Imprimatur ,

Hic Liber ( cui Titulus APOSTOLICI , &c. )

יהוה Hi sunt , qui venerunt de tribulatione magna .

APOSTOLICI or The Lives of the Primitive Fathers for the three first Ages of the Christian Church , By WILLIAM CAVE , D.D. Caplain in ordinary to his Majesty .

London Printed for Ric: Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St Pauls Churhyard , 1677

IT is not the least argument for the spiritual and incorporeal Nature of humane souls , and that they are acted by a higher principle then meer Matter and Motion , their boundless and inquisitive re-searches after knowledge . Our minds naturally grasp at a kind of Omnisciency , and not content with the speculations of this or that particular Science , hunt over the whole course of Nature ; nor are they satisfied with the present state of things , but pursue the notices of former Ages , and are desirous to comprehend whatever transactions have been since Time it self had a Being . We endeavour to make up the shortness of our lives by the extent of our knowledge ; and because we cannot see forwards and spy what lies concealed in the Womb of Futurity , we look back , and eagerly trace the Footsteps of those Times that went before us . Indeed to be ignorant of what happened before we our selves came into the World , In Orator● pag. 268. is ( as Cicero truly observes ) to be always children , and to deprive our selves of what would at once entertain our minds with the highest pleasure , and add the greatest authority and advantage to us . The knowledge of Antiquity , besides that it gratifies one of our noblest curiosities , improves our minds by the wisdom of preceding Ages , acquaints us with the most remarkable occurrences of the Divine Providence , and presents us with the most apt and proper rules and instances that may form us to a life of true Philosophy and Vertue ; Ap. Dio● Hali● . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . p. ●5 . Tem. 2. History ( says Thucydides ) being nothing else but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , Philosophy drawn from Examples : the one is a more gross and popular Philosophy , the other a more subtle and refined History .

These considerations , together with a desire to perpetuate the memory of brave and great Actions , gave birth to History , and obliged mankind to transmit the more observable passages both of their own and foregoing Times to the notice of Posterity . The first in this kind was Moses , the great Prince and Legislator of the Jewish Nation , who from the Creation of the World conveyed down the Records of above MMDL . years ; the same course being more or less continued through all the periods of the Jewish State . Among the Babylonians they had their public Archives , which were transcribed by Berosus the Priest of Belus , who composed the Chaldean History . The Egyptians were wont to record their memorable Acts upon Pillars in Hieroglyphic notes and sacred Characters , first begun ( as they pretend ) by Thouth , or the first of their Mercuries ; out of which Manethos their Chief Priest collected his three Books of Egyptian Dynasties , which he dedicated to Ptolomy Philadelphus , second of that line . The Phoenician History was first attempted by Sanchoniathon , digested partly out of the Annals of Cities , partly out of the Books kept in the Temple , and communicated to him by Jerombaal Priest of the God Jao : this he dedicated to Abibalus King of Berytus , which Philo Byblius about the time of the Emperour Adrian translated into Greek . The Greeks boast of the Antiquity of Cadmus , Archilochus , and many others , though the most ancient of their Historians now extant , are Herodotus , Thucydides , and Xenophon . Among the Romans the foundations of History were laid in Annals , the public Acts of every year being made up by the Pontifex Maximus , who kept them at his own house , that the people upon any emergency might resort to them for satisfaction . These were the Annales Maximi , and afforded excellent materials to those who afterwards wrote the History of that great and powerful Commonwealth .

But that which of all others challenges the greatest regard both as it more immediately concerns the present enquiry , and as it contains accounts of things relating to our biggest interests , is the History of the Church . For herein , as in a Glass , we have the true face of the Church in its several Ages represented to us . Here we find with what infinite care those Divine Records , which are the great instruments of our eternal happiness , have through the several periods of time been conveyed down to us ; with what a mighty success Religion has triumphed over the greatest oppositions , and spread its Banners in the remotest corners of the World . With how incomparable a zeal good men have contended earnestly for that Faith which was once delivered to the Saints ; with what a bitter and implacable fury the Enemies of Religion have set upon it , and how signally the Divine Providence has appeared in its preservation , and returned the mischief upon their own heads . Here we see the constant succession of Bishops and the Ministers of Religion in their several stations , the glorious company of the Apostles , the goodly fellowship of the Prophets , the noble Army of Martyrs , who with the most chearful and composed minds have gone to Heaven through the acutest torments . In short , we have here the most admirable examples of a divine and religious Life , of a real and unfeigned Piety , a sincere and universal Charity , a strict Temperance and Sobriety , an unconquerable Patience and Submission clearly represented to us . And the higher we go , the more illustrious are the instances of Piety and Vertue . For however later Ages may have improved in knowledge , Experience daily making new additions to Arts and Sciences , yet former Times were most eminent for the practice and vertues of a holy life . The Divine Laws while newly published , had a stronger influence upon the minds of men , and the spirit of Religion was more active and vigorous , till men by degrees began to be debauched into that impiety and prophaneness , that in these last Times has over-run the World .

It were altogether needless and improper for me to consider what Records there are of the state of the Church before our Saviours Incarnation : it is sufficient to my purpose to enquire by what hands the first affairs of the Christian Church have been transmitted to us . As for the Life and Death , the Actions and Miracles of our Saviour , and some of the first acts of his Apostles , they are fully represented by the Evangelical Historians . Indeed immediately after them we meet with nothing of this nature , H. E●cl . l. 3. c. 24. p. 94. the Apostles and their immediate Successors ( as Eusebius observes ) not being at leisure to write many Books , as being imployed in Ministeries greater and more immediately serviceable to the World . The first that engaged in this way , was Hegesippus , an ancient and Apostolic man ( as he in Photius stiles him ) an Hebrew by descent , Cod. 232. col. 893. and born ( as is probable ) in Palestin . He flourished principally in the reign of M. Aurelius , and came to Rome in the time of Ancietus , where he resided till the time of Eleutherius . He wrote five Books of Ecclesiastical History , which he stiled , Commentaries of the Acts of the Church , wherein in a plain and familiar stile he described the Apostles Travels and Preachings , the remarkable passages of the Church , the several Schisms , Heresies , and Persecutions that infested it from our Lords death till his own time . But these , alas , are long since lost . The next that succeeded in this Province , though the first that reduced it to any exactness and perfection , was Eusebius . He was born in Palestin , about the later times of the Emperour Gallienus , ordained Presbyter by Agapius Bishop of Caesarea , who suffering about the end of the Dioclesian Persecution , Eusebius succeeded in his See . A man of incomparable parts and learning , and of no less industry and diligence in searching out the Records and Antiquities of the Church . After several other Volumes in defence of the Christian Cause against the assaults both of Jews and Gentiles , he set himself to write an Ecclesiastical History , Lib. 1. c. 1. p. 3. wherein he designed ( as himself tells us ) to recount from the birth of our Lord till his time the most memorable Transactions of the Church , the Apostolical successions , the first Preachers and Planters of the Gospel , the Bishops that presided in the most eminent Sees , the most noted Errours and Heresies , the calamities that befel the Jewish State , the attempts and Persecutions made against the Christians by the Powers of the World , the torments and sufferings of the Martyrs , and the blessed and happy period that was put to them by the conversion of Constantine the Great . All this accordingly , he digested in Ten Book , which he composed in the declining part of his life , Praefat. de Vit. & Script . Euseb. and ( as Valesius conjectures ) some years after the Council of Nice , though when not long before he expresly affirms that History to have been written before the Nicene Synod , how he can herein be excused from a palpable contradiction , I cannot imagine . 'T is true Eusebius takes no notice of that Council , but that might be partly because he designed to end in that joyful and prosperous Scene of things , which Constantine restored to the Church ( as he himself plainly intimates in the beginning of his History , ) which he was not willing to discompose with the controversies and contentions of that Synod , according to the humour of all Historians , who delight to shut up their Histories with some happy and successful period ; and partly because he intended to give some account of the affairs of that Council in his Book of the Life of Constantine the Great .

The Materials wherewith he was furnished for this great undertaking ( which he complains were very small and inconsiderable ) were besides Hegesippus his Commentaries then extant , Africanus his Chronology , the Books and Writings of several Fathers , the Records of particular Cities , Ecclesiastical Epistles written by the Bishops of those Times , and kept in the Archives of their several Churches , especially that famous Library at Jerusalem , erected by Alexander Bishop of that place , but chiefly the Acts of the Martyrs , which in those Times were taken at large with great care and accuracy . These , at least a great many of them , Eusebius collected into one Volume , under the Title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , A Collection of the Ancient Martyrdoms ; which he refers to at every turn ; besides a particular Narrative which he wrote ( still extant as an Appendage to the Eighth Book of his Ecclesiastical History ) concerning the Martyrs that suffered in Palestin . A great part of these Acts by the negligence and unfaithfulness of succeeding Times , were interpolated and corrupted , especially in the darker and more undiscerning Ages , when Superstition had overspread the Church , and when Ignorance and Interest conspired to fill the World with idle and improbable Stories , and men took what liberty they pleased in venting the issue of their own Brains , insomuch that some of the more wise and moderate even of the Roman Communion have complained not without a just resentment and indignation , that Laertius has written the Lives of Philosophers with more truth and chastness , then many have done the Lives of the Saints . Upon this account a great and general out-cry has been made against Simeon Metaphrastes , as the Father of incredible Legends , and one that has notoriously imposed upon the World by the most fabulous reports . Nay , some to reflect the more disgrace upon him , have represented him as a petty Schoolmaster . A charge , in my mind , rash and inconsiderate , and in a great measure groundless and uncharitable . He was a person of very considerable birth and fortunes , advanced to the highest Honours and Offices , one of the Primier Ministers of State , and as is probable , Great Chancellor to the Emperour of Constantinople ; learned and eloquent above the common standard , and who by the persuasions not onely of some great ones of that time ( he flourished under Leo the Wise about the Year DCCCC . but principally wrote under the reign of his successor ) but of the Emperour himself was prevailed with to reduce the Lives of the Saints into order . To which end by his own infinite labour , and the no less expences of the Emperour , he ransacked the Libraries of the Empire , till he had amassed a vast heap of Volumes . The more ancient Acts he passed without any considerable alteration , more then the correcting them by a collation of several Copies , and the enlarging some circumstances to render them more plain and easie , as appears by comparing some that are extant at this day . Where Lives were confused and immethodical , or written in a stile rude and barbarous , he digested the history into order , and clothed it in more polite and elegant language . Others that were defective in neither , he left as they were , and gave them place amongst his own . So that I see no reason for so severe a censure , unless it were evident , that he took his accounts of things not from the Writings of those that had gone before him , but forged them of his own head . Not to say that things have been made much worse by Translations , seldom appearing in any but the dress of the Latine Church , and that many Lives are laid at his door , of which he never was the Father , it being usual with some , when they met with the Life of a Saint , the Author whereof they knew not , presently to fasten it upon Metaphrastes . But to return to Eusebius , from whom we have digressed .

His Ecclesiastical History , the almost onely remaining Records of the ancient Church , deserves a just esteem and veneration , without which those very fragments of Antiquity had been lost , which by this means have escaped the common Shipwrack . And indeed S. Hierom , Nicephorus , and the rest do not onely build upon his foundation , but almost entirely derive their materials from him . As for Socrates , Sozomen , Theodorit , and the later Historians , they relate to Times without the limits of my present business , generally conveying down little more then the History of their own Times , the Church History of those more early Ages being either quite neglected , or very negligently managed . The first that to any purpose broke the ice after the Reformation , were the Centuriators of Magdeburg , a combination of learned and industrious men , the chief of whom were John Wigandus , Matth. Judex , Basilius Faber , Andreas Corvinus , but especially Matth. Flaccius Illyricus , who was the very soul of the undertaking . They set themselves to traverse the Writings of the Fathers , and all the ancient Monuments of the Church , collecting whatever made to their purpose , which with indefatigable pains they digested into an Ecclesiastic History . This they divided into Centuries , and each Century into fifteen Chapters , into each of which , as into its proper Classis and Repository , they reduced whatever concerned the propagation of Religion , the Peace or Persecutions of the Christians , the Doctrines of the Church , and the Heresies that arose in it , the Rites and Ceremonies , the Government , Schisms , Councils , Bishops , and persons noted either for Religion or Learning , Heretics , Martyrs , Miracles , the state of the Jews , the Religion of them that were without , and the political revolutions of that Age. A method accurate and useful , and which administers to a very distinct and particular understanding the affairs of the Church . The four first Centuries were finished in the City of Magdeburg , the rest elsewhere . A work of prodigious diligence and singular use . True it is , that it labours under some faults and imperfections , and is chargeable with considerable errours and mistakes . And no wonder : for besides that , the Persons themselves may be supposed to have been sometimes betraid into an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the heats and contentions of those Times , it was the first attempt in this kind , and which never passed the emendations of a second review ; an undertaking vast and diffusive , and engaged in , while Books were yet more scarce and less correct . Accordingly they modestly enough confess , Praefat. in Hist. Eccles. praefix. Cent. I. that they rather attempted a delineation of Church-History , then one that was compleat and absolute , desiring onely to minister opportunity to those , who were able and willing to furnish out one more intire and perfect . And yet take it with all the faults and disadvantages that can be charged upon it , and they bear no proportion to the usefulness and excellency of the thing it self .

No sooner did this work come abroad , but it made a loud noise and bustle at Rome , as wherein the corruptions and innovations of that Church were sufficiently exposed and laid open to the World . Accordingly it was necessary that an Antidote should be provided against it . For which purpose Philip Nereus ( who had lately founded the Oratorian Order at Rome ) commands Baronius , then a very young man , and newly entered into the Congregation , to undertake it , and in order thereunto , daily to read nothing but Ecclesiastical Lectures in the Oratory . This course he held for thirty years together , seven several times going over the History of the Church . Thus trained up , and abundantly furnished with fit materials , he sets upon the Work it self , which he disposed by way of Annals , comprising the affairs of whole Christian World in the orderly series and succession of every year . A method much more Natural and Historical then that of the Centuries . A noble design , and which it were injustice to defraud of its due praise and commendation , as wherein besides whatever occurrences that concern the state of the Church , reduced ( as far as his skill in Chronology could enable him ) under their proper periods , he has brought to light many passages of the Ancients , not known before , peculiarly advantaged herein by the many noble Libraries that are at Rome . A Monument of incredible pains and labour , as which besides the difficulties of the thing it self , was entirely carried on by his single endeavours , and written all with his own hand , and that too in the midst of infinite avocations , the distractions of a Parish-Cure , the private affairs of his own Oratory , Preaching , hearing Confessions , writing other Books , not to mention the many troublesom , though honourable Offices and Imployments , which in the course of the Work were heaped upon him . In short , a Work it was by which he had infinitely more obliged the World , then can be well expressed , had he managed it with as much faithfulness and impartiality as he has done with learning and industry . But alas , too evident it is , that he designed not so much the advancement of Truth , as the honour and interest of a Cause , and therefore drew the face of the ancient Church , not as Antiquity truly represents it , but according to the present form and complexion of the Church of Rome , forcing everything to look that way , to justifie the traditions and practises , and to exalt the super-eminent power and grandeur of that Church , making both the Scepter and the Crosier stoop to the Triple Crown . This is that that runs almost through every page , and indeed both he * * Epist. Ded. ad Sixt. V. Tom. 1. Annal. praefix . himself , and the † † Hier. Barnab . de vit. Baron . l. 1. c. 18. p. 40. c. 19. p. 43. Writer of his Life , more then once , expresly affirms , that his design was to defend the Traditions , and to preserve the Dignity of that Church against the late Innovators , and the labours of the Magdeburgensian Centuriators , and that the opposing of them was the occasion of that Work . So fatally does partiality and the interest of a Cause spoil the most brave and generous . Undertakings .

What has been hitherto Prefaced , the Reader , I hope , will not censure as an unprofitable digression , nor think it altogether unsuitable to the present Work , whereof 't is like he will expect some short account . Being some time since engaged , I know not how , in searching after the Antiquities of the Apostolic Age , I was then strongly importuned to have carried on the design for some of the succeeding Ages . This I then wholly laid aside , without any further thoughts of re-assuming it . For experience had made me sufficiently sensible of the difficulty of the thing , and I well foresaw how almost impossible it was to be managed to any tolerable satisfaction ; so small and inconsiderable , so broken and imperfect are the accounts that are left us of those early times . Notwithstanding which , I have once more suffered my self to be engaged in it , and have endeavoured to hunt out , and gather together those Ruines of Primitive Story that yet remain , that I might do what honour I was able to the memory of those brave and worthy men , who were so instrumental to plant Christianity in the World , to seal it with their blood , and to oblige Posterity by those excellent Monuments of Learning and Piety which they left behind them . I have bounded my account within the first three hundred years , notwithstanding the barrenness and obscurity of those Ages of the Church . Had I consulted my own ease or credit , I should have commenced my design from that time which is the period of my present Undertaking , viz. the following Saeculum , when Christianity became the Religion of the Empire , and the Records of the Church furnish us with large and plentiful materials for such a Work . But I confess my humour and inclination led me to the first and best Ages of Religion , the Memoires whereof I have picked up , and thereby enabled my self to draw the lineaments of as many of those Apostolical persons , as concerning whom I could retrive any considerable notices and accounts of things . With what success , the Reader must judge : with whom what entertainment it will find , I know not , nor am I much sollicitous . I have done what I could , and am not conscious to my self , that I have been wanting in any point either of Fidelity or Care . If there be fewer persons here described then the space of almost three hundred years may seem to promise , and less said concerning some of them then the Reader does expect , he will I presume be more just and charitable , then to charge it upon me , but rather impute it to the unhappy fate of so many ancient Records as have been lost through the carelessness and unfaithfulness of succeeding Times . As far as my mean abilities do reach , and the nature of the thing will admit , I have endeavoured the Readers satisfaction ; and though I pretend not to present him an exact Church-History of those Times , yet I think I may without vanity assure him , that there is scarce any material passage of Church-Antiquity , of which in some of these Lives he will not find a competent and reasonable account . Nor is the History of those Ages maimed and lame onely in its main limbs and parts , but ( what is greatly to be bewailed ) purblind and defective in its eyes , I mean , confused and uncertain in point of Chronology . The greatest part of what we have is from Eusebius , in whose account of Times some things are false , more uncertain , and the whole the worse for passing through other hands after his . Indeed next to the recovering the lost portions of Antiquity , I know nothing would be more acceptable , then the setting right the disjointed Frame of those Times : a Cure , which which we hope for shortly from a very able hand . In the mean time for my own part , and so far as may be useful to the purposes of the following Papers , I have by the best measures I could take in some hast , drawn up a Chronology of these three Ages , which though it pretends not to the utmost exactness and accuracy that is due to a matter of this nature , yet it will serve however to give a quick and present prospect of things , and to shew the connexure and concurrence of Ecclesiastical Affairs with the Times of the Roman Empire . So far as I follow Eusebius , I principally rely upon the accounts given in his History , which being written after his Chronicon , may be supposed the issue of his more exact researches , and to have passed the judgment of his riper and more considering thoughts . And perhaps the Reader will say ( and I confess I am somewhat of his mind ) had I observed the same rule towards these Papers , he had never been troubled with them . But that is too late now to be recalled ; and 't is folly to bewail what is impossible to be remedied .