bishop, or other minister to do this, than for other CHAP.III. men; because if his children fall sick, or into any year after sudden danger of death, he is ready at hand in the the apo house to give them baptism. It was probably from some compliance with this practice of his father, that St. Gregory, in one of the places that I quoted, gives that opinion, which is singular in him; that it is a good way if a child * appear not to be in any danger of death, to defer • his baptism for some time.' He mentions three ears or thereabouts. And as he, at the same place, advises and counts it necessary, if it be in danger of death, to baptize it immediately:' so it is probable the same was his father's opinion; and that this his son had no sickness in his infancy, and so he thought he might defer the baptizing him. sties. That many people in this time delayed and put off the baptizing of their children something longer than ordinary, not out of principle that so they ought to do, but out of negligence, and a procrastination which they themselves owned to be blameable: appears plainly by that common and proverbial speech, which Isidore (speaking of Zippo-312. rah's circumeising her child) mentions; and says, was used to be said in time of danger: "God's judgments come upon us; let us baptize our chil• dren out of hand."" Sect. 7. Of Nectarius. There is no appearance of his parents being Christians, nor knowing who they were. I. Though St. Gregory Nazianzen, who, after his father's death, was bishop of Constantinople, * Part i. ch. 1 1. §. 7 y Isidor. Pelusiot, lib. i. Ep. 125. the apostles. CHAP.III. had done more for the restoring the catholic faith Year after there, than had been done by any man in so short a time; yet he found a necessity of resigning the place. Partly by reason of his age and infirmity; and partly for that there was such a contention in the council of bishops about him. Some said it was not canonical, that he, having once accepted another bishopric formerly, should remove from it. Others, that he living as a hermit, wholly given to study and prayers, was not at all dexterous in making his court with the emperor for the good of the church: neither had he any good mien, but a contemptible presence. To allay these heats, he did what St. Clement2 had advised in such a case to be done. He willingly abdicated, and said, 'If this contention be upon my ' account, I am ready to depart; only let the flock of Christ be in peace"." And when they were in consultation about another to be chosen; whom should they light on but one Nectarius, a layman of Tarsus, of a senator's rank, remarkable for a grave and comely presence, but of no learning or skill in divinity! The emperor liked this man so well, that he was finally chosen. They did the gentleman a great diskindness; for of a creditable and graceful alderman, they made of him a very insipid bishop. But what is to our purpose is this; Nectarius, though he was by belief and profession a Christian, yet had not been as yet baptized b. They were forced, having baptized him, to give him ordination z Clemens Romanus, Epist. 1. ad Corinth. cap. 54. a Naz. Orat. ad 150 Episcopos. [Or. 43. edit. Benedict.] a few days after, notwithstanding the apostolical CHAP.III, eaton against choosing a novice for a bishop, Year after sties. II. The antipedobaptists would make an argu- the apo ment from hence, that his parents must have been of their persuasion, since they had not baptized him in infancy. But first they ought to shew that his parents were Christians: since, as I said before, half the world at this time were such as had been, since they came to age, converted from heathenism, and liked Christianity; but the greater part of them did fet of their baptism from time to time for a long while. And one might name several beside this man, that were pitched on by the people for bishops before they were baptized; some, whose parents are known to be heathens; and some, whose parents are not at all mentioned in history; so that it is impossible to know what religion they were of. But they do not make instances for this purpose, urless they are proved, at least by probable arguments, to have been born of Christians. As for Nectarius' parents, we know nothing of their religion. And I believe it is as hard to find who they were, as it is to know who was Homer's or Job's father. Sect. 8. Of St. John Chrysostom. His parents were probably heathens at the time of his birth. I. Among all the ancient Fathers, there is none that has had so many to write his life as St. Chrysostom. For, besides that Palladius, who lived together with him, has wrote his Dialogue purposely en that subject; the ancient historians, who lived the apo stles. CHAP.III. nigh his time, Socrates, Sozomend, Theodoret, Year after &c., have given a larger account of him than of any other man. And in the middle ages, there are abundance that have wrote tracts of the same but these latter have intermixed several fables, which are disproved by the elder. Of these Palladius says, that he was baptized by Meletius, bishop of Antioch, after he had been instructed by him three years in the Christian religion. And though none of the other ancient writers do mention this his baptism at man's age; yet it is very probable, since, as far as we can learn, his parents were heathens at the time of his birth. 520. Georgius, patriarch of Alexandrias, and Metaphrastes, do say they were; and they are not in this contradicted by those elder. 800. II. His father Secundus died presently after he was born; as he himself intimates, lib. i. de Sacerdotio. His mother Anthusa was a Christian when 274 this her son was twenty years old: but that is no argument that she or her husband were so at the 254 time of his birth. At that time the heathens turned Christians as fast as the papists in England turned protestants, in the time of the reformation. And even at that time, when her son was twenty years old, though she was then a Christian in belief, yet the aforesaid historians, Georgius and Metaphrastes, c Lib. vi. [cap. 2, &c.] e Lib. v. [cap. 27, &c.] d Lib. viii. [cap. 2, &c.] Dial. de vita Chrysostomi, [apud Chrysost. Op. tom. xiii. edit Montf.] g Vita Chrysostomi, [apud Chrysost. Op. tom. viii. p. 157. edit. Saville.] was CHAP. III. the year after say, that she was not baptized till her son baptized first. They say it of his parents in foresaid life, that they were baptized by Meletius the apoafter their son. But it could be true only of his mother, his father being dead long before. I believe the antipædobaptists would not have conceived that they had ground enough to make Chrysostom one of their instances, if they had not been encouraged thereto by Grotius. And what he says is, that he being born of Christian parents, as the truer opinion is, and educated by Meletius, yet was not baptized till the twenty-first year of his age h That he was born of Christian parents he brings no proof at all. And it is little to the purpose that he was educated by Meletius. As bishops do not use to take infants to nurse, (though lads or young men to educate they may,) so in this case it appears that Chrysostom was twenty, or at least eighteen years old, before he came to Meletius. And then Meletius did with him as any bishop now would do with a young man that had been brought up in heathenism: he instructed him, and when he had continued a catechumen three years, baptized him. That he was so old as I say, before he came to Meletius, is plain; because by all the accounts he came not to him till he forsook the school of Libanius, the heathen master of rhetoric. And that he continued his hearer till that age, appears by what he himself writes, Oratione 1. ad viduam juniorem ; where speaking in praise of those women that continue widows, and how they are valued even among heathens, he tells this story; For I formerly, when Annot. in Matth. xix. 13. stles. |