distaste to Pope Martin and 't is like to his Successour Eugenius who sat but one year But Pope Vitalian who succeeded would not so put it up but summons Maurus to appear and answer his contempt at Rome but he slighted the Summons for which the Pope Excommunicated him and he in requital did the like to the Pope nay upon his Death-bed oblig'd his Clergy never to submit themselves to the Bishop of Rome Reparatus his Successour trod in the same steps and procur'd the Emperours Rescript to free that Church from any subjection to the Roman See Ann. DCCVIII Felix of Ravenna was content to receive his Ordination at the hands of the Pope but when he came thither an Oath of Allegiance and Fidelity was required of him to the See of Rome This he utterly denied a confession of his Faith he offered but homage he would not pay nor engage to send money to Rome Nor more he did but home he goes where his people gave him little thanks for what he had done and both agreed to defend their liberty but it cost the old man dear and them too for that attempt For Justinian Rhinotmetes the Emperour who favoured the Pope being made acquainted with what was done at Ravenna a Fleet is sent under the command of Theodorus Patricius the City besieg'd and taken several of prime quality lost their lives and fortunes and the poor Arch-bishop had his eyes put out and was banisht into Pontus where he remain'd 'till the severity of Discipline had taught him better manners The same courage in asserting the priviledges of their Church against the Papal encroachments was afterwards shewn by John and Guibert Successors in that See as were it necessary might be particularly related But the case is too evident to be denied and the argument thence too strong to be evaded how little those times understood of any Patriarchal Jurisdiction which the Pope had over all Italy much less over the whole West V. IF we look into France we shall find them careful to secure the Rights of Metropolitans and the priviledges of Provincial Bishops without being oblig'd to fetch them from Rome The second Council of Arles Ann. CCCCLII decree that no Bishop shall be Ordain'd without his own Metropolitan and three of the Provincial Bishops the rest testifying their consent by Letter The second of Orleans holden Ann. DXXXIII renew the ancient form and manner of Ordaining Metropolitans that it shall be done by the Bishops of the Province which shews how little they depended upon any foreign power in this matter But it 's needless to insist upon this point which the Learned De Marca has so fully cleared and vindicated as a fundamental part of the liberties of the Gallican Church and has deduc't it through the several Ages and Dynasties of their Kings I shall only remark that when Hincmar Arch-bishop of Remes had depos'd Rothald Bishop of Suessons for great misdemeanours Rothald appeal'd to Rome and Pope Nicolaus espous'd his cause wrote sharply to Hincmar and cited him to appear and answer what he had done at Rome But Hincmar would not stir but publisht a large Apologetick to the Pope wherein he justifies his Act and though he gives good words and great deference to the See Apostolick yet stoutly contends that he ought to be content with a general care and inspection and not interrupt the ordinary Rights of Metropolitans and that 't was infinitely reasonable that the criminal should be referr'd to the judgment of his own Province Two years before this viz. Ann. DCCCLXIII a French Synod met at Metz about the Marriage of King Lotharius wherein they determin'd contrary to the liking of the Papal Legates However they sent Letters with the reasons of their proceedings by Guntharius Arch-bishop of Colen and Theatgaud of Triers to Pope Nicolaus The Pope upon their arrival call'd a Synod wherein he Excommunicated the Synod of Metz and depos'd the two Arch-bishops that were sent with the Letters and publisht a manifesto of what he had done To this the Bishops return'd an answer wherein having represented the personal affronts and ill usage they had met with from him they tell him Chap. IV. that as for his froward unjust and unreasonable sentence contrary to all Canons they did not own it yea as being illegal and unwarrantable they together with the rest of their Brethren slighted and despised it and utterly renounc'd Communion with him contenting themselves with the Communion and fellowship of the whole Church over which he had so proudly exalted himself and from which through his pride and contempt he had separated himself And whereas he had styl'd them his Clerks they bid him take notice they were none of his Clerks but persons whom if his pride would have suffer'd him he ought to have own'd and treated as his Brethren and fellow Bishops with much more there spoken with a just but smart resentment And now can any man believe the Pope should have met with such treatment upon all occasions and that from the wisest gravest most learned and eminent persons in their several Ages had his title to the Jurisdiction of the West been so clear and unquestionable as some men seem to represent it The same might be shew'd in other Countries and he must be a great stranger to Church-History that can be at a loss for instances of this nature I shall therefore instance only in two more and with them dispatch this argument the African and the Britanick Churches VI. I chuse to instance in the Churches of Africk because so confidently challeng'd by them of Rome at every turn and because they were under the civil Jurisdiction of the Praetorian Praefect of Italy And here omitting infinite arguments that offer themselves I shall insist only upon the famous case of Appeals commenc'd under Pope Zosimus Ann. CCCCXVIII and not ended 'till some years after which will furnish us with a plain and uncontroulable evidence how little authority more than what was honourary the See of Rome in those days had over those Churches The case as briefly as it can well be summ'd up stands thus Apiarius a Presbyter of Sicca in Africk had been depos'd by his Diocesan Urbanus for very notorious and scandalous offences and the sentence ratified by a Provincial Council Hopeless of any relief at home over he flies to Rome tells his tale to Pope Zosimus who restores him to Communion espouses his cause and sends him back with Faustinus an Italian Bishop and two Roman Presbyters into Africk to see him resettled in his former place When they arriv'd in Africk they found a Council of African Bishops to the number of CCXVII sitting at Carthage to whom they delivered their message partly by word of mouth partly by writing But the writing being demanded a memorial was produc't containing instructions from Pope Zosimus what they should insist upon it consisted of four Heads First concerning the
Emergencies that might arise Accordingly upon this foundation the Popes built and advanc't a claim to Superiority and Dominion Thus Damasus writing to the Bishops of Africk tells them that in all doubtful cases they ought to have recourse to him as to the head and thence to take their determination from whence they had received their institution and instruction in the Christian Faith And Pope Innocent tells Decentius Bishop of Eugubium that all the Churches in those parts ought to take their measures from Rome and nothing to be valid but what 's received from thence it being evident that no Churches had been planted in Italy France Spain Africk Sicily and the interjacent Islands by any but such as had been Ordain'd by S. Peter or his Successors And this is the Plea we are so often urg'd with whereby the Roman See challenges jurisdiction over England its commissionating Augustine the Monk to convert the Saxons and settle Religion in these parts But were there no more to be offered in answer to it this were enough that Christianity had for several ages been planted here before ever Austin set his foot on English ground as perhaps we may have occasion to shew afterwards In short though it became Churches thus planted to bear a very grateful respect to that Mother Church that was the instrument to convey to them the Christian faith yet did it lay them under no obligation to subjection and servitude however the Church of Rome has handled the matter to its own advantage and from the lenity and tenderness of a Parent had degenerated into the pride and cruelty of a Stepmother and not content to exercise authority over its own Colonies began to advance its banners over all the rest proudly proclaiming it self the Mother and Mistres of all Churches I observe no more then that pride seems to be a vice more peculiar to Rome than other places 't was this put the old Romans upon subduing the world and by this the Emperors tyrannized over it for some ages and when Rome shifted its Lords it did not change its Task-masters the ambition which the Emperors laid down the Popes took up and prosecuted it by far worse arts and methods than ever the Romans did of old S. Basil more than once complains of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the pride of the West and how little help was to be expected from them that neither understood the truth nor would be content to learn it that he was resolved to write to the Pope to let him know that it did not become him to insult over and add to the miseries of the afflicted nor to think pride to be honourable a thing alone sufficient to render a man odious in the sight of God and elsewhere he expresses a very passionate resentment that he hated the pride of that Church V. FURNISHED with these advantages the Roman Prelates set up for themselves and gave not over till they had by right and wrong spread such an Ecclesiastic Empire over the world as would admit neither superior nor equal In order to the discovery whereof it will be necessary to enquire what was of old the proper jurisdiction of the Bishops of Rome before they removed those antient Land-marks which the Fathers had set We have elsewhere observ'd what has been remarkt by many and indeed is evident to any one vers'd in Church-antiquity that in the primitive times the external Polity of the Church was conform'd as near as might be to the Mode that obtain'd in the civil State Now the whole Roman Empire consisted of thirteen Dioceses for so they began to style those large Divisions about the time of Constantine whereof seven in the Eastern parts Egypt the Orient or East properly so call'd Asiana Pontica Thrace Macedonia and Dacia and six in the West Italy Afric Illyricum France Spain and Britain besides the Roman Praefecture extending to the Provinces round about the City which had anciently been a peculiar government equal yea superior in dignity to any Diocess whereof hereafter In each of these Diocesses were several Provinces 118 in all the chief City whereof in every Province was the Metropolis that had a kind of jurisdiction over all the rest both title and dignity being peculiarly settled by imperial constitution Now the civil and Ecclesiastical jurisdiction were concurrent after this manner in every City there was a civil Judge who presided over it and the Towns about it and to him answered the Bishop of that City in every Province a Proconsul or President resided at the Metropolis govern'd that whole division received appeals and determined all important cases brought before him from the inferior Cities Correspondent to him was the Metropolitan or as they after call'd him the Archbishop whose See was in the same City who superintended the several Churches and ordained the several Bishops within his Province And then in every Diocess there was a Vicarius or Lieutenant who kept his residence in the principal City thence dispatcht the Imperial Edicts and there heard and decided those causes that were not finally determin'd by inferiour Courts And concurrent with him in Ecclesiastical matters was the Primate or as some of them were more eminently stiled the Patriarch who presided over the several Metropolitans within that Diocess appointed the conventions of his Clergy Umpir'd the differences that arose between the several Bishops and gave the last determination to all Appeals brought before him And thus by an orderly Subordination of Deacons and Presbyters to their Bishops of Bishops to their immediate Metropolitans of Metropolitans to their respective Primates or Patriarchs and by a mutual correspondence between the several Primates of every Diocess the affairs of the Christian Church were carried on with great decorum and regularity VI. THIS excellent Platform was not fram'd and set up all at once In the more early Ages Christianity being generally first Preacht and planted in the greater Cities and the Ecclesiastical Government settled there thence spread it self into the neighbouring Country and persons were thence dispatcht to Preach and attend the Ministeries of Religion in those rural Plantations who yet were in all things steer'd and directed by the Bishop and his Ecclesiastick Senate residing in the City As Churches multiplied and Christianity extended it self into wider circles it was found necessary to fix a particular Bishop almost in every City to whom was committed the care and superintendency over all the Clergy and people there and in all the Towns and Villages belonging to the jurisdiction of that place But because controversies began to arise between the several Bishops and sometimes between them and the inferiour Clergy which could not easily be determin'd where every ones authority was independant it was necessary that some one should preside over all the other Bishops of that Province as the Proconsul did in the civil state who might convene Synodical Assemblies adjust the differences and manage the Ordinations
A DISSERTATION Concerning the Government of the Ancient Church BY BISHOPS METROPOLITANS and PATRIARCHS More particularly Concerning the ancient Power and Jurisdiction of the Bishops of Rome and the Encroachments of that upon other Sees especially the See of Constantinople By WILLIAM CAVE D. D. One of His Majesties Chaplains in Ordinary Omne genus ad Originem suam censeatur necesse est Tert. de praescript c. 20. p. 208. LONDON Printed for R. Chiswel at the Rose and Crown in S. Paul's Church-yard MDCLXXXIII TO THE RIGHT REVEREND FATHER IN GOD HENRY Lord Bishop of LONDON One of the Lords of His Majesties most Honourable PRIVY-COUNCIL My Lord IN compliance with the good old Rule of S. Ignatius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Do nothing without leave from the Bishop I have taken the confidence to lay these Papers at Your Lordships feet being well content they should receive from You a sentence of Life or Death either to come abroad into open light or be condemn'd to be thrown aside if you shall judge them useless and unprofitable For I am not so fond of my own Undertakings as to flatter my self that any thing that I can do will work much upon the obstinate humour of a perverse and contentious Age. My Lord The Church of England is usually assaulted by two sorts of Adversaries The one declar'd Enemies to the Episcopal Government or if at any time in a good humour they allow the name they deny the thing making the Bishop of the Primitive times no more in effect than a meer Parish-Priest The other are great pretenders to Antiquity and strongly enough assert the Episcopal Order but withall would obtrude upon us a Supreme and Universal Bishop to whom all others are to be subject and accountable and he we may be sure is the Bishop of Rome As for the first of these I have not directly enter'd the Lists with them though what is here said concerning the Ancient Church-Government might be enough to satisfie Men modest and unprejudic'd and more I did not think fit to add They have been so often baffled upon that Argument that nothing but a resolv'd obstinacy could make them keep a post so utterly indefensable But the Men of that way seem generally too over-weaning and opiniative and I have no hopes of doing good upon that Man that 's wiser in his own Conceit than seven Men that can render a Reason Indeed the nature of my design led me more immediately to encounter with the other Party whose cause so far as it relates to the Subject under debate I have examin'd and brought to be tried by the Standard of Antiquity the truest Rule to proceed by in this matter and this managed without any needless Exasperations For I never could think it a reasonable method of Conviction to rail at Popery or to load the Bishop of Rome with ill Names and spiteful Characters The best way sure in such cases is to appeal to the judgment of the Ancients and to enquire what power and authority was allow'd him in the wiser and better Ages of Christianity Which I hope I have done with all truth and fairness in the following Discourse My Lord Your Lordships known Zeal for the Protestant Cause and what next the goodness of the Divine Providence is the strongest Bulwark and Defence of it the honour and interest of the Church of ENGLAND might give you a just Title to this Discourse though there were no other inducement to it But we that are the Clergy of Your Diocess think our selves oblig'd to take all occasions of letting the World know how much we rejoyce under the happy Influences of Your Care and Conduct how much we are beholden to that great Example of Pastoral Industry and Diligence you daily set before us that we have to deal with a temper so incomparably sweet and obliging and that not only in private Converses but in all public Cases that concern the Church under your Charge you are pleased so freely and familiarly to consult and advise with us 'T is this to mention no more that creates in us so just a regard and veneration for Your Lordship And I verily believe since the Primitive Times there never was a more mutual Endearment and Correspondence Never Bishop that treated his Clergy with a more Paternal kindness and Condiscention never Clergy that paid a greater Reverence and a more chearful Obedience to their Bishop That this Concord and Agreement may not only continue but encrease and the happy effects of it visibly spread over your whole Diocess and especially this great CITY is the earnest Prayer of MY LORD Your Lordships faithful and sincerely devoted Servant WILLIAM CAVE TO THE READER AMong the several Virtues wherewith the Religion of our Lord does at once refine and adorn Humane Nature there are none conduce more both to the peace of the World and the quiet of private and particular persons than Humility and Contentment the laying aside the vain and fond opinion of our selves a lowliness of Mind to esteem others better than our selves in honour preferring one another an easiness and satisfaction under that place and portion which the Wisdom of the Divine Providence has thought fit to allot us and a generous Contempt of those little and sordid Arts by which Men hunt after Power and Greatness and impatiently affect Dominion and superiority over others A noble and divine temper of Mind which our Lord has effectually recommended both by his Doctrine and the example of his Life He has taught us that we should not after the proud and hypocritical manner of the Pharisees do our works to be seen of Men make broad our Phylacteries and enlarge the borders of our Garments love the uppermost Rooms at Feasts and the chief Seats in the Synagogue and greetings in the Markets that we should not affect proud Titles and the honour of a Name to be call'd of Men Rabbi Rabbi for that one is our Master even Christ and all we are Brethren not that our Lord here absolutely forbids all Honour and Precedence no more than he does all Mastership and Superiority in what follows but only an inordinate desire a vicious and irregular inclination toward these things and an undue and tyrannical exercise of them that we should call no man our Father upon Earth that is in the same sence and with the same respect wherewith we do God for that one is our Father which is in Heaven neither that we be called Masters for that one is our Master even Christ For that whosoever should exalt himself shall be abased and he that should humble himself shall be exalted And then for his own practice how openly did he protest against seeking his own glory or receiving honour from Men how studiously did he stifle the fame of his own Miracles and whatever might raise him in the esteem and value of the World When an Appeal was made to him to judge a Cause he rebuk'd the
motion with a who made me a Judge and a Ruler over you When the Jews were resolv'd to have made him King he fled from the very shadow of a Crown When there was a strife amongst his own Apostles which of them should be accounted the greatest like the Kings of the Gentiles which exercis'd Lordship and Authority over their Subjects he ended the Controversy with a short decision but ye shall not be so This Charge S. Peter particularly applies to the Bishops and Rulers of the Church that they should not be Lords over God's Heritage that the younger should submit themselves to the elder yea all of them be subject one to another and be cloathed with Humility for that God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble Had the excellent Rules here laid down by S. Peter been observ'd by those who pretend to be his Successors the Christian World had been free from those infinite disturbances and distractions which the pride and ambition of the Roman Bishops have brought upon it For certainly among all the corruptions and innovations of that Church nothing is more palpable and notorious than an intolerable usurpation over the Rights of their Brethren nothing more wild and extravagant than the challenging a Supremacy over the Christian Church as affix'd to the See of Rome expresly contrary not only to the Scripture the great Canon of our Faith but to the Laws of all ancient Councils and the practice of the Church which however it allow'd a primary honour and respect to the Roman Prelate yet still set him out as it did to all other Bishops the particular extent of his Jurisdiction This is that which I have endeavoured to evince in the following Discourse wherein I have trac'd the Papal Authority to those proper bounds and limits within which it was confin'd of old And upon that occasion have briefly survey'd the frame and constitution of the ancient Church and that Policy and Government whereby it was manag'd in its purer and better times That which gave birth to the whole Discourse was this I had elsewhere in relating the Acts of the second general Council represented the third Canon of that Council which decreed that the Bishop of Constantinople upon the account of its being New Rome or the Imperial City should have the priviledge of honour next to the Bishop of Rome A Canon which they of Rome could never pardon as which limits the power of the Roman Prelate and declares the foundation upon which it stands For the illustration of this Canon I intended im that place to have added a digression concerning the ancient Power and Precedence of the Bishops of Rome but upon second thoughts referr'd it to an Appendix at the end of the Book But that Book swelling into too great a bulk and this Discourse being grown beyond the proportion that was at first design'd I was over-perswaded by some Friends to venture it abroad alone A thing which had I intended from the beginning it had come forth at least in some parts more perfect than it is and with some advantages which now it is forc'd to go without I have wholly wav'd all Debates concerning the Jus Divinum of Episcopacy and the Controversies that depend upon it enough has been said upon that Argument and have chiefly insisted upon those branches of the Ecclesiastic Government which have been less canvassed amongst us For the same reason I have more lightly touch'd upon the Pope's Universal Supremacy 't was his Metropolitical and Patriarchal Power I principally design'd to enquire into I know Volumes have been written De primatu Papae de Ecclesiis Suburbicariis c. and therefore I have reduc'd what concerns those matters into as narrow a compass as I could and have said no more than what is necessary to clear the Argument and express my own sense about it If what is here said shall administer any light to this part of Church-antiquity I shall be very glad if not I am content it should follow the fate of many much better Books to be thrown aside 'T was never design'd to instruct the Learned but only to form a short Scheme of the true state of things for the benefit of those who have not been much conversant in the Antiquities of the Church at least to give some aid and direction to the younger sort who first apply themselves to the study of those ancient Times And if it may but attain this end I shall think my Time and Pains have been well bestow'd THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. The State of the Church-Government and Power of the Roman Bishops 'till the Council of Nice An Equality among the Apostles as Church Governours appointed by Christ Peter's pretended Supremacy over the rest shewed to be vain and groundless If any such had been granted it belong'd not to the Roman Bishops Early appearances of the Pride and Usurpation of the Bishops of that Church Special advantages of that See to set up for Tyranny and Usurpation The foundation of that Church by two great Apostles Peter and Paul Rome the Seat of the Empire The honour and advantages of that Church thereby The Catholick Faith long time preserv'd entire in the Church of Rome It s large Revenues affording liberal Hospitality It s sending forth Emissaries to plant Christianity in other Countries and thereby claiming superiority over them The pride of that Church severely censur'd by S. Basil A general Scheme of the subordination in the Government of the Primitive Church by Bishops Archbishops and Patriarchs and the Conformity herein to the Civil State Episcopal Government how it spread it self at first Metropolitans introduc'd and why A brief account of the ancient way of Ecclesiastical Administration out of Cyprian and others by the Bishop and his Clergy by Provincial Synods What things usually manag'd there Foreign Churches how mutually transacting with one another The Bishops of Rome had no more authority in this Period than the Bishops of other greater Sees Pope Melchiades appointed Commissioner by Constantine Donatus appeals from his Judgment His sentence brought under Examinations in the Synod of Arles Page 1 CHAP. II. The Government of the Church and Power of the Bishops of Rome as 't is represented in the Canons of the Nicene Council The sixth Canon of the Synod of Nice set down with the occasion of it Seven Observations drawn from that Canon I. That the larger bounds of Ecclesiastick Jurisdiction were the Roman Provinces A. Province what Whether the Countries in Italy so called II. That the chief Church-Governour in every Province was the Metropolitan The prudence and convenience of that way of Government Patriarchs prov'd not to be intended in the Nicene Canon III. That the Bishop of Rome no less than the rest had his proper and limited Metropolitical power This own'd by some of the greatest Champions of Rome IV. That the Metropolitick Sees of Rome Alexandria and Antioch were ever of the greatest note in the Christian