SCCL ^0^wms^ ncTll ^^0 . NA ZJ RE NU S: O R, Jemjh-, Gentile^ and Mahometan CHRISTIANITY. CONTAINING The hiftoiy of the anticnt Gospel of Barnabas^ and the modem Gospel of the Mahome- tans, attributed to the fame Apostle: this kit Gospel being now firft made known among Christians, ^ ALSO, The ORitJiNAL Plan bp Christianity occafionally explained in the hiflory of the N a z a- R e N Sj wherby diverfe Controversies about this divine (but highly perverted) Institution may be happily terminated. WITH The relation of an Irish Manuscript of the four Gospels, as likewife a Summaiy of the antient Irish Christianity, and the reality of the K E L D e E s (an order of Lay-rehgious) againlt the two laft Bifliops of Worcefter. By Mr. T O L A N "D. Inta^a ^ Nova ? graves Offet^fae^ levis Gratia, riin. lib, 5. Epift. 8. Afi Ego Coelicolis gratum reor ire per omnes Hoc opus, Qsf Sacras populis mtefcere Leges. mean. lib. 10. ver. 157. The Second Edition Rcvifed. LO NDO N, Printed: And Sold by J. Brotherton at the Black Ball in Cornhill, J. Roberts in Warwick-Iyitie, and A. D ODD at the Peacock without Temple-Bar. 171 8. [Price Two ShiiliDgs Sdtch'd,] There is an A P P E N D I X, CONTAINING I. Two Problems, hiftorical, political, and theo- logical, concerning the Jewish Nation and Re LI gi o n. II. A further account of the Mahometan Go- spel of Barnabas, by Moniieur d e la M o N N o Y E of the French Academy. III. Qjj E R I E s to be fent to Christians travel- ling or refideing in M a h o m e t a n Countries. PREFACE TO Mr. D. S. INC E you are deUrminW to continue in town this whole Winter i^ and that I know none of my friends to he a nicer judge of exaB Printings I muft beg the faz'or of you ^ to convey (du^ ring my necejfary ahfence^ for fome time^ in the country) the inclos'd DISSER TA "flQN to the Prefs^ and to fee it every way correBly finifh'd : tho I hope to he with you again^ before you have half done. But tis zood to provide azainft all chances. I dejign to publifrj it next fpring^ for the fame reafon that all books are or ought to be publifh^d : namely^ that I may inform others of what I know^ which in many things I apprehend to he my duty 5 or that^ if mifinform'dj I may be fet right by thofe^ who fhow themfelves rather lovers of 'Truth than of Contention. A % They 11 PREFACE. ^bey are^ for the moft partj eafily diftinguijh'' d : tho^ thro feme 'men's management^ even 'Truth does often wear the badges of FalJJoood, I have in the firft chap- ter fo farr declared the Contents of the Jirfi Letter, as to render any other Preface (/ once thought) en^ tirely unnecejfary^ at kaji a very long one. But the hetter neverthelefs to prepare you for the reading of iV, as alfo, of the fecond Letter, efpecially fince they are both fwelVd beyond their original bulk > and that you may not pojfibly ly under any mijiake by that too Jhort Introduftion, I fhall reduce the fum of what you are to expedi to the following heads : not think- ing it needful to indicate every particular ^ no nor every general fuhje^l^ in a work of fo moderate a fize. I. IN the firft place youll find the fuccin6i hi" Jlory of a 1>^ -EW Gospel, which I difcover'd at jlmfterdam^ in the year 1 709. // is a Mahometan Gofpel, never before publicly made known among Chriftians^ tho they have much talkt about the Ma- hometans acknowledging the Gofpel. I ftrait fent an account of this difcovery to his moft ferene High- nefs^ the ever vi6lorious Prince Eugene of Savoy, to whom I had the honour of writing fom- timeSj by the way of his Jdjutant General the Baron de HoHENDORF, who co'mes behind very few in the knowledge of all curious and ufeful books : and $is really furprizeing how much the Prince himfelf has read^ how minutely^ how critically^ in how ma-- ny languages-, conftdering his perpetual feries of aEli^ en as well in the Court as in the Camp, He's now tnafter of this hook^ as may be feen in the Appcn* dix. But our Turkifh Gofpel being fathered up' ow Barnabas, and all Chriftians agreeing that- Mahomet acknowledged the Gofpel j / have fhown by unexceptionable authorities,^ that Eccleftafti'. cal writers did antiently attribute a Gofpel to Bar- nabas, PREFACE. iir N A B A s, ivhether there be any remains of it in this ne-iV'found Gofpel, or i7ot : and therfore upon this occafion I have given a clearer account^ than is com* rnonly to he met^ of the Mahometan fentiments with relation to Jesus and the Gofpcl > infomuch that it is not ( / believe ) without fuffcient ground^ that I have reprefented them as a fort of Chrifiians^ and not the worfi fort neither^ tho farr from being the hefi. II. BUT happening to fpend that fummer in the delicious gardens of Honflaerdyk {a palace formerly belonging to King William of immortal memo" ry) from which I cou^d eafily make an excurfton to Leyden^ upon any occafion of confulting the public Library y I was naturally led by the Gofpel of Bar- nabas to re fume foyne former confiderations I had about /Z;^ N A Z A R E N S 5 as being the Primitive Chriftians raofi properly fo calVd^ and the onely Chri* fiians for fo7ne time, fheir Hifiory I have here fet in a truer light than other writers^ who are gene* rally full of confufion and mifreprefentation concern* ing them ; making them the fir ft ^ if not the worftj of all Heretics : nor did they want their miftakes^ to be fur e^ ayiy more than the Apoftles themfelves^ who were often reprehended by their mafter and by one another. One of their miftakes^ in common zvith the ApoMcs for fo?ne time^ was a grofs and world- ly notion of the perfon and fpiritual kingdom of Christ 3 which ^ with fome opinions falfly i?nputed to them^ and others as falfly held by thcm^ are not the immediate fiibjcB of their Hiftory {thcfe requiring too nice a difcuffion for this place ) but tis the very groundwork of the Chriftian Economy^ of which I fljall prefently give you the detail 1 was long be* fore dire5led to my materials by the celebrated Fre- DERic Spanhemius, when I fludy'd Eccle* fiaftical Hiftory under him at Leyden^ tho I differ A 3 widely iv PREFACE. widely from my mafter in this point. But the Bible and the Fathers, the Hebrew and the Greec Origi- nals, being what he ever exhorted his difciples to confult as their fountains^ without giving up their judgements to any thing Jhort of truth 5 / have foh low^d his excellent advice to the beft of my power^ and tis for the able and equitable readers to decide^ how I have profited by it. They who have read the fame hiftory and languages in tJ^e fame Clafs with me^ have not (that I can fee) received any fuch change of organs or undcrftanding from any of the Profefftons they have fence efpous'd^ as to capacitate them for comprehending thefe things better than one without any Profejfion : and therfore the more likely to be freer from prejudices^ as he has more leifure maturely to confider j neither being tfd down by Ar- ticles upon Oath^ too frequently produUive of per^ jury^ nor crampt by any other partial or politic re-- ftraint. But fuch reflections not being always fo juftly made as they ought to be^ men of candor will accu- rately judge of the things themfelves^ without regard-^ ing whether he be a Clergyman or a Layman that de^ livers them. III. FR O M the hiftory of the NAZARE NS^ and more particularly from the evident words of Scripture, / iyiferr in this difcourfe a diftin6ii- on of two forts of Chriftians^ viz. thofe from among the Jews^ and thofe from a?nong the Gentiles : not onely that in fa6l there was fuch a diftinction {which no body denies) but likewife that of right it Qught to have been fo (which every body denies) and that it was fo deftgn'd in THE ORIGINAL P LA N OF CHR IS T lA NITT. I mean that the Jews^ tho ajfociating with the converted Gentiles^ and acknowledging them for brethren^ were fiill to obferve their own Law thro-out all generati- ons j and that the Gentiles^ who became fo far r Jews as PREFACE. V tis to acknowledge ONE GOD^ were not howe- "uer to obferve the JewiJJj Law : but that both of them were to he for ever after united into one body or fellowflnp^ and in that part of Chriftianity par- ticularly^ which^ better than all the preparative pur- gations of the Philofophers^ requires the fan^tfica- tion of the fpirit^ or the renovation of the inward man ^ and wherin alone the Jew and the Gentile^ Rom.x.ii." the Civilized and the Barbarian^ the Freeman ^W^al.in.28. ^ ,^ 11 ■ r< 1 Col. 111.11. the Bondjlave^ are all one 111 Christ, however ctherwife differing in their circumftances. In corn- par ifon of the New Creature, Circumcifion and Un- circumcifion are as nothing : which yet no more takes away the diflin^ion of Jewifh and Gentile Chrifti- ans^ than the diftin6iion of [exes s fence it ts likewife faid in the fame fenfe^ and in the fame place^ that 'in Christ there is neither Male nor Female. Gal. iii. 28. 57:?/^ fellowfiip in Piety and Virtue is the Myftery that Paul rightly fays was hid from all other Rom. xvl ages^ till the manifeftation of it by ] Esvs^y and Ms Y' Ep^e^ Union without Urtiformity^ between Jew and Gen- |jj^^^^°^,^^ tile^ is the admirable Economy df the Gofpel. Now^ Col.'i.'26, this Golpel confifts not in words but in virtue-, tis-t-t, inward and fpirltual^ abflracled from all formal and outward performances : for the moft exa^ obfervati- on of externals^ may be without one grain of religion, ylll this is mechanically done by the help of a little hook-crafty wheras true religion is inward life and fpirit. So that fomthing elfe befides the Legal Ordi- nances^ mofi of 'em political^ was neceffary to render a Jew religious : even that Faith, which is an internal participation of the divine nature^ irradi- ating the foul'y and externally appearing in benefi- cence^ juftice^ fanci:ity^ and thofe other virtues by which we refemhle God^ who is himfelf all Goodnefs. But the Jews generally miftook the means for the end: as others^ who better under flood the end^ wou''d not onely abfurdly take away the means > hut even A 4 i^^ yi PREFACE, thofe other civil and national rites which were to con- tinue always in the Jewijh Repuhlick (as I particu- larly prove) thus confounding political with religious performances. From this doBrine it follozvs {its true) that Jesus did not take away or cancel the Jewish Law in any fenfe whatfoever, Sacri- fices only excepted y hut neither does this affedi any of the Gentile Chrijiians now in the world^ who have; nothing at all to do with that Law. It follows in- deed that the Jews, whether becoming Chri- stians or not, are for ever bound to the Law OF Moses, as now limited : and he that thinks they were ahfoWd from the ohfervation of it by Jesus, or that tis a fault in them fiill to adhere to it^ does err not knowing the Scriptures > as did moft of the converts from the Gentiles^ who gave their hare names to Christ, hut referv'd their Idola- trous hearts for their native fuperftitions. 7'hefe did almoft wholly fuhvert the tR UE CHRIS TIA- ]SI ITT^ which in the following Treatife I vindi- cate > drawing it out from under the ruhhifl) of their endlefs divifions^ and clearing it from the almofi im- penetrahle mifts of their fophifiry. So inveterate was their hatred of the Jews (tho indebted to them for the Gofpel) that their obferving of any things how- ever reafonahle or necejfary^ was a fufficient motive for thefe Gentile converts to reje^ it. Theywou'd neither fafi nor pray at the fame time with them^ where they could poffihly avoid it. They had no ether reafon for changing the time of Ealler, to the dividing and di ft racing of all Chriftian Churches -, hut that they might have nothing in common with the Jews^ as being fo exprefty commanded by C o N- s T A N T I N e //:7^ great^ which we are told by E u- sebius in the ijth chapter of the ^h hook of that Evfiperofs Life. And all Chrijiians are enjoined. hy the 1 1 th Canon of the 6th General Council (in Trullo) 10 have no familiarity or commerce with the Jews^ not to call for their affi fiance when fick^ nei- ther PREFACE. vii iher to receive any phyfic from them^ ?wr to waJJj in the fame hath with them. I do here teach a 'very different do^rine^ more confonant (/ am perfuaded) to the 7nind of Christ and his Apoftles, as tis more agreeable to the Law of nature and the dictates of Humanity. As for what J think of Chrijiiamty in general^ contrary to the malicious fuggeftions of wicked men (whofe Godlinefs is Gain) I referr you to the perpetual tenor of this prefent book. Tet they are in the right of it^ if they mean that I disbelie've their fort of Chriftianity > which no good man can appro've inpra^ice^ no more than any wife man canunderfland in theory. T'is Paganifm or Policy^ hut not Chrifti- anity or Humanity. 'This will he cjident from the account I give 0/ C H r i s t i A N i t y in general in the fir ft Letter, and after a more particular manner in the fecond Letter. IV. VARIOUS difficulties^ and fuch as have hitherto exercis''d many Pens to no purpofe^ or to the had purpofe of needlefty divideing mankind^ are rea- dily foWd hy this healing and uniteing SCHEME ; not that I have arbitrarily contrived it^ tho for fo good an end^ as feveral Syftems have upon other oc- cafions been merely coined for accommodation : but I maintain it^ hecaufc I judge it to be moft right and true^ the genuin primary Chriftianity ; and therfore produceing the promised effeEis of the Gofpel, Glo- Luc.ii.i^.. RY TO God qn high, Peace on earth. Goo D-w ILL TOWARDS MEN. Among thofe feemingly infoluhle difficulties cleared by it^ is that of eating blood, and things fti'angl'd, and things dead of themfelves > which I have brought (/ fancy) to he no longer a fubjecl of doubt or fcruple to any one. I have moreover prov'^d^ that the diftincftion of Jewifh and Gentile Chriftians, and this diftinUion onely^ reconciles Peter and Paul about Circum- cifion and the other Legal Ceremonies.^ as it does Paul ^«^ J a m e s about Juftification by Faith or viii PREFACE. cr by M^orks 3 // makes the Gofpcls to agree with the Ads and the Epiilles, and the Epiftles with the Adis and one another : but^ what is more than allj it jJoows a perfeU accord between the Old Teftament and the New 3 and proves that God did not give two LawSy wherof the one was to cancel the other ^ which is no fmall flumbling block to the oppofers of Chriftianityj as the refolviyig of this difficulty is nofign^ I hope ^ of my want of Religion. Many are the falu- tary fruits I fore fee from the obtaining of this S C HE ME in the worlds and but one fad con- fequence 3 / mean the turning to wafle paper an infi- nite number of volums^ particularly on Juflification in the modern fenfe^ on the feveral meanings of the Law {a things by the way^ inconjiftent with all Law) on- the calling of the Jews to quit the Religion they re- ceived fro7n Moses, and the utter exploding of tbofe forc'd or unintelligible j4llegories^ which have no inanner of foundation in the Scriptures, but are the precarious inventions of fanciful or worfe men^ fit only to puzzle the curious^ to amuze the indiferent^ and to diftraci the ignorant. One main obje^ion againfi C^artefianifin in its infancy^ was^ that a great many bookfellers woiCd be undone^ and cart-loads of books become ufelefs in Libraries^ fhou'd this pernici- ous feci prevail. But they need not be alarmed, V. / SHALL mention here no other difficulty removed by the SCHEME I ef^oufe^ but onely two more J which I have barely toucht as I go along : for the mafier-key being once found^ tis eafy opening all the doors. 'The firft of thefe regards the con- troverfy about the Seventh dav, or Saturday-Sab- bath 5 and the fecond^ that ^/anointing fick per- fons ; points which fome of late have labofd to in- troduce .^ and which I have no lefs clearly than briefly terminated. I ?night have inftanc'd feveral others^ ccu'd the circ urn fiances of ?ny writeing this niSSER- PREFACE, DISSERTJtlON have admitted it: nor an? I 'wilUng to inlarge it at prefent fo very much beyond its primitive ftze^ tho fever al things I have occafio- nally added^ amounting at leaft to a third part of the mihole. Whatever may he the reception of this piece at the heginniyig^ I doubt not hut after a while the Tnoft judicious and ynoderate will approve of thoje Explications^ which appear to be the moft fingular in it : for this is not the firft time I have known- ihem^ who were the for war deft to write againft me^ afterwards to fall in themfelves with the fame fen- timents > which has not paft tmobferv'd by the public^ efpecially with regard to certain late co?npounders for M Y s T E RY. Tet I might hazard to prophefy^ that fome of the fe fame gentlemen 7nay now be among the fore- moft to conteft my explications j merely becaufe they are mine^ or rather becaufe they are not originally theirs : as others will oppofe them^ becaufe contrary to fome of the received opinions^ or not precifely futeing with their intereft. I onely deftre that in doing this they wou'd deal cautioufly^ and not commit fuch miftakes^ as Dr. Blackhall did formerly^ expos d in A- myntor. / made no obje^ions then^ nor do I make any now^ to invalidate or deftroy^ but in order to /7- luftrate and confirm the Canon of the New Tefta- ment -, wherof I have written the Hillory in two parts^ to be publifb'd in convenient time. And as for my being fo particular in relating^ what the Na- zarens or Ebionites objected againft Pa u l, befides that my fubjeH manifeftly required it ; tis likewife as jnanifeft that it was to ftoow their mi flakes^ which I have done^ and that they had unjuftly charged him with aboliftoing the Law. Let others make his Apo- logy better if they can. VI. T'HIS much I had to fay to you^ Sir^ in relation to the firft Letter of the book you are to fee printed. But^ as to the fecond Letter^ be pleas' d to IX PREFACE. to under fiand^ that in the heginning of the fame year 170P5 / difcover'd at the Hague a manuTcript of the four Gofpels (then lately brought from France ) all 'written in Iriflo charaUers^ which "were rnifiaken for Anglofaxon^ hut yet the 'whole text in the Latin tongue. Some little thing in Irifl) it felf is here and there 7nixt among the NOTES, which are very numerous, and other paffages in the Irifl) language occur r alfo elfewhere. Of what age or importance this hook may be, and what Father Simon has faid ah out it, with my ccnfure of him j yoiCll find fo particularly difcufs'd in their due place, that I need fay no more of thefe things here. However, be- fides doing juftice on this occafton to the Learning and florifjing Schools of the antient Irish, while the rcfi of Europe coiztinu'd dijlradled by warrs and over -^ fjjadoiv'd with ignorance j / have fet in its true light, beyond what moft others had an opportunity of doing, the Chriftianity originally profeft in that na- tion (wherof I have given a diflinct S U MM A- RY in \'j paragraphs) and which appears to be ex- tremely different from the religion of the prefent h ijh . / mean the poflerity of the aboriginal Proprie- tors, to whom, as my countrymen and fellow-fubjeBs, I do moft earneftly recom?nend the impartial confide- ration of this matter. If they are fond of antiqui- ty, this Religion is much ancienter than the Popery which moft of ^em now profefs : it haveing been the peculiar honor of Ireland, as they'll find in perufing this Letter, to have afferted their Independency more ftrenuoufty agai?ift the ufurpatians of Rome, and to have preferv'd their Faith unpolluted againft the corruptions of it longer, than any other nation. But truth being what people ought to value more than either country or kindred, as I have not been want- ing to commend whatever I thought deferving s fo I have never palliated what I judge blame-worthy in' Irelandy no. more than in any other country : nor have on. PREFACE. xi ha've I any "where exceeded the reverend Dr. V r i- D E A u X 'j expreffions^ -who {in the 241/ page of the The 189th firft part of the id vohime of his excellent pcrfor-^^f^^^^^ mance^ The Old and New Teflament con-,°^'^ ncfted) fays^ that^ in the ages I mention^ Ireland was the prime feat of Learning in all Chriltcn- dom. What he has f aid I have prov^d^ and thi^ from Authors unexceptionable^ many of ^em conteyn- poraries^ and -none of ''em Irip. I floall difpatch with the APPENDIX^ which confifis of three fniall pieces, the two PROBLE M S ( whcrof the firfi piece confifis ) are preparatory to a Treatife concerning the Republic of Moses, a^ bout which few men have hitherto written coimnon fenfe : not excepting Sigonius, or Cuneus, or even Harrington the author of Oceana j who^ tho the hefl of \m^ is yet very defective^ and in many things erroneous. Next follows an account of the "TURKISH GOSPEL by Monfieur de la M o N N o Y E [to whom the Baron d e H o h e n- D o R F fhow'd it^ after the owner had parted with it /d? P R I N c e E u G e N e) and which I have ad- ded^ as a further illufiration of the book ; and withall as a conjirmatiGn of my own defcription of it^ which I am perfuaded the Baron did not fJjow to that inge^ nioHS Academician. Lafily^ come certain QJUE- RIES / drew up for my private fatisfa6lion^ and that of fome others -y haveing already fent diver fe copies of them to Afia and Africa^ as well as to Greece. VII. IN the marginal NO T'ES I have cord- wonly expreft my [elf in Latin^ the obvioufefi lan- guage on fuch occaftons : befides that it is intelligible to all who are converfant with fuch paffdges^ and ^- hout which others muft rely on the skill of thofe they can trufl. But my text is plain and perfpicuous e- noughy even to the meanefl capacity, haveing^ after the xii PREFACE. the great example of the antients^ interwo'ven thofe paffages into my oimi difcourfe in a continued thread: and not onely being of opinion that the Jimpleft Stile {not incompatible with the politeft) is in teaching the heft -y but that every man^ who clearly concehi'es any fubjecl^ may as clearly exprefs it. M^itty conceits and harmonious florifloes are for another -giiefs fort of writing : but obfcurity is to be avoided in all forts^ and nothing to be affe^ed but 'not to be mifunderftood^ if too great a care of being intelligible^ can he reckon d aff elation. In the Greec NO I'E S at the foot of the page^ I floou^d have avoided ligatures and contract- ons^ which are no more ufeful in this Tfongue than in the Latin 5 or rather they are fill as troblefom and deform'd in the one^ as they were once in the 0- ther. I admire t her fore that We t s t e i nV ex- ample is not more follow'' d by other printers. For the fame reafon the Greec is printed without Accents^ which are a ufelefs., perplexing^ and no very ancient invention^ on the foot they now ftand. But let it be fpecially remembef d^ with regard to all citations of Authors^ that I give them onely for what they are y haveing always had recourfe to the Originals, whether quoted by others or not^ except where I hint the contrary for want of fuch Originals, and neither wilfully curtailings garbling^ or mifreprefenting any of them : produceing Fathers as Fathers, Heretics es Heretics, Antients and Moderns for juft fuch -^ and therfore not anfwerable for any thing they fay^ unlefs where I exprefly approve it^ as I may proba- bly dif approve them on other accounts. I anfwer in others for no more than what I fay with them^ which is nothing the worfe for what they may elf- wh ere fay againft it. Their judgement of things can- not alter the nature of them. I allow all of ''em to he judges of the opinions of their own times as tofa^ (if they be any thing fair or accurate) but not al- ways to reafon for me^ much lefs implicitly to lead me. PREFACE. xiii me. rtoe PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE I hope will be read at lengthy in the few places where I have not quoted them fo^ particularly thofe in the beginning of the twelfth chapter : and I ha-ve taken care in general not to overbnrthen the reader with citations of any fort ^ contenting my felf to prove or illufirate my allegations by no more authorities than are neceffary y tho I often abound with others^ which I judge needlefs^ or referve againfi Anfwerers. VIII. THE S E Anfwerers naturally put me in mind of Cavillers^ whom I woiCd not have to run away with a notion^ as if I thought Faith did every where fignify the Chriflian Infiitution > he- caufe^ in the 1 6th chapter of the firfi Diirertation, / fay it does fo whenever opposed to the IVorks of the Law : or as if I maintained Wo r k s did eve- ry where fignify the Levitical Rites^ becaufe I fay they do fo^ whenever opposed to Faith. The vari- ous meanings of thefe words are obvious to every reader^ as Faith {for example) in the 6th verfe of the ifi chapter of j am es^ fgnifes a full perfuafi- on : but in the \fl and ph verfe s of the fecond chap- ter^ it fignifies the whole Chriflian belief. So does it in the i^th verfe of the fame chapter^ as Works there betoken the Levitical Rites : and the inftance of Charity in the r yth and 1 6th verfes is plainly a ji- mile^ of what is inforc'd in the \jth verfe. The examples 6?/ A b r a H a m and R a h a b /"/^ the z i/, 21(^5 13^, z^th^ and zph verfe s.^ fJjow that works here betoken the pofitive^ not the moral Law. For Chriflianity is by the fame Apoflle^ in the z \fl verje of the id chapter^ mofi properly fiird the engraiteJ word able to favc their fouls, engrafted I fay on the Law of M o s E s, not fan^ifying the inward 7nan\ yet for moft wife reafons to be perpetually obfervd by the Jews^ and wherof Chriflianity isthefpirit: for as the body without the breath is dead, fo>ni.ii,25. Faith without Works is deadalfo3 yea and by Works xiv PREFACE. Ui, V. 24. Works a man is julHfy'd, and not by Faith onely* ^ois is literally true of the Jews^ and had Luther underftood this diftinclion^ he 'woii'd ne'uer han;e re- jedled {which he once did) the Epillle of J a m e s as ftramineous and contrary to the do^rine ^/Paui. : which flands upon the fame foot with that of J ames, as in our firft DilTertation one running may read. Johni. 17.7^^ LAIVwas given hy Moses, hut GRACE and TRUfH came by Jesus, who has confirmed that Law. I hope no fmall advantage will accrue to Chri^ flianity from the fyftem advanced in the faid 1 6th and I "jth chapters of this Differtation j in which ^ as well as hy the Summary of Christianity contained in the fecond DilTertation, tho not onely the reality^ hut {as I am reafonably to hope) the foundnefs of my Religion fiifficiently appears: yet feeing learned difquifitions are not for every hodfs tafie or capacity^ however grateful to the curious^ and neceffary for the proof of things y I fi all here* after {God willifig) give a ynore difiinU; account of my Religion^ fiript of all literature^ and laid down in naked theorems., without ftotes of a-ny kind. I promife you {Sir) hefore-hand^ that it will not he a mechanical and artificial Religion^ confifllng inore in a fiupid refpeB for received forms^ and a lifelefs round of performances hy rote., than in a rcafonahle worfhip or unaffecied piety. 'There will he 7nore oh- je5ls ofpraElice than of belief in it \ and nothingpra- 6iis'd hut what makes a man the better., nor any thing heliev*d hut what necejfarily leads to praBice and knowledge : yet nothing that does not concern people to know., or that they cannot pojfibly know at all. It will contain nothing fabulous or myfterious^ nothing hypocritical or auftere 5 nothing to divert people from their imploymentSj or tending to beget idlenefs and licentioufnefs : nothings in fhort., that contributes to enflave their minds or bodies^ nothing to ferve the purpofes of Princes or Priefls againfl the interefl of tnankind. This you'll fay^ after what I have alrea- PREFACE. XV dy perform' d in the following hook^ fcems to be fufcr^ fluous : hut^ by that time the year csmes round^ you'll find reafon for your felf to change your mind^ and for me to publiJJj that Syftem of Religion, F RE §JJE NT complaints are dcfervedly made about the want of P I E T T^ wherof the caufe ne" 'verthckfs is known but to very few : for the little effect of Religion procedes in mofl places from the too great influence of the CLERQ T^ who make that to pafs for Religion which is none^ or quite the re^ verfe^ as they make Piety often inconfificnt with Pro^ hlty J and this they do to ferve their own private ends^ which in fuch places are ever oppoftte to the public good of the people. But let it be always under^ fiood^ that I mean corrupt and interefled PRIES TSj the bitterefl enemies to good MINIS TE R S^ for whom I both have^ and fhall ever retain the highefi veneration. The fun^ions and views of the latter I fhall fpecify on another occafion. The pracilces and pretences of the former are too flagrant to be denfd. Every day yields freflo inftances of the ambitious and tr alter ous defigns of degenerate Clergymen^ Whofe lives make Atheifts, and v/hofe doctrine Slaves. The ultimate defigns of fuch men are to procure to themfclvcs Riches, and confequently Power and Authority y as, in order to fecure both, they train up their heurers in Ignorance, and confe- quently in SuperiHtion and Bigotiy. Their con-- fiant Preaching will be made an objection to this af- fertion : but confta-nt Preaching is not always effeiiU" al Teaching. If the things preach'' d be met aphy fecal riddles^ or fnythological tales^ or myflical dreams -^ if they are Politics inflead of Faith and Repentance,^ the People are as farr from being taught^ as if they beard nothing: but with this difference^ that they B ima^ne xvi PREFACE. imagine they know fomthing^ while they onely make good the chara5fer of ever learning, but never bcr 1 Tim. iii. ing able to come to the knowledge of the Truth. 7* The moft libertine Priefis^ the mo ft illiterate Mendi-* cants^ can eafily make what imprejfions they pleafe upon a People thus pre'uioufty difpos'd j who believe^ when thofe Empirics are malicioufly blackening the lovers of J'ruth^ that they are ftrenuoufty afferting the caufe of God againft the fervants of the Devil : and thus they are commonly workt up to become the mortal enemies of fuch as are pleading their own caufe J and who woii'd generoufty fet 'em free^ from the bondage of their fpiritual "Task-mafters. Tloey are accuftoyn'd to look upon them no longer with eyes of Humanity^ no nor to believe their own fenfes concerning them j for once they know ''em to differ from their Leaders {whofe human Inventions they are taught to be the Oracles of God) they abhorr ''em as the moft licentious and abandon'' d Libertines^ be their lives and converfations ever fo irreproachable : not being able to conceive how one^ who is not right in his notions^ that is^ in their notions of things^ can be juft in his anions 5 even tho fuch notions ft)ou'd not relate to pra^ice at all^ but end in pure fpecula- tion. The GENTRY in fome countries know little more than the VULGAR^ being induftrioufty molded to their own purpofes by the C LE RGT^ to whofe care their Earlieft Education is prepofteroufly committed : or if in fome other countries they happen to be more difcerning^ yet out of a fordid principle of Inter eft ^ to which they bafcly facrifice Truth and Virtue^ they affeU to be more credulous than the ve* ry FULGA R'y and this with a view of being recommended to the P RING E by the CLER^ G Ty who preach up his abfolute Power over thePeo- pky that their own Authority may become arbitrary both over thefe and him too. But haveing nothing to apprehend in this Jaft refpc^ {our Britiftj Throne being PREFACE. xvii ifeing happily filTd 'with a Prince no lefs difcerning and judicious^ than jufl and magnanimous^ and ah^ .horring '•Tyranny as much as he defpifes Superftition) Ifiall^ in jfpite of all difcouragements^ openly prof efs the Religion I believe to he mofi for the inftru6lion and benefit of mankind ^ for what is not fo^ can ne^ver be true^ much lefs divine. This Religion^ I f^J-y I fl3 all fairly deliver : and to theprefent reward^ which the confcioufnefs of doing my duty necejjarily brings alofig with it^ Ifloall add the certain profpecl I have^ that the few in all ages who are wife and good (which qualities ought to be infeparable) willdojuftice to a man who dar'd to own his affection to Jruth^ the beauty wherof had fet him above dll fears and expe^ationsi I AM farr from being ignorant of the ARTS^ which thofe corrupt Clergymen wherof I have fpoken^ and fuch onely of the Clergy^ daily ufsiy to decry their Antagonifls ^ experience as well as obfervation have- ing abundantly difcover^d to me thofe Myfteries of iniquity^ and convinc'^d me of this maxim : that all curious Enquiries and ufefal Difcoveries wou'd be for ever ftopt, fhou'd men put a Hop to their Pens for fear of Obloquy, or any other Oppofiti- on. The meft learned and univerfally celebrated Mr. L E C L E R c has written an entire DifTertation (Argumentum Theologicum ab Invidia ducbum) to expofe the Calumnies of Divines^ when other Argu- ments fail them. Every little Chaplain's transform- ing himfelf into the CathoVfolmChurch^ and making Chrifiianity {forfooth) to fuffer by the exploding of his whimfies^ ought no ynore to terrify us from appear- ing for Truths than we fjou'd be fcolded or bufoon'd out of it by others^ who write^ as if they had the high office of being the Church's Jefiers and Merry- Andrews. To [peak againft any one of thcfe^ if you take their own word for it^ is to be an enemy to ell Clergymen^ to disbelieve the Cbriflian Religion^ B 2 and xviii PREFACE. and not to own the being of a God. Numherlefs are the wiles and artifices of fuch mercenary Priefts^ to puzzk the caufe^ or to di [credit the per [on of an Ad- Terfary j wherof I think it convenient here^ to fpe- I . cify the moft principal. They are fiire^ in the firfi place^ to mifreprefent the ftate of the ^efiion^ and to make it more or lefs important than it is^ as may \ heft [lite their ends > their implicite followers being ever ready to acquiefce in their report of the matter^ 2.. without once darelng to think for thernfelves. They comynonly deliver the Senfe of the man^ whofe book they oppofe^ in their own words inftead of his > under pretence of fettlng it in a clearer light^ when indeed they defign to involve and perplex it : or if they pro- duce the words of the Original^ they are always dif- jointed and imperfe6i -y and their obfervations upon them^ for fear their fophiftry might be dete6led^ are "^.equivocal., indiiflrioufly confufc.^ and obfcure. They conceal his chief Reafons and ftrongeft Arguments^ loudly infifting at the fame time upon Incidents either not ejfential or for en to the fuhjecl -y and nibbling at unguarded expreffions or inaccuracies of Stile^ into which^ thro more attention to the ?natter than to the words^ the correcleft writers are fometimes apt to A' fall .^ efpec tally in a work of any length. Unfairly dropping the 77iain ^icftion.y they attribute Defigns to their opponent the moft remote from his viewsy and from the evident [cope of his whole writeing : judgeing of others by thernfelves^ as if there were a trick at the bottom of every thing men did-, and that.y upon a proper occ:ifion.y they wou'd make no fcruple of faying one thing and meaning another. ^' This puts me in mind of another of their main ar- tificeSy for fo impotent is their malice^ that almoft in the fame breath they make the fame man equally ftupid and cunning -y telling you in this page^ that his whole Performance is fo infuperably dull and incohe- rent.^ as fcarce to deferve animadverfion : which in the PREFACE. xix the next page they contmdi^i themfelves^ not oneJy in the oil and fweat they expend to confute him \ but in laying his plot fo deep for him^ and reporting his skill fo formidable^ as to call for abler hands^ nay feme times for the Magtftrate^ to take him to task, "They draw invidious Confequences from his pofitions^ <5» which either follow not by any Logical dedu^ion^ or are difoivrCd by him as wrefted and unforefeen 3 yet by them popularly imputed to him^ as if he had a5lually intended and maintained them. They never J. fail to accufe him of Innovation^ which^ if not his greateft merit (as new Reformations ought to be fub^ ftituted to old diforders ) yet his greatefi crime is many times the reviveing of fome obfolete unfafljio- nable Truth^ a novelty not to be endufd by men who live upon error. But what do I talk of Truth ? to 8. which they are fo little us^d^ that they ever charge their Antagonifl with not believing what he affirms^ and as writelng onely out of Singularity^ or vainly to get a Name > not confidering with what greater pro- bability it may be retorted upon them^ that the fine e- rity of their own belief is much more juftly to be caird in queftion^ fince it is rewarded with Riches^ Fame^ and Authority : which is the reafon.^ that the real Infidels are {in appearance) the moft zealous Profeffors and Perfecutors in all national Churches^ ever cver-a^ing their parts -, it being vifibly abfurd^ that an Atheift fljou'd be a Nonconfor?nift^ or that any man who docs not care for Truth wau'' d fuffer for what he does not believe. No^ no : fuch people can hawl Orthodoxy^ and never fail going to Church. If the Stile of the man they love not^ be chafle and g, unaffe^ed^ fiript of the enthiifiafiic cant of the Fa- thers, the barbarous jargon of the Schools, and the motly dialect of later Syftems, then his Principles are vehemently fufpeBed 3 and by how much more they are intelligible^ j^dg'd to beby fo much the more dangerous. If the dtfpute be about matters of Fa^^ 10, B 3 and XX PREFACE. and that a man produces Authorities no lefs apt tha'ri numerous^ this they call a Jhow of Readings or bor* row'' d Learning: endeavoring to depreciate what they^ cannot difprovc^ and fanUifying their illiberal Scur- rility with the name of Zeal : for of all men they are the moft bitter and foul-mouth' d againft an Ad- 'verfary-y which the Popijh Jefuits commend as meri- torious^ and which the Proteftant Jefuits praBife as if it were foy fneaning by thefe laft^ fuch as a5l like II 'the firft. He muft^ among other epithets^ be branded with the odious denomination of fome ancient or m.o- dern HE RES T^ which often happens to be onely a nickname for "Truth : and^ whether he will or no^ he's made to agree with thofe in every things with whom he happens to agree in any one thing j as if e-- very SeU did not hold fome truth^ were it but to I z. countenance their faljhoods. If neither any nor all thefe methods can run down his DoHrine^ they will next attack his Perfon^ running away with every idh Jiory they can catchy and poorly rakeing into the frail- ties of his life^ tho he fhoiCd be lefs obnoxious to cen- fure than the beft of his neighbors > and chargeing\ him even with the aUual guilty of what they pretend to follow frc?n his Notions : never hefitating at th^ vilefi inftnuations^ to the end fome calumny may ft ick y for^ of all ?nen^ they have the quickeft knack of cir- culateing Scandal. Tet they woiCd do well to aftign the time^ when a Layman is not to be twitted with the follies of his childhood^ or reproaclfd with th& exceffes of his youth {ftoou'd he be guilty of any-); ftnce they will not admit it fair to accufe a Clergy- man^ of any thing he did before Ordination^ or rather before he's Doctor' d or Dignify' d. THE S E are fome of the ordinary AR TS of Corrupt Clergymen {of which alone I [peaky to fay it ^nce for all) and by thefe marks you fhall know them : ^Ht by none more than the charge of AT HE IS My 'ippich PREFACE. xxi nvhich^ in their pajjion or ?naUce^ they bully out againjl any perfon that prefumes to contradict them : andj ivhat extremely contributes to the fcandal of Religion^ and to make Atheifls in good earneft^ they commonly lay this afperfion on men of the cleareft fenfe and the fobereft lives -y while they beflow the appellation of GOOD CHUR CHME N on the mofl ignorant fots and rakes^ if they but appear devoted to their perfons or their intereft. The P RIES 't-R ID- DEN LyI ITT imitate ynore or lefs thefe practices of their Clerical Guides^ till at laft a man becomes an INFIDEL for differing from another aboMt the meanefi trifle in nature. It becomes a Spirit that haunts them^ and they meet it every inhere. Of this a notable example is furniflot us by the author of the Builder's Dictionary, vuho inveighing {in the ^th page of his Proem) againft the defpifers of Archi- teUure^ I muft and will tell fuch men {fays he) the plain truth, that they mull; certainly be Infi- dels, and do not deferve the title of a Jew, and much lefs of a ChrilHan : for which his weighty reafon is^ that if they were Jews^ they muft have been acquainted with the buildings appointed in the Oki Teltament 5 and that if they were Chriftians^ they muft have read the books of the Jews. But it hap- pens unluckily for him , that Heathens and Infidels have been much better ArchlteUs^ than either Jew^ or Chriftians. He concludes the page by telling us^ that Christ was pleas'd to exercife this art of Architecture, and to be a Mechanic, even a Car- penter y which I mult needs tell you {adds he) is no fmall honor to the Mechanics and to Archi- tecture : and I muft needs tell hiw^ that he might as well conclude a man an Infidel for being merry with his neighbors.^ or having a houfe of his own j fince we read that Jesus had not a hole wherin to lay his head^ and that he wept hut never laught that *we know, lis feldom that Divines fix their accufli- B 4 tion xxii PREFACE. tion of Athnfm more concluft^oeJy^ "which makes it as contemtihle as the Pope's Bulls at Conji amino pie. Nay Hell- fire it felf^ in their mouths^ has loft much of its ant lent terror > fince they aftlgn no lefs a pu- nijhment than eternal damnatian^ to the rejetling of certain chimerical notions about Friefthood and Schifm^ alemhick'd out of the Fathers : and to the disbelief ef certain Dohtrines of their o'tvn coinings ivhich they neither praclife nor helie've > and therfore ought to fafs for counterfeit ivith all others^ fuch^ for exam- ple^ as PafHve Obedience, Indefcafible Hereditary Right, and the like^ 'whether impioufty father'' d upon GO D^ (?r M o s E s, cr J E s u s . Thcfe however are the ft rat age ms again ft which I am to guard^ aga'rnft which my Readers^ being forewarn' d^ ought to ha forearm' d'y hut which piece ofjuflice^ owing to them- felves as well as to me^ I am not to hope they will he all judicious and eq^ui table enough to obferve. WHE REFORE^ after all thefe neccjfary pre- cautions^ I yet expert to be unmercifully pelted by thofe 3 who a.re the leaft able to confute me^ fhou'd I happen to be any where in the wrongs as no perfon on earth is infallible. 'This anfwering for anfwdr- ing fake^ whether the thing be anfwerable or not > and the allowing of nothing where any thingis thought jit to be denfd^ is fo vulgar and cuftomary apraHice^ that all wife men do as much defpife as they deteft it : and^ for my own part^ I have^ without pre- tending to he one of their number^ refoh'd before- hand to receive all that fort of fire unmov'd > and ta repel at the fame the attacks of my enemies^ tho not with the like ft ink-pots to thofe they may throw at me. Of this I gave a fpecimen in Amyntor. The only favor I deftre isj that as I wrote my book alcne^ I may anfwer alone for ity and that Meg ale tor he not made to adopt the contents of all the Letters joe receives^ no more than of all the Bocks in his Lir hrary. PREFACE. Irary. B:it being a forene}\ he's happily out of the reach of their fpite. I fay as much however on the behalf of my other Friends at home , for it is an ar- tifice peculiar to certain folks^ to hook in every one they dijlike^ to what they frft proclaim a crime. Be- ftdes^ that in other refpeEls^ the thing is very unfair : for if the Book be good the true Juthor ought not to be rob'd of the praife he deferves > and if it be bad^ no others ought to fuffer for a faulty they did not commit. 'Thus {for exa??iple ) have I my felf been, by more than one^ no lefs confidently than falfely re- ported^ to have had a hand in the Difcourfe of Free- thinking j of which charge^ neverthelcfs^ lam quite as clear as themfelves. I -never club brains^ I do affure them. But my Adverfaries thought it enough, that J am well acquainted with the writer of that hook^ who is a very worthy Gentleman and a ftanch Engl i firm an. With fuch I fioall ever think it a hap- pinefis to be acquainted, let their fpeculative Senti- ments be what they will > for which I am no more hound to be accountable, than they for mine. Other- wife I fiy)0'Cd have a fiine task indeed on my hands, heingintimate with Turks and Jews, with Chriftians of mofi deno'mi fiat ions, with Deifis and Sceptics, with men of wit or worth in every nation of Europe^ and with fome out of it. I wifio I were with more fo every where. "This was the laudable manner of the Anti- ents, this I take to be the way to fiolid Knowledge, this I am certain is true Hwrnanity : and as I fet no value on the judgment of peevifl) narrow-fouVd Bi^ gots of any kind, by whom no Improvement is to be made^ cramping onJhe contrary all generous Re- fear ches y fio I am perfiuaded, that whatever is afraid to truft it fielf alone abroad, is not able to ft and alone at home. A good Caufe dares hear the worft that ,jcan be [aid againft it, having no difirufi of its own Worth. I dare venture my Belief with any man. If lis right he may come into it, if wrong he 7nay con- vince xxm xxiv PREFACE. *vince me^ and if heUl do neither he's at his liberty : it breaks no fquares at all^ provided he's mafter of any Art ^ or Science^ or other good §uality^ by which I may reap any benefit or entertainment. ALL the arts of defamation I have enumerated^ ure now jointly put in pra5life in this nation againji me man > for being nobly ingag'd in the caufe of Man- kind^ in the caufe of Chrifiianity^ in that of the Re- formation^ and in that of the L^ity. By this ac- count every one mufi conclude^ I mean the right re- 'verend the Bijhop 0/ B A N G O R : who^ tis to be hop''d^ will not be deferted by the Laity -, whofe pri- vileges as men andChriftians^ as Reafonable creatures and Proteftants , he does with no lefs honefty than courage affert^ againft the encroachments of the Popifh- ly affected part of the Clergy, fhe malice of De- vils is fet at work^ and the tongues of wicked men- are fet on edge againft him^ for the ft and he makes againft Popery j which is the heavieft curfe that can light on any nation^ the greateft unhappinefs that can^ befall rnen^ with refpeEi to their civil or religious Li- berties, i'hey who are for fet ting up themfelves in* Jlead of God (no matter under what name) and cr reding a Political empire over the under ft andings and confciences of others > cannot bear with a man^ who preaches that as Christ is King in his own Kingdom^ fo his Kingdom is not of this World^ nor Religion confequently to be propagated or promoted by fecular Rewards and Puniftoments. Or if for mere Jhame, becaufe the words are in Scripture, fome of his Antagonifts own^ that C h r i s t's Kingdom is not of this World 'y yet it is in fuch a manner^ as to be con-?, tent with nothing lefs than the whole World for their poffeffion : and favoring or diftinguifmng the houfe- hold of Faith^ is in their fenfe to rob others of their Rights^ to make religion a Moncpolyy and to confine ' th€ PREFACE. XXV the Gofpel to their Peculium^ inftead of giving it a, free pciffage over all the earth, 'This Antichrifiian fpirit is the fource of infinite evils^ that will certainly attend this Church and Nation ; unlefs^ in behalf of Chriftian Liberty^ other able perfons do feafonably interpofe^ after the example of this mag" fianimous Bifhop^ whom^ tho unknown to him^ I pro- foundly reverence for his main Principle : however hs ?nay differ from me in any thing of lefs importance^ or that I may poffibly differ from his Lordflnp in many of the things I advance in this very book. BUT to conclude this Letter^ the flrft of thefe DISSERTATIONS {which I made a fecret to no body^ fmce in the Tear aforefaid I fent it to Me gale tor) did^ upon a miftaken notion of the SubjeU^ probably occafion the alarm that was founded four or five years ago^ by the ingenious author of the "Clergyman's thanks to Phileleutherus Lipsi- ENsis j as if a new Gofpel were to be foifted^ I kyiow not how^ into the room of the four old ones. But now / hope his fears will abate ^ and that^ for all this fame Barnabas of Turkey^ Matthew, Mark, Luke, and J o h n, may ft ill make good their pofts. And fo^ my Friend^ /^^ Letters I wrote tn that time of warr^ and fent by the poft under the feign'' d name of Pa n t h e u s, / comirmnicate to you this day without any difguize^ in order to publiJJ) them to all the world. I am^ with perfe^ refpsEi^ Dear Sir^ ^m. ;o. i748> 'Jfour m.oft obedient fsrvanty 7- ^ N A ZAR E NU S: O R, JewiJIhGentile^and Mahometan CHRISTIANITY. LETTER I. CHAP. I. N my kft Letter I pro- mis'd to fend you a Dif- fertation upon a fubjecl al- together new (moll il- lultrious M E G A L E- T o r) and now I deiign to be as good as my word. But firfl I mull make one or two reflections, which however will not lead us much out of our way. You know what vafl fums have been publicly promised, and I have known much ampler rewards privately proposed to be given that man, who fliou'd recover the remaining parts of the incomparable hiftorians, LiVY NAZARENUS. Liv Y and Tacitus. Yet I am perfuaded, from the prefent praftice of mankind, as well as from feveral inftances that have formei*ly happen'd of this very nature : that if any peifon were fo happy, as to difcover thofe or the like valuable manufcripts > he wou'd, contrary to his Own and the world's expe6lations5 be left to the mercy of the bookfellers, or the generofity of fubfcribers. Do we not find all the books of the learned fiU'd with complaints, that the ancient Egyptian language and letters, with the means to decypher their Hieroglyphicks, are irreparably loft ? What labor, what expence do they not profefs they wou'd lay out, to obtain thofe hidden, and therfore by them rcckon'd ineiHm_able, treafures ? cou'd they perceive the leaft probability, or even pofTibility of fucceeding. But for all this, Tho- mas Hyde, the late Bodleian library-keeper at Oxford, Doctor of Divinity, Canon of Chrifl- Church, and Profeffor of the Oriental languages, after publifhing to the world that he was become a perfect mailer of the ancient Perfian literature, that he underftood their language and letters, which arc fuppos'd long ago extinft^ nay, and that he cou'd prove the genuin works of Zo- roaster, with feveral other books of the Mages (containing their hiftory, reHgion, govern- ment, agriculture, and the like) were flill extant : after averting all thefe particulars, I fay, and giv- ing various fpecimens of their characters, in whole pariages of his Latin ^ hiftory of the Religion of the ancient Perfians^ tho referving the Alphabet a fe- cret to himfelf 5 yet he cou'd neither engage the public of any fort (applying to Whig and Tory minifters by turns) nor a fufficient number of pri- 1 . Hifloria Religionis vctcrum Perfarum, eorumque Magorum, ^c, Oxoniae, 1700, vate NAZARENUS. vate benefiicElors, to enable him to print the books of that kind he had akeady procur'd, nor to purchafe thofc others which he knew were now in being. He was at the charge of calling a fett of thofc ancient Perfian letters, and he once fhow'd roe one of the books, by means wherof he attain'd the interpretation of the relf, written in alternate lines > the one red and the other black ( if I re- member right ) the one in the old, the other in the modern character: which forts of writing had not the leall affinity or fimilitude together, no more than the two languages. Tho I confefs I never had any extraordinary opinion of Dr. H Y D E 's judgement, when he took upon him to reafon in matters of philoibphy or theology j yet I generally found him a competent judge of fa6ts in his moft peculiar profeflion, and cou'd not therefore forbear wifhing he had received due en- couragement : that, after his tranflating of thofe books, we might like wife judge for our felves, and fee how farr what the prefent * fire-worfhip- pers in Perfia, with their exil'd brethren the Per- fecs in the Eall-Indies, beheve with fo much zeal, and conceal with fo much induftry, might agree with what the Greec and Roman authors have re- corded concerning Zoroaster and his Mages, the Perfians themfelves, their cuftoms, language, and religion. Nor is it lefs to be wifh'd, that fome body, out of the Malabar language, wou'd publifh the Shafier^ now lying ufclefs in the 3 Bodleian libraiy at Oxford -, and which con- tains the Religion of the prefent Indian Bramans, tranfmitted to them from the ancient Brachmans^ who affirm'd they received it from heaven. It 1 . So they are commonly y tho erromoujiy nick-nam'd ( as the Mah^^ mettms likewife call 'em Gaurs^ Heretics or Unbelievers) from thiir re- f^cSiing the fire as a fymbol of the Divinity. 3. MSS. Bodl. liipra P. 3. Art. num. 2861. fignifies. N AZ ARENU S. iignifies nothing how fabulous, contradiftoiy, or' myfterious fuch books may proves fince they fei-ve not only to difcover what the modem Indi- ans bcheve, but to illuftrate what old authors have deliver'd concerning the Indian Religion and Philofophy. But that I may not wander too farr, I cou'd never admire at our ignorance about things contain'd in dead languages, or the con- cerns of nations quite abohfh'd, when v/e ai*e fo fhamefully at a lofs in the afFliirs of a people, that have flourilTi'd farr and wide for above a thoufand years, that are contemporary with our felves, that are divcrfify'd into numerous fects and dialects, and v/ith whom we not only daily converfe and traffic j but who are alio in fome places polite and extreamly fubtil, abounding with men of letters in their way, and a great variety of books. Ne- verthelefs, tis but very lately that we begun to be undeceiv'd about Mahomet's pigeon, his pretending to work miracles, and his tomb's be- ing fufpended in the air : pious frauds and fables, to which the Mufulmans are utter llrangers. The truly learned and candid Mr. Reland, the celebrated profelfor of the Oriental languages at Utrecht, has exploded not a few vulgar errors relating to the Alcoranills j as others in other ar- ticles have, with that moderate Divine andfinifh'd Scholar, Dr. P r i d e a u x Dean of Norivicb^ done 'cm the hke juftice. But the fubjed of this Let- ter^ Sir, is a point not yet clear'd, if indeed touch'd by any : and tho the very title of Maho- metan Chriftianity may be apt to ftartle you ( for Jewijlj or Gentile Chriftianity ihou'd not found quite fo ftrange ) yet I flatter my felf, that, by perufing the following Dijfertation^ you'll be ful- ly convinc'd there is a fenfe, wherin the Maho- metans may not improperly be reckon'd and call'd a fort or feft of Chrillians, as Chriftianity was at firft NAZARENUS. firft efleem'd a branch of Judaifm 5 and that con- fequently, ihou'd the Grand Seignior infift upon it, they might with as much reafon and fafe- ty be tolerated at London and Amftcrdam, as the Chriftians of every kind are fo at Conftantinople and thro-out all Turkey. You'll further fee rea- fons here to perfuade you ofa great paradox, name- ly > that Jesus did not, as tis univcrfally believ'd, abolilh the Law of M o s e s (Sacrifices excepted) neither in whole nor in pait, not in the letter no more than in the fpirit : with other uncommon particulars, conccrnins; THE TRUE AND ORIGINAL CHRISTIANITY. Final- ly, you'll difcover fome of the fundamental do6trines ofMahometanifm to have their rife, not from Ser- G I u s the Neitorian monk ( a perfon who has hi- therto fei*v'd for a world of fine purpofes) but from the earlieft monuments of the Chriilian re- ligion. And tho for the moil part I am only a hiftorian, refolv'd to make no Reflections but what my facts will naturally fuggeft, which fa6ts are generally collected from the Bible and the Fathers y yet I am not wanting, when there's occafion for it, to chalk out the methods, whereby the er- rors of fimple or defigning men may be feafona- bly confuted: as particularly, by fiiowing the moft material difficulties they object 5 and by ex- horting our Divines, with all others that are equal to the task, to prove the authenticnefs, divinity, and perfection of the Canon of Scripture^ the beil means to filence all gainfayers. Concerning the new <^ofpel I difcover, you'll receive due fatisfaCtion in the next chapter, and in thofe immediately follow^ ingit. In the mean while, we may (I hope) be as reafonably allow'd to lay out fome portion of our time and diligence about the Mahometan doctrine (wherin we arc not wholly unconcern'd) as in explaining the old Heathen Mythology, which C makes N AZ ARENVS. makes fo great a part of our ftudies, bothatfchool and in the univerfity. So much byway of Intro- du£tion : now to our fubjeft. CHAP. II. AMONG the numerous Gofpels^ A^s^ Epi" files^ and Revehtions^ which were handed a- bout in the primitive Church, which fince that time have been pronounc'd apocryphal by the ma- jority of Chriftians, and wherof fome remain entire to this day, as the Gofpel of ] am bs for example (tho we have only a few fragments of feveral others ) among thefe, I fay, there was a Go/pel attributed to Barnabas, as appears from the famous Decree o/Gelasius ^ Biihop of 4. Hujus Decreti 'verba hue fpeBant'my cum variant ibus quorunJam eodicum leSHombus, fc fe habent. Itinerarium nomine Petri apofto- li, quod appellatur fandi dementis, libri o£lo [^ot'ms decern] apo- cryphum: Aftus, nomine Andreae apoftoli, apocryphi: Aftus nomine Philippi apoftoli, apocryphi : Adlus nomine Petri apoftoli, apocryphi: Adus nomine Thomae apoftoli, apocryphi: Evangeli- um, nomine Thaddaei \ut & Matthiae'j apocryphum ; Evangcli- um, nomine Thomae apoftoli, quo utuntur Manichaei, apocryphum : Evangelium, nomine BARNABAE, apocryphum : Evangelium nomine Bartholomaei apoftoli [etiam ziOfnine Jacob't m'tnms] apocry- phum: Evangelium, nomine Andreae apoftoli {ut ^ Vetrt] apo- cryphum: Evangelia, quaefalfavitLucianus, apocrypha: Evangelia, quae falfavit Hefychius, apocrypha: liber de Infantia Salvaroris, apocryphus: liber de nativitate Salvatoris, & de Sanda Maria, ficde Obftetrice Sakatoris, apocryphus: liber qui appellatur Paftoris, a- pocryphus: libri omnes, quos fecit Lenticius [pot'tus Leucius, Cha- finus fcilicet] difcipulus Diaboli, apocryphi : liber, qui appellatur Adus Theclae 8c Pauli apoftoli, apocryphus: Revelatio, quae appel- latur Thomae apoftoli, apocrypha : Revelatio, quae appellatur Pauli apoftoli, apocrypha : Revelatio, quae appellatur Stcphani, apocrypha : liber, qui appellatur Tranlitus Sandtae Mariae, apocryphus: liber, qui appellatur Sortes Apoftolorum, apocryphus: liber, qui appellatur Laus Apoftolorum, apocryphus: liber Canonum Apoftolorum, a- pocryphus; Epiftola Jefti ad Abgarum regem, apocrypha ■ N AZ ARENUS. of Rome^ who inferts it by name in his roll of apocryphal books. Yet G e l a s i u s, who only augmented and confirm'd it, is not generally al- low'd to be the firll author of this Decree -^ but D A M A s u s before him, as it was augmented a- gain by Hormisdas after him. , The Gofpel £?/ Barnabas is likewife quoted in the Index of the Scriptures^ which Cotelerius has ^ publifh'd from the lySpth manufcript of the french King's library. Tis further mention'd in the Z0(5th manufcript of the Baroccias collecti- on in the Bodleian ^ libraiy, and is follov^'d by the Gofpel according to Matth : which, to be fure, fignifies Matthias and not Matthew^ fince not only in fome copies of the Gelafian De- crce there is a Gofpel attributed to Matthias, but alfo by Origen, Eusebius, Jerom, and Ambrose, as may befeen by the Catalogues Apud Gratian. dijlinB. i^. can. 3. ^ intomo 4. Co?}ciIior. ac alibi pajjim. 5-. Indiculus Scripturarum, in Judicio de Conflitiit. ApoJloUc. 6. Catalcgus hicce Barroccimns, cui noftras obfervat<07ies uncinulif iKclufas interffergemus, fic fe habet in pmeMclo codice pofi Damafcenum de menfibus Macedonum. AS'chu (Hbri nimirum Adamo olim a Judaeis affidti, fpeciatim farva Genefis) Es^wy {(cMctt prophetta) Acti''i^(itidempr:>phetia) nArpiapX'^' {TijiatmntuiTi duodecimFa- triarcharum) lci'(7i

tctAi/4'<> Yl^.CioS'oi k-m ^i^cf/ym A?7orcAcr ( Petji nempe, Pauli, Joannis, thomae, & cetcrorum) ^i^va^^ Fa-/rc- A», ilcivKy. 'JPcf.^K;^ rictvAsf Aro;cAAf ^^f* A/cT'iicr^ctA/ct Kam/x^j- TO^, lyVclTlii^lS'AfTKcLh.ldL [HoAL'/CCip'TS A^cTrfCTK-OlA/C ] ^ V AT' r E A I O N'K ATA B A P N A B A N, Vvrtyyihiov k-clta M ^.t-^ . Habentur o* i^i(^r apocrypha in Nicephori Chronographia {i^el ptitfi in Stichofnettu eidem addita) Th^n^aeEvangeliiim, Clementis primal fecunda EpiftoJa, Ipnatii Epiftoke omnes, cum Hermac pallgre. c % of S N AZ ARE NV S. offuch as have written concerning the Apocry- phal books of the New 'Teftament. However we muft not conceal that in the forefaid Index of CoTELERius, which is the veiy fame with that of the Bodleian library, Matthew is printed at length y whether it be erroneoufly ex- prelt fo in the manufcript, or that the tranfcri^ ber has from M at t h, unaware of this diftin- ftion, made Matthew. But notwithftand- ing ancient teftimonies, there appears not one fingle word or fragment of the Gofpel ^/Bar- nabas, printed by any author under this title : yet in the 7^^t\\Baroccian ^ manufcript there is one fragment of it in the following words. 'The A- poftle Barnabas fays^ he gets the worft of it^ "who overcomes in evil contentions j becaufe he thus comes to have the more ^ fin. Barnabas is here calPd an Apoflle, as he's more than once fo term'd by » Clemens Alexandrinus, 'A^s xiv. and indeed by Luke himfelf, or whoever was ^4^' the writer of the AUs of the Apoftks. But no particular work of Barnabas being quoted in the Baroccian manufcript, I know (Sir) that a perfon of your exadnefs w^ill prefently ask me, how I come to affirm that this Saying did belong to his Gofpel? fince it can be no fulficicnt proof hereof, that it is not to be found in the Epiftle extant under his name. The objeftion mull be granted to be pertinent, becaufe he might have written other books to us unknown 5 and ther- fore I promife a fitisfadory anfwer in a few words. 7. Vide Grabii Spicilegium Patrum, torn. i. p. 302. 9. Strom at. lib. 2. Sic etiam audit apud plerofque V aires, ^ fa- rum ahefl quin EpiJioU ipfi tril>uta, a qtiibufdam hodieciue habeatur Canoy/tca. whicfi NAZARENUS. which will appear in a better light further on in this Letter^ the longell I ever fent you. As for the Epiftle afcrib'd to Barnabas, and which is ilill extant, it has been prov'd long fince to be fpurious by feveral able hands : but let it be of what authority you will, the modern Gofpel^ of which we lliall fpeak prefently, cou'd not be writ- ten by the fame perfon > feeing the Epiftle is pur- pofely direded againft the Judaizing Chriflians. CHAP. III. AFTER giving tl-iis account of the ancient Gofpel and fo not yet extind, as all Chriftian writers have hitherto imagined. But here I know you'll be furpriz'd, that I fhou'd talk of any Gofpel of the Mahometans at all. You'll ceafe your wonder neverthelefs, when you confi- der how the Mahometans believe, as a funda- mental article, that there have been fix mo ft e- minent perfons, who Vv^ere the authors of new Inftitutionsj every one of thefe gradually ex- ceding each other in perfe6bion, tho in fubftancc it be ftill one and the fame religion. Thefe fix are A D A M, N o a h, A b r a h a i\i, Moses, Jesus, and M a H o m e x j whcrin all Chrifti- ans (excepting only as to this latter) agree with them, reckoning up in their feveral Syftems fo many ^° periods or difpenfations, and calling the lo. Tritum efi illud Theohgomm, germs fcslket humamm fib Ada- mo ad NoMhum fu'tffe fiib lege Naturae, a Noacho ad Abrahamum fuh fraeceptii Noachicis, ad Abrahamo ad Mo/en fitb Circumcifione, a Mofe ad Chrijium fub riitbHs Levitkis, & fa indt Jtib Evangelio uffie ad Millemtumi velfechndi'.m alios ad fap-emnm Jadimm. C I whole lo N AZ AR E NUS. whole G O D's ECONOMY. Nor are there wanting who continue fubdividing fuch periods to the'end of the world ^ and^ according to fome, there's but one period and a piece of one yet re- maining : fo exactly they know the beginning, the end, the meafure of time and things ! Now, altho the Mahometans do hold by tradition that Ada]m, Noah, Enoch, Abraham, and other patriarchs and prophets, had feveral books divinely fent 'em (even to the number of 104) containing the reveal'd will of God 5 yet the only obligatory ones are, according to them, thefe four, viz. the Pentateuch of Moses, the Pfalms of David, the Gofpel of J e s u s, and the Alcoran of Mahomet. Of all and eveiy of thefe books they pronounce in this manner, nay and in thefe terms : 'whoever denies thefe vo-^ lumes^ or doubts of the whole or part^ or any chap^ ter^ verfe^ or vuord of the fame^ is certainly an infi- del. I cou'd allege for this formulary many un- deniable authorities j but fhall content my felf at prefent to refer you to the third chapter of "ithe " compendious Mahometan Theology^ tranflated, iU luftrated with Notes^ and publiili'd five or fix years ago by the eminent ProfefTor Adrian R E LA N D, before mention'd. In the mean time you may perceive, that the Mahometans are not only more careful in preferving the integrity of their facred books, than the Chriftians have ge- nerally been > but that they are likewife, as ma- ny of 'em adert, more confillent with themfelves: fince if any book be divinely infpir'd, fay they, every hne and word of it mufl neceffarily be fo i ^nd therforc no room left, one wou'd imagine, I J, Adriani Rclandi de Rdigtone Mahommedica libri duoi for NAZARENVS. n for various Readings^ or fuch other Criticifms. The minute the learned may alter, add, or fubftitute, what to them fhall feem moft becoming the di- vine fpirit, there's an end at once of Infpration^ {according to thefe gentlemen) and the book be- comes thenceforth their own : meaning, that it is then the produ6tion of different times and diverfc authors, till nothing of the original be left, tho the book continues as bulky as ever. But it muft be carefully obferv'd, that the Mahometan fyjiem of Infpiration^ and that of the Chrillians, are mo ft widely different : fince we do not fo much ftand upon words, phrafes, method, pointing, or fuch other niceties > as upon the matter it felf, and the defign of the whole, tho circumftances fhou'd not be always fo exad. 'Tis here we caft our fheet-anchor, and tis here we are confirmed by matter of fa(5t5 notwithftanding the 30000 varia- tions, which fome of our Divines have difcover'd in a few copies of the New T'eftament : nor have the copies of the ylkoran efcap'd fuch variations (which is impoflible in nature for any book to do) , whatever the Mahometans pretend to the contra- ry, and even fome of themfelves have produc'd fuch different readings. CHAP. IV. TIS for the abovefaid reafon, no doubt, of joining the Pentateuch^ the Pfalms^ and the Gofpel to the Alcoran^ that I have heard fome J* rahians call Mahometanifm the Religion of the ibur books, as the Chriftian Religion that of the two books. Nor is there any thing more evident to thofe who have taken pains in this matter, than that the Mahometans openly profefs to believe the Gofpgl : tho they charge our copies with fo C 4 much 11 NAZARENUS. much corruption and alteration, that our Gofpel is not only no longer certain or genuin > but, ac- cording to them, the farthefl: of all books in the world from being divine. About this charge, and the four books which they acknowledge di- vine, may be particularly confulted 'The hiftorical Compend of ^* Levinus W a r n e r . But why fhou'd I mention Warner, or any other ? fince the Alcoran it felf does fo often referr to the Pen- tateuch^ the Pfalmsj and the Gofpel^ the infpirati- on and authority wherof it always allows. This camiot be difputed. That the four books con- llitute the foundation of their Rehgion, is fo much their general and conftant belief, that one might as well be at the troble of quoting authors to prove the Chriftians receiv'd the Old and New Teftament. But fince in a late converfation cer- tain perfons, who ought to know better, appear'd furpriz'd at this > I defire that, over and above the now-mention'd hiftorical Compend of War- ner, and the Mahometan Theology of Re la n d, they wou'd pleafe to read the formulary or pro- feflion of Ja c o B ben S i d i A l i, produced by the Maronitc ^' Gabriel Sionita. Beyond exception is the teftimony of the cele- brated Divine A l g a z e l, in his Expofition of the faith of the Scnnltes^ or the Turkifh Maho- metans, in contradiilinftion to the Schafites^ or the Se6t of the Perfians; where, in the arti- cle of the ivord of God^ he thus fpeaks : we are bound to helie've that the Alcoran, the Pentateuch, the Gofpel, and the Pfalms of David, are books 12. Compendium hiftoricum eorum quae Mahommedani de Chrifto, 2c praccipais aliquot Religionis Chriftiaaae capitibus tra- did-Tunt. 15. De nonnullis Orientalium urbihus nee non indigenarum religioneac moribus, Tra6tatus brevis; audtoribus Gabricle Sioni- ta U Joanne Heironita, Maronitisc Libano. cap. 14. given N AZ ARENU S. 13 gi'ven hy God^ and re'veaVd to his Amhajfadors. Who- ever has a mind to fee the original Arabic paflage, may read it in the 8pth page of the third part of M A R A c c I's Prodromus to the Alcoran. In ano- ther Mahometan formulary, quoted in the p4th page of the fame third part by M a r a c c i, you have the names of thofe Ambafladors in thefe words : the Pentateuch was fent /o M o s e s the Son of A jsi R A M, and the Gofpel to ]es\js the Son of M A RY, and the Pfalms to Da v i d, and the Al- coran to Mahomet. It were fuperfluous to add the concurrent tcftimonies of others. But ftill that Gofpel is not ours, which, as I faid, they decretorily brand with falfification. Every travellor almoll will tell you, that where Jesus J^^^^ ^iv-. promifes to fend the Paraclete to complete or per- *^' ^^' ^ feft all things, the Mahometans maintain the origi- ^vi \^ ^ nal reading was '^Periclyte^ or the famous and iWu- compar'd flrious, which in Arabic is Mohammed : fo that their*''^.^ Luke prophet was as much, in their account, foretold ^^^^•'''^* by name in the Gofpel 5 as C y r u s is behev'd by ^^^^^^^^'^• the Jews and Chriilians, to have been foretold by ^^' ^ ''^^^'- name in the Old Teftament. Here's one inftance'* of Mahometan Criticifm > not lefs fubtil or more flightly grounded, than abundance of fuch difco- veries hammered out of founds or letters by Jews and Chriflians : and I own that I have always ad- rair'd fo few other examples of various Readings or Interpolations were produced by' learned travellors (tho fome they do) fince the Mahometans have fo different an account of the perfon of Jesus Christ, of his miniftry on earth, and the cir- cumflances of his afcent into heaven. I was fom- times temted to fancy, that the excefHve venera- tioaof the Mahometans for the Alcoran^ made them fuffer their Gofpel to pcrifh by neglcd : but J 4. n^eaAi/l©-, 6c noa UAes^KhidO-* correfted 14 NAZARENUS. correfted that thought again, when I found fuch multitudes of citations out of it in their writings, over and above thofe contain'd in the Alcoran ^^. the palTages fomtimes agreeing with thofe in our GoCpels^ often with thofe we count apocryphal, and oftner with neither. Hence I concluded, that fince they counted the Gofpel a divine book, and had more knowledge of it than their Alcoran fur- nilli'd, they muft needs have a Gofpel of their own 'y tho I was always aftonifh'd (as I faid) at the negligence of travellors, or whatever other reafon it might be, that hinder'd 'em from pro- ducing that Gofpelj and yet fo pofitively talk of its variety from ours. Nay, fome of 'em have di- re6cly deny'd the Mahometans had any fuch Gofpel now remaining j and Mr. R e l a n d, in his fore- Tag,!^, mentioned Treatife, adopts their '^ opinion: not to fpeak of M a r a c c i, and divers other Wri«« ters of moil Chrillian communions. CHAP. V. BU T at length (Sir) after wholly defpairing of ever having a better account, it was my good fortune, inilead of other information, to light on the Gofpel it felf •, and translated into Italian, by or for the ufe of fome renegades : for it is moft certainly the performance of a Mahometan fcribe. Yet knowing a more particular account will not be ungrateful, be pleas'd to receive it as follows. The learned gentleman, who has been fo kind as to communicate it to me {yiz. Mr. Cramer, I f. But ha'-uvng better hformation fince that timet he does in an edition he has made of his book this very year, affirm, that the Maho- metans have a Goipel of their oven (page 13) and J fuppofe he means thofe of Bar bury i hecaufe he fays this Goipel is in Spanijh and Arabic. Counfellor NAZARENUS. ij Counfellor to the King of Prujfjia^ but rcfiding at ^^ Amfterdam) had it outof the Library of a perfon of great name and authority in the faid city ; who, during his life, was often heard to put a high va- lue on this piece. Whether as a rarity, or as the model of his religion, I know not. It is in the veiy firft page attributed to Barnabas, and the title of it runs in thefe ^7 words: "the true Qo{^t\of Jesus called Christ, a new prophet fent by God to the isoorld^ ace or ding to the relation of Barnabas his apoftle. Here you have not only a new Go/pel^ but alfo a true one, ifyou believe the Mahometans. But how honeft foever they may be reprefented, this is a topic where none are to be credited with- out the utmoft caution > lince, tho every Gofpel forbids lying, yet never are more lies told than about the Gofpel The fir ft chapter of it begins ^^ thus. Barnabas <^;? apoflle of J bsvs of Nazareth^ call' ^^ C H R I s T, to all thofe who dwell upon the earthy wifheth peace and confolation. Whatever may be- come of the truth, this is the Scripture- ftile to a hair. The book is written on Turkifh paper delicately gumm'd and polifli'd, and alfo bound after the Turkiili manner. The ink is incom- parably fine 5 and the orthography, as well as the chara6ter, plainly fhow it to be at leaft three hundred years old. I ever chufe to fpeak ra- ther under than over in fuch cafes. Any pro- per name of God, and the appellative word D I O it felf, are conftantly writ in red letters out 1 5. He's dead Jince the rPrhing of this LETTER. 17. Vero Evangelio di leiTu chiamato Chrifto, novo profeta mandate da Die aJ mondo, fccundo la defcritione di Barnaba Apo- ftolo fuo. 18. Barnaba Apoflolo di JefTu Nazareno, chiamato Chrifto, ha tutti quelli che habitano fopra la terra, pace he confolatione defidc- ra. Chariflimi. of i6 NAZARENUS. of refpeft, and To are the Arabic Notes in tranfverfe lines on the margin. The contents of the chap- ters are like wife written in red letters, and reach about the twentieth 3 a void fpace being left for the reft before each chapter, but no where filPd up. The author of thefe fummaries was a zealous Mufulman, who charges the Chriftians all along with falfification, from this his only authentic Go- fpel But they'll be nothing behind hand with him, whenever his Go/pel counts to be better known. Much care and ornament was beftow'd upon the whole, and the Arabic word Allah is in red let- ters fupcrftitioufly interUn'd over D I O, for the firft three times it occurs. The Story of J e s u s is very differently told in many things from the receiv'd Gofpels^ but much more fully and parti- cularly j this Go/pel^ if my eye has not deceived me, being neai* as long again as any of ours. Some wou'd make this circumftance a prejudice in fa- vor of it, becaufe as all things are beft known juft after they happen j fo every thing diminifhes, the further it proceeds from its original. But in this cafe the rule will be found not rightly apply'd, till the Book is prov'd to be the genuin iffue of Barnabas. Mahomet is therin exprefly nam'd for the Paraclete^ as we have been told that he's fo eftecm'd, by all the hiftorians of the Maho- metan Religion: theMufulmans acculing our Go- /pels of corruption (as I noted before) in the i6th See d{o and 26th verfesof the 14th Chapter of John 5 and John XV. pretending further that M a h o M e t 's name was ^^•^^^yftruck out of the Pentateuch and the Pfalms. with Luke M A H o iM E T is nam'd again or foretold in fome xxiT. 49. Other places of this book of B a r n a b A s, as the defign'd accomplifher of God's economy towards man. Tis, in fhort, the ancient Ebionite or Na- zaren Syftem, as to the making of J e s u s a mere man (tho not with them the Son of J o s e p h, but divinely NAZARENUS. x? divinely conceiv'dby the Virgin Mary) and agrees in every thing almoft with the fchcme of our mo- dern Unitarians 3 excepting the hiftory of his death and refurredion, about which a very different ac- count is given from that in our Gofpels : but per- fectly conformable to the tradition of the Maho- metans, who maintain that another was crucify'd in his fteadi and that Jesus, flipping thro* the hands of the Jews, preach'd afterwards to his dif- ciples, and then was taken up into heaven. CHAP. VI. Ho W great (by the way) is the ignorance of thofe, who make this an original invention ofxthe Mahometans! for the BafiHdians, in the very beginning of Chriftianity, deny'd J? that CHRisiv. himfelf fuffer'd, but that Simon of Gy- rene was brucifyldJn his place. The Cerinthians before them,' and the Carpocratians next (to name no more of thofe, who affirm'd Jesus to have been a mere Man) did believe the fame thing; that it was not himfelf, but one of his followers very like him, that was crucify'd : fo that fhe Go- Jpel ^/Barnabas, for all this account, may be as old as the time of the Apollles, bateing feveral in- terpolations (from which, 'tis known, that no Go- fpfl is exemt) fince Cerinthus was contem- porary with Peter, Paul, and John, if there be any truth in ^° Ecclefiaftical hiftory. Thus Phot I us tells us, that he read a book, entitul'd. The Journeys of the Apoftles^ relating the 19. Iren. lib. i. cap.15, gccltem Epiphan. Haerer24. num. 5; 20. Iren. 1. g. c. 3 : Eufeb. Hift. Ecclef. I. y c. 28: item 1. 4. c. 14: Epiphan. Haeref. 28. n. 2, 3, 4. Idem aflerunt Auguftinus, Theodoretu^, cum reliquis, afts t8 NAZARENUS. a£bs of P E T E R, J O H N, A N D R E Wj Th O M A S, and Paul : and among other things contain'd in the fame, this was ^^ one, that Christ was not crucify'' d^ but another in his ftead^ and that th erf ore he laught at the crucifiers^ or thofe who thought they crucify 'd him. Some faid it was Judas that was executed. This laughing of Jesus at the Jews was alfo affirm'd by the Bafilidians, as you may fee in the place I quoted about them juft now out of Epiphanius. Tis a ftrange thing, one wou'd think, they ihou'd differ about a fa6b of this nature fo early j and that Cerinthus, who was con- temporary, a countryman, and a Chriftian, fhou'd with all thofe of his Se6V, deny the ^^ refurreclion of Christ from the dead : tho we cou'd eafily folve the difficulty, were this a proper occafion for it > and I. may, in convenient time, fend you my obfervations on this fubje6t. But they who deny'd his crucifixion^ deny'd alfo his Genealogy, as it flands according to Matthew. In an Iriih manufcript of the four Gofpels ( of which I ihall give you an account in my next Letter ) the Ge- nealogy of J E s u s is inferted apait, among cer- tain preliminary pieces ^ and the firfl: chapter of Ver. 18. Matthew begins at thcfe words. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wife. The Ebio- nites, according to Epiphanius, had not the *3 Genealogy in their Gofpel-, which makes it need- lefs for him to fay ^4 elfewhei*e that the Cerinthi- ans reje&ed it, whofe Gofpel was the fame. But yet Epiphanius, who confounds every thing Kcti nATcLyi^ctv cT/ct TuTo 7CCV 9(Ltj^^V7m* lo Bibliothcca, cod. 14. ^^. Haeref. 28. n. 6. ij, Haeref. i8. n. f. Sc 30. n. 3. 24. Haeref. 28. n. fl (as NAZARENUS. 19 (as particularly this Gofpel of the Hebre'ws with that of M AT T H E w) tells us that Cerinthus and Carpocras wou'd needs prove by this very Genealogy, that Jesus was the ^5 Son of Joseph and Mary. Nay, he farther acquaints — us, how in the fourth Century, while Con- stant i n e the great reign'd, this Genealogy, with other curious pieces in Hebrew, was found by a certain Joseph in a cell of the treafury at Tiberias, which hehoneftly broke open to ^^ fteal fome mony 5 and that this odd accident was the chief reafon of his becoming a Chriftian. But whether the word ^7 there fignifies the Genealogy by it felf according to P e tav i u s, or the whole Gofpel of Matthew, according to Fabricius, tis certain that^^AT i A N left the Genealogy out of his Gofpel 'y which fo impos'd on the Orthodox themfelves, thatTHEODORET affirms he had ^^ re- moved above 200 of thofe Gofpels out of pubHc Churches, and plac'd others in their ftead. So that the want of this Genealogy in the Iriih copy of Matthew is not fo ftrange a thing, as it may feem at firlt fight 5 which is all the confequence I fhall now draw from it, refemng the further dif- cuffion of it to another time, as it particularly re- lates to our Irifh Manufcript. IS' Haeref. 30. n. 14. 26. Ibid. n. 6. 17. To itdLTet yiAT^dlOV Ej3^X0y (pVTOVt i8. Haerct. fabul. I.i. cio. CHAP. 20 NAZARENUS. CHAP. VII. BU T that I may not forget, what I promis'd above concerning the fragment of Barnabas in the Baroccian Manufcript, I found it ahnoft in terms in this Gofpel^ and the fenfe is evidently there in more than one place > which naturally induces me to think, it may be the Gofpel anciently attri- buted to Barnabas, however fince (as I laid) in- terpolated. I had not time to fee if it contained the four fayings, or rather difcourfes of Christ, inferted by L e v i n u s Warner out of Maho- metan books, into his Notes on the ^^ Century of Perftan Proverbs^ which he publifh'd at the end of his Hiftorkal Compend^ cited before. I found many fayings afcrib'd to Jesus by '^Kesseus (as I read his Lives of the Patriarchs and Prophets cited ) and by other Mahometan writers, exprefl in this Gofpel of Barnabas : tho I have not yet examin'd all of that kind I have obferv'd, no more than any of thofe in the Alcoran^ the groifeft of all impoflures. But from what I have already had opportunity to do, two difcoveries naturally re- fult 'y which cannot, Sir, but be agreeable to you. I. Thefirftis, that we now probably know, whence the Mahometans quote moft pafTages of this kind, they have concerning Christ: fome having for this very reafon rafhly charged 'em with forgery, and others gravely averting, that they took them all out of the known Apocryphal pieces 5 as if they had kept thefe with more care than the Chriftians, and without ever naming or producing any of the Apocryphal books they cou'd fo eafily fuppofe. 29. Ad proverb, 6i. in Appendice Compendii hiilorici, fag. 30 30. Abu-Mohammed Abd-Alla. "iths NAZARENUS. zi T'he Gofpel of the Infancy 0/ C H r i s t, publifli'd ibme years ago out of Arabic, appears not only from the invocation of the Trinity to be no Ma- hometan impollurc 3 but from Ecckftaf/ical hijlo- ry^ and the extant original Greec Manuscripts, unknown to Mr. . S i k e the editor of it|> to be long anterior to Mahomet; This is as true oithc Gofpel o/James^ which boalls of being the firft of ail the Gofpcls, ot the P R O T O E V A N- G E L I O N : nor is it lefs true of the Gofpel of N i c o D. em u Sj. which lall is only extant in La- tm ; and feems by diverfe of its cxprefiions and dodrines, to be one of the latell of all thofe fpi- ritual cheats. I deny not, that, the Mahometans have borrowed ibme of their fables from thef? and the like apocryphal Scriptures : I only deny it of all fuch, as believing molt of 'cnl to be cliird out of their own Gofpel of Barnabas. They are not ignorant however, either of the exifbcnce or im- poilure of the juilmention'd Gofpel of the Infancy^ which AhxM^P Ebn Edris cites by name, calling it alfo the fifth Gofpel ( as you may fee in the 2d Chapter of the firii part of M a r a c c Ts Prodromus) hut redundant^ fays he, in many things^ and in many things defe^ive. Our next difcovery IL is^ that the Mahometans not only believe, as is well known, many things recorded of Jesus in our Gofpeh > but that they have likewile a pecu- liar Gofpel of their own, tho probably in a few hands among the learned, from which perhaps fome parages in ours may be farther iliullrated : tor vt- ry ancient books, tho never fo fpurious, alwaysr fpeak the language, often cxprefs the traditions, and commonly allude to the cuftoms of their own times. I would here add, as a third difcovery, II L that we have at length found out the Gofpel fa- fher'd of old upon Barnabas, tho not in its ori- ginal purity. But I had not the perufal of the D book li , N AZ ARENVS. book long enough, to form any peremtory (fc- cifion in this cafe > notwithftanding the force of thofe prefumtions, I have already alledg'd. I knov/ how difficult a thing it is, to come at any Alcoran it felf j and how few have it in their hands, even in Turky : Yet I have taken the moft proper meafures to gain all the further light about the Go [pel of Barnabas that can poffibly be pro- cured > as you'll perceive by fome QUERIES I have drawn up, and which I fliall da my felf the honour to 3^ communicate to you in a few days, CHAP. VIII. NOW, as I have before given the firfl 'VP'ords of this Qoffel^ I fliall add the laft words of it in this place. Jesus being 3^ gone ( that is intO' heaven) the I)(fciples fcattefd themf elves into many parts of Ifrael^. and &f the reft of the world: and the truths being hated of Satan, was perfecuted hy faljhood^ as it ever happens. For certain wicked fnen^ under pretence of being Difciples^ preaclfdthaf JesuS was dead ^ and not rifen again: others preached that J E s u s was truely dead^ and rifen again : others preach' d^ and ftill continue to preachy that J e s u s^ 51. Set the ^ppcndix, num. III. 32 Partito Jellb, fi divifTe per divcrfle parte de Ifdrahelle he del mondo li difTepoli; he la verita, hodiata da Sattana, fu perfliegui- tata dalla Bugia, chome tutavia fi trova: perche alchuni malli ho- ineni, fotropretefto didilfepoli, predichavano |e{lueflere mortohe flon riflufcitato; altri predichavano Jeflti efftre veramente morto, he riflufcitato i altri predichavano, he hora predichano, JeiTu eflere fiolo di DIO, fra li qualli he Paulloingannato. Noi pe"ro, quanto habia fciuto, predichiamo ha cholloro che ternono DIO, aziochc' fiano falvi ncllo ultimo giorno dello jiiditio di DIOi Amen. Fine dello Evan^lio. ii NAZARENUS. 23 is the Son of God^ among which perfons Pa u l has been deceived, IVe therfore^ according to the mea- fure of our knowledge^ do preach to thofe who fear God^ to the end they may he fav'd at the laft day of his divine judgment 5 Amen. T'he end of the Go/pel, Tis plain that the writer of this book has known of the diflention betwcn Barnabas and Pa u l, recorded in the AUs of the Apoflles : and it will be Afts xv: faid, perhaps, that this quarrel fet Barnabas a 3<^' 37.33, writing. Paul had likewife no little conteft ^^* '*'°' with Peter, about his manner of preaching the Ccm^xre Gofpel to the Gentiles. Neither do I doubt but Afts x.wiVi tis the Apoltle of the Gentiles, that is aim'd at in ^^^^ "'^ "* an Epiftle of Peter to James, prefixt by CoTELERius to tlic Clementines. The words of P E T E R (after entreating James not to com- -municate his Preachings to any Gentile, nor even to anyjew without previous examination) are ^^ thefe. For if this be not done^ fays he, our fpeech of truth op toiovto Av]i'7r^.(T7tiV iTt no 7k •^€K vofjL&)i TO) S'iA Moi'ij'sw? ps-^Mrr/, Kcu 'caro ra Kvtiov vy.cjy ^rtprupH^ci/T/ *skx TJK C/jJ'lQV ee,V7CU S'lAfJ.oyV^i €T« OVTCOi eiTT&iVi ov^.i/Q- yyju M^H isrA^iKiiKJovlcUy ico]Akv « y.ist Kz^-tO. ev (/.» ^etpih-d-ii ATTO TK vouov. Tovjo J^l eipilKZyf iv^ '7^ vtavIa ytVifJAj. 'O/ cTs, ovk oiS'a. ^co^^ tcv iyov vow irAy- yiKKoy.iVoiy oi/f y)icov7AV gf zyov ^-oyov;^ iy.ov rov et^oi^Q-^ ewjai <^^viyco]z^9V iiTiKeieS^^iv ipytpiveiv : K'^yovii^ ^oii v/r^ eujjeoy Ketjti^ouuzvoii* Tov^o ^'.voJi ro iyov (pe^vny-ct^ cyu cvS ei/c^uiXiid-iu. El cTr iyov st/ -Ts-ietovlQ^ ToicfjfJA TOhyuaiv ka- TA-ilV ^i^ltt, TOJM yt€ 'CTO/r*/ »/ ^€T Ci/fi mm^^Qty* Tom. i. Patr, Apoftolic. pag. ^02, 14 NAZARENVS. 'will he divided into many opinions. Nor do I knoiJtS this thing as being a prophet,^ hut as feeing even noix) the beginning of this very evil: for J ome from among the Gentiles have rejected my Legal preaching', em- bracing the trifling and Lawlefs do^rine of a man^ 'who is an enemy. And theje things fome have en- deavor'd to do now in my own life-time >^ transfornt- ^ ing my words by various interpretations to the de- See Gal. ii. ftru^lion of the Law 5 as if I had been of the fame 11,12, iZyfnindi^ but durft not openly prof efs it^ which be farr *^* from me. For this were to aU againft the Law of God fpoken by Mofes^ and which has the teftimony of our Lord fw its perpetual duration^ fince he thus Mat.v. i^.has faid : heaven and earth fhall pafs away, yet Luke XVI. Qj^^ JQ^ Qj. Qj^g tittle fhaii not pafs from the Law. ''* And this he faid^ that all might he fulfilVd. But thefe^ I know not how^ promijing to deliver my opi- Set Gal. as f^jon^ fake upon them to explain the words they heard « ove. j^^^ ^^^^ better than I that fpoke them, telling their dlfciples my fenfe was that^ of which I have not fo much as thought. Now^ if in my own life-time they dare feign fuch things j how much more will thofe^ that come after me^ do the fame ? This inoft re- markable and inconteftably ancient piece, with others at leaft as ancient, which I cou'd cite were it needful, do manifeftly fhow 5 that this notion of Pau l's having wholly metamorphos'd and per- verted the true Chriflianity (as fome of the Here- tics have exprefl it) and his being blam'd for fo doing by the other Apollles, efpecially by Ja m e s and Peter, is neither an original invention of the Mahometans, nor any fign of the novelty of their Gofpel: but rather a ftrong prefumtion of its antiquity, at leaft as to fome parts of it 5 iince this was the conftant language and profeflioii of the moft ancient Sects, as i fliall convince you beyond any room for doubt, CHAP- NAZARENUS. ly CHAP. IX. To fet this matter therfore in the clcarefl light, it is to be noted, that the Ebionites caird Pa u L an Jpoftate from the Law j and re- jeSed all his Epiftles^ as thofe of an Enemy and an Impoftor. This is recorded by ^^Qrigen 3 J and Eu s E B I u s, which fhows that E p i p ha- N I u s (whofe teftimony we ihall produce hereaf- ter) is neither the only, nor the firft, Ror with- out an author, that faid this of the Ebionites, as the acute Mr. Nye has too pofitively affirmed in his Judgement of the Fathers , denying this of O- ^ag- ?/• R I G E N by name, whom I have this moment quoted for it. The like charge againft Pau l is acknowledged of the Nazarens, who were the fame people under another name, or rather this of NAZARENS is the only name they own'd : and both of 'em, if they muft needs be made two, were the firft converts among the Jews to Chri- ftianityj that is to fay, the firft Chriftians, and consequently the only Chriftians for fome time. Mr. S E L D E N, never to be mention'd without honor, fhows, that at leaft for the fpace of fe- ven years after the death of Chris t, none of the Gentiles embrac'd his dodrinej all his follow- ers, till the converfion of Cornelius the ^fts x. 47.. Centurion, who was a profelyte of the-gave, hav- ^ •/*^«^ mg been of the Jewiili 36 nation and religion. - 24. Contra Olf. 1. f . I,-. Hift.Ecclcf. 1. 3. c. 27. 'Ou7&/ '^i ^« uivA^or^KM ^ma? A«t/15? as they faw feveral other Seels had pecuhar founders, of whom they dc- •riv'd their appellation. But we ought much foon- er to believe the Ebionites thcmfclves about their own name of Nazarens, and nick-name of Ebio- nites, than J E R o M, or E p I p H A N I u s, or any other of their enemies 3 who either did not know them enough, or wilfully and malicioufly mifre- prefented them. Others again, who cou'd no more digefl this veiy grofs account, than content themfelves with the lovely fimplicity of truth, infinuated that thofe firll Chrillians were calPd Ebionites from their ^^ poor and low notions of .C H R I s t's perfon : a derivation as farr fctcht as any other, and which diverfe learned men have deiervedly exploded. Neverthclefs, whatever con- fuiion and diverfity may be obfeiT'd concern- ing them in I RENE us, Justin Martyr, EusEBius, Epiphanius, Augustin, Theodore T, and others of thofe they call the oldi'^^//:?^rj-, tis conftantly agreed among them, ' that the Nazarens and Ebionites affirmed Jesus ^ to ha've been a mere ma7i^ as well by the father as f the mother's fide^ namely the Son but that he was 4^ juft^ and wife^ ' and excellent J ahon;e all other perfons^ meriting to ' he peculiarly calVd The Son of God, by ^ rcafon of bis moft virtuous life and extraordinary en- ' dowments : and that they join'd with their Chri- ^ flian profeffion^ the necejjity of circumcifton^ of *- the ohfervation of the fabhath^ and of the other ' Jewijh ceremonies 5 which neceility muft be un- derftood only of the Jewifh Chriftians, for the reafons I fhall produce by and by. Eusebius fays, that fome few of 'em in his time (that is, in the fourth century) behev'd, like the Gentile Chri- itians, the mother of Christ to have been a 43 Virgin j and that he was conceiv'd by virtue of the Spirit of God, tho ftill but a mere man (which is juft the Socinianifm of our times) but that they enjoin'd the obfervation of the Legal ceremonies, as ftriftly as the others. There were diverfities of opinion among 'em, no doubt, no lefs than a- mong other focieties, as this fame diftin^tion is as old as O R I G E n's time : yet tho thefe latter were a quite different fort from the former, as the beil Critics fairly acknowledge , they rejected Paul's Epifiles equally with the others, and were as high- ly irritated 44 againfthim. But the Fathers a6ted with incxcufable confufion and injuftice, to call men profeffing two fuch contrary fentiments by the fame name of Ebionites, if fuch a Heretic as Ebion had ever exifted^ which fome of 'em, as I faid, did moll ignorantly averr, efpecially Je- R o M and Epiphanius: tho the Ebionites 42. Iren.l. i. c. a6: Eufeb. Hift. Ecclef. 1. 5. c. 27: Epiphan. Haeref. y.n. 2. 28. n. i. &; 30. n. 2. 18 : Tlicodoret. Haerer. fab. 1.2. c. I, 2, cum reliquis. 4^. Hift. Ecclef. 1. :^. c. 27. Idem dlcmt Origen. contra Celf. 1. %\ Hieronym. in Epift. ad Auguftin: 5i Thodorct. in loco jan^ notato. 44^ Origen. contra Cclf. 1. j-. them- NAZARENUS. 29 themfelves (as even Epiphanius 4f confefTes, who yet will not believe them) deny'd any fuch Ebion> and gloiy'd in their name, alledging their poverty was occafion'd by the laying of all Aas W. their fubftance at the Apoftles feet, for the firft44»4f- & and moft powerful fupport of Chriflianity, by a ^- 3^^' 5/' community of goods. Thefe Nazarens therfore or Ebionites were mortal enemies to Pa u l, whom they ftird^;^ Apojlate (as we faw juft now) and 46 a tranfgrejfor of the Law : reprefenting him as an intruder on the genuin Chriftianity, and, tho a llranger to the perfon of Christ, yet fubftituting his own pretended Revelations to the doctrines of thofe with whom G h r i s t had con- versed, and to whom he a6i:ually communicated his will. This is the fiam of what we certainly know concerning them" j for in ot:her things, one or two* pointp excepted, the Fathers are; not of accord. Moreover, the Chriftians are to this day by the Arabians and Perfians calPd NAZARI, and NOZERIM by the Jews, who calPd them at the beginning (as I fuppofe upon occa- fion they do flill) MINEANS or Heretics : CTJl^D fince all feftaries, of all forts, are fo nam'd by them y and that Chriftianity was then reckon'd but a Jewifh Herefy, tho it was rather truely and properly their Reformation. The Nazarens or Mineans, whofe Churches florifh'd over all the ^^7 eaft, us'd to be curs'd by the Jews in their fy- nagogues, at morning, noon, and evening pray- 45-. Haeref. 30. n. 17. 4^5. Hieronym. in cap. ii. Matth.' 47. yfque hodie per totas Oricntis Synago^as inter Judaeos haereiis eft, quae dicitur Minaeorum, &a Pharifaeis nunc uf- que damnatur, quos vulgQ Nazaracos nuncupant. Hieronym, in i^iji, nd Angufiin, ers^ 39 NAZARENUS. ers, under this very name of ^^ Nazarens j as be* ing excommunicate perfons, and apoftates from their body. Jn effeft, they were commonly con-- founded together by the Heathens, even a good .while after die Gentile converts made another XDhurch : nor is S e l p e n the only perfon, that, in later times, has aflerted Christianity to be no more than 49 Re formed Judaismj the t;rue religion being one and the fame in fub- ftance from the beginning, tho in circumftances the Inftitutions of it at different times be different, and confequently more or lefs perfeft. But we muft not forget how his adverfaries us'd the Apo- ftle of the Gentiles. c H A p. X. NOR does Paul deny the charge of the Ebionites, that he did not learn his Gofpel ^^- ^.*^> (a phraze familiar to him) from thofe who were 11! & ii. immediately taught by C h r i s t himfelf. For he 1. 2 Tim. tells theGalatians plainly, that the Gofpel which he ii. 8._ prmch'd was not after man 5 for I neither recei^u'd Gall. II, ^-^ ^y ^^^ j^^^yg j^g) neither was I taught it hut hy Ver. 1 7, ^^^ revelation o/jesusChrist: neither went s8, 19. I up to Jerufalem to them which were Apo files he* fore me^ but I went into Arabia and Damafcus, Then after three years I went up to Jerufalem to fee Peter, and abode with him fifteen days 3 hut 0- ther of the Apoftles faw I none^ fave Ja M e s the 48. Ufque hodie perleverant in blafphemiis, & fer per fingulos dies in omnibus Synagogis, fub nomine Nazaraeorum;, anathema- tjzant vocabuium Chriftianum. U.in Jfriami cap. f. ver 18. 49. Nee difciplina ilia apud eos alia, quam Judaifmus vere Re- fonnatus, if u cum fide in Mefliam, feu Chriihim, rite conjunftus. Lor^s NAZARENUS. 31 Lord's brother. And fo he went on preaching this Gofpel to the Gentiles, as he informs us in the fame Epiftle and elfewhere 3 exprcfly abfolving them (and, as tis now generally believ'd, the Jews themfelves) from Circumcilion, and all the Lcvitical ceremonies^ againft which he flrenu- oufly argues every where. Then he declares, how that fourteen years after he went again to Je- Uid. If: rufalem^ and communicated unto them that Gofpel, i, a, ijuhich he had preach' d among the Gentiles 5 yet but privately to them who were of reputation^ for fear Ver. ij of thofe who did not approve of the liberty he preach'd from the Jewifh ceremonies. Next he tells of what paft between him and the other Apoftles, who^ tho they feeni'd to be fopewhat^ in ver. 6, 7, conference added nothing to him : but contrarywife^ 8, 9. fays he, when they (that is, James, and Ce- phas, and John, who feem'd to be pillars ) faw that THE GOSPEL OF THE UN- CIRCUMCISION was coynmitted unto me^ ^iTHE GOSPELOF THE CIRCUM- CISION was unto Peter, and percei^'Sd the grace that was given unto me 5 they gave to 7m and Barnabas the right hands of fellowjlnp^ that we fJoou'd go unto the H E AT H E N, and they unto the CIRCUMCISION. This confent of James, Peter, and the reft, the Ebio- nites flately deny'dj maintaining, that if thefc had approved of P a u l 's pra6lice, they wou*4 as well have gone in that manner to the Gentiles themfelves, which cou'd be no lefs than the duty of forxie of them: and that his rivalling of Pe- te r and James for fuperiority, being ambiti- ous to be the head of a party, is undeniable from thefe his ov/n declarations. They further obje6l- ed that he gave onely his own word for his reve- lations : and that fome few miracles recorded in {he jd5ls of the Apoftles were no demonftration of ■ his / 3t N AZ ARENU S. his miflion, for a rcafon we fliall alledge prefently, which reafon confifts m the opinion they had of this book. But to go on with Pa u l's account, Vcr. II. when Peter (fays he) ^w as come to Antioch^ I *withftood him to the face^ hecaufe he was to he hlanCds fince he had ah'eady, it feems, departed from the forefaid confent, recorded alfo in thefif-? teenth chapter of the ABs of the Apoftles : for be* fore that certain came from James ( adds Pa u l. Vcr. 12. here to the Galatians) he did eat with the Gentiles j hut when they were come^ he withdrew and feparat^ ed him f elf ^ fearing them which were of the CIR- CUMCISION. This account the Ebionites again rejeded as contradi^ory, fince James was one of thofe, that according to Pauj:. him- felf, had approv'd of his preaching to the Gen- tiles : and yet now they were thofe, who came from James, that made Peter withdraw from the Gentiles. There's but one way in the world of reconciHng thefe things, which we {hall fee a little further, and firmly hope it will fatisfy the moll incredulous. The Nazarens or Ebionites ( for I ufe thefe words promifcuoufly ) wou'd likewife probably fay, it was this verymif- reprefentation of his fenfe, that Peter meant in his fore-cited Letter to James. And tis in- deed more than probable, when Peter fays Asdhovi^ there, that certain took upon them to explain his ^age 24. qj^QYi^s better than himfelf^ giving out that he was of their mind^ but durft not openly profefs fo much 5 tis pritty plain, I fay, that the author of this Letter had that paflage in his view, where Paul, as we faw juft now, charges Peter with not daring to own his opinion, for fear of them Ter. 13. which were of the Circumcifion: adding, that the other Jews dijfemhled likewife with them^ info^ much that Barnabas was carrfd away with their diffimulation. But we ought not flightly to nm N AZ AREISV S. 33 run over this paflage, fince from the hiflory of the Nazarens we fhall take occalion ( and a very- natural occafion it is) to fet T H E O R I G I N A L PLAN OF CHRISTIANITY in its pro- per light 'y the want of which made it a My- ilery to both Jew and Gentile, before the de- claration of it by J E s u s : but fince that decla- ration it ceafes to be longer a MYSTERY to any, but to fuch as love darknefs better than the light > or that take upon them to teach others, what they profefs not to underlfand themfelves. Wheras, after the manifeftation of it by the Gofpel^ nothing is more intelligible or conceivable, as nothing is more amiable or interefting, than the true and genuin Chriflianity : fo plain and per- spicuous indeed, that it was preach'd at the very beginning to men of the moft ordinary capacities j who were not puzzl'd but enlightn'd, not banter'd but thoroly inflrufted. CHAP. XI. TO be c-arrfd away therfore here (MEGA-Gal. i. 13: L E T o R ) muft fignify purely by opinion, or difference of fentiments, and not by any feparati- on of company : or elfe it wou'd be a contradi6ti- on to the reafon of the conteft between Pa u l and Barnabas, that is given in the A^s of the Apoftles y the time and the place, at Antioch, be- ing unqueftionably the fame. For in the A^s, Aasix.iC, Barnabas (who firft entertain'd and introduced 27. Paul to the Apoftles, wheras before none wou'd receive him, nor beUeve him to be a difciple) is reprefented all along as his fellow-Apoftle to the Gentiles without fhowing the leaft fcmple in this affair of the Levitical rites. He was deputed with him from the Church of Antioch, to reprefent the ftate 34 N AZ ARE NVS. ftatc of this fame controverfy to the Apoftles at Jerufalem > and came back again in his company with the determination they made in this cafe, wherin he's ever mention'd as of Pa u l 's fide. Then follows this different account of the quarrel lhid.T9. 36, in thefe words. Pa u l faid unto Barnabas, 37» &'^' Jet us goagain^ and mjit our brethren in every City^ rcohere we have preach' d the word of the Lord^ and fee how they do. And Barnabas determin d to take with them John whofe Surname was Mark : and Pa u l thought not good to take him with them^ who departed from them from Pamphylia^ and went not with them to the work. And the contention was fo fharp between them^ that they departed afunder one from the other : and fo Barnabas took 5° Mark, and faiVd unto Cyprus 3 and Pa u l chofe Silas, and departed. This is quite another flory, and we learn from it that Barnabas now preach'd apart > which probably gave a han- dle to Impoflors, of framing a Gofpel in his name^ But the Ebionites did not troble themfelves with this difference feeming or real, nor with anything elfe in the AUs of the Apofiles^ which they rejedb- ed as a 5 ' fpurious piece j not deferving the title, were the contents of it true : fince nothing was faid thcrin of many of the Apoflles, and compara- tively very little of Peter or James, being almoft wholly taken up about Paul. Neither did the 5^ Cerinthians (a branch of the Ebionites) any more than the s' Marcionites, acknowledge it : and the Ebionites had veiy different Acts of the Apoflles^ wherin it was recorded, among other 5-0. His Sifter's Son, Co). 4. 10. 5-1. Epiphan. Haeref. 50. n. ^6. 52. Philaftr. Haeref. 7,6. ^5, Teriuiiisn. contra Marcion, 1. r. c. a^ thing% N AZ ARENV S. 35 things, that ^4 P a u l isoai of Tarfusj which he owns and denies not^ fays Epipmanius. It was added, that he was originally a Heathen^ from that faff age where it is truely faidby him^ I am a man of ^^i^ -xak TarfuSj a citizen of no mean city-, whence they con- 39, elude him to have been a Heathen both by the fa* ther and mother's fide. It was further affirm'd in thofe jl6is that he came to Jerufalem^ ftafd there for fome time^ and had a mind to marry the High Prieft's daughter 5 on the account of which he became a profelyte^ and was circumcised ( contrary to what Phil, ifi, fi he relates of himfelf in his Epiftle to the Philippi- Aasxxiii, ans^ as well as often elfewhere) but that afterwards ^'^^''^\' not obtaining the young woman^ he was angry y and^^'^^^^ wrote againfi Circumcifion^ againfi the Sabbath^ and againfi the keeping of the Law. The Ebionites likcwife retorted the charge of diflimulation on Pa u L himfelf, not only in circumcifing T i m o- a^s^vL rl THY, tho the fon of a Heathen, becaufe of the 4,3- Jews that dwelt at Lyflra and Iconium 3 but par- ticularly as to his condu6t on another occafion, which was thus. After he had gone up to Jeru- falem, and declar'd to J a m e s and all the Elders, what had pafl in his miniftry among the Gentiles, ibll. xxL they f aid unto him: thou feeft^ brother^ how many io~i6, thoufands of the Jews there are which believe^ and they are ALL zealous of the Law (as we fhow'd be- ^^Q^etciy ZK Ta TO'zr\i S"iA to ^iKa.K))^i<; yV tuSlov ptid-?t', or/ T<^pcr«f$" wK' E/Tct caTyois-iV aujov eivcu 'YKKtiva, km 'EAA^?f/c^©- /^n^p-i^ kcu *EAA)?i'©- 'srpO" yety.ov ayu.yi^i Kif.t rma Ihka 'ur^^O'tiAvlov yivi^, }COl]a tzrse^TO/y.H? y^yC^-OZVAt, KAI KaJa ^*33c«TJ?9 KAt icuc- '^iJiAi* Epiphan. Haercifwjo. n, 16, if, fore 3« N AZ AtiENV S. fore of the Nazarens) ayid they are inform'' d of thie'^ that thou tcacheft all the Jews^ which are among the Gentiles^ to for fake M o s e s > faying^ that they ought- not to circumcije their children^ neither to walk after the cufiom. So he's now underilood, I am fure. What is it therfore ? the multitude muft needs come together : for they will hear that thoil art come. Do therfore this that we fay to thee. We have four men^ which have a vow on them 5 take them^ and purify thy felf with them^ and he at charges with them^ that they may fJoave their heads : and all may know that thofe things^ wherof they are informed concerning thee^ ARE. NOTHING^ hut that thou thy felf alfo walkefi orderly^ and keepeft the Law. As touching the Gentiles which believe^ we have written and ccnc^uded^ that they obferve no fuch thing -y fave only that they keep themfelves from things ofjer d to Idols^ and from hlood.^ and front things flrangVd.^ and from fornication. By *he way,- here is no reftriction made as to time or place, ei- ther in the abftinence of the Gentile Chriftians from thefe four heads, or in the keeping of the Law by the Jewifh Chriftians. But of this Ver. xd. prefently. Then Pa u l took the men^ and the next day purifying himfelf with them^ entered into the Temple > to fignify the accomplijhment of the days of purification.^ that an offring JJjou'd he offefd for eve*' ry one of them. It follows therfore irrefragably, that Pa u L contended onely for the liberty of t\tt Gentiles from Circumcifion and the refk 6f the Law, but not by any means of the Jewiih Chri- ftians : for if the matter was not fo, how cou'd it Vcr. 14. be tmly faid, that thofe things were nothings with which he was charg'd ? namely, that he taught the Jews to forfake Moses, and that they ought not to circumcife their children, neither to walk after the cuftoms. And, upon any other foot, wou'd not the other Apoftles be as great diflem- blers N AZ ARENU S. 37 biers as he ? this being, as I hinted before, the onely way in the world to reconcile things 5 and reconcile them it abfolutely does, without any doubt or difficulty. Abftrule and multiform are the windings of error ; but the clew of truth is uniform and eafy. Yet to what unaccountable fhifts are moft Commentators driven, to fave their own precarious Syftem, and withall the integrity of the Apoflles ! what loofe maxims, incompatible even with ordinary morals, do they not authorize ! when nothing can ever do, but the real diilin6t:i- on of Jewifh and Gentile Chriftians > who are ever to fubiilt in the Church, as in the fequel will be made evident. Neither am I altogether lingu- lar in this point : for this very pafTage of Pa u l's juftifying himfelf to his countrymen in this man-* ner, appeared fo decifive to Jam e s Rh e n f e r d, Profeftbr of the Oriental tongues in 5s Franeker^ that he doubted not in one of his excellent ^^ Dif- fertations to maintain, that Pa u l taught onely the Gentile Chriftians (and never the Jewifh, as is univerfally fuppos'd) to abftain fi'om Circumci- fion, and the obfei-vation of the rell of the Law. He confirms his opinion by thefe words of Paul. himfelf to the Corinthians : but as God has diftri^ i Cor. vif: huted to every man^ as the Lord has calVd every ^"^^^^ >^ 9* one^ fo Jet him walk 3 and fo ordain I in all the Churches. Is any man calVd being CIRCUM- CIS'D? let him not become \5^C\V^C\} M:- CIS'D: is any calfd in UNCIRCUMCI- SION? let him not become C\lLC\3yiQ\^'V>. CIRCUMCISION is nothings ^and UN- CIRCUMCISION /"j nothings but the keep- ing of the commandments of God. Let every man ^•f. He's de^.d fine; the xcriting of this Letter, f6. De fi(5tis Judaeorum 2v judaiinniium Haerciibus, .£ ahi'dg 38 NAZARENUS. cihide in the fame callings wherin he was called, 1 repeat it again, that Pa u l can never be other- wile defended againft the Ebionites > tho I know at the fame time, that this will be call'd contra- diding all the Churches in the world : and I de- fpair not of fetting the argument here in its due light, as I fiiid before, without making my Dip' fertation too bulky. Yet let Criticifm and Rca- fon be ever fo clear in the cafe, let Scripture and Hiftory be ever fo politive, or an Accommo- dation with the Jews be ever fo much facilitated j fome of the reigning Divines will be as fond of their errors as of their benefices, and fooner keep up an eternal warf between the Jews and the Gen- tiles, than own themfelves to have been ever in the wrong. No Innovation is the word, when the quellion is all the while about reducing things to the Old Foundation, B CHAP. XII. UT waving what the Ebionites further urg^^J^ and, as you fee, very unjuftly concerning Pa u l's diflimulation, let's now procede with in- conteftable matter of facb 3 and obferve from the • foregoing difcourfe of J am e s and the Elders to Afts xxi. him, that all the Jews which became Chriftians ao. were ftill Zealous for the Levitical Law. This Law they look'd upon to be no lefs national and Exod. xii. political, than religious and facred : that is to fay, 26, 27. &; expreflive of the hiftory of their peculiar nation, xiii. 8, 9. eflcntial to the being of their Theocracy or Re- c/LrpS! public, and aptly commemorating whatever be- fl/Deut.iv. fell their anceilors or their (late 5 which, not re- f— 10. & gai'ding other people, they did not think them Y^-^^^'^^f^' bound by the fame, however indifpenfably fubje6t ii\'xx. ^0 the Law of Nature, Our teUher Moses, %S^ • fays NAZARENUS. 39 fays 5^ Maimonides, did not deliver the inheri- tance of the Law and the Ordinances^ hut to the Ifrae- lites onely -, according to that of Deuteronomy, Mo- Deut. SEs commanded us a Law^ even the inheritance of^^^^^'^' the congregation o/ Ja c o b : and alfo to all thofe^ who become Profelytes out of other nations ^ accord- ing to that of Numbers, as you are^ fo jhall the Num. xv. fir anger he. But no hody^ againft his will^ mufi be 'i"- forc\l to embrace the Law and the Ordinances. Be- iides this, the Jews were perfuaded of the Law's ^^^^o^Vl*. eternal duration, of Circumcifion's being an ever- Exodxjvxi. lafting covenant, and of the Sabbath's being no lefs 1^. 17- ^ plainly deem'd than call'd fuch a covenant, not to ^j''^^- 5- ^ fpeak of the paflbver, £5?^, from the manifold exprefs Levifvii. declarations and promifes of the Old l'efia7nent : ^6, (^c, and all this without any other limitation, but that t>euc iv, of the days of heaven upn earthy and the final pe- 4-o«Scvi.i. riod of their generations^ or the utmoil; date ofoeut. xi. time. They were further rooted in this perfuafi- y • ^^^l^* on from the repeated words and conilant pra6tice ^ ' *^' ^^' of J E s u s, who they believ'd came not as a di- minilTier or an abolifher, but (as he himfelf openly Mat.T. 17,* profeft) an accomplifher or perfe6ter of the Law, i^^.^^^'^*°* the reftorer of the fame, and a reformer of the Manvui.';,* abufes which had gradually crept in upon it : for 8, 9. Luc the Pharifees had almofl wholly perverted, tranf- xn. ii.a^c form'd, and made it of no eitect, by their Tra- ditions, Explications, and even Difpenfations 5 as all Inftitutions (tho ever fo facred) come to be corrupted and difguiz'd in time, by men of weak or worldly minds. Thus therfore the Nazarens, following the precept and exam- ple of their mafler Jesus, concluded they might be very good Chrillians, yet ftill ob- ferve their own country rites (Sacrifices excepted) ^7. Tradat, de Reg. cap. 8. E z there 40 iSf AZ ARE NUS. there not being one word in any Gofpel concern- ing the abolition of them, but dirc6tly the con- traiy in all others, as well as in their own Gofpel of the Hebrews^ or of the twelve Apoflles^ as it was indifferently call'd. This is fo manifeft, that in the late difputes about Occaftonal Conformity^ the example of J e s u s and the Apofbles has been alledg'd a thoufand times, as continuing in the practice of thejewilh. rites andworfhip, frequent- ing the Temple and the Synagogues, obferving the folemn fealls and particularly the PafTover, like the reft of their Countrymen. And this indeed is undeniable fa6i: : the Apoftles were fo farr from condemning the Nazarens, that they confirm'd their dodbrine by their own pradice. But then I challenge any in the world to fhow me as plain- ly, that it was onely by way of prudential con- defcention for a certain fcafon, as it is now taken for granted on all fides. I am as much as any man for Occaftonal Conformity^ among Churches not differing in cffentialsj which was evidently the practice of the primitive Church moft proper- ly fo call'd, and founded upon unanfwerable grounds. 'Toleration alfo (in Scripture^ among other names, call'd Long-fiiffering and Forbearance) is no lefs plainly a duty of the Gofpel^ than it is felf-evident according to the Law of Nature : fo that they who perfecute others in their reputa- tions, rights, properties, or perfons, for merely fpeculative opinions, or for things in their own nature indifferent, are fo far equally devefted both of Humanity and Chriftianity. But the prefent cafe is nothing at all to the matter, nor can there be any folution given of it (otherwife than on the foot of our fcheme) that will not appear perfectly precarious, if not fubje6t to fcvcral great incon- veniences : as no other fcheme can reconcile Chri- ftianity, and the promifes of evcrlafting duration made NAZARENUS. 41 made in favor of the Jewifli Law : which arc poorly, I will not fay fophillically, evaded, by making the words eternal^ everlafting^ for ever^ perpetual^ and throout all generations^ to mean one- ly a great while 5 that the way of Chrift's accom- plifiing the Law^ was to aholtJJo it > and that till heaven and earth Jloall pafs^ iignify'd //// the reign T^jpS/J/j KAl Tff^KAfJ.^AVi^i KAJ. y.OlVl'JVZlV a'TTAVTOy^ OULCO^ 0U07'7rhAVyV0li KCU A.S'i^^pOl^, i'itV A-TTOfpAlVl^' Id. IbM. ' • ' E 3 whatever 42 N AZ ARE NUS. whatever they can of the Laws of Moses {which we think were ordain' d out of regard to the hard- nefs of the peopWs hearts) and add to thefe their hope in Jesus, with the practice of the eternal and natural virtues of Jujiice and Piety -y being fur- ther de^reous to make one fociety with Chriftians and Believers {as I [aid before^ yet fo as not to perfuade them to he circumcised Me themfelves^ nor to keep the fahhath^ nor to obferve any fuch other cf their rites : I think they ought not only to be rcceiv^d^ but likewife to be admitted to a communion tf all things^ as ihofe of the fame bowels and bre^ thren. Tho I cannot approve his notion of their being in a miilakc, yet I applaud his charity for bearing with them. A u g u s t i n, as we fhall fee hereafter, went further than J u s t i n 5 and main- tained for fome time the very notion that I now do, without any material difference : that the Chriftian Jews fliou'd ever obferve their own Laws, with- out impofing the Levitical ceremonies on the Gen- tiles. But the Jewifh Believers did not in the leaft pretend, to oblige the Chriftians from among the Gentiles to the like things with themfelves 5 as ma- Acts vy. I. ny wotf d inferr from one paflage in the AUs of the Jpofiles^ rafhly afcribing the opinion of a few pri- vate perfons to the whole Church. For after it is there related that certain men^ which came from Judea^ taught the brethren at Jntioch^ that except they were circumciz'd after the manner of Mo ses^ they coiCd not be fav'd 5 and that fome of the be- Ver. >-. lieving Pharifees faid, // was necejfary to circumcife them^ and to command them to keep the Law of Moses: it was the fentence of the Apoftles, yer.i5),io. given by the mouth of Ja m e s, that thofe fhou d not be trobVd^ which from among the Gentiles were TURN'D TO GOD> but that we write un- to them (fays he) that they abfiain from pollutions of Llols^ and from fornication^ and froyn things firangVd^ NA ZARENUS. 43. firangVd^ and from hlood. Here is no fetting of the believing Jews free from the Law, but onely of the Chriltian Gentiles : and the laft were en- join'd the obfervation of thefe, not indifferent, out necejfary things j without which there cou'd Ver. ag. be no tolerable communication or commerce be- tween them and the firft. The greateft endear- ment fliou'd ever reign among brethren. And what is it, I pray, but the non-obfervance of thefe precepts, that makes fociety fo difficult a thing even at this time between the Chriftians and the Jews, tho the latter are in a fort of flavciy to the former ? It is a known obfervation, that there can never be any hearty fellowship, wliere peo- ple don't eat and drink together. This was evident^ lydefign'd in the ancient Sacrifices, national, urbi- cal, and familiar j as it was practis'd likcwifc in their folemn Treaties of peace or friendlhip, and was inftituted in C h r i s t 's laft Supper. I need not mention the "^primitive Love-feafts. But in the Apoftolical decree no accommodation is hint- ed in the leaft, no time is limitted either unto the one for quitting the old Law, or unto the other for negle6i:ing the four Precepts \ as is pofitively taught in all our Syftems or Catechifms. When Peter preach'd the Gof^pel to Cornelius, a Gentile profelyte of the gate > and publickly declar'd, con- trary to the inveterate prejudices of many of the Jews, that in every nation he that fears God^ a?id Aasx.-^^ works righteoufnefs is accepted of him : they were Ver. 4^-. aftonilh'd at it, and expoftulated with him for as ibid.xi. i, much as eating with the Gentiles. But after- 2, 3. wards he gave full fatisfadion to the Apcftles and others at Jerufalem, as to his proceeding in this refpedj and they were joyfully convinced, that^^^- ^^' God had alfo to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life: this being the great MYSTERY, which E 4 as 44 NAZARENU S. Rom. xvi. as Pa UL fays more than once or twice, had been 25-. EpheT j^jj £-Qj^ jjggg ^,^j generations, till it was now Jjj^;J°^ 5^ manifefted by the Gofpel. But in all this account, 9. Ccl.'i. there is not one word of Peter's fubjefting 26,^7. thofe converted Gentiles to the Mofaic Law, nor of exemting the Jewifh Chriftians from the obfervation of it : and tho he did eat with Cor- nelius, it does not appear that he ate any thing prohibited by the Law 5 any more than thofe Jews do, with whom we eat, and who eat with us, eveiy day. Thus therefore The Re- public OF Moses might ilill have fubiiiled entire, fuch as it was, or rather ought to have been, in Judea, and yet the inhabitants be veiy good Chriftians too : requiring no more f'* a their brethren of the Gentiles that liv'd amoag them (and agreed with them in the maixi article of the unity of the Deity, as well as > >er important tho not fo effential points) thar u.6fc abftinence from the four things now mejic.:rfd, which were likewife originally prohibited by the Jewiih Law to their Profelytes of Jufike, CHAP. XIII. THIS Abftinence from blood and things flrangl'd, was the undoubted fenfe of all the primitive Chriftians : and did not only conti- nue in all places (as it does ftill in the Eaftern Churches) till Augustin's time> but, even till the eleventh centuiy, in moft parts of the Weftern Church. Cardinal Humbert, who wrote about the middle of that centuiy, amply juftifics the Latin againft the Greec Church, as to NAZARENUS. 4j CO this point -, for retaining (diys ^° he) the ancient ufage or tradition of our ancefiors^ we in like man- ner do abominate thefe things : infomuch that a fe- vere penance is imposed on thofe^ who^ without ex- treme peril of lifej do at any time feed on bloody or any animal dead of it [elf ^ either choak'd in the wa- ters^ or firangl d by what accident foevcr. I ad- mire how thofe perfons can herein be fcitisfy'd in their confciences, or by virtue of what nice di- iHnclion r«hcy can coin to themfclves a difpenfati- on from this abllinencc 3 who make the practice of the primitive Church to be the befl commen- tary on Scvipture^ when the dodrine of it too is fo exprefs and uniform in this refpecb. But I have ever obferv'd, that they, who make the loudeft pretences this way, are either the fiirthefbof all others from primitive pra6lice5 or the leall: ac- quainted with primitive hiftory. What is it, I pray, that has the Fathers^ that has Tradition and Succeflion more or as much of its fide, as this very Abftinence ? It was commanded in an affembly of the Apofiles^ without hmitation of time. Tis injoin'd in the ^^ Canons antiently attri- buted to them. Tis alleg'd as a proof of their innocence by the firft Apologifis of Chrillianity, to all whom, that mention it, I appeal without exception 3 which makes particular citations un- neceflary, as they wou'd make my Letter too prolix. Tis coniirm'd by the Decrees of fcveral Councils-, and has been defended by fome of the 60 Anriquam etenim confuetudinem, feu traditionem majo- rum noftrorum, diligenter retinenres, nos quoque haec abomina- mur : adeo ut fanguine, vcl quocunque morticino, aur aquis feu quacunquc negligentia praefocaro, apud nos aliquandc vcfcentibus, -abfquc exlremo periculo vitae hujus, poenitentia gravis impona- tur. In bibliothzcm Tatrum, torn. 4. I>ag 202. 61. Can, ^3, aliis vero j-2, moft 4<^ NAZARENUS. mofl learned men in the lafl centuiy. The cita- tions, I fay, wou'd be endlefs. Not to fpeak of Hugo Grotius, Claudius Salmasi- us, or Gerard John Vossius (what mighty names!) the great Stephen Cur- cell e u s has written an elaborate difcourfe on this *^ fubject, wherin he ihows abftinence from blood to have continued in many places to al- moft his own time > and Christian Bec- M a N N u s made a Theological Exercitation to the fame ^^ purpofe before Curcelleus. They all maintained it was no part of the cere- monial Law of the Jews, but ^^ a Noachic pre- cept, equally binding all the world upon a moral account. The words fpokcn to Noah and his fons (and confequently, fiy they, to all man- kind ) in the ninth chapter of Genefts^ are thefe : Gen. ix. every moving thing that lives jhall he meat for yoUj I 4- even as the green herb have I given you all things -y hut flejh with the life therof^ m/jich is the blood therof^ fhall you not eat. This indeed is con^ firm'd in the Levitical Law, tho properly no part of the fame according to thofe Gentlemen, a great many other moral duties being occafio- nally mention'd there > and they think it obferva- ble, that thro-out the whole Pentateuch^ the Stranger as well as the Jew are forbidden to eat the blood of any manner of flefli ( as being the €i, Diatriba de cfu fanguinis. 65. Exercitat. 26. 64. The Jevos maintain that No AH and his children, did. Before the flood, govern themfelves by the fix following precep;s, as an abjiraci »f the Law of Nature, viz.. I. Not to worflnp Idols, or any ether crea- ture, il. Not to blafbheme God, or his holy naf?2e. IH. Not to fhed Blood, or not to kill IV. Not to commit incefi, or aJultery. V, Not to rob or fieal. VI To appoint fudges, who fhou'd fee thefe precepts; duly executed: to which the Rabbins add a VWth, as commanded after the flood, namely, Not to eat the member of tiny living creature. hfe NAZARENUS. 47 life or foul therof) under the penalty of being Gen >:v i. cut off from his people^ or, in plainer language, ' y„^ ^ of being fent into banifhment : for the delerved-^ '** ly famous Mr. L e C l e r c has, in all the texts where it occurrs, prov'd this ^J phrafe of being V^^ off from his people.^ to fignify disfran.chi- fing and baniiliing quite out of the countrcy j but not to dy an untimely death, and much lefs to be eternally damn'd, in one or both which fenfes mofl people have abfurdly learnt to under- fland it. This prohibition of eating blood, is L'-'^''^- '"; repeated in feveral places of the Pentateuch'/J.^ '!^^' chiefly, as is fuppos'd by thofe who allow not \^1^ , J the moral reafon, to create a horror againfl: the & xix. 2^' ihedding of human blood, as well as for the a- ^^"'^ ^rii. voiding of unwholfom or infeftious diet: and be- '^' \^" ^ ing in the Apoftolical decree neither rcftrain'd to * ^* any time, nor counted an indifferent, but plainly a neceffary thing 5 there are flill many Chriilians A^^s xy, here in the Weft who think themfelves as much ^S. bound to refrain from things ftrangPd and from blood, as from meats offer'd to idols and from fornication, which are join'd together as of equal obligation. I faid, that I wonder'd by what di- ftincStion certain moderns cou'd juftify themfelves, in their eating of birds caught in gins, black pud- dings, and fuch other things j and yet a dillincli- on there is, but on which neither they, nor the primitive Jpologifts cou'd ever hit, or at leaft wou'd never ftick to it, by reafon of their being utter ftrangers to the true conftitution of the T h k Mosaic Republic: for the cafe out of Ju- dea, or any place where the Jews and Gentiles don't cohabit in one focicty, is quite another 6f. InGcneCifuo adverfum i^^ capitis ij, & w Commentariis 4d reliqtm Pentateuchi li6ros, thing-- 48 NAZARENUS. thing. They are not all ftrangers indefinitely, Levit. xvii.but cxprelly the fir angers who fijoii'd fojotirn among JO — i^.the Ifraelites^ that are forbid to eat blood: and fo farr were thefe points concerning blood, or things Ibangl'd, from being parts of the moral Lawj that the Jews were freely permitted to give or fell things that dy'd of themfelves, to travelling Peut. xiy. Grangers and aliens, that they might eat them : ?•■• which wou'd be highly immoral, were their own abftinence from eating fiich things grounded on the Law of nature. And juft as they granted this liberty to aliens, and to Profelytes of the gate ; or thofe flrangers, who, tho believing in one God, yet were not circumcis'd, but worfhipt in the outer court of the Temple, not conforming to the Jeivifij Law : fo the Egyptians, who, no lefs than the Jews, had the diltin6tion of meats clean and unclean, us'd to fell the ^^ head of the facrific'd beafl to Grangers, it being to themfelves an abomination and an accurfed thing. But as for the Profelytes of juftice^ or thofe ftrangers, who not onely were fettPd among the Jews, and inhabitants of their cities, but alfo received Cir- cumcifion as well as the belief of one God, and did in every thing conform to the JewilTi Law 5 they were bound in all parts of focial life (as in Exod xii. ^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^ pafTover, and in meat and drink- 48,49. offerings particularly) to comply in the ftridefl Num ix. ienfe with the eftabliili'd Laws and Cufloms. iiva ' ^^^^ La-uo^ fays Moses fpeaking of thefe very i(^. ' " things, and one Manner fh all be for you^ and for the Jlrayiger that fojournetb with you : which is there dire6tly calVd a perpetual ordinance. To this purpofe alfo Maimonides, as above- A ^<^oyl:i a 7m dyopm; a,^'' m iJ'o/lo. Herodot. 1. %, c. 59. cited. N AZ AR E NV S. 49 cited, of the fame nature and neccflity therfore Pag. 39. was the cafe of the Jewifh and Gentile ChrilH- ans, who, in the infancy of ChriiHanity, made up one Church or fociety at Antioch y as it wou'd be again fo, ihou'd all the Jews become Chrifti- ans, and be refettl'd in Judea : and upon a due examination the general prohibition inGene/is will be found to be no barr to this do6trine > as many other feeming generals there, were written never- thelefs with fpecial regard to the people of Ifra- el, and to them onely. Of fuch general prohi- bitions, yet only meaning the particular ufages of the Jews, L e C l e r c will afford you many inftances in his moil learned Commentary before quoted. And therfore Paul writing to the Pag. 47. Corinthian Gentiles, with whom the Jews were not fo much intermixt, tells them that meat com- i Cor.viii. mended us not to God-, forneither if we eat are we the 8. 9* better^ neither if we eat not are we the worfe : hut take heed^ lefi by any means this liberty of yours be- come a fumbling- block to them that are weak. This fcandalizing of others ( whether about eating of blood, or about meat offer'd to idols ) was all that wife men had to avoid, as Paul further ac- quaints the fame Chrillians, faying, whatfoevcr /jlbid.x. fold in the flja?nbles that eat ^ asking no quefiionfor'^^^'^^y^J* confcience fake : for the earth is the Lord's^ and the ^^> ^9' 3^- fullnefs therof. If any of them that believe not^ bid you to a feaft^ and you be difpos'd to go y whatfoevcr is fet before you eat^ asking no queftionfor confcience fake : but if any man fay zinto you^ this is offer\l infacrifice to Idols^ eat not for his fake that fjow'd it and for confcience fake {for the earth is the Lord's and the fullnefs therof) Confcience^ I fr-'J ^ot thine vwn^ but of the others; for why is my liberty jud^d of another 7nan^s confcience ? — Give none offence.^ neither to the Jews^ nor to the Gentiles^ 72or to the Church of God. This regard to the Jews and to their JO NAZARENUS. their obfervations is fo evident every where, that I wonder it cou'd evei* become a fubje£b of con- troverfy : but the true reafon is, the belief which fo early obtain'd, that the Levitical Law was quite abolifht, and that the Jews were no more oblig'd to keep it than the Gentiles. This is the fource of numberlefs errors, to the great depravation of Chrillianity •, and this, with relation to the eat- ing of blood in particular ( after recommending the whole fourteenth chapter to the Romans to your perufal ) may be eafily made out againft the . primitive Jpologifts and Fathers^ as well as againfl CuRCELLEUs, Mr. Whist ON, and fuch others : who, for want of obferving the faid di- llindion of Jewifh and Gentile Chriflians, have run into one extreme 5 as they, who limit the prohibition to a certain time, abfolving all men ' and in all places alike, have run into another. But the firft extreme is the more tolerable of the two, not onely for being the leaft mifchievouS in its confequences, and that the Jewiih Chrifli- ans are frill oblig'd to this abftincnce 5 but as be- ing withall both innocent and wholfom, as well as eafy enough in its pradice. But to return, the fifteenth chapter of the AEis cou'd not but be a ftrong prejudice in behalf of the Ebionites, and the ftronger, as being the teftimony of a book they believed compiPd in favor of P a u l : befides I Pet i. I. that Peter in his fir ft Epiftle (indifputably ad- dreft to the believing Jews) calls them a chofen lbid.il 9. generation^ a royal priefthood^ a holy nation^ a pe- culiar people. He does not fay they were formerly fuch, but ftiou'd be accounted fo no longer j he delires 'em, on the contrary, to ha've their conver- Vcr 12 faction hone ft aniong the Gentiles^ from whom they were therfore to be diilinct : fo that they might ilill enjoy all the prerogatives and dillindions of t,heir nation, no lefs than in Judea (the Temple and NAZARENVS, ji and Sacrifices excepted) as a feparate people even c^mong the Gentiles, and yet be very true Chri- ftians alfo. CHAP. XIV. THIS) I am perfuaded, was in this particular point (for I approve of no men's errors) the genuin Theology of the Nazarens > however mi- Itaken or mifreprefented by the Chriftians from among the Gentiles, as if they wou'd have them likewife to obferve the whole Law of Moses. They indeed in their turn may have millaken Pa u l's meaning, in whofe Epiftles are fo?ne things ^ Pet. iii' hard to be under flood^ as is well remark'd in the Je- '^' cond Epiftle attributed to Peter. But if the Nazarens did fo miflakePAui., the Gentiles have fufficiently reveng'd their Apoflle's quarrel. The Fathers are fhamefully inconiiftent, both with one another and each with himfelf, concerning the Ebionites : fplitting them where they ought to be united (as they unite them where they ought to be fplit) turning their bleflings fometimes into curfes, and making their godly prayers to pais for diabolical conjurations. The Gentile Chriftians (as I have (aid more than once) fhow'd on all oc- cafions an inexpreflible hatred againft thofe from among the Jews, even to the fpeaking many times irreverently if not profanely of the Law 5 tho they were acknowledged debtors to the Nazarens for the Gofpel^ the Jewifh Church having been formed, before any Gentiles had embraced Chrifti- anity. But none of any fort has treated them with more undifguiz'd rancor than Epiphanius, the moft ignorant and partial of all Hiftorians 5 as has been made out in multitudes of inftances by the bcft writers of the two laft and the prefent cen- tury, 5t N AZ AkENVS. tiiiy, net to inention any more ancient. Failing over his palpable ignorance in Grammar, Hiftory, Chronology, and the Hebrew tongue (tho a con- verted Jew) this may be truly faid in general of him ; that as none v/as more ready to make every man heretical, fo hone was more backward to find any man orthodox : and thofe, who diipleas'd him in one thing, he was furc to mifreprefent in every thing. Neveithelefs, this fame bungling and con- fus'd Epiphanius owns, that the Nazarens 67 diffefd in this ONE THING, as -well from the Jews as the Chrifiians : not agreeing with the former^ hecaufe they believe in C h r i s t > nor be- ing of one mind with the latter^ becaufe they conti- nue ftill addicted to the Jewifly Law^ to Circumcifi- on^ to the Sabbath^ and to the other ceremonies. You may take notice that he does not fay, they urg'd thefe things on others, but only bbfen^'d them among themfelves > which is what I precife- ly infill; upon, not merely as their real fentiment t but like wife as a very innocent andharmlefs thing,^ nay and will maintain it to be fo far the T R U E ORIGINAL PLAN OF CHRISTIA- NITY. For all this he'll have them a little lower to be ^' downright Jews, tho he fays in the very fame place that they are declared enemies to the Jews ', and that the Jews on the other hand do mortally hate them, curfing them three times 2L day in their Synagogues, as we learnt from J e- :R o M before. Any man elfe, but E p i p h a n i u s^ wou'd have remember'd the diftinftion he had ^^'.TTi^iv/Avett ; -y^ei^iAveif cPg |an oy.oyv6)f^ovvli<;y J'tct to err voi^u 'ui'7nS'r\kK^y^ •TffiejL\oiiy\ n, Kctt ffci^^ct^(!>y y^At Ton clkkoi^- Haeref. ap. n. 7. 68. Ibid. n. 9. jufl NAZARENUS. 53 juft made himfclf: and not reckon 'em Chriftians the Icfs in religion, that they had ^^ Synagogs and Elders as Jews by nation 3 nor, becaufe they were partly Jews in the outward man, deny 'em to be in the inward man entirely Chriilians. Here I wou'd defire thole among us, who prefs the ne- ceflity of obferving the Jewilh Sabbath (for which reafon they are call'd Sabbatarians^ or Se- ventb-day-fabhath-men) to confider, that they were not the Chriftians from among the Gen- tiles, but the Nazarens from among the Jews^ that anciently obferv'd^ or rather were onely bound to obferve, the Jewifh Sabbath : for we of the Gentile Hock are not oblig'd to obferve days-^ cr Gal.iV. 10: months^ or times^ or years s we are to hcjudgd ^j/Col, ii. i5. no man in meat or in d'rink^ or in refpeU of a holy day^ or of the new moon^ or of the Jab baths. And indeed had the original diftiilction of two forts of Chriftians been heeded, this difpute had ne- ver rifen : neither had the voluntary complaifince of the Gentile Chriftians in fomtimes celebrating the Sabbath of the Jews, nor of the Jewifti Chri- ftians in obferving the firft day of the Vv^eek with the Gentiles, been ignorantly dr^wn by any into the nature of a precept, or as an example of in- difpenfable imitation y which yet was done by many Fathers and Councils ( not neceffary at pre- fent to name) by the 7° Apoftolical Conftitutions^ and by the Edicts of ^^ ConstantIne the Great. Our Sabbatarians therfore (fo calPd) a- 69. Haeref. 30. n. 18. ■ 70. To (Kf.&'pctlov (xzv roi ncti rw KvetAK^iv hi^rct^'^.r'.', ort TO fxzv J^ijfjLiov^y/a,<; i^tv t/Vii/x^'W/t/tf. h S'i a.vdL^eta-^^afA.'/. C 23. 71. '"i^TTO T'AV Pc0U'AlSc>V cL^yjW TOJTiVQlXiVOli cItAITI (TyjJK'AV sTs KcLl Tea TH (Tct^fictTii TtU{i.l'; yA'ilUil^ h'iKcL UOI J^OKtriV TC.^V feb- de vita Conftantini, 1. 4. c 18. " F inong 54 NAZARENUS. mong whom I was intimatly acquainted with the late excellent Mr. S t e n n e t, being right in their pofition, tho wrong in the application of it, into which they were mifled by fo great au- thorities and examples, have this advantage how- ever ; that they may alter their pra6tice, without recanting their opinion, namely, that the Jewijb Sabbath is to be obferv'd in all ages. After the fame manner may be readily terminated abun- dance of other difficulties, folely arifing from the mifipplication to all, of what pecuHarly be- longs to one fort of Chriflians. Thus, to name no others, came into the Church Extreme Un5ii' en J which in time has been erefted into a Sacra- ment. Yet this Undion originally was neither facred nor extreme. Every one knows in what high elHmation Oil was among the eaflern nati- ons, and he has not read the Old T'eftament^ who is not acquainted with the moft frequent ufe of Anointing among the Jews. It was efpecially pradlis'd on a medicinal account, and adminiftr'd publicly in the fynagogues by the Elders on the Sabbath j where the applying of this remedy to poor fick people, was accompany'd by the pray- ers of the faithful for their recovery, and the pardon of their fins : or if the perfons were in a very weak condition, the Elders came home to them. Light FOOT 7* obferves out of the Jerufalcm 73 \talmud^ that Rabbi Simeon, the Son ^/Eleazar, permitted Rabbi M e i R to mingle wine with the oil^ when he anointed the fick on the Sabbath : and quotes as a Tradition from 74 thence, that anointing on the Sabbath was per^ raitted. If his head akes^ or a fc aid comes upon it ^ 71. Harmony of the N. Tejfament, Works, vol. i. pag. 333. 73. In Bcracoth. fol. 3. col. i. 74. Id. in Maazar Sheni, fol. ^3. col. 3r NAZARENVS, jy he anoints 'with oil. So, in the Babylonian 75 TaU mud^ tis faid almoft in the fame words > if he he Jickj or a fcald he upon his head^ he anoints accord^ ing to his maymer. The Apollle James ther- fore writing to thejewifh Chrillians, whole fy- nagogues and rites were precifely the fame with thofe of the other Jews, is any fick among you Jam. v: (fays he) let him fend for the Elders of the Churchy H> '/« and let them pray over him^ anoiriting him with oil in the name of the Lord-y and the prayer of the faithful pall fave the fick^ and the Lord floall raife him up J and if he have committed fins^ they floall he forgiven him. This, you fee, was nothing like the extreme un6lion of the Roman Church, but pecuhar to the Jewiih nation : as tis recorded of the other Apoflles, who w^erc not onely Jews, but likewife Elders of the Jewifli Churches, that they anointed with oil many that were ftck^ anduir.yu healed them. Several of our Proteftant Divines, ^ 3- ignorant of the Jewifh cuftoms, yet perceiving the abfurdity of the Roman pradice, v/ou'd have this Apollolic Un6lion to be miraculous and tem- porally 3 tho others were for extending it to all men and times, as fome did the obfervation of the Sabbath. But they were onely the Naza- rens that were to keep their national Sabbath, and yet this is one of the heinous crimes the Gentiles cou'd never forgive them > and for which they muft not, forfooth, fo much as de- Icrve the appellation of Chriftians : fmce while they wou'd he both Jews and Chriftians^ fays 7^ J e- R o M, they are neither Jews nor Chriftians j and fpeaking of thefe Nazarens in another place, they 7f. In Joma, fol. 77.2. ., ^ - r i J 6. Dum volunt 8c Judaei efie Sc Chriftianj, nee Judaei iunt Rcc Chriftiani. In E^ijl . ad AHQiifiin 5<5 NAZ ARE NUS, fo recein)e Christ, fays 77 he, as not to quit the ceremonies of the old Law. Well ; where's the harm of all that ? and why ihou'd it trouble him, or me, or any other, that were to obferve no fuch thing ? Yet this, it feems, is the chief thing, e- ven more than their opinion concerning the per- fon of Christ, for which the new inmates un- juflly expelPd the old inhabitants : for the fame J E R o M roundly tells 7« us, that the Cerinthians and Ebionites^ ivho were the Jews that believed in Christ, were anathematized by the Fathers for this ONE L Y THING, that they intermixt the Ceremonies of the Law with the Go{pe\ of Christ 5 and fo prof eft the new matters^ as not to part with the old. Very nice and deliberate ! Here you fee the antiquity of prefling Uniformity.^ and the ef- fefts of it too : and I am entirely fatisfy'd, that, were it not for this execrable treatment of them (fo contrary to the pra6tife of J e s u s, and the do6trine of the Gofpel) not a Jew, but, many ages iince, had been likewife a Chriilian 3 as it muft be on this foot alone, that their convcrlion to Chriftianity can ever be reafonably, expected. Thus then the poor Jews were expell'd at once, and none of 'em to be ever receiv'd again, ac- cording to the mind of thofe Fathers.^ without a particular abjuration not only of their Judaifm, but I may fay of their Chrillianity too. 77. Nazaraei ita Chriftum recipiunt, ut obfervationes Legis ve^ tcris non amittant. Id. adjef. 8. 78 Qui [Ebionei & Gerinthiani] credcntes in Chrifto, propter hoc folum a Patribus anathamatizati funr, quod Legis ccremoniaj Chrifti Evangelic mifcuerunt ; 8c fie nova confeiTi funt, ut vetcra non amitterent. In Epjl, ad ^ngujih. CHAP, N A Z ARE NUS. 57 CHAP. XV. AU G U S T I N indeed made fome fmall effort in favor of the Nazarens, as may be feen in the Letters that palt between him and J e R o m on this Subjeftj where, as it happens in moft difputes, they quickly loll the main point, and ran after foren matters, trivial incidents, or per- fonal reflexions, till they came at laft to fight per- fectly in the dark, and to make the reader admire about what it is they contend. Jerom, endea- voring upon a wrong fuppofition to reconcile thofe feeming contradiftions, which I have eafily accorded above upon the bottom of truth, had rccourfe to the lawfulnefs of an officious Ly for the fake of a good endy and fo aflerted that Paul, in acculing Peter, had prevaricated in effe6t him- felf, but all well done, it feems, for the impor- tant end of gaining the Jews, and excufing his own condu6t. This doclrine however cou'd not but fcandalize A u g u s t i n, who wrote fmartly to him about it, and juftify'd Paul by faying as I do, and as ;:he things fay themfelves, that when he fpeaks againil the Law as dangerous or ufelels, he means this of the Gentiles : and that all padages fpoken by him or others in favor of the Law, or enjoining the obfervation of it, re- late purely to the Jewiih Chriftians : befidcs that Peter had onely mifled fome Gentiles by his example, which they miftook, but not by his do6trine, which ought to have been better ex- plain'd. To this purpofe Augustin. But of all your difcourfe ( fays 79 Jerom) "which you. F 3 have 79. Totius fermonis tui, quern difputatione longiflima pro-^ t^axifti, hie fenfus efti ut Petrus non crraverit in eo, quod his ^4 j% NAZARENUS, have [pun out into fo proUa a difputation^ this in port is the fenfe j that Peter did not err^ in thinking the Law JlooiCd he ohfew^d hy thofe^ who heliev'd among the Jews : but that he declind from the right way^ in forceing the Gentiles to Juuaize 5 which you fay he didy not hy the precept of his do-' 6frine^ hut by the example of his converfation. Tou "maintain therfore that Pa u"t. did not fay any thing-, contrary to what he had done himfelf : hut had truly accused Peter, of having compelled the Chriflians froyn among the Gentiles to obfirve the Law. The fum therfore of your queftion^ or rather (f your judgment^ is this\ that^ even after the Gofpel, the Jews who believe^ do well to ohferve the ordinances of the Law : that is to fay^ if they effer facrifices as Paul didi^ if they circumcife their children^ if they keep the fabbathj 13 c. This he's fo farr from approving, that he utterly de- tefts it : tis turning Chrillianity into Judaifm. If we muft ly^ fays ^*' he, under the neceffity of re- ceiving the Jews together with their ohfervations of the Law y and that they may perform in the Chur- ches of Christ, what they exercis''d in the Sy-^ vagogues cf Satan: ru tell you my opinion fi'celyj they will not become Chriflians^ but make us or Gentile race^ is flung' d into the gulf of the Dcrcil, Thus this hotheaded raving monk, who to fuch a degree frighted A u g u s t i n (for convinc'd he cou'd never be) with his vehemence and bawl- ing, that he flunk to the poorefl; fubterfuges ima- ginable for getting well off > firfl giving another fenfe to an opinion, which he had before expreil in the plainell terms, and then quite giving it up to the overbearing weight of the majority. He was a Bifhop, and Vou'd continue fo. The Jews therfore were cut off for ever, as I fud, from the body of that Church which they had found- ed, wherin their Law is continually read to this day, where the Gentiles are proud to bear their proper names, and where they mufl in fomc nia:i- 8i. Ego c contrario loquar, &, reclamanfe mundo, liber ^ voce pronuntio, cercmonlas Judaeorum & perniciofas efft ?•' mcrtifcras Chriftlanis: 8c quicunc)ue eas obfervaverir, five ex Judaeis five ex Gentibus, eum in barst-hrum Diaboli devolumm. // thU. F 4 ^"^-^ ^o NAZARENUS. ner become Jews before they can be reckoned good Chriftians. Nor ought this proceding to appear any way furprizing, or the intrigue be reckon'd lo very flagitious, when we confider what a damning crew the Fathers were 5 and how prone on the flighted occaflons, fomtimes for mere pundliUos of Criticifm or Chronology (wherin they were generafly wrong ) to fend not onely private perfons, but even whole focieties, churches, and nations, a packing to the Devil. This is well known to all that have lookt into Church-hifioryi But I am weary of tranfcribing fo many citations out of books, that are very un- pleafant to read, as are almoft all the works of the Fathers : and wou'd think my felf bound to make an apology for it, were it not that the thing is unavoidable in this kind of writings where altho the befl: proofs imaginable, and the mofl; clear are requifite, the worfb in the world are generally us'd, the mofl: precarious, perplcxt, ^w„ and obfcurc. And, if the truth may be freely fpoken, there remains very little on record, very little that's any way certain or authentic, con- ^" cerning the originals of Chriftia?iity^ from the be- ginning of Nero to the end of Trajan or Adrian, that I may take the narroweft com- pafs I can : for others will bring this period of uncertainty much lower, whfch Ihou'd the more engage' us to keep clofe to the Scriptures^ where alone we can find refl: for the foles of our i^ti. Yet in this labyrinth of the Fathers we have been at no lofs ( you fee, Megaletor) tho fom- times a little at a ftand, to find out the unfophi- fl:icated fentiments of the Nazarens or Ebionites, fo farr as here infifted on, for of their other o- f)inions we fliall difcourfe another time : and this pr the mofl part by the light of fuch teftimo- riies, as if juftly doubted or opposed, there will be NAZARENUS. 6t t)e no evidence left for any fort of Chrillianity whatever. Now, from all thefc things, and par- ticularly from the Letter 0/ P e t e r ?(? Ja m e s Pag. 15. above cited, as well as from the AEls of the Apo^ ftks^ and from other places of the New Teftament^ together with what fome ancient Sedlaries be- liev'd concerning the death and refurreclion of Jesus, it maRifelHy appears from what fource the Mahometans (who always mofh religioufly abftain from things ftrangl'd and from blood) had their peculiar Chriftianity, if I be allowed fo to call it ; and that their Gojpel^ for ought I yet know, may in the main be the ancient Gofpel of Barnabas. For the Mahometan Interpola- tions are too palpable, not to be eafily dilHn- guifh'd : I wifh we cou'd as calily come by the pmiffions, if there be any. Peter Martyr (by the way) does, in the firft chapter of the 4th part of his Common places^ maintain, with o- ther eminent Divines, that Mahometanifm is no- thing elfe but a Chrillian Hercfy > from which I ftill inferr, that, whether upon a profpe6b of ad- vantaging Traffic, or of putting them in the way of converlion to a better Chriftianity, the Maho- metans may be as well allow'd Mofchs in thefc parts of Europe, if they defire it, as any other Seftaries : and certainly it would not onely be highly unreafonable, but withall be the highell ingratitude, in the King of Sweden to oppofe it at Stockholm j confidering the generous and hu- man treatment, I v/ill not fay the charitable and pious reception, he found fo many years at Ben- der with his Chriflian followers. No future mif- underllanding may cancel the obligation : for if we are bound to forgive the injuries of our ene- mies, we ought certainly much rather to forget ihe mifcarriages of our friends. CHAR [6x ■ NAZARENUS. I CHAP. XVI. SHALL conclude thefe refledrions concern* ing the perpetual obfeiTation of the Mofaic Law by the Jewiih, and of theNoachic Precepts by the Gentile Chriftians liying among them, with remarking, that the Apoftle Ja M e s docs not in his Efijlle mean by WORKS the mo- ral Law, nor by FAI T H a merit iii believing, as is fuppos'd by the cunc'it of Expo'fitors, the one half at leail of Scbolaftic l3ivinity bc'^ ing built on this very interpretaticn : but that WORKS there fignify the Levitkd- Law^ as FA I T H is put for ChriJUanity. This likewife is apparently Pa u l's meaning, whenever he ufes the fame expreflions : and thus onely may thcfe two Apoifles be reconcifd, without recurring to evafions, fuppo fit ions, and fophifms, that will fatisfy no reafonable man, however he may think fit perhaps to hold his tongue. James writes Cjp.i.v.i.expreily to the fcatter'd tribes of the Jews, and therfore tells them that FAITH (i.e. Chri- ftianity) can neither profit or fa've them 'without Cap. ii. V. W O R K S (i. e, the Levitical rites) as being .*4" obhg'd by an eternal and national covenant to the Law of Moses: but Paul, writing by the Jcwifli converts to the Romans, tells them, that Cap. Hi. a Man isjuftiffd by FA I T H without the works of v-iS. theL,kW^ the Gentiles not being at all concern'd Cap.ii, V. in the Mofaic rites or ceremonies. Ja m e s fays, 16. that the FA I T H of a Jew (for to fuch onely he writes) without the WORKS of the Law is dead:, and Pa u r. fays, that the Gentiles (for fuch Cap. vii. he himfelf calls the Romans) are dead to the LAW V. 4. hy the body of Christ. In the fime manner h to be undcrftood the Epifile to the Galatians^ Gcn- Ules NAZARENUS. 6^ tiles whom certain more zealous than knowing Jews wou'd needs compel to be circumcis'd : and in the fame manner alfo ought we carefully to di- llinguiih what is faid to the ColoJJians^ Philippiansj or any other Chriftians from among the Gentiles (as fuch) from what is faid by way of parenthefis in Pa u l's Epiftles^ or more direftly elfewherc, to the Jewiih Chrillians, and proper to them one- ly. Thus that the LAW was our Schoolmafter to Gal.iii. 24; bring us unto Christ, and ^that its ordinances^')' .. 'were blotted out and naiTd to C h r i s t's crofs^ ' "* ^^' are phrafes to be underftood onely of us Gentiles. I might with equal facility run over all the Epi- flles^ and not onely Ihow this diftinftion perpetu- ally reigning thro them j but remark at the fame time thofe infinite miflakes that the want of ob- ferving fuch a di{lin6bion has occafion'd : efpecial- ly thofe grofTer errors, which have been too com- monly advanc'd into fimdamental Doctrines, ad- miniflring fuel for endlefs contentions > but nei- ther reforming men's manners, nor informing their underftandings. They are the prime handles, on the contraiy, for the oppofition made to all Chri- ftianityi while fuch writers are in the mean time combating a Phantom, and wou'd forae of them be the zealoufeft advocates for the Chriftian Infti- tution, cou'd they but fee its original beauty, llript of all fuch paint and difguize. A perfon (Sir) of your great penetration and f^Hd judgement, cannot fail making fuch obfervations to himfelf j tho, in regard of the Epifile to the Hebrews^ the cafe is peculiar: for which reafon I referve what I have to fay about it, till I come to treat of the nature and end of Sacrifices, without which the fcope of the author to the Hebrews is obfcure if aot unintelligible. For in this refpe6t: I grant there is a change of the Law, as the Lawgiver himfelf has exprelly foretold theve ftiou'd be j wherin he's foUow'd <^4 NAZARENUS. follow'd by Jeremiah, Ezechiel, Joel, and fuch others, as muft be acknowledged to have well underftood the reafon and defign of the Jewifh Sacrifices. Wherfore defiring you to fu- fpend your judgement till you fee the *^ RES- PUBLICA MOSAICA, I return to my general pofition. Bcfides the pafTage alledg'd ^3g. 37- before out of the fir ft E fifth to the Corinthians^ the following pafiage alfo out of that to the Ro- mans, may fei*ve for a perpetual key to this Sy- llcm of reconciling Ja m e s and Pau l, 'viz. that V/ORKS, as oppos'd to FAITH in their writings, iignify the of us operatum of the Leviti- cal Law^ or the outward pradtice of it > and that FA I T H fignifies the belief of one God, a per- fuafion of the tmth of C h r i s t's dodrine, and the inward fanctification of the mind. Without this Faith and Regeneration (as a change from vice to virtue was properly call'd even by the Hea- thens) the ever fo pun6hial performance of Cere- monies cou'd not juflify a Jew, or render him a good man, agreeable and well-pleafing to God ; but Jesus and his Apollles made it manifeft that the Gentile, who bcliev'd one God and the ne- ceflity of Regeneration, might, contrary to the notions of the degenerate Jews (who then plac'd all religion in outward pra6bices) be juftify'd by fuch his Faith, without being obliged to exercife the ceremonies of the Law, being things no way regarding him, either as to national origin or ci- vil government 5 while the Jew, on the other hand, mull, to the outward obfci-vance of his countiy Law by eternal covenant, add this inward Regeneration and the Faith of the Gofpel^ or the Levitical Law wou'd avail him nothing tho ever fo ftridtly obferv'd. Here Pau l himfelf fpeak. 8z. Ste the Appendix, number 1. Where N AZ ARE NU S. 6^ fnere is boajiingthen? It is excluded: by what^om.wi Law? of Works? Nay, but by the Law of^T^"^^- Fa I T H. Therfore we conclude^ that a man is juftify'd by Fa i t H without the JVorks of the Law. Is he the God of the Jews onely ? is he 7iot alfo of the Gentiles? Tes of the Gen- tiles alfo ; feeing it is one God which fJoall jufii^ fy the Circumcision by Fa i t h, and the Unci RcuMcis ION thro Faith. Do we then make void the Law thro Faith? God forbid: yea we eftablifh the Law. What can be more plain or pertinent ? and is not this the onely way to reconcile the Gofpels with the J6fs and Epiftles^ as well as thefe with the Old tefta^ ment ? Is not this the onely method of according the Jews and the Gentiles ? yea and of j unifying God himfelf againft thofe, who object the muta- bility or imperfection of giving one Law at one time, and another Law at another time ? wheras there is no fuch abrogating or obrogating accord* ing to the Original Plan of Chri- stianity. The Religion that was true yefler- day is not falfe to day > neither can it ever be falfc, if ever it was once true. CHAP. XVII. THUS therfore the Jewifh Chriftians were ever bound to obferve the Law of M o s e s, and the Gentile Chriilians, who Hv'd among them, only the Noachic precepts of abilinence from blood and things offer'd to Idols : for the Moral Law was both then, and before, and ever will be, of indifpenfable obligation to all men, it be- ing the grofleft abfurdity and impiety to aflert the contrary i fince found Reafon, or the light of common fenfe, is a catholic and eternal rule, without ^6 NAZARENUS, without which mankind cou'd not fubfifl in peace or happinefs one hour. It i$ the fundamental bond of all fociety, where there is or there is not a reveal'd reUgion : and tis the onely thmg that's appro v'd by the moft oppofite Revelations, or by any foit of parties and divifions in each other. Nothing can be more appofite in this place, than what Cicero divinely writes to the fame pur- pofe. RIGHT REx^SON, fays ^^ he, is a true Law y futeahk to nature^ diffused among all peo^ fk conftantly the fame^ everlafiing : which obliges men to their duty by commands^ and deterrs them from wickednefs by prohibitions -, but which never com-- mands or prohibits the virtuous in vain^ tho the viti- ous are ?iot mov'*d by menaces or injunctions. Of this Law nothing mujl be chan^d^ nor may any part of it he repealed J nor can the whole be ever abolijh^d^ neither can we be abfoWd from obferving it^ by the authority of the Senate or the People. No other ex^ pounder or interpreter therof^ but it felf^ is to be fought 'y nor is it one Law at Rome^ another at AtJjens^ one at this time^ another hereafter : but the fame Law^ both eternal and immortal^ is to govern all nations and at all times. And there will i?e^ as S3. Eft quidem vera Lex re6la Ratio, naturae congruens, diffufa in omnes, conftans, fcmpitcrna: quae vocet ad officium jubendo, vetando a fraude deterreat ; quae tamen neque probos fruftra jubet aut vetat, nee improbos jubendo aut vetando movet. Huic Legi reque obrogari fas eft, neque derogari ex hac aliquid licet, neque rota abrogari poteft ; nee vcro aut pcrPopulum, aut per Senatum, folvi hac Lege pofTumus. Neque eft quaerendus expknator, aut interpres ejus alius j nee erit alia lexRomae, aliaAthenis, alia nunc, alia pofthac: fed £c omnes gentes, 8c omni tempore, una Lex, &: fempiterna & immortalis, continebit. Unufque erit communis quail magifter, impcrator omnium, Deus illc, Legis hujus inven- tor, difccptator, lator: cui qui non parebit, ipfe fe fugict, ac na- turam hominis afpcrnabiturj atque hoc ipfo luet maximas poenas, ctiamfi cetera fupplicia (quae putantur) effugerit. Cic. de Repub. I, ^. ex Ldctunt. I, 6. f S. we NAZARENUS. nve way fay^ one common mafler and ruler over afty tven GODy the propofer, debater^ and enafter of this Law : to whom he that will not yield obedience mufi fly from himfelf^ and JJmke off the nature of a man^ in doing which 'very thing he fuffers the higheft pu- nifhmentSj tho he fhou'd efcape thofe other torments which are commonly believ'd. It was a faying of Dr. Whitchcot, that natural Religion was eleven parts in twelve of all Religion : and Pa u l was fo farr from exhorting his difciplcs of the Gentiles againft this Moral Law of Nature (as he juftly did againft the Levitical Law of Moses) that the FA I T H which he recommends to thein inftead of this laft Law (even that FAITHGalv. 6. which works by love^ and whofe end is to beget a ibid.vi icJ new creature) is made by him radically productive of the Moral Law. T'he fruit of the Spirit (fays Ibid, v. zi; he) is love^ joy^ peace ^ patience^ gentlenefs^ goodnefs^ ^3» fidelity^ meeknefs^ temperance : againfi fuch there is no Law. No certainly, neither againft any other virtue > nor wou'd any ReHgion be receiv'cl in the world, that fhou'd go about to contradict or annul them : and tis evident to all, but fuch as will not fee, that one main dciign of Chriflianity was to improve and perfeft the knowledge of the Law of nature, as well as to facilitate and inforcc the obfervation of the famej tho tis very true, that when we have done all, v/e have done but our duty, and that but ever impcrfecbly. Ja M e s v/as alfo in the right, by preiling upon the Jews the WORKS of the Levitical no lefs than thofe of the Moral Law, for the reafons given before (particularly in the nth chapter) and therfore needlels to be repeated here, fmce he recom- mends FA I T H as earneftly as Pa tj l himfelR * Now, all tliis is very intcUigible, eafy, and con- fiftent, according to the Nazaren Syftem : v/heras nothing in the world is more iiuricate, difficult, or ^8 NAZARENUS. or incoherent, than the controverfies between the Proteftants and the Papilb, about Merit of JVorks and Juftification by Faith^ occaiion'd by the fecm- ing contradiction of James to Paul. But thefe are nice fpeculations, of which thofe plain men never dreamt > being founded on Scholaflic diftincli- ons and Roman Law-terms, to which moil of the Apoflles were utter flrangers. Good works^ as mo- ral duties are commonly call'd, were no part of the queilion at all: not the WORKS menti- oned by Pa u L and James, in contradiilindion to FA I T H. The Papifls are no better agreed among themfelves in all their divilions and fubdi- viiions, than the Protcftants, who are no lefs fplit about thefe points of Merit and Juftification > which, as we all know, have occafion'd as much loofenefs and libertinifm on the one handj as they have produced fuperftition and bigottiy on the other. Antinomianifm and Supererogation are the two monftrous extremes of their difputes. They keep ftill a woful pother : and I forefee that many of 'em (not onely on account of this expHcation, but alfo for what I have delivered concerning the perpetual obfervation of the Levitical Law) will lay, that I advance a new Chriftianity, tho I think it undoubtedly to be the old one. But minding the calumny of fome as little as they do the truth, I leave all impartial perfons to examine > if what has been written by either fide on thefe heads, be for the moft part any thing elfebut elaborate nonfenfe, mere jingle, and logomachy? and confequently, whether all the barbarous ftuff that's deliver'd in the Scholaftic Syftems concerning Faith and Jufiification^ be not an after-device of Priefts to puzzle the caufe j and fo to raife fcruples in mens confciences (to the bringing of them often into defpair) that they may have recourfe to them for the folution of their doubts, to the no fmall incrcafe N AZ ARRNVS. 6^ ilicreafe both of their pay and their power ? How- ever the matter may appear to others, I am pcr- fuaded that my expHcation was the real fenfe of Ja M E s i and I am every whit as certain, that he can never be made to agree with Pa u l, as well as that Paul can never be fairly made to agree with him, on any other foot. As to the fiibllance of what our modern Divines wou'd feem to contend a- bout, for my own part I readily acknowledge that no man can merit any thing of God by his good works, be they ever fo many or great 5 and that whatever he receives is by mere grace and mercy, even the bell: of us being, ftri6i:ly fpeaking, unpro- fitable fervants : but I deny that any thing of all this matter is meant in the phraze of Juftification by fVorks or by Faith in the whole New i'eftament. CHAP. XVIII. HITHERTO then we have partly feen what the true original Chrillianity in many things was not, and partly what it was > efpecial- ly as to the Jews perpetual keeping of their own rites, and the cohabiting Gentiles no lefs perpe- tual obfervation of the Noachic precept about blood : while both of 'em agreed to the necefli- ty of Regeneration, and fubjecling themfelves to Jesus as their fpiritual Lav/giver. To thefe things I cou'd add much greater luilre, had I time to digell and mechodize my obfervations touching the rife and growth of Chriilianity. There it wou'd appear, how {Irangely the moil part of the Jews of his time miftook the true de- fign of Jesus, having been deluvded and prepofiefl by the artifice of a prevaiUng fiction, that had not the lincere intercft of their country, nor the purity of their Conilitution, at heart. But they G v/er9 N AZ AR ENUS. were chiefly irritated againft him by the influence of a rampant Priellhood, who, tor their own profit and power, had openly and Ihamelefsly per- verted the Law of M o s e s j rather than to fee which rellor'd to its primitive inftitution , and tliemfelves obhg'd to change their formal into a fpiritual life, they wou'd not have even the king^ dom reitor'd at that time to Ifrael. Yet for re- je&ing the falutiferous doftrine and admonitions of the holy Jesus, they brought upon themfelves fwift deftruclion. And indeed the divine wif- dom of the Chriilian Inflitution (the original, uncorrupted, eafy, intelligible Inflitution j but not the fabulous fyftems, lucrative inventions, burthenfom fuperflitions, and unintelligible jargon early fubllituted to it) is fo apparent in enhght- ning the minds and regulating the conduct of men, in procuring their highelt happinefs in all refpe6bs, particularly in the admirable Economy of uniting the Jews and the Gentiles into one Family, and thus leading all the world to the knowledge of one God : that nothing, I am per- fuaded, but a perfe6t ignorance of what it really is, or private intereft, a worfe enemy to truth than ignorance, cou'd keep any from cheerfully imbracing it. I do not onely mean thofe who declare againil both name and thing, and this fomtimes very juftlv as they are reprefented to them : but likewife too manv of thofe who make loud profeflions of their Chriftianity, nay, and v/ho rcllrain the benefits of it folely to thofe of their own cant and lively , tho the ar- ticles of their belief and the rubric of their practice, be manifeitly the very things which Jesus v/cnt about to deHroy. A change in names makes no change in things ; and tho' I cannot fay, that I wifh there Vv^as but one communion of Chrillians, fince this in nature is impollible, nei- ther NAZARENVS. 71 ther is it in it fclf defircable, nor the thing In- tended by the communion of Saints : yet I wifh with all my heart that there were none in any communion, whofe Christianity, not- withftanding all their boafls and pretences, cou'd be fhown to be down-right Antichristia- N I s M > for we mull govern our fclves by things, as I faid juft now, and not by names, which fre- quently continue after things are chang'd quite contrary to what thofe words at firfb imported. And for God's lake. Sir, what can be more An- tichriftian than heathenifh Polytheifm and Ido- latry, pious Frauds and fuperilitious Fopperies, fo- phiilical Subtilties and unintelligible Myileries, damning Uncharitablenefs and inhuman Perfecuti- ons, vain Pomp and ridiculous Pageantry, abfo- lute Authority over confcicnce, and making tem- poral Rewards or Punifhments the means of (up- porting Religion? what can be lefs Chriftian, I lay, or more contrary to the deiign of J e s u s Christ, than all thefe things I have here enumerated •, with a fa6t:ious engroffing of Gain, and an artful propagation of Ignorance to fup- port the Trade, or whatever clfe our Deliverer oppos'd in the degenerate Jew and in the bewil- dered Gentile? Thefe and the like corruptions wherever they are found, be it in any one fociety, or among feveral focieties calling themfelves Chri- ftians, are yet the very reverfe of genuin Chri- stianity, and confequently Antichrist!- ANiSM. But tis no wonder Chriftianity fliou'd , in procefs of time be mifunderftood or mifrepre- fented, when the author of it was very early dil^ belicv'd by his ov/n neareft relations, and charg'd with madnefs, nay and dealing with the Devil, by Johii vlf. others: this charge of madnefs having been of- 4' 5— 8. ^ ten fmce laid by men of craft and intereil againft ^' ^°"-"34» thofe, that wou'd gcneroully risk life or reputa- G 2. tion* 7i N AZ ARE NVS. tion, an employment or a benefice^for the fake of truth and the public good, or whatever they take to be fuch. Is not Mr. W h i s t o n (for exam- ple) reckoned mad, tho no man in England writes more coherently ? This truth bids me willingly acknowlege : and yet I am much farther than his detractors from allowing all his premifTes, or admit- ting every one of his confequences to be juft. Sit ftill, fays the fly Pharifee, if you are a private man, and footh the knavery of the great, that you may enjoy their protection : or if you chance to be a man in power, keep what you have got by what title foever, and be fure to make the moll; of the people's folly > for he that does otherwife is a madman. This language I have heard a thoufand times, and as many times reje6ted fuch advice. Tho I declared long fince that I love not to call names in Religion, and that I am neither of Paul, nor of Cephas, nor ofApoLLosj yet fince men are fure to be diftinguifli'd by their friends as well as by their foes, and that the delignati- ons they beftow are often inexpreflive, but gene- rally falfe or improper : fo I own that, for more than one reafon, I have lefs exception to the name of NAZAREN than to any other. My firft reafon is, becaufe this name, as I have already Pag. 16. prov'd, w^as that which the followers of Jesus took to themfelves at the beginning, even prefer- ably to that of CHRISTIAN, which was given them next: and my fecond reafon is, be- caufe this name was afterwards peculiarly apply'd to thofe, who underllood the defign of Chriilia- nity as I do> namely, that the Jewifli nation Ihou'd always continue to obferve their own Law under the Chriflian difpenilition, tho neverthelefs the difciples from among the Gentiles do ftand under no obligation to keep that Law, either as it is ceremonial or judicial. This is the fenfe wherin I NAZARENUS. 73 I underftand N A Z A R E N I S M, as now be- tokening a dii1:in6t fociety of Chriftians : for with regard to any other opinions juftly or unjuftly at- tributed to the old N A Z ARE N S, as I have neither exprefly adopted nor defended fuch > fo they do not enter into the idea I give of the word, andtherforeamnot hereafter to be charg'd, with what I before-hand difclaim. CH A p. XIX. A S moft of the Jews miilook the defign of jtlL Jesus, fo the Gentiles did as much mi- flake the few Jews who adher'd to him. You know already to what a prodigious degree Im- pofture and Credulity went hand in hand in the primitive times of the Chriftian Church; the laft being as ready to receive, as the firll was to forge books, under the names of the Apollles, their companions, and immediate fiic- ceflbrs. Ireneus, fpeaking of thofe primi- tive falfe coiners, fays, that in order to ^^ amaze the fimple^ and fuch as are ignorant of the Scri- ptures of truths they ebtrude upon them an inexpref- fible multitude of apocryphal and fpurious Scriptures of their o'wn devizing. This evil grew afterwards not onely greater, when the Monks were the fole tranfcribers, and (I might Hiy in a manner) the fole keepers of all books good or bad \ but in procefs of time it became almoil abfolutely im- poffible to diftinguifh hillory from «>' fable, or G X tiuth 84. K[J.v^',\\w '?:rAn-3-©- ct:Toxpu?K cth»^ticti y.v\ iTTi^ctixivcdv y^-uiJ-ct\ct. Advcrlus Hacrcf. 1. i c. 17. •, o 1 • 85-. Vereribus ilUs bono animo multa & fcnbennbus Sc iegenri- bus ouae aliquo f^ltem modo inftruae poilenr piebemj quorum ■" ■ ^ crali!!} 74 NAZARENUS. tmth from error, as to the beginnings and origi- nal monuments of Chriftianity. The truth of this you may particularly fee in all the treatifes written about the Canon of the New 'Teftament^ where there occurr a pritty ample lift of difficul- ties, not to be flightly aniwer'd, or pafl: over in- differently, by any who are fincere lovers of truth > thefe being in themfelves matters of the high eft importance, as well as fubje6ts of the greateft curiofity, and therfore deferving all the pains of| the moft able Critics to folve them fatis- ^ — ^- iadorily. Thofe Apocryphal books occafion'd me to ftart a difficulty formerly in Amyntor^ which, for ought I yet perceive, muft be folv'd at laft by my felf It was this. How the im- 7nediate fuccejfors of the Apoftles cou'd fo grofsly confound the genuin writings of their mafters^ •with fuch as were falfely attributed to them ? or^ fince they were in the dark about thefe matters fo early ^ how tame fuch as followed ''em by a better light ? And obfervdng, that fuch Apociyphal books were often put upon the fame foot with the Ca- nonical books by the Fathers > and the firft cited as divine Scriptures no lels than the laft, or fom- times when fuch as we reckon divine were difal- low'd by them, I propos'd thefe two other que- stions : why all thofe books^ which are cited as ge- r^uin hy Clemens Alexandrirus, Ori- G E N, T e R T u L L I A N, a7id the refi of fuch wri- ters^ fhou^d not be accounted equally authentic ? and what firefs ought to be laid on the teftimony of thofe Fathers, who not onely contradiU one another^ but craflis ingeniis, 8c temerariis Monachis patientiam fequentibu.fs alta nox eiiarn dariflimis Chriftlanifmi pyincipiis tandem invedla eft: fabulis & fophifmatis veritatis regnum dolo 8c vi occupanti- bus. Gaf^ar Bmh, m Noiis ad Clmdhfli Mameni ho. i. de Stam idnmas. > ■ • ■' '"•''■-■■ " are NAZARENUS. 7$ tire often inconftflent with themfeh'cs in their relati- ons of the ^cery fa?ne fuEls ? Nor do I think it a meaa feiTice to true Religion, to fet objcclions of this nature in their cleareil light, no Ids to acquaint the perfons concern'd with thofe fcru- plcs of many, which had otherwife perhaps ne- ver come to theij: knowledge s than to put 'cm hereby in the right way of removing fuch, by an- fwering them as fairly as they are proposed. I am farr from being ignorant that the wooddcn Priells and Divinelings of all communions (eafily diflinguifh'd from the true Paftors) inilead of la- boring forfatisfadionin fuch cafes to thcmfelves or others, are accuftom'd immediately to rail and raife a cry againft thofe that do, as profeft Heretics or ConceaPd iVtheifts : wheras if they had been fuch indeed, they fhou'd the more earneftly iludy to inform and convince them, which Billingfgate and defamation can never effed. This condu6t, on the contraiy, will make them fufpect all to be a cheat and impoflure, becaufe men naturally cry out when they are touch'd in a tender part. Thofe Smatterers and Hypocrites, its true, wou'd ordinarily cover their malice with the pretence of zeal : but the real caufe of all their paiiion, is either their ignorance which they wou'd not have exposed, or their lazinefs which they wou'd not have difturb'd, with the bufmefs of their profef?ion. Tis not poflible, however, for any Church or Community to be rid of fach 3 fince there's a mob of Priells, a mob of Lawyers ^ a mob of Gentlemen, a mob of Phyficians, and a mob (to be fhort) in all mniierous focie- ties. But the able, the exemplary, and confci^ cntious Divine, who merits all the honor and refpe6t that is fure to be paid him, ads quite a- nother part : for mifreprefentation of his very enemies is as little to be fear'd from him, as much •G 4 i^s 76 N4ZARENUS. as it is to be defpis'd from thofe of another cha- racter j and information will be much more agree- ably receiv'd from his hands, as it is more Ukely to be found and fmcere. Being therfore fure, that no man will be angry at a queflion who's able to anfwcr it, I fhall here add one more to the difficulties relating to our prefent Canon of ^..^^Jhe New J'efta?nent. Tis this. Since the Nazarens or Ebionites are by all ChHrch-biftoriam unanimoujly achioivled^d to have been the firfl Chriftians^ or thofe who beVicv'd in Christ among th^ Jtws^ with which his own people he liv'd arid dfd^ they haviyig been the witneffes of his a5lions^ and of whom were all the Apoflles : confidering this^ I fay^ how it was poffible for them to be the fir ft of all o- thers {for they are made to be the fir ft Heretics) who fhoiCd form wrong conceptions of the doBrine and deftgns of ] Esv s^ and how came the Gentiles^ who believed o?i him after his death^ by the preaching of perfons that never knew him^ to have truer notions of thefe things -, or whence they coiCd have their infor- mation^ but from the believing Jews ? To the cu- ftoms of the Jews I grant the Gentiles were nioil averfe, and their language they fo little un- dcrilood 5 as to commit on divcrfe occafions endlefs and monftrous miitakes, many inftances of which may be ^cti\ in R h e n f e r d's Dijfer-^^ Fag; 57. tat ions before-cited j which (by the way) I ap- prove wot in all things, particularly in his con-* founding the Nazarens of the firfl with fome of thofe of the third and fourth centuries : yet Hill the Gentiles mull: have their water from the Jewifh ftream, or their ciftcrns will be very mud- dy and unwholfom. But not to digrefs, tho I am my felf moil firmly rooted in what I am thoroly perfuaded to be the right belief concern^ ing Christ and Christianity, which I iliall particularly deduce in the account of my ' ' • ■ " Religions N AZ ARE NUS. 77 Religion, which I have often promised you j yetj for the fake of others, I wou'd pafHonatcly re- commend ( in the mean time ) the clear folution of this difficulty about the Ebionites to the moft capable Critics, be they Divines or Laymen: lince not onely of old it occalion'd two emi- nent parties, but even now in a manner in our own days > and that one of them docs affirm, the true Chriftianity of the Jews was over- born and deftroy'd by the more numerous Gen- tiles, who, not enduring the reafonablcnefs and fimplicity of the fame, brought into it by de- grees the peculiar expreffions and myflcrics of Heathenifm, the abftrufe doctrines and dillincli- ons of their Philofophers, an infupportable pon- tifical Hierarchy, and even the altars, offirings, the facred rites and ceremonies of their Prieib, tho they wou'd not fo much as tolerate thofc of the Jews, and yet owning them to be divinely in- ftituted. The Socinians and other Unitarians no lefs confidently affiert, that the Gentiles did like- wife introduce into ChrilHanity their former po- lytheifm and deifying of dead men : thus retain- ing (add they) the name of Chriftianity, but quite altering the thing j and futeing it, as their interell: or the neceffity of their affiiirs required, to all the opinions and cufloms any where in vogue from that time to this. The timc-fcrving; and ficklenefs of many Chriilians are too manifell to be deny'd. This is the nature of man. Yet for all the pretences of the Socinians to reafon, they are in many things relating to this very fab- je6t, and in feveral other refpe6ts, not proper here to be mentioned, guilty of as palpable abfur- dities and contradictions, as any fe6t whatfoever ; fo little confident is man in his opinions, any more than in his actions. fi H A P. 7$ NAZARENUS. CHAP. XX. TO folve the faid difficulty then about the Ebionites, it will not be enough barely to ,quote our Gofpels^^ Epiftles^ and the Acis of the Apoftles-y but their genuinnefs and integrity mufl be likewife eilablifh'd by thofe arguments, of which evei7 good Chriftian may and ought to be apprized : lince the Nazarens and Ebi- onites ( whofe Synagogues or Churches were nu- merous, as I faid above, over all the orient, as well as particularly in Judea) had a Go/pel of their own, fomtimes call'd by Ecclefiaflical wri- ters *^ THE Gospel of the Hebrews, and fomtimes the Gospel of the twelve Apostles j but ignorantly mi- ftaken by Ireneus, Epiphanius, and their followers for the Gospel of Mat- thew interpolated. This Gofpel was publick- ly read in their Churches as authentic, for a- bove *7 J 00 years > which might very well be for the mo ft part, and yet the other Go/pels never be the lefs authentic alio. Do61:or Gr ab e (who has 86 Pap'as apud Eufeb. Hiil. Ecclef. 1. ;. c.39: Ignat. in Epill. ad Smyrn. n. 3: Iren. adverfus _ Haeref. 1. 5. c. 11 : Clem Alex. ftromat.l. I : Origen. homil. i. in Luc: tra£t. 8. in Mat: homil. ir. in ]erem; 8c in torn. 2. comment, in Joan: JuH. Martyr ^ut njtdetur) in dlakgo cum Tryphone: Ambrof. in prooem. com- mentarior. in Luc: Euieb. H;i^. EcclcfJ. 5. c. 25- £c 27 : item I.4. c. ^^•. Epipban. Haeref. 29 & 30, paffim: Hieronym. inCatalogo, n.4. Contra Pehgian. 1 3. c. i : Comment in cap. 12. Mat; 6c alibi faepilTime: Theophyladl. comment, in Luc; Tit, Boftr. com- jnent. in eundem. 87. Vid. Augultin. contra Fauft. 1 19. c, 18: & contra Crcfco- cium, c. 31 : «f Ti AVTi OUT? y^-\,a.<; avto /.dLi tjuv^e.':- Homil.in Act. c}6. Mjt-3!i:Xii yct^ (-j^ov J/doi^l'^) .)-? .'- />.«;, UiTet /,ctl Ti y.<±VA' Ifj (Ll -TrrtfTrff T-^f ^.C^Ol/f Til TSy S'S'-'T'- ^Ir- ^i-^yo-y.fJ.i^f.. Epiphan. Haeref. 33. n. 7. 97. Adverfus Haeref. 1. 1. c. x, were Si NAZARENUt were folely of their fide, loudly glorying that they themfelves were the Church and the Ortho- dox, while thofe whom others call'd Orthodox were Heretics and Intniders. Every one of them likewife had Apostolical Succession ever in his mouth. But Non noflrum inter 'vos tantas componere lites : Et "i'ituld tu dignus^ £5? hie Virgil. Juft fo it is at this day between fome of the Pro- tellants and all the Papiils ( not to fpeak of the Greecs) each of 'em boafting I know not what uninterrupted Tradition mid Succejfion^ which are the moil chimerical pretences in nature 3 and which not only iliows how little any oral traditi- on whatever is to be valu'd -y but that no truth of univerfal concern can pollibly depend on fo flight a foundation, as the way of bandying about an old Itory for numerous generations. To the Law therfore and to the Tefiimony. To the New Tefla- ment^ I fay 3 and to that alone both for doctrine and difcipline. So farr is the Succcffion of Bi- fhops in any ancient See from being unintermpt- ed, that it is not fo much as certain fa6t, no not for the firft half-dozen of pretended Bifhops in the See of Rome, from which our Englifh High- church Pharifees are proud to derive their Suc- ceilionj which I deliberately and pofitively defy 'em to make out to me, either in Rome, or here i\\ Great Britain with refpe6b to the firll: Britiili Bifliops. Befides that fevcral even of the Billiops who are not contefted, were Schifmatics, Here- tics, Apoftates, Atheilh, and monfters of men for wickednefs, by the confent of all hiitorians. Thefe were cleanly conveyances for the pure doclrine of Christ, farr better preferv'd in the Scriptures^ and in the fucceffive profeilion of the faithful. Shou'd NAZARENUS. %i Shou'd the validity of Ordination and Ordinances depend on the fuccefHon of Sees, it wou'd then be downright Conjuring, and not a rcafonable, much lefs a divine Inftitution. If Tradition ther- fore, and this Epifcopal fucceflion be not weak and beggarly elements > I know not what can be fo call'd with any propriety. This Succcffion, in a word, and ApoiloHcal, that is to fay. Oral Tra- dition, are Hterally in the Apoftle Pa u l 's words, iTim, 1.4; Fables and endlefs Genealogies^ miniftring qncftions rather than godly edifying : intricate queitions that can never be folv'd, and divifion inftead of edifi- cation. This bufinefs puts me in mind of a learn- ed Gentleman, who told me fometime jQnce, that he was about to collect the Traditions of his Church fince the Reformation : and if he goes on witk this defign, he'll be llrangely furpriz'd to find fuch prodigious variety, alteration, arid un- certainty, within fo fmall a compafs as from Lu- ther's time to ours. The iirit difpute will be (and no logomachy I affure him) whether his Church was well reform'd or not ? The next, whe- ther the Clergy or the Laity made this alteration, whether the motives to it were temporal or fpiri- tual? and the third, to name no m^ore, who were precifely the perfons, or thofethat wxre the chief inllruments of the fame ? Every one of thefc points will be eagerly contefted. Yet they are trifles to the confufion and intricacy he'll meet at every ftep about the difcipline and do&ine, the ceremonies andufages of this Church: when even llories void of all rivalfhip or intcrell:, where nei- ther point of honor nor preferment is conccrn'd, are fcarce ever told twice the fame way. A p o- s T o L I c A L Tradition, to fay it in few words, was the engine usVi formerly, as it \% at prefent, to introduce or countenance whatever men had a mind to advance without the authori- - ty N AZ ARENV $. ty of Scripture^ or contrary to it: and thus (to give an example in the very point we have been hitherto chiefly clearing) Augustin, fpeaking of the Nazarens by name, fays, that tho they 5« acknowledge the [on of God to be the MeJJias^ yet they ohfewe all the precepts of the old Law 5 which the ChrifiianSj continues he, have learnt by Apos- tolical Tradition not to ohferve car^ 7ially4^ but to underftand fpiritually. Jesus no where, the Gofpel no where, forbids the pra6bice of the Jewiih Law to the Jews > but the Tradi- tiop of the Apollles is here made to fupply the dele6b of their writcing. And fo this very Tra- dition is alledg'd by others to warrant the invoca- tion of Saints, prayers for the Dead, the worfhip of Images^ with the whole train of Greec and Romifh fuperftitions, wherof the leaft footftep appears not in the Bible, Again therfore I fay, to the Law and to the 'fefiimony : fince it will not avail any thing to fay here (for there's nothing fome men will not fay ) that by Apoflolical tradi- tion A u G u s T I N means the written doftrine of the Apoflles, till it appears that they have written any fuch matter. You perceive by this time (Megaletor) that what the Maho- metans believe concerning Christ and his doctrine, were neither the inventions of M a h o- M E T, nor yet of thofe Monks who are faid to have aflifled him in the framing of his Alcoran ; but that they are as old as the time of the Apo- 98. Nazaraei, cum Dei filium confiteantur eflcChridum, omnia tamen veteris Legis obfervantj quae Chriftiani per Apostoli- c A M T R A D I T I o N E M noH obfervsre carnalitcr, fed Ipiritualiter intelh'gere didicerunt. Ebicnei Chrifium etiam tantummodo ho- minem dicunt: mandata carnalia legis obfervant, circumcifjonem iciiicer carnis, Sc cetera, quorum oncribus per novum Teftamen- tum libciati fumus. Bi Hawef, r, 9. ^ nics, NAZARENUS. files, having been the fentimcnts of whole Seds or Churches : and that tho the Gofpel of the He- brews be in all probability loft, yet lome of thofe things are founded on another Gofpel anciently known, and ftill in fome manner exifting, attri- buted to B A R N A B A s. If in the hiftory of this Gofpel I have fatisfy'd your curiofity, I ihall think my time well fpent ; but infinitely better, if you agree, that, on this occafion, I have fet The Original. Plan of Christianity in its due light, as farr as I proposed to do. I am with inexpreffible admiration and rcfpecb. Tour mofl faithful^ obedient^ Ifonflaerdyke, and devoted Servant^ J. T. H AN A N ACCOUNT O F A N Irish Manuscript O F T H E FOUR GOSPELS; WITH A Summary of the ancient IRISH CHRISTIANITY, before the Papal Corruptions and Ufurpations: AND The reality of the KELDEE^S (an order of Lay Religious) againft the two laft Bifhops of Worcelter. Exempla Major urn perquire^ ? p Ubi nihil invenies Fallaciae. S ^"^ ^ ^ ^• LONDON^ Printed in the Year 171 8, LETTER II. Contammg an account of an Irijh Manufcripty Sec. SECTION I, A M not without hopes (ex- cellent Megaletor) that you may have receiv'd fome entertainment from my account of the Go/pel c/ B A R N A B A S5 as well as fome benefit trom the Original Plan of Chrijli- anity : but I now do my felf the honor to give you an account of a Gofpel that will tend much more to your edification, and by which that Plan will be further illuftrated, I mean a Latin Manufcript copy^ that 1 have now before me on the Table, of the fdur Gofpels generally recei-v'd in the Chrilli- an world. It is not onely veiy remarkable and valuable for being a reliqae of the ancient Irilli Churciij but moreover for being one of the cor- reaelt copies I have ever feen, and finely written in Irifli charafters ; as alfo for 'various R£adings of H 3 ibnis i N AZ ARENUS. fome impoitance, for fome very fingular obferva- tions, and for a Catena Patrum on the Gofpel ef Matthew (interfperft with a few N§tcs in the Iriih tongue) that dellroys the credit of cer- tain corrupt editions of the Fa t h e r s 3 wherin fome of thofe palTages being manifeflly deprav'd, it probably follows that many more are fo. There IS an interlineary Glofs o£ little worth in another hand, and fome odd fej)arate pieces, among whom the Genealogy of Christ, which I told you in Pag. 18. niy lafl Letter did not begin the firft chapter of Matthew. But thefe Notes^ and fome other books of this kind not yet made public, {how much fuller and better than the incomparable Archbiihop Usher (the glory of Ireland) has ei- ther ' done, or for want of fuch vouchers cou'd do, what was the genuin Chriilianity of the an- cient Irifh : for the Irifh and the Albanian Scots, with the Weftern Britons, were the lafl of all European nations that fubmitted (fince neither the Greecs nor the Waldenfes ever truely fubmitted) to the hierarchy, ceremonies, and doftrine of the Roman Church j tho they became the moft eager fticklers for it, with all its fuperflitions, in after times of ignorance. This late Conformity is una- nimoufly agreed by the Church-hillorians of all communions. I appeal in particular to Baro n i- u s and S pa N h e m i u s, iince domeftic writers may be liable to fufpicion. And fo farr, in eifedl:, were they from acknowledging any fubjection to the Church of Rome, or implicitly conforming to its Decrees 3 that, on the contrary, they did in very many things ftrenuoufly oppofe it: nor wou'd Dagan, an Irifli Billiop in the beginning I . Jn hh Difcourfe of the Religion anciently profeft by the Irilh tnd LHeBritifli. of N AZ AR ENUS. of the 7th centuiy, as much as eat with the Pope's agents (whom he met in Britain) no not under the fame ^ roof with them \ fo highly did he abhorr their impofing Spirit, as they found Columban alfo did, an Abbat of the dime nation whom they met in France. In Ihoit, the Irifh deny'd all communion with them and their Church j as the Roman Chinxh, on the other hand, did then treat the Irifh as downright ^ Schifmatics and He- retics, whofe Clergy, with thofc of the Britons and Albanian Scots , were not only to be rcor- dain'd (their countiy Ordination and Sacraments being by the Romanics reputed invalid) but like- wife their people to be 4 rebaptiz'd, if they de- fir'd it. Here's the true fource of the High-church fpirit, that infatuates fo many among us at pre- fent. Of Rome it is, and by this you may per- ceive the maintainers of it to be failing for Rome: the fpirit, I fay, of reordaining and rebaptizing, of unchurching and unchrillianing. The befl ar- gument that Pope HoNORius the firft cou'd ufe, towards reducing the Irifh to the obedience 2. Cognofcentes Bri tones, Scottos meliores putavimus. Scottos vero per Daganum Epifcopum in hanc infulam, & Columbanum Abbatem in Galliis, venientem, nihil difcrepare a Britonibus in corum converfatione didicimus : nam Daganus Epifcopus ad nos veniens, non foliim cibum nobifcum, fed nee in eodem hofpitio quo vefcebamur, fumere voluir. BU. Hift. Ecclef. I. a c. 4. 5. Sed perflitit illc \Wtlfridus] negare, ne ab Epifcopi? Scottfs \uti tunc vocabmtur turn HibernUey turn bcrealis incclae BntannUe'^ vel ab lis quos Scotti ordinaverunt, confecrationem lulciperet, quo- rum communionem fcdes afpernarerur apoftolica. Gul.Mabnesbur. deGefi. Fontif. Angl /. 3. Vide us licet ipjius ^tlfridi verba in ejus Vita, tap. 11. 4. Licentiam quoque non habemus eis pofcentibus Chrifmam . vel Eucharifliam dare, ni ante confelli tuerinr, velle fe nobifcum cfle in unitare Ecclefiae: &:qui ex horum fimilirer gente, vel qua- cunque, de Baprifmo fuo dubicaverint, baptiientur. Decret, ?07)tif, US. ab Uffem citat, H 4 <>f NAZARENUS. of the Roman fee, was ^ exhorting them^ not to efieem their own [mall number^ feated in the extre- mities of the earthy to be ijuifer than the ancient or modern Churches of Christ, that were thro-out the world. Thus C u m m i a n, one of the Irifh pro- felytes to Rome, in his Letter to S e g i a n Abbat of I-Colum-kill, defires him to <» confider, which are likeliefi to be in the right concerning the celebra- tion of Eafter^ the Jew s^ Greecs^ Romans^ and Egyp- tians^ agreeing together -, or a parcel of Britons and IrifJj^ who are almoft the remoteft of mortalsy and^ as I may call them (continues he) the tetters of the terreftrial globe. And again in the fame 7 Letter, what can be more perverfely thought of our mother the Churchy than if we fjjou'd fay? Rome errs^ Je- rufakm errs, Alexandria errs, Antiochia errs, the whole world errs : but the Irifh alone, and the Bri- tons, are in the right. Now, this is ftill the bur- den of the fong among us, this is the never-faiUng cant of every Theologafter, and of eveiy little bi- got that licks up his fpittle : ' arc you wifer than ' fo many Fathers, Councils, Princes, Nations ? ' Do you know more than all the world beiidcs ? But it will be very flirprizing,. when a true ac- f. Exhortans, ne paucitatem fuam, in extremis terrae finibus conftitutam, fapientiorem antiquis five modernis, quae per orbem terrae fiint, Chrifti eccleliis acflimarenr. Bed. HiJi.Ecde/.l.i. c. ig, Vtdsatur etiam fujlus de hac re, I. '^. c. ij*. 6. Vos conlidera e utrum Hebraei, & Graeci, & Latini, & Aegyptii, fimul in obfervatione praecipuarum folennitatum uniti; anBritonum Scottorumque psrticula, quifunt pene extremi, 8c (ut ita dicamj mentagrae orbis terrarum. Cummiani Hiberni ad Segi- mum Huenfem Abbatem, EpifloU MS. in Bibloth. Cotton. ^ edit. a& UJfer. m E;iftoUr. Hibernicar Sylloge 7. Quid autem pravius fentiri poteft de Ecclefia matre, ^am fi dicamus? Roma errat, Hierolblyma crrat, Alexandria crrat, Antio- chia errat, totus mundus crrat; Soli tantum Scoti &; Britoncs f cftum iapiunt. Id. ibid, count N A Z AR ENU S. count is given of the folid Learning and pxire Chriftiiinity, that anciently llorifh'd in the moit dillant even of the Britiih Ilets : and it appeiu's that as low as the loth century, the famous con- teft about the celebration of Eafler (a qucllion in it fclf unneceflary and infignificant) was Hill kept on foot in thefe Hands 3 as Usher judiciouily ^ obfeiTes, out of the anonymous writer of C h r y- s o s T o m's Life. But ufelefs as this qucflion does otherwife appear, yet we learn by it, that the in- habitants of our Britifh world thought then as highly of Conitantinople as of Rome, without fervilely fLibie6ting themfelves to the decifions of either : and that they judg'd the New Teftament clear enough, and fuiScient of it felf, in all things relating to Salvation 3 being fo little acquainted with the Fathers (tho by that time grown fond of Tradition) as to have but one fuch piece among them relating to Ecclefiaftical ufages. And hap- py had it been for them, if none of the extrava- gant fancies of the Fathers^ nor any other human Traditions in Religion, had been ever diflemina- ted in their Schools or in their Churches. But becaufe Usher has given us onely a bare hint, and that the palTage of Chrysostom's Life has not been otherwife noticed (that I know of) nor even as much as translated, I fhall here give it you entire. Certain ^ Clergymen from among thofcy 8. Bifcourfe of the Religion ^roffjf by the ancknt Irlflj and Brittp, chap. 10. psg. 114. N AZ ARENUS. thofe^ "who inhabit the extremities of the worldy coming upon the account of fome ecclejiaftical Tradi- tions^ but particularly the obfervation and exadi cal- culation of Eafier^ to the royal city [of Conftantino- ple] did wait upon the Patriarch who at that time rejided therin. This was Methodius, a man famous in the days of our anceftors^ by whom being quefliorCd from what place^ and on what occafion^ they had travelVd thither ? they anfwer'd^ that they came from the ^° Schools of the Ocean ^ and withall they clearly explained to him^ the occajion of coming from their own country. Upon his asking them^ what books of holy SCRIPTURE were read there by the inhabitants ? they an/wefd^ that they made ufe of the " Gofpel and the Apoftlej and of thofe onely : But ^v\yLY\yLctffit (TAifUi i^ei^ov odtu. Tqv cTs ^^oieu? T>f< d-eieti y^(pn^ (it^^ioi? 0/ i}tei<7i Ketjoiyji (TyoKctjaa-tv ei^o/jQ- ? T« Ef66^T/SA/Q- ZfJ.(riVi. 10. Aietjei^ii interdutn fumitur pro ipfo loco, in cpw Thikfopki ^ DoHores S'tctlti^ovcri' /Ic apud Suidam, in hac 'voce, eji inter alios fenfi4s TOT©" ^v u> nvi.^ [xavd-Ai/ovoT, 0> de feipfo loquens AhIus Gelli'^s, ut alios praeteream, interrogavi (inquit) inDiatriba Taurum, an fapiens irafceretur ? dabat enim faepc, poft quotidianas lectio- nes, quaerendi quod quis vellet poteftatem. Li6. i. cap. 26. 11. He means the four Gofpels, with the Adls and Epiftles of tht Apoftles, rphich make up the Canon of the New Teflamcnr ; as may befeen ^^ B E d E, difcoHrfm^ upon this very difpute about leafier amtng the Britons and the Scots : who being fituated {fays he) farr beyond the Ocean, no body Cent them the Synodal decrees concerning the obfervation of Eaftcr ; fo that they oneJy carefully obferv'd the works of piety and purity, which they learnt out of the writings of the Prophets^, NAZARENUS. But he further demanding^ by what Traditions of the Fathers or Dolors they go'verrCd themfelves ? they faid^ that they had one onely hook of the Fa^ ther C H R Y s o s T o M, from whence they happen'' d clearly to learn the Faith ^ and the exa6i ohfer^vatiort of the commands j affirming.^ that they daily reap'd great advantage by this pie ce^ which was very agree- able and acceptable to all^ being handed about from one to another^ and diligently tranfcriWd : infomuch that there was no city {as they [aid) nor any of tioeir Clans^ or territories^ that remained void of Jo great and important a benefit. I fhall make no other remark nov/ upon this curious paflage, but that as thefe Oceaners cou'd find no footllieps of Eafler in their Gofpels and Epijiles at home ; fo if they had obferv'd no Eafber at all, they needed not to have been at the expenfe, pains, and ha- zard, of going a Tradition-hunting from I-colum- kill all the way to Conflantinople. And, pray, is it not as manifeft as the iun at noon, to what danger the peace of thefe nations, and the purity of the fiiith it felf, have been of a long time ex- pos'd ? on accoimt of Ceremonies, Habits, ilated Fafls and Feftivals, with many other fuch matters ^ no where commanded in the Gofpel^ but built up- on Traditions extremely dubious, and abfolutely ufelefs were they ever fo certain. Nor fhou'd it pafs unobferv'd, that in the BritiJh Hands we had Prophets, the Evangelifts, and the Apoflles, Hip. Ecclef.l ;. r. ^, .Ah'd /peaking in the third chnpter of the fims bodk about Finn a n Abbat of Hy, he omitted nothing (/?y; he) of ail that he knew w.is to be pinform'd out of the Evangelic, or Apoilollc, or Prophetical ^pvritings; but, to the utmoll: of his power, fhow'd his obedience by his works. 5"^ that no dbtfion is here made to thofe Leftionaries of the Greecs, ypheyof I haie feen fame •, and which are call' d the Go- ipel and the Apoftle, becanfe they contm the Goipels and Epi flics of ikeir d^ii^y Offcos. in S NAZARENUS. m thofe days moft florifhing Schools 5 it being likewife a thing very certain, that the Greec lan- guage was taught in them, and particularly in thofe of Ireland, long before this time. But of this fubjecl at more leifure. In the mean time. Sir, I cannot forbear giving you a memorable in- ftance how cautious we fhou'd be, in relying too much on the bold afTertions of Critics or Anti- quaries : but efpecially of your dealers in Manu- fcripts, of whom I know very few whofe judge- ment equals their induilryj and among thefe I muffc do Mr. Wa n i. e y the juftice to acknow- lege, that his great ability is ever accompany'd with as great candor. Yet it was not want of judgement, but the vanity to appear ignorant of nothing, that made father Simon commit fp many prodigious blunders and millakes, about the irifh Manuicript of the Gofpels v/hich I have hap- pily difcover'dj and wherof he treats in the i8th chapter of the firfl tome of his Bibllothequs Cri- tique^ where he writes of it profejGTedly. So farr he's in the right, when he fays it is a very " fair copy 5 nor is he void of all skill (tho fomwhat miftaken) when he guefles the age of it to be 800 , Years. But, mifled by the affinity of the cha- ra6ters, he affirms in the firft place, that the book is written in old Saxon letters, and that there are fome lines in the ^3 Saxon language at the end of it. This iliows that he underftood not a word of Saxon, no more than of Irifh : for they are all thro-out the book very neat Irifh chara6ters5 and thofe lines at the end are every word of 'em pure 12. On trouve dans la Bibliotheque du Roy un beau Manufcripf Latin des quatie Evangiles, ecrit il y a pour le moins 800 ans, en vieux caradteres Saxons. 15 II ajoutc [le copiftej a la fin de fon exemplairr, plufieurt Hgnes en langage Saxon. Irifh N AZ AR E NU S, Irifh except '^ confer ipjlt hum lihrum^ which im- mediately follow the name of the writer. In the next place he declares without any doubt or hefitation, that the writer was an '^ Englifh Be- nediftin monk, and that his name was Dom Aelbrigte, When I fir ft: read this paflage I was perfeftly aftonifli'd, fince thofe lines were as eafy to me, as his Pater nofter cou'd be to Fa- ther Simon. But being pritty well acquainted with the myfleries of the Critical Art Divinato^ ry^ I quickly perceiv'd that the good Father, wholly ignorant of the Irifh language, and yet knowing that the Benedi6tins K^^ere formerly nu- merous in England, took do Maolhrigte to be Dom Aelhrighte 5 this laft being a Saxon name, and Dom being as commonly prefixt to the proper names of the Benedi<5bins, as Sir is to thofe of our Engiifli knights, or was formerly to the names of thofe fryers, as Sir James, Sir John, Sir Wi L L I A M. Hence it is plain, that guef- fing at random is but groping in the dark, where tis a hundred to one but a man lofes his way 5 nor is it lefs evident, that an Antiquary is not al- ways a good Chronologift, tho tis commonly- time alone that makes any thing precious in his fight. As for his changeing the dipthong ao in- to ae^ direftly contrary to the mantifcript, it wou'd indeed be reckon'd difingenuous in any but a Hypercritic : who, feeing ^/ enter into the compofition of many Saxon names, might fan- cy this an error of the copyer : and fo a fair op- portunity for himfelf, to demonftrate his acute- nefs by an emendation. Now the real truth of 14. Wrote this book. 1 j-. Le Copifte, ^ui etoit un Moiae Bcnediftin, prend Ic nom de Dom iElbrigtc. the xo NAZARENUS, the matter is, that do is an Iriih prepofitive parti- cle figiiifying to^for^^c; and Maolhrigte thetran- fcriber's name, fignifying ^^ the fervant of B r i- GiT, or, according to the Latin analogy, and as the aboriginal Irifh were wont to Latinize their own names, Brigidianus. Maol and Gilla^ two words fignifying fervant with the fame difference as fervus and famulus in Latin, begin abundance of Irifh names : fo M a o l M u- iRE is Marianus, and hkewife Gilla- MuiREj Maoleaspuic is Episcopius, GiLLACRiosD is Christianus, Gil- LACOLUiM isCoLUMBANus as wcll as Ma- OLCOLUIM. Thus Maoliosa, Gillamor, with a world of fuch others, veiy common in that country and in the highlands of Scotland. Our MuLBRiDE then ( that we may Anglify him ) or B R I G H T M A N, wrotc fome of this book at the age of eight and twenty. This he tells us himfelf at the end of Mark, as well as his father's name at the end of J o h n 5 and fo where he wrote the firfl part, and where he finifh'd the fecond part of his work, together with veiy par- ticular dates from the hves or deaths oi Kings and Clergymen : things of which Father S i m o K underftood not in this place one fyllable. This I objefl: not to him, as if I thought him obliged to underftand Irifh > or as if it were any deroga^ tion to his great learning, that he underftood Saxon no better. But I think it abfurd in any man, to give himfelf an air of knowing what he does not, which pretence cannot long im- pofe : and it mufl; appear egregioufly ridiculous, when fuch a one will needs betray his ignorance, by takeing upon him to play the Critic in parts 16. Sirvm Brigh^e, Pf NAZARENUS. zx of Literature he has never ftudy'd^ particularly in languages as little intelligible to him, as Chi- nefe or Tartarian are to me. Nor cou'd I for- bear laughing, believe me, when I read in him, that the Saxon characters of this book were ve- ry fincj but yet different from thofe, which ^7 Father M a b i l l o n has exhibited in his book ^e Re DIpIomatica. As for the Cham of the Fa- thers^ or the colleflnon of paflages from their works to explain the text of Scripture^ he fays (as I alfo fay) that it is made out of ^^ Hila- ry, Jerom, Ambrose, Gennadius, Brde, and others. Some of thefe NOTES, he 19 fays, are 'very impertinent : and ^° lower, as for the NOTES, this "work is a coUeBion good enough^ 'when the colkElor cites good authors \ but when he fpeaks of his own head^ he fometimes utters great impertinencies. The meaning of this infbort is, that every thing's impertinent, which contra- dicts the prefent editions of xhc Fathers 'y or the prefent doftrincs, and the novel ufages of the Roman Church. There are, I confefs, accord- ing to the cuftom of thofe ages ( I wiih it were onely of thofe ages ) feveral allegorical explicati- 17. Pour ce qui eft ces cara£leres Saxons, dans lefquels ces quatre E\' ng les font ecrits, ils font tres-beraix, ?-z (^iff rent de ceux que le pere Mabillon a reprefenrez, d'ns fa rJtj!omatici:ie. 18. Outre le texte des Evangiles, cer excMplaire contientdepe- tites Glofes interiineaires en Latin fur des cer rains mo's; avec quel- ques Notes maiginales, qui compofent une efpece de petite Chaine recueiilic de St. Hilaire, de St. ^mbrcife, de St. Jerome, de St. Augullin, de Gennadius. 6c, ce me femble, de Bede ; qui eft indique par la fcule lettreB, comme St. Jerome eft icdique par k feule letrre H. 19. Ces Notes, dent il y en a quelques-unes fort Impertinentes, &;c. ^o. Cctouvrage, quant aux Notes, eft une compilation qui eft- bonne, lorfquc le compilateur cite des bons aureurs: m^is quand il par.> de fon chef, il dit quclquesfois de granges ijnpertincnces. ons. i% N AZ ARE NUS. or\Sj which I think impertinent enough j and it too often appears, how farr fuperilitious belief and ceremonious pra6tice had got footing by that time : but thefe expHcations are almoft all of 'em from approv'd Doftors in the Roman Church, and therfore can be none of thofe the reverend Father cenfures. He ought likewife to have re- jnark'd, that in the body of the Notes there ap«- pear, not onely two different hands, but alfo two forts of ink, which fhou'd be carefully diflin- guifh'd. He fays, its true, there are two diffe- rent hands, and that, in ^^ all appearance thofe im- fertinent Notes were the compiler'' s own y part of ^err 'reing in the Saxon^ and part in the Latin cha- tcioiers^ wherof thefe laft are much the latefi, Wheras what appears in the Latin chara61:ers, as he calls them, are never mixt with the Notes at all 5 but ever feparate by themfelves, being added fo latelv as to be properly no part of the book : aad befidcs, that they are not explicatory Notes in the leafl, but dire6bions about the divifion of the text, and the poifions to be read at certain times and occafions > which fome pofTefTor of the bookj long after the finiDiing of it, inferred for his own ufe and convenience. I agree with him in what he fays of the interlineary Glofs^ which is good for httle, and^ as I faid before, by ano« ther hand. But he's quite out in what he affirms of the ^* 'various Readings^ which he wou'd have found to be confiderable, had he read over the whole text with any application : nor does he 2T. Ces Notes qui font ppparemmrntdu Compilateur,vJen" Tient de deux mains j car ks unes font en caradleres Saxons, Sc les aurres en caraderes Latins : celles-ci font beaucoup plus recentes. 2i. Quant au fond du texte 6&?> Evangiles, il diflfere peu as if they cou'd damn the innocent^ or abfohe the guilty : ivheras with the Lord not the fentence of the priefts but the life of the finner is epcamin'd. In the fame manner that the prieft cleanfes the leprous perfons in Leviticus (^not that the priefts are able to make them clean or un^ clean ^ but that they know by certain ftgns thofe who are leprous and thofe who are not) fo the Bifhop in this place binds or loofes^ not thofe who are inno- cent or guilty : but after he hasy according to his office^ heard the variety of finner s^ he then knows who is to be bound^ and who is to be loosed. That is, he declares them penitent or obftinate, and confequently that they are already forgiven, or remain ftill guilty. His fentence does nothing 2^. Ex hoc Joco Epifcopl fie Presbyteri ja£t^nr, & alTumunt alj- quod de fuperbia Pharizaeorum . ut vel damnent innocences vel folvant; cumapud dominum non fcntenria, fed reorum vira, quac- ratur. Quo modo, in Lezhico, Sacerdos Icprofum murdum facie (non quod Sacerdotes leprofos mundos vel immundos faciant, fed quod habeant notitiam Icproii 3c non leproii) fic 5c hie alligat vel folvit Epifcopus, non eos qui innoccntes funt vel '.oxii; feo, pro officio fuo, cum peccatorum audicrit varietatcsj fcic qai ligandus fn, qui folycndu*. I clfe 14 N AZ A R E NUS. elfe in this cafe, tho his advice may be very ufc- ful. How much more reafonable is this dodrine, than the blafphemous poiition lately advanced by fome High-cnurchmcn in England j namely, that God ftands bound to expe6b5 yea and to ratify the fentence of the Prieft, even tho erroneouily pro- nounc'd : wheras, in the New Teftament^ there's not a fy liable of confefling to the Priell at all. Jam.v. i6. Confefs your faults one to another^ is not onely the plaineft text in the world, but alfo the moft ap- proved by common fenfe : for he that commits a fault, if againft any particular perfon, ought rea- dily to acknowledge it, and ask his pardon 5 or let it be of what nature foever, he ought feri- oully to advife (for the quieting of his mind, if it be a doubtful or difficult cafe) with fome grave and experienced perfon, be it Layman or Clergyman, who yet have no other authority but what is merely declarative. The contrary wou'd be Magic. By the way, you may perceive from this author, that Priellcraft was breaking in a- main in his time > and I beg you to enquire a- mong your learned acquaintance, of the Iriih col- lege in Lovain, who isMANCHANus? a wri- ter illuflrious in this colledlion, concerning whom, tho there be many of this name, I have my own conje6tures. But to return to our NoteSj it is likewife impertinent no doubt, in Father Si- mon's account, that it is faid the reafon of bleffing the Lord's Supper -4 was, that it might he myft'ically made hishoUy 'y and, ina fpiritiialfenfe this bread is the Churchy which is the body of Christ. Nor will it by fome be counted lefs 24. Ut myftice corpus ejus fier^— fpiritualiter pariis hie Ecclc* fia eft, quae eft co;pus Chrifti. ^ imper- N AZ ARE NU S. i; impertinent, that the Supper is call'd, the ^^ my- ftery and figure of the body of Christ, and the firft figure of the New Teflament (hinting Bap- tifm to be the fccond) or that tis added, this fi-^ gure or reprefentation is daily reiterated^ it is re- ceived in faith : and that Concerning thefe words, this is my body ^ it is written among other ^-s things, this he faid left our faith fljou^d ftagger a- hout the daily facrifice in the Churchy as if it were the body of Christ, fince Christ fits on the right hand of God. You fee Tranfubftantiation was then getting ground. Is not this dctach'd Note that follows, the moft extravagant of ail ? will it not be fo accounted by fome nearer -7 home ? Let the Priefts heap up knowledge ^ rather than riches : neither let them be afham'd to learn from thofe Laymen^ who know what belongs to the offxe of the Priefts. Wo be to the author of this Note^ tho he fhou'd prove to be a Father of the Church. But, as I hinted before, I hope for a fitter occaiion to put this book in its due light^ haveing had it in my cuflody above half a year. Ardmacha^ commonly Armagh^ being the place where the book was finiili'd, I lliall cite it al- ways hereafter (when occafion offers) by the name of Codex Armachanus^ or the book of Ar- magh. The perfon who convev'd it out of ^* France, was under the fame illuiion with Fa- ther 25- Myderium 8< figure corporis ChriiLi'-— primix novi Tefla- menci figaia — Haec veio fi^ura quotidie iteratur, accipiiur in ti- de &c. 26. Et hoc dixit, nenoflra dubiraret fines de fatrificio quotidia- no in Ecclelia, quafi corpus Chrifti efli-ti quoniam Chriilus in, dex'tra Dei feder. 27, Augeant Saccrdotes fcientiam, magisqnam div"tia.'^i & non erubefcant dilcere a Laicis, qui lioverant quse ad cflkiutn pciti- nent Sacerdorum. iS. Since the vrimg of this Difiertation, in the Tc.-.r 1709, the I X book x6 NAZARENUS. ther S I M o N, that it was the work of an An- glofaxoiij till I undeceiv'd him, together with lome others of great diftin6lion. SECTION II. NO W upon the whole, what from this ma- niiicript Commentator, and fome other au- thors not \ et better known, tho not lefs ancient, ii- not indeed more fo : and what from the write- nigs of ArchbilTiop Usher, and other learned liicn, it may be moft evidently made out > that rlie Religion which the aboriginal Irifh profeft, efpecially before the ninth century, was not that, wherof the bulk of their poilerity are fo fond at this day. Chrillianity got footing in fome parts of Ireland, long before Pa l l a d i- u s and Pa t r i c, the fupposVl firil preachers of it there : and after the thorough fettUng of it by this laft in the beginning of the fth century, tho the Irip differed in their laws from other people as Jonas 29 fays in the life of C o i. u m ban) yet they floriJJfd in the vigor of Chrifiian doctrine^ and exceeded the frith of all the neighboring nations. This faith conlifted in a right notion of God, and the conltant pra6tice of virtue : for the enor- mities which rendered 'em afterwards infamous, if not literally barbarous (begging my country's pardon for the cxprcfiion) enfu'd upon their cliangcing the purity and iimplicity of their faith, booh is come into E^glmd; being purchased by the EHrl of Oxford, in whofe Urge Colkciion of Mamifcripts it is net the leaft iduable piece. 29. Gens, cjuar.quam abfque reliquarun? gentium legibu?, ta- men in Chiifliani vigoris dogmate fiorens, omnium vlcinarum gentium fidem praepollet. f,i/>. i. , . into NAZARENUS. 17 into grofs Idolatry and endlefs Superftitions ; fo true is that remark of S a l v i a n the Presbyter, who was call'd the mafter of the Bijhops of his time^ that 30 Fices abound there moft^ where the Romans mo ft prevail. Nor is there any thing we ought to obferve more narrowly, bccaufe nothing more nearly touches us 5 than that as authority in mat- ters of judgement, necefiarily caufcs lazincfs and llupidity : fo from ignorance thus eiVablifird un* der the management of Priefls, whofe intercll leads them to continue it, no lefs naturally pro cede loofe morals and favage cuftoms. I'liis is the genuin effect of prieftly power in all places, and became moil conlpicuouily fo in Ireland : for it cannot be deny'd that the inhabitants grew to fuch a pitch of brutality, their Princes and Lords perpetually imbruing their hands in one another's blood, and inhumanly tyrannizing over the infe- rior fort j that, according to the bed Chronicles of the Hand, the ftate of the country was infi- nitely better under Hcathenifm, than under their degenerate Chriftianity. The common people in "the mean time grew idle, poor, and profligate ; and the vicious illiterate gentry cou'd deny thofe Clergymen nothing, who, for mony, lands, or immunities from the civil power, engag'd that God wou'd pardon all their crimes, while they were lilly enough to believe them. Before this ftupendous change (an effe£l that will ever follow from the like caufe) our anceflors were to all others ^ i a harmlefs race > and to the EngJiJh {whom they entertained^ furnijh'd with hooks^ and inftruEled gratis) a moft friendly nation^ as venera- 30. Ibi praecipue vitia, ubicunque Romani. 'De Cu^ermt. Be'h lib. 6. 31. Egfridus — vaftavit mifere Gentem innoxiam, & nationi Anglorum lemper amiciflimam. Bed. Hift. E:clef. I, 4- c. 16. I 3 ble N AZ A RE NUS. ble B E D E 51 records to their honor : or, as Wi l- L I A M of Malmesbury fpeaking of thofe 33 ^imes, the Irtfly were an innacent kind of people^ of un- feign d fimpUclty^ and ne-'jcr defigning any mifchief-^ v/hich is the true fp'rit of the Gojpel^ but unal- tered, unmixt, and unadulterated. The Saxons were indebted to thern for their letters, no lefs than for then learning > but much more obhg'd both to them and the Albanian Scots (whom I commonly fo call to diftinguifli them from the Iriili Scots) for the planting of a better Chriflia^' nity in the northern parts of England, than Au- s T I N, the Pope's fa6tor, had in the fouthern. I ihall here therfore draw up A S u m m a ry of THE ANCIENT IrISH CHRISTIANITY, which I recommend not to you merely for being theirs (Mega le tor) when molt of theiv own defcendants are fincc grown fo averfe to it : but as plain matter of fact, which you are at li- berty to approve or difipprove, according as vou £nd it confonant or not to Scripture and Reaibn. This liberty mufb be ever as readily given, 03 juilly taken. I referr many of the hillorical proofs to the other book on this fubject, which 1 have more than once infiniiated in the pre- ceding Section. To this I generally keep, un- lefs where I exprefs my felf in the very words of 34 others, which the thread of the difcourfe ma- ny times occafions me to do. In the mean while I am afraid, that I may ftill too much entrench 11. Quos omnes \^Anglos] Scotilibentifllmefufcipientes, viftum eis qaotidianuni line prcrio, iibros quoque ad legendum, 8c magi- flcrium pjatuitum praebcre curabant. Id. I. 3. c. 27 35 Hibcrnenfe genus hominum innccens, gcnuina fimplicitatc, nihil qr.quam mc;li mclicn.-. Be gcflis Anglor /. i. ^r ;. 54. S:xh waf rny refcluttcn.r^hen I wrote this Summary: ^^^it fome, n>ho have fitice fmnil u^ prevailed v'nh me to Add more of my frofs. ■ upon NAZARENUS. ip Upon your patience, by fuch a number of quota- tions out of ancient authors -, which yet are ab- folutely necefTary in all fads, but more efpecially in matters of this nature. I N the firft place then, the Irifh did promif- I. cuoufly read the Scriptures in the vulgar tongue of their Hand, as their onely rule of faith : and their Do6bors were fo remarkably eminent be- yond others in afliduoufly teaching and explaining the fame, that men llock'd thither to lludy it from all the neighbouring nations, as to fome common '^ Univerfity 5 philological, philofophi- cal, and theological Learning happily florifhing in that peaceable corner, while the other parts of the world were miferably diftrac^ed by civil dilTentions or foren im^aiions. Thefe are things confirmed by unfufpeded witnefles : and tis the common eloge beftow'd on their holy men (fuch as 56 C o L u M B A N u s, ^^ G A L L u s, and others) G a l l^ ^f. Beda in hcis flurimis: Gulkhn. Malmesbur. qtiem j^mcitavi- mus: Alcutnus de tit a M^ilUbrordi: Aldhelm. Malmesbur in 'Epifi. ad Eadfrid: Notherus Balbulus in zitaCarolimagni: Vincent, in fpeadoHi- /lor. /. 23, c. 175 : Antonin. ChrorAc. tit. 14. f. 4. §. 12: Joi^n. Rof- fius War^'ic. lib. de Re^ibus : Eric. AtiJJiodorenfis m ziiis Sancior. ^ fpeciatim fancli Germmi, cap. 168: Autor I'itae Sulgeni: autor zitae Gddae Badonici : cum aliis ex anttfiioribus innumeris, ut Catndsnum ^ recentiores quofcunque tace.xm. 56. Evangelicum clipeum fcnens Uevz [Columbanus] enfemque anclpitern tenens dextra, contra immmes cuneos hominum pug- naturus cocpit pergere; ne fruftraro laborc, quo potiiTimo ingenio fudaverat [puerulus] in Grammatica, Rhetor ;ca, & Geometria, &: divinarum Scripturarum ferie, feculi illecebris occuparetur. fonas invito, Columbani, cap. 12. Qucm [Columbanum'] cum vir fandtus [Senile] ingenii fagacis efle videret, omnium divinarum Scripcura- rum ftudiis imbuit. Ibid 37. Superna quoque gratia fe praeveniente, tanto ftudio divinas epotavit \Gallus] Scripturas, ut de thefauro fuo nova proferre pofTet 6c Vetera. — Obfcura autem Scripturarum tarn fapienter, icire volentibus, rcferavit; ut cundi, qui ejus [utpote pueri] pru- dentiam & fermones audicrant, admiratione eum & laude dignifil- mum judicarcnt. WaUfridm Strabo in vita Sm^i Gdli, /. i. c.\, I 4 that lo N AZ ARE NUS. that they had diligently fludy'd the Scriptures^ and explain'd them to others even in their child- hood. Tis for teaching the Scriptures^ in fine, that you'll find the Iriih Schools of thofe times 3« celebrated 3 but never for reading Le£tures on the Fathers^ or handing down Tradition : and tis not improbable, that in thofe tumultuous times, the Mufes may have fled from the noife of arms, • to thefe recelles, which the Roman eagles had never diflurb'd. II. I N their Temples they had no images or fla- tues, which Sedulius, one of their firft Di- vines, exprefly '^ condemns, and which others of 'em brand as heathenifh and idolatrous. The Clergy, officiating in thofe Temples, had no gor- geous veflments 3 rather dazling the eye and di- lb'a6bing the imagination, than informing the mind or edifying the heart. There were not, to the fame amuzing purpofes, any burning of in- cenfe or day-light candles > no coflly fervices of plate , the great Columban himfelf being content with 4^<* brafs vefTels in the adminiilration of the Lord's Supper. Neither had they Cano- nical hours, or alternate finging in Choirs 5 which, with many other fuch Romifh cuftoms, were "^^ intro- 58. Vcnit etiam tunc temporis de Hibernia pontifex quidam, nomine Agilbcrtus, nationc quidcm Gallusj fed tunc, legendarum gratia Scripturarum, in Hibernia non modico tempore dimoratus. Cirkias. Dorobern. AB. Tontif. Cctntuar. in SttnSio Honor'to. 39. Recedentcs a lumine veriratis fapientes, quafi qui invenif- fent quo modo invifibiiis Deus per fimukcrum vifibile coleretur. Jn Roman, i . Deus nee in mctallo aut faxo cognofcitur. Claudius Septus, I. 1. in Mat. 40. Praeceptor meus beatusColumbanus in vafis aeneis Domino folet facrificium ofFerre falutis. iValafruL Strnb. in litd Gallic l. I.e. iS, 41. Apoftolicas Sandriones, ac Decreta Sanftorum Patrum, praecipuequc confuetudines Sajidlae Romanac Ecckfiae, in cun^is Ecclefijs N AZ ARE NUS. it introduced by Malachias Archbiihop of Armagh, in the i ith century. Nor had they a- ny fuch other methods, fince but too frequently praftis'd, of pompous, operofe, andfumtuous wor- l"hip y fo vidbly foren to the dcfign and example of the Gofpel^ nay fo contrary to the precepts of it. THEIR Liturgy was veiy different from that III- of the Roman Church, or rather their Liturgies 5 for they had fevcral in the fcveral parts ot the Hand. Yet this bred no manner of diflention a- mong them, till the BiJliops of Rome having firft gain'd their Princes (a ftratagem ordinary with them to this hour) wou'd needs make 'em their tools and dmdges to force their own fubje6ts, iincc the Popes cou'd not by their emiflaries fe- duce them, into Uniformity j I mean into fubjedion, which is ever the fignification of this word. But Gilbert Bifhop of Limerick, the Pope's firftGiLLEAs- Irifh Legat (who in the nth century wrote for^"^^* their ufe what he calls the 42 Canonical cuftom of faying evening and morning prayers^ and of perform^ ing the office of the whole ecclefiafiical order) tells 43 them, it was to the end thofe different and fchif- matical orders^ by which almofi all Ireland was de- luded^ might give place to one Catholic and Roman office. Thus late it was, before they quite gave up their liberty and independency. That their Ecclefiis {Mcilcichmi\ ftatuebat. Hinc efi, quod hodieque in illis ad horas Canonicas cantatur & pfailirur, juxta morem univerfae terrae: nam minime id ante ficbat, ne in civitate quidem {^Ard- macha] cum necdum in civirate, feu in Epifcopatu univerfo, can- tare fcirent vcl vellcnt. Bernard, in vita, MaUcki^e, cap. ^. 42. Canonicalem confuetudinem in dicendis horis, & perar^en- do totius Ecclfciinftici ordinis officio. Trolog. de ufu Eccleftafiico MS. ia Colleg. Ben. CAntttbrig. ^ ab Ufferio in EprfloUr. HibernicAr. fylloge imprejf. 45. Utdiverfi & fchifmatici illi Ordines, quibus Hibernia pene ' tota delufa eft, uni Catholico &; Romano cedant Officio. la. iiid. orders XX NAZARENUS. orders for public prayers were not Roman was the crime, but not charged with any other de- IV. IT is not feven hundred years, fince the Iriih did finally and univerfally receive the Roman ufe, with its whole train of fopperies : their Baptifm before that time having been by immerfion, and without confecrated Chrifm, wherof L a n- FRANC, Archbifhop of Canterbury, not a lit- tle ^■^ complains. Nor had it any of thofe con- curings, or other fuperftitious ceremonies, wher- by it is fince fo heathenifhly profan'd : and Con- firmation was quite in difule, if at all ever known among them^ which we learn from 4s Ber- nard of Clairval, afterwards fainted. If it be true w4iat B romp ton tells us, that, before the Council of Caihel held at Henry the Se- cond's defire, it was the cuftom in many parts of Ireland, for the father, or any other, to dip the child three times in water as foon as it was born j and, if it was a rich man's child, to dip it thrice in 4^ milk : if this be true, I fay, for I have good reafon to queftion it> yet it was introduced in that ftate of barbarity, which I have before de- fcrib'd, and wherof I affign'd the true caufe. 44. Quod infantes Baptifnno, fine Chrifmate confecrato, bap- tiz-cntur. 'in Epijl. adTertklvdckum regem Hiberniae. 47. Ufum falubcrrimumConfcirionis, Sacramentum Confirma- tioiiis, contraftum Conjugiorum (quie omnia aut isnorabant aut neo;ligebint) Malachias de novo inftuuit. In vita Malachiae, cap. 2. 4,6. In illo autcm Concilio flatuerunt, & autoritate fummi Pon- tificis pr^cccpcrunt, pueros in EccJefia baptizari in nomine patris, & filii, & fpiritus fandij & hoc a facerdotibus fieri praeceperunt : mos enim priiis erat per diverfa loca Hiberniae, quod ilatim cum ruer nafcercrur, parer ipfius, vcl quilibet alius, eum mergeret ter m aqua ■■, cc, fi divitis filius elTet, ter in iadc mergeretur. foan, 'Bromton in Chromes. THE NAZARENUS. 13 THE Lord's Supper (which they were wont V, to term ^^ the communion of C h r i s t V body and blood) they receiv'd in both kinds, as a thankful 4« commemoration of J e s u s the founder of their faith, and a iign of their brotherly union in all well-doing > to which they bound themfelves by this external adt, denoting their fubjcction to the Laws of the Gofpel\ by which alone, and the di- 6tatcs of reafon, they were guided in matters of belief. They did not ufe any elevation, becaufe they did not dream of the monfter of tranfub- llantiation -, which, foon after its broaching, was impugn'd by no man more zealoufly or learned- ly, than by Joannes Scotus Erigena,EoinE- whofe book was, by the authority of the Pope^iNACH. and the Council of Verceil, flatly 49 condemned, the onely way they had to confute it : as this me- thod of anfwering is fucceflively pra6tis'd to this day, by the promoters of error every where, and by thofe who prefer r intereft to truth j a method, I repeat it, onely proper to fupport error, and to put truth it felf upon the level with falfhood. No Council or Convocation whatfoever can al- ter the nature of things, or make that to be falfe which is true : and for this reafon it is, tha-6^no wife man ever values their fentence, where tis not back'd with the power of doing mifchief. 4,7. Sic omnesferme fecundum Script ur as loquuntur. 48. Suam memoriam nobis rejkjuit, quemiidmodum, iiquis pe- regre proficifcens, aliquod pignus ei, quern diligit, dcrelinquatj ut quoriercunque iilud viderit, pofiit ejus beneftcia cc amicitia'; re- cordari. Sedul. in i Corinth. 1 1. Confulantur etiam KotuUeex Cute- na tnaiiufcripta in fnperiore feciione adduciae. 49. Joannis Scon liber de Euchariftia ledtns efl: Sc condemna- tus, Lanfranc. de luch^irijl. control Berengar. Inter cetera fecit li- brum de Eucharillia. qui poftca le6lus eft, ^ condemnatus in Sy- nod© Verccllend, a Papa Leone celcbrata. Joan. Varifenf. ad an- nnm 877. This 24 NAZARENUS. This John the Scot (fo often confounded with later perfons of the fame name) having left his own country, betook himfelf to Charles the bald king of France, who entertain'd and diftin- guifh'd him at his court > which was full of learn- ed men from all parts, but efpecially from Ireland and Scotland. Why Jhou'd J mention Ireland^ fays 5° E R I c of auxerre a contemporary, not fear- ingthe danger of the fea^ and removing almofi all of it with a flock of Philofophers^ to our fbores ? wherof by how m.uch any one excells the rejf^ he un- dergoes a voluntary exile j and by fo much the rea- dier he is to fiand before our mofi wife Solomon, and to devote himfelf to his Service, VI. THEY rejefted auricular ^' Confcffion, as well as authoritative Abfolution j and confefs'd to God alone, as believing God alone cou'd forgive Sins : which made I know not whom to exclaim , moil gnevouily againlt fuch, and to ^^ fays that if they cou^d coyiceal their fins from. God^ they wou'd no more confefs the>n to him than to the Prieft. A very fhrewd and egregious difcovery ! but laught at by the Irifh Laity, who, no t with Hand aig their native fimplicity, cou'd difcern this fan^ti- fy'd trap laid for their private and public liberty, with all the fubtilty of hypocritical Priefls. As 5-0. Quid Hiberniam nneiTtorem, contcmto pelagi difcriminr, pcn.c totam, cum grcge Philolbphorum, ad litora notlra migran- temr quorum quifquis peritior eft, ultio fibi indicat exilium, ut Solomoni fapientilTimo famuletur ad votum. Fr.iefat. in pern, tie vita fancli Germ^ini. 5-1. Chrifliani nomine, re Pagani: non dccimas, non primitias dare, non legitima inire coningia, non facere confelTiones; poeni- tcntias nee qui pererct, nee qui daret penitus inveniri. Bernard. i# I'ita M.ilach. cap* 6 : ut (^ idem ubi fupra in Nota 4,5-. Ufum falubcr- rimum Confeffionif — -— jut ignorabant aut negligebanr. 5-1. Deo vis, o homo, confiteri, quem nolens volens latere non polTis forte fiDeum larcre,(icuthominem, potuiflesj nee Deo, plufquam homini, confiieii voluifTes. Alcuin. e^ijl, 16. there NAZARENUS. 25 there can be nothing more dire£tly leveird againft common fenfe, than auricular Confeflion ^ nor a more impudent pretenfion in nature, than autho- ritative Abfolution : {o I do not wonder to find the antient Irifh Chriftians, mm*e frequently taxt by the Romifli converters of that time, for omit- ting or refufing the pradice of thefe than of any other injundions. The reafon is manifeft. For once a man abandons the ufe of his underftanding fo farr, as to make a particular enumeration of his thoughts, words, and a6tions to another > and to believe that thi< other will not only keep his fe- cret (tho fworn to the intereft of a political com- munity caird the Church) but that he's like- wife able to abfolve him from the guilt of all his fins, there is nothing to which fuch a man can- not be brought : and therfore thofe Clergymen, who have form'd defigns againft Liberty civil or religious, are indefatigable to inculcate the ne- cellity of ficerdotal Abfolution and particular Con- fefiion. Nor are there any furer marks, v/herby to diftinguifh the emifiliries of Rome j who arc aware that thofe points, once admitted, will eafily draw after them all the reft. THEY were fo farr from pretending to do VII. more good than they were oblig'd, much lefs to fuperabound in merit for the benefit of others (but fuch others as ftiou'd purchafe thefe fuperfiiiities of grace from their executors the Priefts) that they readily deny'd all merit of their own 5 and folely hop'd for falvation from the mercy of God, thro faith in Jesus Christ: which faith, as a living root, was to produce the fruit of good works, without which it were barren or dead, and confequently ufelefs 3 for as Claudius, one of their moft celebrated Divines, obfervcs from i6 N AZ ARE NU S. from fome other ^^ fage, the faithful man does not live by righteoufnefs^ hut the righteous man by faith. This excellent fentence, cull'd out of numberlefs teflimonies to the fame purpofe in the oldefl: wri- ters, comprehends at once and decides the whole controversy. VIIL THO they neither pray'd to dead men, nor for them> yet, in their public worfhip, they made an honorable mention of holy perfons deceased : offring a facrifice of thankfgiving for their exemplary life and death, but not by way of propitiation for their fins. And tho naming par- ticular men on fuch occafions, gave a handle for ere6ting them afterwards into tutelary Saints 3 yet at that time the Irilh were as firr from addrefling themfelves to faints as to angels. For they were perfuaded (toufe the words, of the jufl mention'd ^'<- Claudius) that while we are in the prefent world^ we may help one another either by our Pray-- ers or by our Counfels > but when we come before the tribunal of Christ, neither Job, nor Daniel, nor Noah, can intercede for any one^ but every cne muft hear his own burthen^ which is plain Senfe and Scripture. But that which is plain nonfenfe, and no where authoriz'd in Scripture^ I mean the fervice for the dead, the Irifh never pra6tis'd, till they were oblig'd to do it by the Council of 5^ Cafhel, convok'd by order of Henry the fecond, in the Year 1171. And tis certain, that nothing 5*3 . Scita eft enim Sapientis viri ilia fententia, non fidelem vi- vcre ex juftitia, fed juftum ex fide. In Galat. g. 5-4. Dum in praefenti (eculo fumus, five orationibus, five con- filiis invicem pofTe nos adjuvari: cum autem ante tribunal Chrifti vcnerimus, nee Job, ncc Daniel, ncc Nee, rogare polTe pro quo- quamj fed unumqaemquc portare onus fuum. In Gulm. 6. j-j. Ut cxtrema officia mortuis reddancur. m?j. 7. does NAZARENUS. 27 does more contribute to harden the more ignorant fort in a vicious courfe of life, than this mumme- ly : when they obfervc fuch things faid and done at burials, with relation to their deceased profligate companions 5 as may perfuade 'em they arc upon a level with the bell, 'for all their pall wickedncfs. NONE of thofe pious men or women, whom IX. they accounted their Saints, were ever canoniz'd by any Pope before the Romifh ufurpation j not Patric himfelf, nor Columba, nor Furseus, norBRiGiT: for which I need not bring any proof, becaufe no proof can by any be brought to the contrary. Malachias O Morgair Arch- Maolmae- biibop of Araiagh (the introducer of the Ciilercian ^^' fryers into that Countiy in the nth century) and Laurence OTole (Archbifhop of Dublin Lo& can, in the time of the conqueft ) are the firft that were papally canonized in Ireland. Nor, before the faid ufurpation, was the very word Purgatory known to the Irirfi writers, notwithftanding the filly after-fable of Pat r i c 's cave > of which I might give you an entertaining account, this Pa- T R I c 's Purgatory being fituate in the county where I was born. They did indeed entertain the notion of a middle ftate of blifs or infenfibility, a good while before they transformed it into a place of temporary torment j both alike groundlefs, and unfcriptural. MATRIMONY was celebrated by the X, Magiftrates, as being truly reckoned a civil con- tra6t appertaining to their jurifdi6lion 5 but not folemniz'dby thePrieils, till this right was veiled in them by the ^^ Council of Cafhel, twice already 5*6. Ut omncs Laici, qui uxores habere velint, eas fccundum jus Eccleriafticum habeant, Cm, 3 . %el [ecundtrm C'tr^hL Qmi>rer?f. Cm. i . cited 28 NAZARENUS. cited. They follow'd the Old Teftament (tho not binding to them) in one brother's marrying the other brother's J 7 widdow, for which they were ridiculoufly charged with inceft by theRomanifts, and abfurdly reported not to marry at all 5 tho the thing be impofTible in it felf, where any fo- ciety and government fubfifts. But what is not done after the manner of the Roman Clergy, is m their account as never done, or at leaffc very ill done. One of them fays thelriih did not ^^ mar- ry at all^ contrary to what he fays himfelf elfwhere j and another pretends, that they did not marry 59 rightly : both equally true, that is to fay, both abfolutely falfe. We may ealily imagine however, that where priefts were not employed to marry, they had nothing to do about divorce, which makes them brand the Laity with too much faci- lity in this article : and as little concern had they in the probation of Wills, or in other Teilamenta- ry affairs ; which a miftaken notion of their Sanfti- ty, together with an imaginaiy power of helping the dead into Paradife, made people fottifhly com- mit to their care. No footftepof a fpiritual Court is to be found in that Kingdom, for feveral hun- dred years after they became Chriftians. 5-7. JudaifmurH inducens {CUrmm Scotus\ judicat juflum efle Chriftiano, ut, fi voluerit, viduam fratris defunfti accipiat uxo- rem. Bopjfac. Ep/Ji. ad Zachar'tam Papam. torn. 3. concilior. par. i. pag.-^^z. Qiiinimo (quod valde deteftabile eft, & non t;anmm fidei, fed & cuilibct honeftati valde contrarium) fratres pluribus perHiberniamlocisfratrum defundorum uxores, non dicoducunt, fed traducunt, imo verius feducuntj dum turpiter eas, Sc tarn ir- ccftuofe co.^nofcunt : Veteris in hoc Tcftamenti non medullae, fed cortici adhaerentes; vetcrefque libentius in vitiis, qu-lm virtutibus, imitari volcntes. GiraU. Caf?}lrenf. Topograph. Hibern. dljlmci 3. c. 19, 5-8 Bernard, ubi fupra in Notts 4-7 & S^' 5-9 Nondum Matrimonia rite ccntrahunt. Ramtlph. Htgd Vo- hchrcn. de incolarHm moribuu THAT N AZ ARE NV S. 2p ^ T H AT they paid no ^« Tythes till the Coim'. XL cil of Cafhel, was, to be fure, reckon'd an unpar- donable crime by the Roman partiians, who ridi- eulouily derived the divine right of Tythes under the Gofpel from the Law of Mo sbs: as others of 'em, from fome Laws of Heathen governments, alFerted the natural right of Tythes ; tho, un- happily for their pretences, this rather fets up the right of the Laity than of the Clergy. But vo- luntary Contributions contented thofe honelllrilli Priefts of old^ who as yet did not aim at a fpiri- tual empire ; and fo to make the people tributa- ries, inllead of benefadors. Nor can I fufficient- ly admire the wifdom of our ancelloi-s, for their not ellablifhing at the beginning ^Landed Clergy, which feldom tails to corrupt Religion, and to imbroil the State. This refledion the L^ifli found afterwards to be too true to their cofl:, when, from beginning with fmall glebes (bet- ter fupply'd by ftated falaries from the public) they promoted their Priefts by degrees to great lordfhips -y thus infpiring them to contrad a fe- parate interefl, as the Pope prefented them at length with Independency. Another thing among them mofl: deferving the imitation of the moderns, tho few obferve it fo exactly as the Hollanders, isj that they feem to have had no more pallors than they had flocks, confonant to thefe metaphors de- figning preachers and people: no priefls without a title as we phraze it, according to the third ca- non of the Synod held byPATRic, Auxilius, and IsERNiN, Le^ there be no ^' z^agrant Prieft 60. Non decimas, non primitias dare, ^c. Bernard, ubi fupr.^ in Nota fi. Nondum decimas vel primitias iblvunt. Girald. C»mbrenf ubi fupra j ^ ex eo Ranulph. Higd. in Polychronico. Uc Decimaedm ur Ecclefiae, de omnibus c^uae poiridcntur.Ca»c;7,C>-j/. Jil. cm 2. vd fecmdum Giraldum can 3. anno iiji, 6i. Clericus Vagus non fie in populo. can. 3. K amon^ 30 N AZ ARE NUS. among the people. This Synod was held in the Year 4f o. XII. CELIBACY . was not praftis'd by the ^^ Priefts, who all marry'd 5 P a t r i c, their pat- . tern after Peter, having been himfeli* :he foa oFCalphurnius a ^^5 Deacon, and the grand- fon ofPoTiTUS a Prieil : and the Iriih, as well as the Brittifh Pricils (Patric's countrymen) were often fucceeded by their <^4 children in the fame benefices, for fome generations 3 no com- plaints being then heard againft thofe diforders, which afterwards overfpread the whole Hand, by reafon of the expulfion of the marry'd Clergy. Nay the Archbilliops of Armagh themfelves were not onely marry'd, eight fuch being recorded, but fucceeded hereditarily for fifteen generations, as we are aflur'd by B e r n a r d in /^^ ^^ Life of Malachias, Archbifhop of Armagh : that dignity having been withall perfectly fecular, lilce many fuch now in Germany > and the Bifhops ab- 6^. Siquis Clericus 2cc — 8c uxor ejus \Clerlci Nimim?n] fi non velato capite ambulaverit, pariter a Laicis contemnentur, dc ab Ecclefia feparentur. Unl. Cm. 6. 63. So writes ?ro if MS, Joceliih and all the wfiters of his Lrfey 9r that have (my occajion to mention his Parents. 64. Succefllve, Sc poft patres, filii Ecclefias obtinent j notl eleftwe, fed haereditate pofiidentes, Sc polliientes Saii(3:uarium Deh Girald. Catnbrenf. in Ca?nbrrae defer ipt. 6f. Mos pefTimu? inoleverat quorundam Diabolica ambitionc po- tentum, fedcm fandlam [Ardmacha?n] obtentum iri hacreditaria fucceffione ; nee enim patiebantur Epifcopari, nifi qui eflent de tribu & familia fua. Nee enim parum proceflcrat execranda fuc- ccflio, decurfis jam in hac malitia quafi gcnerationibus quindecim. Et eb ufqiie firmaverat fibi jus pravum, imo omni mortc punien- dam injuriam, generatio mala & adultera; ut, etfi interdum dck- cifTcnt Clerici dc fanguine illo, atEpifcopi nunquam. Denique jam ofto exriterant ante Celfum viri uxorati, 8c abfque Ordinibus, li- terati tamen. Inde teta ilia per univerfam Hibemiam, dequa mul- ta fuperius diximus, diflblutio Ecclefiafticae difciplinae, ccnfurae enervatio, religionis evacuatio. ea^, 7. folutc^ NAZARENUS. 31 ifblute Laymen, about which the Roman flitellites made tragical oiitcries. What, by the way, will become of us, who are of the ancient Irilli race ? for the Archbilliops of Armagh having been Lay- men for fo long a time, and all the Clergy deriving their Ordination fronl them, as its commonly thought j it follows, according to the prefent High- church doctrine, that, for want of a Succeflion of rightly ordain'd priefts) we are very many of us, with all our Anceftors, unavoidably damn'd. C o r m a c the Ion of C u L L i?. N A N, a nian of eminent learn- ing and piety, author o^ Pflilter-CaJJoel a chronolo- gical work of great authority, and likewife king of Munfter in the beginning of the loth centur}^, was his own BiiKop of Callicl (as the Czar has lately made himfelf his own Patriarch) which is not the fole example of this kind in Ireland, tho unlcnown to thofe who comment on this verfe of Virgil, Rex Anius^ R$^ idem hofninum Phoehique Sacerdos, The pallagc I have jull now cited from B e r- nard's life of M A L A c H I A s, may be further illuilratcd by another paltage, out of the Extra^ls of the Regifter of the Priory of Saint Andrew s, cited by that learned Antiquary Sir J a m e s Dal- r Y M p L E : whence it appears, that j at Saint ANDREwsinScotland, there were ^^ thirteen mar- ry'd fucceffions of the Culdees -, who^ fiys the au- thor of thefe Extra6iSj liv'd rather according to their own judgement and the traditions of men (he 66. Cultus ibi religiofus deperierat, ficut gens barbara 5c incul- ta fuerat. Habebantur tamen in Ecclefia fandi Andreae, quota cic qualis ipfa tunc erat, trcdecim per fuccelTionem carnalem, quos Kelledcos appellant; qui fccundum fuam aeftimationem, &c horni- tum traditioncm, magis quam fecundum fandorum flatuta Pa- trum, vivebant. Scd adhuc fimiliter vivunt. Excerpt, ex Regifiro trlorat. S. J.idr. perns docWmHrri'virum, domimm Bfib SihMd.Equit. K a Ihould 3x NAZARENV S. fhou'd have faid the examples of the Gofpel) than according to the Statutes of the holy Fathers, and they continue to live fo ft ill. Note that this Regi^ fter ends in the beginning of King David Bruce's reign: but more of thefe Culdees, or more properly Keldees, before I have done. XIII. THE IriiTi Monks, according to the ancient tho unfcriptural inftitution of fiich men, were all fed and cloath'd by the labor of their own ^7 hands 3 thofe retir'd perfons liberally imparting to others , inftead of extorting proviiions from them : but not living idly and vagrantly, like the begging fiyars that came after them, to the fcan- dal of Chriftianity and the difturbance of the world, to which they are a devouring burthen. Wheras the other Monks before them, and alfo the fccular Priefts of Scotland and Ireland, were famous over all the world for their virtue, piety, and learning j but particularly for their Converh- ons, and the Schools that they founded among the Pi6ts, Anglofaxons, Germans, Burgundiansj Switzers, and French : as who has not heard of Sedulius, Col u MBA, Columbanus, C O L M A N N U S, A I D A N U S, F U R S E U S, K I- LiANus, Gallus, Brendan US, Clau- dius, Clemens, Scotus Erigena, and numberlefs others? among whom muft not Fearghai . be forgot V i r g i l i u s, Biihop of Saltzburg,. 67. Qui in Monafteriis degunt, cum filentio operantcs, fuura panem mai ducent. Autor litae Furfei. Monachum oportct labore manuum fuarum velci & veftiri. Autor vitae Brendmi. Alii ho- rum laboravcrunt i alii arbor es pomifcras excoiuerunt. Beatus vcro Gallus tcxebat retiaj 8c, mifericordia dei cooperantc, tantam pifci- um copif.m cepit, ut nunquam fratribus defuiflent : quinetiam advcntantes peregrinos hujufmodi juvit folatio ; &; dc codem la- bore afllduas populo tcncdidiones exhibuit. Wdfifrid.Strab, in zUa (3dlit I. I. c%6, in NAZARENIJS. 33 in the 8th century 5 who, having been an excel- lent philofopher and mathematician (farr above the pitch of the age wherin he liv'd) was barba- roufly perfecuted tor maintaining the (pherical fi- gure of the earth, and the exiftence o\ Antipodes \ which opinion he was forc'd to recant, before he cou'd get out of prifon. This Hiows what flrefs is to be laid upon forc'd recantations, when they are even made againft mathematical evidence. Neither is it to be forgot, that thofe ancient Monks were of no order, nor indeed men in Orders at all (as <*« J e ro m notes among others) but mere Laymen, out of whom the Clergy were common- ly chofen : their Monafteries , and particularly thofe of the Britons, Iriih, and Scots, having^ been Schools of all good literature 5 and many of 'em in the nature of Univerfities, as, to name no more, the Britifh and Irifh Bangor, the Scottilli I-colum-kill and Abernethy, where were taught Hiftory, Philofophy, Theology, with all the li- beral Sciences. TEMPERANCE at all times, and one XIV. moderate meal a day on fpecial occafions (general- ly taken late, and about three in the afternoon, particularly onWednefdays and Fridays in the 7th century) was all the fiilHng of thofe Monks j as may befeen among other evidences, by the ^^ Rule of C o L u M B A N, deferving to be publifli'd in Englifh : but not abftinence from certain kinds of 68. Alia Monachorum eft caufa, alia Clericorum; Clerici paf- cunt oves, ego pafcor. £/)i/?. ad HeUodor. Breviter refpondeo, me in praefenti opufculo non de Clerici s difputare, fed Monachum in- ftituere — Ita ergo age & vive in Monafterio, ut Clericus efli mer rearis Si te vel populus, vel pontifex civitati5, in Cleruin elc- geritj agito quae Cleri lunt, Sec. Epift ad Rufi'tc. ,69. Videfis Columbani ReguUm, praeferi'tm caput fjus quintmn, fit ^ decimum tert'mm de quotidian poeni ent. Monachor. K 3 food. 34 NAZARENUS. food, while they gormandiz'd and furfeited on o- thers, more dainty, nourifhing, and lufcious. 'fbe children of wifdom^ &ys 7° Claudius, do plain- ly tinder ft and 'y that righteoufnefs conftfts not either in ahftinence or eating : but in patiently hearing hunger when they want^ and in temperately feeding when they abound 5 as well as in feafonahly takeing or not takeing thofe things^ wherof not tho ufe but the abufe is bla?neworthy. Such accurate language as this they commonly us'd, and not the recom- mendation of Vigils, or the injunction of Lent, or any other fuperflitious macerations of this na- ture : tending to the impairing of health, and, together with frequent holydiiys, to the manifeft obllruction of 7^ induflry 3 but not conduceing ei- ther to piety or probity, not procureing amend- ment of life or improvement of under Handing. XV. THE Church was elleern'd to be, not a poli- tical empire, or an organiz'd fociety with a pro- per fubordination of officers and lubjects> but the congregation of the faithful thro-out the world, whether vifible or invifible, and however differing any where in their difcipline or modes of worih-ip -, as the IriiTi differed among themielves, uilng their Chriitian liberty : and the Sons of. the Church (that I may fpeak in the words of I 70. Oftendens evidenter \^AtigujlmHs citatus a Claudio] filios fa- pientiae intelligere, ncc in abftmendo, tiec in mandiicando efle juflitiam : fed in aequanimitatc tolerandi inopiam, 8c tempsrantia per abundantiam non fc corrumpendi; atque opportune iumendi vel non fumendi ea, quorum noa ufus, fed concupifcentia, rcprc- hendcnda eft. Lib. 2. in Mat. 71. The political Lent in join d in England for preferving the Sreed^ of cattle, appears to have been impoliticly enough devis'd by daily expe-^ fience; there having never been ftich abundance of cattle bred, as Jmce the non-obferzw:ce of the Adts to this purpofe. 7- Cl Ay- N AZ ARENUS. sj 7i C LA u D I u s) they held to he all thofc^ who, from the beginning of the world till this iime^ hai'e at^ tain'd to he juji and holy. This is a true and gene- rous account : for the Communion of Saints con- ilfb in fiiith and holinefs, but not in modes and forms. But fo little did thcfc weftern Latitudi- narians imagin the univerfiil Church was inflillible, or that any paiticular Church was indefectible or indcfcafiblc, that they frequently bemoan'd their exorbitant coiTuptions ; coraplaining that the num- ber of the faithful was fonitimes fo ^3 fmall, as to be hardly, if at all, difccrnahlc. THEY did not in the lead acknowledge the XVL headfliip of the Roman Church, as may be ob- ferv'd beyond all controverfy in our firll Section -, and likcwife from the Epiftle of Pope Gregory rhe firfl, in the Year fpi, inviting them to 74 Catholic unity : as alfo from the Epifle of 7J L A u R E N c E ArchbiHiop of Canterbuiy and his aflbciates, exhorting, befeeching, and conju- ring them, po unite with the Roman, which he 7i. Ecclefiac filii funt omne?, ab inftitutione generis huraani ufquc nunc, quotquotjufti 8c iandti efTe potucrunt. li&.z. in Mat. 75. Nonnunquam Ecclciia tantis Gentilium prelTuris, non fo- liim afflifta, {cd .Sc foedata eftj ur, fi fieri pciTir, redemtor ipfius earn prorfus deferuiffe ad tempus videretur. Id. Ibid. Eccleiia non apparcbit, impiis tunc Perfecaroribus ultra modumf3evicmibus,&:c. hi. lib. 5. in M^a. 74. Unde iterum habita locutione, charifatem veflram admo- neo, ut (quoniam, dco fuffrag^nte, fidei noftrae intcgritas in cctila trium capirulorum inviolata pcrraanat} mentis tumore depofiro, tanto citiiis ad matrem veflram, quae hlics fuos expe6lat Sc invi- tat, Ecclefiam rcdeatis; quanto ros ab ea quoddie expedlari cog- jiofcitis. Greg<^. Rege/i. I. 2. Epiji. 36. 7f, Saiplit cum Epifcopis fuis adhortatoriam ad eos Epiftolam; obfecrans cos & conteftans, unitatem pacis, ScCatholicae obferva- tionis cum ea, quae toto orbe diifura eft, Chrifti Eccleiia tenei'C. Bed,HiJl.Ecclef. I 1. c.f- K 4 means 3(^ NAZARENUS. means by the Catholic Church. Neither did they own the fupremacy of any other Church on earth, managing all their affairs, both civil and religious, within themfelves : but receiving no vifitations, palls, indulgences, or any other the like marks of fubjection, from the Roman Pon- tiff, till 7 and fomtimes they had 76. Aegre fatis fercbat [MaUchks] Hiberniam ufque adhuc Pal- lio caruifTe j utpote aemulator facramentorum, quorum ne uno quolibet gcntem fuam vellet omnino fraudari. Bernard, in xiu ^lalach. Metropoliticae fedi [^Ard7nachanze fqlicet'] deerat adhuc, £c defyerat ab initio, pallii ufus. Id. i6U.' 77. Anno Ufi, Papa Eugeniu s quatuor pallia, per Lcgatum fu- um Johannem Papirum, tranfmilit in Hiberniam, quo nunquam antea Pallium delatum fucrat. Anyjal. Melroff. pag. 167. Archi^- pifcopi vero in fjibernia puJIi fuerant, fed tantum fc Epifcopi in- vicem confecrabantj donee Johannes Papyrio, Romanae fedis Le? gatus, non multis retro annis advenit, 6cc Girald. Cambrenf. To- pograph. Hi&ern. df/Iincf. ^. cap jj. 78. Hie [GeUJim'] primps ArcbiepTcopus dicitur, quia primo Pallio ufus eft. Alii veio ante ipfum ibio nomine A rchi epifcopi Sc Primates voeabantur, ob reyerentiam & honorem Sandi Patri- cii, tanquam Apofloli ililus gentjs. A^nal. H'tbern. a Camdeno edi- ti : item Cafieus in Chronic. Hibern. ad annum 1 174. 79. Unus Epilcopatu uno non eflet coptentus, {t6 fingulae penc Ecclcfiae fingulos habercnt Epifcppos. In vita Malachiae, c.-j. more NAZARENUS. 37 more than one Bifhop in one city, nay they had them in villages, asLANFRANcof Canterbu- ry and many others «° aflure us. This was but treading in their admir'd P a t r i c's fteps : who • as «' N E N N I u s, the moil ancient Britifh hifto- rian after Gild as, relates, founded ^6f Chur- ches^ and ordain' d ^6f Bifiops and more {with 3000 Presbyters) in whom was the Spirit of God, I fhall not difpute with any here about the word Bifhop^ which, befides its being an apoftolical word, is very fignificantly us'd by other writers to as many purpofes, as Overfeer^ the Engli/li of it, can be apply'd : nor fhall I deny the conve- nience, or even the divine right, of many Pref- byters having one of their body to prefjde over them for a time or for life 5 as there is a chairman among the Juftices of a certain dillrid, or as any other aiTemblies have their prefident. It mattei^ not, whether fuch a one (for juft caufes depofa- ble) be call'd BifJjop or Superintendent -^ the firft being Greec, and the fecond Latin for O^erfeer. Whether he be call'd a Moderator^ I fay, or be defign'd by any other name of like import, fio-- nifys nothing > which ought to take away all fcru- ple againft uling the word Bifhop, if it be not preferable to others for being the Scripture term Againft fuch Bifhops therfore I have no excepti- on : and fuch were the Bifhops in England at the beginning of the Reformation. But that Bijhop in Ireland did, in the fifth or fixth centuries (for example) fignify a diflind or- 80. Quod in villi's vel civitatibus plures ordinanrur. In TAj}, ad Terdelvachum regem Hiberniae, apudB^ron. ad annwn 1 080; apud UJJer. inSylloge: Cf* inter opera La??fi-finc, 81. Ecclefias fundavit CCCLXV; ordinavit EpiTcopos coiem pumero, 6c eo amplins, in quibus fpiritus Dei erat, CCCLXV : Presbyteros aurem ufque ad tres mille ordinavit. Hi/l. Brit. cap. 59; (^uod ^ abalm (luamplurimii confrmatUTy a nobiit cum ppus futritj adducfndts. 38 NAZARENUS. der of men, by whom alone Presbyters cou'd be ordain'd, and without which kind of Ordina- tion their miniftry were invalid, this I abiblutely ii deny : as I do that thofe Bifhops were Dioccfan Bijhops^ when nothing is plainer than that moll of 'em had no Bifliopricks at all in our modern fenfej not to fpeak of thofe numerous Bifhops frequently going out of Ireland, not call'd to Bi- fliopricks abroad, and many of them never pre- ferred there. This is a fa£b none can deny. It was but in the nth century that the Iri/h Bi- fhops were reduc'd, by the firft Legate they re- ceiv'd from the Pope, to the number of twenty fix •, and that the Kingdom was parpelPd out in- to Diocefes, to which thofe Biftiops were feve- rally allign'd and limitted. The bringing of this to pafs, both for the better preventing of difputes about Jurifdiffion, which by that time had been introduc'd, and for the more effectual fecuring of the Pope's dominion by thefe his Intendants, was the chief reafon of convoking the Synod of RathbreafTail, where the Legate above-mcntion'd, Ceal- Gilbert Bifhop of Limerick, prefidedj and I.ACH. under him fat Celsus of Armach, and Ma- Maoliosa. j^ J g J u s of Cafliel, attended by -no fewer than fifty BiHiopsj w^hich {hows to what a different flate Epifcopacy was then grown from what it was foimerly in Ireland, efpecially in the twofirit centuries of their ChrilHanity. The right reve« rend the Bifhop of ^^ Carlile, to whom all men of Letters are fo much indebted, owns, that S3 the BiJIjops in Scotland ( which were upon the fame foot with thofe of Ireland ) had anciently no certain and fixt fees 3 hut that every Prelate exer- 8i. Now of London-Berry. S5. Scottiflj hiftorml Library, chap. 5-. pag. 4 10. cis'd NAZARENUS. 39 cls'd his Epifcopcil office and jurifdiclion indifcrimi- nately-i in whate'ver part of the kingdom he chanc'd to he. His Lordihip is not pleased to tell us, what this iiirifdidion cou'd be, of BiHiops that had no Diocefesj nor how they cou'd agree, when they met together in one place, where each had equal power. I am certain however there was nothing temporal in this jurifdiction. But tho this be not the place I 'have defign'd for fuch matters, yet I cannot but wonder, if the power and jurifdiction of the Iriih and Albanian Biihops were fuch as fome pretend, that Os- wald, the Saxon King of Northumberland, fhou'd not fend to thofe Bifhops for perfons to inifru6t his fubjccts in the Chriflian Religion -, but that he difpatcht liis requell for fuch to their Elders (as Bede *+ informs us) whether by thefe be meant the Elders of their Churches^ or the Elders of their People : for King O s wa l d, who liv'd fo many years in exile among them, and who there became a Chriflian, mull have been well acquainted with their Dioceian Epifco- pacy, if any fuch inftitution had then exifted. SUCH (Megaletor) was the Chriftia- nity of the antient Irifh > for I look upon the contents of the feventeen paragraphs before-go- ing, to be points, that, Vithout manifeit preva- rication, will not admit of any valid exception, of any ambiguous conftruction, or other fophifti- cal evafion. Moft of 'em are pofitive facts, dcli- ver'd by authentic writers : and the reft confirm'd by the irrecufable witncfs of the Pope's moft 84. Mifit ad m^jores natu Scottorit7n, inter quos exulans ipfe Bap- tifmatis facramenta, cum his qui lecum erant miliribiu, confecu- tus erati petens ut iibi mirterctur Anrillcj, cuius dodrini ac mi- niftcrio gens, quam regebat, Angloruin, Dominicae fidei 5c dona diiceret, &: fufcipcr-r: i-;ramcnta. Uijl. ^ccUf. /. 3. r. 5. ' ' * zealous 40 N AZ ARE NU S. zealous votaries, who frequently declaim'd agaiiift them, as fo many intolerable abufes. When Bernard (for example) in the life of M a- L A c H I A s, relates his being made Bifhop of Connor J he fays that ^^ he came not to men hut to heafts^ abfolute barbarians^ a ftubborn^ fiiffnecked^ and ungovernable generation (you wou'd think it was fome Highchurchman railing againft DifTen- ters) impious^ continues he, and abominable^ Chri-^ fiians in name^ hut in reality pagans. Now, what think you are the grounds of this heavy charge ? or what the provocations that put this good Fa- ther into fuch a rage? He immediately fubjoins them, and they ^^ are, that they neither pay^d Tythes nor firft-fruit offerings^ that they wou'd not he laivfully marry' d ( that is, by the Clergy ) that they refused going to Confeffton-y and that neither the Laity ijuou'd undergo any pennance^ nor their Priejis impofe it^ before the bleffed alteration (forfooth) made by Malachias. Such complaints arc as valid proofs in their due place, as pofitive te- ftimonies can poflibly be. Befides that it was the common artifice of the Monks, to declaim in the bitterefl terms againfl all men in all countries, who did not blindly receive their doftrines, as wholly diffolute and licentious : till they were reclaimed, if you believe them, by their powerful preach- ing i that is, till they became vafTals to their Mo- Sj". Cum autem coepifTet pro officio fuo agere, tunc intellexit homo Dei non ad homines fe, fed ad beftias deftinatum. Nuf- ijuam adhuc tales expcrtusfuerat, in quantacunque bai baric: nuf- quamjrepercrat fie protervos ad mores, fie ferales ad ritus, fie ad tidcm impios, ad leges barbaros. cervicofos ad difciplinam, fpurcos advitam; Chriftiani nomine, re Pagani 86. Non decimas, non primirias dare, non legitima inire con- jugia, non facere confeffioncs; poenitcntias ncc qui pereret, ncc (qui daret penitus inveniri. In vita, Malachiae, cap, 6: quem locunt Juperih etlvn a{(4nxi;?7us in Uoti; <^i 0> 6o. narch NAZARENUS. 41 narch the Pope, and refign'd their underftand- ings to his Janizaries the Priefts. But in the dif- cuilion of thefe things, we fhall not admit the chimerical and vifionary teftimonies of legendary- authors j who wrote of the matters in queftion, long after the time wherin they happen'd ; and who judg'd of them^ or at leaft tranfmittcd them to others, according to the ideas of their own times 5 which is a pra6tice no lefs frequent, than very erroneous and dangerous. One critical lule I fhall always obferve, as being equally juft and necellary, viz. ' neither to conclude from fomc things amifs in thofe elder times, that all were fo y having the nature of things and undeniable fads to the contrary, not a few fuperftitions be- ing crept in even from the beginning: nor to inferr from fome things right in later times, that all things continued as right as before, when the contrary is likewife from nature and fads moil evident.' Yet fo many things re- main'd among the Irifh, even to theEngliih con- queft, oppofite to the Religion and Government of Rome (in fpite of all the ignorance, bigottry, and barbarity, to which by that time this fame Rome had reduc'd them) that Pope Adrian the fourth, in his brief to King Henry the fecond in the year iif4, for encouraging him to undertake that conqueft, alleges for his mo- tives in fo doing > the «7 enlarging the bounds of the Church (which is a very lingular exprellion, if Ireland had been of his Church before) the de- daring the truth of the Chrijiian faith to thofe un- 87. Ad dilatandos Ecclefiac termint)s, ad declarandum m6o€t\s Sc rudibus populis Chriflianac fidei vcriratem, & vitiorum phntaria dc agro Domini extirpanda. j4pud Baron, ad annum \if9& ^ptfJ alios complureJ, fraecipne veto apud UJferium nojirum in EpiJloUr. Hiher- nicar. fylloge; ^ ex antrogri^pho apud Rymern?n, tom.i. p^-g. i f. learned 42 NAZARENUS. learned and rude people .^ and the encreafing of the Chriftian Religion^ as ijcell (continues he) as to extirpate the nurferies of 'vice out of the field of the Lord. Difobedience to the Roman fee, efpecial- ly in public Schools, is reckon'd the greatelt of vices, and no virtue allow'd, where there is not abfolute fubje^tion profeft to it. This charge of unfoundnefs in the faith, John Hardin g^ an old Enghfh poet, thus exprefles in the rjzd chapter of his Chronicle, I'he King Kt e i and hopes thofe primitive Presbyters may have been ordain'd the Lord knows where or how ( for he no where attempts to prove it ) by Diocefan Bi- ihops. Menhinks, fince one fuppoiition coils no more than another, he needed not to have gone veiy farr for fuch ordainers : but left anyihou'dgo to Britain firft, or to Ireland afterwards j feveral men of great name, fome to ferve one purpofe and fome to ferve another, took upon 'em to prove, that, before the beginning of the f th century, there were no Scots in North-britain at 91. Et Britannorum inaccelTa Romanis loca, Chrifto veto fub- diia. Adverfus JutUeos, cap.j. 93. Palladius ad Scottos m Chriftum credentes, a Pontifice Ro- manac Ecclefiac, Coeleftino, primus mittiturEpifcopus. Bed. Hijl. EcdefJ. I c. 13. Anno 429. Palladius Epifcopus a Cocleftino Papa ad Scottos mittebatur, uteorum fidem confirmaret. Chrome. Saxon. Mijfam nunc facie quaefiiomm, quinam per Scottos hie intelligent di, ScQtQ-Jiiberr,i nemps vet Scoto-Britdnrii f tmnt fotiUs mritiue i all. NAZARENUS, 45 all. Prejudice never difplay'd its ftandard more advantageoufly, than in the difcufHon of this ve- ry point : I mean of 5+ Reuda's leading a colo- ny out of Ireland into Scotland, which concerns the fuccefTioii of our Kings in the firft place j and the time of planting Chriftianity there, which in the fecond place concerns the fucceflion of our Bifhops. Thefe are the points which have driven men out of the high road of truth, to wander in the by-paths of party. I am well fatisfy'd^ arid can fatisfy others if it be thought worth while, that (notwithftanding I laugh at the Romance of Gathelus, Scot a, Simon Breac, and their fellows) the Scots came much earlier out of Ireland, than either S ta n i ri u r s t, U s h e r, the two laft Bifhops of Worcefter, or O F l a- HERTY, will allow theiri. Nor am I lefs con- vinc'd^ that Buchanan, Sir GeorgeMac- KENZiE, Sir James Dalrymple, and others, are miftaken in aflignirig this illuilrious colony too ancient a date : as they are all defe- ftive in proving the Regal fuccellion > a thing foihe of 'em pretend to have had rriuch at heart. Sir George Mackenzie is angry with Dr. Stil- LiNGFLEET, Biihop of Worceftcr, for abridging it 5 and the Bifhop as much difpleas'd with the Ad- vocate, for making it in fome fort eledive. It is moft evident out of the ancienteft Irifh Hiftorians, Bardsj and Annalifts, that there were colonies very early, and at different times fent, reviv'd, or recruitedj out of Ireland into the weilern Lies, 94. Procedcnte autem tempore, Britannia, praeter Br if ones 8c Piftos, tertiam Scotorum nationem in Pidorum parte recepitj qui, duce Reuda, dc Hibernia progrefli, vel amicit'a vel fcrro fi- bimet inter eos fedej, quas hadtenus habent, vindicarunt. Bed. Htji. L arid ^6 Mac- Cathlin. NAZARENUS. and the north- weft parts of Britain : thofe books containing particular accounts of the many expe- ditions made to this purpofe, of the battles fought by the.Irifh to preferve or to regain the depeiv- dency of fuch colonies, and the afliftance they af- ten lent them (after they became indepei:kdeat) againft the Picbs and Britons, or that one Irilb King us'd to receive from thence againft fome other. They were at firft govern'd by the lea- ders of the feveral colonics, and by their Phy- iarchs > that is to fay, the heads of Clans or Tribes : and afterwards, for their greater union and preferving the common peace, they ele a- 'Ayio- mong whom Dempster (not a Monk, as the '^^ -^^rct/- laft Bifhop of Worceller makes him, but a Lawyer) was the moil notorious filcher, yet the readyeft of all m.en to c\y flop thief. Neither are the Welfh, Engliih, or Irifh, freer from this national weakneis than their neighbors : and in- deed by reafon that the inhabitants of Ireland and North-britain were each call'd Scots^ and that both likewife had the appellation of IriJJj<^ no lefs becaufe of their common language than of their origine -^ it is very difficult, nay fomtimes impofiible, for a man wholly difengag'd, and onely purfuing hiftorical evidence, precifely to determine, except where circumilances are very plain ; for fome criteria there are, no t vv it h (land- ing the mills of fable and obfcurity. But as to my particular view, it fignifics nothing to which country thofc perfons did belong y fince the reli- gion of both countries, as likewife of the anci- ent Britons, is acknowledg'd to have been the very fame. In a word, every one of thole learn- ed gentlemen I have nam'd a little higher, fcem to a6t, as farr as I can perceive, upon fome cer- tain byafs or prejudice, not always becoming: hi- L z florians. 48 NAZARENUS. rians. Yet cou'd I overlook paflion in any of them, I wou'd except 5<5 Buchanan, who was fway'd by no other partiality but a little too much afFciSbion to his countrey 3 which I grant to be laudable, in the defence of its liberty, but not in the writing of its hiftory. In other things he ihows wonderful penetration and judgment 3 be- fides that he had the advantage of underflanding the ancient Iriih (abfolutely ^neceflary in thefe dif- quifitions) which the greater part of the reft had not. S TA N I H u R s T, ^7 a perfon of no fmall abilities, hated the Scots for being Proteftants : and fo wou'd neither allow them an early be- ginning nor an early Chriftianity. The great 5"^ Usher took up the cudgels for his uncle Stanihurst: not on the fcore of religion,' for none was ever a better Proteftant, but of fa- mily y and from that fame overweening prepof- fcjG[ion in fxvor of his country, which we have not approv'd in Buchanan. So Do6tor Lo yd, the late BiHiop of 55 Worcefter, juftly fam'd for his skill in Chronology, efpous'd the quarrel of ^ hisname-fake, if not kinfman, Humphry Loyd, the firft mover of this controverfy : who doubtlefs was not in the right, but not fo much in the wrong in every thing as Buchanan wou'd have him. Sir George Mackenzie, tho he was an ornament to the Scottifh barr, yet ^ wrote with all the un- fairnefs pofTible againft the Biihop (then of Saint Asaph) to whom that living library Do6lor Stillingfleet (afterwards Bifhop of Wor- 95. Rerum Scoticarum 8ccj or, the Hijlory of Scotland. 97. De Rebus in Hibernia geftis. 98. De Britannicarum Eccle/iarum primordiis. 99. Hiftotical account of the Britijlj Churches. I. Brirannicae Defcriptionisfr?gmentum. 4. Antiquity dfthe Koyai line of Scotknd, firfl and fecondpartf. cefter) NAZARENUS. 49 cefter) became a ftrenuous ^ fecond : left, if the Scots of Northbritain were allowed a Chriftianity at firft without Diocefan Bifhops, and that next the Bifhops themfelves were elefted by the Kel- dees^ vulgarly calPd Culdees (a fort of Lay religi- ous wherof by and by) for fear in fuch a cafe, I fay, that the prefent Scots might thus have reafon to expel their Billiops, which they fmce have done> as being no lefs an ufurpation upon their old Chriftianity, than upon their late Reformati- on. So th^t rather than Bifhops fhou'd lofe any f round, a great number of Kings, and a confidera- le body of preceding adventurers, muft be ftruck at one blow out of hiftory. Sir George Mackenzie is not more referv'd to let us into the fecret of his writing, which was to com- plement the late King Ja m e s, whofe hne (he fays) he thought it his duty, as his Majefty's Ad- vocatc-general, to defend 5 and he truely does it like an Advocate in all refpeds, making it even Lefe-Majefty in others to oppofe it by the leaft abridgment. It wou'd not be making his court, he thought, any way to curtail the long catalogue of the King's Anceftdrs, how much foever he ad- mir'd Biftiops : but he alfo thought it wou'd be as little ingratiating himfelf by deriving thole Princes from any fubjed of Ireland, tho not able to deny that they had originally iflu'd from thence -y but however (according to him) a long time be- fore thofe of that country allow it, as if fooner or later fignify'd any thing in this argument, w^th regard to true honor. He's ncverthelefs as much in the right, in refpe£t of the main fa£b, the an- tiquity of the Scots in Britain j as the induftrious ^ Mr. O r L A H E R T Y, out of complaifance per- 5. Orfgires Britannicae, &c. 4- ^^gy£*3' *'* '^•'^ Hiftory of Irthnd, JO NAZARENUS. haps to fome of his Patrons , is unqueftionably in the wrong. But Sir G e or g e was not mafter of hiftory enough (whatever his admirers may fancy) to prove his point, where it was capable of the higheft evidence > nor, without the help of the Irifh Bards, can the Scottifh antiquities be ever clear' d. He did not go by the rule of it was fo^ but it Jhou*d he fo\ becauie, as he declares his opinion, it was more honorable for the King to be defcended from thofe he alligns for his pro- genitors , than from fuch as others had nam'd : and therfore delires the reader to judge, who does the King greater honor, Dr. Stilling- FLEET in making him defcend from a petty fub- ject J or the Scottiih hiftorians, who derive him from an uninteiTupted feries of abfolute Monarchs. But is this to Vva-ite hiltory ? are we to facriiice truth to imaginary honor? or was each of King Ja M E s's anceftors an a6Lual Monarch, be his ge- nealogy what you pleafe ? Carbre Riadha was of the Ro3'al family, and not a mere Dynaft of Ulfter, as he erroneoufly calls him : but fup- poling him not of the regal flock, yet he was farr fuperior in rank and fame, even in his own Phlea- account of him, to Fleance the fon of DHAN. Banc HO, who is made the firft of the Stu- A R t's race. But to fhow an example in the Ad- vocate-general, how farr the humor of flattering the great, or over-rating their country, will ear- ly men > I fliall lay before you, Sir, an expedient no lefs admirable than diverting, on which he has fagacioufiy hit for fupporting his pretences. He P.irt2,p-!g.fays he cannot hut regret^ that the IriJJj f/jou'd mi- ^^9- fiake fo far their ow^n inter eft > as to fuffer^ or fur- nip) their hiftories^ to over-turn the credibility of the Sc^Mift^ hiftcries.. What ! not furnifh 'em, if they have fuch } or not fuffer 'em, if they are true ? Since (continues he) hesaufe we acknowledge our fehes NAZARENVS. yi fih^i to have come Uft from Ireland^ it were our common intereft to unite together^ and fuftain one another's antiquities. Tis well he's no Irifhman -that rpeaks at this rate, or we fhou'd quickly hear of his iiiiderftanding, as another ought to be minded of his honelly. But takeing my leave of this otherwifc very ingenious man, the honorable J Sir James Dalrymple has vifibly back'd him j not fo much on behalf of the Royal line, ^as for the antiquity of the nation, and on behalf of the Culdees. This lail point he has made fo evident from inconteftable authorities of Hiftori- ans, Regiftcrs, and Charters, mentioning many of their lands and their Churches > that Biihop L o Y D will be juftly condemned for haveing af- ferted the Culdees to be a monkiJJ) dream^ as hepag. lii. will be further fo, for making the word Keldee to fignify a houfe of Cells : and Bifhop SxiL-pag. 15S. LiNGFLEET niuft be contcut to bear him com- pany, who fancies that from Kilrule or Kilrimont (now faint Andrews) the clergy were call'd Kile- ^^cf. p. y^. dei 5 from which title^ fays he, the fiUion of the ancient Culdees came. This conceit does, in fpitc of the analogy of the language and abundance of fafts, fuppofe there were no Culdees elfwhere in Scotland, the contrary wherof is demonftrable : nor, unhappily for his Criticifm, were they ever caird Kilcdei (which is a fidion of his own) but ip^t^fir conflantly Kekdei^ from the original Irifh or an- * cient Scottifh word Ceile-de^ fignifying feparated or efpous'd to God 3 thefe having been hkewife ve- ry numerous in Ireland, and in all the Irilh wri- tings invariably known by this name. From Ceile- The sp^u de many of the Latin writers made CoUdei in the °f ^^^' plural number 5 and others, who did not under- iland this word, did from the mere found (like 5-. Colleciions concerning the Scottijh Hijicry, L 4 our jj N AZ ARE NU S. our two great Biihop's derivations) interpret it Cuh prcs Dei^ whence the modern word Culdees^ tho itht Keldees^ Kdedei J and Kelledei in all the ancient C in irijJjU ScottilTi Writings. Ceile-de^ both name and thing, ^'^ ^f' cannot be deny'd by any man, who's tolerably K or o . vers d in the language ot the Iriih or in then* books J one of which, a Chronicle moftly in verfe entitul'd P falter Na'rran^ was written by a Keldee, A o N G H u s Ceile-de^ Latiniz'd iE,NEAS Coli- DEUS, about the year 800. I can produce, if there be occafion, feveral evidences about thefe Keldees, anterior to thofe helps with whicl^ Sir J A M E s D A L RY M p i.E has plentifully fur- nifh'd me : tho many more might be otfer'd by others (as I doubt not fome will in time appear) had not fuch numbers of Irifh books and records been carry'd beyond the feas at the Reformation, and even before 5 where they ly periihing in Li- braries, being ufelefs as v/ell as unintelligible in thofe countries. We need not a better example of this, than the very book of the four Gofpels which has occaiion'd you to be trobl'd with this Differ tat ion. The Keldees were commonly Lay- men, and marry'd as I noted ^ before j but, like Bifoop and Monk^ the word remain'd the fame, ^fter the Ideas were chang'd with the condition of the men, and that they became Clerks. But, it feems, no change cou'd prevent the extindli- on of the Keldees. They hc^d the right of chufing their Prior or Prefident out of their own body, as the Church in thofe parts was long governed by Presbyters, after the exam- ple of the ancient ^ Alexandrian Church y where 6. 7/7 Not A 66. 7. AJexandriae a Marco Evangelifta, ufque ad Heraclam 8c Dio- «} fium Epifcopos, Presbyteri Temper unum ex fe eleftum, in ex- • telfiori gradu collocatum, Epifcopum nominabant. Hieronym. Epift. fld EvAgrium, m nihil de Eittjchio alii/qfte die am, the NAZARENUS. 53 the Presbyters chofe one from among themfelves, to be their Bifhop or Superintendent : a form of Government not fcrupl'd by the Scots at the Re- formation, and which, if that were all, they wou'd make no difficulty of admitting now. John Ford UN therfore had reafon to affirm fo ma- ny centuries fince, that * the Scots had, before the coming of Pai^ladius, onely Presbyters or Monks for teachers of the faith^ and Minifters of the Sacraments^ following herein the ufage of the Primitive Church, Thus did the famous Co- L u M B A, who, coming out of Ireland to con- vert the Northern Pi6ts in the year ^^^^ and founding a Monaftry in the Hand from him call'd ^ I-coluim-cille^ eftabliih the felf-fame kind of order in the Church there. "That Iland^ fays '° Bede in the 7th century, is wont to have a Presbyter Abbat^ to whofe government both the whole Province^ and even the Bifhops themfelves are to be fubje^l in an unufual manner ( with regard, he means, to the practice of his time in England) after the example of their firfi teacher y who was not a BiJJjopy but a Presbyter and a Monk. To the fame purpofe, and for the fame reafon tlie 8. Ante cujus [P^/Wi#] adventum, habebant Scoti fidei do6lorcs, ac Sacramentorum miniftratores, Presbyteros folummodo vel Mo- nachos, ricum fequcnres Ecclefiae Primitivae. Scotichrom. /, 5. «r 8. 9. That isy C o L u M K I L l's llaml-y for I, fromum'd as the French and other loregners do this Letter, figmfies in Irifh an llmd, as Inis likewife does. The name of this I land is often ■written HIT, II, HU, 10 avoid making a "word of one Letter-, and Co l u m b a is call'd bj B E D E, N E N N I u s, and other sy Columb a-Celli, C o l u m k i l- Lus, or CoLUMBA CELLAE ; as by the Iriff}, and Scots Highlanders, he's to this day call'd C o l u i M-c i ll E. This llandgoes likewife under the name e/ J O N A, and lies near the greater lland 0/ M U L L. 10. Habere autcm folct ipfa infuja redorem femper Abbatem Presbyterum, cujus juri 8c omnisprovincia, 8c ipfi etiam Epifcopi, ordine inufitato, debeant efle fubjefti ; juxta exemplum primi doaoris illius, qui non Epifcopus, fed Presbyter cxticit &; Mona- chus. Hid.'EccUf.l.i^c.^. SaKon y4 N AZ ARENUS. Saaon Chronicle ' ' fays, that all the Scoitijh Bijhops are to he fuhjeU to the Abhat of Hy. Then, to be fure, they were no Diocefans. But after the Pope had got firm footing in Scotland, and that the country was parcell'd out by his order into Dio- cefes ( moil of which are of very late ereftion ) the Keldees were difcountenanc'd and fuppreft by degrees, and Canons regular plac'd in their room. I confine my difcourfe to the Scots Keldees onely : for as to the Keldees of Armagh, Tipperary, or Cluanifh in Ireland, or as to thofe of Bardfey in Wales, or any where elfe, mention'd by others or not 5 I have nothing at this time to fay, what- ever I may do hereafter. The right of eledting Biihops, fo long enjoy'd, was forcibly taken at laft from the Scots Keldees : and, the fooner to €fFe6t the change that enfu'd, their Priors were commonly gain'd by making them Bifiiops, as the chief among the reft were preferred to regular Ab- bacies. Thus Alexander Myln, Prebendary and Official of Dunkel, in his account of the Bi- fhops of that See, tells us, ^^ that Constan- T I N E the third^ King of the Pi^s^ did^ in the year 72,9, ereU the Monaftery of Diinkel^ in 'which he plac d religious men hy the 'vulgar calVd Keldees ; ■^ho neverthelefs^ after the ufage of the eafiern 1 1. Deinceps perpetuus in li Abbas erit, non autem Epifcopus; atque ei d^bent e.& fubdiri omnes Scotorum Epiicopi, propreici quod Columbanus [reBius Columba] fuerit Abbas, non Epilcopus. 12. In quo quidcm Monafterio impofdit viros religiofos, quos r.ominat: vulojus Kelledeos, aliterColideos ('hoc eft, cokntesDcum) hibenre^ tamen, {"ecundum Oricntaiis Ecciefiac ritum, conjugesj aquibus, dum vicifl'im miniftrarunr, abflinebant — - David, mu- tato Monaflerio, in Eccleliam Cadit^dialem erexit; Sc, repudiatis Kelledcis, Epifcopum £c Canonicos inftituit, Seculareque Collegi- um in futurum clTc ordinavit, circa annos Domini 1 127. MS. m BiMioii . kc. 'Edinburg. (^ a Jacoh Dalrymfle Baronetto citat. Churchy NAZARENUS. jy Churchy had wives^ from whom they ahfiaty^dy when it came to their turn to minifter. But King D AV I D, fays he, did about the year of the Lord 1 1 ijj change this Monaftery into a Cathedral church 5 and halving caft out the Keldces, appointed a Bifhop and Canons^ ordering it to he a fecular Colledge for the future. Accordingly the Keldean Abbat was made the firft Bifhop of that fee : and from hence it appears, that the Culdees were not Canons > which is another fubterfuge, to which fome have had recourfe. Nor was it an eafy matter, to ex- tirpate the Keldees out of Saint Andrews 3 who at lait were reduced to '? perform their worjhip in their own way^ in a corner of the Church once theirs. The Keldees of Loch-levin (not to mention thofe of Brechen, Dumblane, Monymusk, or others) were fome of the laft left in Scotland. And I cannot help faying on this occafion, that fome other method of defending Diocefan Epifcopacy (if it can at all be defended) had much bet- ter become the two late learned Biihops of Worcefter, than to draw their pens againft clear matters of fad > the Keldees being already fufficiently prov'd, neither to have been a dream nor a fidion. Yet the prefent Bifhop of Carlile calls Dr. Loyd's '4 book, an undertaking becoming a Bifljop of our Englifh Churchy and fays his aim in it was^ the encountring nn objection againft the order of Epifcopacy^ from the ft or y of the Culdees: an ar- gument put into the mouths of our Schifmatics by B L o N D E L and S E L D E N, out of the abundant kindnefs they had for our eftablifhment. I mull take the liberty with his Lordfhip to affirm, that 13. Nee ibi Mifia cdebratur, nili cum rex vel Epifcopus ilio advenerat: Keldei namque in angulo quodam Ecclefiae, quae mo- d ca nimis erar, fuum Offici-um fuo more celebrabant. Excerpt, ex Regijiro V nor at. S.Andr. ante a citat. in Not a 66. 14. E/3gli/J3 HifiorUfU Libr>^ry, part 2 page 93. many y^ N AZ ARENUS. many of the Scottifli writers madeufe of this argu- ment, long before Selden orB londel cou'd write books. I wiih when he wrote the Scottijh Hi- ft.orical Library^ he had given us a more particular account of fo confiderable a piece as the Excerpts out of the Chartulary of the Priory of St. Andrews^ than barely to ^^ fay, that there are fuch Extra6ls : iince it is a record, that fo frequently makes men- tion of the Keldees, of their long continuance in the Scottifh Church, and of their fuppreilion at laft by Diccefan Bifhops : which fhill further demon- llrates, that they were farr from being a monkifh dream5asLo YD the Bilhop of Worceftcr, who from a Presbyter made F o r d u n a Monk, has ground- lefly advanc'd. They might, in my opinion, have all gone to work in another way, not onely fairer, but likewife more fafe and reputable > I mean by putting the caufe of Diocefan Epifcopacy upon the bottom either of divine inftitution, or of the greateft humane convenience: but not uponfadbs, which if all true in thefenfe theywou'd have them (as tis moft evident they are not) yet they wou'd make nothing in the world to their purpofe. For the moft curious enquirers into the hiftories of Ire- land and Scotland, will not, if they reafon as they ought, ground their Rehgion upon what has or has not pafl there > but upon what is right and true, upon what is inilrucbive and beneficial. Truth is not confin'd to any country, nor Reafon its pe- culiar growth j thefe being invariably the fame, whatever country rejects or receives, practifes or negleds them : and tho I may love a nation for the fake of the Sciences or the Virtues, that flo- riih'd in it, as the Greecs (for example) and the Romans j yet I neither love Knowledge nor Re- ij-. Scottijl} Hijloricd Library chap. f. pag, 220. ligiou NAZARENUS. 5;^ ligion on the fcorc of any nation, but for their own intrinfic worth and value. You may ther- fore conclude, that it is not out of any fondnefs for my country, that I approve, where I have not hinted the contrary, the Summary of Religion contain'd in the fecond Se6tion oF this Letter : but purely as it is agreeable to Scrips ture and Reafon, whether my countrymen had ever receiv'd it or not. You'll pardon, Sir^ my llepping from the mother to the daughter, or the natural tranfition I made above from the Irifh to the Scottiih Antiquities, concerning which I have collected not a few obfervations : having begun my Academic ftudies in the Univerfity of Glalco, and taken my degree in that of Edinburgh, be- fore I went to Leyden, for which places I ihall ever preferve a grateful refpe£t. This is what you know I Ihall never want towards yourfelf : wher- fore, I am. Sir, i3c. J. T GLAND. FINIS, APPENDIX. CONTAINING I. Two PROBLEMS, hiftorical, political, and theological, concern- ing the Jewish Nation and Religion. II. A further account of the Maho- metan Gospel of Barnabas, by Monfieur de la Monnoye of the French Academy. III. ClU E R I E S fit to be fent to any curious and intelligent Chrifti- ans, refiding or travelling in Maho- metan Countries ,• with proper di- red:ions and cautions in order to procure fatisfadory anjfwers. LO N DO N: Printed in the Year 171 8. I. TWO PROBLEMS CONCERNING The Jewifh Nation and Religion. Et eris mihi magnus Apollo. Virg. in aftual exercife. O U know ( Sir ) tKat I have promis'd thofe, for whom I have the greatcll deference, a R E S P U B LI C A M O S A I C A, or THE C O M M O N W EALT H OF Moses, which I admire infinitely, above all the forms of Government, that ever yet exiited : whether at any time as thofe of the Spartans and Romans of old, and now that of the V'enetians 5 or fubfilling only in idea, as 'C^^ Atlantis of Plato, Sir Thomas M o r e's Utopia^ and fuch like. Neither my other friends at the Waters, nor even M vou. NAZARENUS. you, were tolerably latisfy'd with SiGoiJiuS^ or C u N E u s, or with any one of thofe, who have written on this fubjefl: : and I can now glad- ly teil you, my materials are in fuch a readinefs; that one half year, free from ail other buiinefs, wou'd be fufficient for me to form and finiili the whole work. You well remeraber^ that I main- tain the Plan given by Moses, never to have been wholly, nor indeed in any degree of per- fe6tion, elbblifh'd in Judea : and that if it once had, it cou'd never have been afterwards deftroy'd, either by the internal fedition of fubjefts, or the externarviolence of enemies, but fhoii'd have laft- ed as long as mankind s which is to make a Go- vernment immortal^ tho it be reckon'd one of the things in nature the moft fubjedt to revolutions. But I have not told you, whether I founded this immutability on any promife and miraculous con- currence of God 3 or on the intrinfic nature and conflitution of the form it felf, be its original what you pleafe. But fomthing there is, of which at this day we are eye and ear-witnefles, which feems to be no fmall confirmation of my alTertion, tho not giving the reafons of the iame : for not- withftanding the Mosaic plan was never whol- ly executed, and that the imperfect imitation of it, under various denominations, is long fince de- flroy'd y yet the Jews continue if ill a diilin6b peo- ple from all others, both as to their race and re- ligion. Tho you cannot difagree with me about the fa6t, yet I fufpe(5t your reafons for this phenome- non (if I may fo call it) will be very different from mine, which however can make no difference in our affe61:ions. I never love to difputc, but am ever ready to learn. In order therfore to receive better information from you, and fuch others as know more than my felf, I take the liberty of ©ffring to your confideration the two following Problems, NAZARENVS. Problems. There is yet a third behind, which wou'd be needlefs to produce, till an anfwer be given to thefe j wherof it is a moft natural con- lequcnce on the one hand (I mean as the folution happens to be ^iven) but quite the contrary on the other : for no wife man will admit of Chance for a real mean between Reason and R e v e- JLA T I o N, confider'd as two extremes. I obfcrvc this the rather, becaufe, tho there be nothing more evident, than that Chance fignifies with men of fcnfe, an effect wherof the caufe is unknown or unforefeen 5 yet a world of people mean by Chance, an effe6b that has no caufe at all : and fo they gravely pronounce concerning fomc of the moll" remarkable Phenomena in nature, that they happen (forfooth) by Chance 5 as if in reality any efl-e£t cou'd poffibly be without a caufe, or that this caufe cou'd be without another caufe as regu- larly produceing it, or finally that there were no caufes where we don't immediately and direftly perceive 'em. FIRST PROBLEM. WHETHER, without having recourfe to miracleSj or to promifes drawn from the Old l^eftament (which is the fime thing, if you don't take thofe promifes for wife forefight) it can be demonflrated by the intrinfic conftitution of the Government or Religion of the Jews, how, after the total fubverfion of tlieir State for almoit feventeen hundred years, and after the difperlion pf their nation over the whole habitable earth j being neither favor'd nor fupported by any poten- tate, but rather expos'd to the contemt and ha- tred of all the world : they have neverthelcfs pre- ferv'd themfelves a diftinct people with all their M 2i ancient NAZARE NU S. ancient rites, excepting a very fmall number of ceremonies, they were neceflarily injoin'd to pra- 6bife within the bounds of Judea, and which they are no longer permitted to do ? while that in the mean time the Inftitutions of the Egyptians, Baby- lonians, Greecs, and Romans (nations that were much more powerful) are long ago entirely abo- lifh'd, and brought to nothing : and that the names only of certain celebrated Religions fubfift yet in hiilory j without even fo ihuch as the names re- maining of fome other worships, that doubtlefs were neither lefs believ'd, nor lefs extended. SECOND problem: »■ WHETHER a fufficient reafon can be af- fign'd, drawn from the nature and frame of the Jewiih Republic or Religion (without al- ledging miracles, or promifes not accounted mi* raculous, as aforefaid) why, during the time that they were the independent Lords of their own country, and that their Government fubliiled in a fiorifhing condition > they were perpetually in- clined to the moil grofs idolatries, always in fufpenfe whether they fhou'd follow Baal or J e h o v a h, and having a ifarong propeniity to mix or marry with the women of other nations, contrary to their fundamental Laws ? wheras, iince their acbual difperfion among thefe lame nations, they are ob- flinately careful to keep their race entire, without corruption or mixture : and that, notwithftanding the mofl agreeable temtations or the moil: exqui- iite tortures, they abhorr beyond all exprelHonldo- latiy of every kind > but particularly the adoration of dead men (from which they are evidently exemt) as they are furprizingly uniform in their worfhip and do6trine, which is not deny'd by any body. NAZARENVS. I HAVE made ufe (Sir) of more words per- haps than were neceflary, in expreffing thefc Pro- blems : but it was to avoid all/orts o.^ ambiguity, perplexity, or obfcurity. Tis indifFcrcnt to me, whether another be diifufe or concife in his anlwcr, provided he fpeaks directly to the fubjeca in quciH- on : and that he does not amuze himfclf with glo- zing, or vending of allegories, and forccing of al- lufionsi which will neither give fatisfadion tome, nor to any othei' whatfoever. Certainly the caufc of thefe effects muft needs be, either the conllitu- tion of the Government, which any body that fays fo ought to iliow j or a particular providence, which mull- be likewife prov'd j or a concurrence of both thefe, where thediftindionfhou'd be very clear J or lalHy mere chance, which is abfurd. For the reft, the Jews, the Chriftians, and the Deifts, are equally intcrefted to clear this matter. The A- theilts (if any fuch there be?) have nothing to do herein. But the Heathens, the Mahometans, and, in one word, all thofe who beUeve a divine Reve- lation of any fort, muft be neceffarily determin'd (as to right, whatever may happen in fa6l) by the true folution, from what hand jfoever it comes. I am not a ftranger to what is fo voluminoully dif- cours'd on the fubje6b of the firft Problem, in the common fyftcms, which never take notice of the fecond : but a more fatisfactory explication is ftill expe6bed, which perhaps may appear in a better light by it felf > while the multitude of other fubjecls is apt to confound ideas in a general fy- ftem, if not unavoidably to withdraw the atten- tion. A letter on this fubjeft therfore I expect from your fclf , or from any body elfe by your means, in ' communicating my demand > that if I I . Shotid any be willing to write, but not to print his thoughts m this fitbjeci, if he dire^s hit Letter to be left for me at Mr. Roberts in IVarvick-lme, J (Jj^H do him sll poJjiblejnfiue, M 3 happen ^ N A Z A RE NUS. happen to be guilty of any miftakes in the Mo- SAic Republic, they may not be afterwards imputed to fufficiency, or want of asking advice. I A M aware (my friend) that the Immortality of a Commonwealth is not honor'd by you fo farr, as to be reckon'd a paradox in politics, but art egregious abfurdity in nature : and you muft ex- cufe me, if I be at no pains to convince you, till theRESPUBLiCA Mosaic A appears. Yet it will not be amifs in the mean time to fhow you, that this whim (as you often call it) of the Immortality of a Government^ was not originally Harrington's 5 who indeed dreamt fome fuch thing about the Republic of Venice^ and who has the moil excellent father Paul on his fide : but that what I now particularly apply to the model delivered by Moses, and to which only it can be apply'd, was many hundred years ago the no- tion which a confummate ftatefman, no lefs cele- brated for practice than fpeculation, had of fra- ming a Government in general ^ and this opinion he declar'd in a book, which he exprefly wrote concerning the beft kind of Government, when he himfelf fat at the helm. I mean Cicero and his fix books de Republican or de optimo flatu Civitatis £5? de optimo Cive^ which are all loft, a few fragments excepted. The words I am now going to tranfcribc, are preferv'd by Augus- tin, in the 6th chapter of his iid book de Ci- vitate Dei. A Government^ fays * T u lly^ 2. Debet enim conftituta fie efle Clvitas, ut Aeterna fit: jtaque nuJlus interitus eft Reipubiicae naturalis, ut hominij in quo mors Hon mode necefiaria eft, verum etiam optanda perfaepe. Ci- vitas autem cum tollitur, deletur, extinguitur, fimile eft quodam- modo (ut magnis parva conferamus) ac fi oronis hie muiidus in- tereat ac concidat. f .v libro terdo de Rppubliai. to. N AZ ARE NUS. to he fo conftituted^ as to be of e.tekn Ah du- ration: and for this reafon it is^ that no kind of dijfolution is natural to a Government^ as to a marir j to whom death is not encly unavoidahle^ bftt alfo very often dejirable. But when a Government is overturn' d^ ruin'd^ and quite extinguiJJfd^ tis in fome fort (that we may compare great things with fmall) as if this whole world fJjou\l fall to -pieces^ and he for ever defirofd. For as the corruption of ever-generating individuals neither leflens the matter, nor diforders the form of the world, but on the contrary perpetuates it : fo the fpecies of mankind, which is the matter of Government, ever continuing 5 if fuch a temperament (as C i- c E R o fomwhcre calls it) or fuch a Vibration (as Harrington) be fixt in the fonn, as to make it proof againft all internal divifion and ex- ternal force, that Government will confeqiiently be immortal. Such was the language of Plato and Aristotle long before. HAVING therfore thus cleared Father Pa u l, and Harrington, and my felf, I am willing Cicero fhou'd patiently bear the imputation of having broach'd a whimfical ab- furdity, till I have time and leifure enough to produce Moses in his vindication j who will not give you bare authorities, but unanfwerable reafons. They, who believe this form of Go- vernment was immediately rcveal'd to Moses from heaven on mount Sinai, cannot but be wcU-pleas'd with me, for fhowing it to be much more excellent and perfedt, and confequently more worthy of God -y than thofe have hitherto efteem'd it, who in all their books (not one Chri- llian fyilem excepted) complain of its infufficien- cy and manifold imperfe6bions : and they, who, with Strabo and Diodorus Siculus, M 4 make N AZ ARE NUS. make it to be purely his own contrivance (but fathered upon God, to procure it the eafier re- ception and the greater veneration) will be ob^ lig'd however for the future, to allow Moses a rank in the politics farr fuperior to S a l e u- cus, Charon DAS, Solon, Lycurgus, R o M V L u s, N u M A, or any other Legiflator. NOW if you'll fuppofe with me (till my proofs appear) this pre-eminence and immortality of the Mosaic Republic in its original puri- ty, it will follow J that, as the Jews known at this day, and who are difpers'd over Europe, A- fia, and Africa, with fome few in America, are found by good calculation to be more numerous than either the Spaniards (for example) or the French : fo if they ever happen to be refettl'd in Palellrine upon their original foundation, which is not at all impoffible > they will then, by reafoni of their excellent conftitution, be much more populous, rich, and powerful than any other na- tion now in the world. I wou'd have you con- lider, whether it be not both the intereft and du? ly of Chriftians to affift them in regaining their country. But more of this when we meet. I am with as much refpcft as friendfhip (d^ar Sir) ever yours, Hague, 17 -p. J. 7! II. A II. A further account of the MAHOMETAN GOSPEL OF BARNABAS, by Monji^ eur DE LA MoNNOYE of the French Aca- demy \ (?/^^^/^A^Menagiana, Edit,AmJf. torn, 4. pag, 321. H E Baron de Hohendorf, a German Lord, who, to a birth of the firft rank, has added exquifice litera- ture, nice politics, and a very exten- five knowledge of books, did me the favor to ihow me the Gospel, fathered by the Turks upon Barnabasj tranflated into Itali- an (in all likelyhood from the Arabic) about the middle of the fifteenth Century, and copy'd a little while after. Tis at this day the onely ma- nufcript cf its ^ kind, or at leaft a very rare one ; and belongs to Prince Eugene, whofe fearch after all forts of curious books is without any bounds. Tis an Q6tavo volum fix inches long, four broad, and one and a half thick, and con- taining ^ip leaves, the full pages haveing about 18 or IP lines, enclos'd within four red rules. In the margin, over-againft certain paflages un- derlin'd in the Text, there are fome Arabic ci- tations very well written, and relative to fome verfes of the Alcoran. The tranfcriber intended * lit muft mean the omly om in Chriftendom, or he contrndicii jhim- felfy and [0 mufi Monjieur Cramer have meant, -mho knm nothing o^the age or value of this book, but T^hat I told him. 10 N AZ ARE NUS. to write in red letters all the Arguments of the Chapters, which are in number zii: but he went no further than the lyth, which he misfi- gur'd the i^th, contenting himfelf with leaving void fpaces for filling up the reft. The paper is of a good body, ana made of poliiht cotton. On a leaf in the beginning of the book is now writ- ten the following Inlcription in Latin. Serenissimo Sabauqiae Principi Eugenio, Heroi invito, Mufarum Hercuh, Hoc Evangeliunt Mahumedanum^ quod Bar- nab a e nomen prae fe fert^ in ItaUcum fermonem^ complurihiis abhinc feculis^ uti charaUeris duSlus £sf 'vetiiftae orthographiae ratio pftendit^ converfum: quod Evangeliumftve Arahice^ five alia lingua^ fsf, fi quis conjeElurae locus eft^ a Sergio Monacho Nefto- riano^ uno e trihus illis Alcorani architehiSy compofitum^ adhuc videre nemini Chrifiianorum li' euit 5 quamvis hi ilhid perquirere £5? infpicere omni ope niterentur^ ut tandem ejufmodi Evangelium^ quo Mahornedani tantopere gloriantur^ ne exiftere quidem fufpicari coeperint : hunc^ inquam^ codicem^ manu fatis eleganti exaratiim^ (j^ ficuti conftat^ unicuniy ut ejffet Bibliothecae^ quam Princeps incom-* parabilt s Ubris rarijfimis^ feu typis feu manu de* fcriptis refertiffimam^ conftruendam fufcepit^ non po* ftremum ornamentum y i^ fimul fuae in immortaU maximi Herois nomen perpetuae obfervantiae^ pie^* tatiSy devotiffimipedioris^ qualecunque monumentum : L. M. Q, D. D. D. Joannes Fredericus Cr am e r u s. Hagae^Comitis a. d. XX. Juniiy CIDIDCCXIII. THE NAZARENUS. ii THE oithography of this manufcript is remark- able for its in-egularitics. The Confonants arc often double, where they ought to be finglcj and fingle, on the contrary, where they fhou'd have been double. One v/ord is divided into two, and two again are join'd into * one. Tis every where ftuff'd with luperfluous and vicious Afpirations, fuch as were affeded by Arrius in Catullus. There's no diftin6lion of Ca- pitals: but a veiy odd puncbuation, confifling onely in certain large red points, plac'd for the moll; part by mere chance. Elgi^ molgie^ fi^g^o^ pilgiare^ are put for Egli^ moglie^ fig^^o^ pigliare. Scatiar is put for fcacciar^ fcernir and fcerno for fchernir and fcherno^ piaze for piace^ and fuch o- ther corruptions without number j which ought to be look'd upon, rather as indications of the ignorance and bad pronunciation of the Gopyer, than of the f antiquity of the Writeing. The Pages are markt by Arabic figures, form'd in this manner : i one, ^ two, ^ three, 4 four, o five, t| ^\x^ V feven, a eight, q nine, i . ten j after which the figures are thus combined, 1 1 eleven, I N twelve and fo on. The writeing, as I have obferv'd already, is about the year 1470 or 1480, the time when Tranfcribers begun to put a dot or tittle over the letter i, which has been very exa6tly followed in the manufcript, wherof we are now fpeaking. The word Z)/^, or God, is out of refped always written in red letters. The Turks oppofe this Gospel, as the onely tmc ^ one. * A thing very common in the oldefi Italian Manufcripts, and in their firji -printed books. f They are no lefs indicatiom of the one than of the other, as mu^ needs be apparent to any one that's verfi in Italian Manufcripts. 4: I dftrfi ntt be fo pofitive, nor do I fee any ground why Moafeur DE LA MoNNOYE flm'd ^9 fo, fchich IS the reafon of the ^eries i fki>jein, to It N AZ ARENV S, to our four. Barnabas, who affirms that he was commanded to write it, is reprcfented as an Apoftle, not onely well known to Jesus and the ViRGiNj but alfo better inll:rii61:ed than Paul, concerning the importance of Gircumci- iion, and the ufe of fuch Meats as were pemiitted or prohibited the faithful. You learn in the fame, that the infernal torments of the Mahometans are not to be everlalliing. Jesus Christ is ther- in but barely ItiPd a Prophet : and tis faid, that the moment the Jews were makeing ready to go and feize him in the garden of Olives, he was taken up into the third heaven by the miniftry of four angels, Gabriel, Michael, Ra- phael, and Uriel: that he fhall not dy till the very end of the world, and that it was J u- DAS who was crucify'd in his ftead 5 God per- mitting that this Traytor ihou'd appear to the eyes of the Jev/s fo like to Jesus, that they took him for him, and as fuch delivered him over to Pilate. Tis faid further, that this refem- blance was fo great, that every one was deceived by it, without excepting the Virgin Mary and the Apollles % but that afterwards Jesus had obtain'd permiilion from God, to come and com- fort them : and that Barnabas haveing then ask'd him the queflion, how the divine goodnefs cou'd fuffer that the Mother and Difciples of fo holy a Prophet lliou'd believe, even for one mo- ment, that he fuffer'd fo ignominious a death, the following * anfvver is made by Jesus. O Bar- nabas, * RifpoffcJ lefu ho Barnaba chrcdimi che ogni pechato per pi- cho]lo che fia Dio il punifle chon pena grande. effendoche Dio he ofifeflb nel pechato onde ammandomi la mia madre he li fidelli con miei difTcpoIi uno pocho di am more tcrrcno. il iufsro Dio ha vol- ]uto punire queHo am more chon il preflente dollore azioche fia jion pufiito nelk Rami mfernalli. hs me che innocenro fonftaw nd NAZARENUS. 13 N A B A s, believe me that every fin^ how fniall foe" *ver^ is punijl)*d by God with great torment^ becaufe God is offended with fin. My mother t her fore and my faithful difciplcs^ haveing lov'd me with a mix^ Hire of earthly love^ the juft God has been pleas' d to puniJJ} this love with their prcfent griefs that they might not be punifiot for it hereafter in the flames of Hell, jlnd as for me^ tho I have my felf beert blamelefs in the Worlds yet other men haveing calVd me God^ and the Son of God'y therfore God^ that I might not be mock!d by the Devils at the day of Judgement^ has been pleased that in this world I Jhou'd be mock\l by men with the death ^/ J u D a s, makeing every body believe that I dfd upon the Crofs. And hence it is^ that this mocking is ft ill to continue on till the comeing of Mahomet, the Sent of God'y who^ comeing into the World^ will from this error undeceive every one^ that fhall be- lieve the Law of * God. ncl mondo hauendomi li homeni chiamato dio he fiollo dii dio.' dio per non far mi fcernire dalli demonii il giorno de il juditio. ha voli'Jto che io fia fcernito dali homeni nel monddo chon la morte di iuda facendo chredere ad ogniuno che io fia morto fa la chroce onde quefto fccrno durera inffmo alia venuta di Machome- to nontio di dio. il quale venendo al mondo Iganera ogniuno che chrederano alia legie di dio di quefsto ingano. * In the p^Jfigss vehich I have quoted my felf out of this Gorpcl, tho I preferv'd the zicious Orthography, yet, to be the better undsrjiood, I pointed them as they pond be : but in this p^ff'ige, tranjvrib'd by Monfieur de la Monnoye, I have exhibited the V unB nation fmh as he ^Hve it, as a fpecimm #/ the refl of the book. III. QJJ E- 14 III. QUERIES to he fent to Chrifiians reftdmg m M a h o m ]e ta n Countries. 1. ilNCE we find in all the books of the Mahometans, that they believe the L AW was deliver'd from Heaven to Moses, thePSALMS to David, and the GO S P E L to Jesus, as well as the ALCORAN to Mahox\iet> vou are to enquire and take due information, whe- ther at this time the Mufulmans have 2, Pentateuch^ Pfalms^ or Go [pel of their own, and how farr agreeing or disagreeing with thofe of the Jews and Chrillians ? whether they fing any of D a- v I D 's Pfalms in their public Service, or read any portions of the Pentateuch ? IL SINCE we find moreover, that they charge our Go/pels with cormption and alteration in many things, and particularly that M a h o M e t 's name was raz'd out of 'em, as likewife out of the Pentateuch^ znd the Pfahns-, you are to enquire of the moll learned, judicious, and candid among 'cm how they can prove fuch Expun6tions or Interpolations, if they have no authentic Copies to confront with ours? or, in cafe they pretend to have (uch Copies, you are further to enquire, what ufe they make of 'em? whether any part of then Gofpel be ever read in their Mofchs? or whe- ther it is to be perus'd onely by the Clergy and the Learned? ^^^_^^^ N AZ ARE NUS. ij III. YOU are particularly defir'd to enquire after the Gospel of Barnabas: for fuch a book is in the poflefHon of his moft ferene High- nefs Prince Eugene of Savoy, and was un- doubtedly written (I doHit mean wholly compil'd) by a profeft Mahometan 3 as the Summaries of the Chapters, and the Arabic Notes on the margin of the Italian Tranflation, are the work of a zealous adverfary to Chriftianity. And if you fhou'd hap- pen to meet with this book, you are diligently to enquire, whether they acknowledge it as divine, whether it be the onely Gofpel they admit? or, in cafe they have any more of this kind, which arc Apocryphal, and which authentic, in thek ac- count ? IV. SINCE we find the Mahometans, in all their writeings, aflerting that other books, befides the four already mention'd, were divinely infpir'd, or fent from heaven to their reputed Authors 3 name* ly, Adam, S e t h, Enoch, Abraham, and more fuch Patriarchs and Prophets : you are to enquire if now they either have, or pretend to have, any fuch books among 'em ? or, in cafe they have not (as I think they fairly own) then by what ai-guments they wou'd prove, that ever any fuch exilled? For, I fuppofe, they lay no fti-efs on the numerous books of this fort, that have been forg'd by the Jews and Chriftians 5 tho, i^ the Mahome- tans have any of their own, I take 'em to be fome of the Apocryphal Jewilh or Chriftian books in- terpolated, and accommodated to the Syftem of the Alcoran fecundhn Artem, V. LASTLY, not only the Gospel of Bar- nab a s, or any other Gospel (which in their language. N AZ ARE NUS. language tliey call Al-Angil or Inghil) but iilfo their Pentateuch (which they call A l- Taourat, vulgarly Tevrat) and their Psalms (which they call Z e b o u r) with the books afcrib'd to thofe other Prophets (if any fuch they have) are to be procured or purcha^'d, according to the account you'll be pleas'd to fend. But ill this whole Enquiiy beware of being impos'd upon by Chriftian Arabic books, fuch as the Go- [pel of the Infancy of ]ESVSy with diverfe others of the fame itamp. A S for the Mahometans themfelves, who arc the proper fubjc6t of our curioiity, take care to diftinguifh written from oral Tradition j as well as the perfuafion of a particular Seftfrom that of the whole body, or even the notion of a private man from that of his peculiar Seft. And on thefe En- quiries be fure to ground your Anfwers fo acca-^ rately, yea fo minutelyj as exprefly to ufe fuch forms, as In anpwer to the flrft^ fecond^ third^ or fourth ^eries^ or to any part ox particular of each, difl:in£tly mark'd : neither be evertemted to affirm any thing, that may feem to favor the real orfan^ cy'd belief or byafs of the Enquirer 5 fince Truth ought to be the fole obje6t of our Refearch, and not the fervice of any particular Caufe or Perforr whatfoever. FINIS. ERRATA. Picf. page xxii. line 31. read/itwf time. Ibid. p. xxiii. I. 7. commi after good. Work, p. 7. Not. 6. r. l«tx»?js. p. 23. Not. 33. r. »7re;^«» |i;cr/if. p. 25. 1. penult, r. of the gate. p. 31- 1.28- r flatly. 0.5*. Not. 78. r. anathematizati. p. 66. 1. u. comma after people, ibid. Not. 83. t magiitet & imperator. p. 73. Not. 84. 1.2. r. x.«'rat?r/.«|/F. Letter II. p. 51, in the laft marginal note iti^dthe Sfonfe of God, p. J3, Not. Z. for palladia t. palUdii. The reft (if any) arc left to the reader's capdor- \ Date Due "^^jwaniwiirffP tfr >mmmmm m PRINTED IN U. S. A. 1