very titles of fome of his works excite our regret for the lofs of them. One of them is on the fubmiffion of the fenfes to faith; another on the foul, the body, and the fpirit; another on God incarnate. A fragment of his, preserved by the author of the Chronicle, called the Alexandrian, fays, "that the Chriftians do not adore infenfible ftones, but that they worship one God alone, who is before all things and in all things, and Jefus Chrift who is God before all ages." He lived under the reign of Marcus Antoninus. His unfuccessful but masterly apology presented to that emperor has already been noticed. He travelled into the east on purpose to collect authentic ecclefiaftical information; and he gives us a catalogue of the facred books of the Old Teftament. He died and was buried at Sardis;-a man whom Polycrates, bishop of Ephefus, his contemporary, calls an eunuch, that is, one who made himself an eunuch for the kingdom of heaven's fake*. Several fuch, I apprehend, were in the primitive times. But the depravity of human nature is ever pushing men into extremes. There foon arofe fome, who made a felf-righteous use of these instances of selfdenial, and clogged them with unwarrantable exceffes. The contrary extreme is now fo prevalent, that, if a person were to follow the example of Melito on the fame generous principles which our Saviour expreffes,-it would be thought very extraordinary, and even ridiculous. But, whatever has the fanction of Holy Writ, fhould be noticed to the honour of those who practise it, whether agreeable to the taste of the age we live in or not, unless we mean to fet up the eighteenth century as a fort of Pope to judge the foregoing feventeen.The fame Polycrates obferves of him, that his actions

--

• Matthew xix. Eufeb. B. 4. C. 25. Dupin and Cave.

actions were regulated by the motions of the Holy Ghost; and that he lies interred at Sardis, where he expects the judgment and refurrection.

Bardafanes of Mefopotamia, a man renowned for learning and eloquence, efcaped not the pollution of the fantastic herefy of Valentinian. His talents and his love of refinement were probably his fnare; but, as he afterwards condemned the fabulous dreams by which he had been infatuated, and as he is allowed to be found in the main, fome relics of his former herefy might be left without materially injuring either his faith or his practice. I know no particular reason for mentioning him at all, but for the fake of introducing 2 remarkable paffage of his writings, preferved by Eufebius*, which fhews at once the great progreis and the powerful energy of Chriftianity.

"In Parthia," fays he, " polygamy is allowed and practifed, but the Chriftians of Parthia practise it not. In Perfia the fame may be faid with respect to incest. In Bactria and in Gaul the rights of matrimony are defiled with impunity. The Chriftians there act not thus. In truth, wherever THEY refide, they triumph in their practice over the worst of laws and the worft of cuftoms." This eulogium is not more ftrong than juft.-In what age did human inventions, whether philofophical or religious, produce fuch fruits as thefe?

Miltiades was usefully engaged in difcriminating the genuine influences of the Holy Spirit from the fictitious, -of which unhappy inftances had then appeared. Falfe prophets evinced at first the most ftupid ignorance, and afterwards a diftempered imagination and furious frenzy. Miltiades fhewed that the influence of the Holy Spirit defcribed in fcripture,

Eufeb. Precep. Evang. Jortin's Remarks IV.

fcripture, was fober, confiftent, reasonable. There is no new thing under the fun : impostures and delufions exift at this day;-and why should it not be thought as reasonable now as it was then-to difcriminate genuine from fictitious or diabolical influences, by laying down the true marks and evidences of each, inftead of fcornfully treating all alike as enthufiaftic? The extraordinary and miraculous influences chiefly come under Miltiades's infpection; for thefe were at that time very common in the Christian church; fo were delufive pretences alfo; particularly thofe of Montanus and of his followers.-Let the difcerning reader apply the obfervations to be made on thefe and fimilar facts to our own times.

Apollinarius of Hierapolis wrote feveral books under the reign of Marcus Antoninus. We have at prefent only their titles. One of them was a Defence of Christianity, dedicated to the emperor. The work, of which we know the moft, from a fragment preferved in Eufebius, is that against the Montanifts, which will fall under our obfervation in the next chapter.

Athenagoras, towards the latter end of this century, wrote an apology for the Chriftian Religion. His teftimony to the doctrine of the Trinity, contained in it, expreffes fomething befides a speculative belief of it. It feems to have appeared to him. of effential confequence in practical godlinefs. He is a writer not mentioned by Eufebius. Du Pin does him injuftice by cbferving that he recommends the worship of angels. I have not accefs to his apology, but fhall give a remarkable quotation from Dr. Waterland, to whom I am obliged for the only valuable information I have of this author. Speaking of Chriftians, he defcribes them

Epiphanius Heref. 54. 1. See Dr. Waterland's Importance of the Doctrine of the Trinity.

them as "men that made fmall account of the prefent life, but were intent only upon contemplating God and knowing his Word who is from him,

what union the Son has with the Father, what communion the Father has with the Son, what the Spirit is, and what the union and diftinction are of fuch fo united, the Spirit, the Son, and the Father."

If this be true,—and Athenagoras may well be credited for the fact-it is not to be wondered at, that the primitive Chriftians were fo anxioufly tenacious of the doctrine. It was the climate in which alone Chriftian fruit could grow. Their fpeculations were not merely abftracted. They found, in the view of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghoft, fomething of that energy which could raife them from earth to heaven: That is, they found the peculiar truths of the Gofpel, which are fo closely interwoven with the doctrine of the Trinity. The right ufe of the doctrine is briefly, but strongly intimated in this paffage;-and the connection between Chriftian principles and practice appears, In truth, a Trinitarian fpeculatift may be as worldlyminded as any other perfon. His doctrine, however, contains that which alone can make a man fix "his affections on things above."

VOL. I.

T

CHAP.

СНАР. ІХ.

THE HERESIES AND CONTROVERSIES OF THIS CENTURY REVIEWED, AND AN IDea of THE STATE AND PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY DURING THE COURSE OF IT.

Let it

MY plan calls me not to notice minutely all the herefies which appeared in this century: but I would not omit them, whenever they may throw light on the work of God's Holy Spirit and the progrefs of godliness. On their own account, they deferved not much attention; yet it was neceffary to examine and confute fome of them: and Irenæus acted charitably in fo doing. It is, however, to be regretted, that in his celebrated work against herefies, he should be obliged to employ fo much time on fcenes of nonfenfe. be remarked in general, that the fame oppofition to the Deity of Chrift, or his manhood, and the fame infidious methods of depreciating or abufing the doctrines of grace, continued in the second century, which had begun in the firft, with this difference, that they were now multiplied, varied, complicated, and refined by endlefs fubtilties and fancies, in which the poverty of taste and genius, fo common in a period when letters are declining, discovers itself no less than the Chriftian doctrine. Like spots in the fun, however, they vanished and disappeared from time to time; though revived again in different forms and circumftrnces. Not one of the herefiarchs of this century was able to

create