HAd not our Holy Religion degene­rated much from its Native good­ness, and the integrity in which our Saviour Jesus and his blessed Followers left it, it would have been indeed admirable that any once instructed in it, and much more so excellent a person as Julian, should ever desert it. For men of wild and extravagant tempers, and wholly unacquaint­ed with solid Philosophie and good reason, of which our present Age too much abounds, to be easily seduc'd by our Modern Revivers of the Epicurean folly, is no more strange, than that all Brutal Natures are prone to follow their untam'd inclinations: but for a person se­verely Vertuous, profoundly Speculative, ad­mirably Learned and Eloquent, and (which is yet more) firm and positive in the belief of a [Page 2] Deity, and future life, to relinquish a Religion of so much genuine Piety, and simple inno­cence as ours is, for the fond Superstitions of Heathens and gross Idolaters, would be not only unaccountable, but above measure stu­pendious, did we not find the lamentable cau­ses of it in the debaucht Christianity of those times; I mean the times of the two Emperours, Constantine, and Constantius; for then first our Religion was converted into Faction, Policie, and vile Hypocrisie. Till then, Christs faith­ful Followers had learnt no other Lessons than those of Fasting, Praying, Mortifying the Flesh, Patient and humble suffering, mutual love and forbearance, and living in common; the greatest being not in Name, but reality Servants to the meanest. But now having got Ambitious and Dissolute Princes of their Party, instead of teaching them their Vertues, them­selves learnt their Vices. And now it was the voice was heard from Heaven, Poison is fallen into the Church. But since I am fallen upon the mention of that hard and sowre word Church, I think it not amiss, nor impertinent to this place, to insert a brief account of the antient Discipline us'd among Christians, with­out which the corruption and ambition of Con­stantines [Page 3] Clergy, the undoubted spawn of Po­pery, can never well be discerned. Our bles­sed Saviour Christ then having publickly be­fore Pontius Pilate declared his Kingdom was not of this world; and not only so, but refused to arbitrate privately betwixt two Brothers, as being neither Judge nor Divider among them; and having over and above this, strictly prohi­bited any priority among his followers, and that not only by words, but by wonderful Ex­ample, himself condescending to the most ser­vile Office of washing their feet; cannot be supposed in contradiction to all this, to have erected a Spiritual Jurisdiction, or a Corpora­tion of Priests, empowr'd Arbitrarily to Enact Laws, and to force all Orders of men, if once Christians, to pay humble and implicite Obe­dience to them; and this upon pain of forfeiting their whole right to publick Reputation and Humane Converse, nay Religion, and Eternal Salvation it self.

Nor do we anywhere find in Scripture that he ever did de facto institute any Form of Go­vernment, either by Bishops, Presbyters, or o­thers: but of this see the excellent Author of Irenicum, or Weaponsalve, at large. True in­deed, he once said, Dic Ecclesiae, Tell the Conven­tion; [Page 4] but those are not words of Institution, but suppose that Convention already in being, as well as the Judgment and Council, mentioned in Matth. 5. What then shall we say? Must he not of necessity be supposed to have directed his Disciples to Associate, as all other Sects of Jews did, according to the Form of Politie then in use? Yes surely, if he was no Judge nor Divider, nor had any Earthly Kingdom. Is this my single opinion, or doth not the in­comparable Grotius upon Acts 13. assert the same in these full words: Totum regimen Eccle­siarum Christi conformatum est ad Exemplar Syna­gogarum. The whole Government of Christs Churches was shap'd to the Model of the Syna­gogues, or Mosaick Form of Politie. And certainly, had not this been true, our Saviour would never have predicted it as one of the calamities his faithful followers should endure for his sake, to be Expell'd the Synagogues, but rather the contrary, to be forc'd to them.

What these Synagogues were, is superfluous to mention, since the Learned so well know, that most of the Judicatures of those antient Nations, which we have any account of, were Consecrated Temples, intended for the ma­nagement of Divine and Humane Affairs joynt­ly: [Page 5] Such were the Roman Curiae, the Athenian Areopagus, the Delphick Temple, the Conventions of the Hebrews, and their Temple at Hierusa­lem. But the Israelitick Conventions, called in Greek sometime Synagogae, and sometime Eccle­siae, were made up of as many Freemen of their respective Burroughs, (for so the world was an­tiently model'd) as at the voice of a Cryer, or the winding of a Horn, would assemble; the Town-Council call'd the Presbytery or Senate, with their Chief, ever presiding. This prime man, call'd in Greek Archon, Archisynagogus, or Episcopus, for so ( Judg. 9.28.) Zebul Mayor of Shechem is stiled by the Septuagint, was to superintend and manage the Convention, and the Councel called Presbyters in Greek, and in Latine Seniores, being men of Age, Gravity, and Prudence, were to weigh and examine matters brought before them, and to direct and advise the Commoners; and in fine, the whole Body or [...] was to give Suffrage, and this in all Causes whatsoever, whether Sacred or Civil, except some few, which being very weighty, were reserved for the Cognizance of the Am­phictyones of the Nation, I mean the Seventy two wise Representatives of the Tribes, called the Synedrion, or Grand Council, who sat in [Page 6] the Temple or Divine Oracle at Hierusalem; the Priests then making no distinct State from the rest, but Voting in common with others, whatever Figure any of them happened to make, either in the Synedrion, or the lesser Conventions; their peculiar work being not Government, but Sacrificing, &c. But that the Synagogues were really Civil Courts, is plain from those many passages in the New Testa­ment, that mention Trials in them for Adultery and other Crimes, as also the Apostles being persecuted and whipped in them; which cer­tainly could not have been, if they had been meer Oratories like our Churches. But the Jewish story of Susanna among our Apocryphal Books, puts the controversie out of all question, which very well deserves the perusal; for though it be not Divinely inspired, yet it gives us a distinct and clear account of the manner of Trials in those antient Conventions. Now that the Jews, of which the Christians were a Sect, were so tenacious of their antient Rights and Form of Politie, that they kept up in all their Captivities and Peregrinations, their Syna­gogues or Conventions, with the same zeal they maintain'd their Religion and Rituals with, is so well known, that I need not here tell it. [Page 7] But being now under the Jurisdiction of other Nations, and depriv'd of their Jura Majestatis, and so of the cognizance of matters Capital by their Laws, they could not punish in any case with Death, unless perchance some­times either by a particular Licence or Con­nivance from their Superiours: To supply this necessary defect, they were forc'd to have recourse to Expulsion or Banishment from their Community, with a Form of Imprecation, or Anathema, whereby the Excommunicated was devoted to Divine Vengeance and the fury of the Penal Daemons; a Custome common to them with the Athenians and antient Romans, who were wont to back all such Laws as they would have to be Sacred and Inviolable, with a dreadful Curse upon such as should presume to break them, or should break them and yet escape publick Justice. Sacratae Leges (saith Festus) sunt quibus sanctum est, qui quid ad­versus eas fecerit, sacer alicui Deorum sit, cum familiâ pecuniâque. Laws made Sacred are such as have a Clause in them, Ordering that whoever shall do any thing against them shall be Devoted to some one of the Gods, with his Family and Goods. That what I have affirmed of the Jews, is not by mere conjecture, I will pro­duce [Page 8] one clear Testimony, which our Learned Selden quotes out of a Manuscript, in his first Book De Synedriis. The Author is one Elias ben Moses, by Sect a Carée or Scripturist, who speaks of Benjamin ben Moses thus; [...] that is, Rabbi Benjamin ben Moses said, That such as had committed any foul Crime, or transgress'd in any such case as might not be punished as the Law required, in time of Captivity, was to repent and make his Submission, with a promise of A­mendment. But if he should refuse to promise Obedience to the Divine Laws, we were to Ana­thematize and Excommuicate him, as it is writ­ten, (Ezra 10.8.) His goods shall be Anathe­matiz'd, and himself Excommunicated from the Cahal, or Ecclesia. Which Text was not un­derstood by our Translators, nor by the Lear­ned Grotius himself, who is in the same errour with them. And that this was put in practice by the Jews upon the Primitive Christians, I authentically prove by the Authority of St. Ju­stin Martyr in his incomparable Dialogue with Tryphon the Jew. [...] (saith he) [...] [Page 9] [...]. that is; And still you set at nought such as confide in him, and in the Ʋniversal and Soveraign Crea­tour that sent him, and do what you are able to expose them; while you curse in your Synagogues those that trust in Christ. For you have not li­cense your selves (mark) to become our Murderers, because of the present Powers: though as oft as you could, you have not been sparing in that too. This much I think is more than sufficient to evince the perfect consent there was betwixt the Christians and other parties of Jews, in their Civil, or (if you will) Ecclesiastick Po­litie.

But because I know it will still seem strange to most, whatever the Judaick Politie was, that the Christian Ecclesiae should be accounted Popular, our Episcopists holding them to have been a kinde of little Monarchies, and the Presbyterians Aristocracies, I'll subjoyn a word or two of undeniable proof. Besides that, the Blessed Apostles, and the Holy Men of the Apostolick Age, St. Clement, St. Polycarp, and [Page 10] St. Ignatius direct their Letters of Instructions, for the most part, neither to one single per­son, nor yet to a stinted number of people, but to whole Conventions: St. Paul in his first to the Corinthians, chap. 5. expressly charges them all in full Synagogue, [...] (saith he) to deliver the incestuous person to Satan for his Correction, without once mentioning the Clergy-man, or his Keys. Nay, (which is yet more) when the whole Colledge of Apo­stles were congregated at Hierusalem, (Act. 15.) to consider the debates at Antioch about the Mosaick Rituals, they presume not to write in­fallible Letters by their own Authority, but regularly convene the People, and then make their several Harangues to them. And ( v. 22.) the Apostles, Presbyters, and the whole Eccle­sia, or Convention, pass an order for the draw­ing up of their sense into the form of an Epi­stle, which runs thus, ( v. 23.) The Apostles, Elders and Brethren, &c. And ( v. 25.) its Authentickness is expressed thus, [...], We thought fit in full Conven­tion, &c. And in fine, ( v. 28.) It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us. By this may be seen, that in those times the Holy Ghost was not the Clergies peculiar, as it hath been [Page 11] thought since, especially by those of Simon's trade. I'll adde the testimony of Ignatius, in his undoubted Epistle to the Philadelphians, because he is commonly thought a zealous Pa­tron of the Clergie Interest. He there per­swades the Convention to elect a Deacon for their Legate, to make a Visit to the Con­vention at Antioch, to which he had belonged, in these words, [...]. It be­comes you as a Convention of God, to elect a Deacon to go as a Legate for God. And then addes, [...]. that is, It is no great matter, if you are but willing to do so much for God, since your Neighbouring Conventions have sent some of them Bishops, others Presbyters and Deacons. But if none of this had been said, it would be more than plain to every unbyassed Reader of this good mans Epistles, that the Christian Politie was then rather faulty on the Popular side than otherwise; since so many Conventions of Pious and Holy Men had so great need to be instructed in their Duty of Subjection to their Bishops and Presbyteries, which, it should seem, in those good times was [Page 12] almost wholly neglected: it being, as the an­tient Commentary upon the Epistle to the E­phesians (believed to be St. Ambrose's) informs us, Omnibus inter initia concessum & Evange­lizare & Baptizare, & Scripturas in Ecclesiâ explanare. Allowable for all Men at first to Preach, Baptize, and Expound the Scriptures in the Convention. All which Tertullian, no mean Authour in God's Church, asserts (in Exhortat. ad Ʋxor.) to be lawful still, as to any thing of Divine Right. Nonne & Laici Sacerdotes sumus? Scriptum est, Reges quoque nos & Sa­cerdotes Deo & Patri suo fecit. Differentiam inter Ordinem & Plebem constituit Ecclesiae Au­ctoritas, & honor per consessum sanctificatus. Ideò ubi Ecclesiastici Ordinis non est consessus, & offers & tingis, & Sacerdos es tibi solus. Sed ubi tres, Ecclesia est, licet Laica. That is, Are not we that are Laymen Priests too? It is writ­ten, He hath made us Kings and Priests to God and his Father. The distinction betwixt the Bench of Presbyters and the Commoners, was made only for deference and respect to those that preside in the Convention. Wherefore where there is not a Convention-Bench thou thy self givest the Eucharist, Baptizest, and art thine own Priest. Yet where there are three, there is [Page 13] a Convention, or Church, though but a Lay one.

It is most probable that the Disorders, that continually hapned in these Popular Churches, brought that Aristocracie, which St. Hierome in his Epistle to Euagrius, and after him the pious and learned Mr. Calvin and the Modern Presbyterians plead Prescription for, as being much more antient than the present Episco­pacy. However, it could not keep long from devolving into the absolute Power of Bishops, who in process of time were themselves also swallow'd up by Patriarchs, and all at last by one Demogorgon Pope. In manner not unlike to this, the Roman Senate too (to compare great things with small) by trampling upon the poor Plebeans, brought the Usurper Caesar, with a whole train of Successors, upon their own heads. This second Alteration is noted, and not without some severity, by the antient Commentator upon the First Epistle to Timo­thy, supposed to be the above-mentioned St. Ambrose of Milan; Et Synagoga (saith he) & postea Ecclesia Seniores habuit, quorum sine con­silio nihil agebatur; quod quâ negligentiâ absol­verit, nescio; nisi fortè Doctorum desidiâ, aut magis superbiâ, dum soli volunt aliquid videri. [Page 14] That is, Both the Synagogue first (mark the pa­rity) and the Church after, had its Seniours, which by what neglect it hath come to be disused, I know not; unless perchance through the sloath of Prelates, or (as I rather think) their Ambi­tion to seem somebody alone.

Much more I might say, if my purpose were to be large; but this much I could not omit, to shew by what steps the flock of Christ came at last to be a prey to the Avarice and Ambition of Bishops, in the time of our un­happy Emperour Julian; in so much that they were tamely led, or violently driven, like beasts by Graziers, to fulfil the brutish Passions and Interests of those that managed them.

To return to our first Discourse then, this discerning Prince soon saw their Designe was to erect in all parts of the Empire their own Mosaick or Ecclesiastick Politie, by themselves Metamorphos'd from a Democracy into an Absolute Tyranny: they having advanced so far already, as to procure of Constantine the sole Jurisdiction over Christians, and leave to Assemble themselves at Nice, to divide the Roman Provinces among themselves, and make a new Body of Laws, called Ecclesiastical Ca­nons, to the utter abolishing of the Roman [Page 15] Laws and Government, and the great Op­pression of those Gentiles whom God had not yet enlightned with his Grace.

He saw moreover that let a Christian be never so deeply Criminal, no profane hand must touch him; nor must he endure any o­ther Punishment, than Confession and Penance; and that when once Absolved, he was as in­nocent as the unborn Child. Which practice of theirs in process of Time almost ruinated their Empire; For not reflecting, that as He­brews and a conquered People, they had (as was above shew'd) been despoiled of their Ju­ra Majestatis, and so of the use of the Sword in cases of Blood, it never came into their minds to petition Constantine for the Restitu­tion of their antient Rights; but contempla­ting the perpetual practice of their Ancestors, since Christianity only, held on in their now long-accustom'd track of Anathematizing, sup­posing it to have been of the same Divine Right with their Religion; until at last, all men, good and bad, promiscuously crowding into the Church, to be of the Religion in vogue, they found their Government become impracticable, and thereupon were forced to disgorge what they could not concoct, and to [Page 16] refund the cognizance of Capital and other ar­duous matters to the old Pagan Civil Laws and Magistracy, which by this means have been through God's Mercy continued down to our Times, where they begin again to grow ver­dant and to threaten Retaliation to the u­surping Priesthood.

Adde to this, that he could see no Person nor Rank exempted from the dire Anathema Neither could he know, but that the Sove­raign Prince himself might upon a Pique, such as the disgrace of a potent Prelate, be on a sudden Paganized, and next Assassinated even by them that had advanc'd him, since he so lately saw Constans armed against his own Brother Constantius, by the Roman Bishop and the great Athanasius, merely because the latter had been outed his See, though as some say, for Treason, Sorcery, and Murder. And what indeed might he not justly fear, when he saw with what bestial Rage the several Factions the Bishops form'd themselves among the people, by whom they were then Elected, did massacre each other. If a man, as imagine it were at Alexandria, had a Designe to sup­plant a more potent and popular Competitor, no way so like to ruine him, as by giving out, [Page 17] that he was not a right Christian, but a cor­rupter of the true Faith, for that he used to read Origen and Plato, unsanctified Authors; and then ten to one but he was knockt on the head, either by the Rabble of the Town, or by sholes of Anthropomorphite Monks, who commonly made what Bishops they pleased, and for a long time made a prey of the E­gyptian Kingdome, as well as of later years of our own; but now God hath delivered us, by the means of a great and generous Prince, from this fort of Egyptian Vermine, who restored our Religion to its Primitive Candour and In­genuity, partly in his own Person, and partly by his Son and Daughter of Eternal Memory, who obliged their Spiritual as well as Tempo­ral Subjects to swear Fealty to them, as their Ecclesiastick (since there must be that distin­ction) as well as Civil Supremes.

But to return whence I diverted; I am per­swaded nothing offended him so much, as the vile Hypocrisie of the then Clergy, who besides their coyning of contrary Creeds, in the Reigns of Constantine and Constantius, and modelling Religion by Court-Intrigues, seemed almost wholly to dispense with Morality, placing Sanctimony not so much in a good Life, as in [Page 18] the strict Observance of the Rituals and the Symbolical Representations of our Religion; such as Baptism, the Eucharist, Chrism, but above all in submitting to the Formalities of Confession and Penance, upon which the worst of offences were too easily remitted. What flesh could bear to hear the Murderers of ones Father, Uncle, two Brothers, six Cousin­germans, harangued to Heaven in Pulpits, as very holy and good men, because (forsooth) absolved by their own Friends the Priests? And I the rather suspect this to have been the principal Cause of his Tragical Apostacy, be­cause I do not finde his Satyr any where so truculent, as upon this occasion. In the end of his Caesars we finde his Uncle Constantine conducted by the Goddess Effeminacy to her Sister Debauchery, where he findes his Son Con­stantius making Proclamation as followeth; [...]. These words, though the Learned Loyolite Pe­tavius durst not translate to his Catholick Friends, I may to pious Protestants without the least offence, since they derive not their [Page 19] Religion from Constantine's Bishops, but from Christ immediately. Ho! whosoever is either Sodomite, Murderer, Rogue or Villain, let him dread nothing but repair hither, with this water I'll make him clean in a trice: And if he shall happen (as humane Nature is frail) to repeat the same Crimes, if he will but thump his breast, and box his noddle, I'll warrant him as innocent as the Child unborn. This was the vengeance Julian took for the Barbarous Murders com­mitted upon almost his whole Family and Blood.

These particulars I thought fit to recount, omitting many others, such as the discounte­nancing and persecuting men of honest and Primitive Principles, free Learning and sound Philosophy, because above their Emulation; and paying devout Visits to the Bones of dead Friars, calling them Holy Reliques, and such­like. But that I may not be thought to ob­trude my own Sentiments for Julian's, I will adventure to Translate an Epistle of his to the Citizens of Bostra, who had been in some dis­orders, by reason, as it should seem, of a Toleration allow'd by Julian to the yet un­converted Heathens of that Town.