PART II. CENT. I. this purpose, even from the very commencement of the christian church. We must not, however, confound the schools designed only for children, with the gymnasia, or academies of the ancient christians, erected in several large cities, in which persons of riper years, especially such as aspired to be public teachers, were instructed in the different branches both of human learning and of sacred erudition. We may, undoubtedly, attribute to the apostles themselves, and their injunctions to their disciples, the excellent establishments, in which the youth destined to the holy ministry received an education suitable to the solemn office they were to undertake." St. John erected a school of this kind at Ephesus, and one of the same nature was founded by Polycarp at Smyrna." But none of these were in a greater repute than that which was established at Alexandria, which was commonly called the catechetical school, and is generally supposed to have been erected by St. Mark." The secret doctrine, in yш. The ancient christians are supposed by many what it con- to have had a secret doctrine; and if by this be meant, that they did not teach all in the same sisted. 2 Tim. ii. 2. Irenæus, adv. Hæres. lib. ii. cap. xxii. p. 148, ed. Massuet. Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. lib. v. cap. xx. p. 188. The Alexandrian sehool was renowned for a succession of learned doctors, as we find by the accounts of Eusebius and St. Jerom; for, after St. Mark, Pantænus, Clemens Alexandrinus, Origen, and many others, taught in it the doctrines of the gospel, and rendered it a famous seminary for christian philosophy and religious knowledge. There were also at Rome, Antioch, Cæsarea, Edessa, and in several other places, schools of the same nature, though not all of equal reputation. P See the dissertation of Schmidius, De Schola Catechetica Alexandrina; as also Aulisius, Delle Scuole Sacre, book ii. ch. i. ii. p. 5-17, and ch. xxi. p. 92. The curious reader will find a learned account of the more famous christian schools in the eastern parts, at Edessa, Nisibus, and Seleusia, and, indeed, of the ancient schools in general, in Assemanus's Biblioth. Oriental. Clement. Vaticane, tom. iii. part ii. p. 914-919. manner, or reveal all at once, and to all indiscriminately, the sublime mysteries of religion, there is nothing in this that may not be fully justified. It would have been improper, for example, to propose to those, who were yet to be converted to Christianity, the more difficult doctrines of the gospel, which surpass the comprehension of imperfect mortals. Such were, therefore, first instructed in those points which are more obvious and plain, until they became capable of higher and more difficult attainments in religious knowledge. Nay, more; even those who were already admitted into the society of christians, were, in point of instruction, differently dealt with according to their respective capacities. Those who consider the secret doctrine of this century in any other light, or give to it a greater extent than what we have here attributed to it, confound the superstitious practices of the following ages, with the simplicity of the discipline which prevailed at the time of which we write. CENT. I. PART II. manners of the first chris tians. IX. The lives and manners of the christians in The lives and this century are highly celebrated by most authors, and recommended to succeeding generations as unspotted models of piety and virtue. And if these encomiums be confined to the greatest part of those, who embraced Christianity in the infancy of the church, they are certainly distributed with justice. But many run into extremes upon this head, and estimating the lives and manners of all by the illustrious examples of some eminent saints, or the sublime precepts and exhortations of certain pious doctors, fondly imagine that every appearance of vice and disorder was banished from the first christian societies. The greatest part of those authors, Many learned observations upon the secret discipline, have been collected by the celebrated Christoph. Matt. Pfaffius, in his Dissert. poster. de Præjudiciis Theolog. § 13, p. 149, &c. in Primitiis Tubingensibus. PART II. CENT. I. who have written concerning the innocence and sanctity of the primitive christians, have fallen into this agreeable error. And a gross error indeed it is, as the strongest testimonies too evidently prove. Excommunication. Controversies among christians. x. One of the circumstances which contributed chiefly to preserve, at least an external appearance of sanctity in the christian church, was the right of excluding from thence, and from all participation of the sacred rites and ordinances of the gospel, such as had been guilty of enormous transgressions, and to whom repeated exhortations to repentance and amendment had been administered in vain. This right was vested in the church, from the earliest period of its existence, by the apostles themselves, and was exercised by each christian assembly upon its respective members. The rulers or doctors denounced the persons whom they thought unworthy of the privileges of church communion, and the people, freely approving or rejecting their judgment, pronounced the decisive sentence. It was not, however, irrevocable; for such as gave undoubted signs of their sincere repentance, and declared their solemn resolutions of future reformation, were readmitted into the church, however enormous their crimes had been; but, in case of a relapse, their second exclusion became absolutely irreversible.' XI. It will easily be imagined, that unity and peace could not reign long in the church, since it was composed of Jews and Gentiles, who regarded each other with the bitterest aversion. Beside, as the converts to Christianity could not extirpate radically the prejudices which had been formed in their minds by education, and confirmed by time, they brought with them into the bosom of the church more or less of the errors of their former religions. Thus the seeds of discord and controversy were See Morinus, Comm. de Disciplina Pænitentiæ, lib. ix. cap. xix. p. 670. early sown, and could not fail to spring up soon into animosities and dissensions, which accordingly broke out, and divided the church. The first of these controversies, which was set on foot in the church of Antioch, regarded the necessity of observing the law of Moses, and its issue is mentioned by St. Luke in The Acts of the Apostles." This controversy was followed by many others, either with the Jews, who were violently attached to the worship of their ancestors, or with the votaries of a wild and fanatical sort of philosophy, or with such as, mistaking the true genius of the christian religion, abused it monstrously to the encouragement of their vices, and the indulgence of their appetites and passions. St. Paul and the other apostles have, in several places of their writings, mentioned these controversies, but with such brevity, that it is difficult, at this distance of time, to come at the true state of the question in these various disputes. CENT. I. PART II. bout the terms and salvation. XII. The most weighty and important of all these Controversy a controversies, was that which certain Jewish doctors of acceptance raised at Rome, and in other christian churches, concerning the means of justification and acceptance with God, and the method of salvation pointed out in the word of God. The apostles, wherever they exercised their ministry, had constantly declared all hopes of acceptance and salvation delusive, except such as were founded on Jesus the Redeemer, and his all sufficient merits, while the Jewish doctors maintained the works of the law to be the true efficient cause of the soul's eternal salvation and felicity. This latter sentiment not only led to many other errors extremely prejudicial to Christianity, • Chap. xv. See, for an illustration of these points, Witsius's Miscellanea Sacra, tom. ii. Exercit. xx. xxi. xxii. p. 668. As also Camp. Vitringa, Observ. Sacra, lib. iv. cap. ix. x. xi. p. 952. PART II. CENT.L. but was also injurious to the glory of the divine Saviour. For those who looked upon a course of life conformable to the law, as a meritorious title to eternal happiness, could not consider Christ as the Son of God, and the Saviour of mankind, but only as an eminent prophet, or a divine messenger, sent from above to enlighten and instruct a darkened world. It is not, therefore, surprising, that St. Paul took so much pains in his Epistle to the Romans, and in his other writings, to extirpate such a pernicious and capital error. Judaizing christians. XIII. The controversy that had been raised concerning the necessity of observing the ceremonies of the Mosaic law, was determined by the apostles in the wisest and most prudent manner." Their authority, however, respectable as it was, had not its full effect. For the prejudices which the Jews, especially those who lived in Palestine, entertained in favour of the Mosaic law, and their ancient worship, were so deeply rooted in their minds, that they could not be thoroughly removed. The force of these prejudices was indeed somewhat diminished after the destruction of Jerusalem, and the ruin of the temple, but not entirely destroyed. And hence, as we shall see in its place, a part of the judaizing christians separated themselves from the rest, and formed a particular sect, distinguished by their adherence to the law of Moses. n Acts xv. |