found a necessity of resigning the place, partly, by reason of his age and infirmity; and partly, because 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. Clement* 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 peacet."

When they were in consultation about another to be chosen, who 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 unkindness; 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 ; they were forced, having baptized him, to give him ordination a few days after, notwithstanding the apostolical canon against choosing a novice for a bishop.

i

The Antipedobaptists would make an argument from hence, that his parents must have been of their persuasion, since they had not baptized him in in fancy; but first they ought to shew that his parents were Christians, since, as I have 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 put off

Clemens Romanus Epist. 1, ad Corinth. c. 54. + Naz. Orat. ad 150 Episcopos. Socrat. lib. 5. Soz. lib.

their baptism from time to time for a long while; and one might name several besides this man, who 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 in stances for this purpose, unless they are proved, at least, by probable arguments, to have been born of Christians.

As for Nectarius's 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.

Of St. John Chrysostom [290].

His Parents were probably Heathens at the Time of his Birth.

Among all the ancient fathers, there is none who has had so many to write his life as St. Chrysostom; for, besides that Palladius, who lived together with him, has wrote his Dialog. purposely on that subject, the ancient historians, who lived near his time, * Socrates, † Sozomen, Theodoret, &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 his baptism at man's age, yet it is very probable, since, as far as we can learn, his parents were leathens at the time of his birth. Georgius, patriarch of Alexandria [520], and Metaphrastes [800], do say they were; and they are not in this contradicted by those elder.

Lib. 6.

t Lib. s.

Lib. 5.
Vita Chrysostom.

& Dial. de Vita Chrysostom.

His father, Secundus, died presently after he was born, as he himself intimates, lib. 1, de Sacerdotio. His mother, Anthusa, was a Christian when this her son was 20 years old; but that is no argument that she or her husband were so at the 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. Even at that time, when her son was 20 years old, though she was then a Christian in belief, yet the aforesaid historians, Georgius and Metaphrastes, say that she was not baptized until her son was baptized first; they say it of his parents in the aforesaid Life, that they were baptized by Meletius, safter their son; but it could be true only of his mo-. ther, 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 bap→ tized till the 21st year of his age."

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 20, or at least 18 years old, before he came to Meletius; and then Meletius did with him as any bishop now would do with a young man who 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 Me letius, 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: Annot, in Matt. xix. p.2d 919) 6

B

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 I was young, took notice that my master, who was one of the most super stitious men that ever lived, did much admire my mother; for as he asked some that were about him, (who I was? and one made answer that I was a widowwoman's son; he asked me, how old my mother was, and how long she had been a widow? and when I told him that she was 40 years old, and that it was 20 years since she buried my father, he was much affected at it; and speaking aloud to those that were present, Strange! (says he) what brave women there are among the Christians!"

Some chronologers find it more agreeable with the computation of time to suppose that it was not full 20, but 18, which, by a round number, he here calls 20; but it is much one to this purpose.

The saying of Libanius seems to suppose, that Anthusa had been a Christian now for a considerable time; or at least, that he took it so: but as he knew nothing of her concerns till that moment, her professing of Christianity at that time, was enough to make him say what he did, without making any inquiry how long she had been of that profession.

Some readers also will be apt to conclude, that Chrysostom had been at that time but a little while a hearer of Libanius (from whence it would follow probably that Anthusa was a Christian when she first sent her son to this school) because Libanius did not at this time know who he was. But the nature of those auditories or lectures was, that one from one part of the city, and another from another, came on the weekly lecture-days to hear, and sent their contributions; so that a lad or a man might be a hearer for a long time before the master had any personal knowledge of him. The word [school] being otherwise used in our time, might be apt to make this mistake; but it is to be taken in the ancient sense, as in Acts xix. 9.

The school of Tyrannus was not a college of lads under his care, but a place of public lectures that he kept.

There is, on the contrary, reason to think that she was not a Christian when she consented that her son should hear this master, who was a spiteful enemy to the Christian religion; and as this is probable of itself, so it is made more than probable that not only she, but her son himself also was a Heathen when he came first to hear him, by what Sozomen * affirms, viz. "That on a time when Libanius was like to die, some of his friends asked him, who he thought fit should be his successor? and he answered, John (meaning this John, who came afterward to be called Chrysostom) should have been the man, if the Christians had not stole him away from us." The word is, ἐσύλησαν robbed us of him;' which argues that he was a Heathen before.

Mr. Du Pin, in the notes he gives upon what he had said of Chrysostom †, says that "some writers make his parents to be Heathens; but that he himself, in the first sermon against the 'Avóuoto, says that he was bred up and nourished in the church; and that it appears out of his first book de Sacerdotio, chap. 1, that his mother was a Christian when his father died, which was quickly after she was delivered of him."

Having a great regard to every thing that this excellent author says, I read over on purpose both those tracts; and in the sermon found nothing that seemed to relate any thing at all to this matter; so that I believe there must be some mistake; also in the first chapter of the book cited, there is nothing at all of the matter; that which I guess the most probable to be meant, is chap. 2, where Chrysostom's mother, earnestly entreating him not to leave her, recounts to him the great troubles she had undergone about his estate and education in her widow hood; and yet that she had kept herself a widow, and had gone through the + Nouvelle Bibliot. tom. 3. in Chryso.

* Hist. lib. 8. c. 2.