Denmark Sweedland Geneva Zurick c. we have one common Creed and the same which Vnited all Local Churches into one Catholick Church in the Days of Old. But though we Protestants are United into one Faith yet because we are not United under one Pope no more than the Primitive Churches were Mr. Sclater leaves us Avery stout Reason If yet that be one of the True Reasons But by what we have seen of his Reasons yet we have some cause to believe he hath some other reasons that are stronger than this some Reserv'd Reasons among those which he calls Pag. 5. his Reserv'd Principles But to let Mr. Sclater go at present till we meet him again The Author of the Nubes Testium would perswade you to think that in those By-opinions wherein we differ from the Roman Church the Primitive Fathers are on their side For the clearing therefore of this Matter I shall take a very short course by giving you an Historical account of the Series of Affairs from the Primitive Ages as Controversies about these Points did happen to arise And by this account you will easily discern that our Opinions are the most Ancient and Catholick Opinions After the Catholick Faith had been onfirm'd and the Controversie with Arius determin'd at the Nicene Council about Anno 325. another Controversie arose about Primacy some Bishops of Rome pretending to Supream Authority and Universal Jurisdiction over the rest But this was clearly an Innovation for an Ancient Canon had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Can. Apostol 34. been provided which was the Churches Rule during the Reigns of Heathen Princes That the Bishops of every Country should submit to him that was their Primate and own him for their Head and do nothing of Moment without his Approbation By which Canon the Primacy was fixt in the Archbishop of every Province and all Metropolitans throughout the World stood upon the same Level and had the same Supream Authority in their Respective Jurisdictions and Countries You cannot but smile to see what a Marginal Note there is upon this Canon in Binius's Edition of it Jurisdictio Episcoporum praeterquam Romani certis finitis limitibus circumscripta est The Jurisdiction of Bishops except the Roman Bishops is Circumscribed within certain and determinate Limits But there is not the least ground or colour for that exception the continual practice of the Church in those times shews it to be a forced Interpretation of the Canon for the Jurisdiction of the Roman Bishops was limited as all the others was so that Aeneus Sylvius afterwards Pope Pius the second ingenuously confest that before the Nicene Council little respect was had to the Church of Rome Nor did the Nicene Council give the Roman Bishops any Title to their pretended Primacy For in the sixth Canon of that Council the Fathers decreed that the Ancient Customes should hold that the Bishop 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. of Alexandria should have power over them who were in Egypt Lybia and Pentapolis because this was likewise the custome for the Bishop of Rome Also that Antioch and other Provinces should have the same Priviledges preserv'd to their Churches Whence it appears that in those times the Jurisdiction of the Roman Patriarch was limited and bounded and that to the Suburbicary Churches in Italy as Ruffinus rightly understood that Canon 2. That other Provinces had the same equal priviledges within themselves that the Roman Church had 3. That those priviledges were every where founded on ancient Customes 4. That those Customes should still continue in force But all this could not bound the Ambition of some Bishops of Rome who endeavour'd and hoped to enlarge their Jurisdiction by the great Interest they had in the now Christian Emperors who exprest much tenderness to the Church in lieu of those hardships she had endured in times of Persecution and thought it no little Piety out of Veneration to the Memories of St. Peter and St. Paul to be kind to their Successors and this was one thing that by degrees brought the Church of Rome into great request Besides Schismaticks and Hereticks who lay under Church-censures were wont to appeal to the Emperor for redress as the Donatists did to Constantine in the Pontificate of Melchiades The Emperor thinking it proper for him to commit the cognisance of Church Causes into the hands of Church-men did use to depute and delegate the Bishop of his own See with some more of the Clergy to examine the matters And as this gave encouragement to Factious men ever and anon to have recourse to the Church of Rome so it gave encouragement also to the Bishops of Rome to incroach upon the Priviledges of other Countries where such causes should regularly have been heard and determin'd in publick Synods Yet it is observable that for a long Tract of time the Bishops of Rome never attempted to execute their usurped power but still they met with great Opposition from those who asserted their own Canonical Priviledges and Rights Thus when Julius endeavoured to interpose in the case of Athanasius who had been unjustly condemned by the Oriental Bishops in the Synods of Tyre and Antioch though Julius pretended only that 't was not Canonically done but that himself and other Bishops ought to have been interessed too in an affair of that High nature yet Julius his appearing in this cause put the Oriental Bishops into a rage as you may see by his letter to them wherein he takes notice of their Passion and opposition and Council Tom. 1. pag. 391. confesses that they charged him with kindling a flame of Discord and that they were Quâ—… dicendi sunt flamina discordiae accendisse si quidem id nobis in vestris literis objicitis Jul. Ep. Verè parem eundemque honorem in omnibus Episcopatibus censetis esse neque ex magnitudine civitatum ut vos Scribitis honorem ejus rei crescere arbitramini Id. ibid. positive in their Opinion that in all Bishopricks the Honour was really equal and the same and that the Honour much less the Power of a See did not increase by the greatness of Cities This was point blank to stop the growth of the Pope of Romes power as a meer Usurpation upon the Authority and Rights of other Bishops when yet all that Julius seems to have contended for was that Athanasius his case might be re-considered in a general Council wherein he himself and other Western Bishops might be concern'd But when Innocent the first made a tryal of his skill upon the African Churches by occasion as 't is thought of an Appeal made to him by Caelestius the Pelagian Heretick who had been condemn'd at home in Africa the Africans to maintain their own Priviledges and the Canons of the Catholick Church decreed at the Milevitan Council that when Presbyters Deacons Concil Milevit cap. 22. or other inferiour Clergy-men did appeal from their own Bishops some neighbouring Bishops
should hear the cause and if they appealed from them too they should not appeal but to the African Councils or to the Primates of their own Provinces But whosoever should appeal beyond the Sea should not be receiv'd into Communion by any in Africa Which decree though it speaks particularly of Presbyters and Deacons yet it reacheth Bishops also as is clear from the 31. Canon of the Carthaginian Council Three years after this that the same thing against Appeals beyond the Sea had been often decreed concerning Bishops too And this cuts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Can. Carth. 5. 31. off the common subterfuge of the Romanists who are wont to pretend that the Milevitan Canon concern'd the inferiour Clergy onely as if the Pope had not power of Jurisdiction over Presbyters and Deacons too if he had any over Bishops especially if he hath it as they say by Divine Right Notwithstanding all this the Successors of Innocent Zozimus Boniface and Caelestine pretended still successively to this claim of Jurisdiction in the African Churches whereby you may see what an ill use they made of that favour which the Emperours shew'd some of their Predecessors for now instead of being the Emperors Delegates or their Neighbours friendly Arbitrators they pretended to be the most rightful Judges of foreign causes During the time of the Three forementioned Popes the great case about Appeals to Rome was depending in Africa and for the determining of the Controversie the Carthaginian Council was called consisting of 217 Fathers whereof St. Austin was one Anno 419. The Pope grounded his claim of Jurisdiction upon a pretended Canon of the Nicene Council to which the Africans answered They knew nothing of any such Canon nor could find any thing to that effect in those Copies they had of the Acts of that Council But being not willing either to make a Rupture in the Church or to lose their own Priviledges they condescended to let the matter rest till they could procure the most Authentick Copies of the Nicene Canons For which purpose they dispatcht away Messengers to Constantinople to Antioch and to Alexandria supposing it impossible for them to miss of the True Copies in those Churches No sooner did they receive those Copies but presently they found how they had been imposed upon by the Bishops of Rome for their whole pretence was a Forgery Whereupon they confirm'd and inlarged the former Milevitan Decree against any Clergy-man's appealing to the See of Rome and to justifie their Acts they sent a Synodical Epistle to Pope Caelestine wherein they call those Appeals Improba Refugia Wicked Refuges they pleaded That no Councils had ever taken away the Ancient Rights of the African Churches but that the Council at Nice had left not Presbyters onely but all Bishops also to the Judgment of their own Metropolitans they shew'd the Reasonableness of this Decree it being impossible for any man to be tryed so fairly as at home where every man was known and Witnesses were ready at hand For all this they referred themselves to the Nicene Canons the True Copies whereof they had now received and in the End they chid his Holiness for his Vsurpation earnestly Ne fumosum typhum Seculi in Ecclesiam Christi videamur in ducere Vide Concil Carthagin Can. 31. Epist Synodicam in fine Canonum Concil Tom. 1. pag. 757. exhorted him neither to encourage such Appellants to him nor to send any Legates abroad in such cases lest it should be a means of bringing as they call it the swelling Pride of the World into the Church of Christ This manifestly shews on our side that the Bishop of Romes pretence to a Primacy over the whole Christian World is an Innovation and incroachment upon the just Liberties and Canonical Priviledges of all other Churches And before I go on I cannot but note it as great Weakness and Ignorance for I am loath to call it a Fraud in Mr. Sclater who to support the Vniversal Pastourship of that Italian Prelate to whose Foreign power he hath subjected himself contrary to his Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance too cites the Canon of the Nicene Council and for the Authority of them sends us to a pretended Epistle of Athanasius ad Marcum You may Pag. 12. observe that the Author of the Nubes Testium was Wiser than to quote either those Canons or that Epistle because there is no Canon to that purpose among the Acts of the Nicene Fathers nor was ever such a Canon pretended but what was Forged and Supposititious And as for the Epistle ad Marcum which goes under the name of Athanasius the Learned men in the Church of Rome have been ashamed long ago to own its Authority knowing it to be a Spurious piece Baronius and Possevine both reject that E-Epistle and so doth Bellarmine and the Abbreviator of Baronius Henricus Spondanus Bellarm. de Rom. Pontif. Lib. 2. c. 25. Spondan ad Anno. 325. Num. 42. rejects the Epistle and Canons both though Mr. Slater is pleased to lay such stress upon them T is pity that when he had thoughts of writing his Reasons he did not consult some knowing Friend what Authors he should use and what Books were Genuine and what Spurious for when he quoted that Epistle ad Marcum and call'd it Athanasius his he might as well have quoted the Narrative of Titus Oates and called it the History of Titus Livius But to go on to our Business Soon after these transactions in Africa a General Can. 8. Council of 200 Fathers was held at Ephesus and there it was decreed again That no Bishop should invade anothers Province but that every Metropolitan should retain his due power and every Province should have its Ancient Rights and Priviledges preserved Of which Decree they expresly gave Three reasons 1. Lest the Canons of the Church should be transgrest 2. Lest the Churches of Christ should unawares lose their Liberty 3. Lest the Pride of Secular Power should be brought into the Church which was the very Reason and Expression the Africans had used a little before against the incroachments of Pope Caelestine About Twenty years after this a New Scene of Affairs appear'd which is well worth your Observation A great Synod of 630 Fathers met at Chalcedon and there notwithstanding the Opposition of the Popes Legates they confirm'd the Canons that had been made at the Council of Constantinople and gave the Bishop of Constantinople equal Honours and Priviledges with the Bishop of Rome meaning not any Supremacy of Power or Jurisdiction but Vide Con. Constantinop Can. 2 3. Item Concil Chalced Can. 28. an Honourable Precedency for Order sake The Reason of this was because the Imperial Seat was now removed to Constantinople It was called New Rome and enjoyed the same civil Priviledges that the Old did and because an Honourable Precedency had been given to the Bishop of Old Rome not upon any pretence of a Divine right he had
obsequendi necessitatem collegas suos adigit c. Cyprian de baptizand Haeret in initie the Carthaginian Council None of us makes himself a Bishop of Bishops or by any Tyrannical Threats compelleth his Colleagues to a necessity of Obedience in regard that every Bishop hath by vertue of his own Liberty and Authority a Power of Judgment in himself and can no more be judged by another Bishop than another Bishop can be judged by him This he spake designedly against the Bishop of Rome and if you consider the place you will find it to be such a pregnant Testimony against the pretended Supremacy of the Pope of Rome as I believe the Author of the Nubes Testium will be puzled how to answer 3. Next we are to consider those his Quotations which relate to those Applications which Foreigners were wont to make to the Roman Bishop upon special Occasions and examine whether these did import and argue that Supremacy which 't is pretended he had in the Primitive Ages 1. Then 't is true that other Bishops were anciently wont to acquaint the Bishop of Rome with the state of Church-affairs in their several Provinces especially if any new thing hapned And this was all that the Sardican Fathers meant when writing to Pope Julius who had excused himself for his absence from the Synod in regrad they had accepted his excuse they sent him an account of what they had done because they thought it most proper for the Bishops from several Provinces to relate or communicate their proceedings to the Head that Si ad Petri Apostoli sedem de singulis provinciis domini referant Sacerdotes is to St. Peter's See the sence of which place our Author hath perverted by rendring it so as if they thought it best for them to Pag. 25. have recourse to the Bishop of Rome an unjust innuendo that he was not so much their Brother as their Judge Now what can any man get by this that the Bishops in those times would not keep one another in Ignorance In order to the Peace and Unity of the Catholick Church it was absolutely necessary for them to hold a mutual brotherly correspondence And why should they pass by one that was Bishop of so eminent a City as Rome was Yet this is no argument of any Authority he had over them for he was wont to do the same thing himself as other Bishops communicated the affairs of their provinces to him so he communicated the affairs of his Province to Them too and so this is no more an argument for the Authority of the one than 't is for the Authority of all the rest 2. It is true too that the Primitive Fathers did many times consult the Opinion of the Bishop of Rome in points that were controverted and good reason they had to do so for the Church of Rome was then uncorrupt men of great Learning and Note flockt thither some out of curiosity and some upon business because Rome was the chief Seat of the Empire which is the Genuine sence of Iraenus as he is cited Pag. 22. by our Author And where was any Controversie so likely to be determin'd as at Rome But what of all this Doth it follow hence that they lookt upon the Pope as the supream Judge You know many of the Reformers did either go or send to Geneva to consult Calvin's Opinion but did any of them think they were under his Jurisdiction This is as strong an Argument on the behalf of the Presbyterians for the Supremacy of their Pope as 't is on bethe behalf of the Romanists for the supremacy of the Pope of Rome And yet we would not take away any of his due Honour from him Let him cleanse his Church from those Errors and Corruptions we justly complain of let him keep within his own bounds without invading the Liberties of other Churches and the Rights of Princes let him make Rome the Seat of true Piety and Literature let him be as he should be like a right Primitive Patriarch and then he shall see whether we will not give him the same deference that the Primitive Christians did 3. It is true also that foreign Bishops were wont as occasion did require to give the Bishop of Rome an account of their Faith. But what then Did they not give the same account to the whole Church and to other Bishops as well as to the Roman It was a common Cause and every Bishop was deeply concern'd to be satisfied whether such as were of the same Order were sound in the same Catholick Faith. And therefore when they were newly Ordain'd or were at any time suspected of Errors they were oblig'd to satisfie all their Fellow-Bishops and did often give an account of their Faith under their hands for the satisfaction of the whole Church Nay 't is notorious that even the Bishops of Rome did the same thing and some of them were commanded to it in open Synods and the Learned and Moderate Archbishop of Paris Petrus de Marca ingenuously tells us That Pet. de Marca de Concord Lib. 6. Cap. 5. 't was usual in those times for a Patriarch and for the very Bishop of Rome when he was newly chosen to send Letters abroad concerning his Ordination to which was added a Profession of his Faith. So that 't is impertinent what our Author Pag. 28. alledgeth of Dionysius of Alexandria giving his Name-sake of Rome a Declaration of his Faith for if this was an argument of his subjection to the Pope it is as strong a proof that the Pope himself was in subjection to other Bishops 4. Nor is it to any more purpose what our Author has collected touching the Popes hearing of Plantiffs Causes though he seems to lay a great deal of stress upon it For what the Bishop of Rome did of this kind he did either as the Emperors Delegate or as an indifferent Referee or as a friendly Neighbour whose Mediation and intercession in foreign parts especially when other Bishops concurr'd with him as commonly they were wont might and did go a great way towards the Righting of those who were supposed to have been unjustly or hardly dealt with at home But that Applications were made to him upon this ground that he was the sole Head of the Catholick Church and so might by virtue of his unlimited Judicial power command Redresses to be made in any case upon his own hearing of it is more than our Author hath as yet proved or is able to prove with the help of all his friends And for the clearing of this I shall 1. Give our Author a General answer And then 2. Consider the particulars touching the Applications made to the Bishop of Rome by Eustathius Sebastenus by Athanasius Chrysostome and others whose cases he is pleased to instance in 1. Then in general it is certain that every mans Cause was in those times to be heard and determin'd in his own Province