Works, Book 2 · Part 1

Works · Book 2 · Part 1

p. 3191 COR. 11. 22.

Have ye not houses to eat and drink in? [foreign;] or despise ye the Church of God.

IT is taken in a manner for granted by the most of our Reformed Writers, and affirmed also by**Ioseph. Vicecom. de ant… quis Missae ritibus, Vol. 3. l. 2. c. 21. some of the other side, That in the Apostles times and in the Ages next after them (whilest the Church lived under Pagan and persecuting Emperors) Christians had no Oratories or Places set apart for Divine worship; but that they assembled here and there promis…uously and uncertainly, as they pleased, or the occasion served, in places of common use, and not otherwise. But that this is an error, I intend to demonstrate by good evidence; taking my rise from this passage of the Apostle, who reproving the Corinthians for using prophane banquetings and feastings in a Sacred place, Have ye not houses (saith he) to eat and drink in? foreign; or despise ye the Church of God? Here I take the word foreign, or Church, to note, not the Assembly, but the Place appointed for Sacred duties; and that from the opposition thereof to foreign, their own Houses, foreign; Have ye not Houses to eat and drink in? these are places proper for ordinary and common repast, and not the Church or House of God: which is again repeated in the last verse of that Chapter, foreign, If any man hunger, let him eat at home.

Thus most of the Fathers took foreign in this passage, namely, as most of the words signifying an Assembly or Company are wont to be used also for the Place thereof; as foreign, Synagoga, Collegium, &c.

p. 320S. Austin is so plain as nothing can be more. 1 Cor. 11. 22.1 Cor 11:22For concerning expressions, where the Continent is called by the name of the Thing contained,Quast. 57. sup. L…vit. he instances in this of Ecclesia; aaAs (for Example) the Church is called the Place where the Church is assembled. For the Church are men, of whom accordingly it is said (Eph…s. 5. 21.) That he might present to himself a glorious Church: But withal that the Church is called the House of Prayer, the same Apostle testifies, where he saith, Have ye not Houses to eat and drink in? or despise ye the Church of God?Sicut Ecclesia (saith he) dicitur locus quo Ecclesia congregatur. Nam Ecclesia homines sunt, de quibus dicitur, Vt exhiberet sibi gloriosam Ecclesiam: Hanc tamen vocari etiam ipsam Domum orationum, idem Apostolus testis est, ubi ait, Numquid domos non habetis ad manducandum & bibendum? an Ecclesiam Dei contemnitis?

S. Basil hath the same notion in his Moralia, Reg. 30.bbThat we ought not to dishonour Sacred places or things by the mixture of things of common use. S. Basil confirms it from that in S. Matth. 21. 12, 13. as also from that in 1 Cor. 11. 22. Have ye not Houses to eat and drink in? or despise ye the Church of God? and verse 34. If any man hunger, let him eat at home, &c.Matt 21:12Matt 21:131 Cor 11:22 Quòd non oportet [foreign] loca sacra misturâ eorum quae ad communem usum spectant c…ntumeliâ afficere. Which he confirms thus; Et intravit Iesus in Templum Dei, & ejiciebat omnes ementes & vendentes in Templo, & mensas numulariorum, & cathedras vendentium columbas evertit, & dicit eis, Scriptum est, Domus mea domus orationis vocabitur, vos autem fecistis eam speluncam latronum. Et ad Cor. 1. Numquid domos non habetis ad manducandum & bibendum? aut Ecclesiam Dei con…emnitis? Si quis esurit, domi manducet, ut non in judicium conveniatis.

Again, in his Regulae compendiosiùs explicatae, Interrog. & Respons. 310. answering that Question, ccIn answer to that Question, Whether may the Holy Oblation (or Eucharist) be celebrated in a common house, he affirms. That as the Word doth not allow that any common vessel or utensil should be brought into places that are Sacred [carried through the Temple, Mark 11. 16.] so likewise doth it forbid that the Holy Mysteries should be celebrated in a common house: For neither would the Old Testament permit any such thing to be done, nor our Lord who said, There is here one greater than the Temple, (Matth. 12 6.) nor the Apostle, saying, Have ye not Houses to eat and drink in? &c. Wh…nce we may learn, That we ought not to take our common supper in the Church, nor should we dishonour the Lord's Supper by eating it in a private house. But if one be necessitated to communicate in private, let him then chuse out the most clean and decent house or room for such a purpose, and withal see that he do it in the fittest and most seasonable time.Mark 11:16Matt 12:6Numquid in communi domo sacra obletio debeat celebrari; Quemadmodum, saith he, verbum non permittit ut vas ullum commune in sancta introferatur; eodem modo etiam vetat sancta in domo communi celebrari: quum vetus Testamentum nihil isto modo fieri permittat; Domino item dicente, Plus quam templum est hic; Apostolo item, Numquid domos non habetis ad manducandum & bibendum? &c. Ex quibus erudimur, neque communem coenam in Ecclesia edere & bibere, neque Dominicam coenam in privata domo contumeliâ afficere: extra quam si quis, cùm necessitas poscat, locum domúmve puriorem delegerit tempore opportuno—

The Author also of the Commentaries upon the Epistles, amongst the works of S. Hierome, (whosoever he were) expoundingddDespise ye the Church of God? Ecclesiam Dei contemnitis? by eeMaking it a place for common feasts and banquettings.Facientes eam Triclinium epularum, shews, he took Ecclesia here to signifie the Place.

The self-same words are to be found in the Commentaries of sedulius, as many other passages of this Author verbatim; which I note by the way.

S. Chrysostome is of the same mind; ffBehold a fourth charge, That not the poor only, but also the Church it self is injur'd. For as hereby thou makest the Lord's Supper a private Supper; so thou dealest no better with the Place, in that thou usest the Church as a private and ordinary house.Ecce quarta accusatio, (saith he) quòd non pauperes tantùm, sed Ecclesia laeditur. Quemadmodum enim Dominicam coenam privatam facis; ita & Locum, tanquam Domo Ecclesiâ usus. Ecclesia therefore here with him is Locus.

And so it is with Theodoret, who paraphraseth the words on this manner; ggIf ye come together to feast it, do this in your own Houses: for to do thus in the Church is a manifest contempt, a plain dishonour done to the Church. For how can it but seem a thing wholy indecorous and absurd for you to fare deliciously in the Temple of God, where the Lord himself is present, who hath prepared for us a common table; when at the same time those Christians that are poor are hungry, and out of countenance by reason of their poverty?Si acceditis ut lautè & opiparè epulemini, hoc facite in domibus. Hoc enim in Ecclesia est contumelia. & aperta insolentia. Quomodo enim non est absurdum, intus in Templo Dei, praesente Domino, qui communem nobis men sam apposuit, p. 321vos quidem lautè vivere, eos autem qui sunt pauperes esurire, & propter paupertatem erubescere?

Theophylact and Oecumenius follow the same track, as he that looks them shall find.

I have produced thus largely the Glosses of the Fathers upon this Text, that they might be as a preparative so my ensuing Discourse, by removing, or mitigating at the least, that prejudice which some have so deeply swallowed, of an utter unlikelihood of any such Places to have been in the Apostles times, or the times near them. For if these Glosses of the Fathers be true, then were there Places called Ecclesiae or Churches, and consequently Places appointed and set apart for Christian assemblies to perform their solemn Service to God in, even in the Apostles times. Or suppose they be not true, or but doubtful, and not necessary; yet thus much will follow howsoever, That these Fathers, who were nearer to those Primitive times by above one thousand one hundred years than we are, and so had better means to know what they had or had not than we, supposed there were such Places even in the Apostles times: If in the Apostles times, then no doubt in the Ages next after them. And thus we shall gain something by this Text, whether we accept this notion of the word Ecclesia or not.

HAVING therefore gotten so good an entrance, we will now further enquire What manner of places they were, or may be supposed to have been, which were appropriated to such use; and that done, proceed to shew by such Testimonies or footsteps of Antiquity as Time hath left unto us, That there were such Places through every Age respectively from the days of the Apostles unto the reign of Constantine, that is, in every of the first three hundred years.

For the first, It is not to be imagined they were**Isidorus P…lusiota lib. 2. Ep. 246. foreign. Wh… note that of two c…p. … place, the words foreign … Copy are deficient in the first them; but to b… supplied out of this, the second, or repetition of the same thing, as the Reader that considers it will observe the Antithesis requires. such goodly and stately Structures as the Church had after the Empire became Christian, and we now by God's blessing enjoy; but such as the state and condition of the times would permit; at the first, some capable and convenient Room within the walls or dwelling of some pious disciple, dedicated by the religious bounty of the owner to the use of the Church, and that usually an foreign, or foreign, an upper room, such as the Latines call Coenaculum, being, according to their manner of building, as the most large and capacious of any other, so likewise the most retired and freest from disturbance, and next to Heaven, as having no other room above it. For such uppermost places we find they were wont then to make choice of, even for private devotions; as may be gathered from what we read of S. Peter, Acts 10. 9. foreign, that he went up to the house-top to pray: for so foreign signifies, ex usu Hellenistarum, and is accordingly here rendred by the vulgar Latine, in superiora.

Such an Hyperôon as we speak of, was that remembred by the name of**Coenacula dicu…tur, ad quae s… ascenditur. lest. Inde Ennio, Coenacula maxima coeli. Coenaculum aaThe Upper room of Sion,Sion, where, after our Saviour was descended, the Apostles and Disciples (as we read in Acts 10. 13, &c.) assembled together daily for prayer and supplication; and where being thus assembled, the Holy Ghost came down upon them in Cloven tongues of fire at the Feast of Pentecost.**For these Traditions see Adricomius ex Nicephor. &c. and … infra de locis sanctis. Concerning which there hath been a Tradition in the Church, That this was the same room wherein our Blessed Saviour the night before his Passion celebrated the Pas…eover with his Disciples, and instituted the Mystical Supper of his Body and Bloud for the Sacred Rite of the Gospel: The same place where on the day of his Resurrection he came, and stood in the midst of his Disciples, the doors being shut, and having shewed them his hands and his feet, said, Peace be unto you; As my Father hath sent me, so I send you, &c. Iohn 20. 21.Iohn 20. 6.John 20:6 The place where eight days or the Sunday after, he appeared in the same manner again unto them being together, to satisfie the incredulity of Thomas, who the first time was not with the rest:Acts 6.Acts 6 The place where Iames the Brother of our Lord was created by the Apostles Bishop of Ierusalem: The place where the seven Deacons (whereof S. Stephen was one) were elected and ordained:Acts 15.Acts 15 The place where the Apostles and Elders of the Church at Ierusalem held that Council, and pattern of all Councils, for decision of that Question, Whether the Gentiles which believed were to be circumcised or not. And for certain, the place of this Coenaculum was afterwards enclosed with a goodly Church, known by the name of the Church of Sion, upon the p. 322top whereof it stood: Insomuch that S. Hierome, Epist. 27. Psal. 87. 1, 2.Ps 87:1Ps 87:2in his Epitaphio Paulae, made bold to apply that of the Psalm unto it, aaHer foundations are in the holy mountains; the Lord loveth the gates of Sion more than all the dwellings of Iacob.Fundamenta ejus in montibus sanctis; diligit Dominus por…as Sion super omnia tabernacula Iacob. How soon this Erection was made I know not; but I believe it was much more ancient than those other Churches erected in other places of that City by Constantine and his Mother; because neither Eusebius, Socrates, Theodoret, nor Sozomen make any mention of the foundation thereof, as they do of the rest. It is called by S. Cyril, who was Bishop of the place, foreign, the upper Church of the Apostles, foreign (saith he) foreign, The Holy Ghost descended upon the Apostles in the likeness of fiery tongues, here in Ierusalem, in the VPPER CHVRCH OF THE APOSTLES. Cyril. Hierosol. Cat. 16.

If this Tradition be true, it should seem by it that this Coenaculum, from the time our Blessed Saviour first hallowed it by the institution and celebration of his Mystical Supper, was thenceforth devoted to be a Place of prayer and holy assemblies. And surely no Ceremonies of dedication, no not of Solomon's Temple it self, are comparable to those sacred guests whereby this place was sanctified. This is the more easie to be believed, if the House were the possession of some Disciple at least, if not of kindred also to our Saviour according to the flesh; which both Reason perswades, and Tradition likewise confirmeth it to have been. And when we read of those first Believers, that such as had houses and lands sold them, Acts 4. 34, 35.Acts 4:34Acts 4:35and brought the prices, and laid them down at the Apostles feet; it is nothing unlikely but some likewise might give their house unto the Apostles for the use of the Church to perform Sacred duties in. And thus perhaps should that Tradition whereof Venerable Bede tells us be understood; viz. That this Church of Sion was founded by the Apostles: Not that they erected that Structure; but that the Place, from the time it was a Coenaculum, was by them dedicated to be an House of Prayer. His words are these, De locis sanctis cap. 3. in Tom. 3.bbIn the upper plain of Mount Sion there are cells of Monks encompassing that great Church, which was founded there (as they say) by the Apostles; because that there they received the Holy Ghost: and there also is to be seen the venerable place of the institution and first celebration of the Lord's Supper. In superiori Mon…is Sion planitie monachorum cellulae Ecclesiam magnam circundant, illic, ut perhibent, ab Apostolis fundatam; eò quòd ibi Spiritum Sanctum acceperint: In quaetiam Locus Coenae Domini venerabilis ostenditur.

And if this were so, why may not I think that this Coenaculum Sion or upper room of Sion was that foreign whereof we read, concerning the first Christian society at Ierusalem, Acts 2. 46. That they continued daily in the Temple, and breaking bread [foreign] in the House, ate their meat with gladness and singleness of heart? the meaning being, That when they had performed their devotions daily in the Temple at the accustomed times of prayer there, they used to resort immediately to this Coenaculum, and there having celebrated the Mystical banquet of the Holy Eucharist, afterwards took their ordinary and necessary repast with gladness and singleness of heart. For so foreign may be rendred for foreign,… and not domatim, or per domos, house by …. use, as we translate it; and so both the Syriack and Arabick render it, and the New Testament (as we shall see hereafter) elsewhere uses it. Moreover we find this Coenaculum called foreign in the second verse of the same Chapter. And for the phrase of Breaking of bread, we know that the same a little before in the 42. verse is wont to be understood of the Communion of the Eucharist, and by the Syriack Interpreter is expresly rendred by the Greek word, ccforeign The breaking of the Eucharist.Fractio Eucharistiae, both there and again chap. 20. verse 7. according to that of S. Paul, 1 Cor. 10. 16.1 Cor 10:16The bread which we break, &c. why should it not then be so taken here? If it be, then according to the Interpretation we have given this will also follow, That that custom of the Church, to participate the Eucharist fasting, and before dinner, had its beginning from the first constitution of the Christian Church. A thing not unworthy observation, if the Interpretation be maintainable; of which let the learned judge.

It was an foreign, or Coenaculum, also where the Disciples at Troas came together upon the First day of the week to break bread, or to celebrate the holy Eucharist, p. 323Acts 20. 7. where S. Paul preached unto them, and whence Eutychus, being overcome with sleep, sitting in a window, fell down foreign, from the third story or lost, and was taken up dead. Such a one seems also to have been the Place of the Churches assembly at Caesarea Cappadociae, by that which is said Acts 18. 22. viz. That S. Paul sailing from Ephesus, landed at Caesarea, where foreign, having gone up and saluted the Church, he went down to Antioch. Note, he went up to salute: whereby it should seem that the place where the Church was assembled was some upper place. See Ludovic. de Diea upon this place; where he tells us, that the AEthiopick translator so understood it, rendring,aaAnd he came down to Caesarea, and went up into the House of the Christians, (that is, the Church) and saluted them, and departed thence to Antioch. & descendit Caesaream, & ascendit in Domum Christianorum, (i. Ecclesiam) & salutavit eos, & abiit Antiochiam. Such as these, I suppose, were the Places at first set apart for Holy meetings, much like to our private Chappels now in great mens houses, though not for so general an use.

In process of time, as the multitude of Believers encreased, some wealthy and devout Christian gave his whole House or Mansion-place, either whilest he lived, if he could spare it, or bequeathed it at his death, unto the Saints, to be set apart and accommodated for Sacred assemblies and Religious uses.

At length, as the multitude of Believers still more encreased, and the Church grew more able, they built them Structures of purpose, partly in the Coemeteries of Martyrs, partly in other publick places: even as the Iews (whose Religion was no more the Empire's than theirs,) had, nevertheless, their Synagogues in all Cities and places where they lived among the Gentiles.

In the First Century.

THIS being premised, I proceed now (as I promised) to shew, That there were such places as I have described appointed and set apart among Christians for their Religious Assemblies and Solemn address unto the Divine Majesty, through every one of the first three Centuries particularly; and that therefore they assembled not promiscuously and at hap-hazard, but in appropriate places, unless Necessity sometimes forced them to do otherwise.

For the Times of the Apostles therefore, or First Century in particular, which 1ends with the death of S. Iohn the Evangelist, I prove it, first, from the Text I premised, where is a Place mentioned by the name of Ecclesia, not to be despised or prophaned with common banquettings: at least from the authority of the Fathers, who by their so expounding it, give us to understand, they thought it not improbable that there were such Places in the Apostles times. For the further strengthening of this kind of argument,Hist. Eccl. l. 2. cap. 17.Sir 50:2 Know also that Eusebius, in that Discourse of his where he endeavours to prove that the Essenes, or foreign, which Philo describes, were the first Christian Society of the Iewish Nation at Alexandria, converted by S. Mark, amongst other Characteristical notes (as he calls them, foreign) or badges of Christianity, (however he were mistaken in his conclusion or inference) alledges this for one of the first, That they had sacred Houses called foreign or Worshipping-Places, that is, Churches. His words are these, bbPhilo having described what kind of habitations they had, proceeds to speak of their Churches which were frequently to be met with in several places of their Country; How that the Sacred House was called foreign a Worshipping-place, and foreign a Monastery, wherein these solitary livers perfomed the Mysteries of a severely-religious life; bringing in thither not meat nor drink, nor any other necessaries for the use of the Body, but the Books of the Law, the Prophets, the Psalms or Hymns, and the like things of Sacred use, whereby Divine knowledge and Piety might be encreased and advanced to great perfection.Deinceps ubi eorum domicilia quaenam essent descripserat, (nempe Philo) de Ecclesiis in variis locis exstructis sic loquitur: Est in quoque agro aedes sacra quae appella…ur foreign, vel foreign, in quo illi ab aliis foreign, soli agentes, foreign, sanctae religiosaeque vitae mysteria obeunt; [N. B.] nihilque eò vel cibi, vel potionis, vel aliarum rerum quae ad corporis usum necessariae sunt, important, sed leges & oracula à prophetis divinitus edita, & hymnos, aliáque quibus scientia & pietas erga Deum crescat & perficiatur. Afterwards reciting some other customs p. 324and particular observances of their Discipline, as their frequent assemblies in their foreign to hear the Scriptures read and interpreted; the distinction of places for men and women; Their manner of singing Hymns and Psalms by a Precentor, the rest answering**… Const. … foreign 2. … David … canat, & populus foreign id est foreign extremitates versuum: non versuum initia, ut male interpres Bovius. foreign, the extremes of the verses; The Degrees of their Hierarchy, like those of Deacons and Bishops, and some other the like, he concludes, Quòd foreign, That Philo wrote these things, as one having knowledge of the customs at the beginning delivered by the Apostles, is manifest to any one. But whether that be so manifest or not, this I am sure is, That Eusebius believed the Antiquity of Churches or Oratories of Christians to have been from the Apostles times, yea, to have been an Apostolical ordinance; or else he mightily forgot himself, to bring that for an argument or badge to prove Philo's Essenes to be S. Marks Christians; than which otherwise there could not be a stronger argument to evince the contrary to what he intended. Now who could know this better than Eusebius, who had searched into and perused all the Writings and Monuments of Christian Antiquity then extant, for the compiling of his Ecclesiastical History, and his Commentaries of the **He mentions it Hist Eccl. l. 5. cap. 1.Sir 50:5Acts of Martyrs now perished?

Add to this, what … a little before observed out of Bede, De locis sanctis, of a Tradition, That the Church of Sion was founded by the Apostles. And so I leave my first Argument.

2My next Argument why may I not take from that singular Character given to some one above other in the Apostles Salutations, as their peculiar? Salute such a one, foreign, and the Church at his house. As Colos. 4. 15. of Nymphas, foreign, Salute Nymphas, and the Church at his house. To Philemon also ver. 1, 2. To Philemon our dear brother and fellow-labourer (to Apphia our beloved, and Archippus our fellow-souldier,) foreign, and to the Church at thy house. See, he forgets it not after a Parenthesis, neither attributes it to Archippus, but as proper to Philemon alone. The like he hath of Aquila and Priscilla two several times: once sending salutation to them, Rom. 16. 3, 5. Salute Priscilla and Aquila, and the Church at their house: again sending salutation from them, 1 Cor. 16. 19. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the Church at their house. Which I understand not to be spoken of their Families as it is commonly expounded, but of the Congregation of the Saints there wont to assemble for the performance of Divine duties; that is, foreign. Whence (if it be granted) it will follow, First, that the Churches then used to assemble not in mutable and promiscuous, but in definite and appropriate places. Secondly, That those who are here saluted with that Appendix, were such as in their several Cities had bestowed and dedicated some part or some place within their dwellings to be an Oratory for the Church to assemble in for the performance of Divine duties according to the rule of the Gospel; Nymphas at Colosse, Philemon at Laodicea, (for there Archippus, who is saluted with him, was Bishop, saith**Lib. 7. c. penult. Author Constit. Apost. as Philemon himself was afterwards of the neighbouring City Colosse) Aquila and Priscilla first at Rome, till Claudius banished them with the rest of the Iews from thence, Acts 18. 2. afterwards at Ephesus, ver. 19. whence S. Paul wrote that first Epistle to the Corinthians.

I am not the first (I think) who have taken these words in such a sense. Cecumenius in two or three of these places (if I understand him) goes the same way, though he mention the other Exposition also. As to that of Aquila and Priscilla, Rom. 16. his note is,aaThey were so eminently religious, as that they converted their own House into a Church. Or else it is said [The Church at their House,] because all of their houshold were Believers and faithful Christians; so that their House or Family was a little Church. Adeò virtute spectati erant, ut suam etiam domum Ecclesiam fecerint. Vel dicitur hoc, Quia omnes domestici fideles erant, ut jam Domus esset Ecclesia. He mentions as I said, both Interpretations. So upon that of Nymphas, Col. 4. his words are,bbHe was a person of great esteem, for he turned his House into a Church. Magni nominis hic vir erat, nam domum suam fecerat Ecclesiam. And unless this be the meaning, why should this appendant be so singularly mentioned in the Salutations of some, and not of others, and that not once, but again, if the same names be again remembred, as of Aquila and Priscilla? Had none in those Catalogues of Salutation Christian families, but some one only who is thus remembred? It is very improbable; nay, if we peruse them well, we p. 325shall find they had, but otherwise expressed; as in that prolix Catalogue, Rom. 16. we find Aristobulus and Narcissus saluted with their houshold, v. 10, 11. Asyncritus, Phlegon, &c. with the brethren which are with them, v. 14. others, with the Saints which are with them, v. 15. 2 Tim. 4. 19. The houshold of Onesiphorus. This therefore so singular an Appendix must mean some singular thing, not common to them with the rest, but peculiar to them alone: And what should this be but what I have shewed?

Now because this Exposition concludes chiefly for a Coenaculum devoted to be an House of Prayer; let us see if out of a Pagan writer, who lived about the end of this Centurie, we can learn what manner of ones they were. For**Or whosoever else were the Author thereof under Trajan, whose then fresh success in subduing the Parthians and Arabians (contrary to the unlucky presages of some) his scope seems to have been to gratulate. See Iacobus Mi…yllus in Argumento. Lucian in his Dialogue Philopatris, by way of derision (sed ridentem dicere verum quid vetat?) brings in one Critias telling how some Christians went about to perswade him to be of their Religion; and that they brought him to the place of their assembly, being at Hyperôon, which he describes thus;aaWe passed through iron gates and over brazen thresholds, and by many winding ascents we came at last to the house or room, whose roof was overlaid with gold, (not unlike to what Homer makes Menelaus his house to have been:) And now I beheld and observ'd all things therein; but I could see no Helena there, but on the contrary a company of persons with their bodies bowed down and pale countenances. Pertransivimus (saith he) ferreas portas & aerea limina; [foreign] multisque jam superatis scalis, in Domum aurato fastigio insignem ascendimus, qualem Homerus Menelai fingit esse: atque ipse quidem omnia contemplabar;—video autem, non Helenam, sed mehercle [foreign] viros in faciem inclinatos, & pallescentes. So he.

My third proof is from a Tradition the Church hath had, of the Houses of some 3devout and pious Christians, as afterwards, so even in the Apostles time, converted into Churches or Oratories; as the house of Theophilus, a potent man in Antioch, (the same, as is supposed, to whom S. Luke (who was also an Antiochian) inscribes both his Gospel and Acts of the Apostles) who, being converted unto the Faith by S. Peter, converted his house into a Church, where S. Peter had his first See or Episcopal Residence. This Tradition is derived out of the Recognitions of Clemens, where it is first found: Which, though it be an Apocryphal writing, yet is of no small antiquity; and this passage is of such a nature, as it cannot be well imagined to what end it should be devised or feigned.

The like is reported of the house of Pudens, a Roman Senator and Martyr, in the Acta Pudentis, That it was turned into a Church after his Martyrdom. This is that Pudens mentioned by the Apostle in the 2 Epist. to Timothy, 4. 21. and coupled with Linus; Pudens and Linus (saith he) salute you. All this comes not of nothing; but surely argues some such custom to have been in those times.

I will seal up all my proofs for this Centurie of the Apostles with one passage of 4Clemens (a man of the Apostolical Age) in his genuine**Pag. 52. Epistle ad Corinthios: Debemus omnia ritè & ordine facere quaecunque nos Dominus peragere jussit;[See this of Clemens quoted in Greek and translated by the Author, in the next Discourse, Sect. 1. toward the end.] praestitutis temporibus oblationes & liturgias obire. Neque enim temerè vel inordinatè voluit ista fieri, sed statutis temporibus & horis. VBI etiam, & A QVIBVS peragi vult, ipse excelsissimâ suâ voluntate definivit; ut religiosè omnia secundùm beneplacitum ejus adimpleta, voluntati ipsius accepta essent. Here Clemens saith expresly, That the Lord had ordained (even now in the Gospel) as well appropriate Places WHERE, as appropriate Times and Persons, (that is, Priests) When and WHEREBY he would be solemnly served, that so all things might be done religiously and in order. Who then can believe that in the Apostles times (when this Clemens lived) the Places were not distinct for holy Services as well as the Times and Persons were? or that Clemens would have spoken in this manner, unless he had known it so to have been? The Corinthians, it seems, in that their notorious sedition and discord, had violated this order; at the correction whereof this passage aimeth.

This one passage therefore makes all my former Proofs credible, and may supply their defect where they are not enough convictive. And it is the more precious, in regard of the penury of written Monuments by any Disciples of the Apostles remaining unto us of that Primitive Age.

If any man shall ask, where this Divine Ordinance which Clemens here mentioneth is to be found; I answer, in the Analogy of the Old Testament, whence this Principle is taught us, That as the Divine Majesty it self is most Sacred and Incommunicable, (the reason why the Worship and Service given unto him must be communicated with no other;) so is it likewise a part of that Honour we owe unto his most p. 326Sacred, Singular and Incommunicable Eminency, that the things wherewith he is served should not be promiscuous and common, but appropriate and set apart to that end and purpose. And thus I conclude the First Seculum.

In The Second Century.

NOW for the Second, and that too for the beginning thereof,Ab Ann. 100, ad 200. we have a witness not to be rejected, the holy Martyr Ignatius, who suffered An. 107. and 1wrote the most of his Epistles in his bonds. He in his confessed Epistle ad Magnesios speaks thus;aaThis passage out of Ignatius is thus translated by the Author in another M S. copy of this Discourse. All of you meet together, for prayer, in one place; let there be one prayer common to all, one mind, one hope, in love, in the immaculate faith in Iesus Christ, than whom nothing is better. All of you, as one man, run to the Temple of God, as to one Altar, to one Iesus Christ the High-Priest of the unbegotten God. Omnes ad orandum in idem loci convenite, una sit communis precatio, una mens, una spes in charitate & fide inculpata in Iesum Christum, quo nihil praestantius est. Omnes velut Vnus ad Templum Dei [foreign] concurrite, quemadmodum ad UNUM Altare, ad UNUM Iesum Christum Pontisicem ingeniti Dei. Lo here a Temple with an Altar in it, whether the Magnesians are exhorted to gather themselves together to pray; To come together in one Place, that so they might all joyn together in one common prayer, spirited with one intention, with one and the same Hope in the Charity and Faith they have to Christ-ward: Secondly, To come thither as One, that is, in Vnity of affection and brotherly love one towards another, as if all were but One, and not many; even as the Altar before which they presented themselves was but One, and the High-Priest and Mediatour between them and the Father, Iesus Christ, but One.

For it is to be observed that in those primitive times they had but One Altar in a Church, as a Symbole both that they worshipped but One God through One Mediatour Iesus Christ, and also of the Vnity the Church ought to have in it self: whence Ignatius, not only here, but also in his Epistle to the Philadelphians, urges the Vnity of the Altar for a monitive to the Congregation to agree together in one. For bbOne Altar to every Church, and One Bishop with the Presbytery & Deacons my fellow-servants.Vnum Altare (saith he) omni Ecclesiae, & unus Episcopus cum Presbyterio & Diaconis conservis meis. This custom of One Altar is still retained by the Greek Church. The contrary use is a transgression of the Latines, not only symbolically implying, but really introducing, (as they handle it) a foreign,1 T…m. 2. 5. or multiplying of Gods and Mediators, in stead of that One God, and One Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Iesus.

Nay more than this: It should seem that in those first times (before Dioceses were divided into those lesser and subordinate Churches we now call Parishes, and Presbyters assigned to them) they had not only one Altar in one Church or Dominicum, but one Altar to a Church, taking Church for the Company or Corporation of the Faithful united under one Bishop or Pastor; and that was in the City and place where the Bishop had his See and Residence: like as the Iews had but one Altar and Temple for the whole Nation united under one High Priest. And yet, as the Iews had their Synagogues, so perhaps might they have more Oratories than one, though their Altar were but one; there namely where the Bishop was.ccOn Sunday all that live in towns or in the country meet together in one place. Die Solis (saith Iustin Martyr in Apol. 2.) omnium, qui vel in oppidis vel ruri degunt in eundem locum conventus fit; namely, as he there tells us, to celebrate and participate the holy Eucharist. Why was this, but because they had not many places to celebrate in? And unless this were so, whence came it else that a Schismatical Bishop was saidddTo set up another Altar. constituere or collocare aliud Altare; and that a Bishop and an Altar are made correlatives? See S. Cyprian Ep. 40. 72, 73. de unitate Ecclesiae. And thus perhaps is Ignatius also to be understood in that forequoted passage of his, eeOne Altar to all the Church, and One Bishop with the Presbytery and Deacons.foreign, & unus Episcopus cum Presbyterio & Diaconis. Howsoever, I here determine nothing, but refer it to the judgment of those who are better skilled in Antiquity: only adding this, that if it were so, yet now that Parishes are divided into p. 327several Presbyteries as their proper Cures, every one of them being as it were a little Diocese, the reason and signification of Vnity is the same, to have but One Altar in a Parish Church.

To this Testimony of Ignatius of the use in his time I will add another of his, in his Epistle ad Antiochenos, where in his Salutes he speaketh thus; foreign, I salute the keepers of the Holy Doors, the Deaconisses which are in Christ; that is, the Doors the women entred in at. For so we may learn from the Compiler of the Apostolical Constitutions, Lib. 2. c. foreign. al. 61. describing a Church assembly;aaLet the Door-keepers stand at the entries of the men, looking well to them; the Deaconisses at the doors where the women were to enter. Stent ostiarii, saith he, ad introitus virorum, illos custodientes; Diaconissae ad introitus foeminarum. But if they had in Ignatius his time Holy Doors, (or, as some render it,**[Holy Porches.] sacra vestibula) who can believe also but they had Holy Houses?

This Epistle indeed is none of the confessed ones: The title is excepted against; as that Ignatius wrote no Epistle ad Antiochenos, because Eusebius, and after him S. Hierom, when they rehearse his Epistles, make no mention of any such. Yet were the Antiochians his flock, his pastoral charge. Who would not then think it unlikely that, amongst so many Epistles written to other Churches in his going that long journey from Antioch to Rome, to receive the crown of Martyrdom, (yea to Smirna, through which he had passed) he should not remember with one farewel Epistle that Church whereof he was Bishop and Pastor, as well as the rest? Thus much I dare say, That this is as strong an Argument every whit to perswade that he wrote such an Epistle, (especially there being one extant under that Title,) as Eusebius his silence (for S. Hierom did but follow his steps) is that he did not. For why should it be thought more necessary that Eusebius should have met with all the Epistles of Ignatius in the Library of AElia or Ierusalem, (whence he**Lib. 6. c. 14. al. 21. Vid. Graec. professeth to have collected the whole matter of his History,) then he did with all the Works and Commentaries of some other Ecclesiastical men whom he mentioneth; many of those Writings, besides those he rehearseth, he confesseth not to have come to his hands or knowledg either what or how many they were? See him Hist. Lib. 5. c. aaIn Graeco 27.26. & Lib. 6. c. bbIn Graeco 12.10. This will be yet more considerable, if we remember that some Books, even of the Canon of the New Testament, were not known to some Churches at the sames time with the rest, and therefore a while doubted of, after they had notice of them. Besides, it is to be noted that Eusebius in express terms undertakes only to recite those Epistles of Ignatius which he wrote as he passed through Asia: but after his coming into Europe (whence those Epistles are dated which he mentions not) whether any thing were written by him or not he informs us nothing. Nay, which is yet more, Vedelius grants the words and sentences of this Epistle to be the most of them, by their style and character, the words and sentences of Ignatius; but he would have them therefore to be taken out of some of his other Epistles, to wit, according to a new and a strange conceit of his, that the genuine Epistles of Ignatius have been robbed and gelded of much of their contents, to make up more Epistles under new Titles. He excepts only in this Epistle against the Salutations at the end thereof; because there were not so many or no suchaaforeign. Vid. Epiphan. Exposit. Eid…i cathol. c. 21. De duobus ul…imis, Const. Apol. l. 8. c. 24, 26. Church-offices in Ignatius his time as are there mentioned. But what is this else but to beg the question? Till therefore some body shall not only affirm, but prove there were no such, no not in the Church of Antioch, (bbSee Act. 11. 26. S…cr. lib. 6. c. 8. T…od, l. 2. c. 24. 2.Acts 11:26 whence divers ecclesiastical customs had their first beginning, which were afterwards imitated by the rest of the Churches) I can see no just cause hitherto why I should not believe this passage, as well as the rest, and so the whole Epistle, to have had Ignatius for its Author. And so I leave it.

2For the middle of this Seculum, or thereabouts, there are**In Tom, 1 Biblioth. Patrum edit. Paris…ns. ex Ard…ivo Viennensi. extant two short Epistles of Pius the first, Bishop of Rome, to one Iustus Viennensis; none of the Decretals, (for they are indeed counterfeit,) but others diverse from them, which no man hath yet, that I know of, proved to be supposititious. In the first whereof there is mention made of one Euprepia, a pious and devout Matron, who consigned the Title of her House unto the Church for the use of Sacred assemblies. Antequam Româ exiisses, (saith he) soror nostra Euprepia (sicut bene recordaris) titulum domûs suae pauperibus assignavit; ubi nunc cum pauperibus nostris commorantes,**The word Missa seems to have been long used in Italy before it was elsewhere. Missas agimus. He seems by pauperes, the poor, to note the Clergy, which in his other Epistle he calls Senatus pauperum, Salutat te Senatus pauperum: Otherwise the whole Christian flock might be so called; according to that in the Gospel, Pauperes Evangelizantur. The poor have the Gospel preached to them, (Matt. 11. 5. Luke 7. 22.) and that of Esa. ch. 61. 1. p. 328applied by our Saviour, Luke 4. 18. The Lord hath anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor; and according to that in the Parable, Luke 14. 21. Introduc pauperes, Bring in hither the poor. Perhaps in those perillous times they were wont to make their Donations of this kind under such covert names.

In the second Epistle to the same Iustus, he mentions certain Martyrs who had then newly (as he there speaks) triumphed over the world: amongst which he mentions one Pastor, by Office a Presbyter, who before his death had erected or created a Titulus, that is, a Church, as that name is vulgarly known to signifie: Presbyter Pastor (saith he) Titulum condidit, & dignè in Domino obiit. Why the Roman Church called such places by the name of Tituli, whether because of their dedication the the Name of Christ our Lord was as it were inscribed upon them, (as the manner then was to set the Names or Titles of the Owners upon their Houses and possessions,) and so it would concurr in notion with those other names of foreign, & Basilica, The Lord's, and The King's; or whether because they gave a Title of Cure or denomination to the Presbyters to whom they were committed, (for the chief or Episcopal Church I doubt whether it were so called or not,) let others determine.

I shall not do amiss, I think, if I add to this testimony a passage of Theophilus Antiochenus, (who lived at the same time) which though, I grant, it be indifferent to be otherwise understood, yet seems very prone to be construed for our purpose. It is to be found in his second Book ad Autolicum, where having compared the World to the Sea, he follows the Allegory thus; aaAs in the Sea there are Islands to be met with, which are commodious for habitation, fruitful and well watered, and accommodated with convenient harbors and ports for those who are distrestat Sea to repair to for their safety; so is it in the world, (which is a very troubled Sea, tempestuous and tossed by reason of sin) God hath here provid…d Synagogues, or Holy Churches, as we call them, wherein the Truth is diligently taught, and whither they repair who are lovers of the Truth, and desire in good earnest to be saved, and to escape the judgment and wrath of God.Quemadmodum (saith he) in Mari insulae quaedam prominent habitabiles, frugiferae, & quibus est aqua salubris, necnon navalia, & portus commodi, quò se naufragi reciperent; sic Deus dedit mundo, qui peccato…um tempestatibus & naufragiis jactatur, Synagogas, quas Ecclesias sanct as nominamus, [Or. foreign] in quibus veritatis doctrina fervet, ad quas confugiunt veritatis studiosi, quotquot salvari Deique judicium & iram evit are volunt. It is ambiguous what he means here by Ecclesiae, Churches: but if it were probable that Synagoga were here taken, as it is usually in the New Testament, for a Place, then might we determine that Ecclesia were so taken also, and not for a Company or Assembly only.

Well, howsoever Ecclesia be taken in this passage (which I reckon not upon,) yet thus much I am sure of, That toward the end of this Century it was used for a 3Place of Sacred assembly; witness Clemens Alexandr. (who then lived) Lib. 7. Strom. where speaking of the Church or foreign, saith he, foreign, I call not now the Place, but the congregation of the Elect, Ecclesia, the Church: whereby it appears, that in his time Ecclesiae was used for the Place of the assembly of the Elect, foreign, as he calls them, that is, of the Saints, and not for the Congregation only; for otherwise this Caution needed not. And so**Cl…m, Alex. in Opere. Quis fit ille dives qui salvetur, apud Euseb. Hist, Eccl. lib. 3. …. 17. Gr. foreign. Also in this Century undoubtedly were extant those Fabricks in the Cemeteries of S. Peter in the Vaticane, and of S. Paul in via Ost…nsi (which could be no other tha… some Christian Oratories) whereof Gains speaks in …usib. and calls Throphaea Apostolorum lib. 2. cap. 24. himself uses it in that story of the young man whom S. Iohn committed to a Bishop of Asia to be instructed and trained up in the Christian piety and discipline, and who afterwards was by ill company withdrawn to lewd and debauched courses, and became Captain of a band of robbers in the mountains: For there when S. Iohn, after a time coming again to visit the Churches, demanded of the Bishop an account of the Charge he had committed to him; the Bishop answers, He is become a villain and a robber, foreign, and now instead of the Church he hath laid hold of a Mountain, with a company like himself. To conclude, if the Name were in Clemens his time, undoubtedly the Thing was. And this is my proof for the latter end of this Centurie.

p. 329In the Third Centurie.

NOW are we arrived at the Third Seculum, and the last under the Ethnick and persecuting Emperors:Ab Anno 200. ad 300. wherein the Testimonies of the Christians Oratories do abound, and are such as will out-face any that shall dare contradict them.

For the beginning of this Centurie, Tertullian shall give in Evidence; first, in his Book De Idololatria: Where declaiming against some Christian Artificers, who because it was their occupation and trade, thought it lawful to make Idols for the Gentiles, so themselves worshipped them not, he speaks thus;aaAll the day long shall the zeal of Faith speak to this point; bewailing that a Christian should come from Idols into the CHURCH, that he should come into the HOUSE OF GOD from the shop of his enemy; that he should lift up to God the Father those hands which were the mothers (and makers) of Idols, and adore God with those very hands which (namely in respect of the Idols made by them) are adored without (the Church, viz. in the Heathens Temples) in opposition to God; and that he should presume to reach forth those hands to receive the Body of our Lord, which are imploy'd in making Bodies (that is, Images) for the Demons. [That according to the Gentiles Theology Images were as Bodies to be informed with Demons as with Souls, see the Treatise of the Apostasie of the latter Times, chap. 5. in Book. III. Totâ die ad hanc partem zelus fidei perorabit, ingemens Christianum ab Idolis in ECCLESIAM venire, de adversaria officina in DOMUMDEI venire; attollere ad Deum patrem manus matres Idolorum; his manibus adorare quae (nempe in operibus suis.) foris (1. in Templis Gentium) adversus Deum adorantur; eas manus admovere Corpori Domini quae Daemoniis corpora conferunt. Mark here, DOMUS DEI THE HOUSE OF GOD, & ECCLESIA THE CHURCH expounded by it; In Ecclesiam venire, idest, In Domum Dei venire; To come into the Church, that is, To come into the house of God; and both of them set in opposition to an Idol-shop.

Of this Domus Dei or House of God, in his Book adversus Valentinianos, cap. 2. he describes unto us the form and posture upon this occasion. He compares the Valentinian heresie, in respect of their affected secresie and reservedness in hiding the mysteries of their doctrine, to the Eleusinian Holies, whose Temple had many Curtains and doors, through which those that were to be initiated were five years in passing before they could be admitted unto the Adytum or Sacrarie where the Deity was: whereas contrariwise, he proveth out of Scripture the badge and genius of the Religion of Christ to consist in a Dove-like simplicity and openness, and accordingly had its Oratories or Houses of worship, not like that of the Eleusinian Holies, concealed with multiplicity of walls, veils, turnings and windings, but agreeable to and as it were figuring its disposition. For, Nostrae Columbae domus (saith he) simplex, etiam in editis & opertis, & ad lucem. Amat figuram Spiritûs sancti, Orientem Christi figuram. Nihil veritas erubescit, &c.bbThe house of our Dove, that is, of our Dove-like Religion, or the Catholick flock of Christ figured by the Dove. Nostrae Columbae domus, i. Domus religionis nostrae columbinae, or Catholici Christi gregis, qui Columbâ figuratur; namely, as he said a little before, Christum Columba demonstrare solita est, serpens verò tentare; meaning, as I suppose, not so much Christ personal, as Christ mystical, that is, the Disciples or Religion of Christ. For it is the conclusion of his proofs brought out of Scripture, to shew that Simplicity was the Livery of Christ's Disciples or Religion;ccIn short, The Dove is wont to point out Christ. In summa, saith he, Christum columba demonstrare solita est, &c. And otherwise, that [solita est, is wont] would scarcely be true; since Christ personal is but once pointed out by a Dove, namely, at his Baptism. This House, saith he, isddPlain, without such a multiplicity of doors and curtains. simplex, that is, sine tot portarum & sipariorum involucris: AlsoeeIn high and open places. foreign. Cyril. Hier. in edi…is & apertis, places which Doves delight in; & ad lucem, that is, toward the place whence light springeth, or the Sun rising: For Amat figuram Spiritûs sancti, that is, the Dove, as also Orientem Christi figuram; wherein be alludes to that Oriens ex alto or Day-spring from on high in Zacharie's **Luke 1. 78.Luke 1:78Benedictus, p. 330and hath reference to the word, & ad lucem, i. ad locum vel plagam lucis. For, that the Churches of Christians anciently were turned toward the East, appears by the Author of the**Lib. 2. c. 57. al. 61. Apostolical Constitutions, which surely are as ancient as Tertullian: aaLet the House be long, and built Eastward.Domus sit oblonga, ad Orientem conversa, saith he. Besides, it appears out of **Apol. c. 16.Tertullian himself, that Christians then worshipped towards the East, and therefore more than probable their Houses were sited and accommodated accordingly. Thus I have done my best to clear this passage, because the Author is crabbed and obscure.

There are two or three**De Spect. …. 25. ad Vxo…. l. 2. c. 9. De co…on. mi…t. cap. 3. De velandi… virgini…us. c. 3, & 13. more places in the same Father where the Christian Oratories are mentioned by the name of Ecclesia: but because the ambiguous and indifferent signification of this word, either for a Place or an Assembly, makes them not convictive, unless some circumstance be annexed which determines it, I will only produce that De corona Militis, Cap. 3. where concerning th… Sacrament of Baptism he speaks thus;bbComing to the Water, (to be baptized,) not only there, but also somewhat asore, in the CHURCH, under the hand of the Bishop or Priest, we take witne…s that we renounce the Devil, and his Pomp and Angels; and afterwards we are drenched thrice in the Water. Aquam a…lituri, ibidem, sed & aliquanto priùs in Ecclesia, sub Antistitis manu, contestamue nos renunciare Diabolo, & Pompae & Angelis ejus: dehinc ter mergitamur. I say, Ecclesia here signifies the Place. For the clearing whereof, know that the Baptisteries, or places of water for Baptism, in those elder times were not, as now our Fonts are, within the Church, but without, and often in places very remote from it. When therefore Tertullian here saith, That those who were to be baptized first made their Abrenunciati…n in the Church sub manu Antistitis, (that is, as I suppose, the Bishop or Priest laying hands upon them, either in the mean time, or as soon as they had done) and afterward again at the Water; he must needs by Ecclesia mean the Place: otherwise if it were taken for the Assembly of the faithful, the Church in that sense was present also at the Water. But Ecclesia here and the Water are supposed to be two distinct places; in both of which (according to the rite of the African Churches.) Abrenunciation was to be performed; Aquam adituri, IBIDEM (i. apud aquam) sed & aliquanto priùs in ECCLESIA, contestamur nos renunciare Diabolo, &c. And thus much for the testimony of Tertullian.

My next witness is Hippolitus, who flourished between the twentieth and thirtieth year of this Century in the reign of Alexander Mammeae. He, in his Treatise De consummatione mundi seu de Antichriste, describing the signs and impieties which should precede the Persecution of Antichrist, (as he conceived thereof,) hath this passage concerning the irreligion and profaneness which should then reign; ccThe Temples of God shall be as common and ordinary Houses, Churches shall be utterly demolished every where, the Scriptures shall be despised.foreign. Templa Dei domorum communium instar erunt; ubique Ecclesiarum eversiones fient, Scriptura contemnentur. And in his description of the Persecution it self, this;ddThe Sacred Edifices of Churches shall become heaps, and as a desolate lodge in an Orchard; there shall be no more Communion of the precious Body and Bloud of Christ, Liturgy shall be extinguished, Singing of Psalms shall cease, Reading of the Scriptures shall no more be heard. foreign **Ex Psal. 79. 2. & caelesis similibus, …u…ta LXX. IIebr. in …cerv… seu foreign desolationes.Ps 79:2foreign, &c. Sacrae Ecclesiarum aedes instar Pomorum custodiae erunt, pretiosúm que corpus & sanguis non exstabit in diebus illis; Liturgia extinguetur, Psalmorum decantatio cessabit, Scripturarum recitatio non audictur. No man of reason can believe but that he that speaks thus knew and was well acquainted with such Places in his own time; though his description be of that which was to be in time to come: For it would be a marvellous conceit, to think he prophesied of them, having never seen them. Nay, a prophane Testimony will further confirm us he needed not:Cap. 49. For Lampridius reports of this Alexander Mammeae, (in whose time Hippolytus lived)eeThe Christians being in possession of a certain publick place, and challenging it for theirs; and on the other side the Taverners alledging that it belong'd of right to them; the Emperor's Rescript in favour of the Christians was this, That it was better that God should be worshipt there after what way soever, than that it should be delivered and given up to the Taverners. Quòd cùm Christiani quendam locum, qui publicus fuerat, occupàssent; contrà Popinarii dicerent, sibi cum deberi; rescripsit Imperator, Melins esse ut quomodocunque illic Deus colatur, quàm Popinariis dedatur.

About the middle of this Century flourished that famous Gregorie of Neocaesarea, p. 331surnamed Thaumaturgus. He in his Epistola Canonica (as the Greeks call it) describing the five degrees or admissions of Penitents, according to the discipline of his time, (which he calls foreign) aa1. Weeping (the first degree of Penance) was without the Porch of the Oratorie, where the mournful sinners stood and beg'd of all the Faithful as they went in to pray for them. 2. Hearing (the second degree) was within the Porch, in the place called Narthex, the place where these penitent Sinners (being now under the Ferula or censure of the Church) might stand near to the Catechumens and hear the Scripture read and expounded, but were to go out before them. 3. Prostration or Lying along on the Church-pavement. These Prostrate ones were admitted somewhat further into the Church, and went out with the Catechumens. 4. Standing or Staying with the people or Congregation. These Consistentes did not go out with the Catechumenes, but after they and the other Penitents were gone out, stay'd and joyn'd in prayer with the Faithful. 5. Participation of the Sacraments.1. foreign (saith he) est extra portam foreign, ORATORII, ubi peccatorem stantem oportet Fideles ingredientes orare ut pro se precentur. 2. foreign (i. Auditio) est intra portam, in loco qui foreign dicitur, ubi oportet eum qui peccavit stare usque ad Catechumenos, & illine egredi. 3. foreign (i. Substratio) foreign NAOY foreign ut intra Templi portam consistens, cum Catechumenis egrediatur. 4. foreign (i. Congregatio seu Consistentia) est ut cum Fidelibus consistat, & cum Catechumenis non egrediatur. Postremò est foreign, participatio Sacramentorum. Who sees not here that Christians in his time had Oratories or Sacred Houses to worship in, and those accommodated with distinct places of remoter and nearer admission.

Nay, further, we find in this Gregorie's life written by Gregory Nyssen, that he was himself a great Founder and erecter of these sacred Edifices; whereof the Church built by him at Neocaesarca in Pontus (where he was Bishop) was still standing in Gregorie Nyssen's time. Hear his words, where he relates the speedy and wonderful success this Thaumaturgus had in the conversion of that City:bbHow that by becoming all things to all men, he had in a short time gained a great number of Converts through the assistance of the Divine Spirit, and that hereupon he had a strong desire to set upon the building of a Temple or Place for Sacred assemblies; wherein he was the more encouraged by the general forwardness he observed among the Converts to contribute both their moneys and their best assistances to so good a work. This is that Temple which is to be seen even at this day. This is that Temple, the erection whereof this Great person being resolved to undertake without any delay, he laid the foundation thereof (and therewithal of his Sacerdotal, i.e. Episcopal, Prefecture) in the most conspicuous place of all the City. Cùm omnibus omnia fieret, saith he, tantum sibi anxilio Spiritûs repentè populum adjunxit, ut ad Templi fabricationem animum adjiceret; (Gr. foreign) cùm omnes offerendo tam pecunias quàm operas suas studium ejus adjuvarent. Hoc est Templum quod usque hodie ostenditur; quod magnus ille Vir statim aggressus, quasi fundamentum atque foreign Sacerdotii sui (i. Episcopâtus) in maximè conspicuo urbis loco constituit. He adds besides, that whereas in his own time there had hapned a most grievous Earthquake, ccWhereas all other Houses, whether Publick or private, were overthrown by that Earthquake; this [Gregorian] Temple alone stood firm without any the least hurt.Quo omnia tam publica quam privata aedificia disjecta essent; solùm illud Templum [Gregorianum] illaesum & inconcussum mansisse.

Nor is this all; He tells in the same place how that a little before the persecution of Decius (which was Anno Christi 252.) this Thaumaturgus, having converted not the City of Neocaesar…a only, but the whole territorie adjoyning, to the Faith of Christ, foreign, the Converts pulling down their Idol-Altars and Idol-Temples, and in every place erecting foreign, Oratories in the name of Christ, stirred up the fury and indignation of the Emperour.

About the same time with this Gregory lived S. Cyprian at Carthage. He was made Bishop Anno 249. lived until 260.In him I observe the Christian Oratories twice remembred; once by the name ofddThe Lord's House. Dominicum, i. foreign, another time ofeeThe Church. Ecclesia. The first in his Book De opere & eleemosynis, speaking against communicating the holy Eucharist without an Offering; ffThinkest thou, O Matron, which art rich and wealthy in the Church of Christ, that thou dost celebrate or commemorate the Lord's Sacrifice (that is, that thou dost participate the Lord's Supper worthily as thou oughtest) who dost not at all respect (but art regardless of) the Corban; who comest into the Lord's House without a Sacrifice or Offering, nay who takest part of the poor mans Sacrifice, feedest on what he brought for his Offering, and bringest none thy self?Matrona, saith he, quae in Ecclesia Christi locuples & dives es, Dominicum (sacrificium) celebrate to credis, quae corbonam omnino non respicis, quae in Dominicum sine sacrificio venis, quae partem de sacrificio quod pauper obtulit sumis? The p. 332other in his 55. Ep. or 3. ad Cornelium; where declaiming against some lapsed Christians,Script. …n. 253. who having in time of persecution sacrificed unto Idols, would nevertheless without due penance and satisfaction be admitted again into the Church; If this be once permitted, (saith he) aaWhat then remains but that the Church should yield to the Capitol; and that, the Priests withdrawing themselves and taking away the Altar of our Lord, Images and Idol-Gods together with their Altars should succeed and take possession of the Sacrary or place proper to the sacred and venerable Bench of our Clergy?Quid superest quàm ut Ecclesia Capitolio cedat; & recedentibus Sacerdotibus ac Domininostri Altare removentibus, in Cleri nostri sacrum venerandúmque consessum (i. in Presbyterium, seu foreign) Simulacra atque Idola cum Aris suis transeant? Note that Ecclesia here and Capitolium, Christ's House and Iupiter's Temple, stand in opposition one to the other; also that Capitolium by Antonomasia is put for a Gentile Temple in general; that in the one (to wit, Ecclesia) was bbThe Altar of our Lord and the place for the sacred and venerable Bench of the Clergy.Altare Domini nostri & sacer venerandús que consessus Cleri, in the other, ccIdol-Gods and Images together with the Altars of the Devil.Idola & simulacra cum Aris Diaboli. Contemporary with S. Cyprian was that famed Dionysius Alexandrinus, made Bishop somewhat before him, but out-lived him some five years, namely until 265. There is an Epistle of his extant (which is part of the Canon-Law of the Greek Church) to one Basilides, resolving certain Quaere's of his; amongst the rest, Whether a woman, during the time of her separation, might enter into the Church or not: To which his answer is negative. This Quaere he expresseth thus; De mulieribus quae sunt in abscessu, an cas sic affect as oporteat Domum Dei ingredi, ddmight enter into the House of God.Gr. foreign. By which, and his answer thereunto, we learn not only that the Christians had then House… of Worship, but a religious respect also to difference them from common places.

And here, because the Time fitly presents it in our way, take notice, for some reason that we shall bear of ere we have done, That this of the Christians having such Houses for their devotions was a thing publickly known to the Gentiles themselves, together with the name whereby they called them: as appears by two Imperial Rescripts, the one of Galienus about the year 260. (recorded by Eusebius, Hist. lib. 7. c. 12. Gr. foreign.) which calls them foreign, Worshipping Places; which, having been a little before, in the persecution of Valerianus his Father, taken from the Christians, and then in the hands of the Gentiles, Galienus graciously restored unto them, with liberty freely to exercise their Religion. The words of the Rescript, so much of them as is needful to our purpose are these;eeThe Emperour C. P. L. Galienus to Dionysius, Pinnas, Demetrius, and the rest of the Bishops, Greeting—What I have been pleased graciously to do for the Christians, I have caused to be published throughout the world, viz. That all men should quit the Worshipping-places for the Christians use, And therefore you may make use of the Copy of my Letters, to the end ye may be secured from any future attempts to disturb you herein. Imperator Caesar Publius Licinius Galienus, &c. Dionysio, Pinnae, Demetrio, & caeteris Episcopis, Salutem. —Meae munificentiae beneficium per universum divulgari Orbem praecepi: Vt foreign, i. à locis religionis cultui dicatis discedatur. Et propterea vos mearum literarum exemplari uti poteritis, quo nemo deinceps vobis quicquam facessat molestiae, &c.

The other is of Aurelianus, De Libris Sibyllinis inspiciendis, when the Marcomanni invaded the Empire, Anno Ch. 271. recorded by Vopiscus, in these words: ffI wonder (sacred Fathers) that ye demur so long about opening and consulting the Sibyll's books; as if ye were treating (or debating this matter) in the Christians Church, and not in the Temple of all the Gods.Mirorvos, Patres sancti, (he writes to the Senate) tamdiu de aperiendis Sibyllinis dubitâsse libris; perinde quasi in Christianorum Ecclesia, non in Templo Deorum omnium, tractaretis; that is, in the Capitol, where the Senate used sometimes to sit.

Add to this, if you please, that which**Hist. Eccl. l. 7. c. 29. Gr. foreign.Sir 50:7 Eusebius relates of this Emperor, to wit, that when Paulus Samosatenus, being deposed by the Council from his Bishoprick, and Domnus chosen in his room, would not yield up the possession of the Church, foreign the matter being brought before Aurelianus the Emperor, he decrees that it should be given to those of the Sect unto whom the Bishops of p. 333Rome and Italy should send Letters of communion:aaThus was Paulus with great disgrace cast out of the Church by the Secular power. Sic demum Paulus (saith Eusebius) à seculari potestate summo cum dedecore ex Ecclesia expellitur. For that by foreign is here meant the Christians Oratorie or House of Sacred assembly at Antioch, (and not the Bishop's house, as some would have it,) appears, both because Eusebius elsewhere so uses it, as namely Lib. 8. c. ult. & Lib. 9. c. foreign. as also because he expounds himself presently by Ecclesia, when he saith, Sic Paulus summo cum dedecore à potestate seculari ex Ecclesia exigitur. For surely he meant not that he was by the secular arm cast out of the Church, as Church is taken for the Company of the Faithful, but as it signifies the Place of Sacred assembly, where this Paulus kept possession after he was deposed for Heresie by the Council.

But what need we trouble our selves thus to gather up Testimonies for the latter half of this Seculum? I have one Testimony behind which will dispatch it all at once, yea and, if need be, depose for the whole also. It is that of Eusebius in his eighth Book Hist. Eccl. in the beginning; where describing those peaceful and Halcyonian days which the Church enjoyed for many years, from the time of the Martyrdom of S. Cyprian unto that most direful persecution of Diocletian, and how wonderfully the number of Christians was advanced during that time, he speaketh on this manner: bbHow shall any one be able to express those infinite multitudes of Christians assembling in every city, those famous meetings of theirs in their Oratories or Churches? and therefore they not being content with those smaller Churches which before they had, (those their ancient Edifices not being large enough to receive so great a number) took care to erect from the very foundations fairer and more spacious ones in every city.Quomodo quisquam infinitâ illos hominum turbâ frequentatos conventus, coetuúmque in singulis urbibus congregatorum multitudinem, illustrésque in**foreign Oratoriis concursus describere valeat? Quorum causa, quum in**foreign Antiquis illis AEdificiis satis amplius loci non haberent, (vel, antiquis illis AEdificiis handquaquam amplius contenti)**foreign amplas spatiosásque in omnibus urbibus ex fundamentis erexcrunt Ecclesias. Lo here how in those Halcyonian days Christians had not only Churches or Houses of worship, but such as might then be called foreign, ancient Edifices; which how far it may reach let others judge: Secondly, That the number of Christians being grown so great that those ancient Fabricks were no longer sufficient to contain them, they erected new and more spacious ones in every City from the foundations: And all this testified by one that himself lived and saw part of those times. These sacred Edifices Diocletian and those other surrogated Emperours (which continued that direful ten-years Persecution begun by him) commanded by their Edicts to be every where demolished, as we may read in the same Eusebius at large. The like whereunto seems never to have happened in any of the former Persecutions, in which they were only taken from the Christians, but again, when the persecution ceased, for the most part restored unto them: as in the former Persecution they were by Galienus, under the name of foreign, Worshipping Places.

And thus I think I have proved by good and sufficient Testimonies, That Christians had Oratories or Churches, that is, appropriate Places for Christian worship, in every of the first three hundred years: I am well assured (whosoever be judge) long before the days of Constantine. I will add to these Authorities two or three Reasons why they must, in all likelihood, have had such Places. First, Because it is certain that in their Sacred assemblies they used then to worship and pray towards the East: which how it could be done with any order and conveniencie, is not easie to be conceived, unless we suppose the Places wherein they worshipped to have been situated and accommodated accordingly, that is, chosen and appointed to that end. Secondly, Because of their Discipline, which required distinct and regular Places in their assemblies, for theccThe Penitents, the Hearers, the Catechumens or Learners and Probationers in Christianity, and the Believers. Poenitentes, Auditores, Catechumeni, and Fideles; and therefore argueth they met not in every place promiscuously, but in Places already fitted and accommodated for that purpose.Wheresoever Ten men of Israel were, there ought to be built a Synagogue. Mai… in T…phillah. c. 11. Lastly, Because they had before their eyes an example and pattern in Proseucha's and Synagogues of the Iews, from whom their Religion had its beginning; which though as contrary to the Religion of the Empire as theirs, yet had places appropriate for the exercise thereof, wheresoever they lived dispersed among the Gentiles. Who can believe that such a pattern should not invite the Christians to an imitation of the same, p. 334though we should suppose there were no other reasons to induce them but that of ordinary convenience?

Answers to the OBIECTIONS.

I Come now to answer the ObjectionsObject. 1. brought by such as maintain the contrary opinion, which are two. First, say they, It is not likely, no not possible, they should have any such Places, living under a Pagan and persecuting State and Empire.

I answer,Answer. This Objection is already confuted by matter of Fact: For it is to be noted that the greatest and most cruel Persecutions, and the five last of the Ten, fall within the third or last Centurie; in which that Christians had Oratories or Houses of Christian worship, we have before proved by most indubitate and irrefragable Testimonies: But if in this, why not as well in the former Ages, wherein the Persecutions were, as no more in number, so far less bitter? For it is to be taken notice of, That these Persecutions were not continual, but as it were by fits; and those of the two first Centuries of no long durance; so as the Churches enjoyed long times of peace and quietness between them.

Besides, why should it seem to any one less credible that Christians should have their Oratories or Houses of worship under the Roman Empire, whilest the State thereof was yet Gentile and opposite to the Faith of Christ, than that they had them in the Kingdom of Persia, which never was Christian? For that they had them there as old as the days of Constantine, Sozomen testifieth, Lib. 2. c. 8. The occasion of the demolishing whereof by King Isdigerdes, and of that most barbarous persecution of the Christians of those Countries for thirty years together, about the year 400. Theodoret relates Lib. 5. c. 38. namely, that one Audas, out of an indiscreet and unseasonable zeal, (though otherwise a vertuous and godly Bishop) having demolished the Persians Pyraeum or Temple where the Fire was worshipped, and refusing to build it up again as was enjoyned him, the King thereupon mightily enraged, caused all the Christians Oratories or Churches in his dominions to be demolished likewise, and that horrible Persecution before mentioned to storm against them. Could the Christians find means and opportunity to erect Churches, that is, Houses for their Religion, under a Pagan government in Persia, and could they not under the Roman Empire?

The other ObjectionObject. 2. is from the Authors of Apologies against the Gentiles, Origen against Celsus, Minutius Felix, Arnobius, and Lactantius, who when the Gentiles object Atheism to the Christians, as having no**No Temples, Altars, Images. Templa, no Arae, no Simulachra; these Authors are so far from pleading they had any such, that they answer by way of Concession, not only granting they had none, but (which is more,) affirming they ought not to have, and condemning the Gentiles which had.aaCelsus (saith Origen) affirms that Christians decline the building or setting up of Altars, Images and Temples. Celsus, saith Origen, **Lib. 8. contra Celsum.ait nos Ararum & Statuarum Templorúmque fundationes fugere. Origen denies it not, but gives the reason; bbWe do indeed (saith Origen) decline the building of Temples, (not for the reason which the Gentiles suppose, but) because, we having learnt by the doctrine of Iesus Christ How God is to be worshipped and served, we think our selves obliged in conscience to avoid and abstain from all such things as under a prerence and colour of Piety do make men really impious, namely those who have erred and gone astray from the true way of worshipping God by Iesus Christ, who alone is the way of worshipping God aright, according to that most true saying of his, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.Templorum fundationes fugimus, quia ubi per Iesu Doctrinam comperimus quemadmodum colendus sit Deus, ea nos evitamus quae sub pietatis praetextu & opinione quadam impios reddant qui à vero per Iesum cultu aberrando falluntur, qui utique solus est veri cultûs via, veréque illud profatur, Ego sum Via, Veritas, & Vita.

Minutius Felix, when Caecilius objects, ccWhy do the Christians keep such ado to conceal and hide that, whatsoever it be, which they worship?—Why have they no Altars, no Temples, no Images?—unless that which they worship and keep so close were either worthy of punishment, or shameful.Cur occultare & abscondere quicquid illud quod colunt magnopere nituntur? —Cur nullas Aras habent, Templa nulla, nulla nota Simulachra? —nisi illud quod colunt & interprimunt out puniendum est, ant pudendum; p. 335brings in his Octavius answering thus, aaDo you think that we conceal what we worship, because we have neither Temples nor Altars? But I beseech you, What Image should I make for God, whenas (if we well consider it) Man himself is the lively Image of God? What Temple should I build for him, whenas the whole world, made by him, is not able to contain him? And whenas I who am but a man have a large habitation and room enough to be in, shall I think to enclose and confine so Great a Majesty within one little House? Tell me, Is not God better sanctified in our Mind and Heart? and where can we better prepare an habitation and consecrate a place for God than in the bottom of our Souls, in the inmost of our inward man?Putatis autem nos occultare quod colimus, si Delubra & Ar…s non habemus? Quod enim Simulachrum Deo fingam, cùm, si rectè existimes, sit Dei homo ipse Simulachrum? Templum quod ei exstruam, cùm totus hic mundus, ejus operâ fabricatus, eum capere non possit? & cùm homo**Al. laxiú…, latius maneam, intra unam AEdiculam vim tantae Majestatis includam? Nonne melius in nostra dedicandus est mente, in nostro imo consecrandus est pectore?

**Advers. Gent. l. 6.Arnobius: bbHerein ye are wont to charge us with most hideous impiety and irreligion, viz. That we neither build Sacred Houses or Temples to perform the Offices of religious worship in, nor make any Image or Representation of any God, nor build any kind of Altars at all.In hac consuéstis parte crimen nobis maximum impietatis affigere, quòdneque AEdes sacr as venerationis ad officia exstruamus, non Deorum alicujus Simulachrum constituamus ant formam, non **See the Difference between Altare and Ara in the Treatise of Tl… Name Altar.Altaria fabricemus, non Aras. **See the Difference between Altare and Ara in the Treatise of Tl… Name Altar.He denies none of this, but thus answers:ccFor what use of the Gods should we desire to have Temples? for what necessary purposes do we affirm these present Temples to be built, or do ye think Temples should be built anew? Templa quaerimus, in Deorum quosusus? aut in cujus rei necessitatem aut dicitis esse constructa, aut esse rursus aedificanda censetis? &c.—

**Institut. adversus Gentes, lib. 2. cap. 2.Lactantius condemns the Gentiles for having them:ddWhy do ye not lift up your eyes to Heaven? and invocating the Gods by name, sacrifice openly and in publick? Why do ye rather look to walls and wood and stone, than look up thither where ye believe the Gods to dwell? What then can Temples mean? what do Images or Altars signifie? Cur (inquit) oculos in coelum non tollitis? &, advocatis Deorum nominibus, in aperto sacrificia celebratis? Cur ad parietes & ligna & lapides potissimùm, quàm illò spectatis ubi Deos esse creditis? Quid sibi Templa? quid Arae volunt? Quid denique ipsa Simulachra? Who would now think that Christians had any Churches or Houses of worship in these Authors days?

This Objection indeed looks very big at the first sight,Answer. but it is no more but a shew, and we shall deal well enough with it. For we are to take notice, that these Authors, all four of them, lived and wrote within and after the Third Seculum was begun, and the eldest of them Minutius Felix after Tertullian; Origen after him: yea, why do I say after the Third Seculum was begun or within it? whenas two of them, Arnobius and Lactantius, lived and wrote rather after it was ended, and in the beginning of the Fourth; Arnobius in the time of the Persecution of Diocletian, Lactantius somewhat after him; for he was his Scholar, and dedicates his Institutions adversùs Gentes to Constantine the Great.

Now then remember what Authorities and Testimonies were even now produced for the Christians Oratories all that Seculum throughout, not Probabilities only, but such as are altogether irrefragable and past contradiction. This they seem not to have considered, unless they dissembled it, who so securely urge these passages, to infer a Conclusion point-blank against evidence of Fact. As for example, (I will alledge no more but what is out of possibility to be denied or eluded) Had the Christians no Oratories or Churches in Gregory Thaumaturgus his time? Had they none in S. Cyprian's? Had they none in the days of Dionysius Alexandrinus? Had they none when Galienus released their**Worshipping Places. To foreign? Had they none in those Halcyonian days whereof Eusebius speaks, when the multitude of Christians was grown so great, that foreign, the ancient Edifices were no longer able to contain their Assemblies; but that they were fain to build new and spacious Churches in every City from the foundations? Had they none when the Edict of Diocletian came forth for demolishing them? For all these were before that either Arnobius or Lactantius wrote. Let those therefore, who put so much confidence in these passages, tell us, before they conclude, how to untie this knot, and then shall say something.

What then, will you say, is the meaning of these passages? and how may they be satisfied, and this s…ruple taken off? I answer; The Gentiles in these Objections had p. 336a peculiar notion of what they called a Temple: and these Fathers and Authors, in their disputes with them, answer them according unto it. For they defined a Temple by an Idol and the inclosure of a Diety; not of the Statue or Image only, but of the Demon himself: that is, They supposed their Gods by the power of Spells and Magical consecrations to be retained and shut up in their Temples, as Birds in a Cage, or the Devil within a circle, that so their suppliants might know where to have them when they had occasion to seek unto them; and that, for such retaining or circumscribing of them in a certain Place, an Idol was necessary, as the Centre of their collocation. Thus much Origen himself will inform us in those his disputes against Celsus, as in his 3. Book pag. 135. Editionis Graeco-lat. where he describes foreign, Temples and Idols, to be places where Demons are foreign, enthroned or seated, either having preoccupied such places of themselves, foreign, or brought thither by certain Ceremonies and Magical invocations, do as it were dwell there. And again, Lib. 7. pag. 385. in fin. telling us that Demons foreign, sate in those kind of Forms and Places, (viz. Idols and Temples) foreign, &c. either lodged and confined thither by Magical consecrations, or otherwise having preoccupied the places of themselves; where they are delightfully fed and refreshed (for so the Gentiles thought) with the nidor and savour of the Sacrifices. I shall not need to produce the rest of his sayings to the same purpose; let him that will consult him further in the end of that 7. Book pag. 389. and a little before, pag. 387. in fin. To this confining of Gods in Temples (that so those that had occasion to use their help might not be to seek, but know where to find them) that also of Menander cited by Iustin Martyr, in his De Monarchia Dei, hath reference.

foreign (saith he) foreign.

—foreign.

No God pleaseth me that gads abroad,

None that leaves his house shall come in my Book.

—A just and good God ought

To tarry at home to save those that placed him.

According to this notion of a Temple, these Authors alledged grant that Christians neither had any Temples, no nor ought to have; forasmuch as the God whom they worshipped, was such a one as filled the Heaven and the Earth, and dwelt not in Temples made with hands. Acts 7. 4….Acts 7:4And because the Gentiles appropriated the name of a Temple to this notion of encloistering a Deity by an Idol; therefore the Christians of those first Ages, for the most part, abstained therefrom, especially when they had to deal with Gentiles, calling their Houses of worship Ecclesiae, or foreign, (whence is the Dutch and our English Kurk and Church) in Latine Dominica; foreign & foreign, that is, Oratories, or foreign, or foreign, or the like: seldom foreign, or Templa; that**According to this notion of Templum, Tertull. cap. 15. de Idololatria, Si Templis renunciâsti, … feceri… Tem… plum janu… tuam. Et de Corona mil. cap. 11. Ex…ubabit (nempe Christi…nus) pro Templis quibus rena… ciavit? & coeuabit il… ubi Ap…stolo non place…? id est. in Idoko. 1 Cor. 8. 10.1 Cor 8:10 appellation being grown, by the use of both sides, into a name of distinction of the Houses of Gentile Superstition from those of Christian Worship. Which that I affirm not upon bare conjecture, these Examples will make manifest. First, that of Aurelian the Emperor, before alledged, in his Epistle to the Senate. De Libris Sibyllinis inspiciendis: aaI wonder (sacred Fathers) that ye demur so long about opening and consulting the Sibyll's books; as if ye were treating (or debating this matter) in the Christians CHURCH, and not in the TEMPLE of all the Gods.Miror vos, Patres sancti, tamdiu de aperiendis Sibyllinis dubitâsse libris, perinde quasi in Christianorum ECCLESIA, non in TEMPLO Deorum omnium, tractaretis. And that of Zeno Veronensis, in his Sermon de Continentia: bbLet us propound the case, and suppose (as it often comes to pass) that the performance of these different Religions may fall out upon one and the same day, wherein thou (being a Christian) must go to the CHURCH, and he (thy Husband, a Gentile) must at the same time repair to the TEMPLES.Proponamus itaque, ut saepe contingit, in unum sibi convenire diversae religionis diem, quo tibi ECCLESIA, illi adeunda sint TEMPLA. (He speaks of a Christian woman married to a Gentile.) That also of S. Hierom, in in his Epistle ad Riparium, saying of Iulian p. 337the Apostate,aaThat he either destroyed the Churches of the Saints, or else turned them into Temples. Quòd Sanctorum BASILICAS aut destruxerit, aut in TEMPLA converterit. Thus they spake when they would distinguish: Otherwise, now and then, the Christian Fathers use the word foreign or Templum for Ecclesia; but respecting the Temple of the true God at Ierusalem, not the notion of the Gentiles.

That this Answer is true and genuine, I prove, first, Because the Gentiles themselves, 1who objected this want to the Christians, neither were nor could be ignorant that they had Oratories where they performed their Christian service; when they were so notoriously known (as we saw before) to the Emperors Galienus and Aurelian, and a controversie about one of them referred unto the latter; when also the Emperor's Edicts flew about in every City for demolishing them. Why therefore do they object in this manner, but because, for the defect of something they thought thereto necessary, they esteemed not those Oratories for Temples?

Secondly, Because in that dispute between Origen and Celsus it is supposed by both 2that the Persians and Iews were, as concerning this matter, in like condition with the Christians, neither of both enduring to worship their Gods in Temples. Hear Origen speak, Lib. 7. p. 385, 386.bbAlthough the Scythians, the Numidians in Africk, and the irreligious or Athe…stical Seres (as Celsus characterizes them) besides other Nations—yea and the Persians too cannot endure TEMPLES, ALTARS and STATUES or IMAGES; yet is not their and our averseness from these things founded upon the same Grounds and Considerations. And a little after (saith Origen,) Among those that are averse from worshipping the Deity in and by ALTARS, TEMPLES and IMAGES, the Scythians, Numidians, and the irreligious Seres and the Persians also go upon other Grounds and Principles, than the Christians and Iews, who hold it utterly unlawful to worship God after that manner. For none of those Nations is averse from erecting and setting up Temples, Altars and Images upon this account, as being apprehensive of that unworthy Hypothesis and notion of the other Gentiles, who supposed that the Demons were enclosed and shut up fast in certain Places (viz.) Temples and Images, being either confined thither by Magical Spells, or else having preoccupied such places of themselves, where they did greedily feed and feast themselves with the Nidour and Savour of the Sacrifices. But now Christians, and also the Iews, are utterly averse from such things, out of a conscientious respect to that in the Law. (Deuter. 6. 13.) Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve, as also in obedience to that in the Decalogue, Thou shalt have no other Gods but me; and again, Thou shalt not make to thy self any Image, &c.Deut 6:13 Licet Scythae Afríque Numidae, &**foreign impii Seres, ut Celsus ait, aliaeque gentes, atque etiam Persae**foreign aversentur TEMPLA, ARAS, STATVAS; non candem aversandi causam esse illis & nobis: and a little after; Inter abhorrentes**foreign ab ARARVM, TEMPLORVM, STATVARVM ceremoniis, Scythae, Numidae, impiíque Seres & Persae aliis moventur rationibus quàm Christiani & Iudaei, quibus religio est sic numen colere. Illarum enim gentium nemo ab his alienus est—quòd intelligat, Daemonas DEVINCTOS haerere CERTIS LOCIS & STATVIS, sive incantatos quibusdam magicis carminibus, sive aliàs incubantes locis semel praeoccupatis, ubi lurconum more se oblectant victimarum nidoribus.—Caeterùm Christiani homines & Iudaei sibi temperant ab his, propter illud, Legis, Dominum Deum tuum timebis, & ipsi soli servies; item propter illud, Non erunt tibi alieni Dii praeter me; &, Non facies tibiipsi simulacrum, &c. Lo here, it is all one with Origen to have Templa, as to worship **So with Tertullian, in the places before alledged in the margin, Renunciôsse Templis dicitur, qui Idolis.other Gods: as it was a little before with Minutius Felix his Octavius (if you mark it) to have Delnbra & Simulacra.

Yet certainly neither Celsus nor Origen, whatsoever they here say of the Persians and Iews, were ignorant that the Persians had their**Strabo li. 15. in appeud, ad Herodot. Theodo…et li. 5. c. 38. Yea se… de foreign N… nae…e in Elymaide Persidis. 1 Mac. 6. 2. 2 Mac. 1. 13.1 Macc 6:22 Macc 1:13 Pyraea or Pyrathaea, (Houses where the Fire was worshipped) though‖‖… foreign, not foreign. without Images or Statues; also that the Iews had both then, and also formerly, their Synagogues and Proseuchae in the places and Countries where they were dispersed; and once a most glorious and magnificent Temple or Sanctuary: Ergo, by Temples they understand not Houses of prayer and religious rites in the general; but foreign, Places where Demons were incloistered by the position of an Idol or consecrated Statue. And here let me add (because it is not impertinent) what I have observed in reading the Itinerarium of Benjamin Tudelensis the Iew; namely, that he expresses constantly after this manner the Oratories of Iews, Turks and Christians by differing names: those of the Iews he calls foreign, i. Houses of assembly or Synagogues; the Turkish Mosquees foreign Houses of prayer; but the Christian Churches, because of Images, (yea that renowned Church of S. Sophie it self) he called always foreign BAMOTH, the name of the Idol-Temples in the Old Testament, which we translate High-places. This I note for an example of p. 338that proneness in Religions of a contrary Rite thus to distinguish, as other things, so their Places of worship, by diversity of names, though they communicate in the same common nature and use.

3Thirdly, That the Answer I have given to these objected passages is genuine, I prove, Because some of these Authors acknowledge elsewhere that Christians had Houses of Sacred worship in their time. As namely Arnobius (whose words were as pressing as any of the rest, yet) in the self-same Books acknowledges the Christian Oratories by the name of CONVENTICULA or Meeting-places; by that name endeavouring, I suppose, to express the Greek word foreign. The place is about the end of his fourth Book adversùs Gentes: aaIf there were in you any zeal for your Religion, (any just indignation against what doth manifestly dishonour, it) ye ought rather to burn those Books and Writings of your Poets so full of prophane fables and fictions of your Gods, and to throw down those Theatres wherein the Gods are every day openly dishonoured by your Poets shameful tales and contumelious fictions of them. But as for our Sacred Writings (i. the Books of Scripture.) how did they deserve to be burnt? and why were our Meeting-Places so furiously demolished? wherein the most High God was prayed unto, Peace and Mercy was prayed for in the behalf of all men, Magistrates, Armies, Kings, Friends, Enemies, those that are alive, and those that are loosed from the bonds of these gross earthly Bodies.Quòd si haberet vos (saith he) aliqua vestris pro religionibus indignatio, has potiùs literas, (he means the Poets absurd and blasphemous fictions and tales of their Gods,) hos exurere debuistis olim libros; demoliri, dissolvere Theatra haec potiùs, in quibus infamiae numinum propudiosis quotidie publicantur in fabulis, (of this their scurrilous dishonouring of their Gods upon the Stage he had spoken much before.) Nam nostra quidem scripta cur ignibus meruerint dari? cur immaniter CONVENTICVLA dirui? in quibus**Liturgiae Christianae des…ipi…. summus oratur Deus, pax cunctis & venia postulatur, Magistratibus, Exercitibus, Regibus, Familiaribus, Inimicis, adhuc vitam degentibus, & resolutis corporum vinctione, &c. He alludes unto the burning of the Books of Scripture and demolition of the Christians Oratories by Diocletian; of which see Eusebius, Lib. 8. c. 2. And know from hence when Arnobius wrote.

Nay Origen himself, one of the first brought to depose against us, (if Rufinus his Translator deserve my credit) will in his Homily upon the 9. chap. of Iosua testifie both for Churches and Altars among Christians in his time. For thus he allegorizeth there the story of the Gibeonites, whose lives Iosua and the Elders spared, but gave them no better entertainment than to be hewers of wood and drawers of water for the Congregation and for the Altar of the Lord:bbThere are a sort of men in the Church that believe and have faith in God, that assent to all Divine precepts, who are also very officious toward the servants of God, and are ready to serve them; yea and are exceeding ready and forward to the adorning of the CHURCH and the service thereof: But yet all this while, as to their actions and the course of their lives and conversations, they are altogether engaged and entangled in sin and filthiness; they care not at all put off the old man with his deeds. [Col. 3. 9.] but keep on their old dress and habit, their old sins and filthinesses, just as these Gibeoconites came to Iosua with their old shooes on their feet and in their old garments. Now these men, (setting this aside, that they profess to believe in God, and seem to be devoutly affected towards the servants of God and the adorning of the CHURCH) what do they do? even nothing at all towards inward reformation and real amendment of their lives—And a little after (saith Origen,) But here we are to know, (that which we are taught from what is shadowed out by these and the like Figures and Types in the Old Testament, particularly from this History of the Gibeonites,) That if their be any such Christians among us, whose Faith signifies only thus much and goes no further than this, viz. That they come duly to the CHURCH, and bow their heads to the Priests, perform their duties, honour the servants o, God, and withal contribute something to the adorning of the ALTAR or the CHURCH; and yet do not seriously endeavour to reform and amend their lives and actions, and leaving off their former vices, to follow after chastity and purity, nor labour in good earnest to subdue their anger, their covetousness, and that ravenous disposition in them, unsatisfiedly and greedily catching at more and more still;—If (I say) there be any such, let them know this and consider it. That as for all such Christians as these, who mind not to amend their ways, to reform themselves, but even to their old age continue in their sins, our Lord Iesus (of whom Iosua was a Type) will give them their part and portion with the Gibeonites.Col 3:9 Sunt quidam in Ecclesia (saith he)**I…. 2. 1…. …. credentes quidem, & habentes sidem in Deum, & acquiescentes in omnibus divinis praeceptis, quíque etiam erga servos Dei religiosi sunt & servire eis cupiunt; sed & ad ornatum ECCLESIAE vel ministerium satis prompti paratíque sunt: in actibus verò suis & conversatione propria, obscoenitatibus & vitiis involuti; nec omnino deponentes veterem hominem cum actibus suis, sed involuti vetustis vitiis & obscoenitatibus suis, si…ut & isti (i. Gabaonitae) pannis & calceamentis veteribus obtecti: praeter hoc, quòd in Deum credunt, & erga servos Dei vel ECCLESIAE cultum (i. ornatum) videntur esse devoti, nihil adhibent emendationis vel innovationis in mores, &c. And a little after; Veruntamen sciendum est, quantum ex hujuscemodi figurarum adumbrationibus edocemur, quòd si qui tales sunt in nobis, quorum fides hoc tantummodo habet, ut ad ECCLESIAM veniant, & inclinent caput suum sacerdotibus, (mark here a custom) officia exhibeant, servos Dei p. 339honorent, ad ornatum quoque ALTARIS vel ECCLESIAE aliquid conserant, non tamen adhibent studium ut etiam mores suos excolant, actus emendent, vitia deponant, castitatem colant, iracundiam mitigent, avaritiam reprimant, rapacitatem refraenent;—sciant, sibi, qui tales sunt, qui emendare se nolunt, sed in his usque in senectutem ultimam perseverant, partem sortémque ab Iesu Domino cum Gabionitis esse tribuendam.

Thus Origen by his Interpreter. And if any where Rufinus may be trusted, sure he may in this; forasmuch as in his Peroration in Epist. ad Romanos he hath given us his word, that in his translation of this and the next Book he took not his wonted liberty to insert or alter any thing, but simply expressed every thing as he found it. Hear his words;aaAs to what we have written upon Iosua the son of Nave or Nun, as also upon the Book of Iudges, and upon Psal. 36, and 37, and 38. we have simply expressed every thing therein as we found it in Origen, whose Comments upon these parts of Scripture we translated without any great labour.Ps 36 Illa (saith he) quae in Iesu Nave & in Iudicum librum & in 36, 37, & 38. Psalm. scripsimus, simpliciter expressimus ut invenimus, & non multo cum labore transtulimus. Vide locum & Erasmi Censuram Lib. Origen. Besides, he that but considers the matter together with the brevity of this Homily, cannot see a possibility how these passages can be an addition or supplement of the Translator's, unless he made the whole Homily; because the contents of them are the only argument thereof, and being taken from it nothing would be remaining.

Lastly, Because the fore-alledged words of Lactantius are so usually brought against us, though they be nothing urgent, and his time be altogether repugnant to any such inference; yet absolutely to take away all scruple, let us hear him also, Instit. Lib. 5. c. 2. expresly giving evidence for us, and that even by the name of Templum. bbAs I was teaching Oratory in Bithynia, (whither I was sent for and called to that end,) at which time also it fell out that the Temple of God was thrown down; there were two then upon the place that infulted, whether more proudly or importunely I know not, over the Christian Verity then in a low and afflicted condition.Ego (saith he) cum in Bithynia literas oratorias accitus docerem, contigissét que eodem tempore ut Dei Templum everteretur; duo exstiterunt ibidem, qui jacenti atque objectae veritati, (the Christian verity) nescio utrùm superbiùs an importunius, insultârunt. See the rest which follows. This was when the Edict of Diocletian came forth for the demolishing of the Christian Churches.

And thus having removed that stumbling-stone which hath been the main inducement to the contrary opinion, so prejudicial to those works of religious bounty and piety; I hope my Proofs will find the freer passage with those of understanding and judgment, to whose pious consideration I have devoted this my Discourse.