The second age I extend to the death of Polycarp the disciple of Iohn A.C. 169. In his days the Gnosticks arose & grew numerous but without breaking in upon the Church. For Irenæus who wrote against heresies in the days of Eleutherus BpBishop of R. testifies that the faith in his days was one & the same in all the Churches as you have heard above. And HegesippusEuseb. Hist l. 4. c. 22. a travellour that in his way to Rome he conversed with the Bishop of Corinth about the faith who to his comfort & when he came to Rome (wchwhich was in the days of Anicetus) he conversed with many bishops & found them all agree exactly in one & the same doctrine, things remaining in the several cities as they had been taught by orour Lord.

The third age may extend to the pPersecution of Decius A.C. 250 & the fourth to the end of the heathen Empire A.C. 324. In the beginning of the third the very dangerous heresy of the false pretended Prophets MonanusMontanus began & his weomen Prisca & Maximilla arose in Prhygia Phrygia & in a short time prevailed so much in those parts as to subvert whole cities & be called the Phrygian & Cataphrygian heresy. & And particularly it subverted & exhausted the Church of Thyatira: in relation to wchwhich as Epiphanius saith observesEpiphan Hæres. 51. sec. 33. Christ saith in his prophetic Epistle to the Church of Thyatira Angel or Bishop of that Church: I have a few things against thee because thou sufferest that woman Iezabel who calleth her self a prophetess to teach & to seduce my servants to commit [spiritual] fornication & [in the Eucharist] to eat things sacrificed to idols and I gave her space to repent of her fornication & she repented not. By things sacrificed to idols he means the bread in the Eucharist of the Cataphrygians offered to a fals God, & by committing fornication he means the committing idolatry by worshipping the strange God of Montanus & his weomen the Cataphrygians spiritual fornication with the Prophetess Maximilla who taught the worship of that God: a God composed of the Bythos & two Æons of the Gnosticks to whom he gave the & recommended to the Christians by the specious name of the Trinity or ffather Son & holy Ghost. And hence the Cataphrygians in respect of their idolatrous worship of the Cataphrygians, these Christians the Cataphrygians are called the synagogue of Sata those that say they are Iews (that is Christians) & are not & their Churches are called the synagogue of Satan. This heresy by putting on a form of Godliness & being agreeable to the flesh spread it self in all places & in a short time gained so much upon the Church of Rome as to pervert Victor the bishop of that city, as Tertullian a Montanist in his book against Praxeas written about yethe year 201 thus mentions. Idem [Praxeas] tunc Episcopum Romanum, agnoscentem jam prophetias Montani Priscæ et Maximillæ et ex ea agnitione pacem Ecclesijs Asiæ & Phrygiæ inferentem, falsa defendendo, coegit et literas pacis revocare jam emissas, et a proposito recipiendorum charismatum concessare. Ita duo negotia diaboli Praxeas Romæ procuravit, prophetiam expulit et Patrem crucifixit. Thus the mystery of iniquity began to work in the Church of Rome This BpBishop of Rome was either Victor or his successor Zepherinus & [most probably Victor because in he is called Victorinus.] His predecessors who op had opposed the Montanists were Soter & Eleutherus. For Soter wrote against them at their first rise & was succeeded by Eleutherus the immediate predecessor of Victor, & Irenæus a A.C. 177 was s sharp enemy to all heresies & a Presbyter of Lions in France upon some questions arising at Lions in France in that city about the Cataphrygians, was sent by that Church to confer with Eleutherus & about thaet matter. & what Eleutherus & Irenæus agreed upon was no doubt against that hæresy. Hitherto therefore the Church of Rome continued firm in the faith, but after the death of Eleutherus began to stagger. For his successor Victor excommunicated Termulia with a Council of the BpsBishops of Italy excommunicated the the Churches of Asia & the neighbouring Provinces for keeping Easter on yethe 14th day of the Moon, a thing in its own nature indifferent, & practised in in the Churches of Asia & Syria from the days of the captivity. Whereupon Ireneus now bishop of Lions, called the a council of yethe neighbouring bishops & in the name of the whole council wrote to Victor reprehending him for his rashness in disturbing the peace of the church upon so slight an occasion, & telling that a him that Polycarp a few years before upon came to Rome to confer with Anicetus bishop of that City about this & some other questions wchwhich had been then moved, & when neither could persuade himself to forsake the customes of their churches would forsake the customes of their churches wchwhich they conceived to have been derived down from yethe days of the Apostles they communicated wthwith one another & parted very good friends without not thinking it a matter of such consequence that they should contend dispute about it des mak contend about it. But Victor was of another spirit excommunicating the And herein Polycarp, Anicetus & Irenæus showed themselves men of the same spirit with the Apostle Paul who advised to avoid prophane babling foolish questions vain jangling& fables Iewish fables, [disputes about bodily exercise & legal ceremonies & genealogies] endless genealogies, oppositions of science, & & strifes of words whereof cometh envy strifes railings, evil surmisings pervers disputings of men of corrupt minds & destitute of the truth.

When Victor excommunicated the Churches of Asia on account of this festival he seems to have been turned a Montanist, & being corrupted in his mind with the superstitious principles of that heresy, to have laid stres upon holidays fasting days holydays bodily exercises & ceremonies of religion, & soon after he had excommunicated the true Churches of Asia on this account, to have sent out communicatory letters to yethe Churches corrupt Churches of Asia & Phrygia with a designe to have united the Church of Rome to that of the Montanists, & the in opposition to yethe excommunicated Churches of Asia had not Praxeas perswaded him to recall his letters as contrary to what his predecessors Soter & Eleutherius had taught. For the bishop of Rome who turned first Montanist & then Praxean is in the Appendix to Tertullians book de præscriptiones called Victorinus in these words: Sed post hos omnes etiam Praxeas quidam hæresin introduxit quam Victorinus corroboravit. By Victorinus is meant Po I understand (wthwith Basnagius) Pope Victor. ffor Tertullian was a Montanist aa Basnag. ad A.D. 193 200. sect. 3. beforethe year 201 & [wrote against Praxeas presently after his turning Montanist, & by consequence about the time of the either just before yethe death of Victor or presently after it] & had been at Rome ashe mentions in his book de habitu muliebri c. 7 & upon his being offended at ill used by the clergy of the Roman Church turned Montanist as Ierome affirms. Which makes it probable that what he wrote about the Bishop of Rome & Praxeas, he learnt at Rome before he turned Montanist, & upon his return to Afric wrote his book against Praxeas by consequence in the days of Victor. ffor he wrote against Praxeas presently after he turned Montanist.

The hereticks allowed one anothers baptism, & admitted one another into communion only by imposition of hands alone. And this practise was seems to havebrought got into yethe Church of Rome & seems to have been brought in by the Praxeans. ffor Ierome & seems to have been brought in by the Praxeans. ffor according to this doctrine the Roman Church bb Ierome Epist. 68 c. 9 allowed the baptism of Praxeas: But And whence at length arose great contentions. ffor But the churches of Cappadocia & Ar the East & Afric dissallowed the baptism of all hereticks. For Cyprian tells us that there were more And hence at length arose a great controversy between those Churches In the Church of Rome, the first disallowing the last & those other churches allowing the first in process of time allowing the Baptism of all hereticks, & excommunicating the first last for allow disallowing the same. This controversy was in the days of Pope Stephen A.C. 255. & gave gave the Church more disturbance & greater shock then that wchwhich & laid her more open to heresies then any thing wchwhich had happened before, & laid her more open to h ded heresies, [the of baptism again for excluding them being taken away in the west, & [the sacraments of the hereticks of hereticks being in them here allowed in those parts in the west in the Church of Rome wchwhich was the greatest step that could be made towards a reconciliation with the mystery of iniquity. And at this time also anniversary holydays began festivals also with72 festivals to saints began to be instituted in the Churches, & auricular confession wthwith corporal pennance for inviting heathens into the Christian religion by yethe pleasure of such festivals as has been said above. And A auricular confession & penna corporal pennance came into use at the same time for avoiding the shame & tediousness of publick pennance came into use at the same time the power of judging & excommunicating or otherwise punishing offenders being hitherto lodged in the hand of Presbyters & courts of justice trialls & punishments before the Courts of Presbyters & of the publick punishments inflicted by the Courts. Now these Which exercised publicly Now these changes in doctrine & discipline were so very considerable that a new age of the Church may be reconned to begin therewith & therefore I begin the fourth age of the Church wthwith the persecution of Decius wchwhich introduced them.

The institution of auricular confession & pennance is thus described by Sozomen. Hist. l. 7 c.16Cum in petenda venia grave ac molestum ab initio juremerito visum peccatum necessario confiteri oporteat: grave ac molestum ab initio juremerito visum est sacerdotibus, tanquam in theatro, circumstante totius ecclesiæ multitudine, crimina sua evulgare. Itaqꝫque ex Presbyteris aliquem qui vitæ integritate spectatissimus esset, & taciturnitate ac prudentia polleret, huic officio præfecerunt: ad quem accedentes ij qui deliquerant, actus suos confitebantur. Ille vero pro cujusqꝫque delicto, quid aut facere singulos, aut luere oporteret, pænæ loco indicens, absolvebat confitentes, a se ipsis pænas criminum exacturos. And Socrates thus describes the time when this institution began. Hist. l 5 c. 19Postquam Novatiani se ab Ecclesia sejunxissent, eo quod cum illis qui persecutione Deciana lapsi fuerant, communicare noluissent, ex illo tempore Episcopi pænitentiarium præsbyterum albo Ecclesiastico adjecerunt, ut qui post baptismum lapsi essent, coram presbytero ad eam rem constituto, delicta sua confiterentur.

The contention about the baptism of hereticks was as follows. When the Novatians refused to communicate with those who lapsed in the presecution of Decius, & on that account made a schism, a council of about 80 many African Bishops convened by Cyprian agreed that since they Novatians were out no part of the Church of Christ they coul had no authority from him to baptize. ✝ ✝ & wrote their sense of the Council to Ianuary & other bishops of Numidia & Cyprian wrote their sense in an Epistle to Quintus. And when Cyprian had called another Council of 71 Bishops he wrote their sense sentence to Stephen Bishop of Rome, & wrote explained the matter more at large in a letter to Iubaianus, in wchwhich he saith: Apud nos autem non nova aut repentina – – – – – – 80 or 100 years. When Cyprian had received an answer from the Stephen Bishop of Rome he wrote to P a letter to Pompeius in wchwhich he makes this mention of Stephens answer: Quia desiderasti in notitiam tuam – – – – – – filios Dei nasci. After these things Cyprian wrote called a third Council of 87 bishops of Africa Numidia & Mauritania &c. And Cyprian in their name wrote their sentence to Stephen BpBishop of Rome & to others, & received an answer from Stephen of wchwhich he makes this mention in his epistle to Pompeius: Cyp. Epist. 74 Quia desiderasti in notitiam tuam perfeci quæ mihi eo literas nostras Stephanus frater noster rescripserit – – – – – filios Dei nasci. And in another letter directed when Cyprian had called another Council of ab 71 bishops he wrote a letter to IubaianusEpist 73. Cyprian in wchwhich he saith: Apud nos autem non nova aut repentina res est ut baptzandos censeamus eos qui ab hæreticis ad ecclesiam veniunt quando multi jam anni sunt et longa ætas ex quo sub Agrippino bonæ memoriæ viro convenientes in unum Episcopi plurimi hoc statuerunt – – – – consequerentur.Cypr. Epist. 71 Agrippinus was bishop of Carthage & called this Council of the bishops of Afric & Numidia in the fl lifetime of Polycarp or soon after his death ffor multi anni & longa ætas can scarce signify less then 70 or 80 or 100 years. Cyprian called also a third council of 87 BpsBishops of Africa Numidia & Mauritania about his matter And before the bishops gave their opinions, Cyprian thus put them in mind of their freedom & equality with himself. Superest, saith he, ut de hac ipse re singuli quid sentiamus, proferamus, neminem judicantes, aut a jure communionis aliquam si diversum diversum senserit amoventes. Neqꝫque eam quisquam nostrum Episcopum se esse Episcoporum senserit constituit aut tyrannico terrore ad obsequendi necessitatem collegas suos adigit; quando habeat omnis episcopus pro licentia libertatis & potestatis suæ arbitrium proprium, tamqꝫque judicari ab alio non possit quam nec ipse potest judicare. Sed expectemus universi judicium. Domini nostri Iesu Christi, qui unus et solus habet potestatem & præponendi nos in Ecclesiæ suæ gubernatione & de actu nostro judicandi. All this relates to the pride of the faction Bishop of Rome who exalted himself & above others his brethren & called himself Bishop of Bishops, & tyrannically compelled them brethren to obsequiousness by excommunications to assent to him & h had having newly excommunicated the African Bishops & others for differing from him. After this exhortation all the 87 Bishops voted unanimously against the BapismBaptism of hereticks & Cyprian gave his vote in the last place in these words Meam sententiam plenissime exprimit Epistola quæ ad Iubaianum collegam nostrum scriptuam est; hæreticos secundum Evangelicam & Apostolicam contestationem adversarios Christi & Antichristos appellatos, quando ad ecclesiam venerint, unico Ecclesiæ baptismate baptizandos esse, ut possint fieri de adversarijs amici et de Antichristis Christiani. The votes of the rest of the Bishops are published in Cyprians works, I shall content my self with reciting two or three a few of them. Primus a Misgirpa dixit: Deus unus & fides una et Ecclesia una est in qua stat unum baptisma. Nam quæ foris exeveintur nullum habent salutis effectum. Polycarpus ab Adrumeto dixit: Qui hæreticorum baptisma probant nostrum evacuant. Secundinus a Cedias dixit: Cum Dominus noster Christus dicat: Qui non est meum adversus me est et: et Ioannes Apostolus eos qui ab Ecclesia exeunt Antichristos dicat: indubitanter hostes Christi, quiqꝫque Christi Antichristi nominati sunt, gratiam baptismi salutaris ministrare non possunt. Privatianus a Sufatela dixit: Qui hæreticos potestatem baptizandi habere dicit, dicat prius quis hæresin condiderit? Si enim hæresis a Deo est, habere et indulgentiam divinum potest. Si verò a Deo non est, quomodo gratiam Dei aut habere aut conferre alicui potest? Privatus a Susibus dixit Qui hæreticorum baptismūum probat, quid aliud quam hæreticis communicat? Secundinus a Carpis dixit: Hæretici Christiani sunt, ex not an non? Si Christiani sunt cur in ecclesia dei non sunt? Si Christiani non sunt, quomodo Christianos faciunt. Victoricus a Thabraca dixit: Si licet hæreticis baptizare & remissam peccatorum dare, quid illos infamamus, ut hæreticosthese appellemus? Ianuarius Muzulensis dixit: Miror cum omnes confiteantur unum esse baptisma non omnes intelligant ejusdem baptismatis unitatem: Ecclesia enim & hæresis duæ et diversæ res sunt. Si hæretici habent baptisma nos non habemus. Si autem nos habemus hæretici habere non possunt. Dubium autem non est Ecclesiam solam baptismum Christi possidere quæ sola possideat et gratiam Christi et veritatem. Victor a Gor dixit: Cum peccato non nisi in Ecclesia baptismo remittantur, qui hæreticum ad communionemcationem sine baptismo admittit, utrumqꝫque contra rationem facit, nec hæreticos purgat et Christianos inquinat. Saturninus a Theca dixit: Gentiles quamvis idola colant; tamen summum Deum74 Deum patrem agnoscunt creatorem cognoscunt & confiitentur. In hanc Marcion blasphemat, et quidam non erubescunt Marcionis, baptismum probare. Quomodo tales sacerdotes sacerdotium Dei aut servant aut vindicant, qui hostes Dei non baptizant & sic illis communicant Rogatianus a Nova dixit: Ecclesiam Christus instituit hæresin diabolus, quo modo potest habere baptismum Christi Synagoga Satanæ? Saturninus ab Auitinis dixit: Si potest Antichristus dare alicui gratiam Christi, possunt et hæretici baptizare qui appellati sunt Antichristi. And this was the sense of the bishops of Africa & Numidia & Mauritania about this matter.

When Cyprian received the letter above mentioned fom the Bishop of Rome: he sent a copy of it to Firmilian bishop of Cæsarea in Cappadocia

After this Council Cyprian wrote to ffirmilian Bishop of Cæsaria in Palestine Cappadocia sending him a copy of Stephens letter. And ffirmilian wrote back a notable epistle in wchwhich there are these passages. Per singulos annos, seniores et præpositi in unum convenimus ad disponenda ea quæ curæ nostræ commissa sunt: ut siqua graviora sunt communi concilio dirigantur; lapsis quoqꝫque fratribus et post lavacrum salutare a diabolo vulneratis per pœnitentiam medela quæratur; non quasi a nobis remissionem peccatorum consequantur sed ut per nos ad delictorum suorum intelligentiam delictorum suorum convertantur et Domino pleninius satisfacere cogantur. —— Qui κατάφρυγας appellantur & novas prophetias usurpare conantur, nec patrem possunt habere nec filium nec spiritum sanctum quibus si quæramus quem spiritum Christum prædicant, respondebunt eum se prædicare qui miserit spiritum per Montanum & Priscam locutum. In quibus cum animadvertamus non veritatis spiritum sed erroris fuisse, cognoscimus eos qui falsam illorum prophetiam contra Christi fidem vindicant Christum habere non posse Sed et cæteri quiqꝫque hæretici qui si se ab Ecclesia sciderint nihil habere potestatis aut gratiæ possunt, quando omnis potestas & gratia in Ecclesia constituta sit ubi præsident majores natu qui et baptizandi et manum imponendi & ordinandi possident potestatem. Hæretico enim sicut ordinare non licet, nec manum imponere, ita nec baptizare, nec quicquam sancte nec spiritualiter gerere, quando alienus sit a spiritali et deifica sanctitate. Quod totum nos jampridem in Iconio, qui Phygiæ locus est collecti in unum convenientibus ex Galatia et Cilicia & cæteris proximis regionibus confirmavimus tenendum contra hæreticos firmiter & vindicandum, cum a quibusdam de ista re dubitaretur. —— Si non mentitur Apostolus dicens, quotquot in Christo tincti estis, Christum induistis: utiqꝫque qui illic in Christo baptizatus est, induit Christum: si autem induit Christum, accipere potuit et spiritum sanctum qui a Christo missus est. —— Homo animosus parit lites & vir iracundus exaggerat peccata. Litas enim & dissentiones [O Stephane] quantas parasti per ecclesias totius mundi? Peccatum vero quam magnum tibi exaggerasti, quando te a tot gregibus scidisti? Occidisti enim teipsum: noli te fallere siquidem ille est vere schismaticus qui se a communione ecclesiasticæ unitatis apostatam fecerit. Dum enim75 enim putas omnes a te abstinere posse, solum te ab omnibus abstinuisti nec te informare ad regulam veritatis et pacis vel Apostoli præcepta potuerunt monentis et dicentis, Obsecro ergo vos ego vinctas in domino digne ambulare vocatione qua vocati estis cum omni humilitate sensus & lenitate, cumpatientia sustinentes invicem in dilectione, satis agentes servare unitatem spiritus in conjunctione pacis. Vnum corpus & unus spiritus, sicut vocati estis in una spe vocationis vestræ. Vnus dominus, una fides, unum baptisma, unus Deus et pater omnium qui super omnes et per omnia et in omnibus nobis. Hæc Apostoli mandata et monita salutari, quàm diligenter Stephanus implevit, humilitatem sensus et lenitatem primo in loco servans? Quid enim humilius aut lenius quam cum tot episcopis per totum mundum dissensisse, pacem cum singulis vario discordiæ genere rumpentem, modo cum Orientalibus (quod nec vos latere confidimus) modo vobiscum, qui in meridie estis? A quibus legatos episcopos patienter satis et leniter suscepit; ut eos nec ad sermonem saltem colloquij communis admitteret: adhuc insuper dilectionis et charitatis memor, præciperet fraternitatis universæ nequis eos in domum suam reciperet, ut venientibus non solum pax & communio, sed et tectum et hospitium negaretur. Hoc est servasse unitatem spiritus in conjunctione pacis, abscindere se a charitatis unione et alienum se per omnia fratribus facere, et contra sacramentum et fidem contumacis furore discordiæ rebellare.

By these things it appears that the to satisfy the doubts of some persons, a numerous Council of yethe bishops of Asia & CappadiciaCappadocia m convened met at Iconium & condemned the baptism & sacraments of the Montanists & of all other hereticks & schismaticks some years before the disputes between Cyprian & Stephen began, & that Stephen quarreled as well thewith the oriental Churches as the African about theis matter, & that Ste brake peace with all the churches about it except the western bishops of his party to whom Europe to whom he wrote not to receive those of the eastern & African communion into their houses: but the eastern & African Bishops did not excommunicate the western. It appears also that Stephen defended the baptism not only of the Cataphrygians & Novatians but also that of Marcion Valentinus, Apelles & all other hereticks, as Basnage in his Annals has abundantly proved.Basnage an. 256 sec. 4, 5 6, 7, 8.

After the death of Stephen the Church of Abated Rome abated of her heats, let the excommunication drop & returned into communion wthwith the other Churches but continued to allow the baptism of all hereticks. For Ierome an hundred years after pleading that in yethe name of the Church pretended defended the doctrine of the Roman Church against Hilary a Deacon of Rome in this manner.Epist. 68 adv. Lucif. Ad eos venio hæreticos qui evangelia laniaverunt, Saturninum quendam & Ophites eosqꝫque ad jurgia et contentiones excitare equidem nolim. Scriptum est enim non commutabis terminos proximi tui quos parentes tui constituerunt. About 50 years after this controversy Peter bishop of Alexandria having having excommunicated the Meletians refused to admitted not their baptism. And some years after Athanasius long after this refused the baptism of yethe Arians. Qui quæso – – – – – – hæreseos – – – – – –