This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. Searching, reading, printing, or downloading EEBO-TCP texts is reserved for the authorized users of these project partner institutions. Permission must be granted for subsequent distribution, in print or electronically, of this text, in whole or in part. Please contact project staff at eebotcp-info@umich.edu for further further information or permissions.
I. IN the Memoirs of this grave and learned Prelate, I cannot find much that may justly be reprehended, un∣less the Reader may be, as I have been, inclined to wish, that Mr H. had spoken more fully to some passages of his life: but withal I acknowledge my longings genuine∣ly satisfied by the Reverend Dr. Cave, who, among other things accurately related, ac∣quaints
us with Irenaeus's mission from the Churches of Lyons and Vien to Eleutherius, and the Asian Churches; not to the Asian Churches only, in which journey he occa∣sionally took Rome in his way, as Mr. H. p. 53. avers out of a Feuardentius; nor to Rome only without any Letters at all to the Asian Churches, as b Baronius would have it, but to both: to the Eastern Churches, to compose the differences there rais'd by the followers of Montanus, and to Pope Eleu∣therius, not because it was the duty of that Oecumenical Pastor to decide all Controver∣sies, as the Cardinal would have it, for him∣self was infected with the same heresie, says c Tertullian; but to ratifie his authority with the Letters of that Patriarch, and per∣haps that he might without disturbance im∣ploy his time and pains in the confutation of Florinus and Blastus, two Presbyters of that Church, but excommunicate, (whose falling into the heresie of Valentinus so grieved the good man, that it occasion'd him to d write his books against that heresie which we now have) And that he went this Journey, I am perswaded by e Eusebius and St. Hierome, whatever the acut Valesius says to the con∣trary.
II. At his return from the East, he was chosen successor to Pothinus (who had been Martyred in his absence) in a dangerous time, that needed a man of spirit and courage, of learning and piety, the persecution raging violently without, and the Church being as furiously assaulted within, by Marcus, one
of the Scholars of Valentinus, of whom where∣as f Scaliger wonders, that neither Euse∣bius, nor Hierome make any mention, yet not only g Irenaeus himself and h Ter∣tullian names him with Heracleon and Colarba∣sus, the upholders of the School of the Gno∣sticks, but also i Eusebius gives his Cha∣racter, and St. k Hierome avers, that he was a Scholar of Valentinus, and first brought that heresie into France, into those parts of the Country, through which the Rhoan and the Garonne run, and thence passing the Py∣renée Mountains he went into Spain, and that his chief employment was by Magick, and other lustful privacies, to creep into the houses of great men, and debauch their Wives, Women, who are led about with divers desires, always learning, but never coming to the knowledge of the truth.
III. And here it may not be amiss to ob∣serve, that the greatest enemies to Christi∣anity have been Satans privadoes, and ad∣mitted to some more familiar intimacies than ordinary, with the Prince of Darkness; and this will visibly appear, if we inspect the Catalogues of the Primitive Hereticks, or the lives of the Emperors, who were the most active persecutors of the interests of Jesus, whom we shall find acted by a more than humane impulse to uphold the reputa∣tion and grandeur of that tottering and ruinous Kingdom. The first disturbers of the Churches peace, and introducer of dam∣nable Dogmata, was Simon Magus, whose name bespeaks what acquaintance he had
with the Devil; nor were his followers any more averse from his practices, than his principles; a their chief imployment ly∣ing in Charms, Philtres, Amulets, and such magical and unlawful Mysteries; his most active and acute Disciple was Menander, a b Master also in this infernal Art; after whom were Saturninus and Basilides his Scho∣lars, the first the more open villain, and a plain asserter of his Masters heresies, but the other a more close and busie Proctor for Sa∣tan, being a great pretender to abstruse and undiscovered Mysteries, but c both equal∣ly enslaved by the Devil to become his Vassals; Basilides especially being a great trader in Amulets, which he gave his deluded Proselytes, the form of which you may see in Baronius append. ad To. 2. an. 120. In these steps did d Cerinthus walk, and e Car∣pocrates, who blasted Religion with his ve∣nomous breath, had an assistant Daemon, and gloried, that he kept those spirits in subje∣ction, whose son f Epiphanes, and the rest of his followers, grew dextrous in those instances of their skill.
IV. Thus the first family of the Gnosticks grew up, and became strong and formidable, till it was supplanted, or rather engrossed by the Valentinians; g Valentinus deriving his heresie from Simon Magus and Menander, and of whom we may judge, what his course of life was, whose instructors were Magi∣cians, and Scholars of the same trade, such as were Marcus (of whom hereafter) and Heracleon, who taught his Disciples Charms
wrapt up in Hebrew, and other obsolete words, h and how to anoint their dead with oyl, balsom and water, and a set form of invocation. From this Valentinus the Ophitae deriv'd themselves, says i Irenaeus, who ador'd a Serpent, which by the inchant∣ments of the Priest was train'd out of his Den to ascend the Altar, where he rowl'd himself round the Oblations, and lickt them, which were afterward distributed to the de∣luded multitude, as the only true consecra∣ted Elements of the Eucharist. The fol∣lowers of Marcus were the Tascodrungitae, says k Theodoret, and they also poured oyl and water on the heads of their dead, that they might be invisible, and by that means rendred more excellent, and better, than the Spiritual and Angelick powers. As l the Disciples of Elcesai were also en∣snared by Astrology, and Magick, by Charms, and Invocations. m Cerdon and Marcion were in the like manner ill addicted, and n Manes's Tutor Buddas was carried by his familiar into the air, whence falling headlong the wretch perisht; and his o Pu∣pil was a practiser of all unlawfull arts (〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 in Theodoret) and such were all his followers, and among the Marcionites of his time the same p Father says, he found a brass Serpent, an Amulet doubtless, laid up in a Chest among many other abominable my∣steries, as q Tertullian justly impeac••es the Father of that Sect of too much curiosi∣ty, and an unquiet head. And by such an evil spirit were Montanus and his Prophe∣tesses
acted, and among his Followers a Theodotus was lifted into the Air by his Fami∣liar, from whence he fell down and perish'd. And may we not say that many of the Mi∣racles of the Romish Church owe their Origi∣nal to this Author, since many of their seem∣ingly most devout and inspired Nuns have been at last convicted to have been Witches? So true is that observation of the b African Father, that the greatest acquaintances which the Hereticks made, was with Sorcerers and Juglers, with Astrologers and the lovers of cu∣rious Arts, and that we may judge of the exel∣lencies of their Faith by the Debaucheries of their Conversation. Nor was it without reason, that S. Paul, 1 Tim. 4.1. calls the Gnostick O∣pinions, the Doctrine of Devils.
V. And as these persecuted the Christian Church with their Tongues, so those that employed their Authority by severe and cru∣el Edicts to extirpate the holy Faith, were much inclined to these acquaintances. The first declared Enemy of Jesus among the Em∣perours, was Nero, who on the head of all his other insufferable qualities, that made him a burthen to the Earth, and a heavy curse to mankind, was a great c practiser of Magick, with which he was as much be∣witcht, as with his love of Musick, being acted, and led, in his biggest and most weighty concerns, by the Counsels of Tiridates, a man famous in that way. These next was Domitian, a Monster that boggled
at no Crime, who d out-do∣ing his all Predecessors in Cru∣elty, Luxury, and Covetous∣ness, was the Author of the second Persecution; and though the Historians tell us, that he banisht the Philosophers and Mathematici from Rome, yet e Suetonius is my Author, that he was studious of these devilish mysteries. Trajan doubtless was a Prince of a very sweet temper, and most ex∣cellent Virtues, but a prostrate admirer of the Heathen superstitions; though his perse∣cution seems to have commenc'd against the Christians, not so much on Religious, as Politick grounds, because their hetaeriae, or meetings, (which look'd suspiciously, by reason of their numbers, and the place, and time of their conventions, before day, and in their Coemeteria under ground) seem'd to threaten the peace, and quiet of the Common∣wealth, for which reasons he not only forbad such Conventions among the Christians, but expresly declares his dislike of erecting any new Corporation among his Heathen Sub∣jects, the frequenters of which Hetaeriae with∣out licence f were adjudged by the Ro∣man Laws to be guilty of High Treason, e∣qually with those, who by force and arms seized a Temple, or any other publick place. The fourth Persecution broke out under A∣drian a g Prince infinitely addicted to the Pagan Rites, coveting all occasions of being initiated into their mysteries, a searcher into all sorts of curiosities, and strangely in love
with Magick. M. Aurelius Antoninus begun the fifth persecution, or rather the inraged Gentiles under him (for that he himself by his express edicts begun a persecution, both h Tertullian, and i Eusebius deny) who though a most admirable, and accomplisht Prince, (and one, that profest himself an Infidel to pro∣digious stories, done by charms, and the assistance of Daemons, and therein perchance ubraids the Christians, who in his time wrought miracles, and dispossest Daemoniacks,) yet was early, and in his Infancy initiated by his Patron Adrian a, being at eight years old, made a member, and afterward a Priest of the Salian Colledge, of which at last he be∣came President. He carefs'd the Philosophers of that Age, who most of them were studious of Magick, though they would not own it, having a particular dependance on that Im∣postor; b Alexander in the expedition against the Marcomanni (his Colleague Lucius Verus being a great cherisher of the Magic in his inroad into Parthia, many of whom he brought with him from Babylon to Rome at his return) nay so fond are the Heathen writers of this his acquaintance, c that they are con∣tent to falsifie the truth of the story of that Expedition, to gratifie their own humor, that they may Father the Famous attempt of the Legio Fulminatrix in that War, some on the skill of Arnupthis a Magican of Aegypt, who by invocating Mercury, and other Daemons, procur'd that Rain; others on Julian ano∣ther Magician of that Age.
VI. Of Severus I must profess, I can meet with no account, that he either was addicted himself, or cherisht others, that lov'd these Arts; but the d Historians tell us, that he was crafty and subtle, and withall very cru∣el, and without doubt must have been acted by a very violent and extraordinary impe∣tus, or he could not so suddenly have been al∣ter'd from being a great favourer to become a vigorous persecutor of Religion. e Maxi∣minus was a robust, and brutish person, a man of unsatisfied cruelty, and barbarous man∣ners, a perfect Thracian, as rude and unpolisht as his Country, which was never fitted to produce any thing po∣lite, and acceptable, but cherish∣eth inhabitants like it self, rough-hewn, and ugly. He begun the seventh persecution, not out of any respect to the Rites of Gentilism, for he had no Religion in him, but out of f ha∣tred to his Predecessor Alexander Severus, who had cherisht the Christians. But g Sulpiti∣us Severus denies this to have been one of the ten persecutions. The Decian persecution begun first at Alexandria, h where the multi∣tude were enraged to mischief the Christians, by the perswasions of an Aegyptian Magician, and probably the infection thence spread it self to Carthage, and so over the rest of the Empire, till it was confirm'd by a solemn Edict. The same Villain, being afterward the boutefeau, that inflamed as i Baronius Valerian probably conjectures (and by
whose instruction k Plotinus was acquainted with those dark, and unlawful mysteries) for the Palace of that Prince was a kind of Church, it was so throng'd with Christians, till that l Archmagician practised him to prosecute the holy men, as the greatest Monsters on Earth, men of profligate vices, and insufferable opi∣nions. The ninth persecution a S. Austin, who omits that under Adrian, places under Aurelian, who was a great admirer of Apollo∣nius Tyanaeus that noted Conjurer, to whom b he erected Statues, and promist to build a Temple, and whose image he caus'd to be stampt on his Coyn.
VII. And when all these contrivances would not succeed, but the death of the Martyrs in∣creased the number of Confessors, Dioclesian and his immediate Successors made the last Es∣say in behalf of dying Paganism, c Constantine himself relating, that what gave an occasion to that most furious persecution, was the Oracle of Delphos, that accused the just men of the Earth of hindring its giving answers, which good men, when one of the Priests had told him were the Christians, he pre∣sently set out his Edicts to root them out of the Earth; and the same courses were taken by his followers. d Maximinus was a great cherisher of the Magicians, and other Impo∣stors, being naturally fierce, and superstiti∣ous, not daring to undertake the least action without consulting an Oracle. So also was e Maxentius, and f Licinius. And when Julian in vain strove to deceive mankind by restoring the Heathen Sacrifices presently on
his assuming the Empire, his Court swarm'd with these infects, himself not being unac∣quainted with this sort of Learning, g S. Chrysostom expresly calling him a Magician, and the h later Greek Historians tell us, that he kept a Familiar, whom he used to send on messages, and more particularly in his last expedition into Persia. And as soon as he had publish'd his Rescripts for the reparation of the Idol Temples, the erection of the ru∣ined Altars, and retriving the disused Ce∣remonies, i his palace was of a sudden filled with Inchanters, Augures, and men of that Classe; such were Maximus his Tutor, Priscus, and Chrysanthius his darlings, that followed him to the Wars of Persia, and in truth Apuleius, Plotinus, Porphyry, and Jam∣blichus, and the rest of that Tribe, in imita∣tion of their Master k Pythagoras, can ne∣ver clear themselves from this imputation. S. l Augustine positively averring, that all the Platonists that did not turn Christians, did turn Magicians. It was not therefore without reason, that m Tertullian called the Phi∣losophers, the Patriarchs of the Hereticks, for from them was it that Valentinus suck'd his poyson, from them that Marcus his Fol∣lower took his hints, whom I have reserv'd till the last, that we might see some Instances of his skill.
VIII. That venerable and Divine Man, (whose name n Irenaeus conceals) smartly chastises him in his Poem,
〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c.calling him a maker of Idols, and hunter af∣ter Miracles, a great Astrologer, and noto∣rious Magician, who to deceive the World did strange things by the help of Satan, and was the Fore-runner of Antichrist; and S. Irenaeus's whole ninth Chapter is spent on this subject, in which we find, that by a long form of Invocation he would cause the Wine of the Eucharist to appear of the colour of a deep red, that he had an Assistant Daemon, that did e∣nable him to prophesie, and to communicate that Spirit of madness and folly to as many as he did breath on; that he engaged that his Fol∣lowers should know more than the A postles, and should not be defiled by any thing they did, teaching them charms, how to escape invisibly from the hands of the Judge when apprehended, allowing even the Women to consecrate the Eucharist, and making them Prophetesses; among which easie and perswa∣sible Sex most Hereticks have pitch'd their Tents: So Simon Magus had his Helena, Car∣pocrates his Marcellina, Ptolomaeus his Flora, Apelles his Philumena, Marcion his Female Harbingers to prepare his reception at Rome, Montanus his Prisca, and Maximillae Elcsai, his Marthus and Marthana, Paulus of Sa∣mosata his Mistress, Donatus his Lucilia, Pri∣scillian his Galla, the Arians had their great∣est numbers among the Court-Ladies, the Nicolaitans and the Disciples of Eustathius of Sebastia were most Women, and the opinion
of the Collyridians, was a 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the Female Heresie.
IX. Sect. 3. p. 60. the Marginal Note, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, should be set not where it is (as if the Tractate of the Apostles preaching ad Marcianum, were the same with that de sci∣entia) but higher, for the Volume adversus gentes, and that de scientia, were the same, says b Eusebius, a very short but very use∣ful Discourse. His Church-History, men∣tioned by Volaterran, was doubtless a mi∣stake of the meaning of the same Historian, who uses only his Books adversus Hareses, yet extant; as that of his Comment on the Re∣velation also had its Original from a mistake of S. Hierom, who only says, that Irenaeus in∣terpreted the Revelation, i. maintained the Chiliast Opinion, whose Foundation is laid in that Prophecie, as he does largely in the end of his fifth Book; and though here Mr. H. dislike the judgment of Sixtus Senensis, yet on the same grounds does he entitles S. Justin the Martyr to a like Tractate.
X. And I could heartily wish that we had only lost those imaginary Volumes, and that his other most excellent Writings had not perisht to the detriment of the Church of God and the Common-wealth of Learning; by which unhappy fate we are depriv'd of all his Epistles (the fragments of that Writ to Pope Victor excepted) especially that Epistle to Blastus de Schismate, which would have been so useful to this Age, as would also his Discourses de Monarchia, & de Ogdoade a∣gainst Florinus and his darling Opinion,
(which I fear, under a cleaner Masque hath appeared in this Age also) that God is the Author of sin. And here the observation of c Nicephorus is very remarkable, that besides the Persecutions that harass'd the Church, the Devil made use of three very subtle Methods to ruine Christianity. 1. Be∣cause the prodigious performances of the Son of God were a great confirmation of the Truth and Divinity of his Doctrine, he op∣posed the Impostures of Simon Magus and Apollonius of Tyana to the Miracles of Christ. 2. Because the holiness of our Saviour's Life and Precepts was a great perswasive to incline the World to Conversion; he intro∣duc'd into the most sacred Offices of Religi∣on all sort of Impurities and Lusts, by his Instruments the Gnosticks and Cataphrygians, who adopted their Vices into the number of their Mysteries; and to whom the promi∣scuous Mixtures, Incests, and Eating the Blood of Men, which were unjustly laid to the charge of the Primitive Christians, must be attributed. 3. And lest this also might not do, that he might incline the World to be careless and vile, he by Blastus, Florinus, and Marcion, gave being to the Opi∣nion, that God was the Author of sin, that so he might supersede all Laws, and enervate the force and vigour of all the Divine Injun∣ctions.
XI. In the end of the Tract de Ogdoade, I∣renaeus adjures his Transcriber, by the coming of Jesus to Judgment, diligently to com∣pare his Copy with the Original; an Obte∣station
so sacred, that not only Eusebius takes ••rotice of it in his History, and S. Hie∣rom in his Catalogue; but the former prefix∣es it to ••••e first Book of his Chronicon, and the latter to his Translation of the same Book, as Ruffinus hath also another such for sense, though not for words, in the Preface to his Translation of Origen, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, re∣quiring his Transcriber neither to add to, nor diminish, nor change any thing in it, but to correct it by the Original, and accordingly to publish it; and in after Ages a Adam∣nanus hath such an admonition at the end of his Book of the life of S. Columb (a charge like that of Quintilian ad Tryphonem bibliopo∣lam, and b D••. Reynolds's ad transmarinos typo∣graphos admon tio•• and may we not take leave to suppose, that Irenaeus, who was a Scholar to Papias and Polycarp, S. John's Disciples, did herein imitate that Apostle, who closes his c Apoculypse with the like solemn Obtesta∣tion.
XII. And I could heartily wish that we had the Greek Copy of those Books that are left, for I know no more of this Father extant in the Language that he writ in, than what we have in Epiphanius, Eusebius, Theodoret, &c. (for no man is now so vain to imagine that Irenaeus writ in Latine) although Callasius in his Epistle Dedicatory before his Edition of this Father, and d Chemnitius affirm, that the Greek Copy had been seen in the Vatican, and another read at Venice by some learned and good men, who when they came to look for the Book a second time, found the place
empty; which Relation, if true, as Gallasi∣sius more than once mentions it, no punish∣ment were too big for such curs'd Villains and Plagiaries. For could the World be so happy, we should see how disingenuously, or rather ignorantly, his Latine Translator hath d••a't with him, dressing his Notions in a style so obscure and rugged, so full of So∣lecisms, and barbarous expressions, that they not only sully the Beauty, but cloud the meaning of this great man, whose modesty, though it inclined him to make an a Apo∣logy for his style, as if it were plain and unrhetorical, yet to him that reads the pas∣sages, which Epiphanius against the Valenti∣nians repeats out of him in his own Native Language, his style will appear, though not affected, yet very elegant, without that 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, that sublimity which some men would require, but not without that gravity, clear∣ness, and perswasiveness that became a Phi∣losopher on so abstruse a subject.
XIII. I find it the peculiar happiness of S. Irenaeus among the Ecclesiastical Writers, that anciently no other Writings were fa∣ther'd on him, than what were genuinely his (unless we shall say that he has been a∣bus'd by ome, b imputing to him, as others do to Justin Martyr, and a third sort to Jo∣sephus, that Tractate which is truly the Com∣m••nt••ry of Gajus, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉) there being scarce one besides him of all the Sages of the Church, that hath not been im∣posed upon by the bastard issue of some o∣ther men. A Crime too notorious to be
excused, and of which we may say, what c Tacitus does of the profession of Astro∣logy at Rome, That it always will be forbidden, but always practised. A Design that seems to intimate a great deal of Bounty, but betrays an intention of Robbery, of debasing the value, and impairing the reputation of a worthy man, by thus exposing him to the censures of the World in a picture drawn by a wrong hand, and martyring him again in Effigie; destroying noble Writers, as Witches do those whose persons they cannot reach, by venting their malice against an Image, which themselves have molded. The undertaking hath been of long standing, and may now plead gray hairs and custom; but well it would be with the Interests of Learn∣ing and Piety; if all such men fell under the chastisement of Theodiscus, d whom Va∣saeus in his Spanish Chronicle mentions, who being the Arch-Bishop of Sevil, and Primate of Spain, was deposed by his Fellow-Bishops, for setting out some pieces of his own under the name of his Predecessor Isidorus Hispa∣lensis in the Arabick Version of his works, not to wish them the fate of e Cicarellus, who was hang'd at Rome, and afterwards his body burnt for the like Forgery.
XIV. And here I think it convenient to repeat what others have observed before me, that the Devil in destroying the Church hath followed the Method of the Creed; in the first 300 years he instigated the Followers of Simon Magus, Menander, Basilides, Marcion, and others, to deny and oppose the first Arti∣cle
concerning God the Father. In the next three Centuries by the Followers of Sabellius, Photinus, and Arius, to contradict the Di∣vinity of Christ. After the year 400 he com∣bated the Doctrine of the Incarnation, Pas∣sion and Resurrection by Nestorius, Entyches, Dioscorus, and others. After the year 800 the Procession of the holy Ghost was disputed in the Greek Church: since that, the nature of the Catholick Church, and the power of Re∣mission of sins, by the Papists, and Anabaptists, &c. the Resurrection of the Body by the So∣cinians, and the life everlasting by the mo∣dern Sadducees.
XV. Among the memorable sayings of this Father, Mr. H. p. 69. reckons his denying an uninterrupted succession of Bishops to be a mark of the true Church. (Of which there is not a word in the place of Irenaeus, that Mr. H. quotes) the Assertion it self aff onting the Judgment of the ancient Catholick Church, who makes a continuance of Episcopal Go∣vernment to be necessary to the Integrity of a Church, and so does a Irenaeus himself, advising all good Christians only to obey such Apostolical men, but to shun those that can∣not deduce themselves from this regular suc∣cession, as Hereticks and Schismaticks; the mistake only lyes in this, that a Church with∣out this continued series of Prelates may be a true Church in Essence and Nature, but cannot be entituled to Integrity and Perfe∣ction; Salvation may be had in that Assem∣bly, though they want that Government which is of Divine Institution, the retention
of which sacred Order among us, hath ex∣torted this confession from the mouth of a b Jesuit, that the Church of England is not heretical, because it maintains a succession of Prelates.
XVI. Irenaeus's Opinion of Christs igno∣rance of the day of Judgment, is well vindi∣cated by c Gallasius in his Nores on that place; others of the erro••••ou•• Opimons of the Father we have apologiz••d for in our Memo••••s of S. Justin the Martyr, and for his peculiar opinion concerning the age of Christ, D. d Cave and e Scrivener a∣ga••••st Daillée have satisfied all mod••st In∣quirers. ••n those words of his, lib. 3 c. ••1. that seem to imply, as if the two Nat••res in Christ were mixt and confused, which was afterward the Heresie of A••ollinaris, and Eu∣tyches, (against whom Theodoret expresly writ his second Dialogue) the holy man without doubt means no more, but the Union of the two Natures; for so lib. 4. c. 37. he explains himself, joyning commixtio, & communio Dei, & hominis together; and lib. 5. c. 2. blaming the Ebionite Hereticks for denying this truth: his next error, that Satan never blasphem'd God till the Incarnation of Christ, for which he quotes Justin Martyr, is meant of his do∣ing it not openly, but under a Masque [as un∣der the form of a Serpent he trepan'd Adam] not by himself, but by his Instruments that profess Religion, and yet abuse the Author of it, such as were the Marcionites, and Va∣lentinians, whom he mentions, who called themselves Christians, yea the purer sort of
Christians, Gnosticks, and yet blasphemed God. Nor do we find among the Jews, who before the Incarnation of Christ were the peculiar people of God, any Heresie which opposed that Article, that the Creator of the World, who Commission'd the Prophets, should also send his Son; which Opinion Irenaeus lays at the door of Valentinus, and his Tribe, who distinguisht between God the Father, and the Demiurgus, or the Creator of the World; nor is his reason altogether in∣defensible, (quippe nondum sciens suam damna∣tionem) because the Devil did not as yet ex∣presly know his sentence, the Father seeming to allude to that opinion of a S. Ignatius, which was afterward generally imbrac'd, that the Incarnation and Crucifixion of our Savi∣our, and Virginity of his Mother, were hid from the cognizance of Satan; so that he might believe that the general promises of a Redeemer given to the Old World, might as well reach to him, as to the Sons of Adam, till the Incarnation of Jesus made it appear to the contrary; and that then seeing his estate remedi∣less, he fell into a like rage with those who are condemn'd by the Law; who, says b Irenaeus, blame not themselves, but the severity of the Judge, and the rigour of his proceedings.
XVII. His discourse of Enoch, l. 3. c. 30. that he was Gods true servant without the badge of Circumcision, or observation of the Sabbath, no man I hope questions; and for what is added, that being yet in the flesh (Dei legatione ad Angelos fungebatur) he was sent on an Embassie to the Angels, had we any
thing to countenance the conjecture, beside the respect we bear to this great man, I would say it was a mistake of the Translator, and that the words in Irenaeus's Greek might be 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, which will bear the old Version, but to me will be thus rendred better, And having been Gods Ambassadour, i. a Preacher of Righteousness to the old World, he went to the Angels, and was translated, where he is kept as a witness of Gods Judgment on those fallen Spirits: which words may be supposed to ••elate to that common Opinion among the Fathers, that Enoch with Elias are translated into Paradise in their mor∣tal bodies; and that in the end of the world they shall both come again to preach Repen∣tance to mankind, and reduce them from the service of Antichrist, to the worship of the true God, and shall be martyred at Jerusalem, and after three days rise again, and then a∣scend into Heaven; which Opinion I take not upon me to defend, but only to give a bare Narration of; this is expresly averr'd by c Tertullian, and the d Author of the Book de montibus Sinai, and Sion under the name of Cyprian; but, says Pamelius, of some other African Author of that Age; e Saint Chrysostome, it's true, professes his ignorance herein, but S. f Austin is of Tertullians O∣pinion, as several others of the Fathers, as they are quoted by g Cardinal Bellarmine.
XVIII. For his Doctrine, that the Souls of the best men are not received into Heaven, properly so called, till the day of Judgment, but that they are kept in some certain Re∣ceptacles,
where God only knows; which place of happiness is sometimes called Para∣dise, at other times Abraham's Bosom, where those that reside are (sustinentes resurrectionem, in our barbarous translation) in expectation of the Resurrection, or (aeternitatis candidati, as Tertullian stiles them) Candida••es of Im∣mortality, was the general belief of the Pri∣mitive Ages of the Church; for besides Ire∣naeus, I find it the Opinion of Tertullian, Cle∣mens Romanus, Justin Martyr, Origen, H••••••ry, Austin, Chrysostome, Ambrose, Theodoret, Vi∣ctorinus, Prudentius, Aretas, Anast••sius Sinai∣ta, Theophylact, Oecumenius, Euthymius, and S. Bernard, and h in truth, among the Fa∣thers, of whom not? and who is there a∣mong the sober Protestants, that asserts that the happiness of the Saints is the same at their death, that it shall be after their Resur∣rection? Were it so, our Church hath done very ill in her Office at Burials, to pray, That we, together with all the departed in the Faith, and sear of God, may have our perfect consummation, and bliss in that Eternal Kingdom. Irenaeus calls this Station an invi∣sible place, because it is unknown to us, the departed being in Gods hand, in some estate of happiness, but neither in misery, nor per∣fect glory; and that this is the Opinion of Calvin, and Peter Martyr, i Sir Norton K••atchbul hath made good, telling us, that the contrary assertion hath no foundation either in the Scriptures, the Fathers, or Reason.
XIX. And having thus vindicated this Re∣verend Antient from the Objections made a∣gainst
these five Books Adversus Haereses, which k Photius, as I understand him, clears from any Heterodox Assertions (since it is not of them, but of his other Volumes and Epistles, that that acute Critick says, the ex∣act truth of the Opinions of the Church is debas••d by spurious reasonings) let us com∣mit this Honourable Servant of God to his rest, who now wears that white Robe which was washt in his own blood; and it is my sorrow, that none of the Antients have given him his due Character, that I might have entertain'd my Reader with some of their raptures concerning him (who is only here and there in the writings of the Fathers mention'd with respect, and a short Character, but what falls abundantly be∣low his Merit.) He was behead∣ed for the Cause of Christ, An. 20••. says Baronius, or as Do∣ctor Cave thinks, seven years af∣ter, at the expedition of Seve∣rus into Britain; a larger ac∣count of which Martyrdom I was incourag'd to expect, when l Baronius told me it was ex∣tant in the Vatican Library, till m himself, whether being mi∣staken in his first Assertion, or forgetting it, affirms, that the Acts of his Passion are quite lost; his Festival in the La∣tin Church, being celebrated on the 28th of June, in the Greek on the 23. of Aug.
Vit. Ire∣naei••nte o∣pera.
Tom. 2. an. 179. p. 246, 247.
adv. Pra∣xeam c. I.
Theod. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. lib. 1. seci. Flori∣nus, & Bla∣stus.
apud Dr. Caves life of Iren. p. 165.
Not. in Euseb. p. 200.
lib. 1. cap. 8, & 9.
Praescript adv. haeres. cap. 29.
lib. 4. c. 10. Vide Theodoret. ubi supr. in Marco.
Ep. 29. to. 1 p. 198. & com∣ment. in Isa. 64. f. 112. D.
Theodor. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. lib. 1. sect. Si∣monis hae∣resis.
Id ubi suprà. Aug. de haeres. c. 6. Tertull. praescript. ad fin. Eu∣seb. lib. 3. c. 20. Iren. l. 1. c. 21.
Euseb. l. 4. cap. 7. Theodoret. ubi supr. sect. Basil.
Gaius apud Euseh. lib. 3. c. 22.
Id. l. 4. c. 7. Iren. l. 1. c. 24.
Theod. ubi supr. sect. Carpocrat.
Theod lib. 1. sect. Va∣lentinus.
Aug. de haeresib. c. 16.
l. 1. c. 3. vid. & Tert. de praescript. ad fin. Theodoret. ubi supr. sect. Ophit. Aug. ubi sup. c. 17.
ubi supr. sect. Asco∣drytae. & Iren. lib. 1. c. 18.
Theoddib. 2. sect. El∣cesaitae.
Euscb. l. 4. c. 10.
Socrat. kist. l. 1. c. 22. Lat. 17.
Theed. ubi supr. praef. & l. 1. sect. Manes.
Ibid. sect. Marcion.
De p••ae script. c. 30.
Apolli∣nar. apud Euseb. lib. 5. cap. 15.
Tert. de praescr. p. 40. F. G. edit. Rhen.
Plin. nat. hist. lib. 30. c. 2.
〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Zosim. hist. l. 1. p. 5. ed. Steph.
In Do∣mit. sect. 14, & 15.
Ulpian. lib. 6. de Offic. Pro∣cons. F. lib. 47. tit. 22. l. 2.
Tert. A∣pol. c. 6. excerpt. Dionis apud Vale∣sium. p. 714.
Apol. c. 5.
Hist. lib. 5. c. 1.
〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. init.
Capitolin. in Marco.
Lucian. To. 1. Pseu∣domant. p. 493.
Dio in M. Aurel. Claudian in 6. Hono∣rii Consu∣lat. l. 1. vi∣de Baron. Tom. 2. an. 176. p. 217, 218.
Spartian. in Severo.
Herod. l. 7. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Pompon. Mela, lib. 2. sect. Thracia. Viros benigni∣us alit Thracia, non ad speciem tamen: nam & il∣lis asper, at{que} indecens cor∣poris habitus est.
Euseb. l. 6. c. 21.
Hist. sacr. l. 2.
Dionys. A∣lex. Ep. Fabio An∣tioch. apud Euseb. l. 6. c. 34.
Tom. 2. an. 252. p. 444. & an. 257. p. 556.
Id. an. 234. p. 416.
Dion. Ep. Hermam. apud. Eus. l. 7. c. 10.
De C. D. lib. 18. c. 52.
Vopisc. in Aurelian. vide Fulv. Visin. il∣lustr. Imag. & not. in Vopisc. p. 516.
Vit. Con∣stant. l. 2. c. 49, 50.
Euseb. Hist. l. 8. c. 27.
Vit. Gon∣stant. lib. 1. c. 10.
Eus. Hist. l. 9. c. 8. & Vit. Constant. l. 1. c. 4.
Tom. 5. Orat. 6. in S. Babyl. p. 459.
Gedren. compend. in Juliano. Mich. Glye. Annal. part 4. a∣pud Baron. Tom. 4. p. 129.
Chrys. ubi supr.
Philostr. Vit. Apol∣lon. apud Phot. Cod. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. p. 540.
de vera relig. c. 4.
Adv. Hermogen.
L. 1. c. 12.
Vide Hie∣ron, adv. Pelag. ad Ctesiphont. Tom. 2. p. 256.
Epiphan∣haer. 79.
Hist. lib. 5. cap. 25. L••t.
Apud Chemnit. Loc. Com∣mun. part. 1. sect. de causis pec∣cati. p. 145.
Usher. E∣pist. Heber∣nic. sylloge. p. ••••.
Ad fin. Apolog. Thesium.
Apoc. 22.18, 19.
Orat. de∣lect. Pa∣trum. init.
Pref. l. 1.
Vid. Phot. cod. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. p. 16. & not. Hae••chel. p. 923.
Hist. lib. 1. p. 413.
Apud Ge∣nebr. Chrer. lib. 3. an. 657.
Gallon. respons. ad monac. Be∣nedict. p. 32
Lib. 3. c. 3. & l. 4. c. 43.
Cudsemi∣us de de∣sperata Calvini caus. c. 11.
p. ••74.
Life of Iren. Sect. 10. p. 170.
Part. 2. l. 2. c. 4. p. 191.
Ad. E∣ph••••. p. 45. Ed. Usher.
Ubi sup••.
De ani∣ma c. 28. & de re∣surrect. p. 31 I. Edit. Rhen.
P. 290.
To. 1 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. p. 149.
De genes. ad liter. l. 9. c. 6.
To. 1. contr. 3. l. 3. c. 6.
Vide Spalatens. l. 5. c. 8. n. 97, 98. and Ushers Answ. to the Jes. Sect. of prayer to Saints, p. 43⅔. Gennad. de dogmat. Eccles. c. 78.
Annotat. in Act. 3.31.
Cod. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. p. 162.
Omnium doctrinarum cu∣riosissim••s explanator. Tert. adv. Valentin. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Theodo∣ret. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. l. 1. Sect. de Menandro. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Id. praefat. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Id. l. 1. in Carpocrate. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Id. in Florino. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Id. l. 2. in Na∣zar. non longè à temporibus Apostolorum. Aug. contr. Julian. l. 1. c. 2. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Photii cod. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. p. 161. Vide testim. Eccles. Lugdun. a∣pud Euseb. l. 5. c. 4. & Hier. in Catal. &c.
Not. in Martyrol. Rom. Jun. 28.
Annal. To. 2. An. 205. p. 330.