them; yet he certainly wrote some things. There is 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the Council of Ephesus, a passage or two about the 〈◊〉〈◊〉, taken out of his Book about the Divinity. Justinian in his Edict to M••••••a against 〈◊〉〈◊〉, q••••tes two passages of Peter of Alexandria: The First out of a Homily against Pre-existence o•• Souls; The Second out of a Mystagogical Discourse composed by him a little before his Martyrdom: this is very 〈◊〉〈◊〉: I exhort you, says this holy Martyr, to watch, for you shall once 〈◊〉〈◊〉 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in Affliction; you know how the Heathens caused S. Thomas my Father and my Bishop, who bred me up, and my Predecessor in this See, to suffer. Would to God I had also been his Successor in Holiness too: You know the Persecution which the great Saint Dionysius endured, and how he was obliged to hide him∣self, and to be continually changing the place of his Abode, whilst the Heretick Sabellius tormented him in another manner: What shall I say of the holy Bishops Heracl••s and Demetrius? What Tribulations did not they 〈◊〉〈◊〉 from Origen, who sow'd Divisions in their Church, and who caused Disturbances there which are not yet quieted? And we have in Balsamon, in the Bibliotheca Patrum, and in the last Edition of the Councils, the Canons which are said to be drawn out of one of his Discourses upon Penance. Th••se were written in the Fourth Year of the Persecution in 306, about the Feast of Easter; for they begin with th••se words, [Seeing this is the Fourth Easter since the beginning of the Persecution.] In these Canons, he regulates the time of Penance. In the First, he ordains, That those who after long Re∣sistance had at last laps'd, being conquer'd by the Severity of Torments, and had been under Penance for Three Years, should after Forty Days not be receiv'd into Communion, during which time, he exhorts them to watch and pray. In the Second, he adds, yet another Year of Penance for those who had faln without enduring Torments, only to deliver themselves from Prison. In the Third, he brings an instance from the Parable of the Fig-tree, to impose Four Years Penance upon these who had vo∣luntarily faln into Idolatry, without being put in Prison. In the Fourth, he deplores the unhappiness of those that are altogether desperate, and do no Penance at all. In the Fifth, he limits their Penance to Six Months, who had pretended, that they had offer'd unto Idols, or that they had appreach'd their Altars, or given up their Names; or had sent Pagans to offer in their stead. In the Sixth he ob∣serves, That there were some that sent thither their Slaves, though they were Christians; and in the Seventh Canon he imposes upon them Three Years of Penance, but upon the Slaves one Year only. In the Eighth, he says, That tis but just to make them Partakers of the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ, of the Prayers of the Church and the Word of God, who after they had been once vanquish'd, return'd again to the Combate, and were committed to Prison: or those who suffer'd Torments, after they had confess'd the Faith of Jesus Christ. In the Ninth Canon, he blames their Conduct, who expose themselves indiscreetly to Danger, and by this means bring Persecution upon themselves and their Brethren. He proves by the Example of Christ and his Apostles, that their Con∣duct is very much to be blam'd; and yet he thinks we ought not to refuse the Communion to those who thus rashly expose themselves to Temptation, because they do it in the Name of Christ. In the 10th. Canon, he ordains, That the Clergy who had laps'd, should be depriv'd of their Ministry, and content themselves with Lay-Communion, which is not to be deny'd them. In the 11th. Canon, he advises to treat them with Meekness, and receive those Christians into Communion, who having ex∣pos'd themselves to Martyrdom for the Encouragement of others by their Example, had at last faln by the Cruelty of their Torments. In the 12th. he says, That those who had given Money to deliver themselves from Torments, were free from Sin in so doing, and moreover praises their Conduct. In the 13th. he makes an Apology for those that fled to avoid Persecution, and justifies their Carriage by many Examples. In the 14th. he says, That they ought to be plac'd in the Rank of Confessors, who had been forc'd against their wills to taste of Meats offer'd unto Idols. The last Canon has no connexion with the former, for there he approves the Fasts of Wednesday and Friday, [On which, he says, we are en∣joyn'd to Fast, according to Tradition; On Wednesday, because on that Day the Jews took up a Resolu∣tion to deliver up Jesus to Death; and on Friday, beause he suffer'd on that Day for us: But as to the Lord's-Day, that's a Day of Rejoycing, because on that Day Jesus Christ was rais'd from the Dead, and therefore we do not Kneel on that Day at our Prayers.] Of all the Canons of Antiquity concerning the Penance of the Lapsed, there are none more Judicious or more Equitable than those we have now describ'd. There appears in them a Wisdom and Prudence that's altogether singular, in tem∣pering the rigour of Punishment by a reasonable Moderation; without which, Justice would be weakned by too much Indulgence. He examines carefully all the Circumstances which might augment or diminish the quality of the Crime, and as he does not lengthen out Penance by too severe Methods, so neither does he deceive the Sinner by too remiss an Easiness. 'Tis probable, that about the time when those Canons were compos'd, Peter of Alexandria depos'd Meletius Bishop of Egypt, being convicted of Idolatry, who was afterwards the Author of the Sect of the Meletians; as Athanasius reports in his Second Apology.