c., and Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. vi., p. 175-264. Bow- er's Lives of the Popes, (Leo), vol. ii., p. 42- 48, ed. Lond., 1750, 4to. The aged em- peror Theodosius II. was managed by the Eutychians ; and therefore he called such a council as would accomplish their wishes. In the council, Eutyr.hes offered a confession of faith, which did not touch the point in debate ; and this was accepted, without al- lowing his accusers to be heard. By ac- clamation the doctrine of two natures in the incarnate Word was condemned. Diosco- rus then proposed to condemn Flavianus and Eusebius. Here opposition was made : and Dioscorus called on the imperial com- missioners, who threw open the doors of the church ; a band of soldiers and an armed mob rushed in. The terrified bishops no longer resisted. Every member (in all 149) sigiu-d the decrees. Flavianus was deposed and banished. Eusrkius of Doryleum. The- odoret of Cyprus, Dvmnu* of Antioch, and several others, were also deposed. The de- cisions of this council were ratified by the emperor, and ordered to be everywhere en- forced. Tr.] 366 BOOK II. CENTURY V. PART II. CHAP. V. mies, and also represented to the emperor, that an affair of such magni- tude demanded a general council to settle it. Theodosius however, could not be persuaded to grant the request of Leo, and call such a council. But on his death, Martian his successor, summoned a new council at Chal- cedon in the year 451, which is called the fourth general council. In this very numerous assembly, the legates of Leo the Great, (who had already publicly condemned the doctrine of Eutyches, in his famous Epistle to Fla- vianus), were exceedingly -active and influential. Dioscorus therefore was condemned, deposed, and banished to Paphlagonia, the Acts of the Ephe- sine council were rescinded, the Epistle of Leo was received as a rule of faith, Eutyches, who had already been divested of his clerical dignity and exiled by the emperor, was condemned though absent, and, not to mention the other decrees of the council, all Christians were required to believe, what most to this day do believe, that in Jesus Christ there is but one per- son, yet two distinct natures no way confounded or mixed. (31) 16. This remedy, which was intended to heal the wounds of the church, was worse than the disease. For a great part of the Oriental and Egyptian doctors, though holding various sentiments in other re- spects, agreed in a vigorous opposition to this council of Chalcedon, and to the Epistle of Leo the Great which the council had adopted, and con- tended earnestly for one nature in Christ. Hence arose most deplorable discords, and a violence of parties almost exceeding credibility. In Egypt, the excited populace, after the death of the emperor Marcian, [A.D. 457], murdered Proterius the successor of Dioscorus; and appointed in his place Timotheus Aelurus, a defender of the doctrine of one incarnate na- ture. And although Aelurus was expelled from his office by the em- peror Leo, yet under the [second succeeding] emperor Basihscus, he re- covered it. After his death, [A.D. 476], the friends of the council of Chalcedon elected Timotheus surnamed Salopliaciolus ; and the advocates for one nature, chose Peter Moggus. But in the year 482, Salophaciolus being dead, Moggus, by order of the emperor Zeno and by the influence (31) [See the entire Acts of this council rational soul and a body; of like essence in all the Collections of Councils; e. g., (6/>8<7to?) with the Father, as to his God- Binnius and Harduin, torn, ii., p. 1, &c. head ; and of like essence (6fiosatof) with See also Evagrius, Hist. Eccles., 1. ii., c. us, as to his manhood ; in all things like us, 2, 4. Cave, Historia Litteraria, vol. i., p. sin excepted ; begotten (yevvijtieif) of the 482-487. Walch, Historic der Kirchenver- Father from all eternity, as to his Godhead ; sammlungen, p. 307-314, and Historic der and of Mary, the mother of God (i?eoroK) Ketzereyen, vol. vi., p. 293-489. Bower, in these last days, for us and for our salva- Lives of the Popes, (Leo I.), vol. ii., p 56 tion, as to his manhood ; recognised as one 100, ed. Lond., 1750, 4to. Muenscher, Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten; in two na- Dogmengesch., vol. iv., p. 96, &c. Giese- tures, unconfounded, unchanged, undivided, ler's Text-book, by Cunningham, vol. i., p. inseparable (aavyxvrus, arpeTrruf, udtai.p- 240. The exposition of faith in the 5th ac- ruf, &roptfti() ; the distinction of natures not tion of this council, was designed to guard at all done away by the union ; but rather, the against both Eutychian and Nestorian errors, peculiarity (idiorr/f) of each nature preserv- After recognising the Nicene and Constan- ed, and combining (ovvTpcx&w'jf) into one tinopolitan creeds, with Leo's Letter to Fla- substance (vrrofaaiv) ; not separated or di- vianus, &c., they say: "Following there- vided into two persons (TrpoauTra) ; but one fore these holy fathers, we unitedly declare, Son, Only-begotten, God the Word, the that one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Lord Jesus Christ : as the prophets before Christ, is to be acknowledged as being per- [taught] concerning him ; so he, the Lord feet in his godhead, and perfect in his hu- Jesus Christ, hath taught us, and the creed inanity; truly God, and truly man, with a of the fathers halh transmitted to us." Tr.] HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 367 of Acacius bishop of Constantinople, obtained full possession of the see of Alexandria ; and John Talaia, whom the Chalcedonians had elected, was removed. (32) 17. In Syria, the abbot Barsumas, (a different person from Barsu~ mas of Nisibis who established the Ncstorian sect), having been con- demned by the council of Chalcedon, went about propagating the doctrine of Estyches : and by means of his disciple Samuel, he spread this doctrine among the neighbouring Armenians, about the year 460. Yet the Syri- ans are commonly represented as afterward giving up this harsher form of the Eutychian doctrine, under the guidance of Xenaias or Philoxenus, the bishop of Mabug [or Hierapolis], and the famous Peter [the Fuller], Gna- pheus in Greek and Fullo in Latin. For these men denied, what Eutyches is said to have taught, that the human nature of Christ was absorbed in the divine ; and simply inculcated, that Christ possessed one nature, which yet was a twofold or compound. Still, as this doctrine was equally incon- sistent with the decrees of the council of Chalcedon, the believers in it most steadfastly rejected that council. (33) 18. Peter, who was surnamed the Fuller because while a monk he pursued the trade of a fuller, got possession of the see of Antioch ; and although he was often ejected and condemned on account of his opposi- tion to the council of Chalcedon, yet in the year 482 he obtained a full establishment in it, by authority of the emperor Zeno, through the influ- ence of Acacius bishop of Constantinople.(34) This man, who was formed to promote discord and controversy, occasioned new contests, and \\.is thought to aim at establishing a new sect called the Theopaschites ; because he recommended to the eastern churches an addition to the hymn called Trisagium, by inserting after the words O Holy God, O Holy Al- mighty, Holy Eternal, the clause who wast crucified for us. He un- doubtedly made this addition with sectarian views, intending to establish men more firmly in his beloved doctrine, that of but one nature in Christ. But his adversaries, especially Felix of Rome, and others, perverted his meaning ; and maintained that he intended to teach, that all the three per- sons in the Godhead were crucified ; and therefore snch as approved this form of the hymn were called Theopaschites. The consequence of this dispute was, that the western Christians rejected this form of the hymn, which they understood to refer to the whole Trinity, but the Oriental Christians continued to use it constantly, even down to modern times, without offence, because they refer the hymn to Christ only, or to but one person in the Trinity.(35) (32) See Liberates, Breviarium, cap. 16, Ketzereyen, vol. vi., p. 796, &c., 825-832, 17, 18. Evagnus, Hist. Eccles., lib. ii., TV.] c. 8, lib. iii., c. 3. Mirti. le Quicn, Oricns (34) Hen. Valesius, Diss. de Pctro Ful- Christianus, torn, ii., p. 410, &c. lone et de Synodis adversus eum collectis ; (33) Jos. Sim. Asseman, Biblioth. Orient, annexed to his Scriptores Histor. Eccles., Vatican., torn, ii., p. 1-10, and his Diss. de torn, iii., p. 173, &c. Manophysitis, prefixed to this tome, p. ii., (35) See Hen. Noris, de uno ex Trinitate &c. [According to Dr. Walch, the parties came passo liber, in his Opp., torn, iii., Diss. were continually coming nearer together in i., c. 3, p. 782. Jos. Sim. Asseman, Bibli- doctrine, so that the theological dispute was oth. Orient. Vatican., torn, i . p. 518, &c., sinking fast into a mere logomachy. But torn, ii., p. 36, 180, &c., [Walch, Historic several questions of fact, or acts of the par- der Ketzereyen, vol. vii., p. 237, &c., 329, ties, became the subjects of lasting dispute &c., 339, &c., and Suicer, Thesaurus Ec- and contention. See WaicHt Historie der cles., torn, ii., p. 1310, <Scc. TV-] 308 BOOK II. CENTURY V. PART II. CHAP. V. 19. To settle these manifold dissensions, which exceedingly dis- quieted both the church and the state, the emperor Zeno in the year 482, by advice of Acacius the bishop of Constantinople, offered to the con- tending parties thai formula of concord which is commonly called his He- noticon. This formula repeated and confirmed all that had been decreed in the councils of Nice, Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon, against the Arians, Nestorians, and Eutychians ; but it made no mention of the council of Chalcedon. (36) For Zeno had been led by Acacius, to be- lieve that the opposition of the disaffected was, not to the doctrine of the council of Chalcedon, but to the council itself. This formula of concord was subscribed by the leaders of the Monopliysite party, Peter Moggus bishop of Alexandria, and Peter Fullo bishop of Antioch. It was like- wise approved by Acacius of Constantinople, and by all the more moderate of both parties. But the violent, on both sides, resisted it ; and complained that this Henoticon did injustice to the council of Chalcedon. (37) Hence arose new controversies, as troublesome as those which preceded. 20. A considerable part of the Monophysites or Eutychians considered Peter Moggus as having committed a great crime, by acceding to the He- noticon ; and therefore they united in a new party, which was called that of the AcephaH, because they were deprived of their head or leader. (38) Afterwards this sect became divided into three parties, the Anthropomor- (36) Evagrius, Hist. Eccles., lib. iii., c. 14. Liberatus, Breviarium Histor., c. 18, [in both of which the Henoticon is given. Dr. Mosheim's description of this famous decree is very imperfect. In it the empe- ror explicitly recognises the creed of the Ni- cene and Constantinopolitan councils, as the only established and allowed creed of the church ; and declares every person an alien from the true church, who would introduce any other. This creed, he says, was re- ceived by that council of Ephesus which condemned Nestorius ; whom, with Euly- chcs, the emperor pronounces to be heretics. He also acknowledges the 12 chapters of Cyril of Alexandria, to be sound and ortho- dox ; and declares Mary to be the mother of God, and Jesus Christ to possess two na- tures, in one of which he was ououcrioc. of like substance with the Father, and in the other OjUosertof with us. Thus he fully rec- ognised the doctrines of the council of Chal- cedon, without alluding at all to that body ; and affirming that these doctrines were em- braced by all members of the true church, he calls upon all Christians to unite on this sole basis, and " anathematizes every per- eon who has thought or thinks otherwise, either now or at any other time, whether at Chalcedon or in any other synod whatever ; but more especially the aforesaid persons, Nestorius and Eutyches, and such as em- brace their sentiments :" and concludes with renewed exhortations to a union on this ba- sis. This formula of union was happily cal- culated to unite the more considerate of both parties. It required indeed some sacrifice of principle on the part of the Monophysites, or at least of their favourite phraseology; but it also required the dominant party to give up the advantage over their foes which they had obtained by the general council of Chalcedon. In Egypt, the Hcnoticon was extensively embraced ; but the bishops of Rome were opposed to it, and were able to render it generally inefficient. TV.] (37) See Facundus Hermianensis, De- fcnsio trinm Capitulorum, 1. xii., c. 4. (38) Evagnus, Hist. Eccles., 1. iii.,c. 13. Lcontius Byzant. de Sectis, torn, i., Lec- tion. Antiquar. Hen. Canisii, p. 537. Ti- motheus Presbyter, in Joh. Bapt. Cotelerius, Monument. Ecclesiae Graecae, torn, iii., p. 409. [From the time of the council of Chalcedon, the Eutychians gradually rece- ded from the peculiar views of Eutyches, and therefore discarded the name of Euly- chians, and assumed the more appropriate one of Monophysites, which indicated their distinguishing tenet, that the two natures of Christ were so united as to constitute but one nature. The whole party therefore, having long renounced Eutyches as their leader, when some of them also renounced Peter Moggus, they were indeed Acephali, without a head. Yet all the branches of this sect continued to bear the name of Monoph- ysites, till late in the sixth century, when Jacobus Baradaeus raised them up from ex- treme depression through persecution, and they assumed the name of Jacobites, a name which they bear to this day. Tr.] HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 369 phites, the Barsanupliites, and the Esaianists. And these sects were sue- ceeded, in the next age, by others of which the ancients make frequent men- tion. (39) Yet the inquirer into the subject must be informed, that some of these Eutychian sects are altogether imaginary ; that others differed, not in reality, but only in terms ; and that some were distinguished, not by their sentiments, but by some external rites and other outward circum- stances. And they were all likewise of temporary duration ; for in the next century they all became extinct, through the influence especially of Jaco- bus Baradaeus.(<lQ) 21. The Roman pontiff Felix III. with his friends, attacked Acacius the bishop of Constantinople, who had favoured the Henolicon, as a betrayer of the truth, and excluded him from church communion. To justify this hostility, Felix and his successors taxed Acacius with favouring the Mo- nophysites and their leaders, Peter Moggus and Peter Fullo ; with contempt for the council of Chalcedon ; and with some other things. But in reality, as many facts demonstrate, Acacius became thus odious to the Roman pon- tiffs, because he denied by his actions the supremacy of the Roman see, and was extremely eager to extend the jurisdiction and advance the honour of the see of Constantinople. The Greeks defended the character and memory of their bishop, against the aspersions of the Romans. This con- tost was protracted till the following century, when the pertinacity of the Romans triumphed, and caused the names of Acacius and Peter Fullo to be stricken from the sacred registers, and consigned as it were to perpet- ual infamy.(41) 22. The cause of this so great a series of evils, appears to be a very small thing. It is said that Eutyches believed, that the divine nature of Christ absorbed his human nature ; so that Christ consisted of but one na- ture, and that the divine. Yet whether this was the fact or not, is not suf- ficiently clear. This sentiment, however, together with Eutyches, was abandoned and rejected by the opposers of the council of Chalcedon, who were guided by Xenaias and Peter Fullo ; and therefore, they are more properly called Monophysites than Eutychians. For all who are des- ignated by this name, hold that the divine and human natures of Christ were so united as to constitute but one nature, yet without any conversion, confusion, or commixture : and that this doctrine may not be understood differently from their real meaning, they often say, there is but one nature in Christ, yet it is twofold and co/npownrf.(42) With Eutyches they dis- claim all connexion; but they venerate Dioscorus, Barsumas, Xenaias, and Peter Fullo, as pillars of their sect ; and reject the decrees of the (39) These sects are enumerated by Ja. Histoire de 1'Eglise, torn, i., p. 301, 380, BasnaffC, Prolegom. ad Hen. Canisii Lee- 381, &c. Nouveau Dictionnaire Hist. Grit., tiones Antiquas, cap. iii., and Jos. Sim. As- torn, i., Article Acacius, p. 75, &c. Don. scman, Diss. de Monophysitis, p. 7, &c. Blondcll de la Primaute dans 1'Eglise, p. (40) [For an account of Jacobus Bara- 279, &c. Acta Sanctorum, torn, iii., Feb- daens, and his labours in resuscitating the niarii, p. 502, &c. [Bcncer's Lives of the fallen sect of the Monophysites, see below, Popes, (Felix III.), vol. ii., p. 198, &c., ed. cent, vi , part ii., chap, v., $ 6, p. 417, &c., Lond., 1750, 4to. TV.] and Walcli, Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. (42) See the quotations from works of viii., p. 481-491. TV.] the Monophysites, by that excellent, and at (41) Hen. Valcsiu.t, Diss. de SynodisRo- times sufficiently ingenuous writer, Jos. manis, in quibus damnatus est Acacius ; Sim. Asscman, iBiblioth. Orient. Vatican., subjoined to the third vol. of his Scriptores torn, ii., p. 25, 26, 29, 34, 117, 133, 135, Histor. Eccles., p. 179, &c. Ja. Basnage, 277, 297, &c. VOL. I. A A A 370 BOOK II. CENTURY V. PART II. CHAP. V. council of Chalcedon, together with the epistle of Leo the Great. The doctrine of the Monophysites, if we may judge from the language they use, appears to differ from the doctrine established by the council of Chalce- don, only in the mode of stating it, and not in reality. (43) Yet if we at- tend carefully to the metaphysical arguments and subtilties by which they support their views, (44) perhaps we shall conclude, that their controversy with the Chalcedonians was not wholly a strife about words. 23. Other troubles from the West, invaded the church in this century, and continued down through subsequent ages Pelagius(4 : 5) and Ccules- Zms,(46) the former a Briton, and the latter an Irishman, both monks living at Rome, and in high reputation for their virtues and piety, conceived that the doctrines of Christians concerning the innate depravity of man and the necessity of internal divine grace in order to the illumination and rcnova- (43) Many learned men consider this controversy as a mere strife about words. Among the Monophysites themselves, Greg- ory Abulpharajus, the most learned of the sect, was of this opinion. Asscman, Bibli- oth. Orient. Vatican, torn, ii., p. 291. Add the Biblioth. Italique, torn, xvii., p. 285. Matur. Veis. la Croze, Histoire du Chris- tianisme des Indes, p. 23, and Hist, du Christ. d'Ethiopie, p. 14, &c. Even Asse- man, (loc. cit., p. 297), though living at Home, came near to avowing this opinion. [See above, note (28), p. 364, &c., and note (33), p. 367. Tr.] (44) See the subtile disputation of Abul- pharajus, in Asseman, torn, ii., p. 288. (45) [Pelagius, the heresiarch, was prob- ably a Welchman, whose real name it is said was Morgan or Marigena, which was translated Tre/ltiytof, Pelagius. He was a British monk, went to Rome about the year 400, imbibed the opinions of Origen, and be- gan to publish his heretical sentiments con- cerning original sin and free grace, about A .D. 405. In the year 408, when the Goths were laying waste Italy, he and Ccclestius retired to Sicily ; and in 41 1, to Africa. Calestius remained there, but Pelagius proceeded on to Egypt, to visit the monks of that country. In 415 he removed to Palestine, where he enjoyed the protection of John, bishop of Jerusalem. Orosius (being then in the East) impeached him ; but he so far purged him- self before the council of Diospolis in 417, as to be acquitted. But the next year he was condemned by the councils of Carthage and Milevi, as well as by the popes Innocent and Zosimus : and the emperor Honor ius ordered him and his adherents to be expelled from Rome. Thcodotus of Antioch now held a council, which condemned him. His subsequent history is unknown. He was a man of distinguished genius, learning, and sanctity. Yet he was accused of dissem- bling as to his real sentiments. He wrote fourteen Books of Commentaries on Paul's Epistles ; (perhaps the very books pub- lished among the works of Jerome, and as- cribed to that father) ; also an Epistle to De- metrias, de Virginitatc, A.D. 413 ; (falsely ascribed both to Jerome and to Augustine, and published as theirs) ; a Confession of his faith, addressed to Innocent bishop of Rome, A.D. 417. His last works are, de Fide Trinitatis, libri iii. Liber kvhoyiuv sive Tcstimoniorum ; (Collections from Scrip- ture, in support of some doctrines) ; de li- ber o Arbitrio, libri iv. de Natura Liber; and several Epistles. See Cave's Historia Litteraria, torn, i., p. 381, &c. Tr.] (46) [Calestius, of honourable birth, was a student at Rome when Pelagius arrived there. Embracing the views of his fellow- islander, he accompanied him to Sicily in 408, and to Africa in 411, where he re- mained some years. In 412 he was accused before the bishop of Carthage for heresy, and condemned by a council there. He ap- pealed to the bishop of Rome ; but went to Ephesus, where he became a presbyter. He afterwards disseminated his errors widely in Asia and the islands. In 416 he went to Constantinople, and the next year to Rome, when he so far satisfied Zosimus, as to ob- tain from him a recommendation to the bish- ops of Africa to restore him. But in 418 he was condemned by a synod at Rome, and was banished from the empire by the empe- ror. He now concealed himself in the East. In 429 the emperor forbid his coming to Constantinople. In 430, a synod at Rome condemned him ; and also the council of Ephesus in 431. From that time we hear no more of him. He wrote a confession of his faith, several Epistles, and some short pieces : but none of his works have reached us entire, except his confession of faith, and perhaps some Epistles among those of Je- rome. See Cave, Historia Litteraria, torn, i., p. 384, &c. Tr.-} HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 371 tion of the soul, tended to discourage human efforts, and were a great im- pediment to the progress of holiness, and of course ought to be rooted out of the church. They therefore taught, that what was commonly inculcated and believed, respecting a corruption of human nature derived to us from our first parents, was not true ; that the parents of the human race sinned only for themselves, and not for their posterity; that men are now born as pure and innocent, as Adam was when God created him ; that men there- fore can, by their natural power, renovate themselves, and reach the high, est degree of holiness ; that external grace is indeed needful, to excite men to efforts ; but that they have no need of any internal divine grace. (47) (47) [According to Dr. Walch, (Historie der Ketzereyen, vol. iv., p. 735, &c.), as abridged by Schickel, the system of Pelagi- us was as follows. ( 1 ) Men as they now come into the world, are, in respect to their powers and abilities, in the same state in which Adam was created. (2) Adam sin- ned ; but his sin harmed no one but himself. (3) Human nature therefore, is not changed by the fall ; and death is not a punishment for sin ; but Adam would have died, had he not apostatized. For death is inseparable from our nature ; and the same is true of the pains of childbirth, diseases, and outward evils, particularly in children. (4) Much less is the guilt of Adam's sin imputed to his offspring ; for God would be unjust, if he imputed to us the actions of others. (5) Such imputation cannot be proved by the fact that Christ has redeemed infants ; for this redemption is to be understood of their hcirship to the kingdom of heaven, from which, an heirship to another's guilt, will not follow. (6) Neither does the baptism of in- fants prove such an imputation ; for they thereby obtain the kingdom of heaven, which ( '/tnst has promised only to baptized persons. (7) "When children die without baptism, they are not therefore damned. They are indeed excluded from the kingdom of heaven, but not from eternal blessedness. For the Pe- lagians held to a threefold state after death : damnation, for sinners ; the kingdom of heav- en, for baptized Christians who live a holy life, and for baptized children ; and eternal life, for unbaptized children, and for uubap- tized adults who live virtuous lives. (8) Much less is human nature depraved, in con- sequence of the fall of Adam. There is therefore no hereditary sin. (9) For, though it may be granted, that Adam is so far the author of sin, as he was the first that sinned, and by his example has seduced others ; yet this is not to be understood of a pro/*- of sin by generation. (10) This supposed propagation of sin is the less admissible, be- cause it would imply a propagation of souls, which is not true. (11) Neither can such a propagation be maintained, without im- peaching the justice of God, introducing un- conditional necessity, and destroying our freedom. (12) It is true, there are in men sinful propensities ; in particular, the pro- pensity for sexual intercourse ; but these are not sins. (13) If sin was propagated by natural generation, and every motion of the sinful propensities and every desire therefor were sinful, then the marriage state would be sinful. (14) As man has ability to sin, so has he also, not only ability to discern what is good, but likewise power to desire it and to perform it. And this is the free- dom of the will, which is so essential to man, that he cannot lose it. (15) The grace, which the Scriptures represent as the source of morally good actions in man, Pelagius understood to denote various things. For he understood the word (a) of the whole con- stitution of our nature, and especially of the endowment of free will : (b) of the promul- gation of the divine law : (c) of the forgive- ness of past sins, without any influence on the future conduct: (d) of the example of Christ's holy life, which he called the grace of Christ : (e) of the internal change in the understanding, whereby the truth is recog- nised ; which he called grace, and also the assistance of the Holy Spirit : (f) and some- times grace, with him, was equivalent to baptism and blessedness. (16) Man is as capable of securing salvation, by the proper use of his powers, as of drawing on himself damnation by the misuse of them. (17) And therefore God has given men a law ; and this law prescribes nothing impossible. (18) God requires from men a perfect personal obedience to his law. (19) Actions origina- ting from ignorance or forgetfulness, are not sinful. (20) So also natural propensities or the craving of things sinful, is not of itself sinful. (21) Therefore perfect personal obe- dience to the law, on the part of men, is practicable, through the uncorruptness of the powers of nature. (22) And by grace, (con- sisting in external divine aids, the right use of which depends on men's free will), good works are performed. They did not deny all internal change in men by grace ; but they 372 BOOK II. CENTURY V. PART II. CHAP. V. These doctrines and those connected with them, the above-mentioned monks secretly disseminated at Rome. But in the year 410, on account of the invasion of the Goths, they retired from Rome, and going first to Sicily and thence to Africa, they more openly advanced their opinions. From Africa, Pelagius went to Egypt ; but Ccekstius continued at Car- thage, and solicited a place among the presbyters of that city. But his novel opinions being detected, he was condemned in a council at Carthage A.D. 412 ; and leaving the country, he went to Asia. From this time, Augustine the famous bishop of Hippo, began to assail with his pen the doctrines of Pelagius and Ccelestius ; and to him chiefly belongs the praise of suppressing this sect at its very birth. (48) confined it solely to the understanding, and controverted all internal change of the will. They also limited the necessity of this grace, by maintaining that it was not indispensable to all men ; and that it only facilitated the keeping of God's commandments. (23) This possibility of performing good works by the free use of our natural powers, they endeavoured to prove, by the existence of virtuous persons among the pagans : and likewise (24) from the saints mentioned in the Old Testament ; whom they divided into two classes, the first from Adam to Moses, who like the pagans had only natural grace ; the second from Moses to Christ, who had the grace of the law. Some of the saints who had the law, were all their lifetime with- out sin ; others sinned indeed, but being con- verted, they ceased to sin, and yielded a per- fect obedience to the law. (25) The grace whereby perfect obedience becomes possible, is a consequence of precedent good works ; (26) and such obedience is absolutely neces- sary to salvation. (27) Sins originating from a misuse of human freedom, and continued by imitation and by custom, were forgiven, under the Old Testament, solely on account of good works ; and under the New Testa- ment, through the grace of Christ. (28) Their idea of the way of salvation, then, was this. A man who has sinned, converts him- self; that is, he leaves off sinning, and this by his own powers. He believes on Christ ; that is, he embraces his doctrines. He is now baptized ; and on account of this bap- tism, all his previous sins are forgiven him, and he is without sin. He has the instruc- tions and the example of Christ, whereby he is placed in a condition to render perfect obedience to the divine law. This he can do, if he will ; and he can either withstand all temptations, or fall from grace. (29) Moreover they admitted conditional decrees ; the condition of which was, either foreseen good works, or foreseen sin. Tr.~\ (48) The history of the Pelagians has been written by many persons : as by Ja. Usher, in his Antiquitat. ecclesiae Britan. Joh. a Laet, a Netherlander ; Ger. Joh. Vossius ; Hen. Noris ; Jo. Gamier, in his Supple- ment to the works of Thcodoret ; Cornel. Jansen, in his Augustinus ; and others. The French Jesuit, Jac. de Longuer.al left a MS. Historia Pelagiana. See his Preface to the 9th vol. of his History of the Galli- can church, p. iv. But among so many writers, no one yet has exhausted the whole subject, or shown himself free from undue partiality. [This partiality is to be attribu- ted to the renewal of these controversies. In all ages there have been some in the Christian church, who coincided, either whol- ly or partially, with Pelagius, and who op- posed the doctrine of Augustine. On the other hand, the scholastics adopted the great- est part of Augustine's sentiments. And these two parties have never been at rest. The affair with Gotteschalcus, and the con- tests between the Thomists and the Scotists, kept up these disquietudes ; and in the times of the reformation, the commotions were in- creased, when Luther and Erasmus came upon the arena, and the council of Trent made a considerable part of the Pelagian system to be articles of faith. From that period onward, the Protestants have main- tained, that the Catholic church holds, not wh&tAugustine taught, but what Pelagius, or at least the Semipelagians inculcated ; and the Catholic doctors endeavour to maintain the contrary. The Dominicans and the Jes- uits, and also the Jansenists and Jesuits, have moved controversies within their own church respecting Pelagianism and the opinions of Augustine ; and among the Protestants, the charge of Pelagianism has been brought against the Arminians, and likewise against various individual doctors. No wonder therefore, if all these learned writers of the Pelagian history are often betrayed into errors by the prejudices of their party. Schl. Dr. Watch's account is full and can- did, Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. iv.,p. 519 -846, and for the Semipelagians, vol. v , p. 3-228. Mimscher's statement of the opin- ions of the different parties is lucid and HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 373 24. Pelagius was more fortunate in the East. For under the patron, age of John bishop of Jerusalem, who considered the doctrines of Pelagius as according with the opinions of Origen, to which John was attached, Pelagius freely professed his sentiments, and gathered disciples. And al- though he was impeached in the year 415, by Orosius a Spanish presbyter, whom Augustine had sent into Palestine, yet a convention of bishops at Jerusalem dismissed him without censure ; and a little after, in a council held at Diospolis in Palestine, he was entirely acquitted of crime and er- ror. (49) The controversy being removed to Rome, Zosimus, (who was made pontiff in the year 417), misled partly by the ambiguous and appa- rently sound confession of faith which Cceleslius then residing at Rome offered, and partly by the flattering and insidious letters and protestations of Pelagius, pronounced sentence in favour of these monks, and decided that wrong had been done to men of correct sentiments by their adversa- ries. (50) But the Africans, led by Augustine, continued perseveringly to assail them with councils, books, and letters. Zosimus therefore being better informed, changed his opinion, and severely condemned those whom he had before extolled. Afterwards, that Ephesine council which hurled its thunders against Nestorius, also condemned them ; and now the Gauls, the Britons, and the Palestinians, by their councils, and the emperors by their laws and penalties, crushed the sect in its commencement. (51) 25. These unhappy contests produced, as is often the case, other dis- sensions equally hurtful. As Augustine did not at first state with suffi- cient uniformity and clearness, his opinions respecting the divine grace necessary to salvation, and the decrees of God in regard to the future condition of individual men, he gave occasion to certain monks of Adru- metum and to some persons in Gaul, to believe that God has predestinated well vouched ; Dogmengeschichte, vol. iv., but neither of them present. They sent in a p. 122-262. TV.] long list of errors, which they said Pelagius (49) See Gabr. Daniel, Histoire du Con- and his followers had taught. Pelagius re- cile de Diospolis, among the shorter works plied, that these were not his opinions, that of this eloquent and learned Jesuit, published, he anathematized them, and that he believed Paris, 1724, 3 vols. 4to, in torn, i., p. 635 what the Catholic church had always held. -671. [Our whole information respecting With this the council were satisfied. But these councils is derived from the opposers the sentence of the Africans still remained of Pelagius, Orosius, Augu-stinc, &c. The in force ; and therefore Pelagius and Cacles- first was held at Jerusalem, in the month tius both sought the interference of the bish- of July, 415. It was merely an assemblage op of Rome. 7V.] of presbyters, with bishop John for president. (50) See Jo. Frick, Zosimus in Clements us and the council spoke Greek ; but xi. redivimiis, Ulm, 1719, 4to, [and Bower, Ornmus the accuser, Latin only. This gave Lives of the Popes, (Zosimus), vol. i., p. 334, great advantage to Pelagnu. Orosius sta- &c., ed. Loud., 174'J, 4to. TV.] ted what had been done in Africa : Pelagius (51) See Ger. Jo. Vossius, Historia Pe- said,he had no concern with those councils, lagiana, 1. i., c. 55, p. 130. There are also A' was called upon to make his charges some learned remarks on this controversy specific against Pelagnis. He then stated, in the Bibliotheque Italique, torn, v., p. 74, that he had heard .iflirm, that a &c. The writers on both sides are enu- tnan may become sinless if he will ; and that merated by Jo. Fr. Buddcus, Isacjoge ad it is an easy thing to obey the law of God per- Theol., torn, ii., p. 1071. IV. Wau has fectly. Pelagius explained, that he meant it likewise given a neat and learned, though should be understood, with the aids of dinne imperfect history of the Pelagian contest, in grace. The council were satisfied with this his History of Infant Baptism, vol. i., ch. explanation. The second council, which sat 13, [p. 192-282, ed. Lond., 1705], which fct Diospolis or Lydda, in December, 415, his learned translator [into Latin, J. L. was composed of 14 bishops. The accusers Schlosscr] has enriched with excellent re- were two Gallic bishops, Hcros and Lazarus, marks. 374 BOOK II. CENTURY V. PART II. CHAP. V. the wicked, not only to suffer eternal punishment, but aho to commit sin and, incur the guilt which will merit that punishment ; and of course to believe, that both the good and the sinful actions of men were, from all eternity, di- vinely predetermined and fixed by an inevitable necessity. These persons were called Predestinarians. Yet this doctrine did not spread far ; for Augustine more clearly explained his views, and the councils of Aries and Lyons publicly rejected it. (52) There are however very learned men, who deny that such a sect of Predestinarians ever had existence ; and who maintain, that the followers of Augustine inculcated his doctrines truly and correctly, and were slanderously reproached by the Semipela- gians with these so great errors. (53) (52) See Ja. Sirmond, Historia Praedes- tinatiana, torn. iv. of his Opp., p. 271, &c. Ja. Basnage, Histoire de 1'Eglise, torn, ii., liv. xii., cap. ii., p. 698. Dion. Petavius, Dogmat. Theol., torn, vi., p. 168, 174, &c. [According to W. Miinscher, (Dogmenges- chichte, vol. iv., p. 164, &c., 215, &c.), all the fathers, before Augustine, held to a con- ditional election, that is, an election founded on the foreseen good works of men. So Basil the Great, Gregory Nyssen, Chrysos- tnm, Hilary of Poictiers, Ambrose, Jerome. They likewise held, that Christ died for all men ; and were strangers to the idea of an atonement made only for the elect. So Cyril of Jerusalem, Athanasius, Basil the Great, Gregory Nyssen, Chrysostom, Am- brose, and Jerome. They also held that the saints may, and do, fall from grace and per- ish. So Cyril of Jerusalem, Athanasius, and Hilary. Even Augustine himself, in the earlier part of his ministry, held election to be conditional. But as early as the year 397, he discovered that such an election was inconsistent with man's entire dependance on grace for ability to perform good works ; a doctrine which he held most firmly. He therefore advanced the new theory, that God's electing some to everlasting life de- pended upon his mere good pleasure, in view of reasons known only to himself; that God from eternity predestinated some to repent- ance, faith, good works, and ultimately to salvation ; while others he left to go on in sin, and perish everlastingly ; that the num- ber of the elect is fixed unalterably and for ever ; that this election of some to salvation through grace, while others are left without grace, and perish in their sins, is no injus- tice on the part of God ; because all men deserve to be left in their sins. He denied, that God really wills the salvation of all men ; and he justified preaching the Gos- pel to all, on the ground that we know not who are elected and who are not. When this theory was advanced by Augustine, it met with opposition; and it was not, by those who embraced it, always stated as guarded- ly as it was by its author. Hence, those op- posed to it, drew the frightful picture of it which has been called Prcdestinarianism. This system, as stated by Dr. Miinscher, (ibid., p. 257), embraced the following posi- tions ; namely, that the wicked are predes- tinated, not only to punishment, but also to commit sin ; that baptism does not remove all sin ; that the godliness of the righteous does not profit them ; nor will the wicked be damned on account of their sins ; that in general, God will not judge men accord- ing to their deeds ; that it is useless to ad- dress exhortations either to saints or sin- ners. Dr. Miinscher subjoins : All these were consequences drawn from the doctrine of unconditional decrees taught by Augus- tine ; but they were consequences which he expressly rejected. Tr.J (53) See Gilb. Maugv.in, Fabula prae- destinatiana confutata ; which he subjoined to a Collection of various authors who wrote in the ninth century concerning predestina- tion and grace, vol. ii., p. 447, &c., Paris, 1650, 4to. [Mauguin was a French states- man, who with much theological and histor- ical learning maintained with the Jansenists against the Jesuits, that there never were any Predestinarians. Schl.~\ Fred. Span- heim, Introduct. ad Historian! Eccles. in his Opp., torn, i., p. 993. Ja. Basnage, Adnot. ad Pros-peri Chronicon, and Praefat. ad Faustum Regiensem, in Hen. Canisii Lec- tion. Antiquar., torn, i., p. 315, 348. The author of the Life of Jo. Launoi, in his Works, torn, iv., pt. ii., p. 343, namely Granet. informs us, that Sirmond encour- aged Launoi to undertake a refutation of Mauguin; but that Launoi, having exam- ined the subject, fell in with the opinions of Mauguin. [Father Sirmond was a champi- on among the Jesuits, who were charged by the Jansenists with departing from the opin- ions of Augustine ; and he hoped to confute this charge, if he could only demonstrate in- controvertibly that there really was a sect of Predestinarians existing in the times of Augustine. Sirmond had published an an- HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 375 26. On the other hand, John Cassianus, (a monk who came to Mar. seilles in France from the East, and established a monastery there), and certain others, about the year 430, endeavoured to modify in some measure the system of Augustine.(54:) Many persons falling in with their views, cient book, at Paris, 1643. bearing the title : Praedestinatus, sive Praedestinatorum haer- esis, et libri S. Augustino tetnere adscript! refutatio. The work consists of three Books. The first contains a list of heresies, of which that of the Predestinarians is the ninetieth. The second Book bears the superscription : Liber secundus, sub nomine Augustini con- fictus, nonagesimam haeresin continens, quae asserit, Dei praedestinatione peccata committi. The third Book contains a refu- tation of the pretended tract of Augustine. This work is certainly ancient, and most probably to be ascribed to the younger Arno- bius. But the credibility of its statements is much impaired, by the fact that its author was a Semipelagian, and wrote more as a polemic than as a historian. Schl.] This petty dispute, whether there was in ancient times a sect of Predestinarians, when thor- oughly examined, will perhaps turn out to be a contest about terms. [To the question, whether there existed in the fifih and sixth centuries a sect of Predestinarians, some of the learned have answered, yes ; and oth- ers, no. Those who answer in the latter manner, believe the sect of Predestinarians was a fiction of the Semipelagians, who used this artifice in order to bring odium on Au- gustine and his followers. This opinion was embraced by the Jansenists, the Re- formed, and among the Lutherans by Dr. Semler in his History of religious doctrines, prefixed to the 3d vol. of Baumgarten's Po- lemic Theology. Those who answer the question affirmatively, are divisible into two classes. They admit directly, that there were Predestinarians who were condemned by the orthodox church ; yet they deny that Augustine taught, what they admit to have been the errors of this sect. Of this opinion were the Jesuits and the early Lutheran di- vines. Others, while they admit all this, add that the opposers of the sect were principally Semipelagians, who aimed to bring contempt on the Augustinian doctrine. They hold that only a few individual per- sons (as a few monks of Adrumetum and Lucidus) fell into these errors ; and there- fore they never constituted a distinct sect or heretical community. This opinion has been defended by Noris and Graveson among the Catholics, by the two Basnages among the Reformed, and in the Lutheran ' church by Pfaff, Buddcus, the elder Wakh, and by Dr. Bernhold in a disputation at Alt- dorf, 1737 ; and it is admitted by the young- er Walch, in his Historie der Ketzereyen, vol. v., 280, &c. Among those who regard the whole question, respecting the existence of a Predestinarian sect, as a contest about words, besides Dr. Moslieim, may be reck- oned Weismann, in his Memorabil. Hist. Eccl., torn, i., p. 410, &c. And in fact, there is something like a contest about words, in the dispute whether there was really a Predestinarian sect. For very much depends on the definition of the word sect or heresy. If the term is used to denote a society of persons who have a particular mode of worship, then a Predestinarian sect never had existence. But if the term denote a set of religious opinions, embraced and defended by individual persons here and there, but who never separated from the general church, then it may be said there was a sect of Predestinarians. When we view the controversy in all its extent, we can by no means regard it as a controversy about words. See Walch, Hist, der Ket- zer., vol. v., p. 218-283. Schl.] (54) [The views of John Cassianus are exhibited in his Collatio xiii. Patrum, Opp., p. 491, &c., and are well abridged by Dr. Muenscher (Dogmengesch., vol. iv., p. 246, &c.) as follows. As John Cassianus is the only writer of those times who has exhibit- ed a connected view of the doctrines of the so called Massilians, from his works alone can the deviations of these teachers from the opinions of Augustine be derived. His pri- mary object was, to exhibit the true worth and the necessity of divine grace, but with- out overthrowing the freedom of the human will. Man, said he, needs at all times di- vine aid ; and he can do nothing to secure his salvation, without it. But he must not be inactive on his part. All men have indeed original sin, and are subject to death ; but a knowledge of God, and their free will, they have not lost. It can neither be maintained that the commencement of what is good in us always originates from God, nor that it always originates from ourselves. Some- times it is of God, who first excites good thoughts and purposes in us. But somc- i is the man, who takes the first step, and whom God then meets with his assist- ance. In either case, it is God who, when he sees the spark of goodness glimmering in the soul, or has himself lihti-d it up by his own working, cherishes and sustains this 376 BOOK II. CENTURY V. PART II. CHAP. V. a sect arose which its adversaries have called that of the Semipelagians. The sentiments of the Semipelagians are represented differently by those that oppose them. The greater part however, represent them as holding, that men do not need internal preventing grace ; but that every man can, by his natural powers, commence the renovation of his soul ; and can have and exercise faith in Christ, and a purpose of living a holy life : yet that no man can persevere in the begun course, unless he is constantly supported by divine assistance and grace. The disciples of S. Augustine in Gaul, contended warmly with this class of men ;. but they could not vanquish them. (55) For as their 'doctrines coincided with the modes of spark. God's unchangeable will is, that all men may be saved ; and when any one is lost, it is contrary to his designs. At all times therefore the grace of God is co-oper- ating with our will, and strengthens and de- fends it ; yet so, that he sometimes waits for or requires from us some efforts to choose what is good, that he may not seem to con- fer his gifts on the indolent and inactive. The grace of God however is always un- merited, as it bestows on the weak and worthless efforts of men such valuable fa- vours and such unfading glory. The ways in which God brings men to possess good- ness, are manifold and incomprehensible ; but he always treats each individual, accord- ing to his character and desert. Yet this is not to be understood, as if grace was im- parted to each one according to his merits. On the contrary, the grace of God far trans- cends all human desert, and sometimes transcends the unbelief of men, (i. e., brings the unbelieving to have faith). From these propositions, (which are arranged differently from what they are by the author, but are expressed in almost his own words), it ap- pears, that Cassian rejected unconditional election, the inability of man to do good, ir- resistible grace, and the Augustinian idea of the saints' perseverance. Dr. Muenscher adds, that the principal point in which the Massilians departed from the adherents to Augustine, lay in this, that man has, in his freedom of will, some power to do good ; by exerting which he does not indeed merit the grace of God, yet he makes himself fit to receive it ; and that God, in view of these human efforts, has determined to bestow his grace and eternal bliss. The evidence by which the Massilians supported their opin- ions, was various. Their chief argument was this, that in the scriptures faith and vir- tue are sometimes required of men, and sometimes represented as the gift of God ; and these different passages cannot be recon- ciled, unless it be allowed that faith and vir- tue come principally from God, and yet that free will has some part in them. This doc- trine moreover, they said, coincided with the standing belief of the church ; while the op- posite doctrine was new, and also objection- able, because it annihilated human freedom, introduced an unavoidable necessity in hu- man actions, and by holding up the idea that a man's own efforts were of no avail, en- couraged men to remain inactive. Tr.] (55) Jas Basnage, Histoire de 1'Eglise, tome ii., liv. xii., cap. i. Histoire litteraire de la France, tome ii., Pref, p. ix, &c. Vossius, Historia Pelagiana, lib. vi., p. 538, &c. Ircnaeus Veronensis, i. e., Scipio Maffei, de Haeresi Setnipelagiana, in the Opuscula scientifica of Angela Calogera, torn, xxix., p. 399, &c. [As soon as Au- gustine was informed by Prosper and Hil- ary, of the existence of these opposers of his system at Marseilles, he wrote his two pieces designed to confute them, de Prae- destinatione Sanctorum Liber, and de Do- no perseverantiae Liber, both addressed to Prosper and Hilary. Soon afterwards, A.D. 430, Augustine died ; and Prosper and Hil- ary carried on the controversy. In 431, they visited Rome, and obtained the patron- age of Coelestine the pontiff: but not suc- ceeding by means of councils and popes, Prosper applied himself to writing against the errorists. His strictures on Cassian's 13th Collation is a valuable performance. The Libri ii. de vocatione Gentium , (i. e., on the universality of the call to embrace the Gospel salvation), seems not to be his : for it does not come up fully to his views, as expressed in his reply to Cassian. Though it concedes more to the Semipela- gians than Augustine and Prosper did, still it was on the same side. The majority in France, as well as nearly all the Greeks, were in sentiment with the Semipelagians. About the year 472, one Lucidus a presby- ter, having avowed pure Augustinianisrn, Faustus the bishop of Reiz in Gaul, wrote him a letter, and afterwards accused him before the council of Aries, A.D. 475. The council disapproved the sentiments of Luci- dus, who retracted ; and they encouraged Faustus to write his ii. Books de libero Ar- . bitro, in opposition to Augustine's views. HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 377 thinking of the majority of people, and particularly of the monks, and were approved by the most respectable authors, especially among the Greeks, and as Augustine himself and his friends did not venture utterly to reject and condemn them, as pernicious and impious, no efforts could prevent them from spreading far and wide. 27. From this time therefore, began those knotty controversies con- earning the nature and the mode of that divine agency or grace which men need in order to salvation, which have unhappily divided Chris, tians in every subsequent age, and which are still protracted, to the grief of all pious and good men. Many in all ages have followed the system of Augustine, who ascribed everything to the grace of God, and nothing to human sufficiency ; yet they differed in the manner in which they ex- plained this system. But a still greater number have agreed with Cos- sian; whose system, though differently explained, has spread from the schools of the Gallic monks over all the nations of Europe. The Greeks A few months after, a synod at Lyons also de- cided in favour of Semipelagian sentiments. But early in the following century, Casari- us of Aries, came out a zealous Augustinian ; and with the aid of some Scythian monks and some others, he caused that doctrine to spread and to gain the ascendency. The synods of Orange and Valence, A.D. 529, declared in favour of it. The opposers of Augustinian- ism were in that age denominated Pelagi- ans ; from their leaning towards the senti- ments of Pelagius ; also Massilians, from the residence of their principal writers at (Miisxilia) Marseilles. It was the school- men of after ages who denominated them Semipelagiaiu. According to Dr. Walch, they admitted original sin ; but probably confined its effects to our liability to tempo- ral death. They supposed all the posterity of Adam have ability to discern what is right, and freedom of will to choose it : yet that none can be saved, but by grace, through Christ, or by means of his blood and a Chris- tian baptism ; that Christ died for all men ; that God wills the salvation of all ; and there- fore proffers his grace to all ; so that all men may be saved, if they will. The way of salvation, they supposed, is, to believe, to practise virtue, and to persevere in it to the end. Faith i.s, believing that God has de- termined to save all that obey the Gospel. This faith originates altogether from our free will. From the same source, and from the use of our natural powers, originate the be- ginnings of a right temper, the desiring, . and knocking. Yet neither this faith, nor these beginnings of a right temper, are good works ; that is, they have no prop- er efficacy to merit the assistance of God, or that uracc which is necessary to the per- formance of good works ; and yet they may induce God to impart his grace. Thus it is God who gives the grace, by which faith is VOL. J. BUB strengthened and good works performed ; yet its due influence must be allowed to free will, and not everything be ascribed to grace. The connexion and co-operation of both are very necessary ; for grace only helps or as- fn.\/x. True faith may be lost ; its retention depends solely on man's free will ; and it is not true, that divine grace imparts to man a special gift of perseverance in goodness. God has a twofold decree, respecting man's salvation ; first, his general desire that all may be saved ; and secondly, his design ac- tually to save those who shall persevere in holiness to the end. Augustine's doctrine of predestination is very objectionable ; it wholly subverts man's freedom, makes God* the author of sin, and renders it vain to ex- hort sinners to repent or saints to persevere in religion. Election to salvation is condi- tional, depending on the foreseen conduct of men in regard to obedience to the divine commands. To the puzzling question of their opposers, what becomes of so many baptized children who die before they are competent to exert their free will, and of so many adults who never were favoured with a knowledge of the Gospel ; they replied, first, that baptized children dying in infancy, are saved on the ground that God foresaw they would persevere in religion if their lives had been prolonged ; and secondly, that so many children as die without baptism, are deprived of that ordinance, and so many adults as are deprived of a knowledge of the Gospel, (both being doomed to damna- tion), suffer these privations, because God foresaw that the former would not live vir- tuously, and that the latter would not em- brace the Gospel, if they had an opportunity. See Dr. Walch's ample account of this re- ligious party, in his Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. v., p. 3-218. TV.] 378 BOOK II. CENTURY V. PART II. CHAP. V. and the other Orientals held the same views, before Cassian ; nor have they departed from them to this day. The opinions of Pelagius appeared to most persons too bold and loose, and therefore were never openly avow, ed by large numbers. Yet in every age some may be found, who ascribed to man, as it is said Pelagius did, full power by his own strength to keep the whole law of God. CENTURY SIXTH. PART I. THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. CHAPTER I. THE PROSPEROUS EVENTS OF THE CHURCH. 1. Progress of Christianity in the East, $ 2. and in the West. 3. Jews converted in several Places. 4. The Miracles of this Century. 1. IT is evident from the historical records of the Greek empire, that several barbarous tribes, particularly some residing near the Black Sea, were converted to Christianity by the efforts of the Greek emperors and the bishops of Constantinople. Among these were the Abasgi, a barba- rous nation inhabiting the shores of the Euxine and as far as Mount Cau- casus, who embraced Christianity under the emperor Justinian. (1) The Heruli, who dwelt along the other side of the Istcr [or Danube], became Christians under the same reign :(2) also the Alani, the Lazi, and the Zani, and some other tribes, whose residence is not definitely known at the present day. (3) But there is abundant evidence, that nothing was re- quired of these nations except externally to profess Christ, cease from of- frriiig victims to their gods, and learn certain forms to be repeated: the imbuing their minds with true religion and piety, was not even thought of. It is certain, that after their conversion they retained their rude and sav- age manners, and were famous for rapines, murders, and every species of iniquity. In most provinces of the Greek empire, and even in the city of Constantinople, many idolaters were still lurking in concealment. A great multitude of these were baptized, during the reign of Justin, by John bishop of Asia.(4) 2. In the West, Remigius bishop of Rheims, who has been called the Apostle of the Gauls, laboured with great zeal to convert idolaters to Christ ; and not without success, especially after Clovis the king of the Franks had embraced Christianity. (5) In Britain, Ethelbert king of Kent, (1) Procopius, de Bello Gothico, lib. iv., ubi sup. Neander, Kirchengesch., vol. ii., c. 3. Le Quicn, Oriens Christianus, torn, i., part i., p. 247. 7V.] p. 1351, &c. [Their adoration (like that of (2) Procopius, de Bello Goth., 1. ii., c. 14. the ancient Germans) had been previously (3) [See Evagrius, Hist. Eccles., 1. iv., given to forests and lofty trees. The em- c. 20, 22, 2:5. All these conversions took peror Juxtmian sent priests among them, place near the commencement of the reign and erected a church for them dedicated to of Justinian, about A.D. 530. TV.] the Virgin Mary ; and he rendered the peo- (4) Jos. Sim. Assouan, Biblioth. Orient, pie more inclined to become Christians, by Vatican., torn, ii., p. 85. prohibiting their king from carrying on a (5) Histoire litteraire de la France, tome shameful traffic in eunuchs. See Procoptut, iii., p. 155, &c. 380 BOOK II. CENTURY VI. PART I. CHAP. I. the most distinguished of the seven Anglo-Saxon kings among whom the island was then divided, married near the close of this century a Christian wife named Bertha, the daughter of Cherebert king of Paris ; and she, partly by her own influence, and partly by that of the ministers of religion whom she brought with her, impressed her husband favourably towards Christianity. The king being thus prepared for it, Gregory the Great, at the suggestion undoubtedly of the queen, sent forty Benedictine monks, with one Augustine at the head of them, into Britain, in the year 596, to complete the work which the queen had begun. This Augustine, with the queen's assistance, converted the king and the greatest part of the in- habitants of Kent to Christian worship, and laid the foundation of the mod- ern British church. (6) Among the Picts and Scots, Columbas an Irish (6) Beda, Histor. Eccles. gentis Anglor., lib. i., c. 23, p. 55, &c., ed. Chiflet. Rapin Thoyras, Hist. d'Angleterre, torn, i., p. 222, &c. Acta Sanctor, torn, iii., Februar., p. 470, where is an account of Etkclbcrt, king of Kent. [The marriage of Bertha, is said to have been consummated A.D. 579. It had been stipulated, that she should enjoy her own religion and worship. She therefore had her private chaplain, and a small church. Gregory the Great, before he was made pope, was so captivated with the beauty of some English youth offered for sale at Rome as slaves, that he wished to go himself as a missionary to England ; but the Roman peo- ple restrained him. He was created pontiff in 590 ; and in 596 he persuaded Augustine, abbot of St. Andrew's at Rome, to undertake the conversion of the English nation. Au- gustine, with a small retinue of monks, set forward ; but he scarcely reached France, before the courage of the whole party failed, and Augustine returned to obtain leave to abandon the enterprise. Gregory however would not give it up ; he exhorted Augustine to proceed, assigned him more assistants, gave him letters of introduction to bishops and princes on the way, and dismissed him. Augustine now proceeded through France, crossed the channel, and landed with his 40 monks on the isle of Thanet in Kent. There king Ethclbcrt met him, learned his object, gave him access to the country, promised him protection and sustenance, but refused to embrace the new religion till after further examination. Augustine and retinue then marched to Canterbury the capitol, with a waving banner and a silver crucifix, chant- ing : Lord, we beseech thee, in thy great mercy, to remove thy fury and thy wrath from, this city, and from thine house, for we have sinned : hallelujah. For a considera- ble time, Augustine and his monks worship- ped in the queen's chapel ; and fasted, and prayed, and chanted hymns almost constant- ly. The next year, A.D. 597, the king had his mind made up, was baptized, and allowed, but did not compel, any of his subjects to follow his example. In a short time howev- er, all Kent was nominally Christian. Hav- ing been so successful, Avgustine this year went to Gaul, and was ordained archbishop of Canterbury and primate of all England ; and returned with a fresh accession of monks. In the year 598, he sent two monks, Lauren- tius and Peter, to Rome to inform Gregory of the prosperous state of the mission. Greg- ory exulted in its success, and sent back the messengers, with additional labourers, the pall for the new archbishop, numerous pres- ents for the cathedral, including holy relics, letters to the king and queen, &c. He con- firmed Augustine's jurisdiction over all Eng- land, exhorted him to proceed with his work, advised him not to demolish the pagan tem- ples, but to convert them into churches, pu- rifying them with holy water ; for the pagans would love to worship in the places long held . sacred ; yet the idols must be destroyed. He also advised, that the people be allowed on festal days to assemble around the church- es, erect booths, and there feast themselves, much as during their pagan state, yet without sacrificing to their idols. Gregory likewise answered several questions of Augustine, advising him and his associates to continue to live in monasteries, to use such a liturgy as should seem best suited to the country ; and instructing him how thieves should be treated, how many bishops must concur in the ordination of a bishop, how he must de- mean himself among the Gallic bishops, and what was to be thought of some ceremonial impurities. In 602, Augustine built his ca- thedral at Canterbury ; and he erected a mon- astery in which to train men for the ministry. In the year 604, he attempted to bring under his jurisdiction and to a conformity with his churches, all the clergy and churches of the ancient Britons whom the Saxons had con- quered and driven chiefly into Wales. A council was held for the purpose. But as Augustine was quite bigoted and somewhat overbearing, nothing was effected. In the PROSPEROUS EVENTS. 381 monk, began the work of administering Christian baptism. (7) In Ger- many, the Bohemians, the Thuringians, and Bavarians are said to have received Christianity ;(8) which to many, however, appears extremely doubtful. Of these sacred enterprises among the heathen, no one will form a high opinion, after learning from the writers of this and the fol- lowing ages that these nations still retained a great part of their former paganism, and that they so worshipped Christ as to reject his instructions, by their lives, their deeds, and their allowed practices. (9) 3. That a great many Jews in various places, made a profession of Christianity, is certain. In the East, Justinian persuaded those resident at Borium a city of Libya, to acknowledge Christ.(W) In the West, many Jews yielded to the zeal and efforts of the kings of Gaul and Spain, and to those of Gregory the Great and Avitus [bishop of Clcrmont]. But it should be added, that far more were induced to make profession of Christianity, by the rewards offered by the princes and by the fear of punishment, than by the force of arguments. In Gaul during the reign of Childeric, the Jews were compelled to receive baptism : and the same thing was done in Spain.(ll) But Gregory the Great wished this prac- tice to be discontinued. (12) mean time, the conversion of other Saxons beyond the kingdom of Kent, proceeded suc- cessfully ; and several bishops were ordained, particularly a bishop for London, and another for Rochester. St. Paul's church in London was now founded ; and the next year the West monastery ( Westminster) adjoining London. In the year 607, Augustine died, and was succeeded in the see of Canterbury by Laurejitius. See Beda, Hist. Eccl. Brit., lib. i., c. 23, &c., and lib. ii., c. 2, 3. Ma- billon, Annal. Benedict., torn, i., ann. 596- 607. The legendary history of Augustine, both in a larger and a smaller form-, by Gos- celin a monk of the llth century, may be found in Mabillon, Acta Sanctor. Ord. Ben- edict., torn, i., p. 485-543. 7V.] (7) Beda,, Histor. Eccies., lib. iii., c. 4, p. 134. [Some rays of light had penetrated the southernmost counties of Scotland at an earlier period. Ninia or Nirtian, was bish- op of Whit-hern on the borders of Scotland, in the year 400 ; and his successors some- times extended their labours as far north as Glasgow. Indeed Kentigcrn is said to have actually removed his chair from Whit-hern to Glasgow, before the arrival of Columbas, and to have invited this Irish missionary to visit him there. It was in the year 563 that Columbas, with twelve other monks, removed from the north of Ireland to lona, Hii, I, or I-calm-kill, an islet on the outer shore of Mull, one of the larger of the Heb- rides or Western isles. The Scottish king of Argyle, Brude or Bride, favoured his en- terprise ; and Aida.n, a successor of Brude, paid him the highest reverence. Columba* Lad the sole jurisdiction of his little island, which became covered with cloisters and churches, and was the residence of a nu- merous and learned body of monks. For several centuries lona was the centre of the Scottish church, and the place where most of her clergy were educated. There also the Scottish kings, for many generations, were interred. Columbas died in the year 597. His memorable acts were recorded by Cummencus Albus, (abbot of lona. from 657 to 669), and may be seen in Mabillon, Acta Sanctor. Ord. Benedict., torn, i , p. 342, &c., and his life at large, in iii. Books, was written by Adamnanus, who presided at lona from 679 to 704. See Usher, Britan- icar. Ecclesiar. Antiq., cap. xv., p. 687- 709. TV.] (8) Henry Canisius, Lectiones Antiquae, torn, iii., pt. ii., p. 208. Avinlinus, Annal. Boiorum ; and others. (9) As to the Franks, the Benedictine monks express themselves ingenuously ; Histoire litteraire de la France, tome iii., Introd., p. 8, 11, 13. As to the Anglo- Saxons, see what Grrpnry the Great him- self allowed of, Epistolar. lib. xi., ep. 76, Opp., torn, ii., p. 1176, ed. Benedictine. Among other things, he permitted the peo- ple on festival days, to offer to the saints such victims as they had before offered to their gods. Dar>. Wilkins, Concilia Mag- nae Britan., torn, i., p. 18, dec. (10) Procopius, de Aedificiis Justiniani, lib. vi., cap. 2. (11) Gregory of Tours, Historia Fran- corum, lib. vi., c. 17. Jo. Launoi, de ve- teri more baptizandi Judaeos et infideles, cap. i., in his Opp., torn, ii., pt. ii., p. 700, 382 BOOK II. CENTURY VI. PART L CHAP. II. 4. If credit were to be given to the writers of this age, these con- versions of barbarous nations to Christianity must be ascribed principally to the prodigies and miracles that were wrought. But an inspection of the converted nations themselves, will forbid our believing so ; for had these nations seen so many wonderful deeds with their own eyes, they would have had a stronger faith in Christianity, and would have more religiously obeyed its precepts. With the major part, the example and influence of their kings presented the chief argument for changing their religion. Nor were more solid reasons much needed ; for the first preachers of Christianity among them, required of them nothing very difficult or cross- ing to their inclinations ; they were only to worship the images of Christ and of holy men, instead of those of their gods, and for the most part with the same ceremonies ; and to commit to memory certain Christian formulas. Some preachers moreover, as might easily be proved, deemed it lawful and right to delude the senses of the ignorant people, and to palm on them natural events for Divine interpositions. CHAPTER II. ADVERSE EVENTS AND OCCURRENCES. 1. Pagans still remaining among the Christians. 2. Writers opposed to Christianity. <) 3. Persecutions and Vexations. 1. ALTHOUGH the imperial laws ordained, that no public office should be held by any one who would not abjure paganism, yet there were many learned and respectable men, who in the midst of the Christians followed the old religion. The illustrious compiler of |he civil law, Tribonianus, (1) 704. [All these Jewish conversions were a such converts seldom persevered, and there- victory, which did the Christians little hon- fore exposed themselves to a heavier pun- our. Avi/us, for instance, the bishop of ishment in the other world than if they had Clermont, baptized 500 Jews. But the cir- never been baptized, charity to them requi- cumstances were these ; a Jew, having vol- red that they should not be compelled to re- untarily received baptism, was proceeding ceive baptism. Tr.] home in the customary white robe, when, (1) [Tribonianus was a native of Side in meeting with other Jews, one of them poured Pamphylia, flourished about A.D. 530, and some fetid oil on his white robe. The peo- died about A.D. 546. Richly furnished pie soon kindled into a rage, and pulled with Greek and Roman literature, he applied down the synagogue ; and the bishop sent himself especially to the study of law. He word to the Jews, that they must all submit was advanced to various civil offices, and to be baptized, or must quit the place. In was in favour with Justinian, on account of this dilemma, 500 preferred receiving bap- his eminent talents and his obsequiousness, tism ; and the rest removed to Marseilles. The Codex Justinianus was the joint work See Gregory of Tours, Hist. Francor.,1. v., of Tribonianus and others ; but the compi- c. 11. Schl.~\ lation of the Pandects and Institutes was (12) See his Epistles, lib. i., ep. 47, in committed to him as chief, with others to his Opp., torn, ii., p. 541, ed. Benedict., [or assist him. Tribonianus was avaricious and the extract from it in Baronius, Annal. ad irreligious. He has been accused of atheism ann. 591, torn, viii., p. 26, 27, ed. Antw., and paganism. The truth probably was, that 1600. Gregory commends the intentions he had no fixed religious principles. See .7. of the Gallic bishops, but thinks, that as H. Hermann, Historia Juris Romani et Jus- ADVERSE EVENTS. 383 is thought by some, to have been averse from the Christian religion. Of Procopius,(2) the celebrated and intelligent historian, the same suspicion is entertained by not a few. And it is still more certain that Agathias(3) of Smyrna, an advocate at the bar, and also a historian, was an idolater. Indeed, as is commonly the case every where, the rigour of the laws fell only on those who had neither birth, nor wealth, nor the favour of the great to protect them. 2. It is still more strange, that the Platonists who were universally known to be hostile to Christianity, should have been allowed publicly to instil their principles which were totally inconsistent with our religion, into the minds of the youth both in Greece and in Egypt. This class of men affected indeed a high degree of modesty, and for the most part, so qualified their language as to make the pagan idolatry appear not very re- mote from Christianity. This is evident from the examples of Chalcidius() and Alexander of Lycopolis.(5) Yet there were some among them who did not hesitate openly to attack the Christian religion. Damascius, in his life of his master Isidore, and elsewhere, casts many reproaches on the Christians. (6) Simplicius, in his Expositions of Aristotle, not obscurely tiniani, lib. ii., c. i., 27, &c., and Gibbon, Systema Intellectuale Universi, torn, i., p. Decline and Fall, ch. xliv., vol. iv., p. 260, &c., ed. N. York, 1826. Tr.] (2) [Procopius of Caesarea, (different from Procopius of Gaza), was a rhetorician, sena- tor, and historian. He was secretary to the famous general Belisarius, from 533 to 542, during his campaigns in Asia, Africa, and Italy ; and afterwards, being made a Roman senator, resided at Constantinople, and de- voted himself to writing the civil history of his own times ; viz., de Bello Persico, 1. ii., de Bello Vandalico, 1. ii., and de Bello Goth- ico, 1. iv. His narration is elaborate and exact, and the style not unacceptable. He also wrote de Edificiis Justiniani, 1. vi., in which he displays the munificence and great- ness of that emperor : likewise Anecdota, sive Historia arcana, in which he describes the vices and crimes of Justinian and his Empress Theodora. Procopius was alive in the year 562. Some accuse him of leaning towards paganism. He was probably a man of no religion ; but externally, a conformist to Christianity. His works were published, Gr. and Lat., by C. Maltrd, Paris, KiG2, 2 vols. fol. See Cave, Historia Litteraria, torn, i., p. 510 Tr.} (3) [Agathias, an advocate at Smyrna, continued the history of Procopius, from the year 553 to A.D. 559, in five Books, written in an easy but florid style. He also wrote 80 epigrams. His works were published, Gr. and Lat., Paris, 1660. fol. His history and that of Procopius are both in the Corpus Historiae Byzantinae Scriptorum, torn, ii., iii See Lardner, Works, vol. ix , p. 85. 2>.] (4) Concerning the religion of Ckalcidius, I have spoken in my notes on R. Cudwortfi's 732. [Chalcidius flourished about A.D. 330, and wrote his Lat. translation of Plato's Timaeus, with a Commentary, at the sug- gestion (as is reported) of Hosius of Cordu- ba. Some make him to have been archdea- con of Carthage. See above, cent, iv., pt. i., 18, with note (51), p 225; and Cave, Hist. Lit, torn, i., p. 199. Tr.] (5) The treatise of this philosopher, contra Manichueos, in Greek, was published by Fran. Combe/is, Auctarium Noviss. Bibli- oth. Patrum, torn. ii. Concerning his reli- gion, Is. de Beausobre has given a critical dissertation, Histoire de Manichee et Mani- cheisme, pt. ii., Discours prelim., $ 13, p. 236, &c. [Alexander of Lycopolis in The- bais, Egypt, flourished probably about A.D. 350. Fabricius supposes, (Biblioth. Gr.j torn, v., p. 290), that he was first a pagan and a Manichee, and afterwards a Catholic Christian. Cave is of the same opinion (Hist. Lit., torn, ii., de Scriptor. incertae aetatis). Beausobre (ubi supra) thinks he was a mere pagan. Lardner (Works, vol. iii., p. 384, vol. viii., p. 349, &c.) thinks he was a gentile, but well acquainted with the Manichees and other Christians ; and that he had some knowledge of the O. and N. Tes- taments, to which he occasionally refers. He speaks with respect of Christ, and the Christian philosophy ; and appears to have been a learned and candid man. Tr.] (6) Photius, Bibliotheca, cod ccxlii., p. 1027. [Diimascius was a native of Damas- cus, but studied and taught philosophy both at Athens and Alexandria. From the latter he fled to Persia, during the persecution of the pagan philosophers by the emperor Jus- tinian, about the year 530. Hia subsequent 384 BOOK II. CENTURY VI. PART I. CHAP. II. carps at the Christian faith. (7) The Epicheiremata xviii. contra Christi- anos, written by Produs,(S) were in everybody's hands ; and therefore received a confutation from John Philoponus.(9) So much license would not have been allowed to these men, had there not been among the magis- trates many who were Christians in name and outward appearance rather than in reality. 3. The Christians in several places had occasion, even in this centu- ry, to complain of the barbarity and cruelty of their enemies. During the greater part of it, the Anglo-Saxons who had seized upon Britain, brought every kind of calamity and suffering upon the former inhabitants of that country, who were Christians. (10) The Huns having made an irruption into Thrace, Greece, and other provinces, during the reign of Justinian, treated the Christians with cruelty ;(11) yet they appear to have been in- fluenced, not so mi>ch by a hatred of Christianity, as by hostility to the Greek empire. A great change in the state of Italy, took place about the middle of this century, under Justinian I. For this emperor, by Narses his general, overturned the kingdom of the Ostrogoths in that country, after it had stood ninety years, and annexed Italy to his empire. But un- der the emperor Justin, the Lombards, a very warlike German tribe under their king Alboin, accompanied by some other German nations, broke into Italy from Pannonia in the year 568 ; and having possessed themselves of the whole country, except Rome and Ravenna, founded a new kingdom at Pavia. Under these new lords, who were not only barbarians but averse from Christianity, the Italian Christians for a time endured immense evils and calamities. But the first rage of the conquerors gradually subsided, and the Lombards became more civilized. Autharis, their third king, made a profession of Christianity in the year 587 ; but he embraced the history is unknown. He wrote the lives of published in Greek, Venice, 1535, fol., and Isidorus and others, Commentaries on Pla- in Latin, Lyons, 1557, fol. TV.] to, and four books on extraordinary events : (9) See J. A. Fabricius, Biblioth. Gr., all of which are lost. Phntius calls him vol. iii., p. 522, &c., [and Brucker, Historia ki uKpov Svcraedr/t;, superlatively irreligious, crit. philos., torn, ii., p. 491, with Hamber- (Codex clxxxi.), and gives an epitome of ger's zuverlassigenNachrichten, torn, iii., p. his life of Isidore, Cod. ccxlii. TV.] 391. Schl.] (7) [Simplicius, a native of Cilicia, adis- (10) Jo.. Usher, Index Chronolog. Antiq. ciple of Damascius, and an eclectic philoso- Eccles. Britan., ad ann. 508, p. 1123, [and pher, was one of those who fled into Persia, still more to the purpose, ad ann. 511, p. about the year 530. He returned a few 1125, and ad ann. 597, p. 1151, &c. At years after, and wrote Commentaries on the beginning of this century, the Saxons some of the philosophical and physical works held only Kent and Sussex, embracing about of Aris/olle ; also a Commentary on the three counties in the southeast part of Eng- Encheiridion of Epictctus ; both edited, Gr. land ; all the rest of the country was inhab- and Lat., by H. Wolf, Leyden, 1640, 4to. ited by Christian Britons. But during this TV.] century, the Saxons gradually extended their (8) [Proclus was born at Constantinople conquests ; and before the century closed, A.D. 410, studied at Alexandria and at the Britons were shut up among the mount- Athens, and became head of the philosophi- ains of Wales and Cornwall, except a few cal school in the latter place, in the year 450. in Cumberland on the borders of Scotland, He died A.D. 435. He was a man of much or were driven to take refuge beyond seas, philosophical reading, a great enthusiast, a Over all the rest of England paganism reign- bold and whimsical speculator, and a most ed : the churches were demolished or con- voluminous writer. His eighteen Arguments verted into idolatrous temples, and the public against the Christians, are so many proofs worship of the true God had ceased. TV.] that the world was eternal. This work, with (11) Procopius, de Bello Persico, lib. ii., the confutation of John Philoponus, was c. 4. LITERATURE AND SCIENCE. 385 Arian creed. His successor however, Agilulph, was induced by his queen Theodelinda, to abandon the Arian sect, and join the Catholics of the Ni- cene creed. (12) But Chosroes the king of Persia, exceeded all others in barbarity ; for he publicly declared that he would make war, not upon Justinian, but upon the God of the Christians ; and he cut off an immense number of Christians by various modes of execution. (13) PART II. THE INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. CHAPTER I. HISTORY OF LITERATURE AND SCIENCE. 1. The State of Learning in the West. $ 2. The Sciences badly taught. $ 3. The Study of Philosophy. $ 4. State of Learning among the Greeks, $ 5. and in the East. 1. EVERY one knows, that the irruption of the fierce and barbarous nations into most of the provinces of the West, was extremely prejudicial to literature and to every species of learning. All the liberal arts and sciences would have become extinct, had they not found some feeble pro- tection among the bishops and monks. To most of those churches which are called cathedrals, schools were annexed, in which either the bishop himself or some one appointed by him, instructed the youth in the seven liberal arts as a preparation for the study of the sacred books.(l) The monks and nuns were nearly all required by the founders of their houses, to devote some portion of every day to the reading of the works of the ancient fathers of the church, who were supposed to have exhausted the fountains of sacred knowledge. (2) It was therefore necessary that libraries should be formed in the monasteries, and that books should be multiplied by being transcribed. This labour of transcribing books was generally assigned to the more feeble-bodied monks, who were unable to encounter severe labour. To these establishments we owe the preservation of all the ancient authors that have come down to us, both sacred and profane. Moreover, in most of the monasteries schools were opened, in which the abbot or some one (12) Paulus Diaconus, de gestis Longo- Hist. Eccles., diss. iii., $ 21, p. 205, &c. bardorum.l. ii.,c. 2, and c. 27, p. 219, 231, Tr.] Histoire litteraire de la France, ed. Lindenbrog. Muratori, Antiq. Italiae, tome iii., Introd., xxxii., p. 12, &c. Herm. torn, i., p. 14, torn, ii., p. 297, &c., and Connngius, Antiquit. Academicae, p. 66- Annales Italici. Giannone, Histoire de Na-, 167, ed. Heumann. [Gregory of Tours, pies, [lib. iv., cap. 3], torn, i., p. 302, &c. lib. vi., c. 36. Schl.] (13) Procopius, de Bello Persico, 1. ii., (2) Benedict of Anian, Concordia Regu- c. 26. larum, lib. ii., p. 55, 64, 75. 77, 80, 100, (1) Claude Fleury, Discours sur 1'His- lib. iii., p. 16-41, &c., ed. Hug. Menard. toire ecclesiastique depuis 1'an. 600, &c., Jo. Mabiilon, Praef. ad Saecul. i., Actor. $ xxi., &c., in his Histoire Eccles., tome Sanctor. Ord. Benedict., p. xliv., <$tc. xiii., p. 56, [and among his Dissert, viii., in VOL. I. C c c BOOK II. CENTURY VI. PART II. CHAP. I. of the monks instructed the children and youth that were devoted to a monastic life. (3) 2. But, not to mention that many of the bishops and others who had control over the monks, were inattentive to their duty, and that others had prejudices against learning and science, which they apprehended to be haz- ardous to piety, a fault commonly attributed to Gregory the Great, bishop of Rome, who, it is said, wished to have many of the ancient authors com- mitted to the flames ;(4) not to mention also, that some of the bishops of set purpose, cultivated ignorance and barbarism, which they confounded with Christian simplicity ;(5) to pass over these considerations, it remains to be stated, that the branches of learning taught in these schools were confined within very narrow limits ;(6) and that the teachers were igno- rant and incompetent. Greek literature was almost every where neglected : and those who professed to cultivate Latin, consumed their time on gram- matical subtilties and niceties ; as is manifest from the examples of Isido- rus and Cassiodorus. Eloquence had degenerated into rhetorical blustering, with motley and frigid figures, and barbarous phraseology ; as is shown by those who composed with most elegance, such as Bofthius, Cassiodorus, Ennodius, and others. The other liberal arts, as they called them, con- tained nothing elevated and liberal ; but consisted of only a few precepts, and those very dry. 3. Philosophy was wholly excluded from the schools which were under the direction of the clergy, for nearly all supposed that religious persons could do very well without it, or rather ought never to meddle with it. (3) Benedict, Concordia Regular., lib. ii., p. 232. Joh. Mabillon, Acta Sanctor. Ord. Benedict., torn, i., p. 314, &c. [And yet it is certain, that these monkish schools kept aloof from the sources of real learning, I mean the ancient classic authors ; and that the best interpreters of scripture among the fathers, such as Origen and Theodorus of Mopsues'tia, were left to moulder in the dust. On the contrary, the young monks were occupied with reading and transcribing the most silly fables and legends, by which their understandings and their imaginations were injured past recovery. In the Rule of Isidore, it is expressly stated : Libros gen- tilium et haereticorum legere nefas. Schl.] (4) Gabr. Liron, Singularites historiques et litter., tome i., p. 166, &c. [That Greg- ory was opposed to all secular learning, ap- pears incontrovertibly, from his conduct to- wards Desiderius bishop of Vienne. This bishop was a man of great merit, virtues, and learning. But he instructed some of his friends in grammar and the fine arts, and read with them the pagan poets. Gregory looked upon all this as horrible wickedness ; and therefore hesitated about sending him the pall, and reproved him very sharply in an epistle which is still extant. (Gregory, Epist., lib. ix., ep. 48.) " Because (says the honest pope, who esteemed it no wrong to praise extravagantly the greatest villains and the cruellest murderers), the praises of Christ and those of Jupiter cannot have place in the same mouth. And consider, how enormous a crime it is for a bishop to sing ! which would be unbecoming even in a religious layman. The more horrible this is in a priest, the more earnestly and faith- fully should it be inquired into. If it should hereafter appear clearly, that the reports which have reached me are false, and that you do not study vanities and secular litera- ture (nee vos nugis et secularibus literis studere), I shall praise God, who has not permitted your heart to be defiled with the blasphemous praises of abominable deities." But whether it be true, as John of Salis- bury states, (de Nugis Curialium, lib. ii., c. 26, and lib. viii., c. 19), that he caused the Palatine or Capitoline library to be burned ; or as Antoninus of Florence tells us, (see Vossius de Historicis Latinis, p. 98), that he committed to the flames Livy's History ; must be considered uncertain, as the wit- nesses are so modern. Yet it would not be improbable, in a man of such flaming zeal against the pagan writers. Schl.] (5) Jo. Mabillon, Praef. ad Saecul. i. [Ac- tor. Sanctor. ordinis] Benedicti, p. xlvi. (6) See Marcus Aurelius Cassiodorus, de septem Disciplines Liber ; among his Works. LITERATURE AND SCIENCE. 387 The most eminent, and indeed almost the only Latin philosopher of this age, was the celebrated Boethius, privy counsellor to Theodoric king of the Ostrogoths in Italy. He embraced the Platonic system ;(7) but like most of the younger Platonists, approved also the precepts of Aristotle, and il- lustrated them by his writings. He is therefore not improperly regarded as the man, whose labours brought the Aristotelian philosophy into higher repute among the Latins than it had before been. 4. Among the Greeks, the liberal arts were cultivated in several places with more zeal, and some of the emperors encouraged all branches of learning with honours and liberal rewards ;(8) yet the number of the men of genius appears much smaller than in the preceding century. When this century commenced, the younger Platonism was flourishing in full splendour. The schools of Alexandria and Athens were under masters of high reputation, Damascius, Isidore,(9) Simplicius, Eulamius, Hermias, Pris- dan, and others. But when the emperor Justinian forbid by an express law the teaching of philosophy at Athens,(10) (which is undoubtedly to be understood of this species of philosophy), and also manifested peculiar displeasure against those who would not renounce idolatry, all these phi- losophers removed and took residence among the Persians, the enemies of the Romans.(ll) They indeed returned afterwards, on the restoration of peace between the Persians and the Romans in the year 533 ;(12) but they were never able to recover their former credit, and they gradually ceased to keep up their schools. Such was the termination of this sect, which had been a most troublesome one to the church for many centuries. On the contrary, the Aristotelian philosophy gradually emerged from its ob- scurity, and received elucidation especially from the commentaries of John Philoponus. And it became necessary for the Greeks to acquaint them. selves with it, because the Monophysites and the Nestorians endeavoured to confute the adherents to the councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon, by ar- guments suggested by this philosophy. 5. For the Nestorians as well as the Monophysites, living in the East, kept their eye upon Aristotle, and, to enable their adherents to be good dis- putants, translated his principal works out of Greek into their vernacular tongues. Into the Syriac language, Sergius Rasainensis, a Monophysite (7) This will be evident to any one who, inated him from Isidore Mercator, Hispalen- with some knowledge of the views of the sis, and Peleusiota. Schl.~\ younger Platonists, takes up his Books de (10) Johannes Malala, Historia Chronica, Consolatione philosophiae. See also Renat. pt. ii., p. 187, ed. Oxon. Another testimony VaJJinus, Notes, p. 10, 50. Luc. Holsteni- to the same point, derived from I know not us, de Vita Porphyrii, p. 7, ed. Cantabr. ; what unpublished Chronicon, is adduced by likewise, Jo. Jos. Mascov, Historia Germa- Nicol. Alemannus, ad Procopii Historians ar- norum. torn, ii., p. 102, &c. [Bruckcr, His- canam, cap. 26, p. 377, ed. Venetae. [Also toria crit. Philos., torn, iii., p. 524, &c., and Agathias, cap. 2, and Suidas, Article irpea- Hamberger's zuverlassige Nachrichten, vol. (3vf, torn, iii., p. 171, seem to refer to this iii., p. 317, &c. Schl.] event, by saying: Damascius, Simplicius, (8) See the Codex Theodos., torn, ii., lib. Eulalius, Priscianus, Hermias, Diogenes, vi., p. 113, &c. Herm. Conringius, de and Isidorus, retired to Persia, because they Sludiis urbis Romae et Constantinop., an- could not live according to their inclina- nexed to his Diss. de Antiquit. Academicis. tions. Sell.} (9) [See Brucker's account of Isidore in (11) Agathias, de Rebus Justiniani, 1. ii. his Historia crit. Philos., torn, ii., p. 341. Corpus Byzant., torn, iii., p. 49, ed. Venetac. Isidore was called Gazaeus, from his native (12) Consult the excellent Peter Wessrl- place, Gaza in Palestine ; and this discrim- ingius, Observat. yaiiar., lib. i., c. 18, p. 117. 388 BOOK II. CENTURY VI. PART II. CHAP. II. and a philosopher, translated the writings of Aristotle.(13) In Persia, one Uranius a Syrian, propagated his doctrines ; and even instilled them into the mind of Chosroes the king, who was studious of such matters. (14) Another'who was doubtless of the Nestorian sect, (for no other in this age prevailed in Persia, the Greeks being excluded), presented the same king with a Persian translation of Aristotle. (15) Yet there were among these Christians, some who rejecting both Plato and Aristotle, chose to philoso- phize or speculate according as their own genius led them. Such was the Nestorian Cosmas, called Indicopleustes ; whose opinions were quite pecu- liar, and more consentaneous with those of the Orientals, than with those of the Greeks.(16) Such also was the writer, from whose Exposition of the Octateuch Photius has preserved some extracts. (17) CHAPTER II. HISTORY OF THE TEACHERS IN THE CHURCH. $ 1. Contests between the Bishops of Constantinople and Rome. $ 2. Endeavours of the latter to obtain Supreme Power. 3, 4. Corrupt Lives of the Clergy. 5. The Monks. $ 6. Order of Benedict. 7. Its Propagation. 8. Principal Authors among the Greeks. 9. Latin Writers. 1. IN the constitution of the Christian church there was no impor- tant change. But the two prelates who considered themselves and were regarded by others as standing at the head of the whole church, the bish- ops of Rome and Constantinople, were incessantly contending for priority, and about the extent of their territories and jurisdiction. The bishop of Constantinople not only claimed the primacy in the eastern churches, but maintained that his see was in no respect inferior to that of Rome. But (13) Georgius Abulpharajus, Historia whence he got the name of Indicopleustes, Dynastiar., p. 94, 172, ed. of Pocock. an India Navigator. After many years (14) Agalhias, de Rebus Justiniani, lib. spent in this manner, he took up residence ii., p. 48. That this Uranius applied the in a monastery in Egypt, and devoted him- precepts of Aristotle to the Eutychian con- self to composing books. His chief work is troversies, appears from this, that Agathias Topographia Christiana, sive Christiano- represents him as disputing about the passi- rum opinio de. mundo, in xii. Books. It is bility and immiscibility of God, /cat TO irad- his great aim to prove the earth not spherical, rjrbv Kal a^vyxvTOV. [ Uranius was in so but a vast oblong plain ; the length east and high esteem with king Chosroes, that he had west, being double the breadth. He argues him constantly at his table. He wished to be from scripture, reason, testimony, and the accounted a skeptic ; but he may more justly authority of the fathers. But while pressing be ranked among the Nestorians, than among his main point, he introduces much valuable the proper philosophers. Schl.] geographical information, which he had col- (15) Agathias, de Rebus Justiniani, lib. lected in his voyages. He flourished, and ii., p. 48, ed. Venetae. probably wrote, about A.D. 535. The best (16) Bern, de Montfaucon, Praef. ad Cos- edition is that of Mcmtfaucon, Gr. and Lat. t mam, p. x., &c., in his Collectio Nov. Pair, in Collect. Nov. Patr. Gr., torn, ii., Paris, Graecorum, torn. ii. [This Cosmos was an 1706. See Cave's Historia Litteraria, torn. Egyptian monk. In early life he was a mer- i., p. 515, &c. TV.] chant, and drove a traffic through the whole (17) Photius, Biblioth. Cod., rxxvi.. p. length of the Red Sea, and quite to India : 22, 23. CHURCH OFFICERS AND TEACHERS. 389 the pontiffs of Rome were exceedingly disturbed at this, and contended that their see held a rank and pre-eminence above that of Constantinople. In particular, the Roman pontiff Gregory the Great, did so in the year 587 ; when John of Constantinople, surnamed the Faster on account of the austerity of his life, had by his own authority assembled a council of eastern bishops at Constantinople to decide on charges brought against Peter [Gregory] bishop of Antioch, and on this occasion had arrogated to himself the title of oecumenical or universal bishop.(l) For although the bishops of Constantinople had long used this title, which was capable of a harmless interpretation, yet Gregory concluded from the time and the occasion on which it was now used, that John was aiming at a supremacy over all Christian churches ; and he therefore wrote letters to the em- peror and to others, in which he vehemently inveighed against this title. But he could effect nothing : and the bishops of Constantinople continued to assume it, though not in the sense which -Gregory supposed. (2) 2. Persevering in his opposition, the bishop of Rome excited com. motion everywhere, in order to bring the Christian world under his own control. And he was in some degree successful, especially in the West ; but in the East, scarcely any would listen to him, unless actuated by hos- tility to the bishop of Constantinople ; and this last was always in a con- dition to oppose his ambitious designs in that quarter. How greatly the ideas of many had advanced respecting the powers of the bishop of Rome, cannot better be shown than by the Example of Ennodius, the insane flatterer of Symmachiis ; who, among other extravagant expressions, said, the pontiff judges in the place of God, vice Dei judicare.(3) But on the other hand, there are numerous proofs, that the emperors as well as some whole (1 [Dr. Mosheim here confounds dates, names, and transactions. Gregory (not Pe- ter) bishop of Antioch, being accused of in- cest and other crimes, appealed from the tri- bunal of the governor of the East to the em- peror Mauritius : and the emperor (not the patriarch John) called a council, or appoint- ed a court of Commissioners at Constanti- nople in 587, composed of patriarchs, (or their delegates), Roman senators, and metro- politans, to hear and decide the case. (See Evagrius, Hist. Eccles., 1. vi., c. 7. Eva- grius was himself Gregory's counsellor at the trial, and has given us nearly all the in- formation which has reached us respecting this council.) On this occasion, it is said, John the patriarch of Constantinople, was honoured with the title of universal bishop, a title which had for some time been used by the bishops of that see. The decisions of this council being sent to Pelapius II., (not to Gregory the Great), bishop of Rome, Pelagius confirmed the acquittal of Gregory of Antioch, but remonstrated strongly against the title given to John. His letters on the occasion are lost, but they are mentioned by his successor. In the year 590, Pelagius died, and was succeeded by Gregory the Great ; and he, finding that John continued to use this title, took up the business in ear- nest about the year 595, and for some years laboured by entreaties and threats, and con- tinued applications to the emperors and to the other eastern patriarchs, to divest the Con- stantinopolitan patriarchs of a title which he maintained to be profane, Antichrislian, and infernal, by whomsoever assumed. See Gregory the Great, Epistolar. lib. iv., ep. 36. 38, and lib. vii., ep. 69. Bower's Lives of the Popes, (Pelagius II.), vol. ii., p. 459, and (Gregory) vol. ii., p. 505, 511, 517, ed. Lond., 1750. Natalis Alexander, Hist. Eccles., Saecul. vi., cap. ii., art. 12, 13. torn, x., p. 18, 25, &c., ed. Paris, 1743. -TV.] (2) Gregory the Great, Epistolar. lib. iv., v., vii. All the passages in these epistle*, relating to this important subject, are col- lected and illustrated by Jo. Launoi, Assertio in privilegium S. Medardi, Opp., torn, iii., pt. ii., p. 266, <kc. See Mich, le Quien, Oriens Christianus, torn, i., p. 67, dtc. Chr. Matth. Pfaf, Diss. de titulo Oecumenicm ; in the Tempe Helvetica, torn, iv., p. 99, and the authors there mentioned. (3) See his Apologeticum pro Synodo, in the Bibhoth. mag. Pair., torn, xv., p. 248, ed. Paris. 390 BOOK II. CENTURY VI. PART II. CHAP. II. nations, would not patiently bear this new yoke. (4) The Gothic kings in Italy, would not allow the bishop of Rome to domineer excessively there ; nor would they allow any one to be considered as pontiff, whom they had not approved ; and they wished to have his election controlled by their de- cisions. (5) These kings also enacted laws relative to religious matters, ar- raigned the clergy before their tribunals, and summoned ecclesiastical councils. (6) And the pontiffs themselves paid homage to these sover- eigns, and afterwards to the emperors, in a submissive manner ; for they had not yet become so lost to all shame, as to look upon temporal sov- ereigns as their vassals.(7) 3. The clergy were previously in possession of high privileges, and great wealth ; and the superstition of this century added considerably to both. For it was supposed, that sins might be expiated by munificence to churches and to monks ; and that the prayers of departed saints, which were most efficacious with God, might be purchased, by presents offered to them and by temples dedicated to their names.(8) This increase of wealth and privileges was accompanied with an equal increase of the vices usually attendant on affluence, in the clergy of all ranks from the highest to the lowest ;(9) as is manifest even from the laws enacted by councils and by the emperors to regulate the lives and morals of the clergy.(lO) For what need was there of guarding the morals of these men with such ramparts of laws, if they exhibited some degree of love (4) See, particularly respecting Spain, Mich. Geddes, On the Papal supremacy, chiefly with relation to the ancient Spanish church ; published among his Miscellaneous Tracts, vol. ii., p. 1. &c. (5) See Joh. Ja. Mascov, Historia Ger- manorum, torn, ii., note, p. 113. (6) Ja. Basnage, Histoire des Eglises Re- formees, torn, i., p. 381, &c. [Thus, e. g., Theodoric assembled the Italian bishops at Rome, to settle the contested election of Symmachus to the papal chair. (Walch, Historic der Kirchenversamml., p. 347.) The council of Orleans, in 511, was held by order of Clovis, (ibid., p. 351.) Another at Orleans in 533, by order of Childebert, (ibid., p. 367.) And in the year 549, (ibid., p. 375.) And at Clermont, by order of Theudebert, (ibid., p. 368.) Schl.] (7) See the collections from Gregory the Great, by Jo. Launoi, de Regia potestate in matrimon., Opp., torn, i., pt. ii., p. 691, &c., and Assertio in privilegium S. Medardi, Opp., torn, iii., pt. ii., p. 275. Giannone, Histoire de Naples, torn, ii., p. 282, &c. ; [and lib. iii., cap. vi., 6. TV.] (8) [Thus, e. g., Gregory (in cap. xv. Jobi, 1. xii., c. 23) says : " Whenever, af- ter committing a crime we give alms, we do as it were compensate for our wicked ac- tions." So also in his Epistles (lib. ix., ep. 38) : " The intercessions in heaven of him, whose body you have covered on earth, will protect you from all sins," &c. Schl.] (9) [Tkeophanes, (on the second year of Justinian's reign), states that Esaias bish- op of Rhodes, and Alexander bishop of Di- ospolis in Thrace, were for the crime of sod- omy deprived of their offices and castrated by order of the emperor, and then carried about as a show, with a herald proclaiming : " All ye bishops, beware of disgracing your venerable office." So in the epistles of Gregory the Great, many proofs occur of impure conduct among the clergy : e. g., 1. viii., ep. 1 1 ; 1. iii,, ep. 26 and 9 ; 1. i., ep. 18, 42. Schl.] (10) [Thus, e. g., in the council of Agde in Gaul, (can. 41), it was enacted, that a clergyman who should get drunk, should be excluded the church for 30 days, or under- go corporeal punishment : and (can. 42) the clergy were forbidden to exercise the art of fortune-telling. Harduin's Concilia, torn, ii., p. 1002. Other laws forbid simony, con- cubinage, perjury, usury, and gaudy dress, in the clergy. In Harduin's Concilia, torn, iii., p. 529, mention is made of many nuns, at the head of whom were two princesses, Chrotildis and Basine, who broke from the nunnery at Poictiers, and who were a part of them found pregnant, and also committed the most shameful acts of violence. And in page 531, he mentions one Aegidius bish- op of Rheims, who used forged documents before the council of Metz ; and for treason- able practices, was removed from office. See Fieury, Ecclesiast. History ; the Ger- man translation, vol. v., p. 413, 417, lib. xxxv., $ 5-8. Schl.] CHURCH OFFICERS AND TEACHERS. 391 for virtue and piety ? Yet the efficacy of these laws was slight ; for so great was the reverence for the clergy, that their most atrocious offences were visited with the gentlest chastisements ; and this imboldened them to perpetrate any iniquity. 4. What sort of men the bishops of Rome were, who wished to be thought the chiefs and fathers of the whole Christian church, and also the body of the clergy under them at Rome, best appears from the long and violent contest between Symmachus and Laurentius, which broke out in the year 498, and was at length settled by the Gothic king Theodoric. Each maintained, that himself was the regularly-constituted pontiff; and each accused the other of the most abominable crimes, and not without an appearance of truth. Three councils assembled at Rome, were not able to terminate the dreadful quarrel ; in the fourth, soon after the commence, ment of the century, Theodoric having taken up the business, Symmachus was at length pronounced innocent. But the adverse party continued to deny that justice had been done them by this decision ; and this led Ennodius of Pavia to write his Apology for the council and for Symmachus. (11) From this treatise, which abounds in rhetorical colouring, we may clearly learn, that the foundations of that exorbitant power which the pontiffs afterwards obtained, were already laid ; but not that Symmachus had been inconsid. erately and unjustly accused. 5. The progress of monkery was very great, both in the East and in the West. In the East, whole armies of monks might have been en- (11) This Apology is extant in the Bibli- oth. Magn. Pair., torn, xv., p. 248, &c., [and in most of the Collections of Councils. This contest may be worth describing more fully. On the death of the pontiff Alkana- sius in the year 498, not only the clergy, but the people and the senate of Rome, were divided about a successor. Symmachus a deacon, and Laurentius the archpresbyter, were both chosen on the same day by their respective partisans ; and so eager were both parties to carry their point, that the whole city was in an uproar, and many bat- tles and much bloodshed took place in the streets and in the public places. To end the dire contest, the leading men on both sides agreed to refer the contested point to the decision of Theodoric, the Arian king resident at Ravenna. He decided, that the one who should be found to have had most votes, and to have been elected at the earli- est hour, should be considered the legal pon- tiff. This secured the election of Symma- chus. The king likewise ordered the bish- ops to make regulations for the election of future popes, which should prevent the re- currence of similar difficulties. This was done in the year 499. But the party of Lau- rentius were not yet quiet. In the year 500, they accused Symmachus of several heinous crimes before the king ; and the tumults and civil wars of Rome were renewed, with in- creased violence. Some senators informed the king of the state of Rome, and request- ed him to send a Visiter to Rome, with full power to settle all the difficulties. Peter, bishop of Altino, was appointed. He re- paired to Rome, and at once suspended Symmachus, and took the goods of the church into his own hands. This enraged the partisans of Symmachns to madness, and prostrated all order and subordination. Being apprized of the state of things, tho king now repaired to Rome in person, and spent six months in tranquillizing that dis- tracted city. He ordered all the bishops of Italy to meet in council, and decide on the charges against Symmachus. The council held several meetings in that and the follow- ing years. Symmachus, when sent for, set out to go to the council, attended by a mob ; a battle ensued in the streets ; several were killed ; Symmachus himself was wounded, turned back, and refused to appear before the council. The council, after some delay, proceeded in his absence ; decreed that the witnesses being slaves, were incompetent to prove any thing ; and therefore dismissed the complaint. The friends of Laurentius protested against the decision. The coun- fil met again, and adopted as their own the apology tor them drawn up by Ennodius. See Bower's Lives of ihe Popes, (Symma- chus), vol. ii.,p. 248-261, ed. Lond., 1750. Hardntn, Concilia, torn, ii., p. 961, &c., 975, 983, 989. TV.] 392 BOOK II. CENTURY VI. PART II. CHAP. II. rolled, without a sensible diminution of the number any where. In the West, this mode of life found patrons and followers almost without num. ber, in all the provinces : as may appear from the various rules, drawn up by different individuals, for regulating the lives of monks and nuns. (12) In Great Britain, one Congal is said to have persuaded an immense num- ber to abandon active life and spend their days in solitude, according to a rule which he prescribed. (13) His disciples filled Ireland, Gaul, Ger- many, Switzerland, and other countries, with convents of monks. The most famous of them was Columbanus, who has left us a rule of his own, distinguished for its simplicity and brevity. (14) The whole monastic or- der abounded with fanatics and profligates. But in the Oriental monas- teries, there were more fanatics than knaves ; while in the occidental the knaves outnumbered the fanatics. 6. A new order of monks, which in time absorbed all the others in the West, was established at Mount Cassino in the year 529, by Benedict of Nursia, a devout and a distinguished man according to the standard of that age. His Rule is still extant ; and it shows that it was not his aim to bring all monks under his regulations, but rather to found a new society, more stable, of better morals, and living under milder rules than the other monks, the members of which should lead a retired and holy life, employed in prayers, reading, manual labour, and the instruc- tion of youth. (15) But his followers departed widely from the princi- (12) Most of these Rules are extant, in Lu. Holsteiri's Codex Regularum, pt. ii., published at Rome, 1661, in 3 vols. 4to. Add Edm. Martene and Ursin. Durand, Thesaurus novus Anecdotorum, torn, i., p. 4. (13) Ja. Usher, Antiq. Eccles. Britan., p. 132, 441, 911. [Comgallus or Congcllus, was an Irish monk, who founded several monasteries ; the most important of which was that of Banchor or Bangor, (on the south shore of Carrickfergus Bay, in the northeast- erly part of Ireland), erected about A.D. 530. Congal is said to have ruled over 3000 monks, living in different monasteries and cells. See Usher, loc. cit. Tr.] (14) Ja. Usher, Sylloge antiquar. Episto- lar. Hibernicarum, p. 5-15. Lu. Holstein, Codex Regular., torn, ii., p. 48, &c. Ma- billon, Praef. ad Acta Sanctor. Ord. Bened., Saecul. ii., p. iv. [St. Columbanus, (a dif- ferent person from Columbas the apostle of Scotland, mentioned p. 381, supra), was born in Leinstcr, Ireland, about the year 559. After a good education in the literature of that age, he became a monk, in the monas- tery of Bangor, under Congal. In the year 589, with 12 companions, he passed through England into Gaul ; and settled in Burgun- dy, where he built the monastery of Luxucl, or Luxovium; and there spent about 20 years, with great reputation. But in the year 610, having offended Theodoric the king, by reproving his vices, he was banished that territory ; and after wandering a few years in different parts of Gaul and Germany along the Rhine, and spending three years near Bregentz in Helvetia, he went into Italy ; was received kindly by Agilulph the Lombard king, built the monastery of Bobio near Pavia, presided over it one year, and then died, about A.D. 615. He was a man of superior genius, and possessed vast influ- ence. His works yet remaining, are his monastic rule ; his monastic discipline ; some poems and epistles; and 17 discourses ; all which were published at Louvain in 1667, by Patrick Fleming, an Irish monk. His life, written by Jonas, an abbot of Bobium, while several contemporaries of Columba- nus were yet living, is extant in Mabillon, Acta Sanctor. Ord. Bened., torn, ii., p. 2 26. Tr.] (15) See Jo. Mabillon, Acta Sanctor. Ord. Bened., torn, i., and Annales Ord. Ben- edict., torn. i. Helyot [Histoire des Ordres monastiques religieux et rnilitaires, &c., in 8 vols. 4to, Paris, 1714-19], and the other historians of the monastic orders. [Bene- dict was born of reputable parents, at Nur- sia in Italy, A.D. 480. At the age of four- teen, he was sent to Rome for education ; but, disgusted with the dissipations of the city and the school, he soon ran away, and concealed himself three years in a cave, at Sublacum about 40 miles from Rome. At length he was discovered, and his cell be- came much frequented. He was now chosen abbot of a monastery in the vicinity ; but the rigour of his discipline gave offence, and he relinquished the office, and returned to CHURCH OFFICERS AND TEACHERS. 393 pies of their founder ; for, after they had acquired immense riches by the liberality of princes and pious individuals, they gave themselves up to lux- Sublacum, where he continued till about the year 529. Many monks here joined him, and he had 12 cells, each containing 12 monks, under his jurisdiction. Many of the first Roman families placed their sons under his instruction ; and his reputation for piety and for miracles procured him almost un- bounded respect. But his fame excited the envy of some clergymen, and led to plots against his life. After 25 years spent at Sub- lacum, he retired to Mount Cdssino, about 50 miles south of Sublacum and about as far from Naples. Here he converted a body of pagan mountaineers, and turned their tem- ple into a monastery, in which he spent the remainder of his days in quietude and honour. He died about A.D. 543. His life was writ- ten by Pope Gregory the Great, and consti- tutes the second Book of his Dialogue : it is also inserted in Mabillon's Acta Sanctor. Ord. Ben., torn, i., p. 1-25. According to the Rule of Benedict, the monks were to rise at two A.M. in winter, (and in summer, at such hours as the abbot might direct), repair to the place of worship, for vigils ; and then spend the remainder of the night in commit- ting psalms, private meditation, and reading. At sunrise they assembled for matins ; then spent four hours in labour ; then two hours in reading ; then dined, and read in private till half past two P.M., when they met again for worship ; and afterwards laboured till their vespers. In their vigils and matins, 24 Psalms were to be chanted each day ; so as to complete the Psalter every week. Besides their social worship, seven hours each day were devoted to labour, two at least to pri- vate study, one to private meditation, and the rest to meals, sleep, and refreshment. The labour was agriculture, gardening, and various mechanical trades ; and each one was put to such labour as his superior saw fit ; for they all renounced wholly every spe- cies of personal liberty. They ate twice a day, at a common table ; first, about noon, and then at evening. Both the quantity and the quality of their food were limited. To each was allowed one pound of bread per day, and a small quantity of wine. On the public table no meat was allowed, but al- ways two kinds of porridge. To the sick, flesh was allowed. While at table, all con- versation was prohibited ; and some one read aloud the whole time. They all served as cooks and waiters by turns, of a week each. Their clothing was coarse and simple, and regulated at the discretion of the abbot. Each was provided with two suits, a knife, a needle, and all other necessaries. They VOL. I. DDD slept in common dormitories of 10 or 20, in separate beds, without undressing, and had a light burning, and an inspector sleeping in each dormitory. They were allowed no con- versation after they retired, nor at any time were they permitted to jest, or to talk for mere amusement. No one could receive a present of any kind, not even from a parent ; nor have any correspondence with persons without the monastery, except by its passing under the inspection of the abbot. A porter always sat at the gate, which was kept locked day and night ; and no stranger was admitted without leave from the abbot ; and no monk could go out, unless he had permission from the same source. The school for the chil- dren of the neighbourhood was kept without the walls. The whole establishment was under an abbot, whose power was despotic. His under officers were, a prior or deputy, a steward, a superintendent of the sick and the hospital, an attendant on visiters, a por- ter, dec., with the necessary assistants, and a number of deans or inspectors over tens, who attended the monks at all times. The abbot was elected by the common suffrage of the brotherhood ; and when inaugurated, he appointed and removed his under officers at pleasure. On great emergencies, he sum- moned the whole brotherhood to meet in council ; and on more common occasions, only the seniors ; but in either case, after hearing what each one was pleased to say, the decision rested wholly with himself. For admission to the society, a probation of 12 months was required ; during which the ap- plicant was fed and clothed, and employed in the meaner offices of the monks, and closely watched. At the end of his proba- tion, if approved, he took solemn and irrev- ocable vows of perfect chastity, absolute poverty, and implicit obedience to bis supe- riors in every thing. If he had property, he must give it all away, either to his friends or the poor, or to the monastery ; and never after must possess the least particle of private property, nor claim any personal rights or liberties. For lighter offences, a reprimand was to be administered by some under offi- cer. For greater offences, after two admo- nitions, a person was debarred his privileges, not allowed to read in his turn, or to sit at table, or enjoy his modicum of comforts. If .still refractory, he was expelled the monas- tery ; yet might be restored on repentance. See the Rule, at large, in Hospinian, Opp., torn, iv., (de Monachis, libri vii.), p. 202- 222. ed. Genev., 1669. fol., and as abridged by Flcury, Histoire Eccles., lib. xxxii., $ 394 BOOK II. CENTURY VI. PART IT. CHAP. II. ury, idleness, and every vice, became involved in civil affairs and the ca- bals of courts, were intent on multiplying vain and superstitious rites, and most eager to advance the authority and power of the Roman pontiffs. None of these things were enjoined or permitted by St. Benedict ; whose Rule, though still highly extolled, has for many ages ceased to be ob- served. (16) Yet the institution of Benedict changed the state of monkery in the West, in various respects ; not the least important of which was, that the application and profession made by the monks, bound them for ever to observe his rules ; whereas previously, the monks changed the rule and regulations of their founders at pleasure. (17) 7. Only a short time elapsed, before this new order of monks was in a most flourishing state in all the western countries. In Gaul, it was prop- agated by St. Maurus , in Sicily and Sardinia, by Placidus and others ; in England, by Augustine and Mellitus ; in Italy and in other parts, by Gregory the Great, who is reported to have lived some time in this order.(18) 1419. Yet it is questionable whether the Rule as there laid down was precisely what Benedict prescribed. TV ] (16) [The modern Benedictines are them- selves obliged to admit, that the Rule of their founder is no longer fully obeyed. But they resort to a convenient distinction. The Rule, say they, has its essential and its acci- dental parts. That the monks should labour, earn their own bread, and live frugally, be- longs to the accidental part. The essential parts are the vofw.i ; which we observe reli- giously, a few faults excepted. We admit freely, that the order is richer than in the days of its founder. Father Benedict would be amazed, should he rise out of his grave, and instead of the miserable huts which he erected on Mount Cassino, find there a pal- ace, in which kings and princes might re- side ; and see the abbot transformed into a prince of the empire, with a multitude of subjects, and an income of five or six hun- dred thousand ducats. Sckl.~] (17) See Mabillon, Praef. ad Saecul. iv., p. i., [Actor. Sanctor. Ord. Benedict., torn, v.], p. xviii., &c. [Benedict changed the state of monkery by restraining the instabil- ity of the monks, and rendering their vows irrevocable. It was not strange that the order spread far and wide. His Rule was better calculated than any other for Euro- peans, and the first Benedictines were virtu- ous, upright, and useful people. Wherever they came, they converted the wilderness into a cultivated country ; they pursued the breeding of cattle and agriculture, laboured with their own hands, drained morasses, and cleared away forests. These monks taking the word Benedictines in its largest extent, as embracing the ramifications of the order, the Carthusians, Cistersians, Praemonstra- tensians, Camaldulensians, &c. were of great advantage to all Europe, and particu- larly to Germany. By them Germany was cultivated and rendered a fruitful country. They preserved for us all the books of anti- quity, all the sciences and learning of the ancients. For they were obliged to have libraries in their monasteries, because their rule required them to read during a portion of each day. Some individuals were occu- pied in transcribing the books of the an- cients ; and hence came the manuscripts, which still exist here and there in the libra- ries of monasteries. The sciences were cultivated nowhere but in their cloisters. They kept up schools there for the monks, and for such as were destined to be monks. And without their cloisters they also had schools, in which the people of the world were instructed. From these monasteries proceeded men of learning, who were em- ployed in courts as chancellors, vice-chancel- lors, secretaries, &c., and these again pat- ronised the monasteries. Even the children of sovereign princes were brought up among the Benedictines, and after they came to their thrones retained attachment and rev- erence for the order, to whom they were indebted for their education. The Bene- dictines were esteemed saints, and their prayers were supposed to be particularly efficacious. All this rendered the order powerful and rich. But as soon as they be- came rich, they became voluptuous and in- dolent, and their cloisters were haunts of vice and wickedness. In the seventeenth century, this order began to revert back to its original design, especially in France ; and it performed essential sen-ice to the republic of learning, in particular by publishing beau- tiful editions of the Fathers. ScA/.j ( 18) See Jo. Mabillon, Diss. de vita monas- tica Gregorii Magni ; annexed to Hadr. Va~ lesius, Analect. veter., torn, ii., and Mabil- lon's Praef. ad Saecul. i., [Actor. Sanctor. CHURCH OFFICERS AND TEACHERS. 395 In Germany, Boniface afterwards caused it to be received. (19) This rap. id progress of their order, the Benedictines ascribe to the miracles of St. Benedict and his disciples, and to the holiness and superiority of the rules which he prescribed. But those who more critically examine the causes of events, have very nearly all united in the opinion, that the favour shown them by the Roman pontiffs, to whose glory and exaltation this whole order was especially devoted, contributed more than all other causes to its wide extension and grandeur. Yet it was not till the ninth century that all other rules and societies became extinct, and the Benedictines alone reigned.(20) 8. Among the Greek and Oriental Christians, the most distinguished writers of this century were the following : Procopius of Gaza, who ex- pounded some books of the Bible not unhappily. (21) John Maxentius, a monk of Antioch, who, besides some books against the sects of his times, wrote Scholia on Dionysius Areopagita.(22) Agapetus procured himself a place among the wise men of the age, by his Scheda Regia, addressed to the emperor Juslinian.(23) Eulogius, a presbyter of Antioch, was ardent Ord.] Benedict., p. xxix., &c. Yet some de- ny this, as Anton. Gallonius, [deMonachatu Gregorii, &c.], on whose book, see Rich. Simon, Lettres choisies, torn, iii., p. 68. [Yet the monkery of Gregory the Great, after the investigations of Mabillon, seems no longer liable to doubt. He established six monasteries in Sicily, and assigned them out of his great riches as much landed estate as was necessary for their support. A sev- enth monastery he founded at Rome, in his own house, dedicated to S/. Andrew ; which still exists, and is in the hands of the Ca- maldulensians. See Flevry, Histoire Ec- cles., liv. xxxiv.. $ 34. Schl.] (19) Anton. Dandini Al tessera, Origines rei monasticae, lib. i., cap. 9, p. 33. On the propagation of the Benedictine Rule in the various countries of Europe, Jo. MuM- lon has a particular treatise, Praef. ad Sae- cul. i.. [Actor. Sanctor. Ord.] Benedict., and Praef. ad Saecul. iv., p. i., [Actor. Sanctor. Ord. Benedict , torn, v.], p Ixii., &c. [St. Mnitrus, whose name a distinguished con- gregation still bears, was one of the most famous disciples of Benedict ; though some nave questioned his existence, Placidus was a historian of this order. Of Augustine, notice has already been taken. Mellitus preached to the east Saxons, and was after- wards archbishop of Canterbury, and very active in propagating the order. The great and rapid dissemination of this order was wonderful. Many particular and new orders, distinguished from each other by their dress, their caps, and forms of government, origi- nated from it. The Carthusians, Cistersians, Ccelestines, Grandimontensians, Praemon- stratensians, Cluniacensians, Camaldulen- sians, &c., were only branches growing out ble and renowned men were trained up in it. Volaterranus enumerates 200 cardinals, 1600 archbishops, 4000 bishops, and 15.700 abbots and men of learning, who belonged to this order. V. Eincm.} (20) Ja. I' Enfant, Histoire du Concilede Constance, tome ii., p. 32. 33. (21) See Rich. Simon, Critique de la Bib- liotheque Ecclesiast. de M. du Pin, tome i., p. 197. [Procopius, a teacher of elo- quence at Gaza in the reign of Jvstinian, A.D. 520, &c., has left us several Com- mentaries on the scriptures, which are chief- ly compilations from earlier writers : viz., on the Octateuch, (extant only in Latin) ; on the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chroni- cles, Gr. and Lat., Lugd. Bat., 1620, 4to ; on Isaiah, Gr and Lat., Paris, 1580 ; on Proverbs, and the twelve Minor Prophets; never published. Also many neat Epistles, published by Aldus. Tr.] (22) [John Maxentius was a Scythian monk, a presbyter of Antioch, and flourished about the year 520. Several of his epistles and tracts, defending the doctrine that one of the Trinity was crucified, and opposing the Pelagian errors, are extant in Latin, in the Bibliotheca Patrum, torn. ix. His scho- lia on Dionysius the Areopagite, are publish- ed, Gr. and Lat., with that author. TV.] (23) [Agapetus, a deacon in the great church at Constantinople, flourished A.D. 527, in which year he composed his Instruc- tions for a prince, addressed to the emperor Justinian, then recently invested with the purple. The book contains 72 heads of ad- vice, displaying good common sense, but not profound. It has been often published : as, Venice, 1509, 8vo, and with a commenta- ry, Franeker, 1608, 8vo, Francf., 1659, 4to, of this principal stock. The most respecta- Lips., 1669, 8vo. Tr.] 396 BOOK II. CENTURY VI. PART IT. CHAP. II. and energetic in opposing the heresies of the times.(24) John, bishop of Constantinople, called the Faster on account of the austerity of his life, distinguished himself by some small treatises, and particularly by his Pan. itential.(25) Leontius of Byzantium has left us a book against the heretics, and some other writings. (26) Evagrius Scholasticus has furnished us with an Ecclesiastical History ; but it is disfigured with fabulous tales. (27) Anastasius Sinaita is generally supposed to be the author of a well-known yet futile book, entitled Hodegus contra Acephalos (a Guide against the Acephali).(28) (24) [Eulogius of Antioch, was made bishop of Alexandria in the year 581. A homily of his is extant, Gr. and Lat., in Combe/is, Actuar. Nov., torn, i., and large extracts from his vi. Books against Nmatus, his ii. Books against Timotheus and Sevcrus, his Book against Theodosius and Severus, and another against the compromise between the Theodosians and the Gainaites, are in Photius, Biblioth. Codex, Nos. 182, 208, 225-227. Tr.] (25) [John the Faster was a native of Cap- padocia, and bishop of Constantinople from 585 to 596. The title of universal bishop given him in the council of 589, involved him in trouble with Pelagius II. and Grego- ry I., bishops of Rome. Two of his Homi- lies are extant, Gr. and Lat., among those of Ckrysostom ; and his Pcenitential, (or rules for treating penitents), and a discourse on confessions and penitence, are published, Gr. and Lat., by Morin, de Poenitentia, Appendix, p. 77, 92. Tr.] (26) [Leontius of Byzantium, was first an advocate, and then a monk in a monastery in Palestine, and flourished A.D. 590 and on- ward. Cyril (in his life of St. Sabas, cap. 72) says he was accused of Origenism. Vos- sius (de Hist. Gr., 1. iv., c. 8) thinks he was the same as Leontius, bishop of Cyprus. He wrote de Sectis Liber, Gr. and Lat., in Auc- tuar. Biblioth. Patr., Paris, 1624, torn, i., p. 493 ; likewise adv. Eutychianos et Nestoria- nos, 1. iii., adv. Fraudes Apollinaristar., lib. ii. Solutioties Argumentorum Severi : Du- bitationes et Definitiones contra eos, qui negant in Christo duas naturas ; extant in Latin, Biblioth. Patr., torn. ix. ; also an Ora- tion on the man blind from his birth, Gr. and Lat., in Combefis, Auctuar. Nov., torn, i., and some other tracts, never published. Tr.] (27) [Evagrius Scholasticus was born at Epiphania in Syria, A.D. 536. At four years of age he was sent to school ; after grammar, he studied rhetoric, and became an advocate at the bar in Antioch. He was much esteemed, and especially by Gregory bishop of Antioch, whom he often assisted in difficult cases. The emperor Tiberius made him a quaestor ; and Maurice, an hon- orary prefect. His only work that has reached us, is his Ecclesiastical History, in vi. Books. It is a continuation of the histo- ries of Socrates and Sozomen, from the council of Ephesus in 431, to the year 594. Its chief faults are those of the age, credulity, and an over estimation of monkish legends and other trash. It was published, Gr. and Lat., by Valesius, among the other Gr. Ec- cles. Historians ; and has been translated into English, Cambridge, 1683, fol. Tr.] (28) See Rich. Simon, Critique de la Bib- liotheque Eccles. de M. du Pin, tome i., p. 232, and Barat, Bibliotheque choisie, tome ii., p. 21, &c. [There were three persons called Anastasius Sinaita. The first, after being a monk in the monastery on Mount Sinai, was made patriarch of Antioch A.D. 561, but was banished in the year 570, for opposing the edict of Justinian respecting the incorruptibility of Christ's body. He was restored in 592, and died in 599. He was a learned and orthodox man, and a con- siderable writer. The second of this name, was the immediate successor of the first in the see of Antioch, from A.D. 599 to A.D. 609, when he was murdered by the Jews. He translated the work of Gregory the Great on the Pastoral office, from Latin into Greek : but the translation is lost. The third Anas- tasius flourished about A.D. 685. He was a mere monk of Mount Sinai. He wrote a compendious account of heresies, and of the councils that condemned them, from the ear- liest times to the year 680 ; which still ex- ists in MS. The'Qdriybf, or Guide to shun the Acephali, is a rhapsody without method and without merit. It has been ascribed to the third Anastasius ; because it contains several allusions to events posterior to the times of the two first of this name. Yet as it relates to controversies in which the first Anastasius is known to have been much en- gaged, some have supposed it was originally composed by him or from his writings, with subsequent additions or interpolations. It was printed, Gr. and Lat., by Gretser, In- golst., 1604, 4to. The 154 Questions and Answers respecting biblical subjects, ascri- bed to the first Anastasius, and published, Gr. and Lat., by Gretser, 1617, 4to, also bear marks of a later age. Cave supposes they CHURCH OFFICERS AND TEACHERS. 397 were compiled from the works of the first Anastasius. His xi. Books of Contempla- tions on the Hcxaemeron were published in Latin, Paris, 1609. Dr. Atix published the 12th Book, Gr. and Lat., Lond., 1682, 4to. His five doctrinal Discourses, (on the Trini- ty, incarnation, &c.), together with all the works just enumerated, are extant in Latin, Biblioth. Patr., torn. ix. Six of bis Homilies are extant, Gr. and Lat., in Combefis, Auc- tuar. Nov., 1648, torn. i. Another tract of his. on the three Quadragesimae, is extant, Gr. and Lat., in Cotelier, Monum. Eccl. Gr., torn. iii. Various other tracts of his exist only in MS., and a considerable number of others are lost. The following is a catalogue of the Greek and Oriental writers of this century, omitted by Dr. Mosheim. Olympiodorus, a deacon at Alexandria, who probably flourished at the commence- ment of this century. He wrote several commentaries on the scriptures. His short Comment on Ecclesiastes is extant, Gr. and Lat., in Pronto Ducaeus, Auctuar., torn. ii. His Comment on Lamentations, Lat., Rome, 1598, 4to, and his Commentary on Job, is preserved almost entire in the Catena on Job, published, Gr. and Lat., by Pair. Ju- mus, Lond., 1637, fol. Julian, bishop of Halicarnassus in Caria, a Eutychian who flourished under Anasta- sius A.D. 510, and was active in the con- tests of his times. On the accession of Jus- tin, A.D. 518, he fled to Alexandria ; where he advanced the idea that Christ's body was always incapable of corruption, and produ- ced a division and a party among the Mo- nophysites. He wrote a Commentary on Juti, which is often quoted in the Catena on Job, published. Lond., 1637, fol. Timotheus, bishop of Constantinople A.D. 511-517, distinguished for his hatred of his predecessor Macedonius. He wrote a book on the various heresies, which is extant, Gr. and Lat., in Combejis, Auctuar. Nov., torn, ii., and more perfect in Cotelier, Monum. Eccles. Gr., torn, iii., p. 377. Severug, a leading man among the Aceph- ali or Monophysites, was in his youth a pagan, and studied in the law school at Be- rytus ; afterwards he became a monk at Gaza, and embracing and propagating Eu- tychian principles, was expelled the monas- tery. He repaired to Constantinople, and insinuated himself into the graces of the emperor Anastasius, who favoured the Eu- tychians. In the year 513, on the expulsion of the orthodox Flavian, he was made pa- triarch of Antioch, subscribed the Henoti- con of Zeno, and condemned the council of Chalcedon. Some bishops withdrew from his communion ; but aided by Jews hn vio- lently persecuted the orthodox, and especially the monks of Palestine, of whom he slew 350, and left their bodies to be consumed by beasts of prey. On the death of Anasta- sius and the accession of Justin to the em- pire in 518, he was proscribed, and fled to Egypt, where he lived many years. Here he became involved with Timothy patriarch of Alexandria, and Gainus his deacon, by asserting that the body of Christ, previously to its resurrection, was corruptible. He next went to Constantinople, and persuaded Anthimus the patriarch to embrace Euty- chian principles ; and was producing great commotions, when two councils condemned both him and Anthimus A.D. 536. His sub- sequent history is little known. He was a man of talents, ambitious, restless, little careful to maintain consistency in conduct or belief, a great writer, and possessed of vast influence among the Eutychians. He wrote an immense number of epistles, many homilies and tracts, and extensive Commen- taries on scripture ; none of which are pub- lished entire, his works having been pro- scribed and ordered to be all burned by authority of the emperor. Yet numerous extracts are preserved, and some whole trea- tises are supposed to exist still in the East. The Ritual for baptism and public worship in the Syrian church, which is extant, Syr. and Lat , Antw., 1572, 4to, has been attribu- ted to him. His Commentaries are often quoted in the Catena Patrum. See Cave, Histor. Litter., torn, i., p. 499, &c. John of Cappadocia, patriarch of Con- stantinople A.D. 517-520. He condemned Severus of Antioch in 518; and the next year, by order of the emperor Justin, be- came reconciled with the Roman pontiffs. Five of his Epistles are extant in the Con- cilia, torn. iv. and v. Theodoras Lector, flourished at Constan- tinople A.D. 518. He compiled an eccles. history from Socrates, Sozomen, and Theod- orct, in ii. Books : to which he annexed a Continuation, in ii. additional Books. Large extracts from the Continuation, by Nicepho- rus Calistus, are preserved, and published, Gr. and Lat., among the Gr. Eccl. Histo- rians, by Valcsnis. Timotheus III , patriarch of Alexandria A.D. 519-535, a warm Eutychian, and a pro- tector of Severus and Julian, till he fell out with them respecting the corruptibility of Christ's body. He wrote numerous ser- mons and theological tracts, large extracts from which are preserved by Cosmos Indi- copleustes. Epiphanius, patriarch of Constantinople A.D. 520-535. He confirmed the recon- 398 BOOK II. CENTURY VI. PART II. CHAP. II. ciliation between the sees of Rome and Con- stantinople, made by John his predecessor ; and approved the council of Chalcedon. Five of his Epistles to Hormisdas. bishop of Rome, are extant in the Concilior. Collect., torn. iv. Ephraim, patriarch of Antioch A.D. 525- 546. He was a native of Syria, a civil ma- gistrate and count of the East, when made bishop. He wrote pro Ecclesiasticis dog- rnatibus et Synodo Chalcedonensj, libri iii. : which are lost, except copious extracts from the two first Books, in Photius, Biblioth. Cod. 228, 229. Simeon, Stylites junior. In his childhood he mounted his pillar, near Antioch, which he occupied 68 years, A.D. 527-595. He is often mentioned by Evagrius, who knew him well. His fifth Epistle to the emperor Justinian is extant, Gr. and Lat., in the transactions of the second Nicene council, Actio v. Concilior. torn. vii. Some other tracts of his exist in MS. in the Vatican library. Zacharias Scholasticus, archbp. of Myti- lene. He was first a lawyer at Berytus, then a bishop, and flourished A.D. 536. While at Berytus, he wrote a Dissertation or dia- logue against the philosophers who maintain that the world is eternal ; extant, Gr. and Lat., Lips., 1654, 4to, and in FT. Ducaeus 1 Auctuar., torn. i. He also wrote a dispu- tation against the two first principles of all things, held by the Manichaeans ; extant, Lat., in Henr. Cards. Antiques Lection., torn. v., and both works in Biblioth. Patr., torn. ix. Nonnosus, Justinian's ambassador to the Saracens, the Auxumitae, and the Homer- ites, about A.D. 540. He wrote a history of his travels ; from which Photius has pre- served extracts, Biblioth. Cod. 3. Isaac, bishop of Nineva,who turned monk, and travelled as far as Italy. He flourished about the year 540, and wrote 87 ascetic discourses, which still exist in MS. A bad Latin translation of 53 of them, much gar- bled, was published in the Biblioth. magn. Patr., torn. xi. Arethas, archbishop of Csesarea in Cappa- docia, is supposed to have lived about A.D. 540. He compiled from Andreas Caesari- ensis an Exposition of the Apocalypse ; ex- tant, Gr. and Lat , annexed to Occumcnius, Paris, 1631. Gregentius, archbp. of Taphar, the me- tropolis of the Homerites in Arabia Felix, flourished A.D 540, and died 552. An ac- count of his dispute with Htrbanus, a learn- ed Jew. is extant, Gr. and Lat., Paris, 1586, 8vo, and in Fr. Ducaens, Auctuar., torn. i. He also compiled a code of civil laws for the Homerites, by order of Abram their king ; which still exists in MS. Barsanuphius, an anchorite of Gaza, in the middle of this century, composed a large amount of ascetic writings, which still exist ; but are not thought worth publishing. Eutychius, a monk, and bishop of Con- stantinople A.D. 553-585. In the year 564 he was deprived of his see and banished by Justinian, for not admitting the incorrupti- bility of Christ's body while he was on earth ; but he was restored in the year 578, and died in 585, aged 73. One epistle of his to pope Vigilius, is extant among the Acts of the fifth general council, A.D. 553, Con- cil., torn, v., p. 425. Cyril, a monk of Palestine who flourished A.D. 557. He composed the lives of sev- eral monks, as of St. John the Silenliary, of St. Euthymius, and of St. Sabas ; all of which are still extant. Paul Cyrus Florus, a poet who flourished about A.D. 555. His poetic description of the church of St. Sophia at Constantinople, built by Justinian, is still extant, Gr. and Lat., by Carol, du Fresne, Pans, 1670, sub- joined to the history of Cinnamus. John, surnamed Climacus from his book, and Sinaita from his residence, and also Scholasticus, was a monk of Mount Sinai, who flourished about A.D. 564. He wrote Scala Paradisi, in 30 chapters, each marking a grade of virtue ; also Liber ad Pastorem : both published, Gr and Lat., by Matt.h. Ra- der, Paris, 1633, fol. John Scholasticus, a presbyter at Antioch, deputy to Constantinople, and bishop there A.D. 564-578. He wrote Collectw Cano- num in 50 Titles, which included the 85 Canons of the Apostles ; also Nomocanon, which, besides a collection of Canons, con- tained an epitome of the civil laws concern- ing ecclesiastical affairs ; likewise, Capita. Ecclesiastica. All these tracts were pub- lished, Gr. and Lat., in JusteWs Biblioth. Juris Canon., torn, ii., p. 499, 603, 660, ed. Paris, 1662. Theodorus, bishop of Tconium, about A.D. 564, wrote the martyrdom of Julitta and her son Cirycus, only three years old, in the per- secution of Diocletian ; published, Gr. and Lat., by Combejis, Acta Martyr, antiq., Par- is, 1660, 8vo, p. 231. Eustratius, a presbyter of the great church at Constantinople, under Eutychius the pa- triarch, about A.D. 578. He wrote a book in confutation of those who say, the soul is inactive when separated from the body ; pub- lished, Gr. and Lat , by Leo Allat. in his historical work concerning purgatory, Rome, 1655. 8vo, p. 319-581. He also wrote the Life of Eutychius the patriarch , published, Gr. and Lat., by Surius and by Papebroch. Theophanes of Byzantium, flourished A.D. CHURCH OFFICERS AND TEACHERS. 399 9. Among the Latin writers, the most distinguished were the follow, ing : Gregory the Great, Roman pontiff; a man of good and upright inten- tions for the most part, but greatly lacking in judgment, superstitious, and opposed to all learning, as his Epistles and Dialogues show. (29) Ccesari- 580, and wrote a History of the^vvars of the monasteries and to a more religious life ; and attempted to eradicate the prevailing Romans with the Persians, A.D. 567-573, in x. Books ; and some other parts of the history of his own times. Only extracts re- main. John Maro, a very prominent man among the Maronitcs, who nourished about A.D. 580. He wrote Commentaries on the Lit- urgy of St. James, which are still extant in Syriac, and have been much quoted by Abr. Echellensis, Morin, Nairon, and others. Leontius, bishop of Neapolis or Hagiopo- lis in Cyprus, who flourished about A.D. 600, and died about A.D. 620 or 630. He wrote an Apology for the Christians against the Jews ; of which a large part is preserved in the fourth Act of the second Nicene council ; Concilior. torn, vii., p. 236. He also wrote some homilies, and biographies of saints. But it is not easy to distinguish his writings from those of Leontius of Byzantium. TV.] (29) His works were published by the French Benedictine, Denys de St. Marthe, in four splendid volumes, fol., Paris, 1705. For an account of him, see the Acta Sane- tor., tom. ii., Martii, p. 121, &c. [Gregory the Great, of senatorial! rank, was born at Rome about A.D. 540. After a good edu- cation, being a youth of great promise, he was early admitted to the senate, and made governor of the city before he was thirty years old. The death of his father put him in possession of a vast estate, which he de- voted wholly to pious and charitable uses. Renouncing public life, he became a monk, built and endowed six monasteries in Sicily, vices of the clergy, simony and debauchery. He was instrumental in converting the Ari- an Lombards to the orthodox faith, and in restraining the ravages of that warlike peo- ple. He interfered in the discipline of for- eign churches ; remonstrated against an im- perial law forbidding soldiers to become monks ; laboured to effect a peace between the Lombards and the emperors ; and at- tended to every interest of the church and the people under him. Yet he claimed no civil authority ; but always treated the em- perors as his lords and masters. In 595 he commenced his long contest with the pa- triarchs of Constantinople, who had assu- med the honorary title of universal bishops. This title Gregory maintained to be blasphe- mous, antichristian, and diabolical, by whom- soever assumed. But he could not induce any of the Orientals to join with him. In 596, he sent Augustine and other monks to con- vert the Anglo-Saxons ; which they accom- plished. In 601, he defended the use of images in churches ; allowed the Saxons to retain some of their pagan customs ; and endeavoured to extend the power of Augus- tine over the ancient British churches. In the same year, when Phocas the usurper murdered all the imperial family, and cloth- ed himself with the purple, Gregory obse- quiously fluttered him, and submitted to his usurpation. At length, worn out with cares and disease, he died in March, A.D. 604, having reigned thirteen years and a half. and a seventh at Rome, in which he himself Gregory was exceedingly active, self-deny- lived under the control of the abbot. In 579, he was drawn from his monastery, or- dained a deacon, and sent as papal legate to the court of Constantinople, where he resi- ded five years, and became very popular. Returning in 584 with a rich treasure of rel- ics, he retired to his monastery and to his favourite mode of life. In 590 he was rais- ed to the papal chair, much against his will ; and for 1 3 years and a half was an indefat- igable bishop, a zealous reformer of the cler- gy and the monasteries, and a strenuous de- fender of the prerogatives of his see. He ing, submissive to his superiors, and courte- ous, sympathetic, and benevolent to all ; yet he was an enthusiast for monkery, and for the honour of his see. His writings are more voluminous than those of any other Roman pontiff. His letters amount to 840 ; besides which, he wrote 35 Books on Job, called Gregory's Morals ; a Pastoral, or treatise on the duties of a pastor, in 4 Books ; 22 Homilies on Ezekiel ; 40 Homilies on the Gospels ; 4 Books of Dialogues To him are ascribed also, an Exposition of the first book of Samuel, in vi. Books ; an Ex- failed in his attempt to coerce the Illyrian position of the seven penitential Psalms ; bishops to condemn the three chapters ; but and an Exposition of the Canticles. His succeeded in disturbing the harmony be- best works are his Pastoral and his Moral*. tween the orthodox and the Donatists in His Dialogue is stuffed with monkish tales ; Africa. He discouraged all coercive meas- and the Exposition of the penitential Psalms ures for the conversion of the Jews ; en- breathes the spirit of later times, and has deavoured to confine the monks to theii been ascribed to Gregory VII. The beat 400 BOOK II. CENTURY VI. PART II. CHAP. II. us of Aries, composed some tracts on moral subjects, and a Rule for Holy Virgins. (30) Fulgentius of Ruspe, contended valiantly, in numerous books, against the Pelagians and the Arians in Africa ; but his diction is harsh and uncouth, like that of most Africans.(31) Ennodius of Pavia was not contemptible among the writers of this age, either for prose or poetry ; but he was an infatuated adulator of the Roman pontiff, whom he exalted to supreme power on earth, maintaining that he was amenable to no au- thority of mortals. (32) Benedict of Nursia, whose name is immortalized by his Rule for a monastic life, and the numerous families of monks who edition is said to be that of St. Marthe ; but that of De Sousainvillc, Paris, 1 675, 3 vols. fol., is esteemed : the latest edition is that of Joh. Bapt. Galltcciolli, Venice, 1768-76, in 17 vols. 4to. His liTe by Paulus Diaco- nus, of the 9th century ; and another by John, deacon at Rome, about 880, in iv. Books, are in Mabillon's A eta Sanctor. Ord. Bened., torn, i., p. 378-484. Among the moderns, besides Du Pin, Boyle, and Oudin, we have Maimbourg's Histoire du Pontifical de S. Gregoire le Grand, Paris, 1686, 4to : Denys de St. Marthe, Histoire de S. Greg, le Gr., Rouen, 1698, 4to, and in the Opp. Greg. M., torn, iv., p. 199-305. See also Bower, Lives of the Popes, (Greg- ory I.), vol. ii., p. 463-543, ed. Lond., 1750, and Schroeckh, Kirchengesch., vol. xvii., p. 243-371. Tr.] (30) The Benedictines have recently giv- en a learned account of Casanus, in their Histoire litteraire de la France, torn, iii., p. 190. [His life, written by his pupils, Cypri- an, Messian, and Stephan, in two Books, is extant in Mabillan, Acta SS. Ord. Benedict., torn, i., p. 636-654. He was born in Gaul, A.D. 469. While a boy, he ran away, and entered the monastery of Lerins ; where he lived many years, and became the butler. His health failing, he retired to Aries ; of which place he was made bishop in the year 502. In the year 506, he was falsely ac- cused of treason, and banished by Alaric king of the Visigoths, to Bourdeaux ; but he was soon recalled. In 508, Theodoric king of the Goths, summoned him to Ravenna to answer a similar charge. Being acquitted, he visited Italy, and returned to Aries. He presided at the council of Aries in 524 ; and at that of Valencia in 529, he triumphantly maintained the principle, that a man cannot obtain salvation without preventing grace. He died A.D. 542, aged 73. He was zeal- ous for monkery, and a strenuous advocate for the doctrines of Augustine respecting free grace and predestination. He has left us 46 Homilies, a Rule for monks, another for nuns, a treatise on the ten virgins, an ex- hortation to charity, an Epistle, and his Will. He also wrote two Books on grace and free will, against Faustus, which are lost. His works are printed in the Biblioth. Pair., vol. viii. and vol. xxvii. See Cave, Hist. Lit- ter., torn, i., p. 492. TV.] (31) See, concerning Fulgentius, the Acta Sanctor., torn, i., Januarii, p. 32, &c. [He was born at Carthage about A.D. 468. His father who was a senator, died while he was young ; but his mother gave him an excel- lent education. While a boy, he had all Homer by rote, and could talk Greek flu- ently. He was early made procurator of the city. But soon weary of public life, he retired to a monastery, became a monk and an abbot, changed his monastery, endured persecution from the Arians, went to Syra- cuse, and thence to Rome in the year 500 ; returned to Africa again, was elected bishop of Ruspe in 507, was banished to Sardinia by Thrasimund the Arian king of the Van- dals, recalled by Hilderic the succeeding king, and ruled his church till his death in 533. He was one of the most learned, pi- ous, and influential bishops of his age. He wrote three Books ad Monimum, (on pre- destination and the kindred doctrines) ; one Book against the Arians ; three Books ad Thrasimundum regem, (on the person and offices of Christ) ; ten Sermons on divers subjects ; de Fide orthodoxa Liber ad do- natum ; de Fide Liber ad Petr. Diacon. eleven Epistles ; de Trinitate Liber ; on Predestination and Grace, three Books ; and various other Tracts and Homilies ; all of which were published, Paris, 1684, 4to. Among his lost works were seven Books on grace and free will, addressed to Faustus ; and ten Books on predestination and grace, against Fabian. See Cave's Hist. Lit., torn, i., p 493. Tr.] (32) See the Histoire Litteraire de la France, torn, iii., p. 96, &c. [Ennodius was born A.D. 473, of a proconsular family. He married young ; was afterwards deacon at Pavia, and subsequently at Rome ; was twice papal legate to the emperor at Con- stantinople ; was made bishop of Pavia in 511, and died in 521. He wrote nine Books of Epistles, or 297 in number, which are un- published, and of little use to the history of CHURCH OFFICERS AND TEACHERS. 401 have followed it.(33) Dionysius, surnamed Exiguus on account of hia lowliness of mind, has deserved well of his own age and of posterity, by his collection of ancient canons and his chronological researches. (34) Ful- gentius Fcrrandus, an African, procured himself reputation by some small treatises, especially by his Abridgment of the canons; but his diction has no charms. (35) Facundus of Henniane was a strenuous defender of the three chapters, of which an account will be given hereafter. (36) Arator versified the Acts of the Apostles, in Latin, not badly.(37) Primasius of Adrumetum wrote Commentaries on the epistles of Paul, and a book on her- esies ; which are yet extant. (38) Liberatus, by his Breviarium or con- cise history of the Nestorian and Eutychian controversies, merits a re- his times ; also a Panegyric on Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths ; an Apology for the Synod of Rome, A.D. 503 ; the life of Epiphanius, his predecessor at Pavia ; life of Antony, a monk of Lerins ; two Books of poems or epigrams ; and various other little pieces ; all of which were published by Ja. Sirmond, Paris, 1611, 8vo ; and in the Works of Sirmond, vol. i., Paris, 1696 ; also in the Biblioth. Patr., torn. ix. 7V.] (33) [See above, p. 392, $ 6, and note (15). He has left us nothing in writing, ex- cept his monastic regulations, two Epistles, and two discourses ; which are in the Bib- lioth. Patr., torn, ix., p. 640, &c. 7>.] (34) [A monk of Scythian extract, who flourished at Rome A.D. 533, and died before A.D. 556. He was intimate with Cassiodo- rus, who gives him a high character for intelli- gence and virtue. Being familiar with Greek, he collected and translated a body of canons, including the first 50 Apostolic Canons, and those of the councils of Nice, Constantinople, Chalcedon, Sardica, and some in Africa ; he also made a collection of the decrees of the Roman pontiffs, from Siricius to Anastasius II. : both are extant in Justcll's Biblioth. Juris Canonici, torn. i. He likewise trans- lated a synodic epistle of Cyril of Alex., a paschal epistle of Prctcnus, the life of St. Pachomius, an Oration of Proclus, Gregory Nyssen de opificio hominis, and a history of the discovery of the head of John the Bap- tist : and composed a Paschal Cycle of 97 years, commencing A.D. 527, of which only a fragment remains. In the last work, he proposed that Christians should use the time of Christ's birth as their era; which propo- sal was soon followed universally. Hence, the Christian era is called the Dionysian era. But Dionysius miscalculated the time of O/im/'* birth, placing it four years (as most writers suppose) too late. 7Y.J (3o) [Fulgcnlius Fcrrandus was a pupil of Fitl^cntius Ruspensis, and a deacon at Carthage. He flourished A.D. 533 and on- ward. His Abridgment of the canons is a short digest of ecclesiastical law, reduced VOL. I. E E E to 232 heads ; it is in JusleWs Bibliotb. Juris Canon., torn. i. He also wrote the life of Fulgentius of Ruspe, and seven doctrinal Epistles. All his works were published by Chifflct, Dijon, 1049, 4to, and then in the Biblioth. Patr., torn, ix. TV.] (36) [Facundus was bishop of Henniane in Africa, but spent many years at Constan- tinople, as a representative of the African churches at the imperial court. It was here, and in the years 546 and 547, that he com- posed his twelve Books pro defensione trium Capitulorum, which he presented to the em- peror Justinian. He also wrote a book against Atutianus Scholasticus, who had in- veighed against the African churches for re- fusing communion with Vigilius. These, together with an Epistle in defence of the three chapters, were published by Ja. Sir- mond, Paris, 1629, 8vo, and annexed to Op- tatus of Milevi, Paris, 1675, fol., and thence in the Bibl. Patr., torn, x., p. 1, 109. TV.] (37) [Aralor was first an advocate, then one of the court of king Athalaric, and finally a subdeacon at Rome. He flourished from A.D. 527 to 544; in which latter year he presented his poetic version of the Acts in two Books, to Vigilius the Roman pontiff. He was much esteemed and honoured both by Athalaric and Vigilius. The poem was first published, with a commentary, at Sala- manca in 1516 ; and afterwards in the Bib- lioth. Patr., torn, x., p. 125. TV] (38) [Primasius, bishop of Adrumetum or Justinianopolis in Africa, was a delegate to the court of Constantinople, A.D. 550 and 553, and defended the three chapters. His Commentary on the Epistles of Paul, was compiled from Jerome, Ambrose, Au- . and others. He likewise composed a mystical Exposition of the Apocalypse, in five Books. Both are in the Biblioth. Patr., torn. x. He moreover wrote de Haertsibu*, libri iii. ; which are lost, unless they are those published in the Biblioth. Patr., torn. xxvn , the author of which has been so much disputed. See Cave, Hist. Litterar., torn, i., p 525, &c TV.] 402 BOOK II. CENTURY VI. PART II. CHAP. II. spectable place among the writers of these times. (39) Fortunattts pos- sessed a happy vein for poetry, which he employed on various subjects, and is read not without pleasure at the present day. (40) Gregory of Tours, the father of French history, would have been in higher esteem with the moderns, if jjis Annals of the Franks and his other writings did not exhibit so many marks of weakness and credulity. (41) Gildas of Britain is not to be passed over, because he is the most ancient of the British writers, and because his little book on the destruction of Britain contains many things worth being known. (42) Columbanus of Ireland acquired celebrity (39) [Liberatus was archdeacon of the church of Carthage. He was sent twice as a legate to Rome, in 534 and 535. His Breviarium is esteemed very authentic and correct, though not elegant. It contains the history of that controversy for 125 years, or to about A.D. 553 ; and was the result of great research and labour. It was pub- lished by Gamier, Paris, 1 675, 8vo, and in most of the Collections of Councils. TV.] (40) Histoire Litteraire de la France, torn, iii., p. 464. [Venantius Honorarius Clementianus Fortunatus was born in Italy, and educated at Ravenna. About the mid- dle of the century, having been cured of his diseased eyes by St. Martin of Tours, he determined to visit the tomb of that saint. From Tours he went to Poictiers, where he lived to the end of the century ; wrote much, became a presbyter, and at last bishop of Poictiers. His poetic works are, two Books of short poems, dedicated to Gregory of Tours ; four Books on the life of St. Mar- tin ; and several other short poems. They are in the Biblioth. Pair., torn, x., and were published by Brower, Mogunt., 1603 and 1616, 4to. His prose writings are short Explanations of the Lord's Prayer and of the Apostles' Creed ; and the lives of eight or ten Gallic saints; viz., St. Albinus, bishop of Angers ; St. Gcrmanus, bishop of Paris ; St. Radegund, a queen ; St. Hilarius, bish- op of Poictiers ; St. Marcellus, bishop of Paris ; St. Amanlius, bishop of Rodez ; St. Remigius, bishop of Rheims ; and St. Paternus, bishop of Avranches. The two following are doubtful ; St. Mauritius, bish- op of Angers ; and St. Medard, bishop of Noyon. All these are extant either in Su- rra*' or Mabillon's collections. TV.] (41) A particular account is given of him, in the Histoire Litteraire de la France, torn. p. 372. For an account of his faults, see Fran. Pagi, Diss. de Dionysio Paris. $ xxv., p. 16, annexed to his Breviar. Pon- tif. Romanor., torn. iv. But many of his defects are extenuated by Jo. Launoi, Opp., torn, i., pt. ii., p. 131, &c. [Georgius Florentinus Gregorius was born of noble parentage, at Auvergne, A.D. 544. After an education under his bishop, he went to Tours in the year" 556, became deacon in 569, and bishop in 573, and died in 595, aged 52. He was much engaged in coun- cils and in theological disputes, and at the same time a great writer. Orthodox, active, and rather indiscreet, he was frequently in- volved in difficulties, for he was deficient in judgment and acumen. His great work, An- nalcs Francorum, (sometimes called Chron- ica, Gesta, Historia, and Historia Ecclesi- astica Francoruni), in ten Books, gives a summary history of the world, from the cre- ation to the establishment of the kingdom of the Franks ; and afterwards a detailed histo- ry, to the year 591. He also wrote Mirac- ulorum libri vii. ; containing the miracles of St. Martin, in four Books ; on the glory of Martyrs, two Books ; and on the glory of Confessors, one Book. Besides these, he wrote de vitis Patrum (monks) Liber unus ; de vita et morte vii. dormientium ; and an Epitome of the history of the Franks, com- posed before he wrote his Annales. All his works, collectively, were best edited by Theod. Ruinart, Paris, 1699, fol. They are also in the Biblioth. Pair., torn. xi. TV.] (42) Concerning Gildas and Columbanus, none have treated more accurately than the Benedictines, in the Histoire Litteraire do la France, torn, iii., p. 279 and 505. [Gil- das was surnamed the Wise, and also Bado- nius, from the battle of Badon (Bath) about the time of his birth, which was A.D. 520. By these epithets he is distinguished from Gildas Albanius, who lived a little earlier. He was well educated, became a monk of Bangor, and is said to have visited and la- boured some time in Ireland. On his return he visited the monastery of Lhancarvan, lately founded by a nobleman of South Wales ; whose example Gildas urged oth- ers to imitate. He spent some time in the northern part of Britain ; visited France and Italy ; and returned and laboured as a faith- ful preacher. He is supposed to have died at Bangor, A.D. 590 ; though some place his death 20 years earlier. His only entire work, now existing, is his Epistola de excidio Britanniae, et castigatione Ordinis Ecclesi- astici ; in which he depicts and laments over the almost total ruin of his country, and the CHURCH OFFICERS AND TEACHERS. 403 by his Rule for monks, some poems, and uncommon zeal for the erection of monasteries. (43) Isidorus of Seville, (Hispalensis), composed various grammatical, theological, and historical works ; but shows himself to have lacked a sound judgment. (44) The list of Latin authors in this century may well be closed by two very learned men, the illustrious Boethius, a philosopher, orator, poet, and theologian, who was second to no one of hia times for elegance and acutcness of genius ;(45) and M. Aurelius Cassio- dorus Senator, who was indeed inferior in many respects to the former, yet no contemptible author.(46) Both have left us various productions of their pens. (47) profligacy of manners then prevailing. It was first published by Polydore Virgil, in 1525; but the best edition is that of Tho. Gale, in the first vol. of his Historiae Brit- annicae, Saxonicae, &c., Scriptores quinde- cim, Lond., 1691, fol. He also wrote sev- eral letters, and perhaps some other pieces, of which only extracts remain. See Cave, Hist. Litter., torn, i., p. 538, &c. TV.] (43) [For a notice of Columbanus, see above, p. 392, note (14). Tr.] (44) [Isidorus Hispalensis, or junior, was the son of Severian, prefect of Carthagena in Spain, and brother of Fulgcniius bishop of Carthagena, and of Leander, whom he succeeded A.D. 595, as bishop of Seville. He presided in the council of Seville in 619, and in that of Toledo A.D. 633, and died A.D. 636. He was a voluminous writer; and has left us a Chronicon, from the crea- tion to A.D. 626 ; Historia Gothorum, Van- dalorum, et Suevorum ; Originum, sive Etymologiarum, Libri xx. ; de Scriptorilms ccclesiasticis, (a continuation of Jerome and Gennadius, embracing twenty-three wri- ters) ; de vita, et morte Sanctorum utriusque Testament! Liber ; de dtvinis sive ecclesi- aslicis Offifiis, Libri ii. ; de differentiis sive proprietate verborum, Libri ii. ; Synonymo- ntm sive soliloquiorum, Libri ii. ; de natura rerum sive de mundo. Liber philosophicus ; Liber pracmiorum. ad libros utriusque Testa- ment! ; Commentaria in libros historicos Veteris Test, (a compilation) ; AU.cgvria.rum quarundam S. Scripturae Liber ; contra ne- giiitiamJitdacarum, Libri ii. ; Sententiarum, sive de summo bono, Libri iii. ; Regula Monachorum ; de conflictu Tittoriim et vir- tutum Liber ; Expositio in Cantica Canti- corum ; several Epistles and minor treatises. To him is falsely ascribed a collection of councils and decretals. His works were best published, Paris, 1601, fol., and Cologne, 1617, fol. Tr.] (45) [Aniciws Manlius Torquatus Scve- riflus Boethivs, born of an illustrious fam- ily at Rome, about A.D. 470, was sent in his childhood to Athens for education, where he spent eighteen years ; and then returned to Rome, the most learned man of the age. He was consul in the years 510 and 522. Soon after his return to Rome, he was made a patrician, and admitted to the senate. When Theodoric king of the Goths entered Rome, A.D. 500, Boethius was appointed by the senate to address him. The king soon after made him one of his council, and master of his palace. After faithfully serv- ing the king and his country for more than twenty years, he was in 523 falsely accused of a treasonable correspondence, condemned on suborned testimony, and sent to Pavia, where he was kept in close confinement a year or more, and then privately put to death by order of the king. He was a voluminous writer. Besides more than forty Books of translations and commentaries on Aristotle, Porphyry, and Cicero, he wrote two Books on arithmetic, five Books on music, two Books on geometry, and several tracts against the Eutychians, Nestorians, and oth- er errorists. But his most famous work was de consolatione philosophiae, Libri v., written while in prison at Pavia. This was translated into Saxon, by Alfred the Great, (printed, Oxford, 1698) ; and into English by Chaucer, and by queen Elisabeth. It was composed partly in verse, and partly in prose ; and has the form of a dialogue be- tween Boitlnus himself, and Philosophy per- sonified ; who endeavours to console him with considerations, derived not from Chris- tianity, but from the doctrines of Plato, Zeno, and Aristotle. The works of Boithius were published with notes, Basil, 1570, fol. See Care, Hist. Litterar., torn, i., p. 495, &c., and Brufker, Hist. crit. Philos., torn, iii. Genaise, Histoire de Boece, Paris, 1715, 2 vols. 8vo, and Schroeckh, Kirchen- gesch., vol. xvi., p. 99-121. Tr.] (46) See Rich. Simon, Critique de la Bibliotheque eccles. de M. du Pin, tome L, p. 211, &c. [Senator was part of the name, and not the title of Cassiodorus. This em- inent statesman and monk was bom of honourable parents, at Squillace in the king- dom of Naples, probably before A.D. 470. Odoacer, in 491, made him Comes rerum 404 BOOK II. CENTURY VI. PART II. CHAP. II. privatarum et sacrarum largitionum. ' Two years after, Thcodoric became master of It- aly, and made him his private secretary ; and subsequently governor of Calabria ; but soon recalled him to court, and made him successively quaestor of the palace, master of the offices, consul, and praetorian pre- fect. The death of Theodoric in 526, did not deprive Cassiodorus of his high rank ; but in 539, being now about 70 years old, he retired to a monastery, founded by him- self near his native town in Calabria, where he lived more than twenty years in honour- able retirement, devoted to literature and re- ligion. His works are voluminous ; viz., Epistolarum Libri xii. (his official letters) ; Historiae Eccles. Tripartitae Lib. xii., (an abridgment from the Latin translations of Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret, made by Epiphanius Scholasticus) ; Chronicon, ab Adamo usque ad annum 519 ; Computus Paschalis ; de Rebus Gestis Gothorum, Lib. xii., (which we have, as abridged by Jor- nandes ; the original is supposed still to ex- ist in MS.) ; Expositio in Psalmos Davidis ; Institutionis ad divinas lectiones lib. ii. ; de Orthographia Liber; de vii. Disciplinis Liber, (on the seven liberal arts ; viz., the trivium, or grammar, rhetoric, and logic ; and the quadrimum, or arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy) ; de Anima Li- ber ; de Oratione, et viii partibus Orationis ; short Comments on the Acts, the Epistles, and Apocalypse, (published separately by bishop Chandler, Lond., 1722, 8vo). Most of the other works are in the Biblioth. Pair., torn, xi., and all of them were well edited by the Benedictines, in 2 vols. fol., Rouen, 1679. See Cave, Histor. Litterar., torn, i., p. 501, and Schroeckh, Kirchengesch., vol. xvi., p. 128-154. TV.] (47) [The following are the Latin writers omitted by Dr. Mosheim. Paschasius, deacon of the church of Rome, who took sides with Laurentius in his contest for the pontificate in 498, and died in 512. He has left us an Epistle to Eugyppius ; and ii. Books on the Holy Spirit, against Macedonius ; which are in the 8th vol. of the Biblioth. Patrum. Laurentius, bishop of Novara in the north of Italy, flourished about A.D. 507. Two of his Homilies, on penitence and alms, are in the Biblioth. Pair , torn. ix. Epiphanius Scholasticus, an Italian, who flourished about A.D. 510. He translated the Ecples. Histories of Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret, into Latin ; that Cassiodorus might thence make out his Historia Eccles. Tripartitia, in xii. Books. The original translations are lost. Eugyppius, abbot of a monastery near Naples about A.D. 511. He wrote the life of St. Severimis, the apostle of Noricum ; published by Surius. Hormisdas, Roman pontiff A.D. 514 523 ; who made peace, after a' long contest, between the Oriental and Western churches. He has left us eighty Epistles, and some Decretals, in the Concilior., torn. iv. Orentius, or Orientius, bishop of Eliberis in Spain A.D. 516. He wrote Commoni- torium fidelibus, metro Heroico, in ii. Books. The first Book is in the Bibhoth. Patr., torn, vii. ; and both, with other short poems, in Edm. Martene's Thesaur. Anecdot., torn, v., Paris, 1717.. Peter, a deacon, who vigorously aided the deputation of Oriental monks at Rome, A.D. 520, and wrote de Incarnatione et gratia D. N. Jesu Christi, Liber ; extant among the works of Fulgentius, and in Biblioth. Patr., torn. ix. Felix IV., Roman pontiff A.D. 526-530. Three Epistles, in the Concilior. torn, iv., are ascribed to him ; but the two first are spurious. Justinianl., emperor A.D. 527-565. Be- sides the Corpus Juris Civilis, (viz., Insti- tutionum lib. iv. Pandectar. sive Digesto- rum, lib. 1. Codicis lib. xii., A.D. 528-535 ; and Novella, after A.D. 535), he issued six Decrees and Epistles relating to ecclesiasti- cal affairs, which are in the Concilior. torn. v. Nicetius, of Gallic extract, a monk, abbot, and archbishop of Treves A.D. 527-568. He was distinguished for piety, and the con- fidence reposed in him. Two of his tracts, de Vigiliis Servorum Dei, and de Bona Psal- modia, were published by Dacherius, Spi- cilegium, torn, iii., (ed. nova, torn. i.,p. 221, 223) ; and two of his letters, (to the empe- ror Justinian, and to queen Chlosuinda), are in the Concilior. torn. v. Justus, bishop of Urgel in Catalonia, Spain, flourished A.D. 529, and died about A.D. 540. His Commentary on the Can- ticles is in the Biblioth. Patr., torn. ix. Two epistles of his are also extant. Boniface II., Roman pontiff A.D. 530- 532, has left us two Epistles ; in the Con- cilior. torn. iv. Cogitosus, an Irish monk, grandson of St. Brigit, and supposed to have lived about A.D. 530. He wrote Vita Sanctae Brigi- da ; which is published by Canisius, Su- rius, and Bolland. Montanus, archbishop of Toledo in Spain, during nine years, about A.D. 531. He has left us two Epistles ; extant in the Concil- ior. torn. iv. John II., Roman pontiff A.D. 532-535- At the request of Justinian, he solemnly sanctioned the orthodoxy of the expression : CHURCH OFFICERS AND TEACHERS. 405 One of the Trinity suffered crucifixion. One spurious and five genuine Epistles of his, are in the Concilior. torn. iv. Marcellinus, Comes of Illyricum, flour- ished A.D. 534. His Chronicon, (from the yc-ar 379, where Jerome's closes, to the year 534), has been often published ; and is in the Biblioth. Pair., torn. ix. Agapctus, Roman pontiff A.D. 535. 536. Seven of his Epistles (one of them spurious) are in the Concilior. torn, iv., and one in torn. v. \'ii.nlius, Roman pontiff A.D. 537-555. He obtained his see by intrigue and duplici- ty ; conspired against his predecessor whom he brought to the grave ; and when confirm- ed in his see, showed himself supremely am- bitious, and ready to sacrifice consistency, conscience, the truth itself, to promote his own selfish designs. He issued the most solemn declarations, both for and against the three chapters. In 547 Justinian called him to Constantinople, where he detained him seven years, and compelled him to condemn the three chapters, and himself also, for hav- ing repeatedly defended them. We have 18 Epistles, and several of his contradictory Decretals, in the Concilior. torn. v. Gordianus, a monk of Messina, carried off by the Saracens in the year 539, when they burned and plundered that monastery. Gor- dian escaped from the Saracens and returned to Sicily, where he wrote the life ofPlacidus, the Benedictine abbot of Messina, who, with many others, was slam in the capture of that monastery. It is extant in Sunus, and in Mabillon, Acta Sanctor., torn. i. Victor, bishop of Capua about A.D. 545. He translated into Latin Ammonius' Har- mony of the iv. Gospels, falsely ascribed to Tatinn ; and extant in the Biblioth. Patr., torn, iii., p. 265. Cyprianus, a Gaul, and pupil of Casarius of Aries. He flourished A.D. 546, and wrote theirs/ book of the life and achievements of Casarius. Both books are in Surius, and in Mabillon, Acta Sanctor., torn. i. Mutianu-s Scholasticus. flourished A.D. 550. At the suggestion of Cassiodorus, he translated 34 Homilies of Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews into Latin ; printed at Cologne, 1530. Kusticjts, a deacon at Rome, who accom- panied pope Vigilius to Constantinople in 547, and showed more firmness than his bishop. His Dialogus sive disputatio ad- rersus Acephalos, (in which he inveighs against Vigilius), is extant in the Biblioth. Patr., torn. x. Junilius, an African bishop, who lived about A.D. 550, has left us de Partibux Di- vintt Lcgts, Libri ii., in the Biblioth. Patr., torn, x., p. 339. Jornandes, or Jordanus, of Gothic ex- tract, bishop of the Goths at Ravenna. His one Book de Rebus Geticis, or Historia. Gothorum, from the earliest times to A.D. 540, is an abridgment of the 12 books of I <>r us on the same subject. His de Regnorum et Temporum successions Liber, is transcribed from floras. Both works are extant in Muratori, Rerum Italicar. Scrip- tores, torn, i., 1723. Eugyppius, an African presbyter and ab- bot, who flourished about A.D. 553. He compiled from the works of St. Augustine a collection of sentences on various subjects, in 338 chapters ; printed, Basil, 1542. Vtctur, bishop of Tunis in Africa, a reso- lute defender of the three chapters, was in prisons and banishments from A.D. 555 to 565. He wrote a Chronicon, from the crea- tion to A.D. 566 ; but the last 122 years of it are all that remain ; published by Scaliger, with the Chronicon of Eusebius. Germanus, (St. Germain), born at Autun, France, A.D. 496 ; deacon, 533 ; presbyter, 536 ; and bishop of Paris, A.D. 555-576. An epistle of his to queen Brunechild, writ- ten A.D. 573, is in the Concilior. torn. v. His life, written by Venantius Fortunatus, is in Mabillon, Acta Sanctor. Ord. Bened., torn, i., p. 222, &c. Pelagius I., Roman pontiff A.D. 555- 559. He was papal legate at Constantino- ple A.D. 535-545 ; and a strenuous oppo- ser of the three chapters. Sixteen of his Epistles are in the Concilior. torn. v. Martin, a monk, born in Pannonia. He travelled in Palestine, preached and became an abbot in Spain, and finally bishop of Bra- ga in Portugal, A.D. 563-583. He has left us Colleclto Canonum, (extant, in Concil- ior. torn, v., and in JusleWs Biblioth. Juris Canon., torn, i.) ; Sent cntitz pat rum JEgyp- tiorum, (in Kosiriyd, de vitis Patr.) ; and Formula honcstct vita, extant in the Bibli- oth. Patr., torn, x., p. H Pclagius II., Roman pontiff A.D. 579- 590. He had much contention with the western bishops, who defended the three chapters ; and after A.D. 589, with John, bishop of Constantinople, who assumed the title of universal bishop. Ten of his Epis- tles, and six decrees, are extant in the Con- cilior. torn. v. is, bishop of Avenches in Switzer- land for 20 years, flourished A.D. 581. H-^ has left us a Chronicon, continuing that of Prosper, from 455 to 581. Licinmnus, bishop of Carthagena in Spain A.D. 584. He has left us three Epistles ; in de Aguirre, Collect, max. Concil. His- pan., torn. ii. John, a Spanish Goth, educated at Con- stantinople, returned to Spain A.D. 584, 40G BOOK II. CENTURY VI. PART II. CHAP. III. CHAPTER III. . HISTORY OF THEOLOGY. X 1. Continued sinking of Theology. 2. This Exemplified. 3. State of Exegetical Theology. 4. Faults of the Interpreters. 5. Dogmatic Theology. $ 6. Practical Theology. 7. Lives of Saints. $ 8. Polemic Theology. 9. Contests about Ori- genism. 10. About the Three Chapters. 11. The fifth general Council. 12. Contests about one of the Trinity being Crucified. 1. THE barriers of the ancient simplicity and truth being once viola- ted, the state of theology waxed worse and worse ; and the amount of the impure and superstitious additions to the religion of Christ, is almost inde- scribable. The controversial theologians of the East continued to darken the great doctrines of revelation by the most subtle distinctions and I know not what philosophical jargon. Those who instructed the people at large, made it their sole care to imbue them more and more with ignorance, su- perstition, reverence for the clergy, and admiration of empty ceremonies ; and to divest them of all sense and knowledge of true piety. Nor was this strange, for the blind, that is, persons for the most part grossly igno- rant and thoughtless, were the leaders of the blind. 2. Whoever wishes to gain more distinct information on this subject, need only read what occurs in the epistles and other writings of Gregory the Great, among others, respecting the worshipping of images and de- parted saints, the fire which purifies souls after death, the efficacy of good works, that is, of human prescriptions and devices for attaining salvation, the power of relics to remove defects both of soul and body, and other things of the like character. A man of sense cannot help smiling at the generosity of the good Gregory in distributing his relics ; but at the same time he must feel pity for the simple, stupid people, who could be persua- ded that oil taken from lamps burning at the sepulchres of the martyrs, pos- sessed uncommon virtues and efficacy, and added both holiness and secu- rity to its possessors.(l) 3. To give directions for expounding the holy scriptures, was the ob- ject of Junilius in his two Books on the parts of the divine law. (2) The treatise consists of a few questions, neither scientifically arranged nor ju- became an abbot, was persecuted by Lewi- A.D. 593, and wrote the life of St. Maximus, gild the Arian king, and died early in the bishop of Reiz ; and the life of St. Manus, seventh century. He has left a Chronicon abbot of Bobi. from A.D. 565 to 590. Eutropius, a monk, and bishop of Valen- Leander, archbishop of Seville (Hispal- cia in Spain, flourished A.D. 599. One of ensis) in Spain, flourished A.D. 583, and his Epistles is preserved by Lu. Holstenius, died 595. He was a monk, an ambassador Codex Regular., Paris, 1663. TV.] to Constantinople, and a principal means of (1) See the List of sacred oils which Greg- the conversion of the Arian Goths of Spain ory the Great sent to queen Theodtlinda ; to the Catholic faith. A monastic Rule is in Theod. Ruinart, Acta martyr, sincera et all we have of him ; unless he was author selecta, p. 619, [and in Muratori, Anecdota of the Missa Mozarabum. Latina. torn, ii., p. 194. Schl.~\ Dynamius, collector of the revenues of (2) See Rich. Simon, Critique de la Bib- the Romish church in Gaul. He flourished liotheque de M. du Pin, torn, i., p. 229. HISTORY OF THEOLOGY. 497 Viciously considered ; for the author lacked the learning necessary for his undertaking. Cassiodorus likewise laid down some rules for interpreta- tion, in his two books on the divine laws. Among the Syrians, Philoxenua translated the books of the New Testament and the Psalms of David into Syriac.(3) The number of interpreters was considerable. Among the Greeks, the besf were Procopius of Gaza, (rather a pleasing expositor),(4) Severus of Antioch, Julianus, and some others. Among the Latins, the more prominent were Gregory the Great, Cassiodorus, Primasius,(5) Isi- dorus of Seville,(6) Bellator,(7) and a few others. 4. All these expositors, (a few only excepted and particularly the Nestorians in the East, who, following the example of Theodorus of Mop- suestia, searched for the true sense and meaning of the words), are scarce- ly worthy of the name of interpreters. They may be divided into two classes. Some merely collected the opinions and interpretations of the earlier doctors, in works which afterwards obtained the name of Catenae (or Chains) among the Latins.(8) Such is the Catena of Olympiodorus on Job, that of Victor of Capua on the four Gospels, and the Commentary of Primasius on the Epistle to the Romans, compiled from Augustine, Je- rome, Ambrose, and others. Nor is Procopius of Gaza to be wholly ex. eluded from this class, although he -sometimes followed his own judgment. The others follow the footsteps of Origen, and neglecting wholly the literal meaning, run after allegories and moral precepts, deducing whatever they wish or desire from the sacred books by the aid of a roving imagination. Of this class, is Anastasius Sinaita, whose Analogical contemplations on the Hexaemeron expose the ignorance and credulity of the author ; likewise Gregory the Great, whose Morals on Job were formerly extolled undeserv- edly ; also Isidorus of Seville, in his Book of allegories on Scripture ; and Primasius, in his Mystic exposition of the Apocalypse ; and many others. 5. An accurate knowledge of religious doctrines and a simple and lucid exposition of them, no one will expect from the teachers of these times. Most of them reasoned, as blind men do about colours ; and thought they acquitted themselves nobly, when they had thrown out some crude and indigested thoughts, and overwhelmed opposcrs with the artillery of words. Yet among the writers of this age, may be clearly discovered the marks and germinations of that threefold manner of treating theology, which still prevails both among the Greeks and the Latins. For some collected to- ircthcr sentences from the ancient doctors and councils, backed by cita- tions from the Scriptures. Such was Isidore of Seville, among the Latins, whose three Books of sentences are still extant ; and among the Greeks, Le~ ontius of Cyprus, whose Loci Communes, or Commonplace-book, compiled from the works of the ancients, have been commended. From these ori- (3) Jos. Sim. Asseman, Biblioth. Orient. Cassiodorus, and flourished A. D. 550. He Vatican., torn, ii., p. 83. wrote numerous Commentaries ; viz., vi. (4) See Rich. Simon, Lettres choisies, Books on Esther, v. Books on Tobit, vii. torn, iv., p. 120, of the new edition. Books on Judith, viii. Books on the Wisdom (5) Rich. Simon, Histoire critique des of Solomon, and x. Books on the Maccabees ; principaux Oommentateurs du N. T., cap. all of which are now lost. TV.] ixiv., p. 337, and Critique de la Biblioth. de (8) See Stcph. le Moyne, Prolegom. ad M. du Pin, torn, i., p. 226. Varia Sacra, p. 53, &c., and Jo. Alb. Fabri- (6) Rich. Simon, Critique de la Biblio- cius, Biblioth. Graca, lib. v., cap. 17, or theque de M. du Pin, tome i., p. 259. vol. vii., p. 727, &c. (7) [Bellator was a presbyter, a friend of 408 BOOK II. CENTURY VI. PART II. CHAP. III. ginated that species of theology, which the Latins afterwards called Pos- itive Theology. Others attempted to unfold the nature of religious doc- trines, by reasoning ; which was the method generally adopted by those who disputed against the Nestorians, Eutychians, and Pelagians. These may be fitly called Scholastics. Others again, who believed that all divine truth must be learned by internal feeling and by contemplation, assumed the name of Mystics. This threefold method of treating religious subjects, has continued down to the present day. A proper and complete system of theology, no one of this age produced ; but various parts of theology were occasionally illustrated. 6. To explain and inculcate piety and Christian duty, some gave pre- cepts, while others employed examples. Those who gave precepts for a pious life, endeavoured to shape the Christian character either of persons engaged in the business of active life, or that of the more perfect who re- tire from the contagious influence of the world. A Christian life in the former case, they represented as consisting in certain external virtues and the badges of piety ; as appears from the homilies and exhortations of Cce- sarius, the Monitory Chapters of Agapetus, and especially from the Sum- mary of a virtuous life, by Martin of Braga.(9) In the latter case they aimed to withdraw the soul by contemplation from the intercourse and contagion of the body ; and therefore advised to macerate the body by watching, fasting, constant prayer, and singing of hymns ; as is manifest from Fulgentius on fasting, Nicetius on the Vigils of the servants of God, and on the advantages of Psalmody. The Greeks, for the most part, fol- lowed as their leader in these matters Dionysius, denominated the Areop- agite ; on whom John of Scythopolis, during this age, published annota- tions. How exceedingly defective all these views were, is visible to every one who is acquainted with the Holy Scriptures. 7. To inculcate piety by examples, was the aim of all those who wrote Lives of the Saints. The number of these, both among the Greeks and the Latins, was very considerable. Ennodius, Eugyppius, Cyril of Scy- thopolis, Dionysius Exiguus, Cogitosus, and others, are well known. Nearly all these entertain their readers with marvellous and silly fables ; and they propose for imitation none but delirious persons or those of perverted minds, who did violence to nature, and adopted austere and fantastic rules of life. To endure hunger and thirst without repining, to go naked about the country like madmen, to immure themselves in a narrow place, to ex- pect to behold with their eyes closed an indescribable divine light ; this was accounted holy and glorious. The less any one resembled a man of a rational and sane mind, the more confidently might he hope to obtain an honoured place among the heroes and demigods of the church. 8. In efforts to settle theological controversies, many were diligent, and none successful. Scarcely an individual can be named who contend- ed against the Eutychians, the Nestorians, or the Pelagians, Avith fairness, sobriety, and decorum. Primasius and Philoponus treated of all the here- sies : but time has swept away their works. A book of Leontius on the sects is extant ; but it deserves little praise. Against the Jews, Isidore of Seville, and Leontius of Neapolis, engaged in controversy : but with what degree of skill, may easily be conjectured by those who reflect on the cir- (9) See Acta Sanctor. Martii, torn, iii., p. 86, &c., [and Biblioth. Patr., torn, x., p. 382. -TV.] HISTORY OF THEOLOGY. 409 cumstanccs of the age. It will be better therefore to proceed to a brief account of the controversies themselves which disturbed the church in this century, than to treat in detail of these miserable disputants. 9. Although Origen lay under condemnation by many public senten- ces and decrees, yet the attachment of many to him, especially among the monks, scorned all limitation. In the West, one Bellator translated va- rious books of Origen into Latin. (10) In the East, particularly in Syria and Palestine which were the principal seats of Origenism, the monks were exceedingly zealous : and they had the approbation of certain bishops, especially of Theodoras of Csesarea in Cappadocia, in defending the correct- ness and the authority of Origen's sentiments.(ll) The subject was brought before the emperor Justinian ; and he issued a long and full edict addressed to Mennas the bishop of Constantinople, in which he strongly con- demned Origen and his opinions ; and forbid his opinions' being taught.(12) The contest about the three Chapters commencing soon after, Origenism not only revived in Palestine, but it spread and gathered strength. These commotions were brought to a termination by the fifth [general] council, at Constantinople, assembled by Justinian in the year 553, when Origen and his adherents were again condemned. (13) (10) [This is founded on a conjecture of Huet, (Origeniana, p. 252), who ascribes the Latin translation of Origen's Homilies on Matthew, in particular, to this Bellator. Sckl.] (11) See Cyril of Scythopolis, Vita Sa- bae ; in Jo. Bapl. Cotelier, Monumenta Eccles. Graecae, p. 370, &c., and Hen. No- ris, Diss. de Synodo quinta, cap. i., ii., in his Opp., torn, i., p. 554. (12) This decree is extant in Jo. Harduin, Concihor. torn, iii., p. 243, &c. [It was first published by Baronius, Annal. Eccl. ad ann. 538 ; and thence passed into all the collections of Councils. 7Y.J (13) See the decree of the council in Jo. Harduin, Concilior. torn, iii., p. 283, &c. See also Evagnus, Hist. Eccles., lib. iv., c. 38 ; and on this whole subject, see Ja. Bas- nage, Histoire de 1'Eglise, lorn, i., lib. x., c. 6, p. 517, &c. Pet. Dan. Huet, Origeniana, lib. ii., p. 224. Lud. Doncm, Diss. sub- joined to his Historia Origeniana, p. 345, &c. [Sckroeckh, Kirchengesch., vol. xviii.. p. 40-58, but especially C. W. F. Walch, Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. vii., p. 618 -760. This contest respecting Origen commenced among the Palestine monks about the year 520. One Nonnus and three other monks, belonging to the new Laura (or cluster of cells), were discovered to hold and to be propagating the opinions of Origen. Sabas, abbot of the old Laura, and supervi- sor of all the Palestine monks, opposed the schismatics. They were rejected from the Laura, but were restored again ; and in spite of opposition and persecution, they brought over many in both Lauras to their views. VOL. I. F F F The commotion became violent, and expul- sions, fighting, and bloodshed ensued. Still it was only a contest among a few monks, liv- ing in two little societies or neighbourhoods in Palestine. Justinian's decree addressed to Mennas, was probably issued about the year 540 ; and it has been supposed, that the council of Constantinople which anathe- matized 15 errors of Origen, was an acci- dental council held about the year 541, and not the general council held in 553. How- ever that may be, the death of Nonnus in the year 546, caused the Origenist party among the monks to become divided, and to fall into a declining state. The fullest enumeration of errors held by these Origenists, which has come down to us, is that of the 15 anathe- mas by the council of Constantinople. Yet Justinian's decree or letter to Mennas is nearly as full ; and it is more precise and lucid, as well as better substantiated by ref- erences to the works of Origen. In this de- cree, after a concise introduction, the em- peror proceeds like a theologian, through ten folio pages, to enumerate and confute the errors of Origen. He then directs the patri- arch Mennas to assemble what bishops and abbots could be found at Constantinople, and to condemn the subjoined list of Origenian errors ; their doings to be afterwards trans- mitted to all bishops and abbots for their con- firmation, so that after this general consent shall be obtained, no bishop or abbot may be ordained without condemning Origenism a* well as the other heresies. The list of er- rors to be condemned is then subjoined, as follows. (1) "If any one says or believes, that human souls prc-cxuled, i.e., were once 410 BOOK II. CENTURY VI. PART II. CHAP. III. 10. This controversy produced another which was much more lasting and violent, but which, as to the subject of it. was far less important. The emperor Justinian burned with zeal to extirpate the more strenuous Mo- nophysites, who were called Acephali. On this subject he took counsel with Theodorus of Ccesarea, who was a friend to Origenism and also a Monophysite : and Theodorus, in order to procure tranquillity to the Ori- genists by stirring up a new controversy, and also to fix some stigma upon the council of Chalcedon and inflict an incurable wound on the Nestorians, persuaded the emperor to believe that the Acephali would return to the church; provided the Acts of the council of Chalcedon were purged of those three passages or three Chapters, in which Theodorus of Mopsues- tia, Theodoret bishop of Cyrus, and Ibas of Edessa, were acquitted of er- ror ; and provided that certain writings of these men, favourable to the Nestorian errors, were condemned. The emperor believed this ; and in the year 544, ordered those three chapters to be expunged, but without prejudice to the authority of the council of Chalcedon. (14) But this edict mere spirits, and holy ; that having become weary of divine contemplation, they were brought into a worse condition ; and that, because they inrotlivxEiaac, i. e., cooled down as to the love of God, they were therefore called in Greek i/Ji^uf, that is, souls ; and were sent down to inhabit bodies, as a pun- ishment ; let him be anathema.. (2) If any one says or believes, that the soul of our Lord pre-existed ; and that it was united to God the Word before his incarnation and birth of the virgin ; let him be anathema. (3) If any one says or believes, that the body of our Lord Jesus Christ was first formed in the womb of the blessed virgin as those of other men are ; and that afterwards God the Word and the pre- existent soul became united with it ; let him be anathema. (4) If any one says or believes, that God the Word was made like to all the celestial orders, that to the Cherubim he was made a Cherub, and to the Seraphim a Seraph, and to all the celestial Virtues one like them ; let him be ana/.hema. (5) If any one says or believes, that in the resurrection, the bodies of men will be raised orbicular, and does not confess that, we shall be resuscitated erect ; let htm be anathema. (6) If any one says or be- lieves, that Heaven, the sun, the moon, the stars, and the waters above the heavens, are animated, and are a sort of material Vir- tues ; let him be anathema. (7) If any one says or believes, that Christ the Lord is to be crucified in the future world for the dev- ils, as he was in this for men ; let him be anathema. (8) If any one says or believes, that the power of God is limited, and that he created all the things he could compre- hend ; let him be anathema. (9) If any one saye or believes, that the punishment of dev- ils and wicked men will be temporary, and will have an end, or that there will be a re- covery and restoration of devils and wicked men; let him be anathema. (10) And Anathema to Origen, who is called Ada- mantius, together with his nefarious, execra- ble, and abominable doctrine ; and to every one who believes it, or in any manner pre- sumes at all to defend it at any time : in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory for ever and evef. Amen." TV.] (14) This decree is extant in Jo. Harduin, Concilior. torn, iii., p. 287, &c. Evagri- us, Hist. Eccles., lib. iv., c. 38. [It is call- ed Justinian's Creed ; and professes to de- fine the Catholic faith, as established by the four first general councils, (those of Nice, Constantinople, Ephesus, and Chalcedon), and to condemn the opposite errors. Dr. Mosheim's description of the three chapters would lead us to suppose that certain chap- ters, sections, or paragraphs, in the Acts of the council of Chalcedon, were the three things condemned by Justinian. But this was not the fact. His decree does not avow- edly condemn anything contained in the Acts of that council ; nor does it use the phrase three Chapters. The phrase was afterwards brought into use, and denoted three subjects, (capitula, /ce^uAata), which were condemned by this decree of Justinian; viz., (1) the person and writings of Theodorus bishop of Mopsuestia, whom the decree pronounced a heretic and a Neslorian; (2) the writings of Theodoret bishop of Cyrus ; not univer- sally, but only so far as they favoured Nes- torianism, or opposed Cynl of Alexandria and his 12 anathemas; and (3) an Epistle said to have been written by Ibas, bishop of Edessa, to one Maris a Persian, which cen- sured Cyril and the first council of Ephesus, and favoured the cause of Nestorius. The council of Chalcedon had passed no decree respecting Theodorus ; and it had left all the HISTORY OF THEOLOGY. 411 met with opposition from the bishops of the West and of Africa, and es- pecially from Vigilius the Roman pontiff, who maintained that great injury was done by it both to the council of Chalcedon and to deceased worthies who died in the communion of the church. (15) Justinian summoned Vigil, ius to Constantinople, and compelled him to condemn the three Chapters. But the African and Illyrian bishops, on the other hand, compelled Vigilius to revoke that condemnation. For no one of them would own him for a bishop and a brother, until he had approved those three chapters. Jus. tinian again condemned the three chapters, by anew edict in the year 551. 11. After various contentions, it was thought best to refer the con- troversy to the decision of a general council. Justinian therefore, in the year 553, assembled at Constantinople what is called the Jifth general council. In this council, the opinions of Origen,(W) as well as the three Chalcedonian Chapters, according to the wishes of the emperor were judged to be pernicious to the church; yet it was a decision of the east- ern bishops, for very few from the West were present. Vigilius, then at Constantinople, would not assent to the decrees of this council. He was therefore treated indignantly by the emperor, and sent into banish- ment ; nor was he allowed to return till he acceded to the decrees of this fifth council.(17) Pelagius his successor, and the subsequent Roman three bishops in good standing, though the long and severely : and at length this pre- Epistle of Ibas and some of the writings of cipitate act of the emperor, being sanction- Theodorel received censure. Hence Justin- ian's decree did not openly and avowedly contravene the decisions at Chalcedon ; though virtually, and in effect, it did so. To understand the contest about the three Chapters, it should be remembered, that the Nestorians, who separated the two natures of Christ too much, and the Eutychians or Monophysites, who commingled them too much, were the two extremes ; between which the orthodox took their stand, con- demning both. But the orthodox themselves did not all think alike. Some, in their zeal against the Nestorians, came near to the ed by the requisite authority, had the effect to shape the creed of the Catholic church from that day to this. See Walch, Histo- ric der Kelzereyen, vol. viii., p. 3-468, but especially p. 437, &c. Tr.~\ (15) Hen. Noris, de Synodo quinta, cap. x., &c. ; Opp., torn, i., p. 579. Ja. Bas- nage, Histoire de PEglise, torn, i., 1. x., c. vi., p. 523, dec., [also Dr. Walch, ubi supra.] (16) [According to the acts of this coun- cil, as they have come down to us, Origin was no otherwise condemned by this general council, than by having his name inserted in the list of heretics collectively anathematized Monophysite ground ; and these of course felt in the llth anathema. The celebrated 15 willing to condemn the three Chapters. Oth- anathemas of as many Origenian errors, said ers, zealous only against the Monophysites, were not far from being Nestorians ; and these of course defended the three Chapters ; for Theodoras, Theodnret, and Ibas had been leading men of this very character. Hence the interest shown by the Oriental bishops in this controversy. But in the West, where the Nestorian and Eutychian contests had been less severe, and where the persons and writings of Theodoras, Ibas, and Thcodoret were little known, the three Chapters were felt to he of little consequence ; except as the condemning them seemed to impair the authority of the decrees of Chalcedon, and to asperse characters once held venerable in the church. It was doubtless a most rash thing in Justinian to condemn the three Chapters. But having done it, he resolved to persevere in it. The church was agitated to have been decreed by this council, are found in no copy of its Acts, nor are they mentioned by any ancient writer. Peter Lambecius first discovered them in the im- perial library at Vienna, in an old MS. of Photius' Syntagma Canonum, bearing the superscription, " Canons of the 165 holy Fathers of the fifth holy council at Constan- tinople ;" and published them with a Latin translation ; whence Balu.se first introduced them into the Collections of Councils. But Cave, Walch, Valesius, and others, suppose they were framed in a council at Constantino- ple, about A.D. 541. See note (13) above, p. 409 ; Cave, Hist. Litterar., torn, i., p. 558 ; Walch. Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. vii., p. 644, 761 ; Valesius, note on Evagri- us, Hist. Eccles., lib. iv., c. 38. TV.] (17) See Peter de Marca, Diss. de decre- 412 BOOK II. CENTURY VI. PART II. CHAP. III. pontiffs, in like manner, received those decrees. But neither their au- thority, nor that of the emperors, could prevail with the western bishops to follow their example. For many of them, on this account, seceded from communion with the Roman pontiff; nor could this great wound be healed, except by length of time. (18) 12. Another considerable controversy broke out among the Greeks in the year 519 ; namely, whether it could properly be said, that one of the Trinity was crucified. Many adopted this language, in order to press harder upon the Nestorians, who separated the natures of Christ too much. Among these were the Scythian monks at Constantinople, who were the principal movers of this controversy. But others regarded this language as allied to the error of the Theopaschites or Eutychians ; and therefore rejected it. With these, Hormisdas bishop of Rome, when con- sulted by the Scythian monks, coincided ; and great and pernicious al- tercations ensued. Afterwards, the fifth council, and John II., a succes- sor of Hormisdas, by approving of this language, restored peace to the church. (19) Connected with this question was another; whether it was proper to say, Christ's person was compounded : which the Scythian monks affirmed, and others denied. to Vigilii pro confirmatione Synodi quintae ; among the Diss. subjoined to his work, de Corcordia sacerdotii et imperil, p. 207, &c., [and Bower's Lives of the Popes, ( Vigilius), Tol. ii., p. 382-413, ed. Lond., 1750. Tr. J- (18) See, in preference to all others, Hen. Noris, de Synodo quinta Oecumenica ; yet Noris is not free from all partiality. Also Christ. Lupus, Notes on the 5th Council, among his Adnotat. ad Concilia. (19) See Hen. Noris, Historia controver- sise de uno ex trinitate passo ; Opp., torn, iii., p. 771. The ancient writers who men- tion this controversy, call the monks with whom it originated, Scythians. But Matiir. Veiss. la Croze, (Thesaur. Epistolar., torn, iii., p. 189), conjectures that they were Scetic monks from Egypt, and not Scythians. This conjecture, has some probability. [But Dr. Walch, Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. vii., p. 296, 297, says of this conjecture : " it is not only improbable, but is certainly false." And the documents relative to the controversy, (of which he had there just closed the recital), do appear, as Dr. Walch affirms, " adequate to prove, that these men were really from Scythia." Together with the two modes of expression relative to the Trin- ity, which they advocated, these monks were strenuous opposers of Pelagianism. Hav- ing had disagreement with some bishops of their province, particularly with Paternus bishop of Tomis, a deputation of them went to Constantinople with their complaint. Among these deputies, John Maxentius, Le- ontius, and Achilles, were the principal. The emperor rather favoured them ; but the bishops of the East were not agreed. The emperor obliged the pope's legates at the court to hear the cause. But they were not disposed to decide it ; at least, not as the monks wished. A part of them now repair- ed to Rome, where they stayed more than a year. Hormisdas disapproved their phrase- ology, but was not very ready to condemn it outright. While at Rome, these monks wrote to the exiled African bishops in Sar- dinia, and by taking part in their controver- sy, obtained their friendship. They certain- ly had many friends ; but the ancient histo- rians have transmitted to us only some slight notices of their history. See Walch, His- toric der Ketzereyen, vol. vii., p. 262-313. Bower, Lives of the Popes, (Hormisdas), vol. ii., p. 306-309. TV.] RITES AND CEREMONIES. 413 CHAPTER IV. HISTORY OF RITES. $ 1. Rites Multiplied. $ 2. Explanation of the Ceremonies. $ 3. Public Worship. The Eucharist. Baptism. t) 4. Temples. Festivals. 1. IN proportion as true religion and piety from various causes de- clined in this century, the external signs of religion and piety, that is, rites and ceremonies, were augmented. In the East, the Nestorian and Eu- tychian contests occasioned the invention of various rites and forms, which might serve as marks to distinguish the contending sects. In the West, Gregory the Great was wonderfully dexterous and ingenious in de- vising and recommending new ceremonies. Nor will this appear strange to those who are aware, that Gregory supposed the words of the holy ' scriptures to be images of recondite things. For whoever can believe this, can easily bring himself to inculcate all the doctrines and precepts of religion by means of rites and signs. Yet in one respect he is to be commended ; namely, that he would not obtrude his ceremonies upon others : perhaps he would not, because he could not. ^ 2. This multitude of ceremonies required interpreters. Hence a new kind of science arose, both in the East and in the West, the object of which was to investigate and explain the grounds and reasons of the sacred rites. But most of those who derive these rites from the sugges- tions of reason and religion, betray their imbecility, and exhibit rather -the fictions of their own brains than the true causes of things. If they had been acquainted with ancient opinions and customs, and had examined the pontifical laws of the Greeks and Romans, they would have taught us much more correctly from what sources many of the rites which the Christians regarded as sacred were derived. 3. The public worship of God was still celebrated in the vernacular language of each nation ; but it was everywhere amplified with various hymns and other circumstantial things. The new mode of administering the Lord's supper, magnificently, and with a splendid apparatus, or the Canon of the Mass, as it is called, was a prescription of Gregory the Great ; or, as some would say, he enlarged and altered the old Canon. But many ages elapsed, before the other Latin churches could be prevailed on to adopt this Romish form.(l) Baptism, except in cases of necessity, (1) See Theod. Chr. Lilienthal, de Canone man canon was introduced partially in the Missae Gregoriano, Lugd. Bat., 1740, 8vo, llth, and more fully in the 13th and follow- and the writers on liturgies. [Different ing centuries. In England, the ancient countries had different missals. Not only Britons had one liturgy, and the Anglo-Sax- the East differed from the West, but in both ons derived another from their apostle Au- there were diversities. In Gaul, the old lit- gustine and his companions, and this not urgy continued till the time of Charlemagne, precisely the Roman. See Krazcr, de Li- In Milan, the Ambrosian Liturgy (so named turgiis, sec. ii., chap. 2-6. Gregory the from St. Ambrose bishop of Milan) is not Great introduced the responsive chant ; and yet wholly abandoned. In Spain, the Mo- he established a school for church music, sarabic or ancient Spanish, is still used oc- which was in existence at Rome as late as casionally in certain places, though the Rio- the 9th century. TV.] 414 BOOK II. CENTURY VI. PART II. CHAP. IV. was conferred only on the feast days, and those too of the highest class, or the greatest festivals.(2) As for the so called Litanies to the Saints,(3) the various kinds of supplications, the stations of Gregory,(4) the formu- las of consecration, and other rites invented in this century to captivate the senses with a show of religion, we shall pass over them, to avoid pro- lixity. This subject requires the labours and investigations of a special treatise. 4. The temples erected in memory and to the honour of the saints, were immensely numerous, both in the East and the West. (5) There had long been enough houses of worship to accommodate the people ; but this age courted the saints, by offering them these edifices as a kind of presents ; nor did they doubt at all, that the saints took under their imme- diate protection and care, the provinces, cities, towns, and villages, in which they saw such residences prepared for them. (6) The number of feast-days almost equalled that of the churches. In particular, the list of festivals for the whole Christian church was swelled, by the consecration of the day of the purification of the Holy Virgin Mary, so that, the people might not miss their Lupercalia, which they were accustomed to celebrate < in the month of February,(7) and by the day of the Saviour's concep- tion,^) the birthday of St. John,(9) and some others. (2) [Especially Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Whitsuntide, and St. John the Bap- tist ; at least in Gaul. See Gregory of Tours, de Gloria Confessor., c. 69, 76, and Historia Francor., lib. viii., c. 9. Schi] (3) [The Litanies, of which there were the larger and the smaller, the common and the special, were in the previous centuries ad- dressed only to God ; but superstition now led men to address them to Mary, and to the other saints. Von Ein.] ^ (4) [Stations denoted in early times fasts; but afterwards the churches, the chapels, the cemeteries, or other places, where the people assembled for worship. (See du Cange, Glossar. Med. et Infim. Latinitat., sub hac voce.) Gregory discriminated the different times, occasions, and places of public wor- ship, and framed a service for each. This is the principal cause of the vast multiplica- tion of liturgical formulas in the Romish church. Tr.] (5) [See Procopius, de Bello Gothico, lib. iv. and v. ; also de Aedificiis Justiniani ; where is mention of many churches erected to the virgin Mary. Schl.] (6) [Thus the Lombard queen Thcodelin- da built a church for John the Baptist, that he might pray for her and her people. (Paul Diacon., Hist. Longobard., 1. iv., c.7.) And the French king Clothaire built a splendid temple to St. Vincent ; because he believed that saint had helped him to vanquish the Goths. (Siegbert, Chronic.) For the same reason, rich presents were made to the church- es. Thus Childebert, after conquering Ala- ric, gave to the church sixty cups, fifteen dishes, and twenty cases for the holy Gos- pels ; all of the finest gold, and set with cost- ly gems. (Gregory of Tours, Historia Francor., 1. iii., c. 10.) SchL] (7) [This was instituted by Justinian, A.D. 542, and fixed to the 2d day of Febru- ary. The Greeks called it imavTi) or inra- iravrrj, meeting; because then Simeon and Anna met the Saviour in the Temple. The Latins call it the feast of Si. Simeon, the presentation of the Lord, and Candlemass ; because many candles were then lighted up ; as had been done on the Lupercalia, the fes- tival of the ravishment of Proserpine, whom her mother Ceres seatehed for with candles. See Hospinian, de Festis Christianor.,' p. 52, &c., and Adr. Baillet, Vies des Saints, torn, i., Febr., p. 22, &c. Tr.] (8) [This feast is generally celebrated the 25th of March ; and is called by the Greeks rj/jtpa aaTraapS, sive evayyeluafiS, the day of the salutation, or of the annunciation ; because-on this day the angel Gabriel an- nounced to Mary that she should bring forth the Saviour. The Latins absurdly call it, the annunciation of Mary. To avoid inter- rupting the Lent fast, the Spaniards cele- brated it on the 18th of December, and the Armenians on the 5th of January ; the other churches kept it on the 25th of March. It is mentioned in the 52d canon of the council in Trullo, A.D. 691, as a festival then fully established and known ; but at what time it was first introduced is uncertain. See Sui- cer, Thesaur. Eccles., torn, i., p. 1234, and Adr. Baillet, Vies des Saints, torn, i., March, p. 315, &c. Tr.] HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 415 CHAPTER V. HISTORY OF HERESIES AND SEPARATIONS FROM THE CHURCH. 1. Remains of the Ancient Sects. Manichaeans. Pelagians. 2. Donatists. $ 3. Arians. 4. State of the Nestorians. $ 5. Eutychian Contests. Severus. $ 6. Jac. Baradaeus, the Father of the Monophysites. $ 7. Their State. $ 8. Controver- sies among them. $ 9. The Agnoetae. 10. Tritheists. 1. THE ancient sects, though harassed in numberless ways, did not cease to raise dangerous commotions in various places. Among the Per- sians, the Manichaeans are said to have become so powerful as to seduce the son of Cabades the monarch ; but the king avenged the crime by a great slaughter among them. They must also have been troublesome in other countries ; for Heraclianus of Chalcedon deemed it needful to write a book against them.(l) In Gaul and Africa, the contests Between the Semipelagians and the followers of Augustine continued. 2. The Donatists were comfortably situated, so long as the Vandals reigned in Africa. But when this kingdom was overturned, in the year 534, their condition was less fortunate. Yet they not only kept up their church, but near the close of the century, or from the year 591, ventured to defend and propagate their principles with more earnestness. These efforts of theirs were vigorously opposed by Gregory the Great, who, as ap- pears from his Epistles,(2) endeavoured in various ways to depress the sect now raising its head again. And his measures doubtless were suc- cessful ; for the Donatist church became extinct in this century, at least no mention is made of it after this time. 3. The Arians, at the commencement of this century, were triumphant in certain parts of Asia, Africa, and Europe. Not a few of the Asiatic bishops favoured them. The Vandals in Africa, the Goths in Italy, many (9) [I know not what induced Dr. Mosheim 8vo), and the latter used, about this time, to place the introduction of this feast in this [the 24th of June], to keep the feast of century. If the superscriptions to the horn- Vesta, with kindling a new fire amid dances ilies of Maxtmus of Turin (who lived A.D. and other sports. Schl. Adr. Batllet, (Viet 420) are correct, this feast must have been des Saints, torn, ii., June, p. 296), proves common in the fifth century ; for three of from the sermons of St. Augustine, that this these homilies are superscribed, as being festival was considered as of long standing composed for this feast. Perhaps Dr. Mo- in the church in the days of that father. Au- sheim had his eye on the 21st canon of the gvstine himself has left us seven sermons, council held at Agde, A.D. 506, (Harduin's which he preached on the festival. TV.] Collection, torn, ii., p. 1000), where the (1) SeePhotius, Bibl. Cod. cxiv.,p. 291. festival of St. John is mentioned among the (2) See his Epistolar. lib. iv., ep. 34, 35, greater feasts. Yet as it is there mentioned p. 714. 715, and lib vi., ep. 65. p. 841, ep. as one already known, it must have been in 37, p. 821, and lib. ix., ep. 53, p 972, and existence some years. Heathenish rites lib. ii., ep 48, p. 611, Opp., torn. ii. [The were likewise mixed with this feast. The emperor Mauritius issued penal laws against feast of St. John and the dancing around a them, in the year 595. It is a probable con- tree set up, were usages as well of the Ger- jecture of Witsius, (Historia Donatist., cap. man and northern nations as of the Romans, viii.. $ 9), that the conquests of the Saracens The former had their Noodfyr, (on which in Africa, in the 7th century, put an end to Joh. Reiske published a book, Francf., 1696, the Donatist contest. Schl.] 416 BOOK II. CENTURY VI. PART II. CHAP. V. of the Gauls, the Suevi, the Burgundians, and the Spaniards, openly espoused their interest. The Greeks indeed, who approved of the Nicene council, oppressed and persecuted them wherever they were able ; but the Arians returned the like treatment, especially in Africa and Italy.(3) Yet this prosperity of the Arians wholly ceased, when, under the auspices of Justin- ian, the Vandals were driven from Africa and the Goths from Italy.(4) For the other Arian kings, Sigismund king of the Burgundians, Theodimir king of the Suevi in Lusitania, and Reccared king of Spain, without vio- lence and war suffered themselves to be led to a renunciation of the Arian doctrine, and to efforts for its extirpation among their subjects by means of legal enactments and councils. Whether reason and arguments, or hope and fear, had the greater influence in the conversion of these kings, it is difficult to say. (5) But this is certain, the Arian sect was from this time dispersed, and could never after recover any strength. 4. The Nestorians, after they had obtained a fixXed residence in Per- sia, and had Jocated the head of their sect at Seleucia, were as successful as they were industrious in disseminating their doctrines in the countries lying without the Roman empire. It appears from unquestionable docu- ments still existing, that there were numerous societies in all parts of Per- sia, in India, in Armenia, in Arabia, in Syria, and in other countries under the jurisdiction of the patriarch of Seleucia, during this century. (6) The Persian kings were not indeed all equally well affected towards this sect ; and they sometimes severely persecuted all Christians resident in their do- minions ;(7) yet generally they showed a marked preference for the Nes- torians, before those who adhered to the council of Ephesus : for they sus- pected the latter to be spies sent among them by the Greeks with whom they agreed as to religion. 5. The sect of the Monophysites was no less favourably situated ; and it drew over to its side a great part of the East. In the first place, the em- peror Anastasius [A.D. 491-518] was attached to the sect and to the dogmas of the Acephali or the more rigid Monophysites ,-(8) and he did (3) Procopius, de Bello Vandal., 1. i., c. of Hermengild a West Gothic prince, by his 8, and de Bello Gothico, lib. i., c. 2. Eva- French wife Ingunda. Schl.'] grius, Historia Eccles., 1. iv., cap. 15, &c. (6) Cosmas Indicopleustes, Topographia (4) See Joh. Ja. Mascmii Historia Ger- Christiana, lib. ii., p. 125 : in Bern, de manor., torn, ii., the subversion of the Van- Montfaucori's Collectio nova Patrum Grae- dalic kingdom, p. 76, a"nd that of the Goths, cor., of which the Preface, p. xi., &c., is p. 91. On the accession of the barbarians worth reading. to the Nicene faith respecting God, see Ac- (7) Jos. Sim, Asseman, Biblioth. Orien- ta Sanctor., torn, ii., Martii, p. 275, and torn. tal. Vatic., torn, iii., pt. i., p. 109, 407, 411, ii., Aprilis, p. 134. 441, 449, and torn, iii., pt. ii., cap. v., 2, (5) [The latter is to me the most proba- p. Ixxxiii., &c. ble. The kings of these nations were very (8) Evagrius, Histor. Eccles., lib iii., c. ignorant ; and made war rather than science 30, 44, &c. Theodorus Lector, Historia their trade. Among such a people, convic- Eccles., lib. ii., p. 562. A catalogue of the tion of the understanding is little to be ex- Works of Severus, collected from MS. cop- pected. Arguments of expediency would ies, is in Bernh. de Montfaucori's Biblioth. have more effect. They were surrounded Coisliniana, p. 53, &c. [According to by orthodox Christians, who would deprive Evaprius, loc. cit., Anastasius was not zeal- them of their territories, on the ground that ous for any party, but was a great lover of they were heretics. If therefore they would peace, and determined neither to make nor enjoy peace and quietude, they must make to suffer any change in the ecclesiastical up their minds to embrace the Nicene faiih. constitution ; that is, he adhered to the He- Many of these conversions also were brought noticon of Zcno his predecessor. This was about by ladies ; for instance, the conversion taking the middle ground; for the more HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 417 not hesitate, on the removal of Flavianus from the chair of Antioch in 513, vate to that sec Severus, a learned monk of Palestine, who was devoted to that sect, and from whom the Monophysites had the name of Severians.(9) This man exerted all his powers to destroy the credit of the council of Chalccdon in the East, and to strengthen the party which professed but one nature in Christ ; and his zealous efforts produced most grievous com- motions. (10) But the emperor Anastasius dying in the year 518, Severus was expelled from his see ; and the sect which he had so zealously propa- gated, was restrained and depressed by Justin and the succeeding emper- ors, to such a degree that it seemed very near being ruined ; yet it elect- ed Sergius for its patriarch, in place of Severus.(ll) 6. When the Monophysites were nearly in despair, and very few of their bishops remained, some of them being dead and others in captivity ; an obscure man, Jacobus surnamed Baradceus or Zanzalus, to distinguish him from others of the name, restored their fallen state. (12) This indi- gent monk, a most indefatigable and persevering man, being ordained bish- op by a few bishops who were confined in prison, travelled over all the East, on foot, constituted a vast number of bishops and presbyters, revived every where the depressed spirits of the Monophysites, and was so efficient, by his eloquence and his astonishing diligence, that when he died, in the year 578, at Edessa, where he had been bishop, he left his sect in a very flour- ishing state in Syria, in Mesopotamia, in Armenia, in Egypt, Nubia, and Abyssinia, and in other countries. (13) He extinguished nearly all the strenuous Monophysites rejected the Henot- icon, and insisted on an explicit condemna- tion of the council of Chalcedon ; while the more rigid Catholics, who also disliked the Henoticon, were for holding fast every tittle of the decisions of Chalcedon. See Walch, Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. vi., p. 930, 946, 947, 948. TV.] (9) See Jos. Sim. Asseman, Biblioth. Orient. Vatican., torn, ii., p. 47, 321, &c. Euseb. Rcnaudot, Historia Patriarchar. Al- exandrinor..p. 127, 129, 130, 135, 138, &c. [See a notice of Severus, above, ch. ii., note (28), p. 397. Tr.] (10; Evagrius, Hist. Eccles., lib. hi., c. 33. Cynllus, Vita Sabae, in Joh. Bapt. Catcher's Monumenta Ecclesiae Graecae, torn, iii., p. 312. Nouveau Dictionnaire his- tor. critique, torn, i., Article Anastasius. [There is some ambiguity in Dr. Moshcim's statement. Who was this man, that exert- ed all his powers against the council of Chal- cedon 1 Dr Maclainc understood Moshcim to refer to the emperor Anastasius. But other translators preserve the ambiguity. Historical facts show, that it was Severus, rather than Anastasius, who persecuti'J the Chalcedonians. See Evasrius, as referred to above, lib. iii., c. 33 7V J (11) SecAbulpharnjits, Series Patriarch. Antiochen., in Asseman, Biblioth. Orient. Vatican., torn, ii., p. 323. [For a full and minute examination of the Monophysite his- VOL. I. GGG tory, see WalcWs Historic der Ketzereyen ; namely, during the reign of Anastasius, vol. vi., p. 936-1054 ; under Justin, vol. vii., p. 52-128 ; and under Justinian, ibid., p. 128- 362. Tr. ] (12) See Jos. Sim. Asseman, Biblioth. Oriental. Vaticana, torn, ii., cap. viii., p. 62, 72, 326, 331, 414, &c. Euseb. Rcnaudot, Historia Patriarch. Alexandrinor., p. 119, 133,425, &c., and Liturgiae Oriental., torn, ii., p. 333, 342. Faustu* Nairon, Euoplia fidei Catholicae ex Syrorum monumentis, pt. i., p. 40, 41. [ Wtlch, Historic der Ket- zereyen, vol. viii., p- 481-490. Jacobus Baradaus was a Syrian monk, and a pupil of Severus archbishop of Antioch. His or- dination is placed by some in the year 545, by others in 551. His death, all place in the year 578. Some call him bishop of Edessa, others make him to have been bish- op at large. The number of bishops, priests, and deacons ordained by him, is reported to be 100,000. That he put an end to the di- visions and contests among the Monophy- sites, as Dr. Moshcim asserts, is not stated in any of the authorities quoted by Walch. As the Monophysites all over the East are to this day called Jacobites, from this Jaco- bus Baradaus ; so the orthodox Greeks are called Melchjtcs, from the Synac Mclcha, a kinar ; as being adherents to the religion of the imperial court. Tr.] (13) For the Nubians and Abywinians, 418 BOOK II. CENTURY VI. PART II. CHAP. V. dissensions among the Monophysites ; and as their churches were so widely dispersed in the East, that the bishop of Antioch could not well govern them all, he associated with him a Maphrian or primate of the East, whose residence was at Tagritum on the borders of Armenia. (14) His efforts were not a little aided, in Egypt and the neighbouring regions, by Theodo- sius of Alexandria. From this man as the second father of the sect, all the Monophysites in the East are called Jacobites. 7. Thus the imprudence of the Greeks and their inconsiderate zeal for maintaining the truth, caused the Monophysites to become consolidated into a permanent body. From this period their whole community has been under the government of two bishops or patriarchs, one of Alexandria and the other of Antioch, who, notwithstanding the Syrians and Egyptians disagree in some particulars, are very careful to maintain communion with each other by letters and by kind offices. Under the patriarch of Alex- andria, is the primate or Abbuna of the Abyssinians ; and under the patri- arch of Antioch, stands the Maphrian or primate of the East, whose resi- dence is at Tagritum in Mesopotamia. The Armenians have their own bishop, and are distinguished from the other Monophysites by some pecu- liar rites and opinions. 8. Before the sect of the Monophysites had acquired this strength and consistency, various disagreements and controversies prevailed among them ; and particularly at Alexandria, a difficult and knotty question was moved concerning the body of Christ. Julian of Halicarnassus,(15) in the year 519, maintained that the divine nature had so insinuated itself into the body of Christ, from the very moment of his conception, that this body changed its nature, and became incorruptible. With him agreed Ca- janus [or Gaianus] of Alexandria ; from whom the believers in this senti- ment were called Caianists.(l6) The advocates of this doctrine became subdivided into three parties ; two of which disagreed on the question, whether Christ's body was created or uncreated ; and the third maintained, that Christ's body was indeed corruptible, but, on account of the influence of the divine nature, never became in fact corrupted. This sect was vig- orously resisted by the celebrated Severus of Antioch, and by Damianus; both of whom maintained that the body of Christ, before his resurrection, was cor. ruptible, that is, was liable to all the changes to which human bodies in general are. Those who agreed with Julian, were called Aphthartodoce- tce, Doceta, Phantasiasta, and also Manichaeans ; because from their opin- ion it might be inferred, that Christ did not really suffer, feel hungry, fall asleep, and experience the other sensations of a man ; but that he only appeared to suffer, to sleep, to be hungry, thirsty, &c. Those who agreed see Asseman, loc. cit., torn, ii., p. 330. andria, under the patriarch Timotheus III. ; Hieron. Lobo, Voyage d'Abyssinie, torn, ii., and on his death in the year 534, was elect- p. 36. Job Ludolph, Comment, ad Histori- ed patriarch of Alexandria, by the monks am Aethiop.,p. 451, 461, 466. Fortheoth- and the populace, in opposition to Thcodo- er countries, see the writers of their history, sius the bishop of the court party. Great (14) Jo*. Sim. Asseman, Biblioth. Orient, commotions now existed in Alexandria; Vatic., torn, ii., p. 410, 414, 418, likewise and Gaianus was soon deposed. He fled his Dissert, de Monophysitis, prefixed to torn, first to Carthage, and then to Sardinia ; and ii. of his Bibliotheca. we hear little more about him. It is not (15) [Julian is noticed among the writers known that he wrote any thing. See Libe- of the century, above, p. 397, note (28). ratus, Breviar., cap. 20, and Leonlius, de Tr.] Sectis, Art. v. Tr.] (16) [Gaianus was archdeacon of Alex- HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 419 with Severus, were called Phthurtolatra, and Ktistolatra or Creaticote. This controversy was agitated with great warmth, in the reign of Justin, ian, who favoured the Aphthartodocetcz ; but it afterwards gradually sub. sided. ( 17) A middle path between the two parties, was taken by Xenaias, or Philoxenus of Maubug [or Hierapolis] ; for he and his associates held, that Christ really suffered the ordinary sensations of a man ; but that in him this was not the effect of nature, but of choice. (18) 9. Some of the Corrupticolae, as they were called, particularly The- mistius a deacon of Alexandria, and Theodosius bishop of that city, in the ardour of disputation fell upon another sentiment towards the close of this century,(19) which caused new commotions. They affirmed that, while all things were known by the divine nature of Christ, to his human nature which was united with it many things were unknown. As they held to but one nature in Christ, [or were Monophysites], others inferred from their doctrine, that they made the divine nature to participate in this ignorance : and hence they were called AgnoeUe.(2Q) But this new sect was feeble; and therefore it declined and became extinct, sooner than might have been anticipated from the animated eloquence of the disputants. 10. From the controversies with the Monophysites, arose the sect of the Tritheists. Its author was one John Ascusnage, a Syrian philosopher, and a Monophysite.(21) This man supposed, that there are in God three numerically distinct natures or subsistences, all perfectly alike and con- nected by no common vinculum of essence ; from which dogma, his adver- saries deduced Tritheism. Among the patrons of this opinion, no one was more celebrated than John Pkiloponus, a grammarian and philosopher of great fame at Alexandria ; and hence he has by many been accounted the founder of the sect, and the members of it have been called Philoponists.(22) (17) Timolheus, de Receptione haereticor., torico-theol., lib. iii.,cap. 19, p. 119. Pho- in Jo. Ba-pt. Catcher's Monumenta Eccle- tius, Biblioth., Cod. ccxxx., p. 882. [Watch sioe Gr., torn, iii., p. 409. Liberates, Bre- has given a full and satisfactory account of viarium Controv., cap. 20. Jo. Forbes, In- the Agnoita. or Themistiam, in his Historie structiones historico-theologicae, lib. iii , c. der Ketzcreyen, vol. viii., p. 644-684. It 18, p. 108, &c. Asseman, Biblioth Orien- appears that the Agnoctce merely denied that tal., torn. iii.,pt. ii., p. 457. [The contests the human nature of Christ became omnia- respectino 1 the corruptibility of Christ's body, dent, by being united with the divine nature ; both amonw the Monophysites and the ortho- a doctrine which few at this day will con- dox, are fully examined in Walch, Historie demn. Nor did their contemporaries in gen- der Ketzereyen, vol. viii., p. 550-644. eral understand them to go farther. But the Tr.} writers of the middle ages represent them (18) Jos. Sim. Asseman, Biblioth. Orient, as denying altogether the omniscience of Vatic., torn, ii., p. 22, and p. 168, &c. Christ ; and many of the moderns, till quite (19) [This controversy began before the recently, had similar views of this sect. See middle of the century ; for Themis tins was Walch, loc. cit., p. 675-679. Tr.] a deacon under Timolheus III., who died (21) See Gregory Abulpkarajus, in Jos. in the year 535. Theodosius succeeded in Sim. Assertion's Biblioth. Oriental. Vatic., that year; but was removed about A.D. torn, i., p. 328, &c. [This is the only an- 537. The heat of the controversy seems to cient writer that mentions this John Ascus- have been about A.D. 550 or 560 ; yet it nage ; and his statement is, that this John was rife in the time of Gregory the Great, was a disciple of Samuel Peter, a Syrian and the sect existed till some time in the philosopher who taught philosophy 20 years seventh century. Tr.] at Constantinople ; that John succeeded him (20) Jo. Bapt. Cotelier, in the Monumenta in the school ; but having advanced his new Ecclesiae Gr., torn, iii., p. 641. Mich, le doctrine, he was banished by the emperor Quien, on Damascenus de Haeresibus, torn. Justinian. Tr.] i., p. 107. Jo. Forbes, Instructions his- (22) See Joh. Alb. Fabriaus, Biblioth. 420 BOOK II. CENTURY VI. PART II. CHAP. V. As the sect advanced, it became divided into two parties, the Philoponists and the Cononites ; the latter so named from its leader, Conon bishop of Tarsu.("23) These parties agreed respecting the doctrine of three per- sons in the godhead, but became at variance on the exposition of the doc- trine of the resurrection of the body. For Philoponus maintained, that both the matter and the form of all bodies were generated and corruptible, and therefore, that both would be resuscitated at the resurrection ; but Conon held that the matter only, and not the form of bodies, was corruptible and to be resuscitated. (24) To both these stood opposed the Damianists ; so named from Damianus, [the Monophysite patriarch] of Alexandria. These discriminated between the divine essence, and the three persons of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In other words, they denied that each person considered by himself, and in nature, was God ; but maintained, that the three persons had a common God or divinity, by an undivided participa- tion of which, each one was God. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, they denominated Hyposlases [or persons] ; and what was common to them, God, substance, and nature. (25) Gr., lib. v., c. 37, torn, ix., p. 358. Jo. Harduin, Concilia, torn, iii., p. 1288. Tim- otheus de Receptions Hsreticor., in Jo. Baft. Catcher's Monumenta Ecclesiae Gr., torn, iii., p. 414. John Damasccnus, de Hseresibus, Opp., torn, i., p. 103, ed. Le Quien. [John Philoponus was born, and probably spent his life, at Alexandria. He was a literary layman, and deeply read in the Platonic and Aristotelian philosophy. Yet he was a Christian, and a Monophysite, as most of the Alexandrians in his day were. The time of his birth and death is unknown ; but it appears, that he was a writer from about A.D. 560, till several years into the seventh century. Whether his own reflec- tions, or the books of John Ascusnage, first led him to his Tritheism, is uncertain. His works now extant are, a Book on the Hex- aimeron ; another on Easter ; one against Proclus, to prove the world not eternal ; a Book on the Gr. dialects ; and Commenta- ries on various works of Aristotle. His lost works were, on the Resurrection ; against the council of Chalcedon ; against the senti- ments of John archbishop of Constantino- ple, respecting the Trinity ; against Jam- blichus de Simulacris ; against Scverus ; and a Book on Union, entitled AICLITTITTK sive Arbiter, a valuable extract from which is preserved. See Cave, Hist. Litteraria, torn, i., p. 267, and Walch, Historie der Ket- zereyen, voL viii., p. 702, &c. Tr.] (23) Photius, Biblioth. Codex xxiv. As- seman, Biblioth. Oriental. Vatic., torn. ii. r p. 329, &c. (24) [For a full account of the disagree- ment between the Cononites and the other Phtloponists, respecting the resurrection of the body, see Walch, Historie der Ketzerey- en, vol. viii., p. 762-778. Tr.] (25) Jos. Sim. Asseman, Biblioth. Ori- ental. Vatic., torn, ii., p. 78, 332, &c. [The controversies respecting the Trinity in unity which are the subject of this section, are minutely investigated by Walch, Historie der Ketzereyen, vol. viii., p. 685 762. He concludes, that Philoponus and his sect were really, though perhaps unconsciously, Tri- theists : for Philoponus held to a merely specific unity in God, and not to a numer- ical unity ; that is, he taught that the three persons in the Trinity had a common nature, iu the same sense that Paul and Peter had a common nature, and as all the angels have a common nature. (Walch, \. c., p. 728, &c.) The Damianists on the contrary, re- jecting the idea of a mere specific unity in God, held the three divine persons to be numerically one, except as distinguished by certain characteristic marks : so that he was really on Sabellian ground. (Walch, loc. cit., p. 753-757.) See also Miinschcr'a Dogmengeschichte, vol. iii., p. 512-516, ed. Marp., 1818. Tr.] C E N T U R Y SEVENTH. PART I. THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. CHAPTER I. THE PROSPERITY OF THE CHURCH. $ I. Christianity propagated in China. 2. The English converted. ^ 3- Also the Gauls, Suevi, Frieslanders, Franks, and Helvetii. $ 4. Judgment concerning these Apostles. 5. Jews compelled to embrace Christianity. 1. THE Christian religion was in this century diffused beyond its for- mer bounds, both in the eastern and western countries. In the East, the Nestorians witli incredible industry and perseverance laboured to propa- gate it from Persia, Syria, and India, among the barbarous and savage na- tions inhabiting the deserts and the remotest shores of Asia ; and that their zeal was not inefficient, appears from numerous proofs still existing. In particular, the vast empire of China was enlightened by this zeal and in- dustry, with the light of Christianity. Those who regard as genuine and authentic the Chinese monument of Sigan which was discovered in the sev- enteenth century, believe that Christianity was introduced into China in the year 636, when J.esujabas of Gadala presided over the Nestorian com- munity. (1) And those who look upon this as a fabrication of the Jesuits, (1) This celebrated monument has been of the inscription, with a comment and some published and explained by several persons, notes, is given in the Appendixto Moshcim's in particular by Athan. Kircher, China il- Historia Eccles. Tartarorum, p. 2-28. The lustrata, p. 53. Amir. Miiller, in a distinct monument is said to be a marble slab, ten treatise, Berlin, 1672, 4to. Euseb. Renau- feet long and five broad ; dug up in the dot. Relations anciennes des Indes et de la year 1625, at a town near Si-ngan-fii, capital Chine de deux yoyageurs Mahometans, p. of the province Sficn-si. The top of the 228-271, Paris, 1718, 8vo. Jos. Sim. As- slab is a pyramidal cross. The caption to .tfinan, Biblioth. Oriental. Vaticana, torn, the inscription consists of nine Chinese iii., pi. ii., c. iv., $ 7, p. 538, &c. A more words, formed into a square, and is thus accurate copy, with notes, was expected from translated : " This stone was erected to the the very learned Theophtius Stgefr. Bayer, honour and eternal memory of the Law of much distinguished for his knowledge of Light and Truth brought from Ta-cin, [Ju- Chinese literature. But his premature death dea, or Syria], and promulgated in China.'* frustrated the expectation. I see no reason The principal inscription is m ('Linfse char- why I should not regard this monument as acters, and consists of twenty-eight columns, genuine ; nor can I conceive what advan- each containing sixty-two words. It first tage the Jesuits could have promised them- states the fundamental principles of Christi- selves from a fabrication of this sort. See anity ; and then recounts the arrival of the Gabr. Liron, Singularites historique et litte- missionaries in 636, their gracious reception raires, tome ii., p. 500. dec [See also by the king, their labours and success, and Tho. Yrutes, Indian Church History, p. 85- the principal events of the mission for 144 96, Lond., 1818, 8vo. Kirckcr's translation years, or till A. D. 780. There were two 422 BOOK II. CENTURY VII. PART I. CHAP. I. may be fully satisfied by -other and unexceptionable proofs that China, es- pecially the northern part of it, contained in this century or perhaps even earlier numerous Christians, over whom presided during several subsequent centuries a metropolitan sent out by the patriarch of the Chaldeans or Nes- torians.(2) 2. The attention of the Greeks was so engrossed with their intestine dissensions, that they were little solicitous about the propagation of Chris- tianity among the heathen. (3) In the West, among the Anglo-Saxons, Augustine, till his death in 605, and afterwards other monks sent from Rome, laboured to extend and enlarge the church. And the result of their labours and efforts was, that the other six Anglo-Saxon kings, who had hitherto continued in paganism, gradually came over to the side of Chris- tianity, and all Britain became professedly Christian. (4) Yet we need not believe that this change was wholly owing to the sermons and the exhor- tations of these Roman monks and teachers ; a great part of it is rather to be ascribed to the Christian wives of the kings and chiefs, who employed various arts to convert their husbands ; and likewise to the rigorous laws enacted against the worshippers of idols ;(5) not to mention other causes. persecutions, in the years 699 and 713. Soon after the second persecution, some new missionaries arrived. Then follows the date and erection of the monument, in A.D. 782. On the one side of this principal in- scription there is a column of Chinese char- acters ; on the other side, and at the bottom, is a Syrian inscription in the Estrangelo char- acter, containing catalogues of priests, dea- cons, and others, with a bishop, arranged in seven different classes. TV.] (2) See Renaudot, loc. cit., p. 51, 68, &c., et passim. Asseman, loc. cit., cap. ix., p. 522, &c. Thcophilus Sigefr. Bayer tells us, (Praefat. ad Museum Sinicum, p. 84), that he possesses some testimonies, which put the subject beyond controversy. [It is the constant tradition of the Syrian Chris- tians, that St. Thomas the apostle made an excursion to China ; and the Christians of Malabar celebrate this event in their ordi- nary worship ; and their primate styled him- self metropolitan of Hindoo and China, when the Portuguese first knew them. See Tho. Yeates, Indian Church Hist , p. 71-84. See also M. de Guignes, Diss. in the 30th vol. (p. 802, &c.) of the Memoires de Litterature, threes des Registres de 1'Academie Royale des Inscriptions et Belles- Lettres : which contains a defence of the genuineness of the Sigan monument, against the objections of La Croze and Bcausobre. Likewise Schroeckh, Kirchengeschichte, vol. xix., p. 291-298. 2V.] (3) [Yet Constantius Porphyrogenitus states, (de Administrando Imperio, c. 31, in Bandurius' Imperium Orientale, p. 97, ed. Paris), that the Chrobatcs, (the Croatians), who then inhabited Dalmatia, from which they had expelled the Avares by order of Herachus, made application to that emperor for religious instructers ; and that he pro- cured priests for them from Rome, who bap- tized them, and one of whom became their archbishop. See Sender's Selecta Cap. Hist. Eccles., torn, ii., p. 20. Lucius de Regno Dalmatiae, 1. i., c. 11. Muratori, History of Italy, torn, iv., p. 78, of the Germ, trans., and Jos. Sim. Asseman, in Calendar. Ec- cles. universae, torn, i., p. 499, &c. Schl.] (4) Beda, Historia Eccles. gentis Anglor., lib. ii., cap. iii., p. 91, &c., cap. xiv., p. 116, lib. iii., cap. xxi., p. 162, ed. Chiflet. Rapin de Thoyras, Histoire d'Angleterre, torn, i., p. 222, &c. (5) See Dan. Wilkins, Concilia magnae Britanniae, torn, i., p. 61. [According to Beda, De Thoyras, and the other writers on English church History, the progress of Christianity among the Anglo-Saxons, in this century, was as follows. In the year 601, pope Gregory confirmed Augustine as the archbishop of Canterbury ; and advised him to appoint twelve suffragans under him- self, and to send a bishop to York, who should in time become archbishop, and have also twelve suffragans. Yet Canterbury, or rather (on the death of Augustine) London, was to hold the primacy of all England. This arrangement was prospective, for the conversion of but a small part of the Saxons was as yet achieved. In 604, Augustine appointed Justus first bishop of Rochester in Kent, and Mcllitus first bishop of London among the East Saxons, and named Lau- rentius to succeed himself in the see of Can- terbury. Augustine died the next year, hav- ing been in England but eight years, and hav- PROSPEROUS EVENTS. 423 3. In this century, many of the Britons, Scotch, and Irish, eager to propagate the Christian religion, visited the Batavian, Bclgie, and German ing extended Christianity little farther than over Kent, and part of the present counties of Essex and Middlesex. Laurentius suc- ceeded him. On the death of Eihel.bert the first Christian king of Kent, in 616, his son and successor Eadbald, married his own mother-in-law, and renounced Christianity. Most of his subjects followed him in his apostacy. Sebert also, the Christian king of Essex, was succeeded by pagan sons ; who expelled Christianity from their domin- ions, and obliged Mellitus the bishop to take refuge in Kent. The three English prelates, in despair, now resolved to quit England ; and two of them actually retired to the Continent. Laurentius, while pre- paring to remove, pretended to receive, one night, a flagellation and a severe reprimand from St. Peter, for thus deserting the sheep of Christ and leaving them among wolves. The next morning he reported the matter to king Eadbald, and showed him his fresh wounds. The king was so moved, that he annulled his incestuous marriage, returned to the Christian faith, recalled the exiled bishops, and re-established Christianity in his dominions. Thus Kent became perma- nently Christianized. The East Saxons were not so easily reclaimed ; nor were they the next to embrace Christianity. In the year 625, Edwin king of Northumberland, including all the north of England, married Ethelburga, sister of Eadbald king of Kent and daughter of queen Bcrtka. tolerate her religion. She took with lu-r I'au- linus, who was ordained bishop for that pur- pose. The consequence was, that king Ed- win, Coify his pagan high-priest, his nobles, and most of his subjects, embraced Chris- tianity ; and I'auhnus, in the year 627, bap- tized 12,000 Nor'iiumhrians in one iliv, in the river Swale, near Richmond. J' became archbishop of York, and pro; Christianity to some extent in East which included the counties of SunV folk, Cambridge, and the isle of Ely. But in 633, king Edwin was slain in battle, and a great apostacy ensued. Paulinas, in de- spair, returned to Kent, and became bis-hop of Roches! er. Soon after, Oswald mount- ed the throne of Northumberland, after a long exile among the monks of Scotland. He being a Christian, laboured to restore Chris- tianity. The Scottish monks sent him first Carman, and then the famous Aiilan, bish- op of Lindisfarne or Holy Island, to assist him. Thus Christianity became permanent- ly established in Northumberland. The people of East Anglia also returned to the Christian faith about the year 636, their ex- iled king Sigebert, having brought with him from France Felix a Burgundian priest, who became bishop of Dumnoe, now Dunwich. Oswald and Sigebert are said to have patro- nised learning and set up schools throughout their dominions. The kingdom of Wessex, including seven counties in the southwest of England, was converted about A.D. 635, by Bcnnus, a missionary directly from Rome, who became bishop of Dorchester. bert II., king of the East Saxrms, who occu- pied the counties of Essex, Middlesex, and part of Hertfordshire, was persuaded by his friend Osory king of x Northumberland, to embrace Christianity ; and he, by the aid of Chad or Cedda, a Northumbrian prelate who was translated to London, permanently re- stored Christianity among the East > about the year 660. Afercia, including about seventeen of the midland counties, gradually became Christian, after the mid- dle of the century. Peada the prince be- came a Christian, in the lifetime of his pagan father king Pcnda, at the instigation of his wife Alchflida, daughter of Oswi the king of Northumberland ; and he spread Christi- anity in the provinces over which he ruled. When made king, he soon brought the whole territory to embrace Christianity. The last Saxon kingdom, Sussex, including the counties of Surry ami .is con- verted about the year 686, by Wilfrid an ex- iled bishop of Northumberland. A great dispute arising about the tonsure of priests, (whether only a considerable spot, or the whole head except a circular margin, should be shaved), and also about the time of East- er, those north of the Thames following the Irish or Gallic ritual, and :i of it, nun ; a conference was held o: subjects at Whitby. in the year fiijl Hero king of Northumberland, learning from the Romish party that St. Peter had the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and that the other party rould not deny that fact, de- clared he would not offend St. Peter, lest when he should arrive at the gates of heav- en he should find the doorkeeper would not open to him. Td : ght decided the question with the majority. Still, how- ever, the controversy continued ; and sev- r riil bishops retired in disgust, or were re- moved from their > op elect, being sent to Rome for ordination as primate of England, died by the way ; and the pope ordained and sent Theodarut, a native of Tarsus, and a man of talents. Theodoras arrived at Canterbury in 669, and 424 BOOK II. CENTURY VII. PART I. CHAP. I. tribes, and there founded new churches. And this it was that led the Germans afterwards to erect so many monasteries for Scots and Irishmen : some of which are still in being.(6) Columlanus an Irishman, with a few companions, had already, in the preceding century, happily extirpated in Gaul and the contiguous regions, the ancient idolatry, the roots of which had previously struck deep every where ; and he persevered in these labours till the year 615, in which his death is placed, and with the aid of his disci- ples, carried the name of the Saviour to the Swabians, Bavarians, Franks, and other nations of Germany.(7) St. Gall, one of his companions, im- parted a knowledge of Christianity to the Helvetians and Swabians. (8) St. Kilian, a Scotchman, converted a great many to Christ among the [Fran- for twenty-one years was indefatigable in his efforts to regulate the ecclesiastical affairs of England. For the furtherance of his designs, he held a council or synod at Hertford in 673, when annual synods were agreed upon, and other ecclesiastical regulations adopted. Another synod at Hatfield, in 680, estab- lished the faith of the English churches, on the basis of the five first general coun- cils. Hitherto there had been but one bish- op in each kingdom of the Heptarchy, ex- cept Kent, which had two bishops ; but now, the ambition of ruling induced the primate and some of the kings to divide bishoprics, in order to diminish the power of the lordly prelates. Hence, about the end of the cen- tury, the Heptarchy contained sixteen bish- oprics : viz., Canterbury and Rochester, in Kent ; London, in Essex ; Dunwich and Elmham, in East Anglia ; Winchester and Sherburn, in Wessex ; Litchfield, Leicester, Hertford, Worcester, and Synacester, in Mercia ; and York, Lindisfarne, Hexam, and Withern. in Northumberland. The Irish and Scotch churches were in a very pros- perous state during this century. TV.] (6) See Acta Sanctor., torn, ii., Februar., p. 362. (7) Jo. Mabillon, Acta Sanctor. ord. Ben- edict!, torn, ii., p. 560, &c., torn, iii., p. 72, 339, 500, and elsewhere. Adamanni, lib. iii. de S. Columbano, in Hen. Canisii Lec- tiones Antiquae, torn, i., p. 674. [See a brief account of St. Columbanus, above, p. 392, note (14). TV.] (8) Walafrid Strabo, Vita Sti. Galli, in Jo. Mabillon, Acta Sanctor. ord. Benedicti, torn, ii., p. 228, [ed. Venice, p. 215, &c.] Hen. Canisii Lectiones Antiquae, torn, i., p. 783. [St. Gall, or St. Gallus, was born in Ireland, of religions parents, who early committed him to Columbanus for education. He became a monk of Bangor, under Co- lumbanus, and was one of the 12 Irish monks, who left Ireland with Columbanus, about the year 589, travelled through Eng- land to the Continent, and erected the mon- astery of Luxeul in Burgundy. When Co- lumbanus, 20 years after, was driven from this monastery, St. Gall accompanied him in exile. Ascending the Rhine, they penetra- ted the heart of Switzerland, about the year 610, and took residence among the pagans at Tuggen, at the head of the lake of Zu- rich. Attacking idolatry, St. Gall here burn- ed the pagan temple, and cast their offerings into the lake. This enraged the people, and the monks had to flee. Travelling through the canton of St. Gal!, they came to Arbon, on the shores of the lake of Constance. Here Willimar, the presbyter of the place, treated them kindly, and aided them to form a set- tlement at Bregents, at the eastern extremi- ty of the lake. Here the monks attempted to convert the surrounding pagans, and were not without some success. But at the end of two years, the unconverted procured an order from the duke for the monks to quit the country. Columbanus and the rest now retired to Bobbio, in Italy ; but St. Gall was left behind, sick. When recovered, he re- tired into the wilderness with a few adhe- rents, and erected the monastery of St. Gall, in the province of the same name. Here he spent the remainder of his days, in great rep- utation and honour. He refused the bish- opric of Constance, which he conferred on his pupil John. His monastery flourished much, and spread light over the surrounding country. St. Gall died at Arbon, but was interred in his monastery, at the age of 95, according to Mabillon. His sermon at the ordination of John at Constance, and some epistles, are published by Canisius, loc. cit. His life by Walifrid Strabo, from which this notice is extracted, though full of legendary tales, is written in a far better style than the ordinary monkish biographies. It appears, according to Strabo, that Switzerland was almost wholly pagan when first visited by Columbanus in 610, but that Christianity had then made considerable progress in Ger- many, from the lake of Constance all along the right bank of the Rhine. TV.] PROSPEROUS EVENTS. 425 conians or] Eastern Franks.(9) Near the close of the century, in the year 690, Willebrord, by birth an Anglo-Saxon, accompanied by eleven of his countrymen, viz., Suidbert, Wigbert, Acca, Witibald, Unibald, Lebwin, the two Ewalds, Wcrenfrid, Mtircr///n, and Adalbert, crossed over to Batavia lying opposite to Britain, with a view to convert the Frieslanders to Chris- tianity. From thence, in the year 692, they went to Fosteland, which most writers suppose to be the island of Heligoland : being driven from there by Radbod the king of the Frieslanders, who put Wigbert one of the company to death, they wandered over Cimbria and the adjacent parts of Denmark. Returning to Fricsland in the year 693, they attacked the superstition of the country with better success. Willebrord was now created by the Ro- man pontiiF, archbishop of Wilteburg, [since called Utrecht], and died at an advanced age among the Batavians. His associates spread a knowledge of Christianity among the Westphalians and the neighbouring nations. (10) (9) Vita S. Kiliani, in Henr. Canisii Lec- tiones Antiquae, torn, iii., p. 171, &c. J. Pet. de Ludcwig, Scriptores rerum Wiirtsbur- gens., p. 966. [See also the Life of St. Kil- ian, in Mabillon, Acta Sanctor. ord. Bene- dict., torn. ii., p. 951-953, ed. Venice, 1733. According to these authorities, St. Kiliu/i, Chilian, Cylian, Cilnin, or Kylloia, was an Irishman, of honourable birth and good edu- cation. In early life he had a great thirst for knowledge ; and being very pious, and possessing a perfect knowledge of missionary enterprises, he planned one of his own. Taking with him Coloman, Gallon, and Ar- neval, presbyters, Donatus a deacon, and seven others, he penetrated into Franconia, which was wholly pagan, and took residence at Herliipolis or Wurtzburg. Finding their prospects good, Kilian, Coloman, and Tot- nan went to Italy to obtain the papal sanc- tion to their enterprise ; which having readily obtained from Conon, (who was pope 1 1 months, ending Sept , 686), they returned to Wiirtzburg, converted and baptized Gosbert the duke, and a large number of his subjects. But afterwards, persuading the duke that it was unlawful for him to have his brother's wife, Geilan, she seized an occasional ab- sence of her husband, and murdered all the missionaries. This cruel act is placed in the year 696. But the massacre did not prevent the progress of Christianity ; for the duchess became deranged, the assassins re- pented, and ,S'/ Kilian became the tutelar saint of Wiirlzburg. TV.] (10) i Willebrordi, in Jo. Ma- bdlun, Acta Sanctor. ord. Bened., torn, iii., p. 604. &c., [559, &c., ed. Venice]. Jo. Molleri Cimbria Litterata, torn, ii., p. 980, &c. [Bcda, Histor. Eccles., 1. v., c. 11. 12. This famous missionary was born in Nor- thumberland about A.I) (i.V.i, of pious pa- rents. Educated in the monastery of Ripon (Hirpensis), in Northumberland, at the age VOL. I. H H ir of 20 he went to Ireland, where he studied 12 years. At the age of 33 he commenced his mission, and sailed up the Rhine to Utrecht, in the dominions of Radbod the pa- gan king of the Friesians. Soon after he went to France, and by advice of king Pcpin, visited Italy, and obtained the sanction of pope Scrgius to his enterprise. Returning to Utrecht, he in vain attempted the conver- sion of Radbod and his subjects. Therefore proceeding northward, he landed at an island called Fositdand, which was on the confines of Denmark and Friesland, and so sacred that its fruits, its animals, and even its wa- ters were holy, and whoever profaned them was to be punished with death. Willibrod and his company wholly disregarded the sa- credness of the place, violated the laws, were arraigned before Radbod, who cast lots on their destiny, by which one was doomed to death, and the others dismissed. They now penetrated into Denmark. On their return to the confines of France, Pcpin, who in 693 had vanquished Radbcd. sent \Villibroil again to Italy to be consecrated archbishop of Utrecht. Pope Serg:us now gave him the name of Clemens. Returning clothed with dignity, his friend Pcpin aided him in his work ; and for about 50 years from h;- ing England, he laboured, and with much success, as the apostle of the Frii'slanders. He died about the year 740. at the advanced age of 81. Thus far Alcttin's narrative goes. Of his followers, it is said, that the two v. (the one called the white, and the other the black Ewald), were put to death by a Saxon king, and their bodies cast into the Rhine ; that Suidbfrt preached to the Bructeri near Cologne, and at last ; >-th on the Rhine, where he died A.D. 713; that \VilHbald became bishop of Eich- sttiilt in Bavaria ; and Marccllinus bishop of the country along the Issel. TV.] 426 BOOK II. CENTURY VII. PART I. CHAP. II. 4. Of these and other expeditions undertaken for the extension of Christianity, an impartial man who adheres to truth will not pass an in- discriminate judgment. That some of these preachers were men of hon- est simplicity and piety, no one can doubt. But most of them show man- ifest proofs of various sinful passions, of arrogance, avarice, and cruelty ; and having received authority from the Roman pontiff to exercise their sa- cred functions among the barbarians, they did not so much collect holy congregations of devout Christians, as procure for themselves a people among whom they might act the part of sovereigns and lords. I cannot therefore strongly censure those, who suspect that some of these monks, being de- sirous of ruling, concealed for a time their vicious propensities under the veil of religion, and imposed upon themselves various hardships, that they might acquire the rank and honours of bishops and archbishops. 5. Of the Jews, very few, if any, voluntarily embraced Christianity. But the Christians compelled many of them in different places, by means of penalties, to make an outward profession of belief in Christ. The em- peror Heraclius being incensed against them, as is reported, by the influ- ence of Christian doctors, made havoc of the miserable nation, and ordered vast numbers of them to be dragged reluctantly to baptism.(ll) The kings of Spain and Gaul had no hesitation to do the same, notwithstanding the Roman pontiffs were opposed to it. (12) Such evils resulted from ignorance of the true principles of Christianity, and from the barbarism of the age. CHAPTER II. ADVERSITIES OF THE CHURCH. () 1. Persecutions of the Christians. 2. Mohammed. 3. Judgment concerning him. 4. Causes of the Rapid Progress of his Religion. $ 5. Disposition of the Mohamme- dans towards the Christians. 6. Sects among them. 1. THE Christians suffered less in this than in the preceding centuries. By the Persian kings, they were at times persecuted ; but the rage against them soon subsided. In England some of the petty kings oppressed the new converts to Christianity ; but soon after, these kings themselves became professed Christians. In the East, especially in Syria and Palestine, the Jews sometimes rose upon the Christians with great violence ;(1) yet so unsuccessfully as to suffer severely for their temerity. Those living among the Christians who secretly consulted about restoring the pagan religions, were too weak to venture on any positive measures. 2. But a new and most powerful adversary of Christianity, started up in Arabia, A.D. 612, in the reign of Heraclius. MoJiammed was indeed an illiterate man ;(2) but still an Arab nobleman, naturally eloquent, and (11) Eutychius, Annales Ecclesiae Alex- (1) Eutyrhius, Annales, torn, ii., p. 236, andr., torn, ii., p. 212, &c. &c. Jo. Henr. Hot/inner, Historia Orien- (12) [See some authorities on this subject, talis, lib. i., c. iii., p. 129, &c. quoted by Baronius, Annales Eccles. ad (2) Mohammed himself professed to be ann. 614, sub fin., torn, viii., p. 239, &c., destitute of science and learning, and even ed. Antw., 1600. Tr.] to be unable to read and write : and his fol- ADVERSE EVENTS. 427 possessing great acuteness of mind. (8) He proclaimed that he was sent of God, to overthrow all polytheism ; and also to purge and reform, first, the religions of the Arabs, and next, those of the Jews and the Christians : and having framed a law which is called the Koran,() after gaining some lowers have deduced from this his ignorance, an argument for the divinity of the religion which he taught. But it is hardly credible, that he was so rude and ignorant a man. And there are some among his adherents, who question the reality of the fact. See Jo. Chardin, Voyages en Perse, torn, iv., p. 33, 34. Indeed, when I consider that Mohammed for a long time pursued a gainful commerce in Arabia and the adjacent coun- tries, I think he must have been able to read and write and cast accounts, for merchants cannot dispense with this degree of knowl- edge. [Dr. Mosheim here reasons in the very manner which he himself condemns ; viz., such a thing does not occur at this day, and therefore it did not in ancient times. (See the Introd., 19, p. xix., supra). Ac- cording to the Koran and all the Mohamme- dan writers, the times preceding Mohammed were times of ignorance among the Arabs. The tribe of Hamyar in Yemen had indeed for some centuries possessed a rude alpha- bet ; but the use of it was not publicly taught, nor suffered except with special permission. The Arab Jews and Christians, likewise, un- doubtedly had the use of letters ; but all the pagan Arabs of the Ishmaelitish stock, in- cluding the tribe of Koreish as well as others, were without letters, previously to the intro- duction of the Cufic character in which the Koran was first written. This alphabet was invented at Cufah in Irak, a little before the times of Mohammed, and was first taught at Mecca, as it is said, by Bashar the Kendian, iust before the institution of the Mohamme- dan religion. (See Sale's Koran, Prelim. Diss., () i., p. 35.) Hence the best educa- ted men in his tribe, up to the time he ap- peared, were unable to read and write ; and was about 12 years before he assumed the character of a prophet. Now that such a man should be among the very first in Mecca to loarn the use of letters, is not to be ex- pected. Much less can we infer from his occupation, that he must have been able to read and write. That he employed his son- in-law AH, as his scribe in committing the Koran to writing, is the constant testimony of his followers. And that he should appeal in that book to his own ignorance of letters, as proof that he did not write it out and pol- ish it in his closet, seems to be good evi- dence of such ignorance. For his intimate acquaintances must have known whether that ignorance was real or not ; and, as most of them were slow to admit his pretensions to a divine mission, it cannot be supposed that he would jeopardize his reputation as a man of veracity and of common sense, by refer- ring them to what they knew to be false, as good evidence of his inspiration. See Sale's Koran, ch. i., vol. i., p. 192, and ch. xxix., vol. ii., p. 256. See also Gibbon's Decl. and Fall of Rom. Emp , ch. 1., not. 70, vol. v., p. 147, &c. And on the other side, White's Sermons, p. 203, 204, and notes p. xxvi.- xxxviii. ; also G. Bush's Life of Mohammed, p. 38, 39. TV.] (3) The writers on his life and religion are enumerated by Jo. Alb. Fabricius, De- lectus et Syllabus Argumentor. pro veritate religionis Christiana?, cap. 1., p. 733, dec. To which may be added count Boulainvilhers, Vie de Mahomet, Lond., 1730, 8vo, which however is rather a romance than a history. Jo. Gagnicr, Vie de Mahomet, 2 vols. 12mo, Amsterd., 1732, is commendable for the in- genuousness of the author, yet the style is dry. George Sale, a distinguished and very much more the camel drivers and the men judicious author, in his Preliminary discourse prefixed to his version of the Koran, sec. ii., [p. 45, &c.,ed. Lond., 1825. II. I' Life of Mahomet, 1697, 8vo. Geo. Bush, Life of Mohammed, N. York, 1834. 18mo. ','ibbon, Hist, of the Decl. and Fall of the Rom. Emp., ch. 1., vol. v., p. 145, &c., York, 1826. P. Bai/lr, Dictionnaire Historique, art. Mahomet . Hopae- dia, art. Mahomet. Andr. Cnchtor,' tory of Arabia, N. Y., 1834, vol. i., ch. vi. Abulfcda, Annales Muslrm.. Ar. and Lat., 2 vols. 4to, Hafnis, 1790. Abulfcda, de Vita et Rebus Gestis Mohammed is, Arab, and Lat., Oxon., 1723 Schrocckh, Kirch- engesch., vol. xix., p. 327405 TV.] (4) For an account of the Koran, see, in active life, such as Mohammed was. Though of noble birth, he was an orphan child, whose whole patrimony was five cam- els and a female slave His uncle, Abu Td- leb, who brought him up, twice sent him in his caravan to Syria, first when he was 13 and then when about 20 years old. In the inter- val he went on a military expedition against a neighbouring tribe. And this is all we know of him till the age of 25, when he was recommended to a rich widow of Mivca named Cadijah, to be her factor ; and she sent him in that capacity to Damascus and the adjacent parts of Syria. On his return she gave him her hand and her fortune, and he became an opulent citizen of Mecca. This 428 BOOK II. CENTURY VII. PART I. CHAP. II. victories over his enemies, he compelled an immense multitude of persons, first in Arabia, and then in the neighbouring countries, to assent to his doc- trines. Elated with this unexpected success, he now began to think of founding an empire ; and he effected his object with no less felicity than boldness, so that at his death he saw himself the sovereign of all Arabia, and of several of the neighbouring countries. [After his marriage with Ca- dijah, Mohammed resided at Mecca, which was at that time the principal seat of Arabian idolatry, and much frequented by pilgrims on account of its famous temple called Caaba. Here he conceived the idea of reclaim- ing his countrymen from idolatry, and of restoring the primitive and only true religion, which had been taught by Abraham and Ishmael, by Moses and the prophets, and by Jesus Christ and his apostles. Retiring frequently to a cave near the city for solitude and meditation, he at length persuaded himself, or at least professed to believe, that he had divine revelations, and was a prophet whom God commissioned to reform mankind. He first sta- ted his pretensions to his wife, who readily came into his views. She com. municated the secret to her cousin Warakah, who being a Christian and somewhat acquainted with the Scriptures, yielded to her arguments, and assured her that the same angel who in ancient times appeared to Moses was sent to converse with Mohammed. His next convert was Zeid his ser- vant, whom he now set free. AH the son of Abu Taleb next believed, and preference to all others, Geo. Sale's very learned Preliminary Discourse, prefixed to his English version of that book. Add Vcr- tot, Discours sur 1'Alcoran ; annexed to the third volume of his History of the Knights of Malta, in French : Jo. Chardin, Voyages en Perse, torn, ii., p. 281, new ed. The book which the Mohammedans call the Ko- ran, is a collection of papers and discourses discovered and published after the death of Mohammed ; and is not that Law, which he so highly extolled. Perhaps some parts of the true Koran are still found in the modern Koran : but that the Koran or Law, which Mohammed prescribed to the Arabians, dif- fered from the present Koran, is manifest from the fact, that Mohammed in our Koran appeals to and extols that other the true Ko- ran. A book which is commended and ex- tolled in any writing, must certainly be dif- ferent from that in which it is commended. May we not conjecture, that the true Koran was an Arabic poem, which Mohammed re- cited to his adherents, and wished them to commit to memory, but which he did not \vrite out? Such, it is well known, were the laws of the Gallic Druids ; and such is said to be that Indian law, which the Brah- mins learn and preserve in their memories. [These conjectures of Dr. Mosheim appear to be wholly without foundation. There is no reason to believe, that there ever was a Koran essentially different from that we now have , or that Mohammed declined commit- ting his pretended revelations to writing. The only argument adduced by Dr. Mo- sheim is of no force at all, considering the manner in which the Koran came into exist- ence. The book itself professes to have been composed by God, in the highest heav- ens, and thence sent down to the lower heav- ens by the angel Gabriel, who communica- ted it by parcels to Mohammed, during the twenty-three years that he claimed to be a prophet. Moreover, the parcels revealed last, often revoked or modified what had been revealed before, and likewise replied to the objections of infidels against the book. See Sale's Koran, vol. i., ed. Lond., 1825, ch. vi., p. 159 ; and vol. ii., ch. x., p. 31 ; ch. xvi., p. 107 ; ch. xxv., p. 213 ; ch. xcvii., p. 497. The Mohammedan doctors say, the Koran existed, together with the decrees of God, from all eternity, engraven on a table of stone hard by the throne of God, and called the Preserved fable ; that God sent the angel Gabriel, with a transcript of the entire Koran, down to the lowest heavens, where, during 23 years, he revealed it by parcels to Mohammed ; that Mohammed caused these parcels to be written down by his scribe, as they were received, and pub- lished them at once to his followers, some of whom took copies, while the greater part got them by heart ; that the original MSS. of the scribe, when returned, were thrown pro- miscuously into a chest, whence they were taken, after the prophet's death, and pub- lished collectively, in their present form and order, which is wholly without regard to dates, or a classification of subjects. See Sale's Prelim. Disc., $ iii., p. 77-95. TV.] ADVERSE EVENTS. 429 afterwards Abubeker, Othman, Abd'alrdhman, Saad, al Zobeir, and Telha all his relatives and principal men of Mecca. At the end of three years, he concluded to make known his pretensions to all his family connexions assembled at a grand entertainment. But they turned the whole into rid. icule. He. was not discouraged, but proceeded directly to proclaim his mis- sion in public to the people". They resisted him at once, and becoming irrita- ted, began to plot his ruin. Aba Tdleb, though far from becoming his disciple, yet protected his nephew from violence. At the i :M! of live years, his lew adherents met with so much abuse, that most of them fled the country, and are said to have retired to Ethiopia. In the sixth year, lie gained some important converts; but the following year there was a grand conspiracy against him, and his own tribe became divided into hostile factions. In the tenth year of his mission, his powerful protector Abu Tdleb died, and also his wife Cadijah. The violence of his enemies was now so great, that he deemed it advisable to retire from Mecca. He went to Tayef ; but being soon driven from that city by the populace, he ventured to return to Mecca, where he pi cached so successfully to the assembled pilgrims that he gained a number of converts, and among them six inhabitants of Yathreb, ;: wards named Medinat al Nabi, (city of the prophet), or simply Medina, who were of the Jewish tribe Khazrai. In the twelfth year, no less than twelve men of Medina came to Mecca, and by a solemn oath pledged them- selves to adhere to Mohammed. On their return to Medina, accompanied by the preacher Masdb, the new religion was propagated so successfully at .Medina, that a large part of the people became Mohammedans. The following year, which was the thirteenth of his mission, seventy-three con- verts of Medina came to Mecca, and entered into a covenant with Mo. hammed to protect and defend him by force of arms against all assailants. This was the first step towards the employment of the sword in support of his doctrine. He however dismissed them, and remained at Mecca with his few friends there. As soon as they were gone, all the tribes of Mec- cans banded together to assassinate him in his house. But he found means to escape out of the city, and to make his way to Medina. This was the famous flight of Mohammed, sixty-eight days after the commencement of the Arabic lunar year that began on Friday, July 16, 622, and .vhieh the Mohammedans called the year of the /////// or the Hegira. Hitherto Moham- med had appeared only in the character of a prophet, a character which he had sustained by a life of self-denial, purity, and devotion, as well as by ardent zeal to enlighten and reform his fellow-men. But he i;u assumed the character of a temporal sovereign as well as a prophet, and claimed to have absolute power in civil as well as religious matters. Arguments and entreaties were no longer the only means he used in making converts, but he pretended to have a command from God to propagate the truth and to sup." press all false religions by the power of the sword. He accordingly led his followers to battle, waged offensive as well as defensive wars in support of his religion, and gave to idolaters no alternative but death or the pro- fession of Islamism. In the course of eleven years he brought all Arabia under his dominion, and purged it of idolatry. He also gave himself up to excessive venery, and claimed to have divine permission to marry as many wives as he pleased, and whom he pleased, without regard to the laws which are binding on other men. Yet he continued t6 exhibit the sn mi- religious zeal as before, and seemed not at all sensible of any incongruity 430 BOOK II. CENTURY VII. PART I. CHAP. II. between his pretensions and his conduct. He died at Medina in the year 632, while preparing to extend his conquests into foreign countries ; and died, as he had lived, apparently with a self-approving conscience, and in the full persuasion that he had faithfully discharged the duties of his prophetic office, and was going to receive a rich reward. See the writers mentioned in note (3), supra. Tr.] 3. No one can at this day form a perfect judgment of the entire char- acter, views, and designs of Mohammed. For we cannot safely rely on the Greek writers, who made no hesitation to load their enemy with slan- ders and falsehoods ; nor can we trust to the Arabians, who are the very worst historians, who conceal all his vices and crimes, and depict him as altogether a divine person. Besides, a very considerable part of his life, and that too from which the motives and secret springs of his conduct would best appear, lies concealed from us. It is very probable, however, that abhorrence of the superstition in which he saw his countrymen involved, so wrought upon him as to throw him into a disordered state of mind ; and that he really believed, that he was divinely commissioned to reform the religion of the Arabs, and to reinstate among them the worship of the one true God. But it is also certain, that afterwards, when he saw his attempts going into successful operation, he deluded the fickle and credulous multi- tude with impious tricks and impositions, in order to strengthen his cause ; and even feigned divine revelations, whenever occasion seemed to require it or any great difficulty occurred. Nor was this fraud inconsistent with his being a fanatic ; for most fanatics look upon the deception which seems necessary to their success, to be holy and approved of God ; and they of course resort to deception, when they can do it safely.(5) The religion which he inculcated, is not what it would have been if his designs had not been opposed. The pertinacity with which the Arabians adhered to the opinions and customs of their ancestors, and the hope of gaining over the Jews and the Christians to his cause, undoubtedly led him to approve and to tolerate many things which he would have rejected and abrogated if he had been at liberty to pursue his own choice. 4. The causes of the rapid propagation of this new religion among so many nations, are not difficult to be discovered. In the first place, the ter- ror of arms which Mohammed and his successors carried with great suc- cess into different countries, compelled vast multitudes to receive his law. In the next place, his law itself was admirably adapted to the natural dis- positions of men, and especially to the manners, the opinions, and the vices prevalent among the people of the East ; for it was extremely simple, pro- posing very few things to be believed ; nor did it enjoin many and difficult duties to be performed, or such as laid severe restraints on the propensi- ties of men. (6) Moreover, the consummate ignorance, which characterized (5) This, in my judgment, is the best way ran, sec. ii., [p. 53, &c., ed. Lond., 1825. of deciding the controversy, which has been Schrocckh, Kirchengesch., vol. xix., p. 380, agitated by learned men of our age ; whether &c. Tr.] Mohammed was a fanatic or an impostor"! (6) See Hadr. Rcland, de rcligione Ma- See Peter liayle, Dictionnaire Historique, humedica, Libri.ii., Utrecht, 1717, 12mo. torn, iii., article Mahomet, note K. Sim. Geo. Sale, Prelim. Dissert, to the Koran, Ockley, Conquest of Syria, Persia, and sec. iv., v., vi. [Han. More, Dictionary of Egypt, by the Saracens, torn, i., p. 68, all Religions, art. Mahometans, ed. 1817. Lond., 1708, 8vo. George Sale, Prelitni- H. Hallam's View of Europe in the middle nary Discourse to his translation of the Ko- ages, vol. ii., p. 402, &c., ed. Philad., 1821. ADVERSE EVENTS. 431 for the most part the Arabians, the Syrians, the Persians, and other nations of the East, gave a bold and eloquent man easy control over the minds of immense numbers. We may add, that the virulent contests among the Christians Greeks, Nestorians, Eutychians, and Monophysites, which fill. v ed a large part of the East with carnage and horrible crimes, rendered their religion odious in the eyes of many. And further the Monophysites and Nestorians, whom the Greeks oppressed most grievously, gave assist- ance to the Arabians and facilitated their conquest of certain provinces, and thus secured the preponderance to their sects in those regions. (7) Other causes will readily suggest themselves, to such as consider attentively the state of the world and the character of the Mohammedan religion. 5. After the death of Mohammed in the year 632, his followers issu- ing forth from Arabia with their native fortitude stimulated by a furious fanaticism, and aided, as has already been observed, by those Christians who were persecuted by the Greeks, extended their conquests over Syria, Persia, Egypt, and some other countries. (8) Nor could the Greeks, har- assed with intestine commotions and various wars, put forth sufficient en- ergy to check their rapid career. The victors at first used their prosper- ity with moderation, and were very indulgent towards the Christians, es- pecially to those who opposed the decrees of Ephesus and Chalcedon. But as is common with those enjoying uninterrupted success, they insensi- bly swerved from this moderation into severity, and so loaded the Chris- tians with taxes and other burdens and injuries, that their condition more resembled that of slaves than of citizens. (8*) Schroeckh, Kirchengesch., vol. xix., p. 356, &c. TV.] (7) See Euseb. Renaudot, Historia Patri- arch. Alexandr., p. 163, 169, [and Gibbon, Decline and Fall, &c., ch. li., where this is shown by the conduct of the Copts, or Jacob- ites in Egypt. TV.] (8) See Simon Ockley, Conquest of Syria, Persia, and Egypt, by the Saracens, vol. i., Lond , 1708, and vol. ii., Lond., 1717, 8vo ; [also Gibbon, Decline and Fall, &c., ch. 1., li. TV.] (8*) [Mohammed framed the Koran to be the basis of civil government, as well as of religion, among his followers ; and in all ages they have so regarded it till the present time. Church and state, religion and civil policy, are so united and blended by the Ko- ran, that they cannot be separated, but must stand or fall together. And hence the per- manence and unchangeable character of the Mohammedan religion, in all countries where it has become established. For to attempt to change the religion of a Mohammedan country, or even to convert any of its citi- zens, is to plot against the state, it is high treason, and must be punished as such. Mo- hammed united in his own person the two characters of an absolute monarch, and of a sovereign pontiff or high-priest ; and the Koran made no provision for these two of- fices ever to be separated. At the same time he named no one to succeed himself, nor pointed out the manner in which this complex office should descend from one per- son to another. Hence his ghostly empire was in imminent danger of dissolution at his death. But the religious enthusiasm of his followers preserved and perpetuated it. Abu- beker, one of his fathers-in-law, was made Kalif, or successor to the prophet. After his death in 634, Omar held the kalifate till 644 ; then Othman till 655 ; then AH, the son-in-law of Mohammed, till 661. These all reigned at Medina. In the year 661 AH was assassinated, and soon afterwards his son Hasan ; and Moarciyah of the family of Om- miyah, who was governor of Syria, grasped the kalifate. He made Damascus the seat of empire ; and his family reigned there as kalifs for 91 years, or till A.D 752. After- wards, the family of Abbas held the kalifate, and reigned at or near Bagdad till A.D. 934 ; when this empire of the Saracens, which had previously been dismembered, sunk alto- gether, and the Moslem countries fell under the dominion of various Mohammedan sover- eigns, each absolute in his own dominions. It was under the kalifs who reigned at Me- dina and Damascus, or during the first cen- tury of Islamism, that the Saracens made the greater part of their foreign conquests. Du- ring his lifetime Mohammed demanded of the Persians, the Greeks, and other bordering 432 BOOK II. CENTURY VII. PART I. CHAP. II. 6. The civil dissensions among the Mohammedans, which aroso soon after the death of their prophet, were not a little injurious to the success of their enterprises. Abubeker the father-in-law, and All the son-in-law of Mohammed, had hard contention about the right to the throne, which each claimed to himself; and this controversy being handed down to pos- terity, divided the whole race into two great parties, separated not only by a difference in opinions and practices, but also by deadly hatred. The two sects are called, the one Sonniles, and the other Shiites. (9) The former contend that Abubeker was the true Kalif ' ; the latter, that Ali was the le- gitimate Kalif or successor of Mohammed. Both regard the Koran as of divine origin, and as the authoritative rule in religion ; but the Sonniles unite with it the Sonna, a sort of oral law, derived from Moliammed, and serving to explain the Koran ; which the Shiites wholly discard. The Turks, Tartars, Africans, and most of the Indians, are Sonnites ; the Per- sians and Mogores are Shiites ; yet the Mogores seem to belong to neither sect. (10) Besides these two grand divisions, there are among the Moham- medans four principal sects and a great many subordinate ones, which con- tend sharply respecting various subjects in religion, yet practise mutual toleration.(ll) nations, to receive and obey his religion. He likewise sent an army, and at length inarch- ed himself with 10,000 troops, to make con- quests on the confines of Palestine ; but he failed of success. His successors vigorously prosecuted foreign conquests, by sending ar- mies of enthusiastic Arabs under the com- mand of able generals, who became the gov- ernors of the provinces they subdued. Syria and Palestine were conquered under Abube- ker and Omar, by Abu Abcidah, Calcd, and others, between the years 632 and 639. Egypt was subdued by the valiant Amrou, in the kalifateof Omar, A.D. 640 ; and Persia, Mesopotamia, and Armenia, about the same time. From Egypt the Saracens traversed the whole northern shore of Africa, but were half a century in bringing it under entire subjec- tion. From Africa they passed into Spain in the year 709, under Tank and Musa, in the kalifate of Walid, and completed their con- quests there in the space of three or four years. The country beyond the Oxus in Asia, was conquered under the same kalif. In most of their wars the Saracens were the assailants ; and they offered no other excuse for declaring war, than their desire to propa- gate their religion. Hence, before they at- tacked any city or fortress, they proposed three things to the choice of the persons in it, either to embrace the Mohammedan reli- gion, or to submit to tribute, or to be con- quered and enslaved. The second proposi- tion was not made to any pagans or idola- ters, but only to Christians, Jews, Magians, and Sabians, or such as had books of real or pretended revelation. For the pagans, the only alternative was conversion or sla- very and death. To such as embraced the first proposal, they granted at once all the privileges of fellow-citizens with themselves ; and to those who preferred the second, they were generally faithful to perform their en- gagements. Those who preferred a resort to the sword, were treated with great cruelty when conquered. The men were generally butchered if they did not instantly become Mussulmans, and the women and children were made slaves. See the references in the preceding note. TV.] (9) See Adr. Rcland, de Religione Tur- cica, lib. i., p. 36, 70, 74, 85 Joh. Char- din, Voyages en Perse, torn, ii., p. 236, &c. (10) The principles of the Sonnites may be learned from the tract published by Adr. Reland, de Relig. Turcica, lib. i. The re- ligion and opinions of the Shiites are clearly stated by Joh. Chardin, Voyages en Perse, tome iv., the whole. (11) On the Mohammedan sects, see Jo. Hcnr. Hottinffcr, Historia Orientalis. lib. ii., cap. vi., p. 340. Ricaut, Etat de 1'Empire Ottoman, lib. ii., p. 242. Jo. Chardin, Voy- ages en Perse, torn, ii., p. 236. Ceo. Sale, Preliminary Discourse to the Koran, sec. viii., p. 207, &c. [The following account of the Moslem sects is abridged from Sale, ubi supra. The Sonnites, or believers in the traditions of Mohammed, are divided into four principal sects, which are accounted or- thodox, and have their several oratories in the temple of Mecca. They derive their names from the celebrated doctors, whose dogmas they embrace : viz., I. The Han- cfites, so named from Abu Hanifa of Bag- dad, who was born A.D. 699, and died in ADVERSE EVENTS. 433 767. These are distinguished from the other sects by adhering less to the traditions, and by making more use of reason in their dis- cussions. Formerly they resided chiefly in Irak, but now they abound every where among the Turks and the Tartars. II. The Mcdchites follow Malec Ebn Ans of Medina, who was born about A.D. 710, and died about 794. He was distinguished for the most scrupulous adherence to the traditions, and for extreme distrust of his own opinions. This sect abounds in Barbary and Africa. III. The Shafeites follow Mohammed Ebn Edns al Shafe : i, who was born in Palestine A.D 767, educated at Mecca, and died in Egypt A.D. 819. He was a well-educated man, an enemy of scholastic divinity, and the first who systematized the Mohammedan jurisprudence. His followers live chiefly in Arabia and Persia. IV. The Hanoalites fol- low Ahmed Ebn Hanbal of Bagdad, who was born A.D. 780, and died A.D. 855. He was distinguished for his strictness in adhering to the letter of the law. About the year 924 his followers were very nu- merous at Bagdad, and so zealous against the use of wine and all joviality, that they would break into houses and disperse com- panies indulging themselves in wine and mu- sic. But edicts were published to restrain them, and they have dwindled to a few in- dividuals living chiefly in Arabia. The sects which the Sonnites account he- retical, because they differ from themselves in points esteemed fundamental, are said to be seventy-three in number. Their hereti- cal opinions relate principally to the meta- physical nature of the divine attributes, pre- destination, the sins of believers, and the offices of prophets and leaders of the faith- ful. According to their belief on these sub- jects, they may all be brought under the four following denominations, each embracing several minor sects or subdivisions. I. The Motazalites or separatists originated from Wasel Ebn Ata of Basra, in the latter part of the seventh century. Their departure from Islam orthodoxy related chiefly to the following articles. (1) In regard to the di- vine attributes, the Sonnites held that God existed from eternity, clothed with various essential attributes, omniscience, omnipo- tence, &c. ; but the Motazalites, in order to defend more effectually the doctrine of the divine unity, denied all eternal attributes, and predicated eternity of God's essence only. They said, God knows by his essence, and not by his knowledge ; wills by his es- sence, and not by his will ; and so of his other attributes. They were charged with divesting God of his attributes, in order to maintain his unity. (2) In regard to the VOL. I I I I Koran, the Sonnites maintained that it was eternal and uncreated ; but the Motazalites affirmed the contrary ; and some of them said, if it were eternal it would be God, and then there would be a plurality of Gods. (3) In regard to decrees and free agency, the Sonnites were rigid predestinarians ; maintained the necessity of human actions, and denied free will to man ; but the Mo- tazalites denied absolute decrees, and main- tained the doctrine of free will and of the contingency of human actions. (4) In re- gard to Moslem believers, the Sonnites held, that none of them would be condemned to everlasting punishment for their sins ; but the Motazalites held, that if a Moslem were guilty of any grievous sin and died without repentance of it, he would be punished ever- lastingly, though less intensely than an un- believer. (5) The Motazalites denied all vision of God in paradise by the corporeal eyes. On all these subjects the Motazalites held the general positions above stated, in opposition to the Sonnites ; but they dif- fered greatly among themselves in the ex- position of their views, and thus became di- vided into more than twenty minor sects, named after the several doctors whom they followed. II. The Sefatians or attnbutists, at first agreed entirely with the Sonnites as to the nature of the divine attributes, but af- terwards they began to talk of a new class of attributes called declarative, because they are ascribed to God in narrations and decla- rations of his proceedings. They are such as hands, face, eyes, feel, &c. At first the Sefatians merely said, that these attributes were given to God in the Koran, and there- fore they also affirmed them, but without explaining them. Afterwards, they adopted such explanations as seemed to make God a material and corporeal being. In regard to most of the other points in which the Motazalites differed from the orthodox, the Sefatians either took middle ground, or agreed more with the orthodox than with the Motazalites. Among themselves they were divided into jive subordinate sects, some of which approximated to the views of Christians, and some advanced very gross and vulgar conceptions. III. The Karejite* or revolters, were the oldest of all the Mo- hammedan sects. In the 37th year of the Hegira, A.D. 658, when the Kalif Ali was contending with his rival Moawiyah, and after the battle of Seffein agreed to submit his cause to arbitration, 12,000 of his fol- lowers revolted from him, because he sub- mitted a question to human decision, which should have been left to God alone to de- termine. Most of these were indeed slain in battle in the following year ; but they 434 BOOK II. CENTURY VII. PART I. CHAP. II. afterwards propagated their sentiments in Persia, Mesopotamia, and Arabia, and be- came considerably numerous, being divided into six or seven subordinate sects. Though differing in various other points, they all agreed in excluding both Othman and Ali from the list of true kalifs, in accounting every person who commits any grievous sin as really an infidel and to be treated as such, and in regarding it as an imperious religious duty to resist forcibly any Imam who devi- ates from the law. The first Karejites main- tained, that any fit man, though not of the Koreish tribe, might be constituted Imam or prince of the faithful ; that for malcon- duct, an Imam might be deposed and even put to death ; and that it was not absolutely necessary there should be any Imam. As to Ali, they not only accused him of sin in submitting his cause to arbitration, but even pronounced him an infidel and accursed for this crime. IV. The Shiites are the antip- odes of the Karejites. They almost deify the true and legitimate kalifs ; among whom they regard Ali as the first, and his posterity the only lawful successors. Yet they differ exceedingly on other points. Some are Mo- tazalites in doctrine, others come near to the Sonnites, and so great is the diversity of their sentiments that they constitute a very great number of sects. Yet they all differ from the Sonnites in the following par- ticulars. They hold Abubeker, Omar, and Othman, or the three first kalifs, to have been usurpers ; they make All equal to Mo- hammed himself in merits and authority ; they accuse the Sonnites of corrupting and disobeying the Koran ; and they wholly re- ject the Sonna or book of traditions, as hav- ing no authority whatever. Besides these numerous sects, heretical and orthodox, into which the Moslem com- munity is divided, its repose has been dis- turbed by a series of pretenders to inspira- tion, who, like Mohammed, claimed to be prophets sent to restore religion to its pris- tine purity. Two of these were competitors with Mohammed, in his lifetime, viz., Mo- seilama and Al Ashwad. The former was of the tribe of Honeifa in the province of Yamama. In the year 629 he headed an embassy from his tribe to Mohammed, and professed himself a Moslem. But on his return home, he concluded to set up for a prophet himself, and offered Mohammed to join in a partnership with him. His propo- sal was of course rejected ; and Moseilama gathered numerous followers, but was slain in battle, with most of his adherents, by the Mohammedans under the intrepid Caled, A.D. 632. Al Ashwad was also an apostate Mohammedan, who set up for himself in Ye- men, but was slain in his palace in the same- year, and about the time of Mohammed's death. Other prophets and prophetesses started up about the same time, but were put down by the power of the kalifs. Nor has any long period passed from that time onward, without the appearance of some new prophet among the Mohammedans. The following are mentioned by Sale as the most noted in the earlier centuries. About A.D. 775 appeared Hakem Ebn Hashem of Khora- san, who arrogated to himself divine honours. In the year 816 appeared Babec in Aderbi- jan, who was with much difficulty subdued. About A.D. 849, one Mahmud Ebn Faraj pretended, to be Moses returned from the other world. About A.D. 89], the fanatical sect of Karmatians spread themselves in Mesopotamia and about Cufah, following one Karmata as their guide ; who seems to have verily thought that he had divine revelations and was a prophet. After his death, other leaders of the sect pretended to have revela- tions. Subsequently, the kindred but more ferocious sect of Ismadians, called by the crusaders Assassins, appeared in Asia, under an Imam said to be of the family of Ali ; and about the year 1095 they spread themselves in the Persian Irak, where they were com- manded by Hasan Sabah and his posterity during 170 years. The celebrated Arab poet Abu'l Teyyeb Ahmed, surnamed Mota- nabbi, who died A.D. 965, for some time laid claim to divine inspiration, and attracted followers, till the civil arm compelled him to renounce his pretensions and content himself with being a mere poet. In the year 1240, a Turkman named Baba set up for a prophet, at Amasia in Natolia. He gathered an army of 6000 horse, and made war upon all who would not say, There is no god but God, and Baba is the prophet of God. See Sale's Prelim. Diss., sect, viii., p. 207-255 ; and Sir Paul Rycaut, Turkish History, vol. ii., p. 61-66. TV.] LITERATURE AND SCIENCE. 435 PART II. THE INTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. CHAPTER I. HISTORY OF LITERATURE AND SCIENCE. $ 1 . State of Learning. The Monks its Patrons. 2. Ignorance of the Bishops. $ 3. History and other Sciences, corrupted. 6 4. State of Philosophy. 1. THE profound ignorance and barbarism of this century, will hardly appear credible to those who have not personally examined its literary productions. What little of learning and knowledge still remained, with a few exceptions, was confined to the cloisters of the monks, especially in the western or Latin church. The laws forbid any one to be made an abbot, unless he had some learning. The monks were required to devote certain hours to reading ; and that they might derive greater profit from this exercise, they were required, hi most monasteries, to converse to- gether at stated times on what they had read.(l) It was their business also to educate young men destined for the sacred office. But all the institutions of this sort were of little service to the cause of learning and to the church ; because very few had any just conceptions of the nature and utility of the liberal arts and sciences ; and the majority were more intent on the perusal of worthless writers and the lives of saints, than on the study of valuable authors. The best among them studied the works of Augustine and Gregory the Great ; and scraps gathered from these fa- thers, constitute the best productions of the Latin church in this century. 2. Kings and noblemen were attentive to every thing rather than to the cause of learning. The rude and unlearned bishops suffered the schools, which had been committed to their care, to languish and become t-xtinct. (2) It was very rare to find among them persons able to compose their own public discourses. Such of them as possessed some genius, garbled from Augustine and Gregory a parcel of jejune addresses, a part of which they kept for their own use, and the rest they imparted to their more dull and stupid colleagues, so that they also might have something to say. This is manifest from the examples of Casarius of Aries, and of Eligius of Noyon. There is likewise extant a Summary of Theology, which was unskilfully compiled by Tajo of Saragossa, from the writings of Augustine and Gregory; and this insipid performance was so highly esteemed, that the other bishops did not hesitate to pronounce its author the true salt of the earth, and n dirinf luminary in the church. (3) Many such proofs of the ignorance of the times may be easily collected, by any . (1) Jo. Mabillon, Acta Sanctor. Ord. Ben- (3) Jo. MabiUon, Analecta veteris teri, edict., torn, ii., p. 479, 513, et passim. torn, ii., p. 77. (2) Hist. litt. de la France, par les Moins Benedict. Sept. Siecle.tom iii., p 428, &c. 436 BOOK II. CENTURY VII. PART II. CHAP. II. one disposed to examine the writers of this century. England however was in a happier state, in this respect, than the other countries of Europe : for Theodorus, a Cilician and bishop of Canterbury, of whom more will be said hereafter, introduced into that country some attachment to letters and learning. (4) 3. The Greeks who attempted to write either poetry or in prose, ob- scured very plain and simple subjects, by their tumid and fustian style. The style of the Latins, with a few exceptions, was so base and corrupt that it was not even capable of the same fault. History was wretchedly degraded and perverted, both by the Greeks and the Latins. Among the former Moschus, Sophronius and others, and among the latter Braulio, Jo- nas an Hibernian, AudoenusorDado, and Adamannus, have transmitted to us biographies of several saints, which are insipid and ridiculous, and des- titute alike of an air of probability and of elegance of composition. The Greeks led the way in committing to writing the floating traditions con- cerning the more ancient times, without discrimination ; and hence origi- nated those medleys of fables, which the Latins afterwards so greedily caught up and retained. 4. Philosophy, among the Latins, was at an end. Those who were unwilling to neglect it altogether, were satisfied with committing to mem- ory a few words and sentences taken from BoetMus and Cassiodorus. For they were not disposed to reason on the subject, and they were unable to consult the Greeks, from ignorance of their language. The Greeks, abandoning Plato to certain of the monks, betook themselves to Aristotle ; whose precepts were nearly indispensable in the theological contests of the age with the Monophysites, Nestorians, and Monothelites, for all these resorted to the Stagyrite for aid whenever they were called to the combat. Hence James of Edessa, a Monophysite of this century, translated Aris- totle's Dialectics into Syriac.(5) CHAPTER II. HISTORY OF THE TEACHERS, AND OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH, $ 1. Disputes about Pre-eminence between the Bishops of Rome and Constantinople. $ 2. The former opposed by many . $ 3. Vices of the Clergy. $ 4. State of the Monks. $ 5. Greek Writers. $ 6. Latin Writers. 1. THE contest for pre-eminence between the Roman and Constanti- nopolitan prelates, had gained such a height in this century, that we may clearly discern the commencement of that unhappy schism which after- wards separated the Latins from the Greeks. It is commonly asserted, and by men of the greatest learning and best acquainted with ancient his- tory, that the Roman pontiff, Boniface III., prevailed on that abominable tyrant Phocas, who, after murdering the emperor Mauritius, mounted the (4) Dav. Wilkins, Concilia magnae Bri- (5) See Jos. Sim. Asseman, Biblioth. Ori- tanniae, torn, i., p. 42. Herm. Conringius, ent. Vatican., torn, i., p. 498. Antiquitates Academicae, p. 277. CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 437 imperial throne, to divest the bishop of Constantinople of the title of cecu. menical bishop, and to confer it on the Roman pontiff. But this is solely on the authority of Baronius ;( 1 ) for no ancient writer has given such testimony. Yet Plwcas did something analogous to this, if we may believe Anastasius and Paul Diaconus.(2) For whereas the bishops of Constantinople had maintained, that their church was not only fully equal to that of Rome but had precedence of all other churches, Phocas forbid this, and determined that the priority of rank and dignity should be given to the church of Rome. 2. The Roman pontiffs used indeed every means to retain and to en- large the power and dignity which they had acquired ; yet the history of this period affords many proofs, not only that emperors and kings but that nations also, resisted those attempts. Various proofs of the superiority of the regal power in religious matters, and even over the pope himself, may be collected from the Byzantine history, and from the Formulas 6f Marculfus. The Roman writers indeed tell us, that Conslanline Pogona- tus formally relinquished the right of confirming the election of a Roman pontiff; and they cite Anastasius as a witness, who states that Pogonatus ordered that a Roman pontiff elect should be ordained forthwith and without delay.(3) But this testimony does not reach the point to be proved. It appears however to have been the fact, that this emperor in the time of the pontiff Agatho, remitted the customary payment to the court of a sum of money for the confirmation of a pontifical election. (4) The ancient Britons and Scots could not be moved, for a long time, either by the threats or the promises of the papal legates, to subject themselves to the Roman decrees and laws ; as is abundantly testified by Beda.(5) The (1) [Baronius, Annales, ad ann. 606, No. diet), in Muratori, Scriptor. rerum Italic., 2. Schl.] torn. iii.,p. 146. [The words of Anastasiu* (2) Anastasius, de Vitis Ponlificum, are : concessit, ut persona, quae electa fue- (Bonifacius III.). Paulus Diaconus, de Re- rit in scdcm Apostolicam, e vcstigio absque bus gestis Longobardor., lib. iv., cap. 37, in tarditate Pontifex ordinaretur. That is, it Muratori, Scriptores rerum Italicar, torn, should not be necessary to write to Constan- i., part i., p. 465. [Anastasius sa.ys, that tinople, but merely to obtain liberty from " whereas the church of Constantinople had the emperor's vicegerent, the exarch of Ra- claimed to be the first of all the churches, venna, previously to the ordination. More- liniiiface obtained from the emperor Phocas, over history shows, that succeeding emperors that the Romish church, the apostolic seat did not respect this privilege. Si hi.] of the blessed apostle Peter, (caput esset om- (4) Anastasius, de Vitis Pontif. (Aga- tiiuin ecclf.siarum), should be the head of all tho), p. 144. Compare Jo. Ja. Mascov, the churches." Paul Diaconus says :" This Historia Germanor., torn, ii., note, p. 121, emperor Phocas, at the request of pope Bon- &.c. [According to Anastasius, the emper- ifur.r, decreed that the see of the Roman or did not wholly remit, but only diminish and apostolic church should be the first, the amount of the payment ; relevata esi (primam csse), whereas the Constantinopoli- quantitas, quae solita est dari ; and this too, tan had before assumed to be the first of all." with the express injunction that the ancient By being the first and the head, both the rule should be observed, and that no ordina- bishops of Constantinople and the usurper tion should take place, till the, consent of the Phocas seem to have understood merely pri- emperor should be obtained from court. Sea ority of rank, and not that supreme authority Bower's Lives of the Popes, (Agatho), vol. and dominion which* the Roman pontiffs af- iii., p. 131, kc., ed. Lond., 1754. TV.] terwards claimed. It was intended as a (5) [BcJa, Hist. Eccles., 1. ii., c. 2, 1. compliment; but it was construed into a iii.,c.2o. Schl. The case of Wilfrid bish- grant of unlimited power. See Bower's op of York, who being deposed and banished Lives of the Popes, (Boniface III.), vol. ii., by the Saxon king in 678, appealed to Rome, P. 546, <fcc., ed Lond., 1750. Tr.] and returned acquitted, but was imprisoned (3) Anastasius, de Vitis Pontif. (Bene- nine months, and then banished the king- 438 BOOK II. CENTURY VII. PART II. CHAP. II. Gauls and the Spaniards, as no one can deny, attributed only so much authority to the pontiff, as they supposed would be for their own advan- tage.^) Nor in Italy itself, could he make the bishop of Ravenna and others bow obsequiously to his will. (7) And of private individuals, there were many who expressed openly their detestation of his vices and his greediness of power. Nor are those destitute of arguments who assert, that the Waldenses even in this age had fixed their residence in the val- leys of Piedmont, and inveighed freely against Roman domination. (8) 3. That the bishops of inferior rank and all who were intrusted with sacred offices, as well those in the monasteries as those without, lived in the practice of many enormities, is expressly admitted by every writer of any note in this century. Eveiy where simony, avarice, pious frauds, in- tolerable pride, insolence to the people at large, and even vices worse than these, might be seen reigning in the places consecrated to holiness and vir- tue. (9) Between the monks and the bishops, many pertinacious quarrels existed in different places. For the latter laid their greedy hands on the rich possessions of the monks, that they might support their own luxury. And the monks feeling this very sensibly, first applied to the emperors and kings, and not finding their protection adequate, resorted to the Roman pontiff.(lO) He therefore readily took them under his care, and gradually dom, is a strong case in point. See Bow- er's Lives of the Popes, (Agatho), vol. iii., p. 98-105. TV.] (6) [It is well known, that the French kings often deposed bishops, whom the popes by all their efforts were not able to restore ; and that in Spain, Julianus the bishop of Toledo, freely censured pope Benedict II. for sending into Spain his disapprobation of a synodic letter, and accused his holiness of ignorance, negligence, and jealousy. Yet this Julianus is a canonized saint. See the 15th council of Toledo, in Harduin, Concil., torn, iii., p. 1761, &c. Schl.~\ (7) Mich. Geddes, Miscellaneous Tracts, vol. ii., p. 6, &c., [and Muratori, Hist, of Italy, vol. iv., p. 157 ; where is a diploma of the emperor Constan/ine IV., in which he releases Maurus archbishop of Ravenna, from obedience to the pope. At his death this archbishop warned his clergy not to sub- ject themselves to the Roman pontiff, but to apply to the emperor for a pall for the new archbishop. And to the present time the archbishops claim a kind of independence of the Romish see. Even the abbot St. Co- lumbanus defends the ancient Irish manner of keeping Easter, against the popes, with great intrepidity, and likewise the subject of the three Chapters, and this, at the instiga- tion of king Agilulph. He maintains that Vigilius was not watchful enough, and that the pope ought to purge the seat of St. Peter from all errors, from which it was not now free. See his five Epistles, in the Bib- lioth. max. Patr. Lugd., torn, xii., p. 1, &c. (8) Anton. Leger, Histoire des Eglises Vaudoises, lib. i., p. 15, &c., [and Spanheim, Introduct. plen., tom.ii.,p. 598, &c. ScA/.] (9) [Thus we read of Desiderius a noble- man, that he assumed the garb of a beggar, and conducted Brunechild, who was expelled the court of Theodebert, in safety to the court of Burgundy. At her solicitation, her faithful conductor was advanced to the bish- opric of Auxerre ; (Daniel, History of France, vol. i., p. 351 of the German trans- lation); a worthy candidate for the episcopal office ! To the simony of the clergy, the national synod of Toledo, A.D. 653, can. 3, bears testimony : to their avarice, the pro- vincial synod of Merida in Spain, (Harduin, torn, iii., p. 997) ; to their violence, the coun- cil of Braga, A. 13. 675, where they were for- bidden to inflict blows. In the same year, a council at Toledo commanded the clergy to read the Bible, on pain of excommunica- tion, (Harduin, torn, iii., p. 1017), and re- quired every new bishop to make oath, that he had neither paid nor promised to pay mon- ey for his bishopric. Even the papal chair was not free from simony. To the pious frauds must be reckoned the multitude of fables, which were emulously fabricated. Quite a collection of them is exhibited by Dr. Semler, Historiae Eccles. selecta Cap- ita, torn, ii., p. 55, &c., 60, &c. Schl.] (10) See Jo. Launoi, Assertio inquisitio- nis in Chartam immunitatis S. Germani ; Opp., torn, iii., part i., p. 50, &c. Baluze, Miscellan., torn, ii., p. 159, torn, iv., p. 108, Muratori, Antiquit. Italicamm torn- U-i Pt 944, 949, &p. CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 439 exempted them from the jurisdiction of the bishops. The monks, in return, defended the interest of the pontiff as if it were their own ; and they rec- ommended him as a sort of God to the ignorant multitude, over whom their reputed sanctity gave them great influence. That these exemption* of the monks were the cause of many of their vices and disorders, is ad- mitted by several of the best writers.(ll) 4. In the mean time the monks, from the favour of the pontiff and their display of fictitious piety, were every where making surprising prog- ress, especially among the Latins. Parents eagerly consecrated their children to God, with good portions of their property made over to the mon- asteries ; that is, they devoted them to what was esteemed the highest bliss on earth, a life of solitude. (12) Those who had spent their lives in guilty deeds, hoped to expiate their crimes, by conferring the greater part of their property on some company of monks. And immense numbers impelled by superstition, robbed their heirs of their richest possessions in order to ren- der God propitious to them through the prayers of monks. Rules for mo- nastic life were drawn up by Fructuosus, Isidorus, John Gerundinensis, Co- lumbanus, and others among the Latins ;(13) for the Rule prescribed by St. Benedict was not as yet become the universal and the only rule. 5. Among the writers, few can be named who possessed much genius or erudition. The best among the Greeks were the following : Maxi- mus, a monk, who contended fiercely against the Monothelites, and wrote some explanatory works on the scriptures, was by no means destitute of native talent ; but he wns a man of a violent spirit, and in that respect un- happy. (14) Isycliius bishop of Jerusalem, expounded some books of Scrip- ture, and has left us a few Homilies and other minor works. (15) Dorothe- (11) See Jo. Launoi, Examen privilegii was acquitted; but refusing to promise si- S. Germani ; Opp., torn, hi., part i., p. 282. lence in the controversy then raging with the Dav. Wilkins, Concilia magnae Britanniae, Monothelites, he was banished to Thrace torn, i., p. 43, 44, 49, &c. and confined in different places till the year (12) Gervais, Histoire de 1'Abbe Suger, 662, when he died in the castle of Schemra, tome i , p. 9-16. on the confines of the Alans. His collect- (13) Lucas Holstcnius, Codex Regular., ed works, published, Gr. and Lat., by Fran. torn, ii., p. 225, &c. Combcfis, Paris, 1675, 2 vols. fol., consist (14) [Ufazimus was born of noble parent- of about fifty small treatises, answers to Bib- age at Constantinople, about A.D. 580. The lical questions, polemic and dogmatic tradts, emperor Heraclius made him his secreta- moral and monastic pieces, and letters. Be- ry. and intended he should write the civil sides these, he has left us Commentaries on history of his times. But the emperor fall- the Canticles, on Dionysius Areopagita, and ing into the heresy of the Monothelites, on some parts of Gregory Nyssen. He is which Maximus abhorred, either disagree- an inelegant, obscure, metaphysical and my- ment between them or the propensity of Max- tical writer, yet learned and zealous. Tr.] imus to a monkish life, led him to retire (15) Sec Rich. Simon, Critique de la Bib- from court and take residence in a monastery liotheque Ecclesiast. de M. du Pin, torn, i., at Chrysopolis near Constantinople. Here p. 261. [Hesychius or Isyckius, first a Maximus became the abbot. Before the presbyter, and then bishop of Jerusalem, year 640, the prevalence of Monothelitic flourished about A.D. 601. A Commentary principles or the political disquietudes of the on Leviticus in vii. books, is extant in a Lat- country, led him to travel. He went to in translation ; about which there has been Egypt, where he had warm disputes with the much discussion, whether it was a produc- prtncipal Monothelites. In the year 645 he lion of this Hcsychms or of some other, went to Rome, and enjoyed the intimacy of See Labbf, Dis. Hisiorica, in Bellormm, de pope Martin I. In 653 the emperor Con- Scriptor. Ecclesiast., p. 227, &c., ed. Ven- etans II., who was a Monothelite, caused ice, 1727. The works of Hesychius, which him to be arrested and brought to Constanti- are extant in Greek, are, Arguments to the uop e, to be tried for seditious conduct. He twelve Minor Prophets and Isaiah ; two 440 BOOK II. CENTURY VII. PART II. CHAP. II. us, an abbot in Palestine, acquired fame by the Ascetic Dissertations, with which he would instruct monks how to live. (16) Antioclms, a monk of St. Sabas in Palestine, composed a Pandect of the Holy Scriptures, that is, Institutes of the Christian religion, a work of no great merit.(17) So- phronius, bishop of Jerusalem, acquired the veneration of after ages, by his conflicts with those reputed in his day as heretics, especially with the Monothelites. (18) He was evidently the cause of the whole Monothelite controversy. Andreas of Crete has left us several Homilies, which are nei- ther truly pious, nor eloquent, and which some therefore suspect were false- ly ascribed to him.(19) Gregory Pisides, a Constantinopolitan deacon, be- sides a History of Heraclius and of the Avares, composed a few poems and other short pieces. (20) Theodorus of Raithu is author of a book against the free exercise of their religion, and hav- ing given orders for erecting the mosque of Omar on the site of the temple, retired to Arabia. Sophronius died a few months after, in the same year. His works are, the Epistle or Dissertation above mentioned, four Homilies, an account of the labours and travels of the apostle Paul, the Life of Si. Mary an Egyptian, and a tract on the Incarnation. The best account of him and his writings is said to be that of J. Alb. Fa- bricius, Biblioth. Gr., vol. viii., p. 199, &c. See Caw, Hist. Lit., torn. i.,p. 519. Tr.] (19) [Andreas was a native of Damas- cus, became a monk at Jerusalem, a deacon at Constantinople, and at last archbishop of Crete. His age is not certain, but he was contemporary with Sophronius of Jerusalem, A.D. 635, and lived some years after. Fr. Combefis published, as his works, Paris, 1644, in fol., Gr. and Lat., seventeen Hom- ilies, nine Triodia, Canons or church Hymns, and several shorter Hymns adapted to dif- ferent festivals. He afterwards published three more Homilies, and some poems, in his Auctuar. Nov., torn. i. and ii. A Com- putus Paschalis, ascribed to Andreas, was published, Gr. and Lat., by Dionysius Peta- tnus, de Doctrina Temper., torn. iii. The genuineness of some of these pieces is sus- pected. Tr.] (20) [Gregory, or rather George, of Pisi- da, was first a deacon and chartophylax of the great church of Constantinople, and then archbishop of Nicomedia. He flourished about A.D. 640 ; and has left us Cosmo- poiea, an iambic poem on the Hexaemeron, now in 1880 lines ; and another poem in 261 iambic lines, on the vanity of life ; both pub- lished by Morel, Paris, 1585, 4to. Three oth- ers of his poems, (Eulogy of Heraclius, on his Persian wars, and the assault of the Avares on Constantinople), were promised to the public by Claud. Maltret ; but they were not published. Schroeckh, Kircheng., vol. xix., p. 106, &c. Cave, Hist. Lit., i., p. 583. Tr.] hundred Sentences on temperance and vir- tue ; seven Homilies ; a Life of St. Longi- nus ; an Introduction to the book of Psalms ; and a Comment. onPs. 77-107, and 118. He also wrote an Eccles. History, and some other Commentaries, which are lost. See Cave, Hist. Lit., torn, i., p. 571, &c. Tr.] (16) [Dorotheus probably lived about A.D. 601. He wrote twenty-four ethical and ascetic dissertations, (6i6aGKa?Jai seu Doctrinae, de vita recte et pie instituenda), and several Epistles ; which are extant, Gr. and Lat., in the Orthodoxographia, and in Pronto DUCCBUS, Auctuarium, torn. i. Tr.] (17) [Antiochus flourished A.D. 614, and was alive in 629. His Pandecte divinae Scripturae, or Compendium of the Christian religion and of the holy scriptures, compri- sed in 130 Homilies, is extant in Pronto Du- ctzus, Auctuarium, torn. i. He also wrote de vitiosis Cogitationibus liber, and de Vila S. Euphrosyni. Tr.] (18) See the Acta Sanctor., torn, ii., Mar- tii, ad diem xi., p. 65. [Sophronius was a native of Damascus, and for some time a sophist or teacher of philosophy and elo- quence. He afterwards became a monk in Palestine ; and in this character he sat in the council of Alexandria held by Cyrus the patriarch of that see, in the year 633, for the purpose of uniting the Monothelites and the Catholics. Here Sophronius zealously op- posed the 7th of the nine propositions which Cyrus wished to establish. From Alexan- dria he went to Constantinople, to confer with Sergius the patriarch of that see on the subject. Soon after, he was made patriarch of Jerusalem, and wrote his long Epistle or Confutation of the Monothelites, addressed to Honorius the Roman pontiff and to the other patriarchs. But his country was now laid waste. The Saracens having conquer- ed all the northern parts of Syria, laid siege to Jerusalem in 637. The city capitulated to the Kalif Omar, who entered Jerusa- lem, treated Sophronius with much respect, promised him and the Christians safety and CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 441 those sects which were considered as corrupting Christianity by their doc- trines concerning the person of Jesus Christ. ('21) 6. The most distinguished Latin writers were the following : Ilde- fonsus of Toledo, to whom the Spaniards falsely ascribe certain treatises concerning the Virgin Mary. (22) Two Books of Epistles by Desiderius (21) [Theodorus, a presbyter in the Laura Raithu, in Palestine, flourished A.D. 646, and wrote a short treatise on the incarnation of Christ, in opposition to the heresies of Manes, Apollinaris, Theodorus Mopsuest., Nestorius, Eutyches, Julian Halicar., Seve- rity, and others. It is extant, Gr. and Lat., in Fronto Ducaus, Auctuarium, torn, i., and in Latin, in the Biblioth. max. Patr., torn, viii. TV.] [The following Greek writers of this cen- tury are passed over by Dr. Moshcim, viz. : John Malala, a native of Antioch who probably flourished about A.D. 601. He wrote Histona chronica, from the creation to the death of Justinian I., AD. 565, which was published, Gr. and Lat., by Humphr. Hody, Oxon., 1691, 8vo. See Cave, Hist. Litter., i., p. 568, &c. About the same time lived Eusebius bish- op of Thessalonica, Conon an opposer of John Philoponus, and Theimslius surnamed Calonymus ; all polemic writers on the side of the Catholics. But only fragments of their essays and epistles have reached us, in Photius and the Acts of Councils. Serums, patriarch of Constantinople A.D. 608-639, was a favourer of the Monothelite doctrine, and instigator of the famous Ec- thesis of Honorius. He has left us three Epistles, extant in the Concilia, torn. vi. Cyrus, bishop of Phasis A.D. 620, and patriarch of Alexandria A.D. 630-640. He held a synod at Alexandria in 633, in which he proposed a Libcllus satisfactions in nine chapters, designed to unite the Theodosians or Severians to the Catholics. But his 7th chapter or position, containing the doctrine of the Monothelites, was opposed, and led to fierce contests. He also wrote three Epistles to his friend Sergius of Constanti- nople. All these are extant in the Concilia, torn. vi. Thcophylactus Simocatta, an Egyptian, a sophist, and a prefect, who flourished A.D. 61 1-629. He wrote Historise rerum a Mau- ritio gestarum libri viii., from the year 582 to 602, edited, Gr. and Lat., Ingolst., 1603, 4to, and Paris, 1648, fol. ; also 85 short Epistles, (inter Epistolas Graecanicas, Au- rel. Allobrog., 1606, fol ), and Problema physica, Gr. and Lat., Antw., 1598, 8vo. Georgius, an abbot in Galatia A.D. 614, wrote the life of his predecessor Theodorus ; in Surius and other collectors of pious lives. VOL. I. KKK George, patriarch of Alexandria A.D. 620- 630. He wrote the life of John Chrysos- toni, which is published with Chrysostom's works. About the year 630, that valuable but anonymous work, called the Chronicon Al- exandrinum, Fastus Sicult, and Chronicon Paschale*, was composed, perhaps by George Pisides, or by George Patr. of Alexandria. It extends from the creation to A.D. 628. The best edition is that of Du Fresne, Paris, 1689, fol. John Moschus, Eviratus, or Eueratus, a monk of Palestine who flourished A.D. 630, after travelling extensively, wrote his monk- ish history entitled Pratum spirituale, HOT-. tulus novus, Lim/marium, and Vtridanum, extant in FT. Ducaus, Auctuar., torn, ii., and in Cotelier, Monum. Eccl. Gr., torn ii. Thaltis silts, abbot of a monastery in Libya about A.D. 640, wrote several tracts, name- ly, de sincera Charitate, de ViUe continentia et mentis regimine, sententiarum Hecaton- tadas iv., extant in Lat. in the Biblioth. max. Patr., torn, xii., and Gr. and Lat. in FT. Du- cceus, Auctuar., torn. ii. Theodorus, bishop of Pharan in Arabia, near Egypt, a Eutychian and Monothelite controversial writer, from whose tracts large extracts are given in the Acts of the Late- ran and 6th councils ; Concilia, torn. vi. John, archbishop of Dara in Syria, who has been placed in the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th cen- turies, and perhaps lived about A.D. 650, wrote Commentaries in Syriac, on the works of Dionysius Areopagita, and on the Apoca- lypse ; extracts from which have been pub- lished by Abr. Ecchcllens., Jno. Monn, and F. Nanon. Basil, bishop of Thessalonica, say some, of Caesarca in Cappadocia, say others, and who flourished perhaps A.D. 675, wrote Scholia on fifteen Orations of Gregory Na- zianzcn. Macarius a Monothelite, patriarch of An- tioch about A.D. 680, whose Confession of Faith, and extracts from other works, are extant, Concilia, torn. vi. John, archbp. of Thessalonica A.D. 680, has left us one Oration, part of another, a fragment of a Hymn, and parta of a Dialogue between a pagan and a Christian. TV.] (22) See the Acta Sanctor. Januarii, torn. ii., p. 535. [Edefonsus was nobly born at Toledo, educated at Seville, and after being 442 BOOK II. CENTURY VII. PART II. CHAP. II. of Cahors, were edited by Hen. Canisius.(23) Eligius of Limoges, has left us some Homilies, and other productions. (24) The two books of Ec- clesiastical Formulas, by Marculphus a Gallic monk, help us much to dis- cover the wretched state of religion and learning in this age. (25) The Englishman Aldhelm composed with no great success, various poems on subjects relating to a Christian life. (26) Julianus Pomerius confuted the Jews, and has left us some other specimens of his genius, which are neither to be highly praised nor utterly contemned. (27) To these may be added Cresconius,(28) whose Abridgment of the Canons is well known, Fredegari* us,(29) and a few others.(30) a monk and abbot at Agli, became archbish- op of Toledo A.D. 657-667. His ten spu- rious homilies and discourses, and one spu- rious tract concerning the virgin Mary, with one genuine tract on the same subject, were published by Feuardentius, Paris, 1576, and afterwards in the Biblioth. max. Patr., torn, xii. We have from his pen a tract on the ecclesiastical writers, in continuation of Je- rome, Gennadius, &c., two Epistles, and a tract de cognitione Baptismi. Several other tracts and letters, and a continuation of Isi- dore's Gothic History, are lost. Tr.] (23) [Desiderius was treasurer to Clothair II. A.D. 614, and bishop of Cahors in France A.D. 629-652. His First Book of Epistles contains those which Desiderius wrote to his friends, the second contains those addressed to him. They are extant in Canisius, Lec- tion. Antique, torn, v., and in Biblioth. max. Patr., torn. viii. Tr.] (24) [Eligius was born near Limoges, be- came a goldsmith there, and was esteemed the best workman in all France. In 635, king Dagobert sent him as ambassador to Brittany. While a layman, he erected sev- eral monasteries and churches. He was bishop of Noyon A.D. 640-659, and still continued to found monasteries and church- es, and also laboured to spread Christianity among the Flemings, the Frieslanders, and the Swabians. He has left us a tract de rectitudine Catholicae conversationis, (which has been ascribed to Augv,stine), and an Epistle to Desiderius of Cahors. Of the sixteen Homilies ascribed to him, and extant in the Biblioth. max. Patr., torn, xii., the greatest part, if not the whole, are supposed to be spurious. They are compilations from the fathers, and several of them bear marks of the ninth and tenth centuries. Tr.] (25) Histoire Litteraire de la France, torn, iii., p. 565. [About the year 660, Marcul- phus, then seventy years old, at the request of the bishop of Paris compiled this book of formulas of different instruments and writings used in ecclesiastical courts, and elsewhere, in the transaction of ecclesiastical affairs and in the management of church property. It was published, Paris, 1665, 4to, and 1667 by Baluze, in Capitull. Regum Francor., torn, ii., p. 369. Tr.] (26) [" This prelate certainly deserved a more honourable mention than is here made of him by Dr. Moshcim. His poetical tal- ents were by no means the most distinguish- ing part of his character. He was profound- ly versed in the Greek, Latin, and Saxon languages. He appeared also with dignity in the Paschal controversy, that so long di- vided the Saxon and British churches. See Collier's Eccles. Hist., vol. i., p. 121." Mad. Aldhelm was grandson to Ina king of the West Goths. When young he trav- elled over Gaul and Italy, and pursued study with such ardour that he became one of the most learned men of the age. Returning to England, he lived first as a monk, and then for thirty-four years as the abbot of Malms- bury ; afterwards, he was bishop of Sher- burne A.D. 705-709. Beda (lib. v., c. 19) says, he was undecunque doctissimus. While abbot, he wrote by request of an English synod, a book in confutation of the senti- ments and practice of the ancient Britons and Scots in regard to Easter ; which is now lost. He also wrote a tract in praise of vir- ginity, both in prose and in verse ; likewise a Book on the eight principal virtues ; and 1000 verses of Enigmas. These and some other poems were published at Mayence, 1601, 8vo, and in the Biblioth. max. Patr., torn. xiii. Tr.] (27) [Julianus Pomerius was bishop of Toledo A.D. 680-690. He wrote com- mentaries on Joshua ; a demonstration that Christ has come, against the Jews, in three Books ; on death, the place of departed souls, the resurrection and final judgment, three Books ; on the discrepances in the Scrip- tures, two Books ; a history of king Wam- ba's expedition against Paul, the rebel duke of Narbonne ; and an Appendix to Ildcfon- sus de Scriptor. Ecclesiast. His works are in the twelfth vol. of the Biblioth. max. Patr. -Tr.] (28) [ Cresconius was an African bishop, and flourished A.D. 690. His Breviarium CHURCH OFFICERS AND GOVERNMENT. 443 Canonum, is a methodical Index to the can- ons of councils and decrees of the Roman pontiffs, digested under 300 heads. He af- terwards wrote Concordia scu Liber Ca.no- num, which is the same thing, except that the canons and decrees are here recited at length. Both works are in Voellus, and Jus- teWs Biblioth. Juris Canon. Tr.'] (29) Histoire Litteraire de la France, vol. iii., p. 506. [Fredegarius Scholasticus was a Gallic monk, who flourished A.D. 640. He compiled a Chronicle, from the creation to the year of Christ 641, in five' Books. The three first Books, which reach to A.D. 561, are a compilation from Julius Africa- nus, Euscbius as translated by Jerome, and others. The fourth Book, comprising A.D. 561-584, is an abridgment of Gregory Tu- ronensis' History of the Franks. The fifth Book, from 584 to 641, was composed by Fredegarius. The Chronicon was after- wards continued by other hands to A.D. 768. The fifth Book is published among the Scriptores rerum Francicar. The other Books are partly in Canisius, Lectiones An- tiq., torn, ii., and partly in Gregory Turon., Histor. Francor. Tr.] (30) [The following catalogue embraces the Latin writers omitted by Dr. Mosheim. Paterius, pupil of Gregory the Great, and bishop of Brescia about A.D. 601. He wrote a Collection of Scripture testimonies, in three Books ; two from the Old. Test, and one from the New : published with the works of Gregory the Great. Faustus, a monk brought up by St. Ben- edict, and sent into Gaul with St. Maurus. He wrote, A.D. 606, the life of St. Maurus ; and the life of St. Severinus. Both are ex- tant in Mabillon, Acta Sanctor. ord. Bened., torn. i. Marcus, a disciple and companion of St. Benedict, and versifier of the life of Bene- dict by Gregory the Great : fl. A.D. 606. Boniface IV., pope A.D. 606-615, has left us an epistle to king Ethelbcrt of Kent ; and a Synodic Decree : in the Concilia, torn. v. Bulgaranus, a Spanish Goth and count, A.D. 610. Six of his Epistles still preserv- ed, have been often consulted but never published. Sisebutus, a Gothic king in Spain A.D. 612-621. Several of his Epistles are pre- served ; and likewise his life and martyrdom of St. Desidenus. Boniface V., pope A.D. 620-626. His Epistle to Justus bishop of Rochester, an- other to Edwin king of Northumberland, and a third to Edilburg, Edwin's queen, are ex- tant in Baronius, Annales, ad ann. 618 and (525 ; also in the Concilia, torn. v. . Nennius, a British monk and abbot of Bangor, about A.D. 620, and often con- founded with the Irish Gildas. He wrote de Gestis Britonum Liber, sive Breviarium, or a History of the Britons ; the MS. of which is still preserved at Westminster and at Cambridge. See Cave, Hist. Lit., torn. i., p. 620. Honorius, pope A.D. 626-638. He was a Monothelite. Eight of his Epistles, which fully prove the fact, are extant in the Con- cilia, torn. v. See Joh. Forbes, Instruct. Hist. Theolog., lib. v., and Schrocckh, Kir- cheng., vol. xx., p. 401, 442, &c., 446, &c. Braulio, bishop of Saragossa A.D. 627- 646. He wrote the life of St. Aemilian a monk, which is in Mabillon, Acta Sanctor. ord. Bened., torn. i. ; also two Epistles to Isidore Hispal., and a short Eulogy of Isi- dore, which are published with the works of Isidore. Jonas, an Irish monk, and abbot of Lux- ueil, flourished about A.D. 630. He wrote the Lives of St. Columbanus Bobiensis, of Eustasius abbot of Luxueil, of Attala ab- bot of Bobio, of Bcrtulph abbot of Bobio, of St. John the founder and abbot of a monas- tery, and of St. Fara or Burgundofara first abbess of York. Most of these lives are in Mabillon, Acta Sanctor. ord. Benedict., torn. ii. Cummianus or Comminus, surnamed Fata or Fada, i. e., tall, son of Fiacna the king of west Momonia in Ireland ; born A.D. 592, died 661. He was a monk, abbot, and some add bishop in Ireland : and wrote an Epistle to Segienus, abbot of Hy, on the paschal controversy, (in Usher 1 * Sylloge Epistolar. Hibernicar., p. 24), and a book de ppenitentiarum mcnsura, which is in the Biblioth. max. Patr., torn. xii. John IV., pope A.D. 640-641. He wrote an Epistle to the Scotch bishops, concerning the paschal controversy ; another to the em- peror Constantine III., in apology for pope Honorius ; and a third to Isaac, bishop of Syracuse. These are extant in the Concil- ia, torn. v. Audoenus or Dado, archbishop of Rouen A.D. 640-683. He lived to the age of 90, and wrote the life of St. Eligius of Noyon, in iii. Books ; published, imperfect, by Su- rius ; and perfect, by L. Dachier, Spicileg., torn. v. ; also an Epistle. Theodorus I., pope A.D. 642-649. He has left us two Epistles ; in the Concilia, torn, v., and in the Biblioth. max. Pair., torn. xii. Eugcnius, archbishop of Toledo A.D. 646-657. He composed some tracU in verse and prose, which are extant in the Bib- lioth. max. Patr., torn. xn. 444 BOOK II. CENTURY VII. PART II. CHAP. II. Tajo or Tago, bishop of Saragossa, flour- ished A.D. 646. He was a great admirer of the works of Gregory the Great ; went to Rome to obtain copies of them ; and compiled five Books of Sentences from them. Martin I., pope A.D. 649-655. For his opposition to a decree of the emperor Con- stans, called his Typus, Martin was seized by an armed force in 653, carried prisoner to Constantinople, kept in jail a long time, tried, and banished. He ended his days at Cherson, an exile. Seventeen of his Epis- tles are extant ; 11 of them, Gr. and Lat., are in the Concilia, torn. vi. Anastasius, deacon and apocrisiarius of the Romish church. He adhered to St. Maximus, and shared in his fortunes. The year before his death, A.D. 665, he wrote a long letter, giving account of the sufferings and exile of himself, Maximus, and Anasta- sius patriarch of Constantinople, and defend- ing their tenets in opposition to the Monoth- elites. It is in the Biblioth. max. Patr., torn, xii., and also prefixed to the works of St. Maximus. Fructuosus, of royal Gothic blood, bishop of Braga A.D. 656-675. He was founder of many monasteries, and particularly that of Alcala, and drew up two Rules for monks, one in twenty-three chapters, the other in twenty. Both are published by IM. Holste- nius, Codex Rugular. , pt. ii. Vitalianus, pope A.D. 657-671. In the year 668, he and Maurus the archbishop of Ravenna, mutually excommunicated each other. Six of "his Epistles are in the Con- cilia, torn. vi. Syricius, bishop of Barcelona about A.D. 657. He wrote two Epistles, which are extant in Lu. Dachier, Spicileg., torn, i., or new ed., torn. iii. Cummeneus, surnamed Albus ; an Irish monk, and abbot of Hy A.D. 657-669. He wrote the life of St. Columba, the first abbot of Hy ; which may be seen in Mabillon, Acta Sanctor. ord. Bened., torn. i. Jonas, a disciple of St. Columbanus, and an abbot somewhere. He wrote about A.D. 664, the life and miracles of St. John, abbot Reomaensis, in ii. Books. The latter Book is in Mabillon, Acta, &c., torn. i. Theodorus, a native of Tarsus in Cilicia, whom the pope made archbishop of Canter- bury A.D. 668. He was a man of learning, and very efficient in action. Introducing a fine library of Greek and Latin works into England, he gave an impulse to learning among the Anglo-Saxon clergy. He also did much to bring the British and Scotch clergy to adopt the Roman method of keep- ing Easter. His only work, except an epis- tle, is his Poenitentiale, or directory for deal- ing with offenders in the church. Agatho, pope A.D. 680-681, has left us three Epistles ; which are in the Concilia, torn. vi. Adamnanus or Adamannus, a Scotch- Irish monk, and abbot of Hy A.D. 679-704. He was very active in bringing the Scotch and Irish to adopt the Roman practice respecting Easter. His life of St. Columbanus, in three Books, is given by Canisius and Surius ; and his topographical description of Jerusa- lem and other sacred places, as he learned them from Arculphus a Gallic bishop and traveller, in three Books, was published by Mabillon, Acta Sanctor. ord. Bened., sa^cul. iii., pt. ii., or torn iv., p. 456-472. Ceolfrid, abbot of Weremuth or "VVire- muth, in England, about A.D. 680, and pre- ceptor to Beda. He visited Rome, obtained of pope Sergius privileges for his monastery, and brought home books for the use of his monks. A long Epistle of his to Naiton, king of the Picts, in defence of the Roman method of keeping Easter, is extant in Bcda, 1. v., c. 22, and in the Concilia, torn. vi. Aphonius, very little known, but supposed to have lived about A.D. 680, wrote a Com- mentary on the Canticles, in vi. Books ; which is extant in the Biblioth. max. Patr., torn. xiv. Valerius, a Spanish monk and abbot in Gallicia about A.D. 680. His life of St. Fructuosus, is extant in Mabillon, Acta Sanctor. ord. Bened., torn. ii. Some other lives and treatises exist in MS. Leo II., pope A.D. 682-684. Five Epis- tles ascribed to him, are extant in the Con- cilia, torn. vi. But Baronius and others think them spurious, because they represent pope Honorius to have been a Monothelite. Benedict II., pope A.D. 684-686. He has two Epistles in the Concilia, torn. vi. Bobolenus, a. monk and presbyter, who probably lived about A.D. 690. He wrote the life of St. Germanus, first abbot Gran- divallensis in the bishopric of Basle, who was slain about A.D. 666 ; extant in Ma- billon, Acta Sanctor. ord. Bened., torn. ii. -3V.] RELIGION AND THEOLOGY. CHAPTER III. HISTORY OF RELIGION AND THEOLOGY. $ 1. Miserable state of Religion. 2. Expositors of the Scriptures. $ 3. Dogmatic Theology. 4. Practical Theology. 5. Renewal of Penitential Discipline. $ 6. State oi Polemic Theology. 1. DURING this century true religion lay buried under a senseless mass of superstitions, and was unable to raise her head. The earlier Christians had worshipped only God and his Son ; but those called Christians in this age worshipped the wood of a cross, the images of holy men, and bones of dubious origin. (1) The early Christians placed heaven and hell before the view of men ; these latter talked only of a certain fire prepared to burn off the imperfections of the soul. The former taught that Christ had made expiation for the sins of men, by his death and his blood ; the latter seemed to inculcate, that the gates of heaven would be closed against none who should enrich the clergy or'the church with their donations.(2) The for- mer were studious to maintain a holy simplicity, and to follow a pure and chaste piety ; the latter placed the substance of religion in external rites and bodily exercises. Did any one hesitate to believe ? Two irrefragable arguments were at hand ; the authority of the church, and miracles, for the working of which in these times of ignorance but a moderate share of dex- terity was requisite. 2. Few either of the Greeks or Latins, applied themselves to the in- terpretation of the Holy Scriptures. There remain some commentaries (1) I will here quote a passage, well cal- lemnities return, keeps himself for some days culated to illustrate the piety of this age, before pure even from his own wife, so that taken from the Life of St. Eligius bishop of he may come to the altar of God with a safe Noyon, in Lu. Dachier's Spicilegium veter. conscience; and who finally has committed Scriptor., torn, ii., p. 92. " The Lord con- to memory the Creed, or the Lord's Prayer, f erred upon this most holy man, among other Redeem your souls from punishment, miraculous gifts, that, while searching and while ye have the means in your power praying after them with the most ardent present oblations and tithes to the churches, faith, the bodies of the holy martyrs which bring candles to the holy places, according had lain concealed for so many ages, were to your wealth and come often to the church, discovered." This most successful carcass- and beg suppliantly for the intercession of the hunter of saints, therefore, discovered the saints.. If ye do these things, ye may come bodies of Qumtin, Piato, Crispin, Crispin- with confidence before the tribunal of the ian, Lucian, and many others ; as his biog- eternal God, in the day of judgment, and rapher minutely narrates. Such ability to say: Give, Lord, for we have given." ["We find the concealed bones of saints and mar- see here a large and ample description of the tvrs, was claimed by most of the bishops character of a good Christian, in which there who wished to be esteemed by the people is not the least mention of the love of God, and to amass riches. resignation to his will, obedience to his laws, (2) St. Eligius, a great man of this age, or justice, benevolence, and charity towards says, (in Dachier, Spicilegium, torn, ii., p. men ; and in which the whole of religion is 96), " He is a good Christian who comet made to consist in coming often tothrchun h, often to church, and brings his offering to be bringing offerings to the altar, lighting can- laid on the altar of God ; who does not taste dies in consecrated places, and such like of his produce till he has first offered some vain services." Mad.] of it to God ; who, at often at the holy so- 446 BOOK II. CENTURY VII. PART II. CHAP. III. of Isychius of Jerusalem, on certain books of the Old Testament, and on the epistle to the Hebrews. Maximus composed sixty-five questions on the Holy Scriptures, and some other works of like character. Julianus Pome- rius showed his wish and his inability to reconcile passages of Scripture between which there is apparent contradiction, and also to explain the prophecy of Nahum. Compared with these writers, the worst of modern interpreters are manifestly to be preferred. The Greeks, especially those who would be thought adepts in mystic theology, ran after fantastic allego- ries ; as may be seen by the Questions of Maximus above mentioned. The Latins had too little self-confidence even to venture on such a course, and therefore only culled flowers from the works of Gregory and Augustine ; as is manifest, among other works, from the Explanations of the Old and New Testament collected by Paterius from the works of Gregory the Great. (3) Thomas of Heraclea gave to the Syrians a new translation of the New Testament. (4) 3. As among the Latins philosophy was nearly extinct, and among the Greeks only certain points of theology were brought under discussion, QO one thought of reducing the doctrines of religion to a regular system and of stating them philosophically. Yet one Antiochus, a monk of Palestine, composed a short summary of religious doctrines, which he called the Pan- dect of the Holy Scriptures. But the rank and influence due to this author, may be inferred from the mournful verses subjoined to this work, in which the author deplores in sorrowful strains the loss of the wood of the [true] cross, which the Persians were said to have carried away. Of the Latin theology of this age, a more neat and judicious summary has not come down to us than that in Ildefonsus' book de Cognitione Baptismi, lately brought to light by Baluze ; a work indeed which we do not need, but one that contains some valuable testimonies for truths which were afterwards discarded. (5) Tajo or Tago, bishop of Saragossa, compiled jive looks of sentences, which are a dry and insipid body of theoretical and practical di- vinity taken from Gregory the Great, though Augustine is sometimes taxed for contributions ; yet that age esteemed it an admirable performance, and deserving immortality.(6) On certain parts of Christianity, a few individ- uals employed their pens ; as Maximus, who wrote on theology, and on the manifestation of the Son in thefesh, and likewise on the two natures in Christ ; and Theodoras of Raithu, who wrote on the incarnation of Christ. But those acquainted with the character of that age, will easily conjecture what sort of doctors these were. 4. The lamentable state of practical theology, is manifest from every writer on the subject in this age. The best of them were, Dorotheus in (3) This useless performance has been 137, p. 99) that the sacred volume was usually printed with the works of Gregory read by all Christians, (ch. 80, p. 59) and the Great ; and therefore the Benedictine other facts of the like nature. Ildefonsus monks inserted it in their recent and splendid carefully excludes philosophy and reason as edition of Gregory's works, vol. iv., pt. ii., authorities in religion ; and teaches that there but with no advantage to the public. are but two sources of theology, namely, the (4) Jos. Sim. Asseman, Biblioth. Orient, holy scriptures and the writings of the an- Vatican., torn, ii., p. 93, 94. cient doctors, or as he expresses himself (p. (5) See Baluze, Miscellanea, torn, vi., p. 14, 22), divinae institutionis auctoritatem, et 1, &c. From this book it clearly appears, sacrae paternitatis antiquitatem. among other things, that the doctrine of (6) See Jo. Mabillon, Analecta veteris transubstantiation as it is called, was un- Aevi, torn, ii., p. 68, &c. known to the Latins in the 7th century, (ch. RELIGION AND THEOLOGY. 447 his Ascetic Dissertations, Maximus and Aldhelm in some tracts, Hesychius and Tkalassius in their Sentences, and a few others. But in them how many and how great the defects ! how numerous the marks of supersti- tion ! what constant indications of a mind vacillating and unable to grasp the subject ! The laity as they were called, had no cause to tax their teachers with excessive severity ; for it was customary to confine the ob- ligations of men to a very few virtues, as is manifest from Aldhelm's tract on the eight principal vices. And those who disregarded these few duties, were to incur no very formidable punishment for their neglect. A life of solitude as practised by the monks, though adorned by no marks of true piety, was esteemed sufficient of itself to atone for all kinds of guilt ; and it was therefore called by the Latins a second Baptism.(l) This one fact is sufficient to show how little the precepts of Christ were understood in this age. Among the swarms of Greek and Oriental monks, very many laboured to attain perfection by means of contemplation ; and these en- deavoured to transfuse into their own souls the spirit of Dionysius, that father of the Mystics. 5. Theodoras the Cilician being a Grecian monk, restored among the Latins the discipline of penance as it is called, which had fallen into neg- lect, and enforced it by strict rules borrowed from the Grecian ecclesias- tical jurisprudence. This man being unexpectedly raised to the see of Canterbury in England, A.D. 668, among many other laudable deeds, re- duced to a regular system that part of ecclesiastical law which is called disciplina paenitentiaria. For by publishing his Penitential, a kind of work such as the Latin world had never before seen, he taught the priests to discriminate between more heinous and lighter sins, and between such as are secret and such as are open, and likewise to measure and estimate them according to the circumstances of time, place, the character and disposition of the sinner, his sorrow, &c., and pointed out the punishment due to the several kinds of sins and faults, the proper modes of consoling, admonishing, and absolving, and in short, marked out the whole duty of those who hear confessions. (8) This new discipline of penance, though it was of Grecian origin, was very acceptable to the Latins ; and in a short time it was diffused from Britain over the whole Latin world, and enforced by other Penitentials drawn up after the pattern of the original one by Theodorus. Yet it gradually declined again in the eighth century, and was at length wholly subverted by the new law of what are called in- dulgences. 6. Those who wrote against the religious sects which departed from the common faith, are scarcely worthy of being named ; and they would not be worth reading, were it not that they serve to elucidate the history (7) [See in Harduin's Concilia, torn. Hi., cording to the decision of the fathers, and all p. 1771; the Capitula of Theodore of Can- sin* are forgiven, as in baptism. Schl.] terbury, where we read : At the ordination (8) The Penitential of Theodorus is still of monks the abbot ought to say mass, and extant, though mutilated ; published by Ja. utter three prayers over his head, and the Petit, Paris, 1679, 4to, with learned Disser- monk should veil his head with a cowl seven tations and notes. We have also the one days ; and on the 7th day the abbat should hundred and twenty Capitula ecclesiastica remove the veil from the monk's head. As of the same Theodorus, in Docker, Spicile- in baptism the presbyter removes the infant's gium, torn. ix. Harduin, Concilia, torn, ui-, veil on the 7th day, so bhould the abbot do p. 1771, and elsewhere, to the monk ; for it is a second baptism, ac- 448 BOOK II. CENTURY VII. PART II. CHAP. IV. of their times. Against the pagans, Nicias composed two Books ;(9) and Photius mentions a person unknown to us, who he says contended against them with a great array of arguments drawn from the fathers. (10) Against the Jews contended Julianus Pomerius. All the heresies are described and assailed in the little work of Timotheus on the Reception of Heretics. Of the theological contests among the orthodox them- selves, little can be said. In this age were scattered the seeds of those grievous contests, which afterwards severed the Greeks from the Latins ; nor were they merely scattered, but likewise took root in the minds of the Greeks, to whom the Roman domination appeared altogether insuffer- able. In Britain, the ancient Christians of the country contended with the new or Romish Christians, namely, those of the Saxon race, whom Augustine converted to Christ. They contended respecting various things, as baptism, and the tonsure, but especially about the time for the celebra- tion of the feast of Easter.(ll) But these controversies did not relate to religion itself; and they were settled and determined in the eighth cen- tury, by the Benedictine monks, and in accordance with the views of the Romans.(12) CHAPTER IV. HISTORY OF RITES AND CEREMONIES. $ 1. Rites Multiplied. $ 2. Some Examples. 1. IN the council which is called Quinisextum, the Greeks made vari- ous enactments respecting religious rites and forms of worship, in which there were several deviations from the Roman usage. These canons were publicly received in all the churches within the territories of the Greek em- perors, and likewise by all churches which accorded in doctrine and wor- ship with the Greeks, though situated in the dominions of barbarian kings.(l) Nearly all the Roman pontiffs likewise, added something new to the ancient ceremonies ; as if they had supposed that no one could teach Christianity with success, unless he could delight a Christian assembly with rare shows and mummery. These rights and usages were in the time of Charlemagne (9) [Of this man, nothing more is known (1) [This council was held at Constantino- than that he was a monk, and that he wrote pie A.D. 692, and was composed chiefly of a book against the seven chapters of Phil- Oriental bishops, of whom more than 200 oponus. Schl."] were assembled. The place of the sessions (10) Photius, Bibl. Codex clxx., p. 379. was a hall in the imperial palace, called (11) Cummanus' Epistle, in Ja. Usher's Trullus ; whence the council was denomi- Sylloge epistolar. Hibernicar., p. 23, &c. nated Concilium Trallanum, and Concilium Beda, Historia Eccles. gentis Angler., lib. in Trullo. It was properly the seventh iii., c. 25. Dav. Wilkins, Concilia magnae general council, and supplied canons for Britann., torn, i., p. 37, 42. Acta Sanctor. the church, which the fifth and sixth had neg- Februarii, torn, iii., p. 21, 84. [See also lected to make. Being thus a kind of sup- Dr. Warner's Ecclesiastical History of plement to the fifth and sixth general coun- England, book ii. and iii. Mad.] cils, it was called Concilium Quinisextum, (12) Jo. Mainllon, Praef. ad Acta Sane- See chap, v., $ 12, below. Tr.} tor. ord. Bened., torn, iii., p. ii., &c. RITES AND CEREMONIES. 419 propagated from Rome among the other Latin churches ; for the arrogance of the Roman pontiffs would not suffer any of the western churches to de- viate from the Roman usage. 2. A few specimens may serve for examples. The number of festi- vals, which was already oppressively great, was increased by the addition of a day consecrated to the wood of the cross on which the Saviour hung ;(2) and another to the commemoration of his ascent to heaven. (3) Boniface V. invested the churches with those rights of asylum, which afforded to all vil- lains a license to commit crimes without much danger.(4) The art of or- namenting churches magnificently, Honorius laboured most earnestly to bring to perfection. (5) For as neither Christ nor his apostles had enjoined any thing on this subject, it was but reasonable that their vicar should con- Mary and all the martyrs, as it had before been sacred to all the gods, and particularly to Cybcle. On this occasion he ordered the feast of all the apostles to be kept on the 1st of May, which was afterwards assigned only to Philip and James, and the feast of all the martyrs on the 12th of May. But this last feast being frequented by a large concourse of people, Gregory IV. in the year 834 transferred it to a season of the year when provisions were more easily obtained, that is, to the first day of November, and also consecrated it to All Saints. See Baum- garten's christl. Alterthuemer, p. 313 Schl. ; and Gicseler's Text-book, by Cun- ningham, vol. ii., p. 60, n. 11. TV.] (4) [Temples were anciently among the pagans, places of safety for valuable goods, and for men in times of war or oppression. Among the Christians, at first only the altar and the choir enjoyed this privilege. After- wards the nave of the church, and finally the whole enclosure participated in it. All per- sons under prosecution, whether in civil or criminal causes, might there be secure till their case *as investigated. But public debtors, Jews, runaway slaves, robbers, mur- derers, banditti, and adulterers, were prohib- ited oy law from this right of sanctuary. Yet ir the western churches, this right of asylum degenerated into a source of the most shock- ing disorders, and to these disorders this reg- ulation of Boniface especially gave occasion. Anastasius Bibliothecarius says of him : He ordained, that no person who had taken ref- uge in a church, should be delivered up. Schl.] (5) [See Anastaiius, in his Life of this pontiff. He says of him among other things, that he covered the Confessional of St. Peter with pure silver, ichich weighed 187 pounds. He overlaid the great doors at the entrance of the church, which were called Mcdianuc, with silrcr weighing 975 pound*. He also M /</< liro largf silrrr candlesticks, of equal dnni nxions, weighing each 62 pounds. He likarise made for the church of St. Andrew, (2) [This festival was instituted by the emperor Hcraclius in the year 631, after he had vanquished the Persians and recovered from them the real cross, which Cosroes their king had carried off fourteen years be- fore. The festival was established by pope JHonorius, and was introduced into the West in this century. For the Roman pontiffs were then under the dominion of the Greek emperors, and afterwards began gradually to withdraw themselves from their jurisdiction. The earliest mention of this festival, which the Greeks call favpoijtuveia, [and the Lathis cxaltatio crucis, kept Sept. 14. See Ba.ro- nius, Annales, ad ann. 628. Tr.], occurs in the Collatio of St. Maximus with Theodo- sius, bishop of Cffisarea A.D. 650. See Baumgarten's Erlauterung der christl. Al- terthiimer, p. 310. Schl.] (3) [It is to be wished, that Dr. Moshcim had here given his authority for placing the origin of the feast of Ascension in this cen- tury. Among the 50 days next following Easter, this festival had been observed by the Christians with peculiar solemnity, ever since the fourth century ; as may be infer- red from Augustine, Epist. 118, ad Januar. Chrysostom, Homil. 62, torn, vii., and Hom- il. 35, torn. v. Constitutiones Apostol., 1. viii., c. 33, 1. v., c. 19, and especially from the Concil. Agathense, A.D. 506, where the 21st Canon says : Pascha, Natale Domini Epiphania, Asccnsionem Domini, Pentecs- ten et natalem S. Johannis Baptistee, vel si qui maximi dies in festivitatibus haientur, nonnisi in civitatibus aut in parocAiis tene- ant. (Harduin, torn, ii., p. 1000.) Instead of this festival, we might mention the Feast of All Saints as originating in this century, under pope Boniface. In the eastern churches it had indeed been observed ever since the 4th century, on the 8th day after Whitsun,- day, and was called the Feast of all the Mar- tyrs. But in the western churches it had the following origin : Boniface in the year 610 obtained by gift the Pantheon at Rome, and consecrated it to the honour of the virgin VOL. I. L L L 450 BOOK II. CENTURY VII. PART II. CHAP. V. fer this favour on mankind. Of the sacerdotal garments, and the rest of the apparatus which was deemed necessary in the celebration of the Lord's supper, and for giving dignity and grandeur to the assemblies for public worship, I shall say nothing. CHAPTER V. HISTORY OF HERESIES. $ 1, 2. Remains of the Earlier Sects. 3. Nestorians and Monophy sites. $ 4. Monotfi- elites. 5. Their prosperous Circumstances. 6. Their Adversities. 7. Con- tests arising out of the e/c#e<7tf and the rimof. 8. The Sixth General Council. 9. Sum of the Controversy. 1) 10. Different Opinions among that Sect. 11. Their Condition after the Council of Constantinople. t) 12. The Council called Quinisextum. 1. THE Greeks, during this century and especially in the reigns of Constans, Constantine Pogonatus, and Justinian II., were engaged in fierce combat with the Paulicians, whom they considered as a branch of the Manichaeans, and who lived in Armenia and the adjacent countries. The Greeks assailed them not so much with arguments, as with military force and with legal enactments and penalties. It was during the reign of Con- stans that one Constantine resuscitated this sect, then exhausted and ready to become extinct, and propagated its doctrines with great success.(l) But the history of the sect, which is said to have originated from two brothers, Paul and John, will be stated more explicitly under the ninth century, at which time its conflicts with the Greeks came to an open and bloody war. 2. In Italy, ti*> Lombards preferred the opinions of the Arians to the doctrines of the Niceue council. In Gaul and in England, the Pelagian and Semipelagian controversies still produced some disquietude. In the East the ancient sects, which the imperial laws had repressed but had by no means subdued and extinguished, assumed courage in several places and were able to secure adherents. Fear of the laws and of punishment induced these sects to seek a temporary concealment, but when the power of their foes was somewhat abridged they again resumed courage. 3. The condition of the Nestotians and Monophysites, under those new lords of the East the Saracens, was far happier than before that con- quest ; indeed, while the Greeks were oppressed and banished, both these sects were every where preferred before them. Jesujabas the sovereign pontiff of the Nestorians, concluded a treaty first with Mohammed and afterwards with Omar, by which he obtained "many advantages for his Sect.(2) There is likewise extant an injunction, or Testament as it is com- monly called, that is, a diploma of Mohammed himself, in which he prom- ises full security to all Christians living under his dominion : and though a silver table before the Confessional, as p. 41, &c. George Cedrenus, Compend. aJ>ove,whichweighed73 pounds, $c. Schl.'] Histor., p. 431, ed. Venice. (1) Photius, contra Manichaeos, lib. i., p. (2) Jos. Sim. Asseman, Biblioth. Orient. 61. Peter Siculus, Historia Manichaeor., Vaticana, torn, iii., part ii., p. xciv, &c. HERESIES AND SCHISMS. ; .j some learned men doubt the authenticity of this instrument, yet the Mo- hammedans do not call it in question.(3) The successors of Mohammed in Persia, employed the Nestorians in the most important affairs and bu- siness both of the court and of the provinces ; nor would they sulfur any patriarch, except the one who governed this sect, to reside in the kingdom of Babylon.(4) The Monophysites in Egypt and Syria were equally for- tunate. In Egypt, Amrou having taken Alexandria in the year 644, di- rected Benjamin the Monophysite pontilF to occupy the see of Alexan- dria ; and from that time for nearly a century, the Melchites, or those who followed the opinions of the Greek church, had no prelate.(S) 4. Among the Greeks who were otherwise greatly distracted, there arose a new sect in the year 630, during the reign of Heraclius, which soon produced such commotions that both the East and the West united to put it down. An ill-timed effort at peace produced war. The emperor He- radius, considering the immense evils resulting to the Greek empire from the revolt of the Nestorians to the Persians, was exceedingly desirous of reconciling the Monophysites to the Greek church, lest the empire should receive a new wound by their departure from it. He therefore, during his war with the Persians, first had a conference in the year 622 with one Paul a principal man among the Armenian Monophysites, and afterwards in the year 629, at Hicrapolis, with Anasiasius the Calholicus or patriarch of the Monophysites, respecting the means of restoring harmony. Both of them suggested to the emperor, that the believers in one nature of Christ might (3) This famous Testament of Mohammed was brought into Europe from the East, in the 17th century, by Pacifccus Scaliger a Capuchin monk ; and was first published, Arabic and Latin, by Gabriel Sionita, Paris, 1630 ; and afterwards the Lutherans, John Fabricius A.D. 1638, and Hinckelmann A.D. 1690, published it in Latin. See Jo. Henr. Hottinger, Histor. Oriental., lib. ii., c. 20, p. 237. Asscman, Biblioth. Orient. Vatican., torn, iii., part ii., p. xcv. Renau- dot, Histor. Patriarchar. Alexandr., p. 168. Those who with Grotius reject this Testa- ment, suppose it was fabricated by the monks living in Syria and Arabia, to circumvent their hard masters the Mohammedans. Nor is the supposition incredible. For the monks of Mount Sinai formerly showed a similar edict of Mohammed, which they said he drew up while a private man ; an edict exceeding- ly favourable to them, and beyond all con- troversy fraudulently drawn up by them- selves. The fraud was sufficiently manifest ; yet the Mohammedans, a people destitute of all erudition, believed it was a genuine ordinance of their prophet, and they believe so still. This imposition is treated of by Dcmetr. Cantimir, Histoire de 1' Empire Ot- toman, tome ii., p 269, &c. The argument therefore which RenauAot and others draw in favour of the Testament in question, from the acknowledgment of its authenticity by the Mohammedans, is of little weight ; be- cause, in things of this nature no people could be more easily imposed upon than tho rude and illiterate Mohammedans. Nor is the argument of more force, which the oppo- sers of the Testament draw from the differ- ence of its style from that of the Koran. For it is not necessary to suppose that Moham- med himself composed this Testament ; he might have employed his secretary. But however dubious the Testament itself may be, the subject matter of it is not doubtful. For learned men have proved, by powerful arguments, that Mohammed originally would allow no injury to be offered to the Chris- tians, and especially to the Nestorians. [This Testament is a formal compact be- tween Mohammed on the one part, and the Nestorians and Monophysites on the other. He promises to them his protection ; and they promise to him loyalty and obedience. He promises them entire religious freedom ; and they promise him support against his enemies. Mohammed might have deemed it sound policy to conclude such a treaty with these sectaries ; that, by tfeir aid, he might subdue the countries of Asia subject to the Greek emperors. Schl.] (4) Asscixan, Biblioth. Orient. Vatican., torn, iii., part ii., p. xcvii., &c. Euscb. Rc- naitdot, Historia Patriarch. Alexandrinor., p. 163, 169. (5) Euscb. Rcnaudot, Historia Patriarch. Alexandrinor., p. 168. 452 BOOK II. CENTURY VII. PART II. CHAP. V. be induced to receive the decrees of the council of Chalcedon and be rec. onciled to the Greeks, provided the Greeks would admit and profess, that in Jesus Christ, after the union of the two natures, there was but one will and one voluntary operation. Heraclius stated what he had learned from these men, to Sergius the patriarch of Constantinople, who was a native of Syria and descended from parents that were Monophysites. This prelate gave it as his opinion, that it might be held and inculcated, without preju- dice to the truth or to the authority of the council of Chalcedon, that, after the union of two natures in Christ, there was but one will and one opera- tion of will. Heraclius therefore, in order' to terminate the discord both in church and state, issued a decree, in the year 630, that this faith should be received and taught. (6) 5. At first the affair seemed to go on well. For although some re. fused to comply with the imperial edict, yet the two patriarchs of the East, Cyrus of Alexandria and Atlianasius of Antioch, did not hesitate to obey the will of the emperor ; and the see of Jerusalem was then vacant.(7) The consent of the Latin patriarch or the Roman pontiff was perhaps not deemed necessary, in an affair which related so exclusively to the Oriental church. Cyrus, whom the emperor had promoted from the see of Phasis to that of Alexandria, assembled a council, by the seventh decree of which the doctrine of Monothelism, which the emperor wished to have introduced, was solemnly confirmed. (8) And this modification of the decree of Chal- cedon was so influential with the Monothelites in Egypt, Armenia, and other provinces, that a great part of them returned to the church. They seem however to have explained the doctrine of one will in Christ, which was certainly equivocal, according to their own views, and not according to the general sentiments of their sect. 6. But this fair prospect of union was blasted, and a formidable con- test was excited by a single monk of Palestine named Sophronius. He being present at the council of Alexandria held by Cyrus in the year 633, strenuously resisted the article which related to one will in Christ. And the next year, (634), being made patriarch of Jerusalem, he assembled a council in which he condemned the Monothelites, and maintained that by their doctrine, the Eutychian error respecting the amalgamation and con. fusion of natures in Christ, was revived and brought into the church. He (6) The writers who give account of this (8) [The documents of this council are in sect, are enumerated by Jo. Alb. Fabricius, Harduin's Concilia, torn, iii., p. 1327, &c. Biblioth. Graeca, vol. x., p. 204. The ac- The intention of Cyrus was good. He count which I have given in the text is de- wished to unite the Severians and the The- rived from the original sources, and rests on odosians, who composed a large part of the the most explkit testimony. [The most im- Christians of Alexandria ; and he considered portant of the ancient documents are found the doctrine of one will and one operation in the Acts of the council of the Lateran as the best means for this end. He there- A.D. 649, and in those of the sixth general fore, in several canons, spoke of one single council, h^ld at Constantinople A.D. 681, theandric operation in Christ, (viav kvepySv- 682. Among the modern writers, the most ra rd ^eoTvpewij KOI av&puiuva flip &eav- full and candid is Dr. Walch, Historie der dpiufi tvepyela), yet for the sake of peace, he Ketzereyen, vol. ix., p. 3-667. See also refrained from affirming either one or two Schroeckh, Kircheng., vol. xx., p. 386-453, wills and. operations. This step, though and Bower's Lives of the Popes, from Ho- taken with the best intentions, gave occa- norius on to the end of this century. TV.] won afterwards to the most violent theologi- (7) See Le Quien, Oriens Christianas, cal contests. Sett.] torn, iii., p 264. HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 453 drew over many, particularly among the monks, to his sentiments ; and he made special efforts to gain over Honorius the Roman pontiff to his side. (9) But Scrgius of Constantinople wrote a long and discreet letter to Honorius, which induced him to decide, that those held sound doctrine who taught that there was one will and one operation in Christ. (10) Hence arose se- vere contests, which divided the commonwealth as well as the church into two parties. 7. To quiet these great commotions, Heraclius published in the year 639, an Ecthesis, i. e., a formula of faith, drawn up by Sergius, in which, while he forbid all discussion of the question whether there were only one, (9) [Sophronius was most sincere and decorous in his opposition to the doctrine of Monothdism. In the council of Alexandria he fell down before Cyrus, and entreated him not to sanction such a doctrine. But he was alone in his opposition. Cyrus treat- ed him tenderly, advised him to confer with Sergius the patriarch of Constantinople on the subject, and wrote a letter to Sergius for Sophronius to carry. When arrived at Con- stantinople, Sergius endeavoured to sooth him, represented the point as unessential, agreed to write to Cyrus not to allow any controversy on the subject, but to leave ev- ery one at full liberty to speculate as he pleased about it. Sophronius now agreed to keep silence. But when made patriarch of Jerusalem, his conscience would not let him rest. Whether he assembled a provin- cial synod, as Dr. Moshcim asserts, is ques- tionable. But his circular epistle to the oth- er patriarchs on occasion of his consecra- tion, contained an elaborate discussion of the subject, and a host of quotations from the fathers, in proof that the doctrine of two wills and two operations was the only true doctrine. See the letter in Harduin's Con- cilia, torn, iii., p. 1257. TV.] (10) This the adherents to the Roman pontiffs have taken the utmost pains to dis- prove, lest one of the pontiffs should seem to have erred in a matter of such moment. See, among many others, Jo. Harduin, de Sacramento altaris, in his Opp. sclecta, p. 255, &c. An 1 indeed, it is not difficult ei- ther to accuse or to excuse the man. For he appears not to have known what to think on the subject, and to have annexed no very definite ideas to the words which he used. Yet he did say that there was but one will and one operation of will in Christ. And for this he was condemned in the council of Constantinople. He was therefore a heretic, beyond all controversy, if it be true that uni- versal councils cannot err. See Ja. Benig. Bossuet, Defensio declarations quam clerus Gallicanus, Anno 1682, de potestate Eccle- siastica sanxit, pt. ii., lib. xii., cap. 21, &c., p. 182, &c. Add Ja. Basnagc, Histoire de 1'Eglise, torn, i., p. 391, &c. [Honorius was made acquainted, by Scrgius in the above mentioned letter, with the origin and whole progress of the controversy ; and such was his impression, that, in his answer to Ser- gius, (which is in Harduin's Concilia, torn. iii., p. 1319, &c.), he so far agreed with Ser- gius as to disapprove the affirmation of either one or two operations and divine wills ; yet he did very clearly maintain but one will in Christ, expressed his disapprobation of So- phronius, and declared the whole controver- sy to be unimportant and mere logomachy. There is extant also, (ibid., p. 1351), an ex- tract from a second letter of Honorius to Sergius, in which he still farther confirms his opinion. The friends of the Romish church have iaken great pains to justify this mistake of Honorius. The Acts of the sixth general council, say they, are corrupted, and the name of Honorius has been wickedly foisted into them. Honorius was not con- demned for heresy, but for his forbearance. He meant to deny only that there were two opposite wills in Christ. He wrote only as a private person, and not as a bishop, and also when ill-informed by Sergius ; and moreover retracted afterwards his opinion. But even Catholic writers have confuted these subterfuges ; e. g., Richer, Hist Con- cil. general, p. 296, &c. Du Pin, Bibli- oth., torn, vi., p. 67, &c. Honorius was con- demned not only in the sixth general coun- cil, but also in the seventh and eighth, and in that in Trullo, and likewise by his own successors, (Agatho, Leoll., Hadrian, &c.), and is named in several Rituals, and partic- ularly in the Breviary and m the festival of Leo II., as being, together with Scrgius and Cyrus, a person damnattz memori<jc. This is manifest proof that no one then even thought of an infallibility in the Romish jiojios. notwithstanding in modern times the name of Honorius has been erased from the Breviaries. Schl. See Bower's Lives of the Popes, (Agatho), vol. iii., and Gieseler't Text-book, transl. by Cunningham, vol. i., p. 369, note 17. TV.] 454 BOOK II. CENTURY VII. PART II. CHAP. V. or a twofold action or operation in Christ, he clearly stated that there was but one will in Christ.(ll) This new law was approved by not a few in the East, and first of all by Pyrrhus of Constantinople, who on the death of Sergius succeeded to that see in the year 639. (12) But the Roman pontiff John IV., in a council held this year at Rome, rejected the Ecthe- sis, and condemned the Monothelites.(13) As the controversy still con- tinued, the emperor Constans in the year 648, with the consent of Paul of Constantinople, published a new edict, called the Typus ; by which the EC- thesis was annulled, and silence enjoined on both the contending parties, as well with regard to one will as with regard to one operation "of will in Christ. (14) But the impassioned monks looked upon silence as a crime ; and by their instigation, Martin the bishop of Rome in a council of 105 bishops in the year 649, anathematized both the Ecthesis and the Typus, (but without naming the emperors), and likewise all patrons of the Monothe- 8. The audacity of Martin in anathematizing the imperial edicts, provoked Constans to issue orders for the arrest of the pontiff by the ex- arch Calliopas, and for his transportation in the year 650 to the island of Naxia. Maximus, the ringleader of the seditious monks, he banished to Bizyca ; and others, not less factious, were punished in different ways. (16) (tl) [This Ecthesis is in Harduin's Con- cilia, torn, iii., p. 791, &c. Schl.] (12) [Previously to this, Sergius assem- bled the clergy at Constantinople, and not only established the new Concordat, but or- dained that all clergymen who should not adopt it should be liable to deposition, and all monks and laymen be liable to excom- munication. Extracts from the Acts of this council are given in the Acts of the Lateran council [A.D. 649], in Harduin, torn, iii., p. 795, &c. Pyrrhus the successor of Sergius, likewise received this formula in an assem- bly of the clergy A.D. 640, and commanded all bishops whether present or absent to sub- scribe to it. See the extracts from the Acts of this council, in Harduin, torn, iii., p. 797. SchL] (13) \_Heraclius transmitted the Ecthesis to pope Severinus at Rome, by the exarch Isaacius. (Harduin, torn, iii., p. 803.) Whether Severinus submitted to it, is un- certain. But that his envoys, who were sent to Constantinople to obtajn the confirm- ation of his election, could not succeed till they had engaged he should receive it, is certain. His successor John IV. rejected it soon after his elevation to office, in a Ro- mish council of which we have only very dubious accounts. On the side of this pope stood the island of Cyprus, and Numidia Byzicena, the Provincia Proconsularis, and Mauritania ; from all of which provinces synodal epistles are still extant, showing that the bishops there passed resolutions against the Ecthesis. They are in Hardu- in's Concilia, torn, iii., p. 727, &c. Schl.] (14) [This Typus is in Harduin's Con- cilia, torn, iii., p. 823, &c. Schl.] (15) [This council was held in the church of St. John of the Lateran, and was thence called the Lateran Council. The Acts of it are in Harduin's Collection, torn, iii., p. 626-946. The year before, pope Theodore had held a council at Rome, in which he condemned Pyrrhus who had lost the patri- archate of Constantinople in consequence of his taking part in the civil commotions of that city at the election of a new emperor, together with his successor Paul ; and had mingled some of the sacramental wine with the ink in signing their condemnation. See Watch's Historic der Kirchenversamml., p. 419. The emperor Constans hoped by means of his Typus, to put an end to all these commotions ; and he would undoubt- edly have succeeded, if he had had only can- did and reasonable men to deal with. But at Rome a determined spirit of self-justi- fication prevailed ; and unfortunately pope Martin was a man who sought to gain a rep- utation for learning by metaphysical wran- gling. He in this council condemned the opinions of an Arabian bishop, Thcodorus of Pharan, a zealous Monophysite ; but he touched so lightly on the doctrines of Hono- rius, as not even to mention his name. Schl.-] (16) [To give the proceeding a less ex- ceptionable aspect, pope Martin was accu- sed of various crimes. He was charged with being a partisan of the rebel exarch Olym- pius, with sending supplies of money to the Saracens, &c. From Naxia he was brought HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 455 The succeeding Roman pontiffs, Eugenius and Vitalianus, were more dis- creet and moderate ; especially the latter, who received Constans, upon his arrival at Rome in the year 663, with the highest honours, and adopt- ed measures to prevent the controversy from being rekindled.(lT) It therefore slept in silence for several years. But as it was only a con- cealed fire that burned in secret, and as new commotions hazardous to the public peace were constantly to be feared, Constaniine Pogonatus the son of Constans, having advised with the Roman pontiff Agatlio, summoned a general council in the year 680, which is called the sixtli of the oecumeni- cal councils ; and here he permitted the Monothelites and the Roman pontiff Honorius to be condemned, in the presence of Agatha's legates ; and he confirmed the decrees of the council with the sanction of penal laws.(18) 9. It is very difficult to define the real sentiments of the Monothe- lites, or to tell what it was their adversaries condemned. For neither party is uniform in its statements, and both disclaim the errors objected to them. I. The Monothelites disclaimed all connexion with the Eutychi- to Constantinople, and there subjected to a judicial trial. He would certainly have lost his head, as a traitor, had not the dying pa- triarch Paul moved the emperor to commute his punishment into banishment to Cherson, where he soon after died in great distress. See his 14th and following Epistles, in Lab- be, Concilia, torn, vi., and Concilia regia, torn. TV. ; also Muratori, History of Italy, vol. iv., p. 125, &c. Schl. Also Bower's Lives of the Popes, vol. iii. TV.] (17) [ Vitalianus, as soon as he was elect- ed, despatched his envoys to Constantino- ple, and by them sent the customary con- fession of his faith to the patriarch. The discreet procedure of the pope and the polit- ical circumstances of the times, caused his envoys to be well received, and to be sent back to Rome by Constantine with splendid presents. The patriarch of Constantinople also, in his letter of reply, expressed warm desires for union and harmony. When the emperor Constans came to Rome in the year 663, in his campaign against the Lombards, the pope showed him more honour than it became his papal character to show to one who had murdered his own brother ; for the emperor, a few years before, had put to death his own brother, the deacon Theodosius. The pope, with all his clergy, went out to meet him two miles from Rome, and escort- ed him into the city. But all the honours he showed to the emperor did not prevent him from carrying off to Constantinople all the brass which ornamented the city, and even the plates which covered the roof -i the Pantheon. See Anastasitts, de ^ita Vitaliani ; and Paulus Diaconus, Historia Longobardor., lib. v., c. 6, 7. SA/.] (18) [This council was summoned by the emperor, who presided in it in person. The number of bishops was small at first, but in- creased to near 200. There were eighteen sessions, from the 7th Nov. 680 to the 16th Sept. 681. No one of the ancient councils was conducted with more decorum and fair- ness. Yet not the Bible, but the decrees of former councils and the writings of the fa- thers, were the authority relied upon. All the great patriarchs were present, either per- sonally or by their representatives. At first the two parties were nearly balanced. But in the 8th session, March 7th, George the patriarch of Constantinople went over to the side of the orthodox, and was followed by all the clergy of his diocese. Macarius the patriarch of Antioch, who stood firm at the head of the Monothelites, was new outvoted, condemned, and deprived of hi* office. The Monothelites, as soon as the? were adjudged to be heretics, lost their sests ; and therefore the decrees of the council were finally car- ried by a unanimous vote. Theodorus of Pharan, Cyrus of Alexandria, Sergins, Pyr- rhus, and Paul of Constantinople, Honoriu* of Rome, MacarMS of Antioch, and some others, were condemned as heretics ; and the doctrine of two wills, a human and di- vine, and two kinds of voluntary acts in Christ, defined and established. The Acts of this council, Gr. and Lat., are in Har- duin's Concilia, torn, iii., p. 1043-1644, and thej are not falsified, as some Catholics for- nzerlv asserted. See Combefis, Diss. apol- ogei. pro Actis vi. Synodi, in his Auctuar. Biblioth. Patr. Nov., torn. ii.. p. 65. Jo. Forbes, Instructio hist. Theol., 1. v., c. 10. Du Pin, Biblioth. des Auteurs Eccles., torn. vi.,.p. 61. Cave, Hist. Lit., torn, i., p. 605. Rower, Lives of the Popes, (Agatha), vol. iii. TV.] 456 BOOK II. CENTURY VII. PART II. CHAP. V. ans and the Monophys-ites ; and confessed that there. were in Christ the Saviour two natures, so united, without mixture or confusion, as to consti- tute but one person. II. They admitted that the human soul of Christ was endowed with a will, or the faculty of willing and choosing ; and that it did not lose this power of willing and choosing in consequence of its union with the divine nature. For they held and taught, that Christ was perfect man as well as perfect God ; and of course, that his human soul had the power of willing and choosing. III. They denied that this power of willing and choosing in the human soul of Christ, was inactive or inoper- ative : on the contrary, they conceded that it operated together with the divine will. IV. They therefore, in reality admitted two wills in Christ, and also that both were active and operative wills. (19) Yet, V. they maintained that in a certain sense, there was but one will and one opera- tion of will in Christ. 10. But these positions were not explained in precisely the same man- ner, by all who were called Monothelites. Some of them, as may be fully proved, intended no more than that the two wills in Christ, the human and the divine, were always harmonious, and in this sense one ; or that the hu- man will always accorded with the divine will, and was therefore always holy, upright, and good. And in this opinion there is nothing censura- ble. (20) But others approaching nearer to the Monophysites, supposed that the two wills in Christ, that is, the two powers of willing, in consequence of the personal union (as it is called) of the two natures, were amalgamated and became one will: yet they still admitted that the two wills could be, and should be, discriminated in our conceptions. The greatest part of the sect and those possessing the greatest acumen, supposed that the will of Christ's human soul was the instrument of his divine will : yet when moved and prompted to act, it operated and put forth volitions in connexion with the divine will.(21) From this supposition, the position so obstinately maintained by the Monothelites was unavoidable, that in Christ there was but one will and one operation of will. For the operation of an instrument, and of him \vho uses it, is not twofold but one. Setting aside therefore the suspicion of Eutychianism, and other tilings connected with that ques- tion, the point hi controversy was, whether the human will of Christ some- times acted from 'ds own impulse, or whether it was always moved by the in- stigation of the divine nature. This controversy is a striking illustration of the fallacious and hazardous nature of every religious compromise, which is made to rest on ambiguous phraseology. The friends of the council of Chalcedon endeavoured to ensnare the Monophysites, by means of a propo- ' (19) [They admitted two focuses or vol- (21) [According to Dr. Walch, Historie untary powers, a human and a divine ; but der Ketzereyen, vol. ix., p. 594, &c., the sub- maintained, that when brought into action, ordination of the human will to the divine in they operated conjunctly and as ii they were Christ, was explained by some to be alto- but one. By the expression one wiU there- gether voluntary, or a consequence of the fore, they seem to have intended one vditiov. pious resignation and the faith of the man or act of the will, and by one operation, ihey Christ Jesus ; but others supposed that it intended one mode of acting. See Walch, resulted from the nature of the union, by Historie der Ketzereyen, vol. ix., p. 584, &c. wV.ich the human nature became the instru- Tr.] mewl with which the divine nature worked ; (20) [See Walch, Historie der Ketzerey- and thty illustrated the subject by the sub- en, vol. ix., p. 592, &c., where he names (in jection of man's bodily members to the em- Anm. 1. p. 593) Sergius, Honorius, and pire of his mind or soul. Tr.] the Ecthesis, as giving these views. Tr.] HERESIES AND SCHISMS. 457 sition of dubious interpretation ; and they thus imprudently involved the church and the state in long-protracted controversies. 11. The doctrine of the Monothelites thus condemned and exploded by the council of Constantinople, found a place of refuge among the Mardaiies, a people who inhabited the mountains of Libanus and Ant'dibanus, and who about the conclusion of this century received the name of Maronites, from Jo. Maro their first bishop, a name which they still retain. No one of the ancients indeed has mentioned this man as being the person who brought the Libaniots to embrace Monothelism ; but there are strong reasons for believing, that it was this John whose surname of Maro passed over to the people of whom he was bishop. (22) This however is demonstrable, from the testimony of William of Tyre and of other unexceptionable witnesses,(23) that the Maronites were for a long time Monothelites in sentiment ; and that it was not till the twelfth centuiy, or till they became reconciled with the Romish church in the year 1182, that they abandoned the error of one will in Christ. The most learned of the modern Maronites have very studiously endeavoured to wipe off this reproach from their nation, and have advanced many arguments to prove that their ancestors were always obedient to the see of Rome, and never embraced the sentiments either of the Monophysites or of the Monothelites. But they cannot persuade the learned to believe so, for these maintain that their testimonies are fictitious and of no validity. (24) (22) The surname of Maro was given to this monk, because he had lived in the cele- brated monastery of St. Maro on the river Orontes, before he took residence among the Mard-aitcs on Mount Lebanon. A par- ticular account is given of him, by Jo. Sim. Asscman, Biblioth. Oriental. Clement. Vat- ican., torn, i., p. 496. [Gabriel Sionita, de Urbibus et moribus Oriental, cap. 8, derives the name of Maronites from an abbot Maron, whom he extols for his holiness and his vir- tues ; but he will acknowledge no heretical Maro. Schl. Gieselcr, in his Text-book of Eccl. Hist., transl. by Cunningliam, vol. i., p. 373, note 5, thinks the history of the Maronites has been obscured, by identifying that people with the Mardaites ; and refers us to Anquctil Duperron, Recherches sur les migrations des Mardes, ancien peuple de Perse, in the Memoires de 1'Acad. des In- script., tome 50, p. 1, "showing that the Mardaites, or Mards, a warlike nation of Ar- menia, were placed as a garrison on Mount Libanus by Constantine Pogonatus A.D. 676, (Thcophanes, p. 295), but withdrawn A.D. 685 by Justinian II., (Theoph., p. 302)." TV.] (23) [The passage of William of Tyre is in his Historia rerum in partibus transma- rinis gestar., lib. xxxii., c. 8, and is this: " A Syrian nation in the province of Pheni- cia, inhabiting the cliffs of Lebanon near the city Biblos, while enjoying temporal peace, experienced a great change in its state. For having followed the errors of one VOL. I. M :i M Maro a heresiarch for nearly 500 years, and so as to be called after him Maronites, and to be separated from the church of the faith- ful and maintain a separate worship ; through divine influence returning now to a sound mind, they put on resolution and joined them- selves to Aimericus the patriarch of Anti- och." The Alexandrian patriarch Eutychi- us, whose Annals Pocock has translated from the Arabic, likewise mentions a monk Ma- run, "who asserted, that Christ our Lord had two natures and one will, one operation and person, and corrupted the faith of men ; and whose followers holding the same sen- timents with him, were called Maronites, deriving their name from his name Maro." Schl.] (24) The cause of the Maronites has been pleaded by Abrah. Ecchellcnsis, Gabriel Sio- mta, and others of the Maronite nation ; but by none of them more fully than by Faustus Nairon, both in his Dissertt. de origine, nom- ine et religione Maronitarum, Rome, 1679, 8vo, and in his Euoplia fidei Catholics ex Sy- rorum et Chaldasorum monumentis, Rome, 1694, 8vo. Yet Nairon induced none to be- lieve his positions, except Ant. Pagi, (in his Critica Baroniana, ad ann. 694), and P. de la I-ttiK/iir, in whose Voyage de Syrie et de Montliban, tome ii., p. 28-128, there is a long Dissertation concerning the origin of the Maronites. Even Asscman, who being a Maronite, spared no pains to vindicate the character of his nation, (Biblioth. Oriental. Vatican., torn, i., p. 496), yet does not deny 458 BOOK II. CENTURY VII. PART II. CHAP. V. 12. Neither the sixth [general] council which condemned the Monoih. elites, nor the fifth which had been held in the preceding century, enact- ed any canons concerning discipline and rites. Therefore a new assem- bly of bishops was held by order of Justinian II., in the year 692 at Con- stantinople, in a tower of the palace which was called Trullus. This council, from the place of meeting, was called Concilium Trullanum ; and from another circumstance, Quinisextum, because the Greeks considered its decrees as necessary to the perfection of the Acts of the fifth and sixth councils. We have one hundred and two canons sanctioned by this as- sembly, on various subjects pertaining to the external part of worship, the government of the church, and the conduct of Christians. But as six of these canons are opposed to the Romish opinions and customs, therefore the Roman pontiffs have refused to approve the council as a whole, or to rank it among the general councils, although they have deemed the great- est part of its canons to be excellent. (25) that much of what has been written by Nai- ron and others, in behalf of the Maronites, is without weight or authority. See Jo. Morin, de Ordinal, sacris, p. 380, &c. Rich. Simon, Histoire Critique des Chretiens Ori- entaux, cap. xiii., p. 146. Euseb. Renaudot, Historia Patriarchar. Alexandrinor., p. 149, and Praefat. ad Liturgias Orientales. Peter le Brun, Explication de la Messe, torn, ii., p. 626, &c., Paris, 1726, 8vo. The argu- ments on both sides are stated, and the read- er is left to form his own judgment, by Mich, le Quien, Christianus Oriens, torn, iii., p. 10, &c. [See also Walch, Historic der Ketzereyen, vol. ix., p. 474-488. Tr.] (25) See Franc. Pagi, Breviarium Pon- tiff. Roman., torn, i., p. 486. Chr. Lupus, Diss. de Concilio Trullano ; in his Notes and Dissertations on Councils, Opp., torn, iii., p. 168, &c. The Romans reject the 5th canon, which approves of the eighty-five Apostolic Canons, commonly attributed to Clement : the 13th canon, which allows priests to live in wedlock : the 55th canon, which condemns fasting on Saturdays, a cus- tom allowed of in the Latin church : the 67th canon^which strictly enjoins abstinence from blood and from things strangled : the 82d canon, which prohibits the painting of Christ in the image of a lamb : and the 8Qth canon, concerning the equality of the bishops of Rome and Constantinople. [The eastern patriarchs of Constantinople, Jerusa- lem, Alexandria, Antioch, and Justiniana, with more than 200 bishops, attended this council. The Roman pontiff had no proper legate there. Yet his ordinary representa- tives at the imperial court sat in the council and subscribed its decisions ; and Basil the archbishop of Crete says in his subscription, that he represented the patriarch of Rome and all the bishops under him. The emperor attended the council in person and subscri- bed its decrees. In the original a space was left for the subscription of the Roman pon- tiff; but when it was sent to Rome by the emperor, and pope Sergius was called on to subscribe, he showed such a refractory spirit as nearly cost him his liberty. The reason was, he found the above-mentioned canons to be contrary to the principles and usages of his church. For the same reason, the admirers of the Romish bishop to this day are not agreed whether the whole council, or only the canons which have the misfortune to displease them, should be rejected, al- though at an early period pope Adrian ap- proved of it. On the other hand, this coun- cil was recognised by the Greeks as a valid one, and was classed among the general councils. See Dr. Watch's Historic der Kirchenversammlungen, p. 441. Schl.] INDEX TO THE FIRST VOLUME. A. Abasgi, converted in sixth century, 379. Abbots, their origin and office, 266, 328, n. (18). Abdas, bp. of Suza, 5th century, 319. Abelites, sect, in 2d cent., 147, n. (22-). Abgarusj king of Edessa, 1st cent., 43, &c. Abraxas, a term used by Basilides, 143, n. (14). Abyssinians or Ethiopians, converted, 4th cent., 226. Acaciiis, bp. of Caesarea,4th cent., 248, n., 301, n. (44). , bp. of Berea, 5th cent., 334. , bp. in Armenia, 5th cent., 334. , bp. of Constantinople, 5th cent., 324, n. (3), 335, n., 367, 368, 369. Academics, their doctrines, 30, n. (34), 65. Academies in Roman Empire, 2d cent., 1 10. Acephali, sect, in 5th cent., 368, 410, 416. Acolythi, an order of clergy, 165. Acoemeta, aicoi/irJTai, 5th cent., 351, n. (2). Ada Martyrum, what, 55. Acts of Uniformity, 5th cent., 353. Adamites, sect, in 2d cent., 147. Adamnanus, Irish monk, 6th cent., 436, 444. Adrian, emp. in 2d cent., 97, 104, 106, 138. , a writer in 5th cent., 340. jEdesius, a philosopher in 4th cent., 229. jiElia Capitolina, Jerusalem, 104. JElian, proconsul of Africa, 4th cent., 284. JRneas Gazeus, 5th cent., 335, n. ./Eon, 'A.ti>v, what, among Gnostics, 63, n. (8), 94, 95, 143, 144, 145. Aerius, a Semiarian, 4th cent., 273, &c., n. (43). Aetius, Arian, 4th cent., 248, n., 301, n. (48). Agapetus, do aeon at Constantinople, 6th cent., 395, n. (23), 408. , bp. of Rome, 6th cent., 405. Agathias, historian, Cth cent., 383, n. (3). Agatho, bp. of Rome, 7th cent., 444, 455. Agnoeta, sect, in 6th cent., 419, n. (20). Agrippa Castor, writer in 2d cent., 123. Aidan, bp. in England, 7th ent., 423, n. Alans, converted in 6th cent., 379. Aldhrlm, Eng. bp., 7th cent., 442, n. (26), 447. Alexander, bp. of Jerusalem, 3d cent., 175. Severus, emp., 3d cent, 154, 156, 160. ,bp. of Alexandria, 4th cent., 247, n. (30), 287, &c. ; his epistle, 288, n. (16). , bp. of Hierapolis, 5th cent., 334. of Ly copolis, a philosopher, 4th cent., 383, n. (5). Alexandria, patriarchate of, 233, &c., n. (2). All Saints, feast 7th cent., 449, n. (3). Ambrose, bp. of Milan, 4th cent., 250, n. (33), 263, 264. Ammianus Marcellinus, 4th cent., 224, n. (50). Ammonius Saccas, a philosopher, 2d cent., Ill, &c.,n. (11). , a Christian writer, 3d cent., 174, n., 182. Amphilochius of Iconiurn, 4th cent., 245, n. (26). Amrou, Saracen conqueror of Egypt, 451. Anastasia, a martyr in 4th cent., 256. Anastasius, a presbyter of Constantinople, 5th cent., 357. Sinaita ; three of this name, 396, n. (28), 407. , emperor, 6th cent., 416. Apocrisiarius, 7th cent., 444. , Monophysite patriarch of Antioch, 451. Anatolivs, bp. of Laodicea, 3d cent., 176. Andreas, bp. of Samosata, 5th cent., 334. , bp. in Cappadocia, 5th cent., 335, n. , bp. of Crete, 7th cent., 440, n. (19). Andrew, the apostle, 48, n. Anchorites or Anachorites, 267, n. (30), (31). Anglo-Saxons, converted, 6th cent., 380, n. (6), and 7th cent, 422, &c., n. (5). Annunciation, feast, 6th cent., 414, n. (8). Anomceans, sect, in the 4th cent., 301. Antidico-Marianites, sect, 4th cent., 311. Antioch, patriarchate of, 233, &c., n. (2). Antiochus, monk of Saba, 7th cent., 440, n. (17), 446. Antonines, emperors, their character, 97. Antoninus, Marcus, emp., 97, 107, 110. - Pius, emp., 2d cent., 97, 106. Antony, monk, Egypt, 4th cent., 247, n., 265. Aphonius, writer in the 7th cent., 444. Apocrypha of the N. Test., 73, n. (23). Apollinaris, bp. of Hierapolis, 2d cent., 124. of Antioch, senior and junior, 4th cent., 247, n. (29), 263, 302, n. (52). Apollinarian heresy, 4th cent., 302, n. (52). Apollonius Tyaneus, 1st cent., 160, n. (16). , a Gr. writer, 2d cent., 124. Apologies of Christians, 102, 106, 107, 127. of Justin Martyr, 118, n. (4). Apostles, 43, n. (4), 45-48, 66, 72. Apostles' Creed, 79, n. (2), 125. Apostolic Canons and Constitutions, 75, 184, n.(13),(14). Fathers. 76-79. Appion, Gr. writer, 2d cent., 124, 174, n. Arabians, converted, in 2d cent., 98, 99 ; in 3d cent., 155, 201 ; in 5th, 314. Arabianus, writer of 2d cent., 124, 126. Arator, a poet of 6th cent., 401, n. (37). Archbishops, 117. 163, 232, 233, &C., n. (2). Archdeacons, Archpresbyters, origin of, 237. Archelavs, son of Herod, 33. 460 INDEX. Archelaus, bp. of Carrha, 3d cent., 176, 193, n. Arethas, abp. in Cappadocia, 6th cent, 398. Arians, origin of, in 4th cent., 287, &c. Sects of, 300, &c. retire among the Goths, in 5th cent., 299, &c., 354, &c. State of, in 6th cent., 415, &c., 384, &c. ; in 7th cent., 450. Arius, 287, &c., 301,. n. (46); his letter, 288, n. (16) ; his death, 297, n. (31). Aristides, apologist, 2d cent., 106, 123. Aristotelian philosophy, 31 ; in 2d cent., 110; in 3d cent., 161 ; in 4th, 229 ; in 5th, 321, 322 ; in 6th, 387; in 7th, 436, 450. Aristotle, his opinion of God and the soul, 31. Armagh, see of, erected in 5th cent., 316. Armenians, converted in 4th cent., 225. Arnobius, senior, 3d cent., 173, &c., n. (17). 183. , junior, 5th cent., 338, n. (45). Artemon, heretic, 2d cent., 150, n. (27). Arts, the seven Liberal, what, 321, n. (4). Ascension, feast, when instituted, 449, n. (3). Ascetics, 129, 265, 266, n. (28). Ascusnage, John, 7th cent., tritheist, 419, n. (21). Asterius of Cappadocia, 4th cent., 247, n. of Pontus, in 5th cent., 333. Asylum, right of, in churches, 7th cent., 449, n. (4). Athanaric, Gothic k., 4th cent, persecutor, 228. Athanasius, bp. of Alexandria, 4th cent., 239, n. (14), 262, 263, 265, n. (26), 296, &c. , junior, or Celetes, 5th cent., 335, n. , bp. of Antioch, 7th cent., 452. Athanasian Creed, spurious, 240, n. (14). Athenagoras, apologist, 2d cent., 107, 111, 120, n. (6). Atticus, bp. of Constantinople, 5th cent., 333. Audceus, 4th cent., reformer, 309, n. (67). Audentius, writer of 4th cent, 263. Audcenus, or Dado, abp. of Rouen, 7th cent, 436, 443. Augustine, bp. of Hippo, 4th cent, 252, n. (35), 261, 263, 282, 286, 318, 352, 354, n. (9), 372, 373, 374, 377. , monk, apostle of Britain, 5th cent., 380, n. (6), 422, n. (5). Augvstulus, emp., 5th cent, 312. Augustus, emp., 1st cent, 23, 65. Avitus, bp. of Clermont, 5th cent, 341, 381, n. (11). Aurelian, emp., 3d cent, 159. Aurelius, bp. of Carthage, 4th cent, 258. Ausonius, a poet, 4th cent, 229, n. (1). Autharis, king of Lombards, 6th cent, 384. 'Auro0oAos, independent bp., 233, n., 324, n. (9). Aujcumitae, Ethiopians, converted, 226. B. Babacus, Nestorian abp. of Seluecia, 5th cent, 363, n. (26). Baptism, in 1st cent, 84, 87 ; in 2d, 134, 137, n. (17) ; in 3d, 189 ; in 4th, 281 ; in 6th, 413, &c. Baptism of heretics, 186, 203, 286. Baptismal fonts, in 4th cent, 281. Barad&us, Jacobus, 6th cent, 369, 417, &c., n. (12). Bar-Cochebas, Jewish impostor, 2d cent, 104, 106. Bardesann, heretic, 2d cent., 124, 142. Barnabas, St., 1st cent., 49, n. (9), 77. Barsabas, 1st cent, 46. Barsanuphius, of Gaza, 6th cent, 398. Barsumas, bp. Nisibis, 5th cent, 362, &c. , Eutychian monk, 5th cent, 367. Bartholomew, St., preached in Arabia, 48, n.. 99. Basil the Great of Cappadocia, 4th cent, 240, n. (15), 264. of Ancyra, 4th cent., 248, n., 301, n. (47). of Cilicia, 5th cent, 335, n. of Seleucia, 5th cent., 332, n. (28), 345. of Thessalonica, 7th cent, 441, n. Basilides, 2d cent, his heresy, 143, 144. Believers and Catechumens, 69. Bellator, writer, in 6th cent, 407, n. (7), 409. Benedict, St., of Nursia, 6th cent, 392, n. (15), 400. , bp. of Rome, 7th cent, 444. Benedictine monks, 392, &c. Their rule, 393, n. Berinus, bp. of Dorchester, Eng., 7th cent. 423, n. Bertha,, patroness of Augustine, 7th cent, 330. Beryllus of Bostra, 3d cent, 199, &c. Bishops, origin and history of, in 1st cent, 69, 71, &c. ; in 2d cent, 116, &c., 136; in 3d, 163-165 ; in 4th, 231, 232, &c., 237 ; in 5th, 323, 327 ; in 6th, 385, 386, 390 ; in 7th, 435, 438, &c. in Great Britain, 324, n. (9), 424, n. (5). Bobio, monastery, established, 6th cent, 392, n. (14). Bobolenus, monk and writer, 7th cent, 444. Boethius, a Christian philosopher, 6th cent., 387, 403, n. (45), 436. Boniface I., bp. of Rome, 5th cent, 339, n. II., , 6th cent, 404. III., , 7th cent, 436, &C., , 7th cent., 443. , 7th cent, 443, 449. Bonosus, heretic, 4th cent, 311, n. (69). Braulio, bp. of Saragossa, 7th cent, 436, 443, n. Britons, state of, in the two first centuries, 65, 99, n. (8) ; in 3d cent, 156 ; in 5th, 318, &c. ; in 6th, 380, 384 ; in 7th, 422, n. (5), 437. Bulgaranus, count, 7th cent., 443. Burgundians, converted, 5th cent., 314. C. Cceciliav, bp. Carthage, 4th cent. 282, &c. Casarius of Constantinople, 4th cent, 249, n. of Aries, 6th cent, 377, n., 400, n. (30). Cajanus, Gajanus, or Gainus, bp. of Alexan- dria, in 6th cent, 418, n. (16). Cainites, sect., in 2d cent, 147. Caius, presbyter, Rome, 3d cent, 174, n. (18). Calumnies against the Christians, 54, 102, 106, 107, 108, 209. Candidus, Gr. writer, 2d cent, 124, 174, n. , Arian writer, 4th cent., 257. , historian, 5th cent, 335, n. Candlemas, feast, 6th cent, 414, n. (7). Canon of the N. Test, when settled, 72, 73. of the mass, what, 4)3, n. (1). Canons of the Apostles ; see Apostolic Canons. of Nice, 236, n. (7), 293, &c., n. (26). of Sardica, 236, n. (9). of Chalcedon, 323. Capreolus, bp. of Carthage, 5th cent., 340. Caracalla, emperor, 3d cent, 153. INDEX. 461 Carpocrates, a Gnostic, 2d cent., 145. Cassianus, John, 5ih cent., 336, n. (34), 375, n. (54). Cassiodorus Senator, 6th cent., 386, 403, n. (46), 436, 407. Castor, Agrippa, 2d cent., 123. Catechumens, 69, 80, 281. Catena Patrum, what, 407. Cathari, in 3d cent., 203. Celibacy of clergy, in 3d cent., 166 ; in 4th, 259, 295. Celsus, opposed Christianity, 3d cent, 108, 183. Celts, their state in 1st cent., 65. Cent. I., external Hist., 23 ; internal, 59. II., III., IV., V., VI., VII.. 97; 153; 207; 312; 379; 421; 109. 161. 229. 320. 385. 435. Ceolfrid, English monk, 7th cent., 444. Cerdo, heretic, 2d cent., 141. Ceremonies and Rites, history of, in 1st cent., 83, 84-88 ; in 2d cent., 132-137 ; in 3d, 188- 190 ; in 4th, 276-281 ; in 5th, 350, &c. ; in 6th, 413, &c. ; in 7th, 448, &c. Cenrinthus, heretic, 1st cent., 95, 96. Chains, Catenae Patrum, 407. Chalcedon, councils of, 5th cent., 349, 3f>fi. Chalddiws, philosopher, in 5th cent., 225, n. (51), 383, n. (4). Chaldaic Christians, Nestorians, 363, n. (26). Chapters, the three, what, 410, &c., n. (14). Chiliasts, Millennarians, 185, &c., n. (19). China, enlightened by Nestorians, 7th cent., 421. Chorepiscopi, 71, 72, 232. Chosroes, king of Persia, 6th cent., 385, 388. Christ, the history of, 41, &c. ; revered by pagans, 43, 49 ; compared with philoso- phers, 160, 223 ; disputes respecting his body in 6th cent., 418, &c. Christian Era, 41, n. (1). Called the Diony- sian era, 401, n. (34). Christianity, its nature, 78, &c. Causes of its rapid progress in 1st cent., 49, 50 ; in 2d, 101 ; in 3d, 154, &c. ; in 4th, 217, &c., 225, 227 ; in 5th, 315, 317, 381, 382 ; in 7th, 422, 426. , History of its progress in 1st cent., 45, 47, n. (9); in 2d, 98-100; in 3d, 155, 156; in 4th, 225, &c. ; in 5th, 313, &c. ; in 6th, 379, &c. ; in 7th, 421, &c. Christians, character of, in 1st cent., 46, 82,91 ; in 2d cent., 128, &c. ; in 3d, 179 ; in 4th, 259, &c., 268 ; in 5th, 348, &c. ; in 6th, 407, &c. ; in 7th, 445, 446, &C. Christmas, origin of, 4th cent., 279, &c., n. (12). Chrobates or Creations converted, 7th cent., 422, n. (2). Chromatius, bp. of Aquileia, 5th cent., 339, n. Chronicon Alexandrinum, 441. n. Chrysostom, John, of Constantinople, 241, n. (17), 263, 349, &c. Church, its organization and government in 1st cent., 46, 67, 68. n. (6) ; in 2d, 116, &c. ; in 3d, 163, 164 ; in 4th, 231, &c. ; in 5th, 323, &c. ; in 6th, 388, &c. ; in 7th, 436, &c. Churches (buildings), history of, 86, 134, 188, 277, n.f3), 351,414 449. Cimbriatif, heard the gospel in 7th cent., 425. Circumcelliones, sect of, 4th cent., 284, &c 286, 353, &c. Claudius, emperor, 3d cent., 159. Clemens Romanus, 1st cent., 74, 75. Alexandrinus, 2d cent., Ill, 121, n. (8). 126, 128. Clementina, Spurious, 75, 76, 184, n. (16). Clergy, character and state of, in 1st cent., 68, &c. ; in 9d. 117, 118; in 3d, 165, 166; in 4th, 231, 237 ; in 5th, 327, &c. ; in 6th, 390, n. (9), (10); in 7th, 438, n. (9). Clovis, king of Salii, converted, 5th cent., 315. Ccelestine, bp. of Rome, 5lh cent., 316, 340, 358, n. (18), 376, n. (55). Ccelestius, the Pelagian, 5th cent., 370, &c., n. (46). Coenobites, what, 266. Cogitosus, an Irish monk. 6th cent., 404. Collyridians, sect, in 4th cent, 311, n. (69). Columbas, monk of Hii, 6th cent, 381, n. (7). Columbanus, an Irish monk and missionary in 6th cent, 392, n. (14), 402, 424, 438, n. (7). Commentators, the principal in 2d cent, 126 ; in 3d cent, 180, &c. ; in 4th, 261, &c. ; in 5th, 343, &c. ; in 6th, 406, <kc. ; in 7th, 445, &c. Commodianus, a poet, 3d cent, 175, &c. Commodus, emperor, 2d cent, 97, 108. Community of goods, in prim, church, 46, 70. Concubinage of the clergy in 3d cent, 166, n. (8). Confessions, private to priests, 5th cent, 351, n. (5). Confessors, who, 54. Confirmation, rite of, 87, 189. Congal, Irish monk, 6th cent, 392, n. (13). Conon of Tarsus, his sect, 6th cent, 420,441, n. Consecration of churches, 4th cent, 277. Consociation of churches, 72; in 2d cent., 116 n. (2); in 3d, 163. Constans I., emperor, 4th cent, 218, 298. II., emperor, 7th cent, 454, 455. Constantine I. or the Great, 210 ; gives liberty to Christians, 211, n. (16), 212, (19); his conversion, 213; abolishes Paganism, 213; sees a luminous cross, 213, 215, &C., n. (29) ; his regulations for the church, 217, n. (34), 231-234, 278, 283, &c. ; his writings, 247, n ; his letter to Arius and Alexander, 290, &c.,n. (21). Constantine II., emperor, 4th cent, 218, 298. I V., Pogonatus, 7th cent., 437, 455. Constantinople, patriarchate of, 233, n., 236, &c : the patriarchs' contest with Roman Pontiff in 4th cent, 237 ; in 5th cent, 323, 325, &c. ; in 6th, 388, &c. ; in 7th, 436, &c. Constantinopolitan councils, general, A.D. 381, p. 306; A.D. 553, p. 409, 411 ; A.D. 680, p. 455 ; A.D. 692 or in Trullo. p.' 458. Constantaa, Chlorus, 207, 209, n. (10), 210, 211. I., emperor, 4th cent, 218, 298. Constitutions of Apostles : see Apostolic Can- ons. Controversies among Christians ; in 1st cent, 83 ; in 2d cent, 127 ; in 3d, 158, 185, &c. ; in 4th, 268, &c. ; in 5th, 349, &c. ; in 6th, 409 ; in 7th, 448. Copiote, what their office, 165. Corndiut, bp. of Rome, 3d cent, 175, 202, n. 462 INDEX. Corrupticol<e, sect, in 6th cent., 419. Cosmos, Indicopleustes, 6th cent., 388, n. (16). Councils, none in 1st. cent., 72, n. (17); ori- ginated in the 2d cent., 72, 116, 117 ; at first provincial, 116, n. (2). , general or oecumenical, 231. , the first, A.D. 325, at Nice, 291-295. , the second, A.D. 381, at Constantinople, 306, &.c. , the third, A.D. 431, at Ephesus, 358, n. (19). , the fourth, A.D. 451, at Chalcedon, 366, n.(31). , the fifth, A.D. 553, at Constantinople, 411. , the sixth, A.D. 680, at Constantinople, 455, n. (18). , the seventh, A.D. 691, in Trullo, 448, n. (1), 458, n. (25). Creaticolae, a sect, in 6th cent., 419. Creed, Apostles', 81, &c., n. (2). , Nicene, 291, &c., n. (22). Crescens, opposed Christianity, 2d cent., 109. Cresconius, bp. in Africa, 7th cent., 442, n. (28). Crosier, the lituus of augurs, 277, n. (2). Cross, sign of, 190, &c., n. (20), 259, n. (1). Cyclus Paschalis of Dionysius Exiguus, 401 , n. (34). Cummianus, Irish monk, 7th cent., 443. Cummeneus Albus, Irish monk, 7th cent., 444. Cypriam, bp. of Carthage, 3d cent., 158, 159, 163, n. (I), 164. n. (3), (4), 172, n. (15), 182, 183, 186, 202, n. , Gallic monk, 6th cent., 405. Cyril, bp. of Jerusalem, 4th cent., 241, n. (16). 262. , bp. of Alexandria, 5th cent., 329, n. (21). 343, 357, &c. , monk of Palestine. 6th cent., 398, 408. Cyrus, bp. of Alexandria, 7th cent., 441, n., 452. D. Dado or Audoenus of Rouen, 7th cent., 436, 443. Damascius, a philosopher, 6th cent., 383, n. (6). Damasus, I. bp. of Rome, 4th cent., 235, 255, n. (40). Damianus and Damianists, 6th cent., 420. Deaconesses, their office, 70. Deacons, in 1st cent., 46, 68, 69, 70; in 2d cent, 116, 117; in 3d cent., 165; in 4th cent., 237; in 5th, 327. Dechis, emperor, 3d cent., persecutor, 157, &c. Deities, the pagan, 24-27. Demos, mentioned by Paul, 88, n. (3). Demetrius, bp. of Alexandria, 3d cent., 187. Demiurge of oriental philos., 64, 95, 141, 146. Demoniaa: in the 4th cent., 263. Desiderius, bp. of Vienne, 6th cent., 386, n. (4). , bp. of Cahors, 7th cent., 442, n. (23). Diadochus, bishop in Illyricum, 5th cent., 335, 346. Didymus of Alexandria, 4th cent., 245, n. (25), 263. Diocetes, episcopal, origin of, 71 . Diocletian, emperor, 4th cent., persecutor, 207- 209. Diodorus or Theodoras, bp. of Tarsus, 4th cent. 245, n. (22), 261, 263. Dion Cattius, historian, 3d cent., 101. Dionysius, bp. of Corinth, 2d cent., 124. Dionysius or Denys, bp. of Paris, 3d cent., 156. the Great, bp. of Alexandria, 3d cent., 170, n. (13), 183,186, 199, n. , bp. of Rome, 3d cent., 175. Areopagita, 184, n. (17), 264, n. (22). Exiguus, 6th cent., 40), n. (34), 408. Dioscorus, bp. of Alexandria, 5th cent., 365, 366. Jiotrephes, 1st cent., 88, n. (3). disciples, the 70, of Christ, 43, n. (5), 66, 67. "Divinity : see Theology. Jocelai, Gnostic sect, described, 141, t) 7. , sect in 6th cent., 418. Doctrine, secret, of early Christians, 81, 82. , two-fold, or two-fold rule of life, 128, &c., 264, &c., 408. Domitian, emperor, 1st cent., persecutor, 53, 58, &c. Domitilla, Flavia, 1st cent., martyr, 59. Donatists, sect of, its history, in 4th cent. ,282- 286 ; in 5th, 352-354 ; in 6th, 415. Donatus, a Donatist bp., 4th cent., 256, 283, n. (3), 285. Dorotheus, pseudo, 4th cent., 247, n. (30). , bp. of Martianople, 5th cent., 334, 357, n. (18). , abbot, 7th cent., 440, n. (16), 446. Dositheus, heretic, 1st cent., 92, n. (7). Dracontius, poet, 5th cent., 339, n. (46). Druids, 65, 327, n. (14). Ducenarius, what, 200, n. (14). Dynamius, a writer of 6th.cent., 406, n. E. Eadbald, king of Kent, 7th cent., 423, n. East Anglia converted, 7th cent., 423, n. East Saxons converted, 7th cent., 423, n. Easter, disputes about it, in 2d cent., 135, &c. ; 4th cent., 294 ; 7th cent., 423, n., 448. Ebionites, sect, 2d cent., 96, 139. Eclectic philosophy, 32, 110, &c., 224. Ecthesis of Heraclius, 7th cent., 453, &c. Economical method of disputing, 155, n. (5), 183, n. (11). Edwin, king of Northumberland, 7th cent., 423, n. Elcesaites, sect., 2d cent., 140. Eligius or Eloi, bp., 7th cent,, 435, 442, n. (24), 445, n. (2). Elpidius, Rusticus, of 5th cent., 341. Elxai, heretic, 2d cent., 140. Empire, Roman, state of, at Christ's birth, 23, &c. ; favourable to the propagation of Christianity, 24 ; its civil and ecclesiastical divisions and provinces in 4th cent., 232, n. (2). Encratites, sect, 2d cent., 143 ; 4th cent., 282. England, when first converted, 99, &c.,n. (8). Ennodius, bp. of Pavia, 6th cent., 389, 391, 400, n. (32), 408. Ephesine general council, A.D. 431. p. 358, n. (19). council of robbers, A.D. 449, p. 365. Ephraim, Syrus, 4th cent., 244, n. (20), 263. , patriarch of Antioch, 6th cent., 398. Epictetus, Stoic philosopher, 2d cent., 110. Epicureans, 30, n. (33), 65, 110. Epiphanius, bp. in Cyprus, 4th cent., 242, n. (18), 262, 263, 275, 349. , bp. of Constantinople, 6th cent., 397. INKEX. 463 s Scholasticus, eccl. hist., 6th cent., 404, p.. Epiphany, day of, fixed, in 4th cent., 279. Episcopacy : see Bishops. Eremites or Hermits, in 3d cent., 179 ; in 4th, 266, &c., 328, n. (18) ; in 5th, 346. Extents, Jewish sect, 36, 37. Ethelbert, king of Kent, 6th cent., 379, &c. Ethiopians converted, 4th cent., 226. Ei-agrius, archdeacon of Constantinople, 4th cent., 249, n. , a Gallic presbyter, 6th cent., 345, n. (13). Scholasticus, eccL historian, 6th cent., 396, n. (27). Evangelists, who so called. 66, 67. Eucherius, op. of Lyons, 5th cent., 333, 336, n. (36), 346. Euchites or Messalians, 4th cent., 310, &c. Eudocia, empress and writer, 5th cent., 333. Eudoxia, empress, opposed Chrysostom, 349. Eudoxius, bp. of Constantinople, 4th cent., 248, n. Eugenius, abp. of Toledo, 7th cent, 443. Eugyppius, monk of Italy, 6th cent., 404, 408. , monk of Africa, 6th cent., 405. Eulogius, presbyter of Antioch, 6th cent., 395, &c., n. (24). Eunapius, pagan philosopher. 4th cent., 224. Eunomius and Ewiomians, 4th cent., 248, 301, &c.,n. (50). Evodius, bp. in Africa, 5th cent., 339, n. Eusebians, a party in 4th cent., 300. Eusebius Pamphili, bp. of Caesarea, 4th cent., 237, &c., n. (12),'263, 275, 300, n. (43). , bp. of Nicotnedia, Arian, 4th cent., 247, n., 290, 296, 300, n. (43). , bp. of Emessa, 4th cent., 248, n., 263. of Vercelli, 4th cent., 257, 271, &c., n.(40). of Doryleum, 5th cent., 335, n., 365. of Thessalonica, 7th cent., 441, n. Eustathians, sect in 4th cent., 270, &c., n. (39). Eustathius of Antioch, 4th cent., 245, n. (24). of Armenia, 4th cent., 270, &c., n. (39). of Sebaste, 4th cent., 271, n. (43). of Syria, 5th cent., 335, n. , Latin writer, 5th cent., 340. Eustratius of Constantinople, 6th cent., 398. Euthalius, deacon in Egypt, 5th cent., 335, n. Eutherius, abp. of Tyanea, 5th cent., 334. Eutropius, bp. of Valencia, 6th cent., 406, n. Eutyches, heretic, 5th cent., 335, n., 364, &c. Eutychians, sect, 5th cent., 364, &c. Eiitychius, bp. of Constantinople, 6th cent., 398. Euzoius, Arian, bp. of Antioch, 4th cent., 272, n. Ewald, two English missionaries, 7th cent., 425, n. (10). Exarchs, ecclesiastical, 232. Excommunication, in 1st and 2d cent., 82, 131 ; in 3d, 158, 203 ; in 4th, 291 ; in 5th, 327, n. (14). Exorcism before baptism, 3d cent., 189, &c., n. (13). Exorcists, in 3d cent., 165, 189, &c., n. (13). Exposition of Scriptures : see Theology, exe- getic. Exucontians, Arians, 4th cent., 301, &c., n. (49). F. Facundus, African bp., 6th cent., 401, n. (36). Fastidius, Priscus, Bnton, 5th cent., 339, n., 346. Fasting, in 1st cent., 87, &c. ; in 2d, 151 : in 3d, 190 ; in 4th, 280 ; in 5th, 351. Fathers, Apostolic, 76-78. Faustinus, a Luciferian, 4th cent., 258. Faustus, a Manichaean, 4th cent.. 258. , bp. of Riez, 5th cent., 341, 376, n. (55). , disciple of St. Benedict, 443. Felicitas, a martyr, 3d cent., 156, 157. Felix, bp. of Aptunga, 4th cent., 283, &c. I., bp. of Rome, 5th cent., 341. - III., bp. of Rome, 5th cent., 367, 369. IV., bp. of Rome, 6th cent., 404. , bp. of Dunwich, England, 7th cent., 423, n. Festivals, in 1st cent., 85 ; in 2d, 135, 136; in 4th, 278, &.C., n. (12) ; in 6th, 414 ; in 7th, 449. Firmillian of Cappadocia, 3d cent., 175. Flavia Domitilla, a martyr, 1st cent., 59. Flavianus, bp. of Antioch, 4th cent., 249, n. , bp. of Constantinople, 5th cent., 335, n., 365. Flavins Clemens, a martyr, 1st cent., 59. Florinians, sect, 2d cent., 148. Florus, Paul Cyrus, a poet, 6th cent., 398. Fortunatianus, bp. of Aquileia, 4th cent., 256. Fortunatus, bp. of Poictiers, 6th cent., 402, n. (40). Fosteland, island of, 425, n. (10). Franks in Gaul, converted, 5th cent., 315. Franconians converted, 7th cent., 425, n. (9). Frauds, pious, in 1st cent, 73, 74; in 2d, 130, &c., 155 ; in 3d, 184 ; in 4th, 260, 267, &c. ; in 5th, 346. Fredrgarius, a French historian, 7th cent., 442, &c., n. (29). Frieslanders converted, 7th cent., 425. Fronto assails Christians, 2d cent., 108, n. (20). Fructuosus, abp. of Braga, 7th cent., 439, 444. Frumentius converts the Abyssinians, 4th cent., 225, &c. Fulgentius of Ruspe, Africa, 6th cent., 400, n. (31), 408. Ferrandus, 6th cent, 401, n. (35). Ftdlo, Peter, 5th cent., 367, &c. G. Gajanus, or Gainus, or Cajanus, bp. of Anti- och, in 6th cent., 418, n. (16). Gall, St., 7th cent., his life, 424, n. (8). Galerius Maximin. 3d cent., persecutes, 208, &c. Galliemts, emperor, 3d cent., 154, 159. Gallus, emperor, 3d cent., persecutes, 158. Gamaliel, Jewish patriarch, 5th cent., 319. Gaudentius of Brescia, 4lh cent., 258. Gauls, state of, in 1st cent., 65 ; converted, in 2d cent., 99, 100, n. (9) ; in 3d, 156 ; in 4tb, 227. Gdasius I., bp. of Rome, 5th cent., 341, 346. of Cyzicum, 5th cent., 332, n. (30V Gtnnadius of Marseilles, 5th cent., 341, 345. Genseric, Vandal king in Africa, Arian, perse- cutes, 355. George, bp. of Laodicea, 4th cent., 248, n. , monk of Galatia, 7th cent.. 441, n. , bp. of Alexandria, 7th cent., 441, n. Georgians converted in 4th cent., 226. Germanus, (St. Germain,) of Paris, 6th cent , 405. Germany, state of, in 1st cent., 65 ; in 2d, 99 , 464 INDEX. in 3d, 156 ; in 5th, 314 ; in 6th, 381 ; in 7th, 423, &c. Gifts, extraordinary : see Miracles. Gildas the Wise, Briton of 6th cent., 402, n. (42). Gnostics, in 1st cent., 73, 89, &c. ; in 2d, 140- 148 ; in 3d, 191 ; in 4th, 307, &c. rvu<ns, what, 29, 61, &c., 88, &c. Godfathers or sponsors, 2d cent., 137. Gordianus, Bened. monk, 6th cent., 405. Goths, conversion of, 155, 226, 299, &c., n. (39H41). Grace, contests about, in 5th cent., 370, &c., 375, &c., 377 ; in 6th cent., 415 ; in 7th, 450. Granianus, proconsul, Asia, 2d cent., 106. Gratian, 3d cent., preached in Gaul, 156. , emperor, 4th cent., 285, &c., 299 n. (37). Greeks and Latins at variance, 7th cent., 436, &c. Gregentius, ahp. in Arabia, 6th cent., 345, 398. Gregory Thaumaturgus, 3d cent., 169, n. (12), 182. Illuminator, Armenia, 4th cent., 225. Nazianzen, 4th cent., 242, &c., n. (19), 261,263. Nyssen, 4th cent., 243, n. (19). the Great, bp. of Rome, 6th cent., 380, n. (6), 386, n. (4), 389, n. (1), 394, 395, n. (18), 399, n. (29), 406, 407, 4)2. , bp. of Tours, 6th cent., 402, n. (14), or George, Pisides, 7th cent., 420, n. (20). H. Hadrian : see Adrian. Heathen: see Pagan. Hegesippus, eccles. hist., 2d cent., 123. Helena, mother of Constantine, 4th cent., 259, n. (1). Heliogabalus, emperor, 3d cent., 186. HMadius, bp. of Tarsus, 5th cent., 334. Helvetians converted in 7th cent., 424, n. (8). Hemerobaptists, Jewish sect, 34, &C-, n. (7). Henoticon, an edict of Zeno, 5th cent., 368, n. (36). Heraclian of Chalcedon, 6th cent., 415. Heradides, monk of Constantinople, 5th cent., 333. Heraclitus, Greek writer, 2d cent., 124, 174, n. Heraclius, emperor, 7th cent., 451, 452, 453. Heresies, what, xvii., in 1st cent., 88-96 ; in 2d, 138-152 ; in 3d, 191-203 ; in 4th, 282, &c. : in 5th, 352, &c. ; in 6th, 415, &c. ; in 7th, 450, &c. Hernias, Shepherd of, 77, 78. Hermes, ancient pagan philosopher, 112, 131, n. (15). Hermits or Eremites, in 3d cent., 179 ; in 4th, 266, &c. Hermogenes of 2d cent., 150, n. (28). Hero, Platon. philos., 5th cent., 322, n. (12). Herod the Great, 33, 39. Heruli invade Italy, 5th cent., 312. converted, 6th cent., 379. Hesychiiu of Egypt, 3d cent., 176, 179. Hesychius, bp. of Jerusalem, 7th cent., 439, n. (15), 446, 447. Hexapla of Origen, 179, n. (6). Hierarchy, its origin, 1 16-1 18. See more under Church, government of. Hierax and Hieracites, 3d cent., 197. Hierocles, philosopher, 4th cent., 223, n. (45). Hieronymus : see Jerome. Hilarion, Syrian monk, 4th cent., 265. Hdary, bp. of Poictiers, 4th cent., 248, &c., n. (31). , bp. of Aries, 5th cent., 340, 376, n. (55). Hilary of Rome, Luciferian, 4th cent., 257. , bp. of Rome, 5th cent., 341. Hindoo Literature, 60, n. (5). Hippolytus of 3d cent., 168, &c., n. (11), 182, 183. History, ecclesiastical, what, xv. ; external and internal, xvi., xvii. ; how to be treated, xvii., &c. ; dangers to be avoided, xviii. ; its uses, xix. Honorius, emperor, 4th cent., 222, 312, 353. I., bp. of Rome, 7th cent., 443,449; he was not infallible, 453, n. (10). 455. Hormisdas, bp. of Rome, 6th cent., 404, 412. Hosius of Corduba, 4th cent., 245, n. (23), 213, n. (23), 284. Huneric, Arian king of Vandals in Africa, 5th cent., persecutes, 355. Huns, in 6th cent., 384. Hyle, i'\rj, of the Manichaeans, 194. Hypatia, fern, philos., 4th cent., 230, n. (5). I & J. Jacobites or Monophysites, 417, 418. Jacobus, Baradaeus, restorer of the Monoph- ysites, in 6th cerit., 417, &c., n. (12). Jamblichus, Platonic philosopher, 4th cent., 229, n. (2). James, son of Zebedee, martyr, 48, n. (9). the Just, or the less, martyr, 48, n. (9). , bp. of Nisibis, 4th cent., 247, n., 263. , bp. of Edessa, 7th cent., 436. Ibas, bp. of Edessa, 5th cent., 334, 363, n. (26), 410, n. (14). Iberians, converted, 4th cent., 226. Idacius, Clarus, a Span, bp., 4th cent., 258. Idatius or Hydatius, Span, bp., 5th cent., 340. Jerome or Hieronymus, monk, 4th cent., 249, n. , monk, presbyter, and learned father, 251, n. (34), 261, 275, 349. Jerusalem, first church there, 46 ; demolished by the Romans, A.D. 70, p. 52 ; rebuilt, and called sElia Capitolina, in 2d cent., 104 ; captured by the Saracens, 7th cent., 440, n. (18) ; patriarchate of, 233, n. (2). Jesujabas, a Nestor, patr., 7th cent., 421, 450. Jews, civil and religious state, at Christ's birth, 33-40; notices of, in 1st cent., 51, 52, 64 ; in 2d cent., 104, 106, 138 ; in 3d, 160 ; in 4th, 221 ; in 5th, 314, n. (7), 319 ; in 6th, 381 ; in 7th, 426. Ignatius, bp. of Antioch, 2d cent., 76, n. (31), 106. Idlefonsus of Toledo, 7th cent., 441, n. (22), 446, n. (5). Image-worship, in 4th cent., 260, 270 ; in 5th, 343, 351 ; in 6th, 406 ; in 7th, 445. Incense, in worship, 3d cent., 188, n. (4). Independence of primitive churches, 72, 116. Indians (Arabs), converted by Pantaenus, 98. Innocent I., bp. of Rome, 5th cent., 339, n. Interpreters of Scripture : see Commentators. John the apostle, martyr under Domitian, 48, n. (9), 59. the Baptist, 42; his festival instituted, 414, n. (9). , bp. of Jerusalem, 4th cent., 249, n., 275, 373. INDEX. 465 John Chrysostom : see Chrysostom. , bishop of Antioch, 5th cent., 333, 358, &c., n. (18), (19), 362. JEgeates, 5th cent., 335, n. the Faster, bishop of Constantinople, 6th cent., 389, n. (1), 396, n. (25). , bishop of Constantinople, 6th cent., 397. Climacus, Sinaita, 6th cent., 398. Maro, 6th cent., 399, n. (28). Philoponus, 6th cent., 384, 387, 408, 419, n. (22 . Scholasticus, bishop of Constantinople, 6th cent., 398. of Scythopolis, 6th cent., 408. II., bishop of Rome, 6th cent., 404, 412. , monk of Spain, 6th cent., 405. Ascusnage, 6th cent., 419, n. (21). Malala, historian, 7th cent., 441, n. Moschus, monk of Palestine, 7th cent., 436, 441, n. , archbishop of Dara, 7th cent., 441, n. , archbishop of Thessalonica, 7th cent., 441, n. IV.. bishop of Rome, 7th cent., 443, 454. lona, Hii, or I-calm-kill. 6th cent., 381, n. (7). Jonas, an Irish monk, 7th cent., 436, 443. , disciple of Columbanus, 7th cent., 444. Jornandes or Jordanes, historian, 6th cent., 405. Jovian, emperor, 4th cent., 222, n. (43), 299. Jovinian, Italian monk and reformer, 4th cent 274, n. (44.) Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons, 2d cent., 100, 118. &c., n.(5), 136. , count, and bishop of Tyre, 5th cent., 334. Irish nation, converted in 5th cent., 316. Isaac, a converted Jew, 5th cent., 334. , bishop of Ninive, 6th cent., 398. Isidorus of Pelusium, 5th cent., 330, n. (23), 344. of Corduba, 5th cent., 339, n., 343. of Seville, 6th cent., 403, n. (44), 407, 408. of Gaza, a philosopher, 230, 387, n. (8). Isychius or Hesychius, bishop of Jerusalem, '7th cent., 439, n. (15), 4-16, 417. Judas, a writer of 3d cent., 174, n. Julia Mammsa, 3d cent., 154, n. (3). Julian, emperor, 4th cent., 218, 219, &c., n. (40), 224, 285, 298. , a Pelagian bishop and writer, 5th cent., 339. n. , bishop of Halicamassus, 6th cent., 397, 407,418. , archbp. of Toledo, 7th cent., 438, n. (6). Pomefius, 5th cent., 341, 347. , 7th cent., 442, n. (27), 446, 44a Julius Africanus, 3d cent., 167, 168, n. (10). I., bishop of Rome, 4th cent., 256. Firrnicus Maternus, poet, 4th cent., 256, 263. Junilius, bishop in Africa, 6th cent., 405, 406. Justification, contest on, 1st cent., 83. Justin Martyr, 2d cent., 107, 118, n. (4), 126, 127, 128; his Apologies, 118, &.C., n. (4). , bishop in Sicily, 5th cent., 335, n. Justinian I., emperor, 6th cent., 384, 387, 404, 409,410,411. Justus, a Spanish bishop, 6th cent., 404. , bp. of Rochester, 7th cent., 422, n. (5). Juvenal, bishop of yElia (Jerusalem), 5th cent., 324. Jtcvncus, Spanish poet, 4th cent., 255, n. (41). VOL. I. NNN K. Kabbala, Jewish, 39, 64. Kalifs, Mohammed's successors, 431, n. (8*); extend their empire, ibid. Kent, kingdom of, converted, 7th cent., 380, 422, &c., n. (5). Kilian, Irish missionary, 7th cent., 424, &c., n. Kneeling in prayer, 3d cent., 190. Koran, its origin and preservation, 427, n. (4). L. Labarum, sacred standard of Constantine, 216, n. (30). Lactantius, writer of 4th cent., 249, &c., n. (32), 262, 263. Lapsed Christians, 157, 158, n. (8), 201, &c., n. (19), 294. Laura, of monks, what, 409, n. (13). Laurentius, a martyr, 3d cent., 159. , bishop of Rome, 6th cent., 391. , bishop of Novara, 6th cent., 404. , bishop of Canterbury, 7th cent., 422, n. (5). Leander, archbishop of Seville, 6lh cent., 406, note. Learning, state of, in 1st cent., 59-65 ; in 2d, 109-116; in 3d, 161-162; in 4th, 229-231 ; in 5th, 320, &c. ; in 6th, 385, dec. ; in 7th, 435, &c. Lectors or readers, 1 65. Legion, thundering, in 2d cent, 103, 104. Lent, in 4th cent., 280, n. (13). Leo LI the Great, bishop of Rome, 5th cent., 323, 326, 335, n. (32), 351, 365, &c. II., bishop of Rome, 7th cent., 444. Leonidas, father of Origen, 3d cent., 156. Leontius, Arian bishop of Antioch, 4th cent 248, n. of Byzantium, 6th cent., 396, n. (26), 408. of Neapolis, Cyprus, 6th cent., 399, n. (28), 407, 408. Libaniots, converted, 5th cent., 313. Libanius, sophist, 4th cent., 223, 224, n. (481 Libellatici, what, 157, n. (6). Liberatus of Carthage, 6th cent., 401, &c. n. (39). Liberius, bishop of Rome, 4th cent., 257, 298. Licinianus, bishop in Spain, 6th cent., 405. Licinius, emperor, 4th cent., 217. Litanies to the saints. 6th cent., 414, n. (3). Liturgies, 86, 190, n. (19), 278, 413. n. (1). Lombards, occupy Italy A.D. 568, and become Christians A.D. 587, p. 384, 450. Lord's prayer, use of, 190, n. (19). Lord's supper, in 1st cent., 46, 84, 86 ; in 2d, 137 ; in 3d, 188, &c. ; in 4th, 281 ; in 6th, 413. Love-feasts, aycJjrai, 46, 68, &.C., 87, 137, 351, n. (4)'. Lucian of Antioch, 3d cent., 176, 179, J 82. Lucifer of Cagliari, 4th cent., 257, 271, &c., n. (40). Lucifenaiu, sect, 4th cent., 257, 271, &c. Lucius, king of England, 2d cpnt., 99, n. (8). Lupus, bishop of Troyes, 5lh cent., 340. Lyons and Vienne, persecution in 2d cent, 108. M. Macarna, senior and junior, monks of Egypt, 4th cent., 246, n. (28), 264. 466 INDEX. , Monothelite patriarch, 7th cent., 441, n., 455, n. (18). Macedonius, and Macedonians, 4th cent., 305, &c., n. (62), (63). Madame, his translation of Mosheim, p. v., &c. Macrobius, Donatist bishop, 4th cent., 257. Magians of Persia, 59, &c. Magus: see Simon Magus. Mahomet : see Mohammed. Majorinus, Donatist bishop of Carthage, 4th cent., 283. Malchion, a rhetorician, 3d cent., 175, 201. Malchus, a Byzantine historian, 5th cent., 335, note. Mamertus, Claudius, poet, 5th cent., 341, 351, n. (1). Manes or Manichaus, heretic, 3d cent., 192, &c., n. (6). Manichceans, sect of, in 3d cent., 192-196 ; in 4th, 282, 352; in 6th, 415; in 7th, 450. Maphrian, or primate of the Monophysites, 41 8. Marcella, a martyr, 3d cent., 157. Marcellinus, Ammianus, historian, 4th cent., 224, n. (50). , governor of Africa, 5th cent., 353. , count, a writer, 6th cent., 405. , English missionary, 7th cent., 425, n. (10). Marcellus of Ancyra, 4th cent., 247, n., 303, &c., n. (55), (56). Marcion and Marcionites, 2d cent., 141, &c., 352. Marculfus, Gallic monk, 7th cent., 442, n. (25). Marcus, a Gnostic, 2d cent., 147. , bishop in Egypt, 4th cent., 248, n. , a Gnostic in Spain, 4th cent., 307. S a hermit, 5th cent., 333, 346. , a disciple of St. Benedict, 7th cent., 443. Mardaites, 457. See Maronites. Marius Mercator, 5th cent., 338, n. (41). , bishop in Switzerland, 6th cent., 405. Maro, John, 7th cent., 457, n. (22), (23). Maronites, 457, n. (22), (23), (24). Martin, bishop of Tours, 4th cent., 227, n. (64), 265, &c., 308, n. (65). , bishop of Braga, 6th cent., 405, 408. I., bishop of Rome, 7th cent., 444, 454, n. (15), (16). Martyrs, 47, n. (8) ; their number and esti- mation, 54, 55, 125, &c., 158, 280. Mary, St., worshipped, 4th cent., 311 ; her images, in churches, 5th cent., 351 ; called the Mother of God, 5th cent., 357. Musses for the dead, 4th cent., 281. Massilians, 375, &c. See Semipelagians. Matthew, the apostle, 48, n. Matthias, the apostle, 46. Mourns, St., a Benedictine monk, 6th cent., 394. , archbishop of Ravenna. 7th cent., 438, n. (7). Maxentius, John, 6th cent., 395, n. (22). Maximian, emperor, 3d cent., persecutes, 208, &c. Maximitta, a Montanist, 2d cent., 152. Maximin, emperor, 3d cent., persecutes, 157, 212. Maximin, bishop in Cilicia, 5th cent, 334. Maximvjt, Greek writer, 2d cent, 124, 174, n. Maxim-us, a pagan philosopher, 4th cent., 229, &c., 11. (4). Maximus of Turin, 5th cent, 336, n. (35). of Riez, 5th cent, 340. of Constantinople, 7th cent, 439, n. (14), 446, 447. Melchiades, bishop of Rome, 4th cent., 283. Melchisedcckians, sect, 2d cent, 150, n. (27). Melchites, who so called, 417, n. (12), 451. Meletian contest in Egypt, 4th cent, 268, &c., n. (37), 294, &c., n. (27). Meletian controversy at Antioch, 4th cent, 272, n. Meletius, bishop of Sebaste, 4th cent, 248, n., 272, n. of Mopsuestia, 5th cent, 334. Melito, bishop of Sardis, 2d cent, 123, 126. Mellitus, first bishop of London, 7th cent, 422, n. (5). Menander, heretic, 1st cent, 94. Mennas, bishop of Constantinople, 6th cent, 409. Mercator, Marius, 5th cent, 338, n. (41). Mercia, kingm. of, converted, 7th cent, 423, n. Messalians or Euchites, 4th cent, 310, &c. Methodius, 3d cent, 170, 171, n. (14), 182, 183. Metropolitans, origin of, 71, 117, 163, 232. Millennial controversy, 3d cent, 185, n. (19). Miltiades, 2d cent., 124. Ministry, public, necessary, 66. Minucius, Felix, 3d cent, 173, n. (16), 183. Miracles, in 1st cent, 45, n. (2), 50; in 2d, 101, 102, &c., n. (14); in 3d, 155; in 4th, 215, &c., 221, &C..227; in 5th, 315, n. (11), 317, 355 ; in 6th, 382 ; in 7th, 445. Mithras of the Persians, 194. Modestus, Greek writer, 2d cent, 124. Mohammed, his early life and education, 426, n. (2) ; writers who treat of him, 427, n. (3) ; professes to be a prophet and reformer, 428 ; his first converts, 428, &c. ; meets opposi- tion, 429; his flight, 429 ; employs force, and subdues Arabia, 429 ; his death and charac- ter, 430 ; his testament, 450, &c., n. (3). Mohammedan religion, its character, 430 ; caus- es of its progress, 430, &c. ; its propagation, 431, n. (8*). Mohammedan sects, the Sonnites and Shiiles, 432 ; the subordinate sects, 432, &c..n. (11). Mohammedan prophets, 434, n. Monarchians, sect of, 2d cent,, 149. Monkery, in 1st cent, 38, n. (J4) ; in 2d, 115, 129, &c. ; in '3d, 179; in 4th, 265, &c.; in 5th, 328, &c., 346, &c. ; in 6th, 385, 391, &c. ; in 7th, 438, 439. Monophysites, in 5th cent, 367, 368, &c., n. (38), (43); in 6th, 387, 410, 416, &c. ; in 7th, 450, &c. Monothelites, rise of, in 7th cent, 452 ; their tenets, 455, &c. ; and history, 456-458. Montanus, a schismatic, 2d cent., 151, 152. , archbishop of Toledo, 6th cent, 404. Moralists and morals : see Theology, practical. Morality of the fathers, ]28, n. (6). Moschus, John, a monk, 7th cent, 436, 441, n. Moses, a Jewish fanatic of Crete, 4th cent, 314, n. (7). Mosheim, his life and character, p. iii., &c. Musanus, a writer of 2d cent, 124. Mutiantis Scholasticus, 6th cent, 405. Mysteries, the pagan, 26 ; copied by Christians, 133. Mystics, in 2d cent, 115; in 3d, 178, &c., 184 ; INDEX. 461 in 4th, 262, 264, &c.; in 5th, 34C; in 6th, 408 ; in 7th, 447. N. Narcissus, bishop of Jerusalem, 3d cent., 174, n. Nations, state of, at Christ's birth, 23-33. Nazareans, sect in 2d cent., 96, 139. Nectarius, bishop of Constantinople, 4th cent., 249, n. Nemesius, bishop of Emessa, 4th cent., 249, n. Nennius, a British monk, 7th cent., 443. Nepos, bishop in Egypt, 3d cent., 185, 186. Nero, emperor, 1st cent., persecutes, 49, n. ( 1 1 ), 53, 55-58. Nestorianus, a chronographer, 5th cent., 335, n. Nestorius, heresiarch, 5th cent., 333, &c., 356, <kc. Nestorianism, what, 360, &c., n. (21) ; history of, in 5th cent., 356, &c. ; in 6th, 387, 416 ; in 7tb, 450, &c. NiccBas of Romacia, 5th cent., 344. Nice, council of, A.D. 325, p. 291-295, notes. Nicetius, archbishop of Treves, 6th cent., 404, 408. Ninas, a writer of 7lh cent., 448. Nicolaitans, sect, in 1st cent., 94, n. (16). Nih>s of Constantinople, a writer, 5th cent., 331, n. (27), 346. jVmt'an, English bishop in 5th cent., 381, n. (7). Koetus, and Noetians, 3d cent., 197, n. (11). Nonnosus, writer of 6th cent., 398. Nonnus, Egyptian poet, 5th cent., 333. , monk of Palestine, 6th cent., 409, n. (13). Northumberland, converted in 7th cent., 423, n. Novation or Novatus, 3d cent., 175, 201 ; his sect, 201-203, 294, 352. Novatus of Carthage, 3d cent., 202, &c.,n. (19). O. Oblations, in 1st cent., 68, 71, 86; in 2d cent., 135. Odoacer, king of the Heruli, conquered Italy, A.D. 476, p. 312. (Economical method of disputing, 155, n. (5), 183, n. (11). (Ecumenical, or general Councils : see Councils. (Ecumenical or universal bishop, 389, n. (1), 437. Olympiodorus, a Platonic philosopher, 4th cent., 230. , a historian, 5th cent., 319, n. (7), 322. , a commentator, 6th cent., 397, 407. Omar, kalif, captured Jerusalem, 7th cent., 440, n. (18), 450. *O/io(<Noj, of like essence, 301, n. (47). 'O//o<7iof, of the same essence, 291, 296, n. (29). Ophites, sect of, 2d cent., 148, n. (25). Optatus of Milevi, 4th cent., 253, n. (36). Oracles, the pagan, 28, n. (28). Oresiesis, monk of Egypt, 4th cent., 248, n. Orientius, Orontius, Oresius, bishop of Aux, 5th cent., 345, n. (13). , bishop of Eliberis, 6th cent., 404, n. Orieenof Alexandria, 3d cent., 155, 162,206, n (9), 177-183, n. (2)-(8), 187, 188, 200,201, 261, 275, 287. Origenists, 275, 349, 409, n. (13). Orosius, Paul, historian, 5th cent., 318, 336, n. (33), 373. Ostiarii, their office, 3d cent., 165. Ostrogoths, A.D. 492 invade Italy, 312. Oswald, king of Northumberland, 7th cent 423, n. Oswi, king of Northumberland, 7th cent., 423, note. P. Pachomius, Egyptian monk, 4th cent., 248, n , 328, n. (18). Pacianus, bishop of Barcelona. 4th cent., 257. 262. Paganism, its character, 24, &c. ; remains o. it in 4th cent., 217, &c., 223, 227; in 5th cent., 313, 318 ; in 6th, 349, 382, &c. ; in 7th, 426. Palestine, provinces of, 233, n., 324. Palladium, monk, 4th cent., 246, n. (27), 331, n. (25). , missionary to Ireland, 5th cent., 316. Pamphylus, the martyr, 3d cent., 176, 179, 244, n. (21). Pantamus of Egypt, 2d cent., 93, n. (5), 111, 124, 126. Pantheism of Ammonius Saccas, 113. Papal power, in 3d cent., 163, 164, n. ; in 4th, 163, &c., 235, &c., 284, n. (5); in 5th, 322, &c., 326, n. (11), (14); in 6th, 389; in 7th, 437. Papias, bishop of Hierapolis, 2d cent., 123, 126. Paphnutius, monk of Egypt, 4th cent., 249, n., 295. Paraclete of Montanus, &c., 151, n. (29), 192, 195. Paschasius of Rome,, 6th cent., 404. Paterius, commentator, 7th cent., 443,446. Patriarchs, origin of, 117, 232, &c., 323, &c. Patricius, (St. Patrick, Succathus), apostle of Ireland, 5th cent., 316, n. (13). Patripassians, sect, in 2d cent., 149 ; in 3d, 197, 198, &c. Patronage, right of, its origin, 4th cent., 277, n. (5). Paul, the apostle, 46 ; his martyrdom, 47, n. (8), 48, n., 56, n. (18). , the hermit of Egypt, 3d cent., 179. of Samosata, 3d cent., 200, n. (15), 201, n. (16). , bishop of Emessa, 5th cent., 334. , a Monophysite, 7th cent., 451. Paulicians, sect, 7th cent., 450. Paitlinus, bishop of Antioch, 4th cent., 271, &c., n. (40). of Nola, 253, n. (37), 337. Petricordius, a poet, 5th cent., 341. , 1st bishop of York, 7th cent., 423, n. Peada, king of Mercia, 7th cent., 423, n. Pelagius, the heretic, 5th cent., 370, &c., n. (45). I., bishop of Rome, 6th cent., 405, 411. II., bishop of Rome, 6th cent., 405. Pelagians, in 5th cent., 370, &c. ; in 6th, 415 ; in 7th. 450. Penance, in 1st cent., 82; in 2d, 131 ; in 4th, 268 ; in 5th, 351, n. (5) ; in 7th, 447. People, rights of, in primitive church, xv., 68, 69; in 2d cent., 116, 117; in 3d, 163, &c. ; in 4th, 231, 232. Perpttua, a martyr, 3d cent., 156. Persecution*, whether just ten, 62 ; those in lit cent., 51, &c., 97 ; iti 2d, 105 ; in 3d, 156- 100 ; in 4th, 20 -4-'.' 1 1 . 217. 819, 228, 284, &c. n. (12), 2196, 298, dtc., 307 ; in 5th, 313, 318, 468 INDEX. &c., 353, 354; in 6th, 384, 415-417 ; in 7th, 426. Persia, persecutions there, 228, 319, 426. Peter, the apostle. His martyrdom, 47, n. (8), 48,n.,56, n. (18). , bishop of Alexandria, 4th cent., 239, n. (13), 268, &c. Chrysologus, bishop of Ravenna, 5th cent., 337. n. (38). Fullo, bishop of Antioch, 5th cent., 367, &c. Moggus, bishop of Alexandria, 5th cent., 366, 368. , a deacon of Rome, 6th cent., 404. Petilianus, a Donatist writer, 4th cent., 258. Phantasiasta, sect, 6th cent., 418. Pharisees, Jewish sect, 35, 36. Philastrius, bishop of Brescia, 4th cent., 255, n. (39), 263. Philetus, mentioned by St. Paul, 88, n. (3). Philip, emperor, 3d cent., whether a Christian, 154. of Side, 5th cent., 333, 345. , a friend of Jerome, 5th cent., 340. Philo, the Jew. 1st cent., 32, 37. of Carpathus, 6th cent., 343. Philosophy, state of, in 1 st cent., 29, 59-65 ; in 2d, 109, &c. ; in 3d, 161, 162; in 4th, 223, 229, &c. ; in 5th, 321, &c. ; in 6th, 386, &c. ; in 7th, 446. , Oriental, 29, 39, 61-64, 90, &c. , its influence on theology, 61, 105, 111, 115, 125, 129, &c., 149, 162, 188, 261. Philostorgius, ecclesiastical historian, 5th cent., 333, 345. Philostratus, a philosopher, 3d cent., 160. Pkiloxenus or Xenaias, bishop of Hierapolis or Mabug, 6th cent., 367, 407, 419. Phocas, emperor, 7th cent., 436, &c., n. (2). Phmbadius, bishop in France, 4th cent., 257. Photinus, bishop of Sirmium, 4th cent., 304, &c., n. (58), (59). Picts, converted, in 4th cent., 380, &c., n. (7). Pierius of Alexandria, 3d cent., 176, 179. Pilgrimages, in 4th cent., 259, n. (1) ; in 5th cent., 343. Pisides, Gregory or George, 7th cent.; 440, n. (20). Placidus, Benedictine monk, 6th cent., 394. Plato, and Platonic philosophy, 31, &c. ; in 2d cent., 110, &c., 119, &c. ; in 3d, 159, &c., 161, &c. ; in 4th, 229, &c. ; in 5th, 321, &c. ; in 6th, 383, 387 ; in 7th, 436. Pliny the younger, 105. Pleroma of the Gnostics, 63, 95, 145. Plolintis, a philosopher, 3d cent., 161, 162, 191. Plutarch of Chaeronea, a philosopher, 2d cent., 110. , a philosopher of 3d cent., 162. Nestorii, philosopher, 5th cent., 322. Pneumatomachi, sect, 4th cent., 300. Polemic, : see Theology, polemic. Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, 2d cent., 77, 107 136. Polychronius, bishop of Apamea, 5th cent. 333, 343. Polycrates, bishop of Ephesus, 2d cent., 136 174, n. (18). Pomerius, Julianus, 5th cent., 341, 347, 446 448. Pontius, deacon of Carthage, 3d cent., 175. Pontius or Paulinus of Nola, 253, n. (37), 337. ^opery : see Papal power. Porphyry, a philosopher, 3d cent., 159, 162, n. (I). ossidonius or Pisidius, 5th cent., 340. othinus, missionary to Gaul, 2d cent., 100. otamiena, a martyr, 3d cent., 157. 9otamon, a philosopher, 2d cent., 32. Praxeas, a confessor and Monarchian, 2d cent., 149, n. (26). Prayers, hours of, in 3d cent., 190. Preaching, mode of, in 1st cent., 86 ; in 3d, 188 ; in 4th, 278 ; in 7th, 435. Predestinarian controversy, 5th cent., 373, &C., n. (52), (53). Presbyters, 46, 69, 71, 116, 117, 163, 165, 231, 232, 237, 273, n. (43), 327. Prescription against errors, in 2d cent., 127; in 3d cent., 183, n. (12). Priesthood, Jewish, imitated, 2dcent, 117, 118, 133. Primasius of Adrumetum, 6th cent., 401, n. (38), 407, 408. Prisdlla, and Priscillianists, 2d cent., 152, n. (30). Priscillian, and Priscillianists, 4th cent., 307, &c., n. (65), (66). Proba, Anicia Franconia, 4th cent., 258. Proclus, bishop of Constantinople, 5th cent., 334. , a philosopher, 5di cent., 322, 384, n. (8). Procopius of Gaza, 5th cent., 395, n. (21), 407. of Caesarea, historian, 6th cent., 383, n. (2). Prophets of the New Testament, 69. Prosper of Aqmtain, 5th cent., 337, n. (40), 346, 376, n. (55). Prudentius, a poet, 4th cent., 256, n. (43). Psalms of David, used in 4th cent., 278. Psathyrians, party in 4th cent., 301, n. (45). Ptolomceus, Gnostic heresiarch, 2d cent., 147. Purgatory, in 2d cent., 126 ; in 3d cent., 195; in 4th cent., 259 ; in 5th, 343; in 6th, 406; in 7th, 445. Pyrrhus, bishop of Constantinople, 7th cent., 454. Q. Quadragesimal or Lent fast, 4th cent., 280, n. (13). Quadratus, bishop of Athens, 2d cent., 106, 123. Quadriiiium, what, 321, n. (4). Quinisextum consilium, 7th cent., 448, 458. R. Radbod, king of Friesland, 7th cent., 425, n. (10). Recognitions of Clement, 75, 76, n. (29), 184, n. (15). Relics, venerated, in 4th cent., 260; in 5th, 343 ; in 6th, 406 ; in 7th, 445. Religion, state of, in the world, 24, 34, &c. ; among Christians, in 1st cent , 78, &c., 82, n. (8) ; in 28, 125, &c. ; in 3d, 177, &c. ; in 4th, 259, 268 ; in 5th, 342, &c. ; in 6th, 406 ; in 7th, 445, 447. Remigius, archbishop of Rheims, 5th cent., 341, 379. Rheticius, bishop of Autun, 4th cent., 256. Rhodon, a writer, 2d cent., 124. Rites : see Ceremonies. INDEX. 469 Rogation Sunday, &c., 351. n. (1). Rufinus of Aquiieia, 4th cent., 254, n. (38), 261, 215. Ruling Elders, 1st cent., 69. Ruridus, senior, bishop of Limoges, 5th cent., 341. Rusticus, deacon at Rome, 6th cent., 405. S. Sabas, a Syrian monk, 5th cent., 335, n. SabeUius of Africa, 3d cent., 198, n. (12). Sabians : see Hemerobaptists. Sabinus, bishop of Heraclea, 5th cent., 333. Sacred Classics of Apollinaris, 247, n. (29). Sadducees, a Jewish sect, 35. 36. Saints, worshipped, in 5th cent., 342, &c. ; in 6th, 390, 406, 414 ; in 7th, 415. Saloniiis, bishop of Lyons, 5th cent., 340. Salvianus, 5th cent., 318, 337, n. (39), 346, 348. Samaritans, nation of, 34, 40. Samosateans : see Paul of Samosata. Sapor II., king of Persia, 4th cent., persecutes, 228. Sarabaites, vagrant monks, 267. Saracens, their conquests, 7th cent., 431, n. (8*). Sardica, council, its 4th canon, 236, n. (9). Saturninus of Antioch, heretic, 140, 141. Sckisms : see Heresies, and Controversies. Scholastic theology, its origin, 178, 182,262; its nature, 408. Schools, Christian, in 1st cent., 81, n. (5) ; in 2d, 111; in 3d, 162, 177; in 4th, 219, 230 ; in 5th, 320, &c. ; in 6th, 385, 387 ; in 7th, 435. Science: see Learning. Scotland, state of, in 3d cent., 156; in 6th, 381, n. (7). Scriptures, how regarded, in 1st cent., 79 ; in 2d, 126 ; in 4th, 261. Sects : see Heresies. Secundians, Gnostic sect, 2d cent, 147. Seduliits, a Scotch poet, 5th cent., 340. Semiarians, in 4th cent., 300, &C. Semipelagians, in 5th cent., 375, &c. ; in 6th, 415; in 7th, 450. Septuagint, how regarded, in 2d cent, 126 ; in 4th cent, 261. Serapion, bishop of Antioch, 2d cent, 124. Serapion, bishop of Thmuis, 4th cent., 248, n. Sergius, patriarch of Monophysites, 387, &c., 417. , bishop of Constantinople, 7th cent, 441, n.. 452, 453, n. (9). Sethitfs, a sect, in 2d cent., 147, &c. Sextus, Greek writer, 2d cent, 124, 174, n. Sfi'erianus, bishop of Gabala, 5th cent, 333 346. Secerns, emperor, in 2d cent, 53, 97, 108. , Alexander, emperor, 3d cent, 154, 156, 160. , Sulpicius, ecclesiastical historian, 4tb cent, 255, n. (42). , bishop of Minorca, 5th cent, 339, n. , bishop of Antioch, 6th cent, 397, 407 417, 418. Shiites, a Mohammedan sect, 432, 431, n. Sibylline Oracles, 2d cent, 130, n. (15). Sidonius, Apollinaris, 5th cent, 338, n. (43). Sigan, monument of, China, 421, n. (1). Simeon, bishop of Jerusalem, 2d cent, 106. Simeon Stylites, senior, 5th cent, 313, 347, n. (20). Simeon Stylites, junior, 6th cent., 398. Simon Magus, 92-94. Simplicius, bishop of Rome, 5th cent, 341. , a philosopher, 6th cent, 383, n. (7). Siricius, bishop of Rome, 4th cent., 258. Sisebutus, Gothic king in Spain, 7th cent, 443. Sixtus II., bishop of Rome, 3d cent, 159, 175. III., bishop of Rome, 5th cent, 340. Socrates, ecclesiastical historian, 5th cent, 334. Sonnites, Mohammedan sect, 432, n. (10), (11). Sophronnis, monk of Palestine, 4th cent, 249, n. , bishop of Jerusalem, 7th cent, 436, 440, n. (18), 452, &.C., n. \9). Sozomen, ecclesiastical historian, 5th cent, 334. Spurious Gospels, Acts, Epistles, 73, &c., n. (23). Stations, among Romanists, what, 414, n. (4). Stephen 1., bishop of Rome, 3d cent., 175, 186. Stoic philosophy, 31, n. (37), 110. Stylites, or pillar saints, 5th cent, 347, &c. Sub-deacons, their office, 165. Sulpicius Severus, ecclesiastical historian, 4th cent, 255, n. (42). Sunday, observance of, 85, 134, 135, n. (10), 278. Superstition, increase of, in 3d cent, 188; in 4th cent, 259, &c.; in 5th, 342; in 6th, 406; in 7th, 439, 445. Supplications, public, 4th cent, 260. Sussex, kingdom of, converted, 7th cent, 423, note. Syagrius, writer, Slh cent, 345. Symmachus, translator of Old Testament, 3d cent, 174, n. , bishop of Rome, 6th cent, 341, 391. Synagogues, Jewish, 39. Synesius, bishop in Cyrene, 5th cent, 230, n. (8), 333. Synod: see Councils. Syrianus, a philosopher, 5th cent, 322. Syricius, bishop of Barcelona, 7th cent, 444. T. Tajo or Tago, bishop of Saragossa, 7th cent, 435, 444, 446. Tatian, and his sect, 2d cent, 107, 124, 142 ; his harmony of the Gospels, 126, n. (2). Talaia, John, bishop of Alexandria, 5th cent., 367. Tartars, enlightened by Nestorians, 7th cent, 421, &c. Temples, dedicated to saints, 6lh cent, 414. Tertullian, 2d cent, 108, 122, n. (9), 127, 128, 152, 183. Testament, New, translations of, 101, &c., 155, 407, 446. Thalassius, a monk, 7th cent, 441, n., 447. Themistius, a philosopher, 4th cent, 225, n. (52). Themistius and Themistians, 6th cent, 419, n. (20). Calonimus, 7th cent. 441, n. Theodoret, or Theodorit, bishop of Cyprus, 5th cent, 330, n. (22), 343, 344, 345, 410, n. (14). Thfodoric, king of Ostrogoths, 5th cent., 312, 391. Theodoras of Mopsuestia, 4th cent, 331, n. (26), 343, 410, n. (14). 470 INDEX. Theodorus Lector, eccles. hist., 6th cent., 397. of Iconium, 6th cent., 398. of Pharan, 7th cent.. 441, n. I., bishop of Rome, 7th cent., 443. of Raithu, 7th cent., 420, n. (21), 446. of Tarsus, archbishop of Canterbury, 7th cent., 423, n., 436, 444, 447. Theodosius the Great, emp., 4th cent,, 222, 299. II., emperor, 5th cent., 313, 319, 358,365. , bishop of Alexandria, 6th cent. ,418, 419. Theodotus of Rome, 2d cent., 149, 150, n. (27). of Ancyra, 5th cent., 332, n. (29). Theognostus of Alexandria, 3d cent., 176, 182. Theology, Positive, Scholastic, and Mystic, 407, 408. , exege.tic, in 1st cent., 79 ; in 2d, 126 ; in 3d, 179, &c. ; in 4th, 261 ; in 5th, 343, &c. ; in 6th, 406, &c. ; in 7th, 445, &c. , didactic, in 1st cent., 78, &c. ; in 2d, 125, 126.; in 3d, 177, &c., 182; in 4th, 259, 261, &c. ; in 5th, 342, 344 ; in 6th, 407, &c. ; in 7th, 446, &c. , practical, in 1st cent., 78, 80 ; in 2d, 128 ; in 3d, 182 ; in 4th, 263, &c. ; in 5th, 346, 348 ; in 6th, 408 ; in 7th, 446, &c. , polemic, in 1st cent., 83 ; in 2d, 127 ; in 3d, 183. &c. ; in 4th, 262, &c. ; in 5th, 345 ; in 6th, 408, &c. ; in 7th, 447, &c. Theonas, bishop in 4th cent., 256. Theopaschites, sect, 5th cent., 367, 412. Theophanes of Byzantium, 6th cent., 398, &c. Theophilus, bishop of Antioch, 2d cent., 120, 121, n. (7), 126. , bishop of Alexandria, 5th cent., 275, &c., 330, n. (24), 349. , bishop of the Goths, 4th cent., 226. Theophrastus, a philosopher, 5th cent., 322. Theophylact, Simocatta, 7th cent., 441, n. Therapeutee, a Jewish sect. 37, n. (14). Theurgy, what, 114, n. (19). Thomas, the apostle, 48, n. ; visited India, and some say, China, 422, n. (2). of Heraclea, 7th cent., 446. Thundering Legion, 2d cent., 103, 104. Thurificatores, who, 157. Tiberius, emperor, 1st cent., 49. Tichonius of Africa, 4th cent., 258, 261. Timothy, companion of St. Paul, 48, n. 111., bishop of Alexandria, 6th cent., 397 , bishop of Constantinople, 6th cent., 397. , a writer of the 7th cent., 448. Tithes, 118, n. (3), 133. Tituli, what, 277, n. (4). Titus, companion of St. Paul, 48, n. of Bostra, in 4th cent., 248, n. Toleration among pagans, 25, 53. Traditors, who, 209, 283. Trajan, emperor, 2d cent., 97, 105, 106. Tnbonianus, a jurist, 6th cent., 382, n. (1). Trinity, disputes on, in 2d cent., 149, 150 ; in 3d, 197-200 ; in 4th, 287, &c. ; in 5th, 356 &c. ; in 6th, 412, 419, &c. Triphilus of Cyprus, 4th cent., 248. Tritheists, in 6th cent., 419, &c. Trivium, what, 321, n. (4). Tryphon, Greek writer, 3d cent., 174, n. Tychonius or Tichonius, 4th cent., 258, 261. Typua, edict of emp. Constans, 7th cent., 454 V. Valena, emperor, 4th cent., 226, 299. Valentinian, emperor, 4th cent., 299. Valentinus, and his sect, 2d cent., 145-147. Valerian, emperor, 3d cent., 159. , bishop in 5th cent., 340. Valerius, Spanish monk, 7th cent., 444. Vandals, when converted, 300, n. (40) ; per- secute in Africa, 5th cent., 354, &c. Vararanes, king of Persia, 5th cent., 319. Veda of the Indians, 60, n. (5). Vernacular liturgies, 6th cent., 413. Victor I., bishop of Rome, 2d cent., 121, 136. of Antioch, 5th cent., 333, 343. or Victorinus, a poet, 5th cent., 340. - Vitensis, 5th cent., 341. - of Tununum, 6th cent., 405. of Capua. 6th cent., 405, 407. Victorinus of Petau, 3d cent., 176, 182, 183. Fabius Marcus, 4th cent., 257. Victorius or Victorinus of Gaul, 5th cent., 340. Vigilantius, a reformer, 5th cent., 348, &c. Vigilius of Tapsus, 5th cent., 338, n. (44). , bishop of Rome, 6th cent., 405, 411. Vincentius of Lerins, 5th cent., 338, n. (42). Vitalianus, bishop of Rome, 7th cent., 444, 445. Vitellius, a Donatist writer, 4th cent. , 257. Ulphilas or Ulfilas, bishop of the Goths, 4th cent., 155, n. (10), 226, n. (63), 300, n. (39). Unction, extreme, 2d cent., 87. Voconius of Africa, 5th cent., 345. Volusianus, emperor, 3d cent., 158. Uranius, Nestor, philos., 6th cent., 388, n. (14). Ursicinus, bishop of Rome, 4>th. cent., 235. Vulgate Bible, what, 261, n. (9). W. Waldensianc, perhaps in 7th cent., 438. Wessex, kingn. of, converted, 7th cent., 423, n. Whitby, council of, 7th cent., 423, n. Wilfrid, bishop of York, 7th cent., 423, n., 437, n. (5). Willibrord, Engl. miss., 7th cent., 425, n. (10). World, state of, when Christ came, 23-33. Worship, public, of Christians, in 1st cent., 84, &c. ; in 2d, 134, n. (10),; in 3d, 188; in 4th, 260, n. (25), 276, 277, &c. ; in 5th, 350, &c. ; in 6th, 413, &c. ; in 7th, 448. Writers, Greek and Oriental, in 1st cent., 72, &c. ; in 2d, 118, &c. ; in 3d, 166, &c. ; in 4th, 237, &c. ; in 5th, 329, &c. ; in 6th, 395, &c. ; in 7th, 439, &c. , Latin, in 1st cent., none ; in 2d, 122, &c. ; in 3d, 172, &c. ; in 4th, 248, &c. ; in 5th, 335, &c. ; in 6th, 399, &c, ; in 7th, 441, &c. Wulfilaicus, eremite of Treves, 5th cent., 348. X. Xenaias : see Philoxenus. Z. Zacharias, eccles. histor., 5th cent. ,335. n. , archbishop of Mitylene, 6th cent., 398. Zachaeus, fictitious author, 5th cent., 340. Zeno, bishop of Verona, 4th cent., 257. , emp., 5th cent. ; his Henot., 368, n. (36). Zosimvs, pagan historian, 5th cent., 319, &c., n. (8), 373. , bishop of Rome, 5th cent , 339, n., 373., END OF VOL. I.