the Gauls The conduct of Victor pleased not all the other Bishops who exhorted him in their turn to have sentiments conformable to a Peace Unity and Love to our Neighbours There are still of their Letters adds Eusebius wherein they reprehend Victor with eagerness enough Amongst these Bishops was Irenaeus who in the Letter which he Writ upon this Subject in the Name of the Brothers over whom he presided among the Gauls maintains also that one Sunday must be Celebrated the Resurrection of our Lord yet he advertiseth Victor with much gravity that he ought not to cut off from the Communion whole Churches of God who observe a Tradition and Ancient Custom It will be some difficulty to believe that Bom found in this Affair a Proof of the Authority of the Pope Notwithstanding it is the conclusion he draws from it and grounds 1. Upon that the Bishops who were displeased at this Excommunication would undoubtedly have acted with more haughtiness against Victor if he had not been their Superior whereas they speak unto him with a mildness which marks well that they contested not the Right of Excommunicating the Churches as not being of his Jurisdiction but that they only found fault with the use he made thereof the cause of the Excommunication not being of consequence enough according to them 2. That notwithstanding they were deceived in that and that Victor did well to use this rigour because Blastus one of the principal Patrons of the Opinion of the Asiaticks would have introduced Iudaism under this pretence 3. That the Church approved of the Conduct of Victor in condemning the Bishops of Asia to whom was given the name of Quartodecimal Hereticks 4. That Irenaeus himself hath not doubted of the Superiority of the Bishop of Rome seeing he saith elsewhere That all the Churches must to wit all the Faithful of what place soever they are come to this Church in which the Apostolical Tradition hath been preserved by those who came to it from every Part because of its more powerful Principality Ad hanc enim Ecclesiam propter potentiorem Principalitatem necesse est omnem convenire Ecclesiam hoc est eos qui sunt undique fideles in qua semper ab his qui sunt undique conservata est ea quae est ab Apostolis Traditio To this Episcopius Replies That the Answer of the Bishops of Asia and the Letter of Irenaeus would not be very respectful if Victor had been the Chief of the Church that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies properly to give a contrary order and those of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 acerbius perstringere are not invented to express the submission of a Subject to his Prince and that if these Bishops could take it ill that their Judge a pretended Soveraign and Infallible should banish from the Church and exclude from Heaven so great a number of Churches for so slight a cause they have therefore thought that he might be mistaken in his Decisions upon matters of Faith and that they had a right to examine them 2. That the Heresie of Blastus justifies not the proceedings of Victor seeing the Asiaticks looked not upon the Celebration of the Passover as a necessary Observance and which should precisely be applyed to such a day that they were contented that Victor and other Bishops should Celebrate it on Sunday if they had their Reasons for it but that they having not the same proofs thereof believed themselves not obliged to abandon the Apostolical Tradition It hath not been remarked that our Professor answereth the passage of Irenaeus because we need only to read it throughly to shew that there is no mention there of the Right of the Bishop of Rome in the Decision of Controversies but only of the Characters which they in the time of Irenaeus did acknowledge Apostolical Thereupon he saith That it must be sought for in the places where the Apostles have established Bishops but because it would be too long to make an enumeration of all the Apostolick Churches he stops at one of the most ancient and greatest which is the Church of Rome As this City was the Capital of the Empire Principalitas Potentior and that for that Reason the Inhabitants of divers Provinces negotiated there and were obliged to come thither Irenaeus concludes that the Apostolical Tradition could not fail of having been faithfully kept there since that if the Christians of a Province or of a City had been minded to corrupt it the Christians of other places who were at Rome would have opposed it it being improbable to suppose that so many different Nations would agree to abandon in so little a time the Doctrine of the Apostles II. Bom often alledged passages out of St. Augustin for the Authority of Popes that gave occasion to Episcopius of citing him the 22d Canon of the Council of Millan where St. Augustin was Secretary and another Canon of the 6th Council of Carthage where this Bishop also assisted both which prohibited the drawing Ecclesiastical Causes of the Diocess of Africk on the other side the Sea whether they regard the Inferior Members of the Clergy or the very Bishops That the Deputies of the Pope having represented to the Assembly That this Canon destroyed the Priviledges which the Council had granted to the Patriarch of Rome in permitting Ecclesiasticks to appeal unto him in Judgments had against them by the Ordinaries the Bishops of Africk were extreamly surprized and said all Unanimously That they never heard of such Priviledges Thereupon these Deputies related three Canons which they said to be of the Council of Nice the Fathers of Carthage to Constantinople Alexandria and Antioch and the Authentick Copies of this Council where not finding these three Canons they Writ to the Pope That the Right of Appealing which he pretended to in quality of Supream Judge and belonged not to him by virtue of the Council of Nice seeing the Three Canons upon which he grounded his pretentions were not to be found in the Originals The Exceptions are reduced to this 1. That the Council of Millan prohibits but the Inferior Clerks to Appeal beyond the Sea and that this is evident because Pope Innocent to whom the Synod of Millan submitted all their Decrees as to the Head of the Church approved the Canon in question 2. That there is no reason to believe that the Copy of the Council of Nice which was kept at Rome was supposed but that there is much more likelyhood that those of Constantinople Antioch and Alexandria were defective seeing the Manuscript upon which Ruffinus Writ his History was so and that there are several Canons of this Council cited in that of Calcedonia and in St. Ambros St. Augustin and Ierome which are not found in this Historian 3. That the Decrees which are accused of Supposition have been cited by other Popes before Zozime as Iulius speaks who living but Twenty years after the Council of Nice could easily have been convinced
The Bishop of Worcester maintains that the Pope could not convocate Councils but within the extent of the suburbicary Provinces tho' he denyes not but on certain singular occasions other Bishops have not been invited to these Councils as when Aurelian permitted the Bishops of Italy to assemble at Rome for the Affair of Paul of Samosatus But the Bishops of the Diocess of Italy who acknowledged the Bishop of Milan as chief thought themselves not obliged to be at the Patriarchal Councils of Rome And that which is remarkable is that one of these Councils was of Sentiments very different from him who then was upon the Patriarchal See of this City concerning the Ordination of Maximus to be Bishop of Constantinople Damasus writ twice to Constantinople with much fervour for the deposing of Maximus But St. Ambrose and the Bishops of his Diocess in a Synodical Letter to Theodosius justified the Ordination of Maximus and disapproved the Election of Gregory and Nectairus The Defenders of the pretensions of the Bishop of Rome are asked If this Council acknowledged the Patriarchal Power of this Bishop Mr. Schelstrate saith after Father Lupus That the Power of the Pope gave him the Right of deciding all things consulting only the Bishops who could do nothing without him If that is true it must be granted That the Italick Diocess was without the limits of the Patriarchate of Rome seeing the Bishops of this Diocess sent their Advices to the Emperor without having any respect to the Sentiments of Damasus Dr. Stillingfleet sheweth the independancy of the same Bishops in respect to Rome by the Example of the Council of Capua where St. Ambrose presided without asking so much as the Advice of the Bishop of Rome To prove that the Pope had the Right of calling the Bishops of all the West to all his Patriarchal Councils Mr. Schelstrate relates some Examples of Bishops amongst the Gauls and Great Britain who were at some Roman Councils But he is answered That it is no wonder that some should be found in extraordinary Rencounters and that it doth not follow from thence that the Pope was Patriarch of all the West no more than that Councils of Western Bishops being held at Milan Arles Rimini Sardis and elsewhere prov'd That the Bishops of these Cities were their Patriarchs It ought to be shewn That the Pope convocated the Bishops of the West by vertue of his Patriarchal Authority There was also a great Difference amongst the Councils assembled for the Vnity of Faith and the Discipline of divers Diocesses and the Provincial or Patriarchal Synods câ—nvocated at a certain time to appear before the Metropolitan or the Patriarch This is seen in the Diurnus Romanus where the Bishops of Rome oblige themselves to be present at the Councils of this City assembled at certain times as Garnier sheweth He saith it was thrice a year but no more for the Suburbicary Churches which had no other Primate but the Bishop of Rome The last of the Patriarchal Rights was to receive Appeals of the Provinces of the Patriarchship By these Appeals we must not understand the free Choice that parties can make for one to be an Arbitrator of their Differences but Juridical Appeals from an inferiour Tribunal to a higher one It hath oft fallen out that Bishops have been chosen Arbitrators of a common approbation to make others agree or that Bishops intermedled in the Differences of others without pretending to end them with Authority Our Author brings an Example of a Council of the Italick Diocess who medled with a dissention at Constantinople whereof we have already made mention But to this is opposed That the Bishops of Rome have several times sent Legates throughout all the West to examine the causes of the Bishops and to make Report of â—em For the Letters of the Popes to the Bishops of Thessalonica which are in the Roman Collection are cited to prove this But we have already taken notice what Dr. Stillingfleet's Answer is to that He adds here that the Origine of these pretensions was from this That the Council of Sardis being exasperated against the Eastern Bishops gave the Bishop of Rome the liberty to re-examine some Causes in divers Provinces He took the occasion from thence of sending Legates and that was one of the first steps by which he ascended to so great a Power in the West A Doctor of Sorbone who writ some years ago de antiquis majoribus Episcoporum causis alloweth That in the space of CCCXLVII Years viz. about the time of the Council of Sardis no Example of a Cause can be produced which was referred to Rome by the Bishops who were the Judges thereof It is besides Objected That the Council of Arles attributes to the Pope majores Dioeceses but it hath been seen by the Government of this Council which has been spoken of that it was far from acknowledging the Bishop of Rome for Superiour Besides there are reasons to believe that the place where these words are has been corrupted and tho' it was not so this may signifie another thing except this Bishop had a Diocess more large than his Brethren Dr. Stillingfleet refutes some more Reasons of Mr. Schelstrate of small consequence and relates some places of the Letters of Pope Leo where he presses hard the Canons of Nice against the usurpations of the Patriarch of Constantinople and maintains it was not lawful for any to violate or to reveal the Decrees of this Council from whence it 's concluded that the Churches of England are in no wise obliged according to the Discipline of the first Ages to submit to the Pope After having ended this Controversie our Prelate sheweth there is a great likelyhood that some Bishops of England were at the Council of Sardis But thence an occasion is taken to say that the British Churches having received the Council of Sardis they are obliged to acknowledge the Pope for the Patriarch of the West seeing this Council hath established the Appeals to the Bishop of Rome To see if this Objection be of any force Dr. Stillingfleet examines the Design and the Proceedings of this Council as follows Athanasius Bishop of Alexandria had been deposed by two Synods of Eastern Bishops for some Crimes of which he was accused He could not hope to have this Judgment reverst in the East because the Arian Party was very strong there he made his Address to the Bishops of the West and particularly to Iulius Bishop of Rome as to the Chief He desired that his Process might be reverst and shewed by Letters of divers Bishops of Aegypt that he had not been heard according to the Forms neither at Tyre nor Antioch because of the violence of the Faction of Eusebius Thereupon Iulius having communicated his Design to his Brethren the Bishops of the West writ in their name and his own to the Eastern Bishops That it was just to examine this Cause by
Judges that were not suspected of Partiality and desired them to go to the places where these Judges should be with the Informations they had taken against Athanasius The Bishops of the East would not hearken to it whereupon those of the West received Athanasius Marcellus and other Bishops of their Party into their Communion Those of the East were extreamly affronted at it there were many Complaints on each side and at last the two Emperours Constantius and Constantine agreed to call a General Council at Sardis to decide this Difference There went Bishops to it from all parts but the Western Bishops were willing that the deposed Bishops should be admitted to the Communion and take place in the Council the Eastern would not suffer it and withdrew to Philippopolis where they protested against the Proceedings of Sardis as contrary to the Canons of Nice The Bishops of the West notwithstanding continued their Session and made new Canons to justifie their Conduct The Eastern Bishops complained that the Discipline established at Nice was manifestly violated and the Western Bishops said That there was Injustice done to the deposed Bishops that Athanasius had not been heard in Aegypt and that it was just that all the Bishops of the Empire should re-examine this Affair The Bishops of Sardis had no respect to the reasons of their Brethren they renounced not the Communion of Athanasius and made divers Canons the chief of which are the III. the IV. the V. which concern the Revisal of the Causes of Bishops In the third they declared that the causes should first come before the Bishops of the Province and if one of the Parties was grieved by the Sentence he should be granted a Revision Our Author makes divers Remarks upon two Canons of the Council of Antioch to which its commonly believed that that of the Council of Sardis has some affinity which we have spoken of our Author discovers the Irregularities of the Councils of Antioch and Tyre He also remarks that to obtain the Revision of an Ecclesiastial cause an Address was made to the Emperor who convocated a greater number of Bishops to make this new Examination The Council of Sardis made an Innovation in this for it seems that it took away as much as it could the Right of reviewing these sorts of Causes from the Emperor to give it to Iulius Bishop of Rome in honour to St. Peter He might by the Authority of this Council if he thought fit Convocate the Bishops of the Province to revise the Process and to add Assistant Judges to them as the Emperor used to do Besides this the Fourth Canon enjoyn'd that no Bishop should enter into a vacant Bishoprick by the deposition of him who was in it nor should undertake to Examin a-new a Process until the Bishop of Rome had pronounced his Sentence thereupon The Fifth Canon signifies That if he judges the Cause worthy of Revising it belongs to him to send Letters to the Neighbouring Bishops to re-examine but if he thinks it not fit the Judgment pronounced shall stand This is the Power which the Council of Sardis grants to the Pope upon which our Author makes these Remarks 1. That there was somewhat new in this Authority without which these Canons would have been useless Thus de Marca and he who published the Works of Pope Leo have established this Power of the Pope upon the Canons of the Council of Sardis But an Authority given by a particular Council in certain Circumstances as appears by the name of Iulius which is inserted in the Canon cannot extend it self to the following Ages upon the whole this Authority has changed nature so much that now it passeth for an Absolute and Supream Power founded upon a Divine Right and not upon the Acts of one Council 2. These Canons do not give this Bishop the Right of receiving Appeals in quality of Head of the Church but transport only unto him the Right of a Revision which the Emperor enjoyed before It is a great question if the Council of Sardis had the Power of so doing but there is a great likelihood that the Protection which Constantius granted the Arian Party engaged it thereunto 3. These Canons cannot justifie the conduct of those who should carry Causes to Rome by way of Appeal because they return the second Examination to the Bishops of the Province 4. The Council of Sardis it self took knowledge of a Cause which had been decided by the Bishop of Rome 5. This Council could not be justified by the antient Canons in that it received Marcellus to the Communion he who before had been Condemned for Heresie as also afterwards even by Athanasius himself 6. The Decrees of this Assembly were not universally received as it appeared by the Contestations of the Bishops of Africk against that of Rome seeing the first knew nothing of it some years after as our Author sheweth IV. Arianism being spread every where and afterwards Pelagius and Celestius being gone out of England the Clergy of this Isle were accus'd of having been Arians and Pelagians in those Ages Our Author undertakes to justifie them from these suspicions and afterwards describes the Publick Service of the British Churches But as the Ecclesiastical Antiquities of England afford no great matter he hath supplyed them by digressions He immediately refutes I know not what Modern Author who hath been mistaken in some facts concerning the History of Arianism since the Council of Nice at which we shall not make a stay After that there is an Abridgment of this History until the Council of Rimini The Arians being condemned at Nice and vainly opposing the term of Consubstantial thought they could not better save themselves than by yielding to the times They also suffered themselves to be condemned by the Council and to be Banished by the Emperor Arius with Theones and Secondus his Friends Eusebius of Nicomedia and Theognis of Nice Chief Heads of the Arian Faction Signed as the rest yet without changing their Opinion Afterwards they in like manner endeavoured to hide themselves under Equivocations The Circumstances of this History may be seen as Dr. Stillingfleet relates them in the Tenth Tome of the Vniversal Bibliotheque p. 447. and the following ones Yet there are these differences that our Bishop is larger in Reflections drawn from St. Athanasius concerning the Address of the Arians who expressed themselves almost as the Orthodox of that time to deceive the simple Moreover the Relation which we have cited was not made on design to justifie the Orthodox and to get those of the Arians Condemned but to give an Idea of these confusions without taking any Party whereas the design of our Author is to inform the Publick against the Arians without reprehending any thing whatever in the conduct of their Adversaries And our Author hath not applyed himself so much to the order of years which he doth not mark as hath been done in the Life of Eusebius of Caesarea
made a Priest by Innocent the first being retired to Marseilles began to compose Books by which sweetening a little the Sentiments of Pelagius wâ—om he also condemned as a Heretick he gave birth to the opinions to which were since given the Name of Semi-pelagianism His Sentiments may be seen in his Collations or Conferences that St. Prosper hath refuted and maintain'd against the pure Pelagianism Here in a few words is what they were reduced unto I. The Semi-pelagians allowed that men are born corrupted and that they cannot withdraw from this Corruption but by the assistance of Grace which is nevertheless prevented by some motion of the Will as by some good desire whence they said nâ—cum est velle credere Dei autem gratiae est adjuvare to Will to Believe dependeth of me but it 's the Grace of God that helpeth me God according to them expecteth from us these first motions after which he giveth us his Grace II. That God inviteth all the World by his Grace but that it dependeth of the Liberty of men to receive or to reject it III. That God had caused the Gospel to be preached to Nations that he foresaw would embrace it and that he caused it not to be preached to Nations that he foresaw would reject it IV. That notwithstanding he was willing all should be saved he had chosen to Salvation none but those that he saw wou'd persevere in Faith and good Works V. That there was no particular Grace absolutely necessary to Salvation which God gave only to a certain number of men and that men might lose all the Graces they had received VI. That of little Children which died in their Infancy God permitted that those only should be baptized who according to the foreknowledge of God would have been pious if they had lived but on the contrary those that were wicked if they came to a more advanced Age were excluded from Baptism by Providence VII The Semi-pelagians were yet accused to make Grace entirely outward so that according to them it chiefly consisted in the preaching of the Gospel but some of them maintained that there was also an interiour Grace that Pelagius himself did not totally reject Others allowed that there was preventing Grace So it seemeth that the difference that was betwixt them and Pelagius consisted only in this that they allowed Men were born in some measure corrupt and also they pressed more the necessity of Grace at least in words Tho' the difference was not extreamly great he notwithstanding anathematized Pelagius But this they did it 's like in the supposition that Pelagius maintained all the opinions condemned by the Councils of Africk St. Augustine accuseth them to have made the Grace of God wholly to consist in Instruction which only regardeth the understanding when as he believ'd it to consist in a particular and interiour action of the Holy Ghost determining us invincibly to Will good this determination not being the effect of our understanding The other Sentiments of this Father are known opposite either to the Doctrine of Pelagius or that of the Semi-pelagians We may be instructed herein particularly in his Books of Predestination and Perseverance that he writ at the entreaty of St. Proâ—per against the Semi-pelagians and in the works of the latter To come back to the History 't is said that in the year Ccccxxix one Agricola Son of Severiaenus a Pelagian Bishop carried Pelagianism into England but St. Germain Bishop of Auxerre was sent hither by Pope Celestin or by the Bishops of the Gauls and extirpated it suddenly Several miracles are attributed to him in this Voyage and in the stay he made in England as Vsher observes But if what Hector Boetius saith a Historian of Scotland who lived in the beginning of the past Age be true he used a means that is not less efficacious for the extirpation of Heresie which was that the Pelagians that would not retract were burned by the care of the Magistrates But whilst St. Germain purified England the Seeds of Pelagianism that Cassian had spread amongst the Monks of Marseille and in the Narbonick Gaul caused it likewise to grow in France St. Prosper and Hilary had writ of it to St. Augustine and had specified it to him that several Ecclesiasticks of the Gauls looked upon his opinions as dangerous novelties St. Augustine answered to their objections in the books which we lately have named but the support that Hilary Bishop of Arles and Maxim Bishop of Riez granted to the Semi-pelagians hindered any body from molesting them tho' they shewed much aversion for the Doctrine of St. Augustine Iulian and the other Bishops banished as I have already observ'd from Italy were gone to Constantinople where they importuned the Emperour to be re-established but as they were accused of Heresie he would grant them nothing without knowing the reasons why they were banished Nestorius Bishop of Constantinople writ about it to Celestine who answered him after a very sour manner and as if it had not been permitted to be informed of the reason of their condemnation reproaching him at the same time with his particular Sentiments His Letter is dated the 12. of August in the year Ccccxxx. It was at that time that St. Augustine died whose Elogium may be found in our Author who approveth of the praises that Fulgentius giveth him in his 2. Book of the Truth of Predestination where he speaks of him as Inspired A little after his death the Letters of Theodosius that had called him to the Council of Ephesus arrived in Africk whence some Bishops were sent thither In the year Ccccxxxi the 22. of Iune this Council composed of CCX Bishops was assembled for the Condemnation of Nestorius Cyril of Alexandria presided there and whilst it was holding Iohn Bishop of Antioch was assembled with 30. other Bishops who made Canons contrary to those of this Council The particulars were that the party of Cyril and that of Iohn reciprocally accused each other of Pelagianism but the greater part approved of the Deposition of Iulian and other Bishops of Italy that Nestorius had used with more mildness He is accused to have been of their opinion and to have maintained that Jesus Christ was become the Son of God by the good use he made of his Free-will in reward whereof God had united him to the Everlasting Word This was the cause that in this Council Pelagianism and Nestorianism were both condemned together But notwithstanding all this and the cares of three Popes Celestinus Xystus and Leo the first Semi-pelagianism was upheld amongst the Gauls It may be that the manner wherewith Celestine writ to the Bishops of France contributed to it because that tho' he condemned Pelagius with heat and praised St. Augustine he said at the end of his Letter that as to the deep and difficult Questions which were found mingled in this Controversie and which were treated at length by those that opposed the Hereticks that as
the word He was not the first that had designed the same tho' perhaps he was that executed it Iustin Martyr tells us of a young Man of Alexandria that being brought before Felix Governor of that City desired of him the Permission of a Surgeon that he might put himself out of the State of ever being suspected of any Impurity Felix refused because the Roman Laws forbid it as the Canons of the Church have done since Iustin related this to shew those that accused the Christians of committing horrible Uncleanness in their Assemblies were only Calumniators Demetrius Bishop of Alexandria highly admired this Action of Origen when first done but afterwards becoming an Enemy to this great Man it passed with him for an enormous Crime Origen was so ill treated for it that it is difficult to determine whether this unkind Usage was not the cause when he was advanced a little in Years that he interpreted the words of Jesus Christ in a figurative manner and condemn'd those who had any way mutilated themselves The Emperor Severus Persecutor of the Christians dying the 211 th Year of our Lord Origen made a Voyage to Rome a place he had always desired to see but continued not there long Demetrius recalling him and obliging him to take again his Employ of Catechist This Charge being too great for one he joyned with himself one Heraclas who had been his Disciple and bestowed his leasure Hours in Learning the Hebrew Tongue for which he was so much the more to be praised as he was the first amongst the Greeks that had dared to engage in so difficult a Work and for which there was then so little help It is supposed that his Master was one Huillus a Jew Patriarch of those of his own Nation Origen had always a great Number of Disciples that he instructed in Humane Sciences and in Religion among which one of the most Illustrious was a Man of Quality named Ambrose with whom he studied the Scripture with an extraordinary Application during many Years Whilst he was in this Occupation Demetrius received Letters from the Governor of Arabia desiring him immediately to send Origen to instruct him in the Faith of the Christians He went thither but soon return'd to Alexandria from whence he was obliged as soon to depart to escape the Fury of Caracalla who had entred into Egypt with an Army designing severely to punish the City of Alexandria that had offended him Origen retired to Cesarea in the Palestine where whilst he was yet but a Laick the Bishop desired him publickly to expound the Holy Scripture to the People But Demetrius caused him soon to return to Alexandria after having complained to Theoctist Bishop of Cesarea and to Alexander Bishop of Ierusalem that they had conferred on him an Employ that was never before given to a Laick altho' these two Bishops produced to him many undoubted Examples thereof They assure us that Mammea Mother to the Emperor Alexander Severus being at Antioch and having heard of Origen sent often for him and had many Conferences with him concerning Religion Being returned to Alexandria he applied himself at the Perswasion of his dear Ambrose to compose Commentaries on the Scripture in the Prosecution of which he generally maintain'd seven Copyists that in Latin are call'd Notarii from Nota to Mark because they wrote in Cyphers as fast as Persons spoke Who invented this manner of Writing is not certainly known some attribute it to Cunius others to Tyro the Freed Man of Cicero and some again to one Aquila a Freed Man of Mecoenas These Notaries were made use of in the Primitive Church to write the Discourses of the Martyrs both in Prison and upon the Scaffold as appears by what Tertullian and St. Cyprian saith on the Fasts of the Church and by Pontius the Deacon in the Life of St. Cyprian where he assures us that it was the Custom to Register all the Acts of the Martyrs By which may be seen how the Interrogations and Answers of the Martyrs were preserved the Debates held in Councils and the Homilies spoken Extempore whereof we have so great a Number and all compleat The Commentaries of Origen were so much esteemed altho' they had much defamed him for his pretended Errors that St. Ierom once a great Persecutor of his Followers after becoming openly of their Number said this in his Defence That he would willingly draw on himself the same Hatred as Origen had done to understand the Scriptures as well as he did and that he laugh'd at those Shadows of Errors that he was accused of which were fit only to fright Children whose Imaginations are weak enough to receive Impressions merely from Appearances Hoc unum dico quod vellem cum invidia nominis ejus habere etiam scientiam Scripturarum flocci pendens imagines umbrásque larvarum quarum natura esse dicitur terrere parvulos in angulis garrire tenebrosis Origen was interrupted in this Work by a Voyage he made into Greece which was at that time troubled by some Heresies He passed through Palestine making a short stay at Cesarea where Theoctist and Alexander ordained him Presbyter without his seeking the least after it and with no other design than to make his Ministry more effectual Demetrius had no sooner heard this News but he thought he had found a fair occasion to discover a Hatred he had long conceal'd for a Person whose Learning and Virtue had render'd him much more Illustrious than himself thinking to cover his Malice under the handsome Pretence of defending Ecclesiastical Discipline Then 't was he reproach'd him with that Weakness committed in his Youth viz. The cutting off that part of his Body which seem'd troublesome to him He caused him to be condemned by two Synods wherein they declared his Ordination void and expell'd him Alexandria But these Proceedings did no Injury to Origen he was very well received wheresoever he went and continued to execute his Office of Priest without any regard at all to the Anathema's of the Synods of Egypt Nevertheless the Insults of his Enemies obliged him to think of quitting Alexandria for ever and entirely to give up his Charge of Catechist to Heraclas whom he had converted to the Christian Religion a Man of a profound Learning and great Virtue One thing which prevailed with Origen to take his Mind more easily off Egypt and to depart from thence with less Regret was as Epiphanius tells us his falling into the Hands of some Heathens that were his sworn Enemies who threatned to kill him unless he would resolve to satisfie the Brutality of an Ethiopian Woman or Sacrifice to the Pagan Gods and that in so strange a Choice he rather preferred casting a few Grains of Incense to a false Deity He adds That Origen after this durst no longer continue at Alexandria But Authors that lived in the same time with him make no mention at all of it nor was this Crime ever
Party which is that of the Semi Arians or Homoiousians The Reader will not be displeased to find here a List of these Councils which is made upon the Remarks of Mr. du Pin. Councils against Arius 1. At Alexandria composed of near a hundred Bishops in the Year 322. 2. At Nice in 325 composed of 318 or 270 or 250 Bishops 3. The Third Council of Alexandria where St. Athanasius was absolved in 340. 4. At Rome by the Bishops of Italy in 341 where Marcellus of Ancyra and St. Athanasius were justified 5. At Milan where Ursacius and Valens were received into Communion for condemning Arius in the Year 346. 6. At Sardica in 347 composed of an hundred of the Western Bishops who sent back St. Athanasius and Marcellus of Ancyra Absolved 7. At Alexandria in 362 with St. Athanasius where it was declared that the difference upon the three Hypostases were only Disputes of words It was composed of the Bishops of â—gypt 8. At Paris where the Bishops of the Gauls retracted what they had done at Rimini in 362. 9. The Bishops of Italy did as much in another Synod the same Year 10. At Antioch in 363 where the Bishops of Egypt approved the Form of Nice 11. In 370 at Rome under Damasus 12. At Aquilea in 381. 13. At Constantinople in 383. Councils for Arius 1. In Bithynia in the Year 323 Sozom. Lib. 1. Cap. 15. 2. At Antioch where Eustathius Bishop of this City was deposed in 330. 3. At Caesarea in Palestine where St. Athanasius was cited but appeared not in 334. 4. At Tyre where St. Athanasius appeared as accused in 335. It was composed of a hundred Bishops 5. At Ierusalem where Arius and his Party were received to the Communion of the Church in the same Year 6. At Constantinople against Marcellus of Ancyra which communicated with St. Athanasius and who was deposed as convicted for renewing the Errors Paul of Samosetus and of Sabellius in 336. 7. The Third Council of Constantinople where Paul Bishop of that City Defender of St. Athanasius was deposed in 338. 8. At Beziers where the Followers of Arius were reconciled to the Church in spight of Hilary of Poictiers and some other Bishops which were banished in 356. 9. The Third Council of Sirmium where the Father was declared greater than the Son in 357. 10. Another at Melitin the same Year 11. At Antioch in 358 where they condemned these Terms The same in Substance 12. At Constantinople where the Anomeans cunningly condemned Aetius their Head and deposed many Semi Arian Bishops in 360. 13. At Antioch where Melece Bishop of Antioch was deposed and where the Son was declar'd Created out of nothing in 367. 14. At Singedun in Mesia against Germinius a Semi Arian 366. 15. In Caria where they rejected the Term of Consubstantial in 368. Councils for the Semi Arians 1. The Second Council of Alexandria in 324 where nothing was determined against Arius and they treated only of the Terms Substance and Hypostasis against Sabellius where Osius presided 2 3. Two Councils at Antioch in 341 and 342 where they declared they received Arius because they believed him Orthodox where they composed three Forms of Faith in the which they Anathematize those who said there was a time when the Word was not and made a Profession of believing him like to the Father in all things This Council made XXV Canons which are inserted in the Code of the Universal Church 4. Another Council at Antioch by the Eusebians where the word Consubstantial is not found though it be Catholick as to the rest It was held in 345. 5. At Philippolis in 347. 6. The Second Council of Sirmium the Form whereof was approved by Hilary of Poictiers although the word Consubstantial be not in it In the Year 351. 7. At Arles where St. Athanasius was condemned in 353. 8. At Milan in 355 where St. Athanasius was also condemned by Violence 9. At Ancyra where those were Anathematized which held the Son Consubstantial with the Father and those who deny'd he was the same in Substance in 358. 10. The Fourth Council of Sirmium where they approved of the Forms of the Councils of Antioch and of the second Council of Sirmium 11. The fifth Council of Sirmium in 359. 12. At Rimini composed of 400 Bishops where they rejected Terms of Substance and Hypostasis as was done in the fifth Council of Sirmium Notwithstanding they held the Son to be equal to the Father in all things It was also in the Year 359. 13. At Selucia the same Year where forty Anomean Bishops or pure Arians were condemned by 105 Semi Arians 14. At Antioch in 363 where the Term Consubstantial was received in different senses 15. At Lampsaca in 365 where the Anomeans were condemn'd and where the Bishops were re-establish'd which they had deposed 16. Divers Synods in Pamphilia Isauria Lycia and Sicily in 365 and 366. 17. At Tyanes in 368 where the Anomeans were reunited with the Semi Arians In 370 a Synod was held at Gangres the Canons whereof are inserted in the Code of the universal Church and the fourth of which condemns those that say the Communion ought not to be received from the hands of a married Priest The 59th and 60th and last Canon of the Council of Laodicea which Mr. du Pin believes to have been held between the Year 360 and 370 prohibits the Reading at Church any other than Canonical Books and those that were acknowledged for such and those the Protestants receive excepting the Apocalypse The 8th Canon of the Council of Saragossa defends the Vailing of Virgins that have consecrated themselves to Jesus Christ before the Age of forty Years The Bishops of Macedonia willing to confirm a Judgment they had given against a Bishop named Bonosus by the advice of Pope Syricius he answered them That the Council of Capua having sent this Cause to them it belonged not to him to judge on 't and that 't was their business to determin it The most ancient Monument according to Mr. du Pin where the name of Mass is found to signifie publick Prayers that the Roman Church makes in offering the Eucharist is the third Canon of the second Council of Carthage held in 390. At the end of this Volume the Author makes an Abridgment of the Doctrin of the 4th Age as he did in his precedent Book in respect to the three first and he confesses that though nothing was taught in the 4th Age which was not believed in the three first nevertheless the principal Mysteries were much more clear'd and expounded in the fourth The Travels of Mars Or The Art of War divided into three parts c. With an Ample Relation of the Soldiery of the Turks both for Assaulting and Defending A Work inriched with more than 400 Cuts engraven in Copper-plates by Allaâ—n Manesson Mallet Master of the Mathematicks to the Pages of his Majesty's lesser Stable heretofore Ingenier and Serjeant-Major
seditious and Innovators and said that they could not have Reason on their side since in the dispute they frighted those that resisted them with the Imperial Edicts but that acting after that nature they persuaded not intelligent persons but the fearful only laborare illam partem rationis inopia quae in disserendo cum terrorem surrogat nullum à prudentibus impetrat sed caecum à meticulosis extorquet assensum He accused Zozimus of having used Prevarication in condemning Pelagius after having approved his sentiments and as to the Synods of Africk he said that those that had been condemned by them could not defend their cause that none can well judge of controverted things if he doth not bring a mind free from hatred friendship enmity or anger that the Bishops of Aâ—rick were not thus qualified having an aversion to the Opinions of Pelagius before they knew them that his sentiments were not to be received but weighed and finally all that hath been usual to be objected to the judgments of great Assemblies A new Council was afterward held in the year CCCCXIX at Carthage composed of CCXVII Bishops where all that had been done in the former against Pelagius was confirmed and in effect to make use of the terms of St. Prosper in his Poem of the Vngrateful An alium in sinem posset procedere sanctum Concilium cui dux Aurelius ingeniumque Augustinus erat But the Episcopal Authority was still upheld in this rencounter by that of the Emperours who in a Letter directed to Aurelius confirmed their precedent Edict and ordered that if any knew in any place of the Empire Pelagius and Celestius kept themselves hidden and discovered them not or did not immediately drive them away he should be liable to the same punishment those Hereticks were And to correct the stubborness of some Bishops who maintained by a silent consent those that disputed in favour of the Heresie or that did not destroy it in publickly attacking it Aurelius should take the care to depose those that would not sign the Condemnation of Pelagianism and should be excommunicated and banished Aurelius had orders to publish this Edict in all Africk and he executed it punctually joyning to it a circular Letter to the Bishops of the Byzacen and Arzugitan Provinces by which he compell'd them to sign the acts of the last Council as well those that had assisted at it as those that could not be present that it might be acknowledged that there was not in Bishops neither dissimulation nor negligence or fearing that by chance there might remain some lawful suspicion of some bidden Heresie The Bishops that were of the same Opinion with Pelagius subscribed the acts but with great difficulty and eighteen of them Writ to the Bishop of Thessaloniâ—a endeavouring to draw the Eastern Bishops on their side That they might the easier ingage them in their own cause they accused their adversaries of Manicheism because the Manicheans maintained also the unavoidable necessity of Sinning and the natural corruption of Man This accusation was the rather more odious that St. Augustin the principal defender of these Opinions had been in his Youth infected with the Opinion of Manicheus and that having abjured them he had attacked them by the same principles whereof the Pelagians had made use when he was come to the Episcopacy On the other side Iulianus Writ to Rome and Celestius sent to Constantinople in the year CCCCXIX to endeavour to win some Proselytes there But after the Imperial Edicts that we have already observ'd they could in no likelyhood have a good issue Celestius was ill received by Atticus who had succeeded to Arsacius substituted next to St. Chrysostom but dead a little while after The Pelagians were also very ill treated according to the relation of St. Prosper at Ephesus and Sicily and Constantius that Honorius had associated in the Empire made in the year CCCCXX an Edict like to that of this Prince against those that should hide Celestius St. Ierome died this year and St. Augustin composed his four books addressed to Boniface Successor to Zozimus and the six against Iulian addressed to Claudius He made therein the Elogium of St. Ierome and assures us that he was of the same sentiments with the Bishops of Africk because it seems he had attack'd the Pelagians tho' on the other hand he did not make use of St. Augustins reasons as it may be seen in the first Tome of this Library p. 21. St. Ierome said that the Commandments of God are possible but that every one cannot do that which is possible not by any weakness of nature which would be injurious to God but the custom of the Soul which cannot always have at the same time all vertues Possibilia praecipit Deus sed haec possibilia cuncta singuli habere non possumus non imbecillitate naturae ut calumniam facias Deo sed animi assuetudine qui cunctas simul semper non potest habere virtutes St. Augustin was so far from this Opinion that in the CXII Sermon de tempore he speaketh thus We abhor the Blasphemy of those who say that God hath commanded Man any thing impossible and that the Commandments of God cannot be kept by eaâ—h in particular but by all in common Execramur Blasphemiam eorum qui dicunt impossibile aliquid homini à Deo esse praeceptum mandata Dei non à singulis sed ab omnibus in commune posse servari here must be understood by the help of Grace Whilst Pelagius remained hidden in the East and was silent Iulian composed four Books against the second of St. Augustin de Concupiscentia Nuptiis having refuted the first in the four whereof we have spoken St. Augustine undertook to answer to the last work of Iulian as he had done to the precedent but he could not end his answer being dead before We have two books thereof with the two books Iulian that he refuteth Printed at Paris by Claudius Menard in 1616. Iulian kept no measure in his Books and seems to have been willing to abuse the Adversaries of Pelagius to vindicate himself of the severe Edicts they had obtained against him But this conduct did him no good seeing Celestinus Bishop of Rome banished him out of Italy with Florus Oroncius Fabius and all the Bishops of the same party It seemeth notwithstanding that Pelagianism did spread it self in spight of all this seeing the Emperour Valentinian to clear the Gauls of it published an Edict at Aquilea in Ccccxxv by which he ordered Patroclus Bishop of Arles to visit divers Bishops that followed the opinions of Pelagius and to declare unto them if in 20. days they they did not retract their Errours they should be banished from the Gauls and deprived of their Bishopricks Iohn Cassienus originally a Scythian that some call an Athenian others a Roman and some a Gaul who had been a Deacon to St. Chrysostome and
by a very plain way Why was not Iesus pleased to render the way more easy and did not tell us where we should find such a Judge We are therefore obliged to look for him saith Episcopious and this Disquisition must necessarily aim at either of these two things Either that each particular Society of Christians and even each Member of this Society attribute to it self the Power of Soveraign judging of Controversies or that the Universal Church to wit the Body of all those who profess the Gospel hath at all times right to chuse such a Judge The first cannot be granted because every one looking upon himself as Infallible no body would submit himself to the Decisions of his Neighbour The second is naturally unpracticable for before the Universal Church can choose a Supream Judge of Controversies it must needs have cast it's Eyes upon divers Subjects capable of fulfilling this Charge and examined carefully their capacity And how shall it make this Examination All the Christian Societies must concur in this Election But how should they agree thereupon and whom could they choose who should not be suspitious or uncapable of this Employment Seeing all Christians have already taken Parties and those who are not Christians understand not our Disputes Add to this that tho Men would be decided by the ordinary Judges of the Roman Church there would still a Party of Male-Contents remain If the Pope was chosen France would appeal to the General Council if a Council was assembled Italy would not accept on 't until it had been confirmed by the Pope and this Bishop would only do it upon condition that this Ecumenick Council would acknowledge it self beneath him which is contrary to the pretensions of France The impossibility of this Design is an evident proof according to our Author that God will not have his Church to be governed after the manner of the Kingdoms of the Earth where one is obliged to submit without knowing for what because there is but the Body and some transitory Goods in question But the Kingdom of God extending it self over the Soul and Conscience Men must be instructed convinced and persuaded Men must read pray meditate and live Christianly to obtain the Grace of distinguishing Truth from Falshood In vain would Scripture teach us these Truths and exhort us to these practices if there were an infallible Judge All this would be useless neither is it of great me amongst those who believe they have one All the World knoweth the ridiculous explications the Roman Doctors gave to Scripture before Protestants had put it into the hands of the People and no body is ignorant of the many Truths which have been discovered since it hath been believed that every one should instruct himself in the Will of God by his Word It is true that there have arisen Disputes which are the unavoidable consequences of Examination But if Christians applyed themselves only to Scripture and that instead of deciding of their Differences when Scripture is not clear thereupon they supported each other with a mutual Charity we should soon see them become both more wholsome in their Opinions and more reformed in their Manners It is a consequence very clear and very easie to comprehend but such as apparently will never be justified by Experience V. The last writing of Bom is a small Treatise to prove that St. Peter hath been established Head of the Catholick Church where this Priest relates the common Passage of Controvertists Thou art Peter c. Feed my Sheep c. The Answer of Episcopius is not complete but that which there is on 't appears more than sufficient to refute all the Objections of the Missionaries The first Reason would be even enough which is that although his Adversary had clearly proved his Thesis he would do nothing for all that if he did not shew that the promises made to St. Peter regard also his Successors whereas most of the Fathers have taken them for personal Priviledges as Tertullian in his Book of Chastity c. 21. who speaks thus to Pope Zephirin If because the Lord hath said to Peter Vpon this Rock I will build my Church I will give thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and all that thou shalt bind or unbind upon Earth shall be bound or unbound in Heaven If I say for that cause you imagine that the power of unbinding or binding is passed unto you to wit to all the Churches founded by Peter Who are you that overturn and change the clear intention of the Lord who hath conferred this personally on Peter Vpon thee saith he I will build my Church and I will give thee the Keys and not to the Church and all that thou shalt unbind and not that they shall unbind 2. After having shewed that these Priviledges are not personal it should be proved that they regard only the Bishops of Rome excluding those of Antioch 3. That they regard them all without exception and without condition to wit That all and every one of the Popes are infallible as well in Fact as Right against the Experience and the Sentiment of most of the Doctors of the Roman Communion 4. It should be defined what the Catholick Church is and shewed by formal passages that these Terms denominate the Body of Pastours which is called the Representative Church which is impossible Whereas it is very easy to shew that the Church signifieth in Scripture only the People in opposition to Pastours And in this sense there is nothing more absurd than all that is said of the Power of the Church and it's Priviledges seeing it is but the Body of the Pope's Subjects and Roman Clergy and that Subjects who are far from making Decisions must submit and obey their Lot 5. After all this it should be still proved that the Priviledges given to St. Peter and the Bishops of Rome his Successors import not simply a Primacy of Order and some Authority in things which regard the Discipline and Government of the Church which Protestants could grant without doing a prejudice to their Cause but they do moreover mark a Primacy of Jurisdiction of Sovereignty and Infallibility in matters of Faith which is impossible to be proved by Scripture and all the Monuments we have of Antiquity and which is even contradictory seeing the belief of a Fact or Truth is persuaded and forceth not it self Have not Roman Catholicks much Grace to accuse Protestants of Obstinacy because they refuse to embrace a Hypothesis which supposeth so many dubious Principles whereof most are contested even amongst the Divines of Rome and to ask them to obey the Church without distinctly telling them what this Church is or in what consists the Submission which is required of them or how far it ought to be extended An Abridgment of Universal History The First Part containing the Ecclesiastical History in Two Books by Henry le Bret Provost of the Cathedral Church of Montauban in 125. 3 Volumes At
which hath been so often fatal to the Church they undertook to become Masters of the Conscience of the People and to put the young Folks from their Imployments or to impose an Oath upon them that all perhaps have not signed without remorse of Conscience Yet some of those who have established this Form are persons of an extraordinary meritâ—â— who I am persuaded have acted in this occasion by a sincere zeal to maintain what they regard as Truth I should only wish they had more Extent and a greater freedom of Mind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The 33 Orations of Themistius 13 of which have been formerly published Dennis Petavius of the Society of Jesus Translated many of 'em into Latin with Annotations To 20 of these Orations are added other Notes and to the remaining 13 are joyn'd the perpetual Observations of John Harduinus a Member of the same Society Paris in Fol. THemistius was a Philosopher of Paphlagonia so Eloquent that he had given him the Sur-name of Euphrades He published Commentaries upon Aristotle when he was very young which were so much esteemed that one of the best Philosophers of Greece quitted his School to go to see him He Taught with so much clearness at Antioch Nicomedia Rome and elsewhere that he out-did all the Philosophers of his time The Romans were so charmed with him that they sent to the Emperor desiring that he would oblige him to live in the midst of them but they obtained not this advantage Themistius chose rather to return to Constantinople where he passed the greatest part of his life He was beloved of Six Emperors Constantius conferred the dignity of Praetor upon him and honoured him with a Brazen Statue Valence had so great a deference for him that in consideration of him he moderated the false zeal which led him to persecute the Orthodox It is assuredly one of the greatest marks of esteem which can be given to a Man for as soon as a Prince hath determined to extirpate a Religion all that retards the progress of this design is uneasie to him and incommodes him extraordinarily they are very powerful Reasons only which can work an alteration of this nature Yet the Discourse of Themistius produced this great effect upon an Emperor animated to the ruin of the Orthodox by the Counsel of some Arian Bishops and by the Intreagues of the Empress This Philosopher represented to Valence That he persecuted without cause Men of worth that it was not a crime to believe and to think otherwise than he did that he should not wonder at this diversity of Opinions that the Gentiles were much more divided amongst themselves than Christians that every one pointed at truth by some place and that it had pleased God to confound the pride of Men and to render himself more venerable by the difficulty which there is of knowing him It is pity that such fine thoughts have been said by a Pagan and that it should be necessary that Christians should learn this Important Lesson from anâ— Idolatrous Man Yet they ought to profit thereby But Mr. Flecher who hath so carefully related this Discourse of Themistius to shame thereby the Memory of an Arian Emperor tells us that the Emperor Theodosius a little while after also took upon him a command which was as a fit subject for a second discourse of Themistius But he was far from doing it because of the charge of Prefect of Constantinople and of Tutor to the Son of Theodosius the Great which this Emperor gave him lest he should cease his Applauses for all the Orders of the Court It is very strange that a Prince who abolished vigorously the Relicks of Paganism and who gave even no very good quarters to the Sectaries of Christianity should trust the Education of his Son to a Heathen Yet it 's true that Theodosius hath done all this for those who say that Themistius was a Christian and Chief of the Sect of the Agnoites who believed that Iesus Christ was absolutely ignorant of the end of the World they confound him with another Themistius a Deacon of the Church of Alexandria who was the head of this Sect under the Empire of Iustin towards the year 519. It signifies nothing to the proof of the pretended Christianity of Themistius to say that he hath cited this passage of Scripture The heart of the King is in the hand of the Lord This I say signifies nothing because that besides his citing these words as if he had taken them from the Books of the Assyrians every one knoweth that Longinus hath quoted Moses with Elogies on him without being on that account engaged e're the less in Paganism Themistius must needs have been an honest Man because he always had the Friendship of St. Gregory of Nazianze He had left 36 Harangues Henry Stephen is the first who hath published any of them Father Petau being then at the Colledge of la Fleche made an Edition thereof He added a second much better when he came to Paris but it was yet very imperfect seeing there lacked Sixteen Orations He sought so successfully that he found thirteen whereof he Translated into Latin the considerablest part He left them as a Depositum in the Colledge of Clermont's Bibliotheck and these are they which appeared the first time in the Edition of Themistius that Father Hardouin hath lately given us He is a very learned Iesuit who was brought to Paris to be imployed with Father Cautel to make the Supplement of Dogmata Theologica of Father Petau but this design hath not succeeded so that these two Jesuits have elsewhere endeavour'd by other Works to make their Talent be valued Father Cautel hath set his face another way As for Father Hardouin the Publick hath already known that he worketh upon a Commentary of Pliny in usum Delphini which will be say they a most complete piece and which will be publish'd in a year Moreover he hath a design to publish all the Manuscripts of the Bibliotheque of Clermont which have not been as yet printed and he hath begun by the Orations of Themistius at the intreaty of Father Garnier who dyed an Bologne in Italy the 26 th of October 1681. during the Voyage he made to Rome about the Affairs of his Society In this Edition have been inserted all the Notes of Father Petau upon twenty Discourses of Themistius and many things are very Learned therein There is in particular a gross Error of Appian who saith in the First Book of the Civil War That the Romans have had Kings during 100 Olympiads and Consuls 100 Olympiads also whereas it is certain that Tarquin was banished Rome in the Year 244 after the Foundation of the City 156 years before it had lasted a hundred Olympiads Besides that Appian contradicts himself visibly seeing he places the Dictatorship of Sylla but in the 175 Olympiad Father Petau also pretends That Scaliger was mistaken when he said That the lesser Mysteries were celebrated at
Domestick shewing his Friend in his Masters Library the suppressed Edition of M. de Meaux's Exposition with Marginal Notes which he assured him were Written by the hands of some of the Doctors of Sorbonne the Friend desired to borrow the Book which the Servant consented to So strange an accident made the borrower use his utmost care to get a Copy of the First Edition but there was such care taken to suppress it that all he could do was but to gather up some loose Leaves whereof he almost made an entire Book and copyed what he wanted out of M. Turenne's Original which he then restored to the Servant it is this same Copy which Mr. Wake has with his Certificate that gather'd it and compared it with the Mareschal's Copy It is not at all likely that Mr. Cramoisi Director of the Printing-House at the Louvre should Print a Book of Importance without the knowledge and good-will of the Author that was a Bishop and Tutor to the Dauphin and a great Favorite at Court and it is more unlikely that Mr. Crà moisi should obtain the King's leave and the Approbation of the French Prelates for a subreptitious Copy And why did not M. de Meaux shew his resentment for a boldness of this nature And how came he to give this Printer not only the Corrected Copy but also all the other Books that he made since We must examin but Fourteen places of the First Edition taken notice of by Dr. Wake to see whether the alteration that M. de Meaux made in it did only concern the exactness and neatness of the style First Edit p. 1. Thus it seems very proper to propose the Doctrine of the Catholick Church to the Reformers in separating the Questions which the Church hath decided from those which belong not to her Faith Second Edit p. 1. It seems that there can no better way be taken than simply to propose the Doctrine of the Catholick Church and to distinguish them well from those that are falsly imputed to her First Edit p. 7 8. The same Church Teaches That all Religious Worship ought to terminate in God as its necessary end So that the honour which the Church gives to the blessed Virgin and to the Saints is only Religious because this honour is given to them only in respect to God and for the love of him And therefore the honour we render our Saints is so far from being blamable as our Adversaries would have it because it is Religious that it would deserve blame if it were not so M. de Meaux has thought it expedient to blot out the last period and to express himself thus in his common Editions p. 7. And if the honour that is rendred to Saints can be called Religious it is because it regards God In the same place speaking of M. Daille the Author expressed it after a very ingenious manner but little favourable to his cause As for Mr. Daille said he he thought that he ought to keep to the Three first Ages wherein it is certain that the Church then was exercised more in Suffering than Writing and has left many things both in its Doctrine and Practice which wants to be made clearer This Acknowledgment was of importance and the Censurers had reason to note it and has not been seen since All the other Alterations are as considerable as these and Dr. Wake protests he could mention more if he were minded to shew all the places wherein the Manuscripts differed from the common Editions The Author may judge whether these be words or things that M. de Meaux has corrected but as to Father Cresset it may be said that this Bishop has strained his boldness to such a degree that none dares give him the Epithet it deserves Is it possible that this Author should not have heard of a great Volume in Quarto Writ against the profitable advice of the Blessed Virgin since the Pastoral Letter of the Bishop of Tournay who approved this last Book has caused such long Disputes in France Can it be supposed that M. de Meaux was ignorant that the Opinion of this Jesuit was contrary to his Exposition After M. de la Bastide reproached him with it in his Answer to the Advertisement And that the Author of the General Reflexions on his Exposition and M. Iurieu in his Preservative have made great Extracts out of the Book of The True Devotion Since Mr. Arnaud laughed at Father Cresset in his Answer to the Preservative and Mr. Iurieu refuted his Adversary in the Iansenist convicted of vain Sophistry That Mr. Imbert in his Letter to this Bishop offered to refute the Preservative provided he might be secured that no violence should be done him and that he might have the liberty of saying what he thought In fine after that he himself Answered divers passages of the Preservative in his Treatise of the Communion under both kinds Let us add to all this what M. de Meaux had the confidence to advance in his Pastoral Letter upon the Persecution of France I do not wonder says he my dear brethren that you are come in such great numbers and so easily into the Church none of you have suffered violence either in his Body or Goods And so far from suffering Torments that you have not heard talk of any I hear that other Bishops say the same Let this notorious falshood be compared with the Apology for the Persecution which this Prelate made in a Letter to one of his Friends that I read my self Writ and Signed by his own hand The Original whereof a certain Author proffered to shew him And it will be acknowledged that one may be very hard upon the Catholick Religion without committing so gross a contradiction But why should we stay so long upon the discovering the mystery of the Composition the Gentleman had done it himself without thinking of it Confessing that he weighed all his words and racked his Invention to cheat the simple At least this is what they that understand French will soon perceive in reading this period of his Advertisement In the mean time the Italian Version was mended very exactly and with as much care as a Subject of that importance deserved wherein one word turned ill might spoil all the Work Though one must be very dull to look upon these pious Cheats as a sincere dealing M. de Meaux was so fearful lest he might be thought to abolish some abuses and to labour to reform his own Church that he has lately given evident proofs of the hatred that he always bore the Protestants and which he thought fit to hide under an affected mildness until the Dragoon Mission It was in the History of Variations that he unmasked himself and shewed him what he was by the Injuries and Calumnies which he cast upon the Protestants and has given a Model of the manner how he deserves to be treated There were Three Months past when Dr. Burnet whom this Bishop attacked without any cause made
the Twenty fifth of December some the Twenty sixth of December some the Twentieth of April some the Seventeenth of April and some the Sixteenth of May. There was yet another Feast amongst them called by us Epiphany mentioned by Clemens Alexandrinus The Author observes they kept no other Saints days nor did they call 〈◊〉 Apostles Saints but plain Matthew 〈◊〉 c. only they celebrated the Anniversaâ—â— of their own Martyrs praising their Actions and exhorting one another to Imitation the Place of their Meeting was at their Graves and Tombs Lastly our Author observes that their Festivals were not times of Revelling Drunkenness Gluttony c. but in Acts of Piety Charity and Religious Employments X. In the Tenth and last Chapter our Author comes to consider the Ceremonies of the Primitive Church for instance when they Baptized in some Churches the new Member had Milk and Hony given to him and in some Places before they prayed they washed their Hands they had Exorcism before Baptism and Unction after and innumerable more such Ceremonies which crept in partly by a Misunderstanding some Texts and partly by being amongst the Superstitious Heathens Yet the Churches retain'd their own Liberty and Customs without imposing or being impos'd upon by one another I shall give only one of those many Instances that our Author has brought for his Purpose 't is out of a Fragment of an Epistle written by Irenaeus and other Bishops of France wherein they affirm that Victor was in the right with respect to the time of Easter that it ought to be celebrated as he said on the Lords Day but that yet he had done very ill to cut off from the Unity of the Church those that observed it otherwise that it had never been known that any Churches were Excommunicated for a disagreement in Rites an Instance of which there was not only in the time of Easter its self but in the Fast that preceded it Some fasted one day others more some forty hours which variety of Observations began not first in our Age but long before us in the times of our Ancestors who yet preserved Peace and Unity amongst themselves as we now do for the Diversity of Fasts commended the Unity of Faith And as for this Controversie concerning the time of Easter the Bishops which governed the Church of Rome before Soter viz. Anicetus Pius Higynus Telesphorus and Xystus they never celebrated it the same time with the Asiaticks neither would they permit any of their People so to do but yet they were kind and peaceable to those who came to them from those Parishes where they did otherwise observe it and never any for this Cause were thrown out of the Church even their Predecessors though they did not keep it yet they sent the Eucharist to those that did keep it and when in the times of Anicetus blessed Polycarp came to Rome and there were some Controversies between them they did not separate from one another but still maintained Peace and Love And though Anicetus could never perswade Polycarp nor Polycarp Anicetus to be of each others mind yet they Communicated one with another and Anicetus in Honour to Polycarpus permitted him to Consecrate the Sacrament in his Church and so they departed in mutual Love and Kindness and all the Churches whether observing or not observing 〈◊〉 same Day retained Peace and Unity amongst themselves Apud Euseb. Lib. 5. Cap. 24. Pag. 192 193. After all our Author concludes with a most passionate Exhortation to Love and Peace amongst our selves protesting that in this Treatise he has not been byass'd by any Party or Faction whatever but has endeavour'd a plain full and impartial discovery of Truth leaving every one to their Liberty as to the Judgment they shall make of it He says he has left out many Ancient things and handled mostly those Points that are now in dispute amongst us He has taken a great deal of pains in citing his Authorities all along In short he has out-done all that ever have Wrote in this kind before him and yet with a Spirit of so much Modesty and Humility that every Party may see their Errors without having any cause to be angry withe their Exposer He has given a Table of the Fathers Names which he has made use of as also their Ages and Countries that we may thereby be able to ghess at the Original of some Customs amongst them and the Places where they were chiefly practised St. Clementis Epistolae duae ad Corinthâ—os Interpretibus Patricio Iunio Gottifredo Vendelino Iohan. Bapt. Cotelerio Recensuit Notarum Spicilegium adjecit Paulus Colemesius Bibliothecae Lambethanae Curator Accedit Thomae Brunonis Canonici Windesoriensis Dissertatio de Therapeutis Philonis His subnexae sunt Epistolae aliquot singulares vel nunc primum Editae vel non ita facile obviae London Impensis Jacobi Adamson 1687. in 120. Pag. 377. 1. THese Epistles of St. Clement which were known only by some Citations of the Ancients were published the first time more than forty Years ago by Patricius Iunius who found them joined to the end of the New Testament in the famous MS. of Alexandria This Learned Man added to them a Latin Version and Notes William Burton Translated them into English in 1677 and added likewise Remarks of his own much larger than those of Iunius The Edition of the latter being soon become scarce it was imitated at Helmstadt in 1654 and Iochim Iohn Maderus added to it a new Preface since that time the Edition hath appear'd in Twelves by Dr Fell Bishop of Oxford and that of Mr. Cotelier in Folio Here is a fifth which we owe to the Care of Mr. Colomies who hath compared the precedent Editions with the MS. whence they have taken them and hath shew'd that the Learned Iunius was some times mistaken and had in the Reading this MS. put a wrong Sense upon many things we shall give an Example hereof after we have made some little mention of a small Dissertation which Mr. Colomies placed before St. Clement Entituled De Clementis ejus Epistolarum tempore Vandelini Divinatio This Vandelin was Tutor to the famous Gassendus and died Chanon of Ghent He believes that St. Clement was near the Age of St. Iohn the Evangelist and lived as long as he dying the third Year of the Reign of Trajan at Chersone in Pontus whither he was banished The Ancients all agree that St. Clement was Bishop of Rome but they do not agree upon the time he was so nor upon the Order which ought to be given him in the List of the first Bishops of this City Baronius himself confessed that he was not well assured of the order of the Succession of these Bishops until the Year CLXXIX Vandelin undertakes in this Dissertation to resolve the Difficulties by the means of the old Breviaries and Martyrologies after which he speaks of the time in which the Epistles of St. Clement were written As his