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θείροντες, ὡς ἀλώπεκες μικροὶ ἀμπελῶνα. qui Ecclesiam Dei devastant, sicut parve vulpes vineam. vi. 18.

Ignatius, Epist. Interpol. ad Philad. iii. is away, clopeù's aμter@ros Xpis. est vulpes corruptrix vinece Christi. Cantic. ii. 15. Πιάσατε ἡμῖν ἀλώπεκας μικρός ἀφανιζοντας åμæinävaç. Take us the little foxes that spoil the vines.

So, according to the Constitutions, and the interpolated Ignatius, the heretics are the little foxes who spoil the vineyards. I blame not the allusion; it is pretty enough, and better than the remark of a commentator whom I will not name, who, explaining 1 Kings x. 22. Once in three years came the navy of Tarshish, bringing gold and silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks, says, that by the apes we are to understand heretics*. He bears somewhat hard upon the poor ape, who is an occasional conformist, and an imitator of his betters. What would they say to this allusion who reject Solomon's Song, and yet receive the Constitutions, and the larger Epistles of Ignatius?

But it would not be fair to conceal a passage in Theocritus, i. 48.

—ἀμφὶ δέ μιν δι' ἀλώπεκες· ὁ μὲν ἀν ἔρχως

Φοίβῇ σινομένα τὰν τρώξιμον.

-quem circum duce vulpes: altera per ordines vi

tium

Incedit, ledens maturas uvas.

And v. 112.

Μισέω τὰς δασυκέρκος ἀλώπεκας, αἳ τα Μίκωνος

Αἰεὶ φοιῶσαι τὰ ποθέσσερα ραγίζον!ι.

Odi

He might as well have said, since he would allegorize, that the apes are informers and back-biters, for the bite of an ape is reckoned dangerous, and so is the bite of a sycophant. Afua Cuxoparly is men. tioned as incurable by Aristophanes, Plur. 886.

Odi densicaudes vulpes, quæ vitis Miconis

Semper frequentantes, vesperi ex illis uvas comedunt. For here also are foxes spoiling the vineyards; and who knows but somebody may take it into his head to say, that the Constitutions and Ignatius borrowed the hint from the poet?

μά

This interpolated Ignatius cites the Canticles as a sacred book, Ad Ephes. xvii. Mügor yag, proir, éxxerwbèr öroσκ· διὰ τότο νεάνιδες ἠγάπησάν σε, είλκυσαν σε, ὀπίσω εἰς ὀσμὴν múgar or Spanspela. Unguentum enim, inquit, effusum est μύρων σε nomen tuum: propterea adolescentul dilexerunt te, traxerunt te, post te in odorem unguentorum tuorum curre mus. From Cant. i. 3, 4.

It seems to appear from the Constitutions, that the curing of dæmoniacs was a work of time, and that the attempt did not always succeed; for the congrega tion is made to consist of the clergy, the catechumens, the energumens, or dæmoniacs, the pμeror, or those who were preparing to receive baptism, the penitents, and the faithful; there is a form of prayer for the energumens, that God would deliver them, viii. 7. and it is said, that a dæmoniac may be instructed in the faith, but shall not be received to Christian communion before he be cleansed, unless he be in danger of dying, viii. 32. In a prayer for all mankind, there is a petition for the dæmoniacs-ÜTip Tür χειμαζομένων ὑπὸ τὸ ἀλλοτρία—ὅπως καθαρίσῃς ἐκ τῆς ἐνεργείας το

omnfu-pro iis qui ab Adversario jactantur-ut eos mundes a veratione Mali. viii. 12. Εάν τις δαίμονα ἔχῃ, κληρικὸς μὴ γινέσθω, ἀλλὰ μηδὲ τοῖς τιςοῖς συνευχέσθω. καθαρισθεὶς δὲ, @goodexéo dw, y ear agios, yivéodw. Si quis Dæmonem haἐαν beat, ne fiat Clericus, sed nec una cum fidelibus oret: cum autem purgatus fuerit, recipiatur, et, si dignus extiterit, Clericus fiat. Canon Ixx.

Is it not probable that the ancient Christians accounted mad, and melancholy, and epileptic people to be possessed, at least for the most part? which would greatly increase the number of dæmoniacs., The Jews seem to have received some additional notions concerning evil spirits and their operations from the Chaldeans, and, after their return from the captivity, to have ascribed many diseases and disorders to these invisible agents, besides those which were not to be accounted for by natural causes; and in this the ancient Christians followed them.

Lightfoot says, Judæis usitatissimum erat morbos quosdam graviores, eos præsertim, quibus distortum erat corpus, vel mens turbata et agitata phrenesi, malis spiritibus attribuere. Hor. Hebr. Hence those swarms of energumens and exorcists mentioned in ecclesiastical history.

The Constitutions perhaps command, but most certainly permit infant-baptism. Βαπτίζελε δὲ ὑμῶν καὶ τὰ νήσ πια, και ἐκτρέφετε αὐτὰ ἐν παιδεία καὶ νεθησία Θε8. but baptize eકે ven (or also) your infants, and bring them up in the nurture and admonition of God; which shews, that infantbaptism was practised when this book was written. There is no eluding this testimony; it signifies nothing to say, that or is a word which may be extended beyond infancy, to thirteen or fifteen years: for, first, Christian education and instruction are mentioned as subsequent to baptism; secondly, in general precepts the obvious and usual signification of the words is to be supposed the intention of the lawgiver; thirdly, it is plain to the last degree, that the word rus, or vи, will not exclude infants of a day old,

Ut contra si quis sentiat, nihil sentiat;

VOL. I.

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fourthly,

fourthly, the sentence is partly borrowed from Ephes. vi. 4.-μὴ παροργίζετε τὰ τέκνα ὑμῶν, ἀλλ ̓ ἐκτρέφετε αὐτὰ ἐν παι δείᾳ καὶ νοθεσία Κυρίκ, but, instead of τέκνα, νήπια is used, as denoting a more tender age. In the prayer for the faithful, a petition is offered up for Christian infants —τῶν νηπίων τῆς ἐκκλησίας μνημονεύσωμεν, ὅπως ὁ Κύριος, τελειώσας αὐτὰ ἐν ἐν τῷ φόβῳ αυτε εἰς μέτρον ἡλικίας ἀγάπη. Infantium Eeclesiae recordemur, uti Dominus eos in timore sui reddat perfectos, et ad mensuram ætatis perducat. viii. 10. ro via adgovor. infantes ad maturam cetatem perduc, viii. 15. Will any man be so unreasonable as to contend, that via here does not include babes, and that infants, before they could walk and speak, were excluded from the benefit and intention of these prayers?

Thus infant-baptisin may be proved by the Constitutions; but at the same time the silence of the Scriptures upon this subject, compared with the clear declarations of the Constitutions, shews that these were drawn up after the apostolical age, vi. 15.

It is observable, however, that viii. 32. where directions are given who shall be admitted to baptism, no mention is made of infants.

The Constitutions make the validity of baptism to depend upon a certain form of invocation, and they seem to make it depend also upon the piety of the priest, which is a hard case.

In the ceremonial of baptism, when the person is anointed, there is a form of prayer to be used; for, say they, ἐὰν μὴ εἰς ἕκασον τέτων ἐπίκλησις γένηται παρὰ τὸ εὐσεβᾶς ἱερέως τοιαύτη τις, εἰς ὕδωρ μονον καλαβαίνει ὁ βαπτιζόμενος, ὡς Ἰδαῖοι, καὶ ἀποτίθεται μόνον τὸν ῥύπον τῷ σώματος, κ τὸν ῥύπον τῆς tuxñç. Nisi in unumquodque eorum talis quæpiam invocatio a pio sacerdote adhibeatur, qui baptizatur in aquam tantum descendit, ut Judæi, et corporis tantum sordes,

non

non autem animæ deponit. Where Cotelerius says, Lo quitur de baptismate ordinario adultorum, quod nisi sedalo ac rite juxta totam c ́erimoniam tradatur a pio sacerdote, et suscipiatur a pio catechumeno, animce sordes non depellit, nec suum obtinet effectum.

In the middle of the third century, great disputes arose concerning rebaptizing those who had been baptized by heretics. The Constitutions and Canons determine, that the baptism administered by heretics is invalid and null, vi. 15, which was the doctrine of Cyprian. In this controversy, no appeal was made to the Constitutions, vii. 44.

The Constitutions represent adultery as a grime which was punished with death; Εἴ τις ἀδελφὸν λέγων καυ τὸν εἶναι, απατηθεὶς ὑπὸ τὸ Πονηρὰ κακοποιήση, και ἐλε χθεὶς καλακ ειθῆ θανάτῳ ὡς μοιχὸς, ἢ φονεύς, χωρίζεσθε ἀπ' αὐτο Si quis se n fratrem esse dicens, Diaboli fraude maleficium commiserit, convictusque ad mortem damnatus fuerit, tanquam adulter, aut homicida, digredimini ab illo. v. 2.

Constantine made a law to punish adultery with death; and before his time it had not been a capital crime, in that sense, in the Roman empire. The Lex Julia de Adulteris coercendis is discussed in Digest. L. xlviii. Tit. 5. but we are not clearly informed there what was the punishment. It seems to have been relegatio, a kind of banishment. See Tacitus Ann. ii. 50. and the notes of Vertranius, and Lipsius; Ann. iv. 42. and the Excursus of Lipsius, and Novell. cxxxiv. 10. and a Treatise of Gerard Noodt, called Diocletianus et Maximianus, sive de transactione et pactione criminum. In some cases, however, the father and the husband had a right to kill the guilty person, surprised in the crime. I men

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