But the Cause of Infidelity never suffered so much under his Management, as by his last Adventure; it perfectly languishes, and without fresh Aid, must inevitably expire: Never was Antiquity so pillaged and abused, and all History, Sacred and Prophane, so mangl'd and rack'd; never were Men of Learning so Bubbl'd with Bombast Title Page and Red-Ink, as within this small compass of Half a Crown; and this is not Harangue, or Raillery or calling of Names, but a positive Charge supported by the best Evidence, by those very Testimonies that are urged by himself, as the Ground-work of his own Scheme, and which, he knew, made against him at the same time he introduc'd their Authority; and in no Instance more notoriously, than in the Life and Death of Hypatia.
The History of Hypatia, as he relates it, is a mere Lampoon, dress'd up with Malice, Prejudice and Ignorance, on purpose to blast the Reputation of the Venerable St. Cyril, a strenuous Assertor of Orthodoxy and Church Discipline, and of Dr. Sacheverell his faithful Successor in zeal, against the modern Novations and the Arian Heresie. [Preface to Tetrad. p. 7, 8.] He was moved, it seems, to undertake this Work in a particular Manner, by the Unlawful and Unchristian Usage of Mr. Whiston, receiv'd from Dr. Sacheverell, who would needs, forcibly thrust him out of the Church in the midst of Divine Service. An admirable Motive, and artful enough! For the Characters of these two Persecuted Philosophers, run exactly Parallel, both of them affecting to be thought Astronomers, and alike professed Enemies to the Divinity of Christ; but the Principal Inducement, If I guess right, was to blemish the Memory of the Great St. Cyril, and to charge him with Pride, Emulation, and Cruelty, in order to lessen the Authority of his Writings, especially his Commentaries upon the Gospel of St. John, and to be revenged of him for his Zeal against Nestorius, who directly denied the Mystery of the Incarnation, and consequentially, the Godhead of Chist: [Cyril. Ep. ad Acac.] I have read, says the Heretick, in Scripture, that God Proceeded, or passed through the Virgin, but I read no where, that he was born of Her; I separate the Natures, but I join the Adoration, and that upon the account of that Equality of Honour and Authority, which the Man had by his Conjunction with God, not into one Natural Person, and properly so called, but into an Union of Title and Dignity. These are favourite Doctrines at this Day, and whoever offers to expose or make head aginst them, may depend upon Mr. Toland for an Adversary, who is for no Miracle or Mystery in Religion, and resolves to believe nothing but what he can Conceive.
We come now to the Character of Hypatia; a Lady most Vertuous, most Learned, and every way Accomplish'd; of singular Beauty, Modesty, and Wisdom; the Historians that speak of her, I confess, bestow great Encomiums upon the Learning and Accomplishments of this Woman: They tell us she was the Head School-Mistress of Alexandria, and arrived at such a Pitch of Knowledge, as exceeded most of the Preceptors of her Time; but tho' it may seem at this remote distance, a great Perfection in a Woman to read the Lectures, and explain all the Dogmata of the Philosophers, yet in those days it was no more a Wonder, than it is now for a Lady to understand Virgil or Horace: It was the common Method of Education with Persons of Quality; and Mr. Toland [p. 105] confesses, that It was the Custom of those Times to Educate young Ladies in the most Abstruse Sciences. It must be observ'd farther, that one of the Historians who speaks most in the Favour of this She-Philosopher, was a rigid Heathen, [Damascius] and therefore aggravated her History with the Blackest Circumstances, the other [Socrates] was a Precise Puritan, an enemy to the Orthodox Cyril, who was a zealous Christian, or (in Vulgar Phrase) a High-Churchman in those Days: And I am apt to believe we should never have heard so much in Praise of this Woman, had it not been to derive an Odium upon the Christians, or to fix a Stain upon the Arch-bishop.
I could never find but One Disciple of Character that had his Juvenile Education in the School of this She Philosopher, and that was Synesius, a person of peculiar Learning and Eloquence; who afterwards was made Bishop of Ptolemais or Cyrene, and became one of the most Illustrious Prelates of his Age. Theophilus, Bishop of Alexandria, observing the Innocence of his Life, and the exceeding Modesty and sweetness of his Temper, persuaded him to be baptized: He readily consented to the Principal Doctrines of Christianity, but being under the Prejudice of Education, with regard to the Resurrection of the Body, he was inclined to explain it according to the Platonic Scheme, [Synes. Ep. 105.] he accounted the Resurrection Sacred, and a Mystery, and did not care to assent to it according to the Sentiments of the Vulgar. But [Valesius in Evagr. l. 1. Cap. 15.] He was soon set right in his Belief by the Arguments of Theophilus, and embrac'd the true Opinion of the Resurrection. He was afterwards admitted into Holy Orders, and by the Affection of the People, and his own Merits, at last advan'ed to the Bishoprick. Mr. Toland has introduc'd this Prelate in the Life of Hypatia [Hypa. p. 110] on purpose to reflect upon the Discipline of that Age of the Church, and to inculcate that, Synesius was ordained Bishop, notwithstanding he dis-believed the Resurrection of the Body. But this is falsely asserted, for there is not one Historian that says he ever absolutely denied the Resurrection, or that he was Baptized and promoted to the Episcopal office at one and the same time. [Niceph. Hist. l. 14. Cap. 55.] Nicephorus tells us there was some Distance between his Baptism and his Ordination, and it was near ten Years afterwards before he was Consecrated a Bishop, and in that space of Time he was convinc'd of the Truth of the Resurrection, and professed it fully according to the Doctrine of the Catholick Church. There is another Way of clearing this seeming Difficulty; and learned Men have imagined that Synesius from his first entrance into the Church, was very Sound in his Principles, but being fond of Retirement and Study, he used his utmost Endeavours to avoid the Episcopal Dignity. But Theophilus understood his meaning, and that his Boggling at the Resurrection was but a Fiction. The famous Letter to his Brother, above mentioned, was never design'd to be kept a Secret, but as he suggests there, that it might be shew'd publickly and become a Remedy against the Fondness the People had conceived for him; and in another to the Presbyters of Ptolemais, [Synes. Ep. 11.] after he was a Bishop, he confesses freely, that he used all the Arts and Stratagems that he could possibly devise to escape it.
But to return to Hypatia; If the Learning of this Madam had been of the same size with her Modesty, she would scarce, in my Opinion have come recommended in such Pomp to Posterity; not even by those Historians who conspir'd to Sacrifice the Memory of an Arch-bishop, on Purpose to give her a Character: [Lib. 7. Cap. 15.] Socrates in his Account, could say, that she had a confident audacious Way of Address, that she could brazen it out, and appear without any Concern in a publick Assembly of Men, forshe was esteemed by all for her incomparable Modesty, it being it seems the Perfection of Modesty in those Days not possibly to be made Ashamed.
Suidas [in *Ipatia*] is wrapt up in the Modesty of this Lady, and as a Specimen, tells us of a handsome young Spark who went to school to her, and had such a Platonic Opinion of her Vertue, that he courted her for his Wh---; but She, either from a dislike to his Person, or perhaps being pre-engag'd to Orestes the Præfect of the City, (whom she [Hist. Tripart. l. 11. cap. 12.] would often call upon at his own House) would not admit of his Adresses. The Gallant still thought his Amour Practicable, and continued his importunity; but she, as a Lady of Honour, remained inflexible; and at last, without attempting to reason with him like a Platoness, made use of a Strategem to put an end to the Courtship, which I believe the most common Prostitute in Venice would blush at: It is so gross an Argument, and a Conviction so Obscene and Odious, that I shall leave it in the same Language I found it, and not stain my Paper or offend the Reader with the Translation. [Greek passage omitted, sorry!] The young Fellow you may be sure was cured of his Love-Qualms, he was perfectly confounded at her Impudence, and I cannot find that ever he went to School again.
Such was the Modesty, such the Vertue of Madam Hypatia, [Tetrad. p. 123.] a Lady who is for ever to continue, (provided Mr. Toland's Writings will live so long) the Glory of her own Sex and the Disgrace of ours; who ought to be ashamed that any could be found among us, of so Brutal and Savage a Disposition, as to stain their Barbarous Hands with her Blood. A Bishop, a Patriarch, nay, a Saint too was the contriver of so horrid a Deed, and his Clergy the Executioners of his implacable Fury. A dreadful Charge! Efferum, Immane, Impium! A Horrid, Barbarous, and Bloody Murder!.
To open a clear light into this History, (which Mr. Toland has insidiously perplex'd) it will be necessary to give some Account of St. Cyril, when he first enterr'd upon his Authority in the Archiepiscopal See of Alexandria.
Upon the Death of Theophilus the Bishop of Alexandria, there was some Difficulty about a Successor; some made Interest for Timotheus the Archdeacon of that Church; other for St. Cyril, who was Theophilus's Sister's Son. But after three Days Debate, St. Cyril was placed in the Archiepiscopal Chair, who (as the Historian relates) [Niceph. l. 14. cap. 14.] excell'd in the Knowledge of Sacred and Prophane Learning, and in every thing that was Vertuous and Praise-worthy was superlatively Famous. Many of his Writings are preserved to this Day, of which by far the best are his Thesauri wherein he demonstratively proves the Mystery of the Trinity, from the Authority of the Scriptures. Abundantius the Captain of the Army, with the Mob at his Heels, made a great Bustle for Timotheus, but Cyril's Friends obtained their Purpose. So false and perfidious is the Reflection of Mr. Toland, that Cyril got the See by Sedition and Force, for his Party were perfectly Dragoon'd, and all the riot was on the other side.
When he was settled in the Chair, he took upon him the Administration of Civil Affairs, as far as they had an Influence upon Religion, in the same Manner as his Predecessors had done; and this is not to be imputed to the Usurpation of the Bishop, but to the Indulgence of the Emperor: The Truth is, the Church and the State being now united, and a Schism in the one, causing inevitable Seditions in the other, the Emperor, for the greater Security of his Government, thought it expedient to invest the Bishops with a Coercive Power, since their Spiritual Authority was contemned to the Dishonour of Religion, and no less to the Disturbance of the Publick Peace. It must be a Crime therefore in St. Cyril to accept of this Comission, or to act in Pursuance of it. This is called, [Hypatia p. 124.] an Arbitrary kind of Principality, and an absolute disposal of Affairs; whereas it was absolutely necessary in Alexandria, especially at that time, when the Præfect was a Heathen, and by Consequence incapable to take upon himself the Supremacy, or to be a Judge in the Spiritual Affairs of Christians.
It was a Part of St. Cyril's Character given by the Historian above mentioned [Niceph. l. 14. cap. 14.] that from his first entry upon his See, he would not allow a Heretick or a Schismatick to keep a Coventicle in Alexandria, for he knew that such a Toleration would create endless Feuds and Disturbance in the State, and by Degrees overthrow the Fundamental Articles of the Catholick Faith. The first Act of Discipline therefore that he exercised was to shut up the Meeting-Houses of the Novations and, as Socrates [Lib. 6. cap. 7.] tells the Story, and Mr. Toland after him he took away all their Sacred Vessels and Ornaments, and deprived their Bishop Theopemptus of all he had.
The Credit of this Relation depends upon the Authority of Socrates, who, it must be observed (and the Reader is desired not to forget it) was a rigid Novation, an Unforgiving, Inflexible Puritan, and therefore made it his business to represent the Assertors of Church Discipline and Uniformity in the most odious Characters. But supposing the Fact to be true, I appeal to all fair Judges, whether St. Cyril was not bound as Bishop, and as a good Subject, to break the Gang of these Schismaticks, who were ever embroiling the Publick in the utmost confusion, and whose Principles tended to introduce the most destructive Doctrines into the Church. This will evidently appear by describing the Founder and the Tenets of this Sect.
The founder of this Schism was one Novatus an African Presbyter [Cyprian Ep. 53 & passim.] a Restless, Proud, Perfidious Fellow; a Flatterer, and an Incendiary, that carried a Tempest with him wheresoever he went, and was a sworn Enemy to Peace and Settlement; he robb'd the Orphans, cheated the Widows, and purloyn'd the Treasures of the Church; he suffer'd his Father to starve ... [page 14 ... more soon!]