Secondly Because the Church can set Bounds to the Power of the Pope which the Pope cannot do to the Power of the Church Thirdly Because the Church comprehends all the Ecclesiastical Powers even that of the Pope Fourthly Because the Church can make Laws to oblige the Pope and reform him whereas the Pope cannot judge the whole Church nor set any Bounds to its Power As to the Effects of the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Gerson says That the last Penalty that the Church can inflict is Penal Excommunication and that it has no Right to make use of any Corporal Punishment but by the Concession of Princes wherefore he does not approve that so many Censures have been us'd for maintaining this Jurisdiction He treats in the fifth Consideration of the Power of Jurisdiction in the Internal Court which is Exercis'd over those that voluntarily submit to it by enlightening and perfecting them with Instructions and the Administration of Sacraments and Purifying them by Baptism and by Penance After he has Establish'd these Principles he applies them in the following Considerations The Ecclesiastical Power consider'd in it self is unvariable and continues the same from the beginning of the Church unto the end and comprehends all the different Powers even the Authority of the Pope The same Power consider'd respectively in its particular Subjects is variable since the Subjects are chang'd by Natural or Civil Deaths by Deposition Renunciation c. The Pope himself may voluntarily resign the Pontificat or be Depos'd The Power which respects the Institution of Ministers has very much varied in the Church and the Ambitious Desires of Men has caus'd so great Confusions about it that 't is difficult to distinguish what is in it of Jesus Christ's Institution from that which is of Human appointment The History of the Popes of General Councils and the Decretals of the Pope plainly discover this variety But we ought to consider the many Processes about Benefices which busie the Court of Rome the Collations and Seals of the Pope the Annates and an infinite number of Practices by which the Pope would usurp the Institutions the Rights the Offices and the Benefices of all the Churches they ought to remember That God has not given them a Power but to Edification they have a Right to reform Abuses to watch over the whole Church to turn out Intruders to advance the Humble and Poor without Prayers or Presents The Ecclesiastical Power consider'd according to its Usage and Exercise is variable for tho' it be the Institution of Jesus Christ yet the Use and Exercise of it is convey'd from some Men to others according to the various Necessities of the Church The Plenitude of this Power is subjecttively in the Pope only supposing that he be Ordain'd which was given by Jesus Christ to St. Peter for him and his Successors But the Church and Princes have granted them Rights which they had not by the Institution of Jesus Christ and the General Councils could make Laws which the Pope could not destroy but only by dispensing in cafe of necessity or apparent advantage because Human Laws can never be made so general but they will admit of some Exception and Interpretation Gerson there gives Excellent Rules about Dispensation After this he proceeds to the Authority of the Church and a General Council which he proves to be the Sovereign Authority in the Church and to have Right to exercise the Pontifical Jurisdiction and also to take care of it for a time tho' they cannot abolish it for ever The twelfth Consideration is about the Power of the Pope with respect to Temporal Revenues He says That he has no Power to dispose of the Revenues of Clergy-men and much less of those of Lay-men altho' the Government Direction and Regulation of these Revenus belong to him He owns That these Doctrins are contrary to two opposite Errors whereof one is That the Ecclesiasticks ought not to have Temporal Revenues that if they have any they are only Alms which are not due and which they ought not to enjoy but to live in the Poverty of Jesus Christ the other is That the Pope is the Sovereign Lord of Temporals as well as Spirituals That all Kings receive their Power from him or at least that he is absolute Lord of the Ecclesiastical Revenues and that he can dispose of them according to his Will without being guilty of Simony and without admitting any Appeal from his Judgment He concludes from all these Considerations That the Power of the Pope is much Superior to all other Power Ecclesiastical and Temporal but that the Power of the Church and a General Council is more extensive and large not only for its Infallibility but for the Right it has to Reform the Church in its Head and Members and to decide as the last resort the Causes of Faith He defines a General Council a Congregation made in any place by a Lawful Authority of all the Hierarchical Orders of the Catholick Church from which none of the Faithful are excluded who has a mind to be heard in order to the Management of what concerns the Government of the Church in Faith and Manners It belongs to the Pope to call them together except in three Cases in which the Congregation of a Council may be made without the Pope The first is If the Pope be naturally dead civilly or canonically if he be Depos'd Distracted or a Prisoner in any place where he cannot be address'd unto The second is If being requir'd to call a Council he does obstinately refuse to do it The third is If a General Council being Lawfully Assembled appoint the time and place of a subsequent Council The Prelats that ought to be present at a Council are those of the first Order viz. Archbishops and Bishops who succeed the Apostles and Prelats of the second Order who are Successors to the 72 Disciples Both the one and the other have a Definitive Voice in the Council other Persons have only a Consultative Voice By the Prelats of the second Order are understood the Parish-Priests but this cannot be extended to the Regulars who Exercise no Hierarchical Functions but by Privilege The thirteenth Consideration contains the Definition and Division of the differen sorts of Laws of Jurisdiction and Government This Treatise of Gerson was written and repeated in the Council of Constance 1417. The second Work of the same first Part is a Discourse spoken at the same Council in 1415. upon occasion of the Processions that were made for the happy Voyage of the King of the Romans to Peter de Luna wherein he explains the Progress which the Council made towards Peace by removing the Obstacles which hindred the Extirpation of the Schism and Heresie and the Reformation of Manners In it he confirms the Authority of the Council above the Pope in Matters of Faith and as to the Reformation of Manners The third Treatise is Entitled de Auferibilitate Papae ab Ecclesia the
all Laconick that is to say as he himself explains it after S. Gregory Nazianzen They contain a great many things in a few Words In writing them he follows the Rule which he gives in the one hundred fifty third Letter of the first Book He there observes That they ought not to be void of all sort of Ornament nor on the other side too curiously polished The first Defect puts into them such a driness and baseness of Style that they are thereby rendred over-burdensome to the Reader but the other makes them weak and ridiculous and therefore they ought to have so much Ornament as is necessary to render them grateful and profitable And this he hath marvellously well performed in all his Letters for they are written with a great deal of Wit and Elegance and yet there is not the least appearance of affectation or constraint His Expressions are fine and delicate nevertheless he hath not departed from the most natural way of speaking of things There are no ambiguities nor false Propositions to be found in them but they are full of ingenuity and acuteness which runs equally through all of them Lastly It may be said of him That he hath found out the Secret so much search'd after by others of mingling Profit and Pleasure together In truth though he hath many Letters upon Critical Questions relating to several Places of H. Scripture and whatsoever is of greatest subtilty in the explication of other Mysteries yet he wants not Expressions to render them very grateful and acceptable to the Reader But yet he hath joyned Knowledge and Learning with the Elegancy and Politeness of his Language and his Letters are a Collection of an infinite number of Common Places in Divinity very well treated of and cleared In them we may find a great many Texts of the Old and New Testament explained and applyed to different Subjects This is the most common Argument of these Letters Some there are wherein he explains and illustrates the Mysteries and Doctrines of our Religion in others he makes Remarks upon the Discipline of the Church In the greatest part of them he propounds and confirms the great Principles of Christian Morality and teaches in many of them the Rules and principal Maxims of a Spiritual Life Sometimes he gives lively Instructions sometimes also he utters smart Reproofs and more often Charitable Advice He spares no Man he speaks with Freedom Steddiness and Authority not only to the ignorant Laity or the Monks subject to his Government but also to Kings themselves great Lords Magistrates and to Bishops of Sees to whom he was subject He opposes Vice where-ever he finds it He gives sharp Reprimands to all disorderly and vicious Persons of whatsoever Condition they be He applies himself to the Persons themselves and never dissembles what he thinks of them He not only flatters no Person in their Vices but he makes use of no cunning Evasions to sweeten his Admonitions He tells them plainly and severely what he thinks He represents to them their Irregularities with all the Candor and Cogency possible and presses them vigorously to forsake them He commends very seldom but when he doth it is in a way that is not mean and that cannot puff up with foolish Pride This in general is the subject of S. Isidore's Epistles let us consider them in particular Of the Letters of S. Isidore upon the Holy Scripture The greatest and best part of S. Isidore's Letters are upon several Texts of Holy Scripture There is hardly a Book as well of the Old as of the New Testament of which he doth not explain several Texts He often recommends the Reading of Holy Scripture and gives excellent Rules for the good Use and true Understanding of it He requires That every one that attempts to read it should prepare himself by purifying his Heart and purging it from Passions and Vice l. 4. 133. That in reading it all-a-long he should not only endeavour to comprehend the Sence but labour earnestly to believe and practise what it teacheth l. 4. 33. He adds That we must read it with a great deal of Reverence and not seek to dive into the incomprehensible Mysteries l. 1. 24. That God hath with much Reason ordered That there should be in Holy Scripture some things very plain and other places very obscure as a mark of his Wisdom and Providence for if all of it were clear what would Man have to stir up his Attention And if all of it were obscure how would it be possible to understand it That which is evident explains that which is obscure and altho' some Places may still remain obscure yet there is one great Advantage to be drawn from them which is to debase Man's Pride l. 4. 82. He also observes in several places That the Holy Scripture is written in such a Style as is to be preferred before all other Authors For saith he the affected Eloquence of Heathen Writers serves only to gratify their Vanity contributes nothing to Instruction but the Style of Scripture is plain and natural and very proper to instruct and inform the ignorant in the greatest Truths l. 4. 61 79 140. He that undertakes to explain Holy Scripture must have a grave and free elocution and a Mind filled with Piety and Goodness He must take the Sence of it and not impose his own upon it nor offer Violence to the Words of Scripture that he may explain them agreeably to his own Fancy l. 3. 292. He must not take little pieces by themselves and put that Sence upon them that first comes into his Head but he must weigh every Word examine the Context the Subject of which it treats and why it was written so l. 3. 136. Those that maintain That all that is in the Old Testament hath a respect to Jesus Christ are mistaken and do an Injury to Religion by imposing upon the Words of Scripture a far-fetched Sence which doth not agree to it that it may have a relation every where to Jesus Christ. We must content our selves to apply that only to him which is apparently spoken of him and not constrain our selves to attribute that to him which doth not relate to him for those who would find Jesus Christ in those Places where he is not spoken of give an occasion to the Unbelievers to doubt of those where he is Genesis is the first and principal of Moses's Books because it is necessary before a Law be established that the Power and Authority of the Law-giver be made known and the Rewards which he will give to those that keep his Commandments and the Punishments which he will inflict upon those that break them be discovered Both of which are laid down in the History of Genesis l. 4. 176. In reading the three Books of Solomon we must begin with the Proverbs proceed next to Ecclesiastes and end with the Canticles And that for this Reason The First of these Books teaches us Moral Vertues the Second
Error and that his Obstinacy deserved Punishment since he forsook him and would not suffer him in his Diocess Theodorct defended him a long time but he was at last forced to condemn him as we shall see in the sequel And indeed what possibility was there to defend him when his most intimate Friends acknowledged him to be blame-worthy The Fragments of Nestorius's Works confirm the Judgment which the Ancients have given of his Style and Disposition It appears by what we have said that he spake with Freedom and Elegancy but that his Genius was mean which had little Loftiness or Nobleness of Wit All the Grace of his Sermons consisted in Descriptions Metaphors and Apostrophe's which are dry and insipid In sum they are very good Sence and the Notions seem very rational his Error excepted He had but little Learning or Knowledge but what he knew he set it out to the greatest Advantage JOHN Bishop of Antioch ACACIUS of Beraea and PAUL of Emesa THEODOTUS Bishop of Antioch being dead in 427 had for his Successor one named John who was not known till after his Ordination upon the occasion of the John Bishop of Antioch c. Contest which he had with the Orientals against S. Cyril of Alexandria He was summon'd to the Council but came not at the Day appointed and finding that S. Cyril had held a Council without him he called another Council of the Bishops of his Party condemned S. Cyril and excommunicated the Bishops who had with him condemned Nestorius undertook his Defence and persisted till the end of the Council in this Resolution so that the East and Aegypt were some time divided But at last Peace was made and the Eastern Bishops abandoned Nestorius and professed the Orthodox Faith yet would not approve the Anathema of S. Cyril All this gave John Bishop of Antioch occasion to write several Letters We have some of them in Greek and Latin in the Acts of the Council of Ephesus and several other in Latin in the Collection of F. Lupus There is also one of his Sermons in the Acts of the Council of Ephesus p. 375. Acacius Bishop of Beraea was also one of the principal Defenders of the Eastern Party He was elder a He was elder He was the Scholar of the famous Anchorite Asteriâ—â— and had for a very long Time professed a Monastick Life in a Monastery in a Village near Antioch He was ordained Bishop in the Year 378 and died in the Year 436. than John Bishop of Antioch and had a great share in all that passed in that Business but he always loved Peace During the Council of Ephesus he abode at Constantinople where he did the Eastern Bishops no harm for 't was he that advised the Emperor to confirm the Deposition of Cyril and Nestorius After the Council during the great Dissentions S. Cyril never durst break with him It was to him that he sued to make up a Peace He composed the Propositions and at length brought it to a Conclusion We have One of his Letters to S. Cyril in the Acts of the Council of Ephesus Tom. 3. of the Councils p. 382. and Two Letters to the Bishop of Alexandria in F. Lupus's Collection p. 109 and 188. Paul Bishop of Emesa who supplied the Place of Acacius in the Council of Ephesus was also very inclinable to Peace 'T was he that concluded it with S. Cyril who prepared the Form of Faith which was to be approved on both Sides and who made Two Sermons upon the Peace We have these Monuments in the Acts of the Council of Ephesus Tom. 3. of the Councils p. 1089 and 1096 and a Letter of his to Anatolius in the Collection of F. Lupus The Bishops of NESTORIUS's Party THere were other Bishops who were more addicted to the Party and Doctrine of Nestorius than those of whom we have already spoken who would by no means hear of a Peace Bishops of Nestorius's Party and whom the Aegyptians would not have included in it Because we have some of their Letters we will take notice of them in this Place Meletius of Mopsuesta Successor of Theodorus who was deposed in the Council of Ephesus and banished We have eleven of his Letters in the Collection of F. Lupus Dorotheus Bishop of Martianople deposed in the same Council and expelled out of the Council of Constantinople There are Four Letters of his in the same Collection Alexander Bishop of Hierapolâ—â— the Author of Four and twenty Letters which are found in the same Collection Zenobius Bishop of Zephyria in Cilicia and some other Bishops of whom we will speak afterward who would never be comprehended in the Peace and therefore were deposed and banished EUTHERIUS Bishop of Tyana EUTHERIUS Bishop of Tyana of all the Bishops of the Party of Nestorius hath left us the most considerable Monument It is a Work which hath gone a long Eutherius Tyanaeus Time under the Name of Athanasius which Photius attributes to Theodoret but M. Mercator who is more to be credited than Photius cites it under the Name of Euthenius of Tyana In the First Place he describes in the most odious manner the Persecutions which he pretends were prepared for those of his Party to suffer These are his Words It is said that our Enemies will not content themselves to go on in their old Courses to work the Ruine of the Simple and Unwary but that they have a Design boldly to attempt whatever they please being supported by the Authority of the Sovereign Power that they will force others to be of their Opinions That they will require Obedience to their Commands immediately and deliver them to Justice that do not perform them that they will bring them to Punishment brand some with Disgrace and banish others that they will frame false Accusations against them and deprive them thereupon of their Dignities and Offices I do not mention the Bonds Prisons Disgraces and Torments which they shall suffer and the tragical Sights of those which they will put to Death And that which is most to be lamented is this That the Bishops are the Authors of this Tragedy O prophane Compulsion O intolerable Justice When they begin to celebrate the Holy Mysteries or to teach the People they have in their Mouth this heavenly Speech Peace be with you all Nothing is so urgently commanded in Holy Scripture as Gentleness and Kindness Why then do they condemn us without taking Cognizance of our Cause Why do they reject that which they do not know to be false Why do they give the Name of Force to their Outrages Why do they conceal their Cruelty under the Shadow of false Zeal Why do they cover their detestable Politicks with the Name of Wisdom What Tragedian is there that can describe these Things in a Style doleful enough The Lamentations of Jeremiah would not suffice to describe so great Evils From hence we may see that it is not a late Invention for Persons who are
because he speaks of himself as Bishop of Rome for tho' indeed some say that S. Leo made use of S. Prosper yet I shall never be persuaded that so Eloquent a Pope as S. Leo was hath Craved the Pen of another and Preached to his People the Sermons that another made M. Anthelmi must pardon me if I preferr M. Faber's Judgment before his and if without relying upon the Authority of that MS. we acknowledge the first Sermon to be S. Leo's But why doth it bear S. Prosper's Name in that Ancient MS Do we not know that there is a great confusion in the most Ancient MSS. about the Titles of Sermons and that often they are very faulty Witness the Two Ancient MSS. a Thousand Years old of which F. Mabillon speaks in the Preface to S. Maximus's Homilies Mus. Ital. T. 1. P. 4. where the Homilies of S. Maximus bear the Name of S. Austin We need not then wonder if a Sermon of S. Leo's carries the Name of S. Prosper in a MS. of 900 Years old And yet this doth not prove that it is this Fathers nor that he hath put it under his own Name because it was known even then that S. Prosper made S. Leo's Sermons or that it was Copied out of a Manuscript wherein the Sermons of S. Leo were attributed to S. Prosper M. Abbot Anthelmi owns That in the time of S. Prosper the Sermons which were made for S. Leo did bear the Name of that Pope Why then was the Name of S. Prosper affixed to them Three Hundred Years after Whence did he that wrote the Manuscript learn that they were S. Prosper's Why had not all his other Sermons the same luck What necessity is there for amending all other Manuscripts by this wherein there are no more than Three of S. Leo's Sermons The Transcriber might easily mistake he might Copy the first Sermon from a Manuscript which had been S. Prosper's or written by S. Prosper and take the Name of him that wrote the Manuscript or the Person 's whose it was for the Name of the Author He might find this Sermon at the end of S. Prosper's Works and so attribute it of his own head to S. Prosper However that he it often happens that we find in the most Ancient Manuscripts the Sermons of S. Maximus and S. Caesarius under the Name of S. Austin and Ambrose which in our time have been restored to their true Authors upon the account of the mere agreement of Stile with the other Sermons of S. Maximus and Caesarius and without the Authority of any Manuscript And why may we not do the same to the Sermon of S. Leo A Negative Argument taken from the silence of Gennadius Gelasius and Anastasius is of little consequence Gennadius often passes over in silence many excellent pieces of those Authors of whom he speaks Gelasius had no design to speak of his Sermons and Anastasius never uses to mention the Writings of Popes We must then leave S. Leo in possession of his Sermons The Four First are Discourses upon his own Promotion to the See of the Roman Church The First was Preached according to some a Year after according to others on the Day of his Ordination but it is more probable that it was on the Octave after it for he speaks of his Election as lately past and of some time that came between and yet he signifies that he did not Preach it upon the same Day that he was Ordained but recurrente per suum ordinem Die quo 〈◊〉 â—…s Epistoâ—… officiâ—… 〈◊〉 â—…re principiuâ—… The same Day â—…ing in its course on which the Lord was pleased to give a beginning to my Episcopal Charge which agrees very well to the â—…e He gives God thanks in this Sermon for the favours which he hath received of 〈◊〉 and more especially That he had permitted him to return again to Rome after a long absence to Govern that Church He declares to his People the grateful sense he had of their good-will to him in chusing him their Bishop beyond his desert He desires them to help him by their Prayers that he may govern the Church in Peace He assures them That he will always have that Day in great Honour in which he was advanced to his See because altho he ought to tremble by reason of his unworthiness yet 〈◊〉 was obliged to rejoyce in the favour which God had shewn him hoping that he who hath permitted him to be put into a Charge of so great Weight will help him to undergo it and give him strength that he may not â—…t under the Burden of that Dignity Lastly He testifies the Joy that he hath to see the Bishops his Brethren assembled and makes them to hope that S. Peter is with them and that he governs that Church in the Person of his Successor In the Second Discourse Preached a Year after his Ordination he says That tho' all Bishops ought to give God the Honour of their Ministry yet he had greater reason than any Body else to Attribute it wholly to the Divine Mercy when he considers on the one hand his own Weakness and on the other the Excellency of his Ministry That the very thoughts of it made him tremble because nothing is more to be feared than Labour by the Weak gâ—… Dignity by Mean Persons and an Office by Men of no desert Labor fragili sublimitâ—…â—â—â—mist digâ—… non â—…l That nevertheless he doth not despair nor is faint-hearted because he puts his Trust in him who works in and by Man That the Psalm which they are about to sing is very proper to humble 〈◊〉 Bishop and to give all the Glory to Jesus Christ that it speaks of Melchisedeck an Eternal Priest whose Parents are not known which is a Type of the New Law and the practice of the Church which bestows not the Priesthood upon Persons of Quality or of a particular Family nor by Succession but chuses such Men as the Holy Spirit hath fitted for it insomuch that it is not the Prerogative of Birth that qualifies for the Sacerdotal Unction but 't is the Heavenly Grace that makes Bishops That the Church is still governed by Jesus Christ who hath given to S. Peter the Apostolick Power That that Apostle never forsakes his Church but continues to be the Foundation of it that his Authority and Power still lives in his Successors and that it is to him that that little good which he doth in his Charge is to be attributed That it is S. Peter also that he ought to Extol upon that Day that it is the Feast of that Apostle That the Bishops his Brethren were assembled not so much to Honour him as S. Peter who is not only Bishop of the Roman Church but the Head of all the Churches in the World Upon this Account he Exhorts the Christians of the Church of Rome to excel the Christians of all other Churches in the World in Vertue In the Third Discourse upon the same
S. Paul 〈◊〉 S. Peter in desert and says That these two Apostles were as the two Eyes of the Body of the Câ—… of which Jesus Christ is the Head That their Call Travails and End made them eâ—… He concludes saying That he doth not doubt but that these two glorious Apostles do endeavour by their Prayers to move our Lord to Mercy There was heretofore another Sermon upon this Feast but F. Quesnel hath rejected it in his Appendix because all of it except the beginning is taken out of the 3d. Sermon of S. Leo â—â—on the Anniversary of his advancement to the Popedom The following Sermon is on the Octavo of the preceding Feast if we may believe the Title 〈◊〉 it appears by the Body of the Sermon That it was made upon another Subject and apparently at another time after that Rome was freed from the Vandals S. Leo therein condemns the Romaniâ—… Superstition who after they were delivered by the help of the Saints and the Mercy of God did celebrate their * Ludi Circenses in honour of Neptune or as others of Juno Minervd Jupiter Cirque-shews with a great deal of Pomp and State The Eighty Second Sermon is upon the Feast of the 7 Macchabees which was joined to the â—east of the Dedication of some Roman Church He exhorts the Faithful to imitate these Generous Martyrs in conquering the Persecutions of their Spiritual Enemies He highly praises the Person that had built the Church which was dedicated and takes an occasion to admonish the Christians That they ought to build a Spiritual Temple in themselves S. Leo makes an Observation in the beginning of his Panegyrick of S. Lawrence That the Martyrs are those who have most exactly imitated the Charity of Jesus Christ That our Lord in dying for us hath redeemed us and that the Martyrs shew us by their death that we ought not to fear Tortures That among all the Martyrs there is none that was more cruelly Persecuted and shewed more Constancy than S. Lawrence That as he was a Minister of the Sacraments the Persecutor was animated by a double Motive and put on by two different Passions Being Covetous of Money and an Enemy to the true Religion his Avarice put him upon seizing the Treasures of the Church and his Impiety upon destroying the Christian Religion He could not make S. Lawrence deliver up the Treasures of the Church but he must at the same time make him renounce his Religion He demands of him then the place where the Treasures of the Church were Our Saint shews him the Flocks of Poor which were maintained and cloathed out of the Church's Revenues The Tyrant being disappointed of his hopes was all in a fury and prepared the most cruel Torments and after he had torn and mangâ—ed his Body with many Blows he broiled his Body upon a Grid-Iron But the more cruel his Tortures were the greater was the Glory of this Martyr So that Rome hath been as famous for the Martyrdom of S. Laurence as Jerusalem for S. Stephen We hope adds this Father that we shall be helped by his Prayers and his Intercession The Nine following Sermons are upon the Summer Ember-days He exhorts the Faithful to Fasting and shews the Advantage of it and requires them always to join Fasting and Abstinence together He recommends the Love of God The Ninety Third Sermon is against the Error of Eutyches The Ninety Fourth contains some Reflections upon the Mystery of the Incarnation upon the occasion of the Transfiguration of our Lord. In the Ninety Fifth he explains the Degrees of Blessedness set down in the Sermon of Jesus Christ upon the Mount The Ninety Sixth upon the Feast of S. Peter's Chair is newly published out of a Manuscript of the King's Library It is S. Leo's Stile F. Quesnel observes in this place That there are many Prayers in the Missal and Roman Pontifical which are S. Leo's Stile In this number he puts the Prefaces of the Mass and hence he adds two of them the one for the Mass of Consecration of Bishops the other for the Ordination of a Priest with a Prayer of the Arch-Deacon to the Bishop upon the reconciling of Penitents These Pieces are taken out of the Pontifical but 't is not certain that they are S. Leo's The Appendix contains 3 Sermons falsly attributed to S. Leo and 2 others made up of little pieces taken out of this Father The 1st is upon S. Vincent The 2d upon the Nativity of our Lord. The 3d. upon the Ascension The 4th upon the Feast of the Apostles S. Peter and S. Paul and the Last is a Treatise against the Errors of Eutyches and other Hereticks We do not here speak of the Books of the Calling of the Gentiles the short Heads about Grace and Free-will nor of the Epistle to Demetrias Works which Father Quesnel hath put under S. Leo's Name in the beginning of his Works because we will allow a Chapter by it self for the Examination whether they are S. Leo's or not The Stile of S. Leo is polite and over-elegant His Discourse is made up of Periods whose Parts are well distinguished and measured He has a Rhyming Cadence of words which is very wonderful it is swelled with noble Epithets fit Appositions suitable Antitheses and admirable endings of Periods this renders it pleasant to the Ear and that sets such a lustre upon it as is dazling and ravishing But this Stile not being natural is found sometime intricate and obscure and keeps the Reader or Hearer in suspense The Elegancy of these sort of Discourses arises from nothing but the ranging of the words which makes a wonderful Cadence If we will alter it and express the same sence in other words we shall perceive no such Beauty as we admired before Nevertheless S. Leo's sence is very good he is exact in Points of Doctrine and very skilful in Discipline but he is not very full of Moral Points he treats of them very dryly in a way that rather diverts than affects He was zealous for the Rights and Privileges of his See and sought all opportunities of advancing and enlarging them as much as possible This design is very apparent in all his Writings but we must own that he used his Power with a great deal of Meckness and Moderation being perswaded That the only use of it was to provide that the Laws of the Church he duly observed and that nothing be commanded or allowed contrary to the Decrees of the Councils These were his Principles He greatened his Authority but it was for Edification and never for Destruction He had a great Veneration for Emperors and Kings He medled not with Civil Affairs Lastly it may be said That the Church of Rome never had more Grandeur and less Pride than in this Pope's time The Bishop of Rome was never more honoured more considerable and respected than in this Pope's time and yet he never carried himself with more Humility Wisdom Sweetness and Charity
Name among those who are in Communion with the Church That though that Bishop never Espoused any Heretical Opinions yet he hath rendered himself blame-worthy by receiving Hereticks into his Communion That 〈◊〉 having been condemned by the Council of Chalcedon Timotheus and Petrus who were of the â—â—me Judgment with that Heretick ought to be looked upon as subject to the same Coâ—… as also all those that are united with them so that it is not sufficient for Eupheâ—… to conâ—… 〈◊〉 and to declare himself Orthodox unless be condemn them who are of the same Sentiments or coâ—â—â—unicate with them That without this he can never come to a 〈◊〉 Reconciliation with him Euphemius had told him in his Letter That he was very ready to 〈◊〉 him in this Matter but he could not do it without offending the People of Constantinople and therefore desired him to send such Persons as he thought best of Whereupon Gelasius answers him That it is the Peoples Duty to follow their Pastor and the Pastor's to Govern his People and if his Flock 〈◊〉 not his Voice It will give less heed to another Pastor whom it suspects Lastly He cites him before the Tribunal of Jesus Christ where he says it will be known whether he be in the fault or no in so acting This is the Sum of Gelasius's first Letter The second is a Circular Letter to the Bishop of Illyria which contains a Profession or Declaration of his Doctrine wherein he condemns the Errors of the Eutychians and establisheth the Distinction of the two Natures He also tells them How joyful he was to see them follow the Sentence passed against Acacius by his Predecessor and pronounce Anathema against that Bishop The third is another Circular Letter to the Bishop of Dardania in which he exhorts them to condemn the Eutychians and all that communicate with them They satisfie him in their answer which goes before this Letter In the fourth Letter directed to Faustus the Ambassador of Theodoricus at Constantinople he complains of the Obstinacy of the Greeks in the business of Acacius and because they desired him to pardon him he says That he could not pardon a Man who died out of the Communion of the Church nor absolve him from his Excommunication after his Death because he had no Precedent for such an Action And whereas Euphemius had said That Acacius could not be condemned by the Bishop of Rome only he answers That having been condemned by the Authority of the Council of Chalcedon and his Predecessor having done no more but put the Decree of that Council in Execution he could not disallow of his Condemnation because it was not only permitted to the Bishop of the Holy Apostolick See but also to all Bishops to withdraw themselves from their Communion who embrace an Heresie condemned by the Church That it is to no purpose to object the Canons since the very Canons themselves refer the Examinations of the Appeals of all Churches to the Holy See so that there can be no Appeal from his Judgment That Timotheus Peter of Antioch Paul and several other Bishops had been condemned by the Authority of the Holy See only with the Approbation of Acacius himself who executed the Sentences against them Lastly He accuses the Greeks who alledged the Canons in defence of their Carriage of breaking the Canons and maintains That Acacius hath transgressed them in many Particulars The fifth Letter to Honorius a Bishop in Dalmatia was written by Gelasius about the News which he had heard That the Heresie of Pelagius was sprung up again in Dalmatia He exhorts that Bishop to oppose it vigorously This Admonition much surprized him and he could not but discover it to the Pope who answers him in his sixth Letter That he ought not to find fault with his Pastoral Care and Vigilance The seventh Letter is directed to the Bishop of Picenum Gelasius wrote it against an * Seneca Senex delirus Old Man who revived the Errors of Pelagius by teaching That there was no Original Sin That Children that die Unbaptized are not damned And that Man may be happy avoid Sin and do good without Grace which is bestowed on him for his Merits sake Gelasius having confuted these Errors at large accuseth this Priest also for permitting the Monks to dwell with the Consecrated Virgins and much condemns him for it For saith he if the Mind of those who have no converse with Women is often troubled with unclean thoughts what a deep Impression will the presence of Women make upon the Minds of them who see them continually Wherefore he forbids this abuse and threatens to punish those who shall hereafter tolerate it This Letter is dated Nov. 1. 493. The eighth Letter of Gelasius is addressed to the Emperour * Who succeeded Zeno. Anastasius After he hath excused himself for not writing to him before and declared what Zeal and Affection he hath to serve him he exhorts him to follow the Judgment of the Holy See by causing the Memory of Acacius to be condemned In this Letter there are many other things remarkable but nothing more than what he says concerning the Distinction between the Priesthood and the Royal Authority There are two sorts of Power saith he which exercise a Sovereignty over all the World the Sacred Authority of the Bishops and the Authority of Kings The Charge of Bishops is so much the greater because they must give an Account at the Day of Judgment of the Actions of Kings You know Sir that although you are Supreme and your Dignity excels all others yet you are obliged to submit your selves to the Authority of those that Minister about Holy Things That you require of them the Principles of your Salvation and ought to follow the Rules which they prescribe for the receiving of the Sacraments and disposing Ecclesiastical Matters For if the Bishops being perswaded that God hath given you a Sovereign Power over Things Temporal yield Obedience to your Civil Laws without opposing your Power in Temporal Matters with how great Reverence ought you to be subject in Spiritual Things to those who are set apart for the Distribution of the Holy Sacraments And if all the Faithful ought to submit themselves in general to all the Bishops which discharge their Office well with how much greater Reason ought they to yield to the Bishop of the Holy See whom God hath made the * First in Order Dignity not in Power or Sovereignty First among the Bishops and the Church hath always acknowledged him for such The ninth Letter to the Bishop of Lucania Samnium and Sicily contains many necessary Rules for the Ministers of the Church The Wars and Troubles of Italy had brought the Churches of that Country to such a miserable Condition that many of them had no Ministers in so much that they were forced to pass by the ordinary Forms and dispense with the strict Observation of the Canons But lest they should abuse
seek its own private advantage but aimed at the preservation of the Privileges of the Clergy and the Salvation of those that failed in that point Upon these grounds he gave power to this Archbishop for three years to absolve such of his Diocess who were guilty of this Crime as either for age or infirmity were not in a condition to come to Rome In the three hundred and eleventh he confirmed the Orders which had been made by the Bishop of Rennes commissioned by the Legate of the Holy See in regard to the Duty of the Abbot of Bourgueil and his manner of living namely that he should be obliged to eat in the Hall and sleep in the Dorter except he had some allowable excuse to assist in the Office to take the advice of his Chapter in Affairs relating to the House c. He appointed in the next Letter the Bishop and Dean of Rennes to see these Orders executed In the three hundred and thirteenth he determined That a Laick who had the Tithes in his hands might give them to a Monastry with the consent of the Bishop of the Diocess without having need of taking that of his Clergy too In the three hundred and fourteenth he confirmed a Judgment given between two Priests of Trevisi by a Cardinal whom he had commissioned for that purpose in a Suit which they had about a Benefice In the three hundred and fifteenth he order'd the Archbishop of Milan to give a Canon's place in his Church to Bonacausius a Clergyman of that City who had been sent on the part of this Archbishop to the Pope and had gained a Mandate about a Benefice in that Church In the three hundred and sixteenth he confirmed the Privileges of the Archbishop of Montreal The three hundred and seventeenth is an account of a long Case between the Abbot of Pegaw and the Bishop of Morsburg This Abbot being accused of many Crimes was called on by the Bishop to answer who passed sentence upon him for Non-appearance which was confirmed by the I egate of the Holy See To avoid the Consequences of this Sentence and without telling a word of what had passed he obtained a Grant from Pope Celestin which exempted him from the Jurisdiction of this Bishop Returning into Germany and there showing his Grant he was cited to the Court of the Emperor who had an account of it From thence he appealed to the Holy See and got Commissaries named In the mean time the Archbishop of Magdeburg having interdicted and having a mind to turn him out of his Abby too he was forced to put himself into the hands of this Archbishop who gave an arbitrary Sentence The Abbot not being pleased with this made his complaints to Rome and had Commissaries appointed not very favourable to the Bishop of Mersburg they made their Information it is carried to Rome the Affair is sent back again from thence to other Commissaries and at last made up by an agreement between the Parties Notwithstanding this the Abbot still applied himself to Rome and got two of the prime Judges appointed Commissaries the one of them gave his Information and the Bishop appeal'd from it The Pope gave them Commissaries and upon their report of the Case doth by this Letter confirm the decisive Sentence of the Archbishop of Magdeburg except what regarded the validity of the Privilege He revokes whatsoever is contrary to that and order'd that the Monastry should remain free and exempt from the Jurisdiction of the Bishop till such time as the matter could be fully tried By the following Letter he appoints Commissaries upon the place to inform of the matter In the three hundred and nineteenth he appointed the Archbishop the Dean and the Chanter of Lions to judg in a Case between two Archdeacons of Challon He there determin'd That a Man who hath been excommunicated for two causes and hath been absolved upon the score only of one remains still excommunicated In the three hundred and twentieth he warned the Clergy of Islande to take some order about the Disorders which reigned in their Country The three hundred and twenty first is written upon the same Subject and in the same Terms to the People of that Island In the three hundred and twenty second to the Archbishop of Otranto he determin'd That the Son of a Woman who passed for the Concubine and was afterwards declared the lawful Wife of a Man is Legitimate In the three hundred and twenty third he declar'd That a Deacon who had been deprived of his Benefice by an Abbot who was afterwards out of revenge without his knowledg killed by his Kindred and who out of sorrow for this accident turn'd Monk and forbore executing the Functions of his Order for two years might not only execute them but be also raised to the Priesthood if there was no other bar but his suspected Innocence In the three hundred and twenty fourth he wrote to the Bishop of Arras and the Dean of Cambray to put the King of France in mind of paying the Duke of Lorrain his Wife's Portion By the three hundred and twenty fifth he determin'd That a Girl who was not eight years old could neither contract Marriage nor make any Promise that could oblige In the three hundred twenty sixth he gave leave to the Bishop of Faience to remove to the Bishoprick of Pavia to which he had been elected There are very pretty things in this Letter about the spiritual Marriage of a Bishop with the Church his Spouse What is said in Scripture about the indissolubility of the carnal Marriage he presumes may be as well applied to the spiritual He adds that it should seem then as if it were not in the power of the Pope to break the spiritual Marriage of a Bishop with his Church and yet Custom which is the Interpreter of the Laws and the Holy Canons always gave full Power to the Holy See to which alone belong the placing the deposing and translating of Bishops wherein he sayeth the Popes do not exercise human Authority but that of Jesus Christ whose Vicars they are He takes notice that the Church of Pavia ought not to have elected but have asked for him Lastly he declared That he consents to this Translation only for the good which will thence accrue to the Church of Pavia In the three hundred and twenty seventh he confirm'd the Decree made by the Bishop and Chapter of Orense in Spain to admit of but six and twenty Canons In the three hundred and twenty eighth he recommended the Bishop of St. George to the Monks of Monte-Cassino that they might entertain him and supply him with whatsoever was necessary during his abode in their Monastry In the three hundred and twenty ninth he commissioned the Archbishop of Cagliari and two other Bishops of Sardinia to sit Judges in a Difference which was between the Bishop of Oristagni and his Chapter In the three hundred and thirtieth he gave in charge to
follow John XXIII but they would return to Rome and that the Cardinals who were of Constance were of the same Opinion Then the Cardinal of Florence declar'd That 't was true they had resolv'd in case the Pope would resign to defend him but if he would not they would abandon him and continue at the Council That having no certainty whether he would hold to the Resolution he had made they had always taken care to preserve his Honour but that they knew nothing of the Cardinals design to return to Rome In fine it was concluded That the Emperor might stop those who should endeavour to retire from Constance in a disguis'd Habit. The Decree made in these two Sessions concerning the Authority of the Council above the A Defence of the Câ—uncil of Constance concerning the Authority of a Council Pope did plainly decide the Question and subjected the Pope as well as to Faith as Manners to the Judgment of a General Council And this ought not to be understood only of a time of Schism or in case the Pope were doubtful but generally in all other Cases 1. Because the Words of the Council are general 2. They import that all the World even the Pope himself is oblig'd to obey the Council not only as to what concerns the extirpation of the Schism but also as to the Reformation of the Church in its Head and Members as well in Doctrin as Manners 3. Because they speak not only of this particular Council but of any other Council lawfully assembled 4. Because they contain general Penalties against all that should not obey the Council of whatsoever Dignity they were 5. Because they deduce the Authority of the Council above the Pope from its representation of the Church and from its Infallibility and this agrees to all general Councils at what time soever they were celebrated 6. Because the Council acknowledges John XXIII for lawful and undoubted Pope From all which it appears That there can be no place to doubt but this Decree was General The Authority of this Decree cannot any longer be disputed since it was made in full Council after the Matter was resolv'd upon by the Nations and with the unanimous consent of all the Fathers for the Protestation of the Cardinals did not concern this Article but had a particular Regard to the Person of John XXIII In fine all the Decrees of the Council of Constance being approv'd by John XXIII in the 12th Session and by Martin V. in the 44th and 45th without any exception it cannot be doubted but this which was one of the principal Articles was comprized in the general Approbation and consequently that it has the force of a Law And even in the Bull of Martin V. against the Errors of Wicliff there are Articles wherein this Decree is particularly referr'd to and in the 41st the Authority of the Universal Church is distinguish'd from that of the Pope and there it is ordain'd That the Universal Church or the General Council have a Sovereign Authority indefinitely whereas 't is only said of the Pope that he hath a Primacy over other particular Churches which amounts to the same thing with the Decision of the Council The 6th Session was held on the 17th of April and there an Instrument of Procuration was read which they would have Pope John XXIII to grant for renouncing the Papal Dignity and Deputies were nam'd viz. two Cardinals and two Prelats of each Nation to summon him to come to the Council that he might perform what he had promised or to name the Proctors whom the Council should appoint him for executing the Procuration whereof the Council had sent him a Model with a Power in case he should refuse to cite him to the Council One of the Deputies of the University of Paris read in this Session some Letters written in the Name of the University to the Pope and to the Nation of Italy wherein they exhort the Pope to return to the Council and voluntarily to resign the Pontifical Dignity The Deputies of the Council went to meet John XXIII at Fribourg in Swisserland whither he had retir'd and executed their Commission by summoning him to name Proctors for renouncing the Pontificate and declaring that otherwise the Council would proceed against him and Depose him He answer'd them sharply That he would send his Instrument of Procuration to the Council which he did But that which he sent was not judg'd sufficient In the mean time he propos'd divers Conditions which he desir'd they would engage to make good in case of Resignation viz. That he should be Legat a Latere to the Pope that should be chosen in Italy That he should have a Sovereign Power over the County of Bolonia and receive a certain Revenue from the Cities in it and that he should not be subjected nor oblig'd to give an Account of his Conduct to any Body The Council perceiving that John XXIII design'd nothing else but how to find out ways to avoid the Resignation and that he refus'd to come to the Council or give a sufficient Procuration began to proceed against him in the 7th Session held the 2d of May wherein it was resolv'd That John XXIII and his Favourers should be cited by a publick Proclamation to appear within 9 Days to answer to the Crimes of Heresy Schism Simony wasting of the Ecclesiastical Revenues and other Crimes whereof he was accused and it was ordain'd That his Flight from Constance should be declar'd prejudicial to the Church scandalous and odious to be a Means of disturbing the Union and Peace of the Church and confirming the Schism and to be contrary to his Promises and Oaths This Citation made the Cardinals return to Constance and the greatest part of the Officers of the Court of Rome who were at Schaffhausen or in the Retinue of John XXIII Frederick Duke of Austria seeing himself pursued by the Forces of the Emperor Sigismund who had invaded his Dominions return'd to Constance on the last Day of April He begg'd Pardon of the Emperor on the 4th of May in the 8th Session of the Council and promis'd him That he would make the Pope return to Constance and submit to all that he should be decreed by the Council on condition that no Violence should be offer'd to his Person or his Goods and consented to remain in the mean time an Hostage until the Pope should come to Constance or to any other place that the Emperor should appoint The remainder of this Session was spent in proceeding to the Condemnation of the Errors of Wicliff In the ninth Session which was held the 13th of May the Proctors of the Council demanded That in pursuance of the Citation which had been made to John XXIII and his Adherents the Process should go on against him and Commissioners should be nam'd to give Instructions for it The Cardinal of Florence rose up and said That the Pope had sent a Bull to the Cardinals in
another against the Alcoran A Book of Love and Friendship dedicated to the Queen of Castile and many other Works There are also attributed to him many Sermons Laurence Justinian a Noble Venetian Canon-Regular of St. George in Alga was made Bishop Laurence Justinian Patriarch of Aquileia of Venice in the Year 1435. by Eugenius IV. and advanc'd to the Dignity of a Patriarch by Nicholas V. He died in 1455. aged 74 Years and was Canoniz'd by Clement VII in 1524. He wrote many Books of Piety full of Unction whereof here follows the Catalogue The Tree of Life of Discipline and Spiritual Perfection of the Chaste Marriage of the Word and the Soul the Packet of Love of the Triumphant Combate of Jesus Christ of the Interiour Conflict the Complaints of Christian Perfection many Sermons upon the Festivals of Jesus Christ of the Virgin the Saints and the Eucharist A Treatise of a Solitary Life another of the Contempt of the World These Works were written before he was Bishop He wrote afterwards those which follow a Book of the Spiritual Death of the Soul two Books of his Spiritual Resurrection by the Operation of the Grace of Jesus Christ Mediator between God and Man Treatises of God and the Instruction of Prelats of Obedience of Humility of the Degrees of Perfection of inflaming the Divine Love and some Letters All these Works were printed at Basil in 1560. at Lyons in 1568. and at Venice in 1606. The Life of Laurence Justinian was written by his Nephew Bernard Justinian who was also the Author of a History Bernard Justinian Albert of Sarciano Vicar-General of the Friars Minors of some Sermons and many Letters whereof the Style is pure and elegant Albert of Sarciano a City of Tuscany a Man well vers'd in the Greek and Latin Tongues and in sacred and profane Learning Interpreter to the Council of Florence and Vicar-General of the Order of Friars Minors compos'd some Pieces which are well enough written but have not yet seen the Light whereof Vaddingus gives the following Catalogue in the Library of the Authors of his own Order A Treatise of Penance written in 1433. A Discourse upon the Eucharist spoken in 1422. A Discourse upon the Conditions of Friendship and the Malice of Envy Another Discourse to shew that the meanness of Extraction is no hindrance to Vertue Another about the Reprimands which should be given to insolent Persons made in the Year 1446. A Treatise address'd to Eugenius IV. against those who blame the Martyrs A Discourse spoken in the General Chapter of his Order held at Padua in 1443. Many Letters to Pope Eugenius and to Christophilus Bishop of Rimini Vaddingus has inserted some Fragments of these Works in the Fourth Tome of his Annals which discover the Excellency of his Wit and the Politeness of this Author who died at Milan in 1450. John of Anagnia a Civilian of Bononia Professor and Arch-deacon in that City flourish'd about the Year 1440. and died in 1455. He wrote Commentaries upon the Books of the Decretals John of Anagnia a Civilian printed at Milan in 1492. and 1497. at Lyons in 1596. not to mention his other Works of the Civil Law Francis de la Place a Civilian of Bononia wrote about the Year 1440. a Summary of the Mysteries of the Faith of Jesus Christ wherein he treats of Restitutions of Usury of Marriage Francis de la Place a Civilian of Ecclesiastical Censures of Excommunication c. printed at Padua in 1473. About the same time flourish'd John Felton an English-man Vicar of the Church of St. Magdalen in the Suburbs of Oxford who compil'd some Sermons for all the Sundays in the Year which are to be found in Manuscript in the Libraries of England Anthony de Rossellis of Arezzo Doctor in Law who was sent to the Council of Basil by Eugenius IV. and was afterwards Secretary to the Emperor Frederick III. is the Author of a considerable Antonius de Rossellis Doctor of Law Work entitled Of the Monarchy wherein he treats of the Power of the Emperor and the Pope viz. Whether the Pope has the Power of the two Swords and of the Authority of a Council according to the method of the Canonists 'T is a compleat Treatise wherein he decides an infinite number of Questions about the Ecclesiastical and Secular Power It was printed at Venice in 1483. and 1587. and is to be found in the First Tome of the Monarchy of Goldastus There are some other Treatises of Civil and Canon-Law written by the same Author in the Grand Collection of Treatises about Law St. Catherine of Bologne a Nun of the Order of St. Clare and Governess of the Monastery St. Catherine of Bologne of the Order founded at Bologne in honour of the Body of Jesus Christ wrote about the Year 1440. some Revelations that were made to her which have been printed at Bologne in 1511. and 1536. and at Venice in 1583. 'T is said that she wrote also a Rosary of the Mysteries of the Passion of our Lord and the Life of the Virgin and a Book of the seven necessary Weapons for a Spiritual Combate which have not been printed She died the 9th of March 1463. Leonard of Udine of the Order of Friars Predicant Professor at Bologne and Preacher to Eugenius IV. has left us many Sermons preach'd in divers places and printed many times in Leonardus de Utino a Dominican different places and in many Volumes a Treatise of the Common Places of Preachers printed at Ulme in 1478. and a Treatise of Laws at Venice in 1473. St. John Capistran a Disciple of St. Bernardin of Siena and of the same Order employ'd himself St. John Capistran as did his Master in Preaching under the Pontificate of Martin V. Eugenius IV. Nicholas V. and Callistus III. He was made General of the Croisade against the Fratriceâ—â—i and the Hussites burnt a great many Villages whither the former had retir'd defeated the Bohemians and with 100000 fighting Men succour'd Belgrade when it was besieged with the Turks He died the 3d of October 1456. aged 71 Years he was Beatified by Gregory XV. and Canoniz'd a little while after There are of his the following Treatises A Treatise of the Authority of the Pope and of a Council against the Council of Basil printed in the Collection of the Treatises of Law at Venice A Mirror of the Clergy or a Discourse to the Clergy spoken in a Diocesan Synod at Trent printed at Venice in 1580. together with an Instruction for Priests and an Apology for the third Order of St. Francis The Mirror of Conscience a Penitential A Treatise of Excommunication and a Treatise of Marriage in the Collection of Treatises of Law Some Treatises of the Civil Law and a Treatise of Usury and Contracts printed at Venice in 1583. and 1587. A Treatise of the Universal Judgment of Antichrist and the Spiritual War printed at Venice in 1578. This is
the 25th of December 1487 IV. XLVIII  1487.  Alexander of Imola died aged 54 Years 1488 V. XLIX  1488.   1489 VI. L.  1489. The Approbation of the Order of Nuns of the Conception of the Virgin Mary  Donâ—t Possius finish'd his Chronicle of the Archbishops of Milan The Death of John Wessel aged 57 Years James Picolomini died the 11th of December 1490 VII LI.  1490. A Conclusion of the Faculty of Theology at Paris about Contracts for Usury Another Conclusion of the same Faculty against a Superstitious Prayer Innocent VIII had a mind to impose Tenths upon the Clergy of France but the University of Paris oppos'd him and appeal'd from his Decree  John Pheffer Felinus Sandaeus Stephen Brulefer Vincent of Bandelle John Paleonydorus Oliver Maillard Michael Francis Nicolas Simon James Spinger Henry Institor Flourish'd 1491 VIII LII  1491.  John Picus of Mirandula Renounc'd his Sovereign Power and gave all his Estate to the Poor John de la Pierce Jerom Savonarola Aelius Anthony Lebrixa or Nebrissensis John Francis Picus of Mirandula Dominic Bolan James of Stralem Flourish'd The Death of Peter Shot at the Age of 31 Years The Death of James Perer and of Nicolas Creutznach 1492 The Death of Innocent VIII on the 25th of July Alexander VI. is chosen on the 4th of August I. LIII 1492.   William of Houpelande died the 11th of August and Nicasius of Voerde the 24th Hubert Leonard John of Milbach John of Roseau John Bertram Flourish'd 1493 II. The Death of the Emperor Frederick on the 19th of August Maximilian I. his Son succeeded him  1493. A Censure of the Faculty of Theology at Paris against Judicial Astrology Other Censures of the same Faculty against some Erroneous Propositions of Henry de Banqueville about the Incarnation and of John Grillot about the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Alexander VI. publish'd a Brief of Absolution for John Picus of Mirandula as to all the Prosecutions that had been against him upon the account of some Propositions he had advanc'd in his Theses  John of Keyserberg Sebastian Ticion or Brant James Wimphelinge Josse Beysselius Giles Netteler Theodorick of Osembruck Jerome of Padua Dominick Mancini Flourish'd 1494 III. II.  1494. The Nuns of the Conception quit the Rule of the Cistercians and take up the Rule of Sancta Clara.  Trithemius finish'd his Catalogue of Ecclesiastical Writers Nicolas Barian Flourish'd Bernardin of Tome died the 28th of September and John Picus of Mirandula the 17th of November 1495 IV. III. John II. K. of Portugal died without Issue on the 25th of Octob. Emanuel his Cousin-German the Son of Ferdinand his Uncle succeeded him  1495. A Censure of the Faculty of Theology at Paris against some Propositions about thè Essence of God  Laurence Buzel Flourish'd The Death of Gabriel Biel of Angelus de Clavalio and Robert Caraccioli 1496 V. IV.  1496.   1497 VI. V.  1497. A Censure of the Faculty of Theology at Paris about the sense of some Prophecies The same Faculty publishes its Decree about the Immaculate Conception A Censure of this Faculty against many Propositions of Morcel about the Blessed Virgin Mary  John Raulin a Doctor of Paris enters into the Order of Cluny 1498 VII VI. Charles VIII K. of France dies without Issue on the 6th of April Louis XII Duke of Orleans the next Heir of the Male Line succeeded him  1498. A Conclusion of the Faculty of Theology at Paris about the Power of the Pope and the Celebration of a Council A Censure of the same Faculty against many wicked Propositions of John Vitrier a Regular Observantine  Jerom Sabonarola is burnt at Florence the 23d of May aged 46 Years 1499 VIII VII  1499. The Condemnation of Herman Risvich who was Convicted of many Blasphemies  John Nauder or Vergehaus Arnold Bossius died the 4th of April The Death of Marsilius Ficinus A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE Ecclesiastical Writers OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY AND Of their Genuine WORKS PETER DE LUNA or BENEDICT XIII POpe at Avignon was chosen Pope in 1394 depos'd in 1409 in the Council of Pisa Excommunicated in the Council of Constance in 1417 died in 〈◊〉 His Genuine Works which we now have Are many Letters in Defence of his Right to the Papal Dignity in Theodoric of Niem and in the Councils An Answer to the Emperor Sigismund in Bzovius in the Year 1415. The Bull wherein he Excommunicates those who did own him in the Councils Tome 12. Five Letters in the Councils Tome 2. Some other Bulls and Letters in the Bullarium and the Annalists A Book of Consolation in Adversities which is attributed to him printed in Spanish A Treatise of the Power of the Pope and the Council which is said to be in Manuscript in the Vatican Library ANGELUS CORARIUS or GREGORY XII Pope at Rome was chosen Pope in 1409 depos'd in 1409 in the Council of Pisa resign'd in 1415 in the Council of Constance died in 1417. His Genuine Works c. Letters in his own Defence in the Councils Tome 11 and in Theodoric of Niem Other Letters Ibid. Tome 12 in the Annalists and Bullary PETER of AILLY Cardinal-Bishop of Cambray was born at Complegne in 1350 took the Degree of Doctor in the University of Paris in 1380 was made Bishop of Cambray in 1396 and Cardinal in 1411 died in 1425. His Genuine Works in Print and Manuscript See the Catalogue of them Pag. 58. JOHN CHARLIER call'd GERSON Chancellor of the University of Paris was born the 14th of December in 1363 made Dr. at Paris in 1392. and some time after Chancellor of the Church and University of Paris died in 1439. His Genuine Works which now remain A Treatise of the Ecclesiastical Power and the Origine of Right and Laws A Discourse spoken in the Council of Constance about the Authority of the Pope and the Council A Treatise entituled de Auferibilitate Papae Of the manner how we ought to behave our selves during the Schism A Treatise of the Unity of the Church of the Differences of Ecclesiastical States Maxims for all Estates The Signs of the approaching Ruine of the World Of Ecclesiastical Defects Three Discourses upon the means of putting an End to the Schism of the Popes Two Sermons upon the Circumcision of our Lord and the Peace of the Church A Discourse about the Schism to the Ambassadors of England A Trialogue about the Schism Two Letters about the Schism Sermons Preach'd at Constance while the Council was held there A Declaration of the Truths which we must believe A Protestation or Confession in Matters of Faith Characters of Obstiâ—acy in Cases of Heresie A Treatise upon the Question Whether it be lawful to Appeal from the Decision of the Pope in Matters of Faith Some Pieces about the Deposition of Peter de Luna A Treatise shewing whether the unjust Sentences of Pastors ought to be
whether a Man is Just or Unjust by the same A Treatise of the Conception of the Virgin by Henry of Hesse or of Langestein by Henry Arnold by Charles â—errand by Robert Gaguin by Vincent of Barndelâ—c A Conjecture about the last Times by Nicolas of Cusa Treatises by Cardinal John of Iurrecremata Censures of the Faculty of Theology at Paris against divers Errors Questions about the Merit of Jesus Christ by James Perez Decrees of the Councils of Constance and Basil against the VVicklefites and Hussites and the History of all the Transactions upon that occasion Commentaries upon the Book of Sentences and Sums of Theology A Commentary and Questions upon the Sentences by Peter of Ailly Cardinal A Commentary upon the Sentences and a Defence of the Doctrine of St. Thomas by John Capreolus A Commentary of Vorilong upon the Sentences An Abridgment of Theology entituled Vade Mecum by the same An Abridgement of Theology by Nicolas of Orbellis A Catalogue of the Opinions of the Master of the Sentences which are rejected at Paris and elsewhere by Henry Goricheme A Commentary upon the Book of Sentences by Denis Rickel The Marrow of the Sum of St. Thomas by the same A Commentary and Table by Gabriel Biel upon the Master of the Sentences A Commentary upon the Sentences and other Treatises of Theology by Stephen Brulefer Treatises upon the Discipline and Policy of the Church A Resolution of that Question Whether it be lawful for a Monk of St. Benedict to eat Meat in these Monasteries where it is usually done by Gerson A Treatise against those who affirm that by hearing Mass on a certain Day one shall never die a sudden Death by the same A Sermon about the Duty of Pastors by the same A Resolution of the Question Whether we should prefer the Prayers of a Devout Woman or Lay-man before the Prayers of Ecclesiasticks who are Sinners by the same A Rule for a Hermite of Mount Valerian by the same Divers Treatises upon Matters of Discipline by the same A Treatise against the New Festivals by Clemangis A Treatise against Simoniacal Prelates by the same A Mirrour of the Pope and his Court by Paul an English Doctor Rules to discern Mortal Sin from Venial by Henry of Hesse A Discourse of the Communion in both kinds by John of Ragusa A Discourse of Henry Kalteisen about Preaching the Word of God A Treatise of the Liturgy by Simeon of Thessalonica A Treatise of Gerson about the Communion in both kinds A Treatise of the Sect of Whippers by the same A Treatise of the Difference between Venial and Mortal Sins by the same The Art of hearing Confession by the same Other Questions about Confession by the same Other Questions about the Vow of Obedience Justification and Confession by the same A Treatise of Contracts which is publish'd under the Name of Gerson but which belongs to Henry of Hess or of Langestein A Treatise of Simony by Gerson Questions about Fundamentals by the same A Treatise of the Celibacy of the Ecclesiasticks by the same An Apology for the Order of Carthusians by the same A Treatise of a Spiritual Life by the same A Treatise of the Impressions which Men receive from God Angels and Devils by the same A Treatise to a Carthusian about the Behaviour of a Prior by the same A Theological Question about the Perfection of the State of Parish Priests compar'd with that of Regulars by the same A Treatise upon the same occasion of the Perfection of the Heart by the same A Letter from the same to the Abbot of St. Denis about the Relicks of that Saint A Treatise of the Marriage of St. Joseph and the Virgin by the same A Discourse of John of Polemar about the Temporal Dominion of the Clergy The Theological Works of Tostatus The Works of St. John Capistran A Sum of Confession by St. Antonine A Discourse about Communion in one kind by Nicolas of Cusa Letters to the Bokemians by the same Letters of Julian Caesarin about the Council of Basil and Discourses spoken at that Council Divers Treatises and Letters of Aenaeas Sylvius Treatises of James of Clusa or Junterbunk Many Treatises of John of Turrecremata Many Treatises of Giles Charlier under the Title of Sporta and Sportula A Discourse against the Bohemians by the same A Treatise of Festivals by Goricheme A Treatise of Superstitious Ceremonies by the same Treatises of Denis the Carthusian about several Points of Doctrine and Discipline A Book of the Ceremonies of the Church of Rome by Augustin Patricius Bishop of Pienza A Treatise of the Mounts of Piety by Nicolas Barian An Exposition of the Messe by Gabriel Biel. A Treatise of the Usefulness and Value of Money by the same A Treatise of the Eucharist by Rolwink de Laer. Treatises of Stephen Brulefer about the Poverty of J. C. and the Value of Messes An Apology for the Order of Friars Minors by the same Treatises of St. Bernardin of Siena Divers Works of John de la Pierre a Carthusian Treatises of Discipline by Jerome Sabonarola Decrees of Provincial Councils Censures of the Faculty of Theology at Paris against Gorel about the Hierarchy and against Sarasin A Censure of the same Faculty about the Observation oâ— Sunday Other Censures of the Faculty upon the same occasion Decision of the Faculty about the Rights of Parish Priests About Ecclesiastical Admonitions About the Hierarchy Treatises of Monastical Discipline by Vincent of Bandelle VVorks about the Church the Councils the Schism and the Hierarchy and Ecclesiastical Power Two Questions by Peter of Ailly about the Church A Treatise of the Authority of the Church and the Cardinals by the same A Treatise of the Reformation of the Church by the same A Sacramentale by the same A Treatise of the Form of chusing a Pope by the fame A Treatise of Ecclesiastical Power of Laws of the Interdict of a Council by the same A Treatise of Ecclesiastical Power and the Origine of Right and Laws by Gerson A Discourse spoken in the Council of Constance about the Authority of a Pope and Council by the same A Treatise ae Auseribilitate Papae by the same Of the manner how we ought to behave during the Schism by the same A Treatise of the Unity of the Church by the same A Treatise of the different Ecclesiastical States by the same A Treatise of the Defects of Ecclesiasticks by the same Three Discourses about the Means of putting an end to the Schism by the same Divers Treatises about the Schism by the same A Treatise upon this Question Whether it be lawful to appeal from the Sentence of the Pope in Matters of Faith by the same Some Pieces about the Deposition of Peter de Luna by the same Treatises about the unjust Sentences of Pastors viz. Whether they are to be observ'd and fear'd by the same Lectures upon St. Mark by the same Treatises of the Examination of Doctrines and Tryal of Spirits by the
this History is real and true But the manner wherein 't is related the Conversation that is held with the Devil the Prolixity of the Discourses of Job's Friends and of what Job himself delivered in his miserable estate ought to make us acknowledge that this History is mightily amplified and adorned with several feigned Circumstances to render the Story more useful and agreeable 'T is commonly believed that Job lived before Moses or at least in his time and that the History related in this Book happen'd during the time when the Israelites were in the Desert because there is not a Word spoken there about the Written Law Some there are who make Job to descend from Nahor the Brother of Abraham but yz others from Esan The last Opinion seems to me to be the most probable because 't is supported by the Authority of a very ancient Addition which is to be found at the end of the Greek Edition of the Book of Job Though the Psalms are commonly called The Psalms of David or rather The Book of the Psalms of David yet 't is certain as St. Jerome has observed in many places that they are not all of 'em his a a and that there are some of them which were written long after his Death 'T is therefore a Collection of Songs that was made by Ezrah It is a difficult matter to say who are the Authors b b and to distinguish those that were made by David from those that were composed by others But whoever were the Author 't is certain as Theodoret has judiciously observed that they were composed by Persons inspired by God and that they are cited under that Character both in the Old and New Testament c c The Authors of the following Books are better known the Proverbs or Parables belong to Salomon whose Name is written in the beginning of that Book The Proverbs of Salomon the Son of David 'T is observed in the 25th Chapter that the following Parables are still Salomon's but that they were collected by some Persons chosen by the King Hezekiah These are also the Proverbs of Salomon which the Men of Hezekiah King of Judah copied out The 30th Chapter begins with these Words The Words of Agur the Son of Jakeh which shew that this Chapter is an Addition made to the Proverbs of Salomon by one Agur as is easie to be proved because this Chapter is entirely separated from the rest and besides is written in another Style In short the last Chapter is entituled The Words of King Lemuel We ought therefore to conculde from what has been said that the 24 first Chapters are Salomon's Originally that the five following ones are Extracts or Collections of his Proverbs and that the two last Chapters were added afterwards The Book of Ecclesiastes is ascribed to Salomon by all Antiquity And yet the Talmudists have made Hezekiah the Author of this Book and Grotius upon some slight Conjectures pretends it was composed by Zorobabel It begins with these Words The Words of the Preacher the Son of David King of Jerusalem Which may be applied to Hezekiah as well as to Salomon But what is said of that Wisdom in several places which was peculiar to him and in the second Chapter of his Riches and Power determines that we ought rather to understand it of Salomon The Song of Songs that is to say a Song by way of Excellence is allowed to be Salomon's by the Consent of the Synagogue and the Church The Talmudists attribute it to Ezrah but without any Grounds The Book of Wisdom is commonly said to be Salamon's e e but this Opinion is not very probable For 1. This Book is not to be found in the Hebrew 2. It was never received into the Hebrew Canon 3. 'T is evident as St. Jerome has observed that the Style is extreamly different from that of Salomon and that it was composed by a Greek The same St. Jerome observes that it was commonly attributed to Philo which we are to understand of an older Philo than him whose Works we have However it appears plainly that it was composed by a Hellenist Jew who had a mind to imitate the Books of Salomon from whom he has borrowed abundance of Thoughts The Preface which is before the Book of Ecclesiasticus and the Fifth Chapter of that Book inform us that the Author thereof was a Jew named Jesus the Son of Syrach who composed it in Hebrew and which was translated into Greek by his Grand-Son St. Jerome tells us he saw in his time an Hebrew Copy of it f f Some of the Ancients attribute it to Salomon g g perhaps because of the resemblance of the Subject and the Thoughts which is so great that 't is visible he design'd to imitate him and that several Thoughts are taken from him The Books of the Prophets carry the Names of their Authors undisputed Isaiah is the first and most excellent of the Prophets He was the Son of Amos whom we are by no means to mistake for the Prophet of the same Name h h He Prophesied from the end of the Reign of Uzziah to the time of Manasses by whose Command they say he was cruelly slain and sawn asunder with a Wooden Saw i He himself collected into one Volume all those Prophecies which he delivered under Uzziah Jotham Ahas and Hezekiah Kings of Judah Besides these he wrote a Book of the Actions of Uzziah which is mention'd in the 2d of Chron. Chap. 26. Verse 22. Some Apocryphal Books are ascribed to him amongst others that famous one so often quoted by Origen and another intituled The Ascension of Isaiah which St. Jerome and St. Epiphanius mention and a later one likewise called The Vision of Isaiah Some have pretended that this Book of Isaiah which we have is only compiled out of the Works of Isaiah but the Conjectures which they bring to prove it are extreamly frivolous k k Jeremiah born in a Village near Jerusalem of Sacerdotal Extraction began to Prophesie about the end of the Reign of Josiah when he was very young and continued his Prophecies till after the Captivity of the Jews in Babylon He was not carried away with the other Jews into that City but tarrying in his own Country to lament its Destruction he was afterwards taken Prisoner and carried into Egypt along with his Disciple Baruch where as 't is commonly believed he was stoned to Death The Fathers think that he always lived in the state of Celibaâ—y We are told in the beginning of the 36 Chapter that King Jehoiachim having burnt the Book of his Prophecies this Prophet composed a new Volume larger and stronger than the former He afterwards added those Prophecies which he made till the Babylonian Captivity and those which he delivered in Egypt In the 50th and 51 Chap. he foretels all that was to come to pass in Babylon and these he transmitted thither by Saraiah the Son of Neriah The 52d Chapter does not belong to him for his
His mentioning the Destruction of Ninive makes some think that he lived in the Time of Sardanapalus under Jeash and Jehu which if it were so he wou'd be the most ancient of the Prophets Josephus is of Opinion that he lived in the Time of Jotham and that he foretold the Ruine of Ninive which happen'd many Years after the time of Josiah St. Jerome Theodoret and Theophylact say he Prophecied after the Captivity of the Israelites others say under Hezâ—kiah and some under Manasses The most received Opinion is that he Prophecied after the Captivity of the Ten Tribes by Shalmanezer before Sennacherib's Expedition against the Tribe of Judah which is foretold in the first Chapter of his Prophecy Nor have we any better Information either of the Country or time of the Prophet Habakkuk The Jews say that he Prophecied in the time of Manasses or Jehoiachim a little before the Captivity St. Epiphanius and the false Epiphanius make him Contemporary with Zedekiah and Jeremiah Others say he lived in Josiah's time St. Jerome in Daniel's confounding him with that Habakkuk who is mentioned by that Prophet The most probable Opinion is that he lived under the Reign of Manasses whose iniquities he seems to describe in his first Chapt. Vers. 13 and 14. and before the Expedition of the Chaldeans against the Jews which he foretells in the first Chapt. Vers. the 6th as well as their Destruction Chapt. the 2d Vers. the 3d. The time wherein Zephaniah Prophecied is exactly marked out to us in these Words at the beginning of his Prophecy The Word of the Lord came unto Zephaniah the Son of Cushi the Son of Gedaliah the Son of Amariah the Son of Hizkiah in the days of Josiah the Son of Amon King of Judah We don't know from what Country he came St. Cyril makes him to have been of Noble Extraction because he mentions his Ancestors Haggai and the two following Prophets Prophecied not till after the return of the Jews from the Captivity of Babylon It is said in the beginning of Haggai's Prophecy that it was written in the second Year of Darius tt the Son of Hystaspes and the sixth Month. Zechariah the Son of Barachiah Grand-Son of Iddo uu wrote his Prophecy in the same Year of Darius two Months after the Prophet Haggai as he himself has observed in the beginning of his Prophecy He is a different Person from that Zechariah of whom Isaiah speaks in his eighth Chapter xx and of him that was slain by the Command of King Joash between the Temple and the Altar 2 Chron 24. 20. Malachi whose Name in Hebrew signifies My Angel yy Prophecied since Haggai and Zechariah after the Rebuilding of the Temple For the two former exhort the People to build the Temple but he exhorts them to observe the Law and offer their Sacrifices with purity which does necessarily suppose that the Temple was already rebuilt Besides this the Disorders for which he reproves the Jews are the very same with those which Nehemiah lays to their charge which is a manifest Argument that they both lived in the same time Malachi is the last of the Prophets and as there was none other to succeed him till the coming of Jesus Christ so he concludes his Prophecy with an Exhortation to the Jews to observe the Law of Moses and wait for the great and dreadful Day of the Lord who should turn the Hearts of the Fathers to the Children and the Hearts of the Children to their Fathers All which clearly and expresly sets before us St. John Baptist and Jesus Christ. The two Books of the Maccabees were not written by the same Person as the sensible difference of the Style of the Chronology and the History sufficiently shew zz We don't know who is the Authour of the first 't is indeed very probable that it was Originally written in Hebrew and afterwards translated into Greek and Latin The second is an Abridgment or Epitome of Jason who was one of the Jews of Cyrene as it appears by the Preface of that Book which begins Chap. 2. Vers. 23. It is preceded by two Letters of the Jews at Jerusalem to the Jews inhabiting Egypt added by the Author of this Abridgment which he has made with a great deal of Liberty These two Books are called The Books of the Maccabees from the Name of Judas the Son of Mattathias Sir-named Maccabeus because he had placed in his Banner the first Hebrew Letters of the Words of a certain Sentence in Exodus aaa which being joyned together make that word These two Books contain the History of the Jews under the Government of the Greeks from the Reign of Alexander to that of Demetrius Soter whch comprehends the space of Forty Years or thereabouts and they conclude an Hundred and Thirty Years before the Coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ. NOTES a THere is no Paradox more dangerous than the Opinion of those who have presumed to deny that the Pentateuch was composed by Moses I have already observed in the first Edition that this Paradox was started by Rabbi Aben Ezra because he is the first that raised these Objections which have occasioned some Persons to believe that Moses was not the Author of the Pentateuch and though he durst not openly declare his Opinion in this Matter yet he expresses himself after such a Manner that it will evidently appear that he was not heartily perswaded that the Pentateuch was written by Moses For in his Explication of these Words in Deuteronomy Behold what Moses said to the Israelites that were beyond Jordan he not only makes use of this passage to shew that this Book was not Moses's but he musters up the most terrible Objections he could raise for this purpose You will know the Truth says he if you comprehend the Mystery of the Twelve Moses wrote the Law The Canaanites were then in the Land In the Mountain of the Lord it shall be seen Behold his Iron Bed Words which allude to some passages in the Pentateuch and which he uses to prove that it was not written by Moses And 't is principally upon the Authority and Reasons of this Rabbi that Hobbs Pererius and Spinosa established their Doctrine when they publickly maintain'd that the Pantateuch was not written by Moses To these Authors we may add Monsieur Simon who has wrote a Book called A Critical History of the Old Testament I was not willing to name him in the first Edition of this Volume though I took occasion then to confute his Reasons but since he has been pleased to declare that he was the Person whom I meant in a Letter to Monsieur Labbe a Doctor of the Faculty he ought not to resent it as an Injury if I attack him by name and endeavour to shew that his Hypothesis about the Books of Moses is a rash and dangerous as Spinosa's Monsieur Simon lays down his Opinion in the first Chapter of the first Book of his Critical History p. 3. of Leer's
Therefore they have been always much esteemed by the Greeks as being of great Authority Joannes Antiochenus who lived in the time of the Emperor Justinian hath inserted them in his Collection of Canons and they are commended by Justinian himself in his sixth Novel They are in like manner approved in the Synod that was holden in the Imperial Palace after the fifth General Council cited in the seventh Oecumenial Council and allowed by St. Joannes Damascenus and Photius but with this difference that the first who was no great Critick attributed them to the Apostles and the other that was more quick-sighted in these matters doubted whether they belonged to them However they have not always met with the same Reception among the Latins Cardinal Humbert hath rejected them and Gelasius hath placed them amongst the Apocryphal Books as well because they were falsely ascribed to the Apostles as because he found among them some Canons that authorised the opinion of St. Cyprian concerning the Baptism of Hereticks Hinchmar favourably explains Gelasius's Notion declaring that he did not insert them among those Books that were Apocryphal and full of Errors but only in the number of those with respect to which this Rule of St. Paul ought to be observed Try all things and hold fast that which is good Dionysius Exiguus hath translated the first 50 and hath prefixed them to his Collection taking notice however that some Persons would not acknowledge them and perhaps this is the reason that Martinus Braccarensis would not admit them into his Collection of Canons but Isidore hath made no difficulty to afford them a place in his and ever since they have been always accounted as a part of the Canon Law It is further to be observed that as soon as they appeared in France they were generally well received there and were first urged in the cause of Praetextatus under the Reign of King Chilperic wherein their Authority was allowed as we are informed by Gregorius Turonensis in the fifth Book of his History Chap. 19. where he takes notice that there was an Appendix added to the Collection of Canons which contained certain Canons as being writ by the Apostles quasi Apostolicos and cites one of them which is the 25th Apostolical but according to a different Version from that of Dionysius Exiguus Lastly Hinchmar Bishop of Rheims observes that they were annexed to the beginning of a Collection of Canons compiled for the use of the Church of France separately from the others and as for their Authority and Antiquity he is altogether of our opinion which he explains in these words in the 24th Canon The Canons says he that are called Apostolical collected by some Christians were written in a time when the Bishops could not freely assemble together nor hold Councils they contain many things that may be allowed but they likewise establish others that ought not to be observed I cannot say the same thing of the Apostolical Constitutions as I have done of the Canons viz. that they are not supposititious but that in process of time a false Title happened to be attributed to them for the Author of the Constitutions is an Impostor that endeavours every where to pass for Clement a Disciple of the Apostles and who imputes to them all in general and to every one in particular divers Ordinances that are in no wise consonant to the Apostolical ones such are those concerning Churches built in the form of Temples Catechumens Energumens Fasts Liturgies Unction 〈◊〉 for the 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 The Ordination of Deacons and Deaconesses Virginâ— Confessors 〈◊〉 The 〈◊〉 of Oyl and Water The First-Fruits of Tyths Festival Days the Celebration of Easter 〈◊〉 many other things that were not practised in the time of the Apostles not to mention a great number of Absurdities and Mistakes of time together with some Errors that are contained 〈◊〉 g A great number of Absurdities and mistakes of time together with 〈◊〉 Erâ—â—â— that 〈◊〉 contained therein As in Book 1. That the Beards of Women ought to be shaved and not those of Men. In Book 2. Chap. 1. That all Bishops ought to be 50 years old In Chap. 57. it is ordained That the Gospel according to St. John should be read which was not written until the 97th year of our Lord after the death of the Apostles In Chap. 1â— the Author asserts That the Bishop presides over Kings and Magistrates and in Book 3. Chap. 2. That third Marriages are an Intemperance and the fourth a manifest Debauchery In Book 6. Chap. 6. mention is made of the Ebionites whose Errors sprang up after the decease of the Apostles In the 14th Chapter James the Son of Zebedee is introduced as present at Jerusalem after the time of his death In Book 8. Chap. 4. it is declared That the Constitutions were made in the presence of St. Paul and the Seven Deacons now it is certain that St. Stephen one of the said Seven Deacons died before the Conversion of St. Paul In Book 1. Chap. 32. Female Slaves are permitted to suffer themselves to be deflowred by their Masters Moreover this Author is accused of Arianism which evidently demonstrates beyond contradiction that these Constitutions were not composed by Apostles and 〈◊〉 that they do not belong to St. Clement as we shall shew more at large in discoursing concerning the Works oâ— this Father where we shall likewise endeavour to discover at what time they were forg'd I shall add nothing concerning the Nine Canone that are also attributed to the Apostles and are reported to have been made by them in a certain Council of Antioch unknown to all Antiquity because there is no question but that they are fictitious neither are they at present maintained by any h Neither are they maintained at present by any This Synod is unknown to St. Luke and to all the ancients for although it is said to be cited by Innocent I. Ep. 18. it is a mistake since he only mentions the Council of Jerusalem and whereas it is written Antiochenam Ecclesiam quae meruit apud se celeberrimum Apostolorum Conventum The Church of Antioch which deservedly had the most famous Convention of the Apostles celebrated there it ought to be read propter se near that City for it is apparent that this Pope spake concerning the Synod of Jerusalem which was the most famous Convention of the Apostles Moreover not so much as one of the ancient Authors makes mention of these Canons and indeed they are altogether absurd It is said in the first that the Christians were called Galileans a name that was not attributed to them until after the death of the Apostles In the third Canon it is decreed that the Christians should live Anagogically a harsh and insignificant Term. In the 9th Canon the Synagogue is called Belluine and in the 8th it is ordained that there should be Images in the Churches a practice that was not in use in the time of
pray'd for the Food of the Soul The 16th Discourse of St. Gregory Nazianzen is a famous Oration of the Love of the Poor and of Poverty He wrote it particularly in favour of the Poor in the Hospital which St. Basil had built in Caesarea and he spoke it at some solemn Festival about the Year 363. He shews in this Discourse that the Love of the Poor and Poverty is a most excellent Vertue After this he describes in a most pathetical manner the miserable State of the Poor and Sick He proposes very pressing Motives with a great deal of Eloquence for touching the Heart of the Rich and inclining them to assist the Poor and Sick and he urges with much clearness and strength the most convincing Reasons for perswading them that they are oblig'd to it He concludes with saying that Alms-giving is not only a Duty of Piety but oâ— Necessity that it is not only a Counsel but also a Precept The 17th Discourse is about some Differences that happen'd at Nazianzum between the People and the Governour St. Gregory appeases the People in the first part of this Discourse and exhorts them to submit without fear to the Orders of the Governour and in the second part he speaks to the Governour with a wonderful Frankness to incline him to Mildness and Clemency He tells him that he should not take it ill that he spoke to him with freedom that the Law of God subjects him to the Commandment of his Bishop For says he the Church has an Authority of her own which is far Greater and more Excellent than that of Princes unless you will subject the Spirit to the Flesh and Heaven to Earth He adds that he did not doubt but he would take in good part the Liberty wherewith he spoke since he was one of the Sheep of his Flock I will not therefore says he make a long Discourse You Command by Jesus Christ 't is by him that you exercise your Authority 't is he who has given you the Sword that you carry but he has not given you so much Power for any other end but to terrify the Wicked and threaten them with Punishments Take care then that you preserve this Trust with purity You are the Image of God but so are all Men in some Sence They are all your Brethren have compassion on them imitate the Mercy of God join Mildness with Terror temper your Threatnings by giving some hopes many times Men compass their Designs better by Gentleness than by Violence He uses many other Arguments of this nature to mollify the Wrath of this Governour whose Threatnings had frightned the People of Nazianzum At last he says that if these Reasons did not move but still he should want some more powerful Motive that he would take the boldness to offer him Jesus Christ and those Mysteries of Salvation which he communicated with the same Mouth with which he now desired this favour In short he conjures him to grant this Favour to the Church of Jesus Christ and to consider that God will treat him after the same manner as he shall treat those who are subject to his Dominion This Discourse is a Master-piece of Eloquence which seems to have been recited in the Year 372. The 18th Sermon is the Panegyrick of St. Cyprian the Martyr There are in this Panegyrick some things that relate to the Life of St. Cyprian Bishop of Carthage as what concern'd his Studies his Learning his Accomplishments his Banishment and his Death But there are other Circumstances which cannot agree to him as when he observes that he of whom he speaks was a Senator who made Love to a Christian Lady of Quality call'd Justina that he would have made use of Magick to corrupt her but this Lady having recourse to Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary to be deliver'd from this Persecution the Devil entred into the Body of St. Cyprian who was not dispossess'd till his Conversion 'T is certain that this Accident and some others which St. Gregory Nazianzen relates in this Discourse happen'd not to the Bishop of Carthage And yet he does expresly declare that he of whom he speaks was Bishop of that City It must therefore be owned that St. Gregory compos'd this Panegyrick out of some false Memoires wherein these Circumstances were added to adorn the Life of this Holy Martyr by a pleasant Story Howsoever St. Gregory greatly values this History and bestows many Praises upon the holy Martyr whom he designs to commend He says that his Ashes wrought abundance of Miracles and he exhorts his Hearers to honour this Saint by their Vertues and their good Works He concludes with a Prayer which he addresses to him wherein he desires his Assistance and Protection for governing his Flock and conducting those of whom he had the Charge This Discourse seems to have been written when St. Gregory was Coadjutor to his Father that is to say about the Year 372. The 19th Discourse of St. Gregory Nazianzen is a Funeral Oration upon his Father which he spoke in the presence of his Mother and St. Basil. He addresses his Speech to St. Basil after this manner You cannot be come to Nazianzum but for Three Reasons To see us to Visit the Flock and to provide a Pastor for it You will satisfie the first by your good Offices in comforting us with a Funeral Oration wherein you may celebrate the Vertues of my Father and at the same time shew us that we must despise this Mortal Life and look upon Death as an assured Harbour which shelters us from the Storms and Tempests of this Mortal Life Thus you may comfort us But how will you comfort this Flock You may do it First by promising that you will take upon you the care of Governing it Secondly by showing that we are not abandon'd by this good Pastor and by perswading us that he is with us that he is here present that he still watches over his Flock that he takes care of it protects and defends it For I do not doubt they are his own words but he being now much nearer to God does a great deal more for his Flock by his Intercession than he did upon Earth by his Teaching After this he gives an Account of his Father's Life and makes a Panegyrick upon his Vertues Neither does he forget those of his Mother Nonna whom he comforts towards the end of his Discourse by letting her see that she ought not to value this Life nor fear Death and by promising to assist her all the rest of her Days It seems that all St. Gregory's Brethren were dead and that he was left alone There are many remarkable things in this Oration of St. Gregory but chiefly what he says of his Father's Celebrating the Eucharist tho' he were sick and that one day when he was in his Bed he consecrated the Elements which were upon the Altar before the People repeating as little of the Prayers as he could and that
The Second the Polemical The Third the Orations Epistles and Sermons and the Last the Commentaries upon the Old and New Testament These Four Tomes make Two Volumes This Edition was many times re-printed at Basle and once at Paris by Chevallon in 1529. The Edition of Erasmus being full of Faults Johannes Costerius a Regular Canon of Lovainâ— took the Pains to Correct the Text of St. Ambrose by many Manuscripts and caused it to be printed a new at Basle in 1555 by Episcopius At last Gillotius having gathered together a much greater Number of Manuscripts caused the Works of St. Ambrose to be printed at Paris by Merlinus in the Year 1568. This Edition tho' more correct than all the rest was little minded and in a manner wholly eclipsed by the Reputation of the Roman Edition which followed soon after Cardinal Montaltus who was afterwards Sixtus V. desiring to purchase a Reputation among Learned Men undertook it while he was but a Cordelier and General of his Order and caused Four Volumes of it to be published when he was Cardinal in 1579 1580 1581 and 1582 which he Dedicated to Gregory XIII The 5th and 6th appeared under the Pontificate of Sixtus V. in 1585 and 1587. This Edition was after that the Pattern and Original which was follow'd in the Edition at Paris begun in 1586 and in all the other following Editions which are very numerous 'T was believ'd that a Book publish'd with so much ostentation valued so much by the Publisher printed in so fine a Character and with so much care must needs be very correct and perfect and yet this Edition has many essential Defects which disfigure it The first and most considerable is that the Roman Correctors took the liberty to change cut off and add what they thought fit tho they had no ground to do so from the authority of any Manuscript They carried it so far as that they did not content themselves with changing those Terms which appear'd to them harsh and substitute others according to their fancy but they also blotted out or added whole Lines and Periods which made a perfectly new Sence and altogether different from the Authors as may be seen by comparing the ancient Editions and the last with this Roman Edition Secondly They have inserted into the Commentaries the whole Text of the sacred Books which hinders the reading the Commentary of St. Ambrose without interruption Thirdly The Order which they have observ'd in ranging the Books is not natural They have placed some Letters amongst the Treatises upon the Holy Scripture they have separated Books that ought to follow one upon another as the Complaints of Job and David whereof one is placed in the First Tome and the other in the Second they have joined together some Treatises which should be separated they have rank'd the Letters in a very inconvenient Order In a word by too much refining they have corrupted all as Faber says in a Letter to Fronto Ducaeus where he observes the Faults of the Roman Edition of St. Ambrose I have found says he to him that nimis fuere ingeniosi in alieno opere as in the Books De interpellatione sanctorum Job David which they have separated and placed the one in the First Tome and the other in the Second to do which they were forc'd quaedam interpolare minime probabili exemplo They have done the same in priore Apologia David and in the Second that which is yet worse for because it is said in the 8th Ch. that the History of David with Bathshebah is not a History which shows that this Book is none of St. Ambrose's but some Origenists who Allegorizes almost all the Bible as also it seems by the reading of it to be collected and made up out of Two or Three Sermons they have taken away Five or Six Lines which are found in all the ancient Editions Fourthly They have made a particular Class of some supposititious Books and yet they have left a great number of them amongst St. Ambrose's Genuine Works There are some of them whose Forgery is so manifest that they cannot be pardoned such as the Books de Arbore interdicta de dignitate hominis de Vocatione Gentium the Epistle ad Demetriadem in Symbolum Apostolorum and many others They must be very ignorant who believed that these Books were written by St. Ambrose and very impudent who left them among his Genuine Works when they had a Design to make a distinct Class of those that were supposititious In short the Authors of this Edition have made no Notes or mark'd in the Margin any different Readings they have only added at the end the Theological and Scholastical dissertations of one Ferdinand Wellofillus which are a Collection of common Places and Passages of the Fathers upon different Questions which are of no use at all for understanding the Text of St. Ambrose Now to commend the Edition of the Benedictines I need only say that they have avoided all the Faults of the Roman Edition For First they prescrib'd it to themselves as an inviolable Law that they would put nothing into the Text which should not be approved by the authority of one or more Manuscripts and they have chang'd nothing without acquainting us with the Manuscript upon whose authority they did it Secondly They have taken out the Text of the Bible and left the Commentary of St. Ambrose continued after the same manner as he compos'd it excepting only the distinction of Chapters which is a great ease to the Reader Thirdly The Order which they observed in ranging the Books is plain and natural Besides this they have noted the Chronology of each Discourse and rang'd the Letters according to the order of their Dates Fourthly They have not placed any Book that is manifestly supposititious among those that are Genuine They have only left among them the Second Apology of David and the Books of the Sacraments because many learned Men believe them still to be St. Ambrose's tho' it is very probable that they are not Lastly they have prefix'd to every Chapter most useful Arguments wherein they discover the time of each Work and give the Contents of it They have also placed at the bottom of the Pages such Notes as contain not only the different Readings of the Manuscripts but also very useful Explications of difficult places in the Text whose Sence they have discovered by the most diligent Enquiries with all possible exactness without diverting to Questions which are of no use for understanding the Text of their Author All which give us occasion to say That this Edition of the Works of St. Ambrose is as perfect as it can be and comes no ways short of the late Edition of St. Austin St. EPIPHANIUS ST EPIPHANIUS was born about the Year 332 in a Village of Palaestine near the City of Eleutheropolis and pass'd his Youth in the Monastick Discipline with St. Hilarion Hesychius and St. Epiphanius
of the Church built there 255. JESUS CHRIST His Divinity 44. Images defaced by St. Epiphanius at Anablatha Incarnation of JESUS CHRIST Explication of that Mystery 5. 7 8. 44. 47. 111. 149. 170 171. Its Causes and Effects 9. 43. Instantius a Priscillianist 190. 275. Joy of a Christian in Afflictions 151. Ischyras a false Priest His History 29. Ision a Meletian Bishop 29. Italy Council of Italy in 362. against the Synod of Ariminum 266. Ithacius or Idacius Bishop A Spanish Author Enemy of the Priscillianists 191 192. Judgment Last In what place it will be made 75. 77. Judgments Ecclesiastical 249. 257. 278 279 c. Julian the Apostate Succeeds Constantius and concerns not himself in the Affairs of the Christians 31. Sends an Order to Alexandria to drive St. Athanasius thence and what followed thereupon 31 32. Declaration against Julian 162 163. St. Julitta Her Martyrdom 151. Julius Bishop of Rome Assembles a Council at Rome and declares St. Athanasius innocent 51. His Judgment in favour of that Saint 30. 40. History of the Life of this Pope 51. His Writings ibid. His Letters upon the Incarnation and his Decretals supposititious 52. Death ibid. Just. Of the State of their Souls between their Death and the last Judgment 165. Justina an Arian Persecutes St. Ambrose 200. 223 c. Justinian Emperor Become Master of Italy Treats the Popes hardly 18. Justinian the Younger Causes Pope Sergius to be banished 19. Juvencus a Christian Poet. His Life and Writings 20 21. K. KIngs Respect and Obedience due to them 39. 41. 91 92. Ought not to meddle with Matters of Faith 41. 224 225 226. Ought to protect Religion 222. L. LAmpsacus Council there in 365. under the Emperors Valens and Valentinian 266. Laodicea Council celebrated between 360. and 370. the Canons of it received by the whole Church 268 c. St. Lawrence History of his Martyrdom 207. A good Action of his ibid. Law of the Jews but for one Nation 6. Leo Isauricus Would have killed Pope Gregory II. 19. Leontius Governor of Rome puts Pope Liberius in Prison 19. Liberius Bishop of Rome Successor to Julius 60. Imprisoned by Constantius 18. Letter to the Bishops of the East attributed to him is not Genuine 60. Maintains the Party of St. Athanasius with Vigour 61. Therefore banished ibid. He signs the Condemnation of St. Athanasius approves an Heretical Profession of Faith 62. and c. Returns to Rome and changes his Opinion 63. Defends St. Athanasius and the Faith of the Church ibid. His Death ibid. and d. Letters and Writings ibid. A Judgment upon this Bishop ibid. Liberty of the Christian Religion where first allowed 12. Licinius Emperor of the East Loses a Battel against Constantine in Pannonia 12. Second Battel in Thrace between them ibid. Publishes Edicts against the Christians and persecutes them ibid. Overcome at the Siege of Nicomedia throws himself at Constantine's Feet who gives him his Life ibid. Put to Death afterwards by Constantine at Thessalonica ibid. Longinus first took upon him the Quality of Exarch or Vice-Roy of Italy 18. Lord's Day Celebration of the Lord's Day 12. 14. f. 17. 26. Not to fast on it 203. Succeeded the Jewish Sabbath 45. Lucifer Bishop of Calaris Deputed by Pope Liberius to Constantinople 79. Assists at the Council of Milan and vigorously defends St. Athanasius ibid. His Constancy and Steadiness causes his Exile ibid. Genius and Writings ibid. Unadvisedly ordains Paulinus Bishop of Antioch 80. Separates from the Church ibid. Judgment upon his Style ibid. Subject of his Writings ibid. Lucilla a Lady of Carthage her History 89. Lucius Bishop of Alexandria an Arian Author of some Letters touching the Feast of Easter and of some Books upon several Subjects 106. Ludovicus Pius Son of Charlemaigne Sends Bernard to Rome and why 19. Luitprandus King of the Lombards 19. M. MAcarius Priest of Alexandria Defends St. Athanasius before Constantine 29. Accused of breaking a Chalice ibid. The Macarii How many of them 55. Their Works 56 57. Rules attributed to the Macarii 58. Maccabees Their Panegyrick 167. Macrobius a Donatist Priest Author of a Book addressed to Confessors and Virgins 53. Magick Canons against Magicians 269. Mamas Martyr His Panegyrick 156. Marcellus of Ancyra Wrote against his Brethren and why 3. i. 6. Life Fortune and Actions 50. St. Athanasius always defended him ibid. Fragments of his Works ibid. Judgment upon his Doctrine ibid. Refutation of his Errours 6. Marcellus Bishop in Campania Sent by Pope Liberius to the Council of Arles 61. Marcellinus Bishop of Rome Never sacrificed to Idols Marcellina St. Ambrose's Sister 210. Marriage Not forbidden 47 110. Canons against Marriages forbidden by the Laws See St. Basil's Canons of Penance 140. and c. In what manner married Persons ought to behave themselves 110. Marriage between Brother and Sister-in-Law forbidden 137. 140. Divorce 237. Polygamy forbidden 197. Of the Marriage of Children under the Power of their Parents 142. 229. Second and Third Marriages 140 141 142. Marriage with Infidels forbidden 223. Martyrs History and Commendation of the Forty Martyrs 156. Martyrs may be saved without Baptism 110. Matter not Eternal 5. Matronianus a Priscillianist 190. Maxentius Tyrant Destroys Rome afterwards Conquered by Constantine 11. Maximus Philosopher of Alexandria 186. His Panegyrick 167. Procures himself to be Ordained Bishop of Constantinople 160. His irregular Manners 169. His Writings 186. Meletius His Life Ordination and Actions 187. Melitius Author of the Sect of Melitians condemned by Peter of Alexandria 26. 242. Melitians Schismaticks 28. and f. Judgment of the Council of Nice concerning them 251. Melitine Synod there about the Year 357. 265. Metropolitan His Authority and Rights 257. 269. 277. 278. Ought not to assume the Quality of Prince of Priests or Sovereign Priest 278. Messiah Came into the World for all Mankind 6. Milan Council there in 346. To find means of terminating the Differences between the Bishops Another Council in 355 under Pope Liberius Another against Jovinian 390. Monks Institution of Monks 53. Precepts and Instructions for Monks 124. 156. A good Description of Monks anciently 164. Of their Habits and of the Austerity of their Life 165. Might be Ordained Bishops 45. Musculus a Protestant His Translation of Eusebius's History what 4. Mysteries hidden from Catechumens and Pagans 48. N. NArses Count. Delivers Italy from the Tyranny of the Barbarians 1. Nature Not Evil of its self 59. Nectarius Bishop of Constantinople His Death 195. A Judgment upon this Author ibid Neocaesarea Council there in 314. 248. Canons 248 249 c. Nice in Bithynia History of the Council of Nice and Circumstances concerning it 2. 7. 12. 15. 23. 250 c. The Nicene Creed the only Rule of Faith 42. Nicephorns Callistus composed an Ecclesiastical History and when 4. Put many uncertain and Fabulous Stories into it ibid. Nisibis a City of Mesopotamia 49. Nismes Council held in that City in the Time of St. Martin 275. Nonna Mother of St. Gregory Nazianzen 166.
of Cirta was a Traditor 3. He urges all the Determinations that had been made against the Donatists 4. He confesses That there may be wicked Men in the Church and urges against the Donatists the Dissentions between the Primianists and the Maximianists The 54th and 55th Letters to Januarius are mentioned in St. Augustin's Detractations where they are placed among the Books that were written about the Year 400 They contain several very useful Decisions about Church-Discipline He layeth it down at first as a Principal Matter That Jesus Christ whose yoke is easie his burthen light hath instituted but few Sacraments the observation whereof is as Easie as the Wonders which they represent to us are Sublime Such is Baptism the Communion of his Body and Blood and other things which the Scripture enjoyns us to observe excepting those that belong to Moses's Law But as to those that are observed by Tradition being not written if they be universally observed we ought to look upon them as settled either by the Apostles themselves or by General Councils whose Authority is very great in the Church as the Annual Celebration of the Passion Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ and of the coming of the Holy Ghost and of other things of this Nature which are generally observed through the whole Church As to those that are variously observed in divers places as Fasting upon Saturdays which is practised in some places and in others not Communicating every Day or only upon certain Days offering daily or only upon Sundays and Saturdays There is a Liberty for those Things and for all others of the like Nature And there is no better Rule for a Wise and Prudent Christian than to follow what he seeth practised in the Church where he is For what is clearly seen to be neither against Faith nor good Manners ought to be indifferently received and the good of a Society requireth That Men should hold to what they find established among those with whom they live He gives an Account of what he had heard St. Ambrose say in that case and having laid down this Rule as the Ground of all that he was to say he speaks particularly of frequent Communion That some believe That it is good to Communicate daily but to do it more worthily certain Days are to be set apart in which they live after a purer and more reserved manner Others on the contrary judge That when Men are not Guilty of those Sins for which Penance is enjoyned and themselves forbidden to come to the Communion of the Body of Jesus Christ that they ought to come daily to the Eucharist as a Remedy to preserve them still He reconcileth these two by adding a third Advice in which he exhorts them both to Peace and leaves it to every one to act according as he shall be guided by the light both of Faith and of Piety since neither of them Profane the Body of Christ but on the contrary strive to honour it He proposes the Examples of Zacchaeus and the Centurion whereof the one presently received Jesus Christ with Joy into his House and the other judged not himself worthy that he should come under his Roof Secondly St. Augustin saith That a Traveller ought to observe the Customs of the Place where he is and not require those of his own Country Thus when a Man comes into a Country where they Fast upon Thursdays in Lent he ought to Fast with them though they Fast not in his Country for fear of disturbing the Peace by unprofitable Disputes These Principles being laid down he answereth Januarius his Questions The First is about the Hour of Offering upon the Holy Thursday Whether it should be done in the Morning or in the Evening Or Whether we ought to Fast and not to Offer till after Supper because it is said That it was after Supper that Jesâ—â— Christ took Bread or whether we ought not to Sup till the Offering be over St. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That this is one of those things which are neither settled by Scripture nor 〈◊〉 observed throughout the Church and so every one is to follow the Custom of his own Church there being nothing of either side inconsistent either with Faith or Good Manners and that Alterations though Useful in themselves cause Disturbances That Christ's Example is no Law in this case otherwise the whole Church is in an Error to enjoyn the receiving the Eucharist fasting which the Apostles first received after Supper but that since it seemed good to the Holy Ghost out of reverence to so great a Sacrament that the Body of Jesus Christ should be received into Christian 's Mouths before any other Meat and therefore this Custom is observed throughout the World And yet some others believing upon good Grounds That for a more exact Commemoration of Christ's Death it was convenient to offer and receive once a Year upon Holy Thursday after Eating This Custom can no more be Condemned than that of Bathing upon that Day neither are they to blame that Fast and Bathe not wherefore the Sacrifice is offered twice once in the Morning for these last and once in the Evening for the first In the Second Letter to Januarius which is the 5â—th St. Augustin goeth on to treat of the Ceremonies of the Church Shewing Why Easter is always celebrated after the Fourteenth Day of the Moon in March Why Christ would rise again the Third Day and the next Day after the Sabbath What signifieth the Day of Christ's Crucifixion and that in which his Body remained in the Grave and that of his Resurrection Why Lent is kept before the Resurrection Why the Holy Ghost came down the Fiftieth Day after the Resurrection with many other things whereof he gives Mystical Reasons very edifying and very proper to shew how both our Saviour's Death and Resurrection ought to operate upon us He adds several things concerning the Ceremonies of the Church He observes That Lent is kept throughout the whole Church as well as the Solemnity of the Holy Days which were designed for those that are newly Baptized That the Custom of Singing Hallelujah from Easter to Whitsuntide is not general because though it is Sung every where at that time yet in some Churches it is Sung at other times also As to the Praying Standing at the same time he durst not affirm it to be an universal Custom The Washing of Feet was not constantly used every where He approves of Singing in the Church though it was not universally established He Condemns those that introduce new Customs if they are useless and deolares how much he is troubled to see those Wholesome Things neglected which the Church prescribes and that all is full of Humane Institutions He affirms That endeavour should be used to abolish all sorts of things which are neither Expressed in Scripture nor Enjoined by Councils nor Confirmed by the universal Practice of the Church but are done after different manners according to the difference of
of Arles In the Year 465 the Church of Rome had the Honour to be consulted by Ascanius Bishop of Tarraco and other Bishops of his Province who wrote two Letters to Hilary about two important Matters which fell out in their Countrys They speak in both of them with a great deal of Respect and Submission to the Holy See In the first having told him that they resorted to him as to the Successor of St. Peter whose Primacy ought to be feared and loved by all Christians Cujus Vicarii principatus sicut emineâ— est â—etueâ—dus 〈◊〉 omnibus â—mandus to receive found Answers from a place where things are not judged of ernoâ—â—ouâ—ly or with prejudice but after a truly Episcopal deliberation I say after this compliment they tell him that Silvâ—â—â—s Bishop of Calaguris which is a City of their Province farthest distâ—nt from the Metropolis â—â—d ventured to ordain a Bishop in a certain City against the Consent of the People and 〈◊〉 take a Priâ—st of another Bishop and make him Bishop against his Will That the Bishop of Casarâ—â—gusta had opposed these his undertakings and had caused the Neighbouring Bishops to separate from him but that had not reduced him he continued in his Obstinacy and Schism Whereupon they desire the Pope to Command them what he thought fit to be done by them upon this occasion that being assisted by his Authority and Counsel they might know how they ought to deal with the Bishop who ordained and the Bishop who was ordained The 2d Letter from the same Bishop is about another business it begins also with a Compliment to the Pope and goes on with a Request which these Bishops made to him to confirm the Choice which they had made of Bishop Irenaeus to fill up the See of Barcino which was vacant by the death of Nundinarius They shew him that they followed the judgment of his Predecessor in so doing who had named him for his Successor and had also the approbation of the People and Clergy and that they had considered the good of that Church They added that they had complained to him sometime since of the attempts of Sylvanus but had received no Answer and therefore desired him to give them an Answer of all together These Letters being delivered to him at the time when he had assembled the Bishops at Rome for the Anniversary Solemnity of 〈◊〉 Exaltation he read them in a full Counsel and the Bishops discovered by their Acclamation and Consent that they condemned the actions of Sylvamis and did not approve of the Ordination of Irenaeus because it was performed contrary to the Rules of the Church 1. Because it was never allowed any Bishop to choose his Successor 2. Because Irenaeus being Bishop of another Church could not be Translated to Barcino This being decreed after this manner the Pope wrote two Letters one to Ascanius and the Bishop of the Province of Tarrraco and the other particularly to Ascanius in which he declares pursuent to the Judgment of his Colleagues and the determination of the Canons that Sylvanus had offended in celebrating Ordinations without the Authority and consent of the Bishop of Tarraco h's Metropolitan that Irenaeus ought to relinquish the Church of Barcino and that Ascanius ought to ordain some other Person every way fitly qualified for that See That as to those Bishops thâ—t had been ordained without his Consent he might let them alone if they have not been twice Married or have not Married a Widow That he should take special Care that there be not two Bishops in one and the same Church That he ought not to ordain any ignorant or lame Person no more than those that have done Penance That he ought not to hearken so much to the Prayers of the People as to depart from the Will of God or the Laws of the Church to please them Lastly he subjoyns that if Irenaeus will not quit the See of Barcino he deserves to be wholly deprived of the Episcopal Dignity This Council was held in the Month of November Anno. 465 and the Popes Letters are Written at the end of December in the same Year Ingenuus Bishop of * Ambrun Ebreâ—â—umim who was present at this Council of Rome reminded Pope Hilary that what he had ordained at the Request of Auxanius in the Council held Anno. 462. and confirmed in another in 464 was prejudicial to the Metropolitical Right which he claimed in the Province of the Sea-Alpes The Pope respecting this his Remonstrance wrote to Leontius Veranus and Victurus French Bishops to regulate this matter according to the Laws of the Church and the Constitutions of his Predecessor not having regard to those Declarations which have been obtained of him fraudulently when they are found opposite to the Holy Canons and Decrees of his Predecessors Wherefore he confirmed the Metropolitical Right of the Bishop of Ebredunum and Ordained that what had been Decreed by St. Leo touching the Bishopricks of Cemele and Nice should be exactly observed So that it was the Ambition of the Bishops that gave the Popes an Opportunity of Greatning their own Authority every day and making them subject to him by favouring the Pretensions sometimes of the one and sometimes of the other The Style of Pope Hilary is not so florid as St. Leo's but it is Elegant and easie to be understood He was very knowing in the Laws and Discipline of the Church and enlarged his Authority to make them observed As we have not observed the Common Order of his Letters but placed them according to time it is convenient to compare Ours with the Ancient as in this Table I. The Letter to the Empress Pulcheria Written Anno. 451. In the Acts of the Council of Chalceâ—… Part 1. Chap. 24. II. The Letter to Victorius Written Anno. 456. At the beginning of Victorius's Paschal Cycle The Ancient Figures III. The Letter to Leontius Bishop of Arles Written Jan. 25. Anno. 462 V. IV. Another Letter to the same Person Written a little after VI. V. A Third Letter to the same Person about the affair of Hermes Written Nov. 3. Anno. 462. VII VI. A Letter to the Bishops of the Provinces of Vienna Lyon both Narbonns and the Paenine-Alpes upon the same Subject Decem. 3. 462. VIII VII A Fourth Letter to Leontius about the business of St. Mamertus Oct. 10. 463. IX VIII A Letter to the Bishops Victurius Ingenuus Idatius c. about the same business February 24. 464. XI IX A Letter to the Bishops of the Provinces of Vienna Lyon both Narbonns and Alps upon the same Subject Written sometime after the former X. X. A Letter to the Bishops of the Province of Tarraco about the Ordination of Irenaeus dated January 3. 465 II. XI A Letter to Ascanius Bishop of Tarraco upon the same Subject Written at the same time III. XII A Letter to Leontius Veranus and Victurus about the business of Ingenuus Bishop of Ebredunum Written in the same year IV. SIMPLICIUS
that Faelix used his Sentence remained without Execution nor did he write again to the Emperor so long as Acacius Lived but after his Death he thought he had gotten a favourable Opportunity to have his Sentence Executed Flavitus who was ordain'd in his place hoping to be united to the Holy See wrote to Faelix a Letter wherein he much extolls the dignity of the See of Rome and made profession of the Orthodox Faith The first thing that the Pope did before he received them to his Communion was to demand of them whether they Condemned Acacius and Peter Since they refused to do it he declared to them that he would not receive them to Communion unless they would promise him never to recite the Names of Acacius and Petrus in the Holy Mysteries The Deputies of Flavitus having answered That they had no order about that the Pope resolved to write to Zeno and Flavitus to obtain of them to grant them what he demanded The Letters are the 12th and 13th He did all he could to defend himself against the reproaches which might be cast on him by acting in this matter with Authority Rigour and Resolution He assures them that he carried himself so only to perform his Duty and do nothing against his own Conscience He tells them that he desired nothing so much as a Re-union with the Church of Constantinople and that the two Romes should be at a perfect agreement but Union could never be obtained by violating the Laws of the Church That the Council of Chalcedon having condemned Eutyches and Dioscorus he could not without contempt of its Authority receive Timotheus and Petrus who were of the same Opinions and that Acacius having received Peter into his Communion after he had himself Condemned him had shewed himself so great a Dissembler that he deserved the same Punishment That Peter had manifested no signs of Conversion but thô he had done it he ought not to be acknowledged as a Bishop but only received as a Mere Laick These are the principal Matters which Faelix wrote in these two Letters which are the most Eloquent that ever were Written by any Pope He had commanded them a little before by his 14th Letter written during the Vacancy of the See of Constantinople to Thalassius Abbot of the Monks called Acaemetae at Constantinople who where entirely Devoted to the Holy See not to receive the Bishop of Constantinople nor any other into their Communion that were not received by the Holy See 'T was also certainly in the same Vacancy that he wrote the 15th Letter to Bishop Vetranio in which after he hath spoken of the Division of the Church of Constantinople and Rome and shewed that it was only in Obedience to the Council of Chalcedon that he hath condemned Acacius that he might not seem to joyn with the Hereticks as he had done He desires him to use his utmost interest with the Emperor to gain his consent that the Names of Acacius and Petrus might be blotted out of the Catalogue of Bishops and by this means the Churches of Constantinople may be re-united These four Letters are dated in the Year 490. We have not spoken of the three Letters in Greek and Latin written about the Affair of Petrus Fullo who usurped the See of the Church of Antioch of which two were sent to that pretended Bishop and the other to the Emperor being of the Opinion of the Learned M. Valesius that these three Letters were forged by some Greek as well as the other Letters written to Petrus Fullo under the Name of several Bishops and produced as some pretend at the Council of Rome held under Foelix in 483 recited in the fourth Tome of the Councils Pag. 1098 c. For 1. All these Letters were written Originally in Greek and since translated into Latin as it appears by the Style which is Barbarous as well as because there are two different Versions of them 2. All these Letters are in the same Style although they were written in the Name of the Bishop of different Countries 3. They are written in a way unworthy of the Bishops of that time Those that are attributed to Foelix differ much from the Letters of that Pope The Sentence which he pronounces against Petrus Fullo is ridiculous 4. The Names of the greatest part of the Bishops which write to Petrus Fullo are unknown for who ever heard of Faustus of Apollonia of Pamphilus of Abydos of Asclepiades of Trall◠of Antheon of Arsinoë of Quintianus of Ascalon and Justin of Sicily Why should these Bishops of private and inconsiderable Churches undertake to write to Petrus Fullo Have we any Examples like it 5. 'T is not true that Petrus Fullo was condemned in a Synod of Constantinople and another at Rome in 483. He had been so under Pope Simplicius but since we have nothing spoken of him He did not begin to re-establish himself again till 484. when Calendion was deposed and therefore 't is not likely that they would condemn him without Necessity I believe also That the two Forms of Citation to summon Acacius which are supposed to have been given to Vitalis and Misenus in the Council of Rome held in 483. are a Forgery for it appears by the first Letter of Foelix to Acacius that when he sent Vitalis and Misenus he had no design of calling Acacius to Rome and of proceeding against him He expected only that he should free himself from the Accusations drawn up against him by Letter and he required nothing else but that he would do what he could with the Emperor to make him deprive Petrus Mongus not knowing that he had received him to his Communion Lastly I am perswaded that the Letter supposed to have been written by the Council of Rome against Acacius to the Clergy and Monks of Bithynia is also a supposititious Piece It hath given occasion to M. Valesius to maintain That there was in that Year two Councils held at Rome against Acacius and two Excommunications pronounced against that Bishop the one in a Council of 67 Bishops held July the 28th and the other in a Synod of 42 Bishops held August the first following 'T is true that so much is intimated in that Letter but this is the thing that makes it suspected because these two Condemnations are spoken of in no place else Nevertheless if this second Condemnation were true Foelix would certainly have mentioned it in those Letters that he wrote afterward against Acacius both in his Life-time and after his Death He that with so much Diligence sought out all the Reasons which could be brought against Acacius would he have forgotten the Authority of the second Synod Would he have passed over this second Condemnation 'T is so much the less credible because it is founded upon a new fault for having say they deposed Calendion and put Peter Fullo in his place Would Foelix have neglected to have urged this Reason for the Condemnation of Acacius being so
she be poor and orders him to send the Inventory which he shall make to the Metropolitan In the Tenth they declare the Sons of Clergymen who were obliged to Celibacy uncapable of Inheriting The six following Canons are concerning Ecclesiastical Persons or such as are made free by the Churches and are not now in use The Seventeenth and last lays an Obligation upon the Jews who are newly converted to be present on their ancient Feast-days in the Towns and Assemblies of Christians kept by the Bishop They conclude with making pious Wishes for King Receswinthe They appoint the next Council on the 1st of November following This Council is signed by Eugenius of Toledo and 15. Bishops by 3 Abbots by the Deputy of a Bishop and 4 Lords Therefore we ought not to wonder that these Councils should make Laws about Political Matters because they are properly Assemblies of the States authorized by the Prince in which the Civil Authority was joyned to the Ecclesiastical Power Council X. of Toledo in 656. THIS Council was held a Month later than it had been appointed It made seven Canons Council X. of Toledo In the 1st the Festival of the Virgin was appointed to be kept eight Days before Christmas By the 2d the Clerks or Monks which shall be found to have violated the Oaths taken to the King and the State are deprived of their Dignity yet so as that it shall be free for the Prince to restore them to it if he thinks fit By the 3d Bishops are forbidden to give Parochial Churches or Monasteries to their Kindred or Friends to enjoy the Revenues of them In the 4th it is ordered That Women who have embraced the state of Widowhood ought to make Profession of it in Writing before the Bishop or the Presbyter to take the Habit of it to keep it on always and to wear a Veil of a Black or Violet Colour The 5th decrees that those who leave the Habit of Widowhood after they have worn it shall be excommunicated and shut up in Monasteries The 6th orders That those Children whom their Parents caused to take the Tonsure or the Religious Habit shall be obliged to lead a Religious Life That nevertheless Parents cannot offer their Children before they be ten Years old and after that Age the Children's Consent is necessary The last Canon contains an Advertisement to disswade Christians from selling their Slaves to the Jews There was presented to this Council a Confession in Writing from Potamius Bishop of Braga who was accused of many Crimes They brought him before the Council he owned that Writing declared himself deeply guilty of those Faults and said that nine Months since he had relinquished the Government of his Church and shut himself up in a Prison to do Penance The Council being informed that he had had the carnal Knowledge of a Woman they declared That although according to the Ancient Rules he was to be wholly degraded and deprived of his Dignity yet out of compassion they left him the Title and the degree of a Bishop but they would have him to do Penance all his Life-time and they did chuse Fructuosus Bishop of Dumes to govern the Church of Braga in his room This Decree is put after the Canons of the Council and to it is annexed another Decree disannulling the Bequests of a Will made by Recimer Bishop of Dumes to the Prejudice of his Church This Council is subscribed by 3 Metropolitans Eugenius of Toledo Fugitinus of Sevil Fructuosus of Braga by 17 Bishops and 5 Bishops Deputies A Conference held in Northumberland in 664. THE chief occasion of this Conference related by Beda l. 3. c. 25. of his History was the Dispute about Easterday Colman maintained the Practice of the Britains and Wilfride A Conference in Northumberland that of the Râ—… King 〈◊〉 was present at it Wilfride founded his Practice upon the universal Custom of the Church which kept Easter on the same Day excepting the Picts and the Britains Colman would have defended their Practice by the Authority of S. John But Wilfride shewed him that he did not agree with this Apostle who kept Easter without staying for the Sunday which they did not follow seeing they staid till the Sunday next after the fourteenth Moon That they did not agree with S. Peter neither for this Holy Apostle kept Easter between the 15th and the 21st Moon whereas they would keep it from the 14th to the 20th so that they did sometimes begin this Feast at the end of the thirteenth Moon Colman alledged for his Defence the Authority of Anatolius Columba and the Ancients of his Country Wilfride answered That they did not agree with Anatolius who made use of the Cycle of nineteen Years which they were strangers to because that Author's Opinion was not that Easter was necessarily to be kept before the 21st Moon but that he had mistaken the fourteenth Moon for the fifteenth and the twentieth for the twenty first As to Columba and his Successors he would not condemn them that he was persuaded they might be excused for their Simplicity in a Time when no Body was able to instruct them But as for them they could have no Excuse if they refused the Instructions given them However that Columba's Authority was not to be preferred before S. Peter's to whom Christ gave the Keys of the Church and said Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church The King struck with these last Words ask'd Colman if it was true that Christ said so to S. Peter Column having confessed it was true the King said That seeing S. Peter was the Door-keeper of Heaven he would not contradict him but would obey his Statutes This Decision was approved by the Company Colman and his Men withdrew refusing to yield to the Practice of the Romans about the keeping of Easter and the Tonsure about which there was also a Contest Men take such delight in Disputes about small Things Council of Merida Concililium Emeritense THIS Council made up of the Bishops of the Province of Portugal was assembled by the Order of King Receswinthe in the Year 666. After having prayed for the King Council of Merida they recited the Creed with the addition of the Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son Then they decree That on Holy Days they shall say Vespers in their Churches before they sing what they call the Sound that is the Venite exultemus which is thus called because it was sung with a loud sounding Voice In the third Chapter they ordain That whenever the King shall go to the Army the Bishops shall offer every Day the Sacrifice and put up prayers for him and his till his Return The decree in the fourth That Bishops after their Ordination shall give a Writing whereby they shall bind themselves to a chaste sober and honest Life The Metropolitans were to send this Writing to the Bishops of their Province and the Bishops
those shall be reconciled who desire Penance being in Danger of Death and that Commemoration be made of those and their Oblation be received who die after they have been admitted to Penance by the Imposition of Hands tho they have not been reconciled The 13th forbids those who are possessed by the Devil or stirred with violent Motions to wait on the Altar or to come near it to receive the Sacraments Yet those are excepted who fall down out of Weakness or Ilness without any other Symptome The 14th orders That there shall always be some Body assisting to the Priest whilst he is singing the Service or celebrating the Holy Sacrifice to the end that if he should fall ill another might take his Place The 15th renews the Constitutions about the holding of Councils The Council concludes with Wishes for the Prosperity of King * 〈◊〉 Bamba Wamba It is subscribed by the Archbishop of Toledo by 16. Bishops 2 Deacons Bishops Deputies and 7 Abbots Council IV. of Braga THE same Year and under the same King was held a Council in Braga The Bishops having recited the Nicene Creed with the Addition of the Holy Ghost's proceeding from the Father and the Son do condemn some Abuses which had crept into the Celebration of the Council IV. of Braga Holy Mysteries Some offered Milk others Grapes instead of Wine some gave to the People the Eucharist dipt in Wine Some Priests would make use of the Sacred Vessels to eat and drink in others said Mass without a Stole on Some hung about their Necks Relicks of Martyrs and then made themselves to be carried about by Deacons with their AAbes on Several Bishops companied with Women and some misused their Clerks Simony was a common thing They made Canons against all those Disorders By the 1st they forbid offering Milk and Grapes in lieu of Wine and dipping the Eucharist in the Wine The 2d prohibits putting Sacred Vessels and Ornaments to prophane and common Uses By the 3d it is ordered That Priests shall celebrate the Holy Mysteries with a Stole only which shall cover their Shoulders and go down cross-wise over the Stomach By the 4th Ecclesiastical Persons are forbidden to dwell with a Woman excepting their Mother only but not their very Sisters nor any other near Relations The 5th declares It belongs to the Deacons to carry the Relicks of Martyrs and that if the Bishop will carry them he shall go afoot and not be carried by the Deacons The 6th forbids Bishops to cause the Priests Abbots or Deacons under him to be beaten The 7th prohibits Simony and for that purpose renews the Canon of the Council of Chalcedon The last forbids Bishops to take more Care of their own Patrimony than of the Church's and if this happens to be embezel'd by their Negligence whilst the other is improved they shall be bound to make up the Loss out of their own This Council is signed by 8 Bishops Council XII of Toledo THIS Council was held in 681 under King * al. Ering Ervigius The Metropolitans of Toledo Sevil Braga and Merida were present in it together with Thirty Bishops Four Abbots Council XII of Toledo Three Bishop's Deputies and several Lords King Ervigiâ—s came to it at the beginning of it and withdrew after having made a short Speech to the Council He left them a Memoir wherein he exhorted them to absolve the Guilty to reform Manners to re-establish Discipline to renew the Laws made against the Jews to procure the Restoration of those who had been Degraded by vertue of a Law of his Predecessor for not bearing Arms or for laying them down He directs his Speech to the Bishops and the Lords that these Laws being made by the unanimous consent of both Spiritual and Temporal Authority they may stand firm and be put in execution The Council having according to the custom made a protestation that they did receive the Faith of the first Four Councils and recited the Creed approves Ervigius's Elevation to the Throne and Wamba's Deposition who had withdrawn himself by taking a Religious Habit shaving his Head and chusing King Ervigius to Reign in his stead and causing him to be Consecrated by the Sacerdotal Unction It is very remarkable that the Fathers of this Council do not depose King Wamba nor chuse Ervigius of their own accord But after having seen the Declaration which that Prince had made in Writing and Signed in the presence of the Lords whereby he had made profession of the Religious Life and got his Hair cut and that whereby he desired that Ervigius might be chosen King and the order he had given to the Bishop of Toledo to Consecrate Ervigius with the usual Ceremonies and the Verbal Process of that Consecration Signed by Wamba they join their consent to Wamba's and approve of what he hath done and consequently declare that Ervigius ought to be owned for their lawful King and in that Quality to be Obeyed upon pain of Anathema The 2d Canon binds those who receive Penance in the extremity of Sickness and when they are not Sensible to lead a Penitent Life if they recover Yet they will have the Priest to give Penance to those only that desire it they give the instance of Children's Baptism to shew that Penance may be given to those who are not sensible The 3d ordains That those that have been Excommunicated for some Crime against the State shall be restored when the Prince taketh them into his favour again or they have the Honour to Eat at his Table In the 4th The Bishop of Merida having represented that King Wamba had constrained him to Ordain a Bishop in a Country-Town and assayed to do the same thing in other places They recited the Canons forbidding to Ordain Bishops in Burroughs or to put Two in the same City by vertue whereof they declared that the Ordination of him whom Wamba caused to be Ordained was irregular But seeing it was not out of Ambition that he had been Ordained but by the Prince's express Orders they out of mere favour granted him the next vacant Bishoprick and they make a general Inhibition to Ordain Bishops in places where there were none before The 5th Forbids Priests to Offer the Holy Sacrifice without Communicating because some of those who Offered it many times in one Day would not Communicate but at their last Mass. The 〈◊〉 〈…〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈…〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arch-Bishop of Toledo to 〈◊〉 〈…〉 〈◊〉 King 〈◊〉 〈…〉 to the Rights of Provinces and upon condition that within 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after hâ—s Ordination he shall present himself â—… The 7th declares That whereas King Ervigius intends to moderate the Law made by his Predecessor 〈◊〉 against them that had not taken Aâ—… it was their Opinion that such persons had a Right to bear witness and were not to be rejected as infamous By the 8th 〈◊〉 are forbidden to leave their Wives except for Adultery The 9th Reneâ—… several Constitutions against the Jews
* Offa the King of the Mercians the English King together with Charles's Commissioners and he intimates to him That he does not believe that Offa hath suggested any thing against Charles XLIV He appoints Litanies to be said for 3 Days together in all the West for the happy Conversion of the Saxons wrought by Charles 57. He tells him That the Greeks have put out the Eyes of Maurice Bishop of Istria because of his faithfulness to the Church of Rome He prays Charles to order the Duke of Aquileia to get him restored 75. He acquaints him That he with all his Clergy and Monks pray to God to grant him the Victory against the Agarenians The 95th is directed to Egila who had been ordain'd Bishop and sent into Spain by Vulcharius for accepting a Mission without having any particular See He commends his Zeal and exhorts him to follow the Usage of the Roman Church in the Saturday-Fast In the 96th directed to the same Bishop and to John a Presbyter he exhorts them to a Conformity to the Usages of the Roman Church He confutes the practice of the Spanish Churches which put off Easter to the 8th Day when the 14th Moon fell on Saturday He reports a long Passage of S. Fulgentius about Predestination He condemns some Errors about Free-will and the Relicks of Priscillianism and reproves some Abuses Afterwards he was displeased with Egila for teaching some Errors and neglecting his Ministery The 77th Letter is directed to all the Bishops of Spain In it he treats of Felix and Elipandus's Error 2. Of the keeping of Easter 3. Of Predestination 4. Of the Obligation to abstain from Blood 5. Of the Commerce and Marriage with Pagans and Jews and of the Women that marry again during the Life of their first Husband Flodoard mentions a Letter of this Pope to Tilpin Archbishop of Rheims in which having described the Disorders that had happen'd in that Church He confirms to him the Right of Metropolitan or Primate and grants him the Priviledge of not being judged but by a Canonical Judgment and by the Pope if in the very Judgment he did appeal to the Holy See This Letter seems doubtful to me Adrian gave to Charlemagne the Code of Dionysius Exiguus of whose Canons there was a Summary made bearing unfitly the Name of this Pope Some attribute to him a Collection of 72 or 80 Capitula's which they suppose him to have given to Ingilram Bishop of Mets or Ingilram to have presented them to him for both these are found in the Manuscripts It contains 72 or 80 Articles of Ecclesiastical Judgments for the most part taken out of the Ancient Canons Popes Letters and the Theodosian Code but some Additions are made to them favourable to the Pretensions of the Court of Rome This piece was forged when the false Decretals were made and perhaps by the same Author They talk also of a Priviledge granted by this Pope to the Monastery of S. Denys wherein it is permitted them to have a Bishop But this also is visibly supposititious PAUL Deacon of Aquileia PAUL Deacon of Aquileia called Winfrid after the Name of his Family Son of Wartifred and Theodolinda was Secretary to Desiderius the last King of the Lombards This Paul of Aquileia Prince being taken An. 774. by Charlemagne and his Kingdom utterly destroyed Paul the Deacon fell into the Conqueror's Hands who used him very civilly But his ties to his Prince having brought him into a suspicion of some Conspiracy he was banished into an Island of the Adriatick Sea called Diomedea from whence he escaped to Anchis the Duke of Beneventum Desiderius's Son-in-law and a little after made himself a Monk in Mount-Cassin where he died in the beginning of the 9th Century This Author wrote * This History hath been printed by it self at Augsparcy 1515. at Eaâ—il 1532. at Hamburg 161â— the History of the Lombards divided into 6 Books They do more-over falsly attribute to him an Abridgment of the Roman History drawn out of several Authors For tho' he made an Addition to Eutropius's Epitome he is not the Author of that Collection which is rather Anastasius's the Library-keeper He abridg'd the History of the first Bishops of Metz which Abridgment is found among the Historigraphers of France and in the last Edition of the Bibliotheca Patrum Tom. 13. The first times of this History which he brings up to the Apostles are altogether fabulous He made this Writing as he tells us himself Ch. 16. B. 6. of his History of the Lombards at the request of Ingilram Bishop of Metz. He composed also in particular the Life of S. Arnulphus Bishop of Metz which is found among Bede's Works There is a relation of S. Cyprian's Martyrdom under his Name which is found at the beginning of this Father's Works of Pamelius's Edition They published moreover under his Name the Lives of S. Benedict S. Maurus and S. Scholastica Sigebert assures us he wrote the Life of S. Gregory the Great which was printed in the last Edition of that Saint's Works Besides they ascribe to him a Commentary upon S. Benedict's Rule which is not printed There be some Hymns and Homilies both Manuscript and Printed bearing his Name It is thought That S. John's Hymn Ut queant laxis c. is his Lastly he composed by Charlemagne's order a Book of Homilies or Lessons gathered out of the Holy Fathers for all the Festival days of the Year This Book was printed at Spire An. 1472. by Peter Drach with a Letter of Charlemagne at the beginning of it declaring That this Work was composed by Paul the Deacon by his order * 14â—2 Dr. Cave F. Mabillion hath printed this Letter and some Extracts of the Commentaries of the first Homilies because the Edition of Spire is grown very scarce CHARLEMAGNE THE Emperor CHARLEMAGNE may be rank'd among the Latin Ecclesiastical Authors as well as Constantine among the Greeks For he did not only labour in the re-establishing Charlemagne the Church-discipline but moreover he made several Laws wrote Letters and caused some Treatises of Ecclesiastical Matters to be composed Charlemagne's Laws about Ecclesiastical Matters are called Capitularia Capitularies They contain'd some Constitutions made by Councils and confirmed by this Prince or some Laws made by the sole Authority of this Prince The 1st Capitularly of Charlemagne is of the Year 769. it contains 18 Articles about the manners of the Clergy It forbids Ecclesiastical Persons bearing of Arms and Hunting It enjoins Priests to be subject to their Bishops to give them an account of their Conduct every Year in Lent to take no Church without the consent of the Bishop upon whom it depends to take care to administer the Sacraments to the Penitents and to the Sick and let no Body die without the Unction Reconciliation and the Viaticum not to say Mass but in Churches dedicated to our Lord and upon Stone-altars consecrated by the Bishop It charges Bishops to
Capitularies of Charlemagne concerning Ecclesiastical Matters have been collected in the first of the four Books of Capitularies composed by Ansegisus according to some Abbot of Lobbes and according to M. Baluzius Abbot of Fontenelles whose Collection was approved by Lewis the Meek and by Charles the Bald. This Abbot undertook to ser in order and to collect the Constitutions contain'd in the Capitularies of Charlemagne and Lewis the Meek made before 828. The first of the four Books of his Collection contains Charlemagne's Ecclesiastical Constitutions the second the Civil Laws of the same Emperor the third the Ecclesiastical Constitutions of Lewes the Meek and the last the Civil Laws of the same After him Benedict Deacon of Mentz gathered about the Year 845. some Capitularies of these two Emperors omitted by Ansegisus and added thereto the Capitularies of Carloman and Pepin but his Collection published in three Books is very much confused These two Collections are the seven Books of the Capitularies of our Kings The six first Books were set out in 1548. by Tilius Bishop of Meaux and the seven Books altogether have been published by M. Pithaeus in the end of the last Century and in the beginning of this Since 1545. they had printed in Germany some Capitularies and in 1557. several had been printed at Basil but all those Editions were imperfect and defective and we are obliged to M. Baluzius for having procured us such a fair Edition of the Capitularies very large and full and revised by several Manuscripts with all the Care and application imaginable It came forth in 1677. from Muguet's Press in two Volumes Folio The first of which comprehends the Capitularies of the Kings Childebert Chlotarius Dagobert Carloman Pepin Charlemagne of Pepin King of Italy and Lewis the Meek together with the seven Books of Capitularies collected by Ansegisus and Benedict four Additions to these Collections the Canons of Isaac Bishop of Langres taken out of the three last Books of Capitularies and the Chapters of Herard Archbishop of Tours taken also out of our King's Capitularies The second Volume contains the Capitularies of Charles the Bald and the posterior Emperors with divers Terms These Capitularies renew the ancient Church Discipline in many points and in the other establish one suitable to the Necessity and the Manners of the Age and against the most common Disorders of the Time They set up again the Bishops Elections and restored the Church to her former Possessions They forbad the Laity to encroach upon them and the Clergy to alienate them They revived the ancient Laws concerning Ecclesiastical Judgments the Authority of Metropolitans and of Provincial Synods and the Prohibitions of the Canons against encroaching upon other Bishop's Diocesses and receiving their Clerks or Persons excommunicated by them They did not forget the famous prohibition so often repeated for all sorts of Persons in Holy Orders to have no strange Woman in the House with them They put in force again the Canon of the Council of Chalcedon whereby it is forbidden to make Ordinations absolute and without Title They prohibited Translations and Non-residence the perseverance of Clerks and Monks was ordained Clerks were commanded to be subject to their Bishops by several Laws They ordain'd That he should have the disposing of all the Benifices in his Diocess and that no Priest might be put in or out of any Parish or Chappel but by his Authority They bound the Parsons to go or send to the Episcopal City for the Holy Oyl The Choriepiscopi were forbidden Episcopal Functions and they endeavoured the total abolishing of them They charged the Bishops to examine the Doctrine and the Manners of Presbyters before they ordained them to ordain no Body Presbyter unless he was 30 Years old they enjoyn'd Presbyters and other Ecclesiastical Persons to live regularly to addict themselves to the Offices of their Ministery and chiefly to Preaching Priests are forbidden saying Mass without communicating They were enjoyned to have the Eucharist always ready at hand to be administred to the Sick together with the Unction which was common at this Time Clerks had no other Judges but the Bishops and they required a great number of credible Witnesses to condemn them They set up Schools in Bishopricks and Abbies to learn the Psalms Singing and Grammar They endeavoured to destroy the Remains of Pagan Superstitions The Invocation of Saints hh Invocation of Saints In the Days of this Emperor Charles the Great who flourished towards the latter End of this Century Idolatrous Superstitions and Corruptions were arrived at their full growth Image-worship was establish'd Conc. Nic 2. Act. 7. by Law in the Eastern and Western Churches and Saint-worship as our Author says truly much used But from the beginning it was not so Neither the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament nor yet the purest Antiquity do at all authorize this Practice Among those excellent Prayers which we meet with in Holy Scripture composed by Men divinely inspired we cannot find one directed to any Saint or Angel nor any other Being whatsoever but the only Living and the True God but we read in several Rev. 22. 8. 9. Act. 12 25 26. I ai 63. 16. 2 King 22. 20. Iâ—en adv Har. lib. 1. c. 23. Orig. hem 3. 〈◊〉 cant In. c. 13. Jâ—sâ—uae in Epist. ad R. m. C pr. ep 57. Amb. de ob Theod. Hieron in Prov. 2. Thecd com in Col. c. 2. Sulp-Sever de S. Mart. ep 2. Greg. Nazian inv 1. in Jul. Hieron epitaph Paulae Places That both the Angels and Saints while they were alive have disclaimed all Worship when tendered to them as not due to them and after their Death we are assured that they cannot hear us Consonant to these Truths did the Church of Christ for above 200 Years believe and act and not only make no Prayers to any Angel or Saint as Ireneus testifies but shewed a great Abhorrence of all such Hereticks as used such a sort of Worship The first Step towards it was made by Origen who advanced this Doctrine in the Church That the Saints departed out of this Life do carry along with them a Remembrance of the State and Condition of their Brethren and out of their Love to them do carefully recommend them to God and pray for them From this Perswasion which many learned from him did the Christians take occasion to intreat their Living Friends who were eminent for Piety That if they dyed before them and so came first into Christ's joyful and happy Presence they would not forget to recommend them to God who were left behind in a sinful World But yet no Saint was invoked or prayed to after Death many Years after this for S. Jerom Ambrose and Theodores unanimously acknowledge That God alone is to be worshipped and prayed to And S. Austin expressly says Non sit nobis Religio culius 〈◊〉 mortuorum Let not the Worship of Dead Men be any part of our Religion But
things are spoken in his Treatise De Divinis Officiis which is Printed at Mentz 1549 at Paris 1610 and in Biblioth Patr. Tom. 15. Other small Treatises of his are extant in Surius Canisius Antiq. Lection Tom. 6. Biblioth Patr. Tom. 15. After this time I do not find that there was any Contest in the West about the Use and Worship of Images which henceforward became common in France Germany and other Places Let us now speak of the Authors chiefly engaged in this Controversy Nicephorus was but a Layman when he was chosen Patriarch of Constantinople in 806 after the Nicephorus Patriarch of Constantinople Death of Tarasius He had passed some part of his life at Court but had been for some time before his Election retired from the World yet was no Monk He was no sooner in possession of the Patriarchal Dignity but through complaisance to the Emperor Nicephorus he restored in a Council Joseph the Steward who had Crowned Theodota whom Copronymus had Married having Divorced his lawful Wife Theodorus Studita and Plato violently opposed this Act whereupon the Patriarch held a Council in 809 in which Joseph was not only confirmed in his place but the second Marriage of Constantine was declared lawful by Dispensation and every one that should maintain the contrary was Anathematized This Decision raised a great Quarrel between Nice-phorus and Theodorus who together with several Monks separated themselves from his Communion and treated him as an Heretick which Division continued till the Death of Nicephorus the Emperor But the Emperor Michael put an end to this Schism and made them Friends upon condition that Joseph should be displaced and that the Monks for the future should obey the Patriarch in all things that were not manifestly contrary to the Faith and Law of God From this time Nicephorus and Theodorus Studita were perfectly good friends and suffered Persecution together for the Worship of Images Nicephorus was driven out of his Church and banished in 814 by the Authority of Leo Armeniacus and although under the Emperor Michael Balbus many that were banished had liberty to return yet he was allowed that favour but remain 14 years in banishment in which he died in 828. The Works which he hath left us are these that follow The first is a Letter written in 811 to Pope Leo III. which contains a long Confession of Faith Baronius hath Printed it in Latin in his Annals and 't is also Printed in Greek with the Acts of the Council of Nice and in Greek and Latin in Zonoras and in the Collection of the Councels In it Nicephorus speaks of himself with much humility and abasement He says that having passed the former part of his life at Court and in Worldly Affairs he had retreated into solitude out of which he was drawn against his Will and made Patriarch of Constantinople that finding himself burdened with the Weight of so great a Charge he begged the Prayers of the Bishop of Rome and all the Faithful of his Church He commends the Piety and Faith of the Church of Rome but adds that New Rome was not at all inferior to Old in the purity of her Faith To make proof of this Assertion he joins a Confession of Faith to his Letter in which after he hath explained the Mysteries of the Trinity and Incarnation and acknowledged the Invocation and Intercession of Saints and Worship of Images he declares that he receives the 7 first Councils and the Doctrine of the Fathers After this he excuses himself to the Pope that he did not write to him sooner and says that the cause was that he was made to believe that the Church of Rome was at Enmity with that of Constantinople but now the cause of the Division being removed he doubted not but there would be a perfect agreement between the two Churches In the conclusion he recommends to the Pope Michael the Archbishop of Philadelphia who carried this Letter and some Presents with it This Letter is extant in Greek and Latine at Heidelberg 1591 put out by Cornelius and with Zonoras at Paris 1620. Nicephorus's Abridgment of History is his most considerable Work it begins at the Death of the Emperor Mauritius and ends with the Reign of the Empress Irene ad an 769. It hath been published in Greek and Latine by Petavius and Printed in Latine and Greek in Octavo in 1616 and since put into the Bizantine History Tom. 1. It hath been since put out with Theoph. Simoccitta's History Paris 1648. Some attribute to him also a Chronology which was heretofore Translated by Anastatius Bibliothecarius into Latine and inserted into his History it contains a Catalogue of all the Patriarchs Kings and Princes of the Jews Kings of Persia and Macedon Roman Emperors according to the Order of their Successors the Years of their Lives and Reigns the Names of some of the Empresses Kings of Israel and Jewish High-Priests the Names and Years of the Patriarchs of the Churches of Jerusalem Rome Constantinople Alexandria and Antioch This Work is very defective if it be Nicephorus's some other Person hath added the Names of some of the Emperors and some Patriarchs which lived after his Death At first there appeared only a Translation attributed to Anastasius afterward Camerarius made another Version upon which Contius a Lawyer at Bruges made a Comment Scaliger Printed it in Greek at the end of his Edition of Eusebius's Chronicon or Thesaurus Temporum and last of all F. Goar Printed them in Greek and Latin at Paris 1652 with Sycellus's Chronicon At the beginning of this Work is prefixed a Book Entituled Schometria which contains a Catalogue of Canonical Ecclesiastical and Apocryphal Books but 't is not certain that it is the Work of this Patriarch our Learned Bishop of Chester Dr. Pearson proves that 't is not Nicephorus's but some other Authors coeval with him in his Vind. Ignat. p. 1. He made also four Treatises against the Iconoclasts of which we have only a Latin Version composed by Turrian which is extant in Canisius's Collection Tom. 4. p. 253. and in the Biblioth Patrion Tom. 14. In the first he supposes the Iconoclasts to have wrong Sentiments of the Incarnation from whence he concludes that they are justly condemned because they have not followed universally the Doctrine of the General Councils because they have demolished the Temples beat down the Images and treated them as Idolaters which worship them insomuch that they have been the cause of the effusion of much Christian Blood and lastly because they have separated themselves from the Church In the 2d Tract he endeavours to prove by 10 Reasons that the Image of Jesus Christ ought to have more respect than the Cross. In the 3d Book he proves the Worship of Images by the Example of the Cherubims over the Ark. In the last he shews that the Image of Jesus Christ may be formed and painted because according to his Humane Nature he is bounded
the Clergy and People of the Metropolis of Reims with the consent of the Abbots and Monks of his Monastery A year after his Ordination the Emperor Lotharius who favoured Ebbo who was Deposed meerly because he had put Lewis the Kind to Penance and hated Hincmarus whom he looked upon to be wholly for Charles the Bald King of France endeavoured to revoke the Sentence passed upon Ebbo and restore him supposing that some did not acknowledge Hincmarus to be their Lawful Bishop of Reims To this end he wrote to the Pope and obtain'd a Letter from him wherein he gave Gonbaldus Archbishop of Rouan Commission to examine this Affair with such Bishops of the Kingdom as he should think ht to choose who should meet at Treves and having cited Hincmarus examine him before the Popes Legats who should be present After Easter Hincmarus went to the Council and waited for the Popes Legats till the time appointed After this Gonbaldus Summoned Ebbo who not daring to appear left Hincmarus in quiet possession of the Archbishoprick of Reims He governed that Church almost thirty years for he Died not till Dec. 21. 882. He had a great share in all the Affairs which were transacted in that time in the Church of France and as to his own particular had no small difficulties to extricate himself out of in which he shewed a great deal of Wit Diligence and Courage Being endued with these Qualities he was pleased to meet with so good an occasion of signalizing himself by the Condemnation of Gotteschalcus he first heard him himself and resolved with himself Council of Quiercy to present him before the Council of Bishops that was to meet with the Parliament appointed by Charles the Bald at Queircy which was the Kings Palace in the Diocess of Reims And that things might be done in the better order he gave Rhotadus notice of it to be present there because he was the properest Judge of Gotteschalcus Wenilo Archbishop of Sens was present with Hincmarus and 11 other Bishops among whom were Rhotadus Bishop of Soissons two Suffragan Bishops of whom Rigboldus who Ordain'd Gotteschalcus was one and three Abbots viz. Paschasius Rathbertus Abbot of Coâ—…by Bavo Abbot of the Monastery of Orbez where Gotteschalcus was a Monk and Hilduinus Abbot of Hautevilliers Gotteschalcus having been questioned in their presence and maintained the same Opinions which he had done at Mentz with the same obstinacy and incorrigibleness casting some reflexions upon his Enemies was condemned for an Heretick degraded from his Priesthood which he had received from Rigboldus Suffragan of Reims without the knowledge of his Bishop and moreover for his obstinacy was condemned according to the Laws Canons of the Council of Agatha Can. 38. and Constitutions of S. Bennet to be beaten with Rods and Imprisoned as the Bishops of Germany had before ordered Hincmarus fearing that Rhotadus had not power enough to see this Sentence executed and so he might escape took care to shut him up in a Monastery of his Diocess The Judgment passed against Gotteschalcus was delivered in these words Brother Gotteschalcus know that thou art deprived of the Sacred Office of Priesthood which if thou hast ever received you have managed contrary to all Rules and Profaned to this day by thy Manners disorderly Actions and corrupt Doctrines And that by the Judgment of the H. Spirit of whose Grace the Priesthood is a special Gift and by the Virtue of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ thou art utterly for bidden to offieiate in any Office of it for the future Moreover because thou hast intermeddled with Ecclesiastical and Civil Affairs contrary to the Profession and Duty of a Monk and in contempt of the Ecclesiastical Laws we do by Virtue of our Episcopal Authority Order and Command that according to the Rules of the Church thou be severely Scourged and afterwards shut up in a close Prison And that thou may never Teach again to infect others we enjoyn you perpetual silence in the Name of the Eternal Word Thus was Gotteschalcus Condemned in the presence and with the consent of his Bishop Abbot him that Ordain'd him and of those who were well affected to the Doctrine of S. Austin which shews that he had an injury This Sentence which was pronounced against him was Executed with the utmost severity for he was Whipped in the presence of the Emperor Charles and the Bishops till he cast out of his Gotteschalcus Punished and Imprisoned own Hand into the Fire a Book wherein he made a Collection of such Texts of Scripture and Testimonies of the Fathers as proved his Opinion after which he was kept close Prisoner in the Monastery of Hautevilliers in the Diocess of Reims Nevertheless Hincmarus that he might induce him to change his Opinion sent him a Writing in which he explained those places of the Fathers on which he grounded it and proved That God indeed knows them that shall be Reprobated for their Sins but hath Predestinated to Man to Evil and that his prescience is not the cause of any Mans ruin He sent him also a second Instruction but could not remove him from it Hincmarus also wrote to Prudentius Bishop of Troyes an Account of what had passed in the Judgment given against him and consulted that Bishop what he ought to do in case Gotteschalcus should Two Confessions of Faith made by Gotteschalcus continue obstinate whether he should deprive him of the use of Divine Service and the Communion What answer Prudentius gave to these Questions is not known but about the same time Gotteschalcus composed two Confessions of Faith one more long in which he confesseth That God hath not Predestinated any Man to Sin or Evil but to Good only which is of two sorts viz. The Rewards of his Favour and the Effects of his Justice That he hath freely Predestinated his Elect to Life Eternal and also hath Predestined the Devils and Reprobates to Eternal Death He grounds this Doctrine upon Consequences taken from Holy Scripture and assertions of the Fathers chiefly of S. Austin Gregory Fulgentius and Isidore That this Predestination is but one in it self though it hath respect to two Objects as Charity towards God and our Neighbour is the same Charity in two parts To prove himself no Heretick he brings a Definition of an Heretick out of S. Cassiodorus viz. He is a Person saith this Author who either out of Ignorance or Contempt of the Law of God defends a new Error or follows an old one He affirms That he holds nothing but what is agreeable to the Doctrine of H. Scripture and the Ancients and consequently the Definition of an Heretick doth not touch him He doubts not but he can prove the Truth of his Doctrine in an Ecclesiastical Assembly if he could be so happy as to have the liberty given him not only by his Discourses but also by casting himself into scalding Water Pitch or flaming Oyl without suffering any harm He
he was ordained by Formosus and was come to Rome from his own Countrey ordained by this Pope and 't was his Interest to defend it He hath made two small Treatises upon that Subject in which he shews a great deal of Learning for the Age he lived in The First is a Collection of Ecclesiastical Constitutions and passages of Fathers to prove that a Bishop deprived of his Bishoprick may be dignifyed in another Church when it is for the good and advantage of the Church and with the Pope's Permission This Collection was designed to prove the Translation of Formosus from the Bishoprick of Ostia to the Roman See Lawful Then he adds some other Testimonies to shew that though the ordination of Formosus was not lawful yet the Ordinations made by him were valid Upon the first Head he brings a Passage out of the false Decretal of Anterus the Example and Authority of St. Gregory Nazianzen the Examples of some Translations alledged by Socrates and what is observed in the Greek Book about the Translation of S. German of Cyzicum to Constantinople Then he shews That the Canons of the Council of Nice do not forbid all Translations but those only that are made through ambition and to disturb the Church He approves the Law which Hosius propounded in the Council of Sardica which forbids those Translations which are made for Avarice Ambition or Dominion but he disapproves what is added that those who pass from one See to another shall be reduced to Lay-Communion He affirms this Law comes near the Rigour of the Novatians Condemned by S. Austin That it was not approved by the Holy See and that Hosius was of no great Authority having fallen into Heresie He ought to have observed that all the Bishops of the Council approved the opinion of Hosiuâ— Auxilius then passeth to the Second Head which concerns the Validity of the Ordinations made by Photius and alledgeth the Testimonies of S. Innocent S. Austin S. Leo S. Gregory and S. Anastasius to shew that the Ordinations made by unlawful Bishops are valid and ought not to be repeated He confirms this Doctrine by a Canon of the Council of Nice which accepted the Ordinations made by the Novatians He says that since the Ordinations of Pope Liberius who was an Heretick and Vigilius who was an Usurper guilty of Simony and Murther were well approved there is much greater reason to allow of those made by Formosus He proves that it will cast the Church of Italy into strange Confusion and the Faithful into inexpressible Trouble He observes that if there was any default in the Translation of Formosus it did not belong to him who accepted it but to the Clergy and Nobles of Rome who chose him and acknowledged him for their Bishop Lastly he proves that they who swear that their Ordination is void are guilty of Sacrilege and they are not obliged thereby to obey the Commands of their Superiours nor of the Pope who exacts it because they ought not to execute those Commands of Superiours which are contrary to Justice and the Law of God That their Excommunication ought not be feared or observed but when it is just That we ought to distinguish between the Papal See and the Persons who preside in it That we ought to respect the Sees but not follow those that preside in them if they depart from the Faith or Religion although they are obliged to obey them in those things they order well although they would not do it In Conclusion He advises That this Collection of Testimonies may perhaps seem needless to several Persons because there are few People that will judge of this Affair with Equity and that he did not hope to carry his Cause in the judgment of those who are both Judges Advocates and Witnesses but that according to the Opinion of S. Jerom he wrote both for himself and for them which were of his Judgment that they might be courageous seeing they do not ground their belief upon their own Sence but the Holy Fathers and that they observe that which is written That if a Multitude rise up against you you should not fear and that they should hold fast what they have received least you lose your Crown That continuing in the sacred Vocation you have received they may wait for the impartial Examination of a general Council under the protection of which they may put themselves with these Wâ—… Lift up thy Self O Lord judge thine own Cause The Second Treatise of Auxilius saith Sigibert in his Catalogue of Ecclesiastical Writers is written in form of a Dialogue by way of Question and Answer It was composed at the desire of Leo Bishop of Nola who had been ordained by Formosus who being urged to acknowledge that the Priest-hood which he had received from Pope Formosus is null first consulted the French Bishops and the Bishop of Beneventum about it who answered him that he ought not to do it and then sent his Request to Auxilius to answer the Objections made against the Ordinations of Formâ—sâ—â— At the beginning of this Treatise is propounded a general Question which serves as a Preface to it viz. whether those who have been ordained against their own Consent but afterwards yield to their Ordination ought to be re-ordained To which he answers that as we do not re-baptize Infants nor such as have been baptized by force no more ought we to re-ordain them who have been involuntarily ordained This Preface is accompanied with a Letter of Auxiliâ—â—'s to Leo Bishop of Nola in which he tells him That he made this Treatise to satisfie him and had set down the Objections under the name of the Objecter and answers under the name of the Defender That he ought not to expect in his Writings Syllogisms in form no Logical Subdeties being the Scholar of a Fisher i. e. S. Peter That 't is true though he is in his Bark he is in a Tempest but he prayed the Lord of all to command the Winds and Sea and make a Calm The first Objection made by the Objecter is about the Translation of Formosus He says having left his Wife i. e. Bishoprick he hath taken away the H. See from them who ought to be ordained in it so that he is a Reprobate and Hypocrite The Defender says That he did not trouble himself with what Formosus was but he maintained that the Ordinations of Formosus made by him were valid and Lawful The Objecter insists and says That Formosus not being Pope all the Ordinations made by him are null All that Chapter contains this Difficulty The Defender maintains that his Ordinations may be valid since S. Leo acknowledgeth the Ordinations of false Bishops to be so That Anastasius allowed Acacius's and no Man ever doubted of Liberius and Vigilius's The Objecter replies That the Council of Nice declared their Ordinations void and that Pope Innocent asserts That an Hypocrite and Reprobate can 't conferr Ordination because he hath
this Objection to himself But must we suffer all the Faults which Ecclesiasticks may commit to go unpunish'd He answers that there are some Persons who ought to suffer it and that there are other Persons whose duty it is to reprove and punish them according to the Power invested in them for that purpose and with the necessary Precautions but that a rash Judgment should not be pass'd on those who have receiv'd a Power to judge the very Angels That the Clergy ought not to be judg'd by Laicks but by Bishops and that Laicks ought not to concern themselves with punishing their Crimes unless they are appeal'd to by the Bishop of the Diocess And yet says he the quite contrary is now observeable For the Civil Authority incroaches on the Ecclesiastical and the latter is now crush'd by the former which ought to support it So that as in the Election of Prelates the Will of the Prince is follow'd more than the Decrees of the Holy Fathers even so in their Condemnation more regard is had to gratifie their Humours than to proceed according to Canon Law And from hence it happens that by the Injustice of unrighteous Judges the Offences of the Guilty are no Bar to the holding their Dignity and Dignity does not exempt any Person from an unjust Accusation The Second Part is about the Authority which Princes had usurp'd in the Ecclesiastical Ordinations of Bishops He says that they ought to be made by those who have a Right thereto according to the Canons and Customs of the Church but that Princes absolutely require that their Edict should be of universal force in the case That he whom they chose must be receiv'd tho' never so wicked and that the Man whom others shall elect should be rejected tho' never so deserving That the Faults of those whom they chuse how great soever were look'd upon as nothing That they had no regard to the Vertues but to the Riches the Parentage and the Services of the Persons That many were ordain'd for Money others by Recommendation or because they are Relations or in recompence of some Service they had done That there are some Princes so blind as to prefer Infants to Bishopricks who had not so much as one of the necessary Qualifications and who are oblig'd to be under the Care of Tutors and Masters even while they are the Masters and Judges of a whole Diocess In the last Part he reprehends the Abuse which prevail'd in his time of rifling the Revenues of the Church when the Episcopal See was vacant by the Death or by the Expulsion of a Bishop He cites in the three Parts several Canons and a great many fine Passages out of the Fathers to back his own Arguments To these Treatises are annex'd Eleven Letters of Atto The first is directed to a Bishop nam'd Waldon who was at variance with his Prince He exhorts him to submit to his Prince and produces several Passages out of the Fathers concerning the Obedience which is due to Kings This Walden is doubtless the same with him whom Berenger had made Bishop of Cumae and who afterwards prov'd treacherous to him and withdrew to the Emperor Otho as Luitprand relates it The three following Letters are directed to the Faithful of his own Diocess The two first are against those who pretended to Divine and Prophesie of things to come and the last is against those who would feast on Fridays The fifth is directed to a Bishop nam'd Aso. He therein shews by the Ecclesiastical and Civil Laws that Marriage is prohibited between those who had contracted a Spiritual Affinity by Baptism contrary to the Advice of that Bishop who found fault that one Thierry who had marry'd his God-father's Daughter was divorc'd from her and Excommunicated till such time as he made his Appearance in a Court of Judicature before the Archbishop and Bishops The sixth is a Letter of Gunzon Deacon of the Church of Navarre wherein he sends Atto the Copy of a Letter pretended to be Pope Zachary's to Theodorus Bishop of Pavia about the Prohibition of Marriage between those who have contracted a Spiritual Affinity The seventh is a Letter of Ambrose a Priest of Milan directed to Atto whereby he gives him to understand that these sorts of Marriages were likewise prohibited in his Church and desires he would let him know the meaning of the Titles Pristesses and Deaconesses mention'd in Zachary's Letter Atto replys in the eighth Letter That the Priestesses and Deaconesses were Widows chosen to assist the Women in the Administration of the Sacrament of Baptism He does not approve at all their Opinion who pretend that the Deaconesses were Abbesses and he observes that these Titles of Priests and Deacons might likewise be given to Women The ninth and tenth are directed to the Ecclesiasticks of his own Diocess against those who kept company with lewd Women with whom they maintain'd a scandalous Familiarity and whom they kept and maintain'd out of the Revenues of the Church In the last he advises the Bishops his Brethren upon what was necessary to be done in case the Kings of Italy viz. Berenger and Adalbert mention'd formerly fearing their Enemies should require him and the rest of the Bishops to continue Loyal to them not only by the Oath of Allegiance but by exacting Hostages from them He gives them to understand that 't is not his Opinion that they ought to give them any 1. Because he is not sensible that the Holy Scriptures and the Fathers have commanded any thing else than to be loyal and subject to one's Prince and to do one's best to preserve the publick Peace of the State and to provide for the Safety of one's King 2. Because 't is a sort of Punishment inflicted on the Innocent for another's Fault which is contrary to Justice 3. Because 't is the exposing of a Man's Life for some Temporal Interest and the leaving it to the changeable Will of others 4. Because 't is such a new and strange thing as would make the World believe either that the Bishops of whom these Hostages were requir'd are more disloyal than their Predecessors or else that the Princes are more odious Whereupon he exhorts his Brethren to pray to God for the Safety of their Princes and to beg him to infuse into them a good Opinion of the Loyalty of the Prelates of their Kingdom and that he would preserve them steddy and constant in their Fidelity There is still in the Manuscript at Rome another piece of Atto intituled The Poliptick or The Perpendicular which serves as a Reproof of Vice and a Recommender of Vertue and seventeen Sermons which 't is impossible to Transcribe because the Manuscript is so torn in this place that one cannot read it There are likewise several things wanting in the Works which are copied out all which might be supply'd by the Manuscript which they say is in the Archives of the Church of Verceil but the Canons of that Church
Verses are not altogether contemptible but that Fredigod intermixes so many Greek words and Phrases which render them unintelligible At the same time Lanfrid a Monk of Winchester wrote the Life of S. Swithin and a Relation Lanfrid and Wulstan Monks of Winchester of the Miracles that happen'd at his Translation and after him Wulstan Monk of the same Monastery compos'd in Verse the History of that Translation and the Life of S. Ethelawld Thus we have given an Account of almost all the most remarkable Circumstances that occur in the Ecclesiastical History of England in the Tenth Century CHAP. VI. Observations on the Ecclesiastical Affairs of the Tenth Century THERE were no Controversies in the Tenth Age of the Church relating to Articles Controversies about Doctrinal Points of Faith or Doctrinal Points of Divinity by reason that there were no Hereticks nor other Inquisitive Persons who refin'd upon Matters of Religion or undertook to dive into the bottom of its Mysteries The Sober Party contented themselves only in yielding an implicite Faith to whatever the Church-men thought fit to deliver from the Pulpit and the profligate Wretches abandon'd themselves to gross Sensualitles which gave Satisfaction to their bruitish Appetites rather than to the Vices of the Mind to which only ingenious Persons are liable Therefore in this Age of Darkness and Ignorance the Church not being disturb'd upon account of its Doctrines had nothing to do but to put a stop to the Enormities of Discipline and Manners There were nevertheless in England some Clergy-men who positively affirm'd that the Bread and Of the Eucharist Wine on the Altar retain'd the very same Substance after Consecration and that they were only the Representation of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ and not his Real Body and Blood Odo Archbishop of Canterbury being desirous to oppose this Opinion pray'd to God one day as he was Celebrating Mass solemnly in the presence of a multitude of People to shew the very Substance of these Mysteries which happen'd in the breaking of the Consecrated Bread out of which as it s reported issued forth several Drops of Blood which Miracle being seen by his Clergy and by those who doubted of the Real Presence of the Body of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist they abjured their Error Thus Osborn a Writer of those times relates the Matter in the Life of that Saint The same Author in the Life of S. Dunstan says that that Saint returning to the Altar chang'd the Bread and Wine into our Saviour's Body and Blood by the Prayer of Consecration but when he had given the Benediction to the People he left the Altar a second time to preach and that being altogether transported with the Divine Spirit he discour'd after such a pathetical manner concerning the Real Presence of the Body of Jesus Christ of the Future Resurrection and of Life Eternal that one would have thought that a glorified Saint was then speaking Ratherius Bishop of Verona stifly maintains the same Opinion in one of his Letters and Fulcuin Abbot of Lobes in discoursing of the Eucharistical Table says That it is the Table on which the Sacred Body of our Lord is consum'd These Authors express themselves after the same manner as Paschasius Rathertus nevertheless this did not hinder some others who liv'd in the end of the same Century to take part with Retramnus to make use of his Expressions and to oppose those of Paschasius This is apparently done by Alfric Archbishop of Canterbury and Heriger Abbot of Lobes altho' they do not impugn the Real Presence as we have made it appear in the preceding Century These are all the remarkable Circumstances in the Tenth Century relating to Points of Doctrine for the Errour of the Anthropomorphites confuted by Ratherius in one of his Sermons was peculiar to certain Clergy-men of Italy and those of the Greeks mention'd by Pope Formosus in one of his Letters to Fulcus are ancient and not modern Heresies We read in a Chronicle of the Abbey of Castros that Durandus Abbot of that Monastery in the year 953. confuted one Walfred who gave it out that both the Soul and Body perish'd after death but it is not known whether this Error continu'd long neither is there any part of Durandus's Piece now extant The Contests that arose about the validity or invalidity of Ordination made by Intruders were soon silenc'd Some Persons were of Opinion that one might Feast on Fridays but their Infatuation was not of long continuance Upon the whole there was no Council held in this Century that either debated or made any Decisions with respect to any Point of Doctrine which shews that there was no Error in Matters of Faith that prevail'd long or made any Disturbance in the Church Howsoever enormous the Irregularities of the Popes might be at that time nevertheless a great Of the Popes Authority deal of Respect was shewn to their Authority and the Christians distinguishing according to Auxilius's Remark the Holy See from the Person of those who possess'd it had as much veneration for the Dignity of the One as aversion to the Extravagancies of the others and upon this account they yielded Obedience to the Equitable Laws and Just and Lawful Ordinances proceeding from the Authority of the Holy See and oppos'd the Enterprizes of the Popes which intrench'd upon the Liberty of the Churches and the Intention of the Canons This may be observ'd in the conduct of the Bishops of Germany and in the Letters they wrote concerning the Erections of Bishopricks which the Pope attempted to make in Moravia to the prejudice of their Rights in that of the Bishops of France assembled in a Council at Rheims against Arnulphus in the Discourse made by the Bishop of Orleance in that Council and in the Judgment they pass'd with respect to the Legats Attempt who presum'd to Consecrate a Church without the consent of the Ordinary Neither were the Bishops of Italy of a different Opinion as appears from their Deposing of Pope John XII S. Dunstan shew'd the same Resolution in Refusing to Absolve a Person altho' the Pope had expresly enjoyn'd him to do it and the like constancy is observable in Ratherius who did not think himself oblig'd to obey the Order of a Pope who was about to deprive him of the Disposal of the Ecclesiastical Revenues of his Diocess However Magnificent Titles were given to the Popes and their Primacy and Jurisdiction was acknowledg'd They had not as yet assum'd the Right of Ordaining Bishops or Metropolitans nay John X. and Stephen VIII plainly own'd that it did not belong to them but they granted the Pall not only to Archbishops but also to several Bishops which Practice Fulques or Fulco Archbishop of Rheims censures as an Abuse which sullied the Splendor of the Hierarchical Order They were desirous that the Archbishops should come in Person to Rome to receive the Pall which was usually done by the Archbishops
Fact are apparent from the Relation of cotemporary Authors and from the Letter which Gregory wrote immediately after to the Princes of Germany which is the Twelfth of the fourth Book Henry repented of this Action as soon as he had done it for the Italians of Lombardy perceiving The Complaints which the Lombards made of Henry's Conduct how disadvantageous the Agreement would be to them ridicul'd him for what he had done and cast reproaches upon him for it telling him That for their parts they did not value the Excommunication of a Man who had himself been very justly Excommunicated by the Bishops of Italy who was possess'd of the Holy See by Simony who had stain'd it by several Murders and polluted it by his Adulteries That his Majesty had receiv'd a Treatment unworthy of himself and cast such a Blot upon his Honour as could never be wip'd off by submitting to an Heretick and to an infamous Person That they were very unfortunate in having made choice of one for the Protector of the Justice and Laws of the Church who had by this dishonorable Submission betray'd the Catholick Faith the Authority of the Church and the Dignity of the State These and such like were the common Discourses of the Princes and Grandees of Italy and which they ventur'd to speak publickly This render'd Henry so odious that they propos'd to make his Son their King and to carry him to Rome with an Army there to have him Crown'd by a Pope of their own choosing Henry to clear himself represented to them that he was necessitated to do what he did that he had not done it but only for the good of the Publick and because he could not otherwise satisfie the Pope and the German Lords who had declar'd against him That at present being in a place of safety he would make use of all his strength to revenge the Affront which had been offer'd him He had much ado after all to pacifie them and perceiv'd himself abandon'd by many and despis'd by others This put him upon resolving to break entirely with the Pope by not observing the Articles agreed upon betwixt them He re-call'd the Excommunicated Bishops and declar'd publickly that Gregory had betray'd him and that he would be reveng'd of the Affront which had been offer'd him On the other side the Arch-bishop of Mayence and the Bishops of Wirtzburg and Mets the Duke Radulphus and a great many other Princes and Grandees of Germany appointed a The Convention at Forcheim where Radulphus is Elected King Convention to be held at Forcheim the 13th of March and invited the Pope thither who was still at Canossa where he was detain'd three Months by the Princess Matilda Having receiv'd this Intelligence he sent Cardinal Gregory to King Henry to give him notice that the time was come for the performing of what he had promis'd That the German Princes were to meet March the 13th at Forcheim to regulate the Affairs of the Empire That he ought to be there to clear himself of the Accusations preferr'd against him The King return'd him this answer That since this was the first time of his coming to Italy he had too much business upon his hands to think of returning so suddenly and in so short a time The Pope having receiv'd this Answer immediately dispatch'd away his Legats to Forcheim to declare to the Convention that he could not safely go into Germany or return back to Rome because Henry had caus'd all the Passes to be block'd up And that therefore they should in his Absence consult the Necessities both of Church and State and do what they thought most proper for the welfare of both This Convention was held at the place and time appointed Radulphus Duke of Suabia caus'd himself to be Elected King and was Consecrated by Sigefroy at Mayence He immediately sent one to the Pope to acquaint him of his Election and to assure him of his obedience Henry for his part pray'd the Pope to assist him against Radulphus to declare his Election Null and to Excommunicate him Some Authors report that Gregory approv'd of the Election of Radulphus and acknowledg'd him for King But he himself assures us of the contrary in the Eight and twentieth Letter of the ninth Book where he calls God to witness that this Election was carry'd on without his Consent and Knowledge and that the Answer which he had return'd to Henry was to this effect That he would do him Justice after he had heard the Arguments on both sides to know which had the most Right on his side Upon this he resolv'd to go to Germany and for this end wrote the last of May in the Year 1077. two Letters the one directed to the Legats which he had in that Country and the other to the Princes of Germany wherein he acquaints them of his Intention of coming to Germany to decide the difference That they ought to take all necessary security of the two contending Parties for his free passage thither and that if either of the two Parties should oppose his coming they should esteem him as an excommunicated Person and acknowledge him as lawful King who should submit to the Holy See and was willing to refer himself to its determination These two Letters are the Three and Four and twentieth of the fourth Book Henry foreseeing that if the Pope went into Germany he would not fail of passing a Sentence contrary to his Interests resolv'd to stop his Journey and to engage in a War against Radulphus and the other Rebels The Pope having caus'd several Bishops of King Henry's Party to be apprehended that Prince by way of reprisal order'd Cardinal Gerard Bishop of Ostia who was Legat in Lombardy and Bernard Abbot of Marseilles one of the Pope's Legats in Germany to be apprehended Gregory being concern'd that the Affairs of Germany did not go according to his desires complain'd of it to Udo Arch-bishop of Treves and his Suffragans and exhorts them to do all they could to divert the Storm which was comming upon Germany The Letter which he wrote to them upon this Subject bears date the last of September in the Year 1077. and is the Seventh of the fifth Book The beginning of the next Year the Pope cited Guilbert Arch-bishop of Ravenna and his Suffragans with the Bishops and Abbots of la Marche Fermo and Camerine of Pentapolis of The Council of Rome in the Year 1078. Emilia and Lombardy to the Council which was to be held at Rome according to Custom the first Week in Lent and assures them by his Letter which is the Thirteenth of the fifth Book dated January 28. That he would do them no harm and that he would be as indulgent towards them as in Conscience he could be These Bishops did not think it proper to appear at this Synod which consisted of almost One hundred Bishops The Pope did therein renew his Anathema issu'd out already against Tedald
I am the Pastor of the Flock I am not to be accus'd by those who ought to be subject to me and whom I ought to lead they ought patiently to suffer my Failings And to this â—e answers that in the Gospel it is said That we ought to declare to the Church the 〈◊〉 of our Brethren when they do not amend after they had been privately reprov'd the which being express'd in general Terms ought to be understood as well of the Faults of Bishops as of the Faults of the rest of the Faithful that if the Bishop would not subâ—… to the Laws of the Church who would Lastly He concludes That nothing would more conduce to the abating the Pride of Bishops who valued themselves too much upon the account of their Divinity to the maintaining of Peace and to prevent Tyranny than to suffer Inferiors to have recourse to a Superior Authority and to Synods there to prefer their Complaints against their Bishops In the Thirteenth directed to the same Pope he opposes an Error which grew very pâ—evalent in his Time to wit That it was not Simony to buy a Bishoprick of a King or any other Prince provided nothing was given for Consecration Two Chaplains of Prince Godfrey Marquis of Tuscany had broach'd this Doctrin and maintain'd it by saying That in this Case they do not buy either the Sacerdotal Office or the Church but only the Temporalities and the enjoyment of the Revenues Peter Damien makes it appear that this is a Fallacy because since a Man cannot be divided into two distinct Persons whereof one shall enjoy the Temporalities and the other perform the Spiritual Functions when he buys the Temporalities which he cannot enjoy till he be advanc'd to the Ecclesiastical Dignity and perform the Functions thereof it may be truly said That he buys the Ecclesiastical Dignity and the Sacrament too This he proves because the Prince in granting the Investiture of a Bishoprick does not give a meer Rod only but the Pastoral Rod and the Title of Priesthood the Sacrament whereof is receiv'd by the Ordination He adds That 't is only in pursuance of this nomination of the Prince that the Man is ordain'd and therefore tho' he does not directly give Mony for his Ordination yet it cannot be said to be gratuitous since Mony made the way for him Afterwards carrying this Thought a little farther he says When the Prince has put the Pastoral Rod into your Hands did he say Receive the Lands and Revenues of such or such a Church No Did he not say to you Receive this Church If you pretend to have receiv'd the Revenues of the Church without the Church you are a Schismatick and guilty of Sacrilege and if you receiv'd the Church by this Investiture as you must needs own then you are guilty of Simony Lastly He says That the possession of the Ecclesiastical Revenues and the Consecration are so closely connected together that he who receives the Right of possessing the Revenues of the Church cannot enjoy them till he be consecrated and that he who is consecrated ought necessarily to have the management of the Revenues of the Church To conclude He confirms these Maxims by several Passages taken out of the Decretals and shews that it is not only Simony to buy and sell Bishopricks and great Benefices but also to buy and sell small Benefices such as Curacies and Prebendships In the close he exhorts the Pope to Condemn the Error which he had refuted in this Letter and not to permit any Persons to be promoted to the Priesthood who have acquir'd it by Mony or which he pretends to be more blameable by any Services which they have done for their Princes In the Fourteenth he makes his Complaints to Alexander II. for that he had abus'd and rais'd a Disturbance in the Church of Engubio which had been committed to his Care by the Predecessors of that Pope He puts him in mind of the Obligations which he lay under to him which deserv'd quite another sort of usage and takes notice that if satisfaction were not done him he would make his just Grief to break out the more He likewise intreated him to take off the Excommunication which he had issu'd out against the Arch-bishop of Ravenna whom he look'd upon to be very unfortunate because it was an unworthy thing that so great a multitude of Men should be in danger of perishing for the fault of one single Man The Fifteenth is an Answer to a Letter of that Pope who complain'd that he had not wrote to him being too much taken up with Contemplation He gives him to understand That indeed he did enjoy a little more Repose since he had quitted the Episcopacy but that still he was taken up with a great many Visits and a multiplicity of Business and was so highly concern'd at the disorders of the World that he had neither Time nor Courage to write This gave him an occasion to describe the corrupted Manners of his Time Afterwards he conjures the Pope who had taken from him the Earldom of Ostia to discharge him likewise from his Bishoprick Lastly He exhorts him to use his utmost endeavours to reform the Church and concludes his Letter with Eight Verses which puts him in mind of his Duty In the Sixteenth directed to the same Pope and to Hildebrand he excuses himself for having wrote to the Arch-bishop of Cologne by sending to them the Copy of his Letter thereby to let them know that they had no reason to be offended at it He excus'd himself likewise from taking a Journey to Rome to which they had summon'd him but does not refuse to go to Mantua because he thought that Journey would turn to greater Account The Three next Letters are among his Opuscula the two first are the Three and Four and twentieth of these Opuscula and the last is the Life of St. Radulphus The Twentieth is directed to Cadalous Bishop of Parma the Antipope whom he extreamly upbraided for having caus'd himself to be elected Bishop of Rome or at least for having permitted it He made it appear that his Election is Adulterate Schismatical Heretical and Vicious 1. Because he had been elected whilst the Holy See was fill'd with a Lawful Pope 2. Because he had not been elected by the Cardinals who have the greatest share in the Election of a Pope nor by the Clergy and Laity of Rome but by two Bishops of a bad Life and who had no Right in this Election 3. Because the Church of Rome would not acknowledge him Afterwards he threatns him with the Judgments of God and with a speedy Correction This Letter made no Impression on Cadalous on the contrary that Bishop came to Rome with an Army and became Master of it by Force Upon this Peter Damien wrote him a second Letter more vehement than the former wherein he compares him to the most cruel Tyrants and puts him in mind of the Punishment inflicted on the
Holy Chrism ought only to be put into the Baptismal Water 90. Monks forbidden to stand as God-fathers at the Baptizing of Children 123. What sort of Vestments the Priests ought to wear during the Administration of Baptism 117. Infant-Baptism disapprov'd by Berenger according to Theoduin and Guitmond 7 and 11. Persons newly baptiz'd oblig'd to wear Albs and to hold Wax-Tapers for Eight Days 116. Bari or Canosa the Metropolitan Dignity of that See confirmed 70. Bastards when they may be admitted to Holy Orders 58 and 74. Excluded from the Episcopal Functions 65 and from other Ecclesiastical Dignities 58. Beard a Greek Archbishop oblig'd to keep it shav d 66. Benediction of Churches the Bishops forbidden to exact any thing upon that Account 58. St. Benedict that he was an Hermit 98. An Apparition of that Saint to Pope Urban II. 70. A Contest about his Body 127 Benedict VIII re-establish'd in the See of Rome by Henry Emperor of Germany on whom he confers the imperial Diadem 23. An Apparition of that Pope after his Death ibid. Benedict IX chosen Pope at the Age of 18 Years 24. He is turn'd out of the See of Rome at the end of ten Years by reason of his Irregularities ibid. He finds means to expel his Competitor and re-assumes the Papal Chair ibid. He makes a bargain about the Popedom with John Gracian and made it over to him for a Summ of Money ibid. At last he is depos'd in several Synods as well as his Competitors ibid. He gets Possession of St. Peter's Chair a third time ibid. He is forc'd to surrender himself and to acknowledge Pope Leo IX ibid. Benefices Ecclesiastical cannot be granted to others before the Death of the Incumbents 3. They cannot be conferr'd on Laicks 119. Abuses in the collating of them not to be tolerated 84 85 and 89. The Plurality of Spiritual Livings condemned 58 74 115 and 126. Forbidden to be held by right of Inheritance 58. The voluntary Resignation of them commended by Peter Damian 95. Ecclesiastical Benefices that oblige the Possessors of them to enter into Orders 58 Penalties to be impos'd on those who presume to sell them 44. Berengarius or Berenger his Doctrine concerning the Eucharist 7 and sequ 13 and sequ 16 and sequ 19 and 20. Condemned in divers Councils 7 8 9 10 11 18 73 and 116. And by many Authors 7 8 9 10 12 and sequ Other Opinions attributed to Berenger 7 11 17 and sequ 18 19 and sequ He is constrain'd with his Followers to make a Recantation under pain of Death 8. He abjures his Opinions in several Councils 9 and sequ He maintains them again ibid. He is oblig'd to abjure them a second time 10 and 44. A Protection granted to him by Pope Gregory VII 11. Of his Repentance ibid. The time of his Death ibid. Berengarians differ in their Opinions about the Eucharist 18. Berenger Count of Barcelona the Restorer of the City of Tarragona 70. Bertrade her Marriage with Philip King of France 73. She is excommunicated in a Council ibid. Bertrand Count of Provence takes an Oath of Fidelity to the Pope 54. Bigamy excludes Persons from Holy Orders 71. Bishoprick that 't is Simony to purchase one of a King or any other Prince although nothing were given for the Consecration 84 85 89. Bishops of their Election 66 and 74. Of their Functions ibid. 1â—4 Of their Duties ibid. 87 and sequ 95. Circumstances that render them uncapable of Ordination 5. Of their Habits 123. They cannot be chosen unless they have first taken Orders 72 and 74. The Seats of the Bishops in the Councils according to the Antiquity of their Ordination 122. Of their Authority over the Inferiour Clergy and their Churches 124. Of the Respect due to them 4 and 66. Whether it be lawful for Laicks to reprove the Vices of their Bishops 84. They are uncapable of exercising the Function of Civil Magistrates 123. A Definitive Sentence cannot be pass'd upon them without the Authority of the See of Rome 25. A Prohibition to pillage their Goods or Estate after their Death 26 27 65 and 89. Of the Management of their Revenues 65. Those who offer violence to them to be excommunicated 31. Bohemia the Privileges of that Dutchy by what Popes granted and confirmed 51. Subject to the Jurisdiction of the See of Rome ibid. Bonneval Abbey a Contest about that Monastery 4. Bread See Unleaven'd Bread Bretagne a Penalty impos'd on the Bishops of that Province who refus'd to acknowledge the Arch-bishop of Tours as their Metropolitan 26. Bruno by what Pope deputed to be his Missionary in Poland 23. Buryal ought not to be perform'd in Churches 123. A Prohibition to bury the dead in another Parish unless the accustom'd Duties be paid to the Curate ibid. Christian Burial ought not to be denied to those who die suddenly if they do not actually stand convicted of some Crime 118. Forbidden to Ravishers and to suspended or excommunicated Persons 65. An Ordinance that nothing be exacted for Burials 74. C CAdalous Bishop of Placentia and afterwards Antipope the Causes that occasion'd his Advancement to the Papal Dignity 29 92 and 93. That Election condemn'd in a Council 29 and by Peter Damian 85 and 91. His Attempts to get Possession of the See of Rome 29. The Censures pass'd upon him by Peter Damian on that account 85. He is driven out of the City of Rome 29. Peter Damian's Letters against that Antipope 86 87 and 91. Camaldolites that Order by whom founded 127. Canons Their Pretensions to the Privilege of enjoying a private Estate disapprov'd by Peter Damian 96. They are order'd to hold all things in common 27 and 31. That they ought to live in common 96. Punishments to be inflicted on Canons who revolt against their Bishops 66. Canons Regular The Restauration of that Order 31 and 128. Divers sorts of Regular Canons 128. A Licence from the Pope to confer spiritual Livings on such Canons 71. Canut King of England The Laws enacted by that Prince 122. His Journey to Rome 23. The Church Immunities he there obtain'd for his Subjects ibid. and 24. Candinals the time when they began to have the principal Share in the Election of the Popes 27 and 124. The Augmentation of their Authority ibid. Carthusians the Institution of their Order 127. Celibacy enjoyn'd Priests Deacons and Sub-Deacons 16 27 28 29 30 31 34 36 47 72 95 112 115 117 119 122 123 124. The Celibacy of Priests condemn'd by the Greeks 77 and 82 and authorized by the Latins 78 and 79. Cerularius See Michael Cerularius Chalices ought not to be made of Wax or Wood 123 nor of Potters Earth 124. Charles nominated to the Bishoprick of Constance 121. Contests about his Ordination ibid. He is oblig'd to resign that Bishoprick ibid. Chaplain those of Lay men subject to the Bishop's Jurisdiction 74. Forbidden to exercise their Functions without the Approbation of their Diocesan Chappel that a Chappel cannot be built without
who were ordain'd during the Schism 70. A Prohibition to receive several Orders on the same Day 118. The Age requisite for Admission into Orders 72 119. A Punishment inflicted on those who procure Ordination for Money 119. A Constitution enjoining Abbots Deans and Arch-Priests to enter into Priests Orders 58. P PAle a sort of Linen Covering for the Chalice the Reason of its Use 94 95. Pall the Metropolitans oblig'd to desire it of the See of Rome 66 and 126. The Archbishops and Bishops to whom it was granted in the Eleventh Century 12 15 23 29 61 70 and 92. Allow'd only to those who went to Rome to fetch it 15 65 and 91. Deny'd to an Archbishop of Tours 5. Paschasius Robertus his Sentiments concerning the Eucharist approv'd 7 8 and 9. Those of Joan. Scotus his Adversary condemned ibid. Pax Vobis That the Bishops were wont to say Pax Vobis in the time of Peter Damian 95. Penance Constitutions about it 44 58 73 and 74. Declared false unless it be proportion'd to the Quality of the Crimes 44. Abbots forbidden to impose Penance without the Consent of their Bishops 58. And Monks without that of their Abbots 123. Of those that are undergone to expiate the Offences of others 90. Causes of the Relaxation of Penance 126. Pentecost See Whiâ—sontide St. Peter and St. Paul why the Images of the latter are set on the right Hand and those of St. Peter on the left 97. St. Peter's Abbey at Chartres a Contest about an irregular Grant made to that Monastery 3. Peter Archbishop of Narboâ—ne excommunicated by Pope Gregory VII 43. Peter the Hermit the Effect of his Remonstrances for a Crusade 74. Peter pence exacted by the Pope of William II. King of England 30. A Constitution about the Payment of them 122. Philip I. King of France his Contests with Pope Gregory VII 48. The Threats and Reproaches put upon that Prince by the same Pope ibid. Philip is divorc'd from Bertha and marries Bertrade 73. Pope Urban II. reproves the Bishops of France about that Marriage 72. The King is excommunicated on that account in the Councils of Auâ—un and Clermonâ— 73 His Absolution reserv'd to the Pope 72. He is absolv'd in the Council of Wismes 75. Pilgrimages their Use approv'd by Peter Damian 91. Poland the Advice given by Pope Gregory VII to the Dukes of Poland 51. Pontius Bishop of Beziers for what Reason depos'd 56. Popes of their Spiritual and Temporal Authority 25. What Pope caus'd the changing of their Names at their Ordination to be authoriz'd by an express Law 23. Different Opinions about the time when their Names were ras'd out of the Diyptichs or Registers of the Greek Church 81 and 82. The unjust Pretensions of the Popes 126. The Infringements made by the Court of Rome of the Authority of the Ordinaries and of the Liberties and Immunities of the Churches ibid. That they are liable to be surpriz'd â—13 That they ought not to be obey'd when they forbid the doing of Good 101. The manner how they ought to proceed in granting Absolution to Offenders excommunicated by the Bishops 113. The Election of Popes reserv'd to the Cardinals 27 and 126. A Constitution about that Affair 27. Of the Right of the Emperors in their Elections 92 93. What may occasion the Shortness of their Life 96 A Prohibition to pillage the Revenues and Estates of the Popes after their Death 27. The Establishment of their Temporal Sovereignty in the City of Rome 126. Power a Distinction between the Regal and the Sacerdotal Power 87. Praxeda Empress her Declaration against the Emperor Henry III. her Husband 73. Presenâ—s That they are not to be receiv'd indifferently from all manner of Person 87. Priesthood of the Dignity and Duties of that Function 96. Priests what Punishments is incurr'd by those who celebrate Mass without communicating 5 and 6. They cannot be admitted into nor turn'd out of a Church without the Bishop's Consent 76. Nor become Vassals to Laicks ibid. Disputes between the Greeks and Latins about the Marriage of Priests 77 and 78. See Clergy-men and Clerks Primate the Title of Universal Primate forbidden to be attributed to any but the Bishop of Rome 114. Procession of the Holy Ghost of his Procession from the Father and the Son 92. Maintain'd by Peter Damian 97. And St. Anselm in a Council 92. A Treatise written by that Saint on the same Subject 94. Pudicus Bishop of Naâ—â—es depos'd in a Council for succeeding his Father in that Bishoprick 115. Q QUietists the Errors of that Sect observable in Simeon the Younger 107. R RAdâ—lphus Duke of Suabia See Rodolphus Rainier Bishop of Orleans a Contest between him and his Chapter 64. The Pâ—pe's Threats denounc'd against him ibid. Saâ—zon chosen in his place ibid. Râ—inier a Priest a Vision seen by him 87. Ravishers Punishments to be inflicted on them 75. Reginald Bishop of Cumae receives a Letter from Pope Gregory VII 34. Relicks the Latins accus'd of not shewing due Respect to them 81. Testimonies to the contrary 82. Those of St. Matthew found by a Bishop 6â— St. Remy the Dedication of his Church at Rheims and the Translation of his Body 114. Repentance Constitutions about it 44 58. 73 and 74. Declar'd Counterfeit unless proportion'd to the Quality of the Offences 44. See Penance Restitution that of other Mens Goods ordain'd in a Council 74. Revenge condemned in Clergy-men by Peter Daâ—iaâ— 87. Reveâ—ues of the Church of their Original 88. The Alienation of them forbidden ibid. Of their Use 6 75 88. Constitutions against Laicks who seâ—ze on them 28 and 29. Those who usurp them liable to Excommunication 3 30 43 and 75. A Custom that was us'd for the preserving of them condemn'd by Peter Damian 87. Church-Revenues cannot be recover'd by the Donors 75 and 76. An Ordinance about the Possession of them by Abbots 44. Richard Duke of Capua an Oath of Allegiance exacted of that Prince by Pope Gregory VII 54. Richerus Archbishop of Sens how he oppos'd an Attempt made by the Pope's Legate 58. A Penalty impos'd on the Archbishop for refusing to acknowledge the Primacy of the Metropolitan of Lyons 59. Rituals of the Difference between those of Clergy-men and those of Monks 94. Robert Abbot of Rebais a Contest about his Election and Ordination 58. He is excommunicated and another is substituted in his room ibid. Robert Count of Flanders the Restitution of the Church-Revenues made by that Prince 71. His Absolution reserv'd to Hugh Bishop of Die 58. The time of his Death 71. Rodolphus Duke of Suevia imploy'd by Pope Gregory VII to negotiate a Reconciliation with the Emperor Henry III. 34. He himself is chosen and crown'd Emperor of Germany 42. He besieges and takes Wurtzburg but loses that City a little after 43. The ill Success of his Arms in the War that he maintain'd against Henry 44. The Pope confers on him the Empire of Germany 45. He is defeated in Battel and dies of his
him that you ought to be a living Example of Justice a mirrour of Holyness a model of Devotion the support of Truth and defence of Faith the leader of Nations and guide of Christians the Friend of the Bridegroom and conducter of the Bride to her Spouse the Ordainer of the Clergy the Pastor of the People the instructer of the Ignorant the Sanctuary of the Oppressed the Advocate of the Poor the Hope of the Miserable the support of the Fatherless the Judge of Widows the Eye of the Blind the Tongue of the Dumb the staff of Age the revenger of Crimes the Terror of the Wicked and Glory of the Good the Rod of the Powerful the Scourge of Tyrants the Father of Princes the mitigator of Laws the dispenser with Canons the Salt of the Earth the Light of the World the pontiff of the most High the Vicar of Christ the Anointed of the Lord and lastly the God of Pharaoh In the last Book he admonishes Pope Eugenius to consider the Power that is above his that is that of God and the Angels which gives him occasion to treat of the Angels and of the Divinity St. Bernard began this Work in the Year 1149 and the first Book of it was finished the same Year The second was sent to Pope Eugenius in the Year 1150. after the ill success of the Croisade The third in 1152 and the two last some small time after These Books Of Consideration were follow'd by a Treatise of the same Nature address'd to Henry Arch-Bishop of Sens concerning the Manners and Duty of Bishops St. Bernard therein shews how difficult it is to behave ones self in that Office and the Necessity there is for having good Counsel He afterwards lays down the Obligations for Bishops to prove an Honour to their Ministry by their Virtues and not by Vanity and Luxury He treats more particularly of the Virtues requir'd in a Bishop such as Chastity Humility and Pastoral Care and lastly he blames the Conduct of those Abbots who had a mind to exempt themselves from the Episcopal Jurisdiction and wear Pontifical Habits This Treatise was compos'd about the Year 1127. About the same time St. Bernard being at Paris writ a Discourse to the Clergy of that City Intituled Of Conversion which follows the Treatise of the Duty of Bishops It contains a Moral Exhortation to Repentance and change of Life and towards the End he speaks against Ambitious and incontinent Clerks The Treatise of Commands and Dispensations was compos'd by St. Bernard about the Year 1131. to serve for Answer to the Monks of St. Peter of Chartres who had consulted him upon this Subject and which is address'd to Roger Abbot of St. Colombe near Sens and not to these Monks of Chartres because they had written to him with the leave of their Abbot The first question he treats of is whether all those things which are contained in the Order are Obligatory to them who profess them or whether they are only Monitory and Instructive And again if one part ought to be taken for Precepts and the other for Counsel He answers that the Order of St. Bennet is propos'd to all Mankind but not offer'd to be forc'd upon any Body That any Person is free to be admitted of it but when one is once engag'd in it it becomes necessary so to continue so that excepting a few particulars which relate to Spiritual Matters such as Charity Humility c. which are instituted only by God and therefore not to be chang'd all the other Rules of the Order are only Instructions and good Counsel to them who are not yet profess'd but to such as are they become Commands and it is Criminal to violate them that they are voluntary to the first and compulsory to the last yet however they may be dispens'd with upon an extraordinary occasion That this power of dispensing belongs only to Superiours and who cannot do it upon just Grounds and not meerly out of Fancy To explain the utmost extent of these Dispensations St. Bernard reckons up three sorts of necessary things which are one establish'd two Inviolable and three Immutable The establish'd are those which are found to be so very necessary that every Body is not allow'd to alter them but Superiours only These are Monastick Rules which having been instituted by Saints are as it were establish'd and cannot be chang'd by private Persons but as those who establish'd them were Men those Men also who by a Canonical Election have succeeded to these Saints have authority to give Dispensations without Abuse and Disorder according to the circumstances of Time Place and Persons and moreover these having been instituted for the encrease and preservation of Charity as long as they are conducing thereunto they cannot be alter'd even by Superiours but if it at any time happens that they become contrary to the interest of Charity in the Observation and Judgment of those that are oblig'd to inspect them then it is but reasonable that what was at first instituted for the benefit of Charity should be either omitted interrupted or alter'd for the sake of Charity and it would be unjust that what had been establish'd on account of Charity should subsist and flourish in prejudice thereof These things we term establish'd are fixt and immoveable even in regard to Superiours but then it must be as long as they are Serviceable and Assisting to Charity The second sort of necessary things are call'd Inviolable for that not having been instituted by Men but establish'd by the Commandments of God they cannot be chang'd but by the Authority of God himself who was the Author of them As to the third kind of necessary things which he terms immutable are those which are of such a Nature that even God himself could not change them on whatsoever account Under this kind are comprehended all the Instructions which Christ gave his Disciples on the Mount and moreover such as both the Old and New Testament have ordain'd relating to Charity Humility c. all these things being such in their Nature it would not be either allowable or profitable to retrench them their Excellency being immutable and founded on the principles of the Law of Nature Of these three necessary things the first is covenanted by free Will and a Promise The second proceeds from the Authority of him that Commanded And the third is grounded on the dignity of Precept From these Principles St. Bernard concludes that an Abbot cannot dispense with any thing that belongs to Spirituals in his Order and as to Outward Observances he must not be guided by his Pleasure and Fancy but by Charity because he is not above the Order which he Professes himself a Member of That the Letter of the Rules must give way to Charity when Necessity so requires it That even Superiours cannot restrain the Obligation of a Vow unless upon an absolute Necessity nor Extend it unless the Inferiours Consent that Nevertheless an Inferiour
not able to give Entertainment to the Bishop by reason of their Poverty he asserts That they ought to sell or pawn the Ornaments of their Church to exercise Hospitality towards their Diocesan In the Sixty second he recommends to a Widow who had devoted her self to God the giving of Alms to the Poor In the Sixty third he commends the Countess Adela in regard that after her Conversion instead of undertaking a Pilgrimage to the Holy Land she had embrac'd the Monastick Life In the Sixty fourth he censures the Custom of a Monastery where both the Species of the Eucharist were not administer'd separately but that of the Bread steept in the other of the Wine He maintains That the sopt Bread which our Saviour gave to Judas was not the Eucharist In the Sixty fifth written by Hildebert as well as the next after his Translation from the Bishoprick of Mans to the Arch-bishoprick of Tours he acquaints the Pope That he had taken a Journey to Bretagne where he held a Synod at Nantes A. D. 1127. for the Reformation of the Church chiefly as to what concerns incestuous Marriages and the Succession of Relations to Ecclesiastical Preferments That the Prince had remitted in that Synod the Right which was claim'd by the Lords to seize on the moveable Goods of deceased Persons and even his own Royal Prerogative by vertue of which all manner of Wracks at Sea belong to his demeans That it was also ordain'd That the Bishops should publish in their Synods and the Preists in their Churches That those who presume to contract unlawful Marriages for the future shall be excommunicated and that the Children born in such Wedlock were declar'd illegitimate That the Ecclesiastical Constitutions were reviv'd concerning the Qualities requisite in Persons who design to receive Orders That it was prohibited to ordain the Sons of Priests unless they turn'd Regular Canons or Monks and that as for those who were already ordain'd they were not allow'd to serve their Fathers Parishes in that Quality lest they should find means to succeed them And lastly That very strict Prohibitions were made that Benefices should be transmitted as it were by Succession He entreats the Pope to confirm what they had done more especially the Resignation that the Prince had made of his Right to the Shipwracks Pope Honorius II. grants him this Confirmation in the Letter which immediately follows that of which we have but now made mention In the Sixty seventh he complains to that Pope that the King of France had confiscated the Revenues belonging to his Church and would not suffer him to enter the Territories of his Kingdom because he refus'd to dispose of the Benefices according to the pleasure of that Prince He likewise wrote to him about the Contests that happen'd in the Church of Tours between the Dean and some of the Canons which was carry'd on to that height that one of the Canons was maimed by one of the Collegues and by the Dean's Friends The latter was accused of being accessory to the Fact but he deny'd it and no Proof being brought against him he clear'd himself by his own Oath and by that of seven other Priests In the Sixty eighth he tells the Pope that the had done what his Holiness requir'd of him having restor'd Bracerius to his Prebend which he deserv'd to lose by reason of the enormity of his Crimes and in sending to him Radulphus Dean of St. Maurice of whom mention is made in the preceding Letter He justifies the Innocence of that Dean and acquaints the Pope with the Judgment passed in his favour In the Sixty ninth he entreats the Pope to confirm a Donation that the King of England made to the Church of Fontevrault In the Seventieth he comforts the Queen of England for her Barrenness and gives her to understand that she ought not to look upon it as a disgrace but as the means of procuring her Salvation by adopting the Poor for her Children In the Seventy first he exhorts to perseverance a Countess who had quitted worldly Affairs to embrace the Monastick Life The Seventy fourth is a Reprimand given to a Clergy-man who did not lead a regular Course of Life In the Seventy fifth he complains that none of his Friends undertook to maintain the Interests of his Church in the Court of the King of France In the Seventy ninth he determines That Nuns who live in a Monastery ought not to go out of it alone but accompanied with one of their Matrons He reproves those who act otherwise on Holy-days and observes that about thirty Years were pass'd since he wrote a Treatise of Virginity Lastly he declaims against some Nuns who dwell in private Houses to lead a more dissolute Course of Life The Eightieth is a Letter by Marbodus Bishop of Rennes which we shall mention in its proper place The Eighty second is an excellent Letter directed to Pope Honorius in which he expresses himself with Submission and Freedom against the Appeals made to the See of Rome which were so frequent in that Age. He entreats him at first not to be offended at his Letter nor to attribute that to Presumption which he was oblig'd to do by necessity and lest the Church should be oppress'd by force of Arms the effects of which he himself knew by Experience He adds that he has reason to hope that his Remonstrance will not be unacceptable to him because it is written for the sake of Justice Afterwards he declares That that Custom was never approv'd on the hither side of the Alpes and that it is not an Article grounded on the Ecclesiastical Laws that all sorts of Appeals should be receiv'd at Rome That if that Innovation prevail the Authority of the Popes will be disannull'd and the whole vigour of Church-Discipline will be subverted For says he where is the Oppressor that does not enter an Appeal as soon as he is threaten'd with an Anathema Where is the Clerk who will not continue in his exorbitant Courses defending himself by a declinatory Appeal Or by what means can the Bishops inflict any Punishment for the least Act of Disobedience An Appeal will certainly put a stop to his Censure weaken his Constancy baffle his Resoluteness impose Silence upon him and cause all manner of Crimes to go unpunished However Hildebert owns that the Church on the hither side of the Alpes has acknowledg'd some Appeals and 't is but reasonable that those who have lawful Grievances should get them redress'd by that means as also that those Persons whose Judges are their Enemies or suspected or who fear the Outragiousness of the People should have the same liberty to secure themselves But he maintains that Appeals which are only enter'd on purpose to put a stop to the Course of Justice and to procrastinate Affairs ought not to be authoriz'd and therefore he entreats the Pope no longer to admit any of that Nature The Eighty third Letter which is the last of this
Richard of St. Victor are of Two Sorts some of them being Pieces relating to Points of Doctrine and others being Treatises of Piety and practical Divinity Among the former are to be reckon'd his Treatise of the Trinity divided into Six Books A Tract dedicated to St. Bernard concerning the Attributes appropriated to every one of the Divine Persons His Treatise of the Incarnation Two Treatises of the Emmanuel or on these Words of the Prophet Isaiah Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and shall call his name Emmanuel in which he proves against a certain Jew that these Words can be interpreted of none but the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ A Treatise of the Power of Binding and Loosing in which he follows the common Opinion of the School-Divines of his time concerning the Effect of the Keys and the Power of the Ministers A Discourse of the Sin against the Holy Ghost Certain Explications dedicated to St. Bernard on some difficult Places of Scripture A Discourse to explain in what Sense the Holy Ghost is said to be the Love of the Father and of the Son And a Treatise of the difference between Mortal and Venial Sins His Works of Piety and Morality are these viz. A Treatise of the means of rooting out Evil and promoting Good A Discourse on the State of the inward Man Three Books of the Instruction of the inward Man or of the Spiritual Exercise upon occasion of the Dreams of Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel A Treatise of the Preparation of the Soul for Contemplation Five Books of the Grace of Contemplation on the Ark which was set in the Tabernacle with an Addition containing some Allegories on the Tabernacle A Discourse or Meditation on the Plagues that will happen on the Day of Judgment Another Discourse on the Day of the last Judgment A Treatise of the Degrees of Charity Another of the Four Degrees of fervent Charity A Discourse of the Two Passovers with a Sermon on the Festival of Easter A Discourse of the Baptism of Jesus Christ A Sermon on the Effusion of the Holy Ghost A Tract concerning the Comparison that is made of our Saviour to the Flower and of the Virgin Mary to the Branch Another about the Quality of Standard of the People attributed to Jesus Christ And lastly Two Discourses viz. One concerning the difference between Abraham's Sacrifice and that of David and the other relating to the difference between the same Sacrifice and that of the Virgin Mary This Author died March 10. A. D. 1173. and his Works were printed at Paris in 1518. and in 1540. as also at Venice in 1592. at Colen in 1621. and at Rouen in 1650. He shews a great deal of subtilty in his Theological Treatises and argues methodically with an Exactness befitting an able Logician His Critical Pieces are very accurate for his time but his Style is not very lofty and upon that Account it is that his Treatises of Piety though full of excellent Matter have not all the Grandeur nor all the Energy that might be wished for CHAP. XVII Of Gratian's Collection of Canons ALthough many Collections of Canons Decretals and Passages of the Fathers relating to the canon-Canon-Law were compil'd before the Twelfth Century yet none of them was generally follow'd or publickly taught They were looked upon as the Work of private Persons and the Decisions contain'd in them had no greater Authority than the Monuments out of which they were taken whilst every one apply'd them to his particular Benefit but none made them the subject of publick Lectures The Collection which GRATIAN a Monk of St. Felix Gratian. at Bononia and a Native of Chiusi in Toscany compleated in the Year 1151. met with much better Success for as soon as it appear'd it was so favourably receiv'd that the Canonists taught it publickly and in a little time a great number of Commentaries were written on that Work In the Ancient Manuscripts and in the First Editions it bears this Title viz. The Concord of disagreeing Canons and afterwards was call'd The Book of Decrees or simply The Decrees It is divided into Three Parts the First of which contains Matters relating to the Law in general and the Ministers of the Church under the Name of Distinctions the Second divers particular Cases upon occasion of which are debated many Questions that are call'd The Causes and the Third entituled Of the Consecration such Matters as relate to the Divine Offices and the Sacraments In the First twenty Distinctions of the First Part he treats of the Division of the Law of the different sorts of Laws as well Civil as Ecclesiastical of the Authority of the Canons of the Councils and of the Decretals of the Popes of the sacred Orders of the Qualities of Persons who ought to be ordain'd of the Form and Ceremonies of Ordination of the Functions and Conduct of Clergy-men of the Power of the Pope and of the Bishops of the use of the Pall and of every Thing that relates to the Ministers of the Church This Part is divided into 101 Distinctions In the Second containing Thirty six Causes every one of which comprehends divers Questions every Question being likewise divided into several Chapters the Author treats of Simony of Appeals of Incumbents depriv'd of their Benefices of the Quality of Witnesses and Accusers of Elections of the Government of Churches of Ecclesiastical Censures of last Wills and Testaments of Burials of Usury of what ought to be observ'd with respect to * Furieux outragious or distracted Persons of Sentences passed contrary to the due Forms of Law of Monks and Abbots and their Rights of those who assault Clergy-men of Commendams of Oaths of War of Heresies of Infractions of the Canons of Sorcerers of Marriage and its Impediments of the Degrees of Consanguinity and of Rapes In the Thirty second Cause he has inserted a Dissertation concerning Repentance in Seven Sections in which he follows the Error of some Writers of Penitentials who do not believe Confession to be of Divine Right or absolutely necessary for the remission of Sins The Third Part contains Five Distinctions or Sections viz. the First concerning the Consecration of Churches the Celebration of Mass and the Divine Service the Second concerning the Eucharist the Third about the solemn Festivals of the Year and the use of Images the Fourth about the Sacrament of Baptism and its Ceremonies and the Fifth concerning Confirmation Fasts manual Labour and some other Points of Discipline Some Articles have been since added from time to time under the Title of Palea which is suppos'd to be the Name of the Author of these Additions which were call'd Protopalea or Palea The First Edition of this Work was printed at Mentz A. D 1472. and the Second at Venice Four Years after The Third is that of Paris in 1508. which is the First that bears the Name of Gratian whose Text is to be found in these Editions after the same manner that
had in his Estate Dionysius King of Portugal by advice of the Pope instituted in his Kingdom an Order of Knights of Christ which was approved by Pope John XXII and founded out of the Goods of the Templars whose principal Imployment was to make War upon the Moors In England it was resolved in a Parliament held in the Year 1324. that the Estates of the Templars should be united to the Order of Hospitallers which gave occasion to some English of that Order to think they were discharged from their Vows and at liberty to Marry which the Bishops of England opposed It is one of the famous Questions in History to wit whether the Templars were Guilty of all Arguments which may be alledged for the justification of the Templars the Crimes whereof they were accused and justly condemned or whether they were imputed to them falsely and whether they were not compelled by the violence of Torments and Fear to confess things which they had not done to grow rich by their Spoils and seize on their Effects as some Historians have asserted It may be alledged in their Defence 1. That the Informers were two Wretches condemned for their Crimes no way worthy of Credit who thought of this Project to rescue themselves from the Punishment to which they were condemned 2. That the Crimes whereof they stand accused are so horrid and execrable and at the same time so extraordinary that they must if Guilty have lost not only all sense of Honour and Religion but also Modesty Common Sense and Understanding Now is it credible that a vast Number of Men of all Nations and Degrees spread throughout all Christendom should all fall into so horrid an Excess of Wickedness and Extravagance and that neither Religion nor Shame nor fear of Discovery nor any distast which any of the Order might have taken should induce none of them to reveal their Actions This Silence is strange if the Thing be true A Silence which lasted for almost an Hundred Years which was observed religiously by all those of the Order During this time many Malecontents left the Order how could it possibly be that not one of them to justifie his Desertion should offer for a Reason the Disorders he had there met with How could an infinite Number of People who presented themselves to be admitted with a good intent and not being yet corrupted resolve at their Admittance to make so damnable a Profession and therein persevere 3. That they confessed not these Crimes but for fear of Torments wherewith they were threatned and in hopes which were given them of being well used and likewise rewarded for their Confession that such as refused to own them were put to the Rack that Torments might force from their Mouths the Confession of what was False that notwithstanding there were some who would never Swear against their Order and honourably asserted their Innocence that the greater part of those who were Cowardly enough to yield to Fear or be wrought on by Promises had recanted and persisted in that Recantation to their Death ever protesting that they had been imposed upon or that they had spoken falsely and that these Confessions were extorted from them by Threats or Promises or by Violence that they had shewn as much Constancy in this Retractation as they had testified Weakness and Change from their former Deposition In fine that they chose rather to be Burnt alive and going to Execution they declared aloud that they died innocent the time in which the fear of Hell and the Judgment of God before whom they must appear forces the Truth from the Heart and Tongue of the most Wicked 4. That there were found no other Witnesses against them than themselves that 't was only in France where they were constrained to confess these Crimes that every where besides whatever Prosecution was made against them they were not found Guilty of these Crimes neither did they confess them 5. That their Judges were Parties That Philip the Fair had a Mind to this for a long time accusing them of raising and fomenting Sedition against him that he was the particular Enemy of the Great Master that he owed them Money that he desired to enrich himself with their Spoils as it came to pass that he engaged himself in the Prosecution of this Affair with Zeal and Partiality that he practised unheard of Cruelties on the accused that the Pope was unwilling at the first to enter on this Business as being acquainted with the Injustice of it but that at the last he suffered himself to be prevailed with by the importunity of the King of France and the offers he made him to leave the disposal of the Templars Possessions to his Holiness that in fine the Pope the King of France and other Princes found the Destruction of this Order would turn to Account and made Advantage of their Estates in whole or in part 6. That the Proceedings against them were Irregular and against the Forms prescribed by the Law that at the first they were arrested upon slight Suspicions by the Authority of the King and without having consulted the Pope unto whom alone it belonged to judge them because of their Privileges that the first Examinations were taken either by the King's Officers or by the Inquisitor that their Proceedings were not against the whole Order that they were not Summon'd nor their Process prepared according to Form that the Pope acknowledged all these things in declaring that he could not of right give a definitive Sentence against this Order according to the Inquest and the Method wherein the Process was prepared Non per modum definitivae Sententiae cum eam super hoc secundum inquisitiones processus super his habitos non possumus ferre de jure That he Condemn'd them nevertheless and Abrogated their Order by way of Provision as if the utter abolishing of an Order could be decreed by Provision when 't was acknowledged it could not be decreed of right It may be answer'd to these Arguments That in Matters of Fact we are not to make use of The Reasons which pâ—… the Juâ—â—ice of abâ—lishing the Order 〈◊〉 Tâ—… Conjectures and Reasonings against the Depositions and Confessions themselves of the Criminals upon which they were legally Condemned That we have the Interrogatories of a vast number of Templars who have Acknowledged the Crimes whereof they were accused That it matters not who are the Informers provided that in the Sequel the Fact be Evident that the Crimes whereof they are accused are in good earnest very heinous but Men that give themselves over to their Passions and Lusts are capable of all of them and there is no disorder so strange into which they may not fall That those whereof the Templars are accused are of two Sorts Impieties and a kind of Idolatry and the Vice of Sodomy that the Commerce which they had with the Saracens might engage them in the former which is the more Extraordinary
Death of William Wilford 1398 A Substraction of Obedience from the two Contendants for the Papacy published in France and other places XXI VII  An Assembly of the Clergy in France which ordered the Substraction May 22. Henry Andernacus Blaisus Andernarius John de S. Bavon Rich. de Lavenham John de Werden flourished The Death of Gerhard de Zutphen Dec. 4. 1399  XXII Rich. II. K. of England is deprived of his Kingdom and Henry Earl of Lancaster chosen King VIII   The Death of Nicholas Eymericus Jan. 4. 1400  The Electors of the Empire depose the Emperor Wenceslaus Joseph Marquess of Moravia his Nephew was chosen in his room by the Archbishops of Mentz and Colen but dyed six Months after Robert Duke of Bavaria and Count Palatine of the Rhine is chosen and crowned Emperour I. IX   Maximus Nilus Damilas Demetrius Cidonius John de Campscen Philip d'Otterburg flourished The Death of Simon of Cremoxa 1401  II. Robert goes into Italy with an Army and is beaten by Galeaccius Vicount of Milan and forced to return into Germany X.   The Death of Bartholomew Albicius December 10. 1402  III. XI Isa-Zelebis is slain by his Brother Soliman who is declared Emperour of the Turks    1403 The Subtraction of Obedience to Benedict XIII is taken off in France on certain Conditions IV. XII  An Assembly of the Clergy in France held at Paris May 28. which took off the Subtraction  1404 Benedict proposes ways of Union to Boniface who dyed Octob. 1. The Cardinals of his Party chose on the 12 of the same Month Cosmatus Melioratus de Sulmona who took the Name of Innocent VII Ladislaus King of Naples makes himself Master of Rome and drives out Innocent V. XIII   Lucius Colutius presents to the King of France a Petition for the Florentines against the Faction of the Gibelines 1405. Innocent VII is recalled to Rome and Ladislaus's party driven out VI. XIV    1406 A New Subtraction of the French from their Obedience to Benedict Innocent VII dyed and the Cardinals of his Party chose Angelus de Corario who took the Name of Gregory XII upon condition he should procure the Peace of the Church by way of Cession VII XV.  An Assembly of the Clergy of France held at Paris Dec. 21. which renewed the Subtraction The Death of Lucius Colutius May 12. 1407 A Neutrality published in France in regard of the two Contenders for the Papacy Divers Embassages by the two Contending Popes and King of France to heal the Schism but all to no purpose IX XVI    1408 King Ladislaus makes himself Master of Rome April 25. The Cardinals withdraw their Obedience from the two Contendants and retreat to Pisa to make a new Election Gregory excommunicates them Benedict sends abusive Letters to the King of France His Couriers are arrested Process made against them and they are put in Prison IX XVII  An Assembly of the Clergy of France held at Paris from Aug. 11. to Nov. 5. which prescribed the manner of Mens behaviour under the Neutrality so long as the Schism lasted The Death of Hen. Kalkar The Death of Antonius Butrio Octob. 7. as some say but as others in 1417. A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE Ecclesiastical Authors Of the Fourteenth AGE and their WORKS BONIFACE VIII CHosen in 1294 dyed Octob. 12. 1303. His Genuine Works which we have A Composure of Decretals called Sextus divided into five Books Constitutions Letters and Bulls extant in the History of the Difference of this Pope with Philip the Fair. In the Collection of Bulls and in the Annalists JAMES CAYETAN Cardinal Nephew of Pope Boniface was made Cardinal in 1295. His Genuine Work c. A Treatise of the Hundredth Year of Jubilee DINUS de MUGELLO Professor of Law Flourished in the beginning of this Age and dyed about 1303. His Genuine Works c. Several Books of Civil Law A Commentary upon the Rules of the Canon Law ENGELBERT Abbot of Admont Flourished at the same time His Genuine Works c. A Treatise about the Rise Growth and Fall of the Roman Empire Works Lost. See the Catalogue of them p. 49. STEVEN de SALAGNAC a Preaching Frier Flourished in the beginning of this Age. His MS. Work A Treatise of the Original of the Friers Preachers ANDREW of New-Castle a Preaching Frier Flourished in the beginning of this Age. His Genuine Works which we have A Commentary upon the first Book of the Sentences RAINERIUS de PISA a Preaching Frier Flourished in the beginning of this Age. His Genuine Work Pantheologia or a Theological Dictionary WILLIAM de NANGIS a Monk of S. Dennis Flourished till 1301. His Genuine Works c. Part of his Chronicle His Chronicles of the Kings of France The Lives of S. Lewis and Philip the Hardy BENEDICT XI Pope Raised to the Papacy Octob. 22. 1303. dyed July 8. 1304. His Genuine Works c. Letters about the quarrel of Boniface and Philip the Fair In the Acts of Boniface and Philip the Fair. THOMAS WICKE An Englishman and Canon Regular His Genuine Work c. A Chronicle of England A Work Lost. A Treatise of the Abbots of Osney JACOBUS de BENEDICTIS Flourished in the beginning of the Age dyed in 1306. His Genuine Works c. Hymns and Proses JUSTUS a Cistercian Abbot Flourished in the beginning of this Age. His Genuine Work c. A Sermon at a Chapter of his Order JOANNES DUNS Surnamed Scotus a Grey Frier Flourished in the end of the third and beginning of the fourth Age and dyed in 1308. His Genuine Works which we have See the Catalogue p. 52. RICHARD de SIENNA Cardinal Flourished in the beginning of the Age and was one of those whom Boniface employed to compose the sixth Book of the Decretals Works Lost. Some Treatises of Law PETRUS de DACIA Flourished about the same time A Work Lost. A Kalendar PETRUS de BOSCO an Advocate and a Nameless Author Flourished in the beginning of this Age. Genuine Works c. Two Treatises against the Pretended Authority of the Pope over the Temporalties of Kings HENRY STERO A Monk of Altaich flourished till 1306. Genuine Works c. The Annals of Germany The History of the Emperors Rodolphus c. EVERARDUS Arch-deacon of Ratisbonne flourished about 1310. A Genuine Work The Continuation of the Annals of Stero JOANNES de JOINVILLO Martial of Champeigne flourished till 1310. A Genuine Work The Life of S. Lewis SIFFRIADUS A Priest flourished about 1310. A Genuine Work Part of his Chronicle of Germany HAITO A Canon Regular of Praemonstre Entred the Order of Praemonstre in 1290 and flourished till 1310. A Genuine Work which we have The History of his Voyage into the H. Land JOANNES MONACHUS Cardinal was made a Cardinal in 1294 and died 1313. A Genuine Work An Apparatus to the Sextus CLEMENT V. Pope raised to the Papacy in 1305 and died
Office by Radulphus de Rivo The Instruction of Pastors by Franciscus Ximenius Letters and Bulls of Pope Clement VI. Innocent VI. Urban V. and Gregory XI Letters Acts and divers Pieces concerning the Popes which sat at Rome and Avignon in which are several things Remarkable about the Schism and the Contendants for the Papacy An Alphebetical Table of Canons by Matthew Blastares A Treatise of the Causes or Questions about Marriage by the same Author The Calendar of Isaac Argyrus Canons and Rules of Councils in the VIIth Chapter Treatises about the Ecclesiastical and Civil Power and Jurisdiction The greatest part of the Letters of Boniface VIII and the Acts made about that time A Treatise of the Regale and Sacerdotal Power by Peter de Bosco The Treatise of an Anonymous Author upon the same Subject A Treatise of the same Matter by John of Paris A Treatise of Aegidius Romanus A Treatise of Harvaeus Natalis The Summary of Augustinus Triumphus about the Power of the Church A Treatise of the Jurisdiction of the Emperor and the Authority of the Pope The Treatise of Alvarus Pelagius of the Complaint of the Church A Treatise of the Eccesiastical and Secular Power by Ockam who also Compos'd Eight Questions upon the same Subject His Treatises against John XXII and His Treatise of the Power of the Emperor The Defender of the Peace against the Usurp'd Jurisdiction of the Roman Bishop by Marsilius Patavinus who also made A Treatise of the Translation of the Empire A Treatise of the Ecclesiastical Power by Radulphus de Praeles The Dream of the Green by Philip Mesorius An Information of the Nullity of the Procession form'd by John XXII against Lewis of Bavaria Some Treatises of Franciscus Mayronius A Treatise of Durandus about the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction The Acts of the Conference of the Clergy and John Cugieres about the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction by Petrus Bertrandus A Treatise of the Original and Use of Jurisdictions or of the Spiritual and Temporal Powers by the same Author A Treatise of the Zeal and Affection of the Princes of Germany to Religion by Lupoldus de Bamberg A Treatise of the Rights of the Empire by the same Author A Treatise of the immediate Cause of the Ecclesiastical Power by Petrus de Palude Works of the Canon-Law A Commentary upon the Rules of the Canon-Law by Dinus de Mugillo An Apparatus to the Sextus by Cardinal Le Moin A Gloss upon the Summary of Raimundus de Pennaforti by John de Friburg A Treatise of the Elections of Prelates by William de Mandagot A Commentary upon the Summary of the Cardinal Bishop of Ostia call'd Oculus by Berengarius de Fredol Novels or a Commentary upon the Five Books of the Decretals Two Commentaries upon the Sextus Glosses upon the Clementines The Tree of Consanguinity Feudal Questions about Marriage and Interdicts A Summary of Affiances Marriage and degrees of Consanguinity by Johannes Andreae A Commentary upon the Sextus by Albericus Rosatus A Dictionary of the Civil and Canon-Law A Treatise of Ecclesiastical Interdicts and a Table of the Texts of Scripture quoted in the Decretals by John Calderin The Commentary of Henry Boich upon the Five Books of the Decretals the Sextus and the Clementines A Commentary upon the Sextus and a Repertory of Civil and canon-Canon-Law by Antonius de Butrio The Commentaries of Zabarel upon the Five Books of the Decretals His Commentary upon the Clementines A Treatise of the Authority of the Emperor to suppress Schism by the same Author A Commentary upon the Decretals by Baldus Commentaries and other Works upon the Holy Scripture An Abbridgment of Scripture by Petrus Auroelus The Postil of William of Paris upon the Epistles and Gospels A Commentary upon Seven Psalms by Tho. Jeisius Other Commentaries of his upon the Scripture and the Works of Thomas Aquinas Commentaries upon the Proverbs of Solomon the Four Gospels and Revelation by Vitalis de Furno Postils upon all the Books of the Bible by Nicholas de Lyra. His Moral Commentaries A Commentary of Ludolphus upon the Psalms in their Spiritual Sense 230 Lectures upon the Book of Wisdom by Robert Holkot Lectures upon the Song of Songs and upon the Seven first Chapters of Ecclesiasticus by the same Author The Commentary of Gregorius Ariminensis upon St. Paul's Epistles and the Epistle of St. James A Postil upon the Gospels by Simon de Cremona The Commentary of Nicholas Gorham upon the New Testament A Commentary upon the Psalms by Michael Aignanus under the Name of an unknown Person A Commentary upon the Psalms by Peter Herentals Works of General History A Treatise of the Rise Growth and End of the Roman Empire by Engelbert The Chronicle of William Nangis and his Continuers The Chronicle of the History of England by Thomas Wicke The Annals and History of Germany by Henry Stero and his Continuers The Life of St. Lewis by Joinville A Chronicle of Germany by Siffridus A History of the Voyage into the Holy Land by Haito Letters and other Acts concerning the Difference between Boniface VII and Philip the Fair. See Chapter 1st Letters and other Acts concerning the Affairs of the Templars See Chapter 2d The Annals of Ptolemaeus Lucensis from 10 to 1303 who also Compos'd a Chronicle of the Pope and Emperors The Chronicle of Nicholas Trivet The Secrets of the Faithful of the Cross or the means to recover the Holy Land by Manuel Sanutus who has Letters upon the same Subject A Treatise of the Translation of the Empire by Marsilius of Padua Other Treatises upon the same Subject by Jordanus Saxo. The Lives of Clement V. and John XXII by Bernard Guidodonis who has Written The Lives of St. Fulchran and St. Glodesindis and the History of the Order of Grandmont and the Monastery of St. Augustine at Limoges and the Acts of the Earls of Tholouse The Lives of Jesus Christ St. Joachim St. Ann and the Virgin Mary by Ludolphus a Carthusian The Chronicle of Henry a Monk of Ribdorff from 1275 to 1372. The Flowers of History by Matthew Florilegus The Chronicle of Albert of Strasburg from 1270 to 1378. The Chronicle of England by Henry Knighton His History of the Deposition of Richard the IId The Ecclesiastical History of Nicephorus Callistus The Life of Jesus Christ by Cabasilas The Byzantine History by Gregorias An Abridgment of the Oecumenical Councils by Nilus The History of Cantacuzenus Works of Particular History The Treatise of Stephen Salagnac a Preaching Frier in Honour of his own Order The History of the Church of Ageris by William le Maire A Chronicle of the Kings of France by William Nanges who also Writ the Lives of St. Lewis and Philip the Hardy The Life of St. Walpurga by Philip Bishop of Eichstat The Life of Thomas Arch-Bishop of Crete by the Knight Meserius A Voyage into the Holy Land by Baldensel The Letters of Arnoldus Cescomes to require Aid against the Saracens A Chronicle of the Bishops of
of the Revenues of the Church a bad Administrator of Spiritual and Temporal Revenues that he had brought a Scandal upon the Church by his Disorders that because he had not amended after Admonition he ought to be depriv'd of his Papal Dignity and depos'd of which now the Council did actually deprive him and depose him and declar'd That all the Faithful were absolv'd from their Oath and the Obedience due to him forbad him to acknowledge or call him Pope condemn'd him to be confin'd to a certain place under the Guards of Sigismund King of the Romans and Hungary and reserv'd to themselves a Power of imposing other Penalties which his Crimes deserv'd as should be agreed upon either according to the rigor of Justice or the mitigation of Mercy In a third Decree the Council forbad to choose any of the three for Pope who now pretended a Right to the Pontificat and in case any of them should be chosen it declar'd the Election Null and forbad all Persons to obey him of whatsoever Condition they were After the reading of these Acts Cardinal Viviers President of the Council enquir'd if any one would contradict this Sentence and no Body offering to oppose it it was approv'd in the name of the College of Cardinals and afterwards the Deputies of the five Nations and generally all those who were present at the Council declar'd That they approv'd it The Cardinal of Florence had a mind to read a Writing which appear'd to be some Protestation but all the rest oppos'd it and he was forc'd to hold his Peace After this the Seals of Balthazar Cossa were broken being presented by the Archbishop of Riga Vice Chancellor In the Thirteenth Session held June the 15th a Decree was read wherein the Heresie of those was condemn'd who blame the Custom of giving the Communion to the Laity in one kind only and it was ordain'd That this way shall be observ'd and obtain the force of a Law which cannot be rejected or alter'd without the Authority of the Church and that all those who disobey'd shall be proceeded against In this Session Commissioners were appointed to proceed against Hereticks In the Fourteenth Session held July the 4th at which the Emperor presided the Cardinal The Renunciation of Gregory XII of Ragusa and Charles of Malatesta Lord of Rimini presented to the Council a Bull of Angelus Corarius call'd by those of his Obedience Gregory XII wherein he approv'd and authoriz'd the Council and all that it should do together with an Instrument whereby he Empower'd Charles Malatesta to Act in his Name and to do whatever he should judge convenient and another Instrument Authorizing all that the Council should do These Instruments being read by the Cardinal of Ragusa the Council approv'd them so far as was needful united the College of Cardinals of Gregory XII to that of the Cardinals of John XXIII and ordain'd That in the Acts which should hereafter be pass'd in the Council no mention should be made of the Pope or Holy See but only of the Years of the Emperor Sigismund Afterwards was read a Bull of Gregory containing expresly That he Empower'd Charles Malatesta to renounce or resign up his Right to the Pontificat In pursuance whereof Charles Malatesta ask'd the Council whether they thought it convenient That this Renunciation should be made at Constance or that some should first be sent to Nice to meet Peter de Luna The Council answer'd by the Archbishop of Milan That it was useful and expedient for promoting the Peace That this Renunciation should be made at Constance before any were sent to Nice to know whether Peter de Luna would renounce or no. Afterwards the Council renew'd the Decree prohibiting to proceed to a New Election of a Pope but with the consent of the Council and after such a manner as it should prescribe and that the Council should not be dissolv'd until a Pope was chosen The Emperor was entreated to take care of this Matter and to publish Declarations to this purpose which he did Then the Council confirm'd all that had been done Canonically by Gregory in his Obedience declar'd the Processes to be Null which were made for the cause of Schism and that the Prohibition they had made to choose Gregory a-new was not upon the account of his Incapacity but only to promote the Peace and avoid Scandal and Suspicion The Council reserv'd to themselves also a Power without doing wrong to any of the two Obediences to take care of the Cardinals who had the same Title and receiv'd the Cardinals of Gregory XII confirm'd them in their Offices and Priviledges and lastly pray'd the Emperor to provide for the safety of the Council who immediately publish'd a Declaration upon this Subject Afterwards Charles Malatesta as Proctor of Gregory after a long and eloquent Discourse made a pure and simple Renunciation and Resignation of the Pontificat and dismis'd all his Right which he might have to it This Renunciation was accepted by the Council who caus'd an Instrument to be drawn up wherein they gave Power to the Proctors of the Council to require Peter de Luna to Renounce within Ten Days his pretended Right to the Papal Dignity and if he should not do it they declar'd him a notorious Schismatick Incorrigible Obstinate Heretical a breaker of his Oaths and unworthy of all Honour and of all Pontifical Dignity depos'd depriv'd of all Right which he had or could have to the Pontificat forbad him to assume the Title of Pope and all the Faithful of whatsoever condition to obey him or to harbour him enjoyn'd them to shun him and treat him as a Schismatick and a Disturber of the People of the Church and a Heretick and to do the same also to his Favourers This Resolution was approv'd by Four Nations by the Cardinal and by the Emperor The Fifteenth Session held July 6th was spent in making a Process against John Huss The Sixteenth was held the 11th of the same Month in which the Council deputed Fifteen Commissioners to go into Arragon and treat with Peter de Luna by consert with the Emperor After this several particular Regulations were made concerning the Persons of the Prelats and the Acts of the Council In the Seventeenth Session July the 15th the Council congratulated the Emperor upon the Journey he undertook into Arragon to confer with King Ferdinand and agree with him about the Means of finishing the Peace of the Church and ordain'd Prayers to be made for the success of his Journey and thunder'd out Excommunications against all those that should cross his Design In the same Session the Council in Consideration of the generous manner of Gregory's Renunciation and the better to entice Peter de Luna to do the same confirm'd him in the Dignity of Cardinal Bishop granted him the first place in the Sacred College saving to the future Pope in case that Benedict should also Renounce voluntarily the Power of ordering which of
to answer Bessarion in the Session held the 8th of November After he had alledg'd many Reasons to prove that the word Filioque was not an Addition but a meer Explication he maintain'd not only that there was no Law forbidding to add any Explication to the Creed but also that none could make such a Prohibition to the Church and that it could extend only to private Persons who would make this Addition without Authority The Cardinal Julian finish'd this Dispute in the Session on November 11th with many Remarks upon the Prohibition of the Council of Ephesus 1. He observ'd That this Law was to be understood with respect to the occasion on which it was made which was the false Creed of the Nestorians that the Council had condemn'd and not that of Charisius which was Orthodox 2. That this Council did not only forbid to Add but also to make any new Exposition of the Faith and therefore if this Prohibition were extended to the Church or a Council it would follow That the Church could not make a new Exposition of the Faith which the Greeks did own to be false 3. That the Council of Ephesus having spoken only of the Nicene Creed it would follow That it must disapprove the Additions made to the Creed by the Council of Constantinople 4. That the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon St. Cyril and St. Leo had no other design but to hinder the teaching or introducing of any new Doctrin When he had finish'd these Remarks he said it was now time to come to the principal Question viz. Whether it were true that the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Son and in â—…se the Greeks should prove that he did not proceed then it would follow that the Roman Church had made a prohibited Addition to the Creed but if on the contrary it should be prov'd That this was sound and true Doctrin then it must be confess'd that the Roman Church had Power to add this Explication to the Creed Nevertheless Bessarion said That he would answer in the next Conference to what the Cardinal Julian had now advanc'd On the 15th of November Mark of Ephesus and Cardinal Julian conrested among themselves concerning the Creed of Charisius and the Explication of the Prohibition of the Council of Ephesus Towards the conclusion the Cardinal Julian observ'd That there were Manuscripts of the Creed of Constantinople in which these Words are not to be found Descendit de Caelis nor these Secundum Scripturas and that the Latins had added these Deum de Deo about which the Greeks made no opposition as they did about the word Filioque Andrew of Rhodes had also said in his Discourse That the Phrase Desoendit ad inferos was an Addition Mark of Ephesus would have enter'd upon the Question viz. Whether the Roman Church and the Pope had Power to add to the Creed But the Cardinal would not enter upon it and persisted in demanding importunately That they would come to the principal Question concerning the Truth of the Doctrin The Ambassadors of the Duke of Burgundy were receiv'd in the 12th Session held the 27th of November saluted the Pope presenâ—â—d him a Letter from their Master and made a Discourse in the Assembly But because they had not shewn the Greek Emperor the Respect that was due to him nor presented him with a Letter he would not allow them to take their Seat until he had receiv'd Satisfaction which they gave him in the next Session by presenting him with a Letter in their Master's Name and doing him Reverence but after such a manner as did not perfectly satisfy In the mean time the Conference continu'd and was reduc'd to a private Contest between Mark of Ephesus and the Cardinal Julian about the Addition to the Creed Another also was held on the 8th of December which dwindled also into Heats upon the same Subject without the Agreeing of the Parties in any thing The Latins would have them to enter upon the principal Point in Question and after that was explain'd if they should find it true That the Holy Spirit did proceed from the Person of the Son then the Addition should continue in the Creed but if they should find this Proposition false then it should be rejected The Greeks on the contrary asserted That they must begin with cutting off the word Filioque from the Creed and after that examin the main Question That if the Doctrin of the Latins should be found to be true it should be decreed but if it were false it should be condemn'd This Contest was the Cause why the Conferences ceas'd for some time but at last the Greek Emperor made the Greeks resolve to enter upon the Dispute about the Truth of the Doctrin The Pope propos'd afterwards to translate the Council to Florence because he could no longer conveniently furnish the necessary Expence for continuing it at Ferrara and it was agreed with the Florentines That they should raise him a considerable Sum provided the Council were held at Florence The Patriarch of Constantinople and the Greek Prelats oppos'd mightily this Proposal but at last the Necessity to which they were reduc'd oblig'd them to accept of it and to consent that the Synod might be translated to Florence and this Translation was publish'd in the last Assembly held at Ferrara January the 11th 1439. The pretence that the Pope alledg'd in the Bull was the Pestilence which had been at Ferrara and it was to be fear'd it would break forth again in the Spring One part of what was owing to the Greeks was paid them Some Relief of Mony was sent to Constantinople and the Greeks were promised That the Expence of their Voyage and of their living at Florence should be defray'd and that they should be carried home again whether the Union were concluded or no. The Pope and Emperor the Patriarch of Constantinople and the Latin and Greek Prelats parted after this for Florence and arriv'd there at the beginning of February After they had repos'd themselves for some Days they agreed upon certain Measures concerning the Method of continuing their Conferences And the Emperor was of Opinion That they should be held in private The first was held the 26th of February The Cardinal Julian and the Emepror who were the only Persons that spoke at it came to an Agreement That some Expedient should be search'd for by both sides to unite them together The Patriarch being The Conferences of the Greeks and Latins at Florence grievously Sick was not present at this nor the following Sessions The Emperor and Greek Prelats being present at his House consulted about this Proposal which had been made to search after some Means for uniting them together but they all said That they had none to offer and that they were ready to answer the Latins That they would meet in Private the next Saturday and then enter upon a Conference The Pope seeing that they would not propose any Expedient but Dispute on
He wrote this Treatise before he was Cardinal during the Council of Basil and in it he handles these Questions with much moderation The Principal Points which he establishes in it are these that the Church is the Union of all Souls with Jesus Christ its Spouse that there are in this Church different Degrees that altho' it be united yet it may be divided into Militant Dormant and Triumphant that the two last parts are made up only of the Predestinate and that the first is a mixture of those who are good and evil That the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy has its degrees resembling those Nicholas of Câ—… a Cardinal of the Angels That there is but one sâ—… Chair in the Church which is fill'd by all the Bishop's Successors to St. Peter among whom the Bishop of Rome is the first That the Roman Church is taken in different senses sometimes for the Pope and the Clergy and the Diocese of Rome sometimes for those who belong to that Patriarchate and sometimes for the Universal Church because the true Church is at present reduc'd to the Patriarchate of Rome that in this last sense only 't is Infallible that regularly it belongs to the Pope to call a General Council and to preside in it That to the end a Council may be General it must be compos'd of Five Patriarchs and be kept publickly and that its â—…cisions may be Infallible 't is necessary that it should be free and that they be made with common consent upon which chiefly depends the Authority of the Council That the Canons of theâ—… Councils do not oblige particular Churches till after their Acceptance That the Validity of the Council does not depend at all upon the Pope That an Universal Council is above him whose Laws he can neither change nor repeal That Provincial and National Councils have 〈◊〉 their own Authority That the Pope has a Right to judge in difficult Cases to receive Appâ—…s from the Judgments of particular Churches to take Care of the Universal Church Lastly That his Primacy is of Divine Right and that he receiv'd it from Jesus Christ with the consent of the Church That the Imperial Power does not at all depend upon that of the Pope That 't is not he who has translated the Empire from the Greeks to the Latins nor created the Electors That the Power of the Empire is Sovereign That he receiv'd it immediately from Jesus Christ That he can Call Councils by way of Exhortation be present at them maintain Order in them and cause their Decrees to be put in Execution Lastly He proposes divers Regulations for the Reformation of the Empire and concludes with shewing That nothing 〈…〉 more contrary to the good of the Church than a Discord between the Empire and the Priesthood He follows the same Principles in a Letter in 1442. to Roderick Ambassador of the King of Castile at the Diet of Frankfurt The two next Letters are address'd to the Bohemians about the Communion of the Laity under one kind and there he makes it appear That the Church has Power to take away the Use of the Cup and that no more Grace is receiv'd by Communicating under both kinds than under one the three other Letters are also address'd to the Bohemians about the Peace and Unity of the Church and the seventh is also about Communion in one kind The Treatise of the Agreement or Peace of Faith is a Dialogue between Persons of many Religions and Nations about Matters controverted in Religion In fine the last Work of the Tome is a Treatise which he wrote about the Alcoran Entitled The Alcoran sifted wherein he does not only prove the falshood of this Book but also makes use of such places which are to be met with in it as favour the Christian Religion to persuade the Mahometans to embrace it There is at the end of this Tome a little piece Entitled A Conjecture upon the 〈◊〉 Times wherein he relates what is said in Scripture about the last Times without determining any thing precisely as to the time that the World shall yet last The last Tome contains his Works of Mathematicks Geometry and Astronomy which shew his profound Knowledge in these Sciences so that each Tome of his Works have their peculiar Characters Metaphysicks reign in the first Theology in the second and Mathematicks in the third As to the Style it â—s clean and easie without Affectation and Ornament This Cardinal knew the Oriental Languages and it cannot be deny'd but that he was a Man of profound Learning and a sound Judgment His only Fault was That he was too Abstract and too Metaphysical in many of his Works All his Works are printed at Basil in 1565. Julian Caesarin of an Illustrious Family in Rome being appointed Cardinal-deacon with the Julian Caesarin a Cardinal Title of St. Angelo in the Year 1426. and afterwards Cardinal-priest with the Title of St. Sabina and lastly Cardinal-bishop of â—…scati was sent by Martin V. against the Bohemians and appointed to assist in the Quality of Legat to the Holy See at the Council of Basil. Eugenius IV. confirm'd him in these Employments and he presided at the beginning of the Council of Basil. He would not Dissolve it as he had receiv'd Orders from the Pope but when the Greeks arriv'd he left the Council of Basil and went to Ferrara where he was at the Head of the Latins who were appointed to Confer with the Greeks There are two Letters of this Cardinal address'd to Pope Eugenius to dissuade him from the Dissolution of the Council printed in the Collection of Gratius and elsewhere a Discourse which he made in the Council of Basil against the Bohemians and many Discourses which he spoke at Ferrara and Florence He was Eloquent Learned and a Great Politiciâ—n At the same time flourish'd Nicholas Tadeschus a Sicilian commonly call'd Panormitanus because Nicholaus Tedeschus Panormitanus Arch-bishop of Palermo he was Abbot of an Abby of the Order of St. Benedict in Palermo and afterwards Arch-bishop of that City He is one of the most famous Canonists we have He was present at the Council of Basil and had a great Hand in what was done there against Pope Eugenius in recompence for which Service he was nam'd Cardinal by Foelix V. in 1440. But at last he was oblig'd by the Orders of the King of Arragon his Master to return to his Archbishoprick where he died of the Pest in 1445. His Works are A great Commentary upon the five Books of the Decretals printed at Venice in 1492. and at Lyons in 1586. Some Commentaries upon the Clementines and their Glosses 118 Counsels and 7 Questions printed also at Lyons in 1584 and 1586 A Treasure of Canon-Law and some other Treatises But the most curious of all his Works is his Treatise of the Council of Basil against Pope Eugenius wherein he gives a History of all the Transactions in that Council until the Suspension of Eugenius
Ecclesiasticks and even their Disorders in Matters of Religion ought to be punished by the Secular Magistrates Giles Charliere Dean of Chambre answered him in a Discourse four Hours long Ulric a Priest among the Orphelines maintain'd the Article about the Liberty of preaching Henry Kalteisen a Dominican of Colen refuted him in a Discourse wherein he enlarged about the Hierarchy At last Peter Pain an English-man undertook to prove That it was unlawful for the Clergy to have Demains and temporal Revenues John Polemar Arch-Deacon of Bayeux and Auditor of the Rota made a Discourse to the contrary These four Discourses of the Catholick Doctors are inserted into the 12th Tome of the Councils the Discourses of the Bohemians are to be met with in Manuscript These Disputes begun in the Month of January 1433. and lasted Fifty Days without any Success for the Deputies of the Bohemians persisting in their Opinions returned back into Bohemia The Council sent Deputies to them to see if they could be brought to any Accommodation who dealt with the Nobility which thereby became suspected to the Thaborites and Orphelines A Treaty of the Council with the Bohemians The Nobility on their part resolved to shake off the Yoke of Procopius and the Thaborites against whom they made War and chose for their General Alscion de Risenburgh the Thaborites and Orphelines were deâ—eated in a great Battel where Procopius was kill'd After this Defeat the Emperor Sigismund was acknowledged for King of Bohemia and the Deputies of the Council made a Treaty with the Bohemians whereby it was agreed That the Bohemians and the Moravians should be re-united to the Church and should conform in every thing to its Rites except as to Communion in both kinds as to which Rite it was allowed That those who had a Custom of communicating after this manner might still preserve it It was also agreed That the Council should decide whether this Practice was according to a Divine Precept and should regulate the Matter by a general Law as they should think most convenient for the Benefit and Salvation of the Faithful That if the Bohemians persisted afterwards in desiring to communicate in both kinds they should send an Embassy to the Council which should leave the Priests of Bohemia and Moravia at Liberty to communicate in both kinds such Persons as were come to the Age of Discretion who desired it provided they gave a publick Advertisement to the common People That the Flesh of Jesus Christ is not alone under the Species of Bread nor the Blood alone under the Species of Wine but that Jesus Christ is whole and intire under each Species The Emperor agreed also to leave the Revenues of the Church by way of Mortgage in the Hands of those who were possessed of them until they were redeem'd for a valuable Consideration The Bohemians granted leave to the Monks and other exiled Persons to return into their own Country upon condition nevertheless that the Monasteries which had been demolished should never be rebuilt The Archbishoprick of Prague was promised to Rocksana and the Disposal of the Churches of Bohemia was left to the Pope and Six Years were allowed to the Orphelines and Thaborites to come in and accept of this Treaty which was confirmed at Ratisbone and perfectly concluded at Iglaw Rocksana with four other Priests promised in the Name of all the Clergy who were of his Patty to obey the Pope and received Absolution from the Legats of the Council but the same Day he gave the Communion publickly in both kinds to a Lay-man which was pretended to be an Infraction of the Treaty because he was in a strange Church yet this Contest was husht for fear lest it should break the Peace The Emperor Sigismund made his publick Entry into Prague in the Month of September 1436. Sigismund is acknowledged in Bohemia Philbert Bishop of Câ—nstance and some other Prelats sent from Basil restor'd the Usages and Ceremonics of the Roman Church in the Churches of Prague Rocksana being frustrated of the Hope that was given him that he should be made Archbishop of Prague quickly renewed the Troubles but he was forc'd to fly and the Rebels were executed or dispersed The Emperor Sigismund dying in 1437. Albert of Austria who had espoused his Daughter was declared King of Bohemia in spite of the Intrigues of the Empress Douairiere and of some of the Lords of Bohemia While these things were transacted in Bohemia the Council of Basil in the 30th Session held The Decrees of the Councils about the Communion in both kinds the 22d of December 1437. made a Decree concerning the Communion in both kinds wherein it declares That the Faithful whether Lay-men or Clergy-men who receive the Communion and do not consecrate are not obliged by a Divine Command to receive the Sacrament of the Eucharist in both kinds That it belongs to the Church which is govern'd by the Holy Spirit and with which Jesus Christ will continue unto the end of the World to regulate after what manner it ought to be administred to those who do not consecrate as it shall judge most expedient with respect to the Sacrifice and Salvation of the Faithful That whether we communicate in one kind or in two the Communion is useful to those who receive it That we must not at all doubt but Jesus Christ is whole and intire in each kind and lastly That the Custom of giving the Communion to the Laity in one kind was justly introduced by the Church and by the Holy Fathers has been observed for a long time and approved by Divines and Canonists which ought therefore to be esteemed a Law and that it is not lawful for any Person to condemn it or change it without the Authority of the Church Albert of Austria lived but two Years after his Election and when he died he left his Wife big with Child of Laodislaus After his Death the Bohemians chose for King Albert Duke of The State of Bohemia under the Successors of Sigismund Bavaria who refused to accept of a Kingdom that did not belong to him and exhorted them to acknowledge Laodislaus Whereupon they address'd themselves to the Emperor Frederick and offered him the Government either in his own Name or as Tutor to the young Prince The Emperor advised them to chuse Governours until Laodislaus came to be of Age and they chose Tascon and Mainard whereof the former favoured Rocksana and the latter was intirely a Catholick The Death of the former was the Cause of the Ruin of the latter for the Complices of Rocksana not being able to endure him chose George Pogebrac for their Captain who made himself Master of Prague shut up Mainard in the Citadel where he died and remain'd sole Governour of the Kingdom of Bohemia even after Laodislaus had taken Possession of it and he succeeded this Prince who died in 1458 at the Age of Nineteen Years He banish'd the Thaborites to whom Rocksana was