to those Churches that lay next it I mean the great Churches of Milan Aquileia and Ravenna II. HOW great Milan was and of how great reputation the Bishop of it so that he stood upon a level with him of Rome we briefly noted before it being next Rome the largest richest most plentiful and populous City of the West as Procopius tells us S. Ambrose his Election and Ordination to that See was made purely by the Provincial Bishops and at the command of the Emperour without the least notice taken of the Roman Bishop A case so clear that De Marca fairly gives up the cause and confesses that in those times and for some Ages after the Pope had nothing to do in the Ordination of the Metropolitan of Milan Nay that this was the case of all Metropolitans out of the Popes Jurisdiction in Italy where the Bishops of every Province constantly Ordain'd their own Metropolitans without any authority or so much as consent had from the Bishop of Rome But then not being able to shift off the evidence of truth and yet willing withall to serve his cause he does in order to that design distinguish the Roman Patriarchate into ordinary over a great part of Italy and extraordinary over the whole West A distinction wholly precarious and which is worse false And indeed what kind of Patriarchate that must be that could consist without right of Ordaining Metropolitans the first and most inseparable branch of Patriarchal Power would have become a person of his I say not ingenuity but wisdom and learning to have considered As for Milan the Metropolitick Rights of that Church he confesses continued independant at least till the year DLV. And indeed 't is plain from the Epistle of Pope Pelagius who confesses that the Bishops of Milan did not use to come to Rome but they and the Bishops of Aquileia Ordain'd each other and when he was not able to reduce them by other means he endeavour'd to bring them in by the help of the secular Arm as appears from his Letter to Narses the Emperours Lieutenant to that purpose And afterwards upon a difference that hapened Milan withdrew it self from the Communion of the Church of Rome for Two hundred years together And though with others it was brought at last under the common yoke yet upon every little occasion it reasserted its original liberty Thus when Ann. MLIX great disturbances arose in that Church Pope Nicolaus the Second sent Peter Damian as his Legate to interpose This made it worse the common out-cry presently was That the Ambrosian Church ought not be subject to the Laws of Rome and that the Pope had no power of Judging or ordering matters in that See that it would be a great indignity if that Church which under their Ancestors had been always free should now to their extream reproach which God forbid become subject to another Church The clamour increas'd and the people grew into an higher ferment the Bells are rung the Episcopal Pallace beset the Legate threatned with Death who getting into the Pulpit and having in a short speech set forth the Pope's and S. Peter's power and wheedled the people with some popular insinuations reduc'd things to a better order III. THE Church of Aquileia was much at the same pass with that of Milan the Bishops whereof mutually Ordain'd one another without so much as asking the Pope leave And though Pelagius would insinuate that this was done only to save the trouble and charge of a journy to Rome yet De Marca honestly confesses the true reason was that Milan being the Head of the Italick Diocess the Ordaining the Metropolitan of Aquileia belong'd to him as Primate and the Ordaining the Primate of Milan belong'd to him of Aquileia as being the first Metropolitan of the Diocess of Italy Upon this account and that of the tria capitula this Church held no correspondence with that of Rome for above an Hundred years and when Gregory the Great having got the Emperour on his side attempted by force and armed violence to bring them to answer their stubbornness at Rome the Bishop of Aquileia with his Provincial Synod met and wrote an humble remonstrance to the Emperour Mauricius wherein they set forth the true state of their case and the unjust and violent proceedings of the Pope and plainly tell him that they had at the time of their Ordination given caution in writing to their Metropolitan which they never had nor would violate and that unless his Majesty was pleas'd to remove this compulsion their Successours would not be suffered to come to Aquileia for Ordination but would be forc't to fly to the Arch-bishops of France as being next at hand and receive it there The Emperour was satisfied with their Addresses and wrote to the Pope Baronius calls them imperious Letters written more Tyrannico like a Tyrant commanding him to surcease the Prosecution and to create those Bishops no farther trouble 'till the affairs of Italy were quieted and things might more calmly be enquired into Baronius is strangely angry at this Letter even to the heighth of rudeness and passion especially towards so good an Emperour that he should take upon him arroganti fastu with so much pride and arrogancy not to beseech but to command the Pope which he again says was done not like an Emperour but a Tyrant But the Istrian and Ligurian Bishops little regarded how it thundred at Rome Nay to make the ballance hang more even they had some time since advanc't their Metropolitan to the title and honour of a Patriarch which Baronius himself grants was done while Paulinus was Metropolitan of Aquileia about the year DLXX. An honour a long time resident at Aquileia then translated to Grado and at last fixt at Venice Though withal Aquileia having recovered its broken fortunes resum'd the style and dignity of a Patriarch an honour which it retains to this day IV. LET us next view the Church of Ravenna and see whether that was any more conformable to Rome than the rest Ravenna had for some time especially from the days of Honorius been the Seat of the Roman Emperours and in the declining times of the Empire the Exarchs of Italy who govern'd in chief under the Emperour constantly resided there while Rome was under the command of a petty Duke Swell'd with so much honour and advantage the Bishops of Ravenna for some Ages disputed place with them of Rome the Exarchs taking all occasions to curb and repress the Pope Ann. DCXLIX Maurus sometimes Steward of that Church entred upon the Archiepiscopal See of Ravenna A man as my Author grants wise and of a shrew'd sharp Wit He without taking any notice of Rome was Consecrated by three Bishops of his own Province Ordain'd his own Provincial Bishops and was so far from seeking any Confirmation from the Pope that he received his Pall from the Emperour This gave infinite
of the Provincial Bishops And for this none could be so fit as he that resided in the Metropolis of the Province thence call'd Metropolitan partly because the Countries for the most part round about had originally derived their Christianity from thence and 't was but fit they should pay a peculiar respect to the Mother-church partly because most persons had occasion to resort thither for the dispatch of business and might with the same opportunity conveniently transact both their civil and Ecclesiastick matters and partly because 't was but reasonable that the Bishop of so eminent a place should 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 have an honourable presidency over the rest as the Council of Antioch particularly provides in this case Ordaining accordingly that tho every Bishop might Ordain Presbyters and Deacons and manage the affairs of his own 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or particular Diocess as we now call it yet that all the Bishops of the Province should acknowledge the Metropolitan and attempt nothing of moment without his knowledge and consent which they there enact not as any Novel constitution but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as they tell us according to a most ancient Rule and Canon that had been in force from the times of their fore-fathers To the Metropolitan then upon every extraordinary occasion the Provincial Bishops addressed themselves to him also other Metropolitans such especially as lay nearest to him were wont to send Letters of Communion to testify their consent with him in the faith a confession whereof every new Metropolitan us'd to send abroad upon his advancement to his See and mutually to consult each others advice in all important cases VII THIS 't is plain from the Writings of S. Cyprian and others was the way of Administration during those first and most early Ages of Christianity Private causes every Bishop judg'd of within his particular jurisdiction where taking to him the assistance of his Clergy his Presbyters and Deacons they did Communi Consilio ponderare weigh things by common advice and deliberation where the case was of greater importance or more general concernment it was referr'd to a provincial Synod wherein the chief Bishop of the Province presided and directed all affairs Here the Ordination of Bishops was usually perform'd or where a Synod could not conveniently be had by as many Bishops as could be got together the rest who were absent by writing under their hands testifying their consent and the whole either actually manag'd by or at least done by the allowance and confirmation of the chief Bishop Here also criminal Bishops were depos'd and the same way of general suffrage observ'd Thus when Cornelius and his Synod at Rome had condemn'd and cast out Novatian for his Schismatical Usurpation of that See the Bishops that were not present at the Council did by their Letters ratify and subscribe that Decree VIII IN reference to the affairs of Churches abroad they acted by a kind of mutual consociation they communicated councils interpos'd in differences oppos'd the same common enemies and upon all occasions afforded ready help and assistance to one another that dilectio communis that Cyprian so often speaks of the common bond of love and charity obliging them to advise together that so by joynt consultations things might be carried on to the best advantage of Ecclesiastick Administration For they look'd upon themselves he tells us as members of the same Body of the Church though stretcht out into many several Provinces and that therefore they were bound to have care one of another and to watch over the welfare of the whole Body Upon a Persons Election to any of the greater Sees they were wont to send their congratulatory Letters to give him joy of that place to signify their concurrence with his advancement to a share of the Government of the Church and their communion with him in the Faith Thus Cyprian by Letters approv'd Cornelius his Election to the See of Rome which he did he tells us according to divine tradition and Ecclesiastick institution nay he sent to all the Bishops of his Province requiring them by their Letters to do the like And when Marcian Bishop of Arles was depos'd for his siding with Novatian Cyprian wrote to Pope Stephen to send him word who succeeded in that Bishopprick that so he might know to whom to direct his communicatory Letters When any person was duly Excommunicated in on Church he could not be admitted to Communion in another Thus when Felicissimus who had been Excommunicated by Cyprian and the African Synod fled to Rome and came thither guarded with a potent faction he found the doors shut against him whereof Cornelius advis'd Cyprian by Letters which the good man commends as replenisht with Brotherly Love Ecclesiastick Discipline and Episcopal censure And when the Legats of Novatian who had procur'd himself to be irregularly Ordain'd Bishop of Rome for which he was Synodically condemn'd came into Africk Cyprian rejected them and utterly refus'd to receive them to Communion In short no sooner did any extraordinary emergency arise but notice was presently given of it to other Churches and advice return'd what was fit to be done in those matters and all possible assistance afforded towards the dispatching of them In all which transactions the Bishop of Rome was no otherwise considered than as all others were as a Bishop of the Catholick Church nor was his Sentence any more regarded than that of other Bishops Donatus à casis nigris accus'd Cecilian Bishop of Carthage to Constantine the Great The Emperour referr'd the case to Pope Melchiades and three French Bishops together with whom Assembled fifteen Bishops of Italy who gave judgment against Donatus Wherein as the Pope acted as the Emperours Delegate and had no more power than the rest of his Collegues so the sturdy African slighted his judgment and appeal'd from it Constantine hereupon referrs the business to a Synod at Arles in France Ann. CCCXIV where the former sentence is again brought under examination and this thought no injury or dishonour to the Bishop of Rome nay his Legates in that Council subscribed only in the fifth place as the subscriptions publisht by Sirmoud out of an Ancient Copy stand at this day In short 't is ingenuously confess'd by Pope Pius the second then Cardinal that before the time of the Nicene Council very little regard was had to the Church of Rome By all which we see how the Government of the Church in those days was carried on Bishops superintended the affairs of the Church in every City and its adjacent Territory over them were Metropolitans and Provincial Synods and with foreign Churches they transacted by a mutual agreement and confederation for the good of the whole but without any coercive power over one another CHAP. II. The Government of the Church and Power of the Bishops of Rome as 't is represented in the Canons of the
A DISSERTATION Concerning the Government of the Ancient Church BY BISHOPS METROPOLITANS and PATRIARCHS More particularly Concerning the ancient Power and Jurisdiction of the Bishops of Rome and the Encroachments of that upon other Sees especially the See of Constantinople By WILLIAM CAVE D. D. One of His Majesties Chaplains in Ordinary Omne genus ad Originem suam censeatur necesse est Tert. de praescript c. 20. p. 208. LONDON Printed for R. Chiswel at the Rose and Crown in S. Paul's Church-yard MDCLXXXIII TO THE RIGHT REVEREND FATHER IN GOD HENRY Lord Bishop of LONDON One of the Lords of His Majesties most Honourable PRIVY-COUNCIL My Lord IN compliance with the good old Rule of S. Ignatius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Do nothing without leave from the Bishop I have taken the confidence to lay these Papers at Your Lordships feet being well content they should receive from You a sentence of Life or Death either to come abroad into open light or be condemn'd to be thrown aside if you shall judge them useless and unprofitable For I am not so fond of my own Undertakings as to flatter my self that any thing that I can do will work much upon the obstinate humour of a perverse and contentious Age. My Lord The Church of England is usually assaulted by two sorts of Adversaries The one declar'd Enemies to the Episcopal Government or if at any time in a good humour they allow the name they deny the thing making the Bishop of the Primitive times no more in effect than a meer Parish-Priest The other are great pretenders to Antiquity and strongly enough assert the Episcopal Order but withall would obtrude upon us a Supreme and Universal Bishop to whom all others are to be subject and accountable and he we may be sure is the Bishop of Rome As for the first of these I have not directly enter'd the Lists with them though what is here said concerning the Ancient Church-Government might be enough to satisfie Men modest and unprejudic'd and more I did not think fit to add They have been so often baffled upon that Argument that nothing but a resolv'd obstinacy could make them keep a post so utterly indefensable But the Men of that way seem generally too over-weaning and opiniative and I have no hopes of doing good upon that Man that 's wiser in his own Conceit than seven Men that can render a Reason Indeed the nature of my design led me more immediately to encounter with the other Party whose cause so far as it relates to the Subject under debate I have examin'd and brought to be tried by the Standard of Antiquity the truest Rule to proceed by in this matter and this managed without any needless Exasperations For I never could think it a reasonable method of Conviction to rail at Popery or to load the Bishop of Rome with ill Names and spiteful Characters The best way sure in such cases is to appeal to the judgment of the Ancients and to enquire what power and authority was allow'd him in the wiser and better Ages of Christianity Which I hope I have done with all truth and fairness in the following Discourse My Lord Your Lordships known Zeal for the Protestant Cause and what next the goodness of the Divine Providence is the strongest Bulwark and Defence of it the honour and interest of the Church of ENGLAND might give you a just Title to this Discourse though there were no other inducement to it But we that are the Clergy of Your Diocess think our selves oblig'd to take all occasions of letting the World know how much we rejoyce under the happy Influences of Your Care and Conduct how much we are beholden to that great Example of Pastoral Industry and Diligence you daily set before us that we have to deal with a temper so incomparably sweet and obliging and that not only in private Converses but in all public Cases that concern the Church under your Charge you are pleased so freely and familiarly to consult and advise with us 'T is this to mention no more that creates in us so just a regard and veneration for Your Lordship And I verily believe since the Primitive Times there never was a more mutual Endearment and Correspondence Never Bishop that treated his Clergy with a more Paternal kindness and Condiscention never Clergy that paid a greater Reverence and a more chearful Obedience to their Bishop That this Concord and Agreement may not only continue but encrease and the happy effects of it visibly spread over your whole Diocess and especially this great CITY is the earnest Prayer of MY LORD Your Lordships faithful and sincerely devoted Servant WILLIAM CAVE TO THE READER AMong the several Virtues wherewith the Religion of our Lord does at once refine and adorn Humane Nature there are none conduce more both to the peace of the World and the quiet of private and particular persons than Humility and Contentment the laying aside the vain and fond opinion of our selves a lowliness of Mind to esteem others better than our selves in honour preferring one another an easiness and satisfaction under that place and portion which the Wisdom of the Divine Providence has thought fit to allot us and a generous Contempt of those little and sordid Arts by which Men hunt after Power and Greatness and impatiently affect Dominion and superiority over others A noble and divine temper of Mind which our Lord has effectually recommended both by his Doctrine and the example of his Life He has taught us that we should not after the proud and hypocritical manner of the Pharisees do our works to be seen of Men make broad our Phylacteries and enlarge the borders of our Garments love the uppermost Rooms at Feasts and the chief Seats in the Synagogue and greetings in the Markets that we should not affect proud Titles and the honour of a Name to be call'd of Men Rabbi Rabbi for that one is our Master even Christ and all we are Brethren not that our Lord here absolutely forbids all Honour and Precedence no more than he does all Mastership and Superiority in what follows but only an inordinate desire a vicious and irregular inclination toward these things and an undue and tyrannical exercise of them that we should call no man our Father upon Earth that is in the same sence and with the same respect wherewith we do God for that one is our Father which is in Heaven neither that we be called Masters for that one is our Master even Christ For that whosoever should exalt himself shall be abased and he that should humble himself shall be exalted And then for his own practice how openly did he protest against seeking his own glory or receiving honour from Men how studiously did he stifle the fame of his own Miracles and whatever might raise him in the esteem and value of the World When an Appeal was made to him to judge a Cause he rebuk'd the
distaste to Pope Martin and 't is like to his Successour Eugenius who sat but one year But Pope Vitalian who succeeded would not so put it up but summons Maurus to appear and answer his contempt at Rome but he slighted the Summons for which the Pope Excommunicated him and he in requital did the like to the Pope nay upon his Death-bed oblig'd his Clergy never to submit themselves to the Bishop of Rome Reparatus his Successour trod in the same steps and procur'd the Emperours Rescript to free that Church from any subjection to the Roman See Ann. DCCVIII Felix of Ravenna was content to receive his Ordination at the hands of the Pope but when he came thither an Oath of Allegiance and Fidelity was required of him to the See of Rome This he utterly denied a confession of his Faith he offered but homage he would not pay nor engage to send money to Rome Nor more he did but home he goes where his people gave him little thanks for what he had done and both agreed to defend their liberty but it cost the old man dear and them too for that attempt For Justinian Rhinotmetes the Emperour who favoured the Pope being made acquainted with what was done at Ravenna a Fleet is sent under the command of Theodorus Patricius the City besieg'd and taken several of prime quality lost their lives and fortunes and the poor Arch-bishop had his eyes put out and was banisht into Pontus where he remain'd 'till the severity of Discipline had taught him better manners The same courage in asserting the priviledges of their Church against the Papal encroachments was afterwards shewn by John and Guibert Successors in that See as were it necessary might be particularly related But the case is too evident to be denied and the argument thence too strong to be evaded how little those times understood of any Patriarchal Jurisdiction which the Pope had over all Italy much less over the whole West V. IF we look into France we shall find them careful to secure the Rights of Metropolitans and the priviledges of Provincial Bishops without being oblig'd to fetch them from Rome The second Council of Arles Ann. CCCCLII decree that no Bishop shall be Ordain'd without his own Metropolitan and three of the Provincial Bishops the rest testifying their consent by Letter The second of Orleans holden Ann. DXXXIII renew the ancient form and manner of Ordaining Metropolitans that it shall be done by the Bishops of the Province which shews how little they depended upon any foreign power in this matter But it 's needless to insist upon this point which the Learned De Marca has so fully cleared and vindicated as a fundamental part of the liberties of the Gallican Church and has deduc't it through the several Ages and Dynasties of their Kings I shall only remark that when Hincmar Arch-bishop of Remes had depos'd Rothald Bishop of Suessons for great misdemeanours Rothald appeal'd to Rome and Pope Nicolaus espous'd his cause wrote sharply to Hincmar and cited him to appear and answer what he had done at Rome But Hincmar would not stir but publisht a large Apologetick to the Pope wherein he justifies his Act and though he gives good words and great deference to the See Apostolick yet stoutly contends that he ought to be content with a general care and inspection and not interrupt the ordinary Rights of Metropolitans and that 't was infinitely reasonable that the criminal should be referr'd to the judgment of his own Province Two years before this viz. Ann. DCCCLXIII a French Synod met at Metz about the Marriage of King Lotharius wherein they determin'd contrary to the liking of the Papal Legates However they sent Letters with the reasons of their proceedings by Guntharius Arch-bishop of Colen and Theatgaud of Triers to Pope Nicolaus The Pope upon their arrival call'd a Synod wherein he Excommunicated the Synod of Metz and depos'd the two Arch-bishops that were sent with the Letters and publisht a manifesto of what he had done To this the Bishops return'd an answer wherein having represented the personal affronts and ill usage they had met with from him they tell him Chap. IV. that as for his froward unjust and unreasonable sentence contrary to all Canons they did not own it yea as being illegal and unwarrantable they together with the rest of their Brethren slighted and despised it and utterly renounc'd Communion with him contenting themselves with the Communion and fellowship of the whole Church over which he had so proudly exalted himself and from which through his pride and contempt he had separated himself And whereas he had styl'd them his Clerks they bid him take notice they were none of his Clerks but persons whom if his pride would have suffer'd him he ought to have own'd and treated as his Brethren and fellow Bishops with much more there spoken with a just but smart resentment And now can any man believe the Pope should have met with such treatment upon all occasions and that from the wisest gravest most learned and eminent persons in their several Ages had his title to the Jurisdiction of the West been so clear and unquestionable as some men seem to represent it The same might be shew'd in other Countries and he must be a great stranger to Church-History that can be at a loss for instances of this nature I shall therefore instance only in two more and with them dispatch this argument the African and the Britanick Churches VI. I chuse to instance in the Churches of Africk because so confidently challeng'd by them of Rome at every turn and because they were under the civil Jurisdiction of the Praetorian Praefect of Italy And here omitting infinite arguments that offer themselves I shall insist only upon the famous case of Appeals commenc'd under Pope Zosimus Ann. CCCCXVIII and not ended 'till some years after which will furnish us with a plain and uncontroulable evidence how little authority more than what was honourary the See of Rome in those days had over those Churches The case as briefly as it can well be summ'd up stands thus Apiarius a Presbyter of Sicca in Africk had been depos'd by his Diocesan Urbanus for very notorious and scandalous offences and the sentence ratified by a Provincial Council Hopeless of any relief at home over he flies to Rome tells his tale to Pope Zosimus who restores him to Communion espouses his cause and sends him back with Faustinus an Italian Bishop and two Roman Presbyters into Africk to see him resettled in his former place When they arriv'd in Africk they found a Council of African Bishops to the number of CCXVII sitting at Carthage to whom they delivered their message partly by word of mouth partly by writing But the writing being demanded a memorial was produc't containing instructions from Pope Zosimus what they should insist upon it consisted of four Heads First concerning the
patrum Synodo constitutum Thirdly That Zosimus was guilty of a notorious forgery and imposture in falsifying the Nicene Canons pretending a Canon of Sardica to be a Canon of Nice and as such endeavouring to impose it and his own power by it upon the African Churches Can it be suppos'd that Zosimus should be ignorant what and how many the Nicene Canons were the Popes Legates were present and as we are often told presided in that Synod brought the Decrees home with them as all other great Churches did where they were no doubt carefully preserv'd among the Records of that Church and the frequent occasions of those times made them be daily lookt into Was not the Pope think we able to distinguish between Nice and Sardica between an Oecumenical Council and a Synod only of Western Bishops call'd in another Emperours Reign above Twenty years after No no it was not a sin of ignorance but the Pope knew well enough which Council would best serve his turn that the World had a just and a mighty veneration for that of Nice and that his design would be easily swallowed if he could gild it over with the reputation and authority of that Synod It was obvious to except against Sardica that it was but a particular Council and that the Canon it made for Appeals to Rome was only a Provisionary Decree when the injur'd person was not like to meet with Justice at home but the whole Mass of Bishops was corrupted and set against him as was the case of Athanasius and two or three more in respect of the Arians who were the occasion and for whose sakes that Canon was made But that of Nice was universal and unexceptionable and which he hoped would pass without controul But the African Bishops according to the humour of that Nation were of too honest and blunt a temper to be cajol'd by the arts of Rome They requir'd to have the matter brought to the test and to be Judg'd by the Original Canons and so the fraud was discovered and brought to light in the eye of the World Fourthly That the Church of Africk and accordingly every National Church has an inhaerent power of determining all causes that arise within it self That this Right is founded both upon most evident reason nothing being fitter than that controversies should be ended in the places where they began where there are all advantages of bringing matters to a more speedy and equal trial and upon the wisdom and justice of the Divine providence which would not let his assistance be wanting in one place more than another and especially there where doing right to truth did more immediately make it necessary and that 't was as probable two or three hundred should sift out truth as a single person That the Nicene Synod had made this the Right of the African no less than other Churches and they did not understand how they had forfeited it or that any Council had taken it from them Fifthly That it was not lawful for any person accused or proceeded against in Africk to appeal to Transmarine Churches no not to the See of Rome This they tell Coelestine most expresly and call them improba refugia wicked and unwarrantable refuges Against this they had particularly provided in the Council at Milevis not long before this contest arose that if any Clergyman had a controversie with his Bishop the neighbouring Bishops should hear and determine it But if there were any occasion of appealing they should appeal no further than to an African Council or to the Primates of those Provinces And that if any should resolve to appeal to any Transmarine Judgment no man in Africk should admit them to communion The Canon 't is true expresses only the Appeals of Presbyters Deacons and the Inferiour Clergy but as the Fathers in their Letters to Caelestine argue strongly if this care be taken about the Inferiour Clergy how much more ought it to be observ'd by Bishops Sixthly That the power which the Bishop of Rome sought to establish over other Churches evidently made way to bring pride and tyranny and a secular ambition into the Church of God and that if this course were follow'd it would let in force and domination and a scornful trampling over the Heads of our Brethren and perhaps the calling in the secular arm to remove the opposition it would meet with Principles and Practices infinitely contrary to the mild and humble Spirit of the Gospel And now let the Reader Judge what power the Pope had over the African Churches so solemnly denied so stiffly oppos'd not by two or three but by two or three hundred Bishops twice met in Council upon this occasion and their judgment herein not precipitated but past upon most mature and deliberate debate and consultation and after that the cause had been depending for five or six years together The truth is so great a shock is this to the Papal power that the Advocates of that Church know not which way to decline it At last stands up one who not being able to unty resolv'd to cut the knot directly charging both the Acts of the Council and the Epistles to Boniface and Caelestine without any warrant from Antiquity to be forg'd and supposititious But the best of it is the Writers in this Cause that came after him had not the hardiness to venture in his bottom Nor have any of the many Publishers of the Councils since that time stigmatiz'd them with the least suspicion of being spurious nor taken any notice of the trifling exceptions he makes against them IX FROM Africk let us Sail into Britain and see how things stood in our own Country the first Nation of the whole Western World that received the Christian Faith it being planted here as Gildas an Authour of untainted credit and no inconsiderable antiquity informs us and he speaks it too with great assurance Tempore summo Tiberii Caesaris in the latter time of Tiberius his Reign which admit to have been the very last year of his Life he died March the XVI Ann. Chr. XXXVII it was five or six years before 't is pretended S. Peter ever came at or founded any Church at Rome Christianity though struggling with great difficulties and but lukewarmly entertain'd by some yet as Gildas assures us made shift to keep up its head in the following Ages as is evident from some passes in Origen Tertullian and others and from the known story of King Lucius Leuer Maur as the Britains call him the great Brightness the first Christian King But this we have particularly noted elsewhere Religion being settled that Church Government grew up here as in other Countries by Bishops and then Metropolitans or Superiour Bishops there can be no just cause to doubt At the Council of Arles Ann. CCCXIV we find three British Bishops among others subscribing the Decrees of that Synod Eborius of York Restitutus of London the same perhaps that subscrib'd
motion with a who made me a Judge and a Ruler over you When the Jews were resolv'd to have made him King he fled from the very shadow of a Crown When there was a strife amongst his own Apostles which of them should be accounted the greatest like the Kings of the Gentiles which exercis'd Lordship and Authority over their Subjects he ended the Controversy with a short decision but ye shall not be so This Charge S. Peter particularly applies to the Bishops and Rulers of the Church that they should not be Lords over God's Heritage that the younger should submit themselves to the elder yea all of them be subject one to another and be cloathed with Humility for that God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble Had the excellent Rules here laid down by S. Peter been observ'd by those who pretend to be his Successors the Christian World had been free from those infinite disturbances and distractions which the pride and ambition of the Roman Bishops have brought upon it For certainly among all the corruptions and innovations of that Church nothing is more palpable and notorious than an intolerable usurpation over the Rights of their Brethren nothing more wild and extravagant than the challenging a Supremacy over the Christian Church as affix'd to the See of Rome expresly contrary not only to the Scripture the great Canon of our Faith but to the Laws of all ancient Councils and the practice of the Church which however it allow'd a primary honour and respect to the Roman Prelate yet still set him out as it did to all other Bishops the particular extent of his Jurisdiction This is that which I have endeavoured to evince in the following Discourse wherein I have trac'd the Papal Authority to those proper bounds and limits within which it was confin'd of old And upon that occasion have briefly survey'd the frame and constitution of the ancient Church and that Policy and Government whereby it was manag'd in its purer and better times That which gave birth to the whole Discourse was this I had elsewhere in relating the Acts of the second general Council represented the third Canon of that Council which decreed that the Bishop of Constantinople upon the account of its being New Rome or the Imperial City should have the priviledge of honour next to the Bishop of Rome A Canon which they of Rome could never pardon as which limits the power of the Roman Prelate and declares the foundation upon which it stands For the illustration of this Canon I intended im that place to have added a digression concerning the ancient Power and Precedence of the Bishops of Rome but upon second thoughts referr'd it to an Appendix at the end of the Book But that Book swelling into too great a bulk and this Discourse being grown beyond the proportion that was at first design'd I was over-perswaded by some Friends to venture it abroad alone A thing which had I intended from the beginning it had come forth at least in some parts more perfect than it is and with some advantages which now it is forc'd to go without I have wholly wav'd all Debates concerning the Jus Divinum of Episcopacy and the Controversies that depend upon it enough has been said upon that Argument and have chiefly insisted upon those branches of the Ecclesiastic Government which have been less canvassed amongst us For the same reason I have more lightly touch'd upon the Pope's Universal Supremacy 't was his Metropolitical and Patriarchal Power I principally design'd to enquire into I know Volumes have been written De primatu Papae de Ecclesiis Suburbicariis c. and therefore I have reduc'd what concerns those matters into as narrow a compass as I could and have said no more than what is necessary to clear the Argument and express my own sense about it If what is here said shall administer any light to this part of Church-antiquity I shall be very glad if not I am content it should follow the fate of many much better Books to be thrown aside 'T was never design'd to instruct the Learned but only to form a short Scheme of the true state of things for the benefit of those who have not been much conversant in the Antiquities of the Church at least to give some aid and direction to the younger sort who first apply themselves to the study of those ancient Times And if it may but attain this end I shall think my Time and Pains have been well bestow'd THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. The State of the Church-Government and Power of the Roman Bishops 'till the Council of Nice An Equality among the Apostles as Church Governours appointed by Christ Peter's pretended Supremacy over the rest shewed to be vain and groundless If any such had been granted it belong'd not to the Roman Bishops Early appearances of the Pride and Usurpation of the Bishops of that Church Special advantages of that See to set up for Tyranny and Usurpation The foundation of that Church by two great Apostles Peter and Paul Rome the Seat of the Empire The honour and advantages of that Church thereby The Catholick Faith long time preserv'd entire in the Church of Rome It s large Revenues affording liberal Hospitality It s sending forth Emissaries to plant Christianity in other Countries and thereby claiming superiority over them The pride of that Church severely censur'd by S. Basil A general Scheme of the subordination in the Government of the Primitive Church by Bishops Archbishops and Patriarchs and the Conformity herein to the Civil State Episcopal Government how it spread it self at first Metropolitans introduc'd and why A brief account of the ancient way of Ecclesiastical Administration out of Cyprian and others by the Bishop and his Clergy by Provincial Synods What things usually manag'd there Foreign Churches how mutually transacting with one another The Bishops of Rome had no more authority in this Period than the Bishops of other greater Sees Pope Melchiades appointed Commissioner by Constantine Donatus appeals from his Judgment His sentence brought under Examinations in the Synod of Arles Page 1 CHAP. II. The Government of the Church and Power of the Bishops of Rome as 't is represented in the Canons of the Nicene Council The sixth Canon of the Synod of Nice set down with the occasion of it Seven Observations drawn from that Canon I. That the larger bounds of Ecclesiastick Jurisdiction were the Roman Provinces A. Province what Whether the Countries in Italy so called II. That the chief Church-Governour in every Province was the Metropolitan The prudence and convenience of that way of Government Patriarchs prov'd not to be intended in the Nicene Canon III. That the Bishop of Rome no less than the rest had his proper and limited Metropolitical power This own'd by some of the greatest Champions of Rome IV. That the Metropolitick Sees of Rome Alexandria and Antioch were ever of the greatest note in the Christian